#its so funny tagging my oc like hes an actual guy <3

[dorkicon]

some progress shots of a comic ive been working on for my sequential art class (tired thumbs up) some of u (?eh) may recognize the blue seeker as the oc i posted a while back. this comic is like his...backstory...thing i guess

some color tests and the script for these pages is under the cut...the dialog is a bit different but im too lazy to sort it out at the moment.

1.

1) far out perspective on a warehouse of identical robots. they stretch on in a large horizontal panel, a box full of similar bodies. light leaks into the crowd, illuminating nightlight. he stares upward.

(some kind of narration..?)

2) thin, long panel showing hole in ceiling. the night sky shimmers. a moon glows yellow.

3) nightlight stares up from a crowd of automatons at the sky

4) zoom in on nightlights face. yellow eyes reflect the moon. long thin panel. bg is stars

(hardcoded to kill.) (born to die)

[high priority: eliminate target at cost of self.]

2.

[i never had to learn. i knew everything from the start]

--

[how to assemble my rifle.]

[a fatal crunch under its stock.]

[how to tear the plating from another living machine]

[the squealing snapping of broken bones.]

--

[i was good. good at following orders. i had gone so long without fulfilling my primary assignment that i had, ironically, become useful for my experience.]

3.

[ i was reassigned--a nearly abandoned fuel outpost that no one was really supposed to know about.]

[alongside two others who had outlived their mission, just like myself.]

--

(kid, cmon. everyone has a name.) [redlyne]

(take it easy. they just pulled this one off the lines. give him some time.) [dawnbreaker]

[i didnt have one. i never needed one until now.]

[i tried to think--]

(my name?)

[nightlight.]

--

[i couldnt comprehend it at first. i didnt understand.]

(ext. a run down outpost.)

[

4.

[no one was supposed to know about our outpost.]

--

[we had lulled ourselves into a sort of mundanity. finally, our unremarkable existence had begun to show its advantage.]

--

(chess game pieces are rattled by gunfire, redlyne goes to check door(?))

--

(he is shot down.)

[of course, even the small amount of fuel we were guarding was worth killing over.]

--

[i dont know who killed him who killed ether of them. our side? the other one?]

[deep in my circuts, in the hardcoding of my frame, all i knew was that they were gone.]

[xiewho]

i love love love the way you draw gorgug!! you give him so much personality :)

ouhhh omg thank u so much 😭😭 he’s my favorite bad kid so i tend to overthink a lot when i draw him haha but im really glad u like the way i draw him :’)

[luvsavos]

yet another monster oc human form drawing, this one of my disgraced sun god, naasfilrah<3

he's a g-rank fatalis, and he tends to disdain his human form and Not use it for the most part

he always dresses in some kind of formal attire, pingponging back and forth from business casual and proper dressware, this drawing being more of business casual

he'd be less pale however he has been trapped in an underground bunker and subject to intense energy siphoning for the past Several Thousands Of Years, so he looks a bit more pale and fucked up than he was in the past (but i may draw a past version of him eventually)

(also, the writing on the mug is dovahzul (so is naas' name) and reads "world's best sun god" lol)

[princekirijo]

I'm designing Riku's SEES battle outfit for the CATT AU and the actual reason for his coat being a longer version of the regular SEES battle coat is that I want to keep his silhouette similar to his Phantom Thief outfit (his thief outfit has a long leather jacket). However the in-lore reason is kinda funny to think about because there is literally no other reason for him wanting to extend the jacket length other than "I will look way cooler trust me". And somehow he gets the scientists who designed the suits to agree.

[pastadoughie]

MY NAME IS SPELLED WITF AN E AND NOT AN A get it RIGHT!!

hai! im rowen (he/him) and i draw thingse soemtimze!! im a queer (trans, intersex, gay) 17 (5-1-07) yr old furry artist :3 u probably know my blog for drawing many many silly kitties and miscilanious creechers, but i do other things!

i do requests (no ocs or fandom shit, ONLY silly) and i take commisions (i am working on a website to organize all the prices and stuff, but for now, just dm me if youre intrested)

i do all my art on mspaint (win10 ver.) unless explicitly stated otherwise, i just use the default pencil tool on 4px (the largest default size setting) witch is a round brush with no antialiasing

i use a drawing tablet, the XP-Pen Deco 1 V2 (Celeste, He/Him), and an ASUS Harman/Kardon i7 14.5 In. laptop (Chelsea, She/Her)

my blog mostly runs on a queue, witch is very long and only goes onse a day, so sometimes extremeley old artwork gets posted. for this reason posts that are recently posted are not nessasarily recently drawn. furthermore, asks sometimes take an extremely long time to post after ive actually answered them, so please dont resubmit things. (+ i have far too many askse to actually be able to answer them all. so asks that are very similar to things ive already answered, are extremely time consuming, or are just not that funny, are unlikely to ever be answered)

rebeast : is for reblogs of other peoples content

rowencatfanart : is for fanart people have made for me (if you make any please tag it as such, as well as mention me in the post)

the beast speaks : is for all my original text posts

retchid opinions : are for my own text posts where i actually say things of value and have an opinion on topics

screaming and scampering : is for when i say bullshit that doesnt matter

consulting thea council : is for polls of mine

rowens serious art : is for serious rendered art of mine

rowens liddol guys : is for sillies of all kinds that ive made

biblically accurate rowen : is for art of non-kitty me, for blacklisting purposes (i like to not be reminded i am a person when im scrolling thru my own blog) mspaint animations : for when i animate things on mspaint (onion skin is for cowards i let my heart guide me) rowens animatics : are for when i make, animatics, its really self explainatory. rowens advertising : is for when i advertise my products or twitch or commisions or whatever. for blacklisting purposes the mewsifixtion : is for when i give out easter eggs 2 ppl who send me asks. asks for this are currently CLOSED rowensumptions : are for when ppl send me headcannons they have abt me thru asks S teir wimpering : for the text postre ive made that r actualey funny rows gross old ort : for when i reblog old art of mine i tag all asks with the username of the person who asked them, so if u want to find a previous ask of yours i answered you can just search your own username i also try to tag asks i answer with the date of when they were sent to me, and the date i actually drew them, because the queue can make this confusing,,, i cant really retroactively see the send date of posts i made before this tagging change, so some we will simpley nevr know,,, dates are written in american date format. so month-day-year i always tag the software i use for each artwork, but its pretty much always MSPaint (Win10), though i occasionally do image editing in Asesprite

the gray and white kitty i draw most frequently is my catsona! he is not an oc and is specifically meant to represent me

i ask that you please do not use drawings of him as personal branding (such as pfps, banners, avatars, ect.)

the samething applies to my fursona, valentine, though his design changes too much to give an accurate ref for, i generally will specify in the tags

i am generally fine with people saying that my catsona is cute but please dont make any overly explicit comments about my fursona, or on my posts in general. i am a minor (i dont care if you say like, ouyhh bark bark i love men i get it hes meant to be attractive but use some common sense)

furthermore. for people who have blogs with alot of untagged sexually explicit content its best you dont interact with me, i have my age set properly, so i do not see sexual posts that are properly flagged, but if your posts ARENT flagged, and you interact WITH ME, then thats on YOU for exposing a minor for sexually explicit content

if you have minors DNI in your bio and make a whole song and dance abt how ggrrr!!! i block ageless blogs and minors!!! and then go and reblog my posts with sexual comments then thats on you. and not me.

i dont care that much frankly, about seeing joke posts abt penis or whatever, but there is a line. and if you are trying to curate a specifically adult space on your blog then you also have to put in the work to not intentionally loop minors into that

also. please do not act overly familiar with me, im a 17 yr old on the internet and not your friend. and while i am not opposed to meeting people on tumblr, there is a line and you need to actually build some kind of relationship with me before youre allowed to act like that.

u can find me on tumblr (duh) : @pastadoughie : my main @leftoverdough : is my reblog sideblog @scungledfiles : is the web graphics blog i run w/ my friend (@soggiedsocks) (though we havent been as active as of late cuz mentol ealness + i have been fopcusing moar on this blog) youtube : pastadoughie (i havent posted in 6 months ouhm, oops,) twitch : pastadoughie etsy : scungledthings (i also share this with @soggiedsocks, when contacting my shop you will most likely be talking to him and not me.) if you would like to contact me FOR COMMISIONS directly you can also do so discord : pastadough email : pastadough01@gmail.com PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ONLY BUISNESS INQUIRIES!! stupid shit should be sent via ask or tumblr dm. DO NOT FLOOD MY EMAIL!! i WILL block you!! --- Last Updated : 5-1-2024

[an-unraveling-unknown]

It's been a bit, and I think I've forgotten some. Can you give me a brief rundown of your little guys?

Hiya Bones, I WOULD LOVE TO GIVE YOU A BRIEF RUNDOWN ON MY LITTLE GUYS!!! (thank you thank you thank you!!) (its not as brief as it should be I'm so sorry)

I still have yet to name this project: My first original project! I have no ideas for the plot LMAO /crying a little

Locke: Ancient android cursed to carry the physical fear of an entire very dead race of beings that they have identified as 'human,' the same thing they classify the people they see today. Travels a lot, he generally likes to keep moving - has taken up the mantel of unofficial psychopomp. Likes people (from a distance,) dressing up, engaging in human activism in whatever way they can, and Deimos. Dislikes having a lack of bodily autonomy. Was called 'Rue' once (Agender, but he has a fondness for He/They)

Deimos: Your local embodiment of human fear, and human fear specifically. Laughs in the face of gender on a daily basis, mostly due to the fact that he's a shapeshifter (generally shifting into the specifically held fear of whatever society he happens to be around) Drama queen, constantly makes either slightly too old or slightly too new pop culture references that Locke could never hope to understand, but he found a good audience with The Children. Deeply just wants social connection, a bit of a hard feat when you're immortal, and unfortunately something he couldn't find in Locke due to their own circumstances. For a while, at least. (Genderfluid, but currently favors he/him)

The Children: Collective term for all the people and non-people Deimos has unofficially adopted - still workin on them, but I CAN tell you that Charlotte (third youngest) has ties to 'Charlotte's Web' and the 1829 poem 'The Spider and the Fly' and also happens to be an anthropomorphic spider, while Marley is (probably) from Boston (youngest). Not all technically children by human standards, but pretty much everyone is a kid when you're Deimos's age

(other little guys below. forgive me for the massive text blocks)

Undertale AU: Some context, this revolves around two of my ocs in an au that is basically be adding non-canon context with plot; Sunny and Z!* Sunny ran away from home after extenuating circumstances and an argument with her parents, kind of as a 'last hurrah' of sorts, and Z tagged along because of his own reasons. Both of them found themselves in the underground and are now constantly wondering if they went and died about it because Undertale is actually a thing that exists in their universe

Sunny: He is a trainwreck, and is also probably the closest I'll ever get to a self-insert (but it's moreso me when I was 12-ish inserted into a 17 y/o's body). Compassionate at heart, she likes the sciences and being outdoors and philosophical things; math is latin to her (dead,) and she knows a fair amount of sign language. Utterly thrilled to be in the underground for the most part, something he and Z have conflict about - doesn't like talking about his childhood. Yellow coded as in warning (She/Him, Aroace)

Z: Also a huge freakin clusterfuck and Sunny's best friend, but Z is more contained than not. The funny one of the two, Super tech efficient, the fella loves cryptography and all things coding, made a rick-roll virus once on the family computer and now that very same computer exists half-alive in the garage - he'd like to be a game dev someday. Used to get hurt and sick a lot when he was younger. Z refuses to be alone with his thoughts, so he practically throws himself at anything declared constructive at a contstant rate, very much unlike his friend. Knows Sunny has a lot going on with the imminent move to Europe and all, but they shouldn't, cannot stay here damnit (He/Him, Straight)

*not their actual names, but they can't really say their actual names due to extenuating plot reasons and 'Sunny' n 'Z' is what Flowey called them upon first encounter.

BG3: The Baldur's Gate 3 duders!! neither Aeonian nor Monad really fit into forgotten realms lore, considering I picked them up from a separate Stardew Valley AU project and threw them at my current hyperfixation without a lick of research cos I figured it would be no problem. I was sadly mistaken, but we're making it work (even amidst the greek myth n gaelic folklore parallels which are now just outside-of-story meta)

Aeonian: My Tav!! Best put (in your words exactly) as a sad little tissue paper man. Unofficial bard and humanoid-shaped creature (Physical Embodiment of Death at Sea, to be precise) who is not normally humanoid-shaped, but is doing it anyway because their sister is missing and they have a guard dog complex to uphold. Looks like a very tall and very blue twig that could snap in the wind, but what they lack in intimidation they receive in cleverness and wit with a little bit of added bardic charmisa. They did not at all wish to claw themselves out of the sea with gritted teeth and sheer drive alone, and while they aren't necessarily cold, they also aren't here to make friends. This is currently being conflicted by the fact that they give a shit. Character development follows the rock cycle (They/Them, Demirose)

Monad: Aeonian's older sister and Embodiment of Life at Sea - the braver of the two, having ventured up to the surface first and kept going despite being kidnapped by pirates more times than ve can count on both hands - ve is here to have a good time and a good time only. Lively and charismatic, he loves the pleasures of life, people, life in general, and Aeonian. Took up the druid class, as she told her sibling, and was in the midst of learning how to wild shape before she went up on a surface outing one day and didn't come back. Ve's more secretive than Aeon knows (Ve/Her/Himself and very much a lesbian)

[madbadash]

🎵🎵🎵 Album tag game 🎵🎵🎵

rules: share the albums that you can listen to nonstop. those lightning in a bottle-albums that scratch ur brain just right. every single track, an absolute banger. u could not skip one if u tried. no notes. stunning, show-stopping, immaculate. ur no-skip albums.

🔎 bonus & optional (but imo, v fun) rules: 1) add a track rec for us to listen to! AND 2) share ur favorite line(s) from that track! 👀

Now lowkey I'm cheating here because I don't really listen to albums in full and I would probably would skip at max like one song on each of these albums but I wanna participate in the game so I make the rules.

ANYWAYS thank you @bluecoolr for the tag

I will Tag @probably-a-plant-thing @bobeatspie300 @thelemoncoffee @boxtyphoon @toborusk and a cover all if you wanna do it do it!! Also these are all very low no pressure tags.

Billie Ellish- When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We All Do?

Penelope Scott-Public Void

Mother Mother-Inside

Chonny Jash-The Will Wood Power Hour

Eliza Anastasic-The Grand Relics

Billie was my number one artist on Spotify for like 2 or 3 years in a row and she hasn't left my top 5 since I started listening to her. I fucking LOVE ilomilo

Lyrics: So, where did you go? I should know, but it's cold And I don't wanna be lonely So tell me you'll come home Even if it's just a lie

The fact I get all my music from Tiktok is showing ANYWAYS Penelope Scott has some bangin ass music. I actually associate this song with Steven, and if Bob is down and people are interested I can totally go into why.

Lyrics:You fuckers know it's all built on lies But the beast refuses to die And so I guess well neither can I

Mother Mother is the most basic gay people music but DO I CARE??? NOOOOO!!!!! I can and will add both Haylofts into Oc Playlists! Anyways this bitch got a funky rhythm and I like the way they sing. Also this is probably the album with the most skips but I make the rules I don't care I'mma put it anyways

Lyrics: I'm thinking, "Oh, my God, what a chatty creature" It just kept talking and talking and talking all around in a circle I said, "Hey, little guy, I think it's time to go now"

CHONNY I AM GONNA KISS YOU SO HARD OH MY GOD. YOU, ONE OF MY FAVORITE ARTISTS, COVERING WILL WOOD??? MY OTHER TOP ARTIST. I AM CRAZY AND DERANGED

Now I do think you should listen to both versions of Thermodynamic Lawyer but I really like the lyric changes Chonny does so do whatever you want.

Lyrics:He'll rationalize rhymes 'til the T's and the I's Are re-crossed and re-dotted to a blur Blacks out his eyes, hides the lines, flays his thighs 'Til the-, they think that "he" is their "her"

Ok ok now hear me out. Hear me out here I know it's fucking weird but listen to me. Hear me the fuck out.

This is a fan-Album based on the Podcast The Adventure Zone Balance. Everyone should listen to Balance. It's a funny DND podcast. It is earnest, and stupid and funny and it has made me cry and if you don't have 69 hours to throw to this podcast (with the first 6 episodes being a bit rough as it's their first time playing) I HIGHLY recommend listening to their Current Arc: Vs Dracula. They all know what they're doing and they're doing it hilariously

Rant over. These songs are based on 7 magical objects that are collected by our main characters. These songs also include some clips from the podcast. I'm gonna rec the first one because its the least spoiler-y.

Lyrics: I'm a weapon of mass destruction That can literally fit on your hand So what are you waiting for? I'm thralling as hard as I can Go ahead and put me on- Gloves do not have long attention spans!

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

💚💔 forrrr either prime defenders or danny phantom >:}

OHHH FUCK THESE R GOOD. I THINK IM GONNA DO BOTH

DP:

💚- literally the way the fandom as a whole characterize danny. considering the fact that apparently 70% of the ppl in the tag have not actually watched the show (this kills the me. every time i think about it), nobody actually knows What The Main Character Is Like . hes supposed to be an awkward quippy annoying 14 yr old boy. of course hes gonna say and do stupid shit!!! hes not some capable noble hero who always does the right thing and is nice to everyone. hes a kid who has a big heart with a crippling sense of responsibility. head in hands

💔- this might be cheating bc hes only a minor character and existed for exactly one (1) episode but.. fucking Gregor. i haaated double cross my heart that episode sucks so bad. lets just. remove the whole thing. also its really funny i had to google his name because i just kept thinking of grefgore (<< npc from the jrwi vampire campagin who is my angel the light of my life). would the fandom kill me if i said wes weston. hes not even a real guy it wouldnt matter if he was removed.

EDIT I JUST REALIZED THE PROMPT LITERALLY SAYS MAJOR CHARACTER. FUCK. uhhhhhhhh idfk. i guess if i HAD 2 pick. maybe clockwork? as much as i fucking love clockwork he was not utilized enough. he couldve been such a cool mentor character working in tandem with frostbite in season 3 and he just. wasnt. god hes so cool i wish they wouldve done more with him. but also if he didnt exist neither would my favorite ever episode. FUCK this is HARD

PD:

💚- NOT ENOUGJ PEOPLE UTILIZE WIWI BEING A PETTY JEALOUS LITTLE BRAT. THIS IS A FUNDAMENTAL PART OF HIS CHARACTER AND I AM SO ANNOYED ANYTIME IT IS SANDED DOWN. honestly? also? any time anyone writes william as being. 100% Automatically Morally Good. if dakota wasnt there his ass wouldve gone full villain arc halfway through season 1.

💔- i????? honestly???? dont know if i would remove anyone??? i genuinely cannot think of someone i wouldnt be super distraught about not having. maybe like. idk. Bacon Man. but bacon man is sweet bc hes a character bizly made up when he was a kid and im weak for including old ocs in current projects bc i think its fun. I CANT EVEN SAY LIKE. PARTY CITY GHOST. BC I LOVE THE PARTY EPISODES.

[automatonknight]

omg i would absolutley love to hear more about walenty if u still feel like talking!! i hold dst so close in my heart so seeing other people make ocs for it makez me so happy!!! how did he get to the constant? n like what was his life like before then? or has he alwayz lived there :0!! -plushpyro

this got super out of hand so i'm putting it under readmore. um teehee ^__^

UM!!! don't know where to start i could talk for HOURS probably but ok. maybe i'll start with the backstory. my idea for it is that basically he got into the constant via an antique voxola radio he found on a garage sale somewhere. it had a tag with an adress on it and being a teen he was like hey. hey let me go there that'd be funny. i think she originally planned to go with someone but ended up going alone, the other person got sick whatever. enter the nightmare hands and she's never seen again. (<i'm not superrr happy with that backstory but i can't think of anything better so. blehhh XP) before that kit was just a highschooler, her family was alright, life was okay etc etc. nothing special but also nothing bad. although kit was probably more like. shy and more of a loner. forgot to mention but he's also more "modern", i don't know if it would actually work in-game lore-wise but it probably got send to the constant like, 2018 the latest (which i should probably utilize more in my art tbh). he's also polish. i probably haven't mentioned that anywhere either. onto other things after getting to the constant it probably wanders around alone for a bit before finding the other survivors. top 10 happiest moments of its life etc etc. kind of interrupting the current flow but it also has the ability to turn into a werething, which is unique because it is by that affiliated with both the moon and the shadows but also both sides kind of hate her anyways lol. being werething doesn't give it any super like. powers it can just turn into a wolf-bear creature during full moons and where it is in grave danger. that's also why it has those funny features like animal ears, a tail and horns (speaking of! i always thought of the horns as something like a non-newtonian fluid in a sense that if you don't use force when interacting with them your hand would go through or they would bend out of shape before returning to how they were before, but if it were to ram into someone it would probably hurt, not like walenty would do that). its eyesight is still dogshit without glasses BUT it can probably hear and smell a bit better. ok now maybe onto relationships. i haven't thought about ALL the survivors in detail but i imagine she gets along pretty well with everyone. she used to be pissed off at maxwell for a bit but she got better now maxwell is like his lame ass uncle or whatever. it also has a father-son like relationship with wilson and they probably talk about science together, they're into different fields i imagine (walenty is more of an astronomy guy but he'll try to remember what he learnt in physics for higgsbury if he asks). either way they're silly together they make me very happy :]. she also feels like an older sibling figure to the other kids since she's like 16 and #responsible. also friends with woodie they go ice fishing together and they're both were(insert animal here). AND WITH WOLFGANG. he's also friends with him i think they're slavic besties :3. ok now that we have friendships out of the way he and WX fight all the fucking time. they hate eachother sooo much <not really they just get on eachother's nerves and who's there to stop them from throwing rocks at eachother. walenty probably pushed wx into a lake once and then felt genuinely bad until they threw her in the lake back and oh buddy it's on. <they both refuse to be the bigger person basically. the only instance in which they'll work together is if webber asks them. i would say more but i hit the character limit </3

[beelzeballing]

fuck dude. i guess its time for an intro post. but only because i feel bad for all my mooties who know nothing about me. strap in ig.

hello! i generally go by moogs on here, my moots can call me by my actual name tho <3 im not putting it here, iykyk. i'm 21 years old. i'm a transmasc nonbinary guy and primarily use he/him prns, but i also have a variety of neos in the back (most notably dia/diam/dias). i speak english, german and a teeny bit of french. quite frankly, i'm still a bit bad at using tumblr. i made an account like 7 years ago but ive only somewhat gotten my head around it recently. currently i do a shitload of our flag means death posting. i also love tma but its a bit on the backburner rn.

I block anyone who follows me with a blank profile. There are too many damn bots on this webbed site, sorry.

i have way too many side blogs because when i get into the MOOD of talking about one specific thing i get into the MOOD. this however also means that these regularly get abandoned for a couple of weeks or months until i get into the MOOD again. but there's also tons of media i might post about that i DONT have sideblogs for. ive tried listing them but... it ended up being a mess so ig you'll have to let me surprise you. sorry.

side blog list for your convenience:

@veedsynth: vocal synth blog. has been a special interest for so long that im almost normal about it at this point.

@paradisaeaaa: genshin blog. yes im one of those im so sorry. mostly hkv currently

@yaoi-vevo: i dont. have to explain this, do i? currently mostly slow damage and dramatical murder

@gnosiaz: gnosia blog. i love gnosia. sometimes i talk about it.

tag explanations:

#moogsin' : original post tag

#moogsles : art tag

#for later : ...for later

#mogcees : oc tag

#moogiggle : he he funni

#moogsynthing : general vsynth tag so i dont always have to tag vsynth and vocal synth and vocaloid and utau and synthv and synth v and synthesizer v and cevio and cevio ai and neutrino and

[uh... to be continued ig these are my only ones so far]

if you have any questions or want to talk or anything like that, please go ahead! i literally only have one friend on here whom i interact with on the dash so like. it gets lonely 😭

last but not least, since apparently i HAVE to add this: if you opened this post hoping to find some sort of "proship dni" or "antis dni" statement because you just HAD to know whether i was A Bad or A Good before interacting with- or following me: just dont. stay far away from me.

[themaladaptivewriter12]

Title: Starry Skies

Part 5 of my “Cray-Cray for Cater” series! Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 can be found here!

Parings: Cater Diamond x Twisted Wonderland Male OC (Mirai Yuhara)

Summary:

Mirai is struggling with his homework, so why not ask his super smart boyfriend for help.

cw: None!

a/n: I don't hate Vargas, I promise, he just had to be the bad guy for a sec.

Reblogs are appreciated, just use my custom tag, #TheMaladaptiveWriter12, if you do!  (─‿‿─)♡

Cross posted from my Ao3: TheMaladaptiveWriter12

It was the most dreaded period of Mirai’s day, gym class. Mirai didn’t even know why he had to even be in a gym class that was centered around flight, when he had no magic to begin with. Mirai supposed that it was due to every freshman having a core schedule and with him being a student, albeit, half of one, that he still had to take it, but it really was pointless when all he could do the second half of class was sit there. Well at least he didn’t have to exert himself too much, and he got to stop earlier, so he guessed it had its own perks. 

Mirai met up with Ace and Deuce on the field, the two already bickering about something. 

“Can you two go five minutes without fighting about something?” Mirai asked, putting Grim down on the ground. 

“He started it,” the two said at the same time. They both looked at each other, faces twisting in anger. “Did not,” they both shouted, “Did too! Jinx! Jinx again! You owe me a soda!”

Mirai laughed at the two.

“Hey freshies!”

Mirai whipped his head around, already knowing the owner of the voice. “Hey Cater,” Mirai waved as Cater made his way over to the group.

“Hey Boo,” Cater sang with a wink.

This was the only time Mirai liked gym class, when the upperclassmen had a joint session with his class, and that meant Cater would be there.

“With the amount of times you’ve signed up for this, one might think you actually cared for physical education,” A deep voice gruffed.

“Ha ha, very funny, Leona,” Cater sneered with a smirk, “We all know you’re here because you’re failing unlike the rest of us.”

“And you’re not?” Leona smirked.

“I’m not failing now, but unlike you, I don’t have any red marks for skipping as many times as you do.”

“But at least he tries, unlike you.”

Mirai looked behind Cater and was met with Vil Schoenheit’s piercing gaze.

“Why try when I don’t wanna do it anyways, #Lame,” Cater said nonchalantly.

There was a flash of light and suddenly Lilia Vanrouge materialized in front of Cater.  

“You and a certain blue haired youth need to try harder in general,” Lilia laughed.

“Why do that,” Idia Shroud’s tired voice droned as he drug his feet as he walked up to the group. “Gym class is for normies, and meatheads, totally trash-tier.”

Mirai laughed, “Exactly. I don’t know what’s worse, the changing part, the public humiliation part, or the exercise part.”

“Ugh,” Idia groaned.

“See! My point exactly,” Cater laughed. 

“I could drink ta that,” Leona gruffed.

“You guys are sad,” Vil sighed.

“Oh perks of being young,” Lilia sighed. 

“Alright, alright you lot,” Coach Vargas shouted, blowing his whistle, “Enough chit chat! Line up!”

Everyone lined up, freshman in the front, third years in the back. Coach Vargas went over the day's lesson, which pretty much was the same every gym class, warm ups, two laps, then flight practice. Mirai wanted nothing more than to get out of the scorching hot midday sun and take a nap.

“Diamond,” Coach Vargas called, starting roll call.

“Heyo,” Cater waved with three fingers.

“Grim?”

“Here,” Grim squeaked.

“Kingscholar.”

Leona sighed.

“Kingscholar,” Coach Vargas called again warningly.

“Here,” Leona gruffed angrily.

“Schoenheit.”

“Here,” Vil said.

“Shroud.”

“Here,” Idia muttered tiredly. 

“Spade.”

“Here,” Deuce shouted.

Ace snickered.

“Trappola,” Coach Vargas called.

“‘Sup,” Ace said, composing himself.

“Vanrouge.”

“Good afternoon,” Lilia smiled.

“Yuhara.”

“Here,” Mirai sighed.

After roll was over, Coach Vargas had everyone split up into pairs, an upperclassman to an underclassman. All they had to do was a series of stretches that consisted of arm stretches, toe touches, butterfly stretches, and back stretches. And while they did so, they had to spot for each other, making sure that they were doing them correctly and safely. Deuce ended up with Leona, Ace with Vil, which Ace cringed at, and of course, Mirai and Grim were paired with Cater. 

“Okay,” Cater said, clapping his hands together, “how about we start with some simple arm stretches?”

Mirai nodded.

The pair stretched their arms, one arm hocked over the other, and Grim did so as well, stretching his little monster cat arms.

“Now toe touches,” Cater winked.

“O-Okay,” Mirai nodded.

Cater went first, standing straight before reaching down touching his toes on the first bend, holding the pose for ten seconds, then he stood up straight. Mirai really didn’t know why they had to be each other’s spotters, for they were just simple stretches.

“Okay, your turn.”

Mirai sighed dreading the stretch. Mirai stood up straight bending down to touch his toes, but only he didn’t, he couldn’t touch his toes. His fingertips only came down to his knees, and any lower bought a searing type of pain. Mirai felt his face flush in embarrassment and in disappointment.

“Can you go any further?” Cater asked softly, running a hand up and down Mirai’s bent back.

Mirai shook his head, standing straight, keeping his eyes downcast.

“That’s okay, we can move on.”

They moved on to a butterfly stretch, and once again, Cater went first, completing the stretch. Then Mirai followed and once again he wasn’t able to stretch down as far as he should. Mirai huffed in annoyance, not even holding the stretch for the required time. Grim watched Mirai with something akin to worry etched on his feline face, but he said nothing.

They moved onto the last set of stretches that consisted of stretching both arms to either spread legs, then one that laid their bodies flat to the ground between their spread legs, well, that’s how it was supposed to go, but that didn’t happen. Ace’s and Deuce’s groups were done, so they made their way over to Mirai and Cater, and not soon after Lilia, and Idia made their way over as well. There was a good majority of students who were still stretching scattered about, and Coach Vargas made his rounds, checking and critiquing everyone's work. Mirai just hoped he could finish before Coach Vargas got to him.

Mirai didn’t like the increase in eyes on him as their group grew in size, but he had to finish, lest he wanted to get marked for nonparticipating. Mirai tried his hardest to lay his torso to the ground and stretch his arms in front of himself, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t get any lower than measly putting his palms on the ground in front of himself.

“Yuhara,” Coach Vargas yelled, “I do not accept laziness! Stretch properly.”

The field got quiet and the entire class had eyes on the Magicless Prefect. Mirai grit his teeth, face flushing, glaring at the grass in front of him. Coach Vargas marched his way over standing over the group.

Cater stood up stammering, “But, but Coach-”

“Diamond, you’re supposed to be his spotter and he’s slacking,” Coach Vargas chided, cutting Cater off, “Didn’t I say I would only allow you to do this if you didn’t slack off?”

“W-Wait, that's, that’s not-”

“Yuhara! Do it again! Start from the beginning!”

The group stood in a tense silence as Mirai sighed angrily, getting into position, reaching forward only to stop before he really did anything.

“You’re not even trying,” Coach Vargas snapped, “Do it again.”

“Don’t you get it,” Cater shouted, “He can’t. He physically can’t!”

Ace and Deuce looked as if they wanted to help, but didn’t know how. Lilia was currently stopping Grim from giving Vargas a piece of his furry little mind, Idia looked as if he wanted to run and hide, the second hand embarrassment making his heart race, and the others looked as if they were ready to set the entire field ablaze. 

Mirai stared angrily at the ground, moisture clinging to his eyelashes. He wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Mirai wanted to jump off the cliffs of the school and never be seen again. 

“Again. You can’t do it right unless you don’t try,” Coach Vargas said.

“And he did.” 

“You can’t possibly call that-”

“Here,” Mirai gritted out as he stood. Mirai ripped his prosthetic from its socket and thrust it at Vargas. “This is why I can’t! So please, if you can, revert the damages, please do!”

Coach Vargas looked at the group, shocked and clearly uncomfortable. Even though he didn’t want to back down, he grumbled to himself, and walked away blowing his whistle loudly.

“Two laps! Let’s go,” Coach Vargas shouted.

Mirai stood up, putting his arm back, before he jogged off ahead of the group, keeping his head down.

“Mirai,” Cater called, but Mirai didn’t listen.

Mirai hated people like that, people who could see past their own abilities and expected others to fall in the same place as they do. Mirai was more than happy to make a scene and make those people just as uncomfortable as they made him, or even more so if need be.

After the accident, the doctors told him he was lucky to be alive, let alone be able to walk, but that didn’t mean it still didn’t hurt when he was reminded of his disabilities, what he had lost, who he had lost. But Mirai was trying his hardest, he always was, but to many, that wasn’t enough, and he hated it. Some nights his back pain kept him up, and sometimes it was too much to bear that he couldn’t get up in the morning, and there was nothing he could do about it. So Mirai put up with it, he dealt with the pain, he dealt with walking with that crooked gait, he dealt with having to live with his scars, he dealt with not being able to sit up straight, he dealt with his partial blindness and the pain that accompanied it. Mirai dealt with it all.  

Mirai scrubbed at his eyes with his sleeves as he jogged, and as time went on, he ended up taking the rear with Idia who dragged his feet as he jogged, huffing and puffing like he ran a marathon. Mirai was only midway through with his second lap, when the majority of the class was already done with their laps, waiting on the stragglers. Mirai and Idia were two of them. Idia slowed his efforts, jogging to match Mirai’s pace, clapping a hand on Mirai’s shoulder. Idia didn’t say anything, but the look on his face was enough for Mirai to get the message. And after a while, Cater slowed as well. The three jogged at a leisurely pace, the only ones left doing their laps.

“Come one you three,” Coach Vargas yelled, “we don’t have all day!”

“I don’t know what more you want me to do, besides keel over,” Mirai sneered quietly.

Idia snickered, “That doesn’t sound too bad right now.”

“Anything but this sounds good right now,” Cater huffed.

Much to Coach Vargas’ chagrin, the three kept their slower pace and finished their laps together. Coach Vargas went on a tangent on muscles or something, Mirai didn’t care at this point. All he wanted was to change out of his gym clothes and shower.

“Okay everyone,” Coach Vargas shouted, “time for flight practice. Grab your partner and grab a broom.”

While everyone else grabbed their broom, Mirai sighed in relief as he wandered off to the nearest shaded spot and sat down. Since Mirai couldn’t fly, he didn’t have to do anything, but Grim could, so Cater helped him. But after Grim’s protests, and refusal for help, Cater went and did his own thing, standing on the handle as he did tricks and flips on it. 

“I realize that you fly like you’re riding a skateboard,” Mirai chuckled as Cater did a mock kickflip with his broom.

Cater laughed, “Technically, we’re supposed to sit, but Coach stopped caring after a lot of the upperclassmen started flying the way they wanted to.”

“What’s it like, to fly, that is?”

“It’s like,” Cater started, getting off the broom to sit next to Mirai on the grass, “It’s like, freeing I guess. Like NGL, my first time on the broom was terrible and it wasn’t easy, but it’s fun now. And the worst part is the bugs. Like imagine flying, sun on your face, wind in your hair, and then suddenly getting a mouthful of bugs, #Gross.”

Mirai cackled, throwing his head back, “Sounds traumatic.”

Suddenly Grim’s tiny broom launched itself across the field, with a terrified Grim hanging from the bristles for dear life.

“Grim,” Mirai and Cater shouted, chasing after him.

After gym class was over, the class made their way back to the locker room, and when a big group of students passed Mirai in a race to change out, a large hand made its way into his hair, ruffling his shaggy blonde strands. Mirai jumped in surprise, his head whipping around to find the culprit, and when he did, he didn’t expect to see Coach Vargas standing next to him. Coach Vargas didn’t say anything but the look on his face said it all. Mirai nodded at him, and Coach Vargas seemed to visibly relax with a sigh, the man tension in his body melting away. With that, Coach Vargas jogged off to his office, and Mirai passed that day with full credit.

After classes Mirai cleaned up around Ramshackle, ate, and showered. The last thing he now had to do was do his homework, and like always, he struggled. In his current unit in Magic history and Potionology, there’s a sub unit about the stars, but he couldn’t get this world's ideology. Magic from the stars, wishes, it was all Greek to Mirai. So he had decided to ask Cater for help with his homework, the entire topic going over his head, and the Heartslabyul third year was more than willing to help, telling the Ramshackle Prefect to meet him outside the Hall of Mirrors. 

It was late, the wind cold and punishing, and Cater was late, not even at their meeting place when he was the closest out of the two of them. Mirai was starting to regret asking in general, it was cold, dark, and the ways the trees blew in the breeze were starting to give him horror movie vibes. Mirai checked his phone over and over for a text that their plans were canceled, or if Cater was going to be late, there was nothing. Mirai was just about ready to head home, when something obscenely large flew past him, the gust picking up grass and dirt. Mirai froze, his heart pounding in his chest, whatever it was, it was fast, too fast. He backed himself up to the door of the Hall of Mirrors, eyes darting around, looking for whatever it was, hoping it wasn’t some deadly Isle of Sages beast. 

Suddenly it was back, flying by like a flash. All Mirai could see was the ugliest orange, black and brown blurb, and its voice was horrendous. Mirai gasped, his hand blindly searching for the knob of the door. Maybe he’d just go to Heartslabyul himself and have Cater walk him home, or better, just sleep over.

“Aw. What’s got you shaking in your boots, Boo?”

Mirai yelped, head whipping around, looking for Cater, but he didn’t see him. 

“Cut it out, Cater,” Mirai huffed, “This isn’t funny.”

There was silence, and Mirai still didn’t see Cater or the thing. He just wanted to go home. Suddenly Mirai was face to face with Cater. Mirai yelped, eyes going wide. Cater was hanging upside down on his broom, his strawberry blonde waves hanging down in Mirai’s face. 

“C-Cater?!” Mirai gasped.

Cater didn’t say anything as he leaned forward, pressing a kiss to Mirai’s trembling lips. It was short and sweet, and it definitely calmed Mirai down a bit. “Better?” Cater cooed.

Mirai was momentarily dazed from the kiss before his face morphed into anger.

“You bastard,” Mirai shouted. “You frickin’ scared me! I thought, I thought…” 

Mirai’s argument died on his lips, frustration and the lack of adrenaline washing over him, and now that he knew he was safe, and there was no monster, he felt stupid. 

Cater lowered himself to the ground, sitting up to slide off the broom to hold Mirai. “You mad at me?” Cater asked, lips pouty, making his words sound childish. 

“No,” Mirai gruffed.

“Yes you are.”

Mirai shook his head.

“Sorry for scaring you,” Cater muttered, holding Mirai tighter.

“It’s fine, doesn't matter anymore. Just, just, let’s just go. It’s cold.” 

Cater chuckled, kissing Mirai on the forehead. 

Mirai turned to go back to the Hall of Mirrors when Cater caught his shoulder.

“Where you going?” Cater laughed, “Get on.”

“Hu-Huh?” Mirai stuttered, whipping his head around to meet Cater’s eye. 

“Get on,” Cater repeated, patting the space behind him.

“But, but, I thought, I thought we were going to study?”

“We are, but just not at the dorm.”

Mirai inched his way to the broom, not sure about the idea. Was this against the rules? Was this allowed? In the grand scheme of things, Mirai didn’t care for rules, he just didn't want Cater to get in trouble. 

“C’mon. You’ll be fine. Promise,” Cater reassured.

Mirai tentatively swung his leg over the broom, making sure he was seated as he ever would be on a broom, and held onto Cater tightly. 

“You ready, Sugarplum?” Cater asked, running a thumb along the back of Mirai’s hand.

Mirai nodded against Cater’s back.

“And we’re off!”

Mirai kept his eyes shut tightly, and as he felt his toes lift off the ground, he clutched Cater even tighter. 

“You’re okay, Baby,” Cater cooed, “I gotcha.”

Mirai could feel the atmosphere change, the wind picking up a bit, the force pushing against his legs. Mirai could tell they weren’t going too fast, but he was afraid to look. Just the sheer fact that one wrong move could send them hurtling towards the ground had Mirai stomach in knots.

“Babe, look,” Cater whispered. 

Mirai shook his head, much preferring to stay where he was, trapped in Cater’s soft shirt and his scent.

“C’mon, Baby. We’re not even moving.”

They weren’t moving were they? Mirai slowly moved his face from Cater’s back, and slowly peeked an eye open. Mirai was taken aback, glad he opened his eyes, or he would’ve missed the mesmerizing sight in front of him. The campus looked as if it was from a storybook. It was lit up, the magestone lights casting everything in a warm golden glow. Fireflies danced in the night, flickering as they bounced to and fro. To put it in simpler terms, it was magical, although, this world actually was. 

Cater looked at Mirai’s awed expression fondly, the lights reflecting off his features. Cater, as quickly and effectively, took his phone out of his packet and snapped a pic. 

“Wanna try moving a bit?” Cater asked, pocketing his phone. 

Mirai nodded his head determinedly, “Mn.” 

“Alright, let's start slow.”

Cater continued on, their pace slow. It kinda reminded Mirai of the pace of an escalator, slow and steady. It was nice, Mirai got to see the campus from a totally different point of view, but it was getting boring fast. 

“You can go faster,” Mirai muttered, scooting closer to Cater to hold him tight.

“Okie dokie,” Cater winked, and not a second later, they picked up speed. 

They were going fast, like really fast. Mirai yelped, shoving his face into Cater’s blazer once more, and Cater laughed. They sped through campus, going around lamp posts, in between trees, and over buildings. It remained Mirai driving a motorbike, but instead, it was much faster and instead of being safely on the ground, they were suspended many feet in the air. It was like Cater said, it was freeing, it made Mirai feel like he could do anything. After they flew around a bit more, they soon came to a stop, the broom settling down to land. Mirai opened his eyes and they were on one of the exterior hallways on the second floor.

“Where are we going?” Mirai asked, as he followed.

“You’ll see,” Cater sang.

They continued their walk, it was a short one, and as the hallway opened up, a large dome-like building came into view.

“Is that, is that an observatory?” Mirai asked in awe.

“Bingo,” Cater chirped. 

Cater led them to the door. It was rounded at the top, and split two ways down the middle. But what caught Mirai’s eye was on the doors. There were knobs, dials, and gears of sorts, it all looked too complicated to figure out.

“What’s this? Some kinda advanced lock?” Mirai asked, running his fingers along the ornate designing of the metal doors. 

“Kinda,” Cater smiled, “But it’s not that hard to figure out.”

Cater pulled on the knobs, turning, rotating, sliding, and pushing, and as he did, the gears moved and clicked. Mirai watched with rapt attention as Cater fiddled with the door, it seemed it only worked in a certain order. Soon there was a click, a click that sounded much different from the others, and then the metal doors were sliding open. 

“That was so cool,” Mira gushed. “How’d you do it?! What are you?! Some kind of wizard or something?!”

Cater cackled, “I mean, Cay-Cay kinda already is. But it’s all memorization at this point.”

Mirai followed Cater inside, and the doors slowly slid closed behind them. Cater placed the broom against the wall, and took out his magic pen, waving it and suddenly, the room came to life. 

“Welcome to the Observatory,” Cater chirped.

Mirai was utterly speechless. He didn’t know what to do, to say, all he could do was sit there and stare at the jaw dropping sights in front of him. It was mesmerizing. The room was covered in a warm gold glow, charts and diagrams were etched into the stone walls. The ceiling was gorgeous, it was dark blue and covered in stars and constellations that seemed to twinkle and move like they were the real things. But what Mirai was most intrigued about was the huge astrolabe-like object in the center of the room. 

“What’s that?” Mirai asked Cater, cocking a thumb at the object. 

“That’s an Orrery,” Cater supplied. “It’s a model of the solar system.”

“So not an Astrolabe. Got it.”

“Not quite,” Cater chuckled. 

“And what do those mean?” Mirai pointed to the walls. 

“Celestial navigation charts. They help with that star chart on the ceiling.”

“So cool.”

Mirai was in awe, he felt as if he was in a video game. I mean, at this point, Mirai wasn’t sure if he would ever get used to the amazing places and things people would dream to actually experience back at home, but sometimes, Mirai forgot actually how magical this world was.

“So,” Cater said, and suddenly a large spell circle lit up underneath him, “what can Cay-Cay help his amazing boyfriend with?”

Mirai lost track of how much they spent in the Observatory, but how couldn’t he? This was the first time Mirai had seen this side of Cater. He was just so animated, something he never saw in Cater unless he was talking about music or Magicam. And his knowledge on the subject, it was better than any teacher Mirai ever had. Cater not only helped Mirai with his assignment, but he also gave him a history lesson as well. And the way Cater knew all the machinery like the back of his hand, Mirai could tell that Cater spent a lot of time in the room.

After they had finished, Cater led the two of them out the Observatory and back into the cool night. The ride back to Ramshackle was short and to be frank, Mirai was kinda sad about it, he likes spending time with Cater.

“Now arriving at Ramshackle Dorm,” Cater said, pretending to speak through an intercom, “Please stay seated until the broom comes to a complete stop.”

“You’re silly,” Mirai chuckled.

“Thank you for flying with Diamond Airlines. Please fly with us again,” Cater laughed, helping Mirai off the broom.

“And what do I owe you, Mr. Pilot,” Mirai asked teasingly.

“Hmm,” Cater hummed in mock thought, tapping a finger to his chin. “I think a kiss would suffice.”

Cater met Mirai halfway, pulling the Ramshackle Prefect into his arms as he placed a soft kiss to his lips. 

“There we go,” Cater chuckled, pulling back. “Now go get some sleep, it’s late.”

Mirai pouted but let Cater go.

“Night, Baby,” Cater cooed, waving.

“Night, Cater,” Mirai waved, going inside.

A couple of days passed and Mirai and Grim were hanging out at the Heartslabyul Dorm. Trey needed a couple of taste testers for a new Macaroon flavor he was trying, and Grim was more than happy to eat something. Mirai on the other hand aced his assignment, and wanted to show Cater. Mirai didn’t think he’d ever complete that assignment without his help, and wanted to thank him for it.

“Where’s Cater?” Mirai asked, helping Trey clean up. 

“I don’t know,” Trey said thoughtfully. “But I’d either check our room, or the balcony.”

“The balcony?”

“Yeah. We have two balconies. A big one on the third floor, and a smaller one on the fourth floor. Cater likes to sit on the smaller one from time to time.”

“Alright, I’ll check there then,” Mirai said. “Grim, you coming?”

Mirai looked over to the cat to find him stuffing his furry face with all the leftover Macaroons.

“I guess not,” Mirai laughed. “Stay out of trouble, yeah?”

Grim nodded frantically, taking a sip of his glass of milk.

“Bye Trey, see you later,” Mirai waved. “And thank you.”

“Have fun, and thank you,” Trey chuckled. 

Mirai went to the upperclassmen hallways and checked Cater’s room. After Mirai knocked a couple of times, without an answer, Mirai went to find the balcony. After asking a couple of Heartslabyul students for the right way to go, the stairs to the balcony weren’t hard to find. Mirai climbed the stairs and opened the door slightly, peeking his head around the corner. Leaning against the railing was Cater, and surprisingly, his phone was off in his hand. He looked so peaceful standing there, and Mirai was second guessing going up there. He didn’t want to disturb Cater’s time by himself. 

“You spying on me?” 

Mirai jumped with a shout and turned around to see Cater standing behind him.

“H-Huh, w-wha, ho-how did, weren't you-”

Cater chuckled at Mirai’s confusion. 

Mirai pouted, “I-I wasn’t spying. I just didn’t want to bother you.”

“Aw, Hon, you could never bother me,” Cater cooed.

Suddenly the door opened and the Cater Mirai had been talking to had dissipated into fluttering playing cards. Cater took Mirai by the hand and led him outside. It wasn’t too cold, or too hot, the night air was warm and pleasant. It reminded Mirai of a nice summer’s night.

“What’s up, Buttercup?” Cater asked. “Did you miss little ol’ me?”

“Well, not that I’d say no, but I wanted to show you my grade,” Mirai said, pulling out his phone. “Look! I passed!”

“What kinda junior would I be if I couldn’t help one of my adorable freshies out?”

“You’d still be my favorite,” Mirai smiled.

“Aw, it was nothing,” Cater said, fiddling with his bangs.

Mirai giggled, reaching up to kiss Cater on the cheek, “And thank you.”

“Now aren’t you sweet,” Cater gushed dramatically, pulling Mirai into his arms. “You’re making Cay-Cay’s poor little heart go swoon!”

“And you act like that’s a bad thing.”

“Never said it was,” Cater smirked.

Mirai laughed.

“Oh,” Cater said, suddenly perking up, “So, like, after that day I helped you, I looked into your Astrology sign, and it turns out Geminis and Aquarius' are totes compatible.”

“Are we now?”

“Like, it’s so close to one hundred percent! It says our relationships are strong, and lasting, we always have interesting things to do, and we complement each other perfectly. Like talk about #Soulmates!”

Mirai loved how animated and happy Cater got when talking about the things he liked, but honestly, Astrology? Mirai and Astrology didn’t mix. He’d seen it all back home. In America it was all the craze for the majority of the girls in his class. Crystals this, Astrology signs that, and don’t let one of them find out you and her weren’t compatible, they’d make it their mission to never get along with you at all. It was ridiculous! How could one truly believe they were controlled by random balls of gas in space? Then they’d use their sign to defend their toxic behavior. But I guess that worked out for Mirai in the end, then he’d know which girls to avoid himself. 

“Would you, would you still like me even if we weren’t?” Mirai asked quietly.

Cater looked surprised, “Still like you? Why wouldn’t I like you?”

“Would you still go out with me even if we weren’t compatible, that is?”

“That’s like asking if I’d still love you if your hair was neon green?”

Mirai still didn’t look convinced, and Cater sighed, running his hand up and behind Mirai’s ear, his long finger threading between long blonde strands, “Baby, we could have the worst compatibility ever, and I’d still choose you. We could be destined to never work out, and I’d still find a way. The compatibility thing is just like a bonus, ya’know?”

“Ok,” Mirai muttered.

“Kinda like finding out we have the same movie interests, or similar hobbies. In the grand scheme of things, it kinda means nothing, people are bound to have different interests, but it still doesn’t mean that it doesn’t feel good when you find out.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Still upset?”

“No,” Mirai pouted.

“I don’t know,” Cater teased, “Still looks pretty pouty to me.”

“I am not.”

“C’mon, give me a smile. Smile for little ol’ me.”

Cater leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss to Mirai’s lips and he instantly smiled.

“There we go. The prettiest smile in the world,” Cater gushed affectionately. 

Mirai snickered, “You always taste like cherry chapstick.”

Cater went a little pink at that, “Do you not like it?”

“No, I do,” Mirai whispered, standing on his toes to kiss Cater again. “I don’t think I can ever taste cherry chapstick without ever thinking of you again.”

“Good,” Cater muttered against Mirai’s lips, “I want you to think of me even when we’re apart.”

“You’re always on my mind.”

Cater flushed a pretty pink, whining as he shoved his face into Mirai’s neck, and Mirai chuckled quietly. 

“Why are you so cute?” Cater whined. “This is so not good for my poor old heart.”

“Um, hello? Have you seen yourself in the mirror? You’re the cute one,” Mirai laughed.

“No, no, it’s totally you, baby.”

Mirai pouted, but didn’t say anything else.

There was a comfortable silence between the two of them, the two of them just enjoying each other’s company. Mirai liked moment’s like this, just being with Cater was enough. He liked the scent of Cater’s cologne, he liked being in Cater’s arms, he liked the feeling Cater gave him. It made him feel wanted.

“Hey, Cater?” Mirai called.

“What’s up, Sugarplum?” Cater asked, looking down at Mirai.

“Will you tell me about the stars again?”

“Of course.” 

Cater told him about the stars, stars Mirai knew, stars he didn’t know, even the stars that were exclusive to Twisted Wonderland. He told him their stories, their meanings, and little facts that weren’t known to the common person. Cater told Mirai of their histories, what they were named, why they were named, who named them, when they were discovered, everything. And Mirai listened, and listened, and listened. He listened because it was interesting, he listened because it was Cater, he listened because he cared. And he did care, so much, so much that it hurt. 

So they sat, side by side, legs swinging off the balcony through the ornate metal bars. Every so often, their shoulders would bump, and fingers would brush against each other, and sometime during the moment, their hands ended up laced together with Mirai's body relaxed into Cater’s form. And the whole time, the bright stars continued to shine in the clear night sky above.

[anthenasikes]

Who is myles I want to know everything about him

THERES LIKE THREE DRAWINGS OF HIM IN THE MYLES TAG he also has a playlist somewhere which i can find if you want.

hes an ocs hes been in my brain since 2020 ? i cant do a full rant right now but like summary of him now all of the problems revolve around him but also a lot of those problems are because of him too hes definitely the kind of character thats like ME AND ONLY ME IM GOING TO FIX EVERYTHING but he kind of started a lot of these problems in the first place. and isnt aware of it. he is also an asshole. he is aware of that.

its funny bc when i first made him i just needed a random bg character so one of my other guys could have a twin and he was this random guy. with nothing about him and he was supposed to be cis and also probably be into jesse ANYYYYWAYYYSY as he is right now he hates jesse and jesse hates him and theyre both aromantic so LMAO also at some point he ended up being the Protagonist . fuck jesse ig?? no more protag rights for you. i didnt do this on purpose it just ended up that way ?????

yanno how i was talking about song's sort of white boy cousin. name is darryl. well myles and his twin (whose name is Tobi (or tobias))were like partially raised by darryl and his gfs who are carr(issa) and jolie bc carr's family friends with their family etc etc but uhhh TLDR those three were great older sibling figures but also maybe not bc they may have been generally responsible for a while but they are so emotionally messy i dont know how they were doing college things and also watching over some stupid middle schoolers. but carr does lose her shit later on about something not myles related and i think that has a big impact on myles losing his shit! darryls probably turning into plants or somethign but like whatever. who cares. darryl voice "myles there are flowers growing through my fingernails i cannot move my hand. this is an emergency bc i cant do my eyeliner. can you do my eyeliner please please" myles voice "i hate this house." he didnt ask carr to do his eyeliner bc carr is passed out with her face in a bowl of cheerios. also in the timeline where plants are a thing jolies probablty dead idk i have 1700000 versions of this world sometimes there are plants and death and sometimes its like a sitcom im ranting now help me jesus

whatever 'present' time is myles is prolly a high school sophomore or smth. hes mostly friends with song's cousin who is avery.

i have seventeen thousand different versions of what i like to call the song-and-jesse-universes so its hard to tell you one specific Plot thing or anything coherent about myles actual story shit but trust me. putting him in a timeloop actually makes total sense for the primary version of the story i was thinking about so im probbaly actually going to do that. it makes sense. it makes a lot of sense. SHIT anyways hes a pissbaby but he can be nice if he wants but not to jesse him and jesse are stuck in the same friend group but i think jesse is going to kill him in an un-fun and actually angry way someday. wahoo!1!! im not proofreading this before i post it. have a great reading-ant's-rant time <3

[its-captain-sir]

I posted 8,081 times in 2022

That's 4,560 more posts than 2021!

1,448 posts created (18%)

6,633 posts reblogged (82%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@its-captain-sir

@thecyndimistuff

@ct-7567

@jester-mereel

I tagged 5,063 of my posts in 2022

Only 37% of my posts had no tags

#megan.txt - 901 posts

#oh look another clone wars post - 690 posts

#asks? - 335 posts

#others ocs - 207 posts

#rex - 200 posts

#my ocs - 190 posts

#ahsoka tano - 187 posts

#anakin skywalker - 176 posts

#obi wan kenobi - 169 posts

#uwu the jawa - 167 posts

Longest Tag: 124 characters

#and if the little preview doesn't tell me the whole story of what's going on oh well ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ guess i'll never know

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Cody is a crop top and sweatpants kind of guy and Rex is a hoodie and basketball shorts kind of guy send post

700 notes - Posted May 15, 2022

#4

Genuinely I don't think there will ever be a friendship in star wars as funny as Rex and Anakin's. Rex won't tell Anakin a single thing about himself unprompted meanwhile Anakin's out here like "I'll tell this guy about my secret wife and then it can be both of our problems." Anakin's like "Rex is the best soldier I know and a great man" but has never once offered to have him stay for dinner. Rex always says "yeah Anakin is my friend" and then trusts him with his life only 60% of the time and is disappointed in him the other 40% percent. It feels like they shouldn't be friends but they are and somehow that becomes everyone else's problem because they do actually work well together

731 notes - Posted January 18, 2022

#3

It's sooooo funny to me that Bail just knew where Obi-wan lived like he didn't even bother trying to look around towns, he just looked for the first cave that had signs of someone living there and was like "yep this is where that depressed bastard is gonna be"

1,080 notes - Posted May 27, 2022

#2

THEY REALLY PUT A CLONES DON'T GET PAID JOKE IN HERE HSJDHSJDHSJ

4,431 notes - Posted April 8, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

everyone's got That One movie soundtrack they absolutely go nuts over so reblog and put in the tags which movie has your favorite soundtrack <3

8,570 notes - Posted March 2, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[flourgirl]

Sleepyhead

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Summary: Peter will try just about anything to help out the very pretty insomniac from his math class.

Work Count: 11.2k

Warnings: Just some sweet, pure fluff with a few curse words every now and then.

A/N: Either the tags aren’t working for me or you guys just didn’t like it, but the final part of “Even If It’s a Lie” has been out for a few days now if anyone’s interested in reading it 🥺 Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this super long piece I’ve been working on to help me get through finals <3

“Touch you softly I call you up late at night No doubt it isn't right But you could be my one and only” -Softly, Clairo

Peter had seen you around campus a few times, but it wasn’t until you started sitting two rows ahead of him in his linear algebra class that he really started to notice you. 

He thought you were really pretty, and he liked how cozy you always looked in the puffy winter coat you kept on in the perpetually freezing lecture hall. You took a lot of notes, which told him that you cared about the class, and never showed up without a giant cup of iced coffee.

You’re being a creep, Peter told himself. He had thought about switching seats to somewhere in front of you, so he could actually listen to his professor discuss permutations instead of staring at how you chewed on the end of your pen when you were thinking.

It was even worse when you started sleeping in class, your soft hair falling around your shoulders as you leaned your head against your desk. It seemed like all the coffee in the world couldn’t keep you awake, and Peter wondered if he should ask if you wanted to borrow his notes or something. But that would mean him admitting to looking at you way more than he needed to, and that was weird, so he quickly dropped the idea.

Still, he was worried about you. So when he came back from patrol in the middle of the night and bumped into you outside of the dorm kitchen, he figured it would be the perfect opportunity to introduce himself and maybe even find out why you were so tired all the time. 

The only problem was that he had accidentally knocked your pan of banana bread out of your hands, and you were currently staring at it laying on the floor with your sleepy eyes, not saying anything.

“Shit, uh, I’m so sorry,” he told you, crouching down to scoop up the remnants of your late-night snack into the pan. “Were you really up baking at 3 a.m?”

You blushed a little, starstruck that the cute guy from your math class was talking to you. “Um, yeah. I couldn’t sleep, so I figured I’d come down to the kitchen while nobody else was here and make something. Baking always helps me calm down, and so here I am. And here we are. And there’s my bread, all covered in whatever kind of dust the custodians refuse to sweep down here.”

He offered a soft smile, and it made you feel better about the fact that you were rambling way more than you wanted to.

“I’m Y/N,” you continued, gently taking the pan from his hands. “You’re in linear algebra with Professor Meyers, right?”

“Yeah, you, um, you sit right in front of me. Well, not right in front of me. Two rows in front of me. Shit. I’m not creepy, I promise. It’s just… uh… My name is Peter and I’m going to stop talking now.” 

That couldn’t have possibly gone any worse, he thought. You were probably thinking he was a serial killer or something.

“It’s okay. I know you sit behind me,” you reassured him. “You answer a lot of questions.” He was cute and smart, and you hoped he couldn’t notice how flustered you were to be this close to him.

“What are you doing up so late?” he asked, which made you laugh at how ironic his concerns were, considering he was also wandering around the dorm basement at this hour.

“I could ask you the same thing,” you replied, sitting on one of the benches that jutted out of the walls of the corridor. “I mean, you’re here too. At least I was baking. What’s up with you?”

You had a point. “I had an emergency… with my internship. I work for Stark Industries, and Mr. Stark rang me in the middle of the night to come to the lab immediately for something, so, yeah. That’s why I’m awake right now.”

“Okay,” you said, not buying his story. “So that’s why you have a black eye and you’re lurking in the basement hallway? Did Tony Stark punch you?”

Fuck. Did he really have a black eye and not notice? He didn’t think that Doc Oc’s stupid mechanical arm had punched him that hard, but apparently, he was wrong. And now he had to come up with some reason as to where it came from, although he could already tell that you were about to call his bluff.

The only solution he could think of was to change the subject. “Why are you always asleep during class?” he blurted out, causing you to give him a funny look before frowning down at your slippers.

“Isn’t it obvious,” you yawned, stretching your arms out in front of you. “I’m an insomniac. It’s actually kind of funny. I never really had any problems with falling asleep until I moved here. Maybe it’s the cold weather or the constant pressure to get good grades, but I just can’t sleep anymore. It sucks.”

Normally, you’d never tell this much about yourself to somebody, let alone a complete stranger. But somehow, you felt really comfortable around Peter. There was just something about him that made you feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Peter caught himself staring at you again, your baby pink pajamas a far departure from how put together your usual outfits were. Even without your makeup or hair done, you were still the prettiest girl he had ever seen. For some reason, even the dark circles under your eyes were really cute to him.

“You never answered my question,” you reminded him, hoping that he’d say something to fill the awkward silence. “What’s with the black eye and wandering around in the middle of the night? Are you some kind of superhero?”

“What? No! That’s crazy. Me, a superhero,” he laughed awkwardly, wondering if you had somehow figured out his secret identity. Had you spotted him that one time he made sure that you and your friends got home safely from a late-night study session? Even so, you totally couldn’t have known it was him, right?

“Relax, I’m just joking,” you giggled, thinking about how cute he looked when he was flustered. “Although my friend did tell me she thought she saw Spider-Man a few weeks ago on her way back from a party.”

“Haha, yeah,” he breathed out, a wave of relief washing over him. It was times like these that he really started to appreciate how well-hidden his muscles were underneath all of his oversized sweaters.

“Does that hurt?” you asked, bringing your hand up to lightly brush his lip, which was bleeding. He flinched instinctively before settling under your touch, your eyes focused on the small cut. “I have a first aid kit in my room if you want some help cleaning it up.”

“Oh, no, it’s cool. I wouldn’t want to bother your roommate,” Peter told you, scooting further away on the bench, nearly falling off the edge of it. Ned hated it when he stumbled in at some ungodly hour after patrol and woke him up. 

“Don’t worry about it,” you said, standing up and gesturing for him to follow you. “I have a single.”

Peter looked at you in awe. Freshmen never got rooms to themselves, and yet somehow you had one. “Okay, fine. But only because I’ve never actually seen a single in this building before.”

“That’s cool with me,” you smiled, reaching for his hand so he could keep up with your pace. He noticed that you were chewing some of the banana bread, which he really hoped was from the part that didn’t fall on the floor. To be fair though, it did smell really good.

Not only did you have a single, but you lived on the first floor. Peter couldn’t believe how lucky you were, considering the building that the two of you lived in didn’t have any elevators to traverse its seven floors.

He was even more shocked when you opened your door, revealing the coziest dorm room he had ever seen. How on earth did you transform the glorified prison cell into something that felt so... comforting? From the twinkling lights that were wrapped around everything and the soft rug under his feet, Peter found it really hard to believe that you had trouble sleeping here.

“Sorry, it’s a bit messy,” you apologized, piling your many throw pillows and blankets into a basket to clear up some space on your bed. “You can sit here.”

If this was messy, then Peter and Ned’s room needed some serious help. “No worries,” he said, watching as you rummaged around your drawers in search of your first aid kit.

Eventually, you found it hidden under a bunch of graph paper and colored pencils, untouched ever since your overprotective grandparents had helped you move in. “Here we go,” you mused, now looking inside it for alcohol wipes and band-aids.

He winced as you rubbed the little cloth against his lips, and you made sure to be more gentle as you cleaned up the other cuts on his face. Thankfully, nothing was bad enough to require stitches, something you were seriously under-qualified to do.

All Peter could focus on the entire time was how close you were and what it would be like to just kiss you right then and there, but he knew that was way too forward of him. Plus, he didn’t even know if you liked him like that. Surely you were just being nice.

Still, the way he caught you staring into his brown eyes after smoothing a band-aid on his forehead made him think otherwise.

“You’re going to have to tell me eventually who beat you up,” you sighed, gathering up wrappers to throw away and tucking the first aid kit back into its place in your drawers.

“It’s a long story,” he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck and avoiding your stare.

“I’ve got time,” you replied, climbing onto your lofted bed to sit next to him, innocently brushing your bare leg against his jeans, which made his breath hitch. “Tell me about it.”

“Uh, how about another time?” he stammered, hopping off the bed and running his hand through his hair. “After class tomorrow, or something. It’s getting pretty late. We should, um, go to sleep.”

“You can stay here if you want,” you offered, his eyes widening at your invitation. “On the bean bag, I mean. It’s actually really comfortable. You mentioned something about bothering your roommate and I figured that maybe you’d like to avoid the trouble tonight.”

“Oh…” Peter hesitated, looking for a reason to say no. He knew he’d never be able to sleep knowing that you were in the same room as him. “I don’t have any pajamas.”

“True,” you agreed, a little disappointed that he wasn’t interested in sticking around.

“I don’t actually even wear pajamas to sleep,” he continued, making you look back up at him instead of playing with the hem of your shirt. “It’s just… I sleep in my boxers.”

“I’m sorry for asking. I didn’t mean to put you in an uncomfortable situation,” you sighed, your face hot with embarrassment.

“It’s not that! I mean, I do want to stay here. But, uh, you… well, you make me really nervous, Y/N,” he muttered, his glance bouncing around the room.

“Why?” you asked, your brows furrowing. “Did I do something?”

“No, no! Nothing at all. I promise, okay?”

“Okay. You can, um, get ready for bed, I guess. I promise not to look,” you assured him, turning on your side to face the wall.

“Thanks. Yeah, alright.” You heard him fumbling with his clothes, his sneakers making a soft thud on your floor. You did your best to resist the urge to glance back at him.

“Can I just use any of these?” he asked, although you had no idea what he was talking about.

“Peter, I’m not looking, remember? You’re going to have to be a little more specific than that.”

“The blankets. Do I just pick one, or are you particular about them?”

“Oh. You can use whichever one you want to. But the coral one’s the softest and my personal favorite.” Peter stared at the basket in confusion. To him, they were all just pink. But based on touch alone, he pulled one out that he figured was a little more orange than the others.

He walked over to the light switch and flipped off the overhead fluorescents, letting the room be illuminated by the warm glow of your fairy lights, which weren’t too bright, but still twinkly and beautiful.

“Goodnight, Peter,” you whispered, snuggling into your comforter in the hopes that your heartbeat would slow down and let you fall asleep for once.

“Goodnight, Y/N.” In a matter of minutes, you could hear his soft snoring, and you figured that it would be okay just to take a quick peek since he’d probably be bundled up in one of your blankets.

His hair was perfectly messy, and he looked so cozy wrapped up in the blanket you had recommended. Still, as much as you could stare at his adorable face all night, you were exhausted. Burying your face under the covers, you did your best to calm your nerves and get some rest before class tomorrow.

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

“Peter,” you whispered, jostling him lightly by the shoulders in the hopes of waking him up. “Uh, we have an hour before class. I was thinking that it would be enough time for you to go shower and change, and then we could go get coffee or something.”

He blinked back up at you, amazed at how well he slept on your bean bag. You had already gotten ready for the day, doing your makeup and picking out one of your many fluffy sweaters to keep you warm in the New York snow.

“Thanks, that sounds awesome,” he yawned, accepting the hand you held out to help him up. The blanket fell, and you stared at each other in shock, having forgotten that Peter was in nothing but his underwear.

You dropped his hand as fast as you could, covering your eyes. “Oh my god! I’m sorry. Shit, I completely forgot, Peter. I’m so sorry. I’ll let you get dressed.”

Peter watched as you stumbled around the room, your eyes squeezed tightly as your hands attempted to guide you away from him.

“Y/N,” he started, catching your attention as you nearly ran into your bed frame. “You can open your eyes. Really, I don’t care if you see me like this if it means I can keep you from breaking your nose.”

You hesitantly opened your eyes, relieved that Peter had already managed to pull his pants back on. Still, he was completely shirtless, and you found yourself staring at the abs you would have never expected to be hiding underneath his clothes.

Moments later, you averted your gaze, although you knew that he probably noticed you looking at where was now covered by his plaid button-down and dark blue sweater.

“I’ll, um, be right back,” he muttered, before practically sprinting out of your room and up the stairs. You groaned in embarrassment, burying your face in a pillow before attempting to take a quick twenty-minute power nap.

Peter couldn’t believe it. Sure, he had thought one time about you seeing him without clothes on, but this wasn’t how he thought it would go at all. Still, the image of you staring at him shirtless, your face flushed, made him feel like he was going to have a heart attack.

“Dude! There you are,” Ned screamed, startled at his roommate’s unexpected entrance. Peter panted, having run up four flights of stairs as fast as he could. “Wait a second. Did you finally get laid? Is this a walk of shame?”

Before Ned could praise him any further, Peter was grabbing a change of clothes and sprinting towards the bathroom. Don’t think about her, he begged himself.

The memory of your leg touching his last night immediately came to mind, and Peter was so angry at himself for being this starved for physical intimacy. To be fair, though, you were the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, and so he cut himself some slack.

Shit, he told himself, making sure the water was set to cold. He needed to calm down, but instead, his thoughts were stuck on how good you looked in your pajamas, but also how good you would look without them and—fuck it. 

Peter liked you a lot, and if thinking about you like this in private kept him from being a complete weirdo in person, then maybe he just needed to get his feelings of desperation over with.

When he came back down to your room about thirty minutes later, you were still super tired. You trudged your way towards the door, your hair now noticeably messier than earlier, but at least that meant your nap had been a success.

His hair was still damp and this time he was wearing yet another blue sweater, which made you wonder if he ever wore any other color. He had his backpack slung over one of his shoulders and a nervous smile on his face as he locked eyes with you.

“Hey,” he said, pushing some of his hair out of his face. “Are you ready to go?”

You leaned against the doorway a little bit, letting out a yawn that was literally the cutest noise Peter had ever heard in his life. “Yeah, let me get my backpack.”

“It’s so heavy,” you continued, rightfully complaining as the weight of all its contents practically pulled you downwards. “I think it’s so stupid how almost every professor bans computers from class. Like, it’s not fair that I have to lug around three textbooks every day. I don’t have time to run back to my dorm in between classes like some people!”

Peter frowned. Three textbooks were nothing to him, but he knew that you didn’t have spidey-strength and that you were also pretty tiny compared to him. It must’ve been hell on your back to be carrying all that stuff around every day.

“I can carry it for you,” he offered, holding out his hand to switch with you. “Here, you can take my backpack if it’ll make you feel better. I have a lot of programming classes today, so I’ve only got my laptop and a notebook in there.”

You gave him a look of gratitude as he traded bags with you, literally taking the weight off your shoulders. He was right. His backpack was much more manageable for you, even if the dark grey contrasted with the light colors you always wore.

In contrast, it looked kind of odd for him to be walking around with a backpack that was covered in a soft pink floral pattern, much like everything else you owned, but the sight of him carrying your books brought a smile to your face. 

It was one of the sweetest things a guy had ever done for you, and Peter wasn’t even your boyfriend. He probably didn’t even think of you in that way.

“Uh, where do you usually get coffee?” he asked, slowing his pace so you could keep up. He felt bad seeing how tired you were, no doubt due to the lack of sleep you got last night.

“The Starbucks next to Hendrie Hall,” you replied, rubbing the sleep out of your eyes. “You?”

“I don’t drink coffee,” he admitted. “I’m actually more of a tea person.”

“Oh,” you hesitated, wondering if it was worth it to walk all the way across campus just for a caramel ribbon crunch frappuccino. “We could go somewhere closer then.”

“It’s okay,” Peter reassured you, grabbing your hand and pulling you along to your destination. “I like walking.”

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

You hadn’t really talked to Peter since that morning before class, but sometimes you would peek behind you and catch him stealing glances at you. Eventually, he had started to feel brave enough to give you a little wave whenever you caught him looking at you. Well, at least the times when you were awake.

One day, not even the loud shuffling and growing chatter of your classmates exiting the lecture hall could wake you up, and Peter figured he better do something before you got chewed out by one of the TAs.

“Y/N?” he said, leaning closer so that you could hopefully hear him. “Y/N. You gotta wake up. Class ended three minutes ago.”

He shook you a little bit, nervously hoping that you wouldn’t mind him touching you. Your eyes fluttered open, and you smiled softly as soon as you realized it was Peter. 

“Oh. Thanks,” you said, standing up to slide your empty notebook into your backpack. Your hand brushed the side of your mouth, making sure you hadn’t drooled onto yourself.

“You can borrow my notes,” he offered, glancing at you sheepishly as you gathered up your coat and fixed your hair. “If you want to.”

“That’d be great,” you sighed, wondering whether you should skip your next class and just go take a nap. At this point, you weren’t even bothering to put on makeup and you basically wore whatever clothes you had that weren’t already sprawled across your room.

“Are you alright?” Peter asked, walking close to you to make sure you didn’t fall over. He knew you were an insomniac, but you looked seriously sleep-deprived today. “Have you been sleeping at all lately?”

“Nope,” you huffed, lugging your perpetually heavy backpack along. “But I’m skipping the rest of my classes today. I’d rather lie that I’m sick through an e-mail than have to explain to my professors why I was sleeping during their classes.”

“Fair enough,” he agreed, stopping you in your tracks to take your backpack from you. “I’ve actually got some time before my next class. I can walk you back to your room and give you my notebook if that’s okay with you.”

“You don’t have to do that,” you told him, reaching to take your bag back from him, although he didn’t let you. 

“Y/N. Come on, you’re exhausted. At least let me carry your stuff, alright?” He had such a kind look in his eyes, and you certainly didn’t have the energy to keep arguing for no reason.

“Okay.” You crossed your arms, the cold air slowly waking you up as the wind hit your face. Your ears were super cold, but you were glad you had pulled your hair into a quick braid to keep it from flying everywhere.

It wasn’t long before you were kicking your boots off in your dorm room, your teeth chattering as you wrapped yourself in a blanket. 

“Do you want some tea?” you asked Peter, inviting him to sit down wherever.

“Sure, but I thought you drank coffee,” he reminded you, watching as you pulled an assortment of tea bags for him to choose from.

“I do,” you said, handing him the box and running to your bathroom to fill up the electric kettle. “But you drink tea.”

Peter’s ears suddenly felt hot. You had gotten tea just for him. Or maybe you were just a really good hostess and kept some around for all of your visitors. Probably the second option, he thought.

“Are you even allowed to have one of those?” he asked as the two of you waited for the water to boil.

“No,” you laughed, sitting next to him on your bed. For someone with so much space to themselves, you really needed to invest in more places to sit. “But you can’t have candles or fairy lights either, so I guess I’m just a rule breaker.”

“Guess I’ll just have to report you to the RA,” Peter teased, getting up to make himself a cup of earl grey. “Do you have any sugar?”

“Top drawer on the right,” you replied. “Do you have a sweet tooth?”

“Yes.” You watched as his lips blew on the tea to cool it down before remembering that it was weird to stare.

“You should let me bake something for you. What’s your favorite dessert?” You were kicking your dangling legs, suddenly feeling a lot more awake than this morning.

“Chocolate cake. With chocolate frosting,” he said in between sips, walking back over to you. With you on the tall bed and him standing, your faces were level with each other.

“I’ll have to make you one to thank you,” you smiled, peering into his eyes. Peter felt your heartbeat quicken, and the grin on your face as you stared at each other made him weak in the knees.

“Can I get those notes?” you asked, making him remember that people don’t just look at each other and say nothing like that.

“Oh! Yeah, definitely.” He quickly set the mug down on your nightstand to rummage through his backpack, flipping one of his notebooks open before handing it to you. “There are the ones from today, but all of the ones I’ve taken this semester are in there too.”

“Wow,” you laughed, making a worried expression form on his face.

“What’s wrong? Are they not good?”

“No, it’s not that. They’re just, uh, very thorough.” He had basically transcribed your professor’s lectures onto the pages. “You must write really fast. But thank you, Peter. I really appreciate it.”

Peter nodded before nervously gulping down the rest of his tea, not even noticing how hot the liquid still was as it nearly burned his throat. 

“I should go now,” he started, looking around the room for his things. “I want you to get some rest, Y/N. Please.”

He had this look in his eyes that was so genuine—so full of care and concern—that it made you want to do whatever he asked you to.

“I’ll try,” you told him, awkwardly rubbing the top of your arm in the hopes that you could actually fall asleep after he left. “Have a nice day, Peter.”

“Bye, Y/N. I’ll stop by later,” he said, already halfway out the door. “For the notes, I mean! Uh, bye. Again. Okay. I’m going to go now.” 

You giggled, giving him one last wave before he left. Like magic, the more you thought about how Peter was worried about you, the easier it was for you to drift off into a peaceful sleep, finally feeling at ease for the first time in weeks.

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

You woke up later that day to Peter knocking on your door, this time standing next to some guy in a brightly colored Hawaiian shirt.

“Hi, Y/N,” Peter greeted you. You looked a lot less tired than when he saw you this morning, which relieved him. “This is my roommate, Ned. He just wanted to know who I’ve been hanging out with, so I hope it’s okay that I brought him here to prove you’re real and not a figment of my imagination.”

Ned leaned closer to you, your hair still a little messy from your nap. “Blink twice if he’s paying you,” he whispered, causing you to giggle. Peter looked on nervously, unsure of what his best friend had just said to you.

“What did you say!?” he asked, lightly pushing Ned on the arm, knowing that it was probably something meant to embarrass him.

“Ow! Okay, now I’m really not telling you,” Ned replied, rubbing the spot where Peter had just hit him.

“Y/N, what did Ned say to you?” He turned to you, a worried look on his face as you and Ned held back your laughter. Peter’s face turned as red as a tomato, making you instantly feel a little bit bad. 

“It was nothing, Peter. Really,” you said, pulling him into the room with you. “It was nice to meet you, Ned. I’ll make sure he’s back before curfew.”

Ned laughed, offering a quick thumbs up and mouthing “I like her” to Peter before you shut the door on him.

“I knew that was a mistake,” Peter sighed, his back against the door. You were still a bit giddy from the exchange, giggling softly as he slowed his breathing.

“You don’t need to be embarrassed around me,” you reassured him. “We’re friends, right?”

“Yeah, of course. It’s just that…”

“What?” You could barely hear him as his voice trailed off.

“Well, uh, not all of my friends are, you know…”

“Spit it out, Peter,” you said, leaning closer so that you could hear him better.

“They’re not as pretty as you,” he muttered, making you blush at his words. Did he really think you were pretty?

“Oh. Thanks,” you smiled, tucking a piece of hair behind your ear. Peter lifted his head up, relieved that you didn’t think he was a creep or something.

“Your notebook’s on my desk,” you continued, stepping back a little to give him some space. You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding as the distance between you and him grew. “I just took a bunch of pictures, so I can look at them on my computer whenever.”

“Alright, awesome,” he said, walking over to collect it before turning back to you. “How’d you sleep?”

“Pretty well, actually. The best I’ve slept in a while. I think you’re some kind of good luck charm.”

“Really?” he asked, a little surprised that he had been helpful.

“Really. You know, I’ve been thinking…”

“Yeah?”

“Maybe it’d be nice if we hung out somewhere that wasn’t my room all the time,” you said, a hopeful look in your eyes. “If you want.”

Peter had never noticed it before, but the two of you really did spend most of your time together in your room. It really was a nice room, but it made sense that you’d want to get out of it every once and a while.

“I’d like that. What did you have in mind?” Play it cool, Parker, he told himself. You can freak out with Ned later.

“How about ice cream on Friday?” you suggested, which came as a bit of a surprise to him.

“In the middle of winter?” As far as Peter could remember, you were always cold.

“Yeah. I really love ice cream,” you added, smiling up at him.

“Okay, then. Ice cream it is,” he agreed. There was absolutely no way he could ever say no to you when you looked at him like that.

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

“May! No, it’s not a date. She’s just a friend. Yeah, I got it. Open the door, pay for her, don’t be an idiot!” Peter sighed into his phone, hoping his aunt’s unwarranted crash course on first dates would be over soon. “Yes, I’m wearing the green sweater. Thanks, love you. Bye!”

“I have no idea who told her I had a date tonight,” he groaned, slumping down onto the couch next to his best friend.

“I texted her,” Ned replied nonchalantly, not even looking away from whatever video game he was playing. “Knew you’d need some kind of pointers. Y/N is way out of your league.”

“Hey!” Was he right? Yes. Did Peter need to be reminded of it right before his not-a-date date with you? Definitely not.

“Come on, you know I’m right. It’s Liz Allan all over again. I have no idea how you keep pulling all of these pretty girls, but hey, credit where credit is due.”

“You’re so mean.”

“I keep it real and you love it. Good luck, man.”

“Bye,” Peter grumbled, slipping on his coat and walking out of their room. Four flights of stairs later, he was at your door.

“Hi!” you squeaked, wrapping your arms around him. This was the first time the two of you had ever hugged and Peter was not going to forget about it anytime soon. “Come in. I have a surprise for you!”

“Here,” you continued, holding out a blue and white beanie for him. “I made it for you. To match all those blue sweaters you wear all the time.” Except this time, he was wearing a forest green one, which brought out the slight hazel tinge in his eyes.

“You made this for me?” he asked, eyeing the different stitches you had used and fiddling with the pom-pom on top. It looked store-bought.

“Well, yeah, silly. I just said that,” you replied, hoping that he liked it. With all the time you didn’t sleep, you were knitting anyway, but this was a special present for him. “Try it on.”

“I didn’t get you anything,” he sighed, pulling the hat onto his head. He looked really cute, the ends of his wavy hair peeking out from underneath the brim.

“Don’t worry about it,” you said, pulling him out of your room and towards the front of the dorm building. “Getting to hang out with you is good enough for me.”

“Where’d you learn how to knit?” Peter questioned, walking alongside you on the snow-lined sidewalks. With how cold it was, and considering he didn’t have a hood on his coat, it seemed like perfect timing that you had given him a hat.

“My grandma taught me,” you shared, taking in the twinkling of the streetlamps and how they bounced against the snow. In New York, that was practically the closest you could get to stargazing. “My, uh, grandparents actually raised me.”

“Oh. I was raised by my aunt and uncle,” Peter confided. It made you feel not so alone to find out that he didn’t grow up with his parents either, even though you knew firsthand just how hard it was.

“Do they live around here?” you asked, stealing glances at him and how rosy his cheeks were in the cold air.

“Yeah, my aunt lives in Queens,” he told you, staring at his feet to both avoid eye contact and make sure neither of you accidentally slipped. Not that he wouldn’t catch you, but he wanted to be safe. “My uncle actually passed away a couple of years ago.”

You stopped walking, immediately feeling a sense of regret. “I’m sorry, Peter. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“It’s okay, Y/N. There was no way for you to have known that,” Peter reassured you, his warm breath coming out in clouds, and he reached for your hand to run his thumb across your knuckles. He gently pulled you along, keeping you from dying of embarrassment in the middle of campus.

“What about you? Are you from around here?” he asked, hoping to break the silence and make you feel a little bit better.

“No, I just moved up here for college. I grew up in Texas but moved to North Carolina when I was 13, so I finished school down there,” you explained, Peter suddenly noticing a slight Southern twang to your voice. “I just really wanted to go to school in a big city and not next to a farm for once in my life.” 

“That makes sense,” he laughed, wondering what it would be like to live somewhere else. “I’ve only ever lived in New York City.”

“Do you like it here?”

“I love it. Wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, to be honest.”

“Me either,” you sighed, squeezing his hand tighter as the two of you enjoyed your walk in the snow.

It seemed like forever before you reached the ice cream shop, but you didn’t mind. That just gave you and Peter more time to get to know each other better. Turns out you both competed in academic decathlons, although you were more of a math person and he preferred science.

“Okay, you’re wrong. Night at the Museum 2 is so much better than the first one. I mean that kiss between Ben Stiller and Amy Adams? The Jonas Brothers as little cherub angels? Name one thing from the original that tops that,” you ranted in between spoonfuls of peppermint ice cream.

“I just really like when the little cowboy and gladiator are driving that toy car around,” he reasoned, subtly admitting defeat.

“Don’t even get me started on why the second Shrek movie—”

You were interrupted by the sound of Peter’s phone ringing, and you immediately recognized his ringtone as the Coconut Mall theme from Mario Kart. He peered down at his phone screen, sighing and mouthing an apology to you as he accepted the call.

“Uh, hey, Mr. Stark. Did you need something?” Well, at least you knew he wasn’t lying about his internship at Stark Industries. “Toronto? Tonight? I’m kind of busy.”

There was a long pause as Peter mentally kicked himself for talking back to Tony, resulting in an earful about how being an Avenger should always be at the top of his priorities.

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry. I’ll be right over… but I need a favor. Could you send Happy to pick my friend up? Yeah, it’s the ice cream shop on 1st. Thank you so much, Mr. Stark. Bye.” He frowned at you, and you could tell from what you had heard that he had to go.

“I’m sorry, Y/N. It’s just, something came up last minute and Mr. Stark really needs me to go on this business trip with him,” he apologized, pulling his coat on. “But, uh, he’s sending a car for you. So don’t worry about walking back alone, alright? I’m so sorry. I’ll make it up to you when I get back, okay? Bye!”

“Oh, okay. Bye!” you managed to call out before he was running out the doors and down the street. Lots of customers were staring as you awkwardly gathered your things and went to go wait on the sidewalk.

A few minutes later, a shiny black car had pulled up to the curb in front of you, a man rolling down the window.

“Miss Y/N? I’m Happy Hogan. Mr. Stark sent me to drive you home,” he called from the driver’s seat, before getting out to open your door for you. You stepped in, a little starstruck at how nice the car was. You had never been in anything this expensive before. 

The two of you were sitting in silence until you finally got the courage to speak up. 

“Mr. Hogan,” you started, causing him to turn down the smooth jazz that had been playing on the radio. “Do you know why Peter has to go to Toronto?”

“Yes,” he replied, glancing at you in the rearview mirror. “But I can’t tell you that.”

“Oh, okay,” you accepted, shifting to look out the window at all of the places in the city that you hadn’t yet gotten the chance to explore. 

Eventually, he was dropping you off in front of your dorm, and you were trudging inside to your room to sulk about how your not-a-date date with Peter had gotten interrupted. You stared at your ceiling all night, wondering when the next time you’d see each other would be, and whether or not he’d come back with the same cuts and bruises as when you had first met.

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

Peter had been gone for six days and counting, and you were starting to worry that he might never come back. You had already started missing him the night he left, and now it was just some agonizing waiting game for him to return.

You must have spent hours in the basement kitchen before deciding to visit the fourth floor where Peter lived. You knocked on the door and was quickly met with Ned’s shocked expression.

“Uh, hi, Y/N. Peter’s not here right now. Did you need something?”

“I know,” you acknowledged, holding up the plate in your hand. “It’s just, well, I’ve been baking a lot and I didn’t really know who to give all of these cookies to, so I was wondering if you wanted any.”

“Oh, in that case, sign me up!” You watched as his face lit up as he noticed the assortment of chocolate chip, sugar, and snickerdoodle cookies all still warm from the oven. He offered his hands out to take the plate from you, which you happily relinquished. 

“These are really good,” he complimented, his mouth full of a sugar cookie. “Can I keep the rest of them?”

“Yeah, of course,” you answered, doing your best to smile despite how much you wished it had been Peter opening the door. “I’ll see you around, Ned.”

“Hey, Y/N,” he called out to you, making you turn around on the stairwell. “Don’t worry. I’m sure Peter’s going to be back any day now.” You nodded, offering him a wave and walking back down to your room.

Turns out Ned had been right. The strange noises outside of your window were masked by how loud you were jamming out to We Didn’t Start the Fire by Billy Joel, jumping around and listing off the lyrics that had never made much sense to you. Peter knocked louder on the glass, startling you as you quickly switched off the music to investigate.

“Holy shit,” you whispered, squinting your eyes to make sure you weren’t hallucinating. “Spider-Man? Is that really you?”

You fumbled to push up your window, extremely confused as to why one of the Avengers was outside your bedroom this late at night.

“It’s me, Y/N,” he explained, his voice suddenly becoming extremely familiar. Your eyes widened as you realized who was behind the mask.

“Oh my god! PETER?” you screamed as he slipped through the window, pulling off his mask and clapping a hand over your mouth.

“Don’t freak out. It’s okay. It’s just me, okay?” he stammered in an attempt to get you to calm down before an RA heard. “I’m sorry, Y/N. I really wanted to tell you, but we were in public when I left, and I couldn’t risk it. And I didn’t want to text it or do it over the phone because it’s kind of a big deal, so I figured I’d just come to see you as soon as I got back and Mr. Stark said that you have to promise—”

“It’s okay, Peter,” you interrupted, wrapping your arms around him and burying your face into the very weird material of his spider-suit. “I won’t tell anybody.”

He softened under your touch, resting his head on top of yours. “I like your dance moves,” he whispered, making you glare up at him, your face suddenly very red.

“How long were you watching?” you groaned, dramatically throwing yourself onto your bean bag, your face covered by your hands.

“Only for about a minute,” he answered, pulling your hands down so you could see him grinning at you. “I especially liked how you used your hairbrush as a microphone. Plus, I thought we agreed to stop being embarrassed around each other?”

“Well, that was before I knew you were freaking Spider-Man!”

“Okay, fair enough,” he agreed, nudging you to scoot over and make room for him.

“So, that’s what that whole Toronto thing was?” you asked as he sat next to you, your knee touching his.

“Yep. There was this thing about aliens and these guys that could shapeshift. It’s a lot to explain.”

“Are you going to keep that thing on all night?” you asked, gesturing at his outfit, which was very tight and very distracting from whatever alien story he had to tell.

“Oh. Yeah, I guess so,” he shrugged. “I don’t have anything on underneath it.”

“How scandalous,” you teased. “Not so family-friendly after all, huh, Spidey?”

“Oh, shut up,” he quipped, rolling his eyes as you let out a long yawn.

“Have you been sleeping much?” he continued, suddenly remembering the issue that had brought the two of you together in the first place.

“Of course not. I’ve been too busy worrying about my classes and, oh, just some idiot I know that abandoned me in the middle of an ice cream shop. Pretty sure he said he’d make that up to me, by the way.”

“Okay, okay. Message received. What would you like?” Please say a kiss. Please say a kiss. Please say a—

“Can I meet them? The Avengers, I mean. It’s not like anyone else really has a secret identity except for you.”

“Oh. I mean, I’d have to ask Mr. Stark and the rest of the team and see if they’re cool with it, but I’ll see what I can do.”

“Awesome! You’re the best,” you chimed, wrapping your arms around him and planting a kiss on his cheek.

It was then that Peter decided he would just never be able to wash that side of his face again, his heart nearly skipping a beat.

“Peter,” you said, breaking the silence he had left the two of you in. “I’m tired.”

“Me too,” he sighed. “I should head up to my room. Gotta make sure Ned knows I’m still alive.”

“Yeah, of course,” you agreed, standing up to see him out. “Aren’t you worried somebody will see you, though?”

“Y/N, it’s 4 a.m. I’m pretty sure that you and I are the only people on campus that are awake right now.”

“Oh, right. Still, be careful, okay?” you told him, slightly worried at his secret identity being found out by some college kid that just couldn’t stay off Twitter.

“Will do,” he said, smiling and giving you a little salute before leaving.

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

A few days later, before you could even greet him, Peter was already walking into your room. It was 10 p.m., a little earlier than when he usually came over, but by now you were used to him showing up at your door unannounced.

He was already wearing his pajamas, a t-shirt with a science pun and some flannel pants that he had invested in to avoid any more awkward moments between the two of you. You were dressed in leggings and a sweatshirt, the clothes you usually threw on after class just in case you fell asleep on accident. There had been more times where you had woken up sweaty with your jeans stuck to your legs than you were willing to admit.

“Okay, so I asked Mr. Stark about your request and he told me he doesn’t think now is a good time, but…” he grinned, holding out a giant cardboard box with some kind of minimalist home appliance on the front for you to look at.

“Am I supposed to know what that is?” you blinked back, trying to figure out what the hell you were staring at, considering that all of the text written on it was in a language you didn’t know how to read.

“It’s some fancy white noise machine from Japan. If I remember correctly, Mr. Stark said he made Pepper order it because I wouldn’t shut up about you, and it would be in everybody’s best interest if you got some sleep, so I could stop annoying him and the rest of the team.”

“Oh. That’s pretty thoughtful, I guess,” you said, gathering things off your floor to make space for it.

He set the box down on your rug and got to work opening it. Meanwhile, you were busy translating what exactly Tony Stark had so generously gifted to you.

“Peter, wait. This thing is like $300. Doesn’t he know that you can just look up whale noises on YouTube for free?”

“Yeah, but this one adjusts its volume based on the noises around it, has a light that simulates the sun rising, and has an alarm noise that’s supposed to support healthy cortisol levels.”

Peter peered up to see your arms crossed and brows furrowed, it suddenly becoming clear to him that the things he had just listed meant very little to you.

“Plus, he’s a literal billionaire, so I don’t think it was that big of a loss for him,” he added.

“Fine. Let’s just hope this thing works,” you sighed, watching as Peter leafed through the instruction manual before tossing it behind him. “It’s a little early to go to sleep, though.”

“Y/N, plenty of people go to sleep at 10. Not everybody is nocturnal like you.”

“I guess you have a point,” you agreed, kneeling down beside him as he fiddled with all the settings.

“I know,” he said with a smirk as you rested your chin on his shoulder to get a better look at what he was doing. “What time do you want to wake up? 7 a.m. would give us time to go get breakfast before class, but we could do 8 if you wanted to sleep in.”

“We?” you mused, liking the sound of that. “I guess that means you’re staying here tonight?”

“Well, yeah. I’m not letting you have all these overpriced rainforest noises to yourself.”

“Do 7. We can go get those blueberry muffins that you like,” you decided, standing up to get Peter’s makeshift bed on your bean bag ready. “Do you actually like sleeping on this thing, or were you just trying to be polite the first time I asked?”

“Dude, that thing is awesome. It’s like I’m on this little cuddly cloud, and then you add all those warm blankets and the twinkly lights and it’s the perfect recipe for me to fall asleep.”

“Wow,” you nodded, looking around your room to see all of the things that Peter was talking about. “I wish it worked that way for me.”

“Maybe it will, tonight.”

It didn’t. You were tossing and turning for nearly an hour to the agonizing sounds of birds cawing and the occasional monkey chatter, all set against the backdrop of a heavy thunderstorm. To be honest, it was something that would’ve given you nightmares when you were little.

“Y/N?” Peter whispered from the floor. “Are you sleeping?”

“No.”

“Me neither.”

“Could you turn that thing off? It’s really distracting me.”

“Yeah, of course,” he said, leaning over to switch the noise machine off. “Can I ask you something?”

“You can ask me anything.”

He hesitated, not really sure if he should ask the question that he had been thinking about for a while now. “How old were you when your parents died?”

You had to think for a moment, not really sure about the answer. For as long as you could remember, you just lived with your grandparents. “Um, well my mom left when I was a baby. And I think my dad passed away when I was four.”

“Oh,” Peter mumbled. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have a parent leave you, but he didn’t want to pry just in case it was a sensitive topic. “Are your grandparents from your mom or dad’s side?”

You rolled over to rest your head on the edge of your bed so that you could see him better. He looked so cute bundled up in all of your blankets, his hair already a bit messy. “They’re my mom’s parents. It’s weird. I see a lot of pictures of her from when she was growing up, and I look so much like her, but she’s basically a stranger to me.”

Peter opened his mouth to say something else, but there was a long pause and he decided not to.

“What about you? How old were you when your parents passed away?”

“Five or six. They met while working at the C.I.A. together, but most of my memories are from the stories my aunt and uncle told me when I was growing up.”

For a moment, neither of you could find the right words to say to each other.

“Peter,” you spoke up, interrupting his thoughts. “I’m really glad I met you.”

“I’m really glad I met you too.”

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

Peter’s next plan of action involved even more advice from his fellow Avengers, and you were not looking forward to trying out any of their suggestions. 

“Okay, so, Steve—I mean Captain America—said that when he was little, you know, in the 1940s, all he had to do was drink a glass of warm milk before bed.”

“I’m lactose intolerant,” you groaned, crossing your arms.

“I just saw you eat an entire pint of Ben and Jerry’s in one sitting the other day.”

“Regular milk has almost 15 times more lactose than ice cream. You’d think a science nerd like you would know that.”

“I’m a geek,” he scoffed, clearly a little bit offended. “Not a nerd.”

“Yeah, I can see that now. It’s okay, though. At least you’re pretty,” you said, pinching his cheek.

“Just try it,” he grumbled, handing you the warm glass and waiting impatiently for you to take a sip. If anything, the milk did a better job at keeping you up that night than putting you to sleep. Not even thirty minutes after you had gone to bed, you were feeling sick to your stomach.

“I hate milk,” you gagged, Peter holding your hair back as you kneeled over the toilet bowl. “My grandpa could never get me to drink it as a kid.”

“Is that why you’re so short?” he laughed, helping you up. You glared at him as you moved to the sink to wash the acidic taste out of your mouth.

“Shut up, Parker,” you quipped, tired and grumpy from how terrible you felt. “Let’s just go back to sleep.”

“Alright, munchkin,” he smiled, pulling you out of the bathroom and back towards your bed.

Somehow, the warm milk wasn’t even the worst of Peter’s ideas, because a few days later, he was standing at your door with a bottle of some Asgardian sleep aid from the lightning god himself.

“Are you sure this is safe for me to drink?” you asked, your eyes widening as you stared at the silvery liquid that was almost shimmering.

“Uh, I’m about 87% confident you’ll live,” he said, “But I’m 100% sure that it’ll work.”

“Gee, thanks. Now I really want to drink this weird alien potion,” you sighed, looking at him nervously.

“Just drink a little bit and see if you feel anything,” Peter encouraged, leaning over your shoulder. You nodded, hesitantly bringing the drink up to your lips to take a sip.

“This stuff tastes amazing,” you mused, taking a bigger gulp this time. “Like a blue raspberry slushie.”

“Whoa, that’s enough,” he warned, taking the bottle from your hands before you could drink any more of it. “We don’t want you to go into a coma.”

“I don’t feel anything,” you shrugged, frowning back at him. “Maybe I should—”

You stopped mid-sentence to let out a loud yawn, the potion starting to take effect. Peter caught you as you slumped down in your chair, helping you into bed.

“Okay. I definitely feel it now,” you admitted, already half asleep. Peter tucked you under your blankets, placing a kiss on your forehead as your eyes fluttered shut.

“Sweet dreams, Y/N,” he whispered, turning off your lights and softly closing the door behind him. 

For a moment, Peter had thought he had finally found a solution to your insomnia. At least before you slept through class the next morning. And then the day after that. But it wasn’t until the third day that he really started to freak out.

“Where’s Thor!?” he panted, having run all the way from his class over to the Avengers Tower. Wanda and Vision stared back at him from the kitchen, very confused at what he was so panicked about.

“He’s in his room,” Bucky called from the couch, his mouth full of popcorn as 13 Going on 30 played on the big screen. “What’s going on, kid?”

“No time to explain. Gotta go!” Peter called, sprinting up the stairs towards Thor’s room. He knocked frantically until the door finally swung open.

“Greetings, young Spiderling. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Thor smiled, his long, golden hair shiny as ever.

“I think I killed my almost-girlfriend!” Peter blurted out, practically sweating from how stressed out he was. “She drank that stuff you gave me and she hasn’t woken up in three days now!”

Thor chuckled, patting Peter on the head. “Do not worry, my brother. I’m sure she will wake up given time. It was a very potent drink, after all. Calm yourself.”

“Okay,” he sighed, relieved to know that he hadn’t poisoned you to death. “Cool. Cool, cool, cool. She’s fine. Everything’s fine. Thanks, man. I’ll, uh, I’ll see you around.”

“Farewell, Peter. May we meet again soon,” he grinned before closing the door in Peter’s face.

On the way back down the stairs, Peter figured he’d give you a call and see if you were still sleeping.

“Hello?” you groaned, your throat dry from just waking up. “Peter, what the hell happened to me?”

“THANK GOD YOU’RE ALIVE!” Peter yelled into the phone, making you recoil from the volume of his excitement. “You’ve been asleep for three days, Y/N. I thought you were dead.”

“I am very much alive,” you laughed, slowly feeling the potion wearing off. “Where are you?”

“Uh. I may have run all the way to Midtown to ask Thor if I had killed you,” he admitted, feeling you roll your eyes through the screen. “I was worried, okay?”

“Now you know how I feel whenever you leave for a mission,” you countered, glad that Peter couldn’t see how much you were blushing. “Hurry up and get your butt back over here. I have the weirdest dream to tell you about.”

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

Even if you still weren’t getting a full eight hours of rest at night, it was obvious that all of Peter’s efforts had vastly improved your sleep schedule. Over the past few months, you had gone from staring at your ceiling all night to actually being able to stay asleep for small periods of time.

“Your eyelashes are so long,” you mused, playing with Peter’s hair. He was sitting in between your legs and How the Grinch Stole Christmas was playing on your TV.

“Really?” He tilted his head back to look at you, batting his eyelashes and making you giggle.

“Yes. It’s not fair that boys get all of the pretty eyelashes,” you pouted, watching as the Grinch explained his plan to steal all of Whoville’s presents to his dog.

“I think yours are pretty,” he replied, a soft smile on his face. “But there’s a rogue one just hanging out on your face right now.”

“Can you get it?” you asked, your eyes still glued on the TV screen. Peter nodded, twisting around to gently brush the eyelash from your cheek.

“Do you want to make a wish?” he laughed, holding the little eyelash on the tip of his finger in front of you.

“Okay,” you agreed, squeezing your eyes shut and blowing it away. When you opened them, Peter’s face was only inches away from yours.

“What did you wish for?” His gaze shifted downwards to look at your lips for a split second, before returning to look into your eyes.

“I can’t tell you, dummy. Then it won’t come true.” You weren’t about to tell your best friend that you wished for him to kiss you. At least not now, while the two of you were stuck in this really weird “not dating, but more than just friends” limbo.

“Fine,” he frowned, crossing his arms and pouting in a way that you recognized had been mimicked after you.

“Don’t make fun of me,” you said, mirroring his stance. Your puppy dog eyes were definitely a lot more convincing than his.

“I’m not.”

“Uh-huh, sure. You smell really good, by the way. Well, your hoodie does. I could just wrap myself up in it and fall asleep.”

“How come you’ve never mentioned that before? You could’ve been out cold every night months ago!”

“Guess I was just too distracted by your dreamy face,” you teased, causing Peter to blush.

“Whatever. Seriously, though. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know. I think it took me a while to realize how sleepy I got whenever you were really close to me,” you shrugged. “You’re not mad at me, right?”

“Of course not. But if I had known sooner I would’ve just given you one,” he said, slipping the hoodie over his head and handing it to you. “Here, put it on. You better fall asleep instantly or I’m calling bullshit.”

“You caught me, Peter. This was all some elaborate plan for me to steal one of your hoodies.”

“Just put it on. The suspense is killing me.”

You rolled your eyes and pulled his hoodie on. Just from looking at Peter and how slim he was, you never would have guessed that it would be this oversized on you.

“How do I look?” you asked, striking silly poses in front of him. Peter involuntarily licked his lips and he knew he’d be replaying this image of you in his head for the next few weeks.

“You’re going to have to keep that,” he stammered, doing his best to hide how much he really liked seeing you in his clothes. “It looks a lot better on you. I, um, have to go do my homework. And call my aunt. And walk my roommate.”

Peter stumbled to his feet, staring at his wristwatch to maintain his act that he was late for something before grabbing his things and heading out the door, making sure to hold his backpack in front of him. “Let me know if the hoodie thing works. Bye!”

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

Brushing off Peter’s strangely abrupt departure from last night, you nuzzled into your pillow, the warm morning light spilling through your curtains. Last night had probably been your best sleep in months, and you even got to wake up late since it was Saturday. Things probably couldn’t have gone any better.

Before you knew it, you were running up to Peter’s room and banging on his door. He opened the door on your fourth knock, right after Ned had chucked a pillow at him, and you were met with his sleepy eyes and messy hair.

“It worked!” you yelped in excitement, twirling around and still wearing his hoodie. “Well, kind of. I fell asleep after about an hour, and then I slept for maybe three after that. But I had to pee in the middle of the night, and when I got back into bed I couldn’t fall back asleep until 6 a.m.”

“That’s some good progress,” he yawned, stepping out into the hallway to keep your little celebration from bothering Ned too much. “If only we could get you to sleep the entire night.”

“I know right. But I’m so happy!” you cheered, wrapping your arms around him. “We finally did something right!”

“We need to celebrate!” you continued, grabbing Peter’s hand and dragging him down the stairs. “Come on. We’re making you a chocolate cake!”

You stopped by your room on the way to the kitchen, piling a bunch of ingredients into Peter’s arms from your mini-fridge and various shelves.

“Okay, eggs, flour, butter, sugar, chocolate. Damn it. We’re all out of milk.” You side-eyed him, remembering the whole Captain America induced fiasco from a couple weeks ago. 

“I think we might have some in our room,” Peter laughed. “Ned drinks a lot of milk mixed with Milo powder. It’s some obsession he picked up when his family took a vacation to Australia. I’ll go get it.”

He set all of the ingredients you had given him on your desk and sprinted back up the stairs to raid Ned’s stash, already thinking of ways to apologize for it later.

A few minutes later he was knocking on your door, out of breath, and dressed to brave the many inches of snow that had fallen overnight. 

“We didn’t have any milk,” he panted. “But I can run to the dining hall and get a few cartons.”

“I’ll go with you.” You quickly pulled on your snow boots and layered your puffer coat on top of Peter’s hoodie, wrapping a hand-knit scarf around your neck just to be safe. “All ready.”

Getting the milk was the easy part. Making sure you didn’t die of frostbite was another story. By the time you and Peter got back to your room, your nose was super red and you couldn’t feel your toes.

“Okay,” you said, your teeth chattering. “I thought I was used to the snow by now, but that was something else.” You dropped your coat on the ground and climbed into your bed, burying yourself under your comforter.

“I thought we were making a cake,” he laughed, walking over to see you peeking out of the pile.

“Cake will have to wait,” you whined, your voice slightly muffled by the blanket. “Come here. I need some of your body heat.”

“Okay,” he stuttered, kicking off his sneakers and climbing in beside you. He had sat on your bed a lot since the two of you met, but this was the first time that he was actually laying in it. You snuggled up to him, and he hesitantly wrapped his arms around you.

“This is nice,” you sighed, nuzzling your head into his chest. “Is this one of your superpowers? Spidey-warmth?” Peter let out a soft laugh. It was silly but true. Ever since the bite, he never really noticed how cold it was outside anymore.

“Y/N,” he whispered, tightening his grip around your waist. Your head was nestled underneath his chin, and he could smell the faint citrus scent of your shampoo. “I need to tell you something.”

“What is it, Pete?” you yawned, your eyelids heavy from how comfy Peter’s cuddles were.

“I love you.” He held his breath, nervously waiting for you to respond.

“I know,” you giggled, intertwining your legs. “Sometimes, you talk in your sleep. You’ve probably professed your love for me at least eight times by now.”

“Oh.” Peter had no idea how he was supposed to respond to that.

“Don’t worry. I love you, too,” you assured him, grinning and placing little kisses on his jawline. “I thought that was obvious.”

“Maybe you could make it a little more obvious,” he mumbled, his heartbeat getting quicker as you shifted up to kiss him on the lips, your hand running through his hair.

“I will,” you smiled, your forehead resting against his. “But after we take a nap, okay?”

“Okay,” Peter agreed, snuggling as close as he possibly could to you, never wanting to let go. In no time at all, he watched happily as you fell asleep in his arms, wondering how the two of you hadn’t thought of this sooner.

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

Taglist: @hommyy-tommy @itsgonnabeohtay @alltimekyn @allycat449-blog @greatpizzascissorstaco @dummiesshort @parkerpeterparker2004 @letssee2468 @parkerlovebot @alytavzla @yourbiggestspiderfan @silentium-tais-toi @jailcalledlife @orangesodafoam @obsssedwithjustaboutanything @hufflepuffprincess24 @hollanddolanfangirl @in-a-lot-of-fandoms-tbh @spideydreamers @taciturnspidey @harrisonsoceaneyes

P.S.: Please shoot me an ask or a reply if you’d like to be added to (or removed from) the taglist!

[troop52]

do u !!! have any character theme songs for the troop boys? Like any songs you think really fits them (and why u think it fits)?

THATS A GREAT QUESTION!!

Before I get into it Im going to plug this collaborative Troop Playlist on Spotify, feel free to add onto it!! Continuing with my picks

I think a lot of the songs I associate with The Troop in general are just because I happened to listen to them around the same time I got into the book in the first place (So they could only be tangentially related BUT only if you squint hard) Example: Drunk by The Living Tombstone, cant really tie it into the story but in my mind its linked Some better, more fitting songs under the cut (Side note its LONGGG IM SORRY... Also its all YouTube links because some of these arent on Spotify :'^()

Disclaimer -Like 95% of my choices arent really a "These lyrics match up exactly 1 to 1" but more of an overall "the vibe/general idea its trying to capture lines up" type thing. If that makes sense.

Its Alright by Jack Stauber: Kind of self explanatory, I think its a perfect song for these guys. From "It's alright, I'm here, Everything's alright, Feels weird but calm, I wanna hear It's alright" to the whole sound of it- its all great. Equal parts distressing and sad with an almost eerie calmness to it. Despite it all theyre gonna be alright, right?

The Second Little Piggy by Worthikids: Another one that I think is sort of self explanatory- at least with the chorus. "If my brain turns to mush, If the shit hits the fan, Will you be my friend?" Kind of the falling apart of everything, specifically their relationships, in light of the incident.

Poor George by James Supercave: Another case of "listened to at the same time I read the book" BUT I was actually making a Troop PMV script with that song. I never finished it but maybe Ill revisit it... just for you

Cold Summer by Le Matos ft Computer Magic: I dont even think this takes place in the summer but the VIBES and also it came from Summer of 84, which is another good piece of murder boy media.

Treehouse by Alex G ft Emily Yacina: This is a Eef and Max type of song because they are bffs and thats final. Basic song because Im not creative, but I think its a nice heart to heart theyd have (with Eef doing the talking)

Fifteen Minuets by Nick Krol: On the flipside heres a song that goes with Eef and Maxs friendship fracturing, once again more from Eefs side than Maxs. THE GIRLS ARE FIGHTINGGG

As far as songs for the boys as individuals hmmm thats a good one that I havent thought about as much...

MAX + The Ghosts by The Real Tuesday Weld: That survivors guilt... lyrics arent like a perfect match but I think it gets that sort of hollow feeling across. Hes haunted man... + Final Girl by Electric Youth: Ok its a little funny because har har Final Girl Trope but I mean HE IS ONE. ANd dont look at me its a nice song- "Others were gone, and you kept going on, You know they never really noticed, you were always different, One by one, They're all done, And you're the last one standing" + Going Grazy by Lonesome Wyatt and the Holy Spooks: HONESTLY this could go for all the characters but Im tagging it onto Max because hes the one who has to deal with the aftermath of losing everyone (sorry survivors guilt Max again </3) "Everyone's saying my mind is unsound, 'Cause I always see you when you aren't around" "They're gonna wrap me in a jacket of white, And lock me away in a room without light" is what cements it as a Max song for me

EEF + The Existential Threat by Sparks: Once again starting sad, I link this one specifically to his paranoia about the worms- especially with lines like "Can't they see the existential threat is on its way". Kind of exasperated no one else can see the danger (he thinks) hes in. + Wrecking Ball by Mother Mother: I know I know its basic but I cant help it!!! Eef anger issues arc we are shaking hands me too + Haunted by Laura Les: Eef struggles with people seeing him as "just like his father" and I think we can get some good angst out of this track if we keep that in mind. Especially the back half of the song with lyrics like "Do you think I'm frightening?" and "Mirrors shatter when I'm passing, broken glass and crashing" since he is just a reflection of his dad (to others at least). Also song good.

KENT + Goodbye Mr A by The Hoosiers: Mfw the disillusionment with authority sets in. I think the vibe fits when he had that little epiphany about how adults are fucked- not perfect but it gets the idea across me thinks. + I'm Gonna Win by Rob Cantor: Ties into his need to "win" aka be the best at everything, be in charge, all that jazz! Hell do whatever it takes to be successful, even if it hurts. That was a little emo + Toba the Tura by Forgive Durden ft Chris Conley: Not to be emo again but "They say you're gifted, well I just see a scared kid. They must have flipped it, your skills are latent. O, you snuffed the glow. Replaced it with coals. Threw away the throne... This mess that you've made, it's a six-foot grave. It's a home for your lonesome bones that remain. We'll disappear, but you'll stay here to rot" AND SO ON AND SO FOURTH representing his fall after it was revealed he was sick. He was referred to as "the uncrowned king" and was on top of the world but then POOF that all crumbled and it was made out that he basically deserved what happened to him. It would be fun to make a pmv of him with this song (Simplifying my thoughts a bit because Ive already written a LOT)

NEWT + I Earn My Life by Lemon Demon: Ok a little Kentcore but Im actually having a hard time coming up with songs for Newton so here we are, they can share. Newt existential crisis moment time I guess + Know How by The Crane Wives: POV Newt struggles with going through with the plans he makes to keep everyone safe (stopping Max from touching Kent, going back into the cabin, etc) "I am not brave, I am not brave, I keep my focus on what is safe, You drew a line, made up your mind, And now I'm struggling to realize" And also maybe struggling with his place in the group and as a person in general- all that living through his cousin thing. "I gotta wrap my head around, What my heart is telling me, I've been trying to drown it out, Just because I know what I am, I am supposed to do now, Doesn't mean I know, Doesn't mean I know how" + On The Outside by Oingo Boingo: Idk man. Hes on the outside lookin in!! Loner nerd!! Its ok though, we still love him

SHEL + Bad Blood by Creature Feature: The lyrics speak for themselves: "I can guarantee I will do evil things, The only way that you can stop me now, Is if you put me in the ground, Somewhere I'll never be found" + Frontier Psychologist by The Avalanches: Hinges on the fact that the principal or whoever was like "Your sons a freak" and Shels mom was like "HES PERFECTLY FINE" while Shelley was like dismembering an animal or something + Johnny by American Murder Song: The songs good but theres this ONE LYRIC that sucks so the link provided is an edited version and also a lovely Warriors oc video I think you should all enjoy and support <3 Anyway Shel would be Johnny I could see this song being a scene in the book. Field trip to Shels house and they find his murder garden

If anyone wants more for Im not opposed to making another post :^)

[bangtangalicious]

content tag game

thank you lovely @yoongsisbae for the tag! this was a lot of fun! please pardon my pitiful attempts at being funny in this.

1. what fandoms have you written for (but do not currently)? none

2. what fandoms are you currently writing for? bts

3. how long have you been writing? 3-4 months..novice af. i read a lot tho!

4. on which platforms do you post your stories? just here!

5. what is your favourite genre to write? *coughs* smut.

6. are you a pantser or a planner? both? wait whats a pantser

7. one shot or multi-chapter? both are fun in their own ways. series are fun bc you can fall in love with the characters more (yeah dv!yoongi im look @ you)

8. what is the perfect chapter length in your opinion? <15k

9. what is your longest published story? is it complete? death valley. she's not complete no

10. which story did you enjoy working on the most? death valley of course. hate love her so much.

11. favorite request you’ve written and why? i mean they're all super fun, you guys are CREATIVE. hc's are just so fun especially for touch me wherever!!! for drabbles, i have a tmw somnophilia sleepover one in drafts rn thats just...hotttt. needy!koo things. oops.

12. are there reoccurring themes in your stories? manipulation, exploitation...neediness. greed. possessiveness i guess??? my fics are not really consistent genre wise. generally toxic behaviors/situations? lol yikes. we empower oc here. like...eventually. yknow. ;)

13. current number of wips? so whenever i get a request ill jot down my thoughts instantly and save it in drafts. let it marinate until it hits me and then ill write it. so i have a lot of wips rn. i also have a series wip but. thats a story for another day ;)

14. three things you have noticed about your own writing? 1. i *clearly* dont edit/proofread LMAO 2. i like playing with like...sentence lengths? to mimic emotions? theres a term for it but idk 3. i use a lot of extended dash lines —

15. a quote you like from a published story.

“You look really hot like that.” His hand rested on the top of your head. “Bet you suck cock real good” —death valley; part 0

HAHAHAHAHA im sorry. actually im not sorry.

16. a quote from an unpublished story.

"Another night of soft whispers, muted thoughts, and dazed loving. Puffs of grey smoke concealing the passing of orange candy, moving person to person through a delicate brush of wrist. Orange candy that ultimately found its way to the tip of your tongue, where the words you looked for couldn’t be found.

Those lost words were for the broad, handsome, stunning man who sat in the corner of the club. One woman on his arm, another on his lap, whose hair he mindlessly tugged on as he conversed with his peers. The words that now twisted your heart sore, and had you stumbling up to the bar and grabbing a glass of whatever was in front of you.

[from future series...uh yeah idk itll prolly change so...ugh i dont like it]

17. a space for you to say something to your readers.

you're hot. i appreciate you. i hope you're loving yourself bc ur all fucking icons. live your best life. i value your support so much. like i respect each & every one of you. i hope this is a safe & empowering space where we can vibe. nothing but love <3

i tag: @namjooningelsewhere @bibbykins and legit anyone else that wants to!!! tbh i havent interacted with many other authors bc i dont know how this works lmao so...if you write tell me! i wanna hype you the fuck up. shower you with love. seriously. any other bts authors like, slide in. no shame. i wanna read ur works!!! i am 10000% better at reading than writing lmao. i dont often participate in tag games a lot so totally chill if you dont wanna i get it, no worries. stay thriving <3