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shinesurge · 3 months

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Webcomic rings run by people within the community are cool and you should support them

I've been loudly struggling a little bit with corporate webcomic Stuff lately so I want to mention something positive to balance it out: webrings run by small groups of creators earnestly trying to support each other are slowly making a comeback and I for one am delighted.

If you weren't around for them in the before times, webrings were just some folks who hang out a lot who feature each other on their websites. That's literally it lmao. There's generally no money involved and it only really functions the way it's supposed to if people have control over their own websites AND genuinely want to participate and get excited about other folks' work, which means the practice has pretty well fallen by the wayside over the years in webcomic culture given. Everything. In the rare event someone decides to do something like this it's usually in the form of a link list somewhere on their website; this doesn't usually indicate any sort of mutual support, it's just a list of what the creator is reading themselves.

A webring, though, is an official banner or hub that people gather under intentionally where each member is more or less on equal footing. It's essentially the concept of "a rising tide lifts all boats" put into practice, each creator brings their own audience to the table in a passive, opt-in sort of way that's different from working for a publisher since there isn't necessarily a Top Spot or a paycheck everyone's vying for, and individuals retain autonomy over both their own work and how (if) they promote each other. You're all at your own tables in an artist alley rather than fighting over the table in the front of the book store, essentially.

I have two rings and one collective for you today!

Webcomic Ring was brought to my attention AGES ago by Holly, one of the artists featured there, and I might have brought it up at some point but I'm doing it again lmao. This is exactly the kind of thing you ought to be looking for; a small group of enthusiastic folks having a good time making their weird little comics. You probably haven't heard of much in the catalog, that's PERFECT in the context of webcomics that's where the GOOD SHIT is. Finding something like this is A Gift go dig around in the longboxes for a while.

Then a few people have pointed me in the direction of the KNIFEBEETLE collective and that's neat too! Most of the comics there are already fairly well-known, but the vibes are excellent and I haven't seen a lot of talk about the collective /itself/ outside folks already in the know. I think it's important for this sort of thing to be more visible to folks who aren't terminally steeped in webcomic culture already so here I am telling you about it. You were probably reading several of these before I suggested it, but that's how a webring works! For it to do its job you should take those bigger creators' tacit recommendation of the less popular titles as a sign to go read something new and strange. Wild, I know these are practices held over from the old internet, but I think we should try and bring them back.

Lastly, I want to mention Spiderforest, which is a collective (slightly different from a webring) BUT still a very cool project readers starved for new stuff should pay attention to.

You've probably seen Spiderforest kicking around for a long time already; they're wonderful and have always been an overall positive force in the community in my experience. They really focus on building up a community, and especially welcoming newcomers and helping them get their feet under them. Full disclosure, I've been asked to apply by a few different folks over the years and the only reason I never did is I don't have the ability to participate in their forums and such as frequently as they want their creators to; it's a very good system (from my outside perspective) that might contribute to the community staying mostly healthy in ways that art communities usually don't and I appreciate it a lot!

ANYWAYS that's all I got for now, just trying to balance out some bad feelings I've been having by talking about some good stuff. Please go binge an archive this week.

#long post #contrary to what i say i do love webcomics so fucking much #there are Reasons i'm fucking angry all the time lmao

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1shirt2shirtredshirtdeadshirt · 1 year

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Today on popping the corn and feeding the children, what do you folks think of this discussion? :)

I'm always curious to hear what other Trek fans, especially queer Trek fans, think about our place in Trek history and how we fare as the queer participants within our fandom. What have your experiences been like?

Overwhelmingly I've found a great reception and a welcoming attitude, but I admit that has increased considerably since the 90s. However, there are still some Trek fans who seem to be vehemently in denial about queer history in Star Trek, or the fact that anyone who has worked on Trek has pro-LGBT attitudes. This always surprises me considering some of the blatant queer content we have already seen in Star Trek such as the Jadzia Dax and Lenara Kahn kiss.

Anyway, I enjoyed the discussion that followed and seeing the overwhelming outpouring of support coming from Star Trek fans in response to this thread.

Here was my two cents contribution:

"No, what they said was factual.

Have you forgotten Nichelle Nichols was indeed an African American woman in the core seven bridge crew back in 1966?

Or the fact that Gene Roddenberry went out of his way to write The Motion Picture Novel, creating the term "T'hy'la: friend, brother, lover" so that fans could choose which interpretations of Kirk and Spock they saw fit? He also embraced K/S fans and hired a number of them to write the earliest Star Trek novels, including the very first official one (The New Voyages Vol. 1 & 2) which included slash fiction as well as Gene's approval/forward in the books.

In case anyone has forgotten, here's a little bit of background on Gene Roddenberry and his perspectives on queerness in Star Trek.

He admitted that in his early life he was very affected by how society and culture treated the LGBT community, and that he too found himself subjugating and judging others for that lifestyle because it was what people did at that time. As he got older and had more life experience, he began working with a number of queer artists in Hollywood -- and through TOS, a number of queer individuals began asking questions about Kirk and Spock.

Instead of vehemently shutting down this perspective, Roddenberry was intrigued, and saw potential to tap into a large audience (LGBT) that most others didn't want to go near or acknowledge publicity-wise. He saw it as an opportunity to expand the fanbase while also pushing yet another envelope.

But with the heat already on the show for what they'd already pushed, he found he was often stuck between what he'd like to do and what production would let him get away with. There are a number of Kirk and Spock scenes in scripts that got cut out for leaning a little too obviously romantic. Tiny trickles of that content still made it in were infamous moments like the backrub scene in Shore Leave. Even the 2009 movie had a K/S moment while Spock Prime and Kelvin Spock talked that was written and filmed that was cut out of the final product.

Queer subtext and coding has always been relentlessly weeded away at with an excuse ready to go for why they always try to cut us out, but we all know it's because they are scared of the homophobic backlash and ratings hits. Look how violently homophobes went after the gay romance episode of The Last of Us **just this year**. This has always been our reality, so for someone like Roddenberry to make efforts in the 70s? That was massive.

But Gene as well as the queer/slash Trek community managed to accomplish some things in the 70s which I'm surprised more folks don't talk about or give much credit.

In the same TMP novel which features "T'hy'la" and the famous footnote, Gene cleverly wrote Kirk with a bisexual/pansexual lens: Kirk describes himself as *preferring* women but being open to "physical love in **any** of its many Earthly, alien, and mixed forms." (Direct quote from Genes book). Basically, Captain Kirk was DTF with whoever if there was a connection, which was a very progressive take for a character in a novel written in 1979, but made sense for the future which would have a lot less hang ups about sex and love compared to our current rather puritan/conservative society.

I also prefer women, but I married a man. Shout out to Gene Roddenberry for giving us a seat at the table back in the 70's when folks *still* try to insist there is no place for K/S or queer concepts in Trek, because he made efforts -- however small -- to employ queer people and show queer perspectives. According to David Gerrold, LGBT+ representation was a big thing that Gene personally pushed for in TNG and wanted various depictions of love/couples in the Risa scenes, to name one example.

In the 70s, fanzines led to meetings and swapped fanmade magazines, which got so big that they needed hotel centers, then convention centers, then one day the TOS cast came to one and what we know as modern fan conventions were born -- inspiring even George Lucas who attended Trek conventions in the 70s and saw how popular Trek was in syndication; it was a great climate to launch his Space Opera. Star Wars then became so huge that we got TMP.

But none of that would have happened without the level of organization, passion, and creativity that those fans poured into Star Trek and their characters after it got cancelled and went into syndication.

Without queer folks we wouldn't have George Takei, Theodore Sturgeon who gave us Tribbles, Bill Theiss and his amazing TOS costumes, Mike Minor's art direction, Merritt Butrick, David Gerrold (writer for TOS, TAS, TNG) to name a few of many queer contributors to Trek that Roddenberry respected and tried to go to bat for wherever he could in a climate that was absolutely impossible to gain an inch in.

At a time during the 70s and 80s when so many people resented and feared the queer community and wanted us to disappear, especially in the 80s during the AIDS epidemic which many homophobes claimed was "God's punishment to the gay community" or "Gods's answer" to our "hedonism", thinking we'd gotten our just desserts and should just disappear . . .

During that time, Gene Roddenberry gave us queer folks a place to say: "You know what? Sure. Write your stories. TV says you guys shouldn't exist, they pull books with queer people off the shelves and burn them. Laws exist specifically to forbid you guys from loving each other, and call you mentally ill. You can't even hold hands in public. But I'm going to validate you guys and invite you to write novels or work for me, try to see what we can get by production, and allow you to see yourselves in my characters if you want to. There's a place for you in our fandom."

He gave us bi/pan Kirk, he gave us K/S is open to interpretation. In Phase 2 Kirk's surviving nephew Peter, son of his brother Sam from Operation: Annihilate!, was going to be written as gay and living on the Enterprise with his partner -- that also got chopped and reworked into a script that wouldn't get used until decades later. That was huge at a time that being queer was officially listed as a mental illness, and villainized due to the AIDS crisis.

So before you try to dismiss or tell K/S + queer Trek fans whether or not they deserve a seat at the table, remember that Gene Roddenberry was among the **first** to pull that seat out for us in a climate that was ruthlessly against LGBT+ folks." -- 1Shirt2ShirtRedShirtDeadShirt

P.S: Have some cute bisexual/pansexual K/S pride gifs. :) Pride month is a hop, skip and a jump away.

LLAP!🖖💚

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pseudophan · 3 months

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some post wad weekend thoughts...

i just wrote all this on the plane and haven't read it through so apologies for any mistakes

first of all, this weekend was incredible. i usually just kinda sit at home doing not much of anything, and this was a much needed break to actually have some fun. london in general always lifts my spirits but i suppose that danisnotonfire guy contributed a little as well.

guys i think i've met more people the past few days than i otherwise have in years. like. holy shit. i started listing people but i'm petrified i'll forget someone so i chickened out, sorry about that. but you all know who you are. i've met friends i've had for years, people i used to know but haven't spoken to in what feels like a decade, newer friends, and a frankly baffling amount of people i didn't know yet but who told me they've followed me for ages. like holy fuck you guys lmao what the hell??? and i mean did the reaction ever get old no of course it didn't. bad for my ego i'm sure but totally worth it. there's something very amusing and incredibly surreal about being chronically lame in most aspects of life and then suddenly finding yourself in an environment where you're kinda cool???? SO fucking fun oh my god, but also i do kinda feel like i've tricked you all? but hey i'll happily let you keep believing i'm cool, that is more than fine with me.

most importantly though everyone was SO lovely. like i said i don't think i've spoken to this many people in such a short amount of time in years and every single person i talked to was awesome. guys did you know phannies are kind of great... don't tell anyone but, lowkey... everyone is so funny and cool and absolutely insane but in a good way (shoutout everyone left at the gates until the very end, we should probably get some help).

and then lastly of course, mr howell himself. i talk about this a lot i feel like but fuck me that man was born to perform. whether you think he's actually funny or not, nobody can argue he doesn't absolutely thrive on a stage. he plays off the audience so well and he's so very obviously having the time of his fucking life. i'd already seen the show twice before this, and i didn't think anything would top the previous london show but man... the first night he came back out after the show having clearly been tearing up backstage, apologising for being an inconsistent absent parent, and i can't lie the "i had daddy issues and THEN i subscribed to dan howell" got me cause yeah no literally dude, you nailed it, exactly, well done. i think something about doing this show again, his magnum opus as he considers it, now after the dapg return was very special to him. he seems genuinely surprised that so many of us were ready to just jump back in like nothing happened, i don't think he was expecting so many people to still be waiting and it's... man. he comes off so grateful for us all and it's so fucking sweet. and then on the last night, i think that was my favourite, when the show ended and he got the standing ovation and people throwing him flowers.. he was so HAPPY. and clearly overwhelmed with emotion which, i gotta say, there is something honestly kinda funny about daniel howell standing in front of you trying not to cry. like no by all means dude go ahead, please, you've made me cry an endless amount of times it's only fair.

ugh. i'm proud of him or whatever. dick. and i'm proud of our ridiculous fucking community. i'm not sure what 14 year old nora would say if you'd told me i'd still be kicking it in the phandom a decade on, but at almost 25 (fml) i'm so so happy to be here still. you know, we get a bad rep, but i genuinely think as far as fanbases go we're pretty solid. and i love you all so much.

i believe i will have to rob a bank or something because the next time dan and/or phil do a tour i think i'll have to just show up at every date like i'm sorry but this was too good of a high we need to do it again immediately

anyway. back to work 💪

(by which i mean giffing dan and phil. i am still very much unemployed. fr though i'm two whole videos behind this has never happened i feel weird. who am i)

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toxicanonymity · 2 months

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Hey, this person has directly credited you as their ideas for their character bots

https://poe.com/pedroxo

unauthorized AI Bots of fics

Thank you everyone who kindly let me know. I did not give permission. From what I saw, they built >25 bots using content directly from my fics (screenshots under the cut). They also used others to various degrees.

Listen, I strongly relate to the desire to talk to these characters - I've said it before. I appreciate how invested someone must be to go to all this effort, and I appreciate the credit. But it's not right and I'm not comfortable with it. You may not realize what it feels like to the writer. It feels like a violation.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the first incident for me. Someone once made a bot of my fic 4 days after I publicly said not to in response to an ask. I didn't find out until it had almost 1k "chats" and you'll see I use that term very loosely under the cut.

I've said don't do this, and it's in my masterlist. I've even shared my anxiety about being so slow to update that people take matters into their own hands. I'm not really sure what else to say. I'm tired.

Please don't do this. And when you see chatbots built on fics, please alert the writers.

Note: The bots are down. I don't want the person to be harassed - i think that's obvious based on my tone from the start.

Beyond these, there were more bots from night walks, slasher, and stepdad, ones from Raider and Speakeasy and even a few from hypotheticals I published like when stepdad goes to jail for indecent exposure or when you aren't getting wet for raider joel.

Night Walks: Original, Soaked

Left in Lincoln pt. 1; jalbird

Slasher: Midnight Tow, Stop Playing

Stepdad: Clock, Ring Doorbell

Sorry I was too overwhelmed to do the IMG text on each of these but it's basically just snippets from the works listed.

After being contacted, the person copied and pasted a message to multiple writers saying they were sorry, didn't know what they were doing, were deactivating their acct. They asked to spread their message, and said have an amazing day/night.

------

Past Incident

IMGs: 1) I answered an ask August 16 saying no. The asker had "offered" to credit me. 2) August 20, someone made a bot without credit. This is worse imo and suggests trying to hide their actions.

I told a lot of people about this, but it was an isolated bot unlike the profile discovered 2/23.

IMG: comparison of left in lincoln text to the bot.IMG: A seven paragraph narrative bot output. Obviously failed my test if you've read the fic.

-----

ANYWAY

If you're not already on ao3, I recommend signing up. This isn't a threat to leave, but I may not put everything on Tumblr forever. My AO3 profile.

Edit: I like tumblr because I like answering lore and questions and getting thots, plus my blog is very multimedia with many awesome contributions from different people. Please help keep it that way, because your interaction is why I'm here. I value everyone's engagement here.

For many reasons, I'm less and less comfortable with Tumblr being the primary home for all my writing. I'm aware people can still take things from AO3, but not as easily. I'm trying to be nice by preemptively suggesting people sign up on AO3 if they want to read everything. If it's not worth the trouble to you, just don't do it.

----

Ty very much to those who have been supportive and checked on me. It means a lot. I will admit this made me put on a hat and cry in public lol.

feel free to rb this because idk if everyone realizes the extent of this or how jarring it can look.

#cw discourse #anti ai #taps mic

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theambitiouswoman · 7 months

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When I was 19 I had a job that I absolutely hated. I would cry in the mornings because I did not want to work. Making money online was foreign to me. Entrepreneurship was foreign to me. Sounded hard and expensive.

Why? Because it was not my reality. My friends were into different things. I was clueless about how attainable and easy these things were because I was so busy being distracted by useless things, that wasted my time and kept me stuck in the same cycle.

I was the child of low income immigrant parents who only taught me to work hard my whole life. They could not offer me money or knowledge. So I was back to square one in my comfort zone. Working hard, going out, gossiping and being miserable.

Until I decided I wanted more for myself.

Except I did not know what to do.

So I quit.

I started focusing on myself and the things I enjoyed doing.

I stopped keeping up with my friends, or what the plans were for the evening.

I started doing what came natural to me in hopes that something would dawn on me and I would just figure out. At one point, I got super depressed. But found comfort in those hobbies. And if there was one thing I was going to do in the day, it was sit in front of the computer and create.

A few weeks later, someone reached out to me to help them with their new business. The work was basically to do what I was already doing on my free time. While making no income.

So I said yes.

I did not know what I was doing.

In retrospect, I don't think they did either.

But I was committed to making sure my work was the best.

So I researched and I studied. I thought to myself "if this makes sense for that company, it should make sense here". And I went with it.

I was clueless but relentless. Committed. Refused to fail. Knew I was giving my best and doing my all.

The end result was 15 new clients within 3 months. Before I realized it, I had my own business that was growing exponentially right before my eyes.

Nothing in life is more important than alignment. There are a lot of other important factors and qualities that contribute. But you won't know what you are capable of achieving until you decide to commit to yourself. You don't have to have the answers. You don't even need to have much of a plan. You just need to commit to be your authentic self. And commit to everything that pertains to and includes along the way.

#entrepeneurmindset #entrpreneurlife #entrepreneurship #entrepreneur #selfmade #business women #women in business #business tips #start a business #ecommerce

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gentlebeardsbarngrill · 3 months

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01/21/2024 Crew Recap

Well holy shit all.

We finally fucking did it! We hit 75,000 signatures! That's crazy! The next goal line is literally twice that, and I know it seems daunting but don't give up, the more we get the more we show how much people want OFMD picked back up! We don't have to make that goal to show how passionate we are, we already have!

I know it feels like we've been doing this forever (12 days can you believe it?) but the scuttlebutt around deck is that we are making waves, and it's good to keep up the engagements so studio execs can see just how much we care!

We've been kicking ass on the #AdoptOurCrew hashtag on twitter and other platforms

===Articles===

I'm starting with articles tonight because this first one is phenomenal so please read it, it's by our very own @celluloidbroomcloset who if you follow them, you know their analysis is top notch. If it doesn't give you hope I don't know what will!

Our Flag Means Death And The Fight For Queer Joy

Cancelled Max Show Fans Utilize Netflix Billboard Trend, Creator Responds to Campaign Efforts

=== CREW KUDOS ===

We've had SO MUCH to be proud of about the last almost 2 weeks (oh my god I still cant believe it's been that long). Our efforts have been coming to fruition in a thousand different ways! Here's a couple more!

=First up, is the Fandom Project!=

As always thank you to @renewasacrew and in this case @tealknives and everyone else involved in this particular project for all your hard work!

Twitter / Tumblr

CW: FLASHING LIGHTS/ COLORS

tumblr

=Next up, Cool Descriptions of all of you=

Thanks to @aproperpirate on Twitter for putting this together:

Just some cool descriptions of how unhinged we've all been, and I think you should be incredibly proud!

==How To Help==

Since this section has gotten to be a bit long, I'm separating it out into a separate post -- please go here for the details of the day that will be kept updated whenever I'm awake.

Here's the HOW TO HELP SECTION please visit it!

=Cast and Crew News=

Samba had a baby!

Also, Errol Shand (Ricky) has just been promoting the crap out of SaveOFMD Stuff on his IG so I just had to shout out to him here. What a guy.

=Cross Fandom Watch Party!=

Looks like there's gonna be some cross fandom watch parties on twitter you're welcome to tune in for Jan 23-26 on twitter. They'll be watching good omens in an effort to try and get engagement up with PrimeVideo. It sounds like it'll be similar to the LubeAsACrew but with Good Omens fans! Thank you to @Dandeebakes on Twitter for getting these organised!

Hashtags to use: #PirateOmens #AdoptOurCrew #SaveOFMD, and helps to @PrimeVideo

=== Contests ===

Looks like there's a contest for 2023 Reader's Choice Performer Of the Year, and you can go vote over here:

=Other Platform Recaps!=

It's been brought to my attention there are some other recaps going on on various platforms, feel free to check them out!

Twitter: @Mytabsclosed

Website: omfd-crew.com

These lovely folks have a full week wrap up if you wanna check it out here!

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A wonderful note from @RedsiesWorld on Twitter, something to remember is we are in fact fighting for our crews jobs as well (not just s3) and you're kicking ass!

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

So all in all, 12 days of Polite Menacing has been BAT SHIT INSANE and every one of you should feel super fucking proud of all the hard work. This is a break checkpoint however ---PLEASE TAKE A BREAK IF YOU NEED IT (or even if you don't think you do). It's super important you take care of yourself! No one on the crew is going to be upset or disappointed that you took a break! We all are contributing in our own ways, so no need to worry if you're not doing the same as someone else! You are doing plenty!

Remember:

Drink Plenty of Water (Hydrate!)

Eat something good for you!

Get Some Sleep!

Do something Creative that makes you happy!

Go outside for a few minutes! (weather permitting)

Shit is hard, life's a dick, but you are stronger and more capable than you can possibly imagine, and you've got 10's of thousands of people out here rooting for you. All the love folks, wherever you are, whatever you're doing. You are wonderful and you are enough <3

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Tonight's random Rhys picture is what I can only assume is Murray getting a leaf blower blown in his face. You're welcome.

#ofmd #our flag means death #save ofmd #renew as a crew #save our flag means death #rhys darby #renew ofmd #hoist the ads #finish our stories #adopt our crew #ofmd fandom #ofmd daily recap #ofmd daily recaps

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heavyhitterheaux · 9 months

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Smoking On My Ex Pack Part 2

Read Part 1 First

Liked by jackharlow, neelamthadhani, theestallion, latto777, champagnepapi, and 792,174 others

yourinstagramname: check the drip. boyfriend always gets me right 🤭

urbandjackupdates: BOYFRIEND? DID I READ THAT RIGHT? druski2funny: hmm that's funny because I don't remember asking you out on a date yourbestfriend: oohh he a keeper because he know how to treat her selenosunni: come to Louisville and bring your new man. we have to approve. cozane: I second this. we can't have our girl out here entertaining just anybody yourinstagramname: selenosunni cozane the boyfriend that I speak of is closer than you think 🤭🤭 jackharlowsource: her ass better not be back with Urban because I will knock all this shit over yourbestfriend: and yall are soooo cute together and it shoulda been the two of you since the beginning yourinstagramname: yourbestfriend I second this urbandjackupdates: oh so then it's not Urban? yourinstagramname: urbandjackupdates who's that baby? 2forwoyne: 😭😭😭😭

Liked by jackharlow, yourbestfriend, cozane, 2forwoyne, sza, chloebailey, and 824,018 others

yourinstagramname: taken but still got the city girl in me 🤪😜

yourbestfriend: watch yourself because the boyfriend will teach you a lesson if he sees this lmao yourinstagramname: yourbestfriend daddy can punish me at any time. this body is ready. urbandjackupdates: we want to know who this new man is! yourinstagramname: all will be revealed soon lol yourbestfriend: and yall about to lose yall shit when it happens yungskylark: aye yo when you come down here, make sure you bring those brownies I love so much yourinstagramname: yungskylark pay me my service fee and I got you jackharlowsource: service fee?! yungskylark: check your cash app yourinstagramname: yungskylark thank you for your contribution 💕

Liked by jackharlow, privategarden, cozane, selenosunni, latto777, taylorrooks, and 923,183 others

yourinstagramname: literally the only reason why I came to Louisville 🤭🤭🤭

jackharlow where you at stink? That neck could use a few kisses from me

selenosunni: um so what the hell are we?! you didn't come to see us too?! cozane: not you coming just for his pale ass jackharlow: I.... first of all leave my pale ass alone and yourinstagramname I'm where ever you need me to be 😜 urbandjackupdates: WHHHHHHAAAAAAATTTTTTTTT is jack the new man?!?! omg I know urb is pulling his hair out as we speak jackharlowsource: well this is a new development yourbestfriend: JACK AND Y/N FOREVER BITCH! yourinstagramname: jackharlow hmm I need you under me so I can ride you and sunni and cope of course I came to see you. I just needed to fuck my man first. yungskylark: not yall acting up already urbandjackupdates: SOMEONE CHECK ON URBAN! druski2funny: he too busy somewhere being someone's baby daddy urbanwyatt: druski2funny for the last fucking time that baby is NOT MINE yourbestfriend: oh he's here! urban tell me, how does it feel to have fumbled the bag that is my best friend who is now fucking your best friend? the world would love to know! yourinstagramname: yourbestfriend bitch shut up lmao too bad he didn't believe me. I told him that I would.

It had been a few months since you broke up and cut off all ties with Urban no matter how much he would plead with you to take him back. You knew that you had to put yourself first in order to finally be happy and that’s exactly what you did.

Although he was cut off no one else in private garden was and they would constantly comment under your instagram posts saying how much they miss you and that you should come to Louisville when you got the opportunity. Little do they know you've been coming and going ever since you broke off things with Urban.

But of course you would only truly be going for one person and that was the person that you should have just been with in the first place since he never gave you a reason to doubt his true intentions when it came to you.

Jack.

The two of you had met first before he introduced you to Urban and although the two of you never acted on your feelings, they were definitely there. They took a backseat once you started dating Urban, but ever since that threesome happened with the both of them, those feelings crept right back up to the surface and it didn’t help that Urban was starting to act like an asshole towards you pushing you further away.

You constantly found yourself talking to Jack more so than Urban since he hardly liked to answer his phone and always enjoyed being around him. But what you didn’t know is that Jack wished you had dated him instead and introduced you to Urban when you were already his so that would have been a done deal once and for all.

All Urban had been doing the past few months since the break up was moping around, but that quickly went out the window a total of two weeks after it happened knowing that you weren’t going to take him back and quickly went back to his old ways.

Of course Jack asked him how he expected to get you back if he was starting to act like this and he immediately shrugged and said he didn’t care.

Okay.

Since he said he didn’t care, Jack felt that it was fair game to pursue you since Urban obviously didn’t want you back.

I mean there was a rumor going around at one point saying that he had cheated on you and got someone else pregnant.

Although he didn’t end up being the baby daddy, he did confess to the cheating and that’s when you said enough is enough.

But for now, you had just landed in Louisville and quickly sent Jack a text since you wanted to surprise him.

Oh, you and Jack had been messing around after one month of the break up.

You- What are you doing white boy? Are you busy? I miss you

Jack- Hi to you too and I miss you too

You- Answer my question please

Jack- It depends, what do you need?

You- For you to get your girl from the airport. That’s what I need.

Jack- The airport where?

You- Jackman, don’t be foolish. I’m in Louisville.

Jack- Since when!? Why didn't you tell me you were coming?!

You- Why? you got some bitch at your house?

Jack- Stink, stop playing because you know I don't. I'm not your ex.

You- Will your pale ass just come and get me so I can sit on your face and ride you?

Jack- You’re lucky you’re cute

Once he had gotten you from the airport, the two of you went out to get food before heading back to his house and let you get settled. By this time it was around four in the afternoon and all you wanted to do was lay down in Jack’s king sized bed and sleep, but he had other plans.

The two of you were sitting in the living room watching one of your favorite true crime shows, but you were the only one watching it while Jack was in fact watching you. You caught him out of the corner of your eye and simply stared at him once he quickly turned away.

“Are you okay? Why are you staring at me?” You curiously asked while poking his cheek.

“I thought you said that you were going to ride me?”

“Is that really all men think about?” You responded with a blank stare.

“What the?! You’re the one who said it, not me!” Jack exclaimed while looking offended.

You simply sighed before rolling your eyes and simply turned around to face him since you were already sitting in his lap.

“I’ll do anything you want, but you need to lose the clothes first.”

“Well, you can’t be the only one overdressed then so I’m going to need for you to do the same thing.”

It was around 5 pm when Urban pulled up to Jack’s house since everyone was supposed to be going out for dinner later and decided that the two of them would ride together not knowing that Jack had completely forgotten about it and the thought went out the window when he saw you.

Urban had gone through the side door since he knew Jack always left it unlocked during the day and went on the search for his best friend. What he didn’t expect was to see you riding him in the living room with you screaming at the top of your lungs.

Urban had his eyes on you since he was behind Jack with his mouth hanging open in disbelief. Instead of simply walking back out the door and leaving things as they were, he couldn’t let this slide.

“What the actual fuck?! Y/N, are you serious right now?! With my best friend really?!” You heard Urban’s voice and the two of you simply looked in his direction.

“Oh shit.” You heard Jack mutter and you rolled your eyes at Urban.

“So, is no one going to say anything?!?”

“What the fuck do you want me to say Urban? I was three seconds away from making Jack cum, but of course you had to come in here and fucking ruin it like you do everything else.”

“I can’t believe you two and JACK, bro code?! What happened to that?!”

“She was my friend first before she was your girlfriend. Not my fault that you took her for granted and didn’t know how to treat her. I just picked up the pieces where you left them.”

“So, that is your excuse?!”

“Urby, could you do me a favor?” You sweetly asked and he just looked at you dumbfounded.

“What?”

“Leave so I can continue fucking my man and get him to cum for a third time. You lost me because of your own actions so deal with it. But I mean you could always stay for the show except this time, you can’t touch me. All you’ll see is me riding the shit out of your best friend’s dick. This is what you gave up once you cheated so to get back at you, I just couldn’t help myself. I should have been with Jack to begin with. ”

“City girls, up!” Jack whispered in your ear and all you did was laugh.

“Fuck both of you.”

“That’s what we’re trying to do! You just had to go and interrupt us!” Jack exclaimed and you couldn’t help but to laugh louder.

You heard Urban’s footsteps walk toward the back of the house and the door slamming shut behind him and then focused all of your attention back on Jack.

“Now, let’s get back to what we were doing before we were so rudely interrupted.”

Liked by jackharlow, yungskylark, taylorrooks, cozane, selenosunni, theshaderoom, and 917,004 others

yourinstagramname: he had to learn the hard way that I always keep my word. cheat on me? I'm going for your bestie 🤪

Now look at what you lost

Thank you to my man for the outfit and spending time with me

jackharlow: I got the prettiest girl ever 😍😍😍😍 yourbestfriend: CITY GIRLS UP 1 MILLION urbandjackupdates: now we just need jack to get your pregnant for the finale yourinstagramname: urbandjackupdates who says that he hasn't already? selenosunni: OH cozane: now we told you two kids to be on your best behavior urbanwyatt: you two fucking deserve each other yourinstagramname: aww urbanwyatt is someone upset? well I don't give two fucks. you made this a reality and jack fucks me better anyway. you got a free show the other day so you know. ask him to give you some tips and tricks. yourbestfriend: BITCHHHH I AM HOLLERING jackharlowsource: not her airing that one out lmaoooo druski2funny: urbanwyatt damn you aight my boy? yourinstagramname: druski2funny of course he's not. he lost the best thing to ever happen to him. now jackharlow has me all to himself. jackharlow: yourinstagramname matter of fact, come over here and sit on my face

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#jack harlow #jack harlow fic #jack harlow fanfic #jack harlow fluff #jack harlow smut #jack harlow imagine #jack harlow concepts #jack harlow instagram au #jack harlow x reader #jack harlow x black reader #urban wyatt #urban wyatt x reader #urban wyatt x black reader #urban wyatt concepts #urban wyatt fic #urban wyatt imagine

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nomoreusername · 9 months

Text

Dibs

{All of this is from Gally's P.O.V}

I'll be the first to admit it. I didn't trust Y/N when she first came up. I was worried she'd throw everything out of order or was sent up as someone we need to be suspicious of.

That had been proven wrong three Greenie's ago. She didn't even interact with people much, and she's definitely never done something to throw this place off balance. If anything she contributed a lot, going in-between jobs whenever needed or just doing smaller ones throughout the day. She could be a Builder one day and Slicer the next. She'd volunteer as a Cook for one hour and switch to being a Slopper.

There was only one thing she refused to touch which was actually surprising. Despite what you're thinking it's not the Maze. Some days she's actually a Runner. No, she refuses to be anywhere near the Greenie's. When the box comes up she's almost nowhere to be found. Sometimes she's not even a Runner or even just in the Maze so I don't know how she disappears for the entire day. I'll be the last to admit that I've actually looked to see if I could spot her. So far nothing.

So I did something that I don't even know the reason for and hatched a plan. When everyone's by the box I'm checking every square inch of this place. There's no real reason for me to do this. She's not a troublemaker. I just don't get how nobody else notices her absence.

So I was waiting for everyone to start standing by the box. A few others were already making their way over just in case something happens. After another minute, then two, then five, basically everyone has left. Knowing I had to be quick since she obviously couldn't stand them I tried the first place that made sense.

The Deadheads were never something I've really gone in. Maybe once or twice to chase down a Greenie but never without any other reason. Still, Y/N knows not a lot of people need to come here. Sometimes the Track-hoes need fertilizer, which she also got without hesitation, but never anybody else. This was the perfect hiding spot for anyone.

♡ - - - ♡

As I went further in I realized she definitely wasn't here. I kicked the tree next to me, and just a second later I heard rustling above me. I looked up, puzzled by the noise, and spotted two feet dangling near the top branches. Suddenly I didn't know what exactly I would do. I hadn't actually planned this far ahead.

Debating whether or not this was completely stupid I decided it probably was. Despite that I started making my way up the tree anyway. Random branches sticking along with painful thorns tore up my hands. If this is where she goes to hide why pick here? Especially since she actually was at the top.

Still, fueled by determination I didn't quit until I was on the branch beside her. She didn't say anything or acknowledge that anyone was next to her for what felt like centuries.

"I wanted to know why you're never there,"I admitted. As always she didn't react to my words. She doesn't react much to what anyone really says. She'll talk to you and have a conversation, but she has this blank look the entire time. It's not a zoning out or disinterested look. It's more of she's expecting you to tell her to do something, maybe work another job around here. If it's not she still sits there talking but stone-faced. It's hard to explain.

"Shouldn't you be with everyone else in case the Greenie gets violent? You know? Scare them with your 'day one Greenie' and all that,"She asked, after a while.

"Probably,"I shrugged.

"Why are you up here with me then? You've been here for about two hours."

"I didn't even know this place was that big,"I responded.

"Well, it is. Now answer my first question. Why aren't you with the others greeting the Greenie?"

"I got permission from Alby to not be around during Greenie day."

I have to admit that this caught me off guard. I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't that she actually asked so she wouldn't be around them.

"Dibs?"I asked, not knowing what that meant or even if I heard her right.

"Why did you ask him though?"I questioned. She didn't say anything as she looked at the ground. For a second I thought she was just going to stop talking all together until she mumbled something under her breath.

"Dibs."

"Yeah. When I came up a bunch of you starting calling dibs on me. I heard a few 'is she hot?' and 'I wanna look'. I didn't hear many people say anything to them. Just Newt pulling me out of the box and promising me I'd be okay, Alby telling them to get to work, and you telling them to shut their mouths before you make them."

"Oh. I forgot about that,"I said without thinking.

"Of course you did,"She sighed. "You know, you all greet the Greenie's in a normal way? You pull them up, maybe laugh at their confusion, and explain everything. Sometimes you chase after the ones who run like you did me."

"I couldn't let you go in the maze,"I pointed out.

"Why do you think I was running Gally?"

"Because you were surrounded by a bunch of strange boys and no memory?"I guessed.

"Partly. Most of it was the fear of what could happen. Of what one of you could do to me, much less an entire group. I didn't know my name, but I knew that I wasn't a human at that moment. I was nothing more than a piece of meat, a joke to spread around like ash, and a little girl with no true protection. All I could think was that I couldn't let someone catch me. I couldn't even let them come near me. If I fought I knew there were more of you. Even if I know you wouldn't attack me now I didn't then. All I could do was run."

I didn't know what to say to any of that. I remember that day, but I never actually paid it much mind. I just thought it was another Greenie day. Only there was a girl this time. I didn't think anything more about it. To her though, it was everything different.

"I know some of you still think I'm weak. That's why I travel from job to job and do the things a lot of you don't like. Plus, I'm never around too many people for long. You didn't trust me when I came up, right?"

I just stared at the ground not knowing what to say to that either.

"Not at first,"I confessed.

"Right. Well, I don't trust some of you. Even those of you who didn't say anything like that are people I keep an eye on. Sure, I have some friends I'd give my life for, but it's either because they stood up for me or weren't there. Newt, Alby, Minho, Ben, and Chuck are all the people I truly feel safe with. I'd trust more than I do if we were friends, but I'd still come to you if I was in a situation that called for it."

"Well, you followed me to my hiding spot so I'm going to tell you anyways. After the first two I realized you all treated them so differently. No dibs or jokes. It sucked to know that my welcome was me being talked about like an object right in front of me. No shame, no guilt, no anything. Just comments. That hurts sometimes. Knowing that nobody is yelling at anyone to shut up or leave Greenie alone hurts. Because I don't feel like a Glader. That's why I took so long to carve my name on the wall. I feel like an outsider in what's supposed to be my home."

"You're wondering what this has to do with avoiding Greenie's, aren't you?"She asked.

"Oh. No, I kind of forgot about that part,"I admitted.

I just sat there dangling my feet above the ground like an idiot. I really, really, really, didn't think this far. What exactly do you say when someone pours their heart out to you? Much less someone who you've never had a personal conversation with?

"I don't know if it means much, but I never really saw you as weak. Maybe suspicious, but never anything else negative. You work hard, and you've actually helped fix a few things we hadn't noticed."

"What choice did I have? Not working hard means people can make more assumptions about me. Some still do. I might accidentally drop something that doesn't seem heavy because I've spent hours carrying other heavy things or trip over my feet in the garden because my legs hurt from running the maze yesterday. Then, a few people may still make a comment."

"Well, that's stupid. Nobody else works every job here. What right do they have to say anything?"

"It's just how it is Gally."

"It shouldn't be though."

"There's not much anyone can really do. I've accepted that it's not me and brushed it off."

I turned to look at her since I've never actually seen her there. She was staring straight ahead with the same blank expression.

"You thought it was you?"I asked, not knowing how that was possible.

"For a bit. The life we live isn't easy. There's a lot of stress and questioning your sanity. You don't think you're the only one who sits on the Watch Tower at night to think, do you?"

"I leave when I realize someone's there. I didn't realize who was there for three nights until I almost got caught one night. I make sure to check more carefully now,"She explained.

"If you want you can just come up, and we could just share it. I'll sit on one side, and you can sit on the other,"I offered.

She didn't say anything so I looked back at her. For the first time that I can remember she had the ghost of a smile on her face.

"Yeah. I think that's fine. After all I trust my friends with my life."

"Yeah. So we're friends now?"

"Depends. Are you willing to deal with what people could say about you?"

"Yeah."

"Then, yes Gally. We're friends now."

#the maze runner #tmr gally #one shot #gally x reader #gally x y/n #tmr

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am-i-the-asshole-official · 7 months

Note

TL;DR I purposefully viewed my roommate's messages on their laptop out of concern for their welfare and discovered that they are being catfished, and now I don't know how to tell them. Bit of BG: I (M27) formed a close bond with RM (NB20) by being a mentor for them since they were like 8 or 9 (I was friends with their older brother). I won't go into great detail because it isn't my place to tell, but they're alive because of me providing for them emotionally and later physically with housing and food. This is the second time they've lived with me, and they've gotten a job this time to help pay. There were issues with employment for awhile, and I don't want to get into the details here because the important part is that until very recently, they couldn't contribute anything to the household whatsoever, so I had to foot the bill. I don't resent them for it. but it makes the next part grind my gears more. They are single and looking for casual or serious companionship, and I never cared what they did as long as they were being safe, sane, and consensual. Having basically raised them from teen to adulthood, I have my convictions, but I've always taught them to have safe and risk-aware sex, so a casual fling isn't of concern. They left their laptop open when I got back from taking them to work and it was playing music, so I woke the screen to turn it off so it would stop making noise and not drain the battery (their settings let sound stay on after the lid is closed). I found them in conversation with a woman, and the way she spoke to RM was very suspicious ("babe" tacked onto every sentence was the first red flag), and it only got moreso after I scrolled up. Before I really processed that I was doing it, I had already seen more than I care to have seen, but in doing so, I uncovered that this other person was convincing RM to spend money on her (multiple occasions of asking for $15-25) and meet up for sex. I wouldn't really care if I knew this was a real person and that RM was able to pay their portion of rent, but the latter is certainly not true, and the former is dubious at best, given that a quick reverse image search returns someone from out of state with an OF in their Twitter linktree. I'm not saying it's impossible for RM to pull a girl that looks like that, but the more likely explanation is that the other person is stealing that girl's pictures and catfishing RM. I'm mad that some online rando is getting money that my household needs, but the only way I know that is because (and I won't mince words here) I violated RM's privacy by looking through their messages instead of just leaving it alone and turning their music off. I'm understandably conflicted here, but I don't know how best to handle this situation. I certainly don't want a catfish to effectively steal from RM by lying to them when that's gas and grocery money that's getting funneled to her instead of our household, but more than that? I really don't want RM to get taken advantage of by a liar on the internet when they don't even have the funds to spare in the first place to make a mistake like that consequence-free. AITA?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

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ghostofskywalker · 9 months

Text

Don't Say "I Told You So"

Crosshair/Fem!Reader

Words: 1,739

Summary: Crosshair didn't need a relationship, and he had only agreed to this stupid service because all his brothers had done it as well. But a switch in his mind was flipped when he met you, he just doesn't want to admit it.

Note: this is my contribution to the fanfiction universe of @tcwmatchmakingau :) the canon divergence here is that the empire falls apart in its early days after palpatine bites it, which would still imply that crosshair spent some time in its service. i couldn't decide which clone i wanted to write so i picked six of my faves and rolled a die to decide - crosshair won :)

Clone Troopers Masterlist

“What are you looking to gain from our service today?” The overly bubbly woman asked Crosshair as he sat with his arms crossed in a chair that seemed entirely out of place in a tiny office like this. She was not bothered one bit by the way he so obviously did not want to be there, and there weren’t many people in the galaxy that could look so nonchalant on the receiving end of his annoyed expression.

“To get my brothers off my back,” he answered dryly, watching as she started to type something on her datapad.

“So you’re not looking for anything serious then?”

“What do you think?”

The woman behind the desk (she had introduced herself before, he just forgot her name) looked up at him with a glare that matched his in its intensity, and for a moment the change actually caught him off guard. “I have half a mind right now to set you up with the person I think you would dislike the most and ensure that you have the worst two hours of your life,” she said, her tone sharp and unwavering. “But since I am a professional, I will not do that. However, I expect to be afforded the same courtesy. I have a perfect track record with my matches for this company, but that does not mean I won’t throw it away for the chance to make you miserable, and that is certainly a threat. Do we understand each other?”

A silence fell over the room as her words sunk in. “Fine,” he said, swallowing his pride and allowing her to continue with the matchmaking interview. There was a part of him that wondered if he did indeed have a perfect match out there, even if he was (mostly) here because the rest of his squad had already gone through the process. Because anyone that managed to find someone who could willingly put up with Hunter was clearly some kind of Jedi, and there was another part of him that wanted to be the one to annoy his brothers, just as they had annoyed him with their new partners.

The interview was soon finished, and he left the office wondering what was going to come of all this. The woman (who had reverted back to the insufferably bubbly version of herself from the beginning) told Crosshair that someone would reach out to him with details about his date soon, even though he didn’t know if he believed her. There couldn’t be anyone in their little catalog who would willingly go on a date with him, this had to be some kind of scam.

***

But somehow the unthinkable happened, and from what Echo said when he heard Crosshair had gotten a message, it had happened in record time. And even now, if it weren't for the fact that his brothers were all stationed outside the restaurant, he might have run away before ever stepping foot inside. Wrecked would have simply just picked him up and walked him inside anyway, and that would be ever more embarrassing than simply just accepting his fate and not trying to escape.

He wasn’t given much information about you or the date, other than your first name and the fact that a table had been reserved for you two at a restaurant on the top level of Coruscant. It wasn’t the nicest place in the world, but Crosshair appreciated that there didn’t seem to be an intense pressure to get perfectly dressed up, especially since he only had a limited amount of clothing at this time. He also had a sneaking suspicion that you had picked the spot, because none of the others had ever heard of the place when he told them where he was going.

Despite the fact that he didn’t really think any kind of relationship was going to come from this, he still found himself slightly worried about how you were going to perceive him. Even though the war was over and clones were fully recognized as citizens, it was hard for him to believe that anyone would willing want to go on a date with him. He could understand how his brothers were able to find romance, they weren’t as broken as he was, and they were having a much easier time adjusting to their new lives outside of military service.

When he gave the person standing at the front of the restaurant his name, they smiled and told him to follow, as his date for the evening was already here. He was hoping that he could get by without the staff knowing the true reason he was there, but it didn’t seem like that was going to happen. The sound of his comm device buzzing caught Crosshair’s attention, and he looked down at his wrist to see a message from Hunter.

Don’t kriff this up.

But of course he didn’t have time to send anything back before he had arrived at his table for the evening. Caught off guard by your beauty, he forgot for a moment that he didn’t reallu want to be there. “Hi,” you greeted him as he sat down. “It’s really nice to meet you.”

There was another version of him vying for control of his body right now, that was cruel and vindictive and could never believe that you were here to see him. And as much as he wished that version of him had died with the Empire, that was simply not the case, and he fought hard to push those thoughts away. Maybe he would never be as bright and as joyful as Wrecker, but you did not deserve to spend time with a sour version of him, especially when none of the issues he had were your fault.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” he said. “Why did you sign up to do this?”

You laughed. “Honestly? My friends pushed me to sign up for an interview.”

“My brothers practically forced me to do this,” he said, watching as a smile crossed your face.

“Wow, I guess we both don’t want to be here, huh?”

Five minutes ago, Crosshair would have earnestly confirmed your statement and suggested that you go your separate ways. But now, he found himself wanting to stay, even though he had no idea how to respond. “I suppose not.”

“But since this meal has already been paid for, I think we should stay.” Thank the Maker for that suggestion.

Of course, he had to keep up appearances. “I’m fine with that.”

As the date continued, conversation moved like one of the Coruscant Guard’s massif puppies: tentative but determined, and the more Crosshair spoke to you, the more he realized how much you complemented each other.

It was so much more complicated than the roles of sun and moon, because neither of you perfectly fit into either image. You had a macabre streak to rival the dry quips he often subjected his brothers to, but there was also a brightness to your personality that he found himself desperate to learn about. As you shared stories about past relationships and told him all about the work you do, he found himself wondering how in Sith Hells it was possible that through one interview (that he didn’t even take seriously) someone had managed to find him someone like you.

The food was certainly a step up from the things he ate during the war, and the two of you indulged in drinks that were brightly colored and sickly sweet. If this was 79’s and his brothers were around, he might have cared about what they would say as they watched him take sips of a lavender colored liquid. But here, the only person whose opinion mattered to him was you, and the way you smiled as you tasted the drink for the first time was something he didn’t want to forget.

When it was time to leave, he waited with you for a hovertaxi and waved you off before heading back to the apartment he now shared with his brothers. It didn’t seem like the rest of the squad had stayed outside the restaurant for the entire night (like they had threatened to do), and Crosshair was glad for the time alone with his thoughts.

He wanted to see you again, that much was certain. The two of you had exchanged comm frequencies, and there were already tentative plans in place for the two of you to see a holofilm together sometimes, but nothing was set in stone. He knew his brothers weren’t going to let him off without interrogating him when he stepped through the doorway, so he also prepared what he was going to say.

And like he expected, Omega was the only one not waiting for him when he opened the door. The rest of the team was sitting at the table, as if they were waiting for him, and the questions began to spill out of his brothers’ mouths.

“How was it?”

“Did you like her?”

“Are you going on another date?”

“We were right, weren’t we?”

Crosshair took a seat at the table and waited for the rapid fire questioning to stop. “It wasn’t terrible.”

Hunter scoffed. “Come on, you’ve got to give us more than that!”

“No, I don’t actually,” he said. “You all forced me to do this and now it’s done.”

Echo spoke next. “At least tell us if you’re going to go out again with her, then we’ll leave you alone.”

Crosshair sighed. He wanted to lie, but he knew that eventually the truth would find a way to worm its way out into the open, and the teasing would be worse then. “Nothing is confirmed, but maybe.”

“YES!”

“I knew it!”

“You all owe me 10 credits now!”

In the midst of his brothers’ joy, the sound of his comm device beeping distracted Crosshair. He looked down to see a message from a new frequency, which he immediately knew must be you.

If you were serious about going to a holofilm, do you want to see one with me tomorrow?

He couldn’t help but smile as he typed out an affirmative reply, and that tiny change in his expression did not go unnoticed by Hunter. “Aww look Echo, Crosshair’s in loooooooove!”

“Shut up,” was the sniper’s response, but he didn’t refute the statement.

Maybe these matchmaker services really did work after all.

- the end -

i no longer have a taglist! if you're interested in being notified when i post, you can follow my library blog @ghostofskywalker-library and turn on notifications!

#tcw matchmaking au #tbb crosshair #tbb crosshair x reader #tbb crosshair x you #crosshair x reader #crosshair x you #the bad batch x reader #the bad batch fanfiction #clone trooper x reader

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half-oz-eddie · 4 months

Text

This is my contribution to the Harringrove Relay Race! ✨

⌚️ Show me you LO:VE me 🥀

Billy Hargrove. Punctual. Sometimes 15 minutes early. He beats the lines, beats the rush, beats someone's face in if they get in his way because Billy is never late.

Steve Harrington. Never on time. The party doesn't start 'til he walks in. He's 15-30 minutes late, almost always. Never finds parking, but never worries. Steve is always late.

Oh, but if Steve thinks he's going to be anything but punctual, he'll be everything but Billy's boyfriend.

Oddly, this was one of Billy's few dealbreakers. "Don't lie to me, don't show up late, don't waste my time. Being late for anything is wasting my time. So don't try it."

Steve knew Billy meant serious business. Billy never showed up late when they made plans. Steve wanted to impress Billy, so he did everything he could to show up on time, but on the one day, their most important day since they got together, there was a chance he was going to be late.

If Steve showed up even one minute late for this 6 monthiversary dinner, Billy would think Steve didn't take their relationship seriously.

Billy already had trust issues. The first time Steve said I love you, Billy side-eyed the fuck out of him, interrogated him, threatened to punch him, cried, then finally said it back.

This night had to be perfect.

As he was getting ready, Steve accidentally used cooking spray instead of hairspray in his hair.

"How'd that happen?!" Robin exclaimed when Steve called her in a panic.

"No time to explain, but I really screwed up. I smell like a kitchen!"

"Go wash your hair, dingus."

Steve groaned. "I hardly have time."

"Make time! Go! Go!"

Steve hung up the phone and rushed into the shower, eventually washing the oil out of his hair.

He half-assed his hairstyle and got his clothes on, then hurried to his car with a rose in hand, rehearsing what he would tell Billy when he picked him up.

"You look nice, your eyes look exceptionally blue tonight—wait, he might think that's cheesy. Maybe I should just tell him he looks good—" Steve yelped when one of his tires blew out, and he pulled over on the side of the road, staring at his car in disbelief. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me!"

He glanced down at his watch. He had 2 minutes to get to Billy's house, which was 15 minutes away by car.

He sighed, he pondered, and then he started running.

He'd be damned if he let Billy down. Billy never let him down, not once. He showed up, he showed out, he kept his word and he loved Steve with his whole heart. All he wanted Steve to do was fucking show up on time.

Steve ran and ran, breaking a sweat in his blazer, crushing the stem of the rose in his hand, the thorns pricking his sweaty palm.

When he finally reached Billy's house, it was nearly 30 minutes after the time he agreed to pick Billy up.

"Aw, shit, he's gonna be pissed." He knocked on the door, heaving and trying to catch his breath so he could profusely apologize to Billy.

"Oh, now you show—why are you breathing so heavy?"

Steve stood up straight, his bangs dripping sweat beads as he heavily exhaled. "I'm...I'm so sorry. My...my tire blew out and...I...accidentally put cooking spray in my hair instead of hairspray...but...I tried...I really, really tried to get here on time. I ran...all the way here."

Billy glanced down at the rose tightly gripped in Steve's hand. "You did all that for me?"

"Course I did, babe. All you asked me to do was...show up on time. I wanted to...do the right thing."

Billy chuckled, eventually breaking out into a fit of laughter. "...You put cooking spray in your hair? God, you're such an idiot!"

"I left it on the counter the night we baked cookies, and I went in the kitchen to check the time, because I couldn't find my watch, so—" Steve waved his hand. "Never mind, I'm an idiot."

"But you're my idiot." Billy pulled Steve in for a kiss. "And you stink."

"C'mon, I ran all the way here." Steve pouted.

"I know. Let's get you in here and cleaned up."

"You sure? You're not pissed at me?"

Billy shook his head. "You made a hell of an effort for me, pretty boy. That's all I wanted." He grabbed Steve's hand. "Now c'mon, Neil's not here so we can hop in the shower together."

"Wow, I'm late and I get rewarded?" Steve cheekily smiled.

"Don't push your luck." Billy yanked him into the house and closed the door.

Thank you for reading 💕

Please look forward to an incredible piece from the next contributor, @avalonlights!

#harringrove relay race #harringrove

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missmonsters2 · 1 year

Text

What's One Little Kiss Between Friends? | viii

viii: Prepping the New Year

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Jealous!Nat. Scheming!Nat

Note: My holiday contribution <3 This occurs after Mistletoes Are For Excuses

College AU set. Feel free to request parts in my inbox!

Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist

Count: ~1.2k

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

New Year's has always been one of your favorite holidays. There's a sense of relief and melancholy about saying goodbye to the year and welcoming the new one.

And, well, there was the New Year's kiss.

You tried not to let that be the thing that consumed your mind, but unfortunately, it just did. There was a saying about how you spend the year is the same way you spent New Year's Eve.

Historically, you've always spent it kissing your lover at the time or kissing someone you were hoping would become your lover within the year.

This year—you were stumped.

Your lips could still feel the softness of Natasha's kiss under the mistletoe on Christmas. You were becoming more familiar with them, having tasted them so often already.

But you were still only friends, and when you thought about it more, you became increasingly nervous.

"Who are you going to kiss tonight?" Wanda said eagerly as she stumbled into your arms. You laughed as you caught her.

"Not sure yet," you answered honestly, knowing full well there were only 10 minutes until midnight.

"No way," Wanda slurs, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "You always know who you're going to kiss every year."

"Why does that make me sound so sleazy?" You mused teasingly. "Who are you going to kiss?"

It was then Wanda slumped in your arms with a pout. "I don't know. I thought about kissing Vis, but he's being such a...a burnt toaster!"

You couldn't help but laugh, squeezing Wanda comfortingly. You knew she was taking the breakup with her long-time boyfriend pretty hard. They've been on and off since, and you're hoping the entire thing will end soon because it was messing with Wanda's head.

"Oh my god," Wanda grinned as she looked at you. "If you don't have someone to kiss and I don't have someone to kiss—we should kiss at midnight!"

You tried to not roll your eyes, but you merely smiled and kissed her cheek to placate her. "Sure thing. Why don't you go find Bucky? I noticed he's been sticking to Steve like glue, and at this rate, Steve is never gonna muster up the balls to kiss Sharon."

Wanda's eyes glinted as she kissed you back on your cheek and finally released you. You watched her stumble through the crowd, making her way toward Bucky, who was woefully unaware of how much of a cockblock he was being.

"So, you're kissing Wanda at midnight?"

The sound of your best friend's voice made you turn around, and Natasha was standing behind you with two champagne glasses in her hand.

"Most certainly not," you shook your head with a rueful grin, taking a glass from Natasha. "I think I learned my lesson in Mexico with her."

"You kissed Wanda in Mexico?" Natasha asked, her voice tight.

"You ask too many questions," you shook your head, still grinning. "Who are you going to kiss?"

There was a momentary pause.

"I don't know," Natasha sounded uncomfortable. "If you're not kissing Wanda, then who do you have your eye on?"

There was a tinge of something in Natasha's voice that you weren't used to hearing when it came to you.

Jealousy.

"I...I don't think I'm going to kiss anyone," you finally admitted. "I just...you know what I think about the New Year's kiss."

"That you're going to spend the year with the person you kiss?"

You nodded.

"And you don't want to spend the year with anyone here?" Natasha tried to say it casually, but she couldn't help the sting that seeped in.

You looked at Natasha carefully. She was absolutely stunning tonight, with loose curls and one side of her hair pinned up.

So many people were watching Natasha right now, counting down the last three minutes until the real countdown started. You could only imagine the swarm that would occur at 11:59PM.

"It's not that," you said slowly, locking eyes with the redhead. "It's just...it's a lot of pressure. Do you understand?"

Natasha just nodded, and it was rigid. You tried not to let out a physical sigh.

It was getting complicated, and you hated it.

Why was kissing your best friend so good?

11:58PM.

You watched as Steve looked relieved by Bucky being distracted by Wanda and how he shyly turned to Sharon with a boyish grin.

"Hey, why don't we head to my room? The view of the fireworks will be way prettier there," Natasha suggested.

You hesitated.

"And it will deter random strangers from trying to kiss us at midnight," Natasha added.

You weighed your options quickly but nodded as you did see someone eyeing Natasha a few feet away. And as much as you were worried about kissing Natasha, you were in no way in hell going to let someone else kiss her.

Natasha didn't turn the lights on when you entered her room, merely shutting the door with a quiet click and lock.

"It is nicer from here," you commented, taking a seat at her windowsill.

11:59PM.

"Yeah," Natasha sighed, taking something from her nightstand before she sat down. "Sometimes I miss living here...until I hear my mother and remember why it sucks."

The two of you laughed before you looked at the alarm clock she brought.

"I think you're the only person I know that still uses an analog alarm clock," you raised her brow at her and smiled, "you weirdo."

"You bought this for me," Natasha rolled her eyes, unable to help her smile.

"Because you went through that weird phase of collecting clocks and watches."

"10...9...8."

You could hear people outside counting down. Natasha was looking out the window, not even close to making any sort of move on you. You bit your tongue, unsure if you felt relieved or miffed, and joined her in looking outside.

"5...4...3...2...1!"

The fireworks went off immediately, and you could hear the second of silence, the lull of people kissing before there was cheering.

"Happy New Year, Natasha," you turned and smiled at your best friend.

"Happy New Year," Natasha smiled back at you.

And you sit in silence while the fireworks go off.

12:01AM.

Natasha grabbed the analog clock and began to reverse the time.

"What are you doing?" You asked curiously.

11:59PM.

Natasha set the clock down. "I want my New Year's kiss."

"Okay..." you said slowly. "You didn't have to stay here with me."

"The person I want my kiss with said she was feeling too much pressure about it. Something along the lines of worrying how the year was going to go. Honestly, I think it's a load of hooey—"

"Hey!"

"—but I understand. This is the best compromise." Natasha was staring at you so intensely that you were pretty sure your stomach could compete in the Olympic gymnastics.

Why was your best friend so fucking romantic?

You didn't even need to look at the clock to know there was only 5 seconds left until midnight...again.

You found yourself leaning forward, meeting Natasha's lips in the middle. It was familiar in all the best ways. You knew that softness, and the way Natasha tilted her head always fit yours.

God, she was so fucking pretty too.

When you pulled back, you licked your lips.

"You taste like raspberries."

"Yeah, I stole my chapstick back from your bag earlier."

You rolled your eyes, unable to contain the laugh. "You're so petty."

#natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff x you #natasha romanoff x y/n #natasha romanoff imagine #natasha romanoff fluff #black widow x reader #black widow imagine #modern avengers au #mm.drabble.nat #mm: my fics

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androgynousblackbox · 29 days

Text

How I Met Your Father. 1 [Appleradio, Raddioapple]

A03 link

The knocking on the door was unexpected. After the total fiasco that they just went through in live television, more unexpected events was the least than any of them wanted. Angel was happy enough continued to suck on his popsicle at the couch, while Vaggie was nursing a incoming migraine.

Leaving Charlie to be the only one to go open the door.

"Hello!"

The resulting scream of the princess of hell was enough for Vaggie grab her spear and go to the entrance, where she stood in shock at seeing the infamous Radio Demon trapping Charlie on his arms, so tight that her feet didn't even reach the floor anymore.

"Charlie!" yelled, going straight to press her spear against the neck of the demon. It was angelic steel so it could do some serious harm if she wanted it. It was the only good thing she had kept from her past life. "Let her go RIGHT NOW, cabrón come mierda!"

The Radio Demon just tilted his head, furrowed brows. To her surprise, Charlie just giggled and turned to her. Her sitched out smile was just as wide as ever and her big eyes, one yellow and the other red, sparkled happily.

"Vaggie, it's okay!"

"No, it's not!" Vaggie took Charlie's hand and put her behind her, still pointing at the demon. Maybe he had casted an spell already and that is why Charlie was confused! A pang of guilt twisted in her gut. She would have attended the door instead! "That is the Radio Demon, Charlie. He is not here to register, he doesn't care about redemption. I won't let you harm anyone in this place, hijo de perra, did you hear?"

A moment of silence passed between them. Alastor raised an eyebrow.

"He... he is also my dad" pointed out Charlie, making now Vaggie and even Angel from the couch to look at her. "Um, surprise!"

"What" Vaggie was so taken aback she almost let her spear hit the floor. Then she looked over at Alastor, whose smile had only gotten bigger if that was possible, and then back at her girlfriend. "When you say dad you mean..."

"I mean..." Charlie slidded over the floor to stand in front of Alastor again. This time Vaggie could not miss the way the expression of Alastor soften up when seeing at the blonde demon. He was positively beaming with pride, which made everything all the more confusing. Not in a million years she would have bet that she would see something like that. "This is the man who contributed to my creation and raised me. Dad, this is my girlfriend Vaggie. Vaggie, this is... I guess you already know, huh? Alastor, my dad."

"Oh, so this is the girlfriend you have been talking to us about?" Alastor perked up, going to grab the hand of Vaggie and shaking it so vigoriously that her spear made a audible clank noise when falling out of her other hand. "Pleasure to be meeting you, sweetheart, quite the pleasure. I am glad to see that my daughter is with someone looking out for her wellbeing, indeed!" The man brought her closer, pretending to hug her as a low whisper reached her ear. "Don't ever point your nasty little weapon in my direction again or we are going to have a problem, understood?"

Vaggie found herself paralyzed. That was still the demon she heard so much about, Charlie related or not, no doubt about it. When she realized that she couldn't utter a word, she managed to just nod her head. If he was really Charlie's dad, then surely he couldn't be trying to harm her or their project, right?

"Good!" said Alastor, recuperating his jolly tone and petting her head like a dog that finally was starting to behave. "Nice to meet you at last, my dear. We hear so many good things about you."

Despite everything, Vaggie couldn't help to blush at the comment. This was absolutely not how she imagined she was going to meet Charlie's family.

"Uh... nice to meet you too, sir" said, brushing her hair back and looking to Charlie for some reassurance. Her girlfriend seemed ectatic to see them apparently getting along, giving her a thumb up from behind the back of Alastor. "Sorry for... threatening you."

"Oh, please, water under the bridge! What is a little bit of violence between friends?" Alastor looked at his red fingers as it was just a casual comment for him to say and turned to Charlie, forgetting all about her. "Charlie, my little fawn, aren't you going to give me a tour through your hotel? I saw your little presentation on the picture show and had to see it for myself. Your father send his best regards, of course."

The eyes of Charlie turned into stars.

"Sure! Oh, dad, I know you are going to love this place!" said, dragging the radio demon with her to show off every portion she could.

Vaggie moved to the couch and sighed, rubbing her temples. This day couldn't get any worse now.

"That was some good first impression you did there, toots" commented Angel, throwing the now clean popsicle stick without caring where it landed. It wasn't his job to clean it anyway. "I am sure it will do for a cool story to tell the kids."

"I didn't know that was her father!" Vaggie prefered to ignore completely the kids comment part. Charlie and her haven't talked about that yet. "I just saw a dangerous infamous demon grabbing Charlie so I reacted."

"Haven't you two been dating since like... forever? And this is the first time you knew about her dad? Wow" Angel chuckled to himself. "I am surprised you aren't more pissed about that."

"Charlie did say that one of her dads was a overlord, but wasn't really allowed to talk much about it because it was dangerous for people to know so I didn't pressured it" Vaggie sighed, contemplating Alastor nodding to every word Charlie was seeing. Once the shock wear off, when they were the both in a room he could see the resemblance. The little black horns on top of Charlie's head were an exact replica of the Radio Demon, along with the red tips of her fingers. Her own little blonde tail was wagging everywhere while speaking and moving the demon with her as it costed her no effort at all. She wondered briefly if that was also a Alastor thing, but she couldn't tell with the coat he was wearing. Probably was. If it was half as adorable as Charlie's, then at least she could understand why he would hide it. "I just never imagined it would be... him. Everything I ever heard about him doesn't really scream Charlie's father to me."

"What is so especial about smiley face, anyway?"

"Nothing at all!" said Alastor, manifestating from his shadows in front of them suddenly. He was looking at Angel particularly, saving Vaggie from the embarassment that he could have heard her too. "And who is this pink fluffy fellow? Charlie?"

"Oh, that is Angel Dust, our first resident!" explained Charlie.

"Ah, nice to meet you, my good friend!" This time Alastor didn't bothered offering his hand to him, more likely because Angel didn't had any weapon for him to disarm. "I trust you have read your residency contract to it's full extent?"

"Of course, I am not an idiot" Angel relaxed on the couch. After the first time signing his soul away, one had to be prepared to not do the same thing again in hell. "I even had my own magnifying glass to search for the fine print."

"Marvelous!" Alastor's smile grew bigger and lifted his hand, taking up the rolled up paper that his shadow passed to him. The shadow was smiling too. "I trust then that you are aware about the clause hidden on the corners?" said, opening up the paper and holding up with magic as green highlighted the words hidden on what Angel had assumed was fancy decoration on the side of the paper. Alastor read from memory. "The person who signs this paper is forbidden to ever talk about the origyns or familial relation of Charlie Morningstar without express permission of said Charlie Morningstar, Lucifer Morningstar or his spouse Alastor Abbadon. If this condition is broken, then the person who signs this contract resigns his ability to talk ever again. This includes non verbal communication like sign language, writing, texting, morse code, etc, etc.."

He finished with a satisfied look as Angel kept staring at the contract, ruffling his own hair.

"Hey, what the fuck?! I didn't know about this shit!"

"What!?" Charlie got closer too, reading the letters that were so intrinsically hidden on the decorations that it was almost impossible to notice unless someone was looking for it. "Dad! I asked you for a normal contract, not this!"

"Oh, relax, my dear" explained Alastor, calmly adjusting his posture. "I just added a little something to ensure that neither of us would have to worry about whoever decided to stay on your hotel. The clause will have no effect at all as long they know to keep this bit of information for themselves, so there is really nothing to worry about. You both can read it again if you like, there's nothing else forcing your residents to do anything they don't want" added, seeing as Angel was doing just that, after taking out a magnifying glass from who knows where. "I had prepared a similar contract for your staff, but seeing who that is, I assume you don't find it necessary?"

"Of course not" said Charlie without hesitation, making Vaggie to blush again. "Vaggie would never tell anyone."

"Very well. I trust your judgement, little fawn. I just wanted to make sure that we were all in the same page. For you see, my effeminate fellow" said Alastor, inclining his head to look directly at Angel as the dark energy gathered around him. Magic symbols floated around him as his horn crew and his eyes turned into radio dials. "I will spare no effort to protect my family and ensure that they are safe. If I ever detect anything that would happen to threaten any of them, I will personally make sure that person knows the meaning of eternal punishment. Are we clear?"

Angel just stared at him.

"You know, that is kinda hot" replied, not minding the way that Alastor pulled back or the scratching record noise that accompanied the movement. "You said you are married too? Figures. The good ones are always taken."

An awkward silence extended for a second before Angel pulled up his phone, throwing the contract to a side.

"Whatever, I don't care anymore. I wasn't aching to tell anyone either."

"Good" said Alastor, clearing his throat before addressing Charlie again. "So, Charlie! Your father and I had a little chat after your presentation, and we both agreed that it would be best if I helped you out."

"Really?!" Any anger that Charlie had about the contract dissapeared as quickly as that as she took the arm of the demon, practically squealing. "Oh, dad, that is so great! It will be so much fun with you around. Does that mean that you changed your mind? Do you believe sinners can be redeemed?"

"Oh, my dear, of course not" Alastor still patted gently the hand that was holding onto him. "Souls that ended up here do it because they deserved it. Some of us more than others. We made the choices we made in life and now it's time for the consequences. Me, for example, came to know your father by being the worst sinner that I could be. There is no redemption for that."

Charlie sighed deeply, moving to take the hand of the radio demon on her.

"You say that, and I know you did some bad things in the past..."

"I have slaughtered countless souls for entertainment, my dear. I literally killed someone on the way here because they annoyed me."

"But" emphasized Charlie, ignoring him, "you are also the best dad I could ever ask for. You make papa so happy too. How can I believe that a soul can't improve if I have the best proof in all of hell right in front of me?"

That seemed to completely disarm the radio demon for a second. Vaggie didn't want to intrude, but she also had to wonder how many people have ever seen the infamous overlord so entranced by something else. If that was the effect that his daughter could have on him, then it made all the more sense why he didn't want people to exploit it.

"You always had a way with words, little fawn. You took that after your father" recognized the man, lifting a hand to craddle her cheek gently, something that made Charlie to giggle happily. Alastor sighed. "I am afraid that things aren't that simple, my dear. But if this is truly what you believe in..."

"Is it, dad."

"Then I have no other option but to ensure you succeed whatever way I can" Alastor snapped his fingers, opening up a void full of shadows that started working on the hotel, repairing holes, opening the chimney and whatever else it was needed.

When it came to new staff, Niffty was a new addition that Charlie tried to greet before she was off to chase some cockroaches. But when it came to their new bartender, Charlie perked up as if he knew him already.

"Uncle Husk!" she said, hugging the confused humanoid cat that appear right there.

"Uh, what? Who... Charlie?" Husk looked around, patting the shoulder of Charlie confusedly until his eyes landed on Alastor. "Oh, fuck off."

"Hello, Husker. Nice trip?"

"I hate you so much."

"I am so glad to see you again!" said Charlie, squeezing the winged demon, maybe also in an attempt to distract from her dad. It was obvious she knew about the animosity between them and was used to it. "When was the last time we saw each other? On my birthday when I was 16? Aww, you are still as soft as ever!"

"Kid, we talked about this" said Husk, just tired now, and Charlie finally stand up, attempting to apologize profusely until he raised a hand up. "No, no, it's fine. I know you don't mean anything bad by it. Just saying. You, on the other hand..." added, pointing to Alastor, "where the fuck have you dragged me now?"

While Alastor was informing Husk about their new locations and new unvoluntary job, Angel and Vaggie got close to Charlie, who seemed conflicted because she couldn't get them to get along more.

"So you know whiskers?" asked Angel suddenly, making Charlie jump.

"Oh, Husk? Yeah, he is like... Uhm...." Very clearly she didn't want to say he was one of the many souls that Alastor owned. The whole owning soul thing never sat well with her", an associate who works with dad. For dad. He is really nice when you get to know him."

"Do you think he purrs when you scratch him behind his ears?" Angel was scratching his own chin, as if the question was of a high scientific consideration.

"I... I don't know? I never tried it."

"Mmm. I will have to do my own investigation into that then. Is he married?"

"No that I know of. I don't think so."

"I will take that then."

Once Husk resigned himself to his fate behind the bar, Angel went to talk to him as Alastor returned to the side of his daughter.

"So, my dear, what do you think?"

"This is amazing, dad!" And it was, really. For the first time since they had started building the place, for the first time it was starting to look more well put together. Vaggie could sense that there was still something that was bothering her, so she took her hand and squeeze it firmly. Charlie smiled to her before looking again at the radio demon. "Don't get me wrong, I am really happy that you are here. But... I kinda wanted to do on my own too. I shouldn't be relying on my parents to do everything for me alll the time."

"My dear, I am just merely giving you the tools that you need. This whole business is still fully yours to do as you please" Alastor came to wrap an arm aroud her shoulders and rub her arm. "I promise, I will do nothing but to make sure that this building keep standing for as long as I can. I won't interfere with anything else unless you asked me to."

Charlie visible relaxed at that, right before she frowned again.

"No more secret words for people to sign without knowing."

"Except that."

"Dad!"

"Charlie" Alastor pulled his daughter by the shoulders to look at her. His smile was still less sharp than usual, but his tone was serious now. "I will not argue about something that concern your safety. There is a lot of people out there who would love to have anything to use against me. I won't let them use you. That is not a risk I am willing to take."

It was clearly a losing battle, one that Charlie had already lost many times before.

"Fine. You could have still told me about it."

"You should have read the fine print too, dear. Remember what you father told you, don't take any shit from demons. That includes your very own old man" Alastor squeezed the red cheek of his daughter and chuckled when she pouted in response. "But you are right. If I ever decide that any changes is neccesary, I will talk you about it."

"Thank you" The expression of Charlie still didn't change for a moment as they saw the shadows work, but gradually dissolved as she looked at the floor. "Is... is papa ever going to...?"

"Not right now, dear" said Alastor. "You know how hard is for him to come out to new places."

"Oh. Okay" Charlie tried to not make known how much that answered dissapointed her.

"But he promised that he will, eventually." Alastor lifted her chin up and kissed her cheek. "That was from his part."

Charlie laughed, softly, and got on her tip toes to kiss his other cheek.

"That one is from me then."

"I will be sure to pass the message along."

Alastor took her outside to see the rest of the changes they were making. First of, the name "Happy Hotel" had to go. It made it sound like it was a kindergarten more than a center of rehabilitation. After a bit of back and forth, they agreed that Hazbin Hotel had a nice ring to it. Since Alastor would be spending a lot of time there, then he needed his radio tower to keep with his broadcast as well as to communicate with Lucifer back at the palace safely until the man was comfortable enough to move as well. Even with all the renovation finished, the place still looked chaotic and all over the place but they liked it all the same. Nobody could say that it lacked personality.

"It's almost dinner time" Alastor looked on his pocket watch, as the shadow workers came back to dissolve on the crack of the floor under him. "Your father is going to open a portal any moment now. Are you sure you don't want to come in, dear?"

"I am beat now" said Charlie, looking like it. Having a screaming match and fist fight with a reporter in live television could really suck someone's energy. "I think I am going to eat something and head to bed earlier today. But I will definitely go tomorrow. Maybe Vaggie can come in too?"

Vaggie smiled when Charlie searched for her hand, confirming with her if she wanted to come with her.

"I would love to" said, because she would, and maybe she could actually cause a better impression on the other father of Charlie than she had with this one.

Charlie always spoke the world of her parents, even if she could never really tell her who was one of them. If they were so important for her, then they were important for Vaggie too.

At least Lucifer wasn't a deranged sadistic murderer, so that should make things easier. Although, now that she thought about it, she didn't really know much of anything about the king either. Nobody had see him in many, many years, so up until now there were only rumours about how he looked like or his personality. She still trusted that if anything Charlie had said was true, then he couldn't be that bad either.

Alastor looked at her and then Vaggie standing at her side, squinting his eyes for a second before he shrugged.

"Of course, dear. I will tell your father about it. Speaking of the devil..." said with a short laugh as a portal opened up right behind him, "That is my cue for leaving. If you need me, dear, use the radio or call your father. Will be seeing you tomorrow."

"See ya! Thanks for everything!" Charlie waved her hand as Alastor crossed the portal. She was still waving when it closed right after him.

#radioapple #appleradio #duckiedeer #alastor x lucifer #chaggie #hazbin hotel au #arranged marriage au

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