#also i struggled adding the last two so its only these four

[cherrycro]

Electro charges the sinister 6’s phones for them

AA I WAS SO EXCITED TO DRAW THIS THANK YOU FOR THE REQUEST

Its a group effort to get everything charged up again after a big battle.

#i tried to keep their heights accurate #also i struggled adding the last two so its only these four #my art #my art 2023 #tssm #the spectacular spider man #tssm shocker #tssm electro #tssm doc ock #tssm dr octopus #tssm rhino

[hopelesslyromanticshark]

hi, covey can you pls write a platonic nico x daughter of persephone where the daughter of persephone makes nico, hades, and persephone go see hadestown on broadway with her (also if u haven’t heard hadestown highly recommend amazing musical)

wait for me? / i will; platonic! nico di angelo x daughter of persephone! reader blurb

content: platonic! nico di angelo x daughter of persephone! reader blurb (ft. mom and dad - er, persephone and hades) warning: language but we keep it silly up in this bitch author's note: i dunno if i can even call this a blurb anymore- holy shit its so fucking long but i dont wanna call if a fic bc that feels like favoritism lmao also i haven't listened to the whole play bc i haven't been a theatre kid in many many years and im trying to leave that behind me as i go to college but i do remember absolutely loving the concept and a few of the songs!!

"everyone say 'hi' to the vlog!!" you cheered as you walked in front of you family, spinning the camera around to get you all in view. upon your parents request (demand), you all were dressed in your sunday best. suits, or the closest to a suit nico was willing to put on, midi-length dresses for the girls. all designer, as hades wouldn't be caught dead not in designer. zeus would mock him for eons. nico threw up a middle finger that persephone was slapping away, before turning the camera with a sugary sweet smile.

"hi vlog!" she cheered, wrinkling her nose, attempting to be suave and hip, but not really getting close as nico and you cringed slightly.

"hello vlog," hades added, which had you and nico wheezing and hades desperately asking his wife what was wrong with what he said.

"youre- youre so cordial," you managed to get through you giggles, pointing the camera at hades, who puffed his chest out with a roll of his eyes.

"that would be because i'm old, my sweet girl," he huffed and you beamed a smile at him, spinning the camera onto yourself as the four of you continued down the streets of new york city.

"he's not that old," you smirked, nico snorting next to you.

"anyways, we're off to see hadestown. mom and dad haven't seen it yet and have no idea what it's about. but will took you last week, right, nico?" you asked, leaning into nico's side so he'd be in view. he nodded his head, darting his eyes away at the mention of his boyfriend.

"yup."

"awww! he's getting all blushy!! im gonna tell will-"

"go to hell, y/n-"

"been there, done that. boring!"

"hey, watch it!" hades cut in, with a glare, which you responded wit ha roll of your eyes.

"stop distracting me, im trying to vlog," you huffed, turning your eyes back to the camera with a wide smile, "obvi i can't film inside, but i will take a pic and tally every time one of us cries and whoever cries the most picks what we have for dinner."

"wait, wait. my blossom, you didn't mention this one was sad?" hades hissed to his wife, who shrugged in uncertainty but patted his forearm comfortingly. you and nico shared a knowing glance, tiny smirks playing on your lips.

"okay, okay," you whispered to your camera, bending over in your seat to hide it from the watchful eyes of security despite the fact that it was intermission, "we've hit intermission and i've only cried, like, twice. nico, the rat bastard, managed to stay strong so far. mom's cried, what, four times?"

"nah, closer to five. remember? right at the beginning?" nico whispered and you nodded in agreement before turning to the camera, laughing as you struggled to get your words out.

"but dad, gods bless his heart, he's probably cried twice for every song-"

"no, no, he cried, like, four times, during 'come home with me'," corrected nico and you discreetly tried to hide your giggles with nico, the two of you leaning into each other before persephone reached over, smacking at their arms.

"knock it off. your father is a very sensitive man and you didn't warn him this play was about us. and so sweetly written too," persephone mused to the pair, sniffing near the end, causing you and nico to point over at her.

"that's another one! you're up to five, mom!" bit back nico, clearly proud of himself as persephone glared at the pair, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.

"it's not like it matters much, your father will certainly lose- oh, welcome back, my darling, just in time," the queen of the underworld quickly changed her tune, beaming a smile as her husband returned with drinks and snacks.

he glanced at her suspiciously but let it go as he gently presented her with some fruity cocktail he knew she'd like without needing to ask. a blush flushed across her cheeks and hades was clearly proud of himself as he continued to pass out snacks. junior mints and licorice for nico, who took it with one hand while texting will with the other. you bit your lip, trying to zoom in with the camera and see what he was saying but nico caught on quick, shoving the camera away with a huff. then hades set bag of m&m's down in your lap before ripping open his own bag. instantly, you were leaning over to his seat and inspecting his bag, nawing gently at your lip as hades glanced at you out of the corner of his eye.

"yes, princess?" he asked and you shyly smiled at him.

"could i have some?" you asked and hades frowned, looking pointedly down at the ones that rested, untouched, in your lap.

"you have some."

"they're better from your bag," you gushed and hades melted instantly, pretending to grumble as he presented the bag to you, small cheers escaping your lips as you dug your fingers in. and hades smiled despite himself, pressing a kiss to the top of your head before reaching over and ruffling nico's hair just as the play was about to continue.

the vlog abruptly jumped to a shot of your little family standing outside the theatre in visible distress. nico had his head hung back, waving at his face, trying to avoid tears that he knew will would mock him for. persephone and you were actively clinging to each other, fully sobbing in the middle of new york, mutters and gasps about being doomed by the narrative and love somewhere among the sobs. hades was in shock, tears streaming down his face, and his hands clasped in front of his lips. how he managed to get shocked by a play he lived through, he had no idea. you detangled yourself from your mother, who instantly went to her husband, who welcomed her into his arms without a second thought. you picked up your camera, sniffling as you attempted a smile while holding a thumbs up but the happy effect was lost with the black mascara running down your cheeks.

1.2 k comments:

@/will.solace: awww he blushes when you mention my name 🤭

@/underworlds-favs: die and see if i blush then

@/underworlds-favs: do not use our shared account for your lovers quarrel - y/n

@/underworlds-favs: die and it won’t be a shared account anymore

@/user.1: why your mom kinda...😏🤭🤤😮‍💨

@/underworlds-favs: STOP THIRSTING FOR OUR PARENTS YALL ARE WEIRD KNOCK IT OFF

@/user.2: wait, wait- i need to know who lost and i want, like, full receipts of how many times you guys cried

@/underworlds-favs: in order from least to most: nico - 2, the perfect and stunning y/n - 6, mom - 7, and our emotional king, dad, cried a whopping 36 times 🤩🤩

@/underworlds-favs: do not use out shared account to spread your propaganda - nico

@/user.2: AINT NO WAY- 36 TIMES?????

@/underworlds-favs: i wish i was joking. we had some really good italian that night tho 🤘😋

#postcards from covey ౨ৎ #all my love ౨ৎ #pjo #pjo fandom #percy jackon and the olympians #hoo #nico di angelo #hadestown

[lunas-side-anime-blog]

aot veteran/104 corp icks bc im back on my bullshit

someone requested AOT veteran icks, they didn't specify nsfw or not so I did both and also added sasha connie and jean bc i luv them:) feel free to message/inbox with requests!

(levi, erwin, hange, jean, sasha and connie)

Levi

will visit ur place and organize things without you asking. he'd just be like "ur welcome, now your kitchen makes sense" and ur like sir, I don't know where anything is now??? also he'd def the type to proclaim he's better than you for only getting two hours of sleep when you got four. honestly so many icks come to mind for this one, imma limit it to those two for now (stay tuned lol)

nsfw: tries to be rough with you but forgets his own strength. will try to throw you on the bed, but he does it too hard so you completely miss the bed and fall on the other side of it and he's just standing there like "🧍🏻...my bad."

Erwin

you cannot convince me this man doesn't wear water shoes at the pool. you guys say you want a dilf until you actually get one bc this is the type of shit it entails^^

nsfw: erwin cannot dirty talk for shit. im srry but if you're a lil kinky this isn't the man for you. try to call him daddy and he'd be like "we don't have kids?" and you explain the kink to him and he'd just say, "have you considered therapy?🤨" now he's concerned, boner gone, you feel called out, just go to sleep tbh

Hange

they're def a firm believer in natural deodorant and won't take the graceful hints that it's not working. prob wouldn't chill w them on a hot day is all i'm saying

nsfw: feel like they'd be really good in bed tbh like i'm struggling to think of an ick. hange has big dick energy, weirdos just do it better idk. i think maybe hange would try to spit in your mouth (they a freak) and they have so much and its thick and globby like the back of the throat type spit, your gonna choke bro im gagging as a i type-

Jean

bring back toxic masculinity because Jean's hair care routine is so good to the point he'll call out your split ends, i just know it

nsfw: a fucking chatterbox like his homies know everything. you've walked in on him telling connie in extreme detail how he had you in a full nelson last night while you screamed bloody murder and he doesn't see why ur mad. "babe, if anything i'm bragging about you 😏" fucking idiot istg. also kinda gross but I think he's the type to keep sniffing his fingers after fingering you like well into the next day EWW

Sasha

obvi she can't share for shit so I think she'd be an annoying person to eat out with. like yk when you're with your friends and only one person puts their card down so the rest can Venmo them? I think you can ask her to Venmo 20 and she'd send 15 and say something like "oh I didn't eat as many fries" but she fr did. never puts her card down either so believe it or not? jail.

nsfw: will literally be on her phone mid-sex with you. feel like she'd be really into the subway surfer vids and yeah, you go down on her and look up and she brought her own entertainment? ipad child behavior

Connie

i think he'd say "we" when talking about his fave sports team as if he contributed. like, "really connie, you helped win the superbowl? did you score a touchdown?" grow tf up

nsfw: insane bush on this one, i feel like he doesn't groom for shit and whatever, that's your choice! but I also feel like college-aged modern connie would talk shit about women who weren't bald down there and won't eat it unless it is. HYPOCRITE!! I think when he gets to his mid-twenties tho he'd mature (sasha beat his ass)

#aot headcannons #levi ackerman #levi headcanons #hange zoe #hange headcanons #erwin smith #erwin x reader #erwin headcanons #jean kirstein #jean headcanons #anime headcanons #connie springer #sasha braus #aot x reader #aot fluff #snk levi

[twig-tea]

TsukuTabe S2 Is Perfection

I’ve been waffling about what to write about Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna s2, which completed last week (and which we have access to at all thanks to the hard work of @furritsubs). I have had to just give up on getting across how much this show means to me; there's no way I'll be able to communicate these feelings with words. Season 1 was excellent but Season 2 was everything I wanted and more that I didn't know I needed. This is going to be more disjointed than usual because I don't know how to be coherent about this show (and because tumblr ate my first two attempts).

At its core, Tsukuritai Onna to Tabtetai Onna asks what if we were all just a little bit more conscientious and kind to one another? What if women were given space to be themselves and to make the choices that were best for them? This is the world of TsukuTabe, and I'm so grateful to have had the chance to inhabit it over these last four weeks. 

I have so much love for the way Nomoto and Kasuga develop their relationship in conjunction with their relationships with the other women in their lives. Nagumo, Sayama, and Yako are integral to the success of Nomoto and Kasuga’s relationship, and they're also important relationships for the happiness of Nomoto and Kasuga in their own right. The found family vibes are immaculate. 

The conflict between Kasuga and Nomoto this season was so perfectly them; the way they struggled with the transition from friends to lovers and being two people who are kind and giving in a relationship together and how that requires honesty and trust were both familiar conflicts that hit me hard in the feels. 

Kasuga's conflict with her family also hit me really hard. I once did the wrong thing and showed up to support my family in caring for someone who abused me, and it was a horrible experience that was ruinous to my mental health and took years to get over (and in the end they had to find a different solution anyway, which they could have done in the first place). Watching Kasuga refuse to make a similar decision, standing strong in the face of the social pressures of her parents and her aunt was so healing for me. And then to have her decision affirmed by someone of her parent's age? I sobbed in those scenes. 

I also loved the way this season handled Nagumo’s anxiety issues and how she was given space to decide to get professional help on her own time and terms. The way her parents tried to help was also very familiar to me and realistic, and it was just a little heartbreaking how they tried and didn't understand how their attempts at helping added pressure in a way that wasn't helpful. 

The way this show covers this important beats in a person's life through these small, everyday moments, and in such a gentle way, is what I love so much about it. The show itself makes a safe space so that these subjects can come up and not feel overwhelming. 

And it's also really important to me that all of the characters get to have these moments. Sakae not only reflects on her insensitivity and the unfairness of Japan not having marriage equality, but she also reflects on the pressures on her to marry and whether she actually wants that for herself. Fujita not only helps Kasuga gain proxy acceptance for her choices but gets the same back for herself around her decision to divorce. All of these women live in ways that invoke social stigma, and the way this show gives explicit permission to these women to live their best lives is both cathartic and critical.

I can't end this disjointed ramble without talking about the character I most identified with this season, Yako. Yako is an older, self-actualized asexual lesbian who makes friends with Nomoto on the Internet, recommends lesbian films to her, and mostly listens and affirms as Nomoto goes through her own process of discovering herself. I ran a GSA and have been on the Internet a long time, I've been in Yako’s position a lot (though I can only aspire to be as kind and wise). She is so patient and so genuinely happy for Nomoto when she and Kasuga get together, and she seems so quietly thrilled to have more wonderful people in her life willing to indulge her random party ideas. Her sharing a connection to a LGBTQ+-friendly real estate agency while being angry on their behalf that she even has to was perfection. 

It's so important that these characters say the things they say aloud. I want to inscribe every sentence of this show into everyone's brains. This show is perfect, and lovely, and a warm bath, and a hug, and a cup of your favourite warm beverage perfectly fixed to your liking all in one. If you haven't done yourself the favour of watching yet, I highly recommend that you do so immediately. 

[not an ID: Real footage of the entire audience's satisfaction and catharsis after watching TsukuTabe S2. Actual ID in alt text].

#tsukuritai onna to tabetai onna #she loves to cook and she loves to eat #tsukutabe #gl meta #sapphic media #typed so that I can stop thinking it

[heyidkyay]

And I'm petrified of being alone, now |

Part Four

Matty Healy x reader

Summary: She’s just trying to get by, really. What with being a single parent to her four year old son whilst simultaneously trying to kick start a successful career as a radio presenter. She’s got everything she’s ever wanted though, friends close by, a mum who’s merely a phone call away, and of course her baby boy. What else is there to wish for? But then, it’s not long before her relatively normal life gets upended and turned on its head, and she’s suddenly forced to deal with situations she’s never even thought to imagine.

What happens when one mention of a certain controversial singer on her show sends a flood of unexpected challenges her way? 

Authors Note: IT'S TAKEN A WHILE BUT IT'S HAPPENING, MATTY AND MOUSE ARE SO CLOSE. Hi:) Hope you enjoy this part, finally throwing them into the same building!! Lot's happening in this one!

Warnings: Mentions of rehab, struggles around body image

Masterlist

🐭 @/petitesouris 13m Early start, hoping it's a good session today!

The next week rolled around slowly and it had been one of the most agonising waits of my life. 

I’d constantly been emailing with the Primary Talent Team for the last few days, back and forth, just trying to work out which date and time would best fit both our schedules. It’d been gruelling. And the entire exchange would have gone a whole lot easier if it hadn't been for the fact that it had all been centred around them and based on their terms and conditions. Not forgetting the mile long list of Do’s and Don'ts they had also attached to their most recent email, which had been oh so fucking thrilling.

To be honest, I might not have minded it if my whole life had only revolved around the radio show. But as proud of it as I was, and as incredibly hard as both Adi and I constantly worked, I had other priorities that took precedence. I loved the show with all my heart but it could never be my entire life. Not with Teddy waiting for me back home at the end of each day, relying on me alone to raise and feed and clothe him.

Not that Healy’s management could comprehend that, or the fact that I had a schedule and a set routine. They didn't know when to stop and pushed and pushed to get what they wanted. And I could only fight back so much. Which meant that I’d ended up dropping Teddy off at Finn’s place a whole two hours earlier than usual just so that Adi and I could prep for the dated interview.

So, with that in mind, it was safe to say that I wasn't in the perkiest of moods when Adi bounded breathlessly into the studio that morning, a lot later than expected.

"I know, I know, I'm late!" Adi immediately squawked as she hurried on over, the door behind her slamming shut in her wake. "But I have good reason! I hardly slept last night, too excited for all of this!" She added as she threw her knitted tote bag down in its customary corner, the one I’d brought her the birthday last, and tossed her phone and throng of keys down with a clatter onto her paper-filled desk.

I rolled my eyes, but was unable to negotiate with the amused smile that pulled at the corners of my mouth. “Still had time to post a quick photo though. Don't think I didn't see it, Adeline- you tagged the show."

Adi’s smile was blinding when she spun around to meet me, brown eyes wild and full of mirth.

“Figured since you still haven't a clue about how Instagram works that you just wouldn't see it, my love!" She retorted whilst throwing herself down into my desk chair and kicking her Doc clad feet up onto the table. She shot me a smug smirk. 

“Cow. And oi, I’ll have you know I’ve caught on since Circa ‘18!” I defended, but relented upon seeing Adi’s arched brow. “Fine, I had Finn explain it all to me one night after a bottle of wine. But the point still stands.”

Adi’s raucous laughter bounced around the loft and I could only roll my eyes once more before huffing. 2018 had been a rough year for many, but mostly me, seeing as I’d accidentally posted a quick shot of me in the tub for the group chat to my story, exposing a little more than I’d like to our show’s following.

Adi stared back at me in disbelief, loosening the bun of unruly curls that had been strung together by a silk bandana, which also seemed to match the colour of the very short shorts she was wearing.

"He'd had to have been a saint in another life to have dealt with an indisposed you for that long."

I scoffed at that, but couldn't help my own trickle of laughter. “I sent Teddy round to his the next day with a box of chocolates- you know, those fancy ones he’s always banging on about?” Adi hummed her assent. “Felt proper bad about it all. Took him ages to teach me how to stop going Live.”

We both laughed.

“Waste of time that was, should’ve just brought the chocolates here! Knowing Finn, he only helped ‘cause he found the entire sodding thing hilarious.” Adi supplied, pulling a pack of chewing gum free from her jacket pocket.

Snorting faintly, I denied her offering of a piece with a wave of my hand, and went back to fidgeting with my phone, distracting myself again from my plume of thoughts. I spun the device round and round, slowly enough so that each edge made contact with the wooden desktop. 

“You alright there, babe?” Adi queried after a while, and I glanced over to see her eyes now trailing the movement. “Ted doing alright?” 

I stilled and then hummed, watching as she turned and went about fumbling her way through an array of wires that sat on my desk, most of which were already hooked up to the monitors. It was a task Adi did most mornings, even when I’d already ticked it off the list, ever the perfectionist, wanting to double check that nothing would go wrong with the day's show.

“Oh yeah, all’s fine. Teds is already obsessing over Halloween, ranting about what costume he wants to get this year. But August has only just passed, Ads.” I groaned, thinking back to the previous evening when Teddy had spent a good portion of his bath time rambling on about what every other kid in his class was going to be.

Adi peered back at me, the extremity of the grin she wore wrinkling the corners of her eyes. “Just kids, ain't it? We were the same, you'll miss it in a couple of years.”

I supposed she was right, but only because I didn’t have much of an experience to look back on. Halloween had just been me and mum in the woods up by the creek, collecting flowers and eucalyptus for the wreaths we’d make, then reading old stories by the fire.

“Don't remind me, please. I don't want him getting any bigger!” I sighed all too dramatically before standing to head on over towards the printer, picking up everything I’d sent off earlier from out the tray.

“It's the way of life, babe. So, when do you reckon Teds will end up towering over you?”

Adi simply chuckled when I stuck a finger up at her from over my shoulder, not even wanting to pay that idea any thought at all. Teddy was my baby, I couldn’t picture him all grown up.

“I should mention that I saw your tweet, by the way. Guessing you're nervous for today?” Adi added after, her tone a little softer than normal, catching me off guard enough that I actually stilled in place before I turned to face her.

“And you’re not?"

Adi’s mouth quirked upwards when she shook her head, dark ringlets moving with it.

“Why would I be? This is fucking huge for us, M! The exposure that we'll receive alone could really give us the big break we've been searching for- I honestly can't even begin to believe it.”

I gnawed on my bottom lip as I lingered over her words, then pushed back the thought of me having been the one to deal with the stress that was Healy’s management team to the back of my mind. Adi didn’t deserve that, I’d always been the one to deal with all the crap happening behind the scenes, and besides, Adi had a right to be excited. I only wished that I had the ability to join in on it.

“I just don't want to start up any more unnecessary drama, Ads.”

Drama was the very last thing I wanted, knowing that this whole thing with Healy could easily blow up in our faces if we didn’t go about it the right way. And if shit actually does end up hitting the metaphorical fan, then… I wasn't sure I'd be fit enough to handle it. Handle the backlash that would surely follow and affect the show, the only source of income I had. And without it, both Teddy and I would be royally fucked.

Apparently my lack of response had Adi rolling her eyes, adding an extra flare of dramatics to it by flicking my ear as she passed me by. “Don’t be such a worrier, babe. It’ll all work out, always does with us, don’t it? Besides, how can it not when I have a face as gorgeous as this?”

She winked, flashing me her famous grin.

“Tart.”

“Slag.” Adi easily countered.

A breathy chuckle escaped me and I shook my head before returning to the wad of papers I’d been rifling through. “Sorry to disappoint, but it’s the radio, babe. No one will be seeing that gorgeous face of yours, or the way your arse is currently hanging out of those shorts.”

Adi cut her eyes at me from across the room, but they gleamed under the studio’s lights. “Don’t be jealous. We both know you love it.”

“Jealous? I’m a mum!”

“A fit one.”

A laugh bubbled up out of my throat at that and I couldn't find the energy to deny it, so I just shook my head.

“Anyway, you’re wrong.” And at my confused look, Adi continued on, grinning wickedly as she waved around one of the large devices she’d since picked up and cradled in her hand. “We are working with the camera’s today. Sort of why I'm here setting them all up. See?”

“Wait, we’re filming?” I gawked, and my eyes felt like they were just about ready to bulge out of my head as I sat up further to shake my head at her. Mouth already dry. “Non. No, Adi. No one ever mentioned that! I can’t.”

“They called yesterday demanding it. Just as you left to pick up Teds- it must've slipped my mind. I'm so sorry, hun.” Adi revealed sheepishly, her face scrunched up in an apologetic wince as the camera rig dropped to her hip. “But don't worry, yeah? I promise it'll all be sound and then we'll be well on our way to becoming the UK's biggest radio show!”

I reverted back to worrying at my bottom lip, chewing on it as though I hadn't eaten for days whilst I tapped an anxious rhythm into the arm of my chair. I couldn’t do the cameras, not today at least.

“Trust me, Mouse. It’ll be alright. You’ve done it before and you can do it again. No one will say a thing.”

I wished I could fucking believe her.

***

The Sun @/Thesun 16m Matty Healy spotted out in London today! The singer has been relatively quiet for the past few days- somewhat strange for the wayward frontman- but will this all change now that he's been seen? (Link) H @/user1 18m um, what? he’s where?? Adi @/AdelineWells_ 19m Long day ahead but we're very excited for today's show! Big surprises in store for you lot, so who's looking forward to it?? @/petitesouris @/Mouseonamic Indie @/user2 21m @/AdelineWells_ AHHH hope it's another Adi's All-Knowing segment!! Urmymedicine @/user3 23m Did anyone else see Jamie’s ig post?? He says to keep an eye out- AN EYE OUT FOR WHAT?? Talk! @/user4 11m I feel like I've been hit by an unnecessary amount of information

***

Matty’s bleary stare made an attempt to focus on the blurring buildings that passed them by as the car cut through the paved streets of London. Grey just melting into another varied shade of grey.

It was still far too bright for the beginning of September, the remaining weeks of summer only just tittering away now, and Matty couldn't help the scowl that had long since settled into his hollow features. 

One of the very few things he liked about the city was the fact that it was almost sure to be gloomy during the colder months. But it seemed as though the sun was shining a little brighter today, much to his chagrin.

A dull pain throbbed at either side of his temples, it’d been there since he’d been forced awake, and so he'd had to wind the window all the way down as soon as they'd set off to keep the nausea at bay. He silently regretted not turning in early last night, but it couldn't have been helped. It was hard to stay asleep without his usual nightcap, and even then, it was harder to dismiss the memories that plagued his mind without downing half a bottle of something or other.

A frigid wash of air wound its way down his throat as he took a long breath, his mind slowing a tad as the afternoon breeze trickled across his skin. But soon enough Matty’s calm was broken and his attention was then caught by Jamie, who sounded just as thwart as he felt.

“You even listening to me, mate?”

Jamie’s undeterred voice filtered through the back of the car, a short lived sigh following in its wake.

Matty merely rolled his eyes from behind his darkened sunglasses and proceeded to slump further in his seat, lolling his head to the side so that his focus was now within the car instead of on the distractions of the outside world.

His gaze trailed its way across the dark leather seats and blacked out windows before it finally ended up landing on his manager, who was kitted up in one of his many sharp shirts and a pair of formal fitting trousers. A right snazzy twat.

Matty could appreciate their pattern though, Jamie hardly ever ventured too far into the world of fashion, so the burgundy tartan was a sight to behold.

He soon fixed Jamie with an apathetic stare from across the backseat, fingers already itching for a fag, or maybe something stronger. He couldn’t be arsed with the mindless bother he’d been sent to complete today, really didn’t want to be dealing with a roomful of people that were there to assault him with an extensive range of hard-hitting questions, or have any more unwanted cameras shoved in his face in truth. 

But here he was, doing it.

Following orders because that was what it took to be a puppet. He was too tired to be tugging on any strings today though, simply wanted to get the afternoon over and done with, hopefully without any repercussions, so that he could fall back into bed.

“Matty, mate.” Jamie huffed, his face having fallen into a pitiful expression that Matty didn’t quite like looking at, but couldn’t seem to look away from. 

For a while, he'd been fearful that he'd pushed his luck all too far with Jamie, as well as the rest of the band too he supposed. But it seemed as though the guy had a thing for redemption, because he was trying his fucking hardest to annoy Matty into growing the fuck up.

“Look. I know you don't like this anymore than I do, but it's your job, mate. You ain’t got much of a choice here. But think of it this way, right. It's better you being here, doing this, than drowning away in your own fucking sorrows- thought you'd given up drinking since rehab, anyway.”

Matty’s jaw clenched involuntarily at the reminder. Rehab. What was it with everyone and always bringing it up? He’d been too fucking gone on painkillers to have given a second thought to the little amount of alcohol that particular shit show had provided. Could hardly call it a rehabilitation centre either, not when you were constantly surrounded by other abusers who were practically there on a getaway, just finding other means to entertain themselves with.

Jamie broke the silence just as Matty’s mind began to spiral, and Matty couldn’t help but be rather thankful for it.

“You just gonna sit there then?” Jamie snorted, obviously trying to fill the tense quiet now, “Normally you’d have told me to piss off by now.”

“Piss off.” Matty murmured, turning his focus back to the window.

The car seemed to be slowing down now and Matty furrowed his brow when they came to a gentle halt outside a block of buildings.

“Where are we?”

“Outskirts of Islington, I think. Not too far from the studio.”

Matty didn't get much of a chance to reply- not that he'd had one, Islington never did manage to bring up the most fondest of memories with him- because Jamie had all but jumped at the chance to exit the vehicle, opening up the sliding backdoor to escape into the stream of daylight.

With a tired sigh, Matty ran a hand through his mussed hair before he made a move to join his manager, clicking his neck slightly as the bottoms of his leather, heeled boots clacked against the cobbled pavement.

There was the usual musty scent that lingered throughout the city as he took a breath, but the smell of petrol was somewhat stronger here. Hardly anyone was wandering down the backstreet they had pulled into though, and those that did didn't linger too long on either him or the extravagant hired car that he'd been sanctioned with since having been struck with yet another driving ban.

Craning his head up, Matty could tell that there wasn't much to the building they were standing outside of. A commercial unit, three stories or so. Its brick exterior worn and dotted with timber sash windows. It was quaint enough, but not what he was used to when it came to things like this.

"Alright. A quick debrief before we go in." Jamie started, already fixing the faint creases in his otherwise pristine shirt, caused from where he’d been sat working in the backseat. “This is the same show that you had a bit of a spat with earlier this week, alright? So you'll be meeting the same girl that spoke out about your, um… Well, your image and publicity, and all that crap, generally speaking."

Jamie’s eyes flitted around them before he was back to typing away on his phone again. Fucking thing was practically attached to his hand, made Matty wonder how the hell he managed a wank.

But then he caught onto that last bit of his sentence and furrowed his brows, throwing Jamie another quick glance, not quite comprehending.

“Why we even here then? Thought your lot had a right mare dealing with all that.”

Jamie had the decency to look a tad bit sheepish as he started to lead them over towards one of the heavy-duty doors that adorned each of the surrounding units.

“They think that by doing this, it will clear up any allegations. They just want you to right your wrongs, I ‘spose. Make it known that what went down was just a 'misunderstanding' of sorts.”

“Right my? For fucks sake, Jamie! I was shitfaced! And if I remember fucking rightly, this supposed presenter spoke some actual truth. How the fuck am I meant to deny that and clear this whole fucking mess up?"

Matty was quite close to fuming now. It was always the same thing, again and again. The lies were never ending. So much so that he could hardly even recognise them from the truth anymore, everything had seemed to mould into one.

Jamie had since paused, his hand resting on the door's brass handle whilst he gave Matty the best smile he could possibly muster up. "Matty, mate, I'm sorry. Listen, I thought I could-"

Matty cut him off with a throaty scoff.

"Don't make out you're sorry. Not when you're just here ‘to do your job’. The only thing you're sorry for is the fact that you've got to be here at all, to suffer through all this shit with me and put up with the added drama. Just do me a fucking favour and keep your half-arsed apologies to yourself, mate."

Jamie looked genuinely taken back by his vicious rant for once, and somewhat hurt too, but Matty paid it no mind. He knew where to hit where it hurt, and he often didn’t stop until he tasted blood. The band knew that better than most.

"You act like you're here for me, when all you really care about is goin’ by the book and following the rules. Fucking grow a pair and apologise to me when there's an actual ounce of sympathy behind it." He spat back, teeth grinding as he clenched his jaw, glowering at the man standing before him. 

Matty shoved past his startled manager before he could linger on his words and pushed his way through the door. Fisted hands already making their way into his pockets as his nails dug crescent shaped moons into his palms in a desperate attempt to take the edge off of his vibrating anger.

"Ah, good, you're already here then! Thought we'd heard voices!" A cheerful lilt called out just as Matty rounded the short hallway, Jamie hot on his tail, and came face to face with a girl, who was leaning heavily against the metal rail lining the steep stairwell. 

Matty winced at the brashness of her greeting, eyes narrowing behind his sunglasses at the very force of her presence. She had a mane of thick curls bundled atop her head, lips lined red and lashes winged with a heavy liner. She was definitely younger than him, but not by much, and he could only guess as he approached her, that she stood at a similar height to him too when she wasn't prancing about on metal staircases. 

His fingertips trailed across the paperboard carton he had stowed away in his jacket pocket as Jamie hurried on over to meet the woman- a beaming smile now replacing his previously dejected look. Matty bit into his cheek at the sight of it.

"Yeah, sorry if we're late! Hey, it's great to meet you, I'm Jamie and this is obviously Matty." Jamie greeted with an incessant smile Matty couldn't bring himself to look at, before his manager was gesturing towards him- the disgruntled singer he was always stuck babysitting- and then reaching out a hand.

"Adeline, but my mates call me Adi." The girl, Adi, chirped as she took Jamie’s palm in her own, her eyes flitting towards Matty long enough to get a good once over. A gesture Matty returned. "It's great to have you both here."

She wore a grin so large it practically surpassed the honey brown eyes that brightened her face. Her teeth were white, if not a little crooked, and the force of her smile showed off the metal piercing that sat against her front teeth.

"We're honestly really excited to have you on the show! We'll have a proper laugh and just chill, so there's no pressure or anything. Mouse is upstairs, by the way. Still have to set up the final bits and bobs." Adi added, her enthusiasm somehow never faltering. "You'll love her! She's the main man round here, the one who started up the show and all that. You'll be speaking to her once we begin, but depending on how everything goes I'm hoping to join the two of you at some point."

Matty merely hummed in reply, which earned him a slight jab to the ribs from Jamie, one he tried not to lash out at. And Adi’s eyes slitted a tad as she followed the gesture, though Matty noted she gathered herself rather quickly.

"So, is that all of you then? No one else to meet?" Jamie wondered politely and Adi chuckled in retort as she began to lead them up the shifting staircase, giving them both an eyeful of her long legs.

"Nah, you're in the clear. It's just the two of us running things around here."

Matty worked his jaw at her response, whilst the sound of his boots hitting each metal stair reverberated around them.

"And that works?" He couldn't stop himself from asking.

Adi's head snapped back to find him, eyes peering over her shoulder as she rounded the first small landing and started on the next set of stairs.

"Mouse was on her own for a long while before I came along. We cope fine on our own though. We might not be as big as some other radio shows at the moment, but we've got a good relationship that works well within this industry. She can be stubborn, whilst I can be pushy, and even when we butt heads over things, we're able to make up in the end for the sake of the show. I don't know how it would work, throwing someone else into the mix."

Matty gave her a curt nod.

"So, Mouse?" Jamie questioned just as they bypassed the second floor, continuing up the staircase. Matty could hear the curiosity that lined his voice.

Adi flashed them another grin. "Mouse. It's what she goes by."

"Oh?" Jamie prodded, prompting her even further. He had a right thing for nicknames, loved hearing the stories behind them or something. 

"Don't know how it came about, in all honesty. You'll have to ask. But it's been her pseudonym ever since she started as a kid."

Matty’s ears perked up upon hearing that, but it was Jamie who quizzed her.

"She's been doing this since she was a kid?"

"Technically. But no, it started out as a Twitter account, just her venting her thoughts and opinions on the music she loved. And trust me, teenage Mouse was just as cut throat and sarcastic as she is now- maybe even more so- but people loved it, still do. The idea for the radio show came about a couple years later, and that was that."

Adi stopped talking just as they reached the very top. The staircase had led them straight into an open plan room, where a large leather sofa separated the sitting area from the tiny kitchenette in the far back corner, and where half of the living space had been overtaken by a recording booth.

Matty blinked. It wasn't at all what he had been expecting.

"God, this is insane." Jamie suddenly crowed from beside him and Matty followed his manager’s wide eyed gaze to where a skylight had been fitted overhead, giving them a clear view of the bright blue skies they'd just escaped from.

"I know." Adi spoke through a breathy exhale, her eyes twinkling as she grinned up at the oversized window. "It was what sold us on the place, honestly. That, and the access we have to the roof."

She gestured over towards the closest window to the stairs then and Matty found a fire exit hatch sat just on the outside of it.

"Don't think the other tenants renting out the spaces below even know about it. Well that, or we've just been lucky enough to never to catch one another up there." She chuckled and Jamie joined her. 

Matty’s hand tightened around his pack of cigarettes, eyes lingering on the hatch. But before he could ask if he could get a quick look at it, Adi was waltzing her way across the room and over towards the kitchen. 

She waved them closer and gestured towards two sofas and a vintage looking armchair that should have looked somewhat out of place, if it hadn't been for the rest of the mismatched furniture that littered the space. From the mint green fridge shelving a chaotic range of mugs, to the wearing Victorian coffee table, which was hilariously similar to the one Matty’s grandmother had preened over whenever guests had gone to visit.

"Tea, coffee?" Adi asked and Matty dipped his head as he took a perch on the edge of an armchair facing the tele box. It looked well over two decades old and he questioned the last time he'd seen one that'd had a DVD player built into it.

"Coffee. Black."

Adi raised an amused brow but didn't comment, looking towards Jamie. "And you, Glasses?"

Jamie only chuckled at the name referring to the thick rimmed frames he often wore. "Tea, please. Milk, two sugars."

"Be with you in just a sec!" Adi winked in reply and pulled four mugs down from the fridge.

"Cheers." Jamie thanked her, smiling all the while, before a look of remembrance crossed his face. "So where's this famous Mouse of yours then?"

And as though someone had answered him, Matty looked up to find the door to the recording booth opening and watched as someone stepped out to join them.

#the 1975 #fic #matty healy #angst #radio host #reader #x reader #x you #george daniel #ross macdonald #the 1975 band #adam hann #fluff #humour #matty healy fic #matty 1975 #matty healy x reader #matty x reader #matty healy x you #ao3 #pining #fame #strangers to lovers #mum reader #kid fic #kinda #getting together #SLOWBURN #mutual pining #Warnings

[bryngmemoney]

✁FASHION FLIRT✃

Megumi Fushiguro x Reader

⭑story masterlist link

tw: mentions of death (just jokes)

Writing in between messages!!

🪡Chapter Twenty-four: Beading & Braiding

“Look it’s you!” you lifted up the notebook, with a simple portrait of Megumi, based solely off your memory and what you could see on the call. “It’s me,” he said while giving you a short laugh.

“Show me yours!”

He complied, lifting up his paper with his portrait of you. The paper covered up most of the camera, but you could see his eyes peaking over it looking at you.

“So you’re just good at everything?” you asked, surprised at what he had managed to make in the ten minutes you had set the time limit to.

“Just incredibly talented,” he said while lowering the paper down. He leaned down to his side out of your view, reappearing with his white dog in his lap. You laughed as you could see he was struggling to lift him up into the frame.

“He misses you,” Megumi said while the dog leaned completely in covering up camera with its nose.

“Aw hey there!”

You were about to continue praising his dog, only to be interrupted by the sound of a door slamming open, followed by Megumi’s voice.

“What the hell are you doing!?”

That was the last thing you heard before seeing the call end on his side.

You stood in front of the door to Megumi’s home, waiting for him to come open it after having sent the text that you were here.

Nobara had arrived around ten minutes ago, currently sitting next to Yuji and the couch as he basically explained what he had finished and what parts she was in. They both turned around to face the sound of a door opening seeing Megumi walk out, looking down at his phone before heading straight for the door. “Where are you going now?” Yuji asked, looking at his friend. “Nowhere, someone’s here to help me with a project,” he answered, opening the door to reveal you standing there. Nobara and Yuji were taken aback, especially since you greeted him so sweetly.

“Y/n?” Yuji asked, Nobara still staring you down.

“Hey guys,” You waved. “So, little suprise..”

Next day, and you were sat in class next to Nobara, helping her with beading a string she needed for one of her shirts. “Are you almost done?” she asked looking over at you.

“No, no i’m not almost done, you’ve asked that three time now.” She just huffed going back to sewing a button onto a pair of pants. “Serves you right.”

Maki slid a shirt, cut in the back to make stripes of loose fabric. “When you’re done, help me braid the back of that.”

“You guys suck for this.”

Panda, who was up looking for something behind you threw you three a glance. “I was gonna ask you for something, but I think those two have done enough.”

“Thank you for your mercy.”

Author’s Note: well they found out 🤗

erm also regarding last chapter when i said 7-8ish chapters left it’s probably closer to 10-11 chapters after this one tbh was feeling silly and added things 😋

hope you guys enjoyed!

Taglist below, feel free to comment or dm me to be added!!

TAGLIST

@iridescentrays @gumimegz @maya-maya-56 @mamafly @lunavixia @swissy23 @coltsgf @m00nglad3-mp3 @etsukis @xosren @qtnfer @oengleli @harek89 @y-sabell-a @morgyyyyyyy @getolvr @liliumaraneae @k3lbade @aiieera @dancedancey @get0sfav @chuyasthighs0 @hyssoplampflickers @kpopanimen @sad-darksoul @vivi-loves-penguins @kasumitenbaz @talkingsperm @nymphsdomain @inlovewithlondonn @rzcnlb @enchantingkitty @fuyuzemi @lysaray @ni-ki-ismyluv @renemy @frumira @mixzimi @miralunaela @dreamxiing @p3achiee @anianurst @nishii28 @arguendo @samutoru @hallothankmas @invisible-mori @aiserex @all-in-the-fandoms @milza12

#jjk #jjk college au #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen megumi #megumi x reader #nobara kugisaki #yuji itadori #jjk megumi #megumi fushiguro #jujutsu megumi #jujustu kaisen #jujustsu kaisen x reader #megumi x you #megumi x y/n #jjk x y/n #jjk au #fushiguro #sukuna ryomen #sukuna #maki zenin #inumaki toge #yuta okkotsu #jjk smau #smau #jjk no curse au #non curse au #jjk art college au

[genericpuff]

alright so this is a post I've been wanting to write up for a little while now, but I was waiting on permission from a third party to post DM's (censored, of course). That permission has since returned with a yes, soooo

LET'S TALK ABOUT RACHEL'S HIRING PROCESSES-

okay this isn't gonna be as comprehensive as I'm making it sound BUT I've mentioned before on this page (albeit briefly and it's long since been buried) that I actually applied to be a background artist for Rachel a couple years ago, I think it was around the midpoint of S2, and it was (obviously) before I turned to the dark side of crit-n-shit-posting. I never got an email back, so that was that. I'd like to think there's a parallel universe out there where instead of joining the antiLO/ULO community, I became an assistant for Rachel and remained a fan. Enjoy that fridge horror thought.

That said, while I didn't get a response, someone on reddit mentioned that they did:

And they were kind enough to share further details with me in DM's.

Right off the bat, I'm fairly certain they were applying to the same ad I was (as it was a posting that Rachel had made on Twiter and the approximate years line up).

All that aside, considering what Rachel's process is like with her assistants (from what we've discussed here in GREAT detail), it's not shocking in the slightest that the vibe of working with Rachel from the very beginning was "IDK what I'm looking for".

Buuut that's not the end of the exchange because it gets better.

Mind you, this was back in 2019 and it was the experience of one user, so it doesn't necessarily reflect every assistant on the team or how Rachel does things down to the last detail. But it's pretty damning enough that you can still see the evidence of this kind of workflow in current LO 4 years later. If anything she's continued to operate with a rapidly declining pipeline because the art just keeps getting worse and worse.

Part me of wants to say that this could be on Webtoons, as they don't offer support to creators to have assistants. Creators have to pay for their assistants completely out of pocket, split from the income they make from Webtoons. This is why so many creators often don't have assistants or their 'assistants' are also their co-creators (see: Nevermore, which is drawn and written by two people working together).

But Rachel has an average of four assistants per episode, sometimes as many as eight in some cases (though it's been a while since that's happened so I won't really count it for this post).

That means Rachel's team is typically made up of five people, including herself, and that's not including the recent addition of copy editors (but that balances out with the times when Amy Kim isn't contributing , she tends to pop in and out).

Now, she's not the only person on WT with a team of this size, there are others with comparable teams if not bigger ones, but NONE of them seem to operate with as much inconsistency as LO does, and that's not on the assistants, that's on Rachel. She's said in interviews that she always wanted to be a director and that making LO on Webtoons was her way of achieving that, but she doesn't seem to have the integrity or leadership skills necessary to take charge when the team isn't working in sync. You don't see any of these insane art art inconsistencies in webtoons like The Kiss Bet or Tower of God (though they have their own problems, the art isn't one of them), and there are webtoons operating without a team at all that are drawing circles around LO right now, like Nevermore (which is, by the way, also edited by Bre Boswell, same as LO).

Now, that's not to say there isn't struggling underneath the surface, the creators of Nevermore have stated how difficult it is to work for Webtoons as it is, especially as creators who don't have assistants. But how is the #1 comic on the platform failing to meet the standards that come with its labels and awards? Why are the exceptionally better comics being drawn by 1-2 people not getting the attention or opportunities they deserve from the platform? And why does Rachel Smythe, one of the highest paid creators on the platform, still seem to struggle with managing a team of artists after five years of publication on Webtoons? Why does she choose to have a large team if she can't pay them adequately? Why have a large team at all if she's not going to utilize their skills properly? To further lighten the load of work onto others?

Really, it just goes to show the lack of care and respect all around - for the self, for the work, and for those who are pushing out the work and meeting the deadlines, whose reputations and potential are being dragged down with the comic itself.

#lore olympus critical #lo critical #antiloreolympus #anti lore olympus

[blazehedgehog]

I WILL CHOKE ON THESE SOUR GRAPES TIL I'M IN MY GRAVE

I left this open in another tab, meaning to watch it like a week ago. It's an official video published and promoted on the Youtube Studio dashboard, about common misconceptions around their recommendation algorithm and what the truths really are. .

And now, finally watching it, that white haired dude, Mr. "Youtube Liason", is the guy who told me the algorithm ignored one of my videos because "maybe it just wasn't very good."

Famously, and something I will never ever shut up about when given the chance to mention it, I put out a video about Jurassic Park games just before Christmas, expecting it to slot in and do decent numbers, just like all of my other videos do. Since Youtube earnings tend to spike around the holidays, this was going to be how I paid for Christmas presents that year. It was something I'd done at least twice before. Instead, the algorithm completely ignored the video because it was outside my usual wheelhouse of Sonic content.

This is shockingly relevant to the very first topic they cover: whether a single "off-topic" video actually matters with regards to how the algorithm sees your channel, and the general answer from the Youtube technician is "No." You don't gotta tell me.

When I put my full weight behind a video, it easily breaks 10k views, even 50k or 200k+ views. Some of my most popular videos have cracked the multi-millions!

So when this dude spells out in plain english that the algorithm effectively ignores one-off videos? Yeah, no shit. I'm living proof of that. Across the first two years, that Jurassic Park video struggled to break even 2000 views. Only by paying out of my own pocket for multiple promotional campaigns and constantly complaining about its lack of performance has it struggled to hit just over 5000 views, some four years later. The algorithm knew it was way outside my regular wheelhouse and treated it like poison.

And this liason clown had the balls to tell me "well maybe the video was just bad, sorry bud" only to, two years later, sit down with this technician that spells out exactly what I was knew was happening and was trying to explain to him.

Except now, of course, it's being spun as a positive: "don't worry, a one-off won't hurt your regular content" as opposed to the "we didn't notify anyone about your one-off and it became stillborn" I experienced.

I have sat down and thought very intently about this Jurassic Park video. Obviously, if I make a stink about its performance, tell people the algorithm made a poor judgment call, I'm going to get patted on the back and comforted that yes, the video is good. Don't worry. The mean old algorithm is just dumb. Right? And Youtube unflinchingly believes in the power of their algorithm as this perfect shining golden standard to drive viewership, the thing that can never, ever be wrong about guys like me.

I appreciate the comfort and support of friends and colleagues and even random strangers who are inherently distrustful of the algorithm. But I also know that feels like an echo chamber.

So then what, do I trust Youtube? Absolutely not. At the end of the day their algorithm still made an unfair judgment call and despite their claims above that any old video can get picked up by the algorithm at any time, my video has never recovered. I've tried more interesting thumbnails, I've spent almost $100 on Google Adsense promotion -- one of which, I should note, was the same week that Jurassic World 3 released, and the other being E3. Both should have been extremely lucrative times to run ads. And I got crickets.

I like the video. I stand by the fact I think I did a good job on it. I remain proud of it. It's as good as any real-effort-content I've put out in the last five years. The echo chamber tells me it's a good video, too, even if I literally can't buy views.

So my only recourse is to sit here and stew in my bitterness towards this algorithm. The shining, ultimate example as to why you should never let a computer make a qualitative judgment call. And I will be frustrated and angry about this until I draw my last breath.

#youtube #google #algorithm #jurassic park #jurassic world #sour grapes

[lewis-winters]

3 and 6 for the positivity meme?

I'll answer this backwards because my answer to no. 3 got long.

6 - what's a headcanon that you'll die on that hill?

Lewis Nixon III was a theater kid and has done drag in his life. This is forreal. The ghost of Dick Winters revealed this to me in a dream.

3 - what are some fics you go back and read again and again?

oh I love this question. in the last ask I did say I left out some creators and now is my time to redeem myself! (also another reminder that I desperately need to finish this massive fic rec post I have been steadily adding fics to since January BUT ANYWAY)

under the cut!

all of @churchkey's Winnix and ToyeMalarkey fics! god do I love them so much. I re-read A Spell of Riot once a year since it was completed.

and of course @anthrobrat's Bob, TP, and Gen Kill fics!

all of BristlingBassoon's Winnix fics - Queen for a Day inspired my "Lewis has done drag" conviction and When we met, you'd never expect this series is just. divine.

@marycontraire's Contact Tracing. of course.

make it up as we go along - Joe drives his cab, Chuck plays Call of Duty, and Babe just wants to pass Biochem; their apartment is like Grand Central at the best of times and that’s without the two possible fugitives they decided to harbor in the guest room; Luz’s life is turning into a terrible romcom about a coffee shop; Harry’s friends are bad at running a bar but they’re trying their best; somebody got punched in the face; and someday there will be a New York Times Bestseller about all of it.

Or, the interlinked soap opera-worthy drama of a group of millennials in Philadelphia, told day by day.

Lie if God is Sleeping - Gene flipped the puzzle over to read the back. “My name is Edward Heffron,” he read aloud. “I killed a man, and now I’m paying the price. 18,000 pieces. It will take approximately seven days to complete me. For experienced players only.”

What the fuck was a curse this nasty doing in a Philadelphia used bookstore?

rivers always reach the sea - my favorite webgott canon era series fic ever

Situation Normal - Winters and Nixon move to the city, reunite with some old friends and find themselves adopting a new, four-legged one.

By Small and Small - Babe wants to keep talking with Gene, but he doesn’t really know what to say. He feels like, in the past, he never would’ve shut up, but now, since Julian, he’s just got nothing. Maybe that’s grieving; Bill says that’s grieving, anyway, but Bill uses the term like a Band-Aid to put over every aspect of Babe that has changed.

Or: The one where Gene is in med school and Babe's messed up over Julian.

Dear Lover - A group of friends who supervise soldiers' mail are secretly very invested in one Major Winters' letters to a woman he seems to be having a secret affair with.

all or SJtrinity's Band of Brothers (webgott) fics and The Pacific (sledgefu and andyeddie) fics

Green and Gold - Merriell has dark magic and a guilty conscious. He never considered how the war would change them.

The American Sublime - "Tactician that he is, he finds the likelihood of still being loved by someone who, thanks to him, has just awakened to a wicked hangover and a face full of cold piss next to nil."

Dick Winters and Lewis Nixon billet together at a farmhouse in Holland for a rare few weeks of peace and privacy, while Dick struggles to process his promotion and his time away from Easy Company. Set during the first minutes of Episode 5, "Crossroads."

Cows. Wildflowers. Feelings. Handjobs.

Black Ink on Some Blue Lines - It’s been sixteen years since the letter was written, but it never found its way to the one it was intended for. The thing about secrets is they eat away at you, not all at once but slowly over the years, and you begin to wonder, to play out the what if scenarios in your mind. Instead, David buried it away and pretended like it never existed. He should have killed it, he thinks to himself, not buried it while it still had breath in its lungs.

In which David remembers his evolving relationship with Joe over the course of the war and decides to deliver a letter.

Baby You Can Drive My Car - Everyone has their thing. Perco takes watches. Nix scrounges for liquor. Welsh continues his never-ending quest for anything that will please Kitty Grogan. Even Eugene robs abandoned apothecaries with only a touch of guilt, making off with as many bandages and sulfa packets as he can carry. And then there’s Speirs, sweeping behind them like a shadow and carrying away anything they leave behind that sparkles or shines.

Babe steals cars. He’s getting pretty good at it.

Come in From the Cold - In which Smokey Gordon's coffee shop 'Bastogne' saves lives by lending cutting instruments and offering a steady supply of caffeine and sugary goodness. The shenanigans are just a by-product.

Call me 'sweetheart', Please? by @mariamegale - A not-relationship in the making. (baberoe)

anthroposcene, interrupted - Three months ago, Ray Person was a Philosophy major at Harvard. Now, he's dodging Runners trying to get from St. Louis to Cambridge without a) starving, b) dying by accident or c) offing himself. However, three's company, and it comes in the form of a dog with no bark and a taciturn Marine Staff Sergeant who's last name is Not-Pitt, which has gotta count for something.

#ask #ask game #webgott #winnix #baberoe #speirton #sledgefu #fic rec

[fortheloveoffanfic]

Exile

Andy Barber x Reader

Author's Note: Its been like two years and I'm still not over this song. Summary: Five years after their break-up, one person's still reeling while the other's moved on. Warnings: Angst. Masterlists

It must have been ages since he’d last seen her; three, four years? Maybe five. It felt like a lifetime ago though, and still, he was stuck. Andy was stuck; stuck in a moment that might have been reduced to chump change for her, stuck in the hurt of their end, stuck in the confusion of their strange reality. How could one person feel like home one minute than become like a stranger the next?

Andy still didn’t understand where, or when, it all went wrong. 

But it obviously had and now Y/n had found someone that could do better by her. From what he’d gathered, his replacement was also an attorney, but instead of putting criminals away, he was in-house counsel for a big pharma firm. Allen? Adam? Aiden? Andy couldn’t quite remember his name, though, he was sure he’d heard it when he’d asked another guest to confirm that he was in fact, seeing Y/n across the room, wrapped up elegantly in crimson satin.

“Oh, yeah. It’s her. She’s here with her finacee….”

Fiancee. 

He couldn’t believe his ears when he’d heard it; Y/n was engaged while he was still trying to pick up the pieces. He’d lost his home, while someone else had found a haven- he wondered if the man knew how lucky he was; back then, Andy hadn’t. The news had been like a sucker punch in the gut and it had taken three whiskeys- neat- before he could even begin to believe it. And then another two to propel him out the doors when she slipped away to the balcony, following her the way he should have all those years ago. 

She’d spotted him from the minute they’d entered, and at the sight of Andy, Y/n had shifted uncomfortably in Aaron’s embrace. He’d asked if she was okay and she’d lied and said yes, but really, Y/n was quaking inside. Figures that the first big event that she and her fiancee attend since getting engaged involved her ex, and not just any ex; Andy Barber, the only one she regretted breaking up with. 

Though, it wasn’t like he’d given her much of a choice; for the most part, Y/n had felt lonelier in that relationship than she’d been while she was single. 

“You okay?” He glanced down at her, easily picking up on her discomfort. Affectionately, he rubbed his hand up and down the small of her back, following her gaze before adding anything to his earlier concern, “Wait,” he knitted his brows, “Is that him?”

Him. His predecessor. In Aaron’s mind, the one that had, by some sort of divine consequence, made their relationship that much more worth it. Because of the carnage Andy had wrecked, Aaron had worked that much harder.

Still, without effort, she loved him. 

“Yeah,” she elicited, “I didn’t think he kept in contact with Tammy and Greg,” Y/n mused absently, glancing down at the dry bubbly half filling her delicate champagne flute. 

“Is this hard for you?” Aaron probed, bending to press a kiss to the top of her head, all while she kept her gaze trained on Andy, who suddenly looked ready to punch through walls- his pain always had a way of getting muddled with fury. She’d wanted him to see a therapist, he’d been adamant that he didn’t need one- or her. “I know its been a while but……” 

But she’d once made a messiah of Andy in her mind; he was on a pedestal and she’d excused so much in the name of protecting what they had , until the grief of it all had become cigarette burns on her soul by their end.

“No,” she shook her head, finally breaking eye contact with Andy to meet Aaron’s hazel gaze, “Its not hard. Why would it be?” She drew in a large gulp of her champagne, all but finishing off the glass. 

He knitted his brows, “Because….nothing. I’m glad you’re good,” he bent a bit lower, while Y/n tipped her chin, meeting his lips. It was a short one, though, she struggled to get through it; suddenly, Andy was all she could think about. When they broke, Y/n glanced back towards where he’d been standing, across the room only to find that the anger in his expression had melted away, making room for something else;

Jealousy? 

Apathy?

If he was anything like the man she’d left behind, it would remain indecipherable; he had a knack for hiding what he was really feeling under stoicism. When they’d first met, she’d called it brooding and thought it gave him the most attractive edge but towards the end of their relationship, it had become one of their most glaring points of contention. 

Still, she couldn’t help but wonder what it would have been like if she’d stayed; would he have ever changed? Or would they have gone to that wedding as strangers living in the same house- as opposed to strangers that stared at each other from across the room. 

“I’m just gonna run to the restroom,” Y/n smiled tightly, finishing off the remainder of her champagne, handing her glass over to Aaron before slipping away. She didn’t know why she excused herself or lied about it, she actually had no intention of going to the restroom, nor did she think that it was wise to be alone with her own thoughts, not when they’d been run amuck with memories that were as sharp as broken glass……and others that were as delicate as daisies. Yet, despite that, as her fiancee took her empty glass, Y/n bent her head and crossed the large room, only glancing backwards to ensure that he’d turned to chat with someone else before heading for the balcony doors instead of the hall that would lead to the ladies room.

The frigid air hit her face, as well as the skin let exposed by her one shoulder gown, in a rush as a gentle gust of wind stirred the city the minute Y/n stepped onto the balcony, shutting the door behind herself. Inhaling deeply, she took a few quick steps towards the railing, only stopping when she could grab the cold wrought iron in her hands. 

She shouldn’t have gone to that wedding, it wasn't enough to think he'd stopped hanging out with their friends. 

She shouldn’t be giving that much consideration to a man who hadn’t appreciated her worth. 

She shouldn’t-

“Hey,” the sound of an all too familiar voice was enough to make her breath audibly catch in her throat. Instead of turning around, Y/n clutched the railing tighter and squeezed her eyes shut; maybe if she pretended he wasn’t there, he’d go away. 

Maybe she didn’t want him to go away. 

Sucking in a sharp breath, Y/n whipped her head around, taking a moment to drink in Andy, illuminated only by dim city lights and the traces of intimate lighting that seeped out of the door, opened just a sliver. He looked like a dream; dressed to the nines in a tailored tux and when he absently smoothed his hand over the lapel of his coat, she caught a glimpse of cuff links she’d gifted him on his wrists- diamond encrusted horseshoes, for good luck. “Hi,” she breathed, shoulders falling, as if she’d just defeated herself. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Here at the wedding, or here?” Andy probed, finally shutting the door in favor of stepping closer. 

Y/n shrugged; the correct answer might have been ‘both’, but saying it felt wrong somehow, so she didn’t. “How have you been?” 

Andy licked his lips, “Clearly not as good as you,” he nodded to her engagement ring; a stunning trilogy of diamonds set in delicate, twin sapphire encrusted bands. Scoffing, Y/n rolled her eyes; of course one of the first things he’d say to her after five years was a snarky swipe about her moving on. “Sorry,” he mumbled, shaking his head. “I shouldn’t have said that. I’ve been um….” He raked his short nails through his beard, and as she saw him do it, Y/n longed to do the same- she used to love the roughness of his scruff under the softness of her palms. “I guess I’ve been better,” he huffed a lonesome, dry chuckle. 

Frowning, Y/n reached out to grasp his bicep, and while she knew the gesture might have been a tad too intimate, she couldn’t help but look at him and feel like he needed comfort; broken and tired. “What’s wrong?”

He shook one shoulder and threw a glance at her hand on his arm and relented, “You’re gone.”

Y/n sighed again, dropping her hand and taking a step back, “You can’t-”

“I know,” Andy hung his head. 

“And that was on you anyway,” she continued pointedly, the twinge of heartbreak evident in her tone. She hated thinking about it; the moment that she’d come to terms with the fact that Andy was never going to change and being in a relationship with him meant always being kept at an arm’s length. 

“I know,” he threaded his hand through his hair while stuffing his other hand into the pocket of his black slacks, “God,” he hissed, suddenly, driving his side of his fist against the top of the railing, “But I don’t fucking know. We were good, Y/n.”

She shook her head, “Don’t do this Andy,” Y/n reasoned, adding with emphasis, “We’ve done this before,” the whole song and dance; her explaining why she needed to leave and him arguing that he’d thought they were fine. “And its been five years,” she licked her lips, “You’ve had too much to drink and-”

“Its been five years,” he shook his head, “Five fucking years and I still don’t get it where it went wrong. Five years and I  can’t get over you- you were everything, Y/n.”

She scoffed, casting her gaze towards the darkened distance, only illuminated by little yellow and white dots peppered in buildings, “You kept saying that-”

“Because its true,” he promised earnestly, “You were all that I had, you mean everything to me, and you left like it was all nothing.”

“I left because you started acting like were nothing! I was always the last thing on your mind,” exhaling heavily, Y/n shook her head, “You never talked to me-”

“Oh, come on,” Andy scoffed, “We talked-”

“Not about anything that mattered,” Y/n snapped, “You kept everything all…..bottled in. I felt like…..like I was looking at you through a window or something; I never knew what was going on with work, what you were feeling.”

Andy scrubbed his hand over his beard again, shaking his head, “You could have asked.”

“I did,” she stressed, moistening her lips, “But talking to you was like talking to a fucking brick wall,” he glanced away and Y/n could see him resisting fact; refusing to believe that he could have a hand in her leaving,

In their end.

“I don’t get it,” he shook his head, “Its like everyone knew but me,” he slumped his shoulders, and even in the dimness she could see his deep frown.

“Yeah, that’s the problem,” she sniffled, “Everyone knew but you,” her voice broke pitifully, “We’d been falling apart for months; all of our friends could see it, my parents- everyone. And you were just….” Y/n shrugged, “It was like you weren’t even there.”

Or maybe, it was like she wasn’t there. 

“Do you know what that felt like?" Her shoulders slumped and she gestured absently with her hands, "You’d come home and barely say anything. We’d have dinner together and you’d work right through it- wouldn’t even notice if I got up,” she sighed, “When we went out, you’d spend half the time answering emails- or doing literally anything else. God," Y/n scoffed, "I honestly started to think that you thought the weather was more interesting than I was,” she chuckled dryly, “I don’t know if you were lazy or just comfortable, but it hurt like hell.”

“I was up for a promotion,” he argued firmly, “You know that.”

“Yeah, well that doesn’t mean I stopped existing," her tone was firm, despite the pain weighing it down, "I’m not a toy, you can’t just put me away when you don't have time to play,” knitting her brows furiously, Y/n folded her arms.

“That wasn’t how I meant it-”

“Well that’s how it felt,” she countered evenly.

Andy didn’t speak for a while and Y/n suspected that it was because he didn’t really have a way to defend himself that time. The silence must have persisted for at least five or six minutes, until he said softly, “I’m sorry, I should have been better. ”

Still angry, Y/n scoffed and swiped at her eyes, “Yeah, you should have,” so they could have stayed together, because as much as she hated to admit it, she still thought of him. 

“I want to be better,” hesitantly, Andy reached out for her hand, and despite knowing that it wasn’t entirely appropriate, she let him have it. “I can be better, I know it. You know it,” he professed earnestly. Andy lifted her hand between them, and spared a moment to glance down at her ring, before stepping closer. She knew she should have stepped back, or even just pulled away. But she didn’t, instead, when he bent his head a little, Y/n tipped her chin and tried to meet his eyes.

“Andy…..” She rasped when his lips had gravitated so close to hers that she could almost taste the liquor on them. 

He brought his free hand up to her face, touching her jaw in a backhanded caress and, unwittingly, Y/n leaned into his touch. “I miss you,” he elicited, “I lost everything when you left,” his nose was touching hers and Y/n’s breathing was heavy in anticipation of what was to come. 

Shutting her eyes tightly, she felt a warm trickle seep from her tangled lashes; every memory she’d made with him flitted through her mind like a film on a projector. Every date, every kiss, every ‘I love you’. They’d had so many good times, and in that moment, standing so close to him, the bad ones seemed muted. “Don’t do this,” she pleaded weakly, knowing that there wasn’t enough will in her veins to tug her away from him, “Please.”

Y/n wanted to kiss him. She missed him too. 

“I can’t stop thinking about you,” he choked out, tightening his grip on her hand a moment before interlocking their fingers, “Do you think about me?” There was an urgency in the question, one that almost hurt her to hear. 

“Of course I do,” she admitted, breath hitching, “But you hurt me.”

“I didn’t mean to. I promise, I would never want to hurt you,” his thumb shifted to swipe her slow tears away and Andy sniffled softly, “If I could do it all again….” He didn’t need to finish for her to know where he was going; she’d only thought the same thing for the past five years.

“But you can’t,” her voice was thick with emotion as the realization dawned upon her; he was five years too late. She had a fiancee, her life had gone on after she’d walked out of that door and it wasn’t fair to Aaron, the man who never let her question his affections, to stand there with Andy like that. A strained sob broke from her lips as Y/n finally stumbled backwards, pulling her hand away from his so she could point weakly, “You can’t just apologize and expect everything to change.” Aaron was kind and sweet, he listened and let her in. They were solid,  he was safe- he didn’t deserve her betrayal. 

Maybe if they'd seen each other again before she’d gotten engaged. Maybe if he’d reached out after she’d left.

Maybe if he’d actually cared instead of throwing his hands up in defeat as she walked to her car.

“I should go back inside,” her low tone was husky and Y/n struggled to come by the words, “It was….it was good seeing you Andy,” swallowing thickly, Y/n turned away, headed back towards the doors. 

“You want the truth? You wanna know how I really am? You wanna know how I fucking feel?” Andy began desperately as she closed her hand in on the knob, “Bad. I feel bad, I’ve been bad; I’ve feel like shit everyday because….because I pushed away the one person that actually gave a damn about me. And I’ve known it for a damn long time but I couldn’t admit it, not even just now. I couldn’t admit it because…..” His voice broke, “I couldn’t admit it because…..then I'd have to accept that I threw everything away. My second act, " he gestured widely, outstretching his arms before dropping them heavily at his side, "The first person that took a chance on me after my life went to shit.” He paused for a minute, and Y/n couldn’t bare to look at him knowing there’d been pain written all over his face, “All those people in there, all of them- they only give a shit about me because of you. I couldn’t do that on my own; get myself together, move on, make friends.”

When she’d met him, Andy had practically been a shell; caught in a work/home cycle with not even a trace of a social life. He was still reeling from losing Laurie and Jacob and it had taken months- almost a year- of work on her end for him to even entertain her offer to grab lunch together. She used to joke that she’d wore him down while Andy adamantly argued that he’d only refused for so long because he’d thought she was only asking him out on a pity date. 

“I get that I’m not your problem anymore,” he added in a moment of tense silence, “But-”

“You were never a problem,” Y/n countered without turning around. Turning the knob, she tugged the door open, “But its too late now.”

Too late for apologies, too late for him to decide to work on himself. 

Too late for her to turn back. 

Clenching her jaw, Y/n headed back into the main room, desperately trying to keep it together. Like it had the first time, leaving Andy broke her heart, but like she had the first time, she promised herself it was the right thing to do- even if deep down, she knew it wasn’t. 

#chris evans #chris evans x reader #andy barber #andy barber x reader #chris evans x you #andy barber x you #defending jacob

[maxsix]

Ad Astra: The Theory Of Relativity | An interstellar Ateez story Part I (Words 1322, Warnings: None)

The Earth is dying. My family all turned into farmers, like everyone else's. The world didn't need more engineers or pilots, we didn't run out of planes or computers, we ran out of food. First it was wheat, then rice, then barley. One by one the virus wiped them out and we had to keep finding crop to withstand the constant mutating viral strains. Eventually, it was just corn and dust. It was suffocating and everywhere: in our hair, on our skin, in our lungs. My father prepared us best he could but we knew it would only be a few years before we succumbed to starvation, if the dust-lung didn't get us first. -KJH, deceased, 2028

Hongjoong shuffles into the kitchen, savouring the quiet stillness of the early morning dawn, even if the cold bites at his skin. He removes the plastic coverings from the stovetop, taking care to gently wipe off the dust so it doesn't fill the entire room. The pipes groan and clunk as he lets the tapwater run for a few murky seconds before filling the kettle. There's not much of a breeze this early but the corn crops outside their back window seem to peacefully sway in the morning light, their contentment belying the struggle it takes to ensure their ongoing existence.

At least they have crop this year. There was decent rain, half of it acid but the corn still survived, which not only meant a steady source of food but also employment. Hongjoong checks his bookings for the day and its three back to back requests for crop duster maintenance. He'd rather be in the air then on the ground, but these days, nobody is getting what they want.

There's the faint sound of escalating bickering from the rooms above him, and predictably, the pounding of two sets of feet down the stairs seconds later.

"Hongjoong, tell Wooyoung that ghosts aren't real." It's Yunho, Hongjoong's younger brother, who turns eighteen in a month but already thinks he's the man of the house. "He's too old to still be thinking like a baby."

"I'm not a baby! Just because you can't see something doesn't mean it's not real!" Wooyoung replies tartly, sitting down at the dining table with the kind of dramatic huff that only a fourteen year old could summon. "It's not my fault you're so stupid!"

It's like this most mornings and even though he's only twenty-four years old this year himself, Hongjoong feels all the heaviness that he guesses must come with parenting two opinionated boys. He wonders how on earth their parents had once managed with all three of them.

"Wooyoung, don't call your brother stupid." Hongjoong admonishes, internally groaning that he can not only hear his Dad Voice come out but that he even has a Dad Voice in the first place.

"But-"

"..and Yunho, why can't you just let him have his own fun? Who cares if you believe in ghosts or not, the point is that he does, so leave him alone."

Wooyoung sticks his tongue out at his brother across that table. Yunho simply eye rolls but doesn't argue back, instead he drags his tall gangly frame over to help Hongjoong with their breakfast, not even asking for instructions because he's finally learnt the ropes after years of having it repeated to him.

It sometimes strikes at the most random times but little moments like this are how Hongjoong can tell how grown up Yunho really is. For all his contrarian tendencies, he really has grown up, both physically and emotionally, since their parents died. It gives Hongjoong a surge of immense pride whenever a moment like this happens.

Breakfast is a simple meal built around necessity and sustenance for the day and like with all their meals, there's rarely any room for luxury or requests. Both boys have had their moments of throwing tantrums over the lack of choice and variety but Hongjoong is grateful they've grown out of that behaviour. He hates not being able to do a damn thing about it anyway.

Yunho is in his last year of high school now and thinking seriously about the future. Wooyoung on the other hand...

"There's a parent teacher meeting tonight." Yunho says, as they get into Hongjoong's pick up truck for the drive to school. "You have to go to it this time or they'll unleash the social worker on us again."

"Yeah yeah, I know." Hongjoong sighs as he reverses down their dirt driveway. "What time is it again?"

4pm. And apparently not a second later.

"Kim, it's 4:35pm." Yonghwan frowns disappointedly, which is quite the feat since he's their town's youngest science teacher and accustomed to being disappointed daily. "These meetings are important to us and Wooyoung's future, even if you don't seem to acknowledge that yourself."

It takes physical force for Hongjoong not to storm out of there.

"Yes, sorry Yonghwan. I had three back to back jobs today, it-"

Yonghwan sighs and waves off whatever excuse Hongjoong had on the tip of his tongue. "Save it. Let's get straight to the issue here: Wooyoung is failing science."

"What?!" Hongjoong laughs incredulously. "Wooyoung? My Wooyoung? That little science nerd is failing it? How the heck is that possible?"

Yonghwan's lips purses into a grim line before sliding a piece of paper across the table. It's a test with Wooyoung's name on top in scrawly black pen and a bright red C right next to it. Before he feels the need to defend the little menace, Yonghwa simply tells him to read through the questions.

Oh.

"Yes." Yonghwan says in a weary tone. "He is questioning the validity of the questions and then protesting why writing a correct answer would be possible in the circumstances."

Hongjoong resists the urge to laugh.

That little shit.

Yonghwan takes back the paper from Hongjoong and reads one test question out loud.

In basic terms, explain how Albert Einstein disproved Isaac Newton's Theory of Gravity.

Yonghwan clears his throat, "And the answer he wrote was: there is a special hell for people who pit two geniuses against each other in a science test like this. TLDR: mercury's orbit."

Hongjoong can't contain the cackle that comes bursting out.

Yonghwan sighs and shakes his head again. "I'm glad this amuses you but it definitely doesn't amuse any of his other teachers and is unlikely to amuse the university boards when the time comes."

University would not be for another three years but every mention of time has Hongjoong on edge. Nobody on Earth has time. Time is the one constant that can't be reversed. Gravity is a spectrum, depending where you are in the universe. Distance can be reduced and erased to zero or lengthened to infinity. But time? Time only goes forward. There is no theory, no laws, no equation to reverse or control time.

"He's not wrong though." Hongjoong counters, suddenly feeling sober. "Newton's theory is why we can have a space program. Einstein just course corrected. I don't see why Wooyoung needed to fail the test because he was a little shit about it."

Yonghwan's withering gaze from across the teacher's table makes Hongjoong feel like he's back in high school all over again.

"Listen, Hongjoong," Yonghwan starts, tone as patronising as his placating hand movements. "I understand that you were once a very bright student, I know you were in the pilot program but times have changed and we-"

"Actually I studied engineering too." Hongjoong retorts. "You know I gave that up to manage the farm and the kids when our parents died of dust-lung. So don't talk to me like I'm stupid okay?"

*

Wooyoung is leaning against their pick up truck when Hongjoong is finally done with the parent-teacher meeting.

"Well? How did it go?"

Hongjoong clears his throat and opens the doors.

"I got you suspended."

#Ad Astra: The Theory Of Relativity #Ateez AU #Ateez #hongjoong #wooyoung #yunho #other characters to be added later #this is just to see if anyone is interested #it's an Interstellar AU #we like science #well i do #maxsixfic #Ateez fic #this is like unbeta'd or whatever #bc i just don't really have one of those #btw: i don't actually know anything significant about science and I still don't understand Gravity ok

[callsigndragon]

Tasting the Ashes | Ch. 36: The night we lost it all ✍️📲

Word count: 2.5k

warnings: alcohol, mention of babies (duh), gINA (deserves a warning), cute stuff and the angst starts here pals.

A/N: WE'RE BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK. okay okay i have this story P L A N N E D to the minimum, i'm just struggling to find time to actually sit down and finishing it- but we're getting there heheh

Also if anyone wants to be added to the tag list to not miss any chapter (we're on the final part, babes) let me know in the comments!

masterlist

It doesn’t take long for the guys to get to the pub, all eager and excited to spend a night celebrating the arrival of the two younger Bradshaws. The place invites people to feast with its dim light and cozy atmosphere; it’s the place they go when the Hard Deck is closed. 

Bradley approaches the bartender, ordering a round of beer for all his family. Beers keep coming, all gathering around a joyful Bradley and a teary-eyed Goose. One is delighted by this new stage of his life, not only as Carole and JJ’s father, but also as Hen’s future partner. The other one can't believe that he’s finally a grandfather. He really thought this day would never come. 

Once all of them have beers in their hands, they stand in a circle around Bradley, raising them and toasting for the new dad and the new babies of the family. 

“We’re gonna be doing this again in a month once Maeve is born?” Bob jokes, patting Jake’s back. 

The soon-to-be dad for the second time only smiles, sighing happily. “Man, I can't wait to hold my little princess.” 

Bradley laughs, knowing that feeling. Even though Jake is a father already and loves Liam with his whole soul, that feeling of wanting to have your newborn is so bad that you have to keep waiting for a bit longer... That’s a feeling they're always going to have. Even though they are dads already. 

Not that Bradley is thinking about having more babies. 

"I'm fearing for whoever gets close to Maeve when she's older," Bradley jokes while placing an arm over Jake's shoulders. "That poor girl won't be able to date until she's in her thirties." 

"It hasn't even been born yet, don't talk about dating!" Jake whines at the image of his own future. 

"Well, let's forget about that and have fun!" Mickey says. And before the group dissolves into smaller ones, Bradley clears his throat, catching everyone's attention. 

"I have… some news to share with you." 

Reuben leaves his beer on a nearby table, reading himself for the news that, most likely, will flip the family's world upside-down. After all, there's been a tendency for that since Red showed up in their lives. "What is it, Rooster?" 

Bradley’s grin couldn't be bigger when he announces the recent news. "Hen has finally given me a chance! We're going out on a date once her c-section is healed." 

Goose fist bumps proudly and laughs in his very own fashion. “I knew she was the one for you, son.” 

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It’s just a date.” 

Jake smirks, licking his lips before teasing Bradley. “The last date brought us here, to celebrate the birth of your two kids.” 

“It wasn’t even a date.”

“Then only God knows what can result from that date.” Ice quips, earning a smack in the head from Slider. “Well, old glories. Let’s go play some pool.” 

“You still know how to do that, Admiral?” Mav raises a defiant eyebrow while chuckling. 

“Prepare yourself, captain. I’m going to beat your ass.” 

Bradley and Jake watch as the old men leave for the pool table. Those four hadn’t been able to have a proper conversation in years and now? Now they have so much catching up to do. And all of them are really happy that the problem is finally solved. 

Mickey, Bob, and Rooster leave to play some darts. And Jake, Reuben, and Javy, as designated drivers, stay behind and watch them have a fun time. 

Gina’s plan starts right now. She had been following Rooster all day, and hoped to approach him once he was left alone. But this stupid family is like a package deal, you want one? You have to get them all. 

And that’s not making her job easy. 

Lucky for her, once they reach the pub and after their initial toast, they all split into smaller groups. Two of them accompany Rooster to play darts. Mickey and Bob, if she can remember correctly. Gina had been following them long enough to know their names. 

The wizzos play darts while Bradley sits on a stool, looking at his phone. 

It’s the moment she’s been waiting for. 

Smoothing her black dress, she walks to the table, drink in hand, with a seductive smile plastered on her face. “Here alone?”

Rooster doesn’t even raise his eyes from the phone, watching videos of his babies. “No, I’m with my family.” 

Gina notices the empty beer, and sees an opportunity to make conversation. “Can I get you anothe–?” 

Rooster leaves his phone for a second, frowning and annoyed because who dares to disturb him? “Look, you seem like a nice girl, so I’m going to be direct. I have someone waiting for me at home, and I am not interested.” 

And with that, Rooster gets up and walks to the bar to get himself another beer. 

Gina starts to panic as she sees her plan crumbling before her eyes. But then, she realizes that not everything is lost yet. If she can't have Hen's man... she can have her friend.

Mickey turns the dart between his fingers, feeling the rugged surface of the barrel on his fingertips. He has come to a realization: Jinx won’t be able to give him what he wants, so he needs to stop trying, and stop forcing her to take a step in a direction she doesn’t want to. 

It’s time to move on. 

“Mickey, I can hear the wheels in your head turning from here,” mentions Bob while lowering his arm. He was ready to throw the dart, but his friend’s silence was bothering him a bit. “What’s going on?” 

“I’m gonna move on, Bob.” 

“What do you mean?” 

Mickey leaves the dart in Bob’s hand, sighing. “It’s time to get over Jinx.” 

Bob sits down next to him, his dart game long forgotten. “Are you sure? Didn’t Red say that she cared about you in the way you wanted?” 

Drumming his fingers on the table, Mickey looks at his friend. “She’s been having anxiety attacks again... She told me that it wasn’t because of me, but I definitely triggered them. I can’t allow that.”

“Mickey, you two should sit down and talk about all this. In person, not over text.” 

“I don’t know, Bob... I think it’s time to stop.” 

And as if the universe was agreeing with him, he sees a gorgeous blonde girl standing behind them, alone with her whiskey. She raises her eyes, making eye contact with Mickey, before offering him an inviting smile. She wants him to approach her. 

Bob looks at the exchange happening before him, frowning at how his friend seems to have made up his mind already. Is he going to pursue the first girl he sees as a rebound? Judging by the way he gets up and walks to the blonde woman, that’s exactly what he’s going to do. 

Bob shakes his head, and goes to sit with Rooster. Whatever Mickey is going to do, Bob knows that he doesn’t want to be involved with it.

Ten minutes. 

That’s how long it takes Gina to slide her tongue into Mickey’s mouth. Bob and Rooster can’t believe what they’re seeing, and even though both of them are deceived by the wizzo’s actions, Mickey and Jesse are not official. He’s not cheating on her. 

But it kind of feels like it. 

Rooster can’t stand the image anymore and leaves to talk with Jake, Mav, and Goose. Once he’s near, Goose claps his hand slowly, ready to tease his son. “Have you stopped looking at pics of your kids?”

Bradley laughs, placing a hand on his chest. “Have you seen them? They’re so cute! I can’t stop looking at them.” 

Jake shakes his head, taking a sip from his soda. “Remember when you told me how whipped I was the day after I saw Liam? Now you get it.” 

Rooster remembers that conversation like it was yesterday. He can’t believe Red has been in their lives for a year already. It feels longer. “Yeah, now I get it. Man, if something happens to those kids…” 

“Nothing will happen to them. They’re safe with us. But whoever tries to get close to them will unleash the fury of the female family members.” Maverick jokes, patting Jake’s shoulder. “And I’m actually talking about your wife.” 

“She’s the most badass woman I’ve ever seen,” Jake’s soft smile makes Mav laugh. He’s happy for his son and for all the things he’s accomplished, and he's proud of how he was almost completely alone a year ago and now is getting ready to prepare for a wedding with the love of his life and his two kids. 

“You two have come so far… I’m sure Goose thought that Bradley was a lost cause, too.” 

“Hey!” 

Goose tilts his head, admitting that Mav is right. “I mean… yeah. I thought you would end up alone.” 

Bradley scoffs, sitting down and getting another beer. “Thanks for the trust, dad.” 

“Any time, son!” 

The four men laugh, relishing the moment. It’s not everyday that they have something as beautiful to celebrate as the arrival of two new babies. They all know, deep down, that this happiness won’t last long. There’s someone out there threatening their dear Hen. The four men are ready to do whatever it takes to protect her. 

Maverick is her father. Nobody will touch her as long as he’s alive. 

Jake is her brother. He has finally gotten the family he craved so much, and nobody is going to take it away from him. 

Goose is the grandfather of Carole and JJ. His once small family is growing up, and he won’t let anyone risk that. 

And Bradley… Hen is the missing piece in his puzzle. The woman who, knowing the brokenness of his soul, is willing to love him. He will do whatever it takes to make sure she and the babies are safe. 

Nobody will touch Hen Mitchell. 

“...would you hate me if I left?” Bradley questions shyly. The three men laugh and shake their heads. 

“How much did you drink?” Jake asks in return before giving him the car keys. 

“Only a beer and a half. I've been trying to get you all drunk so I could sneak away and go see my girl and the babies.” He confesses, opening his hand. 

Jake leaves the keys in Rooster’s open palm and laughs. “Goose, you owe me ten.” 

“Will you stop making bets on me?” Bradley fakes annoyance while pulling a bunch of bills and hands them to Jake. “Pay their drinks for me, will ya?” 

“Aye aye, Lt.”

Bradley turns around to leave, watching as Mickey and that girl are still sucking faces. “Don’t want to know how that ends.” 

Jake, who was still unaware of Mickey’s current activities, almost drops the bills in his hand. He can’t see the girl’s face, but Mickey seems to be enjoying his time with her.  “Oh my fucking God.” 

“What now?” Mav groans, leaving his beer on the bar. 

“Jesse is coming here to confess to Mickey.” 

“She what?” Goose exclaims, watching the two lovebirds. He has her pressed against one of the pillars at the back of the bar, hands placed on her hips, while she grabs him by the back of his neck, pulling him as close as possible. They can’t see her face due to the angle, but one thing is for sure. 

She is nothing compared to Jesse. 

“I’m gonna leave. I don’t want to see the drama.” Bradley mutters, raising his hands in defeat, and leaves the bar. 

Jake gets his phone from his pocket and quickly dials Jesse’s number. But she doesn’t answer. Jake texts her, telling her to answer the phone, to text him, but she must be driving. There's no way he can reach her. 

Maybe he can wait for her out the bar, stop her from coming in. "Pops, I'm gonna wait for Jinx outside. She doesn't deserve to see this." 

"Yeah, you do that. I'll try to make Mickey leave through the back door." Mav offers, and when both men are about to walk their separate ways, they see Jinx standing a few feet away from them… her whole face contorted in pure horror once she realizes that she was too late. 

She has lost Mickey. 

"Jake, go." Maverick pushes him in her direction, and Jake gives them the money Bradley had given him before, knowing well that he won't be coming back. 

"Jake…" Jesse whimpers when she sees his friend, as tears run down her face. 

"Hey, it's okay. It's okay, honey. Let's get you home," mutters Jake while softly pushing her out of the pub. 

"I-I can't go home. What if he takes that girl home to fuck her?" 

Jake sighs, knowing that she's right. "We'll go to my home, okay?" 

"Tell me I'm dreaming, please. Just tell me this is a nightmare." She says, bursting into tears. Jake hugs her and leads her to his car, no way he's letting her ride her bike all the way home in such a state. 

Once she's sat down and the seat belt is secured, Jake closes the door and calls his wife. 

"Jake? Did Jinx get there? Are they kissing?" Red blurts, waiting for his responses. 

"She did get here, but Mickey was kissing another girl when she entered the bar."

There's a collective gasp. Jake knows he’s on speaker, and all the girls are listening to him. "He did what?!" 

"Mom, I'm as surprised as you are." He sighs, walking to his side of the 

"Bring her home, Jake. We'll take care of her.” Red offers, and Jake can hear all the girls whispering and talking along with the distinctive sound of people packing up their things to leave. 

“Girls, you don’t have to stop your night for this…”

“She needs her friends now, Jake.” Hen states, coming closer to the phone. “Take care of her for us, will ya?” 

“I will, don’t worry. By the way, Rooster is on his way to get you. He couldn’t stay away from you and the kids any longer.” 

The girls reply with a big aww in unison, as if they had rehearsed it, and it makes Hen chuckle. “I know, he texted me.”

“Take care of him for me, will ya?” 

“I will. Now come home. Red and Jazz are preparing a room for Jesse.”

Jake hangs up and gets in the car. He’s about to try and calm Jesse a bit when he sees Mickey’s figure walking out the bar. Jake swears under his breath before starting the engine and driving away from this place.

Tagging the usual people hehe

@purplevortexx

@shrimping-for-all

@pono-pura-vida

@xoxabs88xox

@jynxmirage

#top gun maverick #top gun x reader #top gun maverick fanfic #top gun fanfiction #top gun #bradley rooster bradshaw x reader #bradley bradshaw #bradley rooster bradshaw #rooster bradshaw fic #bradley bradshaw x female reader #bradley bradshaw x reader #rooster fanfic #rooster top gun #rooster x reader #top gun rooster

[creppersfunpalooza]

( @allergic-to-four-leaf-clovers )

HELLOOO AND WELCOME BACK FOLKS!!! DUE TO A LACK OF SPONSORSHIP AS OF LATE, WE’VE STRUGGLED TO KEEP THIS LITTLE GAME AFLOAT, BUT FORTUNATELY, WE’VE GOT ONE!!! WOOHOOO!!!

FOR THIS ROUND, WE’VE GOT A COLLECTION OF FUN GUYS! ANGELIC BEINGS, LESS ANGELIC BEINGS, AND VARIOUS OTHERS (don’t you see i have a bias)!!!! NO USE STALLING, LET’S GET RIGHT TO IT!!!

*important disclaimer* i actually know very little about the following characters other than what the creator has directly told me. i’m going purely based on vibes.

COMING IN AT 5TH PLACE, WE HAVE RAYAN!! i love scars, man, i really do, and i also love soppy cats. so why is he so low, you may ask? because i do NOT 💥 think he should be mean to his fiance. come on my guy… be nice… spread peace and love!!!! peace and love!!!!!!!! put in some effort come on!!! put in the work!!!!! i know you can do it buddy you just gotta try!!!!!! pretty pretty please… anyways i do really like his design, its very simple while still conveying stuff about his character. like i dont know what he’s been through but clearly he’s been through a lot. but STILL 💥 BE NICE. 💥 TO YOUR. 💥 FIANCE 💥💥💥💥💥💥.

NEXT UP IN 4TH PLACE IS MADIR!!! i really do like madir!!! i know barely anything about him but once more i rlly like the details you mentioned about him. like he seems mildly unsettling and i love that for him. like you could probably find him in the woods just sort of hanging out. he’s a source of trauma but i honestly do not mind because at least HE 💥 would probably be nice to his fiancé. if he had one. i actually can’t speak on his behalf thats purely speculation.

IN 3RD, FOSTER!!!!! i don’t exactly know why i just think they’re neat. also hi in case you couldn’t tell i really like scars on characters 💖💖💖 love them they do something to my brain. and foster’s got a ton. i loove what you’ve told me about their backstory and they just seem so neat!!! i hope they’re healing now. even though. they’re probably not. because nobody is Allowed To Be Happy Ever. as a general rule for character making. anyways chewing on them and moving on.

BUT WAIT!! WE’VE ONLY GOT TWO LEFT!!! YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS??????

it needs i need to put an ad here or else i’m getting fired. that’s what it means. SO HELLO!! DO YOU HAVE A WISH? DO YOU WANT A GOD THAT ACTUALLY LISTENS? THEN CONSIDER JOINING THE CHURCH OF OCELLUS!!!

for the small, small initiation fee of a limb or organ, you too can have your wishes granted! help our god gain more power by having him help you! all you’ve gotta do is give us a little bit of yourself for each wish! and you know what? it doesn’t even have to be you! have a beloved family member, partner, or friend? they work too! just nick off an arm while they’re sleeping! they won’t miss it!!!! join today to get an additional wish!!!!!! and remember, Bless Ocellus’s Good and Generous Name!

(sponsored by the Church of Ocellus. The Church of Ocellus does not claim responsibility for any bodily injury or harm to come from this ad. Sacrificial ritual tutorials not included. Please check out your local place of worship for more details before committing any acts of mutilation.)

AND WE’RE BACK FOLKS! SORRY ABOUT THE AD. LITERALLY NOBODY ELSE WILL SPONSOR US SO YEAH WE’RE HAVING TO RESORT TO UH… YEAH. ANYWAYS, LET’S GET BACK TO THE RATINGS!

COMING IN 2ND… AARIN!!! boy oh boy my love of supernatural entities is surely not warping my bias here!!! they seem really cool honestly, even besides the whole angel thing. like woah…. you don’t wanna be a tool used for destruction? too bad! you’re gonna be used to burn down a house! lmao!!!! also i absolutely love aarin’s design. their scars(?) are so fucking cool i love the swirlies. auuygghh so normal about angel guys….. so so normal……….

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, IN 1ST PLACE…. ZURIEL!!! LET ME JUST SAY ITS DESIGN IS SO SO SO SO COOL I CANT GET OVER IT IT JUST LOOKS SO AWESOME. I love the gradients on the claws and the shape of the halo. once again, surely my bias and love for supernatural creatures is in no way warping my opinion!! it’s my favorite. also rare but appreciated and loved it/it’s pronouns representation.

#others ocs #oc #ocs #oc rating #crep rambling #friend’s ocs #AUGH I NEED TO READ ABOUT YOUR GUYS. #THEY SEEM SO NEAT. #RAAAAHHH #tw religion #full on jumpscare sorry

[alstroemerian-dragon]

the thing about. okay so when i first got into dr i was like ‘i think i prefer an outcome where they ultimately cant wake the other ten members of their class and its just the five survivors because then the deaths meant something yknow’ and while i still think that that kind of thing has. yknow. merit and value. i have actually come around to preferring them being able to do it. with one massive caveat.

it takes forever.

it takes at least a year and a half, two years maybe, before they (lets be real, hajime) even gain the knowledge of the system, work out its quirks, beef up its security and tech, connect it to enough power, and build the proper technology to manage something like this, and even then, each person is going to need a unique plan of action. its going to take ages. i think its best if they start from the first death through the last, which has the added benefit of waking the impostor first and gaining a good moral compass and grounding presence. but… i mean. its almost two years before they even manage the first dive into their brain. two years of living alone, just the five of them, of building each other up of building a dynamic, one that works, and of changing and growing because they have no other choice.

so when it comes down to them actually attempting to wake the first person… theres some anxiety. theres some worry. theres a lot of ‘this is going to radically alter how we relate to each other and everyone else’. theres a lot of ‘this is going to make things weird’. theres a lot of ‘theyre not going to understand a lot of things at first not only because its been two years since we all went under and everything has changed in that time but also because the five of us have a fundamentally different relationship now with each other than we will have with anyone else we wake up. thats going to cause conflict’.

and i dont even necessarily mean that in a romantic relationship sense (though if you know me you know im deeply unwell about kuzuhina and also an absolute sucker for polycule shit so yeah i do also kinda mean it in that way), but just that their bond is so strong. living alone on an island in the middle of nowhere for two years with just four other people will do that. they know each other in fundamental ways that the others may never manage. fuyuhiko may get peko back, but her relationship with him will never be the one he has with hajime, or akane, or kazuichi or sonia. sonia will get gundham back, but despite them definitely regaining their romantic relationship (after an adjustment period, of course), there will be an odd dissonance in how well hajime and akane know her in ways gundham doesnt. akane will get nekomaru back in her life. but he will never be the person she goes to with the things she goes to hajime with.

this isnt necessarily entirely negative, of course. relationships are always going to be different with different people because theyre. yknow. different people. but i think theres going to be a period of time, maybe even the rest of their lives, where the ten sleepers in the vault will understand, intrinsically, that the relationship the five survivors has is never going to be fully understood, and will always be special and different from what they all have as a group.

hajime, fuyuhiko, kazuichi, akane, and sonia all faced arguably the hardest parts of the healing process, the stumbling blindly with no hand to hold except the others with an equal lack of sight, together, and that. does things. to a relationship.

they will all manage the healing process, and they will all struggle through it. but never in the same way those five did.

#personal #meta #danganronpa #sdr2 #oh boy the first proper tagged original post from this blog and its SURVIVORS RELATIONSHIP META #i have. so many thoughts regarding the process of waking the others. the habits the five of them form in the meantime. #the methods they use. alter ego’s return and dynamic with them. who they wake first and how they all feel about it #i think they all know. even akane. that waking someone up is going to change things. maybe not even in a good way too #its going to make things COMPLICATED. #and they all feel a certain type of way about tjat #but its not like they can just. not do it. this is what theyve been working so hard for the entire time. #so theyre going to wake people up. but that doesnt mean they wont feel. a variety of different ways about it. #anxious. nervous. scared even. angry maybe. bitter? jealous in an odd sort of way? out of place. #anyway

[sirtadcooper]

I was tagged by: @matbaynton - thank you! <3

Tag someone you want to know AND/OR some of your besties.

This turned into a monster of a thing so I'm sticking it under a cut!

Favourite colour: I am rubbish at this question. I love various colours in various contexts, but at the moment I am really gravitating towards greens. Green is a colour I haven't paid much attention to before, but for some reason over the last few months I have taken an interest in it. I even bought a solid green jumper!

Last song: When Things Explode by Unkle. It's a song I first heard on an episode of Person of Interest and it's now on one of my YouTube music playlists. Takes me right back!

Last movie: I had to check my Letterboxd for this - that's how often I'm watching films at the moment! It was the 1995 version of Persuasion that I rewatched at the end of August. A film I only discovered recently but has become one of those instant comforting favourites.

Currently watching: Oh heck - I'm struggling to keep track, there are so many! I'm watching The English at the moment. Also Outsiders series 2, Taskmaster series 16, New Girl (on season 2), This Farming Life series 6 with my dad on a Sunday morning, All Creatures Great and Small series 4, Fletchers' Family Farm series 2, Schitt's Creek with @phantomviola (on season 5), The Musketeers (series 2) and Black Books (series 3) with @userdjarin and who could forget Our Flag Means Death season 2 which has taken over my brain! Along with all that I squeezed in a Primeval series 2 rewatch which I finished the other night. [slaps roof of my brain] this bad boy can fit so many narratives in it.

Other stuff I watched this year: HAH! I have an IMDb list of TV shows I've watched this year! It's long as heck! Silk, The IT Crowd, Black Sails, The Last of Us, Lost in Space, Endeavour, The Terror, Arrested Development, Community, Vicious, Prehistoric Planet, Why Didn't They Ask Evans?, Ted Lasso, Miranda, The North Water, His Dark Materials, And Then There Were None, Jonathan Strange & Mister Norrell, The Great British Sewing Bee, The Bear, Blackadder, 30 Rock, Chernobyl and The Expanse. And those are just the ones worth mentioning! And some of these I watched four times! Okay, one thing. Okay, it was The Terror.

As for films, it's a poor show this year - I haven't watched as many (see above for reason why). I have seen the latest Spiderverse film and I've love to see Barbie!

Shows I dropped this year/didn’t finish: The Mandalorian (sob!), Vikings (I think I was maybe an episode or two shy of finishing the first season but... man... I just wasn't having fun), My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (to be fair this might have been last year, I can't remember, but I know I stopped a few episodes into season 2), Fleabag (I watched one or two episodes... wasn't quite for me).

Currently reading: Darwin by Adrian J. Desmond and James R. Moore (about 100 pages in but I'm taking this one slow because I'm not hyperfixating on him) and Dead Famous by Greg Jenner which I am taking even slower. I've read quite a few books related to the Franklin Expedition this year (thanks, The Terror) and for a while I was reading pretty solidly but I guess that's what hyperfixation does to you!

Currently listening to: I'm not really listening to music much these days thanks to YouTube's annoying ad blocker pop-up so I'm typing this in silence, haha! But podcast-wise I'm doing great. Three Bean Salad is probably my favourite podcast at the moment. The humour is just too good, and I look forward to hearing the lads every week. I'm also binging The Rest is History which is a bit more serious but still has its fun moments. I'm also listening to Off Menu, No Such Thing as a Fish, The Bones Booth, Taskmaster: The Podcast, The Mariner's Mirror Podcast, and odd episodes of RHLSTP if I know the guest. I save podcasts for when I'm doing something like washing the dishes, walking or driving.

Currently working on: Now that the puppy I found at the end of August is vaccinated, she can go out and about, and that has led to me abandon the polymer clay for a while to return to a hobby that I haven't spent much time on since early 2020 at the latest. I wanted to make her some nice collars and leads so she looks smart for our walks which I will inevitably be photographing. I know it's kind of hard to see but I made this collar and lead for her.

I was a bit worried that I'd forgotten how to sew the leather but thankfully not. I have a few more straps of leather lying around that I'd like to make into collars and leads as well. And several rope leads that need whipping (you wrap thinner twine around the thicker rope to finish it and protect the end from fraying) but I'm having to take my time with those because the twine is murder on my soft, delicate, feminine hands. I can whip maybe four leads before my fingers are red. It's worth the pain!

Current obsession: Our Flag Means Death has taken over my life once again. Whatever happens in the finale next week, I know I will be a mess. Heck, I'm already a mess.

I'm tagging: some recent mutuals so we can get to know each other, but no pressure! @tigerballoons, @woofety, @jackharkness, @jddryder, @ajcrowleys and @skatingthinandice! <3

#matbaynton #tagged #i have a lot of stuff going on now that i see it written down haha #anyway that was fun! i'll try to get a few more things done that i've been tagged in

[lsdunesarchive]

L.S. Dunes On A Year Of Collaboration, Community, And Venturing Beyond The Realms Of A ‘Supergroup’

Words by Maddy Howell Photo by Kevin Estrada August 8, 2023

Frank Iero and Travis Stever reflect on the genesis of the project, the creative lifeline it provided and the current honeymoon period that suggests the best is yet to come.

With the entire live music industry shut down in the midst of a global pandemic, starting a band may not have sounded like the best idea back in 2020.

As all touring plans ground to a halt and inspiration became limited to the confines of four walls, for many creatives it would have taken something truly special to defy the stagnation that thrived in such darkness – but as luck would have it, that’s exactly how the story of L.S. Dunes begins.

Starting out life as a group chat between long-term friends during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, L.S. Dunes was born from a sheer desire to create and a refusal to succumb to nature’s obstacles. Over the last year three years though, it’s blossomed into something much more powerful than any of its members could have imagined.

“In the beginning, it was a big lifeline,” guitarist Frank Iero starts.

“Our industry was one of the first ones to go and the last to come back, but this band gave us hope. It gave me the ability to be creative in a world that was virtually void of all creativity, and at a time that we were all struggling. Most of us had tours booked, and we were ready to go when the pandemic happened, so when we came home the darkness began creeping in. This gave us a light at the end of that tunnel.”

Creatively starved and writing remotely with no expectations, it wasn’t long before the five-piece realised this was more than just a lockdown project to stave off their boredom, and by the time the first demo was finished – they knew they had something special. 

Embracing a healthy competitive spirit and challenging one another to step outside their comfort zones whilst adding their own unique mark to each track, the creative freedom saw them venturing into new realms of prog-rock, post-hardcore, and emo. As more and more ideas came together, it wasn’t long before a debut album had formed, and with ‘Past Lives’ – L.S. Dunes was truly born.

“I was so excited for people to hear the record because I loved it so much. However, there were those thoughts creeping in before the release like, ‘Are we crazy? Have we been locked up for too long?’,” Frank laughs.

“I had moments where I’d be tearing up listening to the record because I was so proud, but then I’d stop and be like, ‘Wait a minute, this is insane!’,” guitarist Travis Stever adds.

“We had to remember not to put too much weight on how people would perceive it. If you’re making art, it’s hard not to do that, but we were very lucky in that sense.”

With a star-studded line up also featuring Anthony Green (Circa Survive, Saosin) along with Tucker Rule and Tim Payne (Thursday), after the surprise single drop of ‘Permanent Rebellion’ ignited the internet in late August 2022, anticipation for a debut show was at an all-time high. 

Having only practiced in the same room as one another on two occasions prior, a performance at Chicago’s Riot Fest was a bold move for show number one – especially with Frank pulling double duty with My Chemical Romance headlining the night – but at Douglass Park on September 16th, L.S. Dunes took to the stage for the first time.

“It was beyond what any of us expected. We were getting ready to go out there thinking, ‘If there are a few hundred people out there, that’s cool!’,” Travis laughs.

“All of a sudden, we got on stage, and even though we only had one song out – people knew every fucking word to that song. It was exciting to watch them hang onto every other melody we were playing too. It was pretty mind blowing.”

“It’s certainly the biggest first show I’ve ever played with a band!” Frank smirks.

A mammoth debut show that could arguably have gone one of two ways, L.S. Dunes’ landmark set filled up the tank and left its five members itching for more, rounding out the year with further shows across the US and Canada before hopping across the Atlantic for their first shows in the UK and Europe to celebrate the new year.

A busy schedule triggered by the triumphant return of the live music industry, the last twelve months has seen L.S. Dunes balancing their duties with the responsibilities of their other respective projects, as well as fulfilling their family roles outside of music, a feat that has seemed remarkably natural for the five-piece. 

“When real life came back, and we were able to go back to our respective bands and do other things… that served as testament to how much we love L.S. Dunes. It’s easy to focus your energy and creativity on something when nothing else exists, but when everything else came back we still wanted to be a part of this.” Frank explains.

“It’s like being a dad. You’re never truly prepared to have a kid, or another kid, but somehow you find a way. You find the extra love in your heart, and you find the extra time to dedicate to something that you truly care about, and that’s how it felt with this band. Schedules are difficult, but they’re not insurmountable. Anything worth doing is a little hard to do.”

Touring across the US throughout the summer, they’ve come to realise that whilst they have a deep love for this band and the journey it’s taking them on – there are thousands of strangers who love it too. 

With people across the world connecting to the songs on ‘Past Lives’, as they’ve witnessed people showing up at venue doors hours before they open and shared the artwork sent to them online by talented fans, L.S. Dunes have begun fostering a passionate community of their own unique creation. 

“As artists we often wonder if we’re the only ones who like what we do,” Frank explains.

“When people go out of their way to show their support, it’s a wonderful feeling, but it is a bit shocking. In the beginning, I think there were people who just wanted to see what it was about because they were fans of our other projects, but we’re treading into the territory of people just being L.S. Dunes fans. That’s an incredibly fulfilling feeling.”

It’s how L.S. Dunes have been able to shed the ‘supergroup’ label first plastered on them upon their line-up reveal, having proved the project worthy of its own merit through the spirit of their live shows. 

A constantly growing entity, new ideas have been explored within every rehearsal and practice they’ve had, and whilst finding time to record and release those ideas may be a little harder to schedule – when it happens, it’s magic.

Most recently, they headed to the desert to record two new tracks at the legendary Rancho de la Luna studio in Joshua Tree, California, with producer Alex Newport (At The Drive-In, The Mars Volta). With filmmakers Pat and Nick Demarais capturing the recording process for a documentary titled ‘Limitless Sky’, it was the first time the five of them had been able to record music whilst in the same room.

“You need to be in the room with one another to be able to hear things and respond immediately. That immediacy is lost when you’re recording remotely, and to be able to react, evolve, and change on a dime is so fun,” Frank recalls.

“The stars aligned for us with that opportunity, and it was such a fun thing to do within a group of friends. When something like that happens, it becomes a milestone within your band. It’s proof of what you can do if you set your mind to it, and I can’t wait for people to hear the other song that we did out in the desert. It’s a night and day scene – ‘Benadryl Subreddit’ is the days in the desert, and ‘Old Wounds’ is the nights spent out there.”

As the first year of L.S. Dunes draws to a close, the five-piece find themselves in a unique position. 

The product of five extraordinary musicians with extraordinary ambitions, the special qualities of each member can be heard in everything the band creates. Funnelling their individual creative inspirations into a project defined by infinite possibilities, every voice is equal, every idea is valued, and experimentation is the key to forward motion. 

From the passion of their live shows to the sheer joy that radiates when they speak of their future, it’s clear that L.S. Dunes is the favourite band of everyone within its ranks. Proving that greatness can be achieved with the help of hard work, friendship, and a healthy dose of fun, with a second LP already well underway – largely written whilst on the road together – they’re showing no signs of slowing down. 

“We’re working on all this new material, but the other side of it is showing that we’re taking it seriously,” Travis explains.

“You have to consistently be out doing shows and touring, and luckily, we love doing that.

“With all due respect to our other projects, this is one of the funnest bands I’ve ever been in,” Frank finishes. 

“I love the camaraderie within the band, and we’re still in our honeymoon period! You can put in a lot of work with other bands, and although it’s fun, sometimes you need a little vacation – this is a vacation band for me.”

#ls dunes #l.s. dunes #m: anthony green #m: frank iero #m: tim payne #m: travis stever #m: tucker rule #lsd: 2023 #in: aug/23 #t: photo #t: video #t: text #ph: kevin estrada #misc: interview #p: knotfest #archive[ane] #‘Benadryl Subreddit’ is the days in the desert and ‘Old Wounds’ is the nights spent out there.” aight this is really cool