#the yeti never gets me and I never see it more than a bit | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

five-rivers · 1 year

Text

Blizzard

Danny checked his Ghost Time Zone Adjuster Watch (Patent Pending!) and frowned at the numbers on the dial. It was, in theory, synced to the time on Earth– or at least the time zone Amity Park was in, but he’d noticed it got a little less reliable the further he went from the portal.

He was hoping it was going fast tonight, because if it wasn’t, well, tonight had just become this morning. He might have been used to late night and early morning fights, but that didn’t mean he had to like them.

He’d wanted to get to the Far Frozen and back before he had to get up in the morning, but at this pace, that didn’t seem likely. The Far Frozen was living up to its name, it seemed.

But despite its inconvenient location, the Far Frozen was also the only place Danny knew of that was both willing and able to treat halfas. And wasn’t Vlad. Vlad didn’t count, for obvious reasons.

Danny passed a set of melting stairs whose banister was slowly mutating into hissing snakes and the icy islands loomed into view. He sighed in relief. Finally.

He zoomed towards the main island, skirting snow-laden clouds and pallid, sinuous frostworms. Briefly, he touched down at the edge of the island, internally debating waiting for the yetis to notice him or going closer. He bounced in place. If he stayed still too long, he might doze off. He’d been having some trouble with that, lately. And he was short on time.

Mind made up, he took off again, but flew more slowly. The yetis should be able to notice him long before he reached their settlement at this rate.

He saw the clouds of ice kicked up by the pair of skimmers before he saw the skimmers themselves and slowed. The skimmers slowed, too, and they met in the middle.

“Hi, guys!” called Danny. “Do you mind if I take a lift with you?”

“Yes, Great One!” shouted the pilot over the engine of the skimmer. “What brings you here today?”

Danny landed on the deck of the skimmer. “Medical stuff,” he said, shrugging. “You can call me Danny, by the way. What’s your name?”

“Iceplow, Great One! It is an honor to carry you! Why, this is the first time I��ve had a passenger who wasn’t from the Far Frozen.”

“Yeah?” asked Danny, stifling a yawn and sitting cross-legged on the deck.

Iceplow nodded, and launched into a story about how he’d learned to drive. Danny, sadly, couldn’t pay much attention, because it sounded hilarious. The skimmer bounced and jolted underneath him, but… compared to his dad… sleepy…

They skidded to a stop and Danny forced himself awake.

“Here we are!” announced Iceplow. “Safe and sound, as promised, Great One!”

Danny nodded and smiled. “Thanks for the ride.”

Upon hopping off the skmmer, he was swarmed. He was maybe a bit of a celebrity here. Way more than he was in Amity Park, which was weird because he’d never intentionally set out to save the Far Frozen. It had just sort of happened, incidentally.

Usually, he’d love the attention, but tonight, with how tired he was… He started to flag immediately. But the crowd scattered away, suddenly respectful.

“What brings you here, Great One?” asked Frostbite, rescuing him. “Unless I miss my mark very much, this is an unusual time for you to visit.”

Danny nodded, a less tired part of him making a note to figure out how Frostbite knew it was a weird time. “I wanted to ask you a few, um, medical questions, if that’s okay?”

Frostbite sobered immediately. “Are you ill?” he asked, clearly troubled. “Have you been injured?”

Danny shrugged. “I don’t know. I was kind of hoping you’d be able to tell me. I mean, I don’t know if this is something normal, or a ghost thing, or a halfa thing, or something else.”

“I see,” said Frostbite. “In that case, we should go to the infirmary and do a thorough assessment. If it is troubling you, after all, then at the very least it is a change to your normal status.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” There were places to sit down in there.

Frostbite lifted Danny to sit on his shoulders. Danny caught himself listing sideways, into Frostbite’s horns, which was really quite rude, twice.

The infirmary caves, carved deep into the ice and rock of the Far Frozen, were kept meticulously clean and brightly lit. It would be easy, down here, to forget that he wasn’t in a hospital back on Earth.

… At least in some places. In other places, the machines and equipment being used was definitely not intended for humans and the raw walls of the tunnels showed through.

Danny stared at the labeled diagram of a blob ghost on the far wall, his eyes too unfocused to make out the words on it. A sharp buzzing sound rang in his ears. The thought that he could steal a nap crossed his mind and was reluctantly discarded. Or, rather, it wasn’t so much discarded as… Well, it would be rude, wouldn’t it? To fall asleep like that?

Frostbite cleared his throat, a human habit he’d definitely picked up from Danny, jolting him out of his reverie. “Let’s start with the symptoms you are experiencing.”

“I’ve been tired all the time. But when I try to sleep, I just can’t. I’ve tried getting myself to wake up more, and I’ve tried coffee, and I’ve tried wearing myself out so I’ll sleep, but… Nothing seems to work.”

“Well, there are a few different things that could be. Let’s start with some simple tests…”

Frostbite started with things any doctor would do. He weighed and measured Danny, listened to his heart, took his blood pressure, tested his reflexes. He also repeated most of Danny’s tests in both forms, took ‘aural photographs,’ and checked the energy levels of his ectoplasm. Then came blood tests, x-rays, an MRI, an ‘ectoplasmic resonance scan,’ an ectosignature typing, and other, weirder tests.

“Hm,” said Frostbite, looking down at the test results. “Interesting.”

“Interesting bad, or interesting good?”

“Nothing bad, no. I believe I may be able to do something to help,” said Frostbite, finally, “but may I ask a favor of you in the meantime?”

“Sure,” said Danny.

“You see, I may have to consult with some of our experts, but they’re largely occupied with the children today.”

“Children?”

“You haven’t met them before, have you?” asked Frostbite. “You have spent most of your time in the warrior’s camp.”

“The–?” Any other time, Danny would be asking questions, but he knew that if he did now, the explanations would go in one ear and out the other. He shook his head. “You want me to watch them.”

Frostbite shrugged.

Well, it couldn’t be any worse than trying to babysit Youngblood. And it would make him feel better to actually do something useful, instead of just waiting for Frostbite to find something to fix him.

Frostbite led Danny down another series of tunnels, then outside and up over a series of hills. Danny started flagging right away, but Frostbite slowed to accommodate him.

They crested one more hill, and then Danny saw it. A wonderful, fantasy play structure that would fill any child under ten with avarice. A finely detailed medieval castle, with slides, swings, climbing walls, and anything else you could think of, down to what looked like an accurate trebuchet and functional portcullis, all made of glass-clear ice. Within the play structure were five small yetis.

Danny gasped and clutched at Frostbite’s arm. “Oh my gosh,” he said, “they’re precious.”

They were small. Well, smaller than the adult yetis. Even at this distance, Danny was pretty sure the smallest one was at least as tall as he was and probably had at least fifty pounds on him with how fluffy they were.

“How old are they?” he asked

“Hm, let’s see,” said Frostbite. “Icepack is the oldest… Snowflake is the youngest… so that would be… They’re between fifty and two hundred and fifty years old.”

“They’re what?”

“Between fifty and two hundred and fifty years old.”

“Frostbite,” said Danny, “they’re older than me. How could I watch them?”

Frostbite chuckled. “I did not actually say that, if you remember.” He gently pushed Danny forward. “All I said was that I needed to speak with the experts here. We do not have to go anywhere else to do that.” Once more, he urged Danny forward. “Please, Great One, go play.”

“I don’t…” He looked back at the ice castle. The children had definitely noticed him, and they were coming out. Their eyes were sparkling.

He couldn’t disappoint kids.

As Frostbite went to go join the other adult yetis, who were sitting on a bench a short distance away, he approached, trying not to look nervous. “Hi!” he said. “I’m Danny.”

“I’m Snowflake!” said the tiniest yeti in an adorably squeaky voice. “I’m a girl!”

“Everyone knows you’re a girl!”

“He doesn’t!”

“Yep,” said Danny, giving a shaky thumbs up, “I don’t know anything about any of you, so…”

“He’s Cryosphere. His parents had to give him a really fancy name to make up for–”

The tallest of the yeti children put their hand on Snowflake’s head. “I’m Snowpack,” they said. “These two are Featherice and Candleice.”

Snowflake beat Snowpack’s hand away. “Are you a boy or a girl?”

“Uh,” said Danny, who had been prepared for a different kind of interrogation altogether.

“‘Cause if you’re a boy, then we’re even, because Snowpack and Cryosphere are boys, and Featherice and Candleice are girls.”

“I guess I’m a boy, then,” said Danny.

He got the distinct impression he was being sized up. “Then you can be one of the princesses with me! We can have a girl princess and a boy princess, then, and it’ll be fair.”

“You can’t have a boy princess,” said Cryosphere. “He has to be a prince.”

“Princes are the ones who rescue princesses,” said Snowflake. “Princes get armor, and princesses get crowns. That’s how it works.”

“I know a princess,” said Danny, hoping to at least derail the brewing argument. “She rescued herself, and she ha-aa-aaaawhn.” Danny was unable to keep himself from yawning.

“You,” declared Snowflake, gravely and with great importance, “are sleepy.” She tapped his nose with one claw. This froze the air inside his nostrils and he sneezed.

“Ahhhh,” said Featherice, “your sneeze is so cute!”

“Sleepy!” declared Snowflake again.

“No,” he said, defensively. At least for human children, being sleepy would be seen as uncool. He wanted to be cool.

The little yetis stared at him judgmentally.

“I think it’s naptime, anyway,” said Icepack. “So, why don’t we do a blizzard, then take a nap?”

Snowflake gaped at him, betrayed. “I don’t need to take a nap.”

“It’s not very fair to tell someone else they need a nap, then not take one yourself, is it?” asked Icepack. “We can all take one together, okay?”

“Um,” said Danny, “a blizzard?”

“It’s a type of group work,” said Candleice, quietly. “You let your ice go together and shape it together. In a blizzard, the snow comes and tucks you in, then you take a nap.”

“O-oh,” said Danny, “I don’t know if I should do that, my ice powers, um…” He glanced over at Frostbite, who gave him an enthusiastic thumbs up. The children were looking at him expectantly. Danny caved. “Okay, we can try it out.” He could always just… not put any power into what they were doing.

He was, upon agreement, promptly dragged into the castle’s courtyard.

“So,” said Icepack, “first, we get in a circle, and we all hold hands.”

The yetis lined up in order of height and Danny, the shortest, carefully took the clawed hands of Snowflake and Icepack.

"Now, we start walking in a circle…" Danny mimicked the yetis around him. "And we wave our arms up and down. Then we take cold in through our left arm, and out with our right. Pass it around."

Danny had never done anything like this before, but the momentum the yetis were building made it easy to let the cold wash through him, sending ice feathering up his arms and around his shoulders. The feeling plucked at his core, and, finally, he gave in to the feeling, adding a thread of his power.

"There we go. Good job, everyone."

A few meters above the circle, a storm swirled, building and building.

"Alright, now change directions."

Danny stumbled a step, but fell back into the loose rhythm easily. Snow began to fall from the clouds above, faster and faster, until even the constant movement of the circle didn’t stop them from having to wade through snow. Snow gathered heavily on Danny’s shoulders, in his hair, his eyelashes. The shifting white in front of him could have been Snowflake’s back, but it could just as easily be the snow. He could hardly see his own hands, and definitely couldn’t see his feet.

“And break!”

Everyone let go and threw themselves into the high bank of snow that had gathered outside of their circle. More ice energy burst out as the circle broke, the power they were channeling and building escaping into the air and making it just that much colder, the snowflakes just that much larger. There was some muffled giggling as the children flopped around and knocked snow onto one another. Danny was promptly buried.

“Naptime now!” called out Icepack. The other children quieted.

Danny sighed and flexed his hands, which were still bleeding cold energy. He wanted to get up, but it’d be better if he was a good role model, right?

Although… This was pretty comfortable. Nice and cold, the right temperature for his core, the snow underneath conforming to his body, the ever-increasing weight of the snow above, the dark and quiet, also increasing.

Frostbite and the other adults were watching, too. Maybe, just for a moment…

The blizzard cleared. Not too long later, the five little yetis burrowed out from under the snow.

“You were very mature, today, children,” said Frostbite, passing out little flavored ice treats. “Thank you for your help.”

“He’s so little!” said Snowflake. “He’s even smaller than me. Did he really fight Pariah Dark?”

“He did,” said Frostbite, “that’s why it’s so easy, sometimes, to forget that he is a child, just like all of you.”

“Not that any of you should go off fighting strange adults any time soon!” said Driftice, their main caretaker for the day, swooping in. “Humans age differently, and he had been a human for most of his existence.”

“Aha, yes, that is true.”

“Chief Frostbite,” said Snowflake, tugging on the end of his cape to get his attention back. “I have a question.”

“Go ahead, little one.”

“Doesn’t he know ghosts don’t take naps? He’s got to know that, if he beat up Pariah Dark.”

“Well, he was human.”

Snowflake frowned. “How do humans become ghosts?” she asked.

Driftice glared at him from over Snowflake’s head.

“Oh, dear, look at the time. You’re all late for your hunting lesson.”

“No, we’re not,” said Snowflake, even as the group was hurried along by Driftice and the other caretakers of the day.

Frostbite sighed and made an ice chair for himself. He waited, amusing himself by making small sculptures, not something he got much practice at, with his duties as chief.

Several hours later, the snow shifted and a rather disoriented-looking Phantom dug his way out of the snow. “Huh?” he said, looking around. “What?”

“You fell asleep,” explained Frostbite, putting aside his latest sculpture.

Phantom’s eyes widened. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

“Perhaps not, but I meant for you to.”

“What?” asked Phantom, bewildered.

“To put it simply,” said Frostbite, “you were too stressed to sleep, Great One, and somewhat overheated for an ice core as well. I’m sorry for the deception with the children, but I wasn’t sure you would agree to rest, otherwise, and that’s the only cure for these things.”

“I,” said Phantom, frowning. “But–”

“Do you feel better?” prodded Frostbite.

“... Maybe,” said Phantom, quietly, guiltily.

Frostbite smiled gently. He handed Phantom one of the ice sculptures. It was a simple thing, a series of spheres within spheres.

“Everyone needs rest, Phantom. There’s no shame in taking it.”

“But what if…” Danny rubbed his thumb over the sculpture. “What if something happens? How long was I asleep?” He flailed a bit more and freed a hand from the snow. He glared at the small watch around his wrist.

“Then something happens, and you deal with it well-rested.”

Phantom, in a way that was far too adorable considering that he had no fur and hardly any fangs, pouted. “Frostbite, I was asleep for over eight hours. I’m going to totally miss school.”

“And do you feel better?” prompted Frostbite again.

“... Yes. But I really have to go, now, or else my parents will totally blow up at me.”

Frostbite was glad he knew that was a colloquialism. “You can always tell them you were kidnapped by a ghost. It’s even true.”

“You’re terrible,” said Phantom. “But… Thanks. I might take you up on that."

#danny phantom #dannymay #dannymay 2023 #dannymay 2023 day 3: blizzard #fluff #danny takes a nap

213 notes · View notes

mauesartetc · 3 months

Note

So in your Winx club post, you said that the poses don't reflect the characters personalities. And I realized that might be a problem with monster high too. And side not what's your opinion on the monster high designs ? ( Apology if you're not familiar with the series)

Folks I'm just gonna put this out there: Early-90s kid speaking. For a lot of kids' media that came out in the 2000s and beyond, I'd already aged out of their target audience. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the odd Spongebob, Flapjack, or Chowder, but that's probably because their humor and creativity were accessible to broader demographics. So as a general PSA, if you're wondering whether or not I'm acquainted with a series tailored specifically for children post-2001, the answer is "probably not".

That said, I do vaguely recall seeing some of these characters before (a side effect of having any kind of presence on DeviantArt, I'm guessing), but I've never had a reason to actively seek out more information on them. Now that I do, uh...

...yeah. As someone who knows nothing about these girls' personalities, their poses aren't giving me much to work with. And much like Winx Club, we have more Sameface and Samebody Syndrome going on, which feels like a huge missed opportunity since these are monster girls. There's so much potential for creativity that isn't being utilized.

I checked out the Monster High wiki for this and there are some pretty cool character concepts there. Sure, you've got the standard MGM movie monsters in the main cast, but then you've got a gargoyle girl, a yeti girl, a 15-foot-tall goo girl, and the fucking Grim Reaper's daughter??

And... and... A zombie-unicorn hybrid? Are you kidding me?

Child-me would have eaten that shit up, and even more so if the characters actually looked like monsters rather than humans cosplaying as monsters.

Look, I get it, this is a line of fashion dolls first and foremost, and reusing the same mold for everyone's faces and bodies is more cost-effective than creating a new one for every character. But if Mattel just split the difference and maybe created separate head molds for every species (as well as the two sexes within that species), there'd at least be a bit more variety. Honestly, where's the harm in making dolls with some unconventional looks? Where's the harm in showing girls their worth isn't diminished if they don't have the standard Bratz face?

Man, now I want to redesign some of these.

#character design #monster high #critique #criticism #samebody syndrome #sameface syndrome #ask #lockedwith-care

6 notes · View notes

kobblefort · 1 year

Text

Orbsarmor: What Could Possibly Go Wrong

Here we go again.

Not a tree in sight, nor another living being. Which means no beds, at least not until we've made it to the caverns. But uhh, speaking of which...

The very first frame I unpaused, I was told "a section of the cavern has collapsed," which is really quite strange. So I went to reveal it, just to check - and see how far we'd need to dig down before we hit trees, and, well... we won't. These are not cavern layers. That green stuff? It's grass. Trees do not seem to grow in it, or at least, none of them have yet. Oh, and some of those little "HFS tubes" might have shattered down on the third cavern layer. If you don't know what that means, absolutely do not worry about it one little bit okay. Either way, if we want any kind of farming to ever happen here, we'll have to get down there and get to work on it. And we basically need farming to happen here, but before any of that we need stairs, a way of dealing with the aqueduct (I'm just going to reuse the Blackfaint method since decapods actually like waterfalls) and some kind of meager little production setup.

And fuck it, here we are at -62, starting a production area with Amontillado'able doors. Unfortunately, we have no underground seeds, 3 logs, no trees in sight, and a long time before our first caravan. But the queen gets what the queen wants, and the queen wants the perfect library - far, far away from any and all distractions. Well, it's more than a bit likely we'll just die trying. But I think sometimes you have to think "what if I DON'T fail?" And yeah sure that's been co-opted by all the morons who really run the world and get to blow billions killing themselves in submarines or trying to make AI write all the movies. But I think it obviously has some kind of value anyway.

There's a yeti up on the surface. And well I'm not saying that we could hunt it for food if we get hungry, but... we could hunt it for food if we get hungry. Just a thought!

Oh huh, that's pretty early. Well you snooze you lose right. You guys got here early!

When they ask us what we want, we're not shy. We explain the fucked up caverns problem to them and they just sort of shrug because they don't really go to the caverns.

We've gotten enough marble blocks carved out and good enough rough gems to get enough plants, meat and fish to tide us over a good while longer, but before we can bring any of it downstairs... this happens? I've never seen this before.

I think it's because of this?? Are they all about to die of exposure?? Should I be glad I haven't even gone through everybody's character screens yet???

Nope after a few minutes everyone turned out fine. Nice. Another huge W for crabs. So here we have the beginning of our "starter base," where we intend to make sure we can get self-sufficient before we bother killing ourselves for the paper economy. It'll be... well more than just a little hard, all things considered, but up on the top the orthoclase buildings are our construction workshops, and all the cobaltite ones are for kitchen-related activities. Except for the farmers' workshop, which is kinda food but it kinda flexes to textile production too, which I suppose we'll need to do at least some of.

Then a random cave-in kills one of our bobbit worms and it just gets me thinking, dude something is really fucking wrong with this whole fortress. I just... I don't think this is going to work man. We can't grow anything, anywhere. I bet you think I'm exaggerating.

Look this is fucked. Cavern didn't work. Literally nothing up on the surface. We gotta pack this shit up man. We're gonna try this shit somewhere else. Tell the Queen that shit didn't work. Daarunbay Detevay is a glitchy fucking world sometimes. We're just gonna build the library somewhere else. Did you guys take the caravan apart yet? No? Ok good cause we're not going this far man. We're not doing the glacier thing, it's stupid. We're going to the woods a little south. Let's pack up and try this again.

#dwarf fortress #crabfort #one-off

14 notes · View notes

talesfromthesnogbox · 1 year

Text

How can I sleep when you're running through my mind?

Summary: The Steddie ASMR youtuber AU you never asked for!

Rating: Mature

Word Count: 13,135

Notes: I wanted to read an ASMR AU, couldn't find one, made one myself ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Hope you like it! Sidenote if you're not a regular ASMR viewer, it's not TYPICALLY as horny as Steve makes it to be...

AO3 Link

🎤👑🎧

“Alright my little rockstars, I hope you guys liked today’s video, and as always, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite, I’ll see you in the next one.”

Steve sighed and closed the tab with Eddie Whispers video. He was his all time favourite creator, with his soft, fluffy hair, and gentle eyes. Eddie was a smaller creator on Youtube, not much of a following just yet, but he was severely underrated, and Steve found himself for the first time ever, actually experiencing the sensations he hoped he gave other people.

“Finished with your pre-game rituals already?” Robin asked him, crossing her arms.

“Yup, just gonna fix the headphone hair and I’ll be ready to go in five?”

Robin rolled her eyes but moved forward into his room anyways. “Copy that. Which mic are we using today?”

“Probably the Yeti? Oh! Actually they sent me that new 3Dio to try, maybe I do the trigger word one today and film the thigh one tomorrow?” Steve stopped in his tracks holding his ‘outfit’ for filming, seemingly stuck between two pairs of ungodly short shorts. He looked to Robin for advice.

“I’m sorry, the thigh one?”

“Yeah, I told you about it yesterday. You know, the fabric scratching one?”

Robin looked at him like he had three heads. “Fabric scratching? With what fabric, those are practically non-existent.” She rolled her eyes “You really are a whore.”

“Whatever, mom, it gets me views, and pays our bills so I don’t really care.”

Steve had kinda started doing ASMR by accident a few years ago with Tommy Hagan of all people. The two of them had posted some stupid senior prank video to a throwaway channel online, part of it being them hiding in a closet and whispering to the camera while they waited for chaos to ensue. Somehow, it got views, and a lot of the comments were about Steve and how nice his voice sounded when he whispered. Then of course, ASMR blew up on the internet, so he started his own channel shortly after graduation.

It took him a few years to get it off the ground, but he was nearing the seven year anniversary of his channel and had just hit 3.5 million subscribers. Steve’s channel had started out pretty innocently, doing low-fi type videos with his headphone microphone before investing in his yeti, and that seemed to work, people liked it a lot. But then one day he’d filmed out by the pool, and his popularity skyrocketed. People went crazy for Steve. He knew he was good looking, had a relatively nice body, and great hair, but he didn’t realize people would be so into his ASMR KING alter-ego.

King Steve was everything that regular Steve had left in the past. He was cocky, overtly flirtatious and sexual, and sometimes just a little bit mean. King Steve often filmed with his shirt off, he took up as much space as possible, his muscular thighs spread wide, the camera angled low so they were on full display. He’d been called the “horniest ASMR youtuber” on more than one occasion, and honestly, he was pretty okay with that. ASMR made him feel good, and he liked the content he put out. Not that he’d ever watch anything like that…

When it came to what he liked to watch, it was all fairly tame. Anything Eddie put out on Eddie Whispers he’d watch, whether it be camera or mic brushing, or words of affirmation, or even role-play videos. He loved what Eddie did, how wholesome it was, and how good it made him feel. And it didn’t hurt that Eddie was easy on the eyes as well… his soft voice sounded familiar, he was great with accents and characters, hell he’d even watched some videos where he was just simply making up DnD character sheets (which Dustin was proud to hear).

Eddie’s videos had become part of his “pre-game” ritual as Robin liked to call it. He’d throw on an Eddie video, usually commenting something from his anonymous burner account for engagement, then suit up (or suit down rather) to film his own video once he was nice and loose and relaxed. Robin, being his tech girl, constantly ribbed him about it, knowing her friend was harbouring a crush on the guy, even if he didn’t want to admit it to himself. Besides, he was kinda right, Eddie’s videos were calming, and for some reason seemed to put Steve in the right headspace for his own online persona.

While Steve changed, Robin set up his mic and camera, making the executive decision that they were not going to be filming anything with his thighs out today. She checked the audio levels on the new mic, and made sure the lighting was okay before he came in to work his magic. Robin was far too squeamish to get into ASMR for her own enjoyment, but she didn’t mind doing the filming and editing for Steve. He paid her a good portion of the revenue from his videos, and always credited her and promoted her independent work on his channel. She’d started getting a small following of her own thanks to him, and he was even helping her finance a short film for the next year’s festival run. Steve was a good guy, and an even better friend, so it was a no brainer when he asked if she would help him with his channel.

“How’s this?” He asked, adjusting his hair from what he could see in the small monitor ahead of him.

“Well considering the angle, you look naked. Your chest hair is all out, Dustin is gonna tell you to shave it again.”

“Well Dustin is just jealous he’s a hairless cat.” Steve rolled his eyes and reached for a form-fitting tank top from behind him. “There, that better?”

“Much. So what’s the plan for this one then?” Robin settled into her spot at the computer to check the audio levels.

“Umm, new 3Dio mic test, probably a bunch of triggers.” Robin nodded and wrote out her outline so she could direct him from off camera as they rolled. “I’ll start with just some generic whispering, then maybe do a trigger word, one of my patrons has been asking me to do Fuck for a while now. And then maybe some ear touching and kissing sounds to round it all out?” He looked from the new set of ears in front of him to Robin, she expectedly looked disgusted. “Nothing new Robs.”

“I know, but your subs all need to get laid.”

Steve laughed. “Yeah, well so do I.”

He made sure to put his phone on silent, but first, he needed to comment on Eddie’s video.

“All good to go over here, whenever you’re ready.” Robin called, hitting the record button on Steve’s camera.

He instantly smiled in the sultry way he only used for his videos, and peered down the barrel of the lens through his lashes. “Hey Dreamers…”

🎤🎸🎧

“Holy shit. Holy shit, Max wake up!” Eddie shook her awake from her nap.

“Ugh Eddie what the hell do you want, I was just getting comfortable.”

His eyes were wide as he stared at the notification. It wasn’t on a new video, the video was about two weeks old, but when he saw the verified check mark on the commenter’s name, he immediately clicked on the channel. ASMR KING had like 3.5 million subs, and he was watching Eddie’s video? And commenting on it?

Your voice is just so soothing, you had me relaxed from the moment you smiled. This was awesome dude, keep up the great work.

“The dude that commented is like… huge.”

“Eddie it’s not nice to—”

“No! Shut up, he’s got like over three million subs.” Eddie starred stunned at the number.

“O-kay, and I’m supposed to care because?”

“Because you’re like my little sister, and a little support here would be nice thank you very much!”

“Dork.”

ASMR KING had been pretty notorious among ASMR creators. It wasn’t that his stuff wasn’t good, but it wasn’t exactly the wholesome, family-friendly content Eddie put out. The stuff that Steve did on his channel never really spoke to Eddie, even when it popped up incessantly on his recommended videos. He was still staring at his phone in awe when he decided to grab his headphones and actually watch one of his videos.

The first thing Eddie noticed about King Steve was that he was hot as hell. Eddie always claimed he didn’t have a type, but this man was exactly Eddie’s type. Pretty, built, hairy, a little bitchy, could definitely keep up with Eddie’s quips. The video he clicked was just some simple little whispered story time, nothing crazy, but the thumbnail on the next one almost had him running to his room in fear of indecency.

Low camera angle, desk chair, short shorts, thighs spread, no shirt, smug smirk. Eddie could not care less about what the trigger was, nobody needed to look that sexy while trying to put people to sleep.

The second thing Eddie noticed about King Steve was that he tended to use a lot of gender neutral language. As Eddie clicked through his videos and hit a “Boyfriend helps you sleep” role-play, he realized Steve didn’t exclusively make these for girls. Most of the comments did seem to be coming from women (and a lot of them were kinda disgusting if he did say so himself), but the wording was fairly generic. He came across the same way the douchebag jocks he went to high school did, but could he be gay possibly?

Whatever, it didn’t matter to Eddie, Steve was just another hot, unattainable guy who happened to like his stuff.

It wasn’t until Eddie went back out of Steve’s profile that he noticed the notifications flooding in. Eddie’s modest five thousand subscriber count was suddenly closing in on 5300. He certainly didn’t have that many this morning. It must be from Steve’s following. He clicked the little “subscribe” button and looked him up on Instagram, following him there too before taking the plunge and writing him a message.

Eddie Whispers: Hey man, I just want to say thanks for commenting, I think some of your subs found me and followed, and I really appreciate it. It’s nice to see some of the heavy hitters helping out us little guys in the community <3.

🎤👑🎧

“So how does it sound?” No matter how many subscribers or views his videos got, Steve was always a little self-conscious right after filming. He didn’t exactly like his King Steve persona so he didn’t care about whether or not others would like that, but he did care about if he sounded good.

“Great actually, I think people will like the new mic.”

“Awesome, thanks Robs, I appreciate it.”

Steve left the room he’d designated for filming and editing so Robin could do her thing. It was nothing new for him to have a steady stream of notifications after having not checked his phone for a while, but when he saw the amount that included ‘replied to your comment on Eddie Whispers video’, he stopped in his tracks.

His burner account AlwaystheBabysitter had no subscribers, and his comment was purely positive, there’s no way anyone could have anything bad to say about it. He opened the notification and to his shock, he’d forgotten to switch accounts before commenting.

“Shit”, he whispered. There was nothing wrong with him commenting as himself, but King Steve was a persona, he had a reputation to uphold if you will. Even his Instagram and Twitter accounts were separate from his own private socials to keep it up for his followers, and King Steve would never comment on anything, let alone comment something that positive.

Shocker number two, Eddie Whispers started following him, on everything.

Shocker number three, Eddie Whispers had sent him a message on Instagram.

Steve’s heart thrummed in his chest as he read Eddie’s message to him. It was heartfelt, it was sweet, it was everything he normally was in all of his videos, and now, Steve was stuck with a dilemma.

Eddie was his favourite creator. He couldn’t just be his bitchy internet persona to him, especially not through a message, but would that change who he was in Eddie’s eyes if he didn’t?

“What’s wrong, dingus? Did Eddie Whispers slide into your DM’s or something?” Robin walked past him, taking a sip from her water bottle.

“Yeah, actually.”

Robin choked a little, water dribbling down her chin. “Wait, actually? I was just joking, holy shit.” She rushed to his side to see, and sure enough, Steve’s Instagram messages lay open, a message from Eddie Whispers glaring right at the top. “Hey man, I just want to say thanks for commenting, I think some of your subs found me and followed, and I really appreciate it. It’s nice to see some of the heavy hitters helping out us little guys—Steve holy shit. Are you gonna respond?”

Steve threw his hands up. “Well yes, obviously! But King Steve is an asshole. What if he hates me.”

“Why does it need to be from King Steve? Why can’t it be from regular old loser Steve we know and love?”

He shot her a look. “Well… I don’t know… shouldn’t I be who I am on camera?”

“You mean a horny dickhead? No. Just be yourself dude.”

“Right, myself, right. What if he doesn’t like me?”

Robin sighed and pushed his coiffed hair back. “You’re sending him a message saying hey, not proposing marriage doofus. Everyone loves you Steve, you’ll be fine.”

Steve smiled gratefully as she walked past him. He contemplated his next message, not quite knowing what to say, but wanting to talk to him anyways.

No sweat…

Anytime…

You’re welcome…

He shook his head and backspaced everything he’d written so far, nothing quite sounding right. He thought about what Robin said, and decided to just… speak from the heart.

ASMR KING: Of course dude, don’t even mention it. I’m happy they found your channel, you really do great work.

Steve closed his eyes and hit ‘send’ on the message, watching as the little ‘read’ receipt popped up a moment later.

Eddie Whispers: That’s kind of you to say! Although I don’t know your subscribers will really like my stuff, it’s all pretty vanilla.

He definitely wasn’t expecting Eddie to carry on the conversation, or even really know what he did. Steve figured Eddie followed him to be nice, but had he watched his stuff?

The sudden flow of self-consciousness burst through Steve again. His skin prickled with goosebumps, and his chest flushed hot at the thought of Eddie watching his videos, the sultry looks he’d throw at the camera, the suggestive triggers he’d do, god the one time he fully just sucked his fingers and called it a day. “We all know this is getting demonetized anyways, might as well go for it.” Did Eddie like that stuff, was he into it?

ASMR KING: Haha honestly I prefer watching stuff like yours than stuff like mine. My subs need a little bit of something to cool off every once and a while.

Eddie Whispers: I wouldn’t say that, your stuff is good! Look at the following you have, clearly people like it.

ASMR KING: They like it because they’re horny little shits :P

Eddie Whispers: Well… doesn’t hurt that you’re hot.

🎤🎸🎧

“FUCK!” Eddie swore and threw his phone across the room.

“Asshole! Shut up, you’ll wake Wayne.” He shot Max an apologetic look and went to retrieve his phone.

“What’s even your problem now? Did something happen with this YouTube guy again?” He twirled a piece of hair nervously, covering his mouth with the strand, a surefire tell of his that something had happened. “Well? Spit it out already.”

“I fucked up. I messaged him and he messaged me, and I maybe toldhimhewashot.”

Max stared at him, a disappointed look on her face. “You did what now?”

“Look Max, I’m weak okay, and I have no filter, you know this! So he said his followers were all horny little shits and I just… it just… came out I guess?”

“Well has he read it?”

Eddie glanced down, sure enough, the words ASMR KING is typing… appeared at the bottom of the screen. “Shit.”

Max laughed. “Congrats doofus. Let me see.”

He handed his phone over to her shamefully to let her scope out his Instagram page. She instantly snorted, this dude that he was all hot over was none other than Steve Harrington, Dustin’s babysitter extraordinaire. He’d carted her around a bit before Wayne took her in, drove her and the rest of the party around Hawkins, but weirdly enough, Eddie had never met him. He wouldn’t recognize him either having moved here shortly after graduation. Max knew he dabbled in YouTube, but had no idea he was this popular, or this… different than the kind, gentle man she knew him to be now. His Instagram wasn’t much better than his Youtube, if anything, it was more suggestive, and he wore less clothes. “You’re disgusting.”

“And you’re a snoop! We can both say obvious things about each other Mayfield.”

“Would hardly call it snooping if you handed me the phone, idiot.” She smiled knowingly, handing it back. “You’ve got a message waiting, loverboy.”

“Fuck.”

🎤👑🎧

“Robin! Robin shit I need help.”

“Who’s dying!” Robin flew into Steve’s room and grimaced at Steve’s once again shirtless form. “Dude, what are you, allergic to clothes?”

“Eddie said I’m hot.”

“And that couldn’t have waited until after you put a shirt on?”

Steve flopped down on his bed. “Can you stop being a useless lesbian for like two seconds and help me!”

“Well stop being a useless bisexual! I thought you liked Eddie.”

“Uh, yeah! I do! What do I say?”

She snorted. “Fuck if I know, you have more experience with men than I do.”

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled deeply. “Okay, okay, I’ve got it. Boot the camera back up, I’m filming another one.”

🎤🎸🎧

ASMR KING: Oh yeah, you think so? Well maybe I’ll have a special little treat for you later then. Stay tuned.

“Max, he’s gonna kill me.”

“Why, what’d he say?” She jumped off the couch to peer over Eddie’s shoulder. “Oh shit, yeah he’s gonna kill you.”

By the end of the day, Eddie still hadn’t heard from Steve. He was even a little disappointed to find their chat the same as it was the next morning. The anticipation was killing him, but he didn’t want to goad him on, so he sat and waited…

And then out of the blue that evening, he got a notification from Steve on Instagram.

ASMR KING: Hope you enjoy 😘

Eddie stood up quickly from the dinner table, depositing his dish in the sink. “Gotta go.”

Max, having seen the notification come through on his phone, gagged a little. “Gross, can’t even wait until after I’m done eating?"

“He’s hot and I’m single as fuck. So sue me.” Eddie jeered back. “Besides, it’s YouTube, how bad could it be?”

Turns out, it could still be pretty bad.

The thumbnail of the link he’d sent through looked innocent enough, just Steve at his desk with the 3Dio mic in front of him, smiling softly at the camera. But when he clicked through to the video, it was not at all what he was expecting.

Just like the video he’d seen yesterday, Steve was wearing next to nothing. Low camera angle, short shorts, thighs spread, no shirt, smug smirk. But this time, he was softer than he usually was. He wore glasses, his hair not so perfectly coiffed, and he had a bit of scruff that wasn’t there in previous videos, almost like he’d just woken up.

“Hey dreamers, I’ve got a proper video coming for you tomorrow, but I just wanted to get this one out there first for a special little rockstar.” Steve licked his lips and winked into the camera, and Eddie promptly melted. “It’s been brought to my attention that maybe my videos could be a little more… vanilla if you will. So this time, I’ll be giving myself some tingles as well as you. Just for a little bit, as a treat.”

Eddie’s jaw was practically on the floor as Steve moved the mic from side to side to catch both ears. The light scruff on his face brushed the mic every once and a while making a delicious scratching noise, it’s like he could feel Steve’s lips touching his ears, and the blood started rushing south.

“Now I know this little rockstar dreamer loves this trigger, because he’s used it before in his own videos. And actually, it’s one of my favourite triggers as well.” Steve pulled a fresh fluffy makeup brush from out of his pocket (drawing attention to the way his thick thighs looked in those tiny shorts). He moved closer to the camera, brushing the lens with the soft bristles a few times, then rolled back to his original position. “I know this is a little new for me to be doing, but I think you guys are really gonna like it.”

Steve started out fairly tame. He brushed over the ears of the mic softly, and Eddie felt his breathing slow and his eyes get heavy. He loved doing mic brushing himself, although he hated editing it because it usually just ended up with him falling asleep. Steve didn’t seem to do this ever on his channel, but Eddie thought he should incorporate it more often. It sounded great, he had the right pressure, the right timing, and the right equipment. He was quickly jolted out of his relaxed state with the sound of Steve’s voice, right in his ear.

“This is nice, right? Do you like that?” He sighed heavily, smacking his lips together a few times, a bit like a few light kisses. “Yeah, I bet that feels good. I know that feels good baby, I love when you do this to me.”

Eddie made a choked out sound, unable to conceal now just how much Steve’s video was affecting him. And it was only about to get worse.

Steve shot the camera a wicked smile as he switched his mic to a handheld lav. “I love doing this to me too.” He chuckled lightly and stroked his face softly with the brush. He closed his eyes in bliss, breathing lightly into the small mic, a smile donning his face. Then he moved lower, brushing over his neck and collarbone, pausing to spend some time there before dipping down to brush over his pecs and nipples, the bristles getting caught in his chest hair. He let out a breathy sigh, picked up softly by the mic at his chest, and if that wasn’t the most beautiful sound Eddie had ever heard…

Eddie’s heart was pounding, he felt like he was watching porn, too mesmerized by it to look away, but feeling like it was so intimate, knowing Steve made it just for him.

“Why don’t we bring you a little closer…” Steve rolled the chair up towards the camera again, puffing his chest out so his face was entirely out of the picture as he drew invisible lines across his pecs with the brush. “Love how this makes me feel, bet you love it too.” He whispered softly, his voice going husky. “But we can’t let you have too much of a good thing my little rockstar.”

Like the tease he is, Steve wheeled himself back, a bit, grinning like a madman. “Oh shit, I said that was gonna be more vanilla, didn’t I? Oops.” The video promptly cut to black.

“Fuuuuuck.” Eddie whispered, throwing his head back, trying to calm himself down.

“Eddie your boyfriend is a slut.” He barely heard Max call from the kitchen.

“Shut up Max!”

He pulled out his phone and opened his chat with Steve, staring blankly at the keyboard.

That was…

I seriously…

Eddie Whispers: Dude… what the fuck are you doing to me. Christ that was something else 🥵

🎤👑🎧

Steve posted the video almost instantly after he finished filming it, only taking a moment to chop off the head and tail, and leaving the rest uncut. Robin had requested to not be a part of it, and honestly he was a little glad for that request as he willed away the semi he was sporting. He’d been suggestive on his channel before sure, but he’d never attempted dirty talk until today. Something about Eddie just made him want to, knowing Eddie thought he was hot just egged him on. Filming that made him feel sexy, and powerful, and more confident than he had in a while, he just hoped his intended target audience of one liked it too. Once the upload was done, he sent Eddie a message with the link, grabbed his shirt, and left his studio.

“Your brush, thanks for letting me borrow it.” He handed Robin the makeup brush he’d borrowed for the task.

“Where’s it been first, dingus?”

Steve rolled his eyes. “Robs I didn’t like stroke my dick with it, oh my god.”

She grimaced, but pressed on.

“I just… you know… brushed my face a bit, my chest—”

“Just keep it dude.”

“Alright, putting it in the studio then, thanks Robin.”

She closed the book she was reading and looked at him seriously. “Your child called while you were filming, says you need to call him back and that it’s urgent.”

Steve frowned. “Is he okay?”

“Dunno, sounded fine to me.”

“Shit.” He swore, grabbing his phone and calling Dustin. “Hey, Robs said it was urgent?”

“Steve! Finally! Yeah, Will is back from New York so you’re hosting a pool party for us tomorrow. Just wanted to give you a heads up.” The party hadn’t entirely parted ways once they graduated high school, Will just moved out the furthest of the kids to go to art school while the rest of them stayed pretty close. But now that they were graduating college, they’d be spreading out even further eventually.

“Oh, just wanted to give me a heads up? Okay buddy, how thoughtful, thanks.” He replied sarcastically. Steve was used to hosting the kids at this point, but he always gave Dustin a little shit for it when he did it without consulting him.

“You’re the best dude!”

“Yeah, whatever. But you’re all old enough now so you’re supplying your own alcohol and you can figure out how you’re getting home afterwards.” Steve knew full well the kids wouldn’t get that drunk, and he’d always offer them a place to stay if they needed it.

“Got it. People are coming around three so you better not be filming your weird whisper shit.”

“My weird whisper shit is what’s paying the bills right now dude, shut up. See you tomorrow.” He hung up and turned to Robin. “Well looks like we’re hosting a party tomorrow.”

“Fun, did your kids tell you that?”

Steve flipped her off, making sure she could see it. Only minutes passed before his phone lit up with a notification from Eddie, the smile crossing Steve’s face told Robin everything she needed to know about how he took the video.

“Slutty Steve worked?”

“Oh yeah, slutty Steve did exactly what he was supposed to.” Steve nodded, crafting a response to Eddie.

“And what exactly, pray tell, was he supposed to do to poor, unsuspecting Eddie?”

He stopped and looked up, confusion in his eyes. What was that supposed to do? Eddie had said he was hot, they said they liked each other’s work, but nothing else really happened from there. Worry crossed Steve’s face. Did he take it too far? Clearly Eddie was picking up what he was putting down, but what exactly did he want to put down?

“Dingus, did I lose you there?”

He shook his head, rattling the worry around inside his brain.

“No, no I’m fine. Shit, did I go too far?”

Robin rolled her eyes. “He liked the video, yeah?” He nodded. “Then what’s the problem? I can’t believe I’m telling you there’s nothing wrong with harmless flirting. I care about you dude, you’ve been alone for a while, maybe you deserve a little bit of fun.”

“Maybe?” He chuckled.

“Shut up I don’t do sappy! You were really excited when he messaged you, and it seems like he’s flirting, so flirt back!”

Steve nodded to himself. Robin was right. Eddie seemed to be into Steve’s flirting, and it’s not like they knew each other, they were just two internet personalities. They could flirt with each other in their DM’s, it’s fine. What’s the worst that could happen?

“Okay, yeah, you know what you’re right, what the hell.”

Eddie Whispers: Dude… what the fuck are you doing to me. Christ that was something else 🥵

ASMR KING: Christ? Nah you can just call me Steve 😉😘

ASMR KING: Sorry that was terrible, but I hope the video gave you tingles

ASMR KING: And I hope you liked it

ASMR KING: And I hope maybe it did some other things for you too…

🎤🎸🎧

Eddie’s jaw was on the floor.

“Please tell me you’re decent in there.” Max sounded annoyed hovering outside Eddie’s door.

“Shut up! I’m trying to think.”

“What, did that video like melt your brain out your ears or something?”

He sighed heavily. “Or something.”

“Gross. Hey I’ve got a favour to ask. Can you drive me to Dustin’s tomorrow?”

Eddie did a double take, composing himself enough to walk to the door and look Max in the eye. “You’re like 21, you can’t just drive yourself?”

“Not if I’m gonna be drinking I can’t. Besides, might be good to get you out of the house and into normal society, get your mind out of the gutter.” If looks could kill, Max would be a goner. “Please? I promise I won’t even bring up Steve again.”

He sighed and rubbed his temples with his fingers. “I know that’s a lie, but whatever, I’ll drive you.”

“You’re the best thanks!” She started to walk away, but caught sight of him staring at his phone again. “Don’t overthink it, just message him back.”

“How do you know it’s even Steve I’m texting?”

“I didn’t, but you just confirmed it for me idiot.”

Eddie rolled his eyes and shut his bedroom door again, opening up his conversation with Steve.

Eddie Whispers: Wouldn’t you like to know Stevie… 😏

Eddie Whispers: In all honesty dude, you should use the brush more often. The sounds are *chef’s kiss*

Eddie Whispers: And well the rest of it… yeah that did it for me.

Eddie Whispers: But enough inflating your ego. How’d you get into ASMR?

🎤👑🎧

Steve stayed up most of the night talking to Eddie, chatting about life, YouTube, their friends, whatever came to mind. He felt like they were actually connecting on a personal level, so naturally he was pissed when Dustin showed up earlier than planned the next morning with party supplies expecting Steve’s help with setup.

“What, are you pissed you can’t talk to your weird whisper boyfriend?” Dustin teased as they laid out towels on the lounge chairs.

“Huh? He’s not my—wait how do you know about this?”

“Robin, obviously. And I saw the video, man. You sure you didn’t mean to post that on Only Fans?”

“Fuck off, it wasn’t that bad.”

“Dude.” He stopped in his tracks and gave Steve a look. “You were like rubbing your tits. I had to turn it off, I felt like I was interrupting a moment between you and your right hand.” He shuddered.

“Tits? Not fucking cool man, there was nothing wrong with my video.”

“Keep telling yourself that Steve-o, but that maybe should have been saved for the private videos folder.”

“Whatever.”

They finished their setup shortly before the party was set to arrive, and as Steve had predicted, they were early. The boys and El were in the backyard already splashing around in the pool when Steve finally went to go change into his swimsuit. And of course, the doorbell rang once more as he was pulling up his trunks.

Whoever was outside seemed to be fighting the way siblings usually do. “Red why the hell did you drag me out of the car, you’re not five.”

“I told you, I needed help with my things. Where the hell is he?” Steve fiddled with the lock, knowing it sometimes stuck.

“Alright, alright, I’m coming, hold on—”

He opened the door to find Max, “Hey Steve, thanks for hosting.” She ruffled his hair as she ran by him, but she wasn’t alone at the door.

To Steve’s surprise, none other than Eddie Whispers stood on his doorstep.

“Eddie?”

“H-hi, um, what… what?”

Steve was rendered speechless. Never in his wildest dreams did he think his favourite ASMR creator, one he’d just made a pretty suggestive video for himself, would be on his doorstep, but here they were. “Sorry, sorry I’m being rude, come in. But also, hi, um, hi, nice to meet you, hi.” He shook his head. His entire suave demeanour he’d had over text message gone, Steve was rendered back to the disaster bisexual with a crush on the soft-spoken metalhead.

Eddie chuckled a little, eyes wide as he took in Steve. “Holy shit, you’re real, Max’s Steve, and that Steve are the same Steve? You’re not just like some dude in my screen?”

That made Steve laugh right back at him. “Yeah dude, ditto. I… this is gonna sound a little creepy, but I’ve been watching your stuff like every night for the past few months.” He didn’t want to say it, but he felt like he knew Eddie. But now, having him here in his home, he realized he didn’t know shit about him. Eddie’s cool, calm persona seemed to be just that, a persona, just like King Steve’s. Standing here, he seemed bright eyed and skittish, in cutoff shorts and a ripped band tee, not unlike the soft looking t-shirts he usually wore in his videos, but a lot less generic. His hair was wild, not as put together as it usually was when he filmed (probably the humidity), and his usual soft expression was replaced with one a little more natural; the surprise and wonder clear as day, and completely new for Steve.

Eddie let out a laugh coloured with anxiety. “That’s cool man, I um, I’ve never actually met one of my subscribers in the wild. I guess that’s my cue to say sorry that I hadn’t seen any of your videos before this week. But like… your videos are…” he trailed off, biting his lip, trying to find something appropriate to say. “You really live up to that King Steve name.”

Steve shook his head. “None of that here. I’m not actually a total douchebag like I am online, spoiler alert. I’m actually kind of a loser, closer to every embarrassing dad at a barbecue than I’d like to admit.”

“Well…” Eddie gave Steve a good once-over, making Steve flush as he was being checked out. “You certainly don’t look like any dads I’ve ever met at a barbecue.”

He smiled. “Do you meet a lot of dads at barbecues?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”

As it turns out, Eddie and Max lived together with their uncle Wayne. He’d taken Max in when her mom went to rehab, and she just never left, finding it more comfortable with them. Eddie had moved to Hawkins after graduating high school in an even smaller town than where they were now, but he’d spent a lot of time with Wayne in Hawkins when he was growing up.

They chatted in the living room, following each other to the kitchen for a beer, and eventually staying there until Dustin, the shithead that he was, decided to interrupt their pleasant conversation.

“Steve! I thought you were gonna start the—holy shit.”

Steve gave him a pointed look, but apparently Dustin was blind.

“Oh my god you’re actually in the same room together.”

Eddie gave him a warning glare. “Watch yourself, Henderson.”

“Wh-what—Dustin, do you know Eddie?”

Dustin shot Steve a confused look. “Uh, duh, he’s been running our DnD campaign for like… the last three years.”

Steve slowly turned to look at Eddie. “Seriously? How has it taken this long for us to meet?”

“Not our fault you guys are idiots who never want to hang out with us.” Max scoffed as she pushed past them to grab a beer.

“Fuck all you guys. You know what, we should collaborate. One video for each channel.”

A shiver shot down Steve’s spine. The more he talked to Eddie, the more he found himself attracted to him. He didn’t know if he could handle doing ASMR with him, it almost felt too intimate, but he knew after his last video the views would be insane. Crush be damned, they were gonna make magic together.

“Yeah, actually that sounds like a great idea. Eddie, will you do me the honour of being my partner in ASMR?”

If Eddie’s smile faltered, nobody said anything about it. “Why yes, King Steve, I will.”

🎤🎸🎧

Eddie fucked up.

He had no idea what he was getting into when he agreed to film with Steve, but he just knew it was gonna be bad. Not the videos, oh no those would be great, but he was way too hot for him to not let it show on camera.

They’d talked a bit about ideas for their videos at Steve’s pool party, but Eddie didn’t hear a word of what was said, not when Steve’s glorious chest and thighs were on display again in those teeny tiny shorts. God, he had to get his shit together before Steve was set to arrive in… fifteen minutes.

“Shit, shit, shit!” He ran around the small townhouse he, Max and Wayne shared, throwing dishes in the sink and picking up the clothes strewn around his room. Max and Wayne were out for the day, knowing Eddie needed silence for filming. Max, ever the smartass, left him with a wink and a warning “Don’t get pregnant.”

He flipped her the bird, but she wouldn’t have seen halfway out the door already.

Finally moments before Steve was due to arrive, the place looked presentable. Eddie never really had a set space to film in, just filming wherever in his room he saw fit, but more often than not it ended up being done at his desk. Today though, today he’d be trying a few new things for a solid change of pace. He’d never filmed a video with anyone else, preferring to work solo. He’d also never filmed anything on his bed, and god even thinking that made him feel like he and Steve were about to do something illicit. He shook his head clearing his thoughts, and the doorbell rang.

Eddie spent a moment composing himself and opened the door to a smiling Steve and his bag of tricks. He looked incredible.

Knowing that Eddie’s videos weren’t nearly as suggestive as Steve’s were, he’d worn a soft tee with the sleeves rolled up and a light wash pair of jeans that Eddie knew would hug his ass immaculately. His hair was less coiffed than it usually was, but still neat, and beautifully tousled.

They were only filming his video today, Steve’s would be filmed tomorrow at his massive house, but his gut bubbled with anxiety.

“Hey man! So I was thinking about the theme for your video and I brought something I think might be cool if you’re down to do a little sound check ahead of time.” Steve held up a small black bag that Eddie recognized was for microphones.

“Sure I’m game. What were you thinking? Oh, we’re filming in my room, I set up the camera and everything already.”

Steve nodded and followed him through. For Eddie’s video, they were filming something Eddie was actually excited about. Max had never really been into the idea of being on camera, but he’d always wanted to try filming a video drawing on someone’s back. Eddie’s channel was pretty wholesome, and that seemed like the nostalgic type of trigger his viewers might be into.

Eddie lead them into his room and motioned Steve to sit on the bed while he adjusted the camera once more. Steve got to work opening his bag and pulling out two lav mics, making Eddie stop for a second. That’s what he used in the last video, the one with the brush, the one that… he needed to stop thinking about it before he popped another boner over it. Correct. There were multiple.

“So like I was thinking maybe if I clip one of each to the inside collar of my shirt—“

“Oh! And then pan each one left and right in post to simulate the ears?”

Steve snapped his fingers. “Exactly! Then if you have another mic, or even just your headphones in the middle for like room tone to go underneath. What do you think.”

Pretty and smart, I think you’re the whole package.

“I think it’s pretty fucking genius dude. Can we test it first?”

The other man nodded, already threading the lavalier wires up his shirt. “Just let me clip them and then you can move em around if you think you need to.” He clipped the mics and turned his back to Eddie. Eddie placed the third mic and hit record. He approached Steve cautiously, rubbing his hands together around where Steve had placed the mics, making some soft noises with his mouth as he went.

“Man, those sounds are like, so relaxing.” Steve chuckled lowly, not quite whispering yet, but also not wanting to startle Eddie.

Eddie laughed. “I’d like to think I’m pretty good at this whole… being quiet and relaxing thing despite you know, who I am.”

“What do you mean despite who I am, Eddie you’re awesome.”

Eddie scoffed at that “I fucking know dude, I just meant… you know… I can be pretty loud and abrasive outside of filming.” He felt he had enough to go off of, so he stopped the test recording and brought it into his editing software, doing as Steve suggested, panning the audio to each ear, and popped his headphones on. He hit play and instantly his face lit up.

“Sound good?”

“Steve… this is amazing, totally brings it up a level. Thank you.” He dropped the files into a TEST bin, saved out the project, and set up for the real thing. “Okay, so I guess I’ll just do my normal intro, introduce you, and then get into it?”

Steve nodded in agreement and turned to face the camera for the intro. It was awkward doing multiple takes without having someone there to film for them, but Eddie was used to it, and eventually, they got there.

“Hey there my little rockstars, it’s me, Eddie Whispers, and today, I’m joined by a very special guest from a kingdom not so far away.”

Steve gave a little wave. “Hey dreamers, it’s your reigning monarch Steve from ASMR KING, and I’m excited to join you guys today.”

Eddie smiled at Steve, he seemed so comfortable on camera even though it was his first time filming for Eddie’s audience. He hoped he’d be as confident for Steve’s video. “As you may know, this is my first collab. Yay!” He waved his hands excitedly. “I’ve always wanted to do this trigger, but it requires a second person. So today, Steve is gonna be my canvas for a little game of back scratch Pictionary.”

“And maybe we can switch it up and I can play?”

Eddie looked at Steve surprised. “Y-yeah dude, for sure, we can cut this out in post, but I’d be down to switch it up near the end.”

“Cool.” They continued rolling as Steve got into place, his back to the camera so the audience could see what Eddie was drawing.

“Steve, may I touch you?”

The breath seemed to get caught in his throat, but he nodded. “Yes Eddie you may.”

Eddie huffed out a laugh and laid his palms on Steve’s back. He gently roved the expanse of it, brushing up and down with his palms to warm him up. “A little something to start us off with, get you nice and relaxed.”

Steve hummed gently, his head lolling to the side. “Dude, this is so nice.”

Eddie’s head slumped forward, almost breaking his character, but keeping it intact to nod. “Is this your first time doing ASMR with someone else too?”

“Mmhmm. Always loved having back rubs growing up, I wouldn’t fall asleep without one for a bit, so this is great.”

“Well Stevie, don’t fall asleep on me just yet, we’ve got a game to play.” Eddie pulled out a plastic chopstick and began to dot Steve’s back with it. “Gonna start drawing on you with my ‘pencil’, try to guess what it is.” He drew a circle right in the middle of Steve’s back with some wavy lines around it, and waited expectantly.

“Is it the sun?”

“Bingo! You’re good at this. Okay next one.” Eddie traced two lines down, and a fluffy feeling blob on top.

“Ummm… is it a thunder cloud?”

“Nope, guess again.”

“A tree?”

“There we go.”

Eddie continued on for another fifteen minutes tracing shapes and words on Steve’s back and making him guess them. In between these, he’d run his hands over his spine, scrape his fingers across his shoulder blades and zigzag back up, acknowledging it wasn’t to be guessed, just to be enjoyed. Steve hummed gratefully, his head starting to slump forward, and his breathing slowing down. “Hey Eds?” He drawled sleepily.

“Hm?”

“D’you wanna switch? I’m about to fall asleep over here.”

Eddie nodded. “Sure man. I’ll stop the camera and we can take a quick break?”

Once the camera stopped, Steve groaned lowly. “My god that felt incredible. I always forget how nice it is to actually feel someone doing that rather than just hearing it.” He swiped his hands over his face a few times and took a sip of water from the bottle beside Eddie’s bed. “OH, I’m so sorry dude, I didn’t even ask if you were okay with us going the other way before I suggested it. We don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Eddie shook his head. “No no, it’s fine, that’s fine by me. Here, pass me the mics and I’ll let you fix them?”

They took a few minutes break and attached the mics to Eddie, and soon enough were filming again.

He could feel Steve’s hands lingering over his back, but Steve seemed to stop himself. “Eddie… can I touch you?”

Eddie nodded. Something about the way Steve said those words… Eddie could practically hear the wheels turning in Steve’s mind as his hands made contact with his back. Steve’s touch was gentle as predicted, but firm, and sure, and suddenly Eddie was terrified for what was in store for him when they filmed Steve’s video.

His hands glided over his back like Eddie’s did, but also up and over his shoulders, and again down his arms. This isn’t part of the game a small part of Eddie thought, but a larger part of him hummed in acknowledgment of how nice it felt to be touched like this. Steve repeated his path from the base of Eddie’s spine, up his back, over his shoulders, down his arms and back again a few times before stopping at the nape of his neck.

“Hey Eds,” he whispered in one ear before moving to the other, “I’m just gonna move your hair out of the way.”

Eddie shivered but nodded all the same, and felt Steve’s hands start near his crown and part the hair downwards down the back of his head. His fingers were dull, but the scratch itself was so nice, he let out a shuddering breath as Steve parted his unruly hair and swept it over his shoulders.

He never swore on his channel, so Eddie chose his words carefully. “Dang Stevie, that was nice.”

Steve chuckled lowly, picking up the chopstick and tapping his fingers on it a bit. “Yeah? Hmm I’ll have to remember that for when we film the next one.”

If Eddie thought he was screwed before, he knew he was screwed now.

🎤👑🎧

Steve knew he shouldn’t have, this wasn’t part of the plan for Eddie’s video, but he couldn’t resist getting his fingers in his hair, even for just a minute. It was calling to him, it was unruly and curly, but still so soft.

He picked up the little chopstick, remembering the task at hand, and started tracing words on Eddie’s back. Soft, tap, tingle, he guessed every one of them right, damn Eddie was good at this!

Eddie chuckled lowly, the vibrations of his laugh rumbled beneath Steve’s fingers as he swiped them over his back. “You’re right Stevie, this is really nice.”

Steve leaned in close to the mic near Eddie’s right ear, breathing lowly. “Does it give you tingles?”

He felt a shiver run down Eddie’s spine at that, and Eddie nodded in agreement.

Steve moved to the other ear, dragging his fingers down Eddie’s back again as he whispered a low, seductive, “Good.”

He could feel his King Steve persona coming out again. Steve had no idea what Eddie was doing to him, he wasn’t even on the receiving end this time, but having Eddie all soft and pliant before him made Steve want to take care of him, turn up his charm, make him squirm. But he decided now wasn’t the time and place, he’d save that for his own video.

His own video that he was now rethinking the theme of…

Steve chuckled and kept that thought in the back of his mind for later, forgetting for a minute that he was on camera. He traced a few more words on Eddie’s back before Eddie signalled to him that they should start to wrap it up.

“One more, okay Eds? I’ll spell it out for you.”

Steve moved himself closer to Eddie, using his fingers to trace the words this time instead of the chopstick. He leaned in so his breath could catch the mic, alternating with each word as he traced them on Eddie’s back.

“To… be… continued.”

Eddie laughed lowly, his breath getting caught in his throat from… nervousness? Did Eddie feel the same frenetic energy Steve did when he was close?

He ended his part of the video the same way he started it, sliding his hands up and over Eddie’s back and arms once more, dragging his fingertips and nails softly across his skin and feeling the goosebumps rise.

“Time for an outro?” Eddie whispered, even though he’d cut this bit out, but not wanting to break the sizzling tension.

“Mhm,” Steve hummed, pulling Eddie’s hair back over his shoulders. “Let’s un-mic you.”

The boys untangled the mics from under Eddie’s shirt and took one each, Eddie saying his sweet little goodbye to his viewers, and Steve smiling softly beside him. Eddie’s setup wasn’t anything crazy, so cleaning up and popping his memory card into the computer took no time at all; they sat in silence as Eddie offloaded the footage.

“Sound okay?”

Eddie nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah man, it sounds great. Thanks again for doing this, your channel is like… huge, I really appreciate the exposure.”

Steve chuckled. “I should be thanking you, you’re still like my favourite creator in the community, the fact that we’re collabing is like… crazy exciting.” A light blush coloured Steve’s cheeks. He stood and scratched the back of his neck, moving to leave. “So, uh, I’ve gotta get back, but meet me tomorrow at mine at say two?”

“Two works. Anything you want me to bring?”

“Just yourself. Oh, and maybe if you have any tank tops, one of those?”

Eddie let out a belly laugh, the loudest sound in the room in hours. “Right, I forgot your content is a little more… adult than mine.”

Steve shrugged. “I mean yeah, it is, but you’d also just look great in a tank, show off those arms.” He turned, leaving Eddie stunned. “One more thing actually, maybe I can take you out to dinner after?”

“D-dinner?”

“Yeah, to celebrate and all.”

The older man nodded, his dark curls flopping in front of his eyes, wide and alert. “Y-yeah, sure, dinner, cool. Two pm at yours?”

“Two pm at mine. See ya Eddie.”

Steve’s hands were clammy when he got to his car, but he did it, he successfully asked Eddie out. He was giddy the whole ride home, something Robin immediately noticed.

“What’s up with you dingus?”

“I’m taking Eddie on a date tomorrow.” He smiled, stealing a bite of the pasta she was cooking.

“You’re ridiculous, you know that? Trying to date the guy you listen to before falling asleep like every night? Are you doing this for your own personal ASMR machine?”

“Shit, he’s gonna be here tomorrow to film with me.”

“The studio is already clean—”

“Yeah but it’s not cozy. After dinner can you help me move around some furniture?”

Robin rolled her eyes but agreed all the same. “So what do you have in store for our poor unsuspecting Edward?”

He shrugged. “Nothing crazy, some pretty standard King Steve stuff.”

She laughed full and loud. “Oh so you’re gonna take him out before you even take him out then?”

Steve frowned, trying to look offended. “The hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, I just don’t think Eddie is ready for the full force of your online persona.”

“No, I know he’s not ready, this is gonna make for some great content.”

Robin put down the wooden spoon she was holding and took Steve’s hands in hers, going serious for a moment. “Can you stop thinking about work for like a minute so I can ask you something, and can you answer me truthfully?”

That wiped the smile from Steve’s face; it went solemn as he answered. “Of course Robs.”

“You’ve been like obsessed with his videos for a really long time now. Eddie seems like a really nice guy, and I’d hate to… Steve… you didn’t just ask him out so you could get some good King Steve content, did you?”

“What? Robin, you know me, you know I’d never do that, right?”

“I know Steve, but ever since you met him… all you’ve been able to talk about or think about is this stupid video.”

“Robs… Robs no, I think I really like him. I mean, I’m attracted to him, I want him around, he makes me laugh. You weren’t there when we were filming today. The tension, it was…” Steve shook his head, unable to find the right word. “It was electric Robin. I didn’t want today to end, I wanted to keep touching him, I think I wanted to kiss him—”

“Alright loverboy that’s enough from you. I get it. You’re into Eddie. Just be careful, okay?”

“Yes mom.”

That night, the two of them switched up their studio space and replaced Steve’s desk chair with a comfy arm chair. Steve pre-set his camera and got his mics set up in preparation of the next day’s shoot.

He was excited, he was nervous, he was… interested to see how Eddie would react. Not that Steve had planned anything over the top for his video, but Eddie’s work was definitely a lot more conservative; he wondered if filming with Steve might be a shock to his system.

Steve was restless that night, anxious for their shoot, and their date to roll around. He spent the next morning showering and primping himself, he could honestly feel Robin getting tired of him asking if his outfit and his hair and his space looked okay for the shoot.

Two o’clock simultaneously rolled around way too fast and way too slow for Steve’s liking. He wrung his hands together nervously until he heard the doorbell, then he ran taking two steps at a time to catch Eddie before Robin did.

Steve was not emotionally prepared for what lie behind his front door.

Eddie’s curls were wild as always, but he’d tamed them in a way that made them look deliberately messy. His bangs, instead of falling directly into his eyes, were parted a bit in the middle, swooping gently off to each side of his face. His arms were pale, making the black ink of his tattoos stand out even more, and his shirt, Steve thanked the gods for his choice of shirt, his shirt looked like a homemade tank, the sleeves lobbed off and arm holes wide open. Steve gave Eddie a good once over before even saying anything to him, and felt his heart stutter in his chest as their eyes met. Eddie’s big brown gorgeous eyes were rimmed with a thin smattering of black eyeliner.

“Take a picture dude, it’ll last longer.” Eddie winked, and pushed past Steve into the house.

“H-hey man, you look… you look… yeah um that’s perfect.”

What a sight we’ll be. Steve thought. Eddie had never shown this much skin on his own channel, nor had he ever worn makeup. The pretty boy and the rocker was going to be Steve’s best video yet, but he’d really have to keep up with his act, and seeing Eddie standing in front of him, he knew that would be hard.

“Here, let me show you the studio.” Steve dragged him upstairs, bolting past Robin and setting Eddie up in the arm chair in front of the camera.

“So judging on the setup, this isn’t a role-play video?”

Steve shook his head. “Nah, I do it, but it’s not my favourite thing to film by far. It just feels awkward, even if people love it. I figured we’d do a little personal attention? Light touches, hair play, things like that if that’s okay?”

Eddie smiled. “If it’s gonna feel anything like it did yesterday, then I’m more than okay with that.” Steve grinned like the Cheshire Cat and plugged in his mics. “Dude your setup is insane.”

“Thanks man, I usually upgrade with every milestone I hit to keep it interesting. You okay with what I’ve got going on for today? Figured these might pick up some of the whispering, and then these the touches.”

He watched Eddie survey the setup, nodding in approval. “Horny, and smart. You’ve got a good handle on sound, no wonder you have so many subs.”

Steve shook his head, letting out a low chuckle as he turned on his ring light. “Shut up man I’m not that horny.”

Eddie raised his eyebrows but left it at that.

“So um, before we start, is there anything off limits? Like any hard no’s?”

The other man’s eyebrows shot up. Eddie scoffed. “What, like a yes/maybe/no list? Steve, we’re making an ASMR video, not porn.”

“Yeah, yeah I know, but some people don’t like certain triggers or whatever. Just making sure—”

“I’m game for it all, never met a personal attention trigger I didn’t like.”

Eddie’s words calmed Steve a touch. He angled the viewfinder towards him so he could check the framing of the front camera, and back camera, and finally hit record. Eddie jumped a little as he clapped his hands for the sync. “Just stop me if there’s anything you’re uncomfortable with, kay?”

Eddie nodded and kept his eyes on Steve as he found his place behind Eddie. “I trust you Steve.”

Steve touched Eddie’s shoulder in acknowledgement and cleared his throat, ready to begin.

“Hey Dreamers, welcome back to the Kingdom. Thanks for joining me again, I hope you’re having a wonderful morning, afternoon, or night.” Steve’s voice was low and sensual, speaking slowly into the mics by Eddie’s head. “We’ve got a very special guest with us today, would you like to introduce yourself?”

Eddie let out a short breath and smiled. He fluttered his fingers by the mics, rings scraping together softly. “Thanks Steve, I’m Eddie Whispers, but you can just call me Eddie. For all my little rockstars who are subscribed, thanks for joining me on Steve’s channel, and for all Steve’s little rockstars, it’s very, very nice to meet you.”

“So for all of you who didn’t know, Eddie Whispers is actually my favourite ASMR channel.” He pointed to the left. “You can find a link to his channel here, and the video we filmed yesterday here. You’ll love it my dreamers. I’ll also link him in the description because trust me, you’ll want to check him out. Now, onto the video. Remember kids, consent is sexy. Eddie, can I touch you?”

🎤🎸🎧

Eddie could feel his cheeks heating up, the implications of what they were talking about earlier mixed with Steve’s wording really had his mind running wild. He nodded, praying the camera wouldn’t pick up his blush.

“Use your words, sweetheart. Can I touch you?”

His breath caught in his throat. But he managed to choke out a soft “Yes Steve.”

“Good boy.” And then Steve’s hands were on him. He started at Eddie’s shoulders, gently dragging his fingers over the exposed skin there before trailing down his arms the way he had yesterday. It really was heavenly, Eddie was on cloud nine. “How’s that feel?”

Eddie nodded, his eyes falling shut as Steve picked up one of his hands. “Mmmm, really good.” Steve held one of Eddie’s hands, and gently ran his other fingers over the palm. He traced up and down Eddie’s fingers then flipped the hand to trace over the back of it. It was an odd feeling, but nice, strangely intimate having Steve hold his hand, touching it so softly. Steve dropped his hand back down to the armrest of the chair and trailed back up Eddie’s arms.

“Doing okay there, Eds?”

He nodded lazily. “Yeah, s’nice.”

“Good, great, perfect.” Steve whispered into the mics, alternating sides, eventually repeating ‘perfect’ while he stroked Eddie’s shoulders once more.

Eddie’s long curly locks brushed over Steve’s knuckles, and it didn’t take him long to start brushing through the ends of it, eventually working his way up to the scalp. Eddie shivered when Steve’s nails grazed his scalp, feeling like every nerve was a live wire, hell bent on electrocuting him. And then, as quickly as they were there, they were gone.

“Hey dude, how do you feel about the orgasmatron?”

Eddie’s eyes shot open as he choked out a nervous laugh. “The wh-what now?”

Steve shook his head. “Just close your eyes, I think you’ll like it.”

Eddie had to remember that this was going on youtube, it couldn’t actually be anything pornographic if Steve was going to monetize it. He didn’t even have time to think about what the orgasmatron could possibly be when he felt something touch his head, something that lit up every nerve ending in his scalp. He gasped, tingles trailing down his spine as he went rigid. His mouth dropped open, and he let out a soft whimper, letting his neck go lax.

“You okay man?”

“Y-yeah dude, holy shit. Holy shit that’s intense.”

“Too much? What’s your colour, baby?”

Eddie didn’t want to shake his head, worried the sensation of the whisk-like contraption in his hair would make him let out another string of embarrassing sounds. “No, nah, green, it’s perfect.”

He didn’t even think about how Steve asked him that, or how quickly he responded as if he were responding to a lover during sex. Eddie couldn’t see Steve, but he just knew Steve had the biggest shit-eating grin on his face behind him. The little wires scraped his scalp methodically as Steve pulled it through his hair, up and down, tiny sighs leaving Eddie’s lips as it went. His arms erupted in goosebumps, goosebumps that rose even higher as Steve’s fingers grazed over them slowly.

“Good boy. You’re so sensitive, aren’t you?”

“Uh-huh, it’s so good.”

He could feel Steve coming closer again, lips at his ear as he whispered. “Well can’t have too much of a good thing now, can we?”

Steve removed the wire contraption from Eddie’s hhairt awnd brushracing as Steve worked through his hair. The way his fingers gently brushthrough it gently again with his fingers, and eventually got a flat wooden brush out. He pulled it through the knots, Eddie not even phased as he was way past relaxed and practically goo in Steve’s capable hands. His scalp was still so sensitive, nerves firing on all cylinders after the wonder that was the orgasmatron. He was so incredibly relaxed, but his ear as he whispered. “Well can’t have too much of a good thing now, can we?”

“Hey Eds?”

“Hmm?”

Steve chuckled in his ear, apparently noticing the slight crack in Eddie’s voice. “Mind if I put your hair up for a bit?”

“Not at all, go ahead my liege.”

Eddie could practically feel Steve shaking his head at him as he gathered his hair into a neat bun at the top of his head. He smoothed the flyaways, eliciting shivers from Eddie, until his neck was bare. Steve kept running his fingers up the nape of Eddie’s neck into his hairline giving Eddie tingles like he’d never experienced in his life. The scraping of Steve’s fairly dull nails was glorious, making him finally understand the meaning of the phrase ‘hurts so good’.

“Look at that.” Steve whispered into the mic. “You’re all pretty and red for me baby.” The last line whispered directly into his ear. Eddie’s breath hitched, but Steve didn’t move away like he had before. Instead, he moved even closer, puckered lips a hair’s breadth away from Eddie’s ear, and let out a soft kiss.

Eddie bit his lip as Steve’s lips grazed his ear, dragging up the shell of it and making him burn hot and red.

“S-Steve…”

Steve’s chuckle was no more than a breath of air huffed between them through a smile. “Would you like me to keep going?”

“Please.”

🎤👑🎧

Having the go ahead from Eddie drove Steve wild. This time he didn’t hesitate, fully committing to kissing the shell of Eddie’s ear over and over.

Steve had never filmed anything like this. Most of his videos were totally scripted, each minute carefully crafted to toe the line between sweet and seductive; but now he knew that had been thrown out the door as he jumped off the cliff right into sensual territory with his guest. This wasn’t planned, he swears all he had planned for this video was actually just personal attention, but all bets were off the second Eddie started straight up whimpering minutes earlier. He had no idea how this would affect either of them, and over.

He was running on pure instinct now, kissing down the shell of Eddie’s ear to his lobe, pulling that between his lips. Steve’s tongue joined the mix, flicking over his earlobe once, and tracing a slick path down his neck. Eddie seemed to love that; his jaw went slack and he let out a breathy “Mmm f-fuck” when Steve bit down ct either of them, and over.

Eddie’s voice was something straight out of a wet dream. He was so responsive, so pliant in Steve’s hands, tilting his neck to give Steve better access to kiss up his neck back to his ears. He moved to Eddie’s other side doing the same thing, lightly kissing down his ears, pulling his earlobe between his lips and sucking, licking down his neck, biting his shoulder, and back again, this time stopping at his earlobe. Steve pulled skin between his teeth, scraping at it lightly as he tugged and let it go, turning his attention back to his neck. He found a spot that made Eddie whimper again and went at it full force. “S-shit Steve, your mouth…”

“Yeah sweetheart? Feel good?”

“Uh huh…”

Steve pulled back a foot, turning Eddie’s face towards his. The spot he’d been working at was now blooming purple and red, a bruise forming, something he’d not planned on doing.

“Shit, Eddie, your neck—”

“Steve—”

“—I’m sorry, I never meant to—”

“Steve—”

“—I feel like I’ve—”

“Steve! Please… don’t make me beg for it.”

Eddie’s face was beet red, but his eyes were unwavering when they met Steve’s again. A flutter ran through his belly, propelling him forward, as his lips finally met Eddie’s in a heated kiss.

He couldn’t help but feel that everything was leading up to this. His crush on Eddie now felt like an intense burn as their lips parted only to meet again immediately. The soft drag of Eddie’s tongue against Steve’s drew sounds from him he hadn’t made in ages, making him feel things beyond what he’d ever felt with another person. Eddie felt good, Eddie felt right, and he didn’t want this to end. But all good things come to an end eventually.

Neither of them heard the near silent click of the door opening, nor did they hear Robin’s gentle “Hey dingus…” but they did her her loud “oh for fuck’s sake!”

The two pulled away, totally unable to hide what was just happening.

“Shit, Robbie, what the hell!”

“Are you two idiots still filming this? What kind of video are you making?”

Eddie bit his lip, holding the giggle threatening to bubble over while Steve rolled his eyes.

“I think this may be my fault…” Eddie started.

“No, this is totally his fault,” she pointed at Steve, “happy for you, but this horny asshole has been waiting to get his hands on you—”

“Robin!”

Eddie’s head whipped around to look at Steve. “Wait, really?”

“Well, yeah Eddie. I told you I liked you—”

“You told me you liked my videos.”

Steve’s shoulders dropped. “Yeah I like those too, but you… is that okay?”

“Is that okay, oh my god Steve that’s more than okay. I’m like stupidly into you and very har—”

“THAT’S MY CUE TO LEAVE.” Robin stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

Steve let out a full belly laugh and sat on the arm of the chair Eddie was occupying. “You were gonna say very hard, right? Or did I just mishear that?”

“Are you gonna make me say it?”

He cocked his eyebrow and shimmied his shoulders. “Do I make ya horny, baby?”

Eddie collapsed back into the chair, pushing himself as low as he could go without falling off. “That was a horrible Austin Powers impression. I can’t believe you gave me a boner on fucking camera.”

Steve bent down and left a wet smack of a kiss on Eddie’s cheek. “Don't worry babe, your secret is safe with me. But um… yeah… this is still recording.”

“Fuck, I’m so sorry Steve, we’ll have to re-film—“

“Why?”

Eddie blinked up at him. “Because… because we can’t put that on youtube…”

“Yeah we can… there’s this wonderful little thing called editing, ever heard of it?”

“So… so you’re okay with everything else then, like everything before the kiss?”

Steve shrugged. “You’ve seen my content, there’s worse out there. I’m fine if you’re fine with it, and we can set it to 18+ if it’s too much. But if you’re not—”

“Stevie… as long as you cut out the kiss, I’m fine with it. But that… I want that to be ours.”

He smiled at Eddie and took his hand, brushing the knuckle with his thumb. “Of course sweetheart; I know Robbie kind of ruined it, but that kiss will always just be for us.”

Steve noticed the glint in Eddie’s eyes as the older man found is confidence and kissed Steve once more. “How the hell am I supposed to keep my hands off you long enough to finish this video?”

He smirked. “I mean, I don’t have cuffs, but I’ve got ties if we really wanna go there—”

“You’re killing me man!” Eddie flopped back in the chair once again. “Focus Stevie, finish the video so I can finally touch you.”

“Okay, okay, okay, right. I-I can put a cross dissolve in there somewhere. Ear eating and kisses aren’t a weird trigger, people do it all the time, we can just… pick it up somewhere?”

“Yeah… yeah okay… okay cool that’s good.”

Steve nodded and looked into the camera awkwardly, unable to hide his blush. “Uh… take two I guess?”

He moved back behind Eddie and pressed his lips to the faint purple spot, leaving himself enough time for the fade before trailing back up his neck with kisses. Once again, he nibbled at Eddie’s ear while his fingers trailed over his jaw and collarbone, tracing the bone beneath his skin.

“How’re you feeling, nice and relaxed now?”

“Y-yeah, s’nice Stevie.” Eddie sounded blissed out, but Steve knew that was partially an act to match the energy of where they were before the kiss.

“Good job baby. Gonna say goodbye to all our friends now?”

He nodded, a sleepy smile on his lips as he waved into the camera.

Steve chuckled. “I think we wore down our new friend here.”

🎤🎸🎧

Eddie could barely hear Steve do his outro. The blood in his veins swooshing in his ears was the only thing he heard, his heart beating erratically the only thing he felt. That had really just happened. Not only did Steve have Eddie hard in his jeans from being an absolute tease and seductress on camera, but he made Eddie put his heart on the line, and even more shockingly, reciprocated his feelings.

“Eds, you okay baby?”

Eddie shook his head, pulling himself out of his thoughts long enough to glance at Steve stopping the recording. “Yeah, yeah, it’s just been quite the afternoon.”

Steve chuckled and bent down to peck Eddie on the lips. “I meant what I said, okay? I like you, when I take you for dinner later, I want it to be a date.”

“I meant what I said too, I’m stupidly into you, and incredibly hard so we may want to wait a bit while I think of naked grandmas or something before we leave this house—”

“Eddie—”

He let out a snort. “I’m kidding. Well I’m not really, I do actually have a problem below deck, but I like you too, okay? And I’d be thrilled to date you, like properly with all the wooing and shit.”

“What, you weren’t wooed enough when I spent twenty minutes sucking on your ears?”

Eddie laughed a big belly laugh, slumping over in his seat, tears coming to his eyes. “Hot, talented, and funny, how the hell did I land you again?”

“Beats me, you put me to sleep every time you speak.”

He kissed Steve slowly, savouring the taste of him on his lips. “Oh but you love it baby, don’t you?”

Steve smiled. “Yeah, yeah I do.”

🎤👑🎸🎧

The videos were an instant hit. Both go viral in the ASMR community hitting a million views in under a week, the fastest any of Steve’s videos had hit a million views. Eddie was overwhelmed by how much love they’d been getting on both their channels (and was a little more than overwhelmed by how much love he was getting specifically on Steve’s video).

Steve considered it an accomplishment how many hateful comments he’d gotten about how sexual his video was. He labelled it for possible mature content, even adding ✨spicy✨and 18+ to the title, but people always wanted to be mad about something.

“Hey Stevie…” Eddie started. They’d been dating now for four months, continuing to do their channels solo, but each making guest appearances in the other’s video every once and a while. “What do you think about maybe doing a joined channel? So we can do our collabs there and not have to worry about always filming a video for each of our channels?”

Steve cocked his head. “I think that’s a great idea. Three channels between the two of us to keep it simple? Then we can have our own guests and do our own things separately too. Eddie that’s brilliant.”

Eddie was glad Steve was receptive to the idea, but he looked like he had something else on his mind. His gaze was faraway, and he looked… nervous.

“Actually Eddie, this works out perfectly. For me anyways… I was gonna ask… I mean you don’t have to, I know you’re totally happy and free where you are now, but…” He pushed his hair back out of his eyes.

“Stevie, what is it?”

“I know it’s early, but I was gonna ask if you wanted to move in with me.”

He raised his eyebrows in shock. That was the last thing he thought Steve would want to ask him. He was right, it was early in their relationship, but Eddie knew he felt forever about Steve, he knew it from the moment they’d made eye contact months ago by the front door.

“Really? You… you’d want me here with you?”

“Of course baby. I love you, I always want you around.”

Eddie jumped into Steve’s lap, wrapping his arms around his neck, and he kissed him soundly.

“I-is that a yes?”

Rolling his eyes, Eddie shoved Steve lightly and smiled. “Of course you idiot, I love you too, and I’d love to move in with you.”

Steve’s eyes lit up at his boyfriend’s response. The kiss he planted on Eddie was more on his teeth than his lips because of how widely he’d been smiling. But still, it was perfect.

In his wildest dreams, he could have never imagined he’d actually meet one of his favourite people. He’d never believed in soulmates, but Steve knew that if they existed, Eddie was his. His life had completely changed in the months he’d known Eddie, and Steve never wanted to look back at what it was like before. Eddie was his; his partner in creating, partner in crime, partner in life, he was ready for Eddie to be there by his side every second of the day for the rest of their lives.

#steddie #steve x eddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things fic #steddie fic #asmr AU #my writing

18 notes · View notes

listen-to-the-inner-walrus · 6 months

Note

Oh so on the sour thing - there is a separate scale for acidity entirely. They are not actually considered opposites in this context. In fact there are 4 major factors considered by wine tasters: acid, tannin, alcohol and sweetness. And they all impact how each other are tasted but they can all be considered individually.

There's also a thing where one in ten wines that come from a bottle with a cork made of actual cork wood will be "corked" and taste all wrong - mum describes it as "musty". She has promised to let me try (I'm super curious!) if she finds one but my parents very rarely drink wine pretentious enough to have a real cork in the bottle - many wines don't these days - so I've never got to taste it myself. One of the reasons many companies are moving away from real cork even though nothing matches it for letting the wine develop is that they lose customers every time someone tries their wine and it's corked. Because instead of knowing this most people just think (understandably) "oh I don't like this wine, what the fuck was everyone who liked this on about. Must be some wine buff thing I'm not cultured enough to get I suppose" and then never buys it again. The pretentiousness of the wine community is its own downfall.

Fancy restaurants will give customers a taste of the wine before putting it on the table to check for this issue... Except most customers don't know this and many restaurants also just do it now because it's what you do, so they do it even with wines that weren't sealed with cork under the impression that you're testing to see if you like the wine not for this very specific issue. At a certain point I think that tradition has just become testing to see if you like the wine tbh but it was originally meant as a quality check. Also they would ALWAYS offer it to my dad because he's a man and he always gives it to mum because like. She's the person in the family who has an actual wine qualification (framed on our wall at home!). And just. Very funny. Every time. Back when corks were more common she had actually caught corked wine a few times. The whole extended family is suitably impressed by this.

Funny how growing up with someone who works with wine will give you a weirdly comprehensive knowledge of lots of wine-related things even though I DON'T DRINK WINE. I barely drink at all and wines give me a worse headache than other alcoholic drinks because they've got all sorts of weird and wonderful side-effects of the fermentation process in there (called secondary metabolites). I actually kind of like the flavours but it's not worth the suffering. Really looking forward to when someone invents a genuinely wine-like alcohol-free drink so I can drink something other than fruit juice at fancy social events. I have had some excellent mocktails and alcohol free beer is apparently really good but the food tech for wine just isn't there yet - alcohol free wines at the moment taste like very slightly more complicated grape juice at their best.

huh.

my entire experience with wine is whatever wine brand it was that my nan drank. i cannot remember any details except they sold it in morrisons and it was near a wine with yeti in the name on the shelf. so like, this is all new to me.

apart from the cork part which i had a vague idea about, from somewhere. it might be because i know a tiny bit about the fake vintage wine business where you can like test the cork to see if its age matches the supposed age of the wine.

the tasting at the table is so interesting to me. is it one of those tastings where you have to spit it out rather than swallowing? or could you like scam a restaurant and get yourself buzzed from tasting different bottles and then just end up ordering water instead?

...is that a thing people would do? my knowledge of drinking and alcohol culture is tinted through alcoholics georg tinted glasses so i dont know if thats a thing people would do with wine. i know wine can like get you drunk quicker or just have a more immediate effect on you? so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

also i have a mental image of a pub doing this with beer but with the tap. so you have to crane your head over the bar and drink a little bit from one of the various taps they have. and its a very funny mental image

#a-commas-a-pause #long post #this is legit fascinating

1 note · View note

ben-talks-art · 2 years

Text

Favorite Ben 10 Aliens

Still in a bit of a Ben 10 mood and felt it would be fun to gush about my favorite aliens.

The Ben 10 series usually does a decent job of showing each alien's strengths and weaknesses, always making sure neither of them feels more important than the other and giving them all a moment to shine, kinda like a parent that manages to equally love all its kids.

But even with that equal spreading of love and focus, we all still have a few ones that we enjoy watching more than others, and these are mine:

Upchuck

This dude is kinda hard to explain why I like him so much. I think it's because he just gives a strong "things every boy likes" vibe.

An alien whose power is to eat stuff and then burp them out who looks like a frog and can leap around all over the place with ease while also having four giant tongues.

He's just so gross but in a strangely really fun and cool way, I don't know why, I just like him a lot.

Gravattack

I love gravity powers. I love the idea of being able to manipulate how heavy or how light something can be and use it as a weapon for combat.

It's basically a more limited version of telekinesis but I'm honestly a bigger fan of characters trying to work around their limitations than just being given some almighty power.

Also like the idea that he's some sort of living planet that has its own gravity, very out-of-the-box.

Wildmutt

This is one of the few aliens from the show that I would call underrated, mostly because as far as I remember, they never gave it an episode where it saved the day in the classic show.

Regardless, I love Wildmutt. I always like characters with claws or characters who tap into a more feral side, kinda like Naruto when he becomes the fox.

And again, I like how they give it limitations and ways to work around its limitations. Wildmutt can't see but it uses some sort of Daredevil-like sonar to be able to scan the field around it. He's basically Toph from Avatar.

I also just find the design and the sound effects on this thing so cool. The noise from its howl feels exactly as it should, some sort of beastly noise while also feeling like an alien noise.

Ultimate Echo Echo

Kinda cheating on this one, but oh, well...

This is the evolved form of Echo Echo, a tiny alien that has the power to multiply and release sonic attacks, except now, instead of making copies of itself, it actually releases a ton of small discs attached to its body that release the sound for him.

I'm not sure how they came up with that but it worked really well.

He has a sleek design, an evolution that feels like a sensible step forward from its main theme, and manages to feel compact yet strong at the same time.

Feedback

Ben had a surprising ton of electric aliens throughout the course of the show. An electric yeti, a living battery, a floating jellyfish... A Frankenstein monster (because why not?), but my favorite was by far Feedback.

I think what seels him for me is that, more than any alien, he just gives a big "fun" vibe. Something about the way he's always smiling, how he always tanks enemies' attacks by absorbing them and then sending them back, how agile he is during fights making it look like he's playing around...

Feedback just feels like he owns every scene he's in. It's not just that he's badass, it's that he knows he's badass and is loving every second of it.

Big Chill

God, this is just such a 10/10 design.

A ghost moth that has ice powers and can rest its wings around its body as if it was a cape like one of the characters of Gargoyles... I don't know who thought of this character but they are seriously not getting paid enough.

I don't know what I can say that you can't already tell just by looking at this thing. You either already love him or you're going to love him once you see it in action.

His design is literally so perfect that any attempt at changing it just ruins it completely (in my opinion). They tried to give him an ultimate form and in Omniverse they tried to make him larger for whatever reason... And I really don't like either of these.

Big Chill is great just the way he is. No need to add or change anything.

XLR8

It's a freaking velociraptor in rollerskates. It's such a stupid idea but somehow they made it cool.

That just feels like the kind of thing you would see in a 90's show during the time where everything was "EXTREME!!"

But what I like about Ben 10 is that everything still has that sci-fi alien vibe, so instead of looking like some sort of rejected Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles villain, XLR8 just looks less like some sports lizard and more like another alien species.

(I still like Mondo Gecko though)

XLR8 is probably one of my favorite takes on the idea of a speedster character.

Small note, before I learned English I couldn't for the life of me figure out what his name meant, and because we had another show at the time with a similar name called "Megas XLR" for the longest time I just assumed "XLR" was some kind of code for sci-fi things that move fast.

Upgrade

First of all, the Brazillian name for this dude? "Ultra T", which was short for "Ultra Technology."

That was a really lame dub name...

But anyway, Upgrade basically represents the essence of what makes Ben 10 so fun. The same way you would get excited wondering what alien Ben would turn into next, you would also get excited wondering what machine Upgrade would take over next and what it would look like and how it would improve.

Best one so far is probably the time he possessed a clock tower and turned into some sort of helicopter. That was so awesome.

Also like how he works as some sort of Venom suit from the Spider-Man comics with how he just spreads his goo all over the place and turns it into his own by fusing with it.

You could make a whole series about this guy alone. He's such a creative concept!

Diamondhead

I used Diamondhead clips before when talking about character movement and Geokineses, so you can tell I'm a big fan of his.

His scene where he's diamond surfing through the city remains of my favorite forms of movement for any character ever, right up there with Spider-Man's web swing and Tarzan's tree sliding.

But even aside from that, I just love the idea of a character made entirely of diamonds and able to control it to make weapons like a Fullmetal Alchemist character.

Sorry for sounding like a broken record but... It just looks and feels so cool and creative to me.

They could just have made him be some big brute with an unbreakable body that punches things really hard but they went even further and gave him some really inventive use of his powers.

Heatblast

And my final favorite alien and probably the most boring pick I could have chosen.

Yeah, it's the fire guy. One of the most overused powers in all forms of media, be it movies, shows, comics, or whatever... There is always a fire guy.

But I can't help it, he just looks so cool!!

He has a body made entirely of solid magma and a Ghost Rider head, he surfs on a comet and can breathe fire like a dragon, he can make Spirit Bombs and Kamehamehas with his flames and even fly with them by bursting himself like a rocket, AND he's voiced by Steve Goddamn Blum, the freaking voice of Wolverine.

youtube

Heatblast feels like he was made in a lab with a blackboard that had the words "Just put a bunch of awesome things in it" written in all caps.

No wonder they picked him to be Ben's first alien, they just started with the best possible first impressions ever!

A great alien to sell you on a great show!

#ben 10 #ben 10 aliens #ben 10 alien force #ben 10 ultimate alien #ben 10 omniverse #Youtube

8 notes · View notes

hermitdrabbles56 · 2 years

Note

Oh, if you’re looking for Sicktember specific stuff, how abt Wind has The Sick and Twi makes him the Yeti Soup, which is somewhat similar to Grandmas Soup bc Taste Like Home And Love :)

If just General prompts, what abt Wind being freaked abt Horses because they don’t have those in the great sea :)

I hope you get Brain to write what you would like to :))))

I was waiting to reply to this until I had both written, but my brain is refusing. so I will add to if I ever manage to write the sick fic.

in the meantime? HORSE

Outset Island, what an interesting place to have landed on this new and bizarre journey of theirs. Everywhere smells of salt and fish, the odd trees occasionally dropping massive round nuts. Brightly colored flowers he'd never imagined could exist. And a truly massive, endless, lake. Or as he's been corrected several times already, an ocean. (He's still going to call it a lake just to irritate the veteran)

As horrifying as the prospect of being surrounded by endless water on a very small mass of land is, it's a very peaceful feeling place. Warm and sunny despite the uncomfortable sand that keeps finding its way into his boots.

And another pleasant perk? Absolutely nothing to do. So for the first time in weeks, the wayward ranch hand decides to take some time to tend to and absolutely pamper his horse. He's not all that great with explaining their weird journey anyways, so he's more than willing to leave the difficult explanations to the local hero to everyone else.

"There there, it's okay." Twilight coos as he brushes along Epona's neck as he scratches her cheek a bit, knowing full well she's been on edge since they got here. "You don't have to go anywhere near the water if you don't want to, I know it's scary seeing so much of it."

Epona gives a little snort and shakes her head before raising it out of his touch.

"Oh what, you want me to believe you're not a little shaken with all those wary glances?"

She gives an indignant little huff and raises her head higher as she looks away from him.

"Well pardon me m'lady, how dare I assume that the great Epona would be scared of a little water." Twilight smirks. "I assume you're not afraid of the portals either?"

She shuffles her front hooves in place and gives him a pointed look accompanied by snort that borders on mocking.

"Oh I'm the scared one am I? And you're just pretending for my sake, is that right little miss hardened warrior?" He questions as he rests his hands on his hips.

With a confident bray she nods her head insistently. Drawing an almost insulted scoff out of her rider.

"You're unbelievable, I've been pulled through more portals than apples you can count and you say I'm the scared one?" He frowns.

She gives an argumentative winny and stomps her hoof a bit.

"Suppose you've just been acting like a baby to get sugar cubes then huh? I guess you won't be needing any more of those?"

If looks could kill, this horse would be a mass murderer. Stomping her foot again with an insulted snort.

"No no, little miss hard as nails. I certainly wouldn't want anyone to think I'm coddling the great Epona."

Twilight steps back with a smirk just as she rears up with a loud winny. Coming down with a hard stomp where he'd been just a moment ago. He knows very well she'd never hurt him no matter how much they argue. But the startled gasp he hears from off behind him, is a reasonable reaction from anyone who's never seen the two of them bicker before.

Ears flicking a bit he turns to look in the direction of the small voice. Spotting a flash of pale blue as it disappears behind one of the odd looking spiky, fern like bush trees that's a little squaty and a little round. Epona giving a worried little knicker as she pads close to him again.

"It's alright you two, you can come out, she won't hurt you."

Very slowly the two figures peer around the odd looking tree. Twilight recognizes the tan skined blondes with bright sea green and blue eyes. He'd be lying if he said he didn't think this world's Link and his little sister were adorable.

"Sorry if she spooked you, she's a sweetheart I promise." Twilight says with a soft smile as Epona's large head comes to rest on his shoulder.

"You're..the one they call Rancher right..?" Link questions warily.

"That I am." He says with a nod and a smile.

"Why do they call you that?"

"Because it's what I am, I'm a rancher, also known as a farmer."

"What's a farmer..?"

Twilight can't help but chuckle about that. "It's someone who tends to a large amount of land that either grows massive crops, or cares for large herds of animals. For me specifically, I'm a goat herder. But I do other things too."

"....is that a goat?" Aryll questions as she points to Epona.

"Nope, this is Epona, she's a horse." He grins.

"What's a horse?" The little girl asks as she tilts her head a bit. "Also What's a goat if a horse isn't a goat."

"Well, a goat is a farm animal that produces milk, and in my village they also produce wool that can be used to make clothes. Meanwhile horses are work animals! Epona here carries me on her back, and makes it a lot easier to travel long distances on land. She can also pull carts and wagons if bribed enough." He explains happily as he pats her cheek.

"...are they all so…big?" Link asks warily.

"No, not necessarily. Depends on their breed." Twilight explains as he nuzzles into Epona a moment. "She's on the bigger end, she's a full bred war horse in the draft family. Draft horses are some of the biggest and strongest. Though I hear that the war horses of the Gerudo are even more formidable."

Epona had held her head up pridefully until that last part. Looking at Twilight and giving an insulted snort.

Twilight just rolls his eyes. "My apologies princess for implying that you aren't the most fearsome and intimidating steed around."

She gives him an unamused glare.

"I…can't tell if you're, actually talking to her, or you're fucking crazy.." Link says with a bit of concern.

Twilight blinks a moment before a snort escapes him and he breaks into a hearty bout of laughter. Epona giving a long suffering sigh of sorts and shaking her head.

"Crazy it is." Link decides which just makes Twilight laugh harder. Aryll beginning to giggle with him.

"I- assure you I'm not as insane as I look." Twilight manages as he calms down a bit. "I've known Epona for most of my life, we're apart of each other so you could say we have our own language."

He'd always felt this way since he was a kid, so at least he has a less insane way to explain that yes, he can talk to his horse. He can talk to any animal that he meets. Infact since arriving he's learned that the seagulls of Outset have rather insulting opinions of everyone but Link and his family. And that the pigs are easily amused by the kids' shenanigans, but he'll keep that to himself.

"...well..crazy or not. I have more questions." Aryll states.

"Ask away." He says with an amused smile.

"Is she soft?"

"Yes, especially after a good bath."

"Could she crush a coconut with her stompers?"

"I uh, I don't know what a coconut? Is? But as long as it's not a rock yes, she can crush things very easily with her hooves."

"Like skulls?" Link ponders.

"..I mean..technically." Twilight admits awkwardly as the memory of her getting fed up with a few bokoblins comes to mind.

"How do you not know what a coconut is?" Aryll frowns.

"I don't have coconuts where I'm from."

"How is that possible! Everywhere has coconuts!"

"Well..we also don't have an ocean in my kingdom. So that's probably why we don't have them."

"NO OCEAN?!" Both of the kids ask with confusion and a slight bit of horror.

He shakes his head a bit with an amused smile. "No ocean. Just a very big lake."

"So can you not swim?" Aryll asks

"I can swim! There's lots of water, just not this much water."

"Can she swim?" She asks as she points to Epona.

Twilight and Epona both shake their heads. "No, she's not a fan of deep water. She'll travel streams and creeks. But if it gets too deep it's a no go."

"What does she like then?" Link asks.

"Jumping, obstacle courses, herding and just…running wild through an open field."

Epona happily dances in place at the thought.

"What does she eat? Is she like the pigs?" Link asks.

Twilight gives a soft chuckle. "She can eat meat, but mainly she's vegetarian. Grass, hay, certain fruits and vegetables, and some grains."

"Sounds boring." Link frowns.

"Ehh, to us, yes. But to her it's the best thing in the world."

"....can..can I pet her..?" Aryll asks carefully.

Twilight looks at her and gives a kind smile. "She would absolutely love that."

Aryll gives a grin and moves to run forward but Link snatches her up. "Woah woah what! No, absolutely not."

"But why!!" Aryll wines as she wiggles in his strong hold as he lifts her up off the ground.

"She seems…plenty nice, but she almost crushed him earlier! She's literally called a war horse and her feet are bigger than your head and that's saying something!" Link defends with a worried tone.

"Hey your heads bigger than mine! Put me down he said she'd want to be pet!" Aryll grumbles as she starts kicking wildly.

"No! Absolutely not.."

"If it helps.." Twilight says calmly, catching the attention of the siblings before it turns into a full squabble. "She may be big, but she's grown up around children and babies. She gives the kids in my village rides all the time. And she's like a mother hen when she's around babies. I know our bickering looked upsetting, but I knew very well how she was going to react to me poking at her. And she would never ever rear up like that around you two had she'd known you were there."

"Doesn't change the fact that.."

Link trails off as he watches Epona back away from Twilight. Prancing around in a little circle before lying down in the grass without prompting. Her tail flicking lightly as she gets comfortable. Looking over at the kids with those big brown eyes and nickering softly.

Very slowly Link sets his little sister down. Swallowing thickly and watching Epona like a hawk. Meanwhile Aryll is all too happy to scamper over to the mare as soon as she's steady on her feet. Stopping just in front of her with a big grin as Twilight crouches down beside her.

"Just hold your hand out alright? She won't hurt you I promise."

Aryll does as she's told and her smile gets all the brighter as Epona nuzzles her big head into the girl's tiny hands. Little fingers starting to gently pet and scratch at her short coat, before the kid just giggles and full on hugs her muzzle while petting her cheek. Epona giving a happy little rumble in response.

The rumbles only continuing when she feels Link's tentative hands gently and hesitantly starting to pet along her neck. Then comb through her coarse mane and gently undo any tangles he finds.

"Okay…I..I guess you're not all that bad.." Link says quietly.

Twilight just gives a pleased smile. The moment feeling all too much like home.

#it's all fluff #just fluff #linked universe #lu twilight #lu wind #lu aryll #lu epona #fics #hermit responds!#hermit writes

13 notes · View notes

lifewithoutmeds · 6 months

Text

March 16, 2024

jinxed again. note: never start thinking that my life might be turning around becuase nine times out of ten, something's waiting to smack me back on my ass.

Recap: Monday, March 4: Watched Thor, worked from home. Tuesday, March 5: walked to chase in the morning to withdraw some money, worked from home, walked to trader joe's to use the last of my gift card and get things like eggs and bananas. Wednesday, March 6: in office day. Thursday, March 7: nothing calendared. probably just worked from home. helena from work kind of spoke harshly from me and it was all i could do not cry until the moment we hung up. Friday, March 8: i thought this was my massage/lunch day with lana, but i guess it was actually for two weeks from today? or it was pushed out? probably i mis-calendared it. but i did check on grace y since she had an appointment regarding some health issues. Saturday, March 9: i though i had lana's birthday dinner thing but that was miscalendared as well so instead went on a little nature walk/hike near jpl with my mom and had lunch at fish king afterward. Sunday, March 10: lana's birthday, so i texted a bit. i think i went to church. Monday, March 11: i think i started to feel a little sad. either the day prior or today i went to my mom's for lunch/dinner and just cried. i could feel myself being irrationally sad and angry and realized it was PMS so tried not to take it too personally. in part of my sadness i reached out to amir about happy hour on tuesday but he didn't really get back to me or share in my enthusiasm and just "liked" my comment and i felt bad and stupid and angry and alone. Tuesday, March 12: i felt the annoyance and anger and irritability full force. when amir texted back to say he'd be at work and i should come down i was too upset and said too bad, the moment had passed. i could just feel my emotions raging. something else had happened with lorena i think monday-tuesday, so i was peeved at her as well, just peeved at everyone and everything. in my noon walk i thought of jadai, as i often do, and i thought of how she would reach out to me, and how i should actually be the last person in the world she should reach out to. with all of her friends and family, her fiance, and now without cooper, so much extra money, that she really shouldn't have come to me for covid tests, to borrow my cooler (and never give back my yeti ice), to ask to borrow my bowflex weights. how she would be the last person in the world i'd ask, how i'd rather buy it myself or just go without, but i wouldn't reach out and drive the distance.

soon after i got home, pissy with these thoughts, jadai, almost telepathically it seemed, reached out, for the first time since she learned about xio, so about four months: "idk your feelings on it, but i feel like it's been way too long!!! i was trying not to reach out for a while, so just wanted to see if it's ok that i do. i'm always hoping you're doing more than well, and all the good things." 1:34 p.m.

this sent me into a true meltdown, full-on sobbing, and anger. it seemed like she was trying to touch base with an old pal she had fallen out of touch with, a summercamp friend, or just someone whose birthday it was and she had temporarily forgotten about them and was like now, omg how are ya? and that made me so sad and mad. she had been on the forefront of my mind for so long, been the center of so much suffering, and for her to just pop up so nonchalantly, so flippantly, and just say hey as if the lack of communication was inadvertent on my part, which of course it wasn't. i had decided not to message her back after her birthday, and was even more assured of it after xio's passing. i texted several people and came to the conclusion, some hours later, to write back "i'd prefer we not communicate," to which she responded: "ah ok. like not communicate at all, ever?" which threw me into another fit of distraughtness because it was so hard to formulate that first message, and i thought it was it, but to have to answer again with some sort of parameters? it's like the suffering just would not cease. after additional hours of tumult, i decided not to respond, because in a sense, i already had, and i didn't know if it was going to be temporary or last until the day i died, but i could not speak as to when i might be able and just didn't want to keep the dialogue going.

the next day was wednesday, and i could feel the emotions just getting worse. i worked, and at some point joyce whispered me into her office and i jokingly whispered if it was a secret, and we jokingly whispered the issue about one of my forms being wrong, and right before i left, i continued the joke for just a bit longer and said, "is there anything else?" to which she responded that she had started a lunch walking group that would be 40 minutes total, 20 minutes out and 20 minutes back, and welcomed me to join. i asked if i'd have enough time for lunch and she said, "just take a longer lunch!" to which i was like oh heck yhea! and at noon she, two others, and i started walking to, through, and around little tokyo, mostly led by her, as i didn't know what path to go to and we chatted a bit, and i pointed out some of my favorite restaurants, etc. as we re-approached the office, it was noted that it had been only 35 minutes and we still had another 5 minutes to walk, so joyce recommended we take one more round around the block, down the street of the building jadai works in, and .... of all the gin joints in the world, as we walked down, me first, i saw her and a friend walking her up, her hair perfectly coiffed, her sunglasses on, smiling, talking, wearing a perfect baby blue suit with a white flowy top, looking loose on her languid figure and instantly we recognized each other, and i saw her pause in her step, and i nodded and waved, said a small "hi", and kept walking, and she smiled and waved and said hi but had that momentary stop as if to talk to me but must've kept walking when i did. almost as soon as she passed, the tears welled up, and at some point i also realized that it was 3/13, our anniversary, that 5 years ago to the day we had met at tony's and decided that that was it, and now here we were, two strangers walking down the sidewalk, almost brushing shoulders, and all i could feel was so much pain. the tears started almost immediately and i was in the office weeping, tears trickling down, and at some point, went to the bathroom to sob in the handicapped stall. how could the universe be so cruel. what were the chances of all of this happening, on that day of all days in the year.

she messaged me again: "hey such crazy timing seeing you just now! Sorry i would've stopped, but didn't know if i should cuz of your text. would you be down to meet up outside real quick or grab a coffee?"

to which i didn't reply but just cried and cried. i had last corresponded that we shouldn't communicate, and here she was, thinking we should, asking me to, in person, no less.

the cruelty was beginning to just be unimaginable and i seriously considered asking to go home for the day because i just felt so terrible and could not stop crying and i had been so proud of myself for not yet openly crying at work and yet here i was.

that was wednesday and today is saturday. i slept for 13 hours yesterday and have been crying on and off since then. it feels like regression. it feels like the first few months of her leaving. it feels so raw and new all over again, and everything has become so triggering. i'm realizing that when i take my walks, i rarely turn left at kenneth anymore and have been turning right, because left was how i walked with jadai. i still get her mail sometimes, but mostly junk mail. the mail man asked about her last week, asking if all jadai mail should be returned to sender and i said it should. whenever i walk by her building or even down that street, i wonder if she's in one of the cars, or in her office and can see me, and how stupid and fat and ugly and lonely i look, and whether she sees me with a mix of pity and regret. i think of her constantly. she has become a recurring dream, and in the last one, even there, i knew we were not together. i am not at rest, even in my sleep.

i need to go as today is lana's birthday dinner and i need to try and not cry for the first time this week. i've been trying to stay away from alcohol because it might induce more crying and then more subsequent regrettable behavior, but i don't know about tonight. i don't know how much longer this can continue. i thought i was out of the storm, but then the storm came back from me. how cruel.

0 notes

mobbothetrue · 2 years

Text

Why do I keep having a reoccurring nightmare about a yeti in my house

I am not part of this dream. There are different people living in my house. Chris Pratt and a woman. It’s her house, but she made a deal with Chris Pratt— as long as he goes downstairs every day and closes the vents down there, he can stay.

Downstairs is infinite. There is no exit, and no light strong enough to light it up. It’s a maze, light by occasional, flickering lightbulbs. There’s an old man down there, who will lead Chris Pratt around and speak in stern tones about something. Every time we pass a vent, he’ll point it out, and Chris Pratt will close it. This time he’s angry.

The yeti will not enter the light. Both the old man and Chris Pratt know it’s down there. Walking between lights is so fucking scary. Eventually Chris Pratt closes enough vents for the night and is able to return upstairs. All of the lights are off. He turns them on— the stair lights, the hall lights, and his bedroom lights. The woman understands the stair lights, but turns off the hall lights. She does not believe that there is a yeti.

The dream usually ends with me, or Chris, stood at the top of the stairs and screaming at the yeti. It only got partway up the stairs once. This time it didn’t even appear, but I was so aware that if I stopped yelling, then the Christmas event would trigger.

The Christmas event is supposed to be the hardest thing in the game, because this dream has migrated from one of my mothers rom-com movies to a game. The yeti gets halfway to the woman’s room before you, foolishly, wake up.

Or maybe you think it’s safe. It’s morning. There is light. You will go Christmas shopping for the woman— there is a mall downstairs. You can’t afford rent, but you can afford this. You hope she’ll like it.

The yeti is no longer scared of light.

#mobbtalks #the yeti never gets me and I never see it more than a bit #but it is so ducking scary I wake up terrified that there’s a yeti in my room #also I do say yeti but it is more of a Bigfoot type creature #I remember the old man describing it as ‘matted and stinking of carrion’#also dont ask me abt Chris Pratt. I want him in my dream as much as I want the yeti in my dream #which is none #okay typing this out has chilled me out a bit I’m gonna try and go back to sleep #(also also if you are wondering abt the yelling it turns out that is what I do when I am very scared but there’s nothing I can do about it)#(I will yell stupid shit until my throat breaks. if I run out of words it just becomes noise. full of yelling)

3 notes · View notes

hollybell51 · 2 years

Text

Chapter Five

The Bogeyman

A Heart of Ice - Jack Frost x fem!Reader

Chapter Four, masterpost

Word count: 3146

Summary: the first encounter after a bad parting is always awkward, but it usually doesn’t lead to a full-on skirmish. This time, it does.

Notes: couldn’t decide if it’s supposed to be “boogeyman” or “bogeyman” so I just went with the one that got rid of the little red line (”bogeyman”). Please, if anyone is an expert on this, let me know which one is actually correct 🤞

“North, North!” Jack shouted, running to catch up with him. “I told you, I’m not going with you guys! There is no way I’m climbing into some rickety old…” He trailed off, stopping dead in his tracks.

“Sleigh?” you finished for him, grinning. It had been ages since you rode in the sleigh yourself, and the last time you’d had your hands had been tied to the railing and Yetis with spears seated either side of you, but you’d never forget the feeling. It wasn’t as great as riding the wind with Jack, but it was a million times better than jumping from place to place.

The sleigh in question was being pulled by the same massive reindeer you remembered, still a gleaming red with silver and gold trimmings and still very imposing. The reindeer were all snorting, tossing their antlered heads and stomping their hooves almost like they were trying to shake you up.

“Ok, one ride,” Jack said. “But that’s it.”

“You remember this, eh, (Y/N)?” Bunny grinned, elbowing your side. “Want the same guards? I bet North’s still got the ropes somewhere too—”

“You better shut your mouth right now, rabbit.” you hissed, nodding to Jack who was swinging into the sleigh, running his hand along the side of it. “He doesn’t need to get pulled into all this.”

“Oh, you haven’t told him?” The rabbit laughed, then nudged North. “Get this, she hasn’t told him!”

“She doesn’t need to,” he replied. “I don’t see why you should either. It’s her business, and like she said, he doesn’t need to get pulled into it all. Very messy.”

“Thanks,” you muttered, shooting a last glare at Bunny before joining Jack.

“Everyone loves the sleigh,” North continued as if nothing had happened. “Bunny, what are you waiting for?”

“I think my tunnels might be faster, mate,” he called. “And uh, safer.”

“Argh!” North grunted, grabbing his scruff and pulling him over the side. “Get in! Buckle up!”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Bunny said frantically, looking around. “Where are the bloody seatbelts?”

“Dunno,” you grinned, “I’m sure there’d be a bit of rope lying around. Maybe you’d like that?”

“Hah!” North shouted, oblivious to the death glare Bunny was aiming your way. “Seatbelts was just expression. Are we ready? Good, let’s go!” He slapped the reigns down, shouting at the reindeer as they took off down the snowy runway and into a tunnel.

Beside you, Jack laughed, pointing to where Bunny’s claws were leaving scratch marks on the paintwork. He pulled you against him, his arm wrapped around your shoulders as you hurtled through icy corridors, Bunny still screaming and North still shouting.

“I hope you like loopty-loops!” he called back as you rounded a corner, the reindeer leaping onto the roof of the tunnel, dragging the sleigh upside down. You held tighter to Jack.

“I hope you like carrots,” Bunny muttered, pressed back against the seats.

“Here we go!” North ignored his protesting, slapping the reigns down once more as you came around a corner, bursting into the open.

Jack moved his hold to your hand, dragging you with him to the edge of the sleigh and leaning out over the railing. The wind toyed with his hair, making it all stand up like some kind of silver dandelion as he laughed, his eyes sparkling.

“You having fun there?” you yelled over the wind, but you were smiling too.

“Yes!” he shouted back, then looked past you to Bunny. He winked, then let go of your hand and jumped up onto the back railing.

“Jack, what—” you started, but stopped when he raised a finger to his lips.

“Hey Bunny,” he said, “check out this ahh--!” He broke off in a yell, tumbling backwards over the railing.

“Jack!” you shouted, jumping over in a flash.

“North!” Bunny yelled, looking around wildly but not moving. “He’s— he’s—!” Still shaking, he pulled himself up enough to see over. You leaned over beside him, frantically searching below. If this was one of Jack’s jokes…

“Aw,” the boy smiled, swinging his legs casually from the sleigh’s foot, “you do care.”

“Rack off ya bloody show pony,” Bunny growled, and you couldn’t help but agree with him.

“I swear to god, Jack,” you muttered as he leapt back into the sleigh, landing lightly beside you and draping an arm around your shoulders.

He was stopped from saying anything by North, who called back to you, “hold on, everybody! I know a short cut!”

“Oh, oh, strewth, I knew I should’ve taken the tunnels!” Bunny pressed himself back against the seats again, staring straight ahead.

“I’ve heard it helps to keep your eyes on the horizon.” you said, completely deadpan.

“Shut ya trap,” he growled.

There was a tinkling sound, then a burst of light from up ahead. “Tooth palace!” North shouted, then you were being enveloped by a whirl of rainbow light, and you were back in the air. Only something else was with you, something black and smoky, trailing sand as they streamed through the air around.

“Oh no,” you whispered. You recognised this, you knew this feeling. Just from seeing this sand, these creatures, you could practically hear his laugh, see his dark eyes gleaming.

“(Y/N)?” Jack asked, “are you alright?”

“It’s him,” you said softly, then louder. “It’s him.”

“What?” North asked, swerving to avoid the bullets of trailing black sand. They kept coming, shooting past the sleigh and narrowly missing you.

“They’re taking the tooth fairies!” Jack shouted, and with a start you could see that he was right. Little fairies were being snatched up by the creatures, taken to who knew where.

“Wait, don’t do anything!” you shouted, but it was too late. Jack jumped up, snatching a fairy from one of the creatures and cradling it gently against his chest.

“Hey, little baby Tooth,” he said gently, “you ok?”

It squeaked, nodding.

“Jack!” North shouted, thrusting the reigns into his hand. “Here, take over!”

“Huh?” Jack hastily shoved the tooth fairy into your hands, taking the reigns and frantically directing the reindeers away from the pillars and spires of the tooth palace.

“Watch out!” you yelled, and he swerved to avoid a golden lattice. Ahead, North was leaping through the air, sword in hand in pursuit of one of the nightmare creatures. He slashed at its side and it disappeared into black sand and smoke, scattering four hexagonal prisms onto the sleigh.

“They’re stealing the teeth!” Bunny called, picking one up and holding it out to Sandy. He frowned at the spatter of black sand on his arm, then at you.

“I swear I don’t know what this is,” you said. “I’ve never seen this sand before.”

“Jack look out!” North shouted, snapping your attention back to the front of the sleigh. Jack hauled on the reigns, bringing the sleigh around a corner and somewhat gently down onto the platform. At least, with no broken bones sustained by the passengers.

Above, Tooth was fluttering frantically, darting between columns and searching for anyone or anything left.

“Tooth!” North called, “Are you alright?”

“They… they took my fairies,” she panted, “and the teeth. All of them! Everything is gone… everything.” She sunk to her knees, and you quickly jumped to her side, resting your hand on her shoulder. You’d never had a personal problem with a Tooth, not the way you did with Bunny, mainly because she’d never had one with you. Sure, you disliked the Guardians, but on the few occasions when you’d seen them, the fairy had been, dare you say, nice. As much as you hated hated to admit it, it hurt a bit to see her so distressed.

There was a squeak, and a fluttering of tiny wings, and suddenly you remembered the little fairy still with you. She was hiding in your hair, you thought.

“Oh, thank goodness one of you is alright!” Tooth cried, gently cradling the fairy.

“I have to say, this is very, very exciting.” Came a cold voice, stopping you from replying. “The big four, all in one place! I’m a little starstruck.”

Please no, you thought, scanning the surroundings.

“Did you like my show on the Globe, North?” Pitch asked, leaning over the balcony above. He was exactly the way you remembered him, just how he was in your dreams. Or nightmares, you supposed. “Got you all together, didn’t I?”

“Pitch!” Tooth shouted, zooming up towards him. “You have got 30 seconds to return my fairies!”

“Or what?” he asked, appearing on the next spire across. “You’ll stick a quarter under my pillow?”

“Why are you doing this?” North asked, raising his swords.

“Maybe I want what you have,” he gritted, glaring at the other guy. “To be believed in. Maybe I’m tired of hiding under beds!”

“Maybe that’s where you belong,” Bunny countered.

“Go suck an egg, rabbit.” He scoffed, disappearing again.

You jumped back down a level, out from where you were trying not to be noticed behind North and to Jack’s side. “Jack,” you whispered, making him jump.

“Don’t—”

“Shh!” You cut him off, glancing around. “Just remember that whatever he says is supposed to—”

“Hold on a minute,” his voice echoed, “is that (Y/N) I see down there? My, my, the company you’ve chosen to surround yourself with. Really, my dear, I thought you’d have better taste.”

“My taste has drastically improved since the last time I saw you,” you called, readying your bow.

“Has it? Hanging around with these old fools? And who’s this? Jack Frost? Since when are you all so chummy?”

“Leave him out of it, Pitch!” You knocked an arrow to your string, raising the weapon. You concentrated hard on the delicate shaft, watching as it paled to bright, opaque white. Just like a bone picked clean by the elements.

“We’re not,” Jack said, and you mentally kicked him.

Pitch laughed, and the next time his voice came from directly behind you. “Oh good,” he said, “a neutral party. Then I’m going to ignore you, but you must be used to that by now.”

“Don’t fucking say a thing,” you hissed, your arrow following Pitch as he moved behind the gold latticework to the left.

There was an explosion of movement behind you, and Bunny hurtled past. “Pitch!” he shouted, “you shadow-sneaking ratbag, come here!”

You lost track of what happened, but Pitch disappeared. You thought Tooth rushed after Bunny, but then everything was obscured by the awful black sand and you couldn’t hear anything over the roaring, whether it was the blood in your ears or something else.

“Woah! Hey! Easy, girl.” Up on the balcony, Pitch was now standing beside something else. A huge horse, made entirely of streaming black sand with bright golden eyes. It was horrible, but sort of beautiful in a way. Yes, Pitch had always been like that. Dark, intriguing, powerful, mesmerising. It was what had drawn you to him in the first place.

The creature whinnied, winding around Pitch’s slender form and glaring down at you.

“Look familiar, Sandman?” he asked, running a hand through the sand trailing from his monster. “Took me a while to perfect this little trick, turning dreams into Nightmares.”

“Sandy,” you said softly, jumping to the little man’s side, “don’t do anything. Don’t respond, don’t get angry. Don’t—”

“Don’t be nervous,” Pitch continued, cutting you off. “It only riles them up more. They smell fear, you know.”

“What fear? Of you?” Bunny laughed, taking his boomerang from Tooth who held it out to him. “No one’s been afraid of you since the Dark Ages!”

“Oh, the Dark Ages.” He sighed, his gaze sliding over to you. “Everyone frightened, miserable. So much… chaos. So much strife. Such happy times for me, for us. Oh, the power we held! Do you remember those times, (Y/N)?”

“Nope,” you said firmly. You could see Jack out of the corner of your eye, glancing between you and Pitch. You ignored him.

“A shame,” he sighed. “And then the Man in the Moon chose you all to replace my fear with your wonder and light, lifting their hearts and giving them hope! And then… and then you, (Y/N). You—”

“Stop, Pitch!” you shouted, raising your bow and pointing the arrow's tip directly between his eyes. “We don’t need to hear your sad life story, we all know how it goes. Everyone wrote you off as a bad dream, nobody believed in the Bogeyman anymore. Blah, blah, blah, what’s new?”

“(Y/N), what the--?” Jack whispered, looking at you like you’d gone nuts.

You didn’t reply, watching as Pitch stared at you. You couldn’t quite read the expression on his face, so you reached out towards his emotions. Bitterness, anger, hatred, the craving for power, everything just as it was the last time you’d done this. But there, underneath it all, was a tiny glimmer of something else. He missed you, genuinely missed you.

“That’s all about to change,” he laughed, his mouth twisting into a wicked grin. Behind him, part of the paint on the spire of the palace was crumbling, followed by more and more of the massive structure. “Oh look,” he smiled, “it’s happening already.”

“What is?” Jack asked, turning to Tooth.

She gasped, staring in disbelief at her crumbling home.

“Children are waking up and realising the Tooth fairy never came,” Pitch continued. “It’s such a little thing, but to a child…”

“What’s going on?” Jack frowned, glancing from Pitch to Tooth to the crumbling walls, and finally to you.

“They… they don’t believe in me anymore.” Tooth said, her eyes bright with tears.

“Didn’t they tell you, Jack?” Pitch laughed. “It’s great being a Guardian, but there’s a catch. If enough kids stop believing, everything your friends protect – wonder, hopes and dreams—it all goes away. And little by little, so do they. No Christmas, or Easter, or little fairies who come in the night. There will be nothing by fear and darkness. And me. It’s your turn not to be believed in.”

With a shout, Bunny released his boomerang, sending it spinning end over end towards Pitch. You followed, each with your own weapons as Pitch jumped astride the Nightmare, speeding over the edge of the balcony and downwards, around a corner. Bunny threw a few eggs, explosions of coloured gas obscuring everything from view. When they cleared, there was no sign of your quarry.

“Nice one,” you snapped, sliding your arrow back into your quiver and putting away your bow.

“Zip it, (Y/N).”

“He’s gone,” North muttered, looking around. Everyone looked at each other, all doing the same as you.

To your right, Tooth fluttered sadly over to the edge of a pool, a hexagonal prism of teeth clutched in her hand. The little fairy you saved went with her, chittering quietly.

“I’m sorry about the fairies,” Jack said, crouching next to her. He looked up at you, gesturing for you to come over as well. You glanced at the others, chewing the inside of your cheek, then back to Jack.

“You should’ve seen them,” Tooth smiled sadly. “They put up such a fight.”

“Why would Pitch take the teeth?“ you asked, kneeling beside your friend as the little fairy flew in circles around him.

“It’s not the teeth he wanted,” Tooth sighed, looking up at you. “It’s the memories inside them.” She held out the prism, tapping it lightly with a finger.

“What do you mean?” Jack asked, frowning.

“That’s why we collect the teeth, Jack. They hold the most important memories of childhood.” She got up, fluttering across the water of the pool towards a mural on one wall. You followed, Jack creating a path of curling frost over the water. “My fairies and I watch over them,” she continued, “and when someone needs to remember what’s important, we help them. We had everyone’s here, yours too. And yours.”

“M-my memories?” Jack stammered.

“From when you were young,” Tooth elaborated. “Before you became Jack Frost.”

“But… I wasn’t anyone before I was Jack Frost.”

“Of course you were,” Tooth smiled. “You too, (Y/N), before you were Cupid. The first time, that is.”

You glanced at Jack, then back to Tooth and shook your head. Just the tiniest bit, but she seemed to get the idea. You didn’t want Jack to know about Eris.

“We were all someone before we were chosen,” she said, her violet eyes shifting between the two of you.

“W-what?” Jack’s breathing was coming fast, and you could practically see his neurons firing frantically as he processed this new information. “That night at the pond,” he whispered. “I just assumed… I… Are you saying I had a life before that? With a home? And a family? (Y/N),” he turned to you, his eyes shining. “I had a home! And a family! You had a family! You… we… we could…” He trailed off, looking back up at Tooth.

“You really don’t remember?” she asked, frowning.

“All these years,” he murmured. “All these years, the answers were right here! If I find my memories, I’ll know why I’m here!” He grabbed your shoulders, still with that look on his face. “We’ll know, (Y/N). We’ll know why. Tooth, you have to show me! Show us!” He jumped up, rushing through the air away from you and Tooth.

You made to follow him, then looked back at Tooth. She was watching sadly, shaking her head. “I can’t, Jack,” she sighed. “Pitch has them.”

He stopped mid-air, spinning to face you. “Then we have to get them back!”

Tooth opened her mouth to answer, then gasped. “Oh no, the children! We’re too late.” She looked down at herself, at the feathers drifting off her and onto the ground. Behind her, the mural on the wall was fading, the colours becoming splotchy and grey.

“No!” North protested, drawing his swords. “No, no such thing as too late! Hmm…” he muttered, pacing on the spot. “Wait, wait, wait, wait wait wait wait wait… Idea!” He shouted with laughter, swinging his sword around and almost decapitating Bunny.

“So close,” you muttered to Jack as he settled beside you. He just shook his head, but he was smiling.

“We will collect the teeth!” North continued, grinning at you.

“What?” Tooth asked, incredulous.

“We get teeth, children keep believing in you!”

“We’re talking seven continents, millions of kids—”

“Give me break,” he scoffed. “You know how many toys I deliver in one night?”

“And how many eggs I hide in one day?” Bunny chimed in.

“And Jack, (Y/N), if you help us,” North turned to you, “we will get you your memories.”

Jack grinned, then looked at you, raising an eyebrow. It was clear how much he cared about those memories, about finding his teeth.

“We’re in,” you smiled, taking his hand.

Chapter Six

57 notes · View notes

five-rivers · 1 year

Text

A Star is Born!

AO3

@astatia-ghast

After revealing himself as a ghost (as a hero) (as an inhuman monster), Danny had gotten used to people staring at him. Even people who had known him for a long time. Especially people who had known him for a long time. Something something, couldn’t reconcile the person they knew with the person they admired, according to Jazz.

Danny had, honestly, enjoyed the attention at first. It was kind of like with the Yetis! But the thrill of being invited to every party wore thin fast. Now he just ignored it the best he could.

Today, however, was different, and it was really getting on his nerves. Today, there was giggling.

So, he normally didn’t mind giggling, but it was coinciding with an awful lot of pointing and whispering. That, he was less fond of.

Still. What could he do about it? Other than be annoyed. He was going to do that anyway. He got his breakfast (the lunch ladies were staring) and sat down at his usual table to wait for Tucker. Sam was taking a zero period cooking class, and wouldn’t meet up with them until ten minutes before the bell rang.

“Oh my gosh!”

Danny looked up. Tucker was standing a few paces from the cafeteria doorway. His eyes sparkled with emotions Danny had never before seen outside of an anime. He looked delighted.

“Danny, dude!” said Tucker, and now he flung his arms out and to the sides so violently the stylus attached to his PDA went flying and would have been lost to the mysterious and forbidden lands behind the breakfast-line counter if not for Danny’s swift use of telekinesis. “Where did you get those nekomimi? They look so realistic!”

“The what?” asked Danny.

“The cat ears!”

“What cat ears?” asked Danny.

There was a moment of silence as the whispers stopped.

“He doesn’t know,” hissed someone, their voice carrying easily across the cafeteria.

“I need to film this.” There was a mad scramble for phones, PDAs, and in one notable case a full sized TV camera that absolutely should not be on campus.

“Tucker,” said Danny, “are you telling me that there are cat ears on my head right now?”

“I mean, I guess they could be dog or wolf ears, but, yes.”

Danny raised his hands to the sides of his heads and found his earlobe. It felt a bit… weaker, more fragile, than it had before. He traced the sides of his ears up and up and up and…

“Tucker,” said Danny, holding onto the very tips of his ears, “why?”

“I don’t know, man. Didn’t Frostbite say you might get shapeshifting powers?” Tucker shuffled forward. “Maybe you’re thinking too hard about cats. Do you have a tail and is it fuzzy?”

Danny opened his mouth to say no, but then experienced the always-unsettling sensation of his spine reconstructing itself while he was still human. Then, to Danny’s mortification, there was a terrible ripping sound and a fully formed and very fluffy tail unrolled itself.

Across the room, Paulina stood up, a determined expression on her face. “If you do requests, can you make your eyes green and pretty and sparkly and huge and slitted like a cat’s? I’ve always wanted to see what that would be like on a human.”

Danny wasn’t intending to take requests. He didn’t even know what was really going on. But no one had given his power that memo, so it did it anyway.

“Wasn’t there a cat guy ghost alr–?” started Ashley.

“No, we don’t talk about them,” said Paulina. "They don't count."

More importantly for Danny, who also wanted to forget that particular ghost, the cat (boy) was out of the bag.

"What about wings? Can you do wings?"

"Make yourself look older and you can buy beer at–"

"Younger! I want to see what Phantom would have looked like as a baby!"

"Can you do plants? Oak trees? Roses?"

"Dragon! Dragon! Dragon!"

"What about other ghosts? What about blob ghosts?"

"Ooh! Ooh! Can you become a cockroach?"

"No! Don't make him be a cockroach!"

"Metamorphosis, people!" shouted Mr. Lancer. "What is– I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream!"

It was really impressive how Mr. Lancer said that all in a single breath. Well. Shrieked it in a single breath.

"HI, Mr. Lancer," said Danny, miserably, having become a shambling mound, "can I call home?"

"Can you- can you not… turn back?"

There was a sort of slurping sound as Danny's various body parts rearranged themselves.

"I don't have a good handle on it yet," said Danny, trying to affect unconcern.

"Involuntarily transforming into whatever people say?" asked Tucker, voice slightly washed out.

"Something like that, I think."

"Well," started Mr. Lancer.

The cafeteria doors were thrown open and Mrs. Woods strode in. "Where is my latest drama star?" She didn't wait for an answer before shouldering through the crowd and picking Danny up off the floor. "There you are."

"I'm not in drama," said Danny.

"Nonsense! You'll be a natural. Just imagine all the parts you could play! We'll immerse you in the world of drama. Acting. Staging. Theater! You'll have all the drama you can stomach!"

"But I don't want any drama," Danny tried protesting again, but she was already dragging him off. "To the stage."

"Mrs. Woods! I don't think I can stomach anything!"

"That's fine! Many are the great actors who barred from stage fright!"

"It's not stage fright!" It might have been a little stage fright, but becoming a loose heap of assorted body parts via shapeshifting not five minutes ago was playing a much larger part in his reticence. "Mrs. Woods, I can’t–"

"There is no can't in drama, only yes and!"

"Isn't that improv?!" wailed Danny as she carried him through the door.

“Yes, and?”

“My elective is astronomy!”

“And I’m electing to ignore it!”

“Holly!” called Mr. Lancer. “You can’t just kidnap students! The time to change classes is over! We’re halfway through the term, for love of education!”

Like this would be any more okay if it was still the beginning of the term.

“An exception can be made!”

Sometimes, Danny wondered if Mrs. Woods was a ghost. She certainly acted like it, sometimes. Either way, he’d had enough. He phased out of Mrs. Woods’s grip.

“No!” she hollered, even as Danny hid behind a horribly out-of-breath Mr. Lancer. “My star!”

A door down the hallway opened up. “Are you looking for me?” asked Star. “Can it wait? I’m making up a test.”

“It’s not about you,” said Danny.

“Great,” said Star. She eyed Mrs. Woods. “Good luck, or whatever.” She shut the door with a clunk.

“So, uh. Can I go home?” asked Danny.

“Go to the office and ask if your parents can sign you out.”

“I can fly–”

“You’re sick, right?”

“Yeah.”

“You need your parents to sign you out.”

“William,” said Mrs. Woods. “You can’t do this to me! I supported your bid for a field trip to the Shakespeare festival!”

“You did that for your own reasons!”

Danny, wisely, slunk away. He definitely wouldn’t be coming back until he could control his new shapeshifting powers.

#danny phantom #phic phight #phic phight 2023

121 notes · View notes

jadenoryuu · 3 years

Text

So here I am, bored out of my mind at work, and my brain travels across the ether of zoning out...

And a Crossover idea stuck!

So, do you Phans remember that animated movie that came out in 2009 called "Astroboy"?

[I mean this one.]

It was my first contact with the Astro Boy series and while I never explored the latter further, the movie amazed me and made me care (read: fear, empathize and ache) for the protagonist in ways that any other movie couldn't along with the first "How to Train your Dragon". (That's an accomplishment since after reading/watching many things I unfortunately became somewhat desensitized to plots in general. (╥﹏╥))

That being said, let's get back to the topic:

You all know how the movie premise is that Astro is the robotic replica of Toby, the professor's dead son?

What if we spin a bit of Phandom in it? <(꒪꒳꒪)>

There could be three ways to do this:

The first two have more or less the same trope = (post-movie) Natural Portal Shenanigans make either Danny or Astro cross dimension and Astro has Toby's ghost following him along for fun and only Danny can see him because he's an halfa.

The third take is the Fusion AU =

Danny as Toby dies in the same canonical accident, but the two cores instead of blue and red are green and pink/magenta ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).

Phantom as Astro. In this Danny and Phantom are two different persons, but instead of "normal" superpowers/weapons, he's half-robot/half-ectoplasm entity (it's different than being a ghost, I still stan that ghosts are the post-mortem manifestation of the deceased's soul and you can pry this from my specter's cold hands) (Meaning: Phantom is not Danny's ghost in this).

Jack and Maddie as Dr. Tenma. They form an amazing team and something so trivial as an absentee single parent in Astro Boy canon won't stop me.

Frostbite as Dr. Elefun. I contemplated briefly Clockwork for this part, but the "supportive wise mentor" fit better with our favorite Yeti than with our cryptid stopwatch, not counting that he has already medical and technological knowledge in DP.

Jazz as Orrin (the robot housekeeper)? This one doesn't fit as well as the rest of the cast, so maybe there's no Jazz or she's in another city as studying-abroad-big-sister.

Sam as Cora. Rebellious girl with wealthy parents, who fights for her rights? Sign her in. (Not counting the teased romance between her and Astro/Phantom, that's only a plus.)

Tucker as "himself" (AKA not any particular role, just one of the orphans of the Surface). Techno-Geek that repairs robots for the Robot Fights and bonds spectacularly with Phantom.

Dani as ZOG. I know it's strange, but hear me out: ZOG was revived by Astro's core and it still keeps part of that energy, making it virtually both Astro's sibling and child! Ring a bell? Plus ZOG is a little shit when it's able to, so it's only a natural decision, really! (≧∇≦)

Cujo as Trashcan. Yep, the trashcan dog deserves the puppy counterpart.

Now that should be everyone! ...Or should it? Oh! Right! The Villains:

Freakshow as Hamegg. Who would be a better showman/ringleader than the insane circus owner who controls robots ghosts?

Vlad Masters as President Stone. Of course it was going to be him. Old friend of the protagonist's father? Check. Power hungry? Check. Wants the protagonist for one of his machinations? Triple check.

Plasmius as Peacekeeper. Pink/Magenta core explained! Who would have thought about that? (≧∇≦)

Skulker as General Heckler. Vlad's second in command and enforcer of his commands, it feels only natural.

There are so many other characters to assign, though at the moment I can't come up with what to do with the robot trio of the Robot Revolutionary Front or Valerie Gray, but this discourse made me want to re-watch the movie, so I'll probably add something tomorrow.

What do you Phans think? Is this worth considering for Danuary? (≧∇≦)

#danny phantom #astro boy #astro boy 2009 #crossover idea #fusion crossover #i need to sleep #my mind is a bizarre place #i love that movie #astro boy 2009 spoilers #I know it's been... 13 years (OMG it's been so long)#but better safe than sorry

120 notes · View notes

garbagevanfleet · 3 years

Text

Brightest Blue (series)

PART THIRTEEN

Pairing: Josh x reader Warnings: light sexual content, feelings Summary: Things are changing. New state. New school. New roommate. You just pray things are going to click into place.

Notes: SURPRISE! My depressed ass is back and I missed fawning over this fic. Thank you to everyone that stuck around. I love you guys.

Big thanks to my girlfriend and beta, @lantern-inthenight <3

taglist: @valleyd0ll @satingrass-maidensfair @guitarfingers @thebohemianpenguin @peaceisouranthem @oblvions @hansonobsessed @myownparadise96 @anditsmywholeheart @kill-fear-the-power-of-lies @bigblack-catattack

MASTERPOST

When you woke the next morning, it was to the sound of a muffled melody. The room was cast in a fiery orange glow as the rising sun peeked in through the window. You sat up in bed, straining your ears to listen.

Noticeably missing, was Josh - the side of the bed he had been sleeping on was turned down, but you placed your hand on the sheets to find them cold.

The chill on the hardwood made your toes curl as you padded across it, first to your bedroom to pull on a pair of sweatpants, and then back to Josh’s room to slip one of his sweatshirts over your bare chest.

Once you were no longer naked, and a little more awake, you quickly figured out that the music was coming from under the closed bathroom door, and you stopped in front of it to have a listen.

The sound of Josh’s voice carried well into the hall, though he was keeping it quiet, probably for your benefit.

You placed your fingers over your mouth absently as you listened to the notes rise to a lovely height and then dip down again. You couldn’t quite make out the words, but you didn’t need to.

It shocked you enough to make you flinch when he opened the bathroom door abruptly - you had figured he was just taking a pause in the song.

When he spotted you, he jumped back, letting a curse fall from his lips. “God, I didn’t think you’d be awake yet - you almost gave me a heart attack,” he blurted through an exasperated smile.

“I’ve never heard you sing before,” you said, just above a whisper in the quiet space. “Your voice is so lovely.”

He looked you up and down for a second, his face turning peachy. “I haven’t wanted to for a while. Outside of school, anyway.”

You let a smile find your lips at the implication of his words, and it fell silent between you again. He was standing, posture unsure as he, undoubtedly, tried to gauge whether everything was still okay after last night.

The temptation to touch him was too much, especially once you realized he probably needed all the reassurance you could give. His skin was warm as you reached out and ran your fingertips lightly over the pink skin on his cheek. He careened into your touch, turning his head just enough to press a kiss into the meaty part of your thumb. The gesture made your chest feel tight.

“Come back to bed,” you suggested through a whisper and watched him suck his bottom lip into his mouth, teeth visibly pressing into the plush skin.

“I can’t,” he replied breathily as you took his chin between your thumb and forefinger. “I don’t have the time.”

You nodded back at him with a teasing smile. “Sure you do.”

“Don’t tempt me, babe,” he pleaded from low in his chest. “I have a show at noon.”

You breathed a laugh, threading your fingers through his hair. “Call me that again,” you said against his ear. It was you dragging your teeth over his earring that made him groan.

“Please - for the love of god - keep this energy for when I get back tonight.”

You hummed, pressing a kiss to the peak of his cheekbone. “Okay. Can I help?”

“Oh, yeah, for sure. Just wait for me here - it’ll probably help save time if you’re naked ahead of time-”

You smacked his shoulder, pulling a delighted laugh from his chest - always excited to say something stupid. “With the show.”

“If you’d like to, I’d love to have you. But you’re going to have to hustle and get dressed,” he instructed.

You scoffed. “Not the noon show-” You turned back towards his room and looked back over your shoulder. “No, right now I’m going back to bed.”

+++

You hadn’t put any thought at all into what you’d wear for the other two shows you’d be attending - you knew you could recycle the dress once on Sunday if you paired it with something else, but for Saturday evening’s show, you were stuck crawling to the only other person you knew whose clothes would fit you.

This time when you approached Kate’s house, you had come prepared with a milk-bone, which was good, because it was her huge dog that greeted you. When he stood up on his hind legs, he was able to look directly into your eyes through the glass on the door, his tail wagging.

You watched Kate round the corner into the entrance hall, wearing a knee-length black robe, the silk shining as she moved in the sunlight. She gave you a puzzled look, cracking the door.

“Sorry to show up unannounced,” you said with an insincere smile. “Can I give your dog a treat?”

She laughed at you, opening the door the whole way and letting you slip in.

“I’m going to assume that you’re not just here to make Yeti fat.” Her voice sounded a bit too knowing for your taste.

“You’re right! I’m also here to raid your closet, if you’ll let me,” you replied. “I need an outfit for the show tonight.”

She started down the hall and towards her room, ushering for you to follow. “You’re going again?”

You nodded, though she wasn’t looking directly at you. “Yeah, of course.”

When you got into her room, you sat on her bed, and you absolutely wouldn’t have noticed Jake if Yeti hadn’t instantly trotted over to him to sit by his feet. He was sitting at a little circular cafe-style table in the corner of her room, a mug of something hot in front of him.

You glanced over at him and were met with a cheeky little smirk.

“You - uh. Yeah, I’m going to help with the show tonight,” you said after you decided you weren’t ready to address that situation yet.

“Ah,” she started, and though she was facing away from you into the closet, you could hear a matching smirk through her voice. “I really only have clothes that match my style, which I would define as ‘mildly tramp’.”

You hummed contemplatively. “Let’s start with the most professional ensemble and then work our way back. Maybe something you’d wear to a wedding?”

“You don’t want something I’d wear to a wedding,” she teased but pulled out a few garments all the same.

“So, uhm. Am I interrupting something?” you finally chanced, sneaking a glance back at Jake.

“Not at all,” Kate replied, unhelpfully. “Now go try some of these on and tell me what you think.”

In the end, the only thing she owned that you deemed acceptable - and also even remotely your style was a thigh-length, black dress - form-fitting.

You stared at it dubiously in the mirror.

You’d have to put a coat over it, but you thought you could make it work.

“Are we going to talk?” Kate asked, a little smirk playing on her lips as she held her nails out to inspect them. They were unpainted but perfectly manicured.

You chanced a glance over at Jake - who was now sitting on the floor with Yeti nearly in his lap. He was working his fingers through the thick, white fur as he met your eyes.

“Yeah, let’s talk about it,” he agreed, flashing you his teeth.

Luckily enough, you found the moment more humorous than embarrassing, so you just scratched absentmindedly at the back of your neck.

“Well,” you started and then paused as you tried to figure out how much was appropriate to disclose. “I’m going to his show again tonight. And tomorrow.”

Kate huffed, feigning impatience. “Yeah, okay, but that doesn’t tell me anything because you’d do that anyway.”

You gave her a playful shrug. “That’s all I got for you right now. But I’ll tell you all about it when I’ve processed everything.”

“Ooh, shit. That sounds juicy.” Her eyes lit up as she spoke, making you chuckle. You turned your attention to Jake again then.

“And I’m sure you’ll hear all about it,” You flicked your eyes back over to Kate in an accusatory look. “One way or another.”

+++

That night you sat in the audience alone - well, not alone, but without Kate or Jake. Most of the seats were filled again, at least partially with faces you remembered seeing the night before.

The show was just as fun and entertaining as the last, except this time, when Josh walked out onto the stage at the end, he met your eyes for a moment, letting them linger before tugging a couple of his kids into a side hug and smiling wide for all the parents.

As soon as most people had dissipated, he met you at your seat, but before he could even open his mouth to greet you, a parent of one of the kids was shaking his hand. The dad poured his praises, thanking Josh for working with his daughter - you guessed maybe it was Alice, but you had nothing to base that guess on. Josh handled it effortlessly, charming as ever.

By the time the parent had left you, you and Josh were some of the last people still lingering.

“I’ve gotta grab my stuff backstage,” he informed you, tiling his jaw up in that general direction. “Wanna come?”

With a smile, you nodded an agreement and let him offer you a hand as you made your way out of the tight seats.

Backstage was infinitely more chaotic than it was when you’d last seen it. Set pieces were strewn about - not unorganized, but everywhere. You had to weave through them to get to where his backpack was propped against a folding table, costume accessories spilling off the surface of it.

“Do you want me to help clean up back here?” you asked, eyeing the messes. He hummed through a smile.

“Nah, I’ve got a system,” he informed you, and then after you gave him a doubtful look, he added, “Seriously. And until you’re directing a cast of children in a play that you produced, I don’t want to hear your objections.”

His teasing tone made you bite back a grin. “It’s amazing - really. I’m just offering my help.”

The backpack looked heavy as he slung it over his shoulder, holding the strap across his chest with both hands. “Then take me home,” he requested playfully, flicking his eyes to the back exit.

“Happily.”

+++

On Sunday, after the very last matinee show, you spent an hour helping him sort all the costumes - every tiny piece in a garment bag and labeled accordingly. The rest, he insisted, he would work on during school hours the following day.

You suddenly wrapped your arms around his neck and pulled him in for a hug, resting your temple on his shoulder and taking a moment to relish in the fact that you’d taken him by surprise.

“I want to take you out tonight - a congratulations of sorts,” you said as you leaned back far enough to see his cheeks flush a flattering peachy color.

“Really?”

“Only if you want to.” You paired your sentence with a casual shrug.

He flashed you a pleased smile. “Of course I want to. I’d love that,” he agreed.

You let him pick the place, and in the end, he landed on a hole-in-the-wall diner that he swore was the absolute best place to get pancakes in the middle of the night. Even though it was close to nine, you both sipped on coffee as you waited for your order.

“I can’t believe it’s over,” he said as you watched his fingers idly rub across the ceramic mug in his hands. “There was so much lead-up and drama that it feels weird for it all to be behind me.”

“It was really incredible, Josh. I honestly can’t believe that you pulled it off with all that went wrong.”

He looked up at you through his fan of lashes. He looked tired, but not uncomfortably so - just enough that you knew he worked his ass off.

“We pulled it off. I could have never done it without you,” he stated, charmingly earnest as always.

You huffed a humorless laugh. “That’s not true - If I hadn’t moved in, you’d never have lost your assistant in the first place.”

His expression melted away until his face was blank. “I-”

He paused, visibly trying to figure out how he wanted to word the next line out of his mouth. “That wasn’t your fault. I didn’t really know what was happening until it was too late to change it.”

“I know, I just. I’m happy that it ended up this way, I just wish it hadn’t almost derailed your whole production.” You could feel your features slip into something mournful, making him frown.

He was quiet for a moment before speaking again. “How do you even know about that?”

You hummed. “Kate told me. Jake told her.”

He glared off into the distance, but on him, the look was completely unthreatening. It was so out of place that it made you giggle.

“I’m not sure I like how close they are,” he grumbled through a smile he couldn’t hold back.

“Yeah, I hear you. I went to her house this morning to rummage for this dress-”

He cut you off, eyes raking over your form. “You look amazing, by the way.”

You gave him a pointed look and a little eye roll, though you had to admit you were flattered.

“Yes, well, Jake was at her house this morning. Petting her dog.”

His eyebrows lifted, lashes blinking a few times in surprise. After a moment, he cleared his throat and spoke again. “Well. I suppose you got what you wanted then, right?”

The irritation that was evident on your features was unwarranted - you knew that in your heart, but it didn’t stop you from letting out a childish huff.

“Yeah, but I didn’t think you and I would be-”

You cut yourself off just as his eyes flicked up at you over the rim of his mug.

“You and I would be what?” he asked coyly. You took a moment to admire the fact that his cheeks and the bridge of his nose were still a bit tanned despite it now being well into winter. A little like a bronze statue.

“I didn’t think you and I would be...a thing,” you finished simply, keeping your tone light.

He quirked an eyebrow at you, all too suspicious for your liking. “No?”

A puzzled look flashed across your face. “No,” you agreed. “Why? What does that mean?”

He took a too-long sip of coffee, holding your eyes just to fuck with you - you were sure. He cheekily bit his bottom lip as he figured out how to word what he wanted to say. “Nothing really,” he assured, though you were unconvinced.

You were going to press the topic further, but your thought was cut short when the server showed up with a tray of your food and another carafe of hot coffee. He made light conversation with Josh as he filled both of your mugs near to the brim, and you watched the steam rise off of it as you pondered which flavored syrup you’d drown your pancakes in.

The sound of the little metal cup of creamer being slid across the tabletop toward you got your attention, and your eyes lingered on Josh’s hand as his fingers brushed past yours.

“Cream, babe?” he inquired, though he was well aware of exactly how you took your coffee.

Your heart skipped a beat as you processed what he’d said. That was the second time he’d called you that in the months you’d known him, and it had the same effect on you this time that it had the last time. You met his eyes, catching his fingers with yours for just a brief second, forcing a mischievous smile to his lips.

You poured a bit of cream into your coffee and stirred it until it was a medium brown.

“You can’t help yourself, can you?” you asked fondly and watched him bite his bottom lip absently to try and keep his smile from stretching into a grin.

“Help myself from what?” His tone was cheeky, informing you that he knew exactly what you were talking about. It was evident that the two of you were playing a game now - something light and coy. You paused to take a bite or two of your food, happy enough to leave him in suspense for a moment longer.

“Calling me that.”

He hummed, low in his throat. “Is that not alright?”

“Doesn’t it seem a bit out of place?” You watched as he reached across the table to stab at a piece of your pancake, bringing it to his mouth and chewing it before giving his answer.

“Why would it? Are we not on a date right now?”

A look of genuine shock flashed across your features. Not caring how rude it was, you asked through a mouth full of food, “Are we?”

There was a long pause in the conversation as he ate, and you wondered for a moment if you had upset him until he looked back up at you. He was biting back a smile as he leaned back in his seat.

“Back before the musical, you were complaining about the cold - do you remember?”

You frowned in concentration as you searched your brain. “Which time? I pretty frequently complain about the temperature here.”

He breathed a laugh. “Yeah, you do. I thought you were going to freeze to death at first. But there was something you said that glued itself to my frontal lobe.”

You gave him a questioning look, prompting him to continue.

“You said, ‘if we move away from here, can we move somewhere warm?’.” He just held your eyes for a moment as your heart beat suddenly inched toward erratic. “We.”

You took a deep breath, suddenly feeling a little jittery and took another bite of pancake before you could say something truly stupid.

After a moment of silence to let you process, he spoke again. “So, I think maybe you knew we would end up being a ‘thing’, right?”

“I don’t know a whole lot, Josh,” you admitted, reaching out and placing your hand on his and lightly running your fingers over his skin. “But, I do know that since the moment I met you, I wanted to be close with you. You’re magnetic. I truly think you could have anyone you wanted if they listened to you talk - just once.”

Despite having been the one to start the whole conversation, a peachy pink tint surfaced across his cheeks and nose at the compliment.

Clearly not interested in continuing such an intimate conversation at a busy diner, he placed his palm flat on the table and asked, “Are you ready to get out of here? I think if I drink any more coffee my heart might give out.”

“You could just switch to decaf,” you suggested, smirking at him as he squinted back at you like you had personally insulted him.

He stood and leaned across the table until his face was only six inches or so from yours. “I’d rather die, thank you.”

#brightest blue fic #Greta Van Fleet #greta van fleet fic #greta van fleet fan fiction #josh x reader #joshxreader #josh kiszka

233 notes · View notes

oh-boy-me · 3 years

Note

I just read both the australia and museum post and the chaos levels are top tier, but like imagine the chaos that ensues if lord diavolo discovers about amusment parks and immediately just buys tickets to disneyland. Lucifer is basically the dad trying not to loose his children(lord diavolo included). Lord diavolo wanting to ride a loopy rollercoaster and just having the time of his life! (Also I highkey see diavolo ordering lucifer to make a disneyland in devildom tbh) Also mouse ear headbands!

This..... this took forever

Hey there anon! Sorry it took literally a year to answer this! If you’re still into Obey Me, I hope this was a pleasant surprise.

Also for the first time ever a scenario post is being put under the cut for length purposes. This scenario is 2.6k words Jesus

Please note that the last time I went to Disney was in 2015, so anything that’s newer than that is taken from the extensive reading of Disney advice blogs I read in preparation for this post. Anything older than that is likely from experience.

Also, I tried my best to keep this spoiler free for the attractions that can be affected by it.

So the Devildom DOES have the concept of amusement parks. I slept on this ask for so long that we’ve learned about Devil’s Coast. It seems to be more akin to a smaller-scale theme park, though. Small-ish. I’m used to NYC idk what constitutes as small.

Something like Disney World is on such a larger scale!! When Diavolo heard about that, he knew they had to go.

They are going to Disney World in Orlando because it’s the only one I’ve been to.

Lucifer is REALLY getting tired of these field trips, but there would be no weird animals, and there would be no sobering lessons on global extinction events at a family-friendly amusement park. He. He can handle this.

Solomon has actually been banned from all Walt Disney theme parks. We’re talking blacklist-level banned. He’s barred from ever entering any Disney park ever again. However, this was back in 1976, so this must be, like, his son or something, right? There’s no way this is the same guy. Thought the security guard who let him in.

What did Solomon do to get banned? When asked, he only gave a curious hum. “Yeah, I wonder.”

The place is split into four parks, so they’ll spend one day in each.

Barbatos continued to flex his power as the only one in the group with a brain cell, being sure to get them all fast passes. He even set time back just for the passes while they were booking the rides they wanted to cut the lines for, so if they don’t get used he’s going to be very snippy.

Also for convenience sake this is taking place in an AU where everything is the same but COVID doesn’t exist to shut down some rides and attractions.

Day 1: Hollywood Studios

MC and Simeon basically have to coerce Lucifer into letting everyone run free instead of making them all line up with a walking rope all day. He relents on the condition that everyone checks in periodically so he can at least know they haven’t killed anyone.

Nobody will check in except for maybe Beelzebub and those at Purgatory Hall.

Levi immediately gathered his fellow Star Wars fans (which basically meant calling over Mammon Belphie and Asmo and then pulling in two unsuspecting people suddenly given the title of “Star Wars fan”), and made a beeline for Galaxy’s Edge. There’s a LOT to do there and damn it if he wasn’t going to hit all of it.

First up for their group is the interactive Millennium Falcon Smuggler’s Run. They fail the mission. Levi’s pretty pissed, but everyone agrees that it was fun nonetheless. They really felt like they were doing a mission in the Falcon! Plus, the gameplay element was totally up the alley of most of this group. Simeon does feel a little nauseous from Luke’s jerky steering, though.

Did you know that Diavolo loves Toy Story? He does. He’s very much enjoying the Slinky roller coaster with Barbatos.

Barbatos would rather be spending time at the shows and performances, but oh no god forbid we don’t get an autograph from Doc McStuffins. Lucifer please come find him and save him.

Lucifer somehow wandered into the Frozen Sing-Along Celebration. He wants out. Barbatos please come find him and save him.

In general, Lucifer isn’t a fan of these sorts of places, so honestly he’s just hiding from the others and waiting for today to be over. Barbatos told him that there are parks that don’t revolve around rides and characters, and he’s holding out for those.

Luckily for them Diavolo wants to do LITERALLY everything, and that does include the shows, so Barbatos and Lucifer can have at least some fun today

Levi, Asmo, and Beel are about to start their relay for getting character autographs when Satan shows up out of nowhere and starts dragging everyone over to the Tower of Terror. Solomon bars all attempts to flee on a certain Avatar of Greed’s side.

The line to the Tower is so long, and honestly? Satan feels like the ride didn’t live up to the literal hour they waited to get on. Like yeah it was fun, but way too short.

He voices those thoughts, and Levi, who Satan knows is afraid of heights, is pretty fucking livid and drags him to Rock n Rollercoaster as revenge. Satan hates roller coasters.

As for the others, Asmo and Luke have a lot of fun on the thrill rides. Mammon and Simeon do not. Beel is a little spooked by them but still manages to have fun, while Belphie and Solomon think they’re alright.

Eventually, Simeon gets too sick to move, and they assign him to Luke. They say it’s because he’s too short to ride some of the rides (even though he’s literally not, screw you guys.)

Barbatos messes with time a lil bit so they can enjoy the Fantasmic Show and Fireworks to wrap the day up.

Levi is very jealous of Diavolo’s Doc McStuffins autograph. Somehow Asmo has Buzz Lightyear’s number.

Day 2: Animal Kingdom

Satan is vibrating

He literally instantly sprints to the Kilimanjaro Safari. And good for him; that’s something best done while the sun isn’t high up. The whole gang actually agrees to check that one out, and while Satan isn’t thrilled to be within 50 feet of Lucifer, he’s glad Simeon is there because he remembers how his presence lured animals out in Australia.

Simeon also finds himself pulled along the trails by Satan and parents watch in horror as a gorilla gives him a friendly pat on the back.

If you didn’t know, Animal Kingdom is divided into the two continents of Asia and Africa, as well as the secret eighth continent Avatar (2009). Diavolo heard great things about the Flight of Passage ride, but he totally forgot to tell Barbatos about it, so they’re stuck on a three hour wait line now.

Levi takes Luke on the Everest roller coaster because Simeon saw it in the distance and looked like he was about to cry. Levi wouldn’t shut up about how the yeti effect needs to be fixed and Solomon had to explain that the effect literally couldn’t support itself.

Simeon, having escaped a roller coaster for the first and only time on this trip, grabs lunch with Lucifer and Solomon and they enjoy the Lion King performance together. Solomon’s the only one of them who’s seen the movie, but the others still found it fun. Solomon keeps making up random plot points that don’t exist, though. Remember when Simba was captured by pirates?

Mammon found the Bugs Life show very scary. Normally Asmo would laugh at him, but he’s afraid of any bug he’s never seen before and at least Mammon was afraid of the things that were supposed to get you. They agree that bugs are still not their friends.

Satan has many things to say about the Dinosaur ride and most of them aren’t good. Belphie thought it was pretty ok, though. Lucifer can’t believe there was a sobering lesson on a global extinction event at this family-friendly amusement park.

Diavolo is still in line. Barbatos abandons him. He accompanies Luke to the kiddie fossil thing and actually finds it more tolerable. Oh yeah that’s the other secret ninth continent, Dinoland.

Beel and Belphie spend most of the day together at the various petting zoos. Belphie comes back knowing more than he ever wanted to about conservation. He thought Rafiki’s Planet Watch was going to be about watching other planets, not this one!

Asmo gets very interested in the costumes of the performers, as well as the parrots in the bird show. He could probably make some really colorful designs with those as inspiration.

Nearby, Mammon runs into Kevin and squawks in surprise. The zoo staff spend the next two hours trying to find the bird that escaped.

Diavolo says the ride was worth it, don’t worry.

Honestly this park has a lot of stuff that wouldn’t translate well to a funny scenario post so this part might be a little short compared to the others. I can only talk about a zoo for so long.

Anyone remember the Honey I Shrunk the Kids 4D show? Apparently it closed in 2016 to make room for more Star Wars stuff.

Anyway, at the center of it all there’s the Tree of Life, which is really pretty all day. Lucifer is thrilled to have a decently obvious meet-up place, too. They get to catch the brief awakening show at night.

They’re very bummed to learn the Rivers of Light show isn’t happening anymore, so Levi pulls it up on his phone so they can watch it in spirit.

Then Satan learns about the Wilderness Explorers badges and the others spend the rest of the time preventing too much collateral damage over the fact that nobody told him.

Day 3: Epcot

Finally, Lucifer thinks. Boo, Luke thinks.

Beel didn’t expect this park to be that interesting to him (he’s much more into the wonder and immersion of Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom), but then he learned about the restaurants. China, Norway, France, Mexico, Germany, Morocco, Italy, Japan, Canada--Canada? Huh. Canada. There’s so many different restaurants from so many cuisines to try, and yeah he knows that it’s definitely not the same as going to the place and it’s overpriced (sorry Lucifer), but it’s all right there. He makes certain to take MC on a deluxe Epcot restaurant tour.

Oh yeah MC. That’s the first time we’ve heard from them in a while. They’re doing whatever you want them to I guess.

Levi buys so much from the Japanese gift shops that he has to go back to the hotel for a bit to drop his bags off.

Satan and Diavolo aren’t much better, but their stashes are more varied.

Also, Diavolo found Mouse Gear, and bought everyone a pair of ears. Lucifer says that everyone has to keep them on because it’s what Lord Diavolo wants, but he is by far the most upset about them. Mammon snaps a picture and Lucifer throws his DDD into the lake.

Asmo and Belphie decide they’re gonna take it easy this day, and they nab Solomon and Barbatos for some exhibition hopping.

Luke finds Mission Space and please father no Simeon thought he was safe he thought he was safe here no please

Aside from that, though, Luke honestly finds this part of the park boring. He’d have been more interested in these attractions elsewhere, but as a kid he’s in Disney for roller coasters and Mickey Mouse.

Simeon is very grateful that Luke doesn’t have much that he wants to do, because it means that he can enjoy the Gran Fiesta and Living with the Land boat rides and have a single moment where he doesn’t feel like he’s about to be sick. He’s not even afraid of the rides; he just gets motion sick easily.

Asmo makes sure to see the Chinese acrobat show, and Mammon catches that with the show-hopping gang since there isn’t much he wants to do here either.

Epcot has alcohol and Solomon hasn’t been able to drink in ages so he really wants to spend some time doing that with MC. No demons allowed, thank you very much. He doesn’t hold his liquor as well as he’d like you to believe, but he just gets really talkative when drunk so it’s ok.

Epcot is a nice day to take a breather and Lucifer and Barbatos definitely needed a breather before tomorrow.

Day 4: Magic Kingdom

This is the day Diavolo has been waiting for. The crème de la crop, the best park for kids and kids in a future king of the Devildom’s body.

Also I feel like now is a good time to mention that this probably isn’t a reasonable order of events because I don’t remember the map layout of these places idk Disney city planning

This time. This time, Levi, Asmo and Beel are gonna get those autographs, dammit. Levi doesn’t even know who half of these characters are but hell if he’s not getting their autograph.

Mammon actually really loves the mascots too, but he’s embarrassed about it so he’ll only try to get one if he can use the guise of MC wanting one. MC, please help him out

Belphie isn’t big on rides, but he does have a soft spot for the more retro ones like Dumbo and Seven Dwarves. And like I said before, Beel loves Magic Kingdom for its wonder. So Belphie is perfectly happy being led (read: piggybacked) around by Beel today, because their favorite attractions match up pretty well here.

Actually, Beel’s favorite Disney movie is Lilo and Stitch, but. RIP Stitch’s Great Escape ride 2004-2018

Diavolo and Lucifer take a moment to enjoy the Carousel of Progress, and they reflect on how much the Human World is always changing and how much about it they still don’t know. It really does make them think, like. Grandma found the VR games at Christmas! The Devildom doesn’t have grandmas!

Mammon is terrified of the Haunted Mansion ride, and Satan has literally never felt so much schadenfreude in his life.

Mammon’s afraid of most rides to be fair, but he likes water rides, so Levi eventually takes pity on him and they go on Splash Mountain together more than once.

The Peter Pan ride broke down

Luke wanted to go on Space Mountain and Simeon was the only one around, so. RIP Simeon ????-2021

Diavolo was That Guy. If you know, you know.

Beel accidentally spun the teacups way too fast. Not even Solomon got out of that one unscathed.

Following that, Solomon manages to drag Barbatos onto the Jungle Cruise while Lucifer is busy. What is Lucifer busy with? Riding the Buzz Lightyear shooting ride over and over until he hits every single target and gets a perfect score at a Disney ride, something that is normal to want and possible to achieve. Anyway, Barbatos finds it really charming and Solomon finds it a nice break that he didn’t know he needed.

While looking for a food place that sells water for a reasonable price, a kid runs up to Asmo asking for a picture and autograph. He’s kind of confused, but goes along with it to make the kid happy.

Turns out, Asmo’s so naturally charming that they mistook him for a prince. Other groups see that family and follow suit. Mammon eventually catches wind of it and shows up to charge a fee. The parents are pretty sure Disney doesn’t charge fees like that, but their kids really want a pic with Asmo so they hand over the two bucks. (“Oh it’s so low” come on Mammon’s not a dick to children.)

And that’s the story of how Mammon and Asmo ended up in Disney Jail. You’re very much not allowed to pretend to be a cast member and then charge money for it. Lucifer has to bail them out as their “guardian,” and as punishment they aren’t allowed to opt out of It’s a Small World.

Small World isn’t that bad imho, and those like Diavolo, Satan, Simeon, and Levi would like it a lot. But Lucifer has been playing parent all day, Belphie does not like the noise, and Solomon has literally been on this ride at least fifty times. Very mixed feelings on this one, but it feels fitting to end with that and a fireworks show.

All in all though this wasn’t the worst trip Lucifer’s been on (cue everyone applauding for some reason).

Barbatos by far had the least fun of them all because for four days he was stuck in a park where the mascot is a fucking rodent and he wasn’t allowed to annihilate Mickey Mouse where he stood

“Disneyland Devildom when” “Lord Diavolo, no”

Masterlist

#obey me #obey me headcanons #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me diavolo #obey me barbatos #obey me luke #obey me simeon #obey me solomon #my favorite park is def epcot and my favorite ride is def splash mountain #also my sister helped me out by reminding me about animal kingdom but most of her photos were of random birds

122 notes · View notes