#there are probably cartoon hearts over her head can you see them

[aphrogeneias]

restless — one-shot

pairing: eddie munson x fem!reader

summary: you and eddie are having a lazy day, but you manage to find a way to ease his restlessness.

word count: 1.2k

warnings: fluff and smut (+18), making out, dry humping, grinding (but no penetration), they're both sickenly in love

author's note: i'll write clingy eddie or i'll write nothing at all. thank you for reading <3

"You're alright in there, baby?"

Your voice drips with sweet tenderness. Hearing yourself like that would perhaps make you cringe a while ago. Now, though, that is just how you sound around the boy that is currently hiding himself inside your t-shirt.

"Uh-huh."

His cheek is squished to your bare skin, foregoing anything under your clothes to avoid more heat. The feeling of his lips lightly brushing it makes you giggle, running your hand over his head, where you can still feel his wild hair under the fabric.

You've been reading in Eddie's bed all afternoon, and he started the day doing just the same, both of you sitting side by side, backs to his pillows, each reading a book of your own. At some point, he grew restless and left the bedroom, not before leaving a kiss on your forehead, so as to not disturb your reading.

He'd been out a while now. You figured he was working on painting the new miniatures he was going to gift Erica since her birthday was soon, and he was dead set on finishing them this week, and was probably using the kitchen table as his work station. It was a matter of time until he grew restless again, though.

That restlessness was what brought him back to you.

"Did you get bored out there?"

Eddie shakes his head no, still not moving from his hiding place. "Jus' missed you."

"I was just a room away from you." You pretend to scold, and even though he can't see it, there's a grin that is only reserved from him growing on your face. It's his turn to scoff, then, and he suddenly lifts your shirt from above him, and from your chest altogether, leaving little kisses all over your torso, but avoiding where he knows you crave his mouth the most. You're almost matching now, Eddie having lost his own shirt hours ago.

"A fucking travesty, if you ask me."

Silly, that's what this love drove you. You stare at him through half lidded eyes, if you were a cartoon there would surely be hearts drawn all over them, as he lifted himself up, capturing your lips in a slow kiss. The two of you sigh and grunt into each other's mouths, moaning softly when hands met bare skin, pulling and squeezing all the right places. 

His hands met your waist, ran over your tummy, and up to your breasts, palming them lightly, not quite the way you were expecting. On the other hand, you grabbed wherever you could get your hands on — his shoulders, his back, pulling him closer and closer — huffing when he didn't budge. until he pulled away.

"Breathe. It's okay, we've got time."

The sun shines brightly outside, bathing Eddie's room in gold. Golden like the molten feeling inside you when you see his eyes from up close, a mischievous look in those deep pools of warm brown, warm like the feeling that spreads from your neck to your center, making you wiggle your hips uncomfortably. He was mocking you, but you know he's just as eager as you.

"I know, but I want you now."

You manage to distract him with your sudden bolsa move, and flip him on his back until you're on top. There's no time for him to find what to say, because you're kissing him again, this time wasting no time to sit yourself fully on top of him, your legs on each side of his narrow hips. 

The kisses you share are still slow, sensual, following the rise and fall your shared breathing, but this time he follows your lead, running his hands over your thighs, your hips, grabbing your ass and dragging it over the front of his sweatpants, where you can feel his desire growing — you've known all day that he wasn't wearing any underwear, but feeling it was an entirely different thing. You bite his lower lip, and your eyes are still closed but you can feel his smile.

"What do you want, sweetheart?"

"Wanna make us feel good." You make your point by rolling your hips once again, applying more pressure. There's not much separating your already drenched core from his erection, only a pair of old sleep shorts and equally old underwear, and you sigh from the delicious drag of your pussy over the soft material of his pants. 

"Then do it. I'm all yours, baby."

You double down your efforts, grinding on him in earnest now. Your kisses are faster now, but mostly you just pant and breathe into each other's mouths, moaning when you reach a particularly good spot. There's a growing wet patch in your shorts, transfering to Eddie's gray pants, and you can almost hear how wet you are. His hands only leave your hips to travel up into your loose t-shirt, grabbing your tits and pulling your nipples, just rough enough to make you whine into his lips.

Deciding you need to feel more of him, you lift yourself up, quickly removing your shorts and panties at the same time, and mounting him again.

"That's it. Good girl. That's my good fucking girl." Eddie is breathing heavily now, his voice deeper. You're the one on top, but you still melt at his praise, hanging on to his every word. "You're making such a mess for me, fuck."

It's worse when you can feel him, thick and warm under you, every inch of him with each drag of your pussy, the precum leaking from him staining his pants as well. A mixture of both of you making you slide back and forth with ease, the wave growing inside of you higher and higher, making you clench around nothing as you seek your release wildly, riding him with fervor. 

In a delirious search for that peak, you just pull his pants down, eagerly looking to feel his bare cock as you cum. His eyes bulge, and the moan he lets out is enough to almost take you there, a string of curses leaving his pretty pink lips, but all it takes are a couple more hip thrusts, your clit catching right at the pulsing head of his cock, making the two of you moan loudly, and your orgasm crash all over you.

Eddie doesn't take long to follow, reaching his own high, and cumming all over his stomach.

"Fuck. You're too much."

You don't have the energy to laugh as you roll from him, laying on your side, and reaching out to brush some stray strands that fell on his face. His eyes are closed, and you take a moment to admire him in the afterglow. Cheeks flushed, full lips agape, sweat gathering on his hot skin.

"Too much in love with you."

Eddie opens his eyes only to roll them, but the dimpled, lazy smile he gives you says otherwise. Ignoring the wet, sticky mess that's cooling between you, he leans over and kisses you. You keep kissing like that, like you have all the time in the world, until you're ready to make a new mess.

[madschiavelique]

dude imagine Miguel overhearing you talk to your friends about all the things you’d let him do to you in the most vile ways possible. like you’re just talking with your homies about how you’d have to get pried off of his dick if he let you smash or that you can’t hear him talk over how loud his ass looks in his jeans or whatever I dunno I think it’s amusing lmao

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH i just had to write a lil smth anon<33

summary : you talk about how you're down bad for miguel to your friends, and he hears it content warnings : mentions of SMUT (18+) minors dni, just reader being down bad for Miguel, no use of Y/N word count : 660 tag list : @fandom-ash

“Honestly, I’d suck him like a watermelon through a straw”

You were gathered in the cafeteria, not many people left, and Miguel was seated at a table not far from where you and your friends were seated. Whatever he was thinking about was soon replaced by listening to your conversation as soon as this sentence was uttered by you.

"Your mouth couldn't handle the size of him," sneered one of your friends to the others. "You'd dislocate your jaw."

"Some sacrifices are worth making," you sighed thoughtfully, your chin resting on your hand. You let out an almost childish whimper, "what I'd give to just impale myself on him!"

"Lord, you'd never let him leave your body, would you?" laughed another friend.

"Never!" you confirmed as you straightened up, "Miguel is so perfect... did you ever see how he walked? How his ass is round and perfect and to die for?!" your voice almost broke as your hands mimed grabbing something and kneading.

Miguel's ears began to heat up and he placed his hand over his mouth as he tried to keep his composure.

"What about his back? Oh..." you say, letting your head fall back, "I'd leave such beautiful nail marks on it."

"Wow, your marks?" laughed one as she reached for her drink.

"Pantone #996767, google it," you sigh.

"I think it's foam I'm seeing at the corners of your lips, you rabid slut," sneered one of them.

"But imagine, his pecs, touching them, laying my head on them, feeling them against my back as he pulls my hair..."

See when cartoon characters have hearts in their eyes? It was pretty close to what you looked like. And surprisingly, Miguel was starting to feel cramped in his pants.

"You're down bad," breathed one of your friends.

"I'd let him break me, I'll be his toy, he can do whatever he sees fit with me and I'll say thank you."

"Even bite you?" inquired another, well aware of the immobilizing properties of his venom.

"Especially bite me." you asserted with a burst of voice that was half laugh and half sigh.

"Would you have the courage to say all that to his face?"

"No way, he'd look at me like an alien."

"You're pretty close to looking like one at that," laughed one of the girls.

You continued to laugh, then when your meal was finished, you left the cafeteria. A few hours later in the afternoon, Miguel called you to his office. You were probably expecting him to send you to a dimension to catch an anomaly, or try to bring in a new Spider-Man.

But instead, as you walked up to him at a respectable distance for a boss and his employee, he asked you a simple question:

"Did you mean it?"

The question confused you.

"What?"

He turned to you, stepping forward a little more, one step at a time. His gaze seemed almost amused, but your habit of polite distance made you step back.

"Everything you said about me to your friends earlier in the cafeteria," your back halted against a wall as he approached again, coming very close to you, "did you mean it?"

Your heart began to pound in your chest as your cheeks heated up.

"Well?" he asked, towering over you as he put his hand next to your head against the wall, coming closer until only a few inches separated you. "I'd be very disappointed if all this were just words thrown into the air."

You swallow, your eyes falling ineluctably on his lips as you moisten yours, your gaze returning to his.

"Yes, I meant it."

His lip stretches to the side, his smile revealing his pointed fang.

"Lyla, status of the doors." he asked, his free hand coming down along your waist.

"Locked." she replied.

His hand slid up to grip your buttock, leaning in until his lips whispered against your ear:

"I hope you keep your word."

[kissitbttr]

hiii, can we see frat!Miguel when he first met muñeca and started crushing on her. I'll love to see how he was always talking about with his brothers. thank you babess

truth be told, miguel never exactly noticed you until you came to one of the fraternities party. you are not an introvert but not exactly a social butterfly either.

he did hear a thing or two about you through beck. since his frat brother is having this weird on and off situationship with a girl named gloria and she’s friends with you. every time the two come over, gloria would mention a lot of things about you to beck and quite hoping that miguel would listen. she discreetly tries to hook you up with him.

not that miguel actually looked for you, he was fooling around with dana at that time. so he may not actually cared about her that much, but he’s not a fucking asshole that loves to play around with other girls when he himself already dating someone.

though the relationship did end shortly after. not exactly surprising.

but something changed in him when he sees you for the first time. or more like—what he saw that one priceless moment during his party and didn’t realize it was you.

“i think i’m in love” miguel mutters softly, pupils dilating as he watched you sucker punched a guy who wouldn’t stop bothering you. earning a few collective gasps from the crowd,

“who?”

“that girl” miguel points when beck comes closer, his eyes are locked in on your figure, still trying to get the guy off your back and it makes miguel’s lips twitch into a sense of proud smile. “damn. she’s got a good strength”

beck looks over at his friend with a smirk. he’s not that good at reading people, but if miguel was ever a cartoon character. there would be hearts drawn on his eyes when he continues to stare at you,

“that’s y/n”

and miguel never whips his head so fast that he’d probably get a whiplash. “you fucking with me? that’s y/n?!”

from that moment on, he cannot stop thinking about you.

since his relationship with dana ended shortly after, miguel finds himself trying to dig into a pieces of small informations about you through gloria and beck. even going around asking people in his class if the knew you.

“she’s in the cheerleading team. you can see her during thursday practice”

it’s what they say. and it confuses the hell out of him.

why haven’t he seen much about you if you’re in the cheerleading team then? fuck. where has he been all this time? not paying much more attention that’s for damn sure.

“she is so dreamy…” miguel sighs, eyeing you through the window glass where he can see you in your practice uniform. laughing with your friends. “wonder if i could make her laugh like that”

carlos and beck share a glance, one of them shrugging their shoulders.

“you know you’ve been doing this shit for weeks now. why don’t you just go and talk to her?” beck advises,

“say that shit like it’s easy, mano” he mutters out, then his eyes wander a bit lower to your thick thighs and he wanted nothing more than for you to put him in a headlock. “she’s a woman—a fine ass woman, and i’m me” he sighs, resting his chin upon the open palm,

carlos shoots beck a ‘what the fuck was that?!’ look and beck could only chuckle,

“does that mean we’re still going to hear you yapping about how in love you are with this chick back at the house since you’re too much of a pussy to ask her out on a date?” carlos questions,

and miguel is quick to push him off the chair

—

extras:

“have you seen y/n at the game today? fuuuckkk, she looks so damn cute”

“hey beck, ask gloria if y/n is looking for a date. i’m single, i promise! pleasepleasepleaseplease—“

“do you guys think if i wear this one she’d finally look my way? wait no— scratch that I don’t want her to think i’m dressing up for her, wait—maybe i do”

“I don’t think i have ever seen a girl look that good wearing a sundress. do you? nope! you don’t!”

“okay fess up! which one of you told y/n bad things about me?! SHE LOOKED AT ME WITH DISGUST THIS MORNING!”

it has been going on for weeks, making his friends get gradually tired of his constant talks about you. because that’s all he ever talks about when he’s at the frat house. when one tries to get him to talk about something else, he would then shift it back to you,

and it makes them love to gossip about him when he’s not around,

“jesus, beck! you had to tell him her name, hadn’t you? now we gotta deal with this puppy love shit!”

“what?! how is this my fault! he’s the one who’s fucking whipped”

“o’hara isn’t fucking stopping and i am this close to beating his ass!”

“can you or your girl just hook him up with this chick?!”

“don’t tell him this or he’ll cry but— y/n isn’t interested” beck winces making the rest groan

“i swear if i hear her name or muñeca falls off that motherfucker’s mouth one more time, i am going to lose it”

[poge-life]

𝟚𝟘 ℚ𝕦𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕄𝕋𝕍

So, this is a little bit different than the other interview fics I’ve done. Drew isn’t in this one, it’s more of how someone playing the character I created would answer the questions asked. But I did have it to where they are dating so he is mentioned quite a bit. This is based off the interview Drew did for MTV, so go on and check that out!

“Hi, guys. I’m (y/n) (l/n) and I’m doing 20 questions for 2023 MTV.”

‘Hardest Outer Banks spoiler you’ve had to keep?’

“Either that Big John is still alive or that Rafe and Avery break up this season.” You spoke

‘If you were to make a fan page for someone, who would it be?’

“Madelyn Cline. I am her biggest fan and love her with all my whole heart,” you laughed, leaning back in the chair, “my username would be ‘maddyclinemarryme’.”

‘Favorite line from the show?’

“Keep running that mouth and see if don’t come knockin’ that J-Crew lookin’ ass out’

You let out a laugh, covering your mouth with your hand before taking a deep breath, “I’m sorry but that whole scene between Rafe and Barry is on repeat in my head all the time. Just the dynamic between them is amazing and cracks me up.”

‘What was your first impression of Drew when you two met?’

You couldn’t help but smile at the mention of your boyfriend. It seemed like a lifetime ago when you two met. You were blown away by him at the table read and how well he could just easily switch over to a character like Rafe.

“It’s cheesy but I fell for him at the table read. I was just so blown away by him and how he could get so into a character like Rafe without being anything like him,” You smiled, “We were both kind of shy around each other but we sucked it up and spent a lot of time together considering we had most of our scenes together.”

“By the end of filming, we felt like we had known each other for years.”

‘Have you ever had a crush on an animated character?’

There was absolutely no hesitation from you as soon as you answered, “Danny Phantom. He was the first character I had seen that set the tone of what kind of guys I would have a thing for.”

‘Drew hesitated with his answer.’

You looked over to one of the producers as you raised your eyebrows, “Who’d he say?”

‘Lola Bunny’

You rolled your eyes as you tapped the microphone against your lips, “Him and any other guy his age. I will say, Lola was like the cultural reset for cartoon women.”

‘Who is an artist you’ve had on repeat?’

“T-Swift. Or Adele. My first ever CD was Taylor’s debut album and I was in love with her. Adele just knows how to write music that knows just where to hit you and gets me all emotional.”

This next one was a voice message they had chosen. They had asked fans to send in any kind of questions they wanted and they would pick the best ones.

‘You recently said in an interview that your guilty pleasure was ‘America’s Next Top Model’, who was your favorite winner?’

“Ugh, I know there’s so much controversy about ANTM but I can't help but love the show. My sisters and I would sit there and watch it all the time. We lived for the drama. My favorite winner would probably be… Whitney from season 10. She was the first ever plus size girl to ever make it to the end. She’s also the only plus size model to ever win the show and that kind of gave me a sense of…security, I guess? That you don’t have to be a stick or have the same body type as everyone to be a model.”

‘What did you think of Rafe’s buzz cut?’

You excitedly sat up in your seat as you held out your hand, “Can I just point out the fact that Rafe hasn’t had the same hair cut in any season?”

“But I was surprised at how well that played out for Drew because he was practically shitting himself because he thought Jonas, our showrunner, was gonna get upset with him but he actually wanted Rafe to have buzzed hair this season. I was actually a major fan of the buzzed look.”

“Then again, I’m a little biased because he’s my boyfriend but he always looks good.” You shrugged, leaning back in the chair as the producers laughed at your words, “He’s sex on legs.”

‘What’s your favorite line from season 3?’

“ ‘What do you need from me to bring down Rafe?’ I think that says enough.”

‘What would be your ‘most likely’

“Most likely to be napping. It doesn’t matter where I am or what we’re doing. I will find somewhere to take a nap.”

They had pulled up some clips from the premiere of season 3 from some of the questions they asked and it was Madison, “ (Y/N), who has the best music taste out of our friend group and why is it me?”

You let out a laugh as you looked back over at the camera, agreeing with her, “Madison does have the best. Only because she and I have the same music taste so I’m always vibin’ when I’m with her.”

‘What is your go-to karaoke song?’

“Drew always makes me sing ‘Tequila’ with him. He says it’s because it’s only one word throughout the whole thing,” You explained, “Drew likes to commit to things but finds the easiest way to do it.”

‘What is your irrational fear?’

You shuddered as you spoke, “Spiders. I am terrified of them. Drew kills all the spiders in our house. It’s ironic because I have a spider-web tattooed on my shoulder. But do not ask me to do anything with a spider or else I will cry.”

‘If Avery had a theme song, what would it be?’

You thought about it for a second, tilting your head in thought, “Happier than ever by Billie Eilish. Especially for this season. This season really shows that Avery is struggling to hold onto her relationship with Rafe and starts to realize he isn’t the same guy he was when they first got together.”

‘If you had to get a tattoo right now, what would it be?’

You let out a puff of air as you leaned back in the chair, “Jesus, I don’t even know what I’m getting when I set up my appointment. I’d probably get something that has to do with my dog. He’s been my best friend since I’ve had him.”

‘What’s your favorite book?’

“ ‘The Way I used to be.’ It’s the first book I ever finished in one sitting. It was a lot darker than what I was used to reading but it easily became one of my favorites. I highly recommend it but it does cover very sensitive topics, so please look into them before you read it.”

‘What is your dream theater role?’

“Oo, Satine from ‘Moulin Rouge'.’ I fell in love with her and the show the first time I watched it. Or Christine Daae from ‘Phantom’ but I cannot sing for the life of me.”

‘What would the internet be surprised to learn about you?’

“I’m a homebody. I prefer staying in over going out. Probably watching ‘Degrassi’ or ‘Lord of the rings.”

‘Favorite TV show you’ve recently watched?’

“The walking dead,” you answered, “I stopped watching it after Rick left because I was tired of getting my feelings hurt by that show every 5 minutes. But I got back into it after the last season came out.”

“I have the game on my iPad and I’m constantly playing it.”

‘What do you think of everyone shipping Rafe and Barry?’

You let out a laugh, throwing your head back before looking back at the camera, “Oh, lord. I find it hilarious. Drew and Nick are a dynamic duo and everyone loves them. They’re constantly sending each other fan edits people make. They love it.”

“Rafe and Barry have more chemistry than Rafe and Avery do, I think.”

“And there you have it. That was 20 questions with MTV and you guys got to know me a little bit better. Be sure to check out season 3 on Netflix and go watch some other interviews we’ve done.”

Are there any specific interviews you guys want me to do? I honestly love doing them!

[imyourbratzdoll]

𝑰𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌

part 2 of 💔broken family💔

summary - when the weekend arrives, your mental health worsens, causing you to make some decisions.

warning - angst, swearing, self-doubt, lying, drinking, mentions of suicide, bad thoughts, a shit child, a shit ex-husband, mentions of divorce.

the gif I use isn't mine, headers by me.

part 1 - part 3

Warnings and Reminders - Please do not plagiarise, copy, repost/republish, adapt, or translate any of my work on any social media platforms, apps, or third-party sites. The only platforms I post my work on are: Tumblr and Wattpad. I do not own any character of any franchise (Marvel etc.) All my works are fiction and may be dark or triggering content: READ ALL WARNINGS BEFORE PROCEEDING.

The weekend had arrived, and Jason was buzzing with excitement. He wouldn’t stop going on about seeing his dad and about all the cool and fun things they had planned. Could you really blame him, though? Ari had taken the divorce a lot better than you had, probably because he was the one that wanted it. Your son was rushing you as you got changed, barely having any time as he began to whine that you were keeping him. You couldn’t count how many times your heart had shattered on the one hand, but you had to push through because even though your son didn’t love you and would rather be with his father. You still had to be a mother… Even when you could feel your life slipping away. “Alright, honey… Let’s go to your father’s” You sigh as he runs off, with you following behind. 

The drive over was filled with talks of his father, and when you pulled up, Jason had practically thrown himself out of the car and ran to the door. You slowly follow behind, holding your breath when your eyes connect with Ari’s, gulping as he glares in return. “You’re late.” You nod, barely having anything to say, as your son flings himself at Ari, expressing his excitement for the weekend ahead. “Hey, buddy! Why don’t you go and watch some cartoons while I talk to your mother?” Jason nods, running inside, and Ari looks at you. “I need you to watch him on Sunday. I have a date.” Oh, your poor heart. Ari crosses his arms, raising a brow. “Is that going to be a problem?”

You rapidly blink the tears away and shake your head. Swallowing the lump that forms in your throat before you speak. “Uh, no… That’ll be fine, um… I hope you have a good time?” You nod and stand awkwardly as you want to say goodbye to your son before leaving. “Can you get Jason, please? I need to say goodbye.” Ari rolls his eyes, calling your son back, who looks equally annoyed that you are still there. You kneel, smiling softly at Jason. “Hey baby, I’m going to go now, and I’ll see you on Sunday, okay?” 

“Wha? I spend time with daddy on Sunday. Not you.” He crosses his little arms, glaring as he taps his tiny foot. “I go now?” You nod, bringing him into a hug before letting him go. Watching sadly as he runs off with no care, you stand, giving Ari another nod before heading to your car and hopping inside. Where did it all go wrong? You had really lost them both, Ari had found someone else, and your son would soon call them mummy. A tear fell as you started the car, and you decided to drive to your therapist's office, needing someone to listen, even if they didn’t really care. You park your car and head in, sitting down as the receptionist informs your therapist.

Maybe you should buy some drinks on your way home? Vodka might be easier to swallow than the fact that Ari wasn’t ever coming back. “Miss L/n?” You blink, looking up and giving the woman a short smile as she beckons you up. “I can see you now. Would you like to come in?” You nod, standing and heading into her office, sitting across from her on a comfy couch. “So, what is bothering you? How have you been after everything?” 

Your tongue flicks out as you wet your lips, staring down at your hands, noticing how poorly your nails have been treated as you’ve stopped taking the best care of yourself. “I, uh… I’m not doing so good.” You try to smile, looking at her. “Um, I dropped Jason off to his father again today, and….” You begin to space out, staring off and out the window, not really wanting to think about it anymore, just wanting to disappear. 

The woman across from you crossed her legs, her full attention on you and not the notebook that lies open in her lap. “And what? Did something bad happen?” She could see the pain coursing through your eyes and wished she could do much more than she was currently doing. “You can talk to me, Y/n. I’m here for you.”

You stare at her as you swallow. “Well, Ari asked or, more like, told me I had to look after our son on Sunday because he has a date.” You choke on the word, not wanting to picture the man you love with another. “I–I don’t have a problem with looking after Jason… But the thought of….” She nods, giving you a reassuring smile. “I want to disappear. They wouldn’t miss me… I feel like they are waiting for me to stop existing. I love Ari, even after all the pain he’s put me through, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get closure or move on because he never explained why he left so randomly. He said he didn’t love me anymore, but… We were together for so long. How could someone just wake up one day and stop loving that person? A–and Jason, he’s… He’s only four, but it’s like he hates me too. He’d rather be with his father. Today… He didn’t even say goodbye to me, and he just seemed so angry and upset that he was going to see me again on his father’s weekend.” You don’t know when you had started crying, not until she came over and handed you the tissues, resting a comforting hand on your shoulder. You sighed. “I just… I don’t know what to do anymore, you know? Maybe I should just give Ari full custody and not hold Jason back from seeing his father full-time.” You rubbed your hands over your face, wiping the tears away before taking a deep breath.

“Have you been taking care of yourself after the divorce?” You shake your head, looking at the woman. “So, you haven’t gone out and hung out with friends, gone to get your hair and nails done, or even had a self-care day just for you?” You shake your head again, resting your head on your hands. She stands, clapping her hands together softly. “Well, that’s what I want you to do. Look after yourself, even if that means spending time away from your son for a while and getting your ex-husband to look after him. I want you to put yourself first, Y/n. Can you do that?” You nod slowly, wondering how you could even do that. 

“What about this Sunday? What do I do?” You play with your fingers, looking at her. 

“You do what you think is best, but I’d recommend him finding someone else to look after your son.” You nod slowly, taking in her words before you stand as the session ends. “And Y/n?” You hum, “Don’t take so long to come back, okay? I don’t want to read the news one day and find out you could’ve been helped.” You nod, saying your goodbyes before walking back to your car, having a lot to think about as you drive to the liquor store, grabbing some bottles of wines, vodkas, and anything you could get your hands on before going back home, with plans of drinking your sorrows away, just for a little bit. 

When you arrived home, you poured yourself multiple glasses while lying on the couch, staring at the ceiling blankly. People never understand that you don’t realise pain until you are left with only memories and not the person you wanted to stay. At some point during your tenth? Drink, you had fallen asleep, finally getting sleep with no nightmares or false promises. You had managed to sleep for two days without meaning to, but you guessed your body needed it. You had gotten up, cleaning the house before going to the bathroom to shower. As you changed into new clothes, the doorbell rang, followed by a few sharp knocks. You remembered what today was and knew who was at the door. 

You head downstairs and open the door, the sound of your son already complaining in his little babbles. Ari was staring you down, and somehow, he still looks as good as ever, and you are jealous. Furious and saddened that you couldn’t be enough for him. “Don’ wanna go!” Jason clings to Ari, kicking his feet, and your jaw clenches. 

“Jason, let go of your father and get inside.” Both stop and stare. You raise your brow, you feel drained, and at this moment, you are considering listening to your therapist and just giving Jason over to Ari. “Inside.” Ari lets him down, and Jason begrudgingly heads inside, a pout on his face. You look up at your ex-husband, seeing him already staring down at you, a particular look in his eyes. “Did you need anything else? Want me also to cook dinner for you and your date?” You huff, slamming the door in his face before he can say anything. You turn and notice your son has wandered off. “Jason! Where are you?!” You walk up to his room and find him sitting on his bed with his arms crossed over his chest and a grumpy look on his face. “Really? You’re going to see your father in a few hours. Is spending time with me that bad?” 

“Don’ want to be here! It’s boring, no fun! Daddy place better!” You nod. “I hate you! Why did you make daddy leave!” Oh, the three words a mother always wants to hear come out of their child's mouth. Note the sarcasm.

“Okay. You sit here and throw a tantrum.” You walk away, swallowing that damn lump again as you enter the kitchen and pour yourself a glass of wine, gulping some of it down. What you didn’t know was Ari never had a date. He just wanted to know if you would grow hurt by the news and if you still love him. A few hours pass by. You’ve fed your son before sitting in front of the tv, awaiting Ari’s arrival, continuing to drown your sorrows with alcohol, but not enough that you can’t look after your son. There’s a knock at the door. “Jason! Your father’s here!” You are between a scoff and sobbing as you hear his excited footsteps, running through the house and to the front door, followed by a happy squeal when he’s met with his father. 

“Daddy! I missed you!” You stand behind and watch as they embrace each other.

“Hey, buddy. I missed you too. You ready to go?” Jason nods excitedly, but before they can leave, you stop them.

“Ari, can I speak to you before you go?” And again, you are met with annoyed looks from both of them. “It won’t take long.” You sigh as he tells Jason to go to the car and wait for him before giving you half of his attention, raising a brow and waiting for you to continue. “I thought that maybe you’d like to have Jason longer than the weekends, and it might be good for him to be with you.” You won’t admit that it hurt to say it because, really, you just wanted your family back to the way it was. But it was for the best, Jason obviously didn’t want to be around you, and Ari probably never wanted to see you again. So why get in the way?

Ari looks shocked before nodding. “Really? And you wouldn’t mind?” You shake your head, even though inside you are screaming yes, you would mind so much, and to come back to you, to love you again, but you swallow that down. “Okay, I’ll grab more of his things, then.” He walks past you, and damn. His scent still causes you to become weak in the knees, and the cologne he wears brings back memories of when you first bought it for him. You missed him, god, you missed him. Once Ari returns with his hands full, he nods and enters the car, driving off and leaving you alone in an empty house.

You close the door, sink into the couch and continue to drink. What was the point of staying sober when it hurts too much? Your mind becomes fuzzy as you watch the people on the screen move around, the alcohol hitting faster because you haven’t eaten. What was the point? It wasn’t like anyone cared if you did or not. You missed your husband, missed when he’d make sure you had eaten, made sure you were okay, and surprised you with random gifts and kisses. You missed him desperately. Why did it go wrong? What was wrong with you? What did you do? You huff, skulling your drink as you think, who cares. 

And soon, filled with those delicious fuzzy drinks, you drift off to a blissful sleep, into a happier place where your marriage didn’t fail, where your family were still together. Because in your dreams, he loves you back.

thank you for reading!

feedback and reblogs are greatly appreciated.

[shares-a-vest]

Eddie gives Steve the most obscene Valentine's Day cards. Nothing homemade, just an unassuming store-bought card that's all pink with a cheesy, 'I choo-choo choose you'-type train pun or whatever. But in it contains absolute filth written in Eddie's cramped handwriting.

What he likes doing to Steve. What he wants to whisper in Steve's ear while he does said things. What he likes Steve doing to him. Vivid descriptions of his body. Vivid descriptions of everything, really. What he's going to do to Steve before the day is out...

The first time Steve receives such a card is their first Valentine's together in 1987. He's at work, drudging through a day shift with Robin when he feels something crinkle in his back pocket as he slumps onto the wheely chair behind the counter. He furrows his brow and shuffles around to retrieve it, smirking when he sees Eddie's handwriting on the envelope.

'Steve' with a little heart next to his name.

"What is that?" Robin asks, looking up from the magazine she is sharing with Nancy, who's decided to pop in and out throughout the day as part of their romantic plans.

If you can call hanging out in a dead Family Video and stacking returns 'romantic'.

"Looks to be a card from my secret admirer," Steve replies with a shit-eating grin, as he waves around the envelope.

He pointedly chooses not to acknowledge Robin's eye roll.

He ungracefully tears the envelope as he opens it and giggles at the greeting card. It features two cartoon pears on the front, hugging and smiling against a pink background with the words, 'Quite the pearing' floating above them.

It's so goddamn silly. But he loves it.

Steve opens the card and is bombarded with Eddie's writing, scrawled all over the inside. The black pen and uneven handwriting look positively chaotic against the pink background as it slopes and narrowly misses the inside 'Happy Valentine's Day' message.

He gasps and drops the card, bringing a hand to his mouth after catching the word, "suck".

His idiot boyfriend has given him a dirty Valentine's card.

Nancy snorts a laugh and turns a page of her magazine, ignoring him while Robin makes a face.

"What does it say?" she asks, beaming as she hops off the counter, grateful for a distraction.

She reaches down and scoops up the card before Steve can reboot and take any action to stop her.

She stands, opening the card.

And poor, sweet Robin reads a line about Steve's ahem... appendage, before she can stop herself.

"OH MY GOD!" she shrieks, throwing the card immediately as she screws her eyes shut and shakes her head, her hair flying and frizzing as she waves her arms across her face. "Nope! No, no, no!"

Steve watches, frozen on the spot as the card falls to the ground, again. This time open.

Nancy leans over the countertop and squints.

"Oh," she says low, blushing as she makes out a sentence describing Steve and Eddie's bedroom activities.

Steve finally manages to do something. Which is to dive to the floor and scramble on his hands and knees for the card and its envelope. He jumps to his feet, holding Eddie's card to his chest, fearing the entire universe has now read it.

"I'm going to the back room," he splutters. "I should... Probably read it properly."

"EW!" Robin screams as he rushes to the storeroom door and slams it shut as Nancy rounds the counter.

"Do you think I can call Keith and say I have to go home to gauge my eyeballs out," Robin asks, talking a mile a minute as she reaches for Nancy's embrace.

"Robbie, calm down," she chuckles, hugging her tight. "It was... A lot. But we'll be fine. The most important thing is Eddie really likes Steve."

"I'm going to say he likes him too much!" Robin laments with an overly dramatic dry sob.

Nancy stifles a hearty laugh as she rubs Robin's back and thinks about what she should write on her own card to her girlfriend in readiness for their dinner date.

Although, she'll clean it up significantly. Maybe.

Later, Steve practically kicks the trailer door down, flustered.

"Oh, goody. You found my card," Eddie grins, hopping up from the couch with an unfairly chipper pep in his step considering the chaos he has caused.

"Yeah," Steve mumbles, nodding matter-of-factly.

Eddie steps forward, his wicked dimples on full display as he snakes an arm around Steve and shoves a hand in his back pocket.

He leans in to whisper in his ear.

"Slipped it in your back pocket before you went to work, sweetheart."

"Fuck," Steve huffs, running a hand through his hair.

Ronance continuation HERE

[ckret2]

i know you’ve talked about bill’s music tastes before, but do you have any head cannons for other characters’ music tastes?

i.e. do you think mabel would listen to vocaloid?

Mabel: here's what we know about her tastes.

She loves Dream Boy High; Dream Boy High's VCR tape design has nods to Jem & the Holograms, which has a million songs per episodes; Mabel has Xyler & Craz play synth music to defeat Bill; Mabeland plays 80's music. She's into extremely 80's-sounding synth-heavy pop. The music she plays in dream realms is the music closest to her heart. This is the core of her musical tastes.

There's something subtly, inexplicably different about music made for cartoons vs contemporary popular music, even when they're trying to portray the same genres. I can't describe what that quality is, but it's there. Anyway, if the core of Mabel's musical tastes is rooted in or near Dream Boy High, then she probably listens to other 80s cartoon soundtracks.

She's into 2010s acts that are throwbacks to late-1990s boy bands. She'd probably also like actual 90s boy bands.

She's fluent in modern top 40 music—which is no doubt where she she picked up Sev'ral Timez. I see her as the kind of kid who just keeps the radio on all the time. (And I do mean the radio—she didn't get a phone til the end of last summer, we see her with CDs, she probably had a radio long before she tried streaming.)

She's also fluent in classic rock ballads, but it's not her preference. She's a "grew up listening to the radio stations her parents picked on a car ride" kid. I suspect her dad plays 70s/80s pop in the car (cementing her primary musical tastes) because there's another Pines into synth pop so I've decided it's genetic, and her mom plays the classic rock. Mabel knows Don't Start Unbelieving from Mabel & Mom karaoke nights.

Dipper: if Mabel grew up listening to her parents' picks on the car radio, so did he. This is where he picked up his love for BABBA. From this we can deduce that, if their dad is the 70s/80s pop music parent, their dad probably drives them around more than their mom. I think you could safely give him other disco bands as well.

He plays the sousaphone but every band kid I've ever known treats band more like a musical sport than like a musical genre—the super passionate ones might practice extra and might watch other bands' performances, but they didn't just sit around listening to marching band music for fun. However, he also practices during the summer, even though he's in another state and obviously not participating in any summer band activities, which suggests an unusual passion for marching band. I still don't think he just listens to marching band music for fun but he probably keeps hearing songs and going "oh wow I've never heard the original before, only the band version."

He picked up a couple of indie folk bands to try to impress Wendy but he's not super into them.

Ford: He was on the absolute cutting edge of new wave & synth pop in the 80s. He was into the obscure stuff. Somewhere in the shack is a pile of cassettes by new wave acts the rest of the world has completely forgotten. He and Mabel trade music recommendations: he gives her the obscure as hell stuff and she tells him about all the cool new* (*post-1982) bands he never got to see. Mabel prefers peppier songs and he prefers moodier songs but there's a HUGE overlap between their tastes.

In a better, portal-less world, Ford's taste in new wave would have had time to drift into dark wave and cold wave, and from there slid over sideways to discover goth rock. There's an unhatched trad goth somewhere in his soul. He should have been listening to Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus, and The Cure. He should have gotten a black trench coat because he thought it would make him feel cool, not because he was an interdimensional criminal on the run. It's not too late for him to discover it now, but by now he should have made it miles beyond the major 80s goth rock acts, gone down half a dozen increasingly obscure genre alleys, and be burrowed deep into some weird sub-sub-sub-genre of EBM you and I have never heard of.

He has a love/hate relationship with All Star.

Stan: He liked hanging out at a 50s-themed diner in the 70s. He likes 50s music. I also think he picked up a fair amount of Spanish-language 50s rock-and-roll while abroad. Once like five years ago Soos overheard Stan playing a record and singing a song Abuelita plays and it cemented his ambition to reverse-adopt Stan as his dad.

Soos: Popular hip hop and anime/video game soundtracks. Every rap song he knows has been on the Billboard Hot 100 but on the other hand he has the demo version of the extended version of the ending theme of an anime from 2001 that was never fully released outside Japan and he's probably got a fifteen-minute story about why he knows this song even exists. He's puzzled through the shipping info of a Japanese CD website to get the official soundtrack of the most dogshit anime you could imagine. He's spent a week pouring through anime convention forums trying to track down a song he overheard someone use as their background music at a cosplay contest. Lots of 8-bit.

Wendy: You know the stomp clap hey genre? That. I have nothing further to add, you know what I'm talking about. Her heart yearns to escape to hipster city. She didn't even like Robbie's music when they were dating, she just thought it was cool he made it.

I'm not gonna go through every character I have headcanons for, you don't need all that on one post. Anyway, have a work in progress playlist. It's rigorously organized. "😀😀😀 Character Name 😀😀😀" is what each character would like listening to, "😀 Zodiac Symbol 😀" is songs about each character, "🪐🪐🪐 Flatland 🪐🪐🪐" is backstory stuff, "🌎 Earth 🌎" is either songs I need on this playlist for the vibes or songs that belong in one of the other categories but I haven't sorted them yet. Some of the sections are still empty. I think this is forgivable since the playlist is already 11 hours long.

[the-irken-luxray]

Hellooo because I forgot about the whiteboard until like midnight of the expiration date I didn’t get the chance to gather final screenshots so many of people’s additions didn’t make the final post. These are all the most recent versions of the drawings I could find (and in some cases I had to edit them together)

Featuring additions from @/kursed-curtain, @/flowerbarrel-art, and numerous others (feel free to brag in the notes if you see yourselves!)

[ID 1: a bust of Jenny Coffield, a stick figure oc with short, wavy hair, a top hat adorned with multiple spheres, and a burn scar on her head, showing off a “top bomb”, a top hat shaped object with a fuse sticking out the top. Tagline text reads “it explodes in the shape of a top hat”. Around the bomb are golden sparkles and captions reading “SO COOL!”, “WOW!”, and “FUN SHAPE!!”. Below the bomb is a diagram comparing a standard cartoon bomb, captioned in red with “LAME” and an X mark, with the top bomb, captioned in green with “COOL”. To the left of Jenny is three Toppats sitting around a meeting table. Two Toppats look impressed, one saying “wow!” and the other saying “We should use that”. The third Toppat looks annoyed and says “This is a stupid meeting.” End ID]

This one is probably my fav out of the bunch, just for the collaboration aspect.

[ID 2: a full body doodle of Reginald Copperbottom grinning evilly while holding a gun. Blue text reads “autism be damned my boy can kill”. A small doodle of someone’s Toppat sona or OC fawns over Reginald with multiple floating hearts. They have a bullet behind them with a red trail mark, as though they were shot with Reginald’s gun. Adjacent is a generic stick figure who is getting shot in the head. Text pointing to the stick figure reads “the cringe”. Yellow writing reads “ding dong the wicked cringe is dead”. End ID.]

At least one Reginald is mandatory. People got silly with this one.

[ID 3: a mouthless stick figure looks confused and mildly uncomfortable while looking at the viewer. Text next to them reads “my darling”, “precious blorbo”, and “beloved”. Below the text is a blob with eyes and no mouth in a happy expression, with writing reading “blorbo!” The stick figure is holding up a sign that says “I am literally just text????” End ID.]

Okay yeah you should know who this is by now

Gave them a Wile E. Coyote type sign because it fits the whole “no mouth can’t speak” type thing they’ve got going on.

[ID 4: a doodle of Jenny’s head with text reading “Your Toppat weapon ideas HERE!” Below is a drawing of Pike Cassino, a stick figure with a top hat decorated with slot machine wheels and horns, a gold tooth, and whiskery facial hair. a speech bubble pointing to him reads “Maybe a gun that doesn’t blast me back when I fire it…” Below the prompt text is a doodle of a glittering, gold cannon labeled “solid gold cannon”. Next to it is Jenny looking annoyed with a thought bubble reading “At least I’m paid well”. End ID.]

There were a LOT more additions to this prompt than I ended up grabbing, but with how spread out they were, there would be an additional five screenshots or so just to get them all.

[ID 5: a bust of Jenny waving an aromantic flag with a caption reading “aro gang”. Next to her is a drawing of a character labeled Harley, who has a heart shaped top hat and bangs, with a Toppat clan logo on their jacket and a paw on their hand. Harley waves to Jenny and is captioned with “aro gang!” End ID.]

Another that is sadly a lot smaller than its final version. The aro gang used to be bigger.

[ID 6: 3 images of a doodle of Ellie Rose. First image is of a head shot of Ellie. Second image is text reading “world’s smallest Ellie” with an arrow pointing to an indistinguishable doodle. Third image is the previous doodle zoomed in to show a very small head shot of Ellie, approximately the size of the tip of the arrow. End ID.]

World’s smallest Ellie.

[ID 7: A whiteboardfox drawing with a thick border around it, as though it’s an external image that’s been copy-pasted. The drawing is of Burt Curtis, a stick figure with headphones and a top hat, stylized. Here he has messy, wavy, short hair and highlights in his eyes. He’s reading a magazine titled “#3 ACTion”. To the left is a frog-with-glasses icon with text reading “gotta get sillier with my art”.

To the right of the copy-pasted drawing is a frog with glasses on his hands and knees, with the glasses lenses opaque to hide his eyes. Text below reads “just found out my drawing didn’t save can’t have shit on whiteboard”. End ID.]

Yeah so I was… struggling with this one. The frog in the top left was originally a thing I tried to add to ALL my additions up make them easier to find. But because of WiFi issues, not only did none of them save, but half my Burt drawing was gone too. Fortunately, because I was already struggling bad with it, I had the foresight to screenshot the drawing once I was done with it.

[ID 8: a doodle of Reginald Copperbottom with his hands on his hips while smoking a giant blunt. To the right is a drawing of Reginald in the family guy death pose with a caption above reading “bad at smokign” [sic]. Below the whole thing is text in parentheses reading “(whiteboard if you’re gonna react my art please for the love of god let it be this one)”. End ID.]

Drawn immediately after the previous one. No further context needed.

[chericherilvr]

I bring all the drama - M.L.A

Pairing: Marcus Lopez x fem!Reader

Summary: Being in a secret relationship with Marcus was easy, I mean it still is even after I see Maria flirting with him. After all, I thrive for drama

Reader specifics: Said to have hair, reads romance, fem reader cause they call themselves a cool girl, hinted and pretty much told neurodivergent reader (with autistic and adhd in mind)

Warning: this is so fluff I wanna cry, my humor is broken, probably ooc (like all of them), reader talks to themselves, not proof read like at all

2.1k words hehe

a/n: this is for my pookie @lucifertoxics and my pookie only, if you aren't my pookie you can keep reading it who am I to stop you tbh xx-

He grabbed her hands, a tight embrace resembling those of sweet love stories. "I love you," he whispered melting inside her eyes. "I love you," she replied whising to whoever was listening for this moment to never end.

"When are you going to finally find a boyfriend and stop reading those books?" It's in times like this I thank that the school I'm in. He looks so killable, maybe could use him to ace Mr. Denke's class. I nod to myself as I stare at Billy my eyes narrowing, (i) Why do the school rules imply you can't kill any other student? I let myself roll my eyes, he's a lucky bastard. "How about you find yourself one and let me read in peace? Please and thank you" I smile at him turning back to my book. The chair creeks as he sits pointing out just how much care they added into the library. "I mean it," Billy whispers leaning on the table, "I'm not calling you a lonely loser, but that's exactly what I'm calling you" Would I be too mean if I laugh at him? I shrug and let myself snort at his suggestion, Billy grabs my book out of my hands and throws it far on the table, out of my reach. Can't a girl just enjoy their free time for once? I turn to look at him. "Okay, I'm listening" He grins at my words choosing to ignore the annoyed tone that they came out with.

"Just don't want you throwing away your romantic life cause you prefer spending it with people who don't exist" I smirk, if he only knew, my heart beats quick, I try to ignore the burning feeling, we said to keep it secret "They are real" I chuckle at his stare, snickering trying to not burst out laughing I keep talking "they are real to mee" I slap my hand to my mouth if I'm going to laugh at least I will try to not be so loud for the library. "You're helpless" I follow Billy with my eyes trying to calm down from the big laugh, my tingles hurting from laughing too much. "Oh man if he only knew" I wipe a tear shaking my head, and standing up from my chair. Man, I really needed a good laugh. Look around the room, look around the room. I shift around for a bit trying to not act eager, and as a cartoon movie I slowly walk out the library, yes I am skipping so what?

Truth be told, Billy was far from the truth. Don't get me wrong, I love my fictional boyfriends, but I would never choose them over my fluffy ball of chaos and depression, Marcus, my boyfriend. I giggle when I think of him quickly wiping a face in front of my face to turn my expression into a more neutral one. Cool girl y/n, cool girl. Omg I could maybe start a band and get a bike? That's pretty cool girl style, right? I usually tend to get lost in my own thoughts, and I wonder how people saw me, I mean I was litterally just skipping down the hall my eyes unfocoused and looking around the walls, incohearent mumbles bouncing around me. Oh fuck I must look crazy to them. I shrug, eh who cares.

I'm not aware of how long it took me to reach the spot, our spot. Sure it was a big rock laying around but seeing it makes my stomach jumping with butterflies. I would totally twirl my hair and kick my feet with a giggle if it wasn't for what I saw. "What the actual fuck" I blink a couple times, Marcus sitting on our spot with a smiling Maria standing next to him. I mean, it's a public space, it's not like they're together locked up in a room, but why was she raising her hand to brush his hair back. Girl I get it, but his hair wasn't even messed up, why would someone even? Oh. Everything stops, and by everything I mean me, who was still aproaching them. Oh fuck she's flirting with him. I would tell you everything I thought in that moment, but I would be lying if I didn't say my brain was racing so fast not even I caught most of it. Yet I can explain how my body tenses, fingers tapping each other, the sun that suddenly looked brighter, the wind on the grass, the birds chirping, it's too much, their breaths, oh wait no, my breath, the one I can't control right now. I force myself to look at him, and I'm met with silence.

A peaceful silence that wraps around my body massaging the tension out of it. A comfort silence that fills my heart back to life. I've never been so happy to see my boyfriend's face filled with disgust. My boyfriend. As if a button was pressed my human body reacts again, walking back towards them. Towards our spot. It takes all strength within me to not laugh when Marcus pushes Maria's hand when she tries to touch him again. "Hi" They turn to look at my smiling face, and I'm sure I must have also pressed a button in Marcus cause he looks like he's about to call me his saviour. I'll tease him for that later, I could get some extra cuddles. Do I want to be mean? I mean Maria is kind of my friend as well, and my relationship with Marcus has been kept secret since it started. But a bit of teasing can't hurt, can it?

I savour every second every slow milimeter that I move my head to look at Maria as if it was sweet candy. My eyes widden in surprise and I make sure to pull the best smile I could muster. "Omg Maria you're here too!" I cheer giving her a tight hug giggling. "I swear I didn't even saw you, how's everything?" She frowns a bit looking side to side, but there's no camaras filming you, bestie, this is all real. I grab Marcus hand rubbing my thumb along it giving him a quick kiss on his cheek and a lovesick smile before turning back to look at Maria, head tilting as I wait for her answer. Fuck am I a bad person for enjoying her shocked face right now? I mean I'm training to kill people, but that's a whole different story, right? "What the fuck?" I chuckle when she speaks, covering my mouth with my hand. "Fuck did I messed up languages again? It's hard sometimes to realize" And I swear to God, I deserve to get a grammy for the self-pitying face I'm doing right now, I whine a bit selling the act, "I asked how you were doing, we haven't seen each other since thursday back in class" I smile at her leaning a bit closer to Marcus but not really whispering to ask him "That was in english, right?" He nods at me trying to hold his laugh when he sees my worried face, I sigh in relief looking back at Maria.

"I've been good," aaah, the sweet taste of confusion, "sorry it's just," she pauses again proably trying to understand what was going on, I'll give her that, she does look like gears are turning in her head to think right now, "it's just, are you two together?" Maria points at us, I gasp out in pure shock. Damn someone should just cast me already for a telenovela. "Oh my god!" I exclaim dropping Marcus' hand, "fuck babe I'm sorry I forgot we were keeping it a secret" I cover my face and groan, "fuck I'm sorry"

Cheeky bastard decides to finally speak, grabbing my hands out of my face and pulls me to stand in front of him. Fuck you Marcus Lopez Arguello, now I'm going to blush because of you. I melt when he cups my face into his hands and chuckles shifting his mouth into a smirk. "It's okay Love, it was bound to be known someday, it's not your fault" He ruffles my hair and if it weren't cause I'm in my acting era I would have already glared at him for daring to mess with my hairstyle. "I'll get-" Maria doesn't even finish her words before she darts out towards the main building, and I can't help but wonder if she felt bad for flirting with someone taken (which has never stopped her before) or if she was already telling everyone in school (which if I'm honest, it's what I think was happening) I giggle once she's out of sight turning back to face Marcus.

"Don't look at me like that" I allow myself to glare him this time, if I ignore my hear begging to kiss him I can act mad at him right? "Like what?" "With a big smile, it makes you look too cute, not fair, making me want to kiss you and everything. Also how dare you!" I exclaim, I migh not be an actress, but I am dramatic, I try to make my hair look good again, "I come in here, looking cute as fuck, my hair giving everything it needs to give, and you go and ruffle it that's not fair like-" This motherfucker kisses me.

I mean who am I to reject a kiss from him? Specially when he still tastes like today's desert we had for lunch, now I want icecream again. I love when he kisses me, but I hate how he knews how much it affects me. I surrender to him, not being able to pull away, not wanting to pull away. He quiets down my brain, so much it's concerning, each time after my brain powers on post-Marcus effect, I consider calling my psychiatrist to test him, this can't be human, he can't be real, am I going crazy or does he share the same effects my pills do. Don't tell this to my psychiatrist, but his effect works even better, it might not help me concentrate but I love the quiet silence that fills my brain. He pulls away, and I add it to another reason as to why I hate Marcus; He's so perfect, and I'm so desperate for him.

"You're hot when you're jealous" It takes me a couple seconds to react to his words, I was being for real, post-Marcus effect lingers for a bit before I regain control of myself. "I wouldn't call it jealousy" He rolls his eyes smiling, licking the corner of his mouth and I just know it's cause of his ego being filled up, he raises an eyebrow challenging me to explain myself. I start speaking a couple of times trying to defend myself, but pause before a single word can come out. I throw my head back groaning before dropping it on his shoulder, burrying myself in his shirt, relaxing at his sweet smell. "Okay, I was jealous, but I don't think it quite was that" He humms and I giggle when I feel his neck vibrate to produce the sound, "my head was turn between wanting to run away and cry, and the other part was begging me, screaming at me to just punch her away from you" I raise my head just as he rubs my waist up and down, shivering when it got a bit too low, curse the tickles. He looks into my eyes, but doesn't force mines to be on his, he knows I'm listening. "Love, you know how much I love you, right?" His voice is so soft it could put a baby to sleep, I adore it.

"You're amazing, you're sweet," he kisses my forhead, "you're funny" he kisses the tip of my nose, "you're a pure soul trapped in a hellhole" I chuckle even with my eyes slightly watering, he keeps going, "you're so loving, you're so lovable, you're so much that fuck if it wasn't cause I really, really, want to say something else, I could be here all day. You're enough" he kisses my lips, I taste my tears. "how did you know?" I plead him, he ruffles my hair. "that you were feeling insecure? Cause I'm the best boyfriend ever" I can't argue with that, I think to myself as he kisses me again after a soft laugh.

He grabs my hands, a tight embrace resembling those of sweet love stories. "I love you," he whisps melting inside my eyes. "I love you," I reply whising to whoever was listening for this moment to never end.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH HOW DARE YOU NOT TELL ME-?!" Billy shouts.

[howlingday]

Ok but imagine what would happen if Loid and Perry teamed up? No one could stop them.

Okay... Time for something new...

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

AGENT T

A Phineas and Ferb/Spy X Family One-Shot

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

"An extended conference overseas?"

"Yes, it's a sort of outreach programs between different countries to share different psychiatric methods." Loid explained to Yor. "I'm sorry this is so last minute. I will try to call you as soon as I get back."

Lying to Yor felt wrong, but it was a necessary evil in his life as a spy. The truth was that he was assisting in a joint operation with a foreign intelligence agency, though the whole thing felt like a bad joke to him. Whoever heard of a spy agency under the title of "The Organization Without a Cool Acronym"? Regardless of his feelings, his mission was clear. He was to rendezvous with the agent known as "The Platypus" and provide backup as required.

"Papa?" Anya, his daughter, pointed to picture in her book. Coincidentally, it was a platypus. "Is this a plassapess?"

"No, it isn't." Loid shook his head. "Just because I'll be gone for a little bit doesn't mean you're allowed to shirk on your studies. I expect nothing less than perfect marks when I return home."

"Aw..." Anya groaned.

"Loid, where is this conference being held?" Yor asked.

"I wasn't given the exact details myself, but it's in a region known as the 'Tri-State Area'."

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

"And that's about the gist of the assignment, Agent P." Major Monogram said through the video screen. "Find out what Dr. Doofenshmirtz is up to and put a stop to it!"

"If it's evil, sir." Carl's voice said off-screen.

"Yes, yes, if it's evil, put a stop to it." Major Monogram rolled his eyes. "We're counting on you, Agent P."

Perry the Platypus gave a salute and left the briefing room.

"I thought the evil thing was implied, Carl." Major Monogram grumbled.

"It doesn't hurt to be sure, sir. Words can be confusing."

"Not as confusing as this finger trap." The major lifted his hands to reveal his fingers had been locked in a threaded snare trap for fingers"

"Did you put your fingers in that trap again, sir?"

"Carl, we've been over this; if I don't do it myself, then how will I learn when I need it most?"

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

Meanwhile, in the middle of a city in the tri-state area, at an oddly designed building with the logo, Doofenshmirtz Evil Inc.~, Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz heard a knock at his door.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" He opened the door to an elderly man delivering the mail. He was fragile and hunched over. In his hands was a clipboard and a large parcel behind him. "Oh, look at you! You're so old! Why aren't you retired yet? Here, come inside and rest for a bit. I can show you what you're delivering is being used for."

The elderly man hobbled in, his left leg limping with every step. He mumbled something alike to a thank you before being seated on a large loveseat inside a laboratory. Unknown to the oddly kind-hearted doctor, the old man was actual the legendary Agent Twilight in perfect disguise. In front of him was a massive ray-gun of sorts, like in the cartoons Anya watched, with a scope and a trigger beneath. At the tip of the barrel was a missing component.

"So, you're probably wondering what it is I'm building with a mind-tapping helmet." He held out his hands. "Oh, I'm a little rusty. I usually save these backstories for my nemesis, Perry the Platypus, but here goes." Through Agent Twilight's perfect mental imagery, every word spoken became a clear picture of the very sad and tragic backstory of the target. "You see, back when I was growing up in Gimmelshtump, it's a town in Drusselstein if you didn't know, my grandparents would always say something, but mean something else. Like, they would tell me to wash the ham, but what they really meant was marinate it, but it was one of those old sayings that grandparents use and, me being a child, I didn't know what they really meant because I'd only heard it said once." He ripped open the parcel, was handed the mind-tapping helmet, and held it to the device. "And that's when I came up with this! BEHOLD, THE SAYWHAT'SONYOURMIND-INATOR!" He then climbed his way to the apex of the machine. "With this inator, people will say what's on their mind and mean what they really say! Like, say your friends want to hang out and, I don't know, do old person things, like play cards, but the way they say it makes it sound like they want to sleep all day, so they'll say what's on their mind! Here, let me try it on you!"

Faster than Agent Twilight can react, the nefarious doctor was already on the ground and using his weapon on him. He was then hit with the powerful radio waves the machine emitted. He blinked.

"I don't feel any different." He said aloud. "Did this mad scientist's machine really work-" His eyes widened as the doctor laughed for a moment.

"Hey, who are you calling a mad scientist? I'm not mad. I mean, I'm mad now, but I'm not always mad." He looked to the platypus climbing out of the parcel package. "Perry the Platypus, tell him I'm not always mad." The platypus in the fedora chittered. "See? He gets it." At this, he gasped. "PERRY THE PLATYPUS?! Wait, were you able to hear my backstory while I you were inside the- OOF!"

Perry punched Dr. Doofenshmirtz, sending him stumbling backwards into his machine. The machine fired off in a random direction before being taken into the hands of its creator.

"There's no need to fight me, Perry the Platypus. Why don't you just-" He fired the inator on Perry. "USE YOUR WORDS! AHAHAHAHA~!"

Perry winced at the sudden radio waves bombarding him. He blinked a few times. He was looked at expectantly by his nemesis.

"Chkchkchkchkt."

"Oh, right. You're a platypus." He then pressed a button on his inator and a net flew out and ensnared Perry. "But I planned for that!" A punch flew in from out of nowhere, knocking the doctor over with his inator. Standing not far away was the old man from before. "What are you doing, Old Man?"

"My name," the mask ripped, revealing the spy, "is Agent Twilight, and on behalf of the good people of Westalis, I order you to surrender your weapon."

"Westalis? Where is that? Is he with you, Perry the Platypus?"

"Chkchkchkchkt."

"I won't allow you to threaten the good people of the world with this strange contraption." Agent Twilight said, fully removing his disguise. "Especially while I am assigned to this joint operation."

"Well, I didn't really have anything planned for someone bigger than Perry the Platypus, but I did have this in case he escaped!" With a push of a button, another net of ribbon spewed forth. Unfortunately, the new agent was too fast to be caught and rolled his way over to Agent P, where he easily ripped apart his bindings. "No, no, don't do that! That is so unfair, fighting two against one!" He groaned. "Of all the days for Norm to take one of his 'mandatory vacation days'."

This vacation day in question included going to the mechanic for a semi-spa treatment involving oil, rags, and oily rags. Back to the fight, Agent Twilight kept the doctor on his toes, swinging fist after fist, easily overpowering his opponent. Meanwhile, Agent P was altering the inator by turning the mind-control helmet around so that the machine would reverse its effects.

"I cannot fail here. I cannot allow my emotions to get the better of me. I must keep on my toes. I need to keep applying pressure and overwhelm my opponent with quick, but meaningful strikes."

"Ugh! I regret hitting you with my inator." Dr. Doofenshmirtz groused amidst his thrashings. "Why can't you be more quiet like Perry the Platypus?"

"Chkchkchkchkt." The OWCA agent chittered from atop before swinging the inator around and firing it on himself Agent Twilight. Agent P patted himself down before giving a thumbs up to his fellow agent from afar.

"Oh, finally! I didn't think you would ever stop talking!" Dr. Doofenshmirtz groused even more.

Agent Twilight was about to go in for another punch when he was dragged away by Agent P. Looking back to the inator, he saw that there was a self-destruct device placed at the device's weak point. Jumping over the balcony, Agent P held tight to Agent Twilight, the two silently gliding through the air to a safe location. On the winds, they could hear the defeated shouting of their shared nemesis for the day.

"YOU DON'T NEED AN INATOR TO KNOW THIS, BUT CURSE YOU, STRANGE OLD MAN, AND CURSE YOU, PERRY THE PLATYPUS!"

A GENT P~!.

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

"Excuse me, is this your platypus?"

"Huh?" Phineas turned around to see a man standing in their yard, holding Perry in his hands. "Oh, there you are, Perry!"

"I found him wandering around in your front yard, and I thought it was odd to see an animal so far from their home."

"He's not far from his home, he's simply living in a new home away from his natural habitat. We feed him four meals a day, plus treats, and give him as much comfort as possible." Ferb explained in excess.

"Oh, I... see..."

"Yeah, sorry about Ferb." Phineas explained. "He's been a lot more talkative than usual today. It's almost like some kind of radio wave went off and made him say everything that was on his mind."

"That's... quite an imaginative explanation." The man said. "But maybe this will help. I specialize in psychiatric help and this device helps ease those affected by 'radio wave' abnormalities in humans."

"Oh, you mean like brain stimulation therapy?" Phineas asked. "Isn't that controversial?"

"Yes, yes, it is." The man quirked his brow. "But I believe it may be the best way to help your friend."

"Oh, Ferb's not my friend. He's my brother!"

"Ah, excuse me. Now, may I use my device. I promise no harm will come to your brother."

"Well, okay, if you say so." Phineas stepped aside and let the man hold the device up to Ferb before pressing a button. Ferb blinked a few times before the man placed the device in his pocket. "How you feelin', Ferb?"

Ferb gave a thumbs up.

"Hey, it looks like it worked! Thank you, Mr... Huh? Where'd he go?"

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

"Papa! You're home~!" Anya cheered, running to the door.

"You're back already?" Yor asked. "I thought you'd be gone a lot longer, considering how far you were traveling."

"I was offered a trip on a much fast return flight than the one prior." Reaching into his doctor's bag, he pulled free a plush doll in the shape of a strange creature with a duck bill, a beaver tail and feet, and a strange greenish-blur fur color. "Anya, I found this on the way home. I remember you being curious about platypus before leaving, so I thought you'd enjoy this."

"Thank you, Papa!"

"Oh, that is so cute~! What are you going to name him?"

Anya thought for a moment, then noticed a certain look in his eyes. It was the same look he held when he was in thought of something. Focusing on him, she heard a name said over and over again.

"Percy the Plassypess?" Anya smiled, tossing her plush in the air. "Yeah! Agent Percy the Plassypess~!"

[spopsalt]

Okay, you've probably never heard of these two or the cartoon they're in, but I'm going to use them as an example anyway (and also because I want to interact with you in some way, I think you're very cool!!)

These are Mac and Molly, bandits and villains from a 1993 cartoon called Swat Kats and I'm here to say that they (probably) are a better couple than Charles and Vaggie

Firstly, hello, how are you? secondly, I know that they are characters from a different era, and they barely have any screen time apart, always as a couple, and it seems like their personality is to be a couple, and they argue a lot, even though deep down they love each other

But what I want to say is: they both have a personality

Molly is bossy, quarrelsome, hard-headed and doesn't like being bossed around, but she shows concern for those she loves: in one episode she fights with her husband for running over her sister's car, and in another episode, she has to join the heroes to save her husband, she cares about who is important to her

Mac is stubborn, arrogant, possessive (in the sense of objects, not Molly), sometimes calm (calmer than Molly at least) greedy, I don't know how to drive correctly without running over a traffic sign, somewhat responsible, I know how to make plans, and also loves his wife

(I know I said that they both seem to define themselves by being a couple, but what I mentioned was what I noticed while watching the cartoon)

Now what does Vaggie have outside of her relationship with Charles? Is she strong and good at fighting? Charles probably has more personality than Vaggie, because Vaggie is only the protagonist's love interest.

Anyway, that's all, you can correct me if I've made something wrong, and bye bye!

Awwwww hi! Thanks for the ask! I never did watch that show, but they sound good! I really don't see why it's why it's hard to just give them a personality. I love how they keep their personalities while still showing them as a couple, meanwhile, with Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel with Millie and Vaggie, I really can't think of their personality that doesn't have something to do with their partner.

Another couple I'd like to compare them to is Tamaki and Haruhi from Ouran, spoilers for Ouran ahead! So, basically they do eventually become a couple, but they keep their personalities, Tamaki is sweet, dumb, and pretty obvlivous. But he's very loving and has a heart of gold. And Haruhi stays her blunt, cold, and sometimes apathetic self. But she still makes it very clear that she loves Tamaki in her own way. You can show someone loving their partner while still giving them personalities, but nope! Just remove their personalities and have them revolve around their partner!

[ladyloveandjustice]

Spring 2024 Anime Overview: Train to the End of the World and Tonari no Yokai-san

Who knows if poor Whisper Me a Love Song (a cute yuri anime about a girl band... with dire animation conditions so it's currently stuck on episode 10 with the last two episodes delayed indefinitely) is ever going to finish, but here’s some my first post reviewing the rest of what I watched.

Delicious in Dungeon continued to kill it with the second half of the season, kicking into high gear and introducing cranky catgirls, but you can see my general thoughts on the show here.

Train to the End of the World

I love bizarre anime, especially bizarre anime starring loveable weird girls, and Train absolutely delivers.

 A teenage girl named Yoka is bullied by a slimy businessman into pushing a button that activates the 7G cellular network across Japan, but said network warps and changes Japan completely, having bizarre effects on the citizens. For example, all the adults in Yoka's hometown have been transformed into animals and are starting to act like animals.

Shizuru is Yoka's best friend, and she said some seriously nasty things to Yoka before her friend left town. Yoka's been missing ever since the 7G incident and Shizuru is desperate to find her and apologize. So when she sees a picture showing Yoka in Ikebukuro, she decides to drive a train to find her, and her friends Reimi, Akira, Nadeshiko, and also her dog come along. As they travel across the warped Japan, they face many weird encounters and obstacles.

Train to the End of the World is greatly entertaining, as we see the girls encounter nihiists with mushrooms growing out of their heads, screaming goatmen that ram into the train and even zombies on their journey. The dialogue is snappy, and the girls all have a fun personalities. As a lover of girls doing silly violence, I also adored how everyone besides Akira (who is the smart one) has ridiculous combat skills, with Shizuru having her own form of martial art, Reimi being physically unstoppable when she's mad, and Nadeshiko might come off as the ladylike bow and error wielder...but actually she also can beat the shit out of people with said bow as a blunt object. It's fun to watch them go wild.

An example of how ridiculous the show can get is the encounter with the zombies--the absolutely bizarre logic is that since zombies are supposed to be dead to all sensation, arousal will make them blow up. Instead of the girls acting sexy to arouse them like most anime would do, they just say dirty words, and Akira recites a whole paragraph from Lady Chatterley's Lover that she apparently memorized, and they sing a hilariously bawdy folk song. This episode DOES contain the show's biggest moment of sexualizing the teenage girls though- a hyper detailed panty shot that was super jarring considering the show avoided fanservice before then.

And the next episode had Nadeshiko forced to don a somewhat skimpy outfit. Those are the only two instances of fanservice, but that episode also had a joke where this character in this children's cartoon come to life's entire gimmick was that she was suicidal. It was probably meant to be "lol look how inappropriate this would be for children" but it still felt fairly mean spirited at times.

Despite those hiccups to watch out for, the anime works because it never forgets it's core theme or friendship--the relationships between the girls are developed at a good pace, and Shizuru's guilt over what she did to Yoka is explored well too. It's not just a ridiculous anime, it has a heart too. So if an anime where a girl punches a bear in the face and arms herself with vegetables appeals to you…check it out!

Tonari No Yokai-san

Tonari no Yokai-san takes place in a world where yokai have integrated into human society. The central characters are Buchio, a cat who became a nekomata after living to twenty, and Jiro, a crow tengu who is close friends with a little girl he calls Mu-chan.

This is a very sweet, gentle series that has some heartwrenching and dark undertones occasionally.  Mu’s father has been lost to an eerie void, and a lot of the stories focus on grief. The immediate comparison tone and content-wise is Natsume’s Book of Friends, but it distinguishes itself by presenting a world where yokai are very much part of society, to the point where they have to do paperwork  and pay taxes. (There was also a confirmation that one character is bisexual when his backstory involves dating a guy yokai, so that was nice, especially since he's currently in a relationship with a car yokai that's probably meant to be romantic? Yes I said car yokai it is his car.)

There’s also some sci-fi elements mixed in with alternate timelines and what not. I think these elements could be integrated more smoothly, but they are pretty novel. It’s a really solid series.

I do love stories about yokai and I thought it was enjoyable and touching, but it didn’t rock my world the way I wanted it to…it might be that it followed too many characters at once so I couldn’t dig into any of them the way I really wanted to. Still, it’s a sweet, tender and pleasant watch, I definitely rec it.

[hispieceofcake]

🕸️My thoughts and feelings on Beetlejuice 🪲 (at least for a while)

I know a lot of people probably won't care but I really want to share my thoughts and talk about this character and that's what I'm going to do, There are a lot of thoughts and feelings accumulated inside my head and I need to get them out, it's a little mess but I think it will be fun to read.

I've had this on my mind for a while, which has finally become one of my biggest, if not the biggest, hyperfocuses for now and I'm going to share a little bit of it now >:)

I really didn't think I would have the courage to post this because I'm not that confident in sharing my things but I CAN'T TAKE THIS GREEN DEMON GHOST MAN OFF MY MIND😫‼️

The beginning of this happened when I was already in another hyperfocus on the character Adam from the series Hazbin hotel on Amazon(I was already a fan since the pilot on YouTube), and then a slight curiosity hit me..."Who is his voice actor?"

So I went looking for who he was and I ended up being so interested in the actor, who is Alex Brightman (I love him a lot by the way and I can't wait to go see the musical and see him in person) and also in the characters he played and voiced, and in particular one of them won my heart.😔🩷

That's exactly what you're thinking, it was Beetlejuice.

For some reason he caught my attention and over time I ended up becoming quite fond of the character, even more so when I remembered that my parents watched the character's film when I was a child, which made me even more eager to research and look for any possible bit of information on the internet that I could find.

AND YES !

I actually achieved a lot and I'm going to share it <3

Firstly, the 1988 film, which was one of the first pieces of information I found about it, after all, it was in it that the character made his debut (apart from the story of its creator Tim Burton). And I know Beetlejuice is a pervert in this movie, but I try to ignore that and try to just look at the good side of him being a good character.

Secondly, and I think this is what caught my attention the most, is the cartoon of 1989 with the same name as the character called Beetlejuice where the character acted as the protagonist alongside Lidya (In this one there's nothing about him wanting to force her to marry him like in the movie, it's just a cartoon of them having a good friendship and being best friends).

And man, the way I was happy when found out that the cartoon had 4 seasons and about 68 episodes, I was almost like that kitten TikTok meme ✨ HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY ✨

Like, wow, a source of potential Gifs, icons, dividers, photos, edits, there was so much I could do that I didn't even know where to start because of all the hustle and bustle and animation I had (And of course I spent the next few weeks pestering my friends about it during class with every little bit of information I found🤓👆).

At the moment I'm trying to look for a website that has all the episodes together or just some, but so far I've only been able to find them on old DVDs. When I can find a website I will gather all the links and post them, so that more people can watch.

And one of the best parts...I FOUND A WHOLE COLLECTION OF 🩷VALENTINES' DAY CARDS🩷 and I'll probably make another post later to post all of them or at least their links, they're all official. This made me even more excited because I love all that romantic and cute aesthetic of the Valentine's Day season, hearts, red and pink decorations, heart-shaped candy boxes, love letters, Decorated store windows, stuffed animals, I just love everything (even though I don't have a valentine, and I don't want to🙃).

To give you an idea of how focused I was on this little green-haired corpse demon ghost man, everywhere I have the opportunity I make doodles or drawings of him all over the places, walls, notebooks, tests, napkins, classroom board, and in my sketchbook, in which I'm making an entire page dedicated just to him and Lidya, which maybe later I'll post too. Even more so after I managed to find several official reference sheets from the studio that designed and animated the cartoon, so now the drawings will be much better.💋

There is so much information that I managed to find that I am having to organize my thoughts because unfortunately I am very agitated and anything takes my focus easily, but as soon as I can really focus on that, it feels like I'm somewhere else.

But now talking about the Broadway musical, (which as said before has my beloved Alex Brightman as the main actor), I've always liked the idea of musicals, and even more so when his story is about my favorite character, and speaking of musicals, I REALLY WAS OBSESSED WITH THE SONG "SAY MY NAME" 😫🩷

And oh boy, I spend almost all day singing it or with it resonating in my mind, whenever I read, write, draw or do anything to do with Beetlejuice, I put on my headphones and listen this song as if it were the greatest masterpiece made in history.

AND I'M SORRY BUT I NEED TO SHARE THIS SONG WITH YOU GUYS

Leaving the character a little, and going to the actor...he is simply the SWEETEST AND CUTEST MAN I'VE EVER SEEN!!

After I discovered that he voiced the characters that I like most in the Hazbin Hotel fandom and played the character that I like so much, I developed a huge affection for him, not just for his work, but because he is so sweet, fun and funny that I can't help but love everything and everything I find about this man online.

Alex Brightman bringing the character Beetlejuice to life and voicing Adam, Fizzarolli and Sir Pentious

That's it for now ,folks, that's all I have stuck in my mind for now or at least what I can remember

I apologize if this isn't so good, I'm writing this while I'm at school at 7am after waking up at 5am while my body is sore after a presentation.

So, thank you for reading 💞

[its-a-ducky-mess]

Speculation: Sarah's Potential Neurodivergency

Some certain viewers and fans of Sarah & Duck have posed a certain question over time. So much so, that it's even one of Google's autocomplete results and one of the suggestions when you so much as look up the show or its characters. That question being...

"Is Sarah autistic?"

While (to my knowledge, and at the time of writing this) no staff of the show have put out an official word, some fans have theorized based on evidence seen in the show that Sarah is in fact autistic/neurodivergent. One such user is @beenovel, an autistic individual, whose theorizing has gotten me to do some of my own research over time as well. I will be paraphrasing and using their evidence here, marked by "quoted italics". I do not mean to steal their evidence or their work, but using it to compile a stronger collection of evidence for this theory/headcanon. Please check out their original analysis here.

As a warning, this post is incredibly long.

Clothing

"She has comfort clothes. A lot of cartoon characters wear the same outfit over and over again but Sarah is shown to have other clothes, she just likes her outfit best. When one of her shoes gets a hole she is very upset about the prospect of replacing them. I also like to think that the reason she’s always wearing her beanie is because (like me) she finds the pressure on her head comforting."

The shoe point is from Tapping Shoes. More about this will be elaborated on later, although it is worth mentioning that Sarah tried to play off the damage to her favorite shoes in order to keep them before being convinced to look for new ones.

While it's unknown as to her exact attachment to her pink jacket, Sarah has been shown to prize it. When the zip pull breaks off of it, she becomes incredibly upset and near-unresponsive. So much so, that Duck had to push a whimpering Sarah all the way to Scarf Lady's house in Haber Dasher.

[Source: Series 3, Episode 37, Haber Dasher]

When at her door, Sarah could only muster a heart-broken "Zip..." as she presents it to Scarf Lady. When Scarf Lady's solution doesn't work, Sarah sighs in resignation and hides behind a curtain.

Sarah's beanie/cap/hat is near and dear to her, as seen in Balloon Barnacles where she is upset over the possibility of losing her very first hat made for her by Scarf Lady. She's also had the hat long enough for it to appear (potentially) years earlier in the past, during the flashback in Duck Flies. The head pressure idea actually does have some more ground to it. During Cloud Tower, which takes place on a hot day, Sarah doesn't wear her jacket, but keeps the hat. Also in Doubles, in her tennis outfit, she actually does forgo the hat, but replaces it with a headband. This give a neat amount of credence to the pressure angle.

Favorites

"Her hyperfixations are sea cows (also known as manatees) and lemons. In one episode they are going to the zoo to see the sea cows and she mentions it’s been five days since they last visited the sea cows and the narrator replies with “[the sea cow]’s probably [wondering] where we’ve been”. This implies they often visit the zoo just to see the sea cows. For me, I was obsessed with otters... there was this one aquarium I used to go to... and it was my favorite place to go, even as an older teenager. I can watch them for hours and be perfectly happy, and Sarah seems to be the same way."

This moment is at the beginning of Paisley Sea. (This episode also contributes to another theory I'll post about later!) The zoo and aquariums are a frequent setting for certain episodes. Apart from having a poster of a sea cow in her bedroom, Sarah was upset at not getting the chance to adopt a sea cow during Basking Shark, seemingly disappointed at having to settle for the titular shark. Sarah also practically explodes with happiness upon seeing a baby sea cow during Paisley Sea.

[Source: Series 2, Episode 17, Paisley Sea]

In addition, every visit to the zoo that's occurred, Sarah has sought out the sea cow and greeted it at least once, if even for a moment. One such occurrence is in Planetarium Aquarium, where she even went back to say it was "still her favorite" and giving it a thumbs up despite not visiting them for a proper amount of time.

[Source: Series 3, Episode 15, Planetarium Aquarium] This is also a very adorable screenshot.

"She also has lemon water all the time. I don’t know if that’s a common British thing, but I know that my mom and I (both autistic) prefer our water with lemon in it because it adds flavor and makes it easier to stay hydrated."

Lemons remain a very present theme/motif throughout the show even outside of the lemon water drink.

[Sources: Series 2, Episode 13, Shallot Circus (top) | Series 1, Episode 32, Puncture Pump (bottom)]

Sarah has a lemon themed telephone, bike valve covers, and had difficulty picking a singular item from the cafe's menu in Lemon Cafe (although being on a very short time limit didn't help), let alone pick a drink. In the same episode, she goes through a lot of work to make her own lemon cafe. Sarah is the sole human enjoyer of lemon water within the show, and solely during Lemon Cafe, she seems disappointed when Duck, Umbrella, and Bug dislike lemon water, and seemingly doesn't understand why exactly they don't like it like she does. I say "human enjoyer" because Flamingo during Scared of Stairs drinks and likes lemon water, much to Sarah's enjoyment.

[Source: Series 1, Episode 30, Scared of Stairs]

Learning

"She loves learning things and pretty much every time she has a question that her dad the narrator can’t answer she looks it up on the computer or goes to the library to find out more. She gets very upset if she can’t find a satisfactory answer."

While I am personally a "NarraDad" truther as well (Despite the evidence which I'll discuss along with the theory in a future post, maybe), that's not the point here.

There are many points where Sarah will look something up on the computer in the technology room for answers, such as in Slow Quest and Tortoise Snooze. Sarah is also a frequent library visitor, and a few episodes take place there or are visited for a part of them (such as Cheer Up Donkey or Lost Librarian, to name a few).

Sarah also repeats back certain words or phrases sometimes (like repeating 'shokupan' from John during Fluff Bread), which beenovel says is how autistic children learn inflection, and hypothesizes this is a vocal stim for Sarah. She often mispronounces words, new or otherwise. Such as, saying "burger" instead of burglar (Constable Quack), "elephants" instead of eloquent (Mountain Mints), and "eyes, sky, dry" instead of "eins, zwei, drei", which is "one, two, three" in German (Woolly Memories, Duck Hotel). Possibly the funniest of these examples is Sarah pronouncing "itadakimasu", a Japanese phrase said before you begin eating, as "it's a ducky mess" (which is where I get my blog's handle from!!) during Fast Slow Bungalow. Sarah also clearly pronounces "hello" and "yes" as hullo and yus. Merchandise and social media confirms that she says them with a U as opposed to their proper versions. She also combines "it's nice" into "s'nice" at times, even to the point where the Narrator says s'nice and has to correct himself (Bench Blocked). "Suppose" also gets this treatment, sometimes sounding like "s'pose"

[Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgYt4c2yHWQ | https://shop.sarahandduck.com/collections/art-prints-1/products/sarah-duck-a-z-art-print-sdaz]

On the topic of "proper" things, during Extra Bounce, Sarah and friends are brought to a room within the bouncy ball machine that houses unusually bouncing balls. The Narrator remarks "This must be the room for all the balls that don't bounce properly." Sarah then looks a bit upset and replies with a corrective/offended "Bounce differently."

beenovel writes "Autistic children are often upset at the prospect of toys or animals being treated differently just because they don’t do things the “right” way or are perceived as “broken”.

Sound Sensitivity

Tapping Shoes comes back into play here. Sarah sometimes shows an aversion/discomfort with certain noises, most prevalent being sudden, unexpected noise. In Tapping Shoes, when she unknowingly wore tap-dancing shoes and walked into the tiled kitchen, she became surprised and covered her ears first thing. She tried to quiet/muffle them, trying to get them to not make any sound until she's told that they're supposed to make sound. Before entering the noisy carriage in Train Fudge, she recoils back due to the noise and again, covers her ears first thing.

To link to another few point beenovel makes, Sarah becomes frustrated when others don't follow along with her games, such as her idea for her birthday in The Mouse's Birthday. Throughout the episode, all she wants is a quiet birthday, but is constantly annoyed and upset when her friends are loud, so much so that she retreats to the closet to escape the noise. beenovel states they've done this on multiple occasions as well.

Focus, Concentrate! /ref

Sarah has sometimes displayed inattentiveness and lack of focus, even when she's "supposed" to be focused.

"This is a common little kid trait but it’s more intense in autistic kids."

A possible instance of this is in Perimeter Pals, where while waiting for Tortoise to finish crossing their biking path, Sarah and Duck elect to take a break. They then nap for much longer than anticipated and have to scramble ahead to continue their park trip.

Funny Duck

"She’s taken an interest in an “odd” animal companion, and treats him more like a sibling than a pet."

Sarah may have a hyperfixation on ducks as well, in no small part due to Duck's presence in her life. Apart from her shirt and pajamas featuring ducks on them, she has a Duck shaped window in her house, as well as having a Duck costume already made and prepared before she even had the idea to swap with Duck during The Play.

[Sources: Series 1, Episode 3, Cheer Up Donkey | Series 1, Episode 35, The Play]

She is also very emotionally attached to Duck and becomes downtrodden at the possibility of not being around him for a long period of time. She dearly misses Duck for the short time they're apart during Duck Flies, almost unable to fathom doing anything without him.

[Source: Series 2, Episode 40, Duck Flies]

This feeling of togetherness seems to go both ways, as when Duck does come back at the end of the episode, the Narrator remarks "It seems Duck missed you too."

The Bench

Sarah is strongly attached to a specific bench in the park. She treats this bench incredibly seriously. When highlighting various parts of town, she holds the bench to a higher regard than a playground (Outside Outside). Sarah doesn't like going to other nearby parks because they lack the bench (Fancy Park), and gets very upset when something prevents them from sitting there, such as a fairground obscuring it (Fairground), or a sleeping teenager (Bench Blocked). Duck, without any word from anyone, offers to bite the teenagers leg of his own volition, which Sarah gives him the okay to do. The Narrator has to interrupt Duck, and Sarah is shown with an excited look right before Duck is about to bite. When the Narrator wonders if there's other places to sit, Sarah shakes her head "no", and gives a hesitant, begrudging headshake when the Narrator pressed her if they've actually tried to look for a place.

[Source: Series 3, Episode 14, Bench Blocked]

Later in the same instance, Sarah herself tries to bite the guy but is stopped by a squirrel. Sarah and Duck sit on the bench even while the paint on it is still wet, and are so relieved that they can sit there that they don't notice the paint on them (Fancy Park). Likely the reason Sarah likes the bench so much is because she met Duck there when she was younger (Duck Flies).

Making Friends

Going back to friends, she seems a bit awkward when meeting real people. Inanimate objects or animals, not so much. She meets Rainbow, the celestial bodies, Cake, Bug, Umbrella, Leftover Wool, and more and seems nonplussed about it. In contrast, when she meets John and Flamingo during Doubles, she walks back into her yard after exchanging neutral greeting with an awkward pause, and without the Narrator prodding, likely would've not continued a conversation. In addition, she confuses John for a girl and Flamingo for a duck, likely trying to make sense out of the new people using herself and Duck as reference. John sounded like he had a higher voice when he said hello to Sarah, so maybe she just assumed John was a girl by that. Sarah also seems a bit awkward with adults she isn't familiar with/hasn't met yet, like Music Lady and Cloud Captain, though that might just be a common kid trait.

Organization and Spontaneity

"She likes having things be organized and in their place. She also likes categorizing/matching colors."

"She enjoys looking for things. Many episodes start with [Sarah] and [D]uck looking for things like crunchy leaves, green patches of grass, things that match the colors on her color wheel, fluffy clouds, etc."

Sarah has rows of identical hats in her closet, her tuba is always seen in her room when it's not being used, and she has a drawer full of her previous drawings in the living room (Picture Planes). The color wheel point references Rainbow's Niece. Cheer Up Donkey begins with Sarah and Duck counting grass in their back garden.

Sudden interest in random things is also a trait Sarah exhibits. She often declares things to be good, saying "this one is best" or similar. Octagon Club is the best example, she sees an octagon in a shapes book, and goes to find things around the area that's octagonal. She forms the titular Octagon Club and quickly invites many other friends into it.

Literal-mindedness

Sarah often takes some of the Narrator's jokes or metaphors seriously. Either that, or the jokes completely fly over her head. Kite Flight provides this exchange:

Narrator: What we need is a windbreak.

Sarah: Don't break the wind, we need it!

Mountain Mints also has this:

Sarah: The mint's at the top!

Narrator: Fine, why not… Perhaps I'll find a nice chocolate log cabin.

Sarah: [excitedly:] Ooh!

Stimming

Sarah, when excited, sometimes does this sort of shaky-fists gesture close to her face, usually accompanied by an excited 'oooh!' or other hushed surprised sounds. She does it a few more times in the series, but at this moment, other examples are escaping me.

[Sources: Series 1, Episode 1, Lots of Shallots | Series 3, Episode 11, Fluff Bread]

Smaller tidbits I couldn't really fit anywhere else

She also sometimes does things in a formulaic fashion. Whenever she steps in snow or crunchy leaves, Sarah remarks "good crunch" (Seacow Snow Trail, Mountain Mints, Boo Night, among others) and becomes upset at Duck (albeit only for a brief moment) when he crunches some leaves in the path faster than her (Boo Night). She has commented "good crunch" since early childhood, as seen in Duck Flies.

Sarah originally would've kept her hair long and grown out simply because Scarf Lady didn't give her a good hair cut the "last time" during Hair Cut. She keeps trying to avoid it by preoccupying herself, and when she does eventually go to a salon, she tries to get Duck to take her place and admits that she's scared to the stylist. All in all, she lets a bad experience get the better of her and makes her catastrophize when trying something again.

Sometimes Sarah does things only she herself would like. One example I could think of is Cheer Up Donkey. Sarah played the tuba, which Donkey didn't like, but she was so into playing the tuba that it took the shouting of the Narrator for her to stop. When asked to try something that cheers her up and what makes her happy a short time after that, she immediately grabs the tuba again and has to be preemptively stopped before playing it again.

One more attachment related point similar to previous interests. Something ends up wrong with Sarah's tuba during Music Fixer, so she goes to the Music Shop to get it checked out. Music Lady tells her that she can hear what instruments think and that her tuba was saying it was too small for her (though that was just Bug). Sarah gets upset over having to replace her favorite instrument with something else and ends up not finding something that suits her before the episode's resolution.

As a final, sort of funny thing, Sarah is friends with a rainbow, and the rainbow lemniscate is the symbol of neurodiversity.

To my current knowledge I am not on the autism spectrum, and for that I do not wish to seem like I'm speaking on behalf of the autistic community. I do have ADHD however, which I was recently diagnosed with (I recognize those two are not the same thing). Thinking back on my childhood, a lot of Sarah's behaviors struck chords with my behaviors. Especially the sound sensitivity and lack of understanding with plans, those two were very prominent growing up, and the sound portion is still somewhat of an issue for me right now. Regardless of if Sarah is "canonically" autistic/neurodivergent, fans can interpret the cast of characters however they want, and I think it's sweet for kids watching Sarah & Duck to be almost represented in a way. It's also very nice that Sarah is never treated differently nor excluded from things because of her mannerisms. She's Sarah, and Sarah is s'nice.

[queenofcats17]

The Ink Demonth 1

Today's theme is Nostalgia

===============================================

"Grandpa Henry!!"

Henry looked up from the book he'd been reading to see his granddaughter Ruth bounding toward him, waving a framed picture in her hand.

"What've you got there?" He asked as she scrambled into his lap.

"It's a picture!" Ruth proclaimed proudly, handing the photo over to Henry. "I found it in the box Gramma and Mama were going through!"

"Is that so?" Henry murmured, looking over the photograph.

It was a photograph from the opening of the studio, old enough that the paper was beginning to yellow. Linda had told him that she and Sarah would be going through some of the old boxes in their attic, but he hadn't expected they would come upon things from his studio days.

"Gramma said that's you!" Ruth said, pointing to the younger Henry standing in the middle of the group.

"She's right, that is me," Henry confirmed. "I looked pretty different back then, huh?"

"Not really." Ruth gave a little shrug. "You're just more wrinkly now."

Henry stifled a snort. Well, she wasn't wrong.

"Did Gramma point out anyone else to you?" He asked.

"Mm-hm." Ruth nodded, pointing to Joey. "She said that's Mr. Joey. She said you started the studio with him."

Henry's smile grew sad. "I... did start the studio with him."

The ache in his heart when he thought of Joey had lessened considerably over the years, but every so often he still felt that twinge. A part of him still missed his old friend, even after all this time. The sight of Joey's young, smiling face brought back old memories of the two of them crouched over a table together, excitedly workshopping ideas. Those memories were fond ones.

It was a pity those good times had ended so soon.

"Why'd you leave if you made it with him?" Ruth looked back at him. "Weren't you friends?"

"Sometimes friendships don't work out, honey," Henry said gently, patting Ruth's head. "Joey and I just... weren't a good fit for each other. Working with him made me very unhappy."

Ruth frowned, turning her attention back to the photograph.

"That's really sad," she concluded. "I'd be sad if me and my best friend didn't get along anymore."

"Well, it does happen sometimes," Henry said. "And it's always sad when it does. But you can always make new friends. Or hold onto some of the old ones. Like him." He pointed to Wally. "You remember him?"

Ruth's frown deepened as she narrowed her eyes to scrutinize Wally's younger face. Finally, she sighed dramatically and flopped back against Henry.

"I can't tell," she announced. "Who is he, Grandpa?"

Henry couldn't help but laugh. "Well, I guess he's probably got a lot more hair here," he said. "But this is Wally."

Ruth gasped, sitting straight up. "Funny shirt man!"

"Yes, funny shirt man," Henry laughed.

Ever since the photo Wally had sent them the year before, Ruth had referred to Wally exclusively as "funny shirt man" due to the Hawaiian shirt he'd been wearing in the photograph.

"He's not bald here!" Ruth exclaimed, pointing to Wally's younger self.

"Come on, he's got some hair," Henry playfully chided her.

"Yeah, but not a lot," Ruth said, rolling her eyes. "He's got way more here!" She pointed at the cloud of hair spilling out from under Wally's paperboy hat.

"Alright, alright, you're right," Henry conceded.

Ruth straightened up a bit, clearly pleased at having "won" the argument.

"Anyone else you're curious about here, honey?" Henry asked.

"Mmmm..." Ruth screwed her face up in thought as she scanned the line of faces. "Who's this?" She pointed to Sammy, who was, of course, standing right beside Jack.

"That is Sammy," Henry said. "And right beside him is Jack. They made the music for the cartoons. They're the ones who wrote Sheep Songs."

"Did they write Lonely Angel too?" Ruth asked. "That one's really pretty."

"Probably, but I wasn't there for that."

Ruth looked a bit disappointed that he didn't have any special insights about the song but bounced back quickly.

"Was Sammy scary?" She asked. "He looks scary."

"He definitely was a little scary." Henry tried not to wince. "Jack kept him from being too bad most of the time but he could definitely be... intense."

"And who's that?" Ruth pointed at Norman, predictably on the outskirts of the group, smiling at the camera as though he knew something they didn't.

"That is Norman," Henry said. "He ran the projectors and probably knew every secret in the studio."

Ruth let out a little gasp, immediately turning to look at Henry with wide eyes. "What kinda secrets?" She asked, her voice hushed with awe.

Henry smiled apologetically. "Sorry, honey. I never asked."

Ruth flopped dramatically back against him again. "You're so boring, Grandpa!"

"I know, I'm so sorry." Henry ruffled her hair.

Ruth let out an adorably beleaguered sigh, resting her head against Henry's chest.

"Did you like working with them?" She asked after a moment or two.

"Hm?"

"Did you like working with them?" Ruth repeated. "The people in the picture."

Henry paused before answering with a nod. "I did."

"If you liked it, then why did you leave?" There was no judgment in Ruth's eyes as she looked up at him. Just curiosity.

"I told you, honey, Joey and I didn't work well together," Henry patiently reminded her. "Working there wasn't good for me."

"Not good for you how?" Ruth tilted her head to the side.

"A good partnership involves a good balance of giving and taking," Henry explained, setting the photo aside and shifting Ruth so he could gesture better. "If one person is asking the other for more work than they're doing themselves, then that's not a good partnership. And Joey was asking for me to do more work than he was doing himself."

"That doesn't seem fair," Ruth concluded.

"It wasn't." Henry smiled sadly. "Which was why I had to leave."

Ruth seemed to consider this for a moment before giving a little nod.

"Okay, I get it," she said. "Can we have a snack now? I'm hungry."

Henry chuckled, easing himself up from the chair with Ruth cradled in one arm.

"Of course, sweetie. Now, what are you in the mood for?"

.

"...Could you tell me what this place used to be like?"

Henry looked up from the locker he'd been rifling through.

"This place?" He gestured around them.

"Or, well, the original studio," Audrey corrected, shifting a bit. "...I was always kind of curious what it was like working here back in the day."

Henry was silent for a moment, turning his attention back to the locker.

"I was only there a year, so I can't tell you much," he said. His voice was quiet. Audrey had noticed he always got rather quiet when the studio or Joey got brought up.

"That's another thing I always wondered about," Audrey said with a frown. "You helped start the studio. Why quit after only a year?"

Henry let out a long sigh, his shoulders slumping. "Are you sure you want to hear about this?" He glanced back at her, a weary and defeated look in his eyes. "It's not a very happy story."

"I want to hear it," Audrey insisted.

Henry let out another sigh, closing the locker. "Alright. If you're sure." He turned to face her, walking over to lean on the railing that overlooked the main area of the Demon's Rest. "It was always a bit... chaotic. Joey was a man of ideas, but only ideas. Execution was never his strong point. He'd come up with the ideas and then expect you to make them a reality."

"If it was like that, then why did you start the studio with him in the first place?" Audrey leaned on the railing next to him.

"I didn't know it was going to be like that." A hint of annoyance entered Henry's voice. "I didn't find that out until the studio was up and running." His shoulders hunched as he stared down at the Lost Ones milling around. "I thought it would be different. I thought we would be partners."

"But you... weren't?" Audrey frowned slightly.

"We weren't," Henry confirmed. "Instead, I gave and gave and gave, and all he did was take."

Audrey shifted uncomfortably. "That sounds... hard."

"It was." Henry gave a short nod. "That's why I only lasted a year. I couldn't stand it anymore. I can't stand doing all the work while he reaped all the benefits. And that's not even counting all the times he'd suddenly spring deadlines on us and expect us to work through the night to get it done." For a moment, absolute fury flashed across his features before it was replaced with bone-deep weariness. "It was exhausting. He was always asking so much."

"...Why do you think the others didn't leave?" Audrey asked. If conditions were that bad, why didn't everyone leave? Why had Henry been the only one to go?

"I mean, it was the Depression," Henry said with a rueful laugh. "Not a lot of other places were hiring."

"Oh, right." She'd almost forgotten that the studio had been founded during the Great Depression.

...That did explain why most hadn't left. Where else would they have gone?

"Do you... regret leaving?" Audrey tentatively asked.

"No," Henry answered without a second thought.

"Never?" Audrey raised an eyebrow. "But, you loved Bendy, didn't you? You helped make him. Didn't you miss these characters? Didn't you miss some of your coworkers?"

"I did," Henry said. "But that was before Joey did this." He gestured around them. "Now... I'm more sure than ever that leaving was the best choice I ever made."

Audrey fell silent, looking away from Henry. "I'm... sorry. That he did this to you," she said after a moment.

"Let's just get going." Henry pushed off of the railing and began to walk away.

"...Right..." Audrey nodded, falling into step behind him.

[ask-good-cop-bad-cop]

for the writing rec thingy, maybe something having to do with how special days were handled when they were younger? Considering they both have very different ideas on social interaction, and ma and pa cop loving them very much, how would they compromise? (Sorry if this doesn’t make sense 😅)

Ma sighed as she watched her boys slouched on the couch watching cartoons. Yet another year where not a single invitation had been responded to. Liam tried to put up an act, pretend like it didn't bother him, but Ma knew better. It hurt them both that no one wanted to be their friend. Pa wrapped an arm around her and gave her a squeeze.

"Thoughts?" He asked.

"I don't know, dear... It just breaks my heart. They're good boys, they don't deserve this... If I could make friends for them, I'd do it in a heartbeat."

"I know you would, darling. I would too. Unfortunately that's beyond our ability, so we need to figure something else out to cheer them up."

Ma sighed and tried to think. An idea occurred to her. It was still pretty early in the day... "The Halloween Festival in Bricksburg might be a good place to start. That should give them the chance to hang out with other kids their age that don't already have a bias against them. And then we can take them out for cake and ice cream after."

The boys seemed to perk up a little once the idea was pitched to them. Liam was still wary, but warmed up to it once he realized these kids would be complete strangers. They wouldn't already have it in their heads to be cruel just because they were different. With any luck, they never would. Garrett especially was thrilled with the idea of going to a festival. They had been to several small "festivals" in their little town, but the one in the city was sure to be so much bigger!

Minds made up, they pulled on their coat and followed their parents to the car. It was along drive to get to the city, more than half an hour. They spent the time holding silent conversations in their mind, as they had recently discovered they could.

"Do you think they'll have lots of games there??"

"Probably, yeah. Lots of food too. Maybe some rides."

"Mom? Will they have rides there?"

Ma smiled. "I'm sure they will, dear."

Garrett's eyes widened as they finally entered the city, and he nearly had his nose pressed to the window as he tried to take in all the sights. There was an awful lot of people around too. Pa muttered to himself as he tried to find a place to park. the parking lot was packed full of so many cars. After driving around for a few more minutes, he finally found a spot.

"Hold onto my hand, boys." Ma told them. "The fairgrounds are big, and with so many people it's easy to get lost." Liam dutifully took their mother's hand and held on tight.

His eyes went wide as he looked up to take in the sight before them. There was a fence all around the fairgrounds to keep people from getting in without tickets, but he could indeed see a number of carnival rides rising up over the top of it. Garrett's excitement was almost overwhelming. "Mom! Mom they have a roller coaster!"

Pa chuckled softly. "I guess we know what we're doing first, then. Sit tight boys, I have to go get our tickets." Liam nodded eagerly.

They spent the day dragging their parents all over the fairgrounds, riding the rides, playing the games, trying new foods, and just taking in all the sights and sounds. They even managed to get along with a few of the other kids there, happily playing team games together.

By supper time, their energy was waning. Pa smiled to himself and lifted them into his arms as they left the festival. By the time they reached the car again, they were out cold.

"They might not be as excited for this next year." Ma pointed out as Pa carefully buckled them into the back seat.

"I know. But we've got a year to figure out a new game plan. I'm just glad this worked out."