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mxnsterbabe · 3 months

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Male Naga/Female Reader SFW Wordcount: 2,940 Commissions | Ko-fi | Masterlist

You get a text from a wrong number, and it sounds like they need a shoulder to cry on. Except, you keep texting, and eventually Teng asks you to meet.

Elodie sat in her cosy cottage, the fire crackling softly in the hearth. The countryside around her was quiet, a serene backdrop to her evening routine. She sipped her tea, enjoying the warmth that spread through her. The room was bathed in a soft, amber glow from the table lamp beside her. She glanced at her phone, idly scrolling through social media when a notification popped up—a text from an unknown number.

Hey, it's Teng. I got your new number from Jenna. I really need someone to talk to. You free?

Elodie frowned, curiosity piqued. She didn’t know anyone named Teng, and certainly hadn’t given her number to anyone recently; but the message was so earnest, so heartfelt. She hesitated for a moment before typing a response.

I think you might have the wrong number, but I’m here to listen if you need to talk.

Almost immediately, her phone buzzed again. Oh, I’m sorry! I thought this was my friend’s new number.

Elodie could have left it at that. It was already late, the guy had no idea who she was, but… well, curiosity had always been her weakness.

She sent another quick message asking if he needed to talk, not expecting him to answer. After all, who wanted to vent to a stranger?

To her surprise, though, he came back with yes, please.

Elodie’s heart softened. She knew all too well what it felt like to be isolated. Living in the countryside had its perks, but it also meant long stretches of solitude.

It’s no problem at all. I’m Elodie. What’s going on, Teng?

There was a brief pause before the next message came through. Thanks, Elodie. I guess it’s just difficult to talk about this stuff with people I know. They’d deny it, but I don’t think my friends really get me.

Elodie replied quickly, her fingers flying over the keys. I get that. Sometimes it feels like no one really sees you, you know? If you need to rant, rant away.

Teng's reply was swift and candid. I’m not stupid, I know I don’t exactly fit in. At work, it's even worse. I'm always the odd one out, and it’s exhausting trying to fit in.

Elodie frowned, her heart aching for him. What do you do for work?

I'm a software developer,Teng responded. It’s a job that allows me to hide behind a screen most of the time, but meetings and social events are a nightmare. Everyone is so... human.

Oh. Her heart did a little flutter. So, he wasn’t human?

Elodie paused, contemplating her next move. Would you like to call me? Sometimes it helps to talk things out loud.

There was a longer pause this time. She waited, watching the little dots on her screen that indicated Teng was typing. Finally, the message came through. I’d like that.

Elodie took a deep breath, then dialed his number. It rang only once before Teng picked up. "Hello?" His voice was thick and raspy, with a lilting Chinese accent; it sent a shiver down her spine.

"Hi Teng, it’s Elodie," she said, trying to keep her voice steady. "It’s nice to talk to you."

"Nice to talk to you too, Elodie," Teng replied, his voice softening. "Thank you for listening to me. I really needed this."

"Of course," Elodie said warmly. "So, tell me whatever you want to. Get it off your chest."

Teng sighed, and she could almost see him running a hand through his hair. "It's challenging, but I enjoy my work. The problem is the people. They always seem to be staring, judging. It’s hard not to feel self-conscious."

Elodie’s curiosity got the better of her. "Why do you think they judge you?"

There was a brief silence before Teng spoke again, his voice tinged with nervousness. "Elodie, I need to tell you something important about myself.”

She rose a brow even though he couldn’t see it, waiting silently.

“I’m a naga."

Elodie’s breath caught in her throat. She had heard of nagas, of course she had, but she’d never met one before. As far as she knew, they didn’t get along with many other people.

"That… explains some stuff," she said carefully. "Is that why you feel so isolated?"

"Yes," Teng admitted, his voice heavy. "My people usually prefer seclusion, away from the hustle and bustle of city life; but I wanted to try living in the modern world. It’s been... difficult."

Elodie’s heart ached for him. "I can only imagine how hard that must be.”

"Thank you for understanding," Teng replied, his voice softening. "Most people don’t. I moved to Oceanhall a year ago for work, but I haven’t made any friends."

Elodie felt a surge of empathy. Oceanhall wasn’t too far from her. "Hey, I get you,” she said softly. “I live in the middle of nowhere, a real countryside cottage; I’ve not exactly been making a lot of friends lately either. Maybe we could both use a friend."

"I Iknow I could," Teng said. "You have no idea how much this means to me."

They continued talking for a long time, after that. The hours ticked by without Elodie even noticing; she was so absorbed in Teng’s beautiful voice, in everything he had to say.

Despite his struggles, it was pretty clear that Teng was handling it the best he could. He told her about his attempts to fit in at office parties, the difficulties of having a six foot tail in the cramped city spaces. And, of course, his strict dietary restrictions.

"People don't get why I don't eat like them," Teng said with a chuckle. "Humans, orcs, goblins; they might have different preferences and allergies, but it all boils down to the same thing. Three meals a day, veggies carbs and all that… but us nagas are pretty much exclusively carnivores.”

“Huh. I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah. There’s one vegan at work who really doesn’t appreciate it.”

Elodie smiled, feeling a growing affection for him. "You sound like you’ve been handling it well, all things considered. It must take a lot of strength."

"It does," Teng admitted. "I didn’t realise how much better I’d feel just by talking about it, though."

Elodie’s heart swelled with warmth. "Hey, I’m glad I could help."

There was a brief pause on the line before Teng spoke again, his voice filled with an almost shy hesitation. "I just realised the time. I’m so sorry for keeping you up this late."

Elodie glanced at the clock and saw that it was indeed late, but she smiled to herself. "It’s fine, really. I’ve enjoyed every minute of our conversation."

Teng’s voice softened. "I’ve enjoyed it too. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt comfortable talking to someone."

Elodie’s heart fluttered at his words. She could hear the sincerity in his voice, and it made hersmile even broader. She was about to say something when Teng’s voice came through the line again, this time with a touch of nervousness.

"Elodie, I was wondering... I know it’s a bit of a distance, but would you maybe like to meet up sometime? We could meet halfway. I’d love to take you out to dinner as a thank you for tonight."

Elodie felt a rush of excitement at his suggestion. She had grown so fond of Teng already, and the idea of meeting him in person made her heart stutter.

"I’d love that, Teng," she said, her voice filled with genuine enthusiasm. "Dinner sounds wonderful. Let’s plan it."

There was a palpable sense of relief in Teng’s voice when he replied. "Really? That’s great. How about this weekend? I can find a nice place for us to meet."

Elodie smiled, her heart racing with anticipation. "This weekend works perfectly. I’m really looking forward to it."

"Me too," Teng said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. "I’ll figure something out. Thanks for humouring me.”

Elodie wasn’t sure how to tell him she wasn’t humouring him at all. If anything, she wanted this even more than he did. Instead of saying so, though, she simply said,”I can’t wait."

They said their goodnights, andn Elodie hung up the phone. She sat back, her mind buzzing with thoughts of Teng.

As she got ready for bed an hour later, Elodie found herself thinking of Teng’s laugh, the way his voice had that soothing, raspy quality to it, and the thoughtfulness in his words. She was excited about the prospect of meeting him, and the anticipation of their dinner date filled her with a sense of joy she hadn’t felt in a long time.

Climbing into bed, Elodie turned off the lamp and settled under the covers. She closed her eyes, a smile playing on her lips as she replayed their conversation in her mind. There was something special about Teng, something she couldn’t quite place.

***

Elodie arrived at the little cafe Teng reccomended, her heart pounding against her ribs. The gentle hum of conversation and the clinking of cutlery created a comforting atmosphere, but her mind was racing. She checked her watch and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She had been looking forward to this moment ever since she and Teng had agreed to meet. Now that the time had come, she felt a swirl of nerves.

She chose a table near the window, the warm glow of the café’s lights reflecting off the polished wooden surfaces. The cafe was charming, with an eclectic mix of patrons. She noticed a couple of orcs sharing a hearty meal in one corner and a small group of elves enjoying delicate pastries in another. It was a place that welcomed everyone, no matter their background or dietary needs.

Just then, she heard a soft rustling at the entrance. Turning, she saw him. Teng was more striking than she had imagined. He had a striking face; high cheekbones and full, plush lips. His eyes were a deep, warm shade of brown, looking about the cafe cautiously.

He was gorgeous, no doubt, buy it was his lower body that truly set him apart. Where his waist should have been, his body transitioned into a long, sleek serpent’s tail, covered in iridescent golden scales that shimmered under the café's lights.

For a moment, Elodie was taken aback. She had known Teng was a naga, but seeing him in person was a different experience entirely. Her initial surprise quickly gave way to a sense of awe. Despite his inhuman features, there was an undeniable beauty about him, and she felt drawn to him in a way she hadn’t expected.

Teng approached slowly. “Elodie?” he asked softly, his voice thick and raspy. His accent seemed thicker in person, with a slight lisp.

She nodded, managing a smile. “Hi Teng. It’s really nice to meet you.”

His eyes softened with relief. “You too.”

They stood there for a moment, taking each other in. Elodie could see the nervousness in Teng’s eyes, and she felt a wave of empathy wash over her. She stepped forward and gestured to the table. “Shall we sit?”

Teng nodded, and they made their way to the table by the window. As they settled down, Elodie couldn’t help but glance at Teng’s tail, which coiled gracefully beneath the table. The scales glinted under the warm café lights, creating a mesmerizing pattern.

“This place is wonderful,” she said, breaking the silence. “Thank you for suggesting it.”

He smiled, showing sharp teeth. “I’m glad you like it. I thought it would be a good spot for us, considering they cater to all kinds of people.”

Teng’s eyes met hers, and she could see a flicker of appreciation at her easy acceptance.

They perused the menu together, chatting easily about their options. The café offered a diverse array of dishes, from hearty stews and fresh salads to more exotic offerings tailored to different species’ needs. Elodie noticed Teng’s eyes light up when he found a section dedicated to naga cuisine.

“What are you thinking of ordering?” Elodie asked, curious.

Teng smiled, a hint of excitement in his eyes. “They have a dish here that I haven’t had in years. Fresh, raw fish and local herbs.”

“Kind of like sashimi?”

“Yeah, exactly!”

Elodie nodded. “That sounds amazing. Maybe I’ll give it a try too.”

“You don’t have to,” Teng said, and he seemed to wilt in front of her. “It’s an acquired taste, don’t force yourself.”

Her heart ached for him. Without thinking, she reached across the table and took his hand in hers. His skin was cool to the touch, dotted with beautiful gold and amber scales. His fingers curled around hers, and so Elodie gave him a light squeeze.

“I know we don’t know each other well,” she admitted. “You seem like a really good guy. I’m not forcing myself to try your food, or whatever else you’re thinking. I want to be here.”

“I’ve always felt like an outsider,” Teng admitted. “People see me and believe a whole host of things that aren’t true. I guess it’s difficult not to assume the worst.”

Elodie reached out and placed her hand on his, her touch gentle and reassuring. “I can’t imagine how tough that must be. For what it’s worth, I think you’re pretty great.”

They lapsed into a comfortable quiet, Elodie watching Teng from the corner of her eyes. He really was handsome, all dark hair and shining eyes.

When the food arrived, Elodie’s eyes widened at the sight of the meal. The dish was beautifully presented, with fresh fish slices arranged artfully over a bed of herbs. It looked almost too beautiful to eat, but the raw aspect was slightly intimidating. It wasn’t like sashimi at all.

“I have to admit,” Elodie said, glancing at Teng with a nervous smile, “this wasn’t quite what I expected. I’m a little intimidated.”

Teng chuckled softly. “Don’t worry. I’ll show you how it’s done.” He picked up a piece of fish and dipped it into what looked like a lemon sauce, then ate the piece whole.

Following his lead, Elodie picked up a piece of fish, imitating Teng’s movements. She dipped it into the sauce and took a tentative bite. The flavour exploded in her mouth; fresh and citrus, with a hint of sweetness

“Wow,” she said, her eyes widening. “This is really good!”

Teng smiled, clearly pleased. “I’m glad you like it. It’s one of my favourites.”

Elodie took another bite, enjoying the silky-soft texture of the fish. “So, what other foods do you enjoy?” she asked.

“I eat a lot of meat,” Teng explained, picking up another piece of fish. “Mostly raw. There’s one dish my mum used to make; raw tuna and watermelon salad.”

She had to admit, that was difficult to imagine. “I love trying new foods,” she said. “This is definitely new, but I’m really enjoying it.”

When he grinned, she glimpsed those sharp fangs again. It made her stomach flip and oh, she wanted to know what it felt like to kiss him.

Wait, where had that come from?

“Nagas have a drink called vargash,” Teng said, snapping Elodie from her thoughts. “It’s a fermented drink kind of like a sweet beer. It’s a shame they don’t sell it here, it goes well with fish.”

Elodie leaned forward, trying not to look at him for too long. Could he tell that she was thinking of him like this? She distracted herself by saying, “I’d love to try it sometime.”

Teng smiled. “Maybe next time we meet, I can bring some for you to try.”

Elodie felt a warm flutter in her chest at the thought of another meeting. “I’d like that.”

As they finished their meal, the underlying thrum between them became almost unbearable. Every glance, every touch seemed charged with a subtle electricity that made Elodie’s heart race.

When the server cleared their plates and brought the bill, Teng turned to Elodie with a gentle smile. “Would you like me to walk you to your car?”

Elodie’s heart skipped a beat at the thought of spending a little more time with him. “I’d like that very much.”

They stood up and made their way out of the café, the cool evening air a pleasant contrast to the warmth inside.

When they reached her car, Teng hesitated for a moment before turning to face her. “Elodie, I’ve really enjoyed tonight. Could we do this again?”

Elodie’s stomach flipped as she blurted, “yeah, I’d love to.”

Teng took a step closer, his voice soft. “Can I kiss you goodnight?”

Elodie’s heart fluttered, and she nodded. “Absolutely”

Teng leaned in slowly, his eyes never leaving hers. When their lips met, Elodie felt a surge of warmth and affection. His lips were cool and soft against hers, his fangs pressing lightly into her lower lip. He tasted of fresh herbs and lemon.

When they finally pulled away, Elodie’s heart was thudding so fast, she swore he could hear it too.

“I’ll see you again?” she asked softly.

“Of course. Same time next week?”

Elodie didn’t know how she could wait an entire week to see him again, but she nodded anyway.

They exchanged a lingering look before saying their goodnights. He kissed her again, one arm snaking around her waist to pull her close. His tail got in the way, but he curled it around her feet and Elodie shivered in delight.

“Goodnight,” Teng said quietly. “Get home safe.”

“Goodnight.”

Elodie watched as Teng disappeared into the night, her heart full and her mind buzzing with thoughts of him. Next week couldn’t come quickly enough.

#exophilia fiction #exophilia #monster fucker #monster boyfriend #monster romance #monster x reader #tag: sfw #tag: naga #tag: male monster #tag: female reader #tag: mxf

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thedevilsoftruth · 5 months

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Hey!, I just finished rewatching moon knight and now scrolling through the moon knight tags when I came across a post about how Mr knight is actually Marc Spector and Steven Grant is a playboy billionaire in the comics and I was shook. Then I came across your post of you ranting about the differences from the show to the comics, which blew my mind!, and now I’m so intrigued and curious about the true lore of moon knight, every time I try to search about it on google I just get references from the shows (so frustrating) I can’t afford to buy the comics, so if you can/want could you please tell me all the important and interesting facts/lore that’s in the moon knight comics?

Sorry for the long message, just came across your page and pressed follow, love your content!. ❤️

AAAAAAGGGGHHHH HOLY SHIT. HOLY SHIT. GIIGLING AND KICKING MY FEET IN THE AIR. HEY, LOOK MA, I MADE IT!! I GET TO EXPLAIN THE MOON KNIGHT COMICS LORE TO SOME GUY ON THE INTERNET!!

in all seriousness, this made my day. I'm so glad you enjoy my content, and I will happily explain to you the MK lore!

I completely get you on the not wanting to but the comics thing. Comics are expensive. Honey, imma be real with you, readcomiconline.li is where it's at. It's where I read all of the comics I didn't have.

So before I go on a tangent and explain things, and this goes for anyone wanting to start reading the comics, heres a little list of all the comics I've read so far in what I understand to be chronological order.

It's a little bit cheesy and a VERY long run, but Marc Spector: Moon Knight from 1989-94 is maaayybbeee where you want to start off, but maybe not. I didn't start off with this run, but even as bad as the old comics are, they're a bit important.

But, I HIGHLY suggest you start out with the Lemire and Smallwood run from 2016. It was the first run I completed, and it's an amazing run and VERY important to read. Many people say it's the best run. It's certainly a run, I'll tell you that. ( Also I didn't read that one online, I received it last year as a Christmas gift. Also readcomic doesn't have all of the issues, so be warned on that. )

Next I read From The Dead. And I moved on to Vengeance of The Moon Knight from 2009. And after I'd suggest reading Age of Khonshu, Devils Reign and then The Midnight Mission. You can read all of these for free on readcomiconline.li ( don't type in comics plural because it will direct you to the wrong site ) be warned though because there are a lot of ads and you will get jumpscared by anime boobies.

Now moving onto what you asked me for. The important stuff, right.

I'm new to this whole comic reading stuff as well, and for anyone else reading this who knows more than I do, please add additional information I missed down in the reply section. It would mean a lot. So now I'm going to give a you a quick run down on Marc's origin story. ( And for a quick disclaimer, I will come off as not taking myself seriously in some parts of this post because I don't take myself seriously lol. )

Marc Spector was born on March 9th, 1987 in Chicago Illinois into a Jewish family. His father was Elias Spector and his mother was Wendy Spector ( his younger brother being Randall Spector )Elias was a rabbi who manged to escape Nazi prosecution during the days of Hitler and all that jazz. Because Elias was a rabbi, Randall would get picked on at school a lot, and Marc would be there to stand up for him. Even at a young age Marc was exposed to a lot of violence. That could come from growing up yk... Kinda poor and having to stand up for your lil bro.

Marc's violent nature was really born when a close family friend of his, Yitz Perlmen was discovered to be a secret serial killer who targeted Jews. From what I understand, Perlmen tried to Kill Marc ( mind you Marc was like 11 or 12 ) but Marc had escaped but his traumatic experiences led him to form D.I.D

As seen in the Lemire run, the first time Marc had encountered Khonshu was when he was 12 and was getting diagnosed for his D.I.D Marc wasn't told to his face from the doctor about his disorder and was told to step outside the office. Marc tried to evesdrop on the conversation, and from outside of the doctor's office, he meets Khonshu. Khonshu tells him, " That man in there is not your true father. I am. " Mind you, Marc is 12!!! 12!!!! Khonshu began manipulating Marc since he was twelve because he was, obviously really fucking young, and traumatized. Khonshus tactics were to strip Marc away from his religion and culture and make him submit to him.

So anyways, Marc was sent to Putnam Psychiatric Hospital and would stay there until he was 18 when his father funeral came along and he was let go for a week to go visit his family. This is where we learn Marc's relationship with his father was complex. Marc tells his mother, Wendy, that his father must have been happy to send him away because he was embarrassed by him. Wendy and Marc have an argument, which ends in Marc saying he's going to the bathroom, when he actually leaves to his childhood bedroom and escapes out the window when he hears Khonshus voice.

Marc later enlisted into the U.S marines Corps and served as a private for a couple years. But on Marc's second tour to Iraq, superiors started to report his odd behavior and they found out that Marc had lied about his disorder, leaving him to be discharged. Marc joined the CIA and served with his brother Randall. Randall was jealous of Marcs talents and killed Marc's girlfriend, Lisa, because she was going to expose a gun scheme. Marc then like... Threw bombs at Randall and shit and then assumed he was dead...but he wasn't.

Marc left the CIA after that and started doing illegal boxing, where he met his soon to be best friend, Jean-Paul Duchamp ( usually refered to as Frenchie ) and they became mercenaries together and started killing a bunch of people, in Marc's case, for mooonnneeyyy!!! Get that bag, girlie. And then Marc got put on trial for war crimes!! His crime being yk...assistanting the president of this south African country called Bosqueverde as one does.

And then he started to do missions under this group call the Karnak Cowboys and fell in love with one of his groupmates, Layla El-faouly, as seen in later issues of The Midnight Mission. Then she fucking died when an escape went wrong.

So anyways Marc meets this funny lil guy named Raoul Bushman ( he is not funny lil guy, he's killed hundred of people, probably) So Marc works for him with Frenchie and they, together, set to north Sudan to raid a dig site. ( This should start to sound familiar, as it was briefly touched on in the show when Arthur's guys captured Steven and put cuffs on him and slammed him in the back of their car ) Looks like raid shadow legends went down again, and things started to get not so epic when Raoul killed the lead Archeologist of the dig site, Peter Alraune in front of his daughter Marlene. This pissed the ever loving shit out of Marc because even though Marc likes violence, he doesn't enjoy violence against innocent people, and so he punches the fucker but uh oh! The Raoul Bushman Strikes Back, and he fucking KILLS MARC IN RETURN AND EVERYONE ELSE EXPECT FOR FRENCHIE AND MARLENE AND THIS ONE MF WHO TOLD HIM HE WOULD TELL HIM WHERE THE DIG SITE WAS. ( really Raoul left Marc mortally wounded, but he was on the brick of death, basically)

Marc was able to regain conscious and drag himself halfway to Khonshus tomb ( which is what Raoul was looking for ) Marlene and a bunch of other citizens find Marc and they carry him to Khonshus tomb. Marc hears Khonshus voice for yet another time, and Marc is revived and becomes the Moon Knight we all know and love. Then he basically killed Raoul's guys and then fell in love with Marlene.

So that's his origin story. Now onto the stuff I know as fact but it won't be explained in chronological order because I haven't read a ton of comics to explain it in chronological order.

He used Steven as a a way to handle money and build wealth so they could have recourses like vehicles, weapons and a ton of other random bullshit ( go!! ) that they don't need. Jake was used as a new York taxi driver so that he had his eye in the streets and knew when shit was goin down. They're both kind of horny. Jake literally spends some of his free time in a strip clubs drinking rum. ( As seen in the midnight mission and implied on in the Lemire run. )

His relationship with Marlene was long, but didn't last because, if I'm recalling correctly, Marc had a mental breakdown and decided to basically stop working for Khonshu so he could be with Marlene. But soon after he started hearing Khonshus voice again and Marlene couldn't take anymore of it, so she left him.

And then there's that bullshit with The Midnight Man. All I know is that he passed away from cancer and had a son named Jeff Wilde. Jeff aspired to Marc and wanted to be his sidekick, kind of like Robin and Batman in the Lego Batman movie with a little less adoption, but Marc kept on refusing as a way to protect Jeff. The Jeff had this whole thing where he turned evil or some shit idk and I guess Marc killed him? I'm not sure. Please, moon knight gang, let me know what happened in the reply section because I'm ignorant.

Marc had his independence from Khonshu after banishing Khonshu to Asgardian Prison ( seen in Age of Khonshu and discussed in The Midnight Mission) and decided " fuck you, I don't need need you anymore. Imma do my own thing and you can't do nothing about it " and then he became Mr. Knight. Mr. Knight is kind of a detective and he consults with policemen ( as seen in From The Dead ) Moon Knight is the one who does all the fighting.

From where Marc's development is at right now, Marc was running a thing called the Midnight Mission, which was a place where citizens would go to to report strange things happening in the city.

Additional, fun information:

Marc has a daughter named Diatrice. He only knows about it because Jake had a secret relationship with Marlene on the side after Marc and Marlene broke up.

He sleeps all day in the tomb of Khonshu and fights crime at night. He's like a bat!!

His ringtone ( as seen in the midnight mission) is The Killing Moon by Echo and The Bunnymen. ( Y'all should listen to it, if you haven't. it's really good. ).

He drives a red convertible car ( as seen in the Brain Micheal Bendis run, don't read it it's REALLY bad and insufficient. ) and also a motorcycle ( as see in Vengeance of The Moon Knight)

He was originally supposed to fight mainly just werewolf's and um... Writers at Marvel had different ideas.

His favorite drink is an ice cold vodka ( as seen in the Midnight Mission)

He had a mansion and then his money went bye bye and now he lives in a haunted house ( as seen, once again, in the Midnight Mission)

Frenchie is also gay! Hes married to a man named Rob! ( And this is only from what I've heard, by he apparently had a secret crush on Marc at some point.)

And yeah. That's all I have for ya today. Thank you if you made it this far, and I hope I was able to satisfy your curiosity a little bit!

Goodknight everyone!!!

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scarl3ttjpg · 1 year

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Back to Square One (07)

I woke up in a slight panic as I rolled off the couch, hitting the floor hard with a thud. My head was pounding and my back ached as I looked around the living room. Clyde and Bebe were both still asleep on the floor, and Butters had presumably gone to his room to sleep in his own bed, which was understandable. I took a look at my phone and was surprised to see that it was already well past 10 am. I scrolled through my notifications, skimming over the several texts from my dad asking where we were and if we were coming home any time soon. I sent him a quick response, verifying that Clyde and I weren't dead as I pulled myself off the ground and sat properly on the couch.

I began scrolling through Twitter, and sighed at all of the back-and-forth subtweets from the previous night. Nobody at the party had any business going on social media last night, and I could already tell that this would only make people more upset with me.

I set my phone down next to me and rest my head in my hands, the mere thought of everything draining all of the energy from my body. I'd always been one to overthink and doubt myself, and my current reputation didn't help at all. Back in elementary school, they were all reluctant in include me in their game. They only even considered it because of Clyde, not because they had wanted me to be a friend. Then when all the rumors started spreading, they all dropped me without a second thought. They all made it abundantly clear that they never wanted me to be a part of their group, but Kyle especially had made the biggest deal of it. The moment he heard what I did, both actually and allegedly, he decided that I was the worst person to exist. He decided that I was some sort of monster.

The thing that I never could understand, though, is why he's still so upset about it. Over ten years later and he still berates me every chance he gets. He was the first to drop me and the last to move on.

Still lost in my thoughts, I hear quiet footsteps pad down the hall into the living room. I didn't think to look up until I heard Butters speak.

"Oh, hey Y/N! Glad to see you're awake," he smiled. I gave a thumbs up. My head hurt too badly to verbally respond. I watched Butters make his way into the kitchen and fix himself a bowl of cereal. He looked over to me and gestured, silently asking if I wanted anything to which I shook my head. Clyde and I would probably stop and get lunch before we get home at this rate.

"Are you doin' okay? I know you got pretty upset last night. Gosh, I'm sorry about all of that, I thought he'd have moved on by now..."

I shrugged my shoulders. "Yeah, I'm fine. I don't even remember a lot of what happened last night, I probably drank too much," I half-lied. If there's one thing I hate doing, it's making people worry about me. At school, I had gotten used to getting through things on my own. Hell, I never even bothered my roommate or my RA with anything.

Butters frowned at my answer but didn't continue pushing me. He took a seat next to me as he ate a spoonful of his breakfast in silence. We sat in quiet for a moment before Bebe slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes and letting out a groan.

"Who the fuck let me get that bad last night..." she whined, holding her head in her hands. One thing about Bebe is that she's a lightweight in denial. When she drinks, she always gets blackout drunk.

Bebe's whining was loud enough to wake up Clyde, who was just as whiny if not more so. He spent a few minutes ranting and mumbling about how bad his head and stomach hurt before I shot him a glare. I knew that he would still be whining about this the entire ride home, I wasn't going to listen to this longer than I had to.

"Hey, bozo, shut up please. My head already hurts without your bitching and I have to drive you home," I said coldly at my brother. He shut his mouth and frowned. I cleared my throat before looking at Butters and Bebe as I stood up.

"Anyways... We should probably get home," I started. "Our dad's been asking where we are all morning." I quickly gave Bebe and Butters hugs before making my way to the door, followed by Clyde.

"The party was fun. Y'know, aside from that... Hiccup."

We each said quick goodbyes before Clyde and I stepped out into the hall and made our way to the car. After what felt like an eternity of listening to Clyde complain about how hungover he was, we finally arrived at home. As fast as I could, I hopped out of the car and got inside the house.

"Dad, we're home!" I shouted into the house before I saw a note on the coffee table stating that he was out running errands. I sighed and sat down on the couch and leaned my head back. I smiled at the peace and quiet as Clyde shuffled his way up to his room until my phone vibrated. My smile shifted to a frown as I saw who had texted me.

prev || next

#back to square one #clyde donovan #y/n #kyle broflovski x reader #south park smau #south park x reader #south park x y/n #south park x you #bebe stevens #butters stotch #stan marsh

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peaches2217 · 4 months

Note

hi peaches, i know we haven't interacted a whole lot recently - i'm sorry for being busy and missing a lot of what you've had to say. i just wanted to tell you that you don't need to be sorry for how you're approaching your daily life. finding it difficult to accept support from others is an issue that many people struggle with, whether that be due to past experiences or concurrent self-loathing, and this should not be looked upon scornfully. instead, you deserve to be treated with patience. these trains of thought about yourself can only be corrected with time, love and gentle guidance, not via a quick remark about how it's bad for you. while yes, you deserve to think of yourself more favourably, nobody should ever imply that you have any reason to feel guilty about your mindset. it is not a failure on your part - it is a way in which your past has manifested, and this is something you need help for as a difficulty in and of itself, not just a flaw that warrants general criticism. 🫂

i strongly disagree with the notion that you're bringing other people down, too - this is an online environment, and to be frank, one can simply choose to scroll past any rants you are posting if they can't be arsed to deal with any emotional toll. it takes one swipe of a finger. you are not forcing anybody to be by your side, so please don't apologise as if you are.

the only sentiment we should be affirming is that you deserve to think of yourself, and treat yourself, in a better way. this is about *you*, you know. i know from experience how capable you are of kindness, acceptance and gratitude, and how brilliant you are at extending this gentle hand to the people around you. i can only hope that you become its own recipient with time. ❤️

I can’t thank you enough for this. I really can’t, anon, thank you so much. I’ve been applauded my whole life my family and authority for how self-sacrificing I am, even when it’s been visibly tearing me to shreds, and I’m at a point where I know it’s wrong and I’m actively trying to work against it but still fall back on it if I’m not careful. I try to be gracious with myself — this is a lifetime of indoctrination interwoven with religious trauma, it’s not gonna be undone overnight! — but when I stumble and someone points out that my failures affect more than just me, I guess it sends me spiraling, because that’s, y’know, the antithesis of both what I was raised to believe is right and what I currently believe is right.

Thank you so much. Thank you so, so, so much. Maybe it’s selfish of me, maybe it makes me a jerk that can’t take criticism or can’t handle harsh truths, but this is exactly what I needed to hear, and I’m gonna reflect on this for a while.

#peaches’ reference cache

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sanguine-tenshi · 7 months

Text

Quick rant

I just finished WoF book nine and man is it a good example of how NOT to do a magic system.

Look so far the series has been interesting to read. It's nothing overall special and it has some nice messages in it.

All the characters are interesting in their own unique way and the author really makes them real and relatable in their POV books. It was nice seeing different reactions to the same trauma in the first arc.

But man does animus magic fuck everything up. Literally nothing up to that point matters. No character matters, no decision matters, no power maters. Nothing matters.

And it doesn't matter because an animus dragon can just... undo and redo and remake and adjust as they please.

There are no limits put on them, not even a single one.

"Oh well if they overdo their magic use they could turn evil! That's a limit!"

Except no it fucking isn't. An animus dragon can just undo whatever damage their magic does, they can just erase the negative effects, make themselves immune to them, make themselves better dragons. They can do what the fuck ever.

Darkstalker can just spell his gf back to live. What's fucking stopping him? Just write the spell down, figure out a way so you cover all the possible monkey's paw effects and you are done. He can spell Moon to like him and then spell himself to forget he did that, so he doesn't have to feel guilty or for it to feel shallow and wrong.

Oh and an animus dragon can just make and unmake other animus dragons! Isn't that a fucking grand idea!

I just... the series was fine up until that point. And the worst part is that Tui did write in an interesting idea for a magic system in this mess.

Darkstalker's magic scroll.

That's it. That is how you fix it. Just expand on the idea.

Like for example, there is an island, a magic island that kills all dragons, but animus dragons. Which is important because a plant grows there that enables animus dragons to do magic.

So an animus dragon would have to go to that island, gather the plant, make paper on the island from that plant and in the process embed their own magic into it so they could do magic. They can make only so much magic paper in their life or something.

This way their spells are only what they write on the paper and only the paper itself is magic. Like it was in the book. This way you can limit the duration of magic as well, as once the paper rots away the spell disappears.

And you can limit it even further by forcing dragons to actually understand how to get the result they want. I mean like, you can't just write down "Make the wearer fireproof." Make it so the dragon needs to know what that means. Eg. there's a plant that is fireproof. Okay why is it fireproof? What makes it fireproof? Kinda force it to relate back to things that can be found in nature, I guess. Don't really have a good way to explain this part, sorry, I'm just kinda writing out my thoughts. But basically slap a high INT and WIS requirement on it.

Anyway rant over, was just so frustrated I needed to get this out of my head.

Bye and take care of yourself💗

#wof #wings of fire #rant post #how NOT to do a magic system

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gremzon · 1 year

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☢WELCOME ON MY TUMBLR!!!☣

☢You can call me Grem, I'm 19, I'm Neurodivergent, trans and aroace :] My pronouns are He/him.I'm a digital artist💚 I might open commisions if i get enough reach, so please consider sharing my art, check my other socials (links down bellow) and donate on kofi if you can. My blog is safe for eveyone, unless youre a bigot and/or AI user. Free palestine, eat the rich, furries are cool, punch nazis in the face, the internet is for freaks not corporations.

☣More under the cut, I don't bite :) (jk I might)

☢Welcome in my toxic mess! I post about anything and my current hyperfixations (they change every weeks), so it might get messy. This blog is even messier because i struggle to follow my own tags and forget about them (sorry about that)

☢My tags☣

☣My art ► #grezmart

☢Ramble text posts (tw vent/rant) ► #grem stuff

☣Other's art I like ► #art stuff

☢My other blogs☣

☣My Oc's blogs :

☢Hadeon ► @hadeon

☣Swordtail ► @ask-swordtail

☢Other side blogs :

☢Art blog ► @gremzart

☣Mod blog ► @gremzoff

☢My links☣

☢Instagram (inactive) ► @Gremzon

☣Twitter (inactive) ► @Gremzon

☢Deviantart ► @Gremzon

☣Cara ► @Gremzon

☢Artfol ► @Gremzon

☣Toyhouse ► @Gremzon

☢KoFi ► @Gremzon

☣Website ► @Gremzon

☢Quick boundaries☣

☣I don't have a dni list because i think they are stupid, but i still block people who makes me uncomfortable;

☢My DMs and asks are open, as long as you're not a creep;

☣I do not post straight up NSFW but my blog isn't intented for underage people, scroll at your own risk!;

☢If you want to draw for me, please do not draw NSFW or anything harmfull :) no shipping either, unless I said it was ok;

☣I'm not really the most comfortable about roleplaying, so unless we are close, please don't ask;

☢You can check more of my boundaries, especially regarding art on my toyhouse ► Right here

☢Art related stuff☣

☣Commisions? ► Closed!

☢Art trades? ► Closed!

☣Requests? ► Closed!

Last updated: 9/08/34- edited links

#pinned #grem stuff #intro post #cw eyestrain

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winns-stuff · 2 years

Text

LO RANT:

Okay this won’t be the topic I posted about earlier, the one with awards, instead this is a really quick rant about something that I don’t exactly like coming from Lore Olympus. Listen when I say this I’m not trying to throw hate or anything on anyone and I’m not trying to say that people should never say it again but I am saying that it irks me a lot. Okay, now that you know that you might be wondering what the hell am I even talking about and I’ll answer it for you. I don’t exactly enjoy it when people compare Morticia and Gomez to Hades and Persephone.

I know it’s something small but it’s a touchy topic for me alright. Like I said in my older post I don’t come from a family of very good men, I don’t exactly have a role model or a set of men who really show up and before all of this I didn’t know how a woman was supposed to be treated, but then one day when I mindlessly scrolled through channels I stopped on this peculiar movie. It was the Addam’s Family and I was about to turn it off in fear because I genuinely thought it was a horror movie because of the hand guy, luckily though I managed to notice Gomez and Morticia right beforehand. I was intrigued at first and then I was in awe, never before have I seen such a couple in love and on such an emotional and passionate level, to this day I still believe that barely anyone on Earth, in this lifetime and the next, will be able to even reach such a level of pure intimacy and devotion and love. Anyways though, that day really helped become my example and I was finally able to understand how people should be treated by their loved ones, they became sorta like role models to me. That’s why it’s kinda touchy for me.

Anyways, now that you know the backstory I’m sure you can understand why I don’t like this comparison at all. I know a lot of people can get confused under the gaze of all the glitter and pastel colors that take place in Lore Olympus, and I don’t fault people for that I can understand and resonate why people idolize Persephone and Hades’ relationship. The comic makes it seem like they’re just so in love, and obsessed, and devoted to one another. Not only that but they keep showing us and telling us just how much they care for another. But genuinely, it’s all for show.. I don’t believe that Persephone and Hades actually have love between them. It really wouldn’t make sense to even be in love in their conditions. But it’s in no way shape or form comparable to what Morticia and Gomez have for one another.

Morticia and Gomez love each other dearly, they do not need to rely on the art of seduction or gift giving to express their love, they care for each other and their families without paying more attention to only one side. There’s a lot more but let me tell you just how much better Gomez is than Hades. Gomez never made Morticia uncomfortable nor has he ever lied to her, he’s never lashed out on anyone who doesn’t deserve it nor has he ever indulged in disrespecting boundaries that Morticia set, Gomez doesn’t sexualize Morticia whenever he pleases nor does he put Morticia in powerless situations that distress her for his own gain. Hades has done all of these things while Gomez hasn’t so they’re both incomparable, also Persephone as Morticia…. I’m sorry but in my opinion they would never go together, maybe season 1 Persephone but 2 and 3? Absolutely not.

I’m sorry I know this is unnecessary but it’s just a personal small annoyance of mine and I probably overreacted I just don’t like seeing a couple who I keep near and dear to my heart be shriveled down to whatever Persephone and Hades think they have. It’s not a relationship that people should idolize honestly because they’re both not great people and this depiction of a relationship is not a healthy one at all. I just wanted to say that, but yeah.

This is obviously a very very extremely biased opinion and genuinely I think I’m being immature with it so I don’t know if I’ll keep it up, it was just in my mind for a while and I love the pair immensely so I just got defensive.

#lo critical #anti lore olympus #anti lo

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gingerturtle99 · 2 years

Text

Just keep breathing chapter 1

“YOU WORK IN PEADS!”

Ot8 Doctor skz x Reader

MASTERLIST | Meet the fellows | Next

I AM NOT A DOCTOR NOR A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL

I apologise it’s long and there could be some grammar mistakes.

Trigger warnings include: AFAB Reader, Fem Reader ,Blood, surgery , trauma, hospitals, children in hospital, maybe a little spicy in some chapters . I’ve probably missed some but please educate me if I have.

“If I see another kid who’s shoved Lego up their nose today I might scream” I say not really talking to anyone in particular as I run my hands through my hair attempting to tie my hair into a ponytail once again as I lean against the nurses station.A nurse next to me giggles as she walks off into a patients room.

“You work in peads what did you expect?”Right on que Minho strides over and stands next to me, I don’t even need to look at his smug face to know he’s rolling his eyes at me.I just stand up a little straighter and put my hand under the sanitiser dispenser, rubbing the liquid into my hands.

“I know that but Yejun was the fifth kid I’ve treated today that thought trying to shove numerous …NUMEROUS!! Lego’s up their nose was a good idea “ I say as I look up towards the fellow doctor next to me who is smiling at the tablet he’s holding in his hands scrolling through some test results by the looks of it, I can’t tell if the smile is at my pain or good test results though.

“ You do know you could ask the residents to do it right, you are an attending now?” He says shaking his head whilst placing the tablet back into the charging port and turning his body to face mine, looking down at me smirking.

“I know but…mr face of the hospital has half of them on his mystery tumour isn’t he meant to be like some neuro god or something?! Why does he need so many residents!! and the other half are with…” My rant was cut short by a loud alarm ringing throughout the peads floor.

“CODE BLUE ROOM 104, CODE BLUE ROOM 104”

Both mine and Minho’s eyes blow wide as we break into a run towards room 104, There is an evident look of worry on Minho’s face as we reach the doorway however that look changes completely as we see a mother standing next to the code button and her child a young boy about 13 sitting up in bed looking worriedly at his mother .

“What the hell?!” I mutter slightly out of breath from the sprint from the nurses station to the room. I see anger flash through Minho’s eyes but just as he was about to speak the mother cut him off.

“ Ahhh there’s the Doctor finally! See honey bun I told you you they’d come running” I move past the mother who is smiling at the child before turning off the alarm screaming above them.If looks could kill this lady would be 6 feet under by now.

“I’m sorry I told her not to push that button! Doctor Lee I told her!” The young boy in the bed shouts breaking eye contact with his mother and looking at Minho with a mortified expression .

“It’s okay Riley…you don’t need to apologise bud at all” Minho who looks now remarkable calm makes his way over to the boy who I now know to Riley and ruffles his hair before he checks Riley’s monitors.

“Mrs Stuart may I speak to you outside?”

Minho says looking at the mother with an icy glare, the mother just nods with a huff.

“I’ll be right back sweetie don’t worry “ she says to the child as she steps out the door into the hallway.

“Doctor L/N could you stay with Riley for a minute this won’t take long” I simply nod and smile at Riley who is looking back at me with a small nervous smile.

“Hi I’m Doctor L/N “

“Hi I’m Riley”

“Mind if I sit?” I point to the edge of the bed with my hand and look at Riley for a response, with a quick look outside I see Riley nod.

I place myself carefully on the edge of the bed facing Riley and trying to block his view of outside in the hallway the best I can . The look of worry still evident on his face and as his mother and Minho argue outside. Minho’s going to get it from Hoshi (Chief of peads) . I sigh as I place my hand on Rileys smaller one lightly and smile.

“So how did you end up in here? Please tell me you didn’t stuff Lego up your nose?”

A confused giggle left Riley’s throat as he quickly shook his head softly, his shoulders shaking from laughing.

“No! I mean no just no , I’m waiting for Doctor Lee to discharge me…I got my appendix out see! ” Riley says whilst laughing and lifting up his gown to show me the healing wound.

I inspect it quickly before putting the gown…there’s a little bit of immflamuation and redness so Minho is probably keeping him overnight just to make sure there’s no infection but otherwise it’s looking good.

“It’s looking good kiddo, I think you might be having a sleepover here tonight though…we just need to make sure that redness goes away before we send you home. You don’t want to end up back here. I’ll make sure to come say bye before I leave tonight I might even be able to grab a jelly from the cafe , how does that sound?”

I laugh softly and ruffle his hair , as I do this mrs Stuart struts back into the room with a loud huff and throws herself onto the chair in corner on the room.

Who’s the child here again, I swear sometimes the parents are worse than toddlers.

“Doctor L/N you can go now” Minho’s looking at me with a smile smile but the tone in his voice is anything but joyful. I just nod saying a quick goodbye to Riley before leaving the room shutting the door behind me and walking back to the nurses station.

“So why was minho shouting at that lady?”A voice comes from behind me.

“OH MY GOD JEONGIN DONT SCARE ME LIKE THAT! Where did you even come from aren’t you mean to be with Chan?!?!” I scream holding my chest looking at jeongin who appeared out of nowhere, apple in hand as he takes a bite.

“You didn’t answer my question…and we are taking a break” jeongin answers looking at me dead in the eye as he takes another bite of his apple .

“Watch it I’m an attending now you little shit” I say as I stand on my tiptoes to ruffle his hair and laugh as he groans and shakes his head swatting my hand away.

“For an attending you sure are short! And back to why Minho was pissy” I glare at his statement and roll my eyes at the resident next to me and grab a tablet from behind him looking to see if one of my patients scans were up yet.

“She pressed the code button to get us to check on her son, it’s apparently not the first time. I would be pissed too…” I say looking at these scans a frown appearing on my face.

“great now I need to page ortho and get someone to look at these scans”

“By someone you mean your favourite person in the world Changbin”

“Jeongin I swear to god I will make you do scut all day the next time you are peads if you carry on” I swat him in the arm nearly knocking his apple out of his hand. He lifts his arm to retaliate but as he does his phone pings and he quickly pulls it out of his pocket. A frustrated groan leaves his mouth as he rolls his eyes reading the page/text.

“Looks like my breaks over already , Chan thinks he’s got a breakthrough “ jeongin says with a sigh throwing his apple core in the bin and cracking his neck from side to side and then his knuckles.

Jeongin quickly fixes his hair in the front camera of his phone before ruffling mine and turning on his heel and speeding towards the elevator nearly crashing into a new nurses on the way.I giggle leaves my lips as I watch the young doctor apologise to Dokyeom (DK one of our best nurses patients love it when they sing to him, it helps he’s pretty too) profusely for nearly knock bloods out of his hands in his rush to the elevator.

Minho’s POV

Back in the hallway

I smile quickly looking at Y/N and Riley before I leave the room trying my best not to slam the door in my anger.

“Mrs Stuart we’ve talked about this, if you feel Riley needs anything please PLEASE press the nurses call button and they will call for myself or another doctor if they feel the need is there…Riley is fine. Like I told you this morning I just need to monitor the redness and swelling to make sure there is no sign of post op infection” I say as calmly as I can manage this is the third time today this lady as pulled the code button and she’s starting to where away what little patience I have left.

“ well pressing that button seems to be the only way to get anyones attention is this place! I pressed the call button and nurse that came in did nothing! I don’t want a nurse I want a doctor! They don’t know what they’re doing and neither do you by the looks of it!! Just let us go home! He’s fine he’s talking and moving around just fine! I can’t afford to be here any longer I do have a job you know!”

Mrs Stuart’s face starts turning a shade of pink and I think so does mine…

“ the button you pressed is the button we press when a child is dying…DYING! Do you not understand the panic you cause by pressing that button! All the staff you take away from other children on this floor because they run to check your child isn’t dying!! Take doctor L/n in there! She’s not Riley’s doctor but as soon as she heard the code she ran to help perhaps taking her away from a child who really needed her!! YOU SELFISH WOMAN! if I discharged your son now you run the risk of him get a post operative infection which land him back in the hospital in more serious condition than he is now!” I can feel my face turn redder and redder by the second and I know I should stop talking and arguing by the word vomit just keeps coming.

As I walk in I heart Y/N and Riley laughing , that brings a small smile to my face , I step to the side as Y/N leaves the roomy gaze following her to the nurses station before I turn my attention back to Riley.

“I’m sorry bud, it looks like you’re …” before I could even finish my sentence Riley chimes in smiling and slightly giggling .

“I’m gonna need to stay on overnight I know doctor L/N told me…it’s okay I understand! Thank you Doctor Lee”

A small chuckle leaves my lips as I look at Riley shaking my head slightly .

“Of course she did…well I guess I’ll get going. I’ll come check on you later Riley…Goodbye Mrs Stuart “ I bow to her as I leave the room closing the door behind me.

As soon as I hear the click of the door,I Lean against it closing my eyes and just taking a deep breath.my eyes open again too the ping of my phone from inside my pocket I pull it out thinking it’s finally the results of the tests I ordered for Riley…but I was wrong…

“Oh shit”

#kpop #stray kids #stray kids smau #stray kids x reader #skz x reader #skz

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boba-beom · 3 years

Text

we did that too | k.th

pairing: taehyun x gn!reader (ft hueningkai) genre: angst | drabble warning(s): mentions of jealousy, mentions of trust issues word count: 953 note: unintentional sequel to this taehyun socmed. this has been in my drafts for quite a whilee

It’s been months since you last saw him, but it’s been weeks since things ended between you.

You didn’t think you’d be in this position so soon, hoping your relationship would have lasted longer if it wasn’t for the gossip and the immense pressure of trying to be the perfect couple. But it was difficult trying to please his band mates, constantly feeling like you had to go out of your way to impress them in order to accept you for being a superstar’s partner.

Though your thoughts were swallowing you whole, you almost forgot Hueningkai was sitting beside you in his music studio, casually scrolling through his instagram feed. You peered over his shoulder, watching him quickly scroll past a certain post which he thought it went unnoticed by you, but clearly he was wrong.

“Wait, wait. Go back up, what was that?” You had no intention to scare the poor boy beside you, but your voice managed to make him flinch ever so slightly followed by an audible gulp. “Sorry, but what was that post that you just skipped?”

“Are you sure you wanna see it?” He was hesitant, it was evident, and you were mentally asking yourself the same question. Were you ready?

Hueningkai swiped up to find the post that he didn’t want you to see, afraid of your reaction since he was very aware that you were still sensitive about your recent breakup. A small part of you questioned how Hueningkai was capable of having his two friends date, break up and still, he chose you over Taehyun. You scoff, eyes observing the photo as you see Taehyun being affectionate with what seems to be his new girl, out in the open, at one of your favourite balcony cafes that you always went to.

Your jaw clenched slightly, feeling a sharp pang in your chest from the way his smile was genuine, and you could see that. You remembered the way he used to always take you to that café a few times after you introduced him to the place, though that time you had to cover up and be discreet; careful not to attract the public’s attention.

It was the memories of him intoxicating your mind like it was just yesterday when he told you he loved you, his smile showing his teeth, displaying his prominent dimple that you grew to love. But it wasn’t you anymore. There was nothing but envy built up inside of you, feeling a grey cloud constantly hovering above your head as the first couple of tears stained your cheeks.

“Y/n, we can stop looking at that now. It’s irrelevant now.” Hueningkai gently rubbed your back, regretting even opening his social media while you were around.

“It’s okay Hyuka,” you force a chuckle, simultaneously pulling the weakest smile which was of no use. “At least he’s happy now, I guess. He doesn’t even have to hide her either!” Letting out a heartless laugh. You weren’t about to go on a rant about the differences between the way he treated you compared to his new flower, and if it wasn’t for Hueningkai comforting you he probably wouldn’t hear the end of it.

The room fell silent, apart from your irregular sniffles in one corner, you heard Hueningkai’s phone ring but he was quick to decline. Not even a second later his phone rang once more, and yet again you watched him decline it, flipping it over screen side down.

“Why aren’t you answering it?” You looked at him, and by his reluctant expression, you were able to figure out who exactly was calling. And there it was again, but this time he answered it before you would ask again.

It was him. You knew it was him. You could hear his faint voice through the phone, and though it was muffled, you hated how it immediately brought you some sense of comfort that you missed but what else could you do? His voice was soft, with a distinctive, joyful tone that he had nothing to hold back anymore, nothing to hide.

“I’m sorry about that, I’m gonna go in a little-”

“You’re gonna meet Taehyun aren’t you.” It was less of a question but more of a statement, and if Hueningkai was really someone you could trust he wouldn’t hide anything from you. Please, you were tired of people hiding things from you — of hiding you.

“Yeah, him and the boys have some new things to release soon enough and they want me to be there to... to celebrate.” There was that instant sinking of your heart. The heaving in your chest was an attempt to control your breathing. You knew how hard he had been working on this album and you were there supporting him through it, ready to celebrate with him once it’s all done, but all these thoughts in your head were becoming useless. Those promises were empty.

You shut your eyes momentarily, clenching your jaws and finding a stable breathing pattern. There was no use. Who were you to refrain Hueningkai to go see them? You had to understand that they were good friends and you met through Taehyun. It was inevitable that these things would happen and you just had to be the bigger person.

“It’s fine, enjoy. I’ll see you later.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll call you when I’m home- actually, call me if you need anything, okay?” His voice was gentle but with a hint of concern, and it would be wrong of you to be mad at him.

Your head hung low, you weren’t able to say anything else just from the thought of him leaving you to go to your ex. Resorting to a small nod of your head, you felt him rub your back in circles for the last time before exiting through the door.

Looks like everything always goes back to him.

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technowoah · 3 years

Text

Cant Handle This

Quackity's facade keeps breaking, and he tries to keep the pieces together. You're the only one who can make him show his true self

- Quackity x gen neutral reader

- this is a long one yall.

Now playing...

Can't Handle This (Kanye Rant)

Bo Burnham

0:01 ─●──────── 3:29

⚠︎ swearing, angst, mentions of mcyttwt, based on the song above, and ofc its not proofread

Part of my Inside Special!

Quackity sat in his chair currently streaming right now, he seemed like he was having a good time from your spot on his bed. You were currently laying on his bed after he invited you here to relax.

You two had laid in his bed just enjoying eachothers company until he got a call from Tommy saying he was ready for the lore stream which sent Alex into a frenzy. Alex sent out a quick "Im sorry" about the lateness of his stream and then quickly set everything up.

He then started to stream which left you alone on the the bed to your own devices. You were scrolling through Twitter looking at Alex's fans talk about what's happening on the stream and posting screenshots of his character and himself.

You admired him from afar as he ended the lore part of his stream, he took time to type on his phone to text you that he decided to stream longer to talk to his fans. He looked to you and you have him a nod with a smile and he gave one back.

"Hey guys! That's the end of the lore!" He exclaimed to his chat as he types at his computer setting a new background.

You continued to listen to him praise his chat for supporting him and making him be able to make those types of streams. You were always proud of Alex no matter what he did, you were always his number one supporter no matter what happened in reality or on the internet.

"So anyways! I wanted to talk to you guys! How are you all?" He smiled at his camera looking back and forth from his chat.

◇T0mm71nn1t: THE STREAM WAS SO GOOD QUACKITY

"Oh thank you! Im glad I could share this with you. It takes so much to put into these movite type streams, so I know now it is all worth it."

Quackity's pov. . .

He felt so overwhelmed, he shouldn't have began to stream again. The stress of putting everything together, plus being late to the stream made him rush into it more. He just wanted to lay back down with his lover who was enjoying watching him stream, and that's the goal he wants. His goal was to entertain, it was his job and he doesn't want to fail, he doesn't want to crack.

◇Mayatooni3: WE LOVE YOU QUACKITY

◇catiiequak: QUACKITY ITS MY BIRTHDAY CAN I GET A HAPPY BIRTHDAY??

◇yriaaolic: 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

"Happy Birthday!" He said seeing the comment pass in a second. "Happy Birthday to anyone who's Birthday it is today."

Right now it was hard. It was hard to keep up when there was always a constant demand, the constant need to be perfect, his past being brought up, and trying to one-up his content everytime. He loved this, but at the same time it had the same weight as a job.

In the back of his mind he knew the "When is Quackity streaming???" is mostly lighthearted, he never wants to leave.

"Quack are you okay? Im fine! Just thinking about how to get something to eat at 2am." He laughed lying to his fans, he wanted to stop this stream.

He kept looking over to his lover lying their head on his pillow scrolling through their phone and alternating their vision from him and their phone. He always caught a glimpse of their small smile everytime he looked. He was doing something right.

"Do yall think Taco Bell is open? The only problem I have is that Im fucking starving."

He paused for a moment taking a deep breath trying to keep his emotions down. The stress was getting to him, and he fucking knew it, but he didnt stop. He was going to get burnt out eventually and stop streaming and YouTube all together, but he needed this. He needed a break, he needed to take time for himself and stop putting on a happy face when he isnt.

TTS ◇pulixsaxe: "Did you see what was happening on Twitter quackity?"

"Wait what's happening on Twitter?" He asked with a weary laugh.

I can sit here and pretend like my biggest problems are

Pringle cans, and burritos

The truth is, my biggest problem's you,

Your eyes widened as he mentioned Twitter. Truth be told he was trending because of his stream, yes, but also they brung up stuff from his past again in the wake of another content creator's past or present being brought up. You hadn't paid attention to that, you were only getting fueled up from Twitter bringing up an issue that he already had addressed.

Tempted to speak and tell him its fine, he already spoke up before you.

"I bet it's fine! I dont wanna... I don't need to look." He said with a smile. He always had that smile on.

Either it was a full smile or a half smile. It never left his face and it comforted you somehow. Maybe it was that you were his significant other, but you always wondered if anyone saw the same things as you. The things like his smile that never left his face.

"Yeah! I dont need to look at that." He waved his hand dismissing the comment away. He then sighed letting his shoulders relax as you saw his smile fade and his eyes close for a second and immediately put that small smile back on his face while his eyes were glossy, but bright.

He needed to end this stream soon. You saw his face fall then in a split second come back to life except his eyes were glossy with tears. You wondered if anyone else noticed.

"I want to please you

But I want to stay true to myself

I want to give you the night out that you deserve"

His eyes tearful as he tried to blink them away trying to not make a scene.

"Sorry! Allergies ugh!" He said as he wiped his tears away claiming them as allergies.

"Are you crying? No! Im not a pussy!" He yelled at his chat in a joking manner.

He was crying and he felt weak. He felt emotionally weak, and weak as in not strong, he didn't feel strong and his lover who was sitting on his bed with a concerned look on their face always told him that it's okay to feel weak. The only meaningful thing is how you pick yourself up, they always told him, bur now he felt at rock bottom.

He wanted to give his fans "himself", the goofy, lovable, loud, quick-witted, Quackity. But then again his lover always told him to separate Quackity from Alex. He wanted to give himself to his audience, he wanted to be authentic and share himself, but he cant. Alex isn't all laughs, he is serious, calmer, and when he gets on the screen is when he lets it all out then goes back to his more calmer self. That's not what they want.

"But I want to say what I think

And not care what you think about it"

Giving himself meant dialing back, he wants to tell how hes actually feeling, he wants to say what he thinks about Twitter, what he thinks about certain friends, about his fanbase, and then leave it alone. He wanted to delete social media and then speak his mind without knowing what anyone is saying about it. It was paradise to him, but of course it cant be that way and that's what he hates. He feels like a actor when he really wants to be himself.

"A part of me loves you,"

Alex loved his fanbase, he had such a supportive fanbase that loved his content. Some of them did atleast he didn't fully know, but they gave him the courage to do this time and time again knowing that his content is at least taking them from the harsh reality of real life for a few minutes or hours. This was the reason he did this, for them.

Alex would never admit this but they boosted his ego too, it would for anyone. The fact that there were people who wanted and enjoyed content from him made him feel good about himself.

"part of me hates you"

He hated the contant criticisms, he hates that they feed his ego so much that it makes him want to stream more to feel good about himself and to make people get away for awhile. Alex knew inside of his heart he couldn't truly hate his fanbase, they gave him everything he ever wanted. He hates them for that and that's such a scary thing. He never fails to wonder if he did the things to deserve all the love and hate he gets.

"Part of me needs you,"

They feed his ego, they make him want to go above and beyond. Alex knows that his fanbase is the reason he is here in this chair infront of three expensive monitors. He knows that this is some sort of a job that he needed. He needed the push to keep going and that was them, it was the 200k people watching his stream watching him answer questions about him and

"part of me fears you"

He was fearful of loosing himself to them. Loosing his authenticity to them was something he feared. He didnt want his funny, loud persona to consume him and make him forget about Alex instead of Quackity. He fears what they think as well, he claims he doesnt care, but he does he wants to please them. It feels like two parts of his brain fighting about if he should care or not.

"And I don't think that I can handle this right now"

The text-to-speech bot continued to speak out people's comments that theu paid for while he sat there quietly. He bit his bottom lip trying to not break down infront of everyone he needed to be strong. He needed to be strong.

If he looked up at the camera everyone would see his tears, they would see him breaking.

He played it off as he brough his shirt up to wipe the tears away, claiming it as sweat.

"Im good! Im sorry I spaced out for a second." He shook his head.

He saw you look at him with that same concerned look on your face. As he switched his gaze between you and his computer, he felt his tears come back again.

"I don't think that I can handle this right-"

"Alex." You tried to get his attention.

"Yeah guys Im fine!"

"Alex"

"I don't think that I can handle this right-"

"I have plans later for another lore stream, so Ill start doing that later tonight."

"ALEX!" You yelled and his head turned around to face you.

"What?" He laughed, biting his lip again.

You couldn't stop him doing this, you could try to course him into going to bed, but right now you couldn't find the words. You just stared at him while he looked at you with a somber smile trying to tell you that he was okay.

He felt his mind telling himself that he need to rest. He wouldnt allow himself to and thats why he was breaking down.

"I don't think that I can handle this right-"

Alex was blinking rapidly trying to keep his breathing and tears at bay while he answered his fans.

"My allergies are fine! And I drank water today."

◇moonchild21: WE LOVE YOU

◇sopusand: Why do you look like that?

◇wuackityoo: are you crying??

"Crying is for the weak! I am a strong manly man! Im crying cause I noticed how alpha I am!" He tried to play it off as a "Im a man" joke but you could see right through it.

"I don't think that I can handle this right-"

You had sent a quick text to Alex which told him to end the stream for his own mental health, but he left the message unread. He began sniffing and the wiping his eyes again. It was a wreck and you couldn't seem to stop it without literally dragging him out of his chair.

Meanwhile the screens were getting to Alex. Alex's eyes were getting tired of the bright screens and the rapid messages that popped up on the screen overwhelmed him for what it seemed like the first time ever in his strraming career. He wanted to give them the fun night they deserved and wanted, but he knows it's getting hard to. He dosent know how long he can keep this up.

As Alex kept joking around about his eyes and physical state the chat was filled with "LMAO" and "HAHAHA" which fuled him more and then at the same time makes him want to stop.

Look at them, they're just staring at me, like

"Come and watch the skinny kid with a

Steadily declining mental health, and laugh as he attempts

To give you what he cannot give himself"

He cannot give himself the luxury of happiness. As he went on with his career it became more and more like a chore, there was mostly down days and of course there were up days, but recently Alex gave his fans the happiness and laughes they wanted while when he turned off the camera he couldn't replicate that same energy as he had before.

It messed him up, he felt himself become separated from his streaming. He wasn't being himself anymore he was being Quackity and that became more apparent as the days passed. He wanted to be himself on camera and at first thats what he thought he was doing. He was himself then it turned into a persona.

Alex wasn't okay and he he needed to take a break from the internet for a while, but he tries to act like he dosent have a dilemma going on inside of his head everytime he sits in this seat. Its for the fans.

"Think that I can handle this right-

I don't think that I can handle this right-

They don't even know the half of this right-

They don't even know the half of it"

"Alex you need to end the stream. Please?"

He looked towards you again where you moved your position from the middle of the bed to sitting up on the end of the bed.

"Ive told you millions of times." He paused for a moment looking down at his lap before looking back up to you. "Im-Im okay." He nodded trying to convince you.

"But I know I'm not a doctor, I'm a pussy, I put on a silly show

I should probably just shut up and do my job, so here I go"

"Cant you belive them!" He laughed to his camera. You scoffed at his comment but still kept an eye on him as he talked.

You didnt need to baby him at all, but right now you were worried about your lover.

Alex continued talking and talking, which you drowned out. You were focused on his face and how he faltered time to time just showing a small frown.

He laughed and showed them a good time even though he was hurting. He kept going and going and you were convinced he was going to hold out until you heard him sniff multiple times while trying to make a joke about the new Minecraft update and how the glow squid has no use.

"Stupid ass squid! Why- why? Its no use expect for glowing ink. Who voted for that!?"

You can tell them anything if you just make it funny, make it rhyme

And if they still don't understand you, then you run it one more time

"Dumbass squid!" He pulled up a picture if the squid as he yelled at it.

You began to worry even more as you saw tears running down his face. He quickly tried to wipe them away, but he knew everyone saw.

Handle this right

You don't even know the half of this right now

Right now (Haa!)

Now

Handle this right

I'll handle this right, I handle this right now

Alex leaned back in his seat and had a blank stare towards the monitor. Looked down for a second and then you heard sobbing coming from his spot. Alex had his head in his hands and was crying harshly into them.

He had finally broken, he couldn't stop the tears from coming and the loud sobs that came from his mouth. He was trying to desperately breathe in to be able to sob, but ended up hiccuping while doing so.

Your eyes widened as you rushed to him resting your hand on his knees and you kneeling infront of him.

"I cant do fu-fucking anything!" He yelled into his hands.

"Hey! I know. Its okay." You tried to console him.

"Its not I try so hard! And I-"

You cut him off. "You are a hard worker Alex and you deserve a week or two off. Take care of you self babe." You stood up bringing his hand with you and trying to make him stand up. He followed your movements and stood up with you putting his head on your shoulder crying into it.

"I just ca-cant right now!"

"You dont have to do anything right now babe."

"Im sorry!" Alex sobbed.

"Dont be." You said bluntly trying to get your lover to calm down.

You rubbed his back soothingly as he sniffled into your shoulder. "Im sorry for ruining your shirt." He tried to laugh through his tears.

"Dont be sorry! Please. You just need rest okay?" You kissed his forehead and he nodded in response.

Alex raised his head up an started to pepper kisses all over your face as you laughed. He gave you one last peck on the lips as he walked away to quickly change into night clothes. You smiled as he laid underneath the covers and continued to softly cry into his sheets. At least he was in bed and not makijg himself even worse.

He couldn't stop the tears from flowing, it was like a flood that could only be stopped with time. He felt like a boulder was lifted off his shoulders only to be replaced with smaller rocks. The smaller rocks was the guilt he held. He felt guilty of making his lover worry about him, he didnt want you to worry.

You rushed over to his desk and turned off the stream and his computers not even bothering to give them a goodnight or goodbye. After the computer lights were turned off it was quite dark in the room except for small light.

Finally you were where you wanted to be all day, in bed with Alex. But this wasnt the predicament you wanted.

"Forgive me. I just cant do shit right can I?" His eyes were still full of tears and he was getting tired.

"Alex dont listen to anyone but yourself." You tried to console him.

"That's what I'm telling myself."

Silence filled the room as you looked at him through tearful eyes of your own.

"Alex, you're so amazing and I cant even tell you how much I appreciate you, and how much you change my life. You do so much shit right its scary sometimes. Some days I think you're perfect, but there's-"

"There's no such thing as perfect." Alex finished your sentence.

"Exactly! Even the best people have their downfalls, they just dont show it. And Alex I know you struggle with that! All I can say is that I love you for you." You finished.

"Can I talk to you about my dilemmas?" He tried to laugh again.

"Tomorrow we can talk. We both need the rest." You said to him as he closed his eyes and nodded in response. He gave you a kiss on you lips before laying back down to sleep.

"Thank you."

"Thank you

Good night

I hope you're happy"

TRENDING

ARE YOU OKAY

10.1k tweets

QUACKITY

20k tweets

ARE YOU OKAY QUACKITY?

13.7k tweets

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mcmoth · 3 years

Text

Dream SMP fandom etiquette

So. This post is probably too little, too late, considering the fandom and the issues I'm about to talk about have existed for so long now, and a lot of the people who need to hear this probably aren't on tumblr anyways, but I just wanted to dedicate a quick post to talk about fandom etiquette. Mostly pertaining to discourse, and interactions with people outside of our circle. These are just going to be my own personal thoughts, of course, but I felt it could be good to bring some of this to attention. So without further introduction:

Where to (not) talk about discourse:

Don't go into other streamer's vods to only focus about a different character. If you want to analyse, for example, c!Techno, do it in Techno's stream. Don't go into unrelated streams, like Tommy's, Tubbo's etc. to do it, even if they were a part of the event in question. This is, of course, with the exception if the character in question didn't stream their own pov. But otherwise, stay in your own space. This is to prevent cluttering a streamer's comments about unrelated discussion. To give further example: Tubbo's vod comments should primarily focus on Tubbo's character. Not Tommy's, Ranboo's, Techno's or whoever else's.

Don't start discourse in the comments of animatics. Seriously, stop that. Animatics aren't discussion boards. The comments are there to analyse and appreciate the video presented, not argue. It's especially rude if you pick a small detail, that wasn't even the focus of the animatic, or even a completely unrelated issue to rant out your frustrations about. To give examples: starting disc discourse in an animatic of Tommy talking to Wilbur, or rambling about how tragic Techno's character is in an animatic focused on clingy duo, etc.

This applies to fan songs as well.

Video essays are the exception to these rules. I think it's safe to say they're the place to bring your hot takes, if you really feel so inclined to argue in youtube comment sections (Though I'd personally advise to still keep the topic relevant).

Keep negativity out of fanfic comments. This isn't nearly as big of an issue as the last points, but I've seen it happen a couple times, so I'm deciding to mention it. Fanfics are written for fun. Even if you disagree with the characterisation or something else, unless the author is clear in accepting critique, keep criticism to yourself. And definitely don't rant about how you dislike a character unrelated to the fanfic. Sharing your thoughts on the fanfic itself is of course fine and welcomed, but when it turns from discussing the author's story to talking about how you dislike a character in canon, that's when it crosses a line. Example: comment talking about what you don't like about c!Tommy on a Bench Trio fanfiction.

When commenting on art, keep the feedback positive. Even if you dislike any presented character, keep that to yourself. Example: Don't say things like "I hate x character, but this art is good". You might think the author would feel honoured, but it's actually just hurtful.

How to deal with discourse:

This is gonna be a shorter section, because I think we all chose to do it in different ways, and that's valid. Also, it's just that I, myself, am still learning how to do this well, but I thought it could be good to try to lay it out anyways.

Try to scroll past takes you disagree with instead of arguing if you don't think you'd be able to keep your cool. Noone likes a random person yelling at them through a screen, and if you rant, you'll get an equally frustrated reply back, and noone will be happy. Either explain your point in a calm manner, or scroll past/ unfollow/block.

On the keeping cool thing, remember to just step away. Take a deep breath and calm yourself down before proceeding. To minimize the frustration you feel on a daily basis, filter tags, block people, avoid videos and youtube comment sections that you know will upset you, and leave certain internet spaces if you find yourself unable to escape negativity even with all those steps. Remember: in the end, it's all a game played by friends, a story, and your enjoyment of it lies in what you take from it. Abandon what makes you unhappy. Marie Kondo your fandom experience.

Also, here's your reminder, to whom this is relevant, to take care of yourself. Hydrate, eat, sleep, clean up, get fresh air, remember the things outside of all this. There's plenty to do outside of this fandom, and what you can do here can wait. There is no pressure, or obligation. Not for the content you create, not for the discussions you bring, not for responding to discourse, not for anything. Fandom is meant purely for fun, so take care <3

Interacting with people outside of the fandom:

This is something that I've seen a bit of talk about, and I thought I'd drop in my own thoughts on this as well. No matter the differences, we're all just trying to vibe, and I think these are important things to keep in mind to leave both sides better off:

Don't interact with hate posts. Just don't. You don't want to see them, they don't want to see you. Even if your response is lighthearted, their animosity is not. They will feel frustrated regardless, and the grudge will only grow. And if they're being agressive, calm discussion most likely won't happen even if you're being polite. Just leave it, please.

Correct misinformation calmly. I completely get how it can be frustrating to see blatant lies and all, but with our reputation, people will not listen if you're being antagonistic. Provide sources, explain, and leave it at that.

Don't be hateful, send death threats, or assume privilege or whatever else. That's stepping into the same shoes of the people you hate. Misunderstandings go both ways, and the fact of the matter is, I think most people who dislike DSMP, even the ones who are agressive about it, don't have their stance rooted in maliciousness. To expand on why the situation became what it is today, taken from a discussion on discord:

I think it's just a combination of Dream growing so insanely quickly + how internet spaces have changed over the years. When ccs like jackstepticeye or pewdiepie etc. grew popular, activism wasn't as prevalent and held to such importance. Now it's thankfully more talked about, but that also leads to Dream being more scrutinized in comparision. Add twitter trends and the general prevalence of the fandom, and you've got everyone feeling tired and frustrated and paranoid. People also tend not to fact check stuff, especially when it comes to celebrities and stuff they're not really interested in, so rumors spread fast.

And actually, I think there's absolutely valid reasons to be made uncomfortable by Dream SMP, either in it's creators, content or fandom, and there is, of course, stuff to criticise in general. The problem is the hate and misinformation and overexposure, but we are not going to solve any of that by being aggressive in return.

(This is, by the way, not talking about more serious cases. Like doxxing, or leaving gore images in hashtags, or similar instances. That's a whole different complicated issue that I don't feel qualified to tackle.)

And finally, don't overwhelm outsiders who merely mention the Dream SMP. Don't send asks asking them to watch it, don't write paragraphs explaining the lore, don't confuse them with inside jokes, just... Don't jump on people like that. Unless they're explicitly clear in wanting interaction and getting into the fandom, that kind of thing will just drive them away. This is in no way exclusive to the Dream SMP fandom, pretty much every fandom has people enthiastic to have more people involved, but since there are so unbelievably many of us, it's especially easy to go overboard with this stuff. Just... be polite, and don't pressure anyone. Be nice, please.

So.... ya! This would be it for this one, I think. Sorry that it's kinda long, thank you if you read it at all. Hope y'all have pleasant days ^^

#dream smp #mcyt #fandom #fandom etiquette #fandom critical #tommyinnit #technoblade #tubbo #dreamwastaken #let me know if i should remove tjose tags - i'm not sure whether it counts as crosstagging or not sorry #long post #my own post

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golbrocklovely · 3 years

Text

remember me // colby brock (pt 2)

A/N: as i mentioned before in a different post, this took me FOREVER to write. i loved writing this story but something about it just made me drag it out for so long. nonetheless, i love this and i'm excited to see what you all think. please lmk what you thought about this. thank you to everyone that has supported me and sent me kind messages. yall are the best ! hope you enjoy :) also lmk if you want another part...

prompt: she's the only one that remembers colby, or so they both thought.

trigger warning: ANGST, heartbreak, AU mention, friendship problems, cursing, happy-ish ending (but not the end...?), kissing

word count: 5526

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Colby was relieved that the waitress, the only one that remembered him, decided to help. The moment she agreed, Colby gave her his number and left. She texted him not too long after, and he realized for a moment she never said her name. He planned to ask her the next day when they decided to meet up at his place.

It was weird to come back to his apartment, knowing that down the hall his best friend, his brother, lived there and didn't know who he was. Usually when Colby felt lonely, he would walk down the hall to Sam's and hang out for a bit. It was always nice to talk to Sam about anything and everything.

But now... he couldn't do that.

Colby tried to sleep during the night, but barely any rest came from it. He tossed and turned, hoping that when he would wake up, this would all just be some weird-ass nightmare.

When his cell phone rang the next morning at 9:34 A.M., it was an unfamiliar ringtone. As he rubbed his eyes awake, he glanced at the caller, the name 'Waitress' appearing on his screen.

I guess this wasn’t a dream after all.

"Yeah?" Colby groaned, squinting his eyes at the sunlight.

Her voice came through cheery, the tone too loud in Colby’s ears. “Let me up to your apartment. I'm here.”

He cleared his throat. “This early?”

“I figured you would want your normal life back as soon as possible, yeah?” She sassed.

He rolled his eyes. “Alright, give me a second. I'll come down and get you.”

Colby stumbled out of bed, running his fingers through his hair as he threw on a random shirt and jeans, slowly trudging down to the lobby of his apartment. She sat on a couch, tapping her foot against the carpeted floors. Her eyes were staring out the door, almost like she was looking at someone. When she heard Colby’s footsteps, her gaze pulled away from outside.

“Did I wake you?” She frowned, grabbing her bag next to her and standing up.

He shook his head. “You can't really be woken up if you barely slept.”

“I'm sorry to hear that.” She lightly bit her lip, following Colby to the elevator.

He shrugged tiredly. “It's okay.”

They both slowly got into the elevator, climbing up to Colby's floor. The loud 'ding' of the elevator broke their silence moments later. They walked to Colby's apartment, and he unlocked his door quickly.

She whistled quietly. “Woah, nice place.”

A half smile spread across Colby’s face. “Thanks.”

“No offense, but how do you pay for this place if you're not a social media person?” She questioned, stepping into the kitchen.

He raised an eyebrow. “That's... a good question. From what my mom told me over the phone yesterday, I worked all throughout high school and college, so maybe it's from that?”

“You only worked at Dairy Queen while you were in high school. You must have gotten a better job in college because there is no way you can afford this place.” She disagreed.

Colby smirked. “How'd you know I worked at Dairy Queen?”

“Well, for starters, my friend told me. And also, I did some research about you. But I'll get to that in a second.” She continued, her voice falling to a serious tone, “So... would you like to hear my theories?”

“Theories?” He puzzled.

“As to why everyone forgot about you.” The waitress explained.

Colby sat down on his barstool, exhaling. “Let's hear it.”

“Okay. For argument sakes, you're gonna have to just go with me on this. Because otherwise, I literally have no way to help you.” She started, already pacing slightly.

He cautioned. “...okay?”

“So last night, I tried to think of a reason why everyone would collectively forget about you. And the only conclusion I could come up with is that you're in an alternative universe.” She hypothesized.

Colby’s eyes widened, bugging out of his head. “A what?”

“An alternative universe. Basically, everything is pretty much the same in your life, except a few minor details,” she revealed. “That’s why you still live in this apartment, but you didn’t get here the same way you did in your other life, your real life.”

“This... it's way too early for this.” He grumbled, astonished.

She sighed, her hands resting on her hips. “The only other option is that this is a very long-winded prank that your friends are still pulling on you. Have you tried talking to any of your other friends besides Sam?”

“No, everyone else’s number is gone in my phone, which I can only assume means they don’t know me either.” Colby retorted. Then he took a deep breath as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “But, this doesn't make sense. How did I end up here if this isn't my life?”

“I’m not sure how you got here, but I think you’re here for a specific reason. I think you’re here to right a wrong that this Colby Brock did. I’m just… not entirely sure what that wrong might be.” She answered, unsure.

He huffed. “Okay… what am I supposed to do then? Stay here and hope we figure that out soon? I don't even know who I am in this universe.”

“And that's where my research comes into play.” She pulled a laptop from her bag quickly, placing it down on the counter and opening it. She scrolled through her browsers until she came across Colby's Facebook, which surprisingly looked active for someone who hadn't been personally on it in years.

I use Facebook? Gross.

“First, I started by seeing if you and Sam were friends on here, but that didn’t amount to much since Sam doesn’t have a Facebook. However, what I found out is that you and Sam did live in the same town, go to the same high school, and played in the same marching band. Sam talked about his early years before he was ‘famous’ in one of the first videos he posted, and I crossed referenced that with your profile and it all matches up.” She informed.

“That's strange,” he mumbled. “What did we do after high school?”

She stated. “You went off to college and majored in Business Management with a minor in Philosophy. You graduated early too.”

Me? Graduating early? I couldn’t even get through math without Sam’s help.

“What did Sam do?” He asked.

The waitress scrolled to another tab, opening it to show a search of Sam. “Well, a very quick Google search shows that he actually went to the same college as you but dropped out once his Vine career started to pick up. Then he went on to Musical.ly when Vine died. He moved out to LA in 2017 and started a YouTube channel after he met Katrina, and slowly met all of his- your, friends that way. He got a bump of followers once he started dating Kat because of her following.”

Colby’s mouth gaped at her words. “That can't be true. He would have never wanted that. I mean, I had to convince him that we should be on social media so that we could spread our message. Plus, he hates those channels that use their relationship for views.”

“Not this version of Sam. Or at least, it doesn't seem like it.” She commented.

He covered his face, groaning into his hands. “What the hell am I here for? What wrong have I done in this universe?”

Her voice low, she replied. “I think it might have to do with Sam.”

“But... he doesn't know me.” He dissented, sitting up.

She nodded. “I thought so too. However, after scrolling through all of your public photos, I found this.”

Colby squinted at the screen, an old photo of him and Sam stared back. They looked super young, probably sophomores in high school. They were both smiling, laughing at something. He vaguely remembered this day.

“So, we did know each other.” He bit his lip softly.

She hummed. “Yeah. And weirdly, it’s the only photo of the two of you on your profile. But it’s not the only strange thing.”

Scrolling to a different tab, she pulled up an old tweet of Sam’s. It read ‘Never thought you would be the one to hurt me. But I guess everyone can be surprising.’

Colby noted the date. “That was back in high school.”

“Yeah, and there’s a bunch like them. He talks about being betrayed and someone hurting him deeply. He never mentions, of course. But his tweets line up with some that you were tweeting at the same time.” She confessed.

The waitress clicked on a different tab and another tweet showed up, one from Colby’s account. He gazed at it, reading the words ‘If you hate me… imagine how I feel about myself.’

Colby’s face dropped. “Wait, what?”

“You don’t tweet that often, but when you do, you talk about righting wrongs and fixing things you fucked up.” She added, “You also hate on yourself a lot.”

He doubted, crossing his arms. “You think they’re connected?”

“I do. I think in this universe you fucked up somehow and hurt Sam. And I think you are here now to fix what the other you did.” She explained.

He ranted. “This is all so fucked! When I saw him yesterday, he acted like he didn’t even know me. How am I supposed to even go about this? What, do I just go down the hall and apologize for something I don’t even remember doing?”

“No. Sam's not in his apartment anyway. I saw him leave while I was waiting for you.” She mentioned nonchalantly.

He grunted. “Great, he could be anywhere in LA right now.”

“I know exactly where he is.” She smirked.

“What? How?” He questioned.

The waitress divulged. “This version of Sam has a favorite restaurant he goes to all the time. A lot of his fans know about it, thus one look through any of his fan accounts and you'll see it. It's called ‘Paradise’.”

“Sounds like a strip club.” Colby deadpanned.

She pouted. “It's not. But he goes there all the time, and I got us a table there last minute.”

“What exactly are we gonna do when we get there?” He crossed his arms.

“I was planning on going up to his table and talking to him, maybe asking him about you, see how he reacts.” She described.

Colby furrowed his brow, confused. “And what about me?”

She slid her laptop into her bag, zipping it up hastily. “Well… I didn’t really think that far ahead. But hopefully, whatever you did is forgivable, and we can just fix it right there.”

He murmured. “That's a lot to hope for.”

“It's better than sitting here and wasting daylight.” She grabbed her stuff and headed for the door. Colby followed suit, grabbing his keys.

He spoke as he locked his door. “What if this doesn’t work?”

She turned back to him. “It will. It has to.”

~~~

Paradise was a themed restaurant, which Colby thought was strange because his Sam never really liked those types of restaurants. The theme was nice, however, tropical and Hawaiian. It felt like something he, Sam, and a few friends would have gone to after a fun, drunk night.

As Colby and the waitress were escorted to their table, they both kept an eye out for Sam, glancing around nervously for the blonde boy.

“I think the worst thing about this universe version of me is how messy my car is,” Colby joked. “It’s like I live out of it.”

She shrugged, smiling. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“You should see my real car. My honey wagon is spotless.” He expressed, waving his hand.

“Honey wagon?” She queried.

“Long story,” he chuckled. Then abruptly, he gasped. “Holy shit, I just realized I never got your name.”

She cocked her head. “What? I never told you?”

He blinked. “No.”

She started. “It's-”

“Hi, I'm Tony, I'll be your server for today. Can I get you something to drink to start you guys off?” Tony greeted, cutting her off.

“Yeah, sure. A water for me.” She blurted out.

Colby added. “Coke, please.”

Tony smiled. “Okay, coming right up.”

Once Tony left, the waitress started scoping out for Sam again, her eyes widening once she saw him.

Her body stiffened, turning back to Colby. “He's over there, three tables down to your left.”

Colby gazed over his shoulder at his friend. Sam looked lost in thought, staring at his phone as he ate his food.

“Why is he alone?” He muttered.

“From some of the blogs I read, he likes to go out and eat by himself. Also, apparently, him and Kat are on the rocks.” She admitted.

“They love each other so much, it's kinda gross to be around them sometimes,” He quipped, but shook his head. “So to hear that...”

“I'm gonna head over.” She announced quickly.

Before he could speak, she left the booth. Colby watched her walk over to Sam, listening closely to their conversation as he ducked his head down.

“Hey... sorry to bother you, but are you Sam Golbach?” She asked sweetly.

“Yeah I am. Did you want something?” Sam stared blankly at her.

“Um, yeah?” She almost scoffed at his tone. “I’m a huge fan and I know this might be a weird question, but do you know someone named Colby Brock?”

Sam’s face remained stoic, but his eyes intensified. “No, I've never heard of that name before.”

“Are you sure, because I'm pretty certain that you and him are best friends.” She insisted.

He raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”

Colby watched nervously as she pulled out her phone and showed Sam the photo. Sam scrunched up his face, his eyes scanning the image. “Yeah, no. Still don’t know who he is. What was his name again?”

“Colby Brock.” She stated.

“...Sorry. I’ve never heard a name like that before.” He mumbled, almost inaudibly. “Sounds stupid anyway.”

She cocked her head. “Wait, what?”

Colby clenched his fist, unable to hear this conversation any longer. He needed to come face-to-face with Sam. He slid out of his seat, walking hastily over to Sam and the waitress. Sam’s eyes narrowed as he gaped at Colby.

“Sam…” Colby started.

Sam growled. “Are you fucking serious, Colby? Did you really have to get one of my fans involved?”

“What?” Colby puzzled.

Sam jumped out of his seat, grabbing Colby’s arm and pulling him out of the restaurant. The waitress followed behind them, confused just as much as Colby. Sam’s feet stopped behind the back door of the building, turning to Colby without warning.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Sam barked.

Colby stepped back, surprised by Sam’s anger. “...Uh, I don’t know what you mean by that.”

Sam scoffed. “Why the fuck are you here? After all this time?”

“So, you do remember me.” Colby remarked.

“Yeah, I do. When you showed up at my place yesterday, it took me a minute to realize it was you, since you decided to dress up like a Hot Topic employee, but yeah, I knew it was you. Are you really gonna pretend in front of her that we don’t know each other?” Sam teared his eyes away from Colby’s, staring at the waitress suddenly. “Let me guess, he hasn’t told you the whole story, right?”

“I guess not.” She shrugged uncomfortably.

Sam chuckled darkly. “Of course not. If he told the whole story, he would have to admit he was an asshole, and God knows he’s not gonna do that.”

“What are you talking about?” Colby panted.

“Do you not remember? Well, I’ll give you a refresher. You and I became friends freshman year of high school. You were my best friend and I was yours. I trusted you. I trusted you with a lot of shit that I’ve never told anyone. Senior year of high school, right before we were about to graduate, right as we were starting a social media career, suddenly you don’t want anything to do with me; which would have been bad enough, but then I go and find out you and my girlfriend were hooking up behind my back,” Sam snapped, catching his breath for a moment. “So yeah, I remember you, Colby.”

Colby’s mouth fell open, his breathing speeding up.

None of this sounds like me. I would never hurt Sam like that.

“And now, you have the fucking audacity to show up when everything in my life is going great and I’m succeeding. I have fans, friends, and a girlfriend that all love and care about me, and you’re here trying to what? Stir up drama? Get some clout from me?” He demanded.

“If your friends and girlfriend love you, why are you eating all alone?” The waitress jeered.

Sam glared at her, biting his tongue. “And you made one of my fans hate me. Dope, dude.”

“Sam, look; I’m sorry for what I did. But that was years ago. I’m not who I was back then.” Colby choked out.

“I don’t care. I don’t want you in my life. Do you not understand what you did to me?” Sam persisted.

“I know I was an asshole, and I apologize for ever hurting you like that. But I miss you, and I want to work things out. Let me prove to you that I’m better.” He trembled, getting closer to Sam.

Sam backed up, blocking Colby. “No. No! You don’t get to miss me. You don’t get to miss a relationship you fucked up. It took me years to trust again. Hell, I’m still going through it. You don’t get to decide whether or not you’re in my life. Not anymore.”

“Sam… please.” Colby whimpered.

“Don’t show up at my place again. Don’t talk to my fans about me. Don’t act like you care about me. Because I’m done,” Sam stared into Colby’s eyes before going back into the restaurant. “I don’t care about you. Fuck off forever and leave me alone.”

Sam’s words punched Colby hard, taking the breath out of him instantly. He caught himself against the wall, his legs turning to gelatin under his weight.

He stuttered. “I… gotta leave. I-I have to…”

“Colby, relax. It’s gonna be okay.” She grabbed his hand.

He shook off her embrace. “What? No it’s not! Did you not hear what he said? Why would he want to be friends with a piece of shit like me?!”

“You were eighteen when this all happened. Give yourself a break.” She argued.

“No. I’m fucking terrible. This version of me is terrible. Of course he doesn’t want to be friends with me! I don’t even want to be me.” His voice quivered with anger, his body racing away from her.

She furrowed her brows, trying to keep up with him. “Where are you going?”

“I just need to leave. I can’t be here right now!” He grunted, his pace picking up.

She called after him, but Colby didn’t care. His heart slammed against his chest over and over again. Tears weld up into his eyes, blurring his vision as he began to run. He wanted to keep running until his legs gave out, until he couldn’t remember all the words Sam had said to him.

It dawned to Colby how much worse this universe was.

He wasn’t just stuck in a universe where Sam didn’t know him.

He was stuck in a universe where Sam didn’t want to know him.

In a universe where Sam didn’t love him.

And he had no way of escaping.

Colby must have blacked out while he ran, somehow maintaining to stay upright, because once his thoughts started to subside, and his body basically gave out under him, he noticed he was in a part of LA he had never been before. Some random neighborhood that was unfamiliar.

He shoved his body up against a metal telephone pole, sliding down to the ground. He tried catching his breath, gulping back breaths as he forced down the nausea overwhelming his senses. He wiped his face with his sleeve, feeling more tears rush down his cheeks.

His throat and chest burned with each sharp inhale. He whimpered into his hands, covering his face from the slowly retreating sun.

He slid his phone out of his pocket once he caught his breath, calling the only number he knew.

“Hey honey. What’s up?” His mom’s voice rang back sweetly.

Colby’s voice was monotone, exhausted. “You know who Sam is, don’t you?”

The line went quiet for a moment, all Colby could hear was her light breath.

“You told me not to talk about him. After you two stopped being friends, you said you never wanted to hear his name again.” She exhaled deeply, “I was taken aback when you asked about him yesterday.”

“He’s out here… in LA.” He responded.

She gasped lightly. “Did you run into him?”

He laughed bitterly. “You could say that.”

“Oh, Colby. I’m so sorry.” His mother consoled.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about, mama. I just…” Colby trailed off, unable to explain.

“Why don’t you come home this weekend?” She offered. “I miss you, you know.”

“I would love to. But…” His chest heaved as hot tears drifted down his cheeks. “That’s not my home.”

“Nonsense. You will always have a home here.” She assured him, her voice almost trembling.

He wiped a fallen tear, a broken smile coming to his face. “That’s good to know. I love you.”

She hummed. “I love you too, baby. Call me again soon.”

“I will. Bye.” He uttered breathlessly.

The sky was getting darker and darker, and Colby remained against the phone pole. He didn’t know how much time had passed, but suddenly his phone vibrated, a new message from ‘Waitress’ asking where he was. He sent his location, and she arrived twenty minutes later in his car. He stood up, stumbling to his passenger door. His legs were weak from the sprinting he had just done. As he got in, the cool AC blasted the sweat and tears off his face.

They didn’t speak, a quiet radio station playing in the background the only sound. She drove through the hills of LA, eventually hitting a peak. She parked the car as it overlooked LA, the lights looking like stars on the horizon.

She got out a minute later, walking over to the hood and leaning against it. He could see something in her hand but didn’t recognize it. Colby sat in the car by himself, not able to physically move his body from how exhausted he felt. Eventually, he achingly stepped out of the car, sitting next to her on the hood.

“I’m fucked.” Colby breathed.

She started. “I don’t think-”

“Please don’t try to make me feel better. I know you mean well, but I am fucked,” he rebutted, his voice dark. “I’m stuck here, in this universe, where Sam hates me. And as if that weren’t bad enough, I did terrible things, things I know I would never do to him. How the fuck am I supposed to apologize for those mistakes? I wouldn’t take him back if the roles were reversed.”

“Read this.” The waitress stated, handing him a journal.

He glanced down at the leather-bound book, slightly faded from years of writing. He unclicked the lock and opened it, looking down at the pages. It was his, a journal full of writings he had done.

“Where did you get this?” He inquired.

“You were right about your car being messy. But you’d be surprised what you fine if you just look.” She teased.

Colby read over the words, the first entry catching his eye. It was dated a year after him and Sam had graduated high school.

Sam is succeeding without me. I knew he would. He was always so smart when it came to business decisions. He just hit 10k followers on Vine. That’s crazy!

“What the hell is this?” Colby questioned.

She answered quickly. “This whole journal was you keeping up with Sam without him knowing. This version of you always paid attention to what he was doing, even if you guys were no longer friends.”

“I’m obsessed with Sam? That’s great.” He deadpanned.

“You’re not obsessed with Sam. Read this entry.” She skipped a handful of pages, finally stopping on one and showing it to him.

I hate myself everyday for the hurt I caused Sam. I can’t believe what an idiot I was back when I was 18. We could have gone so far together… but I had to go and fuck it up.

He scowled. “Am I supposed to be sad for myself?”

“Keep reading.” She pushed.

The night I chose to never speak to Sam again, I knew I made the wrong decision. But I had to. Sam was ready to go on and do bigger and better things. I was just gonna hold him back. I was terrified of failing, not only myself, but him. He deserves success. That’s why I had to ignore him. I have never been as smart as him. I would have ruined our chances of doing something great. And I have been proven right by how far he has gone without me.

“You stopped being his friend because you were scared, not because you didn’t care anymore.” She repeated.

He slid off the car, scoffing. “So what if I was scared to fail? Sam didn’t deserve the hurt I caused just because of that. And what about me cheating with his girlfriend?”

She jumped off the car, striding up to Colby. She grabbed the journal from his hand. “You didn’t cheat, look.”

She pointed at the bottom of the page, his eyes following her finger.

“Me and Lexi were never together! I hate her for telling him that. One night, they had a really big fight and she came over to my house to ask what she should do. I told her to break up with him if she really didn’t care anymore. And then she tried to hit on me. I told her off and threatened to tell Sam, but she got to him first. She must have told him her and I were together.” The waitress read aloud.

“Wait, if I never hooked up with his girlfriend, why wouldn’t I tell him that?” Colby hissed.

“I think at that point, you wanted the friendship to be over, and I think this solidified it.” The waitress responded.

“All this time I could have been friends with Sam, but I ruined it because I was scared? What a fucking idiot.” He spat.

“You weren’t an idiot,” She interjected. “You just disliked yourself so much you didn’t think you deserved happiness. At least now you know that this version of you isn’t as terrible as you thought.”

“Even with that being the case, Sam’s never gonna accept my apology. Why should he?” Colby lamented, “I let him down the worst ways. I broke his trust and loyalty.”

She shook her head, stepping towards him. “Give him some time. You might be surprised."

Before Colby could speak, his phone rang. He took his phone out of his pocket and looked at the number. It looked familiar, but he couldn’t place it.

“Hello?” He answered.

“Did you really mean it when you said you were sorry?” Sam spoke, his tone hesitant, but dry.

His breath hitched at the sound of Sam’s voice. “Of course. I never meant to hurt you, Sam.”

Sam paused for a moment, before breathing out. “I’m giving you one more chance. Tomorrow. Come by my place. You apparently know where I live.”

“Yeah,” Colby laughed awkwardly. “I’ll come by. Thank you… Sam.”

“Don’t thank me yet. I’ll see you later.” Sam stated, hanging up.

Once the call ended, Colby’s eyes stared down at his phone widely. He almost couldn’t believe that happened.

He inhaled sharply. “Sam just called me. He wants to meet me tomorrow.”

“That’s great.” Her voice just above a whisper.

“He wants to hear me out… he wants to give me another chance.” His face dropped with confusion. “How did he get my number?”

It hit Colby like a brick as he gazed up at the waitress, who bit her lip hiding her smile. “You…?”

“You weren’t the first person I showed the journal to,” she explained. “When you ran off, I was gonna go after you. As I got in your car, I saw this journal sticking out from under your seat. I read through it and… I knew I had to show Sam. I went back in and talked to him for an hour, showing him how much you were actually sorry. How much you had beat yourself up over hurting him. And then I gave him your number. I wasn’t sure if he was gonna call but-”

“Oh my God, you’re amazing!” Colby ran up to her, grabbing her by the waist and spinning her around. She gripped his shoulders tightly as they spun, laughing loudly into his ear. As her feet touched the ground, he stared into her eyes, his smile the brightest she had ever seen it. His hands glided up her body to her face, cupping her cheeks quickly. He smashed his lips against hers, his heart pounding as he did. Her hands lowered to his chest, her grasp on his shirt tightened as she felt herself lose her footing and back up into the car.

As they stumbled, he realized what he was doing, pulling away quickly. “Shit… I’m sorry. I-I shouldn’t have-”

“No, it’s okay,” She giggled. “I’m just… surprised.”

He exhaled, letting his arms fall away from her body. “Me too.”

They leaned against the car, keeping a slight distance from each other. A light blush rested on both their faces; however, it was hard to see with the setting sun, something they were both grateful for.

The waitress sighed, breaking the moment of silence. “I think I know why this happened. Why I was the only one who remembered you…”

He raised an eyebrow, slightly side-eyeing her. “Really?”

“I lied to you when we first met. I wanted to seem a bit cooler than I am, but I don’t think I can hide that anymore.” She began, nervously.

Colby’s face relaxed a little, surprised at her words. “Okay.”

“My friend didn’t introduce me to you guys… I introduced her… to you.” She confessed.

A soft grin came to his face. “I had a feeling.”

She rolled her eyes. “No, you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did! I totally did,” he snickered. “Not every fan knows I worked at Dairy Queen. And… no average fan would have helped me get Sam back the way you did.”

“I think there’s a reason for all of this. I think in your universe, your life… you don’t know me.” Her voice dropped suddenly, making Colby turn to her.

“That’s true, I don’t.” He nodded.

Her eyes met his, a sad glint reflecting in the moonlight. “But I think the reason for that is because… you’re not supposed to.”

“What do you mean?” He replied, his face twisting in confusion.

“I think you and I are only supposed to have met here, in this universe. But not in yours.” She glared up at the sky, “Maybe in some weird way, I’m your guardian or guide or something.”

Colby’s thoughts raced. “So, what you’re saying is-“

“This might be the last time you’ll ever see me. You did what you had to do. You got Sam and you to talk again.” Her voice cracked as she held back tears, “You can go home.”

He grabbed her hands, holding them close to his body. “But… I don’t want to leave if it means I don’t know you.”

A hitched breath fell from her lips, a smile appearing from his words. “If we’re meant to be, we’ll see each other again.”

“That’s not fair.” He shook his head, a deep frown settling on his face.

“I know, but it’s how it has to be.” She whispered.

He rested his forehead against her, breathing deeply. “Can I… get one more kiss?”

She bit her lip softly. “I thought you’d never ask.”

They leaned in, his breath fanning across her lips for a split second before he pulled away.

“Wait…” He shuddered. “I never got your name.”

A soft smile came to her lips. “I’ll tell you after.”

His arms wrapped around her, pressing her body into his as their lips collided. He held onto her for dear life, terrified that the moment he pulled away, she would be gone.

He could feel things around him slow down, almost melting away, but he couldn’t tell if it was from the beauty of their kiss making him dizzy. A whirling silence overcame his senses. A burning sensation sliced through his abdomen; his breath ripped from his lungs.

A heavy darkness overtook his vision and for the briefest of moments, he felt absolutely nothing.

Except her lips.

<< |

#colby brock #colby brock fic #colby brock story #colby brock one shot #colby brock fanfiction #colby brock fanfic #colby brock oneshot #colby brock angst #sam golbach #sam and colby

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neoheros · 4 years

Text

sneaking out headcanons feat. gym 3 squad ♡ — also this is all gonna be set in an au before or without the quarantine, so don’t leave your house please!! social distancing is important and people are dying!!

kuroo tetsuro

listen LISTEN

sneaking out is terrible and you should never do it because it’s dangerous and risky

and you as the woke and understanding gen z that you are definitely respected that

but , BUT , BUUUUT !

the minute your boyfriend snapped you a photo of him in his car with him rubbing his tired eyes captioned “couldn’t sleep, dreamt of u”

your morals were OUT THE WINDOW and now it was your turn >:// !!!

kuroo: i know it’s 4 am but what’re the chances you’d hop out for a quick trip to chick-fil-a 👉👈

you, purposely taking two minutes to reply: why are you still awake

kuroo, who knows you like the back of his hand: babe don’t lie to me, it’s embarrassing for the both of us x

so you agree !! because it was kuroo, the love of your life, the man you’d simp for, and he’s paying for food so hell fricken yeah

you throw on a hoodie, lock your doors, fluff up the bed to make it look like someone was sleeping in it just in case and you gently make your way towards your window

due to personal reasons, you want to pass away

you suddenly remember why you hated sneaking out and boy — the food kuroo was buying you better be worth it

the only way you were actually gonna get down from your two story house that idiotically doesn’t have a roof ledge was if you grab onto the tv satellite that latched by the sill

from your window you see kuroo’s car parked by the trash cans near your house and he’s got his windshield down signaling at you

mfer pulled out his phone from his pocket and waved as he zooms closer to your figure and he SMILED ?

you were in a dilemma?? and he had the audacity???? the fricken audacity???

kuroo, snapping you the vid he took: babe please you’re so cute you look like a tiny gremlin

you: had me in the first half, not gonna lie

it was a MOMENT for you !! but you just say what the hell and go for it anyways because you only live once apparently and sneaking out with your boyfriend at 4 am was better than sleeping

you grab onto the satellite ridge and you pray for mercy that it doesn’t make a sound or loosen up because if anyone found out you were doing this it was definitely kuroo’s ass on the line

while you’re struggling to get down, kuroo’s just in the car ??? laughing his ass off at your current state and you swear that he’s still taking photos

you get down on the cement safely and instead of him pulling up closer to your drive way naaaah he makes you walk to where he was at 😤

you, getting in the car: if i dump you by the end of tonight, just know that the only reason why i didn’t do it sooner is because i wanted food

kuroo, putting on your seatbelt: we’ll get back together in the morning, i’m not worried

so the two of you make your way to chick-fil-a, get food via drivethru and eat in the parking lot with the doors open and the windows down

he still looks very tired and before you even realize it it’s already 6 in the morning

you catch him yawn every few minutes and he always reassures you that he didn’t mind staying up this late :(

he’s baby

kuroo: lets get you home, are you gonna dump me yet?

you, kissing his cheek: no, i kinda love you

kuroo, less sleepy with a lazy smile on his face: aha simp

tsukishima kei

bro if you think he’s a goody two shoes boy who won’t ask you to sneak out at like 2 in the morning , you are so wrong

canonically, he is the most devious and logical character in the entire anime and if he wants to go out with you before the crack of dawn — he fricken will !!

he’s gonna be so sly about it too, nah, he gon make you think it’s your idea to sneak out

tsukki, texting you a tiktok of homemade shrimp rotini at 2:35 am: look what yamaguchi sent me

yamaguchi, who fell asleep three hours ago and absolutely is not in any state to send tiktoks:

so you’re there like ??????

bruv you were just tryna scroll through your twitter feed in peace, why the hell would he send you that like that’s so uncool

because now you were sleep deprived and hungry

you, close to tears: does your house in hell have a pool or

tsukishima, unnerved: i don’t like the concept of swimming

he’s gonna go on about how he didn’t realize what he did and how he’s kinda sorry for waking your hunger but you weren’t born yesterday !! you smelled BS !!

so you facetime him, ready to go off on how unsorry he is and you can already imagine the shit eating grin he must’ve had on

he answers after three rings and he’s in a MFING yellow hoodie with the dinosaur print in the middle, his hair neatly tucked and you just know that he’s got his keys on his fingertips

you, defeated: i’ve been played

tsukishima, heading out the front door: i deny all accusations

you’re not even upset though because this was a perfect opportunity to try the stability of your roof ledge and tbh? who wasn’t unreasonably hungry at 3 am

turns out climbing out your window was harder than you thought and you may or may not have gotten two new bruises on your wrist just by trying

safe to assume that you fell on your ass and since the universe has a particular hatred towards you, your boyfriend arrived at the perfect time to witness all of it

tsukishima: how are you gonna kiss me when you’re too busy kissing the ground

you, tears on your cheeks: if i wanted a bully instead of a boyfriend i would’ve SAID SO

when you get in his car, the first thing he does is ask if you’re okay though and he’s checking your wrists and hands for any scratches or bleeding because 🥺

tsukki: you’re such a clumsy idiot what the hell

tsukki, kicking down the pavement when you’re not paying attention: 💢🪓

you guys end up going to numerous places because most of the drivethrus in town were already closed

you see him get tired behind the steering wheel and you almost have the urge to offer to drive but you didn’t really feel like crashing his car any day soon so

you: lets just head to starbucks hm? get some coffee?

tsukishima, feeling bad because he knows you wanted to get food: we don’t have to

you, in love with him: if you say no i will willingly walk all the way to starbucks by myself , what , you think i won’t do it

so you guys go there and order a couple double shot espressos with a side of scones and muffins and the entire time you’re just trying not to shiver because name one starbucks you’ve been to that hasn’t been unreasonably cold huh i dare you

he notices this and he gives you his hoodie and ITS JUST THE SOFTEST THING OKAY BECAUSE HE’S COLD TOO BUT HE JUST WANTS YOU WARM

you: i knew it, you love me too huh 😌

tsukishima: unfortunately so

akaashi keiji

AKAASHI IS LEGALLY THE BEST BOYFRIEND IN THE WORLD !!

like he cannot be a bad boyfriend ?? it’s impossible for him to be so ?????? he’s just built that way ????

he’s the ultimate mixture of respect and self love , god was just like “let’s make this one perfect !!”

he’s DRIPPING in love each other juice and he eats kindness for breakfast so ha !

he physically cannot say no to you because he flat out adores you

( except when he feels like you’re wrong or being irrational to which he’ll politely correct you and educate you because that’s on what? that’s on having a healthy relationship ♡ )

so when you hit him up at 5:23 in the morning after a series of tiktoks that he has yet to see and react to you about, he’s kinda alarmed

but then again he’s also not ?? because let’s face it, at this point, he’s used to you spamming his inbox

the last thing you sent him two minutes ago was a text saying “bro just imagine this: you and me at a maccas drivethru with two oreo flurry’s and a box of 20 piece chicken nuggets — immaculate”

and you didn’t really expect him to reply?

it was five am and you were absolutely shit talking but when you saw his face time status go online you were just like ?????

akaashi, snapping you a pic of him under his covers with very tired eyes: it’s 5:27 am

you, sending him back a photo of you and the 2000 piece puzzle you spent the last two hours doing: that’s not a no 💅

he doesn’t reply and you’re not really upset by it because he probably just fell asleep and that was really cute to you so !!

but then two minutes later he’s facetiming you and you JUMP at the sudden ringing

he’s all tired and his voice is groggy and tight but he’s still smiling as he says “i’ll see you in ten”

YOU ARE !!!! PUMPED !!!!!

you won the boyfriend lottery , holy hell

now the only thing keeping you from seeing your man and the mcdonald’s sign was the eleven foot gap between your window and the solid concrete

you’d usually take the stairs but you just know that your mom would absolutely murder you for trying to sneak out when you should be asleep 💆‍♀️

it was either climbing out by clawing through the pipes or not being able to give akaashi a hug and you were not gonna let that second one happen

akaashi, after reading your two paragraph rant on how unnatural it was for your window to be that high: please be careful

you, haven’t slept in 32 hours: screw careful ! i embody elegance !!

in which elegance was screaming every time your pipes squeaked because dear mercy you did not want to die yet

akaashi, who just pulled up your drive way and is now seeing you almost fall to the ground:

you, on the verge of tears: please catch me

AND he does 🥺

it was a close call and he barely even made it to you when you chose to let go but HE DID ANYWAYS

you kinda fell on him rather than landing smoothly in his arms but that’s okay you were just glad you didn’t die

when you both get in his car, he just takes a hot sec to dust you off and ask if you’re okay and he’s so concerned please tell him you’re fine

he’s such a baby please i can’t believe this shit

the two of you end up in a mcdonald’s parking lot with doja cat blaring on the radio and you guys do your best to hold back your laughter as you eat

it was pretty cold and the sun was rising but honestly you couldn’t find the urge to care since the moment just felt so surreal

you: i’m sorry for waking you btw 🥺

akaashi, showing you his new lock screen which is the picture he took of you when he first saw you climb out the window:

you: i’m less sorry

bokuto koutaro

BOYFRIEND OF THE MFING YEAR

i accept no arguments, go cry about it

i literally don’t care what anyone has to say, bokuto is the only man ever ? he’s so deserving of every right on earth i’ll cry

the way that this is the third night in a row he’s stayed up til 4 am and he’s not even alarmed about it

like at this point he’s just accepted that he is nocturnal and that’s that on that !

before he actually had the idea to ask you to sneak out for him, he debated whether or not it was worth it

you needed sleep and you barely got any so when he knew you were resting he absolutely refused to message you :(

but then he also thought about how you would love to have a large dunkin iced coffee right now

and he was already getting ready for his morning fix so why not just ask harmlessly?

if you weren’t going to respond then he’d be okay with that because he knew that you were resting well

but if you were going to answer his consecutive texts with a positive reply then HE IS 🥺 over the moon

you, barely awake: can we get a venti triple shot latté instead , my caffeine tolerance is SHOT

bokuto, snapping you back within a minute: babe you are delusional if you think i’m gonna let you drink that

so it’s 5 am and your parents are in the other room asleep but you know that their jobs start pretty early so you had to get a move on

your room wasn’t that high from the ground to be honest, so you weren’t really worried about falling off

what you were worried about was how dizzy and out of depth the melatonin gummies made you because in order to fall asleep you took 3 and now that you basically forced yourself out of a self induced coma, your body was on the verge of passing away

bokuto tells you that he doesn’t mind if you’re not up for the trip and he’d just bring you back your coffee BUT NAH

you’re not a quitter 🤬 you miss your boyfriend and you are gonna do whatever it takes to spend some quality morning time with him !!!!!

so you throw on a proper outfit, make your way through your window and gently do your best to refrain from yelping every time your hand would slip from the railing that’s keeping your balance

bokuto, pulling up seeing you on your roof: you’re so strong 🥺👉👈

you, barely alive: all for you baby ❤️

he helps you get down from where you stood and he had the prettiest smile on earth i SWEAR when you immediately sank in his cold chest

he apologizes for making you sneak out like that BUT NUH UH YOU DO NOT LET HIM

he is a gift !!! and you knew how tired he must’ve been too since he kept yawning but he still took the time and energy to pick you up 🥺

he fastens your seatbelt in the car and puts the windows up because he knew that the air would get in your face and you didn’t like that

he even brought you a spare hoodie of his because he remembered how much you swooned over this particular fabric

bokuto: we’ll get you some coffee but you can sleep while i drive, ok babe?

you, trying not to cry: are you single because i really want to kiss you

bokuto, kissing your cheek: i’m dating someone i’m sorry

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itsclydebitches · 3 years

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Please stop putting Rwde in the main tags holy shit. Blocked tags dont work on trending tags

Okay, today we're going to have a talk about curating your own content online. This isn’t the first time I’ve had an anon, somewhat angrily, demand that I stop using the “RWBY” tag and I’m sure it won’t be the last. However, my answer remains the same: No. Sorry. I’m not going to stop. Why?

Because my posts are about RWBY.

In case the above isn’t answer enough, let’s do a quick FAQs.

Why are you using the “RWBY” tag when so many of your posts are critical?

Because, as said, my posts are about RWBY. That’s the subject. I’ve been in the RWBY tumblr fandom for over five years now. I want all my RWBY content accessible in one place on my blog, not divided up between praise posts, critical posts, fanart, fic, etc. If an easy division between the first two is even possible (which it's not). It’s just all RWBY and, oddly enough, when I started reblogging and posting here, I tagged it with “RWBY.” Because that’s the show. My tagging system is far from complex, but I’m not about to re-organize or switch up 228 pages of content.

But we decided a long time ago that critical posts shouldn’t go in the main tag.

That’s ridiculous. People realize that’s ridiculous, right? I mean, I know we've all mostly agreed to observe this self-imposed rule, but that doesn't mean I haven't been raising an eyebrow at it since it first came up. I’ve been in a lot of fandoms and I’ve never seen another that insisted only praise could go in the main tag. When you come on tumblr and want to look up RWBY posts, you expect to get everything about RWBY—any post that deals with that subject. I would stake a great deal on the assumption that there are other posts in the main tag that you dislike, anon, simply because that's how people work. We all don't like the same things and, indeed, in a long-running show with a massive cast, there's going to be stuff we hate too. Ships you can't stand, takes you think are awful, that character you’re just so sick of seeing… yet we don’t exclude other, major subjects from the tag just because certain individuals dislike them. If we did, there would be no “RWBY” search because no one would ever agree on what is and is not allowed.

You have “RWDE” though.

We do! And as evidenced by the post you’re upset with, I use it when I think it's warranted. Here’s the thing about “RWDE” though: no one can agree on that either. Some fans think “RWDE” is solely for the angry, curse-laden posts. Others think it’s only for posts that are 100% critical. Others think it’s for ranting critical posts, not analysis critical posts. Still others think it’s for posts that say anything bad about RWBY, no matter if other parts of the post are complimentary or neutral—with "bad" ranging from "Actively insulting aspects" to "I didn't praise this enough to the individual's liking." It's so subjective as to be almost useless, to the point where "RWDE" posters are currently upset that others are posting critical takes about "RWDE" takes. Where do we draw the lines then? Your guess is as good as mine. But the one time I tried to post solely in “RWDE,” I was getting different anons going, “Omg stop posting in rwde this isn’t rwde!” So… my posts are apparently too critical for “RWBY” and, often, not critical enough for “RWDE.” Fantastic.

Just create your own unique tag then.

On the social media website where we post specifically to have other people interact with our work? You may not like my posts, anon, but other people do. “RWBY” is useful in part because it allows like-minded people to find me. If I only used a unique tag, I’d never come up in searches. Besides, I already do have a unique tag: “mymetas.” Every critical RWBY post of mine has that attached. Thus, it’s your job to blog “RWDE,” “mymetas,” or me entirely.

I tried that though and tumblr’s blocking system didn’t work for [insert reason here]

I really am sorry to hear that, it sucks, but tumblr’s shoddy system is not my fault—nor my responsibility. And now we come to the part about curating our online experience. Sometimes it’s not just about blocking everything because the system itself is flawed. Often you have to go further by scrolling past.

I'm going to say that again because people really need to practice it more on tumblr: scroll past the content you don't like.

If you don’t like a post, don’t read it. If you start reading a post and realize you don’t like it, stop and go find something else you enjoy. Being a responsible fan online often means going, “Huh. I hate that” and moving on, not coming into the author’s inbox to demand that they—impossibly—ensure that you never have to see something you hate ever again. Anon, you spent more time with something you claim to dislike by coming into my inbox to write and send a message demanding that I stop using "RWBY" than you would have by simply ignoring my post and moving on. That tells me you care more about controlling others' online experience than you do managing your own.

But we don’t want to see critical takes in the “RWBY” tag! We come on tumblr because we love the show and it sucks to see people dragging it all the time. I just want to enjoy the show in peace.

A valid stance… and one that doesn’t have a leg to stand on when it comes to RWBY. Between the time I posted about the teaser and the time I saw this ask, two hours had passed and a hundred and four new posts had appeared in “RWBY." I know because I took the time to count. The RWBY critical community is absolutely miniscule compared to the rest of the fandom. There are maybe 2-7 new “RWDE” posts a day, max, and those are coming from a few key blogs that focus on analyzing the show. There is no scenario in which there are so many critical posts that it’s ruining your RWBY time on tumblr, simply because that amount of critical content doesn’t exist. And if seeing a single critical take from my blog—or even 2-4, because that's my own max per day—honestly upsets you to the extent that you can't just move on, you shouldn’t be on a website known for its diverse content and incredibly iffy blocking system. My posts exist in a sea of RWBY excitement, praise, and celebration. It is your job to scroll past, anon, not my job to play a subjective, rigged game to ensure you never brush past a single bit of seaweed in that massive, ever-expanding ocean.

What this argument comes down to is, “You’re not allowed to tag RWBY content with RWBY because I don’t like what you have to say.” Sorry, but that just doesn't work for me.

#rwby #rwde #mymetas

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