#they team up and give you the ultimate ass beating

[dilfzshadow]

Theyu thwy neeed to interact more I swear,,,

[chrollohearttags]

idk if u have anymore locked and loaded away but can we get some more musician!eren hcs/traits…just a crumb even. im on the side of the road shaking my cup🙏🏾

oh babes, I got more than I know what to do with. Gather round and I’ll share with you all my never ending lore for the loml. 🤍

EJ is a clown. His favorite pastime outside of music is being an S tier menace. He loves picking at everybody 😭 (y/n), Jean, Mika, his own MAMA..nobody is off limits when he gets started. He is an asshole and proud of it. (he once told Mika she was jealous of him because she was bald headed and he wasn’t. Sis tried to break his nose but then remembered she needed him for a performance that night 😩)

he can play over 10 different instruments and proficiently at that! His main is guitar and drums but he’s naturally gifted so any instrument he puts his hands on, he can learn fairly quickly.

he won’t attend awards shows unless his whole crew is invited too. Don’t matter if it’s the Grammys, BET, VMA’s..if his whole team isn’t there, he’s not going. And they definitely forget it if (y/n) isn’t on the list.

he HAS to have at least an hour before shows to be completely alone and decompress, otherwise, he’ll be messing up all night. He has severe anxiety so it makes it hard for him to concentrate if too much is going on before hand. He’ll spend the time meditating or listening to music and smoking.

his ultimate goal is to one day start his own label. He wants to work with more female artists because he feels there are “a lot of dudes using women for clout but never wanting to put them on.”

also adding to that, Eren swears he is not a dancer but decided to let (y/n) do choreography for his latest song and he ended up liking it so much, that he incorporated it into his latest performance.

(haven’t quite delved into this yet so not giving away too much!) but there is one person who eren credits his musical career to and for pushing him to go for it. His exact quote: “there’s so many people who’ve helped me throughout my journey. That I have to thank for getting me this far but as for who really made this possible? Well..she’s no longer here and I wish she was. I wish she could see how far I’ve come and I only hope that she’s smiling down on me. I hope I made her proud.”

he lovessss sitting in on (y/n)’s practice sessions! Not even on some sexual shit, it truly fascinated him seeing his girl do all of these intricate pole tricks without falling or missing a beat. He realizes how much work goes into learning it and respects your talent. He even posts vids to his Instagram story, showing you off.

during the time of the [p word that shall not be named] he and Armin put their DJ’ing skills to good use and entertained their fans. They started a little thing on Instagram live called “Club Passion” where they would dress up in these cheesy ass fits, pretend they were hosting events and have people join in the live. They’d play music, be drinking and even host twerk contests where they’d CashApp the winner a prize. (A very unserious duo 😭)

for the more devious of the traits, he’s a demon and a half when he drinks. He has zero limits or shame. Including in the bedroom. RIP to (y/n)’s cervix cause he has no control.

he is a habitual bed/headboard breaker 😩🥴 do with that what you will.

he doesn’t believe in cheating or open relationships, but he’ll gladly let you share him with your girls and vice versa. (Niesha’s definitely his favorite but he won’t tell his best friend that 🤭) And if he’s feeling extra deviant, he’ll let you pick a fan of his to do some thangs with. “As long as she doesn’t go running her mouth, I’m with whatever y’all wanna do.” He definitely has a few videos of you guys’ escapades saved in his phone. (the NDA’s stay ready!)

[mageknight14]

I loved how NEO pulled the rug out with Rindo’s character. At first, he generally seems much more sociable and outwardly friendly compared to Neku and then the game quickly goes "yeah, nah, he’s a huge fucking mess too." He’s a good kid fundamentally at his core but he can also be whiny, hypocritical, passive-aggressive, and kind of insensitive at times. He has a tendency to be judgemental and harsh to the people around him while not acknowledging his own faults, like when he complains about Beat joining the team even though he saved their lives beforehand because he’s not Neku or when he gives Fret shit for fawning over Eiji Oji and Kanon while falling for Motoi’s BS. He’s so pessimistic about himself and others that not even a death game that heavily emphasizes the value of teamwork can get him to fully come out of his shell, which is where his time-travel powers come in AND EVEN THEN it’s a double-edged sword since on one hand, it forces him to actively step up to the plate and survey the situation to find the best possible solution, which leads to him slowly growing out of his shell, but on the other, it also leads to him becoming overly reliant on his time travel so that he can walk back from potentially life-changing decisions without having to worry about it since he has a magic reset button. Which ends up biting him in the ass. Hard.

He’s one of those types of people who is ultimately a thinker and planner instead of a do-er, but his being young and overly impressionable takes this personality quirk to such an extreme that he's foundationally useless to most groups. He’s the type of person who you have in a group project who sits around and does nothing, but then complains with the project does poorly because he couldn't be bothered to speak.

He's so unconfident and directionless that he uses effectively Instagram as a means to listen to someone who sounds like some 2deep4u philosopher post dumb flowery bullshit that effectively has all the meaning of "Drink water when you're thirsty." and he admits to finding such "deep" meaning in these posts that it supposedly helped him through life. Because he's 15 and doesn't know anything.

However, all of this makes him interesting as a character because he’s, again, still a fundamentally good kid at his core. While he’s shown to have a fuse, he is also the kind of person who has the ability to think his emotions through. That's what we ultimately see when he and Fret finally talk and drop their beef. The game depicting Rindo's capacity for self-awareness and emotional reflection is a positive revelation of his character strengths. He proves that he's capable of recognizing when he's in the wrong and knows how to apologize, a trait he shows quite a few times throughout the story, while also doing everything he can to set things right as well as be more understanding toward how his friends feels.

He’s kind of the guy who will drop everything to help a little kid out, even when there’s no tangible benefit to doing so and he and the others are shown to be on limited time, shows empathy to his friends/fallen enemies, and feels massive amounts of guilt for his actions, even if he didn’t know better at the time.

Hell, the entire endgame is fueled by his selfish yet understandable desire to save the people he cares about most from total erasure, to the point that he’s willing to risk thousands of lives to do so. But not only is he shown to be internally grappling with himself regarding his decision but he’s also willing to take responsibility and ensure that EVERYTHING goes right not just for himself and his friends but the people of Shibuya in general, in a parallel to Neku’s own selfish if understandable decision to put the bonds he formed in the original game (particularly with Joshua) over the actual city.

Characters aren't interesting simply by switching between 2 different character traits. They're interesting when all those traits are being expressed at the same time for reasons that are consistent within their internal logic. You gotta be a good writer to pull that off and you gotta know when to show off these dimensions during your story to achieve proper dramatic effect when the time calls for it and NEO I feel does this pretty damn well.

[wormswurld]

nerd!ollie x jock!felix ideas & hcs! 🌟

- felix plays lacrosse and obviously is the best player on the team,, always getting his team wins and taking them out to the pub to celebrate afterwards

- ollie is a science/anatomy major!!!!!!!!! my man is a true nerd: had a space themed bedroom as a kid, does math problems & puzzles in his free time,, the whole 9 yards!! ppl probably pay him to do their homework and write their essays for them (he “can’t” say no)

- their relationship dynamic gives introvert x extrovert, black cat x golden retriever, sun x moon trope if y’know what i mean

- since ollie is majoring in anatomy he really likes dissecting things….HES A FUCKING WEIRDO WHAT DO YOU EXPECT OKAY (always going to the lab to do his little freak boy experiments & to study etc etc)

- felix has the same personality he does in the movie but imagine if amped the fuck up since he’s a jock: loud (no matter the situation), touchy (definitely smacks his teammates ass, shoulders, scruffing up their hair out of excitement etc)

- all the girls at oxford pack the stands of felix’s games just to fawn over him and hope to get his attention so they can sleep with him

- ollie memorized felix’s schedule, dates of his games, probability of him going out to the pub outside of winning a game etc; when i tell you he is a grade A stalker i mean it!

- when ollie watches felix play he fantasizes about what his body and muscles look like moving under his jersey,, probably getting hard when he sees a sweaty felix yelling at his teammate to try harder

- ollie catches felix making out with a girl and this infuriates him so what does he do? give felix the wrong answers for an assignment so he fails as revenge,, but he doesn’t get off that easy because felix comes storming into his room cursing and pushing ollie up against a wall !! probably asking if ollie was jealous and that’s why he did it…maybe threatens to release a picture of ollie in a very compromising position (on his knees cum all over his face and glasses just the usual lol)

- felix probably teases ollie about how needy and weird he is, “you probably wanna smell my jersey huh? get off on it right?” nothing like some good old humiliation <3

- felix’s teammates picking up on felix spending more time with ollie instead of them so they corner ollie and beat him up and obviously felix “saves the day” by telling them to fuck off and helps tend to ollie’s wounds…that may or may not entail kissing the bruises on his face no homo™️ style

- ollie reading out loud to felix to prepare for a test and feix just touching up on ollie to see how hard he gets…loving the sound of ollie’s voice cracking as he reads and ultimately loses he place

- ollie likes “accidentally” running into felix after his practices once they get to know each other more so he can see how sweaty and out of breath he is after practice (it’s obvs turns him on)

- felix likes getting ollie plastered just so he can have even more of an excuse to walk ollie to his dorm and help him get ready for bed

- sometimes when they are blackout drunk they hump each other (felix oftentimes comes too fast and they both laugh it off)

i hope you enjoyed! here’s some pics of the boys i think fit the nerd! x jock! vibe 😇

@fuckingwoodfuckingpaneling the hcs have dropped!!!

[from-now-on-im-switzerland]

>They Love Baseball.

Jasperxf¡reader

>quick note, I could've done so much better with this if I started from scratch but this was from my fic I'm writing on Wattpad. I took out a lot because there's so much context needed for it to be understandable, so this is like a simplified one-shot.

>Reader and her friends playing Baseball at school with the Cullens.

>Post breaking dawn (aka vamp Bella)

>Also Jasper has better control over his thirst now.

>Reader is a new(ish) student and doesn't know of the Cullen's...situation🧛🏻"

°Reader's Pov°

I walked up to the classroom door only to see everyone was already in there..and the anxiety set in. Fuck. I walked past the door hoping to merlin that sir didn't see me while I built up the courage to go in. I stood against the wall of my classroom as I heard the rejester, my name being called and there being no response, only increasing my feeling. This is why I always try and make an effort to get to school early..so I'm not the last in with everyone staring at me. Don't get me wrong, I am so not keen on the cramped halls and all the loud voices but it beats me awkwardly strolling into class late, having to give an excuse to the teacher and bypass all my classmates to my seat.

I removed my hands away from my face as a comfortable wave of calmness infiltrated my emotions. The anxiety was washed away and the fear was replaced with subtle confidence. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes only to notice Jasper by my side leaving about an inch of space between us.

"Jasper?" I said, relieved to see him again. After we became somewhat friends, he and his siblings weren't in school for a good week.

"Are you okay?" he asked, somewhat concerned. By now, he had placed his hand on the small of my back. My breath hitched at the contact, but ultimately returned to normal as my eyes met his.

"Uhm..yeah, I'm okay now. Thanks." I said, pretending not to be unbelievably relieved to see him. "where have you been?" I asked, the curiosity taking over me.

"Sorry, me and my family went camping for the week. I should've said, but it was pretty last minute." he said, a little smile playing at the corner of his lips when he talked.

"It's..it's okay. Just missed you that's all" I said, oddly confident.

He smirked, and his eyes darkened slightly. "Missed you too. C'mon let's get inside." he said, taking my hand and bringing me through the threshold of the door.

"Oh, there you are" Sir simply said. I felt the calmness fading and the anxiety slowly creeping back. "Try not be so late would you?" he asked as I took my set next to Jasper "Yes..sorry sir, I had a flat tire" I lied, but he seemed to buy it as he finished marking me in and continued the lesson. My friend, Glenn, sat on the other side of me and he nudged me slightly. "Hey are you alright? I saw you walk past the classroom just then..is everything good?" he asked.

"No..yeah I'm fine I just got a little nervous is all, nothing to fret over" I said, smiling timidly.

Jasper cleared his throat. "everything alright?" he asked, tucking his chair in a little, a hint of worry still lacing his words. I smiled at him "Yeah, thank you for helping out" I said back, my voice barley above a whisper, but he heard me still.

"Anytime, Y/n/n" he said, his smile returning.

Glenn shuffled in his seat, seeming uncomfortable. "you good?" I asked as he gained my attention. He smiled sheepishly "never better, just a little bit cold is all" he said.

Jasper rolled his eyes and started to work again.

☬⚊𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐩⚊𝐏.𝐄⚊☬

We all lined up outside the changing rooms, but first the teacher (Miss Leigh) did the register.

"OK guys, you'll be playing different sports, we'll have two teams for baseball, and 2 teams for volleyball, so after you're all changed, please get into groups of 6" Miss Leigh said, gripping her clipboard, ready to asses the students who needed to be. Glenn, Jess, Luke, Bradley, Isla and I, had all locked eyes as if we silently agreed that we were a team.

"Alright guys stop talking and get changed!" She ordered, shoving everybody inside their designated changing room.

Me, Glenn, Jess, Isla, Luke and Bradley were a team and we had to play against Jasper, and his family at a game of Baseball.

The Cullen's had brought all of the equipment over to the pitch, Jasper dropped the bag of bats at my feet, "you guys bat first" he said. I picked up a bat, and rested it on my shoulders. Not gonna lie, I felt like Harley Quinn.

"That's alright, i'm the one with the wicked curveball" I said, swinging the bat back around, immitating a hit.

"Oh well, I think we can handle that.." he smirked.

Glenn came up from behind me, again, and rested his arm around my shoulder. I very slowly and slyly shook his arm off, I didn't want to seem too rude, Glenn has only ever been kind to me so far.

"Is Hale bothering you Y/n?" He asked.

"No Glenn, Jasper isn't bothering me, we were just talking.." I said, smiling at him.

"Got a problem?" Jasper asked, raising his arms slightly.

"Don't start, can we just play baseball please?" I said, walking off. I got into position when Luke came over to me. "Y/n, just a warning...The Cullens...they love baseball" Luke said, randomly.

"Okay, and?" I asked, a smile tugging on my lips.

"They're very competitive" Luke said, seeming like he was putting it simply.

Right..

Bradley took a bat, and I swear I heard some laughing as if they thought this first round was going to be so easy. Alice did a really weird but really cool looking bowl, it was kinda attractive not gonna lie...

Anyways, Bradley struck the ball as hard as she could sending it flying across the field. About two of Jaspers teammates went after it, while Bradley sped around the pitch and made a home run.

She made her way through our team, with high fives, hugs and fist bumps, until Luke was the last person to congratulate her. She couldn't decide what to do, she went to hug him but then swiftly rose her hand to high five him, only to change her mind again to a fist bump. Luke slowly put her arm down "Well done, Brads.." he said through small giggles, subconsciously not letting go of her hand.

' OH YES! They don't call me Y/n, Little Miss Match Maker for nothing! Wait..no one calls me that..nevermind...still cute tho. '

Edward, who was nearby, threw his head back, laughing.

' I swear to God, if this man conviently laughs at another thing that I think, then i'm officially convinced he's inside my mind '

"Are we playing Baseball or what? Edward, stop laughing and focus!" Rosalie hissed.

At that point I understood what Luke had meant before.

"Alright babe, it's just a game!" Emmett said smirking.

Jess picked up the bat and waited for Alice to bowl her the ball. We all took our turns, some attempts were more successful than others..and in total we got a score of 4 home runs.

Time to switch.

We all started walking to the opposite sides of the pitch and into each other's previous positions. I went to hand over my bat to Jasper and just as he was about to take it, I dropped the bat his feet. "Your turn, cowboy.." I said, trying to hide my amused smile.

He kicked the bat up into his hands and caught it "That's alright, i'm the one with the wicked curveball" he said, mocking my accent.

I laughed a little before attempting his "Yeah well, I think we can handle that.."

He hid his laughter and headed to stand by the rest of his family.

Glenn and Isla briefly squabbled over being pitcher before Isla gave up and joined me in fielding. Glenn got ready to serve the ball to Emmett, nowhere near matching Alice's bowl, but still throwing it with a lot of force. Emmett held the bat with one hand and kept his eye one the ball. His family egging him on, as they were lined up behind him.

Out of nowhere, just as Glenn served, there was a crash, someone's car had rolled down the hill of the car park. Almost everyone's eyes had gravitated toward the truck, so no one was really paying attention, including me.

"Y/N LOOK OUT!" I heard Alice shout from across the pitch.

I snapped my head back around to see what she was talking about, until for a split second I saw the ball that Emmett had hit, fly straight toward my face. I braced myself, scrunching up my nose and bringing my hands up to shield my face. Only for a different hand to reach out infront of me, and catch the ball before it even touched me.

Jasper.

He threw the ball back over to Emmett, aggressively, purposefully hitting him in the chest. "Watch it." Jasper warned, Emmett held up his hands jokingly in surrender.

Jasper turned back to me. "Don't get distracted next time, alright" he said, winking before jogging back over to join Edward in their line up.

I didn't even get to say thank you.

"So am I out then?" Emmett questioned, throwing his arms up. The ref had walked off, either out of boredom or to sort out the car. Probably the latter.

Emmett threw the ball to Glenn, then sat down anyways with Rosalie.

Glenn then served to Bella. Bella swung the bat with one hand and hit the ball all the way into the forest, before speeding off around the pitch.

I ran after it. 'what sort of main character moment was that?' I thought, running to catch up with the ball.

I picked it up after it landed ahead of me and saw Bella approaching the home base.

"LUKE!" I yelled, to give him a heads up.

I built up all my strength and launched the ball forward. It was now Bella Vs the ball. Which one would make it to home base first? Bella looked up and saw the ball, and tried her best to run as fast as she could.

Luke caught the ball and placed it on home base, just as Bella had reached there.

"...You're out.." The game's ref noted, walking back out of nowhere with a pencil in her ear.

I walked back over to my team and celebrated with them.

'How's that for a main character moment? ' I thought, sarcastically. 'Guess she just wasn't fast enough.'

Edward quickly faced the other direction and shook his head, smiling.

Bella went and sat down next to Rosalie. Rosalie smirked as she saw her walking over to her and said something along the lines of "How did it feel being you this time?"

Jasper was up next. He span the bat around in his hands, hitting the end of it away from him, then catching it the right way up, swirling it in small circles behind his head. Something about that caught me so off guard...he did that and I was instantly trying to somehow stop the butterflies deep in my stomach as if they were gonna burst out at any moment. I snapped back to reality replaying his 'don't get distracted' in my mind. He hit the ball with force and sped off around the pitch I watched the ball fly towards me at full pace several feet above me in the air. I ran with it, trying to maybe catch it. It lowered and I jumped backwards, determined to catch it. And I did.

I held the ball up as he was about 5 feet away from home base. He turned and saw me walking back, baseball in hand and couldn't help but look to his feet and smirk. He walked to his team, and sat down with Rosalie, Emmett, And Bella not taking his eyes away from me.

I threw the ball to Glenn gently, and winked at Jasper. His signature smirk appeared and he looked down sheepishly.

"Didn't get distracted.." I said to myself, returning to my position. And he looked up, as if he heard me.

We played a few more rounds for the rest of the lesson, the Cullens ended up beating us, only by two though! And apparently that was the closest anyone's ever been so...it's a personal win.

While taking a sip of some of Bradley's water, Jasper walked over to me. "Good game, hotshot.." he said, looking me up and down.

"Well, I'm more than just a pretty face, cowboy" I said, taking a step forward.

"Are you sure about that?" He quizzed, tilting his head to examine my face.

"Oh I'm sure, I wiped the floor with your ass..well not the floor...the grass really" I said, reffering to my catch.

"Really? Last I checked..we did beat you guys?" He said, looking behind him at his family.

"Still, we came rather close..best competition you've had? " I questioned.

"and how would you know that? You're still new here sweetheart." he teased.

I titled my head and squinted my eyes slightly in response to his „sweetheart„

"What's with the nicknames, darling?" I teased him, calling him out.

"I- uh..what? You call me Cowboy all the time and plus, am I not allowed to call you nicknames now? You seemed to like it before..you're cheeks would go red and you'd hide your smile. Don't you trust me? Don't you appreciate me? you seemed to this morning.."

"Did i? Or did you give me no choice?" I countered. "And why all the questions?"

"Nah, you trusted me. I could tell." he said, walking back into the sports hall. He turned around, and began walking away. His uniform clinging to the muscles on his back. "You're welcome by the way" he spoke, referring to earlier, as he continued back up and inside the hall.

[claymoresword]

I Choose Her | Chp: 4

Hermione Granger x Slytherin Fem!Reader

Summary: You are the daughter of two known death eaters from one of the oldest and richest families in the wizarding world. Are you truly prepared to give up everything you know for Hermione Granger?

Paring: Hermione x Reader

Wordcount: 1.4k

Warnings: mild angst, fluff, ron weasley is not our friend

Note: idk what this chapter is i just had the idea for it when i was rewatching the movie lol i do shit on Ron quite a bit in this but i just tried to stay true to reader's pov and i think this was a realistic approach?

for some reason the moment with Hermione in this has by far been my most favourite to write hopefully u enjoy it just as much

not proof read sorry for the mistakes!

Chapter 5

It was Quidditch day. You are sat next to Goyle and Pansy in the great hall.

Your lunch infront of you left untouched. Suffice it to say, you were nervous. You had been training for this game for weeks now, as a seeker of the Slytherin team naturally you felt the weight of the world on your shoulders.

The team losing or winning today would ultimately be on you.

All of that aside, you did enjoy Quidditch. You had been the Slytherin seeker for almost 6 years now and you loved the game, you also adored flying.  The sport always felt so all consuming that you found it to be the perfect escape, you wouldn't trade it for anything.

You look up from your food and you spot Ron walking down the hall towards his seat at the Gryffindor table.

The Slytherin boys next to you started yelling out names and making fun of him.

You let out a laugh, you agree he did look ridiculous. The ginger haired boy had on keeper headgear mostly worn by first years.

You grabbed a piece of bread from your plate and chucked it at him, clocking him on the side of his head. You figure it was alright, he had the dumb headgear to protect him.

"Loser!" Goyle shouts out and Ron continued to ignore him as he goes to sit down next to Ginny at the Gryffindor table.

"What the hell are you wearing!" You shout out to Ron hoping to get his attention so you could throw more insults his way, just for the hell of it.

Instead, you caught the attention of your girlfriend. Looking less than thrilled when your gaze met hers, she glares at you from across the great hall.

"Be nice." Hermione mouths to you, her eyebrows knitted, she was mad at you.

You lift your hands up as though to gesture that you surrender and will not be picking on Ron anymore. She rolls her eyes but a brief smile formed on her lips, proving that she can't be truly mad at you.

You shift your gaze and you notice Blaise had watched the entire exhange. He stares at you for a beat before looking away to continue picking at his food, he lets out a huff. After years of being friends with him you know that meant he disapproved.

You decided not to dwell on it for too long and focus on the game ahead.

---

Gryffindor was kicking your ass.

Ron had blocked almost every shot the Slytherin beater took. Morale was low. You needed to catch the snitch, you needed to win this.

How the hell did Weasley get so good at Quidditch? This was his first real game. Truthfully this angered you but you couldn't let him get inside your head.

You shifted your gaze to the bleachers for a moment, trying to spot Hermione. When you find her she is staring up at you. Her eyes had been fixed on you the entire game. She may be wearing the Gryffindor colours but she was there to support you. She wanted you to win.

"You got this." Hermione mouths to you before giving you a nod.

This gave you all the motivation you needed.

You spot the golden snitch directly ahead and you and swiftly fly your broom towards it. You extended your arm, prepared to grab the snitch.

This was it. You were going to win.

Just as you were about to wrap your hands around it, Harry flies infront of you snatching the golden ball away. He moved so quick you didn't even notice him approaching. He throws you a look and it only made you want to scream, he can be so cocky sometimes.

You felt frozen in time, unable to process what just happened.

"Harry Potter has caught the golden snitch! Gryffindor wins this match!" The commentator shouts into the microphone, his voice sounds muffled to you. It almost feels like you were having an out of body experience.

You glanced at Blaise across the pitch and his face was scrunched up in anger.

You lost.

---

"Don't beat yourself up y/n, you tried your best. It's not your fault." Pansy says, your head was resting on her shoulder. She had been trying to comfort you since the game ended.

You were in the Slytherin common room. Sat on the couch, you hadn't done anything besides stare into the fire for what felt like hours.

The loss today definitely aggravated your other concerns. Your worries about Draco, your parents. There was a general darkness looming over you that you couldn't ignore.

Nothing seemed to be going your way.

"Try telling that to Blaise. He's not speaking to me." You counter.

"You know how he gets about these things, he'll come around." Pansy reassures.

You let out a sigh, she was probably right.

"I'm going for a walk. I'll see you later." You breathe out before grabbing her hand briefly, you gave it a squeeze as a silent 'thank you'.

You just needed to be alone.

---

You found yourself at the stairwell by the Gryffindor common room, you could overhear the commotion from inside.

"Weasley! Weasley! Weasley!" You hear people chanting. Jealousy coursing through you but quickly tried to suppress it.

The Gryffindors won fair and square, you were never one to be a sore loser but this felt different.

Ron always wanted to take away everything you cared about, even if he didn't realise it.

You were suddenly broken out of your thoughts when you heard a familiar voice call out to you.

"There you are. I tried looking for you after the game where did you go?" Hermione asks.

"Hey." You merely responded, not having the energy to pretend with her.

Your girlfriend sits down on the step next to you.

Hermione was unsure of what to say next, a few minutes go by before you break the silence.

"Shouldn't you be celebrating with Ron." You deadpan, more venom in your tone than you intended.

You catch Hermione wince slightly and guilt washes over you.

"Why would you ever say that." Hermione responds sounding exasperated.

"Look, I'm sorry that you lost the game today but you don't get to take it out on me." Your girlfriend says, her tone firm putting you in your place.

"You're right, I'm sorry." You glance at her apologetically before reaching out to grab her hand.

The shorter girl intertwined your fingers before moving closer to rest her head on your shoulder.

"Things are just really fucked right now. I feel like nothing is going my way." You admit and you feel tears well up in your eyes.

Hermione notices and she lifts her head off your shoulder to turn towards you, gesturing for you to do the same.

"I know things are dark right now and I can see you carrying the weight of it all on your own." Hermione states quietly, only for you to hear.

"I'm here. I want to make things easier. I want to be here for you, but you have to let me in." Hermione whispers as she puts her hand over your chest, feeling your heartbeat.

You glance down at her hand. Not saying anything in response but you are overwhelmed with affection for your girlfriend.

The most patient and understanding person you have ever met. You can't believe out of everyone in the world you are the person to have captured her heart.

You feel it is only fair you finally give yourself completely to her, as she has done so with you.

You lean in to plant a kiss on her lips, soft but passionate. An attempt to express all the love you feel for her in that moment.

Hermione's hand moves to the back of your neck, kissing you back just as deeply.

You pull away, disconnecting your lips but resting your forehead against hers.

You breathe in and you can smell her shampoo, subtle but it's there.

Feeling her close to you like this gave you the courage you needed. You decided you had to tell her about your parents threats, you need to tell her that joining the Death Eaters and pledging loyalty to the Dark Lord was inevitable for you, there was no other way.

"I have to tell you something-" You start, but you were quickly interrupted by someone giggling in the distance.

Ron and a girl you had never seen before running towards you, a look of pure bliss written all over their faces.

Envy overcomes you once again.

How simple his life must be.

Hermione removes her hand from the back of your neck as you both pull away.

"I think this place is taken." The girl whispers to Ron giggling again.

Ron ignored her as his gaze was fixed on Hermione.

"What's going on?" The ginger haired boy finally asks, glancing at the both of you.

[latelyanobsession]

Billy & Dogs Headcanons

just really had it in my head lately about Billy and how he would be around animals.

i refuse to believe that billy didn’t want a dog as a little boy and that he asked his mother frequently for one, but as the fights and chaos grew in his home he stopped asking. neil may or may not have had dogs in his life, but he’s a man who feels he’s 100% within his rights to beat an animal for any reason.

as a child he got in trouble several times for feeding strays, which would result in them following him home and having neil lose his sh*t. 

nowadays billy is rather wary of animals. he’s not scared of them or anything. but he knows that he’ll be in deep sh*t if they follow him home. and he can’t have a set of big wobbly puppy eyes staring up at him. he has to keep walking. he might still sneak a quick pet in here or there if no one’s looking.

now what happens if he meets you and your mutt? well now...

now Hawkins is a small rural place.... not much need for fences. or leashes. your dog has a bad habit of running all through the neighborhood. he brings back souvenirs sometimes which you then have to return.

imagine billy’s surprise when a dog swipes his jacket right from his grasp and takes off down the block. catch me if you can, sucker! only to stop, proudly wagging on your front stoop.

you throw the door open to chide your pet, and here’s this boy out of breath on your lawn.... your dog is so smug.

your dog gives you the jacket and you have to profusely apologize

your dog nuzzling up to billy. him unsurely giving the thief a pat on the head

billy learning this dog follows you everywhere. everywhere. it sits at the edge of the school property and waits for you at the end of the day when you go hustling up to it and wrap it in a hug and walk home

billy growing jealous of the attention and babying that your dog gets. baby dog... oh baby doooog? who’s my boy? my baby boy! 

snuggling the dog and seeing his judgmental eyes on the both of you.

billy and the dog secretly giving each other looks and being in competition for your attention and affections

billy and the dog bonding the more you leave them alone with each other

billy having deep conversations about you with your dog when you’re not around. laying against your dog as a pillow. “i dunno guy... sometimes she’s just a pain in my ass. y’know?” *bark bark*

billy and the dog having to track you down in the woods one night because you had to abandon your car when a tornado touched down and now you’re lost and injured (the ultimate team up)

and as a side note* max. max would love the dog immediately, no objections.

like max being pulled on her skateboard down the street by the dog, finding all the gnarliest hills in Hawkins to go flying and airborne down

your dog grabbing the leash by the door and dragging you to cherry street just to see max....

max keeping treats or lunch scraps in her backpack

max falling asleep with the dog on her bed, and you having to stay over longer because you don’t want to disrupt the whole scene (my heart)

for those of you with the petite breeds

billy initially making fun of your baby being a tiny terror or being a ‘sh*t excuse of a dog’

next thing you know your dog is in his lap, head out the window of the camaro. but don’t say a damn word about it. we have an image to uphold.

dog curled in his lap, on his chest. nap times at any and all times possible.

billy in just shorts and flip flops, screaming/yelling at someone, but holding your dog like a baby.

he carries your dog around more than you do.... just sayin....

[tater-th0t13]

Pokemon game where you start off the in the hardest town.

You didn’t move there, you’ve been surrounded by the regions best pokemon trainers and toughest wild pokemon your whole life. Even your mom is a super strong trainer, better yet shes the local gym leader.

And everyone is just. So. Mean. To you specifically. They don’t care that you’re 10 and you can’t catch a local pokemon, and even if you did they wouldn’t hesitate to one-hit K.O. your ass. Your mom doesn’t believe in gifting strong pokemon to weak trainers and her own child is no exception. You’re the laughing stock of the town and no one is going to be the one to throw you a bone, lest they be seen as weak themselves.

But you hear about a small, quaint village, and a pokemon professor that has previously given new trainers good starting pokemon and helpful advice. You decide that if you’re going to live up to the standards set by your hometown you can’t stay there. Everyone including your mom is excited to see you leave, half because they’re glad you’re finally starting your journey to living up to your family/town name and half because your presence is just embarrassing.

Your rival is your older sibling whom your mom demands accompany you to the small town and keep an eye on you. They’re equally if not the most embarrassed of you and your weak status and laughs at your pokemon. And unlike the regular games, they do not start off as your equal. You *will* lose to your older sibling. Not just the first encounter, but many times after. True to form, they will always be ahead of you and find all your challenges to be a breeze, followed by an ass-whooping.

The clear goal is to build the ultimate team that will show to everyone back home that they were all wrong about you. To return home with 7 badges and force your mom to award you your 8th and final badge. To at some point in your journey have a team that beats your sibling’s and leave them dumbfounded, and maybe even proud?

But your journey along the way will be filled with characters and challenges that make you question your idea of what it means to be a pokemon trainer thats been engrained into since birth. Trainers who know fuck-all about stats. Towns that have banned competitive poke-sports. The idea that the relationship between trainer and pokemon is not just using them as a tool to earn prominence and money. Everything that flies in the face of what your mom and town have told you about pokemon.

And at one point, you’ll have completed the journey you’ve set out to accomplish. You are *the* pokemon champion. Nobody at home can call you a weakling, you’ve put everyone in their place, including and especially your family.

But after everything you will still be faced with a choice: to be everything your town and family expect of you and wield power using your pokemon OR abandon everything you’ve ever known in favor of the vast and varying possibilities of the wider pokemon world?

Do you return to your roots, hardened and cold from the years of belittling comments and unfair, brutal battles? Do you wield your championship title over your mother and sibling, making them feel the inferiority that you felt? Do you actively shove the words fed to you down the throats of those who used them against you? Become the mirror and hold yourself to the town that made you this way, but worse?

Or do you walk away? Do you return to the towns that taught you the importance of friendship and hard work that has no pay off? Return to the professor who taught you the value of having varied experiences? Join your friends on their endeavors, because through your journey you all became closer than you are to your own family? Give up the title of champion and your birthright to power?

Choosing option one condemns your file to competitive play for the rest of the post-story game lol.

[snickerdoodlles]

any headcanons about the kp boys' favourite games? doesn't matter if it's board games, video games, card games, or mind games -- everything is fair game :')

Khun - internet quiz games like "which character are you" or "what cliche trope would you kiss" or whatever/etc etc. specifically, he likes taking them and then ranting about all the ways they're stupid and/or wrong.

Kim - claims its poker because he spent several years teaching himself how to count cards after he and Khun watched that one heist movie that involved counting cards. he liked Clue as a kid but then got extremely disappointed in it as he grew up. his university friends spend about four months trying to get him to download the among us game, then refuse to play with him after four days of him absolutely kicking ass at it. (new freshman hazing initiation ritual! Try To Beat Wik At Among Us! best played in a large group with a heckling peanut gallery.)

Chay - before Yok's bar, first person shooting games. or any type of shooting game really. less so afterwards.

Macau - ultimate videogame connoisseur. solid collection of board games for him and Vegas too (no scrabble though, he hates scrabble). his game room is a thing of legend. someone remind me to talk about the Macau&Chay you got mail AU that includes Chay calling Macau his sugar daddy after Macau gives him a bunch of turnips in Animal Crossing.

Vegas - he says mind games. his actual favorite game is pub trivia night. specifically in Pete's hometown where he and Pete's grandma team up against a bunch of other old people. have I mentioned I love a good relationship between Vegas & Pete's grandma.

Pete - he thought board games, because Khun's game rules are ridiculous but great at keeping things lively. he's extremely disappointed when Vegas and Macau don't like that at all. he is king of poker.

Porsche - card games! doesn't really have a specific favorite game and never plays for stakes, but one deck having multiple game options is a godsend when trying to entertain a kid on a budget. also damn good at card tricks, though he was careful not to show off those outside of home.

Kinn - Sudoku. he has an app folder of similar number games and spider solitaire on his phone. he is my favorite old man <3

Chay bonus - before BOC kinnporsche aired, one of my favorite Chay headcanons ever was pickpocket!Chay. so let's return to that and Chay breaks Kim's mind with card tricks. this is his new favorite game.

[sleidog]

one day i'll have the brain power to put together a really simple 'casuals guide to end game' which gives players a far more reasonable understanding of what their chosen class with all the ideal gear [armour in particular with easier to obtain runes that scholar runes] and general trinkets that may or may not be perfect [because i'm always guilty of forgetting to change at least one trinket] can do in terms of no rotation DPS where you do literally just button smash in a frenzy, because i feel like it's a far more accurate representation of what actually happens during most raids and strikes when you're new and learning mechanics and because of that, you really shouldn't be beating yourself up about not hitting those 'big boy numbers' which do not matter mechanics and killing the boss matter, DPS should be third on your priorities, even lower if you're a support class who's giving boons or trying to keep your team alive! i say this after watching a bunch of LFGers during a harvest temple run berate the group for low DPS, yet we saw them fail every mechanic during the fight which lowered our DPS to keep picking them up off the floor, as a whole, our 'low DPS' group is very capable of defeating that encounter and had a far lower percentage of people going down to mechanics as well if you're putting out around 10K DPS [and trust me, if you have the gear, you are, even in a panicked strike/raid setting] you will be fine, please do not stress the numbers unless you're aiming for quick kills or general speedrunning like i'm picking all of you up and OFFERING to open raid and strike instances for you to just run around and see mechanics and learn without the pressure of someone recording your stats without your consent [arc DPS sucks and it's accuracy is questionable; the one time i used that add on, it gave a totally different number read out despite identical settings to someone else running the same settings in the same squad] anyway, tl;dr, my guild/server runs very chill no expectations except being open to learn and head not up own ass with strikes and raids one day i'll make a beginner guide of what the bare minimum most classes with reasonable gearing can do, if i have that class geared [this isn't aimed towards 'lazy' people, this is aimed at people who may be handicapped, disabled, etc ultimately you should be wanting to give your team your best, but sometimes your best isn't what the benchmark tells you it should be and that is FINE] arc DPS is shit and unless you yourself are using it as a learning tool, do not use it to berate other players who did not ask for you to record their stats without their consent

[scoopertrouper]

could you write about steve and nancy's first major fight (and reconciliation) after they got back together post s4?

anon, i hope you're happy. this prompt ate my brain, chewed it up, and then decided it didn't like how it tasted and spit it out. i was at the ZOO with an adorable little toddler, watching him watch the turtles in wonderment while also thinking "yeah, but WHY are steve and nancy fighting??"

ultimately i think the characters here still need some fine tuning/fleshing out and the premise really only works if you don't think about it too hard. i will probably revisit this in the future with a much stronger editorial eye. 😬

that said, i hope you still very much enjoy this impulsive, self-indulgent 5k words of breaking up (not really lol) and making up schmoop (+ warning for tasteful-ish spice at the end - sorry if that's not your thing).

***

can’t let you slide through my hands

“I don’t like this.”

Nancy hates her voice right now. It’s a quivering, slip of a sound, and she can barely hear it over the slamming echo of her heart inside her ears. 

But Steve hears it. He always hears her, even when it’s something he doesn’t want to hear. 

And if he’s trying to ignore her – trying to pretend the slow, careful grind of whetstone over the edge of his ax has drowned out her words – well, the brief glance he can’t help but flick in her direction gives him away entirely. 

“Steve.”

“Nancy.” 

Each syllable is even, practically toneless, and she hates it. 

“Why are you doing this?” Normally she’d work a lot harder to quash the weak, plaintive note that suffuses the word why, but he’s not listening to her and she doesn’t know what else to do. How else to get his attention. 

“You heard Hopper,” he says with that awful, carelessly empty inflection. “They need all the help they can get.”

Nancy’s fingernails bite into her palms. The sting of it somehow grounds and incenses her, all at the same time. 

“He only said that after you asked him if you could go.”

And hadn’t that been a kick in the pants – Nancy, resigned to staying behind playing bodyguard at Hopper’s request, while Steve only too eagerly offered to tromp off into the woods with Team Distraction like some kind of kamikaze lamb for slaughter. 

(That’s not fair. She knows that of the two of them, she has what could be considered the more important job. Stay at the cabin. Protect El. Make sure nothing happens to her if this frankly suicidal diversionary tactic doesn’t work and they’re attacked during yet another round of psychic Marco Polo with the biggest, baddest ugly they’ve faced yet. 

And she knows Hopper wasn’t lying – they probably could use Steve’s help out there, his seemingly infinite supply of athleticism. Just like she knows that it’s actually a huge compliment that Hopper's trusting her to help keep his daughter safe. So no, she’s not being fair. But also – it’s not fair.)

Steve finally looks up, and he’s wearing that face she’d gotten all too familiar with during the last couple months of their relationship, round one – the one that says he’s trying to see where she’s coming from, but he’s getting annoyed in spite of himself. She hasn’t seen it in quite some time, but she supposes it would’ve been silly to assume it had been retired for good. Neither of them has changed that much.

“Nance. Come on. You know I’m gonna be way more useful out there than I would be here. I’m a garbage shot, anyway.”

Nancy scoffs.

“So you’d rather be cannon fodder instead?”

He props the ax next to the door to the front door of the cabin and crosses his arms, looking a little wounded. 

“Jesus, give me some credit. I’ve made it this far, haven’t I?”

“Sure, as long as someone’s there to follow your ass through a gate, and beat off the demon bats, and bandage you when you’re bleeding out all over the place!” 

She knows she’s probably starting to sound unhinged. She knows it. But she can’t help it. She does not want him to do this. This is not a good plan.

His face twists, and he looks like he wants to grab her – hold her like he would’ve if this were still September of senior year – but he pulls back at the last second. He does that a lot, now, like he’s still not totally sure what he has permission to do. 

She wishes he hadn’t. Touching him would be infinitely preferable to shouting at him. If she was touching him, she could grab on tight. Refuse to let go. Keep him anchored here by sheer force of will. 

“Nancy, I don’t get it,” he says, tossing his arms up helplessly instead of putting them around her. “This was exactly what your plan was the first time. Cause a ruckus. Create a diversion. Fly in under the radar. It worked once. Ish. We can make it work again, at least long enough for El to try and flush the creep out of hiding.”

Nancy’s jaw drops.

“Worked? Define worked, Steve!” Her eyes are burning. “Eddie is dead! Max is in a coma, maybe…maybe…” as good as dead “…forever. There is a gate to hell splitting the whole town open down the middle, and Vecna is still alive. Only now we have no idea where he is or what he’s doing! In what way would you say any of what we did worked?”

“Because we hurt him,” he responds immediately, low and hard. “We hurt him, and now – now we know he bleeds. We can hurt him again, Nancy, I gotta believe that.” His mouth thins. “Eddie dying, losing Max –” his voice cracks on the “a”, but he soldiers through it “– it all sucks. I hate it. But it wasn’t your fault. They knew what they were getting themselves into.” He pauses, and squares his shoulders. “They weren’t like Barb.”

Nancy’s mouth tastes like ash, and for once she can’t blame it on the air toxicity.

“Barb? Who said anything about Barb?” She’s trying to keep her breathing under control, but her voice sounds far away. “This has nothing to do with her.”

“Bullshit.” 

He looks at her dead on as he says it, like he knows she knows exactly what he means, and she sees red. She’s not sure what’s about to come out of her mouth, but she knows that whatever it is, she’s probably not going to be proud of it – and this time, she won’t be able to use spiked punch as an excuse, nor will she be granted the dubious mercy of drunken amnesia. 

“This has nothing to do with Barb,” she says slowly, “And everything to do with the fact that sometimes, I wish you weren’t so fucking stupid.”  

He flinches back like she’s slapped him and honestly, she might as well have. She feels sick. 

It’s the worst fight they’ve had – actually the only fight they’ve had – since they decided to try again, and what does it say about them that they didn’t last more than ten minutes before they started ripping out the stitches on old, barely healed wounds?

“Well you asked for this,” Steve finally replies, voice quivering minutely. “You’re the one who came to me and wanted to give this another shot. So you tell me which one of us is stupid.”

It hurts. It was supposed to. Nancy immediately feels herself deflate, like he’s sucked away all that was keeping her upright and angry. 

For once, she doesn’t have an immediate response and Steve doesn’t wait for one anyway, whirling on his heel and storming back into the house. 

He’s forgotten his ax. The blade gleams at her, mocking, from where it sits against the door frame. 

She’s a bit shaky, and she needs a minute to collect herself before she goes back inside. Everyone in the cabin is gonna know they’ve been fighting – the walls are not soundproof – and it’s humiliating.  

More humiliating is the fact that this is coming when they’ve hardly been back together two months (and when she’s barely been officially broken up with Jonathan for five). She knows what it looks like,  what she looks like – bouncing back and forth between two men on a whim because she can’t manage to choose once and for all who she wants.

But it’s not like that. Her relationship with Jonathan had been dead long before she’d been able or willing to admit it, and this thing with Steve is so new and old at the same time that it’s just – it’s hard to find her footing, sometimes. 

They’ve both changed so much, but now she’s realizing that there are ways they’ve stayed the same, too. And with the good always comes the bad.

Okay. Okay. She takes a deep breath, then two. She can’t stay out here forever. She has to go back inside, and hopefully they can awkwardly circle each other until they’ve cooled down enough to talk it over like the adults they almost are. 

Because she’s not giving up after one (shitty) fight. Rather than make her second guess her choice, Steve’s parting shot had the reverse effect – it had clarified exactly how stupid a decision it wasn’t. She had wanted this. She still wants it. 

It’s only been two months, sure, but she’s been happy, really happy (a miracle considering the world is literally ending around them). 

She hopes he’s felt the same, last ten minutes notwithstanding.

Damn it. She shouldn’t have said those things to him. That one thing. Guilt is settling over her like a blanket, thicker and more noxious than even the poisonous air of the Upside Down. 

Nancy’s not sorry about getting mad. If he wants her to be his girlfriend again – and she hopes he still wants her to be his girlfriend again – then he has to understand that she’s going to have an opinion on when and how he hurls his body into the line of fire. 

But being mean on purpose? That one, she’s pretty sorry for. Calling him stupid hadn’t been intended to do anything but inflict damage, and she knows she owes him an apology (once the thought of talking to him again doesn’t make the confused snarl of anger and regret and affection that’s all tangled up in her chest tighten to the point of pain).

First things first, though. 

Chin up, go back inside.

*****

At first, she’s grateful for how simple it is to avoid him all afternoon. The cabin is tiny, even taking into account the hastily constructed add-on that had come once the Byers realized that returning to California wasn’t an option, their house was no longer theirs and Hopper’s cabin in its original state had nowhere near enough space to house them all.

But as the unofficial headquarters for their little hodgepodge Upside Down insurgency, it’s also in a near-constant state of low-grade chaos, which is pretty easy to disappear into – or, in this case, use as a convenient excuse to avoid someone.

(That said, tension is tension, and in this case it’s so apparent that even Hopper – whose unspoken approach to any relationship that isn’t his own generally veers toward the less he knows, the better – shoots them both some pretty unimpressed looks when Steve volunteers himself and Robin, unprompted, for the second of the day’s supply runs.)

Her relief edges into anxiety, though, as they get closer and closer to nightfall and Nancy still hasn’t had a chance to get him alone or even do more than accidentally catch his eye over the sad cans of stew they scrounge up for pre-op dinner. It sits like sludge on her tongue (and based on the look on El’s face as she dutifully shovels down spoonfuls, that’s probably not just Nancy’s guilt talking).  

In fact, it’s only as they’re packing up to leave that she realizes she’s probably going to have to go out of her way to corner him, because while Hopper’s come inside to say his goodbyes, Steve's nowhere to be found. 

And part of her really, really wants to be petty and leave it at that. Wants to keep stewing in her resentment and let him go off alone because he was too much of a coward to spare her a fifteen-second goodbye.

But the larger, louder half of her brain won’t shut up about how she’d feel if something happened and the last thing she said to him was…that, so she sucks it up and stomps toward the door, flinging it open and –

– startling Steve so badly that he jerks back a step, eyes widening with alarm.

“Jesus, Nancy, you scared the shit outta me!” She can’t muster up more than a couple blinks in response, and he scuffs one of the dirty planks of the porch with his boot. “Look, I know I’m not, like, your favorite person right now, but I still wanted to come say, uh, see you later. You know…just because.”

Oh, he is such an asshole.

She doesn’t know how to tell him this in a way that would help him understand what she’s actually trying to communicate, so instead, she yanks him down and kisses him hard, something she hasn’t done in public much this go-around. It’s a frankly awful smash of lips and teeth, and may in fact be the worst kiss Nancy has ever given or received.

Regardless, she thinks it gets the point across. 

She pulls back, mouth throbbing, and stares at him again, fingers clenched in the collar of his jacket as he stands there, stunned and swaying. 

“See you later, Steve,” she says pointedly, instead of “please, come back”, or, better yet, “don’t fucking go.” He softens immediately, and inches forward.

“Nancy –”

“Later,” she interrupts firmly. “When you get back. Okay?”

Steve eyes her for several long seconds, then relents.

“Okay,” he says, then he kisses her for real this time (gently, because ow), a brief little soft–as–silk press that leaves her wanting more than she can possibly hope to have at this specific moment.

When she goes back inside (she refuses to watch them roll off into the distance like she’s some kind of war bride, she carries a gun for Christ’s sake), she pauses for a moment, debating checking for the third time since midday that her rifle is loaded and ready. 

Jonathan is there, sitting tense at the two-person kitchen table, staring out into the woods as the rest of the gang helps prep El (or "helps" in some cases).

Most of the time, they’re pretty civil with each other. The breakup had basically been mutual, and she only gets a little livid mad now when she thinks about how he lied to her about Emerson. And kept lying to her. Until the only goddamn reason she found out was because – anyway.

Most of the time, if she ignores inconsequential context like that, they’re pretty civil. 

“Trouble in paradise?” he says, almost inaudibly. 

She takes her rifle to the living room. 

****

In the end, the night and the operation are both total duds, and doesn’t that just add insult to injury?

El searches for what feels like hours, pushing herself farther and farther until her nose is bleeding thickly enough that Joyce sternly calls time on the whole exercise. 

No go, is what El says afterward, wiping blood off her face. Some of it ends up smeared under one of her darkly ringed eyes, and she lets Mike fuss over her until it’s gone. 

Whatever psychic plane she usually ducks into is dead silent, and in the corporeal world, there isn’t a single peep out of anything Upside Down-adjacent, as Hopper reports via walkie-talkie. No stray demodogs, not even an errant vine around what’s usually one of the most active sections of the gate. 

And nothing from Max, who Lucas has taken to watching like a hawk – “just in case” – whenever they can spare him. Nancy’s not sure what’s meant to follow “just in case”, and she’s always been a tiny bit afraid of what Lucas might come back with if she asks – so she doesn’t. For once, she doesn’t need answers.

It’s eerie, and anticlimactic, and it leaves Nancy with an uneasy pit in her stomach. Under the circumstances, no news doesn’t always feel like good news.

With how the night has fizzled, she doesn’t expect much when Hopper’s group rumbles down the drive – so the jagged, ugly cut she can see arcing down the left side of Steve’s forehead from even as far off as the front window comes as a nasty shock. (Though honestly, should it?)

“What the hell happened?” she demands, running to meet them before they can even climb out of the truck. “I thought you said it was quiet.”

“It was,” Hopper confirms, killing the ignition. “Not a crawler in sight. Wanna fill the lady in on what went down, Harrington?” 

The laughter is plain in his voice, and Nancy instantly relaxes. Whatever it was, it hadn’t been serious.

Steve looks downright mutinous as he crawls out of the back cab alongside Wayne. Good. See if he wants to abandon Nancy to go play Rambo after that. 

“Got into it with a tree branch,” he mutters, mortified. “Tree – one, Steve – zero.” He gestures up at his forehead. “Obviously.”

The fact that Nancy manages to mostly keep a straight face should probably automatically shortlist her for inclusion into some kind of Greatest Girlfriend Ever hall of fame. As it is, Dustin, (who’s been uncharacteristically quiet all night), does the dirty work for her.

“Jesus, Steve, is there anything you can beat in a fight?”

“Excuse the shit outta me, Henderson, but did I or did I not save your ass from goddamn Russian soldiers?”

“One Russian soldier, Steve. One. And I don’t even know if it counts when you mrrflmgh –” Dustin gurgles helplessly for a few seconds behind the iron hand Nancy clamps over his mouth before eventually giving up and going silent.

“I think what Dustin is trying to say is that he’s glad everyone’s okay,” she says with as much brightness as she can muster. “Right?” she asks pointedly, releasing him. There’s a long pause, and then he sighs.

“Sure,” he says with all the enthusiasm of a dental patient undergoing a root canal. “Glad to have you all back.” 

He shuffles back into the cabin, and Nancy knows that one of these days, someone’s gonna have to have a talk with him about his wild mood swings. But she doesn’t really want that someone to be her, so she’s refrained from bringing it up thus far.

“Someone’s gotta check that kid,” Steve utters almost inaudibly, agreeing with Nancy’s silent train of thought (and sounding more concerned than irritated). He’s sneaking glances in Dustin’s wake like he thinks he might be able to get away with following him.

Nancy clears her throat, ready to disabuse him of that notion.

“Some other time, Rocky,” she says, and she means it to be teasing, but it comes out too fond to be entirely successful. “Why don’t we get that cut taken care of, first?” 

She holds out her hand, and he only hesitates a second before he takes it firmly in his, palm to palm.

***

They stay linked like that as she leads him all the way to the tiny half-bath at the back of the new addition, and he only lets go when she shuts them in and urges him down onto the closed toilet so she can comfortably reach his forehead. 

For a few moments, he allows her to work in silence, wincing when she has to pour hydrogen peroxide over the cut (she still doesn’t know if you can actually get Upside Down rabies, but better safe than sorry with all weird dust particles floating around). 

Without the dried blood crusting it, it actually looks very superficial. Nancy breathes a sigh of relief, though she’ll still layer it with some antibiotic cream to be safe.

“I guess I just…don’t get it.” Apropos of nothing, Steve chooses this moment to speak quietly, picking up the loose thread of a conversation they haven’t even started yet. “The last time we were together, you were pissed because I didn’t want to get involved. Now I’m all in, and it doesn’t seem like you like that, either.”

Nancy’s fingers freeze on the cap of Neosporin.

“Steve.” She sets the tube aside and makes an executive decision – she needs to be touching him if he’s gonna insist on talking about this here. “Before we do this, can you do me a favor, first?” 

Nancy picks up his hands and haphazardly plants them on her hips before slipping her own up to cage his face. His brow furrows, but he doesn’t move an inch from where she’s arranged them. “Can you just…stop stopping yourself from touching me? I know we’re in kind of a weird place right now, but I promise you – if you want to, then there’s a pretty damn good chance I want to, too.”

The confused lines in his forehead don’t ease, but his fingers adjust and tighten around her sides until he’s holding her with surety. Surrounded by the warmth of him, the invisible string that’s been holding her shoulders taut all day loosens.

“I didn’t think you’d notice,” he says slowly, eyes skimming her face like she’s this entirely new person who just happens to still look and dress like Nancy. “I – of course I’ll stop. It’s not like holding you is some kind of hardship, Nance.” He looks down. “That still doesn’t answer my question, though.”

Nancy refrains from noting that he hadn’t asked a question, he’d merely made an observation. That level of pedantry probably won’t help much in her “get Steve to touch her more” crusade.

“I know,” she says instead. “But Steve, it’s not – I don’t get mad because you get involved. I love that. I think it’s…” She can feel a dull flush start to creep up her neck. “This can never leave this room, okay, but it can – it can be very hot when you go all action hero.” The flush has extended all the way up through her cheeks. Mercifully, he doesn’t comment on it, though a faint little glimmer that she hasn’t seen all day is creeping back into his gaze.

“Right back ‘atcha, Wheeler,” he returns with a trace smile, and oh! That’s flirting. That’s a good sign. “But then…why did you…?”

“React the way I did?” He tilts his head in the slightest nod. “Because I wanted you to stay with me,” she finally admits, feeling more naked in front of him now than on the night she’d given him her virginity. “The hero thing – it’s nice and all, don’t get me wrong. And sometimes it’s necessary, but I – I don’t need that. I don’t need a hero. I just…want a partner. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.” 

“Nancy…” In a blink, the amused glint is gone. In its place, he looks raw, like she’s torn him down to the studs.

There’s a lick of hair curling over his ear that she’s taken to mindlessly stroking, and it’s easier to keep staring at that than look into his eyes while she gets this off her chest.

“When we got back together,” she continues on, “you made me a promise. Remember?”

“Yeah,” he replies, and his voice is achingly soft. “I promised you we’d come out of this okay.” He turns his face into her hand, lips brushing against her palm with every tingling syllable. “I meant it.” 

“Yeah, but.” Nancy chews her lip. “If I can’t convince you that you matter more than how hard you swing or how many hits you can take, if you won’t stay with me so we can work together and watch each other’s backs, I don’t see how that’s possible.”

Abruptly, Steve’s standing, nudging his way deeper into her space, and the way he can tower over her a bit, dark and solid – well, Nancy fancies herself a feminist, but not so much that she’ll pretend it doesn’t make her shiver in a good way.

“Goddammit, Nancy,” he croaks, and then he’s folding her in his arms, curling tight around her body. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I didn’t – I didn’t even realize,” he mumbles into the nook of her neck and shoulder. “Shit, I am stupid.”

“You’re not,” Nancy chokes, tightening her arms around his neck like she’d wanted to earlier. He’s still wearing his jacket, and the zipper is digging painfully into the V of her collarbone, but it barely registers. She thinks it would take a literal earthquake to dislodge her right now. “I shouldn’t have said that, I’m sorry. You weren’t even wrong, it’s just that – sometimes it’s still really hard to talk about her.” 

She doesn’t need to specify who the “her” in question is. There are definitely a few tears leaking into the leather of his collar, but no one can see them, so it’s neither here nor there.

“I get it,” he says, “but I wanna talk to you about this stuff. If – if you want to. With me. I know I wasn’t there for you before but I swear I can be that guy now.”

“I know,” she gasps, because he’s holding her so tightly that it’s hard to breathe, but if the tradeoff is losing this hot–all–over feeling of his hands on her, then it’s fine, air is overrated anyway. “You are. You are that guy. I want you, I want us. I want you to believe that.”

Their bodies are so constrained in this tiny space, but there’s something wild crackling in the air, something that raises goosebumps on her arms and makes it so that one minute she’s mouthing reassurances into his jaw, and the next, he’s tilting his chin and kissing her quiet, stealing her words with one wet, electric sweep of his tongue.

Yes. She fists his hair between her fingers, soft and a little overlong, swallowing down his helpless whine as she angles his head so she can open wider under him. 

This – this is why, so far, she’s barely been able to kiss him outside of the privacy of one of their rooms. 

Because every time, almost as soon as it starts, they’re set ablaze, twin infernos trying to consume each other alive. It was never like this before, so she has no roadmap for how to cope, how to process the overpowering need that has her spreading her legs to draw him closer and shoving her hands under layers of leather and cotton to get at sweaty skin. 

“Steve,” she whimpers into his lips, rocking her hips up in a pale facsimile of what she truly wants (but it still feels so good). “I need…”

“I know,” he groans, sucking gently at her sensitive pulse point until she’s keening quietly and grinding harder into the rigid seam of his jeans. Everything is tight, and hot, and she thinks she might vibrate right out of her own body if she can’t get what she’s craving.

The night they got back together, they’d had every good intention of taking it slow, of getting to know each other again before jumping back into the physical. 

But that had lasted about as long as it took for him to get a hand under the band of her bra, and eventually he’d ended up fucking her nice and slow behind the locked door of her childhood bedroom, trailing scorching kisses from her swollen lips to the tips of her breasts until she was shaking apart into the mattress, vision white and head empty of anything that wasn’t him – his scent, his body over hers, the quivering place where he nestled inside her.

They don’t have time for that now – they hardly ever have time for that, which probably doesn’t help quell the desperate desire – so they make do, as always, with what they can. 

They make do with his hips, pushing into hers again and again in easy, dirty twists, sensation blunted between two layers of jeans but still enough to have her choking back moans, nipples pebbled hard into two pinpricks of pleasure against the stiff padding of her bra. They make do with deep, messy kisses, which also muffle the needy noises they can’t contain as their bodies strain higher and higher toward a mutual peak.

They make do with hands, scratching up his back and through his chest hair. Squeezing at her ass and guiding her movements until all Nancy has to do is hang on for dear life and enjoy the ride. 

When she finally crashes over the edge, it hits out of nowhere, in flashing, pulsing waves that come hard and fast until she’s digging fists into his shoulder blades and sucking on his tongue in a frantic attempt to stay silent. He’s not far behind, and when he tears himself away from her lips to bury his head in her shoulder, she can feel more than hear the deep shudder of his groan as he trembles in her arms.

Finally, they both still, slumping back against the wall in a frazzled tangle, and reality comes seeping in one mortifying realization at a time. 

“We‘re…still in Hopper’s bathroom, aren’t we?” Nancy asks faintly.

“Yup.” He pops the “p” against her skin, but doesn’t look up. 

“And…we’ve been in here a really long time.” Way longer than it would take to treat that cut on his head, anyway.

“Probably.” 

“My brother is out there. With his girlfriend. And his friends. Our friends.”

“He sure is.”

He sounds way more cheerful than anyone about to face down a firing squad of nosy teenagers ought to be – but then again, she’s remarkably relaxed, too.

Huh. Could it be that in the end, all they really needed was to get off?

(Probably not.) 

Steve finally shoves away from the wall and adjusts his pants, grimacing. 

“Okay, being honest, this might not’ve been our brightest idea,” he admits.

Nancy catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror just over his shoulder. Her face is flushed, and her eyes are bright. She looks pleased. Happy.

“Probably not, but can’t argue with results,” she teases, stepping back into his space and slipping an arm around his waist, under his jacket. 

He grins down at her, and he looks like such a man – handsome, and kind, and hers – that her heart skips. 

They’re not kids anymore, playacting at some great love that, in the end, was mostly smoke and mirrors. If they make it out of this, like he’s promised they will, they’ll be – they’ll be basically grown ups.

This time, it’s real. Maybe even for keeps. 

That should freak her out, but it doesn’t. 

He presses his smile to her forehead, chaste and sweet, and slings an arm around her neck. 

“Who am I to argue with the beautiful Nancy Wheeler?” he says with more than a bit of irony, and she laughs, because she wants to and he wants her to. “Ready to face the music?”

“Together?” Nancy doesn’t shield the hope in her voice. He dips his forehead to rest against hers, nudges their noses together.

“Wild demodogs couldn’t drag me away,” he says softly, sincerely, and the warm, secret feeling in Nancy’s chest – the one she’s been carrying around for months, waiting until she’s absolutely sure she has a name for it – balloons outward. 

Soon, it’ll be too big for her body alone to bear. One day, it will demand to be shared, and she’ll give it freely and joyfully. 

Not yet, but soon. 

“Come on, then,” she says.

She tugs him forward, and he follows.

***

(normalize panicking and giving an established character an extensive home reno complete with plumbing work smack dab in the middle of an apocalypse simply because you realized that the house's canon layout was not conducive to the main pairing getting it on as you had originally written.)

[sonicasura]

Anyone else tempted to drop Monkey D. Luffy into Transformers and drive every sensible person bonkers? Like the man fights in a way that humiliates his opponents than just beat them to a pulp. He always gets himself into crazy antics capable of making someone smile or extremely pissed.

Luffy can make friends with practically anyone and those who can't be befriended fucking hates his guts only to get their asses handed to them on a rubber Frisbee. I can't forget he is a literal rubberman as he ate the Gum Gum Devil Fruit. A childish young man who just hugs all his friends or get up to mischief.

It's quite funny as many wouldn't expect him to be the captain of a pirate crew and whose bounty is 1,500,000,000! Luffy may look like a bean but he has overthrown dictators, criminal organizations, mad scientists, a false god, to even declaring war on his world's government. All of it is because they hurt those he cherishes.

Imagine dropping someone like Luffy in a series like Transformers. A universe where alien robots have been fighting a civil war for so long (few million years) that the original cause for both factions is a blur. He obviously wouldn't give a shit about the whole thing.

Luffy just sees giant robots to befriend on BOTH SIDES. The guy has a knack when it comes making friends with all kinds of people. He befriended many who had tried to kill him by just being himself. A kind silly guy whose more intuitive about people's emotions and predicaments.

Don't be surprised if Decepticons suddenly begin to leave Megatron bit by bit because time and time again, he isn't exactly nice to his soldiers. Earthspark's iteration is the closest you get to him being kind however he didn't properly dissolve the faction nor discuss what everyone should do. Megatron is still trying find to himself through his personal redemption. An action that leaves his former Decepticons emotionally hurt, mentally betrayed and on the run.

Luffy however cares about everyone who he considers nakama. If they have a problem then the pirate captain will listen to their concerns. Should one of his Decepticon friends get captured then expect Luffy to go rescue them.

He will also open the eyes to those in the Autobot faction. Sure Optimus and his team are kind folk but their views are narrow and they handle some things awfully too. Prime has made multiple bad calls in every iteration that ultimately harmed his team. Some have died because of it or got gravely hurt.

A few Autobots have done things without clearance and knowledge that put others in danger. No one ever fully discusses their thoughts, concerns or properly communicate. Everyone just bottles up their issues until it blows up.

Luffy is quick to address that. He knows ignoring these things will do more harm than good. The man will point it out even if he might sound a bit callous about it. Luffy cares about the wellbeing of his nakama.

To sum things up, rubberman from a different universe discovers giant alien robots. Millennium long war dissolves by the power of silly flavored friendship.

[undisputed-queer-a]

The Better Than You Bay Bay story is something special.

I'm worried that my specific sentiment may be cliched but despite these worries, I'm going to talk about masculinity in wrestling.

You see I have often heard the sentiment that wrestling portrays a exaggerated version of masculinity designed to capture the minds of a predominantly male fanbase. And this is for the most part true. The Hulkamania Era was about a statuesque American hero using his giant physique to expel foreigners and Randy Savage. The Attitude Era was about a beer swigging, ass kicking, badass beating the shit out of his asshole boss and those who associated him (I know it's a bit of a simplification). And throughout the years Wrestling has been a masculine thing where masculine men put their masculinity on the line to prove who was best. This isn't me admonishing wrestling, by the way, I love it and have loved it for years and it's ties to masculine ideals aren't a detriment. But it does make it cool when Wrestling stories or character challenge traditional expectations of masculinity and expressions of a male gender identity.

Now sometimes I don't know if these moments are great or that they are so rare that all appear to better than they are. For example during the early days of Cody Rhodes' 2023 feud with Brock Lesner he stated that he was scared of Brock Lesner, that anyone would be and that he was scared but he had to persevere and fight. This was cool, Brock Lesner is f*cking scary and in admitting this Cody presents (in my eyes) as a more real and relatable human person rather than what many other wrestlers present as, some almighty warriors with no fear. Which, to be clear, is fine but it's nice to see other things.

Better Than You Bay Bay is definitely great. And I appreciate Cole and MJF have done concerning masculinity. In one of their first segments as a team they went to the gym acting like toxic gym bros, max made fun of a man for being overweight and while Cole told him it was wrong he transitioned it into a dig at Tony Schiavone. In a following one Max saw some women at a bar and tried to convince Adam to stop being all lame and loyal to his girlfriend and 'bang some chicks' with him to which Cole refused. Next they had a heart-to-heart over a video game with Max opening up and Cole offering support.

Then at the World Tag Title match on Collision MJF puts himself in harm's way to save his friend ultimately costing them the tag titles because he wanted to keep Cole safe. After the match MJF breaks down and is emotionally distraught. Cole does all he can to console Max but Max feels like a failure and like he has let down the one person who, not only he cares about. But the one person who cares about him. And he nearly betrays Adam right here retreating into the scumbag persona that people expect, attacking Cole killing their friendship like it never mattered. But it does matter. It matters to the fans, to Adam Cole and it matters to MJF. So he can't bring himself to betray his friend because he cares too much about Adam Cole, because he loves Adam Cole.

The following Dynamite Max talks candidly about his disability, his mental health and his relationship with Adam Cole. The two share the ring again and Adam takes the time to compliment Max's recent growth marvelling at "the man [he] has become". The two hug to end the segment.

I don't feel I need to spend that much longer explaining this. It's nice that Cole called out Max for being a little sh*t, it's lovely that MJF was open and vulnerable, it's beautiful that the two hugged imploding because MJF caused them to lose, it's beautiful that Adam talked about the man Max is becoming and this story as a whole is special.

In conclusion, this was...um...idk a blog post I guess. But in all fairness don't give to much weight to my thoughts on masculinity, I am a trans woman and not someone who should be an authority on matters of masculinity. But I wanted to talk about it because I think this is a special story and why do I write these posts if not to talk about wresting in a poignant way.

This has been Undisputed Queer-a.

Slay The System, Shock The Cis-tem, and see you next Monday.

[b1ackg1rl-mag1c28]

Incel!Shigaraki x black chubby! reader

note: My first fic so please be nice. Also some words are spelled incorrectly. You can also tell me ways on how I can approve but be nice about it!!

warnings: humiliation, slight misogyny, shiggy is kinda meanish but reader is too

God he was so weird. He put on this personality that he was not like other guys and would never fit in with all ''the popular jocks''. It was so corny that you held back a laugh every time he said something along these lines. He was the walking embodiment of a cornball and you wanted to humble his ass at any giving opportunity. Something held your tongue though; every single time you were about to tell him about himself, you just couldn’t. Deep down you knew that no matter who said anything about him, he will always feel like they are stupid and closed minded. You really wanted to tell him that he was a fucking dumbass, and no one wanted to be friends with him, especially not with that stank ass attuited

You couldn't stand his attitude and the way he would dismiss anyone who wasn't on his level.

But then why were you gladly on your swollen knees, gobbling his dick. Tears and mascara was running down your face, your cheeks were on fire and your face, chest and legs were covered in spit and precum.

''Your throat feels so fucking good. Shit, I wish i could make you my personal fleshlight. Always using that plush body of yours to tease me. Can't wait to beat that pussy up. Maybe then you'd stop talking and learn your place.''

He was spewing out shit like that for the past 20 minutes. He would call you all type of names, all of which was going straight to your clit. Not a single thought was going through your head right now. His hands were gripping your hair to the point where it felt as if he was tearing it straight from the roots. The sting and burn slowly started to melt into pleasure. You were only focused on how he looked down at you. The look was that of a predator who wanted to devour their prey. He made you feel small even though you could body slam him without hesitation.

At first, he started moving your head to get you to go faster, but he grew more annoyed with your lack of compliance. He started shoving and forcing his way down your throat, ultimately, fucking your round face.

He was shoving your head down all the way to the base of his cock and would hold is there for a few seconds. His untrimmed hair was tickling your nose and would cause you to move. But he would always push you back down on it.

''I see the way you look at me. All of that laughing and shit you do when you see me. I know you talk shit-fuck- about me when you are with your friends, but yet here you are, gagging on my dick and getting your dirty pussy juice all over the floor. Can't wait to cum in that fat pussy of yours. Fucckk, your throat is so good. I bet you blow the whole football team every weekend. I mean why else did you have these plump lips for.''

The degrading, the way his dick pulsed in your throat, the way his eyes looked at you, was all becoming too much for you. You reached between and your legs and started rubbing your clit in a frantic manner. You wanted to come so bad, you needed his touch, and he was not giving it to you.

''Fucking greedy bitch. You begged for my cum down your throat, yet here you are rubbing that nasty clit of yours. Nasty slut. You just couldn't wait until I do it. I knew you wanted me to abuse that nasty pussy. Fuccckk im about to cum. I'm about to cum all down that fucking throat, bitch. Shiitt I'm cumming, fuck i'm cumming. Take this dickk. Take this fucking nut baby. Open your mouth and show me when i'm done.''

As soon as the words left his mouth, you felt his cum hit the back of your throat. It was so warm and tasted salty, but you drunk every drop. But you needed more. You needed his cum in your pussy.

You were so close to cumming on your fingers until you felt a sharp pain on your cheek.

''Don't fucking cum yet. I'm not finish with you slut.''

[blackjackkent]

Well. Hector feels fucking awful now, but you know what will make him feel better? Beating the hell out of the area boss.

"Wait. Elevated gyroscopes. Triple-set quadropecs. No... it can't be..."

Karlach got this conversation because it was an autotrigger as we got close to the door; normally this annoys me a smidge but it kind of makes sense here since Hector is still super rattled by the events of the previous post.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"I hear it through the floor. Powerful. Indestructible. The ultimate Watcher - the Titan."

"The Watcher tightens what? Whatever it be, Minsc will knock it loose!"

I love Minsc. XD

"It shames me to admit this, but you must face this beast of Gondian folly alone. I would be crushed in an instant. When it raises its shields, strike it with every scrap of magic and might you possess... and pray to Gond that it does not fire upon you. Good luck, my friend."

...uh oh.

-----

There are three things in the next room, all labeled "Hellfire Watcher." I'm not sure if these are what Toobin was talking about.

The room is also lined with a great deal of the same pulsating flesh material that marked the oubliette at Moonrise.

In the back of the room is a large steel sphere that I suspect is our target, as its lined with both mechanical cabling and fleshy nerve lines, and is connected to something labeled "Neural Switchboard". I'm guessing this is the control mechanism for all of the Watchers in the city.

Quite scared of this fight but there's no way out but through. XD

Aaaaaand as soon as the fight started, the platform in the center of the area lifted up and revealed...

Selune's moonlit ass, THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-NINE HP? Fuck me, you know what, I give up, let the Absolute have me.

Kidding, of course. (Mostly.)

Combat log number whatever the hell:

My opening strategy was the brute force that Team Juggernaut is very good at, and our team are such forces of nature at this point that we got the titan below half health before it was able to get a shot off.

I also opened with putting having Jaheira toss both Freedom of Movement and Shield of Faith on Hector before going owlbear, since the most scary thing about the Watchers is not actually their damage but their crowd control and Hector is the squishiest of the group.

At this point the fight's Exciting Gimmicks kicked in:

OK, that all seems... fine. O.O;

Investigating the various status effects, we learn that Hellfire Curse has given everyone disadvantage on STR/DEX/CON saves, and Defensive Protocol: Bulwark makes the Titan "Unyielding" (ignores attacks under 15 damage) and gives it access to "Repair Matrix" (a self-heal), "Repelling Protocol" (a damaging knockback), and "Hellfire Missiles", which it just used, which is an AOE attack that does...

...ahem...

96-576 DAMAGE.

OK, let's get everyone out of that fucking red circle RIGHT NOW. The bright side here is that while bulwarked it doesn't seem to take opportunity attacks, meaning we can all scatter like the terrified rabbits that we are.

I had Jaheira summon a dryad to get some more bodies on the field and it was IMMEDIATELY, like literally instantly, completely obliterated by one of the Hellfire Watchers. So that's a fourth level spell slot wasted.

Interestingly, the hellfire missiles never actually went off; I had Hector do a full round of attacks on it with the intention of booking it after he was out of actions/bonus actions - but it just stopped and came out of Bulwark during his last hit. I'm actually not at all clear what happened here, even looking at the combat log; it seems like Hector might have staggered it, but also maybe it just dropped it after taking a certain amount of damage? Unclear.

Regardless, it meant that Minsc was able to finish it off before it could make another attack! Jaheira (whose background is Soldier! I hadn't realized!) got an inspiration for this:

This is hardly the first one we've destroyed so I'm not sure why she only got this now. :P

It didn't explode when it died, either, which was a nice change.

It's carrying, for some reason, a legendary level bow which looks dope as shit:

That's actually fucking wild. This one goes to Jaheira.

The fight unfortunately did not stop being scary at this point because there were still three Steel Watchers on the field. But we're starting to get fairly practiced at dealing with them and are also bolstered by the fact that these are probably the last ones we'll have to fight, thank the gods. Tossed Jaheira into owlbear form and let her smack the shit out of one of them which was very satisfying.

In the end, I managed to time it out so all three were in detonation phase at the same time and went off one right after the other. Let's fucking goooooooo!

[total-drama-takes-takes-2]

tti episode 12

“Last time, on Total Takes Island: Chef had the campers partake in his specialized boot camp, resulting in another round of heinous injuries. Julia gave Michael the cold shoulder to warm up to Scruffy, and Courtney attempted to regain Bonnie’s trust after Caesar’s elimination the week before. Ultimately, Michael won for the Anons and the Fujoshis sent Ass packing- finally! Will any of Courtney’s team survive to see the merge? Will Max finally snap? Find out now, on Total! Takes! Island!”

Scruffy sits in a sunny patch of flowers somewhere on the furthest point of the island, far enough from the cabins to not have to worry about being disturbed. They leaf through their notepad, where various notes and half-scribbled drawings are put to paper, and then translate those notes to a leatherbound journal in their lap. 

The sound of an explosion, and then of Chris’ booming laughter over the intercom system momentarily causes them to pause their transcription and take some more notes on a fresh page of the pad. 

The journal is carefully handwritten in amazing penmanship, done in a black ink that glistens in the sunlight. Illustrations accompany a few of the sections, mostly of the anomaly Scruffy has been observing on the island- two-headed chipmunks, sentient venus flytraps, seemingly massive squid tentacles off in the distant reaches of the lake in the early hours of the morning. It perplexes them, half because there’s not nearly enough evidence of something serious to talk about it, half because they haven’t seen a single sign of radioactive material or robotic creatures scurrying around. 

Scruffy sighs, closing the notebook and placing it in a small, shallow grave under a large rock. 

---

SCRUFFY: “I feel like I’ve been giving off a kind of secretive vibe lately, and that’s why I have all these other players on my back now. I’m not really hiding anything- I just don’t really need to share.”

---

Julia waves, sitting on one side of a very tired looking Michael at the end of the Anon’s table. Scruffy walks over, giving Scary a nervous smile as they glide past her, and then sits beside Julia. 

“Where’ve you been, Scruff?”

“Just taking some more notes, putting things on paper,” Scruffy shrugs, emphasizing the word notes so she’s sure they aren’t hiding anything. Julia doesn’t seem to care. 

“Oh, silly me. Have you met Mikey yet?” she says, gesturing to the green-haired girl beside her. Michael frowns at her friend, and then stares with a slight contempt at Scruffy. 

They look away. “Yeah, we’re acquainted,”

“Good, can’t have my two bestest friends in the whole world feeling left out, huh?” Julia beams, pulling them both in for a hug. She smirks at Max a little from across the table. He rolls his eyes. 

---

MAX: “Whatever. I don’t need Julia, I don’t need Scruffy, and I definitely don’t need Michael. There are plenty of good players left! I mean, there’s… there’s… um…”

---

Austin sits across from the trio, Kelly nowhere in sight.

"Where's your owner at?" Julia teases.

He answers without missing a beat. "Tanning,"

---

JULIA: "It's not that I see either one of those clowns as a threat, but I'm not letting anyone fly under the radar. Not on my watch. Plus... he just annoys the crap out of me."

---

The sound of a plane buzzes over the mess hall, causing everyone to duck and cover their ears. 

Austin is the first out the door, followed by Kelly and the rest of the teams, who watch as Chris lands a large mustard-yellow (and barely stable) plane on the grass outside the mess hall. 

He hops out, tossing his helmet away and pulling out a megaphone. “Welcome, campers, to your very own- extreme! Sports! Challenge!”

Courtney gives Bonnie and McLovin an extremely nervous frown. 

“Today, your teams will be competing in a 3-part action-packed death-defying triathlon of lethal awesomeness! Your first challenge is extreme sofa skydiving!” He shouts into the megaphone, despite not being far from the campers. “One player from each team will skydive from this plane and land on a sofa bed waiting below- at least, you’ll hope they do!”

Chef slides the side door of the plane open and tosses two dilapidated parachute packs out, landing at the feet of either team. 

“And our lucky divers will be… Scary and Bonnie!” 

Scary giggles, grabbing the pack and putting it on before running off into the woods. Chris blinks.

“She’ll be back,” Scruffy says plainly. 

Courtney lifts the Fujoshis pack and helps Bonnie put it on. “You can do this! Remember, surviving is our teams only goal right now,”

“R-right,” Bonnie murmurs, shaky hands attempting to buckle the straps of the chute. 

“Before we get started, let’s talk about challenge number two- two victims- I mean, players- will be moose rodeo riding! In our original season, we had the loser launched into a pile of smelly socks, but we ran out. So, instead, we filled a moat around the pen with all the chewed gum Chef’s been collecting from the mess hall!” Chris chuckles, gesturing to a moose in a fenced in area, a large pit full of chewed gum surrounding it. The players wince. “And our competitors will be… Kelly and McLovin!”

Kelly smiles confidently while a look of fear crosses McLovin’s face. 

“And of course, for our final part: X-Treme Seadoo Water Skiing! Contestants will water ski this race course and grab as many flags as they can while an opposing team member drives the seadoo!” 

“Um…” Julia looks around the designated racing area. “Where’s the water?”

Scruffy leans to whisper in her ear. “There is none,”

“Well said, Scruff,” Chris grins. “It’s basically impossible. Austin and Courtney, you’re up for this one. Oh, and Fujoshis- try not to get too hurt. You guys are more of a group project than a team now... And for the winners, you’ll be rewarded with a tricked-out mobile shower!” 

Chris gestures to a small, shiny trailer at the peak of a hill. Just about every contestant oohs and ahs at it, while some jaws drop. 

---

BONNIE: “Okay, even I’ll say it: I would die for that shower. I would kill for that shower. Any bathroom without a million dead flies in the toilet is like a luxury spa to me!”

---

Austin and Kelly sit in the confessional together. 

AUSTIN: “Right groovy, baby, I haven’t had a proper conditioning since I got here, yeah?”

KELLY: “Oh my gosh, tell me about it! My skin is so dead from all the hard water.”

AUSTIN: “I feel like an ally-gator skin purse, baby,”

---

Bonnie steps onto the plane as Scary follows, chewing a mouthful of gum they scooped from the moose moat. 

“Um… where’d you get the- actually, don’t answer that,” Bonnie says. 

The plane lifts off, and Bonnie’s knees shake as they see the ground disappearing. Scary chews faster. 

“Here comes the landing!” Chris shouts, opening the sliding door. The air whips around them, and before he can even tell them to go, Scary jumps out, blowing a massive bubble with their gum and floating off into the distance. 

Chris and Bonnie stare. “How is that even possible?” they shout. 

Chris shrugs. “I dunno, but you’re up next!”

He shoves them outside and they scream in pure terror, initially covering their eyes before remembering their pack and pulling the cords. The parachute pops out and Bonnie floats to the ground, landing on their feet right on the pull-out sofa. 

Courtney and McLovin cheer while the nearby Anons look around for where Scary went. 

“One point for the Fujos,” Chef says, half-heartedly waving a pink flag. Bonnie grins, throwing off the parachute. “That wasn’t so bad,”

---

“Your only goal is to stay on this angry, probably hungry moose for as long as possible,” Chris smiles, setting a ladder by the fence of the pen. “Whoever doesn’t die first wins!”

“Oh, whatever,” Julia says, turning to Kelly. “You better not lose this for us, your highness.”

Kelly shoves her out of the way and climbs up the ladder with ease, straddling the moose and holding on tight. They grin as Chef blares an air horn and the moose begins bucking, throwing them around with ease. 

“If they survive this, someone here owes me money,” Max sighs, hands on his hips. 

Michael rolls her eyes. “Thanks for the team spirit,”

The two glare at each other while Julia leans on Scruffy’s shoulder, watching the rodeo and ignoring her former friend’s plight. 

Kelly’s highly manicured nails have a sharp grip on the antlers of the beast and the entire crowd watches in relative suspense as the time on Chris’ stopwatch slowly runs out. 

Kelly hops off, landing on the ground in a somersault and popping back to their feet flawlessly. "Gymnastics fusion class!"

“A point for the Anons! Can the Fujoshis score on top of that?” Chris grins, looking to McLovin, who seems to shrink 2 feet in height. 

Chef walks over, hoisting up the thin guy and tossing him atop the still-raging beast. He screams in terror as it throws him around, and McLovin manages to hold on for a measly six seconds before it launches him into the gum-pit. Chef fishes him out, sticky and covered in wads of pink and blue. 

He groans in pain. Courtney and Bonnie both slightly wince. Michael rolls her eyes. 

“We have a tie!” Chris grins. “Whoever wins the Water Ski contest wins today’s challenge- and whoever doesn’t gets to send a sore loser home!”

Julia turns to Austin, who’s busy buttoning a Hawaiian shirt over the speedo he apparently owns. “You better not screw this up,”

“Relax, baby, I’ve got this. I’m winning that spa for me and my girl,”

“It’s for the team, doofus,” Julia snaps, then looks down at his shirt. “And why are you wearing that thing anyway?”

“Safety,” 

“Why do I even bother?” She sighs, walking away and dragging Scruffy behind her.

"He was wearing it during the cliff diving challenge, too," they murmur, using their free hand to check the early pages of their notes. "Huh."

“You sure you got this, Courtney?” McLovin asks, picking gum off of his shirt. “I don’t wanna see you get hurt.”

“Someone’s gotta do it,” they sigh, looking at the rest of the team- Bonnie still looks like they went through the spin cycle on a dryer and McLovin can barely stand. They set a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll be fine.”

Michael watches the display from a few feet away with a frown. Max- standing a bit further from her than his other teammates- takes note of her expression. "What's your problem?"

"None of your business," she snaps back, and then walks around the entire team to stand next to Julia and Scruffy on the other side.

Courtney hops onto the driver’s side of the vehicle, Austin flexing and posing until he grabs onto the handles. They rev up the jet and start off at the maximum speed, throwing Austin around like a ragdoll. He somehow manages to stay upright, cruising along on the pair of sandals he’s wearing without a care in the world. 

Courtney looks behind them every few seconds and growls as he picks up yet another flag. 

He laughs. “Yeah, baby, yeah!”

A button pops off his shirt and a flash of fear crosses his face. He looks down nervously. 

Julia crosses her arms with a wide grin.

---

Julia smiles, holding up a pair of scissors.

---

A few more buttons pop off. 

“Oh, no, baby… that’s not good,”

Scruffy turns to Julia and sees her smiling. “What did you do?”

 The remaining buttons pop off and his shirt flies open, revealing a shockingly perfectly sculpted hairy chest underneath. Julia’s jaw drops. The rest of the contests stop what they’re doing and stare in absolute awe.

Courtney turns back to see what everyone’s looking at and becomes so distracted the vehicle crashes straight into a rock on the course, sending Austin flying across the entire area, over the cabins, all the way out to the campfire area and directly into the stone wall behind it. 

---

AUSTIN: "I'm aware of the effect I have on birds. and blokes. everyone, really, I'm shagadelic baby yeah!"

---

The contestants, Chris, and Chef run over to see his crushed, flattened pancake-like body slide down the side of the cliff face and onto the dirt while he groans weakly. 

“Well… um, I guess we have our winners, then,” Chris says. “Fujoshis, you’ve somehow survived another day!”

Bonnie and McLovin cheer, and Courtney (still a bit dazed from the crash) walks over and grins. 

“Anons, I’ll see you tonight,” 

---

Bonnie steps out of the luxury shower, wearing a fuzzy lavender robe and sighing happily. Courtney follows, peeling cucumbers off their eyes and stretching. “Well… that challenge was something,” 

“Something, yeah. Man, Caesar would’ve loved that!” Bonnie smiles. “I hope he’s doing okay.”

“Anyone off this island should be alright. I think we’re doing okay ourselves, though,” they chuckle, walking beside their friend to the cabins in a comfortable silence. 

Courtney sighs for a moment. “But… there’s still something on my mind,”

“Hm?”

“You know when Michael was in the cabin with us, and she warned us about MC? What do you think she meant?”

Bonnie thinks for a moment. “Well, it definitely couldn’t have been anything too serious, right? Look at the guy, he’s like a puppy,”

“I know, it’s just… I keep going over why she would say something like that. Is she trying to throw us off?”

“I don’t know, Courtney. Let’s just try to focus on staying in the game for now,”

---

“Anons, looks like one of you is finally going home!” Chris chuckles, the marshmallow platter in his hands. “In case you’ve forgotten, these are marshmallows- symbols of hope and safety. If you don’t get one, you have to walk the dock of shame, board the boat of losers, and never return. Ever! Ready?

First one goes to… Scruffy

Max,

Scary,

Kelly,

Michael!

Staci.”

The respective players catch their treats as Chris tosses them. Austin looks nervous from within the full-body cast he’d been set in. 

“Austin- you crashed hard. And Julia, you accidentally sabotaged your team out of petty spite. And yet…” he throws her a mallow. “You still have working legs, dude. Chef?”

Chef walks over, picking up Austin’s stiff body and carrying him to the docks. Kelly follows. 

“I’ll win for us, no matter what!” Kelly whispers. Austin says something back, but the cast covers his mouth and garbles his words. 

They manage to give him one last kiss over the bandages before the boat speeds off. 

---

Michael looks through the cabin window as Scruffy and Julia walk by, laughing. Both team buildings have been left completely abandoned as everyone flits about with their friends, enjoying the warm night- except for Michael.

Courtney and Bonnie are painting each other’s nails at a picnic table across the grassy knoll, Kelly is making macramé with Staci in the crafts tent, and Scary has been nowhere to be found for hours. 

She sighs, standing away from the window just in time to hear a knock at the door. Michael raises an eyebrow, and then cautiously approaches to open it. McLovin is standing outside on the porch, hands behind his back and a slightly apologetic look on his face. 

“Great. What?” she asks, crossing her arms. 

He points up to his head, where still several wads of gum are stuck. 

“Seriously?”

“Courtney and Bonnie are busy,” he insists. “And I don’t know who else…”

Michael thinks for a moment, sighs, and then holds the door open a little wider for him to come inside. He takes a seat on the floor after she moves the rug, and she pulls a pair of scissors out of one of the nightstand drawers, walking over to kneel above him. 

Michael delicately cuts away the gum, dropping it on the floor behind her until most of it is gone, save for a few sensitive spots she wouldn’t try for. McLovin’s hair is now patchy and choppy, but still there. 

He stands up, mutters a quick thank you, and hurries to the door. 

“Don’t think this changes anything,” Michael says, picking up the gum and dumping it in the room’s garbage bin. “I still hate you.”

McLovin frowns. “Likewise,” and then he leaves, slamming the screen door behind him. 

Max watches as McLovin hurries out of the girl's side of the cabins with a perplexed expression. He'd been sitting on the porch steps by himself for almost an hour now and couldn't remember any of his teammates going inside.

He thinks to himself for a moment before standing and ducking over to the window, peering inside to see a slightly-dejected looking Michael pull the rug back to its place and sit on the bed with a sigh.

Somewhere off in the distance, Julia and Staci scream in argument over the last communal bathroom stall with a working lock. Michael's head turns in that direction and Max ducks away, hoping she hadn't seen him. He dashes off with a confused look on his face.