#i violently need that rainbow cake

[discount-shades]

Sleepy Baby Part 5

a/n: I am super flattered by how many people have liked this little story.

Pairing: Jake “Hangman” Seresin / Reader

Warnings: Cursing

Word Count: 1700 ish

Summary: Jake has thoughts about you.

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In late afternoon Jake parks his truck at Belmont Park Amusement park, he goes to run around the vehicle to open your door but you are already out and looking up at the roller coaster over the entrance. “So… um… this is probably a good time for me to tell you that I will vomit on any ride more exciting than a ferris wheel.” You look sheepish and he is crestfallen. He had been sure you would love the amusement park. 

“Do you want to go somewhere else?” He is never this nervous taking women on dates. There is something about you that is different. Something that makes his heart beat faster, that makes him willing to agree with anything you say just to get another smile from your lips. 

“No, there is enough here to keep me entertained,” you say with a grin as you take his hand and begin pulling him toward the entrance. “And as long as I stay on the ground no one will see my lunch.”

Once inside he stops and pulls you into him. “I should have checked if you liked rides before bringing you here.” He looks into your eyes trying to get a read on how you are feeling and you just smile at him. “Are you sure you don’t want to go somewhere else?” 

”Jake, it’s fine,” you say, squeezing his hand. “But If you feel bad you can win me the most obnoxiously large stuffed animal here,” you nod toward a giant rainbow unicorn hanging over the balloon pop game. 

“It’s yours.” he says and drags you over to the game laughing.

“Jake, these games are rigged.” You watch as he puts money down for the darts and begins throwing. After he pops the first few balloons easily you change your tactic. “Jake, I don't need a giant rainbow unicorn I was kidding.” He keeps throwing the darts and balloons keep popping. He turns to you, grinning at your shocked expression.

“Your prize.” he says as he hands you the unicorn. With the unicorn in your arms he can only see the top of your head.

“I can’t believe you won me a giant unicorn.” Your voice is muffled from behind the animal. “I’m going to have to win you something now!” Jake is smiling fondly until you shove the unicorn back into his arms and he gets a mouthful of rainbow mane. 

“Do I get my own unicorn?” he jokes as you begin to walk up the midway games. 

“You are going to have to settle for a lesser prize,” you grin over your shoulder at him as he follows you. “I don’t have your skills.”

“I have you as my prize, nothing can top that.” He grins at your pressed together lips. It is one of the faces you make when he flirts outrageously at you. You trying not to laugh is his favorite expression of yours. 

You finally select Whack-a-mole and pay for your turn.

“Should you be playing this game?” Jake grins down at you from around the unicorn. “I mean it is rather violent, at least hangman is only on paper.” 

You laugh and wave the mallet under his nose. “Watch it, Sleepy Baby, I'm the one with the mallet.” You turn back and begin to play the game grinning at every hit. You have an intense focus as you smash the mallet on the board and he loves how seriously you are taking the game. Once you win he chooses a plush kissy emoji, smiling widely as you roll your eyes at him grinning. He has changed his mind, his favorite expression of yours is the grinning eye roll.

You are carrying your unicorn and Jake is carrying his emoji when you see the funnel cakes. “I love my unicorn but in hindsight I feel like we should have waited until the end of the night. Because now one of us has to carry this thing around all night.” You are staring at the funnel cakes in longing. 

Jake offers to run the unicorn back to the truck for the rest of the evening. You get in line for the funnel cakes while he does. When he returns he finds that you have bought a funnel cake for each of you. “I’ll share a lot of things,” you tell him seriously, handing his funnel cake over, “but not funnel cakes.”

After funnel cakes you insist on the House of Mirrors Maze. “Ok, no hands.” You are standing behind him and you grab one of his hands in each of yours as he walks through the entrance. 

“What?” He looks over his shoulder to where you are standing behind him. “Without my hands I'm going to be walking into the mirrors!”

You lace your fingers through his and step closer behind him. “That's the point! Every time you hit a mirror we switch and then you can hold my hands while I walk into the mirrors.” You are grinning up at him with a mischievous look. And he knows he would walk through a lot more than a house of mirrors to keep that smile on your face.

You take turns walking first through the maze. Jake finds himself grinning how every time you hit the mirror you curse then start giggling while leaning back into his chest. You always run around behind him for his turn and end up following too close so that every time he hits a mirror you bump into his back and end up leaning against him shaking with suppressed laughter at his curses. If he is honest, the feeling of you pressed against him is worth repeatedly walking into his own reflection. 

You are leading and nearing the exit when a little boy who looks about three comes running around the corner and runs headlong into his own reflection. Jake can feel more than hear you let out a choked gasp of shock and laughter. He can tell you are about to check on the child before the kid gets up and looks at his reflection in the mirror he just crashed into.

“MOTHER FUCKERS IN MY WAY!” The kid's voice rings through the maze and his parents rush to check on him.

At the child’s shout Jake can feel you begin to shake as your laughter bubbles out of you. You are desperately trying to stop but every time you look at the child you dissolve in giggles again. Jake hastily apologies to the couple who are now glaring at you. He gently guides you out of the maze. You are laughing so hard you are crying and lean heavily on Jake as he leads you out. 

Once outside, Jake sits you on a bench and watches as you take deep shaky breaths as you try to stop laughing. Closing your eyes you periodically giggle as you get control of your laughter. Jake watches your lip tremble in laughter and decides that this is his favorite part of you. Not you laughing at children falling. But your unbridled joy in everything. How you are equally happy with a unicorn, or playing whack-a-mole, or walking into your own reflection. 

“So kids crashing,” he asks, “that's your peak comedy?” 

You start giggling again. “It wasn't just the crash.” You say before dissolving into giggles again. “It was how offended he sounded when he swore!” Jake can't help but laugh with you.

The rest of the evening passes quickly. He easily beats you at mini golf. Jake can't tell if you are really that bad at golf or if the fact that you keep muttering, “mother fuckers in my way,” every time you hit an obstacle and giggling to yourself has thrown off your game.

After mini golf you decide to call it a night and walk back to his truck. When you get to the passenger door you see the unicorn buckled into the front passenger seat. “Oh no,” Jake says in mock dismay, “I guess you will have to sit in the middle next to me.” He takes your hand and leads you around to his door before helping you onto the bench seat in the middle of his truck. 

“You're good, Jake.” You smile up at him as he sits beside you. “You are very good.”

“I’m too good to be true.” He smiles down at you as he puts the truck into drive. 

“Let’s hope not.“ your reply comes out almost a whisper. He frowns slightly at your response but doesn’t say anything. 

“I had fun today.” You tell him as you rest your head is on his shoulder as he pulls out of the parking lot. “Thanks for not making me go on any rides.”

“It was still fun without them and I wouldn't make you do something you didn’t want to,” he says. “Rides aren't worth you getting sick.”

You smile and hold his hand as you doze off and he rests his hand on your knee, sweeping his thumb across the soft skin. Everything about the last two days have been perfect, from finding you, to the time he spent with you today. 

When he gets to your house he gently wakes you with a kiss to the forehead. “You're home, Beautiful,” he says softly.

You lift your head and let him help you out of the truck. “You’re always waking me up today, Baby.” You smile sleepily as he walks you to your door carrying your unicorn in one arm while holding your hand with the other. When you get to the door Jake kisses the hand that he is holding before releasing you. 

He watches you unlock your door before handing you the unicorn. “Goodnight, Kisses.” He says as he walks backward toward his truck, not wanting to push you.

“Hey Jake, you said ‘Goodnight, Kisses’ and you are leaving me without a goodnight kiss!” You call after him frowning. “What's up with that?”

Jake grins and walks back to you. He loves the way your frown turns into a grin at his return. ”My mistake,” he says leaning in to kiss you but with you holding the unicorn he can’t reach your lips. “Mother fuckers in my way.” He mutters causing you to laugh and toss the unicorn through the open doorway. 

When you turn back to him he gently cups your cheek before kissing you. You sigh and lean into him with your hands on his chest and he smiles and deepens the kiss. When he leans back your eyes are closed and your kiss swollen lips are smiling. 

This is definitely his favorite expression on you. 

“Goodnight, Kisses.” he says before giving you one more quick kiss and walking to his truck. He watches you head inside with the ridiculous rainbow unicorn and drives home with a smile on his face.  

[princess-of-the-corner]

Once Again, More Fanfic Quotes! Now with Bonus Quotes from DC Comics!

Thermostat: Izuku only likes me for my body.

Tamaki: that sounds a bit risqué

Thermostat: I meant literally.

Thermostat: the side he stands on depends on the weather.

*

A Special Boy: Can I just interrupt to say that I hate when people leave trans people out of the LGBT community? Like what do you think T stands for, triceratops?

jackoff: tricycle

eight feet: tango

Cake Boss: tiramisu

cha cha real smooth: teammate

me me big boy: tetsutetsu

barry benson: tETSTUTETSU

sword lesbian: The triceratops named Tetsutetsu that liked to tango, rides on a tricycle, eats tiramisu and is a true teammate

*

RIDLEY QUEEN: *bakugou voice* welcome tO FUCKING FLAVORTOWN

*

Kirishima: *holds knife, and is about to start cutting the carrots diagonally*

Katsuki: Hand that the fuck over, right now.

*

Katsuki: …wait attention that isn’t annoyance or frustration is a thing? People actually do that shit?

Kirishima: …bro are you ok?

*

OzaiAndUrsa'sLovechild: murder :)

HereComesDatBoi: Agreed :)

GreenOverlord: guys no!

OrangeJuiceGoVroom: i agree.

GreenOverlord: thanks Iida!

OrangeJuiceGoVroom: oh no i was agreeing with them. Definite yes on the murder.

*

“Alright, what have we got?” Momo asked as he closed the door to her room behind him. 

“Smoke inhalation.” [Bakugou] told her. “I’ve got smoke inhalation.”

*

Best Jeanist: how the fuck do i correctly kidnap a child

Snipe: Kill their parents and tell the kid that they were actually monsters sent to pretend to be their parents.

Midnight: Candy or ice cream will get most kids on your side, just make sure you let them pick the flavor.

Thirteen: Maintaining a polite and calm demeanor will encourage the child to trust you.

Naomasa: … Kidnappings are usually committed by family members or someone close to the child so if you’re going to frame someone, I’d recommend using that.

Gang Orca: Just claim they’re your kid, fake DNA test results, and absolutely deny what anyone says to the contrary.

Ectoplasm: Not announcing your intentions in a group chat full of pro-heroes is also probably helpful.

*

“I have no idea how you survived your childhood.”

“My running hypothesis is that I’m immortal. I’ve been testing it rigorously and so far it’s held up.”

*

Eraserhead: You don’t count as an adult unless you can do laundry properly, cook real food, and go to a boring dinner party without someone dragging you there.

Hawks: What do you mean “do laundry properly” you put the clothing in the clothing sink, you put the soap in, you turn it on and then once it beeps you moved it to the clothing oven.

Hawks: It’s not that hard.

*

Elphaba: sucks to be wrong doesnt it uwu

Mine-a: don’t uwu at me in that tone of text

*

“If we’re gay, how does that make us unqualified to kill space aliens? Does being hetero make us more violent?”

*

Actual Comic Books Quotes

*

Kid Devil: AH-HAH-HAH-HAHH! FLEE! FLEE FROM THIS PLACE OF GODLESS SCIENCE! THAT’S RIGHT! You have summoned the APOCALYPSE with your love of SCIENCE! I HAVE COME TO COLLECT YOUR SOULS! You brought this on yourselves! By teaching EVOLUTION!

(Beat)

Robin: Well. It IS clearing out the lab.

*

(Headbutted)

Blue Beetle: AH! That hurt through the armor! What are you packing in there?!

Lonar: JUSTICE!

Blue Beetle: You have a forehead full of justice? What does that even MEAN?!

*

Jaime: Do you think they saw us?

Dan Garrett: We’re five grown men dressed in bright colors inside a clear plastic bubble set against a rainbow background, Jaime. They saw us.

*

Dick: For what it’s worth, how’d I do with him?

Bruce: … Are you asking me if you were convincing as a homicidal maniac, Dick?

Dick: I suppose I am.

Bruce: Then yes, as a matter of fact, you were.

*

Batman: Why haven’t you taken a side?

Catwoman: I’m not like them. They’re criminals.

Batman: You’re currently breaking into a safe that’s not yours.

Catwoman: You know what I mean. I’m not like them. They're unsuccessful criminals. 

Batman: Do I need to worry about you?

Catwoman: (amused) Are you checking up on me, Bat? Are you trying to protect me?

Batman: No. No one needs to protect you.

Catwoman: Oh. Well then, yes. You very much have to worry about me.

(They kiss)

Bruce: (In the present) Afterward, I slept. When I woke, you were gone. With the diamonds.

Selina: OK, yes. But in my defense, I did warn you. I’m not exactly unsuccessful.

*

Gordon: (Rubbing his nose) Just close your eyes and think about retirement.Somewhere warm where the giant turtles don’t talk.

*

(personal favourite)

Black Mask: Somehow, I don’t think you would be surprised at all to learn the life I have chosen can be a lonely one.

Red Hood/Jason Todd: Don’t take this the wrong way, but it might have to do with the whole BDSM theme. Just saying - maybe lose the mask once in a while? (Beat) Like at breakfast, as the most immediate example.

-

These are beautiful.

[dayjobjotter]

Unnamed (A Short Story)

One of her favourite memories as a child was hung upon her bedroom wall in a chipped golden frame. It was an unnamed oil painting of the seaside town that they used to live in. During their first month there, a wicked storm had battered it and her father was determined to memorialise it with thick oil paint. Each stroke, splatter and spot perfectly placed. Everything he did had to be just so.

 On the right was a line of shops facing the sea, all a dim pastel rainbow against the dismal sky. She had a lot of fond memories of that street: the chippie where they’d eaten on their first night in town when they realised they had no food at home; an ice cream parlour she begged him to take her to on her birthday (since they had the strangest flavours) and one of those pound shops that sold cheap plastic tat for tourists to play with on the beach, but had some real artistic gems hidden in the back. Seagulls circled above the empty town as simple grey ‘v’s in the sky and she swore she could hear their squawking again whenever she looked at it. There was no beach to speak of as the sea had engulfed the sand, crashing against the towering cobblestone wall that protected the tiny town. He’d layered the deep blue swirls settled at the bottom of the canvas. The edges of the waves were blotted white and jutted out; the pale froth a ghostly breath floating to the top. The sea must have been out for blood that day. It sadly meant that there were no boats for him to paint, but her child self had imagined some clunky ones to be stuck on top, their little stickman sailors peeling away at the edges.

It felt sacreligious looking at it now. Her father had spent so long refining the painting, making it the perfect recreation of that night and her grubby little hands had ruined it. None of the boats or sailors were the same size or shape because of the curse of her infant hands. But he had loved them.

She was there the night he finished it. Perched next to him on the dock, scribbling away in her first sketchbook. The storm raged outside their tent and it wasn’t much shelter from the weather, but that wasn’t what bothered her father. What did was that it was nothing like the scene on the canvas - less violent and more miserable - but he still continued to paint. Easily recalling an image of yesterday, so long ago to her childish memory. Never would she understand how he made it look real. Real enough that if the pressed your finger into the paint, you may fall thro-

“No touching, Pumpkin.” He smiled down at her, gently pulling her wrist away from where she was about to smudge it and returning it to her own work. It was nothing in comparison to his.

But the two of them weren’t alike in the slightest. People questioned it whenever they went somewhere since she took more after her mother. She had straight black hair and a slight tan from the summer sunshine they had enjoyed but a few days before; whereas he was dirty blonde and concerningly pale. His hands were slim and crooked, notches carved into his flesh where he held his paintbrush and light wrinkles as he began to age. Underneath his eyes, the skin had darkened and started to sag downwards but it didn’t impede on the rosiness of his full cheeks. It was where his life resided: in his eyes and in his smiles. Even when his eyes were red-rimmed and his smiles bittersweet. 

“Why?” She asked.

“Because it’s not done yet.”His voice was still rough and gravelly. “It needs time to harden so that it won’t get disturbed and ruin the picture.”

She nodded in agreement. “Like one of mum’s cakes.”

He froze mid-stroke and lowered his head. Opening his mouth without sound, he looked like a distressed fish out of water. 

Finally, he settled on “I suppose.”

In silence, she returned to colouring in her picture, holding the large crayon in her fist and clumsily rubbing it against the page. The majority of it went beyond the lines she’d established. Her father breathed heavily next to her and his hands shook violently when he raised them, flicking small globs of paint onto his work.

With his voice quivering, he asked her something that she’d stay loyal to for the rest of her life. “Your mother.. I- Pumpkin… I don’t think she’ll come back. So I think that we should add that to our silence game. And not mention her again.”

“But, when she comes back…”

“If she comes back, then the game is off.” He reached out to pet her on the head, running his fingers through her hair. “But just in case. It’ll be easy, okay?”

She lowered her head back to her drawings and he followed her gaze. When he saw what she’d drawn, he grinned. “Are those boats? Shall we add them to my sea?”

It was gloomy outside their little bubble of warmth. The same as many days before and many days afterwards. She was beyond glad when they moved a few months later. For years it was just her and her father, travelling the country, visiting the art museums and painting whatever sparked their interest. Trying to upkeep their crumbling bubble of warmth. Until they couldn’t.

Her favourite memory had found a new home. It’s chipped golden frame laying against the hospital wall. They said it would help - to have something to remind him of home - that it would do his brain good during his extended stay. But his brain wasn’t the only part suffering. 

His face was near skeletal now from years of neglecting to care for himself. What was once a pink, round and full of life had become pallid and sickly. Bandages wrapped around his wrists from when he… she didn’t even want to think about it. The signs had been obvious for so long, since they had lost her mother but he had refused help. He had opted to quietly ‘deal’ by himself. The previous day she got the call from the hospital explaining what his newest strategy of ‘dealing’ was.

He couldn’t even look her in the face. His eyes were blank and his smile non-existent.

“Addilyn, I’m sorry…” he whispered.

“I think we should talk about her.”

Word count: 1,089

Author's note:

Thanks for reading, this is the first short story I've put out online and would appreciate any feedback to help improve my work or general comments. I will do my best to respond to all. This was a lot of fun to do and I have ideas for more little stories that I am excited to share :)

Also I am so new to this website, what am I supposed to do with tags???

[danpuff-ao3]

my year in fic - 2022

Thanks for the tag @broomsticks! I've got a compilation list coming out on 12/31 that will feature all of my 2022 accomplishments, but I hope no one minds if I do another fic spotlight for this year! It's always fun to look back at what I managed in a year!

Tagging: @liladiurne, @writcraft, @perverse-idyll, @necromanticnoir, @ripeteeth, @lizzy0305, @likelightinglass, @givereadersahug, @inarticulateimbecile, @fleetingdesires, @bluesundaycake, @cindle-writes, @onbeinganangel, and uhhhh...anyone who wants to! And no pressure to those I've tagged! Just an invitation to join the funsies, if you like! 💖💛

❄️ January

Partygoers - (Snarry, E, 100.) New Years drabble. Harry wants a kiss.

Partygoers laugh and cheer within the manor, sound muffled by the doors. Harry presses Severus against the balcony railing. Leans in. Severus turns his face away. Harry mouths at his neck instead.

Welcome to the Family - (Lucius/Ron, Hermione/Narcissa, Draco/Sirius, Harry/Snape, M, 4k.) Written for Rare Pair Fest 21/22. Valentine’s Day goes from bad to worse when Draco discovers his parents’ secret relationships.

“Calm down, darling,” Narcissa says. “Listen, my love, listen.” Draco would like to tell her he doesn’t need this sort of coddling, except that he does. “Sometimes, when a man and a woman respect each other very much and are in need of an heir, they marry and perform the…necessary physical requirements to produce a pregnancy.” 

“Isn’t this supposed to go ‘when a man and a woman love each other very much’?” Draco asks.

Narcissa and Lucius share a look. 

A Matter of Time - (Snarry, E, 3k.) Written for Snarry Adopt-a-Prompt. Severus is outed as a spy and grievously injured. Harry doesn’t react well, leading those closest to him to wonder: Just why is Harry so devastated about Severus’ condition?

Now that Harry has witnessed Severus’ vulnerability, he is content to be manhandled into Severus’ arms. Harry winds arms and legs — skinny, but strong — around Severus, and tucks his head into Severus’ neck. And as Severus squeezes him in close, Harry wiggles in even closer. Until Severus is unsure where one ends and the other begins. Until he cannot tell his own heartbeat from Harry’s, his own breath. 

Harry mumbles three words into Severus neck, that Severus pretends not to hear. Instead he presses his mouth to Harry’s head to stifle untamed sentiment. 

9 January 2022 - (Snarry, T, 1k.) Severus turns 62.

Shiny black wrapping paper sits neatly folded on the table. Gold and silver balloons bob over Severus’ head. A stack of sparkly pink candles. Warm, moist spice cake. A cold, snowy day. Silliness and tradition.

And love, a warm glow in Severus’ dark eyes, even as Severus mocks the cake and the mittens and the childish decorations. Harry listens to his eyes, not his words, and he smiles. 

smile with sweet surprise - (Snarry, E, WIP.) Updated with chapter 2. Harry is barely sixteen. Had barely blown out his candle when Severus kissed him.

Severus ducks his head and looks down at his boots. Black boots that trampled over the rainbow path. A bit of purple ribbon curls out from beneath his foot. Severus grinds his boot down into it, then kicks it away.

Never again. He’ll never touch Harry again. 

Severus steps back and draws his wand to clean the mess they made. 

🌹 February

The Alchymist II - (Snarry, Kingco, Snarry/Kingco, E, 4k.) Written for Kinkuary. Sequel to The Alchymist. 2 married couples, 1 hotel room = a lot of fun and a lot of trouble.

Severus is not alone in his jealous nature, but it is his jealousy that has been tested the most. Since their night with Draco, Harry has not strayed beyond casual touches and mild flirtation. Still, it is enough to send Severus up the wall. Every violent, hateful desire in Severus’ soul rises to the surface each time. Wars with his desire, and the pleasure of beauty. And this — Harry touching not one, but two others, is more loathing and arousal than he can stand. 

But Severus has been tested time and again. And he accepted long ago the depths of his own madness where Harry Potter is concerned. 

Obscene - (Snarry, E, 1k.) Written for Kinkuary. Never has Severus been so wet outside of heat. It’s humiliating; obscene.

Severus didn’t dare look him in the eye, that first night, but he glares into them now. He’d rather be bent over the desk. Would rather not see or be seen, but his pride damns him. 

Now he’s cursed by the sight of Potter’s mussed hair and his flushed cheeks. Green eyes darkened by desire. The glint of slick caught in his beard. Mouth reddened and plump. 

He dares not blink. Dares not make a sound. Dares not melt into Potter’s touch the way he so longs to. Severus, too, is controlled. 

🍀 March

Caged - (Snarry, T, 100.) His arms are a cage.

Snape is unforgiving, even in love. His arms are a cage; the only real home Harry has known.

🐣 April

Fool - (Snarry, G, 100.) Tumblr prompt. Prompt: Snarry + "things you said when you thought i was asleep"

"You're a fool," Severus says. The tone is not so harsh or mocking as it might be by day. It is tender, and sad. Another I love you, unspoken.

Yes - (Snarry, T, 100.) Tumblr prompt. Prompt: things you said when we were the happiest we ever were + snarry

"I want that," Harry continues. "I want to be yours." He steps nearer. Severus' heart leaps. "And I want you to be mine."

Black Skies - (Regulus/Severus, Regulus/Sirius, E, 7k.) Written for Blackcest Fest. Sirius won't give Regulus the love he needs, so he seeks it from Severus instead.

Madness runs in the family, it is said. It has always been in Sirius. Flickers of it in his endless enthusiasm. Sparks of it in his eyes, however easy and cool his smile. The edge of madness in his casual cruelty. 

All of his Gryffindor brashness…it is the Black madness at its most evident. The most colorful, wild side to their innate offness. 

Sirius is one of them, however well he hides it, and Regulus cannot help but laugh, though he doesn’t think it very funny. Not funny, but thrilling. 

While Severus’ passion awakened Regulus, Sirius’ madness calls to him, deep and primal. It’s not a good feeling, really, but a familiar one, and Regulus cannot help but reach out for more.

🌼 May

Orange Blossoms - (Snarry, T, 3k.) Written HP Flowers - Spring Round. Also my gift to myself for my birthday. These are foolish times to have hope, and more foolish still to be in love. 

The boy left with less fuss than Severus expected, only to make his move once the sun's disapproving eye set. It is by the moon's mercy Harry leaves love letters in secret languages. Apple blossom and pansy. Fern and foxglove. Myrtle and dahlia. 

Severus brews potions in the evenings, nutritional blends to sustain the flowers that now overrun every available surface of his quarters.

Harry never need know the mark he’s made, the beauty and vibrancy with which he’s colored Severus’ life. He’ll never be allowed one foot inside of Severus’ quarters, and Severus will never reveal his heart. 

Contempt - (Snarry, E, 20k.) Written for Snarry-a-Thon. Also the best thing I've ever written ever. Harry hates Snape, and he always will. (He will, won’t he?)

Harry doesn't remember much from Defense. Not history or theory or even incantations. Instead he remembers the sweep of Snape's robes and the click of his boots. He remembers the position of Snape's fingers around his wand. The precise motion of his wrist. The shape of his lips around every spell. 

He remembers and he hates.

(And wants and hates and wants and hates and wants.)

🥀 September

In My Veins (In My Blood) - (Snarry, Harry/Death Eaters, E, 7k.) Originally meant to be for a fest. Ended up posting on my own when I realized the story I needed to tell wouldn't fit the fest requirements. DEAD DOVE. Voldemort wins the war and rewards the Death Eaters with a prize: Harry Potter. What he doesn't know is that Harry already belongs to one of them.

Fierce green eyes meet gleaming red. Severus dares not breathe. The Dark Lord might do anything; might slip inside his mind and dig up every last secret. He might rip Harry’s mind apart. He’ll turn his wand on Severus then. The light will hardly have gone out of Harry’s eyes by the time Severus joins him in death. 

That would be a mercy, really; a blessing. 

Instead, Harry and the Dark Lord grin at one another, equally unamused. 

Safe - (Snarry, E, 6k.) Updated with chapter 2/final chapter. Dead dove. Harry is sure of a lot of things, until he isn't.

“I’m fine,” Harry says yet again, but he smiles all the same. Turns his head for a kiss that Severus instantly grants. Soft. Tender. Loving. Harry feels like he should be annoyed, but isn’t. 

Maybe he does need soft sometimes. And maybe it’s okay to let Severus take care of him. Maybe it’s okay to not be okay. To need this. Severus is happy enough to provide it. And Harry loves his care as much as he loves his cruelty. 

Free Falling - (Ginmione, T, 200.) Tumblr prompt. Hermione faces her fear of flying to spend time with Ginny.

They’re falling, falling – she’s falling – 

Ginny catches them, pulling out of the dive before they crash into the earth. Hermione burrows her face into Ginny’s neck and huffs out a hysterical giggle. 

🕸️ October

Red All Over - (Gwenevera, E, 1k.) Written for Kinktober. It’s that time of the month. You know. The time for sex. OR: Gwenog & Ginny celebrate the Harpies' latest win the best way they know how.

She is flayed open. Freer than she’s ever been. The world is sharp and bright. All of the secrets of her soul exposed, cradled safely between their bodies. 

Eventually, Gwen suggests a shower, and Ginny huddles closer in response. She isn’t ready to face reality just yet. Isn’t ready to break this fragile perfection. It takes quiet praise and playful teasing to coax her down to earth. But it is Gwen’s deft fingers dancing down her ribs that finishes the job. Ginny yelps and jerks up to slap Gwen’s arm. Gwen only laughs and tugs Ginny back down.

Blue Velvet - (Snarry, Snarryus, 3k.) Written for Kinktober. Snarryus is Harry/Scorpius/Severus btw. Please forgive my undying love for portmanteaus. Scorpius wants Harry. Harry wants Scorpius. All Severus wants is for Harry to be happy (damn him.)

They are priceless luxury. Their radiance calls to Severus’ greed. The heat of his arousal does not touch the cold within. Severus touches himself, and hates himself. 

Stop. Don’t. He should have put an end to this farce before it began. Harry is his, body and soul; it matters not how lovely and lovable his toy is.

Of course Harry wants him. Look at him. One taste will not be enough. But this is as much punishment as gift. Let Harry have his desires, and ruin all they’ve built. Let the blond slut wreck their lives. This is the price of Harry’s covetousness; the price of Severus’ possession. 

Chain Reaction of Countermoves - (Snarry, E, 2k.) Written for Kinktober. Sequel to last year's Kinktober fic Clandestine Meetings & Stolen Stares. Harry’s had enough detentions with Headmaster Snape, hasn’t he? Now he has to meet him after graduation, too? Or: Graduation doesn’t come soon enough, but come it does.

 “You didn’t bring me here for a drink,” Harry tells him, and snatches the bottle as Severus reaches for it. 

“I didn’t bring you here at all,” Severus mutters darkly. 

Harry snorts. A case of semantics won’t distract Harry, not now. Too far he’s come, too long he’s waited. The words that have clogged his throat all year burst forth — for a moment his mouth is overfull, and clumsy, so accustomed to holding back, and so afraid to confess — but the dam finally breaks, and he says, “You know I love you, don’t you?” 

[aisla229]

Finished the first arc of the tabletop rpg game I’m GMing, I can finally post all the art! More about the worldbuilding under the cut:

Sauris is a white moon who’s visible surface is mostly composed of clouds. It orbeting around a gas giant, Caelophy. Millenias ago one of the pieces of the crust rolled over in the sea, exposing its side to the sunlight above, past the violent chemically active (and colorful) clouds inbetween. Life boomed on the continent, giving birth to complexe lifeforms such as plants and animals. Currently, civilisation is on the verge of an industrialisation, with a wide and diverse range of trades, for the first time spanning the massive and entire continent.

The active Inner Cloud layer, in an event called the Cloud’s Shift, can burst outwards. When it touches the continent it is believed to be the cause of creation of magic, causing all kinds of odds events as well, like making felines walk on two legs, plants change color, or give mysterious abilities to hidden creatures.

Any magic needs to be cast with a magic circle, each categorised by naturally occuring sigils at the centers. There is 13 known sigils, each named and tide to the planets and moons of Sauro. However tides are about to move, with a few wary travellers coming across a 14th unknown sigil, with the only proof of it being a reserved kid and a suspicious necklace.

Dinosaurs are the prominent life form on Sauris, with only a few mammals (mostly rodents and our beloved humanoids), fish in the rivers, and giant insects in the bogs. Here is a world where dinosaurs are found as locomotion, pets, food, and terrifying predators. It being very cold on Sauris, all year round, they also all rock some fluffy feather/proto-feathers coats.

The seasons no Sauris, are divided into two summers and two winters, spending a large portion of the year partially obscured of Sauro by Caelophy. The highest temperature is around 10°C , and the lowest -30°C

Here on the continent:

- The Tower of Almonious: A distant land discovered by a great sorcerer who has constructed a massive tower on top. Not much is known to the common people of Sauris, and stays inaccessible even today.

- Pol Malleo: An Active volcano, that unlike the ones on Earth does not eject lava, but a hot water-like liquid. Said liquid, named Azura, has a bright blue-turquoise color that glows a powerful green when it comes in contact with certain gases. The jets can go as high as 50 km high in the sky, forming a long colorful trail as it floats away.When an eruption occurs during Altieme, the droplets of liquid tend to freeze instantly in contact with the cold air, forming icicles that drop on the land below, often causing great problems as they bullet the surface.

- Tiacus Mire: It is currently the land in which resides the biggest city of Sauris; Aegyp. It also has the biggest lake: Great Ophora. During Primaestas, the majority of its land gets flooded, creating humid bogs, prospice to massive creatures, such as insects, Spinosaurus, and water dwellers like the massive mosasaurus.

- The Isles of Breviq: It probably has the most unique land shapes of the entire Continent. Long, relatively thin pillars of land have slowly come apart from the main land mass over many centuries, resulting in its numerous islands appearing to float between the clouds. The people of Breviq are known for having tamed the difficult beasts of the sky; riding pterosaurs.

- Pol Incus: The tallest mountain of Sauris, and so the tallest point of the entire moon. Its difficult climb has challenged many minds to reach its freezing top where the air grows thin. Temples and even old artefacts lie across the peaks or hidden under it’s rocks, proving the curiosity this mountain has always inspired.

- Thyreophor: The biggest land of Sauris. Thyreophor is most defined by its lush forests with massive trees and year-long colorful plants capable of holding under massive amounts of snow. It still holds the title of largest population in total.

- The Sdomorphia Wild Plains: Long stretches of grass and brush-like plants extend for as far as the eye can see. Sdomorphia is the land of nomads and the biggest of the animal kingdom: the Sauropods. It might not contain many streams or lakes, but it’s vast stretches borrow perfectly for herd hunting.

- The Austro Tundra: Unlike the other more South lands of Sauris, the Austro Tundra’s soil never melts away. Its rock-solid earth and ice makes it difficult to build houses on, but it has not stopped villages from sprouting even on the coldest land.The Austro Tundra is the land of Theropods, having the biggest number of raptors alike, many of which have prized feather coats.

- The Coelorus Coast: It has some of the biggest rate of precipitation of Sauris, standing on the right side of Pol Malleo against the strong air currents brushing the clouds below. Perhaps from the warmth created by Pol Malleo, the snow in Coelorus tends to melt a lot quicker than the other lands, and with the high amount of rivers and streams lining the soils, it also is one of the most fertile places. The steep sides of the volcano create perfect ranges for step agriculture, and primarily corn and rice.

- Cephalia: It currently has the title of the land with the biggest number of farm-land. Cephalia is often defined as the most friendly populace. With its loudest voices being farmers and workers, it has a particular streak of freedom and carelessness attached to its name.

- The Shantung Sway: A land carrying its own ecosphere, the people of Shantung have remained centuries without connection to the rest of Sauris. The current path to its land is extremely recent and trades have yet to be initiated. Apart from a very few explorers that have left Shantung to see the lands, and all described as fairly eccentric, interactions have been minimal so far.Shantung has been described as odd and fairy tale-like. With plants that glow in the dark, upside-down trees that prevent snow from reaching the ground, and weird spiky structured rocks. With bizarre animals, dinosaurs naked without feathers, small floating octopus creatures, and long leg-less organisms that slithered like tree branches.

- The Tenonto Canyon: The great divider between Malleo and Incus, the canyon expands down as far as can see, battered with wild winds and dangerous looking tornadoes beneath the clouds. A single bridge has been built on the closest edges, where the trade route quickly bustled with life, and ultimately created Mer, an unique city split in two across each side, one in the Tiacus Mire and the other in Thyreophor.

I’d like to say a big thank you to the players for being so patient and being so invested in this world i created, I love you guys. And thanks to anyone who actually read this!

[smile-files]

okay so i've been thinking about ralsei lately and i have a new theory on what he is and what his role is and his relationship with kris! for all i know somebody has already said this but idk i just wanted to put this out there. thank you if you read through this whole spiel, as it's rather long...!

so what i'm proposing that ralsei is kind of like... a coping mechanism for kris? in that that he's designed to be there for kris and comfort them and make them happy - he's all of the soft, warm, cozy things that can make a bad day better. what's debatable is whether kris wants ralsei as that kind of coping mechanism... maybe they don't want to be told everything will be sunshine and rainbows...

ralsei is very much a people-pleaser; he's unoffensive and soft and trusting. he's always there for you if you want a cake, or a hug, or whatever; he seems to have endless motivation to help and to heal (why, he has healing powers!), especially in terms of kris. in fact, ralsei seems to have a special connection to kris, always wanting to be around them and make them happy. he clearly wants to be there for kris and to comfort them, even if that means ignoring some of the actual terrible stuff happening around them.

this whole notion is bolstered by ralsei's dialogue after the spamton fight in chapter 2, in which he says to kris that it was nothing, and that they shouldn't worry, and that they instead should think of something they like - something warm and soft etc. he's clearly insinuating that he is the thing kris should think of to get their mind off of the spamton fight - which confirms that a) his role is to be a coping mechanism for kris and that b) he wants kris to utilize him as that coping mechanism. he's kind of subtly forcing himself into that position by saying this, by saying that he's something kris likes.

now i should take a step back and talk about kris in relation to ralsei. kris is dealing with the existential horrors of being controlled by some higher being, the soul; to cope with that, they often rip out the soul in their chest and brandish a knife, which they thrust into the ground to make another doorway into the dark world. this is what kris has been using as their coping mechanism. it's violent and seemingly harmful, but it's also incredibly cathartic.

ralsei is the opposite kind of coping mechanism - he doesn't let you hate people or things, he doesn't let you think about the bad stuff that's happened to you (even if it's really horrible messed up bad stuff that needs addressing), and he certainly doesn't let you have anger, nevermind release it. he's the opposite of catharsis; he's pacification.

he wants kris to accept him; he's been waiting in a corner of their mind, ready with cakes and hugs and nostalgic photographs to soothe kris's aching heart. he wants kris to be happy; to him that means kris has to be his friend, kris has to hug him, love him, eat his cakes, be his chosen one and close the fountains caused by their desire for catharsis.

after all, the soul is what's glowing when kris is about to close a fountain; kris only closed it because of us, and we only made them close it because of ralsei. and ralsei told us that hating people and feeling angry is wrong. the fountains represent everything ralsei is against, and so he has us close them.

kris probably doesn't like ralsei as much as we think; i don't think kris hates him, but their reaction to the ralsei tea (as well as their inherent conflicts of interest mentioned above) shows that they certainly have some gripes with the guy.

i think between chapters 1 and 2 things start getting really messy, if they weren't messy already - in chapter 1, as the soul, we couldn't actually make kris kill anyone. in this sense we were narratively doing exactly what ralsei wanted - which in this case is good, as, y'know, that meant we were abstaining from literal murder. in chapter 2, however, we can most certainly kill people, via noelle - notably when ralsei is absent. as the soul we can do whatever we want; ralsei has just been trying to guide us into guiding kris into making the right decision (which ultimately involves closing the fountains - and of course, no matter our opinion in this coping mechanism discourse, we'd want to close the fountains, as then we can progress and play more of the game; we are the player, after all). how much we do follow or diverge from ralsei's advice and how much we should will certainly fluctuate as the chapters progress.

and no, ralsei certainly isn't malicious, and definitely has had a positive impact in many ways; for one thing, he wants the best for kris, and for another, he has actively prevented kris (read: the player) and susie from killing innocent darkners. he's right in thinking that murder is wrong and that you should try to see the best in people; he just overdoes the whole "sunshine and rainbows" spiel because he's naïve. kris and susie are literally the first people he's ever interacted with. ralsei is just naïve. knowing about the player - and by extension knowing any piece of information he really shouldn't - doesn't mean he knows everything or is knowingly witholding information from us/kris. and that certainly doesn't mean he's socially/emotionaly mature.

i don't know if this theory makes complete sense (there are likely certain details i've forgotten or misremembered), but at least to me it explains a lot - for one thing, why ralsei looks so much like asriel, something that has bugged us all since day one: it's because he thinks that's something kris would find comfort in.

okey dokey, so there you go! i hope you like my theory, and thank you for reading! have a lovely day :)

tl;dr - ralsei is a slightly unhealthy coping mechanism <3

[bisexual-bitch-blogs]

Can I request Zhongli Cumming mora 🥰🥰🥰🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪

😩OMG YASSS No problem sis! This reminds me of a BL manwha where a guy ejectulates pearls😳😳Also I had to look up how big is a mora. Uhh so let's assume like mayb they're smaller than pennies. Cause it kinda sounds painful ngl😬

"Origin of Mora"

NSFW? Sub Zhongli X Fem Dom Reader

I really started doing math while writing this 😶

POV You and your fiancee, Zhongli are finally doing the deed

Inccludes: Pegging

🤑-------------------------------🤑

It's been 5 sweet years of dating the ex-geo archon. From handholding, cuddling, kisses, dates and other sweet fluff. There was no sexual deeds.

You didn't mind taking the relationship slow but it's kind of hard to think everything is rainbows and unicorns when Zhongli has a fat ass that could rival Bokuto from Haikyuu.................................. Wait who? Uhhh

Now what your going with this is............... you want to fuck him. Break him. Make the intelligent man go stupid. Make him carry your babies if possible. Slap that thicc cake. Take him from behind. Make him scream your name. Finally having se-

Asking the formal ravenette was out of the question. He was like....a pure maiden, talking about the history of shampoo with interest. You weren't sure if he had an ounce of horniness in him. It was killing you inside, slowly.

One day, you took Zhongli and his living wallet, Childe to a bar to drink. With enough alcohol, the ravenette slumped against you, drunk, babbles of how people in Liyue skipped a step making traditional rice wine. He was quite childish and overprotective. He bit Childe's hand when the ginger tried to give you a bag of mora to pay for the drinks. Apologizing to the harbinger, you dragged your drunk fiancee home, getting him sober on the way.

One thing lead to another, you were making out with your boyfriend on the couch, arms wrapped around one another. You sucked on his bottom lip, licking the tips of his teeth, occasionally colliding against them with your own while trying to deepen the kiss, desperate to taste him before departing for air. His plush bottom weighed on your thigh as you groped his chest, fingers rubbing over the sensitive pink bumps.

"Nggh!"

Discarding both of yours and Zhongli's articles of clothing onto the floor, your fingers that was coated in saliva (courtesy of Zhongli's mouth) slid into the ravenette's rather loose canal, thrusting in and out, occasionally curling them.

"Mmngh! Ah..! M-More!"

You thought.

'Did he play with himself before..? Nah, can't be.'

Taking back your fingers from his greedy hole. You aligned the tip of your 13 inch silicone dick into Zhongli's entrance in one swift go, taking it all in with no problem. The ebony male moans.

"Ah~!"

You licked your lips, curious of what other pretty sounds the Geo user might make. Sliding back out, you slammed yourself into him, targeting into his prostate head on. An unrestrained moan rips through the air when you attacked a bump in Zhongli’s walls, his legs wrapped around your waist, tightening.

"Annnggh!"

You ruthlessly started pounding into him. His body violently shakes with each thrust, legs twitching at each throb. Zhongli felt each thrust filling him, spreading him wider. His red, weeping cock was rubbing between our stomachs. Feeling a tight coil inside him about to burst. He panicked, his hands gripping your arms.

"Mnngh! Ah! Aah! Nnghh! Wha--! Wai-!"

It was too late when his cock ejectulated familiar white strings of fluid onto both his and your chest like canvas. But what also came out was shocking. Mora. This man just cummed out mora. Money. Currency.

Stopping whatever your doing. You looked at the small coins littered on his chest and ones that fell, rolling onto the floor then you turned to your fiancee who was looking away, showing his red ears. You questioned out loud.

"Is this...Is this how mora is produced?"

Zhongli nodded, slowly, refusing to look at your face.

Meanwhile, your brain was running a mile a minute.

So like people didn't make mora using ores handed by Morax?? And if all the mora is made by the Geo Archon by cumming. Then isnt everyone touching his sperm or cum in a way? Does Venti know??? Wait how many mora is there in Teyvat? Hold up. You have like 800,000 mora in your wallet. And that came from him too- Isn't your lover like over 6,000 years old? How much mora does he produce? Does it vary? Oh my.

How wrong you are thinking he's a pure maiden. When in reality. Zhongli is a horny little bitch.

You looked around counting quickly. There seemed about more than 100 mora. So 800,000 divided by 100 equals 8,000 if he released every maybe You dont know. 2 times a year? With an additional 200k if you go to wherever Childe told you to go for extra cash. 8,000 plus 2,000 equals 10,000 and Zhongli spent 55,000,000 the other day. Divide it by 100 equal 550,000 plus 10,000 equal 560,000. But let's also consider the huge amount of money the Northland Bank has. Oh my Archons. It's no longer a money bank. It's a sperm bank.

Honestly, you weren't sure how to react however questions will need to be answered and experiments will need to be conducted.

You resumed rocking your hips, catching the Geo user off guard, gasping. Suddenly, you grabbed his member, moving it up and down, inspecting it.

"Is your pp okay??"

The Geo Archon has never been so embarrassed in his entire life. In his existence. Of course you had to ask that during an intimate sex. It was great you were concerned and all but please ignore what just happened and get back into the feels for the lord of himself.

One thing for sure after wrecking him is that day is that you will never see Mora the same ever again.

----------------------------------------

Alright time to commit toaster bath. I missed 30 mins of college prep math class cuz of my aunt's walmart wifi and I dont understand a single thing going on anymore.

Confession. I died in genshin because I was distracted by Beiodu's ass while climbing the church🤡 Also, my friend played as Zhongli. That didnt help at all so I fell TWICE. Thus Beidou died on me........When I told my friend that. I don't think he believes me😭😭😭 he was like......

"ok..."

Tjrgjyegkgvehi PLS

[dancingthesambaa]

The Smell of Plum Blossom Tea Ch 6

Summary: Just like a butterfly wing, a single act of kindness can change the course of the future, it certainly did for MK as a black-furred monkey put out a hand towards him.

Rating: Teen and up

Chapter 6: And So It Begins

“I’m back,” MK tiredly said as he dragged his form out of the blazing sun and into the cool restaurant, “orders delivered, traffic long and people angry, but food is delivered.”

“Great, but you still have another delivery,” Pigsy replied as his back was turned.

“Just one,” he grinned, “compared to the other ten this will be a piece-,”

He slammed down 30 orders down in front of him on the already bustling counter.

“Of cake,” he deflated as he saw the monumental amount of food. “What the-Are we feeding an entire town?!”

“Close. Party, though I should have charged their ungrateful asses extra for the rush order,” he growled out, “who gives an hour warning Huh?!”

“Apparently them,” he groaned as he picked up and carried the whole load into the car.

“And when you get back, there are a dozen more orders to take care of,” Pigsy called out.

“Got it bossman,” he yelled out, then he slammed the door closed and he sat up straight with a grin, “alright this won’t be so bad.”

“BEEF? BEEF?!! I WANTED MISO! GET IT RIGHT YOU STUPID DRIVER! The voice yelled out at MK as the two stood at the doorway.

“I’m sorry but-,” he winced as he was cut off by the rude woman screech.

“You better be sorry! I could have your job for this big of a screw up! You are nothing!”

“Technically I just delivered your food,” he whispered to himself.

“What did you just say?”

“Nothing!” He put on his best service smile, “I’m very sorry about this, how about I take your food back so that I can-.”

Splat

MK watched as the woman threw down her food in a fit of rage.

“There’s your damn food, now pick it up and get me a new one,” she spat out.

MK looked down at the pile of food that Pigsy put his sweat and blood into slowly dripping off the stone stairs. He took a deep breath as he put his hand in his pocket to subtly squeeze the stress ball and looked at the woman.

“I’m not cleaning that up,” he deadpans and walks back to the car.

“What?!”

“Also,” he rolled down his window when he got in the car, “if you would like to order for a party, next time call ahead of time.” He then quickly drove off until he could no longer hear the yells of the angry woman.

He rode until he reached the grocery store, parked at the edges of the lot where there were barely any cars, unbuckled his seat belt, and laid his head on top of the wheel.

“I. Hate. People. Sometimes.” He lightly banged his head with each word then he leaned back and took out the ball and squeezed it a few times. “I really do.”

He likes to think of himself as a pretty optimistic person, after having his whole life turned around and learning things can get better, he likes to think that the world can be good. But days like these, people like those, make him really put that side of him to the test and today he very much failed that. He should be glad that he didn’t go off on her, like what Pigsy did when some dude tried to scam him or Mei when she is feeling very competitive over some a-holes, but at the same time that sounds amazing.

He squeezed the ball a little tighter.

“I really want to see Dad right now,” he muttered to himself. It would be so easy, just one yell to him and he would be over in less than a second. “I really want him right now…but I made a promise to myself that I would do this without him.”

So he took a deep breath, lifted his head, put on his music, put away his rainbow stress ball, and slowly began his drive back to Pigsy restaurant.

It was during that drive back that he got a call, “Hello?”

“Hey MK, it’s me,” he stopped as he heard Pigsy's voice, he had a feeling he knows what this is about.

“Heyyy Pigsy, I’m almost at the store,” he tried and failed, to sound casual.

“I just got off a call with a very rude customer who said that you threw down her food when she was being oh so kind,” he bluntly said, “even mentioned about assaulting her.”

“That is so not how any of that went down!” He immediately said, “she yelled at me for saying that I made her food wrong and I told her that it can be redone, but she decided to instead throw down all of that food herself and told me to clean it up! Who does that?! And all of this was after she put her hand all through that food, which is so gross by the way, I mean other people are eating that, cause I know she ain’t-,” he was cut off by Pigsy chuckles.

“You don’t need to explain anything, I know you for far too long to even think that you would put too much salt in someone's food let alone throwing it down on the ground.”

“Oh,” he calmed down as he released the tension from the wheel, “that’s good.”

“Yeah, I told it to her straight just exactly how I felt about her being an utter ass to not only myself but my employees. Let’s just say that she was not happy about that and threaten to sue,” he could almost hear him shrug.

“What no!” He tried to stand up, only to realize he was still in the car and he was still buckled up. “I am so sorry!”

“Don’t be, cause jokes on her the world we live in has become pretty up to date with security and, more importantly, security cameras,” he said with a grin, “I don’t think she’s gonna get a single cent when everything that went down was all on video.”

MK let a smile spread across his face, bless technology and all its glory. “That’s good.”

“It sure is. Do you want to take a breather when you come back? I know that woman was more than a handful that what you're used to,” he asked in concern.

“Nope,” he cheerfully said, “I am A-Ok! Just get those next orders ready for me so I can deliver!”

“Well if you're certain, get your ass back here on the double,” he said, but the teenager could tell it was more playful, “we got orders waiting to be delivered.”

“On my way!” He saluted to no one and hung up. “Alright! Let’s get a move on!”

‘Make sure to add the cohesive before the mixing,’ the voice silently thought to himself.

“It would be so easy just to make that jump, hell my youngest kit sister can make that and she’s not even a month old,” a voice bragged.

‘Combine the Feins roots with the Elia petals first to dilute the solution.’

“All I’m saying is that if you try to jump off the cliff of perils then I sure as hell am not catching you,” another voice deadpanned.

“Nahhh I would be fine.”

‘…dice the Oran berries and Pecha then add when the next stage is ready.’

“If you count being splattered into tiny little pieces fine, then, by all means, go ahead,” another voice sighed.

‘Make sure that the color is a deep orange hue and not dark yellow, that can-,’

“Ye o little faith.”

“No, you are of little sanity. Even my younger gremlins know better,” she shot back.

‘That can easily violate the substance,’

“But they don’t have the certain skills like I do,” they bragged.

‘…leading to a-,’

“It still wouldn’t be a wise thing to do,” a deep voice pointed out.

‘Leads to a-,’ his vial cracked in his hands as he was once again interrupted.

“No, but it would be fun-.”

“I swear,” everyone turned to face the irritated monkey, “to all things good in this world and the next, if you dumbasses don’t shut the fuck up in the next five seconds I will make the Piñata fiasco at the Boiling Isles look like a god damn nap compared to what I’m gonna do to you.”

“Sorry, were we disturbing you,” Yanyu cheekily said.

“You little-”

“Awwww I’m soo sorry,” Daiyu mocked.

“I swear-”

“We didn’t mean to interrupt your monologue,” Minsheng smirked, “you know it kinda reminds me of Flicker when you do that.”

“That’s it!” He slammed down his ingredients, opened his drawers, and took out a roll of duct tape, “come here you little bastards!” He yelled out as he began to chase down the three annoyances.

“Same as usual,” Bohai sighed as he drank his tea.

“One would think not to mess with Mac when he’s like this,” Ahmed commented.

“Especially when he’s in his mood.”

“Especially that.”

“Now shut it,” he proudly said as he sat on top of his third victim.

“Hey hey!” Daiyu struggled to break free, “we were trying to lighten your mood fuzzball.”

“By annoying the shit out of me,” he growled as he taped her beak shut. “Fat chance, anyone else,” he looks over to his other two remaking friends.

“I say nothing,” the jellyfish put his tentacles up in surrender.

“While they may have been a bit well-,”

“Fucking annoying,” the monkey bluntly said.

“Yes that, they did have a purpose to their madness,” the lion pointed out.

“What? What could they possibly want badly enough to annoy the absolute fuck out of me?!”

“You have empty bird nest syndrome.”

“…what?”

“I said-”

“I heard you the first time!” Macaque interrupted, “I do not have that! I am use to MK not being home day to day, so why the hell would you thi-,”

“For days,” Yanyu said once she ripped the tape off her mouth, “but not for longer than a week.”

“Same difference!”

“Nah pal it ain’t,” the bunny demon said as they chewed on their own tape, “I can see it as bright as day, you have been extra moody and hella sad these past couple of days. It’s just like mum, whenever one decides to leave the warren, she gets all glum and broody for days.”

“I am not broody!” His tail swished violently.

“But you do miss him,” Ahmed stated.

“I don’t-”

“And it’s okay if you do.”

“I don’t miss him, I can visit anytime,” he stated.

“You still miss him being there, being next to you,” the lone human gave his ponytail a playful tug and sat next to Mac, who was still sitting on top of the tied-up vulture. “Take it from a big sister, when Shu moved out to live in the dorms I was so happy for him, but as time went on I noticed that I didn’t hear his off pitch singing in the afternoon nor did I hear his voice amongst my gremlins over who gets the last brownie. I didn’t miss him, hell I could video chat with him anytime, but I missed his presence, you know.”

Macaque just gave her a hard look before sighing, “He used to hum to himself whenever he was bored,” he admitted as he got off his friend and slumped down next to her.

Yanyu just patted his shoulder as he continued.

“I know I can just visit him, but my kid is growing up, he’s learning to stand on his own and he should have his own life separate from me.”

“Yeah imma stop you there,” Sheng rolled his eyes, “you are being one over dramatic monkey right now if you think that just because he’s doing his own thing, doesn’t mean that he doesn't have time for you. Hell, you are the one demon he will always have time for no matter what.”

“But-”

“Ain’t no buts about it fuzzbrain,” Daiyu squawked out once she feared the tape off, “your hatching adores the shit out of you and if you don’t think he won’t spend time with you then you are dead wrong.”

“He should have that time to himself, he is just starting out all on his own…without me…,” he slumped in depression, but quickly shot up due to a shocking touch, “OW! FUCKING WHY BOHAI!”

“You're being an idiot,” he smugly said as he lowered his tendril.

“Thanks,” Yanyu nodded to him, “and he’s right. I know that this whole thing won’t end with this so here’s what we’re gonna do. The six of us are going to go to Qián city.”

“…why the fuck are we going to the underwater city of Shanghai?” He incredulously looked at her.

“Cause you seriously need to relax.”

“I don’t-”

“You spent most of your time in the garden or prepping medicine that you don’t need,” Ahmed calmly said as he cleaned up the mess that Mac made.

“…you may have a point, but I don’t really feel like I should leave, what if MK or Mei happens to call?” He said.

“Well one, I know damn well that your hearing exceeds that city's borders,” Sheng points out.

“Okay true.”

“And second, we have the beauty of phones, which allows people to fall from far away,” Yanyu slowly told him as if he was a child, “I taught you this in one of our first lessons.”

“Don’t patronize me,” he muttered, “but I don’t-”

“You either go willingly or Kit Kat over here is going to drag you,” she pointed to Ahmed.

“He wouldn’t-”

“I really would,” he had to stop a smile at the utter betrayal in the monkey's face.

“I could beat your ass again,” he grumbled.

“You very well could,” he agreed, “but then you would also have to go against everyone else and they will happily drag both you and me off.”

“Fine!” He throws his hand in the air.

“Got ‘em!” Sheng high-fived Yanyu.

“Told you he would cave in eventually,” the vulture grinned.

“But we are going there to strictly relax, that means no explosions, arsons, paralyzing, hacking, or prison riots.”

“What about stealing and graffitiing,” the bluenette raised her hand.

“If there assholes, be my fucking guest, but your ass better not get caught.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be more stealthy than sneaking into the police hub to get rid of the evidence,” she cockily stated.

“What?”

“What.”

“…you know what the less I know the better.”

“Good choice, so let’s get packing!” She excitedly said as she, Daiyu, Minsheng, and Bohai exited the infirmary.

“So are you gonna tell them that the game dealers there are more than likely to scam them before or after they get robbed?” Ahmed curiously asked.

“After, they need a lesson on not annoying the fuck out of me when I’m working,” he gave a mischievous grin.

“Quite rude of you,” he grinned.

“But you're smiling too.”

Ahmed chuckled lightly as the two left the infirmary.

It was a quiet day at the restaurant, the dinner rush had just ended and all that was really left to do was wait for the store to close and clean up what’s left. The only customers inside were Mei and Tang, both of whom have long since finished eating and are currently just chatting, or laying down, with MK over the counter.

“So how’re your online classes treating you?” Mei asked.

“Great!” He perked up as he took his eyes off the creepy butterfly in the corner of the restaurant, “I’m just about finished with my general study.”

“Ooo, does that mean you finally have a major in mind,” Mei leaned in.

“No I do not.” He cheerfully stated.

All of them, including Pigsy who was listening in, facepalmed.

“Mkkk,” the nineteen year old groaned.

“I knowww,” he slumped down, “but it’s hard deciding what to do for the rest of your life.”

“Well that is okay,” the historian softly said, “you're still young, you have your whole life ahead of you. Besides, college is not for everyone.”

“Yeahhh, so how’re your classes going Mei Mei?” MK turned to his friend, “I know you been taking some of the engineering courses.”

“Ugghhh, don’t get me started,” she slumped down in her seat, “I love it, but that is seriously kicking my ass right now. If I didn’t like to make sweet ass rides then I would have totally just dropped it.”

“Let me guess, for racing,” MK said as he sprayed down the counter.

“Duh, I’m gonna be so fast that when they're only halfway, I've already passed that finish line baby!” Mei screamed.

“Shhhhh,” Tang hushed as he held his head against the cool counter, “not so loud please.”

“You okay there Tang?” Pigsy asked as he moved closer to his friend, “you’ve been like that ever since you got in.”

“Yeah, it’s just this headache has been killing me and my usual medicine isn’t doing a thing,” sighed as he leaned into the warm hand touching his head.

“Doesn’t seem like you have a fever at least,” the pig mutters.

“Do you have any coughing, sneezing, nausea, or any other symptoms?” MK curiously asked as he sat up.

“I have been feeling a bit nauseous,” he murmured.

“Sharp ringing in your ears on and off?”

“Yesss,” he groaned out.

“Hmm hold on,” MK quickly went upstairs, everyone heard faint shuffling noises before he came back down as fast as he was carrying a small baggie, “Can I use your stove and teapot?”

“Go right ahead,” Pigsy agreed.

MK gave a quick smile and they all watched him make a pot of tea, but instead of teabags, he added some of the plants that were inside the bag.

“Here you go,” MK presented the tea to the historian once it was done.

Tang hesitated for a moment before accepting the cup, “…what is it?”

“Medicine. Drink,” he gave him a wide-eyed look.

“...alright,” he shrugged his shoulders and joked, “if this kills me, just burn my corpse.”

“Drink,” MK commanded once more.

Tang drank his tea instead of retorting back and his eyes widen at the taste of it.

“Are ya dead?” Mei asked.

“Feel the poison seeping in,” the pig demon joked.

“This is really good,” he complimented MK and he began to drink more.

“Thanks, it’s Dad’s special recipe diluted when it comes to dealing with migraines,” he happily announced.

“Diluted? I can already feel my migraine already going away, how bad is his if this is diluted?” Tang asked with much concern.

MK grimace as he shared a look with Mei. He can’t help the memories all filtering in of his father lying in bed clutching onto the headphones as it tightly covered all six of his ears. There is never a pattern to when this happens, but he knew to keep a pot of tea hot and a bowl of mango or other non-citrusy fruit available on those days.

“It’s pretty bad,” was all he said.

“Oh,” both adults shared a look before Tang put on a grin as he slurped down his tea, “well this really works, what in it?”

“It’s Feverfew Tea with some Pika berries,” said MK.

“I’ve heard of Feverfew, but I don’t think Pika rings a bell,” Pigsy hummed totally missing Mei’s shocked face.

“Why I never-,”

“No, it’s not pokemon,” MK quickly shut that down before she got to her rant.

‘’Awww,” she deflated.

“It’s from Kunlun peak.”

Tang immediately choked on his tea, “AK! Did you just say Kunlun peak!”

“Yep!”

“What’s so special about that,” she glumly asks.

“Mount Kunlun is known to be a mythical mountain that hikers and historians have been searching for centuries,” Tang began, “It’s said to hold both mythical animals and plants, each having extraordinary potential within them as even the Gods from above go down there for certain herbs and items needed for their potions. It just lays there on top of the highest peak, but no person nor demon has ever had a straight map leading there and you’re telling me your Dad, Macaque, went there?!”

“He goes there a few times a year,” the teenager proudly says.

He looks down at his tea with sparkles in his eyes, “I’m drinking magic tea made from the legendary mountain,” he gave a big slurp as he inhaled it and stood up.

Pigsy eyed the drink, neither teenager knew if it was in envy or jealousy.

“But I’m impressed MK,” Mei playfully punched his shoulder, “look at you being all smart about medicine.”

“Well I hear Dad mutter on and on about different types of herbs and their properties on a day to day basis, that it eventually gets stuck in my head you know,” he joked then he paused as an interesting thought occurred to him, “wait a moment.”

They all watch MK have a silent conversation to himself, complete with waving hands, multiple facial expressions, draw a few sketches on his notepad, and finish with a final glow of his eyes as he leaped up in the air.

“That’s it!”

“What’s it?” The owner said.

“Why didn’t I think of this before!”

“Think of what before?” The historian asked.

“It was seriously in front of me this entire time!”

“MK, I swear if you don’t tell us what’s up right now I am not liable to my next actions,” Mei threatened.

“I can be a Doctor!” He leaned forward in excitement, “or at least something along those lines!”

“You can be pop’s assistant!” Mei started to get excited alongside him, “how the hell did I not think of it either?!”

“I don’t know!”

“It does suit you,” the demon agreed. He knows the kid is smart, he has seen his grades, so it’s not far fetched to assume that he can do this rigorous task. “Hope you have good study habits, I know mines was absolute garbage back in school.”

“With notecards and all,” MK hates studying, his brain goes brrr during those times, but he can’t thank Yanyu and Bohai enough for teaching him different tricks to help keep focus. “Now I’m thinking maybe of being a pharmacist, cause I don’t think I do well with surgery.”

“There are also the ones who diagnose the disease using the X-ray thingie,” she snapped her finger as she tried to remember.

“Radiologist,” Tang called out.

“Yeah that!” She pointed to him.

“Ooo that also sounds interesting,” MK and Mei continued their animated talk as both adults watched.

“It’s nice to see them so happy,” the noodle lover let out a content smile as he drank some more of his tea.

“I hear that,” Pigsy then looked at the man cup in confusion, “by the way you’ve been drinking, I thought you would have already been finished by now.”

“With my first cup yes, I’m on my third one now.”

“How in the-I didn’t even see you leave this area!”

“Magic tea is magic,” was all Tang said.

Pigsy exploded, “That doesn’t explain shit!”

“Well too bad,” he gave a loud slurp once more.

SLURPPP

“You know what, two can play that game,” the human was confused when the pig demon got up and left the room. He was no longer confused as he came back with a cup of tea in hand.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Tang threatened the pig.

The pig looked him straight in the eye and, with a sly smirk, drank down the tea.

SLURRPP

“You heathen!” He shrieked as he banged his hands on the counter and stood up, “how dare you drink my magic tea!”

“Well next time don’t be rude as fuck!” He shot back and got in his face as well.

“That’s rich coming from you!”

“Says the freeloader!”

“Oh here we go again! You know, if you wanted some tea you could have asked!”

“My stove, my cups, my pot, mine.”

“But it was made for me!”

“Yeah well-wait hold up, you feel better right,” Pigsy dropped his screaming as he softly asked his friend, “no drill pounding in your head?”

“Yeah I’m fine now, it really does work miracles,” Tang also lowered his voice.

“That’s good.”

“…they really do act like an old married couple,” Mei announces, MK facepalmed as both adults separated from each other and yelled.

“WE ARE NOT!”

“I’m really sorry about such short notice,” the panda bear demon on call apologized once more to Macaque as he was quickly gathering his ingredients.

“Don’t apologize, shit like this happens,” he waved him off, “I’ll take me a couple of days, a week at max, but I’ll be there before the poison reaches its peak.”

“Thank you,” the panda bowed to him.

“Make sure to store away any semblance of caffeine, alcohol, or anything high in potassium, those are the fastest ways to speed up the process,” he instructed him.

“I’ve been meaning to take away Mink coffee stash, now I have a reason,” he chuckled, “I’ll see you soon.”

“Will do bossman,” he hung up the call and called another number as he continued to pack. Once it picked up he put a smile on his face, “Hey Comet, how’s it going?”

“Good!” The twenty year old happily responded. “You wouldn’t believe it, but the classes are actually kinda easy to understand. They’re still tricky, especially the tests, but Yanyu was right about you teaching this. It made almost all my classes so much easier thanks to you.”

“Aww, that’s another one for my ego,” he joked then he put on a more serious tone, “but I didn’t just call you here for a chat kiddo.”

“Why what’s up? Is there something wrong?” MK suddenly asked as he leaned in, “Do I have to get Mei here and help kick some asses?!”

“Snrk, no nothing like that,” he let out a snort, “you know Po right?”

“Yeah, he’s the panda demon who comes in to get pain relief, muscle relaxants, and other types of medicine for his students? Does this have something to do with him?”

“Close, his disciples messed up big time and accidentally inhaled a bunch of toxic fog when they faced off against an elephant demon.”

“How can an elephant make poison?” MK questioned.

“Magic can do the weirdest of things, I mean I’m a monkey that can do shadow magic,” he pointed out.

“True, okay so he’s gonna come over to pick up the antidote? I don’t see what’s the big problem?”

“Here’s the bad part, Po can’t make a round trip, cause the time he gets back, all of his students…might not be alive,” he gently told him.

“…oh, so what’s gonna happen?”

“Well, I’m going to have to make a house call, which means I'm gonna have to go away for a bit and it’s pretty far, so I won’t be able to hear you.”

“…okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay!” MK gave a big grin to him, “Don’t you worry bout a thing! I’m an adult now Dad, I will be just fine!”

“You have grown up,” he gave a gentle smile, “I’m glad to hear that, but remember to call if there’s any trouble. I may be far, but I will come running if you need it.”

“I will! Now finish packing and save some lives!”

“I will, I’ll see you in two weeks shooting star.”

“See ya later old man!”

Macaque hung up the call with a smile as he resumed his packing. He wished he could have hugged his kid goodbye, but he was in a time crunch as he zipped everything up and quickly jumped out of the treehouse and began to move within the shadows of the trees.

He really does love his shadow powers during these times.

“Duh du Duh,” MK hummed out as he danced his way over to the food delivery destination with the headphones blaring in his ears. He then lifted it to call out the order name when he heard a silky voice interrupt.

“It feels like I waited for an eternity for this moment, is everything in order?”

“Just making the final adjustment mother,” another voice replied and this is when he opened his eyes to see that this was no ordinary food order as an ominous group stood before him.

“Nope,” he immediately whispered as he silently jetted off to hide behind a pile of rocks, but he peaked his head carefully out to see and his eyes widened.

“Finally after all this time,” the woman continued.

‘No way.’

“We have the means to lift Monkey King staff.”

‘It is!’

Standing before them all, wrapped in vibrant viridian vines and burrowed underneath a garden left untouched by the destruction laid around it, was the legendary Monkey King staff.

Things were about to get interesting.

No joke, the delivery scene with the lady is something I had to experience before. There are people who truly treat food workers lower than dirt, which is stupid to me cause why would you disrespect the people making your food? It’s like insulting the people who manage your money.

[obsidianfr3sk]

true colors

@renegadesnet event 10: pride

↪ [ “But everything was temporary. And pain was one of those things. Well, except love. Everything but love was temporary. Or that was what he liked to believe.” ]

Summary: Two years after the supernova, after Tamaya notified them the gearboxes that contained the lights had gotten soaked and that she needed the money to buy more before the next day (June 1st), Simon realized they were not enough for him anymore. 

Simon wanted a bigger flag. 

No. He wanted two. The biggest pride flags he could find.

AO3

Hello, friends!! I hope you’ve been having an excellent pride month and have been eating a lot rainbow cake and pissing off a lot of conservatives with the mere fact of your wonderful existence:’) As my contribution to this month and the event organized by @renegadesnet, I decided to write a fic focused on my favorite gay dads and their sons (bc I’m me, and you should have seen this coming.) 

Before you read, I want to give a trigger warning: at the start of a fic I talk about a homophobic attack, which is not graphic or violent per se (it’s someone in the middle of the night taking away the flag they put outiside the house), and I do discuss about internalized homophobia during some parts of the story. If you read it and are sensitive to this kind of stuff, proceed with caution and take care of yourself <3

Also, this entry is a collaboration with my talented mother @healing-winston-pratt, who is going to be uploading some fanart of this in a near future, so keep an eye on that👀 she’s the best skjhkjds thank you for accepting to collaborate, I feel this is a great bonding activity and I hope we can do this more often✨

I need to update my tag list because a lot of the people who were included are not active as active as they were before/changed their URLs. But I’m going to tag @the-wee-woo-rita @lackadae @all-weather-is-bad @chiyuki-hiro bc you guys are the only ones who are still active users who I had on my previous tag list lol

With that said, I hope you enjoy this fic. I think that despite the angsty parts, it came out really fluffy and domestic, it was fun to write. And to all my queer silbings who are reading this: I am very proud of you.  

But I see your true colors shining through.

I see your true colors, and that's why I love you.

So don't be afraid to let them show.

Your true colors,

true colors are beautiful like a rainbow

Simon couldn’t remember a time when he didn’t know he was gay.

There was a time when he didn’t know he was gay, of course. He was probably too young to even comprehend the meaning behind that word. And there was also a moment in his life when he felt embarrassed about it, and sad, and angry, and really, really scared, and probably thought that no matter how hard he tried, he was never going to be happy living the life he wanted to live.

That the pain was never going to end. That he was going to be miserable for the rest of his existence, and that maybe, there was no point in existing if he was going to stay like that until the day he died.

But everything was temporary. And pain was one of those things.

Well, except love. Everything but love was temporary. Or that was what he liked to believe.

That was the reason why, the first year after the Day of Triumph, he told Hugh they should get a rainbow flag for their house. They went to one of the first stores that opened at the mall (that had just been remodeled after twenty years of being abandoned) and bought one at a not so affordable price. Simon offered himself to install it on one of the fence pillars and had to spend thirty minutes listening to Hugh telling him that maybe he should let him do it, that the ladder Kasumi had lent them was ratty, and that Simon was going to fall.

Fortunately, Simon didn’t. He did almost fall, though, when he was about to pass out from stress because seeing Hugh getting all anxious, made Adrian cry and he started to basically beg him to come down, given that now he was convinced he was going to fall, and hearing his dad saying “Look what you’ve done to the kid, Simon” didn’t help at all to make Adrian (or Simon) feel better.

That night, there was a thunderstorm and Adrian used it as an excuse to sleep on their bed. As soon as he cried himself to sleep, two hours later, after their dads did everything in their power to calm him down, hugging him, giving him kisses, and assuring him his aunt Tamaya wasn’t going to let the storm hurt them, Simon raised his hand to high-five Hugh and tell him that they were amazing parents, just to realize he was already asleep. Simon silently judged him for sleeping so soundly while his son was having a crisis instead of sleeping.

When he woke up (at five in the morning) Adrian was looking out their window, with the Baby Indomitable blanket on his shoulders. The sky was still cloudy, but it wasn’t raining anymore.

“Darling, what are you doing?,” Simon told him. “Today’s Sunday. Let your daddy and I get some more sleep—”

“The storm took our flag,” Adrian blurred out.

Hugh was already awake too. “What?”

“You said the storm wasn’t going to hurt us,” Adrian said, turning around to see them, “but the storm took our flag.”

Simon got out of bed, looked through the window...

And, yes, the flag was completely gone.

But for some reason, Simon knew it hadn’t been the storm.

“Why would the storm do something like this?” Adrian asked.

Simon didn’t know how to answer that. Luckily, Hugh did.

“Because the storm is homophobic, son.”

Adrian laughed out loud and then asked his dads if they could have pancakes for breakfast. He had already forgotten about the storm and the flag.

They didn’t. Neither of them ever forgot about it.

While Simon and Adrian ate their pancakes, Hugh went to his office because, according to him, he needed to check something. When Adrian finished his breakfast and went back to his dads’ room to watch TV, Simon stayed in the kitchen, doing the dishes, and Hugh finally came downstairs. He was pretty quiet, and Simon thought that it probably was because he had told him to eat the burnt pancakes he didn’t dare to throw away, but after he finished them all, he said:

“I lied.”

Simon threw a glance at him. “When did you lie?”

“When I said the storm was homophobic,” Hugh answered.

“Well, of course, you lied, love. Storms don’t have strong political opinions about gay people.”

Hugh didn’t laugh. “What I mean is— that it wasn’t the storm.”

Every joke Simon’s brain could come up with disappeared at that moment. So he continued doing the dishes, and Hugh, thinking he hadn’t made himself clear, continued talking.

“It was someone else. It was a person. I saw them on—”

“I know,” Simon interrupted him. “I know. I’ve always known.”

But even if Simon knew, he still told Hugh to show him the footage because four eyes were better than two (especially considering that the owner of those first two eyes needed to wear glasses). It was all useless, though; the storm made the image all blurry, and the only thing they could see was someone taking it and running away in the middle of the night.

Simon wanted to think that it was just some dumb teen whose friends had  challenged him to do it. But when it came to things like those one never really knew.

On Monday, they had promised Adrian to take him to the park that was a few blocks away so they could teach him how to fly a kite, but the thought of going out made him feel as if something bad was going to happen to them if they did, so Simon told Adrian that he and Hugh were feeling sick and that they would stay in their room to get some rest. Adrian asked them if they minded that he stayed there too because he was in the middle of watching a movie he had never seen before.

“Only if we can watch it with you,” Simon answered.

It was a weird day to be alive. They really just stayed there, watching silly cartoons with their kid and listening to him ranting about the weird proportions those characters had.

During the afternoon, Adrian told them he was hungry, so Simon went downstairs to look for something they could eat. He was thinking that maybe they should order something from that Chinese restaurant Tamaya had taken him the other day, when Hugh entered the kitchen and told him Adrian had  asked him if he could bring him water.

Simon felt his hands were trembling while he looked inside his wallet for the paper where he had written the restaurant’s phone number.

“Do you want to get another flag?” Hugh asked him.

And something hurt.

Something hurt inside of him. Something started to cry, and to scream, and to flicker, trying to make him invisible to the world.

And it told him, the same way Adrian had told him he was hungry, that someone had taken him by surprise and made a deep cut on his chest.

But Simon didn’t allow it to come out.

He just said: “No.”

And Hugh answered him: “Me neither.”

He called the Chinese restaurant to order some food, while Simon went to their room with Adrian again and cuddled with him, trying to tend to the wounds of that something that was bleeding out inside of him.

Little Simon was crying, and screaming, and flickering, and needed adult Simon to take care of him.

The next day, they talked about the incident with the rest of the Council during their lunch break. It was one of those few occasions the six of them were together in the same room during their work hours. Tamaya was furious about the flag situation. She ranted for a good five minutes without anyone interrupting her about how fucking horrible people were and that she was going to find that little piece of shit and cut his hands off. Kasumi nodded in approval while drinking some horchata she had bought for herself, probably thinking about how to ask Tamaya to let her join her revolution (something she didn’t need to do, since Tamaya always included Kasumi in everything she did). Evander, on the other hand, was very quiet, something that made him feel a little bit relieved because he was not a sensitive person and Simon didn’t want him to... Evander  the situation.

He didn’t say anything insensitive that day, though.

In fact, he said something… helpful, even.

“What about a flag made of light?” 

Hugh rubbed his eyes and Simon knew what he was going to say before he opened his mouth.

Because he said that phrase constantly.

“Shut the fuck up, Evander.”

But Evander didn’t shut up. “Dude, think about it. No one would be able to take down a flag made of light.”

And everyone realized that, now, it was not only one of those strange occasions when the six of them got together to have lunch during their work hours; it was also one of those strange occasions when Evander had an idea that was actually good.

So after spending another hour discussing how they were going to make it work, they decided they were going to lit up the building in rainbow-colored lights.

Tamaya and Hugh were the ones in charge of almost all the operation because Evander said he had already given them the idea, so he didn’t need to do anything else (and then got mad at Hugh when he told the media he was the one who came up with it). Kasumi helped them, but was especially insistent about putting a trans pride flag somewhere in the building, and after they agreed with her, she personally hung it on the main entrance of Headquarters.

They started turning the lights on each night of June since that yeat.

Hugh and Simon still didn’t get a flag. Three nights after they told their friends about what had happened during the thunderstorm, Simon was woken up by the sound of someone crashing against the trash cans and almost jumped out of the window with his dagger  on hand to slay whoever was trying to break into their house, but when he peeked out to see what was going on, he realized the “robber” was Kasumi, who had put a bunch of small pride flags on some pots they kept on their porch and started crying as soon as she realized Simon was watching her, not because she was upset the surprise she had for them had been ruined, but because now she was covered in trash.

(That week was like a sign Georgie was sending them from the afterlife to tell them they needed to install a better security system.)

Those were the only flags they kept around the house. They were small and discreet, and, most importantly, no one had taken them away. Why? Well— because they listened to Georgie’s sign and installed a better security system. Not because there weren’t any more homophobes out there who were willing to do it.

Until that moment, those flags (the little ones Kasumi had given them in a rather unconventional way and the one made of light that Evander had come up with) had been more than enough for them. But, two years after the supernova, after Tamaya notified them the gearboxes that contained the lights had gotten soaked and that she needed the money to buy more before the next day (June 1st), Simon realized they were not enough for him anymore.

Simon wanted a bigger flag.

No. He wanted two.

The biggest pride flags he could find.

 ***

That was the reason why, after having pancakes for breakfast (because it had rained during the night), he took the car, took the other three people living in that house with him, and after he was able to read the map, they arrived at a store that, among other things, sold flags like the ones they were looking for.

“I want one too,” Adrian told them when they were at the flag section of the store. “For my room, you know. And I want to get ones for Danna and Nova because I don’t think they have any. They would’ve told me.”

Usually, when Adrian asked for something Simon hadn’t agreed to buy him, like some candy, an action figure, or a pair of sneakers, he would turn around and ask him if he had the money to buy any of those things himself, which would anger him so much he would stop wanting that certain thing.

But that day, he felt like buying them everything they wanted. As if money grew on trees (something he always told his kids didn’t happen.)

“Of course, darling,” he answered, “get them everything you want. It’s pride month.”

“It’s May 31th,” Max said. He was inside the shopping cart Hugh had grabbed the second they entered. It was something he always did, even if they weren’t going to buy a lot of things because, according to him, it felt weird and wrong not to.

“It’s almost pride month,” he corrected himself.

“So can I get something for Nova?” Adrian asked again, just to make sure.

“You can get something for Nova,” Hugh assured him, smiling a little bit.

Adrian quickly turned around and started looking for the flag he wanted while texting Nova about something Simon couldn’t read (not like he was trying to, anyway).

After making sure Adrian stayed on the same aisle as them, they started walking around, gazing at the flags and posters available. Simon felt pretty progressive because he was able to name every single sexuality and gender they were supposed to represent. He imagined Hugh was doing the same thing, but with a lot more difficulty than him. He kept his eyes fixated on each flag longer than Simon did, as if he were trying to remember what they meant, and when he did, he pushed the cart (with Max still inside of it, playing a game on Hugh’s phone because he had forgotten his tablet at home), and the cycle began again.

But suddenly, Simon saw ones that he didn’t recognize.

After three seconds of standing in front of those little flags, someone hit him in the butt with their cart. He turned around immediately, ready to say a really threatening “Hey” to whoever had done it.

Hugh was the only other person who was there. He had been the one who had hit him with the cart.

Suddenly, Simon felt a little bit stupid for thinking someone else had done it.

The two of them maintained eye contact for a couple of seconds until Hugh started looking at his own hands grabbing the cart’s handle.

“Simon.” Before Simon could ask him what happened, he added, with a deep voice: “Move.”

Simon didn’t move. Instead, he hit the cart with his hips, just out of spite. Hugh hit him again with it, making Simon feel the unexpected need to grab the cart with his two hands and use his own weapon against him, but Max was there and they couldn’t act like kids in front of him. So he just hit the cart with his hips again, a little bit harder than the first time, and left it there.

He realized he was just going to be wasting his time asking Hugh if he knew what that flag was supposed to represent.

“Cherub,” he called Max. “Do you recognize this flag?”

Max looked up from the screen. He usually didn’t like it when he called him “cherub” in public, but this time, he didn’t seem mad about it. “Um… no? Ask Adrian—” and continued playing.

Adrian came back with a basket full of pins, and for a second, Simon almost asked him if he really was that naive to believe he was actually going to pay for all of them. But then, he realized that it was only the basket where they kept all of the pins they sold and that Adrian had taken it to show them to them.

“Look, they have so many pins here—” he started taking random pins “—this is the aromantic flag… this is the genderfluid flag—”

“Interesting,” Hugh interrupted him, “but which flag is that one?” and pointed at the one Simon didn’t recognize.

Max took a random pin from the basket and started looking at it with curiosity. Adrian almost didn’t pay attention to it, and after a few seconds, he said: “That one’s yours.”

Simon frowned and took one. It was a handheld flag with green and blue stripes, with a white one in the middle. He touched the polyester with his fingertips as if that was going to give him the ability to communicate with it.

“But we don’t have a flag,” Hugh told Adrian. “I’ve heard of the lesbian fl—”

Adrian took a pin of the lesbian flag. “This one.”

“Yeah— but gay men don’t have one.”

“The rainbow is ours,” Simon said, without taking his eyes away from the blue and green flag he was holding. “Like, it’s for all queer people.”

Hugh directed his attention to Adrian again. “You’re messing with us.”

“I do mess with you a lot,” Adrian admitted, “but this time I’m not because if I do and you get mad, you won’t buy me all the stuff I want to get.”

“Huh.”

Simon knew Adrian and Max were a lot of things, but "dumb" wasn't one of those. And Adrian was especially intelligent when it came to convincing his parents to buy him things.

So he decided to believe him.

“Well, I like it,” he said. Then, he asked Hugh: “Do you like it?”

Hugh grabbed one and observed it for a while. “I like that it has blue on it,” he finally answered, nodding a little bit.

Simon noticed Max was spacing out while playing with the pin he had taken, so he waved the flag on his face, making him laugh and sneeze because the damn thing had a lot of invisible dust Simon didn't notice at first.

“Oh, sh—”

“You know? Maybe we should get two of these,” Hugh said, waving it too, but in his case, not on the face of one of their kids. “For our offices.”

“Matching flags, very romantic.”

Max rubbed his nose. “Why don't you get a big one for the house?”

Simon quickly started to look everywhere on that aisle, and he saw a lot of big versions of the flags he had recognized before (and some of the ones Adrian had mentioned), but there were no gay flags in sight.

“Maybe next year, I guess,” he shrugged. “I don't think they have them here yet.”

He grabbed two of the rainbow flags that were there, inside their respective plastic bags, gave them to Max, and he put them on his lap, still holding that pin. Simon made a quick mental note to remind his future self they needed to pay for that (he didn’t know if it had to with the fact that Max had been spending a lot of time with Maggie, Nova’s sister, but he had developed this weird habit of stealing the most random objects one could think of. Luckily, he limited himself to stealing things from his dads and, one time, from a store.) (Kids went through weird phases when they were Max’s age.)

(Because… it was a phase, right?)

Adrian received a text. “Danna says that she already has a flag, so I’m getting her a pin,” he said after reading it. “And Nova says she wants one too.” Then, his whole face lit up. “And I could get one too so we match.”

“Copycat,” Simon accused him, jokingly. “Your dad and I got matching flags, and now you want to get matching pins with your girlfriend.”

Hugh shook his head, disappointed. “I cannot believe you have betrayed your own family like this.”

They stayed at the store another 30 minutes to buy some other things they needed for the house, and from time to time, when he or Hugh grabbed something, they pretended they didn’t see Adrian and said: “Um, but the copycat may be listening” to a point he told them to stop, and refused to forgive them until they agreed to buy him the flag he didn’t intend to get anymore, but now was going to.

He got the last bisexual flag there was at that store.

 ***

The first time the four of them were together in their room was last June. Something went wrong with the A/C system of the entire house and the only room where one could stay without having a heatstroke was theirs because their A/C hadn’t broken down for some reason. Adrian and Max were sleeping on the air mattress until Simon (who hadn’t been able to sleep lately) heard that one of them woke up and asked Hugh something. He sat down on the bed, at the same time Hugh moved a little bit to allow Adrian to lay down between the two of them.

Then, in the middle of the dark, his eyes met Max’s.

He looked tiny. Young. Pretty young.

And far away.

Simon couldn’t remember who did it. He didn’t remember who talked that night. It could have been him, even. But he was sure that, at that moment, someone whispered:

“Get in here, kid.”

And Max obeyed. He crawled, raised his arms towards them, and Hugh grabbed him carefully by the collar of his shirt and placed him between him and Adrian.

It was a peaceful night. The bed was big enough for the four of them, and Simon was able to sleep and actually rest for the first time in weeks.

At least until their A/C turned off with a weird sound, and the four of them woke up at the same time, sweaty, uncomfortable, and almost at 11 AM, not because they weren’t necessarily willing to stay there longer, but because the heat was starting to get unbearable and suddenly the bed was too small for three adults and a little kid that was not that little anymore.

“This isn’t a room, this is a— a freaking oven,” Hugh said, while Adrian tried to push him out of bed to get the hell out of there and seek comfort on the air mattress he had abandoned in the middle of the night.

“And we are the... cookies,” Max giggled.

“The turkey,” Simon added.

Max turned around. His whole face was red and his hair was a little bit wet. “The lasagna.”

Simon grabbed him by the cheeks; a discreet way to check if he had a fever. “The cake.”

“The ham.”

“The—”

“Dad. Move.”

Later that day, Simon called someone to fix the A/C, and that was the end of the story.

When they arrived at the house, Adrian wanted to hang his flag as soon as possible, on one of his room’s walls, but Simon insisted that they should iron it first so it looked nicer. Hugh said that he was planning on ironing the ones they had bought for the house and offered Adrian to do the same with his, but when he insinuated that he didn’t trust him enough not to mess up his flag the same way he had messed up his favorite shirt (the one he wanted to wear to take Nova to a nice place during her birthday), Hugh reminded him that the only reason he kept doing that for him was that Adrian didn’t know how to iron yet, and decided that he was going to use that moment as a teaching opportunity. Max made the mistake of laughing at his brother when he thought no one was paying attention to him, but Adrian was and dragged Max into the teaching opportunity with him.

Simon joined too. Just because.

And suddenly, the four of them were in their room again.

With the A/C on, of course.

He didn't know if Hugh had noticed, but he had been so invested in his own explanation, that after he finished ironing the two rainbow flags, he started ironing Adrian’s without realizing it. Adrian, instead of giving up and stop pretending he was paying attention, was looking, kind of mesmerized, how he opened the bag of his blue, purple, and magenta flag, and proceeded to put it on the ironing board, now telling him that when Georgie had tried to teach him how to iron his clothes, she accidentally burnt Evander.

Simon was half-listening to the story, half-listening to the music video that Max was watching on the TV. He was sitting on a big and old ottoman they had bought a long time ago but had never found the perfect place to put it and just stayed there for years until they forgot about it. Max was in front of him, sitting on the floor and resting his back on the ottoman, while he covered his blond hair with small butterfly hair clips he had found at the store and bought just because he thought they were cute (who knows, maybe Nova wanted them for Maggie, or Kasumi could use them for herself, she loved them when she was little).

When all the hair clips were on Max's hair, he took a small mirror they kept in the bathroom (but Simon borrowed it for a minute) and gave it to him so he could see the final result.

“Look at me,” Max exclaimed, laughing. “I look so pretty.”

Simon grabbed one of the hair clips and pulled it a little. “Butterfly hair clips are a popular trend this time of the year.”

“This is definitely going to make me the most popular kid in the playground.”

“Definitely.”

He leaned forward to start taking the butterfly hair clips off Max's hair and was putting them on Max’s open hand when he noticed that he hadn’t let go of the pin they bought him at the store.

(Simon did remember to pay for the thing, but if he hadn’t done it, Max wouldn’t have said anything.)

“That was really nice of you,” Simon said.

Max looked at him, confused. “What?”

“Getting a rainbow pin—” he took his other hand and started putting the hair clips on it so none of them would get lost “—to show support.”

Max didn't say anything and Simon continued with what he was doing. After the music video finished, and another one started playing, Hugh gave Adrian his flag and told him he could go and hang it in his room, and as soon as Max heard that too, he gave Simon the hair clips and followed his brother out of the room, asking him if he could help him with it.

Simon, after realizing the bag where the hair clips came in had been destroyed by Max punching holes in it with the pin, took one of the empty pill bottles he kept in his drawers and put them there.

He closed the pill bottle and realized Hugh had been gazing at him during all this time, slightly leaning on the ironing board. “What?”

“That’s my pill bottle, Si,” he told him.

“Ah—” Simon pressed his lips “—can I have it?”

“No.” Hugh smiled at him. “Yes, you can.”

“So funny. Come here—” and patted the bed mattress.

Hugh, being extremely careful not to touch the flags he just ironed, lied on the bed and sighed.

“Do you want me to play with your hair?” Simon asked him with a soft voice.

He closed his eyes and nodded.

After a while of the two of them just being silent, he said, “Hey… I heard what you told Max, by the way.”

“The butterfly hair clips trend?”

“The pin thing.”

“What about it?”

Hugh opened his eyes, just a little bit. “Just don't tell Max I told you, all right? Because he told me he wouldn't tell anyone else until he was sure, but… I think it's important the two of us know,” he explained.

Simon was starting to feel his palms get a little bit sweaty. “Okay— but just tell me, please.”

He checked overhearing their conversation one last time, and that the kids were still at Adrian's room. “Max told me a couple of days ago that he has been thinking about… what he likes.”

He stopped playing with his hair for a second. But then, he continued.

It was his way of coping with the feeling of his stomach twisting inside of him. “What he likes?” Hugh nodded again. “Huh. And has he— does he has an idea or—”

“No, he doesn't,” Hugh answered. “He just knows that he doesn't like girls. Or that's what he told me.”

Simon raised his eyebrows and scoffed. “That sounds like a lot of things. Not liking girls.”

Hugh scoffed too. “That's what I told him. And that he can take all the time he needs to figure it out. Because he can—”

“Yes. Yes, of course, he can,” Simon assured, with determination. “Life is longer than we think it is.”

They stayed silent again. And Simon couldn’t help but feel relive inside his head the moment he called Max an ally, feeling his stomach twisting even more at every second it passed.

“I feel bad.”

“Why?”

His palms started to sweat again. “Because I called him an ally.”

“It’s all right. You didn’t know.”

“I shouldn’t have assumed anything.”

“You didn’t know,” Hugh repeated.

But Simon didn’t listen. “Si.”

Then, Hugh grabbed him carefully by the wrist, and, a little bit surprised, Simon tilted his head. Hugh usually didn't interrupt him when he was playing with his hair.

“What's wrong?” he asked.

“No, what’s wrong with you?” he deadpanned

Simon knew him well enough to know he wasn’t trying to be rude. It was just his way of asking things. Especially when he was genuinely worried and didn’t think about modulating his tone so it It fitted the situation better.

He sighed. Because he didn’t want to lie to him. “I assumed Max was straight.”

As soon as he said it, he realized how silly it had sounded phrased like that. But he also noticed his voice had broken and he had to put a hand on his mouth so he didn’t start crying.

And Hugh, instead of saying the encouraging phrase he expected him to say…

He smiled.

And for some reason, that made him want to cry even more. “Ew, why are you smiling?” he asked.

Hugh took his time to answer him. “Oh, it’s nothing.  I think I'm just… happy.”

“Well, I’m not.”

Hugh smiled more. “I know, love, I know… It's just one of those things…” he tried to find the right words this time. “One of those things I didn't think we were going to go through together,” he kept saying. “Like… we're going to be together when Max finally discovers who he really is. Like we did with Adrian. And like other people did with us. And that makes me happy.”

Simon wanted to tell him to shut up and let him cry and be dramatic as much as he wanted because he considered he deserved it. But he tried to do it, the only thing that could come out of his lips was almost imperceptible “Yeah…” and then, a small tear started running down his face. Hugh quickly noticed this and wiped it away with his finger. Simon scoffed and looked away, rubbing his nose.

“Hey…” and he moved aside so Simon could lay beside him.

The space they had was a little too small but he didn’t mind because now he had an excuse to be closer to him.

And there it was again. Little Simon. Little Simon was there again with them.

Just that this time he wasn’t crying, or screaming, or even flickering. He was just… existing.

And all he wanted to do was to exist.  

When Hugh held him that way, sometimes he felt as if it was the first time he did it. Which made Simon (and the sad, angry and scared part of Simon) wonder if there was a sad, angry and scared part of Hugh that also craved that comfort and validation, and if it was the one who hugged that younger version of Simon until they convinced each other that everything was fine.

That there was nothing wrong with neither of them.

Because sometimes it was as if people didn’t remind them that as many times as they needed. So the only option they had was to be there for the other, and tell him that it was okay to hug, to kiss, to touch, and to share until the one who was talking ended up convincing both of them.

Love wasn’t temporary.

And their love was as powerful as they wanted it to be.

Those younger versions of themselves wanted to stay like that forever every single time. But their adult versions knew they couldn’t do it because they had other responsibilities that they needed to attend.

Installing those two pride flags that were next to them, for example.

Their younger versions were excited to do that, but they also asked them if they could rest together a little bit longer. And neither of them had the heart to tell them no.

Hugh started to play with a lock of Simon’s hair. “We’ll be there to catch him.”

He knew he wasn’t talking about either of them. Even if, with his eyes closed, he could see little Hugh and little Simon holding each other’s hands and throwing themselves into the world, a little less sad, and angry, and scared than before, without being sure if there was going to be someone down there to catch them if everything went wrong.

“Together.”

And Simon agreed. “Together.”

 ***

“He’s going to fall.”

Simon rolled his eyes.

“No, he’s not,” Hugh told Max. “I’m here.”

“But what if—”

“Done,” Simon announced before Max could even finish his sentence. “Now, let’s just hope these things stay there as long as possible, because this ladder makes me anxious. I was trembling while putting the first flag.”

Max clicked his tongue. “It’s a windy day. The wind could have pushed the ladder or something.”

Now it was Hugh’s turn to roll his eyes. “Take my hand.”

Simon went down the ladder without letting go of his hand. Then, while Hugh took it and quickly went inside the garage to put it there, Adrian pricked his little brother up with his own rainbow flag pin, and in response, Max punched him in the stomach with all his might (which wasn’t that much). Adrian laughed and pretended to be hurt, but immediately asked him if he wanted him to help him with his pin.

Simon noticed that Adrian had already put his pin of the bisexual flag on his clothes, and watching him pull Max a little bit closer so he didn’t prink him again (now by accident), while Max gazed at his hands, trying to memorize his movements so he could do the same thing when he wanted to wear that pin again, made his mouth curved into a smile.

When his husband came back from the garage, he thought he was going to tell them to stop blocking the sidewalk and get in the house so they could continue with their day. But instead of doing that, he walked towards them and looked at their waving flags, flying on their mansion for the first time in years.

Adrian grabbed Max by the waist and carried him on his shoulders so he could have a better view. And he realized that there would be a day when they would throw themselves into the world completely alone, without knowing how people were going to act and aware that two of them were brave enough to take whatever blows that they were going to throw at them.

But they weren’t going to do it alone. Because Hugh, Simon, and their hurting parts weren’t going to spend a day without reminding them that they were going to be there, ready to catch them every single time they needed it.

Simon started to look for Hugh’s hand just to realize, Hugh was already looking for his too, and when they found each other, he couldn’t contain himself and stood on his tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. Then, Hugh smiled and kissed him back, this time, on the corner of his lip.

Simon felt proud of what they were.

He was really proud.

And he hoped they were proud too.

[ashdoesfandomarchieved]

Since it’s pride month, the warp core 4 celebrating pride?

ao3

“Welcome to le home of sexual,” Beckett says, eyebrows bouncing up and down. She and her three best friends are standing out in 36° weather, appropriately sunscreened up for the occasion, watching Earth’s yearly Pride Festival get started. It’s a bit early in the day for Beckett’s tastes-the real fun starts at night with the bar crawling and fireworks-but everyone agreed that D’Vana deserved the full experience.

D’Vana is just as delighted as Beckett knew she would be. She squeals, jumping up and down in the balls of her feet excitedly as they weave through the busy crowd.

“I thought you said Earth sucks,” Brad points out, leaning on Beckett’s shoulder with one arm. Beckett swats him off impatiently.

“Earth sucks,” she sniffs, grabbing his sleeve and swerving quickly through the chaos. “Pride doesn't,” she finishes, flipping her rainbow themed shades on. “Now what's the plan, fellow homos?”

“Parade, funnel cakes, violence,” Sam replies, matching rainbow shades already donned. “Or we could do lunch, I'm not picky.”

“Look at the baby flags!” D’Vana wheezes. “Brad. Brad. I need one.”

Beckett cackles as D’Vana drags a disgruntled Brad toward the stand selling tiny pride flags. Brad’s honestly right, she's not one to put much stock in earth traditions, but D’Vana had been so excited about doing pride this year, she'd relented. It was fun to watch D’Vana freak out over innocuous things. Sort of like vicariously living through her excitement.

That, and Pride was pretty fun once you factored out the dead of June heat and the noisy crowds.

Sam shakes his head, probably reading Beckett’s thought process. “At least D’Vana is enjoying herself.”

Beckett loops her arm through his, grinning up at him. “And you’re not? C’mooon, I know you have a soft spot for parades.”

“Violence, I’m pretty sure I said I wanted violence.”

“You,” she begins to pull him toward the direction their friends scampered off in, “are the least violent person I’ve ever met, Samantha.”

“Lies. I’m edgy.”

“Stop.”

“I’m hip.”

“Stoooop,” Beckett moans, headbutting his shoulder. Sam dissolves into snickers.

“For you!” D’Vana shrieks, coming out of nowhere. She throws a flag that’s probably taller than Sam at Beckett’s face. It’s the official bisexual flag, pinks, purples and blues overlapping in a gradient rather than it’s usual stripes. Beckett lets out a whoop, wrapping it around her head and shoulders like a cloak.

“You look like a gremlin,” Brad says, doubling over with laughter. He has a flag of his own-purples, greys, black and white- but unlike her, he’s folding it up maliciously to store for later.

“Nooo, I’m a wizard. No, a bizard!” Beckett says, pulling the fabric further over her head.

“You’re gonna die of heat stroke is what you are.” Sam pulls at the flag until Beckett relents, folding it up and putting it in her backpack. D’Vana grins, throwing a flag at Sam, who grins back at her.

“Solidarity,” D’Vana says, holding up her matching tiny flags and huge ass flag up next to Sam’s.

“Same hat,” Sam agrees, hugging the trans flag to his chest. “Funnel cake?” he says, hopefully.

“Funnel cake!” Beckett yells, punching the air.

Brad sighs, looking far too overheated and sleep-deprived for any of this. “Okay, but I’m not holding your hair back again when you puke because you ate too much,” he huffs.

“It’s okay, Beck, I’ll hold your hair back,” D’Vana offers.

“Not the point!”

“Brad,” Sam throws an arm over the other guy’s shoulder, leaning in conspiratory. “Have you considered...violence?”

“Stop, stop stop-” Beckett covers his mouth with her hand. He, naturally, licks it, sending her into a shrieking fit.

“I’m just trying to live up to our brand, Beckett!”

“Violence isn’t part of your brand!” She wipes her hand off on Brad’s shirt. “You’re the nice one!”

“Hey, I’m the nice one,” D’Vana protests.

Brad snorts. “Nope.”

“Way off base,” Beckett agrees.

“Yeah, that’s-no.” Sam shakes his head.

D’Vana crosses her arms. “Whatever,” she mutters. They finally arrive at the funnel cake stand.

“How much funnel cake can you legally give us?” Beckett asks. Brad elbows her in the stomach.

“We’ll take four,” he intervenes, already pulling his wallet out. Beckett pouts at him, but a look from Sam keeps her from making a scene. Whatever, she can come back for seconds later.

“So, violence?” Sam says, after they’ve paid and are ambling from stand to stand.

“Stop trying to make that a thing. It’s not a thing, Sam.”

“Actually,” D’Vana says slowly. “We should make it a thing.”

“D’Vana-”

“No, no, hear me out, Beck. Consider,” she points to a display selling fireworks. “Have you ever wondered what would happen if you set those off in space.”

“Yeah nothing because fireworks aren’t reliant on oxygen,” Brad says. “They’d still work, but they’d fizzle out pretty quickly.”

“Okay, but, hear me out Brad. Not like in space, space, but like. In the Cerritos, space.”

“No,” Brad says immediately. “We’re not doing that.”

Sam and Beckett exchange a look.

“Hmm,” Beckett says, pretending to look thoughtful. “That’s an interesting hypothesis you’ve brought to our attention, D’Vana.”

“It’s not a hypothesis-”

“We’d have to test it, of course,” Sam adds on.

Brad groans, hands in his hair.

“Multiple times for us to get a reliable answer,” Beckett agrees.

D’Vana’s hands are already piled high with rainbow themed fireworks by the time Brad looks up again. His face goes through all seven stages of grief before settling on resignation. “I’m not paying for these.”

“I got it,” Sam says, grinning. Brad glares back.

“I’m not helping.”

“Yes you are,” the other three say.

Brad throws his hands up in the air. “Do any of my choices matter?”

Beckett throws an arm over his shoulder “Do you want the existential answer to that or-”

“Nevermind,” he sighs, accepting a handful of fireworks D’Vana dumps in his arms. “This is fine.”

“Alright, new plan! We stash the fireworks in my super secret contraband hideout, throw up Pride flags all over the ship, get back in time for the firework show here and then go to Dennys.”

“Who the fuck is Denn-”

“Oh my god, we can get grand slams, right?” Sam asks, like a true, cultured American. Beckett nods seriously.

“It is never too early for pancakes. Now. To the Cerritos!” She throws a fist up in the air. D’Vana echoes her sentiment, looping an arm through Brad’s and dragging him off to the transportation point. Sam follows, laughing maniacally.

Yeah, Beckett thinks. Out of all the weird things Earth celebrates, Pride is probably the most fun. She pulls out the giant bisexual flag again and ties it around her neck like a cape, running after her friends.

[ytwokid]

SCENE ALPHABET / WORDS TO HELP FIND YOUR SCENE NAME.

DISCLAIMER: some of these words reference drug use and violence. browse at your own risk.

GENERAL GUIDELINES: alter word endings as needed to better fit the flow of your name. for example, dying or died instead of die.

alliteration is fun and recommended but NOT a requirement. you can be Sarah Acetone or Andy Massacre or whatever you want.

list updated from time to time. there may be obvious ones I've missed. I encourage you to Google more words if u are not satisfied by these!!!!! suggestions for more words can be left in my ask box @ytwokid or on TikTok.

- - - - - -

A

Abbatoir Abysmal Abyss Acetone Acid Acrid Agony Alabaster Alley Alleycat Angeldust Ants Arms-race Arsenal Arsenic Arson Attack Avalanche Avarice Awful Axe/Axe-wound

B

Barricade Bash Bastard Bat/Batty Bent Bitch Blame Blast Bleak Blood/Bloody Blunt Bone Brass Knuckles Break/Breakup/Break-in/Breakout Broke Broken Burn Burnt

C

Cackle Cadaver Cake Camo/Camouflage Candy Carnal Carnival Carnivore Carrion Cesspool Chaos Chimmichonga Crow Crowbar Crown Cocaine Corpse Corrode Cleaver Crack Crash Cupcake Cut Curbstomp

D

Dark/Darkness Damned Dead Death Decadent/Decadence Decimate Decompose Degenerate Degrade Denial Diamond Die Dice Dingy Dirt Dismal Dominate Drag Drip Drown Drop Dust

E

Earache Earwig Echo Eclectic Edifice Edge/Edgy Egg Electric Empire End/Endtimes Epidemic Essence Escape Error Exorcist/Exorcism

F

Facet Faint Fail/Failure Famicide Famine Fate Fly Forlorn Freak Fun

G

Garage/Garage-band Garbage Gash Glass Goob/Goober Gone Goner Gore Graffiti Gravy Gravel Grenade Guillotine Guilt/Guilty Gunk Guns Guro Gutter Guts

H

Hack Haggard Harm Harrow Hate Hatred Havoc Heist Hellcat Heroin Hex Homicide Horror Horrorshow

I

Ick/Icky Ignite Ignorant Illegal Incandescent Incoherent Indomitable Inescapable Inhumane Injure Insane Insect Insomnia Insomniac Intolerable Internet

J

Jacked Jail Jam Jagged Jagger Jaunt Juke Junkie

K

Kandi Karma Kill/Killer Krazy

L

Lachrymose Lame Lament Lead Leer Liar Lie Lock/Locked-up Long-gone Loopy

M

Mace Maggot Maim Malice Marijuana Marrow Massacre Mask Masquerade Medicine Meth/Methhead Monster Mottled Mud Mumble Murder Mute Mutter

N

Naked Narwhal Nether Neuter Nude Nuke Nutter Knife/Knifefight

O

Oil Offal Offensive Oligarchy Ostentatious Ostrich Onamontopeia

P

Pandemic Pandemonium Panic Paralyze Pear Pest Pill/Pills/Pillhead Piss Poison Pollute/Pollution Pray/Prayer Predator Prey Pry Puke Punch Punt Pyro Python

Q

Quack Quaint Quest Quick Quil

R

Racket Rage/Rager Ragged Rainbow Rancid Rando/Random Rare Rat/Ratty/Rats Ravage Rave/Raver Raven Revenge Roadhouse Roadkill Rock Rot/Rotten Rough/Roughhouse Riot Ruin

S

Sacrifice Sad/Sadness Saga Sage Sardine Saturation Scar Scare/Scary Scream Sellout Serrate/Serration Shade Sham Shame Shazam Shit/Shitty Sick/Sicko Sigh Skin Slap Slaughter Smuggle Snuggle Star Struggle Stun/Stungun Suffer

T

Taco Tackle Tattle Tame Taunt Tear Tease Tenacious Tender Tentacle Terror/Terrified Toilet Torn Toxic Tiger Tired Tragic/Tragedy Treachery/Treacherous Traitor Trap

U

Undone Unhinged Updog Uppercut Unsung Unacceptable Uvula

V

Vacuous Vacant/Vacancy Vagabond Vain/Vanity Valiant/Valiance Valuable Vampire Vandal/Vandalism Vapid Vapor Vein Venom Vibe Violent/Violence Viper Void Volume Vomit Voracious Vulture

W

Warning Web Weird/Weirdo Whack Whatever Whisper Wired Wisp Worm Wreck Wring

X

Xylophone

Y

Yack Yellow

Z

Zany Zap Zest Zigzag Zoo Zydrate

[takerfoxx]

Part three of the WN crew watches the Rebellion Story, this time stretching from the Mami in a towel scene to the sun rising after the battle with Hitomi's Nightmare.

Yes, this is the one with the Cake Song.

Reminder:

G=Gretchen

H=Homulilly

Op=Ophelia

Ok=Oktavia

Ca=Candeloro/Mami

Ch=Charlotte

...

Ca: Um.

Ch: UM!

G: Wow.

Ok: Oh, ho, ho! Hey, Candy! We interrupting something private here?

Ca: Oh, for Heaven’s sake.

Op, whistling: So…whaddya wanna talk about first?

Ch: Me! We’re talking about me! We’re getting this straightened out right now!

H: Are we even sure that’s you?

Ch: YES!

Ca: It’s her. That was her witch form.

Ch: SEE?! I KNEW IT!

G: I thought I got rid of all the witches.

Ok: Guess you missed one. And…Candeloro adopted it?

Ch: I AM NOT AN IT!

Ok: Sorry! Sheesh.

Op: Charly, chill. She didn’t mean it like that.

Ch: Ugh, I know, I know! Sorry. It’s just…What the hell?

Ca: I don’t know. I really don’t know.

Ch: So. Lemme get this straight. If for whatever reason we did not witch out and die when we did, Gretchen would’ve gone on to erase all witches from history…

G: I still don’t get it.

Ch: Except for ME, apparently! But we’re still magical girls fighting demented flying teddy bears that spawn when teenagers start angsting. And I’m just…hanging out. As a witch. Which is Candeloro’s pet for some reason? DO I HAVE THAT RIGHT?!

Op: Looks like.

Ok: You also still seem to have that thing for cheese.

Ch: Oh, great. AT LEAST THAT’S STILL AROUND! EVERYTHING MUST BE PERFECTLY NORMAL THAN!

H: Also, Kyubey is there, but seems to have lost his voice.

Ca: It’s an improvement.

Ch: Seriously, what the HELL is going on?!

Op: Do you need to take a break?

Ch: I…No, I’ll be…I’ll be fine. This is just weirding me out.

=long pause=

Ok: So, hey, Candy. About that towel…

Ca: Oh, I knew you were going to bring that up.

Op: Looks like you’ve been relegated to being Ms. Fanservice.

Ch: Just…Just hit Play. Maybe it’ll give us an explanation.

Ok: Okay…

=hits play=

G: Is this a bad time to point out that hairstyle actually looks really good?

Ca: It did get me a lot of attention. Of course, having magic made it much easier to maintain.

Op: I guess that’s why we look so fresh all of the time.

Ch: Great. On top of everything else I am also apparently an idiot that eats inanimate objects.

H: Wait. Nightmare? Is that what the teddy bears are called?

Op: Sure look…Whoa, wait.

Ok: Uh, Candy? CANDY?

Ca: Oh, I am not really going to-

=pause, then Ophelia starts laughing=

Op: Oh, man! Talk about a fake-out!

Ok: They knew what they were doing.

Ca: Oh, thank God. Or not. Why is this movie so focused on my breasts?

Op: I’ll give you two guesses.

Ca: =heavy sigh=

…

Ok: And there’s us, leaping around without a care in the world.

Op: Against a quilted sky.

Ok: Hitomi’s teenaged angst really threw everything for a loop.

G: Why the quilt, though? What does that symbolize?

Ok: I don’t know. What did the yarn symbolize? Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar!

Ch: And sometime animators take advantage of that big studio money to pump out whatever drug-induced fantasy that they ever had.

Op: Oh, hey! This version of you actually got over that guy!

Ok: “Captain Oblivious.” Heh, yup. You go, me.

G: And to think, so much trouble could have been avoided if he had just seen the cutie right in front of him.

=Oktavia loops an arm around Ophelia’s shoulders and snuggles up to her=

Ok: I like to think that it turned out all right in the end. Even this version of me agrees!

Ch: Except for him. Kinda serves him right.

G: I don’t know. I feel kind of bad talking bad about him like this. I mean, being a little oblivious isn’t really a bad thing, and he did lose a lot of important people to him in a very short period of time.

Ch: Well, when you put it like that…

Op: Yo, hey, not to change the subject or anything, but are those ballerinas that she’s got projected on the side of the building kickboxing? Because that’s honestly kind of hot.

H: Of course you would find violent dancing hot.

Op: I am what I am, and make no apologies.

G: At least these ones aren’t made of cum.

Ca: Oh, my God.

…

Ch: Oh, why am I here? What could I possibly contribute?

H: A moment ago you were complaining about not being in it!

Ch: This is worse. This is far worse.

G: Oh! Oh! We get to see the transformation scene!

Ca: Those weren’t really that elaborate. I mean, they were cool, but-Hold on.

Op: Aw, hell yeah! Strike a pose, team!

Ca: Okay, never mind. I guess in this world we made them elaborate.

Ch: Like I said: animators with way too much money and waaaaaaaay too many drugs. Prepare yourselves for a trip.

…

Ca: Oh! Oh, my.

Ch: So, uh…

Ca: No, I never danced to transform. That is…also new.

=Ophelia suddenly leans forward intently=

Op: Oh, yes, yes, yes! H-Hey, can we start this part over.

Ok: Sure.

=they restart the transformation scene=

G: So, are you…

Op: Figure-skating, yeah! Damned good, at that. Look at that spin!

Ca: I never learned figure-skating. I mean, I can skate, but nothing like this, though I suppose I have the athletic ability, and-Okay, I just exploded out of myself.

G: That outfit is pretty cool. Um, Candy? You wouldn’t mind if I asked…

Ca: Oh, fine. I suppose it’s thematically appropriate.

=Candeloro transforms into her Puella Magi uniform, complete with the hair. Gretchen cheers=

Ok: That was way quicker than the movie. And…damn.

Ca: You can stop staring at my breasts now.

Ok: I mean, sure, I can…

=Candeloro sighs and changes back. Oktavia and Gretchen both boo=

Ch: Sorry, girls. But the corset’s reserved for me.

Ok: What does that-Oh. Really?

Ch: We went going through a rough patch. We had some things we needed to come to terms with. Making pleasant associations helped.

G: I don’t get it.

=Homulilly whispers into her ear=

G: Oh. Oh.

Ca: Heh.

=Ophelia is still hunched forward and getting impatient=

Op: Yeah, this is all fascinating, but can we get back to the movie?

Ok: We’re literally talking about boobs. I thought you’d be all over that.

Op: There is dancing and you’re keeping me from it!

Ok: Okay, okay. Let’s go.

Op: Oh, hell yeah! I’m next!

G: What kind of dance is that, Ophelia?

Op: Definitely seeing some tribal elements in the first part. I think the part with the arms is…Chinese? Wish I had read up on it a bit more.

G: I’ve never seen you dance like that before.

Op: I mostly do hip-hop, but I do something similar to that when I pole-dance. It’s a lot more complex, though.

H: I bet it is.

Op: Have fun with that mental image! Still, this is giving me ideas, especially that arm thing. I think I pull that off with my illusions. Maybe it’s time to diversify-WHOA!

Ch: Why did you go all sketchy and scary?

Ca: Why did I explode out of myself twice?

Ok: Oh, okay! Here we go!

=Gretchen starts laughing=

G: Oh, my God! You’re doing Ophelia’s usual dance!

Ok: Doing it pretty well, too! Damn!

Op: I’ll say! Nice windmills, smooth transitions from palms to forearms.

Ch: You’re getting ideas, aren’t you?

Op: Duh.

Ok: And now I’m running. You know, I can’t help but feel that this me is sort of flexing on me specifically with the whole leg thing.

H: Has anyone else noticed that so far we have all ripped out of ourselves in order to transform?

Ok: That outfit is hot, though. And-Okay, that ass shot was on purpose!

Ca: Be thankful it’s not as obsessed with your butt as it is with my boobs.

Ok: No way! I wanna see it more! C’mon, zoom in on those cheeks!

Op: I strongly agree.

H: Oh, here’s me. This should be good.

G: It’s actually pretty lovely. And you do look like you’re having fun with it.

H: You know, this isn’t bad. But what am I supposed to be doing?

Op: It’s…kind of interpretive freeform, but I’m seeing some ballet elements in there as well.

H: Huh.

Op: You think of giving it a shot? Because I have someone I could call.

H: Thank you, but no. Maybe.

Op: Well, think about it.

H: I’m also tearing out of myself, I see. Oh, and that stupid clock again!

G: This is great. Can we see that part again?

Ok: You know you’re next, right?

G: Oh. Oh, no.

Ok: Okay, so…

Op: This…I’m not sure what you’d call this.

Ok: Other than adorable.

Op: It is that.

=Gretchen is blushing and hiding her face=

Ch: Okay, this is pretty cute.

G: Stop, please.

Ca: You sure you don’t recognize this, Ophelia?

Op: I mean, other than the Can-Can bit, not really. It’s more cute poses than anything.

Ch: So teenaged pop-idol.

G: Oh, God!

Op: Yeah, that seems to fit.

G: Why do all of you get the cool dances while I get…this?

H: I think it’s fine.

G: I’m not watching. Is it over, yet?

H: Well, you more of shattered glass instead of tearing out of yourself, but it’s still going.

Op: Okay, okay. It’s over, now.

G: Finally-You said it was over!

Op: It is! You’re just doing your final pose.

G: They literally covered me with hearts and rainbows!

Ok: What’s wrong with hearts and rainbow?

G: Look, I know I’m supposed to be the “cute” one, but there is a point when it becomes too much!

H: It’s your fault for being so adorable.

G: I’m not the only cute girl here. Sheesh!

H: No, you are definitely the cutest!

=Homulily starts tickling Gretchen=

G: Homulilly! Stop it!

H: I can’t help it! You’re just so cute! CUTE!

=Gretchen laughs and squirms in trying to get away, but not too much=

G: Stop it! Someone! Please! Help!

=Charlotte, who’s sitting on the other side of Gretchen, glances at Homulilly. They lock eyes=

Ch: Nope! Sorry! She’s right!

=Charlotte starts tickling Gretchen as well, who now is gasping for air=

Ok: Honestly, this is way more entertaining than the movie.

Op: Speaking for yourself. There was dancing!

Ca: You know, if you guys keep this up, then we’ll never get through the film.

G: Okay, that is it!

=Gretchen suddenly ties up Homulilly and Charlotte up with her legs and lifts them fully off the couch into the air. She sits there with her arms crossed and the two of them suspended=

G: No more tickling, or I start tickling everybody! And I have way more limbs to do it with than all of you combined!

Ok: Is that a threat or a promise?

Ch: I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Put me down!

G: Fine! Now, behave!

=Gretchen plops Homulilly and Charlotte back down into their seats and lets them go. Then she blinks and turns to Oktavia=

G: Wait, do you want to be tickled?

Ok: Well…

Op: Better not. This is an egg you do not want to crack.

G: You guys and your fetishes.

Ok: I am literally half fish, okay? We had to get creative!

Ca: Okay, I’m unpausing the movie, if it’ll get you to stop!

Op: You’re the one who literally busted out your and Charly’s bedroom get-up.

Ch: Not really. It usually has less-

Ca: UNPAUSING NOW!

…

Ok: Team pose!

Op: They always come this close to showing us what’s under those skirts.

Ch: They’re being cheeky, all right.

Ok: That pose is awesome, though. We should do that for real!

Ch: Puella Magi Holy Quintet? Not a bad name.

Op: Can’t really use it ourselves.

Ch: Why, because there’s six of us?

Op: That, and-

Ok: We’re all witches?

Op: Okay, that too, but also there is nothing holy about us.

Ch: Ah, innocent times, innocent times.

Ok: Come on, Sayaka and Kyoko are clearly doing it on the regular.

Ch: You inferred all that from your five minutes of screentime so far, did you?

Ok: I know what I’m about.

…

Ok: And out comes the violin! Subtle.

H: So…are there any people in any of those buildings that she’s wrecking?

Op: Probably.

Ok: So Hitomi is literally killing hundreds with her angsty temper tantrum.

G: Er…I’m sure she’s not!

Ca: Okay, now this part is actually pretty similar to how things used to be! Um, except for the ballroom dancing.

G: How so?

Ca: I mean us combining our abilities! Homulilly stopping time and the two of us using a combination of musketfire and arrows was actually a tried-and-true tactic of ours!

G: Cool!

Ok: So are you guys basically gonna blast Hitomi into next week?

Op: I mean, she did literally just massacre an entire city.

G: No, look! We’re fixing the city! See, we do repair the damage and make things normal again!

Ch: Obviously a very loose definition of the word “normal.”

Op: Doesn’t do a whole lot good for all the mangled corpses inside those buildings.

G: Nobody died! Sheesh.

Op: Well, not that we can see, anyway.

Ca: Pretty sure if people were actually dying it would have been brought up by now.

Ch: Okay, I’m calling it now! It’s a fake!

H: Huh?

G: What do you mean?

Ch: I mean the city! This whole…everything! It’s a fake! Like, a simulation or a dream or something. And we’re all trapped in it. The signs are all over the place.

…

Ok: That’s my girl! Kicking ass and giving good life advice!

Op: That guy is just obliviously leaving a trail of broken hearts behind him, isn’t he?

Ch: And corpses.

Ok: You know, between me turning into, well, me and Hitomi turning into that, the dude really needs to just stop dating girls and marry his violin or something. Because that’s two for two!

G: The Five Lillians? What does that mean?

Ch: This movie feels like it should come with its own appendices.

Op: Oh, did you see that smug grin? No one girl can have all that swagger!

Ok: You would suck on a juicebox in the middle of a fight.

G: Did…Did you just make a wall?

Op: Cool! That was one of my powers, right?

Ca: It sure was.

Ok: And apparently I could combine it with my swords!

Op: Oh, I bet you loved shoving your sword into my wall.

=Homulilly snorts=

Ch: I get the innuendo, but that would imply-

Ca: Please don’t finish that thought, sweetie. The porn they watch is bad enough.

…

Ch: So I guess this is the part where you all beat Hitomi to death.

Op: That would be one hell of a twist.

H: Honestly, the way this movie is going, I don’t think anything could surprise me at this point.

G: Okay, we’re all standing on swords around her, so…

Ch: Oh, great. Now I’m here-Wait.

…

G: Um…are we going to eat Hitomi or…What’s going on?

H: That does seem to be the question.

Ch: What the fuck?

…

=Charlotte suddenly leaps up and starts scrambling back on the couch up against the wall=

Ch: What the fuck! What the fuck!

Op: Did you just turn into a giant clown worm?

Ch: Candy, please. Some sense. Give it to me!

Ca: Uh, uh, well. Your…original witch self did turn into that…thing during the fight, but…

Op: You think you can maybe still do that?

Ch: No. No chance in hell.

H: I’m considerably more concerned about what we’re doing. Why are we…chanting?

Ca: I’m going to hit Play. Brace yourselves, girls. I think it’s going to get weird.

…

H: What are…

…

G: Um.

…

G: UM!

…

Ch: Guys. Guys. I don’t know how much more of this I can take.

Op: Shhh.

…

=the girls silently watch the Cake Song until the end=

Op: Pause it. Just…hit pause.

=communal long sigh=

Op: So. Anyone have anything they’d like to comment?

Ch: This…must be what losing my mind feels like.

G: Well, it was…cute.

Ok: Fucking weird.

G: But in a cute way. I…think?

Ca: I’m just going to preemptively say that I’ve got nothing. Please don’t ask me to explain. That’s not how things used to work at all.

Op: We figured.

Ca: I mean, we’d find witches, we’d transform, we’d fight the witches, the witches would die, and we’d get a Grief Seed. It wasn’t complicated! Nobody sang anything!

=long pause=

H: We’d better rewind and watch that again.

Ch: Why?

H: I have a feeling that it might be important.

Ch: To whom?

G: I agree with Lilly. They wouldn’t make it that weird without reason.

Ch: Oh, you wanna bet?

Ca: Charlotte, calm down, please.

Ch: I-Sorry. Sorry. You’re right. I’m just-Okay, fine! Let’s all take some crazy drops and watch it all over again!

=they rewind back to the start of the Cake Song=

Ch: I can’t believe they had the gall to not only keep me as a full witch but also turn me into that.

Ok: Well, I mean, it’s not like some weirdoes up and decided to turn you into a doll that…morphs into a giant clown worm. Apparently that was-

Ch: How I actually looked, yeah, I get it! It’s still creepy, though!

G: Why are we all…okay with this?

Ch: See? Exactly! If I just up and turned into a giant worm, you all would be freaking out!

Op: I would try to ride you.

=incoherent noises of disgust and irritation from Charlotte=

…

H: Okay, I think I’m starting to get how the rules of this game works.

Ok: It’s a game?

Ch: There are rules?

H: Sure! When you send the song to the next person, you name a quality about them, and that person has to come up with some kind of food that embodies that same quality! Saya…I’m sorry, Oktavia-

Ok: No, Sayaka’s correct. She’s not me.

H: Okay. Well, Sayaka started off and called herself the raspberry…for some reason.

Ok: Don’t look at me. I don’t even really care for raspberries all that much.

G: Blue raspberry?

Ok: That’s more of a flavor, I think?

H: Okay, well, she then passed it off to Kyoko, who is red-

Op: Really creative descriptor there, fishy-lips. Out of all of my qualities, you went with red? The cake should have been dead sexy! Or a fantastic dancer! Or

Ok: I probably thought up something dirty at first and had to sub it out at the last second, and red was the only thing that came to mind.

H: -And then Kyoko now passes it off to Mami, who is-

Ch: I’m sorry, loved by whom? Loved by Bebe? My name is BEBE?!

Op, singing: Rock-a-bye Bebe, on the treetop-

Ch: Shut up, shut up, shut up!

H: -er, well, that gets turned into cheese, because-

Ch: -BECAUSE OF COURSE IT DOES!

G: Do you need a break?

Ch: …no. I’m sorry. I’ll try not to freak out again.

Op: I’m gonna be honest, if you weren’t, I would be.

H: -well, anyway, Mami then passes it to me-

Ca: Though not without another close-up of my breasts, I see.

Op: I’ll give the animators credit: they know which side of the bread the butter’s on.

H: -and I’m…spinning in circles? I don’t really understand that one.

G: Well, there is the timeloop thing you were doing. That could be said to be spinning in circles.

H: There’s been no mention of that, though! And how would she know? Didn’t I keep that a secret?

Ca: You did.

G: Dunno.

Op: Maybe it has to do with how your shield has to turn for you to stop time? Maybe?

H: I don’t know. That’s kind of reaching.

Op: I do note that you seem to be the only one wondering what the fuck is going on. Like, just look at your face.

Ok: While I seem to just be having a grand old time!

Op: You know, I don’t blame you. I am starting to feel this. Cakey! Cakey! Round cakey!

G: And I’m sweet. All right.

Ok: What’s wrong?

G: It’s just having me be the cute one again. There’s more to me than just being cute!

Ch, now calmer: Maybe it’s to butter up the audience for some kind of dark twist. Like, the movie keeps making you out to be all cute and innocent but it turns out that you were the villain the whole time.

G: Really? That would honestly be kind of cool.

H: I seriously doubt that is the case.

…

Op: And here we summon a giant cake! Because reasons.

G: Is Hitomi still in that thing?

Ch: Well, if she is, then I just ate her!

H: Finally, a happy ending!

G: Oh, stop it.

Ch: Seriously though, what is my purpose in all of this? I turn into a worm, I start the song, I eat the cake. How does-

H: Oh! I think I just got it!

Ch: Huh?

H: These new enemies are called Nightmares, right?

Ch: Right…

H: Well, what do you do to calm a child who’s had a nightmare? You give them a snack and sing them a lullaby!

=pause=

Op: OOOOOOH, so that’s what was up with that explosive feast at the start!

G: So we don’t kill the Nightmares, we calm the Nightmares!

Ca: You know, as strange as that is, I do kind of wish it really was that easy. Back in the day, I mean.

…

Ok: And here I am, cradling Hitomi’s severed head! How’s that for a dark twist?

Op: It’s all part of the process.

Ok: I see she’s still clinging to Kyosuke, though.

Ca: Teen romance is complicated like that. Just because she was frustrated about his schedule doesn’t mean she doesn’t still love him. See? There she is, sleeping soundly.

G: So all’s well that ends well.

Ch: I have…a lot of problems…with describing anything that we just saw as “all’s well.”

H: So, wait, those sparkles that are coming down. Are those clearing our soul gems?

Ca: It looks like it. No grief seeds around, so I guess this is how they do it instead. I’m actually a little envious.

Ok: It does kinda seem like the idealistic version of what we went through. No despair, no need for competition, the monsters can be defeated by singing to them, and nobody turns into anything bad!

Ch: Except for me. Because seriously. What the fuck?

Op: You are not going to let that go, will you?

Ch: I am a fucking beanie baby!

G: What’s a beanie baby?

Ch: Never mind. Read about them in a book. Would take too long to explain.

…

Op: Aw, yeah! Party at sempai’s house!

Ca: Apartment. And this actually is accurate.

Ok: What, head to your place for snacks after a successful hunt?

Ca: Yes. Those were…nice. I enjoyed those a lot.

Op: We literally live together now. What’re you getting all nostalgic for?

Ca: It’s less that and more of the feelings. I had been…lonely for a while before all of you came into my life, so going from that to suddenly having so many sisters-in-arms…well, it made for a nice change.

Op: I guess that makes sense. Hey, you think that’s why Incubators made a big deal about competition? To keep us separated so we’d fall into despair faster.

Ca: I would not rule it out. Actually, if we had never learned the truth about soul gems or witches, we probably would still be alive, since we’d have each other for support.

Ok: My bad.

Ca: It’s okay. As Ophelia has pointed out many times, it all worked out in the end.

Op: Aw, yeah! Look at me getting down! Hooray for snacks!

Ca: Thank you for ruining the mood.

Op: It’s what I do. Hooray for snacks!

…

H: And the sun rises.

G: When do we sleep? I mean, seriously! Don’t we have school?

Ok: Maybe it’s a weekend.

Ca: We were more likely to get witches in the evenings, so we’d at least be in bed at a decent hour. Most of the time.

Op: Y’know, as weird as all this is, this really is beautiful. I mean, the animation is outstanding, and the scenery is gorgeous.

Ch: When it’s not totally tripping with your head and making you question everything you ever thought you knew about reality.

Op: …you okay over there, chief?

Ch: I’m sorry, guys. But can we take a break now? I seriously need a break.

G: Sure. I could use one too.

Op: …can we watch the cake song one more time first?

Ch: No.

[daisiesforlacey]

clouds - chapter 1 : cumulus

Pair: Julie x alive!Luke

Summary: After her mother’s death, Julie Molina moved away from LA, across the country, to Ithaca, New York. She’s left behind her two loves in life: her best friend, Luke, and her music. There, she finds new friends and enemies, new experiences and joys, she might even find herself. Every night, Luke calls Julie to talk about the clouds. But what if Luke is hiding something?

Word Count: 1,301

Warnings: N/A

Note: I am super stoked to be writing this series! I’m planning on it being around 6 chapters long. There will be angst and fluff and all around wonderfulness. I’ve been meaning to write something like this for a while! Note that the rest of the characters will show up later on. I really hope y’all like it! Please please comment, like, reblog; I would love some feedback!

Masterlist

Taglist

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Julie had been gazing at the sky for hours now. The warmth of midday had long drawn away and it was now starting to get dark. She had noted all of the shapes she had seen in the clouds in her notebook: a butterfly, a chair, a house, an ice cream cone, and many more. She had sworn she had seen a rainbow somewhere in the distance, but it hadn’t rained in some time. 

The clock at the center of town chimed and Julie jumped with a start, she hadn’t realized it was 6 o’clock already. She grabbed her phone, bag, and notebook before unlocking the combination lock on her bike and taking it off the rack. 

Riding back to her house, she kept noting clouds, scissors, a guitar, and a light bulb, before seeing an airplane soar overhead. She passed many shops along the way, waving to her classmates as they studied outside of a cafe. Already, she knew the way back to her house: left, right, left, left, stop sign, past Carries gated house, and down two hills. Julie pulled into the driveway, tossed her bike on the ground, unlocked the red front door, and ran up the stairs. Her bedroom door whipped open and she dropped all over her stuff on her desk unceremoniously before sitting down at her computer.

It was 6:23. 

She sighed and threw her head back, realizing she had missed the premiere of her favorite show, hopefully it would be uploaded to YouTube soon. She got up and watered the plants on her windowsill before she heard a loud bang from below.

Julie opened her curtains and looked down to see her neighbor and friend fixing their fence. The divider had long been in disrepair, but no one really cared enough to fix it. Yanking open the window she yelled down, “Flynn! Why are you, of all people, doing housework?” She had known Flynn long enough to know that the other girl wouldn’t do anything requiring physical work if her life depended on it.

Flynn looked up and waved, her cornrows whipping around her face, “Hey! You’re back!” She dropped the hammer, narrowly avoiding her sneaker clad food, seeming to forget about her work, “I’ll be right up.” 

After moving a few months ago, Julie had become quick friends with Flynn when she realized that their bedroom windows faced each other. At first, it had been a little weird; Julie could see almost all of Flynn’s blue room if her curtains were open, and she was sure the same went for her. But after they got over the initial awkwardness, the two were like super glue.  They would spend all day chatting about nothing and everything. Flynn had turned out to be one of Julie’s saving graces; she was caring and was always supportive of whatever she wanted to pursue. Julie pulled her silver desk chair to her window and waited until Flynn had done the same.

“You were out all day and you didn’t bring me back a slice of cake from Tia’s Bakery? I missed my brother's baseball game for that!” Flynn laughed, propping her feet on the windowsill. 

Julie rolled her eyes, “That wasn’t the first thing on my mind as I rushed out the door this morning. Anyways, the frosting would have melted, it’s not as if I carry around a refrigerator.” 

Her phone rang loudly, her ringtone “Grenade” by Bruno Mars filling the space. She silenced it, already knowing that she didn’t want to talk to the caller at the moment. Her face dropped; every day she dreaded the conversation, not because of the caller, but because of the situation.

She shook her head, wishing the thoughts away before racing to get her twine tied notebook and pencil that she brought with her to the park. She tossed them over the gap between the houses to Flynn, who opened it and started reading today’s findings aloud.

“Football, dog, lion,” Her brows furrowed, “Superman? Are you sure? Or did you just really wish it was?” A smirk pulled at her lips. 

“Maybe it could have been a bird or a plane, but you never know.” Julie shrugged. 

Suddenly, Flynn’s eyebrows shot to the sky. She jumped up and rushed to grab a sheet of paper from her book bag, “Oh! Oh! Look! Look at this!” She waved it around wildly and jumped around, almost too fast for Julie to see, but she did make out the big red 97 on it.

Julie shot up from her chair, almost tripping, “Your math test! Oh my god! You aced it! I knew you would!”

“Only because you,” Flynn pointed at her, “Helped me with polynomials after I talked your ears off!” 

Julie rolled her eyes, but had an ear splitting grin “Yeah, yeah, you would have gotten it eventually, you just needed a little push.”

After calming down, the two then launched into conversations about their days until it was too dark to see each other. They would bounce off each other with flying force, her father had said it was impossible to keep up.

Flynn’s family had arrived home and she had to leave, promising to talk tomorrow morning as she gave Julie back her notebook. Julie picked up her phone, calling her silenced call back. He picked up after the first ring.

“I was wondering how long it’d be before you got back to me.” The other person said. 

Julie smiled sadly as she started tidying up her room, “I wouldn’t miss it for the world, Luke.” 

Ever since she moved, her and her best friend had promised to call each other everyday and report on the shapes of the clouds they saw. Some of her favorite memories were of her and Luke spending hours laying in the grass, just wasting time. Maybe it was an attempt to hold on to each other, even when she was half way around the country. Clouds were something that stayed the same, yet always changed. 

“What shapes did you see today?”

She heard a rustling of paper over the speaker, “I saw a couple ghosts, a pair of pants, a school building, and a car. I didn’t really get a chance to look too much today.” He replied. She could imagine him dragging his finger across the page; a habit he never broke after elementary school

Julie laughed, “A school building, not just any other building? Not a factory? Not an office?”

“No, no, no, it was specifically a school. It was dark and gloomy and somehow square. You would have said the same thing.”

“I somehow doubt that.” Julie moved to flop down on her bed, she sat for a second, thinking about what she would have seen in the so-called school cloud. She suddenly became more homesick than ever; she wished she could have been there, with Luke.

She wished she could be anywhere with Luke, she thought. Her face flushed as she pushed the thought away. They sat in a comfortable silence for some time.

Luke cleared his throat, “How’d Flynn’s test go?”

Julie grinned as she shot up, sitting straight up on her bed, “She killed it! Stabbed-it-in-the-heart killed it, set-fire-to-it killed it, absolutely bulldozed it!” She grabbed a pillow and hugged it. Julie appreciated that Luke listened to her about her new friends, but he rarely talked about his friends. 

“Of course she did, with a math wiz like you to help, how could she not!” He snorted, “Although should we start worrying about all of those violent metaphors?”

“I think we should be more worried that I have metaphors.” Julie’s smile turned into a wince. Sometimes she didn’t think before she spoke; probably a trait she picked up from Luke. 

Luke groaned, “What does that even mean? At least it’s nice to know that your bad comebacks haven’t changed.” He paused, hesitant, almost as if he knew what he was about to ask already had an answer. 

“Have you played any music yet?”

He was right, they both already knew the answer to the question.

“No.” 

Julie hugged the pillow tighter to her.

There was no explanation, none was needed.

There was a pause as Julie changed the subject and picked at the loose strings on her pillow. “I went to the park for most of the day, like we used to do. The weather was nice enough, kinda chilly, and I probably saw more shapes than I could count. You probably would have seen so much more. You were always more imaginative.” 

Luke chuckled, she knew he was rolling his eyes, “We both know that’s not true. We work best as a team, even if we are 2,789 miles apart.”

Julie had wanted to tell him that she wished she could go back home, even for a day, but she knew it would have only made things worse. She would end up crying again and he, ever wonderful, would comfort her, saying that they’d see each other soon. They both knew that was a lie. She didn’t know if she’d ever see Luke again. 

She heard the door open downstairs as her father came back from work. “I gotta go, you’ll call tomorrow?” She rushed out and hopped off of her bed, throwing her pillow down.

“Yeah, always.” He replied, she could hear his soft smile. Keeping with their routine, he said, “I’ll see you soon.” 

“I’ll see you soon.” She sighed.

[autistic-stedebonnet]

3x05

•••

3x06

In which Winnie isn’t at the fair, and also, Gilbert isn’t courting her.

Anne adjusted her bow for the millionth time that day and smoothed down her perfectly unwrinkled skirts.

“Anne for goodness sake!” Marilla cried. “You’re acting as if we’re going to meet the Queen, it’s just Bash and Gilbert.”

Exactly, Anne thought to herself. Gilbert. Despite her apparent anxiety though, Anne was determined to have a wonderful day. This probably would’ve been easier if she wasn’t being forced to spend it with Gilbert though. She felt like a lamb to slaughter.

•

The ride to the fair passed soon enough. Thankfully Anne’s giddiness couldn’t be lessened by even the presence of Gilbert Blythe beside her. She bounced up and down on her heels as they waited in something that was more of an organized cluster than a line.

As soon as her cake was settled, Matthew and Marilla sent her off with 10 cents and instructions to stay with Gilbert, or Diana if they found each other.

Anne practically sprinted from the tent, half hoping that Gilbert wasn’t trailing after her. Who was she kidding though, of course he was right on her heels. He was like a baby goat sometimes, always following her.

“Is this your first county fair?” Gilbert asked casually

Anne closed her eyes and took a deep breath. This was Gilbert. He was her friend and she would not allow herself to fly into a temper over her own internal conflicts. She nodded briskly at his question and continued weaving her way through the crowds, staring in awe at every booth, performance and extravagantly dressed person she could see.

“Isn’t it wonderful?” She sighed, not even realizing that she’d clutched Gilbert’s forearm in her joy. When she did though, she shoved him away forcefully and cleared her throat, turning her head to conceal her reddened face. Much to Anne’s relief, she spotted Diana at that very moment. Without so much as an explanation to the boy beside her, she ran off to her bosom friend.

“Diana!” Anne hissed, snatching the baffled girl’s arm. “I need to speak with you about a matter of utmost importance.”

After composing herself, Diana arched a knowing eyebrow. “Does this have anything to do with a certain young and may I say, very confused boy?” She asked, glancing over at Gilbert who was too far to hear their whispered conversation, but close enough to see Diana smirking.

“Yes it does!” Anne whined. “I have to spend the whole day with him, I don’t know what I’ll do!”

Diana let out an overly dramatic sigh. “You two are ridiculous.”

“Am not,” Anne retorted, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Yes you are. He so obviously likes you, and you admitted your feelings for him just yesterday! Just go and tell him how you feel and live happily ever after.”

Diana’s face softened upon seeing Anne’s stricken expression. She placed a comforting hand on the redheads arm and smiled encouragingly. “Good luck, I have to go.” And with that, she left Anne alone with Gilbert Blythe and her horrible feelings.

•

“Anne, are you alright?”

Anne nodded crisply and forged onwards. “Yes Gilbert, I am perfectly content. I can’t imagine what would lead you to believe otherwise.”

“You’ve just been awfully quiet today, and normally when you’re excited you get very... passionate,” Gilbert explained, his voice becoming significantly more wary as the sentence continued. “I hope I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You did nothing of the sort, I’m just caught up in my thoughts.” Caught up in her thoughts indeed. But upon noticing a man selling ice cream, her thoughts seemed to be lost to the wind. “Oh, Gilbert!” She squealed, having forgotten her romantical predicament for a moment. “I haven’t had ice cream since the church picnic years ago!” She sighed, skipping over to the booth and pulling out her meager 10 cents. “Marilla claims it’s a right waste of milk, but I find the delicacy quite divine,” she explained to Gilbert, her back turned on the booth while she waited for her companion to join her.

But her sunny disposition was soon dashed as the seller proclaimed that she’d have to pay 12 cents for the ice cream.

“Oh drat!” Anne cried. “I’m just two cents short.” She examined the money in her hand with a disappointed sigh. “Oh well, I suppose Marilla would scold me for spending all my money on food anyhow.”

Gilbert cleared his throat and Anne looked up at him with an inquisitive expression. “Yes?”

“I, uh... I could give you the 2 cents,” he offered.

Anne gaped at him. “Absolutely not, Gilbert Blythe!”

“Why not?”

“I simply won’t have you wasting your money on me,” Anne said. “It’s only a minor disappointment, I do think I’ll live. And besides, there’s probably something more sensible for me to spend my money on anyhow.”

“Then I’ll pay the whole 12 cents. In fact, I’ll buy us both ice cream.” He smirked at her and stood up straight, proud to have rendered Anne Shirley-Cuthbert speechless, if only for a second.

“Wh-what, but, but I-“ Anne sputtered. “I didn’t ask you to, you don’t have to.”

“I’m not doing it out of obligation, I’m doing it because i’m trying to be nice!” Gilbert snapped, his frustration quickly growing. “We’re friends right?”

“Y-yes, we’re friends.”

“Then let me do something nice for you.”

Anne opened her mouth, then closed it again. A voice in the back of her head that sound strikingly familiar to Diana, told her to stop being so stubborn and let him do this. Then there was Cole, practically taunting her with the notion that Gilbert could ever like her. “Fine.”

•

Oh no. Oh noooo. No, no, no, no, no, no, no!

Anne’s eyes grew wide. There was no way she’d be able to pass by the tunnel of love with Gilbert and not blush profusely. She glanced around frantically, but she was already almost late and taking any other way to the cake competition would make her just that, late. If she just kept her head down and walked faster and- Gilbert stopped. Why did Gilbert stop?!

“Gilbert?” Anne squeaked, her entire body shaking like a rock during a violent earthquake.

“Anne, are you okay?”

“Yes i’m fine!”

“Really? Because we’ve been walking around for hours and the only actual conversation we had was you yelling at me,” Gilbert said.

“I-I don’t- I... ugh!” Anne dug her heels into the ground in frustration and clenched her fists at her side. Why couldn’t she just say it? Get it over with? Rejection was inevitable so what did it matter?

“Anne...” Gilbert’s expression was one of exasperation, but his eyes told a different story. They seemed to be digging straight into Anne’s soul, searching for something.

“Gilbert? Can I ask you something?”

“You just did.”

“Ha ha, you’re hilarious. Really, can I?”

“Go ahead.”

Anne pushed away the fact that they were directly in front of the tunnel of love and forged onward. “Why do you look at me like that?”

Gilbert blanched. “I... um... look at you like, like what?”

“Like you’re...” Anne trailed off, grasping for a way to put this into words. “Like you’re looking for something. Like you’re trying to see into my soul.”

Gilbert nodded slowly and stepped closer to Anne. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled that crooked smile that made Anne’s stomach do somersaults. “Because I am,” he replied simply.

“You’re... looking for... what?” Anne’s sentence was so quiet, no one but them could’ve heard it even in the most silent of rooms.

His eyes seemed to double in...whatever they were. They searched her, once again looking, hoping for something. “Anne, I...”

“You?...”

He cupped her cheek in his calloused hand and Anne was sure he could hear her heart pounding. She could’ve easily pulled away, ran like she always did. But she didn’t. She didn’t and then he was kissing her.

It was warm and safe and felt so incredibly right. For a split-second, Anne froze. Her muscles tensed and her entire body seemed to freeze over. But then he began to pull away and she realized that she didn’t want him to. She grasped the lapels of his shirt and pulled him closer to her.

There were no fireworks, or sparks, or rainbows, but there should’ve been. Because this moment, to Anne, felt as if destiny was being fulfilled. Like they were made of stardust from the same star, and were finally coming together after millennia of separation. Two coiled ribbons unraveling and twisting around each other in inexplicable harmony.

They finally pulled away from a desperate need for air, but their foreheads stayed pressed together.

“I love you Anne Shirley-Cuthbert,” Gilbert murmured.

Anne swallowed and bit the inside of her cheek. Love? He loved her? Did she love him? Of course she did. Denial was obviously not an option any more and it seemed as if that kiss had opened a door... no, not a door. It cleared a cloudy sky and revealed the golden sun.

“I love you too, Gilbert Blythe.” And then she jumped back and gasped. “Oh no, the cake contest!”

Gilbert laughed, a deep throaty laugh in which he threw his head back, turning his face to the sky.

“Oh I’m so late, oh no!” And with that, she ran, but for once, she wasn’t running away, she was barreling straight into something, and it felt so good.

[dangerouscommiesubversive]

C for The Toqgers, with rainbow colors please

C is for colors.

Contains spoilers for ToQger Returns, if you haven’t seen it.

Red

Right moves away, but he doesn’t stay gone.

They all agreed to stay in touch after he moved, of course, and he’d talked about catching the Rainbow Line back to see them, but none of them actually expect him to do it. He’s not always terribly reliable. But they all get to the hideout one day, and there he is, grinning at them from a tree branch.

Hikari says, “Aren’t you going to be in trouble with your mom for just...coming here?”

“Nah, I told her I’d be back for dinner.” Right’s got a massive package with him, wrapped in red fabric. “I brought bento from Wagon. She says hi!”

--

Pink

Everyone looks at the cake warily, and Right says, “...you made this?”

“With my mom!” Kagura beams at him. “I’ve been practicing with her. I did all the frosting myself, though.”

“I can...I can see that.” Tokacchi blinks as if he’s been blinded. The frosting is, admittedly, a violent shade of pink, so maybe none of them should have been surprised. “What...flavor is it?”

“Lemon and vanilla.” She cuts a slice, plates it, and hands it and a fork to Hikari before he can object. “Here, try it!”

She’s already cutting slices for the others when Hikari takes the first bite, and his eyes go wide. “This is delicious,” he says, mouth still mostly full. “The frosting is great.”

Mio looks at him and stifles a giggle. “It made your mouth pink, though.”

“What?” He grabs for a napkin and wipes his mouth, but a smear of pink remains on his skin.

Kagura claps her hands over his mouth. “Ohhh, I must have used the wrong food coloring.”

--

Orange

Tokacchi’s the first of them to get a cell phone of his own, when they’re thirteen, and he’s the really brainy one, so it’s not surprising when he figures out how to call the Appli-Changer from it. They all gather around, breathless, when he types in the strange too-long number and the ringing begins.

It’s Mio, being sensible as always, who says, “I hope he’s learned how to answer his phone by now.”

Almost before she finishes the sentence, though, there’s a little click sound and a familiar voice says, “Hello?”

All five of them burst into a chorus of greetings. Tokacchi says, “Akira! It’s us!”

“...Tokacchi? How did you call me?”

“I have a phone now! I got Conductor to give me your number. There’s a Rainbow Line app, he had to give me a password to download it. How’s Tank Top Shadow?”

There’s a long pause, and then they can hear it, they can hear him smiling a little, and he says, “It’s good to hear from all of you. He’s well, thanks. Are you, uh. Doing well in school?”

--

Yellow

They’re all fourteen, and Mio and Kagura are sprawled on the grass under the tree, and Mio says, “Do you ever think about that girl we met in Zawame?”

Kagura rolls over towards her and frowns. “Sometimes, why?”

“That city was really weird.”

“Yeah, it was. Those fruit smoothies we got were really good, though.”

“Yeah.” Mio sighs. “Mine had lemon in it. I feel like I can never find anything good that’s lemon-flavored.”

“I could always make you lemon cake again.“ Kagura shifts a little closer, resting her head on Mio’s arm. “And I’ll frost it bright yellow, just for you. Oh, look, that cloud looks like a lion!”

Mio squints up at it and grins. “It does, doesn’t it.”

--

Green

When they’re fifteen, Hikari gets into a study abroad program and spends four months in Germany. He’s excited, but they’re all stressed out about not seeing each other, and of course with the time difference it’s really hard to call. They keep up on WhatsApp, he sends the others pictures of all the places he’s visiting, but it’s not the same as hearing their voices.

One day, though he gets the urge to move his legs, and he doesn’t have schoolwork to do, so he lets his host family know he’s going out and wanders down into the town. There’s a train station near the house; it’s not historic or anything, but it’s pretty. Aimless, he wanders through, glancing at the shop windows, watching the passers-by.

And a voice says, “Hikari~~~”

He looks up in surprise. “Wagon?”

The Rainbow Line is pulled up at an empty terminal, and Wagon is leaning out the door, waving to him. “Rainbow Line European Express, boarding now!”

He gapes. “What are you doing in Germany?”

Right’s face appears under Wagon’s elbow as he leans out to wave as well. “We all finished our homework, so the others texted me and we thought we’d come visit you for lunch!”

--

Blue

Tokacchi’s scores on his university entrance exams are so good that he gets a letter congratulating him, but when he shows it to the others, the first thing Kagura says is, “You don’t seem happy about it.”

“Well, it’s.” He shuffles. “It’s scary, you know? We’ve mostly managed to stay together this whole time, even if Right’s not here--”

“I’m here!” Right shouts from Mio’s phone, “I’m here, just because I’m on the phone doesn’t mean I’m not here.”

“Well, ok, Right is here, we’ve managed to stay together all this time, but. This is really big. Bigger than Right moving, because we can call him, and he comes over on the train all the time. This is...all of us going in different directions. I’m going to university and Mio’s going to a different university and Hikari’s going to go to one in Hokkaido and Kagura’s staying here and Right’s got a job already...” He sighs. “Remember future us? And we were all sad?”

“Sure, but that was before we fixed things.” Mio hugs him one-armed.

Kagura leans back against his chest and looks up at him with smile and says, “And we’ll meet up every year.”

“And maybe sometimes more times a year if we need to do hero stuff,” Right says on speakerphone. “Like that time a couple of years ago with the pirates and the animal guys and that cop Kagura hugged.”

Hikari doesn’t hug him, because Hikari doesn’t hug, just sort of sidles up and leans against his side. “It’s not the end of anything. We’re still the ToQgers.”

--

Violet

They do meet up, the next summer, the other four piling onto the train platform waiting for the Rainbow Line to pull up because it’s the easiest way for Hikari to get to them from Hokkaido. He does arrive, finally, and then it turns out that Akira’s with him, and for a few minutes nobody can hear anything because they’re all yelling too loudly.

Eventually it quiets down, and Conductor clears his throat and says, “I should let you know that this is the last time you’ll be seeing me in this capacity. Wagon’s going to be taking over as conductor of the train.”

They all stare at him, and then Hikari says, “Let me guess. You got promoted.”

Conductor blinks. Ticket says, “How’d you know?”

[toomuchponytail]

Hello amazing writer! I was wondering if I could request a fic where the whumpee just cannot be broken, and in the end, defeat their captor? Thank you.

Oh, Anon I thought you’d never ask, (Also I cannot accept that title, but gosh almighty I’m flattered, thank you Anon, you’re way too good to me!)  I’m a huge sucker for this prompt, I feel like it’s a trope we really don’t see enough. Everyone wants broken characters who forget everything about themselves and suffer until that’s all they are anymore (Don’t get me wrong, I like that too sometimes) but man, oh, man I love a good unbreakable whumpee staring at the whumper and just going: “No.” 

To sum up because I got super long winded:

Me: Big sucker

You: Really exceptional at submitting prompts/requests

I hope you get to be as happy today as you made me by requesting this! (That means standing in a forest far from the city and your flashlight burnt out, marveling at all of the silent darkness gathering around you comfortingly like a cloak. 

You superb forest spirit you. Live your dreams. 

(Also this came out a tad darker than I expected, but never let it be said I’m all cotton candy clouds and sunbeams and never gunmetal and alleyway gravel, I am gunmetal flavored cotton candy clouds goshdarnit!)

Also long, so sorry! (If for any reason this isn’t what you envisioned I can scratch this and do it again but slightly to the left, just let me know!) 

He’d been at it for three weeks. 

When he’d agreed to take this job it had seemed easy enough, get the message runner to turn on their friends, and collect fifty G’s for their troubles, and an additional ten for every address that the messenger coughed up. 

He expected to be able to induce one hell of a case of pneumonia in the delivery boy.  

The Whumper was meticulous, he’d done his research, the messenger didn’t come from a violent background, he had a solid head on his shoulders, and was a little on the younger side, all of this made getting information easier. 

He’d been proved correct when they’d grabbed them on the street, at the first growled threat of starting to attack bystanders the messenger had hardened up, clenched their mouth in a firm line, (as if he couldn’t see their lower lip tremble) and come quietly. Idealists were very easy to deal with if you knew how to get to them. 

And of course the man did. Sometimes when he was between jobs he wondered if he should teach a class: Interrogation for the financially unstable and morally questionable. He’d make a shit ton of money too, nobody was better than him, he’d gotten hardcore family guys to break in just 16 hours, they’d cried and begged for forgiveness afterward, but he’d informed them rather helpfully that he wasn’t a priest and that they could shove it. In fact he’d never met anyone he couldn’t get to turn inside of a week, and that was hardened career criminals! 

At least he hadn’t until he’d taken the messenger.

The man had been interrogating and enforcing for all sorts of people for almost twenty years now, working with the Foresters for almost ten, he’d gotten good at ‘reading the room’ so to speak. He’d expected the ‘canary’ to start singing long before he’d even gotten him to the abandoned motel on the outskirts of town, he seemed the skittish types, he had figured it wouldn’t even progress into too much violence, let alone anything heavy. 

This delivery boy was just a kid after all, some idealistic fool that had picked the wrong side in this when the Foresters had taken over. No biggie. 

But he’d been wrong, so wrong, for the first time in his career, now looking at him, still tired pitifully to the chair, hanging against the zip ties that held him there, not even seeming to care that they bit viciously into his skin. In short the guy was wrecked, beaten repeatedly until his upper body was mainly one solid bruise, a rainbow of muddy painful color and swelling, beaten until his eyes swelled almost closed and teeth were knocked out, beaten bloody and senseless time and time again. 

And still he’d said nothing! 

He’d given no names other than his own which the man had already known and not cared about, to the man the messenger was a tool, an unwilling Swiss army knife that worked to make him money, but boy, that guy had to have some screws loose or something, the man had never had anyone last this long without breaking! 

He’d tried electricity then, jolting him until he convulsed without the aid of the rusty clamps. Until he went into shock and the man had had to take a break so that he didn’t kill him without getting what he’d wanted from him. 

When he’d come back from that place of panic the man had threatened him again with the electricity, knowing that he couldn’t use it again so soon but hoping for a chink in the armor, a ray of wicked hope…

“I’ll keep going until your skin sizzles off, tell me the names!” He’d struck him, making the chair wobble under the force of his blow, “You smell that burning? It’s you! You’re fried, dead already, so tell me the names! Where are your contacts?!” He’d screamed in his face, expecting tears and a final break through, that was what normally happened to him. 

But the messenger had smiled weakly up at him, his head only being held up by the man’s grip in his tangle of dirty dark hair, “If M’dead, th-then thanks, S’been a pl-pleasure,” the messenger had rasped back between shallow panting breathes, causing the man to let go of his hair with a sneer of disgust, the messenger’s head hung limply on his chest, “Dead m-men tell-tell n-no tales,” he’d gurgled through the blood in his mouth, choking and wheezing through his ground up lungs. 

This was when the man had decided to get serious, that has been five days ago, and other than bodily the delivery boy hadn’t broken at all. 

He’d broken his knees, his hands, bone by bone listening to him cry, and then the odd shell shocked silence accompanying each snap  for the other hand, he figured his boy had been though some trauma that hadn’t been in the file. At this point the man started to respect him, just a little, nothing crazy, he’d decided that when the time came and he’d gotten what he’d wanted,  he was going to kill the messenger cleanly and end his suffering the quick way, not his normal triple gut shot and then bounce routine he’d relied on for years.

If he broke that was. It was starting to seem doubtful. 

Finally, he’d caved and decided that it was today or never, his boy the messenger didn’t have many days left in him as it was, he’d taken his long Bowie knife and driven it through him and into the chair on the other side, the guy was too far out of it to do much more that gasp and shudder. 

“Tell me,” the man had said gently, cupping the messenger’s chin in his large bloody hand to lift it up, something the messenger had lost the strength to do more than a week ago, “Tell me and I’ll end it right now, no more hurting, Tell me and I’ll let you rest in peace.” 

The messenger didn’t respond, he continued to gasp for breath that didn’t seem to come, to the man it seemed like his messenger was emulating a fish left to die on a dock, so close to the water, so close he could smell it, but instead he’d chosen to dry drown. 

The messenger was looking him straight in the eye, for some reason this made the man uncomfortable, he’d killed several people in his days, in fact, he’d go so far as to say he’d killed a lot of people, women, men, no kids on purpose, but sometimes when you’re working with the Foresters you gotta fish or cut bait. 

And he’d always been a fishing man. 

But the way that this unbreakable delivery boy was looking him in the eyes while they could both hear his blood dripping onto the old mud caked carpet felt deeply wrong, and the man looked away before the messenger did, feeling not exactly guilt or empathy, but as close to it as he’d come in a great long time. 

The man was shaken, just enough to go out and smoke a few cigarettes until his hands stopped shaking. When he’d finished his third he decided that he was probably just hungry, maybe he needed to sleep, this kind of work took a lot out of a person, and he’d been at it a long time. 

Three weeks. 

Longer even than when he’d had to get Mal Gerring’s number from his favored son and lieutenant Paulie Gerring, that had been before the Foresters had taken over, crime had been better organized then, not on the books in your face like it was now,  but there had been something to admire about it. The romance of seedy hotels and driving his beat up car around the country, listening to regional radio and chain smoking, taking body parts back to waring mob families… Now he had a nice car that had cost more than his first house, but the job hadn’t changed–it never did, just the people paying changed. 

He sighed in nostalgia as he watched the sky darken, Paulie had only lasted five days. Message boy had him beat by two weeks. Maybe no more after this, maybe the messenger was his last, maybe he’d teach that class to other guys the Forester’s wanted to hire, working for the government had a lot of benefits–especially for the morally questionable. 

The man shook his head, if he hadn’t been busy reminiscing, if he hadn’t been so sure that he was the best, he might have heard the stood creak, he’d untied the messenger days ago, he hadn’t thought he’d been able to move if he could barely hold his head up, plus with the mangled hands he didn’t think he’d be able to do much harm. 

For the second time in his long and questionably successful life the man was wrong. 

Before he realized what was happening there was a sharp pain in the men’s temple, a crushing thunk that faded almost immediately to darkness, he didn’t even have the time to groan before he lost consciousness and slipped into the inevitable. 

Standing, or rather, sort of hunched over kind of holding himself up on the raining and swaying violently over him the messenger dropped his weapon, it was the handle of the Bowie knife he’d had to pull it out by degrees, stopping every time his eyesight started to darken, he clutched a hand over his dark wound and staggered over to his would-be murderer’s collapsed body, he raked numb broken fingers over pockets, searching until he found what he was looking for: the small black burner phone that the man had taken from him when he’d first gotten here. 

Phone cradled in broken hands he slumped to the porch, mostly laying on the stoop, he didn’t have long now, every movement was white hot and unsteady, to say that he hurt would be an understatement, but he still had a job to do, he was a messenger after all. 

He carefully dialed the number, pushing the buttons almost make him pass out, he kept whiting out with pain as the broken bones in his hands shifted, he cried out as he did it, not allowing himself the mercy of stopping now. 

Finally, after long agony filled minutes he pushed send, thank god for the universal cell towers! thank god for jamming software! the phone rang, he laid his head down on the stoop, fighting to keep his eyes open. 

It rang again, a droning buzz in his ringing ears. 

Please. 

It buzzed. 

Please pick it up! God, he’s so tired. 

It rang again, his heart sunk into his stomach, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to dial another time, he was already more out of it than he should be, this was it. 

It rang once more, he figured he’s have to leave the message on the voice mail, he knew that wasn’t allowed, too many people died that way, but then again, he wouldn’t be around for the higher-ups to yell at him. 

“Hello?” 

God bless her. 

“Nez,” he rasped, surprised to feel a lump of tears forming in his throat, he figured hearing a friendly voice after so much was making him sort of sentimental. 

“Shit! What happened to you? We’ve been so worried!” 

The messenger ignored her, he didn’t have enough energy to explain, “Nez, four-ten Walnut, lots of kids there, you’ve still got some time, bring Ralphie, the combo is 6899437, got it?” 

When Nez speaks again she’s quiet, it’s almost intimate like she’s whispering in his ear, “Where are you?” There is horror in her voice sure, but also hope, Nez hasn’t grasped yet that hope can kill you. 

“Last one Nez, I’m going dark,” he croaked, his eyes slipping shut, he focused on the voice at the other end of the line. 

“Oh Fuck, We’ll track you! We’re coming! Just don’t hang up! Please! Don’t hang up!” 

The messenger assumes Nes says more but he can’t decipher it, message delivered he sinks below into the dark.