#one shift more is also like a musical and we all know roman likes musicals

[emphasis-on-the-oopsie]

Roman playing rhythm doctor livestream when /j

[alpaca-clouds]

About the historical apocalypses

A while ago I made a joke. "I do not believe in the Italian language. They should be honest and call it, what it is: Neo Latin." And because I made this joke on twitter and twitter is a fucking hellhole, people got really angry about it.

What got lost in the hellhole, that is twitter, was the point I was trying to make: While, yes, Latin and Italian are different languages, if we were to zoom in at any point in time, it would suddenly become harder to differenciate. With almost any language it becomes super hard to say, at which point it stopped being language A and became language B.

Now, originally my point was kinda more about how we humans tend to draw abitrary lines, because we deal better with clear categories than spectrums. You know, like we do with genders and such.

Buuuut... Let me talk about ancient languages and more the ancient world, because there is this mistake people make in thinking about history... they draw abitrary lines.

The Slow Apocalypse

When we learn about history in school, we also put history into neat little boxes. There is the Ancient times, then there is the middle ages, then the Renaissance and so on. And maybe (probably not) we will learn about the Bronze Age Collaps. All those things. And it kinda makes it easy to think about it as "this was one period and everything within this period worked like so and so". As in: "Oh, the Ancient Egyptians build pyramids." But... yeah, only during a period of those 3000 years that Ancient Egypt lasted, they actually built those.

And we think of the end of the Ancient empires as "and then they stopped to be Roman". But... of course the people didn't. There were Romans around - so people, who spoke Latin as an actual living language - for a long while. Long enough for that language to slowly turn into other languages. There were people around, who believed in the Roman pantheon or the Egyptian pantheon or the Greek pantheon for a long while. Heck, there are still people around who believe in it. And with those I do not mean neo-pagans, but people who for generations have kept traditions alive.

When we hear "Bronze Age Collaps", that also often gets called an apocalypse, we think of it kinda like "Day after Tomorrow and then the world ended", but historically speaking apocalypses rarely (outside of the context of colonialism) went like that. With the Bronze Age it went relatively quick - like 50 years - but... Even after that... The Bronze Age Collaps happened around 1500BC and as you might have noticed: Yeah, those cultures became smaller and less organized. But they did not vanish.

Those apocalypses took place over a century. Not just three months.

Not really Dead

And now we come back to the stupid twitter joke of Italian actually being Neo Latin. Because here is the thing: The old cultures... they didn't really die. At least those, that were not actively erased. And heck, even quite a few of those are still around.

You know. When Black Panther 2 came out, I saw so many people being very confused about Nakia going around and talking to Maya people. Because of that. They do not realize that the Maya are still around. Especially as we think about the Maya - another "advanced civilization" - as dead and destroyed. But it isn't. The Maya are still around.

And... that is true for a good few parts of the Ancient cultures as well. As I said, there are still people around who believe in that stuff. And there are languages, that came from those cultures as well. Things changed. A lot. But if you actually go to those places, you will find that there is stuff that is still around. Festivals, that are still celebrated. Types of music. And shifted languages.

Here is the thing: We should not idealize the past. But... I also think that it is wrong to just act as if everything from back then is gone forever. There are cultures for which this is true. Cultures, from which we only will find ruins buried in layers and layers of earth and dust. There might still be fragments of the Indus river civilization found in India. But we know too little about that civilization to say that they really are. And other cultures might really have vanished, without us even knowing about them today.

But... just think about the Indo-European religion and culture for a moment. We do not know where they lived exactly or how they lived for that matter. But there are still bits and pieces from them around to this day. Bits of their language, of their religion.

Things do not end. They change. And I find that... strangely hopeful.

[9w1ft]

On the subject of the swift family crest- I googled the word Amans at the bottom- apparently it’s the Latin word for lover, but in the present tense. Upon further investigation though I came across the concept of Senex Amans, which is apparently a classical Greek/roman trope in their drama which has a very interesting wikipedia page detailing how the character is a very old man who is usually married to a much younger woman and mocked for how the younger woman is often off with a young handsome man under his nose- which reminds me of the wedding in the Man music video. The most interesting part of that however is that the given example of how one of the best known uses of this trope is the story of Januarie in the merchants tales, where the titular character January, the senex amans, is humiliated when his much younger suitor May runs off with his squire. “We can leave the Christmas lights up till January” becomes “spring breaks loose, the time is near- what will he do if he finds us out?” Idk what you make of this, and you’d probably be able to find more than I can but I thought it was very interesting- especially coupled with the line in ivy about “he’s gonna burn this house to the ground” and how the lover house burns.

hmm well, i do think it’s noteworthy that it’s present tense! i’m not sure how deep taylor would have went into history when choosing a word or if she just said okay crests often have latin written on them, what is lover in latin and then picked what she found. i think that striking a balance when considering to what extent she would do things is important and tricky. but, it’s always fun to poke around and learn things.

i think i’ve mentioned this before but i’ve come to kind of see the lover house as representative of one period of time for kaylor, maybe from the love lockdown until the love blackout? so like, 2015-2016.

there’s a house that blows up and shatters at the end of rep tour too with the tiwwchnt/wanegbt mashup and while i don’t have an opinion if they’re meant to represent the same house that has visually evolved for taylor over time i think that this does also represents the closing of a chapter in their story as it relates to the fans. shaking her head and locking the gates, taylor takes away the nice things from the fandom because they broke them and tells them, youll be lucky if you ever see us again.

i think sometimes things catch fire or blow up on their own and over time they shifted to choosing when to burn them before it happened. holding the lighter, burning the files, the house, there’s a continued imagery here i think, and it matches the kaylor timeline quite well i think in terms of hitting all the major incidents that shifted things.

and yet the crest persists. because the family persists! and these buildings hold memories but they’re all houses and not homes because for taylor home is where the heart is, and they carry their home in their heart and mind as they move from one hideout to another as necessary. sometimes it’s a gatsby mansion, sometimes its a trailer, sometimes it’s the lover house, sometimes it’s a makeshift pile of sticks in the woods and sometimes it’s the evermore cabin and sometimes it’s all these really big archways and it makes me wonder what kind of buildings are up next.. not that we would ever get to know of them before they were gone anyway.

[likesunsetorange]

yes we remember academic rivals….. and e2l… and bodyguard au…. my roman empires actually 🫠

these three are my favorite au’s tbh, so here’s a little something from e2l and the bodyguard au (i’ll share the academic rivals one in a separate post later LOL)

exes to lovers au

January 23rd, 2023

Her fingers are white from how hard they grip the steering wheel—if that’s any indication of her current mental state. There are half-moons being carved into the palms of her hands; her nail polish is merely a former shell of what it once was, perfectly manicured hands ruined and chipped to oblivion. There’s no amount of concealer that could cover the puffiness under her eyes—she’s already tried. And her throat is dry and coarse. Mikasa doesn’t even want to know what her voice sounds like—it’s probably pathetic, if it’s anything like the sobs she tried to stifle in her pillow all night.

She thought a night’s rest would’ve granted her the tiniest bit of reprieve from all of this. But she woke up, feeling as if it was all some sadistic joke—only something the most convoluted parts of her brain could have conjured. Her Eren would be there beside her when she woke up, to greet her in the earliest hours of the morning, just as he did and promised he always would do.

But the morning only proved to be a reminder that promises are apparently meant to be broken, and things evidently change. Instead, Mikasa woke up to an empty bed and a tear-stricken pillow, her phone void of any messages from the only person she wanted to her from.

Despite all this, she picked herself up, knowing her life had to continue—a breakup can’t put her life on pause, as much as she wished it did.

Through the corner of her eyes, she could see Sasha’s wavering stares, rooted in concern for what Sasha deemed as apathy. But to Mikasa, this is all she could do. Try and carry on. What other choice does she have?

The silence in the car is deafening, it’s just Mikasa and her thoughts—the only thing she’s had to accompany her in the last twelve hours—something she unfortunately now has to grow accustomed to.

We aren’t together. We aren’t together. We aren’t together.

The thought bangs against her head as she drives down the street, demanding to be heard—there isn’t much point listening to music when it wouldn’t drown out the sound of her subconscious. Thoughts of him. Of them. Of the events that transpired leading up to everything. Of the breakup.

We aren’t together. We aren’t together. We aren’t together.

Promises to herself combat her thoughts—no more tears. She’s cried enough already. Tears won’t absolve her of her pain. They won’t mend the hole in her heart. Won’t fix her broken relationship—or what once was. And they certainly won’t get her through her shift.

We aren’t together. We aren’t together. We aren’t together.

She allows the sigh at the tip of her tongue to escape her lips before she finally loosens her grip on the steering wheel, color starting to return to her fingertips at the release. Just get through today, she tells herself. Her hand finds the knob on the radio, something, anything, to silence her mind.

But life doesn’t ever seem to be kind. When has it ever?

She gets her answer in the first cord strike—Eren’s favorite song. All the strength she pretends to have can’t stop the tears she’s been holding from falling with every passing note.

bodyguard au

The air in his throat gets stuck. “I mean—no,” he hesitates, knowing that there’s some level of truth behind his sentiment. “But just how bad could she possibly be?”

Rather than Kenny responding, Levi takes charge of the conversation, growing tired of the elusiveness. “To put it simply, her parents… They have their… reasons behind the things that they do, and their daughter isn’t always the most… cooperative,” he says, deliberate with his words. “While they care about her safety, that’s of the utmost concern… there are also, as I said, reasons for you being hired as well.”

A young, rich girl living in the city, who, according to her parents, doesn’t cooperate. He’s almost certain his job, outside of the general security and protection aspect, is for one thing. “So they want me to make sure she stays in line,” he thinks aloud.

Levi sighs. “More or less, yes. Their daughter, she’s a bit of a handful, and we just need to make sure you’re not going to quit the second she starts being difficult.”

“I work at a casino—I deal with difficult people all the time,” he shrugs.

“You haven’t met Mikasa; she’s a bit more than just difficult,” Levi emphasizes.

A sigh escapes Eren, frustrated at the back and forth. While he sees their point, and it does raise some concerns in his mind, he has his own reasons for being open to the initial proposition in the first place. “It seems like you don’t want me to take this job the way you’re trying to convince me that she’s going to be such a handful,” he says plainly. “I have my own reasons for being interested in the position, so whether she’s going to be difficult or not isn’t that big of a deal to me.”

[fangirlwriting-stories]

Protector

Chapter One

Author’s Note: Hey, put this together very intentionally because it's far more likely I might not have an update for the next couple weeks in a row.  Three weeks at the worst, but I'm not sure how I'll be doing, I've got finals and then some traveling coming.  So enjoy this while you can, I can't promise when exactly I'll update next!

Also, note though, this isn't a hiatus, this is a "I edit these chapters on Saturdays and post them on Sundays, and my next couple Saturdays will be very busy."  Worst case scenario, you'll get a new chapter before the end of May.  Thank you all for your patience with my wildly shifting schedule.

Chapter Thirty-One:

Janus was being insufferable again.  Virgil doubted he’d ever have enough time to truly sort through his feelings in regards to him, but Janus definitely wasn’t helping by watching him and Remus like a hawk every time they were in a video, or talking to Thomas, or doing anything where he was present.  It made it difficult to share his concerns with Thomas when Janus was glaring at him every other sentence.

He did his best to avoid him if he could, but that wasn’t always possible, meaning sometimes he walked into a room and Janus was there, or Janus walked into a room where he already was, and there wasn’t much either of them could do about it.

Virgil kind of wished there was this morning, though.

Yesterday had been bad for him and Remus both, and when Virgil had woken up in the middle of the night and Remus hadn’t, they’d assumed he’d sent a nightmare to Roman again, meaning last night probably hadn’t been fun for him either.

Remus, though he didn’t say it, was clearly upset and frustrated that he didn’t know how to stop sending Roman nightmares.  He vanished into The Imagination instead of talking about it, which in turn bothered Virgil, because what had happened to doing this together?

Then he’d made his way down to the kitchen, shoved some food in his mouth, and sat on the couch in his living room to listen to music and ignore the rest of the world.

And that, naturally, was when Janus showed up.

The glaring started pretty quickly, and Virgil realized not long after that he was not in the place to deal with it today.  So, he turned up his music as much as he dared and tried to block Janus out.

But that plan was kind of ruined when Janus walked over to him and stood above him, clearly ready to wait until Virgil acknowledged him.

Virgil pulled his headphones down around his neck and looked up at Janus in exhaustion.  “Can we not today, Janus?  Please?”

“Thomas is doing worse, we need to talk about it,” Janus said.

“Well maybe I feel like shit too,” Virgil said, moving to pull his headphones back up.

“Hey,” Janus snapped, grabbing them and dragging them down again.  “I want you to stop taking it out on him.”

“Oh sure, I’ll just do that,” Virgil said, rolling his eyes.  “Except, oh wait, the last time I stopped affecting Thomas you all weren’t the biggest fans of that.”

“There is a middle ground between ducking out and making Thomas a giant mess, Virgil.”

Not when things were this bad.

Virgil sighed, trying to make it sound irritated, but not really succeeding.  He looked up at Janus for a second.  There were dark circles under his eyes that were almost successfully covered with makeup, and his shoulders were slumped almost imperceptibly.

Virgil sighed, and leaned back against the couch with a thud.  “I’ll see what I can do,” he muttered.

“See that you do,” Janus said coolly, and he stalked off towards the kitchen.

Virgil sighed and rubbed at his eyes.  He took a deep breath, and pulled the anxiety swirling around his chest into a tight ball.  Then he buried his head in his knees and took a couple deep breaths.

Keeping his anxiety inside like this might make Thomas’ day better, but it sure wasn’t going to do the same for Virgil.  He couldn’t blame Janus for wanting a break, though.

Before long, the other sides began to make appearances, and Virgil sank back out to Remus’ room to get away from them and see if Remus was back from The Imagination yet.

He wasn’t really surprised that he wasn’t.  At least when Virgil checked, the way wasn’t blocked.

When he appeared with Remus it didn’t exactly make him feel better, though.

“Hey, Re,” Virgil said, shoving the tight ball of anxiety in his chest further down and walking past the large torture scene Remus had conjured up.  “You doing okay there?”

“I’m having some feelings, and I don’t like them,” Remus said from where he was watching with his head firmly pressed against his knees.  “So I’m going to watch Malice beat them out of me.”

Virgil winced.  “Okay.  Do you maybe want to talk about it instead?”

“No.”

Virgil gave him a worried look but didn’t say anything, and sat down after turning away from the torture scene.  He made sure he could still see Remus, and leaned his head against his shoulder to show what support he could.

“D’you need to talk?” Remus asked.

“I’m just anxious,” Virgil said.  “Trying to give everyone an easy day.”

Remus turned to give him a worried look of his own.  “Don’t hurt yourself.”

Virgil nodded.  “I know.”

Remus turned and looked back out at imaginary Malice again.  “I don’t understand my feelings, Vee.  Can’t they ever make sense?”

“I don’t think feelings work that way,” Virgil said.

“Why did none of them ever check on us?” Remus asked, burying his head in his knees.  “Didn’t they care at all?”

Virgil didn’t know what to say to that, so instead he wrapped his arms around Remus from the front and pulled him gently to his side.

“I mean what did we do?” Remus asked, wrapping his own arm around Virgil.  “Do they actually just hate us that much?”

“They didn’t know what was going on, Re,” Virgil murmured.

“Because they never bothered to look.”

“Well… yeah.”

“I hate them.”

Virgil glanced over.  “Re…”

“No, I do.  I don’t know why you don’t.”

“Because they…” Virgil started, and trailed off as he realized he didn’t know how to explain either.

“Aren’t you angry?”

Virgil nodded.  “Yeah,” he said.  “But I can be angry and also not hate them.”

Remus scoffed and glared away.

“I think,” Virgil said slowly.  “That Logan and Roman have started to put something together.”

Remus went still.

“And as soon as they did they offered to talk about it.  Well, in their own ways.”

“You trying to say Logan made a stupid hypothetical statement and Roman acted like a jerk again?”

Virgil laughed a little despite himself.  “That’s part of the package, Re.  It’s who they are.  They were both trying to help.  Besides,” Virgil swallowed as he thought of Patton.  “I can’t blame them for being a little mad when I hurt all of them on purpose.”

“You only did that because Janus was being a terrible person again,” Remus snapped.

Virgil winced.  “Remus, he—”

“You’re saying I’m wrong?”

Virgil was quiet for another minute.  “Janus is really bad at caring sometimes,” he said quietly.  “But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t.”

“And that’s my problem?”

Virgil glanced over.  “Of course not.”

“I’m supposed to forgive him because of his intentions?”

“Re,” Virgil said, his eyes widening.  “Of course not.  I’m not asking you to forgive him.”

“It’s just not okay to hate him?  Or any of them?”

Virgil paused and absorbed that for a second.  Eventually, he shook his head.  “No, you can hate them Remus,” he said quietly.  “As long as you’re okay with the fact that I don’t.”

“Even Janus?”

Virgil pressed a hand to his chest.  “Janus is scared.”

Remus was quiet for a long moment.  Finally, he sighed.

“Okay,” he said.  “I respect your decision.”

“I respect yours too,” Virgil said, leaning against Remus’ side.  “I love you, Re.”

Remus leaned back.  “I love you too.”

Remus waved his hand and sent the images of him and Malice away, and Virgil turned around.

…

The anxiety in Virgil’s chest didn’t go away the next day either.  Instead, keeping it all tucked inside like that seemed to have increased it, which tended to be how it worked.

But it had been a long week and everyone was tired, so Virgil resigned himself to a day of sitting in his room and trying to breathe.

Remus didn’t seem to like that, and spent most of the morning trying to glare him into submission.  When he finally accepted it wasn’t working, he huffed loudly in annoyance and decided to camp out in Virgil’s room to help.  As a result, they both spent most of the day there doing grounding exercises and watching TV shows as an attempted distraction.

Virgil hoped the bad nightmare he got that night meant the anxiety was out of his system, especially when he woke up feeling better the next day.  He kind of doubted it though.  It would be back, and no doubt worse than before.  And he didn’t want to try and shove it inside again.  That could cause problems.

Virgil groaned as he sat up, and Remus shifted quickly awake next to him.

“Morning,” Virgil grumbled, rubbing his hands over his face.

“Good morning.  I’m making you breakfast,” Remus said.

“What?  Why?”

“Because you’re going to take it easy so your inevitable crash isn’t as bad.  I’ll make you scrambled eggs, and I’m not going to add anything weird to them.  Just come sit down at the table and relax whenever you’re ready.”

“You don’t have to do that, Re.”

“I don’t have to do shit, and you can’t make me.  I’m doing it anyway.”

Virgil laughed a little.  “Okay.”

“Good.  See you in a bit.”

Remus sank out, and Virgil laid back in bed for a minute to allow himself to wake up more slowly.

After a half hour or so of scrolling through tumblr, he finally pushed himself into a sitting position and climbed out of bed to get dressed.

Because he was taking it easy, though, he didn’t sink out to the kitchen, and instead headed out of his room, stretching as he did.  He made his way towards the stairs and smiled a little to himself as he heard Remus’ loud singing from the kitchen as he got closer.

Once he got to the bottom of the steps and before he made it to the kitchen, though, he spotted Janus and Roman talking quietly in the living room.

“I’ll just have to go fix it myself,” Janus grumbled.  “Like always.”

“Hey,” Roman said, but stopped a second later as he noticed Virgil.

Janus glanced up a second later, and then his gaze turned so furious it actually took Virgil aback for a second.

He gave Janus a look, trying to convey ‘what the fuck is your problem?’ without opening his mouth, and headed into the kitchen, where Remus had finished Virgil’s eggs and was now making his own, adding edible glitter and cream cheese frosting.

“Here you go,” Remus said, turning to take a break and handing Virgil his eggs.  “They’ve been kept magically warm.  You’re welcome.”

Virgil smiled as he took them.  “Thanks, Re.”

Remus smiled back at him and went back to slathering cream cheese icing into a frying pan.

Virgil sat down at the table and let out a relaxed sigh.  He’d admit, this was actually an alright way to start the morning.

Eventually, Roman showed up in the kitchen, and Virgil braced himself for snapping and attempts to kick them out, but surprisingly Roman just moved quietly over to the freezer and pulled out some frozen waffles.

Virgil gave him a confused look, but turned back to his eggs after a second.  He wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

It wasn’t long after that when Remus dropped his plate of eggs on the table and splatted the cream cheese icing on the table around it.  Virgil just managed to cover his eggs in time, but glared at Remus anyway.  “I hate you.”

Remus gave a loud overdramatic gasp and pressed his hand to his chest.  “Virgil!  How dare you!  I am wounded!”

“I believe the rule was that you could add all the cream cheese frosting on your eggs that you want as long as it stays off of mine.”

“That was a rule?” Remus said, wobbling his lip and giving Virgil puppy dog eyes.

“I’m immune to those,” Virgil said, taking another bite.

“You heartless monster.”

“Why thank you,” Virgil said with a grin.

Remus stuck out his tongue before turning back to his eggs.  “It’s cheese,” he said.  “People like cheese on eggs.”

“Cream cheese frosting is absolutely not the same thing,” Virgil said, making note of Roman walking to the couch with his food out of the corner of his eye.  “And I can’t know for sure that’s all that is.  You’re still a menace.”

“Why thank you,” Remus said with his own grin.

Virgil finished his breakfast before Remus, but not that long before since Remus liked to inhale his food.  Virgil had just put his own dishes away when Remus started on his, so Virgil leaned next to him on the counter to wait for him.

“Hey,” he said, keeping his voice down so Roman couldn’t hear from the living room.  “Do you want to try some brainstorming today?”

Remus sighed, but seemed to give it a moment of thought.

He turned to Virgil after a second.  “No.  I wanna make something for me.”

Virgil smiled warmly at him.  “I think that’s a good idea, Re.”

“Yeah.  And then I wanna make something for you.”

Virgil blinked.  “Me?”

“Yeah.”

He didn’t elaborate, as apparently he’d decided that didn’t need explanation.

Eventually, Virgil just nodded.  “Okay,” he murmured.  “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet, you haven’t seen it,” Remus said with a grin.

“Oh Thomas, what are you going to do?”

“That would ruin the surprise!”

“I’m going to regret this.”

“Most definitely,” Remus agreed.

Virgil was about to say something else when, very suddenly, Thomas’ anxiety spiked.

“The hell?” Virgil said, looking around.  “I didn’t do anything.”

“What?” Remus asked.

“I don’t know, Thomas’ anxiety just… I’m gonna go check on him,” Virgil said.

“Not alone you’re not,” Roman snapped suddenly, causing Virgil to jump and glance over.

Virgil groaned.  “God, fine, just come on,” he said.

“Want me to come?” Remus asked.

“No, I don’t want you to accidentally make it worse,” Virgil said, before wincing.  “Sorry.”

“None taken.  I can do that.  Meet me back in my room so we can head to The Imagination?”

“Okay.”

Virgil sank out, and Roman followed him.  A second later Virgil appeared and Roman rose up.

“Thomas?” Virgil asked, and Thomas glanced up as he stepped forward towards the couch.  “Are you okay?”

Thomas blinked at him for a second.  “Wouldn’t you know?”

The anxiety in the air suddenly spiked again, and Virgil gasped in surprise, pressing a hand to his chest.

“Well, I’m not doing that,” he said, rubbing it.

“What do you mean you’re not doing it?  Aren’t you my Anxiety?”

“Yeah, we’ve actually had that figured that out,” Virgil muttered, looking around.  “But no, that’s not me.  Can you sense everyone else?  Are they okay?”

“Uh,” Thomas said, looking up as he thought.  “Well, you and Roman are right here, and I’m not really getting anything from Remus right now, other than… cream cheese frosting on scrambled eggs?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it.  Go on?”

“I think Patton’s okay, and Logan’s not setting off any alarms… hang on, I’ll just—”

He pulled his hand up, and Logan and Patton both rose up in their original spots.  They both looked a little surprised, but otherwise normal.

“Okay,” Virgil said, looking back at Thomas.  “Where’s Janus?”

But Thomas was looking towards the steps in confusion.  “I summoned Janus,” he said.  He did the same motion again, and again nothing happened.

Then the next second, the anxiety spiked again, and this time everyone seemed to feel it.

Virgil turned to look at Roman.  “Well Princey, you were with Janus last, where is he?”

“What— he had to go clean up the mess you and Remus made with the barrier,” Roman said, looking unsure.

Virgil’s heart dropped into his stomach.  “Something’s wrong with the barrier?”

There was another anxiety spike.

“Are you telling me,” Virgil said, walking forward and grabbing Roman by the shoulders.  “That Janus went into the subconscious, alone, when Remus and I weren’t there?”

“He—” Roman said weakly.  “He can go where he wants Anxiety, you’re not in charge of him—”

“Shut up!” Virgil screamed, and sank out to the commons.  He looked over at Janus’ door, and found it flickering in and out of existence.  The barrier on the door to the other commons was flickering in the same way.

“REMUS!” he screamed, and Remus opened his door in less than a second, sprinting out to meet him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Janus went to the subconscious,” Virgil said, starting over for the door to the other commons.

“Janus did what?”

“That’s why Thomas is freaking out, because something’s wrong,” Virgil said, summoning his scythe.  “I have to go after him.”

“What?” Remus exclaimed.  “No, you don’t, Virgil.”

“Re,” Virgil said, looking towards Janus’ flickering door in the distance.  “They’re going to hurt him.”

“So fucking what?  Let him learn what it feels like!”

“Remus,” Virgil said, squeezing his eyes shut.  “I can’t.”

He didn’t know how to explain the swirl of emotions between his panic about the others, his worry about Thomas, and somehow, most prominently, the heart-pounding nerves that came with the idea that Janus was going to be hurt.

But he also really didn’t have time to try and explain, so instead he looked at Remus and hoped his eyes could convey all of the emotions his words couldn’t.

Something seemed to get across, because Remus bit his lip.  “I don’t want you to go,” he whispered.  “But I can’t stop you, can I?”

“No,” Virgil said.  He took a breath, knowing the reaction he was about to get with this next part.  “And you have to stay here, Remus.”

Remus stared at him.  “What?  Fuck no.  Are you insane?”

“Remus they have Janus,” Virgil said.  “If they kill him, the barrier goes down.  And the core sides are going to need someone here who knows what’s about to happen.”

“I don’t care what happens to them!”

Virgil bit his lip.  “Well, I do.”

Remus scowled.  “Who said you could play dirty?”

“That’s not playing dirty.  You want me to play dirty?  If they have to go through what we’ve gone through, all of the ways we’ve negatively affected Thomas get a million times worse.  You want to hurt Thomas?”

Remus gave him a death glare, and Virgil gave him a firm serious look back.

Finally, Remus growled and clenched his fists.  “If you’re not back in an hour I’m coming after you.”

“Fine.”

Virgil picked up his scythe and started for the doorway to the other commons, with the flickering barrier from Janus still in place, at least for now.

And if Virgil had anything to say about it, it would stay that way.

...

Chapter Thirty-Two

[nausikaaa]

Bold Game

thanks for the tag @asocialpessimist and @alexalexinii (you tagged my sideblog but i figured i'd do it here)

rules: bold the things that apply to you (i also put in pink my own comments)

APPEARANCE

I have blonde hair (i did as a kid, but not anymore) // I prefer loose clothing to tight clothing // I have one or more piercings (two in each ear) // I have at least one tattoo // I have dyed or highlighted my hair (in the past, not anymore) // I have gotten plastic surgery // I have or had braces // I sunburn easily (i still have scars on my back from getting badly burned last year!) // I have freckles (they're very faint though) // I paint my nails // I typically wear makeup // I don’t often smile // I am pleased with how I look // I prefer Nike to Adidas // I wear baseball hats backwards

ACTIVITIES & INTERESTS

I play a sport // I can play an instrument // I am artistic // I know more than one language // I have won a trophy in some sort of competition // I can cook or bake without a recipe (my mam and sister are a professional chefs and bakers and all my friends say i'm a really good cook too) // I know how to swim // I enjoy writing // I can do origami // I prefer movies to TV shows // I can execute a perfect somersault // I enjoy singing (just not in front of people) // I could survive in the wild on my own // I have read a new book series this year (i prefer standalone books but i did read Inanna, the first in a Gilgamesh retelling series, and i just started the Roman Mysteries series because my friend loved them as a child) // I enjoy spending time with friends // I travel during work or school breaks (when i can afford to!) // I can do a handstand

RELATIONSHIPS

I am in a relationship // I have been single for over a year // I have a crush // I have a best friend I’ve known for ten years // my parents are together // I have dated my best friend (my one and only ex was one of my best friends, we broke up and stayed friends and then they moved away for uni and we haven't spoken in a few years) // I am adopted // my crush has confessed to me // I have a long distance relationship // I am an only child // I give advice to my friends // I have made an online friend // I met up with someone I have met online (my lovely friend @neoptolemid!!)

SEASONAL

I have heard the ocean in a conch shell // I have watched the sunrise // I enjoy rainy days // I have slept under the stars // I meditate outside // The sound of chirping calms me // I enjoy the smell of the beach // I know what snow tastes like // I listen to music to fall asleep (only sometimes) // I enjoy thunderstorms (so long as i know the farm animals are okay, i LOVE the sound and atmosphere) // I enjoy cloud watching // I have attended a bonfire (i think every british person has at one point for Guy Fawkes night) // I pay close attention to colours // I find mystery in the ocean (the deep sea fills me with so much fear and confusion it just morphs into pure rage) // I enjoy hiking on nature paths // autumn is my favourite season (nope, spring is the best. similar weather but my seasonal depression starts to leave and all the baby animals are born)

MISC

I can fall asleep in a moving vehicle (well that depends. train, yes. car, no.) // I am the mom friend (yes unless by best friend is there, then she out-moms me and i become the chaos child) // I live by a certain quote // I like the smell of Sharpies // I am involved in extracurricular activities (i'm not in school anymore) // I enjoy Mexican food // I can drive a stick shift // I believe in true love (that's a pretty loaded statement, i'm still on the fence there) // I make up scenarios to fall asleep // I sing in the shower // I wish I lived in a video game // I have a canopy above my bed // I am multiracial // I am a redhead // I own at least 3 dogs (i've had 5 over my lifetime but only ever 2 at a time)

i don't know who has done this yet, but i tag @dilfaeneas @ileadacharmedlife @shivrcys @jasonfunderberkerthefrogexists @otherpeoplesheartachept-2 @sunshinesalmon @purplemoths @prettygoododds @aroace-genderfluid-sheep @confused-bi-queer @ic3-que3n @forabeatofadrum @bazzybelle @theearlgreymage @aristocratic-otter @larkral @hushed-chorus @martsonmars @ivelovedhimthroughworse @blackberrysummerblog @fatalfangirl @ebbpettier @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @cutestkilla @youarenevertooold @alleycat0306 @shemakesmeforget and @shrekgogurt

[deeply-unserious-fellow]

OMG WE'RE RANKING HAZBIN SONGS!?!?!?!? MY TURN MY TURN MY TURN!!!

Respectless: Carmilla and Velvette both have such satisfying voices omfg. Also the beat goes sO HARD- it catches your attention and DOESN'T LET IT GO! Also it moves the plot forward very effectively which is actually really important for songs in musicals to do so. That's nice. Tbh it's only flaw is being too short-

Stayed Gone: VOX MY BELOVED- this song is so fucking catchy. It also kinda gives me Will Wood vibes, and I love Will Wood so ofc I'm gonna love the Will Wood ass song. Love how petty Al and Vox are, like it's so fucking funny. The lore drops are also really interesting. Aaaaaaaand Alastor's bit at the end reminded me of the Nowhere King and I love Centaurworld so :)

Loser, Baby: Pretty obvious why this one's so high up; Huskerdust, Keith David, cute bonding, has a message I needed to hear tbh, and its catchy as FUCK

Hell Is Forever: God I love all the different genres they play around with in this show- like I was NOT expecting a straight up ROCK BALLAD in the FIRST FUCKIN EPISODE but god Im so happy we got it. This song goes so fucking hard. Alex Brightman should be allowed to sing more Rock n' Roll.

Poison: Once again, this song is catchy as hell! Blake Roman's vocal preformance is also phenomenal, like that man can fuckin SING!!! Of course he can he's been on broadway and releases his own music bUt you get it. Also that final verse... man. In the context of the episode this song is emotionally devastating, out of context it's uh. Still really sad tbh but it's easier to bop along to it cause you don't have the visuals- Idk it's just a fuckin banger man. Though speaking of the visuals VOX WHAT WAS THAT FUCKING LOOK WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO CONVEY HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT ANGE- *gets shot dead*

Happy Day In Hell: Honestly? Pretty neutral on this song. Love Erika Henningsen's voice, I think it's catchy(no duh), and the Disney Princess vibes are IMMACULATE. Not a huge fan of the random shift in the music I wanna say half way through? But otherwise it's a good song I think, conveys Charlie's motives really well.

Whatever It Takes: Okay okay look. It's a good song. Does it's job in the episode. It's just not for me. I think it goes on a little too long, and I think that, while Daphne Ruben-Vega's voice fits the song PERFECTLY, Stephanie Beatriz was singing too high in her range to a distracting degree. Like I think there was something wonky going on because that shit gave me the same whiplash I got when Marinette started singing in the Miraculous movie, and it just. Doesn't fit the style of the song. Like Vaggie's part should've been more belty or something. Idk man I might be too out of my lane w/ this for my critique to be valid, because I have literally never written a song before, and music is VERY subjective so I don't think I can even be objectively right here, but still. Oppinions.

It Starts With Sorry: Look, I know this song is supposed to be a joke, but the first time I saw the episode that did n o t click with me, and without the understanding that it isn't entirely serious this song just feels so fucking out of place and really falls flat. Like it feels like somebody took a song from My Little Pony: FiM, made an AMV with Hazbin characters, and then threw it in the episode, y'know? And like don't get me wrong MLP has some FUCKIN bangers(Say Goodbye to the Holiday, This Day Aria, etc), but a lot of the musical numbers are still really bland and samey, y'know? So uh yeah it's a decent song and a funny joke but def my least favorite so far.

[o0anapher0o]

One pet peeve I have with Discovery going forward from season 3 (haven’t seen S4 yet) that has very little to do with the plot, the characters or the overall quality of the show, is how they have put next to no effort into the world building of their future. They have sent their crew 900 years into the future and almost nothing changes? Sure the political landscape shifted a little (but not to a point of being unrecognisable), the technology is a bit more advanced (barely) and everything is a little more lawless and more threatening than before, but all in all there are more differences between TOS and TNG than between Disco season two and three. They might just as well have gone fifty years into the future.

It just feels like the writers have absolutely no concept of how long 900 years are in cultural and social terms. It is very, very long. Like, nine hundred years ago we had a completely different perception of what a person was, and I’m not even talking medically. A child would have been considered a small adult and a person’s character was seen as an unchangeable fixture you were born with (character development was literally invented by the Enlightenmet) . The way society worked was fundamentally different, humanity’s place in the universe was fundamentally different, hell, even what people ate was fundamentally different.

The fact that apparently 900 years in the future Starfleet still exists is hardly less than a miracle, but it also seems to have changed so little that the crew of the Discovery can seamlessly be integrated after a mere months of welcome-to-the-future workshops and a minor technical overhaul of the ship. Fucking Marvel did a better job showing Steve Rogers’ having to integrate into the future and he was only seventy years out of his own time and none of the films really cared about that. The Disco crew even keep their old uniforms and no one ever even remarks on it. Imagine a medieval knight coming to the present and joining the police, but they keep wearing their chain mail and armour, and no one thinks it’s weird. (Yes I know they get the new ones by the end of S3, but there is no in universe reason given as to why exactly then and not earlier.)

And Starfleet is a secular institution that has apparently survived without any major changes at all for nearly a millennium. Even the world’s major religions, the most change-resistant institutions humanity has ever created, have undergone massive changes over the centuries in regards to doctrines, organisation structure, their socio-political role, how they operate, etc. None-religious organisations don’t even usually last that long. The only ones that do tend to be monarchies, which are more often then not closely interwoven with religion; and they too have changed drastically in what they mean, how they work and what they can/should do. Try and put William the Bastard on the English throne today and see what happens.

And that’s not even touching on cultural and social stuff. Like the fact that Kelpiens apparently still sing the same lullabies and eat the same food Saru remembers. Name one song that people still sing that is provably older than even just 500 years. Just one. I’ll wait. Music doesn’t last that long. The idea of what music is, how it’s made, how it’s preserved doesn’t last that long. (They get a pass for the dish because Su’Kal has never had it before so he wouldn’t know if it was weird.) It’s especially annoying that they do this with Kelpien culture with probably underwent a massive revolution after everything they knew about themselves was changed in season 2. We’re talking fall of the Roman empire levels of cultural and social change here. Kaminar should be entirely unrecognisable to Saru.

They do their best job with Ni’Var, and even there it feels superficial. They’re not one culture, they’re two that barely hold together, even after what has to be eight hundred years, if we assume the reunification happened reasonably shortly after the destruction of Romulus. (That’s not even getting into me thinking Ni’Var as a concept is a stupid idea and they should have realised that at some point on those eight hundred years. Sometimes breaking up is simply the better option if your core ideals are fundamentally different.)

Nine hundred years is an insanely long time and all they do is basically pretend this is the same world we already know, just slightly different and with everyone we know conveniently removed.

I know all of this is pretty irrelevant to pretty much everything in the show (which is probably why they didn’t bother), but it bugs me so much every time I watch it it’s not even funny anymore.

[soysaucevictim]

“it feels like my brain (was floating in a fishtank)”

(See warnings/summary on Ao3.)

[ Prologue/Start ] [ Previous ]

Chapter 4: Circuits of The Imagination

Vee had to work and Feed himself.

Ellis was staying in his study.

Janus always had “affairs” to attend to.

Roman said he dropped Remus off at Huntington Beach, again. Roman said he was going to a climbing gym to Feed, after that.

Vic was having a long shift at the zoo.

Carrie had the weekend off, so it was just her, Patton, and the help in Janus’s estate. She was trying to distract herself from the Dream, reading over technical manuals. She hated having new insight on what had to be going on in Steve’s mind, for who knew how long. To take his perspective as he nearly tore her family apart.

Patton, having caught up with his homeschooling, walked up to her, “Mrs. Espinoza?”

“Hm?”

“Are you feeling sad?”

“… I suppose.”

“Want to do something fun with me?”

“What would you suggest?”

“Can we go to the fair place?”

“Which one?”

“The one with the princesses and knights!”

She smiled, “Sure, let me just get ready for that, then.”

Patton grinning widely made her heart melt.

-

Remus was back at the beach, he immediately tried to swim again. It didn’t last very long, he felt his Horror was still sluggish after that meal from the yacht party. He had to swim more like a human, needing to actually hold his breath and he wasn’t as quick in the water. It wasn’t as fun.

So, he pouted at the shore line, still soothed by the waves.

After a while sitting there, Remus noticed Cass approaching him once more.

“You look particularly sullen this afternoon.”

Remus flopped backwards onto the sand, “It’s boring when FUN TIMES doesn’t want out.”

“Say, how familiar are you with your capabilities?”

“I’ve only known I was a Beast for like, a little over a year? Sooo…”

“Not much?”

“What? No! Well, kind of?”

“Hmm?”

Remus hesitated but told them about some of the things he did to Steve. He started with how he reached into the guy's mind to plant a potent Nightmare.

-

The eldritch form of his Horror loomed over the “Hero”. His uncountable eyes stared deeply into the puny thing, floating in the water and struggling to hold his breath. Threatening, inhuman noises resonated from his entire being. Remus beheld him, snaking the tip of one of his many tentacles into Steve’s mouth. The nuisance’s delicious fear was drowned out by knowing Roman could be d-

-

Remus shook his head and chose not to mention the part about his brother.

“Let’s just say that could’ve happened in much better circumstances.”

He wondered about discussing Horrorspawn. Jude was really fun to have around. It was like having some weird pet-child-thing that’s also sort of you floating around. When its time ran out and came apart, he was a little sad. It bitter-sweetly reminded him of what it felt like having a whole soul again. He held back on that note.

“So, where would you like to go, to rouse you?”

Remus wasn’t sure, he didn’t have nearly as much experience with this side of being a Beast. He assumed he’d have to single out someone specific. He thought about returning to Edison’s AutoMart or Nemeseian Blessings Yacht Club.

“Can we flip a coin?”

-

It was quite a car ride over to the Renaissance Fair grounds, but Carrie didn’t mind humoring Patton along his wandering babble. Occasionally, perhaps more than her own kids at this age, he would grow quiet.

The child really grabbed at every sense he could. The colors, textures and patterns on the staff’s garb – rich, vibrant, and fanciful. He listened to harpists, flutists, and singers perform music – adoring their charisma and showmanship. He smelled all the delicious food everywhere and wanted to try nearly everything. 

His vocabulary didn’t have such words, but Carrie could appreciate the boundless enthusiasm.

Soon enough they sat down for lunch, Carrie ordering them a couple bread bowls. Patton was having some chicken noodle soup and she helped herself to broccoli cheddar. She was amused with him scrunching his nose at the broccoli part.

She let him take the lead, and didn’t mind letting that continue. As they nearly finished their food, he interrupted her by asking, “Miss-uss Espinoza, where d’you wanna go now?”

She looked around for a few moments. She found herself transfixed by a specific pair of joined stands: a bowyer and blacksmith. The Dream reminded her of what she wielded in her nightmares, her fingers itching. She didn’t want a repeat of the Rich situation.

“Hmmm, oh. I’d like to see those folks’ wares.”

He nodded and followed her over there.

The craftsmen immediately looked at her strangely, as she approached. She wasn’t sure who to greet first, the smith chuckled, “Wherefore holla thither, maiden! Mine own name is Giles, what doth thee desire?”

The bowyer rolled her eyes, “You can call me Tasha. As you can probably tell, I fashion the bow components around these parts. Let me know if anything catches your eye.”

Carrie was fast in saying, somewhat flushed about Tasha’s imposing and attractive figure, “Name’s Carrie. C-can I have a crossbow, Tasha?”

Tasha raised an eyebrow, “Do you know how to use one, ma’am?”

Carrie straightened up, “Well, I’ve had some firearms training, when I was in the Air Force. But-.”

Her throat closed up, she didn’t want to touch a gun, but she needed this.

Tasha shrugged, “You’re in luck, I have something ready to go behind the bench.”

Tasha was quick to start giving her some pointers and running down the thing’s specifications, “Normally, this would cost you a couple grand, but we can negotiate a generous discount on it. You can also have a quiver of bolts on the house. I highly recommend you practice on the range while you’re here.”

Carrie glanced around, “Do you normally do this for customers?”

Tasha smiled at her, “I- we know-”

Giles bellowed cheerily, “Tasha, art thee trying to steal business hence from me? Shame on thee!”

Tasha had a look of endearment, “Honey, please. You take all this far too seriously.”

“Yet, thee did marry me!”

Carrie was entertained by this banter, it did make her think of Vic’s own charm.

Giles turned to face her, “Art thee eke interest'd in one of mine own fine blades, as well?”

“This might sound weirdly specific, but do you have anything like a rapier?”

“Alas, an estoc is the closest thing I has't to eft. I wilt asketh something about these purchases.  Art thee planning on most wondrous deeds, slaying the savage beasts of this realm?”

That froze her a moment, she felt something in these two. They weren’t Beasts but- she whispered to them, “A-are you two Heroes?”

Giles sobered, hushed and out of character, “Yes. We are. I warn you, if you abuse our courtesy, you’ll regret it.”

Tasha simply said, “We have our ways.”

Carrie nodded, “T-trust me. I just want to protect- protect-”

She looked around to see Patton had wandered off.

She panicked as she completed her transaction and gathered everything up. Estoc sheathed at her belt, the crossbow and ammunition in their cases.  The craftsmen gave her an understanding look, “If anyone asks, you’re just a family friend of ours.”

She had to find him.

-

Remus was back in Cass’s car.

The coin flip had Remus gleefully telling Cass about how he upturned a certain used car dealership before they met. He wondered if the business recovered after that mess, after seeing the news coverage on it.

Remus mentioned, “I don’t know WHAT you did back at the yacht club, but I’m so looking forward to seeing how the BOTH of us can go rile them up.”

Cass recited a few more verses in response:

“Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes?

They that tarry long at wine, they that go to seek mixed wine.”

Remus snorted, “Must’ve been some good shit.”

“You could say that.”

There was silence so Remus fiddled with the radio, Cass didn’t seem to care about being asked. Remus’s tastes were eclectic, but he was in the mood for the station that played a lot of indie rock.

And if you leave here, you leave me broken, shattered I lie I'm just a crosshair, I'm just a shot, then we can die

They had some luck catching strings of green lights heading deeper into Santa Ana. Cass was taking the scenic route to get there.

“Which of the Edisons do you think will be the most... appreciative of our services?”

“I guess the guy with the BlackBerry?”

“Duly noted.”

I know that starting over's not what life's about But my thoughts were so loud I couldn't hear my mouth My thoughts were so loud-

“Oh, and I’ve been meaning to ask if you can tell me more about yourself?”

“Well, I-”

Their conversation was cut short by one garishly hot pink SUV careening through the intersection at their side.

Before he knew it, Remus lost consciousness with an unbearably loud crash.

- 

After some frantic scanning, Carrie saw Patton again, across the lane through the stands.

One moment, he was giggling and clapping at a singing lute player. The other, his attention taken by a stranger with a camera, crouching down and tapping his shoulder. This stranger seemed so friendly, but she felt the Dream’s whispers kicking up on approach.

Said stranger had Patton following her.

Carrie started running toward them, fearing for the child. 

Alerted, the stranger gripped his arm far too tightly, making him whine in pain as they sped away from Carrie. The Dream was nearly screaming at her, “You know what she is, kill her. Kill. Her. KILL HER!”

She shook her head, thinking, “I can’t, not here! I just need to protect my- the child.”

She still gripped the estoc, not caring what others would think, hoping to corner the stranger.

They were running toward the park side of the venue, where the attendees grew sparse. Carrie was grateful when they finally started to slow down. It was clear the Beast had more stamina than the child, since Patton had to stop and catch his breath a few times. Her angry yanking and dragging him along only made so much progress.

Eventually, Carrie closed the distance, unsheathed her estoc, and pointed it at the kidnapper, “Let. Him. Go.”

Carrie noticed a strangely dull look in Patton as he stared expectantly at the Beast.

“Who might you be?”

Carrie practically growled, inching closer to the Beast, “What does it matter?”

“Why? I’m this ever so precious child’s mother!”

Carrie glanced at the two of them, not seeing any resemblance whatsoever. A rational part of her mind could drum up plausible reasons, but, “I don’t believe you.”

The Beast crouched in front of Patton, cradling his face to look at her, “Pattycake, sweetie. You believe me right?”

Patton hummed, “I-”

Carrie thrust the estoc closer, nearly puncturing her neck.

The Beast pulled her hands away from Patton, startled. Her gaze still went back to the child, “O-okay, I’m just his auntie Roxie! Do you remember that time-”

Carrie broke, “I will find you and turn you into a PIN CUSHION, if you so much as TOUCH that child OR ANY other. And I will RELISH it.”

A quiet part of Carrie was disturbed about the notion, drowned out by the Dream beckoning her forward. Suddenly Roxie’s expression dropped and she leapt away from Patton, wearing the same terror Rich did. Roxie stammered, “P-please, I-I need my family… I-I need…”

“DON’T make me kill you where you stand, fiend.”

Carrie was fighting the beckoning urge to destroy her utterly. The only thing resisting that was not wanting Patton to witness it.

“A-alright, alright. F-fine. D-don’t kill me. I’ll-I’ll get out of your hair…”

Roxie scrambled away from them, quickly getting far enough to have the Dream grow quiet again.

Carrie looked down to Patton, knelt to rest her hands on his shoulders, “Kiddo, a-are you alright?”

Patton seemed to shake out of the daze, wincing about the bruising on his arm, “She did something. Everything got so quiet, I-I could only hear her voice. I was scared and I couldn’t- couldn’t-”

Patton broke into tears and clung to her, she held him comfortingly, “Shhh, I won’t let this happen to you ever again. Not under my watch. You’re safe, now.”

“I wanna go home.”

“I understand. Let’s go, then.”

-

It was a miracle that the SUV didn’t hit square on Cass’s car, but toward the rear half of the sedan. It was the driver’s side too, narrowly avoiding a direct hit to Cass and barely dampened some of the force on Remus.

As all the airbags deployed, Cass fish-tailed to their left and came to a screeching halt. In moments, both vehicles had to’ve slammed the brakes.

Remus stirred moments after that. He was dizzy and nauseous, his vision swimming between blinks. He slurred, confused and disoriented, “W-what happened?”

Cass was surprisingly more alert, eyeing the other vehicle.

Remus thought, “Oh yeah, we got hit, didn’t we?”

Cass looked back at Remus, “Be careful, don’t move.”

Remus swore he was tasting blood. It took a lot of energy just to try to focus on his surroundings. He wondered if he was going to die.

Cass summoned some unearthly strength ramming open the partially caved in door and stepped out to confront the other driver. The SUV wasn’t nearly as crumpled up as the sedan, but she really shouldn’t have been able to walk out of this like she did.

As she stepped toward their vehicle and the airbags started to deflate, Remus vaguely recognized her from somewhere. Thinking made his head hurt. Did he just see a holster on her? Keeping his eyes open for a very long time hurt.

Cass got in between her and Remus, “Oh, it’s a relief that you were alright after that. Shall we exchange insurance information and settle this amicably?”

Cass sounded so calm, and so did the other driver, almost sweet-sounding, “I do apologize, Father. Oh! It seems you had a passenger, is he quite alright?”

“I will call for help, after we’ve done this formality. You may call me Cass, for now.”

She craned her neck around to see Remus more closely, her fake smile trembled slightly, glancing back to Cass, “Oh, you can just call me Di, and-”

Remus moaned, “… that… name…?”

Her eye started twitching, ever so slightly, “Gosh, is that one of those… day laborers?”

Remus thought some less-than savory things about that, but he still listened to Cass.

“Child, what does that have to do with-”

She shoved Cass aside and stared at Remus with a creepy, subdued smile, “Ah, I knew the vermin behind ruining my beloved hubby’s big day was around here somewhere. I was looking EVERYWHERE, for you! This can’t stand, you see?”

Remus swallowed some more blood, feeling a familiar wrongness about her.

Cass was stern, “You’re over the line.”

“And you’re going to regret intervening on my MISSION.”

She stepped back and the space in front of her rippled. Remus’s guts twisted, peering into the gate. It was a familiar deep sea crevasse, shimmering in a tiny crack in reality. He feared what she would do if she got inside his Lair, but couldn’t make himself move or think to stop her.

She was about to enter it before Cass yanked her away, “I know the game you’re playing here, but I will not let one of my charges be harmed by one such as yourself.”

In between Remus’s blinks, Cass turned into something incomprehensible in his stupor.

Diane’s eyes became saucers, “W-what ARE y-!?”

Cass wrapped something around her neck and lifted her up. She desperately tried clawing herself free. The mass was somehow both solid enough to squeeze the life out of her, but not enough for her hands to find any purchase.

Cass’s voice seemed to reverberate from their entire body, distorted, yet serene:

“A good man takes care of his animals. But even the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.”

She gagged and fought uselessly, before going slack in their grip.

The intense emotions that wafted from her had quieted, as Cass dropped her unceremoniously. Remus wasn’t even sure if Cass was looking at him, until they shifted back to their “human” form.

Cass swiftly tapped something on their phone, “Yes, Emergency? I’m over at… I just witnessed a car accident. Someone is badly injured. Please, you have to-!”

Cass crushed the device in front of Remus and told him, “Don’t tell them anything.”

Remus slurred, “¿Quiiién? ”

He couldn’t keep his eyes open. The question went unanswered.

The last things he heard was the sound of something being dragged along, doors opening and closing, and a car driving away.

He felt an overwhelming tiredness cloaking him from there.

-

It was a long and quiet car ride back to the estate for Carrie and Patton.

She grimaced whenever she glanced at the kid favoring his injured arm. She muttered to him once, “I’m sure Vic can help you feel a little better. I’m sorry-”

Patton smiled at her despite the wincing, “’sokay. She-”

He gulped, Carrie nodded, “No. It was my responsibility to make sure that didn’t happen.”

“You’re sad again.”

Carrie was mentally repeating to herself that this wasn’t going to happen again.

Patton carefully touched her arm as she drove, “I know you care about me, Miss-us Espinoza.”

She smiled a little and was caught off guard by him saying, “It’s like Vee says, ‘shit happens and then you die’.”

She sputtered at that, “Young man, language!”

Patton gave an all-too innocent shrug.

When they arrived, Vee was there and clearly restless. Patton was quick to run to him for a hug. Vee was smiling until he saw the subtly darkening bruise on his brother’s arm. The older brother was glaring daggers at Carrie immediately.

“On your life, you BETTER not’ve laid a hand on him.”

Carrie waved her hands in placation, “Patton just asked me to take him to the-”

Patton supported her, “The Renaissance fair, Vee! It was a lot of fun!”

Vee was snarling, Carrie knew it was about her but he was facing Patton, “Fun? Why are you HURT.”

He then turned to Carrie, “And why are you armed to the TEETH now!?”

Patton wasn’t fazed, “She scared off a bad lady. Who did something weird to my head, I think?”

Vee desisted, barely, “Bad. Lady?”

“She was kind of like you and Mama Jannie – but… scary?”

Vee looked almost insulted a moment, Carrie would’ve snorted if the tension wasn’t so thick.

The older brother looked at her, cautiously glancing at her weapons, “Did you kill her?”

“No. I think I found something that she feared? Or…”

Vee went rigid, “You inflicted that on her.”

She retreated for a moment, “I-I had to do something!”

Vee slackened and sighed, “I don’t smell any new blood on you. I don’t really see that kind of restraint. Ever. In people like you.”

Patton looked up at Vee and smiled encouragingly, “It was amazing, V-!”

Vee seemed to melt, “Look. Maybe I should tell you m-”

Carrie’s phone buzzed. She hesitated a moment, but her gut told her to answer it.

“We’re with the Providence Saint Anne Hospital, is this Carrie Espinoza?”

“Speaking.”

“Are you Remus Espinoza’s mother?”

Carrie felt a cold pit settle in her stomach, “Yes, why?”

“He was in an accident and admitted to our care a few hours ago. His condition is stable but still being monitored. We have already contacted your husband, will the two of you be available to come here to see him?”

“Y-yes, of course! I can go right now. A-and I’ll try to get his brother there too.”

“Okay, do you have something to write down the phone and room numbers?”

She shakily pulled out a notepad and pen from her bag and jotted everything down before the call ended. Patton tugged at her pant leg, “Is Remus okay?”

Vee seemed caught off guard and concerned. She briefly wondered if it was for her.

Carrie simply said to the two of them, “I can only hope so.”

-

“Thank you for giving us some more detailed history to add to Remus’s charts, Mr. And Mrs. Espinoza.”

Carrie, Vic, and Roman stood near Remus’s room, talking with his doctor.

Vic asked, “How is he?”

The doctor answered, “Remus experienced some whiplash injuries and a concussion from a side-on impact. Given some of his test scores, we just ordered a CT scan and would like to hold him for a couple days.”

Carrie asked, “What happened?”

The doctor glanced at some charts before answering, “The first responders were admittedly puzzled by it. It looked like a hit and run, both drivers involved weren’t on the scene. And the vehicle your son was found in was registered to… an out of state missing person. You might get more information from the police department on that.”

Roman fidgeted, “Is he going to be okay? Can we see him?”

“We still have to wait a little bit to be certain, but Remus appears to be in better shape than expected. But, yes, take it easy with him. We don’t want to-”

Remus shouted from his room, “I can hear you!… ow.”

They filed in quietly and orderly.

Vic held the hand that didn’t have an IV in it and ruffled Remus’s hair, “Oh, mijo. What have you gotten yourself into?”

Remus winced in thought before shrugging, “I… don’t remember?”

Carrie’s demeanor softened, “Easy, Rejoe. You can tell us when you do.”

-

The moon was waxing outside.

Remus didn’t remember when he last fell asleep. Or if he had passed out.

He was lying in a hospital bed, confused why he was there a moment, before his senses caught up. He was told not to strain himself physically or mentally. As much of a contrarian he liked to be, when he tried to claw at what happened in the car accident his headache flared up.

Teeth. He remembered seeing too many of them. But nothing coherent to connect with it- it was like a nightmare. But then, Remus knew he couldn’t have those anymore. 

He regretted immediately his impulse to shake his head to clear it. All he got from that was an intense dizzy spell. He laid back, to quell the predictable nausea, and huffed, “This sucks ass.”

It was a small miracle he didn’t break anything else in the crash, that’s what the nurses said to him, anyways. Remus tended to avoid that growing up – he guessed being an actual monster just made him weirdly flexible.

His bed was pretty close to the window.

When he turned to face it one of the several times hoping for the scenery to change faster - Cass showed up, turned back to him and looked outside. Cass simply said, almost embarrassed, “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

“Huh?”

In a few more blinks, Cass was gone.

When asked, the nurse told him his last visitors were hospital staff and family, no one else.

-

@milktea531 @r0sethrills

Feel free to ask to be on a tag list, if you wish!

(I’ll probably tag every other cross-post.)

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[ Next ]

[s1rensmind]

I Do (Short Story)

Daniel has been dreaming of this day ever since he was a child, the flowers, the music, the centerpieces, the perfect woman, and all his loved ones from the past and present reunited under one roof. “Can you please for the love of christ help me move this fucking couch Daniel” screams his very pregnant bride to be from the other room, “I’m coming Beatrice my love, you really shouldn’t be moving furniture in your condition sweetie.” he responds quickly undoing his tie to the wedding tux he has tried on six times since he bought it. Beatrice was Daniel’s high school sweetheart and they have been dating for nine years and got engaged only a year and a half ago because he was waiting for the pants of the relationship to ask and that definitely was not Daniel and Beatrice was waiting for Daniel to regrow his testicles and be a man. Nonetheless these two have been in love for what felt like ever. “I have to get to work dear, if I am late one more time “without an excuse that includes death or me becoming paraplegic I won't have a job to come back to after our honeymoon” in Mr. Ponn’s words.”  He says as he quickly rushes through the front door, “also don’t forget I am going to be picking up our guest of honor from the airport after my shift B” he finishes before closing the door. “Of course my mother gets forgotten at the airport for two hours but your high school buddies have you running” she says under her breath before continuing to finnick with the couch.

Daniel’s shift ends and he very excitedly begins his trip to the airport in his used minivan. The anticipation eats at him. He hasn't seen his friends since Audrey’s wedding which was almost a decade ago and it was a blast. They don’t really talk on account of everyone's busy lives so it will be nice to catch up and just hang out like old times back in their hometown of Valentine, Nebraska. He arrives and gets out of the car and leans against it which would probably seem a lot more cool if his car didn't look like he jacked a second generation soccer mom. The first person out was Ethan, he was the shit talker, always had something to say but in a refreshing way this guy protected the rest of the group from any bully that came up. He walked over, “Hey Daniel, how the hell are you? You look like shit. Bring it in” Ethan said before grabbing Daniel into a hug. “I am doing great, I'm getting married and I got a promotion at wrinkles no more so you're looking at an assistant manager” he responds proudly, “No shit they are finally letting you marry your sister? I'm kidding, I'm kidding, she's way too good for you.” He laughs and punches Daniel’s arm. Before Daniel can come up with a comeback the doors open again.

Out comes Henry, now he was the shy one of the group, but that didn’t stop him from being feral with the rest of us but did stop him from touching a boob till he was nine-teen. Following him was Audrey, she was the token tom-boy girl every group needs and she was probably more unfiltered and carefree then any of the others. They both walked out and exchanged pleasantries, well except Ethan he was telling Audrey how nice it must be to have finally grown into her training bras. This led to a clean nut tap from her leaving Ethan grasping his nuts for dear life while still chuckling. Lastly Rick and Roman, identical twins who when they first arrived at school convinced everyone they were the same person, then convinced everyone they were long lost brothers finally brought back together by the system. These two were like tweedle dee and tweedle dumb intelligence wise. 

The crew piled into the car and all started with their lovely banter that was quite aggressive from an outside view but to them was just fun. “So Audrey, I know your sugar grandpa of a husband is getting up there. He's free to come to my office and we offer a senior discount.” He bursts out cackling. Henry was an anesthesiologist who worked for Florida's most renowned plastic surgeon. Audrey rebuttals with “You’re not even a doctor you get paid to put people to sleep at best you’re a professional Bill Cosby.” This alone sends everyone into a mocking and hysterical laughter. “It’s nice that beatrice let you borrow your balls for the bachelor party tonight Daniel” said Rick from the backseat, “Thank you very much Rick but we have joint custody of my testicles, y'all are just lucky we picked the same weekend as my visitation” Daniel replied sarcastically.  

They arrive back into town and Daniel drops them off at their motel, except Henry whose mother would go absolutely belligerent if he spends even a night he's in town away from her clutches. “Since we are going to Henry’s moms place anyway, should you just drop me off there for her scheduled dick date or should I wait till after the ceremony?” Roman says, looking directly at Henry, who turns around and starts repeatedly punching him. “Out of respect I think you should wait until after our date we planned ours first, or if you're comfortable we could tag team her” Ethan says, “Shut the fuck up Ethan” shouts Henry who has always had a close relationship with his mother. Honestly this was a three hundred pound woman who goes to the doctors religiously to have her skin tags removed so to be quite frank a night with that woman is more punishment than any punch that could be thrown by Henry.

The night of the wedding approaches and everyone heads to the abandoned barn that Beatrice decided would be the perfect venue, which it was once they finished spraying for spiders and rats. Everybody takes their places in the wedding party and the ceremony begins. “Daniel Levsuites, do you take Beatrice Rosendale to be your lawfully wedded bride?” asks Ethan who is playing the part of the officiant because he one time got registered online to be one on a dare. Before Daniel can say “I do” a spider makes his way up his neck and rests on his cheek sending Audrey into a fight or flight and she has always chosen to fight. She steps up to the lovely couple swift and calm like and quickly with straight strength whacks him across the face, “Mazel Tov” she exclaims then returns to her spot. 

Everyone laughs even the bride who , being eight months pregnant forgets that holding a tight grip on her pelvic muscles was a necessity so her bladder releases all the sparkling cider she has been holding on too. This causes the crowd to break out into even louder cackling. “I do, I do, I do, I mean shit how could I not” Daniel interrupts through tears of happiness getting the show moving knowing his wife is now soaked in her own pee. Ethan continues “Beatrice Ro-” Beatrice chimes in “At this moment guys I would agree to just about anything that gets me closer to changing, but yes of course I do”. Daniel pulls her into a deep kiss “Does that mean your sister is up for grabs?” Ethan asks loudly, Daniel's sister with a sarcastic smile on her face flips him off from her seat.

At the reception the whole gang gathers at a table and just enjoys each other's company. “You know Daniel if you ever want to get out of this town and stop sucking your boss off for days off my company is hiring, so you could slurp me off for some days off but in a bigger city.”  Ethan says, “Fuck it” Daniel responds. “Hey Ethan is your company looking for a new law firm” asks Rick, “we were not really in the market for a new legal team but I was thinking our current one is much too smart, court isn't even a challenge so yeah I think your firm would be the perfect drop down.” Ethan responds, Rick and Roman finish the deal with their signature fist bump. They were all quite excited at the idea of being closer to each other now that they were all working together. “I guess I can convince the old man to move to Massachusetts and be the best dentist there” Audrey says, “She means old man literally” Roman chimes in. They stare at Henry waiting for him to agree on starting a new life with them, “Awe hell fine now put your bedroom eyes away” he says. This was just the beginning of the true reuniting of these friends.

[sanderssideswriting]

ship: prinxiety, background intrulogical

genre: fluff

warnings: swearing, like one sexual innuendo, very breif mention of murder (as a joke, this is fluff after all) 

summary: Radio AU where Virgil runs the 11-1 am radio on his college and every night someone calls to complain about his music selections and request disney, and Virgil never plays disney.

Virgil sat in his swivel chair and put on the headphones “sup bitches I’m back and this time with like three monsters because finals are a bitch and sleep can suck my dick. The first song of the night is Lotta True Crime by Peneople Scott. Why? Because I say it is that’s why.” Virgil put the song on and worked on his final project as the songs played.

The phone rang and Virgil groaned and checked the number. This dick again. He picked up and put it on air since people seemed to love listening to him and disney guy argue. 

“listen asshole if you want to listen to Disney so fucking badly then apply for a spot and stop calling me.”

there’s a laugh “how about you just play some disney then? if you do I’ll stop calling. Because your music taste sucks.”

Virgil rolls his eyes “bitch apply for an opening and have a disney hour. And let me listen to my music, because not everyone loves fucking disney.” 

“Well many people do so why not play one song.”

Virgil snorts “first no, and second if I had to I’d make everyone regret it and play let it go.”

“Let it go is great!”

“bye bye Princey, stop calling”

Virgil hung up “and since Princey called you know what we’re playing? MCR because I know he hates it. So this one’s for you princey, up next after this ad because this place needs money. By the way if you’re not a broke bitch donate because this job is like kinda decent and I like making you all listen to the music I like. Blood by MCR is up next” Virgil played the ad and leaned back in his chair.

“Why do you take his calls if you know he’ll just be annoying?” Janus asks in class.

Virgil shrugs “since it started I get more listeners which is good for the station.”

“I think it’s funny, cause you two have cute pet names for each other, princey and emo nightmare” Remus says.

Virgil elbows him “they’re not pet names.”

“they are,” Janus says, moving so Virgil couldn’t elbow him.

Roman waits to dial the number, he had to admit he sort of enjoyed his and emo nightmare’s conversations, who refused to reveal his name or grade.

At first they’d been annoying and he’d genuinely complained about all the emo music and asking to play disney but it’d soon become a nightly ritual, that had very quickly ruined Roman’s sleep schedule.

He dialed the number “seriously, why all the emo music, emo nightmare?”

“you just answered your own question princey, why the obsession with disney songs princey? See? Sounds fucking stupid.”

Roman sighs dramatically “you wound me emo nightmare. But seriously what’ll it take to get you to play ONE disney song?”

“a hundred grand, that’s how much the station needs to keep running, do that and I’ll play ONE disney song.”

“four.”

“Three songs and a hundred and fifty grand, fifty grand per song. final offer. and I get to pick the songs.’

Roman nods “deal,”

“oh and, you have until the end of finals to get the money donated, and I’ll make the gofundme, not you.”

That’s like a month and a half away Roman thinks I’ll have enough time. “sure thing emo nightmare.”

Roman’s emo hung up. He smiles like an idiot.

“Why not ask him out? it’s clear you’re fond of him” Roman’s roommate Logan says from his side of the room.

“ask out a guy I don’t even know the name of? yeah sure” Roman snorts.

“what? Scared you’ll be rejected? I cannot believe I’m saying this, but Roman I am getting more dick then you have been ever since you started talking to your radio boy.” Logan says in an even tone.

Roman pretends to gag “you don’t need to tell me how much you and my brother have done it Logan, you two being together is enough for me to want to bleach my eyes.”

“you’re no better whenever you’re going out with someone, or even hooked up with a slightly above average guy.”

Remus barged in “Loooo I need help studying.”

Roman stood up “that’s my queue to leave.”

Remus watches Roman go “so what where you two talking about?”

“oh you know, he’s still calling the campus radio station to ask for disney songs” Logan says.

“Wait, Roman is Princey?” Remus asks, he starts laughing

“Yes? You didn’t know?”

Remus cackles “no! oh this is great! My best friend Virgil does the 11 to 1 radio, he’s Emo Nightmare and Roman is his Princey”

“We could set them up, Roam is so lovesick, I swear he’s head over heels for him and he hasn’t even met Virgil” Logan says.

Remus gasps “this is why I love you! Of course we’re going to set them up.”

Logan and Remus came up with a plan, they’d invite Roman and Virgil to a study session and then never showed up, leaving Virgil and Roman to wait.

Virgil puts on his headphones and starts loudly playing panic at the disco and reading over his shitty notes.

Someone taps him on the shoulder “hey can you turn the emo shit down, I’m trying to study and it’s really loud.”

Virgil turns it down a bit “that good?”

he nods “yeah, where you also ghosted for a study session?”

“Yeah I was, my best friend and his nerdy boyfriend where supposed to help me study, they probably forgot all about me.” Virgil says.

“Logan And Remus? Remus is my brother and Logan’s my roommate” Roman says.

“Yeah, well since we’re both here we could study together if you want” please say no please say no.

“Sounds good!” Roman says.

Fuck.

Virgil and Roman studied for awhile and Virgil very slowly started warming up to Roman. “ah shit I have to go, see you round I guess” Virgil says packing up his stuff, he wanted to have some alone time before his shift.

“ok Bye Virgil,” Roman says packing up, he had to go do his own thing, which would probably end up becoming a quick nap before his emo nightmare started his turn being the radio host.

Virgil sat in the chair “what up bitches, so far the goal has 10k, so no disney tonight, or ever because this is on a time crunch and 150k is a fuck ton of money for broke college students. And now onto Fuck you by Lily Allen. Why? Because she’s underrated and because I said so.” Virgil played the song.

Virgil got the call around 12:30 “you’re calling later then usual princey, and no, no disney tonight.”

“Oh I was just about to ask. And also I was asking how to find the gofundme.”

“It’s on the UCLA radio website, can’t miss it. Now let me do my fucking job” Virgil hung up and played MCR as was tradition.

What he didn’t know was Roman recorded the phone call and posted it everywhere he could anonymously and waited.

Virgil checked the go fund me in the morning “it has fifty k already?! What the fuck? Princey what did you do?”

Virgil waited for the nightly call “Hey what the fuck how is the goal at sixty k? How the fuck princey?”

He laughed “I asked the internet for help, I think most of it’s from tiktok, you’re going to have to play disney emo nightmare”

“fuck you princey and your stupid obsession with disney.”

“you have an obsession with my chemical romance and Brendon Urie”

“name three other artists I play on here then bitch.”

“Mother Mother, Lily Allen and as of late Derivakat” Roman says without hesitation.

Virgil was speechless for a second, then hung up. “fucking bitch, you guys know what time it is” he played Teenagers.

A week and a half passed and the funds had slowly been going up, and Virgil and Roman’s calls continued nightly as usual.

Virgil and Roman met up a few times to study for finals, sometimes with Remus and Logan, sometimes without.

the goal just barely missed the end of finals. Virgil smirked “No disney today, or ever because you people missed the goal byyyyy” Virgil checked the go fund me “three thousand dollars. I’d say better luck next time but there won’t be a next time.” he chuckled. The phone rang and Virgil picked up, knowing it was Princey.

“oooh too late princey no disney songs during my shift.”

“you might want to check the gofundme one last time my dear emo nightmare.”

Virgil refreshes the page “first of all, I’m not yours bitch second- what the fuck, how?” the goal had been met.

Roman laughs “play the disney emo. Play. The fucking. Disney.”

Virgil could tell he was gonna gloat so he hung up.

Virgil grumbles and gets the disney queued “ok fine the goal was met, so time for my suffering, I have queued Fixer Upper from Frozen because it’s a shitty song with a shitty message. Make a man out of you because I like Mulan and for everyone’s inconvenience I have How Far I’ll Go so have fun with that stuck in your head.”

Roman was a bit insulted when Emo nightmare hung up on him, so he called him back once the songs had ended “wasn’t so hard was it?”

“for you maybe, it was for me,” Virgil hung up and blocked the number.

Over the Summer both Virgil and Roman found themselves missing their talks. Roman so much so he applied for one of the newly opened spots for the next semester from 2-5 pm.

Virgil drove onto campus at 4, putting on campus radio and was met with disney. the song ended and the new host spoke “and I hope everyone liked that, up now is a short commercial break.”

Virgil nearly swerved off the road and pulled over and called the station.

Roman picked up. “Hey what the actual FUCK?” Virgil says as soon as he does.

Roman laughs “oh how the tables have turned Emo Nightmare”

“I hate you, I fucking hate you what the actual fuck princey”

he laughed more “You yourself said that working here is nice, and there was an opening, so I took it. You should be happy, I mean now I won’t brother you about playing disney.”

Virgil frowned “yeah yeah, whatever princey have fun with that.”

“oh I will emo nightmare, I absolutely will.” Roman hung up feeling happy in a way he hadn’t felt all summer.

Virgil unpacked his stuff in his new dorm, he was a little pissed but also excited. Maybe he and princey would finally meet face to face. Why am I excited about that? I hate him, at the least he annoyed me every day for months, but he did raise a bunch of money. Even if his disney obessed ass is super annoying.

Roman walked in at 6 “hey Virgil, I’m guessing you’re going to be my roommate?”

Virgil looked up from his laptop “I guess, don’t take my monsters from the fridge and we’ll be golden, or blast disney 24/7″

Roman chuckled “what do you have against disney?”

“Micky Mouse killed my parents in front of me after I said that Merida was my favorite princess.” Virgil said dryly.

Roman chuckled “that’s why I dedicated my life to the mouse.”

“That’s why I swore to get my revenge on the mouse.”

“I won’t blast disney 24/7 but you can’t blast your emo music.” Roman says

Virgil snorted “dude I have the worst anxiety I don’t even own a speaker. so you don’t blast your music, I won’t blast mine and we’ll be fine.”

“Deal,”

Roman called that night like always and Virgil was ready “aww Princey, did you miss me that much?”

“not really, but I’m still trying to get you to willingly play a disney song.”

Virgil rolled his eyes “you know what, it’s a new year, time for a new leaf, I’ll humor you princey and play a disney song.”

“wait really?”

Virgil queued up Mad At Disney “no.” he hung up and the song started.

Virgil and Roman went back to their usual routine of lowkey flirting with each other during Virgil’s shift, and sometimes during Roman’s.

They where getting along well as roomates but hadn’t figured out that they where each other’s Princey and emo nightmare.

Somehow he and Princey had gotten into an argument about if Cruella would be a good or bad movie. Roman had hope it would be, Virgil wasn’t so convinced.

“Princey, she is a completely evil character, she can’t be redeemable, she shouldn’t be. She wanted to make puppies into a coat, that’s fucked up. There’s no black and white she’s bad and that’s that.”

“Maybe if you gave the movie a chance!”

“fuck no! did you not hear what I just fucking said?”

“then how about we see it then we can see who’s right?”

“fine, I’m free at three this Satuday.” Virgil said, way too caught up in the moment.

“same, see you then emo nightmare, I’ll be by the doors waiting.”

“fine, but I’m going to be right.”

“then it’s a date!”

“I guess it is!” Virgil hung up.

he didn’t realize he’d said yes to going out on a date with a guy he didn’t even know until the next day.

The whole campus was freaking out about it since the station had blown up quite a bit because of Virgil and Roman’s nightly arguments. 

Roman left early, he’d dressed up a bit, and had a disney shirt with a little crown logo on it, it wasn’t that obvious but he figured it’d be telling enough.

Virgil put on a bit more eyeliner then usual and fishnets under his ripped jeans but that was about it, he chose to be petty and waited until about 3:20 to go to the doors where Roman wait waiting.

Virgil walked passed him at first. Roman saw him “emo nightmare?”

Virgil stopped “are you fucking kidding me?” he got a few glares from parents. “You’re princey? my fucking roommate?”

“I did not plan that, but yeah I am, and you’re my emo nightmare.”

Virgil rolled his eyes “still not yours princey, come on the movies about to start.”

They exited the movie and Virgil grinned “I fucking told you it’d be bad, I told you!”

“yeah yeah, you did it was bad. Want to get some coffee?”

“sure, I’ll pay,” Virgil said casually.

Roman grinned “I’ll win you over one day my emo nightmare.”

“stop begging me to play disney music and maybe you will.”

[sometimes-love-is-enough]

re: your last ask about the time travel shenanigans—holy fuck yes please more of this. like, not only is it funny as hell, which i appreciate, but it's also a. more c!thomas and b. points to just how interestingly both the plot and characters of this series have grown over the years and i am ALL for it

"Janus!" is the first thing Thomas exclaims when he sees the Side Formerly Known Exclusively As Deceit rise up where Logan would usually stand. Which just might be a mistake, if Janus’s expression is anything to go by.

Okay, in Thomas's defence -

This is a really, really weird day, even by his standards. Because, like, Logan's currently standing in front of the stairs, and that's not where Logan's supposed to be, and his shirt and tie are all wrong. And had had been grinning. Openly. He had been openly grinning when Thomas had first woken up and looked in his wardrobe and realized that his favorite t-shirt apparently doesn't exist anymore and all his clothes are a half-size smaller than he's used to but also they still fit and - okay, no, back to Logan. He'd gone downstairs and tripped over a chair that wasn't supposed to be there and called out Logic. And he'd been about to ask him what's going on and why everything feels so off and also why Logan's standing in Virgil's usual spot instead of over to the right of the stairs. But then he'd noticed all the aforementioned Very Weird Clothing Things. And he'd stopped and said, "Uh, Logan?" and Logan's grin had dropped and he'd stared at Thomas for a full ten seconds then whispered, "what the fuck," with great emotion.

And then Patton had shown up with a ridiculous amount of pun-riddled cheerfulness that Thomas had been able to clock as sixty-percent fake within about half a second. And his clothes had been all wrong, too, and after a lot of confused, borderline-incomprehensible yelling at each other, Roman had showed up and added to the chaos.

"I am scared and confused and on the verge of completely losing it!" Thomas had declared at some point, which had been the cue for an ominous music sting somewhere to Thomas's right that made everybody jolt in terrified unison.

"Did somebody say scared and confused and on the verge of completely losing it?"

"Virgil, thank god!" Thomas had practically yelled, and just about thrown himself across the room to get to him - before pausing midway and allowing his brain to process... wrong hoodie. Wrong amount of eyeshadow. "Wait. No, hang on, is this - "

"FUCKING WHO," Virgil shrieked, leaping backwards half a flight of stairs, which had led to another round of confused yelling, with Thomas trying to assure them all that he's fine he hasn't had some sort of strange head injury or whatever, he's just really happy to see Virgil and no of course that's not weird, what do you mean who's Virgil, that's Virgil right over there, Roman please put down that sword things are already out of hand -

And at some point Thomas had got it into his head that the most reasonable course of events was to summon the one person who always seems to know everything that everybody else doesn't, which brings everything up to speed, more or less. Roman had gone, "Thomas, what are you doing," and Thomas, feeling slightly manic at this point, had said, "I'm trying to summon a demon, obviously," because the best way to get hold of a certain someone probably is blatant lying, and boom, instant Janus.

"Jeee-sus Christ on a cookie-shaped canoe, what is he doing here?!"

"Janus!"

So, Janus pops up, he looks literally the same as he always has (except maybe with shorter hair? Wait, they all have shorter hair, including Thomas, wait a second -) with his half-snake-face and his hat and gloves that cosy-looking capelet of his. And although his expression reflects faint bewilderment and that very particular 'wait, what' emotion that results in being pulled abruptly away from something you were busy with, he looks so normal that Thomas thinks for a moment he might be the only sane person left.

But then Janus makes a series of start-and-stop noises of incomprehension, and gestures wildly towards Virgil, who's crouched midway up on the stairs behind Logan, looking like a cornered wild animal, and snaps, "Why for the love of everything that's holy would you tell him my name?"

"You think this is me?" Virgil retorts, hands going up to grab desperately at the bars lining the side of the staircase. "I don't understand anything that's going on! He somehow knows my name! He's - he's being nice to me!"

It suddenly occurs to Thomas that this might just possibly be a time travel sort of thing. It would explain the clothes shift. And the altered layout of his house. And the fact that when he'd checked his phone this morning it had told him it was 2016, and also it hadn't been his phone, it had been the one he'd broken a few years ago in a tragic piano-moving-related accident.

...Okay, yeah, this is absolutely a time travel thing.

"Is somebody going to explain why Thomas ruined all of our heartfelt name reveal moments in one fell swoop?" Roman demands. "I thought we agreed we were going to do them gradually and draw them out as long as possible for dramatic effect!"

"I agreed to none of that," Virgil snaps from his position halfway up the stairs.

"Yes," says Logan, "yes, I think we all would like to know what's going on. Thomas? What's going on?"

"Uh - " Thomas, who has just come to a rather startling realization about time travel and also about how shitty his Sides' taste in costumes were pre-wardrobe change, doesn't really have a prepared answer for this. "I have... I am - I just - "

Thomas struggles for words. Really struggles. And everyone's just standing there, watching him with expressions that range from terror to confusion to suspicion, and they all look so weirdly young in a way that's hard to pin down. It's the clothes. It's probably the clothes, or maybe it's the way they hold themselves. Roman, carelessly confident, without a doubt in the world. Patton, still wearing a fixed dad-grin, politely baffled and looking back and forth. Logan, who hasn't been systematically beaten down and pushed back over the course of many, many years. Virgil, who's basically just a ball of grey-and-black anger and acerbic anger at this point. Janus, who's... Janus. Who's looking at him in a way that Janus has never looked at him before.

And Remus is probably lurking somewhere in the back of his mind, too, doing whatever Remus does, and - would Remus be any different now, four years prior? Thomas hadn't had any significant problems with intrusive thoughts, not back then... or, well, back now. Maybe he's calmer, maybe Thomas could actually talk with him. Try to work something out, try to understand.

But wait, he's still got to give the Sides right here and right now an answer.

Hm.

...Thomas has been through a lot in the past four years. Not, like, fantasy protagonist a lot, but more like a extended psychological journey of self-discovery and mental health crises. Now, he wouldn't trade any of this for the world, because he's learned a hell of a lot about himself in the process - but also? The Sides have put him through a lot of horrifying realization-type things.

Which is why he absolutely one hundred percent deserves to do what he's about to do next.

"I," says Thomas, with an extraordinary amount of confidence and self-assuredness, "am psychic."

And the dead silence holds. Now even Patton is staring at him in disbelief. Janus has graduated into outright horror, his face twisted up into a oh god no I am somehow responsible for letting him delude himself this far expression.

"Thomas!" Roman gasps, almost instantly lighting up with genuine enthusiasm. "Oh, Thomas, I'm so proud, we've been working on this for years. Tell me, does this extend to telekinesis, or just somehow knowing all our names and nothing else?"

"What?" Janus says. "What - no. No, you can't seriously be going along with this - what? That... what? That doesn't even make any sense?" He turns wildly from left to right, and - okay, it's very enjoyable to see him out of his depth, to be perfectly honest. Thomas likes Janus a lot, knows he has his best interests at heart, but the whole courtroom thing had been a major dick move. This is satisfying. "Are any of you getting this? Does anyone here understand what's going on?"

"I'm psychic," Thomas repeats doggedly. "I acquired magical psychic powers and now I know all of your names and tragic backstories. Surprise! I unlocked my full potential and the ninety-percent of my brain power that I wasn't using."

"That's - that's a widely-perpetuated and wildly incorrect myth," Logan says weakly.

"Nope. Turns out it's true, and I was only using ten percent of it, and now that I've gone full big-brain, I know that Patton's repressing all his bad feelings because he doesn't want to bother anyone with them, Virgil acts all scary and menacing because he thinks it's the only way that I'll ever listen to him, and Janus is secretly a huge dork with a heart of gold - uh, yellow, I guess."

"How dare you," Janus breathes, looking horrified.

"Wha - " Patton suddenly looks very pale indeed.

"Also, Roman, you're my hero; Logan, please never stop smiling like that ever again, it's literally my favorite thing in the world and if you ever stop being enthusiastic about teaching me things I will cry - and Virgil, I love you."

Virgil lets out a choked little noise like he's just been punched directly in the stomach.

"I love all of you," Thomas adds, an afterthought. "I never say that enough. Janus, that goes for you as well. You're right, I need to take care of myself more."

"I'm - " Janus is still looking around at everyone in complete disbelief, but now his gaze fixes onto Thomas, his eyes wide. "I'm what?"

Thomas is now on a roll. An extremely cathartic sort of roll. "And Remus -"

Everybody immediately panics. Virgil and Logan's hands both immediately leap up to clasp over their mouths, which seems to be a reflexive reaction on Janus's behalf. Patton lets out a deranged-sounding high pitched giggle that edges into genuine hysteria.

"Brother? What brother? I don't know what a brother is!" Roman says loudly. "I've never had a brother in my life! Thomas, your glorious psychic powers are malfunctioning. Have you tried turning them off and turning them on again?"

" - I'm not going to lie and say I love him, but -" Thomas stops abruptly, and staggers  backwards to catch himself on the couch as a thought strikes him out of literally nowhere. "Son of a bitch -"

"Does being psychic make you swear a lot?" Patton asks weakly. "Because, uh. Not sure I like this side of you, kiddo - "

"Logan," says Thomas. "Logan, what's the date today? This is so, so important, what's the date."

"It's... October," Logan says, very slowly. "October twentieth. 2016?"

"Holy shit," Thomas whispers, and then says it louder, "holy shit. Okay, listen. I was going to sort out all of our collective psychological issues in one impressive emotional speedrun, but I've realized we have something much more important to do." He pauses, and takes in a very deep, shuddering breath. "Guys. We can save Vine. Excuse me. I've just realized I’ve got to make a lot of calls."

[the-duke-of-nuts]

Is This Coffee Hot Or Is It Just You?

Day 3: Coffee Shop @dukexietyweek 

Summary: Virgil finds out that a certain someone happens to work at the local coffee shop

Pairing: Dukexiety

Word Count: 1389

Warnings: Food Mention, Innuendos, Violence Mention, Literally all of my fics contain swearing so there’s that I guess

Tag List: @idontcareaboutcanon (If anyone else wants to be added just let me know)

Ah Coffee shops. Virgil never understood the appeal about a place filled with nothing but caffine, free WIFI, hipsters, and pastries. He certainly also didn't understand why he agreed to go to the local one near his apartment that his friends kept oh so begging him to go to for some reason. Well, by "friends" it was mostly Patton and Roman. His other two friends could care less about the place just as much as him. But here he was opening the door to the quiet semi-crowded shop. There was an oddly comforting atmosphere to it. The lights were dim, random relaxing music can be heard through the speakers, various different tea boxes and mugs hung on the shelves. "Maybe this place isn't so bad." Virgil thought to himself as he looked around the room. He walked forward to the counter as he happened to be the next person in line but then he saw him.

You gotta be fucking kidding me.

Remus Pierce. The same Remus Pierce that always flirted with him in high school. The same Remus Pierce that casually ate juiced bread at lunch to gross people out. The same Remus Pierce that Virgil secretly had a crush- 

"Well hello there customer~ What can I get you~?" The said mustached, silver streaked hair barista asked smirking. "Coffee." Virgil deadpanned. "I'm afraid you're gonna need to be more specific than that." "Like my soul." Virgil glared. "Alright so black it is. And a name?" Remus smirked as he uncapped a marker and held an empty coffee cup. "Oh my god Remus you already know my-" Virgil took a deep breath in so he could stop himself from getting angry and causing an unnecessary scene and answered with a fake smile "Virgil." "I'm sorry can you spell that for me please? I don't wanna misspell a hottie like yours name like everybody else here does to the other customers."

That damn cocky smirk.

Virgil just wanted to kiss- punch that smug look off his face. "V-I-R-G-I-L." "Okay S-E-X-Y got it. Your beverage should be hot and ready for you shortly." Remus winked and booped Virgil's nose as he walked off to go make the emo's coffee. Virgil growled blushing and buried his face in his hands.

Damn him for being so hot- horrible!

Remus soon came back with Virgil's coffee and dramatically bowed as he held the cup for him to take."For you, my 'Bittersweet Symphony'. "Thanks..." Virgil hesitantly took the beverage. "How much?" He asked as he placed the cup down and reached for his wallet. "Oh for you it's on the house!" "Thanks I guess?" Remus smiled and responded with a nod and a hum.

You gorgeous fuck stop smiling!

Virgil's heart started beating a little faster. Surely Remus wasn't having this effect on him right? They've known each other since high school. There was nothing to be nervous about. The only reason Virgil didn't hear much about the barista after that was because Roman hardly ever talked about him. "So... You work here." Virgil stated as he tried to start a conversation. "Yup! Have been for a couple of months now. What about you? Do you do anything nowadays?" "Of course I do I do a lot of stuff!" Virgil immediately answered. " Oh really? Like what?" Remus asked amused. "Stuff..." Virgil half mumbled as he looked away. Remus cackled.

That disgustingly beautiful laugh.

"Vee Vee, I've known you long enough to know that you're not fully being honest because you're either 1, ashamed or 2, scared of what I'm gonna say. Now c'mon what do you actually do? I promise I won't judge." Virgil blushed. Was he really that readable?

"Fine. It's not like you care or anything but I write poems and sell them."

"Nice. Maybe one of these days you can read me one of your angsty emo sonnets. OOH! Or better yet I can help you write some juicy-"

"Not happening!"

"Fine fine suit yourself." Remus chuckled. "So what brings you here Finding Emo?"

"Prince Drama Queen and Chocolate Chip Cookies."

"Ah so Romano and Patty. That figures. You sure it wasn't for another reason~?"

"No?"

"C'mon admit it. I know you missed me~" Remus smirked playfully pinching Virgil's cheek. "I didn't even know you worked here!" Virgil blushed as he swatted Remus' hand away. "Yeah but now you do and you can see me aaaaanytime you want." "Whatever..." Virgil crossed his arms and looked away.

There soon became a silence between them. Since when did Remus' eyes get prettier? Maybe it was the eyeshadow? No he always had that. Maybe it was because they were a deep chocolate brown? His hair and lips definitely looked softer and- Shit! Virgil was staring!

Get out of there! Get out of there now!

"Anyways I should get going and uh-" Virgil cleared his throat as he picked up his coffee and turned around to leave as quick as possible but Remus stopped him. "Wait uh Virgil, can I ask you something?" Ah yes every anxiety-ridden person's favorite question. "You just did." Virgil deadpanned trying to play off his anxiousness. "You know what I meant!" Remus said slightly irritated.

"Fine. What is it?"

"Okay so I was wondering if you maybe wanted to hang out together later after my shift?"

Virgil blushed. "Like a date?" "If you want it to be~" Remus wiggled his eyebrows and winked. "But in all seriousness yeah kind of." A date!? Remus was far from being the romantic type. This had to be a trick right!?

"Remus I-"

"Look, I know you don't like me much and you probably hate me, but just give me this one chance... Please?" Remus took Virgil's hand and gave him a pleading look. Virgil unconsciously held Remus' hand tighter staring into his eyes. He felt bad. Did Remus really think he actually hated him? That was far from the truth. Virgil loved him. He loved him so damn much since the moment he first laid eyes on him. He just didn't know how to tell him. Let alone show him. 

Virgil sighed. "Fine. One date and that's it. If I actually have a good time, I'll maybe consider going on some more with you. If not, then whatever we have going on between us isn't happening.” That was an obvious lie. Virgil would've agreed to go on countless ones regardless of the outcome and accept to being Remus' boyfriend if he asked but he never wanted to actually admit that to the barista's face.

"I won't disappoint!" Remus smiled getting a little excited. "Yeah yeah whatever. Just out of curiosity, what exactly is this date?" Virgil asked knowing fully well that this "date" the barista had planned was far from his twin's definition. Remus smirked and leaned forward for only Virgil to hear. "Two words. Baseball bats and breaking shit." There's the Remus he knew and loved.

Still chaotic as ever.

Virgil smiled. "Alright you've piqued my interest." "I'm glad I did. If I'm lucky, we both know what happens after the first date~" Remus smirked wiggling his eyebrows. "Shut up. You wish." Virgil blushed holding back a laugh and playfully pushed Remus' face away. Remus cackled.

"A man can fantasize."

"Yeah a little too much."

"So you have thought about-"

"Pierce! Stop flirting with the customers and get back to work!"

Remus rolled his eyes annoyed at his manager's voice in the distance. "I gotta go. My shift ends in like 2 hours and I put my number on the cup so just call or text me or come back by then." "Alright." Remus smirked. "What!?" Virgil blushed confused but immediately realized what that smirk meant.

Oh no.

Remus practically made this phrase a tradition everytime they said bye to each other. "I love you no homo." Yup there it was. Virgil sighed and facepalmed "I love you too no homo..." Remus smiled satisfied that Virgil still said it back since the day they first met.

"Later."

"Later."

 Virgil picked his coffee up and left and smiled to himself as soon as he went outside. After all of these years, he's still a dork. That's what Virgil always loved about Remus. And with that final thought, Virgil finally sipped his coffee and his smile grew wider.

He remembered exactly how I liked it.

[brandstifter-sys]

Trash Bat

@dukexietyweek Day 7 - Music         (Ao3)

Word Count: 1581

Characters: Roman, Janus, Remus, Virgil

Rating: T

Warnings: innuendo, fire, spiders 

Virgil is goaded into going to one of Roman’s boring galas, because Remus wants him there to help cause problems just like old times. 

(Song fic. “Trash Bat” by AFI, also inspired by this and this)

---

Virgil had never been one to go to one of these events and take it seriously, even when Roman pleaded with him. He hated dressing up in fancy costumes and slow dancing with figments from the Imagination. But he was here, all because Janus called him out for always rudely refusing, and he was not about to make Janus look honest. 

He hated the stupid purple jacket with silver embellishments and the black dress pants. He wanted his hoodie and his headphones but he couldn't have those for a while. So he watched the people dancing around on the golden floor, avoiding the Grecian columns and the gaudy double staircase. The prince was not one of them. 

"You know," Janus said as he wandered up to the window ledge where he was hiding behind a long red curtain, "Roman doesn't have any qualms about you not attending." Virgil glared at him and clenched his fists. 

"Then why the fuck did you guilt me into showing up?" he hissed. Janus shrugged and brushed any dust from his jacket. 

"Roman isn't the one who wants to see you here. It's not often Remus gets dressed up. Like a pulp tabloid magazine with a slick-print cover." 

"You couldn't bother telling me that to get me here in the first place?" 

"I was under the impression that the others don't know about your rendezvous and you wanted to keep that a secret," he hummed and scanned the crowd. And then he smiled. 

"I am going to kill you until you're so dead the Dragon Witch can't reanimate your corpse," Virgil spat. Janus had the gaul to laugh and meander onto the dancefloor to find a woo-able partner. Virgil glared at him until he was out of sight. 

"You look tense, Scare Bear," Remus giggled and grabbed his hand suddenly, "Tense and princely, in a satanic way!" 

Virgil glanced at the duke and his heart skipped a beat. Remus was clean and groomed impeccably, with his usual makeup toned down and human teeth that were straight and blinding, rather than his fangs. He looked good in his more refined jacket with silver shoulder pads and a clean sash. He also looked like he was wearing cardboard.

"And you look like you want to start a fight and destroy this place," Virgil scoffed as Remus kissed the back of his hand, "So why don't we get out of here? I'll make sure you get your fill of carnage." 

"Now there's an idea! So you don't want to woo the Gerard Way figment? He'd show you how he disappears in your—" 

"Puppy, you know I only have one person I want to bring to my bed," Virgil cut him off, "And he smiles no matter how rough I get with him." 

"Are you going to be my angel after we destroy this boring shindig?" 

"You should know by now that I put you through hell, and I don't play nice." 

"You're a devil in the sheets and on the streets, but you're so sweet in the dark, it makes all the agony worth it." 

"You really want help ruining this, don't you?" Virgil snorted. He knew how the duke pleaded all too well.

"I do! Even Roman is bored! It's the perfect opportunity! It'll be just like old times!" 

"We always pissed Princey off and then he threatened to maim us." 

"And we can apologize for it with a video!" 

"Only if you keep it clean for the camera." 

"We're talking about my brother here!—But does that mean when the camera's off—?" 

"You can be my filthy little trash bat. Yeah," Virgil shrugged and got up, "So, once more with a smile, let's start with the music and then the spiders and fires." 

Remus beamed and led him to the dancefloor with all the false poise and grace of a man with a snake face. For the first time that night, a genuine grin crossed Virgil's lips, a wicked one but still a genuine grin, and Remus' heart melted. 

They fell into a simple waltz, taking broad steps to clear a piece of floor. No one, not even the prince they pushed aside, suspected what was to come. No, the way those two were gazing into each other's eyes gave off a different impression.

And then they were in the middle of the floor, frozen in place when the song faded. Remus briefly lifted his hand from Virgil's shoulder and snapped his fingers as he relaxed his other arm. He winked and reached behind his back, grabbing the hand Virgil pressed to his lower back, not letting go of Virgil's shoulder. 

The music picked up again, suddenly. The loud drums caused the crowd to panic momentarily, but they were almost immediately distracted when Virgil snapped his arm out and spun Remus, quickly reeling him back in, and pulling him to his chest, holding his waist. 

Remus wasted no time twisting and kicking his legs up and over his head, flipping out of Virgil's grasp. He grabbed Virgil's hand and spun him out, letting him take an extra spin and fall to a knee. It was time for the real fun to begin.

Ρulp in the slick

Αnd you're all I take tο bed

Το read with me

Remus was thrilled to show off his footwork kicking and jumping, crossing his feet and spinning. He was fast, looming closer to Virgil. 

Ρulp in the slick

Αnd you're all I take tο bed

With me tο

In a flash, Virgil swung his leg around, getting Remus to jump over it and take a knee. Virgil planted his hands and used the momentum to backflip to his feet. He made a show of swinging his leg over Remus and flipping over him in a sort of cartwheel, landing low to grab Remus' hands and pull him to his feet. 

Οnce mοre with a smile

Brοken teeth and bloody eyes

They swung around each other once, then Remus pulled Virgil in, letting him swing between his legs and back. Virgil regained his footing and hunched down so he could flip Remus behind him so they were back to back. 

Ιn my mean light

Μy my my Trash Βat

Roman was in awe. He thought this level of insanity was over, and hated that this was the beginning. The two of them were still incredible to witness as their sharp bold moves shifted into a sort of rapid tango. Virgil seemed to be leading, if only because Remus was showing off, but Roman knew they could switch in an instant and stay in sync. 

Once more with a smile

Broken teeth and empty eyes

As they seemed to finish another round of "don't step on my feet" in style, Virgil grabbed Remus' waist and dipped him. Remus tumbled out of his grasp. He faced his emo and goaded him with his hands.

In my mean light

My my my Trash Bat

Virgil ran at him and dropped to the floor, sliding under Remus as he jumped into the air. Virgil rolled onto his front and crawled toward Remus with his legs trailing behind him. He swiftly took a knee and nodded to the duke, holding his hands out and open.

Flies οr the flames

Wear nο halo 'rοund my head

Οh blessed be

Remus ran at him, ready to make some waves! He pressed a foot on Virgil's hands and jumped as the emo flung him to the ceiling. He grabbed onto the largest chandelier and swung on it, giggling and kicking his feet. 

Virgil snickered at how happy Remus looked and snapped his fingers. Remus only got more giddy as thousands of spiders flooded in through the windows. Patton was the first one out of there, followed swiftly by the majority of the crowd. And then Remus set the curtains on fire. 

Κeep it clean

Κeep it clean fοr the camera

When no one else was in the building, except for Roman, Virgil banished the spiders and stood under the chandelier with open arms. 

"What the hell was that!?" Roman huffed and marched up to Virgil, "I thought you were done wreaking havoc!" Virgil shrugged and winced as Remus fell into his arms.

"He wasn't planning on causing problems til I seduced him!" Remus laughed, "But it was worth it! And we livened up this shindig so you're welcome!" He stuck out his tongue at his brother before kissing Virgil's cheek and getting to the ground. 

"Are you—? He's my brother and you and he—?" Roman gawked when it hit him. 

"Don't sound so surprised!" Remus laughed and leaned against Virgil, "I'm the hot twin! And I get off on mean compliments! You just aren't the right fit for Scare Bear!" 

"If you think that I'm jealous, you're wrong. I just can't believe that you and he would even consider each other that way!—especially you, Virgil." 

"I'm madly in love with Remus," Virgil admitted shyly, "He's my trash bat." Remus cooed and moved to kiss his cheek, but Virgil had other plans. 

He turned his head at just the right moment to capture his lips in a chaste kiss. Roman was gawking like a fish. 

"You sneaky sonofabitch!" Remus giggled and clung to him. 

"We're gonna go ahead and leave. Thanks for the invite," Virgil mumbled and sank out with Remus, leaving Roman to wrap his head around it all. They earned the following round of cuddles and then some!

[stardancerluv]

Love at The Black Mask Club

Summary: Roman grows annoyed and craves you in the middle of a busy night.

Note/Warning: I used a shot from Moulin Rouge, used Eric Roberts as Falcone instead Maronie, and shots of Ewan from Guys and Dolla. Dom!Daddy!Kink, possessiveness, wiling gagging, fingering female receiving, semi-public sex, also this is like 4 months into their relationship.

Roman pulled on his sleeve, the cufflink twinkled as his annoyance grew. Penguin was beginning to ramble. Falcone looked at him before pulling on his cigar.

He took a sip from his scotch. He let his eyes wander around the club. There was a blur of people dancing in front of the stage. He didn’t spot you. Where the fuck had you gone, he mused.

“So Roman, can I rent the VIP lounge Sunday?”

“Huh?”

“He’s looking for his girl.” Whispered Falcone to Penguin who sat near him.

“What was that?” snapped Roman.

Falcone shook his head. “Nothing of importance.”

Penquin’s beak twitched, he squawked mirth shining in his small black eyes. He readjusted his monocle. “I asked can I rent the VIP lounge on Sunday?”

“You won’t be bringing in a buffet of raw fish will you?” Roman asked dryly.

Falcone coughed, sounding more like a choke. “Roman come on, he didn’t really do that, did he?”

Roman rose an eyebrow, “You ask him.”

Penguin shifted. “I knew me and my crew would get hungry.”

Falcone made a disgusted face.

Roman rolled his eyes. “Are we done?”

No sooner did he ask than when the screechy voice he hated more than Penguin’s fishy scent called his name and she was across his lap, with a lazy arm around this throat and a clammy hand on his cheek. “Romy! I’ve missed you!”

He narrowed his eyes at her, he was in no mood. “Get the fuck off me.” He breathed. His anger bubbling in him.

“What? You’re not happy to see me? No kiss?” She drew close, her sickly sweet perfume began to fill his nose.

He pushed her off and stood up. Harley stumbled, but easily found her footing. Quickly, she was smiling and clinging to Joker’s side who had just walked up.

Falcone reached for him. “Calm down Sionis, she is only playing.”

He turned and looked at him.

Falcone raised his hand. “All right, she went too far.”

Joker’s cackle filled the still air that fell over the club. “I see my girl is getting herself in trouble.” He threw his head back and chuckled.

Roman looked over the club. People had stopped dancing and were gaping at the two of you. A huge smile spread across his face. “It’s not a party without a little drama, am I right?” He glanced around, he clapped his hands. “Come on! Turn it up! Shots on the house!” Cheers soon bounced off the walls competing with the music. The dancing and idle chatter started up once again.

He took a step toward the clown duo. He looked right into those crazy eyes, “Keep an eye on her. She’s in my club.” Turning towards the table, he pointed at Penguin. “Don’t bring any damn fish and you can rent the lounge.”

Penguin squawked. “Thank you.”

Falcone shook his head as he pulled on his cigar again.

Roman turned and went to finally go and find you.

*****

You had heard the cut in the music. Instantly, you knew someone had angered Roman. Probably fucking Harley. You quickly dipped into the ladies room. You had been dancing while he had a meeting. You made a silly face as you eyed your reflection. You ran your fingers through your hair, you still looked good.

*****

Gloved fingers wrapped around your wrist and pulled you against a solid warm frame. You smiled, you knew it could only be one person. “I was just looking for you.” You said brightly.

“I found you first.” Before pulling you close, he glanced at his watch. “I need you.”

“I’m-” He cut your words as he kissed you. It was an angry, hungry kiss. It made your heart race and excitement knot deep inside you.

“Follow me.” He rasped. You nodded and he practically dragged you.

“Of course.”

He tore open the door to one of the exclusive VIP rooms. The two of you nearly crashed into one of his event planners as he continued into the room further.

“Did you not want me to book this room?” Their voice shook.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Roman finally looked at them. He shook his head. “I’m just looking it over.”

The man rocked on his heels. “Oh good.” He gave a weak smile.

“Why are you lingering? Go and get the other room ready!” He made a dismissive gesture with his hand.

“Right! Yes!” The man hurried out.

The door whispered close behind him.

Roman turned to look at you, it made you shiver. He walked over to where you had leaned against the gold half wall. “Damn you look good tonight.”

You don’t know why, but you could not stop yourself but shimmy a little as he came up to stand behind you.

“Yes. You do.” His voice rasped in your ear after he pulled you roughly up against him. You could feel him.

“Thank you, daddy.” Your voice shook with excitement as you grew breathless. You watched as he pulled off a glove and stuffed it into his pocket.

He caressed your thigh. “Tell me baby.” His hand cupped you, pulling you closer to him. A soft sound came from you as you felt even more of him through his slacks. “Who do you belong to? Who does this belong to?” You grew wetter as you felt him squeeze harder.

“You daddy. I belong to you.” You whimpered as his fingers slipped under your panties and he cupped you once again.

“That’s right baby.” His breath was hot on your throat. “So good and wet for me.” He began to rub you. You swallowed hard, as your breath shallowed.

“Oh daddy.” You whimpered. “Please.”

He made a deep sound as you felt his lips on your throat. “Please what, baby?” You shook as you felt him slip two fingers in.

“Daddy.” You whimpered and now was not the time to pout as you felt his fingers withdraw.

He held you close. “Clean daddy’s fingers off. Daddy has to go out there soon.” He offered you his fingers.

“Of course, daddy.” You licked and sucked at his fingers, the act itself made you wetter. You loved when he reminded you who owned you.

“You are such a good baby.” He took his hand back and turned you to face him. You watched as he slipped his glove on. “I need you.”

“What do you want me to do?” Excitement curled in your stomach over what he could want.

His mouth twitched upward. “Go and brace yourself against that column.”

You did as you were told happily, watching as he came over to you while undoing the zipper of his pants. An ache in anticipation grew between your legs.

He came over and smoothed your dress up. “Ready for me?”

“Yes.” You breathed.

You felt as he pushed your panties aside. You gripped the column and a moan poured from your lips as he slid right into you. “That’s my baby. Letting her daddy take her whenever he needs you.”

All you could do was moan as he began moving in and out of you. A rhythm formed between you and him, he held onto your hips.

Suddenly the doors open and the murmur of excited voices filled the room. You glanced back at Roman, fear hit your stomach.

He looked past you and a smirk curled his lips. “Tightening in fear or excitement?” He gently teased.

“We can’t have them hear you, can we?” He reached into his pocket and took out his handkerchief. “Put it into your mouth.” You couldn’t believe this but you grew wetter as he spoke.

He thrusted harder and faster into you. You bit down and moaned around his handkerchief. You shook hard. “You better cum.” He hissed. “Or you will have to wait.” Nodding, you shook at his words.

You could feel him tremble, as he moved deeper. Shaking, you finally let yourself cum. His fingers dug in hard, making you wince as he held you tightly against him. You felt as he came hard in you.

Moments later you were handing him his handkerchief. He smiled at you as he tucked it back into his suit jacket. You smoothed your dress.

“I plan expanding this back area and maybe even a place for a DJ.” He said.

Your brow furrowed but then you realized. “Oh, that could be very nice.” You said sweetly and took his arm.

“Ooo the great Roman Sionis has made an appearance at my party.” A very happy but very drunk looking guy appeared as you two were almost out of the room.

“Just making sure things were tip top.” He smiled broadly.

“Well thank you sir, thank you.”

“No trouble. Right baby?” He turned and smirked at you.

“Not at all. Have a good party.”

*****

Once down another hallway and around a corner. He happily pressed you to the wall. “We almost got caught.” You looked so sweetly up at him. Your cheeks still flushed and your eyes bright.

“But we didn’t.”

He chuckled.

You reached up and gently caressed his cheek. He kissed you then, he was feeling good. Now he could face the rest of the night.

“Come join me for my last two meetings?”

You smiled. “I’d love to.”

With his arm tightly around you, together you weaved through the people. You felt his hand tighten as Two-Face was there flipping his coin up and down in the air.

Zsasz came over one side. The two of you stopped. He looked you up and down.

“Talk Zsasz, Y/N can hear whatever you have to tell me.”

A flush of happiness filled you at his words.

“Two-Face is not in a good mood.”

Roman rose an eyebrow. “Is he ever?”

You giggled into your hand.

They both looked at you. You grimaced. “He was grumpy even when I designed something for him.”

Roman smiled. “See Zsasz, he was even grumpy for Y/N.”

He scratched the back of his head. “All right.”

******

“He hired you?” Roman said as Zsasz walked ahead.

You nodded. “A two tone sofa.”

“Interesting.”

“It was. It took forever for both sides to agree.”

Roman chuckled then. “I bet.”

*****

“Y/N?!” He snatched his coin mid air instead of letting it fall into his palm.

“Hi Harvey.” You said sweetly. You

“I… We…” For once, you mused, both sides were speechless.

You glanced at Roman. “I’m Roman’s girl.”

His mouth twisted before smiling. “Great.”

“Two-Face, you and I were supposed to meet later.” Roman, looked kind of annoyed. “Where is Edward?”

“Batman.”

“Oh.” Roman muttered something you could not make out. “I wanted Y/N at my side tonight.”

He shrugged. “That’s fine. She knows where my hideout is.”

Roman raised his eyebrows at you. “Well, Harvey let’s be honest.” You put a hand on your hip.

He rolled his eyes, but still smiled. “All right, I gently had you blindfolded and brought over.”

“Exactly. But if you want me to flutter off I can.”

“No, it’s ok.” He flipped his coin and then his face grew dark. His eyes narrowed at Roman.

You held your breath.

“Roman, you better treat her right. She’s not one of us.”

You could feel Roman’s body stiffen under your arm that was wrapped around him. “She’s my girl. Of course I do.” You were touched, you had not realized they could be a softie. Harvey had always been very curt and clipped when talking or negotiating with you.

“Good.” He snarled before his face relaxed.

******

Happily you sipped at your drink while the two of them discussed business. All of it was beyond you, as they talked numbers and street names.

Your heartbeat still had not recovered from having his handkerchief in your mouth when he took you in one of the VIP lounges. As you grabbed your glass to have a sip, you felt him place a gloved hand on your thigh. He glanced at you and smiled as there was a pause in the conversation between them. You placed your hand over his. Sipping your drink, a giddiness came over you as you mused about being his girl these past months; it had been some of the most exciting in your life.

@darling-i-read-it @spn-obsessed-dean @vintagemichelle91 @xxxeatyourh3artoutxxx @ewanfuckingmcgregor @zodiyack @angel98624 @frenchgirlinlondon @emyliabernstein @thepeachreads @nebulastarr @itsknife2meetu @omghappilyuniquebouquetlove @poe-kadot26 @babydoll97-blog1 @hazel-nuss @vcat55 @feelthemadnessinside @johallzy @foreverhockeytrash @frostypenguinoz @starwarsslytherin @professionalclown @chogisss @shantellorraine @xxinvisiblexx @blondekel77 @saphic-stories @drarrylov3r @i-cant-hear-you16 @deadlymistress24 @yesqueenofthelight @generallj @thebeckyjolene @captainjacklynmarie @villainmade

[bothcreativitybois]

Karaoke

Pairings: Intruality, pintroverts

TWs: Alcohol, the word sex, slightly angsty ending, non sexual ‘Daddy’.

Songs: I’m Not That Girl (Wicked) I Don’t Dance (High School Musical 2)

Taglist (ask to be added): @star-crossed-shipper @crazydemigod666

Karaoke night. The night once a month that half the sides love and the other half dread.  For Janus, Logan and Virgil the night was torture. Drinking, performing, making an idiot of himself. However the more boisterous sides thrived on these nights. Remus usually took the helm, Roman saw it as a ‘waste of good talent’. However he was never alone.

“Get another umbrella drink!” Patton cheered. When Thomas was drunk so were the sides, so both of the sides had pink flushed cheeks and trouble controlling their volume. Patton didn’t really need to be there but he enjoyed the night and always stuck around.

“That isn’t their name, Daddy.” Remus teased. He knew what Patton was talking about, the drink they’d been having all night and Patton had quite enjoyed it. However he did not enjoy the name. Patton looked down at his crossed legs.

“But it has a bad word…” He whimpered. Remus found Patton’s hesitation adorable although he did also enjoy pushing him. But even drunk Patton wouldn’t say a bad word, especially when the whole name made it more vulgar.

“Another sex on the beach then!” Remus shouted. That drink was perfect for the two of them. Patton enjoyed the pretty colour and sweet taste, Remus enjoyed the name and how drunk it made Thomas. The liquid courage fuelled him. Remus guided Thomas to the bar and he ordered another drink. They looked at the stage where a member of Thomas’ group was singing I’m Not That Girl. Patton bopped along cutely, Remus was mesmerised with his adorable little bounces. Patton noticed Remus staring and giggled.

“What?” Patton pushed Remus away playfully. 

“Watching you dance like that makes me happy.” Remus usually didn’t have much of a filter. The only thing he’d block was his emotions, especially ones he saw as weak, like the growing admiration he’d been having for Patton, but when drunk those final hurdles shifted down too. Patton covered his face but Remus could still see the wide smile under his hands. Something about Remus being so genuine made Patton melt. When Thomas turned to get his drink he noticed a new group enter the bar, specifically one member. A familiar cute nerd with dark hair and stubble. Patton hit Remus’ arm and pointed to where Thomas was looking.

“Code Flores!” Patton squeaked. Remus’ smirked. Roman wasn’t around, now Thomas might take his suggestions for seduc- flirting with Nico. Especially since he’s drunk. 

“Oh hell yes! The night just got interesting.” Remus enthused. Patton enjoyed seeing Remus so excited but was stuck on what Roman would think. Thomas waved at Nico, he smiled and began walking over. Thomas picked up his drink and Remus summoned identical ones for him and Patton. 

“What are you gonna say?” Patton asked looking up cutely at Remus, his heart skipped a beat. All the things he wanted to say to Nico… he couldn’t say in front of Patton. Hell, Patton wouldn’t even say the word sex when it was in a drink name. Remus looked up at Nico then back down to Patton. 

Maybe… just maybe…

Remus thought of all the things he wanted to say to Patton.

“Hi there!” Nico gave a little wave as he spoke.

“Didn’t expect to see an angel in here tonight.” Thomas responded. Nico blushed and laughed.

“How many drinks have you had?” Nico asked playfully. “You seem a lot different to the guy who fell in a trash can.”

“Well I’ll need something else to fall into tonight, how strong are your arms?” Thomas reached out and gave Nico’s arm a cheeky squeeze. Patton chuckled.

“I love watching you work, Remus.” Patton encouraged. “Roman would never be that forward.” Remus took a moment.

“...You enjoy me being forward?” Remus asked, confused. This whole time he was holding this stuff back in fear it’d be too much for him, but Patton was not only receptive but enjoying it.

“Sometimes.” Patton diverted his eyes. “It gets the job done.” Remus knew Patton enjoyed things more storybook romance, he knew how to provide that.

“Are you gonna sing tonight?” Thomas asked Nico. The man rubbed his neck shyly.

“I’m not sure I could do something like that…” He admitted. “Being up there alone... everyone looking at me…”

“Yeah that’s the fun part!” Thomas joked. “And who said you’d be alone?” Nico blushed. Patton caught on to Remus’ plan.

“Are you suggesting a duet?” Nico raised an eyebrow. Thomas put down his drink and put out a hand.

“If you would be so kind?” Thomas joked. Nico slipped his hand onto Thomas’, both men smiled and blushed. Thomas began to drag Nico to the stage. Patton’s eyes sparkled.

“Remus you’re great at this!” Patton marvelled. Remus smiled at him.

“Now it’s your turn.” Remus elbowed Patton flirtily. “What song should they do?” Patton’s face lit up. He looked closely as Thomas flipped through the folder of songs available.

“That one!” Patton pointed to one of the songs written under the heading ‘Duets’. Patton somehow smiled in a way that was devilish and sweet, it made Remus’ heart flutter. Thomas jammed a finger onto the binder.

“You up for this?” Thomas looked back at Nico and asked, he was met with a smile and nod. Thomas handed the book to the DJ and took two microphones from them. He and Nico’s hands brushed as he handed over the microphone. Thomas took the opportunity to drag him onto the stage. Remus and Patton sat back as the first notes of I Don’t Dance flew from the speakers. Thomas and Nico’s voices bounced off each other perfectly. The boys danced together, which gave Patton an idea. He grabbed Remus’ hand just before the instrumental solo.

“Do the thing!” Patton demanded. Remus looked at him confused, head fuzzy from the alcohol and the feeling of Patton’s hand slipped on top of his.

“Do what?” Remus asked. Patton rolled his eyes and pulled Remus to his feet. He began dancing to the beat, body close to Remus’. Thomas mimicked his movements with Nico. Remus began to understand what Patton meant. Remus took control, Thomas mirrored. Remus slipped his hands onto Patton’s hips, he guided him to loosen them to the beat of the music. Patton’s whole body tingled from the touch.

“Relax. It’ll help you.” Thomas whispered in tandem with Remus. Thomas and Nico separated to continue singing, but Remus and Patton didn’t. Their movements slowed, they blocked out anything that wasn’t each other. Patton had moved his hands to Remus’ shoulders. As Nico and Thomas belted the last notes, Remus rested his forehead on Patton’s. The soft side bit his lip.

“Is that what you meant?” Remus purred quietly. Words got caught behind the lump in Patton’s throat and instead he nodded. “We should get back to Thomas…” Remus trailed. He began to remove his hands from Patton’s hips but was stopped with arms draped around his neck. Both the sides felt warm and drawn closer.

“He can handle himself.” Patton whispered. Remus took the hint, it was the green light he’d been waiting for. He pulled Patton closer so their bodies were touching. Patton was surprised with how gentle Remus was being, as much as he enjoyed the rough chaotic Remus, this was bringing up something else. “Please kiss me.” Patton finally gave in. Hearing that, seeing how close Patton was, Remus couldn’t hold back. He lifted Patton up to him and kissed him deeply, Patton kicked up one leg behind him. They stayed there until neither could breathe then pulled away. Only then did they realise what they’d done. Surprisingly Remus was the one who pushed off first. He stared at Patton in a way he couldn’t read.

“Patton- I shouldn’t-” Remus couldn’t complete his thoughts. Patton reached out a hand, but Remus just sunk out.

Patton and Remus really like karaoke night. 

But they know the others don’t.