#me: PINK ! YELLOW !! FUCKING TEAL FOR NO GOOD REASON !!!!

[djevelbl]

AAAAA I KNOW I'M LATE but. BUT

what if i offer: dumb doodle comic?

I need to read the wiki more often, I DIDN'T KNOW it was his birthday :(((

BUT i gave him cake 🙏🙏

[its-sunny-somewhere-else]

OMORI PONIES for fun as cope. Ironically the real world ones are more colorful than the dreamworld ones lol

Sunny/Omori

Unicorn. I kind of just thought "whatever go dull" at first but then I thought it'd be interesting if part of the reason his dreams and nightmares are so detailed/fucked up as hell is because of some magic going fucked up, seemed cute in a way.

The cutie mark for Sunny is a sun (NAME) but it's also got a crescent moon shape over it, sort of ominous. One random line from the game that stuck with me was an NPC in the dreamworld or something saying "the moon shines brightly today", as the sky in it always fascinated me with how strange it seemed and how it's Always Nighttime and how that goes thematically with his real name being Sunny but not in this world.

Omori's is the demon because ofc his existence is defined by it. Sometimes it disappears.

Colorwise, Sunny's coat is supposed to be a brighter yellow but is very dull right now..

Mari

Unicorn also to match with her brother, and because one of the first things you notice about her in the dreamworld is her teleporting all the time. Seems magic to me!

The cutiemark is a picnic blanket. If I had more space I'd do the basket. It's very iconic Mari imagery, plus it signals both her ability to cook and her care for others!

She's a light purple in the real world, which is tied to everyone being purple in the dream world sort of like how in the game she wanted to dye her hair purple before she died and because of that everyone in the dream world has purple hair.

Kel

Pegasus because I felt like it fit his "free" personality. He's a blank flank in the dream world! He hadn't gotten his yet the last time Sunny saw him. During the four years Sunny was hiding, Kel got one, so he missed out on that. I haven't exactly thought of what it is, though.

He's blue with orange hair because I associate orange with Kel and the blue just seems to work to me.

Hero

Pegasus to match his brother. Without wings how could he catch up with him to make sure he stays out of trouble! hehe. Also makes him seem COOL

His coat is orange, like Kel's hair to show they're related, and his hair is darker blue! His cutiemark is a hero sandwich XD I THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY he likes to cook, and it's what he's named after! hehe

Aubrey

Earth pony, because those are associated with having more strength.

She also may have been a blank flank, but I think it's funny to retranslate her dialogue when it comes to tagging where she says "I'm not sure Kel even has a talent" or something along those lines to being about his blank flank lol. The cutiemark she has in the future at least is of her baseball bat. How do horses hold bats? You tell me, they do it in the show. CARTOON WHO CARES

She's blue (or maybe closer to teal, I might do that) because it's a nice vibrant color and matches her headband in the future. It goes well with pink or black hair.

Basil

Earth pony, association with plants and farming. Definitely a good pick for him.

The cutiemark is clearer in the real world version. It's a flower, but the center of it is a camera lens. He's obviously the flower boy, and the camera is INCREDIBLY important to his story both in the dreamworld and real world.

[thesoftestcowboy]

thoughts on the colors red, blue, green, and yellow? any comments on the shapes triangle, square, or circle?? rhombus

first of all i gotta tell you that im enjoying this ask twice as much cause i got multiple spam asks since yesterday and did not expect an actual question... anyway. im gonna answer this 200% in earnest, as it should be, obviously (yes i actually did write this out, strap in ig)

red: listen i know everyones favorite color seems to be blue for some reason but red is RIGHT THERE. i heard somewhere that not all languages differentiate the same colors as english (and other european languages), but the first color after light/dark there will be a word for is usually red. idk if thats true but seems plausible, cause yknow whats red? fuckin berries to eat, also blood (either concerning or also to eat, ig). cavepeople knew red was important business. also its pretty and you use it to make pink.

blue: not to imply that blue isnt also good. its got a range. looks very fresh. i do like a teal-ish blue but others are cool also. its really rare in nature ig? but if it does occur its looks rly good! (im saying this rn cause my desktop wallpaper has blue flowers lmao) also if i had a cent for every time i had dreams with intense, seemingly really significant blue night skies, i'd have 2 cents, which isnt much but weird etc etc.

green: ok i like green but, unpopular opinion time, i want neither a green couch nor a green kitchen. i want a pink couch and a blue kitchen. that being said green fucks and is part of some iconic things, such as HES GEEN, and also my favorite song green soop by dooboo, which references the fact that soups can be green (@geminyde)

yellow: finally yellow is super underappreciated. im kinda mad that yellow doesnt suit me super well in clothes cause theres so many cool yellow things id want on a shirt. people only ever think of bright neon yellow but it also had SHADES.

now, the shapes. people at art school will try to convince you that these have some deeper meaning and even a gender (??) cause some guy whose name i forgot claimed they do and thats bs. heres the actual truth about them. triangle pointy. also an instrument! theyre really flexible cause they can have wildly different angles and like?? thats different from squares, which are literally all the same, except for size ig? but thats nice it gives them a sense of stability. theyre ol reliable. ever wonder why they had town squares but never town triangles? well,

anyway the circle is most definitely the princess of shapes. you might think its really basic compared to like uhh a trapezoid or whatever cause you learn about it in kindergarten, but its so fucked up it has ZERO angles?? but then if you wanna render it its got a huge amount of angles/into infinity instead? you can calculate any shapes area with basic maths basically but ohh noo not the circle. its soo special. we love that for him but you gotta be honest.

ngl i had to look up what a rhombus is and its just idk a Raute ig. its a rectangle who wants to be special. which is fine we all need some attention sometime but like, its a rectangle on its side. its doing its own thing. i think it should have a different english name tho tbh. rhombus reminds me of the name rhonda and that has a different vibe. idk if that one was also a question or just an addition tbh but there u go

so thats it thanks for asking like comment subscribe

[two-baes]

New MH dolls are dropping so it's time for another segment of 'Mel, who does not collect dolls, gives her opinion on dolls (that she does not collect)'

Starting us off: SSS5 Dracularua:

The doll itself I think is absolutely lovely!! I LOVE the two hair colors they picked for her together, also it's interesting to see them finally stray away from the black & pink that is her normal default and do something different.

I also like her makeup! I know a lot of people have been asking for a darker lipped drac as opposed to the light or coral-y pinks she tends to have, so I think this'll make a lot of people very happy!

All in all, I think she is pretty!

Moving on to her outfit: Oof. It's uh. Very mish-mashed, imo. I don't feel like ANY of these pieces really go together to form one cohesive outfit?

Usually these Skulltimate Secrets dolls have at least a few pieces that clearly fit together, this one I feel?? Does not. I think this might be the 1st time I don't think ANY of the pieces work together as a whole, and I think every possible combination you could do with any of the items would still look incohesive.

That said, there are individual pieces I like, by themselves: Both shoe sculpts I think are cute! And the dress pattern I think is also cute. And the skirt with bows I also think is a cute piece.

I absolutely HATE those stockings tho, why they cut off randomly at the toes?? That just looks incredibly fucking dumb.

OH, I also like the plastic corset accessory. I think that and the heeled shoes could be cute used in a restyle together.

Moving on to Twyla:

They've changed her hair colors around so they're now an inverse of how they usually are. I don't DISLIKE it, but I'm also not loving it for some reason. Maybe it's the hairstyle...? IDK. The colors themselves are fine bc like I said it's literally just they flipped the amounts of her usual colors so it's dark w/ light streaks now, instead of light w/ dark streaks.

Her makeup... I feel like now she's TOO purple? With the majority of her hair now being purple instead of teal, I feel like they should have her makeup be teal, instead of purple?? Or at least incorporate SOME teal into it?? Maybe in her eyeshadow? Or at least her lips? I think a darker teal shade, like the one used for some of her pieces, would be a good shade for her lips.

IDK just, the all purple makeup, with the mostly purple hair feels like Too Much. Esp with the fact that Twyla's skin is already purple. I feel like Twyla is usually a good balance of purple AND teal, but this one is VERY purple heavy, and imo it's just not as good of a look for her.

Now on to the clothes: Honestly she suffers from the same problem as Draculaura where, not a SINGLE one of these pieces feels like it belongs together, and not a single combo (to me) feels like it makes for a cohesive outfit.

Unlike right Drac, I don't really even like any of the pieces on their own, sadly, with the exception of her purse. And that gingerbread house, I think that's v cute lmfao.

Also hate that they gave her those dumb cut off at the toe shoes too? Ig everyone gonna be having those in this line?? They look so dumb.

Moving on: Venus!

I'm happy to see Venus get a second doll! ...I just wish it was one that I liked the look of more.

Starting off w/ her hair, I don't love the inclusion of the yellow-green. I also think she looks better with a full head of braids, vs straight with a few braids, tho I am glad to see that she has at least SOME braids at all. But the straight hair just looks weird to me, esp when she still has sculpted on braids, on the side??

Secondly, I don't like how much of her forehead is covered by those vine-like babyhairs in this doll? I think her first one did it better:

Moving on to her makeup: I don't like it.

Lmao.

I love a good bright red lipstick, but I do NOT think it works with this doll, esp when she doesn''t have red aNYWHERE else on her. Like no part of her outfit contains any red. There's a LITTLE in her undereye shadow, but I don't feel like it belongs there, either.

On to her outfit: To the surprise of no one, she suffers from the same problem of 'none of these pieces go together'. Except ig, the dress by itself, the tights, and the black/pink shoes COULD form a cohesive outfit, bland as it would be, so I guess that gives her a point over the other two.

I do like her dress by itself, though, and actually?? the 'cut-off at the toes' thing works this one (1) time, because she has tights instead of stockings. Also I like that her earrings are little planters, that's cute.

[saphushia]

I love you art!! Do you have any advice for choosing colors that work well together?

thank you! colors mostly just come naturally to me (whether its actually natural or if i've just internalized color theory so strongly that it feels natural i'm not sure lol) so im not very good at actually explaining it. most of it is genuinely just what looks good to you, but looking up some basics of color theory can help a lot to narrow down options so it's easier to pin down what you want.

doing those limited palette challenges (especially when the subject matter doesn't necessarily fit the palette colors) can be good practice and i think at least a small portion of my skill in the area comes from playing those color-sorting phone games like blendoku or i love hue lol. also probably related is the year or so when i was younger where i just refused to use gradients whatsoever for some reason

that aside, here's very bare bones color theory (i wont get into it too deep, there's a billion explanations online that are leagues better than i could explain it) and some tips that might be useful?

|img source|

i tend towards 2-tone palettes when i'm doing full color n they usually end up being complimentary (purple + yellow, green + pink) or close (blue + yellow, green + purple, pink + blue). i like a good strong contrast, which i think is generally what people mean when they say my style pops- having contrast makes the colors seem even brighter and stand-outish.

| left || top || bottom || right |

maybe that ^ helps? the ratios are rough estimates of how much of each pic is each color group. some common advice in general design (it's actually used in a lot of stuff- webpages, interiors, etc) is having 60% main color 30% secondary color and 10% accent color (but like i said, i mostly work in 2 colors so i don't have a great example on hand)

as for finding colors, i'll sometimes search for photography that has the kinda vibe i want- for the kindred spirits pic i literally searched "blue and green spooky toxic photography" and i think i ended up referencing a pic of green lights reflecting off of wet pavement on a dark street.

one big thing that i hardly ever see mentioned but i personally utilize an absolute fuck ton- dulling colors makes them lie. use this to your advantage. say you're using bright green; if you use a gray-blue it can look like purple and will blend with the green instead of contrasting like an actual purple would

| right example |

of course there's lots of situations where you do want the purple (or whatever color) to be a contrast, but this is useful when you don't.

a lot of the time lately i'll color everything in a base monotone (or very slightly varying analogous colors ie teal through indigo) and then make the lighting a contrast (complimentary) color on an 'add' or 'vivid light' or other lighting layer, then sometimes color pick the contrast colors shown in the lighting n use them sparingly to fill in a few of the base colors that didn't fit well being the base color. you can see that in the drowning picture (blue is the base color with pink lighting) and the kindred spirits drawing (gray-blue base colors with green lighting).

one last thing: never be afraid to use filters. almost all of the finished art i post has at least one overlay or gradient map or tonal correction layer ontop of it all. i'm quite partial to a low-opacity gradient map layer set to whatever colors i scrolled thru in my list and liked the vibe of, a black and white gradient map layer with the layer set to brightness (also on low opacity), or messing around with a tone curve or color balance layer. if someone starts shit with you for using filters on your art fucking block them. in general if it looks good it isn't cheating (insert common sense caveat that you aren't stealing other people's art etc etc)

[smolfailure]

FUCK IT, DREAM SMP HOMESTUCK AU

but it's only half shitposts and there are actual Thoughts in there.

You don't need to have read the comic to understand because I tried not to spoil anything major, but it'd help if you knew basic stuff about classpects, SBURB and the hemospectrum.

disclaimer: i'm not a good pixel artist and this is my first actual sprites ever so please be kind to my weird pixels

The Kids:

Tommy

Fundy

Techno

Tubbo

tommy, tubbo and fundy one of the kids because they're the kids in dream smp canon (with fundy being son of wilbur)

techno's there because i want to make a dave strider reference (haha get it because techno's name is also da-- *gets shot) and also because they are both coolguys except instead of using irony, techno has adhd

The Trolls:

Wilbur Soohte (fuschia)

?????? Ehrret (violet)

J????? Shlatt (purple)

Nihacu Niikki (indigo)

Skeppy Diamon (cerulean)

Quacki Tthiey (teal)

Philza Myncra (jade)

Dreame Wastkn (lime disguising as olive)

George Notfou (gold)

Sapphe Nahfpe (bronze)

Badboy Haelow (burgundy)

don't come at me saying only females are allowed to be jades and fuschias; gender is fake and this is an au

more of the AU and the talksprites are under the cut:

Tommy

Lunar sway: Derse. Types in: Red

chaotic. the first person to be introduced.

when he gets introduced instead of the “Zoosmell Pooplord” bit, Tommy is initially going to be the name inputted but then backspaced it and decided that Tommyinnit was better and he was fuming until he’s named Tommy.

Gives me big Blood/Hope vibes. Blood because a lot of the conflict of the dream smp connected to someone breaking his trust or harming the things he cares about, Hope because a lot of the plot of the dream smp stems from Tommy starting shit based on his ideals and what he thinks is right.

the first to instigate fighting against the trolls

bbh contacts him once and tommy keeps cursing until he disconnects from frustration rip

wields Gunkind and his only strife weapon at the beginning is the Vlog gun. He has Gunkind as his strife specibus mainly because he looked up at schlatt and he imitates him.

Fundy

Lunar sway: Prospit. Types in: Orange

it was his idea to play SBURB but only through Dream.

he talks to dream the most among the other trolls fwt stans getcha juice this is the rosemary of the session

dream’s the one giving him exposition about the game so that’s how he knows how to play SBURB.

wilbur trolls fundy once and instantly adopts him.

“You’re my son.” “How does that even work??” “I was one of the people who created your universe. It’s basically the same thing.”

Fundy relents anyway.

Techno

Lunar sway: Derse. Types in: Pink

dave strider but dead-inside voice + rose lalonde english major vibes

he slices the text box when you try to name him "Dave " like in

techno gives me time player vibes (contantly on the move. his skyblock series, his “stays in the pit” monologue,) but also rage vibes (anarchy,  the “theseus” monologue, political alignment is Chaos) alas i am not sure what class

uses Tridentkind and claims "it came from god"

 it was dream, he accidentally transportalized one of wilbur’s weapon while he testing the transportalizer.

Tubbo

Lunar sway: Prospit. Types in: Green

the jade harley of this session. the only thing keeping them from going apeshit. where would they be without him.

but also jade harley in a sense that he seems nice and wholesome but also don’t fuck with them they can mess you up

Heart/Life vibes??? someone good at classpecting help

i put them in prospit bc of the "tubbo third eye" instead of tubbo having a sixth sense or smth, they see the future from the clouds of skaia when they sleep

wields Stress-relieverKind at some point

bonus: everyone’s actual hair colors

Ideas about the Trolls

no i haven’t done their sprites yet bc it would take so much time and i’m not even sure if people wanna see more of this au skjdkdsakdfkl,, but i have Design Ideas.

events of the dsmp revolution are just a FLARP session drawing parallels to how the homestuck trolls had a FLARP session that spoiler alert: destroyed friendships. dtrio, eret, will are involved. eret betrays will's faction and wilbur's still Bitter over that.

on the context of alternia (highbloods and lowbloods) lmanburg and dreamsmp have their roles SWAPPED.  the emancipation theme thing is completely gone since highbloods are in more power than the lowbloods (the dream team) . 

wilbur made a faction called l’manburg because he wants a place where he and his fellow highbloods could make drugs vibe.they take a piece of land that was owned by the dream team. in normal circumstances, they shouldve stood down because lowbloods aren't supposed to start shit with highbloods (especially a group of highbloods that has the alternian heir among them)  but dream turned it into an activism thing about lowblood rights. the story plays as close as possible without tommy or tubbo in it (which is pretty hard ik but this is the best can do).

like in the dreamsmp revolution, dream kinda let wilbur do what he wants but this time he has more reason to because he’s in a lower caste. dream really only fought back when wilbur announced that he’d be building lmanburg on their land and calling it theirs.

eret betrays wilbur by supporting the lowbloods and wilbur and co. technically won but only because he finally called the drones in, as a reference to how lmanburg absolutely got crushed by the dream team in the smp but technically won. l’manburg keeps the piece of land and the dream team scatter away to find a new home.

wilbur soot's a fuschia because a) he's in a position that has a lot of power, b) yknow how he wrote a song about squids and his thing with sally… yeah.

eret's a violet because nobility!! dream looks down on him because he's ambivalent on fighting for lowblood rights when he's in a power to do so "you just sit there, and you look pretty that's it"

also like eridan he has a minor aesthetic mutation (herobrine eyes) that won't classify him as a mutant.

jschlatt is purple because it makes sense thematically because of the gamzee parallels (a. substance abuse b. if you know what happens in act 6, you know this already but spoiler alert, he ruins the main protagonists' lives) also he's a funnyman he deserves the clown caste

 quackity's a teal because he’s a law student. moving on--

 ok but for real it also makes sense thematically because he's the one who wrote the thing that tricked schlatt into agreeing also he gets manipulated by schlatt which also draws parallels to certain events in the comic

skeppy and bbh are BEST FRIENDS despite being highblood and lowblood respectively. initially, skeppy just wanted to bother bbh but they grew to be good friends in time. y’know like how they actually becane friends :D

philza minecraft is a jade because dad friend. also works thematically, because spoiler alert he gets to murder a seadweller for going batshit crazy. 

he also god tiers early. he dies fighting his quick undead denizen (haha baby zombie) but the consorts of his land carry him to his quest bed because he’s treated them all so well.

dream was initially going to be another caste but then i realized that means i have to make his hoodie something other than green which is unacceptable so its a good thing the fact that he's a lime works out

dream was the one who thought of playing sgrub in the first place- initially only planned to have gogy, sap, and bbh in the session but then realized that they four won't be enough so he invited more into his session

he’s also the first to go godtier ez clap blind speedrun not sure what classpect tho

the only reason why dream avoided being culled at birth for being a limeblood is because his rng is That Good. he quickly picked up the fact that he’s not supposed to exist and masqueraded as an oliveblood and kept mostly to himself to avoid suspicion.

george is still colorblind but he has lazer eyes along with it instead. dream lives with him in the same hive since being a mutant means dream doesn’t get a lusus of his own (dnf fans getcha juice “and they were roommates”) 

despite living in the same hive, he never really figures out that dream is a limeblood. possibly because a) he’s colorblind and when he sees dream bleeding he just sees yellow b) he’s just that fucking oblivious and it’s so valid of him.

sapnap’s a bronzeblood mainly because i know he’s the instigator of the pet war with tommy also because i associate him with the color orang in my mind so bronze it is

that’s the end of this long-ass post!! if you have other ideas PLEASE i want to hear them. i don’t know the other streamers i mentioned in here very well so if you have ideas that would be fitting to them like with classpect or lunar sway that would be GREAT. 

the only thing i’m confident about in here are the kids’ lunar sways. i’m not an expert in classpects and homestuck lore so there’s that too!! i just wanted to make this post because adhd means that the idea wouldn’t shut up until i finished it. This initially started as a single shitpost edit of tommyinnit talksprite but then the hiveswap 2 trailer came out and that means i have to combine my two hyperfixations.

also i have ideas about potential quadrants but idk how much of that is breaking some streamers’ boundaries about shipping (even the non romantic quads such as kismesistude, morallegiance and auspisticism) so i decided not to include it.

edit: apparently people want more so i made a discord server as a place to brainstorm!! please pm me to join!

[reynie-muldoons]

'The Art of Conveyance and Round-Trippery' Liveblog!

Sorry this is a few days late!! I moved across the country this weekend, we drove like 13 hours within 2 days and we did a lot of heavy lifting. I'm exhausted, but the boxes are slowly emptying and I've been wanting to watch this episode so gd bad, so LESGO

Over halfway through the season!!!! That's absolutely surreal

1:11 oooh they're getting their royal fitting

1:22 LMAOO WTF 😂😂 Princess Diaries vibes

1:42 ✨CONFIDENCE✨

1:52 Alfonse is a perfect name for that guy HAHA

2:05 Nathaniel, my guy, you've made some points

2:11 "do you feel your power?" POWER RANGERS, GO

2:24 no no hesitation just prolly thinkin bout how he was caught cheatin

2:39 "can you not allow yourselves luxury?" okay fr I feel that I get Nice Things Guilt(tm) too easily

2:52 dayummmm let's talk about Sticky being a hat stall between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, mans is brave as fuck under extreme pressure and loyal to the point of putting himself on the line

3:15 bro Sticky getting some recognition. Love to see it, he deserves it

3:19 "is that a coincidence? Or written in the stars?" IS DR. CURTAIN CATCHING ON THAT THEY KNEW EACH OTHER BEFORE OR LIKEEEE

3:49 WHAT WORD AROUND CAMPUS 😭😭😭 MY BOYS ARE NOT A MISTAKE HOW DARE YOU

4:09 why doess the action of Dr. Curtain putting the sash on them seem so nefarious

4:36 I dont really understand the whole pastel yellow, blue, and pink palette of the school but the boys both look pretty okay in their vest-sash getup

4:42 THE OPENINGGGGG. This shit slaps.

5:41 Kate and Constance look so fucking cute in that shot, dont ask me why but hnnggggg

5:54 sash rope 😂😭 kate, honey, that's a reach

6:09 it might feel buttery, but, my guy, it also looks buttery. It's literally the color of butter. Get yourself some crisco

6:24 I find it kinda interesting that they made up new riddles for the show, I'm almost positive that that one wasn't in the book. Correct me if I'm wrong though

7:03 "I'm not gonna apologize for knowing things" the sass. the ✨confidence✨. living for it

7:03 If they build on that it sets Sticky up really nicely for the arc in the second book where he starts to show off a little

7:15 tiny Constance who is constantly dressed in pink with cute little braids is the perfect medium for the most morbid comments 😂😂

7:55 Martina's hot in her uniform. Can't prove me wrong.

8:15 why does that make me sad 🥺 eat with your friendssss. iirc they only talked about eating at the Messenger table in the books

8:26 dipshits forgot their lunches. Seems Constance is holding the communal braincell atm

8:50 anyone have Guiness on speed dial? Reynie and Sticky have a submission for them

9:25 oh hello this was alluded to in the preview!!! Morse code is compromised, rip

10:05 so are Jackson and Jillson stuck with night guard duty all the time?? They've been outside at night a lot

10:18 ahhhhhh the little blinkie light, stopppp

10:25 MILLIGANNNNN!!!

10:25 so is this the point where he starts staying on the island with them????

10:39 so are they just like "fuck it we'll do it right before sundown" ???? Like Jackson and Jillson are still gonna be on the lookout, they aren't gonna chill just because it's not fully dark

10:50 did the kids.....just not tell them that Mr. Bloom was on the island 😂 nice oversight guys

11:05 MADGE TIME MADGE TIME

11:05 remind me to tell you guys a story about Madge, I may or may not have done something irl a few years ago that would make y'all proud 😂😂😂

11:16 idk why but it makes me so happy that they kept Madge as a peregrine falcon

11:37 Rhonda, my love, you have my heart in your hands

11:46 roll credits

12:05 THE HEAD SHAKE HAHAHAH

12:06 Awww man, I was so excited for Milligan to be on the island .-. He must have been scoping out the inlet

12:07 "they're quite regal" A. I read the subtitles as "legal" the first time and that's somehow really in character for him, and B. IS MILLIGAN GOING TO NAME HER???!? HER MAJESTY???? PLEASE I WOULD LOVE THAT SO MUCH

12:15 his grimace KILLS ME

12:17 the hard cut from Nicholas in a brown setting and brown suit to Nathaniel in a blue setting and blue suit was lowkey striking

12:36 are they looking up Morse code 😳 can you imagine if they wrote down the message and are now decoding it

12:41 omfg all that for a HAT 🙃 I feel stupid

12:51 two things: 1. Those walls are atrocious, and 2. Yeah, talk about Morse code in a louder voice Connie girl, you're just in a public hallway

13:03 I'm sorry but those orange pillar things are not the vibe

13:03 the golden gate bridge called, they want their arches back

13:10 please let Kate climb the tower before the end of season 1. please.

13:22 y'all are about to be flying something else 😎

13:33 cleansing breaths

13:47 OH HELLO MESSENGER DUTY ALREADY??

14:06 what the heck is that teal pole for 😭😭

14:12 blindfold timeeee

I'm so sorry but I'm exhausted, it's 11:30 pm on Sunday night right now, I'll finish this episode tomorrow morning after I get some sleepies

~~

Good morningggg lesgetatit

14:50 "vomit of metal" ashhdjdjd

15:16 a wild Martina appears!

15:36 and if you folks look to your left, you'll see a wild Constance being the voice of reason once again

15:57 "lose the bucket" "I'm not gonna do that" HELL YEAH KATE

16:07 I get not having the bucket on the court lolol, I thought Martina was telling Kate to lose the bucket in general. Like, yeah, good luck convincing her to so that

16:35 show!Kate is much angrier than book!Kate and I'm still deciding how I feel about that. The Kate we've known from the books is a sunshine baby with looots of repressed trauma.

17:03 ......what is that. why is that.

17:11 WAIT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE REYNIE AHEHDJDJD

17:15 HI MADGE

17:41 the grand swell in the music makes me think it's going to go comically wrong

17:51 she's majestic because she's a queen 🥺

18:03 LMAO CALLED IT

18:14 Rhonda and Number Two getting at each other is such a sisterly thing to do 😂😂😂

18:37 ohhhhh? Someone's approaching? Miss Perumal perhaps????

18:45 YEAHHHHH BABY

18:50 PROTECTIVE MOM COMIN IN HOT!!!

19:22 THEYRE SO PRECIOUS 😭😭😭😭 I feel like I've been subconsciously starved for her and Mr. Benedict's interactions

19:36 died at that line in the one trailer

20:00 so Miss Perumal pulled a Sherlock Holmes. Love that for her

20:20 Cheri Tupintown??? Of all the aliases they could pick, Cheri Tupintown???

20:33 "Power in Truth Inc" that HAS to be something Rhonda came up with

21:01 you can literally watch Mr. Benedict realize that this is a woman not to be fucked with and he is CORRECT

21:23 "he's fine. Perfectly fine." At this, Mr. Benedict's pants caught aflame.

21:52 something about Constance sitting in on practice!!! It scratches an itch!!!!

22:19 "incorporate the helix. Live in the helix." Lord Helix is pleased with this offering.

22:26 so what I'm hearing is Kate is going to blow up on Constance for messing with the bucket

23:13 unrelated but Jillson'a shoes are cute

23:29 why does this room give off Johnny Depp's willy wonka vibes

24:13 that looks like a chair from a doctor's office waiting room 😭

25:29 they do be egg heads tho

26:02 baby girl, I have no idea why you're crying at weird art but let me dry your tears 🥺🥺

26:50 SHE FOUND ITTTT

27:27 okay Indiana Jones, go off

27:46 why did that kinda sound like Miss Perumal

28:43 the return of everyone's favorite, "enjoyable"

29:05 not that I'm not loving the ice breaker questions and the one-sided conversation, but I'm not loving it

29:22 oh so we're getting right into it aren't we

29:54 his eyes being open again makes this infinitely creepier

30:36 "where's your proof?" Miss Perumal doesnt fuck around!!!

31:29 you're telling me Constance has been there all day?? And Kate went to find her???? 🥺

31:58 oh so we're getting right to it then?? Kate addressing her independence and trust issues arc????

33:29 NEWS!!!!

33:49 CONSTANCE RIDING PIGGYBACK!!!!!!

34:04 okay, so they opened the murder hole, what are they gonna do now

34:59 Italian? 🤨 m'sir that is so fancy

34:59 fun story I learned Italian diction in college, so I know a little bit

35:16 "take your time" the whisperer says, immediately repeating the prompt to get the answer sooner

35:31 theeeeere it is

35:46 SOMETHING ABOUT THE WHISPERER SAYING "YOU ARE HOME" 😭😭😭 the show really played up the cult shit!!

36:02 Kate being protective of Constance 🥺

36:20 ohhh shit is it time for Connie girl to have double Reynie? Double Sticky?

36:36 STICKY

36:52 "what kind of nonsense?" HAVE THEY NOT ASKED THAT BEFORE THIS?????

37:14 "and your tiny brain can somehow pick it up!!" KATE STOP 😂😂😂

37:16 "I knew you had to be special in some way." WE DONT HAVE TIME TO UNPACK ALL OF THAT

37:51 she's right, this is disregard for their safety. The show made Mr. Benedict and his team a lot more back-alley and dishonest, and Miss Perumal has every reason to be pissed

38:30 oh good they finally remembered he has narcolepsy

39:38 and the best mom award goes to:

40:38 I was gonna say that this hallway is how I imagined the KEEP in riddle of ages but then I remembered that (spoilers) the Institute is the KEEP

40:46 oh, hello propoganda

41:10 that's the other person Rhonda couldn't contact, along with Mr. Bloom. This has to be the brainsweeping process

41:22 yeppppp

41:44 this dark doctor's office theme gives me horror movie vibes

42:22 ohhhh, so that's how they replaced that scene where the four of them jump in a crate to hide and Sticky drops his glasses in the open

42:47 and so we've come to the part of the story where Sticky and Reynie become infinitely more conflicted

42:47 and since we've reached that point..... can we have the white knight scene? Pretty please? Please Disney I'm begging you-

43:12 so Reynie just figured that out without Constance? :/

44:03 love the manipulation

44:31 I'm sorry, the farm?

44:35 farm and forest????

45:16 "the Emergency has served its purpose" 😳 well okay then murder man

45:39 "one thought, one purpose" the hive mind rises once more

45:48 LOVE THE MANIPULATION

46:07 "what have you done to earn anyone's trust?" VALID

46:26 "please do!" WHY AM I EMOTIONAL

47:06 "we still have the falcon" that you do 😂

47:19 AYYY HERE WE GO!!! Time for Milligan to stay on the island??

47:49 ohhhh Constance, casual telepath strikes again

48:16 "stop it, Kate!" OOOOHHHHH

48:53 that line ("it would be nice to be unburdened") would be funny as shit if not for the fact that Constance is a telepath unbeknownst to herself and can both subconsciously perceive people's thoughts and hear the subliminal messages

49:20 HI MRS. PERUMAL!!!

49:25 wow, she's really going through with it 😳 not that I doubted her, but still, that's dedication

49:39 OH SHIT

50:17 oh, so he's an asshole to SQ too. Got it. Torches and pitchforks? Ready to kick his ass?

50:40 "for the moment, anyway" FUCKIN WHAT

This episode was really good!!! They covered a LOT. I hope Miss Perumal comes back to the group and talks about her findings, I hope Milligan goes to get the kids and they tell him no, and I hope they get that classic 4-person Society brainstorming and binding time that hits that sweet spot

[garbagevanfleet]

Sun King (smut)

Pairing: Josh & female!Reader Warnings:  18+ ONLY! Alcohol is mentioned, unprotected sex, unprotected sun exposure *gasp* Word Count: 6654 Summary: Josh has been your best friend since middle school. Maybe a vacation to paradise could change that.  Notes: @lantern-inthenight​ and @myownparadise96​ both helped immensely with the ideas in this fic, so this one is dedicated to my resident Josh girls, Shelby and Kaja. <3

Thank you to the amazing Mimi ( @satingrass-maidensfair​ ) for betaing for me! You’re a peach. 

Enjoy my first ever Josh fic, extra hot and wet

MASTERPOST

You had spent the entire day at the beach for four days in a row. It wasn’t often that you got to go on a vacation, so when you did, you really liked to forget the monotony of your everyday life. There really wasn’t any extra room in your head to think about your summer job or college applications with the ocean waves lapping at your feet.  

Your parents had been promising you this trip the entire year so as long as your grades stayed up before graduation, and it had been a struggle, but you had succeeded - the real hardest part was waiting from the end of school until the actual trip came, which didn’t roll around until December.  

Josh had been your friend since middle school, and an unlikely friend at that - or at least at first. See you’ve always had a really feminine lunar energy, a darker, deeper aura, but him?

Josh was the sun personified.

He had the most sunflower-petal-yellow personality you could imagine; his whole persona was a rainbow tie-dyed bed sheet drying on a clothesline.

But opposites attract, or they must anyway, because one fateful day in sixth grade, he had knocked directly into you. The force of it had thrown your tray down to the lunchroom floor, smearing mashed potatoes all over your new school shoes. You had opened your mouth to snap at him, but. Well, how could you? There was never any option but to forgive him when he flashed that big, blinding smile. Especially when he was looking at you like an apologetic puppy.

He had latched onto you after that.

Josh had attended every single birthday party since then and escorted you - as a friend, you assured your parents - to a couple of spring formals. He had been by your side when you tried summer camp and hated it, and you couldn’t remember the last time you’d been to a movie theater without him.

Your parents had been understandably suspicious at first, but after years of seeing his face at least three-quarters of every month, they had been given no reason to suspect there was anything romantic between you two.

So, that’s how he had ended up here in paradise with you. It was just a given that if you were going on vacation, so was Josh. Your parents hadn’t even asked; they’d just naturally bought an extra ticket for him.

He looked undeniably more well placed here in the tropical climate than you did, and you tried not to be envious about it.

You had spent a bit of time exploring the foreign shops and busy streets, but more than anything, you laid with him in the sand, staring out over the water and trying to get as much of the sun as you could, considering you wouldn’t be seeing it for at least another four months after you got back to the Midwest.

Luckily for you, your parents had not hovered at all. They had given you nothing but free time while they spent almost the entirety of the vacation at the hotel pool up to that point. Their distracted state had allowed you plenty of opportunities to find light beers and sneakily drink them with him. You had never really liked the taste of beer, but it was more for the novelty than anything else.

“Hey,” Josh said, gently pressing his fingertips into your side to get your attention.

You turned your head toward him and tipped your sunglasses down. They were the ones with the orange lenses that you had been absolutely intent on buying before the trip because they matched your suit. You decidedly did not regret your decision.

You hummed lazily in response. He was laying next to you on a teal blue beach towel under possibly the world’s largest umbrella, one tanned ankle crossed over the other. He returned his hand to where he had it folded behind his head, supporting most of its weight as he dozed in and out of consciousness.

His skin was kissed golden by the sun - almost from the minute you’d gotten off the plane- making him look a bit shiny the second he started sweating.

“What time is it?” he asked, voice a shade too concerned for your liking; although, in your lazy state, almost any level of concern was too much.

You glanced down at your phone which was positioned in between you, playing a very long playlist you had collaborated on for the whole car ride to the airport.

“Almost five.”

“Woah, really?” He looked around the beach, which was completely empty, saved for a couple of other stragglers that were staying well away from you.

You had five days worth of practice under your belt, and that had allowed you to find the perfect little slice of beach - secluded, but well kept. You hadn’t had to talk to another soul for the whole trip that you didn’t actively seek out, which was really what you had always wanted from a vacation.

“We should probably get back. Your parents said we were having dinner around six, right?” He nudged into your side, letting you know that he intended to move you whether you liked it or not, even if you had given him a lazy sounding groan for it.

There was no point fighting him (the boy was persistent if nothing else), so you slowly stretched out and prepared to be mobile again after barely using a muscle for days. He was right anyway - your parents weren’t strict in any sense of the word, but they were notoriously a bit picky about punctuality.  

He helped you pack everything into your oversized beach bag and then tugged you up into a standing position. He looked just as stiff as you were as he walked by your side, neither of you concerned with keeping a straight line.

You both instinctively headed toward the shower area, all of your beach-going gear in tow, and when you got there, you each wordlessly headed to your respective shower stalls.

All the other showers you’d used the whole trip had been different, but here there were only two cubicles with just a couple feet in between them. You let your heavy bag drop to the pavement in the middle of the two stalls with a thud, and he did the same, propping the long umbrella up against the brick of the building.

You had wrapped your hair up earlier this morning to prevent it from getting salty in the ocean, but you could feel sand gritting against your scalp as you pulled the scrunchie out, so you picked the bottle of shampoo you’d packed away as you turned the shower on.

It wasn’t particularly warm, but the spray was nice and refreshing on your sun-touched skin.

You had just tipped your head back under the water when the curtain on your stall opened, causing you to jump and cover yourself, despite still being completely covered in your suit.

“Hey, I can’t get the water to work in mine - can I jump in with you?” Josh asked and when you gave him a scolding frown, he offered you a toothy smile back.

“Have you tried turning the knob?” you asked flatly, but you couldn’t help but laugh as he rolled his eyes.

“Wow, I didn’t fucking think of that,” he retorted. “Scoot over.”

There wasn’t a whole lot of room in these little shower stalls - they were definitely only meant for one person at a time, so you couldn’t clear much space for him, but you did your best. Once he was in, he had to stand within inches of you to prevent from spilling back out. You squinted accusingly at him, entirely unconvinced that either of you could get very clean this way.

“This could have been such a nice, relaxing shower,” you complained, popping the cap on the shampoo and squirting some out in your palm.

“It still can be!” he assured with a cheeky grin. “Just pretend I’m not here.”

Just for good measure, he mimicked zipping his mouth shut and tossing the key to the floor. You huffed a laugh at him, working the soap through your hair with your fingertips.

When you tipped your head back and let the water wash your locks clean, you let your eyes slip shut. You could tell that your cheeks were a little sunburnt because the water felt nearly ice-cold as it trickled across them, making you shiver.

Your eyes popped open again to find him watching your face. You huffed a breathy laugh at him.

“Hard to pretend you’re not here when you’re staring at me like that.”

“I’m not staring!” he scoffed, but his face turned charmingly pink despite his defense. “Where else am I supposed to look?”

You didn’t respond but instead decided to shake your head with a smirk. You handed him the shampoo bottle, but when you started to step aside to let him closer to the spout, he crowded closer to you. As he leaned in to wet his curls, your back hit the cold tile wall, making you gasp.

“Jesus, do you want me to just get out?” you complained half-heartedly, pressing a hand against his chest.

It wasn’t until he let out a wet sounding laugh that you realized he was jesting you.

“I’m sorry, am I in your way?” he asked coyly, ignoring your faux-annoyed groans as he leaned over you to steal the majority of the spray.

He was so close then that your nose hit his neck, his chest pressed flush against yours. The atmosphere in the tiny cubicle shifted dramatically for you at that moment, your breath catching in your chest.  

“Josh,” you breathed.  

You shivered again at the contact and, through your suit, you could feel your nipples perk up as your skin tightened into goosebumps. You could tell the exact second that he realized what he’d done to you because his whole body tensed and he took a step back.

“Fuck, I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to be weird or anything,” he said, just loud enough to be audible over the white noise of the shower. His cheeks were flushed from embarrassment - even more so than before, keeping his eyes plastered firmly to the ceiling. Or, at least he was trying. Every couple of seconds, his gaze flicked down, almost comically across your body.

You couldn’t repress the breathless laugh as you watched him work to not look. Your heart was racing, making you feel jittery. “It’s okay, don’t worry about it.”

Biting your lip anxiously, you could feel the heat rising to your cheeks too. His eyes flicked down to yours and he gave you a look like he was trying to tell if you were being genuine - if it was really okay.

You reached up to pat his cheek, meant to be a reassurance, but you couldn’t prevent your fingers from lingering against his warmed skin. Touching him like this was nothing new - you were what one could call “platonically intimate”. You shared beds and clothes, and every now and then he’d ask you to brush out his hair, just because he liked the feeling. But this time - like everything else about this moment - felt different. He leaned into your touch a fraction, nuzzling into your palm like a house cat.

Despite your closeness - metaphorically and physically - in all the years you’d known him, you had never once tried to kiss. You had thought about it once or twice, but only because you had gone through a boy crazy faze at the start of puberty and it made you question whether every platonic male in your life could be your soulmate.

But for a second you stared at his plush lips and thought about what it would be like. If it was anything like you expected, then it would be toothache-sweet, because that’s what he was like. Like cotton candy.

You pursed your lips tightly, suddenly overcome with a feeling that you weren’t used to. It felt dreamy like the color rose quartz. Like butterflies were beating their dusty wings against your stomach lining.

He was giving you a questioning look - brows tipped up at the center of his face in a look of concern. You could only imagine what your face must look like to him. You certainly hadn’t been regulating it.

As he parted his lips to inquire, you brushed your fingertips across them, feeling his breathing go uneven.

“Josh,” you whisper, gingerly placing your other hand on the back of his neck. He was so close that you didn’t have to move much to do so. “Will you kiss me?”

  He didn’t react for a second, just stood there blinking like the words hadn’t caught up yet. Then his mouth opened and closed a couple of times as he tried to think of a response.

“Of course,” he finally breathed, and the inflection in his voice - like you’re stupid to even ask - made you blush.

His face was already just a foot away from yours, so when he exhaled, the hot air hit your cheek.

The first brush of his lips against yours was experimental - just the ghost of a touch. You could tell that he wanted to, but couldn’t seem to bring himself to commit to it.

You scratched your nails gently against the back of his neck, urging him on.

He snaked his hand around your waist and pulled you in a fraction closer, hesitantly pressing your lips together, tighter this time. As you kissed him back, you could sense his apprehensions starting to melt away. He was gaining confidence by the second, letting his fingers play against the small of your back.  

Giddy with excitement, you let him press you back against the tile again until he was standing slightly over you, your fingers wrapped in his wet curls. The water hitting the back of his head was dripping onto your face, and it reminded you of those movies where the romantic interest kisses the girl passionately in the rain before the credits rolled. You had never been very into lovey-dovey movies, but he had always been a sucker for big romantic gestures, so you ended up watching rom-coms quite often.

You parted your lips for him, and this time he kissed you in complete earnest. The rush of feeling behind it knocked the breath from your lungs.

His hand was carefully sliding up your back until your skin met the tile of the shower, and he was forced to snake it up your rib cage instead. You knew what he was going to do, even though you were sure he didn’t - that his fingers were dancing along your skin at their own accord. So when his thumb brushed over your nipple through the fabric of your suit it didn’t shock you, but the feeling forced a hum from you that he swallowed down instantly.

He rubbed over it lightly, and every touch made your whole body tingle.

“Fuck,” he breathed against your lips, sounding painfully shocked at the way this day was going.

You couldn’t say you blamed him.

The angle was starting to make your neck ache, but you could only move slightly due to the cramped space. As you shifted, you felt his hardened cock slide against your thigh and you sucked in a sharp gasp.

His whole body tensed like he wasn’t sure if he’d crossed a line, but he continued when you tugged on his hair - maybe a little too rough if you were being honest. He didn’t seem to mind at all; as a matter of fact, if you didn’t know any better, you’d say he liked it - if the suspiciously hoarse whimper he placed into your mouth was anything to go by.

The fingers of his other hand trailed down your other side, thumb rubbing against your hip bone and tugging you closer until your pelvis was pressed against his. The sensation was too delicious; you couldn’t help but grind against him, eliciting a moan from each of you.

When his lips moved to your neck, his teeth grazed the skin. You could feel him starting to bite in, and as good as it felt, you had to object.

“No, wait,” you breathed. “You can’t leave any marks.”

“Who said I was going to leave a mark?” he asked, sounding a little smug. You huffed a laugh at him, rolling your eyes.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were an expert at this.” The sarcasm dripping from your voice made him laugh into your damp skin. You opened your mouth to say something equally quippy, but the words got choked back as his fingers brushed against your core.

Your exhale hitched in your lungs, and when you were able to finally breathe again, it was in the sound of his name.

He added just a fraction more pressure, forcing you to bite your lip. He was about to go for it, you could tell, because he was slowly pushing your suit aside, and you were heavily anticipating his fingers touching your bare skin when-

Your phone rang, almost ear-splittingly loud as the tone echoed off of the tile. It caused you to yelp, and he pulled away instantly, face beet red.

Shakily, you bent down and reached past the curtain, pulling it out of your bag and answering it without looking at the ID.

He flipped the water off just as you said, “Hello?”

You silently prayed that your voice wasn’t as shaky as you thought it sounded.

“Hey, just reminding you that we’re having dinner around six,” your father said from the other end. It was quiet enough in the stall that he could easily be heard by Josh as well from where he was leaning back against the shower wall, breathing heavily and staring at the floor.

You swallowed the lump in your throat first before speaking again. “Yeah, we’re just getting changed. Probably be there in ten to fifteen minutes is all.”

Your dad quickly agreed, sounding none-the-wiser to your sins, and after you hung up, you tucked your phone deep inside the bag, like that would help keep everything a secret.

Josh’s eyes flicked up and met yours, his eyebrows raised. You were biting your lip, rubbing nervously at the back of your neck.

“Well, fuck,” he chanced, making you release a shaky laugh.

“Fuck indeed,” you replied, giving him a small smile. “We should get moving.”

He nodded in agreement, and after a second of staring at you, he stepped out, leaving you to change.

Neither of you said a word on the walk back to the hotel, but it wasn’t necessarily uncomfortable - just new. Uncharted territory.

Dinner was the same. The air felt heavy, but you did your best to not let your parents feel it, and you could tell he was doing the same.

He easily answered their questions about the day’s goings-on, easily navigating around the part where he almost slipped a finger into you in the shower.  

Try as you might, there was no way you could prevent yourself from thinking about it. You caught yourself staring at his lips while he ate, and thinking about the way he tasted.

The light was catching on his tan cheekbones, making his jawline look razor-sharp, and all you could do was think about biting it. It was a big difference between just yesterday when he’d sneezed on you and then laughed about it.

You think that was what was most alarming - You’d never thought of him sexually in your life, aside from the time a friend of yours decided to date him and then attempted to tell you what he was like in bed. As you stared at him from across the table, your biggest regret was cutting her off before she could say anything actually worth knowing.  

He stared at you over the rim of his water glass as your mom talked about the hotel bar margaritas, and for the first time in your life, you wanted to know what he felt like on top of you.

The closer dinner got to being finished, the more heavily your heart started to thud. By the time you were all standing and removing your napkins from your lap, you were sure everyone could hear it’s eclectic rhythm bouncing around in your ribcage.

You had never been more thankful in your life that your parents had insisted your rooms be in separate wings on the hotel - though you didn’t really want to think of the implications of that in and of itself.

Josh let himself into your room, asking your parents to excuse him. When your mother inquired about what you guys were going to get up to for the rest of the night, you shrugged and told her you were thinking about renting a movie and falling asleep to it - insuring her that you were beyond tired from all the fresh air and sun. She happily told you to charge it to the room and told you to text her if you guys needed anything, but after being here for five days, you thought you had it covered.  

They hugged you goodnight and then retreated down the hall, and you waited until you were positive they were gone before you opened the door. He had left it cracked for you - no need for you to fumble with a keycard, for which you were grateful.

He was at the other end of the room, facing away from you. He had changed into his favorite pair of grey sweatpants and nothing else, and you took a second to rake your eyes up the muscles of his back.

When you shut the door, you leaned back against it, your heart fluttering. You were so nervous that your fingers felt numb, but it was the best kind of nerves you’d ever experienced in your life. You hadn’t ever felt like this about a guy before.

This certainly would not be your first time - by any means. But. Somehow it was.

When he turned around, he looked at you like he was viewing an art installation. It took a second before he could snap out of it, tugging a soft t-shirt over his head and smoothing it out.

You couldn’t stop yourself from following his hand down his chest with your eyes, a warmth rising on your cheeks away when you looked back up and he was wearing a tiny smirk.

“Do you want to go back down to the beach?” he asked, voice quiet, but audible in the - otherwise silent - room.

You weren’t expecting that, and you could tell by the way he smiles at you that he knew he’d take you by surprise.

“Sure,” you agree, nodding. You were honestly a little afraid for a second that he was going to just pretend like nothing had happened. Your chest was tight with hurt for a brief second until he reached for the blanket off the bed, tugging it off the bed and rolling it into a ball under his arm.

No one else on earth could tell that he was nervous, you thought, but he was infinitely more transparent to you.

Just the fact that he wasn’t talking a mile a minute in the elevator was a tell-tale sign. He kept dragging his teeth over his bottom lip; something that would be just a normal, mindless tick for anyone else.

He let you step out first and then held the door from the lobby open for you, which was nothing new, but the way he placed a hand on your lower back as you brushed past him was. The touch made your skin feel hot, even though it was over the fabric of the dress you’d put on for dinner.

You realized about halfway through the walk that he was leading you back to the same slice of beach you’d been lazing on earlier that day, and for some reason that gave you goosebumps.

It felt complete. Full circle.  

Nearing nine pm then, the moon was high, and the only source of light as it threw white light across the waves. The wet sand on the shoreline shimmered with it like liquid metal as the water lapped over it.

There wasn’t a soul around. You two were well away from any kind of civilization, and that notion itself was comforting to you. Still, your fingers were vibrating as he laid the blanket out and sat, toeing his sandals off and dusting his feet of any sand before relaxing back.

You followed suit, smoothing out the skirt of your sundress over your knees as you knelt next to him.  

You cleared your throat, looking up at him through your lashes.

“We don’t have to do anything,” he said, without a single hint of reproach. His voice was soft and caring, the way it usually was when he was assuring you of anything, except even deeper in its sincerity this time.

He continued. “If you’re having second thoughts or anything, then just tell me and we’ll move past this, no questions asked.”

You breathed a disbelieving laugh, suddenly feeling too big for your body. You weren’t sure why it took you off guard - he’d only ever been a perfect gentleman to you, and any girl he’d ever known, really.

“I want this,” you stated with a small nod. A smile that read something along the lines of relief spread over his lips, and he let out a held breath.

In the tenderest way you could imagine, he swept a lock of your hair out of your face and tucked it behind your ear. A light touch, he wrapped his hand around the nape of your neck then, pulling you in just a fraction at a time until you were face to face for the second time that day.

When your lips touched the first time, it was soft and sweet - clearly trying to ease each other back into it. But you were already there.

You pressed into him, slipping your tongue in his mouth, and he met it with his.

As he leaned into him, his fingers danced along your bare shoulder, slipping under the thin strap of your dress and letting it slide down your arm.

It was nearly a hundred degrees hotter there than back in the still-frozen midwest, but you found yourself shivering as you pulled away from him and shrugged out of the other strap, letting the top of your dress fall from your bare chest.

His lips fell open, and you waited a second for him to do or say something - anything, but when he didn’t, you huffed a laugh.

“Are you going to pass out on me?” you teased, cupping one of your breasts in your own hand and giving it a squeeze just to watch him swallow hard.

“Shit,” he breathed, licking his lips. He grinned at you, showing teeth and all as he ducked in and kissed down the side of your neck.

You let his hand replace yours, his rough fingers brushing over the plush skin.

He didn’t linger his kisses in any one place for too long, no doubt being mindful of your warning about love bites before. That is until he pulled away and placed both hands firmly around your waist, helping you off your knees until you were straddling his lap. When he got you into the position he liked, his mouth found its way to your breastbone, pressing a trail of kisses down.

Your face felt fire-hot, so you buried it into the curls on the crown of his head. His hair smelled like the coconut shampoo you told him to start using years ago. The scent had become a bit of a comfort blanket for you - always put you at ease because it meant he was close.

You had never stopped to think of the implications of that until right now.

A gasp escaped you as he sucked one of your nipples into his mouth, tugging it between his lips. His teeth scraped around it lightly, making you whine, high-pitched and beyond lewd.

“Oh my god,” you whispered, pulling his face closer until you were afraid you were going to suffocate him, but knowing that if you did, he’d probably die happy.

He pulled away a fraction, just to flick his tongue against the other one, making your stomach tighten. You could feel yourself getting wetter, and couldn’t help but squirm against him, begging for some kind of reprieve.

You rocked your hips far enough forward that you caught his hard cock against your core, eliciting a choked moan from him. The tingly pleasure spread down your legs, to your toes and made them curl out of reflex.

His fingers dug into your sides as he pushed your hips back and then pulled them forward again, pressing you down harder into him this time. If you had any sense of reality, you’d know to be embarrassed about how wet you were after five seconds of grinding, but you were absolutely gone by then.

Slower this time, so you could really enjoy the fire, you rocked forward again. His fingers found their way to your thighs, sliding up the hem of your dress until his hands were cupping your ass.

Deciding that there were at least one too many layers between you, you pulled yourself up, untying the string on his pants and letting him wriggle to get them pulled down as far as he could in this position.

It was okay though, you had what you needed.

His head tipped back as his cock slipped against you again, this time only your collective underwear in the way. With his throat exposed like that, you bent to drag your teeth against it, not being as gentle as he had been with you.

“No marks,” he reminded, voice gruff, but his fingers painted a different picture - one even let go of your ass to tangle in your hair, spurring you on as your tongue lapped against his skin.

The collar of his shirt in the way of your path only served to annoy you, so you tugged it over his head with haste and let it fall to the blanket.

As soon as his chest was bare, your fingers were mapping it out, tracing along his collarbones and down his breastbone. Even in the dim glow, you could tell how sun-kissed his shining skin was.

The moon was illuminating his curls like a silvery halo, a sight so pretty that it knocked the breath from your lungs momentarily.

You were both breathing hard, not from exertion, but from sheer excitement, and you watched his chest rise and fall for a second before your fingers raked over his stomach and then across the outline of his cock through his briefs.

His hips tried to buck up into the touch in their constricted state, but even the minuscule movement made you blush. Knowing that you could have this kind of effect on him was absolutely surreal. Before today, you’d never even had the privilege of being able to dream about this moment, because it had never even been an option to you. But as you circled your fingertip over the head of it through the fabric, the possibilities seemed endless. When you looked up at his face, he was watching the movements of your hand with half-lidded eyes, seeming like he felt very similarly.

You leaned in and pressed your lips to his again, his mouth hot and sticky against yours. As you dipped your fingers under the hem of his briefs, you could feel him hold his breath. Your fingers wrapped around his cock, giving it a couple of painfully slow strokes and licking into his mouth as he opened it for you.

Neither of you really needed any more warming up, so you caught his eyes and lifted yourself up enough that he could pull your panties to the side.

When you slid down onto it, you had to bite your lip to keep yourself from crying out. You hadn’t realized how wet you were actually getting until you felt how easily it slipped into you. You didn’t allow him a whole lot of time to collect his thoughts before you were moving again, starting to pick up a rhythm as you worked yourself onto his cock.

Your fingernails were dug into his skin, using his shoulders as leverage, and surely they would leave marks, but you couldn’t force yourself to care. He’d think of an excuse if and when anyone ever asked.

“Fuck,” you breathed, voice an octave higher than it usually was. “Oh my god.”

He nuzzled his nose into your cheek, letting his hot, humid breath hit your skin.

Your thighs started to burn from relying on muscles you never use, but the second he started to feel you falter, his hands cupped under them, happy to share the work.

It wasn’t until he starting thrusting his hips up to meet yours that you really knew what fucking him could be like. The simple movement set your nerves on fire.

“Josh,” you squeaked, wrapping your arms around his neck as your fingers shook.  

“I know,” he hummed. “I know, baby.”

The pet name made your stomach flip. You’d never wanted someone’s affection as much as you did in this moment.

He pulled his hands from your thighs and held you firmly around the waist. With your arms around his neck, you were already perfectly set up for his next move. He tipped you back until your shoulders were pressed against the blanket, laying you out with him between your hips.

Your muscles were grateful for the reprieve, but the new angle had him driving into you differently, making your eyes roll back.

It had felt great before, but suddenly you could sense yourself working toward something more - a higher peak. Your body felt hot as you wrapped your legs around his hips, tugging him by the hair into a kiss.

He eagerly kissed you back, biting down on your bottom lip, but not quite hard enough to break the skin.

With him over you like that, hair framing his face, everything felt like a dream. It was dark, but you could see the light of the moon catching on a sheen of sweat on his face, making his features even more intense.

Every single thrust sent you closer and closer to a pleasure you hadn’t been acquainted with yet until it got so intense that you had to squeeze your eyes shut tight and just hang on.

You came first, trying and failing to stifle a cry on your own, so he pressed his mouth against yours, swallowing it down. The feeling engulfed you like a wave, your fingers digging at his bicep.

He held you close to him, but it wasn’t until you were coming down that you realized he was whispering encouragement against the side of your mouth, sounding a little fucked out himself.

When he came, he let out a few choppy, raspy breaths against your face, his fingers wound tightly in the fabric of your dress.

You watched him come back to earth, and you weren’t sure if it was a post-orgasm haze or a real emotional response, but you were convinced in that moment that he was the most beautiful human you’d ever seen. For a brief second, you hated yourself for not appreciating it for all the years you’d known him. You couldn’t make any promises to yourself in your heightened emotional state, but you wanted to tell him.

But what the hell would you say?

He pulled out, helping you sit up. Your whole body felt weak, so you both just sat there for a minute, staring at each other.

The silence was entirely comfortable for you, but you wondered for a second if it wasn’t for him. If you knew him like you thought you did, he was probably reading the silence as a sign of regret and the thought broke your heart in a way you hadn’t expected.

You leaned in and hugged him tight, pressing a kiss against his cheek and feeling him melt into it.

There was no stopping yourself from wondering if he was feeling the way you did. You wanted to ask, but suddenly you were faced with the possibility that he didn’t.

Heart racing as you pulled away, you nervously bit your lip.

“What now?” you chanced, voice so quiet it was almost swallowed up by the sound of the waves.

He gave you a sugar-sweet smile and dragged his knuckle down your jawline. “You tell me.”

After you both redressed and got yourselves looking somewhat presentable, he walked you back up to the room.

A shower sounded nice, but after a moment of consideration, you decided that you’d used all of the energy you were willing to give for the day.

So you changed into a pair of loose shorts and a t-shirt in the bathroom, and when you came back out, he was already snuggled into his bed, smiling at you sleepily.

You huffed a laugh at him, but when you pulled back the blankets to your own bed, his smile fell.

“You don’t wanna come over here?” he asked, sounding like a kicked puppy.

You looked over at him through your lashes. At least a quarter of the nights you’d known him had been spent sleeping within a foot or two of him, but this was different.

“Of course, I do,” you assured with a sheepish smile.

You weren’t sure if you had been expecting to feel differently once you weren’t actively having sex with him, but as you crawled into his bed, you realized that you didn’t.

Nothing felt different, and yet everything had changed.

You laid face to face with him, taking it all in.

Once he figured out that you weren’t going to make any moves, he reached past you and flicked off the light. He gave you one, chaste little kiss before pulling you close.

+++

Your flight home didn’t start boarding until 11 pm, but you’d never been good about sleeping on planes, so you settled in with a book and a can of cola.

The seats were set up in rows of three, so it ended up being you and Josh sitting together with a stranger and your parents in the row ahead.

He was sleepy - you could tell because he kept rubbing at his eyes like he was trying to keep them open.

“Get some sleep,” you instructed with a giggle as he leaned his head against the window.

“Wanna wait at least until we take off.”

The stranger on your other side, however, already had her head leaned back on a neck pillow, big headphones covering her ears.

Through the cracks in the seats, you could see your parents settling in for the night, getting ready to sleep through the nearly eight-hour flight.

Josh was just barely still awake by the time you were sure your parents were asleep, and you were comfortable enough to chance turning to him. You grabbed his chin with your fingers and kissed him slowly, feeling your heartbeat pick up.

You wanted him to know that you hoped this was the new normal - that back home, you wanted to stay this close.

He looked a little stunned when you pulled away, just sitting there blinking at you, but after his tired mind caught up with itself, he grinned at you, showing his teeth.

He pulled your head down to his shoulder and nuzzled his cheek against it, lacing your fingers together and letting them rest on his lap.

Maybe you were going to be able to sleep after all.

Note: thanks again to anyone that leaves any kind of note for me. I fucking love them and they keep me going. <3

[gundamcalibarney]

Steam team casual clothes headcanons to follow up to the mainland gang one

below the readmore

Thomas:

-Tends to lean towards shirts and cargo shorts. Thomas wears knee high socks during colder weather.

-He likes hats, usually newsboy hats and flat caps. Sometimes he’ll steal hats from others.

-Thomas Loathes jeans, dress pants and cargo pants are okay because he’s worn those while working but he can’t Stand jeans.

-Likes to wear bracelets, he even made ones for close friends (the Steam Team and a few engines in the Mainland).

-Everything he wears is blue, grey is almost always an accent colour (if the gold whistle and bracelets don’t count).

Edward:

-Turtleneck and blazer. He’ll sometimes wear dress pants or cargo shorts.

-Mainly wears long sleeved clothes like dress shirts,sweaters,sweatshirts,and as previously said, turtlenecks.

-His casual outfit is the only other time he wears the blue and purple striped scarf, the other time is winter.

-Wears suspenders of varying colours and patterns. Edward will wear sunglasses if

-Mainly wears cool colours, he leans to blue,purple,and teals.

Henry:

-If it has flowers/is plant themed then he’ll most likely wear it.

-He’ll sometimes accessorise himself with floral related accessories with a bit of help from James. It’s mostly just like, a flower headpiece.

-Sometimes he’ll wear video game shirts.

-Leg wear varies, sometimes he’ll wear cargo pants/shorts, sometimes jeans, sometimes dress pants. Mostly depends n the mood.

Gordon:

-Most comfortable with anything that makes him look professional. He’s mostly a semi-formal kind of guy so it’s very rare to see him wear informal clothing.

-Likes wearing watches, he’d rather be on time than spend precious time ‘having fun’.

-Someone gave him a Hawaiian shirt as a gift, he has only worn it on what he deems as “important occasions.”

-Only wears hoodies if he’s forced to. He currently has two of them, an elephant one and a Flying Scotsman one (courtesy of his brother giving it to him on Christmas).

-Prefers wearing grey as well as darker shades of blue.

James:

-Will wear anything that makes him look good, wether it’s trendy or not. He helps Rosie with her outfits from time to time.

-Prefers wearing turtlenecks, coats seem to vary. He also really likes denim clothing as well, he somewhat shares Gordon’s semi-formal vibe but James is more carefree with his choices.

-Despite pink being his undercoat, he will Proudly wear the colour.

-He likes waistcoats but he despises Sweater vests, he doesn’t understand Why anyone would like to wear them.

-James refuses to wear blue or any shade of it. He likes reds and pinks and will mix them together from time to time.

Percy:

-Prefers t-shirts over the majority’s dress shirt. Like some others he prefers more informal clothing.

-For some reason a lot of his clothes are bug themed, he sometimes wears bug themed accessories (like antennae headbands).

-Really likes wearing stripes, something he got from Toby.

-The only one who wears hoodies on and off work, he’ll mainly wear them during colder days.

-Wears Lighter shades of green, tends to mix brown and light yellow to his clothes.

Toby:

-Has mostly worn turtleneck sweaters. Toby makes one for the others if he has the time.

-Toby likes wearing warm and fluffy clothing, he somehow gets cold Very easily so he wears a Lot on winter (“bitter cold bitter cold.”)

-Wears striped blazers and in general he likes wearing stripes, this rubbed off on Percy.

-Likes to wear bells, usually bell necklaces and clip on belt bells.

-Autumn colours, mostly brown,orange,and red. Sometimes yellow.

Emily:

-Likes being fancy, her outfits can usually pass off for semi-formal. Mostly consisting of dress shirts and dress pants, she likes wearing heels because she likes feeling tall.

-Usually wears tights or pants, as much as she likes the looks of dresses, she doesn’t see herself wearing one. Mostly because she thinks that she doesn’t look good in one. It’s the same story for skirts and shorts.

-Some of Emily’s outfits look like she came straight from the Victorian era.

-Like her brother, she likes to adorn herself in jewellery though unlike her brother she’s more minimalistic with it. The most she’ll do is get a necklace and call it a day.

-Emily is a fan of darker colours, usually dark greens.

Ryan:

-Y’know how necklaces with gemstones exist? Yeah he’ll vibe with those.

-Like Gordon he goes semi-formal, but his vibe is more like “I wanna look like a fancy magician :D”, this is also his reasoning for wearing gloves,boots,and multiple belts.

-Wears long coats because it looks cool, sometimes he borrows from his relatives. Some of his clothes are hand me downs from his surviving sibling N2, Riley.

-Also likes wearing shirts with animals, he really likes cats.

-Likes the colour purple, he’ll mix things up from time to time with blues,reds,and greens.

Rosie:

-Likes to experiment with her outfits, she’ll sometimes combine outfits if she’s feeling it. Rosie will also help others alongside James.

-Despises heels, she’s like “how the Fuck do you walk in those!?”.

-Her fashion sense varies, sometimes she’ll look like a punk rocker and the next she’ll look like she’ll look like she came straight from the 60s. Rosie really likes overalls and suspenders and has used them in her outfit combos.

-The only consistent thing is her shoes, which are always boots.

-Rosie’s colour palette varies but she usually sticks to warm colours, reds and various shades of pink.

[hana-bean]

Close to you (1/7)

Hi everyone! Happy SeiUsa Week 2021! Please enjoy this seven-chapter installment in celebration of the ultimate OTP!

~~~

Everyone walks on To meet just one person someday

---

“Boo! You suck!”

Seiya ducked to the side to avoid an oncoming empty beer bottle flying his way, shattering as it hit the stage floor. He scowled as he grabbed the microphone with the other hand still on his guitar neck.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Get off the stage!” Another bottle started flying, this time in between him and the second guitar player, Yaten.

The bar owner soon sprinted toward the musicians and on the stage, trying to avoid various other objects projecting through the air in the meantime.

“Guys, you got any other songs to play?”

Taiki, who was standing in the back at a keyboard, walked up to join the conversation. “What other songs? This is all we know.” He explained while kicking off a half-eaten chicken wing that landed on his shoe.

“You play the same set every night. They want something fresh.”

“Well, maybe you need to get more patrons instead of the same ones every night,” Yaten growled with a lime green twitchy eye. “It’s not our fault your regulars live here.”

“Listen,” the owner paused to grimace in figurative pain as he felt something wet hit his back. “You need to mix it up.”

“We can’t,” Seiya replied firmly. “We need to play these songs.”

“Then pack it up. The show’s over.”

Yaten released his guitar in order to gesture to drive his point across, letting it hang on his neck. “No! You need to let us play!”

“Not a chance, Napoleon. You’ll drive away my tenants!” The owner glared.

That was it—and not that it usually took very much anyway—Yaten was over the edge. He lifted the strap over his head and tossed his instrument to Taiki before tackling the owner to the stage floor with his standard flying squirrel technique.

“Yaten, what the fuck?!” Seiya removed his guitar and went to work trying to pry his bandmate from atop the owner, or at least he tried; Yaten had the grip strength of a coconut crab despite being the smallest of the three of them.

But that was all the patrons needed as a reason to get in on the action. They stormed the stage with their rage and beer bottles ready, even turning on one another and the instruments. Some who didn’t choose violence for a Tuesday night contacted authorities on their crystal cell phones as they made their exit; the other portion used them to record the melee from their tables.

Seiya soon felt the weight of three men come at him at all sides; his only instinct to protect his head before the four-person clump of testosterone toppled two feet down and off the stage. Immediately, he felt a pain shoot from his knee all the way up to his hip as something heavy and drunk landed on his leg. Seiya wriggled and scooted as much as possible to free himself, but since his body was the one that absorbed most of the impact, the attacking men had the advantage to quickly begin their beatdown.

He managed to curl up in the fetal position as feet and fists made contact with every part of his exposed body. But then, allowing himself to only feel like a failure for a few seconds, he made a quick decision and reached within his jacket for his headset.

“Fighter Star Power, Make Up!”

As the transformation alone knocked the three men on their backs, their world was forever rocked when they looked upon a leather-clad woman standing in place of the male musician once the music and sparkles had faded.

“He’s a guardian?!” One yelled, completely stupefied.

Sailor Star Fighter cocked an eyebrow as she smirked, her Star Yell ready in hand.

“Remind me again: what do you think of my songs?”

By then, three police officers had come through the entrance. Their hands floated above their holstered guns on their hips as they were visibly surprised and uneasy.

“Guardian! Put your weapon down!”

“It’s the cops! Run!” A voice shouted. The chaos simply transformed from scuffle to stampede as people began to book it for any exit they could find.

The authorities were soon knocked down from the rush, however one was able to take out her radio and plead into it, “Ten-seventy-five! We need guardians! Get us guardians!” until it was kicked out of her hand from an escaping patron.

Taiki and Yaten came up behind Star Fighter—donning a few scratches, cuts, and tousled hair—all the while still moving pretty well.

“Seiya, you dumbfuck, why’d you transform?” Yaten chastised.

“I’m the dumbfuck?” Fighter gave her crazy eyes. “They were going to kill me!” For a split second, she forgot about her leg and put weight on it while yelling back. However, the appendage was quick to remind her that something was wrong. She winced and seethed in a breath as she fell on Taiki for support.

“Let’s get out of here,” Taiki suggested calmly as he wrapped Fighter’s arm around his neck. Yaten followed suit on the other side.

They only had to contend with navigating through a few scattered stragglers before the three made their way toward the emergency exit by the stage. Taiki kicked the door open only to be met with two obstacles standing in their way, both clad in Milky Way guardian uniforms. One was in a dark blue and yellow color combination with short blonde hair, the other in dark blue and teal with medium-length teal hair.

“Not so fast.”

---

Seiya sighed as he dropped his head on the headrest in the backseat of the police car. The authorities were escorting him from a hospital where his wounds were attended to, and he was now alone. Or rather, separated from Taiki and Yaten. His only company was the two guardians from the bar—whom he was squished in between—and a uniformed officer at the wheel.

He cleared his throat to get attention from anyone. “What did you do with my friends?”

“They’re at a detention center.” The blonde guardian answered, void of emotion, keeping her focus out the window.

“A detention center? Why?”

“Because they’re here illegally. You all are. You should be there, too.”

Fuck, that’s not good. That’s not good at all… But it still didn’t explain… “So where are you taking me then?”

“The queen would like an audience with you.” The teal-headed one answered while busy on her crystal smartphone, having removed a glove for her screen to sense the natural heat of her thumb. A half-filled plastic grocery bag also sat on her lap.

“The queen?” Seiya tried to use his hands to emphasize his confusion, however, his handcuffs clanked in protest. “What does she want with me?”

“It doesn’t matter what she wants—she calls, you come.” The blonde turned her head to look at him with stern blue eyes.

He knew there was no use prying anymore. The blonde had already knocked him around a few times before getting to the hospital, so he knew he risked further physical punishment if he did so. Any other day he would find the pain worth it if it meant annoying her, but his body was already unbearably sore in places he didn’t realize he had.

Meeting with the queen also had him a bit concerned for his well-being. He figured it had something to do with being a guardian, but what exactly does she plan to do with him and that information? He had heard she was a kind and just ruler, albeit young, but from his years of intergalactic travel before ending up in Crystal Tokyo, it could very well be propaganda.

He guessed he was about to find out.

Once the car made it to the bridge that led to the palace, one needed two hands to count all the checkpoints. The palace seemed to be built specifically to reflect the moonlight, producing a daytime-like glow once they were on royal grounds. However, the car parked in front of an inconspicuous building behind a row of trees a couple of minutes shy of the actual palace, and then the blonde dragged Seiya out of the vehicle by his handcuff chains, causing his shiny black cane to drop on the ground. Diagnosed with a temporary disability from his hurt leg, the doctors issued the walking aid to help with his mobility for the next couple of weeks, but the blonde didn't care.

“Haruka, be gentle.” The teal-headed guardian chided.

“Why?”

“You know how handcuffs can hurt if you’re too rough.”

“And you will know, too… once we’re done tonight.”

Seiya raised an eyebrow, wondering if they knew their whispering wasn’t really whispering; he even caught the driver looking back with a nosy eye. Feeling a sense of dread of being transported to a second location, he limped along slowly, following the driver inside the building while trailed by the guardians.

He was led to a room that was comfortably simple and aesthetically feminine—its motif included ribbons, swirls, and florals in a combination of white and pink colors. And a small white round table sat in the middle of the space with four plush boudoir chairs surrounding it. Seiya even picked up on the scent of stargazer lilies before he noticed them sitting on a side table by the door.

But apparently, there was no time to take in his surroundings as he felt a shove on his back, forcing him to keep his balance with his bad leg. He turned around to glare at the blonde guardian.

“Hurry up!” She pointed inside the room with irritation emanating from her whole body. “The queen is on her way!”

Seiya grumbled and hobbled over to take his place in a chair, releasing a tired sigh. All he wanted was to get this over with and back to his mission. He hated how his only hope rested within the hands of the queen; it made him feel helpless and idle.

It wasn’t much later when he heard the front door of the building open, followed by both guardians bowing on the other side of the threshold at an unseen presence. Assuming the queen herself had arrived, Seiya pulled himself to his feet with the aid of his cane and the table.

"Uranus! Neptune!"

“Neo-Queen Serenity.”

---

---

If you would like to follow this story, I will be updating the rest of the chapters under the tag: hana-bean close to you and other iterations of the spacing. I love you all!

[enbies-and-felonies]

Love Me Like We Aren’t Broken Boys -Keefitz

@clearlykeefitz @lemontarto @impostertamsong @everyonehasthoughts @ruewen-and-rising @fabulous-fan-fables @linhamon-roll @queersofthelostcities @vibing-in-the-void @diamond-dreamerr I feel like there’s one I’m missing and its stressing me out

~~

tw: swearing, homophobia

~~

    Keefe let himself go numb as he sketched. Normally drawing helped him focus his emotions, understand them, and then release them, but today... Today he wanted to never feel again.

    A stroke of light pink, a stroke of dark. A shade of blue, a shade of brown. Underlying red, underlying yellow. Highlight and shade. Erase, repeat.

    Keefe finally let himself look at his drawing and his jaw tightened. 

    Fitz.

    His throat grew thick and his eyes burned. He might never get to see his best friend again, and it was all his fault.

~~

   “Keefe, what do you need?” Alden’s voice was calm, and Keefe was glad that his father-figure was always so... unconcerned.

    “I... I wanted to ask if I could stay at your place for awhile.”

    “Why, of course Keefe. You are always welcome here. Why this change and the concern? I’m sure there’s no reason to worry.” The Vackers had offered to house him more than once in the past, but Keefe had always turned them down.

    “I’m... I’m going to come out to my father. I don’t exp-”

    “Come out?” Alden’s voice seemed chillier, somehow. 

    “Yeah. About that...Alden, I’m gay.”

    There was no denying the way Alden’s emotions twisted into a hard knot of anger and disgust.

    “Get out.”

    “What?! Alden please!” Keefe didn’t know exactly what to say, but the idea that his father-figure wouldn’t accept him had never crossed his mind. He had thought Alden was safe, he had planned on him being the first because he thought that he would support him and now-

    “GET OUT!! I forgive you being sent as a spy against my son, I forgive you joining the Neverseen, I treat you as my own child!! And THIS is how you repay me?! You willingly choose a lifestyle that not only degrades the worth of your genetics, but you sully my family’s reputation by having been once considered a son. LEAVE. MY. SIGHT. You aren’t welcome here.”

    Keefe stumbled back, stunned. Then he turned, eyes burning and chest so tight he felt he might be dying. His hand hesitated on the door knob.

    “Alden, I-”

    “You are indeed the disappointment your father always knew you to be.”

    Keefe’s knees buckled and he barely made it out of the door before the first boiling tears fell.

    “Keefe? What are you-” Keefe stumbled past Fitz and out the door, breaking into a run. Fitz chased after him, but even though he was athletic, Keefe had always been the faster one. He made it out past the gate, and tears blurred his vision as he fumbled for a crystal.

    “Keefe! Wait! What’s going on?!”

    Keefe leapt away.

~~

    “Keefe.” Fitz’s voice startled Keefe, and he scrambled to hide the drawing against his chest, and compose himself.

    “Yeah Fitzy?”

    “Don’t hide from me Keefe. What’s going on? I saw you run-”

    “Nothing’s going on, Wonderboy. I just had to scoot because I didn’t want Ro to get a chance to prank me before I got back.”

    “Keefe.” Fitz swallowed and Keefe found himself focusing on his Adam’s apple, the soft skin of his neck, his chest heaving.

    “Keefe, please don’t lie to me. Please...” Keefe could barely tear his eyes away from the wrinkled material at Fitz’s neck.

    He tried to say it jauntily, but it came out strangled when he finally managed, “Now, why would I do that Fitzy?”

    Fitz stumbled slightly, like it hurt that Keefe wouldn’t tell him, like maybe he actually meant it when he had finally said he was sorry for not trusting him, like he actually meant it that time when they were playing tackle bramble and they had tumbled to the ground and Fitz was laughing and he rolled over and he had said “You know Keefe, you’re still my best friend. You know that, right?”, like Keefe was even capable of being loved, of being friends, let alone best friends, with someone. Like Fitz still wanted to be his friend.

    But Keefe knew better. So why in the name of the councilors did Fitz even try?

    “Shut up.” Fitz whispered, “Shut up Keefe. You don’t need to tell me, but never lie to me. Never do that Keefe, please.” His voice was so broken that Keefe wondered if he just might mean it...

    “Okay Fitz, I won’t. I promise.” He purposefully ignored his heart beat. He didn’t want to know if it skipped three times.

    They stood there for a moment, Keefe with the sketch pressed against his chest, Fitz with chest heaving and a broken look in his teal eyes. Then Fitz took two quick steps and gathered Keefe in his arms.

    “C’mere Keefe. I might not know what’s wrong, but I know something is, and I’m still your best friend, whether you like it or not.”

    As Fitz buried his nose into his neck, Keefe had to force himself not to cry at the barrage of fondness, melancholy, and trust hurled at him. There was something beneath all of that too, something akin to fear, but Keefe didn’t press to understand. 

    He let Fitz hold him.

~~

    “Keefe?” Fitz ventured.

    “Yeah Fitzroy?” Keefe lifted his head from where it rested on Fitz’s shoulder. They were sitting on a bench, Fitz’s arm around his shoulder, in a garden Keefe had made with the help of a few gnomes when he was ten. Cassius got a second mansion, Keefe got a mud place. Whatever, at least it was his and his alone.

    Or, his and Fitz’s now. Keefe didn’t know how to feel about that, but it wasn’t quite unpleasant.

    “I was just wondering... would you... are you.... Are you safe, Keefe? You could- You could stay with me if you need to- ?” 

    Keefe snorted bitterly and the vitriolic words escaped him before he had time to think, “No I couldn’t.” He said with a snarl. He recoiled at the guilt and hurt Fitz felt at those words, but he didn’t take them back.

    Fitz had said not to lie, and the words were true, no matter how he had said them.

    He tried again. “Alden has... made it clear you guys don’t have the space to waste on me.”

    Fitz’s eyes grew stormy.

    “What do you mean?” He growled, dangerously calm. Keefe tried to backpedal but it was too late.

    “What do you mean, Keefe.” His teal eyes were steely and Keefe swallowed.

     “Please Fitz, its not a problem, seriously.”

    “DAMMIT KEEFE, FUCKING TELL ME WHAT MY ASSHOLE OF A FATHER DID!!” Fitz was breathing hard, and Keefe curled into himself at his shouting.

    “He just... It’s... It’s FINE Fitzy boy, just let it go. It’s not a big deal, it’s just me.” How could Keefe tell him? Fitz was his father’s son, through and through. Keefe had thought Alden was safe, and now...

    Fitz took a shuddery breath, obviously trying hard to keep his temper under better control. 

    “It’s NOT fucking fine Keefe. It’s hurting you, and that means it’s hurting me. I’m not gonna let my father ruin your life. You already have someone doing that. Just- just tell me quick and it’ll be over. It’ll be okay once it’s out.” 

    Keefe highly doubted that, but he took a breath anyway and blurted, “I told your father I’m gay and now he hates me and I deserve it.”

    Oh. There was no going back now.

    Sometime during their brief argument, Keefe had pulled away from Fitz, but now he wished for nothing other than to be touching him in some way. To understand even an inkling of what Fitz was thinking behind his expressionless face. He looked down and pulled his knees up to his chest. He should have known better.

    His breath caught when he felt Fitz grab his chin gently and tip it up, so he had no choice but to make eye contact. There was no disgust, there was no fear, no anger. There was... Hope? And affection?? And then Keefe found himself pulled into a bear hug. A hug that only Fitz could give: full of love and strength and gentle at the same time.

    “You have never deserved any of the hate you have received. You are amazing, and you are not a failure, and you have never been a disappointment. Okay?” Fitz pulled away slightly in order to verify that Keefe accepted his words, and Keefe nodded, not trusting his voice past a watery ‘okay’.

    Fitz softened, “Good.” Then he flushed and pulled away from Keefe, but not before the blond boy could feel a swirl of anxiety.

    “I’m uh... I’m not straight either. But I don’t- I don’t know what I am and my dad... If he reacted so badly to you...” His nose flared as his heart began racing, and Keefe could feel his fear though the air between them.

    Keefe stubbornly ignored the thrill in his heart at Fitz admission, and tried to think.

    “So... do you think if Alden knew, he would-”

    “Don’t.” Fitz interrupted, “I don’t want to think about that. He’s a dickwad apparently and his opinion doesn’t matter anyway.” He looked so small and worried. His shoulders caved forward like his body was trying to protect itself from the world, and Keefe ached for him.

    Gently, he took Fitz’s hand in his, and this time he was the one to wrap his arms around the other. He used his free hand to brush Fitz’s hair away from his forehead and placed a delicate kiss on the top of his head.

    “It will be okay Fitz. I promise,” He whispered into the silence.

    “I promise.”

~~

   Keefe hated making promises, but Fitz had managed to extract two from him in a single day. He marveled at that, and his heart swelled with hope. Maybe he did have a chance with his best friend.

    Then again, maybe Keefe was just really stressed out about his asshole of a father. Fitz hadn’t been the best friend to Keefe recently, and it was extremely unlikely Keefe would ever like him back. Especially since Fitz couldn’t even figure out what the hell his sexuality was.

    Who could ever want to be with a fuck-up like him?

    “I don’t know what you’re thinking Fitzroy, but you need to stop it right now. I’m not having any of that self-hatred on my watch.”

    “But I-”

    “You are called Wonderboy for a reason, and that reason is because you are wonderful and thoughtful and you love making presents for people and you are my best friend. No ‘but’s.”

    Fitz growled and pulled his head up from Keefe’s shoulder.

    “I’m a fuck-up Keefe. I can never live up to people’s expectations and I disappoint everyone I meet. There’s no logical reason you should even consider me a friend, let alone your best friend! I literally-” 

    “Fucking shut up Fitzroy Vacker.”

    And then Keefe was kissing him and somehow Fitz found himself being pushed against the back of the bench as Keefe rotated and flung a leg over his lap, successfully pinning him as he straddled his lap. Fitz’s mind went blank as his ears blushed and his heart raced, but he managed to kiss back and was even conscious enough to place one hand on Keefe’s hip, and the other at the base of Keefe’s neck, tangling with his hair.

    Keefe pulled away first, eyes wide and face flushed down to the roots of his tousled blond hair. Breathing heavy, he gave a crooked grin.

    “I guess kissing does shut you up.”

    “You asshole.” Fitz tugged him closer again, pausing just before their lips connected, “May I kiss you, Keefe Sencen?”

    “Fucking please,” Keefe said, nodding, breathless and smiling wonderingly.

    Keefe’s slender artist hands cradled Fitz’s face as he leant in and kissed him. It was softer this time, but just as sweet, and it left Fitz with butterflies in his chest.

    Keefe mumbled something against Fitz’s swollen lips, and he had to pull away.

    “I’m sorry, come again?”

    Keefe rested their foreheads together, “I said ‘maybe I shouldn’t consider you my friend, because I’d like to consider you my boyfriend’.”

    Fitz tried to process Keefe’s words, but his brain was foggy from the kissing.

    “You’d want... me... You want me to be... your boyfriend? Even though I’m broken??” He glanced hopefully into Keefe’s gentle blue eyes.

    “Fitz, I’d love nothing more in the whole wide world. As long as you love me like we aren’t both broken boys.” Fitz didn’t believe for a second that Keefe was broken, but he nodded and swallowed hard.

    “I’d love to be your boyfriend Keefe,” He managed a hesitant smirk, “As long as I keep getting to kiss you like that.”

    Keefe’s eyes glittered as he laughed, and he didn’t wait for a reply before grabbing Keefe’s hips and making him rest completely on Fitz’s lap.

    He kissed Keefe’s smiling mouth, and let himself hope about the future.

~~~~~~~

AHHHHHHHH, IT’S DONE!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m so sorry it took literally for-fucking-ever, but I really appreciate y’all’s patience, and I hope you guys liked it!!! I got so many feels while writing this, and I hope the kissing scene made sense. I don’t really know how it works lmao

Feel free to give me prompts to write about!!!!!! (and let me know if you want to be tagged in future Keefitz writing posts!!)

I love you guys!!!!! <33

[katsukiscaramel]

love at first sight

Pairing: Bakugou x Reader

Summary: Love at first sight has the possibility of happening anywhere; even in a gala full of masked strangers. 

Note: HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!!!! (yes, I know I'm a day late sksksk) aLSO THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR 200 FOLLOWERS!!!! I’m highkey screaming ngl I love all of y’all so much! and I would love to talk to some of y’all too (cause 200 followers = 200 friends), so remember my dms/inbox is always open! Sorry for the rant, I’m just so happy. Anyways, as always comments + feedback are always appreciated!

You were a firm believer in love at first sight. The very concept of coincidentally meeting someone, locking eyes with them, and immediately coming upon the realization the two of you were meant to be never failed to make your heart flutter. You were vaguely aware of how childish the concept of love at first sight was; something fabricated within the land of fairytales to help fuel the overactive minds of children who couldn’t quite grasp what love was. But even then, you couldn’t help yourself as you searched for the type of love that only seemed to exist in fairytales, becoming the hopeless romantic that never seemed to exactly find what they were looking for. 

And one with think that someone as fascinated with love as you were, would absolutely adore Valentine’s Day. After all, a whole holiday dedicated to celebrating love with the ones you loved seemed to be something exactly up your alley. 

But being stuck in a crowded ballroom adorned with pink and red decorations, surrounded by increasingly tipsy partygoers whose faces were covered with intricate masks, you found the holiday quickly becoming one of your least favorites. 

You stood near a somewhat secluded corner, your fingers occasionally fidgeting with your mask or the various parts of your outfit, desperately wanting to be anywhere but here. Your eyes glanced over the crowds of masked people, noticing the dancing couples and those few blatantly obvious singles who already seemed to be heavily intoxicated so early into the night. The smile that rested on your face was purely polite, with no real indications of enjoyment behind it. Some made an attempt to talk to you, but after a few words full of formalities, they’d wander away in search of someone a bit more fun. And to be honest, you didn’t blame them.

Your gaze landed on two masked figures approaching you. Once they were close enough, you dropped the fake smile plastered onto your lips, letting out a tired sigh.

“I want to go home,” you said to your friends. 

“I thought you were supposed to be a hopeless romantic? Isn’t Valentine’s Day supposed to be the one day practically made for you?” Monoma asked, making you roll your eyes.

“I’m not a hopeless romantic, because there’s still hope out there--” you were interrupted by Monoma’s obnoxious laughter. Kendo raised her hand, threatening to hit the blond hero, and effectively shutting him up. 

“If you were home, you’d be doing nothing but moping around and watching romance movies,” Kendo pointed out. You let out a sigh, fully aware of how right Kendo was. If it was up to you, you’d be at home, surrounded by boxes of chocolates and piles of blankets as you watched incredibly sappy romance movies.

“That’s still better than being here,” you groaned out, making Monoma roll his eyes. 

“Might I remind you that you’re attending a masquerade ball on Valentine’s Day?” Monoma commented, crossing his arms. “So go be Cinderella or whatever, and embark on your weird quest for love.” You stared at him in brief shock, before smirking. 

“Damn, you being a supportive friend? It’s a Valentine’s Day miracle,” you snickered out. You could see the glare Monoma sent your way through his black mask, only making you laugh even more. 

“Forget everything I said. Instead of being Cinderella, feel free to stay in this corner all night like the old witch you are. It’s not like you’ll find love anyways,” Monoma huffed out. You let out a gasp as Kendo rolled her eyes. She paused for a moment, suddenly realizing how quiet it was in the small little group. Her teal eyes looked around, something suddenly clicking in place.

“Hey, where’s Tetsutetsu?” Her question was immediately answered as she could hear loud yelling coming from the opposite end of the venue. She sighed, waving you a quick goodbye as she turned on her heels and headed towards the direction of the ruckus. Monoma followed behind her, leaving you alone.

Your eyes trailed after them, watching as they disappeared into the crowd. Faintly aware of the boredom gnawing at you, you sighed to yourself. After all, you had to leave your little corner eventually, no matter how comfortable it seemed. With that, you headed into the crowd of people, determined to make the best of the night.

And while your friends managed to successfully motivate you to enjoy the party; another group of friends was failing miserably at doing the same thing.

“This is so fucking stupid. Who the hell decides to have a masquerade ball on Valentine’s Day?” Bakugou growled out, angry crimson eyes glancing into the crowd of couples who were dancing to whatever annoying song that was echoing throughout the venue. 

“This is for a good cause,” Kaminari said. “It’s to raise awareness for some heart disease--” he briefly stopped talking, his yellow eyes widening in sudden realization. “Ohhh so that’s why it’s on Valentine’s Day! Cause-- you know, hearts and Valentine’s Day!” Kaminari shouted, making Bakugou roll his eyes. 

“I want to leave,” Bakugou grumbled out, arms crossed and standing firmly in his spot. Kirishima let out a sigh, running his hand through his red hair, his tired red eyes glancing towards his friends, or at least the remaining ones. Mina and Sero had already given up, wandering into the crowd to be able to finally enjoy themselves without Bakugou’s constant complaining. Some part of Kirishima wished to do the same, while the other part of him wanted Bakugou to at least somewhat enjoy himself for once.

“You can’t leave, I drove us here.” Kirishima pointed out.

“I’ll blast my way out of here,” Bakugou replied. Kirishima blankly stared at Bakugou, painfully aware of how serious the blond was.

“You making an appearance is good press, Bakubro. And as a pro hero, you need to maintain a good image so you’re well-liked by the public,” Kirishima said. Truth be told, he was just pulling out random reasons for Bakugou to stay. “At least stay for an hour. Please?” 

“Absolutely--” Kirishima could feel himself letting out a victorious smile. “--the fuck not. I’m leaving.” Bakugou decided, finally moving from his spot and looking for the closest exit. Kirishima sighed to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose and moving forward to follow Bakugou out. Kaminari’s hand stopped Kirishima, his yellow eyes spotting the perfect distraction in keeping Bakugou preoccupied for a while. 

“Alrighty Bakugou, you leave me no choice,” Kaminari said, catching Bakugou’s attention. Bakugou rolled his eyes, feeling himself become increasingly annoyed by the electric idiot he called a friend.

“Hey ladies!” Kaminari yelled, grabbing the attention of a group of women nearby. Bakugou turned around, curious as to what Kaminari was doing. “Meet my friend Bakugou! He’s a pro hero! Plus he’s incredibly strong, somewhat handsome, and desperately single!”

“What the hell did you say Dunce Face--” but before Bakugou could even reach Kaminari, a group of women suddenly surrounded him, their irritatingly high-pitched voices bombarding him with countless questions. Bakugou barely managed to see Kaminari and Kirishima duck into the crowd, hiding away from sight, before the women completely surrounded him. Bakugou growled, feeling the anger and irritation build up inside of him.

Good god, this was going to be a long night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You aimlessly wandered throughout the crowd, careful to not bump into anyone. At some point, you had attempted to head in the direction Kendo and Monoma had run off too, but all you found was a broken refreshments table and absolutely no sign of your friends. Your eyes glanced over the people surrounding you, noting all the couples who were slowly dancing with one another to the soft music and the groups of friends laughing about. Only then did you notice how lonely you were. Sighing to yourself, you looked around for the quiet corner you previously occupied, somewhat regretting leaving in the first place. 

While moving around the crowd, your ears couldn’t help but catch a nearby conversation. 

“Come on, we should dance together!” A woman’s voice said, followed by a heavy sigh.

“Like I’ve told you before, I’m not even tempted by the damn offer. Will you just leave me alone?” A man’s voice gritted out, frustration coating his words. You looked over, noticing how the woman was practically latched onto the man’s arm while the man looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but there.

And honestly, you could relate. 

An impulsive decision entered your mind as you made your way over towards the two, tapping the man’s shoulder. His head snapped over towards you, and though you couldn’t exactly see his eyes, you could feel his glare seething into your skin. You feigned a smile, grabbing his arm.

“There you are! I’ve been looking for you everywhere honey.” You said, faking a cheery voice. You could see the woman beside him back off a little bit, her eyes trained on your actions. You looked back at the man, noticing how he looked absolutely livid. “You promised me a dance, remember?” 

Bakugou blankly stared at you, having half the mind to just scream all the profanities circling around in his head. He opened his mouth, with the intention of telling you to fuck off, until noticing the way you nodded your head off towards the side. His eyes glanced over, catching how the women that were previously surrounding him seemed to back off just a bit, watching the interaction with catlike eyes. 

Glancing between you and the group of women, he decided to pick the lesser of two evils. 

Letting out a sigh, he forced out a tight-lipped smile, focusing on you. 

“Oh right, I do owe you that dance, honey,” Bakugou hissed out, the words tasting like bitter poison in his mouth. Letting go of his arm, you reached for his hand. At first, he moved his hand away, before slowly allowing you to grab it. You sent an empathetic look towards the women. 

“Sorry ladies, I can barely keep an eye on this one. You know how it is,” you said with a smile, resisting the urge to shiver at the glares they were sending your way. Before they could respond, you dragged the man into the crowd of dancing couples.

Once in the crowd, you could still see the group of women staring the two of you down. You turned towards the blond man, grabbing his free hand with your own.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He asked, attempting to yank his hands away. For someone so short, you had a surprisingly tight grip. 

“Dance with me,” you simply said, stepping closer towards him.

“Excuse me?” Bakugou growled out, instantly regretting his choice in following you. Of course, he wouldn’t even be in this mess if it wasn’t for Kirishima and Kaminari, those damn idiots--

“They’re still watching us. The moment I leave, they’ll immediately latch onto you again,” you pointed out. You watched as the man turned his head, immediately turning back towards you. He let out a growl of frustration, his jaw clenching. And to be perfectly honest, you found that undeniably, and weirdly, attractive. You quickly snapped out of your thoughts, fully aware this was neither the time nor the place.

“Fine,” he grumbled out. Bakugou glanced at the couples dancing around them, noticing how they weren’t just simply holding each other and swaying. “Do you know how to dance?” You paused for a brief moment. You genuinely didn’t think you’d get this far.

“Well, not exactly--”

“Just follow my lead,” Bakugou said, taking one of your hands and placing it on his shoulder. He grasped your free hand, placing his other hand right above your waist. Once he began moving, you stared down at his feet, trying hard to follow his steps. After a few minutes of constantly stepping in his toes, and very colorful curses, you finally managed to catch the hang of it. Your eyes slowly looked up towards him, truly seeing him for the first time since the two of you met. 

A black mask framed his face, orange detailing surrounding his eyes. His messy blond hair stuck out in multiple directions but managed to look so neat on him. The scowl that previously rested on his face melted away, a seemingly content look on his face. You stared into his eyes, a mesmerizing shade of red that seemed to hold so much fire and determination behind them. 

He looked absolutely stunning, and at that moment you didn’t think you ever wanted to let go. 

Bakugou caught your eyes staring at him, an annoyed remark dying down in his throat as he stared right back at you. Weirdly enough, you were less annoying and more useful than he gave you credit for. And the small content smile that rested on your lips managed to capture his attention, his crimson eyes noticing the way that the low light in the ballroom managed to make your eyes practically shine. 

And for a brief moment, dancing with you didn’t seem as bothersome as it did minutes ago.

The both of you didn’t even notice that the song ended before the room filled with applause, snapping the both of you out of your daydream filled daze. Bakugou quickly let go of you, the long-forgotten scowl appearing back on his face. 

“Well, that was...“ you trailed off, watching as the blond-haired man quickly began maneuvering throughout the crowd, heading straight for a door. You stared at him in disbelief, but before your brain could register what you were doing, your feet trailed after him. 

You followed him into a long corridor illuminated by a soft golden yellow light, watching as he opened doors, glancing inside before closing them.

“What are you looking for?” You asked, watching as the blond slammed another door shut, clearly growing frustrated at the lack of results. 

“The exit, what else would I be looking for? I just want to leave this stupid party,” Bakugou said, and you could find yourself nodding in agreement. 

There was a moment of silence that fell between you two, the only sounds entering your ears were the faint music from the forgotten gala, the clacking of your shoes hitting the tiled floor, and the opening and slamming of doors. You couldn’t help the amused smile that appeared on your face, watching as the man mumbled profanities and grew increasingly frustrated. You didn’t even think it was possible for one guy to be so angry.

“Do you even know where you’re going?” You asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“Of course I know where I’m going!”

“Really? Because it doesn’t seem like it--”

“If you don’t trust my sense in navigation then why the hell are you still following me?” Bakugou snapped, sending you a quick glare before continuing through the corridor. You paused for a moment, his comment echoing throughout your mind.

Why were you following him? 

If you had spent all this time looking for your friends instead of with him, you would have probably been halfway home by now. And you truly had no real reason to stick around, aware of how the extremely angry stranger probably wanted to be alone.

But for some reason, you just couldn’t make yourself leave.

Once he noticed the sound of footsteps had stopped following him, he glanced around, his eyes landing on your figure. What he had said wasn’t too rude, was it? 

He was about to say something before he saw you begin to leave your frozen spot in the hallway, catching up to him. His eyes quickly looked away, as he continued on his way, shaking the thoughts away from his mind.

Since when did he care if he was too rude?

You watched as the man opened another door, peering inside. He was frozen for a moment, his eyes widening before he quickly slammed the door shut. He just stood there for a moment, his curious behavior making your furrow your brows.

“What was in the room?” You asked, heading towards him. He gave no reply, only sparking your own curiosity. Your hand reached towards the door handle, but a shiver ran down your spine as the man gripped your wrist, stopping you from reaching the handle. 

“You don’t want to know what was in there,” Bakugou said, mentally shoving what he saw in some dark repressed corner of his mind. 

“What do you mean?” You asked, looking towards him. Once you saw the light blush that dusted his cheeks, you suddenly realized exactly what he might have seen. “Oh, you poor thing--”

“Shut up,” he grumbled, before dragging you away from the door and into another hallway, his hand never leaving your wrist.

It felt like another hour of aimless wandering until the two of you stumbled upon a pair of double doors. You glanced over towards the man beside you, watching as his lips formed a victorious smile. 

“You really think that’s the exit?” You asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I know it is,” he simply said, letting go of your wrist. Bakugou pushed open the double doors, feeling relief as his eyes caught sight of the night sky and what seemed to be a large garden, overwhelmingly happy at the thought of finally being free--

Until he took a few steps forward, his eyes catching sight of a railing, and his brain slowly registering that while they might have been outside, they were really just on a very elaborate balcony. He let out an annoyed groan, feeling the urge to just hit something. 

“Well,” you began, trying your hardest to keep in your laughter at the sight of the stranger’s dejected face. “If we jump off the balcony, then technically this could be an exit.” You watched as he turned to face you. “Ooh, maybe we could do a flip while going down!” If looks could kill, you’d surely be dead. 

“Do you ever just shut up?” 

“And deprive the world of my very necessary commentary? Never,” you said. Bakugou rolled his eyes, moving towards the balcony railing, and allowing his eyes to sweep over the landscape. It might not have exactly been freedom, but at least he still wasn’t cooped up in that hellhole of a party. 

You were about to take a few steps towards him until your eyes caught sight of a small rose bush. Instinctively, you stepped towards it, your eyes immediately landing on a rose that had fallen onto the ground. Your hand reached down, picking it up, before moving to join the masked man at the balcony railing. 

“You’re welcome, by the way.” You said, still staring at the rose in your hands.

“For what?” The man growled out. You rolled your eyes, turning your head so you could look at him.

“For helping you escape that group of women,” you said, watching as he scoffed.

“Tch, I had it handled.” 

“Oh really? Cause from where I was standing, you had it far from handled. It looked like they were all seconds away from tearing you apart.” You commented, your eyes once again meeting his red ones. He was silent for a while, before letting out a sigh.

“Thank you, I guess,” he gritted out, his voice barely audible. You let out a smile.

“See, that wasn’t too hard!”

“Nevermind, I take it back,” Bakugou mumbled, making you laugh. 

You glanced back at the rose in your hands, before reaching forward and carefully tucking the stem into the pocket of his suit, making sure that the rose was still visible.

“What the hell are you doing?” He asked, his eyes narrowing on your movements. You simply shrugged, waving your hand dismissively.

“Don’t get so worked up, I just thought the rose matched your eyes.” You said, watching as the man’s hand reached for the rose in his suit pocket. For a brief second, you thought he was going to rip out the rose, but instead, his hand momentarily hovered over it, before dropping back on top of the balcony railing. 

Another comfortable silence fell between the two of you, as you both looked out into the nighttime scenery. You could feel a gentle breeze, your eyes glancing out into the garden, captivated by how relaxing everything seemed. 

As you observed the view from the balcony, you couldn’t help it as your eyes glanced beside you, particularly fixated on the man standing next to you.

It was almost as if you were back in the ballroom again, finding yourself enchanted by the man next to you. Your eyes focused on the way the soft moonlight practically made him glow. The way he looked so at peace, almost as if all the anger that consumed him somehow managed to wash away. 

The way he seemed to be looking at you with the same intensity, an undefinable look crossing over his eyes. 

You couldn’t tell if it was your daydream filled haze playing tricks on you, but the two of you seemed to slowly move towards each other, eyes only focused on the other. 

You could feel your heart racing inside your chest, an indescribable feeling enveloping you. 

The two of you were barely inches apart until the balcony doors slammed open, resulting in the two of you moving as far apart as possible. Your heads snapped towards the entrance, eyes now focused on the man who had so violently opened the doors.

“Oh my god, there you are!” Kaminari said, trying to catch his breath. “Kirishima got super drunk and remember that guy he was practically twins with back in high school? Well, they threw each other out of a window-- it was kind of funny not gonna lie-- but we need to leave, immediately,” Kaminari quickly explained. But after taking a brief moment to look at the scene in front of him, a different thought crossed his mind.

“Did I interrupt something? Sorry! I’ll leave you two alone--”

“You didn’t interrupt anything. I was looking for the exit anyways.” Bakugou growled out, ignoring how his face started feeling extremely warm. You awkwardly cleared your throat, gaining his attention. 

“I guess I’ll see you around?” You asked, feeling somewhat hopeful that this wouldn’t be the last time you’d see the blond man. Your eyes almost lit up as he nodded his head. 

“I’ll see you around,” he said, before heading towards his friend who seemed to be watching the whole interaction with shocked eyes.

“Damn, how did you get someone so beautiful to hang out with you--” Kaminari was interrupted as Bakugou shoved him backward.

“I’m going to kill you Dunce Face,” he grumbled out before the balcony doors shut behind him.

You had watched the interaction with an amused smile on your face, before turning back and staring out at the view once more. Rather than focusing on what you were seeing, your mind focused on all the emotions that seemed to be coursing through you. 

Your heart was fluttering in your chest, a warm and fuzzy feeling consuming you. You couldn’t even begin to describe the emotions enveloping you, but at the same time, they made so much sense to you. Was this it?

Was this the moment you finally fell in love?

You let out a content sigh, your brain running wild with daydreams. The inner romantic in you felt so indescribably happy at that moment. But as a different thought crossed your mind, you felt yourself freeze, feeling the daydreams that surrounded your mind come shattering down into small unfixable pieces.

You didn’t even know his name.

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are Space Orcs, “To learn.”

My brain wanted to write something in first person present tense today. I have no idea why, but I let it go wild. I hope you all like it :) A little bit different than my usual style :)

I just needed some time.

You ever tried putting yourself back together after war, it isn’t easy, or at least I don’t find it to be. I don’t know, call me a sissy, but I don’t actually like war., I don’t take pleasure from killing, but it is part of my job, a big part of it and if the universe continues the way it is, I am going to see war a lot more often.

I wish it didn’t affect me so much.

I wish I had a better way of handling it.

People think I’m a strong person, but they’re wrong. There are plenty of people who could take up my mantle and do a more badass job. They wouldn’t grow sick as the sight of carnage, and they wouldn’t hesitate to put the armor back on.

I’m not like that ….

I’m a coward.

If my friends knew…. Well I have no idea what they would think of me.

But that’s why I had to take some time. Since my first injury, I have never been totally alone. There was always someone there to check on me, there was always someone there to help me deal with my issues. I don’t think I ever figured out how to take care of myself, which is why I decided to take this trip, alone.

The others didn’t understand it…. well , one of them did but he still didn’t like it, but If I am being honest it will be good for them….. Especially her…. The last thing I want to do is make it so we can’t function alone.

I think its called…. Codependency or something.

I don’t know sounds like the sort of thing I’d get caught up in.

I suppose it's for all those reasons that I ended up here. 

Looking out the window, I can see Anum suspended against the sky glassy in shades of blue purple and green like a lucky marble. It almost feels as if I can reach out and touch it.

The last time I saw this place, it was receding into the distance,.

I lost a lot here, my leg, and my mind for a short time.

Now it kind of makes me laugh to think that a piece of me was left behind to fertilize some of the plant matter. Of course, it looks a bit different now that the dark season has abated. I had only ever seen the place when it was covered in ash, but it's actually quite beautiful. 

The pilot of the shuttle is pretty average, and I only feel like tightening my hands on the seatbelts just a little as we enter the atmosphere.

Fire rolls up around us as friction begins to heat up the outer hull.

Around me men and aliens alike rock in their seats.

Most of them are miners, come here to work on extracting the precious metals from below Anum’s surface.

Personally, I prefer asteroid mining, but statistics say that is more dangerous and expensive so of course corporations like it a lot less, and besides, all of this was sort of just a massive pissing contest with the GA forcing the Drev to pay for the damages caused during war. I don’t think they should, but who am I to give my opinion.

I’m just a soldier.

It doesn't take us long to leave the atmosphere, and it isn’t long before we are looking down at a massive open mining operation. The face of Anum has been scoured with a massive terraced hole overrun by machines and workers cutting into the stone. Volcanoes pipe smoke in the distance.

The scars of industry really are ugly sometimes.

I’ve seen pictures of anum during the bright season, without the machinery.

It's honestly very beautiful, but maybe I'm a bit biased. It’s the one part of home that Sunny misses, and I’ve always wanted to see it for myself. With all the times we’ve gone to earth, you think we'd have visited her home planet too, but I guess the cosmos have ust never taken us this way.

Red lights blink above the doors, and I unbuckle my harness pulling on my bag and gear with the rest of the miners, though I’m not here for the same reason they are. Boots clatter loudly on the ramp below our feet, and I head outside.

It smells clean and cool, though for a distant tang of sulfur.

You barely notice it though, less bad than visiting the hot springs at yellowstone, so your nose adjusts quickly.

The sky overhead is blue, just like on earth, though the ground beyond the launch pad is an amalgamation of rainbow color. I have to blink a few times to adjust my vision, pulling up the eyepatch to take a look from my mechanical eye and its UV filter.

“Holy shit.”

It's beautiful, the sheer amount of color is astonishing like the Lucky Charms leprechaun had some sort of horrific accident. T

he miners ignore me and continue on their way towards the docking pad. 

I don’t plan on following.

I am not here for them. I drop the patch back over my eye, and adjust the bag over my shoulder striking it out into the bush, barely looking back. No one notices, or cares, and it isn’t long before the launch field and the mining operation disappears over the horizon. Anum’s circumference is just a little smaller than that of earth with the horizon eating up anything beyond that around three miles.

Gravity is somewhat lessened too, which makes it easier as I walk.

My boots are silent against the multicolored moss at my feet, this stuff teal in color. Little white flowers spring up from the surface like clover back home. A light gust of wind rolls past me causing the flowers to ripple. I lift my head closing my eyes and allowing the wind to carry with it distant smells.

This is the same wind that Sunny would have known growing up, the same feeling under her feet.

I decide to stop a couple miles out under the meager shade of a coiltree. I have never actually seen one before now, and I can see why it’s called a coiltree. Honestly it looks like something straight out of a Dr. Seus book striped up the trunk and with branches that curl into spirals. More little whit blossoms erupt from the trunk, and between those are little white berries. 

I seem to recall those being edible.

Reaching up, I pluck one or two down from the branches and pop them into my mouth. Though the skin is white, the berries juice stains my hands purple. One of them is horrifically sour, but the other is pleasantly sweet, probably more ripe than the other, though I can’t yet tell the difference between them. 

I sit there under the tree for a little while looking out across the lonely landscape. Something is moving on the distant horizon, though I can't exactly tell what they are, a herd of some sort of animal or another. They are very tall as far as I can tell, just a little shorter than the coiltree.

As a last moment decision, I kick off my boots, and strip my socks tying them to my bag before standing.

The moss is very soft under my feet erupting upwards between my toes like a shag carpet, but you know much less hideous.

My footsteps are even softer now, though the prosthetic clatters sometimes when metal hits stone.

Sweat runs down my back,sides, and front.

I have no idea where I am going, but I know they will see me soon enough.

They have patroll parties out here, and if they aren’t watching me already, then they will be soon enough.

I keep walking heading parallel to the volcanic chain.

For the most part, my hike is uneventful, except for that time that I stepped on something slimy and wriggly. I hate to admit it but I squealed like an idiot and nearly fell over, only made worse when I looked down and saw the giant pale maggot burrowing into the moss and underground.

I nearly gagged, and my skin crawled.

Sunny had mentioned those, though I forgot their names.

THey lived primarily off of decomposing plant and animal material, very common in areas where war had continued.

I didn’t like it, but it was probably one of those nasty suckers that ate my leg.

Ew…

Gross.

I contemplated putting my boots back on, but kept walking instead. 

A group of unknown flying critters appear overhead. They have two sets of membranous wings, kind of like those of a bat, no tail though, just a long rail of fur like the streamer of a kite.

These ones are bright colors like pink and yellow.

Pretty cool.

Its nice to walk in the silence, though after a while my brain devolves into humming the star wars theme, and then singing stupid songs dancing around and hopping about from one foot to another as I badly sing the choruses to all the songs I know.

My eye of the tiger rendition probably left something to be desired, though I doubt anyone out here would know the difference.

Then comes the stupid dialogs with myself as I try to imagine what Krill Conn and Sunny would say about all this.

“Commander, I will have you know that you behavior is highly disquieting, I insist we get an MRI on your brain to make sure you have not developed a severe case of bilateral goop disease.”

“What kind of dumbass just goes wandering around with no idea where he’s going. The dumbass kind of dumbass.”

“Adam, I need you to understand that Anum is a dangerous place. I know you grew up on earth, but there are still things that can go wrong on Anum. Do you know how common surprise hot springs are. What if you fell in and died.”

Speaking of which, “Thanks imaginary Sunny, I totally forgot about that.”

Other than that, what can go wrong, it is a bright shiny day, the temperature is perfect, nothing someone like me can’t handle. Oh and is that a crunchy pink orb I see. I fucking love those, they taste so good.

I hop over the rocks, my feet warm on the moss, and reach down to pluck one of the spheres from it’s short stumpy stem.

And that's when the spear appears at my throat.

Shit.

I drop my hand back and look up to see a drev that is at least three feet taller than me, holding his massive spear orange eyes narrowed. Holy shit, I didn’t even hear her/him coming. Honestly I should have seen them coming long before anything else bright fuschia as they were.

“Lod tsa ee nin tsa daeen darish.”  They jab the spear at my neck, and the obsidian lined head cuts through my sin like butter. 

Oh shit, uh, my translator is not picking up shit. Guess these guys have a different accent than we’re used to. I rack my brains trying to remember how to speak what little I know, but it seems that it has all fled me when I needed it the most.

“Lod tsa ee nin tsa daeen darish!” I stumble backwards onto my butt and hands. Shit shit.

I hold up a hand.

“Cheeyat neahasan!” Shit I forgot to conjugate the verb. Damn I must look like an idiot yelling ‘to speak slow!’ at the top of my lungs 

However, my botched attempt at speaking seems to work, and they pull back. “Tsa dzhal Cheeyish.” 

Oh I understood that one, “Yid zhe cheeyi dzhal.” yes, yes I speak Drev, “neahasan.” Slolwy anyway. 

They pull back. I don't know why, but I’m getting a female vibe off this one. I can't tell though, Drev voices all tend to be rather deep.

“Lod tsa ee nin tsa daeen darish” She says it slower this time, and all around her I watch as a small group of other Drev move to flank me from the sides. They are listening very intently.

I think I understand this time, the rough translation being who are you and what are you doing.

I want to speak with your leader, “Zhe zhegingi s tsak eeda cheeyat.” My voice is halting and I am butchering the pronunciation, but they seem to get my request.

She trusts the spear at me, “Tsaee!”

I hold up my hands, “Woah woah, easy easy…. I uh.” Shit what was the word to learn, “zhe….zhengingi hak tsa…. “ Damn it… I can’t remember,  “um….. Rekazat nin dzhal….. Rekazazh.”

Oh wow, that sounds really intelligent. I wanted to learn from them but instead apparently I ‘want to know what they know.’ riveting conversationalist that I am.

She stares at me confused.

In frustration I point at her spear, “Zhe zhengingi…..zheengat?” 

Uh this was going poorly. I clearly did not know as much of their language as I thought I did.

I want to know to fight.

Wow excellent work their commander that will convince them.

They look back and forth at each other, and fire off some quick shot dialogue that leaves my head spinning.

She turns to me and lowers her spear, “s jya Hajish.”

Come with us.

Great a sentence I understood.

It was in the next few hours that I was either going to live, or I was going to die horribly. 

A pretty exciting time in my life.

And I followed.

Not like I had a choice at this point. 

[kathyprior4200]

Hazbinstagram: The Case of the Missing Blitzo

A Hazbinstagram ™ story

  An ongoing story from the great creators and artists of "Hazbinstagram!"

For as long as he could remember since July, Blitzo had found a new horse to be his loving friend. He loved her so much, that he gave her different names everyday. During his everyday life at I.M.P. Blitzo had claimed that his horse had helped him make decisions. His associates thought the horse was part of his imagination. Stolas wanted to meet his horse as well, to see what she looked like.

But one day, Blitzo mysteriously disappears after posing in a picture full of static. Many speculate that he had been kidnapped.

But who? Could it be the demon who photo-bombed his last photo? His horse? A rival company?

Or perhaps a familiar radio loving demon with sinister plans of his own...

Alastor has a shadowy horse creature with a skeletal body, sharp teeth and black wings. The eyes glow teal and the mane and tail are thick and black. The creature may have captured Blitzo and gone back to its master. (Art and idea by Radio Hazbin!)

Fun Fact: Alastor was also the name of one of Hades' horses when he rose from the ground to capture Persephone.

 Blitzo was seen smiling as he took a selfie in static. Red and black shapes were behind him, appearing to be a distorted form of reality.

 Blitzo spoke and texted with static lacing his words: “Hanging with my horse, Enamel Pin. She said it was ok for me to take a picture with her. O3O.”

 Cherri Bomb responded: “What the hell type of horse does this to a camera?”

 Other comments soon appeared on Instagram, or rather, Voxtagram as the TV Overlord owned all technological platforms.

 “No horse does that, but I know a deer who does.”

 “Who else is red, got antlers on his head and doesn’t like being on camera?”

 “I don’t think that’s a horse, I think that’s a certain deer overlord.”

 “Alastor, is that you?”

 “I think Blitzo’s horse friend might be a certain radio demon.”

 “Oh deer.”

 “I wonder if the horse and Alastor are related. He also has the effect on pictures.”

 “Are we speculating that Blitzo is riding Alastor…a new ship is coming!”

 “Please save Blitzo from that thing.”

  Stolas was concerned, and began to type. “Hm…Blitzo, I’m a bit concerned about your horse friend. I haven’t read anything on horses distorting cameras. Can we talk?”

 Blitzo replied in an arrogant tone: “I don’t know what you’re talking about. My horse can do whatever she wants. She’s just cool like that.”

 Stolas responded: “Alright, if you say so. I may do some more research on this. But I am glad she’s so kind to you, Blitzy.”

 Blitzo added: “She’s very nice and eats the cockroaches at my place.”

 Later, Blitzo posted a child-like colored drawing of himself holding an iced coffee in his hand. Below the drawing was a colored tan horse with a black mane with her head lowered, surrounded by gray. The picture read: ”How I met my horsie. One day, I was just walking to get coffee again. She was all alone. I asked her if she wanted coffee. She said “You bet I do.” As we sat at the table, everyone ran away screaming for some reason.”

 Blitzo posted: “The comic of my horsie and me meeting for the first time.”

 Moxxie responded with: “Will all due respect sir, your “horsie” looks nothing like that.”  

 A commenter asked, “Does he look like a deer?”

 Moxxie was flabbergasted at the comments. “Why do you guys keep saying that thing looks like a deer? That thing looks nothing close to those. You humans are weirdly obsessed with deers.”

 Another commenter warned: “It might be the Radio Demon. Please warn your boss, Moxxie.”

 The grumpy imp wasn’t having it. Moxxie posted: “What are you all talking about?! That “horsie” looks nothing similar to the Radio Demon. Your strange obsessions over the Radio Demon worries me, humans.”

 (That’s the fandom for you, Moxxie!!!)

 Another commenter yelled: “Moxxie, what the hell does the horse look like?!”

 Moxxie replied: “I’d rather not talk about it.”

 Blitzo stepped in. “It was because my horse was amazing and beautiful. Moxxie is just being a puss.”

 Moxxie grumbled and typed: “I disagree, sir. Just keep that thing away from me.”

 Blitzo was offended: “She has a name, Mox!”

 Moxxie: “Sir, I can’t keep up with all the nonsensical names you keep giving it! What even is it right now?!”

 Blitzo: “Her name is Sandal! She is just very fond of getting her names.”

 Stolas added: “This is sweet. I’d really love to meet your horse friend someday.”

 Moxxie had a bad gut feeling inside him. It was the same feeling he had when his boss had brought one of the Furby imp creatures home. They were known to inhibit an old organ that was now in Alastor’s possession “Your Highness, I really don’t think this is a good idea.”

  Bitzo then took a selfie of himself with iced coffee in his hand. Behind him, an imp wearing a gray mask was seen standing with a knife over another imp on the ground. Blitzo posted: “Just got coffee and I was taking a selfie when this guy photobombed my picture. Not cool. My horse (renamed to Glove) is down the street. Waiting for her right now.”

 Stolas agreeed: “Some people are so inconsiderate.”

 Someone asked: “How does the coffee taste?” Blitzo replied with “Gooood.”

 Somebody else asked: “Why does this look like Moxxie killing Millie?”

 Moxxie fumed as he responded: “What the fuck is wrong with you humans?! Why would I ever hurt Millie? You humans are disgusting.”

 Several hours pass by. A concerned and confused Stolas held his white rotary phone with little wings on it in his hand. He posted: “Blitzo didn’t answer for our scheduled call. I suppose I’ll try again tomorrow.”

 The next day passed. Stolas stared forlornly at his rotary phone. He posted: “Tried calling Blitzo again. His receptionist said he hasn’t been in today but she’d have him call me back (I don’t think she will). Via is mad at me. This is a terrible day…”

 Someone asked, “Why is Via angry?”

 Stolas responded: “Via is angry with me because I wouldn’t let her go to a concert without supervision.”

 Moxxie later posted a picture of himself in his room by closed blinds. He had a sad, far-away look on his face, a contrast to his usually grumpy demeanor. He posted: “I enjoyed how peaceful it has been as of late. But this is just awfully quiet…Not that I care, but has anyone seen the smooth brain noise maker that is my boss?”

 Stolas texted Moxxie: “He hasn’t been there at all?!”

 Moxxie said: “No, Your Highness. I haven’t seen him around since he went out to get coffee.”

 Stolas: “Have you contacted his daughter?”

 Moxxie: “Well, yes, but she keeps ignoring me.”

 Stolas texted Moxxie, Millie and Loona: “Has Blitzo been home? Is he alright?”

 Loona: “He’s not on his couch, so no. I don’t know man, maybe he found horses outside, ran after them and got lost…”

 Angel Dust came in to the conversation as well. “Man, mystery shows are hitting real now.”

 Loona posted a picture of an empty couch with a pink pillow on it. She said: “He’s not home yet, I thought he’d be back by now.”

 Stolas: “We’ll find him.”

 Loona: “He’d better have a good fucking excuse.”

 Moxxie: “For once, I agree with you, Loona.”

 Stolas later held up a flier of Blitzo flipping the bird. On the top, the flier read, “Have you seen me? Goes by Blitzo, the “o” is silent.”

 Stolas: “Had these made. Will be giving them to Moxxie, so Blitzo’s associates can put them up around the city. If anyone knows anything, please call I.M.P.”

 Cherri Bomb offered words of encouragement. “I’m sure that little guy is around somewhere, Your Majesty. He’ll show up eventually!”

 Moxxie to Stolas: “We will do everything we can to find that idiot, Your Highness.”

 Stolas to Moxxie: “Moxxie, I wish I could help you, aside from making these posters.”

 Moxxie to Stolas: “Much appreciated for the posters, Your Highness.”

 Angel Dust: “Aye, keep looking feathas. Hell ain’t too big a place ta miss the guy with horns that big.”

 More theories were posted:

 “Maybe he was taken by his horse or furby.”

 “Loona, I don’t think Blitzo has an excuse, I think he was kidnapped.”

 “It’s either the horse or the dude stabbing in the background.”

 “Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. His horse is taking care of him.”

   Meanwhile, in a dark hideout…

 Blitzo’s yellow eyes were wide as saucers as he sat terrified on what appeared to be a green floor with missing tiles. A head of an imp rested in the background. He seemed to have been kidnapped by a gang of imps, perhaps jealous of I.M.P. and looking for money.

 Blitzo: “Ok those guys finally left me alone so I could turn on my phone. You wouldn’t believe what I had to do to keep my phone. (RIP my third burner phone). Anyways, everything is fine. I wanted to get on this Voxtagram (Vox controls all technology and media websites). Because if I tried texting everyone, it’d take too long and calling would alert the dumbass kidnapper. Can someone come pick me up before they try to kill me?”

 Stolas bellowed at the top of his lungs: “Blitzy! Where are you?!”

 Blitzo responded: “I don’t know. Smells bad, though. I’ll get out, just ask my horse to come get me, please.”

 Moxxie was terrified too: “Sir, where in the living Hell are you?! Are you hurt?!”

 Blitzo instead yelled and typed in all caps: “Send horse!”

 Angel Dust typed the emoji for wide eyes.

 The next picture showed a blurred Stolas rushing forward. Stolas could do nothing but type in gibberish in all caps.

 Blitzo: “I don’t know where I am, Stolas! Just send my horsie!”

 Stola began to panic. “I don’t know how to send for your horse! That is why you needed to introduce us!”

 Crash!

 One of the walls concealing Blitzo in darkness burst open, sending bricks and dust everywhere. Blitzo squinted as a circle of light shone into the space. A figure stepped through the hole on all fours, tall and majestic. Blitzo took one look at the savior creature and raced toward it, happy tears falling from his face. The energy radiating from the horse was beyond anything found in Hell…or anywhere else for that matter.

 It was a tall shadowy horse with a skeletal black body, reminiscent of a thestral or a nightmare horse from legends. The hooves were pointed and curved, shaped like miniature weapons. The horse’s mane and tail flowed long and black, outlined in a red aura. The horse’s neck was long and thin as was the head. Its eyes glowed teal and white, giving off an ethereal feel. And although there was static surrounding the horse, it didn’t have the malevolence associated with Alastor and his minions.

 Did this creature decide to shapeshift around Blitzo to watch over him?

 The horse spoke to Blitzo telepathically, her voice that of a human female laced with static. At the same time, the voice commanded divine respect.

 “I am SpindleHorse. You are safe now, Blitzo. Let us be off.”

 SpindleHorse had indeed, broken the (fourth) wall.

 Without hesitation, Blitzo climbed up on the horse’s bony back and with graceful gallops, the horse vanished into the shadows. Blitzo grinned like a little kid as the horse speed down the streets, enjoying the bumpy ride.

 Blitzo ecstatically typed his next post: “Rescue! I told you all my horse would come get me! Spindle broke the wall down! She said I could post the picture. She’s giving me a ride home. I can’t wait to see everyone!”

 Loona, Millie, Moxxie and Stolas cried with joy and relief. For although Blitzo could be a childish annoying asshole, he was still a dear member of their family.

  Loona posted first: “Thank Satan you’re alright! Cuz I…”

 Loona paused, trying to defuse her inner feelings…

 “…because we’re out of food! I need you to go grocery shopping, that’s the only reason I’m relieved. The only reason.”

 Underneath the meth, drinks and her short temper, the hellhound secretary was relieved her adopted father was safe. Life was simply too lonely without the group of imps around.

 Millie beamed. She, of course, was very happy that her boss was safe and sound. Stolas as well, was overjoyed that his lover was unhurt. Even Moxxie, who constantly chided Blitzo’s mannerisms, had a soft spot for his boss.

  Stolas was overjoyed. “Oh thank goodness! I’m coming over, immediately!”

 Moxxie said: “I still don’t want to get close to her but…thank you, Spindle.”

 Stolas rushed over as Blitzo dismounted the horse in front of the palace. The imp was soon locked in a feathery embrace. Stolas let out some hoots and draped his feathery wings over him.  

 “Blitzy, you’re alright! Oh I was worried sick. Missed you so, so much!”

 “Arugh, heh, heh, okay, Stolas, I missed you too…” He was struggling for breath. “You can…fuck…let go now.”

 Stolas did before opening his beak in a smile. “Did you say you want to fuck?”

 “No, not now!” Blitzo exclaimed, brushing wrinkles off his dark blue navy suit. “I gotta rest then get back to work.”

 “I completely understand. I’ll take you home right away!”

 Stolas traced a glowing yellow symbol in front of him and a flaming portal appeared, leading back to the I.M.P. office. Blitzo stepped through it before turning around.

 “Thank you…Stolas. For sending me my horse and all.”

 “Of course,” Stolas replied. “I hope I can meet her sometime. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to call me. And I mean anything.”

 “Will do.”

 Stolas closed the portal and posted a picture of him and Blitzo hugging.

 Stolas exclaimed in all caps, “Blitzo is safe and sound! Thank you, Spindle!”

 Moxxie typed a message to his boss: “Sir, please be more careful. The next time you go out to get coffee, take your horse with you. I will put a slight increase to the horse budget for the time being. Please rest up for today.”

  Blitzo found himself in the middle of a group hug, surrounded by Loona, Moxxie and Millie. Millie squealed happily as she hugged him. “I’m so glad you’re okay, sir!” she said. “Mox and I were very worried.”

 “You guys do know that I was only gone for like a day, right?” Blitzo asked, rolling his eyes. Tears fell from his eyes despite himself.

 “Still…that doesn’t exclude the fact that…we may have missed you a bit,” Moxxie replied. Loona uncharacteristically enough gave Blitzo a small kiss on his forehead with her tongue. For a moment, Loona was smiling and wagging her tail like a happy puppy reunited with her owner. Then, all too soon, she separated herself from him, her tough demeanor returning. “Yeah, you’re fine, good. Now I really need some fucking food and drinks right now.”

 Millie was the last one to let go of Blitzo. “If you need anything or want something done, we’ll be happy to get to it. Need anything? Iced coffee? A horse song? Two new human heads?”

 Blitzo had to chuckle. “Thanks Millie, but I’m fine. Let’s get to work everyone.”

 Thus, the ordinary day at I.M.P. continued on.

 Blitzo then posted a picture of a fork in a cup of ramen noodles with an egg in it.

 Blitzo said, “Everyone was bugging me today. It was kind of nice. Everything finally calmed down, so I had some 3 AM noodles.”

 Stolas added: “Don’t hesitate to call if you need anything!”

 Moxxie chided: “Cup of noodles isn’t healthy for you, sir. Next time, if you want to consume some 3 AM noodles, I will make some just for you.”

 Blitzo sighed. “I don’t need to be babied, Mox. Don’t worry about me. For real, I like noodles in a cup, though.”

 Moxxie decided to let him enjoy his noodles.

 Moxxie then had an idea. He did something that he would normally never do. Millie had said it was a great idea and that Blitzo would love it. Moxxie placed a gift on Blitzo’s desk the next day. It was a bag of horse shaped pasta noodles colored yellow, green and pink. On it was a note: “Feel better soon! P.S. please stop consuming junk food in the middle of the night.” From Moxxie and Millie.

Moxxie posted: “About to deliver this homemade pasta to my boss. Millie and I made this so my boss wouldn’t consume extremely unhealthy things in the middle of the night. Recipe on VoxTube. Horse shaped pasta mold is a Satan send.”

 Blitzo responded: “Oh I love this, but I still wanna eat ramen at 3 AM.”

 Moxxie replied: “What you had was obviously a cup of noodles and that is extremely bad for your body. Do you have any idea what they put in those? For crying out loud, please refrain from eating such cheap and unhealthy things.”

  The next post showed Blitzo under a blanket getting ready for bed. His head was just in front of his pink pillow on the couch. A plushie of Spirit the horse lay next to him.

 Blitzo posted: “Gonna stay in bed today. Got to lay low since everyone wants to talk to me. You guys knew I’d be fine.”

 Stolas mentioned, “We were just worried. I’ll give you some space for a while. Rest all you can. Pet your horse. I’ll talk to you at a later date.”

 Blitzo smiled and picked up a little brown horse figure beside him. “I also found my little horsie that looks like my horse! I wonder where she’s been…”

 The next day, Blitzo posted a selfie of him in the woods on Earth. Two raccoons were fighting over food from behind him.

 Blitzo: “Went to my job today and took this picture in the living world!”

 Someone asked, “Yo, are those two raccoons fighting back there?”

 Blitzo replied: “It’s not about them. This is all about me!”

 Later that night, back in his room, Blitzo was woken up by a soothing voice.

 “Blitz…”

 Blitzo bolted up from the couch and stood upon shaking legs.

 “Spindle!”

 It was Spindle the horse. The air around her briefly warped and morphed into little shapes. Bits of other worlds faded in and out, even showing a slice of Earth before fizzling out.

 “Is everything alright?”

 “Yes,” she responded. “I woke you up to say my goodbye.”

 Blitzo was stunned. “Y-you’re leaving?”

 “My work here is done,” she said. “I did my part to keep you safe. Now I must ensure that others are safe as well. I have other worlds to attend to as well: Heaven, Earth, Zoophobia…”

 “Wait, zoo what?”

 “Nothing of concern.” Her voice mixed with an eerie sounding neigh of dismissal. Her red aura illuminated the darkness. “Thank you for the iced coffee, by the way, it was tasty.”

 Blitzo couldn’t stop the tears falling from his eyes. This regal marvelous creature had saved his life and bonded with him for many months. She was like the friend he had never had…perhaps almost like a motherly figure.

 The horse nuzzled close to him, their foreheads touching. Blitzo’s hand cupped under her long chin while a black tendril tenderly touched his shoulder.

 “We will meet again, soon. Whether in this life or the next. Farewell for now.”

“Goodbye, Spindle. Thank you for everything.”

 Spindle stepped back, turned around and disappeared through a hole of white light. Then, in the blink of an eye, it was dark once more.

 The other characters briefly got to see Spindle as well. As she trot noiselessly against the asphalt, everyone stared to look, almost transfixed. Even the Radio Demon stopped what he was doing and stood respectfully. There was admiration for SpindleHorse’s immense power in his red eyes. Niffty jumped for joy next to Charlie whose eyes were shining with happiness.

 “Please come back again!” she called out. “The Happy Hotel welcomes all.”

  In a rare moment, Husk and Vaggie had genuine smiles on their faces, as if staring at the horse long enough would make their problems go away.

 “Thank you, Spindle!” called Angel Dust with several waves of his many hands. “You saved that imp’s life.”

 “Much appreciated,” Cherri Bomb added. “Catch ya later!” The characters waved one by one.

 SpindleHorse neighed and reared up on two hooves as static filled the air. The horse vanished through another white portal in static before all was quiet and normal once more.

  Blitzo posted a picture of him and his horse saying goodbye. “My horse woke me up in the middle of the night saying she had to go because she repaid me by saving me. I got her coffee, and she saved me, so we’re even. One last picture together before she has to go. She says the name is Spindle, so it stays.”

 Stolas knew that the goodbye was bittersweet for Blitzo. He tried to comfort his friend. “I’m so sorry Blitzo…Perhaps someday, she’ll return and visit. You were always good to her.”

 Stolas sent a picture of himself posing seductively with his grey fluffy chest exposed. Another showed Stolas displaying his butt and dark gray tail features in front of the camera. “Maybe these will cheer you up!”

 “Stolas, stop sending me nudes when I’m thinking about my horse!” Blitzo responded in sudden annoyance.

 Stolas chuckled a bit. “Sorry, I thought they would get your mind off things!”

 Even Loona was feeling the melancholy in the air. It was like everyone was suddenly feeling an unexplained connection to the elusive equine. “She will be missed…”

 “Just like the end of Spirit,” said a commentator, recalling when Spirit had reunited with his mother and galloped freely in the vast meadow.

 “You get me,” Blitzo responded, pleased to have someone else share their love of the classic film.

 Moxxie, too, couldn’t escape the strange feeling. “Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I am going to miss her. I do wish she has a good horse life.”

 “Thank you, SpindleHorse!” Millie added. “We love you and we miss you!”

 Blitzo then posted, almost to himself: “You only know what you have when it goes.”

 Stolas then posted his drawing of Blitzo smiling at the tall skeletal horse.

 Stolas said, “Wanted to make something Blitzo may like while he’s recovering. I’ll just drop it off later. Maybe have it framed if he’d like…” He added, “I’m proud of this one.”

 But Blitzo, ever the stubborn one, bluntly said, “My horse doesn’t look like that.”

 “Oh…”

 Stolas was taken aback, hurt. There was no reason for him to be rude like that, even if the drawing wasn’t the same as the real horse. Stolas decided to give the imp some space.

 Then he thought about his daughter. Maybe Octavia might not be mad at him like she was before. Sure, she wanted to go to Lilith’s Resist rock concert playing at Loo-Loo World for a while, but overprotective Stolas wasn’t going to allow it. There she was, a typical diva teenager who didn’t want her goofy dad to follow her everywhere.

 “Just another day in Hell,” thought Stolas with a sigh.

Meanwhile in a parallel universe...

Alastor eventually captures Blitzo and conjures his next plan:

 -Interrogate Blitzo about I.M.P.

-Have Blitzo led the way to I.M.P.

-Retrieve the book to gain access to the human world

-Offer Blitzo an opportunity to achieve musical theater dreams.

- Persuade Blitzo and other imps to make deals (songs almost always work!)

-If deal works, their souls will be mine

-Profit off I.M.P. and take over the company, thus claim Imp City as territory

-Enter human world and cause more chaos

-More souls = larger army and greater influence

-(Visit New Orleans and mom’s grave again.)

-Eventually take over both worlds for endless entertainment

-Figure out what this pandemic is in living world

[themangledsans0508]

Sleepover Surprises

Tweek approached the pale green house cautiously, clinging the straps of his bags tightly. He didn’t know why he agreed to this, he could be doing anything else tonight. Instead, he was sleeping over at Wendy Testaburger’s house, most likely to be pressed about the details of his relationship. At least it wouldn’t be just the two of them, the New Kid (who’s name he still didn’t know) would also be there.

He liked Wendy well enough, along with Douche-bag, he just got rather stressed when it came to sleepovers, and Wendy could convince anyone to divulge their deepest secrets. Douche-bag, on the other hand, preferred to keep to himself, nobody really knew anything about him, but Wendy trusted the two of them to let them sleepover at her house.

He knocked on the door, hoping that no one would answer and he could just go home, or maybe go to Craig’s house. Alas, no such thing happened, and a tall man answered the door.

“Yes?” He recognized the man as Wendy’s father, confirming he was at the right house.

“Wendy invited me over for a sleepover,” he said, twitching slightly.

“She’s upstairs in her room with some other kid.” He motioned him inside. Tweek looked around the house as he made his way up the stairs. He heard laughter and muffled talking and followed it to Wendy’s room. He knocked first to be polite and not walk in on something he didn’t want to see.

“Come in!” Wendy called. Tweek slowly opened the door and inspected the room.

The room was a soft pink, with a yellow rim around the bottom that looked like clouds. There were flower and animal decals all around, and a few posters. The floor had a teal circle rug with a red bean bag chair and an orange lounge chair. There was also a pink desk and the bed had purple blankets on it.

Wendy and Douche-bag sat on the floor, nail polish spread out between them. There were lots of different shades of pink and purple on display, along with other colors that had not been taken out of the basket yet. Wendy’s nails were painted rose pink, and the pair was currently applying lilac polish to Douche-bag's nails.

“Hey, Tweek! Come sit down! We don’t have to paint your nails, but Willow doesn’t have any nail polish at home so we’re doing them now!”

“Willow? That’s your name?” Tweek asked and Willow nodded. “That’s a pretty weird name for a boy.” Wendy scanned him.

“She’s not a boy, Tweek,” she informed him. Tweek blinked a few times.

“Why didn’t you tell us, dude?” Willow shifted uncomfortably. There were some soft words exchanged between Wendy and Willow before she spoke.

“I’ve lost friends because of it. Before I moved here to South Park. Here, I got jumped by rednecks,” she said quietly. 

“That’s one of the reasons I asked you two to a sleepover. Besides just wanting to hang out, because we have to hang out before you can call me ‘girlfriend’ Tweek, you don’t have those privileges yet. But, you’re both LGBT.” Tweek nodded. He’d heard that acronym before, specifically with Mr Mackey and PC Principal. Neither had really explained what it meant, however.

“I’ve heard that before. What does it mean?” Tweek questioned. Wendy looked at him in surprise.

“You’re not really in the gay community much online, are you? And nobody told you either, Jesus. It’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. There’s also a plus, which incorporates the rest of the community. Since we now have two fully out kids and one partially out, plus at least five I can name who are in the closet, plus myself, I think we should have a pride alliance at our school.”

“What’s a pride alliance?”

“A group for LGBT people so they can support each other, participate in activism, and educate people. Because you guys know that a lot of kids in our school, even LGBT kids, make homophobic and trans-phobic jokes or just know nothing about any of it. Tweek, for a lot of kids, you and Craig were the first gay people they’ve ever met. With Mr Garrison gone, Big Gay Al and Mr Slave keeping to themselves, and Ned and Jimbo running a gun shop and just seeming like your average rednecks. Willow, you’re the first transgender person almost everyone in town has met. We need to raise awareness. Willow, you’ve already told me about some things people have said to and about you.”

Tweek looked at Willow, who was looking away from the group and carefully pulling at the rug so she didn’t ruin her nails. She looked embarrassed like she was ashamed that she had been harassed. 

“What was said to you?” Tweek asked gently.

“You know, like, people called me a tranny, called me a ‘thing’, and said I’m not a real girl because I have a dick. Stuff like that, it’s fine,” she said quietly. Tweek would have never guessed that someone who faced a literal eldritch monster could be so shy. 

“It’s not fine, sis. These things aren’t okay. I know some of these people might be your friends, but it’s still not okay.” Wendy placed a hand on her shoulder in a reassuring gesture with a soft smile on her face.

“Tweek, you and I have heard lots of bad things about gay people in our school. A lot from Cartman, but a lot from other people too.” Tweek nodded, he’d heard a lot of things. Probably the only reason nobody went after him was that he was dating Craig Tucker and that they both had gotten into fights and could hold their own. Plus, Craig was a respected person in their school as someone who didn’t take shit.

“Okay, so I think we need a pride alliance, do you guys agree?” Wendy looked to them for a genuine response. Both Willow and Tweek nodded.

“Great! With that out of the way, now we can really just hang out!” Wendy waved her hands excitedly. 

“Tweek, do you want your nails painted?” Wendy asked. Tweek hesitated. He wanted to try it again as himself and not a metro-sexual, but he didn’t want to break the barrier that kept him safe from ridicule.

He decided fuck it if anyone wanted to cause trouble him or Craig could deal with it.

“Sure, why not!” Tweek grinned. Maybe it would help him stop picking at his nails. Wendy started filing through her containers of polish. She and Willow exchanged words that Tweek couldn’t hear due in part to the clinking of glass. Willow looked him over and whispered to Wendy. Wendy paused for a moment and looked up at Tweek.

“We can do any color you want, but we recommend green or blue. Green compliments your usual outfit, while blue highlights your eyes,” Wendy suggested.

Tweek debated the options. He’d rather not do a different color since he didn’t really know much about fashion and things going together, he wanted to understand it first. Green was his favorite color, but blue was Craig’s favorite color. He decided green, he’d do blue next time.

“Green,” he said. Tweek watched Wendy take out different shades of green and Willow inspect them. After about ten rejected shades, Willow showed one to Wendy. Wendy nodded and turned to Tweek.

“What do you think about this shade? It’s pastel.” Tweek looked at the color. It was only a bit darker than some of the other shades and he didn’t know how they had decided on this specific one.

“Whatever you guys think, you’re the experts,” he shrugged. 

“Well then give me your hand, I’m steadier than Willow since she’s new.” Wendy held his wrist tightly so he wouldn’t twitch and mess up her work while Willow watched.

“You said Willow’s new, well how long have you been painting nails, Willow?” he asked. She counted on her fingers.

“About two weeks, since I only started after we stopped playing with that damned stick. And that’s also when my dad let me start using it.” Tweek recognized her tone of voice. It was the same one he used when he talked to Craig about his parents, one of sadness and bitterness. He wanted to show he understood where she was coming from.

“The only reason my parents accepted me was that it would be good for their business, not because I was their son,” Tweek said bitterly. 

“Guys, I hate to break it to you, but your parents are terrible,” Wendy interrupted. Tweek looked at Wendy with a scowl that wasn’t directed at her.

“You have no idea,” he muttered. 

Willow didn’t say anything, instead, she checked her nails to make sure she hadn’t accidentally smudged the lilac. He noticed Wendy debating something in her head and wondered if he should ask her about it. However, Wendy focused on Tweek’s nails again and he figured she had decided not to say anything.

“Wendy,” Tweek said, “that wasn’t the only real reason you invited us here, right?” Wendy shook her head.

“No, I wanted to hang out, and-” she got a mischievous grin on her face, “ask how your boyfriend is.” Tweek laughed.

“I thought that was a reason.”

“Can you blame her? I had to get you two back together.” Willow said.

“There’s that voice of yours!” Wendy wrapped her arm around Willow’s shoulder and squeezed. 

“Well, I really love your relationship, it’s healthy and it’s a good example of how to support your partner through difficult moments. Like Tweek, I don’t know if you’re open about it but I can tell you have anxiety. And as far as I’ve seen, fighting alongside you two in battle and risking our lives together, Craig really does his best to help you stay grounded,” Willow explained, “Also, I want to try and get more comfortable around you, I think you’re a friend of mine.”

“Aww, Willow, you want to be closer friends with Tweek? I’m glad I planned this sleepover,” Wendy grinned. 

“I mean, everything you said is true as long as he doesn’t start being a jerk. Sometimes he gets moody, but we’re working on that. We have a long time to work everything out,” Tweek disclosed. Wendy nodded.

“Yeah, that makes sense. He might be hot but he also is a dick, to like, everyone but you,” Wendy said. Willow nodded in agreement.

“Wait, that’s my boyfriend! He’s hot but he’s mine. Back off, girlfriend,” Tweek joked. Willow laughed.

“It’s true though, both parts. He is pretty attractive but he seemed to at best tolerate his friends, or downright insult them. He treated me and Jimmy the same and made fun of Clyde constantly. But for you, he makes almost every exception. He’s welcome to touch, sweet words, and emotions. From what I’ve heard, he didn’t even feel emotions. However when I went to get help him and when I gave him the couple’s counselling slip, he actually showed something,” Willow explained. Tweek fidgeted with his hair using his free hand, which had yet to be painted.

“I mean, he does help me get a hold of myself pretty often but sometimes he makes it worse but it’s not like he’s trying, it just happens,” Tweek explained, “Wendy, do you remember when President Garrison made all those tweets about me being this person I’m not and making North Korea hate me?” It took Wendy a few moments of visible confusion to process what he had said.

“That week with the distracted driving and suicide awareness things going on?” she clarified. 

“Yeah, but Craig tried to help me by explaining away my feelings, and we got in a fight. It made me so stressed I skipped school, and I felt terrible until he came home after school and-”

“Wait, did you say came home? Like you two live together? That’s so cute!” Wendy said excitedly. Tweek quickly waved his hands like he could dismiss the words.

“No! No, okay, maybe we basically live together, I go to his house all the time because it’s nice there and he comes over to calm me down or help me but we don’t live together!” Tweek rambled, “I’m going to finish my story. So, he came to my house, and he didn’t try to reason away any of my feelings he just listened. It was nice.”

“That’s what a healthy couple would do,” Willow stated.

“They are a healthy couple,” Wendy retorted half-jokingly.

“I know, healthier than half the married couples I’ve seen here.”

“Yeah, and I never got thanked for showing the school Yaoi art, which got you a boyfriend Tweek.” He felt the tips of his ears heat up. Yeah, that’s how they started fake-dating, and then real dating, but it was also incredibly embarrassing for art of him and Craig to be all over the town.

“That was so embarrassing, it forced me to come out! Craig didn’t even acknowledge how he felt back then, he just decided to ignore it because he felt like he’d be rejected by his friends and family and then he was basically forced into a relationship with me and his dad didn’t accept him at first and our relationship was fake at first and-” Tweek started spilling everything out, his breathing becoming irregular as he talked. His fingers tangled in his hair and he tugged lightly before someone else pulled his hand away from his hair and put it on the ground.

“Tweek, it’s okay. Take deep breaths,” Willow guided. Wendy squeezed his palm on the hand she was about finished with the paint on. He focused on their touch and slowly calmed down.

“Thank you,” he eventually managed to whisper.

“You’re welcome. I understand it’s okay,” Willow assured.

“How did you know how to help me?” he asked.

“Before I got prescribed medications, that’s how my best friend would calm me down.”

“You know, it kind of sucks that touch helps me calm down,” Tweek admitted, “Craig isn’t with me twenty-four seven, and most guys aren’t really into touching. They think it’s gay, it’s just not something they do.”

“That’s one thing us girls have over guys. We’re always touching each other because it’s not gay, it’s how we show we love each other. Tweek, as head of the council of girls, I welcome you to be treated as we treat each other. That means comfort touches,” Wendy declared. Tweek blinked a few times.

“There’s a council of girls?”

“Of course, we’re organised, unlike most of the boys. Sisterhood is no joke,” Wendy said.

“Okay, that makes sense. But you’re the head of them?”

“Yes, Willow is my aid because some of the girls are still sceptical of her, which is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. She’s as much a girl as any other member of the council,” Wendy mumbled bitterly. She then let Tweek’s hand go and took his other one. “Don’t fiddle with anything, it’ll ruin the polish. You can move it as soon as I’m done this one. Don’t listen to me and I’ll duct tape your hand so you can’t move it.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Willow, we’ll do your makeup after we’re done Tweek’s nails.”

-

Tweek often had trouble sleeping, in fact, he rarely slept more than an hour at a time. He could only sleep with Craig with him. He was left just staring at the wall, looking at every little detail that the beam on moonlight highlighted. The sound of partying, cars, and the quiet breathing in the room were all he heard.

He turned to face the bed so he could look out the window and found his view partially blocked by a body. Willow was sitting up, staring out the window herself. Her knees were pulled up to her chest. The soft glow of the moon reflected off jer face and highlighted some silent tears that were rolling down her cheek.

“Willow?” he asked quietly. She turned to face him and immediately wiped her eyes.

“Tweek. I thought you were asleep,” she whispered.

“I don’t sleep.”

“Oh.” She slid out of the bed to sit on the floor, looking back to make sure that she hadn’t woken Wendy up. “Maybe you shouldn’t drink all that coffee.”

“No.”

They sat awkwardly, wanting to speak and try to connect to each other and show their understanding of each other. Tweek decided to take the initiative.

“I understand how you feel. About your parents, I mean,” Tweek said.

“No, you don’t,” she spat, “but I appreciate it. Our families are different. You haven’t seen mine. I haven’t seen yours. But I think you’re right. Our families are terrible.” Tweek was taken aback by the venom in her voice. It wasn’t directed at him, but directed at the world.

“I want to understand how people treat you because I think we could be good friends. I just don’t want to say anything wrong. Just because I’m gay doesn’t mean I understand what it’s like being trans.”

“You’re smart and kind. We’ll talk about it sometime. We are similar, aren’t we.” Tweek grinned slightly

“Yeah, we are.” Willow silently got up and walked towards Tweek, pulling him into a hug. “You’re a good person, Tweek. Craig is lucky to have you. Stay you, no matter what. Stay you.” She got up and returned to the bed, slipping back under the covers. 

Tweek turned back to face the wall. Maybe it would be nice to have another friend, someone to go to when Craig was unavailable or to just hang out with. 

The sleepover wasn’t terrible in the end.

[akemiozawa]

Free Writing

Okay, yea, during the games announcement and during my college class time, I had my creative writing go wild, and these are some writing pieces I’ve thought up of. Enjoy!

—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—

Writings no. 1

I glanced around the room, until I stop at my desk. There sat a yellow and red toned apple, the size of a magic 8 ball.

“Hello, what’re you doing here?” I ask aloud. Walking over, I pick it up. The skin felt cool and smooth again at my fingertips.

Hang on. Who put this here? I didn’t even grab one of these when I went to the dining hall. Did Mia put this here?

“Hey Mia!”

“Yea, Charlie?”

“Did you leave this apple in my room?” I turned just as she walked in.

Her teal eyes darted to the object in my hand. Shaking her head, all that spilled from the ratel-hybrid’s lips was, “Nope. Wasn’t me.”

The way her ears tilted to and fro, and eyebrows curled in a confused manner confirmed it.

“Then what the hell-?”

“Beats me, Dude.” She shrugs.

Meanwhile, watching through his ornate mirror, Vil Schoenheit watched the exchange between the two girls. He clenched his hands into fists as he sees Charlie stuff the apple into her bag.

“Let’s go walk around the courtyard till class starts.” The other girl, Mia, requested.

“Sure. Let’s go.” Charlie smiled, and grabbing her bag, fled from the room with the ratel. The mirror warped back to how it was as the scene faded.

“Blast it all! She didn’t bite into it like I hoped!” Vil muttered under his breath. Pacing around his chambers, he let his thoughts fly. “Well, it’s only a matter of time. Besides, it’s in her possession now....and soon will she be, too.” A sly smirk swept onto his lips.

Gaining ahold of his hand mirror, the glass’ reflection wavered and Vil’s face changed into that of Charlotte’s. The latter was smiling and laughing at something Mia said.

“Oh my dearest Charlotte. Very soon, your beauty will be mine for the taking. Enjoy your freedom, little dove. Before you know it, there’ll be no escape from my gilded birdcage of beauty!”

Writings no. 2

The doors clicked open, and I barely managed to slip through the space it made. I quickly sprinted for the staircase as fast as I could with the sandaled feet. My heart kept hammering in my chest. Was it the adrenaline? Maybe fear? Or pure excitement? I couldn’t tell over these black starting to creep in to the corners of my vision. 

“I have to hurry! He’s gonna catch me!” I panicked. The skirt of my gown fluttered against my legs as I hiked up the skirts in order to run faster. If Vil saw me now, he’d be screaming like a banshee at my actions. But he wasn’t here, and I was in a fight to save myself and the others.

I heard a whisper behind me, and out from a cloud of mist, Grim was floating at the same pace I ran.

“You do realize you’re acting like a victim in a horror movie now, right?”

“Not now, Grim!” I spat.

“Hey, I’m just pointing out facts.” He shrugs nonchalantly.

“I gotta find an empty room to hide in until I can get a clear plan going!” I mutter, ignoring him for the time being.

Nothing in the hall so far. But I’ve still got to keep my hopes up.

Writings no. 3

Pushing open the door lightly, I bolt into the empty room. My jaw drops at the sight.

Furniture overturned, smashed windows and shredded curtains, ruined decor littered the entire room. Walls were scratched up and broken. Shit, don’t tell me that’s blood on the floor!

Covering my mouth, I survey the damage that is now the Heartslabyul dorm. If this was what Nerine, Morganna and Xander had done to this place, I’d hate to see how the others turned out.

Crap! The guys! What happened?! I don’t know what I’d do if they died. Just the thought of seeing their lifeless bodies brought tears to my eyes.

“Charlie!”

Wait...that voice... please tell me-

“Where are you?!”

ACE!!!

I smiled when I saw him run through the door with Trey, Deuce, Cater and Riddle in tow. They’re all here! And safe!

“Guys...” I smile, fumbling forward, the tears finally coming down.

Ace was the first to catch me in a hug. I felt small drops on my shoulder, and fierce mutterings of ‘you’re alive!’.

I felt more weight when the others decided to join in on the hug, and Riddle placed a warm hand on my shoulder for reassurance.

Writings No. 4

The entire place was pitch black. Forcing down the ball of spit in my throat with force, I try to keep calm as I walk forward.

A chilled breath runs along my neck. I yelp and swing back around. No one. Brushing a lock of hair behind my ear, I turn back forward.

My footfalls creek with the old floorboards the more I move. So much for trying to be stealthy. 

A Shriek resounds.

Okay scratch that, I can’t stay calm! 

I tried to scream, until two gentle but firm hands grab me by the forearms, dragging me into the shadows.

One hand clamps down on my mouth, to stop my voice from slipping.

“Charlie, it’s me!”

Oh my fucking God. HIM???

My eyes dart to the side, and all I see are Lilia’s blood irises.

“mmmmm?! (Lilia?!)” I shriek, despite my voice being muffled with his hand. 

“Well who else? Mal-Mal? Uh, no! You’re lucky that I saved you before something else did!” He retorted. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

“Mmmm mmm thmmm mmmmrm?!” (Where are the others?!)

“Don’t worry, they’re safe. Mal sent me to find you before trouble sparked up!”

Little too late for that, Lil. I’ve yet to find Vil, Leona, and Riddle! Now that Morganna has the vice heads locked up, who knows where she might be on the hunt for us. 

He seemed to send my distress, thankfully, and releases me from his hold. 

I shook my head rapidly, “I’m fine!” Fine?! Really?! Why’d I choose that word over something else?!

“Now Charlotte, you know better than to lie to me.” He teased. Damnit.

With nothing else, I spilled the beans.

“Well, that’s certainly not good.”

No shit, Sherlock!

“We have to warn Malleus and the other leads. I’ve managed to locate only half of them.”

“I’ll go with you to find the others before Morganna does.” Without resisting, I agree and we run for it.

(Note, these next three include songs. Links are listed underneath. Two are actual songs I know by heart, the last is inspiration from a certain musical)

Writings no. 5

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oavr9Bj94Vk

Sighing, I clasp the golden pendant around my neck. The cool metal warms up in my palm. The melody of the music box gently tings out the tune. Without missing a beat I lull out,

A gentle breeze from Hush-a-bye Mountain

Softly blows o’er Lullaby Bay.

It fills the sails of boats that are waiting

Waiting to sail your worries away.

The faint memory of my mother singing that same song to me as a child was embrazened within my mind. Her touch...her voice...Her smile...her warmth.....

It isn’t far to Hush-a-bye Mountain and

Your boat waits down by the key.

The winds of night so softly are sighing

Soon they will fly your troubles to sea.

Epel snuggles into me, grasping what warmth I’m emanating from my body. His tears have long since dried and he closes his eyes.

So close your eyes on Hush-a-bye Mountain

Wave goodbye to cares of the day!

Enclosing my own arms around his fragile body, the melody turns into an orchestra of strings and winds. I felt their haunting song play and resound through the hollow air, filling the dead space with a symphony of soothing tones. I held him close to my heart, letting the song lull his soul to sleep.

And watch your boat from Hush-a-bye Mountain

Sail far away from Lullaby Bay.

His breathing grows slow and soon, soundlessly, he succumbs you sleep.

Writings no. 6

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6D8tPJEyqbI

Walking down the dim halls, my thoughts grew bleak. And yet they keep going back to the same symbol that was embedded in the key, the same key which led to the mirror and matched my necklace.

Am I more connected to this world and what’s led on? Is the headmaster hiding something for me that I shouldn’t know of? Whatever the reason, I’ve yet to know... and I’ll find out for myself if no one’s going to help me!

Without thinking, I start to sing an old tune. A song about a poor wayfaring stranger going back home through so much turmoil and danger, but only for a lifetime of happiness back home.

The stranger and I are the same. We’re trying to find our way back, and will do everything to do so, even suffering ordeals, physically and mentally alike. But there’s a dividing line. Between my world and the one I’m trapped in.

I pass by a mirror and stop. I see my reflection: my dark locks were down, a Dutch braid framed my forehead keeping any stray hairs out of sight. My skin glowed under the candle light, giving off a warm beige halo of health. Pink lips in a soft pout. Yellow-brown eyes vibrantly shined through the golden-yellow glow of fire, and tiny freckles lined the apples of my cheeks.

“Charlotte...” I froze. That’s the same voice that called to me when I first found the mirror.

I started to shake, goosebumps prickled my arms and I felt a shiver go down my spine as I back away slowly. No...not again...anything but that!

I was a good few feet away when I bolted down the hall, never once turning back, the feeling of eyes on my figure continued to prolong.

Writings no. 7

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PkB7hfC8aYM

Weeping silently, I let the tears fall into my hands. 

Riddle’s words kept stabbing at my heart like daggers. I could only recall his cold stare before he left with a swish of his cape. 

Despite Trey and the others trying to comfort me, all I wanted was to be alone. They left, regarding my wish.

Why was I always like this? Why was I the one to take the fall? Why?

“Poor Lotte.” “Poor sweet Little Lotte.” Two voices rang out. I gasp sharply and turn to where the voices sang creepily. And involuntary shutter flew down my back. I shivered. The atmosphere felt so...eerie now....

“She’s got a very serious problem, doesn’t she, brother?” One sang and a hum followed in agreement.

“If only-” “-there were something-” “-we could do!” “But there is something....!” The voices kept bouncing left and right. My tears have dried as I kept trying to pinpoint where they were coming from. I scanned the area. Not another person was in sight. 

“Who’s there? Who are you?” I call out in the darkness. I was getting a bit tired and pissed now. “I’m not in the mood for games! Now show yourselves!”

Suddenly from out of the shadows, two identical figures had appeared. They wore the same attire, yet while one was done up perfectly, the other was partially loose fitting. What set them apart more were their looks. Teal hair with a dark strand framing either the left or right of their faces. An earring with three blue stones were worn on the same sides. The two possessed  heterochromia iridium. One eye a dark beige, the other a gleaming yellow. 

The Leech Twins, Floyd and Jade.

“There’s no need to be hostile.” Jade spoke, smiling lightly.

“We know someone who can help you.” Floyd picked up, showing off sharp teeth in a sly grin.

I back up slightly, my hips hitting a chair, my eyes never leaving them. Yet when I blink, they’re gone. I whip my head behind to see where they’re at.

Then there was an arm around my waist.

I shriek and throw my hand back in a backhanded fist, praying for a clean strike. But got caught midair. By another, white-gloved hand.

“Someone who can help you find what you’ve lost long ago.” Cold lips were on my wrist and pointed teeth gently scratch the surface. I held my breath. Shut my eyes in paranoia.

The same feel of gloved hands take ahold of my other hand, lips gently trace the back.

“Just think of it,” they blended as one. “You and your family....reunited....forever....”

My eyes open, staring at one spot. “I-I don’t really understand.” Why with the stuttering, Charlie?!

“Azul...has extraordinary powers.” A voice coaxes on my right.

My eyes widen at that name. “Your...your lead?!” Riddle told off nearly all the dorm leaders (or more in his case every last one of them) that he can’t stand as soon as he took me in. Then again, he’s always like this.... telling ordering me constantly NEVER go join them. Especially Diasomnia’s.

But he’s not here! Yet...why do I still feel hesitant...?

Oh for the love of god, am I seriously letting that midget’s words get the better of my decisions?! He’s not the boss of me!!

“But that’s...I couldn’t possibly....”

“NO!” I scream, ripping myself away. My heartbeat shot up tenfold when the space was extended. “Doing that would be like selling my soul to a demon! I just couldn’t!” Burying my face in my hands, the tears sprung up again.

They seemed to sense my distress. “Very well.” Jade shrugged one shoulder in surrender. “It was just a suggestion.” Floyd finished. With a small bow and tip of the hat, they slipped back into the shadows.

When I felt they had left, I let my hands fall, but now there was a mirror, tall enough for a self portrait. I see my reflection: tear tracks lined down my cheeks, eyes red and hair ruffled. At least I didn’t look like a complete mess.

My eyes trail down to the necklace. Trey had given me a cleaning cloth for my pendant, to always keep it shiny.

Just one look sent me to my thoughts on my aunt.

Aunt Sam...Mom and Dad...I wonder how they’re doing.

Fuck it. I may or may not regret it, but at this point, what other choice is there?

Without thinking, I blurt out, “Wait a minute!”

“Yes?” I could’ve sworn I saw their eyes glow in the darkness.

Looking them dead on, the only thing that left my lips was what sealed my fate: “When’s the soonest I can see him?”

—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—•—

That’s what I’ve got 😅. And long story short: Mia was another potential OC of mine alongside Charlie. She’s in Savanaclaw, and a Ratel-Hybrid. I dunno if I should bring her into the fam...