#its like people thinking pumped up kicks is a happy song PLEASE WE LEARNED THIS IM 6TH GRADE!!!

[batcavescolony]

Music Artist: so I wrote this song and it sounds pretty but if you look into the words it's actually really messed up. I wrote it to make people think about looking past the surfa-

Some of y'all: OMG 🥰 this song is so PRETTY 🌸🌼 IT'S SO HAPPY!

[viastro]

how to flirt | kwon soonyoung

ミ★ synopsis: in which you teach your best friend how to flirt, but all soonyoung knows is gross pick up lines.

ミ★ genre: best friends!au, humor, fluff, hint of angst at the end

ミ★ warnings: none !

ミ★ word count: 1,674

ミ★ pairings: soonyoung x female reader

ミ★ notes: hi! i felt bad for like... only writing angst in the last few oneshots i’ve put out, so i hope this chaos filled one makes up for it !! even tho there’s a hint of angst at the end !! omg who am i? i used to only write fluff and crack, now i’m a whore for angst... my god. also i got this prompt from tiktok hehe

“Please help me.”

“No.”

“Bruh…” You give Soonyoung a look, before turning back to your physics homework. He lets out a whine, grasping your arm and shaking it. “Yn, please! You’re the only one who’s gone on a date-” 

“I don’t think the one with Vernon counts because we were only pretending to be on a date in order to spy on Joshua and Jeonghan.” Soonyoung squints at you, before continuing.

“If you love me, you’ll help teach me how to flirt with the cute cashier at the coffee shop.”

“I feel like that’s not my job, even if I do love you.” You respond, and Soonyoung whines even louder beside you. He rolls onto your kitchen floor, closing his eyes and letting out loud sighs to try and convince you. Shrugging, you go back to your science homework.

Soonyoung opens an eye to peek at you, only to be offended by the fact that you’re peacefully doing your homework as he lays on your floor in misery. He sits up, now shooting death glares at you. You turn and glance at him, letting out a chuckle.

“Oh? Sleeping beauty finally woke up from his beauty sleep on my kitchen floor?” Soonyoung reaches out and slaps your leg softly, making you giggle and kick his shoulder. 

“Let me do my homework and then I’ll help you, okay?” His expression turns from a pout to a big smile as he stands up off the floor. He wraps his arms around you, giving you a big hug. “Aye…”

“Thank you yn! I’ll be waiting on your couch!” Soonyoung sings cheerfully before skipping out of the kitchen and into your living room. You shake your head, chuckling at his antics, before going back to thermodynamics. 

“Okay, so what’s the first thing you know when it comes to flirting?” You ask, reaching over to the table to take a chip. Soonyoung lifts a hand to his chin, showing that he’s really thinking of what he knows in an attempt to impress you. “I know that nice guys don’t finish last.” 

You blink, before letting out a sigh and patting his back, “I’ll give you that.” 

“Anything else?” 

“If I knew anything else than I wouldn’t be sitting here asking you to help me.” You squint at Soonyoung, and he immediately changes his expression to one that doesn’t make him look like a smartass. 

“Ignoring that, but the first thing you wanna do is start off a conversation. You can either compliment them, mention how nice they look.” Soonyoung nods, his expression incredibly focused on every word you’re saying. You fight back a smile at how ridiculous he is before continuing.

“If they seem flattered and look as if they want to continue the conversation, then green means go. However, if they seem uncomfortable and not interested then back off Kwon Soonyoung.” You say with a glare, and your friend noticeably gulps nervously, making you grin at the power you hold. You lean back, straightening out your shirt. “Okay, that’s it.” 

“THAT’S IT?!” 

“That’s basically it. If green means go, then introduce yourself properly and get to know them. If they’re uninterested, then that’s it buddy. We must respect people.” Soonyoung nods his head, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“Can we practice?”

“Pardon?”

“Like,” Soonyoung turns to face you, grasping your hands and giving you an earnest look. “Can we pretend that you’re the girl from the coffee shop?” You let out a sigh, muttering how badly you’d rather not do that. Peeking over at him, you see him giving you the puppy dog eyes.

“God, fine. Stupid puppy dog eyes.” Soonyoung claps his hands in victory, before thinking of what to start off with. 

“Oh wait!” You raise an eyebrow at your friend, “Can I do pickup lines?” 

You stare at Soonyoung, pursing your lips as you realize that he truly has not flirted once. Yet for some reason, everyone in school has a huge ass crush on him. Letting out another sigh you answer, “Only if they’re creative and actually good. Let me hear some and I’ll tell you whether you can say it or not.”

Soonyoung pumps his arm in the air excitedly, flashing you a big smile. You softly grin back at him, finding that he looks best when he’s happy. He takes a deep breath, closing his eyes, before opening them and staring directly at you with a determined look on his face.

“Are you from Tenness-”

“No.” Soonyoung looks taken aback at your abrupt response, and you just shake your head at him. He lets out a breath, before trying again.

“Did you fall from heav-”

“No.” 

“Are you a parking ticket? Because you’ve got fine-”

“No.” 

“Yn! You have to let me get all the way through so that you can actually critique them properly.” Soonyoung whines, and you lean back onto the couch, letting out a sigh. “These are all gross, overdone, pickup lines that will absolutely not work. Give me unique ones.” 

Soonyoung thinks to himself, before sporting a big smile once again when he remembers one that he learned. He stands up and walks past the couch, before walking back towards you again.

“Do you believe in love at first sight?” You raise an eyebrow at him, and he grins when he realizes he finally found one you don’t know. He leans forward so that your noses are inches from each other, and you stare directly into his eyes.

“Or should I walk by again?”

“Or should I walk by again...” You say at the same time, Soonyoung trailing off, now a lot more discouraged. He leans back, now standing at his full height again, frowning at you. He thinks to himself again, and you grab the bowl of potato chips from the table, getting comfy when you realize he’s not going to give up anytime soon. 

“If you were a fruit-”

“No.”

“If you were a Transformer-”

“No.”

“Feel my shirt, you know what it’s made of?”

“Absolutely not.”

Soonyoung backtracks, looking at you with a hopeful look on his face, but you shake your head. “I mean absolutely not to the whole pickup line in general, not me answering it.” 

Soonyoung sighs, sitting down beside you on the couch, thinking even harder now. The two of you sit in silence, the sound of you chewing the potato chips filling the quiet void of your apartment as Soonyoung tries to remember the pickup lines he took two hours learning the day prior. He lets out a small, aha!, once he recalls a few other ones.

“My love for you is like diarrhea-”

“God, no. Absolutely not.” 

“We’re not socks, but I think we’d make a great pair.”

“Not bad.” Soonyoung grins, pumping the air in tiny font as he considers that a small victory before beginning again.

“It’s a good thing I have my library card, because I’m totally checking you out.”

“Jesus Christ, no Soonyoung.”

“Aside from being sexy-”

“Don’t finish that.”

“Been around the world don’t speak the language, but your booty don’t need explaining. All I really need to understand is, will you talk dirty to me?” You stare at Soonyoung, a look of both disgust and genuine concern displayed on your face as he gives you a proud smile.

“D-did you… did you just quote a lyric from a Jason Derulo song?”

“Yeah! Did you like it?” You close your eyes, genuinely wondering how Soonyoung looked at all of these pickup lines and thought they were okay. 

“So, you are absolutely not doing pickup lines when you see the coffee shop girl next time. You’re going to compliment her like a good guy who does not use gross, overused pickup lines. Got it?” Soonyoung pouts at you, before nodding. 

“Alright, pretend I’m her. Try and win me over.” He purses his lips, covering his face with his hands once he starts to feel nervous. You smile, letting your head rest on your hand as you wait. Soonyoung finally looks into your eyes and gives you a grin.

“Hi, I just wanted to tell you that you’re really beautiful, and that your smile really brightens up my day. Whenever you smile at me, I feel like nothing could go wrong.” Soonyoung tells you honestly, causing you to break eye contact due to the warmth flooding your face. You rub the back of your neck, “That was good. T-that was really nice Soonie.” 

He gives you a smile, “Really?” 

You nod your head, standing up off your couch to signal that it’s time for you to get ready for bed. “Maybe you don’t need to add the last sentence though. The first one where you mention her smile is really sweet on its own.”

“Oh that wasn’t a compliment for her.” Soonyoung says, standing up as well and stretching his arms over his head. You raise an eyebrow at him, and he turns, giving you a soft smile. “It was for you.” 

Your eyes widen slightly, more heat rushing to your face and you look away again. Soonyoung grins, before wrapping his arms around you, cradling your head like he always does when he hugs you. You slowly wrap your arms around his waist, closing your eyes as you take in his comforting scent.

“Thank you for helping me yn, I’ll tell you how it goes tomorrow.” He pulls away, and you give him a small smile.

“Of course! You have to text me right after alright? Not a second late, I’ll be waiting.” Soonyoung laughs, putting his flannel on and giving you a thumbs up as the two of you walk out of your living room. He waves bye to you, and you smile and wave back. Once you hear the sound of your apartment door closing, your smile slowly drops from your face. You place a hand over your heart, feeling the wave of sadness finally hit you at full blast. 

“She’s one lucky girl to have you pining after her, Soonyoung.” 

[shinsorokiri]

UA Idol | Chapter Three

Hitoshi Shinsou x Reader

Word Count: 2,204

Warnings: Language, big anxiety

A/N: Chapter Three is up because my dumbass forgot to upload last week! So here’s some more. The “original song” is “Pantaloon” by Twenty One Pilots, so if you would like to listen to it, go ahead! I hope you enjoy and I promise I’ll stop forgetting to upload lmao.

UA Idol Masterlist

───────────────────────────────────

You two are pulled aside and interviewed, in which Mina gives a short little excited burst of personality, and you’re there to make sure she doesn’t start shrieking again. It’s pretty endearing, it’s very obvious you two are best friends. After all of that is over with, the two of you are able to wander around, so Mina obviously drags you over to where Denki and purple boy were. They’re still there, and Mina makes it a point to shake the ticket in front of her friend’s face.

“No fucking way! You did it!” he yells, engulfing her in a hug. You don’t realize, but you and lilac man both cringe at their volume, but nevertheless you smile for your best friend. After all, this is a dream come true for her. You’re still in shock from your audition, so all you can think about is the pride and happiness you have for Mina in this moment. “Oh! My best friend and roomie made it to!” Mina squeals, grabbing your wrist and shaking your hand that’s holding the ticket for you. “Denki Kaminari, (Y/f/n), (Y/f/n), Denki Kaminari,” she says, motioning from him to you then you to him. “Hi there, cutie,” he says with a slight smirk and you raise an eyebrow at him. “Call me that again and it’ll be the last word you ever speak,” you say, and to your surprise, he laughs. “Damn, Mina, it’s like I’m looking at another Shinsou,” he says, and that’s when the lavender dude sighs. Ah. So, he’s-

“Mina Ashido, Hitoshi Shinsou. Hitoshi Shinsou, Mina Ashido. (Y/f/n), Hitoshi Shinsou, Hitoshi-”

“I got it,” you and Shinsou say simultaneously, with the same inflection in your voice and deadpan facial expression. That’s when you look at each other. And by that, I mean really look at each other, not just look at the other person when their eyes are focused on something else. And that’s when everything just kinda… stops for a few seconds. The only thing you can even focus on is him, and you can’t tear your eyes away from his, no matter how much you want to. Do you even want to? You don’t even know the man, and yet butterflies are erupting in your stomach and all feelings of unease leave your body. Of course, Mina and Denki don’t notice the cease in time or the feelings exploding in your body. You’re only forced back into reality when your best friend’s voice interrupts you. “Holy shit, they’re like clones of each other,” Mina mumbles, staring back and forth between you two. “The only difference is-”

“Contestants 14799 and 14800? Follow me, you’re on deck,” the same producer who grabbed you two away from them earlier comes and snatches them away from you. “Don’t go anywhere, Mina. If you’re cool with it, I kind of want to go to dinner to catch up after this, it’s been too long,” Denki says, and Shinsou raises his eyebrow at him. “What about me and (Y/n)? Are we supposed to tag along on your date?”

“Oh, honey, I’m gay as fuck. But Denki, I’m so down to catch up! I can’t believe we went a whole month without linking up. And I’m sure (Y/n) would be happy to come with. Especially if we go to her favorite restaurant which I just so happen to have a coupon for because I was gonna take her there to celebrate or mourn after the audition.”

“Awesome! You two stay right here, we’ll be back out!” Denki screams over his shoulder as Shinsou drags him away. “Seriously, Denki?”

“What? I want to talk to Mina again! She and I were literally the best pranksters of our little group in high school and it’s been like a month since we last caught up with each other,” Denki whines and Hitoshi sighs. “But why did you need to drag me into it?” he groans, and Denki smirks at him. “Oh please. Don’t pretend like I didn’t notice you eyeing up Mina’s friend.” “Choose your next words wisely.”

“Shin. Come on. You at least think she’s pretty since your eyes literally didn’t leave her the entire time she was by us. Give her a chance at least, maybe she’s the one,” Denki says, his joking demeanor gone away. Shinsou hesitates before speaking again, saying the thing he’s said to his overexcited blonde friend multiple times before. But this time, he doesn’t believe it as much. “I don’t have time for love, Denki. It’s time consuming and I need to spend my time on more important matters.”

“But she was really cute, right?”

“If you call her cute again, I will beat you up.”

“Why?”

“Because she was cute. And I don’t need you to make me think about it every five seconds because my brain is already doing that on its own,” Hitoshi mumbles, looking away from his friend who has a smug grin on his face. You were cute, so what? You were so cute that the world around him stopped functioning for a bit when you two made eye contact and all he could focus on was your eyes and how you made him feel like he was okay despite the fact that his anxiety was through the roof right now because of the situation he is in and all the people surrounding him at all sides because that’s normal. That’s normal, right? Please, assure him that it’s normal. “Hm. Have you thought about buying her dinner? That’ll send off the right message.”

“Shut. Up.”

“What’s up guys!” Shinsou and Denki’s conversation was cut short by Present Mic literally screaming at them. “Just getting pumped to do this!” Denki responds immediately, hopping up and down in place. “Alright! That’s what I like to hear! Now, who are you guys?”

“I’m Denki Kaminari and this beautiful bastard next to me is Hitoshi Shinsou,” Denki responds, finger-gunning over to Shinsou. Shinsou sighs but gives a genuine smile to Present Mic as he waves. “COOL! So, are you guys a duo?”

“No, we’re just here to support the other! My family doesn’t live around here and Shin’s… couldn’t make it!” Kaminari covers up for Shinsou, knowing that he just told the entire story of why his family couldn’t support him right now to the producers maybe thirty minutes ago. Shinsou silently thanks him for that, knowing he’d probably have to tell at least some of it again to the actual judges. “I love seeing y’all supporting each other like this! Makes me think of when I supported Aizawa the first time he ever actually performed instead of just sat on the sidelines watching someone else sing his song! Kaminari, you’re first, you ready?” “I was born ready.”

“HELL YEAH! Go on in!”

Hitoshi watches his best friend enter the room, his own nerves starting to kick in. Regardless of how he’s feeling, he listens as Denki belts out Kiwi. For someone who has the personality of a corroded triple AAA battery, his voice is really pleasing to the ear. Especially when he lays on the distortion but still somehow manages to hit high notes in his belting range. Honestly if anyone was born to be a rockstar, it was Denki Kaminari. Unsurprisingly, he comes out with a ticket, waving it around like the excited Pikachu he is. “I did it, I did it, I did it, I did it, I did it, I did it-”

“Okay I get it! You did it!” Hitoshi says, waving his fists in a little celebratory motion. He is genuinely smiling though. He’s happy for Denki. And then he realizes it’s his turn. “You got this, man! If I can do it, you definitely can!” Hitoshi gives him a small smile of appreciation before walking through the doors himself. This was... a lot. It was a lot. He stopped in the middle of the performing area and looked at the judges. “Hello, handsome.”

“Midnight. Please.”

“Never, Aizawa.”

“I’m sorry for her lack of professionalism. Hello, what’s your name, where are you from, and why are you here?” Aizawa completely ignores Midnight and Hitoshi clears his throat. “Hi, I’m Hitoshi Shinsou, I’m 22 years old, and I’m from Tokyo. I’m here because my roommate convinced me to audition with him, but I also just really love music and it would be pretty nice to have my mom see me performing.”

“Aw, a family man. How sweet,” Midnight says and Hitoshi shrugs. “It would just be nice for her to see it before she... you know.”

“Is she sick?” Hawks asks, a small frown on his face. Hitoshi nods. “Yeah, she is,” he says, and there’s a sympathetic look on all the judge’s faces. Goddamn empaths. “Well, hopefully she gets to see this! I’m sure you’ll do great,” Toshinori says, giving him a reassuring smile and thumbs up. “What will you be singing today?”

“Um, I was actually planning on singing an original? If that’s okay?”

“That’s more than okay! Go for it,” Midnight says, and Hitoshi makes his way over to the piano. “If you wouldn’t mind, could you tell us what it’s called?” Aizawa asks. “It’s called The Pantaloon,” Shinsou responds, placing his hands on the keys. He starts playing away, hoping that what he sings for them is good enough. He had to shorten the song a bit, but it’s still pretty wordy, so he’s worried they won’t like it that much. He also knows that his style and voice in general is a little different, so he hopes they don’t hate it.

“Your grandpa died when you were nine. They said he had lost his mind. You have learned way too soon You should never trust the pantaloon.

Now it's your turn to be alone. Find a wife and build yourself a home. You have learned way too soon That your dad is now the pantaloon.

You are tired, you are hurt. A moth ate through your favorite shirt. And all your friends fertilize The ground you walk, Lose your mind.

You like to sleep alone, It's colder than you know, 'Cause your skin is so Used to colder bones. It's warmer in the morning, Than what it is at night. Your bones are held together by your nightmare and your frights.

You are tired, you are hurt. A moth ate through your favorite shirt. And all your friends, they fertilize The ground you walk. So lose your mind.

You are tired, you are hurt. A moth ate through your favorite shirt. And all your friends, they fertilize The ground you walk. Lose your mind.”

It’s funny how when you do something well, you forget how it went. Hitoshi finishes out the song, playing the last chord, hoping it went well but not really knowing since he kinda... blacked out...? Not really, but he doesn’t remember how it all went, so he hopes it went well. “Wow,” Midnight’s voice pulls him out of his head, and he looks over at the judges. “Literally what the hell, he’s the second person who auditioned who is better than me!” Hawks basically yells, throwing his hands up, the pen he had resting in them flying up and then coming back down to hit him on the head. Hitoshi can’t even pay attention to the fact that Hawks just assaulted himself because I’m sorry, did he say better than him?? He has 10 Grammy’s what the fuck does he mean better than him??

“What are the odds two kids like them would audition not just in the same season but on the same day not even forty minutes after each other?” Toshinori says, awe evident on his face. “It’s certainly rare, I can tell you that. Especially when it comes to actual songwriting ability, which it’s evident they have,” Aizawa says, and Shinsou’s breathing literally stops. Aizawa Shouta is his literal idol. And he just complimented his songwriting skills? What? “Well, Shinsou. I think I can say with confidence this isn’t the last time your mom is going to see you perform,” Midnight says, and Shinsou smiles. This is crazy. “You’ve got a future in the business kid, even if you don’t win, I see you in the top two with the other singer-songwriter we saw today. Easily,” Aizawa says, and Shinsou literally cannot believe what he is hearing. “Really?” he asks, disbelief in his voice. “Yes! Of course, after a performance like that in a room like this with a song like that, of course you’ll make it far in the competition! I’d bet you even make it to the top two with it!” Toshinori basically yells, and Shinsou scratches the back of his neck, letting out a flattered chuckle. “Thanks… thank you,” he says, and Aizawa picks up one of the tickets. “I’m just going to give this to you. I think we all agree that you’re a yes.”

Hitoshi goes and takes the ticket, thanking them again and again before walking back out the doors. He shows Kaminari the ticket, and Kaminari literally screams in his face. Full on shouts. “I FUCKING KNEW YOU COULD DO IT BRO!”

“Could you please be quiet? For once in your life? Just shh?”

[tirednotflirting]

and we'd both stay out until the morning light

realizing i never posted this to tumblr. oops. ~vaguely~ inspired by 1973 by james blunt, an absolutely bitchin song i must say. and this piece was for miss helen aka @calumcest‘s bday approx one week and change ago. i went off a lil about my love and appreciation for her and our friendship in the ao3 a/n but the gist of it all is that helen is so so full of love and light and beautiful beautiful words and i’m so stupid thankful that this mess of a world brought us together. helen, if u see this, i love you to absolute pieces and i hope u are well x

you can find this here on ao3 if you wanna read there

Michael doesn’t consider himself to be great at much. He’s young, and making mistakes and having to try again is still his standard. He kind of likes that, though. He likes that his practicality in most things is seen as maturity and not a necessary default setting. He likes how his mom is proud when he learns how to cook a new vegetable or how to get a stain out of something. But he’s also comforted by the idea that it’s not irresponsible (or too much so, at least) when he throws caution to the wind and goes on some wild adventure with his friends or on his own. That it’s okay if he doesn’t know the word for something or has to google how to fill out a form because he’s still learning. Michael likes observing, learning about how he should be moving about the world.

That evening, something in the air feels electric. What exactly it is, Michael isn’t really sure, but it has him buzzing with anticipation for something. There’s a humming in the air around his apartment weaving around him like a ribbon but it’s moving too fast for him to latch onto. But for some reason, he doesn’t find it unsettling. He’s finishing up the dishes from dinner when the soft music playing from the speaker in his kitchen is interrupted with his ringtone.

He wipes his wet hands off before reaching into his back pocket. The screen shows a familiar picture, one always guaranteed to bring a smile to his face. He swipes his thumb across the glass and hits the speaker button. “Hi, Calum.”

“Come out with me tonight.”

His smile widens as he sets the phone on the island behind him so he can return to his drying rack. “Are we celebrating something?”

“Just being young and alive and in this gorgeous place and in love.” He can hear a dreamy tone to Calum’s words, evidence that he’s already begun a solo pregame.

“All about the dramatics tonight, are we?”

Calum huffs in a mock frustration. “We can’t let this place eat us alive, Mikey. Come out and dance with me.”

Michael sighs with a smile still pulling at his lips. He can practically hear the twinkle in Calum’s eyes that he tends to get when batting his eyes at Michael as he begs him to live a little. He thinks of the lunch he’s meant to attend with his advisor the following afternoon, of the novel and glass of wine sitting on his coffee table that he had set out for his quiet Saturday night in. But then he hears a quiet please, babe? across the line and rolls his eyes affectionately while placing the measuring cups back into their drawer. 

Maybe he’s meant to go on an adventure tonight. To observe, to see something new.

“I’ll be at yours in half an hour.”

*

Michael has never really liked clubs. He’s always found the environment to be one that bounces his brain between a place of numbness and overstimulation like his mind is a ping-pong ball. The duality of cocktails filled to the brim with liquor but also sugar only heightens the feeling. He prefers bright lights and sounds in a more controlled environment, like his computer screen or a movie theatre.

But Michael really likes Calum. And Calum likes clubs. So it’s fairly often that he finds himself with some brightly-colored drink in one hand and Calum grasping his other as he gets dragged through one of the night clubs near Calum’s new place.

The electric feeling in the air shifts with Michael’s change in setting. As Calum pulls him across the dance floor toward the bar for another drink, he senses it again, but in a different tone than he had felt in his apartment. Now it’s the beams of light passing between each of the bright, flashing bulbs high above their heads. It’s the energy swerving between the chattering, glittery people at the bar and the bass pumping below his feet. It’s Calum’s breathy laugh in his ear and the touch of his lips against Michael’s neck as he asks him if he wants something new to hold in his free hand.

Calum jumps up onto a stool at the bar as they wait for their next round and he pulls Michael to stand between his legs, his arms thrown lazily around his neck as he babbles through some story about some band that came into the studio that day. Michael loves watching Calum tell a story, his expressions adding their own layer of humor to the tale as Michael catches the rolling or widening of his eyes between flashes of colored light. Soon enough a couple more glasses are placed in front of them and Calum is reaching into his pocket for a few bills to pass back to the bartender before sliding down to the floor and pulling Michael back into the crowd.

Neither of them can dance to save their lives but that never stops Calum. He bounces around as Michael laughs and copies the movement. The liquid in their cups threatens to slosh to the floor or onto their shirts with each incredibly ungraceful swing of their hips.

“How is it,” Calum says between pants into Michael’s ear while wrapping an arm around his waist to pull him close, “that we’re out nearly every weekend and we still look like dads trying to dance every time we get out here?”

Michael shakes his head, the liquor in his cup starting to take its effects as he giggles against Calum’s cheek. “We’re musicians. One day when we make it big we’ll be too busy playing our instruments on stage to dance around. It would be a waste of time to learn to move any different than this.”

Calum’s smile shines bright through a laugh as he spins them around following Michael’s comment. “God, what are we going to do when our friends start getting married? We’ll be a disaster.” He pauses to take a sip of the concoction he’s ordered most recently. “Luke and Ashton are probably gonna threaten to kick us out if we move from our seats at their reception some day.”

“That’s how we’ll convince Ashton’s cheap ass to get the open bar. We’re far more agreeable when drunk.”

“Cheers to that.” Calum mockingly raises his cup and knocks it against Michael’s. 

The song changes then, the volume of the crowd rising with the song as the familiarity hits everyone’s ears and minds. Calum’s face bursts into a grin and his arms tighten around Michael’s neck to pull him closer to his chest. “Mm, love this song.” Calum pauses to sing along to the chorus. “Think I love you also.”

Michael blinks his eyes open, not having realized that they were closed. He watches light bounce around them and a drunken blush paint across Calum’s cheeks and nose. He’s had too much to drink to think too hard about it but really he’s never not questioning how he got so lucky. He lets his lips press against Calum’s nose, the rosiness in his own cheeks surely spreading when he catches Calum’s giggle through the music. “Love you too, Cal.”

They dance and sing for what feels like both hours and seconds. The mix of light and sound and those damn cocktails Calum keeps buying make Michael feel light like the confetti that starts flying around the room at some point in the night. He lost track of the number of nights they’ve had like this a long time ago, the center of glittering, happy chaos being a place Calum loves to frequent. He’d follow Calum anywhere, including to a mindless and seemingly pointless celebration like tonight. Michael knows he’ll go anywhere so long as he gets to keep watching the way Calum’s eyes and smile sparkle when even the faintest light hits his face. 

He’s watching it then, practically being blinded by it all, he thinks, when Calum catches Michael’s hand and pulls him back in for another dance.

*

They end up at the beach.

Their phones died ages ago but as the sun just barely begins to peek out from the ocean horizon, Michael figures it’s around 6am. They’re both still giggling and blushing at each other like mad as they strip off their socks and shoes and stumble toward the ocean. Michael isn’t even sure what he’s drunk off of anymore but whether it's Calum or the cocktails, he doesn’t really seem to care. 

Calum gasps at the temperature of the water as they let the little waves crash against their ankles, and he shuffles closer to Michael. He leans into Michael’s shoulder, lips pressing gently against his neck as Michael wraps an arm around his waist. 

The morning sunlight is just barely beginning to ripple over the dark water as they stand in silence, their breaths just barely audible over the waves. Normally seeing the ocean without the sun high up in the sky scares the hell out of Michael; hell, the ocean in general usually frightens him. It’s so unknown, and Michael doesn’t like being so close to something so vast and mysterious. It’s why he can’t think about space too hard most of the time either. He feels safe, though, and secure, standing there with Calum. He’s always wondering if it’s too early to think that way about the boy standing pressed against his side.

Eventually Calum lifts his head and grabs Michael’s hand, weaving their fingers together as he walks them back from the water just a bit before planting himself in the sand. “We’re watching the sunrise from here,” Calum explains to Michael’s confused eyes. Michael nods his understanding and drops down beside him.

“This city scares the hell out of me sometimes,” Calum says with a sigh, his fingers still dancing with Michael’s. “Like it always feels like I’m doing too much and not enough all at the same time. And then I get so stuck on figuring that out that I do nothing. There’s so many creatives here that the air feels like it’s filled with thoughts and ideas and dreams all the time. It’s so damn loud, you know?”

Michael nods, though the way Calum speaks he can’t really tell if he’s actually speaking to him or not. He considers asking but then Calum starts up speaking again, his crinkling eyes still facing out toward the water. 

“But then I come here and it’s like the tide kind of pulls all of that away. This is the only place where LA gets quiet, I think. It’s why I like to come out here.” 

Michael sticks his legs out in front of him and digs his bare feet into the sand as he ponders how to respond to Calum. “I get what you mean,” he starts as he drops his free hand against the cool sand and draws swirls with his finger. “I think this is the first time I haven’t been surrounded by people in a while.”

Calum’s head drops to Michael’s shoulder again and turns away from the water as he nestles his face into his neck. “Mali suggested coming out here after I’d had a bad day at the studio and you and the guys were all busy or something. Said it was her favorite place to gather up her own thoughts when she was trying out living here.”

As he drops Calum’s hand to let his hand reach up to tangle with the dark curls at the back of his neck, Michael lets the importance of this place, of Calum bringing him here settle over them. There are very few things that Calum keeps to himself, this spot apparently having been one until that morning. “Thank you for sharing this place with me. It’s a beautiful spot.”

He feels Calum shake his head just a little, his arm moving to wrap around Michael’s waist as his fingers play with the hem of his shirt. “Of course. I wanna share everything with you.”

The electric buzz Michael has felt around him the whole night settles with him and Calum out on the beach. Now it skips across the gentle waves that grow bluer with each passing minute as the sun rises. It blinks with the light from the street lamps back at the road as they go back and forth on whether or not it is time for them to say their daily goodbye as dawn turns to morning. Its final act, Michael senses, is the shock he gets as Calum straightens up and gently lifts his hand to the back of Michael's neck, causing him to turn as brown eyes meet green for just the briefest moment before their eyes flutter shut while their lips meet. 

*

“And that’s when I knew that he was my soulmate, ya know?” Michael says, his smile widening as he watches Calum’s eyes sparkle, tears threatening to fall from his dark lashes. “Because we should have been falling over ourselves with exhaustion at that point but I had never felt so awake in my life. I never wanted to sleep again because I never wanted to stop looking at him.”

A single tear does fall, racing down Calum’s cheek, and Michael lifts his hand from Calum’s grasp to gently wipe it away. “Anyway,” he laughs with a sniffle, his eyes pulling from Calum’s to face the room filled with their family and friends. “Thank you all for putting up with my nostalgia and thank you for coming to help us celebrate today. Enjoy the reception.”

The music picks up once people finish their brief clapping and Michael sits down again while he watches people around the room begin to rise and walk in the direction of the cakes and the bar. His eyes follow Luke and Ashton as they wander in the direction of Calum’s parents and sister, presumably to say hello again. Ashton’s eyes briefly meet his own and Michael laughs quietly as he watches Ashton’s left eye drop into a wink. They share the look for only a moment because then Luke is dragging him along and a hand dropping to Michael’s thigh pulls him back.

“I really liked that night,” Calum mumbles against Michael’s neck, his lips pressing just below his ear. “Liked hearing you tell the story of it even more.” 

Michael can’t help his laughter as a smile pulls at his cheeks. “Listen, there are very few stories of nights out that I can tell in front of our parents. Had to go digging through my journals to really settle on one.”

“You were journaling about me already back in the day? That’s so sweet.”

“Back in the day?” Michael questions as he sits up to meet his husband’s (the thought of the word alone bringing butterflies swarming into his stomach) eyes. “That was like four years ago, Cal. We’re too young for anything to be ‘back in the day’ yet.”

Calum’s face softens at his words, his hand lifting from Michael’s lap to cup his cheek, his thumb running across his cheekbone. “I can’t wait to grow old with you.”

He lets out a sigh while Michael blushes at him in response to the declaration. Calum leans forward to brush their lips together before rising, his empty glass in hand in need of a refill. Michael watches him wander through the crowd, shaking hands and exchanging smiles and kind words with every guest he passes while approaching the bar. None of it feels real yet, Michael thinks. Though it’s been less than two hours since they said I do so he figures he’s allowed a little longer to just be in awe of the fact that he’s got someone to spend the rest of forever traipsing through life with and that that someone is Calum.

And Michael still doesn’t consider himself to be great at much. He’s still young and can’t hold his liquor and can only really cook maybe three vegetables. But Michael is great at loving Calum and being loved by Calum. And maybe, for now, that’s enough. Michael finds himself thinking on that as he takes another sip from his own glass and gazes out to where Calum stands speaking to a friend and their partner. His cheeks warm as the three of them turn to look at him, a fond look resting against Calum’s face as their eyes meet. The ring on his left hand glitters in the light as he lifts it to gesture for Michael to join him.

Yeah, this is definitely enough.

*

[mintchocolatechipnut]

kirishima's wedding

Note: This is for my sunshine boy, he deserves all the love in the world and what better way to show that through headcanons for his and his s/o’s wedding? I was inspired mainly by flash mobs and wedding dances, in particular this one, so here you go!

Tags: pure fluff, dancing, Kirishima is a sentimental man, I was projecting a little too much on this

Word count: 2.0k

To be honest, it isn’t that Kirishima isn’t interested in his own wedding

It’s more like he’s interested in marrying you

And at this point, when you’ve already given him the green light when you said yes to his proposal, he really couldn’t ask for more

So he’s actually pretty content with letting you pick out most things

His being one of the top 10 heroes (see: big bonuses) is just an added perk that he’s grateful for

You want that dress you saw in that top-grade wedding magazine? Sure. You want a multi-cuisine buffet for your reception? Go for it.

Boy’s honestly just really ecstatic that you’ve agreed to marry him

Though, if you did want input from him, just say the word and he’ll offer his ideas

He wants the best for you, but if you’re adamant on wanting this wedding to be a two-person thing, he has no qualms against that

However, it’s just that his schedule doesn’t really allow for all-day wedding planning—people still need saving, reports still need to be made, it ain’t the honeymoon yet, sweetheart!

But he’ll do his best to contribute in whatever ways he can, be it the direct planning or supporting you from the sidelines by attending wedding dress sessions with you, or checking out the venues you have in mind

Heck, he even makes sure you’re eating three full meals a day when you lose track of time planning

Meanwhile, people at work have been congratulating Kirishima for becoming an engaged man

And with so many warm-hearted regards, not just from his co-workers, but even his fans (Red Riot has the best fans ever), it’s hard not to stop him from looking forward to his own wedding even more

So from then on he finds little breaks in his routine so he can help you out

His favorite part about the entire process, though, was learning your first dance

You’d asked him if he was up for learning a fun little routine as your first dance during your wedding

Now Kirishima isn’t a great dancer by any means, but he is eager to please, so he said yes quite readily

Only when he saw the video did he blanch a little

He’d thought it’d be a sweet sensual waltz that wasn’t too hard to learn (based off what he heard from others), but you’d instead chosen a fast-paced, twisty sort of dance

What was it called again? Lindy hop? Swing? He’s not sure, but the song is catchy and cheesy enough for him to tap his foot to

But oh no. He can’t dance, he thinks. This is going to take a while

And it did. You enrolled the help of Mina, who graciously extended an offer to teach you an improvised routine for the likes of you and Kirishima despite her own busy schedule

Mina’s a strict teacher. Kirishima doesn’t know why he has never thought that before. Probably because he hadn’t danced under her tutelage during the cultural festival, but whatever

She pushes him to the limit, making sure he isn’t stiff with his movements, and to coordinate with you on timing and movements

The first class is a little of a disaster though. You end up stepping on each other’s toes a lot, and Kirishima feels unnatural and awkward as he dances

This wasn’t on his resume! He’s not cut out for this kind of agile, flexible movement. In fact, all he has to do sometimes during his hero work is stay in place as a shield. He doesn’t have it in him to twist and jive like you and Mina!

You can see that Kirishima is a little discouraged, and suggest a break

Kirishima’s quiet for those few minutes, staring down at his toes and flexing them, wondering if he can ever really do this right

It’s not like you don’t notice, but Mina is busy teaching you how to improve your own steps

When he sees you dance all on your own though, a surge of pride wells up in Kirishima because you’re doing your best even though this isn’t your territory

But you’d wanted to do it, and here you were putting your back into it

And—technically he wanted to do it too, right? Since he’d agreed.

Kirishima then realises that he hasn’t been giving this his all, considering he never thought it was in his nature, or part of his expertise, to do this

But there’s always a first time, right?

You feel a tap on your shoulder and turn to see a grinning Kirishima, holding two thumbs-up to say ‘Let’s go!’

After that practice goes a lot more smoothly, with Kirishima finally getting the rhythm in his veins and you two even having successfully danced through the first verse on just memory

When you get home, Kirishima’s so eager to get it right all over again that you have to tell him to tone it down because you yourself are aching all over from Mina’s spartan training

You begin having weekly sessions with Mina, always practicing in between when the both of you have the time, because it’s not like it’s the same when you practice on your own individually

And Kirishima realises he likes doing this with you, taking big new steps together out of your comfort zones, to do something different

Just like how you were soon to be taking a whole new big step into the future as husband and wife

And suddenly all these private dance sessions with you he brings a little closer to his heart

For one he’s never one to pass up the chance to practice with you, and what’s more, he thoroughly enjoys himself when he twirls you around the room and see the endless joy in your tired, satisfied smile at the end of it

Pretty soon he’s wanting to make sure that you put on the best performance for wedding day

He’s even resorted to bopping and doo-wopping in his office sometimes, even when Bakugou comes around for work things

In which he snorts and tells Kirishima he’s acting like a total idiot and should get off cloud 9 real quick, or else he’s gonna make him

But Kirishima really can’t bring himself to care, because he just knows that he’s going to make you proud on that day with his moves

When the day finally rolls around (or perhaps a few days earlier), Kirishima’s getting the wedding jitters

To which he copes with going out with his friends from high school, and to which Kaminari and Sero decide to hold a stag party for him

Just him and the boys, after so long

He has a great time of course, and forgets about his worries for a little while, but when he comes home and noticed you’ve gone to sleep without him, he’s brought back to thinking about the day you’ll finally sleep in the same bed as husband and wife

And there he goes again

It takes a good nag from Bakugou that ‘you don’t need to worry about a thing, Shitty Hair, or else she’ll be embarrassed for you’ for him to regain his spirits

It’s really not that he doesn’t want to marry you, but his insecurities, having just found an outlet in you, have resurfaced once more to plague him with the idea that he doesn’t deserve you

But maybe it’s precisely because he doesn’t deserve you that he’s got to do everything he can to make you happy, so you don’t regret this choice you made with him

Wedding day finally arrives, and Kirishima’s got the nerves again

But the good kind this time

You can have his hair done however you like, but I like to headcanon that he wears it down in its natural state, with half of it done up in a ponytail like how Aizawa occasionally wears it. It’s a tribute to how he’d shed his old self to be a new version of Crimson Riot, with the vibrant red hair, but also not forgetting his roots and origins

He waits nervously at the altar, where Bakugou crosses his arms impatiently to his side (because of course Bakugou is his best man)

He sees all the guests you’ve invited: pro heroes, mutual friends, your own colleagues, and of course, your families

Not to mention some of the press are lingering outside the venue in order to get some photos in for the news of Red Riot tying the knot

And he’s terrified and thrilled at the same time by the prospect that the two of you will be joining together as one in front of so many witnesses

When you finally walk toward him in a dress as radiant as your smile, Kirishima sheds a few tears

He definitely cries. He can’t help it! When you take his outstretched, trembling hand and stand next to him, you decide to tease him a little

You whisper, “What? Already can’t handle the prospect of marrying me? Are you going to break it off?”

“No!” His outburst is loud enough for the people in the front pews (namely your families) to hear, which startles you, but when you turn to face each other, both of your hands held in his, he leans forward and whispers, ‘No. I’m never going to let you go from now on.’

‘Come on Eiji, we haven’t even said the vows yet.’ But he can’t stop the tears, and it takes a few embarrassing yet endearing moments for you to calm him down and proceed with the ceremony

In the end, your first kiss as husband and wife at the altar is, as he tells the boys later, ‘indescribable’

There are just so many feelings running through him when he kisses you that he’s tempted to cry again

But the cheers all around you remind him this is a joyous occasion to be celebrated, and Mr and Mrs. Kirishima make a run down the aisle while petals are being thrown and congratulations echoing around them

It finally comes down to the first dance, and Kirishima’s got adrenaline pumping through his veins even before the music starts

He’d had a few glasses of champagne earlier to calm his nerves but the alcohol hasn’t been kicking in and it’s almost time—

He feels a hand clutch his and the moment he looks at you, all inhibitions fade

He’s ready to kill it on that dance floor with you

Needless to say, the dance goes superb and gets rave reviews from the guests, if the whoops and the whistles are anything to go by

By the end of it everyone is up and dancing and Kirishima just can’t keep the beaming smile off his face

The second time Kirishima cries is when he’s dancing with you to a ballad, as he holds you close to him, feeling every inch of your body against his and having your wonderful, beautiful self so close

You notice the silent tears dripping down his face and place a hand to his cheek, ‘What’s wrong, Ei?’

‘Nothing’s wrong. That’s just it. Everything’s so right in this moment that I feel I’ll never experience this ever again.’ And since he’s not so sober at the moment, he blurts out the whole of what he’s really thinking. ‘I just think about how I got here, with you, and I don’t know if I’ve unknowingly traded all my life’s happiness away for this one day.”

He waits for the usual pep talk you always give him when he tells you he doesn’t deserve you or any of this, or a ‘don’t be silly’ kind of logical dismissal he might expect from Bakugou, but you look him in the eye, and through his blurry vision your smile is still as bright as it was on the day you first met

‘Well, even if you’re forever sad from now on, I know I can only feel eternal happiness after this. So I’ll be nice and share some of that happiness with you, because we’re one now.’

This time the tears really come pouring lmao

Everyone mocks him for being such a crybaby afterwards but all Kirishima can think of is now that he’s given you his last name, he’s going to continue giving you all the happiness in the world

[writingfromkitchenator]

Fili ~ You’re in the army now

800 Followers Challenge!  (I know that these were made ages ago, but here we finally are!  Hope you all enjoy!)

Requested by @bahharrington28

Based on the song  You’re In the Army Now by Bolland Bolland

Words: 803

Warnings: Talk of battle, description of wounded, young people not quite understanding the situation.

The several young dwarves gathered together, all smiling faces, laughing voices and patting each other’s arms in a job well done, you and Fili among them.

There were a few scratches and bruises amongst you, but for the most part, you were unharmed and all still very pumped after the fighting, their voices carrying around, the hardened warriors shooting dark looks to the young dwarves.

You threw your arm around Fili’s shoulders.  “Did you all see Fili out there?  Saw the way he took down those orcs.  No one can stand against the mighty arm of a Durin!”

There was a round of laughter, Fili nudging you.  “Y/N…”

“Just because the two of you are courting, doesn’t mean you have to dote on each other.”  One of them joke, making the others boo him.

“Leave them alone!”

“Yeah, if you fought like those two out there, you’d be doting on your significant other too.”

Another round of laughter sounded and Fili wrapped his arm around you, grinning widely.  

“Just because you lot are jealous.”  You giggle, kissing Fili’s cheek.  “And don’t have that kind of support, and view if I might add, on the field.”

“Oh yeah?  I’m sure Fili’s more than happy to know that you’re distracted by him more than paying attention to the fight.”

“Please,” You said, grinning.  “Fili is more than aware that I can handle myself, not to mention, if you didn’t notice, we still topped all of you guys who were paying attention the whole time.”

Fili chuckles by your side. “We came.  We saw. We kicked its ass.”

The holler of laughter that went around made Dwalin get up from the other side of the room, the laughter going quickly silent as you all caught his expression, one by one, as he furiously marched towards all of you.

You all stared at him with wide, scared eyes, all knowing the wrath of the large dwarf having all been trained by him and all shared bruised from his training.

“What do you think you’re all doing?” He hissed through clenched teeth, eyes flashing dangerously.

Sharing a look, it took a moment before one of you was game enough to speak.

“Err…” Dwalin’s gaze turned to the young dwarf who’d spoken.  “We were…just having a bit of a laugh?  The battle went well.”

Dwalin’s fists clenched and there was a slight shuffle backwards, ensuring that all of you were out of reach, Fili shifting slightly in front of you.  “Have a look around you.  Where do you think you are standing?”

For the first time, the young dwarves did a survey of the room, their eyes landing on all the wounded and hurt, of other hurrying amongst them, bringing supplies.  Crying can be heard and they can make out blood pooling in some areas on the floor.

Their faces turn pale, all of them hanging their heads a little, not looking at each other and definitely not looking at Dwalin.

Dwalin’s hands rest on yours and Fili’s shoulders, his expression grim.  “There is a time and place for celebration after a battle, but this is not one of them.  I get it, I do, there’s nothing like that first rush, especially when we have technically won, but you two…given your position, you need to pay attention.”

You swallowed, hanging your head and Fili’s hand snuck into yours as he meets Dwalin’s eye.

“It was not our intention Dwalin,” He said quietly.  “In truth, we were all scared out there, it was nothing like what we had been prepared for and, in hindsight, I don’t think there was much that could be done to prepare us for that.  We were simply venting away the nervous energy, it was not deliberate to be inappropriate.”

Dwalin nods, squeezing his shoulder.  “I understand Fili, I do, just be glad it’s me having this talk and not your uncle.” You do a quick search of the room, indeed making sure that Thorin wasn’t around.  “Why don’t you lot head to the camp, get some rest and warm food in ya. This war is far from over and we’re going to be needing you all at your best.”

With grim expressions and muttered apologies, you and Fili lead the small group away, not meeting anyone’s eye.

Dwalin watches after the group, his expression stoic as Balin approaches him.

“That was wise of you brother,” Balin said quietly.  “But you know that they still have a lot of learning to do.”

Dwalin nods.  “I know, but this lesson was hard enough for the day, we’re just lucky that we didn’t lose one of them.”  He sighs and shakes his head, turning back to all the wounded. “Come on, let’s make sure everything’s settled here before we go and find Thorin for more preparations for tomorrow.”

[fearfilledvirgil]

Ivity and Anx: part fourteen

Summary: Virgil listends to the song that Princey posted in his living room. Things go to hell.

Warnings: accidental self isolation, breif mention of migraines, parental abuse, attempt of muder, a knife, self-blame, self-depreciation, guilt

Word count: 5130

Pairing: Slowburn Prinxiety, lots of platonic Analogical

A/N: HI I RECORDED A SONG FOR THIS PART AND I’M SHAKING. Anyways listen to this song which is a recording of the song that Princey sings. But with my voice. And yes, I made Roman have the same guitar as I do because I’m emoTIONALLY ATTACHED okay? The video is bad, but just pretty please listen to it and read the chapter or both at once I don’t know. If you know how it sounds it gives the words a bit more meaning than just random poetry. Anyways. This chapter is very emotionally taxing and sad. It made several beta readers cry. Good luck. Taglist under the cut. 

masterlist

Taglist: @rileyfirstname @verymuchanidiot @definentlynotjustanotherlemon @silversmith-91 @kanejandkruge @sander-fander-sides @lovecrazyjennybear @the-incedible-sulk @hexdream18243 @crows-with-hats @monikastec @definenormalifyoucan @i-am-absolute-fandom-trash @applecannibal @cats-with-blogs @bubblycricket @witchcraft--and--wizardry @bunnyartie @quietlypondering @elusivefalsehoods @hghrules @royallyanxious @quietwords-loudthoughts @squishynonbinarytwink @sortablue @illogical-anxieties @savingshae @a-fander-named-skittles @thelowlysatsuma @ughthatsprettygay @im-so-infinitesimal @certifiedtrashxx @karmels-stuff @littlelogicstillcounts @musicqueen1239 @nicological1 @the-average-loner

Today had been a long day, but that wasn’t unusual. Long days were a common thing for Logan since he moved into his college dorm, but that was mostly his fault. Classes hadn’t started yet, for either Logan or his friends going into their junior year, but that didn’t mean that Logan hadn’t started studying yet. The seventeen-almost-eighteen year old would spend several hours a day at the library, reading his textbooks and teaching himself the material for the classes to come. He also kept detailed and clean notes, something that made him happy.

His notes served a few purposes for Logan. It was a way to destress, it let out his creativity in a productive way, it helped him remember what he studied, and it provided him something to put on his Tumblr along with his bullet journal. He had what was called a studyblr, and was fairly popular. When he followed Virgil without telling him what his blog was, the younger nearly had a heart attack.

Logan’s pen stopped in the middle of the sentence he was writing. Virgil. He hadn’t talked to the younger in a while, which honestly scared him. The two used to be inseparable, considering that both were on the outskirts of the social game. Logan was always diving into books, and Virgil was always avoiding people at all costs. Now, though, with Logan off at college and burying himself in his books again, the two weren’t talking as much. Come to think of it, he hadn’t talked to Patton in a while. That was an oddity as well, since the excitable man loved talking to him. Logan loved talking to him. The college student felt a dip in his stomach, probably because of guilt. He was so busy studying at the library that he had begun to forget his friends.

A text tone interrupted the classical music streaming through his headphones, making him pause. A light of hope flickered inside his mind, because just maybe, it was one of his friends deciding to break the silence. He didn’t even realize how much he missed them these past few months until now.

Patton Heart <3: Hey Logan! I think you probably should check this out. It’s totally about Virgil, but you know more about the situation then I do.

After the first text, Patton sent with it a link to a video on YouTube. Logan was certainly confused, but once he clicked the link to preview the video, he understood. Roman posted a video, most likely unedited, of a song about Virgil.

Logos Brain: Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I will alert Virgil. How have you been, Patton? I apologize for my momentary absence. I have been settling in here and regrettably forgot to talk.

Patton Heart <3: It’s okay!! I’m glad you’re settling in well. Make any friends?

Logos Brain: No one could replace you, Heart

Logan could not see, but Patton was flapping his arms everywhere at that comment. It gave him peace of mind knowing that Logan felt so strongly about him, even though he was known for not having any feelings. It made Patton warm and fuzzy inside, like most things that Logan said. What Logan could see, though, was his own phone pulling up Virgil’s contact and sending him the link to the video.

Pocket Protector: Virgil, Roman wrote a song about you. You may want to check it out.

Honorary Brother: Oh. Okay. Thank you Lo Sorry we haven't been texting

Pocket Protector: Its my fault. I was neglecting my friends in favor of studying

Honorary Brother: This is why I usually am the buffer. Taking ten minute breaks every half an hour? For your head?

Pocket Protector: Yes, Virgil. I promise.

Virgil was usually the one causing Logan to worry, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t worry about him too. The elder had an skill for getting headaches after reading or concentrating for too long. If he let the headache go without treating it, there was a more than likely chance that he would get a migraine. If it got to that point, little would stop the pain, and the migraine would persist for hours, or even days. That’s why Virgil made Logan have the ten for thirty rule.

Virgil shifted on the couch, trying to get more comfortable as he clicked on the YouTube link. He knew it was Roman, but he didn’t know how he could write a song about him of all people and be able to pass it by the record label. As soon as the video loaded, though, Virgil understood.

The title of the video was ‘Psychic, an Original Song by Roman Prince’ and opened with Roman pulling his arm away from the camera. He was sitting in a mostly dark room, fairy lights behind him, with his guitar resting on his legs. His head was almost out of frame, but the bottom half of his face was visible. Virgil sucked in a breath as Roman started talking on the video.

“I just want to start out with saying that this video is currently in no way related to Vidomen Records or any of it’s associates. I actually just wrote this song like… ten minutes ago, but I just.... I need to get this out. So. This is called Psychic.” Roman’s voice was soft, spoken with care and in his lower register. Virgil suddenly became aware that he did not, in fact, have his headphones in, and was making a loud commotion in the living room by playing the video.

Be seen not heard. Or, better yet, don’t be fucking seen either, but don’t leave this house, ya hear? The booming echo of the memory of his father’s voice made a shiver fall down Virgil’s spine. He quickly turned down the volume as low as it could go without being off. He then put the phone up to his ear, closed his eyes, and listened to Roman’s smooth voice begin to sing.

It’s almost like he can read by thoughts But I wish you could too All these emotions and things inside That I’m trying to get through to you.

Virgil’s heart plunged into his gut at the sheer emotion in the words that Roman sang. They were taken straight from Princey’s own heart, which made Virgil understand why he put the disclaimer at the beginning of the video. It was nothing like his usual, peppy, flamboyant songs. This song was pure Roman. Virgil held onto the phone harder as the slower chorus played through the small speakers.

If you could be inside my mind Then I wouldn’t have to try To put my pride aside And tell you the truth But the truth is hard to get out When it falls on closed ears So can you be psychic for me? Can you be psychic for me?

Roman took another breath to continue singing, but Virgil’s phone was knocked away from him. Fear stabbed him in the heart and gripped his lungs to make it hard to breath. His eyes widened, adrenaline pumping through his veins as his father grabbed his wrist. He was pulled off the couch, tossed down to the floor.

Vaguely, he could hear Roman continue singing with, “I know that you’re terrified.”

“What did I tell you about making noise?” Virgil’s father growled as he stepped closer to his son, who was now on the floor.

A little ways away, Roman continued singing with, “Because you’ve been cast aside.”

“I-I’m sorry, sir.” Virgil started to stutter, but was stopped from further apology by a kick to his side. The fear inside his chest was pushing at his rib cage, almost begging to be released. It was pounding, hard and fast like nothing he had ever felt before. He didn’t understand the difference in this punishment. It had started out just like all the others, so why was his adrenaline at an all time high? Why was he so scared, but not of the man leaning over him?

“Tell me what I told you!” the father figure yelled, his fists clenching as he stepped on Virgil’s wrist.

In the distance, Roman finished the chorus with, “Your feelings were twisted for fun. Words like bullets from my gun.”

It was at this moment that Virgil finally came to a screeching halt. Roman’s voice flowed into his ears as he sang the bridge again, somehow becoming louder with every passing second. Everything around him dimbed, the loudness of his father screaming his sentence again diminishing as his ears started ringing. The world was starting to go into some sort of slow motion, allowing Virgil to rethink over the decision that his mind had already made the moment that the phone was slapped out of his hand. Now he realised why this time was different. This time, he had Roman’s voice with him, a voice that he had once hated but learned to love. It was the soft tone that the singer used to comfort the other on those late night calls, and it was with him in this moment. This time was different because Roman unintentionally just accidently gave him hope. He didn’t understand why the lying boy would write this song, but it struck a chord inside Virgil. He didn’t register the dryness of his mouth or the pain in his wrist. All Virgil could think about was the word stuck in his throat, leaning off the tip of his tongue.

“No.”

“What?” Virgil’s father took a step back in shock. He hadn’t heard that word pass from his son’s lips since before his mother died. “What the fuck did you say?’”

“I said,” Virgil sat up from the floor, his hand finding his phone that was still playing the song and placing it in his back pocket. He was standing now, straightening his back with a slight bit of pain to be taller than his father. He was working on auto pilot, the world still fuzzy. “No.”

Thanks to the odd sensation of not actually being in his body that Virgil was experiencing, everything that followed was a blur. There were loud words, dodged punches, and spit flying everywhere. That much was processed in his head. Virgil was vaguely aware that he was also yelling, but what of, he didn’t have a solid grip. The words passing off his tongue felt like he was calling his dad out about being a drunk, and calling him out on how he treated his own son, but he couldn’t be exactly sure.

Before Virgil could acknowledge it, he had screamed his throat raw. His father’s eyes were glaring daggers at him, wide and seething. He could only see red. Virgil, on the other hand, was coming back down to earth, and the hope in his stomach was washing away. Every ounce of confidence that may had been left fully disappeared when his father reached over the kitchen counter. He didn’t realize that they had moved so close to the kitchen in their fighting, and Virgil was going to pay for that.

Mr. Sanders drew his hand back, revealing a long silver kitchen knife. Virgil’s heart rate suddenly skyrocketed, his hands beginning to shake even more than they were. His father took a step closer, which made Virgil take a step back.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t- I didn’t mean…” His eyes were glued onto the knife. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry won’t fucking cut it,” His father was advancing quicker. He adjusted his grip on the knife. “You need to be taught a lesson.”

Virgil attempted to back away again, but instead fumbled over the couch. His back hit the cushions, but he was immediately attempting to scramble away. His father was still approaching with some sort of sick gleam in his eyes. Was this his plan all along? To get him to fight back, only to stab his chest to hear him scream and see the light leave his eyes? Did he hate him that much, that he’d kill him? Virgil fell off the couch, too caught up in the dark thoughts to notice the end of the sofa. The floor came up too quickly, and suddenly he was eating carpet. He heard his dad snicker behind him, dark and menacing. This was too much, this was too much and Virgil could not take it.

Somehow, he managed to get up off the floor. It was messy and ungraceful, but he grabbed his hoodie laying on the ground while getting up from the floor. With his hoodie in hand, and his phone in his back pocket, now all he had to do was get the fuck out of the apartment. Of course, Mr. Sanders had other plans than to let his son escape that easily. He follows Virgil menacingly, the glint in his eye growing as he started to raise the knife.

“I’ve been too lenient to you. It’s time you get what you deserve.” he said, looking at the knife and looking toward his son. Virgil’s vision swarmed in and out, his breathing all but stopped.

The next few moments would stay in Virgil’s mind the rest of his days. They played out in slow motion, frame by frame, as it happened.

Mr. Sanders lunged quite quickly, but it didn’t feel quick at all. Virgil eyed the knife, sharp and threatening, as it darted toward his chest. Before he could think, Virgil began to turn to the side, his eyes never leaving the intentional divits in the glinting silver. As he was trying to get away from the plunging knife, Virgil put his arms out in front of him. While he turned, his arms did too, which was both a good thing and a bad thing. The knife missed its mark on Virgil’s chest, but it still sliced through his upper arm. A small scream ripped from Virgil’s throat as it did so, but he pressed on. Since his arms were moving forward as he twisted, the knife was pressed deeper into his arm. But after it passed through his flesh, Virgil’s arms connected with his father’s body and pushed away.

Afterward, time sped up.

Virgil was running. His breathing was quick, coming in bigger gasps then before. He fumbled with the door for only a moment before it was open and he was running. He was going down the concrete stairs ten times faster than he usually did, only bent on getting away from the apartment. He needed to get away, even though he knew that he would eventually have to return. But for tonight, he ran like there was no tomorrow.

That was, at least, until his panic driven state began to wash away. His lungs burned, as did his legs, but at least he was away. Virgil took a second to gauge where he was. Upon looking around, he concluded that he was in Logan’s neighborhood. His legs must have carried him here due to muscle memory. Virgil thought that was okay for the moment until he realized something very important. Logan was not here. Without Logan, Virgil had no one. And, now that the fight or flight response had eased up, he just realized how much pain his arm was in.

So Virgil did the only thing he knew how to do: call Logan.

Once seated semi-comfortably on a bench in the neighborhood park nearby, Virgil attempted to pull his jacket on to attempt to keep the chill of night at bay. He took out his phone and sighed. More cracks had formed when he fell over the couch.

“Please still fucking work.” Virgil pushed the button to unlock his phone and let out a sigh of relief when it still turned on. He went to Logan’s contact number and hit the call button.

Logan picked up after two rings. “Good evening, Virgil.”

“Hey Lo.”

Logan could hear in Virgil’s voice that he was crashing from the adrenaline. “Is everything alright?”

Virgil considered lying for a moment. He knew that Logan could read him like a book, even over the phone, so he decided against it. “No. It’s not. It fucking sucks.”

“Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?” When he didn’t get an answer, Logan decided to try something different. “Gauge?”

Virgil sighed. He was simultaneously grateful and hateful at just how well his friend knew him. “Eight and a half.”

“What happened?”

Virgil took a breath, his grip on his phone tightening. “Knife.”

There was shuffling at the other side of the line. “Virgil, Virgil, you need to get it looked at. It’s not something that I can help you with where I am.”

“I know that, Logan, but you know I can’t go to the hospital.”

“I know. There is someone else you can go to,” There was a pause, then the opening and closing of a door. “Someone who has helped you through a lot.”

“Don’t fucking say it.”

“Virgil.” The tone was testing, but Virgil didn’t care at the moment.

“No, Logan. I can’t.” Virgil shook his head even though he knew Logan couldn’t see. “Not after this long of time. He probably fucking hates me. He’s probably planning how to make next year a living hell.”

“He misses you.”

Three simple words. Something Virgil never thought he’d hear about Roman. Did Patton talk to Logan about it? Is that how Logan knew that Roman missed him? Logan wasn’t one to say or do anything without some facts behind it so it wasn’t a gut feeling.

“You don’t know that, Logan.”

“Yes I do. Patton’s said so. Several times.” At the moment, it sounded as though Logan was walking rather quickly. “Patton even told me that Roman’s tried reaching out to you.”

“Roman hates me. He’s out to make my life a living hell.”

Logan pinched the bridge of his nose, but kept walking. “Do I honestly need to read to you a list of reasons for you to go to him?”

“You don’t have one of those ready, Pocket Protector.”

“Actually, I do. Give me a moment.”

Virgil shouldn’t have been surprised, considering that Logan was crazy over lists and notes. He would comprise one full of pros and cons about Roman. Sighing, Virgil put a little pressure on the cut, hoping to stop a little of the bleeding. There was a sound on the other end of the line of a door opening and closing again. Then came the ruffling of papers.

“Are you ready, Virgil?” Logan asked a few moments later.

“Do I have a choice?”

“No.”

“Didn’t think so. List away.”

“I’m ignoring that. Some of the pros of going and talking to Roman include: He knows about your past and would be least likely to completely, um, ‘lose it’ if you showed up bleeding. Roman also has been able to help keep you calm in moments of excessive alarm. Occasionally even more capable at it than I am. You are also very comfortable with him. At least you were before you realized who he was. You trust him to some extent. And I believe that he has no intention of hurting you.”

“Wait. Did you just say ‘I believe’?” Virgil couldn’t help but point that out.

“Based off of evidence I have collected, yes.”

“And what evidence would that be?” As much as he hated to admit it, he was curious about what would cause Logan to say that.

“One example would be that he told Patton that he ‘had ruined everything’ and ‘it was all his fault.’”

Virgil didn’t know how to respond to that. It was the last thing that he expected Roman Prince to say about him. He never thought that Roman would go so far as to blame himself. He thought that Roman would laugh about the experience and use it as more fuel against him.

“Virgil?” Logan’s voice broke Virgil out of his thoughts.

“Sorry, what?”

“I said would you like more evidence?”

“No, thank you. I don’t want want to hear the page and a half of evidence you probably have on that one point.”

“It is a page and a quarter.”

“Whatever you say.” Virgil couldn’t help the slight smile that was on his face. He missed talking with Logan so much.

“Anyway. Roman would also find a way to help you without making you go to the hospital. And just talking to him would be enough to, uh, pay him back.”

“Based off what Patton said I’m guessing?”

“Precisely. Though it is a possible con in he may not want to talk to you. It was a few months ago that Patton told me this.”

“Any other cons?”

Virgil heard the shuffling of pages from the other line again. “He could be upset that you didn’t let him explain himself. He could be upset that you broke off all ties. However it’s hypothesized that sitting down and talking to him about why will rectify that. Actually almost all of the cons I have written could be corrected by just talking to him.”

“Almost all?” Virgil’s curiosity got the better of him.

“The one outcome that wouldn’t be corrected is if he truly never cared for you, which seems highly illogical. I believe that there is an infinitesimal chance that talking to him will work.”

“Logan. Buddy. That’s not encouraging.”

“Why not? I am simply saying that there is a great chance that if you talk to him things will be alright.”

“Not that ‘infinitesimal’ means Lo.”

Virgil couldn’t help but chuckle when he heard Logan typing away quickly at his computer. He could almost imagine the look of disbelief on the other’s face. The sputtering from the other line proved that Logan was at a loss for words at misusing the term.

“I...deeply apologize for that, Virgil.”

“‘S all good. I knew you didn’t mean it.” There was a pause. “So you really believe it’s a good idea to go to Roman?”

“I truly do. While he may be arrogant, I do not believe that he will turn you away. He’s prideful but he still has a heart.”

“Alright. If he does I expect a major apology.”

“I promise.”

Virgil took a deep breath and was about to hit the end call button when something stopped him. It was some emotion he hadn’t felt in a long time. After pondering it for a minute, Virgil realized it was pride. He was proud of what he was going to tell Logan.

“I stood up to him.” Virgil whispered as he got up from the bench.

“What do you mean?” Logan asked, fearing the answer.

“My father. I... I stood up to him”.

“That’s… That’s good, Vee. If you did, I think it’s all the mor--”

“That’s not it, Logan.” Virgil cut off his friend. He was now standing near the bench, not ready to leave the familiar place yet.

“What’s not ‘it?’” Logan sounded worried. There was another shift on the other side of the line, signifying that he put down his papers.

“It all happened so fast, or slow, I don’t know. He may not have but... I turned and the-the-the blade went deep into my arm and…” Virgil took a deep breath to attempt to steady his heavily beating heart. He couldn't get it out. He couldn’t.

“You’re probably bleeding far worse than I anticipated because of, of your bravery,” Logan moved the phone to his other ear. “You did stand up to him, that’s what matters. And I’m.. I’m extremely proud of you.”

“Yeah but now my jacket is going to be soaked in blood.” Virgil joked as he started walking again. He heard a muffled ‘Jesus Christ’ on the other end of the line which made him crack a smile.

“If you do not go to Roman I will fly home and personally drag you kicking and screaming to the hospital and then to his house.” Concern was clear in Logan’s voice.

Virgil knew Logan well enough to know he meant it. “I’m already off the bench and out of the park. You’re just lucky the two of you don’t live that far apart.”

“We what now?”

“I ran into your neighborhood. Muscle memory I guess.”

“I am… sorry that I am not there to help you.” Regret was clear in Logan’s voice. He wished the world that he could be there to help protect his friend.

“Its okay. You’ve got collage, and… Like I said, he only lives a few blocks away.” Virgil was lying. He was lying so hard that it hurt. But he had to, because he couldn’t spend his entire life dependant on Logan. He had enough of Virgil’s bullshit and pain. He deserved a normal life full of learning, possibly love, without Virgil weighing him down. That’s all he ever did, really, was weigh him down. If Virgil hadn’t been so stupid as to go to his house all those years ago, hurt and afraid, then Logan’s life could have been free from pain. The most he had to worry about was love and knowledge. But no, Virgil had to ruin all of that.

“Virgil, talk to me.” Logan cut through Virgil’s internal thoughts. He seemed to do that a lot.

“What? Sorry, spaced out.”

“You worry me. I asked if you want me to stay on the phone with you?” Worry was even more evident in Logan’s voice than before.

Virgil pulled his hood up to hopefully block some of the wind as he turned onto the main street. It was late, past midnight at least, so there wasn’t too many cars to disturb the call. “Maybe? I don’t know. It sounded like I took you away from something.”

“That was… nothing really important. A dorm activity.”

“That you liked or not?” You fucking idiot Virgil. He was doing normal college stuff and you couldn’t even let him do that. Stupid.

“It was okay. I met this mess of a man, Nate, who scares me with how much he procrastinates.���

“So… ProcrastiNATE.”

“I hate you.” Logan couldn’t help the slightly fond smile despite his annoyance at the pun.

“Come on, you love me.”

“You’re right. I do. A lot, honorary little bro.”

“Did you just call me ‘bro?’ What has college done to you?” Virgil teased his best friend. No, that wasn’t right. Logan was his brother. They were closer than blood could ever make them.

“I tried! But honestly, you’re still Honorary Brother in my contacts.”

Virgil was silent for a few moments before he regained himself. “That means a lot to me, Lo.”

“I know it does, Virge.”

Virgil was still concerned that he messed up an important part of Logan’s experience at college. “Are you sure that I’m not taking you away from anyone right now?”

A knock on a door at Logan’s end of the call gave him his answer. “One moment.”

“Sure.”

Logan removed the phone from his ear and covered the speaker to hopefully minimize what Virgil could hear. He sat up from the chair at his desk to approach the door. Upon opening it, the man that he talked about to Virgil was standing there. Logan furrowed his eyebrows in confusion before raising one as to ask ‘what are you doing here?’

“Oh, good, this is your dorm. Okay.” Nate pushed up his sunglasses and leaned against the doorframe.

“What do you want? I’m a bit preoccupied.” Logan was annoyed, that much was clear. Virgil was just able to make out his words, which made him feel even more guilty than he already was.

“Dude, you left right in the middle of a conversation. And said something about a hospital. We worried.” the concern in Nate’s voice actually seemed genuine, at least to Logan.

“I’m helping out a friend of mine, its-” Logan was promptly cut off by Virgil on the other end of the line.

“Logan! Go back to the meeting thing!” Virgil half-yelled into the phone, hoping that his friend would hear him. “I’m almost there anyway.” That wasn’t the full truth, but it was close enough to the truth that Logan wouldn’t mind anyway.

Nate looked down at Logan’s phone, then back up to the younger with a smirk. “And the friend agrees with me. Come on, tell ‘em goodbye and come back! Brian’s about to talk school stuff and by the looks of ya, you’d like that.”

“Go, Logan!” Virgil yelled again. Logan brought his phone back up to his ear for the second part of Virgil’s sentence. “Besides, a dude named Brian? That’s gotta be cool. He has your last name as a name.”

“Yeah, well, you’re more important,” Nate gave him a goofy smile, to which Logan responded by tearing the phone away from his face and saying, “Not like that, you, uh, you...”

“Buffoon?” Virgil supplied.

“Buffoon! Wait, Vee, what does that even mean?” Nate watched these two sortof interact with a happy glint in his eye. They were good friends. Even he could tell.

“Dunno. Now go.”

“Fine. Goodbye, Virgil. Please call me if you need more assistance. Text me when you get there.”

“Will do, Lo. Talk to you later.” Virgil’s grip on his phone tightened. They were doing the dance of who will hang up again.

“Good luck.” Neither wanted to do it. Logan wanted to provide support, while Virgil didn’t want to let go of familiarity and the comfort of Logan’s voice. But he had to.

“You too.” Virgil said with finality before removing the phone from his face and pressing the end call button. Just like that, his fate was sealed.

Not only that, but Virgil knew that his phone was dying. He didn’t have time to grab anything other than his sweatshirt. No charger, no change of clothes, no wallet, no earbuds, no nothing. Virgil took a look at the time, and his battery, before placing it in his back pocket again. No earbuds meant no music, and no music meant that his mind was free to wander.

This was not a good thing, despite what some people might think. Virgil’s mind wandering was never good. Now he had the chance to think over all the reasons why Roman hated him, and why he would definitely turn him away. Virgil walked on like this, pain in his upper arm and worrying thoughts in his mind. It took everything in his being not to think himself creepy for knowing the way. The boy had given the younger his address willingly at some point after their split. Virgil saved it, most likely because of the lingering hope in his heart. Soon enough, he would reach the one place he never thought he’d actually go: Roman Prince’s house.

next part

Shoutout to the amazing @lovecrazyjennybear​! She helped me a ton with this chapter (specifically most of Logan and Virgil’s conversation), and even more chapters to come. You are an amazing beta reader and an even more amazing friend! (and writer, and editer, and all the ideas you have. you are amazing all around)

[melonoverlord]

ABCs for the beautiful baby bois

Since these are long ass prompts, I’ll split them up. Here is the baby boi Ravi first.

A: Aptitude

1. what are your oc’s natural abilities, things they’ve been doing since young?

He’s been doing hospital work ever since he was around two. It started just as organizing documents and running from room to room getting supplies to help his mom who was in the surgery and delivery ward. He’s also suspiciously good at guessing which couples are going to end up together.

2. what activities have they participated in?

He’s often Val’s guinea pig for her inventions that have to do with bionic parts, but he’s also a really avid bowler. It was one of his physical therapy requirements so he could be used to lifting heavy things.

3. what abilities do they have that they’ve worked for?

Making his bionic arms and legs are natural to him as his normal limbs were. It took a long time to be able to walk and move on his own, but now he knows just exactly how to move his limbs for the most fluid motions.

4. what things are they bad at?

Staying still while getting shots. Whenever he has to get his daily flu shot, Nivviah has to chase him around the ship while he screams and cries. Eventually Nivviah has to cast “Calm Emotions” or “Charm Person” on him to get him to calm down and sit still to get his shots, which she hates because she dislikes taking away Ravi’s autonomy, but he gets sick easily otherwise and please Ravi, we can’t keep doing this.

5. what is their most impressive talent?

Boy is incredibly good at anatomy. He definitely has a career in the medical field because he can find any vein or blood vessel and know just where to cut in surgeries.

B: Basics

1. what is their hair color?

Black

2. what is their eye color?

Dark brown

3. how tall are they?

4′0

4. how old are they?

8

5. how much do they weigh?

75 lbs

C: Comfort

1. how do they sit in a chair?

Criss-cross applesauce with his hands in his lap.

2. in what position do they sleep?

Curled up in a tiny ball. He usually takes up as little space as possible. It makes it perfectly for scooping into your arms.

3. what is their ideal comfort day?

Wearing his onesie while watching Disney movies with his parents, siblings, Castor, and the snabies. Also playing nerf guns with his siblings, Castor, and Val because Ravi takes no prisoners.

4. what is their major comfort food? why?

Lassi. It’s an Indian yogurt drink that he really likes. It reminds him home. No one else can really make it, though.

5. who is the best at comforting them when down?

It used to be Crumb because Crumb thought it was his duty to take care of Ravi, but now it’s his good good mama Ciri.

D: Decoration

1. how would they decorate a house if they had one under their name?

He just wants a house where him and all his siblings have their own rooms but connect them to make one giant sleepover room. If he could choose how Tam and Ciri decorated the house, everything would be connected to a slide and the floor would look like a little forest floor.

2. how would they decorate their child’s room?

He won’t have kids for a long, long, long time, but he would try to put as much little toys in their room because he spent so long without them and would give them everything from chemistry sets to trampolines just so they can try everything.

3. how do they decorate their own room?

His room’s actually one of barest, but he’s slowly building up his toy collection, but he also has one of those little plastic slides that he likes to go down. He also has a lot of his own artwork on the walls.

4. what type of clothes and accessories do they wear?

Usually he wears jeans or overalls and a sweater, but in the summer when it gets hot he likes wearing summer dresses, especially ones that are swishy. He likes wearing long skirts in the spring or fall when it’s not cold but not super warm either.

5. do they like makeup/nail/beauty trends?

He doesn’t like wearing makeup because it makes him itchy, but he loves doing his nails with Venus or Percy whenever Percy comes over.

E: External Personality

1. does the way they do things portray their internal personality?

Yes for the most part. There’s a hidden salty part of his personality that comes out when he really does not like someone, but for the most part he’s a bubbly boy.

2. do they do things that conform to the norm?

There’s not really much of a norm given how secluded they all live, but compared to other children, he tends to be more fluid in everything from actions to dress.

3. do they follow trends or do their own thing?

He usually does his own thing. Because he’s been the only kid for a long time, he has to start his own child trends.

4. are they up-to-date on the internet fads?

There’s very few non-Freedom Vessel things he knows.

5. do they portray their personality intentionally or let people figure it outon their own?

The personality he displays for the most part is his honest one, so most people can figure out his personality right away. It takes a little while but people see that he has a hidden sass and mischievousness underneath that good little boy exterior.

F: Fun

1. what do they do for fun?

He really likes bowling with the kids or playing Nerf Guns with Castor and the snabies.

2. what is their ideal party?

Slumber party with his friends and family while they watch Disney movies and then he kicks their butts at bowling.

3. who would they have the most fun with?

Crumb is still his very best friend, but he’s getting close to Allura as his first non-family friend.

4. can they have fun while conforming to rules?

He’s a lawful good boy who has never broken a rule in his life. Except maybe training with knives. He’s broken that rule a bit.

5. do they go out a lot?

Nope. The first time he stepped off the ship since when he was rescued from Earth was Dryas. And everyone has been hesitant to let him out of their sights since.

G: Gorgeous

1. what is their most attractive external feature?

He has the cutest fucking baby nose and is a very short kid. He’s absolutely precious.

2. what is the most attractive part of their personality?

You know that he 110% cares about you and looks up to you and you never have to worry whether he’s faking his devotion to you.

3. what benefits come with being their friend?

You get the best, free health care and he will love you unconditionally even when no one else will.

4. what parts of them do they like and dislike?

He likes his intelligence and kindess, but hates that there’s not much he can contribute to the ship because he’s small. He also hates and doesn’t understand why he has such big gaps in memory and can’t remember stuff.

5. what parts of others do they envy?

He envies that he is the only child on the ship who is restricted from doing stuff (when he learned that Kalliste was going to Helios he asked if he could come with them but Luna said no because he was too recognizable).

H: Heat

1. do they rather a hot or cold room?

Cold. He loves wearing onesies and being buried under 7 blankets, and he can’t do that if it’s too hot.

2. do they prefer summer or winter?

Winter. Summer in New India got sweltering hot, and if his limbs get too hot they will flat out stop working and most likely burn him.

3. do they like the snow?

The few times he got to experience snow he loved it immensely. When he lived on Earth, he loved doing snowball fights and making snow angels.

4. do they have a favorite summer activity?

Making ice cream sundaes with Tam and Crumb.

5. do they have a favorite winter activity?

Snowball fights. It’s why he likes nerf guns so much.

I: In-the-closet

1. what is their sexuality?

He’s a little baby bi in the making.

2. have they ever questioned their sexuality?

He hasn’t met enough kids to establish a crush (as every kid he met eventually became his sibling or y’know, tried to kidnap and sell him to Genesis), but he knows that if the time is right, he will have a crush on someone.

3. have they ever questioned their gender?

No, he’s always been a bouncing baby boy. But in his presentation he tends to dress more fluidly in that he’ll wear overalls and a t-shirt one day, and a dress and painted nails the next.

4. would/was their family be okay with them being LGBT?

Absolutely, his family just wants him happy and safe over all else. Also both his parents are Bi so there’s not much to be not okay about.

5. how long would/did it take for them to come out?

He wouldn’t really come out just because growing up under a rainbow flag of a ship, coming out isn’t necessarily a requirement, you just say who or who you don’t want to kiss. 

J: Joy

1. what makes them happy?

Trains, being a help to the Freedom Vessel, nerf gun fights, Disney movies

2. who makes them happy?

Ciri, Tam, Crumb, Psyche, Castor, Allura, and Kalliste. His family and his very best friends.

3. are there any songs that bring them joy?

‘You’ll Be in My Heart’ from Tarzan.

4. are they happy often?

For the most part. He has some underlying sadness sometimes but most of the time he’s able to push that down and be happy.

5. what brings them the most joy in the world?

His favorite baby brother, Crumb.

K: Kill

1. have they ever thought about suicide?

No, he just wants to live in peace.

2. have they ever thought about homicide?

Absolutely not. The only reason he killed Manisha was because she was going to kill his family.

3. if they could kill anyone without punishment, would they? who?

Nobody. Ravi is already messed up from killing one person, 

4. who would miss them if they died?

Everyone on the Freedom Vessel and their cousin. But he thinks Crumb and Ciri would probably be the worst off.

5. who would be happy they died, anyone?

Genesis, Magdalena, Adrian probably.

L: Lemons

1. what is their favorite fruit?

Blueberries

2. what is their least favorite fruit?

Technically tomatoes are a fruit, so tomatoes. He doesn’t like skin and thinks its too squishy.

3. are there any foods they hate?

Carrots. They’re too crunchy and bland.

4. do they have any food intolerances?

Pumpkins.

5. what is their favorite food?

Pancakes, especially blueberry pancakes.

M: Maternal

1. would they want a daughter or a son?

Both. All. He’d love them all.

2. how many children do they want?

Probably 4. He doesn’t want anyone to feel alone like he did and wants his kids to be best friends.

3. would they be a good parent?

It’s like at least twenty years before he becomes a parent, but he’d be the most attentive, caring parent that reads voices in the stories and tucks his kids into bed.

4. what would they name a son? what would they name a daughter?

He would name his daughter after his birth mom Padma and would probably name his son after his big brother Castor.

5. would they adopt?

His favorite mom and dad adopted him, and he knows firsthand how many orphans of war there are.

N: Never Have I Ever

1. what would they never do?

Swear or lie to people. Or willingly hurt someone.

2. what have they never done that they want to do?

He still wants Castor to teach him to use a knife. He doesn’t want to hurt anybody with it but he likes playing pirates with Crumb and the snabies and wants to do knife tricks like pirates do.

3. is there anything they absolutely can’t believe people do?

Tell lies (or swear)

4. what is the most embarrassing thing they’ve done?

When he was first trying to get used to his limbs, he left the infirmary before Val told him he was ready and got until out the door when his legs stopped working and he fell. He was stuck on the ground for three hours just sobbing until Nivviah came down because she wanted to check on him. Needless to say, after that it as clear that everyone was a problem child on the ship and Ravi had 24/7 watch.

5. have they done anything they thought they’d never do?

Kill somebody.

O: Optimism

1. are they optimistic or pessimistic?

He’s very optimistic. About 90% is his actual optimistic nature and 10% is trying to be optimistic for his family and friends because he knows that they aren’t that optimistic about the future often.

2. are they openly optimistic, throwing it on others?

Absolutely. He is probably the only Freedom Vessel member who’s honestly hopeful about the future.

3. are they good at giving advice?

No one’s really came to Ravi for advice because he has a limited world experience, but his advice tends to fall on the optimist side of things. If you want advice that looks more on the positive side, come to Ravi.

4. is there anyone in their life that throws optimism on them?

Usually it’s Crumb but usually he has to throw his own optimism on himself.

5. were they always optimistic?

Yeah, at least as far back as he can remember.

P: Personality

1. what is their best personality trait?

Caring

2. what is their worst personality trait?

Gullible

3. what of their personality do others love?

Castor loves his big heart, endless love for everyone, his determination to be helpful, his kindness, and secret mischievous side. Ciri loves everything single thing about him from the top of his head to the tip of his cyborg toes and everything inbetween. Particularly she loves his intelligence, sweetness, bravery, and loving and trusting nature.

4. what of their personality do others envy?

Everyone pretty much envies his endless optimism even as he got kidnapped. Castor envies Ravi’s innocence and cheerful personality and his ability to make anything he’s doing fun. Ciri envies his ability to trust easily.

5. do they hate anything about their personality/about other’s personalities?

He doesn’t really like personalities that rely on pushing people away or being mean to people, especially non-Genesians to other non-Genesians. He knows that Genesis already treats people bad. Why do other people have to as well?

Q: Questions

1. do they ask for help?

Usually. He wants to do a good of a job as he can be, which is why he often asks for help when he can’t do something. It embarrasses him when he has to, but he knows that everyone needs help sometimes.

2. do they ask questions in class?

He’s the kid who sits in the front of class and raises his hand for every question.

3. do they answer questions that make them a little uncomfortable?

He’ll probably answer your questions even if it makes him uncomfortable, unless he desperately doesn’t want to answer it in which he’ll just shut down completely.

4. do they ask weird questions?

He tends to ask fairly normal questions unless he really wants to know something, then he’ll push.

5. are they curious?

He wants to know everything about the world and would do anything to get the knowledge he seeks. He’s a Ravenclaw through and through.

R: Rules

1. do they follow rules?

He’s a lawful good boy who follows every rule.

2. would they be a strict or laid-back parent?

He’d be strict in the sense that he wants his kids to do go but he’d give them freedom to just be children and run about.

3. have they ever been consequenced for breaking a rule?

I mean, he was consequenced in the sense that he literally got kidnapped, but not in punishment.

4. have they broken any rules they now regret breaking?

He still mentally kicks himself for not listening to Ciri on Dryas and still trusting Magdalena.

5. do they find any rules they/others follow absolutely ridiculous?

Let him play with his knife, he’s a growing boy. He got it for a reason.

S: Streets

1. are they street-smart?

He is still a fairly trusting kid who tends to take things at face value. He’s spent very little of his life being able to talk to the general public and has spent about half his life solely in the Freedom Vessel.

2. would they give money to someone on the streets?

Absolutely. If he ever went to a planet with people begging, he would try to help them anyway he could. Which would probably get him dragged into bad situations.

3. have they ever gotten in a fight on the streets?

Nope. He doesn’t usually like fighting and hasn’t had a chance to start any kind of fight.

4. has anything happened to them on the streets?

Absolutely. The two biggest scares of his life happened when someone came up to him on the street.

5. are they cautious when out?

Now he’s more cautious, but he also has like ten people ready to destroy the world if someone tries to stomp out Ravi’s light.

T: Truth

1. are they honest?

He’s pretty honest. If he doesn’t want to tell you something, he will just straight up not tell you. He’d never lie about anything. Though with his memory problems, there’s a lot he doesn’t say.

2. can they tell if someone is lying?

He’s got a +5 to insight, so he is pretty good at telling when people are bullshitting him, but he also likes to see the best in everyone so tends to push past his instincts and trust people.

3. is it obvious when they’re lying?

He doesn’t usually lie but it’s not super obvious when he’s lying. Since he never lies, people usually assume he’s always telling the truth.

4. have they lied about anything they regret lying about?

Nope, he’s an honest kid.

5. have they told truths that have been spread against their will?

There was the Dryas tapes when Ravi killed Manisha, but that part is kinda common knowledge.

U: Underdog

1. have they been bullied?

Yes, mostly by Adrian.

2. have they bullied anyone?

Nope, he is too good for that.

3. have they been physically attacked by a bully?

I mean, Adrian attacking him is 110% of the reasons why the party hates the pussy.

4. have they ever been doubted?

Luna rescued him just because Crumb led her to him, but she just expected it to be a child that they’d take of. When he finally got better enough to ask if he could work, Luna almost said no because she thought he wouldn’t be able to keep up and should just stick on being a kid.

5. have they surprised people with being good at something?

Absolutely no one expected a four year old to be this good at anatomy and medical knowledge. He may be a small child but he’s a prodigy at anything in the medical field.

V: Vomit

1. do they vomit often?

Nope, kid’s got a pretty good stomach.

2. do they get lots of stomach aches?

He really only gets stomach aches if he’s actually sick. He mostly gets head colds than

3. are they good at comforting someone ill?

He’s the ship’s doctor so he’s pretty good. When Castor was on his death bed while sick, he came and gave Castor chicken noodle soup and make him drink tea.

4. what do they like as far as comfort goes?

When Ravi is sick, you’ll know he’s sick because he’s the clingiest little shit that just wants to be carried everywhere and held. When Ravi’s sick, all the caretaking is given to Ciri since she can’t catch his germs.

5. do they burp, cough, or hiccup most when nauseous? when vomiting?

He hiccups a lot when nauseous or vomiting. Most of it is because he’s actually hurting, and the second half is because he doesn’t like vomiting so he starts crying.

W: Water

1. do they drink enough water?

He’s a good little boy who knows that you need water to stay healthy and hydrated.

2. have they learned to swim?

He knows how to swim, but only the bare basics. He’s too scared to put his face underwater. He learned when he first came to the ship and was able to use his bionic limbs.

3. do they like to swim?

He likes wading in at best and splashing around, but likes it more when his feet can be on the ground.

4. can they dive?

Nope. He’s one of those kids who tries to dive and just ends up in a weak jump.

5. can they swim without holding their nose?

Baby boy needs the whole scuba goggles to swim period.

X: Xylophone

1. what is their favorite genre of music?

He really loves Disney music or classical music. He likes listening to piano or harp as he goes to sleep and Disney music during the day.

2. do they have a favorite song?

‘Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag)’ from Mary Poppins. He remembers his birth mom singing it to him when he was a baby. It’s one of the few things about his early childhood that he remembers.

3. do they have a favorite band/artist/singer?

Enya. She’s very peaceful when he’s trying to go to sleep, especially because he doesn’t like the feeling of falling asleep. Sometimes it feels like he’s being forced under for some reason.

4. can they sing well?

He has a really cute, high voice. He actually is really good at singing to Disney princesses.

5. can they rap?

He tries his best, but he always ends up out of breath.

Y: You

1. how old were you when you created them?

16. His powerpoint is dated July 2014.

2. what inspired you to create them?

I think Ravi’s story was one of the ones that started from a dream about a little boy with robotic arms and legs and had a little robot that followed him around.

3. were they different when they were first created?

He’s a lot more wholesome and less salty. He is now also a lot younger (his original form was 11 years old). All the salt got transferred to his big sister Sasha.

4. do you enjoy writing them more than other characters?

I mean, one of my favorite things is well written child characters, so Ravi is a blast to play.

5. what’s your favorite thing about them?

He’s my good, smart little medic boy who just wants to help people. Also I’m just really glad that people love him because he used to be my obscure boy from a story about a Dystopian Steampunk India and now he’s everyone’s favorite brother (or son in Ciri’s case).

Z: Zebra

1. what’s their favorite animal?

His favorite animal is a bear just because it’s the species of his teddy bear and Winnie the Pooh.

2. do they like animals?

He’s a little scared of animals just because he hasn’t been near a whole lot of them, but he likes the ones that are on TV.

3. cats or dogs?

If you show him a tiny dog, he will probably die because it’s small and he’s small so he can’t protect it.

4. what’s their dream pet?

Anything soft like a bunny or guinea pig.

5. do they have any pets at the moment?

Nope, but he’s helping Nivviah take care of Noodle while Castor’s on Helios. He and Allura have a running joke of calling Noodle everything noodle related but not her name. Favorites include ‘Spaghetti’, ‘Fettucine Alfredo’, and ‘Linguini’.

[madegeeky]

Giftening 2020: Obligatory Vote for These Post (spoiler version)

Want the non-spoilery version? Seriously, though, super spoilery for main plot points for a lot of these. Skip the ones you don’t want to know about.

Ones with * are my nominations, so you know where my biases lie. :P Ones in bold are my top pick for the categories. I did not include things that don’t need the boost (like Utena).

ANIME 

Aggretsuko - A tv show about an unassuming shy red panda woman who works in an office building and deals with the stress of it by going to karaoke and screaming out death metal. The show largely deals with her making friends with two women who she admires and a dude who likes her. The dude who likes her is actually a geniunely interesting storyline because at the end of the first season (which I’ve not seen beyond), he basically admits that he’s built this image of her in his head that isn’t real and he wants to know the real her. (Which, fuck yeah.)

Fushigi Yuugi* - This is a story about two teens who used to be friends fighting over a man which is literally the antithesis of everything Jet is. And yet, Jet watched the whole damn thing. Watch her squirm as she has to deal with that in a liveblog format. You can get a preview of some of that in Doc’s liveblog of it that she did for Jet.

NON-ANIME ANIMATED

Archer* - This is an animated parody of James Bond made for adults. It's offensive as fuck because Archer, the titular character, is a James Bond stand-in and that character can also be offensive as fuck. In fact, one thing to appreciate about this show is that all the characters are shitty, awful people and the show never attempts to excuse their shitty, awful behavior. Plus, it's one of the few shows where half the main characters are women. I am a tiny bit hesitant to rec this for a liveblog due to the offensivness however, as far as I can tell it's not popular on tumblr, and those are generally the ones that cause the most trouble so... 

Daria - The story of a misanthropic teenager, her family, and her best friend. The characters are specifically meant to appear to be tropes before slowly being unveiled as three dimensional people. It's got a dry sense of humor that I think Jet will enjoy. I actually didn't know until years after I watched this that it was a spin-off of Beavis and Butthead (which I hated) so don't let that dissuade you. 

LIVE ACTION

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend - I haven't seen past a certain point because it starts going super deep into exploring depression and that is one of my main triggers for a depressive episode, so I cannot speak of later eps. However, this show starts out funny and silly and evolves into a show exploring how toxic the main character actually is and how unhealthy her coping mechanisms are. It's amazing to see a character type whose actions are usually excused or written off as funny instead be specifically called out as being awful and toxic. (It was a Shit Show is still one of the best songs I've ever heard and Mr. Geeky and I sing it to each other whenever shit hits the fan.) 

Hannibal* - If you know of Hannibal, you know the basics premise is that of a man who eats people and is chased by the FBI. The writing in this is some of the best writing I've ever had the pleasure of seeing in a piece of media: it's subtle, smart, and trust its audience to follow along without having their hand held. However, what's really great about the TV show is that it's not afraid to do its own thing. It constantly fucks with your expectations and deconstructs and explores tropes in ways I've never seen before. I haven't seen the ending yet but I highly doubt it's going to end in a place where Silence of the Lambs will happen. The acting is fucking great and even though Anthony Hopkins gives an amazing performance as Hannibal Lector, after seeing Mads Mikkelsen play him there's no going back to Hopkins. In general, if you're looking for something original (which is ironic considering it's based on a book and there are several movies) and smart, I cannot recommend this enough. 

Russian Doll* - (Doc, please skip this one, as in 5 years when you're done with Two Storms, this is one of the things I'm considering nominating should I ever win a liveblog again.) I don't really know how to explain this show because it's so fucking weird and is so focused on character and ideas that the plot is both super simple and extremely complicated. It's a story about a woman who starts to relive the same day over and over again except, instead of the typical thing where it starts over when she falls asleep, it's only until she dies (so sometimes she lasts for hours, other times for a couple days). However, almost immediately there are signs that something else is going on, that something outside of the main character's repeating day, something has gone horribly wrong. (Count the fish.) It's a very thoughtful, character-driven show, more about exploring ideas than plot which I, personally, didn't mind at all. Another one I highly recommend overall with much less blood and gore than Hannibal.

Xena - IT'S FUCKING XENA PEOPLE! Okay, but just in case you don't know what the show is about is through cultural osmosis, Xena is a show about a woman who used to be a truly horrible murderous bitch and her continual attempts to make up for the wrongs she has done. The main relationship in the show is between Xena and her (girl)friend, Gabriel, and although the show can be ridiculously silly (time is made up and history doesn’t matter!), it also explores deep, dark issues. One of the best things this show explores is the idea of redemption and forgiveness and that perhaps nothing Xena does will ever get her those things.

LIVESTREAM

Crank* - Jason Statham plays a man who has been given a poison that slowly cuts off his adrenaline, meaning that eventually he'll die. He has to do increasingly ludicrous things to get his adrenaline pumping overtime to make up for it slowly being cut off. It's one of the most fucking bananas thing you'll ever watch but is just a bunch of fucking fun. (CW: Public sexual assault. I only mentioned because it’s a scene that last for a bit. It's a complicated scene so I won't get into it here but send an ask if you want more details.)

Dale and Tucker vs Evil* - Dale and Tucker, two hillbilly best friends, are going into the woods to fix up their vacation home when they stumble across some college kids. Random circumstances make the college kids think D&T have kidnapped their friend and so they decide they need to attack D&T to get her back. Hijinx ensue. I don't want to say much more because there's a moment that is, to this day, still one of the funniest fucking things I've ever seen, largely because I did not see it coming.

GAMES

Doki Doki Lit Club - This is a game about games. You play a guy in a dating sim. Your first playthrough everything seems normal enough. You join the literature club, meet and talk to girls, and then one of the girls commits suicide. And then game restarts and the girl who committed suicide just... doesn't exist anymore. Your replay the exact same days but it's as though she never existed. Things only get weirder from there. This game does a great job of turning dating sim tropes on their head, as well as exploring games in general. (Content warning for a lot of things. Let me know if you want more details.)

Slime Rancher (stream) - There's really not much to spoil here. You play a woman who is in charge of a ranch full of slimes. There's some messages you'll find, left by the old owner, telling story about their romance. There also some messages between you character and a deliberately gender-ambiguous significant other. And that's about the closest to story you get. Otherwise it's just catching and ranching slimes.

Subnautica* - Fucking fuck I love this game. When this game first starts it appears to be your typical survival game with no real direction other than what you want to explore. But then you find an alien structure. And you realize that your spaceship didn't randomly crash. And you find out that there's no way get off this planet except to explore deeper and deeper and find out what the aliens were doing on this planet. A genuinely beautiful story, told mostly through entries in data pads and voice messages left behind, this ending is one of the most moving ends I've ever experienced and I never ever would have expected to be able to say that about a survival game.

We Happy Few* - In this alternate universe, the Germans invaded Britain during WW2 (although, through exploring the world, you learn that the differences started well before that). When the story starts up, the Germans have left Britain behind and Britain, for unknown reasons, appears to be cut off and/or abandoned by the rest of the world. The majority of the country is constantly hopped up on a drug called Joy, which is specifically used to help them forget something horrible that happened in the past. (I have theories.) The story starts when your character goes off his Joy and gets kicked out of society. There's a general sense of unease about everything and the more you learn the more that unease grows. The art style is great and the world building fascinating.

MISC (there’s nothing spoilery here but it feels weird to not have it)

Interactive Horror Story Livestream - Doc has talked a bit about this in at least one of her Xmas streams and it sounds amazing. Not only is Jet hilarious with horror stuff but knowing Doc’s writing skill, it will be something that we’d never want to miss.

Bean Boozle When Failing a Hard Game* - I am a sadistic bitch, I admit to this, and I love watching people eat Bean Boozle, the jelly bean of horrible flavors. One of my favorite videos content creators has done is playing an incredibly difficult game and then being forced to eat a random one every time they fail. 

[theplaguezine]

HAMMERFALL

Interview with Joacim Cans by Daniel Hinds

(conducted October 2003)

Though the hype that surrounded HammerFall when they first broke on the scene six years ago has died down, the band hasn't slowed down a bit.  Releasing their fourth record late last year, the band proceeded to tour the States with Dio and King's X, a very successful venture for all.  While the band has really only progressed in terms of production, they continue to pump out quality heavy metal the way it was meant to be made - heavy and fast, but tempered with melody and emotion.  Chatting with vocalist Joacim Cans was a blast, as he's a very nice guy as well as a talented singer… How's it going? Pretty good.  I'm just watching a soccer game.  I know you don't like it over there, but it's pretty entertaining.  Sweden is doing pretty good, playing Portugal. How do you feel the new album turned out? When I sit here with the results in my hand, I feel this is the ultimate HammerFall album.  It's much more powerful than the previous albums.  To say it's more raw, maybe sounds wrong, but powerful is the best word for it.  Also the production, the guitar is tuned down even lower on some songs to get this really raw sound to the guitars.  It's more of a mid-tempo album compared to the previous releases.  You have the diversity in the songs with a track like "On the Edge of Honour" (the fastest song) and the acoustic ballad "Dreams Come True."  It's by far the most mature album we have done I would say.  Every single note on the album is there for a purpose.  It's really well thought out without losing...  I mean, we don't sit down and make a plan like, 'We need five songs in that tempo and we need two fast ones and a ballad.'  We just sit down and start writing it and this is how it turned out in the end. Are there any songs that are particularly personal to you, lyrically? Not really.  This time I have been trying to link the songs together but without making a concept album.  That's too hard and too many people have done that and some people made it and some didn't.  It takes more than just a little story to make a concept album.  It's kind of a cliché, but it's the battle between good and evil, between heaven and hell so to speak.  To me, since this album is more raw and more mid-tempo, these type of lyrics fit perfectly with the music.  The ballad on the album is probably the most personal one but that was written by Oscar himself.  I think he's the more romantic type, I don't know (laughs).  I'm the evil guy! (laughs). How did you settle on the title Crimson Thunder? Always when we try to get the title, we want to have one of the tracks.  Naming an album where you don't have a song with the title is a bit awkward to me, but Crimson Thunder is more of a feeling that you have.  It comes from a song on the first album, the song "Unchained," where we talk about "the crimson thunder running through your veins."  It's kind of the blood that you have, it's hard to describe in English for me sometimes.  It's a feeling.  When it comes to the title track, it goes, "Follow the sign of the crimson thunder."  It could mean to follow your heartbeat or follow your instinct, but when I wrote the lyrics it was more thunder in its true sense.  I think it's a cool title for the album and that's enough sometimes. I see you worked with a different producer in a different studio this time.  How did you decide on that? First of all, as a band, we were really satisfied with the outcome of the Renegade album which we did in Nashville with Michael Wagener.  But in the end when it is time to pay the bill for the studio, especially when you use one in the States, it's pretty expensive.  Of course, we wanted to invest a lot of money, but in the end it didn't really pay off.  When you have to pay your bills and the rent, you can't tell the company, well, sorry I don't have any money - we spent it all in the States.  But we wanted to have a production equal to Michael's' but lower cost.  So as always, you sit down and listen to your favorite albums and check out different producers.  And I found Charlie Bauerfiend who has done amazing work with Helloween, Blind Guardian, Gamma Ray, and we thought that he would be the perfect guy for HammerFall without losing the personal sound of HammerFall.  When I listen to his productions, he adds more of the band's personality.  Some bands go to a producer who has produced a certain band and in the end they sound exactly like the band that they had as an influence.  That's a big problem sometimes, but with Charlie we hoped he would make HammerFall sound more like HammerFall.  In the end, we absolutely sounded more like HammerFall than we ever have before; if that's possible I don't know (laughs).  But it was like, 'Yes!  Finally!'  Charlie, when it comes to backing vocals, I knew already what I wanted to have back on the debut album in 1996, but I didn't know how to do it.  For the second album, we tried even more to get this Acceptish, football choir backing vocals, but we didn't know how to make it.  I just described to Charlie what I wanted and when I listen back to this album it is exactly what we have been struggling for ever since 1996.  With Charlie, he came up with a good plan on how to record this album so that in the end we wouldn't lose too much money but still would make a worthy follow-up to Renegade.  That was the best decision that we've made so far, to work with Charlie.  He's easy-going and, even though it's kind of a cliché to become the sixth member of the band, it was more or less a very friendly atmosphere and he was really nice as a person.  And really professional when it was time to work, really kicking our asses sometimes.  Especially the first three days, I was about to leave the band and go back home.  No matter what I did, he said, 'No, come on!  Put more edge to it!  Push harder!'  And I'm like, 'No, I sound like this, please give me a break!' (laughs)  But then when I understood what he was trying to tell me it became kind of obvious. So this is as close as you've come to what you originally imagined for the HammerFall sound? Maybe not the overall sound, but for me since I'm doing all the vocal arrangements, I finally found someone who understands what I wanted to have.  I'm not a studio engineer or producer or anything, I just get these visions of how I want it.  And you need a person who can understand what you're trying to say, even though sometimes you don't even know yourself.  Hopefully we can work with Charlie for the next album and maybe for the next five or ten years, if we last that long. Did you learn anything in particular from working with Michael Wagener? To have fun in the studio.  I mean, that was a joy ride working with Michael.   Both Michael and Charlie are Germans and Germans are kind of strict.  They're marching to the studio more or less - they're not walking, they're marching. (laughs)  But Michael has been in the States for so long that he's Americanized by now, so it was more relaxed, 'Hey, come on, it sounds good, leave it like that!'  Charlie was the total opposite: 'No!  Do it one more time, you can do it better!'  But did I learn anything working with Michael…  I learned how to cook better, how to be a better chef. (laughs)  I think Michael gained ten pounds when I was there because I made him a meal every day. The new DVD is great, a really good mix of performances and behinds the scenes footage.  Were you happy with it?  Does it reflect pretty well what it's like to be on tour with HammerFall? Absolutely.  I think some people actually complained, 'Oh, this is really bad footage, too much bootleg' but hey, you know, that's the only way you can show what's going on behind the stage.  You don't have a professional camera guy with you.  Because if you do, then all of a sudden, there's acting going on.  A lot of this footage is when people didn't know there was someone standing behind them with a camera, so then you get the most honest stuff.  I think it really represents the band 100%.  Both me and Oscar sat down and went through 30 or 40 video tapes with each 2 hours of footage just to find the best pieces, it was really tough.  I don't think we could do it better and I don't think we could show HammerFall from a more honest way than we have on this DVD so I'm really satisfied. HammerFall has always had a rather positive message, lyrics like the chorus to "Destined For Glory."  Is that an important part of HammerFall to you?   In general, to me it is a way of escaping from reality for 45 minutes.  When you put on a CD or vinyl, I just want to get carried away.  When I write the lyrics, I want it to be entertainment, to escape from reality and feel better.  A lot of the lyrics talk about medieval battles, the Templar crusades, things like that, but there's always a little message they can interpret in two ways.  You can draw parallels with the lyrics.  I'm talking about the medieval battles to daily life.  The importance is to always tell people is that, even though your life maybe bad today, you can make a change.  But you always have to remember that you have to take the first step yourself.  There's a song on Legacy of Kings called "Dreamland" where I talk about 'the ivory gates' - you have to go through the door yourself.  We're just pointing out directions to people, but still in the end, it's up to you.  And also the importance of following the beat of your own drum.  Why follow a trend when you can create your own?  To me it's important to not make depressed people even more depressed.  And also we're not trying to act like Jesus or something, 'Follow us and your life will be much better.'  We're just handing out some tools and then people have to decide for themselves. I like the fact that you've stayed away from dealing with religious themes in your music.  Is that an intentional thing or just not a topic that interests you enough to write about? I'm a musician and if I wanted to talk about politics, I would have become a politician.  I think that says it all.  I don't want to bore people too much.  If you turn on the TV, switch on the radio, you'll hear about the bombings in Bali on every channel.  There was a bombing in Finland the other week and it was on the TV 24/7.  If you feel depressed and you turn on the TV, you get more depressed.  I just want to give people 45 minutes of relief from all the misery in this world.  On the new album, though, there might be some parallels since we are now talking about the battle between good and evil.  Because there is so much evil in this world, there might be some parallels, but that is up to the listener themselves to decide how they want to interpret the lyrics.  But religion - nah.  Nothing really there I want to talk about it because it just pisses me off sometimes.  There's too much lack of respect in the world today and I just want to change the mode with people. You guys pick the coolest songs to cover - how did you decide on Chastain this time around?  Was it a spur of the moment thing? No, that was actually two or three years ago, I played this song for Oscar, I made a mix tape for him.  I included that song along with other more or less obscure songs that he had never heard.  He freaked out when he heard this song, he thought it was a fantastic song, and I had the same feeling when I heard the song for the first time.  So much emotion but with some pretty poor production.  We started to play around with what this song would sound like, first of all, with a proper production and second of all, with a male vocalist.  I was a little scared because when you hear a female sing, it doesn't sound that high, but they are a natural octave above the male voice, so I didn't know if I was capable of doing it or not.  But then when I started to sing along with it I realized that it wasn't that high after all.  For the Renegade album, this song just didn't fit at all, so we put it in the 'maybe for the future' pile.  Then when we started to talk about covers for the new album, we didn’t want to have a cover on the actual album, we only wanted to have it as a bonus track, so we decided to do an Yngwie Malmsteen cover for the European release, we did a Loudness song for the Japanese release ("Crazy Nights").  So we just wanted to have something special for each territory and wanted to have the Chastain cover for the US.  But then when all the original songs were done, I told Oscar that I'd really like to have this song on the album because it really represents the rest of the songs and it feels like we made this song a HammerFall song, even though it's a cover.  So that's why we decided to put it on the actual album for all the territories and ended up doing a KISS cover for the States.  It's not an obscure thing to do "Detroit Rock City," but what the hell.  We wanted to do Malice's "Sinister Double," but then I realized the vocals are a bit high and if you take it down and don't do the high screams, people go, 'Oh, why couldn't you sing like that?'  No, I'm sorry I can't, I have my limits!  (laughs) What are your thoughts on the current state of heavy metal now compared to when you first started out? I think it's a big difference in Europe because metal is pretty big over here, especially in Sweden.  With Renegade, we were #1 on the charts in Sweden, we were #1 on the video charts, we had a gold album and we were doing pretty big tours.  So in Europe, it's pretty huge, but the problem is that now you have too many new bands coming up.  And they're not ready to record yet.  You ask them, 'What do you guys sound like?' and they're like, 'We sound like Gamma Ray.'  And you listen to the album and they do sound exactly like Gamma Ray, but it's a bad version of it.  The power metal scene, now they want to put labels on each and every band that comes out.  HammerFall, we play heavy metal, but people say, 'No no no, you play Epic Power Heavy Metal' or 'True Epic Power Heavy Metal.'  And we're just like, 'Nooo, please, we play Heavy Metal and nothing else.'  The scene in some countries it became more or less mainstream again, even though radio and TV are trying to close the doors, we're trying to force ourselves through the doors, 'You HAVE to play our music!'  And to a certain extent it worked, but I see that the more melodic fast metal is on the way down.  A few more years and it's hard to predict what it will be like, but the heavier side of metal will survive longer.  You don't have the same problem in the States because the European power metal is not that big.  We gotta make a change, gotta force-feed the Americans with European metal! (laughs) Please do!  (laughs)  I understand you went to MI at one point? Stefan and I went there.  I studied vocals there for a year and Stefan was there for almost two years.  Well at least he was there playing guitar for one year, I don't know what he did the second year... drinking and partying, living the Hollywood glamour life, I don’t know! (laughs)  It was a cool thing to do though.  I was unemployed, didn't have anything to do, didn't want to play music or anything.  Then I got a phone call from a friend and joined a band.  I realized I never sounded like Geoff Tate like I wanted to, I sounded more like Lemmy.  That was a problem, so I thought, 'Well, maybe I should give it a try and go to this school everyone is talking about and see if I can learn how to sing.'  I didn't have any expectations and still thought I was the crappiest singer in the world, but I came there and people said, 'Wow, you sound great man!' and I'm just like, 'What are you mental or something?' (laughs) When I asked Oscar a couple years ago to describe each member of the band, he said you were "goal-minded, full of ideas and very visual."  Would you agree with that? Yes, maybe not as much today as I was two years ago because I've realized that there are more things in life than just music.  I'm still the person who if I come up with an idea at 4 in the morning, I give Oscar a call.  (laughs)  It can't wait.  If I get an idea, I need to start working on it right now.  I think a lot.  I realize that my brain has a big hard drive and processor but the processor is getting slower, maybe out of date, but I can't really update it (laughs).  That's why I have to reconsider things; maybe I should focus more on my family.  I formed a record label and now I have my publishing company.  I know that in a few years, metal might be totally dead.  I don't know, I can't predict the future, so I don’t' want to sit here and in the end I can't do anything else but sing.  So that's why I have so many ideas going on at the same time.  I'm writing a musical, I have a staff of song writers in my publishing company.  Of course, I'm probably going to die of a heart attack at age 39 because it's too much to handle for one person.  I think Oscar was pretty right though. (laughs) www.hammerfall.net

[violet--minds-blog]

Awesome Queer Media to Check Out!

Piper Gibson | March 20, 2017

Sorry for the absence (school is kicking my ass but what else is new) but I’m back with another list! This time, I’m cataloging some of my favorite pieces of media with LGBTQ+ characters and plotlines. Of course, nothing is perfect, and all these shows/books/movies/etc. have their problems, but I still think they’re pretty damn cool.

1. Check, Please!

What is it: A webcomic

Who makes it: Ngozi Ukazu 

Why you should read it: Queer boys who play hockey! Lots of pie! Discussions of mental illness and drug abuse! An ensemble cast! Comedy and drama in one! Slow-burn, healthy, communicative, gay relationship!! Confirmed happy gay ending!!! Most of my friends know that I love this comic with my whole heart, and it’s really easy to see why. There’s a character in it for everyone, and they’re all easy to relate to and care about. Personally, I relate so hard to Jack having anxiety and trying to navigate his life and career in the intersection of being mentally ill and queer. No spoilers, but this comic includes the best queer relationship I’ve ever seen portrayed. Don’t get discouraged by the hockey-- I knew nothing about the sport going in and it really doesn’t stop you from enjoying the comic at all! Currently in Bitty’s third year and gearing up for more spring updates, Check, Please is a master of storytelling and will make you laugh and cry. Read it here!

2. The Get Down

What is it: A Netflix Original series

Who makes it: dir. Baz Luhrmann

Why you should watch it: Almost the entire cast are people of color, it’s set in the 1970s and focuses on both the dying out of disco and the arising hip-hop scene, and the performances are incredible. You see this world through young Zeke’s eyes, a complex and talented kid looking to be a part of something bigger than himself and for a community to fall back on. No matter what’s going on, the story never lets you forget these characters are in the middle of the South Bronx in the seventies, fighting for a way out of poverty, strict religious family, or gangs, all while holding on to their passions. The music and the performances of these young actors are what sold me immediately. The queer relationship in it (I won’t spoil it) is lovely and gentle and blooms very naturally. The story, the characters, and the music are the focus, and if you’re like me, you’ll be hooked immediately. The second season just came out this month and it’s incredible but holy shit so intense. Catch it on Netflix!

3. Carry On

What is it: A young-adult novel

Who makes it: Rainbow Rowell

Why you should read it: Did you read Harry Potter and think: “Wow, Harry is super bi. Wow, he’s pretty obsessed with Draco. Wow they could be friends if Harry was sorted into Slytherin WOW THEY COULD EVEN BE MORE THAN THAT!” ...Okay, well this is the book for you. Set in a magic school more different from Hogwarts than you’d think, Simon and Baz are roommates that hate each other. But things are complicated when you’re the chosen one and you think your roommate might be a vampire and there’s an evil something out for you. It’s like Harry Potter except different and more queer people and people of color. Plus a happy ending that’s so, so much better than that “17 years later” shit. If you like gay magical boys and ass-kicking best friends and plot twists, you’ll definitely enjoy this.

4. Fourth Man Out

What is it: A 2016 movie

Who makes it: dir. Andrew Nackman

Why you should watch it: If you’ve been searching your whole fucking life for a queer rom-com like me, this’ll make you immensely happy. The story centers around Adam, who comes out to his mostly clueless friends in his twenties. They’re all a little uncomfortable and shitty at first, but they all grow and learn and by the end of the film have created the kind of caring and casual atmosphere any queer person hopes for when initially coming out to friends. The movie explores those awkward first steps after coming out, including online dating and homophobic neighbors, in a comedic yet respectful way. It’ll make you laugh and it’ll make you care a lot about Adam-- his puppy-dog face just makes you root for him from the beginning. Watch this if you hate that more comedies don’t center around queer themes, and then please recommend me more!!

5. About a Girl

What is it: A young-adult novel

Who makes it: Sarah McCarry

Why you should read it: Okay, maybe you should read the first two books in this series first, All Our Pretty Songs and Dirty Wings, but I read this one first and I think it can stand alone pretty well. There is an abundance of queer people of color in this, a beautiful, mythological storyline, a girl/girl romance, and a main character you’ll fall in love with. This book is so gorgeous to read and so rewarding, and I couldn’t put it down. In fact, I’m due for a reread... good thing I just impulsively bought all three of these so now I OWN THEM. Please, please give at least About a Girl a read, though-- the lyrical, soft nature of it was so incredibly healing and I can’t tell you how much I loved it.

5. Moonlight

What is it: A 2016 film

Who makes it: dir. Barry Jenkins

Why you should watch it: First of all, if you haven’t been following the mess that happened at the Oscars with La La Land being announced incorrectly and this film winning Best Picture, where have you been? I saw this rather recently, I’ll admit, but it blew my socks off. This film is so completely centered on the experience of black queer men, and allows them to be so honest and tender, so complex and multi-faceted, in a way we haven’t much seen in mainstream media so far. We know why this is-- mainstream media is overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly straight, and wants to put down and silence differing experiences as much as possible, making Hollywood a boring and homogeneous space. But Moonlight has broken through and shown that when these stories are told, and they are listened to, something incredible can happen. 

6. Ask the Passengers

What is it: A young-adult novel

Who makes it: A.S. King

Why you should read it: Holy shit, y’all, I loved this book so fucking much. I reread it a little while ago and it still punches me in the gut just as hard. The book centers around Astrid, a teenager navigating her sexuality, her family, and suffocating small-town life. She’s a philosopher at heart, so nothing comes easy, especially not love-- it’s not as clear-cut as her other queer friends may think. This is a really honest portrayal of figuring out sexuality and Astrid is such a lovable narrator that you just want to bundle her up and let no one else hurt her. The book hit close to home as a queer girl who spent a lot of time figuring out my identity and what it meant to me personally. If you have a similar story, prepare to get emotional.

7. One Day at a Time

What is it: A Netflix original series based off Norman Lear's 1975 series of the same name

Who makes it: Too many directors & executive producers to name! But if you’re a Norman Lear fan, he stayed on to be an executive producer for the remake.

Why you should watch it: The show centers around a Cuban-American family living in California and tackles topics like immigration, religion, sexuality, PTSD, divorce/separation, and more. Elena’s coming out storyline is beautifully and respectfully done and I really appreciate how realistic it is. This show will make you laugh and make you cry, but mostly, you’ll just fall completely in love with the Alvarez family and their story. And they’ve just been confirmed for a second season!! (GET ELENA A GIRLFRIEND!!)

8. The Real O’Neals

What is it: An ABC comedy series

Who makes it: Executive producer Dan Savage

Why you should watch it: Okay, I’ll admit, I have more problems with this show than the others-- namely its consistent biphobia and very few characters of color-- but besides the problems, it’s still hilarious and honest. In the very first episode, Kenny comes out to his conservative, Irish Catholic family in an... explosive way, and what follows is them all trying to figure out how to navigate his identity while still being religious. It’s important to see representation of queer people who keep their faith after coming out; it reminds us that religion and queerness aren’t mutually exclusive. Plus, I love Kenny’s relationship with his siblings, and the fact that his younger sister Shannon is the smartest and most put-together of them all. The show just finished its second season, and as of yet there has been no announcement of a renewal for a third season.

9. The Raven Cycle

What is it: A young-adult novel series

Who makes it: Maggie Stiefvater

Why you should read it: Holy wow, this book series is fantastic. I had no idea what it was about when I read it (because I read it for the gays...), but the story is complex and fascinating. Blue is our narrator most of the time, the daughter of a psychic who has no psychic abilities herself and who lives in a house with a bunch of other awesome psychic ladies. Her life has always been surrounded by magic, but it gets even more magical when she meets Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah, four boys who go to the near Aglionby Academy and are dubbed “Raven Boys” because of the raven on their uniforms. I’m pretty sure shit starts to get Really Actually Gay in the last book, but the entire series is fantastic and well worth a read. If you like ghost boys, dead kings, magical dreamers, and weird curses, this series is for you. It’s recently been announced that there will be a TV show based on the books, and there will also be another book series just about Ronan, so I’m super pumped for those cool things... Unless they ruin the TV show, in which case I will be incredibly disappointed. (In the meantime, though, you can read the first chapter of the first book, The Raven Boys, here!)

10. Yuri On Ice

What is it: An Japanese sports anime series

Who makes it: Creator Mitsurō Kubo, dir. Sayo Yamamoto

Why you should watch it: LISTEN, I’ve never finished an anime before this, because I’m not really that into anime. But this series is about figure skating, has twelve episodes, and is hella gay, so it’s not hard to binge it. (For the love of God, please watch the subbed version if you can, the dub voices give me nightmares.) The story is beautifully done, Viktor and Yuuri’s relationship is stable, loving, and realistic, and the portrayal of Yuuri’s anxiety is so important and made me cry in spots. Plus, it’s really funny and the competition scenes are thrilling as all hell. You can watch the series in literally a day, so what are you waiting for?? Binge it and then listen to the soundtrack on Spotify on repeat while crying, like I did.

11. Brooklyn Nine-Nine

What is it: A Fox-produced police sitcom

Who makes it: A million directors and producers, it’s a comedy sitcom

Why you should watch it: A diverse ensemble cast, comedy that isn’t at the expense of any marginalized group, complex characters, a stable gay relationship, Andy Samberg??? I love this show so much, y’all. To be fair, the main relationship is between a man and a woman, but the captain of the 99th precinct is an openly gay black man who’s in an amazing, loving relationship with his husband. And the relationship between Jake, the main character, and Amy (Spoiler! But you’ll see it coming from a million miles away, promise.) is one of the most delicious slow-burn plotlines I’ve ever seen. And as far as I know, the writers have no intention to break them up for “conflict” (cough cough New Girl cough). In an episode from the current season, a character called something transphobic, which was the first time I’ve ever heard that word on television, and I had to pause and look at my girlfriend in wonder, like “Did he just really say that? Oh my God??” Anyway. Please watch this show. It’s currently in its fourth season, just recently back from its haitus, so go binge it now!

There’s so many more to add to this list (Legend of Korra! Rock and Riot!! Etc etc etc!), but since you now have 11 new (or not-so-new) pieces of queer media to consume, I’ll leave you with that. Till next time!