#but I do remember her video where she appeared in that beanie

[theghosthybrid]

THAT IS DANA

DANA LOOKING ON AND SAYING GOODBYE

[tlblitzle]

So I ultimately decided Tix was right that I was charging ahead too fast (we had a nice chat about it and a bunch of other stuff last night when I stopped by at @koffing-time, and I have a much greater respect for Striaton Gym now. Sorry, Olivia!), so today was a break day! I decided I’d try and end the day back home in Nimbasa if I could, but the when and how weren’t so important. And seeing as yesterday’s break was mostly for me (sleeping in, Nacrene Museum, and having some excellent cafe treats), today was for the team! And HOO BOY do I have pics and video to share. First up, Ozone had so much fun running the Skyarrow yesterday that I just HAD to give him another go at it and run him through some drills

[A video taken on Skyarrow Bridge. Ozone is in a ready stance off in the distance, the camera trained on him. Storm, off-camera, waits for a beat before whistling and calling out for him. The Zebstrika is off in an instant, barreling down the bridge towards the trainer. Within moments, he’s flying past the camera, hooffalls slowing as Storm brings it around to catch Ozone turning around and plodding back to receive a couple poffins pulled from a baggie. After a few pats on the face and a “good boy~” the video ends]

We also did some more riding practice on the way back to Castelia, where Lux got to play at the docks again. Didn’t film that seeing as I just got footage of him at the docks a couple days ago, but that did let me play some games with him! It’s much more enriching and safe if I’ve got an activity planned to hold his focus, after all. I did, however, take the time to meet up with a few of Burgh’s gym trainers. Bugs aren’t my forte and I wanted some advice, so we talked about that over lunch and Beanie got to play with some Pokémon more her size

[A pair of pictures, both in Castelia. The first is a selfie with Storm and a few other people, all still done up as clowns, in an outdoor eating area. Presumably this is the gym trainers’ lunch break, based on the position of the sun. Storm, meanwhile, has dressed as not to be totally outdone. He’s done his makeup in bright colors today, with a pink/yellow/blue motif and nails to match. Her earring choice for the day is a pair of dangly lightning bolts, which stand out nicely against his dark hair. The last of the outfit in frame is a bright blue scarf around his neck and a similarly bright floral (matching the color scheme no less) under a black leather jacket. The second picture is an assortment of very small bug types gathered in a backroom of the Castelia Gym, in the midst of playing. Beanie’s playmates include a Cutiefly, another Joltik, a couple Burmy, and the largest among them, a Dwebble and a Durant]

After that, I secured myself as best I could and made the trek back through route 4. I considered a detour over to the resort, but decided it wasn’t worth the effort, because I still had to give Nimbus and Dymie their attention back in Nimbasa (though I let them lead my battles along the way). And check it out!

[A picture of Dymie! Nimbus is underneath the Magneton, nuzzling against it as its eyes remain fixed on the camera. It isn’t aiming its magnets at the device, though, and appears to be tolerating the situation well enough. Nimbus, for her part, doesn’t seem to care about the camera in the slightest, entirely fixated on her wary teammate. She seems a tad floofier than usual, perhaps from rubbing against her fellow electric type. The setting itself appears to be Storm’s home]

This isn’t perfect progress or anything, I still can’t take pictures of Dymie solo, but I remembered I have something of a silver bullet. Nimbus is pretty good with soothing my team, and after giving it a little time to adjust to my place, the low-stimulation environment seemed to have helped Dymie a lot! I dunno what it is about Nimbus that’s so calming, but definitely feel it too when we cuddle. Speaking of! I’m just spending the rest of the day at home with the team, because we’ve all had a busy past couple days. Clay’s gym can be a worry for future Storm

[rielzero]

tw: mention of pet death

This is the third time I’ve lost a guinea pig.. It’s kind of difficult for me mostly because she’s only been with me for a year. I got her early February last year when Mikki passed away in her sleep from aging.

Pucky always remained small- which is likely due genetics. Even as a full grown pig, she was able to appear smaller when puffing up. She was heavier than Charlie- and definetly a health weight. She was just smaller than the average adult guinea pig. Heck, Wibble would be bigger than Meep- and Meep is really chonky.

But where am I going with this? idk- she was to me, my forever-baby. All I can do to cope a bit is watch videos of baby guinea pigs. It’s like seeing Pucky’s reflection in each and every one of them. Pucky was my smol, and everytime I look at a small guinea pig I think of her. She was cuddly and loved attention.

Charlie and Meep are getting along fine, and I know they will be fine. Charlie is getting used to me rather fast and not opposed to pets. She’s not skittish, just shy.

It just feels like there’s a void, an emptiness without her. I see her in my dreams. Her coat patterns memorized tightly into my brain- and I am terrible at remembering stuff. She visits me at night. It’s some comfort that she’s there in my dreams. But there’s also a sadness.

Sometimes I dream about Mikki and Wibble. And while I’ve took some time to accept Wibble’s death- Mikki’s was easier to accept because she didn’t die in such a painful way. Mikki didn’t get sick. She was old, she got tired, dozed off and passed away. Meep didn’t know she was gone until I woke up and looked in the cage. I wonder if Meep understood what was going on..

Meep was with me when Pucky was in her last 30 minutes. It was very difficult for me. I think Meep was able to help me comfort her. She got really calm and crawled up into my arms as her body slowly gave out. She had gotten sick. And while the signs were difficult to spot until they got too bad- there are some things that make sense now I look back. Her personality changed when she got sick. She got really easily moody, and avoided the other guinea pig. Sitting alone, being a bit nippy. She wasn’t opposed to being taken out the cage and cuddling with me. She’d fall asleep in her favorite beanies, and eat some snacks from my hands.

The night before she stopped eating she was showing more obvious signs, but I just hoped she was tired.

It sucks- not knowing. It really sucks realizing that you’ve entered the last 12 hours with such a beloved friend. She was my friend- I view my guinea pigs as companions, as my kids. I’m a guy. I get really emotional over this,

my grandma died in january. Now Pucky died the same month I got her last year. I can’t really take much more right now.

I want to focus on things.. Distract myself. Get sleep, exercise- keep going. Play games, draw stuff. Work out the pain. It’s hard.

At times like these, I wish the world was a little friendlier on people who are disabled. Everything feels like I’m playing on hard mode. A voice in my head tells me to shut up and stop crying. Grow some balls. And here I am- just being myself. Thinking of how best to memorize the feeling of petting my beloved little friend who passed away only a few days ago. It’s almost been a week.

I remember her wheeks, I remember how she zoomed and popcorned. I remember her little face, her expressions, when she yawned. When she napped. When she licked my fingers after I gave her some pea flakes.

I love her so much. I miss her. I miss Mikki. I miss Wibble.

My little Pucky. My smols- My Ukkepuk. The Puckster. Forever baby. Lil spunky- lil drake. Excited ball of floof. Everything under the sun- beautiful little potato made out of joy and love.

I wish you were still here.

[ramonahblog]

Sorry for people who need order. I have decided to write and post this out of order. Also not going to lie, a lot of this post is just me wanting the group’s jackets/coats (and Tao’s beanies) throughout the episode.

Overall Here, Episode One Here

Heartstopper Review Rambles

Heartstopper - Episode Six: Girls

Spoilers

- Opening with Nick looking up best lgbt movies. Trying to gear up to suggest one to his mum and see how she reacts? Just trying to find a lgbt movie in general? 

- “What about Pirates of the Caribbean? It’s a classic,” - Sarah Nelson. Wow. Okay. 

1. Now I feel old. 

2. Now I really want to watch it. I’ve seen it before. It was a favourite of an ex-boyfriend. Gonna completely reveal myself and say I have no idea of the plot. I do remember the scene that is playing here though. 

The other bits and pieces I remember: “I’m burning!”*, a little kid that appears for like three seconds crying and the stupid-ass corset scenes which I won’t rant about because otherwise we’ll be here all year day. And the sword fight between Caption Jack Sparrow and Will Turner. Please don’t rant about that either. I didn’t rant about the corset, you don’t get to reblog and rant about the swordfight. 

*You have no idea how long that line has been living in my head and how I had no idea where the fuck it was from until I watched Heartstopper. 

- ah the way Nick’s eyes shift between Elizabeth and Will.  It’s starting to click.  

- pfft Nick wtf, why are you not using earphones/headphones? Do you not have any? Is this brave or just Nick confirming he’s a himbo? Is his mum at work or something? Does she do a nightshift and so Nick is alone? What is the in-universe explanation for this? 

omg silly headcanon alert: Nellie is laying on Nick’s earphones/headphones in revenge for all the months of pining she had to listen to

- omg omg there’s a little toy rugby ball on Nick’s bed. That’s adorable.   

- fun fact, the youtuber Nick is watching is a real youtuber. His name is  Courtney-Jai and he is bisexual. That’s all I really know since his videos are entitled “bisexual reacts to Heartstopper” and that is how I discover he was an actual youtuber. 

- The fucking comments on Tara’s Instagram.

- Darcy is literally just having a conversation about gender-exclusive schools with her girlfriend. And those assholes eavesdropped. She sort of mumbled that “and I’m saying that as an absolute lesbian” comment.

- “It always pays to be prepared with anti-homophobia cheese,” - Darcy. A Queen. Also I did not actually have to watch this episode to say that line correctly because that’s how great it is.  

- Nellie being the best wingdog and staying on the grass. 100/100

- Nick’s hair is so floofy (positive).

- Charlie’s curls are really nice. 

- I really like both their jackets/coats here. I want them.

- omg Charlie. The way he gently moves Nick’s hands and the aim for a kiss.

- lol Nellie hogging up the entire bed. This is her payment for being the best wingdog.  

- Nick being supportive of his musical boyfriend :D

- Aww Nicky came out to Tara! 

- Tara’s smile. She’s so happy for Nick. Also I swear half of that smile is a I KNEW IT! smile. 

- that little transition from sixteen-year-old!Tara and Nick to thirteen-year-old!Tara and Nick is always going to be adorable to me. 

- Tara’s hair is great too. 

- So is Darcy’s. Actually, everyone except Tao’s hair is great. 

- I want Darcy’s hoodie tbh. It looks really nice and comfortable. 

- haha apparently Darcy just needs to wait until someone comes out to Tara to jumpscare her. 

I have no musical bone in my body and am not going to even try and attempt to name anything besides drums. It will be much less stressful for all you musical people out there, trust me on this one. 

- I’m all caught up with the webcomics so now all I can think about watching this practice-rehearsal scene is comic!Nick’s “I’M SUPER LATE FOR MATHS” panel. 

- I do want Tao’s jacket and beanie though. 

- I want Tara’s jacket too. 

- “When we were thirteen, I think I did like you,” - Nick to Tara. He may not have good taste in friends but his crushes are on point. Yes, I am using this as an excuse to link to this post. 

- I really like Nick and Charlie’s jumpers here. I want them. I’m more partial to a hoodie so I want Nick’s jumper a bit more but both are very nice. This is just turning into a giant desire for jumpers and jackets. 

- Charlie’s smile as Nick tells him he told Tara & Darcy about them. 

- Pfft Charlie tackling Nick in response. The real reason he practiced tackling. My mind is made up now. That’s the true reason, you can’t change it. 

- Well I’m back to wanting to throw ben into starving shark-infested waters now. Charlie’s never been on a date? 

- Aww, the way Nick asks Charlie if he wants to go on one. 

- Pfft the little happy dance Charlie does. 

- I am all for the TaoxElle ship but please don’t set up people on dates unless they have asked you to set them up on dates. 

- wow. I want Tara’s room. I don’t know what that says about me but I want it. 

- omg Tao and Elle are those students. Good for them. Also I want Elle’s outfit. Actually just her jacket. And yep, I want everyone’s jacket/coat in the milkshake scene.

- Elle was very clear to Darcy and Tara that she does not want to reveal her crush on Tao to Tao. 

- I still say Bubblegum Milkshake is a great choice and I stand by that statement.

- Sharing drinks on a date is very cute in theory but it should only be in fiction. It’s the drink-version of kissing in rain. Cute in theory, not good in practice.  Unless everyone on the date is truly okay with sharing drinks, I suppose. 

- Noo, Charlie sweetie. It was a good suggestion. 

- “you didn’t have to witness all the months of intense pining-” - Elle, Nellie would like a word with you. I’m sticking to Nellie was the sole witness to the full-context of Nick’s months of intense pining. And Nellie lives with him. Pour one out for Nellie. 

- fucking assholes ruining the scene.

- Yes, Darcy, go after Tara.

- awww, Charlie’s smile as Nick tells him he thinks he might be bisexual. Charlie’s just happy Nick is finding himself.

- aww Tara. Excuse me while I try and climb into the screen again to hug her. 

- shoutout to Tao for representing all the tall people who cannot run. Also the fact that he can’t run but was doing so anyway to help find Tara and Darcy is great. 

- omg a big leadup to the concert and it just cuts to closing credits. That’s really funny. I mean I’m glad but it’s still really funny. 

[soramei]

Intentional - Part 5

Pairing: Bang Chan x Reader (she/her)

Summary: Landing your first real job at JYPE was something short of a miracle. You were prepared to face the new struggles of this elusive career whilst moving to a new country, however, nothing could have prepared you for him. Will stolen glances, secret touches, and hushed nights spent in the recording room ever be enough for the both of you?

Genre: idol!bang chan au, forbidden relationship, coworkers to eventual lovers, slow burn

Warnings: cursing, eventual smut

Word Count: 4.0k

Masterlist

A/N: yeah so about that upload... i was really busy this whole week but i hope to start uploading mondays again! thanks for understanding!!

Taglist (reply to be tagged!): @planetdemon​ @hvunvely​ @fluffybitch0325​ @fashi0nablee @juststop88 @straykisz @theultimaterad @margaritas-en-la-montania @meowtella

There was a pause in the phone call.

You started biting your nails, instantly regretting what you had just done. Basking in your stupidity, you could only wait for his response, for it was too late to retract what you had just said. Your day must have been worse than you thought. It must have been so bad that you had the nerve to ask Bang Chan — an idol, a person with a strict schedule, somebody who you had an argument with — to come over to your pathetic little apartment.

You kept nibbling on your fingers.

“I’ll get my jacket.”

You froze, eyes wide.

“Huh?” You were bewildered. You weren’t even expecting an answer, much less this.

“It’s cold this late at night,” he explained, “I’ll be there soon.”

You didn’t know what to say. You heard rustling on the other side of the call.

“Wait, I’ll tell you my address,” you blurted out.

“You did,” he said.

You frowned, trying to remember if you did or not. That’s right. You blushed at the memory of your first day of work.

“Oh yeah, umm, I’ll hang up now.” You awkwardly said, hanging up before Bang Chan could fit another word in.

You were a statue in your own apartment, clinging on to the last words exchanged on your phone. In actuality, you didn’t know why you asked him to come over. It was just blurted out in the moment. Or maybe it was a result of your extremely frustrating day. Either way, you felt extremely embarrassed that you did so, especially so late at night.

You started boiling some water, still trying to rationalize what you had just done. This was normal for friends, right? Na-eun and Yoojin came over just yesterday and you were friends with both of them. You knew for a fact that you two were friends, but you still couldn’t find an explanation for the strange feeling in your chest whenever you were around him.

Turning your phone on, you checked your face in the selfie camera. It was a miracle that your makeup didn’t smudge off. You thanked your new ‘CLIO’ foundation cushion, it looked like all that time you spent doing your makeup didn’t go to waste. You stared at your reflection for a couple more seconds before turning your phone off. Why did it matter what you looked like anyways? You wiped off any remaining lipstick with the back of your hand.

The kettle started rumbling, letting you know that the water was ready. You took out your mug to prepare some tea. It was a bad idea to have tea this late at night, but there was something about your mother’s tea that could knock a grown man out.

Sipping your tea, you turned on Youtube to an episode of a Korean web-drama that was getting really popular. It was another one with some rich CEO and a clumsy average girl, but you still watched, fully enamoured. On the recommendations list, there was a video with Felix — the other person you saw at the cafeteria on your first day — on the thumbnail. I can never escape from work, you thought to yourself, rolling your eyes.

You clicked on it anyways, just to pass the time. Watching through the video, you were shocked by the production value. Well, that, and Bang Chan. Whether it was hair and makeup or just his acting, he was so different from the person you knew in real life. You were in awe by his natural charisma gleaming at you through the screen as it was a rare quality that few people you knew possessed. Embarrassingly, you found your eyes drawn to only him in every group shot. He looked good in an apron.

You got distracted by more random videos before clicking back on your drama. The next episode was just about to start when the buzzer to your apartment rang.

It was Bang Chan.

Hurriedly, you shuffled towards your door. With your hand on the handle, you took a deep breath before opening the door.

“Hey,” you smiled.

“Hey,” he smiled back. He was leaning over you, his forearm on the doorframe. His coat was bulky, almost engulfing his whole upper body. He was wearing the same beanie you saw on multiple occasions, and in his hand was a white plastic bag.

You stepped aside, silently gesturing for him to come inside. He took your hint and sauntered in the room, head turning left and right to observe his surroundings.

“It’s not much,” you blushed, realizing how small your apartment really was. You could basically see all your belongings from the center of the room.

“No, it’s cute.” Bang Chan looked at you, taking his hat off. His dimple peaked out. “I brought some leftovers from that barbecue place. The kids and I went there after our shoot today.”

So that was what the bag was. With only food on your mind, you rushed to help hang Bang Chan’s coat before setting the table up.

The food was really good. They were leftovers, but it was so good. Stuffing a bite of pork belly in your mouth, you sighed. Where was this food earlier today?

“It’s good, right?” Bang Chan asked whilst chewing on a piece of meat. “I’ll take you next time.”

It was like he read your mind. You nodded eagerly in response, to which Bang Chan replied with a smirk.

“So, uh,” he scratched the back of his neck, “how was your date today?”

You rolled your eyes, not wanting to remember that embarrassment of a night. It was such a pity too, because that man was probably the most gorgeous man you’ve ever witnessed. You swore he had just stepped out of a webtoon when you first met him.

“It was alright,” you shrugged. It was difficult to reflect on the date without putting a damper on your mood, but maybe vocalizing it would have helped ease your discomfort. “He compared me to a model, you know.”

Bang Chan chuckled, making you look up in confusion.

“Was it because you looked exactly like the model?”

“No,” you replied.

His face immediately fell. “You’re kidding, right? Y/n, tell me you don’t believe anything that loser said. He’s got to be something below garbage if he was comparing two women.”

“Thanks, Chan.” You tried to force a grin on your face. “I appreciate it.”

There was a pause.

“I know my opinion means nothing, but Y/n, I think you’re beautiful.”

You stared into Bang Chan’s eyes, frozen like a statue. Your heart was beating so loud that you could hear it more than you could feel it. He stared back at you from across the table; mouth parted, breaths uneven.

You’ve received many compliments before, to which you would always reply with a smile and a quick ‘thank you’. However, it felt as if your brain malfunctioned in this moment and your heart was the only thing keeping you alive. You could still feel your body, but you couldn’t think.

“Thank you, Chan.” You awkwardly coughed, blushing profusely. Immediately focusing your eyes at the table, you couldn’t bear to keep looking at him.

The two of you ate in silence, with only the tapping of chopsticks adding to the ambience of the room. You wanted to make conversation with him, but you did not want to be the first one to break the silence. It frustrated you that you were so shy right now as you’ve never been like this back home.

To heck with it, you thought. There was no need to be shy around him.

“So,” you still couldn’t look him in the face, “any shows you’ve been watching lately?”

Small talk was good. You could do small talk.

“Actually, I’ve been wanting to watch this Transformers movie for quite a while.”

“Transformers?” You’ve never heard of that one. It must’ve been an American movie.

“Seriously?” his eyes widened. “You’ve never seen Transformers before? Oh, we’ve gotta watch it now.”

“You wanna?” you smiled. “I haven’t used my TV since moving in.”

“Mhm, let’s do it.” He stuffed the rest of the leftovers in his mouth before standing up and clearing the table.

You watched him clear the table in a trance. You should have offered to help since it was your own home, but watching the veins on his hands appear and disappear was way more interesting. Watching him, you suddenly remembered the hoodie.

“Oh, that’s right!” You exclaimed, shuffling over to the bag with the hoodie in it. Taking Bang Chan’s black hoodie out, you held it up to him with both hands.

He looked down at you and chuckled.

“Keep it,” he took it from your hands and slipped the hoodie over your head. “At least until you buy a new jacket.”

“I will.” You rolled the sleeves of his hoodie higher to show your hands. You turned the light off, leaving only the floor lamp to illuminate your apartment. Grabbing the remote from your coffee table, you summoned Bang Chan over to the couch.

You turned on the TV, fooling around with the remote control for a few seconds before giving up.

“I give up.” You sighed. Pouting, you handed the remote over to Bang Chan. He took it from you and started reading the buttons.

“Netflix, right?” Bang Chan asked, to which you nodded. “There we go.”

He scrolled through the titles, looking for the coveted movie. Once he found the movie, he quickly selected it and turned the subtitles on. That was nice of him, you thought. Although you also studied english in university, it was nowhere near the level of watching a full english movie.

The title sequence started and you tried to immerse yourself in the movie. You watched in awe, surprised at the fast pace of the action already.

Fully engrossed, you started to sink your back into the couch. Half-way throughout the title scene, you felt Bang Chan stretch his arm behind you to rest on the back pillow. Suddenly, you started feeling too aware of your surroundings. You sat up straighter.

Throughout the whole movie, you caught wafts of Bang Chan’s cologne everytime he moved. He smelled like safety and familiarity.

You turned your head up a little to get a glimpse of his profile, mapping out every edge and curve of his face. The light illuminated the tip of his nose, along with his dewy cheekbones and chin. The plum of his lips were let slightly open, allowing his teeth to peek out slightly. You unconsciously let out a sigh.

“Something wrong?” He turned his body to face you.

You shook your head and focused on the movie.

The rest of the movie was pretty good, although it lost you at parts. You watched the end credits in silence, not knowing what to say.

“So,” Bang Chan cleared his throat beside you, “I should get going now. Since it’s late.”

You turned your head to face him, not realizing how close the two of you had physically gotten throughout the movie. Looking up at him, your face was inches away from his. His face was almost enveloped by the darkness of your apartment. You heard his breathing get heavier.

“Yeah,” you breathed out, “you should.”

He didn’t get up though.

You heard his staggered breath as you kept looking in his eyes. The end credits had long been over by now. Your own breath was just as shaky and you heard your heart beat out of your chest.

He started leaning in. Slowly.

Your eyes widened. You gulped, your nerves snapped you back to reality all of a sudden. Wasn’t he supposed to be your friend? This wasn’t what friends did… Right?

Clearing your throat, you leaned back shyly.

“You should go. I don’t want the others to notice you’re gone.”

Silence.

“Yeah.” Bang Chan’s lips flattened in a line. Without another word, he stood up and walked towards your door.

You followed him in silence, hoping to at least send him off. Wrapping your arms around your torso, you watched as he put his boots on in the dark. He tied his laces, and with a nod, he opened the door and stepped out.

You were left with a sour taste in your mouth and a cloudiness in your head. Still standing in front of your door, you tried to process what had just happened. However, you couldn’t. All you could think about was the soft curls of his hair, the delicate threads of his eyelashes, and his lips. The dusty rose of his lips. The parting of his lips. Inviting you in.

You were frozen, looking at nothing particularly. The only thing on your mind was Bang Chan.

The door opened.

“Hey, sorry, I forgot my jack-”

His sentence never got a chance to complete itself as you rushed to him, wrapping your arms around his neck. As your lips touched his, you felt a fire ignite in you like nothing you’ve felt before. Your fingers clawed at the nape of his neck, wanting more. Wanting to be closer.

Almost immediately, Bang Chan responded. He was taken by shock at first, but his hands didn’t waste any time to grip your waist. You felt the muscles of his shoulders tighten as he pulled you closer.

He moved you back into your apartment by the waist, lips never leaving your own. You blindly shuffled backwards, only focused on trying to get closer to him. If that was even possible.

You ignored the clunking of his boots against your clean floor, allowing him to guide you to the couch. A whimper left his lips as you used your hand to comb through his hair, pulling it. His soft brown curls were silk against your fingertips.

The back of your legs hit the couch and he turned you around so he could sit on the couch. Your lips finally left his. You gasped for air, trying to steady your deep breaths.

Bang Chan’s breathing was synchronized with yours, his equally as unsteady. He reached his hands out again, grabbing your waist and pulling you on top of him. You were a ragdoll, responding to whatever he wanted to do to you.

With each knee on either side of him, you gripped his jaw and kissed him again. The fire inside of you instantly reignited. It was addicting.

The two of you didn’t dare to separate from each other, only parting to gasp for air every now and then. Even in the dark, you could imagine the plum of his lips and the threads of his eyelashes. This drove the fire in you more.

“What if the boys realize you’re gone?” you breathed out the next time you parted from his lips. They were most likely sleeping, but the thought still worried you.

“Fuck them.” Bang Chan exhaled. Grabbing the back of your neck, he reconnected his lips with yours. You gladly complied.

His sloppy kisses slowly moved from your lips to your jaw, then to your neck, eliciting a soft whimper from your throat. This seemed to only edge him on as kept leaving sloppy kisses against your neck, all the while running his hands up and down your waist.

His cologne surrounded you, keeping you safe. Soon later, the adrenaline left the two of you, leaving only the sound of heavy breathing to fill the room. You brushed your thumb under his eye to which he deeply inhaled.

“Chan?” you said. He was leaving kisses all over your collarbone.

“Hmm?” He didn’t seem to pay much mind to what you were saying.

“It’s half past three. I really think you should get going.” You didn’t want him to leave, but you were almost sure he had another packed schedule for tomorrow.

“Mhmm.” Your words went in one ear and out the other as he made his way up your neck again. You couldn’t help but close your eyes and let out a small moan.

“C’mon, get up. How did you even get here, by the way?” It took everything in you to break away from his touch, but you were starting to get sleepy.

“Taxi.” He said, helping you get up from his lap. He stood up after you, brushing his hand against your waist one last time before making his way over to his jacket.

“You’re allowed to ride a taxi?” You tilted your head, sceptical.

He slipped his jacket on.

“No.” He peppered little kisses on your cheeks. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that now.”

You giggled, pushing him by his shoulders out the door. He played along, pretending to stumble with every step he took back.

“Text me when you get home,” you said, repeating what he said to you on your first day of work.

He nodded in response and winked before turning around to head home. As soon as the door shut, you slapped both hands against your face. Your little act of impulse had spun your head in spirals. You didn’t know whether to feel relieved at the fact that Bang Chan reciprocated your impulsive actions, or to worry that you had not only just kissed your coworker — but also a freaking idol. No one — not Manager Chen, your friends, or even anyone in the general public — could know about this. If they did, both your careers would be screwed.

You doted on this thought as you got ready for bed, only the worst possible outcome came to mind. If either your manager or his manager knew about what happened tonight, you could get fired. Or even blacklisted. You sat in bed, nervously biting your nails.

Your phone buzzed.

Bang Chan: Hey, I got home. Nobody’s awake… ^^

Bang Chan: Don’t think too much, alright? It’s late, go to sleep…

You felt relief reading his text. For some reason, he knew you were overthinking your actions. You decided to listen to his words and go to sleep.

The next day, Sunday, was very uneventful compared to the day before. You texted Bang Chan back when you woke up, but because of his busy schedule, he hadn’t had the time to reply yet.

Yoojin called in when you were eating lunch, asking about your date. You told her the truth, explaining how there would definitely not be a second date with that man. She sounded disappointed and vehemently tried to set you up with another man in her pool. You politely declined, thinking about your restless night with Bang Chan.

You finished some work ahead of time to free up the next week. Since you were invited to work with Manager Chen at the content shooting, you assumed that you could lessen your work stress ahead of time.

The shooting days were allocated for Friday and Saturday, with there being an overnight stay at the mountains. Whilst you didn’t know the arrangements for Stray Kids, you were informed that the production crew booked a small lodge for the team. You were excited to not only see a behind the scenes of a real shoot, but to also possibly form a closer relationship with Manager Chen.

You were thankful that you did some work ahead of time as Monday’s workload was so much lighter than usual. People were still coming to you with their ideas for the project, but with your other work done, you had the time to go through everybody’s ideas.

You didn’t hear from Bang Chan the whole day, which was nothing out of the blue. You remembered him showing his schedule to you once. The amount of things he had to do everyday had your eyes bulging out from their sockets. All of a sudden, you were thankful for your nine-to-five job.

The next couple of days ran the same way as your Monday, with you easily breezing through your workload. Since you had more time during your breaks at work, you took to exploring the part of the building that you could. You admired all the art, the trophies, the awards and memorabilia. Of course, you also spent more time with your new friend Na-eun.

On Thursday, the day before the shoot, you were helping the producers by translating some notes for the script. All was going smoothly, when you got a text.

It was from Bang Chan.

You weren’t going to lie; you were curious as to what he sent you. He was basically silent the whole week so far, and if you were being honest, you missed hearing his voice. And seeing his face. And feeling his hands brush against your waist.

Bang Chan: Come to my recording room… I’ve got something to show you.

Your eyes lit up right away, curious as to what he wanted to show you. Quickly checking the time, you decided to take your lunch break then and there. After all, you didn’t have much work left for the day anyways.

Locking up your computer, you zoomed inconspicuously past all the other cubicles and made your way to the elevators. You weaved through the hallways of his floor, praying that your memory didn’t escape you. It seemed like your memory was on your side today as you found yourself in front of a familiar set of doors. You didn’t bother to knock before going in.

Inside was Bang Chan: feet up on the desk, drinking from his iced coffee, concentrating on his producing software. You smiled. He looked so comfortable, even in an ‘office’.

He had his headset in, and didn’t seem to notice that you had entered. You went up behind him and tapped his shoulder. He turned around, and immediately threw his feet off the desk and stood up upon seeing that it was you. You smirked.

“I should really put a ‘please knock’ sign on the door.” He cursed under his breath. He reached behind you to close the door.

You giggled.

“So, what do you have to show me?” you wondered aloud.

“A new song. Since the filming is tomorrow, the producers put me on a time crunch to finish the song by today.”

So that was why he was so busy, you thought. You didn’t realize how the sudden filming would have impacted his schedule for the month. Especially since it would take up two whole days.

He let you sit in his chair, and hovered over you to press play on the song. His chair smelled like his cologne.

As he was playing the song, your eyes drifted up to see his face. The face — even after only four days — you missed. The dark circles under his eyes were prominent. That, along with his disheveled hair, told you that he truly was dedicated to his work. You imagined him sitting where you were, two in the morning, sipping on his iced americano.

“You like it?” His eyes drifted towards you, resembling a puppy bringing a ball back to its owner.

“It’s amazing. I don’t know how you managed this in just a few days,” you said. And you were sincere too. You couldn’t imagine yourself doing any of this.

“Eh, you know, late nights.” he shrugged. “Wanna see another?”

You nodded, and the two of you began listening to another one of his songs. You listened in silent wonderment.

However, the silence didn’t last long as the two of you soon found yourselves on the couch: hands all over each other, lips the same. You were lying underneath him, his arms resting on either side of you to hold his weight up. Your lips never left his as you ran your hands up and down his defined biceps.

The two of you couldn’t stay away from each other. The sound of the songs that he had put on shuffle filled the room, along with a fleeting sigh of moan every now and then. Bang Chan’s hand had started wandering up your blouse when, all of a sudden, the door opened.

“Hey, I have the lyrics h-” He stopped mid-sentence, eyes wide.

Crap.

[childishfluff]

The Feeling Of Family- A MCYT Agere/CGLRE fic (Regressors!SBI+Tubbo and Ranboo, Carer!Philza)

There was a very specific feeling that came to Ranboo when he met up with his internet friends. A weirdly comforting feeling, a reassurance that he had finally found his people.

It came to him with every hug from Tubbo, every teasing ruffle of his hair from Techno, every inappropriate joke he shared with Tommy. It clouded his mind every time he regressed with them, too, he didn't quite know how to describe it. But if he had to put a name to this odd emotion, he'd call it 'the feeling of family'.

A/N: get ready for a looooong ride. This was written over the course of two days, I really hope you guys like it! I haven't dropped a fic thats over 4000 words in a bit, I think. This is inspired loosely by Cypherr's (on ao3!!) fic 'four's a family', that's where I got the idea of Phil just being overwhelmed because there's so many babies to deal w/, so I'm crediting them! Though, this fic is much different then their's, but also please go read their fics they're great- anyways, I hope you enjoy! This fic is kinda (?) in Ranboo's pov (third person but like,,,you see his thoughts), but there's so much going on that it kinda feels like it's jumping around? Sorry for that, I'm used to writing w/a 2 littles max per caregiver ratio, so this was different. I've also never written Phil as a caregiver before besides his brief appearance over in my 'Mister Nook' series. okay I'm done rambling,,,enjoy the fic please!

--

There was a very specific feeling that came to him when he met up with his friends. A weirdly comforting feeling, a reassurance that he had finally found his people.

In an internet dad, a fellow faceless streamer who used a pig as his icon, a song writer, a bee-loving teenager, and another who was known for wearing red and white. He felt just a bit out of place in this dynamic, SBI were the ones that were close. SBI plus Tubbo wasn't an odd pairing either, and it almost seemed as if Ranboo was only there because Tubbo was.

But that doubt seemed to wash away with the welcoming energy that the car ride to Phil and Kristin's home was filled to the very brim with. Tommy and Wilbur arguing like brothers while Ranboo and Tubbo joked about. The half-joking stern look that Phil gave him through the rear view mirror when he made an inappropriate joke. The soft feeling that Techno teasingly ruffling his hair left in his chest.

This group felt like family.

Of course, he had a perfectly good set of parents back home, but this was different. In a good way, though. This home wasn't his, it was Phil's, but he was surprisingly comfortable here. He was comfortable with his close friends.

"Breakfast is ready!"

He jolted awake with a slight shock when he heard knocking and shouting outside of the door of the room he was staying in, the noise startling him from his sleep. He rubbed at his eyes and stretched his arms above his head as the sleepiness started fading from his mind, clocking the voice as Tommy's as he processed his surroundings. It was his second day at the Philza Minecraft's, the first being made up of mostly content creation.

They had all been shown to their respective guest rooms late last night after quite a few movies and a half-asleep conversation full of laughing and heartfelt emotions. Today was supposed to be a chill day, and the next they'd be exploring the area just around Phil and Kristen's home. It was Ranboo's second time in the UK, and just like last time, he wanted to explore and get a feel for the place he'd be temporarily living in.

He fished some clothes out of his suitcase, pulling them on and discarding his pajamas in a white laundry hamper he had been given for that exact purpose. Then, he sat on the bed, pulling out his phone and scrolling through it. He chuckled as he saw a picture of their entire group with a fan they had run into the day prior, just after he was picked up from the airport, remembering how many similar ones had been taken during his last meet up.

He thought back to the months he spent at Tubbo's house just a while ago, it was one of the funnest parts of his life if he was honest, and now he was right back in the UK for another long meet up. This one was supposed to be a month, at least. SBI and the Bee Duo all under one roof for an entire month! Twitter had freaked out completely when they heard of this arrangement.

During his last trip to the UK, he found out something interesting after revealing something about himself to Tubbo. He admitted to his habit of age regressing to his friend during a late night conversation, only to be met with a 'me too' and then being asked if he wanted to call some friends. This response had confused him, but he said agreed, figuring that there had to be some logic to this.

And after an hour long conversation with Techno, Tommy, Wilbur, and Phil, he learned about an ongoing secret dynamic between the group. Tommy, Tubbo, Phil, and Wilbur were all also regressors. This was a lot of information to process at around 6 am during an all-nighter, but he was glad to know he wasn't alone.

Almost immediately after finding out about his headspace, Phil insisted on taking care of him, messaging him more often and helping him regress over video calls. And over the process of a few weeks, Ranboo had been officially added to the group of littles Phil cared for regularly.

The man took the time to learn his headspace range, things that upset him, how to deal with him when he did misbehave (though the occasion was rare, especially compared to someone like Little Tommy), all in the name of making sure he was cared for. It was sweet, really, and sometimes the boy felt bad for all the man did for him.

He pushed these thoughts away as he heard his name called by his father figure from the kitchen. He groaned, exiting off of Twitter and making his way out of the room and down the hallway, through the living room and into the kitchen. "I'm coming, I'm coming," he mumbled, still tired. He took his seat between Tommy and Tubbo after entering the kitchen/dining area and was quite overwhelmed with the amount of greetings and 'good morning!'s' he got all at once.

"How'd you sleep, hun?" he smiled when he heard Kristin's voice, humming a bit, settling on responding to her instead of facing the rest of the ongoing chaos in the kitchen.

"Pretty good, I think. Still waking up, though," he admitted. He watched the woman bring a plate over to him, setting a stack of pancakes in front of him. "Thank you."

Before she got the chance to respond, Tommy was shouting all to loud for how early it was in the morning. He sounded whiny, too. "Why does he get his first? I was awake before him," he complained, earning a response from Wilbur as he entered the room, his obviously messy hair temporarily contained by a beanie.

"Maybe because he's not throwing a fit over everything like you are," He made his way over to the table as Phil shot the both of them a look. Ranboo minded his own business, digging into his food, he knew that he wasn't in trouble. The brown haired man sat next to Tommy, leaning back in his seat casually.

"Will, be nicer to your brother. And Tommy, be patient, or else both of you will be put in timeout the moment we finish eating." he threatened, half joking.

"What?" Tommy said, sounding shocked as his eyes went wide.

"I second that, none of us are little!" Tubbo finally spoke up after laughing at the situation the whole time.

"Tom-tom here is sure acting like a baby, though," Wilbur teased, sitting back up to ruffle the blond's hair, continuing even when the younger whined and attempted to shove his hand away. He only retracted it when Phil gave him another stern look.

"Stop teasing him and eat your food," he told him as Kristin brought over plates for Tommy and Wilbur. "Where's Techno?" Phil seemed like he wanted to continue talking to Wilbur, but was distracted when he noticed that someone was missing. Wilbur smirked, sticking his tongue out to Tommy, as if bragging about being let off the hook.

Even Ranboo could admit, even out of headspace, everyone seemed to fill their roles in the family dynamic well. Wilbur was the cocky middle brother who somehow simultaneously gets in the most trouble and gets away with everything, Techno is the oldest who's mostly calm but will join in on the antics when it seems fun, and Tommy's the youngest who will play the 'innocent' card at any chance he could get.

Ranboo and Tubbo's exact roles were a bit undecided, but they seemed to consist of a lot of watching the scene play out and somehow getting dragged into an argument they had nothing to do with. Phil acted as their dad, who kept peace between everyone and tried to keep things calm, while Kristen played the role of a sweet mother-type figure.

When they were little, it was a bit different, but the general feeling of family remained the same.

After a few chaotic minutes of gathering everyone up and calming everyone down, they were all sitting around the table and talking in a much more civil manner. Things got loud once again only a few minutes later when Tommy knocked over his cup of orange juice.

"Sorry!" he squeaked, "I didn't mean to!" he defended, looking up at Phil apologetically. He immediately seemed much younger, a light pout on his lips as he apologized for his clumsiness.

"It's alright, Toms." the man assured, flashing a soft smile to let the regressor know that he was alright, reaching for the paper towels across the table. In just a few moments it was like there was never a spill in the first place. "Can you get him a sippy cup, please?" he asked Kristin, who immediately set off to get the requested item.

"I told you he was a baby," Wilbur spoke up next, predictably earning protests from the clearly regressing boy next to him.

"I'm not a baby!" the younger cried, looking to his other  "Techno, tell him I'm not a baby!"

"I mean, only babies need sippy cups," the other man leaned a bit closer the table, his words causing the teenager's eyes to widen.

"Can't Kristin just refill dis one?" he questioned, holding up the cup he had knocked over and looking to Phil hopefully.

"Sorry, buddy, I just don't want you to make another mess." Phil sighed, shooting a disappointed look towards Wilbur and Techno. Ranboo sunk further into his seat, trying to avoid getting pulled into the conflict. He wasn't sure how the others could handle Phil's 'disappointed look' so easily, the boy was very much scared of it.

"I'm not gonna!" Tommy whined, practically glaring at the cup that was set in front of him a moment later. He huffed and crossed his arms, refusing to drink or eat anything.

"This is what happens when you make fun of him, he gets all insecure and stubborn," Tubbo groaned, rolling his eyes as if they had been through this process a million times over.

"Tubbo's right, apologize to him," the oldest man ordered. Wilbur and Techno looked at him as if this suggestion was completely outrageous, so he added, "Now."

"Okay, okay!" Wilbur gave in, sounding defensive, "I'm sorry, Toms. You're not a baby."

"Really?" he lowered his arms, finally uncrossing them.

"No, you're just clumsy and we're sorry for making fun of you for it," Techno sounded very reluctant, but he followed Phil's orders. After these apologies, the rest of breakfast went fairly smoothly. By the end of it, Tommy was very obviously fully regressed and making a useless attempt to hide it.

It was a fairly often occurrence that Tommy slipped just for fun, acting and being treated like a kid was something he just liked. He got to be the annoying little brother and watch cartoons while he did it, it was a win-win across the board.

But Phil and Kristin knew, that whenever one of them slipped over their voice chats, anyone else in the discord call would too. And now, they were all actually together under one roof, so he was sure he'd have five littles to deal with by noon at latest.

--

As predicted, all of the boys ended up in littlespace, slipping one after another like a line of dominoes getting knocked over. After some reassurance from Phil, Tommy allowed himself to slip, and he dragged his best friend into a game of pretend. And the two toddler minded teenagers decided they wanted to play with Techno and Ranboo as well, and Wilbur soon followed when Phil babied him a bit to much.

At first, it was quite loud, and there was a lot of conflict and disagreements between the boys. Eventually, after everyone but Ranboo had managed to get in some sort of trouble, Phil sat the boys down to watch cartoons. Tommy, Tubbo, and Wilbur were out like a light one episode in. Wilbur was in babyspace, he always needed extra sleep, and Tommy tired himself out by crying when he assumed Phil was upset with him.

Tubbo, however, was just tired. No excuse, that's just how he was sometimes.

Ranboo and Techno were older then the rest of them, and far more behaved, so they didn't get quite as much attention earlier in the day. Phil was quite busy comforting Wilbur and trying to keep Tommy and Tubbo in check, and it didn't help that Kristin had to leave the house. To make up for this, Phil wanted to do something special with them while the other three took their mid-day naps.

After a while of Ranboo and Techno watching cartoons, trying to stay quiet so that their friends could sleep peacefully, Phil spoke up.

"Boys, quietly follow me," he whispered, managing to get out from under from where Wilbur was laying cuddling up to him without waking the boy up. Techno and Ranboo glanced at each other, seemingly confused but intrigued. They scrambled to get up, following their caregiver into the kitchen.

"What are we doin', dada?" Techno questioned once they entered the other room. They had left the cartoons on, so Phil was fairly sure they wouldn't be able to hear what was going on in the kitchen.

"You guys are gonna be my little helpers for snack time, okay? I got some special treats and such for everyone and we need to put everything together before everyone gets up!" the man explained in a quiet but excited tone, speaking even quieter as if his next words were a secret, "And if you guys do a good job, I'll even give you an extra cookie."

Ranboo's face immediately lit up, and he bounced on his feet as he awaited more instructions. Phil specifically chose him and Techno out of all of them, they must be special. It was like a super secret mission, just for them!

"So we're all gonna have fruit and vegetables before we get to the sweets," he continued on, going over the fridge and pulling out various fruits and vegetables, "Techno, could you wash the strawberries and blueberries for me?" he asked.

"Mhm!" he agreed, excited to be able to help. It seem weird that Phil's idea of "something special" was just putting them to work, it was more about the idea of making them feel special. They were more well behaved then everyone else, so they got extra time with Phil and a cookie.  

"What do I get to do?" Ranboo questioned. He watched as Technoblade took the containers with the fruit he was told to wash over to the sink.

"Are you big enough to pour drinks for everyone?" he questioned, pulling various new sippycups and bottles from a hidden spot in one of the cabinets. The two littles gasped, completely distracted from their tasks, "Yes, some of these are for you two." he chuckled at their excitement, coming over to Ranboo and holding out a simple but cute black and white sippy cup.

"I thought maybe you could put stickers on it," Phil explained. The boy nodded quickly, practically attacking him in a hug. "Okay, go on, get to work now." he said, motioning over to the counter where the rest of them sat.

As requested, they got to work. Techno helped wash the fruit and put then on their plates, while Ranboo filled the sippy cups and bottles with whatever drink each one of them liked best. His demise came when he tried to sneak soda into his sippy cup without asking, and he managed to spill it all over the counter.

"Uh oh! Spill on aisle Ranboo!" Phil joked, grabbing the paper towels and running over to help. Immediately, the boy panicked. He was the well behaved one, and Phil was gonna find out that he was trying to be sneaky! His guilt was obviously clear to the caregiver, because the next thing he said was, "Don't worry, accidents happen."

The gentle and reassuring tone he used only made him feel worse. It only took the man a moment to actually realize what the boy had been pouring into the cup. "Ranboooo," the caregiver held out his words, sounding disappointed, "You know that you could've asked for soda if you really wanted it, right? You've been so good all day, I would've given it to you."

"Really?" he asked, pouting when the man took the cup and dumped the liquid in the sink. He then ripped paper towels from the roll and wiped up the remainder of the drink from the counter.

"Yeah, I would've," Phil affirmed, "But trying to sneak around me isn't okay. You told me you were putting juice in here. That's lying, and I know for a fact that you're big enough to know that's not allowed. " he tsked, causing Ranboo to look down at his feet.

"M' sorry," he mumbled, ready to cry over such a small thing. He knew what he was doing was dumb, Phil rarely let them have sweets like that when they were small due to the fact that they got hyper.

"Don't cry, sweetheart, you're not in trouble," the man assured with a sigh, softening his tone immediately, rinsing the cup out as he spoke. Ranboo still felt bad, despite the gentle reassurance. He glanced up to see the man filling his cup with his favorite drink besides the over sugary soda: strawberry lemonade. "Here you go." he tightened the lid onto it and held it out for him.

"Sorry, dada," he apologized again, his eyes still glassy as he took it in his hands. Phil sighed a bit, opening his arms and pulling him close.

"You're okay, buddy, I promise you." he spoke gently, "Little boys make mistakes sometimes, it's alright." The man knew that while Ranboo might've been regressed to an older age, he was still quite sensitive, and he always felt overly bad whenever he got in trouble. Even if he had managed to get away with sneaking the soda, he would've owned up to what he did guiltily after just a few sips of the drink.

That's just how he was.

"M' all done!" Techno's voice interrupted them as he finished placing the snack-filled plates in their spot at the table, besides their respective sippy cups. Phil pulled away from the other regressor and ruffled his hair, smiling at him before addressing the other little.

"Good job, honey. You're such a good helper," he complimented, before looking back to Ranboo. "And so are you." he reminded. Ranboo giggled a bit, feeling happiness well up in his chest at the praise despite any childish guilt. The giggles only increased when his caregiver tapped the button of his nose, causing him to scrunch it up.

Once he was sure that Ranboo was alright, or at least doing a bit better, he gave them their next instructions. One good thing about Ranboo was that it was easy to sway his emotions to the more positive end if it was done before any tears came. "Take your seats and eat, I'm gonna wake up your brothers and have them pick up their toys from earlier, then they'll join you." he told them, before leaving the room.

Technoblade's eyes followed Phil as he exited the room, and he waited until he was sure he was out of earshot to say anything. "Psst, 'anboo," Techno leaned close to the table, grabbing the other boy's attention.

"Wha'?" he questioned, popping a grape in his mouth and tilting his head in curiousity.

"We should scare daddy when he comes back in! It'll be so cool," he suggested, "We can wait by the door and jump out!"

"Hmm...," Ranboo looked over to where the other pointed, considering his options, "We 'posed to be eatin'." he pointed out, shaking his head.

"We won' get in trouble, it's just playin' round," he tried to sound convincing. It seemed to work, because Ranboo reconsidered, before hesitantly nodding. He grabbed one more grape and his sippy cup before standing up, Techno leading him over to the entrance of the room. They were concealed behind the wall on either side of the doorway.

They listened Phil woke the others up and helped them put the toys away, excitement ramping up as they waited. To their shock, Tommy entered first, fully ready to greet him in his usual loud tone. Techno quickly put his finger to his lip, shaking his head to signal him to be quiet. Tommy's eyes widened as he realized what was happening, deciding to duck behind the with his older brother.

It was then that Phil entered, carrying Wilbur. The boys jumped out from their spots, exclaiming different variations of "boo!" and "AHH!", breaking out into giggles immediately after. Wilbur squeaked, the sound startling him a bit, but he didn't seem upset. "Well hello, little ones," Phil chuckled, "If I remember correctly, you boys are supposed to be at the table."

"Jus' wanted to scare you! We go eat now," Techno assured, taking Tommy's wrist in his hand and pulling him over to the table. Ranboo however, peeked behind Phil to see if Tubbo was coming.

"Where Tubs at?" he pulled on Phil's shirt before he could walk away, whining a bit.

"He had a bit of an accident," the man admitted, "He's a bit smaller now, but he'll be out soon, okay?"

"Okay..." he trailed off, looking out into the living room, completely set on standing there until his best friend was able to join him.

"How about you head over to the table, kiddo?" his caregiver questioned, earning a pout from the little. "Okay, okay, you can wait here for him!" he decided, figuring there was nothing wrong with it. With a forehead kiss, Phil left him at the doorway.

"Tubbo! We gots apple slices for you!" he rambled excitedly when his friend finally did arrive, running towards him and grabbing his hand. He started to pull him further into the kitchen, but the mentally younger of the two stumbled a bit, seemingly clumsier then he was earlier in the day.

Ranboo realized that he had a pacifier in his mouth now, and he saw Phil replacing his sippy cup with a bottle out of the corner of his eye. He had worked hard to put apple juice in that sippy cup, he thought, pouting a bit.

"M' sorry, didn' mean to make you almost fall! We can go slow," he decided, earning a thankful smile from the other regressor. "Are you gonna say anything?" he asked, walking beside him. As they approached the table, Phil replied for the boy.

"He's a bit younger, bud, he might not be up for talking," he explained, "You know what it's like to be so little that you feel like a baby. Can we all be understanding? He's only a bit older then Wilbur at the moment." "

Tubbo seemed quite embarrassed as he sunk into his seat, pulling his pacifier from his mouth to eat his food. There were sounds of agreement around the table. Ranboo was curious as to what exactly made Tubbo slip so much younger then he usually did, but he didn't voice this curiosity, settling on eating his food in favor of not embarrassing his friend anymore then he already was. .

"These are yucky!" Tommy claimed, pushing his plate with carrots and ranch away from him.

"You like carrots and ranch, what are you talking about?" Phil sounded tired and just a bit annoyed.

"Don' want em," he shook his head, whining just as he had that morning when Wilbur teased him.

"If you eat them you'll get a cookie," the caregiver bribed.

"What type of cookie?" the toddler minded boy squinted his eyes, as if considering this, as if it was a negotiation of sorts.

"Sugar cookie, chocolate chip, I think we have Oreos too...whatever you could want," this definitely caught the boys interest.

"Chocolate chip?" his eyes went wide with excitement, which was only intensified when Phil nodded. Immediately, he uncrossed his arms and pulled his plate back towards him. Phil seemed satisfied with this, ruffling his hair.

The boys were still waking up, so Phil asked them to talk about their elaborate games from earlier in the day to keep them occupied. So, as they ate their snacks, they giggled about imaginary wars and adventures and argued over who won their dramatic plastic sword duels. Eventually, the caregiver gave them their promised sweets before sending them back off to play.

"Ranboo, you left your sippy cup in the kitchen," Phil tapped the boy's shoulder and distracted him from his game of peek-a-boo with Tubbo. He quickly discovered that his friend seemed much to little to participate in any games he'd usually play, so he did what he always saw Phil do with Wilbur: play a simpler one.

It was obviously much more entertaining for the littler of the two, but Ranboo was happy to hear his friend's giggles and squeaks. "Oh! Thanks, dada!" the boy reached up to take his sippy cup from the caregiver as he was sitting on the floor and Phil was standing. Ranboo gasped when he took a drink, feeling bubbles on his tongue.

Immediately, Phil put a finger to his lips and gave him a warning look. This made the boy giggle a bit as he nodded, understanding the signal. "Thank you!" he repeated, smiling when his hair was ruffled softly. The moment didn't last long, Tommy called Phil over for something, and it was back to peek-a-boo with his best friend.

Ranboo didn't mind it, though, peek-a-boo was fun. Being with everyone was fun, even if it meant he got a bit less attention due to there being so much going on. It all evened out, he got to be a snack time helper! And he got an extra cookie! If you asked him, that was pretty awesome.

In the next few days, they'd all get back into making more collaborative content, as that was the point of this meet up, but for now, it was just time to play. To spend time together, to cuddle, and giggle, and make far to much noise in the name of fun. To just be a family.

That was the specific feeling that came to Ranboo with this meet up. The comforting feeling that bubbled in his chest whenever he got a forehead kiss or his hair ruffled by Phil, or when he played babyish games with his friends when they regressed younger then him.

This was the thing that clouded his mind whenever he regressed with this group specifically, or when they were in the car, joking about anything and everything as they got closer and closer to their destination. A feeling that consistently made his life better, the feeling that brought a smile to his face everyday...

The Feeling of Family.

--

A/N: I really hope you liked that adorable mess of 4500 words! I appreciate reblogs and likes, but no matter what, thanks for reading to the end! Did you like the chaotic feeling that five littles/so many people brought into my fic? I kinda had to switch up my normal formulas to make room for so many characters, there's a reason I literally put three character to sleep halfway through the fic hjsikajsa. Did I write Phil well? I tried to portray how a caregiver w/so many littles would act somewhat realistically? Kind of overwhelmed but managing. Also, did you like me portraying ranboo as 'the angle little' of the group? idk I felt like it fit his personality in the scenario. If you reply with/send an ask/reblog with feedback, you can answer those questions, leave a request for something (whether it be in the universe father into the month-long meetup timeline I set up or just another fic), state your general opinions on the fic, or just leave a strand of emojis if words are hard. No matter what, it means a lot! I hope you all have a great day!!!!

[sunflowergirl522]

You Need To Remember Part 2

Pairing: Peter Maximoff x Reader

Summary: Your best friend Peter gets sucked into a different reality in front of you and you use your power to go after him. You find yourself in a new reality but you don’t remember how you got there.

Warnings: Language

Word Count: 1875

Masterlist Previous Part Next Part

While you go downstairs to see what the twins were up to, Peter stays on the bed, stirring in his thoughts. The more he thinks of his dream, the more he remembers, the more he starts to break out of the fog around his mind. And the more upset he gets that Wanda’s gotten into your head when you just wanted to help him. He rushes to confront his so-called twin before she can get back into his mind.

Meanwhile you head downstairs to see the twins playing video games in front of the couch. The house looks different and as much as that tickles something in the back of your head, it doesn’t seem out of place, it seems normal to wake up in an entirely new decade. You plop down behind the twins not bothering with getting anything to eat when you hear muffled arguing coming from upstairs. You and the twins share a look before they go back to playing their game. When it starts to glitch out and revert back to games from past decades they look at you as if you could fix it.

“We have to go.” As the twins run up yelling for their mom, Pietro appears next to you, pulling you up into his arms so he can hold onto your neck.

“What, why?” He speeds the two of you into an alley behind a group of houses before he lets go of you. You stumble a bit feeling a little ill from the motion, but you can’t help but feel as if you should be used to it by now. 

“Stay right here, I’ll grab us some clothes and when I come back I’ll explain, alright?”

“Yeah, alright. Are you okay? I heard you fighting with your sister.” He runs a hand through his hair thinking of how easy this would be if he could’ve gotten Wanda to release her hold on you, she was adamant that she wasn’t doing anything to you though.

“She’s not my sister, just stay right here. I’ll be back in just a minute.” He kisses your forehead, something the two of you would do back home when one of you was sick or worried, and places his hands on your shoulders. “I mean it, don’t go teleporting off somewhere.”

“Teleporting? Pietro what-” But he’s gone before you can finish speaking. What is he going on about? Of course Wanda’s his sister if she wasn’t why would you guys have come to this town. And teleporting? You? He knows you don’t have powers like he does.

True to his word Pietro’s back in just a minute now dressed in colorful clothes, a blue beanie resting atop his head. In his hands are clothes for you, which he holds out for you to take. The clothes consist of bell bottom jeans and a rainbow shirt that you’re sure will be tight on you. He turns around with a quick ‘get dressed’ after you take them from him.

“Right here, anyone can walk out and see me.”

“If you don’t hurry up and get dressed I’m gonna do it for you.”

“Can’t we just go back to the house, Pietro?” He sighs before turning around to face you.

“Peter. Sorry Y/n, but I’m sure you’ll forgive me.” And the next thing you know he’s tossing your pajamas into a trash can and you’re in the form fitting clothes. He whistles as he turns to look at you. “Damn Y/n you sure clean up nice.”

“Okay, now what?” Your hands go to your hips as you stand there impatiently.

“Right, do you remember what you said to me last night? About the school, about how we don’t belong here, about us.” All you can do is shake your head and as you’re about to ask him if he’s okay once more he speaks again. “C’mon you need to remember. There’s a presence in your head, yeah? I know you can feel it, feel her. You’ve always been good at fighting Jean out of that head of yours, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to fight Wanda out.”

“I don’t know what you want from me.” He’s right you can feel the presence but you don’t know how you’re supposed to get it out of your head.

“Just try, okay? Try for me.” You nod at him seeing the desperation in his eyes before shutting your own and trying to focus on getting whoever was in there out. You find the strength to push just enough to get the attention of the person in there and a glimpse of your actual life.

You again, I thought I told you to stop fighting? 

Get out of my head.

I thought you were happy with the life you got here. It’s so much better than longing after him from afar, with no happy ending in sight. She shows you the memories you have of watching Peter with Jubilee and the times he told you about a date he was on. Memories of Jean teasing you for being jealous and of nights that you would cry into her shoulder over how much you loved him.

You’re wrong, there’s always a happy ending. You force memories of the two of you hanging out and laughing together to the front of your mind. Memories of playing games and listening to music and taking care of each other when the other is feeling down. Even if he doesn’t feel the same.

When you open your eyes again you’ve succeeded in pushing her out and you’re back to being you again. “Peter?”

“Y/n? Are you back to being you?”

“Back and better than ever, baby! What do you have me in by the way?” You back up and fully take in your outfit that clung to your skin like glue. “Are these heeled sandals?”

“Yeah.” He rubs the back of his neck. “Sorry I just grabbed the first outfit I could. You look good though.”

“You have a point there. My ass looks great in these jeans. You couldn’t get me a pair of sunglasses or anything?” He’s in front of you dangling a pair of sunglasses on his finger. “Thanks, look at us looking like a pair of stoners.” You both laugh at your words before Peter gets serious again.

“What are you doing here? How did you even get here?”

“Well when your best friend disappears right in front of you what else are you gonna do other than follow the loser to a new reality. As for how I got here, I’m not sure, it hasn’t come back to me yet. What I do know is we’re both back to being ourselves and it’s not Wanda, at least she wasn’t the voice in my head.”

“Who is it then?”

“I don’t know, but we should go tell Wanda about it. You think stores around here have bubblegum?”

“One way to find out.” Peter smirks at you before grabbing you and dashing off.

***

When you get back to Wanda’s house she’s being escorted away by a neighbor leaving a familiar looking woman behind. Peter goes to follow Wanda but you hold onto his hand as you take off the sunglasses to get a better look at her.

“I think I know her.”

“How would you know her? She's never been here before.” But you knew that was wrong, how though.

“I just...do. You go on and see what’s going on with Wanda, I’m gonna figure out who mystery woman is.” 

“Be careful, Y/n.” 

“When am I not, Maximoff.” You smirk at him as you step back and teleport away. 

“All the damn time.” Peter mumbles to himself before heading in the direction Wanda went.

“Who are you?” The lady jumps at your sudden appearance in front of her. You’re chewing your gum obnoxiously and blow a bubble leaning on a car next to you. Her face scrunches up in confusion. “You don’t seem like you belong here.” You push the sunglasses up onto your head and something seems to click in hers.

“You! Did you ever find your friend?” She walks up to you as if you’re an ally she’s excited to find.

“Do I know you?”

“Oh, right, I’m Monica. I'm from the SWORD headquarters you showed up at at first.” You take her outstretched hand and the memory of you getting here hits you like a ton of bricks. 

The memory of you all but tearing your way into their reality after talking to the professor and Hank about if it was possible comes to mind. And then storming into the headquarters when the sight of him on the tv stopped you. The tension was high in there, even higher now that you showed up. The man who seemed to be in charge was just arguing with someone. At the sight of your angry appearance he spoke into his comms, something about guns. An alarm goes off, the red of it matching your anger at having your best friend stolen from you.

“Where is he?” You had asked the man in charge while pointing at the image of a laughing Peter.

“Who are you?” The woman, Monica asked you but you weren’t there for introductions. Men armed with guns start to flood into the room and you fling them back into the walls.

“Where. Is. He?” You take a few steps closer to her before the brunette behind her speaks.

“He’s in the hex.”

“What?” Your head whips over to look at her.

“One of our mighty heroes went rogue and is holding people hostage in her own reality.” You start to choke the man speaking without a care as you turn to face him.

“I wasn’t speaking to you, was I? Where is it?” You turn back around to face the brunette again. She just points out the window to respond to you.

“She’s controlling everything in there, she’ll control you too.” The man forces it out of his mouth, gaining your attention once more.

“And you’re not doing anything about it? You’re not working on getting him out?”

“We don’t know how.” Monica speaks again and you scoff, cracking your knuckles.

“Then I’ll do it.” With that you release your hold on the man's neck and all of his guards before teleporting to the static wall. You can feel the power coming from it as you reach out with your hand. You had mumbled a quick ‘I’m coming Pete’ before getting sucked in.

“Y/n.” You say as you shake Monica’s hand. “Sorry about choking out your boss.”

“He’s a dick he deserved it anyway.”

“Anyway,” you blow another bubble, “yeah, I found my friend and snapped him out of it. I should meet up with him anyway, you going after Wanda too?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go then.” You push the sunglasses back onto your face before following Monica. You watch her as she looks in windows and doors before opening up the cellar doors to unveil vines and a way into what seems to be a dungeon. 

“Snoopers gonna snoop.” Peter zips so he’s right next to her and you smile at his words while Monica looks at him shocked.

[yourfriendlyneighborhoodfanfics]

“The Real Life Mary Jane”

Tom Holland x y/n

Warnings: none, just a bunch of cute fluff. Might take this and run with it if you guys like it enough!

Tom was sitting on his laptop memorizing lines in his room when out of nowhere Harry came rushing in, seemingly out of breath. “Tom! Have you been on Instagram today?” Tom stared dumbfounded before his confusion escalated as Harrison came running in not long after. “Harry, did you show him?” Harry shook his head and jumped in front of Tom on the computer. As he began to protest, Harry shushed him, the urgency in his voice alarming Tom. “N-no, I haven’t been on Instagram, you know I try not to make a habit of it. What’s wrong?”

“Have you heard of Y/N L/N?” Harrison spoke up, grinning from ear to ear. Tom had heard of the up and coming pop star’s name, but he didn’t know anything about you. “Uh, yeah, I guess? Why?” Harry finished his search and stepped out of the way. It was one of your music videos. “What is this about mate, I need to be learning my lines-“

“Just shut up and watch it!” Harry shouted and the two boys huddled around Tom as he clicked the play button. The video started up, it was a catchy song and you looked super cute. He had never even seen you before, but you were more than he expected. However, he wasn’t really sure why he was watching it until Harry spoke up again. “Okay, now pay close attention…” in the video you were sitting on the floor wearing a Spider-Man t-shirt that was way too big for you, and nothing else. Tom smiled to himself, he thought you looked cute in it. “So, she likes Spider-Man?”

“That isn’t the half of it, hang on.” Harry reached over and clicked to another tab he already had pulled up with a different music video. In this one you were lighting your ‘exes’ car on fire, and as you danced around and sang, you grabbed a Spider-Man bumper sticker off the back and put it in your pocket to keep. Harry clicked another tab with another music video, one where you were singing a slower song and in it, you had multiple Amazing Spider-Man comics splayed out on your bed. One by one, Harry showed Tom video after video of you slowly expressing your love for Spider-Man. In some of the music videos it was less obvious, but in some it seemed to be the point. Either way, you had been able to sneak in something to do with Spider-Man into every single one of your videos. The last one Harry pulled up was one where you and a bunch of girls were making ice cream sundaes and you had a pink beanie on with the classic Mary Jane Spider-Man heart on the front.

Harrison kept lightly punching Tom’s shoulder in disbelief and Tom just stared forward. “The media is calling her the ‘real life Mary Jane’!” Harry nearly shouted, Tom switching between the tabs himself. “How have I never heard of her?”

“Well she just released the video with the t-shirt, and that seems to be what blew up overnight. The rest were subtle enough that nobody really put it together.” Harrison explained, grabbing Tom’s phone and looking up your Instagram handle. He handed it back to Tom, and sure enough there you were on the cover of Cosmo, wearing that same Spider-Man t-shirt and the same beanie, the headline reading “New Popstar is the Real Life Mary Jane” and you had a sucker hanging out of your mouth.

“What are you going to do?” Harry asked, expectantly. Tom stared at his phone, unsure of how to proceed. “I mean, do you think I should do something?” The boys stared at him, dumbfounded. “You have to, are you kidding me?” Harry shouted again, knocking Tom upside the head. Harrison added, “Mate she’s gorgeous, and she is being handed to you on a silver platter. This is a golden opportunity, you might as well, right?” Tom sat and thought for a moment before ushering the boys out. “I need a minute to think, okay?” He closed the door behind them and heard the two snickering from outside. “If he doesn’t do something, I will. I could be Peter Parker, right?” You heard Harry mumble and Tom just hollered, “Piss off!” And the two took off laughing.

Tom sat back down on his bed and pulled out his phone. He had been tagged by over 3,000 people to look at your post of the article cover. He must have been really distracted from his phone to not notice today, so he googled your name. As he was scrolling, he found a video of you dated a couple of months back, answering questions for an interview. “So, who would be your celebrity crush?” The interviewer asked. You paused and smiled at the floor before answering, “Well I guess I would have to say Tom Holland. He is about as close to Peter Parker as I will ever get!” You and the interviewer laughed, and he continued, “Yeah, you have said in the past that you are a fan of Spider-Man, when did that start?”

“Honestly, I have loved Spider-Man as long as I can remember. I grew up watching the movies, collecting the comics, tucked under the covers with a flashlight reading them every night.” You giggled again and the interviewer continued. “No kidding! So why not Tobey Maguire? Or Andrew Garfield?” Tom watched as you looked between the camera and the interviewer before landing on the camera. “Well, Tom was Stan Lee’s pick for Spider-Man so, I think that answers that!” The interviewer led the questions elsewhere, and you seemed to answer them all with ease. Tom did notice that you were blushed only when talking about him and that made him blush just as bright.

He pulled your Instagram back up and scrolled through your photos for a while. You seemed like a relatively normal girl, all your posts of new song releases or pictures of your dog. Finally, he clicked the follow button and opened his dms.

-

You were on set for your next music video release, busy getting your make up touched up when your phone kept buzzing in your pocket. You pulled it out, deciding that since you had a few minutes of spare time you would see what was going on. You tried not to spend too much time on your phone while you were on set, still trying to figure out the do’s and don’ts of the industry since you were so new. You glanced down as your phone screen lit up, and you almost dropped it. You tried to shout out to your best friend, but all the wind left your lungs and you just took off running. You called out to the director, “I am gonna need a five-minute break!” And kept running until you collided with your best friend, Grace. “Ow, y/n! What the hell?” You had no words, you just handed your phone to her and kept pinching yourself. “Holy shit. Holy shit!” Grace started shouting, seeing the notification.

Tom Holland (@tomholland2013) has started following you

You collapsed onto the couch and felt a shiver run down your spine. “Calm down! We figured this would happen eventually, right? You weren’t exactly being subtle, and with the new tabloids…” Grace sat next to you but fell silent after a moment. You figured she was just reading it again but after a minute of her not saying anything you looked up. “Well now what, Grace?” Her skin looked pale and she was trying to suppress a smile. “Now, you answer this.”

She handed your phone back to you and you read the dm, and then you read it again, and then you read it out loud because that had to make it real right?

“Do you prefer going by Y/N or Mary Jane?”

You couldn’t describe the feeling coursing through your body, and Grace held onto you to keep you stable. “What are you going to say, girl?” You shook your head for a moment before saying, “I have no idea.” And attempted to type out a response four different times, with feedback from your manager and Grace of course, before landing on, “Usually Y/N, but it’s never too late to pick up a new nickname. How are you?”

You felt like it wasn’t perfect, but it was the best you could come up with in the moment and you sent it. A few minutes passed of you erratically checking your phone before he responded, “I’m doing well, thanks. I was just reading up on this article I found today. Some very interesting things in there. I didn’t know I had such a huge fan.”

You smiled and answered, “I’m sure you have a million fans that love you, I just get to have a voice to talk about it!”

Several minutes passed without a response and you sighed. “Was that too flippant? I just didn’t want to seem like a crazy person or an over obsessed fan.” You asked Grace, who shook her head. “It was fine sweetie, I’m sure he just got caught up doing something.” You nodded, unsure of her reply as the director poked his head in, clearly pissed that you took off. “Can we please get back to filming?” You jumped up, apologizing profusely and followed him back to the set. After about an hour of filming dance scenes and close ups, you were done for the day. You thanked the director and apologized again for leaving him waiting before returning to your dressing room. There you found your phone unattended, and you opened it again to find two missed dms.

“You wouldn’t want to grab dinner sometime this week, would you?”

“Sorry, I hope that wasn’t too forward. If you aren’t interested, I totally understand.”

You could have thrown up right there. You probably would have if you weren’t wearing your new Spider-Man sneakers that you would avoid ever getting dirty. It gave you an idea.

-

Tom checked his phone repeatedly for the next hour, concerned he pushed it too far. “What if it’s a marketing scheme?” He asked his brother who shook his head. “It’s not, Tom. She is probably just busy-“ A notification going off on Tom’s phone brought them all back to reality as he pulled it out and read the message out loud.

“Sorry for the delay, I was caught up filming.” Followed by a picture of what appeared to be Spider-Man themed tennis shoes. A few seconds later another message popped up, “I would love to get dinner with you. How does Thursday sound?” Tom threw his fist in the air triumphantly before texting you back. He couldn’t wait to meet you, and you two spent the rest of the night planning your dinner. Harry stood up and patted Tom on the back saying, “I can just hear the tabloids now. ‘Extra! Extra! Read all about it!’” They both laughed and Tom shoved him playfully before he returned to his phone. Today turned out much different than either of you expected, but Tom felt like he had something really good on his hands. A notification popped on his phone from Jon Watts, the director of the Spider-Man movies.

“Hey kid, I need you to reach out to Y/N L/N. We want to get her to make a song for SM3.”

“No worries, way ahead of you.”

[bunnys-beetlejuice-blog]

airhorn sounds in your ear as you try to sleep ITS FIC TIME, CHILDREN

His father’s first reaction is, predictably, nervous. They’re sitting in the living room as a family, all sort of hanging out, but doing their own thing. Hoarders is passively playing, Lydia is tucked under the couch with a book and flashlight, Emily is in the corner with her laptop, and BJ and Charles are each sitting on opposite ends of the couch, going through their phones. He gets a very sweet text from Adam, showing that the other teen has put the photo Lydia took of them in a frame, and he grins, and holds the device to his chest, feeling giddy and flustered. His dad notices. “What’s got you in such a good mood?” Charles smiles, and BJ figures this is as good a time as any. “I got a text from my boyfriend.” Charles stares. From her chair in the corner, Emily’s typing slows, and then stops, as her brain catches up with that sentence. His phone pings again, and he looks back down at a message from Barbara, then back to his parents. “And my girlfriend.” Emily closes her computer. Her smile is enormous. “Shut up.” “No, seriously!” he grins back at his mother, and then notes the color Charles is going. “Adam and Barbara?” Emily asks, knowingly, and he nods. “We made it official yesterday. I took em to th’ Smallpox Hospital.” “Awww! That’s so romantic!” “You’re dating?” Charles finally finds words. “Unclench your everything, dad, jeezus.” “It’s just… do you think that’s a good idea?” “I think it’s a great idea,” BJ says, a little defensive. “What, I’m not allowed to date? M’too weird for it?” “That’s not what I meant, BJ,” Charles frowns. But he can tell it kind of is.

“Charles, honey, he’s sixteen. He’s going to date,” Emily says softly, and Charles looks back at her. “But two people at once? And they’re-” “They’re what, Chuck?” “Humans. They’re human, BJ.” “Holy shit, they are? Here I thought they were just really crappy demons.” “I just don’t know if you’ve thought this through. Wouldn’t you be happier dating another demon?” “I don’t know any other demons, dad,” he growls, temper flaring. “Unless you want me to date Sam, an’ look like a total creep, since he’s stuck at like, ten.” “Stop it, BJ.” “You stop it! Just be happy for me!” “I am.. Happy. For you.” BJ sits back, crosses his arms, and scowls. “Got a funny way of showin’ it.” His father stands, and takes to pacing. Christ. “We should lay out ground rules.” “Me an’ Adam an’ Barb did that already.” “No, I mean, house rules,” Charles says, rubbing at his beard. “Things you’re allowed to do, and not. Oh, god, first things first, I’m going to get you a box of condoms.” Betelgeuse feels himself flush, and then Lydia finally pipes up, sticking her head out from under the couch. “Gross.”

“You’re seriously blowin’ this out of proportion. We’ve barely held hands!” “I was a teenager. I remember how things escalate. The last thing we need is someone pregnant. Especially with whatever a human and a demon would make.” “Th’ anti-Christ, maybe,” he says, unhelpfully, and he sees the way his dad’s expression twists into further worry. “It was a joke! Oh my god!”

His mother, bless her, swoops in, just then. “BJ’s just told us good news,” she says, standing, and putting a hand on Charles’ arm, which stops his pacing. “I need you to reassess how you’re making him feel, right now.” Charles looks from his wife to his son. BJ rubs at his nose, embarrassed and upset, and probably purple, and he sees his father make a choice. “BJ, I’m sorry,” Charles comes over, hesitantly reaches down, and Betelgeuse responds by throwing his arms around his dad. Chuck rubs his back. “Tell me about them,” he says, “and I promise to be cool. As cool as I can be, at least.”

That’s at least something. He can tell his dad is still worried, but he does listen, as Betelgeuse describes his two partners. “We spend a lotta time together,” he tells his father. “An’ they’re both goody two shoes. Seriously, they’re borin’, nice people.” “Tell us how you met them, BJ,” Emily smiles. He regales them with the story of Barbara and the flower, and then Adam in the library, and by the time he’s done, he’s back to feeling green, all smiles and excitement and stimming hands. It feels really, really good to not be alone.

Monday comes a day too soon, and he sort of misses the atmosphere of the library, because at lunch, he’s forced to pick up trash, with Honeywell watching him intently from a bench. The only consolation prize to this is the vice principal’s time is also being wasted. He doesn’t miss how a few kids walk by and intentionally throw things at his feet for him to pick up. They don’t get away with it, though, because either they trip and find their shoelaces are mysteriously tied together, or for those unlucky ones without laces, they’ll find a snake in their lockers. The miserable part is, Adam and Barbara aren’t allowed to hang out with him while he’s working. They’d tried, and were told in no uncertain terms to leave him alone, leave him to his task, or they’d be sent to the other side of the campus to do the same thing. A little bit of punishment, he understands. But he draws the line at threatening Sexy and Babs. He’s absolutely plotting exactly how he’s going to ruin the overbearing adult’s day when he feels a strange sensation in his chest, like a slight tug. He pauses. It’s not a pain, not really, more like a pull away from himself, which doesn’t make any sense, but that’s what it is. He has to assume it’s another demon thing.

He glances at his watcher, who seems engrossed in paperwork.

Man, if only this guy would fuck off, he could be enjoying lunch with his friends- The pull away from himself is stronger, this time. He concentrates on it, and then remembers how physical the summoning of clones is, requiring a motion like he’s tossing something, and he gives that a try, this time, gently lobbing nothing at a student passing by. The kid looks surprised, and then goes rigid, and he thinks maybe he’s killed someone for the first time, but then the teen straightens up, and stands, stiff, facing him, and BJ feels mentally split, between two bodies. He raises his right hand. The student mirrors the action, eyes wide, confused. He lowers it, then kicks his leg out to the side, and again, he’s copied. Not copied.. Followed? The other student is like a marionette, and his mind is the strings, or something close to that. “Possession,” he grins, wickedly, and then he pulls himself back all to one body, and the kid falls on his ass, confused, and scrambles away.

Oh, he is so going to use this new power for evil.

“BJ Deetz! I don’t see this quad getting any cleaner!” Honeywell has looked up from his paperwork to find Betelgeuse standing there, grinning to himself, and the teen responds by spinning around, and throwing nothing at the overbearing authority figure. Honeywell also goes rigid, and BJ lifts his hands, directing the VP to stand, and the hapless adult does so. “Looks clean enough to me,” he mouths, and hears that sentence come out of Honeywell’s lips. “Clean enough to eat offa!” With a swiping motion, he forces the man to knock his own hardly touched lunch to the ground, and then BJ crouches low, and the adult follows, shoving his face into what was clearly leftovers from some night’s dinner, and coming back up with a mouthful of noodles and dirt. The big man’s eyes are wide. He’s scared, confused. It’s thrilling. With a hand motion, BJ forces the breather’s face back into the mess of food and dirt, and doesn’t let him up until the muffled cries become truly panicked. Possession out in public might be a bit too noticeable, though, because there’s a gathering group of kids watching what the teacher is doing, their phones out, taking video, and he doesn’t need them connecting his own strange movements back to Honeywell’s. He makes a final hand motion, releasing the adult, and shoves his hands in his pockets, just in time for Adam and Barbara to appear as faces in the crowd. Honeywell, freed, sits up, coughing and sputtering, and looking horrified. “What the heck happened?” Adam asks, and BJ shrugs. “He started throwin’ a fit, outta no where,” he lies, but he feels the vice principal watching him, staring up from the dirt, where he’s still sat, dazed. He gives the adult a grin. “Totally fuckin’ weird.”

The rest of his lunch period is freed up, suddenly, as Honeywell goes to clean himself off in the men’s room.

This fun new ability requires further testing, but not right now, now when Adam and Barbara are around. Soon, though. Very soon. “I’m really bummed we can’t be in the library anymore. I tried to pop in to grab something this morning and the librarian chased me out.” Adam looks genuinely sad, at that, which startles BJ out of his downright vicious thoughts. “By the way,” Adam adds, “They put up the casting sheet today. Want to guess who got that dentist part?” Barbara is grinning wide. “Me?” he croaks. A few other kids tried for it.. He didn’t think he’d get picked, honestly, thought that maybe someone more likable, or more friendly, would be chosen over him, but Barbara squishes his cheeks in her hands. “You!” she cheers, and he blushes. “You’re going to be amazing! But that means,” she tells him, suddenly serious, “-that you have to actually try.” He nods, as much as he can, her hands still on either side of his face. “Effort,” he grunts. “Got it.” She leans forward and kisses the tip of his nose. He scrambles to throw his hood over his head, and cinches it closed, knowing for a fact he’s gone pink from the tips of his hair down to the roots. “BJ?” Barbara giggles, as he peers out at her from his hood. “Should I not do that?” “NO! No, no, I, uh, just.. Warn a guy, next time.”

He hadn’t thought through the logistics of this, clearly, because he can’t be scrambling away from them every time one of them kisses him, just because his stupid hair won’t behave itself. God, he’s going to have to start wearing a beanie, or something, until he can get this color thing under control. Annoyingly, his dad was right. He really hadn’t given this much thought, beyond, Adam and Barbara pretty, wanna kiss them. Now he’s got to work out the logistics of how he’s going to actually achieve that goal, without basically, for lack of a better word, outing himself. He doesn’t want to think that something like what happened with Kevin could happen again, but he hadn’t really seen that situation coming, and it had ended about as poorly as a budding romance can, with parental murder. So yeah, he’s not exactly confident he can trust them with this secret. Better to keep it to himself, play his cards close to the chest, not let them all the way in. That’s safest for all of them. Good plan, BJ, he thinks to himself, watching Barbara dust wood shavings out of Adam’s hair, a leftover byproduct of his shop class. No one gets hurt. No one has to know anything. He can keep playing human with his cute new partners for as long as they’ll let him.

Stretching before him, suddenly, he foresees a lifetime, several lifetimes actually, given the span of existence for a demon, lifetimes full of deceit and lies and partners who age without him, and it all makes him very tired, and sad. This is going to be how it is, he realizes. He’s going to pretend and mimic and do his best to fit himself into a template that he wasn’t made for, and he’s presumably going to be doing it forever, maybe until the minute the last human takes their last breath, because playing human is as close as he can get. It's easier to play pretend, throw a glamour on and act along, than to be himself and risk the pain and rejection, or the truth that maybe his worth is tied into what he can do, not who he is. It all leaves him dizzy, this sudden moment of unwanted clarity. He pushes it down, far down at it can go, to somewhere deep in his chest, and tries to come back to this moment, right now, because his boyfriend is looking at him. “You going to stay in that hood all day, shy guy?” Adam smiles, and BJ peels the hood back, and runs a hand through the mop of green mess that passes for his hair, and smiles, like he didn’t just have a mini existential crisis in the middle of a Monday afternoon. “What do you guys do for lunch when you’re not being wooed by an errant library assistant?” Betelgeuse forces an extra bit of pep that he doesn’t feel into his voice, and Barbara brightens. “You can come meet my friends!” She says, and he lets her lead him by the hand, across the quad, a corpse playing pretend at being alive, holding hands with the living.

They find Barbara’s friends at the lunch tables. He’s never sat over here, never really had reason to be over here at all, actually, because each table is always claimed by a friend group, and he’s never felt welcome enough to try and squeeze in with any of them. But he sort of has a group now, he supposes. If three can be a crowd, it can be a group. He does feel eyes on him as he’s directed on where to sit by Barbara, other kids at other tables watching him, maybe confused on how he’s ingratiated himself enough to actually have a place to sit. Barbara arranges where they sit, seemingly very intentionally, with herself between Betelgeuse and Adam, and Allison and Blair on the other side of the table, and they begin eating. The air is a little tense. He picks at his lunch, leftovers Charles packed for him. It smells amazing, but he doesn’t want to scarf it all down, not when he’s feeling watched, the way he is. And he is being watched, very intently so, by Barbara’s friends, who are apparently also Adam’s friends. Everyone but him seems to know so many other people. It’s almost insane, like, how do they keep them all straight? He’s only vaguely aware of which one of these similar white girls is Blair, because he’s spoken to her, at least once. Allison might as well be a balloon with a face painted on it. “So,” Blair puts down her fork. She’s eating a dry salad with little chunks of chicken in it, low carb, low cal. He’d be worried for her health if he gave a shit. “So,” he copies her instinctively, tilting her head the same way she does, holding his hands in front of himself in a mirror of her own movements. Barbara catches what he’s doing, and gives his arm a gentle pinch. “Is this for real?” Blair isn’t asking him, she’s looking between Adam and Barbara, who are both looking a little surprised at the sudden question. “What do you mean?” Adam asks, unsure, and Blair gestures between the three of them. “This whole.. This! When Barbara said she suddenly had two boyfriends, I had to check my calendar, make sure it wasn’t April Fool’s. And then it turns out to be you and..” Her eyes fall back on Betelgeuse. “Him. You, Adam, I get. You and Barbara together, that makes sense. But, like, BJ?” “Sure, if you’re offerin’,” he says, and Blair makes a face. Go on over to Ao3 to read the rest!! There's more waiting for your hungry eyes over there

[captaincartervalues]

My Stubborn Alien (for the fic title thing)

“Jus truuusst me, Lena thi- thisis a greaaat idea!” Kara empathically waves her hands.

“Kara, you’re drunk and this is most definitely not a good idea.” Lena replies matter of factly.

“Imnot drunk. Yooou’re drunk.”

Lena shakes her head at her girlfriend in exasperation.

“N Ssure it is! S’its what the peeople want. ANd it’s gunna be gREAt for ma image! No more ‘Oh Supergirl’s sooo uptight’ or ‘Oh Supergirl is toooo muchofa goodie tooshoes’ or ‘out of touch with the people’!” Kara airquotes.

Lena raises her eyebrows and tries to conceal her smirk.

“Imma be hip! Imma be wit da people, LenAa!” Kara reaches out to boop Lena’s nose as she’s making her last point. “Supergirl is CoOl Ssupergurl is sFun! Thhiss is gonna show everyone that. Okay? Okay.”

“Does this have something to do with the article Andrea had William publish this week?” Lena asks gently.

“NooOoo.”

“So this has nothing to do with her saying Supergirl isn’t the kind of hero you wanna have a drink with?” Lena presses.

“Uhh noo.” Kara insists defiantly. “It’s about the gAys!” Kara comes up with.

“What?” Lena laughs out.

“Nia said Tiktok is on the rage and the gays love it! And I wannabe something the gays love toooo” Kara points out.

“Darling, I’m pretty sure the gays already love you...”

“Yeeaaaahh BUT do they knooow I love them back?! Isdunno... Isss why I need Tikstok!” Kara exclaims as if her reasoning is flawless.

Lena looks at the innocent face on her drunk girlfriend and knows they’re going to be in trouble tomorrow. “There’s no talking you out of this right now, is there?”

“NOpe!” Kara smiles triumphantly.

Lena sighs as she acquiesces “Fine.”

Kara jumps up and down with exuberance.

“But I’m not taking any of your complaints when you regret this tomorrow.”

———

Kara wakes up with a decent hangover, which wouldn’t be so bad, if she didn’t also wake up to an empty bed and no Lena to snuggle.

With a pouty face and her eyes half closed, Kara glacially shuffles out towards the kitchen and freshly made coffee. Although, she quickly realizes her and Lena aren’t alone this morning when she hears a whispered conversation.

“Alex? What are doing here so early?” Kara inquires as she excitedly spots the donuts her sister must have brought over.

“Oh you know just catching up with my future sister-in-law about how your night was.” Alex says sharply.

Kara brushes past the sister-in-law comment and looks skeptically at Alex as she eats her second donut. “It was fine. Pretty low key.” Kara says with her mouth full.

Alex scoffs “LOWkey?! Mmm and how much of it do you remember there, Kar?”

Kara looks to Lena with questioning eyes but Lena won’t quite look at her as she chuckles behind her coffee cup. “Most of it...I mean I don’t really remember going to bed once we got home but -”

Lena bursts out laughing at Kara’s unassuming admission.

“This isn’t funny, Lena.” Alex chastises.

“I mean it kind of is, Alex. Come on, it wasn’t that bad in the end” Lena argues.

Kara cuts Alex off before she can argue back “What wasn’t that bad?”

“Oh why don’t we just show you superstar!” Alex quips.

Lena takes pity on Kara’s still confused face and pats the seat on the couch next to her “You’re gonna want to sit down for this one, honey.”

Kara takes the offered seat as Lena hands her phone over to Kara after opening the Tiktok app. Kara’s mouth immediately drops when she sees herself in her Supergirl suit on the screen.

“Oh no!” Kara gasps.

“Oh YES.” Alex digs. “Go on, press play.”

Kara presses play and immediately regrets it as she watches herself stare back with ‘sexy’ eyes and lick her lips before lip syncing:

“I wanna put you in 7 positions for 70 minutes. You get it babe. You got a lot on your mind and I want to ease it up and lick it and slip it in. You do a light scream on the ice cream when I scoop it and dip it in.”

“Oh. My. Rao.” Kara groans as she presses pause to stop the video. “Why am I seducing the camera in my Supergirl suit?”

“That’s a great question, isn’t it Kara?” Alex jabs sarcastically. “Lena?”

“You said it was trendy and that the TikTok gays would appreciate it.” Lena offers.

“Why didn’t you stop me??” Kara whines.

“I tried!” Lena defends. “You told me it was homophobic and a hate crime not to post it!”

“I am never drinking Vahorian Rum again.” Kara says as she sinks into the couch.

“You said that last time.” Alex mocks.

Kara glares at her sister before attempting her patented optimism. “Okay, so I made a TikTok as Supergirl last night. At least it’s just this one video with only - um” Kara checks the phone “3.6 million views...”

Kara sighs, “It could be worse.”

Alex and Lena exchange a knowing look and Kara’s eyes go wide.

“I made MORE than one video?!?” Kara postures.

“Try like six.” Alex huffs disapprovingly.

“Oh Rao!”

“Weeelllll, she only posted six...” Lena adds.

“OH RAO!” Kara groans. “Show them all to me now.”

The three of them proceed to watch all of Kara’s drunkenly produced TikToks from the night before.

“Ayyyoooooo bisexual check!”

Kara doesn’t even know how she manages to roll the sleeves and pants of her supersuit but she watches herself do it before putting a beanie and chucks on, grabbing her ukele, and topping it off by replacing her cape with a bisexual flag.

“I don’t even have a bisexual flag!” Kara blurts.

“You do now.” Alex points to it draped over the dining table.

Kara looks at Lena baffled.

“You said it was ‘essential’, yelled ‘brb’, and came back with the flag and some candy before I could open my mouth.” Lena explains.

Kara sighs and scrolls to the next video.

“Ayyyoooooo everyone thinks my cousin is hot check!”

This video turns out to be just Kara rolling her eyes and shaking her head with embarrassment in front of a bunch of pictures of Kal in his Superman suit. Most of the comments on the video are either ‘well they ain’t wrong doe’ or ‘not as hot as you Supergirl’ and Kara isn’t sure which she hates more.

The next one starts with Kara and Lena standing next to and looking at each other with background music and the caption ‘whenever Lex tries to take over the world’ and ends with them not missing a beat as they turn towards the camera and lip sync:

“What kind of fuckery is this?”

“Okay this one is kind of funny.” Kara cautiously proclaims.

“Yeah I liked that one too.” Lena admits with a smile.

“Should have said ‘whenever Lex does anything’.” Alex corrects. They all burst out laughing at that.

With the mood slightly lightened, Kara scrolls to the next video.

“Ayyyoooooo jawline check!”

Kara is already cringing again as she anticipates watching herself show off her jawline but is surprised when the camera flips to Lena rolling her eyes as Kara’s hand turns her head to its profile to hype up her girlfriend’s impeccable jawline.

“I’m so sorry” Kara says sheepishly.

“It’s okay, babe.” Lena reassures her as she presses a quick kiss to Kara’s lips.

“I mean...Lena’s jawline was made for this trend sooo...” Alex concedes.

Lena rolls her eyes again as Kara shrugs, “She’s not wrong, babe.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just watch the last one you posted because it’s Alex’s and mine’s favorite.” Lena says as she and Alex laugh in anticipation.

“Oh no.” Kara sighs before scrolling.

Music plays as she watches stock images of Superman, the Flash, and the Arrow pop up before Kara appears and lip syncs the last line with a cocky grin:

“These boys ain’t shit.”

“Oh my - Lena! How could you let me post theeeese?” Kara tries again.

“Listen,” Lena starts “you’re very stubborn when you’re drunk and it took everything I had to keep you from posting the other videos!”

“Do I even want to know?” Kara questions.

“I do!” Alex says taking a little too much enjoyment in Kara’s suffering.

Lena pulls out another phone.

“At least you guys were smart enough to use one of Supergirl’s burner phones and not your personal phones.” Alex says.

Lena tosses Alex a side eye. “Do I look stupid to you?” Lena asks rhetorically. “I also added extra layers of encryption to the app and the phone just in case.”

“Well I don’t know! You were stupid enough to fall in love with this idiot.” Alex mumbles as she points toward Kara.

“Normally I would be offended, but after last night, you might have a point.” Kara says.

Lena pulls up the the drafts she refused to let Kara post.

The first one is Kara floating with Lena in her arms in a bridal carry and the caption ‘when you save Lena Luthor from an attack’. Kara is looking at Lena before she turns to the camera and lip syncs:

“I think. You know. Where this about to go.”

Drunk Kara added some eyebrow raises and a wink before kissing Lena at the end.

“Okay it’s probably a really good thing you didn’t let me post this.” Kara admits.

“You think?!” Alex chastises.

Kara clicks on another video in the drafts to avoid Alex’s judgmental gaze.

This video is Kara and Lena standing in from of the camera facing each other as Kara lip syncs to her:

“You say we’re just friends....”

Kara smiles and pans to the camera. “But friends don’t know the way you taste.”

Kara smirks as Lena’s mouth drops and she goes to stop the recording immediately.

“OHkay I did not need to see that last one, Lena!” Alex complains.

“You asked for it.” Lena shrugs.

“She’s right. You did.” Kara backs up her girlfriend.

Alex glares at them both. “You two are lucky no one pieced together where you were or who you are!” Alex scolds as she points at Kara.

“I think it helped that Supergirl and I have a known working friendship.” Lena admits. “No one questioned why she was drunk and with me.”

“What has been the overall reaction to these?” Kara inquires.

“Honestly, it’s been mostly positive with most fans loving the content and an inside look at playful Supergirl.” Lena explains.

“Though there have been some critics questioning why a hero would get drunk at all with the responsibilities you have.” Alex levels. “And some negative responses from parents about the appropriateness of some of the content.”

Kara sighs resigned to the damage she has done.

“But. On the positive side, you were right!” Lena adds with encouragement.

Kara tilts her head quizzically.

“The gays LOVED it and they loved that they now definitively have a shot because you like girls!” Lena teases.

“Oh Rao! I can not believe Supergirl came out as bisexual on TikTok! Kate got an incredibly well written and thoughtful article on what it means to her and the world that Batwoman is gay and I got thirst traps! THIRST TRAPS!” Kara groans.

Alex shakes her head and Lena tries to hold back her laughter.

“I can’t believe you let me do this, Lena!”

“Hey, I told you it’s not my fault! You’re one stubborn alien when drunk.”

“But I’m your stubborn alien and you’re responsible for me.” Kara counters with a whine.

Lena sighs as she takes Kara into her arms. “You are my stubborn alien...with a drunken propensity for thirst traps.”

———

Kara embraces her drunken mistakes and utilizes her newly created TikTok fame to connect with the people and kids of National City on a more human level. She does PSAs and educational material in her videos as well as more lighthearted fun ones that people love.

She also managed to convince her superfriends to be in videos with her. The most liked videos on her page are the ‘flip the switch’ videos she’s done with the other heroes where the light goes off and they swap costumes. It started with Dreamer when Nia told her about it and convinced her to do it. Then Kara got Barry to do one (pretty easily) and then Sara, Killer Frost, J’onn, Mia, Constantine, and even Kate (after a lot of convincing). She also roped Kal into doing one with her old suit so he ended up in a skirt. That one is definitely her fav.

Generally, Supergirl’s official account has veered aware from making any more thirst traps, but that doesn’t seem stop other creators from making raunchy thirst traps about Supergirl.

Though, after some time and much convincing from Lena, Kara releases the last video in her drafts from that first drunken night.

“They say drunk words are sober thoughts” a sober Supergirl says as she shrugs and the video cuts to the clip of her drunk sprawled out upside down on the couch “Women are just like...sooooo HOT”

A lot of women liked that post.

[omgitscharlie]

𝖕𝖗 𝖚𝖓𝖇𝖔𝖝𝖎𝖓𝖌

ɪɴᴜᴋᴀɢ | ʜɪᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪᴋᴇ ʙᴜᴛᴛᴏɴ ᴜɴɪᴠᴇʀꜱᴇ | ʀᴀᴛᴇᴅ ᴛ

@horriblehowl YOU WANT IT YOU GOT IT BAYBEEE. 

i have been working on this for lol too long but i’m HOWLING (get it) at what i just created. it’s an abomination in the best way. enjoy.

SUMMARY: Inuyasha helps Kagome open her PR boxes on camera and is astounded at what she receives. tagging:  @princessinume, @rightoveryonder, @digital-art-monster, @heathersmusings, @nectarine500, @biancam70, @keichanz, @mickisketch, @mamabearcat , @littlestuffstohide, @misteria247, @aizawa-slaysme, @preciouslyours, @clementinesgulag, @sailorbabydoll92, @trepidatingboarfetus, @karibookat, @liz8080, @chimichangadude, @kagometaishostory, @shinidamachu, @blairex, @bluejay785, @ruddcatha, @inuyashasimp, @bluehawaiicat, @caribmiko, @ghostinluke, @hnn-wnchstr , @horriblehowl, @lavendertwilight89, @anxietyaardvark, @i-dream-of-soup, @sistasecbhere, @neutronstarchild, @kaze-ranna, @bigjakenenergy, @holi-holy, @marak7, @its11-11, @pinkpigeonstudio, @ntkrrs, @mymidnightnightmare, @smmahamazing, @sailorlolo​

AO3 + FFN

“Please tell me this is the last of ‘em.”

How many times had they gone to and from her car, grabbing boxes and boxes of PR that they’d picked up from her PO box. Watching him carry many more boxes than herself towards the front of her apartment building, she let out a small giggle, knowing that he’d become used to this by now.

“Yup!” she chirped before following after him with the three boxes that she’d grabbed from the backseat. Kagome followed after him, managing to press the lock button on her key and hear the familiar beeps.

Taking their millionth trip up the elevator, Inuyasha adjusted some of the boxes he was holding with a grunt, “Some of these boxes are fuckin’ heavy, Kagome. What the hell is in here?” 

“I honestly have no idea. You know how some brands are. Remember when I showed you that box that had a small screen inside that played a video? They’re intense sometimes.” It seemed as though brands were trying to up the ante these days, making their PR more elaborate and opulent. A waste was what Kagome called it. She’d asked some brands to just send their products in a simple box, nothing else. Some complied and others seemed to have missed the memo.

Hearing the ding, the doors opened and Kagome walked out first, knowing she would need to open the door and let him in. As much as she would find it easier to just leave the door unlocked, she knew there was already thousands of dollars worth of product inside that people could easily steal. 

Holding the door open, she watched her boyfriend carry the last of the boxes in before kicking the door shut behind her. Kicking off her shoes, she followed Inuyasha to the living room, where they’d been stacking the boxes in front of the couch. It was too crowded to open boxes in her studio and Inuyasha didn’t feel comfortable filming in his home, so Kagome opted for the living room. 

Typically, Kagome would film while Inuyasha did some work in her bedroom, but today she’d roped him into coming on camera with her and participate in a PR unboxing haul, “Thank you for carrying those boxes up, babe,” she praised, watching as he carefully stacked the boxes on top of one another.

“Yeah well, if I didn’t do it, you’da been doin’ this all day,” he countered in an attempt to deflect her thanks, an old habit that he’d yet to break. Placing the last box down, he placed his hands on his hips to marvel at his handiwork, “There. Done.”

“Looks great,” she complimented as she moved to stand beside him, gently maneuvering him so he faced her so she could get up on her tiptoes and wrap her arms around his neck. Easily, Inuyasha sank into her touch, wrapping his arms around her waist and happily letting her press a kiss to his lips. Allowing it to linger for a moment or two before pulling away, Kagome smiled up at the man that she’d been dating for the past year and a half, “I’m excited,” she stated honestly, not surprised by the perplexed expression on Inuyasha’s face.

“Why?”

“I like filming with you, is all,” stated as if it were obvious, she could see his cheeks flush as he averted his gaze, “My followers like it, too.”

“Keh. I ain’t interesting to watch,” he scoffed while feeling Kagome’s lips press to his jawline out of comfort. Turning his head back to her, he stole a kiss from her, unable to help himself. 

“Yes you are,” she murmured against his lips, still keeping her arms wrapped around his neck as she pulled away enough to find his gaze with her own, “You gunna take your hat off?” she knew it was a sensitive subject, and by the way he tensed in reaction to her question, Kagome understood that he wasn’t ready, “It’s okay. You don’t need to,” she reassured, unwrapping her arms and running them down the front of his chest as she lowered back onto her heels.

Inuyasha knew that Kagome loved his ears, she made that blatantly obvious whenever she could; rubbing them while they lay on the couch, teasing them with her lips if she wanted to get back at him for making her beg, and he knew if they were in public she would take every chance to touch them. Yes. Kagome was accepting and loving towards his appearance and what it meant, but he knew not everyone was like that. Hell, before Kagome, every person he showed them to found them strange. 

“Uh, yeah. Not yet,” or ever.

Nodding in understanding, she released herself from his grip and began making her way to her studio, “Gunna help me move the lights and camera?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he conceded, subconsciously adjusting the beanie on his head as he followed in after her.

They had to sit on the floor, the camera and her more portable lights set up in front of them on the other side of the coffee table. Adjusting the white balance, lighting and contrast, she finally settled on an image that suited her taste. All the while, her rather impatient boyfriend remained seated cross legged with his arms folded across his chest. Wearing a black henley with the first two buttons undone, it was easy to see the hint of fresh ink that began to sprawl over the entirety of his chest. 

“Okay, got it,” Kagome finally said, pressing record and moving to sit beside him before adjusting her light grey tank top topped by a thin black cardigan. 

“About time,” he murmured with the intent to only do so to himself, but soon saw Kagome shoot him a glare. 

“I need to make sure it’s in focus and properly balanced - this isn’t something we can just do over,” she explained in a rather scolding tone, only to see her boyfriend give her one of his infamous eyerolls. Not in the mood for his attitude, she smacked his arm with the back of her hand, looking up at him with her own scowl.

“Hey! Jesus. Can we just start?” He snapped, glowering down at her with a furrowed brow. Kagome continued to glare at him, Inuyasha unsure just what she wanted him to do and he wanted to figure it out soon; he could only handle that glare for so long.

“Apology kiss,” she demanded, keeping her face close to his while Inuyasha scoffed in faux inconvenience before leaning forward and pressing a kiss to her lips. It was short and sweet, rewarded with a bright smile on her face as she broke away, “Okay, we can start now.”

After a quick introduction to her channel, she let her followers know that Inuyasha would be helping her unbox PR, “As you can see we have...a wall of boxes that Inuyasha graciously carried up and stacked so well,” she stated with a soft giggle, looking to her boyfriend as he peered behind him with a grin, “Do you wanna choose the first one we open?” she asked, seeing his gaze flit towards hers and back to the boxes.

“Sure.”

As he gently gripped random boxes, trying to see which one was loose enough to grab without toppling the whole thing over, Kagome continued, staring back towards the camera as she did so, “As I always do with my PR unboxings, I’ll be putting things aside for a giveaway. All you gotta do is go to the link in the description and complete everything there to enter - the end date to enter will be there too.”

Grabbing a medium-sized box, he pulled it down without disturbing the structure behind them and placed it in his lap.

“Oh! Let me grab a knife,” Kagome stated while climbing to her feet and running to the kitchen. Inuyasha was about to tell her to not bother, but simply shrugged when he heard her patter around the kitchen. 

By the time she’d returned with the knife, holding it rather valiantly and proudly, the package was already sliced open, “Wait. What?” she asked, only to see Inuyasha lift his hand with a face full of disbelief towards her lack of realization that he had claws, “Oh!” she gave a slightly embarrassed laugh, “Right!” she waved her hand at him flippantly, as if she’d known the whole time. 

Shaking his head in bemusement, he looked down to the box and opened it, seeing a bunch of extra packaging before finding the products that lay beneath, “I don’t know what any of this is,” he stated bluntly as he pulled a few products out and held them out for her to take without looking at her so he could rummage around for more. Taking the products, she looked at one of the boxes and lit up with excitement.

“Oh! This is the new Milk Makeup™ foundation and primer. I’ve heard you guys tell me that you want me to review these so I’ll put those aside,” and she did just that, prepared to make two separate piles: one for the giveaway and one for her to keep. As soon as she’d put those products down, she saw Inuyasha holding out another handful for her to take. Taking those, she talked through what each product was until Inuyasha reached back to grab another box.

Opening it with his index finger, he pulled it open before scrunching his nose and turning his head away on the verge of coughing, “Fuckin’ hell. This box reeks,” he choked out before finally letting out a cough to try and get the taste out of the back of his throat. With his head turned away, he shoved the box into Kagome’s lap while lifting his tattooed arm to shove his mouth and nose into the crook of it.

“Are you okay?” she asked, somewhat amused by his visceral reaction, especially since she knew exactly was in the box, “I guess I should tell Bath and Body Works™ to not send any more candles,” she stated as she pulled out a three-wicked candle that supposedly was scented with sandalwood and pine, “Or I’ll just burn them when you’re not around.” 

“Like hell you are! Burnin’ ‘em would just make the whole apartment smell,” he countered, only to hear Kagome release an amused giggle. He wasn’t wrong, it would make it smell for at least a couple of days and would likely end up causing her to hold the same scent. As much as she adored burning a nicely scented candle, inconveniencing her boyfriend held precedent, especially if that as his reaction.

“Guess they’re going in the giveaway,” she stated before closing up the box and setting it as far away from Inuyasha as possible. Though the scent lingered, it was far away enough for the scent to not burn his nostrils and shoot down the back of his throat, “Can you grab that huge box by the end of the couch? I think that’s gunna take a while to go through,” she prompted, seeing Inuyasha climb to his feet with a nod.

Needing to slide the box into frame, it reached Kagome’s shoulders as she sat, “This one was heavy,” Inuyasha stated bluntly as he knelt down as used his claw to open it up. Leaning over, she could see a bunch of frosted bags inside and her brows furrowed, “Huh…” Inuyasha began before pulling out one of the bags and handing it to her. 

Adjusting the bag right-side up, she could see a logo that she couldn’t discern before sliding the bag open and peering inside, “Oh! I think that’s full of swimwear!” Kagome stated as she pulled the bright-red two piece from the bag as she listened to Inuyasha rummage around through the box, as if he was searching for something.

“I swear I saw it…” he muttered before feeling the poster board against his fingers, “Ah-ha!” Pulling the piece of paper from the box, he saw that it was a postcard with an image of white, sandy beaches and palm trees.

“What does it say?” 

“Uh,” Inuyasha flipped it over and stared at the words for a moment before finally reading it aloud, “Dear Kagome and Inuyasha, we are so excited to have you join our brand trip this summer. To make sure you’re prepared, here’s a big box of swimwear for the two of you to wear while enjoying the sandy beaches and crystal clear waters of Hawaii. We’ve also thrown in some new products that we think you’ll love. We’ll be seeing you soon. From, Trippin’ with Tarte™.” Inuyasha glanced towards the box before handing the card over to Kagome so she could look over it, “So, this whole box is just swimwear?”

“Hmm, no, I don’t think so,” she mused before getting on her knees herself and digging through the box, feeling something plastic at the bottom of it. Tugging on it, she made a sound of struggle before yanking it out and falling back on her ass with a yelp. A large, clear plastic weekender bag landed in her lap, filled with products - some new and some old. 

“You okay?” Inuyasha couldn’t help but ask, though it was obvious that she was fine, “That’s a lot of shit,” he added, seeing the bag filled at least half way with product. 

Kagome knew that she would need to do a lot of censorship in this video, as she normally did when Inuyasha came on camera with her. Though her main audience were people her age, there were still younger viewers that watched her and she was conscious of that. Yet, she didn’t want Inuyasha to try and censor himself while they were filming - she already knew she was asking a lot of him to even just be sitting in front of the camera in the first place.

“Yeah,” she replied, lifting the bag and inspecting it, “Wow, there’s so much in here. Thank you Tarte™. The bathing suits look great too. I’m gunna go through this bag later and see if there is anything that’ll go in the giveaway.” Placing the bag to the side, she watched as Inuyasha effortlessly lifted the box and slid it away on the wood floor. 

Peering behind him, he could hear Kagome ask if he could grab the bright red, medium sized box that was right smack dab in the middle of the stack, “That’s gunna bring the whole thing down, if I do; I guarantee it,” he challenged, letting his attention fall back to his girlfriend with a skeptical expression.

“I believe in you,” she chirped in deflection, offering him a cheeky smile as Inuyasha narrowed his gaze towards her. 

Muttering to himself, he began pulling at the box, placing his hand on the boxes above it in hopes that they wouldn’t fall over. The box itself was deceptively heavier than he’d originally thought it to be, dense and very obviously not holding makeup. The scent of silicone heavily coated the box, leaving him slightly confused as he yanked it out. 

For a moment he thought he was successful in his jenga move, but slowly the boxes started to tilt in their direction, “Oh shit!” he called out, while Kagome let out a shriek of surprise. Quickly, Inuyasha reached to grab Kagome and pull her against his chest while she held her own arms over her head in an attempt to keep any boxes from hitting her. Thankfully, most of them were relatively light, tumbling off Inuyasha back and onto the floor.

When it became clear that all of the ones that would fall, did, Inuyasha pulled from Kagome some, looking down at her with an unimpressed face fixed with a light dose of smugness, “Told ya.”

Kagome gave him a nervous laugh while looking up at him, “Oops,” she apologized while Inuyasha cut the tape of the box that’d been the cause of the avalanche. His eyes never left her face as he did so, that same unimpressed look on his own as he opened the box and reached inside. It was only when he grabbed another box (though much larger than any he’d grabbed before) that he looked away from her and towards whatever was in his hand.

Both of them froze at the realization of what it was, choking on their embarrassment and shock.

“What is this?” Inuyasha sputtered, turning his attention to Kagome and away from the rather high-tech looking pink dildo that he held in his hand.

Kagome’s face went beat red, catching his gaze with her own and trying hard not to laugh, “It’s-

“I know what it is!” 

That was it. Kagome couldn’t hold back her laughter, letting it erupt from her lungs as she loudly and playfully argued, “You asked!”

“Are companies sendin’ you sex toys now?!” He asked rather incredulously, gesturing to the box in his hand as Kagome kept up her fit of laughter. Wrapping her arms around her stomach, she continued her laughing fit as her boyfriend’s face fell back into one of lack of impression. 

When she finally managed to get herself under control, she wiped away the tears from her eyes while her laughter turned into small fits of giggles, “You done?” he asked flatly, seeing her nod as she reached out to grab the full box and dig out the card that she knew probably came along the product.

Finding it, she pulled it out and began to read it, “It’s from adamandeve.com,” she managed to say, though when she saw the next line, she couldn’t help but struggle to get the words out through laughter, “They,” a deep breath, “they gave me a p-promo code!” She fell back into a fit of laughter, leaning her head forward to rest it on Inuyasha’s shoulder. 

Out of everything she could have received, he had to admit, sex toys were very last one his list. Taking the card from Kagome’s hand, he read the print on the front of it, “Fifty percent off your first order if you use the code: KAGOME50. Are you serious?! They’re givin’ you a fuckin’ affiliate link?!”

Kagome was laughing so hard she was silent, mouth open and eyes closed tight as she kept leaning on him to keep herself from falling over. 

“Jesus Kagome. How old are you - twelve?”

“Your face!” she practically screamed, “I’m keeping all of this!”

“Like hell you are!” he scolded, only to see her nod in defiance, catching her breath with deep gasps as she straightened.

“I gotta let people know about the code,” she teased, both of them knowing full well that PR was never a guaranteed promotion. Peering down to the box, she opened it up a little more, “What else is in here, anyways?” she asked, sniffling as she wiped away a stray tear from the immense laughter she’d just partook in. Pulling out a ball gag, a butt plug and handcuffs, she could see the way her boyfriend side-eyed them. 

Tilting her head, she held up the box of cuffs with an inquisitive and playful expression, “Something interest you?” she asked, hearing her boyfriend give a dismissive scoff before folding his arms across his chest and averting his gaze, “That means yes.”

“Imma use that gag on you if you don’t shut your mouth,” he stated, flitting his gaze down to the box with the gag and back up to her face as he spoke.

“That a promise?” 

“Shut up,” he snapped back, though with a hint of a smile behind his tone, “We still got this pile of boxes to go through.”

“Since when do you care if we finish filming a video?” Kagome asked, pushing her index finger against the side of his arm. 

“Since you always make us get up and finish after we get distracted,” he rebutted, leaning closer to her to emphasize his point, arms still folded across his chest, “I’d rather just finish this so we don’t havta think about anythin’ else,” there was no seduction in his voice, no low husk or hint of arousal. It was matter of fact and, frankly, annoyed in nature, “Now can we move on?”

“Sounds like you got one of these up your ass,” she stated, holding up the butt plug with a cheeky grin on her face.

“Kagome, I swear t’god-” he warned, only to hear her giggle and feel her press a kiss to his cheek, dismantling any true anger or frustration he felt towards her.

Lifting her free hand, she coaxed his head to turn towards her, leaning forward to give a soft, small kiss to his lips before asking, “Can you pass me another box?”

[houseofsannae]

A Fistful of Munny - Extended End Notes

Notes for A Fistful of Munny that don’t fit within the character limit under the cut!

Please, read the fic before reading this post

           All right! Welcome to the extended notes, in which I go into excruciating detail over a bunch of stuff that doesn’t matter, because I like the sound of my own voice!

           Let’s start with some more broad stuff that didn’t make the exclusive end notes space. To do the Fistful of Dollars homage, I needed a place where I could have two villainous factions intersecting for Strelitzia to play against one another. After some brainstorming and asking for help from other people working on the Entwined in Trine Sorikai zine (and ultimately ignoring all their very good suggestions (Sorry, guys!)), I eventually realized that the Wasteland from Epic Mickey was a perfect place for this story, both in the sense of having mooks to destroy without Strels committing actual murder, and in the thematic sense of forgotten characters. There was just one issue.

           I hadn’t played Epic Mickey.

           And that is how I spent my summer, playing both Epic Mickey games. Both, because I was looking for a good location to set the story in in-world. Since the Wasteland is based on the Disney theme parks, I was hoping to find one based on Frontierland, their Western section. Such a location did exist – Disney Gulch – but only in the second game. Which meant I had to play Epic Mickey 2, as well. (The first one is a better game, but that’s not really the fault of the developers; they were not given the time they needed to make it as good as the first one. Here’s a video with trivia about the series that goes a little into the development.) I also needed to learn the Mad Doctor’s ultimate fate, since I wanted his Beetleworx/Blotworx to be one of the two villainous factions. In the game, depending on whether you chose the Paint (Paragon) or Thinner (Renegade) path, the Doc is either redeemed… or dead. Neither of which was helpful, so I had to invent.

           But let’s talk about characters and why I picked them in order. The short version for why these choices, at least on the Final Fantasy side, is set-up for later. Obviously I can’t go into detail why. Before that, let’s talk about the Beanie Baby.

           Chi is, as I hope you were able to guess, Strelitzia’s Chirithy. I’ve brought it up several times, but I personally do not like mascot characters. There are a few exceptions, but Chirithies are not one of them. Like I said, KHUx isn’t what happened in this AU, so you’ll have to wait for in-universe answers on why it’s a cat now. Out-of-universe reason is this was the only way I could make it palatable for myself. I arbitrarily decided on a gender for it because as a real cat, it would have a sex. Canonically Chirithies appear to be genderless, and in Japanese refer to themselves with the gender-neutral (but masculine-leaning) boku. I would’ve left Chi that way, save for the fact that he’s a completely normal cat now. (And before you ask, no, not every real cat that appears in KHΨ from this point on is a Chirithy.)

           As for Strelitzia herself, it’s hard for me to pick up a character’s voice when they’re… not voiced. Intonation and cadence do a lot for me mimicking the way a character talks, so it’s a bit more difficult when they don’t technically speak. I tried for a mix between Sora and Kairi, while still keeping her defining character traits of being shy, but also impulsive.

           You may notice that while she’s started remembering faces, if not names, the Player’s name and face still eludes her, despite her (canonical. Deal with it.) crush on them. There is a story reason for this, and will become clear once Luxu takes centre stage.

           The name “Jane” was chosen with more consideration than just “Jane Doe” being the standard name in (at least my corner of) the English-speaking world for a woman of unknown identity. See, the Man With No Name actually has three names. In A Fistful of Dollars, he is referred to (by one character in one scene, once) as “Joe”. “Joan” might have been a more clear homage, but I figure Jane makes sense. And as you might guess, in the next fic, Strels will be going by a different name, still not her own. She’ll remember her name… eventually.

           One might think I could’ve picked any old Cid, and one would be wrong for reasons I can’t explain yet. In fact, I can’t explain much of anything surrounding him yet. What I can say is no, Cidney Aurum is not dead, she’s just not related to Cid Sophiar in this fic verse. An unfortunate consequence of where I wanted to put each of them in the narrative; making them not be related was the only way it made any sense, geographically speaking.

           Hyperion on the other hand, I can talk about. He’s one of the Gremlins in Epic Mickey, and… wait, first things first. Gremlins are from an abandoned Disney film based on a Roald Dahl book, itself based on the cryptids that supposedly haunted airplanes and caused them to malfunction, the earliest known written-down mention of the concept being from the 1920s. The film never got made, but the designs Disney would have used were adapted into a second printing of Dahl’s book, and they were later used in Epic Mickey. Hyperion is, like the publishing imprint that Disney owns, named after a street that Walt Disney used to live on. In-game, Hyperion is in Bog Easy (based on the Haunted Mansion), not Disney Gulch, but his name stuck out to me as being particularly fun, so I picked him instead of trying to figure out what Gremlins actually are in the Gulch (they have names in the files of Epic Mickey 2, but not in the actual game, so it would have been a hunt).

           Regardless of where the setting ended up, for the second villainous faction, I was always going to plop down the good old Don. More things I can’t talk about. For everything FF7, know that I’m always going to be pulling from a mix of the original game, Remake, and Machinabridged. Hence, Corneo’s outfit is a mix of his original and Remake designs (which basically just means he’s wearing blue jeans instead of brown). I didn’t think bringing in his three lieutenants from Remake was necessary, especially since this was supposed to be a kind-of small operation.

           Leslie is picked up and dropped from Remake pretty much unchanged. I needed someone to do the murders Strels couldn’t, and even if he’s not a complete asshole, he’s still mostly an asshole. Have we ever seen small, Materia-like balls used to cast magic before…?

           Onto the fun bits, which is the Disney characters. We’ll start with Percy, who is from a Goofy short called “How to Ride a Horse”, from 1950. And that’s about it. The conceit in Wasteland is that all of the Toons there were basically actors, and they wound up in Wasteland if they were forgotten (that’s not exactly correct, but I’m generalizing). This is interesting, since two of the Toons in Epic Mickey are Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow, both of whom… are residents of Disney Town in Kingdom Hearts, having shown up in Birth by Sleep. So that’s an interesting continuity snarl that I’m going to just ignore.

           Persephone and Pluto, on the other hand, are from an earlier short called “The Goddess of Spring”, from 1934. It was one of the projects Disney tried as practice for Snow White. If you’re about to protest that his name should be Hades, not Pluto, then you’re going to need a time machine so you can tell them back in the 30s. The Goddess of Spring is a musical, in the sense that every single line is sung. Watch it for yourself. There’s a video with better quality floating around YouTube, but for some reason it’s the French dub. And that’s why both of them sing most of their lines. I tried matching the meter of their actual parts, but Persephone’s doesn’t actually follow a syllabic pattern that I could make out. I eventually gave up and just gave her the meter from the start of the short. Pluto’s was easier to manage (and more consistent).

           The skeletons are Disney veterans, presumably the same ones from “The Skeleton Dance” (1929), but more specifically they’re mimicking what they did in “The Mad Doctor” (1933), the first appearance of our other villain. They’re fun.

           The original Mad Doctor was supposedly named “Dr. XXX”, according to the name on his door. This was before the modern film rating system was put in place; it was a different time. In the original short, the Mad Doctor kidnaps Pluto (the dog) with the intent of cutting him in half and putting his front half on a chicken For Science!, and Mickey follows him to his castle to rescue the purloined pooch. The short wasn’t a musical in the same vein as “The Goddess of Spring”, but… the Mad Doctor’s only spoken lines were a song (aside from evil cackling). While I had already decided to do the “Toons that sang in their short can only communicate through song” with Persephone and Pluto before starting on Epic Mickey 2, I hilariously discovered that the game developers had done the exact same gag with the Mad Doctor, most of his lines in the game being sung. (In Epic Mickey there were no fully voiced lines, so he speaks as normally as anyone else does). Which made it easier to write his songs here, since I could just rewrite his songs from the game. I used to write alternate lyrics for songs back in high school, so this was an interesting trip back in time for me. They were stuck in my head for weeks afterwards, but it was worth it.

           I believe that’s everything for the characters. Let’s talk about Keyblades.

           It irks me that three people in KHUx have the same Keyblade. Ephemer, Skuld, and Strelitzia all have variations of Starlight. Now, in KHΨ, there is only one Starlight, and it belongs to Luxu, so I’m going to have to decide on different Keyblades for each of them. (Ephemer’s has already been decided, and I haven’t started brainstorming for Skuld yet. No I do not need suggestions, thank you). Pixie Petal bears a noted (by KHWiki) resemblance to one of Marluxia’s alternate scythes, so that tangential connection was enough for me. Both siblings have flower-themed Keyblades – it makes sense to me.

           You might notice a few disparities in the magic. These are on purpose, and will eventually make sense. And that’s all I can say on that at the moment. ;)

           Oh, yes, one important thing I probably should have said on the main notes: I’m not going for a realistic depiction of amnesia here. Anything I got right was entirely accidental, and I’m fairly certain there’s not much. There might be a story reason for why it works the way it does… and it might be the same reason why other people from KHUx have or had amnesia in the present day…

           You know what’s funny? Although Orcuses look more impressive than Invisibles, their stats in Days are actually worse. I’m fairly sure that this is because the only time we see an Orcus, it’s actually an illusion cast over Xion so that Roxas will fight her to the death. There are no other stats for them (according to KHWiki), since they’ve never been used elsewhere.

           A friendly reminder that Apprentice Xehanort invented the term “Heartless”, which was why Aqua didn’t know what to call them until Mickey told her. Thus, nobody from the era of the Keyblade War should know the term “Heartless” without being told by someone in present day. “Darkling” was the term they used instead. I’m fairly certain KHUx ignores the continuity on this (so why should we trust its continuity for anything else, hmm?)

           I think that covers everything! Or at least everything I’m willing to share at this point. If you’ve read this far, thank you! I appreciate your dedication! ^_^

[ficsinhistory]

Analysis and Theories - Cobra and Mongoose/Better off Fred -  Disney finally learned how to balance comedy, emotion and action!

Cobra and Mongoose

Hiro and Fred's friendship! It's as cute as these two are always so close, not least because, as was established in the first episode, if the gang were to leave it would be just them. So these tips are cool to see from how they are friends and rely on each other.

The fact that the video game is the same as "Pray Date"! And this time, Fred really won, different from last time! And bonus point for everyone, including Baymax, to have a headphone!

The snakes!! The fact how they attack Fred and how Heathcliff intervenes is so amazing and well animated!! And how sordid and deadly they are!

The poison! Since snakes are robots, they have to throw the poison to be absorbed into the skin. And this happens in real life, there are substances that do it! It was a great recurring joke!

When Hiro comes to help and Heathcliff leaves a cell phone with a dramatic message even though he's barely there!

All the message in question! That butler is so dramatic and I love it!

The fact that Heathcliff knew how to shuffle tracking signals, he was a spy, so well played! Aside from the fact that Hiro took this as a personal challenge to his genial intellect, I love my pompous and intelligent son!

The restaurant where the first battle took place! It's so beautiful and the aesthetics of south asia and how it has influences beyond the Japanese in the city. Because San Franscisco really is full of other cultures and San Fransokyo being part Japanese doesn't erase that. Which is very cool.

Cobra. That's it, that's the whole point.

I love this villain!!! Everything about her is perfect! She is menacing, fun, smart and, as the name says, acts and moves like a snake! Outside I loved the design! And the whole sequence of conversation before the fight was the best! She remembered Momakase, but you can see the difference from her!

Reference to Mary POpPins! Eclipse WHO?!

Heathcliff fighting!! He has a sword in his umbrella and fights masterfully, all this is perfect and from how Fred is with a vase on his head during the fight and is paralyzed again!

In real life, Mongoose are natural predators of cobras and have a layer of fur that makes them immune to poison. So, well drawn writers, well drawn.

Cobra analysis. Unlike Momakase who steals objects, Cobra works on stealing technologies to steal objects, which is a good differential the two thieves. And how Hiro takes offense at his neurotransmitter being stolen. Not least because the last time this happened, his brother was killed. He must not have good memories of it.

Heathcliff's past itself! This, for those who do not know, is a reference to Alfred who was a spy before serving the Wanne. And the fact that he has this whole story with Boss Awesome, and saved the life of said hero in a volcano and how snake should have died and in the end Heathcliff ended up as a butler is cool.

"Who took these pictures?""You have not changed since then?"Hiro Hamada asking the right questions!

Mention to Boss Awesome. Rip Stan Lee.

And he explains it through a spy pen. Carmen Sandiego fans Rise UP!!!

Farewell! How Heathcliff loves the family he works for and Fred, whom he must see as a nephew and he having to leave to preserve that same family is sad. And how he makes Fred swear not to go after him is also sad, because Heathcliff had to use one of the things Fred loves most to make sure he doesn't follow him. It shows how important Fred is and how he knows that because Fred cares so much, he can't risk it.

The memories of Fred and how Heathcliff was with him from the beginning are touching. Fred as chaotic as he is, he really cares about who he loves. And from how his family sometimes travels a lot, it implies that the only parental figure was the Butler. And Heathcliff has no family outside the Fredericks.

It's lil Fred! It's cute!

Cobra's encounter with Mongoose! Cobra had so many robots and how it was on the roofs with the lights in the cities! This avoids the confusion of having people in the middle of the fight, as preserving identity and gives the fight drama on the roof™ !

Fred coming and " breaking” the oath. Oh, the old technical detail of that was a copy! And how he didn't steal the spotlight, thanks to the snakes. That was Heathcliff's past after all.

The final fight!!! From how Heathcliff changed clothes in the best Magic Girl style, with an effect phrase and everything, and in the fight with the umbrella and the giant snake?! It was all for me! He looks good in white!

Hiro helping!!! And of how, in the end it was Heathcliff who arrested Cobra having the spotlight from start to finish! Perfect!

The scary smile joke! I think people too!

Cobra in my top 3 of non-main villains!!

Better off Fred

The beginning has the reference of “guys,guys,guys” from Big Hero 7 (if I don't), but less lively.

Fred being extra™ when heartbroken and having it right in sight!

Baymax can now be a surgeon. Tadashi worked very well.

Honey wanting to know more and Gogo just begging not to. A classic!! Honey Lemon being the mother of the group as always. And Gogo just not getting paid enough!

Flashback! I love how Fred met Olivia. It was very Fred and having someone who liked rare comics is very something that would happen.

I love Olivia! She is super cute and I understand why Fred fell in love with her. She is funny, cool and is actively a nerdy girl, without the vibe of ”no like the other girls", which I quite liked. She is feminine, but not conventionally feminine, reads comics and no one in every episode talks about it. She is actively a nerd, with beanies, colored hair but no one points out that she is the "stranger" for it or she demeans other girls for not being like her. She is a girl who likes rare comics and with a good attitude! Thank You Disney!

The nerd crush music! And the whole gang balloon sequence.

The rejection and what was led to it. They talk about family until culminating in her revealing herself to be a Mole. But, let's be honest, Fred can be pretty chaotic, but he had spine to call the girl he liked right away for a date. Maybe Hiro can ask for some advice.

"Since when have you been there?"The writers recognizing the absurdity of some jokes and out-of-nowhere pops adds 10 years to my lifespan!

Everyone saying listening to Mole was a bad idea! But Fred is in love so he top! Stupid in love, huh?

The music of the transformation sequence speak just that!

The gang in fancy clothes!!! This is not training!!! They look beautiful! And man, Honey looked good in that dress and Hiro kill in that suit. My son looked beautiful! And points bonûs for giving him a real formal costume.

Baymax tie!!!

The arrival of Fred, or rather, Frederique. And how Honey tried to warn him that being himself is the best approach.

Fredsorna. That's a word in canon in BH6. That's... I didn't expect it.

It was all just very shameful when Fred wasn't himself.

Olivia not being traditionally female again. She wears a dress, but it is simpler and instead of high heels, she wears a pair of sneakers. And nobody says anything! Not to mention that I would use.

Points to Disney for showing that behaviors like imposing themselves on someone, invading personal space and acting like the other had no choice is NOT attractive. The media has done this for years and show, mostly to a male group, that being aggressive while flirting is cool. So Disney show showing that this is scary is all I want. I'm glad Olivia dumped her ex, including.

Mole is unbearable!! This kid is evil pure and Fred really got down for it. He really liked Olivia and wanted to spend time with her and gremiling ruined it!!! Besides paying Bluff was only low, even for him.

Olivia listening to everything from afar. She didn't want to leave him badly, she just went... fool.

When Supersonic Stu and Sue appeared! They may be bad, but that Stu has more family support than a lot of people!

Some may find it strange that everyone only delivers their belongings, but we have to remember that without the police and Big Hero 6, most people are defenseless and in the end they are still villains. They can hurt.

Fred saving the day with Olivia's help and using references! That's style!!!

She taking off her glasses and being a lousy actress. I love it.

Fred being honest with Olivia. He explaining everything and being vulnerable and explaining everything is very cute and open, being the opposite of her ex. And from how Olivia understands it is very cool and how good that it all ended well for them with a meeting of giant monster movies.

And Mole stuck on a piano! Please less Mole on eps!

Olivia / Fred will be interesting!

Conclusions and theories:

Cobra's coming back! Maybe after Hiro since he led him to his overthrow? She's a very rancorous villain. And definitely behind Fred and Heathcliff! Anyway, Disney I want to see her again!!! Maybe along with Momakase or even Sirque, who is another tech thief.

Heathcliff! He was amazing!! Best unofficial uncle!

Olivia!! Another one that will appear again!! And now Hiro and Fred can talk about their girls officially! I loved her and want to know more about this girl and the relationship between her and Fred!! And with the rest of the gang!! She's just super cute and I want to know more in general.

I... kind of noticed a pattern here. As much as Karmi as Olivia has names based on nature, more specifically plants and has positive characteristics. Olivia makes reference to olive trees and the name means “friendly”, “beauty” and “kind”. Karmi means "orchard, garden”,  "my vineyard “and other things like” hardworking“,” golden “and even”, ”generous". It would seem that the love interests of these heroes are amazing and brave people with names of a similar nature. Interesting.

She and Karmi would get along very well, by the way. You know, two fangirls.

I like how the two episodes focus on the theme of the season that seems to be family. And this can yield interesting things.

I have this theory even that the episodes will start to have more plot and complement each other more when all the villains of the hexagons appear and then, the grand Big bad (or the villainous driving force of the season) will appear, complementing the NBB.

So far we have most of the villains, just missing Momakase, and along with them,story lines related, with the theme family, that will converge even more. The NBB and the sisters has the theme of Brotherly Love, along with Hiro's conflict with the separation of the gang established in the first episode, apart from what may be the push to the Big Bad that I believe to be Braggtech, brought in the first episode and that I think will be developed in the episodes ahead, in addition to the

Hardlight and the Super duo brought the romantic love of a family to both Hiro and Fred, with Harlight taking an extra line on what may be Karmi's rise as a heroine and how all these changes in her will affect her and Hiro's relationship. The Supers have a strong relationship with Fred and Olivia.

Cobra too, but she may have a more forward role more related to Braggtech, in my opinion.

Apart from the other villains that remained from the second season. Of course, not everything will be connected, but the main plots yes.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

[emptygoldstudio]

PSYCHONAUTS 2 THEORIES ABOUT PSI CADETS

!ATTENTION!

All theories can be far-fetched due to the small amount of information. All the pictures (except for Lizzie's drawing) are taken from the Internet and I DO NOT own them (except, again, Lizzie's drawing) The post is not trying to offend anyone. These are just the thoughts of a dedicated psi fan. And of course beware of spoilers)

Post where i explained cadets named

Let's start

Norma

Name meaning

Norma is a female name. A single instance of the name Norma is recorded 1203, where it perhaps derives from the Latin word norma, meaning "precept".

More recently Norma has been used as a female equivalent of the name Norman, meaning "Norseman".

<...> the name of the Germanic mythological Norns.

As you go deeper, you can see the mention of Norns:

The Norns in Norse mythology are female beings who rule the destiny of gods and men.

<...> there are many others who appear at a person's birth in order to determine his or her future. In the pre-Christian Norse societies, Norns were thought to have visited newborn children.There were both malevolent and benevolent Norns: the former caused all the malevolent and tragic events in the world while the latter were kind and protective goddesses.

Perhaps this is the essence of Norma as a character: her own destiny will be in her own hands, but until a certain moment she will not believe in it ... Or it's just female equivalent of the name Norman. Who knows how hard Double Fine Productions tried to lay down a secret meaning and did it try at all?

Appearance

Norma looks quite fashionable - in a floral blouse and a brown skirt with a wide belt. Perhaps she will become the "black sheep" character type and be a little bitchy. At least that's how I see her now.

Lil’ funny thing - for me Norma looks like a Frisk from Undertale

Sam

Name meaning

Short for Samuel, from the Biblical name Shemu'el, which means "God has heard", from the Hebrew shama, meaning "heard" and el, meaning "God".

Hebrew is the state language of Israel.

Appearance

Sam has some pretty unique clothes. If we attribute it to religious clothing, then we can say that he can be either a Jew or a Muslim.

Personally, I am more inclined to think that his clothes are similar to Jewish, if you take several outfits and mix them together. The only detail that seems odd to me is the hat. It's not black, it's brown. Therefore, there is a small chance that this is Muslim clothing with an ordinary black jacket and hat on top.

Lizzie

Name meaning

Lizzie is a short form of the name Elizabeth... That’s it. This is all I’ve got.

Appearance

Many punks dye their hair in bright, unnatural colors, comb and fix it with varnish, brilliantine or gel so that it stands up.

Punks also wear various attributes of rocker subcultures: wristbands, bracelets (mostly leather, with spikes, rivets and chains, etc.), and often make them themselves. Many punks get tattoos.

Okay, listen to me. I'm not a professional when it comes to punk culture, but just look at it. Tattoos, badges, the general dark blue color scheme is maintained in clothes, various bracelets and belts, a huge earring, a jacket made of raven feathers(?). If it's not punk, then I don't know who (write your opinion in the comments).

There is one detail that has always confused me about Lizzie. Her hair. They always seem to stretch up. And while I was looking for information about punks, it dawned on me.

Iroquois!

Lizzie has a mohawk, but she pulled on a hat to hide it? Or it's just her style. I do not know. But what I know for sure is that now I will not be able to discern the fact that she has a mohawk.

Morris

Name meaning

Origin from British, Irish or Germanic

Appearance

He is dressed in a neat suit. He may have a wealthy background, which would explain his appearance. But the most interesting thing is his ability. Morris sits in what I would call a wheelchair that is levitated. I will assume that Morris is disabled and cannot walk, which makes levitation the only way to his comfortable existence (Or he is simply too lazy to walk, which is unlikely). From the light bounced off the Gisu, it can be assumed that the color of his levitation ball is yellow or some other light color.

He also has a small notch on his nose. I don't know what it is.

An interesting thing was shown in one of the latest video updates, where Raz and Morris are on the same mission and are chasing something that looks like an octopus. Raz is currently jumping on platforms floating in the air. They are translucent and I will just assume that they are one of Morris's main abilities. In that case, considering how the colors are arranged in the Raz Levitation Ball, I would say that Morris has a yellow levitation ball with a blue border.

Gisu

Name meaning

A submission from California, U.S. says the name Gisu means "Tress, curl, or long hair of a woman" and is of Persian / Iranian origin.

A submission from Virginia, U.S. says the name Gisu means "Gift of god" and is of Indian (Sanskrit) origin.

Appearance

As a result, we have leads for three countries. If you look at the modern clothes of each country and compare them with what Gisu is wearing, it turns out that Iranian clothes look very similar.

I studied the issue as much as I could. Indeed, what covers her shoulders and head looks like a shawl or rusari. Therefore, I declare with full confidence that Gisu is from Iran.

Also, her hair matches the description of one of the meanings of the name:

"Tress, curl, or long hair of a woman"

In her hands you can see something like a skateboard. Maybe it's just a board that she uses like a hoverboard by using levitation.

Cassie

Name meaning

Cassandra means “to excel”, “to shine” and "prophetess".

In Greek Baby Names the meaning of the name Cassie is: Purity; unheeded prophetess.

Appearance

At the moment, Cassie is my favorite character, but also quite mysterious. In case you haven't noticed, in the last updates we were shown exactly her, and not other psi-cadets. And as you know, a regular character will not get as much attention as a key character. It is Cassie who comes out ahead of all the cadets in the scene from the trailer, and she is the focus of the scene.

Many have already guessed that the level made from the books is Cassie's consciousness. It is quite obvious - an abstruse looking girl with glasses, probably likes to read. And there are no other candidates for the role of the owner of the book consciousness yet. But it is about this level that the creators in one of the videos will say that everything was going to this, it is here that the words will sound:

But here's what put me on my guard, these words:

This means that they wanted at least one character to have purple skin. Now let's remember a key character with purple skin, almond-shaped eyes, dark hair, a triangular head, whose cheeks could become sunken over a long life; a character strong enough for his descendants to become some of the best and strongest to be able to become cadets at the Psychonauts' headquarters...

The answer is one

Maligula

Even without considering the weirdness of the game's style, you can see that Cassie and Maligula are quite similar. Just paint Maligula cheeks and you're done. And this gives more room for thought. If Cassie is a descendant of Maligula, what can she do at headquarters? She went there of her own free will, wanting to advance beyond the fortuneteller, which her family never did, or she is part of Galochio's conspiracy, because who will suspect a cadet teenage girl. Is she the mole that Raz is looking for? If that's the case, it's brilliant to hide out in the open.

Therefore, I believe that her ability is hydrokinesis, which is inherited. But because of the beanie and scarf, I'll assume that her ability could have evolved into cryokinesis - the ability to manipulate ice (at least I want to belive in this)

What do you think about all these theories about psi cadets? I would be interested to read.

[catlordewrites]

The Waif ~ Chapter Three

As an alien science experiment, she remembers nothing. Knows no one. With nowhere else to turn, Claudia must rely on the Doctor and his companions for help. She's mutating. The Doctor knows more than he's telling. But why does the Time Lord seem to hate her so much? Rated M.

Masterlist - Fanfiction.net - Ao3

Prologue - Previous Chapter - This Chapter

Chapter Three: The Mimic - Part One

Claudia woke up slowly from within her blanket cocoon. Twenty four hours earlier, she wouldn’t have believed it were possible, but now she was so warm and sleepy that it took her a minute to realize what had woken her. 

She jolted slightly when there was a knock at the door; three sharp raps, like Dinstral would on the glass of her small prison whenever he wanted her attention. The similarity made her heart drop. For a fraction of a second her still-dozy mind believed that the scientists had found her again. 

She brushed the thought away, writing it off as ridiculous, and called out, “Yes?”

Decidedly the exact opposite of Dinstral, Rose tentatively pushed her way inside. She was already dressed, but still rather hazy, like she hadn’t been up long enough to be fully awake. 

“Morning,” Rose greeted with a small smile. “I was gonna let you sleep, but the Doctor gets grumpy if we leave him on his own for too long. How do you feel about breakfast?”

Claudia’s stomach rumbled at the mention of food, but then clenched as her mind automatically went to the bland porridge that her diet had consisted of over the last few weeks. But she reckoned that normal people are more than slimy oatmeal. 

She nodded, trusting that Rose had something better in mind.

“Great. Get dressed and I’ll show you the kitchen.”

Claudia fumbled out of bed and made for the closet. She opened the dark purple door and gawked at the sight. Beyond was a massive walk-in closet, complete with a vanity. The entire room, wall to wall, was completely packed with clothes. 

There were dresses, jeans, coats, shorts, skirts, a series of undergarments, and more. There was even a smaller connecting room completely dedicated to a myriad of shoes - the purpose to many of them she couldn’t even begin to decipher. 

If this was a personal closet, Claudia couldn’t imagine what the main wardrobe was like. Surely there were more articles of clothing in this one room than she could ever wear in her entire life.

“You alright?” Rose called from the squashy orange couch, where she had sprawled out to wait. 

“Yeah,” Claudia squeaked. “But what do I wear?”

“Whatever you like.”

Claudia considered this. “But I don’t know what I like.”

Rose heaved a sigh. “Just look for somethin’ you think you like, and put it on. 

Claudia blinked at Rose. Then at the closet. Overwhelmed, but eager, she plunged into the depths.

~0~0~0~ . . ~0~0~0~

When Claudia tumbled out of the closet twenty minutes later, she was the living manifestation of her maximalist bedroom - had its style been based on a three year old that insisted on dressing itself. After so long in a cold, colorless environment, she positively adored anything bright and soft, and felt the need to hoard it all like a magpie.

Her short excursion into her personal wardrobe had been filled with her digging through the racks and shelves in search of color. At which point her finds were then separated into piles to be sorted by which colors she liked best. 

After a period of painful deliberation and significant indecision, she finally emerged wearing an avocado green jumper decorated with little red frogs under a chunky dandelion yellow cardigan, long rainbow socks over electric blue jeans, solid red trainers with sequins dotting across the toes, all topped off with a neon magenta beanie and matching gloves. 

Beaming with excitement, Claudia hardly registered the raised eyebrow Rose directed at her choice of style. 

“Blimey,” Rose snorted, struggling not to laugh outright in the face of the memory-less woman’s optimism. “That’s… uh… boisterous.”

Claudia wasn’t sure if this was a compliment or not, but chose to believe it was meant well. She grinned and tugged her hat down more securely on her head. 

“Right, then. Come on.” Rose paused in front of Claudia’s bathroom mirror, taking a moment to smear away a bit of the eye liner caked around her eye that was a smidge uneven.

Claudia made a mental note to ask Rose how makeup worked as she followed her through the maze of corridors that led to the kitchen.

The kitchen was large but homey. It contained the usual variety of items to cook with as well as a number of things that Claudia didn’t recognize. 

“How do you not get lost?” Claudia inquired as Rose made her way to a machine that appeared to be some sort of drink dispenser.

“You get used to it, I guess. She moves rooms around a lot, so you just sort of guess. Coffee or tea?” 

Claudia blanked. “Can you… pick for me?” 

Rose nodded and placed a mug beneath the dispenser. With the press of a few buttons, hot liquid was streaming into the mug. Claudia watched, transfixed, as the steam rolled off of it, curling into pretty shapes that swirled and danced like living creatures before dissolving into the air.

Rose settled down with two mugs and two plates of bacon and eggs. Claudia took a sip of her coffee, but grimaced at the taste. 

Rose grinned and indicated the dispenser. “Go add milk and sugar.”

Claudia hopped to her feet and pondered the machine. It looked complicated, but she found it to actually be fairly straightforward. Curious about her own preferences, Claudia spent more time toying with it than necessary, adding milk and sugar in miniscule amounts until enjoyable. 

Sipping at the now lukewarm liquid, she made her way back to the table. Her mouth watered at the collective smell of the bacon, eggs, and coffee. She picked up a fork and, with a certain amount of trepidation, scooped egg into her mouth.

Rose watched bemusedly as Claudia wolfed down the large plate of food at an alarming speed. 

“Blimey, you were hungry, weren’t ya?” The blonde commented as she took another sip from her own mug, which was filled with tea, quirking her eyebrows at the other woman over the rim of the mug.

Claudia just shrugged, unable to respond around her bacon and egg stuffed mouth. When it was gone, she glanced longingly at the food-dispenser machine. Not that she was still hungry - she was stuffed - but because she wanted to see what other things tasted like.

“You can mess about with that later,” Rose promised. “ The Doctor will be wondering where we got to. I’m surprised he hasn’t come looking for us yet.”

~0~0~0~ . . ~0~0~0~

The Doctor was standing at the console when they arrived, staring at the monitor with a serious expression. From over Rose’s shoulder, Claudia made out what appeared to be a black and white video, fuzzy, vague, and lacking any artistic quality. She thought that it might have been from a security camera, but the Doctor abruptly switched it off before she could get a proper look.

“What’re you watching?” Rose inquired, bounding over and leaning against the console beside him, close enough for their shoulders to brush.

“Nothing,” he said quickly. He yanked down a lever with a certain degree of flair, his previous severity melting like butter. “So, Rose Tyler, where to now? I was thinking maybe the moon of Tyink. Lots of lovely views. Oh! Or the United Republic of Snah. Those people there love a party. The Sun Festivals are the best across three galaxies. Mind you, better not go during the Snee era, never mind why…. or…”

Rose cast Claudia a glance. “Actually, Doctor, shouldn’t we be looking into that science ship from yesterday?”

“We took care of the science vessel,” the Doctor griped, keeping his eyes fixed on the switches he was fiddling with. 

“Yeah, but what about Claudia? Shouldn’t we be trying to figure out what happened with her memory?”

Claudia felt a rush of gratitude and looked to the Doctor expectantly.

“The blood sample didn’t reveal anything I didn’t already know,” the Doctor explained, as if doing so inconvenienced him greatly. “A buildup of mutagenic particles mixed with alien DNA. It’ll dissipate eventually. Give it a year or two and all the residual components should be completely gone.”

“What about my memories?” Claudia asked, quiet and hopeful.

“I don’t know,” the Doctor said in a flat voice, his emotions carefully concealed behind a mask. “I went back to Cardiff when you were sleeping. The Thalians dropped their test subjects all across the city, probably as some form of stimulus experiment to see how you would respond to stressful situations. That’s all.”

“What happened then?” Her heart was hammering in her chest. Her fingernails dug painfully into her palms. She barely noticed when Rose wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“You said that one of the test subjects displayed unchecked aggression,” he added, not bothering to look at her. “I’m willing to bet that it was a cascade neural degradation response to the treatments. Most likely you experienced something similar, but it manifested differently.” He paused. “Bit lucky, actually.”

Claudia pondered this for a moment. She certainly didn’t feel lucky. Words failed her. All she could do was stare at him, emptiness welling up inside her, reclaiming it’s hold on her soul.

“Can’t we figure out where she came from?” Rose pressed, fixing the Doctor with a reproachful glare.

“No real way to find out,” he sniffed. “Doubtful she’s from anywhere near Cardiff. Have you noticed her accent? Indistinct. Thalians are capable of traveling the vortex, so without her memories, there’s no way to narrow it down.”

“But there’s got to be something,” Rose hissed, casting Claudia a sideways glance. “Are you not even going to try?”

Claudia said nothing. She stood silently, staring at her glittery shoes without really seeing them. They'd made her feel so happy before, but now she felt nothing when the boisterous sparkles blurred as her eyes welled with tears. She wrapped her arms around herself in an imitation of a hug. She tried not to cry, she really did. But a single tear rolled down her cheek unbidden.

When she finally spoke, she did so quietly that her words could barely be heard over the hum of the engines. “What do I do now?” 

“Nothing, I suppose. That’s all there is to it.” The Doctor shrugged, going back to the console.

“Doctor!”

“Rose, leave it,” the Doctor snapped, his voice low and laden with warning. A hidden meaning lingered in his dark eyes, one that Claudia couldn’t begin to decipher but Rose took to heart. 

Rose blinked at him for a moment, but immediately dropped it, brimming with eager curiosity. 

“So, where to?” The Doctor repeated his earlier question, dropping the severity and attempting to take back on a cheerful facade. It almost worked. “Snah?”

“Actually, I was thinking about stopping by home,” Rose suggested, voice still tense from the previous exchange. 

“What for?” The Doctor scoffed, lip curling into a scowl. 

“Oi! Don’t start!” The corners of her mouth gave the slightest twitch, like it was an old joke. “I’ve got that Moeysian necklace for my mum, the one we got on Iria? I promised her a souvenir and I need to get it to her before I forget.”

The Doctor sighed wearily but began the sequence. Claudia remembered to grab onto the railing as the ship began to jolt violently, but didn’t really feel it. She was busy biting down her despair into bitter acceptance. 

When the TARDIS landed, she had steeled herself. Her emotions were locked down tight in a steel box. It left her feeling numb and grey, but it was better than the alternative.

“There. Earth. Powell Estate. 2007.” The Doctor looked up from the controls. “A couple months after we left.”

“Alright. You go on out. Just give me two ticks.” Rose hurried back into the corridor, presumably to retrieve the gift for her mother, leaving Claudia alone with the Doctor.

The Doctor sighed, shrugging on his light brown trench coat as he approached the doors leading to the outside world.

“Where’s the Powell Estate?” Claudia asked shyly, wiping her eyes on her sleeve as she followed him out into a grey parking lot. 

She surveyed the surrounding buildings curiously. And to be fair, everywhere was interesting after spending the majority of your conscious life locked in a glass case. 

The sun was out, it’s position suggesting that it was mid to late afternoon. The warm air and thick greenery on the nearby trees and shrubs she could spot through the gaps in the buildings told her it was spring. 

She took a deep breath, reveling in the earthy scent. 

“London,” The Doctor responded, leaving the door open for Rose and leaning against the side of the blue box. He cast her a glance and tugged at his ear awkwardly. “Do you… uh… know where that is?”

Claudia shook her head. The name meant as much to her as the other places they’d mentioned. Iria and Moeysian and Snah. She leaned beside him, careful to leave a few inches of space between them. 

The Doctor’s frown intensified. He studied her closely for a heartbeat before turning away once more, as if looking at her caused him physical pain. 

She couldn’t imagine why. Claudia looked down at her outfit. Maybe boisterous hadn’t been a compliment after all.

Suddenly self-conscious, she took off her gloves and stuffed them into her cardigan pocket.

“2007?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Rose said that your box travels in time.”

“Yep.”

“When am I from?”

The Doctor sighed through his nose. “The ship you were on was in October of 2007. Just a few months after where we are now. But like I said, the Thalians are capable of time travel, so you could be from anywhere.”

Claudia nodded, pushing back thoughts having to do with her past. “The scientists were Thalians?”

The Doctor nodded, staring resolutely at the graffiti sketched on the wall across the lot.

“And they’re aliens?”

“Yep,” he said, popping the ‘p’.

“And I’m human?”

The Doctor let out a breath that hissed through his teeth. “Yes.”

“Like Rose?”

“Like most everyone on Earth.”

“What about you?” The question had been nagging at the back of her mind, but she hadn’t gotten around to asking Rose yet. “Are you human or Thalian or…?”

“Time Lord,” he grunted. “Last of the Time Lords.”

“Last?” The Doctor tensed. Claudia noticed and decided not to ask about it anymore. “I’m sorry.”

“What is taking her so long?” He grumbled, mostly to himself, before leaning inside the door and calling, “Hurry up, will you?”

“Alright! No need to shout,” Rose’s voice drifted out, her clanging footsteps audible from outside the TARDIS as she stomped across the console room. When she emerged she didn’t hesitate to lead the way across the lot towards one of the buildings. 

They had nearly reached it when a dark skinned man dressed in blue coveralls came sprinting around the corner, panting like he’d run a fair distance.

“Look out, here comes trouble,” The Doctor grumbled, only half-playful.

“Rose!” The man shouted, a massive grin spreading across his face when he laid eyes on the blonde. 

Rose beamed back and he hurried to throw his arms around her shoulders to pull her into a bear hug. “Oh, I’ve missed you!”

The man released Rose and clapped the Doctor heartily on the shoulder. “I was in the shop but couldn’t get away.” He shrugged his shoulders sheepishly. “I was worried I’d miss you.”

“Time was, you’d hear the TARDIS and come running,” Rose teased, eyes narrowing impishly. 

“Well I did, didn’t I?” He protested, gesturing to his work clothes. “I was under a car. It took a minute.” His eyes drifted between the pair for a moment before they rested on Claudia, who had stayed back. He smiled warmly at her. “Don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Mickey, by the way.”

“Claudia.” Claudia shook his proffered hand with a small smile. He seemed nice, if not a bit dopey.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, nudging Claudia away from Mickey with his shoulder. “Come on then, go and see your mum. I don’t want to stay here all day.”

“Good luck with that, mate,” Mickey chuckled. “Jackie’s not about to let Rose be anywhere else. Not today, at least.”

“Why? What’s today?” The Doctor narrowed his eyes, trying to work out what he’d missed.

Mickey rolled his eyes like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I don’t know, maybe Rose’s birthday.”

“It’s the 27th?” Rose echoed, her wide eyes blinking in surprise. 

“Yeah” Mickey confirmed. “Your mum’s been worried that you wouldn’t turn up, especially since you missed your last one.”

“How old are you?” Claudia inquired, shuffling back from around the Doctor so she could be included in the conversation.

Rose frowned thoughtfully. “It’ll be my twentieth, I guess.” She shook her head to clear it. “Time’s funny on the TARDIS. I don’t really know if I’m older than twenty, or still younger.”

“Younger, technically,” the Doctor offered. “We missed a year, remember?”

“Yeah.” Rose frowned. “Does that make me nineteen, then?”

“Does it matter?” The Doctor complained. “You don’t exactly live linearly. Technically, it isn’t your birthday at all. Not to you, anyway.”

“But it is to her.” Mickey crooked his thumb in the direction of Jackie’s flat. “She’s been looking forward to it. She’s got presents and everything.”

“Fine,” the Doctor relented, albeit begrudgingly,  as if he were giving in to give the humans a treat. But looking at Rose’s determination and Mickey’s smug grin, Claudia could tell that the alien didn’t actually have much choice. “But just until tomorrow, you got that?”

“Whatever you say, boss,” Mickey smirked cheesily.

Together, the small group, headed by Rose and Mickey, who had launched into a deep conversation about what Rose had missed while she’d been traveling, made its way towards one of the buildings. 

Naturally, Claudia brought up the rear, lingering a couple yards behind the Doctor. Her first instinct was to walk side by side with him, as the small party was even numbered, but the Doctor had shoved his hands into his coat pockets and prowled stoically after the others with long strides that kept an intentional distance between himself and Claudia.

Instead of struggling to keep up, she resigned to his apparent distaste towards her and focused instead on placing one foot in front of the other, wiggling her toes within her comfortable new shoes and appreciating the barely audible clacks they made on the asphalt. 

Claudia's attention was diverted, however, when an uncomfortable tingling sensation itched its way up her spine. Her eyes darted away from her feet as she reevaluated her surroundings in a manner resembling a nervous cat. 

Outwardly, there was no significant change in the environment. Rose, Mickey, and the Doctor passed through the glass door without a hitch, though the resulting screech of the rusted hinges made Claudia flinch. 

The sensation somewhat passed as she herself entered the building, but through the glass pane she caught a glimpse of a man staring at her from across the lot. 

He was tall, that much was apparent. Almost too tall, in Claudia’s opinion. From what she could make out at a distance, he was bald. His face appeared to be almost comically wide and dimensionless, contrasting starkly with the long brown cloak that shrouded his entire form, covering everything from chin to feet. 

There was something odd about him, but she didn’t much care to find out what. In a series of small, rapid movements, Claudia closed the distance between herself and the group and flatly ignored the mildly irritated glance the Doctor gave her when she accidentally stepped on the back of his shoe on the way up the stairs.

When they got to the correct door, Rose let herself in without the slightest hesitation. “Mum?”

“Rose!” Rose’s mother, Jackie, a rotund woman with blonde hair similar to her daughter’s, poked her head out from a bedroom just off the side of the short hall. She beamed at the younger woman and immediately drew her into a hug. “Oh, I was just wondering when you’d turn up.” 

She released her from the hug and held her at arm's length.

“Four months,” she accused. “It’s been four months. You said ten bloody seconds. Not that I actually believed that, but four bleeding months.”

“I didn’t lie,” Rose scoffed, taken slightly aback by the confrontation. “It’s a time machine, we could’ve been back in ten seconds.”

“But you weren’t,” the older woman snipped back. “Instead you leave me sitting here… on my own... for months at a time. When it comes to that long, I start wondering if you’re going to come back at all.” 

Despite Jackie’s snide tone, the real emotions behind it were plain. She was lonely and worried for her daughter’s safety; terrified that one day Rose wouldn’t come back, and she’d be left with nothing.

Claudia felt a flicker of jealousy and longing, trying to imagine what it would be like to have someone worrying over her that way. For all she knew, there was. Someone could be waiting for her to come home.

But that almost made her feel worse.

“What’re you all still doing crowding my doorway?” Jackie scolded, redirecting her energy into something a little more friendly. “In or out. Hold on…” Claudia blushed slightly upon realizing that she was now at the center of the group’s attention. Jackie’s eyes were lighter than her daughter’s, more hazel than brown. In them was a maternal glint, coupled with an appraising air. “Who’re you, then?”

“That’s Claudia,” Rose answered for her. “She’s staying on the TARDIS for a bit.”

A bit? Claudia wondered. Where else would I go?

She shuddered at the thought and returned her attention to Jackie, who had wheeled around to confront the Doctor.

“Oh, snatched up another one, have you?” Jackie accused, hands on her hips. “Just like a man. One’s not enough, is it? You’ve just got to surround yourself with pretty young women. You might as well collect them.”

“Nice to see you, too, Jackie,” The Doctor snipped sarcastically as he moved around her to get into the sitting room. 

The Tyler residence was homey, if not on the small side. There were a few magazines laid to the side on the coffee table, full of celebrities and pop culture pieces. Claudia took a place on the edge of the couch and picked up one of the magazines, flipping through to see if anything seemed familiar.

Rose found a seat at the small dining table while Jackie immediately began bustling about making tea. The older woman didn’t stop talking for a moment, even while juggling multiple tea cups. Claudia immediately jumped back up to her feet and hopped into the kitchen to take a couple of the cups before Jackie could drop them.

“Anything I can do to help?” Claudia offered with a simple, kind smile. 

Jackie nodded and directed Claudia in pouring milk and distributing sugar while the Doctor plucked out one of the newspapers on the dinner table and flipped through it idly, opting to stay standing. 

Mickey naturally flopped down next to Rose. The young man produced the remote and switched on the tv, settling on a sports channel.

“... your birthday, though, Rose,” Jackie was bickering in her shrill voice. “I’ve got the shopping done an’ everything…”

“Really, mum. You shouldn’t have bothered…”

“I’ve got the cake in the fridge and the rest of the dinner’s ‘bout halfway finished…”

“Mum…”

“Now, I haven’t got any guests together yet. Not that I could, though, could I? What, with your track record… “

“Mum, we don’t need guests… “

“... it was lucky you turned up in the right decade. We could call Shareen, I suppose.” Jackie grimaced. “On second thought, best not. Doubt she’d come, anyhow.”

“Why not?” Rose inquired, blinking in mild alarm. “She’s my best mate.”

“Was, last I heard,” Jackie corrected, looking the slightest bit smug. “She got married, and you were nowhere to be found.”

“Married?” Rose echoed, voice hoarse with shock. “But… she can’t have.”

“Two months ago.”

“But she’s only…”

“Twenty.” The older woman fixed her daughter with a slightly disapproving glance. “She came around looking for you six months back. Wanted you as a bridesmaid. I told her that you were still off travelling but she wasn’t having it. ‘If she doesn’t want to be part of it, so be it’, she said...”

Rose stood blankly while her mother rattled on, flippantly dictating the destruction of the younger girl’s friendship. Claudia tried to keep her attention on an article about makeup, but she couldn’t help but see how Rose’s bottom lip trembled as she drew in a quivering breath.

It was a piteous sight, so much that Claudia was glad when the Doctor, who was oblivious to his blonde friend’s distress, interrupted. 

“What’s this about, then?” He inquired, holding up the newspaper he’d been looking through so it displayed an article about halfway through the paper.

The header read; Third Disappearance on the Powell Estate.

“Oh, that?” Jackie shrugged. “Yeah, word has it that a few people have gone missing. Police have no idea.”

“They’ve already passed by my place twice to ask questions,” Mickey complained. “A few drunk blokes go missing, and who do they turn to? The black guy.”

“Oh, come on Mickey,” Jackie scoffed. “They’re just on you because…”

“Because of all the times they questioned me back when Rose was missing,” Mickey said bitterly. “I almost lost my job, you know.”

The Doctor coughed to break the tense silence that followed. Claudia, who had been fidgeting nervously in the background, couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh of relief when the Doctor decisively threw the newspaper down on the coffee table.

“Well, while we’re here…”

“Oh, no you don’t!” Jackie cut him off, waving a warning finger under his nose. “Don’t you dare go swannin’ off! It’s Rose’s birthday and I’m not having you start all that ridiculous nonsense before we’ve even had time to cut the cake!”

“I don’t swan,” the Doctor retorted.

Before Jackie could respond, Rose stepped between the pair. 

“Don’t start!” She glanced at the Doctor and shot him a tiny grin that she thought her mother couldn’t see, her previous melancholy evaporating like mist. She turned back to Jackie. “Dinner’s not ready yet.”

“Rose,” Jackie pleaded, crossing her arms across her chest.

“You and Mickey finish getting everything ready, and by the time you’re done, we’ll be back and we’ll all have a proper sit down. Alright?”

“Why can’t I come help investigate?” Mickey complained. “I helped before with the Slitheen, remember?”

“Well...” the Doctor drawled. “Pressing a few buttons hardly makes you qualified for— ”

“What he means to say is,” Rose interrupted, fixing Mickey with her cute little tongue-in-teeth grin, “it’s probably nothing, anyway. We’ll go poke around a bit and be back before you know it, alright? I’m sure mum could use all the help she can get.”

Mickey gave a disbelieving scoff, but backed down, flopping back onto his place on the couch.

Rose wheeled back around to beam at the Doctor. “Shall we?”

The Doctor grinned back and offered her his hand to take. “Now then, Rose Tyler…”

He broke off suddenly, blood draining from his face when his eyes rested on Claudia, who had instinctively started to move to follow them. In the emotional turmoil of the past ten minutes or so, everyone - including Claudia - had forgotten she was there.

The Doctor’s eyes darted away, fixating on a framed picture of a little blonde girl as he dropped Rose’s hand in favor of rubbing his ear lobe between his forefinger and thumb. “Claudia, why don’t you, just… stay here for a bit. Help Jackie and Mickey.”

Claudia nodded and picked up another magazine, thumbing through and pretending to examine a page to hide any emotion that might have shown on her face. 

The young woman rolled the corner of a page between her fingers until it curled in on itself, feeling sheepish at her somewhat needy urge to follow them about like a lost dog.

“Well, that’s them, then,” Jackie sighed when they’d gone, leaning back against the wall. Her face had lost some of its color,  “First time I’ve seen her in months and she runs off again first thing.”

“Tell me about it,” Mickey grumbled. “But that’s us, I guess.”

“That’s us,” Jackie agreed ruefully before turning her attention to Claudia. She studied the younger woman for a moment, her gaze warmer than before. “What’s your story, then?”

“My story?” Claudia echoed. “I’ve only known them for a day.”

“Yeah, but how did you end up wound up in this? The Doctor, I mean,” Mickey clarified. “I got kidnapped by a vat of living plastic.”

“And my daughter ran off with an alien,” Jackie added sourly.

Claudia blinked at them, trying to mentally work out the presented scenarios. Mickey slapped her shoulder good-naturedly. 

“Come on, then. You’re part of the club now.”

“Club? What club?”

“The ‘I-Survivied-the-Doctor Club.’” A cheeky grin ate its way across his face. “We should get shirts.”

Jackie snorted and went into the kitchen. “Ah, but first, you two shift. We’ve got work to do. Come help me with roast and tell us about yourself.”

[pls-let-me-out]

Invisible string 

Chapter 2, 19th of December

The only light in the room was coming from the embers in the fireplace. Red embers, and Will’s widened eyes. Nico startled.

Was it a vision? A trick of the light? No, Nico rubbed his eyes, and Will was still there, kneeling in front of him, with a blanket that went around his head, and fell over his shoulders like a knight’s cape. And he was staring right into Nico’s eyes, like a puppy who has broken its favorite toy.

Nico groaned. “What is it now?”

Will came even closer, and his words came out as a whisper, as though he was afraid of being overheard. Like he wasn’t the one who listened to other people’s conversations. “Don’t be too nice, I might get used to it. So, listen, you know how I said we should both sleep in the living room?”

How he could formulate such complex sentences at –what was it? One in the morning?– was far above Nico’s knowledge.

“Pretty sure I was there,” Nico replied, covering his face with his arm.

Will pulled Nico’s arm away, eliciting another groan from him. “So, do you remember?”

“Are you seriously asking–?”

“I think I’m about to shit myself.”

Nico stared at him, his lips tugged downwards, and his tiredness didn’t seem so important anymore. “I didn’t spend the afternoon showing you the house multiple times, so that you could remember where the toilet was, to just hold your hand and get you there myself in the middle of the night. I swear to God, I’m–”

“No! Not like that, I mean, figuratively. Like, I’m scared.”

“Scared.”

“There’s strange sounds in this place. Like, I was just minding my own business, and suddenly the floor creaked. What floor creaks? Why would it? Is this place haunted? If you brought me to a haunted chalet, I’m suing you! Suing you!”

Will was resting his forearms next to Nico’s chest, and for the first time, he noticed just how close they were. If he leaned forward, he could just grab Will by the ear, and pull him back to the other couch to sleep. Not doing it was costing him a lot of self-control.

“What do you want me to do? Call the ghost busters?” Nico thought that pulling the blanket over his head and curling on himself would just put an end to the discussion, but he had never met someone as uncaring toward social signals as Will.

“It’s the middle of the night, they wouldn’t even be open.” He pulled the blanket away. “Can we go upstairs?”

“I’m sleeping, just go if you want to.”

“Yes, because I want to take the stairs alone. I had to give myself a one hour long pep-talk before crossing the distance between that couch and this couch, and I had to crawl. Crawl!”

There was something Nico’s father often told him. ‘You are stubborn. It will make for an interesting king, seeing as you don’t ever want to bend’. Well. Nico wouldn’t bend. He knew it. Everyone knew he didn’t bend.

Then, Will’s voice came soft, little more than a whisper, as he slowly set his hand where Nico’s was, only the blanket dividing them.

“Please.”

Nico’s eyes opened. Will was still there, in front of him, with those bright, puppy-like eyes, and he was staring right at Nico. From the window behind him, the snow glowed white under the starlight.

“I know there’s only one bed, I’ll just sleep on the floor. Just –I don’t want to stay here.”

Nico sighed, but for an entirely different reason, even he couldn’t quite pin-point. “Alright. Let’s go.”

He already knew he wouldn’t let Will sleep on the floor. When they arrived upstairs, he just tugged Will to the bed, where they both laid.

Nico fell asleep as soon as he touched the mattress.

 The second time Nico woke up, the sun was shining in the sky, and the bed where Will had slept was cold. Nico himself was in the middle of it, which was strange, considering he remembered falling asleep on the edge of the mattress.

Shaking the thought out of his head, he slipped from the covers. He put on another sweatshirt, one he was pretty sure his grandmother had knitted for him.

Will was sitting at the head of the stairs, hugging his knees to his chest, and his expression light up when he saw Nico.

“I couldn’t find the kitchen!” he exclaimed, like it was something he was proud of.

Nico rubbed his ear. It was far too early in the morning for Will’s brightness. “Just snoop around next time. This place is yours too, now.”

It was something he said mostly to himself, he needed the reminder sometimes. With the constant, buzzing cheer around Will, it was hard to remember that he didn’t want to be there, he was forced to. What Nico really didn’t understand though, was why Will’s face fell so much when Nico said those words. After all, that was one of the pros. He was rich now, like filthy rich. So rich, every friend of his could be rich, too. Of course, that came to the price of being Nico’s soulmate. That wasn’t a path Nico wanted to go down, though. Not so early in the morning.

“Alright, let’s go eat,” Nico grumbled, stepping over Will to descend the stairs.

Will’s next words made him completely freeze.

“Wasn’t the fridge empty yesterday?”

Nico blinked. A strange thought wormed its way into his chest, but he pushed it away. “I mean, it’s always full of things.”

He could feel Will’s sharp eyes on the back of his head. “I take it you’ve never gone grocery shopping before.”

Nico fastened his steps, not at all worried. “I’m sure it’s full now.”

“Did you go grocery shopping while I was sleeping? Because otherwise you’ll just find it–don’t close the door in my face, you know I get easily lost!”

But Will’s anger was fast over, replaced by smugness, at the sight of the empty fridge staring back at Nico.

“Guess we’ll go grocery shopping, after all,” Will said.

“But that will take time, I’m hungry now.”

“Oh my God, you are adorable.” When Nico turned to glare at Will, he found him just staring back with those eyes wide open once again. “Come on, we’ll stop somewhere to get breakfast.”

 The streets were packed with people, mostly tourists. Not many bothered to give them a second glance, but that was mostly thanks to the mix of low beanies and big scarves. Nico couldn’t bring himself to look at the people on the ski tracks, it would have just been a cruel reminder.

“Where do you want to go?” Will asked him. He seemed to like the city, or so Nico secretly hoped. He didn’t like the idea of boring Will to death. “Do they even sell Swiss chocolate here?”

Nico bit back a grin. “So that can be the first time you eat Swiss chocolate so close to Switzerland?”

“That’s very funny. I’ll let you know; I’ve been in Switzerland before. So keep your smugness down, fancy boy.”

The blush on Nico’s face was to blame completely on the cold. “Did you go with your parents? In Switzerland, I mean.”

Will scoffed in delight as he watched a woman put gloves on a little girl, no more than two years old. She caught Will’s eyes, and waved her hand. He winked back at her, making her giggle. “Yeah. We went there for my bro–for a birthday. I mostly stayed inside, though. I didn’t know how to ski, nor did I want to learn.”

Nico nodded. He ignored Will’s slip, he didn’t want to force details out of him. He’d understand Will’s need to keep things to himself, they didn’t owe anything to each other, after all. He pointed to a bar on the other side of the road.

“That’s where I usually go with Hazel. They are discreet.”

“Afraid people will take photos of you eating a croissant?”

Will had exaggerated the French pronounce so much, Nico couldn’t help a loud snort. In the back of his mind, he noticed how Will’s eyes lit up.

Inside the bar were enough people for the place to be filled with laughter and chatters. It was hot inside, and a nice smell of freshly baked goods filled Nico’s nostrils. Something bumped into his hand, and when he looked down, he realized it was Will’s own hand. Will, who was nodding toward a free table in the corner, far from the window. Though, when they sat there, Nico realized he could see the TV, and promptly froze, because as of that moment, there was a service about them.

Will followed Nico’s gaze, looking behind his shoulder.

“What do they say?” he asked, looking back at Nico. If only Nico were better at reading people… was it guilt written in his eyes? Did he have someone back at home, were they waiting for him?

“Nothing. Nothing much, they’re just showing our first meeting back at the palace.”

Will nodded. “Do they know we’re here?”

Nico took the scarf off his face, and brushed a hand through his hair. “I don’t think so. My parents made a statement, said we were taking some time off to privately get to know each other.” He shrugged. “No one thought we’d meet quite so soon, I guess. How did they even find you?”

This time, it was Will who shrugged. “A friend of mine is a YouTuber, there’s this scene from an old vlog, we were on his camper, it was after graduation. And I was sleeping, shirtless, he caught the mark in the frame. So, that’s how they got mine, I guess. It was an old video, though. How did they see yours?”

“My cousin Percy posted some pictures of our time in the military. In one of his I was in the back, shirtless.”

“Where’s yours?” Will asked, leaning forward on the table. His voice was so very soft in that moment. “Your mark.”

Nico put his hand on his heart, then trailed up. Just under his collarbone, a little to the left.

“Mine’s there, too, but on the back.”

“When did you get it?”

“Eleven. You?”

Nico opened his mouth to respond, but he was interrupted by the waitress asking what they wanted. Nico ordered for both of them in Italian, and by the time the girl left –she couldn’t be older than Hazel– the topic of their conversation changed. The closer the marks appeared on the body, the stronger the bond. Nico didn’t want to think about it.

“I’m just saying,” Will said, sometime later, when most of the people at the other tables had left and their spots filled by others. “That there’s no better love-trope than childhood best-friends to lovers, and the Lion King failed.”

Nico groaned. “We’ve been at this for an hour, it’s not Simba’s fault–”

“Of course it isn’t, he was a child! But the writers just have them running around, and suddenly they are in love?” Will looked like he’d just swallowed a whole lemon. “What even is that? Is it witchcraft?”

“They have known each other their whole childhood!”

“We have a very different conception of whole, darlin’. They have known each other long enough to sing one, and I mean one, song about how much Simba wanted his father to die so he could step up and take the throne–”

Nico swatted Will’s hand away from his face, his index finger had been once again waving in front of Nico’s face. “He didn’t know Mufasa would have to die!”

“That’s a hypothesis if I’ve ever heard one, and every single solution to every single issue in the American school system is a hypothesis–”

“What does that even mean, I’m–”

Will took one of the awful cookies they’d been gifted with their coffees, and stuffed it into Nico’s mouth. “Don’t interrupt me–”

Nico slumped back in the chair, a frown tugging his lips downwards. “You will never see the light of day again; I’m putting you in the fucking dungeons.”

“You dragged me to a haunted house, so that’s on you. What was I saying again?” He clasped his hands, attracting a few curious glances from the people around them. Nico sent them an apologetic look, but he couldn’t hide his amusement. “Oh, right! Simba’s sudden love. I mean, he just sees her and suddenly he’s in love? They just mistake past fondness for something more, that’s all I’m saying.”

“They have children together–”

“They are part of the same pack. There’s only one lion. They are half-siblings. And Simba takes after his father. He, too, is a whore, who sleeps with all the lionesses.”

Nico blinked, slowly. Will was unmoving, with his arms crossed on the chest, and his tongue sticking out of his left cheek.

“You–you know what? That’s all right.” Nico nodded, swallowing around a dry throat. “You are completely wrong, but I will let you have it.”

“I feel victorious.”

“You really have no reason to.”

Will’s lips turned into a white, thin, line, and he turned redder. Just as Nico started worrying that he was having an allergic reaction to something, Will fell forward on the table, his shoulders shaking as he laughed.

“We should get going, anyway,” Nico continued. “Is there anywhere you want to go?”

“I’m not the one who knows the city! What is even here to see? I saw a lake when we were arriving, are there ducks to feed?”

“You would come all the way to Europe to feed ducks?”

“I actually came here to marry you, but you do you.” Will’s eyes widened, Nico felt his own doing the same. Will coughed, drumming his fingers on the table. He didn’t look at Nico in the eyes.

“There’s actually a library down the road. You want to go there?”

 Of course, Will couldn’t understand a single one of the book titles, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have fun. The Prince was bent forward, grabbing a book from what seemed like the most boring section of the library, but Will was no impartial judge.

“Is it just me or does that book seem very homoerotic?” Will asked, pointing to a book with a girl picking flowers.

The Prince stood in less than a second, flinching slightly, eyes widened. “Are you–?”

“Are you okay? Did you pull a muscle or something?” Will put a hand on the Prince’s forearm, but it was brushed off quickly. Will tried not to let it get to him, he was beginning to notice how little the Prince liked being touched.

“I’m fine. However, that’s a gardening book. Honestly, that’s a new kind of low even for you.”

Will stuck out his tongue at him. “Whatever. Are you buying that? What’s it called?”

“La collina dei conigli. Uh, the title is different in English. Like…?”

“Watership down.”

Both Will and Nico turned at the new voice. A man stared back at them. Man, he probably was around their age, and his English had an accent Will couldn’t quite place.

“I couldn’t help but hear you,” he said with a sheepish smile, shrugging one shoulder. “Sorry for intruding.”

Will spared a glance to the Prince, but he was just looking back at the man, seemingly at a loss for words, and his conversation with Hazel rang loudly in his ears, from his deepest memories.

‘Should you ever feel like he’s cold, you should check the YouTube compilation Prince Niccolò’s top 11 awkward moments. Believe me,’ she had squeezed his forearm. ‘It’ll make you feel better.’

Now, Will turned slowly toward the Prince, with both eyebrows raised.

“Oh, it’s no problem,” he told the man. “You’re helping us, so thank you.”

The silence turned awkward real fast. Will bumped his hand into the Prince’s.

“Oh, yes. Thank you,” the Prince said.

Why was he watching the man like a deer caught in the headlights? It took Will a few moments to remember that, just a day earlier, he had been at the other end of that gaze.

“I’m Will Solace!”

“Oh, uh, Paolo Montez.”

The Prince nodded even more awkwardly. “Niccolò.”

“Niccolò…?”

“Solace,” Will supplied. He sent Nico a sickeningly sweet smile, hoping he would be forgiven when he interlaced their fingers. “He still gets shy saying it.”

Paolo’s eyes filled with understanding. “Oh, I should have realized sooner! Congratulations!”

Will’s smile widened. With a twinge of guilt, he realized that Paolo was exactly the type of guy he’d get a crush for back in high school. He cleared his throat.

“Well, we’ll just go. You know, honeymoon business,” Will said. “Nice meeting you.”

Paolo responded, but Will had already dragged the Prince outside. The cool air kissed Will’s heated skin, making him shiver. For a moment, he wished he hadn’t fled so quickly.

“Are making a thief out of me?” the Prince asked, holding the book up. Then, he glanced down at their intertwined hands. “Will you ever let me go?”

Will let him go, and crossed his arms on the chest. “I’m not going back in.”

“I see. Wouldn’t want your crush to see you so flustered, would you, hubby?”

With a chuckle, the Prince turned back to the library, talking to himself in Italian. Would it be strange to ask the old woman with the Chihuahua to translate for him? Sighing, Will just waited.

 “I’m sorry I grabbed your hand,” Will said, once they were walking to a restaurant. It was almost midday, and the Prince had promised to bring him to the Christmas market in the afternoon. “I noticed you don’t really like being touched, but it seemed like the best idea at the moment.”

The Prince shrugged. “I’m sorry I froze up. Sometimes I’m awkward.”

“Sometimes?” Will clicked his tongue. “Because I’ve heard it happened at least eleven times.”

The Prince stopped, raising the bookstore bag to his chest, his jaw opened so widely the scarf fell in his mouth. He sputtered it out, with an indignant scowl. Will felt the need to pinch his cheek, so badly his fingertips tingled.

“Did Hazel show you that?” The Prince asked. “I’m pretty sure she made it. She always brings it up.”

“I don’t know, I saw her struggling for half an hour with WhatsApp, searching for your father’s contact. She didn’t show me, though. She just told me to look it up.”

“I’ll try to be glad for that, but it’s really hard right now.”

“Oh my God, look there’s a little golden retriever! Isn’t it adorable?”

Before the Prince could stop him, Will was already halfway across the road, cooing at the puppy.

 Will knelt on the ground, his hands buried deep in the puppy’s fur. The girl who held the leash looked up at Nico, a question clear in her eyes.

“Excuse him,” he said in Italian. “He gets excited easily when he sees dogs. I should probably get a leash form him, too.”

The girl laughed, but she was staring at them with eyes wide in wonder. “Are you that Prince?”

Nico’s eyes widened. Usually, children didn’t recognize him, and he was a bit rusty, to be honest. He hadn’t been under the spotlight for the past two years, he was out of shape with being recognized.

“Niccolò,” he said.

Will looked up, despite having missed the entirely of the speech. “I’m Will,” he said, beaming at the little girl. She couldn’t be older than eight.

“Emma,” she said, and when she continued in Italian, Will’s gaze turned confused, a little lost, but he didn’t drop it back to the dog. “I live there.” She pointed at one of the houses on the other side of the road.

“And where are your parents?” Nico asked.

She shrugged. “Home. I’m walking Stella.”

Nico pointed at the dog. “Stella?”

Emma nodded. Will looked up, and pointed at the dog again. “Stella?” Both Nico and the girl nodded, although Emma also giggled.

“You talk funny,” she said.

Nico translated for Will, a small grin on his face, before turning back to the girl. “It’s his accent. He comes from Texas, do you know where that is? It’s in America.”

“Why did he come here?” she asked.

“He’s my soulmate.”

“The TV said so, too! My parents are soulmates. Does he love you?”

Nico blinked, heat rose to his cheeks. “We’re getting to know each other.”

“But will he love you?”

Nico opened and closed his mouth, knowing he was gasping like a fish. Emma lowered her pink hat on her forehead, sniffling with her nose. Without a word, Will took a tissue from his pockets, and handed it to her.

“Do you parents know where you are?” Nico asked instead.

Emma nodded, and pointed toward the house again. “That’s my mom.”

Following her finger, Nico noticed a woman behind the window, with a mug in her hand, the other on her belly. She was pregnant.

Nico stood, fixing Emma’s hat on her head.

“Don’t get out of your mother’s sight. Oh, and don’t talk to strangers. Next time a stranger approaches you, let Stella bite them. Alright?”

Emma nodded. “I will!”

“See you around, then.”

“Wait! You are a prince.” She held out a gloved hand, with another giggle. “Shouldn’t you kiss my hand before going?”

Nico’s cheeks dusted in pink; Will rose from his feet beside him, still looking a little puzzled.

“You’re right,” Nico amended. “I can be a very forgetful prince.”

He bowed deeply, wondering what Emma’s mother was thinking about them. Did she think they were assaulters? He really hoped not to get followed by the police. But also, he hoped the mother didn’t trust strangers so close to her daughter.

“Will too!” She trilled, when they took a step forward.

Will, who had given her a wave and a wink, looked back at Nico. And so Nico translated.

Emma tugged Nico’s coat before letting them leave, only speaking when he bent down to hear her whispered words.

“You should make him fall in love with you.”

 The hostess at the front of the restaurant brought them to the second floor, and gave them a table behind a black curtain. It took Nico probably more than socially acceptable to realize that Will wouldn’t understand a word of what was written.

“I honestly wouldn’t recognize them even if they were in English,” Will said, after Nico asked him if he needed a translation. “I’m sure you haven’t noticed, but I am, maybe, not in the same social class as princes.”

Nico shook his head. He never really knew what to respond to things like that. He had to admit that the trip was going well, at least now. They didn’t have many awkward silences, nor did they hate each other. Maybe Will hated him a bit, for everything he was taking. Sooner or later, they’d have to discuss about their bond.

“Can I ask you something?” Will suddenly asked, leaning forward on the table. “And if you say I already have, I’m going to throw a fit.”

“Well, that would be new. What’s it been?” Nico took his phone out of the pocket, checking the time. “Fifteen minutes since the last? A new record. You must have beaten every other toddler in the city.”

“You are so very funny, darlin’.” Will smiled at him from across the table, his freckles stretched on his nose and cheeks. “It’s just that I’ve seen a lot of guards around the palace, and we were escorted to the airport, but we’re here alone. I’m not complaining, far from it, but shouldn’t you always have a bodyguard? I thought that was just something princes did.”

Nico nodded. “Yeah, but other princes don’t have the same tricks as I do.”

He looked up at Nico. Back at his hip. Nico bit his lip to not burst out laughing.

“If you have a fucking gun, I swear I’m actually calling the police. Do you think it’s normal to go around with guns?” He hissed. His face turned red. He started waving his index in the air again. “If I wanted to feel threatened whenever I stepped out of the house, or god forbid that thing was actually under the same roof as me for all this time, I would have stayed in fucking Texas, with Johnny Red down the road from my house, with his cokes and the lined up bottle on the fence.”

Will breathed heavily, looking like he’d just run a marathon. He was waiting for Nico’s response, but when he received none, he passed his hands through his curly hair, messing them up even more.

“There were children downstairs! Children! And you are telling me you have a gun on you? With children in the building? God, oh my God. I know I said you were bad mannered, but that’s just terrible on a human level. Fuck.”

Nico couldn’t resist it anymore. He burst out laughing, throwing his head back, covering his mouth with his hands. He was hit by Will’s napkin, thrown right in his face.

“Don’t you dare, don’t you fucking dare!” Will exclaimed. He shook his head, crossed his arms, and leaned back in his chair. He shook his head again, making his curls bounce. “Stop laughing!”

“I don’t have a gun, Will,” Nico finally said. He took the small box from his belt, hidden by the long hoodie he was wearing. He left it on the table. “I thought they’d given you one, too. The Queen seems to think you are kind of a big deal, you know.”

Will poked at the box, a blush dusted his cheekbones. He looked at Nico through his eyelashes. “What is this thing? It–it doesn’t look like a gun.”

Of one thing, Nico was very sure: Will was far more than pretty.

“Maybe because it isn’t one. I appreciate your thoughts on gun control, though. It’s a, uh, I don’t really know how you call it in English. Safety box? Should I ever be in danger, I’ll press the little button in that box, and bodyguards and policemen will come fast. Real fast.”

“Oh my God. You’re right. They gave me one, told me it was to keep me safe, and I lost it. Oh God. How much does it even cost? I’m already bankrupt. Hell, I’m far over bankrupt. I’m so bankrupt I don’t actually own anything. I’m not even wearing my clothes! This is all yours. Oh, God.”

Nico froze, staring at the Will, who now had his head in his hands, half slumped on the chair, probably more on the floor. The waitress was coming over, Nico gestured for her to come later. How did he even comfort Will? He should have let the waitress come, and embarrass herself. Now he was going to embarrass himself. Fuck.

Nico cleared his throat. “Isn’t everyone a bit broke?”

Will looked up from his hands, furrowing his eyebrows. Then he looked down at Nico’s finger, where his black ring shone proud.

“Everyone else. Except for me. If, if you take me out of the picture, everyone is broke,” he said. “Maybe not other royals. Or movie stars. Except the ones on drug, they always become poor after a while. Many public figures actually seem rich, but they aren’t. They are middle class, at best!”

Will looked at Nico. He looked at him for a very long time. Long enough that Nico realized what he had said, and starting pulling at the collar of his sweatshirt.

“You are so clueless,” Will said, a smile tugged his lips upwards. “You are so clueless, it’s amazing.”

Nico blinked. “Have you ever been told you don’t know how to show gratitude?”

“Oh, you’re welcome. God, I’d pay golden –well, actually, I wouldn’t, as you now know I don’t possess any gold– but I’d really like to see you for even just a day in New York City. Like, it’s actually crazy how clueless you are.”

“It really sounds like an insult.”

Nico couldn’t find it in himself to be offended, though. Not when Will sat straighter in his chair, without hiding his face.

“I would never insult you, like you would never mock me. It’s a crazy thought, Your Highness.” He furrowed his eyebrows. “Is that how you say it?”

“No, you say it in fancy. It’s Your Highness.”

“You said it like I did.”

“I really didn’t.” Nico bit his lips, but he couldn’t fight off a grin. “I said Your Highness. You said Your Highness.”

“Your Highness.”

“Your Highness.”

“Your–you are mocking me again, aren’t you?”

Will didn’t look too annoyed when Nico bent over the table in laughter.

 It was dark outside by the time they were back in the house. While the Prince tended to the fireplace, Will sat on the couch, the TV remote in his hands.

“So, I guess that’s a Smart TV, since you are the only not-broke person in the world,” Will said.

The Prince stilled, and looked at him from behind his shoulder. “What do you mean. What do you want to do.”

“I’m not Satan, stop treating me like that.” Will sighed, and took his knees up to his chest. “I just want to look into the last eleven awkward moments of your life.”

“I hate you.”

“Thanks, darlin’. Come here.”

Will made grabby hands at the Prince, until his hands were swatted away, though the Prince did sit, albeit with his hands crossed on the chest, and a frown marrying his features.

“Should we watch this?” Will asked, selecting a video from E!News, which talked about them.

The Prince shrugged. “If you want to know what’s happening with us, then I guess we could.”

It took Will less than a second to decide that he didn’t care about it all that much. However, he froze when he saw the video under that. It had more than three million views.

Apollo: between glory and reality. The trailer.

“You are a fan?” Nico asked, noticing where his gaze had fallen. “I met him once. He–he’s a bit full of himself, you know. He’s another one of the crazy rich people on Hearth.”

Will nodded, but his throat was completely dry. In the thumbnail of Apollo’s upcoming documentary, was a photo of his family, with a birthday cake in front of them. Without counting them, Will knew there are ten candles.

He put the remote back on the couch, and tried giving the Prince a smile.

“I forgot to–I forgot something. I’ll–I need to check it.”

 Nico knocked on the bedroom door. It took Will a while to respond, long enough that Nico was sure he wouldn’t.

Will was sitting on the left side of the bed, where he had slept the night before. He had his knees up to his chest, and was hugging them tightly. Nico had thought he was calling someone, and that’s what was taking him so long, but his phone was nowhere to be seen.

“I’m ordering food,” Nico said. “What can I get for you? I don’t think there’s any Chinese restaurant around here. So…”

“Am I a bad med-student if I ask for pizza again?”

It was a strange sight. Will had looked so distressed just an hour ago, but now he was alright. All bouncy and himself again. Had Nico imagined his previous uneasiness? He was shitty at reading people and emotions, it wouldn’t be so strange. But Will was his soulmate, shouldn’t Nico understand him better than anyone else in the world? Hell, in the universe?

Nico nodded. “The worst, probably.”

“Well, then don’t snitch on me. So, can we get pizza?”

Nico rolled his eyes. “Absolutely not.”

They ate pizza in bed. The smell of cheap pizza didn’t leave the room even when they opened the windows.