#but then it didn't. i mean it did but they did other stuff that made it clear they weren't trying 2 spread the message i was

[theyluvkarolina]

𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐁𝐘𝐄, 𝐌𝐘 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐇 𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓

· . ୨୧⭒๋࣭ ⭑ ` ` So, I don't blame you, if you want to bury me in your memory, I'm not the girl I ought to be ` ` ⊹ ‧₊˚

𝐑𝐄𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃?: Yes! (Part of 1K Event!)

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘 ୨୧ Loving Lando is like how the Earth circles the sun. In absolute awe and admiration. But the Earth is slowly destroying itself in the presence of this star. The rays of this sun are burning away at this Earth’s ozone layer, maybe even going as far into this Earth’s core.

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 ୨୧ Lando Norris x Fem!Driver!Reader

𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐌 ୨୧ Amna Al Qubaisi

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 ୨୧ fighting, misogyny (not by the grid or lando), reader is kinda… bitchy?? (based off of high adrenaline, and insecurities that overtake her mind.)

𝐀/𝐍 ୨୧ God. Whenever I hear this song and think about Lando, all i think about is him and Luisiha. :( Again, I made this not in a SMAU format i’m used to. I decided to make the reader replace Daniel for the fic (I STILL LOVE HIM I PROMISE 😭😭)I hope you still like it! Tbh, I feel like I didn't do this request justice. If I have a chance some point in time, I might rewrite it.

𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐏𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 ୨୧ 1.3K words!

1K EVENT MASTERLIST

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f1

♡ liked by mclaren, maxverstappen1, oscarpiastri, and others

f1 Lando wins it in Miami, winning his first race! Congratulations! 👏

tagged ; landonorris

3,219 comments

username1 LANNNDOOOO

username2 lando has finally landed 🥹

username3 HE FINALLY DID IT!!

carlosainz55 congratulations cabrón! Welcome to the winners side 😉

→ landonorris glad to finally be part of the club 👊

maxverstappen1 lando nowins no more 👏

→ landonorris haha funny 😒

georgerussel63 congrats mate!!

username5 has anyone noticed that y/n hasen’t liked or commented? :(

username6 ik!! usually she is always the first or second person to do both whenever he gets podium…

username7 no because did anyone see how y/n was staring at Lando with his trophy??

→ username8 I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE. → username9 she looked at him like he was ripping her heart out 🙁 → username10 I mean, y/n has been in f1 for what, 2 more years than him and still no win. I know it's just eating her up inside. → username11 I hope she gets her win soon and shuts up the misogynists. → username12 it sucks that the team did a absolute shit strategy when the safety car stopped her and made lando gain her stop.. but I’m still happy for him!!

y/n_l/n

♡ liked by visacashapprb, yukitsunoda, sophiafloersch and others

y/n_l/n Miami ? Done ✅

tagged ; visacashapprb

2,350 comments

username13 she didn’t even post her podium photo :(

username14 if i were her i wouldn’t either.

username15 can she idk, be happy for lando?

→ username16 no way you are suggesting this girl be happy after she lost her chance to overtake lando because of the safety car, taking away what may be the second woman to win a f1 race next to Desiré Wilson, after years of misogyny, and men telling her she doesn’t have a place in motorport along with other women. → username17 god how i love you @ username16. SOMONE ACTUALLY USES THEIR BRAIN

visacashapprb wonderful work as per usual!

→ username18 for someone who has been in f1 for 8 years? hell no. → username19 someone is jelly → username20 they aren’t jealous they are just stating a fact 😂 → username21 the fact that they are saying how she should be winning stuff after 8 years? → username22 obviously. since she came she hasn’t won anything → username23 lance stroll, kevin magnussen, and nico hulkenburg are calling buddy and they are saying your misogyny is showing. 💀 → username24 LMAOOAOA YOU GO @ username23

Twitter

In Person

Saying that the end of the race was a disappointment was an understatement. For the past eight years, it only felt like the world was out to get you.

The constant criticism, misogyny, the occasional car failures, Lance Stroll's grotesque driving skills, and now, Lando winning his first Grand Prix but with the cost of you losing your position due to a shitty strategy mistake. It's frustrating, to say the least.

Being in love with Lando has its ups and downs. And as of right now? A hard low. As his partner, you want to kiss him all over his sunkissed face, going over each birthmark with tenderness. Congratulate him. Tell him how proud you are of him for finally achieving what he has been aiming for years. Ruffle those chestnut curls that you love dearly as you both stand on the podium, covered in sticky champagne as the fizzy liquid cascades over you, creating a tingling sensation on your skin you both embrace, the rainbows of confetti dancing in the air to the ground, trophy in his hands.

Yet, as a driver, you despise him. That haunting smile that glances over now and then, that sterling silver trophy dazzling in the light, blinding you as if it were the shining teeth of someone laughingly mocking you. God, how you hated it.

After closing the door to the driver's room, you swiftly remove the carbon fiber helmet, peeling off the balaclava that clings to my face, leaving my hair matted against my skin. With a surge of frustration, you glance angrily at the helmet before flinging the helmet to the ground, the sound reverberating through the room. Your breathing quivers as you gaze at the floor before ultimately slumping against the wall adjacent to the door, back against it. Running a hand through your damp hair, you rub my temple, feeling the weight of the day's events.

How did you get to this point? 

“Where in the world have you been, you muppet? You just up and left after the national anthems.” Lando's voice broke you out of your trance as he stood by the door, remembering you didn't lock the door. "I didn't even get to spray the champagne on you like usual." He adds with a frown.

"Not now, Lando." You stated looking down at your hands as you picked the skin around your nails to cope. His face still held a frown, yet he raised a brow at your tone.

"Not now?" He repeats, almost confused by your comment. "What's wrong? Talk to me."

"I said not now, Lando," You repeat, my voice growing more insistent. "I just need some space right now."

Lando's expression softens as he takes a step closer, concern evident in his eyes. "Hey, come on. You can talk to me. I know today didn't go as planned, but we can work through this together." 

My frustration boils over, and I finally look up to meet his gaze. "You don't get it, do you? This could have been my chance. My chance to finally prove that I belong here. Actually- no, not me, but every woman. That we won't be not some- some girls here for some representation to make F1 seem better but to show that we belong here! That we are as good as men! And that shitty strategy screwed me over, and now it seems like I am a shit driver..." You snap in exasperation.

“I never tried to say that I understand.” Lando glared. His expression hardens, and he takes a step back, hurt evident in his eyes. "You know that's not true. You're an incredibly talented driver, and one bad race doesn't define you."

You scoff, feeling the weight of his words but unable to fully accept them. "Easy for you to say. This ‘one bad race’ has been multiple races. You've had your moment of glory today. You got the lavish celebration you’ve been wanting.“

You scoff, feeling the weight of his words but unable to fully accept them. "Easy for you to say. This ‘one bad race’ has been multiple races. You've had your moment of glory today. You got the lavish celebration you’ve been wanting.“

Lando shakes his head, his frustration creeping into his voice. "This isn't about me. It's about us! I want you to succeed just as much as I want to succeed. We’re a team, even if we are on other racing teams. But pushing me away and shutting me out won't solve anything. What’s with all this?“

“Don’t you get it, Lando?! You’re perfect now! You have fans who love you, you have a secure seat, and you have a win now Lando! All you need is a championship! You don’t have people telling you that you don’t belong here because you have talent. You have people who support you even when your team makes a stupid mistake and they still defend you! The second I do something wrong, even when it's team orders, I'm belittled and told to go back to do my "role" as a housewife! God, I can't even get time to be with my boyfriend or friends before getting screamed at by middle-aged men that I'm a 'grid fucker' and that I had sex to get to where I am!"

Lando’s face falls at your words, a mix of offense and hurt flashing in his eyes. “You think I don’t understand pressure? I get it, alright? I get that it’s different for you, and it’s unfair. But pushing everyone away, pushing me away, isn’t the answer.”

You stand up, your body tense with the weight of your frustration and sadness. “I’m not pushing you away, Lando. I’m trying to cope with the fact that no matter what I do, it’s never enough. And seeing you succeed, seeing everyone praise you, it just… it just makes it harder.”

Lando steps closer, his voice softer now. “I want to help you, but I can’t if you won’t let me in. We’re supposed to be in this together. Isn’t that what we promised each other?”

You look at him, your heart aching at the sight of his earnest expression. “It’s not that simple. I can’t keep pretending that everything’s okay when it’s not. And I can’t stand beside you, smiling, when I feel like I’m drowning.”

He reaches out to touch your arm, but you pull away. “Please, don’t. I need to find my way through this, Lando. And I can’t do that if I’m constantly comparing myself to you.”

Lando’s eyes widen with realization. “You’re breaking up with me.”

A lump forms in your throat, tears welling up. “Don't put it like that..” I start. Lando tries to talk but I beat him to it. "I'm... not necessarily breaking up with you. It's more of a... "Goodbye"."

"That's technically still breaking up with me," Lando mutters, a tiny, barely noticeable smile cracking through onto his lips at the light attempt at a joke to ease the growing tension. I let out a tearful giggle.

Lando’s smile crumples into a frown and he takes a shaky breath. “I love you. I don’t want to lose you.”

“You aren't losing me... I love you too,” you whisper, your voice breaking. “But right now, love isn’t enough. I need to stand on my own two feet, without always feeling like I’m in your shadow.”

He looks away, blinking rapidly, trying to hide the growing tears in his greenish-blue eyes. “This isn’t how I wanted today to end. I wanted today to be happy. For us both.”

“Neither did I,” you say softly, placing a hand on his cheek, moving his head to look at you while you skim your fingers over his birthmarks. “But sometimes, things don’t go as planned.”

There’s a long, painful silence between you, filled with all the things left unsaid. Finally, Lando nods, his eyes shining with unshed tears, leaning over to press a tender kiss onto your forehead. 

“Goodbye, then,” Lando whispers. 

In response, you bend forward, placing your lips against his own, kissing him softly, both our lips brushing lightly as if savoring the moment for what may be the last time experiencing such a feeling.

“Goodbye, my British sweetheart.” You replied, voice narrowly above a whisper.

𝐀/𝐍 2 : Ending tbh is kinda cringey but oh well it felt right in the moment 😫

[petew21-blog]

Swapcation: After the escape Part 2

You would think that this is Matthew's body and that I stayed in him till the end of my days. Unfortunately no. Althought his body was amazing and it was also my first body I really soon (like few minutes after I shot loads of cum on the grass) found out that my family was tracking me.

"I could already hear the helicopters searching the forest. The tracker must be off and showing the a larger circle. I still don't know where it could be. Is it under his skin? I didn't find anything in his clothes. And all I have is my personal stuff... I'm such an idiot. It's my phone. Why the hell did I bring my phone?"

I threw it in the opposite direction that I was gonna run. And then I ran. But I was really exhausted after the night run from the car accident. And my head kinda hurt. Matthew must have hurt himself too. So I slowed down. I didn't hear the helicopter anymore. But there I can't stay in this forest forever and certainly not in this body.

I made a decision. The first person I meet I swap with. They'll get a beautiful manly and young body.

And I was pretty luck. I met a hiker who was on his journey for a few days.

"Heyyyy man, you're also on PCT?"

What the hell is PCT. Shit I heard that before. Oh, it's Pacific Crest Trail. Perfect. If he won't notice me switching with him, he could continue with this body all the way to Canada. Who knows when he would find out, but that wouldn't be my problem anymore. Matthew's and his body were almost the same size. I mean... he was just as hot as Matthew

"Heyyy, no. I'm actually from around. Just went to the forest."

We chatted some more and I could see him getting closer. He was definitely straight, but I could get him when we were saying goodbye. Maybe by offering him my hand. I didn't have a chance to test that yet, but my family said, that the victims of body swap always end up in a short state of confusion that gives you time to leave. Like an evolutionary advantage for a predator. Or maybe a parasite?

I wished him good luck and offered him my hand, but he refused.

"Nah man, I'm a hugger. Bring it in"

Shit shit. We went for it, my naked torso and his in just a white top touching. I then activated my power. I opened my eyes and was standing on the other side. Matthew's body looked confused, but he took his bag. And started leaving.

"Wait man, you got my bag by accident. Here" I gave him his bag. I need my stuff and he needs his to survive the PCT. He wouldn't have made it if he found out what kind of useless shit I'm bringing with me.

I walked for over a mile away from the forest path. I was now somebody new. Somebody my family didn't know. I could now leave into the city and live my life forever. For the second time I felt calm. I was before when I was full of adrenalin in Matthew's body and then got to explore his body for a bit. But back then, I didn't even had the chance to look at everything I needed.

I first inspected my new abs. "Matthew had a set just like this, but it hits different in this body. This body has amazing veins going down to my crotch." The hair trail everywhere from neck all the way down there. My skin shriveled as I went over the small hills of muscle hidden beneath my skin. "My belly button, so sexy. Maybe I should swap with some horny gay who would want my body and inspect it myself."

Then I inspected my new hairy and veiny arms. Looking at each finger one by one, touching the hair, licking it. Every finger tracing each vein down to my armpit.

The sexy hairy armpit that was protected by a gigantic biceps. A biceps that could squish heads. A biceps that I got to lick all over. Smell the armpit with the beautiful smell of a man's sweat. The pheromones were hitting me hard. Hard enough that it caused my new dick to get hard as well.

"Now or never"

I swear that I thought Matthew's dick was one of the most beautiful cocks I have seen so far, but let me tell you, that this freaky hairy monster, veins look like popping out, the beautiful purple head of my cock releasing precum, balls the size of plums. How amazing is this.

I spit in my hand and started jerking off. Fuck, I couldn't even start slowly, I had to jerk off so fast. The rush was fantastic.

I sat next to a tree. Still jerking of and with my other hand licking my finger, pushing it in my mouth. How amazing it's gonna be to blow someone with the bearded mouth.

My pecs bouncing in the rythm of the masturbation. Up and down. Sweat glisthening on the, running down the middle over my abs all the way through to my massive cock. My massive cock that my massive hand jerked furiously.

I shot my cum, but shot some of it into my hand. The rest must have flown several feet away from me.

The white cum sticking my fingers was tempting me. I put it in my mouth and licked my fingers clean. As I sat there, breathing out. I laughed, but my relaxing moment was interrupted by some hikers coming my way. I put on the clothes rapidly and headed out west.

I headed to the nearest town and downloaded Grindr. "Time to find some new boy toy to fuck." I said aloud. Yeah, if I said that now in my body no one would ever believe me. I was, and I guess I still am, a virgin. So, I think it's the great time and great body to change that.

I checked out some profiles and found one near me. We met at the park. My torso still bare from the forest adventure. It was a guy in his early 20s. Slightly twinkish, but cute.

"Girrrrlll, I thought you were catfishing me. This is amazing. How did you get this big?" he almost screamed as he went to pinch my left tit.

"Eh, you know. Healthy lifestyle and lot of gym"

"And a lot of cardio, I presume?"

"How about we find out if I had enough cardio today?"

We got in his shower. Both our dicks horny from the view. We kiss passionately. His hands were still over me and over my pecs. Touching my hairy legs and arms. "Let's dry ourselves and go to bed. I need you body so much!"

He got out from the shower and looked back at me.

"I wish I had a body like that. I would enjoy it so fucking much to be this big"

Idea popped in my head. Maybe he would be quiet about it. I could use a friend now that would help me stay in secrecy to avoid my family. Yeah, I wanted to explore my new body from some else before.

I dried myself and followed him to the bedroom. He was ready on the bed. I didn't give him much time to think about it.

He was confused at first still looking at me to find out what was happening.

This was my view. "Fucking hell, I look amazing. Look at all those hair. And those pecs are almost bigger than your head." I said as he still looked at me confused.

I got behind him. "I wanted to do this since I got in that body. So hot. And daaamn. Look at that hairy ass. That's all mine?"

"Man, you and me. We're gonna have SO much fun in the following days."

It seemed like he started to comprehend what was happening. He looked at himseld and then immediately went for a kiss. During the sex, we kept swapping there and back. The confusion on his side waas gone so we didn't have to stop to let him rest and find out what's happening again.

I woke up with the view I was familiar with. Happy to be big again. The twink lying next to me and sleeping peacfully.

"I don't think I'll be leaving any time soon." caressing my sweet pecs while saying that

Part 1:

[howmanyholesinswisscheese]

Sherlock & Co Headcanons

This list got SO LONG, SO QUICKLY, but here y'all are. Nobody asked, but I sure as hell will deliver.

Sherlock comes into John's room at night sometimes when he can't sleep. John lets him snuggle up in bed and wraps his arms around him like a koala, and - as long as John's breathing is acceptable - Sherlock falls swiftly asleep to the rise and fall of his chest. After a few times, Sherlock observes a notable decrease in John's nightmares and starts joining him in bed more often, even when he's not tired.

Mariana is one of those rare people who Microsoft Excel gets along with. She has magic powers for sure.

YOU GET A QPR, YOU GET A QPR, EVERYBODY GETS A QPR

On the topic of google docs in the latest episode, Sherlock's gmail is a random string of numbers like a default wifi password because "sholmes@gmail.com" was taken and that was obviously the next possible option. Mariana's job is infinitely harder because of this.

They have movie nights.

John tried once to get the others into football. Neither of them saw the appeal of it but they watched a game with him anyway out of some strange obligation and a hefty amount of coercion. Also there was popcorn. The joy John radiated when Swindon Town scored a goal was absolutely worth it all.

Carol Watson ships it.

CANE USER JOHN CANE USER JOHN CANE USER JOHN

John hates using his cane, like genuinely loathes it. He's convinced he'll get looks for it or seem like he's faking. And what would Mariana and Sherlock think about him as a colleague?? One morning, though, after a particularly physically taxing case, he woke to an awful flare up. When he reluctantly swiped the cane from the corner where it had been gathering dust so far and made his way into the kitchen for breakfast, Mariana and Sherlock didn't even bat an eye - Mariana did ask if he'd like to sit down while she made him toast, which he gratefully accepted. Archie did try to gnaw on it, though. He uses the cane a bit more often, now.

John and Mariana learned BSL for Sherlock's bad days. They have intricate and heated discussions from across the room entirely in sign language when others are around and nobody can understand them. It's hilarious to watch - well, hilarious from their perspective, at least.

They fall asleep on the couch an inordinate number of times.

One time, Sherlock made John and Mariana breakfast. The two of them spent a very long time trying to figure out whether he was high, delusional, or both.

Clients are generally confused by the whole trio's relationship dynamic. Slay. That's exactly what they're going for.

Honestly I'm 100% vibing with the poly hcs going around. Consider: poly qpr???

Short king John. You agree. Reblog.

Mariana consistently steps out of the flat looking drop down gorgeous because she's awesome like that, whereas Sherlock looks like he's just been dragged out of bed (he probably has been) and John exclaims in pleasant amusement whenever he finds bits of his breakfast in his stubble. They make the perfect trio.

Sherlock is tall enough to rest his chin on top of John's head. He does it like some sort of clingy cat whenever he's tired and John's back is turned. It's adorable. He's recently been experimenting with slinking his arms around John's waist as he does so, yielding gentle chuckles that he feels rather than hears. The results have been a smashing success.

Mariana was school captain.

John drinks juice straight from the carton like a heathen (which is fine because Sherlock hates the stuff - the pulp gets stuck in his teeth - and Mariana has her own food downstairs).

Sherlock really does play the violin at horrific hours. The neighbors hate him, but it actually puts John to sleep when he's not playing the violent, jerky melodies of a tricky case.

Sherlock and Victor Trevor. I'm surprised this isn't already canon. They happened. Whatever "happened" means is irrelevant - they happened.

Sherlock really likes rainbow sour straps.

MORE TO COME PROBABLY

[auternadelaide]

ramblings of a batshit fangirl after reading chapter 1115 of One Piece below

one of my favorite parts of this Vegapunk announcement is the constant glances around the world. i'm loving getting to see Nami, Zoro and Chopper's hometowns. Wano, Zou and Water 7. the random ass characters with Demaro Black and his band cosplaying as the Kidd pirates, Foxy and Marianne(Miss Goldenweek- partner to Mister 3 from waaaaaay back in Little Garden arc)

feel there's gonna be some weird Stussy/Kaku deal soon for sure.

Frank saving Bonney. god i love this man. i'm glad he's getting to do a lot of stuff this arc since he didn't get to just be a fucking science nerd with Vegapunk. Franky is definitely MVP for Egghead for sure

the reveal of the ancient world being swallowed by the sea is just confirmation to what was already suspected but the amount the sea level rose by is wild. 200m. with Lulusia Kingdom being obliterated, the sea level rose by 1m. so either the weapon that was used has lost power and no longer sinks the world as far as it once did OR thats 200 uses of that weapon over about a century

lots of stuff this chapter for sure but the one thing that's got its hook in me..

ONE OF THE GOROSEI IS MIA

WHERE IS HE

WHAT IS HE DOING

HE BETTER NOT HURT MY FAMILY

we're missing St. Shepherd Ju Peter. The Sand Wyrm.

the youngest looking of the Gorosei

now usually i wouldn't think anything of this but it feels like Oda has made a point to include his wyrmy face in every chapter until this one

quick timeline of wyrm events

chapter 1110 he gets the big chop

chapter 1111 we see his body after the chopperino multiple times and then finally see his silhouette where he has apparently regenerated

chapter 1112 he consumes a building

chapter 1113 just a single panel of his face

chapter 1114 another single panel of his wyrm face

and that brings us to chapter 1115. NOTHING

WHERE THE FUCK IS HE

we see all of the other gorosei and at the end of the chapter we get one of those flash between some gorosei we've already seen this chapter

you would figure he might get a single panel here but NOPE. Oda's planning something with this mother fucker

now the big reason i'm worried about this particular Gorosei is because he's Number 1. if you haven't seen the numbering of the Gorosei, lemme just show you

when Saturn appeared with his summoning circle, he had 5s all around it

when the rest of the Gorosei were summoned, you can see 4s, 3s and a 2. then it goes to the wider shot and we see another 4

each of these being St. Marcus Mars(The Itsumade- 4), St. Topman Mercury(The Hōki- 3) and St. Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro(The Bakotsu- 2)

which leaves only the wyrm as Number 1. now this could mean he's the strongest, the first Gorosei or the first to receive whatever power allows them to be summoned like that.

OR it's all a fucking red herring and he's actually number 6 and Imu is number 1.

im going batshit over here

[wheels-of-despair]

Munson v. O'Donnell Pairing: Eddie Munson x You Summary: It's 1986, and Eddie Munson's long high school career has come down to O'Donnell's final… and Evil Woman believing in him. Contains: Tears, comfort, lunch, confrontation, and a happy ending. Words: 2k A sort-of companion fic to Case of the Missing Eddie, but it's not required reading.

Eddie's not at the Hellfire table at lunch.

Or in his van.

This could only mean one thing: He's in the woods, because his final exam in O'Donnell's class did not go well.

With a quick look around to make sure you aren't being watched, you duck into the woods by way of the parking lot. You'll take the long way around to go undetected by any staff trying to catch students skipping the last few days of school.

Not that it matters, anyway. Everybody's just fucking around and killing time now that exams are over.

You traipse along the trail toward the picnic table where Eddie conducts business. And sometimes hides out at when things aren't going great. When you enter the clearing, you see him hunched over the table, his head resting on crossed arms and his face hidden by a mop of unruly hair.

"Hey," you announce your presence quietly before straddling the bench beside him. "You okay?"

He heaves a sigh so deep, it feels like he's expelled all the air from your lungs as well as his own.

You place a comforting hand on his back and lean your other elbow on the table.

"What happened?" you whisper.

"Take a wild guess," he grumbles, turning his head away from you.

He got his exam results, alright. You start rubbing slow circles on his back.

"How bad?"

"Fourteen."

"What?"

"Fourteen," he repeats.

"You got fourteen wrong?"

"Percent."

"Hm?"

"I got 14%."

"How the fuck did you get 14%?!" You regret your tone instantly.

"I don't fucking know!" His voice cracks, and so does your heart.

"Baby, we studied for that so hard, there's no way--"

"It doesn't fucking matter," he snaps, still facing away from you. "She humiliated me. 'Mr. Munson, congratulations on the lowest score I've ever had the displeasure to grade. It's a pity the girl who's been doing your homework couldn't take your exam for you, too.' Made everyone's day. Cemented my place as the dumbest fucking student to ever step foot in this shithole."

You shake with rage, clenching your fists in an effort to keep your hands still. You're going to kill them all.

"It doesn't fucking matter," he repeats, lifting his head for a moment. "I'm not going back. Fuck it. I quit." He crosses his arms and rests his head on them again, letting out a long sigh.

You watch him deflate and put a pin in your rage. He doesn't need you to go on a rampage right now. He needs you to be rational, and to fix this. Your killing spree can wait.

"Okay," you whisper, returning your hand to his back and leaning over to place a kiss on his shoulder. You wait a beat. "Do you still have the test?"

"Scantron."

"Do you have it?"

He reaches into his pocket, pulls out a green and white ball, and drops the crumpled paper on the table without looking at you.

You straighten it out and look it over. Maybe he missed a question early on and was off by one line on the rest? No, there are exactly 50 things filled in. And they're filled in nice and dark, with the shiny new #2 pencil you'd given him that morning for luck. You studied this material with him for weeks. He knows this stuff. You'll have to take it to O'Donnell and investigate.

"You eat lunch?"

"Not hungry," he grumbles.

"You will be next period."

"What's the fucking point?" he spits.

"I'm going to see O'Donnell after school, we're gonna figure this out," you say calmly. His lunchbox is nowhere in sight, so you pull out your own and start arranging items on the table.

"Don't fucking bother."

"Shut up and eat your fucking lunch," you order.

He finally lifts his head and looks at you. His eyes are bloodshot. The tip of his nose is red. Eddie Munson tried so hard to to convince people he didn't care, but it was all bullshit. He was trying this year. He was really trying. You know, because you helped him study before every test. Even in the few classes you didn't share. He knew the material. And you weren't leaving school grounds until you cleared up this 14% bullshit.

"Look," you begin gently, closing your hand over his on the table. "I don't know what happened on exam day, but I know you did not get a fourteen. You worked so hard. I know you know this stuff. So we're gonna go see that old hag, and we're gonna figure this out." His eyes begin to water again. Your voice turns serious. "Or I'm gonna burn Hawkins High to the fucking ground, with all our records inside. Then we all get to start over."

The corner of his mouth twitches. There he is.

"C'mon, eat up. We need fuel if we're gonna go slay the O'Donnell Dragon."

He hesitates, so you lift a cookie to his mouth. Chocolate chip, baked by your mom; his favorite. He looks at it, then at you, and pouts.

"Eat it or wear it, Munson." You try to sound threatening, but your smile betrays you.

He leans forward and takes it with his teeth, eyes twinkling with mischief instead of tears now. It's a good start.

~ Three Hours Later ~

"You wanna wait outside?"

Eddie shakes his head. He's met you outside of Mrs. O'Donnell's classroom after the final bell, as instructed, and he's looking more nervous than he did the morning before taking the exam.

"Alright. C'mon."

You feel him trail behind you as you enter Mrs. O'Donnell's classroom. She's sitting at her desk with an open gradebook and a calculator. She's not even your teacher, why are you so nervous? Is this what Eddie had to deal with every day for... how many years?

"Mrs. O'Donnell?" you ask, summoning all your courage for Eddie.

"Yes?"

"We're here to discuss 14%."

"I don't think there's anything to discuss," she sniffs, pursing her lips and pushing her glasses further up her nose. She's waiting for you to state your case.

"He knows this. We made flash cards, I quizzed him every night. There's no way he scored that low."

She leans back in her chair and crosses her arms. Like you'd lie about fucking flash cards.

"Can I see the test, at least, so I can find out what he's having trouble with?"

Mrs. O'Donnell sighs and sifts through a pile of papers on her desk. "A or B?"

You look at Eddie's scantron sheet to find his version of the test, neatly printed right below his name. "A."

She hands you a copy of the A test.

You take the paper to a desk near the front of the room and lay the scantron sheet next to the test. Your eyes dart from each question to Eddie's filled-in scantron sheet… and become more puzzled with each correct answer.

You look at Eddie, who's leaning against the wall and staring at his shoes. Mrs. O'Donnell's attention has returned to her gradebook.

"Uh…" you chuckle awkwardly, bringing both the scantron and the test to her desk. "Could you take another look at this, please?"

She sighs and reaches for the papers, holding them on top of her gradebook. Her eyes begin to dart back and forth just like yours had. And then her brow furrows. She reaches for the scantron answer keys and compares them to Eddie's crumpled sheet. Her eyes bulge.

She looks up at Eddie, then back at the papers on her desk. She reaches for a red pen, hunches over, and marks furiously as she grades his test manually. Eddie takes a cautious step closer and holds his breath. This is it. His entire high school career has come down to this one exam.

A moment later, she punches a few numbers into her calculator, scribbles out the 14% on the crumpled sheet, and writes a new number. She circles it twice.

"Mr. Munson?" He tenses at the formality, looking like a deer in headlights a few steps behind you. She beckons him forward with a crook of her finger, and he creeps toward the desk and stands next to you.

She hands him his corrected scantron sheet, and he holds it so you can both see the number circled in red.

92%.

Both of your jaws drop. You look at the grade, and each other, and the grade again, and then finally, Mrs. O'Donnell.

"You had an A test that got mixed in with the B's somehow. I hate that we have to do different tests, but we've got so many sneaky little cheaters in here, administration requires at least two variations for exams. I don't know why my classroom aide didn't catch it, Tina is usually so attentive to detail."

Would that be Tina Thomas, the heir apparent to Chrissy Cunningham's reign as the Queen of Hawkins High? It would be awfully hard for poor Tina to lead the cheer team with broken legs.

"Does this mean I passed the class?" Eddie asks, interrupting O'Donnell's rambling and your violent thoughts.

"One second," she says, flipping to the page of her gradebook where Eddie's fate lies. You reach for his hand, and hold each other in white-knuckle grips while you watch Mrs. O'Donnell work. She uses a bottle of correction fluid to erase the 14%, blows it dry, and replaces it with 92%. Then she punches in a few numbers on her comically large calculator and writes new figures in her gradebook that you can't quite make out. You and Eddie cling to each other and wait on bated breath until she removes her glasses, places them on her desk, and looks up with a crooked smile.

"Congratulations, Mr. Munson, you've finally passed my class."

The whoop that follows can probably be heard in all of Roane County.

After a million thank-you's to both you and Mrs. O'Donnell, who was much nicer to him than usual - although you notice that she never actually apologized for embarrassing him - you finally get Eddie out of her classroom. You walk to the van with his arm around your shoulders, and yours wrapped around his middle.

"I'm gonna graduate. I'm really gonna fucking graduate." He's been grinning so hard for so long, his face probably hurts. "FINALLY!" he yells to the handful of students still lingering in the mostly-empty parking lot, who barely react. They're used to paying him no mind. "Oh man, Wayne's not gonna believe this."

"Think he's up yet?" you ask, looking up at your beaming partner with pride while he fishes his keys out of his pocket.

Eddie glances at his watch and frowns. "Nah, not for another hour, probably. I don't wanna wake him."

"Well, Mr. Munson," you grin, shifting so you're standing in front of him with your hands on his shoulders. "I happen to know an excellent way to kill an hour."

"Oh yeah?" he smirks, stepping closer, backing you up against the side of his van.

"Mhm," you hum, trailing your hands down his chest and stopping at his belt. You find your way beneath the hem of his shirt and trace the skin just above his jeans with your fingertips. "It's not every day a 14% gets turned into a 92%, even for a skilled Dungeon Master such as yourself." He shivers. "Seems like something that should be… celebrated."

He starts nodding, and doesn't stop until he opens the rear door. He uses both of his hands to grab your ass and push you inside when you purposely take too long getting in. You're on your back and laughing when he slams the door and pounces.

Eddie Munson was a very happy soon-to-be-graduate when he dropped you off at home half an hour later.

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

tiny prompt for you: Ed and Stede have a “pamper yourself” kind of spa day

"You know," Ed said, pushing his sunglasses down his nose so he could actually look at Stede (the plastic sunglasses from Claire's were cute, but not great for actually seeing out of), "this is fun. This is really fun."

He'd thought Stede might be falling asleep at the other end of the bathtub, but at that he wrinkled his nose, reaching up to slowly remove the cucumber slices from his eyes. "This is fun," he agreed. "I think I heard a but coming on, though."

They'd just properly moved in together, and it had been a long fucking week. Ed had been living out of a drawer at Stede's place for a while, and when their leases were both up, they'd decided to go in together on a bigger apartment, one with room for an at-home painting studio for Ed and a big kitchen for Stede.

It had been a long week, full of moving boxes and painting and assembling new furniture, but now it was the weekend, and Ed woke up with a sore knee and Stede had a sore back, so they just...hadn't done any of that stuff today. A spa day, Stede suggested, and they quickly discovered they'd neither of them ever really had something like that before.

It had been pretty amazing, honestly. They'd gotten dressed in fun, comfy clothes, Stede choosing to just wear his favorite golden robe and Ed deciding to try out a soft, fun rainbow pastel skirt he'd been a bit too nervous to take outside the house yet. They'd made DIY face scrubs, did each other's hair up with fun hair clips, painted each other's nails, and now they were finally getting to chill in the bathtub they'd picked specifically because it was big enough for the both of them.

"It's a very silly but," Ed hedged, scooping up a handful of bubbles from their bath and arranging them carefully along Stede's chin.

"I love all your buts," Stede said, far too earnestly for a guy with a bubble beard. "Well - maybe one butt more than others -"

"I knew it," Ed pretended to groan, tossing his head back in faux dispair. "I knew you were just in this relationship for my ass."

"I mean, your ass is great," Stede laughed, "but right now I'm waiting to hear about that but."

"Alright, alright." Ed pulled his knees up, rubbing his pruned thumbs over the soap-slippery skin, looking down at the iridescent water. "This is really fun. But. It kinda feels like...I dunno, that I'm not supposed to get this. Y'know what I mean?"

"Mm, yeah," Stede hummed thoughtfully. "Like...like someone's gonna come in here and start yelling at us."

"Yeah," Ed mumbled, resting his chin on his knees. "That's it, that's the feeling exactly."

"Well." Stede got himself a handful of bubbles, and he put his right on the tip of Ed's nose. "That's not gonna happen. Because - because fuck anyone who says we don't deserve this."

It still sounded like Stede was trying to convince himself, too.

"Yeah," Ed whispered, and then - "fuck you, dad!"

"Whoo!" Stede cheered, accidentally flinging bubbles when he tossed a hand in the air. "Fuck your dad, and my dad - fuck you, Nigel!"

"Yeah, fuck 'im!" Ed whooped. "Fuck you, Hornigold! We're taking a bubble bath and there's not a damn thing you can do about it!"

"We're not getting out of this tub until we please," Stede announced. "Just try and make us! We're relaxing!"

"We're unwinding!"

Stede rested his hand on the rim of the tub, smiling when Ed reached out to lace their fingers together. "And no one can tell us we don't get to do things like this. Ever again."

Still hard to believe that, maybe. But even once they got out of their bath, they'd trade shoulder massages, and feed each other pieces of cake, and Ed would pout until Stede carried him to bed. And, as it turned out, Stede was quite right - no one would ever get to tell them they didn't deserve soft, sweet days like this, ever again.

[educatedsimps]

Can I pls request a boyfriend hc for Mattsun? 🥺🤲 one where it’s longterm like, highschool to waaaay into adulthood type of longterm.

≪ back to fics masterlist

mastukawa issei x f!reader

a/n: when i tell you i squealed reading this request ✋😭 THANK YOU FOR REQUESTING ANON! AND YES BAE I’M WRITING THIS just a word of warning tho, i’ve never written for mattsun before so i had to do a little research, hope i didn’t mess up his character 🤧 anyway i hope u like this! and thanku for reading :)

cw: i may or may not have gotten carried away, f!reader, timeskip spoilers, established rls, tooth-rotting fluff

how you got together:

probably met him in your first year of high school, and got together after becoming really close friends

you made friends with hanamaki first because you were classmates, then one day he invited you to study together with his friends and that's when he introduced you to mattsun

you realised you shared a lot of classes with mattsun and you just clicked once you started talking

of course, you got acquainted with oikawa and iwaizumi as well

you had a group chat with makki and mattsun, and the latter often texted you after school and after practice

you had similar interests and music tastes and stuff (and of course enjoyed teasing oikawa together)

you and mattsun also started studying together (probably tutored each other in some subjects too)

the both of you started catching feelings as you grew closer and by the time you were halfway through your second year, the two of you had FATTEST crushes on each other bUT NEITHER OF YOU DID ANYTHING ABOUT IT AHJKDHSK i swear it pissed your friends off so much

anyway, makki and oikawa made a bet with mattsun in year 2, in which mattsun would have to confess to you if they didn't make it to nationals that year

iwaizumi told them to cut it out (they didn't listen)

oikawa knew mattsun wouldn't want to jeopardise his friendship with you by confessing, so he used that as an incentive for mattsun to train more LOL oikawa's actually evil

but they lost to shiratorizawa anyway so mattsun had to confess to you

he went to your class during lunch the very next day with a small bouquet of flowers and a note

he wanted to just leave it on your table and leave before anyone saw him, but you just HAD to walk in right at that moment

"what's that?" "...it's for makki" "then why is it on my table, issei?" "...because makki likes to sit at your table" "but makki's not even in this class"

anyway he ended up with the girl of his dreams that day and now he's secretly glad seijoh lost that game lol

you graduated together after dating for 1.5 years, and took a really beautiful grad photo together (he had the absolute biggest smile on his face, even makki had never seen him smile that wide before)

there was one photo with his friends in the background cheering as he bashfully gave you a kiss on your cheek (YOU GUYS ARE SO CUTE MY HEART IS ABOUT TO EXPLODE)

you also had a ton of photos photobombed by oikawa and makki in the background - and a few more taken when iwaizumi was dragging them out of the frame by their ears

dates with him:

he brought you out to dinner for your first date

he listened to oikawa's advice to take you to dinner because "girl's like the classics" and since oikawa was the only one in the team who had had a girlfriend before, mattsun decided that maybe he had a point

iwaizumi reminded him that oikawa got dumped his girlfriend but anyway-

it was a decent, slightly fancy restaurant in the city area and yes, he insisted on paying (he's been spoiling you from the very start)

he also got all dressed up for it - and i mean, suit, pants, flowers and everything

he was blushing the whole time

after that, you guys started going on different types of dates, depending on whether you're more of an extrovert or an introvert

dates include going on picnics, going to the arcade, movies, night markets and festivals, aquarium, museum, etc.

def a ton of home dates too - ordering food and doing skincare together or just cuddling

as broke highschool kids, you probably went to less expensive places, except for the occasional event, eg. after major exams, on you birthdays, your anniversary, after winning a game, etc.

lots of cheap after-school lunch dates though

milestones together:

you were each other's firsts, so you both lowkey didn't know what you were doing but you learned together

probably had your first major argument/conflict/disagreement after about half a year of dating? but you learned to resolve it in a healthy way pretty quickly

if you're not a confrontational person, then mattsun was probably the one who initiated the conversation after the argument

he probably cycled to your house in the evening just to apologise to you and talked things out

he can be a little blunt sometimes so resolving conflicts with him are usually very direct

after that, you slowly learned from each other's habits and signs and rarely get into heated arguments anymore because you know how to resolve conflicts peacefully through ✨communication✨

it was a pretty important milestone when you first met each other's families/parents, which was about a few months after dating

your parents knew you guys were friends first but had never met him until you started dating

he's a pretty nonchalant guy but meeting your parents for the first time was probably one of the most nerve-wracking moments in his life (i think it's a universal experience)

they love him tho

if you have any really young siblings or cousins, they'd probably use him as a free climbing activity

he has an older sister and a younger brother and they absolutely ADORE you

like from the moment issei introduced you to them, they were like "ISSEI WE WANT THIS ONE"

moving in together during or after college

you guys were one of the cutest campus couples like your relationship was the PEAK of all college relationships

like EVERYBODY wanted a relationship like yours and mattsun's

the little things:

he looks like his love language is gift-giving, followed by quality time but that's just my opinion

so you can expect lots of little gifts from him

he also always initiates a lot of dates because he wants to spend time with you

walks you home every chance he gets

ALSO FLOWERS

in high school he'd pick flowers from the school garden and give them to you, he'd either visit your classroom during break or give it to you when he sees you in the hallway or even between classes

probably pissed off the school gardener once for picking too many flowers but they became good friends and now mattsun always gets fresh flowers for you

idk why but this man gives "he'd get you flowers every time he passes by a flower shop bc 'why not'" vibes

mattsun would 100% match outfits with you on a date "just for the aesthetic"

mattsun in a black turtle neck, jacket, a thin silver chain, more flowers, and a fancy restaurant for a date

he'd probably make a spotify playlist for you, either of songs that remind him of you or of songs that are special to both of you

he would carry your bag for you when you go out, even if you insist that it's not heavy, doesn't matter how feminine it is, he'd gladly carry it on one side while holding your hand on the other side

you send tiktoks to each other every day (and by that i mean A LOT of tiktoks) and he watches every single one that you send him and he always replies to them. either with an emoji or a short reply, he just wants you to know he enjoys your tiktoks

will send you every "send this to the prettiest girl you know" tiktok he comes across (which is also very often)

takes candid photos of you when you're not paying attention, probably has one as his lockscreen too

post-timeskip hcs:

you're close to the seijoh 4 and hang out with them almost every time they meet up

and since you're mattsun's +1 who's been around them since high school, you're invested in the other guys' love lives too

sometimes you and mattsun try to set them up with people for your own entertainment to help them out a lil

you and mattsun are like a package deal, if you're invited to something, he's coming with and vice versa

you and mattsun would probably ditch an event together once you're tired or sick of it

you probably saved all the dried petals from all the flowers he's given to you over the years and got your wedding guests to throw them as you walked down the aisle together (you saw someone do this on tiktok and when you told him after the ceremony he actually cried)

if you guys own a car, you would probably take turns driving the car every day and drop off / pick up the other from work

if you don't then you'd meet at a bus or train station nearby and head home together every day

the two of you would 100% take naps on the bus or train together with earphones in

since he works in a funeral home, i feel like he'd have tons of flowers at his workplace, so sometimes he'll take a few home for you

either that or he knows the best flower shops in town and he'll often pick up a bouquet on the way home

also tells you stories from his work

a/n: ok i'm out of brain juice for this one but i hope you liked it! i hope i didn't write him too ooc too 😭

© educatedsimps 2024. do not repost, copy, translate or plagiarize any work from this blog on tumblr or any other platforms. if you do, the simps will hunt you down. likes and reblogs are appreciated!

[tenebraevesper]

Sonadow Moments in Sonic Cyber Revolution (The Team Dark Arc)

[...]

''Take that!'' Sonic went for a kick, with Shadow blocking his attack with his arm.

Smirking, he grabbed Sonic's leg and swung him around before throwing him away, only for Sonic to do a backflip and safely land on his feet, his gloves scraping the ground as he braced himself. Shadow rushed towards him, but he was ready, using what appeared to be a breakdancing move to kick Shadow off his feet, then quickly pinned him down by his arms to make sure he wasn't getting up. Both hedgehogs were breathing heavily, still feeling the adrenaline surging from their fight, but also knowing that the fatigue would be kicking in soon. Sonic smirked as he looked down at Shadow, gazing into his red eyes.

''Looks like I win this time,'' he said smugly, with Shadow furrowing a brow as he stared back, clearly not pleased by his loss. Sonic chuckled lightly, getting up and extending his hand to Shadow. The dark hedgehog accepted it, getting up. ''You know, I think I'm getting much better at this 'being cornered in an area where I cannot use my speed' type of combat. Don't you think the same, Shads?''

Shadow, knowing very well that Sonic was just fishing from a compliment, folded his arms across his chest. ''The student is only as good as their teacher.''

Sonic's happy gaze turned into a half-lidded stare with a sweatdrop forming. ''Eh, is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?''

''Interpret it however you want,'' Shadow replied, walking up to the tree below which they had placed their bento boxes. Sonic just stared at him, before grinning.

''It's a compliment then!'' he said proudly. Both sat down under the tree, opening the bento boxes, with Sonic staring hungrily at his. He had to admit that hard training made him really hungry, even though he was a bit disappointed it wasn't his favorite food. Although, he had heard enough of Lucas nagging him to eat other stuff rather than just chili dogs, and he figured that a cheap bento box would be enough. He glanced at Shadow, who already opened his and was eating it in silence. ''Hope you like the lunch!''

''It is fine,'' Shadow replied without a beat, placing another batch of rice in his mouth. Sonic didn't appear to be too bothered by that response and just decided to dig in. Things were pretty silent for most of the time, with Shadow reaching out for the red and black bottle next to him. He was about to drink it when he felt weight on his shoulder, his eyes darting o the side as a frown formed on his expression.

Sonic smushed his face against Shadow's shoulder, looking at the bottle curiously. ''What are you drinking?''

Shadow, a bit irked by the sudden invasion of his private space, replied, ''It's just normal water.''

''Oh, I see.'' Sonic suddenly backed away, realizing that he got a bit too close, but didn't completely back away. ''I thought you would be drinking coffee.''

Shadow's expression remained unchanging, even though he had to admit that he was a bit amused by Sonic's assumption, ''I mainly drink coffee in the morning, and it would be a bad idea to drink it after a training session. Not to mention, I don't trust you to take it, even if accidentally, because the last thing you need is caffeine.''

Sonic paused, then chuckled. ''Yeah, you're right. I'm already full of energy, so I don't need that.''

Shadow just sighed in response, noting that, while Sonic is more than capable with keeping up with him, be it in combat or speed, he had to wonder whether he could match Sonic's infinite energy. Unlike Sonic, who was a social butterfly, ready to strike up a conversations with strangers and turn them into his friends, while Shadow grew tired and weary of just standing in a crowd, not wanting to talk more than necessary, even if it were his own teammates. He did come to acknowledge them as his friends, but that didn't mean that he was going to spend time with them in a way not related to whatever task he was asked to perform.

So, how did he end up spending so much time with Sonic, even engaging in small talk?

Shadow closed his eyes, folding his arms across his chest as he remembered how all of this had started. Sonic came several days ago to the Kageura residence, reminding Shadow of how he wanted to learn how to fight in a situation where he couldn't use his superspeed, and Shadow agreed easily. After all, it was just training to improve Sonic's combat skills, who was a quick learner and developed his own way of fighting. Once the training was done, Shadow would try to leave, but was stopped by Sonic, who would either keep him talking by asking him about specific techniques or even invite him for lunch. Shadow would get caught up in those conversations as Sonic seemed to have an infinite amount of questions and he was patient enough to answer all of them, only to realize that their conversation would slowly steer towards something more mundane, like the weather. As for the invitation for lunch, Shadow considered it a payment for the training sessions, something Sonic didn't disagree with. Since Shadow wasn't too fond off the idea of constantly eating chilli dogs, Sonic offered to buy them bento boxes at the local grocery store instead.

As a matter of fact, Shadow had noticed that Sonic wanted to spend more and more time with him, clearly happy to just be in his company, even if they were sitting in complete silence. Actually, Shadow was quite surprised that Sonic was able to keep silent for so long, but he wasn't going to complain. He would usually just lean back and just take everything in, completely relaxing. Shadow, on the other hand, had a hard time relaxing, his mind always filled by some kind of worry.

A life filled with peace is impossible for me. Shadow sighed, only to hear Sonic sigh as well.

''I should've bought another bento box,'' Sonic muttered, looking at the empty container, clearly still hungry. He rose an eyebrow when a half-eaten container was shoved under his nose, realizing that Shadow was giving it to him. ''But, aren't you hungry?''

''I'll be fine,'' Shadow replied. However, instead of just taking it, Sonic just scooted closer and placed the container over their legs.

''Well, we can share,'' he said, happily eating his part of the lunch and leaving enough for Shadow. The dark hedgehog was a bit surprised by this solution, as well as how physically close Sonic got to him, he just accepted it as a thing Sonic would do. ''You know, Knux told me that he and Lily decided to hire the Chaotix to keep an eye out for Rouge.''

''They did?'' Shadow knew about Rouge's disappearance, but this was news to him.

''Yeah. Knux did tell me that, while he is worried that Rouge might be up to something, he pointed out how she would've antagonized him already in some way,'' Sonic replied.

''Even if the Chaotix are the greatest detectives on Earth, I doubt they'll find Rouge if she doesn't want to be found,'' Shadow replied. ''But, I suppose it is a bit suspicious that she had been gone for days.''

''I just hope that nothing bad had happened to her,'' Sonic said, with Shadow giving him a curious look, only to be surprised by Sonic's following question, ''Hey, what would you do if I just disappeared one day without a trace?''

Shadow took a moment to think about it, as this was a very sudden and unexpected question. ''Considering how you're my teammate and friend, I believe that the obvious answer would be to immediately search for you…'' Shadow trailed off when he saw Sonic smirking at him. He narrowed his eyes, staring back in annoyance. ''Why are you looking at me like that?''

''Heh, you just called me your friend,'' Sonic replied, only to lean closer. ''So, do you see me like your best friend or rival-turned-friend or second best friend, considering how there is also Touka, or…''

''It is rival, teammate, friend… In that order,'' Shadow replied in a somewhat matter-of-fact tone, folding his arms across his chest. He didn't know why he was feeling so weird. He didn't really feel uncomfortable or anything, nor did he feel annoyed enough to punch Sonic for breaching his space, but he certainly felt weird. ''Why are you even asking me that?''

''I'm just happy to see you open up like this, even if you still act grumpy about it,'' Sonic replied, a wide smile on his lips. ''It's been a long time since what happened at Codex. Or, at least it feels like it has been a long time.'' Shadow lowered his head in thought, having to agree with Sonic. Even if his mind at times wandered back to the events at Codex, it always felt as if that event occurred years ago, not weeks. ''You know, I would definitely search the entire Earth and space, and even other dimensions, if you ever disappeared.''

''I'm pretty sure that you'd do the same for any of your other friends,'' Shadow replied, his eye-lids lowering as he looked back at Sonic, who just scratched his cheek.

''Yeah, true, but now you also have a confirmation of what I'd do in such situation,'' Sonic replied. He then placed the almost empty container on the grass as he leaned back against the tree, placing his hands behind his head, taking a deep breath and closed his eyes.

Shadow couldn't help but smile a little at how predictable Sonic was. In one moment, he could have a very deep and meaningful conversation, and in the next, he acted like nothing happened and took a nap.

That's so typical of you, Sonic.

xXx

It was late in the night at the Kageura household, with both Touka and Kisaki being deeply asleep. Shadow was lying on the bed next to Touka, staring at the ceiling of their attic room. He had been awake for a while now, his mind once again filled with thoughts that didn't let him sleep. Admittedly, he could handle a sleepless night, having been trained to work under extreme pressure, but looking back at things, he wondered just how necessary it was. He was leading a relatively peaceful life, with his only worries being The Eggman Empire, something that was a problem the entirety of Team Neos was dealing with, and Mephiles and Toshiro, who haven't showed up in a while. He knew that most of Team Neos was back to their daily life, not really worrying about what Dr. Eggman might be up to, as they were certain that they could handle anything he throws at them.

At this point, I'm the only one who is concered about this stuff. Maybe I should follow their example and not put too much thought into it… No… I don't think that will ever be possible. He turned to his side, his eye-lids lowering as a familiar face appeared in his mind, followed by that weird feeling. To live life freely… I'm not like you Sonic.

Shadow took a deep breath, trying to relax and finally drift off to sleep. But then, he heard it. A creak.

Follow your instincts.

[...]

Sonic tapped with his foot impatiently at the usual meeting spot. He tapped on his AR Visor, which showed him a holographic screen of the time. It was only a couple of minutes past his agreed time to meet up with Shadow for their training session, but Shadow was late. Except, Shadow was never late. Sonic knew that, if there was an agreed time, Shadow would be already there, waiting for him.

''So much for The Fastest Thing Alive arriving on time for a meeting.''

''Hey, only because I'm fast doesn't mean that I can't be late for a couple of seconds. Look, I brought us lunch!''

Sonic waited for another minute, trying to calm down and ignore the sense of panic he felt. Maybe Shadow was late because he got caught up in something. That was a possibility. Sonic decided to call him, but he couldn't reach him. He figured that Shadow was just being Shadow, either busy or just didn't want to answer the call for some reason. So, he called Touka, knowing that she was the one who'd usually answer. However, to his shock, the number was blocked.

''Wait, this is not supposed to happen,'' Sonic said, raising an eyebrow. ''Usually, Touka would answer the call.'' He shook his head, lowering it and placing his hand on his chin. ''Something doesn't make sense here. Maybe I should go to their house.''

[...]

''Have you tried to call your friends?'' she asked, nodding towards the AR Visor. Shadow shook his head.

''ARMS might track the call,'' he said. Rouge didn't look too surprised.

''Yeah, you're right. From what I've seen, they're keeping an eye on any information that gets in and out of this place,'' she replied. ''However, knowing your friends, I'm certain that they have noticed your absence and are probably trying to figure out how to find you.''

Shadow paused for a moment, remembering his conversation with Sonic the previous day, and nodding in agreement. ''You're right. Sonic and I had a conversation about this kind of scenario and he had told me that, if I ever went missing, he would do everything in his power to find me.''

His stern gaze then softened as he thought about his relationship with Sonic. Even though they started out as enemies way back when Shadow had no idea what happened to Touka and decided to get his revenge on humanity for the suffering they had caused, Sonic never really acknowledged him as an enemy. While Sonic had indeed fought Shadow, it was less because he Shadow was someone capable of destroying the world, and more because he knew that Shadow was hurt and that there was still a chance for him to turn things around. Shadow didn't want to admit it, but he was glad that Sonic was correct.

Another thing that stood out was their confrontation after the whole incident with Mephiles. Shadow knew that Sonic was just worried about him, but all the frustrations and stress he had built up at that time was too much for him and he snapped, getting into a full battle with Sonic just to take his own anger out on his rival rather than directing it at someone who actually deserved it, like Mephiles. But, instead of knocking some sense into him, Sonic took it upon himself to battle Shadow until he finally calmed down, acting as if nothing had happened. He did all of this while trying to talk to him, trying to coax him out of his self-imposed isolation. All that Sonic wanted was to make it clear to him that he wasn't alone, and Shadow felt guilty for attacking him in the first place. Yet, Sonic didn't care, moving on from their fight as if it were nothing. Still, his actions left quite an impression on Shadow.

''Sonic will fight for me…'' he muttered, feeling a strange sense of warmth spreading through his chest. He spread his hand against it, wondering why he felt like this.

''Well, now that you're done reminiscing about your boyfriend, we still need to find our own way out of this place.''

Shadow snapped out of his thoughts, his eyes darting towards Rouge, who just gave him a smug smile. A tint of red spread across his tan muzzle, leaving him blushing in embarrassment, but his crimson eyes turned sharp, showing pure fury towards her as he gritted his teeth, his quills bristled.

''What are you implying-?!''

''Hey, Rouge! I forgot to tell you that Knuckles has been looking for you!'' Touka quickly leapt on her feet, standing between the two. She knew the look Shadow was giving Rouge meant that he was most likely two seconds away from murdering her and she wasn't going to let that happen, especially since they needed Rouge's help to escape the ARMS HQ. Rouge, who still had that smug look on her expression and was enjoying the fact that she got under Shadow's fur, perked up at what Touka had just told her.

''Really? Well, I'm happy to hear that the Knucklehead is missing me,'' she said, quite pleased about the news. Touka just gave her a sheepish look, scratching her cheek as she was about to respond when Shadow interrupted her.

''Tch, Knuckles was just making sure that you're not up to something again. Don't think too much about it,'' Shadow said in a sharp, dismissive tone. Rouge pouted, frowning as she shoot him a glare. As for Touka, she sweatdropped, wondering why she was the one to end up playing mediator between the two. She then sighed audibly, only to realize something.

''Wait a second, would be possible to convince the Commander to let you join me and Shadow?'' she asked Rouge, who in turn gave her a surprised look, only to think about it.

''I suppose it would. After all, you are the new recruits, and someone would have to show you two the way around. It might take some sweet-talking, but as long as you act as if you had resigned yourselves to your fate as ARMS agents, I think everything should be fine,'' she replied, then glanced at Shadow, who did not look happy about this proposal. ''Do you have something to say, Black Blur?''

''Hmph, as long as it gets us out of this place, I'd be fine with it,'' he replied.

''It is nice to see that you are on board,'' Rouge said, getting up. ''If you two don't plan on resting, I could show you around and then we could go to the Commander with your suggestion. Trust me, there is a lot to talk about this place, so you better get comfy.''

''Right, I guess I should put on my uniform,'' Touka said, reaching for the clothes on her bed and her AR Visor, surprised to see that it was given back to her. Rouge then walked out of the room to let Touka change from her PJs into the uniform, with Shadow following, but not before he turned around, glaring daggers at Touka.

''Don't you dare to say anything about this,'' he said in a calm, yet threatening tone.

''I have no idea what you're talking about,'' Touka quickly responded, feigning ignorance while also feeling heart beat rapidly. Shadow stared at her for a moment, then exited the room. It is only then when Touka took a deep breath, feeling her legs shaking. ''Man, what was that?!''

She was well aware that Shadow was referring to Rouge's earlier comment, but to make things even worse, he also now knew that Rouge basically gave Touka ammunition to tease him and he was making sure to get the message across that none of that was going to happen. Touka knew that, as much as she wanted to question Shadow about his reaction earlier, especially considering how she never saw him being so flustered, she would be met with a wall of silence at the best and a Chaos Spear to the chest at the worst. While Shadow was typically open about his emotions around her, it seemed that this time, she wasn't going to get that privilege.

[...]

Sonic took a deep breath as he sped down Cross Layer Highway, having decided to go for a run after the meeting. Unlike Lucas, he simply couldn't stay cooped up at their home, and while he understood that he couldn't do much at the moment, he needed to go outside and stretch his legs. It gave him something to do, a temporary reprieve of everything that was going on, and he was certain that there was no way that ARMS would be able to track him like this. He needed this sense of freedom, the exhilarating thrill of knowing that he could go anywhere he desired.

He actually found himself on the highway towards Mikado City, having gone past Infinity Forest and the borders of Neos City, and he knew if he continued, he could easily reach the other side of Starpoint Area and visit other countries, exploring the wide world all on his own. This was something he genuinely enjoyed, the freedom to go wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted, and no one could stop him. He trusted this feeling, embraced the sensation and entered a new adventure.

However, instead of allowing his insticts to take over, Sonic skidded to a halt and entered a nearby open field, getting up on the top of a highway billboard, then turned back to the highway as he sat down and observed the cars passing by him. He knew that, while he could go anywhere he desired, he would always return back to his friends, especially since he knew that there was a new adventure on the horizon.

''Com'n, it'll be fun!''

''So, you want us to use Cross Layer Highway as our personal racing track, ignoring the fact that there is traffic there?''

''Heh… well, nothing happened… so far. I'm sure things will be fine. Besides, don't tell me that you're afraid of a bit of traffic.''

''Hmph. You'll be eating my dust.''

''You'll have to catch me first!''

Sonic chuckled at the memory of him convincing Shadow to go on a race on Cross Layer Highway. The dark hedgehog clearly had some reservations about racing in an area with so much traffic, but after a bit of banter, he accepted the challenge. It was fun overall, both weaving across the highway and trying to outspeed each other. It was an activity both enjoyed to the fullest, with Sonic even spotting Shadow smirking at him whenever he got ahead. The blue hedgehog then shook his head, feeling a sense of hollowness in his chest.

''Great, Shadow hasn't been gone even for a day and I already miss him,'' he grumbled. ''Admittedly, this is different than him going off somewhere on his own. This time, no one knows if he and Touka will return.'' He then grimaced, getting up, still balancing on the top of the billboard. ''Oh, what am I talking about, of course he'll come back. It's Shadow! There's nothing that can slow that guy down!''

Satisfied with this sudden burst of faith and confidence, Sonic smiled, only to get a message from Tails on his AR Visor. At first, he gave it a suspicious look, well aware that the team wasn't supposed to communicate like it, but he still opened the screen, only to find an URL link next to a message that said ''Sonic Adventure 2 Mod''. Curious and trusting Tails, he opened the link, only for the holographic screen to crackle and flash red, and Sonic was shocked to see The Eggman Empire logo appear on it.

''Tails, what did you…?'' Sonic trailed off when the logo disappeared and Tails' face appeared on the screen.

''So, you got my message! Great!'' Tails exclaimed.

''Uh, what did you do, little bro? Why did I see Egghead's mugshot on my screen?'' Sonic asked.

''The link you used is an app that directly connects you to the private chat room on the EggNet. That way, we don't have to worry about ARMS spying in on our conversations,'' Tails explained.

''Wait, the EggNet?'' Sonic was both surprised and impressed that his little brother thought of using Dr. Eggman's private computer network for communication. ''Won't Eggman know what you've done?''

''Oh, he already does, but we managed to restrict his access to the chat room,'' Tails explained. ''Warren is sending out the links to the rest of the group. Let's hope that Shadow will open his.''

''I'm sure that he will,'' Sonic replied, grinning happily. ''Should I stop by at the Workshop?''

''No, you don't have to,'' Tails replied. ''Just keep an eye out for Shadow contacting us.''

''Will do!'' Sonic did a two-finger salute, feeling quite optimistic about their situation, with Tails then vanishing from the screen.

[...]

Shadow's ears flicked as he heard soft buzzing and opened his eyes, reaching underneath his pillow and taking out the AR Visor he kept hidden there. He turned to the bed on the other side of the room, taking note of Touka being fast asleep, her back turned to him and then sat up, throwing the blanket over his head before answering the call.

''Sonic, why are you calling me at 2AM?'' Shadow stared at the small screen that was showing Sonic, who was lying in his bed. Sonic, in turn, gave him a sheepish smile.

''I couldn't really sleep, so I wanted to check on you,'' Sonic replied innocently, having realized the moment he saw Shadow's annoyed expression that he really shouldn't have called his rival this late. However, he spent most of the night tossing and turning in his bed, until he decided to call Shadow for his own peace of mind.

''Well, I can sleep and you just saw me a few hours ago during the team meeting,'' Shadow replied in a matter-of-fact tone, his eyes narrowed as he wondered whether there was something more to this conversation. ''Is there anything you want to talk about? I sincerely doubt that's the only reason you had called me.''

Sonic fell silent for a moment, then sighed, a small smile forming on his lips, as he should've known that Shadow would be blunt about this. ''It is really dull without you.''

''I suppose you just got used to us having our daily sparring matches, so it is not surprising that you would feel like that,'' Shadow replied, keeping his voice in a whisper to make sure that Touka doesn't wake up.

''Yeah, you're right…'' Sonic trailed off, wondering if he really should continue the conversation. He knew that Shadow had a mission tomorrow and he probably shouldn't interrupt him like this, but on the other hand, he was genuinely happy to see him and hear him.

''Sonic?''

''Huh, yeah?''

''You're staring at me.''

''Oh, sorry.'' Sonic was flustered to be caught like this. Was it really that obvious?

Shadow sighed, wondering what this situation even was. His mind was still occupied with the mission, so having Sonic call him out of nowhere to talk to him was a bit jarring, albeit not unwelcome. Perhaps having someone to take his mind off the things that troubled him would put him at ease, if only a little bit. ''How was your day?''

''My day? Well…'' Sonic had to admit that he was genuinely surprised that Shadow would initiate small talk. ''Lucas, Warren, Tails and I had talked to Loki, the wolf Commander of the Hunters, and he knows about ARMS, but doesn't trust them because of an accident where an Irregular like us was taken by them and never appeared again. I don't think that the Hunters are too familiar with ARMS.''

''I wouldn't be surprised,'' Shadow said, narrowing his eyes. ''After all, ARMS treats Irregulars like dangerous weapons. They even wanted me to absorb as much of Touka's BioEnergy as possible, so I was forced to use Chaos Surge to stop it.''

''Are you okay?'' Sonic asked worriedly. ''I know that you're not to keen on using BioEnergy, even if it's for a Chaos Surge.''

''I'm fine, since Touka has also recovered from the ordeal. I'm concerned what ARMS might do if they attempt to investigate my Chaos Surge ability. They might go after the rest of Team Neos,'' Shadow told him, rubbing his temple as he felt an oncoming headache.

''Don't worry about us, worry about yourself,'' Sonic told him, giving him a confident smile. ''I wish I could just bust into ARMS HQ to get you out.''

''If it weren't for the current circumstances, I would've done it by myself,'' Shadow told him. Sonic gave him a sympathetic look.

''You know, I am a bit jealous that you get break into Eggman's base,'' he said, smiling cheekily. ''I bet it's going to be exciting.''

''You could join us,'' Shadow suggested. Sonic sighed.

''I wish I could, but you know, that would blow up our cover. I also don't want to get my friends into trouble by doing something stupid,'' Sonic told him. Shadow rose an eyebrow, giving Sonic a scrutinizing look, leaving the latter confused. ''Uh, Shadow? Is something wrong?''

''I believe that's the first time I heard you say something sensible. Maybe you aren't the real Sonic and were replaced by a look-a-like,'' Shadow told him. He couldn't help but smile when he heard Sonic groan in annoyance and saw him roll his eyes.

''I know I can be reckless, but this situation is different,'' he said in an exasperated tone, then muttered, ''I also talked to Lucas about there being a possibility to break in, and he told me that we can't do that.''

''There is a reason Lucas is the leader and you aren't,'' Shadow said in a teasing tone, only to add in a more resolute tone. ''Not many would have enough sense to admit that.''

''Not many have the humility to admit that,'' Sonic said proudly.

''Humility? Your ego is the size of a skyscraper,'' Shadow said, with Sonic snorting in amusement.

''Right back at you, Shads. You aren't better than me, Mr. Ultimate Lifeform,'' Sonic told him. Shadow rolled his eyes, but Sonic could see the faint smile on his lips, making it clear that the dark hedgehog was amused by their banter. It made him feel quite happy to see his rival being this relaxed. ''In any case, you have to tell me what happened once you return from the mission. I want to hear all of the details.''

''I will, because knowing you, you'll probably spam my inbox with questions about what had happened,'' Shadow told him in a dry tone. Sonic gave him a sheepish smile.

''Sorry about that,'' he said, knowing well that Shadow was referring to the event right after their meeting with Mephiles and Toshiro, where Sonic just wouldn't leave him alone. ''I guess I should let you sleep now.''

''I didn't mind having a conversation with you, even if it was this late,'' Shadow said, surprising Sonic, who smiled back warmly as he looked at the screen. ''Good night, Sonic.''

''Good night, Shads. I miss you,'' Sonic said, the holographic screen before him turning black. Sonic then lied back down on his back, taking a deep breath, only for his brain to finally process what he just said to Shadow. He turned on his side, a faint tint of red spreading across his fawn muzzle, his emerald green eyes wide as he placed his gloved hand on his chest, feeling his heart race as if he just returned from his nightly run. Wait! Why did I tell him that? I mean, I do miss him, but that wasn't necessary! I just hope Shadow hasn't noticed anything, because that was just weird.

Meanwhile, Shadow placed the AR Visor back under his pillow and lied down, pulling the blanket over his shoulder, turning on his side and staring at the wall, his mind in a disarray. Unfortunately for him, the image of Sonic giving him a soft and kind smile just wouldn't get out of his head, and he groaned, furrowing a brow as he tried to fall asleep.

''Of course that idiot misses me,'' he grumbled under his breath, trying to ignore the wave of warmth that spread through his body and the tint of red appearing on his tan muzzle. ''Who else is going to be his rival?''

[...]

Sonic took a deep breath, exhaling as he was lying on the soft grass in Eden, staring at the blue sky above him. He had been wondering how Shadow was doing, wishing that he could've joined him and the rest of the group, but for obvious reasons, he was pretty much trapped here. He hated this waiting game, even though he knew that this was the only thing he could do.

''You don't have any news from Shadow and Touka, right?''

Sonic looked up as Silver walked up to him, holding a can with water he was using to water the nearby rose bushes. Sonic shook his head. ''I wish I did, though, but I can't even call Shadow now, since ARMS might be spying on him. I have to wait for him to call me. It's really frustrating.''

''I'm sure that they will be fine. We know that Shadow is quite capable of holding his own,'' Silver said in an assuring tone. Sonic sat up, crossing his legs.

''Yeah, you're right. Still, I wouldn't mind joining him,'' he replied. Suddenly, there was a flash on his AR Visor, with Sonic realizing that it was an incoming call from Lucas. The same happened to Silver's AR Visor, but the grey hedgehog joined Sonic as he answered the call.

''We have some good news!'' Lucas said, being on the same screen with Tails and Warren. ''Touka, Shadow and Rouge have completed their mission and we got access to the ARMS file.''

''That's geat!'' Amy said excitedly, clasping her hands, with the rest of the team also murmuring happily.

''Yeah, but we kinda ran into an issue. The file is locked under four passwords and we need to figure out what the hints mean to access the file,'' Warren said.

''Then, don't let us wait,'' Lily said. ''What's the first hint?''

''It says 'My full name','' Tails said, looking at his teammates. ''Any clue what that means?''

''Maybe it's referring to the person who wrote down the hints? How many tries do we get?'' Minami suggested.

''Only two before the file gets locked,'' Warren replied. ''Tails and I didn't want Eggman to access anything.''

''So, whose name should we write?'' Tails asked.

''Let's go with Touka Kageura. If it doesn't work, we'll have to choose between, ah-'' Warren said, a smile forming on his lips as he realized that this was the correct choice. ''Three more to go. Next one says 'What did I take from you, Guardian?' I think this one was set up by Rouge specifically for you to decipher, Knuckles.''

Knuckles' eyes narrowed as he thought about it for a moment. ''It was a red jewel.''

''Are you sure, Knux?'' Sonic asked. Knuckles nodded.

''I'm confident that she was referring to what happened at our first meeting,'' he said. Tails typed in the password, only to smile when he got to the next one. ''Okay, so this one is a bit weird. It says 'Sonic Heroes Team'.''

''That's a reference to the Sonic Heroes video game, which features four teams of three as playable characters,'' Minami said. ''Team Sonic, Team Rose, Team Dark and Team Chaotix.''

''So, which one should we go with? Team Sonic?'' Silver asked. Lucas shook his head.

''No, I think the answer is Team Dark, since Shadow and Rouge are part of that team. Not to mention, Dr. Eggman did mention that this Egg Base contains the E-100 Series of robots, and if my gut feeling is correct, they might run into E-123 Omega there,'' he explained.

''Is that a good thing or a bad thing?'' Amy asked.

''Well, in the video games, Omega wants to get revenge on Eggman, and if this version is the same, then this is a really good thing,'' Minami explained.

''Okay, last hint,'' Warren announced, raising an eyebrow. '''What is our relationship, Hedgehog?' That has to be set up by Shadow for…''

''It is rival, teammate, friend… In that order,'' Sonic suddenly said. He couldn't help but grin as he recalled his conversation with Shadow. ''We kinda had a conversation... I can't believe he would use that as a password.''

''It worked! All right, we'll sift through the data here, but it will take a while. Wish us luck!'' Tails said. The holographic screen soon closed, with Sonic and Silver exchanging cheerful glances. It seemed that things were finally working in their favour.

[...]

Shadow glanced towards Touka's bed, knowing well that she was quite exhausted from using up most of her BioEnergy and hoping that she was already fast asleep. Still, he laid awake for a few more hours to be sure, since he didn't want her to eavesdrop this conversation. After all, they had already discussed matters earlier with the rest of Team Neos, introducing Omega and telling them about the Commander knowing about Chaos Surge. Lucas, in turn, told them how he, Warren and Tails got an angry call from Dr. Eggman, who chewed them out for their stunt with the passwords, but they didn't care much. They assured Team Dark that they would sort out the data as soon as possible and cut the call. Still, Shadow had one more call to make, as per his promise.

''Shadow!''

''Keep quiet, Hedgehog!'' Shadow hissed at Sonic, peeking under the blanket to make sure that Touka was still asleep before returning back to the call. Sonic gave him a sheepish smile.

''Sorry, Shads. I'm just happy, and surprised, that you decided to call me back,'' he said in a hushed tone.

''I had a promise to keep. However, I don't have much to tell you about our raid on the Egg Base,'' Shadow replied. ''Omega destroyed all of the Badniks inside, and while we had a brief fight, Rouge quickly ended it.''

''That's fine. At least you have something to talk about, while I don't,'' Sonic replied. ''Nothing has happened today, and I feel really bored.''

''You could just leave and go somewhere to have an adventure if you feel like that,'' Shadow suggested. Sonic shook his head.

''And miss any upcoming action? No way. This is just a lull before the storm,'' he said, his emerald eyes sparking with excitement. Shadow furrowed a brow, sighing.

''I suppose that this is an answer I should've expected,'' he muttered under his breath, pausing for a moment. Sonic still had that stupid grin on his expression, and Shadow decided that it was time to wipe it off his expression. ''So, what was that about missing me?''

Suddenly, Sonic got really flustered. ''Uh… I- It's nothing! It was just a slip of the tongue.''

''Was it?'' Shadow had to admit that seeing Sonic losing that cocky attitude was quite amusing. It truly felt like another of their challenges, except this one required some proper thinking and wording to leave the other a complete mess.

''Y-Yeah!'' Sonic had no clue why he got suddenly so flustered, but he didn't like the look Shadow gave him. It felt as if the dark hedgehog was reading his mind, clearly not believing any of his excuses, and Sonic hated that he got rattled so easily. Admittedly, he was also fascinated by Shadow's ability in being able to match him not only in a battle, but also in their conversations. Any quip Sonic would make would immediately be countered by a remark from Shadow, whether it was the blunt truth or an actual quip, and Sonic loved how these kinds of conversations managed to keep him on his toes. He was also certain that, despite Shadow's aloof attitude, his rival was also enjoying these kinds of conversations and he wanted to keep them going as long as possible. Sonic then smirked, realizing what the perfect response to Shadow's question would be. ''Why are you even asking? Wait, do you miss me?''

Much to Sonic's amusement, Shadow huffed in response, clearly trying not to show that he was also slightly flustered by this question and deciding to not dignify it with an answer. Sonic, on the other hand, knew that he won this one and decided to add another layer to this conversation. ''Aww, you do miss me! I feel so honored.''

''Why would I miss someone as irritating as you?'' Shadow replied in an irked tone.

''If you actually thought of me as irritating, you would've ended this call a long time ago. But, you didn't, which means that you like to talk to me,'' Sonic teased him. Frankly, he really liked getting this kind of reactions from Shadow.

''I could end the call right now,'' Shadow threatened. Sonic's ears folded for a moment, showing that he clearly didn't want to end this yet, only for them to perk up again.

''You could… but you won't,'' he said, issuing another challenge. Sure, this one came with a risk that Shadow would actually make good on his threat, but this was just too tempting and Sonic wasn't someone who would shy away from taking any kind of risks, especially if it made him feel this excited. Surprisingly, Shadow kept the call going.

''Keep telling yourself that,'' he said. ''After all, you need me to keep yourself entertained.''

Sonic opened his mouth, only to close it again, feeling as if he was just kicked in the gut. What Shadow just said was indeed true, even if Sonic didn't want to admit it, but instead of getting riled up, he decided to take it in stride and counter attack with a remark of his own. ''Fine, I'll admit that that's true, but only because you won't admit that you also need me.''

''What are you talking about?'' Shadow responded, his eyes narrowing. He didn't like the smug grin Sonic was giving him.

''Don't tell me that you also didn't get bored without me around to keep you company,'' Sonic teased him. Shadow just rolled his eyes, but then the same dark thought from before entered his mind. He fell silent, and Sonic's smile faded as he realized that his rival got serious.

''It would be better for you not to be here,'' Shadow said.

''What's wrong?'' Sonic asked, now a hint of concern in his voice.

''ARMS knows that you and the rest of the team are Irregulars, and if they learn that you are also capable of Chaos Surge, they would turn all of you into their weapons,''Shadow told him in a grim tone. He wasn't too surprised when Sonic gave him a confident look.

''Don't worry, I'm sure that we could handle that,'' he said. Shadow shook his head.

''Not if they attempt to destroy your sense of self. Rouge and I may be exceptions, but there is no way of predicting of what they might do to you,'' he explained.

''I understand. I'm not going to be reckless unless the situation calls for it,'' Sonic said, with Shadow being genuinely surprised by his mature response. To see and hear him take things seriously for once did leave a warm feeling in his chest.

''Let's just hope that things will turn out right in the end,'' Shadow said.

''I'm sure they will, Shads,'' Sonic replied, smiling confidently and giving him a thumbs up. ''Just hold on a little longer.''

Shadow nodded in response, and he couldn't help but smile a little at the assurance he got.

[...]

''Hey, Shads.''

''I see that you had actually remembered to whisper during these calls,'' Shadow said, with Sonic rolling his eyes. It was in the middle of the night, and while Team Dark and Team Neos had already exchanged information in regards to the situation with Mephiles and Toshiro, Shadow decided to also call Sonic, feeling that this has already become a habit. He also knew that Sonic would be thrilled to finally have something he could talk about on his end, so he immediately added, ''You had said earlier that you and Silver had confronted Mephiles.''

''Yeah, and I wish that we had managed to deal with him at that point, but he got away,'' Sonic replied, sounding a bit frustrated, then snorted, trying to cover his frustration with some humor, ''So much for being The Fastest Thing Alive if I can't catch up to Mephiles or find him for that matter.''

''Finding Mephiles has nothing to do with your speed. He is someone who lives in the shadows, coming out only when nobody expects him,'' Shadow responded in a matter-of-fact tone. He was well aware that Sonic hated the fact that he couldn't stop Mephiles from hurting the Hunters or even the ARMS agents and Irregulars, so he simply made a logical statement. However, going by the smirk that had formed on his lips, Sonic understood the message a bit differently.

''Thanks for trying to cheer me up,'' Sonic told him, with Shadow giving him a puzzled look.

''I wasn't- That wasn't my-'' He tried to clear this up, only to realize that Sonic already knew that, giving him a wide smile. Shadow exhaled sharply. ''Fine, I suppose you can interpret it that way.''

''You know Shads, you can be as cruel in your honesty as you want, but sometimes the stuff you say feels quite comforting,'' Sonic told him, with Shadow just nodding in acknowledgement. ''So, do you have any idea what Mephiles wants from you? We all agreed earlier that he was antagonizing the Hunters and ARMS to get to you.''

''I believe that all he wants is another battle, just like last time,'' Shadow replied, a grim look appearing on his expression as he remembered their last encounter.

''He'll also probably try to manipulate you, just like he tried to do with me and Silver. Don't give in!'' Sonic said, pumping his fists and giving Shadow a resolute look. Shadow was a bit surprised to see Sonic suddenly turn into his personal cheerleader, but decided to play it cool.

''I'm not going to be swayed by anything Mephiles says. I have unfinished business with him and I'm going to focus on that,'' Shadow told him.

''I'm glad to hear that. Too bad I nor the rest of the team can join you in this battle,'' Sonic said, recalling the earlier conversation. Since Team Dark was going to be at the Codex Research Facility, the possibility of Team Neos helping them was brought up, only to get quickly dismissed when Lucas pointed out that if ARMS finds out that they know about Codex, Team Dark would get in trouble. Therefore, they would have to sit this one out, even though all of the team wanted to join in regardless of the danger.

''I know that I can trust the rest of Team Neos to not interfere, but I doubt that you would just stand at the sidelines,'' Shadow commented.

''Well, I'm trying my best not to do anything reckless lately. It also helps that I hear your voice scolding me whenever I make up my mind,'' Sonic said, sounding somewhat proud of his achievement. Shadow was a bit stunned for a moment, feeling a wierd mix of amusement and that familiar warmth he sensed whenever he talked to Sonic.

''So, you're telling me that whenever you think of me, it's me scolding you for doing something reckless? I don't know whether I should feel offended or flattered,'' Shadow replied in a deadpan tone. Sonic snorted.

''Maybe I should've put this in a different way…'' Sonic suddenly shook his head. ''You know what, forget it. I'd be happy to hear you yell at me whenever I do something stupid so long as I know that you're back at home safe and sound.''

Shadow fell silent, a faint tint of red spreading across his muzzle. His crimson eyes were wide, and he was stunned by Sonic's sudden confession. It was quite unexpected, but at the same time, he knew that Sonic said that because he genuinely cared about him. As much as he wanted to deny it, he was glad that this was the nature of their relationship. It still puzzled him that they were able to tell each other things the other needed to hear, or understand exactly each other's moods without needing to say anything, but he preferred it that way. He wasn't someone who engaged in pointless conversations, but somehow every conversation he had with Sonic ended up in some kind of revelation for Shadow. He felt as if he was learning more about himself this way, and one of the things he understood was that he was going to match Sonic in anything.

''I suppose it would get a bit boring without having you to annoy me, so I'd do the same for you,'' Shadow said, his tone being the usual business-like way he spoke, trying to ignore the strange fluttering feeling in his chest. Why did I even say that?!

''D'aaaww, that's so sweet coming from you, Shads! I appreciate the sentiment,'' Sonic replied, feeling quite happy that he had managed to get Shadow to admit how he felt about him. He couldn't help but chuckle lightly when Shadow shot him a glare.

''Don't think anything of it, Hedgehog. This is just a courtesy. I don't want to be in your debt,'' Shadow growled. Sonic waved his hand in a dismissive manner.

''Yeah, yeah… But you have to admit it, you do care about me,'' Sonic teased him. Shadow was silent, still glaring at his rival, but Sonic knew that this was less because he was offended and more because both knew that this was the truth. He then held up a finger. ''How about this? I admit that I care about you, and you admit that you care about me.''

Shadow folded his arms in defiance. ''That's not going to happen.''

''Maybe you won't say it, but you do care about me,'' Sonic pressed on, still having that dumb smile that irritated Shadow. Despite Shadow managing to keep an unreadable expression, aside from his trademark scowl, he knew that his rival was struggling with this conversation, clearly not wanting to admit the truth, either because of his pride or because he was just too embarrassed.

Shadow, on the other hand, had to wonder how in the world had he ended up in this conversation. Somehow, Sonic had the uncanny ability to rile him up with just a simple smile, and being the stubborn person he was, he wasn't going to back down from a challenge, even if it led him to confess stuff he never wanted anyone to know, not even Touka. ''I have already stated that if the reverse were to happen, I would go to save you. There is nothing else to discuss.''

''Yeah, yeah…'' Sonic was still grinning, while Shadow just frowned, both staring back at each other in silence. Even if some things were left unsaid, they knew exactly how they felt about each other.

[...]

Sonic raced from Eas towards the western side of Neos City where Infinity Forest was with a determined look on his expression. Sure, he did promise that he wouldn't be reckless and he certainly was going to leave this battle to Shadow, but that didn't mean that he could watch from afar, just to keep an eye on Mephiles. It wasn't as if he was bored from the lack of action; no, absolutely not!

''You're such an idiot!''

Sonic grinned, completely ignoring the Shadow-like voice in his head as he got to Sentoraru and made his way towards Westoru, avoiding pedestrians and cars. He was actually quite in high spirits, as Tails and Warren had informed him and Lucas earlier that they were close to finishing sifting through the data they got, and what they had found was actually rather shocking. They haven't told them yet what it was, but Tails said that this would get them into a lot of trouble with the public. In Sonic's mind, that was good enough.

The azure hedgehog then sped through Westoru and towards Infinity Forest, trying to remember the path towards the Codex Research Facility. It has been a while since he had been there, but he was certain that he would be able to find it. However, what he didn't expect to find was a huge structure made of crystals and surrounded by fire.

''Yikes!'' Sonic realized that this self-imposed mission might be a bit harder than he thought. The crystal wasn't transparent, but more of a purple and red hue, making it impossible for him to see inside. All he could conclude was that there were several layers of crystals placed at the field, keeping him away from whatever battle was happening inside the structure. Sonic then smirked, clenching his fist. ''Well, something like this has never stopped this hedgehog!''

He leapt into the air, curling into a ball and burrowed into the ground, creating a hole just in front of the structure. Less than a minute passed and he emerged again from the hole, breathing heavily and raising an eyebrow. ''Great, even the ground is crystal. Mephiles made sure that no one can enter it.'' He then shook his head. ''No way! If I cannot find a way inside, how will Shadow and the others find a way outside? I have to solve issue as soon as- aaagh!''

Sonic was startled when suddenly a bunch of figures made out of pure shadow and darkness appeared, confronting him. ''Ah, so Mephiles also left a couple of guards. At least things won't be boring!''

[...]

Sonic shredded through the shadow-like entities, pinballing from one to another easily, but the issue was that he also needed to avoid the flames and the crystals that were keeping him from getting through the wall. He had actually managed to run around the structure, taking note that it was way bigger than he initially thought. He had to give it to Mephiles, the guy was determined to make sure no one gets inside those walls.

''Woah!'' Sonic suddenly stopped due to a black hole opening right beneath him. He sunk, trying his best to free himself, but when he looked up to find a branch or something to lift him up, he saw the crystal walls suddenly turn black and purple. His emerald eyes widened. ''Oh, no…''

However, before Sonic could move, everything turned black. Only a moment later, the light returned and he was quite disoriented, only to hear a car horn and quickly leap off the street. It took him a bit, but he realizes that he was somewhere in the eastern part of Souto. He was quite baffled when he realized what had happened.

''How in the world did Mephiles teleport me to Souto?'' he muttered under his breath, his gaze turned towards the west where Infinity Forest was. A sense of worry bubbled in his chest, but he shook his head. He knew that Shadow could handle this.

[...]

Suddenly, a giant entity rose from the darkness, its body consisting of shadows, crystals and flames, with the crystals forming the armor around its formless shape. It sprouted four arms, breaking the crystal ceiling and causing shards to rain down. There was a sudden chill in the air as they heard Mephiles laugh darkly, his voice like ice and filled with nothing but calculated intelligence and insanity.

''Your heart was filled with nothing but hate for this reality and its people! So, why don't you join me in destroying it?!''

Team Dark couldn't see Mephiles nor Toshiro anymore, as it seemed as if they had been swallowed by the entity they had created. All they could hear was Mephiles' voice, seemingly speaking through the entity. Touka, Rouge and Omega turned to Shadow, with Touka and Rouge's expressions clearly showing concern for Shadow, and even Omega was apprehensive to the whole situation, his cannons already pointed towards the entity Mephiles had just summoned. Shadow, on the other hand, was just staring at the entity silently, his expression unreadable. He then turned to his teammates, his expression slightly shifting to that of pure of determination, only to face the entity once again.

''I may have hated this world once, because it stole someone precious from me. I also feel no obligation towards it or towards its people. Even if the world chooses to become my enemy, I will fight like I always have,'' Shadow responded, reaching for the golden rings on his wrists, twisting them and letting them fall on the ground. He could feel the Chaos Energy flowing through his body, almost bursting out, his hands crackling with energy. ''That said, you made a mistake endangering those I care about!''

Suddenly, everything stopped, and time and space warped. The entity couldn't even move, despite Mephiles efforts to break through. For some reason, he wasn't affected by whatever was going on, and his attempts to control this entity – Iblis – have failed. Then, Shadow appeared right in front of the entity, his size diminutive in comparison to the monstrous being, but his whole body was sparking with orange energy, his eyes glowing as he gathered all the power he could muster. His fingers were curled and he placed both of his hands together at chest level facing the same direction, with the palm on the back of the other. He knew that he only had one shot, and he could sense the Chaos energy, Mephiles' Chaos energy, within this monstrosity. All he had to do is to aim.

''CHAOS BLAST!''

Thrusting both of his hands forward, he fired a powerful blast of energy, the beam tearing right through the entity, not only powered by the Chaos Surge and the latent Chaos Energy that was concealed by the Inhibitor Rings, but also by Shadow's strong emotions and desire to protect everyone. He could hear a wail of distress as the entity, which had just formed before him was shredded, its wretchedness only gracing this reality only for a moment. Shadow was not going to allow it to exist any longer than that.

Then, everything went silent, and Shadow closed his eyes. Everything went dark, and he found himself falling into a deep abyss. His body couldn't move anymore and his mind was as empty as the nothingness that embraced him. Or was it?

''Shadow? Shadow?!''

Shadow could feel a sense of warmth, and he forced his eyes to open despite the pain and numbness. He never felt so broken and exhausted before. Staring back at him was Touka, having somehow managed to catch him mid-fall, her eyes having gone from crimson back to dark brown with that hint of red in them. She looked just as exhausted as he was as she cradled him in her arms, kneeling on the ground. On her right was Rouge, holding one of Shadow's Inhibitor Rings and looking relieved to see him alive. On her left was Omega, holding Shadow's other Inhibitor Ring, and while he certainly had no expression to show, it was clear that he was quite impressed by the destruction the dark hedgehog had caused.

As for Mephiles and Toshiro, they were gone. The crystal walls were still standing, but only barely, as more and more cracks started to form inside them, shattering and falling apart. Shadow narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the empty field, aware that despite the destruction he had caused, they were probably still alive, only barely escaping his wrath.

''What was that?'' Rouge broke the silence, still shocked by what had just happened. Shadow wanted to answer, but Touka was faster.

''That was Chaos Control, but in the sense that Shadow had stopped time itself,'' she responded. Rouge gave her a baffled look and turned to Shadow.

''Wait, you can actually do that?!'' she asked, her voice a bit too loud for Shadow's comfort.

''That is only possible with the power of Chaos Surge,'' Touka added, sighing tiredly. ''Even then, it is a technique that drains both of our energy, so we have good reason not to use it too often.''

''It was my last resort, and I was fortunate Mephiles had drained all of his own energy and Toshiro's BioEnergy to summon that entity. It only took one blast…'' Shadow explained, trying to get up. His and Rouge's ears the flicked as the group heard the helicopter getting closer and closer. None of the members of Team Dark were happy to see it, as that meant returning back to ARMS HQ and have to endure their frustrating stay even longer. Still, they were too exhausted to fight back… well, three of them.

''If you don't wish to return, I will just shoot the helicopter down,'' Omega offered.

''No!''

''Absolutely not!''

Touka and Rouge made an ''X'' sign with their arms, denying Omega the opportunity. They were well aware that they would suffer the consequences, because there was no way they would get away with this. Shadow, on the other hand, remained silent, having put the Inhibitor Rings back on his wrists and deciding to leave this conversation to his older sister and the treasure hunter. He managed to recover enough to climb into the helicopter on his own, wondering how long it would take for him to get back to his old condition. He pressed the lower part of his palm against his forehead, knowing he'll probably sleep like the dead in their graves the moment he was back in his bed. The helicopter then took off, but not before another scream pierced the air before it could be drowned out by the noise of the helicopter.

''Shadow! Shadow!!''

''Wait, is that Sonic?!'' Touka gasped in surprise, as the door to the helicopter hadn't been closed. Shadow immediately got up, his eyes wide as he leaned out of the helicopter, holding onto a nearby strap. To his bewilderment, Sonic was shouting and waving at him, and he could see the playful grin on his expression. Shadow mentally facepalmed, and despite saying nothing, it was obvious from Sonic's expression that there was nothing he needed to say. Sonic was simply relieved to see that Shadow was fine, while Shadow couldn't help but crack a genuine smile and even chuckle lightly, well aware that there was nothing that would stop Sonic from supporting his friend and rival, regardless of the methods.

Sonic, you're such a reckless idiot… Thank you.

[...]

Eggman had landed the Egg Carrier at a more wooded area close to ARMS HQ, but fortunately far enough to keep it hidden from it. Team Neos has already walked out of the aircraft, all of them powered up via Chaos Surge and waiting in anticipation. There was a sudden flash of light, revealing Shadow as he had Chaos Controlled to their location, giving them a firm look. Sonic walked up to him with a wide smile, only to get confused by Shadow's response.

''You're late again, Hedgehog,'' Shadow told him. Sonic was puzzled, only to realize what Shadow was referring to and snort in amusement.

''Well, I wanted to be here several days ago, but you know how things are…'' Sonic said, with Lucas approaching the two.

''We're ready to go. I guess Touka, Rouge and Omega are also ready,'' he told Shadow.

''They should be at the main building at this point,'' Shadow said, getting surrounded by the rest of the team. His eyes then flared up as he extended his hand. ''Chaos Control!''

[...]

''I assume you already know who we are, but I'd still like to properly introduce myself,'' Lucas said, stepping towards the Commander. ''My name is Lucas Kinomoto, and I am the leader of Team Neos. You have made the mistake of kidnapping two of my teammates, which is why we have attacked ARMS HQ. We are here to bring them back home.''

''Forget it. I won't let any of my agents go, and as for you, I will have all of you arrested and imprisoned,'' Commander Williams threatened, feeling furious about this situation. This group of teenagers and their Irregular ARNavs just stormed a military base, beat up his agents with the help of Team Dark and were now making such a ridiculous demand. He was not going to let them get away with this.

Upon hearing this, Sonic turned to Tails, holding out his hand. ''Tails, give me the the Miles Electric.''

''Uh, sure,'' Tails said, a bit confused, only for Sonic to walk up and sit down on the control panel, now being at a height where he was eye-to-eye with the Commander.

''I will give you one last chance,'' Sonic suddenly rose his voice, with everyone inside the room turning towards him. He was uncharacteristically serious, his tone low and calm, to the point that even Shadow was giving him a stunned look, as he never saw Sonic act like this. ''Release my friends, or you will suffer the consequences.''

''No, I won't-'' Commander Williams cut himself off when Sonic shot him a cold glare, pressing a button on the Miles Electric. Suddenly, a new window popped up on the screen, showing a red uploading line, already getting to 5%. ''Wait- What is that?''

''This is all of the information we have gathered about ARMS, and it is being uploaded online for all the public to see,'' Sonic replied. Commander Williams' eyes widened.

''You're kidding me!''

''You hurt my friends. I'm dead serious,'' Sonic told him in a cold tone, then smirked. ''It also pays off to have a genius as your little bro.''

He then turned to Tails, who was now hovering next to him, and both gave each other a high-five. Commander Williams remained shocked.

''Y-You're bluffing! There is no way you could've had any access to ARMS-related information…'' he trailed off when another screen suddenly popped up, obscuring the line below, which was now at 13%.

''They aren't bluffing, Commander. In fact, they had made an alliance with me. My own genius allowed them to access any information ARMS was hiding,'' Dr. Eggman said. Commander Williams turned back to Team Neos and Team Dark furiously.

''So, all this time, you worked for Dr. Eggman?!'' he growled, only to get startled when Eggman scoffed.

''Bah, as if! Team Neos is not affiliated with the Eggman Empire, and the only reason we're allied at all was because of your foolish actions,'' Eggman told him, clasping his hands and placing them on the panel in front of him as he leaned closer. ''As you have already learned, the terms of the negotiation for Team Neos are the release of Team Dark. I'm here to add my own terms…''

''Do you really believe that I would do anything like that?!'' Commander Williams shouted furiously. Eggman just rolled his eyes.

''So stubborn…'' he muttered. ''I believe Kinomoto and the Blue Rodent have told you that you have no say in this and that it would be smarter for you to just go along with our demands.''

''Y-You can't just blackmail me!'' Commander Williams protested, but seeing the line at 50%, he realized that he was running out of time.

''You blackmailed Shadow and Touka, so we decided to do the same,'' Sonic responded, then glanced around at the room, locking eyes with Shadow, who nodded in acknowledgement. Commander Williams gritted his teeth, gazing at the line on the screen again and seeing that it got to 53%.

''You-'' He was clearly struggling with his decision. On one hand, he knew that he would lose Project Shadow if he agreed to this, a project that had been in development for more than a decade. On the other hand, he also knew that he was screwed if any of the military secrets get out to the public. Not only would he lose his position, but he would be the one sitting in prison for this. He hissed through his teeth, ''Fine! Agents Sakamoto,…'' Commander Williams almost flinched when Touka shot him a venomous glare. ''Agh, Agents Kageura, Shadow, Rouge and Omega are free to leave.''

''You will also swear to never pursue them again and to let them have their freedom to live their life as they wish,'' Sonic said, earning a hateful glare from the Commander.

''Not only that, but ARMS will also not meddle in the business of Team Neos, as well as delete any information you have on us. We are not your enemy, Commander Williams. We just want to protect Neos City from anyone who wants to hurt the people that live there, be that an Irregular or a human,'' Lucas added, earning the same hateful glare as Sonic did.

''Lastly, ARMS will also not meddle in the affairs of the Eggman Empire, or any battles between Team Neos and myself,'' Eggman said, with Commander Williams giving him a somewhat confused look.

''What?''

''It seems that you either don't understand or don't know, but I don't like having outsiders interrupting this game. The only players allowed so far are Team Neos and their allies. ARMS doesn't have that privilege,'' Eggman told him.

''I won't just stand on the side and watch-''

''That's why we're here,'' Sonic interrupted him, giving the Commander a determined look. ''This is what we do. This is what I do! We are all willing to fight for what is right.''

''You're just a bunch of teenagers…'' Commander Williams trailed off when Touka and Shadow suddenly stepped up.

''Yeah, we are teenagers, but you still forced us to work as ARMS agents,'' Touka pointed out angrily. ''All we wanted was to live a normal life outside the Codex Research Facility and you took that away from us! We didn't ask to be created or live this kind of life!''

''Don't make this harder for yourself, Commander. Your hypocrisy will be your downfall,'' Shadow added, arms folded across his chest. Commander Williams looked back at the line, which was now at 79%. Time was of the essence.

''Fine! You have my word that ARMS won't meddle anymore in any of your affairs, and you can live your life however you want. Now stop that upload!'' Commander Williams growled. Sonic got off the control panel, still holding the Miles Electric and strolling over to Shadow.

''I guess I'm not the only one who kind of ran out of patience. Should we go home?'' he asked, giving Shadow an innocent smile. Shadow smirked at him.

''We have no business here anymore. I agree that we should leave now,'' he said. Before the Commander could even react, both Team Neos and Team Dark gathered around Shadow, whose body was crackling with energy due to Chaos Surge.

''Chaos Control!''

''W-Wait!'' Commander Williams shouted, but the group had already vanished. His attention turned back to the screen, with Dr. Eggman being gone as well, but the line remained, showing that it was at 85% and continuing the upload. His eyes widened in shock and despair as he realized that Team Neos had no intent on cancelling the leakage of information.

xXx

''Finally! It's over!'' Lily exclaimed, stretching her arms as Team Neos and Team Dark found themselves back at the wooded area where the Egg Carrier was. ''Now we can go home!''

''I'd say that we should celebrate this! This is a big victory for us!'' Minami said, with everyone giving her a look of interest.

''Yeah, this calls for a big party!'' Sonic said excitedly.

''I suppose we could celebrate this at my home. Knuckles and I will arrange everything,'' Lily said, with he rest of the group cheering in approval and getting into the Egg Carrier, and Rouge and Touka trying to convince Omega not to blow up Eggman yet as they still needed to return home. The last ones to climb inside were Sonic and Shadow, with Sonic having given the Miles Electric back to Tails, the upload having been complete.

''That was a quite decisive behavior you had displayed earlier,'' Shadow commented, drawning Sonic's attention.

''You think it was decisive?'' Sonic asked in a sheepish tone, rubbing the back of his head. ''I don't know… I did come off as a bit… rough and cold, I guess.'' He then stopped walking, only to snort in amusement. ''Actually, when I think about it, I kinda sounded like you.''

Shadow rose an eyebrow. ''So, I sound rough and cold?''

''Well, now that I think about it… You actually sound way warmer than before,'' Sonic said, scratching his cheek and grinning. ''It's actually really nice and calming to listen to you talk.''

Shadow remained speechless, being genuinely surprised by the compliment. He then tried to play it cool. ''I suppose I will also have to listen to you talk as well.''

''Heh, I missed you too, Shadow,'' Sonic replied, taking note of how tense Shadow looked and just figuring that the latter wasn't going to admit that he missed his rival as well.

[...]

''Speak of the Devil,'' Rouge said, suddenly spotting the two missing teammates at the front gate. Touka and Shadow had soon joined them, with Touka carrying a plastic bag with her, looking around at the yard in front of the Crystle Mansion, clearly impressed by how fast Lily and Knuckles had arranged for the place to be decorated and food to be delivered for the party. As for Shadow, he was suddenly approached by Sonic.

''You're late, Faker,'' he said, giving Shadow a smug grin. Shadow snorted, just shaking his head, well aware what Sonic was referring to. Meanwhile, Touka approached Omega, holding up the plastic bag.

[...]

Sonic then looked up, spotting a dark figure on the roof of the mansion and smirked. He managed to find his way up to the top of the roof, with Shadow giving him a slightly questioning look, well aware that Sonic was about to interrupt his moment of peace.

''Do you mind some company?'' Sonic asked, with Shadow pausing for a moment, then shaking his head. Sonic sat next to him, with Shadow taking note of just how close he was, but he didn't mind his presence. Sonic gave him a curious look. ''Why don't you join the others at the party? After all, you're one of the guests of honor.''

''While I am happy to be here, this doesn't mean that I'm going to socialize,'' Shadow responded, glancing at Sonic. His rival just grinned, understanding well that Shadow still wouldn't socialize with other people unless necessary – even if they were his own teammates. Nevertheless, that didn't mean that he didn't appreciate them.

''It seems like things are gonna go back to normal,'' Sonic said, both him and Shadow watching over their friends as they had fun.

''I don't think that you can call this kind of life normal in comparison to those of other people,'' Shadow remarked.

''Yeah, but you can now live a life without having to worry that anyone from Codex or ARMS will go after you and Touka. I'd call that a 'normal' life,'' Sonic pointed out.

''I suppose you're correct in regards to that,'' Shadow responded, feeling a sense of relief. It was as if someone removed a huge boulder from his chest and he could breathe a bit easier now. He knew that Sonic was right and that with Prof. Sakamoto being dead and ARMS not bothering them anymore, he and Touka could live a life without having to worry that they would be used as weapons again. ''It is a relief…''

Shadow was startled when he was suddenly pulled into a hug by Sonic, his own heart racing and his tan muzzle turning a faint shade of red. His crimson eyes were wide and his body tense, with his first instinct being to push Sonic away. However, he knew he couldn't do that. He couldn't explain it, but there was just something about being hugged by Sonic like this, something comforting, and he wasn't really sure how to respond. But, before he could even say or do anything, Sonic had released him, giving him an awkward smile.

''Oh, right… you don't like physical contact that much,'' Sonic said, rubbing the back of his head. Shadow stared at him for a moment, only to sigh, realizing that Sonic was just happy that he was here and wanted to show it in a different way.

''Since it's you, I suppose I can give you a free pass this time…huh?'' Shadow was startled when Sonic suddenly pulled him into another hug, burying his nose into his shoulder and holding him tightly. Shadow, trying to ignore a familiar sensation of warmth, narrowed his eyes, adding in a deadpan tone, ''What I meant is that I'll give you a free pass for the hug earlier. That wasn't an invitation for more.''

''Too late, Faker. You won't get rid off me so easily,'' Sonic lifted his head, gazing into Shadow's eyes and grinning at him mischievously. Shadow remained unamused and, for a moment, he thought about his response. To Sonic's surprise, he suddenly felt Shadow's arms wrapping around his torso, with Shadow burying his head into his shoulder, pulling him as close as possible. Sonic felt a wave of heat spreading through his body, his fawn muzzle turning a slight shade of red and his heart beating like crazy. Rest assured, he never expected that Shadow would hug him back, but it wasn't an unwelcome gesture. In fact, he really enjoyed it.

''Heh, so you are a hugger,'' Sonic said, his voice carrying a comforting warmth, only for the smile to fade a moment later when Shadow spoke again.

''I don't mind getting a hug so long as it is from a person I trust. It was a source of comfort for me, especially whenever I couldn't deal with the pressure I was put under or when I suffered from nightmares,'' Shadow said in a calm, somber tone. Sonic felt his own heart breaking for Shadow.

''Shads…'' He wanted to offer words of comfort, but nothing came to his mind. His ears then perked up when he heard Shadow speak again in a sharp tone.

''If you tell this to anyone, I will personally throw you into Cosmo River,'' Shadow threatened, moving his head back and glaring at Sonic, but still keeping his hands around Sonic's waist. Sonic snorted, trying to sound as serious as he could.

''Understood,'' he said, offering a sincere smile. While Shadow still kept a stern expression, Sonic did take note that his gaze did soften a little. ''Thanks for telling me that. I'm really glad that you trust me so much.''

''It cannot be helped… After all, you are a thorn in my side,'' Shadow responded, with Sonic suddenly burying his head right into Shadow's white chest fluff.

''D'aaaww, I heart you too, Shads,'' he said.

Shadow sighed, knowing that, if Sonic had done this several weeks ago, he would've kicked his rival off the roof and yelled at him for getting so close. But now, he realized that he had warmed up enough to Sonic to let him do whatever he wanted. Shadow then buried his muzzle on top of Sonic's head, feeling the soft blue fur, and took a deep breath. It was certainly a confusing feeling, and he had to admit, it was a bit daunting to deal with it, but at this point, whatever wall he put between himself and Sonic had been broken down. He knew that he could trust Sonic with his own life, but he still wouldn't trust him with his own insecurities and show his vulnerable side… at least until now. As a matter of fact, he was looking forward to going back to their usual rivalry.

''So, do you want to race?'' Sonic's question snapped Shadow out of his thoughts, the latter having no clue how long they had remained in that embrace. Sonic, clearly clueless about that, grinned as he gave Shadow a confident smile. ''I had been itching to finally challenge you again.''

Shadow just gave him a haughty look. ''I see… I suppose I should've figured that you'd be eager to lose to me.''

''Lose?'' Sonic suddenly got up, scoffing. ''Only in your dreams, Shads. You won't catch me so easily.''

Shadow stood up, folding his arms across his chest. ''Hmph, don't get too cocky, Hedgehog. One distraction, and you'll be suffering a humiliating defeat.''

''We'll see in a bit! Ready?'' Sonic said, taking a running stance.

''Set,'' Shadow said, smirking as he felt the familiar rush of adrenaline.

''GO!''

There was a rush of wind, with the blue and black-orange blurs vanishing into the night, both determined to continue their rivalry and prove who the faster Hedgehog between them was.

Links:

#Sonadow Moments in Sonic Cyber Revolution (The Starfall Arc & The Green Hill Zone Arc)

#Sonadow Moments in Sonic Cyber Revolution (The Chaos Rising Arc)

#Sonic Cyber Revolution (Masterlist)

[beezlebubs-art]

(DO NOT HARRAS THIS PERSON, JUST IGNORE THEM. ALSO GARTIC PHONE THING WASN'T THEM)

Piacere, space, whatever you go by, you said you wouldn't mention anyone from this, or at least that was what the deal was, I hope you were told about it. We'd not mention you, as long as you wouldn't mention us. But you did, so a new callout post with new points, people defending you don't really do a good job. TLDR: they blame everything on mental health, takes little fault for hurting people because of said mental issues, vents to people decently younger than them constantly, and they demand boundaries, but get extremely upset when anyone asks for them to do so for them.

NOTE I didn't directly see any of this, I'm doing this to defend my friends because, no offense, they are kinda letting themselves get walked all over. If anything is wrong please tell me. Do not harass anyone in this situation, no one deserves it.

First up a recap on the first situation with a new moral because talking to your friend made it more obvious what the issue was, you blaming mental health. My friends silver and JJ banned someone from wheezle's easel for in their mind being toxic, the other mods including piacere and their friends didn't feel the person was that bad, but instead of voicing that they went on a rant at how they were never listened to. Even when given an opportunity to unban the person piacere went on about not being listened to while actively ignoring their attempts at giving them an input. They caused my friends to have anxiety attacks and cry, yes they apologized, but only after saying my friends were horrible people. I don't know how you go from that to sorry in a few days and mean that apology. Proof under this, and another situation and perspectives of other people on them.

Now for the new situation i heard of, they were in my friend's server, velon's, and they'd do their constant venting. They were asked to not mention suicide so often and got really upset. More stuff must have happened because like, everyone there says how they would make them super stressed out with how often they'd beg for attention and do things like make sex jokes with people who were uncomfortable with it. Here's people's opinions on it and also i'd check out Typhoonclade's post on them here for more opinions.

Generally they'd vent everywhere around like 16-18 year olds as an almost 20 year old. they'd constantly cry about not getting attention while they got a lot of attention from at least half the active members in our server. And also a lot of weird sexual stuff that granted is hearsay to me but tbhI don't care anymore, there's no way two unrelated people have similar stories. Here's some other stuff of them being mean about people and attention seek-y I have.

Piacere, you won't read this tbh, but just get off the internet, its clear you can't handle it, and you hurt people, for everyone's good, please just get offline. I know real life sucks for you, you'd say it a lot man, but its not an excuse to hurt people who aren't doing anything to you. Just, idk what you should do, other than leave the wider internet.

[gamerbunny1996]

Jock Jschlatt x reader

Chapter 3

Next day came. Schlatt and y/n made it to the school. Schlatt walked ahead slightly from his long legs. Y/n tried to keep up the best she can but with her little legs it's hard. Making it to a little corner where the wall is lined with windows. The group from lunch yesterday was all there. “You're all here early today what's with that” schlatt spoke fist bumping Ted. They all started to talk about all kinds of random stuff y/n felt awkward being there she almost decided to walk away.

Right when she turned around she ran right into someone. Looking up it was a girl with long purple hair and very pretty makeup on. “Sorry” y/n whispered out. “It's alright cutie” her thick Irish accent came through. “What did you just call her?” Schlatt questioned, a little pissed. “um cutie what's wrong with that” the girl walked up to him.”No one but me calls her anything think that” he got up in her face. Y/n tried to get in-between the two so they don't fight. Her hands went on Schlatt's chest to push him away. “Please no it's just a name” y/n spoke quietly to schlatt.

“You're just so tiny” the girl squealed, grabbing y/n and bringing her into a tight hug. “Minx I swear-” Schlatt soon got cut off by Minx dragging y/n away. Y/n looked back at Schlatt with scared eyes. He was about to go after them until Ted stops him by dragging him over to the corner where a couple of them are looking at a laptop. “You gotta see this” Schlatt just rolled his eyes.

Minx ended up rambling to y/n on how cute she was and how she wanted to do her makeup and dress her up. Y/n just wanting to get back to Schlatt not really wanting to be near someone she doesn't really know. The bell ringing and y/n got so excited to be able to leave. “Um, I have to go to my English class now,” she said, slowly walking away. “I'll walk you” minx links her arm around y/n and walks her to her class. Y/n getting dragged along once again by her.

Minx sees Schlatt waiting outside the door to the classroom. “What are you doing here?” Minx said in a harsh tone. “Class” Schlatt bluntly said. “Really? That's unfair why do you get a class with this cutie?” Minx gets close to Schlatt's face. “I didn't choose to do that” Now the two start to fight again. Y/n grabbed Schlatt's arm and dragged him in class so a fight didn't break out. “I don't like fights” y/n said once they got into class. “We weren't going to fight,” Schlatt tried to reassure her.

Once class had started and they had free time to work on their assignments Schlatt walked over to his seat next to y/n. “So who is Minx?” y/n asked schlatt. “She's a friend in the group she's in cheer too” y/n nodding her head in understandment. Looking at her laptop she couldn't stop thinking about how mean schlatt was to her. Was he like that just to her or to everyone? He was usually quiet when y/n was around so she didn't know if he was. She was so in her own thoughts she didn't realize Schlatt was poking her to get her attention. Once she realizes it she looks at Schlatt “you good you went all Spacey on me.”

“Yes just thinking” is all she said

He was a little worried about her but went back to writing.

Later on lunch came and Schlatt took y/n outside with him. In a nice grassy area a group of kids were. She saw Minx there and hid behind Schlatt. Holding onto his shirt so she doesn't get pulled away from him. Minx spots y/n immediately and jumps up to talk to her. Schlatt put his arm out pushing Minx's away from y/n. “No stay away”

“Why”

“Because she clearly is scared of you”

“No she's not”

“She is you got to be calm with her”

The two kept going at it. Soo Ted walks up behind slowly taking you away from the two. “They will bicker with each other forever” Ted told y/n. She just nodded her head watching the two. Soon she sees Schlatt's eyes lit up. Walking away from Minx's. He walks up to y/n. Pulling his backpack off his back he digs through the bag. Pulling out a jersey he handed it to y/n. “Wear this Friday to school” he told her. She looked at it and noticed his last Name in bold on the back. “Why?” she asked him. She continues to study the jersey waiting for his answer. “Because on Fridays everyone wears their school jerseys and the girls of the guys who play wear one of theirs and I want you to wear mine.” hugging it to her chest she smiles. “Okay I'll do that”

[fandoomrants]

Some personal Marauders era hcs and thoughts.

I don't aim to offend anyone and that's just a bunch of canon-related stuff I think.:

The Marauders:

-Peter WAS their friend. That's what made it even more hurtful in the end. But like, he was actively their friend, who they loved and trusted. However, I believe he was also underestimated, especially by Sirius. And not because he didn't consider him a friend, but because he didn't consider he could turn their backs on them because he admired them too much and wasn't a capable and therefore dangerous person.

-On the contrary, the reason Sirius thought Remus was the spy wasn't because he was a werewolf. It was because he knew he's capable and could take care of himself, and could keep a secret. But he was more likely to actually do something out of his own will.

-Remus saw Harry for the first time on the train when he was 13. He never saw him as a baby because he was already estranged from his friends.

-Remus stepped aside because he realised he couldn't have the lives most of his friends had, and didn't want to be a burden, or threat.

-The Prank was nasty but it wasn't that big of a deal. Of course Remus was angry at Sirius but I believe they all were. Yet it was just a stupid thing he did as a child (sorry,l but 15-16yos are the dumbest years of someone's life decison-wise, imo and that's talking both from experience and observation) and he was very much aware it wasn't in order to hurt and expose him as a werewolf.

The girls:

-Marlene was probably around the Marauders' age and attended Hogwarts with them because Lily mentions her in her letter to Sirius. However, there's a chance that they just got close because of the Order.

-Dorcas was, as I've seen many people hc, perhaps much older than them, however. I personally don't think it was a common thing for someone to leave Hogwarts and immediately join the Order. Or even if they did that because all the help was appreciated, they weren't such a big threat, no matter how good wizards and witches they were. However, the little we know about her is that Voldemort dealt with her personally. He dealt with James and Lily personally (*sob*) in order to get to Harry but that's because of the prophecy. She must have been a real pain in the .... for him to want to do it personally, and I think this means she was someone with a lot of experience.

-Lily didn't hate James and they weren't enemies to lovers but more of strangers to lovers. Yeah, she got irritated by him and the rest mistreating Snape who was her friend but this doesn't mean she hated him, she disliked him. (Also, for enemies to lovers, it's supposed to be from both sides and he didn't dislike her, quite the contrary.)

-Lily wasn't popular. I'm pretty sure at Hogwarts everyone knows each other because you get to live with these people, more or less, even if you're not the same year or house, but I don't think she was popular.

The Slytherin skittles:

-Regulus was probably a Capricorn. That's more about the fanon interpretation but also the little we know about him?? That note in the locket?? I know lots of Capricorns. If someone's gonna do it, it's a Capricorn.

-Same as Dorcas, Evan was probably also much older than the rest. Moody was an experienced auror. Only someone who is also experienced and powerful can match him in a duel.

-Barty wasn't insane before Azkaban.

-Barty wasn't a good person and what he did was bad but he wasn't some psychopath without emotions, he loved his mother. His father is the one who was mostly responsible for him becoming who he is. Yet he's not considered "bad" because he wasn't a Death Eater.

-Regulus became a Death Eater completely willingly. He believed in Voldemort's ideas. Something changed later but he believed them at first and he wasn't forced by his parents, they weren't ones and their whole deal came for the love of purity, not power, he didn't do it in order to get closer to Voldemort and discover the Horcrux thing, or anything like that.

-These characters are interesting and cool, I love reading about them but I'm not apologising their actions and disregarding the fact they were villains in the end, redempted or not.

General thoughts about other characters and things:

-Alice and Frank were older than the Potters. At one point I believed they were the same age but the more I grow up, the more I get to realise that James and Lily were really young when they had Harry and that was most likely not the case with most.

-Also, I think this is pretty much confirmed, Alice and Frank got tortured and lost their sanity after Voldemort disappeared. On that topic, there's a chance Bellatrix and some of Voldemort's most loyal supporters might have had at least a slight idea that Neville could have been the Chosen one. Or at least they knew something about Alice and Frank.

-Snape was genuinely not a nice guy. We see a moment in which the Marauders are jerks to him but this doesn't mean he was a victim of their abuse all the time, and hadn't done anything wrong. The spell James uses is one Snape invents, and it was something Remus says was popular and done all the time so Snape might have been the one who used it first on someone. He also called Lily "mudblood" because he was angry but she was his friend that tried to protect him. Just because he loved her doesn't excuse him. In fact, it makes it worse. Back to the Sirius didn't tell him about Remus to hurt Remus thing. Well, here Snape did it with the purpose of hurting Lily.

-James wouldn't have liked Regulus, no matter of either of them's sexuality, and vise versa. And it all comes to Sirius. We have no canon mentions on Sirius and Regulus's relationship during Hogwarts but I think they were estranged. And James was a very good and loyal friend, he wouldn't have went to his best friend's brother knowing what Sirius thought of his family and his relationship with them. Same way, Regulus wouldn't have had anything to do with his outcast's brother best friend.

-I genuinely don't think they were all queer. Like, that was the 70ies and it wasn't spread and accepted. Even if they were, they would have been in the closet.

That's it for now. Some of these are based on literal facts from the books and some are personal opinions. Again, this is in no way aimed to offend anyone's opinion, or ships. I do enjoy reading about these characters, I ship most ships, I don't mind the rest. That's just my opinion canon-wise. Also, I might not remember some things well so excuse me if there's evidence against something I said in canon.

[askauradonprep]

got any founding of Auradon and the rescuing of Lampwick, Alexander and the other stupid little boys hc?

no one EVER talks about the founding of Auradon!

Ohhhhhh this has opened a flood gate. This might go long.

Okay, so, initially the realms merging was slow? A couple places connected like Hercules and Aladdin's. Bits and pieces from different worlds and timeframes. It was not a big all at once thing until towards the end. That was a matter of fate and was not caused by any one individual. This DID however help with things like communication barriers and adjusting to differing circumstances.

There was something odd going on though. Several people who, by varying belief systems, should have ended up in other afterlives that were ending up in the Greek underworld. This WAS caused by an individual - the Evil Fairy Godfather. He thought that getting certain villain together would make things more 'fun'. Maleficent didn't disappoint. She, using her own creativity for magic and some 'visit the land of the living' assists from Hades, convinced a group of villains to form an alliance (temporarily! Villains don't share well, she knows that) to take their revenge on those who had defeated them. Hades thought this was HOT AS HELL by the way.

The heroes, however, teamed up to stop them because....yes? Duh? They were gonna do that? And unlike villains and their giant egos and selfish, cruel natures, they actually are pretty good at teamwork. So the alliance was defeated and in order to establish some...well, order, in the chaos of a merge, different kings/queens/heads of state ran for a sort of 'high king' position to make final executive decisions for this new giant landmass. Adam won, because he had some strong ideas for leading Auradon into a golden age.

So. First they had to deal with the villains. Now, Adam wasn't totally happy with how things went with Gaston. Yes, he was happy things worked out and he and Belle had their happy ending, but it stuck with him that Gaston wormed out of facing any kind of justice because he died. He tried to put it out of his mind because, well, he was DEAD, he couldn't hurt anyone anymore. The alliance blew that out of the water. Suddenly they weren't safe even WITH their villains dead. They'd proven that they could and WOULD keep coming back to haunt them. So he decided the safest thing to do would be to put them on an Isle. It would be surrounded by a barrier, breakable only by the most powerful magical objects. No evil magic would be able to work there and they wouldn't be allowed any technology at the level of wi-fi or more advanced than that. That way, they could just...live their lives and be each other's problem instead of everyone else's.

I truly feel that the sheer and utter awfulness of the Isle was born more out of apathy than any strong intent to make the Isle as miserable as possible - at least on Adam's part. I mean, he's angry with them for sure and he maaaaay have learned that sometimes being harsh gets the job done for convincing people to try to be better (worked for him), but I don't think either is what he's thinking of. I think he just didn't care. Supplying the Isle with items that don't sell in Auradon just seemed like a practical way to get rid of stuff that people didn't want. And frankly, Adam doesn't care enough about the villains to make sure that the Bureau is conducting proper inspections to make sure that the stuff they send isn't spoiled or broken to the point of being unusable. The kids are a mix of the same apathy, a sort of 'they surely wouldn't be so awful to their own flesh and blood kids, right?' and just generally not wanting to keep dealing with these people who've tried to ruin his life twice now because just thinking about them makes him angry and contrary to popular belief he does not ENJOY losing his temper (even though it's definitely still there sometimes). Is that an excuse? Of course not. Adam SHOULD have cared. He SHOULD have made sure the Isle wasn't being turned into a dump. He SHOULD have made sure the Bureau cared. He SHOULD have been making sure the Isle's conditions were humane. He SHOULD have taken these kids away because WE DON'T LET KIDS GROW UP IN JAILS. That's not so much an excuse for Adam as it is a clarifying of motives.

Back to the founding though - so uh. There were a LOT of trials. Some of the ones about more controversial people on the Isle are below. Adam was not the judge in all of these. There were other judges who oversaw different cases. The judge who did the majority of the convictions for abuse of anthropomorphized animals was noted as being PARTICULARLY strict. - Aunt Sarah: Aunt Sarah was never actually convicted of anything. She's LEGALLY speaking free to go and can leave the Isle whenever she wants. She CHOSE to go to the Isle to take care of her cats, who WERE to be sent to the Isle because they were part of the villains alliance (which isn't surprising because they love destroying things and causing general mayhem). - Anastasia: Got suckered into helping with Lady Tremaine's part in all this (plus Drizella). So she got convicted with them. She is INCREDIBLY bitter about it and Cinderella wasn't happy about this. - Iago: Iago...never really stopped stealing stuff. He was doing a lot of that during the chaos of the battle and so well. Yeah. Aladdin ain't happy either. - The Ringmaster: According to some of the comics and games (which Descendants has used for material before) he IS significantly more abusive to his animals than in the movie. Which makes it easier to understand why he is on the Isle. - Amos Slade: Amos Slade's trial is mostly noteworthy for establishing an early precedent in crimes against anthropomorphized animals (which Auradon now knows is a thing). He tried to appeal his sentence on the grounds that he couldn't possibly have known Tod was anthropomorphized at the time he committed his crimes. The judge applied a new variant of something called the thin skull rule - basically if you are legally at fault for something, you can't avoid the penalty because the harm done was unexpectedly and unforeseeably severe. In this case, the judge ruled that while Amos couldn't have known Tod was anthropomorphized, he DID know he had NO business being illegally on that nature preserve and he most CERTAINLY knew he was not to hunt there. Therefore, he had to 'take his victim as they came' and the fact Tod happened to be anthropomorphized meant he was still guilty. And therefore still to be sent to the Isle of the Lost. - Hades: Zeus had Hades (and other greek gods and monsters involved in this alliance like the fates, Hecate, Circe, the Titans) tried in god court. This was the second time that they had tried to destroy Olympus and Hades particularly had done so to try to take the world for himself. So he sentenced them to be given a partial dose of the potion Hades gave Hercules to make them more mortal. Their magic could now be affected by the barrier, and they were a lot more vulnerable. Hades was HUMILIATED and was known to vacillate between 'I am a god, you can't do this to me' and 'I used to be a god, leave me alone'. Zeus had them stored in the Isle for safekeeping. As long as the mortals don't mess with them, he doesn't really care who the High King for mortal politics is.

The resurrected villains have no memory of dying, though they remember the battle.

The idea of the Isle of the Lost was controversial in some circles (Aladdin has never liked it, the Court of Miracles have never trusted it), while others had varying levels of trust in the idea (as presented. I don't think any would approve of how it turned out).

Since you brought up the Coachman - yeah, there was a LOT of testimony in bringing him in. Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket, and the Blue Fairy (who'd been keeping an eye on him) all testified. So did Honest John and Gideon, because they were afraid of the GRIZZLY death that awaited anyone involved in Pleasure Island. Adam reduced their sentence from death to being placed on the Isle of the Lost - BEFORE the Coachman. Therefore, he wouldn't be able to retaliate without his magic.

The Coachman himself was totally unrepentant. He stood there grinning that horrible grin when Adam was going over his crimes. He wasn't at all afraid of the Isle or the possibility of death. And he flat out refused to help Adam find any of the kids. Adam just about lost his mind. He managed to deep breathe though and then told the Coachman, very firmly, that if he didn't help find the kids within a year or if god forbid one had died, then he would have Fairy Godmother turn him into a donkey. And then he'd be sold to one of the places he sold the kids to, where he would be worked to death. And then he'd be brought back and sold to the next place, and over and over again. And finally, when he'd worked on every place he'd sold a kid to, he'd be sent to the Isle of the Lost to live the rest of his life there as a donkey. While getting angrier, louder and more bestial the longer he went on. Wiped the grin right off the Coachman's face. He agreed to find the kids.

The boys being rescued was done in a variety of places. A LOT of owners were HORRIFIED - they had no clue what they'd bought. Adam sent busses and ordered they be promptly returned home to their parents, who were notified of the good news. Adam had the Coachman accompanied by a hero at all times (often someone like Hercules who could literally turn him into a smear in an instant) and he went to a handful of places personally to make sure the kids were turned back. He also sent the Blue Fairy or Fairy Godmother to ensure there was no funny business in him turning the boys back. Although I think the Coachman knew he was in deep at that point and knew better than to play games.

The boys stopped a couple places on their way back. One of them was the encanto, where the Madrigals let them stay a couple days while they resupplied and planned the rest of the trip (because like hell were the Madrigals gonna look at these little boys who've gone through a nightmare and kicked them out). Mostly though, I think they were glad to go home. Their parents basically threw a big block party when they got home. There were lots of happy tears.

Blue Fairy PERSONALLY dropped off the Coachman on the Isle. Which was...dangerous since she didn't bring her wand (she didn't want it stolen) but she insisted.

After everything that happened with the battle, it was clear that, while magic is a very powerful resource, it also has serious issues. It can be abused against people who have no real way to fight back. So Adam has 1) STRICTLY forbidden the use of evil magic. 2) While good or neutral magic isn't illegal, his government officially encourages people to try other means to solve their problems, like knowledge. 3) Use of magic by members of the council (like Fairy Godmother) must be APPROVED by the Council, for that reason. Hence why FG needs council permission to use her wand, even though nobody else seems all that troubled by the magic ban.

Most of the rest of the first year was focused on building infrastructure, opening Auradon Prep, and establishing the new government. As for the sidekicks? While Adam didn't force people to pay them, he has also created infrastructure that means there's large swathes of time they're not working, among other things. I guess he thought that'd balance out. It does not. "Not working" is not the same as PTO, benefits or wages. But well.

Overall? It was a pretty good start to a reign that DID create a golden age, but it also planted the seeds for rotten fruit, namely the Isle and the sidekicks issue. It added up to a complicated legacy where he did do genuinely impressive things - but also awful and flat out monstrous things.

I know that was more about the founding than the Coachman and co. but I tried to include that story here!

[mildcicada]

[dragon-tamer-1]

I want to be able to reblog people's art without having to worry about people's negative reactions when it's someone that a majority of people don't like, is that so much to ask?

Why must it be a problem if I like someone's art even if the person believes in something others don't? Why must people treat people like they're bad for liking someone's art and writing when others don't like that person because of their beliefs?

I'm just hanging out and reblogging art and writing that I find enjoyable. In the end that's just what I'm doing when I reblog stuff. Enjoying it. If it's something I don't enjoy/like to see, I just block the tag or, if it's a specific blog that I decided that I didn't enjoy and don't want to see I block that blog as well. Otherwise just vibing. I don't hate anyone that doesn't like someone else of course, but the way people talk about that one person, it's like they think it's the worst possible thing for someone to enjoy that person's art and writing. I just can't hate someone based on that person's beliefs, it just goes against my own personal beliefs, and I can't help that I still enjoy those things.

I try to keep the drama and stuff off my blog cause I'm not about that. And it shouldn't be treated like some kind of crime to still enjoy someone's art/writing/etc just because other people don't like that person, in my opinion.

[theflyingfeeling]

I hope everyone's having a nice Sunday, and if not, I hope I can make it more less terrible with the third chapter for my fic let me down slowly, now on AO3 ✨

again, huge thanks to anyone who's been reading this 🥺 the final chapter will be up at some point next week

[roobylavender]

(Really long ask ahead i’m sorry!) I think your thoughts on dick and his similarities vs differences to bruce are so interesting! Personally i’m wondering how much of NTT played an influence on this kind of characterization bc i’ve never fully finished ntt but i read like nearly all the pre-80s batman 1940 issues lol and dick very much was portrayed as more idealistic than bruce in some ways while more no-nonsense (? For lack of better word) in other ways, like when it comes to batman easing up a little on selina for romance reasons LOL. Though ofc dick totally turns into - well, a dick - in team books, as i grow older i find myself far more compelled by a potential story of an 18 yr old who seemed to have the whole weight of the world on his shoulders (by his own perception) and breaking under his own impractically strong sense of duty and sky-high expectations for others, then realizing as he grows older that it doesn’t have to be that way esp after seeing the perspectives of characters like kory, wally, joey, roy, etc. Like personally as someone who never really had a huge interest in NTT anyway, i’m surprised at how desperately people want to hold on to the characterization of dick when he was 18-19 and never letting him grow past that, like it’s so difficult for me to believe that at age 25 he would be the same uptight controlling kid that he was at 19. Maybe i’m biased though bc i was like one of those insufferable INTJ internet stereotypes as a teenager, and while that worldview did bring me achievements i’m proud of like the fact that i’m in med school rn studying what i love, i still know that at age 22 i have changed SO much from when i was 18 and i can’t imagine any reasonably mature or normally-functioning person (let alone someone high-functioning like dick) not doing the same lol. Especially since dick is the kind of person who would literally die if he’s not constantly growing and evolving past his faults bc of his insufferable perfectionism, idk how he’d be willfully blind to the negative effects of his worldview in early NTT and refuse to grow from there. He even has a quote that’s like “i’ve spent years as a student of my own behavior” which i always found highly encouraging bc i know he really does want to improve himself even at his worst. It reminds me of that Marcus Aurelius quote: “if someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, i shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone; the harm is to persist in one’s own self-deception and ignorance.” But what are your thoughts? (Thank you for reading all this 🥹)

oh i absolutely agree! i cannot tell you how many times i think about the person i was a couple years ago and who i am now like i cringe so much omg.. maturity is an ever persistent process even if we don't recognize its effects immediately and it absolutely is crazy to think that anyone would remain in such a static state of mind for several years on end. esp when like you said dick is someone who wants to be better! so despite his several hypocrisies it is nonetheless in his best interests to look internally and analyze and evolve. and i feel like that very much could have happened had there been any actual segue between dick's breakup with kory and his re-entry into the batfam. i don't think there was much of a connection between these two sets of writers at all and so what you got is what felt like two very distinct parts of dick's life that didn't necessarily reveal a bridge point. so it's not entirely unrealistic that dick may grow to be the person (at least to some extent) that bat canon portrayed him to be in the years that followed but i certainly think as it stands it felt unearned and like all of his issues explored in ntt were conveniently swept to the side without any semblance of closure (albeit i do think some of these issues are addressed in outsiders '03 but in that dickheaded way that winick explores things generally. so i'm not sure it's the kind of closure people actually want). it's very sad and ig that's what people cling to more than anything. it's not that they're opposed to him growing to be a better person but that they're opposed to a version of dick who feels like he sprung out of nothing