Midnight Church Bells
↳ Andrew and his brother sneak out.
↳ 2k words / also available on ao3!
↳ This fic is literally a year old lmao?? I was sorting through docs and found this finished draft, so I polished it a bit and here we are. Please forgive past me if the prose is... how we say 'shit'.
The holidays always snuck up on Andrew the same - sudden and unwelcome, but inevitable. This year, he’d been too invested in his studies, and, surprisingly, his own love life to notice much of withering leaves or decorations, but when he turned on the radio and heard those familiar jingles, he groaned in recognition.
Really, it was none of those things (despite how much he did tire of those songs) that bittered Christmas for him. It was the fact that once the break started, his family would come calling. And despite all protests, his parents would never let him stay at college during the advent.
“It’s time for the Lord.” His mother’s voice lifted through the phone he propped up on his dashboard. “And family,” she added after a moment. He resisted the urge to slam his head against the steering wheel, instead opting for biting his tongue. The one time his parents didn’t want him studying.
Her saying that added to the sting of the season. And family. It seemed that this was the only time of year where that was on her mind.
Which all led him to the same spot he was every December 24th: Sitting on his childhood bed, with whatever book he was currently reading in his hands, and classical music playing from his phone.
Reclining into his pillow, Andrew lifted his glasses off and put them on the bedside table, a thumb folding the wings as the other worked as a bookmark.
Yet he didn’t close his eyes. For one of those brief moments in life, he wasn’t thinking, or sleeping, or doing really anything at all. He was just there, in a limbo between sleep and consciousness, hoping that if he purposely derived himself the next day wouldn’t come as quickly.
And he stayed like that for 5 minutes. Or maybe it was 10, or maybe no time passed at all. But eventually he gave in to rest. No matter what, the morning would come and he’d rather not fall asleep during the already tedious sermons in church. So he set an alarm, put his book on the nightstand, and laid down.
He closed his eyes, and it was like he could hear the ringing already.
Maybe he did.
A soft patter-ing rang just outside his door, the familiar sound of footsteps on carpet blotting the silence. And just as he was about to roll over, Andrew heard his door creak open, and the silhouette of a man leaned into the room.
“Want to go on a walk?” He whispered, twinged with a sense of boredom.
Andrew didn’t even need to turn to know who was asking. “Give me a moment,” he sighed, and motioned to push himself off the bed.
—
“How did you know I was awake?” Andrew asked, still pulling his overcoat over his arms.
“Your light was on, I saw it through your door.” His brother responded, turning off their driveway onto the sidewalk. He was slightly ahead of Andrew, but slowed a bit so that they were walking together.
A cloud of mist formed from his breath as he stuffed his hands into his pockets, pulling the coat closer to himself to save some of his last remaining body heat. A near-midnight flit wasn’t what he had planned, but he’d prefer it than trying to sleep. Besides, this may be the only quality time he could spend with his twin during the break. God knows the time they’ve spent at college has already distanced them enough.
“So,” he huffed, searching for a topic of conversation. “How have you been?”
“Fine. Uni’s been beating my ass though - we spent practically the entire week leading up to the holidays in the lab, just sweating over our assignments. Jesus, I’m not even a Biochem major but Chemistry is just not letting up.”
It had been years since he was in a lab, but with the track he was on, he got the stress with ‘crunch time’. “I understand. I’ve recently had to rush a project for my Literary Theory course.”
“What do you even do in that class?” He questioned, half serious, half mocking.
“Analyze texts, find out how the culture of the author influenced their works.” He could go on: Literary Theory was one of his favorite classes, no matter how rigorous the course was, but he knew his brother wouldn’t care to hear the details.
Winding down their street, the two carried on talking about academia with a partial interest, not fully understanding either’s field of study but trying to be supportive anyways. Soughing wind bent branches to a static beat as they approached the neighborhood's egress. By and by they were talking about the more social aspects of their schooling: Andrew’s literature club, the parties either rarely attended, his brother’s friends.
“How has your roommate been?” Andrew asked, kicking a rock under his shoe and watching it roll along the concrete.
“Good.” He sighed out a laugh. “He’s great, actually.”
Andrew glanced over to his brother, and if the slight warmth in his voice wasn’t enough, the red on his cheeks told him everything he needed to know. He chuckled too, and gave a soft nudge on his shoulder, making them both smile.
In a weird way, they never needed to tell eachother about any of this stuff. Equal parts the awkwardness that surrounded telling your sibling, your twin of all people, who you were interested in and an unspoken alliance against their parents had kept them from ever openly speaking it. But Andrew knew his brother was into guys ever since they were teens, he just didn’t know if his brother had caught on to his own preferences yet.
The stone made a sharp sound as it drifted over to his brother, who promptly kicked it back to Andrew with the inside of his shoe.
“Helios, right?”
His brother hummed in response.
His mind trailed to the man at his college, the one who he had desperately wanted to introduce to him, and found himself grinning at the mere thought. God, he hoped Isaac would like his brother.
He opened his mouth, then shut it quickly. What would he even say? He trusted his brother, but to come out was something entirely different, and with Christmas just around the corner? No, he’d wait. Right after, though, he’d tell him. Andrew silently swore it to himself.
“Honestly, I prefer the dorms to the house.”
That snapped Andrew out of his thinking. “Really?”
“Yeah.” He stopped abruptly, and threw his arms out in exasperation. “Isn’t it suffocating to you too?”
Everytime he was in his room, Andrew could only remember the sleepless nights he spent hunched over and studying. The dining table was a barrage of moments he spent silent as his parents and brother fought. The living room was a danger zone, as he never wanted to catch his parents when they were disappointed in his brother, or worse, him. The whole house could burn down and the only memories that would go with it were the most futile. Worse was, even without flames, Andrew felt like he wadded through smoke every time he was in those walls.
He silently nodded his head. His brother just stared at him, as if he wanted voice confirmation. But how can one speak up against the pyre when its fumes had already scorched his vocal cords?
After a moment, his brother kept walking, and Andrew followed. “I contemplated not coming back this winter.” He muttered.
“As did I.” Andrew responded, suddenly getting his voice back.
“What could you possibly be avoiding?”
A million and one answers filled his head, but none escaped him - no matter what he said, not a single one would measure up to his brother's reasons. So why even bother trying to compare?
His twin huffed as he turned away, suddenly gaining some distance on Andrew, and he let him keep it.
For a while, the only sound they made was their shoes against concrete sidewalks and the crunch as they occasionally had to step into snow. Andrew brought his hands up to his face, cupping them to breathe and warm himself up. Normally he kept gloves in his pockets, just in case. But, of course, he just had to forget them tonight. His fingers combed through his hair, forcing him to look straight ahead at his brother's back. Again, he bit his tongue. But wasn’t that what had gotten him into this situation, unintentionally pushing his brother away by not talking? He didn’t understand it, but only continuing the cycle wasn’t going to help anything.
So he opened his mouth, just in time to slam right into his brother.
He stumbled, but his brother didn’t flinch. Or even look at Andrew. His eyes remained trained to the tree line, frozen in place.
Regaining his footing, Andrew tried again. “Dar-“
“Stop.” He whispered.
“No, D-“
“Shut up, Andrew, just listen.”
So he did.
For a few seconds, he didn’t hear anything. His eyes fell where his brother’s were focused, though without his glasses, the details were fuzzy.
Then, a distant chime hit his ear.
More followed.
A symphony of church bells rang, each peal like a glimmer in the air.
Andrew knew they rang the bells at midnight every Christmas Eve, though he couldn’t remember the last time he had heard them. During mass, he could imagine it would be unbearable. But from here? The sound was quite pleasant.
As the bells continued, the twins stood there, listening to it all. Andrew was the first to tear his eyes away from the church he couldn’t see, glancing over at his brother through the corner of his eye. It was the first good look he had gotten at him in a long time.
Andrew hadn’t realized how short a decade was. Though in context of anything else, the last ten years of his life had dawdled. But with his brother? It was like the blink of an eye. One moment they were running and laughing, a mirror image of one another - even the Christmas’ were tolerable. Fun, even. The next, blooming into adulthood - mimics of who they used to be.
In fact, the longer he looked at him, Andrew realized just how much his brother had changed. His hair had definitely grown, locked into a short ponytail that hung low with swooping bangs, and he made the full switch to contacts some time ago. He even got taller, and next to Andrew, he was a lofty inch or two higher. Though that could also be accredited to the boots he wore. (Ashamed to say, Andrew didn’t remember when or how he got them. They certainly weren’t a gift from their parents, but did his brother even have a job to afford them?) He was more muscular, which wasn’t saying much compared to Andrew, but he was certainly leaner. The man never made a mention of continuing his secondary school athletics, but maybe he did as an extracurricular? Again, Andrew was straining to remember specifics. Though, he supposed any reason to play was now null, as originally it was a brilliant excuse to come home late without his parents accusing him of deviancy.
But he wasn’t too alien to him. There was something still familiar to him, like flecks of gold shining through, no matter how small. After all, they began to sneak out when they were fourteen and are still doing it now. There must be something that still connected them.
Right?
Just as he had that thought, he missed his brother's pass, and the pebble went flying into a curb.
They walked in silence for a while longer, bells fading to the wind. Eventually they found themselves back on their driveway, and their silence became deafening as they lightened their footsteps. God knows what their parents would do if they found out they had been out so late.
They followed one another up the stairs, crossed the same hallway, and went to rooms adjoining. There was a time they shared one, but that was before they had moved.
Andrew slipped open his door, the knob turning slowly as to mute itself. As he slipped in, he turned half-way to see his brother doing the same.
His brother looked up, catching his gaze.
Andrew saw himself in the reflection of his eyes. They were bitter, burning with… not rage. But a violent form of disappointment.
Andrew was the center of it. And he could smell the smoke wafting.
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Has Raven/Jersey ever broken a bone?
alright, *cracks knuckles*
this one goes out to sickfic princess ana and whumpwhiz rp.
*blows a kiss to the heavens bc they're angels* MWAH!
but aaaaany-knee-ways:
...it's interesting, actually.
( or at least, it is to me, darling. )
because of how he's written, you'd think probably think, 'oh, but nina! jerseykyle gets in all these fights. he's all big and tough and strong! he prolly breaks bones all the time!" and that's precisely IT, my dear!
jersey breaks bones;
he does not get his bones broken.
EVER.
and i suppose that's because he is a seasoned fighter. ergo, he knows how to throw a wicked punch, where exactly on your body it will hurt or humiliate you the most -- probably a combination of the two if he's feeling particularly pissed that day ( everyday ) -- how many times to do it, where you're vulnerable, sees everyone as a possible adversary and thus, weaponizes the moment he sees you, surveys you, sizes you up, indicates what kind of threat you are and…
Promptly Neutralizes You.
he takes all these precautions, runs all these tedious, elaborate tests and intense, premeditated processes of elimination ( literally ), not just because he does not like losing, which he doesn't...but because he literally can't. simply put: he does not know how to lose or get hit.
see, jersey does not cope with pain very well. mentally or physically. that's why he inflicts pain, because he is secretly scared of feeling it.
on the outside, he is a harsh, frightening, impenetrable, menacing thing covered in barbs and wires and armed heavily, because on the inside he is extremely fragile and should even the smallest chink in his armor form, his entire fierce façade will shatter into smithereens.
he does not like to get hurt, to feel weak, to feel unpleasant and horrible things, so he does everything in his power to be powerful so that he will never feel powerless. it's why he learned how to fight, it wasn't to hit people, it was to avoid being hit by other people. it was a defense mechanism because of how often he got bullied and how weak he constantly was from swimming out against the current of all his chronic illnesses. a lot of people would just let go of that short stick that life gave them and drown, but not kyle. not my baby. no, his life belongs to him. so he sharpened that stick into the shiv...
stuck it straight through the gut of life,
— and made god beg for HIS mercy.
but yes, it's all a perfectly placed show. because my boy, scary and frightening as he may be swinging those freckled fists of fury...
is a fucking WUSS.
who has not broken a lot of bones actually! not his anyways! because when he does lose a fight, he is a sore fucking loser indeed because he's suddenly hit with all this pain that he does not know how to endure or deal with and literally is such a baby and a princess, omg.
i /swear/ that WHOLE divorce whumpshot para and the one of him barfighting is him acting really tough and cool, but hes really like hooly shit, this sucks so fkn Bad, i hate this, i want my mOM!! :'(
riiiiiiiiiip, lmaooooo.
spoiler alert: jersey kyle is dainty and spoiled. he is a champion complainer and if gets a papercut...
you will hear about it.
trust.
conversely, however...lead singer ravenstan,
is very Quiet about pain.
ravenstan knows pain like the back of his hands, he, unfortunately, has had hands on him his entire life and where kyle learned to kick and claw and bite, stan just...internalized and endured all that pain.
he isn't brutal or vicious, he is kind and forgiving, he does not hurt things even if they are hurting him and has been hurt so much that being hurt is as easy as breathing to him…which is horrible because he has asthma and a lot of smoke-related respiratory damage.
but yeah, i actually ( god, i love you ravenstan ) want to scream because where jersey is hard outside and soft inside, raven is soft outside and hard inside and is extremely good at being hurt, ( a child weaned on pain thinks hurt is a comfort, rip ), will take pretty much anything you throw at him and because he literally does not want to inconvenience you...will not even indicate that he's hurt to you.
like he is very passionate about protecting and taking care of other people, but he does not care at all about himself or what happens to him, so if you're hurt, he is on his hands and knees, comforting you, placating you, doing whatever he can to help you...and he might have three bullets in his back, you wouldn't know until he started bleeding through his clothes and fell over. that man is a fucking TANK, guys.
the universe has tried to kill ravenstan...several tries.
( suicide tw, he has also tried a couple times </3 )
no such luck.
it helps that he actually has a surprising amount of off-hand medical knowledge because sharon transferred a lot of it onto him during stan's childhood when she was patching him up because he was a fkn disaster child who tracked mud and blood into her house 25/8, spent three days in a tree and took a hockey puck to the face.
i genuinely think that a large part of why stan was able to survive and endure a lot of the horrors he had was because sharon scolding him in spanish and teaching him stuff literally saved his fucking life.
but yeah, ravenstan is my selfless, accident prone king. he is such a mess, pilots his body so carelessly that it is legitimately frightening. he is constantly covered in bruises he doesn't remember getting, scratches he didn't even notice, does dumb shit and gets hurt and like literally can’t tell he's hurt until he is like abt to pass out.
tldr: rave gets hurt often and has broken a lot of bones.
usually because he's doing stupid, heroic shit.
for example, i am not sure how it got broken, i like to think it was at a concert or an event and he SAVED SOMEONE from something falling or what have you and broke the fuck out of his arm. so his arm was in a cast ( i need it to be hot pink ) and he was super bummed out and felt hella bad because he had a meet and greet and couldn't sign autographs so he just let everyone else...
give him Their autograph instead.
so no one got a personally signed picture of raven of crimson dawn, but much cooler, imo, was that they all personally signed his cast.
my eyes are leaking, lmao. branch in my eyeeee. ;-;
gods...sweet...sweet angel. uGh.
THIS IS SO LONG, BUT I HOPE THIS ANSWERS YOUR QUESTION! idk why i got so invested in this, omg, but thank you for asking and being curious and thank you all for being so lovely and asking me things. it means a lot to me that you care and know i adore you.
-uncle nina, jerseykyle inflictor of angst pain
( and major wuss ) >.>
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Welcome To The Tournament!
This blog is exclusively to run the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny Tournament based on Lemon Demon's song sharing the same name! This post is to straighten out the rules and details to hopefully avoid too many questions.
How the bracket order was picked out:
I did my best to do the pairings based on the order which the character first appears in the song. All of the characters in the song are fighting against each other in the first round with the exception of Monty Python's Black Knight, as we're having a mini-round with him in order to let the two Gandalfs duke it while still keeping the number of brackets enough to make sure everyone has a match. The other exception is Mr. Rogers, as he won in the original song, and I am putting him in the third round to give some other fighters a chance to fight without his interference with the polls.
How the character versions were picked out:
I knew that there would be fights and questions with many of these characters if I left what version was fighting ambiguous, so I looked around for the most well-known versions of these characters, favoring the versions which are most popular in their respective fandoms. Believe it or not, I'm not in every fandom ever, so I apologize if you don't agree with my picks. Similarly, the strengths and weaknesses are gotten from the specific version's character Fandom Wikipedia page. I apologize if I got any strengths and weaknesses wrong. The exception to this 'only one version of the characters' rule is the Power Rangers, as the song specifies "Every Single Power Ranger" Therefore I did not want to exclude any versions. I got the help of a friend to understand the Power Rangers MO and try to balance their strengths and weaknesses to make sure they didn't roll over everyone else in this tournament.
What age are they?
Some of these characters are still living or quite old, and some characters' ages fluctuate throughout their media. Because of this, I am making a blanket statement that all of these characters are fighting during the prime of their careers.
Where are they?
Based on the opening line of the song, all of the characters will be fighting in Tokyo City Earth, they are allowed to leave this starting location as much as they are able.
Motivation?
There is no specific motivation for all of these characters, other than they were placed in Tokyo and have sufficient incentive to fight each other. For example, Superman could think that his opponent is a threat to Earth, Terminator could think his opponent is trying to stop his mission to kill Sarah, etc. However, characters with moral backbones will still follow their moral codes, and a character wins a fight if either A. They kill the other character or B. They convince the other character to not fight.
Poll Logistics
I know it will be impossible to make these fights truly unbiased, but I want for as many people as possible, for them to vote based on who they think would win in a fight, not who they like most. Otherwise, the final results will be based on who has the biggest fandom. What I want from this tournament is silly arguments about how these characters would fight each other, not a survey on who people like more. Every poll will last a day and each round will happen with every pairing going up against each other in the same day. However, the next round may not happen immediately after the last one. I'll try my best to be on top of it, communicate if and when the next round will be, etc. But I'm just a humble college student and I don't want to make this tournament a part-time job
Bias
I am not in all of these fandoms, but I am in some, and I also want to engage with people in the comments. However, I do not want to skew results. So I am not going to reblog posts encouraging people to vote for one character or the other, but if any cool fanart comes out I will be reblogging that. I will also be chatting with people in the notes, but not reblogging anyone to chat so it doesn't show up on the blog page.
Finally, every poll will be tagged with the characters in them, which means this poll will be showing up in a lot of different fandoms. It is not my intention to annoy people by popping up in their feeds when they just want to look at fanart or fan posts. Therefore I'm tagging every post of mine #USOUD Tournament and #Ultimate Showdown of ultimate destiny. If you don't want to see me ever again, block those tags.
Happy fighting!
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