#i've written too much again

[hypewinter]

Prev

The last few weeks had been... tiring to say the least. It started with the mystery boy from the night prior waking up with soft giggles. As Danny was comforting him back to sleep he heard Jason come into the living room. Danny looked up, expecting to see a look of confusion, maybe annoyance. But the look he saw was much worse. Jason's eyes were glued to the boy in open terror. Before long, he started hyperventilating.

Danny remembered trying to call out to Jason but it was no use. He was already lost in his own mind. Danny had tried to inch closer to him, the boy still in hand but Jason stumbled back. He fell on his butt, eyes still wide as his breath came out in short loud bursts. Danny could see all the progress they'd made being undone in a matter of moments. Desperate, he had put the boy down and moved a half step towards Jason, hands up in surrender. He still remembered what he had said to calm the boy down.

"Jason close your eyes," Danny had breathed.

Jason hadn't seemed to hear him, his eyes still fixed on the boy behind him. Danny had moved to the side, blocking the boy with his body and tried again.

"Close your eyes Jason," Danny repeated.

This time, the boy had done as he was told, squeezing his eyes shut. "Good," Danny had coaxed. "Now, pay attention to my voice. Focus on my voice and my voice alone. You are safe. You are fine. Just breathe."

Danny had watched as Jason's breath evened out, he chest slowly finding its rhythm again.

"That's right. Now talk to me bud, what happened?" Danny had finally asked after a time.

Jason had slowly peeled his eyes open and looked at Danny. "T-that boy," he started. "H-he looks like.. like the man that..." That killed him. Danny hadn't needed Jason to finish.

Well shit. Was all Danny could think in the moment. And honestly shit was probably an understatement considering everything proceeded to go drastically downhill after that.

The boy had woken up soon after Danny had managed to calm Jason down and quickly broke out into another laughing fit. Jason had once again tensed, his breathing increasing rapidly. But the stare in his eyes was different than before. This one was more distant. More similar to the stare he would get on his worst days. Danny could tell that whatever Jason was looking at, it wasn't what was currently happening. Then it hit him. He's reliving his death, he had realized.

In that moment, Danny was caught between two clearly traumatized children who needed him. But which one needed him first? The longer he delayed, the more both of them suffered. Crap. Crap crap crap. Danny remembered taking a deep breath, then he had turned to Jason. He had scooped the boy up and carried him to his room. He then grabbed Jason's phone, played the first calming playlist he could find and turned it to full volume. Danny recalled sitting Jason on his bed and waiting a bit. As soon as some of the life began returning to his eyes, Danny had shot back up.

"Stay here. I'll be right back," he called before rushing out, closing the door behind him. He had then returned to the boy still laughing on the couch where he'd left him. The memory of fat tears streaming down his face still played in Danny's mind. Danny had soothed him, calming him down to a small fit of hiccups and giggles.

"How about a bath?" Danny had finally offered.

He had been able to end that night with both boys in relatively good places all things considered but that hadn't lasted long. The following weeks were plagued with multiple panic attacks, outbursts and Danny playing damage control. In between all of that, Danny also worked on getting some information out of the boy. So far, all he had found out was that his name was Tim.

Once, Jason lashed out at Tim after yet another laughing fit and Danny had made the mistake of admonishing him. "Jason! It's not his fault," he had said. Jason had stepped back in shock before his face hardened into anger. Danny didn't even have time to react before Jason was racing out the door.

It had taken Danny all day to find him. Then it had taken an additional half hour of apologies and bribery to coax him back home. That day had resulted in Jason getting state of the art headphones made by Tucker that could block out all noise or play back to back audiobooks depending on his mood.

Now Danny laid flopped onto the couch. At his wits end with Tim sleeping in an oversized hoodie on top of him and Jason dozing in the love seat across from him. It had been a particularly good day that day and they had celebrated with some pizza and a movie.

It had been incredibly hard balancing everything up until that point and oftentimes Danny wished he'd taken up Vlad's offer to teach him how to duplicate but he still wouldn't take anything back. These were his two boys and he wouldn't trade them for the world.

[cerise-on-top]

Requesting gn reader wanting to go to a wreck room Valeria, Ghost, Gaz, and Laswell 🙏

I hope your little break was good! Hope you're doing okay, have a wonderful day and take as much time as you need! Love your writing btw ✨️

Hey there! My break was well needed, I got really sick during it as well, unfortunately! But oh well! I wrote the request today already since it's the only one in my inbox right now! Hope what I wrote is alright, I've never heard of wreck rooms before, we don't have those where I live!

Going to a Wreck Room with Gaz, Ghost, Valeria and Laswell

Gaz: He has definitely heard of those, but has never had enough pent up anger to actually go to one, it never particularly interested him. He breaks enough stuff as it is during work, accidentally or not, so he’s seen his fair share of broken wood, broken TVs, broken monitors. But when you ask him to go to one with you he won’t say no, thinking the idea to be very interesting for a date. If this is something you wanna do, then sure, but he’d have to get used to the idea of willingly breaking something that isn’t just a bottle. Gaz likes everything in order, and very much not broken when he can. His weapon of choice would be a crowbar, they don’t seem like much but they’re deadly enough to do some real damage. He’s used them before, he knows how to handle one well. However, his second choice would be a bowling pin since the idea of bashing in a printer with one seems hilarious to him. Once inside, he’ll go for the bottles first. While he won’t outright use his crowbar, opting for simply throwing them onto the ground first, he’d love to play baseball with you using some of them if you chose a baseball bat. Lets out a whistle if you actually manage to hit the bottle and break it. Loves just throwing stuff at you, but will ask you for your baseball bat at some point since he, too, wants to use a cassette as a ball. He always likes to think himself as an efficient man, but he has far too much fun breaking everything to be such. Loves taking turns with you while beating up the poor printer. He pries it open, you beat the everloving shit out of it. His one goal inside is to do a bottle flip and then hit said bottle, he just loves all the shards left behind. While a rage room may not do too much for him in regards to letting out anger, he does have a lot of fun and will ask you to come here again when you’re particularly mad about something.

Ghost: Oh, I can assure you, he’s been to wreck rooms before. His past was anything but pleasant, he’s had to deal with violent thoughts and sought an outlet for such. He’s since forgotten those exist as he’s calmed down quite a lot. So when you bring up the idea of going to a rage room, he’ll chuckle, but will comply. The memories that come back aren’t particularly happy, but as long as you get an outlet, that’s alright. He’d go for a baseball bat since they’re easy to handle but still very destructive. Considering Ghost is a very strong guy, he could break just about anything with just a few hits. He’ll watch you at first, maybe stand behind you as you beat a few picture frames, but gets to work soon enough himself. He wouldn’t even need to use his bat to dismantle a printer, but he uses it anyway. His strikes seem rather calculated. It isn’t as much fun to him as it is to Gaz, but he enjoys it anyway, especially if you seem to be having a lot of fun. If you struggle with breaking something rather big then he’ll push you aside and show you how it’s done by a professional. He picks up whatever large item it is, throws it onto the ground with a lot of strength, and then beats it up. Yes, he does simply want to show off, that’s all there is to it. He’s a big and strong guy, he could and would kill any printer for you. Even if he does also really like breaking the bottles. The shards on the ground are somewhat satisfying to look at. A bit unnerving since broken shards usually mean all kinds of danger, but still satisfying in a situation like this. As mentioned before, he’s calm throughout it all, and if you didn’t know any better, then you’d say his trained killer instincts are shining through. He isn’t particularly loud either, it’s somewhat impressive, and kind of scary. It’s a small glimpse into how effective he is as a soldier. Comment on it, and he’ll tell you that you have nothing to worry about. For the most part you don’t, but it’s quite obvious that he’s a dangerous man. However, he’s also a gentleman, so he’ll be the one to pay for the experience. He seems unchanged for the most part afterwards, but the slight grin on his face doesn’t exactly escape you.

Valeria: She’s always wanted to go to one ever since she learned of their existence, but never had the time to do so. Valeria is a temperamental woman, she has lots and lots of pent up anger she needs an outlet for. She shows it when she’s annoyed, but that’s not even half of what she’s feeling on a normal day. However, she does need to show that she’s in charge, otherwise all those people around her wouldn’t respect her. Her face would light up a bit as you make the suggestion, reminding her of her wish to see one someday. As soon as she has time, you can be certain you’ll be going to a rage room together. Her weapon of choice would likely be a sledge hammer. They’re heavy, they’re not that easy to use, but she needs you to know that she’s a strong and capable woman who can wield such a thing with ease. The bottles, cassettes, plates are just the warm up, her eyes are on the price: A car in the middle of the room. It wouldn’t have been her first time thrashing one in its entirety, but usually she’s more subtle about it, if she’s doing it herself. She’ll leave all the smaller stuff to you, but you can join her in breaking the car once you’re done with throwing mice at TV screens. She’s very violent about it, there’s no thought on how she’s going to break everything, she just does it. Her sledge hammer will hit the car in quick succession with as much force as she can muster. Her eyes show just the smallest glimpse of insanity that she keeps under wrap otherwise. No one would ever see her like this, so this is a sign of trust for her. By the time she’s done the car will be unrecognizable, just scraps lying about everywhere in the room. Panting a bit, with her arms sore from the weight, she’d turn to you and give you a dangerous grin. Don’t take it the wrong way, she’s just satisfied, that’s all. Valeria may not be the tallest woman out there, but there’s a lot of strength behind her blows, so don’t underestimate her. Afterwards she’ll pay as well and already make plans for the next time you’ll be coming here. It won’t become a common occurrence, but you will find yourself here again every once in a while. As a reward for bringing up the idea, Valeria will pay for dinner as well.

Laswell: She’ll turn down the idea at first, simply not interested. Breaking things just because you’re angry is said to be as effective as drinking alcohol when you’re sad. Laswell prides herself in barely having broken anything throughout her life, and she’d like to keep it that way. If you really wanna go to a wreck room, then why not take your friends there with you? You’ll have to be really annoying about it for a prolonged amount of time before she finally humors you with your little idea. But she’s still not very enthusiastic about it. Maybe, just maybe, if you’re lucky the day you’ll be going there will have been a rough day for Laswell and she’ll, ironically enough, break some more stuff while she’s there due to something having gone wrong. Laswell would likely go for something simple, either a bat or a golf club. While she would, at first, opt for watching you as well, eventually she will hit some glass bottles with her weapon of choice. Then she’ll do nothing for a while again, and afterwards she’ll hit something again. This goes on and on until she’s finally had enough of all the waiting and smashes the nearest mannequin she can find. You seem to be having fun, and an hour can be long if you’re just waiting for it to be over. Besides, the money would have been wasted if she didn’t smash anything. It’s not as fun to her as it is to Valeria or Gaz, but she’ll do it anyway. It’s a nice outlet if you really wanna be violent for once, but it’s not particularly for her. However, if you ask her to help you with breaking some of the wind chimes, then she’ll help you out a bit. She doesn’t do flurries of blows, she takes a glance at the object, figures out where its weak points are as quickly as possible, and strikes there. The quicker the object falls apart, the more accomplished she can feel. Laswell isn’t the youngest anymore, but her mind is still as sharp as ever. Once you’re done, she’ll thank you and politely tell you that this was nice, but she won’t bring up the idea of going there again on her own. While it may be easier to convince her to go from here on out, she won’t always immediately say yes. She still isn’t the biggest fan of breaking stuff just because you’re mad or want to.

[feroluce]

Belobog was my fave main quest but a lot of it is so. Contradictory. It's like they had multiple groups doing different shit and none of them checked in with each other for consistency. And you see this so much in Gepard's profile.

So in the main quest, they made him unfailingly, unquestionably loyal to Cocolia. Gepard's character arc is him learning to question authority etc etc. And this isn't even a bad thing; that's a story worth telling! It makes good conflict between him and Serval! And I love that we got Gepard as a boss battle and I get to see him all the time in SU!

But then you look at his character stories and it's like. The complete opposite.

According to his profile, Gepard has already HAD this awakening, long before the Astral Express, and he'd already decided Cocolia sucks. Even outside of his stories, there's a pretty damning readable between him and Pela.

He even disobeyed direct orders right in front of her- he has been disobeying orders for a while now!

So I've decided I'm marrying the two different sides of this into a 1.5k fic-ish thingy, because I think there's some fun potential there with Gepard not trusting Cocolia, but still having to pretend to be a good obedient little soldier.

Anyway. I love to think of it as like. Gepard knows Cocolia has sunk into her apathy. He can see it in her eyes every time he looks at her. She doesn't care. Not about him, not about Pela, not about all his soldiers on the frontlines giving their lives to protect the citizens. And that's... It makes him bristle a bit, but ok. Gepard can deal with this. Even if Cocolia no longer cares, as long as she does her job then it's fine. Having compassion behind an action doesn't matter as much as the action itself. If Cocolia's heart is no longer swayed, then he'll just have to care twice as hard to pick up the slack. He considers it part of his duty as a captain of the guard anyway. It's fine. Gepard can deal with it.

And then, Cocolia starts coming down to the restricted zone. Issuing direct orders.

And Gepard realizes he is in way over his head.

Because Cocolia orders him to stay back and issue commands from the ramparts, away from all his comrades, away from where he can protect them.

Gepard had thought nothing could be as bad as watching a fellow guard die right next to him. But the first time he watches someone struck by a killing blow, so far away, it hurts. Every defensive scar across his arms itches, his fingers curl in want of a weapon, the cold cannot numb his hands enough as they desperately ache for his shield. It hurts.

Gepard tries to find any reason to stay. Because surely... He knows Cocolia has lost her love for her people, but surely... She wouldn't...

One day, Cocolia orders for their gunners to advance 20 yards. There are no survivors. She almost looks like she smiles.

Gepard doesn't sleep that night.

Pela brings him the report at the end of the first month; and then the month after that, and the month after that. A significant uptick in losses, and all of it started on that first day Cocolia started overriding his authority and issuing her own orders. The ends of Gepard's pens have all been nearly chewed off. Pela outright calls Cocolia an idiot, and Gepard corrects her. Cocolia isn't an idiot. Gepard had known her through Serval, knew her through all her college years and then some, and he knows how intelligent she is. It's not that she's stupid, and it's not that she's inexperienced, it's nothing of the sort.

Cocolia knows exactly what she's doing.

She must, there's no way she could make such a horrible mess of things so badly by accident. And Pela, quick as a whip, sharp as a tack, always too smart for her own good, catches onto the meaning behind Gepard's correction without any further prompting. The tent goes deathly quiet, nothing but the wind howling outside.

"...She's trying to kill us," Pela whispers, her voice swiftly suffocated by the silence.

Gepard swallows. He can't bring himself to correct her this time. There is nothing he could say that he would actually mean.

His gaze drops, back down to his desk and the reports on it. The names aren't listed, just the numbers, but Gepard knows them, knew them, and there must be something wrong, something he's missing, because why, why would she-? What could this possibly accomplish-?

“Gepard! Focus!” Something snaps right under his nose, and Gepard startles, eyes instantly honing in on Pela's irritated face as she leans over his desk. She holds his gaze for a moment before she huffs and begins to pace, wedges a knuckle between her teeth and bites like Gepard hasn't seen her do since cadet school.

Pela angrily strides from one end of his tent to the other, words hissed between her grit teeth. “What are we going to do?” In the dim lighting, Gepard can just barely see the damp spot of blood weeping under her gloves. “We need a plan.”

“A plan?”

“Wh- Yes, a plan! Unless you want more people to die!” Pela rounds on him then, all the wrath of a blizzard, winds roaring and snow sharp enough to cut.

“We don't even know-”

“What does it matter?! She killed-!!” Pela cuts off with a garbled noise when Gepard leaps up from his desk, hastily shoves his hand over her mouth. The prosthetic, not the flesh one, because he knows better than to assume Pela won't seize the opportunity to leave teeth marks in his skin.

“You're right. I'm sorry, I'm sorry; you're right. But you need to keep quiet.” Pela quirks an eyebrow at him and Gepard can read the question in her face. “Because we both saw what she did to Serval,” he hisses.

It's amazing the snow plains haven't thawed out yet, the amount of heat Pela can put behind a glare. The mere mention of Serval, and the smoking ruins Cocolia had made of her life and career, have her bristling up like a riled cat. The sudden hot breath she takes fans fog across his metal skin, and Gepard wisely keeps it in place until Pela finally sighs and reaches up, taps her fingertips against the back of his hand.

The second she's free, Pela bats him away and then her knuckle is right back between her teeth again, Gepard leaning back against his desk with his arms crossed to watch her resume her pacing. “If we spread the word, she'll have us discharged and make sure we can't even touch the frontlines,” Pela's voice seethes like an open sore. Gepard nods but keeps his silence. He knows better than to get in her way.

“And if you and I are both out of the picture, Belobog is fucked.” A little harsher than how he would have put it, but there's no denying that they're both important to the city's survival. Pela has the restricted zone running as efficiently as ever, and Gepard had become the youngest captain on record for a reason. “We need to keep this tight under wraps, at least for now… It can't leak to anyone higher up the chain.” Another nod. “Serval might know other discontents…” Another n-

Gepard's head snaps up. “No.”

“No what?”

“No. We're not involving Serval in this.”

Somehow, even the same tone that leaves entire squadrons shaking in their boots has never worked on her. “You're not deciding that for her, Gepard.”

Pela hadn't seen the worst of it, though, back when his sister had just been banned from the Architects. Serval's pride hadn't allowed it. Pela wasn't the one to find her passed out bottle still in hand, hadn't been the one to wash the sick out of her hair or carry her to bed. 

Serval still has trouble thinking clearly when it comes to Cocolia, still can't quite bring herself to be objective. And Gepard maybe doesn't want her to be purely objective- but he would worry a lot less if she thought twice before she acted more often.

“At least let me be the one to bring it up to her.”

“Whatever, fine,” Pela gestures affirmatively at him as she paces past, and Gepard sighs. Good, at least that's one thing he can help.

From there, it's a lot of hemming and hawing and frustration. Cocolia has them under her boot, and Gepard and Pela both know it. Even with the way she's been cracking down on freedoms lately, Cocolia is still, overall, liked by the people. It's unlikely anyone would believe them. They don't even have solid proof, because most people don't know Cocolia as well as they do and won't see the clues in the same light. 

The Fragmentum has been ramping up in recent years, too. Everyone is struggling just to survive as is, they can't afford a fight on two fronts. Gepard is a damn good captain, one of the best for that matter. But they're at a massive disadvantage, his experience is narrowed to fighting a defensive battle against monsters, that's all he's ever done. That's all anyone there has ever done. He has no way of finding first-hand knowledge for taking the offensive against a human opponent, and if he goes at this blind, there's no way he'll get everyone out unscathed. He's going to lose people. He's going to lose a lot of people.

He'd never thought before that Cocolia would have it in her to have someone killed. And with this new knowledge, he has no guarantee she won't go after Serval or Lynx if she decides to retaliate.

Gepard has to remind himself to breathe when he realizes this.

Pela writes down every name the two of them can come up with. Lists and lists of names and groups and anyone they can think of who might be an ally in all of this. They memorize every bit of it, make their plans of who to talk to and when. Gepard watches the sparks reflect off Pela's glasses as they burn the evidence together.

Pela finally leaves, far too late to make it home, but says she wants to stay in the restricted zone anyway to investigate. Gepard watches her make her way in the direction of Dunn's tent, watches her back until she's out of his sight and squashes down the urge to follow and keep an eye on her. His tent feels empty.

In the morning, Gepard is up before the wake up bells. He drags himself out of bed, leads his soldiers through their morning training. The same people gravitate to each other everyday. Friend groups and training partners. There's an ongoing rivalry between a few squadrons that everyone bets on. Some of them have lockets around their necks, keepsakes, mementos. Some of them wear wedding rings.

Gepard is suddenly, painfully aware of something acidic clawing at the inside of his throat, of a heavy weight low in his chest that blooms, takes up room until it threatens to spread his ribs. His mouth tastes of bile and blood.

He rearranges the schedules. Puts himself down for every open patrol into the Fragmentum, makes sure he'll be on the frontlines every single time Cocolia visits.

He only hopes that it's enough.

[friendsdontlieokay]

What do you think would have happened if Billy lived post season 3?

BRO STOP! Actually no don't cause I love the question and I feel like I don't talk enough about this or that this isn't talked about enough in general.

Billy has so much depth in his character due to his childhood, which makes him a person with such a wasted potential. His childhood memories show how happy and cheerful of a kid he used to be and if that was consistent then his villain arc wouldn't even originate but that wasn't the case, his asshole of s father needed to step in and ruin everything and honestly blame goes to his mother too to leave him to an abuser, but anyway the main thing is he grew up to be an asshole just like his father, I wouldn't specifically say he's better than Neil but Neil's definitely worse than him but in his last few moments, the heroic move he did because it reminded him of the person he is or at least was at the core, isn't appreciated enough at all.

Sorry I've lost track of the question completely, the thing is if he was brave enough to sacrifice himself I think he'd be brave enough to change himself too, he's an extremely extremely flawed character though due to the mentioned events of course, so he'd take time to change, and some of his flaws wouldn't even leave him either so it'd be tough to deal with assholery in a daily basis especially because he has a fixed mindset, as assumed by me so he'd have a hard time dealing with the facts that go against him but I think he'd be a much much better person in general if not the best, and he'd be a great addition to the group especially in case of combat

[hexplaything]

speaking of occupation i may be writing my supervisors an email letting them know how frustrated n disappointed i am with the current unstaffed situation in scheduling bc. they hired a new girl and she's on the schedule for next week but she's only in scheduling 2 days a week and it's 5:30-830pm. so she's not full time, which is what we need to fix our problem. we need two more fucking people and we need at least one to be full time

[br1ghtestlight]

32 for the WIP game?

my tina parenthood fic..... that was an idea I started (which probably would have been a longer multi-chapter fic) where tina got pregnant in high school from some asshole guy and ended up being a single mom. the fic takes place a few years later when her kid is a toddler and jimmy jr moves back to town after finishing college and they end up kinda co-parenting her daughter together and reconnecting as friends (jimmy jr is aroace and very much not interested in a relationship)

jimmy jr moved away from seymour's bay when he was 17 w/ his brothers when his mom moved to another state so he lost contact with tina. his dad stayed behind and kept jimmy pesto's pizzeria opened so thats why he moved back to seymour's bay to work with his dad but he kinda hates it lol they end up becoming platonic life partners and by the end tina's daughter definitely sees jimmy jr as her dad

i would have loved to write this fic tbh but the problem is that it would take SO LONG to write and finish and i do have other commitments. maybe someday!!!

It was impossible not to recognize those eyes that he'd spent so many years desperately trying not to look into out of fear of the disappointment he would bring.

Their relationship had grown apart over the years even before Jimmy Junior had moved away and they certainly weren't as close as they'd been as children, but he could still remember how hard Tina had sobbed when he broke the news to her that he would be moving away and that they wouldn't be going to school together anymore. He understood how she was feeling because he was equally as heartbroken even when he didn't really have a choice. Jimmy Junior had always assumed that Tina and him would spend the rest of their lives together. They would always know each other and have that childhood proximity.

---

Tina nodded. "I—I mean, I never went to college. I took a few English courses at the community college in Bog Harbour, but when Alice got older it was just too difficult to keep up with schoolwork and take care of her at the same time. I still work at my parents' restaurant, though. They're getting older and they need all the help that they can get."

"Who is Alice?" Jimmy Junior asked Tina with a questioning look. He wasn't sure if Tina had adopted a dog, or if her parents decided to have another child after Jimmy Junior moved away and he'd never heard about it. He thought they were a little too old for that, but he wasn't going to judge them. His parents might have chosen to have another child too if they hadn't gotten divorced.

Tina gestured to the toddler who was standing beside her and carefully studying the assortment of candy and chocolate in the aisle.

"Did your parents have another daughter?"

Tina actually laughed after Jimmy Junior asked this before she explained herself. "Oh my God, no. They're way too old to have another kid. Alice is my daughter! Alice, sweetheart, do you want to say hello to Jimmy Junior?"

Alice looked up at him with an unimpressed expression on her face. "Hi."

Jimmy Junior took a step back in disbelief. He'd never even considered that he and his childhood friends were at the age where it wouldn't be unreasonable to start a family and have children of their own, especially because that was not something he planned for himself. His parents' had been around his age when they first got pregnant with him. When he took a closer look at Alice, he could clearly see the resemblance between her and Tina, although he honestly thought he looked more similar to Louise. She had curly black hair and a nose that looked almost identical to Tina's. It was kind of unnerving.

"Oh," Jimmy Junior finally said after a few seconds of silence. "You have a daughter?"

Tina was clearly confused by how Jimmy Junior was reacting to the concept of her having a child, but he just couldn't wrap his head around the fact that this woman he'd known since they were children themselves had a child of her own. None of his friends from college or anybody that he'd known in Seymour's Bay had children, so Tina was his first experience with this.

"I mean, uh, that's great. I'm happy for you, Tina," Jimmy Junior started awkwardly. "Who's her father? Or, uh, mother… I don't want to assume anything."

"You don't know him," Tina said to Jimmy Junior as they walked to her car together. Jimmy Junior had chosen to walk to Patterson Farms because it was a beautiful summer day outside and he didn't have any other plans, so fortunately he didn't need to worry about unloading anything in his own car. "We started dating in high school after you moved away. His name was Nathan, but he isn't really in my life anymore. He broke up with me after I told him I was pregnant and started avoiding me, so his name isn't even on Alice's birth certificate."

"Crap. I'm really sorry, Tina," Jimmy Junior said apologetically. Tina opened up the trunk of her car—which was actually her family's car that was the same one they'd had since she was a child, he was assuming she borrowed it for this trip—and began loading groceries into it. "I had no idea. He's an asshole for doing that to you."

Tina smiled like she was completely unbothered by the fact that her daughter's father had completely abandoned them and left Tina to raise her by herself as she struggled financially. Jimmy Junior's father was far from a good parent, but he could at least be thankful that he'd never once considered abandoning his children and he even took Jimmy Junior back in after years of separation between them. He was sure he would do the same for Andy and Ollie if they asked. "Don't worry, it's okay. It wasn't all bad, either. I always have my family to help me with anything I need, and Jocelyn and Tammy were actually really cool when I told them I was pregnant. They held a baby shower for me, and Tammy offered to babysit Alice for no charge. I didn't accept her offer, obviously, because she's Tammy… but I could tell she was trying to be helpful and make an effort. They've grown up a lot since we were in middle school."

[museumgiftshoperaser]

80s NYC art scene AU

“I just don’t get it,” Steve says and he tilts his head from left to right as if a new perspective might reveal the painting's secrets. The canvas looms so large it casts a blue glow over his skin. Thick, syrupy air spills out of the canvas, with just a thin brown strip of paint at the edges to hold the whole thing together. You could reach your arms all the way in there, disappear into the depths and never look back. The fully abstract shit isn’t really his thing, but it’s a little mesmerizing nonetheless.

Fine. Eddie will play along. It’s not like there’s much else to do. “What don’t you get?” he asks Steve. “I could do this myself.” He gestures wildly at the ocean of paint in front of him, but keeps his voice down. As if he’s worried the artist is somewhere close, listening in on his opinions. “It’s just colors?”

He can’t even hate something with his full chest. 

Eddie rolls his eyes, does it so Steve can see him. He’s not afraid of the repercussions of his thoughts. It’s the least original opinion someone could have on art. Steve sounds like he got it whole cloth from a conservative newspaper. Something his dad likes to read, definitely. “Then do it.” Eddie says. Steve frowns. “Stop being a pussy, then.” Eddie takes a tiny step toward him, crooks an eyebrow. “I’ll get you some fuckin’ paint. Just do it.” 

He expects Steve to come closer, to stitch the distance between them and take Eddie up on his little threat. He wants to argue for the hell of it, a bright spark of entertainment, a familiar frustration, but instead Steve takes a step back. 

“No… But…” He shakes his head, quickly and sternly. “I couldn’t…” 

There’s that crack again, a small one this time, and Eddie wants to rip him open. “I’m not kidding.” He takes another step forward, reveling in the inch he has over Steve. “We’ll do it right now. You pick the color, see how you like it.” 

Steve’s mouth twitches and his lips turn lilac under the phthalo glow of the canvas. Like he’s deprived of oxygen. Like he’s freezing.

Robin is so soft with him. Careful explanations, hands guiding hands over malleable clay. Eddie knows he responds well to it. But Eddie doesn’t do soft. 

“What are you scared of?” He taunts and takes another step closer. Steve turns away then, so he’s fully facing the canvas. “This isn’t funny.” “I’m not joking.” 

“Yellow.” Steve says and he sounds a little breathless. “What?” “If I could pick a color.” He looks at the floor and his cheeks flush a complementary shade. “I’d pick yellow.” 

Oh?That’s not at all the color Eddie would’ve expected. Sunny and pleasant and uncomplicated yellow. Fucking fascinating.

They’re close now, with Eddie’s face blocking the blue hue from the painting.

“We can do yellow,” he dares. “Studio’s just a short subway ride away from here, what do you say?” 

Steve runs his teeth over his bottom lip. His eyes scan Eddie’s face like he’s searching for the catch. There is no catch. Eddie would fucking love to see him try. “Let's do it.” His voice is almost a whisper.

On AO3

[theflyingfeeling]

I hope everyone's having a nice Sunday, and if not, I hope I can make it more less terrible with the third chapter for my fic let me down slowly, now on AO3 ✨

again, huge thanks to anyone who's been reading this 🥺 the final chapter will be up at some point next week

[ohbo-ohno]

y'know originally i had a big "yay i finished my exchange fic!!" post planned but it's literally an entire week late soo. that feels a little pathetic at this point el oh el

that being said - i finished my exchange fic! i have absolutely no control over when it will be posted, but i'll make sure to put it here when it is!

please please please go follow the deadcoddoves twitter account if you're at all interested in this exchange, they'll be posting about everyone else's fics too!!!

[tiffanylamps]

pals, what if i went full-on projecting mode™ and forced joo won to live through his father changing and trying to make up for his past actions? what if i make joo won face that confusion and pain and make him struggle through loving his parent, but also hating him- hopeful that he's changing but also so fucking angry that it took him this long? what if i made him resentful but desperate? yearning for a relationship with his dad but also never allowing himself to consider it? what if he is riddled in guilt bc he still cares about his dad? what if i force him to become protective of his child self? what if i make it awkward between jwds? what if i make joo won feel loved for the first time, but then not allow him to fully process it? what i write a joo won that feels encased in a tomb, writhing and burning from growing pains, like a spider, a snake, or even a caterpillar? stuck in the past but also morphing at the same time? what if i document how lonely it is to be a parent to your child-self? what if i force him to look in the mirror and see how much of his father is staring back at him? how he forged his image to match his father's statue; joo won's face and name a monument to a lie. how, somewhere along the way, he abandoned himself for a family, a title, a safety net, that never saw him more than as a trophy (at best) and a inconvenience on most days. what if i wrote a spiteful joo won that tries so hard to - like ouroboros - devour himself in order to be reborn, only to fail, because you cannot run from who you are, you can only learn and grow. what if i wrote a joo won that is torn and cannot get his head around the man his dad is becoming? what if i wrote a story where a child lets their parent go, and finally moves on from their childhood- and by doing so, they finally grow up?

i'm not going to, but what if

[steakout-05]

//ableism mention tw

ok just gonna say something really quick: i absolutely hate Abe's characterisation in the reboot of Clone High because it is nothing like how he acted in season 1 and it just. isn't funny. they've turned this good-intentioned but flawed loser kid who just wants to be like the original Abraham Lincoln but doesn't know how to, into a self-centered and arrogant asshole who literally almost said a horrible ableist slur twice in the first episode. like. i'm being serious, he almost says the R-slur twice in the same minute and i dunno about you but i really don't find it very funny when a) the only "joke" behind it is "oh look at how bad Abe is compared to the more progressive sensitivities of the new generation of clones, isn't he just terrible", and b) they felt the need to completely rewrite a pre-existing character that fans are already attached to to do something against his own morals for the sake of a shitty joke, and c) TOPHER WAS RIGHT THERE!!! isn't he supposed to be the asshole or am i missing something?? like...

i'm not saying you can't have "edgy" or "dark" comedy or whatever, but personally, i don't find it very funny when a character that actually means quite a lot to me and is one of my favourites is twisted and rewritten into an arrogant asshole in an apparent attempt to appeal to the people who hate Abe for his flaws in the original show. especially when he's rewritten to be someone who would say a slur that's literally been used against my fellow disabled peers, myself included. it just feels... wrong. it actually hurts a lot to see a character i once loved and found to be one of the funniest and most important characters in the show be turned into an arrogant dick, with barely any thought or meaning put into him. i don't like what they did with the rest of the OG cast as well (such as Joan making a complete 180 in her entire character, JFK's character assassination, the removal of Gandhi, Cleo barely being in it etc.), but to me, they did Abe the dirtiest in this season and i'm really disappointed that one of my favourite shows had to continue like this :(

[criscura]

I wish I wasn't so exhausted and I could make more art.... I even planned out a whole prompt-a-day month for Saigenos/Genosai, TWICE, but the first time no one seemed like they could participate when I asked about it, and the second time I friggin lost the damned plan. I could remake it a third time, but I just....I don't know.

I've been really struggling to get along for a while, and I think if it didn't hit it off--or even if I just got really productive and it seemed like I was reaching crickets--I'd be so incredibly discouraged that it would bring me down even further. It usually takes my stuff a few months to a year to get reach, and that really doesn't do anything for me when I need the support immediately.

It's not that I don't have a billion ideas for so many different things, but my battery has been taking longer and longer to charge up and it's been running out faster and faster, and it's been like this for....a year?? Ish?? Maybe longer, I don't know.

I wish I could just stop needing so much fucking time to bounce back.....

[jacksintention]

Still unwell about Rilke and PH

I love the dark hours of my being.

My mind deepens into them.

There I can find, as in old letters,

the days of my life, already lived,

and held like a legend, and understood.

Then the knowing comes: I can open

to another life that's wide and timeless.

So I am sometimes like a tree

rustling over a gravesite

and making real the dream

of the one its living roots

embrace:

a dream once lost

among sorrows and songs.

[hailsatanacab]

Chapters: 12/? Fandom: Danny Phantom, Batman - All Media Types Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Danny Fenton & Damian Wayne, Batfamily Members & Danny Fenton Characters: Danny Fenton, Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth Additional Tags: Good Sibling Damian Wayne, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Danny Fenton and Damian Wayne are Twins, Danny Fenton Needs A Hug, Implied/Referenced Torture, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Not Phantom Planet Compliant (Danny Phantom), Bad Parents Jack and Maddie Fenton, Gun Violence, Blood and Violence, Gunshot Wounds, Mugging, Medical Torture, Vivisection, Panic Attacks, Anxiety Attacks, Child Neglect, Past Child Abuse Summary:

“If you ever find yourself in danger, go to Bruce Wayne. He will help you.”

His mother had loved him, in her own way. If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have helped him escape. If she hadn’t, she would have dragged him back to the League of Assassins, to Grandfather. If she hadn’t, he’d be dead.

She loved him, but she loved the League more.

Jack and Maddie Fenton loved him too, they did, but they loved their work more.

They loved their work more.

--

After his parents react poorly to his reveal, Danny escapes to the only person he thinks can help him - Bruce Wayne. He doesn't know what to expect when he gets there, but it has to be better than where he is, surely? He certainly doesn't expect to be reunited with his long lost twin brother Damian. It's funny how things work out that way.

Danny is 16 years old, not Phantom Planet compliant

--

Chapter 12!! Chapter 12!! Chapter 12!!

[beepborpdoodledorp]

I’m conflicted because I tend to see a lot of people (both non-Wildchip fans and even some casual fans of the ship) complain about the only content of WB and Chip being content shipping the two of them together, and while objectively I absolutely do agree there’s been a persistent problem with boiling down WB and Chip to just their relationship w/ each other (and honestly that’s just a problem with the CRK shipping community as a whole and honestly I’d wager to guess that’s a large reason as to why so many people look at it with disdain), there’s always the monkey brain side of me that whenever I see these complaints my tunnel vision brought on by constantly scouring the Wildchip tags and being in a constant state of being starved for content kicks in and it just goes ‘:(’ 

[meownotgood]

Do you think you’ll ever grow out of your Aki phase

never