#but then he had to go and be a major nerd too!!!!! how am i supposed to handle all of this dlfjsldkfjsdf

[orcelito]

FACE. IN MY HANDS....

i just saw the interaction with dohalim and fahria

ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow

[l0serloki]

Yo! Can I ask for Cypher, Gekko, and Sova x reader who loves affection? As in, they love head pats, and when they get hugs they will just snuggle and melt? The gender of the reader doesn't matter. Thanks! 😊

Affection!

(Cypher, Gekko, Sova)

masterlist

Cypher : 

Cypher wasn’t used to getting such affection before you. And now he doesn’t want to ever live without it.

He will constantly try and convince you to come sit in his office so he can snuggle with you as he ‘researches’.

He loves nuzzling into your neck and feeling your hands pat around his face as he feigns his attention to his computer.

He even makes not so subtle nudges when you try to stop. If you tease him he will eventually ask why you quit. 

“Where do you think you are going, little bug?” Cypher’s voice rang out as you squirmed in his lap. Your arms wrapped back around his neck as you looked up.

“Nowhere, just getting more comfy.” You smiled as your hands worked at his taut muscles. A soft sigh left his mouth as he relaxed against his work chair. Cyphers head leaned down to rest in the crook of your neck as he continued to type away at his computer. 

After a bit you laid your hands to rest as he got more into his work. Within seconds of you taking a break you heard the nerd grunt and peer back at you. You raise an eyebrow and continue to rest against him. He nudges your hand lightly with an awkward cough. You could only laugh at his subtle attempt to ask for more.

“Is that better?” You coo as your hands work around his mask, fingers pressing against the soft flesh of his face. 

“Much better.”

Gekko :

He LOVES attention and physical affection. I mean look at how he treats his little pals! You know he has such a loving soul.

He’s always wanting to be next to you, holding your hand, or even in your arms. He will pout if he is not.

Refuses to sleep without you and on nights you’re away on missions and calls so he can at least hear your voice. He makes sure to let you know it’s nothing compared to cuddling. And that you owe him double.

He absolutely melts when you baby him as well. Pinching at his cheeks and rubbing at his head are a major weakness. But he makes you swear not to tell anyone else. 

“Babe I’m right here.” Gekko pouted as he watched you pat wingman. Your grin grew as you noticed his ever-growing jealousy.

“Does Wingman not deserve love?” You tease out as you turn over to your boyfriend. His eyes widened for a moment before his lips turned down.

“That’s not what I meant.. Wingman deserves the best. But I do too, babe.” Gekko tries to nudge his way in between the gooey pet and you. You only laugh and Wingman makes a noise as you welcome him into the family hug.

“You’re so needy. Isnt he, Wingman?” You voice and the slime only makes an agreeing sound. Gekko gasps as he smacks at your arm lightly.

“It’s not needy if I am your boyfriend! It’s the tax for being mine! And not cool Wingman! You’re supposed to be backing me up!”

Sova :

Sova loves affection. It helps make him feel grounded and helps him know you’re not leaving.

He completely relaxes and melts in your arms when you hug him from behind. He loves being cradled. Not that he would fully admit it out loud.

He also loves when you play with his hair. He turns into a little golden retriever if you scratch at his head. He can’t help it, it just feels too good!

He loves giving it back as well. He always makes sure to give you reassuring squeezes and some back scratches here and there. 

You smiled as you walked into the main hall of HQ. You had just got back from a meeting when you saw Sova standing near the table patching up his drone. Taking the opportunity to strike, your arms wrapped around his torso. A soft gasp left his lips as he looked over at you and tossed his arm around you.

“Dove, you are back early. This is a lovely surprise.” His smile was infectious as his hand rubbed away at your shoulder. You only squeezed tighter against him as you nuzzled into his side.

“Let me finish fixing the drone and then we can go rest. Does that sound good?” Sova questioned and you could only nod. You would never give up a chance to hold your sweet boyfriend in your arms.

[havocskies]

bro pls pls pls pls 🙏 do an NSFW alphabet with hobie ill do anything?!!!

HOBIE BROWN | NSFW ALPHABET

i am losing my self respect day by day.

anyway im also sorry for not posting ive been flirting w this dude for the past few days he is so cute but that will not stop me from writing for yg xoxo

╭──╯ . . . . . ༶•┈┈୨♡୧┈┈•༶ . . . . . ╰──╮

A = AFTERCARE

- hobie is an absolute GOD at aftercare n i wholeheartedly believe this. especially when he knows he can be a bit much at times, there’s never a time where he skips out on aftercare. i think he would like to just relax, cuddle, and talk for a bit after he cleans you up thoroughly. then probably get a little treat, but he always likes to make sure you actually had fun as well. he’d put all of his attention on you way before he started worrying about himself, you’re always his priority

B = BODY PART

- i think hobie doesn’t have a MAJOR preference for anything but he seems like a thigh kinda guy. doesn’t matter the gender or size, he’s a thigh enthusiast. not always in a nasty way, he also just thinks they’re comfortable and whatnot. wear anything that shows your thighs and he is all for it 🙌

C = CUM

- im sure hobie keeps up w his health and cares for it, so i don’t think he’d taste horrible. he’s considerate guys 😭 idk if he’d really have a preference for where he cums either. probably asks beforehand or just knows what you prefer but if you’ll let him he’ll switch it up for funsies

D = DIRTY SECRET

- hobie doesn’t really keep secrets much, and i don’t think he’d be doing anything vile enough to really have to keep secrets anyway 😭 he’s just a normal dude imo but thoughts wise ?? he’s definitely imagined some things he’s too scared to talk abt im sure (take that how u will)

E = EXPERIENCE

- im sorry ik yg see him as like a sex god manwhore but i cant see it 😞 he’s spiderman he’s a nerd and he’s goofy, like yes he’s hot but he definitely fumbles without knowing the opportunity was even there LMAOO but regardless i think his body count is VERY low if not even zero. that doesn’t mean he’s ignorant, though. he’s figured out enough to know what he’s doing and what to do, he’s considerate and never wants his partner to be left out of thought

F = FAVORITE POSITION

- i can’t really see him having a favorite position i think he would’ve had little to no opinions but the moment yg find one you specifically like a lot he LOVES it. loves anything that makes you react the most, he’s such a pleaser yg cannot convince me of anything different

G = GOOFY

- yg write him to be all serious n i dont like it 🙁 he’s hobie he’s gonna crack a few jokes, especially if he’s nervous or he sees you’re nervous and he wants you to relax. probably jokes about how he’ll try his best not to send you to the hospital or wtv (he is not that confident)

H = HAIR

- hobie probably isn’t always clean shaven so he believes you don’t have to be either. still he’d at least be trimmed just to make things easier and whatnot. just his preference, whatever you do w yours he could not care less. other than that i think if sony was allowed he’d have a happy trail but unfortunately sony are pussies (im kidding)

I = INTIMACY

- i think hobie would prefer intimacy over anything else. he’d see sex as less of a pleasure thing and more of something to be shared when you’re extremely close. i don’t think sex w him would ever be meaningless, he’s always trying to show how much he loves you

J = JACK OFF

- hobie’s probably just an average dude. doesn’t do it too much bc like ?? why would he when he has you. ofc, if you’re not up to it yea he’ll go somewhere or just deal with it, you’re never obligated in his eyes. i just think he’d prefer you over anything else

K = KINK

- he’s gotta be a little freaky. like i say a lot (im sorry) he does joke abt biting, so he probably has some small kinks but i doubt anything serious. maybe at the most a very minor corruption kink, but its only about introducing you to things if you’re entirely willing. something about knowing he’s the one introducing you to it makes him wanna do it more

L = LOCATION

- hobie doesn’t strike me as a very public kinda guy. like maybe on occasion, but it’d have to be somewhere he’s pretty sure yg won’t get caught. i do think he’d prefer in your or his own home though, makes it more intimate and less stressful. he would however joke about fucking near someone yg don’t like out of spite

M = MOTIVATION

- you’d probably have to be actively trying to get him going, sex is never really the first thing on his mind. ofc it can very well happen unintentionally. i think gestures, positions, anything that shows off something ALONG WITH the clear intent will make him realize. maybe. i still wholeheartedly believe he’s pretty oblivious most of the time, he can be wanting it but he won’t realize you’re trying to make him want it. he’s a little dumb bear with him. he also just doesn’t associate revealing clothing with you wanting sex, so you’ll have to find other ways to get him to realize you want him. anyway i think mostly anything that shows off your thighs will get his mind wandering. anything that shows off their shape or just shows them off in general

N = NO

- in no way ever will you get this dude to do cnc (consensual nonconsensual) he gets sometimes its a trauma response but yg also have to remember he’d have to be getting off by pretending to assault you and i just can’t see it. he couldn’t do it, he’d rather try and help you with that trauma in other ways

O = ORAL

- happy to give always 🙌 he sees it as no different than you giving. even so, i don’t think he’d ever ask you for head. he’d see it more as a bonus, not something that’s expected in a relationship. if you’re never comfortable giving or even receiving head he will not be losing sleep whatsoever

P = PACE

- probably likes to switch it up. while i do think most of the stuff he said in his intro were jokes (runway model, inconsistency, labels, etc) i do think he does like to switch things up. he doesn’t like being limited to one thing, he likes to explore a bit and keep you on your toes xoxo

Q = QUICKIE

- hobie doesn’t strike me as someone who cares much for quickies. he’d much rather take his time, show he actually loves you. if both of yg are REALLY struggling then yg are going home, end of story. if you were to suggest a quickie he’d be unsure but he’d be willing to try at least

R = RISK

- hobie’s big risk taker im sure, but sex is a lot different than everything else. it’s a lot deeper and meaningful, so he doesn’t want to risk upsetting you or causing problems. idk if he’d even wanna risk being caught bc that’s just an inconvenience to everyone else 🙁🙁 only if it’s inconveniencing someone neither of you like i suppose

S = STAMINA

- pretty good stamina. not crazy or anything, but he can definitely go for a while. i think he finishes fairly average time but he can go multiple rounds, yk ?? like i said not a sex god guys

T = TOYS

- im sure hobie isn’t against toys at all ☠️ kinda goes back to what i said w introducing you to things. he’ll definitely try anything (as long as it’s humane 😭) and really doesn’t have much shame. take that part how u will.

U = UNFAIR

- hobie definitely likes to tease, no doubt. not all the time ofc but he can be an asshole just for jokes. if you’re genuinely upset he’ll stop. plus i think edging and overstimulating would count as something that deserves to have a conversation over first, not everyone’s completely into that and he knows full well

V = VOLUME

- i don’t think he’d be loud. not a whimperer probably but definitely a groan kinda guy. he has no shame breathing and groaning in your ear if he’s really goin (with you ofc he is)

W = WILD CARD

- switch. i think by default he’s more dom leaning but if you take that position he won’t complain, he thinks it’s hot as hell. would probably let you do almost anything to him 😇

X = X-RAY

- he’s pretty tall guys, it’s not small that’s for sure. i think honestly he’d be around 6-8, anything above is just scary in my full opinion so that’s not what he has ummm. i do think he’d be pretty normal girth. and, ofc, if he is pierced he would’ve done it himself. a stranger handling and piercing your dick is not for the weak im sure

Y = YEARNING

- probably a pretty normal/average drive. he didn’t think much about sex before you so going without it isn’t a problem for him at all. i don’t think he’d be like horny 24/7 around you, most of the time he’s just happy to be around you

Z = Zzz

- like i said w aftercare hobie prefers to stay up with you and spend time. even if it’s late at night he will try his absolute best, he’s not sleeping until he’s sure you’re comfortable and completely cleaned up. unless you like emptied his balls or destroyed him or something, then aftercare is on you i guess 🤕

[blicketdabest33]

Y'all remember that MCYT PJO au I asked for help with awhile ago? WELL HERE'S THE CABINS AND MY EXPLINATIONS BEHIND THEM!!

#1 Zeus Cabin: Jimmy, Joel Jimmy: He's a Zeus kid, but everyone somehow forgets about it. Joel: He's competitive and strong. Also, because Jimmy is his half brother through godly parent, i get to make a fun bit about him dating Lizzie. And one of his origins in Afterlife SMP was a thunderborn

#2 Hera Cabin: Scott Scott: Scott's whole thing is loyalty. Hera is the goddess of marriage and is insanely loyal to Zeus. However, I feel like Hera should get at least one affair. So now Scott can use peacocks as weapons.

#3 Poseidon Cabin: Skizz Skizz: Poseidon kids tend to be really, really loyal to a fault and heroic, both qualities I think Skizz possesses.

#4 Demeter Cabin: Sausage, Shelby, Bdubs, Stress Sausage: This man built Sanctuary in a jungle and has flowers in his hair. He sells wood. There is no other place to put him. Shelby: Mushroom gnome, spooky mangrove witch, powerful storm witch, i need not continue. Bdubs: Moss man. Stress: SHE HAS FLOWERS

#5 Ares Cabin: Martyn, False Martyn: His planet is Mars, which is the roman version of Ares. He ended Limited Life in such a violent way, i can't help it. He was also red for the majority of Secret Life. False: I just feel like False should get to kill people more often.

#6 Athena Cabin: Grian, Pix, Owen, Xisuma Grian: This sums it up pretty well

Pix: Smart man. Archeologist and definitely a nerd. I wanna see him skipping out on training just so he can read history books. Owen: He likes to explore and discover new things in Pirates. In Rats, he's a tinkerer. In New Life, he's an explorer who wants to study hybrids. In Empires, he's a Llama who's curious about how humans work. Just a very curious character overall. Xisuma: Admin. I'm not elaborating.

#7 Apollo Cabin: Gem, Oli, Lyarrah Gem: She is an Apollo kid because of her Empire in S2. She's the sunlight princess. Apollo kid. Oli: MUSIC. MAN. Lyarrah: She writes the captions for the hermitcraft recap.

#8 Artemis Cabin: Pearl Pearl: Y'know, Artemis could've just like... had a kid, even though she took that oath. It wouldn't even have to be with a guy. Gods can change to whatever gender they want. Anyway, Pearl gets to be an Artemis kid because her symbolism is moon, she loves dogs, and will commit murder and hunt at night.

#9 Hephaestus Cabin: Doc, Mumbo, Tango, Impulse, Cub, Zedaph, Fwhip, Iskall Doc: Redstone Mumbo: Redstone Tango: Redstone Impulse: Redstone Cub: Redstone Zedaph: Redstone Fwhip: Redstone AND has a red scarf (don't ask me how that's relevant) Iskall: Redstone

#10 Aphrodite Cabin: Keralis Keralis: Okay, I don't know why, but Keralis gives me the vibes of a very charming person. His voice is nice to listen to, so imagine how useful it'd be if I gave him charm speak.

#11 Hermes Cabin: Scar, Etho, Joe Scar: Trader Scar, scammer extraordinar. Etho: All i must say is Shady-E's. I get "jack-of-all-trades, master of none, often better than master of one" vibes from him. He's funny, he's mischievous, it just works. Joe: Comedy man. Excellent delivery. And, yet again, i look at this man and go "That right there is a multi-talented man with a habit for mischief."

#12 Dionysus Cabin: Joey, Beef Joey: *points at his season one empires theme* i need not say more Beef: Idk, food. I don't really have a reason. I don't know too much about Beef.

#13 Hades Cabin: Zloy Zloy: Zombie man. He writes the Hermitcraft recaps in the dark at 2am with nothing but pure spite.

#14 Iris Cabin: Katherine Katherine: SHE. HAS. COLORS. and also I couldn't put her in Demeter cabin because Shelby is already there and i am NOT excluding Nature Wives from this au

#15 Hypnos Cabin: Bigb, XB, Wels Bigb: Sleepy stuff, right? WRONG. Gaslight. Go in everyones dreams, make fake prophecies, peace out, and cause chaos. XB: I look at his fanon design, I see an alien, and I go "aha he sleeps" Wels: This guy (@dingdinghq) said so and i completely agree. Something about sleeping in S6.

#16 Nemesis Cabin: Edit: wels not here no more

#17 Nike Cabin: Ren Ren: VICTORY. I don't know much about Ren's story in the Life Series, but I look at this man and see someone who has won a lot.

#18 Hebe Cabin: 

#19 Tyche Cabin: TFC TFC: Man goes mining and gets really lucky. That's it.

#20 Hecate Cabin: Lizzie, Cleo, Jevin Lizzie: Witchy vibes. Also, Arson. Cleo: Arson. She uses her magic for Arson. Jevin: He's a magic slime. Also, Arson. All Hecate kids love Arson.

[autismisaokay]

Pretty big update for me, that's good news! After 15 years of trying, I finally got my license at 30 years old! I cannot express into words on how happy I am about this huge accomplishment. I have freedom to go where ever I want as soon as my boyfriend and I can save up for the car our friend is selling us. Not only that, but I like knowing that I can give a ride to all the other adults who come into my life who don't have their licenses for their own reasons or can't afford a car. They don't have to feel embarrassed or judged because I know what it was like. The man who did my test this time was amazing, and even if he wasn't neurodivergent informed, he sure as hell acted like it. He also let me fix my mistakes on the test, which I didn't know they could do. I also did the parallel park and the 3 point turn without having to correct myself too much! Backed up perfectly and noticed something, the driving instructed didn't, which was a lady walking behind us that still gave me enough room to back out. I wanted to wait until she left with her dog anyway. He was super pleased with that. This was one of the last adult milestones that I had besides getting my degrees that I needed to reach my goals. The degrees, saving up for a house, getting off of SSI, all feel reachable even if it's going to take longer than I had hoped. I also have some other huge goals I'm reaching within the next two years that will open up my life in a major way.

My last two adult updates are this, I tried brussels sprouts and did not hate them, which I'm thrilled about. My boyfriend and I are learning to sleep together in the same bed, which is big for us because that means we can turn my bedroom into a shared man cave/nerd room. I had sensory issues and still do sleeping with him, but I'm learning to accommodate. I recommend earbud headbands if you have trouble sleeping with loud sounds. They are pretty lightweight and despite my issues with sleeping with most sleep masks, this one doesn't give me any trouble. It might be terribly tacky, but I kind of want to get a sign for the man cave/nerd room that says "Gaymer Room." I think he'd go for it.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA if I confronted my boyfriend about not feeling praised enough? Over dumb D&D shit?

Background - I (20s F) live with my boyfriend (30s M) and things are usually great. He's always been supportive, emotionally intelligent and caring and we've had no major problems. We met via D&D several years ago so it's pretty important to both of us, and I'm a DM. Before we met, he was involved in a years-long campaign with some friends and is generally more experienced in D&D than me (I've been DMing around 5 years, he's probably closer to 10).

The current campaign that I'm running is something I'm really proud of. It's a mid-length campaign and I made the story myself (I typically plan mine to be 6-8ish months to avoid things fizzling out) and I've tried really hard to step up my writing and story planning for this one.

I've put in a LOT of extra time and effort and have been holding myself to a much higher standard than I usually do. As a DM I get self-conscious over how much time people are spending with me each week, and I want to make sure it's REALLY worthwhile. And because my boyfriend is more experienced in D&D than me, I've been looking to him for feedback and/or praise, as it would mean a lot to me coming from him.

And I've been getting close to nothing. At the end of each session he immediately falls asleep and doesn't talk about it at all. It makes me feel like I'm keeping him up/boring him. So I started asking him things like "hey what did you think about how I handled X" and he'll give a brief response like "yeah it was great" without explaining anything.

He didn't even give much thought into the character he's playing either - for his old campaign he created a HUGE story for his character, background, goals, etc. I know for a fact he's an incredible creative writer and could have come up with something wonderful for this. But he didn't put down anything other than basic character sheet stuff. When I asked him about it, he says he only goes deep into character when it's "long campaigns like my old one" and "too bad a long campaign like that will never happen again. That's D&D at it's best but now we're all adults, and we're too busy to ever do that, half my friends have kids, it'll never happen again and it's so sad" etc etc.

It made me feel like shit - like anything I try to do is a waste of time and pointless compared to this legendary "old campaign". Like it's barely worth staying awake for, like it's some kind of chore he has to sit through every week just because I'm his girlfriend and he's just humoring me.

The other players have been EXTREMELY enthusiastic and supportive - they send me art they make based on the campaign after every session and have contacted me privately to compliment me on certain aspects of the campaign. I want to make it clear that this is NOT something I EXPECT, but moreso I just really really love and appreciate that they do this for me, especially while my boyfriend is kind of leaving a void where I'd want this kind of praise.

Full transparency, one of my worst fears is forcing people to play along with something that I am passionate about, but bores them to tears. I never want to make a big deal over something that means a lot to ME but doesn't mean that much to someone else. So maybe I should just let this go because, at the end of the day, it's just a game? And taking it so seriously makes me an asshole and I should touch grass? I feel like potentially starting a fight over stupid nerd stuff would be pointless on my end. But at the same time, the more we play the more I feel deflated and I really hate feeling that way. I'm not sure what to do tbh.

What are these acronyms?

[buthowboutno]

ONE YEAR OF "AND THEY WERE LAB PARTNERS" ✨✨✨

Thank you to everyone who participated in the one year anniversary poll!! I still maintain that it would be funny as /fuck/ to just delete “And They Were Lab Partners” in a memento mori fashion, but alas; Only one person voted for it.

Cowards /j

In any case, the majority voted for the behind the scenes stuff, so here we are! The tidbits of how ATWLP turned into the fucking beast it is.

I would like to personally blame @morning-sun-brah , @hitechlatte, and @ordin-arily for being such big inspirations in this corner of the fandom. You guys are amazing and I probably wouldn't be where I am today without your works.

Shout out to all my losers in the backrooms for keeping me going and being such terrible influences. You are all responsible for the horrors that have been unleashed. A solid third of my content exists because of your sins /aff. 

@beckerboopin is the best beta anyone could ask for and has only brought this story up to the next level. I would die for you becks <3

Also @betyoudidntcthatcoming-blog is the love of my life that I only met ‘cause of this fic or whatever. They’re pretty neat. I guess. :p

ANYWAYS, /CONTENT/

(Major Spoilers Ahead Pre-Chapter 23)

—

I would like to remind everyone that ATWLP was only supposed to be 50k words. You can still witness my naivety in the notes of “Pudge ‘Preciation.” 

How… simple those times were. 

How I so firmly believed the idiots would be kissing by chapter 16. How a projected word count of 150k words seemed unfathomable for a single work, much less a work with multiple published and planned companion pieces.

Crazy. (I was crazy once.)

There was a lot of ATWLP that ended up getting scrapped as I got further into the story. The idiots had a lot of opinions and tugged at me a few different ways as I got to know them better. (aka they wouldn’t listen to me when I told them to fucking kiss already.)

Anyways, some of the few major structural changes:

Casey was originally supposed to reveal that he knew Sweet’s in the bad timeline during the “Intro to Sparring” chapter. That chapter was also originally slotted to happen /before/ the kidnapping debacle, but it just so happened to fit in better later

The stage kiss from “Hit the Club” was going to be in the Nerd Prom chapter. It felt too corny at the time (and lowkey still feels corny) so I put that in my pocket for later. For as much as y’all yelled at me for it, it barely made the final cut lmao.

The way the idiots are going to confess to each other is a COMPLETE 180 from how I planned the story from the beginning, which was already entirely different from the first idea for this fic. I wrote a whole ass chapter about an accidental kiss being the tipping point of them positively macking on each other, which I did end up cutting into convenient pieces for other stuff. (I PUT A PART OF IT DOWN BELOW)

Sweets was going to be kidnapped twice and the whole Purple Dragons debacle was going to be drawn out more. There was a lot more action planned than slice of life content at ATWLP’s conception. For better or for worse, this is where the story led us.

Donnie’s mating season wasn’t going to be as involved in the story, if in it at all. I grew to be hornier and less ashamed. You’re welcome.

The first title for this fic was “Lab Rat: a Story of Nerds Falling in Love.” For the life of me I cannot remember what compelled me to change it, but holy shit am I glad I did.

I was going to use (y/n) in this fic. No hate to those who do, but stylistically I’m pretty happy with not doing that.

And because I have no control over the idiots, quick rundown of the chapters that weren’t supposed to happen.

Kart Conflict

The Christmas Issue

The Recovery: Day Two 

Valentine’s Day Episode

Hit the Club

Aquarium? Hardly Know ‘Em

****Pool Excursion

****Beach Episodes

****honestly just like the entire endgame of this fic

All the ficlets/ alternate POV’s

All the smut! I still have it written down in my original notes that ATWLP was gonna be completely PG lmao. Once again y’all have @morning-sun-brah and her fucking fabulous fics to blame for that

The Valentines’ and aquarium chapters are COMPLETELY different than how I had originally planned, even with being forced to include them in my chart. The Valentine’s day plans that the brothers had “ditched” with Sweets was the og plot for the chapter. The aquarium chapter was supposed to be a rooftop picnic with feels~~, no aquarium even fucking mentioned in my outline.

I don’t have much control over what happens tbh. I am praying that the 37 planned chapters will be the final chapters. 

We’ll…. we’ll just have to see how that turns out.

The scrapped plots as a little treat for y’all <3 ~~~

Cut Stage Kiss (after the lift in Nerd Prom)

You leaned closer to Donnie’s face, intent on screeching in his ear for pulling that stunt.

“Kiss them already!” May yelled from the inner edge of the crowd. You turned bright red, blinking at her. You shook your head at her, but the crowd started to catch onto the idea. 

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”

Donnie laughed, a little incredulous. He leaned in close to your ear, whispering, “Theatre kid protocol?”

You nodded in agreement, allowing him to put a hand to your face. He leans into your mouth, making the crowd go wild. You giggle against the thumb separating your lips, smiling against it. Donnie pulled away from you with a dramatic ‘mwah’. You threw your head back, fully laughing as Donnie lifted you up from the dip. 

First Valentine’s Day Outline

The final four move to the living room

Sweets: “We’re making friendship bracelets while we watch the most romantic movie of all time.”

Raph: “Shrek 2!”

Donnie: “This is ridiculous”

Sweets: “This holiday is ridiculous, now pick out your five favourite colors of embroidery floss”

Donnie: “....Fine."

Donnie is actually terrible at making bracelets lmao while mikey has wristfuls of them

Donnie: “I don’t understand! I’m following the blueprints exactly!”

Mikey: “The... instructions?”

Donnie: “Whatever! How are you making those so fast? You don’t even have that many friends!”

Mikey: “Physical therapy is a hell of a time, my brother.”

Sweets: “Is Donnie being ableist again?”

Mikey: “I do believe he is.”

Donnie: “I am autistic!”

Sweets: “Bless you.”

ORIGINAL CONFESSION

And it all starts like most things in your life do: a silly mistake.

“Donnie,” you whined. You were working on your physics homework at his desk while he was soldering a new motherboard for the Turtle Tank’s controls.

“Little pest,” he mimicked your tone without looking up. He kept on soldering as you stared at him, not a care in the world. 

“Would you be so kind as to look over my work for this problem? I’m following the steps but I’m not getting the right answer.”

“Mmm,” Donnie said. At that moment, a spark flew from his project and caught his exposed cheek. He flinched back, dropping his wire and soldering rod on the table and rubbing his face. You batted your eyes at him while he scowled. 

“I don’t know how, but I blame you for that.”

“I would *never*,” you teased. You pushed your chair to the side a bit so Donnie could stand next to you. 

He moved his goggles to his head and put his left arm over the back of your chair, leaning over you. He parsed through your work for a minute and tilted his head down to tell you what you needed to fix.

It just so happened that you tilted your head up to ask him a question at the same time, the two of you meeting in the middle with a kiss. 

Well, it wasn’t so much of a kiss as it was the two of you accidentally brushing your lips together for a moment. Seconds, almost nothing at all. 

But the way that Donnie looked at you when the two of you jumped apart…

That…that wasn’t nothing. 

You could almost laugh at the ridiculousness of this situation. You could’ve cracked a joke, played up your ridiculous game of pet names and intellectual bravado. 

(To be honest, you almost did.)

But then you thought about the way Donnie’s lips felt against yours. You thought about the way you’d dream of that moment and then proceed to do everything in your power to banish those thoughts away. Your mouth hung open slightly as you looked up at him, trying to will yourself to do anything, anything at all.

Donnie ended up making that decision for you. That oh, so familiar churring started emanating from his chest. He took your face in his hands, looking into your eyes for just a hint of confirmation before leaning in for a real kiss.

Oh.

*Oh*.

(Yeah, you could get used to this.)

There was nothing more you could do than press yourself against him, against his touch. You felt him smiling into the kiss, pressing you down into the chair. 

Donnie was *everywhere*, like he was trying to encompass you. His hand moved to your hair, the other to your hip. You smiled when you remembered his adoration for your love-handles all that time ago. You traced along his plastron, making nonsense shapes and mapping out every scar.

He was so responsive. The chirring increased tenfold for every touch to his chest, every soft bite you gave his lips. You recalled all the times he would make noises from you touching along his shell. You pressed your hands fully against him, doing your best to draw out more and more of those sounds.

What Donnie lacked in experience he made up for in enthusiasm. He followed your lead, matching your pace every step of the way. You licked along the seam of his lips, gasping as his mouth opened for you. Donnie’s tongue against yours was tentative, shy even. You did everything in your power to ease Donnie into deepening the kiss. 

When he moved from your lips and started kissing down your throat, your soul could have left your body right there. He was so…*gentle*. 

Donnie always has been. From when he was slinging his arms around you to kicking your ass in sparring, Donnie has never failed to treat you with care and reverence. 

You feel it now, with every soft bite he gives you, every gentle peck behind your ear.

Donnie pulled away from you after what felt like decades. (Never enough, it would never be enough.) You leaned forward after him, trying to close the space he was creating. He looked bashful.

“This might be the proper time to tell you that I have a massive crush on you,” Donnie said. His face was fraught with nervous determination. 

“Yeah, no fucking shit,” you said. You stood up from the chair and used your body to push Donnie against the desk. You wrapped your arms around his shoulders, pulling him down to your height.

“I’ve been wanting to kiss you for forever, can we get on with it?” you said, looking into his eyes. Donnie turned bright red.

“But– you? Do you?” Donnie stammered a bit.

“Donnie,” you deadpanned, crowding into his space, “I’ve had a crush on you for a year, thanks for noticing. Will you *please* lean your face down a bit so I can reach it?” 

Donnie looked at you a bit incredulously, like you were a problem he didn’t know how to solve yet. He made quite a picture, all red faced and calculating with a dumb half-smile while he looked at you. But, giving in, he put his arms around you and leaned in to kiss you again.

“Aye, aye, captain.”

You smiled into the kiss, humming with contentment.

He likes you.

He likes you.

—

Aaaaand some random headcanons because I love you guys and I am truly so thankful to this kickass community <3 I truly do not know where I would be without the support y’all have given me.

Donnie has a hella oral fixation

NOT IN A KINKY WAY (most of the time) But as an autist, Donnie do be biting

One of his biggest shows of trust if he bites you while just chilling

Like if donnie is big spoon, he just nom on a shoulder and stay there chillin

Or if reader is body pillow, he’ll lean around and bite their bicep

Good sensations

Donnie draws on eyebrows every day, he for sure would be very good at doing intricate makeup on reader

Gently holds their chin up, concentrated as hell while reader blushes like mad

Donnie keeps getting banned off of roblox

Didn’t matter tbh, he knew how to hack into it to get his account reinstated

Also makes money off of roblox??

never explains to Sweets, very suspicious

Sweets likes to kiss along donnie’s neck/where his battle shell usually sits

The word here is reverence

Donnie is egotistical, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have insecurities about being a mutant turtle and you being a human

Lots of tracing along his arms, his face, his shell

Donnie likes his coffee to be half coffee, half milk to cut down on bitterness. Sweets is a tea drinker normally, but opts for coffee when they can’t focus (which ends up being most of the semester).

Sweets drinks black coffee when they’re on the struggle bus

To quote them, “Black coffee can’t hurt me more than Calc II already has”

But they prefer two creamers and two sugars when they have it in their dorm.

That’s all, congrats on making it to the bottom of this long ass post lmao <3

[boydepartment]

what a coincidence! - jake sim x reader

a/n: RAGHHHHH I WANTED TO WRITE THROUGH MY MIGRAINE (i cried again today so headache goes so hard) ((this was written a couple days ago and i’m getting to writing the requests rn :)) i just wanted to get this out too))

warnings- none :) fluff

wc- 150ish

MASTERLIST

you laid on your back on your side of the uncomfortable bed, you had to go on a school trip for your major and this was not the ideal plan at all.

your friend who you were supposed to be bunking with wanted to switch out with her boyfriend’s friend.

which led to you now being bunked with jake sim.

it’s not that you hated him or even disliked him in the slightest, you were just quiet around people who you didn’t really know.

you’ve seen him be loud around his friends but the second he’s away, he’s just kinda zoned out. which you understood. it didn’t really bother you, it was just awkward now.

“so um… should we build a pillow barrier?”

you looked to your left to see jake standing awkwardly by the bathroom, your brows furrowed.

“um…. no? just stay on your side? we have like two pillows.”

this took you off guard, you were 90% sure he’d had girlfriends in the past? why is he being weird around you?

“i just wasnt um… sure what you were um… comfortable with….” he kicked his feet back and forth, this action led you to laugh slightly.

“stop laughing!” he jumped back and pointed at you slightly, finally cracking that very well known smile.

this led you to sitting up, laughing even harder, “i just didn’t expect you to be so nervous!”

“i didn’t expect you to be so chill with being bunked like this! our friends are dating but you’re practically a stranger!” he paced around the bed and sat on his side now, jake slowly got more comfortable.

“well you’re not gonna kill me, this is a school trip, we paid for, that helps us with our classes.” you shrugged and looked at him. it was hard to ignore how pretty his side profile was.

he turned to you, still smiling, “i am definitely not going to kill you i think i’d get expelled…” he chuckled.

“okay so to make this less awkward, hey jake! i have to dorm with you because my friend totally sold me out for her boyfriend!” you waved at him.

jakes head flew back laughing, to the point of him hitting his head on the headboard, this made you both lose your minds laughing.

“what a coincidence y/n! my friend sold me out too!”

the rest of the night was spent sharing ice breakers and getting to know him for real. turns out the crazy popular guy on campus was a huge nerd.

maybe this coincidence led to a blessing in disguise.

[just-an-assbutt]

just follow up on your last post about charles and max, i've always found the narrative weird (and I think it's because oftentimes people who write max only see him on race weekends). in reality, max has even been described as quite shy off track but once he's comfortable, like in videos with daniel or the redbull crew, you can see he literally loves pleasing people and being funny. like the way he waits for every joke to land and watches people react. even in the cool down room you can always see him waiting for a chance to talk to people and he's always extra happy when they want to discuss stuff. he seems like a major people pleaser to me off the track and someone's who eager to go along with things. again, not claiming this is reality but just based on what we get to see

I totally agree with this! Specially since I was once one of those people. I first started watching only the races and, frankly, the only thing I cared about was just watching them race. But my dad is a huge F1 nerd (and loves to gossip) so he kind of ended up forcing me to learn about them outside of the track to gossip with me and that made me like Max a little more.

I used to dislike Max, because “race Max” is usually an asshole, he talks horrible to GP, complains a lot and is a bit too cocky. And Charles is the contrary, he doesn’t talk back to Xavi (even if he should), spends most of his time trying to solve things instead of complaining and is pretty humble. So I liked Charles more and Max less. Then my dad, a Lewis fan, started sending me memes daily and slowly I started to learn a little about the drivers off the track. I had always been a Vettel fan (still am) and then started to like Lewis a lot. But, of course, most of the things my dad sent me were against Max. It took me some personal effort to go and try to find things about him that weren’t negative. That’s when I started liking him more. Once you look at Max not high on adrenaline, you get to see a totally different person. Like you say Annon, he is shy and likes to ramble a lot to people, he waits eagerly for his jokes to land and closes off when he’s uncomfortable.

Charles is usually a person that makes him feel comfortable enough to ramble his heart out, the usual victim of Maxplaining. And you can see how important is for Max to tell Charles things. He runs from wherever he is to where Charles is just to talk to Charles, and you can always see Charles ready to be there and listen to him for an hour while Max lets it all out. I remember a cool down room this year that it’s a great example of that. Max was closed off, no idea why because his race hasn’t been that bad, Checo was there and even through he tried to make Max open up he couldn’t. I believe that Checo and Max are on great terms, but Max needs a pretty specific environment to be friendly and open with people he’s not too close to. Anyways, Charles walked in and saw that Checo was unsuccessfully trying to make Max talk a little bit and decided to help out. He remembered that Max complained about the wind during the race, so he brought that up. It got Max going instantly, his face and posture changed and he started rambling none stop about the wind and the effect it had on the car, like Charles didn’t know two things about aerodynamics. Checo smiled and stood there, listening to Max talk and he shared a little look with Charles, like he was thanking him. Even Charles knows how much Max loves to tell him things.

(Yes guys, keep sending asks and I’ll keep rambling, I’m like Max, I can never stop talking about F1).

[ssaflorencem]

The thrill of killing you| BAU x unsub reader

Warnings: This chapter briefly mentions Spencers drug addiction. Towards the end there is the illusion to smut (that will be the next chapter). This chapter makes it seem the BAU team are just as bad as the reader.

Summary: The reader talks about what they know how the team, and follows them to a bar.

Chapter four: The narcissist

I know I said I wasn’t going to leave anything at the crime scenes, but the FBI are letting me get away with what I am doing far too easily, and I can’t let an innocent person get put away for the crimes I have committed. Also, I’ve heard stories of SSA Aaron Hotchner and Dr Spencer Reid. They aren’t innocent men, are they? I heard what Mr Hotchner did to that man who killed his wife, and well Spencer, he’s spent time in prison, and he’s made friends with someone like me.

 

I knew it wouldn’t be too long till they were on my case, I mean some of my friends had been trying to kill someone on their team. Miss Garcia, the smart, computer nerd. She’s the one who solves the majority of the cases, but everyone else takes credit. I kind of feel bad for her, I mean she was once on the right side of justice, but then she joined the FBI. Miss Prentiss, she once worked with, well actually dated, someone who was once in the IRA, so she doesn’t have the best track record either really. Mrs Jareau, someone who was once a media liaison and then got taken away from the FBI to a war zone. Mr Rossi, the man with so many ex-wives and a racist past, who fought in a war and helped create the BAU, not much to be said about him. And finally, Mr Alvez. He’s my favourite, war veteran, with a love for his dogs. He seems like the nicest out of all of them, I wish he wasn’t in love with Garcia.

 

All of them think they are better than me, what because they work for the law. But how many people have they killed because they have been certain they have committed terrible crimes. They all have troubled pasts, and that’s what led them to join the BAU. But so did I, and so did basically everyone I knew, but none of them joined a government agency and none of us had ever killed someone who was innocent.

 

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that they were all just hypocrites. They were supposed to be the ones upholding the law, but they were just as flawed and twisted as the criminals they were trying to take down.

 

Though I liked paying cat and mouse, I was going to take a break from killing for a while, just so they wouldn’t catch me before I wanted them too. I also wasn’t worried about them trying to connect me about my job, like they did with Cat Adams, because unlike her I thoroughly screen the people asking for my help.

 

For my time off, I went to Washington. I needed to keep a close eye on them, I mean I knew them, but they had no idea who I was. I saw they would visit this bar regularly; it was cute to watch them all sit around a table and drink, share jokes, and laughs like they weren’t all killers.

 

As I observed them, I noticed something interesting. Dr Reid was always the quiet one, the observer, the thinker. He would take in everything that was happening around him, like he was seeing through people's masks and into their true selves.

 

Then, I saw SSA Hotchner enter the bar, his eyes scanning the room until they landed on the table where his team sat. He walked over to them, his demeanour serious, and they all seemed to straighten up in their seats. It was like they knew he was the boss, the one who held all the power.

 

But as I watched them, I realized something else. They were a family, dysfunctional and flawed, but a family, nonetheless. They had each other's backs, no matter what. It was nice, sometimes I wished I had a team like that, but I knew I worked better on my own.

 

I continued to watch them, intrigued. They were all so different, yet they worked together seamlessly. They were all intelligent and skilled in their own ways, but Dr Reid stood out to me. There was something about him that drew me to him, something vulnerable, something broken. I wondered what it was that had led him down the path he had taken.

 

I knew his basic history, his troubled mother, his absent father, the bullying he had faced and how he had then lost his only other father figure, Jason Gideon. But I wanted to know about him.

 

I decided to approach Dr Reid. I knew he was smart, but I didn’t expect him to see through my disguise so quickly. He looked at me with his beautiful brown hazel eyes, I knew he was sizing me up.

 

“What can I do for you?” he asked, his voice calm and measured.

 

“Are you Dr Reid, I know this may seem creepy, but I saw you standing here I couldn’t believe it, so I’m just making sure it’s you.” I said with a soft smile.

 

“I am indeed. What’s your name?” He asked in a neutral tone.

 

I hesitated for a moment. I knew I had to be careful. “My name is Emily.”

 

“Well, Emily, what exactly can I do for you?” He asked with a smile, well more like a smirk.

 

“I wanted to talk to you about your work with the BAU. I’ve read some of your papers, and I think you are pretty amazing” I said, hoping to gain his trust.

 

Dr Reid raised an eyebrow in suspicion, but he didn't seem to be hostile towards me. "Thank you. But what do you want to know exactly?" he asked, his gaze never leaving mine.

 

"I'm just curious about the work you do, the cases you solve. I find it fascinating, and I thought it would be great to pick your brain a little," I said, trying to sound as friendly as possible.

 

Dr Reid gave me a small smile, and I could see the gears turning in his head. "I see. Well, I can't talk about ongoing cases, but I'm happy to chat about the work we do in general," he said, his tone polite.

 

I nodded eagerly, feeling a rush of excitement. Dr Reid was actually talking to me, and I could feel a strange connection forming between us. "That's great. So, what's the most challenging case you've worked on so far?"

 

Dr Reid's face grew serious as he thought back on his experiences. "There have been many challenging cases, but the ones that stick with me the most are the ones involving children. It's heart-breaking to see the amount of suffering they go through and the pain it causes their families," he said, his eyes filled with sadness.

 

I nodded, feeling a pang of sympathy for him. "That must be tough," I said, my voice soft.

 

He looked at me, his expression curious. "Why are you interested in this? Are you a student of some kind?"

 

I shook my head, trying to keep my composure. "No, I just find it fascinating. The human mind and what drives people to do the things they do," I said, hoping he wouldn't see through my lies.

 

Dr Reid continued to study me, his gaze piercing as he tried to determine my true intentions. I could feel my heart racing in my chest, wondering if he could sense my true nature.

 

Finally, he seemed to relax slightly, nodding in understanding. "I can certainly understand the fascination. It's a complex and often troubling field, but one that can also be incredibly rewarding," he said, his tone thoughtful.

 

I smiled, relieved that he didn't seem to suspect anything. "Exactly. I've always been drawn to the darker side of things, I suppose," I said, trying to sound casual.

 

Dr Reid's expression grew more serious, and he leaned in slightly. "Be careful with that kind of fascination. It's easy to get lost in the darkness, and it can be hard to find your way back," he said, his voice low.

 

I couldn't help but be intrigued by Dr Reid's warning. It was like he knew something about me that even I didn't know.

 

"I'll keep that in mind," I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

 

Dr Reid nodded and leaned back, seeming to relax once again. We continued to chat for a while, discussing various cases and theories about criminal behaviour. I found myself drawn to his intelligence and passion for his work. It was like he could see right through me, like he knew my every thought and desire.

 

As we talked, I couldn't help but feel a growing attraction towards him. There was something about his vulnerability and his intelligence that made me want to know him more intimately. I knew I should be careful, but the pull was too strong. I had to have him.

 

 

I could see the desire in his eyes as he spoke, the way he looked at me with a mix of curiosity and intensity. It was like he was trying to figure me out, to understand me on a deeper level.

 

I knew I had to make my move. "Hey, do you want to get out of here?" I asked, my voice low and seductive.

 

Dr Reid looked at me, his expression unreadable. "What do you mean?" he asked, his voice cautious.

 

"I mean, do you want to come back to my hotel room with me?" I said, my hand reaching out to touch his arm.

 

Dr Reid pulled back slightly; his eyebrows furrowed in concern. "I'm not sure that's a good idea. I hardly know you," he said, his voice hesitant.

 

I leaned in closer, my lips almost touching his ear. "You know me enough. Trust me, it'll be worth it," I whispered, my hand sliding down his arm.

 

Dr Reid hesitated for a moment, his gaze flickering between my face and my hand on his arm. I could see the conflict in his eyes, the desire warring with caution.

 

Finally, he made his decision. "Alright," he said, his voice low.

 

I grinned triumphantly, leading him out of the bar and towards my hotel room. As we walked, I could feel his eyes on me, studying me intently. It was like he was trying to figure me out, to understand the darkness that lay within me.

————————————————————————–

Taglist:

@marvelwoman-sugarbaby

@ellieslver

[choicesficwriterscreations]

December Creator of the Month: Oh-So-Youre-a-Nerd

Each month, CFWC highlights one of our talented fanfic writers or artists, and this month’s creator of the month is @oh-so-youre-a-nerd . We're very excited because Ascindio is our very first artist to be highlighted! We hope you will enjoy learning more about them and their work below! The writer is selected at random. More info can be found on the navigation page.

Quick Links:

Tumblr Blog Instagram

How do you want to be known on Tumblr? 

Ascindio 

More below...

1- When did you start playing Choices? What was the first book you played? 

I started playing in 2016, I can't remember if I read Endless Summer or Rules of Engagement first, but I ended up deleting the app after like 2 weeks cause I couldn't stop buying diamonds 😅🤦

I re-downloaded it about, ohh idk 2 years ago?

2- When and why did you join Choices fandom?

I joined the Fandom specifically on Tumblr and specifically for It Lives Within, which happened to come out right after I read the first two books 

3- How did you pick your blog name? 

I always try to seem cool and mysterious when I meet people irl, and then as soon as I open my mouth, I ruin it with some niche trivia or something, and they say,  “Oh, so you're a nerd.” 😂 Can't tell you how many times this exact phrase has been uttered to me. 

4- Pull up the first post in your archive, and tell us about it!  

This is the first Choices related post I made 😂 I was just thinking about the concept of what if characters make terrible decisions cause they're controlled by a player who is out of diamonds lol I was going to do a whole series of them (next was going to be lotr “fly on eagles to mordor?” *30 diamonds* or “simply walk”) but got lazy lol

5- Do you write fanfiction, create fan art, or are you one of those really gifted people who do both? 

Only art. God, I  WISH  I wrote too. I've thought about trying cause I have so many ideas floating around in my head, but at the end of the day, I'd rather spend my free time drawing. 

6- How long have you been creating for Choices and for any other fandoms?

For Choices, since early 2022

For other fandoms, since well, forever, but I only started posting around 2017/18

7- What is your favorite Choices book, and what is your favorite Choices book to create for?

Favorite Choices book is probably It Lives in the Woods. All of the characters were so interesting, I never got bored reading it, and it had an incredible twist that made sense but I still didn't see coming. 

Favorite to create for is probably Blades of Light and Shadow though because I am such a sucker for the fantasy aesthetic.

8- Share your first Choices fanfic or fan art that you posted with us. Do you still like it, or would you change it if you were creating it today?.

This isn't the first Choices art I made, but it IS the first I actually shared

And honestly, I DO still like it because I still remember the way I felt absolutely POSSESSED while drawing it (I hadn't drawn anything for *months*). I would definitely change the background, though. Those trees look like shit, and they're not even the correct type for the kind of forest they're in. 

9- What is your favorite piece of fiction or art that you created? 

My favorite Choices art I've done is probably this piece. 

10- Do you have a fic/art that you didn’t expect to be well received, but it was? What about one you expected to do well but found it could use a little more love?

I definitely didn't expect this one to do well at all as it was so hastily drawn

And I was sad this piece didn't get more love, it was such a dope scene and I was so excited about how the sword turned out

11- If you could only draw one style or type of art for the rest of your life, what would it be and why? 

I'm not sure if I'm interpreting the question right, but if I had to pick like a specific type of art, it would be digital, and I would want to do fan art. I have a hard time painting anything that I don't already have a deep connection with (so original art with no story behind it is usually a chore for me), and digital art is just so incredibly convenient and not messy and so so versatile. 

12 - Do you ever recognize yourself in any of your MCs or in your writing?

Because I use fiction as a way to safely process trauma/ grief/ other big emotions, each MC I make has a small part of me, whichever part I feel the need to explore at the time.

There's an amazing quote by Patrick Rothfuss that I feel explains it perfectly. 

It's from Wise Man's Fear

“These folk knew all about death. They killed their own livestock. They died from fevers, falls, or broken bones gone sour. Death was like an unpleasant neighbor. You didn’t talk about him for fear he might hear you and decide to pay a visit.

Except for stories, of course. Tales of poisoned kings and duels and old wars were fine. They dressed death in foreign clothes and sent him far from your door. A chimney fire or the croup cough were terrifying. But Gibea’s trial or the siege of Enfast, those were different. They were like prayers, like charms muttered late at night when you were walking alone in the dark. Stories were like ha’penny amulets you bought from a peddler, just in case.”

13 - What element of writing/art do you struggle with most?

I have a very difficult time making the poses seem natural and flowing. My all time favorite art is Baroque/Renaissance style and how fluid the poses are, how soft the skin looks, how delicately it's all done. Obviously, I will always have my own style, but those are things that I so want to incorporate but never seem to get quite right, and it drives me crazy 😂

14 - Do you have any neglected work you really want to finish?

Not really. I mean, I have a ton of unfinished work, but as soon as the window of inspiration passes, I just can't get myself to care enough about it to finish it (insert Jake the Dog, “now it's gone, and I don't care about it anymore!” )

15 - If someone you know in real life (who isn’t involved in fandoms) asked to see your work, would you let them? If yes, what would you show them first? 

I would, and have.  I typically show them whatever most rendered recent picture from my Instagram because I don't post any nsfw there and usually try to post only my prettier work for this specific reason haha. (As opposed to here, I post everything here, ain't NO ONE from real life invited to see my tumblr 😂)

16 - Are there any writers (published authors and/or fanfic writers) who influenced your writing or art? Are there any artists that influence you?

Writers: Brandon Sanderson, for sure. He's the reason I got back into art back in 2017 ish. His stories are just so emotional they push me to create. Same with @saibug1022, there is always at least one scene from every story he shares that I desperately want to draw to try to capture the emotions. 

Artists: God, sooo many, here are just like my top 3 favorites and their instagrams.

Audra Auclair

Obsessed with her unique style, and specifically the way she draws eyelids and noses

f3lc4t

The way they draw those dripping, glowing wisps. I stare at their pieces for hours (no lie) trying to dissect them stroke by stroke to figure out how they do it.

Miho Hirano

Their art has a delicate whimsy-ness I would SELL MY SOUL to achieve 

17- Which one of your creations would you like to see a fiction written about? 

JC, this is the shit I DREAM of.

Definitely this one. 

So this is love.

This little comic means a lot to me. 

18- Do you write original fiction or create non-fandom art? 

Very rarely, but I do, every so often. This is my favorite original piece.

20-  What other hobbies do you have?

Gaming, singing, walking through the Cemetary with my wee daughter, reading, that's about it 🤷

21 - What’s your favorite emoji? 

🙇

22: BONUS - tell us anything you’d like (if you want to).

I really wanted to say that I don't believe in “good” art and “bad” art (just ethical vs non-ethical). That being said, I know what it's like to hate your art, like soooo intimately. If you ever are feeling shit about your art, you can ABSOLUTELY message me (I don't care if we're mutuals or not, I don't care if we've never interacted before) and just say, “I am feeling shit about my art” and I will go through your art and tell you every specific thing I love about it and why it's wonderful. I am not joking; I am so so serious rn. 💗💗💗💗 

[masezace]

little off topic for my blog, but i started watching a new show since a friend mentioned it was good and i'd heard positive things about it, so i just wanted to talk about it a little bit (probably never again after this since this isn't a fandom blog, but it's the only one i have rn so idc it's going here)

the show is Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous, and just going on looks alone, despite my love for dinosaurs and the Jurassic Park franchise i never would have considered it. it appears to be very much for kids, and as i'm in my late twenties now i'm not particularly interested in especially kiddy media. however a friend my age enjoyed it and mentioned it has a canon lgbtq+ couple in it among the main characters, so of course i just had to watch it. i had already been hearing that despite its initial appearance and premise, it was surprisingly good for a kids' show, so i had already been curious, but i was even more keen after knowing there were queer characters, and not even the adults, the kids themselves (in a kid's show?!! what a time to be alive), so i finally sat down and watched it.

[spoiler warning, both minor and major, for the rest of this post btw, so continue reading at your own risk if you haven't seen it yet/are still watching]

the show overall

okay so firstly, i am coming at all of this from the perspective of a writer, so my observations are from a technical standpoint more so than just as a fan of the show. and honestly, it really is a well-written show as a whole. is it geared towards kids? definitely. there are plenty of jokes/gags in it that just don't appeal to me as an adult, but beyond that, there was plenty to appreciate as an adult.

the writing is actually phenomenal? there were several points in the series where i just sat back and mulled over the way a scene went, what the thought process behind writing it was like, how well it was executed, and how important it was to the characters and overall plot.

the suspense is spot on, nothing gets dragged out too long, and i will admit there have been a few scenes throughout that actually got me; i jumped! it's actually scarier than i expected a kid show to be, but i'm so glad they went where they did because it really elevated the experience.

the pacing overall is very good, adequately engaging for kids' short attention spans (and us adhd adults 🥲) but not too short either to a point where things felt abrupt or unfinished. plot arcs are well developed and tied up nicely. also, as a bit of a dinosaur nerd, the array of dinosaurs in the show is super broad and satisfying! very fun stuff.

character element

imo the real gem of this show is the character development. honestly it's just *chefs kiss*

the characters grow and change so much and so realistically over the course of the show, it's honestly so much better and more satisfying than the character growth in most adult fiction/media recently.

the growth in ben (who btw was def my favorite character by the end of s1) and kenji in particular were my favorites and, in my personal opinion, the most interesting. the way ben started out anxious, cowardly, and rule abiding to a fault, then grew into a brave, confident, adventurous little pyromaniac gremlin, then had that stint later in the series where he regressed a bit-questioning himself-until eventually ultimately striking a great balance and really coming into himself was just... peak character writing.

kenji started out overconfident, lazy, and overly concerned with money/status. but that arrogant overconfidence and laziness slowly turned into responsibility, and a desire to protect his found family, and the realization that it's the people in your life that really matter most.

honestly what i mentioned only scratches the surface in terms of those two characters, there's certainly more that can be said about them (as well as all the others) but i'm not really in the mood for a deep dive character analysis atm. just trust me tho when i say these characters are so well done and each one of them have arcs that are super satisfying to watch play out.

queer representation

and as for the queer couple? yasmina and sammy are PERFECT. it was so beautiful watching their relationship grow from one-sided to mutual friendship, to loyal devotion, then to love. they were set up incredibly well and incredibly naturally. i have like, no complaints when it comes to them. i don't even know if there's anything i can say that would add to things, they were just a really awesome couple to watch become canon, they're the beautiful and painfully needed representation we all beg for in tv and movies.

shipping, chemistry, and intent

but oh goodness... probably my only real complaint about the entire show would be how benji (ben x kenji) and kenji x brooklyn (kenlyn? brookji? idk and idrc) were handled. because for all that this show did SO much beautifully right, they really screwed the pooch here, sadly.

i'm gonna start by saying that the writing in this show, as with most, is deliberate. what i mean by this is that despite having no clue who it would be because my friend thankfully did not even spoil me as far as the genders of the queer couple, i clocked yas and sammy as the would-be queer couple as early as season one (actually it was between them and benji, but more on that later). i could already see the chemistry, because it was deliberately written in.

shipping is subjective. anyone can ship any character, and in most cases it's pretty easy to see how there could be (romantic) chemistry between fan pairings based on their personalities, their arcs, etc. and that's okay! ships don't even have to have any canon support to be valid, because shipping is for the fandom, and it's for fun (i have a few rarepairs and crack ships across different media that i just love).

but onscreen/written romantic chemistry is a lot less subjective (to clarify, it is subjective whether or not the chemistry is good, but it's not subjective about whether or not it exists). there are literally scenes written with the sole purpose of building the romantic tension and/or chemistry between planned couples (some of which even have absolutely zero plot relevance, which usually is not advised tbh, and most of which are the cliches/tropes you see in literally any romance ever written, some are just disguised a little better than others. but make no mistake, it's all the same set of cliches. there is nothing new under the sun), as well as intentional, key moments within scenes that have other purposes. they are essential to establish romantic pairings.

and typically, the foundations for these couples are laid VERY early on. always within the first or second season (well, at least they are when the writer actually knows what they're doing and has at least a rough plan/outline for the entire series & characters. this is usually a large part of what separates the good chemistry from the poor chemistry. an author who knows who the couples are going to be and has a plan from the beginning to build them up is going to be more successful in creating a believable relationship with good chemistry. one who does not plan, or makes last minute plans will almost certainly fail, and the couple is just going to suck). when the set of characters you're working with are going to stay the same for most or all of the story, you start immediately.

i don't mean to toot my own horn, because i think it's because i'm a writer so i just pick up on narrative patterns very easily, and pretty much always clock the planned couples within the first few episodes of any series, and by the end i am right like 9 times out of 10.

that being said, do you know whose deliberately written chemistry i also clocked in jwcc? ben and kenji's.

kenji and... brooklyn?

no offense to people who like/enjoy kenji and brooklyn, you are free to love them, but the way their romance was written is... quite possibly the weakest point of the show. it felt like they were just trying to appease the upsetto heteros in charge, because there was definitely another het pairing that had a lot more potential than kenji and brooklyn (hello darius x brooklyn aka darilyn, you would have actually made sense because your relationship had amazing buildup and multiple standout scenes from s1 on. dgmw, i love that we got a m/f strong, supportive, purely platonic friendship out of them, i live for those and we really need more of them. but we could have had that with kenji and brooklyn, or darius and sammy, or ben and yas, literally any other pair instead).

kenji and brooklyn as a couple came out of absolutely nowhere. i honestly think they decided to shove them together last minute, and had no actual plan for them until they were working on s4. because their development barely started at the VERY end of s3 (the abruptness of him caring about her being held hostage so much more than literally anyone else in their group despite them having like zero buildup to that point gave me whiplash), but honestly didn't really even become "meaningful" development until s4, over halfway through the series. the two spend the first 3 seasons basically not particularly gaf about each other individually, only as part of the whole group and on an equal level with everyone else. they otherwise have no deliberate narrative foundation. it just starts in s4 with no prior hinting. which makes their development rocky and difficult to believe. the funny thing is their characters literally have dialogue (in s4) trying to draw comparisons/parallels between them to say that they especially have a lot in common and like??? no? they really don't? not any more so than any other two kids in the group. their relationship just, really falls flat.

it was disappointing to see it take such a massive spotlight in the series for almost all of seasons 4 and 5, overshadowing the friendships that have been the focus of the show and should have remained so, to the point where at times it just felt like i was watching some stereotypical het highschool romance. genuinely, it made s4 & 5 more of a drag to get through. yasammy and ben and yas' growing bond (which by the way was so sweet, it had the strongest queer solidarity vibes good lord, i sure wonder why yas chose ben out of everyone to come out to first, hmmm) were some of the few things that kept me invested, otherwise i would have dropped it if it had leaned much farther into becoming the kenlyn show than it already was. especially when it was that pair so much of the focus was given to, even though we had so readily and perfectly available, the pair that could have, should have been: benji. which finally brings me to:

ben and kenji

benji's foundation was laid in s1. their interactions, the situations they found themselves in, were deliberate (on the writers' part). i'm even gonna go out on a limb here and say the pairings were fully established in s1e3, even with parallels between yasammy and benji (sammy clinging to yas and ben clinging to kenji throughout the episode), and darilyn gets the beginning of their development too.

even though they bicker a lot in the beginning, they clearly care about each other? kenji protects/helps ben multiple times, and there are definitely some looks ben gives kenji at times. at the end of s1, the one who seems the most deeply effected over ben's "death," other than darius (understandably since he's the one who failed to save him), was kenji! immediately after it happens, we get two close up shots, darius and brooklyn then yasmina and sammy. after which, we go back to the whole group with kenji in center frame, the focus is intentionally on him. it is only kenji who drops to his knees at the loss, and then we get a close up of just kenji. he was saved for last, and he was alone in frame (tbf bumpy was in frame too, but i'm talking humans here), which implies his feelings are especially important in this moment. that is the reason for solo close ups.

after ben's "death," kenji takes to always wearing ben's fanny pack, and up until bumpy--who ben cares VERY much about--got separated from them, kenji was the one who (however briefly) took over her care, ensuring she got off the monorail with them, and he's extremely distraught, more than pretty much all of them, when they can't find her, and he's last to leave when they decide to accept that ben's gone. even when they do leave, he's distant and distracted and his mind is clearly still on ben.

other than darius, kenji is the only one (if i'm remembering correctly) to mention ben/say his name after they lost him, upset because he was actually trying not to think about him. he has clearly thought about ben, probably a lot, because it's hard not to be reminded constantly when you wear something that belonged to a deceased loved one. and frankly, he appears to be the only one who dwells on him that much.

when ben reappears alive (which btw he found the group again because of kenji's butter knife, hello), the frames literally purposely focus on kenji's reaction. he's the one in the foreground every time they show him and brooklyn in that scene. he is the first one to say ben's name, the first one to go to him and hug him, and the scene takes special care to highlight kenji's strong emotions at ben's reappearance, lingering on his teary face as the focus for a bit even after brooklyn enters the frame to hug ben (because she is not at all an important element in the scene at that moment). just like when ben "died," the way this scene is written and shot HEAVILY suggests that ben holds significant importance to kenji, specifically. because again, the focus here is on kenji and ben almost exclusively, with brooklyn as only an afterthought lol. and quite frankly literally everyone else's reaction to him being alive was pretty lackluster compared to the special attention they gave to kenji on this.

and then in s3 we have the infamous hat scene, where darius and ben are in the limo and ben sees and mentions kenji's sailor hat, looking sad and sounding like... longing?? then directly after we switch to kenji realizing he forgot his hat?? the scene has no real significance tbh other than to draw a connection between ben and kenji. like, it acts as a transition to switch to the pov of the group on the boat, but it was entirely unnecessary? why not just have darius say something about the others and then show them on the boat? if there were no special relationship between ben and kenji, it would have made far more sense if they really wanted it to be ben to say something, that he sees the hat, and sadly says something along the lines of "i hope the others are okay/doing better than we are right now/etc" which implies that the hat made him think of everyone, their whole group. rather than what we got... which very much implies that he was mostly just thinking about kenji 💀 and then kenji thinking about the hat at the same time ben's looking at it and thinking of kenji. like, this is.... a very blatant connection being made by the writing/directing here.

all of that. so many deliberate connections made between ben and kenji, they had a very solid foundation laid for a romance to develop, and by all intents and purposes one already WAS developing according to the show's own subtext. which was why up until s4 obliterated the idea, i was positive the queer couple in the show was either going to be yasammy or benji. it was extremely obvious imo. but as soon we started getting the typical, loud, cliche "we are going to pair off these characters" scenes for kenji and brooklyn, i knew we were getting yasammy and not benji (to be clear, i'm not at all upset about yasammy, they're beautiful and i love how their relationship was done, i wouldn't have had it end any other way for them. but i do personally prefer benji, i just like their personalities and dynamic more. and i feel they had so much potential that got wasted to make way for a far less interesting pairing between kenji and brooklyn. why can't we have 2 queer couples, huh? and if we really needed a minimum of one hetero pairing to appease whoever needed appeasing, darilyn was right there).

but then??? their like entire bond just gets dropped (honestly ben himself gets pretty heavily sidelined for almost all of the last two seasons, which is criminal imo). mostly so that a rushed kenji x brooklyn can be established. like there are still a few small moments here and there in early s4, and one episode in s5 (ep 10), but from early s4 till pretty much the end of the series we hardly see them have any meaningful conversations or interactions, meanwhile literally every other combo in the group does.

it's so weird? why build up benji so deliberately over the course of multiple seasons just to like, fully discard it for a pairing with far less chemistry, even after the chemistry-building scenes they shared, some of which literally had no other purpose than to affirm their connection? even though they were very sparse, the moments benji had were just so blatant (kenji leaps into the rock crevice right onto the back of a saber tooth to save ben?!!?? like he literally was just willing to exchange his life for him like that?? he basically says that he wasn't really thinking, he just did it. so he moved out of what, emotional instinct, that's what we're meant to intuit from that series of events? implying that he specifically has strong emotion and doesn't think things through when it comes to ben? because he doesn't do that kinda stuff for any of the others in the group! even better, this parallels when sammy jumped on the nothosaurus to save yasmina. and then the way benji look at each other after it's over??? hello??? and then how kenji pulls both brooklyn and ben in for that hug a couple minutes later... side eyeing the writers for that choice. they knew what they were doing there and they were evil for it). i just can't see any reason to have dropped them like they were, after all the development they shared for 3 seasons. confounding. biggest disappointment of the series.

i know this probably reads to some as just "wahh, my ship didn't become canon" nonsense. but that's not why i'm bugged. this wasn't just a ship i liked and wanted canon despite no actual narrative support, as most ships tend to be. this ship did have narrative support. there was intent behind many of their scenes together, lingering looks and little things that matter narratively and are always used to signify a stronger/special connection. and it led nowhere, for no good reason. that bothers me. writing that implies and promises something, but never delivers on it. like a person who never finishes their sentences (think Dr McPhee from Night at the Museum). ultimately it's not a HUGE deal or anything, at the end of the day it's just a ship and just a kids' show. but as a writer, it's just irritating to see something like that be done. what can i say 🤷

conclusion

even despite the wasted potential between certain pairings, and even though i do think the first three seasons were superior to the last two, overall i really enjoyed the show, and for what it was, it was really well-made. the overarching focus was of course on found family and friendship before anything else, which i absolutely love, and it was masterfully done. out of 6 kids, all of them had at least one or two meaningful bonding moments one-on-one with another in the group, so every possible combination had their moment to build strong, believable friendships with each other. i'm just so surprised by how good it was as a whole honestly, good enough to binge over the course of a week. i will happily recommend jwcc to anyone willing to give it a watch regardless of age, because i definitely think there's no age limit for a good story, no matter the medium it's told in. :)

[lesbiandanhowell]

Special episode of Sam reacts!

Sam reacts to: We're All Doomed Movie

Since this is long, little summary of thoughts at the beginning. I didn't love the editing at the beginning, because it felt too fast paced/ too jumpy? But it changed in the second half and seeing the contrast in the editing of it being much slower during the emotional bit, it does make sense. I think the movie for sure did the performance justice and showing the audience interactions added a lot for me.

Also this show is so important on every level and I adore Dan so much for making it and being so proud of it.

- Immediately started looking for myself but I don't think you can see us, cause we sat on the balcony. I have however already spotted @energeticwarrior and @danrifics like less than a minute in lmao

- I love seeing how many of the camera positions I identified correctly.

- I wish they would let shots linger more, the cuts are quite jumpy.

- Oh this brings me back so much. Hearing the audience laugh at certain moments I remember laughing in that moment. I get the same excitement and urge to clap and cheer.

- I love seeing his expressions, cause I didn't get to see those up from the balcony!

- The person with the boob hair sweater in the first row, I love you!

- "Believably sad, lonely and horny. Dan Howell!"

- Okay they somehow really managed to capture the energy of the room which I was worried about. The sound leveling between audience and Dan is really well matched imo.

- He is SO SWEATY what the fuck how stressed was he because the venue really wasn't too hot honestly.

- My attention span is so much worse than when I was there in person holy shit.

- "After the show talking about what a good time you've had" and none of us have been able to shut up about just how much we loved it since 🥹

- The overalls are so bad for Dan, he has like no ass in them.

- Okay admission that @personthattoleratesme made fun of me for: during the YouTube swipe Montage I didn't realize all the other like Crafting, Baking, Shipping Container YouTubers was Dan the first time I saw the show...

- I am SO GLAD Froot Loops Tucan made it and the persons reaction and confidence is incredible.

- Dan's ability to go between talking about wanting to fuxk the Duolingo owl to the very real danger of social media influencing political elections is unparalleled.

- "Human communication. We want to come together with real people. Share stories, move each other emotionally with our words about depression and pensis."

- Imagine Dan Howell calling you hoe...

- Something about Dan calling himself a ditzy bitch gets me so bad every time.

- "Miscellaneous mentally ill nerds of London" best title I have ever been given.

- I liked Sundays madlips better :(( But wasn't faggots Sunday I am so confused now

- The screams for every Phil mention, we love him so much.

- I love Blame Game so much, some of my favourite parts from the whole show because the energy is unmatched. The fact that JKR gets a more severe reaction than Musk is actually so funny.

- Sunday crowd was the best, you can so clearly hear that the majority of people is calling freedom for Dan at the end aww.

- I need more bravery to fuck shit up, to not be so agreeable and complacent and be more disruptive honestly.

- After the calender bit his voice is so shakey and broken, I didn't hear that at all in person but fuck that just broke me.

- Yeah the last few minutes always get me so not much of a reaction to those other than I cried, again.

- What I found interesting was the parts that were left out? Cause I definitely noticed a few moments that didn't make the cut which I find surprising! Moments I noticed were the first mention of him only using two emojis, that's referenced again with the cowboy hat emoji and also he didn't include the iconic "Because time changes everything".

- I am so glad they managed to get All Star because it is simply part of the experience honestly. Nothing hit's quite like sobbing and then being hit with that song.

EDIT:

- I remembered something else I really loved: the music, I really think they choose such a good score, made such good little sound effects and the reaction I had to hearing it all live was amazing.

[inkareds]

The Book of You and I

Jason Todd

nav // dc m.list // ko-fi

✧.* word count: 4k

✧.* genre: SFW // fluff and angst

✧.* warnings: major character death, grief, Jason is both Red Hood and Robin, insignificant talks of drug use (Roy Harper lmao) (inspired by The Book of You & I by Alec Benjamin)

"There were so many chapters that we never got to write."

“Jason! Could you please use the door like a normal person when you’re not sneaking in?!” You yelled out exasperatedly when you hear the familiar incessant knocking on your window.

As you walked over to open the blinds and the window to let Jason in, you already knew he was chuckling behind there. Just grinning to himself, probably proud of riling you up. And you were correct, there as you opened the curtains was Jason Todd himself.

All in his grinning glory. Behind him, the sun of the morning shone so brightly it made him look almost heavenly. You wanted to chuckle at that. “What are you laughing at?” His smile dropped as you opened the window to let him in.

“Nothing, you just look like an angel with all that light behind you.” You shrugged. “Well I do have angelic looks, so you’re not too wrong there.” Jason immediately winced after you hit his arm.

“You’re terrible.” You groan jokingly all the while you dropped yourself back on your bed. Now, usually, at this time, you’d still be asleep. After all, it was 8 am and you were still on your spring break right before starting your first year at University. Why the hell would you be awake?

But then came the grating noise of continuous knocking on your window, which woke you up. Though, Jason didn’t seem to be bothered at all by waking you up, knowing if he had come through the front door, you’d be more annoyed with him as you’d have to walk from your room to the door.

“But you love me.” Opening your eyes as you snuggled yourself deeper in your bed to find that amazing spot you just woke up from, you saw Jason. With his tousled hair, bright blue eyes, and mesmerising smile, just staring at you. He must’ve just finished training with Bruce or had just finished training alone. He was always such a hard worker, and from his stories of when he was still on the streets, he was a hard worker then as well.

You rolled your eyes at his puppy-like smile, “Do I? That’s debatable.” You spoke holding back a yawn threatening to leave your tired state. When Jason physically deflates you laughed loudly. “Come here! I’m just joking.”

Just like a puppy, he ran right towards you, his laughter filled your room with absolute joy. You melted into his touch when he made his way into your bed and snuggled you. Peppering kisses all over your face as an unspoken apology for waking you up. You groaned and turned around to face him. “Stop.”

Jason didn’t say anything after that, just softly snickered and rested his head on top of yours. Letting himself relax after a day of training and stress with his father. The both of you melted to sleep pretty easily after that.

~

“More tea?” Alfred offered you as he carried a pot of tea in his hands. It was then you were snapped back into reality. Quickly shaking your head you spoke, “No, thank you, Alfred, I think I’ve had more tea today than I did this entire year.

Alfred nodded with a smile all the while you looked back to what made you blank out.

Right now, you were in the manor, as per Jason’s invitation, not that you haven’t visited his home before. But this was the first that you were actually watching him train. You usually came over when you needed to do your homework, as you know Jason, the nerd that he was, wouldn’t let you get distracted until you’d finished everything you aimed to finish.

But here he was, not too far from where you sat in the garden, not wearing a shirt and holding a long staff. Going against Bruce Wayne. You knew he was Batman, but gods seeing how he looked under the suit and the formal attire you always saw him in was so different. Bruce practically towered over Jason, yet here Jason was, fighting with agility and precise violence.

It was terrifying to see just how deadly Jason could be. At the same time though, you wouldn’t lie and say it didn’t mesmerise you. He looked, absolutely, incredible. Lean muscle, appropriate to the flexible body of a Robin, fighting against the bulk of Batman. He was grinning despite all the injuries and bruises on his body, and from the look of Bruce. The two of them seemed to be having fun.

"I'm glad you came into Jason’s life.” Alfred suddenly spoke, and you turned to look at him confused. The old butler chuckled, “Young master Todd has always been different from master Grayson. But he has always compared himself to his predecessor. It had concerned master Wayne, and it has always concerned me.”

He paused to look at Jason, you stared at this butler in such awe. After hearing the countless stories of Jason’s new life, you can’t imagine how much distress this butler has seen over his time working in the manor. Yet here he stood, still looking at the two vigilantes training not far from him with so much love in his eyes.

“But the moment you came in, it is almost as if your love to him allowed him to realise his worth. Young master Todd never stopped comparing himself to master Grayson, maybe, he never will. The curse of the younger brother. But with you, he has realised even if he could always get better, the him now was enough. With you he was happy. A kind of happiness neither I nor master Wayne can offer him.”

Alfred then looked at you, “So, thank you.”

You didn’t reply to Alfred and he didn’t wait for your response either. After stating his gratitude, Alfred turned his heel and walked back inside the mansion, perhaps to prepare dinner.

You were left alone, blanking out once more at the realisation of the weight your presence has had in Jason’s life. You know you’ve done a lot for him, but you’ve done it all with so much love in your heart that you’ve never really seen it as helping him or anything like that. You just, loved him. And perhaps that was enough for Jason.

“Sorry it took longer than I thought it would, Bruce can be terrible when it comes to training, you didn’t get too bored did you?” Messy black hair, beautiful blue eyes, and a smile like no other. Gods, you love Jason Todd so much.

You didn’t respond, standing up from where you sat to suddenly kiss him. You didn’t know where the urge came from, except that you wanted desperately to show him just how much you loved him after he showed you how much he loved you every single fucking day. When you pulled away, Jason’s face was a dark shade of red, you know if you teased him about it later he’ll just say it was from exhaustion, even if you knew better. “What was that for?”

“Nothing, I just wanted to love you.”

~

Jason remembered so clearly what his last thoughts were when he watched that wretched timer count down to 0. He only had two things on his mind. One, where in the seven hells was Batman? Two, you. He thought about you struggling in your university courses. He thought about you having trouble sleeping at night. He thought about how he helped with all of those.

He thought about how, if he died now, if he left you now, who would be by your side encouraging you to continue working on your papers? Who would hug you every night you had a nightmare? Who would be there for you when you cried?

Ironic, wasn’t it? He was the one dying, but all he could think about was what would happen to you now that he was dead.

Perhaps that was why he sought you out first when he was able to stabilize his own mind after the resurrection and taking over Black Mask’s operations as Red Hood. He had to make sure you were alright. At this point, he didn’t care if you had moved on or not. He just didn’t want to imagine you crying yourself to sleep ever again. Just like it was when he was Robin, your presence saved Jason Todd’s life.

For the first time Dick was able to actually talk to Jason after finding out he was Red Hood, was because of you. Jason was having trouble locating where you were, and because of this, he became more erratic. His crime operations had become messy and all over the place, it didn’t take Bruce and Barbara long to find out the cause. You had moved away after Jason’s death, Metropolis was your home now. Much to the displeasure of a petty Bruce, but he understood why you needed to move.

Get away from everything that reminded you of Jason.

But Jason didn’t know that.

So, Dick made an agreement with him. He’ll give Jason all the information about you he wanted if he’ll sit and talk to his older brother. Jason agreed almost immediately.

And that was the first step to changing Red Hood from a criminal back to the vigilante he once was.

But despite all this, Jason was still a villain when he found you. He didn’t think he was worthy enough to talk to you. So, he watched. He watched you from your rooftop, making sure you were alright. Which was where he was now. Sitting, idly waiting for you to come home from work.

You seemed happy with your work in Metropolis, which was a good thing in Jason’s eyes. Despite his original frustration about you moving from Gotham, he now realises why this move was so important to you.

He physically had to hide when you suddenly walked to your balcony. He stared at you from where he stood on your rooftop as you looked around from your balcony. As if you were looking for something.

“God, I’m hallucinating again.” You chuckled darkly. From under the mask, Jason’s eyebrow quirked in confusion. What would make you think that? “I seriously thought I saw you, I thought I saw you watching me.”

He stiffened, did you really know he was there? Were you talking to him? If you weren’t, who were you talking to? “As if you weren’t 6 feet underground in Bruce’s mansion.”

Oh-

You were talking to him. But now the him that was now standing on your rooftop. But the him that was still dead. “I wonder what you’d think of me if you could see me now. I bet you’d be disappointed.” Jason can’t help but feel as if he shouldn’t be listening to this conversation.

It seemed like a conversation between you and the old him. The one that he left for dead underneath all the rubble of Joker’s bomb. It felt almost intrusive to listen to you. But he couldn’t help it. A part of him felt glee at the thought that you weren’t over his death yet. That was a more selfish part of him. The part that still wants you in his arms, even though they were now elbows deep in the blood of others, and scarred beyond what his old self would’ve let.

Without Alfred or Bruce, his wounds weren’t dressed as properly now. He scarred more, and he let it. He used those scars to remind him of every fight.

“Here I am, in Metropolis, not in Gotham trying to change the city as you did. Flawed, angry, and absolutely furious at the fucking world for taking you away from me.” he heard the way your voice cracked and the soft sniffles that left you. You were crying. “I fucking hate you, you know that? I told you, over and over again, not to let your fucking emotions get in the way when you’re fighting! Now, look where we are! I’m screaming at the air as if you can hear me and you’re probably just rotting bones.”

At this point, Jason felt his heart twist and tear apart at the desperation in your voice as you cried into the night. “Now,” you laughed bitterly, “I’m hallucinating that you’re still here. I’ve gone fucking mad.”

He couldn’t take it anymore, couldn’t take listening to you berate yourself anymore. Couldn’t take hearing you cry anymore. He has to. Who gives two flying fucks what you think about him once you find out?

Just like that, he dropped himself behind you, blocking your path from going back inside. You screamed from shock when he landed, backing up too quickly that your body almost flipped over and fell right down the balcony. If not for Jason’s quick reflexes that took both your arms and pulled you into his hulking figure, you would’ve been the one to die this time.

You immediately struggled against his hold, trying your best to get away from him, all to no avail. Jason, realising how panicked and scared you were quickly took off his helmet and domino mask underneath it.

He watched your face as your eyes watered and your entire body started to shake. “No,” you shook your head, “No, no, no, you can’t be real. This is some sick joke by some villain. What is this?! Scarecrow’s gas? Joker’s gas?!?! Luther’s new weird plan?!” Jason felt his heart shatter. How many times had you imagined him standing here in front of you for your first thoughts to be that you were hallucinating or under attack?

When words failed, Jason turned to actions. He pulled you even closer to him and simply embraced you. He needed it just as much as you.

Until now, he didn’t know what made you realise he was actually there in person in front of you. After all, he’s changed so much, and you couldn’t even feel his skin or body from underneath his costume.

Yet, despite all that, the moment you felt him press against you, just like all those times when you had nightmares or all those times after you stitched him up and he demanded hugs, you melted against him.

He was here.

Your Jason was here.

He was alright.

He was alive.

That night, the two of you had a long conversation. A very, very long one. One where Jason explained everything. He even told you about all the crimes he was doing and planning on doing. A part of him did this to make you push him away, to make you realise that he was a monster. That he was a terrible person. But all you did was listen to him and stayed silent.

After it was all done, Jason looked at you with a hardened look. He was waiting for your rejection. He was waiting for you to say that he was a monster for killing all those people. For fighting the people he considered his family. For almost killing his adoptive younger brother. But you didn’t.

“Tousled hair,” were the first words you spoke. His head quirked to the side in confusion when your hands reached up to play with his hair, especially the white tuft of hair. “Mesmerising blue eyes.” Your other hand reached to his cheek.

Instinctively, almost cat-like, he leaned into your touch as you softly caress his skin. He smiled at your soft touch, “And boyish grin?” The two of you chuckled at your statement, easing the harsh tension that settled between you both.

“You’re still him.” You whispered, “You’re still my Jason. Nothing is ever going to change that.”

Jason didn’t remember the last time he cried, not when he became Red Hood, not when he was Robin, and not when he was still a street kid. But then and there, sitting on the floor of your bedroom in Metropolis, with your hands on his face. He felt the tears slowly streaming down his eyes. Especially when you pressed your lips against his own.

This was forgiveness. This was love. He didn’t care for forgiveness from Bruce or Dick, maybe Alfred, but all he looked for was you. And this was it. This was everything he ever wanted in life.

To be in your arms, to be loved, he’ll be better.

He’ll be better for you.

He’ll try harder for you.

He’ll make the world a better place for you.

So you may always have that smile on your face. So that you will never have to cry again. So that you can feel all the love he has for you.

~

“I had an argument again with Bruce today,” Jason cleared his throat, “It ended quicker than usual though. Bet you’re proud of me.” He chuckled before moving on to the next story.

“I think that little demon son of his has finally warmed up to me slightly too. Damian’s a fucking handful, don’t know how either Brue or Dick deals with him. Even Roy agrees with me and he’s the one with a kid. Don’t get me wrong though, Lian’s nothing like Damian. She’s actually good-natured and not a trained fucking assassin. I swear that brat is aiming to kill me every night.”

Jason stopped to exhale, letting the winter air make his breath a puff of smoke. “Speaking of Harper, he’s actually here with me. He’s in the car though, probably doesn’t want to stand here with me in the cold. Fucking pussy. You remember the first time you met him?” Jason let out a loud bark of laughter at the sudden memory.

“You were half drunk after going out with your friends and we barged into your apartment all bloody and shit. I remember Harper being kind of impressed that you were still able to stitch straight lines even when you couldn’t even walk in straight lines. Though you did fuck up the stitch on his shoulder. He got pissy about that one when we got back. Complaining how all my stitches were perfect and he had some fucked up ones.”

Silence.

He’s done this so many times that he didn’t expect anything more than silence. It wasn’t possible anyways. But every time, he wishes that what he did to you that day on the balcony would happen to him.

Jason then let out a shaky sigh, if Roy was here, he’d make an excuse on how it was because of the cold. A petty excuse and a flat-out lie, Roy would know that much. But he’d probably pretend to buy into the lie just to make Jason happy. He was a good person, an even better friend.

“We both miss you,” he struggled to say the next part, “Well, maybe me more than him. But that’s only cause he’s known you for such a short time. When both him and I were still fuck ups, you were always there. Alfred would scold me if he heard what I’m about to say but he’s not here so fuck it, right?” Jason paused, almost as if a part of him was still expecting you to answer.

Even though he knew you couldn’t.

“You were always there for us.” he choked out as his knees gave to his sorrows and buckled. He crouched in front of the stone, holding it for dear life as he placed his forehead on the cold surface. “You were always there for me, where was I when you needed me?”

“I know it wasn’t anything I could’ve prevented, but I just hoped you were able to see me now, you know? I’m not a fuck up anymore, love. I’m not-” His voice cracked, and just like every time he’s been to this burial site, he cracked and cried. “I’m not- I’m not a fuck up anymore. I’m finally back to being your Jason. Your Jason that you loved so much, and you’re not even here to see it.”

That was the moment he let everything go, sobs wracked his body as he held onto the tombstone. A simple name engraved in it, a simple stone in the middle of nowhere. The plot of land itself belonged to the Waynes, but it was far away from any of the filth and muck of Gotham.

It was his gift for you. This land will always be yours. Your final resting ground and your final home.

“You’re not here.” he kept muttering. Shutting his eyes to stop the tears didn’t help, his grief flooded through his body.

After a few years of your death, it had become rare for him to cry during his visits anymore. Even if back then he’d visit much more often. Today was a special day, the day of your death. An unpreventable death that he couldn’t have prevented. But it didn’t matter to Jason.

In a way, you had been the one to resurrect Jason. Memories of you were the thing keeping his head afloat when the memories of everything else would melt and stitch together. Your laughter was the thing keeping a smile on his face after the harshest of nights dealing with terrible people, whether that was villains or Bruce. Your touch, your love, your warmth, everything about you was the thing that kept him from going insane back when he was still a shell of a man.

You stayed with him. Every time he asks for forgiveness from you after every heinous act he’s done, you’ll always reassure him. You’ll always say you still loved him. And every single time he would whisper that one day he’ll make sure he actually deserves your forgiveness.

Like an addict finally sober. He swore to himself that if Roy could sober up, then he himself could be a better person for you. Every time, you’d say you’ll wait patiently, that you didn’t care how long it took. You promised him you’d wait till he truly believes he deserves your love.

But you lied. And that was probably the only thing Jason hated about you.

Even if you didn’t know it then, you lied.

He was better now. Sure, he, Bruce, Dick, and Tim would still butt heads every now and again. But he actually goes to the mansion every so often now. Sure, maybe there’ll be times when his violence would cause Batman to cringe. But it wasn’t led by his emotions anymore. He was, good now.

He finally believed that he was worthy of your love now. But now, you weren’t even here to give or receive all the love you both have for one another.

Jason didn’t know how long he’s been there, just crouched in front of your gravestone, crying. It was Roy who snapped him out of it. Roy placed his hand on Jason’s shoulder and told him how dark it was getting. They’d have patrol soon and he didn’t want to deal with a cranky Batman or Green Arrow if either of them were late. Jason was grateful for the unspoken words hidden between the lines of Roy’s excuse.

Because the real reason Roy wanted to get back early was so that Jason could freshen up. Get rid of the puffiness in his eyes before patrol.

The two of them walked away from the grave pretending the redness was because of the cold, with Jason’s hair tousled from the way he grabbed his roots in anger, only to then rub the remaining tears away from his blue eyes, and finally preparing to put on a shit-eating grin in patrol.

When Roy himself started crying, he commented how odd it was that it had started raining. Jason agreed.

This genuinely made me so sad to write esp when I re read everything and I realised just how gut wrenching it was :')

[revols-headcanons]

dipper and mabel: piedmont life

also this is borderline a fanfic but i have no motivation or peer pressure to actually write one. also warning there are OC’s in this post. this is potentially part 1 of a series?

both of them are autistic but in different ways. dipper is a “i am so insecure of my place in the world that I can immediately notice when there’s a dip in a conversation because of me” who would rather be alone then face social rejection. mabel is a “i think im really good with people because i am so unaware of social cues that i think everyone is being nice to me” who learned how to tell fake vs true niceness.

neither of them were diagnosed as kids, and how they both figured out was due to mabel helping the disabled classroom at her school and noticing similar habits and thought process from them. then dipper did research and they were like “oh okay that makes sense.”

in their sophomore year of high school, they both had identity crisis’ but in different ways: dipper became an overly cocky ‘too cool for anyone’ loner while mabel had a raging emo phase. both of them became deeply embarrassed of those phases the second they got out of them.

in their 8th grade english class, they did a duo project where they explained their entire summer (the prompt was to tell a fantasy three act story). dipper did the reading while mabel did the visuals (aka one of those pop up books but bigger and with her sound effects). their teacher asked them where their vivid imaginations came from and they told some excuse about being bored all summer.

their parents (who i am naming ingrid and robert) are (rightfully) pissed and confused when their kids start showing major symptoms of ptsd and depression. stan has literally no excuse for it and the twins keep dodging the questions.

ingrid is a anxious, stuck up mother who prioritizes education while robert is the relaxed father who expects the world but refuses to give help or support. let’s just say the twins don’t stay home as much. especially after the disaster the first week at home was when the twins brought waddles home.

after the summer, mabel gets into the trivia club and also tries out the science/engineering/robotics club (she also plays soccer, golf, and volleyball). her arts and crafts skills become incredibly useful when making a wooden structure with the purpose of finding the exact angle and falling distance for a marble. meanwhile dipper decides to try out for both track and football (he’s also in photography club and the school newspaper). dipper is the weakest member on the football team, but he’s the quickest runningback they’ve ever had, so the team doesn’t bully him too much for it. he’s consistently in the top 5 for his school during track.

mabel’s first high school friend is a black girl in her robotics club named aubrey. aubrey has adhd and has basically the same hobbies as mabel (i.e: karaoke, shopping, dancing, art). her second friend she meets at theater auditions (for the school musical, into the woods) where mabel watches her do a 10/10 audition performance and compliments her. she is south asian and named kamini, and her interests consist of theater, soccer, and english. her third friend ends up being the emo loner boy that she talks to on the first day. he’s latino and his name is dante. his hobbies consist of skateboarding, karaoke, and video games.

dipper’s first friend ends up being the younger brother of the football team captain, which is what makes the team stop bullying him. his friend is this kind of egotistical, yet himbo nerd of a dude named ethan— who’s a white boy with blond hair and freckles. ethan is interested in soccer and track as well as trivia, and they met during orientation week when they were the only two kids being ignored for the track club. dipper’s second friend comes from his ap english class, where he watched them cuss out someone for trying to harass a girl in the class. they’re asian and non binary and they go by paine. they like chess, english, and dnd, which is why dipper gets along with them so well.

dipper is able to convince ethan and paine to start a dnd session together, with dipper as dungeon master.

mabel eventually forces dipper into joining the program and dipper agrees to be backstage crew. it works out fine until they realize that their play has an unusually low tryout for men so mabel begs him to tryout for a lead role. he gets it because the programs desperate. he ends up playing either percy or grover in the lightning thief, and mabel gets casted as clarisse/katie/etc.

mabel loves taylor swift (specifically red, 1989, and lover) and also doja cat. she dabbles in ariana grande and marina from time to time as well. dipper has nightmares when he hears mabel, aubrey, and dante singing karaoke for first time.

dipper listens to cavetown and mitski mainly before paine and ethan lightly bully him into listening to the arctic monkeys and gorillaz. he creates aesthetic playlists for when he’s monster/creature hunting. neither of his friends believe him when he describes super natural things until (on two separate occasions) he shows them videos of gravity falls shenanigans and when they run into anomalies in piedmont.

mabel ends up getting a crush on ethan and then dipper has that tragic disaster to deal with.

dipper gets a minor crush on kamini before he learns that she views him as this cute little thing to watch but not dateable.

due to dipper’s boost in confidence, girls notice him and try to ask him out. he gets really flustered and confused, especially when girls who bullied him suddenly want to be with him. he rejects them all.

mabel realizes she’s bisexual when she gets a crush on aubrey and has a mental breakdown about it. she confesses, aubrey says that she doesn’t like the concept of dating at all, mabel takes the rejection decently, and they continue being the best of friends.

mabel gets jokingly asked out by a football boy and then dipper gets so pissed off he punches the dude in the face (mabel had no time to react, because if she did, she would’ve also joined the fight). a fist fight ensues, they both get suspended, and no one messes with mabel ever again.

mabel ends up befriending nearly everyone due to how kind and considerate she is. even girls who hated her from middle school soften because of her. she is a god.

most people are neutral towards dipper due to how he doesn’t really initiate social interactions, but that’s how he likes it.

dipper is an avid buzzfeed unsolved fan while mabel watches danny gonzales, drew goodman, etc.

dipper is trans. he realized he was trans when he was like 8, and he’s been a boy since. he was mainly bullied for being trans, but ever since he got confident, learned how to kick ass, and started taking testosterone, people have left him alone. also his name ‘mason,’ he specifically chose to appease his parents (who wanted two twins with ‘m’ starting names that had 5 letters each), but he goes by dipper because that’s the name he would’ve actually chosen.

the twins have separate rooms at their parents house, but they keep accidentally passing out on each other’s floors (or on mabel’s beanbag, or at dipper’s desk). their parents ask why all of a sudden and the twins say they just got closer over the summer. they would never admit it’s because sleeping in the same room as someone who experienced the same trauma is relieving.

mabel constantly calls grenda and candy, reassuring them that while she also loves aubrey and kamini, that her gravity falls friends will always be her favorites.

robert’s favorite child is mabel because, although he has unfair expectations of them, he gives mabel excuses because she’s more art and people focused, while he’s overly harsh on dipper. ingrid’s favorite is dipper because he also likes puzzles, board games, and higher education, while she looks down upon mabel for being childish and irresponsible.

dipper refuses to give any explanation for having wendy’s hat instead of a normal cap. theories range from ‘he has a girlfriend’ to ‘he murdered a man for it.’ he also cried when a bully threw it in the trash once.

the twins have a bet for whoever becomes the tallest by the time they enter the mystery shack the next summer: whoever’s taller gets to pawn their summer chores off onto the other one for the whole summer. mabel gets at least 8 hours of sleep a night to help herself (though her diet is wack) while dipper eats a lot of height-growing food items to help himself (though he’s never had a consistent sleep schedule in his life).

[buthowboutno]

totally not late 15k hits post

hmm? what’s that? we hit 15k hits on ATWLP?? like, yesterday, right? mhmm? yes?

We’re just gonna totally gloss over how I’ve left y’all on a cliffhanger for the past two weeks but uhhh HERE’S SOME CONTENT PSPSPS I PROMISE THE NEXT CHAPTER IS COMING OUT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE (my gf was visiting, i was too busy fawning over her to type xoxo.)

I would just like to say again that my readers are so fucking insane and talented and you guys have really been SUCH a huge support for every step of the way. It only took like three chapters to gain 5k hits!!! That’s absolutely /wild/. 

So anyways, to the stinkies that have been here since the beginning and the ones that have joined us recently, i love y’all so so much and here’s to the second half of this truly monstrous fic.

Beneath the cut: Donnie’s POV from the end of Chapter 15.

QuarkedUp: not dogging on the newbies but she may or may not have caused us to have to redo our entire experiment

BootyShaker9000: You? Not being outright facetious to someone?

BootyShaker9000: Who are you and what have you done with the short nerd?

BootyShaker9000: Follow up question, will you keep them forever?

QuarkedUp: I hate you

Donnie snorted at your text as it popped up on the screen. He caught May smirking at him through the corner of his eye while he typed a response.

“What, am I not entertaining enough company?” she asked, taking a sip of her cocoa and keeping eye contact with Donnie over the rim of her mug. May had pointedly left the matching set alone for you and Donnie.

Donnie had appreciated that with words he couldn’t begin to form yet.

“I fear there’s no way to answer this without getting on someone’s bad side,” Donnie said.

May snorted, setting her mug down and reaching for the tupperware Donnie had brought over. Mikey had made more lavender sugar cookies that he insisted that Donnie take over to you that night, nevermind the fact that you were coming over later tomorrow.

Donnie might have… left out that detail when Mikey had asked him.

“Ah, well, don’t let me get in between you and your partner,” May teased. She bit into a cookie and hummed appreciatively.

Donnie’s cheeks felt warm as he began typing again. He would never get used to May calling you his partner. Between her and Splinter, Donnie’s mind had been rife with intrusive thoughts about you.

Thoughts about grabbing your hand with his when you placed it on his knee, about sticking his face in his hoodies when you finally returned them.

Thoughts about…

Nope! Lock it down, Donatello.

BootyShaker9000: You do not.

BootyShaker9000: Would you like me to make you something to drink?

QuarkedUp: oh yes pl

BootyShaker9000: Have we reached the point in society where we just aren’t finishing words anymore?

BootyShaker9000: May and I just finished off the last of the hot cocoa, but I can make you a green tea?

Donnie got up from his beanbag and walked over to the little area where the kettle was set up, flicking it on and searching through the little drawers for the tea you liked.

“I’m so glad the two of you use the mugs I bought,” May said as Donnie pulled out the matching pair to his mug. Donnie gave May a soft smile before turning back around to retrieve the honey.

“We use them every time I come over. I think their excessive abuse of caffeine is the last thing keeping your roomie tethered to reality, if I’m being honest,” Donnie said. Not that he, admittedly, was much better. You had forced him to start limiting his Redbull intake to just two cans a day if you couldn’t have your third or fourth cup of coffee.

‘Turnabout’s fair play,’ as you had told him.

‘I’m an engineered weapon of war,’ Donnie said back, ‘I can handle a little caffeine.’

How rude of you to care about his well-being.

May cackled, reaching into the tupperware for another cookie, “That’s what they get for being an engineer. Us art majors just go insane in the poetic way.”

Donnie huffed a laugh through his nose, “How very Plath of you.”

“I think that’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me,” May said. Donnie walked back over to retrieve his mug and took a long sip while he opened up his chat with you.

No new messages.

Weird.

BootyShaker9000: Sweetums?

“Has your roommate texted you in the last five minutes?” Donnie asked, setting his mug back down and tapping at his tech gauntlet to check your location.

“You’re… really overprotective, aren’t you?” May asked, but pulled out her phone all the same. With a few swipes she looked back up at Donnie, “Nothing since this morning.”

“Some might say I’m paranoid within reason,” Donnie said, focusing his full attention to his tech gauntlet. He tapped on your icon showing your location and pulled up your health stats. Heart rate slightly elevated, but nothing else too concerning, “My concern is backed up with years of empirical data and, for lack of better words, gut feeling.”

“I can refer you to some resources on campus for your anxiety, you know,” May said. She looked concerned, but Donnie just waved her off.

“Still not a student, but thank you.”

Donnie’s gauntlet started beeping obnoxiously, startling both of them. Donnie’s heart stopped when he saw the familiar notification on the screen.

“Something happened,” Donnie said, engaging his jetpack and taking off immediately through the open window. He didn’t wait a second to give May any explanation. How could he? How could he waste any second that should be spent making sure that you were okay?

He hovered above your last known location, finding nothing but the faint scent of your body wash and acetone that you had undoubtedly spilled earlier in your lab. Donnie dropped down to the ground and tried to trace where your smell was coming from. His eyes locked on his your hoodie that was folded neatly and placed on the edge of the sidewalk.

Donnie practically fell to his knees as he grabbed it. Your phone fell out of the front pocket as he did so with a note taped to the screen. Donnie’s hands shook as he picked it up off of the ground, thumbing the piece of paper open so he could read the messy scrawl.

Othello Von Ryan,

For old time’s sake, I’ll be frank. We have your partner and you have significant funds. There doesn’t need to be any hassle tonight, just so long as you follow every instruction.

Load $20,000 worth of Bitcoin onto a USB and go to the address sent to your phone. Bring no one. Leave your weapons behind. If you try anything, we will not hesitate to cut our losses and move on.

Consider our graciousness for your years of theft to be a gift for the happy couple.

–Purple Dragons

Donnie felt a eerie calm wash over him. It was like he had retreated into the back of his own skull, only merciless logic and cold fury guiding his next actions.

He pocketed your phone and rose from the ground with the hoodie in hand. He ran his thumb over the soft fabric, his mind completely focused while he pressed call on his phone.

“Leo? I’m going to need you to listen very carefully.”