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kenobicoffee · 1 year

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Lavender Haze (by @kenobicoffee) a josh x reader fic (18+ MDNI)

A/N: It’s taken forever, but it’s here! Yay! Lemme know what I can do to get better, and leave a comment if you liked it!

Word Count: 3k, ~20 min read

Outline: You and Josh are getting high and watching music videos when you both get a little bit too turned on. Passionate making out leads to Josh asking very politely to eat you out while sitting on the couch as he jerks himself off to completion.

Trigger Tags: cussing, drug use (weed), period sex, oral - f receiving, masturbation, praise kink, sub Josh if you squint

Vibe Tags: romantic, eye contact, the FLUFFiest of smut, goofy ahh shenanigans, heavy musician vibes, lots of foreplay (patience is a virtue) theatrekid!Josh, poetry💕

————

“This is officially worse than the blankets,” you said as the soft Tennessee rain pattered away while the last track of an LP faded with a click. Josh sat up from his reclined position on the couch next to you, the warm glow of a lamp forming a halo around his sepia curls.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” he retorted, his buzz accentuating the midwestern drawl. He took another lazy drag of the joint you two had been sharing for the evening, and you shifted to look at him. Your gaze fell on the curve of his profile, and as he exhaled, you wondered for the millionth time what angelic painting he’d fallen out of to bring him here. Just seeing him lie there in the light of the evening made that pit in your stomach travel lower and lower, and you had to look away before your mind wandered too far where it shouldn’t go.

“Oh nothing,” you teased, arms crossed, “Just that I’m always cold at two a.m. when I wake up to find Puck has stolen all my blankets.”

It was this kind of banter that made him feel like home to you, like all of human history and art encapsulated his smile.

“How dare you besmirch the name of Mr. Goodfellow?” His voice had a regal air that might have sounded Shakespearian had his eyes not been half shut. “In this house? Blasphemy!”

“Joshua Michael, you are hogging that joint, and you know it.”

You stretched out your hand as he took one last dramatic pull, making sure to look extra innocent as he exhaled.

“I’m sorry mama,” he grinned, murmuring apologetically. “I’ll be good now, I promise. You want me to put another record on?”

“Absolutely not,” you said, “You’ll scratch it like you did the Bon Iver EP.”

He shrugged amiably and reached for the tv remote, “Guess we’ll do it the old fashioned way then.”

After several slow-motion clicks, he managed to open the Youtube app and a lyric visualizer for a psychedelic pop group began to play. You closed your eyes and breathed in deep, your nervous system beginning to level out for the first time in a week. With a heavy exhale, you started to melt into the cushions.

An arm pushed behind your back and around your midsection, and before you could register, Josh had nestled himself under your arm with his head on your chest. Instinctually you played with his curls, running your nails up the nape of his neck to just below his t-shirt collar. He hummed in approval of your light touch.

Soon, a down-tempo r&b tune was playing, and you felt him pick his head up slightly to look at the screen, “Oh shit, I forgot how incredible this music video is.” Your eyes fluttered open, nearly bothered by the interruption of your meditative state.

Colors and bodies flashed in and out of frame, and the characters leaned closer and closer till they were nearly on top of each other. They swayed and clung to each other's waists while a breathy vocalist sang of a need for touch, a desire to be felt. It was the kind of softcore thing you couldn’t quite pull away from, and you could see he was watching intently too.

“I love your algorithms–they don’t make any fucking sense,” you chimed in, hoping your nonchalant tone would hide how much you secretly enjoyed the mood shift.

Without breaking his focus from the screen, he began to run his fingers on your stomach, mirroring your scratches to his head and neck. “I can’t be defined, babydoll,” he responded, his delivery maddeningly vague. “You know the same production team worked on the video for…”

You lent an ear while he spiraled off on a tangent, seemingly unaware of the amount of lust that was building in you simply from hearing him speak. He was intoxicating, and even as blurry as you were, you couldn’t deny how welcome his touch felt. With every pass of his palm further up your torso, you hoped he’d overreach and graze your breast. And why not? You thought to yourself, What’s so different about tonight?

You surreptitiously shifted your body lower beneath him, the devil on your shoulders’ voice becoming almost unbearable. By the third or fourth song your pulse had quickened not insignificantly, and thoughts of him running his hand underneath your shirt to find your hardening nipples there had replaced all fuzzy exhaustion.

You tried to recall why a nagging feeling in the back of your mind kept steering you away, but it was all turning up blank in the thick cloud of dopamine. Still, you knew it couldn’t be nothing, and decided on compromise: One little kiss, that’s all. He’s not even paying attention. And so you brushed the curls away from his forehand and laid a deep kiss there. He was so warm against your lips it felt nearly impossible to break away, but as you did he quickly lifted his gaze to meet yours.

His lips parted softly as if to say something, then all at once they were on yours, moving with grace and hunger as you tugged gently on each other. He sat up straighter, lips never leaving yours as he balanced his weight on top of you. Your hands pressed firmly into his lower back, willing his pelvis to roll against yours, and you felt that same heat starting to build beneath his boxer briefs too.

You wanted to feel him, to hold his slight waist close to yours and run your fingers down his back till his whole body was covered in chills and desire. He broke temporarily from your lips and sighed as you ran your fingers from the nape of his neck all the way down to his tailbone. His chest pressed against yours and anchored you to the moment—two souls sharing a singular fluttering heartbeat.

His solid hands held your back and you reached to hang your arms around his neck. The movement forced him to burrow his nose into the crook of his neck, and he wasted no time peppering the delicate skin there with the same hungry kisses. You could feel the pressure leaving red welts that you’d have to attend to in the morning. Tonight though, they only served as proof of the affection he felt for you too.

He could’ve stayed content to hold you like that forever, but the building heat between you two was so saccharine, you felt you owed it to whatever hedonistic god to indulge yourself. Without hesitating, you slipped the neck of his t-shirt up over his curls and discarded it to the side.

The smile that met you was nothing short of a sunbeam. You could tell he hadn’t been sure what tonight held either, but every time you took initiative like this he knew it gave him permission to worship you like the goddess he always claimed you were.

He pulled himself to a seated position on the ground in front of you. You followed him forward while he settled on his knees, hands running up and down your body. They found the hem of your t-shirt and slipped seamlessly beneath to find your breasts. He held you steady as he rubbed your nipples in small, gentle circles.

You felt your back start to arch slightly at the pressure, and just as your kisses were gaining speed he reached a hand up to your chin and held you there, the other continuing its rhythm on your breast.

“God, you’re perfect in this light,” his words were breathy and sincere, and you wished with everything in you to swallow them whole and feel the light rush out through your pores. He set his lips to your jaw, inching further down your throat till he was nearly below your neckline.

“Help me out?” he breathed between quick kisses, never one to let clothing keep him at bay. You acquiesced immediately, pulling the edge of your t-shirt up over your head and out of mind.

Goosebumps covered your naked form, and you shivered. Noticing them, he paused his procession to run his palms up and down your arms. You grinned at him, jaw trembling slightly, “Sssee? Always making me cold.”

“You’re like poetry.” His voice was deeper now, deeper than you’d heard it in a while. His hazy eyes followed an invisible trail he mapped along your sternum, and the goosebumps multiplied. You saw the notch in his brow furrow as he began searching for something to say.

“I would not paint — a picture —

I'd rather be the One

It's bright impossibility

To dwell — delicious — on —”

Fuck.

“And wonder how the fingers feel

Whose rare — celestial — stir —

Evokes so sweet a torment —

Such sumptuous — Despair —”

“Oh Joshua,” was all you could breathe out in response, your chin jutting forward, crease on your forehead betraying how desperately you needed him. Your cheeks burned as he crashed back into you for a full and hungry kiss, his tongue reaching for more. Feeling your reaction, his hand traveled back down to your waistband.

Finally, like a ghost in the mirror, you recalled why you’d been so hesitant earlier. A millisecond to spare, you shot your hand down and caught his wrist. You could see a dart of panic in his eyes–he was afraid he’d upset you.

“Is this ok?”

“Yeah, yes, It’s just—” more color returned to your cheeks, and the words started to bubble over, “If you take off my pants it’ll get messy: it’s like, day four of my cycle. I totally spaced, baby, I’m sorry.” Your words were exasperated as you mentally kicked yourself for letting your brain fog this badly.

He pulled back to look you in the eye, faux sternness furrowing his brow, “Hey love?” You raised an eyebrow in answer to his sudden shift, “Full transparency: I couldn’t care less if you’re on your period, let alone what day.”

“Are you… are you sure?” Now your own brow was knit, skeptical of his sincerity. It wasn’t that you doubted him, simply that you needed confirmation. Your pulse quickened slightly and you focused your waning attention into his velvet brown eyes, searching for any apprehension he might have hidden for your sake. To your great surprise and relief, you could find none.

“I mean, god knows I’ve come face to face with a bodily fluid or two,” he flashed a devilish grin that spanned his entire face.

You quirked a small grin back, trying to feign indifference even while your heart was beating out of your chest, “Well, sure. I mean… really?”

“Really,” he continued, batting his eyelashes,“Maroon makes my eyes pop.”

“You’re a mess,” you said with a giggle.

“I will be.” He gave your waist a reassuring squeeze as he shifted his weight off his knees. “I’ll wear it like a badge of honor, '' he promised solemnly.

You thought about protesting once more just to check, but before you had a chance, his palms had slipped behind your lower back and he was pulling you towards himself. Your body shifted till you hung just barely off the edge of the couch, his hands effortlessly tugging your sweats and underwear off in a single tug.

“Theeeeere she is,” he exclaimed softly, a low hum building in his tone. With the shift in your weight came an equal one in mentality, and you felt your anxieties start to lift. It had been a while since you’d let him take full control, and the pure indulgence of it all was bringing a fire to your core the likes of which you hadn’t felt in months.

Slow and methodical, he parted your knees, gracing them with the backs of his fingers first, then tenderly running his hands along your thighs as he hummed softly, mostly to himself.

“Mmmm, it's like–what’s the new Hozier song?” He searched his hazy brain for the lyrics while he continued to run his hands along your skin, seemingly unaware of the tizzy he’d put you in. “I’d tell them put me back in, coach! Yeah, that’s the one…”

He tittered on as if speaking from an entirely different point of view, his words seemingly unaware of his thumb which was rubbing itself up and down your inner thigh. He swooped ever closer to your clit until he graciously pressed there in gentle circles.

“Take me to church!” He crooned, a lopsided grin washing over his face before bending to land soft kisses on each thigh. With a final glance up at you and the ghost of smirk that suggested he might be more coherent than he was letting on, his lips graciously smoothed over your sensitive clit. His tongue licked up your vulva to encompass all of you in smooth, wet pleasure.

“Oh god,'' you tried not to shout, although the work he’d done up to this point made you feel nearly ready to burst in record-time.

“Mhmm” he murmured into you. You could feel his lips smiling: he loved talking you through your pleasure. The rumblings always went straight through your center like electricity and gave you the deepest orgasms, which in turn fueled his.

He continued his sucking and tonguing, sometimes soft and light, then all at once more firm and deliberate. His lips were like waves crashing again and again to a steady unheard beat. As you found a common tempo your breath deepened with every exhale, and you released a sigh of your own. The melody, though quiet at first, shortly matched his in pitch and intensity.

He’d hum and you’d moan an echo to him, signaling your bliss in an ebb and flow of sounds shared between you; a language only you two could understand. His murmuring became groans and gasps as he came up for air, the temperature difference shocking your soaking cunt and exciting you even more. With each wave you ran your fingers through his curls, guiding his nose to press into you at the perfect angle, eliciting delicious moans which spurred the two of you on even more.

He clung to your hips as you began to roll yours into him, and he pressed his tongue greedily inside you, sending you dangerously close to the edge. “Baby, you’re doing so, so good, it might be soon,” you warned as you cupped his cheek in one hand, the other still pressing behind his neck to hold him in place.

He groaned and broke away with a smack, eyes half shut with the pleasureful haze filling both of your minds. “Hold on mama, I’ll get you there, I promise. Just gotta get these off,” he said, running his right palm down your calf to his boxer briefs. He hooked his thumb under the band at his waist while the other hand stayed anchored firmly on your knee.

The brief pause had pulled your mind temporarily out of the clouds, and you looked down to see that the arc of his cock was indeed reaching a fever pitch too strong to be ignored any longer.

“Oh god, baby I- I’m sorry I wasn’t even thinking, let m–” but as you went to sit forward the hand planted on your knee jumped up to your abdomen, pressing you back into the couch with a soft thud.

“Why are you saying sorry?” He stared directly into your eyes and continued pulling his boxer briefs off slow and deliberately. The question was as much a command to relax as it was an invitation to watch.

“If I needed your help, believe me baby, I’d ask.” His hand was on his cock now, already wet with so much precum, and the stare he was attempting faltered slightly as his fingers graced the tip.

“I’m not above begging–you know that,” he said, his voice gruff, erring a half step lower every time he reached the base of his cock. You felt your breath hitch, eyes flitting between his beautiful stare and his hand that continued stroking up and down.

“I bet you’d like that a lot, wouldn’t you?” His tone was darker, fueled by the eye contact, when suddenly—“Sicko!” he cried, his character voice nearly making you choke. You both erupted into bubbling laughter, and you shook your head slightly, brushing a rogue curl out of his eyes–He lets the intrusive thoughts win every time.

“Oh my god. Babe, you’re literally eating me out on my period,” you responded, dropping your hand firmly on the scruff of his neck again. He jumped slightly with the force of your grasp, and you could see his cock twitch the slightest bit more. You leaned in to match his energy, and with the darkest voice you could muster, confessed, “the sicko is you, darling.”

“Oh, right,” he said, a hazy smile floating back onto his face. His eyes closed as he lowered back down, “Right… fair point.”

His lips returned to your cunt, the promise of sweet release spurring him on to the finale. His movement was steady but desperate, and the smooth and consistent wake of your hips was shortly replaced by a more sporadic, forceful tide that pushed into him with vigor. He took it in stride, moaning as his own wake of pleasure began building in him.

You could tell he was moving his own hips at a quicken pace, as if imagining his cock was pushing deep inside you while he lapped at your drenched center. He spread his knees further apart, arching his back in order to bring himself closer to orgasm. His body was practically writhing underneath you, just the taste of you bringing him closer and closer.

The image of him completely at your mercy made every neuron in your brain fire simultaneously, and you moaned with a finality that let him know it was time.

Without warning his lips moved to encircle only your clit, and the focused sucking there sent you so dangerously close you nearly sobbed as you cried out, “Baby, come with me–on me, please.”

With a final cry you felt him oblige you, and he let out a long moan as you found yourself crashing into your orgasm. The release sent fireworks to your psyche, and he let you take over with your fingers the way you liked in the midst of it. He stood and watched you writhing with all the pleasure he’d given you, and with a final groan he joined you in ecstasy.

His head thrown back, he pumped himself onto your pussy, his mess joining your own and adding to the pleasure you were currently riding yourself through. Placing his free hand to your side, he knelt down closer and rubbed the sensitive head of his dripping cock in the folds of your vulva, spreading around his cum till both your sensitivities had become nearly too much to handle. Even then, he continued rubbing the shaft of his cock on your throbbing cunt till you gasped slightly from over stimulation.

His forehead met yours wordlessly, and you stayed there for a moment, breathing heavy from exertion. He sighed as he let his body flop down next to you, temples still touching. You ran your fingers up and down his arms, body still stuttering in the afterglow. The exhaustion was setting in, and you had to force yourself to open your eyelids to look at him–you needed to kiss him one more time before you fell asleep. He too had his eyes closed, a bleary smile playing across his face as if he were replaying pictures of you in his mind. You kissed him softly on his nose, still slightly wet and rosy, and his eyes fluttered open. As your pulses returned to their normal pace, he grabbed a blanket to clean you both up.

“We can wash it,” he said reassuringly, noticing your slightly reluctant side eye. Blanket in tow, he cupped his hand gently around your pussy and worked softly to make you feel as clean as possible. Once he was satisfied with his work, he tossed the blanket away to pull you in closer.

“You are entirely too good to me,” you whispered, the siren song of sleep finally taking its toll.

“You are entirely too good, momma,” he whispered back, and you both slipped away as the rain sang you into the deep blue.

#gvf fics #gvf fan fiction #josh x reader #greta van fleet #josh kiszka #gvf #greta van fluff #greta van smut #greta van fic #greta van fleet fan fiction #my first fic #my first smut

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jessicalprice · 2 years

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i am emily kaldwin, the most considerate sociopath

(reposted from Twitter)

Okay, so can we take a moment to acknowledge that MAYBE the reason the world of Dishonored 2 is so fucked up is because they spend all day looking at the incredibly fucked up art on their walls?

Like, here in the parlor we have this quaint sepia-toned memento of the time that Grandpa and all his friends got eaten by a giant squid:

And what art do we keep in the bedroom, you ask? Perhaps a nice soothing floral? Nah, it's the time we encountered a naked yeti or some shit in the forest:

And in this cozy sitting room we have art about getting lost in a hell dimension.

And here in this fine palace we have

I dunno

the mothman I guess:

(These details are a big reason I love this game.)

If you don't want to read the news while you're in the W.C., you can gaze on this...

this

I dunno, maybe this is Dishonored 2 firemen? maybe this is their equivalent of a swimsuit calendar? who knows

Pretty sure I magicked up onto this very ledge like 2 minutes ago--this is their equivalent of those overly flowery hometown pride pics of your local downtown:

Why have an oil painting of some renaissance dude in a ruff when you can have one of an out-of-work mime staring adoringly at a mosquito:

YAY OUR FAIR NOT AT ALL DYSTOPIAN CITY like I think this was from the tourist bureau:

I mean, sure:

You know, having a very normal breakfast next to The Hole:

some people have pictures of tropical birds or wild horses or their pets

some people have nightmarefish

here in dishonoredland we only have nightmarefish

takes all kinds to make a world

but I mean all the mirrors look into the abyss instead of showing your reflection so

our fair city pt 2

another thing they like to do with their art is hang paintings of the EXACT ROOM YOU'RE IN, except with no people in it

ok I actually legit want this one

that time when the Flying Dutchman docked here

we do love our undead captains of industry

we are certainly, absolutely, very normal sailors, and not at all The Damned, cursed to rove these wretched seas until we find new souls to take our places

Okay but real talk time:

The name of the game in this, er, game named Dishonored 2 is BODY MANAGEMENT, folks.

After you take someone out, you gotta hide the body or guards come and also you stress out your citizenry and you're the empress (on the lam) so that's irresponsible of you. Their wellbeing is your responsibility.

And you pretty much have to at least choke everyone out so they don't see you and attack you and also for peace and quiet because if the citizens see you carrying the guards' bodies they start screaming.

The citizens are WAY HAPPIER if they're unconscious.

So you gotta choke them out but like there's all this shit that wants to eat them: bloodflies, rats, probably other people, idk.

So you have to put them somewhere safe once they're unconscious, which usually means up high--

oh btw this game was made by cats, the floor is lava, never walk on the floor when you can climb on shit, you'll die

--so anyway, you've got all these people you've knocked out and you have to put them somewhere safe and it's tidier if you put them all in the same place, also you don't want other people seeing them because seeing bodies stresses your subjects out.

So step one is you gotta find a place to put the unconscious bodies up high and out of sight.

So I found this weird 2nd floor dentist's office with no stairs or anything so the only way you can get up there is by magic, so when they wake up they'll feel safe:

I am such a good empress

they love me

There are even these bloodfly zombie people called Nest Keepers who are basically walking plague machines but I knocked that guy out too instead of killing him because I am merciful. But the bloodflies killed all these people in that house so there were a ton of bodies that I had to put somewhere.

I mean, no one was going to see them because the house was condemned, but it wasn't tidy.

So I needed to get them out of the house but running all the way down the stairs to carry them one-by-one was a lot of work so I just threw them out the window

and then I heard screaming

so I guess some people saw them

probably should have choked those people out first, don't want them stressed.

But anyway I tidied up that house (body-wise, anyway--I feel the need to smash everything that's smashable when I leave a place so if I come back I remember that I looted it--but you have to be careful bc sometimes if you smash things near an unconscious person it kills them and you’re their empress and responsible for them so you don’t want that).

So then I went outside and decided to get down to business, putting away the bodies.

But then I found the Nest Keeper and he was dead, so I guess when the normal non-zombie people saw him they freaked out and killed him?

Anyway, so I was luring guards over and choking them out and putting them in the dentist's office so they'd be safe and then I saw this and was like OH SHIT WHAT HAPPENED HERE:

And then I realized those were the dead bodies I'd chucked out of the bloodfly house and maaaaaybe the guard got hit with a dead body and died.

I feel kind of bad.

But anyway, moving on, step 2 is you gotta find a place to put the DEAD bodies because you don't want your citizens seeing them and getting upset, and also it's not very tidy to leave them lying around your city, that's how you get ants.

So I found a very convenient tidy dumpster for the dead bodies:

I felt sorta sad when I put the nest keeper in there.

sorry, my dude, people can be jerks

I should have put him in the dentist's office first

or shit maybe it was throwing him out of the window that did him in, but once they're unconscious they're usually pretty bouncy. Like babies.

And I really thought the guard was dead from being hit with dead bodies but as it turned out they'd somehow just knocked him out and I didn't even have to chloroform him or choke him out.

To the dentist's office!

I was carrying this other guard and a guard came at me so I sorta had to chuck the unconscious dude at him which somehow killed them both and I was sad.

The physics here are a little odd.

Okay and the guards had hanged a bunch of people which, fine, I guess, but the game WILL NOT let you cut the bodies down and it's bothering me because they really need to be taken to Body Stash #2.

This is very untidy.

So anyway, when you smash most things they disappear, so I spent a while cleaning up the city getting rid of all these unwashed dishes and putting all these bodies away.

It's much tidier now, and quiet with everyone unconscious.

No one wants to play video games with me

which is fine, I guess

not after Skyrim and my collecting all the brooms and buckets and putting them in the Janitor Closet House

#dishonored 2 #emily kaldwin #jessica plays video games #arkane games #in prey they had those spheres that disintegrated everything in a room #my space station was so tidy #cleaning #minimalism #art #video game art #mothman

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centrally-unplanned · 2 years

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The (After)Life of Haibane Renmei: Part 1

Haibane Renmei was my favourite anime as teen, a trait I am definitely not alone on, for how it showed up at the right time. I was young and introverted (still the latter, not the former...) but while I knew how to socialize I kindof didn’t know...why? I was late to figuring out how to care about people, and I only really started to figure that out in my teens. Haibane came along for me right at the height of that struggle, being released in 2002 and growing into prominence in the western anime fandom in 2003. I was 16 I think when I first saw it, and it was hugely inspirational for me. First anime I showed my high school girlfriend when we weren’t even dating yet, jesus she definitely liked me if she put up with that (the wisdom of hindsight); “Its…slow?” “Yeah but give it 5 more episodes, trust me”.

Why I am not alone on torturing prospective partners with Haibane comes from the way what the show hit the expectations & desires of the early 2000’s weeb space. It was a fantasy series, sure, but the most grounded fantasy series you could imagine. The stakes are entirely personal and emotional, its episodes focused on first Rakka’s, then Reki’s, internal struggle to justify living with and depending on others. The fantasy setting is built up, but only incidentally - instead it serves to isolate the characters, to render Reki & Rakka unable to connect to outsiders in a way far more powerful than the modern world can provide. Rakka’s “plot beats'' are things like burying a dead bird in the bottom of the well and listening to riddles on the Circle of Sin from monks and just thinking about them, and the climax of the series is portrayed with full magical realism, but in actually is just Reki having a panic attack in her room - throwing dramatic paint on the walls doesn’t actually change that. You get all that edgy cred - oh all the Haibane are suicide victims getting a do-over and their names & dreams are derived from their suicide method of choice? Fucking metal - but its mostly off screen, the average Haibane is living a happy life. Its all so grounded, hell even down to the color scheme; sepia-toned in an era of hyper-bright digipaint anime.

Full kino - Lo-fi edition.

Digging even deeper into the themes, I think Haibane, for western audiences, was ahead of the curve in its level of internality. Haibane is a hyper-deep dive into the question of how to relate to others, “the struggle of being known” and how wounded people build healthy relationships. The finale is just all lines like this:

Vintage depression-core I know, but it works for the show. The duo’s angst is resolved simply through coming to terms with it, not through overcoming it. Reki's fears don’t go away at the end, Rakka simply accepts them as part of Reki, which is what she needed to start accepting them herself.

There were very few western TV shows on air with this focus on interiority at the time. Shows about social relationships often premise their drama on big events and external occurrences (and are normally romances). More exciting…but less relatable. *Certainly* for the emo kids, who were burdened by existence, not specific events, in a way that never seemed solvable. And while there was maybe a few similar western media properties around, in the early 2000′s you couldn’t think of *anime* like that that western audiences were watching. The earlier eras of anime we got were heavily biased towards action shows, with a dash of comedies or romance. And for a certain kind of nerdy online type it being anime was critical, we liked anime, we liked its design sensibilities, its beauty & idealism, its easy flirtations with fantasy and the unreal. A show like say MTV’s Daria, with all its ugly cynicism, is great but it's not filling the same role. Haibane in particular was realistic enough to be a mature story, not a “friendship, yay!” tale, but still have anime’s Romantic touch. The Haibane are just us...but they have wings and a halo, ‘cause they are just a little more magical than us. Relatable and aspirational, at the same time, the magic combination that lets one sink their identity into a character on a screen. Haibane helped a class of people be seen.

All this leads to Haibane having the ultimate rep of being “not like other anime”. Trust me, you heard this alllll the tiiiime on the anime forum/blogosphere. It is so meditative! It doesn’t have any fighting! No fanservice! If you liked anime’s aesthetics, but hated a lot of the baggage that the genre came with in the form of its tropes, Haibane had you covered. It was the most unique show you could find on air that was still comprehensible, grounded the way the “mindfuck” pantheon (Eva, Lain, FLCL, etc.) could never be. It was the mature, hipster pick for those of us sneering at the shlock of Elfen Lied and co that the other half of the emo teens demo was embracing at the time.

For all of these reasons, I loved it, it was my favourite show of all time. It was a love letter to the depressed internet teens we all were, and no one else was writing with the same pen for that target audience. It was the only show in town.

Or so we thought in, ya know, 2003.

#anime essays #haibane renmei #should be 4 parts

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freyayuki · 1 year

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Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia Iris Amicitia and Tifa Lockhart Banners

The Act 4, Chapter 2, Part 2: Sepia-Toned Memories story chapter event just started in the Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia (DFFOO) mobile game. This event came with 2 banners.

Act 4, Chapter 2, Part 2: Sepia-Toned Memories Banner 1

The Act 4, Chapter 2, Part 2: Sepia-Toned Memories banner 1 features the following chars and their weapons:

Iris Amicitia from Final Fantasy XV (#ad) - 15cp, 35cp, Ex, LD, Force or FR, and Burst or BT

Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII - Force only

Cait Sith from Final Fantasy VII - 15cp, 35cp, Ex, and LD

Oerba Yun Fang from Final Fantasy XIII - 15cp, 35cp, Ex, and LD

Iris is the latest playable char to be introduced in DFFOO so have none of her weapons. Have a copy of Fang’s LD that hasn’t been limit broken at all. Other than the aforementioned weapons, already have everything else on this banner.

Act 4, Chapter 2, Part 2: Sepia-Toned Memories Banner 2

The Act 4, Chapter 2, Part 2: Sepia-Toned Memories banner 2 features the following chars and their weapons:

Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII - 15cp, 35cp, Ex, LD, Force or FR, and Burst or BT

Iris Amicitia from Final Fantasy XV - Force only

Adelbert Steiner from Final Fantasy IX - 15cp, 35cp, Ex, and LD

Oerba Dia Vanille from Final Fantasy XIII - 15cp, 35cp, Ex, and LD

Have everything on this banner except for Iris’s FR and Steiner’s LD.

Thoughts about Iris Amicitia from Final Fantasy XV

Been hearing lots of good things about Iris Amicitia from Final Fantasy XV, and I do like her well enough, I suppose, so it was always my plan to pull for her with gems.

She’s a really good support slash healer slash buffer. She has an instant turn rate move that can speed up the charging of the force gauge. She can deal pretty good damage too.

Act 4, Chapter 2, Part 2: Sepia-Toned Memories Banner 1 Free Multi-Draw Tickets Results

Have 3 multi-draw tickets that can be used on either of the Act 4, Chapter 2, Part 2: Sepia-Toned Memories banners. Decided to use all 3 of these tickets on banner 1.

The first ticket gave me a dupe of Cait Sith’s 35cp. Meh.

The second ticket also gave me a dupe of Cait Sith’s 35cp. Ugh. Bad pull is bad.

The third ticket gave me a gold orb which turned into a dupe of Fang’s 35cp and my very first copy of Iris’s LD. Nice.

Act 4, Chapter 2, Part 2: Sepia-Toned Memories Banner 1 Multi-Draws Results

Currently have 1272070 gems on hand. Here are the results of my multi-draws on the Act 4, Chapter 2, Part 2: Sepia-Toned Memories banner 1:

2/11, came from a gold orb - dupes of Iris’s LD and Fang’s LD

2/11, came from a gold orb - dupes of Fang’s Ex and Fang’s 35cp

4/11, came from a gold orb - dupes of Fang’s LD, Cait Sith’s 35cp, and Fang’s 35cp as well as my first copy of Iris’s 35cp

My next multi-draw only gave me a regular blue orb so wasn’t expecting much from this pull. Got yet another dupe of Fang’s 35cp.

But then, after Fang’s 35cp appeared, the animation changed and suddenly a Force weapon was showing up. To my surprise and relief, this turned out to be my very first copy of Iris’s FR and not a dupe of Tifa’s FR. Yay. Super pleased to see this.

Now I just need Iris’s BT and Ex then I can be done with this banner. Well, I need her 15cp too but I can just use my Weapon Tokens to exchange for a copy of said weapon.

4/11, came from a gold orb - dupes of Fang’s 35cp and 15cp and my first copies of Iris’s 15cp and Ex

Hell, yes! Now I just need Iris’s BT. Hope I can get it soon.

2/11, came from a gold orb - dupes of Iris’s 35cp and Cait Sith’s Ex

My next multi-draw gave me a Force orb, but since I already have both of the FRs featured on this banner, wasn’t as excited to see this.

This pull gave me dupes of Fang’s 35cp (why do I keep getting this?), Cait Sith’s 35cp, Cait Sith’s Ex, and Iris’s FR.

2/11, came from a gold orb - dupes of Iris’s 15cp and LD

Iris BT, doko da?

My next multi-draw gave me another Force orb. Ahh, wish I could get a Burst orb instead.

This Force orb turned into dupes of Fang’s Ex, Iris’s LD, Fang’s Ex, and Tifa’s FR. Wish that Tifa FR dupe had been Iris’s instead since I already have all of Tifa’s weapons fully MLB.

4/11, came from a gold orb - dupes of Fang’s Ex, Fang’s 15cp, Fang’s Ex, and Cait Sith’s Ex

3/11, came from a gold orb - dupes of Cait Sith’s 35cp, Cait Sith’s LD, and Cait Sith’s 35cp

2/11 - 2 dupes of Iris’s 15cp

Argh! What’s with all these crappy pulls? Wish Iris’s BT would show up already. But it looks like I’m gonna have to pity it. Sigh.

2/11 - dupes of Iris’s 35cp and Cait Sith’s 35cp

3/11, came from a gold orb - dupes of Fang’s LD, Fang’s Ex, and Fang’s LD

1/11 - dupe of Iris’s 35cp

1/11 - dupe of Fang’s 15cp

Eff this banner and this game.

2/11, came from a Force orb - dupes of Iris’s FR and Tifa’s FR

And that’s it. Down to 1187070 gems, and I now have 400 G Tokens for this banner, the exact amount I need to exchange for Iris’s Burst weapon.

Ugh. So freaking annoyed that I ended up having to pity Iris’s BT. This is like the third Burst in a row that I had to pity.

Recently, also had to pity Cor Leonis’s (from Final Fantasy XV) BT and Rem Tokimiya’s (from Final Fantasy Type-0) BT too. I talk more about that in this post and this post.

At least Iris’s FR and the rest of her weapons all showed up on the way to pitying her BT but still. Wish I didn’t have to spend this much again for like the third time in a row.

I really hope I won’t end up having to pity the next Burst weapon that I want to get.

Although I still have lots of gems and tickets, it’s still frustrating and annoying to have to spend so much multiple times in a row. If something like that ends up happening often enough or even all the time, then I’m gonna quickly run out of resources.

Act 4, Chapter 2, Part 2: Sepia-Toned Memories Banner 1 G Token Exchange Shop

Anyway, went to the Act 4, Chapter 2, Part 2: Sepia-Toned Memories banner 1 G Token Exchange Shop.

Exchanged 400 of my G Tokens for 1 copy of Iris’s Burst weapon.

Now I finally have my first copy of Iris’s Burst.

Iris Amicitia from Final Fantasy XV

Leveled Iris to 90 and got her to Crystal Level 90. Completed all of her Force Enhancements, Summon Boards, and Character Enhancement Boards. Bought her Bloom Stone.

Bought and upgraded all of her armor, including her High Armor. Also spent the Book and 3 Ingots needed to Blue Iris’s High Armor.

Was able to fully MLB Iris’s 15cp, 35cp, and LD without having to use a single Power Stone.

Only got 1 copy of her Ex so had to spend 12 Power Stones to fully MLB it. Then I spent the Book and 3 Ingots needed to Purple it or get it to Ex+ 3/3.

Got a total of 3 copies of Iris’s FR so needed to use 4 more High Power Stones in order to fully MLB said weapon.

Then I spent the Book and 3 Ingots needed to Green Iris’s Burst weapon or get it to BT+ 3/3.

Now my Iris is nearly complete. Just need to farm for triple of her perfect Artifacts and equip her with 3 real Spheres.

The co-op that has Iris’s Artifacts isn’t available yet so farming for her Arts is gonna have to wait. Still thinking about what Spheres to equip to her so that’s gonna have to wait as well.

After thinking about it some more, decided to equip Iris with the following real Spheres:

Firion’s (from Final Fantasy II) HP Heal Boost Up Longer A Sphere

When recovering own HP: • Raises own MAX BRV by 10% for 6 turns

Rude’s (from Final Fantasy VII) HP Heal Boost All Shorter C Sphere

When recovering own HP: • Raises party's MAX BRV by 10% for 3 turns

Beatrix’s (from Final Fantasy IX) Critical Boost All Longer D Sphere

After dealing critical hit: • Raises party's MAX BRV by 5% for 6 turns

Much later: the co-op event that has Iris’s Artifacts is finally here. Spent some time farming said co-op so now I also finally have triple of the best Artifacts for Iris.

Now my Iris is fully built and complete. Can’t wait to try her out in some endgame content.

Conclusion

So, what about you? Did you pull on either of the Act 4, Chapter 2, Part 2: Sepia-Toned Memories banners? What do you think about Iris Amicitia, Tifa Lockhart, and all the other chars featured on these banners? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below or by reblogging or replying to this post.

Notes:

screenshots are from my Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia game account

#dissidia final fantasy opera omnia #pulls for these chars:#iris amicitia #tifa lockhart #cait sith #oerba yun fang #oerba dia vanille #adelbert steiner #final fantasy 7 #final fantasy 15 #final fantasy 13 #final fantasy 9 #gacha games #dffoo #dffoo free pulls #dffoo ticket pulls #dffoo banner pulls #dffoo gem pulls #games

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meant-to-be-a-hero · 2 years

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Season Four, Episode One: The Dark Moon

Okay, Season Four's probably my least favourite I think? Or at least in my memory, we'll see how we go as we go.

What do I remember?

Liam's here, we like Liam.

Baby Derek!

Peter's the Big Bad because of course he is, but Kate's here too

The whole Hit List thing

Mason Dye, playing an asshole again

Scott McCall Is Best Alpha

We're in Mexico, so everything is sepia toned, of course.

"This is the stupidest plan we've ever come up with." - Jesus, that's saying something.

Evil Grandmaaaaaa!

"Where does a teenage boy get money like this?" - Good question, yeah.

New opening sequence is very dusty.

Kira dances like she's being electrocuted, I approve.

Yep, homoerotic lesbian dancing is the perfect distraction.

It's nice for the Pack to have the upper hand for a change, even if it's only for a minute.

There goes that upper hand.

The Calaveras don't even have Derek, do they? Kate's got him, given how last season ended.

Malia's worldview is always funny. "If the hunting was bad that year, I'd eat her."

"I want to know what kind of Alpha Scott McCall is." - The best kind.

This line of questioning feels silly. Why would Scott know who took Derek if he literally came to the Calaveras because he thought they had him?

Could they not have just told him Kate was alive? Was the electrocution really necessary? Overdramatic assholes.

Yay, Braeden!

Exposition time! Have some flashbacks.

The Calaveras should have just killed Kate themselves and saved us all this hassle.

"What kind of shape is sociopathic bitch?" - Line of the episode, well done Lydia.

Oh Roscoe, one of your convenient breakdowns.

Ah it was sabotage. I'll let him off then.

This is another season that comes full circle, I'm sure we end up here again for the final fight with Kate and the Berserkers.

Dating advice before a fight to the death seems appropriate.

Creepy Aztec temple is creepy.

Scott used Primal Roar! It's super effective!

Baby Derek, my beloved. His clothes should really be too big since he shrunk. That's some considerate magic.

#Teen Wolf #Lem's Teen Wolf Rewatch #Beware The Liveblogging Lem

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msdanvers · 4 years

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gif coloring tutorial

for @sappho-mia

a photoshop tutorial on how to make gifs that look like the ones in this gifset. I will only explain how to do the coloring, so if there’s any other part of gifmaking that you’d like for me to explain, let me know and I’ll make another tutorial or send you some tips!

I’ll show you how to go from this:

to this:

1. exposure

shows have the lovely habit of underexposing every scene, but you don’t want people looking at your gifs like this

so: time to brighten that shit up!

I have a psd (an edited version of the one in this tutorial by @redkrypto) that I use and adjust for basically all my gifs, but for the sake of this tutorial I’ll do this step by step.

photoshop has a few good options for changing the exposure. first, go to window > adjustments to get this:

which is your biggest friend. the ones on exposure are these 4:

I’ll be honest, I have no idea what the difference between levels (the second one) and curves (the third one) is. they both adjust the tone of your gif - with the option to make the dark tones, the light tones and the midtones either brighter or less bright, separately. this’ll make your gif look less flat!

let’s take a look at levels:

this might look daunting but I promise I don’t really know how to read the histogram either, I just use the little sliders (cyan) and see how it looks. you can also use one of the eyedroppers (red) and click on a part of your gif that you want to be black, white or grey, and the rest of the image will adjust to this. it might be a little too intense - in that case you can lower the opacity of the layer (see image below).

then there’s brightness/contrast and exposure. the difference between these two is that brightness will mostly affect the parts of your image that are already bright, while exposure will affect the whole image. the exposure window has another option I use often too, gamma correction. with gamma correction you can change the gamma levels of your gif, and I have no idea what that means but it sure does look good lmao

there not one ‘right’ way to do this, so just play around a little and see which ways you like the most :)

after brightening, our gif looks like this. yay!

for comparison:

2. coloring

I remember feeling very overwhelmed with all of photoshop’s options at first. I will discuss all of the ones I used to create this gif, but you definitely don’t have to use or understand all of them in order to make beautiful gifs!

two adjustments I use in pretty much every gif are hue/saturation (cyan) and selective color (red).

first, selective color. selective color basically gives you the option to single out a color in your gif and change it. the most important thing to understand here is which colors are opposites: red and cyan, green and magenta, blue and yellow. so if you’d want your yellows to be green, you use the magenta slider.

for the gif we’re making, we want kara’s cape to stand out, because red is going to be the only color left. these are the settings I used:

now it’s gonna look a little oversaturated, but we’ll fix that later on. I also made the yellows more red and less yellow and increased the blackness a little.

another way to make a color stand out is by removing the other colors -- the background is mostly yellow, green, cyan and blue. so we’re gonna go to hue/saturation and completely remove their saturation, which will make the wall behind them look gray.

in the saturation window, you also get the option to reduce the lightness (and the hue, but we’ll get to that later). reducing the lightness does not do the same thing as increasing the blackness in selective color: reducing the lightness will give it more shadow, while increasing the blackness in selective color will make for example a lilac go to a purple, or a red to a deep red.

for our gif, I reduced the lightness (-13) and the saturation (-3) of the reds. now it looks like this:

the next step will make the gif look weird at first but after we add the other layers, it’ll look better. go to adjustments > photo filter and select ‘sepia’ (it’ll be a warming filter first - click on that and you’ll see all the other options). then increase the density:

next, we’ll move to channel mixer. channel mixer is one of my favorite adjustment layers because it’s the easiest way to make your colors look really different. there are three channels (red, green and blue) and the best way to use it is to just try things out and see how it looks. my settings for this gif were:

then I added another saturation layer and reduced the saturation for the yellows, greens, cyans and blues, and removed the saturation completely for the magentas. for the blues, I also decreased the lightness, and for the reds, I changed the hue a bit so it looks less yellow:

another selective color layer (with opacity and fill both at 65%):

then add a gradient map (bottom right in the adjustments window). make sure it goes from black to white, and isn’t reversed. this will make the gif look a little softer! opacity: 20% fill: 50% (or your whole gif will be black and white)

increase the red saturation a bit and increase the blackness with selective color, so it’ll look like this:

see if your exposure needs some tweaking, remove all the colors you don’t want (the background is mostly yellow now) and add another photo filter, a cooling filter this time, and set it at 4%.

finally, one last selective color layer:

and that’s it, we’re done!!

3. some final tips

it matters which layer is on top. if you use selective color to turn all the green into cyan and put a saturation layer on top of that, not a lot will happen if you increase or decrease the green saturation. but if you increase the cyan saturation, every part that photoshop recognizes as cyan now will become more saturated.

some scenes are a lot harder to color than others, and you’re allowed to just ignore the existence of those scenes. :-)

use folders or “groups” to put layers together. my psds are very chaotic but this helps me find things!

when making a set, your gifs should look good together, not just on their own - sometimes seeing my gifs together makes me realize I need to change the coloring / brightness in some of them. to make sure this realization doesn’t happen when I’ve finished all of them already, I always put them in a tumblr post in my drafts while I’m still working on them.

use creator tags when posting your gifs. so don’t just tag it as “supergirl” but also “supergirledit” and not just “kara danvers” but also “karadanversedit” - this is the easiest way for other people and other creators in your fandom to find you! if your set doesn’t show up in the tags (when you search supergirledit and click on “recent”), send me a message and I’ll help you figure out what went wrong.

try to make your coloring match the ‘mood’ of your gifset - is it dramatic? soft? angsty? romantic? should there be intense contrasts? lots of reds, or calmer blues? same goes for the font you choose, but that’s a whole other tutorial (that I am probably not qualified to give haha, but I can point you in the direction of some people that are really good at it!).

you’re going to make a lot of gifs you don’t like, and that’s okay. it doesn’t mean you’re not good at it, it means you’re learning and improving! and it can also mean that you forgot to turn off the night shift on your laptop and your ‘red’ gif turns out to be... definitely not red. lol

if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!! good luck & have fun :)

#completeresources #allresources #gif tutorial #coloring tutorial #photoshop #photoshop tutorial #ps tutorial #dailyresources #mytutorials #I didn't use color balance for this one but that's a very useful one too!#and vibrance too #though that one makes ALL of your colors more vibrant and that's not always ideal

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zhowongli · 4 years

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footprints in the sand

notes: merry christmas, shin! being your secret santa and having the chance to get to know you were some of my highlights of these past 2 months :") i hope you like your present! merry christmas again, and happy new year! 💖 @gojjo

wc: 2.5k

summary: for once, kuroo does not look back. - kuroo centric, bokuroo

To Kuroo Tetsurou, family has always been the definition of love as he knows it. Love, he thinks with his six-year-old mind, is being happy despite scraped knees and dropped ice creams. He loves his mom, who holds one of his hands, his older sister, who holds his other hand, and his dad, who holds his sister’s hand. In those moments when his family is all together, Kuroo feels like he can conquer even the hardest kanji he’s learning that day or successfully hit the volleyball before it hits him.

As such, Kuroo loves going to the beach because it amplifies what he sees love as: his family is together, the skies are clear, and they can all play to their heart’s content by the end of the day. He loves wiggling his toes in the sand with his family. He loves leaving his footprints in the sand, marking his presence on this Earth, and he hates seeing them go so he keeps on retracing them. He loves watching the water crash into the shoreline as he jumps into the waves with his older sister, laughing without a care in the world. He loves building sandcastles with his dad and creating new stories about the imaginary residents of the castle. He loves eating shaved ice with his mom and hearing her soft laughter as she wipes away the mess he makes. He just loves them, loves life, loves love because it never fails to make him smile, never fails to make him feel like it’s truly the most magical thing in the world.

But for something that’s supposed to be the most magical thing in the world, love sure is fragile, Kuroo thinks bitterly, as he watches the slow decay of the warmth of his home turn into a cold house full of only memories. His older sister still holds his hand and tells him love will always find a way, but he thinks love must have lost its way when his parents separate and take his sister away. In a new city with an absent mother and a workaholic father, love becomes something that seems so dull.

His grandparents, of course, notice his downcast eyes and distant responses, so they take him to the local beach one evening. When he wiggles his toes in the cold sand under the setting sun of blended reds and pinks, he cries. He misses his parents, his home, the love that is his world as he knows it. His grandma pulls him into a hug and whispers comforting words, and his grandpa wraps his arms tightly around them both. For a while, he feels so warm, so loved, and he thinks that maybe love isn't completely lost, that love may just be in a different form.

When he finally stops sobbing, he thinks that while love as he knew it is different now, the love he knows now will be still as good. While the hands he's holding now aren't his parents', they are equally as warm. As he retraces his earlier steps that are now washed away by the ocean, he stomps extra hard to leave a deeper imprint and wishes that the ocean won't take them away. When he finally looks up and sees the soft glances between his grandparents and the tenderness in their eyes and honesty in their smiles, he thinks that maybe love isn't so breakable after all, that there is hope that love is still the most magical thing in the world.

~☼~☼~☼~

Kuroo is thirteen when he revisits the beach. He thinks of the text message on his phone and the worrying eyes of his grandparents during dinner, and he can't help but think that this really is over, that love is over. Nonetheless, he doesn't want his grandparents to worry, so he tries his best to keep his smile through jokes. Act normal, act natural becomes a mantra in his mind until he almost starts to believe it.

But when the clock ticks twelve and rings in a new day, he finds that he cannot sleep, cannot escape from the three weightless words sitting in his phone and heavy on his mind. He gets up and quietly puts on a jacket and his shoes before he tiptoes out his window.

The beach has always been a sort of solace for him. It reminds him of happier days in the past, when life was full of love and laughter, and it gives him hope for the future, where life will be full of love again. He is currently in the middle, in between a spot where he believes in love but love does not regard him. Now, he thinks that love may have abandoned him as he takes out his phone and stares at the text from his sister.

"mom's getting remarried"

In hindsight, he's not that surprised. The love between his parents, his family has long faded into sepia photos of the past, but he just couldn't help but hold onto a small ray of hope that maybe, just maybe love will return. He scoffs at his thoughts as he throws a rock into the ocean. It doesn't skip and sinks, and he almost wants to laugh because he feels that. He just wants to close his eyes and sink into the ocean of memories where his mother feeds him shaved ice on a hot summer day and holds his hand when he's too scared to go to the bathroom alone at night, where his mother is more than just an idea of someone who used to be here.

He walks aimlessly around the beach, each step is taken with another memory he has of his family, of love, and he finds that he keeps on looking back at his footprints, looking back as the waves kiss the shore and wash away his mark. He's angry, upset that the ocean is taking away the last means of his existence, of a love that no longer exists in this world, and he stomps even harder into the sand.

On his way home with blurry eyes, he accepts that this is now his new reality. He realizes that he doesn't understand what love is, that maybe he doesn't want to understand. Maybe love is just a fleeting concept of happiness, that love isn't so beautiful after all.

~☼~☼~☼~

Bokuto Koutarou comes crashing into his life just before he turns fifteen. If the world is a stage, then it is meant for Bokuto and his two-toned hair and loud presence on the volleyball court. He has so much energy, so much passion, and the way his every movement is so graceful despite his powerful presence amazes him.

Kuroo never realizes how bright Bokuto truly shines until he smashes the ball across the court, scores a point, and starts yelling a series of "hey" with the brightest smile. Soon, as he keeps getting blocked, his smile turns into a small frown until he feels so small. Kuroo thinks it's hilarious, but he also admires him a little bit for being so direct with his emotions. He's glad he sees Bokuto, sees Fukurodani in action before their game tomorrow.

Funnily enough, they meet in the showers after the day ended. Kuroo is humming a familiar tune from the science anime he's been watching, and as he hits the chorus, the door to his shower stall swings open. Bokuto stares at him in excitement, eyes sparkling and lips grinning. "Is that Dr. Stone?!"

Kuroo can only stare at him, frozen in shock. His mouth hangs open and his hands are still shampooing his hair. "Uhhh," he finally answers, "Yeah."

"Oh, yay! I love it! The science-y stuff is kinda confusing, but it's a lot of fun!! I'm really hooked on it!" Bokuto continues the conversation. Kuroo really wouldn't have minded it if Bokuto didn't interrupt him mid-shower by swinging his shower doors open.

"Oh, cool. I like the science-y parts too, but I get where it can get confusing," Kuroo nods in agreement, "Uh, do you mind if we continue this conversation after my shower?"

"Oh… Oh!!! I'm sorry!!" Bokuto immediately apologizes, "I just got excited!!!"

Kuroo laughs. It's been a while since he's met someone so interesting. "It's okay," he reassures, "I'll see you in 10."

Bokuto bobs his head into a series of quick nods before he leaves.

~☼~☼~☼~

When they hold an impromptu beach volleyball practice - or really, it's just mostly Bokuto, Akaashi, and him messing around - after training camp, Kuroo realizes that he hasn't had this much fun at the beach since his childhood. He's not sure why, but Bokuto has this power that makes him live, to just be, to just exist at this moment. Maybe that's why when the two of them combined, it is the definition of chaos that leaves Akaashi sighing before joining in.

As he looks at Bokuto trying to catch the waves, he thinks that maybe Bokuto is kind of like a wave. Like the first wave of the ocean crashing into him as he walks alongside the shorelines, Bokuto comes into his life the same way - by surprise, loudly and unapologetically, and it leaves him shaking to the core. Unlike the ocean waves that unkindly take away his footprints, he finds that Bokuto is the kind of wave that takes your sadness and brings it to the ocean with his boisterous demeanor.

He thinks maybe friendship too, is a form of love. One that isn't hand-in-hand with your parents as you play on the beach or sinking rocks on a lonely night, but one that is devoted and consuming, fun and loud, one that will make footprints in the sand with you by your side as he glances at his friends on his side, leaving a trail of footprints alongside his to let him know he's never truly alone.

~☼~☼~☼~

He’s not sure how he ends up at the local beach with Bokuto. The skies are clear, and the sound of the waves brings him back to his childhood days when his family is still together and love is in the form of his family. As he sees a lone boy sitting by the edge skipping rocks by himself, he remembers coming here by himself at thirteen, lonely and sad because love fails him. After all, it ends so effortlessly, so suddenly when his mother remarried. When he sees the bickering friend group sprinkle around the beach, it reminds him of the days when he would come here with his friends and learns that friendship is also love too.

“Hey,” Bokuto asks, head tilting to one side, breaking Kuroo out of his reverie, “Wanna build a sandcastle?”

Kuroo blinks once, twice before he laughs. It reminds him of his younger days when he’s building sandcastles on the beach with his dad, feeling like he’s on top of the world. When he sees Bokuto Koutarou, he learns that love can be rebuilt, that love is friendship but also volleyball rivalry and casual hangouts, heated cheeks and flustered stuttering, beating hearts, longing eyes, and lingering touches in between chaotic shenanigans.

“Let’s do it,” Kuroo grins easily and Bokuto mirrors his mirth.

Their sandcastle is nothing perfect or extravagant like the ones he used to build with his dad, but he finds that he couldn’t bring himself to care. This messy sandcastle, sloppy and flawed, is the most perfect one he’s ever built. It’s full of chaos, but it's holding its ground against the rising tides. It’s full of love as he knows it at eighteen.

Love, Kuroo realizes, is not what he expects. He knows love comes in many forms, and while he believes in love, loves love, it is a concept that seems so distant and foreign to him. He expects it to come in the form of someone gentle, someone who comes subtly, but love comes crashing in the rambunctious form of Bokuto Koutarou, boisterously laughing his way into his heart. The transition is quiet, soft, but love shines so brightly when one of his best friends is standing beside him, shouting something at top of his lungs as he watches the sunset. The fading oranges hit Bokuto's features, and it amplifies the natural glow of his personality, his sparkling eyes, and hearty laughter. He knows he can trust Bokuto, but love is just such a scary thing to fall in. So, he tries it out; he falls freely anyway.

"Hey Bokuto!" Kuroo starts, thoughts falling back to the four-letter word he's been thinking about a lot lately, "Catch me."

"Huh?" Bokuto barely breathes out as Kuroo sprints - quickly, purposely, desperately. As he leaps into the air, he can only fall, fall, fall, and hope that Bokuto catches him, that he doesn't have to be afraid, that he isn't the only one who sees the world in colors and feels the flutters of his heart.

He does. Bokuto naturally catches him with a grin on his face. He tilts his head in confusion as he holds Kuroo up. He doesn't understand where this came from, but he looks into Kuroo's eyes intensely and honestly anyway.

"I got you."

At those three words, Kuroo grins and accepts the deafening beat of his heart. Seeing his smile, Bokuto smiles too. His brown eyes flicker towards the fading oranges and reds of the sun, and as the ocean sparkles in liveliness, he feels the pulsing of his heart and finally realizes that the love maybe also like this - easily, full of laughter and crazy shenanigans, like someone who will catch him even when he's afraid to fall. He's not sure if it's love yet, but he's sure it's something because it feels like his soul has finally found someone to come home to.

Kuroo is eighteen and possibly in love, but he's not sure if he's ready to say those words quite yet. So, he settles for a short, “You’re awesome.”

Bokuto's laugh resounds loudly in the air and the sparks in his eyes shine brighter than the setting sun. There's a softness in there that makes Kuroo think maybe he isn't the only one feeling this way. In between soft, almost hesitant brushes of calloused hands and quiet laughter along the beach, Kuroo thinks that maybe he's not the only one dumb and in love.

After all, it seems like they do share the same brain cell most of the time anyway.

As they walk on the beach, toes wiggling in the sand and hands hesitantly, shyly touching, his habit of retracing his footsteps comes creeping into his mind. He always retraces them because he wants it to last, wants the world to acknowledge his existence, but when he feels Bokuto’s callous hands in his, he feels like he already won the world, that he’s okay that his existence is just briefly beautiful in this world, that love is finally here to stay.

He feels Bokuto squeeze his hand, and he smiles and does not look back.

#animangasecretsanta #animanga secret santa #bokuroo #kuroo tetsurou x bokuto koutarou #kuroo x bokuto #my last 2 brain cells #ahhh shin!!! merry christmas/happy holiday love!#it has been such a great honor to be your secret santa 🥺#i've never written bokuroo before so i hope it's okay!#i hope you had a good day at work <3 #sending you lots of love as always! 💖#sometimes i write things #also thank you annette for helping me with this and em for giving me confidence!! 🥺

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elle-smells · 4 years

Note

hey sorry this is just a thought dump about roche cos you seem super excited about it too

but i am sooo stoked that not only are we getting our first remake in the southern hemisphere (how?!), but also we’re getting a show about peruvian young people by peruvian young people which is huge

and then on top of that, we won’t be seeing the show through a global north white savior lens (and no, like, dirty or sepia toned filters too)

ahh sorry again for the dump i’m just feeling so many things i thought they were only doing scripts and now i see they’re actually making the thing yay

Hii please come to talk to me about Roche whenever you want really kjhsdjfsdf

Literally Yes to everything you said. I mentioned once how it makes so excited that this isnt a company trying to get views and profit, its literally young people with a passion project that is coming true! That is enough to make me so incredibly exicted I could talk about it for hours but you pretty much put my thoughts into words kdfjhsdkjfsd Im still not over how happy it makes me that its happening aahhh

#i repeat pls come to my inbox to scream anytime you want dkfdfds #ugh and the white saviour thing is so important too!!!#you said it anon this has the potential to do a 180 on the perspectives we've seen so far #Anonymous

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fullmetaldevil-blog · 5 years

Text

Stitched AU: Halloween Birthday Bash pt. 2

Lol boy these pages are rapidly racking up along with the demon count.

October 30th has arrived with the awaited guest arriving along with some more surprises. Allison is pulling out all the stops to accommodate her guests while Tom has a little project in store. It is a time of learning as they all learn a little more about each other and the gaps once filled with hesitation and fear are slowly being fulled with understanding.

I hope you all like the story as I got 1 more chapter to go then this tale is at an end. It’s gonna have to run past Halloween as life is slowing things down a touch.

SINdy belongs to @trashboatprince

Ben and Shadow belong to @zanzaflux

Bendy belongs to @soniccrazygal

There are guest mentions of Gingie who is SINdy’s adopted grandfather figure who is owned by @pipesflowforeverandever

On with the show~!

October 30 (SINdy’s side)

SINdy was up bright and early since he was excited that the day had finally arrived for him to meet Benny's parents. His mother said that she would welcome him in her home regardless and that he shouldn't worry. He had to admit he was still nervous and wanted to make a good impression, but he really didn't have much in the terms of a gift. He couldn't exactly wander about the studio and the only thing the music department had to offer was various instruments and sheet music. He glanced down at the folder he put together with his dad's help before looking back at the ink puddle that lead him to Benny's world. He hoped everything would work out ok, he really liked the idea of being able to come over and to not have to hide. Taking a deep breath and resecuring his present he pushed a glove into the ink and stepped through.

SINdy's gloves were the first to come through the portal as they firmly held onto his gift and sign. However the rest of him wasn't so fortunate and his body tumbled ungracefully out the portal firmly panting his face onto the pillows that Benny kept on the floor for him.

'Thank heavens for the pillows' SINdy's sign read as he sat himself up before standing and lightly brushing himself off. He quickly double checked his package to make sure it wasn’t damaged before walking to the door. His hand hesitated on the door knob, he had to admit he was a bit nervous, but wanted to look on the bright side of things and summoned up his courage and opened the door.

SINdy’s eyes grew wide as the backyard was dyed with pale yellows and blues of the early morning sky. Small dew droplets kissed the grass and some of the flowers that had yet to open their petals to welcome the dawn of the new day. He stood there admiring the yard before spying a cluster of large orange objects with black markings in them. Taking caution to avoid the damp grass the cardboard demon approached one of the objects realizing it was a bag and that faces has been painted on them. There was even one of him! He giggled silently to himself as he eagerly looked over the bag before remembering his reason for being there and carefully stepped towards the back door. He stood before the barrier that separated the portion of Benny's world he traversed and the rest of his friends world that was off limits. He gingerly lifted a hand up and knocked on the door.

---- Benny's side ----

Allison danced about her kitchen twirling pots and pans of as many breakfast items as she could think of. She knew her own demon had a sizeable appetite and wasn’t certain as to her soon to be guest for the weekend, let alone the guests that would come a bit later. It was a good thing Tom had agreed to be her errand boy to make trips to the market for her so she can supervise the events. A grin graced the womans face as she set down a bowl filled to the brim of sliced fruits as she took a step back to look over her table.

The table was covered in cut fruits, sausages, french toast, waffles and the batter for the pancakes that just needed to be whipped up and thrown on the stove along with the eggs and this little feast was done. Allison hummed as she grabbed her whisk and began to stir the batter when a small knock at the back door caught her attention. SINdy had arrived. Setting the bowl and whisk down she wiped her hands on her apron and strode to the back door opening it.

Before her stood a small demon the same height as her son and ironically yellowish just like him, but almost like the yellowing of paper rather then sepia tones. However this little demon before her had very off model round yellow eyes and pupils which would have come as a small shock if she hadn’t seen Benny’s drawing of his friend in advance. What surprised her was what looked like ink lightly dripping from his eyes and part of his widows peak, something that she took as a sign of stress which she was guessing was normal for this little demon. A pink heart resided in the toons chest which was the heart she assumed was the heart that Benny had mentioned that if pulled out, Confessional will come out. A bright smile graced his features as he set a folder down and held up a hand. Wait. There was no arm attached. It was just a floating glove while his other hand held up a piece of cardboard.

'Good Morning Mrs. Connor. Nice to meet you, my name is SINdy!'

Allison looked down at the little cardboard demon before she bent down and gently scooped SINdy into a warm hug. "Nice to meet you too SINdy." she chuckled. She had to admit she couldn’t find it within herself to be afraid of a little demon that reminded her so much of her own. SINdy was being so polite and formal she found it too adorable to not pass up.

SINdy was shocked by her hug, he wasn’t expecting such a kind and warm welcome from the start. He wasn’t even getting many whispers from her as he would with some of the other people he’s met.The few whispers he did hear were small regrets that he remembered Benny telling him about and that they were things beyond his mother's control. She was a kind soul who deeply cared about her family and friends. He happily wiggled in her arms wearing a huge grin, she liked him and was accepting of him! His excitement paused when he felt her drawing him towards the house.

His hands shot up waving at her before pointing towards his sign.

'Wait. I brought Benny a present!' He pointed down at the folder with a little ribbon tied around it.

Allison cradled SINdy in one arm and grasped onto the folder with the other. "How about I hide this for now until it's time to open presents. Ok?" SINdy quickly shook his head in agreement before he found Allison gently poking him in his nonexistent nose. "For now how about joining us for breakfast?"

'Yay!' SINdy swayed in Allison's grasp before he was brought into the home and she closed the door.

SINdy stared wide eyed into the kitchen at all the different items that he's seen in other universes. He even recognized some items he's seen at grandpa Gingie's. He didn't know Bennys family had similar things. Allison chuckled at the small demon who frantically looked around the room trying to take in the sights. She gently set him down watching him wander around while she pulled out some plates from the cupboard.

"Want to help me set the table? They'll be out once they start smelling the food." Her voice drawing SINdy’s attention to her as she held out a small stack of plates.

'Sure!' SINdy happily accepted some of the plates from Allison and she showed him how to set up the table before she resumed mixing the pancake batter before pouring small amounts into the pan while sprinkling in a few white chocolate chips.

Allison watched SINdy out the corner of her eye as the little demon paced back and forth around the table helping to set up. It was like watching a version of Benny wandering around, it warmed her heart that Benny's friend really was a sweet little boy like him. She felt some of the tension leave her shoulders as she turned back to continue cooking. She realized she had nothing to worry about with this little demon. Humming drifted through the air to accompany the sizzling sounds of the pancakes that no where near rivaled their sweet smell. It was making her mouth water. She quickly laid out the last of the pancakes before starting to cook the eggs. After a time she felt a small tug on her pant leg and looked down to see SINdy holding his sign.

'I finished setting the table. Now what do you want me to do?' He tilted his head slightly.

"Well if you want, you can start eating first since they are taking their sweet time getting up." Allison gestured to the table with all the food before pouring the scrambled eggs into a bowl.

At her comment SINdy's eyes went wide at all the food she had prepared. Sure he saw it when he was setting the table, but he thought it was only for the family. He looked back at her confused while the words changed on his sign.

'You mean, I can eat breakfast with you? I didn't set a plate for myself. I thought it was just you guys so I put the spare away.'

Allison looked at the table only seeing 3 plates, she chuckled before looking at SINdy. "Silly of course you're eating with us. Why else did you think I asked for you to come early. I don’t invite anyone over early and not feed them like I would my own."

Allison soon found SINdy leaning against her leg with his gloves grasping onto her before one glove floating up with 'thank you' written over and over along with a heart. 'Huh, this must be how he hugs' she thought to herself while watching the little grateful demon.

"Now go sit at the table while I get you a plate."

SINdy nodded and immediately booked it to the table trying to get onto the chair while Allison had gone to the cupboard to pull out a plate and cup before grabbing a fork. When she turned around she saw the little cardboard demon struggling with getting onto the chair. She chuckled and set the plate down before gently lifting him up onto the chair properly. Once he was properly situated he flashed her a big excited grin before looking over her shoulder and somehow his smile got even wider before his sign floated up.

'BENNY!'

Allison looked over her shoulder to see Benny standing in the doorway with his father completely gobsmacked. The plushtoon was too shocked for words as he looked at SINdy then at Allison in a mix of shock and confusion.

"W-what's going on?" The toon finally locating his voice.

Benny couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Sure it was normal for SINdy to come over, but they always stayed in the hut. What was he doing in the house, let alone at the breakfast table? What’s going on? The plushtoons mind raced a mile a minute trying to process what was going on while Alison looked at his confused face chuckling.

Allison checked on SINdy making sure he was situated at the table before leaving to attend to her own demon. She bent down and gently rested a hand on Benny's shoulder. "See 30 years ago Thomas finished the prototype ink machine at this time. Not long afterwards you were born so while your Birthday was technically the 27th, we decided to celebrate it alongside Halloween since they were so close. After learning about your friends I decided to invite them over to spend the day with us on Halloween. Since SINdy was your best friend and the only one who is still in a version of the studio, I invited him to come early to spend 2 days with us."

As soon as Allison's words sunk in Benny firmly attached himself to her in a tight hug happily squeaking away before words finally formed. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Benny couldn't believe it. Not only was his folks trusting his friends, but they even invited them to come over to spend time with them all for his birthday! He would have never have thought that his friends would ever be able to come over and spend time with him openly rather than hiding in the hut all day. His dreams of wanting to play openly with them was becoming a reality.

"Now they can come over on the promise that they behave themselves." a rough voice sounded from behind. Benny turned to see Tom scratching the back of his head while yawning. "As long as they behave they can come freely in the house."

The older mechanic soon found a demonic anklet as Benny released Allison and glued himself to him happily squeaking his thanks to him as well. While Benny was being affectionate, Tom looked up at the small demon at the table whom Allison had described him as Benny's best friend. Tom carefully strode to the table with Benny still on his leg before holding out his hand to the cardboard demon.

"Nice to meet you. As I'm sure you heard from Benny, my name is Thomas Connor." Tom tried to smile, but it was cracking as he was trying to pry Benny off with his spare hand which was proving to be difficult as the devildoll was firmly glued to his leg.

SINdy could hear the whispers of Tom's past, the regret, the pain and all the negative emotions he had with his dealings with the ink machine. But they were whispers as the man was trying to fix his mistakes as he was trying to be a father to the results of the ink machine. Even though at the moment Benny still hadn't let go of his leg despite his father's efforts.

A smile grew on SINdy's face as he reciprocated the gesture slightly shaking Tom's hand while he held up his sign. 'Nice to meet you as well. My name is SINdy. Thank you for allowing me to come over.'

Tom nodded before bending down using both hands to finally pry Benny off his leg. He chuckled before setting Benny down next to his friend at the table before grabbing a coffee mug from the cupboard. Allison sat down and started dividing out proportions of food to the chattering demons. SINdy's eyes were sparkling as Allison loaded up his plate with white chocolate pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage and a few pieces of fruit. Benny had a good sized stack of waffles and fruit he was pounding down eagerly with Tom telling him to slow down that the food wasn't going anywhere. SINdy was initially shy about eating because of his second mouth, but after some encouragement from Benny he finally started digging in. Allison and Tom were both surprised by the second mouth that split SINdy's head in half but considering their own demon has a mouth that spans the length of his stomach they weren't too surprised. SINdy's smile grew a little more when he realized that they didn't seem to be bothered about his eating method and simply asked him if he wanted more pancakes. Though Allison was quick to notice that Sindy had yet to touch his orange juice and realized that with how his mouth works that he would spill it all over himself since it didn’t open the conventional way. She briefly left the table and got him a straw for which he happily thanked her and proceeded to enjoy the citrus beverage alongside Benny who was already on his 2nd glass of milk.

Tom quietly watched SINdy eat, studying how his 2nd mouth worked and mused to himself of seeing Benny and his friend SINdy both having their second mouths out in full chasing after something. It wasn’t surprising that Benny had a friend that was just as much a bag of tricks as his was. Though he wondered if SINdy was like Benny and had a monsterous form as well since the two were similar. Curiosity was getting the better of him, but he decided to let sleeping dogs lie and not ask.

"So SINdy" Allison's voice sounding above the pleased hums at the table. "Tell us about yourself. Do you have any family?"

SINdy's sign floated above while the words formed. 'As Benny told you, I live in the studio still and am trying to find a way out with my father. It's been hard because it's just the two of us as the Ink Demon in our world is trapped with us. He stalks the halls and is really scary.' A small frown formed on his face.

"I see" Allison gave a sympathetic look, understanding a little more about the demons situation. "So how's your father, is he doing ok with you being here?"

A bright smile swiftly returned to SINdy's face 'Yep! He's doing fine and he's resting in his department right now. He's the one that gave me permission to come on the promise that I'd be careful.'

"Department? What area does he work" Allison smiled while listening to SINdy's story giving him her undivided attention, Tom on the other hand opted to leisurely listen while sipping his coffee.

SINdy made a silent laugh 'Oh, he's in the music department. After all he is the director of the department, Sammy Lawrence.'

Tom sprayed his coffee choking at the cardboard demon's comment while Allison looked at him wide eyed at the reaction. The older mechanic taking a few breaths before composing himself. "Wait. Sammy Lawrence, as in the Sammy Lawrence head of the music department. Mr drama queen Sammy?"

SINdy tilted his head slightly at the comment confused. 'Yes, but he isn't a drama queen'.

Benny saw the look on SINdy's face and opted to clarify. "See in our world we have a Mr. Sammy Lawrence as well, like your dad he is also the director of the music department. Well former director as we aren't in the studio anymore. Our Mr. Sammy is really fun to play with. He comes off all stuffy, but after awhile he relaxes and livens up a bit. He must get along really well with Henry and Tom cause his face turns red every time they go over the photo albums and he shouts a lot about the photos demanding a copy. He must really love them."

It was Allison’s turn to nearly spray her beverage, but she barely managed to try and contain herself as best she could. It was cute to think that Benny thought that Sammy's face turning red and his shouting was because they got along. The reality was both Henry and Tom were like vultures circling a carcass with Sammy as he was a very easy person to get riled up. It was even easier as the family album was full of tender or hilarious moments involving much of the former staff and the toons. It just so happens that Sammy gets very worked up about his photos as he likes to think he holds himself to higher standards even though under that hard nosed exterior is a man who cares about the demon’s well being. If anything Sammy is embarrassed he got caught showing his feeling and Tom and Henry pounce on him every time.

SINdy gave off a peal of silent laughter before he held up his sign. 'My dad is really nice. Though cause of the ink he has his occasional moments but he recovers quickly enough. My dad loves reading to me. Sometimes we go in the recording booth to play some music together since it's mostly soundproof.'

"Sounds like your father is a really nice man" Allison chimed in as she set more pancakes on SINdys plate.

'Yep! I love him this much!' the little demon smiled brightly while spreading his hands out to emphasize his point.

Meanwhile Tom wore a mischievous grin on his face while drinking his coffee. He couldn't wait to tell Sammy about his 'son' from another dimension. The former music director would have fits, shame he wouldn't get to see it though, but hearing the conniption would be just as satisfying. Little did SINdy know, he just gave the aged mechanic plenty of ammunition to go harass their former coworker. If Tom were a toon himself he would be sporting his own set of devil horns and a pitchfork as he was looking forward to a little later in the day when he knew Sammy would be awake.

The remainder of breakfast went by with SINdy and Benny both polishing off the reminder of the meal and both volunteering to help Allison with the dishes. She laughed as Benny dried the dishes and SINdy raced around putting them away. The chores went by like clockwork and they had the kitchen cleaned up in no time.

"Allright boys come with me into the living room." Allison gestured while grabbing a small stack of holiday magazines. She was met with two grinning faces as Benny and SINdy followed her into the living room.

Allison had the boys sit on the couch while she laid out the magazines on the coffee table. The pamphlets were covered in Halloween costumes and decoration ideas. The two demon's eyes sparkled at all the different concepts ranging from child friendly to horror show. They never knew there was so many different things for Halloween. Each toon lightly fingered through the stack giggling at all the ideas, though at a few points Allison had to wonder if it was excited giggles or of them getting a mischievous idea.

"What do you boys want to be for Halloween?" Allison's voice breaking the toons out of their giggle fest.

"Hmmm…" Benny lifted up a magazine that held different costumes designs and started to flip through the pages.

SINdy grinned before holding up his sign 'Grandpa Gingie gave me a shark costume!'

SINdy reached behind himself and pulled out a blue and white costume. He hopped off the couch and pulled the costume over his head and let it slide down letting the shark hoodie rest on his head. A huge grin rivaled the fabric teeth that lined the hoodie as SINdy happily showed off his costume. He loved the costume because it didn’t require arms!

"Awww that's so cute" Allison cooed while Benny cheered for his friend. "So Benny did you pick one?" She turned her attention back to her own toon.

"I liked this one" Benny held up a simple bee costume design. "I'm already yellow so might as well go with it." He handed his mother the pamphlet so she could look at it. “Plus I have a good amount of black and yellow fabric”

Allison hummed as she looked over the design. It was simple enough as all they needed was to make a little fluffy brown vest with little white wings and to have striped shorts. The design was cute and was perfect as Benny could easily wear a small black long sleeve just in case the night air was a little too cold and his sepia yellow coloring fit perfectly with the costume. She noticed at the corner of her eyes that SINdy was looking over the costume with a small frown.

“What’s wrong SINdy?” Allison lowered the booklet to look at the toon alongside Benny who noticed his friends change in demeanor.

‘It’s just I wanna be a bee too, but I also wanna wear the costume grandpa got for me.’

Benny tilted his head while listening to his friend. “Why not be both? I don’t think there were any rules saying you only had to wear one costume for the holiday.” he looked to his mother for confirmation.

“He’s right SINdy. You can wear both if you want to cause no one is stopping you.” Allison chuckled before having SINdy lean against her with a wide grin. “For grins I might even dress up as a bee as well so we all can go together.”

Both demons cheered and eagerly set about trying to make their costumes. SINdy entrusted Benny to make them since as a stitched demon he excelled in any and all work dealing with fabrics. The pair rushed to the toons room taking the designs with them along with a pair of black long sleeves and pants that Allison lent them for her costume. Tom barely dodged the pair as they eagerly dashed down the hall, leaving the man baffled as to what they were so eager about.

“So what are the conspiring duo up too?” Tom sighed as he rested on the couch relaxing looking rather pleased with himself. He had to admit the resounding tantrum Sammy threw on the phone made everything right with the world. All is well.

“Well for Halloween the boys and I are gonna dress as bees to go trick or treating. It was simple enough and Benny was more then willing to make the costumes.” Allison scooped up the remainder of the Halloween magazines and stacked them neatly on the coffee table before one of them caught her eye. She set the stack down while lifting the small booklet out and a grin grew across her face before she looked at Tom.

Tom flinched at the look, it screamed ‘honey do’ as he tried to edge away from the couch before a melodious voice sang his name.

“Toooom~” Allison held up the picture for her husband to see despite his ‘no honey no’ face. She lightly swayed the photo of a stroller with a small beehive frame built around it with the baby dressed as a little honey bee.

Tom gave Allison his best pleading eyes as she was suddenly pouring on the charm. She even batted her eyes and him giving him a sweet innocent look. God he hated it when she did that. He already felt his resolve breaking the more she played cute while she continuously held the photo in front of him. The final straw that broke the camel's back was Benny and SINdy eagerly running into the living room to show off their bee costumes. Damn these kids! He had to admit they looked cute as they eagerly ran up to Allison to show off as they happily twirled in place before handing over what he assumed was her own costume. Wait, is Benny’s friend dressed with a bee costume over a shark costume? A beeshark? Tom didn’t have long to ponder before the next thing he knew, all eyes were on him with the only thought running through his mind; confound it all.

“Fiiiiine” Tom loudly groaned before snatching the photo out of Allison’s hands. “What exactly do you want me to make?” he looked over the photo.

“I was wondering if you can take that old red wagon Norman brought the other day and can make it a little carrying cart to house the toons on the off chance they get tired from Trick or treating.” Allison happily chirped.

“Well I can use the wheels and base of the frame as the wagon itself needs some work. I’ll have to make a frame from scratch due to circumstances. I think I might have enough materials to make it.” He gave a slight smile for which he instantly found himself with a demonic anklet and a second leaning against his leg with his glove clinging to him.

“Allright boys, while Tom is doing that why don’t you two go play outside for awhile?” Allison chuckled as Tom awkwardly waddled to the door trying to head to his garage and workshop. Her answer was a two sets of ‘oks’ as they released her husband and dashed towards the door. “Take your costumes off.” she shouted after them.

A smile tugged at Tom’s face as he watched Allison chase both toons back into the house to have them take off their costumes so they won’t get them dirty. In a way he was thankful that Allison seemed to have things under control for the most part as he himself can work on the little project he was asked to make. He already had an idea in mind as he knew that what he needed to make needed to be large enough to house more than just one toon.

---------------------------------------------

The evening hours dyed the sky amber and scarlet with small hints of magenta and violet. Benny and SINdy were both resting in the weeping willow trees watching the sunset creep in the horizon. Both toons were enjoying the small touches of the warmth from the light along with the subtle coolness of the night air as it was slowly settling in around them.

“Benny! SINdy! Dinner!” A voice called out from the house gaining the demons attention.

“Guess it’s time to head inside.” Benny grinned as he watched the last rays of the sun fade plunging the sky into violet and blue hues.

SINdy nodded his head before he carefully followed Benny down the tree and headed back towards the house. He couldn’t wait to find out what dinner was as he could already smell hints of whatever was on the menu, and that alone was making his mouth water.

The pair entered the home and washed their hands before coming to the dinner table to find that Allison was setting out baked chicken along with a full pot of mixed vegetables and some rice. Benny looked around the room noticing his father wasn’t inside.

“Where’s Tom? Is his still in the garage?” Benny chirped while lightly tugging on Allison’s pant leg.

His mother looked up towards the clock before looking around the room. “I guess so. He’s not in the house. Do you want to go get him for me?”

As soon as the words left her mouth she barely caught a glimpse of the fine amount of dust that has settled on them before it dissipated. She blinked a few times before a laugh bubbled up at the sudden use of toon logic. That was the fastest she’d ever seen Benny move, she didn’t even know he could use that gag. It must be from being around another toon like himself as even SINdy was gone.

---- Out In The Garage/Workshop ---

Tom was steadily working away in his workshop putting together the base framework he had drawn up on his table. He set down the piece of wood to double check it’s measurements alongside his quickly drawn up blueprint before he felt something tug at his pant leg. He looked down to see both Benny and SINdy.

“Dinner’s ready” Benny pointed towards the door.

A quick glance up at the clock made Tom realize how late it had grown and that Allison most likely sent the toons to give him a break. He stretched wincing from the symphony of cracks and pops from his back while shooting a look at Benny daring him to say something. The toon just grinned at him before motioning towards the door.

‘How is your project coming along?’ SINdy held up his sign while looking at the odd frame resting atop the base of the wagon.

SINdy’s question earned a small smile from the mechanic as he pointed at the cart “The base framework is more or less set up since it’s pretty basic. It is quite sturdy as even I should be able to sit on it with no problem. I just need to finalize a few things, install some panels and get a few cushions so it will be a comfortable ride rather than just sitting on wood.”

Benny and SINdy circled the soon to be cart while Tom explained each portion. Benny felt it was oddly large as it would be just him and SINdy riding it if needed, but he liked the idea of being able to get a lift if he got tired. He immediately ran up to his father flashing a huge grin. “After dinner can we help you finish making it?”

“I dunno” Tom scratched the back of his head. His answer immediately attracted both toons to his legs giving equal pleading looks, both were laying it on thick. “Fine, but.” Tom pointed a finger at each one. “You have to clean your plates and help clean up the kitchen before coming out to help.”

The mechanics answer was instantaneous as both Benny and SINdy cheered promising to help while they both grabbed Tom by his hands dragging him to the door to head back inside the house. He stumbled a few times trying to keep up with the energetic toons silently begging for them to take it easy on him as he wasn’t as young as he used to be.

Allison had the table completely set up for the trio when they came back inside. Benny and SINdy were helped to the table while Tom washed his hands and got ready to dig in. Benny and SINdy immediately pounded down their vegetables first making Tom wonder if they were racing to see who finished their plates first. Once both demons finished their veggies they both happily accepted the baked chicken alongside the little stuffed Cornish hen that Tom muttered about them being ‘turkey buzzards’. Allison didn’t even attempt to acknowledge her husbands comment and rather waited to see the toons reaction to the stuffing. She rested her chin on the palm of her hand while she watched Both Benny and SINdy take the first bite of their chickens.

Benny’s pie cut eyes grew wide before he looked at his mother quickly swallowing “This is so good! It’s sweet!”

Benny’s statement got a nod from SINdy as he held up his sign with his free hand ‘I love the stuffing Mrs. Connor. It’s so fluffy and good!’

“I’m glad you boys like it, someone.” Allison shot a look at her husband. “Doesn’t like the small hens as they feel that they aren’t fulfilling as they are meant to be a single serving.”

“I just don’t like how you have all those tiny little bones” Tom quickly defended himself while gesturing to his bird.

“Well if you don’t like it, they can have it” Allison pointed at both Benny and SINdy who looked at Tom pleadingly.

The man grumbled and he pulled his plate closer to himself making sure that the demons were well aware of his claim to the food. He didn’t want to admit that the only real reason why he didn’t like the hens was because there was never enough of it. The way Allison seasoned and stuffed them was the perfect combination of sweet from the honey and a hint of spice from the mustard that he simply couldn’t get enough. If anything he was silently loathing that the demons liked it as he was hoping that they wouldn’t want theirs so he can swipe it later. Then again, he learned that SINdy had a fair sized appetite that rivaled Benny’s so the chances of him getting any leftovers were slim to none.

Allison chuckled as Benny and SINdy both make quick work of their meals and helped clean the table of all the dishes alongside Tom. He set about washing the dishes while Benny and SINdy dried them and put them away while Allison slipped out of the groups sight to retreat to the pantry to retrieve a small pink box. By the time Allison got her prize and came back into the kitchen she was shocked to find that the group was gone.

“Tom? Benny? SINdy?” she called out only for her voice to be met with silence.

Lifting a brow Allison set the box on the table before heading out to the garage. A smile tugged at her as she stood in the doorway watching Tom sitting on the floor while Benny and SINdy both watched him while he worked and occasionally helping him hold up a piece of the frame for it to be hammered in place. Deciding to let the group work, Allison lightly strode back to the house setting out 4 plates and forks for when the group was done.

--- Inside the garage ---

“And that nail goes here.” Tom pointed at a spot for which SINdy nodded and helped him hold the frame in place while Benny hammered in the nail. “That’s it for this part.”

Benny and SINdy hopped off the frame allowing Tom to look it over properly and even he himself hopped up on the framework to make sure it could hold the weight. He doubted the toons weighed much, but he’d rather be safe than sorry. He gave it his seal of approval before hefting the frame onto the cart and started to screw it down to the wheel base. A light tug on his pant leg redirected his attention to SINdy who sheepishly held up his sign.

‘Mr. Connor, what made you become an engineer? How come you built something like the ink machine when you are capable of building so many things? I’ve seen other worlds where there were other Thomas Connors and none of them were able to answer my question.’

Tom was a bit taken aback by the rather blunt question as even Benny was looking at him for an answer. It was something he didn’t want to admit to Benny as he felt embarrassed by it, but now it looks like even his friend wondered what was his motive behind the machine.

A sigh escaped the man as he gently rested his hand on the framework as he studied the grain of the wood. “My old man was a salty mechanic who always rode my butt on anything and everything I ever did. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate the man because if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be where I am. He pushed me to strive to learn more and to get better at engineering to where I rose the ladder at GENT corporation very quickly. He taught me about innovation and how to improvise with limited materials and on a tight budget. My skills caught the likes of Joey’s eyes to where he came to my superiors with a dream, golden words and a silver tongue. Honestly I didn’t believe him one bit and told him I will wait with my answer.” Tom turned to look at both demons who were listening intently. “That was until I was heading home and saw some of the poorer children playing with patchwork ragdolls that vaguely resembled the the characters of Joey’s studio. Their parents couldn’t afford the toys and did their best to try and make their children smile. The thought of the smallest possibility that I might be able to make those children's favorite characters come to life in a literal sense and to be able to watch them laugh and play with their favorite characters was very tempting. Even I had to admit as to my own small childish desires to see the toons brought to life. I didn’t want to admit it out loud, but I was familiar with the Bendy cartoons as I often saw them in the theaters and they always left a strong impression on me despite them being silly little cartoons. They made me smile when sometimes I truly didn’t feel like it. When I got home I thought about it for a long time before I finally caved in and agreed to work on the project. I felt it was absurd, but if the smallest possibility was there then I was willing to take it for the children's sake.” Tom let out a deep sigh. “The rest is history as to the development of the machine and both Benny and Bendy’s birth, as well as the fall of the studio along with our imprisonment and escape.”

Benny and SINdy shared equal glances of sympathy. Both toons had to admit that they felt bad for the man as a good chunk of his life was ruined by his job and former boss. He built a monstrous machine with the purest intentions, but it simply didn’t work out. Benny fidgeted with his gloves as he approached his father with the one question that burned in his mind.

“If you had a chance to go back and fix it, would you?” The toon looked up at his father.

Benny’s question was met with a small smile and Tom bent down at the knee to look at the plushtoon straight in the eyes. “No, ‘cause if I did then I wouldn’t have you. You can’t change the past, but all you can do is learn from it.” The man gently scooped Benny into a hug.

Benny let out a small happy sigh in his father's arms as he returned the hug. Even though he realized it was his birthday, he was well aware of the pain that went along with his birth as he couldn’t help but wonder if his father ever cursed his birth in the slightest. It was comforting to know that despite what happened that Tom never once regretted making him. He may regret the misuse of the machine, but he didn’t regret the toons born from it.

SINdy watched with a smile on his face as he listened to the whispers that emanated from Benny’s father. He could hear all his sins but at the end of the day, Tom had made the machine with the best intentions, but unfortunately it had the worst outcome. He couldn’t help but wonder if this was the only Thomas he would ever meet that felt this way about the machine as this was the only Thomas he’s seen that was the father to a Bendy toon. This man was one of the few that he would consider a true parent.

“All right well it’s getting late and I don’t need Allison thinking I fell off the face of the earth.” Tom chuckled breaking the hug to stand up and brush himself off.

“What about the cart?” Benny pointed at the unpainted beehive shaped wagon.

“We can paint that in the morning when it’s warmer since the night air won’t let it dry for a very long time.” Tom patted Benny on the back to usher him towards the house with SINdy in tow. “Thank you boys for your help”

SINdy grinned and held up his sign ‘You’re welcome. I had fun seeing the cart get built and even more so when I got to help. Now I can say I lent you a hand’ He waved a gloved hand to emphasize his point

Benny happily agreed with his friend laughing alongside Tom at this friends joke. He had to admit that he had a lot of fun and the games were just beginning.

The group lightly chatted as they retreated towards the home before Ink began to drip from the walls gaining the groups attention. Benny immediately got on the defensive with the mark across his stomach growing teeth as he lightly bared his own. SINdy grinned eagerly at the wall as he was wondering who was getting in a bit too early. He noticed Benny on the defense and quickly place a hand on his friend's shoulder drawing Bennys attention away from the wall only to be met by a grin. SINdy nodded reassuringly as he gestured back towards the wall with a lanky Ink demon stepping through.

“Bendy?!” Benny yelped in surprise at the demon but then noticed the silence and the intimidating vibes he was getting from him. This wasn’t Bendy, it was the other one that accompanied Shadow. Ben.

The lanky demon said nothing has he held the portal open and a familiar figure emerged from it. The creature resembled a large almost skeletal cat made of ink sporting short stubby horns that resembled ears and a large toothy grin. The inky feline’s grin stretched wider at seeing Benny but it did not move from the demons side. It lowered its head as it sat on its haunches.

“B-Benny who is that?” Tom immediately stepped back away from the two new figures in his yard. He was used to seeing Bendy in his ink demon form as he ran from the devil for 30 years, but this one came off more threatening then their now turned playful demon.

Before Benny had a chance to answer the lanky demon looked down at the inky cat who murmured softly “Behhaaave yoursssself.”

The cat nodded lightly folding it's horn like ears down and pressed his head into the palm of the lanky demons hand before the Ink demon stepped through the portal with it closing behind him. The cat watched its creator leave and continued to watch until the ink that made up the portal faded away. Once he was gone Shadow turned its attention back to the group that was looking at it.

“Shadow!” Benny chirped as he dashed up to the inky cat.

The cats grin stretched wider as Benny wrapped his arms around the cats neck hugging it tightly. Shadow lightly head bumped Benny before wiggling its head down to rest it against Benny's chest purring. The toon giggled at the vibrations he was feeling from the inky cat as he scratched the feline behind its horns.

"W-who is that?" A gruff voice finally spoke.

Benny looked up from his friend to see Tom standing at a good distance away from them while SINdy was cautiously approaching to get a better look. A small frown formed on Bennys face as he could tell that the other Bendy's sudden appearance scared his father. Even he had to admit that the other Bendy can come off intimidating, though he suspected that he was just quiet and didn't mean any harm.

"This is Shadow" Benny turned to face his father and SINdy who was now standing in front of the cat looking it over. "It comes from another world like the other Bendy who I know as Ben. Shadow is really nice and likes to play with me when it can. The first time we met there was a little bit of a misunderstanding, but it meant no harm as it was just watching over cloudy."

SINdy tilted his head 'Cloudy?'

Benny flashed a grin "Yep he's an adorable grey kitten with bright yellow eyes. I found him in the backyard a while back and Shadow appeared looking for him. They both come from the same place as Ben as he is Cloudys owner."

Tom lifted a brow. "That Bendy is the owner of a kitten?" The man was baffled at the statement. He couldn't imagine an intimidating demon such as him with a little kitten. An odd yet amusing image flashed in his head of the scary ink demon with a little kitten playing with his floppy bow tie. He just had a hard time believing it.

SINdy grinned at the large feline and slowly reached his hand to the side of Shadows horn lightly scratching it. 'Nice to meet you Shadow! My name is SINdy!'

Shadow leaned into SINdy's hand enjoying the scratching behind its horns before it lightly head bumped SINdy in his chest extracting a peal of silent laughter from the toon. The vibrations from it purring was tickling the little cardboard demon. SINdy in turn leaned into the cat doing his best to hug it while he continued to laugh silently.

Benny chuckled at SINdy enjoying the inky feline before his smile gave way to a frown at the sight of his father. He could tell his dad refused to budge from his spot giving the inky feline a wide berth. He suspected his dad was having trust issues and while he himself knew Shadow meant no harm, Tom was very skeptical. Mustering up his courage Benny slowly walked to his dad.

"Tom?" Gaining the mans attention. "Shadow is really friendly, it won't hurt anyone."

Tom looked down at Benny and then back at Shadow. He wasn't a fool. He could tell that there was more to this creature than what meets the eye. A feline is especially testy as even if it may have soft paws, underneath them are claws, even if it is a cat made of ink. They can come off as cute and cuddly, but at the end of the day they are still predators. Plus since this cat vaguely resembles Bendy it would be even more dangerous and anything resembling Bendy isn’t to be taken lightly. A slight scowl graced Tom's face before he felt a hand gently grab his own. He looked to see Benny gently holding onto him and was giving him a pleading look while gently tugging. He could tell he wanted him to give Shadow a chance.

A deep defeated sigh escaped Tom as he allowed himself to be slowly lead to the inky cat as Shadow sat and waited for his approach. The closer he got made him tense up more as he was beginning to regret the idea. Benny pulled him to a foot away from the cat and slowly lifted Toms hand out and held it there.

Shadow looked at the man whom was presumably his friends father. The cat wasn't a fool, it could tell that the man was very suspicious and felt a creature such as it was dangerous. While it is true it can easily handle its own, it wasn't here to hurt anyone. It just wanted to spend time with its friend as it was surprised and thankful its creator let it attend. Shadow knew it needed to let this man know it is here as a friend and not a foe.

Tom flinched when he felt something cool and damp press into his hand. He looked to see Shadow had leaned its forehead into his palm and he felt a weird vibration traveling up his arm. His eyes were wide in disbelief that the vibrations he was feeling was the creatures purring. The purring sound it made was barely audible.

The large cat gently nuzzled Toms hand purring louder to where it was causing small vibrations in the ground. He then slowly moved closer to the man nuzzling him as he gently leaned his side against him and circled around him slowly. Tom all the while was tense at the sudden movement but soon recognized the behavior as a sign of affection. He himself never owned cats but was familiar with their signs of affection as this oversized cat made of ink was going through the same motions. He relaxed slightly as he cautiously scratched the inky cat behind his stubby horn getting an even louder purr.

The back door opened with Allison looking around "Are you boys done with the car-" she paused at seeing Benny, SINdy and Tom with a familiar large inky cat curled around her husband. "Shadow!"

The inky cats grin stretched at the familiar sight of the woman as it knew this was the mother figure to its friend as well as the one who invited it. Shadow edged away from Tom before striding to the door and sat on it haunches looking at Allison while his tail flicked from side to side.

Allison tensed slightly, she remembered the large inky cat just appearing in her yard as well as the confrontation it had with Benny who was trying to protect her. Little did they realize the inky feline was trying to get its friend in their care back. She let out a small sigh and a smile releasing the little tension in her shoulders. Benny said this cat was his friend and they enjoy quiet time together.

A small step of courage and a hand out in good faith, Allison gently petted Shadow and scratched it lightly on the base of its horn. To her surprise the inky cat made a barely audible purring sound as it leaned into her touch.

Shadow was excited and was growing more and more optimistic. So far its friends parents didn't seem to mind it and they were even reciprocating the affection that was given. He could tell he was gonna be watched by the father which isn't all that unusual a feeling for him as he could sense how tense the man was and the look in his eyes. Allison, on the other hand, is a little more open to it and seemed to have relaxed some.

Benny watched as his mom laughed at Shadow purring and gently nuzzling her side. It warmed his heart seeing her become more at ease with a guest who once spooked her. He hoped that she will be more open towards his other friends, but it looks like he won't have to worry for much longer. Benny had to admit he was more concerned for his father who was still watching the large cat with an air of skepticism. He knew Tom was left with a bad taste in his mouth about the machine and is protective over his mother as they had to rely on only themselves for so many years. The toon hoped that someday Tom will realize that not all results from the ink machines are bad. For every dark shadow cast has a small light at its base.

SINdy silently giggled at Allison whom was now being tickled by Shadows purring as the cat was nudging its head into her stomach. It was extracting a good laughing fit from her as it was showing its gratitude for being allowed to come over. He wished Bendy could join them. He knew Allison sent him an invitation and if Shadow could come early then Bendy can to! A mischievous grin graced SINdy's face as he reached into his hammerspace and pulled out his own copy of the book Bendy gave him.

Carefully touching the ink that dripped from his eyes, SINdy wrote to their friend.

'Bendy why don't you come on over. Shadow is here too! Allison is letting us spend the night! :D'

Tom saw a small golden light emanating from behind him as he looked over his shoulder to see a book completely open with golden light coming from its pages as it floated in SINdy's hand. What looked like a golden liquid flowed from the pages before it turned black spiraling around the book before converging to form a round mass that began to take shape next to SINdy.

A familiar round body formed with noodle like limbs sporting shiny boots, a white bowtie and gloves. The head was round with a large white face with the eyes closed as it finished forming. To his surprise one horn was longer than the other and he was more so when the eyes opened. The black piecute eyes were slightly larger than normal and a golden orb shone within.

The little demon looked at SINdy who summoned him before looking at the crowd whose attention was now drawn to him. He put on a small smile and politely bowed as if on a stage. "Hi everyone, my name is Bendy. Nice to meet you!"

SINdy held up his sign 'Hi Bendy!'

Benny looked shocked at the arrival of yet another one of his friends, but it was quickly replaced with glee. "Hi Bendy!"

Allison watched as the three toon converged and eagerly chatted between themselves. She had to admit she was not anticipating the sudden appearance of the early guests and was going through her mental checklist as to who all had shown up and as to how she was going to accommodate the sudden arrivals. Her train of thought halted when she felt a small nudge on her side and looked to see Shadow looking at her then at the group before he looked at her once more. It wanted her to say hello. She chuckled before stepping forward to meet their guest who also came early.

Bendy broke from the conversation to see who he presumed to be his friend's mother approaching them. He straightened his bow tie and gingerly strode up to her holding out his hand. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Connor!"

Allison had to admit she was surprised how straightforward and confident this Bendy was as he seemed to approach her with no hesitation. Even Shadow and SINdy took their time approaching her.

She met Bendy's hand with her own lightly shaking it. "Nice to meet you too. I'd like to thank both you and SINdy for helping Benny with his reading. My husband and I may not always have the time to help him and you both filled in for us. Thank you."

Both SINdy and Bendy blushed at her statement. Allison chuckled how both demons blushed grey even though SINdy was a yellowish color like Benny. She half expected him to blush a soft pink, it was a cute little observation.

"Shucks Mrs. Connor it isn't anything special." Bendy tried to hide the grey on his cheeks. "We were just helping out a friend"

'We all help each other out as we all like to read and share stories.' SINdy flashed a huge grin.

"Well thank you boys. Though why don't we all come inside before you all catch a chill from the night air." Allison gestured inside the home.

The group of toons cheered and eagerly dashed inside leaving Tom, Allison and Shadow behind. The large cat made a gurgling sound akin to a chuckle before slowly trotting behind them.

Tom looked heavenward as he stood next to his wife. "Well I can kiss my quiet night sleep goodbye."

"Oh be nice" Allison tugged on him kissing his cheek. "Keep in mind that you yourself were once an energetic little boy that kept your parents up at night. How it comes back around."

"Oh and like you were a perfect little angel" Tom jokingly retorted.

Allison put on her best puppy eyes and lightly traced a halo over her head. "I was a perfect little angel." She lightly cooed.

"Uh-huh. And I'm a devil in disguise" Tim rolled his eyes.

"Well part of you made a little devil so it must be true." Allison laughed before quickly jogging into the home leaving Tom behind red faced.

Tom knew he had been had, it tugged a smile out him to see that Allison never lost her edge. Though for as much as he'd love to get her back for the comment, he was more interested to see what karma is dished out from the toons since she promised to keep an eye on them. He straightened himself up and walked into the house closing the door.

Inside the home Tom was met with a table full of toons who were happily munching on the lemon cake that Allison had bought. She had just set a plate down for shadow for which the ink cat murmured happily before its grin split open to reveal sharp teeth as the cat began to delicately eat the cake.

Once the cake was consumed and the hour had grown late it was time to clean up before heading to bed. Allison spied the yawn that Benny was trying to hide along with SINdy or Bendy occasionally rubbing their eyes. The toons were getting tired.

A clap rang through the air startling the toons as they turned to look at Allison "Alright boys it's time to clean up and to get ready for bed." Her answer was an immediate chorus of 'awwwws' for which she wagged a finger. "No buts. It's gotten pretty late and if you boys help out then that means you have more time to play.

As soon as she finished her statement the toons immediately split up to start rounding up the dishes and to help Tom put them in the sink. Meanwhile Allison looked at the 3 bendylike toons before focusing on SINdy. She had multiple nightshirts for Benny, but most were long sleeve. SINdy doesn't have arms and it would look strange to have him running around with the sleeves dangling. With a hand on her chin she strode out of the kitchen leaving Tom to deal with the demons while Shadow followed her out.

Allison paced into the living room and opened up a dresser and began rifling through it's contents before she felt like she was being watched. She glanced up briefly and saw Shadow sitting on its haunches watching her. "Oh hi Shadow. If you're wondering what I'm doing, I'm trying to find a nightshirt that will work for SINdy. I have a few short sleeved shirts I might be able to mend quickly enough. Plus I gotta start getting the couch unfolded and the beds set up."

The ink cat looked back at the couch before looking back at her noticing that she was preoccupied. It strode over to couch and looked at the two straps that hung on the corners where it assumed they would be pulled out. Just before it was about to try and tug on the strap Bendy walked into the room.

"Mrs. Connor" the toons voice gaining Allisons attention as she held up a soft blue short sleeve nightshirt. "Is there anything else that needs to be done?"

"If you want, can you hang onto this for me?" Allison held out a small pile of nightshirts for which he graciously accepted.

Allison got up from the dresser tucking the blue nightshirt under her arm before she walked over to the couch. She motioned for Shadow to step back before pulling on the straps opening up the couch. The extension clicked into place before Allison reached into the L side of the couch and opened it to reveal a storage compartment. She pulled out a collection of blankets and pillows while the rest of the toons finally entered the living room.

"What are you doing Allison?" Benny tilted his head while watching his mom lay out a bunch of blankets and pillows on the couch before patting the couch encouraging Shadow to hop up. The ink cat was hesitant, but Allison insisted and it carefully hopped up and curled up on the blankets with it’s grin stretching wider.

"Well your friends are sleeping over and your room is too small so they can take the couch." Allison motioned for Bendy to hand over the nightshirts.

As soon as her words left her lips Benny was an instant barnacle on her leg. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Well before you get too excited, I need your help. I have a night shirt for SINdy that needs to be mended so it fits properly." Allison chucked while trying to peel Benny off her.

SINdys eyes were sparkling as he joined his friend in hugging Allison. His hand floated up with his sign. 'Thank you!'

Allison handed Bendy a soft green nightshirt, Benny his pastel orange before she slid the blue night shirt on SINdy. She gently pinched the spare material while Benny pulled out a pair of scissors, a needle and thread. She held the material still while Benny quickly cut the excess off before running a sewing needle through being careful not to poke his friend. Thanks to toon logic, Benny had it sewn together in a manner of a few strokes while SINdy flashed a huge grin. Once the nightshirt was mended to fit perfectly, SINdy eagerly spun in place showing it off before leaning against Allison again

‘Thank you!’

“You’re welcome sweetie. Now I know you boys are all energetic and all, but for now you all can take the couch since there is plenty of room to go around.” Allison lightly patted SINdy on his head before gesturing to the couch with Shadow already claiming his spot.

“What she means is it’s bedtime.” a rough voice sounded behind her with Tom entering the room already in his pajamas “Make sure you boys keep it down. I don’t want to have to come out later and tell you guys to keep it down.”

The toons gave a chorus of ok’s before they hopped up on the couch with all of them giggling and laughing as they rolled up in the blankets looking like a collection of burritos. Bendy flashed a mischievous grin before pulling out his pillow and smacked Benny with it instigating a pillow fight. Allison laughed watching the pillow war with the three toons before noticing Shadow trying to stay out of the way, let alone trying to actually rest. She had a feeling that eventually the boys would step out of line and get on the ink cats nerves. Backing away from the couch turning to head to her room Allison wished the boys a good night. Just as she was about to turn the corner she heard a chorus of ‘nooooo’ prompting her to turn around.

Shadow had used its tail to trip the toons making them land on the couch for which it promptly threw a blanket on them and laid across them being careful not to crush them, but also not allowing them to get up either. It was tucking the blankets around them to make sure they were covered up for bed while the toons protested beneath the inky cat. Allison doubled over laughing and immediately grabbed her camera taking a photo of the inky cat looking like a hen sitting on her chicks. Shadow had the last laugh.

The cat’s grin stretched wider as it watched her taking photos with Allison silently mouthing ‘thank you’. She knew that if Shadow hadn’t stepped in her husband would have heard the playing demons and would have eventually come out. She put the camera away and whispered a good night to the large cat and the three toons under it that were rapidly succumbing to sleep with Benny already down for the count.

Shadow watched as Allison turned off the light plunging the room into darkness except for the small pale blue night lights that circled the living room. The cat looked at the three toons under it who had already fallen asleep much to it’s relief as it carefully got up. It nudged it’s head gently tucking them in properly as well as pulling in the blankets and pillows around it and them making sure they were comfortable before it laid back down. Shadow’s grin stretched at the sleeping toons beneath it before it laid it’s head down and allowed sleep to claim it.

41 notes · View notes

honeylikewords · 5 years

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You'll write for Catfish? Yay! I need me some of that. First date with Catfish, but oop, something goes wrong? Or just first date.

Frankie deserves so much love, and I’m happy to write the good, sweet Frankie we need in the world!

I think Frankie is the kind of guy for whom first dates are mostly about the getting to know the gal process, showing her his dry sense of humor, getting into banter. He’s more of a conversationalist, so he’d aim for something like dinner and talking than a big, splashy, eventful date. He’s really matured into himself and his dating style, so he’s not looking to cause a stir, just learn more about this girl and see if they fit together well.

So, the first date is dinner at a quiet, mid-range restaurant. It’s not a fast food joint or an Olive Garden, but it’s nowhere too fancy, either. The restaurant itself is just mostly background noise, a location to serve as the set for their tete-a-tete, so Frankie doesn’t want it to be such a dump that it makes her feel offput and pulled out of the moment, nor does he want it to be so fancy that it makes her feel intimidated and like she needs to worry more about the environment than talking to him.

Frankie stands at the door of the restaurant, outside, waiting for her. He’d never sit down before his date arrives. He’s got this unspoken, personal set of manners about these things, and he wants to be the first person she talks to, the person she walks with. He’d normally go and pick her up, himself, but scheduling had meant she’d have to meet him there. So he stands there under the restaurant awning, rocking back and forth on his heels, holding his hands in the pockets of his black dress slacks.

He looks nice; a blue button-up with the first few buttons undone, a nice, dark grey sport coat, his black pants, and his nice, shiny shoes. He’s even brushed his hair out of his face and trimmed his ‘stache so it looks a little less wispy and more like a carefully cultivated and curated patch. Every now and then, he pulls at his jacket sleeve and checks his wristwatch, making sure he’s not painfully early or mistaken about the time of their date.

She’s not late or anything– he came about half an hour early to make sure their reservation was still upheld– but he always gets antsy about these sorts of things. Call it the pilot in him, but when he is told to be at a certain place at a certain time, he never fudges it by even a few minutes. He’s been taught to count the seconds because those seconds are the razor’s edge between life and death, and he can’t shake the punctual habit, even in civilian life.

When she rounds the corner and flags him down with a wave and a smile, jogging as best as her heels will allow on the city sidewalks, Frankie’s heart lifts up in his chest and he feels himself, without any thought or intention, begin to smile wide. He walks to meet her mid-way (it’d be rude to just let her run to him, after all) and offers her his arm, joking as they walk about having “cased the joint”.

“I figure we can lie and tell ‘em it’s both of our birthdays,” he chuckles, shaking his head, “And after they bring out the cake, we book it in the confusion of the song they’ll sing. Everyone hates singing waiters, so they’ll all be looking away, and no one will see us slip out without paying the bill.”

She laughs and pats his arm.

“Frankie, if you screw these poor, minimum wage waiters out of their due pay, I’ll drag you back here by your ear, make you pay them double, and make you do every dish in that kitchen your own self.”

“Right, right. Noble lady, sticking up for the little guy. Love a gal who respects the worker,” he says, smiling wide as the server guides them from the front desk to their table.

As they sit down and peruse the menu, Frankie takes a second to look over the edge of his unfolded menu and admire her outfit. She looks absolutely lovely, he thinks to himself, admiring the shape of her face in the soft lighting of the restaurant.

She glances up from her menu and meets his eyes, each of them smiling shyly but excitedly at the other in the moment. When she’s pored over the options enough, she folds up her menu and sets it aside, linking her hands together under her chin, leaning on the table.

“So,” she asks, her tone making Frankie laugh a little to himself. “You gonna ask me some first date questions?”

“First date questions?,” Frankie probes.

“You know, like, ‘do you have any siblings’, ‘where’d you go to college’, ‘do you like “The Office”’, ‘do you like to travel’, stuff like that.”

“I could ask you if you want me to ask you,” he offers.

She shakes her head teasingly.

“I mean, you could, but usually those kinds of questions are so boring. And I can tell that you, Mister Francisco Morales, do not like boring things.”

“You’re right,” he teases, “Which is why I’m going out with you and not…”

He looks around the restaurant, then finds what he’s looking for.

“That painting.”

Frankie points at a generic-looking piece of restaurant art– the kind that’s all vague watercolors in some yellow-orange sepia, with a little green tossed in for ‘contrast’– and grins when she turns to look at it, then lets out a little snort.

“I just hate that kinda shit,” he whispers, using his menu as a divider between their conversation and the rest of the restaurant. “I mean, it’s like restaurants order these things in bulk from some distant, far-off warehouse where they keep an artist locked in the basement with just a box of Crayola paints and a vague memory of sixth-grade art class color wheel assignments.”

She snorts and covers her mouth as she laughs, which makes Frankie feel incredibly successful. He loves, loves, loves making people laugh, but especially when he has a particular interest in someone. Making someone you care about laugh is a wonderful feeling, and Frankie is riding the high of it.

“Do you think every Starbucks in the world orders from that same warehouse?”

“Without a doubt,” Frankie grins. “It’s one big Illuminati-like web of companies buying from this poor, imprisoned artist. I bet if you looked really close, you could see tiny messages written in each of the paintings.” He makes his voice more desperate and panicked sounding, as if a whisper from a prison inmate. “Help me! I’m being kept in the basement of the Peet’s Coffee headquarters and they’re forcing me to keep painting pictures of bicycles!”

When their mutual giggling dies down, a waiter approaches and asks them for their order. Frankie orders a pair of glasses of wine, one for each of them, and asks his date what she’d like to eat. When she answers, he orders something entirely different, promising her that if what she got turns out to be dreadful, she can have some of his food.

The night progresses well– lots of smiling, laughing, joking– and leads into the two of them lacing fingers on the top of the table, Frankie coaxing his thumb over the hill of her knuckles, softly rubbing as they talk.

She talks about her family. He talks about his. She talks about her job. He doesn’t. She makes a joke about rich people and their weird obsession with eating things raw. Frankie refrains from making a distasteful joke in their current setting, promising to tell her it later when they’re somewhere that more bawdy humor will fly without being noticed.

Dinner slows down and ends, and Frankie picks up the bill, politely declining her offers to pay. “Call me old-fashioned,” he says, a wry smile on his lips, “But I think the hotter one should pay.”

She slaps him in the arm playfully and rolls her eyes as he lifts her hand off the table and kisses it, using his eyes to tell her that, of course, he’s kidding and that she is, to him, the most beautiful person there. She knows.

They head out into the night and Frankie takes his jacket off, popping it on her shoulders. When she looks up at him, about to thank him, he cuts her off.

“I’ve seen that move in the movies a billion times. Apparently, it guarantees that the girl will be kissing the guy by the end of the night.”

“Oh, don’t get cocky,” she rebuts. “Cocky men don’t get kissed.”

“But do humble, very cute, very sorry men?” Frankie makes exaggerated puppy-eyes about pouts his lip, cooing through his nose like a whiny puppy dog. “Please?”

Standing in the middle of the sidewalk, wandering through a park, they stop and take a look at each other. She huffs out a breath of a laugh at his ridiculous expression and Frankie eases, able to laugh at himself, too. Their hands gravitate together and she squeezes at his palm, her cheeks round and warm with her smile as Frankie watches her.

“You’re very beautiful,” he says, his voice suddenly sincere, soft. “And you don’t have to kiss me if you don’t want to. Just thought you should know.”

“Know what? That I’m beautiful, or that I don’t have to kiss you?”

“Both.”

“Both are very sweet of you, Francisco.”

“Please,” he snorts, putting up a hand dismissively. “Francisco was my father. Call me Mister Morales.”

She, again, laughs lightly, shaking the hand of his that she’s holding.

“Nice to meet you, Mister Morales.” Then, she stands on the balls of her feet and presses her lips to his cheek. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

For a moment, Frankie loses mastery of his words. He’s slightly flustered by the kiss, as if he’s a schoolboy receiving his first kiss, juvenile and brand-new to the sensation. He’s been kissed before, he knows, but something about that kiss felt electric, warming his blood with the same excitement he gets as he clicks the engine on in his plane, revving on the runway.

He gives her a wobbly, enthusiastic smile and bends down to kiss her cheek in return, holding his lips there a heartbeat longer just so he can feel her skin on his. He feels something: something he’s felt before in small doses, something entirely new to him. He wants to keep finding out what that something is, kiss by kiss, day by day.

Recovering quickly, he continues walking with her, the two of them feeling a little lighter and bubblier as they carry on. It’s just the first date, but each of them knows there will surely, surely be more to come.

Send Me Asks While I’m On My Roadtrip!

#messages #gif warning #francisco morales #triple frontier #Anonymous

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rainbowserenity · 5 years

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17,18

17. Your favorite mug?

I don’t actually use mugs, since I only ever really drink water or wine and I just have a reusable bottle for that….although I do have a rad Nightmare Before Christmas mug that has images from the movie in a sepia tone. I use it to hold my colored pencils~

18. Decorative lights, yay or nay?

yay, cause they’re like the only lights that don’t make me want to totally die when I get migraines or bad headaches, although I need ~complete darkness~ to sleep

also I assume this question meant fairy/Christmas lights, but I just realized it could very well mean lava lamps, to which I still say yay

#a gif relevant to both questions #glorious #twistedboxy

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mrswhozeewhatsis · 5 years

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Just saw your post about the kittens (yay kittens!) Just wanted to say that it made me smile and I love that you differentiate them as midnight black and 11:30 black. Sorry, I have no suggestions for you.

LOL! Thank you!! He’s like, almost a deep black, but in a sepia tone, maybe? He’s just so close to being really black, but not quite!

I tossed some more names at my husband in a text this morning. I included Statler and Waldorf, Fozzie and Gonzo, Inigo and Fezzik, and Jake and Elwood. He hasn’t responded. We’ll see what he says!

#about me right now #cats #girl-with-a-fandom-fettish

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adorkablephil · 7 years

Text

Fic: Listen (Chapter 2)

Title: Listen Rating: PG Word Count: 2.8K for this chapter Summary: Phil is a successful YouTuber, and Dan is a fan desperate for attention. Sounds like 2009, right? Except Phil is Deaf. Tags: AU, Deaf!Phil, Strangers to Friends to Lovers Author’s Note: All dates are obviously completely fictionalized, including Dan’s little subscriber count milestone. This is an AU, in case you hadn’t noticed. :) Extreme thanks to the Treehouse Mailing List for all their support and encouragement! Fic also available on AO3 here

[Masterlist of all “Listen” chapters on Tumblr]

Chapter 2: Talk to Me

danisnotonfire You said to DM you, so here I am. DMing you. This feels weird. Is it weird? I think maybe Im making it weird. 8 September 2009

AmazingPhil It’s not weird. Or if it is, that’s cool. I like weird. ;) 8 September 2009

danisnotonfire lol 8 September 2009

AmazingPhil I was interested in what you were saying about the FFVII soundtrack. Tell me more about why you like the music so much. 8 September 2009

danisnotonfire Have you lestined to it? 8 September 2009

AmazingPhil No 8 September 2009

danisnotonfire But you play the game, right? It ws in your video 8 September 2009

AmazingPhil It’s hard to explain, but I play it with the sound off. 8 September 2009

danisnotonfire ??? 8 September 2009

AmazingPhil But seriously, I’m interested. Tell me about the music. 8 September 2009

Dan’s passion for music inspired Phil to download the song “Interrupted by Fireworks” and play it loud enough that he could feel the tempo by laying his palms flat on the speakers.

After his roommates complained about the noise, he only did it again at times when they weren’t home.

AmazingPhil This is going to seem really weird, but I’ve felt awkward about bringing it up. 27 September 2009

danisnotonfire I am the king of awkward lol 27 September 2009

danisnotonfire Bring what up? 27 September 2009

AmazingPhil It’s just, we’ve been talking for weeks, and I haven’t said anything about it. 27 September 2009

danisnotonfire ??? 27 September 2009

AmazingPhil Okay, well, I’m Deaf. 27 September 2009

[a few minutes pass]

danisnotonfire You cant hear? 27 September 2009

AmazingPhil Yes, Dan, that’s what Deaf means. 27 September 2009

danisnotonfire Hey no need to be a jerk about it. I’m just surprised. 27 September 2009

danisnotonfire Why didn’t you ever say anything? 27 September 2009

AmazingPhil Well, I thought you would have figured it out from some of my videos and stuff I’ve tweeted, but then when you started talking about music, I just … 27 September 2009

[a few minutes pass]

danisnotonfire I am such an idiot. 27 September 2009

AmazingPhil No you’re not! That’s why I didn’t want to say anything! 27 September 2009

danisnotonfire why? 27 September 2009

AmazingPhil Because I liked talking to you, and I didn’t want you to be embarrassed or something. Or to maybe think I was a freak or something. 27 September 2009

[a few minutes pass]

danisnotonfire I dont think your a freak 27 September 2009

[a few minutes pass]

danisnotonfire the whole reason i started liking your videos was because you dont talk in them 27 September 2009

danisnotonfire is that weird? 27 September 2009

AmazingPhil Maybe we’re both a little weird. But I don’t mind if you don’t. :) 27 September 2009

danisnotonfire xD 27 September 2009

One of Phil’s old friends from school had gone all the way to America to attend Gallaudet University, since it was the most highly respected university for the Deaf in the world. She’d had to study ASL in advance, of course, since it was a completely different language than BSL, but she seemed to be really enjoying her studies there. Apparently the sense of Deaf community there was more than she’d even imagined in Manchester. She practically glowed when she talked about her feeling of belonging.

Phil was jealous.

He’d chosen York because of his interest in their graduate program in video postproduction, since he’d loved experimenting with film since childhood, but his isolation as an undergraduate made him wonder how well a Deaf student would be received in the graduate program. Would they even make any accommodation for him in studying what they might perceive as a definitively audio and visual medium?

He and Sharon occasionally Skyped when the time difference allowed, but she now sometimes slipped into ASL without noticing, and Phil found himself feeling like even his Deaf friends were slipping away.

AmazingPhil Maybe we could Skype sometime? I mean, I can’t talk, obviously, or hear you, but we could at least see each other in real life and not just Dailybooth pics. :] 2 October 2009

danisnotonfire How would we talk tho? 2 October 2009

AmazingPhil I don’t know. We could write on paper and hold it up or something? 2 October 2009

[a few minutes pass]

danisnotonfire ok 2 October 2009

AmazingPhil Now? 2 October 2009

danisnotonfire ok 2 October 2009

AmazingPhil YAY! 2 October 2009

AmazingPhil See you soon! 2 October 2009

Dan seemed cripplingly shy in their first Skype call. He avoided eye contact much of the time, which made communicating rather difficult, but he loosened up a bit by the end and even seemed to flirt a bit.

Phil tried really hard not to develop a crush.

He was not particularly successful.

They exchanged phone numbers and began texting constantly, not to mention the lengthy Skype calls. Dan talked about his own interest in making videos, but gloomily doubted his ability to create anything interesting or worthwhile. Phil urged him to give it a try.

15 October 2009

Phil: I think you should upload it. It’s really good. Really!

Dan: I don’t now. I’m afraid people will think its kind of weird.

Phil: Weird is kind of our thing, though, isn’t it? :p

Dan: I just dont want to look stupid or soemething. i mean it kind of sucks

Phil: Dan, it’s brilliant. I promise.

Phil: I have to ask, though. The subtitle thing. Did you do that because of me?

Dan: No. I dont know. Not really. i just liked it. I thought it looked cool.

Phil: It DOES look cool. I just didn’t want …

Dan: what?

Phil: I don’t know. I didn’t want you to be making videos for me like that just because I’m Deaf. I know that sounds stupid. Never mind.

Dan: No i now what you mean. That wasn’t why i did it. I told you i first liked your videos becuz you didnt talk in them. So I guess I liked that style, but mine is different. right?

Phil: Of course! Your style is completely different from mine! I love the old-time silent movie thing, with the title cards and everything. It’s really unique! That’s why I think it’s so brilliant!

Phil: That’s why you should definitely upload it.

Dan: really?

Phil: Absolutely!

[a few minutes pass]

Dan: ok

Dan: maybe tmorrow

When Dan uploaded his first video, Phil tweeted about it enthusiastically to encourage his own online friends and fans to check it out, and unsurprisingly people loved it.

Dan’s unique, silent film era style, complete with occasional sepia tones and use of fancy-font title cards to communicate all dialogue and narration, approached modern-day storytelling and vlogging from a completely fresh perspective. He told stories about his own life, but in a style no one had used before.

People were intrigued. Other YouTubers Phil had come to know over the years quickly began interacting with Dan on Twitter, and Dan gathered an enthusiastic audience almost right from the start.

And Dan’s looks certainly didn’t hurt. Phil tried to ignore any jealousy he felt about the amount of flirting he saw going on publicly over social media. He and Dan were friends. Maybe they flirted, but apparently Dan flirted with everyone. It didn’t mean anything.

23 October 2009

Phil: Are you going to the Halloween gathering in London next week?

Dan: no

Phil: Why not? You’re officially a YouTuber now! You should come!

Dan: I can’t

Phil: We could finally meet. That would be so cool!

Dan: I said I cant

Dan: Just drop it ok?

[a few minutes pass]

Phil: I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to push or anything.

Phil: I mean, of course if you don’t want to come, that’s fine.

Phil: I just thought it would be cool to meet you in person.

Phil: I mean, you’re one of my closest friends now and we’ve never even met!

[no response]

[after an hour, Phil logs off]

Phil took the train to London and attended the Halloween Gathering on his own, but felt Dan’s absence keenly the entire time. He brought a white board and a few different colored pens so he could communicate with people more easily, and found that YouTubers were less shy about such things than the average uni student seemed to be. They seemed to find the white board an intriguing novelty and eagerly interacted with him through it.

They didn’t treat him like a freak.

Or, at least, they treated him like their own kind of freak.

He’d discovered a different community. One that wasn’t perhaps as easily familiar and comfortable as the Deaf community he’d grown up in, but a community nonetheless.

He just wished Dan had gotten to experience it, too.

He kept in touch with another YouTuber he’d met at the London gathering, a guy named PJ who had been particularly unselfconscious about using pantomime, facial expression, and the occasional impromptu prop to communicate with Phil instead of relying exclusively on words written on the white board.

Their brains seemed to work in similarly creative ways, and they collaborated on a sort of abstract short film they’d sketched out together on a series of paper napkins during dinner at the gathering. Phil was pretty proud of the way the project turned out, and PJ seemed happy with it, too. They put it up on PJ’s channel, and it got quite a bit of enthusiastic viewer response.

Dan’s blatantly passive-aggressive jealousy about the whole thing was Phil’s first hint that his own more-than-platonic interest might be reciprocated, but he tried not to get his hopes up.

13 December 2009

Dan: I can’t believe I hit 10,000 subscribers!

Phil: Yeah, well, everybody loves danisnotonfire.

Dan: really? so that includes you? ;)

Phil: Nah. Not me.

Phil: I don’t love danisnotonfire.

Phil: I love Dan Howell.

[a minute passes]

Dan: I love Phil Lester, too.

Phil finished his graduate degree in York and returned to Manchester to find himself a flat on his own. He liked the independence but also enjoyed being closer to his family again, and some of his friends from school and college had returned to the area after uni as well.

Returning to some involvement with Deaf culture encouraged Phil to gradually shift the content of his videos, as he became more comfortable openly signing anecdotes about his life, influenced no doubt by Dan’s focus on his everyday life experiences in his own videos.

Viewer response was mixed. Some of Phil’s loyal audience rolled with the changes and seemed to enjoy the more personal glimpses into his life and personality, but others left ignorant, offensive comments about deafness and sign language. He lost some subscribers. Making his content more personal had made the cruel comments feel more personal, too. But when something online hurt his feelings, he just texted a real-life person he knew accepted him just as he was, and it helped.

Being able to sign with people again made his life richer and more fulfilling … and yet he found himself looking forward to his evening Skype calls more than any real-life interactions with his old friends. His family expressed concern that this obsession with a “stranger” on the Internet wasn’t healthy, but they just didn’t understand.

Phil had fallen harder than he ever had before, and with someone he’d never even met in person.

In a strange way, Phil felt simultaneously happier and lonelier than he’d ever been.

11 June 2011

Phil: Are you going to Summer in the City this year?

Dan: no

Phil: You have a lot of fans now. I’m sure they’d like to meet you!

Phil: And there are other people who would like to meet you, too! :p

[a few minutes pass]

Phil: Dan?

[several minutes pass]

Dan: I said no. Jesus phil just leave it the fuck alone!

Phil: Hey, I’m sorry! I’m not trying to pressure you!

Phil: I’m just starting to feel like this is kind of weird. Like I have a boyfriend I’ve never even met.

Dan: weird is what we do, right?

[a few minutes pass]

Phil: Yeah. Right.

Phil: I know.

Phil: I’d just really like to meet you.

[no response]

[after a really long time, Phil logs off]

Phil attended Summer in the City on his own again, painfully aware of how much closer he was to Dan when he visited London than when he was back home in Manchester. Painfully aware that Dan not only hadn’t wanted to attend the convention, but hadn’t even responded to Phil’s desire to meet.

He talked with other YouTubers, made plans for possible future collaborations, and hugged dozens of enthusiastic fans, took hundreds of smiling selfies. But the entire time, he couldn’t help but think that Dan was only 40 miles away, instead of the usual 200. Less than an hour by train.

So near, and yet not within reach. He felt it like a physical pain.

15 June 2011

Dan: remember when you first told me you were deaf?

Phil: Yeah?

Dan: and you were afraid i woud think you were a freak

Phil: Right, but you didn’t. Right?

Dan: of course not you idiot <3

Phil: So what’s going on?

Dan: theres soemthing i havent told you

Phil: You can tell me anything. I love you. You know that.

Dan: but its really weird

Phil: Weird is what we do. <3<3<3

[several minutes pass]

Dan: i dont talk

Phil: Like you’re shy? I wondered if that might be why you wouldn’t go to the gatherings and stuff.

Dan: no i dont talk

Phil: But you talk to me all the time. I’m confused.

Dan: i mean to people. out loud. irl i don’t talk. ever

Phil: Okay.

Dan: ok?

Phil: Yeah. Okay. I mean, I don’t talk either. Are you Deaf too? Is that why you don’t talk? Why didn’t you ever say anything?

[several minutes pass]

Dan: no i’m not deaf i just dont talk

Phil: It’s okay, Dan. I just want to understand. Why don’t you talk?

[no response]

[after a very, very long time, Phil logs off]

Phil didn’t know what to do with what Dan had told him, especially since Dan had sort of dropped a bomb and then just run off without explaining anything.

One thing was clear, though. Dan didn’t like being pushed. When he wanted to talk about this—no pun intended—he would.

Because if one other thing was clear, it was that Phil was willing to wait.

6 July 2011

Dan: You havent brought it up.

Phil: What?

Dan: You havent ever asked about the talking thing.

Phil: I did. You didn’t answer.

Dan: yeah but you havent asked again since

Phil: Did you want me to?

[several minutes pass]

Dan: I dont know. maybe

Phil: Okay. Why don’t you talk?

[several minutes pass]

Dan: I havent talked since I was 8.

Phil: Wow. That’s a long time.

[a few minutes pass]

Dan: yeah

[a few minutes pass]

Phil: Is that why you never wanted to meet?

Dan: yeah i didn’t want you to think I was a freak

Phil: Dan, weird is what we do. And I’m Deaf!

Dan: Well yeah but you dont do that on purpose.

Phil: You do it on purpose?

Dan: sort of i guess

Phil: So you could talk if you wanted to, but you don’t want to?

[several minutes pass]

Phil: Dan?

[several minutes pass]

Phil: Dan, I don’t think you’re a freak. Just talk to me.

Phil: Crap. You know what I mean.

[no response]

[hours later, Phil finally logs off]

Phil did some research into muteness that someone might call “on purpose,” just wanting to understand, and found himself wondering if what Dan experienced was maybe something called “selective mutism” or maybe a “conversion disorder.” As far as he could tell, neither one was truly something anyone did purposely, but, really, if Dan didn’t want to talk about it, Phil wouldn’t be able to understand much at all. He just wanted to educate himself a bit so that if Dan ever did want to talk about it, he’d be less likely to say something stupid and make Dan shut down even more.

12 February 2012

Dan: I have a question to ask you.

Phil: Okay.

Dan: but its making me really nervous

Phil: I love you, Dan. Whatever it is, it’ll be okay. I promise. <3

[several minutes pass]

Dan: do you think maybe i could come visit you in manchester?

Phil: Skype me right now this very minute because you have to see how big my smile is! <3<3<3<3<3

[Continue to Chapter 3]

#phanfiction #phanfic #phan #dan and phil #phan au #phanfic au #au phanfic #phan deaf au #myphanfic

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