#rewatching lmk again for the

[litt1e-prince]

traffic light trio sketch!!! cause i got lazy and have so much uni work to finish but all i can think about is them

[peanut-with-wifi-access]

I DON'T CARE IF I DON'T UNDERSTAND A LICK OF WHAT'S BEING SAID, I'M WATCHING THE EPISODES!

[thetomorrowshow]

Joel thinks it’s stupid, really.

Once they figure it out.

Soulmates, Grian messages them all. I think it’s soulmates.

Which makes sense, with the random pains shooting through his legs that he feels on occasion. He’s sharing a life with someone—or, three lives—and they feel each others’ pain.

Which is dumb. Because Joel doesn’t need or want a soulmate, and he doesn’t care much for the idea of having to share his life with someone and make sure they’re safe. He’s not here to be babysitting another player.

That’s what he would be doing, he’s sure. Babysitting someone. Not that everyone would be, of course—there are some players that he knows instantly will be paired up, because if such a thing as real soulmates exist, they would be them. Grian and Scar. Scott and Jimmy. Bdubs and Etho.

No one for him.

No one for Joel because he’s always been a loner. For as long as he can remember he’s been on his own in these games—in the first one he had his cottage on the hill (so long ago that he can barely remember what it looked like, he can only remember it burning and the flames licking up at him and melting his skin and the smell of his hair and he has to put it out—), and in the games since, he’s been alone. Alliances that last little more than a week, here and there, and somehow he always ends up at Grian’s side at the end of things, but he’s never actually teamed up with anyone else.

He doesn’t want a soulmate. He doesn’t want another player going through his things, walking through his space, just being near him when he’s angry and needs time alone to cool off.

But there’s a morbid curiosity, he supposes. Because he can’t help but wonder who on earth the universe would think to pair him with.

So every person he sees, he socks in the arm (and if he hits a little harder than is considered friendly, he can blame it on adrenaline).

He actually witnesses a soulmate pair find each other before he finds his own.

And, strangely, it’s Bdubs and Impulse.

For a moment, he thinks that can’t be right—he can envision Bdubs with Etho, or Cleo, but not Impulse. And while Impulse is easygoing enough, Bdubs is a wildcard. Impulse’s sense of order is going to be completely upturned by Bdubs and his harebrained ideals.

Maybe. It’s not like Joel actually knows either of them very well.

And then they’re all mining together, and Etho trips.

And Joel feels his knees sting.

-

Joel doesn’t want to settle down anywhere, at all ever, but after a bunch of fooling around with Grian and Scar (soulmates, just as he’d predicted, of course), he starts. . . .

Not laying down roots. He really ought to get something started, just like everyone else, but that’s just it: everyone else has something started. Everyone else has planted crops and fenced in some animals and set out to get building blocks.

Prime opportunity for raiding some new farms, and to his surprise, Etho absolutely agrees.

For a moment, Joel can forget that they’re linked—he’s just hanging out with a group of friends, laughing at Jimmy, stealing a bit of wheat when nobody’s looking, the norm. Then Etho takes an absurd amount of damage—Joel definitely doesn’t fall back against the crafting table they’ve set up for making armor, definitely doesn’t gasp and clutch at his chest, like he can stop his heart from leaping out of it—and he’s rather rudely reminded that his life isn’t solely his own.

Oh, he hates this already.

Etho calls an apology, but Joel can’t see him through the woods—if they die here and it’s Etho’s fault, he’s never going to forgive him, soulbond or no—so he heads forward, only to find Etho panting beside an enderman in a boat.

“Tricky getting him to walk into it,” Etho says offhandedly, and this could be ender pearls for them if they play their cards right.

Ender pearls are perfect for quick escapes, and if they decide to go with Scar’s absolutely insane plan of trying to take over that outpost, he and Etho are going to need an escape.

He swings with his axe at the angry creature. Easy. Easy pearls, the thing stuck in the boat like a sitting duck.

And then he swings again.

And he hits the boat.

Within seconds, he’s dead.

It’s dark at spawn, and Joel can barely keep from crying in frustration. The enderman had been in the blummin’ boat! All he had to do was hit it a couple of times and they were set!

“I’m so sorry, Etho,” he says, and he hates it. He hates that he has to say that.

He’d been worried about having to babysit another player, keep his lives safe in their hands, but here he is, having stolen a person’s life from them.

He lost Etho their first life, smart Etho who would never mess up killing an enderman in a boat, and now he has to own up to it and live with it.

“I know I messed up first,” Etho says, his eyes crinkling a bit in a way that, combined with the flat tone of his voice, tells Joel he’s definitely frowning. “But I think you messed up way worse there.”

Joel’s familiar with anger—very familiar—but it feels foreign coming from Etho. He ducks his head, runs back through the darkness to wherever it was that they’d died. Something akin to shame is curdling in his stomach, and it’s his fault that they died and Etho’s being weird about it and not yelling, meaning he’s the type to go all cold and calm with anger.

They gather their things from Impulse and Bdubs, then mess around a bit with boats—and maybe he’s just hiding it really well, but Etho doesn’t seem angry, it’s the strangest thing and Joel almost dreads the moment they’re alone together—before joining Grian and Scar on that horribly stupid plan to take over the outpost. It fails, of course, but no one gets seriously hurt and they get to lure a bunch of Pillagers into Bdubs’s stupid little house that he’s building for Impulse.

They hop around for probably a week, never alone, just watching everyone else start on their bases, before they finally set down a couple of chests and furnaces and get to work.

And Etho . . . isn’t mad.

In fact, as Joel starts laying out the foundation for his—their base, Etho comes up beside him, silently surveying, hands in his pockets.

“I don’t blame you for us being Yellow, by the way,” he says casually, and Joel almost chokes on his own spit.

“Sorry, what?”

Etho shrugs. “It was going to happen to one of us at some point,” he says. “And in my eyes? Better you than me, ‘cuz now I get to tease you for it.”

Is that. . . .

Was that a joke?

Etho leaves, and Joel’s left alone with his thoughts and a bunch of wood planks.

He’d thought Etho was boring. He’s always been the quiet, redstone-y kind of guy that Joel can’t stand—not that there’s anything wrong with that! Joel just needs somebody fast-moving, on his level, ready to burn down a building without questions or hesitation.

It’s just one joke. Anyone can make a joke, that doesn’t mean anything about their personality or character. For instance, Joel makes jokes all the time, and he’s a total jerk.

Etho can’t be likable. Sure, he was fine to wander around with for the past couple of days, causing general chaos, but he’s a bore and likes redstone. He won’t be able to keep up with Joel.

But Etho hovers there while he works, occasionally giving little suggestions to the build, and after he wanders off for the afternoon, he comes back with his eyes crinkled over his mask and bragging about some wool farm he’d built.

He doesn’t need help to build this ship. He doesn’t need to depend on anyone to get wool. He especially doesn’t need to depend on Etho, all dry looks and gloating and frowns.

Joel works alone. He always has.

But his indifference to Etho isn’t making him leave, so Joel decides to do what he does best.

Be annoying.

-

“I’m his biggest fan,” Joel boasts to anyone who’ll listen. “You guys know I looove redstone. Just like Etho. He’s perfect.”

Grian gives Scar a look. Scar doesn’t notice.

“We’re very happy—we have a lovely ‘Relation’ship, you know. I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re the best pair on the server, actually.”

Scott gives Cleo a look. Cleo does notice.

“Etho’s probably the best at everything in the world. He’s so good at . . . redstone. And . . . all the stuff you do with it. That’s why we’re practically made for each other.”

“I’m gonna be honest with you, you sound kind of. . . .” Jimmy trails off, glancing over at Tango for support.

“Like you’re compensating for something? Unhappy? Inadequate?” Tango suggests helpfully.

“A-absolutely untrue!” Joel sputters, then clears his throat and turns away, nose high. “I’m going to get back to working on me and Etho’s perfect ‘Relation’ship, thank you very much.”

“You’re short!” Jimmy calls as parting words. Joel ignores him.

In total opposition to what he’s been spending the past couple of days declaring, once he finishes the bedroom space of the ship, he places his bed and Etho’s bed on opposite sides of the room.

“You stay over there, and I stay over here, all right?” Joel says that night, pointing to their respective beds. “I’m not a cuddler. I don’t like people in my space.”

“But Joel, I thought you were my biggest fan!” Etho wheedles. There’s a glint in those crinkled eyes that tells Joel he’s heard the stuff Joel’s been saying.

Which is frustrating, and immediately takes all the fun out of it. He’d wanted Etho to be mad about his obnoxiousness, to refuse to speak to him, to mock him in return until their partnership inevitably dissolved.

But Etho—his eyes are crinkling, the way they did back when they first died and when he finished the wool farm and then later, when Joel showed him around the ship’s process and he silently nodded before walking off.

“It’s okay, Joel, I know you love me even if you need space,” Etho tells him now, mirth clear in his voice, and Joel realizes that maybe that look isn’t one of anger or disapproval, as he’d first thought. Maybe Etho is . . . smiling.

That’s not good.

It’s not good at all, because if Etho likes him, then Joel. . . .

Joel has to at least try to like him back, doesn’t he? It’s not like he’s the worst guy to be around, after all. He was actually a lot of fun in that first week, running around and stealing and bothering people together.

Maybe he was wrong.

-

As it turns out, when Joel decides he can like Etho, Etho becomes a whole lot more likable.

Etho’s brave—he goes out and enchants his stuff, and Impulse tells the story of them being chased by no less than three Wardens and Etho somehow surviving (Joel’s heart skips a beat in his chest at the most tense moments of the story, and Etho casually slugs his shoulder when he looks up to check his soulmate’s okay). He’s strong—not everyone can just run around the Deep Dark all day in full armor and live to tell the tale.

And he totally gets Joel’s sense of humor. He snorts at Joel’s contrived puns, mocks Martyn’s house relentlessly, finds Jimmy’s failures just as hilarious as they actually are.

Joel can’t remember, in recent memory, ever having someone like this. Someone he actually enjoys the company of, someone whom he appreciates and who appreciates him in turn. Someone to talk to, to listen to—and while Etho is a bit quiet, it’s not because he’s boring and isn’t thinking about anything. Joel thinks he just forgets to speak sometimes, and will gladly talk about anything if Joel asks him to.

Sure, he’s had friends. He’s always gotten along with Grian and Jimmy and, really, everyone on the server, when pressed. But none of them are Etho, exactly.

Which is bad. It’s bad because Joel is getting attached, he’s getting complacent, he’s getting happy—

That’s dangerous. This is a death game.

And maybe all that emotional-friend-love stuff works for the likes of Scott, but that’s just not Joel’s modus operandi. He can’t—he can’t be like that. He can’t get close.

“Redstoners and builders don’t work out together, you know,” he says to Etho early one morning. They’d both risen before the sun, for some reason (anxiety, perhaps, as more players become Yellow and fire proves to be a very useful tool) and had decided, without discussion, to sit in the crow’s nest, legs swinging in the air.

Etho hums quietly in that way that means he’s listening, the way he always does when Joel comes over to bother him. Patient, mellow, waiting to see where he’s going with it.

“Seriously, it never works,” Joel continues. “Their brains are too different. You’d think they’d work well, ‘cuz they cover different bases and all that, but it’s the opposite. They just butt heads all the time. It never works.”

“What about Bdubs and Impulse?”

Joel shrugs. “I mean, they both know a good amount of both, right? That’s different.”

There’s a smile to Etho’s voice when he speaks. “Tango and Jimmy?”

“Only if you’re calling Jimmy a builder,” Joel snorts. “In which case, you’re dead wrong.”

Etho makes a show of thinking—he props his chin up on his hand, taps his finger against his cheek. “Hm. You must be right. I can’t think of any other redstone-builder pairs.”

For some reason, something painful sinks through Joel’s stomach. He swallows it back, lets triumph color his tone. “Exactly. They’re too different.”

Etho drops his hand, lightly elbows Joel in the ribs. “Except for you and me, of course. We’re the exception.”

Joel’s mouth goes dry. He clears his throat. The pain vanishes, healed over with hope, surprise, a desperate need for attention filled—and he can’t even make himself disagree and argue, like he’d intended. Instead, all he can do is repeat it.

“We’re the exception.”

As he goes about his day, he barely even processes his actions—Etho thinks they work well together. Etho thinks they’re a match. Etho likes him, and his company, and his building skills, and his humor, and his bluntness, and everything about him.

And Joel’s really starting to think that he likes everything about Etho as well, as hard as he’d tried not to at the beginning.

They go down to the Deep Dark together the next day, and Joel’s trying very hard to ignore whatever his feelings may be on Etho. They can just—they can just be friends, right?

Friends who install proper stairs, of course. The way down takes forever.

“Creeper, behind you!”

Joel spins around, axe up, ready to defend—nothing. Etho huffs a little (again something now familiar that Joel had once taken to be a sign of disapproval), eyes crinkled almost all the way shut when Joel whips back around to him.

“Just kidding.”

“Oh, you cheeky devil—we need to trust each other,” Joel says, no real anger behind the way he shoves Etho lightly.

His palms seem to burn at the contact.

“I just need to make sure you’ll pay attention to me,” Etho says, and Joel has to wonder for a moment if he’ll ever have the problem of not paying attention to Etho again.

He doesn’t think he’s properly ignored his soulmate once all game, and in recent days, he can’t seem to pay attention to anything but Etho. He feels like he’s constantly thinking of him, wondering whether or not he’ll like the touches on the ship, wondering if he’s safe and who he’s with and if he’ll come home all right.

He hopes, a little enviously, perhaps, that Etho has similar worries.

“I am paying attention,” Joel says, and it’s perhaps the most honest thing he’s ever said, in all the games. “I always pay attention.”

When Etho responds, the mirth feels forced, and for a moment Joel feels almost as if he’s seeing Etho without his mask on. “You won’t ignore me in our ‘Relation’ship?”

“No, no, no. I never do.”

It’s true.

It’s so true, it hurts.

Joel—he doesn’t trust people. He can’t. And he’s sick of having to tell himself it again and again, but this just isn’t meant for him.

And then he forgets about it all, because they go into the Deep Dark and it’s bloody terrifying.

(Well, mostly forgets. Because he does walk behind Etho most of the way through the city and Etho—well. It’s a good angle for him, is all.)

That night, Joel lies in his bed on his side of the ship, and stares at the other side of the room. Etho’s sleeping—he hopes, at least—curled up on his side, a blanket pulled up over his head despite the summer heat.

Etho’s always cold, it’s practically his trademark. He’s always got that coat of his on, and gloves, and a mask.

He doesn’t wear the mask to sleep—Joel’s caught glimpses of his face while getting into bed, but he always looks away quickly—, but Joel has no clue if he wears the rest of his ensemble. Just the covers alone ought to be sweltering. Imagine a coat on top of all of that.

If they shared a bed, Etho would have to do away with that extra blanket. Joel could maybe tolerate a bedsheet, that’s it.

If they shared a—where did that thought come from?

But . . . well, Etho’s asleep. And thought isn’t a crime.

So Joel lies there, staring across the room at his soulmate, and wonders. Wonders about what it feels like to hold Etho in his arms, whether his elbows and knees are as bony as they look. Wonders if his hair is quite long enough to grasp between his fingers. Wonders if he’d still be all smooth words after Joel pulled down his mask, grabbed his jaw, and kissed him on the mouth.

Joel falls asleep a little red in the face, and the next morning when Etho does that silent crinkly-eyed laugh, he can’t help but stare and turn red all over again.

He pushes it out of his mind, and it’s through a feverish haze that he even gets through the week, even as they sneak around looking for sugarcane and messing with Scar and running from a Warden on the surface, of all places. He’s really quite occupied, but none of it quite computes when Etho’s right there, being devilishly handsome with that quirked eyebrow and white hair ruffled by the wind.

And the night after they’ve run from the Warden, Joel comes in a bit later than Etho—he’d been out gathering wheat a bit longer—to find that his soulmate has pushed their beds together.

His brain short-circuits as he blinks at the sight: Etho, one hand on the back of his neck sheepishly; the other still holding the blanket he’d been throwing across both beds.

“Is this all right?” Etho asks. Joel turns his blinking gaze toward him. “I just. I wouldn’t mind a bit of cuddling.”

There’s something in the way his eyebrows raise that tells Joel Etho knows exactly what he’s saying, exactly how Joel feels. The part of him that realizes that, that knows that Etho knows, wants to clap and holler and kiss that sexy man.

The rest of Joel, the main part of him, is trained to survive.

“Sure, whatever,” Joel shrugs, trying to affect an air of nonchalance. Etho can’t know. Etho can never know—and not that Etho can’t know just because he has a crush and it’s awkward, but because liking Etho is a weakness and Joel doesn’t have weaknesses, thank you very much.

And if Etho’s shoulders slump a bit at the response, Joel pretends he doesn’t notice.

And then the problem is, Etho doesn’t stop.

Joel makes it clear that he wants his space in bed, and Etho doesn’t encroach on that. But he does steal bites of Joel’s food, and sling an arm around his shoulder when they’re visiting the others, and boop his nose playfully when Joel starts to get angry at Grian for hoarding the sugarcane, and slowly look him up and down with a wink whenever he gets up for breakfast—

It’s maddening. It’s maddening, and every single night Joel lies there stiff as a board, inches away from Etho, trying to not let his thoughts wander to where they have so many times before.

He’s right there.

Every time Joel gets away on his own, he lets out a short, frustrated scream. And then he jumps off a hill that’s maybe a bit too high, if only to try and get Etho back for his teasing.

-

The fishing rods are possibly the stupidest thing they’ve ever done.

Not surprising, seeing as Grian’s at the head of this whole thing.

But Joel’s never been one for playing things safe, so he stabs the hook through the back of his shirt (he tugs on the line a few times, just to make sure it’s secure), then waits for Grian’s signal.

The first time is thrilling. The first time he flies up into the air, lands hard and laughs from the sheer adrenaline. Then he hooks Pearl, and Pearl hooks Etho, and they go up—

And Joel knows he’s in trouble for a split second before he’s dead on the ground.

He wakes up gasping, and there’s fire in his veins, there’s fire spreading all across his body and he wants—he needs to kill Pearl, needs her blood—

He rolls out of bed, scrambling for his chest and spare stuff, and then he hears someone else roll out of bed with a groan.

Joel turns, and Etho’s there, hungry fire in his eyes, and Joel needs him.

He practically tackles Etho, yanking down his mask—his lips are pink and soft and hot against Joel’s mouth, molten and perfect and everything he needs to stoke the burning inside—

Etho pushes him off (gently, somehow), and holds up a hand. Joel, somehow, manages to hold himself back. Etho’s—Etho’s right there—

Etho takes in a deep breath, and when he looks up, his eyes are crinkled in that perfect way and he’s smiling.

“Took you long enough,” he teases, and Joel lunges for him again.

-

Their next kiss is slower than that.

After they kill Pearl, and the pounding bloodlust in his head has quelled a bit, Joel leads the way back to the ship. He leans against the railing—and Etho leans next to him—and they  kiss.

It’s lazy, Joel thinks he would say. But not lazy in the way he might be with a build—skipping details and panning over mistakes—, lazy in a comfortable, staying-in-bed-late kind of way.

He kisses Etho, lazy and lovely, warm in the evening sun. And he really, really doesn’t care if anyone’s watching.

Let them watch, he thinks, with an almost vicious pleasure. Etho’s mine.

That makes something deep in his chest silently purr, almost, and when he pulls away to breathe, he clears his throat in a contented kind of way (not a growl, not a purr, but the closest he can get without outright embarrassing himself). Etho perks up at the sound.

“I forgot to tell you, I figured out what that sound you make reminds me of,” he says, and even the excited way he speaks sounds lazy and perfect.

Joel clears his throat again—and yeah, he does do it a lot, come to think of it. “Yeah? What’s that?”

Etho sighs a little bit, tips his head onto Joel’s shoulder. “A tiger. Have you ever heard a tiger chuff?”

Joel laughs at that—his soulmate thinks he sounds like a tiger chuffing, and it’s the most stupidly adorable thing ever.

“Why are you laughing?” Etho asks playfully, nudging Joel. Joel doesn’t answer, just chuckles and clears his throat—or, chuffs like a tiger—and plants a kiss on Etho’s head.

“We could go threaten Scar,” Joel offers after a moment. His blood is starting to boil again, and he knows from lonely experience that only violence can scratch the itch.

Well. Probably only violence. He does notice that it’s a decent bit quieter when he’s aggressively kissing Etho.

Etho stands up straight—taller than Joel when he does that, which is blummin’ obnoxious of him—and slowly, gently, lazily kisses Joel. It’s warm and measured, his tongue teasing at Joel’s slightly parted lips, and it seems to Joel that he only pulls away when he’s memorized the feel of Joel’s lips.

“That sounds like a good date,” he murmurs.

Joel grins, and Etho grins back, his eyes all crinkled, and Joel takes off at a run to swing himself over the opposite railing and climb down the ladder.

Etho catches up moments later, mask fixed back on his face, and Joel pulls out his spyglass to check out where the residents of that giant cake-thing are.

They’re right beside it, as it turns out.

“Scar’s holding a flint n’ steel,” Joel warns, shoving his spyglass in his pocket. “He already took down the Ranch, we might want to be careful of that.”

Etho only scoffs. “If the ship burns, everything burns.”

Unsurprisingly, Joel finds he agrees with that—not that he can ever imagine disagreeing with Etho. He nods.

“If the ship burns, everything burns.”

-

And after everything burns, they burn too.

They’re dying, Joel had come through the portal to find lava and pain, and he screams for Etho to turn back but even if he had they’d still be dead—

He doesn’t even have the chance to glance back at his lover before he burns.

He drifts for a little while, the bitter disappointment of his loss somehow distant when compared to the loss of Etho. The next game will start eventually, and when it does, there’s no way of knowing that Etho will even be there. After all, it’s picked up new players and dropped others as time passed. Joel can’t even remember the original line-up, it’s shifted so much and so many times.

When he lands in the next game, he doesn’t even check his comm before punching apart a tree.

The gimmick isn’t soulmates again, he knows instantly. He’d grown so accustomed to the pull in his chest of Etho that it aches now to not feel him.

(Or maybe that’s just his heart. Same difference, really.)

So Joel tries to put Etho out of his mind and move on with his life. They were never meant to last, anyway. That’s the thing about redstoners and builders—they never work out.

He knew that. He knew they never work out, and he tried to do something with Etho, anyway.

It had been fun while it lasted, of course. It had been . . . perfect, even.

But Joel’s always been a loner, and now that he’s got that Green-life clarity, he can go back to it.

He takes down another tree and has a crafting table and some basic tools put together when someone clears their throat behind him.

Joel jumps, spins around—

Etho’s there, leaning lazily against a tree, and—his eyes are crinkled in that way—

“Miss me?” he teases, and Joel barely has time to drop his wooden pick before he’s storming over, pushing Etho against the tree, tearing his mask down—

The kiss is hard and messy, teeth clicking together and lips sliding apart, and when Joel pulls away to gasp in some air, Etho’s cheeks are flushed and lips bruised and he’s still got that blummin’ smile.

“Right,” Joel breathes.

“Wanna build us a house while I go mining?” Etho offers, and forget whatever loser thoughts Joel had been moping about with! He’s got Etho, there’s no need to be on his own anymore.

Maybe they can even win it, this time. After all, they’re together from the start here. No more acting like an idiot about wanting to be alone or whatever.

Joel watches Etho head off into a cave, stone pick hefted over his shoulder, and can’t help the way his heart skips a beat.

Etho’s his, and when everything burns, they burn together.

[chishiyae]

— MISSION IMPOSSIBLE ! [𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜] hobie brown.

𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬 ┊hobie was bored, and you needed to get back to HQ for a mission. but he's also been wanting his brows slit, so what better way to keep you at home than to have you do it for him?

𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩 ┊0.9k words. gn!reader. hobie mildly frustrating the reader. established relationship. suggestive themes. reader is a spider themselves & is apart of spider society.

a/n. — idk how i feel abt this but here i go posting it … using @/jasminesfury dialogue prompt

almost everyone has an addiction, and hobie's (shameless) addiction was kissing you. he’ll seize any opportunity to catch your lips, no matter where you are or who’s nearby. truthfully? that's fine. you tend to give in to that craving, but not when you're trying to shave a clean slice through his brow.

"sometimes the urge to punch you is just — unbelievably strong," you sigh, setting your clippers on the bathroom counter.

"other times?" hobie spoke up, sitting too calmly on the toilet seat for your liking.

you simply glared. “less strong, but still there.”

when he offered the idea, you agreed only on the condition that it be quick enough for you to return to HQ in time for your next mission.

you could’ve finished all three of the brow slits he wanted by now. but, hobie kept disturbing your job by either not staying still or getting way too close to you. both were issues that lasted much too long — it's as if he doesn't want them at all.

hobie tugs on your belt loops, dragging you between his legs and, more crucially, closer to him. you push away, only for his arms to lock around you. making the idea of escaping practically impossible.

you sigh once more, your arms defeatedly limp on his chest. a brief moment of silence passes, with just the gazes you sent each other and tickling sensations of your boyfriend's fingers to remind you that you're not alone.

they also remind you that, as much as you wanted to stay in his hold, you had a mission to get to. one that couldn't easily be denied last minute.

"all you have to do is sit there and look pretty," you reach over to get the clippers. "it shouldn't be that hard.”

when he mumbles his reply, you're moving into a straddle position. both the shifting and the sound of the clippers muffled his words.

“huh?”

"d’ya even know how to do it? i mean, don’t you brush the brows before y’start shavin’?”

you raise your brow, the clippers in hand. “we’re supposed to be quick—”

“c’mon love, i want the full experience,” he argues, his calloused hands resting on your thighs.

your mouth opened to speak, but the sound of your watch cut you off. hobie's head tilts, his eyes scan you with interest, and you cast a short glance between him and the watch before answering the call.

for a millisecond, miguel's voice cuts in, "whe-" before your watch slid off your wrist. the slim hand that takes it away gets your attention.

“hey!” you grab for it, but he blindly throws it instead.

that shit’s gotta be broke.

you lowered your leg from his body, only to have him pull it back up. if looks could kill, your judgmental look on him would.

“‘m not worried, y’know i can make a new one,” he winks.

and he is capable. you and he are both aware of this. but that's beside the point. the gist is that you're trying to get to work, and he's preventing you from doing so. there's no getting around it. and he won't let you go until he has his new look. atleast, even if he doesn't, you'll have a better chance.

"after this? i'm never staying with you before a mission again," you mutter as you inch yourself closer to him.

you approached his right brow gradually and shaved an opening near the end of it. you cleaned it up with a razor, using a tissue to remove excess hair.

you concentrate on the hair you're working with, but your attention is drawn to the smirk on his lips. “what are you smirking at?"

“nothin’, just,” he shrugged, “got a new song idea.” at the mention of his music, he starts tapping one of his beats on your thigh. it's distracting, yet you let him do it anyway. the patterns alternate before the taps halt and a massage begins.

it's not consistent, but that's not surprising. the word even being one of his pet peeves. the way his thumbs circle the inner of your thigh was surprising — if not shocking, given how you flinched. each time they rose up, they seemed to move closer to your center.

“hobie,” you pull back, “cut it out.”

you can tell the confused look of his face is forced.

"or i’m gonna give you more than just a slit," you assert, pointing to his face.

shivers accompany his fingertips as they trace up and down your arm. "don't y'want me to look good when i'm on stage?"

"as if you need eyebrows to sing.”

"i said look good," he noted, lightly squeezing your arm.

“that either.” you roll your eyes.

the following moments are slow. everything seems slow, starting with you shifting closer to find a proper shaving position. he grunts, and you know it's because you're moving too swiftly on top of him, so you apologize.

he replies by kissing your cheek. it's comforting that even when he draws back, he stays close. dangerously close, even. it was a shame you felt his breathing. the twitching of your lips locking his gaze.

his eyelids begin to droop, as do his wandering eyes. you're trying hard not to look at him, but it seems as though your body has more control than your head. it keeps drawing into him, allowing him to press you firmly against him. allowing him to caress the side of your face and you to land your lips against his. those that don’t take action to reciprocate your movements. they do, however, smile. he fucking smiles and returns to his previous posture, "so we gonna finish my look or wha'?"

© 2023, CHISHIYAE

[alternautxyz]

uuhhh in other new that lmk s5 trailer dropped and people are very

mixed

for context the new season is being partly animated by wildbrain i think. flying bark is still working on the show but probably due to all the other projects they've been working on like the atla movie the animation is off.

its understandable that people are upset. lmk has some of the most consistently dynamic and lively animation ive ever seen, and going from that to ok animation kinda sucks. as a culmination of a lot of what the series has been building up to people were inevitably going to be disappointed

at the same time people shouldnt harass animators. like ever. no amount of trying to petition or anything will change the s5, people are just trying to do their job and theres no probably no major changing to the finished product by now. and theres still a lot of that lmk charm in there, and we haven't even seen the whole season yet to judge it. flying bark is still working on it, and even if the animation never reaches the peak of the old seasons it still has the same writers so at least the writing has the chance to live up old standards. idk though we'll just have to wait and see

[daily-kagami]

Day #73: Grown Up

[frothy-waters]

THESE ARE SO FUCKING OLD.. thinking abt them today, i miss old men yaoi

[syrupbitee]

WHY'S NO ONE TALKING ABOUT THIS I'M GONNA COMMIT MURDER

when sun wukong says "forever is a long time" his voice sounds nostalgic af, he's looking at those monkeys being happy, knowing nothing about the world but happiness. THEY'RE TWO. TWO. SUN WUKONG LOOKS AT THEM AS REFERRING TO SOMETHING

THIS SOMETHING. THE PAST. THE FOREVER IN THE PAST. HE WAS TALKING ABOUT THIS. SUN WUKONG REMEMBERED THIS. LIKE. WHAT HE PROMISED NEVER BECAME TRUE.

CRYING. BLEEDING. SUFFERING. SCREAMING

[imminent-danger-came]

was the peach being a metaphor in 1x06 foreshadowing...

You're damn right it was.

I've talked about it before in this post, but it's clear to me that MK only wanted the peach of immortality in 1x06 to become more like Wukong—or rather, to become more powerful/immortal like Wukong ("I just wanted to be good enough...like you" from 1x09 anyone? Tbh most s1 episodes are centered around MK wanting to be good/strong enough soooooo). The peach is a source of power/immortality, something both MK and Wukong have reached for at the expense of others:

Macaque: "No that's YOU! You're the one always running off! Looking for more power, more sources of immortality—you're the one who wouldn't quit while were were ahead!"

But, at the same time....the peach is a symbol of Wukong and Macaque's friendship:

The same way it was in 1x06 for Mei and MK:

The only reason either of them ever wanted power was to be strong enough for the people they cared about after all. The peach was a metaphor, and they "really wanted that peach"—it was a metaphor for really wanting friendship, and also really wanting power. Wanting their cake and eating it too.

I appreciated that the second time Wukong gives Macaque a peach, it's a "downgrade"—just a regular popsicle, versus a peach of immortality. Like being together is finally enough for Wukong, and it'll be enough to pull them through. (Which is something Macaque thought from the beginning: "Together there was nothing that could stop the two of them, either in the celestial realms or on earth" [2x07]).

Bonus detail:

MK in 2x07 attempted to bring his friends bags of peach chips. So. Whatever.

[sourbombz]

I love having a silly brain that goes "what if hyperfixation dies because havnt watched lmk for. Two Days." as if I havnt been binge watching other adaptations ??

[fluffypotatey]

hiiiiiii thinking abt how mei was super uncomfortable with the idea of mk visiting her house and all of the "normal kid stuff" she wasn't allowed to do and how she and mk share a lot of traits but only the ones that mei's parents wouldn't have approved of. mks literally like. the parts of her she doesnt want to bring home

HEYO! forgive me, i was asleep then had to get to class. also, i wanted to give myself time to actually talk about this because yeah

*pulls you down* listen, listen to me, until 1x03, MK had never even been inside Mei's house. he even states how he "always wanted to see inside Mei's Secret Dragon House," and Mei housesitting the place is the perfect opportunity for him to see what lies inside. AND! if you notice!!!

SHE IS SHOWN TO BE VERY UNCOMFY AT MK JUST SPECULATING WHAT "SECRETS" ARE HIDING IN THERE. INVITING MK WOULD BE THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT HER PARENTS ASKED HER TO DO!

but MK is so curious and he's her best friend and he might also just sneak in without her knowing.....so maybe she'll indulge him. housesitting is a lot better with friends than on your own.

anyway, if we go further into the episode, we see a Mei that is very different to our chaotic and confident gal. she's closed-in, cautious, nervous. unlike before, Mei is the one warning others not to touch things, to be careful, and to stay put. in previous episodes, we see her goofing off and being a little gremlin with MK while Pigsy blows a fuse over their antics.

not here though. this is her home. her clan's home. her clan's home full of ancestral heirlooms that she's been told all her lie to keep away from and not touch. respect your family and family tree is very important in Chinese culture (and many other Asian cultures but we're focusing just on one). even the language has different forms of formalities with addressing people (whether in the business environment, home, or school). but this is a very general observation, and i'm sure there are others who can talk about this a lot better.

however, Mei's family is very important to her character, so i will be discussing how it relates to her and her own decisions. on her own, Mei is very free-spirited and is more of a "punch first ask questions later" kind of person. when it comes to her family though, Mei is a lot more toned down and thinks first before acting. she is very aware of the priceless artifacts kept in her home (which is one factor on why she is nervous about inviting MK), and watching how she went about her home was like she was walking on eggshells. she doesn't want to upset and disappoint her parents.

additionally, Mei comes from a very well-off family. she is a part of the Western Sea Dragon clan. her ancestor is Ao Lie, the dragon-horse of the JTTW companions. why am i telling you things you already know? because it shows that Mei's family comes with a lot of history and recognition ("ancient noble dragons," as Mei had said). and with that, comes with the clan wanting to appear respectable in front of others. with such a high status, it is best to look the part, no?

however, Mei isn't really someone who fits into that noble lady box, right? she's outspoken, she's rowdy, she's impulsive. Mei even admit that as a kid she wished to do "normal girl stuff," stuff that wouldn't work out when your house is more of a museum than a home. i'm sure she did try to fit into that box for the good of her parents, but at some point, you come to the realization that that box will never fit you. Mei will never be perfectly noble or have the noble decorum that comes with her upbringing. she will never fit that ideal her parents raised her on (this is an assumption but also, it feels like a given?)

MK is the exact opposite of what Mei was taught to be proper. he is rowdy, likes to have fun, play video games, "roughs and tumble," and be impulsive. he is someone Mei definitely saw as the part of her she could never show her parents. how could they ever accept the side of her that does not care for strict decorum and keeping a house as a museum.

read this excerpt from her mom:

"We may not always see eye to eye, and your friends are...em, unique than we expected. But you are a part of this family, and it is part of you."

ignoring the incredibly sweet ending T^T the mother admits that Mei and her parents do have issues agreeing on what's best for Mei. there is love very clearly shown for between Mei and her parents, but there is still that distance between them. Mei is not the daughter they expected, and they don't always approve of her choices (her friends for example). so, we can figure that Mei is absolutely nervous about how her parents will feel about MK and whether that means they would stop loving her if she ever let down her walls in front of them completely.

[wildlyfreemoon]

ive been planning on writing a full fairy tail recap since last year and i got to lyon/galuna island arc but just havent continued since the beginning of the year...

i just wonder if i should finish before 100 year quest comes out

[redvanillabee]

One of the most memorable things about AC S1, from the time of the premiere to right now, is how blindsided people are by Daniel's anger in 1x07.

The funny thing is, if we have paid attention in 1x03, we really shouldn't be.

Look at everyone's reaction in the office after Krzeminski's death. Peggy is shaken but she is very preoccupied with Howard's case. Jack is upset but seems generally resigned, chiming in only to say he'll call Krzeminski's girlfriend. Dooley is like a commander at war: he is not losing anyone else on his watch.

Daniel, on the other hand, was livid. Look at what he says:

Sousa: Really puts you back there, doesn't it? Somebody buys it, you realize could happen anytime, any day. How did it happen? Professional hit. Him and our only witness. Must have been watching us at the scene. I knew something was fishy about that anonymous tip. Who does that? Peggy: A concerned citizen? Sousa: Concerned citizens call the cops. This guy called us directly. It's not like we're in the phonebook. Somebody targeted them, and I'm gonna find that bastard. [Lines taken from here]

He is damn rageful at this figure who, from his perspective, is one step ahead of the SSR since the club in 1x01, who led to the death of one of their own (and it could very easily have been Daniel himself; he was the one taking night shift with Krzeminski). He wants to take down this culprit, almost as an act of revenge. Couple that with how he has always seen Peggy as an ally, as someone in his corner, putting her on a pedestal, is it any wonder that he explodes in her face when, to his knowledge, she turns out to be the traitor?

And that just adds another layer to one of the themes of S1: that everyone has a past, and everyone has blind spots because of that. Peggy was valued during the war but is now sidelined, so she is wont to see everyone as an obstacle. Jack hides a secret and is...a sexist prick, so he can't see why someone like Peggy would sincerely devote herself to what he sees as a lost cause, among other blind spots. Daniel is a more straightforward and steadfast person who doesn't play games that way, and that makes it hard for him to see past that sincerity, to pander to the drunk from the docks and to stomach Peggy's perceived betrayal.

Even us as the audience are blindsided. We watch this story through mainly Peggy's lens. Heck, most of us started watching the show for Peggy; we were with her in CATFA and CATWS! In the Agent Carter short! In her AOS cameos! We are predisposed to like her and to only see the events of early S1 from her perspective!

Isn't this why everyone will keep being surprised by Daniel (and the rest of the SSR)'s reaction in 1x07?

[alternautxyz]

guys guyg uys the monkie kid soundtrack would have such a stranglehold of me if they actually released it i need the soundtrack out now

like the score is an essential part of so many of the most iconic parts of the show it adds so much emotion and gravity to the scenes

and i would honestly listen to it on its own on repeat is so good sounding with the melding of different genres of music

i know nothing about how music works but i’d really like to analyze all the the leitmotifs and sounds associated with all the characters and it would be a whole lot easier if they officially released it

anyways look at this please

tldr muisc goob pls giv eitt o us aaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[familyofpaladins]

now that monkie kid season 4 is all out now completely, my brain is bebopping between deciding which media to focus on, so help me decide which I should do (first?)

[onepiexe]

having a life has been weird