#entirety of halloween. so. uh

[puppy-barkz]

i've only seen the first halloween and the last halloween and i Did Not like either so can someone tell me if the others are better? is it worth revisiting the franchise?

[bio1]

Hey everyone, we final got done with act 1 of my Earthspark horror theme fan fic called "throughout a rotted oak".

Was going of this posted on Halloween (since the story takes place there) but we just didn't have enough time or energy for that then.

Anyway thank you to my friend @billie-jay for doing A lot of the writing and grammar checking with me. Couldn't done this without them. Anyway here's the first act, Enjoy.😊

Also warning this story contains: descriptions of graphic imagery and body horror.

"Throughout a rotted oak" Act one: sleepy beginnings.

Despite how close to midnight it was, the sound of footsteps could still be heard throughout the dugout. A combination of caffeine and late night movie watching was keeping Twitch Malto wide awake while the rest of her terran siblings dozed off peacefully. In her defense, if Robbie didn’t want her drinking his energy drinks, he should have kept them hidden better. And the password to her father’s Netflix account should have been more secure than ‘bumblebee123’.

Though the entirety of the terrans had all stayed up to binge as many horror movies as they could think of (with the expectation of Jawbreaker, who had his eyes closed the entire time out of fear), only Twitch was still awake. As she paced nervously up and down the dugout, she looked over her sleeping siblings one by one. Thrash was in his alt mode, somehow completely upside down. His engine was repeatedly reving up and stalling in a cycle, as if he was snoring. Jawbreaker was laying facedown on the floor, a comically small teddy bear perched carefully on top of his head. Hashtag, who had tried staying up later herself by watching youtube, had eventually fallen asleep as well, her phone autoplaying what sounded like Russian dashcam crash footage. And Nightshade… Hm, actually, she didn’t see Nightshade anywhere. Not that she was really paying attention, however. Her mind was too busy replaying everything she had seen earlier in the night over and over.

The kids had essentially gone to the horror section on Netflix and watched as many movies as they could before they got tired. From goofier horror comedies like "Critters" to things genuinely terrifying physiological thrillers like "Halloween", and some striking and odd balance of the two like "Scream". What really got to her, however, was John Carpenter's "The Thing", and not just because of what happened to those poor sled dogs. That awful, morphing monster, the way it ripped the research team apart, really stuck with her. Possibly because it reminded her of a few of Mandroid’s own creations she had to fight before, epecially that bear mutant from mother’s day.

She was so caught up in her own head that she didn’t even notice Fluffy Ears right in front of her. Twitch ended up tripping right over the family’s pet cow, who decided it would be a good idea to sleep in the middle of the dugout’s hallway. She managed to catch herself mid fall by switching into her alt mode just before hitting the ground. The sleepy calf roused her head, looked at the little red drone hovering directly in front of her, gave her a quick lick, and fell back asleep. The whole ordeal was quiet enough not to wake anyone else, but it did catch the attention of Nightshade, poking their head out from around a corner near their lab.

“Oh, Twitch, I didn’t know you were still up.” They smiled. “Is everything alright? You look nervous.”

“How can you tell that if I’m in my alt mode?”

“Well, you’re shaking. Pretty violently.”

She hadn’t even realized that, but they were right. She accidentally bumped into Fluffy Ears pretty hard. Startled, Twitch switched back into her normal mode and tried profusely apologizing to the calf. Fluffy Ears didn’t seem to mind, and got up from her spot to start aimlessly wandering around the dugout.

“I’m, uh, I’m fine, Nightshade. What are you doing over there, anyway?” Twitch attempted to change the subject, making her way over to Nightshade’s lab. At the very least, this might be a fun distraction. Nightshade’s bright green optics lit up at this, clearly excited to show someone their work.

"I am so glad you asked." They tugged on their sibling's arm and pulled them into their lab. On a table in the center was a large, ominous looking metal contraption.

"Wait, isn't that-" Twitch began, before getting cut off.

"The reverse beartrap from Saw, yes!" Nightshade beamed, proudly holding it up. "The movies we watched tonight weren't particularly the type I enjoy, but I did appreciate some of the creative inventions a few of them displayed." They looked over to see Twitch with a completely horrified expression on her face. "Oh, are you wondering if it works? I am too. This is just a prototype I whipped up based on how it was explained in the film. I was actually just about to test it-" They reached under the table and pulled out a full pumpkin. Nightshade extended their arms and eagerly gestured for Twitch to take the gourd. "Since you're up, would you like to do the honors?"

"... Actually, I was wondering why you built a torture device in the first place." She finally responded, nervously looking it over. "I mean, you've built some crazy stuff in the past, but this is, uh, kind of disturbing, Nightshade."

Nightshade looked somewhat disappointed at this, shaking their head a bit. "You've got the wrong idea! A torture device implies that the victim is meant to survive."

Nightshade set the trap down and activated it themselves. Within seconds, it ripped the pumpkin open, its guts splattering messily onto the floor.

"A person wouldn't have survived that." They added, clearly happy the machine worked as intended.

Twitch flinched and stood back, her eyes growing to the size of dinner plates.

"Twitch?" Nightshade asked, concerned. "What is-oh. I get it. Don't worry, it was never my intention to use this on any living being. I just like challenging myself, and building this seemed like it would be an interesting experiment." They began scooping the guts off the concrete floor. "The thought of this device ever actually being used for its original purpose… that's something I wouldn't even have wished on Mandroid." They muse. Noticing their sister was still silent, Nightshade approached her, a worried look forming on their features.

"Are you sure you're alright? You didn't think I was really going to-" Twitch cut them off.

"No! Oh, no, I know you wouldn't, Shady. I'm just kind of on edge tonight, I guess. Probably shouldn't have stolen Robbie's energy drinks." She attempted to brush off their concern as convincingly as she could.

"You probably shouldn't have! Caffeine can worsen the hyperactive aspects of ADHD after all." They agreed, patting her on the shoulder.

"...You think I have ADHD?"

Before Nightshade could respond, a massive crunch boomed out from above them.

"What was that!?" Twitch flew out in search of the cacophony. Nightshade, trying their best to keep up with her, tiptoed as softly as they could to prevent waking the others. They found Twitch looking through the camera screens in the main room of the dugout. There was nothing unusual on live feed, just a few autumn leaves blowing past the cameras Nightshade has placed around the ranch.

"Should we-" Nightshade began, getting cut off again.

"Check it out? Yes, obviously!" She seemed a little too excited to see what was out there. Perhaps she was just looking for an excuse to feel useful, or burn off some of her energy.

Without a second of hesitation, she switched to her alt mode and flew outside, wildly darting around the sky above the dugout. Twitch changed back into bot mode as she landed on the barn's roof. With the moonlight nearly hidden behind a thick layer of clouds, it was almost pitch black outside. Nightshade caught up with their energetic sister, surprised to see her standing still as a statue.

"Twitch! There is nothing out here but the nocturnal wildlife. Perhaps it was a raccoon who made that sound." Nightshade said.

Twitch responded in a shaky tone. "Nightshade, what kind of raccoon could make a noise that loud?"

"...One with rabies?"

"Wait! Listen for a moment." She hushed, falling silent again.

Nightshade listened for something out there to satisfy their sister's paranoia. "I hear nothing Twitch."

"Exactly, Nightshade! There's nothing! No crickets chirping, none of the cows are making any sound, there aren't even moths near the lights!" She exclaimed frantically.

"Oh goodness, you're right. Now that is odd. The only time it's ever perfectly quiet outside is when there is something…dangerous around."

Nightshade glared in front of them, attempting to make out the source of the eerie calmness.

"That tree… wasn't there before." They noted, their voice shaky as they pointed ahead.

Twitch turned to see what her sibling was referring to. In the middle of the forest, several hundred meters away from the barn, a massively tall, crooked tree stood high above the rest. It only has three twisted branches, growing out of its spindly stalk in such a way to vaguely resemble a humanoid figure with bending limbs. One branch in the middle rounded out at the end to form the "head" of this horrific plant.

"Ok, so that certainly wasn't a raccoon then." Nightshade commented. Their sister began switching into her alt mode, before the younger green bot grabbed hold of her. "Twitch, wait! Going out to investigate… whatever that is right away probably isn't a good idea. We should at least think this through first."

Twitch struggled in their grip for a second before shaking herself off, but didn't immediately fly out like she wanted to. "What's the hold up? You seriously want to just head in and call it a night?" She snapped at them.

"No, of course not. I just think we shouldn't do it alone." They added, remaining calm.

"And give that tree-thing a chance to move in first? I don't think so." Twitch shifted and took off into the sky. Reluctantly, Nightshade changed into their alt mode as well, flying directly in front of her to block her path.

"Twitch! What's gotten into you?" They asked frantically. Thankfully for them, Twitch did stop on her tracks. "You clearly aren't doing well tonight. Whatever's got you troubled, I'm here for you, and so is the rest of the family."

"We clearly have bigger issues than my anxiety to deal with right now!" She shouted. "Things like… that are just more proof I haven't been doing enough to keep us safe."

"Is that what this is about? Twitch, this isn't your fault-" she cut them off.

"Well it'll be both of our faults if that tree monster gets its dirty roots on the others because we were busy screwing around here!"

Nightshade wasn't sure how to respond. Twitch’s panicked tone and expression afe it clear how stressed and out of it she was. But how were they supposed to comfort her? This entire situation was making it hard for even them to think, especially with that giant tree staring at them-

Wait, the tree was staring at them?

Nightshade slowly turned their head to get a better look, and to their horror, the tall head of the ominous tree had sprouted a pair of huge, glowing eyes.

“We need to go back inside, now!” They grabbed Twitch's arm with their talons, dragging their sister behind them. Almost involuntarily, the younger mech let out an owlish screech as they dived back into the dugout from the entrance in the barn's roof.

Switching back into their alt mode, Nightshade rushed over to the console displaying the security cameras’ feds. They displayed nothing but static, oddly enough. Nightshade, frustrated and confused, frantically tried fixing the console, but nothing seemed to be working.

After a few moments, Twitch quietly approached her sibling, meekly tapping them on the shoulder. “Shady, I need to tell you something…”

“I'm not mad at you, Twitch. Just, I need to focus right now-”

“That's not what an owl sounds like.” She continued.

Nightshade stopped what they were working on and turned to face her. “...I'm sorry?”

“I've been meaning to say this ever since you got your alt mode, but that owl screech you do isn't actually what owls sound like. The noise you make is more like an eagle or a hawk.”

Nightshade just sort of stared at her, not sure what to say.

“Oh.” Was all they could think of as a response.

“Wait, why would you bring that up now?”

“I'm sorry! I'm scared! I can't even really think straight, it feels like my brain is shutting down…” She grabbed onto her head and shook it, as if trying to forcefully wake herself up.

Nightshade tried to go back to fixing the camera system, but found that their own mind felt somewhat fuzzy as well. They've repaired similar errors on this exact console plenty of times before. Yet for some reason, the solution just wasn't coming to them now.

“It had eyes, didn't it? That's what those were, in the tree, I mean. Huge eyes.” Twitch finally spoke, her usually fast speaking voice noticeably low in energy. “Do you think… that was something Ghost made?”

“I can't imagine what use they would have with a giant, monstrous tree.” Nightshade answered, putting down the wires they were fiddling with. “We should alert the others.”

“...Right.” their sister responded. She glided over to the nearest Malto sibling, that being Hashtag. The large purple mech was still peacefully dozing off with her phone now playing, of all things, Wendigoon’s conspiracy theory iceberg. As if this whole situation wasn't ominous enough.

Twitch gently nudged the larger bot’s shoulder. “Hashtag? Get up, something happened.”

No response. She was still completely out of it.

“H-hashtag?” Twitch shook her sister a little more forcefully now.

She still didn't stir.

“HASHTAG! WAKE UP!” Twitch yelled as loudly as possible, but this didn't do much besides startle the already well-awake Nightshade.

The smaller red bot, frustrated at this point, switched into her alt mode and fired a laser several inches from her sleeping sister. This also accomplished nothing.

“Twitch! What on earth are you doing?” Nightshade called out frantically.

“I wasn't going to hit her! I… I couldn't think of anything else, I thought that would work.” She admitted, her voice shaky.

Twitch flew over to Thrash and Jawbreaker, shouting their names and firing controlled lasers inches from their bodies in a reckless attempt to wake them. The brothers were similarly out cold, however, and nothing she did had any affect on them.

“You need to stop that! If you miss and hit them…” Nightshade began, cutting themselves off as they watched the red drone revert to her bot mode, a defeated and exhausted expression washing over her face. Her large yellow optics seemed to almost wobble in place, a streaking, cold light emanating from them. Nightshade got the impression that if Cybertronians were physically capable of shedding tears, she'd be sobbing right now.

“What's going on, Shady?” She barely managed to speak, nearly choking on every word.

Seeing their usually cheerful, energic sister in such a miserable state was utterly heartbreaking for Nightshade. It wasn't her fault, but Twitch seemed to truly believe whatever misfortune her family had fallen upon somehow could have been prevented by her.

Nightshade, not being the best at emotional support, tried to go for a more practical way of comforting her. “They… they aren't dead.” The younger Terran informed her. Walking over to Jawbreaker, Nightshade gently pried his eyelids apart to reveal intact, glowing optics. They weren't responding to any stimuli, but the fact that they were on was proof that the bots were in some kind of comatose state.

“How did you…” Twitch started speaking, but seemingly lost the strength to continue partway through her question.

“How did I know?” Nightshade presumptively finished for her. Twitch nodded in confirmation. “I've installed vital trackers in all of us. If any of us were to go offline, I would get an alert.” They informed her.

“Oh, that's good. Thank you.” She seemed a little relieved, before realizing the full consequences of what her sibling just admitted. “Wait, I don't remember… when did you install those?”

“That's not really something we need to worry about now…” Nightshade mumbled, not expecting her to question their actions.

“...Nightshade, how many… things have you added to us?” She lowered her gaze a bit, inquisitively. Before questioning them further, her optics lit up, having remembered something.

“I just realized, we never saw Fluffy Ears!” She blurted out frantically. Twitch began zooming around the dugout in her altmode, looking for the baby cow.

Nightshade gave a sigh of relief that her line of questioning was over for now, and joined her in the search.

“Where was she last?” They called out, looking around their lab while Twitch scanned the dugout’s hall.

“I… I don't know, she just sort of wandered off-Oh!” Twitch flew over to a far corner of the room.

“I found her! What are you doing over here, silly cow…” Twitch nudged the calf, who seemed to be fast asleep, resting her head on her flank. Fluffy Ears didn't stir, however.

“...Fluffy Ears?” Twitch was significantly more worried as she spoke this time, her voice getting louder. The calf didn't respond.

Nightshade looked over their sister's shoulders, noting that, thankfully, the little cow was still breathing.

“That's odd, very odd… whatever happened to our siblings seems to be affecting her as well.” Nightshade leaned down and gently stroked Fluffy Ears head, mostly in an attempt to calm themselves down. This entire situation wasn't making any sense, and that scared them. They needed to remain calm, however, if only to reassure Twitch.

The smaller bot looked to her sibling for answers.

“...Do you think it's gotten to everyone in the house?”

“Are you referring to whatever has put everyone here to sleep?” Nightshade attempted to clarify.

“Yeah, I mean, if it got to Fluffy Ears… Mom, Dad, Robbie, and Mo are also organic.”

“That's a good point, actually.” Nightshade pondered. They didn't even think of that. “Are we dealing with some kind of virus that affects both organics and bots? Does such a thing even exist?”

“Forget virus, it's obviously coming from that messed up tree outside.”

“The tree? That can't be right. How could it even…” Nightshade was at a complete loss.

“Seriously, Nightshade? This thing shows up, and suddenly, all of our family is out cold. That can't be a coincidence.” She was exasperated.

“I agree it's strange, but there shouldn't be any way a plant could incapacitate both organics and Cybertronians by just… I don't even know…” Their head was starting to throb like a migraine. Trying to think critically was physically hurting them.

The two siblings just stood there, feeling their own bodies growing weaker with every passing second. It was a sensation similar to being sedated. A feeling they probably would have given into, had Twitch not noticed a strange black tendril poking out of a nearby vent.

“Is that a rat?” Twitch asked groggily. Wouldn't be the first time a rat got into the dugout. But said rats usually weren't so long. And slithering…

“Nightshade! Get down!” Twitch jumped and pushed her sibling down to the ground, just before a huge tendril swung at their head. The tendril instead hit the monitors Nightshade had attempted to fix. A single whack caused not only all the monitors to shatter, but the concrete wall behind them to violently crack.

Nightshade's optics widened with horror. There was no question about it. If that tendril had hit them instead, their head would have been knocked clean off.

The tendril dove for the pair of them, seeming to know exactly where they were despite not having eyes. They both moved to opposite sides, barely avoiding getting stabbed. As it pulled out of the small hole it burrowed into the floor, the tendril opened up for a second, briefly revealing a crimson reptilian eye that scanned the room before closing again.

Nightshade, in an effort to get out of the way, bumped into the table they had placed the reverse bear trap onto earlier. It fell into their lap with a clattering thud. An idea came to them, and they armed the trap to go off again.

“Twitch, take this and have it drive for you again! When it gets close, have it aim for the trap! I think it only keeps its eyes open for a few seconds at a time!”

Twitch, being the faster of the two even in her groggy state, agreed with a nod and flew past the tendril, the trap in her grasp. It took the bait and launched itself directly towards her, where it got the last several feet of its body caught in the trap’s mechanisms.

The tendril squirmed and rattled as the reverse beartrap’s countdown ticked. After a few agonizingly long seconds, it finally went off. Just as it had with the pumpkin earlier in the night, it absolutely ripped its prey apart with ease. Shards of metal and some kind of fleshy material flew to all corners of the dugout.

The worst part wasn't the sight of the impact, however, it was the dreadful noise it made. Whatever the tendril was attached to screamed in pain as its appendage was destroyed. It had a cry like a nuclear siren, low, loud, and ear-piercing. It felt like something you were never meant to hear, and simply perceiving was a sign that you as the listener were at death’s door.

What remained of the tendril receded back through the vents, leaking a runny black liquid with an odd, iridescent shimmer. A few of the larger chunks that had been ripped open were still slightly animate, curling where they lay like a dying spider.

Nightshade cautiously approached what appeared to be the eye of the tendril, or atleast what was left of it.

It was a translucent, jelly-like red substance with an awful black slit for a pupil that had sort of melted into the iris due to its injury. Said pupil shuddered in place one last time as Nightshade got closer, almost as if it could still perceive the bot somehow.

“Nightshade! Are you alright right!?” Twitch said, sounding out of breath despite not actually having lungs.

“Yes, I'm just a bit scratched up. It's nothing but a bit of polish won't get out.”

Without saying anything else, Nightshade grabbed and chugged down one of the energy drinks that their sister left out. “I know I said earlier that us drinking these was probably a bad idea, but I think they might help.” Their sister nervously fiddled with the can’s lid before managing to get it open for herself.

Nightshade scooped up what's left of the otherworldly tendril and brought it back to their lab.

Pausing to consider their next move, Nightshade eventually settled on attaching the still pulsating fleshy bits to a battery hooked up to a light bulb. After a few seconds, the light dimmed before going out completely. The battery was instantly dead.

“It appears you were right after all. Whatever this thing is, it emits some kind of field that drains energy from anything it's near.” Nightshade concluded.

“So that's what makes us feel so exhausted?” Twitch looked very concerned, her optics darting between Nightshade and her unconscious siblings.

“More than likely, yes. And you might have already guessed this, but I assume it's also keeping all our organic family members asleep. My current theory is that this is a hunting tactic.”

Twitch knew immediately what they were getting at. “Sleeping prey can't fight back.”

“Exactly.” Nightshade confirmed. “The fact that we were previously awake is most likely the only reason why we aren't currently unconscious.”

An uneasy silence filled the dugout. The siblings stood in place, the air around them cold and heavy with tension. Without saying a word, both of them knew what the other was thinking: that monster would be back any moment, and they couldn't keep up the energy to fight it back for long. It was a terrible calm before the storm, a feeling reminiscent of succumbing to hypothermia. An overwhelming, intoxicating urge to close your eyes and drift into a sleep you were well aware you'd never wake up from.

And at this moment, every light in the dugout switched off.

END OF ACT 1

To be continued...

[starseneyes]

Chenford - Lucy Chen / Tim Bradford - The Rookie - Season 5 - Ep 17

"The Enemy Within" AKA Chenford Sucks at Babysitting

I've been so caught up in life (mostly great stuff) that I almost forgot it was Chenford night! Gee wiz!

But, for those following along:

we got an amazing deal on a car

we're this close to picking a roof vendor

I have another regular client for a few months

might have one more big contract coming in

See!? Good. Just busy.

SPOILER ALERT: I like spoilers very very much. If you don't, please run away. I will spoil the entirety of the episode and the whole series that has come before that if the Meta demands it.

All squared away? Awesomesauce. Let's dive in.

"Hi. Uh, don't hate me." "What did you do?"

Tim is actually smiling when he sees her scurry up to him, versus last episode when he was scowling.

He can't even look at her as he asks his question, because they just weathered the storm of Tim Metro Jenga and now what!?

"No, you're supposed to say, 'I could never hate you.'"

Tim throws a look her way, and we all know that while Tim could never hate Lucy, that's not the point. He needs to know what she did and fast because his imagination's already running wild.

"Fine. I got mad at you a few months back after a Tim Test."

Because she hopped in a TARDIS and took a trip back in time.

Look, I know the timeline on this show can be a counter to reality, considering the first year of the show was about 3.5 years. But we know from 4x05 to 5x06 was a year because both episodes take place on Halloween.

Tim and Lucy started dating in 5x10, and it was "a few weeks" by the time we got to 5x12. So, we're at least a few months past Halloween, meaning that Tim hasn't put Lucy through a Tim Test in well over a year and a half.

Now, it's possible Lucy has no concept of time, but I'll admit the line took me out the first time I heard it because I try to keep track of the timeline for the sake of these Metas.

Is it a ridiculous thing to be bothered by? Abso-friggin-lutely. And totally attributable to Lucy's inability to keep track of time. Her pregnancy might feel like a decade and her first child's first year in a blink of an eye.

I hear that's how it goes for people who have one kid, at least. My twin pregnancy was a breeze compared to my second pregnancy with my daughter, and the twins' first year was... survival.

What matters is—Lucy was so pissed she set Tim up.

"Which one?" "Oh, weird, I honestly don't remember. But, so, that's not important." "What did you do?"

Tim's mouth is open the whole time she's talking, just waiting for her to give him a straight answer. He knows this is bad with how much she's stammering and starting over.

"I signed you up to be a Make a Dream mentor and then I totally forgot about it. I'm sorry." "For when?" "Today."

Tim's eyebrows shoot up to the sky and his hand automatically rises in protest. Lucy's hands rise to meet them, and his falls away.

It's a part of their dance. Yes, this sounds like I'm high. No, I'm not high (and never have been in my life). I'm connecting dots over here! ... Which also makes it sound like I'm high.

Have you ever noticed how Tim and Lucy shift based on the other, sometimes? When they're outside the plane in 5x01 and they're holding onto one another, there's a sway to their movements. They do it, again, in 5x12 right before Lucy disrobes her honey so she can eat him up. *ahem*

Tim and Lucy have a feel for each other. For the space the other occupies. There are times when occupying the same space is a very good thing, of course. But there are other times where they simply shift to make room for the other.

It's such a sweet, subtle thing that is more than likely good blocking and/or actor instinct. But it makes for such a beautiful visual of give-and-take with Chenford. It's mesmerizing.

"It's a good thing... lifting up a sick kid who's having a really hard time. What could you possibly be doing with your day that would be more important than that?

Lucy grabs onto his arm and he spins back to face her. Most of the time, it's small, open-handed touches from Lucy when they're at work. But this time she full-on handles her future husband to get his attention.

"Nice job boxing me in" "Thank you."

Tim's mad-impressed with his woman. If he wasn't so pissed, he might suggest they slip into a closet Wopez style for a quickie.

Lucy gives Tim the most adorable little bow, like a performer appreciating the applause.

"Where are you going?" I gotta go out on patrol." "You are me are gonna be entertaining our Make a Dream kid together."

Because if I have a kid, that means you have a kid. Like, it's already a foregone conclusion for these two.

Remember, Lucy knows that Tim wants kids, and thought he'd have some by now. Tim knows Lucy wants kids because she talked at length with him about her ovaries (even when he didn't want her to).

They're on the same page. Someday (not right now) there are gonna be little Chenford babies running around.

But right now, let's see if these two can handle one kid for a day.

"What else could you possibly do with your day that's more important?" "Yeah, right. I should have seen that coming."

You really should have. And while I'm curious about the logistics of this, considering he's not her supervisor, anymore, so he can't decide what she does with her day, I'm totally willing to suspend disbelief and have some fun.

Chenford + Kid? This'll be fun!

"This is my son Jordy. Say hi." "Hi. I hear you wanna be a cop." "Yeah." "Okay, well, you're gonna be hanging out with us today." "So, I just pick him up at 3?" "We'll take good care of him."

Tim has a smile for the kid when Jordy arrives, but it's not his "stop kissing my girlfriend you asshat" face he usually reserves for Chris. This is that smile he often reserves for kids—welcoming and sincere, yet still subtle. You can see it on his face with the Little League team earlier this season.

Also, I'm very curious about how this system works. I know I'm that weird Mom who wants to watch her kids' dance and Ninja classes, but I've signed waivers with those places, too. So, did Lucy forge Tim's signature on a waiver of some kind? That would be an interesting fanfic!

Also, the use of "we" and "us" still gets me. You'd think I'd be bored of it considering they've been knocking boots a while, now, but inclusive language makes me warm and fuzzy inside.

This is what happens when someone with two communications degrees writes a Meta. I'm so, so sorry.

"So, I'm thinking Processing. Wanna take your fingerprints? Get a mugshot taken?

Tim is so cute with kids! He's really trying to give this kid a fun day, even though this is not how he planned to spend his day.

Lucy's little dance in this scene had me rolling, too. We're so getting a sneak-peek at these two as parents. Spoiler Alert... they've got some work to put in. Thank God the first year is (as Bradley Whitford said in one of my favorite shows) "an on-ramp".

"Okay. Give me your meanest face." "Now look miserable."

Is it weird that Tim reminds me of my dad in this scene? Doesn't help that it's hilarious, and my Dad's an ex-standup comic. Yes, I mean it. Never feed that man a straight line.

But this kid does look miserable. Poor thing looks like he'd rather be anywhere else than at a police station.

"This doesn't exactly feel like making dreams come true." "He looks like he hates us."

Because he does. He hates your guts. It's finally happened... someone hates Chenford.

And, I know in reality there's always someone who hates something. I hate mushrooms. My husband loves them. It does nothing to the mushroom's opinion of life that I don't want to eat it while Matthew does.

But the fact that this kid's literally mean-mugging Chenford had me rolling.

Also, Tim has his arm up on the counter before Lucy approaches. When she does, his arm moves out of the way so her arm can rest there. It's their dance—always making space for one another.

THEY LOST THE KID.

I wrote this over here, then glanced at Twitter and briefly wondered if we were going to have this as a trending topic because... oh my gosh, two cops just lost a kid.

And, look, kids can be sneaky. When my Eldest was 3, he decided to play Hide and Seek at 10PM and forgot to tell us.

We searched the entire house and were about to call 911 (even though he couldn't yet unlock the doors and they were all deadbolted shut) when I finally called out that we were going to throw away toys if he didn't come out.

He was standing on the sill of our bay window with the curtains almost flat against him because he was so tiny. I sobbed, hugged him, and told him that he couldn't play hide and seek without telling us first.

My kid didn't even mean to be sneaky. This kid clearly does.

"We didn't lose him. We misplaced him."

He's not a ballpoint pen, Timothy. You lost a person.

"How can you be so calm? What if this was your kid?"

The kid is inside a police station with lots of good people to watch out for him. Believe me, it could be worse.

"You know what, if we ever lose our kids, I'm gonna need you to take this a lot more seriously." "Hold up, our kids would know better than to pull a stunt like this."

Y'all expecting or something!?

And, no, this is not a question you should ever, ever ask anyone in real life no matter what.

I can't tell you how many times people asked, "Why aren't you pregnant, yet?" and I wanted to scream, "Because I don't ovulate, have a tilted sacrum, have endometriosis, and a preferential tube... but thanks for reminding me of the failed procedures, tests, and attempts at pregnancy. Really appreciate it."

But, since Tim and Lucy are fictional... I'm wondering if we're being set up for a surprise pregnancy.

Like, I think Lucy would definitely want to make her mark, first, with UC before purposefully conceiving. But, my mother knew a couple who twice got pregnant through three kinds of birth control used simultaneously. It can happen.

No matter what's coming down the line show-wise, I love how casually they are talking about it. This isn't a maybe for them, but an actuality. They truly believe that they will be parents together. And I believe it, too!

Tim remarks that they're doing well so far, and I wonder if something was cut for time. Maybe not, but it twinkles at my brain that I feel like I'm missing something.

Maybe that's just the fact I haven't had dinner, yet. Definitely missing some calories today! And Tim and Lucy are definitely missing their first kid together (second if we count Tamara).

"I found this kid wandering around and he said he belongs to you."

Their first time at a water park, this is so gonna happen. I can't tell you how many times I was on set, separated from my mother, and a random person would take one look at me and say, "Your mother's over there."

"He kept asking me what my childhood pet's name was."

This sounds like a scam. Like, remember the early days of the internet when we all did a/s/l? And then it evolved into these elaborate quizzes to post that were really data-mining schemes? Yeah... good times.

This kid's a walking BuzzFeed quiz. Beware, Aaron. Don't hit "submit"!

"What kinda kid doesn't like dogs?" "Tim."

I love her exasperation, here, but I also kinda want to write a love letter to Melissa O'Neil on all the different ways she says, "Tim" in this one episode.

I'll never forget this one actor on a movie my mother keyed who asked me to run lines with him. There was this short line he had me say over and over and over, again.

He was trying to get me to understand the many different ways you can say a line and how that can change its meaning. Kid-Rachel didn't quite get it, but adult Rachel looks back on that moment with fondness.

Melissa O'Neil really personifies that lesson in this episode. Here, Lucy's exasperated. Later, shocked and chastising. Later, still, enamored. It's one bloody word, "Tim", and yet her performance brings it to life in different ways every time. Beautiful.

THEY LOST THE KID, AGAIN

While I've been waxing poetic, Chenford's lost the damn kid, again!

"This is ridiculous."

Watching Tim and Lucy walking down the hall aghast and worried... Yup, this is totally their future. Tim's going to air-tag their kid to keep them from wandering off after this little experience.

Tim On One Knee

I know I wasn't the only Chenford-ian experiencing flash-forwards on that one. Also, the last time we saw Tim on his knees by the Shop he was looking for diamonds (also with Lucy). And now it's a kid.

Yes, this is reaching. Like, this is reaching past your cousin Burt to dip your latke in the applesauce reaching. But, come on, it's right there. I didn't even have to work for that parallel!

"I really hope you're enjoying your revenge for that Tim Test." "I'm really not. Come on."

And light-hearted as this adventure is, it's kinda perfect that Lucy's choice in "revenge" was something that would be helpful to someone else.

In an ideal situation, this kid would want to be here. And annoyed as Tim would be to lose his day, he would actually enjoy helping a kid. Because, Tim likes kids.

Lucy likes to screw with Tim. Not make his life (and hers, by extension, now) hell.

"If someone I worked for tried to put me in a wood chipper, I'd flip on them." "If someone you worked for tried to put you in a wood chipper, they'd be in the wood chipper."

I freakin love Angela. I know that this is a Chenford meta, but Nyla saying that was so badass and so true. My #3 is a fighter.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Ooooh, Tim broke out a curse word in front of a child. And, yeah, the kid broke into a secure police system, so it was warranted.

"Okay, do you even have cancer?" "Tim." "That part's true."

Look, it's out of line, but I totally get it. Tim doesn't trust people to begin with. He believes it has to be earned, but he cut this kid a break at the onset. Now, he realizes this kid played him and he's pissed.

But Lucy was right to call Tim out with a gentle admonishment using only his name because Melissa O'Neil if a rockstar who can convey all that with a single syllable.

"Okay, but you lied about wanting to be a cop." "Of course. Cops are whack."

The way I was rolling during that part. The way Tim and Lucy immediately look to one another? Priceless.

Also, Tim was kinda right. The kid does hate them.

"He said if I could figure out a way to get rid of his tickets, he'd buy me an ebike."

Asshole Dad. Poor kid. Like, yes, this kid is old enough to know the difference between right and wrong.

But so was Tim when he covered for his father's affair. These are children whose decisions are being influenced and informed by the adults around them.

"You are a criminal, Mr. Yates. And you made your son one, too."

I can't even imagine how hard this is. Because Jordy is a child, and he's already facing all the elements of childhood cancer. Adding charges on top of it?

And we all know that Tim won't charge the kid. But his dad's a different story. Tim has a problem with parents who hurt their children—be it physical or emotional.

"I can't go to jail. My family needs me."

This wordless communication is my favorite part of the entire episode.

At the beginning of their story, Tim and Lucy spoke completely different languages. Let's say Tim was barking in Latin and Lucy's finessed in French. There's enough root words to comprehend, but not truly understand one another.

Over time, they've learned one another's languages to the point that they don't even need words anymore. Tim has softened where Lucy has become more crisp and refined.

Lucy's look to Tim is a plea. There's so much to what this man is saying. Yes, he's clearly broken the law with all those parking passes, and then persuading his sick son to try to get rid of them.

But losing his license and car creates an added burden on this already-hurting family. This man is desperate. Dumb, yes. But desperate.

"His medical costs are killing us" struck me hard. On paper, my family looks good financially, right? But then there's the medical costs. Mine. My kids'. I'm on so many payment plans trying to stay on top of it.

So, an innocent bill might seem like nothing, but when paychecks are inconsistent and things break down one. after. the. other... it leaves us exposed. Matthew got a speeding ticket last month, and if not for his "taking no time off this month" bonus from the school, it wouldn't have been covered.

So, I get the fear and desperation. I'm just not as dumb as this guy.

Meeting her eyes, Tim's eyebrows shoot up. "Are you kidding me?" they say. In one look, he knows what she wants.

Look. How. Far. We've. Come.

It used to be that he was oblivious... then he would ask others how Lucy was. Then, he knew enough to ask her himself. He knew in a glance that something was on her mind, but didn't know what.

Now he knows what's on her mind. He knows exactly what she's thinking. At first he doesn't believe it. But he knows it.

He looks away, trying to decide how he's going to handle it. Then, he looks back to Lucy to confirm. She looks away, thinking she's pushed too hard, accepting whatever Tim decides.

Watch. Her. Listening when Tim tells Dumbass Dad he's not going to jail. Her eyes shift back up to him, grateful. Not only did her message get through, but Tim listened and took action.

They've come so far in their communication. But, Tim's also come far as a man.

He's always been a good cop. But he missed the human element, sometimes. He was afraid of it. Showing compassion made things worse, in his eyes.

And I'm not saying that we should just give every criminal a clean slate for no reason. But Tim made the compassionate choice, and I can only hope the Dumbass Dad makes the most of it.

"You're going to Daddy and Me Traffic school."

Can this really exist? Because it sounds a helluva lot more fun than the traffic school I had to go to back in the day. Yes, Rachel has a lead foot.

I got my first ticket on Thanksgiving when I was at university. My parents showed up to court to support me, and when the Judge noted them reacting to the cop's account, he called them out. They waved. He smiled. I got a reduced ticket.

So, the lesson of the story is that you can go fast and be okay if your parents are good enough actors.

"How can I make it up to you?" "Be a better father to your son."

Strong words from a man who will someday be an incredible father in spite of the monster who raised him, leaving him without example of what that looks like.

But Tim knows what a good father should be. Despite never having one himself, he knows. And while he'll make his own mistakes, he won't pass on the trauma to his children. He'll create an entirely new legacy of love. With Lucy's help, of course.

"Daddy and Me Traffic school sounds fun."

Whose desk Is this? Is this Lucy's desk? Is he doing paperwork out here because he doesn't want to go back to his office?

I'm sure there's a logistical reason why this scene happened where it did (maybe Tim's office can't fit three people... it is the size of a closet). But, when I fist saw him sitting there, I was confused for a second.

"It was a really nice gesture, Tim."

One word. Three letters. She's giving us a masterclass, folks. Rewatch it. You'll see.

"I wanted to throw that guy in jail for putting his son in that position." "But?" "You're a good influence."

Hell, yeah, she is. Lucy has helped Tim see pieces of himself that needed refining, but also the best of who he is. Part of what I love about this relationship is that even in the seasons when he was her superior officer, she matched him as an instructor.

They taught one another the whole way—Tim teaching Lucy to be a little more wary of the world, and Lucy teaching Tim to be a little more open. They're at their best when they meet in the middle.

"You're gonna make a really great dad one of these days."

Anyone else melt into a puddle? Or just me? I only recently re-congealed so I could write this thing.

There's such adoration in Lucy's eyes, because she's not just saying this to a coworker. She's saying this to the love of her life. Picturing him with their children, she's falling in love with him a little bit more.

And while I'm not in a rush for Chenford babies... I love that they're talking about it. That they are expecting it. That it's a part of the life they are building together.

Both of them were previously in relationships with no real future. No fulfilling one, anyway. This is the relationship neither knew they needed, but that's the proverbial Cinderella's glass slipper—a perfect fit.

"I'm gonna have to. You keep losing our kids everywhere you go." "Come on. Stop it!"

What did I just listen to!? Y'all are really tryin' to take me out with this one! But, seriously, much like the "gave me the will to live" line from 5x10, Tim is saying this strictly for Lucy's reaction.

It reminds me so much of my own relationship I could scream. Matthew and I constantly do that to one another. Mostly me, though. It's mostly on me. His reactions are so perfect!

I'm also getting major Double Date energy with the delivery of "Come on. Stop It." when we were all blessed with the Tale of Gerald the Goat. It's all in the delivery, and I love it.

Almost as much as I love Tim's real smile with teeth at Lucy's reaction. That smile is for her, and it's amazing.

Didn't expect to wrap this one so early, but loveyby went to bed early after getting our Littlest finally to bed.

I really am loving the journey Tim and Lucy are on. Were they the comic relief this episode? Yes. It's an ensemble show, and sometimes that's their role.

Am I trying to rush a pregnancy? No way. I know I called out the possibility of a surprise pregnancy in this Meta, but that's in no way scripture, here. It's simply a possibility.

But I do think these two are in a lovely place. And I'm so grateful neither has been dramatically killed off, yet. It's kinda nice to have a living, breathing ship! I'll try not to get used to it... just in case.

Side Note: Bristow earned her keep, so maybe it's a good thing Lopez didn't "get that woman out of [her] house". Made me chuckle when I watched thinking about it!

Thank you so much for reading! We have a bit of a hiatus, but we'll make it through together! One breath at a time.

[thepaintedlady00]

Okay, okay, hear me out:

Reader takes Dream to a haunted house (either a fake one or a legitimate haunted house, your call), and gets scared to the point where they jump into Dream’s arms like they’re Shaggy and Scooby, only Dream is very much not impressed by whatever it was that scared the reader.

The scooby doo style jump is absolutely EVERYTHING! 😂😂😂 I decided to mix fake and real because I truly doubt anyone would be able to stop Dream from completely taking people OUT for scaring his precious dreamer so I decided to give him a spirit to take that Endless fury out on.

You were never a real fan of haunted houses, especially ones that were set up at locations that were supposedly really haunted. BUT, you promised to show Dream all the spooky traditions that came with Halloween and he'd seemed curious about seeing the house decked out in lights and crowded with people and playful screaming. So, here you were, walking the halls of this stupid haunted house and jumping at every tiny thing.

Dream remained beside you, quietly observing with not even an ounce of fear in his face or body. In fact you were pretty sure he smiled at one point. When you came to a winding staircase, one that had clearly been blocked off by the people setting up the event Dream turned and began ascending up further into the house. You grabbed his sleeve. "I don't think we're supposed to go up there."

He looked back at you. "I wish to see the entirety of this home. It is said to be plagued by spirits, is it not?"

"Well, yeah, but why would you want to see that?"

"I am curious."

Curious? CURIOUS?! Because the mighty Dream Lord decided tonight was the night to be curious you followed him up the stairs and through the dusty, spider infested upper floor. If he'd known how terrified you truly were he likely would have turned back and apologized for not seeing your discomfort sooner, but you'd convinced yourself this was fine, you were fine... until a loud noise echoed through the upper floor sending you flying up into Dreams arms, clutching onto him.

He looked down at you with an arched brow and you blushed, trying to laugh it off. "Sorry, I, uh, don't usually do haunted houses."

"You are afraid?"

"Only a little," you assured him as he set you back on your feet, keeping you close to him. "That's kind of the point of this isn't it?"

He shook his head. "From my understanding, this is supposed to resemble fear, mock it even. You are not supposed to truly be afraid."

You laughed nervously. "I'm kind of a whimp."

"You misunderstand," he said quietly. "If I had known you were truly afraid I would never have suggested such. I do not ever wish for you to be afraid."

"That's sweet of you, Dream," you said with a smile. "Can we maybe go now? This place gives me the creeps."

"Of course."

Dream turned, releasing you from his hold and looked down the hall, preparing to guide you through with no more scares. In the five seconds he stood still a hand reached out and dragged you up into the attic. Your shrill cries filled the house as you looked up and the very real spirit that hovered over you, their barely visible form flashing a grotesque sight. Before it could do more than look at you Dream was there, grabbing it by the neck and dragging it away placing his body between you and the spirit. "You would dare harm my dreamer?"

All you heard was ghostly noises, attempts at words before the attic filled with groans and wails and then silence. Dream looked over you, searching for any injuries before he sighed and offered you his hand. "Was that... a real ghost?"

"A wayward spirit, yes," he said helping to to your feet. "But it will not be returning any time soon. You are safe."

You hugged him, letting the comforting chill of his embrace comfort you. "Thank you."

"As I said, I never wish for you to be afraid, little dreamer."

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

Promo time!!

Oof her body

SLFJGHSKDHS wait all the ghosts??

Oh okay just Nancy xD presumably

LOL that's wild

Oh my gosh xD

Okay that's the last of my last thoughts!! Now time for a little. . .

REVIEW

Not as formal as any of the ones I say REVIEW for, even Abbott lol

FLOWER'S ALIVE (DEAD) GUYS!! OH MY GOSH WHAT THE HECK :OO y'all that is wild xD

Honestly I'd been hoping for something like that but they really committed o.o

I do think a full commitment would've been cool but I really miss Flower xdd :( and also I feel like there's a lot that could still be done with her character

If it takes more than just next episode to find her though that'd be cool! And even these four episodes without her has been interesting :o!

Anyway PETE'S EX-WIFE IS DEAD!!! CAROL!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!!

(makes me think of that sound lol. I don't remember what the name is but it's a tiktok sound xD)

That's just absolutely wild lol, I hope she sticks around xD but not for like, too long lol

She seems annoying xD

Also poor Sam and Jay with their friends xdd they didn't deserve that :(

But also it was ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS OH MY GOSH XDDDD

I was just DYING throughout the entirety of this episode lol. Even throughout the cringe of second-hand embarrassment lol. Afterwards my mom even asked me if my show was funny or something like that when she came out here because I had been laughing so much lol. It was really just an amazing episode xD. Also Jay digging up Flower's death site for Sam 🥰🥰 we love a man like him /hj. Half joking because it wasn't just for her xD. Although the "because once my wife fell down the stairs" was so real and accurate 💀 xD.

All the ghosts were living for the chaos this episode and I was living for it xD. I mean, they usually are lol, but they had the especially sneaky drams-loving ones mainly involved lol. That certainly did not help Sam and Jay xD.

Also their poor friends xD. Thinking the entire (okay well like half) the time that they were gonna be murdered 💀. That's what you get for making slightly weird comments guys xD. Jokes in the moment, threats/promises later lol.

Now here's what I'm wondering: if Flower's still a ghost (I was gonna say alive dead again because alive was my go to but I've said that a lot lol), what was the pillar of light? They said one of the basement ghosts didn't disappear, and Crash was there, so: who was it?

Wait- they checked Stephanie right? o.o I remember she was in the preview so I think she was mentioned? But uh oh o.o

Hm! I don't know. Anyway, I might have more to say later, but I need to go eat and this is all I have in my brain right now lol :D.

So, yeah!! It was an absolutely amazing episode, I really liked it :). Halloween in March could've felt a little weird, but it was really fun lol!! Probably helped it not feel to out of town by the fact that Halloween wasn't a big focus (stuff happened and worked because of Halloween, but the focus was the stuff, ig, if that makes sense) lol. Anyway!! Everybody slayed this episode :DD. And just once again OH MY GOSH FLOWER AND CAROL ARE GHOSTS!! Flower still, because SHE'S ALIVE (DEAD)!! Still shocked over that lol. The well makes total sense though, poor girl xd. Love her <3 🥰. Also she sounded so scared down there 😭🥺. Poor girlie <33. But, yeah, I loooved this episode :D. It was so good!!

See you guys next time!!

[rosileeduckie]

Haunted Safehouse

Yes, I’m aware my house is haunted; this ghost, I did consent to rooming with.

Jon and Martin have a discussion about costumes. Projecting only a little how excited I am getting dressed up for the occasion. 😋 Happy Halloween! 🧡🎃

SFW. Potential warnings: none. TMA JonMartin tickle fic.

Word count: 1,942

~*~

“I’m just saying, it’d be a brilliant costume. Especially since I wouldn’t need to go buy a lot; could just wear what I usually do. What do you think, Jon?”

Jon would have replied, but he found it necessary to dedicate the entirety of his focus to the fitted sheet in his hands, which was being very stubborn against his efforts to capture the corner of the mattress with it.

“Jon?”

“Hm?” Jon replied, not looking up from the fabric he was wrestling with.

He heard a chuckle, and then, in the next moment, Jon found himself nearly falling forward onto the bed when Martin yanked hard on the end of the sheet opposite to the one Jon’s hands were white-knuckling. The archivist caught himself, only to feel his stomach drop and his heart leap into his throat when he looked up to find Martin smirking down at him. “I was asking what you thought of me dressing as a tickle monster for Halloween,” Martin clarified, as though Jon hadn’t heard him the first time and wasn’t just trying to keep his face from catching fire.

“Uh-huh,” Jon said, clearing his throat and standing, smoothing out his jumper and the fitted sheet that suddenly wrapped snugly on all four mattress corners. “Well.” He went around the bed to the pile of somewhat-folded bedding that lay at the foot, gathering the top sheet into his arms to give himself something new to grip when he puckishly replied, “It sounds to me like you just don’t want to come up with a real costume.”

Still smiling, Martin narrowed his eyes, moving slowly to where Jon stood at the end of the bed. “I think it’s creative, actually,” he reasoned. “Simple, but smart, and effective for all those who get it.”

“‘All,’” Jon echoed with a roll of his eyes as though that gesturing was louder than the flush of his cheeks.

“Even if it’s just you,” Martin allowed with a sigh and a happy shrug. He picked through the sheet in Jon’s arms, looking for an end to take hold of and assist with, his lips widening into a grin as he did so. “Will have to try the costume out before Halloween, of course. See what you think before the day of. Though I have an idea already of how you’ll like it.”

The sparkle of mischief in Martin’s gaze that was so fondly and evilly fixed on Jon was too flustering for the poor archivist. He didn’t have to Know Martin’s thoughts to know exactly how his teasing costume would be broken in, but Jon, too, had an idea of what that process may entail, and he couldn’t bear the thought of it, nor the fact that it wasn’t happening at present. A hopelessly happy smile longed to spread across his face, and Jon bit his lip, knowing Martin would only tease him more for it. A minute ago, Jon had nearly burrowed into the top sheet in his arms, but, now, he implemented the defense another way, throwing the fabric up and over Martin’s head. “There. A ghost. Simple, but classic,” Jon said with a huff, praying the sheet was just thick enough that Martin couldn’t see through it to see how Jon was unable to curb the giddy smile at the thought of having his own personal tickle monster for Halloween. The novelty and silliness of it all was too sweet. “If you’re going to half-ass costumes this year anyway,” he tacked on, hoping to sound less excited and more of his usual calm and grumbling style. That effort was as fruitless as biting down his smile, which he didn’t know if Martin could see, but Jon knew he could hear Martin giggling beneath his shroud, and the archivist couldn’t help the soft smile that warmed his cheeks at the sound.

“I’m genuinely curious,” said Martin. “Is it less flustering when you can’t see me?”

And Jon could hear the grin in Martin’s words. His smile went wobbly and his cheeks went rosy at the familiarly teasing lilt to Martin’s voice, and the sensitive nerves under his arms and in his chest and behind his knees tingled in anticipation. Jon scoffed, glad Martin couldn’t see him pouting either. “No,” he admitted, reaching up to pull the sheet off Martin’s head.

The avatar of the all-seeing Eye realized several things simultaneously, and all of them too late. Firstly, his lifting of his own arms offered the perfect unintentionally opening for a very impish Martin to attack. If Martin were still in front of him. Because, secondly, Jon realized that there was no one under the sheet. It was like a middle school or social media magic trick, except Jon was never one for magic, and he certainly hadn’t conjured any hocus pocus to make his partner vanish. Thirdly, he realized Martin hadn’t vanished. Exactly. He’d teleported, in his invisible Lonely way, right behind Jon. And from where he stood just behind Jon, Martin took good advantage of Jon’s elevated arms, striking under them with wiggling fingers.

Dropping the sheet with a yelp, Jon’s arms crashed down against his sides, effectively trapping Martin’s hands in the archivist’s armpits. The rest of Jon crashed as well, prompting him to stumble back against Martin’s chest as laughter burst from his own lungs. “Martin!”

Martin withdrew his hands from Jon’s armpits, drawing him in for a hug that allowed him to hold Jon close whilst scribbling his fingers into the archivist’s belly. “Maybe I could be the ghost of a tickle monster,” he mused as though his boyfriend wasn’t cackling in his arms. “Seems I’ve already got the characteristics for both down pat, don’t you think?”

Jon was sure his being adamant in not answering Martin’s earlier question was the reason Martin now was tickling him too hard to let him even think about forming a response. When his fingers drifted to Jon’s hips and the poor chortling man’s knees buckled, Martin did pull back, just embracing Jon from behind until he could stand again and his breathing had slowed, even if the dizzy smile he wore was still beautifully present.

The mischief was far from over, it seemed, as Martin leaned in to chuckle into Jon’s ear. “Remind me again, Jon,” he said, the brush of his lips against Jon’s ear making him shiver, and the sudden vanishing of his arms around Jon making the archivist gulp. “Is it less flustering when you can’t see me?”

It took a brief glance for Jon to realize he was the only visible occupant in the room, and the unknown but inevitable promise of Martin’s next attack had butterflies winging in his stomach. “If you expect me to finish this bed by myself—” Jon said, trying hopelessly to sound stern despite his eager grin.

“Oh, I wouldn’t recommend staying in one place,” Martin teased, his voice fading in and out, louder and softer, as he presumably moved around Jon to keep his hackles raised. “Tickle monsters belong to the Hunt, you know.”

The words had hardly left Martin’s invisible lips before Jon had dashed out the door. He hardly had an avatar tailing him that wasn’t out for his blood or general destruction, so it was something of a relief to be able to run and know he was still safe. Fun. His heart pounded in his ears and his cheeks ached from the grin he wore. The corridor ended all too soon, and Jon screeched to a halt in the living room. Curse their flat for being so small. He couldn’t run far, and his options for hiding were scant. Subconsciously, Jon could feel Martin’s mind as it flitted and faded in and out around him, sashaying in close before darting away, keeping Jon from getting a grasp on his location. Curse the Lonely for having such helpful power. Curse the Eye for having no physical power to help Jon now. Having no course of action before him, Jon swiftly turned around, hoping against hope he could beat Martin to a room with a lock and that the Lonely would be too polite to warp inside. He felt Martin’s mind go amusedly blank in surprise, which was satisfying both for the expression Jon imagined on Martin’s face and for the fact that the archivist could See clearly now that Martin was at his back. With the tiny advantage he had, Jon ran.

Only to slam straight into Martin’s chest upon rounding the corner to duck back into the bedroom.

“Ah—!” Jon gasped, Martin’s thumbs catching the belt loops of his jeans before he could try to flee once more. “You— you knew where I’d go.” Jon definitely wasn’t pouting again.

“You Knew where I was going,” Martin replied, only a little accusatory.

“Thought we were going all out with cheating and powers,” Jon huffed, half crossing his arms and half shielding as many tickle spots as he could.

Martin chuckled, pressing a kiss to Jon’s forehead. “Would you like to know where I’m going to go, Jon?”

“No.”

“You sure? You’re welcome to, if you like.”

Jon couldn’t resist. Martin’s lips still rested on his forehead; it was as familiar and easy an invitation to follow as anything. The softness of that kiss juxtaposed harshly against the images he saw in Martin’s imagination—of Jon, breathless and howling, as Martin pinned him to the unmade bed and tickled him until there were stars outside the window to see—and Jon buried his face in Martin’s sweater. “Fuck.”

“Albeit,” said Martin, easily lifting Jon up to carry him to bed, the archivist naturally melting into the hold like a koala, seated at Martin’s waist with his arms around Martin’s neck, face still hidden, “I could be nice if there’s somewhere you’d rather I go.”

“To the store to get a real costume,” Jon replied, hoping the fabric of his new sweater mask didn’t dull the sarcasm in his words. It certainly didn’t muffle his squeak when Martin gave a chastising pinch to either of the backs of his thighs.

Martin lay Jon on the bed, quick to squish him to the fitted sheet and pin his arms above his head. “Nice offer rescinded,” Martin smiled, shaking his head. “The nicest I’ll be now is that I didn’t make you wait for this. Not to mention, waiting until after we got the bed made; we’d have to redo it all with how much you squirm.”

Jon gave a laugh at that, and more laughter easily followed when one of Martin’s hands danced its fingers down his outstretched arm and into the exposed hollow of his underarm. He did kick, he wiggled and giggled like the devil, but all the fight had gone out of Jon after being caught. It had been fun to be chased, but now he could revel in being happy, being seen, being loved. There was something unbearably lovely about it. Aside from the obvious fact that laughter had prompted his eyes to squeeze shut, he couldn’t See through this. Couldn’t See when all he could do was feel, couldn’t Know when all he could do was laugh. The hunt, he could steady his nerves enough during to Look, but now with his nerves alight like firecrackers, his head wasn’t straight enough to recall his own name, let alone Know where Martin was going to target next. Fun as the hunt had been, all anticipation and pitting their powers against one another, this—being tickled silly by his partner, when it was just human, warm, safe, and soft—he liked even better.

[elvendara]

MYSME FICTOBER DAY 8/JUMIN WEEK DAY 4

@mysme-fictober & @juminweek2019

Michael's Edition

8 October 2023—BOO! Jumin Week—Acts of Service

Jumin held the phone between his shoulder and cheek, trying not to let it slip.

“Just…I don’t…ahh…” the phone fell to the carpeted floor. He picked it up in frustration, letting go of the fake spiderweb he had been trying to stretch across the bookcase. “This is ridiculous, why did I even think I could do this?”

“Settle down Jumin, you can. Also, what was that muffled sound? What are you doing exactly?” Saeyoung asked through the phone speaker.

“Trying to pull apart this stupid web while still listening to you. I only have two hands you know.” He said.

“Uh, you know you can put the phone on speaker right?” Saeyoung joked.

“Oh, right.” He felt like an idiot. Hitting the speaker button on the phone he set it down on a side table. “OK well, what do I do after I finish with the web?” he asked.

“Change out the bulbs in some of the lamps, you got the purple bulbs right?”

“Yes, I bought everything on the list you sent me.”

“Really? Wow, you really are going all out aren’t you?”

“It’s Lillie’s favorite holiday, so I want to make it special, and I don’t want her to lift a finger this year, I just want her to enjoy it for the entire month.”

“You could have just paid someone to do it, you’re filthy rich after all.” Saeyoung laughed.

“That wouldn’t be the same. I want to do the work and see the look on her face.” He was aware that it likely would look much better if he hired someone to decorate, but, he knew Lillie well enough to know that she would love it all the more because of his effort. Though he hadn’t thought he would be fighting with fake spiderwebs.

“I think I can handle placing the items in an aesthetically pleasing arrangement, however, I might need help again in setting up the fog machine for the cauldron.”

“Sure, I’m here all day! Sounds like you have things well in hand.”

“Indeed, if I require more hands, I’ll simply ask my security team. Thank you again Saeyoung for the support and suggestions.”

“Any time! Make sure you take pic…uh, that Lillie takes pictures!” he laughed.

Jumin grunted as he hit end call on the phone. He’d gotten better at taking pictures, it wasn’t his fault that the stabilization on his phone was finicky.

He was meticulous in his arrangement of the décor, not a single surface was without a Halloween item. With Saeyoung’s help, he’d even been able to create an actual bubbling cauldron that wouldn’t create and environmental hazard in the apartment.

Hours, he had been working for hours and the setting sun outside reminded him that Lillie was due to arrive home soon. He checked his watch and saw that he had only minutes. He turned off any lights whose bulbs hadn’t been changed, turned on the cauldron, and lit the candles. Fairy lights were strung throughout the decorations giving the areas a ethereal quality. The scent of pumpkin spice and apple cider wafted through the room as well. Satisfied, all that was left to do was wait.

It didn’t take long before he heard the rattle of the front door, hiding behind it as it opened inwards he held his breath for his love’s reaction.

He heard Lillie inhale as the scenery caught her attention. She took a few steps inside, her head scanning the entirety of his labor. Quickly he slammed the door closed and jumped at her with a loud “BOO!”

Lillie screamed and turned, her hand already balled into a fist before noticing that it was her beloved.

“Jumin! You scared me!” heart racing she doubled over in relieved laughter.

“I’m sorry my love, I couldn’t help myself.” He enveloped her into his arms and held her close as her heart regained equilibrium. “Do you like it?” he asked as he released her.

“Like it? I love it! How much did it cost to do this? You know I would have decorated myself.” She said, but her smile never left her face.

“Oh, well, the cost was only in supplies, I decorated.” Jumin said, running a hand through his thick black hair, a grin on his face. “Took several hours, but it was well worth it to see your reaction.”

“You…you did this? All by yourself?” she asked, turning to her husband, golden brown eyes wide.

“Saeyoung helped with some of the more intricate items, but I set it all up on my own. I just wanted to surprise you. I know how much you love this holiday and how hard you worked last year. I wanted you to just be able to enjoy the season this year and concentrate only on your costume for the party.”

“Party?”

“Absolutely, I think having a Halloween party here would be quite entertaining, don’t you?”

“Oh yes! That sounds wonderful!” Lillie threw herself on her husband and held him close, tears of joy filled her eyes and a wide smile plastered her face. “I can’t imagine being any happier than I am right now! Just…I…the thought and effort you put into all of this has me in tears. I love you so much Jumin.”

“I love you too. And I would do anything to see that radiant smile on your face for the rest of our lives.”

They kissed.

[zahri-melitor]

Brucepoll. Okay, I am going to handicap myself in this one and make me keep it to actual work in the Batman title, I think, and only post-Crisis. So my first move is to define what periods each writer had on Batman and what's famous/I like from each:

James Tynion IV: v2 8-28, v3 85-117. And immediately I have no opinion as I haven't read any of his post Flashpoint Batman. Quickly scanning through I see he wrote The Joker War and Fear State.

My feelings on him: honestly I don't have any yet, this one it's going to be too hard for me to dip in and out of.

Tom King: v3 1-85. Same. I know he built up to Bruce and Selina marrying and then editorial required him to destroy that, but haven't touched any of this yet.

My feelings on him: I suspect I am actually going to enjoy this run from what other people have said and then I will feel betrayed (as other people were). The allure of lots of Bruce/Selina may pull me in though.

Scott Snyder: v2 1-51. Court of the Owls. How do you feel about the Court of the Owls. Because Snyder is gonna keep writing about them.

Oh Snyder. I think you write interesting Bruce, I just don't particularly like the Court.

Grant Morrison: 655-685, 701-702 (skipping the Dick!Bats stuff). Highlights of Morrison's run include Batman and Son (aka Heeeeere's Damian!), Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul, the return of the Club of Heroes, Batman RIP, and the resurrection of the concept of Batman of Zurr-En-Arrh.

I am politely going to not swear in public, but uh I don't think Morrison writes particularly good Bruce. Also he's the architect of all the 'actually Bruce has been dividing his personality up into separate mind palaces that come out when he activates them for various reasons' and while that is indeed incredibly Brucelike I'm not too fond of what it's done to Batman storytelling.

Judd Winick: 626-650 (also skipping Dick!Bats). Obviously, Under the Red Hood. Other stuff in his run includes War Games and the storyline where Tim's undercover as Caroline Hill.

Winick really likes conflicted, judgmental, my-way-or-the-highway Bruce a lot. And there aren't any real soft edges to his Bruce. Not my favourite.

Jeph Loeb: 608-619. This means the only Loeb in play for my rating is Hush. Fascinating Loeb never wrote another Batman or 'Tec run (he does have The Long Halloween of course).

Putting aside my feelings about Thomas Elliot, I actually like the way Loeb wrote Bruce in Hush? It spends a lot of time reflecting on his analysis skills and his connections and his detective work.

Ed Brubaker: 582-586, 591-607. The lead into Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive and the title itself. The complementary half to Rucka's overlapping 'Tec run.

Oooh. Brubaker gets Bruce during a period where he's trying to isolate himself, but he also writes how Bruce has trouble with that. He's got some great character piece work in this, and solid detective problem-solving storytelling. He wrote the 'I am Bruce Wayne' revelation.

Doug Moench: 481-559. The most famous highlights of this period are writing the Batman issues for the entirety of Knightfall/Knightquest/Knightsend, Prodigal, Contagion, Legacy, Cataclysm and Aftershock. (Moench also wrote basically all of pre-Crisis Jason Todd period)

How do you even encapsulate what Moench did over this period? He broke Bruce all the way down and built him back up. He wrote Bruce building back to having a family and connections. He wrote Alfred's return. He's never hugely stood out for me as a writer during this period though - he's just there. I often have to check covers to see who was writing for his stories.

Alan Grant: 448-449, 455-480. This basically covers Tim's novice period. It's bookended by Batman: Identity Crisis at one end and To the Father I Never Knew at the other.

So flipping through these my first memory is "there is a LOT of Harold in this" and there's a bunch of Batman-'Tec crossovers to tell 4 issue stories. I really enjoy Grant's character work. A lot of the great stuff in his run is about his relationships with others - particularly Tim, Alfred and Harold. I have to say, though, a lot of my preferred Bruce writing from Grant is actually in Shadow of the Bat.

Frank Miller: 404-407 Okay, restricting this LITERALLY only gives Batman Year One. This is fascinating because I think every single comics person seeing the words 'Frank Miller' and 'Batman' either thinks of ASBAR or Dark Knight Returns.

If you're going to read a Batman Miller story, this is the one to read, no question. It's the origin of so much gritty Batman and it gets referenced a lot, but it's nowhere near as grimdark as other Miller pieces.

[asksmythe]

Second Time's the Charm → Rybastian

CHARACTERS: Sebastian Smythe & Ryder Lynn DATE & TIME: October 31st, night LOCATION: Sugar's Halloween Spooktacular SUMMARY: Sebastian and Ryder meet for the first time after Ryder found out Brett was catfishing him using Sebastian's photos WARNINGS: None TAGS: @lynnryder

RYDER

Ryder smiled for the camera pointed in their direction, the one capturing the Mystery Gang in their entirety. Sugar and Kitty had insisted on a whole group photo, even despite the mess that the evening had been up until now. Ryder had accepted Sugar’s invite to be in their Halloween costume with very few questions. He figured it was some kind of olive branch from Kitty, not realising that the blonde was entirely unaware of who Sugar had recruited until they’d come face to face earlier.

Then there was Sebastian. Ryder had seen the back-and-forth between Sugar and Sebastian online, so he knew in advance that Sebastian was not only going to be at the party, but that he was going to be in the same group costume as him. It had nearly caused him to bail a few times but he’d stuck with it, forcing himself to deal with this problem. He’d avoided the other guy long enough.

He waited for the group photos to be done, watching as the girls all wandered off in their own direction. This was his chance, and he needed to take it. “Hey dude,” He smiled as he sidled up to Sebastian before he could leave too. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

SEBASTIAN

When Sebastian first saw Ryder, he couldn’t quite place him. He knew he seemed familiar, but in all honesty, lots of people were familiar to Sebastian. He was nothing if not social, given the Warblers, playing lacrosse against other colleges, and making his rounds at the bars and clubs. It didn’t matter to him though, because Ryder didn’t seem to acknowledge him, so that must have meant Sebastian wasn’t ‘the other man’ in Ryder’s relationship, making him safe from any potential backlash, and that’s all Sebastian really cared about. It would take something big to ruin Halloween for Sebastian, and this clearly wasn’t something big.

Sebastian was about to head to the bar after pictures when Ryder stopped him. Seeing him face-to-face, up close now, it finally hit him. A smirk spread across Sebastian’s face, looking down at the other male. “Oh, hey,” he greeted. “Do you always have unprompted makeout sessions with strangers in bars or am I just special?”

RYDER

Ryder had been putting off any interaction with Sebastian for months. At first it had felt like outright rejection. Ryder didn't know how else to explain meeting the person he'd been messaging online for weeks and then making out with them, only to be unmatched and blocked hours later. Was he really that bad of a kisser? But then he'd stumbled across Sebastian's profile two months later. The rejection turning into sheer horror, embarrassment and even more confusion. He could still remember the way his stomach dropped like a stone as he read through Sebastian's profile. He'd avoided Sebastian ever since.

"Hey," Ryder repeated, even though he'd already said it. He was feeling awkward and on edge about the whole conversation. He couldn't help but cringe at Sebastian's reminder of their previous encounter. "No, no I don't always do that." Ryder shook his head, feeling his cheeks beginning to burn. Hopefully Sugar had the lighting low enough that it wasn't entirely obvious. "I just wanted to apologise for that. I, uh, I thought you were someone else. It wasn't cool of me to just push myself on you like that."

SEBASTIAN

Sebastian's smile widened as he saw Ryder blush. He was always a sucker for a cute guy acting all shy and bashful; it was admittedly a weakness of his. “Who did you think I was? Your boyfriend?” Sebastian teased. He didn’t truly believe he’d be mistaken for anyone, but he was willing to play along. He made sure to keep his tone light and playful, attempting to make it clear that he wasn’t upset at the other male for it. Afterall, it was a good kiss.

RYDER

Ryder didn't know how to answer Sebastian's question. This was a party and they didn't actually know each other. It seemed like the wrong place to drop the news that someone, likely on the same campus, was catfishing people using Sebastian's pictures. "It's complicated," He shrugged, trying to play it cool. "Not my boyfriend, but someone I was talking to I guess," He added, hoping Sebastian wouldn't probe too much or ask too many questions. "Shit, you didn't have a boyfriend, or girlfriend, at the time, did you? I hope I didn't fuck things up for you with anyone, I'm sorry again."

SEBASTIAN

Sebastian decided to drop the question, seeing that Ryder didn’t seem to want to delve into it further at the moment. “If I were in a relationship, I wouldn’t have kissed you back. You don’t have to apologize,” he reassured him, making a mental note to bring the subject back up later. “Like I said, it’s not a big deal. It’s chill. Maybe I’d be more upset if you weren’t as good of a kisser,” Sebastian winked, hoping to get Ryder’s face to go a shade darker.

RYDER

Ryder was grateful when Sebastian didn't question him any further. It was an uncomfortable topic for him to revisit and one he probably still had some unresolved feelings over, if he was being honest. Sebastian's logic did a lot to reassure him though, and Ryder began to relax a little. Sebastian had kissed him back, it wasn't a one way thing. He could have pushed Ryder off him that night in the club, but he hadn't. The relaxation quickly turned to feeling flustered as Sebastian complimented him, accompanied by a wink of all things. Ryder could feel his cheeks flush further, and he wished he'd had enough alcohol to blame it on that but unfortunately he'd only had the one beer so far. "Well, uh, thanks for being cool about it."

SEBASTIAN

"Anytime, Killer," Sebastian replied, instinctively lifting his hand to run his fingers through his hair, instead coming into contact with the blonde wig he'd almost forgotten he was wearing. He gripped it in his fist and pulled it off his head, using his free hand to ruffle his flattened hair. "But I'm actually going to head out for a few. Don't tell Sugar or Kitty, but ten minutes in this costume was more than enough for me. Don't worry though, I'll be back," he added, letting his eyes run over the other male. "It's Ryder, right?"

RYDER

Ryder watched as Sebastian pulled the wig off. It wasn't the best wig in the world but Sebastian had still looked good in it, though Ryder had always had a soft spot for blondes. "Wait, you're changing?" He asked in surprise. It seemed like a lot of effort to leave, find a second costume and then come back. "Is being part of Mystery Inc really that bad?" He asked, though he didn't particularly care either way. "It's Shaggy, actually." Ryder replied jokingly before nodding his head. "Yeah it's Ryder."

SEBASTIAN

"Definitely. There's no way I'm spending any longer than I have to in a costume this emasculating. You got off easy. At least you didn't have to wear an ascot," Sebastian joked. "Like I said, I'll be back. Don't worry, Ryder." Sebastian reached out, touching Ryder's arm lightly before turning to leave the party.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SEBASTIAN

After taking an Uber home and making a quick switch of costume into his Top Gun jumpsuit and aviators from a few years prior, fixing up his hair, and making a little extra time to smoke a joint, Sebastian made his way back to Sugar's party. Feeling much more comfortable in his change of clothes, Sebastian had spent the next while at the party drinking, socializing, and dancing, until he eventually saw Ryder in the crowd.

Making his way through, Sebastian walked up to Ryder, another signature grin spreading across his face. "Hello again, gorgeous," Sebastian greeted.

RYDER

Ryder was actually having a pretty good time at Sugar’s party. He’d had several of the fancy themed cocktails, decidedly avoiding the ones with fake eyeballs in given how they turned his stomach a little when he looked at them. He’d spoken to Sebastian earlier and the knowledge that the other man wasn’t annoyed at him for what happened helped to relieve a lot of the tension and anxiety he’d been carrying around with him for months. He had also spoken to Kitty and cleared the air between them after their earlier online spat, which only further boosted his mood.

Ryder had long gone past tipsy, feeling positively buzzed when he saw someone approaching, his smile widening as he saw it was Sebastian. His cheeks were already pink from the alcohol, but they probably flushed a shade or two deeper at Sebastian’s greeting. “Hey,” Ryder returned, his eyes roaming over Sebastian’s new costume. “Okay I can see why you changed . I mean you looked good as Fred but this look is…. yeah.” He paused, looking down at his own outfit of a green t-shirt and brown jeans, both of which were baggy. “Definitely feeling a bit inadequate now.”

SEBASTIAN

Sebastian smirked as he watched Ryder's eyes move over his body, confirming his satisfaction with his costume change. Sure, he would've liked something new instead of repurposing something from a previous year, but he worked with what he had, and it was obviously working for him. "This look is what?" he prompted, wanting to hear the end of that sentence. "Maybe I should've brought you a new costume as well. Although I'm sure there's other ways you could prove your adequacy."

RYDER

Ryder felt like he was in a weird dream, or that he had somehow travelled the multiverse. After spending all that time talking to "Brett", Ryder had pictured this moment countless times. The moment they'd get to hang out in real life and flirt with each other. After the chaos of five months ago, he never in his wildest dreams thought that it would actually be happening.

Of course it was Sebastian flirting with him and not Brett, but that was even better. At least Sebastian was real. "The look is hot," Ryder returned, the alcohol in his system having loosened him up, helping him to shed some of the nerves he'd had during their earlier conversation. "What costume would you have brought me?" He asked curiously. "Would it have been another Top Gun one? The Goose to your Maverick."

SEBASTIAN

"You think so?" Sebastian smirked at Ryder's compliment. That was exactly what he wanted to hear, and it sounded so good coming from Ryder. It had been a while since he'd met someone he was this drawn to. Sure, he obviously had met more than enough people that he's found attractive recently, but he hadn't come across someone he immediately wanted to get to know better. "It's a little early in our relationship for couples costumes, don't you think?"

RYDER

"I do think so," Ryder nodded, over-exaggerating the movement in his drunken state. "I think you'd look hot whatever you were wearing but this is definitely working for you," He added, waving a hand in Sebastian's direction as he gestured vaguely at the green jumpsuit and aviator glasses. Ryder was glad that he wasn't drinking in the moment that Sebastian made the comment about their relationship, because he definitely would have choked on his drink, or spat his drink out. Both of which would have been beyond embarrassing. "I guess you're right. Though it's a shame, we'd have made a good Danny and Kenickie," Ryder smiled, before adding on jokingly. "Or a good Danny and Sandy, if only my black spandex jumpsuit wasn't in the laundry."

SEBASTIAN

"I don't know if you know this, but with me, flattery will get you everywhere," Sebastian pulled his aviators up, resting them on top of his head, and winked at Ryder. He ran his eyes over the other male once again, letting his mind wander for a moment, wondering what he was hiding behind his baggy costume. "Danny and Kenickie would've made a hell of a plot twist," he laughed, moving closer to Ryder, leaving little space between them as he reached out, running his fingers lightly along the collar of Ryder's shirt. "But you in black spandex…that would be hot."

RYDER

"Everywhere, huh?" Ryder smirked, his cheeks only flushing slightly at the wink. Now that the glasses had been removed, Ryder could see Sebastian checking him out, a thrill running through his body at the feeling of such explicit interest from the other man. "Danny and Kenickie hooking up would have made me realise I was bi a lot earlier," Ryder commented wryly, smiling as Sebastian moved in closer. "Yeah? Maybe I'll go all out and find some red heels too," He added teasingly. "Gotta give Danny those chills after all."

SEBASTIAN

"Then you wouldn't have had to rely on Brokeback Mountain like the rest of us," Sebastian joked. He gave a hint of a smile, but his focus had shifted, eyes falling to Ryder's lips. They looked soft and sweet and Sebastian wanted nothing more in that moment than to confirm his suspicions. "Maybe you should just give me chills instead." He let his eyes fall shut as he leaned in and pressed his lips against Ryder's. The fingers on his collar trailed upwards, resting lightly on the side of his neck as he kissed the shorter male, letting his party buzz fuel him as he slipped his tongue into Ryder's mouth.

RYDER

Despite how drunk he was, Ryder was still acutely aware of the moment that Sebastian’s gaze fell to his lips. It wasn’t really a surprise, given the heavy flirting between them all evening. Though if you’d told him before the party that this was what was going to happen, he probably would have laughed. There wasn’t much time to formulate any sort of response to Sebastian’s words before the other man’s lips were on his. He kissed Sebastian back, pleased to find out that it was just as good as he remembered. He let the other man take the lead, parting his lips as he felt Sebastian add his tongue to the kiss. Ryder snaked his hands around Sebastian’s waist, resting them on his back as he gently pulled the other man even closer.

SEBASTIAN

Sebastian deepened the kiss, letting their bodies press together as Ryder pulled him in closer. Losing himself in the kiss, unsure of how much time had passed since they started, Sebastian's free hand made it's way under the hem of Ryder's shirt at his lower back. Slipping his hand underneath, he dipped his fingers just past the waist of Ryder's pants, letting them rest there, feeling the warmth of his skin against his own.

RYDER

Ryder was enjoying making out with Sebastian, losing himself in how it felt to kiss the other man. It had been too long since he’d done this, in fact, Sebastian was probably the last person he’d kissed. He broke the kiss momentarily, needing a break for air. “How are those chills looking? Electrifying?” Ryder asked playfully, his arms looped around Sebastian’s neck to keep him close, their bodies still pressed together.

SEBASTIAN

Sebastian had proven himself right - Ryder's lips were soft and sweet, and he couldn't help himself, he wanted more. When the shorter male pulled away, Sebastian lips instinctually followed for a moment before realizing they were taking a break. Sebastian let out a laugh, his eyes heavy with lust and substance; electrifying was definitely one way to describe how he was feeling right now. He leaned in to Ryder's ear, giving it a quick, barely-there lick. "Why don't we go somewhere a little more private?" he asked in a voice as close to a whisper as he could achieve with the party ambience.

RYDER

Ryder’s heartbeat definitely spiked as Sebastian licked his ear, and he felt like putty in the other man’s hands. That was until Sebastian spoke in his ear, Ryder’s stomach dropping at the suggestion. Making out was one thing, but he had a feeling Sebastian had other ideas for them once they were alone. Ideas that, whilst he wanted them, he wasn’t ready for. He needed time to get to know and trust any potential sexual partner. Tonight was the first time him and Sebastian had ever even spoken, and they hadn’t covered many topics beyond how hot the other was.

“I’d love to,” Ryder leaned in close, starting with a positive affirmation. He didn’t want Sebastian to take what he said next the wrong way. “And I’m not trying to give you blue balls, but I’m only down to make out some more. I’m not a casual sex kind of guy. You’ll have to wine and dine me if you want more,” He said. He hoped he sounded assured, and that his tone conveyed a sense of confidence that he didn’t necessarily feel. Besides, even if Sebastian now declined, he’d had an amazing night.

SEBASTIAN

Sebastian couldn't help his drunken smile faltering when he heard Ryder's response. He was totally caught up in the moment, his mind swirling with what he wanted to do with Ryder. But if he wasn't into it, Sebastian didn't want to push it; if it wasn't going to be fun for both of them, then what was the point? "I can do that," Sebastian replied, moving from Ryder's ear to look down at his face. Wining and dining wasn't a challenge for Sebastian, it was actually something he was pretty good at and kind of liked doing, for the right person. All he knew in that moment was that he wanted Ryder, and he didn't get enough of him yet. "I know somewhere we can go."

RYDER

Ryder felt a rush of both relief and excitement flood over him. He was relieved that Sebastian hadn't taken the response as rejection, and excited that they wouldn't have to stop making out just yet. He was enjoying himself and he wasn't ready for the night to end. Hopefully it'd end in him getting Sebastian's phone number or vice versa. He let a grin spread across his face as he caught Sebastian's eye. "Sounds great, lead the way."

[blueflyingturtleontheway]

Trick or treat!

The palace was quiet, which should be normal for midnight, but there was something... creepy in this silence. Carla clutched the book she fell asleep over on the library tighter to her chest and shuffled through the corridor to her room, constantly looking around. Suddenly she stopped. She wasn't alone.

Carla quickly turned around, putting her book before herself like a shield (oh how she wished she had her tamborita with herself!) but there was no one there. For a long moment she kept frozen and scanned the dark corridor for any movement. Just as she was about to turn around and continue on her way to her room, something rustled in the potted plant on her right.

Slowly, Carla evened out her breathing and raised the book over her head. One step after another she closed on the plant and...

"WAAABWHABWAAAA!!!" A terribly twisted, red face of a monster roared and jumped at her from the plant.

"AAAAAAAAH!!!" Carla screamed back and clubbed the monster across the face with the book.

"Owww did you have to hit so hard?" the monster now let out a fully human groan.

"Wait a moment," Carla stopped right before hitting the attacker a second time. "I'd recognize this whiny voice everywhere. Mateo?" She reached for the mask and revealed almost equally twisted (from pain) face of the Royal Wizard.

"Happy Halloween?" He cracked a smile taking Carla's extended hand and standing back up.

"Happy Hal-" Carla stopped mid sentence, with her brows furrowed and her mouth agape. "You mean you decided to cause me a heart attack in the middle of the night," she pointed accusatively at the mask laying on the floor and gestured around her, as if to point out the entirety of the sleeping palace. "Just because of some Norbergian holliday?!"

"Oh come on, you have to admit that was a good prank..." Mateo defended himself but his smile immediately dropped seeing as Carla was clearly not amused. No, the expression on her face he'd rather call "rage" or maybe "thirst for vengeance".

"Uh oh."

"Prank? Prank?!" Carla raised the book back over her head and Mateo started to slowly back out. And now he was in full sprint. "Where are you going, I want to show you how we celebrated Halloween in Cordoba!!"

I hope you enjoyed this little treat ^^

[helliontherapscallion]

(Y/n) and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week: Monday

Tuesday     Wednesday     Thursday (Part 1)     Thursday (Part 2)     Friday     Saturday     Sunday

Spotify Playlist (collaborative)

Pairing: SBI x sister!reader (she/her pronouns)

Warnings: swearing, toxic friends, panic spirals/attacks, injury, taking pills for pain

Summary: you have a very bad week, how will you manage? (Characters are fully human, but based on their DSMP characters. High school AU)

Word count: 4,818

(A/N): I’ve never played volleyball or watched Haikyuu before, so I’m not 100% certain how games work. Also, I probs should’ve split this into two parts, but eh.

“(Y/n) love, you look homeless in that sweater, it’s literally so fucking ugly.”

“Haha, yeah it is. I guess I just wasn’t really trying today.”

Adrian snorted, scanning your body with his cold eyes. “Today? You don’t try at all. You always look like trash.”

“More than trash, you always look like you just rolled in dog shit.” Sammy threw her head back and cackled at her own joke.

Your friends around you erupted in laughter as you four walked down the hallways of the hell that was your public high school. You awkwardly chuckled alongside them, you didn’t really find it funny, but you didn’t want to draw more attention towards yourself. 

“Seriously, (y/n), I really don’t know why we still hang out around you anymore. You really let yourself go.”

“Yeah, now that I think about it, you did gain like five pounds in the past week.”

“Really not a good look on you, love. Then again, nothing you do can make you look good anymore.”

You tried to not let their comments get to you, you really did, but sometimes their comments just rooted themselves deep into your subconscious. You didn’t try looking good anymore, you couldn’t wear anything without them criticising it. You could never win. 

“Awe,” Adrien poked your cheeks, “stop looking so sad. We’re just trying to give you advice. You really need it.”

“Yeah, (y/n). You’re so sensitive, get a grip.”

“Guys look, I think she’s gonna cry!” 

You wiped at your welling eyes with the sleeves of your sweater. “I’m not. I just got allergies.”

Annie rolled her eyes. “Uh-huh. Anyways, what are our plans for Halloween? We should totally dress up like sexy angels! I think that’d be so cool. Like, Clint’s party won’t be ready for us.”

“Oh, about that Annie…”

“God, what now (y/n)?”

“I was actually planning on spending Halloween night taking Tommy and Tubbo trick-or-treating with my brothers and dad. I won’t be able to go with you guys, I’m sorry.”

The group groaned loudly. “C’mon (y/n), you never hang out with us anymore.”

“Oh my god (y/n) you still go trick-or-treating? We’re juniors.”

“I’m sorry, I’ve just been busy with my AP classes and studying for the SAT. My team captain’s really been pushing the team hard with volleyball practice. State finals are soon and we want first this year.”

“No matter how much studying you do, you’re gonna fail. You’re stupid, so why try? Just give up and hang out with uuussss.”

“Yeah (y/n),” Adrien looked at you suspiciously, “you’ve been ignoring us lately. I thought we were friends. Do you even wanna be friends anymore?”

You felt a flare of panic flare up in your gut. “I do! I-I just have so much going on right now. It’s starting to get hard to juggle everything.”

“We’re starting to think that you don’t like us anymore, we want our (y/n) back!” Sammy whined. The others agreed with her, making you feel guilty. You were ignoring them, it was selfish in your opinion. You supposed that you could skip out on taking Tommy and Tubbo trick-or-treating, there’ll be other years you could take them. 

“I guess I can take Tommy and Tubbo another year. They’d just have to go without me this year.”

They cheered, giving you praise. You beamed at that, they seemed down lately and you loved it when they’d give you compliments. They didn’t do that much, so that made their praise more special to you. You strived to get compliments.

You four went off to your separate first classes for the day. Yours was statistics, a class you’ve been struggling in lately. You didn’t know anybody in there except for your oldest brother Techno, so you tried to stick with him. Unfortunately, the teacher’s seating chart placed you both on opposite ends of the room, probably because of your last names indicating that you’re siblings. You placed your stuff down on the table and plopped down into your seat, already drained. You had a long day ahead of you; you had a major AP world history test in your next class, you had to give a presentation in your AP english class that was worth a quarter of your final grade, and you had a semifinals volleyball match that would last until late in the night. If your team won, you would be going to state finals, so it was a lot of pressure on your shoulders. You were the main setter, so you had to really focus tonight if you were going to score your team points. 

“Alright class, pull out your homework!”

Fuck, you had homework? You looked in your folder, only to see the unfinished sheet full of equations you didn’t understand staring back at you tauntingly. Mr. Mullins walked over to your desk, took one look at your blank homework, and just walked right past you. Another big fat zero in the gradebook for you, just what you needed. At least he wasn’t in the mood to berate you today. You didn’t need any more stress piled onto your shoulders. 

The lesson felt like it dragged on forever with you frantically trying to copy down the notes on the board and trying to understand the content at the same time. Overtime, he would call students up to the board. Hopefully, he would skip over you today. “Ms. Minecraft.” Goddamn it, you spoke too soon.

Your head perked up and you looked at him. “Yes sir?”

“Come up to the board and solve this.”

Gulping, you felt panic rise up in you and stood up with shaky knees. On the board was part of the newer content he was just teaching. Something that you understood only a little bit better than the rest, and that’s not saying much. You still didn’t understand the content completely. Your writing was shaky as you wrote what you thought was right on the board. Finding the answer, you circled it and looked at Mr. Mullins. He looked disappointed. 

“That’s wrong, Ms. Minecraft. Please sit down.”

You felt like your face was on fire as you saw the entire class burning holes into you with their eyes. Though they looked dead inside, as per usual with any morning class full of tired teenagers, their effects still took hold on you. You wanted to crawl into a dark hole and die. You sat back down and stared at your note packet, you couldn’t focus on the lecture anymore. Your attention was fully on your surroundings, you were hyper aware of every little whisper and bouncing leg in your peripheral vision. You could feel yourself spiraling, usually that wouldn’t happen until after your third class. Today was going to be rough. 

The loud chime of the bell startled you out of your thoughts. You shakily put your papers back into your binder and put the binder back into your backpack. Right as you were about to walk through the door, you heard Techno catch up to you. “Hey, you good?”

“Yeah Tech, I’m just peachy.”

“Are you su-”

“Technoblade. I’m fine. Now if you excuse me, I have to get to my next class. I have an important presentation I’ve gotta prepare for.”

Without giving him any room to argue, you rushed off to your english class. You had Adrian and Annie in your class. For your presentation, you were paired up with people that you hardly knew. At least they did their part in the project, you were certain you were going to die if you got paired up with Adrian and Annie again. You loved them, but they never did any part of their portion of work. They left it to you to finish at midnight the day the project was due. To be fair, they both told you they had family emergencies, so you covered for them just that once. 

You pulled out your flashcards only to have them knocked out of your hand when someone bumped into you. You quickly crouched to pick them up so you could have them in order by time class started. “Oops, sorry love.”

It was Annie. She and Adrian towered over your crouched form smirking at you. Looking back down to rearrange your cards, you murmured “it’s ok.”

“Are you ready for this presentation, I know I am.”

You smiled a little. “Actually, I think I’m going to ace this. English is my best subject.”

“Yeah (y/n), I wasn’t asking you. I was talking to Annie. Besides, you’re probably going to fail this.” Adrian scoffed. 

“Thank you for asking, Adrian,” Annie shot a pointed look at you, “at least someone cares.”

The bell rang, signifying the start of your second block. You felt like you had a lump in your throat blocking your breathing. If Adrian, one of the smartest kids in your english class, said that you were going to fail, then you probably were going to fail. That would take a huge hit on your grade, this project was worth a quarter of your final grade after all. You were zoned out for the entirety of your classmate’s presentations putting yourself into a spiral. You jumped when Mr. Todd, your teacher, called your group up to present.

You stood stiffly in the middle of your two groupmates and clutched your flashcards with clammy hands. Luckily, your part of the presentation was not first. When it came to your part, you were stuttering and tumbling over your words. You even dropped your flashcards in front of everybody, causing half the class to snicker. Your face burned as you hurried to pick them up and your other groupmate took this as a signal to continue the presentation. You still had an important point to make that was integral for the set up to your other groupmate’s part of her presentation. You stared at your flashcards for the rest of the presentation. 

When the bell rang, you made a mad dash out of the classroom. You didn’t want to talk to anybody, especially not Adrian or Annie. It was a relief that you had your lunch period at the moment. You could hide yourself in the bathroom nobody used and let your panic attack ride itself out. 

You ducked inside a stall and sat on the toilet, bringing your knees up to bury your face in them. The tears and panic you were holding in all day let itself out with explosive effects. You started to hyperventilate as you muffled your sobs with your knee. Your chest painfully clenched so you couldn’t breathe. Your limbs felt like they weighed two tons each and they were shaking intensely. You didn’t hear the end of the lunch bell ring. By the time you calmed down slightly, you were five minutes late to AP world history. 

You packed your stuff up in a hurry, power walking through the halls. You probably looked like shit, but you didn’t care, you had a class to get to and a test that you probably wouldn’t be able to finish now. You lost ten minutes of your test time. When you tried to open the closed door, you found that it was locked. You had to knock if you wanted to get in. You raised a shaking hand to knock, but the door was opened by a less-than-impressed Ms. Osborne. She ushered you to your desk and gave you your unit test. 

You couldn’t focus. The multiple choice section was usually a breeze to you, but you couldn’t comprehend any of the questions. When you could comprehend them, you couldn’t concentrate on choosing an answer. You did your best to find the correct answers, but you were almost positive that at least half of them were wrong. Your handwriting was nearly incomprehensible and your essay topic was something you didn’t study for. When you were done with half of the body paragraphs, the bell rang and you had to turn in your unfinished test. 

You had your independent online psychology course next in the library. You usually worked alone secluded in a corner deep inside the library where nobody went. You would get some solace in being alone. Maybe you’d calm down enough so that you could ride home with your brothers and not go for a long walk so you could avoid them. 

You settled down in the comfortable chair and pulled out your laptop to get started. Psychology was your favorite class. It was easy for you to understand, it didn’t have much of a workload attached to it, and it was fun to learn about. It always calmed you down reading about the intricate workings of the brain. 

By time the day was over, you got most of your psychology work done and you were on your way to the car you shared with Technoblade and Wilbur. You took out your spare keys and slumped against the window in the backseat. You were absolutely drained after your terrible day and you still felt panic swirling deep within you, waiting for the right moment to strike. 

You stretched out your legs across the seat and leaned your back against the door. For the first time that day, you felt peaceful. You still had at least fifteen minutes to yourself until your brothers would start to make your way to the car. You felt the panic subside slightly and you fully relaxed. You closed your eyes and let yourself drift off into a light sleep. You needed your energy for tonight’s match. 

The door you were leaning on swung open and you tumbled backwards smacking the back of your head against the metal frame of the car and reverse scorpioning onto the pavement. Your entire upper back and the back of your head exploded in pain and your lower back hurt slightly from having your back bent uncomfortably. You heard laughter above you as you felt tears of pain start to slip out of your eyes. Your legs swung out from their place above your face and landed on the ground with a painful thump. 

You saw three blurry figures above you laughing at your pain. You reached up with a shaky hand to wipe at your tears and saw Adrian, Sammy, and Annie. They were cackling as you shakily stood up and sat on the comfortable seats of the car. You waited patiently for them to calm down. 

Eventually, Sammy calmed down enough to explain what happened to you through chuckles. “I’m sorry (y/n), it was just too good to resist. You should’ve seen your face.”

She and the others broke back into uncontrolled laughter as they remembered your embarrassing fall. You were used to their antics, and quite frankly it felt good to make your friends laugh, even if it were at your own expense. Just as they were calming down once again, you saw Wilbur and Techno walk out the front doors of the school laughing at something the other said. Annie and Sammy heard their laughter and quickly turned around to watch them. They had massive crushes on both of your brothers, many in the school did. 

Your brothers made their way to your shared car and stopped to look at you in slight confusion. “(Y/n), were you crying? What happened?” Wilbur asked worriedly. 

“Yea-”

“Oh Wilbur, it was terrible, (y/n) fell out of the car. I don’t think she closed the door before she leaned on it.” Annie interrupted you with a faked concerned tone, a complete contradiction to her reaction before your brothers came.

Techno hastily made his way to the driver’s side door. “Well, if she’s hurt we better get going, right Wilbur?”

“Yes! We better get going, please excuse us.” He sat in the passenger seat and closed the door without hearing Sammy and Annie’s desperate attempts to stop them so they could talk to them. Your brothers thought Sammy and Annie were annoying. They absolutely hated being around them. 

Waving apologetically at your friends, you pulled yourself into the car and closed the door. Annie and Sammy looked offended that you had let Wilbur and Techno get away from them. Avoiding their eyes, you looked down at your tightly clasped hands. They were shaking slightly. 

After pulling out of the parking lot, Techno glanced at you from the rearview mirror. “You ok (y/n)?”

“Yeah, my back just hurts and I have a headache.”

“Well, do you wanna go and get some ice cream? We still have some time left before we have to pick up Tommy and Tubbo. Dad doesn’t have to know,” Wilbur asked you.

You sighed, you wanted nothing other than to take a nap before your match. “Sorry, but I need to watch what I eat today. We have semifinals tonight and I can’t have anything sugary. I just wanna go home and take a nap.”

Your brothers were quiet for the rest of the car ride until you reached your driveway. Techno twisted his body around in his seat to look at you after he put the car in park. “Did you actually fall out of the car?”

Shit, should you tell him the truth? If you did, they would almost certainly get mad at your friends. Sammy and Annie would never forgive you if you turned your brothers against them. You decided that you would take one for the team again. “Yeah, I wasn’t paying attention.” 

Techno snorted. “Well, that was stupid,” he jokingly said. “Next time you’re gonna get run over by a parked car.”

You knew that he meant that as a joke, but it still stung. Stamping your emotions down, you laughed with him and Wilbur. It was stupid of you to do, you shouldn’t have let your guard down if you weren’t at home. 

You winced as you slung your bag on your back and walked the best you could back into your house. Your upper back was killing you. You made a beeline to the bathroom and rummaged through the medicine cabinet looking for some pain relief pills. You took some and shambled off to your room to take your well earned nap. You set your alarm’s setting to its loudest volume and passed out. 

You jolted up and gasped when you felt a wave of pain hit your upper back. You blearily looked at the time. You had a little under two hours before you had to get back to the school for your match. You groaned when you pulled yourself up, your head pounding with every turn. You pulled yourself out of bed and once again took some pain pills. You went downstairs to grab an apple or something to eat. Your dad was at the stove stirring something around in a pot. 

He turned to look at you with an excited smile. “You ready for your match tonight? You’re gonna kill it!” 

You only nodded halfheartedly and plopped yourself down at the table with your apple. Philza frowned at your lack of enthusiasm, but he figured that it was just because you just woke up from a nap. You’d bounce back eventually. 

“Wilbur told me that you fell out of the car? How’d you do that?”

You shrugged, wincing slightly as it moved your back slightly. “Dunno, must’ve not closed the door.”

Philza was at your side in a hurry, his hands hovering over your shoulders. “Did you get hurt? Show me where it hurts.”

“My back and the back of my head.”

“Can I move your shirt so I could look?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

You felt him gently pull the neck of your t-shirt away from your body to peek at your back. You heard his breath hitch as he looked. Was it that bad? “Good god (y/n),” he breathed out.

“What, is it bad?”

“Don’t you feel how bad it is? Your entire back is bruised. I think there’s some blood too.”

“Damn.”

“First, language. Second, that’s all you have to say? Aren’t you in pain?”

“Yeah, but the pain pills are gonna kick in soon. I’ll be fine.”

“Would you be able to play tonight? I really think you should sit this one out.”

“No, I’m playing tonight Dad.”

“(Y/n),” oh no, he was using his stern dad voice. “It’s not a good idea to play tonight. You’re hurt, I’m sure they’ll understand if you sit this one out.”

You felt frustration rise up in you. “We’re in the semifinals. They need me, I’m the main setter. They’d lose without me playing.”

“(Y/n), I’m serious. You’re not playing today.”

“Dad, I am playing today. Look, I’ll talk to Coach Williams to see if I could be rotated out more often. I know she’d let me.”

He stared at you for a while before sighing. He knew there was no convincing you. “...Fine. But you better talk to Coach Williams about sitting out for a bit if your back hurts too much or I swear I’ll drag you off the court myself.”

You smiled a little at the small victory. “Thank you! I promise I’ll sit out if needed.”

He quirked an eyebrow at you. “If needed?”

You sighed, “when needed.”

He walked over to the pot, stirring the contents slightly. “That’s better. Dinner’s almost ready, I made some pasta.”

“It smells good, but I think I’m skipping out on it for today. I already ate this apple and if I eat any more I’ll probably hurl on the court.”

He made a displeased noise in the back of his throat, “fine, but you’re eating something when we get home tonight.”

He walked off to go get your brothers and Tubbo for dinner. You could hear their booming steps racing down the stairs towards the kitchen. They raced into the kitchen and almost crashed into the back of your chair. You stood up and looked at the two excitable fifth graders. “Careful boys, don’t want you getting hurt.”

“You’re no fun (y/n),” Tommy whined.

“Sure, sorry bout that,” Tubbo beamed at you.

You chuckled, making your way upstairs to get ready for your match. You took off your clothes with great difficulty and slipped on your jersey and your spandex shorts. They were way too short for your tastes, but you couldn’t wear longer ones, they’d just get in the way. You fondly remembered how your dad flipped out when he first saw you in them, he hated them with a burning passion. He still hates how short they are.

When you were struggling with pulling your hair back into a tight, sleek ponytail, the back of your head throbbed continuously with pain. You most likely bruised your scalp. 

You slipped on your shoes that were made specifically for playing volleyball and headed downstairs. You were met with Tommy and Tubbo jumping in excitement seeing you in your uniform. They loved going to your matches, even if they would always pass out in the car after them because matches usually ended late at night. You grabbed your dad’s keys and headed to his car. Before you could lead the boys out the door, Philza’s voice stopped you.

“(Y/n), coat.”

You huffed, grabbing your coat and putting it on before tossing him his keys. You four got into the car and set out for the high school. The short drive was filled with Tommy and Tubbo asking you questions about volleyball and encouraging you. “(Y/n), you’re gonna kick their butts!”

“Yeah!” Tubbo cheered 

Despite their voices causing a spike of pain to shoot throughout your head, you laughed at their enthusiasm. It was always nice to hear your little brother and pseudo brother in the stands cheering you on, they were your and your team’s personal cheerleaders. 

Not long after you got to the school, you were stretching with your team on the gym’s floor. Your posse found their way into the stands, sitting in the front row. The away team watched your team like a hawk, analysing every single player for any weakness. It was because of them that you tried to not show any pain when you moved your back. You talked to Coach Williams before the team stretch and she was obviously sympathetic with your situation. She agreed to switching you out with the standby setter every few rotations. 

The echo of the whistles caused pain to ring in your head every time someone scored or a foul was called. Your team captain, Haley, was constantly, yet discreetly checking on you throughout the game since she was always next to you. She was the team’s main spiker after all. 

The game droned on and on before you realized that the opposing team was targeting you when they were offensive. They probably realized that you were injured a round ago. You tried your best to block every ball that was sent your way, but a few managed to slip past you when you couldn’t move fast enough. This team was good, but your team was better. 

The score during the final round was tied and the clock was on it’s last ten seconds as the ball soared your way. You dove to hit it, landing on your shoulder on the hard floor and hitting it up high enough for Haley to spike the ball down. The crowd went wild as the ball bounced off from the opposite end of the court almost simultaneously with the screeching of the referee’s whistle, signifying the end of the game and your team’s victory.

You laid on the floor in pain, you thought you must’ve pulled your tender muscles in your back and shoulder. It hurt to move it. You felt one of your teammates grab your hand to yank you up into a giant full team group hug. You yelped slightly in pain as you felt arms press against your back and hands firmly patting your bruised shoulders. You were whisked away into the locker room to change into the pajamas you brought with you. 

“(Y/n), are you alright? That was a pretty hard fall.” Haley’s soft voice asked you. You felt your heart sing in your chest. 

“Yeah Hales, I’m fine. I just pulled a few muscles.”

Her perfectly shaped eyebrows furrowed together, “are you sure? As your team captain and your friend, I’m worried about you.”

You couldn’t help the smile that spread across your face. You felt warm knowing that she cared about you. “I’m sure, worrywart.”

She rolled her eyes playfully and breathed out a soft laugh. “Sorry for asking, grump.” Her laugh sounded like music to your ears. 

Your phone vibrated in your pajama pocket, alerting you of your family waiting for you in the car and for you to hurry up. You sighed, “sorry Hales, I gotta go. Dad’s getting impatient.” 

She gave you a small smile. “Oh, well, tell your family I said hi! Good work on the court today, I wouldn’t ask for a different setter.”

You felt your cheeks warm up and you watched with wide eyes as she left the locker room. Your phone vibrated again, your dad was really starting to get impatient. 

You walked out of the school as fast as you could to find your dad’s car waiting for you up front. Jumping in and softly closing the passenger side door, you slumped against the window. “(Y/n),” Tommy’s tired voice slurred. “That. Was. Pog…”

You glanced back to see him and Tubbo snoring away in their seats. Your match was more exciting than usual, so that must’ve really tired them out. You chuckled, turning back around to lean against the window. You took care not to put any weight on your shoulder or back. 

“(Y/n), you were amazing out there, but why did you dive for that ball? That fall looked like it hurt.”

You hummed tiredly, “thanks Dad. I just did what I thought would win us the game. We’re going to finals!” You quietly sang. 

“Did you hurt your shoulder?”

“I actually don’t know, but I think I might’ve pulled a few muscles. Nothing too bad.”

“...I scheduled a doctor’s appointment for you tomorrow morning during your first and second blocks. I want you to get your back, shoulder, and head looked at. You looked miserable the entire match.”

You sighed, too tired to argue, “mmk.”

He chuckled before the car fell into a comfortable silence. The gentle bouncing of the car and the subtle hum of the engine was lulling you to sleep. Your eyelids were drooping by the time you pulled into your driveway. 

You drug yourself out of the car and into the house, leaving Philza with the sleeping boys. You walked straight to your room and plopped down on your bed, passing out instantly for the second time that day.

Series taglist (comment if you want to be added):

[ydyf]

watching horror movies with atsumu

event post for @moon-mars-ikemen

atsumu x gn! reader

a/n - this is my first time writing after a really long time and probably the first time i tried to write a gn reader, so i hope everyone enjoys it! also i’m very much open for constructive criticism so please feel free to give me advice on how to improve my writing! <3

“hey tsumu, so which movie are we going to watch tonight?”, you asked excitedly, fully enveloped by the giant fleece blanket you had brought from the bedroom to the couch.

“uhh i don’t know,,, how about ‘the nun’? i heard it’s a good comedy movie, lots of jokes and a hilarious plot, y’know?”, he lied straight through his teeth, knowing fully well you hated horror movies and, considering you had refused at all past instances, would never watch one knowingly either. in his defence though, how else was he supposed to get you snuggling close to him, flinching slightly at every jumpscare while he had an arm around your shoulders and comforted you? he had really been looking forward to showing you how ‘manly’ he was and what better time to watch a horror movie than when halloween was a mere week away?

“that’s great, i love comedy movies! c’mere, let’s sit and watch it.”, you patted the empty space next to you on the couch. feeling slightly guilty at how happy you were to watch a comedy movie, yet still adamant to make you watch a horror one instead, atsumu picked up the bowl of buttered popcorn from the kitchen island and plopped down beside you on the couch while you lifted up the fluffy blanket so he could get inside it. placing the bowl of popcorn on the blanket over his lap, he searched for the remote, turned the tv on and quickly went to netflix to put on the movie; all while you were checking your texts so you didn’t see the cover picture and get an idea as to what the genre of this movie really was. he grinned slyly and leaned back on the couch, giddy at the fact that his master plan was finally in action and he could show you how cool he was and put an end to you calling him a softie once and for all.

it was towards the middle of the movie that atsumu realised what a horrible plan this was. half of the movie had passed with a few jump scares already and you hadn’t even so much as winced. in fact, you looked like you were actually... enjoying the movie? why? for the entirety of the two years you'd been dating atsumu, you had always steered clear of horror movies, blatantly denying to watch one whenever he put forward the idea. meanwhile, here atsumu was trying his best not to let out a high pitched squeal everytime something suddenly popped up on the screen. the fact that there was no lighting in the room didn’t help his fear either. he was genuinely about to shit his pants by this time and you were completely unfazed, eyes glued to the screen as your hand had snaked over the blanket to grab another handful of the delicious popcorn out of the bowl perched on his lap. worried that he wouldn’t be able to keep up this ‘i’m fearless’ facade anymore, atsumu decided that closing his eyes whenever the background sound got particularly high pitched would be the best way out of this precarious scenario.

“hey uh t-tsumu, are yo-you really not watching the movie?”, you straight up guffawed, wiping the tears streaming down your face.

“what-i-no! of course i’m not! i was just uhhh blinking!”, he cleared his throat, trying to make his quivering voice as steady as possible.

“oh please. you’ve had your eyes closed for half of this scene. who blinks for 5 straight minutes?”, you laughed, slapping your hands against your legs.

“i do! i had something in my eye y’know…”, came the reply, with his guilty eyes focused on his twiddling fingers.

“aww, love, it’s alright to be scared. don’t worry, i’m here for you, i won’t let my little pumpkin pie ever get hurt. promise.”, you cooed in a saccharine voice, attempting to cover up your previous laughing fit by patting away on his head, trying to calm him down.

“thank y- wait y/n. weren’t you afraid of horror movies?? you should be the one scared shitless right now!”, he realised, bringing up an accusatory finger to point right at your nose.

“hmm remind me, tsumu, when did i ever say i was scared of horror movies?”, a snicker slipped past your lips as you continued ,”i always declined watching them because i knew you’d get scared and wouldn’t be able to sleep after that. plus i’m not stupid, you know? i knew you were putting on a horror movie, so i was like hey why not, maybe i’ll get to see you cry a bit. you look really cute with pink lips, nose and cheeks!”, giggling, you booped his nose gently.

“i-you know what? i just realised i’m dating a sadist. i’m breaking up with you. i can’t handle this kind of emotional torture. ”, he huffed out with puffy cheeks and folded arms.

“is this the kind of attitude you should be giving me when you’re the one who wanted to scare me?”, you pointedly inquired, right eyebrow raised for more effect.

“alright, alright don’t nag y/n. let’s just watch scary movie instead. it’s horror AND comedy so it shouldn’t be that scary right?” atsumu sighed as he unfolded his arms and opened them up for you to slip into. seeing the gesture, you flopped right into them and snuggled against his chest.

“done. anything for you, love.”, you smiled up at him.

“okay so let me just”, he lifted his eyes up to the tv,ready to change the movie already playing,” AAA WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE?!?!”. he screamed as he tried to climb onto the sofas back so abruptly that it toppled backwards, bringing you along with it. as soon as you both fell, he scrambled to his feet hastily, worry encompassing every feature of his face.

“OH MY GOD ARE YOU OKAY Y/N? DOES ANY PART OF YOUR BODY HURT?”, he hovered over your form, trying to look for any signs of injury anywhere.

Laying on the ground, laughing hysterically at how dumb your boyfriend was, you couldn’t help but think how lucky you were to have his dumb ass all for yourself.

[ms-starflower]

Maribat Rare Pairs — Day 3 — Bats

@maribat-october-rarepairs

Did I write the entirety of this thing because the last scene was stuck in my head? Yes, yes I did.

This is a Stephinette and technically takes place two weeks after what happened in what I wrote for Spook-tober Day 1 but can totally be read alone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

She had just finished cleaning up after her lunch when someone knocked excitedly on her door. There were only two people in her life that would manage to make a knocking sound excited, and Marinette only rolled her eyes before walking to her front door with a fond smile.

Stephanie, a bright grin on her face, was bouncing there.

“Mari! Just the person I wanted to see!” She exclaimed, clasping her hands together.

“I would hope so,” Marinette said with an amused smile, leaning on the doorframe. “Seeing as this is my appartement.”

“Yeah,” she chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck. “I need your help, it is of the utmost importance.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Jason lost a bet,” she told her solemnly.

“Tell me more,” Marinette said, instantly interested, mentioning for her to come inside with a nod.

“Yeah! So, the loser had to let the winner decorate their apartment, and keep the things until two weeks after Halloween!” Steph said excitedly, jumping to sit on Marinette’s couch. “I have the best idea for him, and I thought that we could do it, like… together?”

“Ah?” Marinette said with a smile, feeling her cheeks heat. But the sight of Steph’s own blush gave her a boost in confidence. “And what do I win out of it?”

“Beside the pleasure of my company and annoying the hell out of Jason?” She asked cheekily, before rolling her eyes at Marinette’s raised eyebrow. “What about waffles after we finish decorating? My treat."

“Are you asking me out, Stephanie Brown?” Marinette asked with a smirk, trying to sound flirty but probably falling.

“What,” Steph exclaimed, losing her equilibrium and almost falling off the couch, making Marinette take a step toward her with a worried expression. She got up quickly, pushing back her hair and looking at her with wide eyes. “I— Um, I mean, yeah? If you want me to?”

Marinette coughed in her hand, trying to ignore her flaming cheeks. “Yeah, I would like that.”

“Great. Great! So, uh, it’s a date!”

“Yeah,” Marinette smiled slightly, looking down. “Um, let me grab my room in my purse— I mean my bed— my purse! Let me grab my purse in my room!

She ran toward her room as quickly as she could, ignoring Steph��s laughter in her wake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So,” she started when they were in the car en route to Jason’s place, looking at the decorations' boxes on the backseat. “Why are there so many bat themed things in here?”

“Because Jason is gonna hate it!” Steph told her with an evil-looking smile.

“Oh? Did he have something against bats?” She asked innocently, looking at Steph from the corner of her eyes. The panic that crossed her face told her that she didn’t know that Marinette knew.

“Um, no? He just doesn't, uhm. He is not a Batman fan?” Stephanie spluttered, eyes stubbornly fixed on the road.

“Really? I thought the only one not fans of Batman here were the criminals,” she continued, hiding her smile from Steph.

“Criminal? Jason?” Steph laughed awkwardly, still evading her gaze. “No way!”

Marinette only hummed, probably enjoying a little too much making fun of Steph.

“Is that,” Marinette started with surprise, reaching for the box that was on the floor of the back, before bursting into laughter. “Steph, why do you have a box full of Batgirl themed bats?!”

“Uh, she is my favorite?” She said, her awkwardness climbing through the roof.

“I get why,” Marinette said with a smirk, grabbing one of the bats before sitting back correctly in her seat. It was cute little black things, with a yellow belly and purple striped wings. “She kicks ass, takes names, and looks stunning doing it.”

“Oh?” Steph muttered, her cheeks deep red.

“Yeah, totally my favorite too,” Marinette said with a smile, pointing at Steph with the bat. “But I don’t think that’s why you have that box.”

“What?” Steph whimpered, glancing quickly toward her.

“No, I think they are here because they are your signature.”

“What?” She said in a high pitched tone, looking at her for a second before looking back at the road. “Why would I use Batgirl themed bats to—”

“So, Jason didn’t tell you that I knew about the Waynes’ extracurricular activities?”

“What?!” She screeched, looking at her with wide eyes.

“Eyes on the road, Batgirl,” Marinette said with an amused tone, turning Steph’s head with a hand on her chin.

“Oh my god! Did— Did Jason tell you?!”

“Nah, that dumbass forgot his guns and helmet on his kitchen table,” she replied, waving her hand slightly.

“He didn’t,” Steph whispered disbelievingly.

“Oh yes, he did! And do you know what he said when I asked him about it?” Marinette asked with a shit-eating grin.

“What?” She asked with the tone of someone that was afraid of the answer.

“He looked at me right in the eyes, expression all serious, and said,” she paused, schooling her features and making a bad imitation of Jason’s voice. “I’m Batman.”

“Oh my god, are you shitting me?!” She burst into laughter, only barely managing to keep herself focused on the road.

“I’m not! And when he realised how shitty his excuse was he just looked at me like a lost puppy and mumbled ‘I cosplay?’”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“Holy shit! But— Oh my god, do Bruce know that you know?” Stephanie asked, when her laughter subdued enough for her to.

“Of course he does, he confirmed it.”

“He what?!” She screeched again, and Marinette was really loving this ‘surprising Steph’ thing.

“Yeah, Jason took me to see him at WE headquarters. I asked him if he was Batman and he said,” she changed her voice to badly imitate Brucie’s tone. “‘Yes, of course. Do you want a ride in the Batmobile?’ I don’t think he was expecting me to believe him and accept.”

“Fuck, he need to stop doing that,” Steph muttered under her breath. “Did you get the ride?”

"Non! And I’m still miffed about that,” she said with a pout. “I’m kinda surprised he didn’t tell you about it, I think he dug up my entire life story when he realised that I knew.”

“Holy shit, I can’t believe we spent the last two weeks walking on eggs around you when you knew,” Steph said, disbelief in her voice, as she parked the car in front of Jason’s building.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

After they literally drowned Jason’s apartment under bats, they sat in front of each other at a table in a waffle house, like promised.

“Oh mon dieu,” Marinette said with a laugh when she saw that the waffles were bat-shaped. “Are the bats never going to leave me alone?”

“Do you want them to?” Steph asked, with a flirty smile.

“No,” Marinette sighed, staring at her with a dreamy smile. “I really don’t.”

[katnissdoesnotfollowback]

So weird question. I am an absolute baby when it comes to the horror genre in film. As in I have forced my spouse to walk into every room first with my back to his because having the thing come up behind me is next tier terror for me, turning on all the lights as we go, checking every nook and cranny to include especially the bathroom and shower! I despise jump scares with a passion. I have also dragged an air mattress into my college roommate’s room and slept on her floor because she wanted to go see The Grudge in theaters and like an imbecile, I went along with it and her consequence was dealing with my freaked out ass for the rest of the night thank you. Spent the entirety of Exorcist: The Beginning in my then fiancé’s lap IN LITERAL TEARS because wouldn’t you know it, my former roommate and my husband share a sadistic love of horror movies and they somehow talked me into it. I currently have a deal with my spouse. I will sit down and watch one ONE AND ONLY ONE, horror movie with him a year but he is not allowed to pull any cheap tricks or try to scare me afterwards and he must be responsible for turning on all the lights afterwards and securing the house… also if I have to sleep with a light on tough shit buddy.

Now that I’ve humiliated myself enough… here’s the weird thing. It seems to depend on the source of the horror or whether it’s more psychological thriller than horror. Maybe because if I’m focused on solving the mental puzzles, I don’t get as scared? I dunno.

Examples:

Halloween/Friday the 13th franchise - Ugh no.

Jeepers Creepers - Hell no

Exorcism - Hell no. Actually Fuck no

The Ring/The Grudge - you can go to hell in a hand basket before I’ll watch that ever again

Freddy Krueger - Fuck no and fuck you for liking it and everyone who made it I hate you all why why whyyyyyyy??????

Shutter Island - I really don’t like jump scares but there’s really only the one so fine. I can handle it.

Hitchcock films… on thin ice but we’re usually okay.

1408 - it freaked me out the first time we watched it but it’s one of my spouses’s favorites so I think maybe I’m now desensitized to it???

Saw - ABSOLUTELY NOT. NO. UH UH YOU SICK FREAKS WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!?! FYI…. Remember that deal with my spouse I mentioned above? He’s used it to subject me to this franchise in it’s entirety and I HATE HIM FOR IT.

So here’s my weird question… I have been avoiding reading any Stephen King for literal decades even though I dated someone in high school who pretty much had a boner for all of Stephen King’s works and didn’t understand why I just did not want to read them. Actually, I just do not read the horror and suspense genre at all. It’s a more recent development, me dipping my toes into these genres. And well. I just did. I read a Stephen King for the first time ever, and had zero nightmares, and finished it thinking “that’s it?!?!?!”

Maybe I read the wrong one? Maybe it’s the visuals of watching it onscreen that gets to me? I dunno, because I thought it was the whole supernatural elements that spooked me the most, but this one had demon possessions and remnants of dead people’s souls hanging around and while I was intrigued by the writing style and the plot and so I just kept reading, I was not… horrified??? I mean it was gory but that didn’t affect me the way it does in movies… I actually kind of liked it????

Thoughts? I know some of y’all are freaks of nature who like to be scared and while I don’t see the appeal, I’m wondering why this one didn’t affect me? Like at all. When (see above examples) I am usually a certified baby when it comes to things like this…

[s0merand0midi0t]

A few others shared their RWBY x FNF so I'm sharing my other idea (Yes it's gonna involve sonic.exe cause why not)

Friday night funkin': Team Rwby Tussle

General idea is this: Boyfriend and Girlfriend are in the kingdom of atlas *For safety reasons let's say Volume 7 ep 6-14 and the ENTIRETY of Volume 8 NEVER. HAPPENED. EVERRRRR....Okay? Okay. Okay? Okay. Back to the post* walking around casually looking for a place to eat , not really paying attention to their surroundings. As they're walking they just so happen to bump into team RWBY who was doing the exact same thing and then the dialogue starts.

*BGM*:

Dialogue *I know bf and gf don't have canonical names but for the sake of this. They will,alright?!*:

*Keith and Cherry are walking down town and talking to each other*

*cut to team RWBY who was also walking while ruby was talking*

R: So then I was like *Fake gunshot and fighting noise*

*The others laugh*

R: But that's not even the best of it! Then after that i-

*Ruby and Keith bump into each other*

R: Gah!

K: Ah!

*They both fall back*

Both: Ow!(Beep!)What the hell?!(Bop Beep Bo?!)

*Team WBY and Cherry look at the 2*

R: Yo! What-!

*Ruby looks up*

R: Oh geez. Sorry, I kinda got wrapped up in my stories again

C: Oh don't worry w-

C: Hang on...don't I recognize y'all?

*The team looked confused*

Blake: what do you mean?

*Keith got up and looked them*

K: Bee(Hey)...Beep Skedibo da bo!(Hey wait a second!)

K: *Clears throat* Aren't you 4...You're team RWBY right?!

*Everyone looked shocked*

Yang: You recognize us?!

C: Recognize?

C: We're big fans of you 4!

B: Really?

W: Huh...we have fans

*Keith Chuckles then gets an idea*

K: Hey since we've ran into each other.

K: Would you 4 be willing to do rap battle with me?

*they looked shocked*

W: Well

B: I dunno about that...

R: Oh come on guys! They're fans of ours!

R: Besides,this day's been booooriiiing! All we've been doing is walking around all day!

Y: Hmmm...she is right.

Y: Maybe a rap battle would liven things up a little!

W: Well I AM musically inclined

B: Ehhh...Alright you've convinced me.

*Ruby Smiles*

R: We accept your offer...uh..what's your name exactly?

K: The names "Keith .XML"!

R: Weird last name but alright *Ahem* We accept your offer Keith .XML!

R: Let's do this!

K: Yeah!

*End of dialogue*

Aaaand that's the dialogue!

I'd add more but I'm not typing out more scenes

MOD ITSELF NOW:

Week name:

RWBY Rumble

(Week 1)

Song list:

Ruby:

Red Rose

Petal burst

Weiss:

Reflection

Ice cold

Blake:

Shadows

Kitty claws

Yang:

(phase 1 Calm) Firecracker

(Phase 2 Angry) Solar flare

Gimmicks (Mod charts):

Ruby- Fast but predictable (Lane moves + SS and speeds up every time you miss and resets everytime you die)

Weiss- Summons can mess with your notes (Pull notes back or cover them)

Blake- Normal scroll speed but is unpredictable every time you lose (Can fake out her arrow placements)

Yang- (phase 1 calm) Double notes and some triple notes

(Phase 2 angry) either a note mechanic or dodge mechanic from ember celica

Cover songs:

Shotgun shell and Parasite (Entity/Agoti)- Yang

Worship and Prominade (MFM/Entity)- Weiss

HairBall and Headache (Kapi/Garcello)- Blake

TicTacFoe and Technicolor Tussle (Mangige matches/Indie Cross)- Ruby

Spectral and Ballistic(Vs Retrospecter/Whitty)- angry yang

Challenge-EDD (Fnf online)- Ruby feat. Cinder as Eduardo

Athazagoraphobia- Team RWBY V. Legion

AND MORE! (That I won't name)

Bonus songs:

Grimm- Salem

Bull horns- Adam

Sunbeam- Sun

NOW FOR THE SONIC.EXE PART!

Y'know how In FNFever they have 2 sections? One for normal songs and one for Halloween ones? It's that but it's a section for normal songs and a section for cover songs. The sonic.exe portion of the mod however is it's own separate mod.

I've got no new names for the specific songs, I've got some names for team rwby tho (Check out my Triple trouble team rwby post for info about that):

Blueflame yang- vol 5-6 Yang as fleetway

Miss B- vol 5-6 Blake as lord X

Yenk- Vol 1 yang as sanic

Fakerose- Vol 1 ruby as faker

Wess- vol 1 Weiss as sunky

Penny doll- vol 1-3 penny as tails doll

And more!

Mod references (in terms of remixes):

Arrowfunk

D-sides

B3

Neo

Corruption (not pibby)

Soft

Crystalized

Mad com

BG references:

Mods (like starlight mayhem, rising volume, madness combat)

Camp camp ref

RvB ref(which I've never seen)

Nomad of no where(Which I've also never seen)

There's more but let me know what y'all think.

[squishmallow36]

When you get this you have to answer with 5 things you like about yourself, publicly. Then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers.

(I'm copying this from earlier and i don't know enough people to keep sending so)

1. I'm really proud of my fanfics...well, most of them but we aren't gonna talk about the early ones. And those still have their good adorable moments

2. I uh I'm smart. I'm gonna be a junior in high school but I'll be taking calculus this year so yeah. And hopefully AP chem. And hopefully i'll make the science olympiad team.

3. Squishmallow cruises! So basically my mom and i started a virtual (like video call) cruise thing for my grandparents and aunt and uncle uhh halloween of 2020 and we've gone to the caribbean twice then alaska and then ireland. We're gonna be going to italy next so hit me up if you've got any fun facts.

4. I might make jokes about this but i do like that i can just pull random facts out of the back of my brain for no good reason. It helps so much with writing dex. (Along with the grammar cop that was my existence in like the entirety of middle school fuck you mr. Kemock)

5. I like where my art style is. Yes, it's stolen borrowed from a pbs kids show but you know what i've adjusted their proportions so their heads aren't quite so gigantic so it's mine now. Also the backgrounds (like my sophiana one specifically) are just so pretty.