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#guess who won mario party
redsray · 2 months
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Batkids playing any kind of board game but make it extra competitive because whoever wins gets to choose what Bruce wears for the next gala.
Bruce, in a sparkly top and skinny jeans:
Reporter: Ah, who chose your outfit tonight, Brucie?
Bruce: That'd be my eldest, dear!
Dick, behind him, full into the gala persona: Flattering, isn't it? He should wear it more often, don't you think, sweetheart?
Reporter, flushed: Oh, absolutely.
Bruce (to Dick): Get a new fashion style. Please.
Dick: Never.
Reporter: Who would be responsible for your wardrobe tonight, Brucie? It's certainly a statement.
Bruce, head to toe in a pink suit and Hello Kitty accessories: Gorgeous, isn't it? All the credit will have to be given to Jason, though, I'm afraid.
Reporter: Your second son, if I'm not mistaken?
Bruce: The very one.
Jason from across the gala hall, trying to not cough up his drink with laughter:
Tim, next to him: He's pulling it off, though. Little spins and everything.
Jason: Still ridiculous. That's Batman right there, Timbo.
Tim, snickering: The Dark Knight, huh?
Bruce, dressed in a collared white shirt, sweater and skirt, looking like he just came out of a light academia novel:
Reporter: Wow, Brucie. Who do we thank for that wonderful outfit choice?
Bruce: Ah, flattering, is it not? Tim's choices when it comes to fashion are wonderful, if not a bit simple.
Tim, nodding from behind him: Only the finest satin skirts. Charming, right?
Tim, to Bruce: Don't call my style simple, Mr. all I wear is black.
[Jason handing Dick $10 in the background because Bruce does, in fact, pull off a skirt.]
Reporter: Oh lord, what a gown! Who influenced your fashion choice tonight, Brucie?
Bruce, in a long green and black gown with gold accessories, nothing short of royal-looking: I fear only one person I know could choose an outfit as gorgeous as this one.
Damian, proudly next to him, in a smaller, matching gown: Only the most exquisite. You lot in this flimsy country cannot compare.
Bruce: Yes, Damian has a fine taste in fashion. He gets it from his mother.
Damian, quieter: Well certainly not from you.
Bruce, dressed in an elegant white dress shirt, long black pants and a corset with red accessories, a fan in his right hand:
Reporter: What an entrance! Anyone to give credit to for the wardrobe, Brucie?
Bruce: That'd be my daughter, she certainly shines with her choice of clothing.
Cass, grinning with a matching fan: Very pretty.
Bruce: Thank you, Cass.
Reporter: Woah, that's certainly new. Any reason for this choice of clothes, Brucie, dear?
Bruce, in a snapback cap, loose jeans and a band t-shirt, complete with rings and a chain around his neck: Well, all of my children are creative, but... Duke might just take the cake for this one, love.
Duke, losing his absolute shit next to Jason, Dick and Tim: You look great, B.
Steph doesn't usually go to galas, but she participates in the game nevertheless. If she wins, god help Bruce, because it's a gamble with her. He either ends up wearing a gorgeous outfit with eccentric and trend-setting accessories or literal checkered pyjamas. Worst yet, he has to say he picked it himself, since he can't directly blame Steph.
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winterxgardener · 28 days
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Here’s a recap of March 2024 because it was a great month for shourtney shippers:
March 1: Courtney possibly (allegedly) saying she’s getting married
Also March 1: don’t win Mario party which just screamed domestic bliss with the head on shoulders 
March 3: wavelength. they were on the same team, they knew each other, they were laughing together, very subtle though
March 6: Shayne guesses Courtney’s books Immediately and does his usual long explanation
March 7: we got Courtney drawing Shayne throwback to the beginning of the series, and Courtney’s meme having Shayne in it 
March 8: sniper chess, they were super competitive, they knew what each other were thinking, when Courtney said, “you’re lucky” he said, “i am lucky”
March 10: chosen moose master, subtle moments
March 15: Courtney won guessing Shayne’s favourites, the funniest thing was Amanda straight up asking Courtney if Shayne likes this (ex.liking sci-fi) and being shocked when Courtney says he likes a specific piece of media (like watching game of thrones, reading game of thrones books) and the meet and greet was so funny
March 17: TP:TNTL, possibly THE shourtney video of the year, it was so wholesome seeing people who just want the other to laugh and have a good time, they had inside jokes, their faces made each other laugh also Shayne knew something from rupaul which everyone knows Courtney loves and Shayne’s “what if I win” comment is something different like I have never seen Shayne like that ever overall 10/10
March 21: we got them in smosh pit theater, Courtney made a comment about Shayne’s brows and Courtney (and Angela) dying laughing at Shayne’s jump
March 23: reddit stories, Courtney laughing extra hard at the virgin joke
March 26: tntl 141, what do you mean we got 3 different bits were shourtney are a couple? Also new ship unlocked????
Knowing shourtney we’ll probably not get another good month like March for a long while (a drought seems to be starting but let me not be ungrateful and honestly they need a break)
Whoever made this summary, thank you. Kudos for doing this. 😌💚💙
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Knowing Shayne and Courtney, you are probably right. April can be a drought month for shippers since March had a lot of Shourtney crumbs. 😅
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otomiyaa · 18 days
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Luigi Wins (by doing absolutely nothing)
Bowser x Luigi
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A/N: This was going to be a 2-part fic but I ended up writing the whole thing before I could even consider what kind of poll to add. *shrugs* works I guess. Thank you @weegee-simp69 for the final little push to write some Luigi again.
Summary: Bowser confronts Luigi about his interesting strategy to win a game. Inspired by Mario Party and the classic Luigi Wins By Doing Absolutely Nothing series. (Also on AO3)
Word Count: 1.3K
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The little star was sparkling brightly in the hands of Princess Peach. Toad was holding up a little flag, and the water was shimmering beneath them.
"Everyone ready? On your marks!" Toad chirped, addressing the participants in their weekly game competition: Mario, Wario, Waluigi, DK, Bowser, Daisy, and Luigi. Luigi took a deep breath and gazed at the group. Since the game only started with Mario and himself and slowly expanded with more and more participants, he was sure it was a matter of time before more would join.
Of course, everyone wanted to earn these shiny victory stars. He was proud owner of 3 of them. Naturally his brother Mario was in the lead with a whopping 7 so far, and Bowser had already earned 3 as well. Luigi glanced sideways at Bowser, who was already smirking at him before their eyes even met.
"Don't think I'll go easy on you this time," Bowser chuckled. Luigi blushed and nodded.
"Understood," was his humble reply. Bowser was after all, his romantic partner too. As strange as that may sound to many, including himself.
"THREE, TWO, ONE, GO!" Toad almost lost his poor voice as he announced the start of the game, and luckily he didn't need to tell them a second time. The second he screamed 'go', the little group exploded into chaos.
"E-eh." Luigi hesitated entering the mess as he watched his 6 opponents crash into each other. Today's game was a simple one. They were all on a star-shaped platform and needed to push each other off. Underneath them, a cold pool of water was awaiting them.
Luigi froze and waited to be thrown into the water, but noticing the others going at each other with so much passion and determination, he slowly relaxed.
Oh? Splash. Wario was the first to fall in. Luigi nervously kept his eyes on Bowser who was, pfft, the second to fall in, followed by DK who was basically dragged along with him.
They really didn't realize he was standing here and doing nothing and - ah, Luigi realized now. This was exactly how he won his other 3 stars. One game he just didn't know what to do, so he stood still and ended up winning. The second he first wanted to observe quietly and also did nothing - yet before he could even take one step, the game was already over and he won. The third one was just like that.
Was this going to be his 4th star? Was he going to win, just like that? A grin was tugging at his lips when Waluigi didn't even get pushed in, but he tripped over his own feet and fell right past Luigi, not even touching him, into the water. Then not only Daisy, but also Mario fell in, in the middle of their little brawl. And before Luigi could realize, Toad's whistle could be heard.
"Game over! Luigi wins!" he yelled. Peach applauded and welcomed him off the star platform. All dry and safe, and now.. hehe, with another sparkling star in his hands. Luigi admired it and smiled proudly.
"Congratulations," she said sweetly. Luigi felt flattered, but did she not see he actually won by... doing absolutely nothing?
Proud with his victory he headed home first while the others got out of the pool and dried themselves.
"Oh yeah," Luigi said to himself, adding the star to his proud collection. Next to the 4-star collection of his own, Bowser's 3 victory stars looked less impressive. Luigi couldn't suppress his giggle. He actually beat him again!
"Are you that happy you won?"
Luigi looked how he came walking in, still wet as he lazily rubbed a towel over his body. He nodded.
"Of course I'm happy," he said, unable to hide his smile. Bowser glanced at his glass display that now had 4 stars in it.
"I noticed something," Bowser said in a serious tone, and Luigi somehow felt laughter bubble up, so he tried to control it. Why, laughter? Why?
"W-what did you n-notice?" he asked.
"You weren't doing anything."
Pffft! Luigi gulped and let out a giggle. He quickly covered his mouth. "I g-guess you m-must've noticed... so early in.. the water..." he managed to say between held back giggles. Bowser cocked his head.
"Pardon?" he asked.
It had started and Luigi couldn't contain it. "Nohohothing," he giggled uncontrollably, shaking with held back laughter. Why was everything so funny? The whole gang including Bowser going at each other so hard they didn't realize Luigi was doing nothing. Luigi then winning while everyone was in the water.
Bowser being among the first to be in the water and noticing Luigi's remarkable, eh, strategy? To win the game. On top of that, his lover Bowser was now acting like this ー
"HAHAHa!" Luigi was startled when suddenly he felt familiar claws rubbing against his sides.
"I guess you've got a laugh stuck in there don't you? I'll help you get it out, it must be itching hmm?" Bowser said teasingly, all of a sudden tickling both of Luigi's sides.
"Wahah- Mahahama Miahahaa- wahahait Bohohowser!" he cackled. Well his laughter was now indeed set loose, with 100% of his voice and more.
"That funny hm?" Bowser said calmly, still wiggling those pesky fingers against Luigi's sides and ribs. Sure this wasn't their first tickle fight, so Bowser knew exactly where to get him to make him weak in the knees. Tickle fight wasn't even the correct term here.
"Nohoho! Okahahay I'm sohohorry!" Luigi laughed, falling on his knees, but Bowser scooped him up without effort and tickled his tummy almost as if he was a little baby.
"Sorry for what? I don't understand," Bowser said while Luigi's laughter was all over the place. He kicked his legs and flailed his arms more.
"Huwahahah! For lahaha-laughihihing! Ahahaha!"
"Why would you apologize for that? Like I said, I'm helping you get that laugh out that was stuck. What were you laughing for anyway? Don't tell me you were laughing at me?"
Bowser was such a goofball, such a tease! Luigi couldn't do anything but laugh about it, and laugh because he was being tickled, and laugh because he was just... happy.
"Well?" Bowser sang, rubbing little circles against Luigi's tummy. Oh right, he asked a question.
"Ohohonly a lihihittle!" he admitted through hysterical giggles.
"Only a little hmm?" Bowser acted as if he was going to eat him, growling and nibbling Luigi's side playfully through his clothes, tickling him even more and making him shriek.
"EEehehehee yehehees! I'm sohohorry!" Luigi laughed and he kicked his legs again. Such a tickle monster!
"Plehehease - hehehehe!" he finally begged when he could barely breathe. Bowser noticed and immediately stopped the tickle attack.
Luigi caught his breath, and even though the tickling had stopped, he couldn't keep the smile off his face. He nuzzled Bowser's big arm.
"Really now," Bowser said. Luigi looked up at him with teary eyes.
"Hmm?" he hummed. Bowser rolled his eyes fondly and shook his head.
"You... Even though I tickled you to death, feels like you still won. And you did absolutely nothing," Bowser teased. Ah, Luigi blushed. As tough as he looked, Bowser recently would say stuff like this and it was adorable.
"...Agree to disagree. I laughed a lot, that isn't nothing," Luigi finally argued, but that earned him another poke in his stomach. And another, and another.
"Hohoho ahahalright - no mohohore!" he laughed tiredly, and he was relieved when Bowser switched back to cuddling.
"I know. Congratulations on your victory today," Bowser muttered softly before kissing the top of his head. Who would have thought Bowser could be like this. Not Luigi, nah. He still couldn't believe it, but that didn't mean he wouldn't appreciate it everyday.
"Wait. Are you laughing again?" Bowser asked, noticing his shaking shoulders.
"You're being so cheesy haha!" Luigi laughed breathlessly. However this time instead of tickling him more, Bowser joined in and laughed as well, and they laughed together while the stars were shining brightly behind the glass.
Next week, another chance to win! He was going for 5 stars, but something told him Bowser wouldn't let him get away with doing nothing again. Well, not so easily...
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I wrote this a long time ago for Twst SMAU. Some lore on how Ghost King! Idia and Mario!Yume meet! I have a general plot planned, but right now I'm working on Ghost Marriage lore so I'm not sure when I'll get around to it! I have lots of fun with this au though! (´。• ᵕ •。`)
Enjoy! Writing under the cute!
Title: Ghost King Join's the Party!
Length: 6.5k words
“Whe he he!~ It’s finally finished!” Idia giggled, his sinister laughter echoing throughout the dark, cold dungeon. 
“This is gonna be the one for sure, no way he gets out of this one!” He assured himself, and himself alone as there was no other soul in the room with him. His ghostly underlings were all at their posts; awaiting the expected arrival of one, said Yuuta Midori. Idia sighed, his brows furrowing at the thought of his rival. 
During their last encounter Yuuta had “beaten” him…that part wasn’t…really uncommon. Yuuta interrupting his plans was a constant plague on his life to the point where he was genuinely worried about the amount of free time Yuuta had. But, even though Idia never won their encounters in a literary sense he had always gotten what he needed to do.
Sure, Yuuta may have stopped him from summoning an undead army, but he had gotten away with the necromantic book he needed with the spell. So in a way he was the true “winner” in their game. That is until last time….
Absent-mindedly, he touched the top of his head. A place where his family’s crown was supposed to be sitting.
“How annoying…freaking goodie goodie…” He grumbled to himself. Idia got careless with their last encounter. When trying to steal those parts for his machines he ended up losing his crown. 
“It wasn’t my fault!” He groaned aloud, drearily pacing back and forth as he talked to himself. 
“Those Toads wouldn’t sell anything to me! Just because I had some “terrifying and scary Boo's” with me.” He put finger quotes and rolled his eyes as hard as he could. 
“So what if they scared a few people!?” He shrugged. “I needed the parts way more than them!” He pointed at himself indignantly, as if he was having an intense debate with someone.”They weren’t utilizing the parts to their full potential! Just letting them rust away in a corner because they were too STUPID to see its value!” He growled, the long blue flames of his hair blazing a harsh red for a second as he kicked a loose rock on the floor.
 Idia yelped as it actually kinda of hurt his foot…
“But would that wannabe anti-hero with a mom complex hear me out?! Noooooo of course not!~ Cuz I’m just the gross, creepy, shut-in who lives with dead people!!” He complained dramatically, hopping up and down on one foot until the pain subsided. Idia’s voice simply echoed off the empty walls of his family's old castle dungeon. Only the slight jangling of chains in the wind through the cracks in the walls responded back to him…He stood there for a few moments soaking in the lonely silence as his face went passive and expressionless. 
It was fine…he was used to it by now…
Idia sighed, feeling ashamed that he was once again getting himself so worked up in a conversation by himself. How pathetic…
“Well…I guess it doesn’t matter. Once I capture that wannabe hero, I’ll make him give me back my crown.” He grinned widely at the idea, his sharp teeth on full display.
“We just have to-Hm?” He stopped, hearing a notification sound from his tablet. He lifted his cloak, sticking his hand through it to the pocket dimension inside and pulling out of his tablet. Unlocking it to check his security cameras feeds.
“What the-?!” Idia’s brows furrowed and he leaned forward; hunching close to the screen. 
There he saw a chaotic scene; dozens of his Boo subjects all scattering around, panicked expressions on their faces. They all flitted about, desperately finding places to hide and disappearing into old furniture. Through the blurs of barely transparent ghosts he could see the rooms of his family’s castle were a wreck, more so than usual, as if battles had taken place. Remnants of his puzzles and traps that he had so strategically placed were either rendered obsolete or smashed to smithereens. 
Did Yuuta do this?? It usually took him longer to solve Idia’s traps and he NEVER scared any of his subjects like this, usually they did the scaring!
Idia watched as one Boo ran right into one of his security cameras cracking the lens. What was his name…? Herbert? Idia wasn’t sure. He was never good at recognizing all their faces and remembering their names… it was always Ortho who…
His train of thought was interrupted as someone stepped in the camera frame. 
Due to the crack in the camera lens, Idia couldn’t make out any details, but he saw the Boo shriek and scrambled to get away. A blurred motion approaching the camera was the last thing he saw before it was busted. The camera feed going offline. 
Idia winced and sneered in annoyance thinking about how he’d have to replace that camera now. Though he felt himself beginning to sweat as he cycled through the other camera feeds, trying to identify or even catch a glimpse of his intruder. But he never could, they were always just out of sight of the camera angles or moving too fast for him to get a clear picture. Just a red blur? He swallowed hard; he couldn’t help but notice that the cameras he was following were getting closer and closer to his current location.
“Gah, geez what’s with this horror movie atmosphere!” He bemoaned, growling in frustration as another camera was destroyed, just one room away from the dungeon he was currently standing in. A few seconds later he heard a bang from outside the door. 
“Wha-! O-oh forget this!” He said, closing his tablet and stuffing it in his cloak. 
“N-n-nothing w-wrong with a strategic retreat! H-hehe?” he said to himself, laughing, nervously as he hurried to gather his tools and keys.
*THUMP*
He jumped in place and failed to hold back a high pitched shriek, his tools falling around his feet; as the heavy wooden dungeon door entrance was suddenly struck.
“O-Oh! Oh, shit!” Idia looked around frantically. The banging on the door continued relentlessly. It wouldn’t hold forever. 
Usually he would just phase through the walls to escape, but that was impossible here. The dungeon was designed to imprison even ghosts. He could try to take this threat head on, but without his crown his powers were so nerfed he could BARELY use them to fight. He let out a nervous noise, stepping around his trap's trigger, and cramming himself into a corner of one of the dungeon cells, crudely kicking an ancient skeleton aside as he did. 
With one final *thunk* the dungeon door fell off its hinge, a cloud of dust puffing up and a deafening bang reverberated off the old stone walls. Idia cautiously peeked from his hiding spot, looking to see this new enemy…
-
.
“Whoa~!” Yume yelped as they fell through the door. A small ‘oof’ escaping them as they tripped on the door.
“Oww…” They groaned into the hard wood where they face planted. Maybe they used a little too much force on that last swing? They thought, clumsily stumbling to their feet. They gently dusted themselves off, taking extra care to clean their monogrammed hat. Yu went to adjust their glasses only to realize they weren’t on their face.
“Ah, my glasses!” They panicked for a second looking around the dark room until they found them only a few feet away. They sighed in relief, putting them back on and taking stock of their surroundings. 
Yume glanced around the room, which looked to be a dungeon of sorts. A majority of the area was shrouded in shadows; only a bit of light coming from dull torches of blue flames. They could hear the slight jingling of chains as the cold air drifted through the room. Yume grimaced, their knees buckling for a second at the idea of exploring this creepy place. 
Ugh! They should have gotten a flashlight like Yuuta told them. They jogged in place for a moment to calm their nerves.  I’ll be okay, just some dumb little creep, I can take him! His puzzles weren’t even that difficult! Yume took a deep breath to calm down. Their face settling into one of determination.They would be fine, they just had to keep their guard up. 
With that thought in mind they grabbed the handle of their hammer, pulling it from where it was wedged into the door. The old sturdy wood splintered under the head of the iron hammer head and they made a small noise of effort as they lifted the blunt weapon over their shoulder.
“Eek-!” An unknown noise echoed in the chamber.
Yume whipped their head around towards the direction of the noise, but all they could see was darkness. Their first instinct was to call out, but they hesitated for a moment. Was it an enemy? Or…maybe someone who needed help? They bit their lip unsure if they should speak…
“Hellooo? Is someone there?” They called out, their voice echoing across the chamber. They felt slightly silly at how much they sounded like a dumb horror movie victim. But if someone was here then…well…it’s not like they hadn’t heard Yu come in.
Yume waited a few seconds, but got no response. They let out a breath through their nose…guess I have to do this the hard way. With that final thought, Yu tightened their grip on their hammer as they slowly and methodically began searching the room .
-
Idia held his hands over his mouth. Shit that was close!! He hadn’t meant to make that noise! He scolded himself for acting like a dumb protag in horror movies, the very ones he always rolled his eyes at!
 ‘C’mon think, Idia think, you're better than those idiot normie throw away characters!’ He swallowed hard, finding it difficult to focus as he heard the intruder stepping around in and opening doors in the other cells. Each time getting closer and closer to his current location.. He couldn’t run away, the enchantment on the dungeon walls prevented even ghosts from phasing through them and if he tried to run through the open entrance they would definitely see him!
The footsteps came closer.
He could try to fight but without his crown he was severely underleveled! He didn’t know the stats of this intruder yet, but if what he saw on the camera was any indication they were not just some random noob! He could easily get K.O’d if he wasn’t careful!
The creak of the cell door next to his opened.
Gah-! He was running out of time he-! Idia felt himself start to hyperventilate. 
The footsteps were right outside the cell. 
He hated this, why couldn’t people just leave him alone!? Is what he was doing really such a crime?! He just wanted to be left alone! Why couldn’t they leave him alone? He wished he was anywhere else, he wished Ortho was here, he wished he could just disappear from the face of this earth for good! 
Idia heard the door to the cell creak open and he gasped. Blinking away the tears and instinctually cowering and covering his face to hide. His bloodline powers activated automatically, making him invisible where he stood.
He held his breath as the intruder stepped around the cell, he could hear them, walking around towards each corner carefully until they got to his. They were so close, Idia could tell without even seeing them. Cautiously, he peeked through his fingers, trying to see this interloper up close…
Big brown eyes stared directly at him and he almost screamed in shock, but caught himself as he realized they couldn’t actually see him. He felt his face heat up in embarrassment, avoiding eye contact regardless.
He moved his fingers aside just a bit to see them more fully.
Idia wasn’t sure what he expected, maybe a huge monster or a large buff dude but…instead this person was actually rather short…? Glasses resting on their rosy round cheeks, wavy curls framing a soft face, and a small pout their plump lips as they carefully examined the corner he was hiding in. Huh? Who…? His eyes trailed down, catching a familiar attire
Short overalls and a monogrammed hat? Yuuta wore something like this though in a different way…was this person…related to him in some way? Did he send them? Idia thoughts raced, his curiosity starting to overtake his anxiety. 
If that was the case then…it's possible that they weren’t that much stronger than Yuuta… maybe they were even more of a scardy cat then him? At the thought a mischievous sharp tooth grin split on his face as he got an idea. A way to get this nuisance out of his hair AND avoid a fight with some NPC of unknown lvl. He just had to do what Boo’s did best.
As the person turned away from the corner, stepping over something and kneeling down to examine the entrance to the cell, Idia saw his chance. 
Idia released his breath, making himself visible and with all the remaining strength he had left called upon his power to shift into his ghostly form. He felt his figure grow, his wispy cloak merging with his body.  His tongue lolled out of his mouth as his mouth unhinged, displaying his rows of razor sharp teeth, his face twisting and distorting in an unsettling nightmarish visage. He loomed over his capture, now turned victim. Idia took a deep breath as he prepared himself to let out an unholy scream and hopefully scared them to death.
 He took a step forward, getting closer and closer, waiting for just the right moment…
**Click** 
Idia looked down with wide eyes, seeing the trigger of the trap release. Oh n-
Idia couldn’t even finish his thought as the trapped sprung and he yelped as metal sheets on the floor quickly folded up around him, locking him in a metal box. He couldn’t even scream as the small area encased him, forcing him to fold his body like a tetris piece just to fit.
“AHH-! WHAT THE FUCK!” He heard the intruder scream, then a loud metal thunk hit the trap. 
“S-shit!” Idia choked out, finding it hard to breathe. The trap wasn’t made for someone his size in mind. He tried to shift his knees to sit in a better position. 
This was fine, this was completely fine! He just had to get the remote from his pocket to release the trap. With great effort he shimmied his hand to his pocket to find…
…It empty?
“…!”
SHIT! HE MUST HAVE LEFT IT SOMEWHERE ON THE FLOOR! He had thought he would have more time to prepare before Yuuta came!
“No no nononono!” He whined and began hyperventilating again as he tried to kick and pound at the trap. Unfortunately, it was working perfectly as intended, leaving him with no hope of escaping on his own. What was he going to do?! It could be days before one of his subjects found him?!
A few seconds later three hesitant knocks on the container broke him out of his panic. 
-
“Umh…H-hello? I-is someone in there?” Yume asked carefully, their hand on their chest to calm their still racing heart. What the fuck just happened? One second the cell was empty and then they heard a horrible loud noise? And now this metal box was here?? And it was making noises?! Where did it come from?? Did it fall from the ceiling…?
There was no response from the box. So, reluctantly, Yume leaned forward and cautiously knocked again; pressing their ear to the side of the container. A few seconds passed but this time they did manage to get a response.
“H-help…!” A feeble male voice choked out. If Yume wasn’t literally pressed up against the box they definitely wouldn’t be able to hear it. Yume gasped, placing their palm against the box.
“Help?! Who are you?! Are you okay? How can I help?!” They asked in rapid fire, their instinct to aid beginning to take over. Yu automatically grabbed their hammer, thinking maybe they could just smash the trap, but then they noticed. The spot they hit earlier didn’t even have a dent…Even if they pounded away at this thing all day; it might not budge...
“The trap is too sturdy-! I don’t think I can break it!” Yume explained. They squished their cheek up against the box; now able to hear the labored breathing of whoever was inside. Yume frowned, their worry for this person increasing with every second.
“H-Hey, it's okay, it’s okay! We’ll figure this out…!” They said, trying to calm the person. An unsure noise came from inside. 
“I mean it!” They tried to reassure them again. “I heard that this guy always has an out for these kinds of things, there must be a way to free you? A-A key somewhere or-!” They did a quick once over of the cell but found nothing. Then the prisoner piped up.
“R-r-re-remote…!” His voice stuttered. 
A remote? Yume thought, then like a lightbulb they remembered. A remote! Yume reached into their pocket, pulling out the strange device they had found earlier in one of the rooms upstairs. They didn’t know what it was then, but thought it seemed important. Definitely a key item! Maybe the Ghost King had dropped it and misplaced it? HA! What a total idiot!
“Hang on! I’m gonna try something!” They said, taking a few steps back.
“H-hurry…!” The voice pleaded.
Yume held the device out at arms length, leaning slightly away, and pressed their thumb down on the almost comically large red button.
A satisfying *click*, sounded. Something inside the trap whirled and the metal plating shifted rapidly as the coffin-like trap began to unfold itself. The top of the box popped open like a trapped door. A cartoonish spring noise sounded, and the person screamed as they were quickly and forcefully ejected upwards out of the trap.
“Whoa-!” Yume’s eyes followed the motion, holding on to their hat as a blur of blue flew up past them.
-
Idia let out a shriek as he was ejected into the air. After being tumbled around in the trap he was completely disoriented, he couldn’t tell up from down; the whole world was LITERALLY spinning. Were his traps always this messed up? A few moments later he felt a moment of equilibrium, before gravity overtook, sending him plummeting down.
He was falling? Time almost seemed to slow down around him. Since he’d inherited his crown it was a sensation he’d forgotten…Was he going to die?  The thought crossed his mind matter of factly before the panic set in. N-No he couldn’t, he still had so much to do-! He could hear his own heartbeat in his ears as he fell, faster and faster. Idia pinched his eyes shut and tried to brace himself for the cold unforgiving stone floor…
.
.
.
“Gotcha!” Yume grunted, their small arms wrapping around the prisoner. Even as they caught him the force of the fall was a little too much for them and they both fell to the floor. Yume let out a groan as they fell flat on their butt. The person bouncing on their lap as Yu’s own body cushioned most of the fall. It knocked the wind out of Yume so they tried to take a few deep breaths. 
“Ack!” Yume wheezed as they were suddenly squeezed in a tight hold. Long arms wrapped around their waist as the trembling prisoner clinged to them like a lifeline. Wisps of blue overtook their vision as the person buried themselves in Yume’s shoulder. They felt small panicked breaths hitting their neck as the person hyperventilated.
The sudden closeness started Yume and they were a little embarrassed, but they set that aside, their practiced heroic persona taking over. 
“Hey hey, shh… it's okay…” They cooed, gently rubbing the prisoners back. Yume tried to pull them back a bit so he wasn't sitting directly on their lap. But, he  flinched at the contact, letting out a small whimper. He clutched the back of Yume’s hoodie more intensely, bunching up the fabric. 
Yume sighed, but relented, tentatively setting their arms around the person.
“Okay okay, you don’t have to let go.” They murmured softly, it wasn’t the first time they had to comfort a panicking victim, but usually it was only children who clingged to them like this. Though this person was clearly not a child, their tall frame almost completely enveloped Yume. If it wasn’t for how thin they were, Yume might have been knocked flat on the ground. Absent-mindedly they moved their hands around his waist. Actually, they were REALLY THIN! Yume’s brows pinched up in worry.
-
Idia was beside himself, he couldn’t think straight. It wasn’t the first time he had a panic attack like this, but this was one of the worse he’d had in awhile. Ironically, the only thing keeping him together right now was the very person who caused his composure to crumble in the first place. He hadn’t meant to cling to them, sure, it was a natural instinct when falling but… then he felt it…
The warmth of another living person…he had almost forgotten what it was like. Idia shivered as soft warm palms rubbed his back.
“...How long have you been here?” The intruder asked, sounding concerned.
How long? How long had he been here? In this castle; a glorified prison for his cursed family?  He wasn’t thinking straight, a part of him knew that wasn’t what they meant but…
“Forever…” The words just came out.
 “...I-I-’ve-” Idia struggled to speak, cringing at his own voice and giving up the thought halfway, choosing instead to steal more warmth from this person and burying his face in their neck. He caught a whiff of a fruity smell he couldn’t identify, but strangely it calmed him. 
The stranger didn’t seem to mind, in fact they held him closer, a hand soothingly patting his head.
“Shh…it’s alright, I’ll protect you… '' They said the words softly, but with conviction. Even in Idia’s skeptical mind it sounded reassuring. Though, it was the next words that really got to him.
“You're not alone anymore.” The person whispered to him as if it was a promise. 
Idia tensed, the words making him freeze in place. His brain jump started as he suddenly registered EVERYTHING that was happening. Where he was, who he was with, the position he was in. The scenario and sensations overwhelmed him, making him hyper aware of every stimuli in the room.
What the hell was he doing? 
At the thought he pushed the intruder away, scrambling away from them.
They let out a noise of surprise at the sudden shove.
“G-get away-!” Idia choked out, all at once the warmth from before left him, sharpening his focus. Idia crawled away until his back hit the cell bars and he anxiously gripped one. Uncomfortably pushing himself into the cold steel to get as physically far away from this person as possible. NO ONE had ever made him drop his guard like that? Was it some kind of weird power?  In his mind they were even more dangerous now then when they were just some OP freak with a hammer. 
-
The push knocked Yume to the floor. They grunt in pain as they felt their elbows skinned against unforgiving stone. They recovered quickly. 
“Ow! Hey! That hurt!”  They growled, giving into their first instinct to get angry. They were only trying to help this person and this is what they get. Geez! 
“What’s your fucking issue?!” Yume shouted as they sat up to glare at the person, puffing up their cheeks at him. Though their anger dissipated once they set eyes on this person; vaguely registering that this was the first time they could see him clearly. 
Bright golden eyes trembling with fear met Yume’s. A glint of sharp teeth peaked from his mouth, nervously biting thin blue lips. His pale skin seemed to glow in the darkness. The illusion only became more prominent due to the actual flames of long blue hair; cascading wildly around his shoulders and back; framing his mature angular face.  
Yume blinked twice, taking in the appearance of this person, a person who just a few seconds ago was sitting in their lap. Their face heated up now at the idea.
“Oh…You’re…” Yume started to say ‘beautiful’, but caught themselves, as they saw the man’s shoulders hike. Yu trailed off…losing their nerve to say what they wanted. They took a moment to collect themselves, clearing their throat..
“-You're safe.” Yu said, firmly, trying to sound as reassuring as possible; thought still a nervous laugh escaped them. “Y’know what, here let's uhm, start over!” They said kindly, shifting to sit on their knees. They clear their throat again, their nerves suddenly spiking  as they realized they were meeting a stranger.
“ H-hi, I’m Yume Ume! Part Time Hero! ” They tried to smile, voice a little too loud and gungho; as they awkwardly put their hand out for him to shake. He jumped at the loud volume of their voice and tried to lean back even more at the quick movement. Eyes shifting back and forth at Yume’s hand, and expression, skeptically.  He made no move to shake their hand, but raised an eyebrow at their introduction.
-
“Part time Hero”, that was the way Yuuta introduced themselves to people sometimes, too. Idia didn’t say anything but made note of it. A more pressing concern plaguing his mind right now.
“U-Uhmm…” He started speaking, cringing at his own stutter.
 “A-aren’t y-you….g-gonna to attack m-me? O-or s-something” Idia muttered, he knew he should try and put on his villain persona, but his head was pounding. He felt so weak, he must have used too much of his power… 
Yume’s eyebrows hiked up in surprise. 
“Huh?!” They were confused for a second, so he shifted his eyes to their hammer lying in arms reach. They followed his gaze.  “Oh! Oh no! No!” They said quickly, pushing the hammer away. It slid further across the floor, clunking loudly till it hit the wall.
“That’s not for you! That’s only for bad guys!” They said, holding their hands up in a placating gesture. Idia paused, his eyes widening and jaw going slack as he realized…
This person…this Yume…had no idea who he was.
“What’s your name?” They asked, further proving his assumption. 
“O-oh! I..umh…” It’s been a long time since he introduced himself to anyone. Part of him understood, why would anyone want the name of some freak like him. Even the moniker of ‘Ghost King’ was given to him.  Nobody, not even his subjects called him by his real name anymore…no one did, not since Ortho… He shook off the thought, not trying to go down that train of thought.
“M-my n-name-i-ts uh-!” He hesitated, bringing his knees to his chest and fiddling with his fingers. Unsure if he should tell them… In the end he decided it wouldn’t be worth the trouble of keeping up a lie.
“I-Idia j-just…Idia.” He whispered, peeking up at them through his bangs. Yume smiled at him.
“Idia…” They repeated, giving a little nod of approval. “That’s a nice name!” They said so sincerely it made Idia’s stomach churn a bit. Even so his face still heated up at the compliment, he wasn’t used to them. They went on, leaning into him a bit.
“Listen Idia, my brother, Yuuta! He sent me here to stop something the Ghost King was planning, I’ve searched this place to to bottom, but I still can’t find him, I don’t think he’s here so-”
“Wait-! YUUTA IS YOUR BROTHER?!” He asked in disbelief, leaning into them as well. Yume leaned back not expecting him to suddenly raise his voice.
“Yeah…have you met him?” They asked, raising an eyebrow. 
“O-oh n-not I-I’ve just uhh…h-heard of him…! Y-yeah, talk f-from the dungeon g-guards ehehe…” He lied, chuckling nervously, pushing his index finger together to stim.Yume frowned looking at him with sympathetic eyes.
“You… must have been trapped here for a while, huh?” Then their brows furrowed. “No wonder you look so thin and pale! That guy is gonna pay!” Yume said seriously, bawling up their fists till they shook. 
Idia let out a quiet noise as if he had been stabbed; any confidence he had plummeted to the floor and shattered, and he hunched in on himself.
“I c-can’t help how I look…!” He grumbled gloomily. Honestly, he had been called much worse by others, but for some reason the comments from Yume stung extra hard. He didn’t try to dwell on why.
“Ah-! Nono-! I didn’t mean-!” They tried, but Idia interrupted them.
“H-how do you plan on beating the Ghost king anyway!?” He asked,  looking at them curiously. This whole thing was a big epic fail, definitely one for his cringe comp. But maybe he could get some useful information from someone so close to his nemesis.
“O-oh well!” Yume pushed up their glasses. “ Yuuta told me the last time they fought, he managed to steal the Ghost King’s crown. We didn’t know much about it or how it worked. So, I was worried it might be dangerous, y’know?” They gave a small shrug. 
“Like, bro I love you. But you can’t just take freaky villain shit without knowing what it is!” They explained, and gestured their hand out as if it was an obvious conclusion. “Like that thing could be cursed for all we know!” They said, throwing their arms up dramatically. 
Idia’s eyes widened and how close to the mark they were, but he didn’t say anything.
“Anywho,  I took it upon myself to do a little research on the crown so my brother gave it to me and-”
“YOU HAVE MY CROWN!” Idia blurted, forgetting himself for a moment and scrambling closer to them; scanning Yume up and down to find it. Their posture turned a bit sheepish, seeming to be nervous at suddenly having Idia’s full attention.
“Oh no not on me I- '' Yume paused, Idia’s words catching up with them. 
“Your crown?” They repeated, tilting their head and looking at Idia with narrow eyes. Idia let out a noise of shock, only now realizing what he had said as well.
“O-oh! I meant- W-what I meant is um-” He stumbled over his words, bawling his hands to his chest. Unable to come up with a lie to cover it. HOW COULD YOU BE SO STUPID! He internally screamed at himself. 
“Wait a second…yellow eyes…and blue flames….” Yume said, their eyes carefully scanning over his features, he could practically see the gears turning in their head…
GAH, THIS WAS IT HE WAS SO DONE FOR! GAME, SET, MATCH! Idia’s eyes darted around, back once again in trying to find a way out of this situation. But there was nothing he could do, even if he ran they would definitely catch him.
“You…you're…” Yume continued. And Idia swallowed nervously, pinching his eyes shut and preparing his mental tombstone: “Death by hammer”.
“...A SHROUD!” Yume said confidently with a look of awe on their face.
“Huh?!” Idia said dumbfounded, his body untensing. It wasn’t what he was expecting to hear.
“Yeah..?” Idia nodded.”H-how did you know?” He asked genuinely surprised. His family was considered the stuff of legends. They weren’t recorded in any historic literature; at least not traditionally. Whispers of the Shrouds only came up in myths or sometimes tales of cautions.
Yume gasped, doing an excited little dance at being correct. Then they propped their hands on their hips, looking proud that their prediction was true. 
“I KNEW IT! Well not ‘knew it’, but it all makes sense!” They began speaking passionately.
 “All the books I read about the crown mentioned a family with ghostly powers that passed down the crown from generation to generation! Some books even theorized that the bloodline had ended long ago, but they were all so ambiguous and never had definitive proof! A story that inspired so much mythology couldn’t have been based on a simple fairy tale! Gosh, I can’t believe it!” They rambled on passionately. Idia simply watched them, overwhelmed but…unable to take his eyes off them.
“Um-.” He tried, but Yume went on, speaking quickly and manically.
“And AND, you’ve been imprisoned here all this time! The Ghost King appeared only a few years ago, so that’s when he must have stolen it and learned how to unlock the secrets of your crown! By imprisoning you! AM I RIGHT?” They asked, sitting up on their knees leaning in only an inch from his face.
Idia laughed nervously, blushing at how close they were now. It took him a few seconds to process everything they said. They had really crafted this whole narrative in their head without Idia saying anything. But the scary thing was how almost accurate their theory was. Sure, they were just missing a few crucial details. But…they didn’t need to know that. 
“T-that’s right!” He lied, nodding quickly to agree with them. Yume’s mouth fell into an ‘o’ shape, and for just a second, Idia found himself having to hold back a genuine laugh at their expression. It was the same face he made when his favorite TV show theory got confirmed.
“Oh my gosh…what a conspiracy! Yuuta’s never gonna believe this!” They murmured to themself. “Like, ‘Hey bro, that thing we’re using as a paper weight at home, it's a legendary artifact of darkness from a royal family.  Hey, who would have thought; not me!” Yume said, mocking out the conversation 
“W-what, you just have it at your house-! Wh- A PAPER WEIGHT?!” He spluttered indignantly. “YOUR USING MY FAMILY CROWN AS A PAPERWEIGHT!?” 
“I mean…yeah.” Yume shrugged, tilting their head and sheepishly grinning at him. Idia didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the absurdity.
“I need it back!” He said desperately, even going as far to reach over and tug a little on their sleeve. 
“A-ah okay okay, we can get it back…” Yume said, placatingly patting his hand. Their faced scrunched up in thought. “Hmm…well actually it's kinda of a long trip there and back…just going home for me is gonna be a journey in itself.” They murmured thinking to themselves for a few seconds, before their eyes widened; a creative sparkle to them.
“Oh I know! Here’s an idea!” They smiled. “You need your crown back and I need more info on the Ghost King! So, If you're willing to, I can escort you out of this place, and you can come back home with me to retrieve it!” They said.
“Hm?!” Idia’s first instinct was to grimace at the idea of leaving his land. Yume noticed his expression.
“Hear me out…!” They said, carefully placing a hand atop Idia’s. Idia noticed it, but decided not to yank his hand away to keep up appearance. The warmth was already spreading through his skin, even with his gloves on. Yume continued.
“This way we both can get what we need and besides I…well…” Yu looked away shyly. 
“I wouldn’t feel right leaving you behind-!” Idia watched their face flush a bit. 
“I mean-! S-someone who's never really been out in the world on their own! It would be hard to fend for yourself!” They flusteredly explained, looking back to him. 
“I have connections back home too, people who can help get you settled back into society…you must have been so scared and lonely…” They trailed off, giving his hand a gentle squeeze, before continuing.
“So…what do you say?” Yume asked, looking up at him through their long eyelashes, they almost looked…nervous? Idia didn’t understand why.
“Uhm…” He looked down, avoiding their gaze as he processed their words. They didn’t seem to mind; not pressuring him for a quick answer. He took a minute, running through all the possible scenarios in his head and came to a conclusion. His gut instinct was to tell them no, thank them for saving him and run off; when the “ghost was clear” pun intended. He could just return back to his castle and fortify his defenses. And apt strategy…however…This might be his best and only chance to get the crown back…and he needed it soon if his plans were ever going to come to fruition. He knew could never get it back with a full frontal attack, not with his debuff status ...but a stealth mission….that could work…he just had to play pretend, he could do that. He did that all the time as a child and even now.
Idia turned to them, doing his best to maintain eye contact. 
“O-okay…I-i'll take you up on the offer…p-please take care of me.” He stuttered, doing his best to give them a warm pleasant smile and not be “positively creepy” and “wonderfully unnerving” as he’d been told it was by his subjects. Gently, he gave the tiniest squeezed in return to Yume's hand.
Either Yume was a big weirdo or he did a halfway decent job, because they beamed at him, looking relieved.
“Great!” And they grinned, as if he had told them the best news in the world. They helped him to his feet as he shakily stood; smiling at him for a few moments longer before they seemed to remember themselves, looking away and chuckling nervously.
“Well then-!” Yume heaved up their hammer. A glint of what Idia recognized as magic sparkled for just a moment as they wound up a big swing towards a crack on the wall.
*BOOM*
 Idia jumped and let out a noise of surprise as a large section of the castle dungeon wall crumbled.
The dawn of the morning sun shone on the horizon and the birds chirped, signaling the start of a new day. It was so bright Idia had to shield his eyes and instinctively tried to take a step back into the shadows. Through the cracks of his fingers he saw Yume holding out their hand. The rays of light from the sun enveloping them and glinting off their glasses, making their warm olive skin almost seem to glow. 
Yume smiled at him with a kindness he’d never seen from a stranger…
“Let’s go!” They said cheerfully, flexing their hands for Idia to take. 
Their words broke him out of his stupor of awe and he stumbled towards them, nearly tripping over the debris, but at the last second Yu caught him, lacing their hands together to stabilize him. Idia blushed as they locked eyes, seeing nothing but pure sincerely on their face. How could they be like that with someone they just met, weren’t they embarrassed? Idia looked away, but couldn’t help but notice that somehow Yume’s palm felt warmer than the burning sun on his face. 
As they began climbing carefully down the hill of the crumbling rocks, Idia couldn’t help but wonder what kind of mess he was getting himself into.
It was fine…he just had to stick to the plan. 
No mess, no strings attached, just play pretend…that's all.
-
UI: IDIA HAS RELUCTANTLY JOINED THE PARTY!
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nintendonut1 · 4 months
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Is it just me or the second you give Peach the Lazy Shell Armor after beating Valentina, you’ve basically won every single future battle by making her an unkillable goddess that WILL make sure the party (by which I mostly mean Mario and Geno) win every single battle through attrition if they can’t just bull over the opponents?
Kinda makes Bowser and especially Mallow almost useless late game since Bowser’s biggest strength is his bulk which is pointless when Peach on the Lazy Shell is both bulkier and makes her teammates constantly healthy, and Mallow’s greatest strength outside of healing is his magic attacks which Geno and Mario can outclass him in once they set up with Geno Boost thanks to Peach covering for them for a few turns. The only main reasons to use them are in scenarios where:
1. Magic does next to nothing against enemies so Bowser’s physical attacks are your best choice
2. The enemy has a specific element weakness that you’re trying to exploit with Mallow
3. You want to check what Magic immunities they have with Mallow so you don’t waste a bunch of FP on an attack that will do nothing
4. The Trio Attacks
Also worth noting in case anyone is curious is that Mallow can’t replace Peach as a Lazy Shell Armor abuser both because her healing skills are better and since the Lazy Shell nerfs his Magic Attack Stat, the healing he COULD do before is drastically reduced. He’s by far the worst recipient of the item.
I mean
I guess this USED to be the case in the original but in terms of the remake...
who else is gonna help you get all the Thought Peek entries like cmon now
elemental weaknesses are much more obvious and can make or break a fight now. for example, Mallow's Snowy completely destroys the Shoguns that you HAVE to fight in Land's End and that made that section way less excruciating than it normally is like holy shit
the triple moves make them all matter by default. like, the whole point, besides adding a new mechanic, was to make them feel more like a united team, rather than just three dudes and two bystanders
Also you sound like someone who hasn't played postgame yet, many of those mechs bypass the Lazy Shell completely and by god in heaven you're going to APPRECIATE that Mallow and Bowser are there when the rest of the team gets wiped LOL
if Geno heard you call Mallow useless he would deck you
If Bowser heard you call him useless he would cry and THEN deck you
you can also just. choose not to use the Lazy Shell LMFAO
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aviles2003 · 10 months
Text
Peach Meets Mario's Family
After Defeating Bowser and His Minions, Mario and Luigi won Back Brooklyn and Saving the Mushroom Kingdom, but there was so much Destruction Bowser's Kingdom lair has made, but with the Kongs and Penguins Helped to put Back Brooklyn into its rightful peace to rebuild again, with the help of construction workers as well, it all turned out well
Meanwhile Mario and Luigi we're On their way back to the Apartment with their family to have a nice Lunch at home, their Mom and Dad were proud of them,
"This calls for a celebration Dinner and will make Things a Victory to you two!" Mario and Luigi's dad Said very cheerful, "yep glad you really did saved Brooklyn for real, Your the heroes of Brooklyn!" Mario and Luigi's mom said excitedly
"and A very Amazing Plumber I might say" Peach said into the Conversation with Mario and Luigi's Family, "My Name's Princess Peach, It's a Very special honor to meet You Mr and Mrs M, Mario Saved My Kingdom from a giant Bullet and I am grateful for Him"
Mario and Luigi's Parents were Surprised to see a new Friend Mario meet from another world, "It's a pleasure to meet you Too Princess, were just going to get Dinner at our home Would you love to join us?" Mario's dad said to her, peach Said the Answer to him "I'd be Delighted too" peach agreed and Mario's parents brings peach along with them "you too mushroom man" he said to Toad, "ALRIGHT!" Toad Said Excitingly
As they arrive inside the apartment, Peach was Surprised to see Mario's Family get together, "Hey-o!" The Family said to say hello, Mario, Luigi, and Their Parents said the same phrase, Peach Said a Soft "Hello!" She never meet any Other humans Like Mario when he first came to her Kingdom, Mario's Family was surprised to see a Visitor in the apartment
"Princess, now I know you meet my Mom and Dad, but you are gonna love My Family who me and Luigi we're living for years!" Mario said, he was joyed to give peach Meeting his family for the first time, she was Nervous at first But was Still contagious how She meets People than the others than toads, "This is uncle Tony, he's a really funny guy and Also does a Magic things, but you just can't help but love this guy" Luigi explains to Peach, "My goodness, what an honor to meet you princess, say what's that in your Ear?" He Surprises peach with a Coin that made her say "Oh my! That's Amazing! I didn't know you we're magic!", Uncle Tony Laughed and appreciated for her words, "Thank you Peach, that means A lot" peach couldn't help but giggle,
Mario Now turns over to Uncle Arthur and Aunt Marie to Peach, "This is our Uncle And Aunt, they can tease us sometimes when we reveal something like the commercial we made, but we have funny Moments to joke around!" Uncle Tony and Aunt Marie met Peach with an ordinary greet "what a beautiful Woman you are! I guess Mario is your type for a girl like you?" Marie Slapped him in the back "hey I'm joking" Mario just blushed for the sakes "What a wonderful Dress Your wearing, did you Get it from a Mall?" Marie asked to Peach, "we'll that Monster Bowser Just made it For me, but I might get rid of it soon." Mario just Spoke up to her "I think you look Pretty In that Dress Peach, You could use it Anytime for like fancy parties, we'll even dye it Into Pink when you think of it!" Peach just giggled with Embarrassment but Find it Adorable from Mario's comment, "Thanks Mario, I guess pink does suit me when we get this wedding dress colored pink soon" Mario just Laughed "no prob princess, anyways-" Peach stopped for a moment
"wait, who's your little girl Marie?" Peach Asked to aunt marie "oh that's Nicola, she just be stuck on her phone, anything I took it from her" the niece was shocked "HEY!" Peach laughed "calm down She's just teasing You Nicola, no need to be Embarrassed" peach said calmly "Alright i get it, but it's nice to meet you Peach, you look beautiful this morning" Nicola said to peach looking at her white dress "O-Oh thanks" peach said with a blushing voice
Peach saw their Grandpa with the Hat, but he is unfortunately sleeping like a Old Heavy Old man sleeping as a elder man "goodness, your grandpa looks like his good one Mario." Mario could thank her for meeting his Family "Thank you princess, I'm glad you meet the rest of our family" Mario Said, "take a seat Peach, You and toad should be ready for Dinner" Mario's mom ask, peach and toad Took the chairs to sit for dinner, peach sits next to toad and next to mario, "Your family is very Special to you and Luigi, Mario, like the princess she is special to all of us as a Family." Mario's thoughts came to his mind from toad "Thanks My friend, Peach is very special to all of us now" peach couldn't help but smile and say "Thanks You two"
Mario's plate was with spaghetti mushrooms, he thought he can't eat another mushroom from that training course he had a flashback "You okay Mario?" Peach interrupted to Mario, "Oh yes, yes I'm Fine" peach gives Mario a rizz face, "Come on don't make me shove that mushroom in your mouth like I did to you" the entire family just laughed making Mario blush from his memory "okay okay I'm getting over it, thanks peach" Mario said that peach is just teasing,
Everyone enjoyed dinner Having Spaghetti and talking about family stuff and new faces like peach and toad,
"Hey peach, while your Here in Brooklyn for only a while I could take you to the mall to see any clothes fits you what you love in fashion" Marie Said to peach "Oh my, that would be wonderful Of you Marie, very soon but I'm all worn out from that Action today, but I'll get rest soon to join you tomorrow" peach quoted, Marie understand but happy to hear that
After dinner is over that afternoon Peach went inside the Bathroom to wear comfortable casual from Marie's clothes, she got out wearing white socks, a Red Pink PJ pants, And t shirt that saids "I love New York" she joined Mario, Luigi and Toad in the couch Watching some TV
Peach was concerned about the TV, "so Humans like you call this "TV"? Whenever you watch something?" She commented, "Yes, we used it to play video games, Watch DVD Movies, And Watch Cable TV channels, like shows and news, from what we change over anything" Luigi Said to her, peach understand
Mario's mom showed Peach some The Photos from the Photo album when Mario and Luigi we're babies, "Aww Mario looks so cute when he's little" peach said to her, "I know right? My boys were so cute when they're little years ago I could remember when they're born" Mario's mom asked to Peach, she even showed her the picture of Mario and Luigi's graduation from school "They look amazing in the graduation Mrs M, They look so proud, how they came along way to be Adults" peach Said seeing that picture, Mario looked at her and he started to feel a crush on peach, "Someone's got a Crush!" Toad and Luigi teased Mario for saying that "guys come on!" Mario said being teased by them but he knows they're joking
Later it was 8pm, the sun started to go down to turn into the Night sky, Mario and Luigi we're ready to sleep in their room, peach and toad however, well they were offered with the foldable mattress to be more comfortable and soft while Sleeping with them too in their room with Mario and Luigi
Mario's mom came to say good night to them, "Good night all of you, tomorrow is a beautiful morning ahead of us." And all of them said "Good night" Back and switched the light off from their room, Luigi And Toad fell fast asleep, Mario on the other hand was still awake, looking at the night sky, peach couldn't sleep to see Mario was awake, she came by his side and asked him something
"Mario, why are you looking at the Sky from the window?" She asked, Mario sighed in joy "I can't believe me and luigi are Heroes for Brooklyn and your kingdom peach, if I haven't stopped Bowser, he would've conqour both worlds, But I'm glad we did it, but also almost scared that I couldn't let my brother die from the lava when he almost fell to his death, and before I did that, My dad said I bring my brother down" Mario said with faithful words, Peach heard him clearly but stood up for him, "Mario, you did not bring Luigi down, What you and Luigi did was brave, and almost seeing you saving your brother was heartfelt for me what I did to my Toads keeping them safe from Bowser, and I can't thank you enough for saving my kingdom from Bowser." Peach said to Mario, all Mario could say is, "thank you Peach, that means a lot from us to you" Mario said in a quiet voice giving her a Hug, peach blushed but also gave him a Kiss on the cheek which makes Mario smile at her, "We'll that takes care of it, you should go to sleep now," Mario told peach "I will, Good night Mario" peach said to Mario, "Good night Peach, Sweet Dreams." And the 4 friends went to Sleep Peacefully from the sounds of the city
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akesdraws-blog · 1 year
Text
✨ What I love most... is her smile. ✨
Version: TMNT Bayverse Character: Mikey Warning: Sadness, Heartbreak, Unrequited Love, Best Friend
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🧡 Miguel Ángel was always the sun and the emotional pillar of the family, there was not a moment when he did not seek to make a smile. And gosh, that beautiful smile that Michelangelo had. You don't remember when or how you were so attracted to that mutant party boy, you were able to listen to him for hours and hours, you didn't care what he talked about.
-Hey Cupcake, are you in for a game of Mario Kart? - Mikey quickly appeared with two controllers -Obviously, I'll make you bite the dust- you left everything you did for him -The loser orders the pizza!-He threatened with emotion to throw one of the controls at you Game hours always seemed so short when you could be by his side, even when you could feel those big arms hugging you every time Mikey won a game, you'd admit you let him win a few times just so you could see him with that huge smile.
Meeting them was always the best thing that could have happened in your life, although now my life has taken a complete turn, of course their favorite activity was playing pranks on their brothers.
-Okay, my part is already done- you spoke quietly as you left the empty jar of honey in the cupboard -I want to see Raph's face- mikey rubbed his hands with emotion -Raph? But didn't you say it would be Donnie?- you asked confused towards Mikey -Because Raph left with Casey a while ago- you added with a nervous smile -And Donnie went to the Police station to help them locate some people- Mikey added worried -So... who's going tofall for the joke?- they asked at the same time just before hearing something break from the dojo -When I find the one who threw me a bucket of honey, he'll want to hide with the Krang- Leo's voice was heard, who was quite annoyed
Of course, the fact that they couldn't agree on which brother to play the joke on ended up having to run to save their lives. Even so, those escapes were still the most fun in the world. But you were also there for him when his mood plummeted, you hated to see him sad.
-Mikey? Guess who found your favorite comic?- you spoke excitedly as you entered the den -Mikey?- as you entered the den you found him sitting on his drums playing with the drumsticks. -Hello Pastelillo- I greet you with a small smile You knew perfectly well that kind of smile and throwing away your bag you rushed to hug him, and after a few minutes you heard everything that had happened, the accident at the station, the fight with his brothers, it was too much for everyone, too much for him. -Listen to me, Mikey... you're not a monster- you took his big face in your hands -Of course I am, just look at me- he gave a little bitter laugh avoiding looking at you -I see you- You sought his gaze to smile at him -and I see a beautiful being, I see the brightest ray of light that can exist- you caressed his face with your fingers -Never call yourself that again, because you are not, none of you- You took their hands without looking away -They are heroes, you are my hero Mikey- you finished speaking to receive a big hug from the orange band -Thank you, I needed to hear it- I hid his face in the crook of your neck -Now let me see that beautiful smile you have or should I try to tickle a turtle?- you encouraged him to tickle his neck, making him move slightly with small laughs. You would do anything to be able to see that charming smile on your beloved mutant, on your hero.
You knew it, you loved him too much and you would do anything to make that smile never disappear. You really would do anything to see him happy.
-CAKE!- Mikey excitedly knocked on your window -Mikey?- You quickly went to open your window to see him with the biggest smile in the world -Something good happened? I haven't seen you smile like that since I gave you a pizza for yourself- you said funny -Do you remember when we talked about the ideal date?- the one with the orange band mentioned with emotion -Well, guess who has 6 fingers and convinced April to have a date today?- big smile -That's great Mikey!- you congratulated the excited mutant -It's thanks to you! If you hadn't supported me, I'd never have done it- he told you and then gave you a big hug -No wonder you're my best friend- I finished saying and then released you from the hug -I had nothing to do with it, I just gave you a couple of ideas- you told him with a smile -This handsome turtle is leaving, I must look even cooler for my date- he said as he passed his big hand over his head as if combing his hair -I'll send you a message later, bye!-he finished saying to leave for the buildings Losing sight of him in the shadows, you closed your window like the curtains to release a long sigh. -I think that explains his excitement in the afternoon- Raph was heard speaking, who was sitting on the floor with a bowl of popcorn -I imagine so- you said to let yourself fall on your sofa -I never saw him smile like that- -Hey... Maybe I misunderstood but... Didn't you like Mikey? I'm just saying, we all believed it- asked the big red while he was watching you -Was he so obvious?- You asked with a hint of amusement in your voice. -If your tactic to make him fall in love was to give him advice to go with another girl, I think you were wrong- he added as he raised a handful of popcorn to his mouth. -Do you know what I like the most about Mikey?- you asked him while you looked at the ceiling of your apartment -Actually... We all wondered that- he said with a small tone of seriousness. -His smile of his-you answered -What I love the most... is his smile... And if he can smile when he's with someone else, I'll always support him- you finished speaking while tears escaped from your eyes -I think you're the strangest human I know- Raph finished saying as he rested his head on yours You were always going to love Mikey and that beautiful smile that captivated you, even if his smile was for someone else. You didn't care as long as he was happy.
💔 💔 💔 💔 💔 💔 💔 💔 💔 💔
I don't know, my brain wanted me to suffer today and I did. 😭 We don't always get the happy ending. 😢
tags: @post-apocalyptic-daydream . @turtle-babe83 . @turtlesmakemehappy . @dilucsflame33 . @thelaundrybitch . @scholastic-dragon . @leosgirl82 . @tmnt-tychou . @mackbunny .
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iam-back · 5 months
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Super Mario RPG playthrough diary - 37
Alright, boys and girls, let's actually head off to Wacky Weaponland or whatever it's called. Smithy can't remove the last Star Piece from his own person!
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Lemme look for myself...
...Apparently there's only one Hidden Treasure.
After that we'll re-equip the Ghost Medal for Mallow.
Hippopos are NOT the enemy you want with an orange label - their Body Slam can one-shot your poor party members to death!
Fair warning - Weaponshack is home to a fair number of "who the Devil are you" characters, enemies AND bosses alike. It's a Squeenix thing, apparently.
Behold, the weapon nobody uses because they got the Lazy Shell weapon.
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Remember when I mentioned "who the Devil are you" bosses?
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As Blast Man always says, "time to begin the Count Down". Only instead of Dingalings, the bells are now called Ring-a-Dings. I guess modern Squeenix didn't want to talk about penises in a Mario game?
You'll absolutely want to take out the clock face first! It'll do something different and horrible each turn, except at 10:00, when it skips a turn because mamagoogoogama.
Unfortunately, that's not what ended up happening.
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Can we all talk about how none of the bosses in Weapontown USA have the Fight Against an Armed Boss music? Real missed opportunity - this is Smithy's home dimension and therefore it'd only make sense, but Squintendo were a bunch of dum-dums.
Anyway, after that grueling Nightmare of a boss fight, because I was a moron and left the face alive last because I used AOE attacks like Geno Flash and Thunderbolt, therefore leaving it to do all manner of crazy and terrible things, I won by the skin of my teeth.
...What I WOULD be saying, if I weren't so overleveled that I blew off the face with much jumping and electricity and nobody even got too hurt to continue once.
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And almost as if the game apologized for subjecting me to such unholy terrors, suddenly after the boss fight I was fully healed.
Now to wait until next time to venture further into Balan Weaponworld. Who knows, I might even see some familiar faces!
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burningcrab · 2 years
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ALSO for kiss writing ask. 44 + ruffian/york . if u want
oh hell yes i love stupid teenagers. (this ruffian uses he/she and is an interp from my piece for dasy’s zine! she is an angry little teen and i love him. pspsps read it…)
44. public kisses
Ruffian is absolutely losing his fucking mind down here. Body-thieving some poor Shoe Thief for long enough to strike out isn’t enough. He needs to lift her own bat and feel the breeze on her (not through) and touch some fucking grass.
She’s been sulking for… an indeterminate period of time… when someone splashes out of the dark towards her. “What do you want,” he grumbles. “I don’t want another deathday party.”
“New arrival,” mumbles Hands. Ruffian feels a twinge of regret. She’ll grudgingly admit it’s nice not being the only Mechanic down here. Hands is… alright. Sie doesn’t deserve that. “Thought you’d wanna see him. Going now.”
Ruffian flops around in her own private tantrum for a minute, then gets up. At least a new dead guy is something. Fuck. Off he shuffles, to the big doors that don’t let people out. (Except when they do, but Ruffian hasn’t been one of them yet. Why should he care?)
The latest splashdown is short, and they’re clutching something. Weird. Most people show up with nothing but the shirt on their backs and the smell of smo—
“York?” Ruffian says, stopping short. A dead star coughs up his final lungful of Trench-black not-water and looks up at her.
“Oh, hey,” he wheezes. “Ruffian.”
“You fucking asshole,” Ruffian manages to say. He drags York to his feet and dips him low — and nearly drops him back down again, holy shit how does this look so easy in movies — and he kisses York Silk.
um
A squid the size of the Core floats over them.
gonna give you a minute
i guess
hey there york silk
ill go check the snacks
York doesn’t technically need to breathe, but he’s still got the hardwiring of a living guy with oxygen requirements. He finally gets himself together enough to break away from her. There’s a hot flush creeping up his neck even in the chill of the Hall, and he’s dropped the Vibe Check into the shallow water they stand in.
“You seriously never got up the courage to kiss me before I bit it?!” Ruffian says. She stands York back up and brushes him off a bit. “You jerk.”
“I didn’t know how to ask,” complains York.
Ruffian groans. “Maybe hey there my main Mech man mister Ruffian Applesauce you’re hot can we make out or something would have worked! I dunno, I’m not the one who invited his buddies over for Mario Party and then said whoever gets shot out of the Goomba cannon first has to kiss the winner. You used a Slowgo Candy instead of just turning to the left and kissing me right there.”
“You would have won if it wasn’t for the bonus stars.”
“They’re part of the game, York. Plan around them!”
“Can I kiss you back now?”
Ruffian waves to the crowd of other dead surrounding them. Some politely avert their eyes, others grin in the smug, knowing way adults do, and some just look eager to talk to York. Hands gives Ruffian a little thumbs-up.
“You don’t mind everyone looking?” she asks.
York shrugs. “I’m used to it,” he says, and flashes his beautiful little evening-news grin.
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maguro13-2 · 2 months
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Darkness Reborn ~ Origins of the Ink Demon Final Chapter Finale (5/10) ~
[Kinght's Passage - Jun Senoue, Yutaka Minobe]
*BOOST!*
Tails (via communicator) : Sonic, come in! There's something wrong with this picture! It's a giant tree that is coming from the Earth's core!
Sonic : I know it, it's the legacy belonging to that Chao named Shinra. Where'd have I seen it before! I bet nobody had summoned it like this before!
Knuckles (via communicator) : So that's why Soul Eater existed within the real world, huh? Who knew that it was inside the earth's core?
Shadow (via communicator) : What a bunch of teenage scumbags, the weapons and meisters have been tools to Shotaro the Dokeshi all along, the Men of Shinra's influence had the nerves and his balls to keep the truth out of the public eye. I guess that Shinigami person was nothing more than a faker that I pressumed.
Silver (via communicator) : So...Not the brightest Idea of hiding a giant tree that was inside the planet just to be spreading the influence from Shinra Kusakabe, not the company from Final Fantasy VII! I don't know how to say this, Maka Albarn had felt like an idiot for being the under the influence to Shinra's will, just a puppet on a string. She must've wasted her own life to be the hero of a crazy manga story that was only made for money!
Knuckles (via communicator) : It's what money comes out of his pocket, that author of their world is such weird man and a complete idiot!
Tails (via communicator) : It's no wonder why the author had to go make up the lies for his own characters, just to be thrown out like garbage!
Sonic : Guess we were all wrong. But Japan isn't stupid enought to make a bunch of crazy stories that were nothing cosmic horrors and make believes!
Amy (communicator) : Just before you know it! There's bunch of heartless and ghosts from the Evershade valley! It's a crazy party for 2013!
Sonic : Ghosts of Evershade Valley? Wait a second, that wouldn't happened to be Luigi's Mansion 2, right?
Amy (communicator) : I'm afraid so. These ghosts we called inhabitants of Evershade Valley were once peceaful ghosts that have a good side due to the powers of the Dark Moon's appearance, until Luigi's arch enemy, King Boo, destroyed the moon into five pieces, causing the Evershade Ghosts to go berserk and turned wickedly insane, making a huge mess on Professor Egadd's science work.
Sonic : Good thing that he made it safely to the bunker, looks like Luigi's gonna have to save Mario instead of Death the Kid.
Espio (via communicator) : Don't worry about that guy, he has nothing to do with anything to do necessarily for his life, not even he can protect the legacy from his grandfather! Guess all people to be needed their lessons learned about monopolizing political power. It's not wonder that the school itself was not created to maintain the public order, just the monopolization of political refugees.
Vector (via communicator) : Now let's give that Ohkubo a piece of his own mind!
Charmy (via communicator) : That's what he get for bringing weridness into our world!
Sonic : Roger that, guys! I won't forget!
Nozomi : Hey, Sonic! Long time no see! Sorry about the delays back there! I heard that you were awesome of saving 2011 from the clutches of Dr. Eggman's wicked schemes back there! Your old friend has came back to see you again!
[Free by Crush 40 plays]
Sonic : Nozomi Kaminashi! (see Nozomi on the original Blue Star board) What's up, old friend? So how was the race of the New Ex World Grand Prix.
Nozomi : About the Ex World Grand Prix? I'm still living it to that dream on saving Keijo about 7 years ago when I first met you during my Age progression while being nine years old. So when I finally realized that I finally get to save Keijo, my friends won the Ex World Grand Prix to find all the prizes locked away and discovered that we found a race of aliens that has the power of colors.
Sonic : race of aliens thas the power of colors? (realizing) The Wisps! Nozomi, you're a genius! We can use the wisp and take down the super baddie once and for all! Think we can handle this, partner?
Nozomi : You betcha!
Sonic : Let's speed things up a notch!
Nozomi : Roger that!
*WHOOSH X2*
"Meanwhile..."
[Navigation - Fumie Kumatani]
Eve : Well, Seto. I was right, guess that Death the Kid fella was not only made by Shotaro the Dokeshi himself, but I know who helped him to create the Death the Kid, the second of the Kusakabe Family tree. Who else but his older brother, gues he's part of the tree as well.
Seto : Hello! Anybody here? I'm Seto the Deathless, the newly elected Shinigami, I came here to find who really modeled Death the Kid, the one who was modeled after his Grandfather. You see, he has been under the influence of his grandfather's legacy and the men of his influence had been hiding the truth.
Cruz/Yamada : I don't know guys. But, there's no one here but besides us.
Shotaro : You wanna know why you guys are here? Well, guess, you finally craked the case, newly elected Shinigami.
Kuchinashi : Hold on, you are...
Seto : Shotaro the Dokeshi, so this is Shinigami's real self. A human form of a yokai called a Kyokotsu?
Eve : Well, I'll be a son of a gun! You're just a kid that eats a lot of bones that are animal-related like drumsticks and of course Roast chicken and Fried turkeys for Thanksgiving! So this is what have you been hidden from the public so that you would be Shinigami!
Shotaro the Dokeshi : You knew that it was me all along! Of course I was the so-called God of Death. Yohei told me that so I would become part of the Shinigami Council. Easy enough for you to be fooled by one individual that is a kid. I'd still get all the glory and I even made fake-money from Shinra's son!
Eve : So you fooled Maka and everyone that easily because you wanted to become Shinigami so that you could get all the glory you wanted to become part of the Shinigami council. Guess what, Skull for brains? Botan, Ichigo, and Ryuk gave Seto this permission after Ichigo heard that Death was actually the man-made son of Shinra and realized that the school you created was about protecting humanity nor peace. It was created about bringing power and monopolization to all of humanity and bringing wars across the globe.
Shotaro the Dokeshi : So what? I said I was sorry! I didn't know that I was fooled by the likes of Shinra Kusakabe, his influence wanted to spread even further and then I got Ashley's people involved to thinking that they were the enemies that wrecked the earth clean with magic, and of course the heartless as well. Soon as I about to overthrow the Kasugatani Family tree and the heartless their selves, I will pay you all to the world!
[Team Chaotx by Gunnar Nelson]
Adam Blade : So, kid. We heard the whole thing. You were so lucky that you tricked a girl for being a stubborn loser. taht you are
Setsuna : You were behind all of this? Heh, what a scumbag you are.
Teruyama : We should've known a kid like you is doing something stupid like this!
Kuchinashi : We've been had it by one of your tricks!
Solva : You can't fool us anymore! It's payback time, motherf**ker!
Shotaro the Dokeshi : Hey, look! I can make this a big deal! We all wanted to open our eyes to the truth and seek for it! All of that was to over Shinra's legacy and not mine. (bumps into someone that is a little pink-haired ribbon, apparently, Mio) What do you want little girl? You got something for me or what? I got no milk, cookies, or have any candy for you.
Mio : I'm not here for the sweets, I'm here to teach you lesson for being so stubborn! So take this, you fake Shinigami! You're gonna be bad to the bones!
Shotaro the Dokeshi : Oh yeah, I am definitely boned.
(sounds of Shotaro get beaten by the Needless Cast while scene goes pitchblack)
Shotaro the Dokeshi : (screams in pain) WHY DID I DESERVE THIIIIIIIS!?!
"Nobody steals the title Shinigami from me, Seto the Deathless."
"A girl who works with a group of seinen superheroes called Needless is what we exist in Real World AU."
"This is a future that I have to protect."
"The Ohkuboverse is nothing compared to Real World AU itself!"
"That is the universe that we truly lived in!"
~ 110th Scene : The True Shinigami ~
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davidmariottecomics · 3 months
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I'm 100 Hours in and I Still Don't Know if I Like Baldur's Gate
Hello there and welcome back! 
As the title suggests, I've been playing Baldur's Gate 3 a lot recently. I picked it up slightly before starting my new job when I had a lot of free time and have continued to put in a few hours on some weeknights and weekends. I've been playing for around 100 hours, or right around 4 full days of my human life, and I still don't entirely know if I like this game. This week, I wanna talk a bit about why I both continue to have complicated feelings about this game and why I continue to play it, some games that I have grouped together as similar play experiences and why I have different reactions to them, and more generally, why all of this makes for making comics based off of games such a challenge that feels so rewarding if you manage to do it right. 
Baldin' the Gate First and foremost, let's talk about Baldur's Gate 3. It came out last year and has since won a number of notable game awards, received nearly universal good reviews from critics, received lots of praise from players, and has all the good indicators that it's a good game. I also have no idea what sort of presence it has in the public consciousness because while it's sold millions of copies and I see lots of fan art and my friends talking about playing and whatever, I also know that I particularly inhabit spaces for people who like games like this and in part because of it being new and in part because of it being an adaptation of a sort, I don't think it has entered the overall cultural osmosis in the same way as Mario or Sonic or Halo or Call of Duty or Overwatch or whatever.
How it plays is it's essentially single-player (or multiplayer if you have friends you want to connect with), Dungeons & Dragons. Literally D&D, it's a licensed game set in the official Wizards of the Coast D&D world. Like, they talk about Drizzt a couple times. Minsc, a character who was featured in some of the D&D comics I worked on, is playable later in the game. There're all your core mechanics digitized, including many of the things you do being determined by a "die roll." You can journey with a party of 4 companions--a number of whom are major pre-built characters and you can build your own guy and choose their specs in traditional D&D fashion and solve puzzles and charm your way around town and fight enemies and pickpocket people and all the D&D stuff you'd like to do. Kinda. We'll get to that in a moment. 
The last bit of table setting with this is you're on an epic journey with a couple possible end goals. Within limits, because there have to be limits to your options, you can self-determine how the game goes in a lot of ways. Technically, you don't have to play with any of the pre-build, story-involved companions. You can be evil. You can be good. You can choose to usually kill or choose to try to just knock people out. You can do what I do, misunderstand a prompt that was going to unlock a character to your party, and accidentally have them get killed in the fight because they weren't one of your guys (whoops). Again, one of the things that is really rightfully praised in this game is that you can experience it for so long and whatever way makes sense to you. 
But that's also the rub, at least for me, and why I'm still struggling to decide whether or not I really like BG3. I personally often feel the two competing forces at the core of the game: To be D&D like, it needs to give you options for how to play it and tries really hard to cast a wide net to do so, but simultaneously, for you to actually progress the story, you do need to play by the rules of the programming and stay relatively "on rails".
For example, one of the items you can acquire in game is rope. And, while at some point it might've had more reason to be in the game, in the final product, you can't actually do anything with it other than sell it, I guess. But I didn't realize that, so I spent a good amount of time in my early game acquiring rope, sure I'd need it at some point. Finally, say 8-10 hours in or so, I forget what exactly it was, but there was some issue where I figured rope was the way to go! Like, it'd let me climb up and down from somewhere without being hurt or I'd be able to use it as a lasso for a far off lever or something. But, I couldn't use it for anything and had to look it up and discover, nope, you just can't use rope apparently. And while I figured it out otherwise, it became very apparent in that moment the limitations of the game for the ways in which I would usually engage with this type of gameplay and storytelling in a different medium.
When you apply that to the actual story decisions though, it can be really frustrating. There're a number of places where I've gotten into a conversation and none of the options even come close to how I'd otherwise approach the situtation. Again, I get why they have to be limited in that way, it's a programmed game and not my friend who can roll with my unique character decisions, but there are times when it just feels so limiting. Keeping it vague, but SPOILERS for this game: There's a companion in the game who I think is really compelling. And to my understanding, there are like 4 ways their story can resolve and none of them is particularly good, which feels bad because I want this person to have a happy ending. For as much as I can recognize the why, it doesn't change my emotional reaction to that being the case. 
So, I like a lot of the storytelling. I like a lot of the decisions available to me. I largely find the actual play mechanics fun, even if there're things I'd like to tackle a different way. I like just how big the game is and I find it appealing that by the nature of the game and the branching decision paths, you can find different ways to play it. But I don't know that once I finish this playthrough, I will come back.
Persona 5tar Rail
I like video games. Cool. Great. I am not personally someone who tends to put 100+ hours into a game--certainly not a single playthrough. I tend to like shorter games and games where I can dip in and out. If a game's working for me, I'll put a good chunk of time in. But--and recognizing that there are probably some games that've lost time in not syncing properly or the account being on multiple computers over a number of years or whatever--I just went through my Steam library and of those 270 games, BG3 is the only one I've put in over 2 days on. Most of the games that I've played, I haven't cracked 20 hours on. Most of the games, generally, I haven't cracked 20 minutes on. Getting me to invest so much time on a game is really rare. 
But two games that instant came to mind when I was thinking about BG3 and it's replayability and how that affects my experience playing it are games I've also put a stupid amount of time into: Persona 5 and Honkai Star Rail. While P5 and HSR are closer to each other than BG3, they do all have a fair amount of overlap. They're all modern roleplaying games where you've got a party of four characters that you take through fantastical worlds and solve puzzles with and battle with and have interesting stories. As I think I've talked about before on this blog, Persona 5 might--despite some flaws--be my favorite video game. If I'm pretty hesitant to put 20 hours into a game, it must speak strongly to how much I like P5 that I've put in almost 200 hours across two playthroughs (one of P5 and one of P5 Royal). 
One of the things that really works for me with Persona 5 is that I know each playthrough will be different, but not radically so. While there's a decent amount of flexibility in decision making in Persona 5, most of it is about choosing how you spend your time. There are certain things you want to do to progress the game to it's "true ending", but in terms of building your stats and your relationships and determining what to do when and how, it's wide open specificially because the actual ticking clock mechanic has such clear goal posts that you know you are on rails toward an endgame and can dig into how you want to play it in the meantime. It's a weird sensation, but because the limitations are clearer for what you can do and when, it removes a lot of the burden of "is this choice going to propel me forward in the way that I want with the game" and becomes "this choice matters only in so much as it reflects what I wanted to do and will ultimately fall into place for how I played the game this time." To me, that's more freeing, I guess. More compelling. Because I know how I like to play the game, and because that's how the game kinda wants you to play it, it feels like we're working in unison and each time I revisit is to see what I had missed before and how I can track different experiences to the same conclusion. 
Honkai Star Rail, meanwhile, is this middleground between the two. Similar to P5, to play the story of the game, everyone's going to have a pretty similar experience. The differences come in what characters are available to you and because it's a live-service game (that is to say, a game that is constantly updating), what limited time events you choose to partake in. It doesn't have the same social webbing structure as BG3 or P5--there isn't the same ability to chose to be good or bad or to ignore certain relationships in the same way. And I think that is a big part of why I haven't kept up and I find games like this so hard to come back to. I was an early adopter and I played a lot and I got caught up and now there've been a number of updates since my last real play session, and I feel like because there's now so much more that I could do, I'm overwhelmed with the options of trying to catch up, while also knowing that even if I do, I'll only hit the end of the current update, and not the end of the game. HSR has no replayability from the beginning, really, because you want to continue what you've started because the game's continuing in your absence. 
Okay, so Comics!
The parallel I can draw to comics is so while they're all pretty different, the similarities of BG3, P5, and HSR have created a grouping in my mind. I am taken on all three with the worlds that're created, I enjoy fan art of them, I get the same sort of satisfaction from how they control because that style of gaming is something that I like. But 100+ hours into each, I have a very different emotional response that changes how I want to interact with it going forward. I just want to finish BG3 and if this is my one playthrough, that's probably fine. I spent less than $1/hour of game. I know at some point in the probably not-too-distant future I'll revisit P5 (maybe I'll use it for some Japanese practice...). And I'll continue to check in with HSR because I feel like I've put a lot into it and I want to like it as much as I did at the start, but I really don't know that I can recapture the magic until it's done. And if that doesn't sound like the comics reading experience, I don't know what does! 
BG3 is a series that I'm invested in, and keep picking up, even though there's part of me that just wants to bail because it isn't bad, but it isn't quite what I want it to be. P5 is... I dunno. Young Justice. Crisis on Infinite Earths. Secret Wars II. The sort of dumb thing that I want to revisit over and over and over again, because each time I do, between me and the game/book, I find something different and new in a familiar comfort. And HSR is a book that I dug and missed an issue and it isn't easy to track down, so now I have to decide whether I dedicate that time to going back or if I wait for the trade and maybe to deal with a bit of redundancy or if I just let it go because I liked it, but maybe not enough. 
All of which is part of why I think it can be so difficult to translate video games into comics. I'm spending all this time deliberating over how to experience the story--what decisions I want to make and what decisions I have the ability to make, ultimately do I as an individual think I can revisit and make different decisions or am I just going to play basically the same because that's how I interact with the medium--which is something that comics storytelling doesn't really afford you. Not to say there aren't comics where you do have more input, but for the most part, you experience the story as presented to you because that's how the team wanted it.
I asked the question a lot working on Sonic, why would you want to read Sonic, when you can play a Sonic game? And if the characters are compelling and you feel like you're adding to the world and you truly want to engage in the sort of storytelling that only comics can to, that makes it a unique medium from something like games, you can probably find something. But you have to overcome that gap for a player who might be interested, because while both comics and games have plotted content, the difference of how the reader/player is engaged makes a world of difference. 
I hope that all makes sense. And if not... hey, I'll revisit this sometime! See ya next week! 
New Releases this week (2/7/24): Godzilla Valentine's Day Special (Editor - IDW)
New Releases next week (2/14/24):  None
Announcements: Happy Black History Month! This week, I want to spotlight N.K. Jemisin! I finally started The City We Became this week and I'm already really liking it. She also wrote the first story in Out There Screaming, the horror anthology from last year that I've talked about here before and that I really loved. She wrote Far Sector, a DC Green Lantern book that's quickly becoming one of my big recommendations for"a standalone Big 2 superhero book that shows you why superhero comics are actually pretty fun! She is becoming a favorite writer of mine and is one of the modern names in science fiction, fantasy, and horror that I think you should know! 
Usually, this is where I plug my Patreon! And I still will because you can *usually* read this blog there, get cool bonus stuff including some free comics and, at higher levels, stuff like podcasts, sneak peeks at things I'm working on, and more! BUT, Patreon's also not working right for me at the moment. I'm troubleshooting it now, but there's a slight delay in things going up, sorry! 
You can also check out my webstore where I'm sold out of Transformers vs. the Terminator (wow!) and have a very limited stock on everything else, my Kofi (I updated the Anti-AI Zine--Pay what you want for a brief, printable explainer on why AI sucks!), and Becca's site (still pending a new update, sorry)!
Bluesky is now publicly open! You no longer need an invite to join. You can find my account here. You can find a bunch of other cool people through my follow list! And there's a really good skeet going around with a bunch of helpful block lists for not dealing with dummies on the site! 
I mentioned last week that we're finally firming up plans for our wedding after a lot of back and forth and exploration on what makes the most sense. We've landed on some stuff we're happy with and will be sharing our registry soon (maybe later today???), if you'd like to contribute! 
What I enjoyed this week: Nancy (Comic), Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Links (Video Game), Baldur's Gate III (Video Game), Blank Check (Podcast), Solve This Murder (Podcast), The City We Became (Book), The Sopranos (TV show), The Afterparty (TV show), Rent (Movie), getting some wedding planning done, Becca and I did an early Valentine's Day yesterday and I'm glad we had the chance to do that for ourselves. 
Pic of the Week: Here's a very cute picture of Becca from our date yesterday at SUR, the restaurant from Vanderpump Rules.
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1 note · View note
cesium-sheep · 9 months
Text
matt hung out with me in the bedroom to watch his car videos with his friend (since I was stuck near the ac), and he was using my controllers to play mario kart with arin and was having constant connection issues, so there's something wrong with my controllers not me :v (I'd noticed an issue but not complained cuz I can't afford to replace them myself and I was able to play around it anyway so who cares, he was like "I don't know how you've been playing like this.") but they did just release those new pastel joycons so I guess it's good timing. he wants to get himself a pro controller so we have enough for everyone to play properly. then we played mario party, they were on a team and I had a low-difficulty computer player with me. they won by one star :v
0 notes
gale-gentlepenguin · 2 years
Note
Hey Gale for the ask game can you do Party Crasher?
(Coming right up)
Adrien: Sorry Wayhem maybe we can hang later
Wayhem: Thats okay, its cool that you are totally cool talking to me even though I was simping for you pretty hard and still am.
Adrien: My social awareness is zero
(Hangs up)
Nathalie: Sir did you really need to make me take a fake hologram of you to the airport?
Gabriel: Bitch I am extra. Now say I am in tokyo for business
_________________________________________________
Plagg: Your dad is gone. lets McFricken lose it
Adrien: No plagg, no one is going to throw a party
_________________________________________________
Nino: We are totally gonna throw a party
Ivan, Kim, and Max: We game
Nino: Okay so here are the excuses to tell the girls, now lets go. No one will ever know we are up to something
_________________________________________________ Alya: The boys are totally up to something. These are some bad excuses
Marinette: Convenient bad excuse (Leaves)
Alya:... and yet somehow hers are worse
_________________________________________________
Nino: We are here for Adrien
Gorilla: (Shakes his head)
Nino: Max, show the 'Goods'
Max reveals action figures
Gorilla: (Lets them in)
Nino: Flawless plan
Adrien: Guys? What are you doing here?
Nino: SATURDAY IS FOR THE BOYS!!!
(The boys start having fun)
___________________________________________________
Tikki: Marinette you acting sus.
Marinette: This is my chance to investigate what those boys are lying about
Tikki: ...this is about simping for adrien isnt it
Marinette: That is just a convenient side benefit. Now to crack the weak one.
___________________________________________________
Nino: S*** Dont answer it Ivan. Marinette can smell your weakness. She mustnt know.
Adrien: Why cant Marinette know?
Nino: SATURDAY IS FOR THE BOYS!
Adrien: But isnt marinette "One of the boys"
Nino:... Am I gonna have to give you an anatomy lesson.
Max: I found some old music and the biggest surround sound system. This is gonna be epic.
_________________________________________________
Marinette: I knew it! this was sus. I am gonna call them out on it
Tikki: You are full of it right now
Marinette: Well I am gonna set them straight
(But there was no one straight)
(Max blaring music causing a partial power outage)
Max: I may have blown a few fuses.
Nino: DO THAT AGAIN
Roger: This is the police, your party is too dope you need to let us in
Adrien: Who is "Us"
Roger: The male population of Paris.
Nino: Yo, this just got lit.
___________________________________________________ Marinette: I am now Mario. Now to slip inside
Tikki: My Bulls*** detector is off the charts today
Mario: Master Fu? What you doing here?
Fu: Like I am gonna miss this sick ass party.
Mario: But Miraculous
Fu: They "Cool"
Andre: OMG MUSTACHE BIKER, WE NEED YOU!
Fu: Oh no I am gonna fall
Kim: No worry weird old man, everything is cool. I am gonna swim in a bath tub
___________________________________________________
Wayhem: I feel my adrien senses tingling. Did Adrien ditch me
Hawkmoth: Finally someone depressed! get those people out of my... I mean that mansion. And the miraculous too
Wayhem: Time to crash this party.
___________________________________________________
Marinette gets exposed
Everyone but adrien: GIRL! PARTY IN JEOPARDY.
Adrien: Oh sweet, Hey Marinette
Party crasher: I am bringing disco back.
Marinette: That could be a problem
__________________________________________________
Marinette and Adrien proceed to escape and transform
Partycrasher: I am the most dangerous akuma you have faced.
Chat noir: I doubt that.
Party crasher captures Ladybug
Chat noir: OH S*** CODE RED
Fu: HEALER'S DOWN! CALLING IN REINFORCEMENTS
Carapace, Pegasus, and Viperion: We are here to back you up Chat noir
(all of them proceed to get captured)
Fu: Well looks like its up to Kim
Kim: OMG TALKING MONKEY
XUPPA: No you!
Kim: No you!
Fu: We are doomed
Partycrasher: I guess I won. Okay Hawkmoth now what.
Hawkmoth:... I dont know I never thought anyone would get this far. I guess...
King monkey: Hey Disco dork. Catch my toy.
Party Crasher: (Impacted by uproar) But I could have sworn I didnt take the ecstasy yet.
Ladybug: Okay we free. Now I have a plan.
(One elaborate plan later)
Chat noir: And disco is dead again.
___________________________________________________
Nino: So we keep today a secret from Alya?
Marinette: To are graves. But we head back to help them plant trees
Nino: Done
(Fist bump)
76 notes · View notes
intheticklecloset · 3 years
Text
Sibling Bonding (My Hero Academia)
This fic was purchased from my Coffee Shop Wish List by a generous supporter. Thank you!
Primary Universe
Summary: Spring break has arrived, and Todoroki heads home to spend some time with his older siblings since Endeavor is out of town. When he accidentally reveals that he's ticklish, things take a giggly turn very quickly!
A/N: YES I'm so excited to share this one! Earlier this year somebody suggested a Todoroki siblings fic, which I declined at the time because I didn't feel like I'd be able to do it justice. Later I felt more confident and put it on my Wish List, and now it's been purchased for your reading pleasure! Enjoy! ^^
Word Count: 1,915
~~~
“I’m here,” Todoroki announced without flourish as he entered his home for the first time in months, kicking off his shoes in the entryway.
Fuyumi poked her head around the corner from the kitchen where she was working on dinner. “Welcome back, Shoto.”
"Thanks.” Todoroki shrugged off his backpack and entered the kitchen, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He felt awkward, but did his best to ignore it. “It smells great. What is it?”
“Soba.”
He blinked at her. “You…didn’t have to go out of your way for me.”
“It’s no trouble at all. It’s your favorite food, right? I wanted to make today special. It’s the first day of your spring break and you’re spending it with us!” Fuyumi smiled at him. “I want you to have a great time.”
Todoroki nodded at her. “Thank you for cooking.”
“Of course. Natsuo should be here any minute. You can take a seat in the dining room if you want. We can talk easier that way.”
“Okay.”
But instead, he leaned against a counter she didn’t appear to be using, putting his hands in his pockets. His first instinct was to cross his arms, but he didn’t want to come across as grumpy or ungrateful. He was truly happy to be here, finally able to spend time with his siblings without the presence of his father to ruin his mood.
It had been Fuyumi’s idea. Endeavor was out of the prefecture on business, which left her and Natsuo home alone for the first time in a while. That, and it was spring break for U.A., which meant Todoroki was free to come over and hang out with them without having to get permission to leave the campus. Fuyumi had quickly arranged for this first day to be spent having dinner together.
“So…” his sister said after a brief pause. “How’s school going?”
*
A couple of hours later, dinner was over, the dishes were in the dishwasher, and the Todoroki siblings sat around in the living room staring at each other awkwardly. None of them really knew how to proceed.
Still, Natsuo tried. “So, uh, Shoto. What kind of stuff do you like to do?”
Todoroki knew what he meant. What should we do now that dinner’s over? He thought for a moment. “Well…my friends and I play Mario Kart a lot, I guess.”
Fuyumi perked up. “You like video games?”
“They’re fine.”
“Well, we don’t have Mario Kart,” Natsuo said, “but we do have the latest Mario Party game. Do you want to try that?”
“Sure.”
Todoroki helped his siblings set up the game, then selected Yoshi as his character and proceeded to inadvertently dominate both of them as time went on. He won several mini-games and always seemed to get to the star first, no matter the circumstances. He honestly couldn’t tell if he was really good, or if his siblings were just really bad. Or both.
“Jeez, Shoto!” Natsuo finally exclaimed after the youngest sibling got his fifth star – three ahead of Fuyumi, who had two. He nudged Todoroki, his elbow pressing into his ribs. “Give us a chance to catch up!”
Todoroki giggled.
The room went silent for a moment.
“Shoto?” Fuyumi asked, staring at him incredulously. “Are you okay?”
Todoroki knew he was blushing and he wished desperately that he could have held in his reaction better than that. But it was too late now, and he knew it. He sighed. “Yes, I’m fine. Natsuo nudged me and it…it tickled. That’s all.”
Natsuo’s eyes lit up. “You’re ticklish? Really?”
“Nat,” Fuyumi warned.
Todoroki hesitated. Game forgotten now, he glanced between his siblings on either side of him and struggled to decide how he wanted to proceed. He knew they wouldn’t touch him without permission – knowing what he’d gone through with their father kept them from doing that much, at least. But he didn’t want to brush them off, either. As it happened, he did enjoy being tickled to an extent, but he’d never been tickled by family before.
“I…um…” he swallowed, heart racing. What would they think if they knew the other half of it, too? That he enjoyed doing the tickling?
Fuyumi reached out as though to put a hand on his shoulder, then stopped herself. “Shoto, it’s okay. We won’t tickle you if you don’t want us to. Right, Nat?”
“Definitely not.” His brother was surprisingly emphatic, nodding. “I was just surprised to learn you were, that’s all. If you don’t like it I’m not going to tickle you just for the sake of it.”
“I…I do like it.” Todoroki mumbled, setting his controller down, hoping that would be enough invitation for them. “My friends tickle me quite a lot, actually. It’s fun. As long as you stop when I ask you to.”
Natsuo grinned, setting his controller down, too. “So you don’t automatically say ‘stop’ when you’re being tickled, huh, Sho? That’s interesting.” He poked him in the ribs again. “Cute, too.”
Todoroki smiled, pulling away only the tiniest bit.
“Fuyumi? I think we have some long overdue sibling bonding to catch up on.”
She beamed. “I totally agree.”
And that was it. The next thing he knew, Todoroki had been tackled to the floor, fingers digging into his ribs and sides and belly in rapid succession, giggles bubbling up out of him quicker than he had time to process. He squealed and curled up, but did his best not to push them away. He also never said a word of protest.
“Aww, you really do like it, don’t you?” Fuyumi cooed, wiggling her fingers up into his underarm. “Tickle, tickle, tickle~”
Todoroki yelped, his whole body jerking when she found one of his hot spots, and his squirming became near-thrashing when she realized what she’d done and continued to do it. Natsuo laughed, grabbing his wrists and pulling them above his head with little resistance, giving their sister full access to his armpits.
Fuyumi dug in, smiling wide as her youngest brother tossed his head back and laughed freely, eyes squeezed shut and teeth showing as he beamed happily, legs kicking behind her. “Aw, is this a good spot, Sho? Does it tickle really bad here?”
“YEHEHEHEHEHEHES!!” he cried, arching his back as she raked her nails from his underarms to his hips, searching for another hot spot. “GAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! CAHAHAHAREFUL!!”
“I will be,” she promised.
“I want in on the fun, too!” Natsuo declared, shifting so he was sitting on Todoroki’s arms, pinning them above his head while he leaned down to pinch at his ribs and sides, sometimes scribbling along his neck and ears as well.
Todoroki dissolved into giggles, flustered beyond belief but still enjoying himself. Then Fuyumi squeezed his thigh experimentally, and he screeched with a new round of fresh laughter, shaking his head. “AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! PLEHEHEHEHEHEHEASE!!”
“Ooh, another bad spot?” she teased, squeezing gently, drawing loud laughter from him every time. “You’re really ticklish, aren’t you, Sho?”
“I KNOHOHOHOHOHOW!!” he laughed, digging his heels into the carpeted floor. “PLEASE, IT TIHIHIHIHIHICKLES A LOHOHOHOHOHOT!!”
“Are you still okay?” she asked. “Do you want us to stop?”
Todoroki whined but shook his head. “I’M FIHIHIHIHIHINE!!”
“Fuyumi, I want a turn!” Natsuo complained, releasing Todoroki’s arms and shuffling down to join her. “Let me try some spots! Don’t take all the fun of experimenting away from me.”
“Fine, fine, you big baby,” she shot back playfully, scribbling lightly over Todoroki’s sides and belly. “Go on, try his knees and feet.”
Todoroki couldn’t help the sound that escaped him at the mention of his feet being one of the next targets. He slapped his hands over his mouth the instant it was out, but it was too late.
“Oh? None of that,” Fuyumi admonished gently, pulling his hands away from his mouth and down to his sides, straddling him, pinning them in place as she danced her fingers over his ribs, occasionally sneaking into his underarms as well.
“I’m not getting anything here,” Natsuo said, squeezing Todoroki’s knees but not getting any kind of twitch or extra giggles for his efforts.
“Then try his feet.”
Todoroki couldn’t help it. He pleaded, “Behehehe careful, plehehehease, I’m reheheheally ticklish there!”
“Oh?~” Natsuo grinned, pulling off his socks and scribbling wildly over his bare soles. “Are you, now?”
“NAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! CRAP, PLEHEHEHEHEHEHEASE NOHOHOHOHOHO!!” Todoroki shrieked, tossing his head back and unleashing loud, uncontrollable bouts of laughter that had both of his siblings staring at him in shock. He squirmed uselessly, trapped under Fuyumi’s weight and – following that outburst – Natsuo’s as he straddled his legs and went to work tickling him like crazy on his worst spot in true brotherly fashion. “NONONONO PLEHEHEHEHEHEHEASE NOT THEHEHEHEHEHEHEHERE!! NAHAHAHAHAHATSUO!!”
Fuyumi grinned. She’d never seen Shoto look so happy in his life, and despite his ticklish distress and the pleas falling from his mouth, he never once said stop, never once looked to be truly panicked. He was loving this, she realized, and it made her heart so full she thought it might burst.
Laughter was truly the best medicine.
“AAAIEEHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHAHAHA NOHOHOHOHOHOHOOOO!!” Todoroki suddenly screamed, laughing so hard his hysterics went silent. He shook his head desperately, trying to gasp for breath. “NO MORE NO MORE PLEHEHEHEHEASE NO!! STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAP!!”
Fuyumi climbed off of him. “Nat, get off, he’s had enough.”
Natsuo complied, but he was laughing just as hard as his younger brother had been moments ago. “Dude, your laugh is the best thing in the world! You know that? Got a serious sweet spot on your arches, don’t you, little bro?”
Todoroki curled into a ball, still giggling, still smiling. “Y-Yeheheah…thanks f-fohohor stopping…”
“Of course. Wouldn’t want to go too far.” Natsuo ruffled his hair, beaming down at him. He and Fuyumi shared smiles with each other.
“Are you okay? Let me get you some water,” she said, hurrying into the kitchen and returning a moment later with a glass.
Todoroki took it gratefully, taking a few sips after he sat up. Then he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “You guys probably think I’m such a child.”
“Shoto, sweetie, you are a child.” Fuyumi smirked, winking at him. “You’re the baby of the family, remember? But that doesn’t matter. Liking tickling doesn’t make you any less of a man. Or a pro hero.”
“For sure,” Natsuo agreed. He nudged his shoulder. “If anything, we think it’s awesome. Right, Fuyumi? It just means we have a guaranteed way to make you smile.”
Todoroki never imagined his first time really spending time with his brother and sister would wind up like this, but he wasn’t complaining. Not in the slightest. He smiled, unable to contain his relief and happiness. “There…there is one more thing, though.”
“Yeah? What is it?” Fuyumi asked gently.
He bit his lip, then glanced between them. “I like doing the tickling more.”
They went quiet.
They looked at each other.
Natsuo jumped to his feet. “Crap, Fuyumi – we’d better run!”
Fuyumi took his hand as he offered it to her, and they began to disappear from the living room.
“Wait!” Todoroki cried, worried he’d ruined the happy feeling from moments before. “I won’t do it unless you’re okay with—”
“Well, what are you waiting for, Sho?!” Natsuo called from somewhere in the hallway. “Come get us, tickle monster!”
“You can’t catch us!” Fuyumi sang teasingly.
That familiar fire flared up within Todoroki, and he beamed and leapt to his feet, chasing after them.
Sibling bonding went both ways, after all.
275 notes · View notes
alwaysmarveling · 3 years
Text
Rock Band
Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x fem!reader
Warnings: None, just fluff :)
Word Count: 3.2k
A/N: Not too sure how I feel about this one, but it’s Wanda so hopefully you guys enjoy it (also I miss playing Rock Band)!!
“You ready for game night, Bird Boy?” Bucky winked.
“You bet, old man. I’m going to crush you, just you wait.” Sam smiled at Bucky with a glint in his eye and mischief clear in his voice. “You guys coming?” Sam turned to look at you and your girlfriend. “The theme is Wii games. Even Thor is coming.” You looked at Wanda for confirmation before answering.
“Yeah, sounds fun. Don’t know if we have the same need for total domination as you losers, though.” Tony laughed from his position in the chair next to you.
“Just you wait, kiddo. You’ll get into it. They all do.”
“Even if I do, I doubt it’ll be that hard to take a bunch of grandpas down,” you winked at the men before scooping some salad into your mouth.
“Since when am I a grandpa?” Sam scoffed.
“Since you became old, which, according to my calculations, has been… oh, right, always. Grandpa in spirit.”
“Well this grandpa is going to beat your ass, so just prepare yourself,” Sam challenged.
“I personally would like to go back to the ‘losers’ thing,” Steve countered. “The only loser is going to be you. Do you even know what games we’re going to be playing, Y/N?”
“Nah, but I figure whatever it is I’ll win,” you smirked.
“Oh, someone’s feeling cocky today. I’d be scared if I were you.” You turned your head slightly to your right, noting how Wanda’s lips curled upwards at Steve’s warning. “Nat has yet to be defeated in Mario Kart, and I, for one, am pretty decent at Smash Bros.”
“You’re on,” you winked at him, the table beginning to clear out. “See you tonight.”
When everyone had left the table but you and Wanda, you turned to your girlfriend. “I suck at Mario Kart. And Smash Bros,” you whined, burying your face into the crook of her neck. “What got into me?” Wanda laughed and ran a hand down your arm.
“You’re too competitive for your own good, detka. If it makes you feel better, Nat already knows you’re bad at Mario Kart,” Wanda smiled, reflecting on the many game nights the three of you and Carol had had together over the years.
“That doesn’t make me feel any better. I’m going to be a loser,” you complained, your voice muffled.
“You’ll be fine, babe. You’re good at, um... What's that game called again?”
“Mario Party 8?”
“Yeah, that one!”
“I can’t win game night with one game, Wanda.”
“Well, you’re always a winner in my book,” your girlfriend reassured you as she played with your fingers.
“Cute, Wan,” you huffed. “Maybe there is a way I could be a winner…” you smiled. When Wanda began to shake her head furiously, you began to beg. “Please, baby, you don’t have to do a lot. Just distract them a little? Please? Pretty please?”
“As much as I love you, Y/N, there is no way I’m messing with their minds just so you can win a game night.”
“I guess you have a point,” you sighed, making sure the fake sadness was clear in your voice. Wanda only laughed, brushing your cheek with the back of her hand.
“I’ll make it up to you. I promise. Besides, if you win, I can’t kiss away your pout.”
“But if I win, you can kiss me as a little ‘good job,’ you know?”
“You’re cute when you pout, though.”
“Am I not cute when I’m smiling from the pure joy of winning?”
“Weren’t you just saying you didn’t want ‘total domination’ less than five minutes ago?”
“Don’t change the subject,” you grumbled. Wanda chuckled, pressing her lips to your forehead.
“Sorry, printsessa. You’d better go practice if you want to try to win tonight.”
“I suppose,” you mumbled, pulling away from the witch. “You’re going to help me, though, right?” Your girlfriend pecked you on the lips, causing a smile to slowly form on your face.
“Of course.”
---
Later that night, you and Wanda were sprawled across your bed watching the first show that played when you turned on the TV. Your head laid in Wanda’s lap as Wanda traced invisible patterns in your hair and along your face.
“Okay, but why is ‘womb’ pronounced ‘woom’?” you spoke up. “Shouldn’t it be ‘wom’? You know, like ‘bomb’? Or what about ‘tomb’? Why is it pronounced like that? Who said that putting a ‘b’ at the end of the word makes the ‘o’ long for some words but not others?” Wanda brought her gaze down from the screen to your face, her brows furrowed and nose scrunched.
“What the heck even made you think of that?”
“I don’t know,” you shrugged, “I’ve just been thinking.”
“Maybe you should be thinking a little less, printsessa,” Wanda giggled, drawing a swirl on your cheek with the tip of her finger.
“That tickles, Wan.” That didn’t stop the witch, who simply pinched your cheek before resuming her tracing. “But I thought you liked my thinking. I have some pretty good thoughts,” you defended yourself, crossing your arms in front of your chest.
“Like ‘what would happen if the French used the Statue of Liberty like the Trojan Horse?’” Wanda raised her eyebrows.
“It was a hypothetical!”
“A pretty bad one, if you ask me.”
“Well sorry, Miss Smartypants.”
“You can be smart too, dorogaya. You just… have your moments,” she winked at you.
“I hate you,” you grumbled, turning away from her so that you were facing the flashing screen, images playing across it but neither of you really sure—or caring—what was going on.
“You love me.”
“Nuh uh.”
“Yeah huh.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No, I-”
“Guys, game night is starting,” Tony knocked at your door.
“Okay, we’ll be down in a second,” Wanda told him. You didn’t listen for if he had left, instead turning your gazes back to each other.
“Okay, maybe I do love you a little bit.” Wanda raised her brows, her finger now running along your lower lip.
“Only a little?”
“I might be able to be persuaded otherwise, but as of right now, yes, a little.” Wanda hummed before leaning down to join your lips.
“What about now?” she asked, her lips brushing yours as she spoke.
“I love you a medium bit.” She kissed you again, this time a little longer than the last.
“And now?”
“I love you a lot a bit,” you whispered. Wanda smiled, giving you one last kiss before sitting back up.
“I love you a lot a bit too. Now, let’s get down to the living room. I believe we have a bunch of ‘grandpas’ waiting for us.”
---
“Wanda, Y/N, I missed you. How has life been treating you on Earth?” Thor waved at the two of you. You guys had little time to wave back, let alone respond, before Tony spotted you.
“There they are,” Tony clapped his hands together. “We were just about to get started. First on the agenda is Smash Bros because this one,” he aggressively pointed in Steve’s direction, “said he needs to go to bed before 1. Party pooper.” Steve rolled his eyes. 
“Some of us just don’t want to destroy our entire sleep schedule in one night.” He turned away from Tony to face the two of you, holding out one controller. “We’ve got one spot left, who’s playing?”
---
More than three hours later, the clock read 11 PM and the group of you had made it through several games. As you expected, you hadn’t won anything, but Wanda held her own in Smash Bros and was actually close to beating Nat in Mario Kart at one point (that didn’t last long, but you were proud nonetheless). Thor beat you all at Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, but with all the jumping and yelling going on at the time, you weren’t sure the tower would hold up long enough for you guys to actually finish the game.
“Are you planning on winning any time soon, Y/N?” Nat winked at you from her spot on the couch, one leg resting above the couch and the other bent at the knee on a cushion.
“Oh, shut up,” you laughed. “You know that I suck at video games.” No one else could hear your conversation with the chaos going on over Cooking Mama. That’s right, Cooking Mama.
“I actually thought you were playing us the first couple game nights. And then I finally realized you were just that bad,” Natasha chuckled, quickly having to dodge the pillow you’d thrown in her direction.
“Would it kill you to sit normally for once?”
“Yes,” she smiled, “Yes, it would.”
“How’re you doing, babe? Not too upset yet?” Wanda joined you on the couch with a peck to your cheek.
“Doing just dandy, Wan. See, I can be a good sport.” The witch laughed.
“I’ll check back in with you in an hour.”
“Hey, ladies, we were going to play Rock Band. You guys interested?” Bucky held up the controllers.
“Who won Cooking Mama?” you asked, a smirk clearly written across your face. Bucky rolled his eyes before responding.
“Clint. Now are you guys joining, or what?”
“Mm, I think I’m going to grab a drink. I’ll enjoy the show for a little bit first,” you winked as you slowly rose from the couch.
“She’s only saying that because she doesn’t want to lose,” Sam scoffed. “Y/N’s just upset she can’t deliver on her promise to beat us all.”
“Just you wait for Mario Party 8, Sam. Just you wait.”
“We don’t have that game,” Bruce whispered to you apologetically. “We let Peter borrow it for the weekend. Sorry, Y/N.”
“Are you serious?” You threw your hands up.
“Coward,” Clint teased, sticking his tongue out at you.
“Oh, calm down, Clint. Rock Band doesn’t even have a winner,” Nat chastised.
“Yes, it does! Whoever gets the highest score wins.” The redhead simply rolled her eyes before winking at you.
“Alright, I’m in. Put me on guitar. You coming, Wan?” Natasha turned to her.
“I’m a bit exhausted from the last game. Soon, though,” the witch promised.
“You want anything, babe?”
“A water would be nice,” Wanda smiled at you. “Thank you, detka.”
“Of course.” You squeezed her hand before heading toward the kitchen.
“How come you didn’t ask any of us if we wanted anything?”
“Okay, Sam,” you turned, crossing your arms, “Do you guys want anything?” A chorus of “no’s” echoed through the room. You shook your head, letting out a puff of air before continuing into the kitchen and grabbing one water for you and your girlfriend.
After a small argument over the song choice, Sam, Bucky, Nat, and Tony were all jamming out to ‘Say It Ain’t So,’ and you couldn’t help but laugh from your position on the couch. Wanda’s left arm was wrapped around your waist, holding you close to her, not that you were complaining. You appreciated the body heat, and her, of course.
Sam did have a pretty decent voice, you had to admit. You didn’t think he’d get so into it, but it was quite entertaining.
Speaking of entertaining, it was extremely difficult to hold in a giggle every time you looked at Bucky. Not that he was bad at it—he was surprisingly very good—but it was obvious he’d spent hours playing this game. Eyes closed, head shaking frantically side to side, and cheeks rosy, one might’ve thought Bucky was actually playing at a concert. You were sure Bucky had his part memorized, which was quite a lot for a guy who was still complaining about all the “confusing, new technology nowadays.”
Nat couldn’t be farther from the opposite of the Winter Soldier. As one might expect, she was hitting every note, but from the look on her face, you had a harder time going up the stairs without tripping than she was having playing the game.
And Tony, well, you didn’t really know what to expect with him, but it certainly wasn’t this. For a guy with all the charisma in the world, you thought he would’ve been more… coordinated. He dropped a drumstick at least twice already, and he could never seem to hit the pedal when he had to use the sticks at the same time.
Unfortunately for you, the song quickly came to a close and a new distraction arose—you.
“Y/N, no avoiding it any longer. C’mon, get up here. Which one do you want to be?” You glanced reluctantly at Wanda before answering. If you wanted to play to win, your best bet was singing, but none of the Avengers, including Wanda, had heard you before, and you were in no rush to change that. At the same time, your girlfriend was right; you definitely had a competitive side to you, and seeing the looks on the guys’ faces when you won would be a glorious sight. But maybe it wasn’t all about winning, after all, Wanda had promised you a kiss…
“Put her on the mic,” Natasha smirked. She removed the strap of the toy guitar from her neck before handing it to Steve. Before you could protest, the microphone was shoved into your hands and someone pushed you towards the front of the room.
“Good luck, Y/N,” you barely heard Wanda call from behind you, more worried about what you were going to do.
“Okay, so, Steve and I will be on guitar and bass, Thor on drums, and Y/N on mic. We ready?” Bucky scanned the room for approval. When everyone except for you nodded, he went to choose a song.
“‘Wanted Dead or Alive?’ Really, Buck?” Steve shook his head.
“It’s a good song,” he shrugged, moving to his spot next to Steve. “Should we show them how it’s done?”
“Ha, funny of you to think you’ll win,” Thor boomed, rubbing the drum sticks together.
“Y/N? You’re awfully quiet.” Sam smirked.
“Oh, shut up, Big Bird. Let’s just get this over with.” The man held up his hands in surrender as he backed away from you slowly.
As the first few measures of the song passed, you made a decision. Screw what the rest of the Avengers thought, you were going for it. You took a deep breath as the words rolled across the screen.
“It’s all the same, only the names will change.” The second you started singing, you heard everyone else go quiet around you. Steve, Bucky, and Thor all stopped playing for a second, and you could practically feel everyone’s mouth drop as you forced your eyes to stay on the screen in front of you.
“Every day, it seems we’re wastin’ away.” Just keep going, you told yourself. As much as you wanted to shrivel up in a corner somewhere far, far away, you had already started this. Might as well finish it.
“Another place where the faces are so cold, I’d drive all night just to get back home.” A whistle erupted from behind you—it had to be Tony—and amongst the hooting and hollering, you smiled, relieved, as the rest of the Avengers seemed to snap back into it.
The rest of the guys got back into the groove, and at one point you weren’t even sure you could hear yourself over Thor’s rather enthusiastic drum playing. You had a hard time not laughing at Bucky when you were watching him earlier, but it was pretty much impossible to not laugh now when you were seeing him with Steve. They were definitely feeding off of each other’s energy, and, wow, was it a sight. You’d never seen them this… loose before. They’d definitely need a comb after this game.
Nevertheless, your teammates’ antics helped you fully relax into the song, and it was over before you knew it. On the last beat of the song, you heard a loud crack and whirled around just in time to dodge part of a drumstick coming straight for your face.
“Thor, what the heck are you doing, man?” The god laughed sheepishly.
“Are you trying to kill my girlfriend?” You glanced over at Wanda, who looked ready to grab Thor around the neck. One stern look from you made her hesitate, but the anger remained obvious in her eyes.
“I guess I got a little caught up in the game. In my defense, your human toys are way too fragile.” After one harsh glare from Wanda, the god swallowed and added, “I apologize, Y/N.”
“Dude, how the heck are we supposed to keep playing with a broken drumstick?” Clint inspected the broken piece, which was at least the size of his palm, passing it from hand to hand.
“Ah, forget it. We can just switch to a different game. Y/N’s would’ve won the rest of the rounds anyway,” Bruce shrugged as he pointed at the screen.
The rest of the Avengers followed his finger, and sure enough, you had finished with a perfect score.
“Okay, Y/N, I’ll give it to you. That was good. How come you never told any of us you could sing?” You laughed, shaking your head.
“Nobody asked me.” You shrugged before handing the microphone to Bruce, allowing the conversation to return to what to do about the broken drumstick and returning to your seat next to Wanda. “Babe, I defeated the grandpas,” you whispered before pushing your face into the crook of her neck. More relaxed now that you were safe next to her, she chuckled, grabbing your hand.
“You did. I thought you would’ve been more excited about it?”
“I’m very happy about it,” you murmured, just loud enough for her to hear.
“You’re cute when you’re embarrassed,” she smiled, squeezing your thigh. You whined, prompting your girlfriend to laugh softly and kiss the top of your forehead. “I wouldn’t mind hearing you sing more often. You’re a good singer, malyshka.”
“Thanks,” you muttered.
“Wow, Wanda, you didn’t even know your girlfriend could sing?” Clint teased. With the conversation back on you, you pushed yourself further into Wanda’s body. She reassured you by tracing small circles at the top of your knee.
“Obviously none of you knew about it either.”
“I did,” Natasha smirked, causing you to look up at her in shock. “I heard you singing in the shower the other day when I went to drop off the sweatshirt you left in my room.” You threw your head back in laughter before chucking a pillow in her direction, which she easily caught.
“You suck. You put me on singing on purpose!”
“You wanted to win, didn’t you?” your best friend shrugged, clearly not feeling bad for what she had done.
“Okay, okay, can we get back to game night now?” Sam whined. “Sure, Y/N can sing. But can she dance?” Everyone groaned playfully as Sam pulled out a copy of Just Dance. “Natasha, you’re not allowed to play,” he quickly added. The redhead crossed her arms, a smile on her face.
“Fine with me. Go get ‘em, Y/N.” You grinned. Giving Wanda a peck on the cheek, you stood from the couch yet again and rolled up your sleeves. This was going to be a long night.
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titan-fodder · 3 years
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Prima Vista Part III
[ previous ]
Rating: E (explicit; mdni) Pairing: Mike Zacharias x fem!reader
Warnings: a lot of feelings, handcuffs, testosterone, quite a bit of sex, one surprise kiss (cause Erwin is a privileged dick), parents, domesticity A/N: I apparently did not write an author’s note for this originally, but uh, this is one of my favorite sections of the whole fic, so. 
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Mike uses the rest of the break to relax, to get his head on straight so that when he gets back on campus he won’t be overbearing. He knows that’s the last thing you want from him.
 You text back and forth a few times a day, but most of it is dumb shit, and the conversation dies off pretty quickly—either Mike not knowing how to respond or you just growing bored. 
 He busies himself by spending time with his parents and playing with Scout who eats up all the attention. Family comes over for Christmas, and his mom and aunt get into an argument. It’s nothing new.
 He’s happy to get back to the school and back in classes just to stimulate his brain. More than that, he’s happy to see you again. Even if it means the two of you go back to friend-only status. 
 Things are awkward between him and Erwin, though. It isn’t the first time they’ve had a hiccup in their friendship, but this one has really rubbed Mike the wrong way. Erwin tries to apologize a few more times, but every time he does, all Mike can manage is an unconvincing, “It’s fine,” which the other man obviously doesn’t buy. 
 He tries not to be possessive when you start coming to the house again, but it’s fucking hard whenever he has to watch you and Erwin talk and joke around. Mike figured you’d be at least a little annoyed that he’d just walked in on the two of you like that, but you act like it never happened.
 Eventually, Mike has to ask about it, just can’t help himself. “Aren’t you, like, even a little mad that he did that? Don’t you think it was fucked up?”
 You’re sitting on Mike’s bed, a controller in your hand as you play Mario Kart, sound a little distracted when you respond, “I mean, yeah, it was fucked up, but I never really expected anything more from him.”
 “What do you mean?”
 You look at him from the corner of your eyes before staring at the screen again. “Erwin is a cocky motherfucker. I’ve seen the way he gets the girls on campus, probably thinks he can charm all of them which means he probably thinks he’s entitled to all of them. Us.”
 “Are you calling him a predator?”
 You shrug your shoulders. “I don’t think he’d ever, like, rape anyone. He at least has enough class and common sense not to do that. But I think… He doesn’t care who he goes after. Single girls, girls in relationships, happy girls, damaged girls. He just has a one track mind when it comes to sex. That’s what I’ve gathered anyway.”
 Laying back on his bed, Mike laces his fingers behind his head and thinks on what you’ve said. “That just sounds like a drawn out way of saying he’s a flirt.”
 “A massive flirt. Without any real care about whose feelings he hurts in the process.”
 “Sounds about right.”
 “I don’t appreciate it,” you sigh, “But he’s your best friend, so I’m willing to put up with some shit from him.”
 “Even him perving on you?”
 “Not the first time it’s happened to me, probably won’t be the last. He’s curious, I can tell.”
 Mike snorts and rolls his eyes. “Yeah, he is.”
 You stay quiet for several seconds, toggling over to another track on the game, then ask, “That make you uncomfortable?”
 Blinking up at the ceiling, Mike wonders what the right answer to this is. He doesn’t want to scare you away, but he doubts he’ll be able to act as aloof as you do. 
 “A little.”
 You hum, nodding in a thoughtful manner before suggesting, “I think we can keep hooking up through this semester.”
 Mike sits up on his elbow, looks at you with high eyebrows. “Wait, really?” He sounds too excited, he knows.
 “Yeah. I have mostly easy classes, or really, I have interesting ones which makes studying for them easier. Plus, it might teach Erwin a lesson.”
 He falls back flat, scoffing. “I don’t want you to fuck me to prove a point to Erwin. I want you to fuck me because you want to.”
 The game music stops when you pause it, and then you’re straddling Mike, hands on his chest as you smirk at him. 
 “Don’t let this go to your head, Zacharias, but no one has ever fucked me the way you do.”
 Mike tries not to grin, triumph blooming inside of him, and he grips your hips a little too tightly. “Oh, that’s definitely going to my head.” 
 You grind your covered pussy over his denim-clad cock, and Mike feels all his blood flow south.
 Laughing, you lean down to ghost your lips over his and murmur, “Both heads, apparently.”
 That day, the two of you start a routine that leaves Mike falling harder and harder with every passing day.
 *
 “Come on, please just be my date,” Mike begs, thinks about getting to his knees if it’ll help convince you.
 “Why?” You ask, looking up from your textbook.
 You and Mike are sitting in the library—you studying, him bothering you. “I’m honestly so tired of parties at this point.
 “It’s not like the big parties we throw, though,” he tells you. “It’s just the brothers and their girlfriends.”
 “That makes it even worse,” you push one little laugh through your nose. “What makes you think I wanna spend an entire night with a bunch of frat boys and their matching sorority girls?”
 Mike rolls his eyes. “They’re not all sorority girls, just like, eighty-five percent of them.”
 Your head lolls, an expression that reads nothing but apathy aimed at Mike, and he gives you a hopeful smile and adds, “On the bright side, we get to stay together all night…?”
 “Oh god, it's a cuff party, isn't it?" 
 All he can do at this point is beg because the more he explains it, the more he realizes how not appealing this is to you. “Please.”
 Sitting back in your chair, you cross your arms over your chest and puff your cheeks out as you exhale heavily. “What’s in it for me?”
 Fuck yes. Half the battle is won. 
 “Uhh,” obviously sex is the first thing that comes to Mike’s mind, so the first offer he makes is, “I’ll go down on you ‘til you cry.”
 You snort. “Try again.”
 “Fuck you ‘til you pass out?”
 “Jesus—why do you want to hurt me? Try again. Third time’s a charm.”
 Mike brainstorms for a solid thirty seconds, thinks about what you’ve mentioned to him over the past couple of weeks, sex and school and—
 “I’ll help you study for your geochemistry exam.”
 You finally look interested. “I’d actually really appreciate that. You took the course?”
 “Yeah, environmental geochemistry was sort of my jam last year. Final grade was a ninety-seven.”
 “Holy shit.”
 Mike shoots you a satisfied smile, but before you can tell him to wipe it from his face, he asks, “So, you’re in?”
 “I guess.”
 This is how you both end up in the frat house handcuffed together. No one seems to be surprised at the fact that you’ve come with him, all the brothers used to you hanging around the frat house.
 Most couples are walking around holding hands just because it takes some of the pressure off of everyone's wrists, but Mike doesn't dare try it with you. Too cute. Too comfortable. 
 These types of get togethers are Mike's favorite, though, always more relaxed than the open parties. There’s still drinking and music, but the energy is different since it’s a tighter knit group. 
 It takes about an hour for Erwin and his date to approach the two of you, fingers laced together, drinks in their free hands. 
 “Looking good,” Erwin greets with a smile. "Very… trapped." 
 “Yeah, you too,” Mike says, trying to ignore the subtext of Erwin's comment.  
 Blue eyes flick to you, and you’re questioned, “How’d he end up talking you into this?”
 You don’t miss a beat as you reply cooly, “Bribed me with sex and study help.”
 “Ah, of course he did.”
 Mike’s eyes narrow, but he doesn’t say anything, just reaches his pinky out to link with yours, a subtle claim. When you rest your head on his arm, he looks down at you and smirks. 
 “Anyway,” Erwin pushes on. “You remember Maddie, don’t you?”
 Mike lies, “Yeah. How are you?”
 The girl’s voice reminds him of who she is, “Well. How are you, Mike?” It’s a little high pitched and nasally with a northern accent. He especially remembers what she sounded like moaning for Erwin through the wall, obnoxious but Mike can’t really judge since he’s subjected the rest of the house to the same thing once or twice (or a dozen times) before.  
 “Glad to hear it.”
 The group stands together for a few more awkward seconds before Erwin clears his throat and asks his date, “Another drink?” then makes his exit. 
 “You have got to get over this grudge, dude,” you take your head from his shoulder, and Mike immediately misses the warmth. “Like, it’s cute that you’re trying to defend my honor or whatever, but it’s time to move on. You guys are friends. Just talk it out.”
 He sucks his teeth, almost tells you about the way he and Erwin had nearly thrown punches at the ranch house, the way the blond had basically admitted to wanting to try you out, but Mike decides against it, doesn’t want to talk too much shit only to end up making up with him.
 “Guys don’t really talk it out. We usually fight it out.”
 “That’s fucking primitive. You should learn to communicate like mature humans.”
 “Probably,” Mike hums. “But not right now.”
 Being connected to each other means every activity is a partner activity. The most interesting is playing beer pong against Nile and his on-again off-again girlfriend, Marie, house rule for the night being whoever is throwing has to use their cuffed hand. It’s like a twisted three-legged race and requires an amount of teamwork and coordination Mike has never had to deal with before. 
 It’s also the first time he manages to beat Nile. Mike had no doubt that the other man would have crushed you by himself, but it turns out the actual couple does not work together very well. All their shots are clumsy, and Nile gets frustrated right off the bat which only makes things worse. Meanwhile, you and Mike come up with a strategy after the first terrible throw and use it for the rest of the game. 
 You’re both challenged by a few other teams and end up winning every time which has Mike feeling smug about the victories and giddy at how in-tune the two of you are. Gelgar even tells you both, “You guys are good together,” which makes Mike cough as you wave him off.
 You drink a little more, converse a little more, and then—as always—end up in Mike’s bedroom. 
 “You want me to get the key and take these off?” He asks between kisses.
 You smile into him, let out a little laugh and play, “You don’t think it’d be kinda fun to fuck with ‘em on?”
 “It’ll be harder,” Mike snorts. “But, we can. Won’t be able to take shirts off, though.”
 “Good thing we just need to take our pants off.”
 It’s clumsy and silly, and you both tug in opposite directions more than a few times. Mike laces his fingers with yours when he goes down on you, relishing in the way you arch off his bed and squeeze his hand. On the floor, you give him head in the same fashion, and fuck, Mike can hardly focus on you sucking him off while your fingers are woven together, even if it is just for the sake of convenience. 
 He fucks you from behind that night, your face buried in his pillow as he’s buried in you. Both of your arms are stretched behind your back, held at the wrists by Mike’s much, much larger hand. He uses his free one to grip your hip, pushing and pulling you on his cock to his heart’s desire. 
 You’re so pretty, damp with sweat and moaning his name when your head is turned only to shove it back into his pillow when he makes you scream. Your dripping cunt opens up for him perfectly, making Mike feel more inebriated than alcohol ever could, but as his balls tighten and that warmth spreads in his gut, he has a single moment of clarity, assess the position he has you in and pants, “Shit, I can’t pull out.” Not without ripping your god damn arm out of socket or fracturing his dick. 
 “Mmm—fuck, just come inside, come inside me, Mike.”
 That alone makes him lose it, shooting a fucking copious amount of cum into your pussy, so much that it drips from your hole and runs down your thighs. 
 “Fucking C-Christ,” he laughs a little hysterically, gathering thick white and slipping it back inside you. Transfixed by the way his added finger pushes more of his cum out of you, he asks in a daze, “You on birth control?”
 “Yeah,” you answer in a breathy voice.
 Mike hums. “Good. Just gonna sit here for a while then.”
 You let out a whimper that turns to a whine when he rubs his slick finger over your clit. Twitching around him, you tease, “F-finger painting again?”
 He chuckles, “You know it.” 
 Honestly, if he could cover you in cum, he would—admire your body painted in white strings, watch it drip down your ribs and thighs. If Mike hadn’t just gotten off, he would be hard again at the mere thought, but for now his focus is rubbing your little clit. Still face down, you spread your legs more and more, and Mike has to curl over you, breathing heavily on your neck as you wriggle and buck, overstimulating him as he keeps his cock nestled inside of you.
 He groans just as loud as you do as you start pulsing around him, pussy clenching in a way that actually pulls a few more drops of cum from Mike, then you both pant for a little while until Mike straightens up and pulls you with him, your back to his chest as you hang your head. 
 “You good?” He questions, brushing his lips over your neck as lightly as possible.
 “Yeah,” you tell him. “Just… Full.”
 Mike’s body heats all over again as he rests his forehead on your uppermost vertebrae. “Can’t just say stuff like that,” he warns, sinking his teeth into your shoulder.
 “Hmm.” He can see the little smile on your face without even looking up. “You did offer to fuck me until I pass out.”
 “I have a refractory period, you know.”
 You glance over your shoulder, and now Mike gets a good look at your smirk and twinkling eyes. “I can wait.”
 Both of you emerge from the room in the early hours of the morning, still stuck together as you quietly make your way downstairs to find the key to the handcuffs. You’re wearing a pair of Mike’s gym shorts, the mesh falling far past your knees and barely staying up around your waist. He knows you’re still messy and can tell by the way you’re walking that you’re sore, but he has every intention of cleaning you up and taking care of all your aches and pains in the shower. 
 *
It’s party after god damn party with classes and studying and fucking in between. You have never had this much sex in your life, but you’re not complaining. It takes the edge off, and Mike isn’t the worst company. Far from it, actually. The more you get to know him, the more he falls into what you think is his real personality. 
 The brash frat boy is a front, you come to find out, a mask to fit in with everyone else, one he wears very well. 
 But, when it’s just the two of you in his room playing video games or watching TV, he actually relaxes, gets quieter and much more reflective. The pastels and khakis and Hawaiian shirts stay hung up in his closet, both of you lounging in t-shirts and joggers more often than not.
 He more or less tutors you in geochemistry, and between that and all the nerd shit in his room, you realize… Mike is kind of extremely smart. And, it’s kind of extremely hot.
 “I still don’t understand why you hide it,” you tell him one afternoon as you watch him play Ocarina of Time. 
 He shrugs, green eyes wide and focused on the screen, gives you the same answer he did last semester when you’d asked a similar question: “People are more interested in other things.”
 “So you adopted the obnoxious frat boy persona?”
 “I guess. It makes the college experience a lot easier.”
 You cock your head to the side, genuinely curious when you ask, “Doesn’t it wear you out? Seems like you’re just an introvert in hiding.”
 Mike laughs, pauses the game, and looks at you. “It used to. Some days it still does. But, it’s easier than taking shit from the guys.”
 Squinting at him, you mumble, “I will beat up anyone who gives you shit about being a nerd.”
 It makes him laugh. Loudly. And, you see a certain curiosity glimmering in his eyes, unasked questions—probably something along the lines of when you started caring and getting protective over him. 
 You’re not. Not exactly. You just don’t like the idea of anyone giving him a hard time. 
 “No offense, babe, but I don’t know how much damage you could inflict on anyone. You’re, like, two feet tall.”
 You straighten up, chest puffing up as you pull your fists up to your chin and rock back and forth like a Street Fighter character. “You wanna fuckin’ go, Zacharias? I’ll show you how much damage I can inflict.”
 He grins in that boyish way that always makes you look away. It’s too cute and too charming and makes you feel too many things. 
 Mike hangs his long legs over the side of the bed and pulls you on top of him with no problem whatsoever. You’re eye level with him now, heart beating too fast as you hold his shoulders, eyes flicking to his lips. 
 “We can go if you want. We can do whatever you want.”
 He has feelings for you. You know he does, can see it in his eyes, can feel it in the way he fucks you, and you really should cut things off, but… You don’t want to. He’s the most tolerable person you’ve met on campus, much less annoying than Hitch. You have things in common and joke around until you’re both rolling in laughter. And, of course, the sex is incredible. 
 It’s just casual, you keep telling yourself. Mike is smart enough not to push things. He knows better, knows you’ll just turn him down, and though it’s hard to admit, that wouldn’t just hurt him; it’d hurt you too.
 In his lap now, you don’t encourage him to take things further, mostly because you’re still sore from the night before, and he understands that. Instead, you lock your arms around his neck and change the subject to something that’s still bothering you even after several weeks.
 “Have you and Erwin made up yet?”
 Mike makes a face, answers, “Not exactly.”
 “The hell does that mean?”
 “It means we’re talking a little more, but it’s always short conversations and the problem still hasn’t been addressed.”
 You let out a little, “Ugh,” then state, “You guys are impossible.”
 It really doesn’t make sense that he’s so upset about it, especially since you’ve gotten over it. It was a shitty thing for Erwin to do—walking in like that—but you don’t think it’s anything to end a friendship over.
 And, with that thought in mind, you spend the rest of the afternoon devising a plan. It’s not in your nature to meddle, but it seems, in this case, you’re gonna have to.
 *
 Mike is in his fancy ecology class when you walk into the Pike house, nodding at everyone in the den as you step further inside. You learned a few months ago that it’s much safer to keep your shoes on, less jarring to step on a sticky floor the first years didn’t do a good job cleaning. 
 Nile is reclining sideways on the couch with Marie between his legs, an action movie playing on the ridiculously big TV mounted on the wall. 
 “Is Erwin here?” You ask.
 Nile looks at you with a frown, one that’s completely warranted since you’ve literally never asked this before. 
 “Uh, yeah.” He points up at the ceiling. “In his room.”
 “Cool, thanks.”
 “You know which one it is?”
 Squeezing one eye shut, you’re honest when you tell him, “I think so.”
 The way Marie is quick to pipe up, “Second furthest to the left, right next to the bathroom,” is very amusing, especially when Nile clicks his tongue, clearly irritated.
 You make your way upstairs, following Marie’s directions, then take a deep breath before knocking on Erwin’s door, clueless as to what his lock code might be.
 It takes a few seconds, but the door opens, revealing a very tired-looking Erwin. His eyes widen a bit when he sees you, craning his neck back like he’s shocked that you’re standing outside of his room. That’s fair.
 “Uh, hey?”
 “Hey,” you greet shortly. “Can we talk for a sec?”
 Erwin blinks a few times then steps to the side, murmuring, “Yeah, of course.”
 His space is very different from Mike’s, more organized, framed pictures, bed completely made. Even his desk is clean, papers and books all stacked neatly on one side of his open laptop.
 “Studying?” You question.
 “Yeah. Would you like to sit down?” His voice is deep—not as deep as Mike’s—and always so proper, like he spent his childhood in country clubs (he did). 
 “Not really,” you answer without any hesitation.
 Unsurprisingly, Erwin leans against his desk instead of taking a seat himself, arms on either side, fingers hanging off the edge of the polished wood. It makes the muscles in his forearms become more prominent, veins popping against his skin. You have to give it to him, it’s a good move. 
 “So, what’s going on?”
 Running your tongue over your teeth, you recall what you planned to say—cut to the chase, stay firm, don’t get caught up in any of his tricks. 
 “You need to make up with Mike.”
 Erwin immediately snorts. “You don’t think I’ve tried?”
 “Half-assed apologies aren’t gonna work, dude. Actually sit down with him and hash things out.”
 “Yeeeah,” he drawls. “That didn’t work very well the first time.”
 “Maybe try again? You guys are, like, best friends.”
 “Levi is my best friend,” Erwin corrects, “And, I’m pretty sure that you’re Mike’s at this point.”
 “Don’t say that.”
 “It’s true,” he smirks.
 You wave him off, getting back to your original point. “At the very least, you guys should make up just because you have to live in the same house.”
 Erwin crosses his arms over his chest, blue eyes deviating upward as if he’s thinking hard. You doubt he is.
 “So, you’re not mad about what happened?” He asks after a few seconds. 
 You're blunt when you respond, “It was a shitty thing to do. Wouldn’t advise trying it with anyone else, but honestly, I’m not super surprised you’d pull something like that.”
 His facial expression turns to one of true offense, blond eyebrows furrowing enough for a little wrinkle to form between them. “Excuse me?”
 You take a step toward him, almost jab a finger in his chest but resist. “No no no. You don’t get to be pissed. You’re the one who fucked up here. I’m just telling you the truth.”
 Eyes narrowing, he pushes himself off the desk, standing to his full height to loom over you. It’s obviously an intimidation tactic, one he’s probably used before on many people, and it makes your blood boil. 
 In a futile attempt to make yourself look bigger, you straighten your spine and tilt your head to look up at him, lips pursed, eyes narrow. You remember what Mike said about you being too small to hurt anyone, but you can be scrappy. You’re not above slapping a face or kneeing someone in the balls. 
 Erwin peers down at you, jaw setting for a moment as he really studies you, then breaks into an infuriating smile. 
 “You’re cute, you know that?” He moves to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear, but you swat his hand away. 
 “Jesus, what is wrong with you?”
 This close to him, seeing the way he acts behind closed doors, you wonder how Mike ever even got close with him. They’re so incredibly different. For the last semester and a half, you've only known Erwin as Mike's somewhat obnoxious, spoiled friend. Now, it seems he's showing his true colors.
 “Nothing’s wrong. In fact, I’m feeling pretty great right now.”
 Oh, you wanna hit him. You wanna hit him so badly, but honestly, Erwin kind of seems like the type to call the fucking police if you did. 
 “You don’t have any reason whatsoever to be feeling good.”
 He’s still grinning, eyes bright and wide as his pupils dilate. 
 Are you calling him a predator?
 He sure looks like one now, a lion with his sights set on an antelope, and as you stare at him, it dawns on you that this was a bad idea. 
 “You know what? Nevermind,” you shake your head. “You don’t deserve to be Mike’s friend anyway.”
 The laugh that pours from his lips is not at all humorous. His voice drops when he challenges, “You think so?”
 You need to leave, need to get out of here before this argument goes any further, but as you make a move toward the closed door, he slides in front of you. You shouldn’t have walked so far into his room.
 “Erwin,” you grit through your teeth. “Don’t do this.”
 “Just tell me—because I need to know—” he breathes, still staring down at you with that unnerving gaze. “What does Mike have that you like so much?”
 Both your hands flex by your sides. There are so many ways to answer this question, all of which will evoke a different response. 
 But being who you are, you speak before you think, spitting the first thing that comes to mind: "You want me to make you a list, Smith? 'Cause I sure fucking can."
 He makes a little circle with his hand, a 'go on' motion, and prompts, "Please, enlighten me."
 And, so you do. 
 "Warmth, sincerity, class, depth, understanding—"
 "So, it isn't just about the sex," he cuts you off, sounding more sure than curious. 
 You pinch the bridge of your nose, tired of these god damn frat boys and their obsession with getting their dicks wet.  
 "I mean, it started out that way—not that it's any of your business."
 "I can give you more, you know. Satisfy you better—"
 "Please shut the fuck up," you beg, getting madder by the second. The confidence, the entitlement, is making you sick. 
 "You don't believe me?" He steps toward you again, and you back up. 
 "No, I don't." Because how could he? Whether it's stimulating conversation or sex, there's no way Erwin could compare. 
 And now you realize just how much you appreciate Mike. 
 Erwin is closing the distance between you, moving slowly but purposefully. "This is how it started with you and him, right? You made him chase you?" 
 "Get out of my way," you demand, trying to shoulder past him—
 And, you should have seen it coming, should have been prepared for the way he grabs you, strong hand closing around your upper arm to pull you to his body. Thick fingers tangle in your hair to pull your head back, face tilted up, and all you can really do is shove at his chest with your free hand, growling in your throat as Erwin crushes his lips against yours. 
 Adrenaline courses through your body. You try to shake the hand on your head, try to jerk your arm from his grip, but he's too fucking strong, and it terrifies you. 
 Your voice is muffled as you plead, "Er—mmf—shtp—"
 You lift your hand higher and manage to hit him just beside his eye with the side of your palm, and it makes him break the "kiss" (you refuse to actually call it that).
 He breathes a heavy, "Just let me—"
 "No." You push his chest again, and he lets go of your arm. Quickly wiping your mouth with the back of your hand, you tell him, "You're a shitty friend and a little fucked in the head, but you're not low enough to force yourself on someone," you pant, shaking with nerves and rage, "So don't."
 Hopefully, you're not giving him too much credit. Despite the overflowing fury and fear, you still think there's a little hope for him. Not with you, of course, just in general.
 He stares at you, expression changing from confusion to understanding to regret, and before you know it, he's scrubbing his hands down his face and muttering, "Fuck, I'm sorry. You're right I—I got carried away. I've been jealous of Mike and curious and—"
 "Why?" You blurt because you do not get it. "Both of you are, like, top athletes and in a fraternity, could get literally anyone you wanted, so what is it? Is it because I'm a nobody? Because you're bored of the sorority girls? Am I the one chick on your list you haven't screwed?" 
 "I… I don't know. You just—"
 "Is it because Mike has a toy he doesn't wanna share?"
 "Maybe." Erwin is frowning again, like he's stumped. He doesn't even know what he's feeling. It's honestly a little pathetic. 
 "Well, pick someone else. I know you have Maddie wrapped around your finger, so take advantage of that or whatever. Just leave me out of it."
 Ocean eyes are wide and troubled. He really does look remorseful, but that doesn't change what he just fucking did. God, you're disgusted. And a little hurt. 
 "Don't ever try that shit on me again—or anyone else—'cause I swear to God, I will break your fucking nose."
 "Yeah, okay," he nods.
 You go to walk past him again, voice loud and unforgiving when you tell him, "Move," and then you're out of his room, slamming the door, and getting as far from Pike house as possible.
 That did not go the way you had planned it to, but you should have been ready for the worst case scenario. That's on you, you guess. 
 Because Erwin Smith may not be a predator by definition, but he's certainly something—something you want to stay away from. 
*
"Why are you acting weird?" Mike's voice pulls you from your empty head, and you take your eyes off the loose string of your hoodie—his hoodie—and look up at him. 
 "What are you talking about? 'm not acting weird."
 He moves from his place at the edge of his bed and crawls to prop himself up next to you on his pillows. 
 "Uh, yeah you are. Have been for the past week or so."
 He isn't wrong. You've kept to yourself a little more since your "conversation" with Erwin. It had just been so uncomfortable and jarring, and you don't want to tell Mike because you know he'll just get pissed all over again which would be very annoying since he and Erwin finally made up. Just like you wanted them to. 
 Except now you know Erwin a little better, and you're not sure you want him having any more influence over Mike. 
 Rubbing your face, you shrug and easily lie, "I've just been tired."
 And, of course, Mike is too smart for that. 
 "Tired? That's the go-to answer for anyone who actually feels shitty."
 "I mean, yeah, but I'm actually tired in this case." It isn't a complete lie considering how fucking late he kept you up last night. 
 Mike hums. "Wanna take a nap before the party?" 
 The acid in your stomach churns. The party. The one you do not have any desire to go to. The one that will push you over the ledge of annoyance and into the realm of genuine discomfort. You don't want to go. You don't want to hang out. You don't want to see Erwin. 
 Sliding your legs under the covers, you lay down in Mike's bed, turning on your side so that your back is facing him. You've told him on numerous occasions that you don't have any interest in certain events, but he always talks you into going to them anyway. So, what'll be different this time? You're just gonna end up downstairs huddled in a corner refusing to drink as your eyes scan over everyone, ready to make a quick exit if you have to. 
 Mike settles in closer behind you, the heat of his chest pouring across your back, and you can feel the pillow dip when he rests his head on it. He waits for a while before letting his arm fall over your waist. It makes you squeeze your eyes shut, makes something crawl into your throat, trying to scratch its way out. 
 "I really don't wanna go tonight," you murmur.
 You expect some form of protest, a convincing argument in the form of a well thought out fucking speech while he kisses down the back of your neck, but instead, a low rumble of, "Okay," spills from his mouth, and you hate how it makes you feel—how grateful you are for him. 
 He's getting to know you. Has gotten to know you after spending so much time together. He can read your ups and downs now, can tell when you're joking or serious, take the hint when you want him with a single look (that one might be the most irritating), but it just goes to show how perceptive he is, how much of himself he's been hiding while in college. 
 The shallow jock you thought you knew is no comparison for this. 
 "Spring break's coming up," he speaks into your hair, inhaling deeply and whispering to himself, "Citrus kills me," like you can't hear him. 
 You pretend not to because it's soft and personal and would probably make him adorably self-conscious, and you can't deal with Mike blushing. 
  "Yeah, it is. Couple more weeks." 
 "What're your plans?" 
 You shrug against him, trying not to get too wrapped up in the way his body feels over yours, longer legs tangling between yours, his draped hand nearly covering your entire stomach, his stubble scratching your neck and cheek. 
 When did you get this close? When did you decide it was okay to be this intimate? This is what couples do. This is comfort. 
 And, you didn't think you needed it, but fuck—
 "Nothing, really. Go see Mom, I guess."
 "Come stay with me," he says quickly. "Just for a few days."
 You wriggle to turn on your back and frown up at him as a myriad of questions fill your mind. 
 Mike takes a deep breath, somehow reading every one of them. 
 "I know that sounds like a 'come meet my parents' thing, but I promise it's not. I just thought it'd be cool to hang out not at school and not at a party. Plus," he shows a broad grin. "You can meet Scout."
 "Mm, tempting," you laugh. "I do like dogs."
 "And, you'll love her! She's so sweet and so goofy and—"
 "I'll think about it," you stop him. 
 Mike bites his lip, looking hopeful, but tries to play it off with a, "Okay, cool," then leans down to kiss you as if you've already said yes. 
 Honestly, you have, just not out loud. He had you at 'hanging out'. 
 *
Studying sucks. Midterms suck. Avoiding parties, however, does not suck. Mike still goes to most of them, kind of has to considering they're usually thrown at the PKA house, but sometimes he just shows his face then comes to your dorm. You try to convince him to stay, hang out with his friends, but he usually just shrugs and digs through your stash of movies until he finds something he wants to watch. 
 It's fine with you, makes passing geochem a lot fucking easier, but it also means little sleep and a perpetual soreness between your legs. 
 You just… Can't get enough of each other. And, you think that's how it's always been since that first party. Afterward, you had denied him in the courtyard and then broke as soon as he got into your room to get his stupid shirt. Denied him at the bar then broke as soon as he leaned over you at the pool table. Denied him at the after-game party and broke after… Seeing his room? Watching movies? Acting like friends for the first time? Whatever it is, you're always falling into bed together, some kind of unstoppable force against your obviously very movable object. 
 It's something you think about too much now, always somewhere in the back of your head. At this point, you should probably just be with him, don't know who you're kidding with that lie about focusing on school (your grades have never been better actually), but you're scared. That's really what's been hard to admit to yourself, not the fact that you're attracted to him or the fact that your irritation has bloomed into genuine fondness and admiration. It's that's you're fucking terrified. You can feel it in your bones. 
 Don't get too attached because people leave. All the time. People let you down. People disappoint. 
 You don't want Mike to disappoint you, so you won't give him the chance to. 
 Of course, all of that is easier said than done as you look over at him in the Wrangler, one huge hand pn the wheel as his other arm hangs out of the open window, catching the wind that batters against it like he's trying to push back. You hate it when he does that, too many horror stories of car crashes that end in traumatic amputations, but it's one of Mike's strange simple pleasures, makes him grin as if it's his head hanging out instead. At his core, Mike Zacharias is just a huge fucking puppy dog. 
 A dubstep song from too long ago is blasting through his speakers, the vibrations hitting you square in the chest as you bounce your leg and bob your head. It's beautiful outside, winter's bite melting away into sunny springtime days. Some of them still bring a chill to the air, but it doesn't matter since you basically live in one of Mike's hoodies, dark green with the school's lacrosse logo stamped in the middle. It's faded and worn out and far too big on you, but it's quite possibly the most comfortable article of clothing you've acquired. 
 The drive to his parents' house is a good three hours, but between the playlist he's made (stellar, not that you'd admit it), the road games you play, and the road head you give him ("Oh, Jesus Christ, this isn't safe—this isn't safe—fuck—") you make it there in one piece and in good spirits, though you have take a few drinks of the soda you got at the convenience store to wash the residue of cum out of your mouth before meeting his god damn family. 
 He grabs both your bags from the backseat, slinging them over his shoulders, then starts up the path to a… surprisingly small home. It isn't a shack by any means, but after what you saw of Erwin's stupid ranch house and some of the pictures and stories Nile and Gelgar have subjected you to, you just kind of figured all of them had ridiculous amounts of money. 
 Then again, you know Mike got a full ride to college with a sports scholarship, and he rarely talks about his family and their lifestyle aside from Scout and little tales from his childhood—trips to the zoo, the one time he rode a dirt bike and broke his collarbone, he and his dad rescuing an injured bunny from the park. 
 You should've known back then that you'd get in too deep. 
 The small garden that lines the house is well-kempt and full of blooming flowers, and the porch is home to a wire table and matching chairs with an unsavory gnome sitting on top.  
 "What in the world…"
 Mike doesn't even glance to see what you're looking at, just opens the screen door and informs you, "That's Leonidas," so casually that it makes you snort and push him into his own house. 
 It opens up to a living room, long couch, recliner, coffee table and all. A TV sits right in the middle of a beige entertainment center, DVDs stacked on one side, blu-ray discs on the other. It smells clean—like the lemon wipes you use in your dorm—but even stronger than that is the smell of food. 
 "Must already be cooking," Mike muses, then calls out in a different fucking language that has you turning to him in confusion. 
 Before you can ask about it, a plump woman a couple inches taller than you comes rushing out of what you assume to be the kitchen. Her graying hair is tied into a loose bun, cheeks rosy from the heat, and she's still in her apron and a single oven mitt. 
 "Miche, γλυκό μου αγόρι!" 
 She stops in front of him and reaches up to grab his face, peppering it with little kisses and babbling words you do not understand in the slightest. 
 Mike is laughing, speaking to her in the same fashion, possibly answering questions or defending himself judging by the way he holds his hands up. You think you have an inkling about why when his mother turns to you, puts her hands on your shoulders to look at you, then pulls you into a tight hug. 
 You squeeze her right back, rocking to and fro as she does, then look up at Mike from the corner of your eyes in a panic. 
 What do you do, what is happening, what hasn't he told you? 
 It’s about this time that a large dog runs into the room and actually jumps into Mike’s arms. He grunts as he hoists Scout up, nuzzling into her beautiful coat as she tries to lick his face.
 "Mamá, let her get settled first," Mike laughs from where he’s getting attacked. His mother lets go of you, but it’s only for Mike to set the dog back down, and Scout takes the opportunity to sniff and paw at you. “Be nice,” he warns her, pulling you in front of him and pushing you toward the hallway.
 That need to snoop around is ever present as you enter his room, but the much more pressing issue is, "You could've prepared me, ya' know. Given me a little heads up that you're…"
 "Greek?" He snorts, wiping his face with the bottom of his shirt. "My last name is Zacharias. That's a pretty good indicator."
 "I—..." You pause, pout, then mumble, "I'm not a genealogy expert."
 "Obviously not."
 He dumps the bags on his bed, a queen size, thank god, because he had told you last week they didn't have a guest room (and had seemed pretty happy about it at the time). 
 "I'll get mom and dad to speak in English for the next few days." 
 "I mean," you shake your head. "It's their house. I don't wanna intrude on that. Let 'em do what they're most comfortable with."
 He steps over to you, makes his classic move of staring down at you and smoothing his hand over your hair to make you tilt your head up. "That's sweet, but I know they're dying to talk with you, so actually being able to understand what they’re saying is kinda necessary."
 Humming, you stand on your tip-toes just as he begins to stoop lower. Before you can meet in a kiss, though, you smirk, "And, just why do they wanna get to know me, Miche? Is that a secret Greek name too?”
 He licks his lips, voice husky when he replies, "I've mentioned you a few times--”
 “Uh huh,” you smirk, too close for him to actually see.
 “And no, I think it’s Hebrew or something.” 
 You snicker before your mouths meet, breaths grow heavy, and the only time you break apart is so that you can look him in his light eyes and tell him, "By the way, the whole speaking a different language thing you can do?" He grunts, encouraging you to continue. "Very hot."
 You feel him smile against you, a self-satisfied, "Yeah?" making you burn against him. 
 "Yeah."
 It's hard to leave the room, but you both know you have to, hoping neither of you look too kiss-swollen when you walk back into the living room, and when Mike's mom is no longer there, he brings you to the kitchen instead. 
 "Smells good," he tells her, leaning over the stove and taking a whiff of the prepared dish that’s been set on top--stuffed tomatoes and peppers that make your mouth water.
 She says something, and Mike lets her finish before asking, "Can we speak in English while she's here? It's kinda hard to add to a conversation when you, like, don't know what's being said."
 "Oh, I'm so sorry!" She immediately gushes, turning to you with a worried look. Her accent is thick and charming, but she doesn't ever stutter, clearly fluent, just more comfortable in her apparently native language. "I just get so caught up when my Miche comes home, I—"
 And, she's hugging you again. 
 "I'm Maia! Christopher—Miche's father—should be home soon."
 You rub Maia's back until she lets go and turns back to the stove, but even as she does, she's asking you, "How is school? What are you studying? Miche's told me very few things."
 He shouldn't have told you anything at all, you want to say. 
 "Um, it's good. I'm an earth sciences major, geology specifically, so Mike—uh—Miche's been helping me study a lot."
 He leans down to speak so only you can hear, "Not necessary to call me that. She's gonna know who you're talking about when you say Mike."
 Not that you'll tell him, but you kind of like the way 'Miche' feels, the way it rolls from your lips to the back of your mouth, and for just one second, you think about how you'd like to moan it in his ear. 
 "So, uh," you shake your head in an attempt to get it back on straight. "Yeah, it's going good, I think."
 "It is nice that you study together," Maia hums, slicing into the dish to portion it out. "Miche probably enjoys the break from his fraternity life." 
 Mike makes an unsure noise, but you grin and lean on the counter, eyes shining as you look at the middle-aged woman, "You know, speaking of that, I need to know what he was like before the whole frat thing 'cause—"
 "Uhh, we don't need to talk about that," Mike quickly cuts you off. 
 Maia, however, catches your eye and winks, a silent promise that she'll fill you in later. 
 Mike sees it, whines a dramatic, "Mamá, please."
 You laugh, glancing over at him with a devious smile that makes him roll his eyes and grumble something. 
 The creak of a door opening followed by the sound of a screen slamming back against the frame signals the arrival of Mike's father. It takes him a couple minutes to join everyone in the kitchen, probably taking the time to get more comfortable after what you assume to be a long day. 
 When he does walk in, once styled hair fallen out of place, top two buttons of his shirt undone, you see exactly where Mike gets most of his looks. He may have gotten his fucking mane from his mother, but he definitely got his height and his eyes from his father. 
 "Oh!" He stops short when he sees you, looks at his wife, then at you, then at Mike. "Is this the girl?" 
 "Dad!" 
 Both of his parents snicker as he turns to you, pleading more than telling, "Just ignore them, they don't know what they're talking about."
 You don't pay him any mind, join in on the fun when you lift an eyebrow and tease, "Am I, Mike? Am I the girl?"
 "Oh my god, this is gonna be a nightmare," he groans, the tips of his ears growing red. Still, he tries to put on a stern face as he points at his parents, speaks in beautiful, rolling words that are beyond you, then turns his flashing gaze to you and commands, "And you, don't encourage them."
 "Mm, no promises." You stick the tip of your tongue between your teeth and wink at his mom the way she had at you earlier. 
 All of you sit at an actual table for dinner, something you haven't done in at least a decade, as you talk and laugh between bites of food. Scout is laying underneath, waiting for someone to drop a piece of food, and every once in a while, you feel her wet nose nudge against your calf.
 Maia and Chris are very kind and very funny, and it isn't just because they pick on their son all the time. Chris talks about his day in the office, complaining about coworkers the same way Mike complains about his brothers—"I just don't understand why you would eat sardines in the break room! Someone explain it to me!" Maia tells everyone about the three hour phone call with her mother—"My god that woman can talk. Every time we said goodbye, she would just start on something new!"
 "Explains where you get it from," Chris says with a chuckle. 
 Maia scoffs then stabs a piece of his food with her fork, eating it with purpose as her husband watches. 
 You lean over to Mike and murmur, "They're cute. I like 'em."
 He grunts. "That makes one of us."
 Sucking your teeth, you mimic his mother's actions and dig your fork into the meat of his pepper, stealing a bite and scraping your teeth over the utensil in a way you know drives him crazy. 
 You immediately regret it when you realize how big the piece is, filling your mouth so that it's hard to chew, and you grab a napkin to cover yourself while Mike snorts and smugly says, "Yeah, bet you feel real smart right now. How does thievery taste?" 
 Shoving his arm, you manage to swallow down enough of the food to talk and tell him, "Tastes delicious."
 When you look back across the table, you find Maia and Chris staring at you and Mike with shining eyes and matching grins. 
*
You get along well with Mike's parents. A little too well in his opinion. There are a couple mornings you wake up earlier than he does and share coffee with his mother. He'll walk in to hear her sharing terrible stories about how, "He was such a sensitive little boy," and, "I miss the days he and his friends would spend afternoons here playing their little games."
 She even breaks out the photo albums one evening after dinner, leaving Mike mortified as you laugh and 'aww' at the pictures of past birthdays, Boy Scout outings, and the horrors of middle and high school. 
 "Look how cute you are with braces!"
 "Please stop."
 "All dressed up for Easter, oh my god, are those bunny ears?" 
 "Mom made me."
 "You were so skinny. What happened?" 
 "Are you calling me fat?" 
 "No, I'm calling you buff. Dummy."
 Less embarrassing are the long walks the two of you take with Scout (who also loves you, of course). She stays close to your hip as you wander around the park, only leaving your side when you throw her favorite ball. At the house, she noses at you until you shift to let her lay either at your feet or on the couch with her big head in your lap. 
 It's the cutest fucking thing Mike has ever seen, and he hates it because he can't do anything about it. He can't tell you how much he likes seeing you walk around in his house. He can't tell you how much joy it brings him to hear your laugh ring out alongside his parents'. He can't tell you how much he loves seeing you slide into his old bed in nothing but one of his shirts, making yourself comfortable against his chest and weaving your legs between his. 
 He can't tell you, but he can do his best to show you. 
 Late at night when his parents are asleep, when the buzzing TV is the only thing lighting the room, Mike moves inside of you with deep, slow thrusts. He hikes your legs up to lock around his waist or pulls you up against himself if he's taking you from behind. No matter the position, it leaves you clawing at him, breathing heavily, jaw dropping open in a silent scream. 
 You feel so good, so tight around him even after he gets you ready for his cock. Your silken walls squeeze and milk him, pulling every drop of cum from him to soak into you. Fuck, he's so glad you're letting him do that now, fill you up until you can't take any more, until white is dribbling from your messy pussy. The way you look at him all fucked out is intoxicating, eyes droopy, smile lazy, body twitching with aftershocks as he sucks on your neck and kisses down your shoulders. 
 You have to know. You have to. Mike knows his feelings are written all over his face when he looks at you, may as well be carved into his skin. The words are on the tip of his tongue every night, but he muffles them with kisses, with burying his face between your legs, with sinking his teeth into your soft flesh. 
 He can't say it because saying it makes it real. Saying it will make it hurt more. 
 So Mike keeps his mouth shut, watches you every day as you converse with his parents and play with Scout. You poke around his bedroom in your usual nosy fashion, finding the rest of his Magic cards, old D&D books and privacy screens. The dusty record player he'd inherited from his grandfather interests you above all else, vinyls stacked around it, some old, some new, and as you flip through them now, cross-legged on the floor and swimming in his hoodie, you tell him the little things you talked about with his mom earlier in the day. 
 "She showed me your baby teeth," you say with a snort. "Why do parents keep those? My mom did too."
 "Black Magic, obviously," Mike says seriously, but when you glance up at him, he chuckles. "I don't know, babe. It's fuckin' weird, though."
 You grin and look back down at The Alan Parsons Project vinyl in your lap. You're quiet for a moment, but when you do speak up, it's in a quiet voice. "I'm pretty sure they think I'm your girlfriend."
 Mike cringes on the bed, shutting his eyes and sighing. "Yeah, that's probably 'cause I told them you were." 
 "What?" You turn your whole body to face him, eyes wide and incredulous. 
 Sitting up, Mike holds his hands out and questions, "What was I supposed to tell them? Hey, mom and dad, I'm bringing home this girl I fuck at school all the time."
 "We don't just fuck," you scoff. "You could've said friend or… Study buddy."
 "Study buddies with benefits," he lets out a humorless laugh. "How many of those study sessions end with your mouth around my cock?" 
 "That's beside the point." You stand up and walk over to the bed, hands on your hips as you glare at him in an unconvincing manner. You're not actually upset, Mike realizes. A little annoyed maybe but more surprised than anything. "The point is they expect us to do couple-y things."
 "We do do couple-y things." Mike reminds you, rolling his eyes when you snicker and murmur 'ha, do do'. "Oh my god, you're a dork."
 "So are you. And, a dumb one. What happens when they find out we're not actually together? Are we gonna have to stage a break up somewhere down the line?" 
 "Stop worrying about it," Mike tries, reaching out for one of your arms to pull you on top of him. You must be very used to straddling him at this point. It seems like you're in his lap more often than you're not these days, even if the two of you are just talking. "Just chill and fake it for a little while longer."
 You pout, glancing to the wall for a second before you mutter, "Might be tough. I've never had to fake anything for you before."
 Mike groans and traces his fingers up your sides, stopping at your shoulders and using them to guide you closer to him. With your face only millimeters from his, he barely even has to whisper when he presses, "Fake it just this once."
 You nod, lips brushing his, and from there you both devolve into sloppy kisses and desperate hands. As always.
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