#playing the game while knowing what his entire deal is is HILARIOUS he’s so fucking funny. and painfully tragic even from the get go. AUGH

[latinokaeya-moving]

treated myself to the very short beginning section of three houses just now but i had to stop n turn off my switch when the game asked me to pick a house bc i started agonising over whether to go w edelgard first or just jump straight into the claude route

[clementine-thedestroyer]

141 80’s Arcade AU

Featuring implied/eventual Soap x reader, Gaz x reader, and Ghost x reader.

The small- slightly shabby arcade on the corner- that may not look like much from outside, but was easily the busiest place in town on a Friday night.

Where the constant buzz of games’ themes and sound effects filled the space wall-to-wall, where rows of game cabinets and players crowded the floor, and where you could play a hand full of games for a quarter, but the rest for a nickel.

Where Soap and Gaz- the two college kids the owner hired as arcade attendants- know you by name from how often you come in- and have long since begun to involve you in their shenanigans.

Where Price, the owner of the arcade, can usually be found helping Soap and Gaz or, on slower days, in the back of the building in his “office” (because it’s really a converted cleaning closet). Usually with the door propped open so he can keep an eye on the arcade as he leans back in his desk chair and props his feet up on the corner of his messy desk- giving both customers and Soap or Gaz a stern glare if they start to get too rowdy.

Where Price will never chastise you quite as firmly as he does Soap or Gaz when the three of you cause trouble, even if it had been mostly your idea. Where, when he had found out Soap, Gaz, and you spent an entire day trying (and almost succeeding) to get the leaderboard of one of the less popular games to spell out a minor profanity, he thought it was hilarious. He spent a good minute cracking up at the misspelled curse before wiping the machine’s memory and ruffling your hair before going back to his office- still chuckling to himself.

Where Soap and Gaz won’t let you leave when the arcade closes for the night. Instead, they’ll insist that it’s fine if you stay while they shut down for the night. No, no, of course Price won’t mind. Why would he? It’s you.

Where soap and Gaz coerce you into staying late enough times- sometimes just chatting, other times helping them close up- that Price starts to joke that he needs to talk to you about getting you a paycheck sooner or later.

Where Price always insists that “just John’s fine, love.” whenever you address him as “Mr. Price”.

Where, as finals week at the local college approaches, Gaz (and Soap too, to an extent) is overwhelmed with school work, and you find yourself more and more just trying to… help out. Because poor Gaz is drowning in course work, and it’s really not that big of a deal for you to just wipe up that spill before either of them notice it.

Where there’s actually a fourth person important at the arcade, although you don’t know him.

Ghost had worked there with Soap and Gaz a few years ago, back when the three of them were still young enough to be considered teenagers. But where Gaz and Soap had chosen to stay close, Ghost had left as soon as he could.

He still visits- and is just as close with Soap, Price, and Gaz as before- but he hasn’t had a chance to come around since you’ve begun to get close with them.

But, when he finds out about Gaz, Soap, and even Price’s new favorite person- he decides he wants to get to know you too. From the way Soap and Gaz talk about you, he’s not sure what to expect. He hasn’t seen them this worked up in a while.

But, in place of actually meeting you, he decides it would be absolutely hilarious to beat every highscore you’ve ever set and forbid Soap and Gaz from telling you who he is.

Call it… initiation. That’s what he’s calling it, at least.

Cue you very angrily trying to figure out who the fucking hell “Ghost” is, because for the 3rd time, they’ve beaten your high score by exactly 1 point.

But also cue Soap and Gaz giggling as snapping a photo of your red, angry face to send to a group chat with ghost.

[allisoooon]

what’s your favorite klaus moment this season?

I'll answer with my favorite moments from each of them, I think.

Luther: He had so many wholesome moments this season, but it's probably between him asking Viktor to be his best man and him and Klaus in the Void. I kind of lean towards the latter because the whole damn thing was so delightfully brotherly and Luther at once calling him out and building him up was perfect.

Diego: David will never get enough kudos for how he played the "Guy in a Carpet" scene. That may be the single trickiest acting moment in the entire season. It had to remain darkly hilarious (and it did), but at the same time, he had to portray a father whose son just killed his brother. The odd moment where you can see Diego starting to cry, then hold it together to try to deal with the situation, the fact that he was like a half-beat away from full-on Weekend at Bernie's-ing Klaus, being the least convincing at convincing Chet that they are playing a game called Guy in a Carpet, appreciating that Chet doesn't ask further questions, his hysterical screaming when Klaus comes back to life, his relief, then breaking down in tears at the very end after it's clear Klaus is going to be okay. Never enough kudos.

Allison: F...fucking hard, this one. I have a feeling all of s3 Allison was a setup for a hell of a s4 for her. I think, though, it might be when she has a panic attack after finding out the universe is ending. Her massive blowup with Viktor, though...that was a bad, dirty fight, and the writers did not have to go that hard, and it was brave that they did. I think they went too far, but I'd rather they go too far than keep underplaying Allison's potential, if that makes sense. With everyone else getting better this season, I think Allison's psyche thought it was finally safe for her to get worse. She is probably going to find, next season, that even though she has Claire and Ray back, she is no longer the mother or wife they remember, and that is going to be hard for her. She knows she sacrificed parts of herself to get them back. Does she fit into their lives anymore, or them into hers? I'm not sure, but I'm excited for her next season. Anyway, so, her big fight with Viktor was really good because you could see where they were both coming from, but they both somehow managed to be in the wrong, even if Allison is the one who was cruel in the moment. An ESH situation.

Klaus: This one is also super hard. The graveyard scene definitely comes to mind, as does his expression immediately after lying through his teeth to Reg about trusting him in the car, but there was something about his fixation with his mother this season. A highly underrated moment is when Five is showing everyone the book Klaus' aunt kept with news clips of all the women who died mysteriously, explaining it's their mothers. They flip the page to Rachel and Klaus reaches for her like his hands are shielding her, looks them all in the eyes with heartbreak, and says, "This one's mine." His interactions with Luther in s1 were what opened up his natural empathy, but this revelation about their mothers has actually been steering him from Chaotic Neutral to Chaotic Good this entire season. "This is the main thing!" he tells them, absolutely broken that all these women died and no one did anything about it. "This is my real mother. Her name's Rachel, and I have her eyes!" From this moment on, his attitude towards everyone around him, including Reg unfortunately, changes. He starts really becoming what he has always had the potential to become: the emotional heart of the group. You see this so much in how he talks to Ben, Reg, Luther, two of whom are actively dangerous to him. While the others talk about the paradox, the technical aspects of what's happening, Klaus is reminding them of the human element of it all. The actual victims of this tragedy.

Five: BALL OF TWINE, KLAUS! BALL OF TWINE! Look, I know my other chosen moments tend to be deep as shit, but I feel like I learned more about Five as a person in this moment than I learned about him all of last season. Even on vacation, he has no chill.

Ben: Presenting himself as the New New Ben. Something is just so right about him realizing Klaus is his true long-lost twin and actually trying to be someone he likes. I do also love him calling out Viktor for waiting for someone to chase after him. It's mean as fuck, but let's be real, Viktor needs someone to shake him out of that victim mentality.

Viktor: Definitely his reaction to Luther asking him to be his best man. This moment was some of Elliot's very best acting in the series. You could see just how much it meant to him--not just as a trans man, being asked to be his brother's best man, but as the kid who was never allowed to be part of the family. I love Viktor and Luther as a duo so goddamn much.  And you can see that Luther isn’t just offering out of pity to affirm Viktor’s gender or make sure he feels like part of the family.  He actually looks worried Viktor will tell him no.  It’s all so genuine from them both, I love this moment so much.

Lila: The drum solo where she just lets absolutely everything out. Everything. In every single beat, you feel her pain over learning her mother was abusive, losing her mother, losing her birth parents, losing Diego, losing her job, and finding out she is pregnant.  Not a single word is spoken, but all of Lila’s anger, hurt, and internal conflict go into that moment.

Sloane: We barely know her, but I absolutely adore a Beware the Nice Ones. Finally, we get a soft femme lady who will fuck up ALL the shit if pressed. So, her taking out her grief over Luther's death on that one guardian with a scream of rage.

Bonus best lines:

"You guys had gravity sex!"

"On a motivational scale from one to, like, Braveheart, this was, like, half a Rudy."

"No twine, no birth mother!"

And probably a bunch of others that aren't coming to mind yet.

[kosmic-arts]

It is Once Again Time To Complain About Things That Don't Matter

358/2 days is definitely one of the better written kh games, but don't let that fool you. its not like the bar was very high to begin with (i am only partially joking).

i love days, but there is so much wasted time and space in that game. i despise how much characters fainting, falling asleep, having amnesia, and gotdamn brainblasts, are constantly used as plot devices because the writers don't know how to organically move characters along to the next plot point(this goes for all of kh, not even just days). the entire novelty of days is getting to play on the bad guy's side while getting an intimate look at all the cool badass org members, and yet you hardly get to know any of them over the course of the game. barely any time is taken to flesh them out, which is a complete travesty btw, and even axel- who is one of the major supporting characters- ultimately takes a backseat to roxas and xion's emotional angst. its good emotional angst, but theres no reason for it to overwhelm the entire game. and honestly, even roxas himself takes a backseat to xion's even bigger emotional angst! roxas hardly gets to know who or what he is, whats going on, or what for. roxas is a complete passenger, and as time goes on i struggle to see the value in that, even if it does feed into the overall themes of his story and his own emotional angst.

because, look: xion was a passenger as well; she had no choice in her situation, only the illusion of one that riku offered her. and yet, she still was allowed a moment of agency. roxas tried to do the same after xion's death by going to kill the organization(which frankly, he could've killed every last one of them- get real), riku stops him and refuses to explain or reason with roxas to get him to consider another way. riku just proceeds to taunt him. whwhy i find it hilarious that riku took pity on xion because she reminded him of kairi, but the guy who's literally his best friend's nobody whom he is currently fighting to save-... he acts like a bitch to, and refuses to give him any of the same consideration that he gave to the girl. what the fuck is that

what is with the complete and utter disrespect of roxas in his own game- >>specifically<< by the people who should be his allies. remember that bit at the end of days where roxas is about to leave and confronts axel for answers, and practically pours his heart out begging axel to help him?? axel refuses to tell him who sora is and that he’s sora’s nobody, etc. ok.. maybe he’s afraid of getting shot by the organization because it’s classified information. no, fuck that. its a major part of axel’s character is that he puts his own desires and wants before his job or duty. and! he also cares a great deal about his friends, even above his own wellbeing. he helps xion escape the organization when he was on that mission with xigbar. he didn’t even have an excuse to protect himself when xigbar interrogated him for letting xion go- axel could’ve gotten shot then and there for helping the traitor. he straight up put his neck on the chopping block for xion’s sake.

so then, why now with roxas, does he refuse to do anything at all to help him? he’s done shit before like lie to roxas in a vain attempt to make him happy- axel cares about him! he wants to help him, especially when hes sad- and in this final moment, roxas is in complete despair. axel could’ve very easily been like “well i cant tell you,, but maybe some other guy could… uh idk his name starts with an R”. god almighty it would’ve been so easy to just nudge roxas in a direction while still covering for himself if he was still worried about that. but no, completely out of character, axel just abandons roxas to possible execution(of which he would likely be the one to carry out) by the org for rebelling, without even giving roxas the slightest lifeline to find the answers that he deserves.

man i just lost the entire topic going on an whole ass side tangent…. what even was the topic to begin with idk im complaining about days. i'll proceed with a spicy hot take! get ready. when xion died, all memory and evidence of her existence shouldn't have been erased. yes. as depressing of an idea as it is- like, her friends aren't even allowed the luxury of cherishing her memory when she's gone, i think we all know why it was a bad move in the long run. xion getting wiped from existence was a poorly veiled excuse to avoid having to explain why nobody talks about her in other games- while also just straight up being able to get away without really mentioning 99% of what happens in 358/2 days to begin with. even as a kid i knew this was shit and i still think it's shit now, and the fact they had to pull a memory wipe trick like this is even more proof that the writers of kh are absolutely abysmal at tying their stories together or thinking ahead at all. or more like, they shot themselves in the foot daring to implement important plot details into spin-off titles in the first place. chain of memories started this trend, and even that game had to pull the memory wipe trick at the end of the game so as to not stunt players who didn't happen to own both a ps2 and a gba.

its a really asinine trend that has indisputably ruined kh with each installment. like, you can't be serious. in order to understand the main villian's(xehanort) motivations, i have to play 2 games and a casino, to have a full understanding as to why this old fuck wants to blow everyone up. for the longest time, i didn't understand why xehanort was concocting this decade long masterplan to attain kingdom hearts, UNTIL i happened upon the kh wiki. this is so sad you cant make this shit up you can figure out within the space of kh1 why ansem wants kingdom hearts. he's a power hungry mad scientist that went batshit insane in pursuit of knowledge. a classic victor frankenstien-esque character archetype. its so easy! I understood that without issue even as a child. too bad they couldn't just do that again with the next major villian! tbf, even xemnas' goals were extremely simple-...... until they added in the bit where he was lying to the entire org about them not having hearts or the ability to feel and yadayada... what was he trying to accomplish with that stunt again? don't get me started how stupid xemnas lying is. you've gotta be shitting me. like, are you saying that intelligent scientists like zexion and vexen wouldn't figure out such an obvious lie? what about lexaeus? luxord? really?? these aren't stupid people. at least one of them would have figured it out. would've been a good opportunity to give marluxia a reason to have been trying to pull a coup(besides wanting power???) because he figured out xemnas was a manipulative fuck and marluxia decided to take initiative and overthrow him. i love marluxia, but damn, the entire time i was playing com i had no idea what the fuck his motivations were.. why does he want to take over the organization... was that ever mentioned? …huh

but wait wait, i just went on another massive side tangent. i want to go back to talking about xion. i would've much preferred if we got to see moments of roxas and axel struggling to come to terms with losing one of their only friends. like, how would axel handle being completely powerless to save her, and frankly unable to even be there in her final moments? maybe he would've turned on the organization much sooner, because how could he ever continue working for the group that split him apart from the 2 people that really matter to him. that'd be interesting. roxas could eventually cool down, and simmer into a depression AND NOT GET THROWN INTO A SHITTY SIMULATION BECAUSE RIKU SHOULDVE BEEN NICER TO HIM. huh what- and maybe roxas might feel inclined to give up, but meeting with namine could be some reassurance to him because she tells him all that stuff about how he won't disappear and there's hope for nobodies like them!! honestly, just seeing the characters having to grapple with the pain of their past and actually talk about it instead of vaguely wincing about things they feel but can't remember would've been so much better. i get it, it's a mildly entertaining trope- characters suffering emotional wounds they don't remember receiving, or acting in strange ways in deference to old traditions they can no longer recall... yeah i get the appeal, but it doesn't make for a very strong story in the long run, especially with an event as major as xion's sacrifice. why can't characters be allowed to grow from their past and have character development. i like it when a character's history influences them in meaningful ways that isn't entirely superficial.

heck man, idk. you get the point. days is full of amazing ideas and has a fantastic premise, but like all things in kh, it struggles to hold up as soon as you examine it with the barest amount of scrutiny. thanks for coming to my ted talk.

[cevansbrat0007]

I remember you posting about all the kids hobbies and what they like to do for fun… but I can’t find it now. 🫣 I was curious though if any of them did any competitive sports because I think Andy would be an intense dance dad or whatever sport. You know what I mean? I want him to know all the moves and marking them on the side, where the bedazzled team jerseys, be the runner to get them everything they need and overall be a biggest and loudest cheerleader for his family. 🥹

But then again you know him better than me. 🤷‍♀️

Hi there! You can read more about the GP kids' hobbies in this post HERE.

As for whether or not any of the kids play competitive sports, the answer is yes. BiBi is heavily involved in soccer - she is very competitive. In the beginning, Andy knew nothing about the sport. But like any good dad, he quickly became an expert.

This man read books, he learned the plays, he even acted as assistant coach until she hit a certain age. Andrew Barber is the type of soccer Dad who stays ready with a clipboard and dry erase markers. He does the team chants with the ladies, wears the face paint, brings the snacks, let's the girls dump gatorade on them after a win...

And yes, he will argue with the ref. It doesn't matter if he's coaching or watching from the sidelines as a spectator. When his girls are on the field, I'm talking about the entire team, the officials had better treat them right. Or else.

He may have been banished to the parking lot once. But that was more Reader's doing, not the refs.

Andy also golfs with Katrina, although that's more of a father daughter deal. And while they have an amazing time it doesn't go farther than that because at some point she gets involved with the school newspaper/yearbook committee.

A.J. plays basketball and is very involved with his team as well. And you had best believe that is father is at every game cheering him on. Junior is a big kid - taller than Andy. That young man is also very sweet, in addition to being talented. And since he's really good, sometimes he gets flack from coaches, and even parents, on other teams. Junior goes to a predominately white school and the teams they play often reflect the same makeup.

That young man has been subjected to a couple of rough comments. We're talking seriously out-of-pocket remarks. Those times Reader did not send Andy out to the parking lot. She stood behind him and let him handle that shit with the Male Coaches/Fathers while she sized up the Mamas.

I'll tell you about it if you want. But the moral of the story is DO NOT FUCK WITH THE BARBERS.

As for Aurora, who also goes by Rory or RoRo, she was briefly into ballet as a little girl. But she suffered from serious stage fright. Not only that, but she tended to get upset whenever her Daddy tried to drop her off at practice. So guess who ended up staying behind and learning all the moves? Andrew Barber.

Remind me to tell you about the time he ended up participating in a recital because Rory refused to dance on stage without him. I can tell you right now, that it was hilarious. But rest assured that Reader got it on video and was incredibly proud of them both.

Hope that answers your question(s)! Please let me know if there are more!

[windywriter]

I mean, MC being Lilith's descendent was to set up their ability to bypass certain wards and such as well as allow them to communicate with her, as far as I'm aware it's the reason they're immune to Asmo's charm as well. MC wouldn't have the ring either if they weren't born with the power of angels.

The game never solved anything by "we have our sister back technically", the entire first season is MC helping the brothers with their problems, including the fact that letting go of the constant grief isn't letting go of Lilith and getting that understanding that moving on isn't bad, you still have her in your heart.

If you're talking about the fandom idea that the brothers only think of MC as Lilith then I'll let you know that was an angst au type thing. If one of the canon brothers treated MC as Lilith or her replacement then I'm almost certain that the others would beat some sense into him and make him apologize.

The brothers love *MC*, not Lilith's descendent. Belphie could be argued but the reveal was more about Lilith getting the life she always wanted in the end (living proof standing in front of him) and that hating *all* humans would be hating her too. And the reason he knows this now, the reason he's back with his brothers, the reason everything's going to be okay is MC. Maybe Lilith's descendent played some part in him wanting to get closer to them at first but I really don't think that'd last, his brothers and even MC would catch on quick and shut that down (saw a fic about that a while ago). After all, he also knew MC before any reveal, they were only "friends" but that meant he did know MC before "Lilith's Descendent".

MC being Lilith's (reincarnation's) descendant just solved certain plot holes with things like their abilities and why Lilith could talk to them but not her brothers.

Sorry if this is messy I'm not great at communicating my points or ideas. I've also got a really bad headache which isn't making it easier--

I actually used to think the same as you in some ways but I've been obsessed with this game for over a year and between rereading the story and reading fandom analysis, I've come to firmly believe that it wouldn't matter if MC wasn't Lilith's descendent, it was just an easy explanation for the plot holes and a typical otome wrap up for what was (iirc) supposed to be a 20 Lesson game.

(Not part of my take but I think the idea of Lilith being so done with the boys' shit and unable to knock some sense into them that she uses "power of fate" to knock around the papers so the boys get to deal with her most chaotic fucking rizzmaster descendent is absolutely hilarious and the entire plot point is worth it just for that)

Hi Anon, Yeah, the whole thing of Lilith being the reason MC can bypass certain stuff could easily be changed with the fact that the divine fruit Lilith gave her lover allowing them immunity against shit, plus my newest post about Lilith as a concept of love protecting MC (check it out here!) I think i mentioned it? idk, but if i didnt here it is.

As for the "technically we have out sister back" because its so ambiguous with the relationships lilith had with the other brothers, its hard to tell, except lucifer who i think mentions holding MC's hand reminds me of when he would hold lilith's hand which is a weird thing to say on a date. As for Belphie's situation, yes it does make sense that if Belphie were to hate MC who is a descendant of lilith he'd be hating her as well, but I think it would be much more interesting if we got him to forgive humanity or at least make steps towards it by confronting the one who he blames for it. And by seeing that they still have lilith's blessing it would mean that Lilith still loves them, and by hurting MC belphie is basically spitting in the face of his beloved sister's wishes.

Also overall, I made this version purely because Lilith being the brother's Sister, and MC being her descendant has some really messed up implications (going back to the lucifer part i pointed out) and technically they arent related by blood but if you have to put "technically" in front of something like that its still pretty strange. But im glad to hear your input! I hope you feel better!

[abyssallector]

please god i need to hear you talk about farmhouse raph i love him So Mucj.

OK OK i saw this a while ago but i took the time to rewatch the farmhouse episodes to refresh my memory and i took NOTES. So here we go Let me just start this off by saying that the farmhouse arc is genuinely one of my favorite segments of the entire series, and Raph is one of the main reasons why. When you really sit down and watch what Raph does throughout these episodes, you begin to realize that he's actually a really reliable figure- he tries to cheer up Donnie when he's bummed out about April rejecting him, and he's always keeping an eye out on Leo and is constantly encouraging his recovery, and he's also a little more indulgent to Mikey's antics. And yeah yeah I know "The Croaking" exists (the episode where Mikey runs away), but that entire episode, and the fandom's perception of it, is so wack that I'll have to speak on it in a later post or something because damn it just pisses me off a little . a LITTLE bit! just a lil. I will pretend it doesn't exist until then. For some examples, let's start with Episode One, Within the Woods. Of course, Raph watched over Leo while he was recovering in the bathtub for months. The dedication. The loyalty. When April brings it up, he brushes it off as no big deal. He just cared that much to take care of him all of that time. It's so sweet. And it's even sweeter when, at the end of the episode, Leo reciprocates that sentiment by never leaving his side when he was recovering from being turned into a plant. Love them. Episode 2, A Foot too Big. One of my favorite episodes because despite all of the second-hand embarrassment I get from cringe king Donnie (and the scene at the end ugh), it's actually hilarious. So Donnie makes this music box with his picture in it, and he gives it to April, who, of course, rejects his advances by leaving in the most awkward manner one possibly can. Raph witnesses this entire thing, tells him straight up that it will never work between him and April, and then enthusiastically suggests that they go forest training to help cheer him up. This is the EXACT same thing he did with Leo when he just woke up from the bathtub. Exact Method.

Pictured: Brotherly Affection (Donnie and Raph are SUCH an underrated duo it is a SHAME they didn't get paired off more often) It's also really cute how Leo and Raph are co-leading the training in the following scene. He's still a little playfully mean but he gives actual constructive advice to Donnie and Mikey. It's also interesting to note that when the duo is running away from Bigfoot, they only turn back to fight when they find Raph in the woods again. Here's another thing I noted. There's a montage of Bigfoot generally being difficult to live with, and at some point, she takes a fucking shit in the bathtub. Raph brings her, Donnie, and Mikey outside so that bigfoot can teach them Forest Stealth while he goes to clean it up. I am 100% certain that if this was the Raph from season 1, he would not have done that. I am so serious. Raph from season 1 OR hell, SEASON 2, would have reasoned that since Donnie and Mikey wanted to bring Bigfoot home, they should be the ones to take full care of her. He doesn't even get mad- annoyed or frustrated, sure, but he doesn't yell at anyone, he doesn't place unfair blame on one person- none of that. Later on in the episode, Donnie vents to him about how Bigfoot is following him around and smothering him etc. To which Raph remarks something like, "Now you know how April feels." He's so real. There's just so much I can bring up. The fact that Raph not once ever goes too easy on Leo when they train together because he knows Leo would hate that. Raph enabling Mikey to draw on Leo's face while he sleeps. Raph somehow being the only one to bring his grappling hook when they were all (minus April and Leo) kidnapped by the Chimera Turducken thingy. Raph and Leo playing video games together. And overall, I noticed his anger-fueled outbursts aren't really that common anymore either. He's just trying his best to make sure his brothers are okay in the ways he knows how to. My sweet angel

[the-kipsabian]

i have my two cents nobody asked for but i do have them

orange cassidy was one of the staple names of aew for me since the very beginning. he was one of the few kids from indies (hilariously enough, considering how old he is actually lol) that i knew beforehand and whos work i greatly enjoyed (janela and mjf being few others, for example), so ive been drawn to him since the very beginning of this company; hes one of the names that got me interested in aews potential, and what they could offer to me as an alternative, cause if they choose to hire him, they knew what they were doing

ive been in his corner since day one. be it comedy wrestling or any of this more serious stuff. him winning the belt was huge, and he continued to make it, he kept it important. hes the second ever international champion, and its already one of the most prestigious titles in this company. because of him, his title reign and how he defended it

watching oc go through all of this, the character growth through the months and how hes been dealing with all of this - especially with last weeks stadium stampede - has been.. i dont know if theres proper words for it, honestly. it sure has been something. the one thing thats sad about it is that people are finally getting behind him and seeing how fucking good he really is only after it all became serious like this, but also i get it. he is not everyones cup of tea, but boy howdy he should be. man so versatile he puts everyone else to shame fr

he has done so great. matchups nobody thought possible, and hes almost always come out on top. orange cassidy elevated not only his game throughout all of this, he elevated the entire game. his opponents, the whole ass fucking playing field. improvise. adapt. overcome. nobody do it in this game like orange cassidy

am i sad he lost the title to mox? yeah. all personal bias aside, i think we should have given him more time, mainly cause the last few weeks he has been absolutely insane and i wish we could have seen him build on that more. more talk time like hes been having, i dont say more blood orange cause thats.. twice is already so much. but more time to show this feral stray cat side of him, him talking shit and elevating even on that game, putting the money where his mouth is. we needed more of that honestly before he was dethroned and had to move on to hopefully a well deserved rest for a while, especially since what we got was absolutely incredible and got peoples attention. he deserves more than that, so people can be taking notice when he scoots over to world title pictures next cause lbr, thats where this superstar is heading

i do hope mox keeps this title growing. he is more than capable of it for sure, but also i just dont think we are ever seeing as hard of a title reign in this company as orange cassidys. that man is one of a kind, and so deserving of all of his roses that will ever come to his way. and i think, love him or hate him, everyone should give him those roses after all of this

thank you

[friendofthecrows]

Had the most terrifying but in hindsight hilarious dream. So we were in Naples, filming the Goncharov remake, and somehow someone must have managed to arrange a meeting with Martin Scorsese because he shows up with a couple other people in tow.

And keep in mind in this dream we're like. on location. in Naples. and I had no prior warning whatsoever bc I guess someone else arranged it without talking to me. So either he traveled pretty far or he just happened to be in the area but like this is THEE guy and I am NOT prepared but I have to act like I am, and he's talking to me like I'm a professional filmmaker who Knows What I'm Doing when in actuality I'm just like a business and project management person who's been researching film stuff as I go and Char, our film director, is actively out with most of the crew filming a Katya and Sofia scene (I think it was boathouse?) so at this point, I'm already trying to suppress fight and flight.

Scorsese says he has some questions to ask, obviously trying to gauge whether this project is something worth getting involved in/supporting or if we're completely wasting his time. I offer to show him around while we talk, which he says sounds great. So we're walking around the grounds of the place we rented to be Mario's mansion, which also doubles as where everyone is staying so we don't have to separately pay for hotel rooms or equivalent, and while most of the crew is out along with the actresses playing Katya and Sofia, the other actors are here, which is important, because the actor for Goncharov insists on only sleeping outside, and just as Scorsese asks "Why do you think you're the right person to lead this production," we round a corner and I see Goncharov asleep like face down in the grass, still in the overcoat and everything. And I know he just sleeps like that, but Scorsese doesn't, and I'm worried (irrational dream logic) that Scorsese thinks he passed out while filming or something and that we're running a horrible sloppy production and overworking everyone and not paying attention to the actors' and crew's needs or that we didn't arrange space and are making actors sleep outside or worse that Gonch is DEAD, but Scorcese just steps over Gonch like it's no big deal and is like "well?" waiting for my reply. And I remember the question and am internally like "fuck, I DON'T think there's any particular reason(s) I'm the best person for this, I have no idea what to say." So I kind of bullshit an answer and definitely ramble a bit too long on it trying to justify, which is objectively not the best way to handle a question you don't know how to answer. Scorsese asks some more really difficult questions and I answer the best I can and he seems to receive the answers in a sort of lukewarm way like he's not particularly impressed.

Then it's dinner, and we've gotten Subway (i know) and the people who left to film earlier are back and eating with us, etc. Scorsese pulls out several small decks of cards, and hands one to each person at our table (about 7 of us). He explains that in his free time, he made a little card game based on Goncharov. The cards have a character card and then some others that cover have effects, items, and things like that. He's explaining to the others how to play, but all the stuff he's saying clearly does not line up with what's on my cards. I ask, and he goes "oh that's Magic The Gathering." This raises two issues. 1. I don't know how to play Magic The Gathering, never mind on my own like solitaire or with people who are playing an entirely different game. 2. These are clearly not Magic The Gathering cards. I admit that I don't know how to play Magic The Gathering. He seems kind of disappointed and then says that he's very busy and should head home as soon as dinner is over. I interpret this as me completely blowing it due to not knowing how to play Magic The Gathering, but I don't say anything about it, I just thank him for his time. BUT THEN he says he's available to meet again on Thursday at 2pm.

The dream immediately transitions to Thursday at 2pm and I'm in his office, presumably in America, which in hindsight I have no idea how I got from Italy to there but in the dream, this was Completely Normal. It's quiet and he has another set of the game from last time sort of discarded on a table, and while I'm trying to anticipate what he's going to ask and what to say I'm mostly staring at it thinking "what the fuck was I supposed to do with that." And all the sudden Scorsese breaks the silence by saying, "I have some advice for you. Have you ever studied martial arts?"

And then I woke up.

[cyberdragoninfinity]

Hey, I heard you like Duel Links Lore! As owner of the (inactive 😓) @incorrectduellinksquotes I would like to impart the Cursed Knowledge if I can.

First, an easy way to tell if someones AI? If they re-enact a duel in their talk. Pegasus and Kaiba(DM) roleplay their DK duel, for example.

Starting with DM, an interesting note about Isis/Ishizu - Even before Yami Marik was added, she and Rishid/Odion had a conversation about how Malik/Marik was missing from Duel Links... ish. If I remember correctly, what they actually say is that Malik is missing in general, and they came to Duel Links to try and find him. While Isis has evidence pointing to her being an AI clone, Rishid has no damning evidence either way. Its entirely possible that Rishid is the real Rishid, and Malik has actually gone missing. I wonder if (Yami) Malik's inclusion in the game was considered in poor taste and got backlash.

Also, its evident that The Real Kaiba used Kaiba (DM) as his avatar for a while, before DSOD world was complete. Oddly, Roland/Isono seems to listen to Mokuba(DM) as his superior despite Mokuba being an AI copy, which is just funny

Onto GX - Its true that most characters are pretty ambiguous, but theres some that are obvious. Judai and Yubel (separate, not Yubel/Judai) are both AI, Cronos/Crowler does the RP thing, Ryo/Zane is still a butt much, but thats about it. The only one who has any indication they're real is... The Chazz. Yes, Black Thunder seems to be the genuine article, if and only because of the company he brings with him. Ojamas Yellow, Green, and Black wouldnt be there if Manjoume was an AI, and even if they were they wouldnt Leak Yubel's Event like Yellow did.

5Ds... you seem to have a good grasp on them.

I never watched zexal :X

Arc V iirc kinda implied nobodys real? i dunno i dropped Duel Links at that point

Vrains is where it gets interesting again, but frankly thats its own post. The question isnt "are they AI copies" the question is like. If you're a digital copy of something already digital, and the original is gone... is there a functional difference calling you a copy? Or is it fair to consider you the original? the funny ourple blob boi is a philisophical nightmare and he'd probably enjoy knowing he is.

Sorry. but also im not

OH FUCK YEAH!! Thanks a bunch, this is a FANTASTIC compilation of interesting lore bits; I didn't know a lot of these! (as it goes, having not played the game for like...the first four years it was out dfhghsdfg) THE FACT CHAZZ MIGHT BE THE REAL DEAL, OF ALL CHARACTERS??!? ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS. PLEASE. proving his humanity thanks to Ojama Yellow. truly only the best for The Chazz.

The thing about if a character reenacts a duel in their dialogue being a good benchmark for whether or not they're AI is fascinating....the brings up an interesting side-tangent with that when you have two confirmed AI characters dueling each other, and their dialogue isn't a perfect duel reenactment but still implies an established dynamic and history (like aporia and z-one's dialogue when they duel each other /obligatory comment about my old men). The way the AI themselves are evolving and talking with each other and being their own variations of these people....that's a can of worms all its own.

Arc-V's been such a weird case because even if everyone there happens to be AI, they're so kneedeep in trying to figure out how the memory cloning process works, what brings a person into this world, that you wonder if there's going to be some sort of realization of the self for one of those guys on the horizon. Could be fun if so!!!!

very very interested to see where the VRAINS implications go cuz that is SUPREMELY INTERESTING lore (especially for a fucking FREEMIUM TRADING CARD GAME ONLINE) and I want to see what they do with it. havent even SEEN vrains yet but I like watching these characters try to solve a mystery that should have never been their problem in the first place. great stuff!

[egg-emperor]

i feel like Eggman being a joke is just a surface level, brain dead take of his character. If you judge his entire character by his surface level behavior, then of course you're going to fall into those one dimensional stereotypes!

YES, he is silly and goofy a lot of the time! but part of Eggman's depth is that he's also equally as terrifying. Its ironic how even sonic fans themselves get tricked by his behavior.

oh yeah, it's definitely due to a mere surface level viewing of his character for sure. but it also still baffles me even then that so many of them don't even recognize any moments of blatant evil of his that couldn't be presented any more clearly right on screen and in audio that anyone should be able to recognize clear as day. so I'd say in many cases, it also takes some serious and often intentional or at least oblivious ignorant honing in on his humorous aspects alone and nothing else at all in order for them to still misinterpret him as a mere joke after all that.

that definitely happens too and very often goes hand in hand with it because there's been a few times that I've seen people commenting on Eggman moments where they take things out of context, or focus on something they find funny about it alone, without acknowledging that said moment is also clearly showing more than just his silly side. it shows they must be blinded by ignorance a lot of the times whether they realize it or not, as I really don't feel like the humor ever truly overshadows the evil. it really is down to one dimensional viewing and ignorance.

I mean, I can totally understand if someone that didn't know much about the series had the assumption that he wasn't capable of being so evil and intimidating because his design isn't threatening and his charming silliness and humor is one of his defining traits. but the fact that a guy like him is also capable of so much serious evil and being the consistent threat to the planet is part of what makes him so great! it's a shame that people don't see how cool and important that is to his character, even after becoming familiar with the series despite it being so blatant.

it's so wild to me how anyone that has actually played the games or at least watched videos can continue to overlook these aspects when his plans and evilness are literally the start and ending point for the stories so often. if he was just silly and barely evil then most of Sonic's adventures wouldn't have even happened, it's because of how evil he is that there's a threat to the world for Sonic to deal with in most of the games. I feel like some of them really have to choose to ignore and outwardly refuse to acknowledge the blatant proof.

and god yeah I find it hilarious. while it's frustrating that people overlook his evil just because he's also funny, I guess it proves how good he is at deceiving because if they were in the Sonic world, they'd fall for his empire and theme park propegganda, believe the Interstellar Park is innocent silly fun and due to remorse for past actions despite being a fucked up death trap made possible through abusing poor Wisps' energy, and fall for times he says he'll change his ways and manipulates lol. though it can also due to wanting to believe he isn't that evil and can change.

Eggman's depth and how he's the perfect example of a multidimensional villain being overlooked is always a shame. but I think some people have especially wild ways of misinterpreting, since his evil gets enough focus that I expect to be recognized even on the surface level. because he's the main villain of the series for a reason and no matter how silly he gets, the stories are sure to present him as a true threat with his serious evil and threatening moments of massive plot significance. it will always be crazy to me how people can't recognize it even when it's right in their face.

[duelistkingdom]

Anzu, Bakura, Yusei for the ask game

already did yusei!

My NOTP for them: i don't think i really HAVE a notp for anzu? like, there's nothing i have strong "i don't want to see any content for this and i get irked seeing it" feelings. like there's def pairings that i'm like "ok little odd, not my thing, but werk" but i'm not actively against seeing content for, do you get what i'm saying here?

My BROTP for them: i do think that the idea of anzu and rebecca being like. best buds forever is the funniest concept. absolute banger. rebecca tells anzu fifteen weird horse facts a day while anzu is like. trying very hard to be a responsible older sister. they paint each other's nails and rebecca always fucks up anzu's on purpose because she knows anzu is too nice to say anything about it.

My OTP for them: atem/anzu literally gets to me every time, negl. the cartouche... the unspoken awareness that this will end in a tragedy... the fact that neither of them want to hurt yugi but also cannot deny there is something here between them... a relationship that will haunt anzu to her dying days... i know it's popular puzzle fanon that yugi keeps it but like... in my mind? anzu keeps it. anzu is the one who gave it to him and anzu is the one who takes the cartouche with her.

My second choice pairing for them: yugi/anzu is like. they're both haunted by atem. it haunts them and they're both miserable without him. and misery doesn't love company so much as it doesn't like being alone (thanks cj the x for this, it's fantastic, and you should watch their caroline analysis where i pulled this from), so they wind up sitting together, grieving together. no one understands their pain like each other, and they heal together.

My fluffy pairing for them: the yugis

My angsty pairing for them: the yugis :(

My favorite poly ship for them: ENCOURAGESHIPPING, literally it's a good ship

My weirdest pairing for them: sorry, but i do have a soft spot for anzu/kaiba. fanfic is the ground in which i play, and sometimes you just gotta look at kaiba and go "ok but what if he was actually a trans girl and what if anzu had to deal with kaiba's weird ways of showing a crush" because it's hilarious. also there's something deeply funny in kaiba being SO SURE he's gay, building his entire identity around being a repressed homosexual, only to find out he's just a repressed bisexual. it's kinda funny. in general, anzu can fix so many of the cast if she's given the chance.

and for bakura

My NOTP for them: i don't exactly vibe with tendershipping. not for any moral reason, it's just that i just don't really have any interest in making it work romantically. not only that, a lot of the content i see for it takes away the bite it has in canon, which only furthers my disinterest in the ship.

My BROTP for them: that being said, tendershipping as a brotp is deeply hilarious. bakura's having to get used to being a normal person and learning it all from the guy he stole his name from.

My OTP for them: i don't see bakura having any long term relationships, just disastrous high speed thrills that he ditches once it starts getting too real. that being said, i think atem/bakura remains the funniest option for "two people forced to make a relationship work" because neither of them really want to understand each other. atem is like, fed up with bakura half the time and bakura wants to kill atem so very badly. like darkshipping/kingshipping is so good.

My second choice pairing for them: theifshipping, because they're funny together. just two teenagers who are weirdly overpowered and have access to magical items created by dark magic. what could possibly go wrong.

My fluffy pairing for them: bakura is just not a fluffy guy, sorry to say.

My angsty pairing for them: literally every pairing with bakura is inherently angsty due to the fact that bakura is an angsty ass character. this is the character you write while listening to linkin park.

My favorite poly ship for them: do i even HAVE a polyship for bakura?

My weirdest pairing for them: accidentally wrote a thing with anzu and him interacting and now i think anzu could fix him if she's given the chance. he's hissing at her the entire time during this, for the record. wants nothing to do with her peppy friendship talks and her mean, bitchy "maybe if you just APPLIED yourself". like it's nothing serious but it is a pairing i have considered.

[thevindicativevordan]

Why isn't Nightwing a bigger deal? He has all of Batman's skills and Superman's faith in humanity and is arguably the most beloved hero in the DCU, but most people seem to know him either as the leader of the N̶o̶t̶ ̶J̶L̶ Teen Ttians or just Robin.

Thank you for asking me about Nightwing, I've been wanting to write a piece about him for a while now. The short version is that everyone who claims Dick becoming Nightwing was him "moving out of Batman's shadow and becoming his own man" is completely wrong.

Dick Grayson is a fantastic character, someone who saved Bruce Wayne in-universe both by forcing Batman to grow up a bit, and the countless times he saved Batman's life as his partner whether as Robin or Nightwing. Dick saved Batman in the real world as well, hard to believe but Batman was actually in danger of being cancelled due to poor sales early on. Enter Robin, a young daredevil audience stand in the creators hoped would get kids interested in reading Batman. And it worked! Sales on Batman doubled once Robin showed up which is crazy to think about, but Dick Grayson has always been a popular character. Cartoons like Teen Titans, Batman: The Animated Series, and The Batman only helped grow his audience.

Character-wise, Dick Grayson really does fill a number of crucial roles in the DCU. For Batman, Dick is proof that Batman is a positive force. Meeting Batman helped change Dick for the better, helped him heal after his parents died. With Dick, Batman can take comfort in knowing that yes, he has made a difference in the world for at least one orphan boy, which is all he wanted when he lost his parents himself. To the wider DCU, Dick is a friendly face who convinces others that Batman is competent and not a complete asshole. He took this kid in, trained him to be one of the best heroes the DCU has seen, and did it all out of the kindness of his heart. That someone like Dick can confront the evils of Gotham and not break means there's still hope for that city. As Robin, Dick has led the Titans and is an icon in his own right as The Sidekick, the original, the one every other Robin is built around copying or contrasting. The one all other superhero sidekicks are drawing on as a basis. As Robin Dick Grayson is very much on Batman's level.

Just not as Nightwing. As Nightwing, Dick has been a second rate Daredevil which means he's a third rate Batman (fully prepared to get hate for this but I've read and enjoyed the Miller and Bendis DD runs so I feel entitled to my opinion). A typical Nightwing run tends to go like this: Moving to Bludhaven (which is Gotham... but WORSE!), Dick Grayson usually enrolls in a pointless job we don't care about in order to provide some meaningless soap opera drama that doesn't go anywhere. Patrolling the city as Nightwing, he fights a variety of bad guys who are usually rather lame and unthreatening, with his big bad being a Kingpin knockoff called Blockbuster. Villains are fought, long running plotlines are set up, then everything is abandoned because it's Batfamily event time, and Dick has to run back to Gotham in order to play sidekick again. Usually his involvement is completely superfluous and it would've been better if the writer had gotten to opt out. By the time we finally get back to Nightwing's solo plotlines, the audience has usually ceased to care and the run gets cut short.

That's how Nightwing has been since the New 52 at least. Anyone who thinks that's "becoming their own man" is out of their mind. Dick is so thoroughly in Batman's shadow that he got shot in the head and spent a longer time as "Ric" which everyone fucking hated and sold like shit, than he did as Agent Grayson which was extremely well-received. Reiterating: Ric went on longer than Grayson because of a fucking Batman plotpoint Tom King wanted where Bruce was sad and cut off from the Batfamily because of Dick getting shot. Not just calling out King either, how many times was Kyle Higgins Nightwing run derailed because of Scott Snyder's crossovers? Or how about that entire run getting dumped to the side because Johns wanted to out Dick during Forever Evil, a Justice League/Lex Luthor story? DC has repeatedly made their contempt for Nightwing clear, he's Batman's sidekick still in their eyes, and he serves whatever story role the Batman writer wants.

Hell his best stories tend to have been the ones where he's not Nightwing. He was Robin in a good chunk of the Wolfman/Perez New Teen Titans run. Morrison really showcased his depth as a character when they wrote him as Batman, their time with Dick under the cowl was actually one of the first Batman runs I ever read, and no Nightwing run has ever matched it in terms of quality in my humble opinion. Scott Snyder's work with DickBats also was a high point for the character, showing Dick as competent and examining his relationship with Gotham and the Gordons. King and Seeley gave him one of the best comic runs with Grayson, a series where he wasn't even a "superhero" technically! When it comes to actual pre-New 52 Nightwing runs that are highly recommended where he *is* Nightwing, there's Chuck Dixon and uhhhhhhh... Tomasi's brief run before Dick became Batman? It's not exactly an overwhelming list.

Look there has been good work done with Nightwing, I'm not claiming there hasn't been. Tim Seeley wrote a great run with Nightwing Rebirth. Seeley fleshed out Dick's Rogues Gallery with cool new ones like Raptor, he brought back old foes like Dr. Hurt (why oh why couldn't you have brought back Flamingo too?), he gave Dick's world some character it solely needed. Bludhaven under Seeley is pretty much the only time I've really felt like it lived up to being Dick's city.

The problem with fictional cities is you have to put in the work to give them the character of real cities. You have to make the cities feel like characters in their own right. Gotham is the best example of this, it's a character all it's own, one that tells you a lot about Batman and his cast. In contrast Bludhaven is usually one of the worst. Any place that wants to claim to be worse than the city that is built over the gate to hell and gets wrecked every other month by the Arkham freaks has to really put in the work to compete. Simply put, Bludhaven typically fails utterly. There's nothing about it that makes you really buy it's worse than Gotham, I mean does anyone really think Nightwing's Rogues wouldn't get their lunches eaten by Batman's? No, no one genuinely buys that. When Bludhaven claims to be worse, it just comes across as tryhard, an attribute that does end up telling you about Nightwing in unintentional ways.

So Seeley didn't do that. Instead he created a city built for a hero like Dick Grayson. Someone who is bright and flashy, but does have an element of darkness to him. Someone who loves the spotlight, but often uses it to obscure. Seeley turned Bludhaven into Las Vegas, and that was the fucking best concept for Bludhaven I have ever seen, it makes so much sense. Las Vegas is the "Entertainment Capital of the World" and isn't that the perfect city for a hero who got their start working in the circus? Isn't the aesthetics of the gleaming casinos, the glamorous sex appeal of the performers, and the spectacle of the shows, all being used to cover up the seediness of mob bosses meeting backstage perfect for Nightwing? It's so utterly unlike New York City, yet Las Vegas is still dangerous, it's got a crime culture all it's own. Seeley used it to great effect, as did Humphries during his brief run, and I will always be pissed that DC didn't continue to use it. That should have stuck around and been the definitive look for Bludhaven.

How Seeley's take on Bludhaven was treated feels like a small scale version of how Nightwing in general gets treated. Whenever creators pitched ideas for him, if editorial thought there was potential to break big, they asked for those ideas to be repurposed for Batman instead. Anything big or good gets repurposed for Batman or tossed to the side so Nightwing can go back to his default: having irrelevant adventures in a city that is supposedly worse than Gotham but can't live up to it. Just like how Nightwing is supposedly better than Batman but never gets to show it. Goddamn it's so frustrating seeing his potential get wasted like that.

The Nightwing book should be one of DC's most ambitious books in terms of storytelling. You can go from traditional superhero stories, to romantic soap opera, to spy stories, to crime noir, to horror, to cosmic adventures, and ALL of them would fit because Nightwing is someone who has a foot in both Gotham and Metropolis. He's got friends everywhere on every team, and has been a hero longer than most Leaguers have at this point. No reason DC should still be afraid to let him loose and insisting on hewing close to what Dixon established almost over 30 years ago is only holding him back. At the very least get him some better Rogues, why the hell didn't he get to keep Professor Pyg? That's Dick's villain not Bruce's! Bullshit that they didn't let Dick keep him. Hopefully Flamingo comes back, with a slight revamp I think he'd make a great reoccurring Nightwing Rogue.

Luckily it does look somewhat like Nightwing fans have reason to be optimistic. While Taylor isn't to my taste, DC clearly views him as a "big" writer, and that they put him on Nightwing says a lot. Taylor has been selling well so far, so hopefully he gets to tell his story, hilarious that even he lampshaded having to write Dick running over to Gotham for another tie-in after Taylor's big opening arc was all about Dick committing himself and his money to Bludhaven. Scott Snyder is apparently working on a Black Label Nightwing book which will explore how he's a different detective than Bruce. The Gotham Knights video game has him as one of the main stars, and while Titans is... controversial, it's one of the most popular streaming shows and Dick is the main character. There's a lot of content coming that features him in the starring role, and that will only help his star rise further.

For the first time in, well, ever it feels like DC may be serious about elevating him. Time will tell if it pays off, but I for one choose to be optimistic that the 2020s will be a turning point for Dick Grayson where Nightwing becomes hugely popular in his own right. Not just as Batman's sidekick.

[rebeccccccaaa]

🄰🄳🄳🄸🄲🅃🄴🄳

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🄱🅄🄲🄺🅈 🄱🄰🅁🄽🄴🅂 🅇 🅁🄴🄰🄳🄴🅁

🅁🄴🅀🅄🄴🅂🅃: (ANON) hi! can you do a bucky x reader where they’re at a gala and the team has a mini after party (like AoU) and they’re playing cards against humanity or something dumb like that and bucky can’t keep his hands off of Y/n? maybe a lil smut if you’re up for it hehe. you’re the best !

🅆🄰🅁🄽🄸🄽🄶🅂: Smut 18+ (duh lol), Bathroom sex, horny Bucky, slight dacryphilia, Cw: light asphyxiation (in case anyone gets triggered here’s a small content warning) 

🄰🅄🅃🄷🄾🅁'🅂 🄽🄾🅃🄴: dude I looove this omgg thanks for the request babes ;)

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“Alright, alright! Settle down, guys,” Nat shouted over the laughter.

“Ok next card. ‘Blank’: kid-tested, mother-approved,” she read off a black card.

“Which one, babe?” You and Bucky were a team; you sat on his lap insisted by the man himself.

“That one,” he pointed to the card you also had your eye on. You placed in the pile face down and waited for the other who snickered and giggled under their breaths believing they had the funniest card.

“Ok ready?”

“Whoo!” everyone cheered.

“Ok, we have Dead parents: kid-tested, mother-approved; oh my god,” Nat laughed, as did others.

“This groovy new thing called LSD: kid-tested, mother-approved,” everyone laughed out loud with that one.

“A snapping turtle biting the tip of your penis: kid-tested, mother-approved!” 

“Water: kid-tested, mother-approved.” 

“That one’s boring!” Sam shouted.

“Hey, be nice; that might be Steve’s. He still doesn’t understand the game,” you joked, making Steve rolling his eyes; it was in fact his card.

“And lastly, My inner demons: kid-tested, mother-approved, I just know this one’s Tony’s,” Nat read off the last card, making Tony get really defensive because it was his. 

“Hmm, this is a good one,” she thought. 

“I think I’m gonna go with the LSD,” Nat said, making you and Bucky cheer.

“Awe man, you guys are good,” Sam threw his cards. 

“Alright! I’m dealing now,” you said grabbing the deck of white cards. While you distributed the white cards again to the rest of the players, Bucky couldn’t keep his hands off you. Having you sit on his lap let him get away with a lot of things you two should be doing in private.

Ever since you two had gotten together, he was absolutely addicted to you. He wasn’t a sex addict, especially before your relationship; he hardly ever gotten intamite before. But with you he needed you in some way almost everyday. he addicted to you.

When you two had sex for the first time, Bucky couldn’t stop cuddling you afterwards. You tried to shower and Bucky followed you in and washed your body for you. You went to put some clothes but he just pulled you in bed, kissing your neck with arms wrapped around you tightly. 

Since then he practically couldn’t keep his hands off you. This had been the most sexually active you’d ever been in a relationship. And you didn’t mind too much if you were being honest. He was insatiable and you were more than willing to feed his desperate appetite; it made you feel desired.

“Get a room you two,” Tony mocked.

“I would if my girl didn’t keep insisting on playing with you buffoons,” Bucky growled.

“Baby, be nice,” you warned. 

You pulled a black card and hesitantly everyone put a white card in a pile for you to read. These particular answers got really dark and really funny to the point where you were squirming in Bucky’s lap but he too was laughing so hard.

“Oh my god! You guys I have pee,” you squealed.

“I’m gonna run to the bathroom,” you jumped from Bucky’s lap.

You made your way to the guest bathroom since it was the closest. When you finished washing your hands but in between that you heard the door open ever so quietly, but your instincts alerted you. 

You turned to the small halfway that led into the stall and waited for what could possibly be Wanda or Nat. You waited longer than you’d accept and ultimately turned back the mirror immediately startled by a large figure standing beside you. 

“Bucky!” you shrieked.

“Sorry, doll,” he gave you a toothy grin. 

“What are you doing in the ladies’ room?” you turned to face him fully.

“Got a couple minutes? They won’t suspect a thing,” bucky leaned down to kiss your neck.

“Are you serious?” you laughed.

“Come on, baby. Please,” BUcky’s hips pressed into yours and you could feel his hard cock poking through his pants. 

“Bucky, you’re addicted.”

“With an ass like that, how can resist. You’re perfect,” Bucky said cheekily.

He held your jaw and kissed you quite messily, urgency not forgotten. Your hands snaked up to curl into his long beautiful locks. He spun you around and your hands hit the mirror in front of you. 

Your hips dug into the marble counter of the bathroom as Bucky’s hands trailed up and under your shirt; rubbing your bare skin. He quickly unzipped his pants pulling and stroking his cock.

“Can’t fucking stay away from you, babygirl,” Bucky moaned in your ear. 

He pulled your pants down along with your panties and used his metal fingers to rub against your pussy, moving around the wetness that is coming out of you quickly. 

“Bucky please,” you whined.

“What baby? What is it?” he cooed.

“Bucky, fuck me,” you whimpered, moving your hips back to grind against his cock.

“You got it, my love,” he whispered.

 Bucky thrusted hard into you making your body repel forward. You were sure there’d be bruises from the hard marble table digging into your hips. You looked in the mirror to see Bucky’s stern expression as he thrusted in and out of you relentlessly.

You tried to moan quietly but the pleasure building up inside was getting overwhelming. Bucky moved his arm to cover your mouth and pulled against his chest.

Your breathing became heavy, going in and out through your nose sharply trying to keep your moans muffled behind Bucky’s hand. Bucky kept his eye trained on you still bucking his hips repeatedly. 

“Fuck, doll. You always feel so warm wrapped around my cock. I can never get enough of this perfect little pussy; squeezing me all tight and shit, god, I’m gonna cum,” Bucky moaned.

With your mouth covered, all you could do was whimper and moan as best as you could. Your eyes filled with tears of pleasure and spilled down your face beautifully. Bucky almost came from the sight of you crying in pleasure alone; but he kept his composure, not for long of course.

“You gonna cum? I can feel you squeezing me,” Bucky slid his hand down your front to rub your clit and your entire body jerked against him, making Bucky chuckled mockingly. 

You orgasmed violently against Bucky and he too reached his climax biting your shoulder to muffle his own loud moans and grunts. You leaned forward to catch yourself after Bucky released his firm hold on you.

“Fuck that was hot. Seeing you cry like that. Did I hurt you?” Bucky asked gently, helping you clean up. 

“No that was awesome!” you giggled. 

“What if someone came in?” you said once you felt decent.

“Just adds to the fun,” Bucky smirked.

“You’re crazy,” you pushed him lightly. 

You two went back to the group hearing laughter from still playing the insanely hilarious card game.

“Finally you two! What’s the point in calling it a quickie if you guys are gonna take twenty minutes,” Nat mocked.

“Was it really that long?” you asked, shocked; no shame in trying to pretend like you both leaving after Bucky’s hands were all over was a ‘coincident’.

“Yeah kinda,” Tony spoke up.

“Damn, we’ll have to practice,” Bucky smacked your ass, making you roll your eyes.

“Damn, Buck you’re addicted to her,” Nat chuckled.

“Of course I am, look at her,” Bucky flaunted you, making you feel slightly shy under the attention. 

“Come on guys let’s keep playing!” Wanda shouted, clearly tipsy.

You sat down next to Nat and Bucky sat at your side still holding your waist lovingly.

“You know,” Nat whispered to you, “As much of a sex addict you turned him into, he’s so in love with you. Head over his fucking heels, babe.”

“I know, and I love him too,” you smiled looking at Bucky.

Taglist!

@mathletemadison

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[proudfreakmetarusonniku]

(/rp! also, huge trigger warning for assault, graphic violence, death, abuse, possessive behaviour, obsession, mental breaks, hallucination, really fucking creepy treatment of a corpse, unreliable narrators, the perspective of a villain, torture, manipulation, and gaslighting! this gets pretty fucked up).

When Dream sees Tommy for the first time, there is no dramatic shift, no acknowledgement that his life had changed forever. No knowledge of the fact. All he sees is a skinny little kid who's obnoxious and loud, and he catalogues him just as one of Philza’s strays and leaves it at that.

No, it’s when Tommy drives the sword into his chest for the first time, and Dream wakes up from his non-canon death smiling despite itself when it clicks. He’s not sure what “it” is, exactly, but it’s just something about him Dream hadn’t seen in anyone before that has him hooked, captivated from the beginning.

(There's the vague recollection that he was like Tommy once, a bright eyed naive youth too loud for his own good, but that’s not unique. It’s not that, at least not entirely.)

The conflict was not started by Tommy, nor was he of any particular threat to Dream, but he was fun. So he ignored the rest, and took the boy's music discs. He knew Tommy well enough that he’d fight for them, and fight he did, and even though Dream lost in the end he laughed all the while. He’d played many a game before, but none quite this fun!

They both know this isn’t where it’ll end. Only one hopes it will be.

——

Dream didn’t care much about Wilbur's little revolutionary movement at first. As long as he obeyed the rules, and stayed in the server, it wouldn’t matter whether he delusionally thought he was under his own governance or not.

This changed immediately when he learnt Tommy was involved.

L'Manburg, a name he didn’t bother to remember until he learnt Tommy named it, was tiny, barely any more than a scavenged old world vehicle and some trees. It’s populace was peaceful, only Wilbur even an adult. None of that mattered. It wasn’t that the nation was a threat, though he certainly wouldn’t dissuade his friends fear that it was. But fighting L'Manburg meant fighting Tommy, and Dream wouldn't pass up the opportunity for anything.

He grinned with glee behind his mask as he blew Tommy's strange dirt hovel “embassy” sky high, enthusiastically threatened Tommy before remembering half heartedly to threaten the rest of the nation. He made dealings, found weak links- a new immigrant to the SMP that joined L'Manburg after the war began, it turns out. He offered extravagant promises in exchange for their betrayal, hiding the strings attached to his fingers.

Oh, but it was all worth it when the person with the eyes of an old god lead the revolutionaries into a trap, all worth it when they descended on them at once. It was definitely worth it to kill Tommy, kill Tommy, see him scream and cry in pain and stumble trying to escape and him taking a shuddering last breath. Dream had never seen anything as beautiful.

(It was a war, and feelings like this were okay in wars, right? It’s not like he was obsessed, it’s not like he was a monster. He’d been trying to be good, and killing your enemies was good, right?)

He killed Tommy a second time, too. The boy with shaking hands and a leg hanging limp challenged him to a duel for his nations future. His loss was assured, and Dream knew Tommy knew that also. This one was quicker, Tommy dead between the arrow entering his skull and his broken body make a loud thud against the planks, but it was no less fascinating. If only he had infinite canon lives, Dream would happily give up any ambitions and spend eternity seeing the boy die in so many fascinating ways.

(No, what the fuck was he thinking? The SMP was worth more than some stupid kid, and Dream wasn’t so inept with morality to know torturing someone over and over, killing them, was wrong.)

(Yet, it was so tempting he was almost ready to renounce morality wholeheartedly.)

It eventually comes to the discs again, Tommy handing Dream his prized possessions for some silly little nation. Dream knew Tommy would do anything to get them back. Having so much control was addicting, even more than control of anything else. Dream had learnt long ago that if you didn’t have complete power over anything, people would take the power from you and make you hurt.

So why did he care more about control of some kid than avoiding his own pain?

——

Dream would have sided with Tommy. Really, he would have, but Schlatt just had the better deal.

He holds the book in his hands, power filling him. He repeats the incantation, sacrifices the blood from his veins. He stares into the face of a man near-identical.

“”Brother dearest,”” he says, voice level. “”What do you wish of me?””

Dream grins behind his mask. “”Tommy.””

—

Wishes must come true, Dream thinks, as he sits on the beach of Logstedshire, Tommy passed out and leaning against his arm.

Oh, what he’d give for this moment to last forever. Alas, it passes, like they all do. Still, Tommy's getting so obedient lately- barely even grumbling as he threw his item into the hole. Part of him missed when Tommy would fight back all the while- his pained screams were entertaining. Still, it was safer this way, and more enjoyable in the long run. He’d hate to have his little songbird break it’s neck against the cage doors, never to sing again.

He’s not sure when life outside of Tommy became a chore, but he remembers dimly that it wasn’t always like that. There was a Dream long ago that wouldn’t give up friends and family, who'd cry over losing them even if he’d cut their threads voluntarily. He wasn’t that Dream anymore, the numb feeling in his chest a sign of growth. It didn’t matter that everything outside of Tommy was so miserable, because just being around the boy was a feeling a hundredfold better than any happiness he felt before.

Still, he had duties and responsibilities. Ones that seemed so important long ago, so fulfilling. Maybe one day they’d feel like that again. He had plans, from what he learnt. Government had not left him satisfied, but- whatever you could call what his relationship with Tommy was, it definitely did. Family, he supposed, recognising the boys actions towards him and his brothers. If he could make the entire server like that, that’d be a happiness greater than any other, apart from how Tommy made him feel.

He spent time with Tubbo, getting further and further towards getting that stupid fucking ram boy to calling him a friend and giving him Tommy's disc, all he wanted from him.

(He wasn’t jealous, of course he wasn’t. The anger he felt whenever Tommy called Tubbo a friend, that wasn’t jealousy. That was just logical).

Far more interesting was checking on the prison's completion. When it’s completed, it’d truly be a thing of beauty. Of course, his favourite part was the main cell, that he’d put so much thought into. He’d included all the little things that made Tommy squirm, made his breath hitch and eyes dart around fearfully. That would be so much fun.

(Tommy would learn to appreciate the fun in time, too. He was a smart boy, if irritatingly yet fascinatingly stubborn. He just needed to be taught that if he listened and just played along, Dream could give him the world.)

It took far too long, but eventually it finished, and he could return to the ugly mess of tents and logs he’d made so sure Tommy could never leave. He always started shaking when Dream showed up, trying desperately to hide his fear in his voice, and it was absolutely adorable. Dream savoured it, savoured everything about Tommy as they spent hours talking. Everything, his hysterical laugh, his nervous glances for escapes, the way he flinched whenever Dream grabbed his shoulder, his wrist, the poorly hidden look of pain when he held tighter, just hard enough to irritate the bruises that painted his skin a canvas of black and blue, it was all perfect.

Only he could love Tommy this much, and in time he knew Tommy would learn to appreciate that.

——

The second time he used the book, a tower extended from the ruins of the makeshift prison he’d made for Tommy. DreamXD stated ahead of him.

“”Brother dearest,” he said, “why are you calling on me again so soon?””

“”Bring him back,”” he said, voice painfully numb.

DreamXD shrugged a shoulder, golden hair waving around like in water. “”Who?””

“”Tommy.””

“”I cannot,”” DreamXD said. “”He lives.”” Dream couldn’t help but smile at hearing that.

“”Then bring him back to me.””

DreamXD laughed, a sound like church bells. “”That would be unnecessary. Did I not already grant you the mortal?””

Dream clenched his fist hard enough blood dripped onto scorched earth. “”He left me-“”

“”And you shall find him, no matter what.”” DreamXD smiled under the mask. “”You are bonded to him, and neither death nor distance shall break that. Just look, and you will find him, til the end of time and even past.””

“”Thank you,”” Dream said, genuinely for once.

“”Only the best for my little brother and sister. And I know you would do the same for us, brother dearest.””

——

His planning had come to fruition for once.

They were alone, in the depths of the Earth, just him, Tommy, the fucking hilarious excuse for a “president” Tommy called a friend for some reason, and his axe.

Finally, he could bring his dreams to fruition. He could get rid of any loose threads, and claim what was rightfully his. And once he’d taught Tommy to be grateful, he could get to work on the rest of the server.

It’d be beautiful. Everyone would be his friend, his brother, his sister, something in between. There would be no more wars, just peace. Everyone would be safe, he’d know they’re safe and they’d never rip him to pieces and laugh at his pain. And oh, it’d like be hard work, breaking everyone into obedience but not too much to the point they become boring, but so enjoyable and satisfying. He’d almost be disappointed when it was over.

Tommy- his Tommy, his Tommy, was crying, and it was amusing but he almost wanted to reach out and comfort him and explain it’d all be for the best. He’d do that later, once he’d secured him and any loose ends were gone forever. He couldn’t afford weakness until they were alone, but Tommy made it so tempting.

The ram and Tommy hugged a final goodbye, and the adoration he had towards Tommy, hiding his fear behind a smile, made Dream fucking sick. He should know Tommy was his. They all should know. He’d teach them, when he made the server a perfect family. Even Tubbo, if Tommy begged enough. Dream would do anything to hear Tommy's pathetic, gorgeous begging, breaking through his aggressive walls, and bringing back some random sheep was easily in his brother's power.

See, he could be kind. He wasn’t cruel, he wasn’t a monster. He didn’t even care if he was anymore, fun was so much more important than nonsensical human concepts, but it wasn’t even true. He could be incredibly, selflessly kind, as long as he had a reason. They’d learn, once he fulfilled his dream.

The sound of a nether portal, of betrayal, shatters his dreams and at this point he wonders why he’s surprised.

——

He’d had doubts, during the weeks (months, years? he had no way of knowing) he’d been trapped in the cell, but Tommy being here with him confirmed his design was excellent.

Oh, Tommy was being fucking obnoxious- and Dream knew he was doing it on purpose- but he saw it in the way he never was able to look at the lava properly, the way he always woke up in a cold sweat calling for his daddy like the child he insisted he wasn’t. It was perfect.

(Of course it was, though. It’s not hard to build on something already perfected, and Tommy was the perfect little toy.)

Tommy was so frustratingly different though. He tried not to take it out on him- it wasn’t his fault that everyone else spread lies, planted nonsense in his head about Dream being bad and not trying to do the best for everyone but especially for him- but he struggled sometimes, and it was always so tempting to hurt Tommy anyway, and get lost in the melody of his screams. It wouldn’t teach Tommy anything though, and that’s what was important. He needed to teach Tommy what was best for him.

Tommy had unlearnt all the lessons Dream painstakingly taught him. That wouldn’t be an issue- it was so, so fun to teach- but he knew, painfully deep down in his heart that he could not hold Tommy forever, not yet. The lockdown wasn’t forever, and Dream had no escape route yet. Tommy would just forget everything again, at the hands of his “friends” that couldn’t love him as much as Dream did. They needed to learn far more than Tommy did.

(Except Ranboo of course- oh, the purple eyed boy had the silly naive thoughts in his head everyone seemed to have that friendship was anything but possessing another, but he agreed family came first, listened to Dream, helped him, even with clenched teeth.)

And when one day the frustration got to Dream one day and he was so furious he hit Tommy again and again against the walls of the prison and strangled him until he was cold all he could do was laugh and laugh and laugh.

It was so, so funny, because of course he’d be the one to destroy everything he loved.

——

This time, when DreamXD is called, he looks upon his brother with concern.

“”Brother dearest,”” he says, “”are you quite alright?””

Dream laughs, because of course he’s alright! The tears staining his face must be joy, because of course he’s alright. He’s holding Tommy here, with him, and he was quiet, he must be listening. He can’t be dead, he can’t be, then there’d be no point to any of this.

“”Drista has been concerned for you for quite a while, you know,”” DreamXD continued. “”Is this because of your mortal?””

“”He’s been ever so quiet lately,”” Dream said, with a voice hoarse from crying and laughter. “”I’m not sure to be concerned or happy with him.””

“”You’re not well, Dream.”” DreamXD said, with a tone of finality despite clearly being wrong. “”The boy is dead.””

Dream laughs. “”And yet he does not slip from my grasp.””

“”Then, brother, why did you call me?””

The silence pierces through air like a knife. Eventually, through hiccuping sobs, Dream says “”Just, please, bring him back.””

Tommy sputters to life with ghostly eye and pure white streaks and more bruise on him than corpselike skin and Dream thinks he has never been more perfect.

——

Quackity's left, he thinks, because the pain's stopped growing.

He laughs, because he doesn’t know what to fucking do anymore but laugh. He can’t give up the secrets of the book, of course he can’t. Family comes first, after all, and he dreads to think what the bastard would do to his brother. But the pain was awful, never ending in waves through his whole body, and he almost just wants to confess so he can die.

He cradles what’s left of his arm since the bastard cut it off at the elbow, and he sobs. He doesn’t even care to hide it with his mask. It’s not even the pain that hurts the most, even. It’s that Tommy's gone, and by the time Dream escapes- because he’s going to escape, he’s got to- he might be so far from his grasp even their fates being tied might not be enough.

“Of course that’s not true,” a fake voice says in his head, and wavy form approaches. Fuck, the blood loss must be bad today. It always is when he sees things. Usually it’s George or Bad or Sapnap, and it leaves him with a numb feeling in his chest that he’s familiar with, but today it’s Tommy, and that’s worse. It reminds him of what he cannot hold.

“Fuck off,” he mouths at the apparition, voice too tired and hoarse from screaming to speak properly. Not-Tommy laughs, and the sound is so similar to Tommy he almost thinks that his desperate prayers have been answered, Tommy is there again, but he reached his fingers forward and they go through his tired hallucination.

“You’re a real dick, you know that?” Not-Tommy says, and laughs again. “But I know you mean the best.” Dream shrugs his shoulder at the fake, and then curls up, new waves of pain curling up his arm.

“I don’t know why I was ever friends with that bastard.” Not-Tommy lies, and Dream wants to believe it. “You’re just having fun. He’s cruel.” Tommy would never understand that clear distinction, no matter how much Dream explained it, but the fake said it with such conviction it was almost enough for Dream to fall for it.

“When you get out, I’ll be there, Dream. And then we can all be a big happy family,” Not-Tommy says, the thoughts so obviously Dream's and not Tommy’s but- the idea that Tommy understood, that he saw sense, was so tempting, Dream allowed himself to believe it, just for a second. Just until the pain started anew.

Broken and bloody, Dream drifted into unconsciousness with a smile on his face.

[thefanficmonster]

Unconditionally. Completely. Infinitely.

Corpse Husband x Pregnant!Reader

Warnings: Swearing

Genre: Fluff

Summary: Five months in and Y/N is not having such a nice time with the tenant that’s living inside her. She loves the company and wouldn’t exchange it for the whole world, but all the disadvantages are getting more annoying with each passing day. No worries, she’s not tackling it alone. Her amazing boyfriend, soon to be fiancé has her back.

Requested by Anon. Thank you so much for you request! As I mentioned in the reply, this is my first time writing a pregnancy fic so if I got anything incorrectly I sincerely apologize. I did some research but I can’t be sure I got everything right. If there’s something you’re not happy with, feel free to let me know. I’d be more than happy to fix the fic to your liking. Hope you enjoy ❤❤❤

“How are you doing, babe?“ This is his third time checking up on me in the last forty minutes and it’s downright hilarious. Since I can’t drink, for obvious reasons, I shoot my group chat a quick text to take a shot every time Corpse drops by to make sure I haven’t chewed off my own arm in frustration.

I’ve been chilling with a bun in the oven for about five and a half months now and it feels like I’m climbing a mountain that never stops getting steeper. I’ve progressively gotten more passive aggressive and cranky as though I myself am a baby. I think I’d be more aggressive and less passive if I could stand on my two legs without the room spinning right round. If I do manage to stand up, my feet won’t let me remain in that position for too long. I’ve heard foot massages help but to me that sounds like hell - I don’t like massages and especially not foot massages. I’d appreciate it if no hands came in contact with them, thank you.

“Yeah, I’m good. Don’t worry about me, I’m not that helpless.“ I give him a reassuring thumbs up. “Go do something fun, babe. Heck, do it twice - one time on my behalf. I don’t want you stuck with me like this.“

I’ve been trying my hardest to be my regular cheery self around Corpse. He’s been nothing but sweet, supportive and loving since day one and he doesn’t deserve to see me during my low points where my frustration is through the roof. Sure, this was kind of an oopsie for the both of us, but I’ll never forget how happy he was when I told him.

“So, you say it’s mine, huh?“ He jokes like this every now and then, never failing to get a giggle out of me.

“I don’t leave the house, silly! Of course it’s yours.“ Is my usual response. And it’s true. I really don’t leave the house. I didn’t leave it before and I can’t leave it even if I wanted to now. The pregnancy is hitting me hard and I spend almost all my days in bed.

It’s not a pleasing sight and I try to spare Corpse as much as I can. I try not to ask for too much from him, or from anyone really. I know I can do most of the things, if not everything, on my own, so why bother my loved ones to have to deal with my messy self.

“I’m not stuck, Y/N. I want to be here.“ He sits down next to me, “Plus, playing video games without you isn’t fun.“

I automatically cuddle up to him when he gets settled on the bed, resting my head on his chest, “Aw I miss play with you. But right now all of my little bit of energy is concentrated on not falling over whenever I stand up.” I start absentmindedly tracing abstract patterns on his chest, “Who knew that in order to develop a human you lose the ability to function as human yourself? I feel like a whale washed up on land. Big, tired and sad.”

He snorts, restraining his laughter just in case it might piss me off. He’s such a sweetheart, but he should know it would take a lot for him to piss me off. Even in this state. “How can I help? I’d do anything, you just tell me what. Maybe a mass-...” I lift my head to give him the well known finish-that-sentence-I-dare-you glare. “Maybe not...”

Suddenly, I feel pressure on both my temples. It’s not yet pain, but I know it will get there soon. I cringe as I force myself to remove my hand from Corpse’s chest, reaching towards the nightstand where there’s always Advil and at least two small bottles of water. I swallow one pill and chase it with a long gulp of water, making a mental note to take another if the pain doesn’t go away in 30-40 minutes.

“You know how you can help me?“ I say, carefully adjusting my position so the both of us are comfortable, “Distract me. Talk to me. Tell me how you see the future with this misfit that’s already giving me headaches.“

He chuckles, the noise vibrating throughout his chest. I can hear the speed on his heartbeat change - it has quickened. I can only write that off as excitement when he speaks: “I don’t think the headaches will go away. I have a frightening feeling they’re just gonna get worse. A lot more sleeplessness, but a lot less vomiting. A lot more standing up and walking around. A lot more smiles and laughter. More of our friends at out house. Who am I kidding? Rae alone will invade the entire house just to spend time with the baby. You and I be damned.”

I find myself visualizing every detail he describes, all the pictures so vivid and so realistic. A smile spreads on my face as I let myself get transported into Corpse’s version of the future. To be honest, his version is almost the exact same as mine, “If she’s so occupied with the baby, maybe we’ll be able to dip out for a date night every now and then. We may be parents, but we’re not even in our mid-twenties yet.” I sigh, closing my eyes for a second, “I now regret not leaving the house more often while I could, you know?”

“Oddly enough, I do too. I feel like I haven’t taken you on enough proper dates. We didn’t seen enough of the world while we had zero responsibilities, it almost feels like it’s too late now.“

I frown, sitting up to be at eye level with him. I gently rest my hand on his cheek, making sure he doesn’t try to avoid eye contact. “Listen here: Fuck the date nights and fuck the responsibilities. I wouldn’t mind being stuck in a single room if you’re there with me.” I think for a second. Deciding not to make the conversation too serious, I add, “That is if we have food and water. Wouldn’t want you to turn into a cannibal on me.”

He smiles, “I’d never and you know it.” I’m aware his response refers to both halves of my statement, putting my mind at ease.

Having sent my message across and having it well received, I sink back down in my previous position. His hand travels to my hair, his fingers combing through it carefully and sweetly, giving me that feeling of being in a bubble of love and safety. His touch has the ability to calm me down, comfort me, encourage me. He is my guiding light through the fog that represents the confusion from all the pain and exhaustion I’ve been suffering through recently. I know those bad sensations will pass, but the power he has over me is forever.

Him and I are forever. Well, Him and I and a new addition in the next four months.

“I love you so much, Y/N.“ He whispers, cutting through the comfortable silence.

“I love you too, Corpse.“ I whisper back.

“I hope our baby is like you. I hope it’ll be smart like you. Talk like you, act like you, look like you.“ He trails of, his voice wavering.

“I hope it’ll sound like you.“ I say mischievously, hiding my smirk in the fabric of his shirt

He laughs, “Sure, unless it’s a girl.”

“Are you kidding me?“ I giggle, “Especially if it’s a girl.“

His laughter rings in my ears, reminding me there’s always gonna be something to hold onto when you’re in pain. Be it his laughter, his touch, the look in his eyes. I’ll always have him there to relieve my pain. To take my mind off all my troubles. To love me.

And for me to love him right back.

Unconditionally. Completely. Infinitely.

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