#i follow a couple of team green accounts and it's actually really fun

[capsiclesteebrogers]

i am posting this here because i really do not want rabid team bl*ck stand in my quotes on twitter. but it baffles me the way team green fans always have somebody from team bl*ck in their quotes even when the post/tweet doesn't say anything bad about the characters they like. sometimes it's just an opinion or short analysis that actually makes sense and can start an interesting conversation and doesn't "attack" any character and here they come ready to post their dumb takes and make sure the user doesn't forget that team green is absolutely evil and if you dare like any of them you are a garbage human being and don't deserve to have opinions. oh and alicent is to blame for everything, she is awful and deserves everything that happened to her (just in case they haven't said it today). and it's incredibly shitty. let people discuss and enjoy characters in peace. make your own posts and stop being absolute losers.

[soyouthinkucanwrite]

I can be your mirror - Daniel Ricciardo smut!

You feel insecure when you see his ex's instagram and Daniel decides to show you why you don't need to be

Warnings: smut! unprotected sex, low self esteem, etc

You were just chilling in the hotel bed, scrolling through your phone while Daniel finished taking a shower. It was Thursday night in Hungary, and media day was relatively calm (all eyes were still on Max and Lewis, after the whole Silverstone incident).

Your relationship was still new, you guys had just went public a couple months ago, and you liked that you were still discovering things about each other everyday, like how he prefers his eggs in the morning or that small scar under your chin he just noticed yesterday. Yet, some things weren't as fun to find out, like what his exes looked like.

A few fan accounts had started following you, including some F1 WAGs accounts, and you followed some of them back - you wanted to the updated, after all (or at least that's what you told yourself). The thing is, comparisons were inevitable to you - no matter how much you tried to be reasonable, low self esteem was always an issue to you. When a WAGs account posted about Daniel's ex hanging around in the paddock today and how cute her outfit was, you quickly found yourself clicking on the tag and stalking her ig. Perfect. Fucking perfect. You just have to set your own heartbreak up, don’t you? If at least you could let life do that, but no, you had to go and fall for the guy with the instagram models as his exes. You smiled ironically to yourself.

"Did you see Max shutting down that reporter on the press conference today?" Daniel said walking out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his torso and another drying his hair. You quickly locked your phone and looked up, startled like a kid caught with their hands on the cookie jar.

"Hum?" you asked him.

“What were you looking at?” he grinned you, throwing himself on the bed and sitting by your side.

“Nothing” you answered quickly, looking away.

“Don’t be like that. Tell me” he asked again, nudging you with his head.

“It’s nothing Dan, just silly old instagram”

“You wanna know one of the things I love most about you?” He asked before continuing. “You don’t really have filters. And even when you try to hide what you’re thinking, your face and body gives you away” He said. “That’s why you’re so perfect, you’re genuine” he touched your nose with his. “Let’s be honest with each other. Tell me what’s going on in there” Then he tried to lighten the mood saying "Can't be shirtless pictures of me that got you smirking, cause here I am in the flesh for you" you rolled your eyes but smiled at him.

“I’m laughing at myself” You said and he just looked at you, waiting for you to continue. “I’m setting myself up for heartbreak, more and more, and it’s just like me”

“What you’re talking about?”

“Please don’t say it’s stupid” you said before continuing. “You’re like, a rock star… fast cars, VIP, supermodels… these stuff are routine for you, you have the most interesting life. And you could have any girl. And your exes are like movie stars, fucking supermodels, and I'm not sure how much longer till you realize that and just, you know” you said gesturing to yourself and waving your fingers in front of your throat like who says 'abort mission'.

"I should know better, I really should and this might be nothing, but the deeper we get in this, the harder it's to wrap my own head around it and it’s so stupid, but how can anyone compete with that?” You weren’t making any sense, you knew and he was looking at you with his eyebrows raised and lips pressed, like he was holding a smile. “I’m rambling, forget I said anything it's so stupid” You said hiding your face behind your hand.

“I thought you said it wasn’t stupid” He said opening up a smirk and you opened your fingers to look at him. He pulled your hand down. “But you’re right, it is fucking stupid, because there’s no competing with you. I don’t care if I have to repeat that a thousand times for you to believe me, I mean…you had to have a flaw, huh?” You turned your head to the side. “This insecurity of yours, that you’re not good enough, it’s just the most crazy thing ever. Because I feel exactly the same. I’m the one that’s not good enough for you. You’re so smart, and good and you actually do good in the world. I’m just the lucky bastard that got picked to drive in circles around the world”

“You know that’s bullshit” You said.

“I’m serious. This whole stuff, fame, whatever… doesn’t mean anything. It’s just not real. I’m glad I realized that when I did” you were watching him intently. “Racing, challenging myself, working with the team, you... what we have, those are the stuff that are real to me, what really matters".

"Okay" you nodded agreeing.

"If you must to know, the reason why I didn’t work out with anybody else, it’s because we were never more than fuck buddies. Those girls are great fun, but they're more worried about showing than being, you know? And I’m not really interested in talking about them because it doesn’t mean anything, but I’ll tell you anything you ask me” You were dying to ask him more, to know every little details and to learn from their mistakes, but you knew you’d become obsessed with comparing yourself to them and didn’t he just tell you he wasn’t interest in anything about it?

“Sorry” you said quietly.

“What for?”

“Being a nag. Killing the mood” he smiled.

“Don’t-” “you-” “dare-” He kissed your face in between every word. “apologizing-” “for-” “your-” “feelings” he pulled away and looked at you. “Specially not to me. I meant it, let’s be honest, huh?” you nodded smiling back at him. “And if I’m ever a dick, please tell me before screw things up. This is not nothing, okay?”

“Okay”

“And I’m flattered you think I could have any girl” he said grinning. “I mean, I AM pretty hot, but-”

“Shut up. You know I’m right”

“Maybe any girl who cares about that stuff, and my amazing six pack” he says laughing and kissing you.

“And hard butts” you replied laughing and reaching to squeeze his, playfully.

“And hard butts” he agreed, rolling so he was on top of you.

“Those girls are usually the hottest”

“Do you honestly don’t have a mirror at home?” he said pulling away slightly from you. “It’s okay baby” he said in your ear, lifting your shirt over your head, then nibbling at your earlobe, making you moan. “I can be your mirror” he said in a low voice, taking your hands over your head and pinning them with his own.

Then he used his knees to push your legs apart. You were following his face, trying to kiss his mouth but he was holding you down, his lips barely touching your skin now, him hovering over your neck, your collarbone, your exposed breasts. You were squirming now, trying to get some release. He just wouldn’t let you have any yet.

“You have the most amazing skin” he begin saying. “So soft” he looked up to you, you had your eyes closed now. “The most amazing boobs. Fucking perfect tits, so round… and these perking nipples, so hard when you’re turned on” his lips touched your breasts lightly, barely.

“Your hair always smells so good, it’s the perfect frame for your perfect face” He went up again and kissed your lips, biting them lightly and dragging them out. “I love your lips, I love how plumped they are. I’m kind of jealous actually” he chuckled and you opened your eyes rolling them. “And those eyes. Fuck, I know it’s the first thing anyone notices about you, isn’t it? Are you sick of it by now? So big and green. I love seeing them rolling back when you come” he brought one hand down, pulling your pijama pants down and holding both of your hands up with only one of his. “I’m getting there in a minute” he said grabbing your pussy. “I just want to tell you about your ass first” he said sliding his hand through your hips until he reached your ass, grabbing it then releasing to give it a slap. You let out a yelp. “You in the mood for a little rough love?” he slapped you again and you smiled through your moan, this is so hot. And the best part of it was that no one else knew this side of his, just you. It's petty yeah, but you decided to indulge yourself in that thought.

“I love your ass, I swear I was trying to be respectful today, but you were such a tease, on those little shorts, made me hard as soon as you walked in the paddock” he went down to suck your left boob in his mouth and you were so sensitive you couldn’t help but moan, loudly. “Yeah baby, let me hear you. Let everyone hear you” He said releasing your boob and nibbling at it. “I saw how the guys were staring at your ass today. Fuckers, couldn’t help themselves. Let them stare…as long as they know who you belong to” he said leaning down to suck on your other boob. “Tell me who you belong to” his voice was so low.

“Uh…you” You were a moaning mess.

“Huh?”

“You, Daniel! I’m yours”

“That’s right”

“Please” you begged.

“What is it? What you what baby?” he whispered against your skin.

“Touch me, please”

“But I am touching you baby” he said and you heard the smirk in his voice. “Oh, I see what you mean… you want me to touch your pussy?”

“Yeah” you nodded. At the same time this was torture, it felt so, so good.

“This fucking perfect cunt of yours” he said sliding two fingers through your lips and opening them to spread you to him, you were soaking wet and pulsating, clenching around nothing. “Fuck, look at this” He said almost to himself, licking his lips. Then he slid his fingers in, curling them up, making a ‘come here’ motion. He dipped his head down, kissing the inside of your leg, then right over your clit, taking it in between his lips and sucking. You moaned loudly. “Oh sorry baby… you wanted it rough, huh?” he sucked your clit harder, then bit on it lightly. You could scream at how much pleasure he was giving you.

“Fuck! Oh my god Dan” He started to tease you with another finger meanwhile.

“Think you can take another one?” his words sending vibrations against you and making you forget how to form words. “I know you can, you take me so well. Such a good girl for me” he inserted another finger and started to pump them in and out of you faster. “So fucking tight. Can’t wait to feel you around me. That’s my favorite place you know? Buried deep inside your cunt” that was it, you came, hard. Arching your back and hips, Daniel releasing your hands to push you down and hold you there while you came and he kept sucking and licking and biting your clit. You couldn’t take anymore, you pushed him away, pulling his hair.

“Can’t-” You tried to say. “Dan”

“Yes, you can. Come here” He said pulling away and lifting you, dragging you out of the bed and into the bathroom, the rest of your clothes and his towel getting lost in the way. He pushed you against the sink, pulling your face up, making you look at yourself on the mirror. He was pressing against you from behind, his cock leaking in between your legs. “I want you to see what I see” he said staring at you through the mirror. “Gonna fuck you so good, you don’t ever forget how fucking perfect you are” and with that he slammed inside you. “Fucking-” he had one hand on your hair and the other around you, between your folders, massaging your clit. “Fucking heaven, taking me so good”

“Ah Dan” You screamed. He started to fuck you hard and fast, pushing you against the sink. You lifted your head and looked at the mirror, it was the most erotic thing you’ve ever seen. Daniel was dripping sweat, thrusting with perfect precision. His eyes were locked on yours and you knew he was as close as you. The thought of how deep the connection between you were at that moment made you clench again and he lost it, giving you one final thrust and a guttural groan. You came again, shaking more than ever, the feeling too much this time. “I can’t-” You tried to say again. “Too much-” Squeezing him over and over, so he pulled out, still spilling, making a mess over your legs and on the bathroom floor. He was still holding you though.

“I’m right here baby. Right here” He whispered on you ear from behind. You both were riding out your orgasms, rocking slightly, your body leaned on the sink, pressing your boobs against it, and he leaning over you, breathing hard.

After you both calmed down, you tried to move but his weight was too much. You let out a weak laugh and he moved. “Sorry” he said kissing your back. When you got up, you turned to him and kissed him lightly.

“You are-” You said against his lips “amazing”. And kissed him again, lovinly. “Thank you. You make me feel so good, Daniel. Let me take care of you now”

Daniel's POV

This woman is trying to kill me. “Baby I don’t think I have it in me-” “Not like that” she smiled. “I meant with a bath” she said gesturing to the bathtub.

“Yes, please” I said already opening the tap and letting the water run. She went back to the room and returned with a water bottle, taking a sip before passing it to me. I took it from her hand and almost finished it, before giving it back to her.

“Do they have any bubbles? Bath salts?” she asked.

“Hum…I don’t think so, baby” I answered looking around on the sink.

“That’s fine” she smiled, getting in the tub and motioning for me to sit in between her legs. Her hair was up in a knot, but some of it was clinging to her neck due to the sweat. She was so beautiful, I can’t believe she wants me.

“You don’t want me to stay behind you?” she shook her head smiling and I did as she asked, leaning on her. The tap was still running, filling the tub with hot water, while we two of us just soaked in there, relaxing. “This is nice,” I said while she ran her hands through my hair. When the tub was full enough, she turned off the water and applied some body wash on my skin, running her hand over my back and shoulders, it felt so good, so comfortable, like I didn’t have a worry in the world. Then I washed her legs around me, kissing her feet and calves and making her giggle. She kept massaging my shoulders. We stayed there for good while, half an hour? More or less? There’s nothing else in the world other than this bathroom anyway, so who cares?

“Can we stay here forever?” She asked me after a while, kissing behind my neck. I just hummed in response. “Actually, scratch that. I’m getting hungry. And thirsty”

“The limitations of the human body” I said jokingly but got out of the tub after a few minutes. If m’lady wants to eat, I’m getting her food. I dried myself, wrapping a towel around me and holding hers open for her to step out of the tub.

We went back to the room, she picked her clothes from the floor and put them away in her travel bag back inside the closet. I watched as she got a fresh pair of underwear and a clean bra, while I put on boxers and sweatpants. She wore some leggings that hugged her ass perfectly, what a view. I noticed her going through her bag, probably looking for a shirt but I just wanted her to wear some clothing of mine, so I took the hoodie I was going to wear and passed it to her. She smiled and accepted it, it looked oversized on her and covered her ass, but maybe that’s a good thing, I don’t need anyone thirsting over what’s mine, I don’t care how much of a prick that makes me sound.

"Do you wanna order or go out to eat?" I asked her.

"Let's just go downstairs, to the restaurant?"

"Yeah, that's fine" I say and peck her lips.

I put on a sweatshirt, and hold the door open for her. We walk out and the temperature was a bit colder out here in the hallway (or maybe it was just too hot inside the room), so I just take her hand and intertwine our fingers, passing my arms around her and holding her closer. I just love that I can do that whenever I want.

And I plan on doing that for the rest of my life.

[thesolferino]

True Calling

⤷ dream x f!reader.

⤷ word count: 3.9k

⤷ requested: yes, by this lovely anon!

— summary: dream meets his favorite singer on an among us livestream.

“Dude, what could go wrong? Just do it.”

“What could go wrong?! Literally so many things, you ass.” 

Dream heard Sapnap sigh through the mic right into his headphones, the dim grey of his Discord background doing barely anything to illuminate his features as he stared at his open messages blankly.

“First of all, don’t.. speak to me like that, I am doing you a favour by sitting here and listening to you panic about stupid shit. Second of all, nothing big could go wrong. What, you’re a little awkward in the beginning, maybe, and that’s it.” Dream adjusted his headphones a little bit, Sapnap’s rant flowing into his ears but dissipating somewhere halfway to his brain, because, yes, things could go wrong and he can’t be proven otherwise.

“Did you forget that I’m a public figure? And that my fans are insane? I say one wrong thing and it’ll be memed and haunt me in my dreams. Did you forget that SHE’s a public figure? And that this is live? God…” he retorts back, listening to Sapnap helplessly sigh once again in response. He anxiously switches from his Discord to Twitter, then to YouTube, to Twitch and then back to Discord, frantically clicking around. In reality, he knows Sapnap is right, and it’s anxiety whispering into his ear that he’s gonna somehow fuck up, but maybe it’s simply easier to stay and argue with him into the night instead of actually responding to that message.

The stream is still going. Quackity’s voice speaks over Sapnap’s quiet breathing. “Damn, he’s still not responding. Um, let me try Tubbo, maybe?” 

Before he knows it, the opportunity to join the stream is slipping out of his fingers, and Dream isn’t sure if he’s happy about that or not. On one hand, he gets to meet one of his favorite artists whose album he’s played way too many times to count, and on the other, the chances of him embarrassing himself in front of that same artist and a hundred thousand other people are extremely high, and he’s not sure if he likes the odds of that.

“Man, I don’t know. You won’t listen to me, anyway. Don’t join if you don’t want to.” Dream hears the annoyed tinge in Sapnap’s voice, and that’s what pours the last bit of courage into his veins because the best way to do anything in life is to follow Sapnap’s advice after you’ve already irritated him to the point of defeat, and he murmurs a quick “bye” and hangs up before the other can even respond, typing a rapid “Sure, send me the VC link” back to Quackity. 

He hears a delighted exhale coming from his Twitch tab just as Quackity forwards him the link. “Okay, nevermind, we’ve got Dream! He’ll join in a second.” 

With that, he swiftly closes the Twitch tab and with an encouraging sip of water, he finally joins the Discord voice chat with the rest of the players. Your Discord image sticks out like a sore thumb to him despite being a super basic, Googleable picture of you that he’s probably seen a million times by now, and upon seeing it, reality slaps him right over the face and he realises that, oh shit, he actually joined.

“Hey everyone.” Dream speaks into the mic and a mix of excited voices greets him at the same time as he loads up the game. Your icon is missing the green halo. He stares at it, as if you’ll magically speak up if he stares long and hard enough. That, apparently, works.

Pokimane’s “Dream, hi!” seems to set something off in your brain, and you speak again.

“Oh, Dream?” the green halo appears, and Dream resists the urge to say something stupid or bite his hand or anything of the sort when you say his name. “Aren’t you the guy who listens to my music all the time?” you giggle.

Quackity laughs loudly in his usual fashion, and Dream feels his hands go cold as the Among Us loading page pops up. “Wh-huh?” 

“Yeah, you-you listen to my music a lot! Your fans always tag me under that… ‘Dream’s Spotify’ Twitter account, I remember you.” Dream swears his heart is about to jump out of his chest and start bouncing around on the floor because his ribs are way too restrictive for that type of movement, but he tries his best to play it cool and laughs lightheartedly.

“I do! I’m, like, your biggest fan.” he grins, as if you can see him, and you laugh in return.

“Yeah, man, you pay my rent. Thanks.” you say and a couple of people laugh while Dream inputs the code and his character finally pops up, immediately running around like the rest of the group. He runs around your purple character and hears you chuckle as you run around him too, but not for long, because the game starts and everyone mutes themselves. He audibly sighs, because he can afford to, considering he’s not streaming and nobody can hear the amount of courage this whole thing is taking him. 

A notification pops up on his screen - the Dream Team group chat seems to be talking. Must’ve already found some way to make fun of me, he thinks to himself as he huffs out a large breath and runs through cafeteria and weapons to do his tasks in navigation. Corpse is hot on his tail the whole time, and not to say he’s an untrustworthy guy, but Dream isn’t really looking forward to getting killed before even speaking to you properly, so he runs around, trying to find somebody to stick with so Corpse doesn’t shove a knife in his back while he’s doing a task. 

Thankfully, Karl emerges somewhere from the direction of storage right into communications where Dream was going, too. Just as Dream starts finishing download and Corpse and Karl line up behind him, his screen flashes bright red and white and the bold letters “Dead body reported” pop up. Everyone unmutes themselves and his eyes bore into your character, immediately.

“Alright, the body was in top left of the… uh, upper engine. I need everyone’s positions.” Rae immediately spoke.

“I was in electrical, I-I went through cafeteria to the upper engine with Poki, there was nobody there, we did our tasks, went down to lower engine, then Poki left with Toast, and I went to electrical and the body was reported.” Sykkuno said, and Pokimane confirmed with a hum of agreement.

“Dream?” Rae asked, and he spoke up.

“I never even went that way, I went through weapons to nav, and then to communications, and then the body was found. Corpse can vouch for me because he was following me the entire time and I kinda thought he was gonna kill me. And Karl saw me in communications, us three were all together when you… reported the body.” He rambled, trying to defend himself.

“Yeah, it’s true, he was with me the whole time.” Corpse supported.

“Karl, which way did you get to communications?” Toast asked.

“Uh, through storage.” Karl replied quickly.

“That’s funny, ‘cause I was in security, and I could swear I saw you walk past.” Toast said, and a couple of “ooh”s echo through the call.

“That makes no sense because even if I did go that way, I wouldn’t have time to get to communications and start doing my task with Dream and Corpse if I killed Ethan! And Rae, you-you saw me do my task in storage!” Karl loudly defended himself.

“...that… that’s true, yeah.” she said.

“If you ask me, Toast, you’re being real sus for lying about that.” Karl threw it back at Toast, who protested.

“Listen, I didn’t say you killed anybody, I just said I saw someone run past!” he claimed.

“Bretman and Y/N are being real quiet, though.” Corpse points out, and the green halo around your icon lights up once again.

“Oh shit, I didn’t realise I was muted. Sorry, guys.” you laughed. “Um, I was with… Quackity, in… what’s that shit on the right called?”

“O2.” Quackity quickly jumped in.

“Right, O2. I went to… top left, first, and I did my tasks there, and then to weapons and then to O2, and then the body was reported.”

“You were in top left?” Rae repeated.

“Yeah.”

“And was there anyone with you?”

“Um… no? I was alone, and then I saw Quackity in top right, and then we went to, uh, O2 together.” you said and Corpse sighed loudly.

“That means she could’ve had the time to kill Ethan and run.” Toast points out.

“Hey! I didn’t kill anyone! I don’t even know how this game works…” you whined into the mic and Quackity laughed.

“Yeah, I dunno Y/N, you were dancing real suspiciously around me…” he said, causing you to defend yourself louder.

“Why would I kill anyone?! I don’t even know how to do that, I’m a nice person!”

“I don’t think she did it, guys.” Dream pipes up, tugging at the wire of his headphones absentmindedly.

“Shut up, you simp.” Quackity fires back instantly, making everyone in the call laugh, including Dream.

“Damn right, I’m a Y/N simp. She can do no wrong. I mean, look at that innocent face! She did nothing, I’m-I’m sure.” He argued, making you cover your mouth and giggle.

“Their face is literally the same as everyone’s! We’re all astronauts!” Rae protested, but Dream kept shaking his head.

“No, hers is more innocent.” he said. “Toast, why are you so set on accusing everyone, anyway?”

“Oh, you’re so not attacking Toast right now-”

“Guys, I think we should skip.” Sykkuno pipes up to calm the conversation, and everyone agrees, even though most of them mumble “sus” under their breath as soon as they mute their mics.

Dream’s tiny green astronaut stomps his way over to the left side immediately, changing paths this time and making his way into the Upper Engine, trying to finish his tasks in time and possibly find someone to accompany him so he at least doesn’t have to argue over his alibi. He had four tasks left, two of them in Upper Engine, so after that he was free to roam around wherever his heart desired. Just as he started doing one of them, he watched your purple character step in and run circles around him, earning you a quiet laugh that he didn’t know he uttered until he heard himself do it and silently scolded himself for getting that flustered at something so simple.

The two of you did your tasks together before going down to reactor. Just as Dream started doing one of his tasks, a dead body was reported again and he unmuted himself as Toast immediately started borderline yelling into his headphones. 

“Bretman just killed Sykkuno RIGHT in front of me. I literally watched him do it. He killed Sykkuno in COLD BLOOD.” he confidently claimed and Dream, quite uninterested, grabbed his bottle of water and lightly sipped on it, wiping beads of sweat resting right above his eyebrows with his forearm, blindly looking around the darkness, trying to get his eyes to adjust looking away from the computer screen. His eyes searched for the window - it was open, just enough to let a fresh breeze inside, but it never seemed to do that, letting humid air in with open arms like a welcome guest. Florida is fucking hell, he thinks, gulping down some more water.

“No, I didn’t! I seriously did not, he’s the one who killed him and is trying to frame me now. I swear to God, Toast…” Bretman shouted into his worn mic, trying to argue back. 

“Yeah, to be honest, Bretman, you were silent the whole time when Ethan died.” Rae reasoned, earning quite a lot of “ooh”s and causing little “voted” signs to appear next to Poki, Toast and Karl’s names as Bretman tried his best to fight back.

“I didn’t know I was muted the whole time! You know I’m bad at this! Why would I... you know what, nevermind! Vote me! Vote me! You’ll see when Toast kills you all, I don’t care anymore. I literally saw-”

Dream slumps further into his chair, sure that the foam would have a dent of his body shape imprinted even when he’s long gone from it, and unlocks his phone with a quiet sigh. He opens Discord, and wishes he hadn’t, because Sapnap and George are always on the front lines and ready to make fun of him at any chance possible. He types back a stupid joke, calling them losers, but before he can press send, a Twitter notification pops up on his phone that almost makes his painfully sweaty hands lose grip of the phone. 

“this is so boring” your message reads, from your official Twitter account. Dream blinks a few times, and looks up from his phone to observe his murky, empty room, eyes flashing from the window to the ripped chocolate bar wrapper that somehow made its way onto the floor to a cup of coffee from this afternoon. Did the humid air finally get to him? Hallucinations?

He clicks on the notification - it proves to not be a product of his imagination, after all. Three dots dance around on his screen cheerfully, but they suddenly stop. His ears tune in. Bretman is still defending his honor. Something else must’ve interrupted you. His shaky hands barely hit the right letters.

He takes a handful of screenshots amidst his euphoria, and forwards them to the group chat with no caption besides an emoji sticking its tongue out - he wants to tell them to suck his dick, or something along those lines, but your message remains a priority as he rushes back to the Twitter app to reply.

“Right” he manages to write without a typo. “They’re annoying”

Three dots immediately return to his screen like a happy memory, and he almost can’t believe you’re texting back so fast. George would probably humble him by saying it’s because you have nothing better to do, but what George doesn’t know can’t hurt him, Dream supposes, and clicks on your profile instinctively as he adjusts his headphones on one ear. By the time you finish typing your message, the group decided to vote out Bretman, who ended up not being an imposter.

The three dots disappear as quick as they came, and so does the anticipation that bubbled up in Dream’s throat as he sourly leaves to finish the rest of his tasks. The rest of the game stays as boring as it started, save for the giggles and hushed laughter that came from you at every few jokes he made - of which he made quite a lot, in a desperate attempt to make you laugh, at least a little bit. Of course, Quackity was there every step of the way to accidentally mention how Dream sounded a lot more hype and alive during this game than he does ever, but you win some, you lose some, eh?

In the next game you actually decided to set up proximity chat, so of course Dream followed you around everywhere, hot on your tail at all times - what else is he supposed to do, when the chance presented itself, really?

“Are you imposter?” His character obnoxiously ran circles around you as you did your wires task slowly and unsurely since this stream was your first time playing.

“No, but I wouldn’t tell you even if I was, dummy.” You replied, running around his own character briefly before running up to do the rest of your tasks, watching the green astronaut follow you close behind. 

“Why not?” Dream questioned, eyes following all your movements since he didn’t have anything better to do considering he finished all his tasks. 

“Do you not know how this game works?”

“Yeah, but you’d tell me, right? I wouldn’t… rat you out.” He heard a sigh coming through his headphones in response, and his grin widened just a little, watching your character walk away from him.

“I know you wouldn’t.” you replied. “I’ll tell you if I’m imposter, I guess.”

“You wouldn’t kill me, would you?” Dream spoke into his mic, reaching to fix it and realising the way his hand trembled a little, fully aware he was walking the line between flirty and obnoxious more than usual. He lowered his gaze just to see his keyboard reflect the light of the computer back to him - the sweat from his palms seemed to seep onto the keyboard. He refused to think about the mocking things his best friends would say if they found out how nervous he was just to talk to you. 

“No, of course not! I wouldn’t be able to kill you.” You chirped just as a dead body was discovered and the two of you were torn from the conversation. 

In the next one, his screen flashed an ominous black and red with the word “Impostor” and your purple character stood proudly next to his green one, and he snickered to himself, adjusting his headphones one more time (the more he did it, the more he was convinced it was one of those anxious habits of his).

Shifting in his chair, he started moving and couldn’t believe his eyes when he realised the two of you managed to lock yourselves in a room with Corpse and Sykkuno, accomplishing a double kill in barely the first two minutes of the game. The two of you vented while Dream muttered curses under his breath, breaking out in a sweat wondering if you’re going to get caught or not as you casually hummed to a random tune while faking tasks, hitting the notes in such an effortless way that it made Dream relax and get even more nervous at the same time. It didn’t take too long before the body was found, and you seemed to adapt to the game very quickly, as Dream just sat back most of the time and watched you stretch out a whole essay on why you and Dream could NOT have been imposters. 

“Why would they stick together the whole time? Couldn’t they get at least someone else to vouch for them?” Toast complained. 

“Girl, Dream wants some… alone time with Y/N, obviously.” Bretman said, despite being the one most sus of you in the first place, forcing laughter out of the whole lobby, Dream’s sticking out the most as his mood constantly swayed from finding the whole thing funny to being worried sick if you actually find him weird.

“Exactly! And we’re gonna have our alone time if we want to, thank you very much.” 

Well, Dream thinks, taking a stressed gulp of water from his bottle, at least we cleared that one up.

“I don’t think that sounded the way you wanted it to, Y/N.” Karl pipes up, making Quackity burst into another fit of loud laughter, and you immediately protested.

“It sounded exactly the way I wanted it to! Now, vote Rae or else.” 

When the meeting was over, he ran after you through cafeteria, grin splitting out on his face before he even spoke.

“You’re pretty…” his silence extended as he watched your character stare at his. “...pretty smart.”

You snorted. “Right. You’re pretty…” you extended your silence in return, mocking him. “...too.”

His heart jumps. “You forgot a word there.” he says as you stomp out to storage.

“I said what I said, Dreamy.” 

He swears this can’t be healthy for his blood pressure. In the corner of his eye, Discord notifications pop up like crazy. The boys must be watching your stream. His heart swells with both pride and dread, knowing he’s about to be called something along the lines of pretty Dreamy for the next two months.

“How do you know I’m pretty? You’ve never even seen my face.” Dream replies as heat creeps up like a spirit rising from soil, from the back of his neck, seeping into his ears and cheeks somewhat equally. His eyes dart to the window again. Of course it’s the stupid Florida weather that has him burning up, flustered. Maybe he should open another window.

“Is this an invitation to see it?” you say, a teasing tone clinging off your voice and he can practically hear you smiling. 

“No, I’m just saying! If you want to see it, though, that… that can be arranged.” he bites his lip as a physical attempt of holding back the smile that breaks out as he waits for your response, chest puffing in both nervousness and odd confidence.

“Can it? I mean, I don’t need to see it, I just know already, you have those… pretty boy vibes. But I wouldn’t…” you chuckle. “...be opposed to seeing it, for sure. Don’t count on me not to leak the pictures, though. I want the clout.”

“What do you MEAN you want the clout, you’re Y/N! You don’t need clout from a Minecraft YouTuber!” He argues back, a small wheeze escaping him mid sentence as you giggle and run around, with him following your every move.

“You keep my fucking lights on, man! Whenever your Spotify Twitter account thingy tweets that you’re listening to my stuff, the streams go up! I need your clout.” you say as you run into admin and snap Toast’s neck and run back out casually, as if nothing happened. 

“Yeah, that’s how me listening to your songs on repeat works.” he says and you let out some sort of irritated groan.

“Shut up, smartass.” Just as you say that, somebody seems to find the body and you’re pulled into a meeting, where Rae susses both of you immediately.

“No, because both of you are always together! And someone always spots you walking by the place where the bodies are found! At some point that can’t be a coincidence, right?” she accuses, practically yelling into the mic.

“Of course they’re always together, check- check fuckin’ Twitter! They’re trending on like three different spots already!” Quackity jumps in, loud as always, and the lobby gives off mixed reactions.

“What? We are?” Dream asks, and Quackity confirms with a “yeah, man! Check!” and so he complies, quickly pulling out his phone to check the trending tabs. Sure enough, among the politics and sports, “DREAM Y/N”, “PRETTY BOY” and “DREAM FACE” are crammed, sat at 7th, 14th and 18th place, respectfully. A satisfied grin breaks out on his face. At least they see it, too.

“This has to be the first time Dream has trended for something heterosexual.” Karl points out, earning loud laughter from Quackity and Bretman, less loud on your part.

“Exactly! We’re a power couple! Stay mad!” You shouted, with Dream supporting you in the background, although still shyly adjusting his headphones every few seconds, unable to comprehend that oh, this is actually happening.

Both of you get voted out during the next few minutes, but that really means nothing to Dream - they actually do him quite a favor, because the two of you get to excuse yourselves and he sees those three familiar dots dance on his screen again as he leans back into his chair with a dopey grin, playing with the strings of his sweatpants, waiting for your next and next and next message. 

He opens Discord on his computer to type one last message into the groupchat before turning it off for the night:

Dream (03:14): maybe Minecraft wasn’t my calling after all

Dream (03:14): can’t believe I just met my soulmate on Among Us

[wrenhyperfixates]

The Raven Haired Rebel

Chapter 1

Pairing: Loki x reader Series Summary: After invading New York, it was decided that, as a punishment, Loki would work for SHIELD. Yeah, right. After escaping from their custody and stranded on Midgard, the God of Mischief decides to prove he’s the one thing no one ever thought he was: the good guy. Now a vigilante, Loki attempts to make amends for his past wrongdoings while also evading the Avengers, including their newest member. You. Brought in specially for the case, you notice more and more details about the prince’s story don’t add up. When you get the chance to turn him in, will you listen to your employers or your heart that believes Loki’s done nothing wrong? Chapter Summary: In which you plead Loki’s case. Chapter Warnings: none A/N: Besides this being a miniseries, all the chapters are pretty short too! Hope you enjoy all the same :)

Permanent Tag List: @lucywrites02 @frostedgiant @lunarmoon8 @twhiddlestonsstuff @lokistan @lowkeyorlokificrecs @gaitwae @whatafuckingdumbass @castiels-majestic-wings @kozkaboi @cozy-the-overlord @birdgirl90 @myraiswack @mythicalgarlicknot @what-a-flammable-heart @marvelouslovely @laurenandloki @fallinallinmendes @sophlubbwriting @mooncat163

RHR Tag List: @happygalaxymilkshake @electroma89 @stardust-walker @i-would-kneel-for-loki​

Masterlist

Disclaimer: Gif not mine

Swiping into Avengers Tower made you feel important, more so than swiping into a SHIELD base. You weren’t exactly sure why, though. Perhaps it was because SHIELD was a secret, and no one knew. Here, the passerby on the street looked on in awe. Or maybe it was because the Tower was so elite. Because so select few got to enter. But really, it probably wasn’t that you got to enter so much as why you got to enter.

True, since your first day on the job, word got around that you were the best in your field. Fast as lightning, you’d risen through the ranks to be Fury’s top tracker, a position all but secured when he brought you on for this case. A case, you knew, that intrigued you far more than it should have.

Just like everyone else had on that day a little over three months ago, you watched the TV with rapt attention as gods and superheroes made themselves known to the world. And, you supposed, supervillains too. Not that you’d told anyone, but something didn’t quite sit right with you in the weeks after when news anchors and colleagues alike were referring to the raven haired god as such.

For the next three days, you’d pored over books of Norse Mythology and a number of studies. Most of the latter coming from one Dr. Jane Foster, who you soon came to link with Thor. But even there you found a disconnect between the god of legends and the bloodied man on your screen. He never really did have malicious intent before. He was a trickster, yes, but he’d not even come close to doing something this drastic before! Ok, yes, there was his involvement in Ragnarök in the myths, but even for that you’d found multiple sources that could debunk it. Besides, it certainly didn’t seem like Asgard had even faced the end times yet.

Alas, you figured Thor knew his brother, and you had your own case to work on, so you let be the mystery that was Loki.

And then you were called into Fury’s office a week ago and asked to begin tracking the god. A bit too eagerly, you’d agreed to take the case. You’d dealt with villains before, truly evil people, and your search only further proved what deep down you already knew; Loki was not one. Everywhere you followed his trail, a mysterious savior was stopping bank robberies and saving people from burning buildings and runaway trains. Not to mention there were multiple descriptions of said savior using green magic. It seemed a wonder that the tracker in the case before you hadn’t noticed. Then again, people tend to only see what they want to.

Regardless, you made your way to the elevators, heading toward the conference room on one of the upper floors. You tapped your foot as it ascended, impatient to share your findings. As the lift stopped and you got out, you tugged on your leather jacket. It was ever so slightly too big, but it was on sale. Plus, you felt like it looked pretty cool, considering your job and all. Subconsciously, you puffed up your chest a bit too. Regardless of actual size, you felt like a petite little thing, stepping into a room of now renowned heroes. Strange, you thought, how so much could change in just three months.

“You know, I got to get me one of those,” said the man suddenly keeping pace next to you. You quickly identified him as Tony Stark.

“I... Pardon?” you replied, slightly startled.

“Your jacket,” he said, pointing at it. “I feel like the leather will match the whole rugged good-guy, vibe. Besides, I think Capsicle’s got one.”

You chuckled at that. “Maybe we should just make it the team uniform then.”

“Team, huh? So you must be that new tracker kid we’re working with.”

“I’d hardly call myself a kid,” you scoffed.

“When you get to be as rich as I am, you get to call everyone a kid,” Tony shrugged.

“I’m not exactly sure that’s how it works, but whatever you say, I guess,” you chuckled again.

“See, now if everyone would just adopt that mindset, we’d get stuff done a lot faster around here.” He quickly signed something that was brought up to him on a clipboard, never stopping. You wondered how long he could keep up like this before collapsing. “Besides, take it as a compliment. That last tracker was some fuddy-duddy old guy.”

“Fuddy-duddy?” you guffawed. “Maybe you’re the old one, after all.”

Tony feigned like he’d been struck in the heart. But before you could keep up the banter, you reached the conference room, and Steve was waving you inside.

“Stark,” he said with a nod. “Are you ready to begin or are you going to keep distracting our new teammate?”

“Aye aye, Captain,” he said with a little salute. “Reporting for duty.”

You mouthed a sorry as you followed Stark into the room. Even if the rest of them turned out to be hard-asses, at least Tony was fun. And having one ally was better than none, you figured. As you took your seat across from your new friend, you flipped through the file that had been left for you. It wasn’t really anything new, so you glanced at your teammates again. Nat and Clint both nodded at you, recognizing you from a couple other missions you’d interacted during. There wasn’t really any time to talk, however, before Captain Rogers was walking to the head of the long table.

“Alright, team. Before we get started, I think it’s worth mentioning we have a new member on the team,” Steve said, before welcoming you by name. “I think we’re all caught up on the situation here, so let’s dive right in. A new trend has shown up in the Tower’s data mining.”

“Data analysis,” Tony butt in. “It sounds more ethical that way.”

“Whatever you want to call it, the program showed that wherever Loki goes, there’s a spike in activity of an organization calling themselves AIM. At first glance they seem innocent, but after some digging, we’ve found they’re anything but. We’ve determined Loki is working with them, perhaps even masterminding some of their more underground projects. Agent? Can we assume you found the same things?”

“Uh, yeah, no. Actually, my data shows the opposite,” you cleared your throat. Standing, you slid the information from your tablet onto the room’s TV screen. “See, it seems that he’s actually doing good deeds. There are multiple accounts of a man fitting Loki’s description performing heroic works.”

“Ok, I’ll bite,” Tony said, leaning forward. “What about AIM then? You think it’s a coincidence.”

You bit your lip. “I’ll admit, I haven’t found anything about them yet. But... maybe, just maybe, Loki’s showing up where they are because he’s trying to stop them.”

“I am so sorry to interrupt, but that does not sound like the Loki I know at all,” Thor laughed. “A wonderful joke, though.”

Now you were getting mad. You shouldn’t be, but you saw something worth defending in Loki. A lot, actually. There was something about that look in his eye that you couldn’t quite read, but it was telling you something was wrong all the same.

“That’s not fair! Maybe you don’t know him as well as you thought. Look at this,” you said, swiping to show a side by side of Loki during and after the fight. “You can see it by the look on his face; something was seriously wrong during the battle. Plus, I’ve seen videos of him when he first came; he was not alright. Afflicted with severe anxiety and what looks like burn marks, I’d say. He needed help.”

“With all due respect,” Clint chimed in, “aren’t your a tracker, not a psychologist?”

“Yes, but as such I’ve been trained to look at all the details. Not just what’s convenient.”

“Listen,” Steve sighed before things got any more heated. “It’s a great theory and all, but you read Thor’s account of everything that happened before this. So, until we get some solid evidence proving otherwise, we’re going to have to stick with what we already know. We’ll put a pin in the AIM thing until you can take a look, though. Ok?”

“Ok,” you agreed, defeatedly taking your seat again.

You looked around the table. Natasha and Bruce, the only two who hadn’t said anything, both looked kind of pensive. Alright, maybe bewildered was the better word for Bruce. He was smart, no doubt about it, but you got the impression he wasn’t very good in social settings. Then there was Clint and Thor, both who seemed a little skeptical of you. At least Thor seemed to be considering his brother’s innocence at least a little. Steve was a bit more unreadable as he continued to prattle on about what you already “knew” for the case. And then there was Tony, who seemed more impressed than anything else. He, at least, had seemed to genuinely consider what you said. Perhaps he still was.

“The best way to solve this,” Steve closed his spiel, “is to bring him in. Agent, have you located him yet?”

You sighed. Deeply. It shouldn’t be this much of a struggle to present your findings. You’d had no trouble speaking on his behalf. Yet a part of you—an alarmingly large part, you realized—didn’t want to turn him in. But who were you to ignore direct orders?

“Yup,” you conceded, pulling up a map with a blinking red dot, marking Loki’s location.

“Well then, team,” Steve said to the group. “Let’s roll out.”

[miaclemeverett]

Wilbur, Fundy, and Purpled were interviewed for this great article on the Dream SMP and the Minecraft community! Full article below the cut. 

"Minecraft" launched over a decade ago and the video game is as popular as ever. With over 126 million players worldwide, the voxel-based survival game drops adventurers into a world where they can craft, build, explore, destroy, and create to their heart's content. Aided by tools, blocks, and creativity, the simple sandbox world allows anyone on PC, console, or smartphone the chance to project their own feelings and creations directly into their virtual space.

"As long as you have the mind for it, you can really just do anything," 17-year-old "Minecraft" YouTuber Purpled, who has 700,000 subscribers, told Insider. "Because of how simple Minecraft is and how easy it is to build with it, you can create whatever you want."

In recent years, Microsoft's never-ending game has evolved into a tool for content creators to express themselves, leading to high-profile collaborations with some of YouTube's biggest personalities. By creating their own private "Minecraft" servers, creators have been able to craft ornate worlds and stories that they can explore in streams and videos, immersing fans in a cinematic-style universe.

Minecraft has a long history on YouTube

"Minecraft's" versatility has made it an incredibly popular game for content creators and influencers. In 2012, a change in YouTube's algorithm promoting watch time over video clicks led to a renaissance of "Let's Players" who recorded themselves reacting and playing their favorite games. "Minecraft" was one of the most successful, spawning some of the largest channels of the time like SkyDoesMinecraft (11.3 million subscribers) and Tobuscus (6.25 million subs).

Though the popularity of "Minecraft" remained fairly steady, content about the title waned a bit over the next decade either due to content fatigue or newer titles like "Fortnite" taking the spotlight. 2020 flipped the title back into the forefront, with both streamers and YouTubers capitalizing on the title's popularity.  

The biggest breakout star for "Minecraft" in the past few years is Dream, an expert, faceless player with a neon-green avatar with over 17 million YouTube subscribers. YouTube labeled him the second overall content creator of the year and his streams consistently pull in a quarter of a million people.

In May of 2020, Dream decided to create a small, private server for his friends to play around in. This SMP server, or "survival multiplayer," started off with only a handful of content creators being invited. Soon, the server would expand to over 30 members, bringing in millions of views from fans who chronicle every moment of the lore the creators eventually created.

Viewership on Twitch of "Minecraft" content went from 17 million hours watched in January 2020 to 74 million in January of 2021, according to data from analytics company Rainmaker.gg.  

How the Dream SMP grew from a private server with friends to a cultural milestone

Purpled has been playing "Minecraft" for the past eight years and is a high-ranking player in a multiplayer game mode called "Bed Wars." He had started talking to Dream in the summer of 2019, when the pair were both small, mutual fans.

"When the SMP was in its infancy, I just asked him if there was any room because he said how it's just for friends and if a friend wants to join, they can," Purpled said. "So I asked him, he said, 'Sure.' He sent me the IP and I was in."

The server was originally just a place to create and hangout, with no intention of creating an overarching story or plot.

Fundy, a 19-year-old Dutch YouTuber with 2.7 million subscribers joined when only a handful of other creators were on."I had talked to Dream on a few occasions, out-of-the-blue Dream sent me a message about a survival world that they had going on. It was very small at first," Fundy said. "I thought it could be a fun little side-project I could stream every now and then on Twitch, so I decided to join."

Fundy joined in the early days alongside Wilbur Soot, a 23-year-old YouTuber with 3.8 million subscribers. Soot, after attempting to create an "illegal potion shop" on the server, decided to establish a nation of non-Americans players called L'Manberg. Soot said he wrote a "treatment" for how the formation of his country would go, creating an official canon that fans could follow along with.

"I was invited into the Dream SMP near its inception but I only joined fully when I had an idea for building a country in 'Minecraft'," Soot said. "I write up a series of plot hooks and points that should tie together, however we improv dialogue and comedy throughout to take us from point to point."

These streams and pieces of content all had a canon that could be followed and consumed like a television show. L'Manberg eventually started a war against Dream for its independence, staging a rebellion chronicled in YouTube videos with millions of views.

These streams and videos aren't just randoms in "Minecraft" trying to defeat the end-game Ender Dragon — these are performers putting on a show that their fans can't miss. As the lore expanded, so did the rules needed to keep a sense of continuity and order. For example, each player only has three lives before they are removed and deleted from the server.

"It went from a casual survival game to a whole story-line filled with plots and twists," Fundy said. "Role-playing at this point is a key-feature of the Dream SMP, some parts are scripted, some parts are improv, and some parts are 'non-canon,' where it is just counted as a standard 'Minecraft' server."

The fan communities have risen up and made their voices heard

Over the next few months, the lore and world would continue to grow and so would the fan base. Hundreds of thousands of viewers would tune in for these streams, trying to keep up with the lore and content. To help catalog the story, a network of fans established themselves as lore keepers, documenting each moment for those that had to miss a stream.  

The "DREAMSMP UPDATES!" account on Twitter has established itself as one of the most popular locations to find all this content and lore on social media. Starting in December 2020, the account has grown to over 147,000 users with just a team of seven administrators, ages 14-17, in different locations around the world, posting updates and stream notifications for fans. "Minecraft" is a game that appeals to all ages, but the audience for this content tends to skew younger, with 41 percent of Twitch's user base being 16 to 24, according to GlobalWebIndex.

"You can tell they're all friends and it's a lot more lighthearted in general and it shows," mod on the "DREAMSMP UPDATES!" Twitter account eclaire said over chat app Discord. "When it's not lore you see them actually having good chemistry and it really pulls you in because it almost feels like being pulled into a friend group."

User SamHQ first started the fan account with a couple of friends from high school but the group quickly expanded after the account tweeted that they needed more fans of certain streamers to join. She is online and runs the account "24/7" but "it's just like answering a text."

"When I started the account I knew lots of people who couldn't catch up because of work or school," SamHQ said. "So I gathered friends to help and now people rely on us when someone's streaming or to catch up with the lore when they can't watch."

For the fans that run the update account, keeping up with the Dream SMP isn't dissimilar to following the Marvel Cinematic Universe or a long-running television show. Characters come and go, but the improv and roleplay stay.

"The Dream SMP did something really special — taking an original idea, creating new things that have never been seen on 'Minecraft' and incorporating them with humor and characters that you can become easily attached with," mod NotAlex said.

Though other SMP roleplay servers, like EarthSMP and SMPLive, have been created over the years, none have been as successful or popular as the Dream SMP.

Finding a fan base on the Dream SMP can lead to major growth.

For the performers on the server, addressing fans and their responses comes with the territory.

"The Dream SMP viewers are very important to the Dream SMP, and the fact that they openly speak their mind about how a certain stream went only helps the streamers improve," Fundy said. "It's basically an instant review of what was liked and what wasn't."

Like most major fandoms with a young audience, fanfiction of these streamers has popped up online. Dozens of Dream fics and drawings exist online, some going a bit far and putting underage characters together. Dream responded on Twitter to those "ships," writing that they shouldn't "ship creators that are uncomfortable with it, and especially not minors."

The Dream stans, or the super fans, also tend to be very vocal online about the SMP. Hashtags on Twitter like #dreamnotfound and #dreamfanart consistently break-through to the trending page, confusing those who have no idea this world exists. The most ferocious of stans sometimes overstep the boundary between polite disagreement and outright harassment. This vocal minority has sent death threats and waves of harassment at those who criticize or disagree with their favorite content creators.  

The growth and future of these channels is in large part due to the Dream SMP server

The popularity of Dream SMP has helped grow the content creators that take part in it. Since joining the server, Purpled is gaining three times as many subscribers a month on YouTube and has been introduced to an entirely new fan base. His streams used to pull in 3,000 viewers but now his average is closer to 35,000 to 40,000 viewers.

"Some people think of them as obsessive or stalker fans, but those are people that really like to talk about certain creators and really get invested in things," Purpled said. "And it's really nice because they care a lot more and connect more with the creator than the content."

These creators understand the power of the fan base and know that they come for the content.

"I think the Dream SMP is popular thanks to the brilliant creators and funny improv moments," Soot said. "I think we'll be seeing the emergence of a huge wave of roleplay-centric gaming communities."

[thoughts-on-bangtan]

Let’s talk: RUN episode 128 - Hello 2021

by Admin 1

While I didn’t make recap posts for episodes 126 and 127, there’s no way I could pass up on talking about this weeks episode because honestly? It was seriously one of the funniest ones we’ve had in recent times. So many amazing moments, so much laughter, even Jimin laughing so hard he teared up, and also Tae being the MVP of this episode, hands down. There’s something especially wonderful about seeing Tae in such a happy and good mood, it just fills my heart with so much warmth and happiness.

I really appreciate how they made this episode with the pandemic and lockdowns in mind, as in that they played funny games you can play at home and don’t need much to do so besides some space and a few friends, family members or roommates. Theoretically you could even play the liar and harmonica games via zoom call or something if you’d really want to. 

Watching the members try and trick each other is truly hilarious each time, especially since some of them are so bad at it. Seokjin prefacing the game by saying that they shouldn’t take into account his red ears since those are not an indicator that he’s lying but it’s simply the fact that they are looking at him and paying attention to him which triggers it, it cracked me up so much. It was really cute, especially since he quickly turned so, so red! And he was also the first liar.

Jimin calling Tae “Taehyungie hyung”? I can’t. Especially since he realized what he said, laughed at himself, and said it again without correcting his mistake.

This comment from JK? Absolutely golden. Even more when you consider that neither of them actually was the liar despite Tae being so, so sure of his guess that it was Joon. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Even more funny was Tae saying they should call Yoongi to decide who the liar is, even though he had no idea what they were doing or what the context is besides that they were filming RUN and playing a game, since there were three votes for Joon and three votes for Jimin after Tae was revealed not to be the liar. Yoongi chose Jimin...and it was still wrong.

Then the harmonica game with basically all of them being abysmal at it yet all of them added their own personal style to it and thus completely covered up their lack of skill? A very Bangtan thing to do. And despite how potentially embarrassing the whole thing was, they all pushed through it and made each other laugh so hard and tried their best to do it properly and well. Also, Hobi stealing Tae’s answer and Tae getting so upset by it since Hobi had like three seconds prior promised he wouldn’t do it? Top 10 anime betrayals. Can we also talk about how good JK was at guessing though? And how funny Seokjin was by guessing that Tae was playing Beethoven? How did he even think of that?

The RUN editors being on Team Tae Bear? So cute! Also, same. Brown just suits him so well, and he’s as cuddly and adorable as a bear, but also brave, strong and fierce like one as well. Since we’re already talking about Tae, those round skinny rimmed glasses? And that cardigan? Love it. His style is just so amazing and perfectly encapsulates him and his personality, and is so different from the other members, he truly owns earthy colors and tones.

Then we had the egg game with Namjoon proving, once again, that he’s the most endearing human being there ever was. He so clearly had no idea how the game works and then just smashed the egg with his whole hand with enough force that some off the egg even ended up on Tae’s pants, yet none splashed onto Namjoon, which honestly I have no idea how he did that. How could anyone not adore Namjoon, like that’s quite literally impossible. Also, Seokjin standing in the back and facepalming when Namjoon smashed the egg? So cute, but also, same, kinda, though it made me more smile than facepalm.

And lastly we had the Green Light, Red Light game with the goal of snatching the Yoongi picture from whichever member was guarding it while moving around on their cushions and keeping both hands on it. Tae ever the smart one immediately figured that it’d be easier without socks (not that he had any on throughout the entire episode) and moving backward instead of forward. Later on JK followed and did the same while Seokjin also eventually took off his socks. This game gave us an absolutely adorable Hobi and JK moment, which, honestly, love that for us. Hobi grabbed the back of JK’s sweater so quick and pulled him back, JK falling backward and nearly with his head in Hobi’s lap giggling and looking so happy.

And, of course, the moment that had everyone absolutely loose it--Tae kissing Seokjin’s cheek. Honestly the way the maknae’s love Seokjin just warms my heart so much, and the fact that Tae did that without a second of hesitation, though Seokjin acted all shocked and bothered but still laughing, so cute. But seriously, what was Seokjin going for when he leaned in so closely and even tilted his head sideways? Sir, what was the goal here? I’m just curious. 

Then we had Jimin guarding the Yoongi picture and both Tae and JK deciding to move around while lying on their backs, big smiles on their faces and moving so, so quickly! Look at Tae starting to laugh when Jimin turns around and looks at him? I’m melting. Also JK’s happy laughing face, so adorable.

Finally, Tae decided to use his chance and snatches the picture but Seokjin acted just as quickly as Jimin and blocked his way, while Jimin grabbed his legs, the whole moment being so nicely captured on the below picture by the staff. Look at all their happy faces--instant serotonin boost.

In the end, Namjoon and Tae lost and had to play the egg game against each other which gave us yet another adorable Tae moment and then the episode was over. It went by so quick despite being 41 (!!) minutes. Is it just me or have the recent couple of episodes been steadily getting longer while in the past they were strictly around the 30 minute mark? I’m certainly not complaining in any kind of way, even less when the members obviously have so much fun.

All in all this was an amazing episode and it made me laugh so hard and left me feeling really good. It’s definitely one of those episodes you can come back to on days when you need a little pick-me-up to fix a bad mood, or just to have a good laugh. It might just be one of my favorite episodes, tbh.

[blissicle]

I got chills, they’re multiplying Pt.1

(Plus a little bonus part)

Word count: a little under 1.7k words (bonus: 730 words)

Parings: Prinxiety, background moceit and intrulogical

Warnings: just one I think. Which is mentioned homophobia. But also cursing if you count “what the hell” as one. But let me know if there’s anything else

Note: hey! So this was inspired by @count-woe-laf ‘s idea of roman and Virgil working at a vintage cafe and just being gay with one another. I meant for it to be a quick little story, but I uh may have wrote a bit more than expected... also I wrote a bit of part 2, and figured I might as well include that too as a bonus. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this! It’s my first ever fic I’ve written, so it’s not perfect, but hopefully it will still be good. Enjoy!

——————————————-

“Alright I’m heading out” George declared while fiddling with the last button of his heavy coat, “make sure you close up the shop”

George strode over to the door, hand on the handle but paused looking back at the two, with a sudden looked fury, eyebrows burrow and mouth in a twisted frown with a cold stare that could kill, “and if I return finding a single object broken or a spec of grime on my establishment, I’ll kick ya out the door with no hesitation.” He spat.

And as quickly as it appeared, his frown turned into a sickly smile and George’s face instantly brightened, quite an unnatural and nerving quirk of his that roman has yet to get used to, “have a fantastic evening boys! And don’t take any wooden nickels!” George called back while pushing the door open, the wave of icy air flowing inside then quickly disappearing as the door closed shut from behind him.

Roman looked over to Virgil who shivered violently “Is that from the weather, or George?” roman asked amused as Virgil scrunched up his nose and grimaced “both”

Roman chuckled a bit at the response, as he himself felt the same edging nerves.

“He just gives me the creeps...” Virgil mumbled

“Hey at least he’s letting us host a movie night”

Virgil shrugged “yeah I guess” and stood up from leaning on the counter and walked over to the empty tables “come on help me stack up the chairs”

Roman nodded In response and look around the room with a pleasant smile. He always adored the look of the cafe, since it resembled the charming architecture of New Orleans quite a bit, but it looked even better when closing up for the day. The golden evening sun shone through the glass onto the light spring green of the walls, reflecting off of black and white photos and signed records scattered across the wall. it gave the accents made of dark wood framing the corners and ceilings a warm and tender graze too. He looked outside as the winter wind blew a few left over autum leaves into the streets as the occasional car came rushing by. roman sighed with a smile, feeling content with the calming atmosphere around him.

“Roman?” Virgil called back

Roman snapped back to reality “huh? oh right, sorry” And he promptly set to work, picking up a wooden chair from the near by table and setting it upside down on the table, as Virgil did the same across the room.

———————-

Despite his dislike for their boss, who in which Virgil often speculates to be a murder in hiding, Virgil actually enjoyed working at the vintage cafe. Well, the actual working part where he had to talk to customers wasn’t that particularly fun, but he enjoyed being there with roman. Roman always has infuriated him since day one, with roman singing any and every Disney song just to annoy Virgil (only for him to be humming it the very next day under his breath) ,or his insistence of being extremely extra any chance he got, he still somehow ended up being good friends with the insufferable good hearted idiot that is his coworker, not to mention have the same group of friends as him.

After the last chair was put up, Virgil sighed and walked over to said-idiot who was sitting at the counter. He looked up from his phone when Virgil sat down next to him. “So what movies did you bring to choose from?”

Roman perked up at this, “oh! hold on let me go get them!” He rushed to the back room and came out a moment later with a giant box filled with many many CD’s and set it on the counter, “before I left this morning I made sure to bring my fabulous collection of Disney movies, and a couple of other stuff” roman explained proudly,

Virgil looked at the box on the counter and then looked over to roman with a incredulous look on his face, eyebrows raised.

“What? I couldn’t possibly choose between any of my darling babies!” Virgil just rolled his eyes in response, trying to smother the fond smile peaking at his the corners of his mouth. After a brief moment, he looked back to roman who was smiling... at him for some reason. “...What?” Virgil asked smirking back at roman unable to hide his own smile anymore.

“It’s nothing I just...” roman doesn’t finish and seems to be spacing out again, a habit virgil has learned he does quite often, but he’s staring at virgil with a look of what he can only describe as admiration at the very least.

Roman’s jade green eyes are gleaming softly as he’s looking at him reminding virgil of candle light and the evening sun shines on his face making his small smile even brighter. Roman suddenly shakes his head dragging himself out of his thoughts, “Sorry, I- uh spaced out there for a second,” Roman cleared his throat, and started busying himself with taking the CD’s out of the box.

“It’s ok” Virgil responded and looked down at the floor. Then he glances back up a roman and He notices a single lonely strand of hair falling down on his forehead, out of place from the rest of roman’s bronze curls and waves on his head. Without thinking Virgil leans forward and raises his hand and starts playing with the loose strand, twirling it and wrapping his finger around it

“it’s kinda funny sometimes to see you space out anyways, you always have that stupidly cute smile on your face whenever you do,” Virgil mumbled under his breath still smirking, then glances down to roman’s flushed freckled face and-

OHGODWHATDIDHEJUSTDO

wait- WHAT THE HELL DID HE JUST SAY?

The sudden sound of the door opening followed by the wave of icy air against Virgil’s now heated face caused him to draw his attention away from the moment and instead to the man in the doorway, who worked at the family-owned library across the street. “Oh h-hey specs!” The flustered expression on roman’s face had turned into an awkward smile, face still pink.

Virgil cleared his throat uncomfortably, “...didn’t you have something to do with the debate team today?” He asked

Logan, observing the odd tension between the two but saying nothing of it, took off his heavy coat and hanged it up on the coatrack. “it was cancelled do to Mr. Wells catching the flu, and Janus who was planning to take me to the meeting, apparently has a cold due to the weather”

Virgil snorted and rolled his eyes “yeah like he’s not just faking it”

“Perhaps, remus has mentioned to me accounts of the past where Janus had successfully faked an illness” Logan considered, “but I highly doubt he can convince Patton” Logan strode over to the box eyebrow raised, “Roman, did you bring your entire library of Disney movies?”

Virgil respond before roman opened his mouth “yep.” Behind him, he heard roman’s offended stuttering.

“They’re not all Disney! I have other movies than just that, like-“ roman looked down and searched through the box “see? Like princess bride! Among other things!”

Logan sighed and took the box and carefully dumped it on the counter and began shuffling through them. Once again, came the sound of door opening followed by the wave of icy air that made them all shiver slightly.

“Sorry I’m late you guys!” Patton stood in front of the door taking off his scarf and cap, “Janus seemed to have a cold and I couldn’t have possibly left him there like that until I made him cream of broccoli... though i didn’t have time to make sure he was sick, but he didn’t seem like he was faking it”

Virgil saw roman make a gagging face at the mention of ‘cream of broccoli’ and kicked him playfully under the counter to get him to stop before Patton saw. Roman pouted and mouthed a little ‘HEY’ and kicked Virgil back. Which Virgil ignored him as he said,” it’s fine Patton” then turned to kick roman again, which prompted a kicking war as they both attempted to kick and deflect the other.

Logan rolled his eyes at the nonsense and turned to Patton,” well conveniently, you came in just in time. we were just in the middle of selecting what movie to watch”

“Oh, great!” Patton cheerfully walked over to the movies displayed as Logan explained, “Roman predictably brought an abundance of Disney movies, but of course in case one of us disagrees, I’ve separated the non-Disney produced films into this group here” Patton nodded and looked over all the selections, wall-e... sleeping beauty... Harry Potter...

“Wait roman you have Greece?!” Patton gasped and picked up the CD.

“Huh?” Roman turned from Virgil mid-kick.

“Greece!�� Patton held up the cd, “I didn’t know you watched it!”

Roman, with a look of confusion for a moment, suddenly made the connection,” oh! that must’ve gotten mixed up with my collection of movies I took with me when I moved out with my step-dad, I think that may be my mom’s. Sorry padre”

Patton gasped again, “what? You haven’t seen Greece?!”

“What’s ‘greece’?” Logan questioned

“Oh my goodness! Have none of you guys seen it?!”

Logan and Virgil shook their heads, “I mean I think I saw my mom watch it once or twice but I don’t have a good memory of it” Roman shrugged

“Ok, that’s it. We’re watching Greece. You guys have to watch it!” Patton announced, despite the unsure looks of the rest, “Don’t worry! It’s a really fun and cheesy! So we can make fun of it! That’s what me and my aunt used to do all the time when i was younger!”

Logan looked to roman and Virgil,” do we all agree on watching Greece then?”

Roman shrugged, “sure!” followed by Virgil nodding,” yeah I guess”

Patton brightened, “yay! And don’t worry, I’m sure guys will enjoy it!”

Bonus:

“Have a wonderful evening Ms.Garcia!” Roman called to the exiting woman, who said nothing while looking down at her phone, but then waved a few seconds later, eyes still strained to the screen and left.

“Rude.” Roman mumbled, followed by a small snort he heard coming from his stormy knight in black leather beside him.

“yeah at least you didn’t have to deal with her order,” virgil grumbled, “where were you anyways? I thought we’d agreed to handle that homophobic prick together,”

“I was cleaning the sink!” Roman argued

Virgil eyed him, “it doesn’t take that long to clean the sink,”

“Ok fine, so I may have took my time with it..”

“Princey, really?!”

“I’m sorry! Look, I-“ roman wanted to say anything but the stupid truth that what he was actually doing was texting Remus for help on how he could smoothly ask the dreaded emo out.

As suspected, his suggestions were either too difficult to pull off, or inappropriate for freshman in high school like themselves. ‘What did you do to get Logan to go out with you?’ He remembered asking, ‘uhhhh I think I just asked him to do something with me that peeked his interest, like the first time we dissected a bunny-‘ roman refused to read the rest of the message from there on. Something that peaked his interests...

“How about this... if I let you choose a movie for us to watch together like a movie night of sorts, will you forgive me?” Roman suggested.

“Mmm...”

“Please my chemically imbalanced romance???,” roman pleaded, hoping the reference will help win him over.

“Ugh ok fine. Next weekend, Friday night. Ok?”

Roman brightened, “its a date then.” Roman agreed proudly. Virgil raised his eyebrows, oh god-, “like, you know, a friend date... with friends. Well, if you want to invite the others” please say no, please say no-

“Yeah that would be fun, let me text the group chat to see if anyone can make it,”

WAIT NO-

“Ok Logan and Janus apperently have an after school thing... Remus said he was busy.... oh cool Patton said he could make it” GAUH- WHY?!

“Sounds great!” Roman forced a smile. Maybe it wouldnt be that bad.. right?

——————————

It’s bad. It’s so so bad. He’s screwed. After excusing himself from the group to head to the bathroom, roman was finally able to think back and comprehend those few moments previous to Logan’s entry. Roman quickly shut the door behind him and leaned against. He took a deep breath and slid down to the floor, with a dopey grin on his face. It all happened to fast, Roman couldn’t help but notice the small shy smile coming from him, god it was so adorable. Suddenly Virgil looked over and caught the look roman gave him. Usually, roman would have covered it up, made a quick excuse, and he was in the middle of already doing so. But that gosh darn golden evening sun poked out of the clouds at the worse time possible. And roman was unable to think of anymore thoughts other than how incredibly breathtaking Virgil looked. The sunshine on his hair made it look so soft and messy and unkempt, his bangs failing to hide the absolute treasure that is his eyes. His eyes reflected the light, showing the streaks around his iris light up like brash elegant lightning. But even without the dramatic lighting, Roman has to admit his smile was absolutely the cutest thing about him, wide and joyful and just so full of pure happiness, rare enough to where anyone who was able to witness it must’ve considered themselves the luckiest human being on earth. Till he snapped out of it. He apologised, trying to act busy with moving cd cases around, but before he could even began cursing himself, Virgil leaned in closer to roman, which in fact has been the closest he’s ever been to him. Roman turned his head towards him, and the image of Virgil’s stupid gorgeous smirking face inches away from his, dark eyes filled with lightning, looking slightly above roman’s line of sight WHILE TOYING WITH A LOOSE STRAND OF HIS HAIR, is stuck in his mind on loop forever and forever. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the memory, he was saying something, wasn’t he? What did he say??

[getthesamovarready]

And they said "Speak now"

Owen × Michelle

TK x Carlos

I had a bit of this written a few weeks ago, and was re-inspired to finish it.

Michelle returns from Oregon (I don't know why I chose Oregon, don't ask me) to be Carlos's best-woman, and Owen can't keep his eyes off her.

He doesn’t see her all day until she’s walking up the aisle in front of Carlos. Since she landed in Texas a few days ago, all he’s been able to think about, was how beautiful she would look in her dress. It’s part of the reason he suggested the colour to Carlos when he and TK were trying to co-ordinate the wedding party. He saw the shade of green and all he could think was how well it would look on Michelle’s skin. He was right. He hadn’t, however, accounted for what the dress itself might look like. Hadn’t anticipated the deep velvet, hugging to a figure he had previously only really seen in uniform. Hadn’t thought about how much he might enjoy watching that velvet twirl around her ankles as she walks. Or how much he might focus on her shoulders, which he’s sure he’s never seen uncovered. She’s let her hair grow since she left Texas, even curled it falls well below her shoulders, with what isn’t pinned up swept over one shoulder so he can admire it all at once. And above all that elegance, is her wide grin, bursting with pride for her best friend. It is nothing short of mesmerising. 

They had rehearsed this moment yesterday, but nothing could possibly have prepared him for this. Her warm greeting, as comforting, and overwhelming as it was, is completely overshadowed by the tidal wave of...something, that hits him when she smiles at him now. The twinkling smile, and the wink of mutual pride when she takes her place across the aisle, turning to watch Carlos follow her. 

He has to rip his eyes from Michelle to watch Judd swagger up before TK. He’s glad he does, because the tear in Judd’s eye when he nods at Owen sends himself over the edge into tears as Gwyn takes his hand, and they watch their son nervously approach his husband-to-be. A husband-to-be who grips Owen’s hand with teary gratitude when he steps forward to offer it a shake. 

He doesn’t even pretend not to cry during the ceremony, can’t help thinking about how close they came to never being able to have this moment. And watching Carlos promising to support and love his son forever, fills Owen with a sense of relief that he just can’t ignore. He catches Judd straightening his back, and he knows that the whole team must be thinking the same thing. He puts an arm around a sniffling Gwyneth. 

He catches Michelle mouthing along with sections of Carlos's vows, and he has to stifle a laugh picturing a terrified Carlos phoning Michelle for advice on wedding vows. She lifts a hand to swipe a finger under her eye and he stops laughing. 

TK's turn comes, and it's Owen's turn to mouth along to words struggled to late at night. He thinks about TK calling him at night, claiming that two weddings made Owen an expert in wedding vows. Ignoring that two divorces made his experience a rather bad example to follow. But still, he had helped TK put his commitment to words. Somehow, it sounds better now, in TK's nervous, choked voice. 

He cries again when it's made official. His heart straining in his chest when the couple turn to walk back down the aisle, hand in hand. He wraps an arm around Gwyn's shoulders, hugging her tightly once, before they follow Judd and Michelle down the aisle. 

His high doesn't diminish through the rush of picture-taking in the hotel gardens. Though he does wish he could pull Michelle aside, just for a second, to thank her again for saving TK's life. And to tell her she looks stunning. But any moment that he's not busy with pictures, she is. They are released for the couple-only photos, and then he can't see her anywhere, she is lost in the sea of guests. 

She isn't with the team when he finds them congregated at a table at the bar. He accepts their congratulations with a hug each, before trying to dart off to find Michelle. Unfortunately,  everyone else wants to offer their sincere, and detailed, congratulations. 

He catches her out of the corner of his eye every now and then, always engaged in conversation with who he assumes to be relatives or friends of Carlos. But he doesn't manage to pull her aside, and all too soon they are ushered into the ballroom to sit down for dinner. 

Judd, though a great dinner companion, is obviously nervous. His leg shakes constantly though the entire first course, and only gets worse when the microphone is brought out for speeches. 

Carlos's father is first up, and even though his speech is short, by the end of it Owen's own leg is bouncing. 

Gwyn squeezes his leg, and Judd gives him a pat on the shoulder when the microphone is handed to Owen. 

"I uh…" He starts, hands shaking. "TK didn't want to move to Austin. I didn't really want to move either, but I felt like we had to." He admits. "Standing here today, I am so glad that we did. Not only has Austin changed our lives, it has made TK's. This place has been a blessing in so many ways, but right now, I have to thank Carlos, for being the most important one. Carlos has stood by my son, even when it wasn't easy to do that. For that I owe him a great debt. All I've ever wanted was for TK to be happy, to be loved. And you gave him that Carlos, so thank you. I can't think of a better person for my son to spend his life with. And I couldn't be happier to call you family, Officer." He lifts his glass from the table. "Thank you Carlos." He tips his glass towards him. "And congratulations, to Carlos and TK Strand-Reyes." He raises a toast, and passes the microphone to a terrified Judd. 

"I almost said no, when TK asked me to be his best man." Judd admits. "I ain't a talker, so speeches aren't really my thing. Especially not about feelings and stuff. But TK is my brother, and I couldn't let a brother down. So here I am...giving a speech." Owen glances over to the 126, all of whom have phones out recording, all of whom are laughing along with the moment. "Owen said he didn't want to move here, and I'll admit, I did want them here when they arrived. I thought TK was a punk, I thought he was entitled, that he didn't work hard, that he didn't care. I could not have been more wrong. TK Strand, is one of the hardest working people I know, and he's fought hard, in a lot of ways, to get to this day. And I'm proud of him, as proud as any big brother could possibly be." He nods at TK. "Carlos, on the other hand, I've known for a long time. Best friend of my overbearing sister." He winks at Michelle, who blushes into her champagne. "Who is always getting in trouble that Carlos has to get her out of. Even though Carlos is usually helping her get into that trouble. Because Carlos actually is a little punk. A punk, but a really good guy, and the most loyal person you'll ever find. I know you both know how lucky you are, because I see it every day in the two of you. It'll shock some people to find out that I am actually a very romantic man, don't let nothing fool you. I know true love when I see it, and I see it in these two fantastic men. Congratulations TK and Carlos." The 126 erupts into applause, and Owen has to chuckle at Paul and Marjan banging their fists on the table. He glances back at Judd in time to see him throw a wink at Michelle before raising his glass to the newlyweds. He sits with a heavy sigh, handing the microphone to the waiter standing by the table. 

And then it's Michelle's turn, and Owen's stomach turns to butterflies as he waits to hear her voice. "Thank you, Judson, for clarifying, that it is Carlos that gets me in trouble." She chuckles shyly, brushing loose hair from her forehead. "I'm not going to get into all that, in case I embarrass myself any more than necessary. Judd is right, Carlos is the most loyal person anyone could be lucky enough to have in their life, as he has proven to me, over and over again. He's helped me through some really difficult times, he's done his best to keep me sane when I couldn't do it myself, always reminding me how important friendship is. How important it is to have fun, to laugh, to tell eachother about boys that we like." She chuckles wetly, wiping at teary eyes. "Carlos is the kind of person who supports you through the very worst of your life, and makes sure to keep you smiling. I remember when he first told me about TK, he was berating me for being a bad friend. He was confused, scared, he didn't know if it would go anywhere. When he told me it was TK, everything made sense. Even though I'd only known TK a few months I knew he would be good to my Carlos, I knew he wouldn't hurt him, that even if it took some time, it would always lead us here. Carlos is loyal, loving, one of my favourite people. And he's now married to one of my other favourite people. I'm not part of the family anymore, but as anyone will tell you, a firehouse is like family. And that is true for nowhere as much as the 126. A family rebuilt by the Strands, and so beautiful, supportive, and resilient because of it. So in my view, TK is my family, just as much as Carlos is, and I couldn't love them more if we were actually related." She laughs again, eyes flicking downwards. "I'm so proud of you both." She chokes. "Congratulations."

She raises a glass, nodding at both of them, before she lets herself glance at Owen, accidentally letting their eyes meet briefly. She smiles weakly, eyes still wet from unshed tears, before she swallows thickly and sits, passing the microphone to Carlos. 

"I'm gonna keep this brief, cos I'm pretty sure the kitchen hates us for having so many speeches. I just want to thank everyone for coming, and thank everyone who helped plan this thing, weddings take way more planning than I ever thought, especially when your best-woman lives halfway across the country." He glares at Michelle with a slight chuckle. "I want to thank my parents, just for  being wonderful, for raising me, for loving me. But mostly for loving TK, for welcoming him immediately into your hearts. I want to thank TK's parents, Owen and Gwyneth. Firstly, for bringing someone as beautiful as TK into the world, for making him into the person I know. And for bringing him to me." He chokes slightly. "TK I love you. I've been in love with you since I met you, thank you for loving me back." He raises a glass. "To TK." 

"I hate speeches just as much as Judd does, me and speeches? We don't get along." TK starts, after standing from his seat to kiss Carlos before taking the microphone from him. "Like Carlos said, thank you all, for coming, for supporting us, we both really appreciate it. I really didn't wanna move here, my dad forced me too, and I was angry at him about it, for longer than I even realised. But it was the best thing that either of us ever did, even if dad did insist on driving the whole way from New York. And playing country music the whole time. I didn't know it then, but we were driving towards a whole new future. A future that brought me a whole new family. I got closer with my dad, I gained the 126. I got Carlos, and his beautiful family who make me feel like I'm one of their own. I second my dad's opinion that moving to Austin has been a blessing in our lives, so thanks Dad, for forcing me into it. And thanks Mom, for not going too crazy on him when he did." Beside him, Owen feels Gwyn shift in her seat, shaking her head with a laugh. "And thank you, to my beautiful husband, for making me the happiest man in the world, as cheesy as that sounds." TK reaches down to take Carlos's hand, squeezing it before leading the room in yet another toast. 

Speeches are followed by dinner, and then everyone is kicked out to the bar while they prepare the ballroom. Again, he can't find Michelle, and he's roped into a new series of congratulations, and compliments on his speech. He barely has time to grab himself a drink before the ballroom is ready, and they're called in for the first dance. 

He gets caught up in the dancing, somehow never managing to catch Michelle in a mural free moment, until he miraculously finds himself right next to her, and she takes his arm, turning them both away from their respective groups. "Quite a day Captain." She grins at him, and it reminds him of after-work drinks at the Honky Tonk, and bad, drunken line-dancing. But they aren't after work. And this isn't line dancing. 

It's definitely not line dancing when the music slows, and he has to slip a hand around her waist or stop dancing. She makes his mind up for him, her hand coming to rest on his shoulder, so his rests on her hip. "I've been trying to catch you all day." He tells her. "You're a difficult woman to pin down." She flushes, dipping her head. "I've been trying to find you all day, because I wanted to thank you. Without you, none of this would be happening." She lifts her head again to question him. "If you hadn't saved his life, TK wouldn't be here today. So this, all of this, is thanks to you." 

"Owen, that's not…" She shakes her head. "There would have always been a paramedic there that day. It's got nothing for do with me." She tries to brush it off, but Owen won't let her.

"But it was you." He argues. "And I wanted you to know that I was grateful." She let's him have it, nodding with a slight frown. "I was going to put it in my speech, but it didn't feel right."

"Carlos thinks it was his fault." She blurts out, cursing herself. "So it's good that you didn't. He was supposed to clear the place of weapons, and he didn't. " She explains at his questioning look. "It took him a long time to get past it." She's silent for a moment. "Don't forget that you saved his life too." She tells him, brow furrowing. "A few times, or so I hear. It's no less heroic to save your own family." Her hand squeezes his, and he nods in assurance, and thanks. 

"You look beautiful, by the way." He can't help but blurt out in response to her soft smile. "I've also been wanting to tell you that all day." His skin burns, and he hopes that the lighting will hide his blushes. 

"Green is my colour." She tells him with a bright grin, and a flush to her cheeks. The lighting doesn't hide it. He can't help but feel a twinge of pride at suggesting the colour. "You don't look so bad yourself." She straightens his tie. 

"How's your sister?" He asks, trying to ignore his tightening chest. 

"Better." She nods. "A lot better. It's done her a lot of good to get away, she's a lot more willing to accept help." She nods, but she doesn't smile. "It's quieter out there, that helps her." It doesn't seem like Michelle is overly enthusiastic about her quiet little corner of the Oregon coast. "Maybe she'll get stable enough to come home." She says hopefully. "But I'm not really sure that it would be good for her." He's heard the whole story, and he has to agree. Her mom was still pretty in denial about Iris's health before Michelle dropped everything to get her help while she spiralled. Taking her back to denial might just undo her progress. 

"What about work? How is the great Michelle Blake handling small-town life?" He changes the subject, earning a bashful chuckle from Michelle. 

"It's not nearly as much fun as Austin." She laughs. "Though nothing ever is." He laughs in agreement,  even New York wasn't as much fun as Austin. "But it's nice, my crew are nice." She's brightened considerably, but he finds that it doesn't quite reach her eyes. 

"Well we all miss you." He assures her. "It's been really great to see you the past few days." The team had been buzzing with talk of her return for days, planning her welcome home with enthusiasm. Their initial plans had been consumed with urgent wedding preparations, though he knows they have a back-up plan for a few days time, for her send-off. 

"I'm sure some of them just miss the jelly-beans in my office, they have to pay for their own now." She glances over to Matteo with a grin. 

 

"Oh we miss you for more than your jelly-beans." He laughs. He misses her for everything. He misses their rhythm at work, he misses her teasing, he misses her leaning on his doorway with a cup of tea after a trying call, soothing the pull of hard work. He misses her at the bar, playing him with tequila. He misses her smile, only full when she let's herself release the chains of responsibility. When she makes the decision to let herself life for herself, even just for the night. She's doing that now, has done her best, just for a while, to shed the responsibility of her sister. Giving him her full smiles. "We can't forget about the M&Ms." He takes the opportunity to spin them slightly, causing a giggle to rise from her throat. 

"I'm sorry to have deprived you all of your candy dealer." She laughs, flicking some stray hair, which had come undone when he spun them, from her face. 

He almost tells her how she has deprived them, or more specifically him, of so much more. He almost tells her how much he has actually missed her. He almost tells her everything. But just as he tries to speak his throat closes, and he can't. So when the music changes, and their position is rendered awkward, he is glad of an excited Nancy pulling Michelle off to dance to something they clearly both have a memory of, and he plops himself at an empty table to rest. 

The table doesn't stay empty for long, as Gwyn settles herself next to him with the offer of a scotch. "She's quite something, your Michelle." She starts, and Owen hates the knowing in her voice. She's always been able to read him easily. 

"She's not my anything, she's Carlos's Michelle." He tries to pass it off as not at all dissapointed at that fact, but fails miserably. 

"Oh don't even try that with me Owen." She tuts at him. "It's so clear how you feel about her,  I knew it before I even met her." She pats his hand when he scoffs. "You're like a little puppy when someone mentions her name. I swear I can see your ears perk up." She's laughing, and Owen would love to think she's just being mean, but he knows her better than that. And he also knows himself better than that. Gwyn is being horribly truthful. "Everyone else knows it too, why do you think they've been trying so hard to get you two together?" They've what?

"They've what?" He can't think of a single moment that would suggest some kind of scheme like that.

"The DJ changed the music in the middle of a song Owen." Her chuckle shifts into a smirk."Or didn't you notice?" 

Honestly he didn't. He'd rolled with the change in music without questioning it, welcoming the excuse to slow down and talk. "Well I uh…." 

"TK bolted to the DJ when you two started talking." She explains. "He seemed very determined." 

"That's probably just TK trying some kind of prank, I mean I did the same thi-" he tries to brush the whole thing off.

"You haven't been able to keep your eyes off her the past few days. I watched you watch her at the rehearsal you know." His stomach drops. "When she was walking up that aisle in front of Carlos, you looked at her the same way you looked at me when we got married." 

"Gwen come on…" Surely he hadn't been so obvious. Besides, having your ex-wife scold you on this type of thing at your son's wedding isn't the best feeling. 

"And then there was today." She chuckles. "I don't think theres anyone here who didn't notice how you looked at her today. If the rehearsal was obvious, I mean, today you might as well have put up a sign. You couldn't keep your eyes off of her. And any time you haven't been staring at her, you've been looking for her." 

His face is burning, and he has to suppressa groan. She's right, obviously. So he might as well be honest, and ask the advice of a friend. "It doesn't matter anyway, she lives in Oregon. She's taking care of her sister, that's her whole life. What kind of person would I be if I tried to insert myself into that?"

"The kind of person that loves her?" Gwen offers. "Who thinks she deserves to know that. Because that woman is in love with you Owen. And you can't not tell her you love her too because you think it might be selfish. Because letting her leave without knowing because that would just be cruel." She stands with a very pointed nod towards the bar, where Michelle is leaning against the counter. 

She steps away with a smile and a glass of Chablis, and scans the room for a friend. He watches as she catches sight of Grace, calling out to her for a catch up. He watches as Grace lifts a hand to admire the velvet of Michelle's sleeve. Watches as Michelle gushes about the dress, her eyes sparkling while Grace compliments her. 

He downs his drink and immediately makes his way to get another. Which conveniently places him right in earshot of Michelle and Grace. "It's beautiful there Grace. And my crew are nice. Nothing like good old Texas though." 

"We've missed you." Grace assures her. "Maybe some more than others, if you know what I mean." Owen knows exactly what she means, and quickens his pace towards the bar, ordering his drink with just a hint of desperation. If Grace is talking like that, then Michelle must have some kind of feeling. And he's just being a coward. 

With everyone's efforts, it's nearly impossible that Owen is getting through this night without having the conversation. The conversation he has literally dreamt about having with her. For years he's thought about what he might say to her. How she might react. He's imagined soft shock in her eyes, his chest constricting as she frantically asks him to explain, praying she didn't hear him wrong. He's also imagined her laughing him off, disappearing again, leaving him in his humiliation. 

He'd like to keep imagining. Would like not to be forced to know what happens after he stops talking. He'd like to keep thinking about hope in her eyes. About the shy little smile she might have. Or even something similar to her usual teasing and a, “took you long enough Captain.”

He tries not to imagine her laughing at him. His ridiculous notion that she might feel anything for him at all. Tries not to imagine that this has all been some little joke that everyone is in on but him. He tries so hard not to picture her backing away in horror. But somehow that is always the last thing he thinks of before he almost tells her. 

But there are some things he wants to stop imagining. He wants to know what she tastes like. He wants to know what it would feel like to kiss her. He wants to know if he should have told her before she left. Before she left him in Austin, stuck in the almost of her. He wants to put all his wondering to rest. 

He downs his drink, slamming it on the counter before ordering another. "What did that glass ever do to you?" A voice asks from beside him and he jumps, nearly knocking the poor glass clean off the counter. He fumbles with it pathetically while his heart races, as though she had overheard his previous thoughts. "What? You don't want to tell me?" She teases, smiling at his panic.

His stomach drops to the floor. He watches as she orders herself a glass of wine, leaning gracefully against the counter. Her heels make her tower over him, and he suddenly feels very small. He does want to tell her, desperately, but she looks so relaxed, he couldn't possibly ruin it for her.

But his mouth has other ideas. "I do actually." He admits, swearing internally. It gets her attention, and she turns to face him properly, straightening her back in curiosity. She looks concerned, and his heart clenches to think that maybe she worries about him sometimes. "It's got nothing to do with the drink." He admits, stupidly, as if she genuinely thought that he had some personal vendetta against a glass of Scotch. 

"No, I didn't think it did." She smiles, eyes shimmering down at him. "You were in a good mood earlier, what happened? TK's mom driving you crazy?" She teases him, bringing back memories of him spilling out his past after too many drinks after work. It became a habit of theirs, another night another anecdote. 

"No she's not driving me crazy." Even though she is, a little bit. "You are." She tenses, her shoulders squaring as she drops her head.

"Sorry," she starts, eyes on the floor. "I'll just…" She gestures vaguely, and he realizes that he's seriously messed up already.

"You've been driving me crazy." He whispers, grasping her arm when she starts to leave. "For years. You've been driving me crazy since you put me in my place my first day at work. And I can't get you out of my head." She doesn't pull away, but she doesn't look at him either. "And I've tried, a lot, to let it go, before you left, after you left...but I can't, and I'm sorry. I just can't stop thinking about you. My son got married today, my only child, and all I could think about was you." He can't stop now that he's started. "The past few days I've barely been able to think about the wedding at all, all that I've been able to focus on was how much I missed you when you were away. And how much I'm gonna miss you when you go again."

"Owen...I…" She tries, helplessly. After thinking about this for so long, she suddenly can't figure out how to respond. 

"I know it's selfish. I know you're going back to Oregon and I shouldn't make you take this with you. But I don't think I could let you go again, without telling you. That you drive me crazy. Without telling you that I can't get you out of my mind. I couldn't let you go without telling you that I'm in love with you." He lets her arm go, sighing.

Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Judd and Matteo watching them, and a quick scan of her surroundings tells her that the rest of the team are looking on too. So she grabs Owen's arm, and drags him out of the ballroom. He keeps pace as best he can, obviously shocked by how fast she can move in heels and a floor length dress. They're outside before she says anything. Actually, before she shoves him into the wall by the door, kissing him with everything she has. 

Even the balmy evening is cooler than inside, but he absolutely burns. Everything from his toes to his scalp is on fire, only soothed by her cool hands on his cheeks, the fingertips tracing his cheekbones. The velvet on her hips is warm under his touch, and he knows that if he were to raise his hand to rest on her exposed upper back, it would be just as burning hot as he is right now. He doesn't dare to bury his hands in her hair as he so wants to, she wouldn't forgive him for ruining the time and money spent on getting it to look so effortlessly glorious. So he keeps his hands safely on her hips. 

"Thank you for telling me." She whispers, after breaking from him with a gasp. He lets his thumb trace the curve of her hip as she breathes him in, as she brushes a thumb across his lip, wiping away lipstick that has smudged along it. He almost lifts his hand to do the same, before she smiles softly and presses her lips to his again, lighter this time. It only lasts a moment, but somehow it sends him reeling again. "I'm sorry I dragged you out here." She laughs, stopping only slightly out of his space. "I didn't want everyone watching." Both of them know that the team is probably just in the foyer, waiting for them to turn the corner and reveal exactly what's just happened. Neither of them would be surprised if one of them was standing just on the other side of the doorway, trying to listen in. 

"I think dragging me out if the ballroom also made a scene." He points out while she settles herself against the wall beside him. Silently, she brushes the back of her hand against his, twirling her fingers around his.

"I still have to go back." She tells him, after a while of silence. "I wish I didn't." She doesn't look at him, just runs her eyes over the pavestones at her feet. Iris still needs her help, still needs to be out of the city. And she still has a job she needs to go back to, as much as she would like to leave it behind and come home. "You said it was selfish of you to tell me, when I have to go back anyway. I feel like the selfish one. Dragging you out here, letting this happen." She gestures between them. "For spending my whole trip here wanting to say the same damn thing to you, even when I have to leave again." 

"Just….don't be a stranger Michelle." He tells her, squeezing her hand. And somehow that settles everything. And she kisses him to seal her promise. 

[elbiotipo]

Ok that was the sequels with the Disney Canon, But MY idea of the sequels would be actually an animated series about Luke’s Jedi Order, it would be basically a Jedi School series with fun adventures and both old and new characters. I know I previously ranted about how I hate both school settings and teenage protagonists but this is different because it’s Jedi School and it’s Star Wars.

So, for this I take what I like from the old canon, other things from the new canon, and drop other things, don’t expect much coherence.

Anyways it’s set about 15 or so years after the Battle of Endor. Things have gotten much better, you know how it goes, the New Republic has grown and the Imperial Remnant are just a fringe junta of all the weirdo warlords of the EU, Han and Leia get married, Lando is chancellor, and Luke marries Mara Jade, because she’s awesome, and rebuilds the Jedi Order.

Since the old method of “kidnapping children” is out for obvious reasons, the Jedi Order functions more like a boarding school or summer camp in Yavin IV. It is much smaller than the prequels order, composed of:

Old masters and survivors to Order 66, like Luke, Mara, Ahsoka, Ezra and a couple others, they try their best but they are ultimately quirky teachers

First generation jedi that were only recently trained like Finn and Rey and still have much to learn

And a whole bunch of Padawans from all ages, species, worlds and backgrounds

The series mostly follows Luke’s son Ben, who is a Very Good Kid with a little of a complex fromhaving such a successful father (and mother) who are praised all over the Galaxy. He’s quiet, shy and isn’t very good with a lightsaber but has a deep connection to the force. He’s friends/rivals with his older cousin Aldera Organa (Han took Leia’s name) who is LOUD, sarcastic, hotheaded, and while overall a good girl WILL cut you up with a lightsaber if given the chance. They’re friends with a pilot jedi padawan from an Andes/Inca inspired world (we haven’t seen that before in Star Wars), a huge Wookiee who plays football (as in the one with foot, not the yanqui version), and a Trandoshan mechanic girl (because they are always shown as villain characters, make them heroes for once). Together, They Fight Crime and we see how they slowly grow from just kids to heroes.

Luke Skywalker meanwhile, tries to be a good teacher. He wakes up every day, drinks his blue milk, and reads pedagogy textbooks to try to become a better teacher, but is very concerned that he’s just winging it all, after all he only got two weeks top of training with Obi-Wan and Yoda included. Everybody assures him it’s okay but he doesn’t believe them. Leia represents the Jedi back at Coruscant, Han trains the New Republic special forces (including New Republic Super Agents Poe Dameron and Rose Tico), Lando is the New Republic Chancellor, R2D2 and C3PO are the official Jedi academy groundskeeper and translator, respectively, and Chewie is just vibing and enjoying his retirement.

Ok, so everything is nice so far. Another year in the Academy starts, all the character meet, Luke and Mara have a parent-teachers reunion, etc. etc. he assures everyone the school is Perfectly Safe, just look at that Togruta lady she has TWO lightsabers isn’t she awesome?

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Galaxy, Han and his Superagents are in a shooting with some aliens who come from outside the Galaxy. They escape in their ship and are headed to the Jedi Academy, Han tries to warn them but the transmission is cut.

So first lessons in the Jedi Academy, Ben is dissapointed that he isn’t as good as a Jedi as the other kids despite being the son of Luke and you know normal school dramas but with lightsabers.

THEN the aliens land. They are like... Vong But Not Really, intergalactic invaders who are able to manipulate and even disconect someone from the Force temporarily, and they are physically very strong. They are a scout team sent ahead of the main fleet to test the strongest force users of the Galaxy and they aren’t very impressed.

They kidnap the children to study them but they escape using Home Alone traps unorthodox tactics. A battle ensues, awesome things happen, Mara blows up their ship so they hide in the jungle at night. The kids are lost in the jungle though, and the Vong close up on them one by one. Just as the leader grabs Ben and does his villain speech, a green lightsaber lights up in the darkness. It's Luke. He gives the Vong leader one chance to free them. The Vong nervously refuse.

Luke Skywalker goes fucking feral on them, Darth-Vader-In-Rogue-One Style, until they finally surrender and free the kids, and then he goes back into Quirky Master mode and asks them all if they are okay. They are, just now are fucking terrified for several reasons.

Nobody is seriously hurt and all the kidnappers are captured so they see little reason to suspend the academic year. They send the Vong prisoners to Coruscant, where Leia resolves to learn more about these invaders before the come, and so the main arc of the series starts, while they fight pirates, bounty hunter, imperial warlords, dark side spirits and all that weird EU stuff, they slowly investigate who the Vong are, what they want and try to prepare for the upcoming invasion.

Other *fun* things that happen include:

Thrawn, who was conspicously absent all this time (though Ezra escaped from him at some point), comes back from the Unknown Regions with his fleet and sees the bunch of jokers leading what remains of the “Empire”. He goes all art student mode and says “hhmmrmm... an empeire need sthe figuer of an empoerer”...

And eventually manuevers over the warlords and crowns himself emperor, and the New Republic has another headache to deal with.

The Mandalorian and Baby Yoda from hit live-action series “The Mandalorian and Baby Yoda Show” appear, he finally found the Jedi after aimlessly wandering the Galaxy, and tearfully entrusts Baby Yoda to them. It’s a babysitting episode where Baby Yoda makes pure CHAOS in the Jedi Academy and eventually the Jedi give him back to Din, telling him to raise him until he’s more mature, much to his delight

Luke organizes a friendly lightsaber tournament to test everybody’s abilities. Ahsoka, Ezra and the rest, who had more lightsaber training than “Obi-Wan teaching me to avoid a floating ball and Yoda making me pile up rocks” wipe the floor with him.

In the villain romance nobody asked for, Thrawn marries admiral Daala in a marriage for convenience and the Jedi are invited to the wedding omg!!! Of course, IT’S A TRAP and the new Imperial couple tell them to serve the rightful galactic goverment, that is, them. And so they crash the wedding instead, it would be hilarious

The kids are majorly concerned about Luke talking to force ghosts and Mara ocassionally repeating orders from a dead Palpatine, and they try to make them get a fucking vacation and therapy for once.

LIFE. DAY. SPECIAL.

Some dark side cultists cloned Palpatine but because he was raised differently in another world he’s just like, an accountant, who gets kidnapped for their dark rituals, and the Jedi have to spend a whole fleet to rescue Some Guy who doesn’t even understand what’s going on.

Of course eventually the Vong invade in full force and the Galaxy is under attack again, the Thrawn Empire has to decide if to follow an old dream of a Sith madman or help the New Republic, and everybody has Choices to make and Tragedy incoming but that’s way in the future to write.

It would be so much fun to have an Jedi Academy series because I’m sure Mark Hamill would LOVE to be casted, the old EU has so much cool things (and stupid crap) to write about, and you have so many characters to make plots and subplots for and make toys and spinoffsHEY DISNEY ARE YOU LISTENING YOU CAN MAKE MONEY WITH THIS YOU BASTARDS

[bittysvalentines]

Going for Gold

To @allmylittleflaws

From @effyeahzimbits

Rating: Mature

Pairing: Dex/Nursey

“Will you fucking quit typing? I’m trying to sleep here.”

    Nursey glanced up from the white glare of his laptop screen. The plane was mostly in darkness, but he could see his teammate’s golden eyes glaring at him from across the aisle. They were surrounded by the soft snores of other members of the United States Men’s Hockey team, and none of them had been disturbed by the clacking of Nursey’s plastic keys. He was pretty sure Poindexter just had it in for him.

    Nursey couldn’t blame him. Ever since that match a few months ago where the Rangers played the Islanders, the budding rivalry between the two teams exploded to new heights, and Poindexter seemed to carry that grudge off the ice too. Nursey still wasn’t entirely sure what had kicked it off - something about the Rangers’ goalie and a wayward puck sent by an Islander’s D-man. Either way, a fight of epic proportions ensued, resulting in both teams nearly sacrificing their entire benches to the sin bin.

    Nursey had been on the other side of the rink at the time, but he soon pelted over to defend his goalie. He’d only gotten halfway when he was suddenly tackled by Poindexter and sent colliding with the ice. It was a defensive tactic used to keep the pair of them out of the scuffle, but it was enough to raise Nursey’s hackles. He only managed to throw a couple of haphazard punches to Poindexter’s face before he was being dragged away by an official and that was that.

    Or so Nursey had thought. Fans of both teams expressed their delight at the spectacle all over social media, and it wasn’t long before videos of the match went viral. ESPN highlighted his little brawl with Poindexter, and before Nursey knew it, his Twitter account blew up with notifications. False stories about some feud between the two of them spread like wildfire across the Internet, even though Nursey had never even said two words to the guy. Still, it felt harmless enough to Nursey, and he even joined in on the fun a little, pinging a few chirpy tweets Poindexter’s way. The other D-man didn’t seem to appreciate it though, even going so far as to tell one reporter brave enough to ask about it that Nursey needed to “grow the fuck up and start playing decent hockey.”

    Nursey took offence at that. He took pride in his game and loved playing for the Rangers. However, he was strongly urged by PR to refrain from retaliating and the spat was left as it was. The two teams weren’t due to meet for another month or two, but that was the least of Nursey’s concerns. Not long after the fight he’d received confirmation that he had been chosen to play for the United States in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. He’d been ecstatic, that was, until he saw the name of another defenceman on that list. William Poindexter.

    He’d tried not to worry about it too much. That was easier said than done though when practice sessions finally rolled around. It was a tight team, containing top players from all over the country and captained by none other than Kent fucking Parson, and Nursey was honoured to be a part of it. But working with Poindexter was tough. There was none of the smoothness Nursey had with his defence partner at the Rangers. Poindexter seemed to play by his own agenda, working against Nursey rather than with him. No words were spoken between them, but Nursey could see the contempt in his partner’s eyes every time they passed each other. If nothing else, it at least brought out Nursey’s competitive streak and made him play harder. And they must have been doing something right, because the Coach had placed them on the starting line together.

    And now came a couple of weeks of hardcore hockey with the possibility of medals resting on his broad shoulders. He was excited, genuinely over the moon crazy kind of excited. But he was also worried. He didn’t want this weird spat to affect his game, and he also didn’t want people to make out it was worse than it actually was. He never had anything against Poindexter before all of this kicked off, but if he wanted to cause trouble while they were out here representing their country, then Nursey wasn’t going to stand by and let it happen. But for now, he was going to keep his head down and play good hockey.

    “I can’t sleep,” he murmured in response to Poindexter’s snapped words. “I never can on planes.”

    “So do something else. I can’t sleep with that racket in my ear,” Poindexter argued, nodding towards the laptop.

    “Put earphones in then or something,” Nursey suggested. He couldn’t resist rolling his eyes. Poindexter’s tone was starting to get his back up.

    “What are you even writing?” Poindexter demanded, leaning in his plush seat to try and get a glimpse of Nursey’s screen.

    Nursey glowered and tilted it away from him, instantly on the defensive.

    “None of your fucking business.”

    “Are you writing poetry?” Poindexter asked in what definitely sounded like a sneer.

    “I said it’s none of your fucking business!” Nursey snapped, slamming the laptop lid down harder than he meant to.

    “Hey!” A voice thick with sleep called over from a few rows away. “Both of you cut it out or I’ll have you run burpees ‘til you puke.”

    Nursey bristled. The Coach was pissed now, and it was all because Poindexter was too precious to try and sleep with a bit of noise. Nursey clenched his jaw and physically turned away from the other defenceman. If he had to look at his stupid freckly face any longer, he’d punch it. He folded his arms in a huff and glared out of the window instead. There wasn’t much to see except expanses of thick, fluffy dark clouds but he concentrated hard on them, counting the rare glimmers of stars that glinted through. Thankfully, he managed to fall asleep.

    He didn’t know how, but he was signed up to share a room with Kent Parson. He’d met the guy once at a benefit before practices started, and other than a suave “hey how’re you doing?” (to which Nursey blushed and stammered over his words like a dork), they hadn’t spoken. At practice Nursey could say with confidence that Parson was a solid captain. He took initiative, looked out for his team members on the ice and got shit done. But off the ice and in a dorm room in the Olympic village? Nursey didn’t know what to expect.

    “Hey. You wanna see pictures of my cat?”

    Okay, so it wasn’t that. But hell fucking yes Nursey wanted to see pictures of Kent Parson’s cat. He huddled next to Parson on his squeaky, scratchy mattress and peered over his shoulder at his Instagram. The cat was a huge fluffball of a thing with massive green eyes and a sparkly collar. If it was pink it would probably look like candyfloss with ears. Nursey wasn’t usually a cat person, but he thought he’d make exceptions for that one.

    Parson didn’t stick around long. After ten minutes of cooing over the cat pictures, he announced he was meeting a friend and sauntered off, the epitome of cool carelessness. Even the way his hair flopped seemed effortlessly nonchalant. Nursey thought he had wandered off in the direction of the Canadian athletes’ dorm, but he couldn’t be sure. As long as Parson was back before the game tomorrow, it really wasn’t any of his business.

    The dorm room seemed depressingly empty after that. It wasn’t very inviting to begin with, and after half an hour the dull, beige walls and stark sheets were suffocating. He shoved his boots back on and stowed his laptop under his arm, hoping there would be somewhere with a decent Wi-Fi signal and a good cup of coffee he could hang out at until team dinner. Most of the guys on his team had announced plans to nap, and Nursey didn’t want to disturb them in the hopes of finding a companion. In the immortal words of his Rangers captain – never wake a sleeping hockey player.

    The Village was huge. He wandered past buildings that all looked the same, half following the multi-lingual signs and half following other athletes. It was an icy February, and he was grateful for the thick, padded duffel coats they’d been provided with. He hoped they could keep all the clothes they’d been given. It was pretty awesome wandering around with “Team USA” embroidered on everything. His mom was keeping a scrapbook too and he knew she’d love the Team USA dressing robe folded up on his bed.

    He turned a corner and halted in his tracks at the sight of the recreation centre domineering the horizon. Banners adorning its walls boasted a theatre and a cinema, plus sports halls and exercise facilities and even a spa. Making a mental note to check that out after dinner, he went on the hunt for coffee and Wi-Fi. It was like a maze inside. He bypassed the McDonalds and instead headed for the official athletes’ cafeteria.

    It was already bustling with people, all of them prattling loudly over the sound of scraping chairs and clattering dishes. Nursey had to take a minute to absorb it all and stop himself from getting overwhelmed. Breathing in check, he strode into the crowd. He emerged clutching the biggest takeaway mug of coffee he could find and a slice of cake the nutritionist definitely wouldn’t have agreed with. It was a bit harder to find a table, but eventually he located an empty one in a quieter corner of the room.

    He people watched and nibbled his cake while he waited for his laptop to load up. It was incredible really, seeing the sheer amount of people gathered to play a few sports. The atmosphere was electric though. Everyone was clearly super excited to be there and play for their countries. Inspired by their enthusiasm, Nursey’s hands were soon speeding over his keyboard.

    “More poetry?”

    Nursey’s fingers froze. Feeling a weird sense of déjà vu, he raised his eyes to see Poindexter standing in front of him, clutching his own bucket of coffee. No cake though. He was wearing the same Team USA tracksuit they’d all been issued, but Nursey couldn’t help noticing just how well it seemed to sit on Poindexter’s broad shoulders.

    “Blog post, actually,” Nursey replied, fighting to keep his voice cool. Poindexter’s tone hadn’t been snippy, but Nursey was still on the defensive.

    “Oh. Cool.”

    Nursey lifted a well-groomed eyebrow at him. Cool? Out of all the words that could have possibly tumbled out of Poindexter’s mouth, that certainly wasn’t what he expected. He wanted to document the entire Olympics process for his online blog to accompany his Instagram and Twitter reports, but he doubted it was anything Poindexter would be interested in.

    Poindexter shrugged, and if Nursey didn’t know better, he could have sworn he saw the faint tint of a blush underneath those freckles.

    “I saw your Twitter. You seem to write a lot.”

    Nursey blinked. Was Poindexter actually attempting to have a conversation with him? It was a bit awkward with the other defenceman hovering over the table like that, but seeing how nervous he looked was kind of cute.

    “Yeah. I majored in literature at college,” Nursey replied, taking a swallow of his coffee so he could do something with his hands. He couldn’t help bragging a bit. “Had a few poems and short stories published.”

    “Oh. That’s awesome,” Poindexter replied, his voice quiet but sincere. “I uh, I did computer science. A bit different.”

    Nursey nodded, managing a half smile. He was still a bit freaked out. Just this morning Poindexter had been snapping at him for typing and now he was striking up a conversation, albeit a slightly awkward one. Nursey didn’t quite know what to say to that though, and there was a minute or two of weird silence until Poindexter plucked up the courage to open his mouth again.

    “I wanted to apologise. For this morning. I was tired, and a bit nervous, and took it out on you. So uh, yeah. Sorry.”

    Well that was a turn up for the books. Poindexter was definitely blushing now, and Nursey wasn’t ashamed to admit to himself that it was a good look on him. Still, Nursey wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth and if Poindexter wanted to make peace then Nursey was going to take it.

    “It’s okay. It’s my fault too. I should have been a bit more considerate.” Nursey gave him another smile that was a bit more genuine this time. Poindexter seemed to grasp the mutual apology by both hands and nodded eagerly, his stiff shoulders relaxing with relief.

    “Okay. Cool. No problem. Well, I’ll uh, leave you to your writing then. And I’ll see you at dinner.”

    “Yeah. See you.”

    Nursey watched him retreat, still a little bit dazed about the whole thing. He wasn’t sure what had made the guy change his mind, but he wasn’t going to question it. Maybe all Poindexter needed was a cup of coffee and a couple of hours sleep. He hoped the wary truce would extend onto the ice too, but he’d have to wait until tomorrow to find out. Their first game was against the Chinese hosts in the early afternoon, and Nursey was keen to get his skates on and win some matches.

    Dinner was a quiet affair. The whole team was still exhausted from their long plane trip and exploring the Village. Nursey spent it sat next to a couple of vets who seemed to take him under their wing. He was grateful for their dogged insight and listened avidly to their stories playing for the USA over the years. He couldn’t help his eyes drifting over to Poindexter from time to time, but the man kept his head down and ate in the corner. Nursey was starting to think he was just a quiet kind of guy.

    After they’d eaten the team split up again. Parson was the first to suggest hanging out at the bar, proposing they met up with a few of the Canadian and Russian team members. Nursey found it a bit weird to think he’d be playing against a couple of guys from the Rangers who just happened to be Canadian. He could easily imagine all the chirps that were going to be shared back in their home locker room in a few weeks’ time.

    He declined the offer in favour of hunting for the spa he’d seen advertised. He was a sucker for a good steam room and a massage and hoped a little swim might help him sleep well. He returned to his room a couple of hours later feeling sleepy and content. Parson wasn’t back yet, but Nursey didn’t expect him to be. He stripped to his underwear and climbed into bed, flicking off the lights as he went. His hair was still damp, and he teased the curls with his fingers as he squashed a yawn and scrolled through his phone all at the same time.

    He’d published his first Olympic blog post earlier that day. It had already been liked and retweeted hundreds of times by his loyal fans and his mom. Since the whole Rangers v Islanders fiasco, he’d turned off his social media notifications, but he still liked peering through the comments and mentions. Occasionally he would come across a heartfelt message or something that would make him laugh and he liked letting fans know they’d touched him in some way.

    He trawled through the well wishes and memes, liking a few tweets and responding to a couple. A little banner appeared on the top of his phone to let him know WillDex96 has liked his most recent tweet. Nursey paused. Poindexter never liked his tweets. And his most recent tweet was the link to his blog post. Before his brain could even process it properly, his phone pinged with a direct message.

    WillDex96    I liked the coffee too

    Well, that wasn’t much of a conversation starter. Nursey had barely even mentioned the coffee in his blog, but it meant more that Poindexter had actually read it. Nursey smiled to himself and settled into his cushions a little more. He hesitated over the keys, then thought fuck it.

    DerekDoesDefence  Do you want to grab one together after the game tomorrow?

    It was a bold move, and Nursey wasn’t sure it was the right one, especially as it seemed to take Poindexter an age to reply. Nursey just knew that he liked Poindexter’s awkward yet endearing demeanour and wouldn’t mind getting to know him a little more off the ice. His attractiveness was just an added bonus. Just when he was about to give up hope, a reply popped into his inbox.

    WillDex96     Yeah okay. See you tomorrow.

    DerekDoesDefence   Goodnight

    He didn’t get a reply, but he didn’t really expect one after that. Poindexter seemed to be a man of few words. Nursey put his phone aside and settled down, curling up and pulling the sheets around him. He couldn’t help the big, cheesy grin. It wasn’t a date, but he felt like he always did when he’d arranged one. It was probably a bit silly to even consider these things with the Olympic games right on top of them, but the thought made him giddy nonetheless. He fell asleep thinking of freckles and auburn hair and big hands.

    The game was incredible. Nursey couldn’t remember the finer details, but he remembered the fanatic roar of the crowd, the bite of wind on his cheeks, the burning in his lungs and his calves as he raced across the ice. Every player in both teams seemed wired, like they had caffeine in their veins as they powered through each period. Playing with the Rangers was one thing but playing for his country set his blood on fire.

    They won. It was a tight match and China played incredibly well, but USA just seemed to dominate the punk that little bit more and it made all the difference. Nursey’s team left the arena elated, cheering with the fans and rough housing as they made their way back to the Village. Most of the team headed to the recreation centre to burn off energy. Nursey followed them, feeling giddy all over again. Poindexter walked beside him, though he only greeted him with a subtle nod.

    The team went their separate ways inside. A few of them headed towards the sports halls while others went to the spa for a post-game massage. Nursey watched Parson spearhead a small group into the bar where he could see a few of the Russian hockey players. Parson seemed to be friends with everyone, and Nursey didn’t know how he had the energy for it all. He and Poindexter headed towards the cafeteria, which was a lot quieter than yesterday.

    They were silent as they retrieved their coffee. Nursey was pulsing with pent up excitement, but he couldn’t bring himself to string a sentence together. Poindexter had looked damn good out on the ice. His flushed, freckled cheeks and determined brow had made Nursey’s knees weak. It felt a bit weird looking him in the face now. They managed to grab a table by one of the huge windows, and it was a while before either of them found the courage to say something.

    “That was a good game,” Poindexter eventually said, dragging his eyes away from the plastic tabletop and onto Nursey’s face. The half grin he managed made Nursey’s stomach churn.

    It had been an awesome game, and Nursey wasn’t sure how it had happened, but something had finally clicked between them. They had worked in tandem out on the ice, analysing each other’s movements and tactics to form an unpassable duo. Their breathless teammates had slapped them both on the shoulder with each successful blockade, and the coach had been singing their praises in the locker room. The budding partnership had left Nursey as ecstatic as the win had.

    “Yeah, it was. I think we finally played well together, Poindexter,” Nursey grinned at him over his cup.

    “Finally,” Poindexter agreed with a snort of amusement. “And call me Dex. Anything else just sounds a bit weird.”

    Nursey hid his grin behind his cup. He was probably making more of it than necessary, but the permission to call Dex by his hockey nickname just proved they’d made some progress. Fuck, Nursey wanted to kiss him. He took a big swallow of coffee instead and burned his tongue.

    “You think we have a decent shot?” He asked to mask his pained grimace.

    “Too early to tell,” Dex replied with half a shrug. “Especially with Canada’s line up. Zimmermann’s been on fire lately.”

    Nursey hummed his agreement and licked the foam off his latte, only just avoiding making a mess. He looked up to find Dex’s eyes on him, his face bearing an odd expression. He swallowed and looked away quickly, hoping he hadn’t just made a fool of himself. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d humiliated himself in front of a pretty boy. He scrambled for something to say.

    “You read my blog,” he said after a moment, figuring that was a safe enough topic.

    “Oh. Yeah. It was fun to read. I wanted to make sure you were telling the truth about everything,” Dex grinned.

    Nursey blinked. Was Dex…flirting with him? Or was it just a chirp? Though he’d once heard somewhere that flirting and chirping were just variants of the same thing.

    “Um. Yep. Total truth,” Nursey replied eloquently. “No lies here.”

    Fuck, he was such a dork. It made Dex snicker though, and he counted that as a win.

    “I uh, I ended up going through your stuff,” Dex admitted, his eyes flitting away to a poster announcing the daily specials. “I really liked it. Especially the articles you did for your college magazine.”

    Nursey lifted an eyebrow at him and tilted his head slightly in confusion.

    “Those are all about bi erasure and hetero bullshit in the locker room,” he said slowly. To his surprise, Dex blushed so hard even his ears went red.

    “Um, yep. They uh, really resonated with me. Especially the…especially the bits on internalised homophobia.”

    Oh.

    Nursey wasn’t quite sure how he managed to keep his mouth shut and his face straight. It wasn’t quite an admission, but it was as good as. Following Jack Zimmermann’s epic reveal of his sexuality after the Providence Falconers’ Stanley Cup win three years ago, only a few other NHL players had been forthcoming with their own. Parson had been one of them, and Nursey had been open regarding his as soon as he was signed with the Rangers last year. Things weren’t perfect, far from it, but the sport had been making progress and that was good enough for him. He could understand Dex’s reasons for being tight-lipped though, and he took a minute to think of something that would affirm everything without being too direct, for Dex’s sake.

    “Well I’m glad they helped some people. That’s what I wanted, you know? To help bring a little peace and support.”

    Dex nodded and a silence fell between them again. Oddly enough it wasn’t awkward, and Nursey allowed his tentative friend the time to process it. He wondered if he should ask if Dex wanted to talk about it. It sounded like he had a couple of issues that caused a little friction and Nursey hoped he could shed light on a few things. Before he could open his mouth though, Dex looked up and caught his eyes.

    The look Dex gave him made Nursey’s heart leap into his throat. There was a spark of something between them that wasn’t there before, a spark that made the hair on Nursey’s forearms stand on end. He swallowed slowly, his mouth suddenly dry. He wanted to do more than kiss him. For a long, agonising moment, neither of them spoke. Then, Nursey threw caution to the wind.

    “Do you…want to come back to my room?”

    Dex nodded so fast his neck creaked. Nursey’s face split into a huge grin, the arousal already pooling in his gut. He shot to his feet in an instant, knocking his coffee cup flying. The lukewarm liquid splattered the table and both their clothes like watery paint.

    “Jesus fucking Christ, Nurse.”

    Dex’s laugh was quiet but carefree and obviously entertained. He threw a wad of paper napkins over the puddle and left it at that, leading the way towards the dorms. Nursey scrambled to catch up, nearly tripping up over his own feet. He ached to grab his hand as they powerwalked out of the centre, but he held himself back. They bumped shoulders along the way and the heat from that alone tented Nursey’s loose tracksuit pants.

    The sex was mind-blowing. It was messy and hot and frenzied and had Nursey howling like an animal. Dex was an attentive lover, his mouth and fingers desperate to explore every inch of him. Nursey learned more about Dex in those couple of hours than he had in the few days they’d known each other. It left him wanting to know more, wanting to know everything. They lay curled up in bed together afterwards, flushed, breathless and blinking away stars. Nursey was suddenly very grateful they both lived in New York. It made the possibility of finding out just what made William Poindexter tick all the more enticing.

    “I think I’ll write a poem about this,” he announced, his voice loud in the thick, sex-laden air.

    Dex smacked him with a pillow.

[writeyourownlifestory]

L I GH T S  U P

Chapters: 1/20 Fandom: IT Rating: M Warnings: No warnings at this time  Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Beverly Marsh/Ben Hanscom Additional Tags: PunkRocker!Eddie, Writer!Richie, Beveddie!Friendship, No Clown Written by: myself & @ahardlife Tag list: @richietoaster, @beproudtozier, @that-weird-girls-blog, @s-onora, @s-s-georgie, @bellarosewrites, @iamcupcakefrosting, @reddieonwheels, @bi-gemini1983

Puff piece writer Richie Tozier is given the chance of a lifetime to interview his celebrity crush: Dr. K, the lead singer of punk rock band, Trashmouth. Dr. K is about to release his first solo album and Richie wants to get all the dirty details. But all is not what it appears to be and the two realize they know each other from a different time, in a different place, when they were both very different people.

One: Cruel To Be Kind: Nick Lowe

Oh I can't take another heartache Though you say you're my friend, I'm at my wit's end You say your love is bonafide, but that don't coincide With the things that you do And when I ask you to be nice, you say

You've gotta be cruel to be kind, in the right measure Cruel to be kind, it's a very good sign Cruel to be kind, means that I love you, baby (You've gotta be cruel) You gotta be cruel to be kind

Richie Tozier didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life.

That wasn’t a very unique statement but Richie wasn’t a very unique person. An average guy who was as blind as a bat, born in bumblefuck nowhere and eventually making it out of there and into the big wild city, making a living working at a big-name magazine.

Okay, the last part was pretty impressive, but he didn’t actually work very hard for that job.

He used to dream of writing comedy. Of telling jokes or writing for amazing shows like Saturday Night Life or something on Comedy Central. He wanted to be a comedian. To make people laugh. Sure, he is seen as the funny guy around the watering tank, but thats just because the rest of the people he worked with were a bunch of yuppies with impressive college degrees and no real personalities. They’re no better than the robots who work for Buzzfeed.

They had paperback covers and an app for people who didn’t want to go to the store to buy an actual copy. They had their own YouTube channel that hit millions of hits thanks to interviews and other shit that Richie took part in.

When Bill decided he wanted to make this into a real thing, he wanted it to make some sense. It wasn’t some balls to the ball insanity mag that people read for juicy gossip. It was real. The people who subscribed were real and the people featured in it were real.

Richie’s writing, not so much.

He mostly did puff pieces. Little things that didn’t take a lot of effort but were mostly filler in between the larger stories. It was something Bill had done for them after the magazine got big. You see, he and Bill had been buddies in college. Both young and naive about the world. Neither really knew what they wanted, but they had dreams and that was all that mattered back then.

It was Bill that had the real talent with writing and despite publishers being interested, he never took into account just how much time, effort, and money went into getting a book published. Richie, always believing in his best friend, decided to give him all the cash he had saved up for spring break so he would make the first move on getting his novel out.

He didn’t mind much as he found that he could eat, sleep, and drink on the couch the same way he could out on the beach.  

That novel ended up being a best seller and skyrocketed Bill’s career. Bill always remembered that, so when his second and third books became such a thrill, he decided to take the chance and create a magazine and brought Richie along for the ride.

It was easy work and he made good money for doing very little, but he found that was the main cause of his quarter-life crisis. He wanted so much more than he had been given that Richie was actually feeling guilty for wanting more.

He had done stand up in the city and even took an improv class, but nothing seemed to stick to him. Now he was over thirty and found himself in a rut. He lived alone in a small apartment filled with things he didn’t need but purchased because he thought they would bring out a sense of excitement.

He was single, though that was a whole nother issue as it took Richie an embarrassingly long time to come to terms with his own sexuality. Growing up in a small town where people were cruel and the world didn’t understand left marks on an impressionable kid. It wasn’t until he was halfway through college that he did anything with a guy and well-passed gradation that he realized that it was more than okay to be gay, it was normal.

So yeah, he was open and fine with it, but still lonely as hell. He had been with people in the past, but he found that he mostly just shut himself off from the world. He wasn’t happy about anything anymore and it seemed the only thing that got him by was that ending it all would have proved his teenage bullies right; that he was better off dead.

And if there was anything Richie wanted to live for, it was spite.

And also music.

Despite not being musically inclined at all, Richie loved music with all his heart. He spent a good portion of his time listening to records as a kid. He used to go around carrying a walkman and CD player and Zune throughout his life. He paid for the mom's gigs on his phone because he needed to have all his favorite songs ready to blast at the tap of a finger.

While they already had a guy that wrote specifically about music for the magazine, he had always been able to sweet talk Bill into allowing him to have a few moments to shine and write something about some artist. Those were the pieces that really mattered to him. The ones that gave Richie the chance to dive deep into the thing he loved.

Sure, he had written a whole expose on Street Fighter and perhaps he did make a big deal out of the Star Wars franchise, but it was the moments when Richie could reel back and listen before writing that got him going.

They rarely did full-length articles on performers as the magazine was something of a clusterfuck of topics. Bill Denbrough never wanted to settle on just one thing. Paper Boat was more than just one specific topic. It was everything and they would be damned if they ever settled on its something.

But of course, now and then something would come along and the whole team would be scrambling to put together a magazine dedicated to that one specific person. It wasn’t always a celebrity. Bill meant what he said when he wanted to keep the magazine aimed at the everyday people.

Their biggest seller to date had been when they put out issues all about Ben Hanscom the architect. Richie had no idea why anybody would want to read about the guy other than to enjoy the pictures that were taken of him, but low and behold, the world wanted to know.

As it turned out, Ben was a decent human being who just wanted to make the world a better place and he also happened to be extremely hot while doing it. Who knew that was possible!

The physical copies sold out everywhere and the website crashed thanks to all the promotions they did on it. Like, what the actual fuck?

Bill was that good at what he did and it also helped that he was writing his books on the side. He had people from all over coming through wanting to see what they could do and it only proved to be more impressive as time went on.

Now the magazine needed something new, something fresh and it seemed Bill had it all planned out.

“Here at Paper Boat, we don’t choose a good looking celebrity because we want to make money. You know, I’m not going to call up Jennifer Aniston and ask her to do me a favor -- I could, but I won’t -- because that isn’t what we do here.” Bill explained as they went over the board meeting for the next issue. “The people featured on our cover are interesting. People who want to bring the world together and make a change. Or maybe they’re just batshit insane and look good while doing it. Who knows.”

A small array of laughter came over the place. Richie leaned back in his chair, half paying attention. He knew how these things went. Bill made a big, exciting speech before revealing who or what they’d be focusing on. The assignments would be passed around and Richie would be given something soft and fun.

He got the dumb shit that got the people who didn’t want to read involved. Sometimes he’d do interviews while vlogging. They’d try food they never tried before or do something stupid. One of the most interesting had been when he got assigned to interview Kristen Wiig while bobbing for apples. Certainly interesting and the flow to the website was wonderful.

Richie was the writer they went to when they wanted it to seem kitsch and gimmicky. Enough for it to garner actual attention, but nothing worth anybody's time.

He tossed his stress ball up in the air, catching it as it followed the natural path and came back down. He got bored easily as meetings like this and he waited for Bill to just get on with it and assign everybody their respected jobs.

Bill hit a button on his computer, revealing a picture that Richie was all too familiar with. It was of a punk rock band that he had followed since he graduated from college. Trashmouth was one of the greatest bands that had ever come into Richie’s life. They were like if Queen and the Ramones were put together, had a baby, and then that baby had a baby with Green Day: that weirdly insane combination would be Trashmouth.

There were five members, but the main focus was and always had been the lead singer and guitarist Dr. K. Nobody knew why he went by that nor did he ever give an answer. Richie had googled him a couple of times, wanting to find out more, but the guy was a fucking mystery. It was like he just appeared on the scene, completely out of his mind with cut off sleeves and steller vocals.

It was safe to say Richie had a big gay crush on Dr. K.

And that was fine because Dr. K was just as gay.

He had never been seen with anybody, always choosing to keep his personal life private, but his songs were obvious enough even if most of them seemed pretty genderless. He had done one interview where the person asking the questions kept using the term ‘she’ or ‘her’ until finally, the guy replied that he writes songs about guys.

That took the world by fucking storm and Richie Tozier had never been the same.

“Some of you may be familiar with Trashmouth. Multiple Grammy noms and wins. Always in the top 40 listings despite repeatedly being told that punk rock was dead.”

“Please tell me we’re going to be featuring the band,” Mike, the music specialist for the magazine, piped up eagerly.

“I can’t because we won’t,” Bill replied. “Our focus is on him.” Bill hit another button and a solo picture of Dr. K popped up.

Richie’s mouth was watering and he sat up straight. He had the same picture in a small poster in his apartment. It was set up alongside some other pictures in what he called his “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Wall” because he was just that big of a fan. He looked at it often, always finding himself thankful for all the music that had been created and got him through some pretty dark days as a kid.

Did it also help that Dr. K was incredibly attractive and gave Richie a little bit of encouragement just by looking so good? Yes, yes it did.

“It seems Dr. K will be going off on his own. My sources tell me he’ll be putting out a solo album by the end of the year and I want to know everything about it. Mikey, that’s your job. Speak to whoever you have to to find out what is going to be on that album. Audra, speak to the rest of the band, find out how they feel about the ending of an era. Georgie, get your camera ready because we’re doing a photo shoot with him in three days.”

“Who is doing the main exposé?” Greta asked, popping her gum as she spoke.

Bill smirked, turning back to his computer. “I’ll pick someone later. For now, you’re all dismissed.”

The group got up from their chairs and left Bill’s office. All except for Richie, who was too fucking flabbergasted to do a damn thing. As Bill began to head out, he finally scrambled to his feet to follow him. His long legs led him there quickly, though he mostly sidestepped around his coworkers to finally reach their boss.

“Bill! Big Bill! Wait up.” He called, following him to the elevator.

“What's up, Rich? I’m about to head out for lunch.” Bill said, turning to face him. “You hungry? We could check out that new sandwich place that opened across the way.

“Oh, no. I’m time. Stuffed.” Richie patted his stomach lamely, offering a large smile to his friend and boss. “Hey! So, just checking in to see about that latest pitch.”

“Oh right,” Bill paused, hitting the elevator button. “You were a fan of that band, right? Oof. Sorry about the breakup buddy. Haven’t you seen them like six times?”

“It’s sixteen, but that’s not important right now.” Richie corrected. “Bill. Buddy. You have to listen to me.”

“You got it, Rich.”

“I know you only trust me with the puff pieces because I’m not as talented as Mike or even Greta, but I need you to trust me on this.”

“You can do the exposé, Rich.”

“I have gotten better over time and I swear, if you just give me the chance, I promise. I won’t do a single embarrassing voice or anything to get Paper Boat blacklisted.”

“I’m sure you’ll embarrass yourself in one way or another, but that’s your issue. You have two days.”

“Until what?”

“Until your interview with Dr. K,” Bill said, stepping into the elevator as the doors opened. “If you’d stopped rambling you would have heard me tell you that you’re going to be the one doing the expose. You’ll be meeting him in two days, so you better come up with some good questions.”

“Holy shit,” Richie muttered.

“Holy shit, indeed Tozier,” Bill smirked. “I know you’ve been in some sort of funk lately, so I hope that this will shake you up a bit. Better keep your fanboy boner under control.” Bill warned, smiling as the elevator doors closed between them.

Whether Richie realized it or not, Bill believed in him and his writing ability. He may not have the raw talent like himself, but he knew what Richie was capable of. He has a way with people that allowed them to loosen up and relax and nothing was better for a good interview than someone comfortable with the person asking the questions.

Bill couldn’t think of a single person who would be better for this specific project and having Richie be an uber-fan of the artist was just a bonus. If Richie made an ass of himself, that would be his problem, not the magazines.

Richie stood there, not knowing what to do next. He looked to his watch, realizing he had less than 72 hours to come up with a buttload of questions for his idol. He ran back to his cubby to brainstorm.

[suckitsurveys]

What would you call your body type? Fat.

Are you a morning person? Eh. I have to be.

Have you ever been to Target? Countless times. I miss Target :(

Do you like iced tea? Yes. I should make some. 

When is the next time you’ll be at work? I’m technically at work right now.

Do you have a savings account? Yes.

Has anyone ever hacked your accounts before? Yes.

What color bedsheets are currently on your bed? Light blue.

Have you ever been to Disney World? If so, how many times have you been? Nope.

Does grammar and capitalization mean anything to you? Yes.

Are you good at wrapping gifts for others? Yes.

Do you have a dirty clothes hamper in your room? Yes.

What would you say is your favorite television show? BoJack Horseman.

Do you enjoy big holiday dinners? Yes. I’m so upset that we might not get to do that this year because of covid. Is your vision good? With my glasses on, yeah. ha.

Is there any piece of jewelry you’re constantly wearing? Earrings and my nose stud. 

What is one thing you desire as of now? For this covid shit to fucking end. And justice for Breonna Taylor. And actual equality. 

What kind of phone do you have? Galaxy S10.

If you could move anywhere, where would you choose? On a lake in the woods.

Do you blog a lot, if at all? This I guess.

Is your present hair color, natural? My roots sure as fuck are.

What makes you the most angry when it comes to people? IGNORANCE. I cannot wrap my head around people who don’t fucking give a shit about other people. 

Describe your current outfit? I’m in PJs.

What was the last thing you ordered online? A couple of outfits fro my nieces for the 4th of July per their request.

Have you ever felt as though you were drifting apart from a best friend? Yeah, and I did.

What color are your eyes? Green.

Have you ever worn color contacts? Nope.

What’s the best thing about a hug? Comfort.

Biggest fear? Having my fears used against me.

If you have a significant other, how long have you been together? 9 years.

Do you know any genuinely friendly people? Yes.

Do you buy your friends gifts? Yeah. What was the last thing you plugged in? The charger to this laptop.

How old are you? 30.

What color headphones do you own? They’re purple. I haven’t used them in a long time since I don’t go to an actual gym anymore.

Have you ever shopped at Urban Outfitters? Yeah, just a couple of times.

Where do you buy the majority of your clothing? Torrid and Target.

Would you rather wear necklaces or earrings? Earrings.

Do you consider yourself fortunate? I am in some ways.

Do you enjoy watching fights? Mark watches UFC and I occasionally catch myself getting into them.

Have you ever been in a physical fight? Not a real one. 

Do you tend to talk badly about people? I tend to talk badly about idiotic people who don’t give a shit about other people.

Where are your parents as of now? My dad is at home most likely and my mother passed away in 2013.

Does your computer cooperate most of the time? I guess.

Does your family have any cheesy traditions? Yes.

When did you last go to a book store? It’s been a while.

What’s the closest book store where you live? I think there’s a local one not far from here. How much money do you have on you right now? Physical money? None.

Favorite personal feature? My eyes and my hair.

Are you wearing make up at the moment? Nope.

Favorite television channel? I don’t have regular TV. Do Netflix and Hulu count as channels?

Describe any piercings or tattoos you might have? I have 5 piercings and 9 tattoos but I don’t feel like explaining all of them. 

Have you ever been fired from a job? No.

Are you currently losing a best friend? Eh.

Describe the worst day of your life: No.

Do you play any video games? Eh. Sometimes.

Would you say you hate anyone? Yes, my fucking brother in law.

Do you think freckles are cute? Sure.

Last time you went to the mall? Back in early March.

Name something that’s your favorite color: That’s in my favorite color? The LED lights above my couch. They’re currently purple.

Have you been to Red Lobster before? YES I miss it.

Do you judge by appearances? We all do to an extent. That’s what first impressions are.

Do you follow a certain religion? Nope. 

Who is your role model, if you had to choose? My dad.

Would you rather have nice hair or lips? Hair.

What are you most self conscious about? My stomach.

Do you have any family members who live out of town? Yeah.

Do you consider yourself short? Yes.

What room are you in? The living room.

Hoodies or jackets? Hoodies.

Are you outside a lot? Yes.

Have you ever been dumped via text message? No.

Do you like dreamcatchers? They’re pretty but they’re a Native thing so I don’t use them. 

What is your favorite letter of the alphabet? H 

Do you hate repetitive people and things? Eh, depends.

Do you think autocorrect is a blessing or curse? It can helpful and annoying at times.

Do you believe in any particular curses? Sure.

Ever play a Ouija board? Yes.

What movie scares you the most? I don’t really like movies like that.

What was your bedtime as a child? I don’t remember.

Reason why your favorite holiday is your favorite: Halloween is just so spooky and creepy and the colorssssss and even more exciting when you have kids in your life. Trick or Treating is so fun.

Do you work with any close friends? Nah.

Do you consider yourself spoiled? In some ways, yes, but I’m not a brat. I am fortunate to have very loving and caring and giving family members, my husband included.

Do you listen to any country music? I don’t not listen to country music, but there isn’t a lot I voluntarily listen to.

Favorite high school teacher: Fuck all of high school.

Do you ever get drunk? Sure. I don’t really like to often but sometimes I get caught up in what I’m doing or who I am with and end up drinking a little more than planned. But it’s not something I actively plan to do.

Have you ever had highlights before? No

Favorite number: 24.

Do you still sleep with any stuffed animals? There used to be two that chilled on the bed but they haven’t in a while. What is your biggest regret in life? Regrets are dumb.

Would you say you think you have a mental disorder of some kind? Yes.

Are you normally an independent person? For the most part.

Do you have any paintings? I do.

What is one clothing fad you wish never existed? I don’t care.

Do you like to be organized? Yes.

Have you ever failed a class before? Uh huh.

Ever been judged because of your weight? Of course.  What is your favorite breakfast cereal? Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Ever had a wish come true? Eh.

Do you regret meeting any of your exes? No.

Do you own any coloring books? Yes.

What’s the meanest thing someone’s called you? My brother in law called me “coddled” once very shortly after my fucking mother died so, that. He was saying it because I stilled lived with my father at the time, so fuck him.

Have you ever bullied someone? Not intentionally.

Do you ever watch Lifetime? No.

Ever tried to intentionally sabotage someone’s grade? I don’t think so.

Do you own any brown clothing? Yes.

What color are your walls painted? Very very light blue

Last thing you drank: Water.

Have you ever seen a tornado in person? I’ve been very very close to one.

Do you have an inground pool at your house? I fucking wish.

What is the first digit of your phone number? 1. :P  What’s the prettiest town you’ve been to? Boston.

Do you tend to sleep a lot? No.

Silver or gold jewelry? I like both.

Do you sometimes celebrate holidays early? Depends.

Have you ever been in love? Yes.

What’s the best gift you’ve ever received? My nieces.

When was the last time you showered? Yesterday.

Would you consider yourself attractive? Eh. Not conventionally, no.

Has anyone made you mad today? Yes.

Favorite smell: Gardenia.

Are you afraid of insects? Not afraid. More grossed out than anything. 

Do you have any children? Nooo.

If so, what are their names? --

Would ever consider having children in the future? I don’t want to have children.

Have you ever lived on a farm? No.

Ever played any sports? Not on a team, no.

Do both of your parents have jobs? My father is retired and my mom was a stay at home mom when she was alive.

Where is the best place you’ve been on vacation to? Wilderness Resort in the Dells. GODDDDDDDD I WANNA GO.

Are you afraid people won’t accept you? Whatever.

Are you, for the most part, an honest person? Yes.

Did you make prank phone calls as a child? I did.

Do you like to make donations? Yeah.

What is your current ringtone? The Horsin Around theme song from BoJack in 8 bit. The same ringtone BoJack has in the first few seasons of the show.

Meet anyone from your past lately? How do you meet someone you already know?

Have you ever called a teen suicide line? No.

Have you ever caught something on fire? Yes.

Ever been obsessed with a show? Duh.

What type of perfume or cologne do you use? Differnt Bath and Body Works stuff.

What’s the last book you read? I’m currently kinda reading Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory by Raphael Bob-Waksberg.

Dream career: Event planner if we’re ever allowed to have events again.

Have you ever climbed a mountain before? Kinda.

At what age do you plan to get married? I got married when I was 27.

Ever been in a car accident? Yes.

[theonyxpath]

Questions! We get questions every day, and while a lot of them start with “when”, as in “when is my favorite book coming out?”, a fair number are more about some integral things that aren’t obvious to folks if they haven’t been lucky enough to read this blog regularly.

Unlike you, my fine friend, who no doubt already know a lot of the following! But I bet there’s a few things in there even you can use brushing up on!

“In order to put out so many game lines, Onyx Path must be a big TableTopRPG company with lots of employees, right?”

Well, we work with a lot of talented freelance creators, but there’s only four actual staff members, so no, not really big at all. There’s myself, as founder and Creative Director, Mighty Matt McElroy as our Operations Director, Lisa Thomas as our Office Manager, and Mirthful Mike Chaney, our Art Director and primary Graphic Designer.

The hundreds of writers, editors, artists, designers, and developers we work with all around the world are all freelancers – that means that they are hired with a contract. Sometimes per project, sometimes for a time period to do a particular agreed-upon set of goals.

“You mean that those lovable scamps from the Onyx Pathcast – Dixie, Eddy, and Matthew – aren’t staff members?”

Correct! Although the Pathcast is one fun thing that they do for us, and their biggest responsibilities lie in shepherding our projects, all three of them are freelancers for us. Albeit freelancers who are part of our weekly meeting to cover how all our projects and the company in general are doing because they are just really great at what they do.

Being freelance also means that our creators can easily take part in other projects for other companies – which is something I encourage. More experience from any source means that a creator is building their expertise, and that means better and better projects for all of us.

We also hire consultants when needed – sometimes for long periods, sometimes on a project – to cover viewpoints or areas of expertise we need to have. Sometimes to cover the nuts and bolts, day to day needs of part of our business, like working with translation partners or like James, our Kickstarter concierge, that our usual crew don’t have the bandwidth for.

TC: Aeon Distant Worlds art by Michele Giorgi

“I heard Onyx Path was secretly still owned by White Wolf, and that you, Rich Thomas, were still with WW.”

That sounds like an internet rumor, and we all know how reliable those are!

So, no. I left WW a few years after the merger of WW with CCP and started Onyx Path Publishing in 2012. I am the sole owner. Other than being a licensee of the current White Wolf/Paradox, we have no other connection with them on a business level. Again, let me underline that no other company has any sort of ownership of or ability to control Onyx Path.

Also, Eddy Webb does not own Onyx Path, or even part of it. Because I’ve heard that rumor, too. He owns Pugsteady, which is a very good company all on its own.

M20 Book of the Fallen art by Michael Gaydos

“But you do own Exalted, right?”

Nope. Exalted, Chronicles of Darkness, and the World of Darkness books that White Wolf/Paradox allows us to publish under license still belong to them.

Beyond the fact of WW‘s ownership of those IPs, what that means for you noble readers and players is that Onyx Path has limits as to what we can publish based on what the owners of the game lines are comfortable with us publishing. For example, we get a lot of this sort of question:

“Why won’t you make Hunter The Reckoning, Demon: The Fallen, or, OMG, Mummy 20th Anniversary Editions?

And the reason is: we would – if it was cool with White Wolf/Paradox. Unless they give the OK, about these or any of the books we publish under the license with them, we have no legal right to just put out a book. This has been true for us going back to when CCP granted Onyx Path the license, so it’s not something nefarious, just how this license works.

The Realms of Pugmire game lines, Cavaliers of Mars, Dystopia Rising: Evolution, and Legendlore, are also licensed lines as well, with different sorts of contracts that specify different things as part of their terms.

The game lines we own, and therefore have a much wider latitude on how the lines develop, are: Scion, Scarred Lands, They Came From Beneath the Sea! and the Trinity Continuum. Without outside approvals, we can move a lot faster with our decisions as to what projects to do next, and how fast, and in what order, and where they are sold, and, well, just everything.

So if it seems like you’re hearing and seeing a lot more hoopla about our owned lines lately, that’s a huge part of the reason: we can just decide on Scion Pantheon Journals in a meeting Monday, and they can go on sale on RedBubble on Wednesday.

By Jove! That’s actually what’s happening this week! What a coincidence!

TC: Aeon Distant Worlds art by Sam Denmark

“You didn’t announce anything new at GenCon, and the First Draft section is getting kind of thin. What’s up? You guys out of ideas?”

Far from it! I think the Project Progress section here on the blog can be, or at least, has been, misleading in this regard. What we’ve had happening for the past year or year and a half, has been a kind of bloat brought on by us finally finishing a bunch of old Kickstarter and other projects, and being up-to-date on current Kickstarter and other projects.

Plus, we have multiple pitches that we’ve been waiting to hear on – relating to my notes above about approvals from our Licensors. Doesn’t make sense for us to get writers started until the projects have been given the green light.

Most importantly, we’ve several bigger projects still under wraps: from working out just what we want to do all the way to finishing the outlines for writers. For example, now that we ran the Trinity Continuum: Aberrant KS, we’re working on TC: Adventure! and actively discussing how to bring all that’s awesome about a pulp-genre setting to modern audiences, while dealing with the more problematic aspects of the time period.

Oh yes, there are still many games we want to create and we are all set to develop more projects for our:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

Kickstarter!

Keep an eye out in this space as well as on our social media for the Deviant: The Renegades Kickstarter that will be launching after August wraps up!

Onyx Path Media!

This Friday’s Onyx Pathcast features our Terrific Trio deep in anticipatory antics about upcoming games they’re excited about!

Today in the media we’re mainly going to talk about our Twitch channel! As you can see from the schedule, we have games planned for Scion, Pugmire, TC: Aberrant, Scarred Lands, Vampire, and there’s so much more to come! Please do check us out and if you have an Amazon Prime account, and aren’t already subscribed to a Twitch channel, you can subscribe to ours for free for exclusive content! Here’s the channel for you, and thank you so much for keeping up with our content: https://www.twitch.tv/theonyxpath/

And if you missed it, here’s episode zero of Paws & Claws, our Pugmire actual play on the Twitch channel: https://youtu.be/Y519d9Cmx7g

We have of course produced videos beyond that, including this video here where Matthew asks for your They Came From ideas: https://youtu.be/ek8x-eoJ2Tc

And the Onyx Path News went live today. Find the link to today’s episode here: https://youtu.be/XE1kAsRYIJw Matthew talks all about new releases, Kickstarter, Backerkit, community content, our media, and his favourite authors!

We’d be remiss if we didn’t promote some of our favorites too. As our main focus is on our own Twitch today, we’re going to point you in the direction of only a couple more channels, but the big list of streams will return next week!

Here’s Occultists Anonymous (who are also appearing on our Twitch channel) with their Mage: The Awakening actual play: Episode 36: After emerging from Atratus’ soul and getting a frenzied call from Mammon, Wyrd the Seer and Songbird investigate their cabalmate’s disappearance. https://youtu.be/GopIcUu-rAU

And the excellent Story Told Podcast continues their superb Dragon-Blooded actual play here, so do tune in if you’re interested in Exalted: http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/fall-of-jiara-episode-12

Drop Matthew a message via the contact button on matthewdawkins.com if you have actual plays, reviews, or game overviews you want us to profile on the blog!

Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!

Electronic Gaming!

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)

On Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these fiction books:

Our Sales Partners!

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scarred Lands (Pathfinder) books are also on sale at Studio2, and they have the 5e version, supplements, and dice as well!: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/scarred-lands

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And NOW Scion Origin and Scion Hero are available to order!

As always, you can find most of Onyx Path’s titles at DriveThruRPG.com!

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, we’re offering a selection of Scion pantheon themed journals on our RedBubble store!

Conventions!

Save Against Fear: October 12th – 14th GameHoleCon: October 31st – November 3rd PAX Unplugged: December 6th – 8th 2020: Midwinter: January 9th – 12th

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad (Scarred Lands)

Vigil Watch (Scarred Lands)

Pirates of Pugmire KS-Added Adventure (Realms of Pugmire)

Player’s Guide to the Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness)

Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Redlines

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Wraith20 Fiction Anthology (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Second Draft

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Titanomachy (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Development

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Creatures of the World Bestiary (Scion 2nd Edition)

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Manuscript Approval

Geist 2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Creatures of the World Bestiary (Scion 2nd Edition)

Oak, Ash, and Thorn: Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

W20 Shattered Dreams Gift Cards (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

W20 Art Book (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

Post-Approval Development

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

V5 Chicago Screen (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Let the Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Editing

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

TC: Aeon Ready-Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)

Chicago Folio/Dossier (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

Post-Editing Development

Memento Mori (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e Companion)

DR:E Threat Guide – Helnau’s Guide to Wasteland Beasties (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

DR:E Jumpstart (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

Heroic Land Dwellers (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Pirates of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Indexing

ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!

In Art Direction

Contagion Chronicle

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant

Hunter: The Vigil 2e

Ex3 Lunars – Contracted.

They Came from Beneath the Sea! – Contracted. Sketches already coming in.

TCfBtS!: Heroic Land Dwellers – Contracted. LeBlanc doing the splats.

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed – Thinking I throw a bunch of this at Vince and Trabbold.

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

DR:E Threat Guide – Helnau’s Guide to Wasteland Beasties – Michele is doing the critters.

Deviant (KS) – Contracted.

Trinity RMCs – Getting Riley on these this week.

Cults of the Blood God (KS) – Mark is in to do fulls and cover.

Chicago Folio – Lemme see who I got left post KS art buy for Cults. I am gonna try to get Paul Lee to do the fulls.

Mummy 2 (KS) – Got Matthew’s notes.

In Layout

CoM – Witch Queen of the Shadowed Citadel

Dark Eras 2 – Files with Aileen

Trinity Continuum Aeon: Distant Worlds

VtR Spilled Blood – For Josh.

DR:E Jumpstart

Aeon Aexpansion

Proofing

C20 Cup of Dreams

V5: Chicago – Inputting errata.

Geist 2e – XX’s and then Indexing.

Signs of Sorcery – Inputting errata.

M20 Book of the Fallen

DR: E – Inputting errata.

At Press

Dragon Blooded – Deluxe at Studio2, shipping.

Dragon-Blooded Cloth Map – At Studio2, shipping.

Dragon-Blooded Screen – Shipped to Studio2, shipping.

Trinity Core Screen – At Studio2.

TC Aeon Screen – At Studio2.

Trinity: In Media Res – PoD proofs coming.

Trinity Core – Printing.

Trinity Aeon – Printing.

Shunned By the Moon – PoD proof ordered.

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

Born on this date in 1921 – Gene Roddenberry, who, love him or leave him, got Star Trek on the air and set the stage for many, many, folks’ first introduction to science fiction – and utopian science fiction at that! Plus, because why not, this is also the birthday of William Marshall in 1924, who appeared on Star Trek as Professor Richard Daystrom, and whose amazing voice graced us as both Blackula and the King of Cartoons! Also, to continue the Star Trek theme: in 1938, Diana Muldaur, who appeared on both the Original Series, and on STtNG as Dr. Pulaski, was born, and last but not the least likely to get it on on an alien planet, William T. Riker’s portrayer, Jonathan Frakes, was born in 1952. (Bill Clinton was also born on this date in 1946, and while we all know he’d give Riker a run for his money, he was never on Star Trek – just a US President.)

[toonsforkicks22]

The Heart that Smarts (Unikitty! fic)

WARNING: Slight Lego Movie 2 spoilers in this! 

_________

CRASH!

The beaker hit the floor, covering it of glass shards and possibly radioactive slime. The one responsible for the mess didn’t even flinch, nor even noticed as a couple of robots arrived on the scene to clean it up.

Dr. Fox stared into space, her green eyes filling the specs of her glasses as it all began to dawn on her. The realization hit her like that meteor she theorized had been made of gumball. (1) However, unlike that, the vixen knew she was certainly not wrong about this.

“I’m in love with him...” she murmured to herself, failing to notice the two robots behind her trying to fight off a giant green tentacle emerging from the floor as caused by the spilled chemical contents.

“We got a situation here!” one of them cried, trying to beat the abomination away with a broom.

“Oh, man, this is so gross!” the other exclaimed, entangled by said tentacle.

Once again, Dr Fox didn’t even hear them. Her mind drifted to all the possible ways she could have figured these feelings out sooner.

Hawkodile, the embodiment of strength, kindness, and especially friendship. And she was in love with her best friend!

“How could I not have figured this out sooner?” she exclaimed, her eyes sparkling, squeezing her cheeks in an ecstatic grin while her lab was falling apart behind her.

While more robots fought and attacked the now growing tentacle monster with every weapon they had, the female fox reflected on every memory that gave her a reason for these sudden feelings.

He always put his life on the line for his friends, especially for her.

He fought a videogame platform in order to rescue her (and didn’t seem the least bit mad as Richard when it was revealed to be just a simulation for just in case they really did get attacked by actual game characters). (2)

Whenever she was tired or sick, he would always offer a warm, comforting hand on her shoulder (or her mouth in case she was on the verge of puking).

He would drop his seriousness to have fun with her and the others. And take pride in being dorky and adorable about it (or ‘adorkable’ as Dr. Fox liked to use sometimes).

He would do anything to impress his friends and make himself worthy, even if it was obviously unnecessary. She still remembered when he impersonated a robot and would have gotten himself killed by her combat machine if she hadn’t intervened. (3)

And out of any of them, Hawkodile seemed to always turn to Dr. Fox for aid. She recalled that one time when his sparkle matters were getting out of control on account of having a secret crush. (4) Or maybe she might have thrown herself into assisting him since it was all for science and saving her best friend, she wasn’t sure. But all the genius knew was that Hawkodile’s crush on whoever was over (she couldn’t remember if it had been the flower store owner FeeBee or someone else in the Unikingdom). Guess he and that person he used to crush on just didn’t work.

But she and Hawkodile, they were the perfect team! And Dr. Fox was already deliberating how they would become the perfect couple!

“I love him!” she cried, practically deaf to the ongoing explosions of the lab as the robot servants stressed an ongoing battle with the monster.

“Fire the torpedoes!” one of them shouted.

Emitting a girlish scream, Dr. Fox danced out of her lab, leaving behind a larger mess for the servants to clean up. _____

Upon realizing these newfound feelings, Dr. Fox spread her news across the kingdom. She wanted to tell everyone that she was in love with her best friend, before eventually telling Hawkodile. She wanted to prepare the entire universe for their love!

At the flower shop, FeeBee was just arranging vase of flowers she just picked. Just as they were looking perfect, the décor popped right at her face, along with Dr. Fox’s wide-eyed expression.

“I’m in love with him!” Dr. Fox cried, receiving a rather terrified smile and nod from FeeBee. ~

Craig the moose farmer (5) watched as her vegetables were on the verge of growing. She grinned from antler to antler as all her hard work was finally going to pay off.

“Almost there!” she encouraged lovingly as she saw the leaves lift, and the first patches of red were emerging. “After months of hard labor, I’ll finally grow the perfect tomatoes!”

As said vegetables began to form at her anticipation, they met an unexpected end. Craig’s smile fell instantly as “homemade ketchup” splattered all over her face, leaving behind the remains of what could have been a beautiful creation.

Face pale, she could only stare at Dr. Fox, who hardly even noticed her tiny feet had been responsible. The latter just grinned at the now distressed moose farmer.

“I’m in love with him!” the scientist cried.

As she dashed off, the farmer fell to her knees and screamed at the sky demanding why it had to happen to the tomatoes and not her.

~

Bim-bom gazed at a store that was selling delicious sandwiches, practically drooling at the sight. Just as she was about to make the choice of having all the choices, she nearly screamed as Dr. Fox slammed her face against the glass from the inside.

“I’m in love with him!” the vixen exclaimed happily, eyes sparkling as much as they did back at the lab.

“Oh, honey, that’s great!” the green garbage bag (or possibly a dumpling) congratulated. (6) “You go after your love! I should know! Because, uh...”

Her beady eyes quickly shifted left and right before they stopped in a certain direction.

“There’s the guy I’m in love with too!” Bim-bom exclaimed, pointing toward the first person she spotted.

Across the street was Toaster, who stopped the moment he noticed Bim-bom was gesturing his way. Toast immediately popped up from his brother’s head, wondering what was going on. (7)

“Wait, what?” the slice of tan bread questioned aloud.

“Uh, which one?” Dr. Fox asked in confusion.

Bim-bom’s mind wracked nervously. “Um, uh...both of them!” she exclaimed.

Toast and Toaster just stared at her.

“Wait, what is she talking abo-AAAAAHHHH!”

The Toast Bros quickly high-tailed it in the other direction as Bim-bom began to chase them.

“Don’t be embarrassed!” the desperate-for-love woman cried. “I love you both equally! We can make this work!” ~

In their apartment, Brock and Master Frown sat on the couch, watching TV. Suddenly from beneath the cushions popped out Dr. Fox, startling Master Frown, not so much Brock who merely smiled in greeting.

“I’m in love with him!” Dr. Fox exclaimed, not caring that she was admitting this to the person that strove to cause misery throughout the kingdom.

“Gross!” Master Frown scoffed in disgust.

“Oh, dude!” Brock exclaimed with genuine happiness for his friend. “Congratulations! Who’s the lucky dude?”

“Hawkodile!” the genius vixen announced, her sparkle matter increasing and littering the apartment much to Master Frown’s annoyance.

“Sweet!” the laid-back gray figure said.

“Love is a suckers’ bet for suckers!” Master Frown spat. “It ain’t gonna work!”

“Dude, not cool!” Brock scolded him.

But Dr. Fox didn’t even hear the maker of misery, her thoughts for the guy she was in love with screamed louder. _______

Returning to the castle, Dr. Fox was still as energetic as she had been throughout the kingdom. The moment she bursted through the doors, they slammed right into Richard who had been carrying dishes. Every single plate hit the floor, making more work for the floating brick. He merely sighed, adding the task of ordering new dishes on his list.

“Hello, Dr. Fox,” he spoke in his usual monotone. “You seem to be in some kind of mood, according to what the citizens have been reporting out of fear and concern for their lives.”

“Oh, it’s more than just a mood!” the vixen exclaimed as she gave a little twirl.

Unikitty and Puppycorn approached them, having heard the noise from the other room.

“What’s going on?” the dog prince asked curiously.

“Yeah, you seem even happier than you usually are, Dr. Fox,” the ruler of the Unikingdom noted. “Nearly as happy as me, and I’m always super happy!”

“Guys!” Dr. Fox expressed excitedly. “I’m in love with Hawkodile!”

Both Unikitty and Puppycorn gasped in amazement, sparkle matter sprinkling from their heads like confetti. They gazed at the kingdom’s scientist, overcome with as much surprise and joy as she had been expressing the entire time. Richard did not share in the elation like he usually did with anything in general. However, his usually sullen expression altered a bit, his brows knitting in concern.

“That’s great!” Unikitty squealed, engulfing Dr. Fox in a hug.

“When are you gonna tell him?” Puppycorn asked, bouncing excitedly.

“Right now!” the genius vixen declared.

“Dr. Fox, I don’t think that would be such a great idea right now,” the brick tried to reason gently.

“Oh, nonsense!” the scientist brushed off. “When have any of my ideas ever been not great?”

Richard gave her his usual taciturn expression, not bothering to answer that.

As she marched to find the man responsible for these lovey-dovey feelings, the royal siblings followed in pursuit, giggling and laughing along with their fox friend. Richard strayed behind, the look of uncertainty never leaving his face. ______

As they headed toward Hawkodile’s dojo, Dr. Fox chattered about all the things she and the bodyguard would do once she confessed her feelings and they became a couple.

“...and after we go to dinner and see a movie, I’ll build us a rocket that’ll send us over the moon!” she added. “It’s scientifically possible!”

“How romantic!” Unikitty said in awe, heart-shaped sparkle matter popping from her head matching the same as the one coming from her eyes.

“Dr. Fox, I really think this isn’t the best time right now,” Richard, once again, tried to reason with her.

“Of course it’s the best time!” Unikitty argued with him. “How could it not be the best time? Our friend Dr. Fox is in love with our friend Hawkodile! What’s the problem with that?”

Before Richard could respond, she pressed against him as she swooned at the thought of the event that was yet to unfold.

“Because there is no problem!” she said with a dreamy sigh. “The two were meant for each other, and most definitely nothing could stand in their way of love!”

Richard sighed. “Look, Dr. Fox, you have to understand-”

But the scientist ignored him once again. Her orange cheeks blushed like the tomatoes she stepped on earlier. Nearing the flaps of the tent-like dojo where their bodyguard friend spent most of his time, she bit her lip to contain another squeal. The others rallied behind her, Richard still looking worried.

“Go for it, Dr. Fox!” Unikitty encouraged.

“Yeah, go for it!” Puppycorn rooted.

“I really, really think this is not a good time right now...” Richard tried to convince to no avail.

Unable to contain herself any longer, Dr. Fox bursted into the dojo, her green eyes bright as the shades of the wonderful guy she was about to confess her feelings for.

“Hawkodile, I have something to tell you!” she said with euphoria.

However, the smile that once shined throughout the kingdom dropped instantly. The party behind her, who had been chanting her name beforehand, stood behind the vixen and gasped. Only Richard remained unfazed, albeit slightly guilty.

Hawkodile, having not heard his friends enter the dojo, was hunched over, arms wrapped around something that seem to clung to his ever-rippling biceps. His lips were doing quite the workout, followed by gruff moaning. Such a sound only got more heavy as he gave all his time and energy to this one moment in particular.

It wasn’t just him moaning. An equally expressive and feminine tone voiced pleasure as well, another pair of lips copying his workout.

Dr. Fox just stood there in disbelief, questioning everything in the universe right now. Behind her Unikitty and Puppycorn were unsure of what to do except just watch. Richard merely gave a defeated sigh.

Hawkodile’s wings flapped upon sensing a new presence in his dojo. He quickly adjusted his head, lips still occupied. His eyes/shades widened before quickly pulling away from whom he was having a wonderful session with.

“Oh, uh, hey!” the hybrid bodyguard greeted awkwardly, a protective arm around the person who had enjoyed what Dr. Fox had hoped would have been her moment.

She was a fair-skinned woman with wavy blonde hair, eyes a brighter green than even Dr. Fox’s. She was adorned in a pink princess-style dress complete with a matching fuchsia cape.

“Uh...” Hawkodile began shyly. “You guys remember Susan, right?”

“Hey,” the blonde woman greeted with a wave.

Before Dr. Fox could even utter a word, it was Unikitty who spoke.

“Well, of course we know Susan!” the princess exclaimed rather excitedly. “Who we thought was Queen Whatevra Wa’Nabi but actually isn’t! Who’s really nice and sweet and cute and helped us bring the Systar System and Apocalypseburg together after Armamageddon and make what is now the totally cool and totally cute place that is now Syspocalypsestar!That Susan!” (8)

Said woman gave a bashful smile as she leaned into Hawkodile, who blushed and gave a relieved chuckle. As Unikitty gushed over her, with her brother looking equally excited, no one noticed the broken expression on Dr. Fox’s face.

Except for Richard.

“Told you it wasn’t the best time,” he said, any form of smugnesshidden under his usual sullen personality. _______

NOTE: Those numbers in parenthesis you’ve seen throughout the story are citation-like thingies. Down below are explanations to those who might wonder about certain things and characters mentioned, just in case some people haven’t seen all the episodes or know any characters besides the main cast. :)

(1)From episode “Lab Cat”

(2)From episode “The Zone”

(3)From episode “Brawl Bot”

(4)From episode “Crushing Defeat”; FeeBee made a good appearance in that

(5)Craig the farmer is best recognized from the episode “Kaiju Kitty” (and yes, Craig’s a female)

(6)Bim-bom’s personality and given description is best shown in the episode “Unikitty News”

(7)Toaster and Toast can best be seen in the episode “Little Prince Puppycorn”

(8)Susan was inThe Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

[getoutofthisplace]

Dear Gus,

Today is my 37th birthday. What follows is the detailed account I posted to Facebook of how I spent the day, but I left out the part where after my meeting and before we started filming, I ducked into the conference room to see the Fayetteville engineers being introduced to the tinker kit the North Little Rock engineers opened up yesterday.

I wake up at the Courtyard Marriott in Fayetteville. It is dark. I reach for the bedside table and feel around for my phone, which lights up. My background image pictures Gus sitting in Liz’s lap. He looks older in the photo than he is in real life. Liz looks as beautiful as she is in real life. It’s 4:45am on the dot because that’s when Gus has been waking me up lately. It takes me a while to go back to sleep, but I think I finally crash at 5:30, and wake up to my alarm at 6:45. While I shower, I listen to The Cure Radio on my phone, which stops suddenly. I peek through the clear shower curtain to see that Liz is calling me. The music comes back when she hangs up. I dry off and call her back.

“Happy birthday!” she says. And then we talk about the sleep we got and didn’t get the night before. We talk about what Gus ate in the previous 24 hours. And while we talk I stare at myself in the mirror, trying to identify the differences in my body at 37 years old versus when I was in my 20s. I don’t remember my body from my 20s anymore. I try to convince myself I look exactly the same.

“Have a good day,” Liz says, “I love you.”

I get dressed and make my way downstairs to cash in my breakfast voucher for toast, bacon, fruit, and two eggs.

“How would you like your eggs cooked?” the woman behind the counter asks.

“Over-medium.” I used to ask for my eggs to be cooked over-easy, but it occurred to me last year that I have probably been ordering them that way out of habit for decades. I actually like my eggs cooked over-medium. The fascinating thing about this change in my egg order is that it hasn’t affected any change in the way my eggs are actually cooked. It turns out, most people in the kitchen don’t know how to make eggs over-medium. All of those egg orders never actually mattered, it seems. I was always going to get the same eggs, no matter the order.

I sit with Bryan Stafford and eat my breakfast while he drinks his coffee and we discuss an email we earlier that will likely mean we will soon head to Dallas to do what it is that we do. We work for a 100-year-old engineering firm that—among other things—pays us to make short videos. I write them, Bryan films them, and we direct them together. We’re a good team.

We drive over to the office and I make my rounds to say hello to the people I know and like in our Fayetteville office while Bryan unloads gear. I find an empty office and respond to emails. I run a quarterly conference call between the company’s 26 offices. Sometimes I worry that people are saying “Guy’s call is terrible. I dread it every quarter.” But I feel like if people are saying that, there is someone else close that will say, “At least he keeps it short.” On the call yesterday, though, I got worried the call would unravel when a lot of people wanted to spend time ribbing the guy in our Huntsville, Alabama office about the Clemson game. I am kind of proud of myself for steering the ship beyond that quickly.

I have another call at 10:45 about Bryan and I having to go to Dallas. We solidify our plans. After the call, Bryan and I don’t say anything to each other, and it occurs to me that we are both texting our respective wives about our impending absence.

“Liz isn’t going to like this,” I say.

“Yeah, my wife and I are sending our youngest to college and it looks like she’s going to get a little me-time in her first week with an empty nest.”

But in the end, our wives are very tolerant of our work's demands. They know who they married and how we operate.

“This is a really nice chair,” I say to Bryan. “I wish my chair in North Little Rock was this comfortable.” And then we stand up. We have a busy day.

While Bryan starts setting up for our afternoon video shoot, I take the elevator down to my truck. I need to dress our CEO up like a 15-year-old for the video. The night before, I picked him up a flat-billed Fayettechill hat, but I need to find him some kind of bright-colored jacket to complete his ensemble.

“Do you have any more of these in the back?” I ask a purple-haired girl at Hot Topic at the mall. “I need a medium, if you have it.” The jacket in question is covered in loud colors and Japanese logographs and appears to reference Dragonball Z. But when the girl comes back, she tells me they don’t have any more.

I find a store called The Geek Realms that looks like it will be gone in three weeks. Nothing is organized. “Hello,” a voice says from an unidentified place. I look around but don’t see anyone, so I simply respond loudly to a neverending rack of stickers in the middle of the store—“Hello.” I gravitate toward a clothing rack of hoodies. I find one that is an outer space print that says “I’m a dreamer” across the chest. I can’t decide if that one is better than the one that has a giant white lion’s face across the front. I buy them both.

I have 45 minutes to grab lunch before I’m due back to the office for another meeting. I want sushi. I go to Kobe, a Japanese place across the street from my hotel and bypass the line at the host stand to sit at the bar. I order the chirashi bowl and a water, and I try to order food to-go for Bryan and Laura, but the server says I can order it when I’m halfway finished with my meal. I am in a hurry and want to order it immediately so I don’t have to wait later, but I don’t insist. I don't want to be an asshole. I trust the server knows what she’s doing.

The chirashi is really good. I order Bryan the teriyaki chicken and Laura a chicken avocado salad. I pay my tab and finish my meal. The to-go orders aren’t ready yet. I have to wait. I am going to be late to my meeting with the three most powerful leaders at my place of employment. The server tells me the kitchen got slammed and so things are taking longer than normal. I make a mental note to insist that I order when I want to the next time I’m in this situation. If this were a major restaurant chain, I would start preparing my email to them.

I beat two of the three executives to my meeting, even though I'm a few minutes late. The meeting goes well, but it runs long and I worry our video shoot is going to run long. I worry we won’t be able to finish tonight and I’ll have to spend another night in Fayetteville. But we eventually start filming and it is fun to see the script I wrote come to life.

Everyone has to fight the urge to laugh on camera because we are doing something fun and funny. Our CEO is wearing the white lion hoodie. These are the days when I love my job.

We wrap up around 4:30pm. I sit down to my laptop and respond to emails while Bryan starts packing up gear. Our CEO usually leaves the costume items I buy for him, but after he changes clothes this time, he doubles back to grab the hat, the outer space shirt, and the white lion hoodie. It makes me laugh to think that he liked those clothes, that he might one day wear them in the future. Also, I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t get to keep that hoodie.

I say goodbye to Bryan, who will stay in Fayetteville another night to accompany his son to orientation at the university in the morning. I take the elevator down to my truck and head toward the interstate back to North Little Rock.

Liz calls. She has just picked up Gus from school. I can hear him in the background. She was worried I’d be late, but for the past month we’ve been sharing our locations with each other via our phones. She checked it and was relieved to see my little dot is on the road home. She asks if she should plan on me being home for dinner, but I tell her I’ll grab something on the way.

I end up at a place called Crosswoods just off the interstate in Clarksville. The restaurant’s website showcased bright photos and referenced the chef by name, but when I got there, it looked like a strip club from the outside. Inside, there are pool tables and two men at the bar, one of whom is wearing orange camouflage. I sit down at the bar beside the video crack machine and the puffy-faced 22-year-old dude behind the bar says, “Can I help you?” in a way that suggests he gained his hospitality industry training while pouring concrete for the new local motel.

Before I arrived, I planned to order a salad, but upon seeing the place, I feel like the "chef" is probably best suited to prepare meat and potatoes, so I order a steak with twice baked potatoes. For my second side, I ask the puffy-faced kid what he likes, to which he replies, “The green beans are pretty good,” so I go with that.

Duke and Wake Forest are on the television. The man in the camouflage hat asks me who my team is, and I tell him the Little Rock Trojans. The man said his dad had graduated from UALR, but he likes the Razorbacks. “Everybody does,” I say. The man lived in North Little Rock a long time ago, but then he moved to Pope County, and now he’s been in Johnson County for 22 or 23 years. He looks at the puffy-faced kid who is handing him another Busch can--unopened, strangely--and the man in camouflage says, “Long enough to want to leave, but too long to actually do it, you know. Nothing to do here.” I nod in some kind of false solidarity.

I pay my bill and walk out. No one says anything to me. I finish disc 10 of 13 of my audiobook of Watership Down just as I roll into the Shell station in Park Hill, a couple of miles from my house. It is just after 8pm and I can barely keep my eyes open. I go to bed before 9pm these days.

When I pull into the driveway, I turn the truck off and sit in silence for a few seconds. I am tired. I walk in the front door, my dog Suki meets me immediately and gyrates with excitement. The house is quiet, Liz has already put Gus to bed. She’s on the couch studying. I let Suki out the back door and kiss Liz. “Happy birthday,” she tells me again. I unpack my bag and brush my teeth.

“Are you going to bed?” Liz asks.

“I think so,” I say. And I walk to our bedroom, lie down in bed, make a couple of moves in the Open Face Chinese Poker game I play for a quarter a point against my cousin John and my friend Barrett, and I fall asleep quickly. This is who I am at 37 years old.

Dad

Fayetteville, Arkansas. 1.8.2019 - 1.46pm.