#but just a combination of stuff that happened yesterday + not getting enough sleep

[mirrortouchedsea]

Day 13

Niki’s alarm went off and he awoke to…nothing. Rinne had gone to sleep with him last night but now he was nowhere to be seen. There was no sound from the bathroom or kitchen to indicate that he was still home either. Not the first time Rinne had gotten up earlier than Niki, but it was still strange. 

Niki shrugged it off. Maybe there was some important unit leader meeting at Cospro or something he had forgotten to mention to Niki the night before, so he just got up and stretched before making his way to the kitchen. 

Sitting on the table was a plate of pancakes, eggs, and sausage, something he definitely should have noticed being cooked. He surely would have woken up to the smell of breakfast cooking. There was a note sitting next to it, which Niki read after putting the food in the microwave to reheat. 

Dear Niki-kyun~ 

Your beloved Rinne-kun has a special surprise for you! Eat up and follow the notes! Kohaku-chan will have the next one. 

Rinne 

Niki sighed. Of course it was another one of Rinne’s antics, but he’d play along since he had the decency to cook something for him, or at least have something delivered. He quickly scarfed it down and sent out a text to Kohaku asking to meet at Cinnamon in twenty minutes. Hopefully the wild goose chase wouldn’t last all day. 

When he got to Cinnamon, Kohaku was already sitting in a booth with two drinks and a card on the table. He waved to Niki and Niki walked over and sat across from the youngest member of Crazy:B. 

“Do you have any idea what Rinne-kun is planning?” Niki asked, taking a sip of the drink Kohaku had gotten for him before tearing open the note. 

“Not a single clue.” Kohaku replied, sipping his own drink. 

Niki read the second note aloud. 

“Dear Niki-kyun, you’ve found the second note! Congratulations~ Feel free to sit and chat with Kohaku-chan for a little while, and Merumeru will have the next one! See you soon~” 

“Can’t he just be a normal boyfriend for once?” Niki asked, laying his head on the table. 

Kohaku awkwardly rubbed Niki’s shoulder to try and comfort him, which Niki accepted. 

“Well, I guess I should ask HiMERU-kun where he is. See ya later, Kohaku-chan.” 

“See ya. Tell Rinne-han he owes me one for this.” 

“Yeah yeah he’ll get an earful from me later.” 

[chaotic-nick]

⋆｡‧˚ʚ♡ɞ˚‧｡⋆enough's enough: connie springer x reader

yesterday's poll was a tie between actor au yuuji and an aot situationship fic (brainrotting so hard for both au's) so here's a Connie fic!

plot: where you're really done with Connie

wc: 899 - no warnings

additional stuff: Sasha calls reader a 'bitch', writing's extremely rusty T-T, media au mention of Miche

here's more situationship connie, and more by @happybird16

“Thank you, baby.”

She read last night’s text from Connie. And in every word she read in all the manuscripts given to her, all of them seemed the same. Coffee shop menus and online restaurant menus were all a ‘Thank you’ or ’baby’. It was all her brain wanted her to see now.

Then she looked at the actors in the documentary they were shooting. No. Even her brain didn’t allow her to see anything beyond Connie’s honey eyes and the girl’s tired smile. Then to the commercial boards with endorsements— no, it became a combination of both.

Connie was stupid. That she knew. His cruel mind was smart enough to accidentally send her the message and the picture— still, a stupid move. Maybe she was the first of the many people he slept around with (it was her delusion trying to comfort her), she was the first in his contacts that he didn’t think twice to *accidentally* send it to another person.

Did he leave the girl wondering about when he’ll commit to her, too? Sasha’s hand found the top of (Y/n’)s, knees bent to look at her eyes, “Hey,” her mouth moved. Spouting out sentences about the shoot beginning in fifteen mionutes, the people loving her script, and something with the actor’s catering services.

Somehow, Jean, the production assistant, joined them. “You look pale.”

"Stayed up late,” pointing to her rolled up copy of the script, “for this.”

“Yay, third coverage.” Yawned Sasha.

Third shoot or coverage of whatever the hell put her in the hills between Shiganshina and Ragako, Connie was quick to replace her. How disposable am I?

Following Sasha and Jean in admiring the set, (Y/n) crossed her arms to keep herself standing. Those lights. It added more pain to her head— even brought a watery screen to her eyes, painting a blurry picture of Connie and that girl.

An actor came in, excitedly yelling about how pretty the ‘new blood’ made the set. Her voice, shrill. Words coming out one after another, though all muffled. As if teasing (Y/n)’s crying heart,

“Thank you, baby”

Words that were enough to push her off balance.

“(Y/n)!”

To hell with looking like he threw whatever he clean clothes he found— it was true. As if he looked any better, Reiner wasn’t shy to point out how, “you look like the definition of a scumbag,” when Connie opened the car door.

With a roll of his eyes, one fist clenching his annoyance, and the other careful not to crush the brownies, “Just drive, will you?”

Worry occupied the empty space in his head, only her name echoed in the space between his ears. She’s not the one to pass out so easily. Nor the one to get sick and still wake up to work. Right? Unless Sasha and Jean caught whiff of their ‘arrangement’ decided to exaggerate a minor accident on set.

Though Jean’s picture of her in the groupchat wasn’t an exaggeration. “Passed out, hospital.” It only read.

Briefly passing by the hospital’s many windows, he agreed with Reiner when he caught a glimpse of his reflection. Black sweatpants and a jacket he now zipped up to look more presentable.

Of course her brownie’s from Miche’s bakery.

Carefully opening the curtain, he poked his head in to see Jean and Sasha leaning against each other in deep sleep. A pile of their bags pushed to the corner. “(Y/n)!” He called to her, seeing that her eyes adjusted to the light.

Nearly crying from weakness, (Y/n)’s face hardened in anger when she found him already standing at the foot of her bed. It could never be with Connie, he was still in bed with his girl, it couldn’t be himi just standing by her bedside now.

“Hey, what . . . happened?” He even asked in a careful tone that made her stomach churn in anger. “Sasha told me you passed out. Actually, everyone’s worried about you.”

“Just . . .” moving away from the hand that would’ve played with her hair now, “go home, Connie”

He heard her clear. “Hmm?”

“Go home.” No, she must be saying that because of how sick she felt.

His finger tried to lift her chin up, “I was worried, so I came—”

“As if it’ll make me better.”

“Haven’t made you—”

“So, go home, Connie.”

His lips tugged up to almost a smirk, her knew how she joked around. “Sure?”

Like he wanted, (Y/n) lifted her gaze up to him. Showing his playful smile her hardened jaw, “Connie, I don’t like you.”

“Wha . . .”

“Enough’s enough.”

“H-hey, did I do . . .something?”

“I don’t wanna do anything with you. Just . . . please,” she sighed, “leave me alone.”

Behind him, Sasha still deep in sleep mumbled, “Dude— man, she’s not really joking around. Bitch’s sick. Go.”

“Yeah . . .” agreed Jean, stretching his legs. “She’s got a fever, you don’t wanna get that.”

“Your brownies are . . .” holding her hardened stare in his confused eyes, Connie slowly backed away. “Rest well alright?”

Outside, waiting for Reiner, Connie’s mind lost in the whathe had said, pulled his phone out. Thumb rapidly checking all of the messaging apps they talked in.

When, “Fuck”.

[ask-serendipity-sky]

So I was thinking...

Yesterday, the article about the BTS contracts hit. I read the article and didn't get the big deal. It said they would sign...so they hadn't yet, I thought.

I went to twitter and saw all these people celebrating and I was like...do they not know how to read? Why are they celebrating something that hasn't even happened and that the company is saying will happen.

Why would the company not wait until it has actually happened to make a celebratory article? So I went back to sleep lol

Promise? Oh yeah. What a contract. The board agreed...not BTS. Well, only Rm so far.

But then legit people started talking about it and being serious. I saw the many ridiculous tweets and hateful ot7love remarks, solos being dissapointed, and real Jimin fans feeling sad.

That's when I decided to "believe", although it sounds like media play to me. Why are the stocks tanking even more? Investors didn't believe the news or think Rm's post were enough, apparently. Nothing is set in stone. It hasn't happened yet. The stocks will go up when it actually does happen, though. The investors are worried for now and then future, I suppose.

As someone who loves Jimin and his artistry, I am worried too.

Ot7s and company stans want to make us feel like we are the akgaeist of the akgae for believing that Jimin got sabotaged by his company. But do people seriously think that all that happened to FACE was normal? They can't even offer a rational explanation.

Even if we entertain the idea that his company didn't sabotage him on purpose, they still didn't protect their artist and fix the things that were and are within their reach. Things like:

•Combining Like Crazy Korean and English version

•Restocking the Like Crazy single

•Sending albums to China on time

•Investigating Hanteo sales

•Investigating the erasure of Bb sales

•Properly timing the release of other member projects to avoid interference with other projects

•Fixing the Spotify profile and all that stuff that came along with that

The list is quite long.

Somehow, saying these things makes you a solo or an akgae or a manti (who even came up with this one? so stupid.)

Isn't it more hateful to normalize what happened to Jimin and to want BTS back despite the unequal support the company has given each member?

The people I know don't want Jimin to sign because he deserved better as a soloist and not because they hate BTS. The people I know are neutral and positive towards BTS. They literally only want fair treatment for Jimin. They are Jimin fans. Not solos, shippers, ot7s, rando labels. Just people who appreciate Jimin as an artist.

Somehow, the people who want BTS back, no matter what, and can't wait for the solo ventures to be over are better than all of us... because BTS is 7 and they are brothers who love each other and nothing can break them apart...not even solos, akgaes, shippers, and Chapter 2...(insert sad violin music).

Everything is backwards in this fandom.

I look at the members who told their story and shared themselves through their music and notice how happy they are. They were exhausted before, so done with the generic white garbage songs, and their creativity constricted. We've gotten to see the colors of their real music and therefore, their real selves. That's what being a true artist is about. I don't know how ot7s who want BTS back, no matter what, don't see this.

It doesn't make sense to me why any proper fan would want their artist to give that all up.

And people kept saying that this time around, Jimin's contract would include better deals because that's what contracts are for. Then I thought...where was the contract when he was pushed to the sides and no longer in the front of the group, when he was given 2 lines in a song, when he was the harmonizer but not one of the lead singers, when FACE era began and ended.

I guess I have no faith in contracts. Or that company.

Any proper fan who doesn't live in a weird fantasy bubble should be worried...and/or dissapointed.

If there is anything I've learned in Chapter 2, it's that it is a every-man-for-themselves chapter. Looking back at Chapter 1, it was like that too, except I was drinking too much of that purple kool-aid to notice it.

I guess we will see what happens when actual contracts are signed. I can only hope that things go well for Jimin. That's the only thing that matters to me.

I guess we will see.

[panthera-tigris-venenata]

For your silly Descendants prompts, the core four see Ben's room?

And they find out he can play the drums apparently?

So, yeah, here it is!

Core four visiting Ben’s room! Carlos, Jay and Evie being mildly chaotic Isle menaces, and Mal, unfortunatelly, well on her way to her D2 breakdown. They also start the process of getting more Isle kids off, starting with the de Vil cousins and Jade.

I realise that the characterisation might be all over the place, but I hope you enjoy anyway! ♥

Ben’s bedroom

It’s Carlos’s first time ever visiting Ben’s dorm room, as far as the young king and the campus guards are concerned anyway.

But come on: Carlos is an Isle kid. 

And saying „You can’t go there,“ to an Isle kid? You could as well wave about a giant flag proclaiming „Free real estate,“ and „It’s a dare!“

Now, all of this is not to be discussed, though, as neither he nor Evie didn’t nick anything,and Jay surely isn’t gonna get caught. 

(Look, with the insane amount of stuff that is just laying around here, practically asking to be stolen? Hardly anyone is gonna notice anyway.)

And Mal? Well,Mal apparently has a blanket approval to visit Ben’s bedroom whenever she wants.

Carlos wonders what the school staff has to say about this, and decides that if they are smart, they probably won’t say a word. When they might be overheard anyway.

But enough empty talk about nothing!

Carlos steps over the threshold with a practised polite smile at his face, and doesn’t bother not looking around, as he and Evie agreed that it might be more suspicious.

If anyone in Auradon cared, that is.

Speaking of Evie: She walks in just after him, followed by Jay, and she briefly touches his hand, letting the touch linger just a tiny bit.

Mal is already waiting inside, smiling, and clearly excited to be spending time with both her boyfriend and her friends.

Well, Carlos doesn‘t want to crush her dreams, but what happens, happens, right?

He smiles back at her, and then turns at Ben:

„Nice room you have here, man,“ he says. He can’t help but to be impressed, and honestly, little jealous.How could he not, having grown on the Isle? How could he not, when he knows that his cousins are still at that hellish place?

The Isle is always at his mind, in more ways than once.

„Love the colours!“ adds Evie. He, personally, finds the favoured Auradon combination of dark blue and gold a bit plain, not to mention: Pastels? Really?

He knows what Ivy and Diego would have to say about those, but he just wrinkles his nose and looks his other way. No insulting the king right now, remember?

„Wait, is that a walk-in closet?“

Of course Evie would get distracted by that.

„Um, yeah?“ Ben says, blush creeping up his cheeks.

Evie immediately sets off to explore it, and Ben awkwardly follows behind.

„Cool,“ says Carlos off-handedly, „I used to sleep in one of those.“

Coincidentally, at the same moment, Jay manages to knock something over and distract the prince. Pure accident, you see.

Evie, however, isn’t feeling like being a diplomat today. 

The difference between Auradon and Isle is really grating on her nerves, she complained about it just yesterday.

And the day before that.

And the day before that.

Well.

You get the picture.

„Oh!“ she pipes up, already half-way in the closet, „I hope you won’t try to kill me in this one, Mal! It would be such a pity – I mean, look at this suit, that is a work of art!“

„Thank you, Lumiere made that one for me. I’ll give him your compliments,“ answers Ben before his brain fully catches up to his mouth, „Wait, what?!“

Mal just blushes, and stammers something like: „I wouldn’t do it again,“ to  which Evie doesn’t  even answer. She just giggles, her voice like jingle bells.

„Jay! Say something!“ Mal turns at the last member of their group.

„Yeah?“ he looks up from Ben’s Tourney and Roar trophies, oh so shiny, and, „It was pretty subpar murder plot, I must say, but fun anyway. Say, did LT give you an A for it?“

Mal buries her face in her hands: „You are not helping. Besides, she almost failed me, for balking out before the end – Not that I would want to finish it, E! Really! I already told you–“

Carlos chuckles, as Evie chose exactly this moment to emerge from the wardrobe and calm down the situation, and especially Ben. With soft and sweet smile on her lips, she says that „It’s just how the Isle children make friends, isn’t it?“ and „We didn’t know any better,“ and that she is so glad she is in Auradon.

The implication of the other Isle children is both unsaid and well received.

„Well, ehm, so, anyway,“ says Ben, „What would you like to do? I was thinking we could play some video games?“

Carlos, Jay, and Evie beam at that proposition, while Mal pouts. She is not the queen yet, and she is clearly outvoted.

Besides, as Evie would put it, Ben’s console is a work of art.

So, they play.

They try not to cheer too much at each kill and swallow at least the most disturbing remarks of how they’d react on the Isle.

Though, honestly?

They got so lost in the game and the debate – even Mal – that Ben was staring at them with mouth agape, wondering why on Earth do they know so much about back alley assaults.

(He didn’t ask at which side they were, that sweet fairy tale child. They will not tell him.)

Instead, he suggests if they’d perhaps like to do something else?

Carlos swats Jay in the arm as he attempts to swipe the controller to his pocket, and points at the drum set the prince has at a mini podium.

(A drum set! At a podium!)

„You play?“ he asks casually.

„Yes!“ Ben beams, „Well, not so much anymore, but I used to! It’s really fun – do you play?“

Carlos ignores Jay scoffing and him and Evie muttering „Who the fuck makes a sixteen years old a king?“ in languages they hope said sixteen years old king won’t understand, and Mal glaring at them.

„Worked out, didn’t it?!“ she more gestures and hisses than says, and, yeah, as far as Carlos is concerned?

There is still some work to do.

So he puts his smile back on and says: „I don’t, but my cousin Diego has a band. Maybe one day, you could play together!“

(If he added „That would be awesome, right?“ he’d be laying it on too thick, wouldn’t he?)

„Your cousin has a band?“ Ben repeats, „That’s pretty cool!“ and „Wait, I didn’t know you had a cousin.“

„I have three,“ informs Carlos with a stony expression.

„I also have a cousin,“ adds Jay, „Jade, my aunt’s kid. We grew up together.“

„I… I honestly didn’t know that. You see, the records, well, they are a bit spotty–“

„Oh, don’t worry about it,“ smiles Evie sweetly, and if Carlos didn’t trust her that much, he’d choke her right on the spot. Mal looks like she wants to do that too.

„We will take a look at your records, won’t we, boys? Jay, Carlos?“

They smile at her, Isle smile, too much teeth and no love in the eyes. They can see some interesting times ahead, already.

„You can start the process of pulling Diego, Ivy, Hunter and Jade over; You can also add Dizzy, that girl is like a little sister to me, and Claudine Frollo.“

„Frollo has a daughter?“

„That’s what you take from this, man?“ asks Jay, leaning against the doorframe, ready to leave.

„I mean, yeah, good for you. But, Jade? Hello?“

Evie smiles at Ben, her mirror-smile, and he nods:

„Cousins. Got it. Claudine Frollo.“

He shakes his head.

Carlos can still see Mal pouting, and she will likely throw a tantrum later that day, gods know what got into her lately, but that’s a problem for his future self.

Now?

He has a faulty system to look at.

„Let’s go,“ he says, and they go, because you didn’t think they didn’t know where the records are kept, did you now? They are Isle kids, after all.

Evie only stops for a bit to make Ben give them an official pass, but she catches up soon enough, she smiles and takes both of their hands.

Carlos feels like everything is going to be okay.

[pbandjesse]

Oh man. Tired. Tired. Tired. But today was a pretty good day. I only have minor complaints. Because overall it was really good.

I slept okay. I felt really overheated in here and finding the right fan setting and blankets combinations was tough. But I slept and I didnt even sleep to bad.

I woke up with my alarm and told James I wanted to sleepy until 730. And I did just that. And when I woke up James was getting ready to leave so I still got a goodbye hug.

I got dressed and I really liked this outfit. I was in a good mood. My hair still feels weirdly dry. But besides that I was doing good.

I had a good drive. And got to camp. But I felt a little out of sorts. And a little weak. So I was like oh let me drive the materials on the gator. Except I couldn't find the gator keys. And walked all around camp trying to retrace my steps from yesterday. And getting really upset.

I saw Sarah's car so I went to ask her and she found them right on the walkie talkies. I was only slightly embarrassed.

I would go drive the gator and Rachel would come down from the house to work the field trip today. Her and Sarah would go off to set some stuff up while I went to drive my materials over.

I would finish with enough time to just chill and eat breakfast. Everyone else came in and soon it was time to go meet the group.

This was 5th graders. And they were just to cool to do stuff. Not all of them. But it makes it tough when they make fun of kids who are still doing things without shame. Stop shaming them!!

I tried to be a good influence and so the warm up too. I also was in a silly mood and had marshmallows on my purse and was eating them throughout the morning.

I asked to be paired up with Adam and we had a really good hike. I walked them all over. And we found so many good things. And I was feeling really good about myself because I knew what some stuff was called but also I just had a great eye for catching interesting things.

My favorite find of the day was blood root. But we also found so many other good plants I have never heard of and it was just so fun.

We did have some trouble with some bullying happening. This one little boy just obviously did not want to be there and was just being so horrible to the others. Calling some really vicious names and getting to close swinging a stick near faces. I was pretty concerned and when I couldn't get him to stop I had to ask Adam to walk with him and he ended up calling Gabe for back up. It was kind of disappointing because everyone else was respectful and having fun exploring. And I was having a lot of fun.

We went down to the Glen and got to see the tadpoles finally!!! And we found some interesting bushes and we did some log rolling. Didn't find to much besides bugs. But it was still a good time.

We would make our way back to the lodge and I found another bloodroot. This time we picked it to squeeze it for some yellow ink and they put their fingerprints on the wonder sheets (a worksheet they had walked around with).

We had a little meeting of the minds to say the things they saw. But the other groups would come and distracted us so we would just dismiss to lunch.

I went back to the office to have my leftover chipotle. Checked in with everyone. Had some quiet time just watching a video. But lunch was short and soon we were off to our programs.

I stopped at the lodge and saw the trash truck was stuck between the buses and it's wheels were spinning. But they were able to work together and get themselves sorted out.

Soon we were back to programs. And it was for sure different then last week. They weren't as interested in the print making. Which is fine. They were interested in the lead rubbings and drawing blended skies with chalk pastels. I'm just glad they wanted to do art.

I was suffering in the sun though. I didn't have my sunglasses and I found it really uncomfortable. But when no one was at my table I would go stand in the shade. Eventually wander to Sarah's table to hold Rosie the snake and scratch Nelly the terrapin. And it was really fun to just walk around wearing Rosie. She's so soft and such a sweet snake. Love her.

We would clean up around 2. And the kids were leaving by 230. I sat outside while they finished up in the lodge. Enjoying the rocking chairs. And saying goodbye to everyone.

Some of them will come back this summer for sleep away camp!! They got a scholarship to bring 20 of them and I'm really excited that they are able to do that.

I had a nice chat with Gabe about free choice learning and Montessori in different communities and it was really fun. He also told me he might work with camp this summer too and that's great. He's great. And so clearly cares about the kids and I love them. A good egg.

After the group left I would go clean the bathrooms. And after putting things away and joking with Nick I went to put things away, including the other programs just to be helpful. And then back to the office.

Heather approached me about a new research project. Which will be able the signs around camp that Bob painted before he passed away. So I spent the last hour of my day starting to look into resources and ways we can start trying to make a catalog of the work and the stories.

So over the next few weeks I'm going to start photographing the shields and trying to make sense of the stories. I will have to be comfortable asking for help and leaning on others. But it'll get done eventually.

The last little bit of the day I was talking to Elizabeth and Sarah about Elizabeth's trip to Colorado and experiencing a weed store for the first time. And I got to tell the story about Tucker giving the concessions worker the container of THC gummies as a tip. Which is still hilarious.

I went home pretty quickly after that. And it was a good drive with almost not traffic. I was home right after 430.

I would beat James. And I would get really upset because I thought they left our typhoid medication on the counter and it needs to be refrigerated and it was very expensive. But thankfully when they got home and let me know they had consolidated the two bags and the pills were safe. I was still a little upset because I was unsettled by the idea. But it all worked out.

I did some cleaning in the studio. Just reorganizing the closet. It wasn't going well. Piece of wood fell on my head. But it was fine. I need more ways to organize but for now it's fine and works well enough. I need one of those shoe organizers. I'll have to measure for that soon.

We would go take a walk to get pizza. And I was in a great mood and was being super silly and telling James stories. And I was having a great time.

The pizza was great. I was sad when it was gone. But I was having the best time with James explaining how I always pick out the pieces I want as soon as it hits the table and I try and see if James picks the ones I wanted. James laughed at me for gamifying dinner.

We would continue our little evening and walked to bmore licks. It's kind of a far walk but I was doing good. Excited to wear my sandals. And happy with my husband.

We would get hard scoop for cream. James got two salty savory cereal flavors. I got a peanut butter Oreo and a mint Oreo. And it was great.

I waited until we got to the pond to eat it. And it was perfect. And I loved watching the ducks. And I told James some stories. And clowned on them. And they told me about minor league baseball works. And we had a great evening.

We headed home and it felt really far. But we got back and I was only sort of tired.

James downloaded a demo of a game for me and I played for a while and we hung out on the couch. Eventually James went to take a shower and I took one after. So the water would be a little warmer. I appreciate them so much. Taking care of me. Love them so much.

Now we are in bed. And I am tired but in a way that will let me sleep easy. Let's hope I'm right.

I hope you have a nice day tomorrow! Take care!! Be well!!!

[marvins-linguinie]

steddie dads part 1:

they have a daughter named alex, who is 13, and very nosey.

steve, who is folding laundry: do you ever wonder if the upside down still exists?

eddie: i mean, obviously it still exists. a dimension can't just disappear, can it?

alex: what's the upside down?

eddie: well-

steve: it's a game! that we used to play with aunt robin and auntie nancy!

alex: im not stupid.

eddie: she's got a point, steve. maybe it's time to tell her?

steve: no. we talked about this already.

alex: pleaseeee dad? I'll... put the rest of the laundry away!

steve: no! end of story. go do your homework.

alex: please?

eddie: steve.

steve: eddie, we talked about this a while ago. i already said my answer.

eddie: she's old enough! alex is smarter than both of us combined! she's smarter than henderson sometimes! that says a lot.

alex walks away, accepting defeat.

steve: i know she's smart. that's not what im worried about.

eddie: then, what's stopping you?

steve: she'll be traumatized! the town she's known her whole life, will be turned into this.. nightmare!

eddie: you're still having them?

steve: i... yeah.

eddie: you should get a therapist. i've told you this a million times-

steve: and tell them what? that i have nightmares about a different dimension?

eddie: then, talk to me! or to alex! um.. remember last halloween when we stayed home because she was sick, and watched the entirety of the saw movies? she was laughing! which, i think we should be scared about, but that's not the point. come on, steve. tell her. i bet it'll make you feel better.

steve: i want to keep her safe! what if.. what if he comes back? and she knows, so he goes after alex? what then?

eddie: he won't. just trust me.

steve: fine. but if she can't sleep tonight, you're staying up with her

eddie: alex!

alex: i finished my homework, and cleaned my room. will you tell me now?

steve: come sit down.

alex: it's not that serious, right?

eddie: do you want to start?

steve explains everything. the good, the bad.

he can still see it. like it happened yesterday.

as his eyes begin to water, eddie places a hand on his shoulder.

that's always been their way of comforting each other.

or a small kiss on the forehead.

alex:

steve: i know. it's a lot to take in.

alex: that's...

eddie: it's what?

alex: why would you use fire in the first place? if it hurt the monsters, it would obviously hurt Vecna, but you cut have decapitated him in the first place. that would have been much easier. you said he used his mind to get into other people's heads?

steve: .. yeah.

alex: then, logically, you could have just went with that in the first place. what rank was he?

steve: rank?

eddie: alex.. this wasn't a d&d game.

alex: mhm.

steve: it happened. in real life.

alex: so, you're telling me that you actually killed him? Vecna?

eddie: yes.

alex:

steve: we aren't trying to scare you.

alex: so.. you were actually cool?

steve: woah, woah, woah. im still cool!

eddie: steve, your idea of risky is going 5 miles past the speed limit. im still cool but...

steve: BUT WHAT?

eddie: maybe you used up your cool-ness in highschool. it happens.

alex bursts out laughing.

steve: DON'T LAUGH! I'M STILL COOL! I'M VERY COOL! I LET YOU STAY UP PAST YOUR BEDTIME LAST NIGHT!

alex: dad, that isn't cool. but it's nice knowing that you haven't always been so... strict.

eddie: you think this is strict? he treated your uncle dustin like his own kid. even drove him to his first school dance.

steve: he had no one! his mom was working that night.

eddie: it's alright. i think it's cute. your mother instincts.

alex: ew! im going to bed. you two are disgusting.

steve: goodnight! i love you!

alex: im 13. you have to stop saying that stuff.

steve: so, you're an adult now?

alex: im not a kid anymore.

eddie: if you aren't a kid anymore, then i guess you don't need a ride to school tomorrow.

alex: if you want me to freeze to death, walking to school, that's on you.

steve gives her a glare.

alex: what?

steve: go to bed.

alex: it's not even 10:00 yet!

steve: you have a test tomorrow. have you even studied?

alex: i don't need to! it's easy.

eddie: what's the square root of 12?

alex: there is no square root of 12.

eddie: oh

steve: alex.

alex: i promise. i have this in the bag!

alex walks into her room and shuts the door.

eddie: she shouldn't be smarter than us.

steve: how do you not know square roots?

eddie: do you think i have time to remember square roots?

steve:

eddie: do you know square roots?

steve: just leave it alone.

eddie: ha! i knew it!

[princesscolumbia]

Code of Ethics - Ch. 10 - The Nose Knows

Wait, whaaaat?! Why am I posting a chapter? 'cause Helen was being an antisocial bitch today and so I sent her to sleep it off.

So the story so far for those coming in only just now:

Prologue - America turns out to be the bad guys in WW3 and The Church turns out to be the man behind the curtain. The Singularity happens and humanity declares war on A.I.

Part 1 - God and Country - Agent Dylan Samuels is the best cyber agent America has, thanks to a custom built VR weapon that he uses to delete 'rogue' A.I. He's tapped for an undercover assignment using a new VR pod to deep dive into a new game. The agency intel says that the rogue A.I. tend to gravitate toward the queer community, so Dylan needs to create a character that will fit in there.

Part 2 - Master and Commander - Dylan goes into VR and creates a nonbinary alien woman character named Diane Somni'els and has an emotional breakdown in the character creator when the euphoria proves overwhelming. She pulls herself together and gets in the game, learning about the mechanics such as the Ethics tree and unlocking its first node by working out an agreement with some squatters on her station.

Oh, yeah! New cover art!

Preview below the cut:

Diane had heard of ‘nice guys’ and “Nice Guys,” but this was the first time she’d met a guy who was so nice he seemed too good for this world.

“Oh…my…gosh! You’re a Morvuck!”

Diane had to struggle to keep from laughing at the enthusiasm, “…I am…”

“I heard the dinosaurs never died out on your world, is that true?” the man’s question might have been somewhat insulting if he weren’t so clearly earnest about asking it.

“Well, they aren’t ‘dinosaurs,’ strictly speaking. They’re dinosaur-like megafauna. Distant cousins to my species, from what I understand,” she took a sip of her Jyantin Tonic…or what the station could synthesize of the stuff, which based on her trial run during the character creation process wasn’t nearly as good as the real thing. It was good enough, though, that she kept drinking even after the slight disappointment. “The megafauna that exist are more like...alligators, I guess. Fully reptilian, no bird or mammalian features whatsoever, though there’s obviously some features in common between them, us humanoids, and the avians. Morvuck birds developed a lot like they did on Earth, megafauna developing feathers and then evolving smaller and smaller until they’re…well, I guess on Mortan they’re a lot bigger than on Earth, probably feed a whole football stadium on one thanksgiving bird.” She smirked as his eyes lit with childlike wonder.

“Do you think,” groused Norma with fond exasperation, “That we could eat at this, our lunch?”

“Oh, right!” Russe snatched up his fork and speared it into the spaghetti on his plate. Like everything else made by the station’s synthesizers, it was good but not great. Diane was dutifully eating all of hers if for no other reason that her body needed the calories and proteins. The day before yesterday she’d nearly collapsed and, upon dragging herself to the med bay in the lower levels of the Ops building, it was determined that she hadn’t been consuming nearly enough calories.

Katrina had read her the riot act, informing her soundly that even if she’d been raised on Earth that didn’t excuse her from taking care of herself. Reading between the lines of the tirade, Diane had figured out that the average Morvuck needed approximately three times the caloric load as the average human and twice the protein. She’d been wondering why she was so hungry when she’d been eating as much as she normally did, but then different bodies (even if virtual) meant different needs.

Katrina then asked when the last time she’d seen a gynecologist was, and when Diane had truthfully answered, “Never,” the digital assistant railed against the state of modern medicine and idiot bureaucrats who didn’t know how to properly care for orphan girls and proceeded to have the medical drones give Diane a full workup for her female anatomy.

Diane had, honestly, felt…odd about it. While some of her discomfiture was due to the act of clinical probing that the med bot had done, the majority of it came from the humiliation she felt, not at being a man and having a woman’s procedure done, but from feeling good about a procedure only being done with actual women being done to her, it being for good reason (her virtual body did have all the proper parts and this world was designed to mimic real-world conditions, including the possibility of certain afflictions that women, specifically, had to worry about), and that someone, even if they were just a training hologram inside a VR game, was taking her feminine appearance at face value enough to treat her like any other woman.

Barely making it back to her quarters in time, she’d had another breakdown like she’d experienced in the character creation process. Just as confused as ever, she found herself questioning everything about herself, her life, and how she got into this position. Had she not committed to herself no fewer than three times now that no matter what she was going to complete the mission she’d been given, she’d have hit the emergency log-out option in that moment.

How are other players not experiencing this?! The thought rang through her repeatedly as she bawled into her pillow, once again having so many positive emotions that she had no way of processing them until they came out in ways that she’d normally have associated with severe distress.

She considered looking it up online. The time compression may have been a factor as it would appear almost static to her, but the Internet was still available. She would, in fact, have even greater access to the Internet than inside the wall (even though she was, technically, still inside it herself) since nothing like the American Firewall was between her and accessing all that data. She could even, she had realized, utilize the FTLN, the part of the Internet that existed due to the specialized nodes that were installed in the hardware that was developed in the non-American world.

But what, exactly, would she look up? “I’m feeling so good about being in an alien body that I’m barely able to keep the emotions contained and it’s terrifying me”? She was, unfortunately, at a loss and completely alone. That would then spiral her into an existential depression. She knew those symptoms; she’d had them enough after the death of her mother that she’d needed to see a shrink for it. He’d given her the tools necessary to manage the depression, which was what she was doing now.

One of those tools was to find people, preferably friends, to remind herself that there are others in the world who have interest in her.

While the in-game A.I. weren’t able to be actual friends, any more than an overeager puppy, they would certainly do.

And speaking of overeager puppies, Russe bolted the last bites of his spaghetti and choked it down with a glass of water. Having completed his lunch, however hastily, he took a deep breath, “So is it true that there are dinosaurs in enclosures and you can actually pet them on Mortan?”

“No idea,” she said with a grin, “Never been.” Norma apparently picked up on what Diane was up to because the woman snorted in laughter around a bite of pasta, grabbing her own water to wash the bite down before she choked on it.

“You’ve never been to one of the enclosures?” Russe’s voice almost squeaked in incredulity at the notion of someone having access to ‘dinosaurs’ but not take advantage of it.

She delivered her highest quality smirk across the table, “No, I’ve never been to Mortan. I was raised on Earth.”

Russe’s face turned simultaneously crimson and stricken, and Norma burst out laughing, throwing her head back and clutching her arms around her belly, “Oh, my gosh! Your face! This is why I wanted you to have lunch with us today, I had to see how you’d react to the commander!”

Norma’s appearance had improved quite a bit over the last week. Access (proper access) to the fabrication facility meant she could get clothes that fit properly, including a nice blouse made of a shimmery fabric that shifted colors in a rainbow of pastels and a utilitarian pair of cargo pants. It seemed she couldn’t let go of the habit of wearing something heavy and capable of delivering a kick, as she’d opted for a pair of steel-toed boots. The only part of her old outfit that she’d kept was her old flight suit jacket, and even that had been laundered and mended by the station’s robotic facilities.

Russe’s appearance prior to Diane’s arrival to the station and subsequent unlocking of the facilities for the tenants was something she didn’t know, but he’d shown up to lunch wearing a very casual t-shirt and jeans combo, a clothing style that hadn’t ever really fallen out of everyday fashion since first being introduced to the world by mid-20th century America. Given that this gentleman was a hacker that Norma had initially hired to try and break into Katrina’s systems and hadn’t left even when it was obvious that it would be an impossible task and no payment would be forthcoming told Diane one thing; he was smitten with Norma.

There were other signs, of course. Norma was constantly talking about how Russe would do random tasks around the station for her, bring her items he thought she might want for some project or another she’d mentioned working on, and often standing by her as she worked with the tenants to address the problems of the day.

It was the tiny smile on Norma’s lips while she recited Russe’s antics with exasperated fondness that told Diane that the feelings went both ways.

They were presently in the mess hall, which had been built almost as soon as the station had the capacity to do so. There were simply too many people for the food synthesizers to keep up with now that they were off emergency status. Besides, they had to be ready for the station to have a population of thousands, and the crew and support staff, which a good chunk of the tenants had chosen to become, were going to need their own place to get their grub that wasn’t going to be (hopefully) chock-a-block with visitors to the station.

Diane languidly twirled a forkful of spaghetti, “It’s not my fault you didn’t ask where I came from.”

Russe smiled bashfully and nodded, “Yeah, that’s fair. Sorry ‘bout that.”

Diane was just about to reply when a page came over the P.A. system, “Ops to Commander Somni’els, please report to Ops for an incoming transmission.”

The mentioned commander sighed, “Duty calls,” she said as she shoved an oversized forkful of pasta into her mouth and grabbed her plate and water as she stood.

Read the rest at Scribblehub

[the-firebird69]

There's several developments and they are local and global both:

-there's a huge amount of idiots in this town they don't know their s*** they don't know when to shut up they don't know when they're being made fun of chastise harassed or beat up they are dumber than hell this lady on the phone is a f****** idiot as soon as this repeating what she is doing and saying it back and harassing her and she's a huge b**** it doesn't get it it doesn't want to be near you people you're a bunch of jerks your own tons of money and you look at him like it's nothing and it's sitting there whooping your ass and we know he's whooping your ass cuz where his army stupid f**** we say it to you differently lots of times to your face they never back off you're always dying the pseudo empire is going to say to us and good for them they can match around today like the mental patients that they are you don't inspire us no you motivate us like hell but you never imitate us or anything to die you don't have a say stuff in space are you going to die these are things we've been doing to you for a long time apparently you're completely stupid now we did pay attention to it we have a zombie level on you that's more appropriate it's about a seven out of eight set of 10 but boy are you people nasty they're all ready to go we have a place for you don't worry about it

-along with you being incredibly nasty and very stupid you are being incinerated and they're pulling you out and they're taking it to the incinerator for showing up three times a day as different people or three times a day is the same person or any combination there of or greater and they told you not to and you go ahead and do it right away does not mean that you're going to get away with it or survive or anything like that and they said it because they're actually going around pulling you out you too John Reema Lord your time is numbered meaning you only have a few days left they said and your whole race will be dead you're horrific people your act blows the bag. The lady is saying they shouldn't support foreigners getting an education in healthcare and is implying she's real mad cuz she went to our son's house the sun says my granddaddy is President and your enemy combatants and you don't belong here and you're more or less foreigners so are you limiting yourself whether you know it or not they're treating you like foreigners whether you agree to it or not you are taking away things that foreigners have put here and now your foreigners you're Australian you're New Zealand even Britain I don't know if you understand this it's happening all the time she did a good job now she's an a****** you did fine yesterday now you're an a****** and you don't understand it yeah sure is it's a f****** pain you didn't get any sleep you just don't do anything right you're getting slaughtered when is it going to be enough to try and do something normal so you're saying that to them because they're on the stupid floor that channel doing stupid things usually trying to bother him and we're going to see them try all day long and he's going to say who gives a s*** this one doesn't mean it either and you get f***** up all day and night this one looks more like an e-bike and they're starting to get upset

-this one beats the regulations completely

-there's another problem too almost everybody he needs is his enemy but he says is people are my enemy die nobody wants a schmuck near me or a****** or fake black person I am in I am entitled to report people who are abusing the image and report you clyburn for execution nothing less and you can take your e-bike and jam it up your ass sideways I'm going to turn you into the worm and jam the e-bike up your ass now this a****** fake black b**** ass and you're saying you're going to hit me so I have you hit if you're going to get hit there's no such thing as two judges in a courtroom and you're actually making legal binding decisions you're going to be fired and you're going to be killed by all these people are going to sue you on this people's couples Court judge Dana Cutler and judge Keith Cutler you are performing illegal task is not approved by the Congress of the United States it's never been written as a formal procedure every single judgment you have made is going to go back on you for that fat f****** b****'s mouth I'm going to start there and we're going to sue the f*** out of you for what you're saying

What he says is really true you can't have two judges and we're going to reset it to the justice department today along with all the other offenses he's offensive people are doing to go after them they have us on the side track to go after them so we're going to publish

Thor Freya

Olympus

Zues Hera

[wynteol]

I feel like maybe I should mention something going on with me mentally recently ... ever since I think it was Tuesday , I've been dealing with my games crashing when I stream , just yesterday I dealt with terrible internet connection with a game and it's just heartbreaking...   Now for those who don’t know or maybe you do , I stream games from my PS4 directly ( I do have a capture card but my current laptop is ... well it might work but I don’t think it’ll make a good source of my streams ) . Lately I’ve dealt with the error CE 34878 0 . I think I figured some of them out ... 

- For FNAF SB , it makes sense as the game on the PS4 is a mess and it was unstable when I revisted the game some time ago  .

- Minecraft , I now believe the most recent update for minecraft on the PS4 is causing the issue , which if it’s not fixed by next week , my life world weekly series will be on pause until after an update that addresses this issue and fixes it. That is unless there is a temp fix to do in the time being ... Checking the internet for any information on this issue for PS4 / PS5 players for Minecraft ( it’s probably a PS4 issue only but I am unsure about that ) 

- Skyrim ... do I need to say anything ? it’s skyrim , it’s a flawless masterpiece crafted by the gods themselves . but for real though ... it’s probably because skyrim is well ... skyrim ? 

- Fortnite ... I was dumb and didn’t bother to do a test run beforehand to see if it’s an issue with the game itself or actually an issue with my internet . The game didn’t crash by the way , which is surprising as I was kinda expecting it to but nope , just a shitty connection 

Anyways back to me venting .

 Look I get it , there will always be issues with streaming but for me ... it's disheartening .

Combine this all with whatever has been going on in my head lately , it's just frustrating ... it's tiring ... I just want to give up sometimes and just focus on smaller stuff .. BUT I wont . I’ll take breaks for my own mental sanity if I ever have a bad week . 

Now I’ll be okay , I’m just tired , angry and sad by these issues ...

Anyways ... that’s about it . This originally started off as a twitter thread and while I do plan on sharing it with twitter and wherever else I post as well . I felt like tumblr works well enough I suppose since I can go more in semi details . As for my frustrations itself ... maybe it’s everything that happened recently ... with my foot pain in early July , the last couple of years and maybe just general stress recently .

Anyways I should head to sleep soon but also I also need to calm down as well perhaps ? Maybe ... 

[forever-rogue]

hi! i love your fics so much and always know i can come here when i need some comfort…which i am in need of. i went on a first date yesterday and was told today that he “had another relationship in progress” and with that and job hunting i just keep feeling unwanted. i was wondering if i could request a fic where marcus p comforts his secretly-in-love-with-each-other best friend reader? thank you so much!! 💜💜💜

AN | It’s been a minute since I’ve written some Marcus and…here we are! I hope you all know how wonderful and amazing you are! Enjoy ❤️

Pairing | Marcus Pike x Fem!Reader

Warnings | None

Word Count | 1.9k

Masterlist | PP Characters, Main

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

“Good morning sunshine,” the cup of coffee and bagel that were dropped in front of you on your crowded desk caught you off guard and you almost jumped out of your chair. The warm laugh that met your ears made you feel the slightest bit better, as you looked up and allowed yourself to look at his handsome face, “should I even bother to ask how you are?”

“G’morning,” you mustered up the closest semblance of a smile that you could manage as he just grinned at you. If he thought you were sunshine, he must have been all of the stars combined, “didn’t sleep well last night is all.”

“Oh,” his smile wavered for a moment before he quickly recovered, “I’m sorry to hear that. Maybe you could duck out a little early and get a nap. I’m sure the boss won’t mind.”

“Thanks Marcus,” your face warmed at your boss’ little wink and you had to bite the inside of your cheek to keep from making any sounds, “you’re the best. Best boss and friend.”

“I try,” he took a sip of his own coffee before realization hit him, “hey - your date was last night! How did that go?”

“Umm,” you had been dreading this very moment. You knew he would eventually remember to ask, but you hadn’t planned on volunteering any information. He beat you to the punch. You picked at a bit of your bagel before shrugging lightly, “it went. Fine. Yeah…just fine.”

“Fine?” he parroted, perching himself at the edge of your desk as you just nodded, “doesn’t seem fine. You were excited to go out with him - what happened?”

“Marcus,” you bit your lip and leaned back in your chair before sighing heavily, “he basically told me that he wasn’t looking for anything serious right now. Which is fine enough, we’d never discussed whether it would be serious or casual or whatever. But then he told me that he basically already had another relationship that was just starting and he wanted that to be serious, and then basically said he’d only want to hook up. So, yeah. That was that.”

“Sweetheart, that’s-”

“Surprisingly not the worst date I’ve been on,” you admitted with a bitter laugh before blinking at the stinging in your eyes, “it’s just…it’s my fault for not asking sooner but I feel like that’s something he should have said as well, right? I dunno…it would just be nice to be someone’s first choice for once. It sounds so stupid - and whiney - and I don’t know. It is what it is. I’m sorry for rambling, Marcus. I shouldn’t bother you with my problems like this.”

“It’s not a bother - you are never a bother. And second, I want you to tell me all of this stuff,” he insisted softly, “you’re my…best friend. But for what it’s worth, I’m sorry that happened. I know you were looking forward to that date.”

“Thank you,” you gave his arm a gentle squeeze before pulling yourself back together, “well, that’s another frog that didn’t turn out to be a prince. On to the next one…eventually.”

“Hey,” he seemed nervous suddenly and you looked at him expectantly. It wasn’t like him to be shy and reserved, at least not with you, “w-what are you -”

Before he could say anything further, the phone at your desk began ringing shrilly. He closed his eyes, exhaling sharply as you offered him an apologetic look before moving to grab the call. You moved a small sorry as he just nodded, moving away from your desk, but not before casting a quick glance back at you. You didn’t even notice, already too wrapped up in your call. 

“Get it together Pike,” he chastised himself as he made the trek across the floor to his own office. He was sure this was the time he was going to ask you on a date and actually make sure you knew it was a date, and not just friends spending time together. He’d only been trying to do so for the last…four years? Fuck, how had it become four years without him making a move on you? You, the woman that had managed to capture his heart and soul. But now, he realized, he was going to need to make a move or you’d be lost to him forever. Eventually someone was going to come along and treat you right, and he was determined to be the one, “just do it.”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

You were about halfway through a pint of ice cream, watching your newest trash tv obsession - and thoroughly judging their petty little problems - when a knock came at your apartment door. Tossing the spoon back into the container, you sighed heavily and debated ignoring the knocking. You couldn’t even think of who it would be at this time of evening; you certainly weren’t expecting anyone…

“Coming,” you put on your slippers before trudging to the door, opening it without checking to see who it was. Which, in hindsight, was probably a bad idea, but the thought hadn’t even occurred to you. But your surprise - and delight - there was Marcus on the other side of the door, “hi Marcus. I wasn’t expecting you…please tell me I didn’t forget movie night…”

“No,” he shook his head with a small little huff of laughter, sticking his hands into his pockets nervously. He was still wearing his suit, clearly having worked late and come straight from the office, “I just…wanted to come see you.”

“What’s the matter? Did something happen?” you motioned towards his suit and he shook his head. You reached for his hand and pulled him inside and into the warm, gently shutting the door behind him, “do you want hot chocolate or anything? Coffee? A drink?”

“No, thank you,” he leaned against the counter and you raised your eyebrow at him, “I need to talk to you.”

“Me?” Now it was your turn to be nervous but he eased any worries by shaking his head, “is everything alright, Marcus? You seem…off.”

“You told me about your date,” the reminder caused you to frown but you nodded anyway, “and I hate the fact that it was awful for you. Because you deserve the best - everything. The fact that your date didn’t work out made me happy - not because of your disappointment but because it means…it means I might still have a shot with you.”

“A shot with me?” you looked at him with wide eyes and his cheeks flushed a brilliant red before he gave you a small nod. Your mind was positively reeling at his little confession, and you were sure that you had heard him incorrectly, “what do you mean?”

“You’re going to be the death of me,” his words held no malice as your eyes grew wide and nervous. He seemed to calm down after a few moments as you willed him to say those words you had been desperate to hear for so long. It seemed like a dream come true; never in a million years had you thought that Marcus Pike, not only your best friend but also your boss, would feel that way about you. You’d been harboring a crush on him for what seemed like an eternity now, dreaming that one day he would be your prince among the endless sea of frogs.

“Marcus?”

“I’m in love with you.”

“I…oh, wait. What?” you looked at him in confusion and he laughed, unsure if he should be nervous or happy. He could practically see the gears turning in your head as you tried to make sense of what he’d said, “what do you mean, you’re in love with me? Like…you love me? Do you mean it? I don’t want you to ever say just because."

"I'm not, sweetheart. I mean it -"

"Because I really like you, Marcus. And I'm in love with you. I think I have been for a long time. Probably since we first met. And I've been looking for what I have with you in so many others but nothing has ever come close. That's how I knew-"

"Sweetheart."

"And I've been wanting to ask you out for a long time, but just couldn't do it," you were speaking so rapidly, waving your hands around that you completely missed the way Marcus was watching you with nothing short of pure adoration, "and if this is just some sort of pity thing or you don't really want me, just say it. I don't think I could ever handle being heartbroken by you. Anyone else, I'd live, but never of it was you."

Before you could ramble on any further, Marcus took the chance in your quietness and tenderly put his hand on your cheek before leaning in to brush his lips against yours. That managed to silence you, your nervous rambles cut off and the thoughts swirling around your mind turned into static. Holy fuck. Marcus was really kissing you. 

And he was good at it; it felt so right. It felt like you’d been doing this for eons before. It took a few moments before your brain caught up to what was happening, and once it did, you almost pushed him off of you. You made a small sound as you looked at him with wide eyes. 

“You kissed me,” you stated the obvious as your glance drifted from his eyes to his lips and back. He looked amused and nodded, “why?”

“I thought it might get you to calm down,” he grinned, “you were rambling. And I wanted you to know that I felt the exact same about you. You’ve been it for me for a long time.”

“Oh,” the corners of your mouth quirked up into a small smile, “oh. I never would have thought that you felt the same. I might have asked you out…or just kept pining after you.”

“We were never just friends, were we?” he gently brushed a few locks of hair out of your face, before stroking his thumb over your cheek, “maybe it just took us a while to get there.”

“Yeah,” you leaned into his touch, marveling at how soft his hand was, “will you do it again?”

“Do what?” he asked as you grew sheepish, worrying your bottom lip, “sweetheart?”

“Will you kiss me again?” your voice was barely above a whisper but he heard you loud and clear. 

“Of course,” he nodded, leaning in again so his lips were almost brushing against yours, “I could do that forever.”

“I hope you do, Marcus Pike,” you grinned before kissing him softly, “I hope you do.”

[shirecorn]

how about 17 and 24? what inspires you and how do you deal with art block?

Long post warning.

Art block...

I don't actually get art block, which is probably a combination of neurodivergence and drawing every day for the last 3 years

I wrote an entire tutorial about how to do that, but didn't feel like illustrating it. Would people want to read it even without visuals?

Maybe... I'll just start rambling.

There's a couple different types of art block, and it's really just a philosophy puzzle to get past them. I'm going to assume that the things I think of slow days, or art mud, is a milder form of art block and work through that.

Art block is a symptom, not a disease. You probably have something deep inside that you don't want to face, or don't know how. Sometimes you need to discover the cause, sometimes just power through.

Method 1: Rest

Let yourself just Exist. The act of consuming art is part of the process. Watching shows and playing games, taking a break and going gardening or focus on school. This is what you need for burnout-induced art block.

Method 2: Action

I always choose action, sometimes it means a tiny 2 min sketch per day. Ugly or super simplified. As long as I don't stop moving.

Toss everything. Start every piece thinking you will throw it away.

The act of drawing moves you forward; pinning it to the fridge does not. Don't work things until they are perfect. Work them until they are there.

Art block causes and solutions:

- No Inspiration

Not sure what to draw, nothing seems appealing. Art won't come out like it used to.

Do studies from life or photos. Sketch, paint, digital, traditional, doesn't matter. Rocks, fruit, figure drawing, landscapes, buildings, anything.

Study and copy professional's work. Old masters are best, like rubens, michalangelo (only his men tho) etc because they will teach you anatomy while you work. If you copy someone with a lot of flaws, you will repeat those flaws.

Trace to learn, not to earn. Trace photography and art from anyone you want. Don't post it unless you have the artist's permission or they are dead, whichever comes first. This is strictly work for yourself, on yourself. It's not about the finished drawing.

Find an artist with a fun style and try converting stuff into their style. Don't make that your new style though and especially don't start selling it. Your style is a chimera of everyone you love, not a clone of one person.

Take blurry photos. You don't need a fancy camera or good skills or beautiful subjects. Doing studies from your own photos can spark life into your workflow.

Make challenges for yourself. Randomly generate things to combine. Try fusing characters! Don't try to make it look good, just be fun.

Doodle patterns, swirls, lines, random stuff. Try looking up art warmups and doing some of those.

- Everything Sucks

You finally see how bad you are. Or somehow you got worse. Every piece is a fight and you spend hours trying to get something right only for it to be stiff and disgusting and STILL wrong.

Why are you trying to draw good? It's enough just to draw.

Accept that your art is bad. Every artist can see flaws in their work. Your problem is that those flaws outweigh anything remotely worthwhile and hurt to look at.

So what? You're in a period of growth, not a period of production. Keep that wonky second eye. Let them have hot dog fingers.

Show everyone! Show no one! No piece of art can ever be a reflection of the artist. Not their worth, not their skill. The only thing your art says about you is "Held and moved a pen for a bit."

Make bad art. It's ok. Most of the time, the pressure to perform and get things Right is what made them wrong in the first place. Relax.

- No Motivation

The #1 killer of artists everywhere. On some level you think you should draw, on every other level you think you should stay in bed.

You are not lazy. You wouldn't have read this far in a post about art block if you were lazy. You wouldn't CALL it art block if you were lazy. Laziness is wishing you didn't have to do anything. A block is wishing you were doing something. If you think you can namecall Yourself into productivity again, you're wrong and You need to unionize so that you don't treat You like that anymore.

Consider Mental Illness. Losing interest in something that brought you joy can be a symptom of depression. I know it seems obvious, but if you're waiting for a sign that it's "bad enough," it's bad enough. Seek care if you have the means. Forgive yourself if you already know this.

Selfcare. Examine yourself for neglect. Nutrition, exercise, enrichment, social need, and sleep are all part of the art process. Eat three meals and sleep 8 hours. That's your gaymer fuel. You deserve it, I promise. Depriving yourself of your needs will make your blocks worse, not kick you into making them better.

Identify potholes. Sketchbook falling apart? Tablet cord frayed? Half your pencils missing? Chair uncomfortable? Desk hard to reach? There's a lot of things that you tell yourself to work around and get over. Just because you CAN workaround something, doesn't mean you SHOULD. A difficult work environment can cause secret dread deep inside that you don't recognize and just think you're lazy. What you think of as "no motivation" might actually be "I don't want to deal with my tablet disconnecting every time I move it wrong and I have to wiggle it for a few seconds to make it work again." These little things are like potholes in the road. Sure you CAN still drive through them, but eventually you're going to look up and realize you haven't voluntarily left the house in weeks.

Repair potholes and roadblocks. You might feel bad about buying a new pencil, headphones, tablet, car, etc because technically the old one works if you hustle. But if you're running into so many potholes you've ground to a halt, it doesn't Actually work anymore, does it? Invest, save up, request, and require working equipment and suitable conditions. This stuff isn't just cushy privilege, it's an investment in yourself and your art. You are worth the effort it takes to clear the way. If you can't afford reliable (reliable! not perfect or luxurious) equipment, then say it. If cardboard is all you can afford, draw on cardboard. But know that you deserve canvas, and one day you might be able to make the jump. Acknowledge that sometimes, if you don't have it in you to smear burned twigs on wet cardboard, the problem isn't motivation, but opportunity.

- Haven't Drawn in So Long

A unique type of art block that self perpetuates. The thought of starting again is so stressful you can't do it. Or maybe you'll do it tomorrow. Yeah. Tomorrow for sure.

Face your fears. Are you ashamed of your lack of drawing? Are you anthropomorphizing your paper and thinking it's going to judge you, like "oh NOW you come back >:/" I internalize voices I hear and project them onto other people, concepts, locations, and inanimate objects. Your paper, computer, WIPs folder.... none of that is judging you.

Reframe your WIPs. Do you feel shame when you see "unfinished" projects? Why? Who says you MUST bring everything you start to Finish? You don't have to. A sketch is a finished art piece; it's called a sketch! If a sketch is a fully realized creation, pages that are half colored, 75% lined, or partially rendered are all fully realized creations too. Unless paid otherwise, art is done when you're done working on it.

Lower the stakes. Draw a chibi or grab some crayons. Get messy and slowly ease yourself back into the flow over the course of a couple days. It's fine.

Get a buddy! Find an art meme, do an art trade, get a study subject, or just wing it. Drawing art alongside someone can help you get past that block.

Pretend you never stopped. Don't think about the gap, how long it's been, or rustiness. As far as anyone knows, you drew the mona lisa yesterday and didn't break a sweat. Today, you drew a starfish on your hand with a gel pen. Keep up that streak, good job!

Just keep drawing. Make a goal to do one sucky drawing per day on the back of a napkin. Don't make up for missed days, just pretend they didn't happen. Who's going to judge you? The calendar? That's pieces of paper; it doesn't have an opinion. Draw a cat on it. Done. Keeping up the momentum is a great way to prevent art blocks in the future.

TLDR: Draw imperfectly and toss it. Selfcare is king. Draw often and don't judge yourself.

Art is a process, not a product.

[archetypal-archivist]

Tommyinnit and Hermitcraft- Heartstone

So this builds off of the whole "Tommy has somehow found himself on Hermitcraft after the exile arc" thing that got really popular with @redorich and @petrichormeraki on tumblr. Basically it's an excuse to give Tommy therapy and 20+ parent figures. One thing that's a common thread in those stories is that Tommy is shocked that Hermitcraft has infinite respawns and all of the hermits are quick to reassure him that he really won't perma-die in their world. And I had the thought- well, what if he wasn't in their world anymore? And thus came forth 1500+ words of angst~

It begins like this. Evil X is stuck in the void, alone and with no one to talk to. He misses daylight, he misses touch, he misses hearing voices other than his own. One day, he sees something get shot through the void as if by slingshot, leaving a trail of code in its wake, tethering the whatever it is back the way it came. This is Tommy, and while he begins to get adjusted to Hermitcraft and company, Evil X watches as the string of code begins to imprint itself into the void, and eventually learns that he can interact with it, albeit only on the most superficial of levels. On Tommy's end, he slowly begins to heal from his time spent in the war zone that is the Dream SMP, making fast friends with Grian and several of the other hermits in the process. He goes pranking with his newest, winged older brother figure, laughs at the antics of Impulse, Tango, and Zedaph, builds a cobblestone tower with BDubs, etc. But for all that he's healing, such a process isn't linear. No one on the server can truly understand just what sort of stuff he has been through, and so he often finds himself alone, trying to deal with his wildest emotions by talking to himself.

One day, however, a little voice in his head starts talking back. It's rough and gravelly and not very nice at first, but it's faint enough that he chalks it up to his imagination and moves on with his life. He follows Stress around like a duckling for a day, plays squire for Welsknight, and has a roaring panic attack after an unfortunate spar with False leads to him getting flashbacks to the Pit with Technoblade. He retreats back to his tower for a good cry, and in the midst of his tears, he hears the voice again. This time it's a bit nicer, sounding unsure and a bit panicky as it tries to encourage him to stop crying, god this is awkward, kid, it'll be fine. Wait, are you a kid? You seem tall for a munchkin.

This time, Tommy knows that it isn't his imagination, but half of his old server seemed to have voices in their heads so he really isn't all that alarmed that he seemed to have developed one of his own too. And he does something that no one else does when Evil X reaches out- he starts talking back. It's rough going, at first, especially since both of them have abrasive personalities, but eventually they settle into a rough estimation of friendship that means more to them then they are willing to say. From Evil X's perspective, this is the first time someone has actually listened to him and hasn't been turned away by his violent streak, his bad manners, and lack of proper social skills. For Tommy, this is a chance to vent to someone who seems to understand his pain. It helps that neither of them are inclined to ask too many questions. Tommy, on his part, has no clue that Evil X is an actual person and not a voice in his head, while Evil X can't bring himself to ask why Tommy has left a trail of code in the void and why it's all so glitched. He especially fears asking about the perma-death clause that seems to naturally have occurred in his code.

He will come to regret this choice.

The day is like any other, at first. He begins his day with a slice of sweet melon and then flies off to whatever hermits are awake at the time to "share a meal with them." Really, it started as an excuse to make sure that Tommy was eating at least one meal day, even in his most dissociative of states, but has since turned into an opportunity to eat weird things in front of people to see their reactions. (Etho is his favorite. He's always up early and half the time, asks to try a bite of whatever Tommy is having. They both agree that spider eyes taste a lot like sour boba.) From there it's off to the shopping district to restock his dirt shop and claim his share of the profits from the hole-digging service he runs with Grian. After that, there's just enough time to complete an order or two and collect more cobble and dirt before he has to meet up with Grian to go on their biweekly End Busting session. The two usually have a lot of fun as they go about it, Tommy jokingly shoving Grian off the platform only for his adopted brother to catch himself and fly up to join him on the narrow platform spanning the emptiness once again. Every once in a while, Grian mock-threatens to do the same in return, but he knows better than to actually attempt it after he did it once and had had to catch Tommy when he started screaming and even after they had gotten back to solid ground, he wouldn't stop for the better part of half an hour.

On habits die hard, after all. Tommy may have been told time and time again by everyone on the server that infinite respawns are a thing, yes really, but he still has a hard time believing it. He actually has a rather insane number of levels racked up- even more than Xisuma, which is impressive- because in all the months that he has been on Hermitcraft, he hasn't died once. It's a combination of survival skills taught to him by Philza and his own paranoia which has kept him alive for so long, and most of the hermits agree that it is rather impressive, if not entirely healthy for him to be so scared of dying. (Doc once offered to kill him as evidence that yes, it really is safe here and you will respawn, but for all that death by crazy redstone machine might of been cool, Tommy took a hard pass on that. Grian low key took exception to Doc offering to kill his adopted little brother, really man? Not cool.)

Anyway, Grian and Tommy meet up in the End and start off bridging with the insane amount of cobble that Tommy has stored up. Usually Tommy is in front, placing the stones, and Grian is in back, watching out for any sign of a slip up, but this time they decide to switch it up a bit, head in a new direction, play around with who's doing what this time. It ends... poorly. They bridge out into the black, on and on and on, farther into the void than they ever have before. Slowly, the islands of floating white stone stop appearing with such frequency, but they become larger in size and stranger in shape. Every once in a while Grian will see what he swears to be a glowing white mountain of Endstone in the distance, although Tommy calls bullshit each and every time. They chalk it all up to bad luck and going nuts from boredom, but really, neither one of them knows how to quit while they're ahead. As the islands disappear altogether and all that remains to orient themselves is the tenuous lifeline of cobblestone beneath their feet, the unthinkable happens.

Grian slips. And Tommy, taught compassion by the very world that will now kill him, reaches out to save him.

For one, brief moment, the two brothers clasp hands- and then Grian's weight pulls Tommy right over the edge and down, down, down into the void below.

Grian fell out of the world.

Tommy fell out of the world... and into a new one.

----

Xisuma wakes up late that day. He's been doing that a lot, if he's honest, given how late he's staying up most nights finishing up builds and the like. Those hours of sleep have to come from somewhere, after all, and he's far from an early bird. He gives into the impulse to relax a bit, drinking some tea sweetened with just enough honey to rot his teeth, and then heads off to his computer room to start up his duties as admin for the day. It's the red lights that alert him to something being wrong, and at first, he thinks it's just one of hermits' cam accounts being buggy again. Perhaps it got shut off while the hermit was bridging through the void and the hermit in question simply hadn't retrieved it yet? But who would name their cam account Tommyinnit? The looming dread sits cold in his gut as he flicks his fingers to open up his admin panel... Best to check, just in case.

The death messages are clear enough- Keralis had just perished to a ravager yesterday, likely Tango's from Decked Out if he had to guess. Zedaph had been slain by a piglin twenty minutes ago. And Grian and Tommy had fallen into the void. But if that were the case... why had only one of them respawned?

On Grian's part, he comes to with a lingering chill deep in his bones and an awful headache. The bed underneath him is warm and the sheets are a soft rosy color, likely one of the ones in Scar's magical village if the persistent smell of spruce is anything to go by. He winces against the light filtering through the window and turns to the side, squinting at where Tommy had placed his blue bed right next to his, apology on his lips for his stupid mistake. The sheets are undisturbed. Huh. That's weird, he could have sworn that he and Tommy had set their respawn points at the same time. Maybe Tommy had just forgotten and he was back in his base or at spawn? Grian rises to his feet slowly, giving his body time to adjust to the colors and sounds of the Overworld, then flaps his wings and takes off to go looking for his Tommy.

He doesn't find him.

---

The reactions to Tommy's "death" are many and varied, although for the most part, the hermits are split into two camps- those that think Tommy is gone for good, and those that think he may still be out there somewhere. For the first few days of Tommy's disappearance, most everyone is in the latter camp. Xisuma spends hours upon hours scanning the code, becoming increasingly more frazzled and terrified as his lack of sleep gets to him. Tango and Doc join him in the endeavor, although none of them have any luck or are able to spot the piece of code that caused the problem. No additions, no changes to the text, nothing. Grian leads the other team, those who set out on foot and one wing and with pick in hand to scour the world for their youngest charge, taken from them too soon. They begin in a grid pattern, setting out in ones and twos to search the whole world, but as the distance increases, the neat, orderly flyovers turn into frenzied boosting as panic starts to get the better of them. Some of them hold onto their composure better than others, but Grian ends up flying over the same patch of forest three times because he can't see for his tears. False, Impulse, Welsknight, and Beef cross the Nether, fighting their way into Bastion after Bastion and leaving Nether portals in their wake. In their tracks comes the fliers- Grian, Ren, Iskall, and BDubs. Each one takes a portal and does a sweep through the corresponding patch of Overworld before picking a direction to continue the search. Cubfan, iJevin, and Scar take to the seas, Mumbo, Stress, xB, and Zedaph to the End, Etho down into the depths of the caves below. Strangely enough, there are a few hermits who don't join the search- Keralis, who got the unlucky task of taking care of Xisuma and the others searching through the code, Tinfoilchef, who doesn't provide a reason but everyone gives him a pass because of his age, and Joe Hills and Zombie Cleo, who refuse to explain themselves.

Eventually, the searches dry up. Eventually, some of the hermits admit defeat. Hundreds of thousands of blocks out from spawn, down to the bedrock below, beneath sea and sky and every place that lacks the sun. How far is too far? For Xisuma, enough is enough. Tommy is dead. The search is over.

He stops looking. And soon, others do the same.

And the tone of the server... shifts.

For the first time that any of them can remember, a person has perma-died. Sure, they've all heard the rumors, of servers where infinite respawns is not the norm, of servers where the world glitched and a creeper is supercharged enough to damage a player down to their code. But they'd never thought that one of their own would be on the receiving end of such a curse. And to the hermits, the possibility of dying themselves suddenly becomes all too real. The constant flying is the first to go, and for those that insist on it anyway (outside of Grian, who has wings), checking the elytras' durability becomes more than just a habit. Eating spider eyes and other junk is out of the question, now it's golden apples or nothing. The Nether is all but abandoned, as is the End, and everyone on the server either groups up so that they are never alone, or retreats into their bases, becoming true hermits befitting of their server's name.

The joy that had once been so characteristic of the server is gone, and in the hearts of all, there lingers the dread that any one of them might be next- although, there are still those that hold on to hope that Tommy may not be as gone as he seems.

---

The hermits who think Tommy is dead for good and have stopped searching: Doc, Etho, Xisuma, Welsknight, Grian, BDubs, Cubfan, TinfoilChef, Stress, False, Iskall.

The hermits who think Tommy is still out there, alive if still missing, and that the search should continue: Keralis, Mumbo, Tango, Vintage Beef, Impulse, Zedaph, Joe Hills, Zombie Cleo, Scar, Rendog, xB.

Doc and Etho are old. They don't like to admit it, but they've been around since the beginning, back when players were first learning how to jump servers and communicator technology was undergoing its first upgrade. They've seen a lot and know well by now that dead is dead. Tommy is dead. All that is left to do is mourn and move on, and they have shed their tears already. Call them cold for it, but in the face of a kind of drive that can keep a man going after his entire server has burnt down around his ears (Mindcrack will be missed), they know they need to keep moving forward. There are enough broken messes on the server these days, and it is through their efforts that shops remain stocked and the torches don't burn out. They hold onto normalcy with an iron grip and hope that some day, the rest of the hermits will join them in rationality.

Stress too has a comparatively healthy approach to all of this. She doesn't want it to be true, god no, but so far everything is pointing in the direction of Tommy being dead for good. She eats a couple dozen bowls of ice cream, has a some good cries, doesn't leave her base for a week, and even afterwards she can't bring herself to wear pink for a while. But she's mourning. She's accepted things. She lets her heart break, and as time passes, she lets herself heal. And that's enough for her.

Scar is of the opinion that Tommy is still out there, and while he clings to that hope with all his might, it's fragile and Cub just knows that his best friend is going to be cut to pieces when that hope inevitably breaks. So he takes Scar aside for a quiet conversation, to break his heart before the world can break it for him. Afterwards, Scar stops talking about Tommy as if he's coming back, but his smile is never as bright as it was before. And Cub's heart breaks too.

Team ZIT swings the exact opposite way as the rest and are firmly of the belief that permadeath is impossible and thus Tommy must be alive. The three of them aren’t known for their impulse control at the best of times, and with so many hermits having given up, the trio is rightfully vicious about the fact that the others, in their eyes, have abandoned their friend. Zedaph, Impulse, and Tango all kind of feed into one another and start doing lots of dangerous stunts, as if daring the universe to permakill them and prove them wrong. If one of them does something, the other two join in and escalate things, which gets impossibly dangerous very, very fast. Tango is furious, Impulse is bitter, and Zedaph is straight up heartbroken that his other friends would give up on another of their number. They do things like fly incredibly high, go cliff jumping in the Nether only to catch themselves at the last minute, and sprint across the End bridges. If they have doubts, they never voice them. Even when Tango feels like he’s burning up from the inside and wonders at his newfound hate. Even when Impulse is utterly terrified but goes along with things anyway because Tango is doing it and he can’t bear to leave a friend alone. Even when Zedaph looks at his friends and can’t help but feel scared of and for these strangers wearing the faces he knows so well. Even then.

Team ZIT often gets dragged into and starts lots of screaming fights with the other hermits who believe Tommy is dead, especially Doc, BDubs, xB, and False. False especially gets vicious, as while pvp is no longer permitted on the server, her tongue is as sharp as any blade. She believes firmly that the others are trampling on Tommy’s memory by insisting that he isn’t dead and she is determined to make them stop. And if they refuse to give up their foolishness? Well, all she might have left is her words but with them she will make them bleed.

xB and Vintage Beef are as close to neutral as you are going to get from those that get into regular arguments. xB thinks Tommy is dead until proven otherwise, while Beef thinks the exact reverse. As some of the more chill hermits, they often get dragged in to play negotiator so that the fights don’t turn physical. And some days, when someone says something particularly hurtful, they’ll close themselves up in one of xB’s bunkers and drink until they can no longer remember why they ought to be enemies. It’s hardly healthy, but they both agree that it’s better this way. Better to forget than to hurt, after all.

Grian is… somewhat the same. Sort of. He was traumatized by Tommy, the boy he adopted as his little brother, dying before his eyes, and he can’t help but blame himself. That is, when he can remember that Tommy is dead at all. After the fall, Grian’s mind was badly broken and he couldn’t accept that his little brother was dead for the longest time. He fell into two weeks of deep depression, barely eating or drinking, and eventually Iskall came and took care of him when he realized that he hadn’t seen his buddy in ages. Iskall nursed Grian back to health, only to feel his heart shatter in his breast when Grian turned to him, eyes feverishly bright and tone childlike, asking where Tommy was. The winged man’s mind couldn’t cope with the loss so it had shut down entirely, making him forget the tragedy that had occured. Iskall had deflected then, frantically trying to figure out what to say, but after a few days of Grian wandering about in a dreamlike state, his memory came back to him and he collapsed in on himself once more. The winged hermit is now locked in a loop of this, while poor Iskall is stuck trying to keep his friend alive and relatively sane.

Iskall, for his part, thinks Tommy is well and truly dead. In part because of his own certainty, in part because anything else would be even crueler for Grian. He doesn’t resent his friend for his break downs, just quietly bundles him up and clutches him close, coaxing him to eat and bathe, to put down the guilt and realize that it’ll be okay, the world won’t end with Tommy gone. He gently tries to nudge Grian down that path of acceptance of Tommy’s fate, and though he faces many setbacks, he tackles each one with a special kind of patience born of platonic love. They’re bros, despite everything. It’s only right.

Mumbo is, weirdly enough, on the side of Tommy being alive. Iskall doesn’t exactly approve and while he and Mumbo sometimes get into whispered arguments over it, they try to keep their little disagreements from Grian. Both of them only want to see their friend happy again, and will do just about anything to make it happen. For Mumbo, this means putting together crazy redstone contraptions to try and find Tommy again, as he’s certain that Grian’s little brother is still out there somewhere- and he has a piece that might prove it. Iskall comes over one day, face drawn and haggard from a night of soothing Grian through another set of screaming nightmares, only to find Mumbo waist high in redstone wiring, all hooked up to a strange portal design that looks too much like Doc’s infinity portal from season 6 for comfort. At the top of the arch is Tommy’s compass, needle whirling about like a hurricane, and while the portal isn’t lit, it does give off a faint blue-black glow. Iskall is frightened that Mumbo is tampering with something that could get him killed and Mumbo rushes to reassure him that no, the compass was specifically linked to Tommy so if Tommy was really dead, it would have been reset, right? He’s merely borrowing that tie to try and figure out where the two ends lead. Iskall is less than sure about this, especially since Mumbo is just as drawn and pale as he is, if a bit more covered in redstone, but they agree that fighting is pointless. They care about each other and about Grian too much to put any of them through that sort of pain- and besides, there’s more than enough fighting on the server already.

Ren too thinks that Tommy is alive and he is one of the ones who gets into regular fights. He’s a lover, not a fighter, but something about this whole situation just burns him up. When the pressure gets too much, he goes flying, tracing over those old familiar trails they searched so long ago, trying to see if there is anything they missed. There never is.

Welsknight has made his peace with Tomy’s death, though the server tends to forget that he and Tommy were closer than most. He alone knew that Tommy was once upon a time a boy called Theseus (a name given to him shyly when Tommy had asked him if there were any great heroes with that name that didn’t die). He alone knew Tommy’s love for horses, or that he would spend hours whispering horror stories to them when he thought no one would hear. Tommy was his squire, and although he had accepted the tragedy, he still wept for the hurt it brought him. He alone knew of the little grave he had dug under the willow tree in his castle courtyard and the headstone he had placed there, engraved with Tommy’s true name, death date, and supposed date of birth. He couldn’t have been more than 17, and perhaps that was what hurt the most. Every morning at dawn, Welsknight brings a bouquet of flowers to that little grave and says a prayer before disappearing into the morning fog. The flowers are always the same- forget me nots, for remembrance, violets, for devotion, and clover. (Think of me).

Tinfoilchef stays out of it- always has and always will. He’s too old to rush about searching or to feel as wildly as the others do. He feels, of course, but more so as the mountain does, steady and strong despite the winds that tear at its surface. Tommy is dead, but then, so are many of the people he has known in his life. It’s best to just keep plodding along.

BDubs is a mess. He had never spoken of it, but long before he had come to hermitcraft, he had had a daughter- a beautiful baby girl whose heart was too big for her chest, and she had died for that difference. He had grieved for years, but eventually the peace of the hermitcraft server had left him soothed, if a bit different than before. Tommy had been another chance at fatherhood, not that he could ever bear to call the teen that, even in the privacy of his own mind. Instead, he had taught the kid to build cobblestone towers that weren’t entirely offensive (if shaped a bit oddly) and had been the first to volunteer any time Grian was out and Tommy needed a place to spend the night when the nightmares were particularly fierce. They had so many fun sleepovers like that, and staring at those awful cobble towers in the distance, BDubs can’t help but bawl his eyes out at the memories. He waffles between taking the towers down or leaving them up- they really are ugly, and the feelings in his chest that they inspire are even more so, but somehow, he can’t bear to see them gone. Instead, he dries his eyes, flies off to grab a shulker of cobble, and sets about adding a few more to their number. A final remembrance for the boy he would have gladly claimed as his own, if only he hadn’t been too late. (He ends up building a lot more than a few).

Joe and Cleo are somehow the only ones who are actually neutral in the whole mess. Whenever they are asked their opinion on if Tommy is truly dead or not, the pair simply smile mysteriously and refuse to comment. Joe always seems to know more than he lets on and Cleo is his closest confidant, after all. Despite the anger and tears directed their way for refusing to commit to either side, the two keep their silence. (They know the truth of the matter, after all. Everything will be okay in time).

Xisuma has given up. Tommy is dead, and there is nothing he can do but spend days and days going over the code with a fine tooth comb, trying to find the glitch that cut the life of their youngest member short. Keralis takes it upon himself to take care of his long time friend, but it’s not an easy task, not when the other is so determined to make sure that such an incident never happens again. And Keralis can’t find it in himself to complain, especially since he is laboring under the impression that Xisuma agrees that Tommy is still out there and is trying to find him. It is only when Keralis mentions it in an aside, thanking the admin for his dedication, that Xisuma breaks the illusion and explains. Tommy isn’t just dead, he says tiredly, his very presence is well and truly wiped from the world’s code. All that is left of him is the faint impression his code had left behind, and trying to read it and understand what went wrong is a bit like trying to read small letters that have been drawn out in dry sand. Even for a voidwalker like himself such a task is near impossible, and Xisuma can only do so much. The needs of the many above the needs of the few- best to secure those he can now than worry over those that are gone beyond his reach. And Keralis can’t help but look at his friend with new eyes, a fleeting sense of betrayal in his heart. He had thought better of his Shishwammy, and he says as much. 

He cries while Xisuma watches on in solemn, mournful silence.

---

TBC  :)

[oneshotnewbie]

Like what if Kara came home and found B!D sick on the couch?

combined with: can you do some more stuff with Kara looking after b!d?

---

The sun was already about to set behind the hills of National City and you were still on the couch; you hadn't moved from it since this morning. Your head was pounding and you felt like your skull would break, your whole body felt heavy and destroyed, almost like you had been run over by a truck.

You weren't often sick, but when you were, you were immediately violated with the pleasure that no pain pills would help, no blanket could calm the cold inside you and a warm bath didn't automatically move your tense muscles and quivering bones to hurt less.

The only thing you could do was endure it all, at least for the first 24 hours.

The darkened living room, the pillow that you had pressed over your eyes to banish the rest of the daylight and the fresh air that made it's way into the apartment through the open balcony door let the headache subside, at least a little. The hot water bottle on your back also helped you to relax a little and made everything a little more comfortable.

At least before you felt a huge impact in front of you that chased shock waves through your body and made you whine in pain. "Y/N, I am home!" shouted the blonde in her luscious bright and high voice. "Oh Rao, I am so hungry!"

You winced at the volume of her voice and clung to the pillow with both hands before throwing it to the side in annoyance. "You are always hungry and now don't be angry with me but shut up."

She walked back the last few meters she had already started to the kitchen and looked down over the back of the couch to your lying figure. "I am sorry, I didn't know... Did I wake you?"

"No but thanks to my Kryptonian sister which flew through the window like dumbo instead of taking the door like a normal human being I am in more pain than I was thirty seconds ago." you tried to roll your eyes but let it be when a spasm ran through your head and you paused for a moment. You hated headaches more than anything.

"It's way easier and faster for me and you know that!" she laughed confused. The blonde didn't know exactly what was wrong with you and why you reacted this way, she didn't saw you since yesterday evening and you were perfectly fine then.

With one quick movement of her hand she switched on the small standing lamp on the table next to the couch and you immediately flinched while crossing your arms in front of your face.

She raised her eyebrows and frowned her nose before dropping the bags of food on the coffee table and kneeling in front of you while one hand of hers found its way to your knee. "Hey, sweetheart. What's going on?"

"Nothing Kara and I am really sorry but my head hurts as if there are stones inside and I am in so much pain that I can't even breathe properly." you mumbled in the pillow and she let out a heavy breath before she switched off the light next to you and gently pulled the pillow out of your hands.

She knew how bad your headaches could hit you.

"I am so sorry, baby girl. If I had known, I would have been quieter." you waved with one hand as to say her that it was fine as you tried to sit up. The imagine before your eyes trembled and your head felt like a jackhammer. You pressed on the sides of your skull to ease the pain. "Have you already took pills for the pain?"

"Three times the normal dosage and nothing helped. I think I nodded off briefly or several times, but I am not sure." you admitted and looked at her sadly. "Why didn't you call Alex or me so we could come and take care of you?"

"My phone is in the kitchen and I didn't have the strength to move my body, risking I could faint or else."

She nodded in understanding and gently stroked her thighs before she fished a stranded hair piece out of your face and placing her hand on your forehead. You leaned into her cool hand and stayed like that for some time before she took it away and looked at you worriedly. "You have a high fever, kid."

There was a short pause before she got up and sat down next to you on the couch. Only now did she notice the hot water bottle and felt it to see if it was still warm enough. When she realized it wasn't anymore, she pulled it out from behind you and placed it on her thighs. "Have you already eaten something today? Drank?"

You shook your head slowly, careful not to aggravate the pain. "Didn't ate, drank only this little bottle of water." Kara rubbed her forehead a few times and sighed before getting up, taking the food and the bottle with her while going into the kitchen. "You should have called, Y/N."

You ignored your older sister's answer; you just didn't want to bother her and take her away from work if nothing bad had happened. With this thought, you lay back again and closed your eyes. Inside, you were glad that she was finally home and you were no longer alone as you had someone who was with you and took care of you.

---

After she made you some tea and managed to get some food down your throat, she lay down with you and watched your favorite movie while holding you firmly and protective, giving you more warmth than the precious hot water bottle. At least she was watching the film, the second she lay down on the couch, you turned away from the television and were now facing her; your leg on her thigh while both arms wrapped around her body and your head resting on her chest. "Try to sleep a little, you need to rest."

"You gonna stay?" you whispered.

"Don't worry, I will stay right were I am. I will be here." she paused and gave you a kiss on your hair. "Now close your eyes, baby girl."

[the-brohood-of-hotties]

Forget me not

Fandom: Katekyo Hitman REBORN! Pairing: Hibari x Reader   Wordcount:  2,210

Summary: Hibari is a weird man, famous for his rather aggressive aura. After he moves into your neighborhood, an oasis inside a big neon town, Hibari Kyouya brings with him the weirdest situations into your life, as he makes a startling entrance with an accident with his "co-worker", Yamamoto Takeshi.

This is an entry for #khrevents April Angst 2021/ Day 8/ Yearning, Longing/ Reincarnation AU/ "I don't want to forget you."

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30658199

The glass door from your coffee shop and gardening club swings open, you don’t really care to see who’s there because it’s almost the end of your shift and you’re really entertained with social media, though you did greet the person entering. “ Good evening. Welcome to the Daily Lily.”

“Good evening, I’m afraid we’ll have to check out your storage.”

“Are you the police?”

“...No.”  The voice seemed hesitant, you notice.

“Then I can’t help with that, we have a promotion on cheesecake today though.”  You smile and finally look up, afraid it might be a man trying to mess up with you. Well, it was two men, in fact. You’ve heard the rumors around the neighborhood, that Hibari Kyouya was a man with a weird aura that just moved in alone with some exotic pets, while he seemed delicate and handsome, he just had this introverted, aggressive aura and you’d never expect him to show up in your small business as the companion of another guy. Tall, tan skin, dark hair, buff, a scar on his chin in contrast with a bright gentle smile. He seemed to carry a baseball bat in his back, which made the combination of sports and their suits really off, they both seem to be either Japanese or Korean.

While Hibari, the  grumpy one, seemed to not be so happy about being with the other guy. Like a puppy and an old cat. "We don’t wanna bother you, but-..." The baseball guy was cut off by a loud noise coming from the back of the store. Normally you would be worried that your co-worker got hurt or something, but today? You’ve been alone for the second half of your shift. It’s not supposed to be noisy there, you’re frozen in the spot.

Hibari immediately bursts into the staff-only area of your shop, and before you can protest, the other guy gently grabs your shoulder. “Everything will be fine, we’ll take care of this situation. I just need you to hide in the restroom.’’

“Excuse me?!” No time for excuses, you heard someone grunting and the loud noises start getting too repetitive. Your phone was given in your hands and you basically got pushed into the room by the taller guy. “Sorry, huuh I really need to go there… ” He said as the door slammed on your face. The restroom was cozy enough, you had it decorated as you wanted, and you were firmly holding your phone in case you needed to call someone...But then, who would you be calling? The police would probably make things worse, especially because they seemed to be armed, or worse, maybe these guys are the police in disguise. You fidget your fingers along the cold black surface as a way to calm down a little, it seemed pointless. The noise was too loud to just put on earbuds and ignore them, but you realize: And if this is all a scheme? Rushing to peek at the door, as your eyes meet the pastel walls of the store, you realize it seems like no one’s here at all. Until you hear the cranky storage door opening, and as soon as you see the Baseball guy again, you close the door. Don’t want him thinking you’ve been spying on whatever happened in the storage, with your heart racing, you hear a gentle knock on the wooden door, accompanied by his voice. “Everything is fine! You can come out. I’m sorry I didn’t say my name before, I’m Yamamoto Takeshi and my company here is Hibari Kyouya.”

Decide to close the shop soon as you could for the day,  you come out of the restroom, greeted by the two men.

“I am not your partner, Yamamoto Takeshi.”  He mutters, Hibari looks completely clean, you could still mistake him with a businessman. While Takeshi seems to have bruised his hand a little. You offer him your first-aid kit which he accepts, then you close the curtains so there’s no curiosity about that’s going on inside. “So, what happened in my storage?”  You cross your arms, with a cotton stained with blood between your fingers, slightly annoyed by the whole situation. Making mental notes of what to tell your therapist later, then going back to cleaning the dry blood on Yamamoto's calloused hand.

“Two burglars, they were armed but easy to deal with.” Hibari finally says something directed to you, maybe it’s the first time he bothered to look in your eyes. Not that you’re annoyed by that, perhaps he’s just introverted. But at the same time, now that he looked at your face, it's like something inside him got frozen, awkward. It's such a weird feeling, especially since he doesn't really show it off, you just can tell. “Are you guys police officers?”  You change the subject, brushing it off your mind, Hibari looks away, you can’t tell if he’s offended by being compared to a cop or something else. “Not at all! We just know how to handle them. We’ll send you a check to compensate for the damage and the working time you spent in the restroom as well.” Yamamoto finished his bandage and happily hands you paper and pen. “Just write down your shop’s address and info and the check will arrive in 3 to 5 days.”

You couldn’t really believe in such kindness, or at least knowing how to deal with the consequences of their vigilante work but since they already know the shop you write it down anyway. “ Are you all putting me in some pyramid scheme? You two seem like stage actors.”  They do look like handsome actors, you think.

“We aren’t.” Hibari actually pulls out an unused bullet from his pocket to show  they’re not lying, effective but scary. He just turns away and keeps browsing the plants you got for sale, examining the quality of an English Ivy’s vine. “Don’t scare them, c’mon. Isn’t this shop your neighbor now?”  Yamamoto jokes around, Hibari sends him a deadly look and you decide you won’t touch the neighbor subject ever again.

“If you two excuse me, I have to close the shop and go home. It’s getting late and I don't plan to work more today.” You operate the register and turn off your computer for the day, swinging the keys in your index finger. Anxious to get home to your cat and a nice hot bath to relax. “Thank you again for your kindness, next time you visit the shop anything from the coffee and plants is on me. But don't do crazy stuff again.” You smile as everyone leaves the inside area with you. “By the way, who’s going to take these two burglars out? Did you guys called the police?”

“Kusakabe already took them, before you got out of the restroom.” Hibari says in a beat, interrupting Yamamoto before he could say something else. “Who’s that?”  You raise an eyebrow, the Baseball guy blurts out, dismissing any curiosity you might have. “He’s a friend of ours who’s actually a cop!” That’s weird, you didn’t even see a vehicle, and usually, when cops stopped around they were always noisy and had the blue and red lights on. Off-duty cops, detectives, spies, what are these people doing around? Your curiosity around these two can only grow. It’s not like your hometown has anything important in the first place. Anyway, you say your goodbyes and already invited them to come once more. Perhaps it will be good to have these two around, at least against burglars.

Hibari turns to Yamamoto as soon as you disappeared in a street corner, with earbuds on, bursting your playlist for a nice walk and everything “That’s why we shouldn’t operate with any civilians nearby, we might be compromised now.”.

“It wasn’t that bad, I think they got to sympathize with us, it’ll be just a weird day on their life.”  Takeshi stretches his arms, it’s quite complicated to deal with you and Hibari all at once. “But, still if we didn’t interfere these guys might take them hostage, steal the shop, or whatever their intentions were. We’re lucky you saw they had guns when passing by the street.”

“I am sure Kusakabe will find out their true intentions, but meanwhile we cannot afford to bring attention to us. No more.” Hibari walked down the street, ready to get to his new apartment. “And, Yamamoto.”

“What?”

“If you get back here in the shop, don’t do anything weak and stupid.” A threat, how much that suits him, it must be a serious matter, no wonder the Foundation decided to settle in that small town for a while. Once Hibari got home, greeted by Hibird’s singing, he lets out a long sigh. What happened today? Two Mafia men going out for a civilian’s small business as if it’s a serious matter for them. But especially, the Cloud Guardian feels like he just knows you from somewhere. Your voice and eyes seem oddly familiar, but if he was to put this feeling into words it’ would simply smell like bullshit. Herbivore bullshit. He takes a long shower, and gets to bed to read something before sleeping, but can’t concentrate on his book. It can’t be, he even loses sleep and feels exhausted, only falling asleep when his body couldn’t take it anymore.

He wakes up in a bad mood, feeds Hibird and Roll, and opens his fridge: nothing, just a bottle of water. Well, he has to remind Kusakabe to do his groceries, but for now, he’ll be ok with going to your shop for breakfast. He gets changed from his kimono to casual clothing, it’s 07:00 AM when he walks down the block and notices no one’s inside the shop beside you, as he opened the door a ring is heard, you turn your head to see who’s there, the shop seems clean and decorated with paper and fairy lights hanging on the wall, plus with the plants of all sorts, making the place lively, with soft lo-fi music in the background. “Hey, good morning Sir.” He murmurs a response and orders blueberry pancakes with a black coffee on the balcony. “Thanks for coming after yesterday, I came here earlier to clean but your partner Kusakabe was waiting at the door to help me out.”

“Good.”  As you manage the register, he notices you have cupcakes with colorful glaze and cutesy decor right beside you, and a poster that he can’t read from that distance. You see he’s staring at something and offers him one of the cupcakes. “Today I’m throwing a small event here, the shop will celebrate 2 years of business, come by if you want to.”

“I’m not letting you give me everything in the shop for free.”  He rejects and suits himself a table nearby the window. “I don’t like parties, or crowded places so I’ll stop by tomorrow.” This hurts your ego a little bit, but it would probably be embarrasing to have a stranger around, he’s quiet most of the time. You wonder if Yamamoto is more of a party person, then, your thoughts drift to the question: Is Yamamoto Takeshi single? He doesn’t have a wedding ring, and neither does Hibari. 

 You shake your head before you could turn red in front of him. “Well, I’ll save you a piece of cake my parents made then.”  You say, as you get  prepared to do everything for today’s menu ready.

“You don’t have to.”  Ouch. You decide to not offer him more things, but this behaviour makes you wonder if he has a jealous partner.

Usually you let everything sort-of-ready so you just need to heat them in the oven on the back of the balcony. Cooking is time-consuming, but at least it’s pretty lucrative. “I think I’ll take around 30 minutes since you’re an early bird. You can use a laptop to work or shop for flowers if you like stuff like gardening.”  You turn your head to talk to him, but to your surprise, he’s already looking at some pots and examining some other gardening products you have around, you didn't expect him to be this kind of person, gardening takes nurturing, care, and a lot of attention towards a living being who doesn't even communicate like animals. He does like gardening apparently, you expected him to pull off a MacBook and have an online meeting over his meal or something, maybe doing finances of whatever organization he's probably the leader at, at least that's what his expensive suit tells. When you get to serve his plate, the spare chair has a basket full of gardening materials, seeds for fruits and veggies, some pots, a small rake, and a trowel.

As the clients come in and you get busier, he didn’t want to be a burden, so he just sat there and tried to enjoy his breakfast, even though the place was a little more crowded than he would like to. But still, Hibari can manage that for a bit, and then he realizes how the situation just got weirder to him, how come he’s doing that for you? And why did you felt so familiar? Spending most of his life there, just occasionally traveling he never noticed a person that matched that specific scene in his head. Is this some Herbivore bullshit? Maybe. Hibari is still pondering over this subject but as long as no one from the Foundation or Vongola finds out, he just found out a place with good pancakes, open from Monday to Saturday, how convenient. The whole saved your business and life thing or the fact that you’re attractive is just a small detail.  When he’s done, Hibari gets up from his table and your co-worker comes to clean his spot. He takes his basket to the balcony for payment, but not before adding a purple flower to his shop list. When he gets to pass all the products, which usually the clients would take one or two plants, but he got around seven, letting the purple flower for last.

A small vase blooming with forget-me-nots, as you pass it on the register, you read the silly little tag you put in some pots as decoration, each has a quirky phrase or pun with the names, that one reads:

“Don’t forget about me”.

[redridinnghood]

How should I call it?💕 Part 1

Hello There,

I'm Back with a new Story, Story will contain more parts and be a bit slow burn.

You meet a man with a Addiction and other Problems. For example he doesn't have any Impulse Control. Can you work it out? Can you help him heal? Or will he be your End?

What happens when you meet a certain Chaotic blonde?

Polyam relationship between Rafe, JJ and Reader. Don't like, don't read.

(Y/N Pov)

The first time I met him it was a late Summer Night. Met is the wrong word, I found him lying in an Back alley behind some Fancy Club.

He was clearly under the Influence of some Drugs and Probably Drunk as Fuck. But I couldn´t just leave him there like that at three in the morning. Should I call an Ambulance? Shit but I couldn´t risk it to pay for it. On the other Hand he needed defiantly help. I let out a deep sigh. Y/N how do you get yourself always in such situations? Leaning down I check his pulse, it´s fast but not dangerously fast. His skin is hot nearly Burning and his breathing is uneven.

Gently I stroke his head. ”Hey Man wake up, you shouldn´t sleep here it’s Dangerous.” My Voice is soft, I know how People under the Influence can act out. He just slightly lifted his head he tried looking at me, he failed his Head rolled Back. His Long limbs splattering out on the Pavement. Dam it! “Can I call someone to pick you up?” Voice still soft. He shook his head slightly. No. “Okay that’s not a big Deal do you live anywhere near here? I could call you an Uber and bring you there.” My Voice sounded a little more desperate. He blinked slowly. “No..” his Voice was raspy and sounded worn out.

Again I sighed deep. I held my Hand out for him, “Come on Big Boy, you can crash at my place but I can´t carry you so you need to help me a little bit.” He blinked Again slowly he reached out to take my hand. As I got a grip I pulled him up at first into a sitting Position, scared he might throw up. I waited a few seconds than I helped him up on his feet. He stumbled into me but I managed to help him stay Upright.

He groaned, he was distressed, his Head spun and he is pretty worn out. Yeah I know how it feels being slightly overdosed, not from my own experience but from a few people I grew up with.

His body felt Hot and I could feel his shirt being drenched in his own sweat. He needed a shower and to take of his drenched clothes. Slowly I made my way towards the big Apartment complex dragging him with me. Thank God it wasn´t far away, finally we reached the building climbing up some stairs.

As I put my Keys into the door I felt him clinging to me as if his life depended on it. It kind of did, I mean this neighborhood isn´t peaceful. Isn´t good to people who fall asleep on the pavement. After a few moments of struggling with the door it finally opened. Gosh when will the Landlord finally repair those fucking doors. Carefully they made their Way into the small apartment. I placed him on the couch.

“Alright Big Boy, can you tell me your Name?” Voice Soft but louder than before. Blue eyes with giant orbs fixated me, Truthfully he was quite Handsome. “Rafe” I heard his hoarse Voice. “Okay” I smiled a little. “We need to get you out of those dirty Clothes. It would be best if you would take a Quick Cold Shower.” He nodded absently. I walked out of the small living room into my Bedroom, searching for a few clothes my best friend Luca always left here. It were just a pair of gray shorts and an old Band Shirt but that would do it, Just in case I put a pair of Boxer in the pile. Since Luca wouldn´t wear them again I could throw them Away. I walked back into the Living room handing him the Clothes.

“Here take those, and there is the Bathroom. It´s nothing special.” He nodded and took the clothes. Slowly like in slow motion he got up steading himself on the couch. Than he reached for the wall because he started stumbling a bit. “Don´t look the door in Case you faint and keep in Mind it should be a cold shower.” I said loud enough so he could hear me but not loud enough to be shouting. When I heard the Water in the shower I started preparing the couch for him. After I prepared the Couch I filled a big Cup with water and placed it on the small Table. I made myself a tea and waited in the Kitchen area for him to finish. As he walked by I could just confirm my statement.

He was Handsome, beautiful Face with storming blue Eyes, he was Tall and had Dirty Blonde hair. When he spotted me he looked at me intensely. I just smiled “You are ready, that’s good I prepared the Couch for you and some Water. I will hop in the shower next If you want I can throw your clothes into the washing machine.” He looked at me and nodded I took a deep inhale. “I hope the cold shower lifted the fog a little bit of your mind.” His Gaze softened. “Yes, thank you” his voice was still cracking and the small smile he gave me didn´t quite reach his eyes.

Giving him a small nod I disappeared into my small Bathroom. The old blue tiles were still a bit wet I looked around and found his small pile of clothes throwing it into the Machine with my clothes. Turning her on, on a short Program so she would be ready in 20 minutes. As I stepped into my shower letting the Hot water embrace me. So I started thinking. He doesn´t Look Poor, his clothes seem to be pretty expensive. So what is he doing here? And why did I help him, I mean yeah I couldn´t just left him there I mean I could have. Why didn´t I just called the Police? It didn´t matter anymore he would crash here tonight and be gone tomorrow. Leaving the shower I hop into an old shirt and some panties hanging up the freshly washed clothes.

As quietly as possible I walk down the apartment into the bedroom. Soft snores coming from the Man, so I stop and look at him. The way the slow sunrise aluminates his Body makes him look so peaceful so out of a fairytale. Realizing that I just stared at a Stranger while he slept I quickly kept going. Carefully I lay down in my Bed, its full of Pillows and I have a few Books laid out on the other side. Sleep came faster than expected.

 

(Rafe Pov)

A soft humming sound wakes me gently I open my Eyes. Where am I? This is not the new Mansion? Not the Hotel where I usually stay when I go out.

It´s a small living room with a weird combination of furniture but it looks Good. Kind of. It seems cozy. Slowly I sit up stretching out. Wait those are not my Clothes. What the actual fu…

“Good Morning Big Boy” I hear a soft Voice. Why does it sound so angelic? Turning around I spot a Young girl in the Kitchenette. It´s probably her apartment.

“Want some coffee?” she asks while turning around grabbing a cup. “Sure” I reply while standing up and walking towards her. As I reach her she hands me a Baby Blue Mug with Puppy´s on it. Really?

She smiles, a smile so pure I never seen before. “thanks” I answer as I take the Mug. “Milk is in the Fridge and Sugar there.” She points at a small Container. “You want some Breakfast? I suppose after your consumptions yesterday you are pretty Hungry.” She asks while I pour some sugar in the Mug. “ This would be really nice.” I give her a small smile. My Memories of yesterday are coming back slowly. Why did she take Me in? Rafe takes a moment to Look at her, really look an her.

She is small around 5`3 her (Y/H/C) is tied in a lose ponytail her Skin looks so smooth and her (Y/E/C) are trained on the food she´s making. She is not skinny but also Fat, She´s just Beautiful.

But at the same time I´m  concerned, why did she took a stranger in? What if I had Lashed out on her? “ Thank you for Yesterday. I.. Honestly I´m really grateful but you could have gotten Hurt.” I swallow the Lump in my throat. “I could have Lashed out on you or something.” She hands me a plate with scrambled Eggs and some Toast. “Come let’s sit down and eat.” She just rounds me and sits down on the couch placing her plate on the small table and mentioning me to sit back down where I slept the last night. I obliged.

“Listen I´m Fine and that’s all that counts. You didn´t Lash out. You didn´t hurt me. And I couldn´t let you stay there.” Her Voice was genuine. It feels weird having someone so lovely not fearing me. Everyone fears me. “I.. Thank you.” I was dumbfounded she was right and I shouldn´t think about what if´s. Peacefully she sits next to me eating her Breakfast so I also start eating.

And oh my I never thought scrambled Eggs could taste so good. “This really good.” I smile at her, and she smile´s Back. “Thanks” she mumbles, she is cute.

Than it struck me I don´t even know her Name. “Hey.. um.. I think you didn´t tell me your Name…so.. What is your Name?” Why am I so Nervous. “ (Y/N). My Name is (Y/N)” I felt like my Heart skipped a beat the way she smiled and how soft her voice was. We ate the rest of our Breakfast in silence. It´s weird but I didn´t want this moment to end. I don´t know when it was the last time I felt so at ease. So content with myself. After Breakfast she handed me my Clothes and I changed. When it´s time to say goodbye and go our separate ways I find longing for staying. As if she could read my mind she hands me a small piece of paper. Confused I Look at her. “My Number. In case you need anything like a place to crash or something. Or just want to talk. I´m here.” Her gentle smile mesmerizes me and I can´t help it but embrace her in my arms hugging her. Carefully or she might break. “Thank you so much. I will defiantly reach out to you.” I say a little to enthuasstic. When I realise hear I hear a small giggle. I´m making my way down the stairs notifying my Dad I won´t be home for a few Days. Then massaging my dealer that I need some new Stuff.

After that I stare at the small pice of Paper, alright nothing to lose. It's late when I send her a Message, just a basic Hi.

[bright-molina]

Emergency Contact

synopsis: Sometimes it takes an accident and the revelation that Buck is Luke's emergency contact to really bring the Buckley-Mercer (et al) Family to the same page.

fandoms: Julie and the Phantoms x 911

relationships/characters: Buckley!reader (gender neutral), Alex Mercer, Evan Buckley, Luke Patterson, Athena Grant, Maddie Buckley (all relationships are familial/platonic)

word count: 2503

warnings: mentions of minor injuries (and I mean minor, sprained ankle, minor concussion is all)

a/n: @biqherosix surprise! Catch me pushing the Buckley-Mercer family agenda cause I can. For anyone wondering, we're running with the idea that they're cousins. I honestly have no idea where this came from, I wrote it at like midnight yesterday. And it only figures that the first thing I post in forever is a crossover that is mostly self-indulgent but I promise I'm trying to get the hang of things again.

For those of y'all that haven't seen 911 but still wanna read: one, I appreciate you so much oh my gosh, two, I highly recommend it and three, all you really need to know for this one is that Buck is a firefighter with the 118, Athena Grant is a police officer, and Maddie is Buck's older sister and a 911 dispatcher. If I missed anything and you wanna know feel more than free to ask!

The absolute last thing you expected was your phone ringing well past midnight.

“Don’t answer it.”

Alex’s voice sounded from beside you, muffled by the pile of blankets he was buried under. You rolled your eyes and reached for your phone only to have him snatch it out of your grip and stuff it under the blankets alongside him.

“Give it back!”

“No,” Alex crossed his arms tighter, ignoring the second ring completely. “It’s probably Buck checking to see if we’ve gone to sleep yet, if you answer he’ll know we’re still up.”

“Like Buck would voluntarily be up right now. He’s fifteen hours into a twenty four hour shift,” You leaned back against the couch, knowing there was no tearing the phone away from Alex. “Will you at least check who it is to make sure it’s not Maddie?”

Alex groaned, loud and exaggerated, before sticking his head underneath his blankets to check your phone. You were just barely able to hear his panicked ‘uh oh’ before he put on his best fake tired voice and answered, “Hello?”

“Alexander Mercer, what are you doing awake at this hour?”

“I wasn’t awake.”

“Sure you weren’t. Give the phone to y/n.”

He was handing you the phone in a flash and you could see his wide eyes in the dim blue light coming from the living room tv. “It’s Athena.”

“Thanks, I heard. And I told you so,” You smacked him with your pillow when he stuck his tongue out and he quickly ducked back under the blankets. Whether he was hiding from you or Athena was up for debate. “Hi Athena.”

“Y/N,” Uh oh was right. You recognized the tone in her voice immediately. Exasperated and tired with a little bit of worry laced through. “You wouldn’t be able to get ahold of Buck would you?”

“I could,” You sat up straighter and Alex peeked out from under the blankets again, craning his neck to listen in on the conversation. “Is something wrong? Can’t you call Captain Nash?”

“I could,” Athena echoed your words back to you and you heard muffled shouting in the back. “But Captain Nash isn’t Luke’s emergency contact.”

“His what!”

“It’s not a big deal!” Luke’s voice. It was him who had been shouting. “I’m fine!”

“The cast you’re wearing says different,” There was a click on the other end of the line and Alex tripped over the discarded blankets and pillows as he rushed to look for the car keys. “We couldn’t reach him and Maddie was his second emergency contact but May said she went home early today.”

“Yeah, uh, she -” You put on your shoes as fast as possible and reached for the nearest sweater, one you were sure wasn’t yours. “Jee’s teething so she - she’s probably busy with her. What happened? Luke -”

“Is fine. You just focus on getting to the station and bringing Buck to Med cause he’s gotta fill out some papers. I’ll stay here with him until you do.”

“Okay. Okay we’ll be there soon.”

“Y/N put me on speaker,” Athena must’ve been able to hear the panic in your voice. She knew both you and Alex well enough to know every emotion that was running through you both at that moment. “I want both of you to listen to me. Luke is okay. A little scratched up. Maybe a bruised ego. But he’s just fine, I promise you.”

If there was anybody you trusted it was Athena Grant. So you and Alex shared a look, thanked her, and sprinted out of the apartment wondering what on earth Luke had gotten himself into.

“What do you mean you don’t know!”

“Athena didn’t tell us anything!” You shouted right back at Buck despite knowing it probably wasn’t the best idea given the time or the circumstances. Alex was a few feet away, talking quietly to Chimney to have him relay a message to Maddie. She’d be less angry if the news came from him.

“I thought he went back home,” Buck shook his head before jogging down the stairs and you followed him. He all but charged to the locker room and started shoving all his things in the duffel he always carted with him from the apartment to the station and back. “I thought he was okay.”

It wasn’t until then, until you caught a glimpse of his reflection in the little mirror in his locker surrounded by pictures, that you realized something. Evan Buckley, the firefighter, your brother who always seemed so fearless, was scared.

Buck’s mind was racing at a million miles an hour. He kept going through every piece of information he could from the last two days. Luke had promised him. Sworn he was going back home to his parents. He should’ve known better. They were too much alike and he should’ve known better.

He supposed the worrying came with the territory. The anxiety and panic and not knowing were all things he didn’t like but things he would bear if it meant making sure one of his own was okay.

He had always been protective. You were the youngest Buckley and he took it upon himself to make sure you had a better life than him and Maddie had had. Alex was family and he didn’t hesitate to give him a home when he needed one, metaphorically and literally.

And somewhere along the way the Buckley-Mercer family had grown without him realizing it. Alex had brought his band, his friends, over for dinner once and from that moment on they became a fixture in his life.

Bobby, who was surprised the first time Maddie grinned and hugged him, telling him how proud she was of him. Reggie, who was the first to accept a place in their makeshift home, needing the support and love they offered more than anything. And Luke, who was stubborn and wore his heart on his sleeve and fit right in with them.

And Buck couldn’t believe he had let them down. He couldn’t believe that he tried so hard to let Luke know he was there for him and he had failed. If he had just paid a little more attention then -

“I know what you’re thinking,” Your voice cut off his thoughts and he paused for a moment before continuing.

“No you don’t.”

“You’re blaming yourself. It’s what you always do,” You watched as he pocketed his phone and zipped up the bag. “It’s what you did when I thought I could jump off the swing and ended up with a broken arm even though you couldn’t have stopped me. It’s what you did when Alex had that really bad allergic reaction even though none of us knew he was allergic in the place. It’s what you’re doing now.”

Buck slammed the locker shut without meaning to and silently wondered how you seemed to know everything about him when he seemed to know nothing about any of you, not really. He wasn’t like you or Maddie or Alex and that had never been more clear.

“I’m not blaming myself. I just -” He sighed and walked out of the locker room, past you and Alex, and around to the drivers side of the car. He didn’t get in yet. Instead he glanced between the two of you. “I’m not Maddie. I don’t know how to tell what you guys are thinking. I don’t know how to do the things she does. I can’t help how she does. But - but maybe if I could then -”

“You’re right,” You cut him off, already knowing where he was going. “You’re not Maddie. But we don’t need another Maddie, we need Buck.”

“Y/N’s right,” Alex leaned against the top of the car and gave an easy shrug. “Maddie does family dinners every week and helps us with homework and keeps superhero bandaids around for when Reg and Bobby come back from the skate park with scrapes all over them. But you host game nights and come to every one of our practices when you’re not here and tell really bad jokes when you know we need to hear them.”

“They aren’t bad -”

“Yeah they are,” Both you and Alex answered in sync, successfully pulling the faintest laugh from Buck.

“You’re Buck,” You repeated and finally opened the door of the car. “And when Luke left home he came to you. Athena said you’re his emergency contact because he trusts you more than anyone else. We all do.”

It took less than a couple seconds for Buck to nod and get in the car, the two of you following his lead. Moments later he was speeding away from the 118 and in the direction of the hospital, determined to be where he was needed.

“You’re an idiot, Luke Patterson.”

“Wow thanks,” Luke rolled his eyes from where he sat on the couch, an action that earned him a scolding from you, and kept picking at the fabric of the pillow he was holding to him.

It was nearing mid morning and you had all gotten back to Buck’s apartment only a short while ago. The combined insistence and intimidation coming from both Buck and Athena meant the doctors had no choice but to run as many tests as necessary until they were positive Luke was fine.

Your eyes scanned his face again, a habit you’d picked up from Maddie, in an attempt to assess the damage once more to be sure nothing had gone wrong in the last ten minutes.

A butterfly bandage on his forehead above his left eye. Some scrapes on his arms from the fall. The brace around his right ankle propped up on the coffee table and some pillows. A tear in his favorite flannel that you were already patching up.

“What were you thinking?” You sighed and dropped your hands, turning in your spot beside him to look at him and read all the expressions flashing across his face. “You got hit by a car, Luke.”

“I did not!” He flinched when Alex, fast asleep across the other couch, shifted a little at the noise. Buck did the same thing upstairs in the loft, though he recognized the sound of talking and opted to listen in. “I swerved out of the way. The bike lost control and I hit the pavement but I’m fine.”

“The mild concussion and sprained ankle beg to differ,” You stared again. Luke refused to meet your eyes, refused to look anywhere around the apartment that wasn’t the pillow on his lap. He’d been doing the same thing since Buck had nearly busted down the door of the room he’d been sitting in at the hospital. “What were you thinking?”

“I don’t know,” Luke finally sighed, knowing you wouldn’t let it go any time soon. “I just - I did go home. At first. And i-it was okay until my mom started doing that -that thing she does. The voice, talking down, asking when I was gonna start getting serious, telling me I should do better. I tried but she wouldn’t stop saying all of it so I -” His shoulders sank and his head hung low and you moved closer. “I left.”

“So why didn’t you come back here?” You reached out, hand on his arm in an attempt to get him to hear you. To listen to you. To talk to you. “What made you think you couldn’t?”

It took a few moments but when Luke finally looked up his eyes were watering and he looked unsure. He looked scared and he was never scared. “I didn’t want to disappoint anyone else.”

“I don’t know if you know this,” You gave a sigh and leaned against the back of the couch on one arm. “But we are, historically, a pretty messed up family.”

You successfully pulled a laugh from Luke and a muffled ‘shut up’ from Alex only made the two of you laugh more. But when the laughter faded away you were left with the ghost of those doubts. Present and needing closure. To be acknowledged and reassured.

“There is nothing you could do that would disappoint Maddie and Buck, believe me,” You gave him a faint, sad smile and for a second he wondered what memories were the source of it. “And you never have to be scared. We’re your family and we’re here for you. Me and Alex and Buck and Maddie. Athena who stayed with you until we got there and after. Chimney who’s breaking the news to Maddie to save us all. Albert. May. Bobby. Reggie. You have all of us. I hate to break it to you but you’re a part of our weird little family and we aren’t going anywhere any time soon. So please, please never feel like you have to hide from us. You’re home here, Luke.”

And he believed every word. For a moment he wondered why he ever doubted it in the first place. It was evident in the way he had a designated spot at the dining table at Maddie’s place. In the way his clothes took up a good amount of space in one of the dressers upstairs. In the pair of house keys that hung on a chain around his neck. Reggie and Bobby were also given a pair long ago.

“Does one of you want to explain to me what the hell happened!” The sound of the door being thrown open startled all of you. Alex sat up quickly and Buck came barreling down the stairs to meet Maddie at the door.

Bobby and Reggie came in after her, holding piles of various items she’d insisted on bringing with. They were followed moments later by Albert carrying bags filled with takeout and then Chimney with Jee-Yun in her car seat.

It was dead silent for a moment as Maddie looked between her siblings, her cousin, and the boy she considered one of her own. They were all her family and that was that.

Finally the silence was broken by Luke leaning over in your direction and quietly asking, “Hey, does home have a place I can hide from Maddie until she’s less mad?”

“Oh, Luke,” You offered him a smile he recognized as a slightly sympathetic yet playful one. “There is nowhere you can hide where Maddie’s anger, love, and aggressive post-injury nurturing won’t reach. Good luck.”

She sat in your spot the moment you stood up and was immediately making sure Luke was okay. Her eyes scanned each injury just as yours had and when she finally let him take a breath he looked around.

All of this, the chaos that was unpacking the various takeout boxes. Setting up a little station on the kitchen island with various medical supplies. Chasing Jee-Yun around as she crawled and wobbled all around the place. Music playing softly in the background as everyone smiled and talked and felt relieved that he was okay.

This was home. Luke was sure of it.

Taglist:

Everything: @meangirlsx @cucumbers-and-olives @dream-a-little-bigger-x @fangirlangioma @jaskiers-sweetkiss @babychickanon @goddess-of-night​ @n0wornever @calamitykaty @hellophantoms @funsizearsonist @crybabyddl​ @txrii @sunsetcurvej @willex-owns-my-heart @angryknightstatesmantrash @all-in-fangirl @reg-peters @willowsbendtothewind-blog @jatplover

shoot me an ask/message to be added/moved/removed