#newbie to the games

[mcmadcanvas]

The real fucked up thing is how little time I have to play.

[jasontoddsmommyissues]

I’ve seen Rockstar!Eddie, Mechanic!Eddie and Tattoo Artist!Eddie, so let me propose this: Comic Shop Owner!Eddie who hosts a weekly DnD group at the store

[shenkospectres]

*Shepard and Kaidan arguing on Mars*

James: Oh the Commander and Major really don't like each other huh.

Shepard: Kaidan-.

Kaidan: Don't Kaidan me. This is business.

James:

[anintroverteddarling]

Don't you just love it when you read things out of context? XD Like bro, Vince's dialogues during that one route without context is so funny TvT

[fineapple20]

Been playing r1999 for a while and i like Dikke quite a bit

[clarionglass]

so i have been bitten by the sam reich!master bug courtesy of some phenomenal art by @northernfireart and uh. as is too often the case i had to write something otherwise if i didn't get it out of my brain i would go absolutely insane

(there may be more vignettes coming if i have ideas..... there are definitely other episodes i'd like to give the Treatment to, plus with the new dw series coming out on the weekend i may have ideas for how to incorporate the dw gang! however, i promise neither more writing or no more writing. that said, this was a lot of fun so there'll probably be more at some stage :D )

this has full spoilers for the game changer ep "escape the greenroom", but hey that's been out for a while now so,,,, if you haven't seen it i'd highly recommend it as an episode!

so, without further ado:

--

Samuel Dalton was a complete fiction, of course, but that didn't mean that when Sam Reich snuck back upstairs to get tied up in the “out of order” bathroom, the Sam that remained on the monitor, laughing at the contestants, was a pre-recording. And if Brennan, Siobhan and Lou had snorted at the idea of a time-travelling evil magician great-grandfather (for good reason), going in with the actual truth of the matter would have sounded like jumping the shark.

It sounded bizarre, but the time travel bit was the only part about his new partner in crime that was confirmably real. Admittedly, the jury was still out on “evil”—he gave off a weird vibe at times, but so far, no lines had been crossed, and it had all been funny as hell—so for now, Sam was willing to roll with it. But perhaps most surprisingly, there wasn’t even the possibility of blood relation between Samuel Dalton Reich and the guy who had shown up out of the blue one day with his exact face and a plan to really fuck around with things on Game Changer.

Yeah, the whole alien thing had really ruled out that particular prospect.

There had been various bits and pieces of confirmation that this guy wasn’t human through the time Sam had known him, but the final nail in the coffin for that one was when his doppelganger had looked him dead in the eye and tried on one of the heart rate monitors—sorry, “range extenders”—for As a Cucumber. The damn thing had literally sparked up, then died completely. Trying to process input from two separate heartbeats at once would do that, apparently. 

His doppelganger was a Time Lord, or so he had nonchalantly said one afternoon in casual conversation, though Sam still wasn’t sure if that one was a joke or not. It was hard to tell, sometimes, because he said the wildest things with the straightest face, and so far, most of them had turned out to be one hundred percent certifiably true. The time travel, the space travel, even the changing faces thing—it sounded objectively insane, but the proof was undeniable. 

There were some notable exceptions, though. Saying he’d been trapped for aeons inside Neil Patrick Harris’s gold tooth went just that bit too far to be believable, though Sam did appreciate his double’s slightly warped sense of humour.

It was that offbeat line of thinking that lent itself well to game design, as it turned out. He had a knack for coming up with ideas for Game Changer episodes, albeit with the occasional suggestion that went way beyond the bounds of good taste, and, as in the case of Escape the Greenroom, had devised some blinding twists on concepts Sam had already half-formed. The letter puzzle unlocking the secret door? It was perfect.

Understandably, Sam’s doppelganger had wanted to observe the fruits of their labours in real time, rather than watching the recording later. It happened, sometimes, particularly when it was one of his ideas that had made it through to the episode list—they’d swap places for a session, with nobody being any the wiser. Watching those edits back always felt a bit weird—it was uncanny how flawless the mimicry was—but hey, the guy was right. It was always fun.

Escape the Greenroom, specifically, with its “Samuel Dalton” conceit, provided them with a unique opportunity. Instead of swapping out the camera feed for a recording when the cast piled into the tiny secret room behind the wall, as per the original plan to get Sam in position to be discovered in the bathroom, they could just swap out the people. Sam would go upstairs, and his double would take his place at the podium, ducking out of sight when everyone came back to the main stage to “defuse the bomb”.

Sam was keen—hell, if their situations had been reversed, he’d want to be there to watch, too—but caution raised a flag. “You don’t think it’s too risky?” he’d asked when the subject was first raised. “Both of us being in the same place?”

His doppelganger had shrugged one shoulder with supreme unconcern. “The crew won't notice.”

At the time, Sam had shot him a sceptical look, but right now, Sam-Reich-in-a-purple-tie and Sam-Reich-in-an-orange-tie were standing backstage post-record, clearly visible and and calmly chatting, and not a single member of the crew had given them so much as a second glance. 

…Hardly even a first glance, come to think about it. If anyone looked over their way, their eyes seemed to… not exactly go through them, but slide over the two of them like water. He was tempted to wave to Nico or Ash or someone, just out of pure curiosity, but something in the back of his mind told him that wouldn’t be the world’s greatest idea. He had a funny feeling he wouldn’t like to see what would happen next.

(He’d given the prop bomb back to the crew once the cameras stopped rolling, and though it looked the same as the one he remembered from before he’d headed upstairs, it felt different in his hands. Heavier, more… serious, somehow. He was sure nothing would have happened—but at the same time, he was suddenly very glad that the cast had cut the correct wire with no less than a minute fifteen to go.)

(The jury was still out on evil, after all.)

“Worth coming in for?” he asked instead.

“Absolutely,” his double replied with relish. “Locking those three in a small room for an hour? Brilliant, fantastic. Inspired. It was absolute chaos.”

“Have you seen up there?” Sam asked, a smile starting to spread across his face. “They messed up the set real bad.”

His doppelganger smirked at him. “You know it took literally two seconds from you telling them to escape the greenroom for Lou to smash that guitar?”

Sam shook his head. “Oh my god. Yeah, they were stressed.” 

“Mmm. Some real panic in that room,” his doppelganger agreed, and Sam chose to ignore the faint note of satisfaction in his voice.

He shifted his weight, settling back to lean against the table behind the set, in the exact instant his double decided to do the same thing. It really was freaky how similar they were, down to the smallest mannerism—like looking in a mirror, only weirder, because the face that looked back at him was truly his own face, not mirror-reversed. Even now, it still caught Sam off guard from time to time, but at least it had faded into a more comfortable kind of strange. He had an exact lookalike who was an actual time-travelling alien. Cool. Doesn’t everyone?

The pair shared a companionable silence for a few moments, before a thought Sam had been turning over for a while rose to the top of his mind. He shifted again, this time on his own, and he felt his double’s regard swing up to fix on him like a magnet. 

“Okay, real talk,” he started, and his doppelganger frowned back in an approximation of confused innocence. “What’s all this for?”

“Who says it has to be for anything? Aren't we just having fun?”

Sam hummed, considering. “Yeah. No, I'd believe that, if I didn't sometimes walk into production meetings and find out I'd apparently been very specific about the people I wanted for certain episodes.”

“Point for Sam,” his doppelganger acknowledged with a grin. “You got me. Wasn’t hard to make a few phone calls on our joint behalf.”

“Yeah, but why?” Sam pressed. “I mean, Siobhan, Brennan and Lou are always great comedy value when you put them together, and it was awesome to have them for this, but I get the feeling you’re thinking of something other than making good content.”

“Who, me?”

With that, his double gave him a look of such overdone pantomime innocence that Sam suddenly and thoroughly understood why, not half an hour earlier, Brennan had very seriously threatened to push him down the stairs. 

He rolled his eyes, which earned him a smirk for his troubles.

Dropping the act, his doppelganger continued. “I’m expecting an… old friend, I guess, to show up at some point, and—well, I’d like to put on a really special show for them. I thought it would be a good opportunity to try a few things out, you know?”

Ominous pause aside, that was actually kind of sweet. Sweeter than he’d been expecting, that’s for sure—he was half anticipating the revelation that he and his cast were subjects in some weird experiment. Hey, that still couldn’t fully be ruled out, but still.

“Okay,” he acquiesced. “Well… just let me know, next time? Before you start ordering in my cast like takeout?”

“Who says they’re your cast?” his double shot back with a twinkle in his eye, and Sam snorted.

“Fine. Our cast, then. But seriously, let me know?”

His doppelganger nodded, which, if not quite fully convincing, was good enough. 

“Oh, and do you know when your friend might be arriving?” Sam asked. “Because if you wanted to plan something, we can—”

“I don’t know,” his doppelganger interrupted. “So yeah, we’ll have to move fast when they do get here. But I’ve got it under control.”

He broke off, then shot Sam a mischievous grin. “In the meantime, though, I’ve had this fun thought about time loops…”

[alish-artie]

I drew the creatures from Lethal company in my style !

[tleeaves]

Folks going "WHAT they made a show about the Fallout franchise?? I've been hearing people say Bethesda messed it up, but I haven't watched it myself, so I'm going to trust the word of other people -- some of which also haven't finished watching it" is driving me insane.

Being a hard core fan of something obviously brings with it a lot of passionate feelings when adaptations come into play. Of course, there's going to be people going "but in 8 episodes of the first ever season they made, they didn't explore Theme C or D, didn't introduce factions E and F and G, and because the source company is notorious for its scams, we and everyone else who's a TRUE fan should hate it".

The Amazon Original series Fallout follows the videogame franchise of the same name. It is a labour of love and you can tell by the attention to detail, the writing, the sets, and YES THE THEMES ARGUE WITH THE WALL. It's clearly fan service. I mean, the very characterisation of Lucy is a deadringer for someone playing a Fallout game for the first time. She embodies the innocent player whose expectations drastically change in a game that breaks your heart over and over again. Of course, she's also the vessel through which we explore a lot of themes, but I'll get to that.

There're some folks arguing that the show retcons the games, and I gotta say... for a website practically built on fandom culture, why are we so violently against the idea of someone basing an adaptation on a franchise that so easily lends itself to new and interesting interpretations? But to be frank, a lot of what AO's Fallout is not that new. We have: naive Vault dweller, sexy traumatised ghoul that people who aren't cowards will thirst over, and pathetic guy from a militaristic faction. We also have: total atomic annihilation, and literally in-world references to the games' lore and worldbuilding constantly (the way I was shaking my sister over seeing Grognark the Barbarian, Sugar Bombs, Cram, Stimpaks, and bags of RadAway was ridiculous). Oh, and the Red Rocket?? Best pal Dogmeat? I'm definitely outing myself as specifically a Fallout 4 player, but that's not the point you should be taking away from this.

The details, the references, and the new characters -- this show is practically SCREAMING "hey look, we did this for the fans, we hope you love it as much as we do". Who cares that the characters are new, they still hold the essence of ones we used to know! And they're still interesting, so goddamn bloody interesting. Their arcs mean so much to the story, and they're told in a genuinely intriguing way. This isn't just any videogame adaptation, this was gold. This sits near Netflix's Arcane: League of Legends level in videogame adaptation. Both series create new plots out of familiar worlds.

Of course, those who've done the work have already figured out AO's Fallout is not a retcon anyway. But even if it was, that shouldn't take away from the fact that this show is actually good. Not even just good, it's great.

Were some references a little shoe-horned in to the themes by the end of the show, such as with "War never changes"? Yes, I thought so. But I love how even with a new plot and characters, they're actually still exploring the same themes and staying true to the games. I've seen folks argue otherwise, but I truly disagree. The way capitalism poisons our world, represented primarily through The American Dream and the atomic age of the 45-50s that promoted the nuclear family dynamic -- it's there. If you think it's glorifying it by leaning so heavily into in the adaptation, I feel like you're not seeing it from the right angle. It's like saying Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck glorifies the American Dream, when both this book and the Fallout franchise are criticisms of it. If you think about it, the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout is a graveyard to the American Dream. This criticism comes from the plots that are built into every Fallout story that I know of. The Vaults are literally constructed to be their own horror story just by their mere existence, what they stand for, what happens in each of them. The whole entire show is about the preservation of the wrong things leading to fucked up worlds and people. The missions of the Vaults are time and again proven to be fruitless, unethical, plain wrong. Lucy is our brainwashed character who believed in the veritable cult she lived in before she found out the truth.

So then consider the Brotherhood of Steel. I really don't think it exists in the story to glorify the military. We see just how much the Brotherhood has brainwashed people like Max (also, anything ominously named something like "the Brotherhood" should raise eyebrows). Personally, I don't like Max, but I am intrigued by his characterisation. I thought the end of his arc was rushed the way he "came good" basically, but [SPOILERS] having him embraced as a knight in the Brotherhood at the end against his will -- finally getting something he always wanted -- and him grimly accepting it from all that we can tell? Him having that destiny forced upon him now that he's swaying? After he defected? If his storyline is meant to be a tragedy, it wouldn't surprise me, because Fallout is rife with tragedies anyway. And a tragedy would also be a criticism of the military. That's what Max's entire arc is. It goes from the microcosm focusing on the cycle of bullying between soldiers to the macro-environment where Max is being forced to continue a cycle of violence against humanity he doesn't want to anymore because a world driven to extremes forces him to choose it to survive (not to mention what a cult and no family would do to his psyche). Let's not forget what the Brotherhood's rules are: humankind is supreme. Mutants, ghouls, synths, and robots are abominations to be hated and destroyed. If you can't draw the parallels to the real world, you need to retake history and literature classes. The Brotherhood is also about preserving the wrong things, like the Vaults (like the Enclave, really). They just came about through different method. The Enclave is capitalism and twisted greed in a world where money barely exists anymore. The Brotherhood is, well, fascism plain and simple.

Are these the only factions in the Fallout franchise? Hell no. But if you're mad about that -- that they're the main ones explored, apart from the NCR -- I think you're missing the point. These themes, these reminders, are highly relevant in the current climate. In fact, I almost think they always will be relevant unless we undergo drastic change. On the surface-level, Fallout seems like the American ideal complete with guns blazing that guys in their basements jerk off to. Under that surface, is a mind-fuck story about almost the entire opposite: it's a deconstruction of American ideals that are held so closely by some, and the way that key notion of freedom gets twisted, and you're shooting a guy in-game because it's more merciful than what the world had in store for him.

I mean, the ghoul's a fucking cowboy from the wild west character he used to play in Hollywood glam and his wife was one of the people who helped blow up America in the name of capitalism and "peace". There are so many layers of this to explore, I'd need several days to try and keep track and go through it all.

The Amazon Prime show is a testament to the Fallout franchise. The message, the themes? They were not messed up or muddled or anything of the sort, in my opinion.

As for Todd Howard, that Bethesda guy, I'm sure there's perfectly valid reasons to hate him. I mean, I've hated people for a lot less valid reasons, and that's valid. We all got our feelings. But the show is about more than just him. My advice is to keep that in mind when you're judging it.

[justanotherrcblog]

And now, for balance: your top 4 completed RC stories?

Hon mention: Kali: Call of Darkness (Ratan & Lima 💞), Heaven’s Secret (for Mimi & Lucifer, my og RC loml’s) & LOW (just quality 👌)

NB: these are placed in release order (as they were last time too)

Tagging: @zhoras-bitch, @ratanslily , @somin-yin, @haruyuki-sakura, @sazanes, @snow--witch, @aslanvlad, @thestonelady, @lilmeowmeowsagelesath and @theroyalbeaumont

Again, tagged or untagged, if you’re seeing this I’m interested in your answers, so please feel free to contribute 👍

[the-cheese-man]

Pikmin. I freaking love Pikmin. If I had to recommend a Pikmin game to someone it would be Pikmin 3 (specifically for the wii u for the accessible control scheme but switch is fine too). It has the easiest to understand mechanics, has no hard time limit for the amount of days, only a soft time limit of about 90 days, not only that id also say it is the easiest out of all of the pikmin games to 100% for the completionists out there. Despite having the most "moving parts" out of any Pikmin game and being the most complicated to optimize even losing large amounts of Pikmin is not a death sentence as the game graciously gives you one more Pikmin if you somehow manage to lose ALL of them. It's also easy to fully "upgrade" your Pikmin with the spicy spray and it can be easily farmed even in the early stages of the game. The game also has a great story not only in what you directly see, but what you learn from olimar's logs, not to mention you get to see how much of a bastard louie is. In essence, Go play Pikmin 3 first if you wanna get into the series. It may not be the greatest out of the games, but it is the most friendly.

[haruzan]

Master and his disciple

[imabillyami]

OR: 5 times Jey acts like a jealous prick and 1 time Sami finally gets it

-> @who-do-you-want-to-be requested: Samijey with jealous!Jey, feelings realization, happy ending

-> M/M, Teen & Up Audiences, 8.7k words, additional tags: enemies to lovers, mutual pining, first kiss, angst with a happy ending

-> additional characters: Damian Priest, Jimmy Uso, Solo Sikoa, Rhea Ripley, Dominik Mysterio, Finn Bálor, Paul Heyman, Roman Reigns (mentioned)

-> also available on AO3

-> my requests are open, additional info here

-> Hope you enjoy! 💖

(1) The first time it happens Sami is caught off guard. 

He’s chatting with Damian backstage. Damian is one of the few people who’s still respectful towards The Bloodline - genuine or out of self-preservation he doesn’t know - but it’s nice to have someone to talk to from time to time. Someone who’s not his newly acquired brothers or his Tribal Chief, or a part of their family bubble at all. 

They’re standing next to the door leading into catering, Damian with one shoulder casually leaned against the wall, Sami’s hands fiddling with a bottle of water that he’d just grabbed from inside. 

He knows there’s always water in their locker room, but Roman kicked them out earlier, tired of his and Jey’s constant fighting. And honestly, he can’t blame him. He would’ve done the same probably, if he was the one suffering through third-wheeling their constant bickering.

While he was still mulling over how to finally get on Jey’s good side, Damian had caught him and roped him into a conversation. 

They don’t really have all that much in common, so their conversations usually consist of Damian chewing his ear off about one topic or another, usually something about where he and the rest of Judgement Day are going to party later, or what they’re going to do on their days off. And they always end the same - with him inviting Sami along and Sami politely declining. 

Damian never seems too upset about it, usually just ends up giving him a little grin when they reach that part of their familiar routine, almost like it’s a fun little game to him.

It’s nice to have someone’s undivided attention like that, especially someone who values family just as much as he does and understands all the complex problems that come attached to it. They have that in common, at least. 

Damian’s good at distracting him from the latest Jey-drama and that’s something he can appreciate. Above all else though, their chats pass the time until he can leave.

It’s harmless. It’s frequent. It’s familiar. 

That’s why he’s so surprised when this time around, Jey suddenly materializes next to him, eyes several shades darker than usual and face drawn into a threatening scowl “We got a problem here?” Even his voice is a lot sharper when he spits the words venomously. 

Sami feels his eyes widen in response to Jey’s over-the-top hostility. He’s used to being treated like an enemy, an outsider, an intruder the Uso can’t wait to get rid of. Only this time around Jey’s hatred isn’t directed at him at all. No. And if Sami didn’t know any better, he’d say it feels like Jey’s being protective over him with the way he keeps shooting icy glares in Damian’s direction. 

But that’s impossible. Jey hates his guts. Jey has no good reason to act like he does. So more than anything else, Sami is weirded out and a good bit mortified by this weird one-sided pissing contest.

Damian though? He doesn’t look very impressed. 

“No, I’d say we’re fine here, uce.” he says with the most casual grin, eyes sparkling with glee as though he’s thoroughly entertained by the Uso’s tough guy act.

Sami’s not sure how much of an act it is though. 

Jey looks tense, like he’s just about ready to pounce and lay a few solid punches on the taller man. 

And that’s the exact kind of chaos they absolutely don’t need. 

Putting a hand on Jey’s chest, he utters “It’s fine, uce. We’re good.”

Sami’s words seem to finally snap him out of whatever the hell is going on and he shrugs off the palm on his chest quickly and quietly, directing his scowl, albeit a slightly softer one (or so Sami imagines), back at his usual target. 

“Whatever. Chief’s lookin’ for you.”

Sami gulps. That doesn’t bode well. “Okay. Alright. Let’s go.” 

He offers what he hopes to be an apologetic look in Damian’s general direction and moves to get them out of there. 

Anything to get away from this weird tension.

But it was never gonna be that easy, was it? 

They’re halfway down the hallway when Damian’s voice booms loudly from behind them. Dammit. “Hey Sami! You wanna hang out with us after you’re done?” 

His arm instinctively shoots out and locks around Jey’s waist, holding on tightly. Shooting a quick look at the man in his grasp, he sends up a prayer and a quiet thank you for his phenomenal instincts. 

Cause judging by the look on the Uso’s face? His hold might very well be the only thing standing between Damian Priest and certain death right now. 

“Uhm, no thanks.” he utters politely and then continues to haul a very pissed off Jey the hell out of there. 

He’s seriously out of his depth here. 

Cause what the hell was that? 

What ends up catching him even more off guard than this entire exchange though? 

Finding out that Roman wasn’t looking for him at all. 

(2) The second time it happens Sami is confused.

The Bloodline is on Raw again a couple of weeks later when Damian catches him on his way out of Gorilla after a promo segment. The guy definitely has a death wish, approaching him the second Roman and Paul are out of sight, but not waiting for the Usos or Solo to follow. 

At first he honestly thinks nothing of it, the last catastrophic encounter involving a certain Uso almost forgotten. 

At least that’s what he keeps telling himself. 

(In truth, he hasn’t forgotten about it one bit, he just likes to pretend he has. Cause there’s no reasonable explanation as to why the moment has been playing on the forefront of his mind for weeks, costing him more than one night’s worth of sleep.) 

So yes, he absolutely has forgotten about it and carefully tries not to think about how any further interactions with Damian could make things even worse. 

Jey is not his keeper, after all. If anything, he’s the one responsible for keeping Jey’s outbursts in check these days. So technically that makes him Jey’s keeper. Right?

His face scrunches up in distaste at the mere thought. The whole thing must feel so humiliating to Jey. And while Sami would do anything to keep the peace and his place in The Bloodline, he has to admit that he doesn’t think this was Roman’s brightest idea. Not that he’d ever dare to say that out loud. 

Jey’s been acting even more hostile and snappy lately though, and whatever little common ground they previously shared is completely gone now. 

He’s been on the receiving end of sharp words and blazing eyes and hurtful dismissals for weeks and he has yet to figure out a way to navigate this new assignment. Not that he thinks of Jey as such. No, Jey is a person. A flawed one, but a person, still. And he deserves some respect. Even if the others don’t seem to think so. 

When Damian steps up to them, Sami notices Solo eyeing the taller man, his face somewhere between unreadable and unbothered as always. 

But looks can be deceiving, especially when it comes to their youngest. Sami sees the tension in his muscles, the flex of his hands. He knows that Solo is ready to attack at any given moment, if provoked. He shudders at the thought. 

His eyes wander over to Jimmy, who isn’t looking back at him either. But instead of glaring at the intruder like his younger brother, his eyes are firmly fixed on his twin. 

Sami spots the clear apprehension in his eyes and he can’t blame him. Cause Jey? Well, surprising absolutely no one, Jey’s face hides absolutely nothing. His signature scowl is etched deeply into his face, his eyes are dark and furious where they shoot sharp daggers Damian’s way. If looks could kill, he’d be six feet under with zero chance of return.

Sami stays perfectly still and silent, too scared to upset the careful balance of the moment. 

Damian however, doesn’t seem to share his concern. 

“Hey Sami! How’s it going?”, he inquires, completely ignoring the rest of their group. Sami gulps and feels his voice get stuck inside his throat. 

“The fuck do you want, huh?” Jey asks darkly, dangerously. Solo takes a threatening half-step forward, making himself taller than he is. 

Their guest holds up his hand defensively. “Hey, whoa, easy there. I’m just trying to catch up with my friend.” Four sets of eyes snap over in unison to land on him and Sami blanches. 

This is great. Just great. 

Jimmy, ever the life-saver, decides to take pity on him and dissolve the impossible tension. “Well, ain’t nothing wrong with that, aight? C'mon boys, let’s go get some food!” He waggles his eyebrows and clasps his baby brother’s shoulder, slightly pushing at him until he turns away from them and starts walking in the general direction of their locker room, Jimmy following closely behind. “Hey Jey, you comin?” He throws over his shoulder, expecting his twin to follow their lead. 

Jey doesn’t budge. 

He just stands there, arms crossed over his chest and huffs “Nah, I’m good, uce.” 

“C’mon, uce, just leave them be!” Instead of answering, Jey just stands a little taller, puffing out his chest, not moving an inch otherwise, never once taking his eyes off his target. 

Jimmy gives an exasperated sigh and an eye-roll “Fine, suit yourself.”, before he turns and disappears around the corner. They both know there’s no arguing with Jey when he gets like this.

Sami eyes him warily. He honestly doesn’t know what to think or feel here. He’s mostly just confused by Jey’s insistence to stay behind and be part of their conversation, when usually, he can’t get away from Sami fast enough. But fine.  If Jey is so dead-set on staying, he knows there’s nothing much he can do. Not without another nasty fight.

He sighs. Well, at least he’ll have a witness in case anyone ends up asking questions. Though he’s not entirely sure that’ll do him any favors.

“So uh. Hey! What’s up?” He decides to simply focus on Damian for now and ignore Jey’s general existence the best he can. Which means not at all. Because despite his best efforts, he’s acutely aware of every minor shift of muscles, every eye roll, every little noise coming from the Uso. 

But hey, he thinks to himself, fake it till you make it, right? 

Damian however, isn’t the slightest bit deterred by Jey’s presence or his constant scoffing.

“Nothing much. Just wanted to check in on you. It’s been a while.” 

“Oh uhm, that’s really nice of you. I appreciate it.” The words tumble out way less relaxed than they usually would, his tone doing nothing to hide how on edge he feels. He stiffens when a snort rings out from next to him. His eyes drift over to Jey, momentarily distracted, before he focuses back on their conversation.

God, what is Jey’s problem?

It continues that way for a couple of minutes, Damian and him exchanging their usual friendly small talk, sharing updates and anecdotes, while Jey huffs and puffs and does everything in his power to make this encounter as painfully awkward as possible. 

Sami catches his mind drifting away from their chat a couple of times and focusing on the Uso instead, so much so that Damian keeps having to repeat himself.

He takes it in stride, way more patient with him than Sami deserves.

But at some point, even the most patient guy has to admit (temporary) defeat.  

“Look, Sami, I see you’re… otherwise occupied. I don’t mean to keep you. But hey! We’re all going bowling tomorrow night! Wanna come?” For the first time his eyes leave Sami’s face and land on Jey instead, the corners of his mouth twitching as if he finds the whole thing absolutely hilarious.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sami sees Jey’s stare turn murderous. 

And listen, he’s not gonna be the one responsible for any deaths here, okay?

“I already have plans, sorry.” They both know it’s a lie the second the words leave his mouth. 

Damian’s dark eyes dart back and forth between him and Jey, contemplating. A beat passes. Then, a familiar easy smile on his lips, he replies “Of course. See you around, Sami.”

They both pretend to ignore the “You fuckin’ wish.” Jey mumbles out not so subtly under his breath.

The taller man waves as he walks away, disappearing in the opposite direction of their locker room.

Figures. Paul usually tends to pick an area as far away from the ‘peasants’ as humanly possible’, even more so if their Tribal Chief is around.   

Sami closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths, trying to shake the dreadful moment.

He’s also mentally preparing himself for yet another confrontation with the younger twin that he isn’t particularly looking forward to. 

But when he finally opens his eyes and turns towards him, a million questions on his mind, Jey is nowhere to be found. 

It’s as if from one second to the next he’s decided to vanish into thin air.

Sami just wishes he could understand why.

(3) The third time it happens Sami is angry.

The next time around, Sami doesn’t even get a chance to speak to Damian at all. 

He’d planned on apologizing for their last dreadful encounter, but the second Jey (who’s dutifully stayed by his side all night as though they’re suddenly somehow permanently attached by the hip), spots Damian make his way over to them, determined and not the slightest bit intimidated by Jey’s presence, he roughly grabs Sami’s upper arm, fingers digging in to the point they feel almost painful, and drags him along, not stopping until they are all the way back in their locker room, Sami’s loud protests going unheard. 

Thankfully for them, no one is around.

Roman isn’t here tonight, taking some well deserved time off to be with his children. The rest of the family are off to somewhere else in the arena. But even if they were here, he doesn’t think he could hold back his anger any longer. 

He doesn’t know what's been going on with Jey lately, but either way, Sami’s had enough. And he’s glad they’re alone, because he doesn’t need any witnesses for his impending outburst. 

The second the door falls shut behind them, he whips around to face Jey, pure venom in his veins, fire in his gut.

“What the hell is your problem, Jey? I know you’re unfamiliar with the concept, but Damian is a friend! Judgment Day are my friends!” He’s yelling at full volume, for whoever happens to walk by their locker room to hear and he knows it. He’s way past the point of caring though.

Jey doesn’t even flinch. Instead he meets Sami head-on, his eyes dark and unforgiving.

“Oh yeah, Sami? You wanna go see what the Tribal Chief thinks about that?” It’s a ridiculous threat, seeing as Roman isn’t even here tonight, yet it hits its intended target and makes Sami feel strangely insecure all the sudden. 

Jey’s been getting really good at that lately. Hitting him where it hurts. Though he isn’t sure why it bothers him so much more than it used to back when he first started hanging around them. 

Jey has always been mean to him, but for some reason his words cut a lot deeper these days.

His next words come out a lot shakier than intended. “I don’t think Roman has a problem with me scouting potential allies.” At least he thinks he doesn’t. He never asked. But Roman would be okay with it, right? Or would he think that Sami was looking to leave them behind? Or worse - betray them?  Huh. He’s never truly considered the possibility before. Maybe it is a problem. 

Jey’s looks unnerved for a split second, something akin to regret flickering in his gaze, but ultimately, his face settles back into the usual angry scowl. “If you love ‘em so much, why don’t you go join their family instead, huh? Will you do it? Means I finally be rid of your ass!” 

Sami feels his heart clench painfully inside his chest.

How dare he? How dare he say that? As if Sami hasn’t taken bullet after bullet for them. As if he hasn’t protected Jey specifically from Roman’s wrath more times than he can count? How. fucking. dare. he?

He’s on Jey in a flash, grabbing him by the collar, yanking him across the room and shoving him up the wall, rage taking over and controlling his actions. He’s never felt this angry before. Ever.

Jey stares at him in wide-eyed shock, taken off-guard by his reaction. Sami keeps him trapped with his hold and his stare in equal parts. He couldn’t run if he tried. His next words come out in a low, dangerous tone.

“Oh you’d like that Jey, wouldn’t you? I bet you would. But, guess what? This might be news to you, but I’m part of your family. Whether you like it or not. Nobody has a problem with that. Nobody but you. So I’m not going anywhere. And you better get used to it.”

He isn’t sure if his mind is playing tricks on him, but for a short moment there’s this weird tension between them, that’s completely different from their usual hatred. They stare into each other’s eyes unblinkingly. 

Then, unprompted, his eyes flick down to Jey’s lips, a weird and unfamiliar feeling raging inside of him. He thinks he can see Jey’s eyes do the same once or twice, but that’s impossible, right? 

They stay perfectly still for a long moment, neither of them daring to move or breathe. 

And then Jey violently shakes his head, pushing roughly against Sami’s chest, and the moment is gone. 

Jey’s insistent pushing makes him loosen his grip, allowing the Uso to escape and put some much welcome distance between them.

“We’ll see ‘bout that, Sami. We’ll see ‘bout that.” Jey replies in a solemn voice that he’s never heard before. A shiver runs down his spine at the obvious threat.

But before he has any chance to come up with a rebuttal, Jey bolts out of the room, slamming the door behind himself.

Sami is left behind. Stunned. Appalled. And maybe something else too? 

He tries his hardest not to follow that particular train of thought. Instead he decides to focus on the important questions.

How on earth does Jey hate him this much? 

And why does it suddenly bother him so much?

He has a strong feeling that the answers to both questions, as well as to the ones he’s still unwilling to ask, will eventually come back to bite him in the ass.

(4) The fourth time it happens Sami is foolishly hopeful.  

It takes him another couple of weeks to finally get there, but eventually Sami figures out what the hell is going on with him, even though he’s mostly in denial about it, still.

And who wouldn’t be, given his situation? Cause the guy he’s deeply sexually attracted to (He isn’t quite ready to admit to more than that. At least not yet. He needs some time, okay?), just so happens to be the guy who’s been treating him like a mortal enemy for months.

The realization, when it finally arrives, doesn’t hit him out of nowhere either.

Instead it slowly creeps up on him and takes its sweet time sinking in, until one day he just knows. And isn’t that quite the surprise? As if things between them aren’t complicated enough already.

Sometimes he can’t help but feel that his life is mocking him. Especially when the antiquated radio in his car decides to deliver the perfect soundtrack to match his current struggle. 

He ends up with that stupid Alanis Morissette song stuck in his head for weeks and hums it under his breath every time Jey does something that inevitably makes his stomach swoop and his heart pound a little faster in his chest. 

🎶 And isn′t it ironic? Don't you think? 🎶

To some degree Sami’s always been aware of his general attraction towards men. Carefully sculpted beards framing plush lips, soft tummies spilling over tight waistbands, straining lean muscles bulging from effort in loose tank tops, happy trails leading down to soft bulges and meaty thighs. 

Yes, he’s always been somewhat aware that men hold some sort of appeal for him.

Jey though - Jey is in a different category altogether. A category of his own, if you will.

Not only does he tick all of Sami’s boxes physically, he also brings out a passion and a fire in him like no one else has ever done before.

Sure, most of that passion and fire stemmed from complete and utter irritation at first (and still do to this day), but it still makes him feel alive in a way that he usually only feels while he’s fighting an opponent in the ring. 

Whatever he feels around Jey - it’s the same thing that made him choose wrestling all those years ago. It’s the same thing that made him stick with it too.

And isn’t that a scary thought? That he could… like… someone the same way he likes wrestling? 

That he could need someone in his life that way?

Being around Jey is a constant adrenaline rush, in both the best and the worst ways. And while he isn’t sure that it’s the healthiest thing for him long term, he can’t deny that he wants it. Desperately. Anger and irritation and all.

The day his stupid feelings finally come to bite him just so happens to be the day of their WarGames match at Survivor Series.

He stumbles into Gorilla, a shirtless, sweaty mess, still riding the addictive high of finally earning Jey’s trust and acceptance and the hug they shared. He knows he made the family proud tonight in more ways than one and it makes him feel like he’s on top of the world.

While the rest of The Bloodline quickly make their exit, ready to shower and relax and wind down together after a successful night, Sami isn’t quite ready to let the heady feeling go yet. 

So instead of following them right away, he lingers a little while longer, accepts hugs left and right, despite his messy state, and rejoices when even people who usually despise him congratulate him on his impressive performance tonight. 

They’ll go back to hating him tomorrow, but tonight is his and so he doesn’t even care.

He’s still right there when Paul comes rushing back to tell him “Your Tribal Chief has bestowed upon you the honor of representing The Bloodline at the official Survivor Series Press Conference.” and ushers him out of Gorilla with an impatient “chop-chop!” 

And getting to do the press conference? Roman putting that much trust into him? That’s just the cherry on top of his already perfect day. And during the press conference Paul just so happens to add a second one when he unabashedly sings Sami’s praises in front of an entire room of reporters. 

Practically floating on air afterwards, he makes his way through the backstage hallways, finally ready to shower and wind down and get the hell out of here before anything or anyone attempts to ruin his perfect night. He stated during the press conference that nothing could ruin his night, but he isn’t willing to take that theory to the test.

He spots Damian and the rest of The Judgment Day in a side hallway, hanging out, chilling like the cool kids they undoubtedly are, licking and nursing their wounds. He knows their night hasn’t gone according to plan at all, with both Finn and Rhea losing their respective matches earlier in the night. He feels for them, he truly does, so when Rhea spots him and beckons him over, he goes willingly. 

They all offer him excited pats on the back and boisterous congratulations and he takes it all in, welcoming it happily and willingly. Damn does it feel good to be the MVP for once. To have all the spotlights on him. To be the one everyone is looking at with envy. He doesn’t usually allow himself to be this vain, but tonight is different. Tonight the rules don’t apply. Tonight is all for him.

Damian is last to approach him and when he does, he offers him a tight hug, not caring about his now obvious stench or the people around them. He holds on a little longer than is considered appropriate for ‘just friends’, but seeing as he’s breaking all his own rules tonight, Sami doesn’t mind - until he hears something clatter behind him, followed by a hushed “oh shit” from Dominik.

And of course when he turns around Jey is there, tag titles in a heap by his feet at the end of the short hallway, his face closed off and unreadable. 

Seriously, Sami’s life is such a cosmic joke sometimes. He shouldn’t have jinxed it at the press conference.

But instead of coming closer to confront them like Sami expects him to, Jey takes off running, leaving the tag titles behind. 

Sami is momentarily stunned by the odd turn of events. 

He should be doing something though, right?

“I should-” he starts, turning to address his friends and pointing to where Jey had been standing only moments ago. He doesn’t hang around long enough to gauge their reactions or wait for a reply. Instead, he rushes to pick up Jey’s titles, the straps heavy in his hands, and hurries after him. 

The Bloodline locker room would be the obvious choice, but he doesn’t think Jey’s headed there, not when he expects Sami to follow him and not if he doesn’t want to explain the missing tag titles either. So instead of heading back there, Sami scouts the surrounding areas, trying door handles, apologizing whenever he encounters someone who isn’t Jey.

He finally finds him hidden away in an empty office, pacing a hole into the carpet and tugging at the short strands of hair on top of his head, leaving them to stand up in every which direction. 

When he enters quietly, the other man doesn’t notice him at first, too caught up in whatever it is that occupies his mind. The minute he spots Sami however, he stumbles to a halt in the middle of the room and stiffens, his eyes wide and unguarded for once. 

They show his hurt, his frustration, his anger. They also show fear. Fear of what exactly, he doesn’t know. But he’s determined to find out. 

When he speaks, his voice is surprisingly soft even to his own ears. “Why did you run?”

And that’s apparently the wrong thing to ask, judging by the way Jey’s eyes harden, his guard flying up and shutting Sami out again. “Looked like you was busy,” he snarks, “didn’t wanna interrupt you ‘n the boyfriend.”

Instead of the familiar anger, Sami only feels hurt bubble up inside of him. “He’s not my boyfriend and you know it.”

“Funny. That makes one of us.” Jey’s rebuttal feels like a punch to the gut.

“Why do you even care? It’s none of your damn business anyway!” So much for not being angry.   

“Fuck Sami, you deserve better than that guy, okay?” Jey presses out. 

Yeah. Fuck this. He was having a good night and now that was ruined entirely. 

Stupid feelings. Stupid Jey.

“And who do I deserve, huh? Do tell! Cause from where I’m standing, Damian’s a really good guy. He treats me well, he makes me laugh, he supports me! He actually cares!” And I feel absolutely nothing but friendship for him, but you’re being an ass, so you don’t get to know that, goes unsaid. “It’s not like there’s a long line of people just waiting to date me, Jey. And it’s not like I’m seeing anyone right now. And either way, nobody gets to tell me who I can and can’t talk to, okay? Especially not you! You’re not my fucking keeper!”

Hurt flashes over the Uso’s face, his carefully constructed mask slipping. He starts tugging at his already messy and unruly hair again in a way that looks borderline painful. And Sami can’t watch.

Before he knows what he’s doing, he’s in Jey’s space, grabbing both of his wrist and locking his fingers around them tightly where he pulls at them. The mindless action makes them both freeze up, a startled gasp leaving Jey’s lips, his doe eyes staring up into Sami’s, before flicking down to his lips.

It brings him back to the moment they shared a couple of weeks ago, the one back then fueled by pure rage, whereas this one was created by care and genuine concern. 

It’s funny how some things can change so drastically in only a matter of weeks. How romantic feelings can pop up out of seemingly nowhere and change your entire perception of another person and their flaws. 

Where Sami was previously irritated, he’s now endeared, where he was frustrated, he’s now concerned and where he was indifferent, he is now intrigued. 

And to his knowledge only love can do that - and there! - he can admit it, alright? 

He’s in love with Jey Uso.

Holy shit.

He is in love with Jey.

Jey whose dark eyes are still locked in on Sami’s lips and who still hasn’t made a move to walk away or say something. Jey who’s just standing there, with wrists locked up inside Sami’s firm hold and his plush lips the tiniest bit agape - lips that look so damn inviting.

Sami doesn’t quite know what possesses him to do what he does next - or maybe he does. It doesn’t matter, really.

He simply leans in and presses his dry lips to Jey’s in a whisper-soft kiss that turns his entire world on its head.

He barely has a chance to enjoy the feeling or the moment, before the other man is stirred back into action, breaking the redhead’s hold on his wrists and shoving him back roughly, just like he did the last time.

Sami stumbles back, still dazed, and trips, falling straight on his ass, the bump to his tailbone sending a painful jolt through his spine. 

Jey stands over him wide-eyed. Panicked. Arms stretched out as though he was trying to catch him.

They stare at each other, not saying anything. He doesn’t know how much time passes.

A loud banging noise just outside the door startles them out of their stupor. 

Without a word, Jey moves to grab the discarded title belts off the floor. And then he runs.

Again.

(5)The fifth time it happens Sami loses all hope.

For days, after what Sami only refers to as ‘the incident’ inside his own head, he feels terrible.

Terrible about the way he basically forced that kiss on Jey, when the Uso had never even acted the slightest bit interested in him nor given him any indication that he was into men whatsoever. 

Someone staring at your lips doesn’t equal an automatic invitation to kiss them. He learned that the hard way. Though the pain in his aching tailbone isn’t nearly as bad as the one in his heart.

The kiss shouldn’t have happened, simple as that. And it won’t happen again. No matter how much he wishes for a repeat performance, Jey has made it abundantly clear that Sami overstepped and that he’s not interested.

They haven’t talked about it. Hell, they haven’t been alone together in the same room long enough to have any kind of meaningful conversation. 

Jey isn’t exactly avoiding him, but Sami gets the strong feeling that it’s more than just mere coincidence that there’s always someone else in the room with them. 

He hates to admit it, but he’s getting frustrated. 

All he wants is to apologize to Jey and tell him he doesn't expect anything from him, so they can move on with their lives and possibly, maybe even become real friends one day.

The thought of just being friends makes his heart ache painfully inside his chest, but he’d rather have Jey as a friend or brother than not have him at all. 

He has to accept that Jey simply isn’t into him that way. Shoving him off, running away and avoiding the topic altogether after sharing a one-sided kiss is a pretty good indicator of that.

Still, that doesn’t keep Jey from hovering the next time they bump into Judgment Day. And apparently it also doesn’t keep him from shooting daggers at Damian. 

When he confronts him about it later - with both Jimmy and Solo in earshot - all he does is shrug. “Just looking out for you, Sami. You’re my brother.”

And wow, if that isn’t a one way express ticket straight into friendzone country, he doesn’t know what is.

He decides he has to move on. Desperately.

That’s why, later that same day when Damian asks if he wants to come along and join them on their day off, he says “Actually, I’d love to.”, catching both himself and the other man by surprise. 

Instead of a little grin, he receives a bright and pleased smile this time around. 

(He pretends not to notice the way Jey’s head snaps up in surprise at his answer, nor the way he keeps moping and glowering at everyone for the rest of the day. And he absolutely ignores the way he mockingly wishes Sami “lots of fun with his boyfriend” once they part ways.)

Two days later, he finds himself on a yacht trip with Damian and the rest of TJD. Knowing Damian and his wild stories, he’d expected (and feared) some kind of crazy party with a bunch of strangers, but surprisingly it’s only them and their skipper for the day, though the guy vanishes as soon as they reach their destination for the day and the anchor is dropped.

Now it’s just the five of them. 

Rhea is mixing drinks - non-alcoholic for Sami she’s quick to assure him - behind the small bar, Dom and Finn are lounging and sunbathing a few feet away from him, and Damian keeps eyeing him carefully from where he’s sat next to him. 

It’s nice. 

It is. 

But despite everything that happened between them, he somehow knows that all of this would be way more fun for him if Jey were around. If things weren’t so complicated between them right now. If he could just tell his stupid heart to stop longing for Jey and be okay with being his friend instead. 

Everything would be a million times easier.

They’ve been friendly and at ease with each other in front of the cameras and around the family, ever since Jey embraced him at Survivor Series. Deep down he wishes, no, he longs for that same level of comfort and ease when it’s just the two of them with nobody else around.

“Hey, what’s with the long face? C’mon we’re here to have fun!” Damian’s voice rips him away from his spiraling thoughts. 

The taller man is holding out a large hand in offering and the second Sami takes it, he finds himself being thrown over a broad shoulder, his body dangling like he weighs nothing. 

He’s sputtering, protesting, but to no avail. The rest of the group eggs them on when Damian steps up to the ledge of the boat, giving Sami a good idea of what’s happening next.

And before he knows it, they hit the cool water with a splash, all noise disappearing when they go underwater. 

It’s oddly serene down here, and for a moment he’s able to forget about everything else and simply enjoy being in the moment. 

His lungs quickly remind him of his need for oxygen though and so he propels himself back to the surface, greedily sucking air into his lungs once he gets there.

He finds Damian waiting for him with a cheeky grin and next thing he knows he’s being splashed.

And oh! This means war! 

Soon enough the rest of the group joins them in the water and then it’s well and truly ON.

They end up having a fun afternoon full of teasing and joy and laughter, the members of Judgement Day way cooler and way more chill than people usually give them credit for. 

Sami likes that they’re  a real family just like his own, and whether they’re bound by blood or mutual hardship, they prove that it doesn’t make a difference at all. The connections and the love are exactly the same.

He lets himself enjoy the rare quality time with his friends to the fullest, and yet, despite everything, Jey is constantly on his mind. 

And that’s why, when Damian leans in for a kiss on the docks at the end of the day, Sami turns his head sideways, so that it lands on his cheek instead. 

When he pulls back, Damian doesn’t look disappointed though, nor does he look surprised. He just chuckles and his mouth pulls into that knowing little grin he always seems to wear around him and Jey lately.

The rest of their group wears matching expressions and somehow Sami feels like he’s missing out on the joke here. His shoulders grow tense on their own accord and his stomach drops to his knees. 

What the hell is going on?

It’s Damian who breaks the silence, an easy arm coming to rest around his shoulder. “Relax Sami, we all know.” 

“Know what?” 

“That you’re A over T in love with the Uso boy, mate.” Rhea rolls her eyes at him… almost fondly? 

“Still no clue wha’ yer see in t’at asshole.” Finn mutters under his breath, just loud enough for the rest of them to hear. 

“He does have a great ass.” Dom muses. That earns him a sharp slap from Rhea. “Ow! What? Have you seen that dude's backside?” They all seem to contemplate that for a moment, and ultimately no one objects. 

They do, however, say their goodbyes and make their way to the parking lot in a subtle attempt to give Damian and Sami some privacy.

He watches them leave, confusion clouding his brain when he turns back to look at the other man. “So if you knew all along, why still invite me? Why try to kiss me?” 

Damien smiles and shrugs in response. “You’re sweet, Sami. And anyone who can’t see that is a fucking fool. And since Uso can’t seem to get his head out of his ass, I thought why not? Look, we had a cool day. You had fun, right? We’re still friends. No harm done. And I got my answer now.” 

Sami feels weirdly touched by that. He thinks that in an alternate timeline where Jey doesn’t exist, they’ll probably end up together. A timeline without Jey Uso really isn’t one he wants to imagine though.

“Thanks Damian, really.” He means it.

“Don’t worry about it. But hey! Promise me you’ll think about it if Uso doesn’t shoot his shot soon, yeah?”

That makes him snort. “Hah, nice try. But Jey doesn’t like me that way, trust me. Hell, he barely even likes me at all!” 

The other man’s face changes, a mysterious expression taking over his face “I wouldn’t be so sure about that Sami. I think you have a pretty good shot. Do you trust me?”

In all honesty, Sami doesn’t believe him one bit.

Still, he nods his head, slightly intrigued. 

Cause at this point? 

He'll take all the help he can get.

(+1) The next (but most definitely not the last) time it happens, Sami (fucking finally) understands.

Jey has been silently suffering for weeks and months and he’s just about done.

Sure, a lot of it was entirely his own fault, but that doesn’t mean it hurt any less.

Watching Sami flirt with that prick Priest all this time had been one thing. Watching Sami agree to hang out and possibly go on a date with that very same prick? That’s another thing entirely.  

The flirting had looked harmless enough, at least from Sami’s side, so running a few quick and painful interferences under the guise of simply aiming to be a giant pain in the Honorary Uce’s ass, had been enough to temporarily calm Jey’s jealousy. 

The intense stare downs and fights that followed every new encounter had been enough to get him his much needed fill of Sami’s undivided attention. 

Things had been good. At least for a while. 

He doesn’t know what changed that made Sami agree to the invitation he usually declined (he absolutely does know, thus far he’s just been a coward about it, looking away every time the redhead unleashes his sad and dejected puppy dog eyes on him), but he knows that he needs to do something about it, before it’s too late.

If he wants to shoot his shot, if he ever wants to let Sami know how he truly feels, he has to do it now.

He’s scared though. Real scared.

He isn’t even entirely sure how it all started. Cause for real - Jey couldn't stand Sami at first, alright? 

The second Sami joined their family he had betrayal and rat written all over him. 

Jey hated his fucking guts.

But surprisingly enough, his family liked him. Jimmy liked him. Roman liked him. Wiseman liked him. Hell, even Solo liked him - and Solo never liked anyone - half the time Jey isn’t even sure if Solo likes any of them. And they’re his blood. He likes Sami though.

Point is: His family liked Sami. His family accepted Sami. And Roman’s word was what counted, so he accepted it with a scowl and kept quiet. 

Okay, maybe not that. 

He probably wasn’t as quiet about it as they would’ve liked him to be. But somebody had to do something, alright? It was their family after all. And someone had to protect it. 

And so he was mean and confrontational and brash and loud-mouthed, kicking and screaming and trying everything in his power to get Sami the fuck out and keep his family safe.

But Sami kept trying. And trying. And trying. 

And funnily enough he fit. Not in the obvious ‘mean guy’ kind of way. No - he fit with them in all his bumbling idiocy. 

Sami was loud and brash, in many ways just like Jey, but he was a lot more diplomatic and also a lot more endearing about it. His idiocy and his comedic timing proved to be his secret superpowers. And despite never knowing when to shut the hell up, that particular quality of his was exactly what ended up saving Jey’s sorry ass from Roman time and time again.

In many ways, Sami felt like magic. 

As if he knew exactly what to say and when to say it to keep Roman’s temper from boiling over. 

Lately, more often than not, Jey suspects that that might actually be the case. 

For all that Sami liked to pretend he was an absolute idiot with no filter, Jey remembered that Sami liked to call himself ‘master strategist’, for all he liked to pretend to be a helpless deer in the ring during his matches, Jey knew Sami could outwrestle pretty much everyone on the roster - him and his family included. 

Just because no one else could see it, doesn’t mean Jey couldn’t.

Sami was a perfect fit for them. No matter how much it originally pained him to admit it.

And before he fucking knew what was happening to him, the boiling anger in his stomach turned into a soft flutter whenever he was around their Honorary Uce, his scowls turned into smiles and laughs without his permission, and he had to work even harder to hide them. 

And his dreams of ousting Sami from his family? They turned into dreams of drawn-out lazy kisses, his hands holding onto a pale waist and pulling at strands of messy red hair. 

More often than not his dreams were filled with scenes of intense lovemaking that made him jolt awake in the middle of the night, sticky with sweat and the mess inside his boxers. 

And later on a different sort of dream joined. He dreamed of shared moments filled with sweet intimacy and trust, so much trust that it made him wish that they were reality. That they were a possibility. 

So yes, before he fucking knew what was happening, Jey was falling in love. And there was nothing he could do about it. 

Well, except for acting like a jealous prick and fending off other suitors while also keeping Sami at arm's-length apparently. He proved to be a professional at that. 

At first he didn’t even mean to butt in. But once he did, his temper and jealousy kept getting the better of him time and time again. Not that that worked out for him very well, unless he counted the kiss that he so cowardly ran away from, not because he didn’t wanna kiss Sami, but because he’s scared of his family’s reaction.  

Which brings him back to his current predicament.

He’s silently watching Sami and that prick Priest (Damian, he corrects inside his head, Sami calls him Damian.) from across the room, the former standing with his back to him. 

For safety reasons Jey has parked himself next to a bunch of large crates, ready to leap and hide behind them like the coward he is, the second Sami makes any move to turn around. 

From over here, he’s taking in the way Sami’s large pale hands keep moving and the way his back muscles keep contracting under his shirt, where he animatedly talks to the other man. 

He’s pretty sure Priest spotted him a while ago, but he hasn’t alerted Sami to Jey’s presence just yet.

Instead the guy keeps shooting him curious yet calculated glances over Sami’s shoulder from time to time, before his eyes settle back on him, an almost bemused smile making the corners of his mouth twitch every time it happens.

If he’s being perfectly honest, despite knowing that he has to make a move eventually, Jey isn’t really sure what to do next. All he knows is that they can’t keep going like this. Something’s gotta give. Though he’s not entirely sure what that something is.

He’s still scared of his family. Of what they would think, of what they would say and do, of what their reaction would be if he pursued Sami romantically. The thought of things not going well, of losing his family, even temporarily, frightens him. 

But at the same time, the thought of losing Sami to someone else frightens him just as much. 

Lately he keeps thinking that even if things go badly, his family would eventually come around and accept him, just like they always did. But even if that’s the case, the thought of putting a (temporary) dent in their relationship, still scares the living shit out of him.

He can’t for the life of him make up his mind about what he wants more. He wants to make his family proud. Always. But he also wants Sami. Always.

And so he stands there like an idiot, his shoulders tense, his hands cramping where he’s balled them up into tight fists, his nails digging into his palms, and watches on while the man he loves gets chummy with another guy. A guy, Jey reminds himself, he’s pretty sure Sami went on a date with earlier that same week, and apparently a good one too, after all they’re still talking to each other.

The minutes tick by, the flow of conversation between the two men never once stopping and now that Jey isn’t busy with making an ass of himself, he can see bright as day what Sami meant when he called Damian ‘a good guy’. 

His adoration for Sami is written all over his face. It’s in the way his eyes crinkle around the corners. It’s in the way his lips curl into a soft smile whenever it’s Sami’s turn to talk. It’s in the way he laughs whenever Sami says something particularly funny and the way he rests an easy hand on Sami’s shoulder when he moves to turn them sideways, the profile of Sami’s gorgeous face now perfectly visible to Jey. 

Jey is ready to leap into hiding, but despite the new angle, Sami doesn’t seem to notice him at all and he’s perfectly fine with keeping it that way. For now.

That is, until Damian reaches out, huge toothy grin in place, and starts toying with a strand of Sami’s unruly hair. He twirls it between his fingers, before carefully pushing it behind the other man’s ear, trailing his hand over the Honorary Uce’s cheek and neck, before it settles back on his shoulder. 

The casual intimacy of it makes Jey sees red.

How fucking dare he- 

Jumping into action, he darts across the room in a few quick steps, barely catching Sami’s faint and hopeless “I don’t think that’s gonna work.” followed by Damian’s smug “I think it just did.”, before he’s grabbing their Honorary Uce by the collar and hauling his ass out of there.

All Sami can do is stagger alongside him as he swiftly walks them down the long corridor in search of some semblance of privacy.

As soon as they’re out of sight, he shoves and pushes at him until he’s pressed up against the closest wall, Jey’s body effectively trapping him, just like Sami has done to him before, and catches his lips in a fiery passionate kiss.

This one isn’t like their first one at all. No. Instead of staying perfectly still like a statue, Jey lays it all on the line, puts all his unspoken feelings into it and straight up devours Sami’s pliant mouth.

The other man takes a minute to catch on, but when he does they’re off to the races, pushing and pulling at each other, hands wandering and helplessly clawing, hot breaths mingling as their tongues slide together and their teeth clack. 

This kiss leaves no doubt. It feels like a love confession and a heated fight all at the same time and Jey honestly can’t say if that bodes well for whatever is to come once they pull apart. 

He tries to draw out the moment for as long as he possibly can, latching onto Sami’s neck when they both need to come up for air, drawing some wonderfully sinful noises from the other man’s throat and sucking a mark into his pale skin.

When he finally draws back, satisfied with his work when he sees the dark purpling spot he’s left behind, Sami blinks at him owlishly, almost dazed and Jey can’t help but feel his worry dissolve, a hint of smugness taking its place. 

“You done flirting with other people now?”

He brings up a hand to Sami’s neck, fingers probing and pushing at the lovebite teasingly.

Something in Sami’s gaze shifts once the puzzle pieces finally click together. A big smile spreads across his face, before his eyes turn dark. 

He flips them around effortlessly, now pressing Jey’s back into the wall, so that he’s the one trapped by Sami’s warm body against his. 

This time around, he one hundred percent doesn’t mind, already turning into putty in the other man’s hands.

“Huh, guess I am.” Then. A sigh. “Took you long enough.”

With that he reclaims the Uso’s mouth, Jey’s thoughts already drifting to all the ways he wants to be devoured by this man later, once they have some real actual privacy.

Yeah, he admits to himself, it did. But he has it on good authority that in the end, it was well worth the wait.

FIN

[pod-together]

Pod-Together Day 7 Reveals 2024

Love, not sedition (琅琊榜 | Nirvana in Fire (TV)) written by aninfiniteweirdo, performed by paintchipblue Summary: 'What is this, if not sedition?' The recording only shows stating as Xiao Jingyan doesn't answer out loud.

settling in (Welcome to Night Vale, The Magnus Archives (Podcast)) written by Koschei_B, performed by DuskDragon39 Summary: On his trip through America, Gerry passes an town of interest. In the end, it might not be exactly all he's expected to be, but he can't say he regrets staying in the long run. At the very least, he get to live, and all the dangerous stuff around isn't his concern to deal with. And, just maybe, he likes how friendly the people are, even if it's a little creepy. Sue him. Or better yet, Mary Keay.

Voice and Heart (The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells) written by lc2l, performed by EternalLibrary Summary: Good morning this is S9BT5, the heart and voice of your Company Substation. Please be aware that we have visitors onboard the station today from a Preservation Survey Team. Staff are expected to be courteous and welcoming, and to remember that all conversations are monitored for training and enforcement purposes.

Time May Change Me (But I can't trace time) (Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy) written by Little_dumpling, performed by Kittona Summary: Anakin’s mother is leaving for Europe and Anakin does not want to come along, thank you very much. But his only other option is to go live on his Uncle Qui-Gon’s horse ranch. Anakin will go, but he did not sign up to do chores!

the cul-de-sac on the spiritual path (The Locked Tomb Series | Gideon the Ninth Series - Tamsyn Muir) written by olive2read, performed by carboncopies Summary: stuck in a random catacomb niche, deep in the Ninth House, Wake gets to know Gideon Nav (whether she wants to or not) -or- 5 times Gideon went to visit her mum’s niche -or- why Wake didn’t take the shot

elutriate calor vulpes (All For The Game - Nora Sakavic) written by Opalsong, performed by Flowerparrish Summary: Andrew hated heats. He hated being vulnerable and out of control. Neil…helped. [4 Heats Andrew Struggled Through + 1 He Enjoyed]

Gifts of Gold (gold) (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) written by BardicRaven, performed by BardicRavenReads, audio production by OneGoldenRaptor

Two and a Half Men (Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunters (TV)) written by Sivan325, performed by Ceewelsh Summary: "Do you mind telling me why I have kid-Bucky in my apartment?" Steve asked. Tony looked at him, noticing how the man looked exhausted. "Bucky? A kid? Are you out of your mind?" "How many kids do you know who have a metal arm and long hair?" "Touché."

Blood of the Covenant (is thicker than the water of the womb) (One Piece (Anime & Manga)) written by stereden, performed by Aibhilin Summary: The little postgull drops the newspaper right in front of her and then hightails it away from Mount Corbo, and that should have been her first clue, because the bird usually likes to hang about and beg for scraps. But not this time. No. Because this time, the newspaper has her oldest brat’s picture plastered all over the front page, but it’s not the cocky grin of his wanted poster. No. It’s her kid, bruised and battered and in chains. Firefist Ace, Whitebeard Commander, to be executed! the headline proclaims for the world to see, and Dadan freezes. birds of a feather (Dungeons and Daddies (Podcast)) written by travvymybeloved, performed by godoflaundrybaskets Summary: “Oh, fuck,” Glenn said and through the windshield, Henry could see him throw his joint down onto the dashboard. He threw himself half out the window, leaning out at the waist and throwing open his arms. “Come on, Henry! Go, go, go!” Henry let out a wordless honking noise and started flapping his wings, skipping against the ground and taking off in the air for a few seconds. He hit the ground, took a few shaky steps, then took off again with more confidence. Darryl whooped, starting to rev the car, and Glenn caught Henry out of the air and yanked him into the car. Darryl slammed the stick into drive, the car lurched and shot off across the field, and Ron continued cry-laughing in the backseat as they beat a quick retreat. “You almost got your butt kicked by a bird,” Ron wheezed out, wiping at his eyes, and Henry harrumphed. “Oh my God, that was great.” --- If Henry was asked to guess anything, anything, about Faerûn, "geese act as malicious guides to your soulmate" wouldn't have even made the top 100 guesses. The Hall Pass (หัวใจไม่มีปลอม | Beauty Newbie (Thailand TV 2024)) written by Wereflamingo, performed by Annapods Summary: Liu’s comfortable relationship with her boyfriend Guy gets shaken up when Guy gets cast in a Boys Love series opposite charismatic established actor Saint. Well, Liu thinks he's charismatic. Guy thinks he's extremely annoying and can't be trusted. There's no way that hall pass will ever be needed. Or: a rookie BL actor and his girlfriend acquire a third through the power of BL and complaining about your shared real/imaginary boyfriend. A story about social and parasocial relationships, monogamy and polyamory, sexuality and lack thereof, beauty, choice, and enemies-to-lovers BL, told through voice messages and phone calls on Liu's Phone.

[phantoms-lair]

50

((Yeah, still trying to plug away at these)) Dc Comics x Video Game Is it cheating if the video game already takes place in DC comics? Maybe. But I make the rules. ~ Tim Drake had a lot of things. Money. Power (from being CEO of Wayne Enterprises), a wonderful boyfriend, intelligence, enough stealth skills to spy on Batman in his prime, and a mastery of the bo staff.

There were two things Tim didn't have. A spleen, and a lot of free time. Not much could be done about the spleen thing, aside from a rigorous antibiotic regime, but his free time was precious. Free time he got to spend with Bernard even more so. Which is why he had to strangle down a scream when in the middle of the best lunch date he'd had in mouths, his phone went off.

"You could ignore it?" Bernard half heartedly suggested.

"Not with that particular ringtone," Tim said ruefully.

"Of course you have different ringtone for different emergency levels, Bernard teased fondly.

And it was true. But this emergency was less 'company stock tanking' and more 'possible end of the world'. He clicked the answer button and held the phone to his ear, ruefully mourning the end of his date.

"Brainiac is launching a full invasion of Earth with the intent to digitize it all into data which will then either be kept or deleted." Batman's voice came with not preamble, no asking about security or whether Tim could be overheard. "In at least one timeline this was successful. The Lex Luthor of that timeline has implemented a plan to ensure Earths survival by increasing the number of Metas-"

"Tim look out!" Tim dropped his phone as Bernard pulled him out of his seat, and out of where a piece of alien tech had been about to crash down. A BZZZZT of energy flared and a wall formed, trapping anyone who hadn't fled inside. Tim looked up. Brainiac's troops were beginning to swarm the arm. "

We need to go."

"But those people-" Bernard looked at the entire city block that was encased in energy.

"We need to find the Bats." Well, they needed Oracle, which Tim could no longer do without his phone. Or Bernard's, which he could still see resting on the outdoor table next to the pylon that had almost finished the job Widower had started.

Bernard nodded. Tim was right, they needed help for this. "It's daytime, so Signal?"

"Signal's a good start." Tim agreed. He cupped his hands around his mouth, shouting so the people trapped could hear. "We're getting the Bats!"

"And the Justice League!" Bernard added.

Tim doubted that. If Brainiac was doing this worldwide, the League would be spread thin. Gotham was in the hands of it's own protectors. He grabbed Bernard's wrist, pulling him along. "Let's go!"

~

Tim and Bernard both pulled each other away from their former lunch spot, all too aware of the screams of fear they were leaving behind. Everything in Tim that was Robin wanted to go back and help those people trapped in the forcefield, but he couldn't. He needed to get to Oracle, he needed to get Bernard somewhere safe so he could switch over to being Red Robin. He needed-

New screams interrupted his thoughts. Oh this was the LAST thing they needed right now. A giant hulk of a man wearing joker face paint and with burning hands and clothes torn at the seams was lifting up a car and looked to be smashing it on woman shielding a small child. He moved without thinking, letting go of Bernard and dashing forward, pulling the two out of the line of fire. He heard the crunch of the car behind, them. Too close. Much too close.

"Aw, someone want to be a good Samaritan." The Joker-hulk sneered. The fire in his hands sparked and he sent a blast towards them.

Tim needed something. A shield, his staff- suddenly he felt a familiar weight in his hands. Without thinking he spun his staff to block the flame and was rewarded by hearing it sizzle out. Bernard's jaw was dropped. Okay, first things first, he needed to deal with this guy and then think of an excuse for his bo staff proficiency with Bernard.

Fire clown was coming in again. He landed a solid strike to the guy jaw, knocking him aside but his flaming hands grazed Tim's sleeve setting it alight.

"No!" Bernard cried and started to glow. Light seemed to overtake him for an instant and his form changed to include two large wings sprouting from his back. In an instant the light faded and Tim could see the wings were blue. Bernard reached out and thick vines burst from the ground, holding the assailant down.

"What the heck-?" Tim whispered.

"Oh you're one to talk Mister 'Summons a bo staff from water'." Bernard sniped.

What? Tim finally payed attention to the weapon his hand and realized as Bernard said, it was made of water. And not ice, but like...flowing water. He dropped it and it lost it's form splashing to the ground.

"You just started glowing and then you made that and your hair grew out."

"You started glowing and you got wings." Tom countered.

"I what?" Bernard turned to look at his back. "I have wings!"

The Lex Luthor of that timeline has implemented a plan to ensure Earths survival by increasing the number of Metas Was that what had happened to them? Was that where fire clown had come from?

"Are you two superheroes?" The child they had saved asked. The mother pulled her closer, not trusting even if they had saved her. Clearly she was from Gotham.

"For today at least." Bernard said brightly. He knelt in front of the child and made a beautiful flower appear. "But you and your Mom should get to safety. It's going to be a bad day even for Gotham."

"He's not wrong." Tim re-summoned his staff (how was it so easy?). He brought the end down on the fire clown's head, knocking him out before he could burn through the vines. "We're going to find Signal and get the Bats help. You two get home if you can and hide if you can't."

The woman was already leaving, which good for her.

"So we're superheroes now?' Bernard said.

Tim sighed. "We seem to have powers and..." Yeah he couldn't say anything after he jumped in to save those two. "We don't know if they're permanent though."

"True. But I bet we can find Signal faster from the air."

"We don't even know if those wings work." Tim pointed out, but Bernard wasn't waiting for an answer, scooping up Tim Bridal style in his arms.

"You're not afraid of heights are you?"

"N-no." Oh gods he was blushing. He was blushing so hard. Was this how Lois felt?

"Then here goes." Bernard's knees bent and wings flared out and suddenly they were in the air. ~ Tim did not have a photographic memory, but it was close. And right now he was imprinting the image of the the wind ruffling through Bernard's hair as he flies them around Gotham as hard as he can. Maybe these powers are permanent and Bernard will always be able to do this. But odds are just as good these powers will be gone in an hour. He wished he had a camera to capture this forever. Maybe make one built into a contact lens so he can take pictures of whatever he sees-

"Any sign of Signal?"

Right. The mission. If this was permanent he was going to have to ask Lois how she focused on anything when Clark was carrying her like this. Maybe exposure therapy. He'd have to look into that. Now where was Duke supposed to be this time of day.

Thankfully they were all adept at navigating patrol routes from above thanks to needed to use the batplanes. Following the patrol route..."There!"

Bernard swooped down to where he pointed to where Gotham's daylight defender was finishing with a group attacking him.

"Is that Intergang?" Tim wondered out loud. "I thought they were more based in Metropolis?"

"Manners," Bernard chided gently. "I'm Bernard Dowd, This is Tim Drake. The city block where we were eating has some kind of force-field over it and people were trapped inside. Also we somehow got super powers and we want to help!"

"We're not the only ones." Tim pointed out grimly. "Joker doesn't tend to go for metas in his group-doesn't want anyone who can upstage him. And the tears in his clothes indicated he wasn't that big this morning. So we maybe dealing with a super power epidemic."

"So you'll need all the help you can get." Bernard restated.

Outwardly Signal just seemed to be taking it all in. But Tim could his metaphorical eyebrow twitch and knew what going through his head. Technically there was protocol for civilians approaching them to go vigilante too. And that protocol was to shut them down. Redirect them into things like evacuation if you have to, but whatever you do don't encourage them. But there were two problems with this scenario. One was his knew Tim was a skilled vigilante with more experience than him. The second was between a Brainiac mass invasion, a superpower epidemic, and apparently an Intergang moving to Gotham, they were extremely short handed and did need all the help they could get.

So Duke did the only thing he could. "Signal to Watchtower. Batman come in. I've got a lead on the Intergang case, but Brainiac has started his invasion. I've got two newly meta'd civilians -Tim Drake and Bernard Dowd who want to help. And apparently already fought a meta Joker goon."

Good, letting Bruce know he was alive while hiding it in a mission report.

"Okay, copy." Signal took two little earbuds Tim recognized as comms and handed them to each of them. This must be desperate times indeed if Batman was even entertaining the idea.

"This is Batman." Bruce said once the comms were in their ears. "I would normally never condone this, but it's an emergency. The Justice League is stretched thin with Brainiac's global invasion."

Tim watched Bernard pale. He knew this already, but Bernard was now realizing this wouldn't be a 'heroes swoop in and save the day.' event.

"What are your abilities and level of training?"

"I've trained in martial arts and I'm at least good enough I could manage the members of the Cult of Dionysus before my powers. Also I can now fly and can create and control plant life." Bernard answered confidently.

"He also has increased strength and stamina." Tim added. Bernard gave him a look. "Love, you picked me up like I weighed no more than a plushy and flew me all over Gotham. That takes way more strength and staying power than you would think."

"Oh," Bernard rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"I've also trained in self-defense, though I've never had to put it to the test." Thankfully Bruce knew how a big a lie that was. "And I seem to have some for of hydrokinesis. I can summon water and form it into weapons."

"Hmm." Bruce sounded thoughtful, but Tim was easily able to translate it to This sucks This sucks This sucks.

"If we're going to be sending civilians into this mess, they'll at least need some protection." Oracles modulated voice cut in over the coms. "And a mask as Tim Drake is a well know public figure. We have the assets we seized from the harbor a few days ago, we can let them use that."

Ah, he'd almost forgotten. They'd done a bust on a guy calling himself 'The Tailor' who was supplying uniforms and gear to villain crews. It wasn't quite Bat-Quality, but was still some pretty high end protective fabrics and equipment.

"Right. We'll have Spoiler take them-"

"Negative." Oracle cut Batman off. "I have Spoiler on a mission. Send Batgirl."

"Negative. Batgirl's skills are imperative right now. Whatever Spoiler's doing-"

"Hood's comm broke and Spoiler's the only one who can enter his territory with impunity." Which was because she lived there and he couldn't very well prevent her from going home. "We need all hands and clear communication on this." Oracle brooked no argument.

Personally Tim was relieved. Bernard had only met a few members of his family in passing. But Steph he'd hung out with. If she and Tim fell back into their usual dynamic, Bernard might figure it out.

"If I may," A new voice broke in over the comm. "For our newcomers, I am Agent A. I mostly work behind the scenes, but as Oracle is handling most of the coordination, I am available for the outing."

This was perfect. He and Bernard had only reconnected after he moved out of the Manor. Bernard had never actually met Alfred.

"Get it handled. I'll be coordinating with Batwoman and Nightwing about taking out that forcefield." Batman cut off his comm.

"I know you've got a lot to do, but if you give us coordinates to the location, we can save time by meeting Agent A there." Tim knew where it was, of course. But he couldn't say that.

"Warehouse on Exter. There's a marking like this on the roof." Signal drew a small emblem in light before it faded away. "Sorry, but I need to get back to the Crime Cult."

"Crime cult away." Bernard said chipperly as he picked up Tim again and Tim felt a flash of relief that it was Duke there and not any other of his brothers.

[dailyrenia]

Day 99

The background is from game. I love her silly smile 😭

[junipermoonlite]

*First time playing DND* ... I'm all in

DM: that's not-

*Pushing all my chips into the middle of the table*

DM: where did you get those