#my theme is never ever changing though since my favorite color was yellow and it was just a happy coincidence it was hufflepuff colors

[youremyonlyhope]

hopehufflepuff -> youremyonlyhope

#hopehufflepuff #youremyonlyhope #yayyy 10th anniversary on tumblr #not changing my profile picture yet. i might change it in like a month #i don't wanna change both at once since that always confuses me when people i follow do that #my theme is never ever changing though since my favorite color was yellow and it was just a happy coincidence it was hufflepuff colors

[airasora]

Disney princess gowns from best to worst IMO

@little-bloodied-angel asked me what my favorite and least favorite Disney gowns were so it inspired me to ALSO make my first tier template ever, which you can try yourself HERE! Do reblog my post with your answer to it or tag me in your post if you want to share, I'm curious :D

Tiana

I LOVE this dress! It's got everything I would love in a princess gown: Big and poofy yet elegant, has flowers and leaves which gives it a forest feel and it sparkles! Only thing I'd change is the color cause I'm not a big fan of green, but for Tiana, it's obviously perfect.

Pocahontas

Yes, it's a sequel dress. Yes, it's not something Pocahontas would choose. Yes,l it represents some icky things, but if I look at JUST the dress and not what it represents, I freaking love it. What really sells it to me is that despite the colors being muted and elegant, there's turquoise elements in it which makes it stand out.

Jasmine

I HATE SHE ONLY WEARS THIS FOR A COUPLE OF MINUTES AND THEN NEVER AGAIN IN ANY OF THE GODDAMN SEQUELS! I love that Jasmine is a pants girl, but this purple dress is so freaking cute. It's less sexy than her normal outfit, but still sexy, I love purple and I honestly prefer these earrings in comparison to her normal ones that are just too chunky for my taste.

Anna

This might be the Scandinavian in me, but I love the patterns on Anna's dress. It's big and poofy at the bottom, but more loose and has room for movements due to the bare arms. It's formal without being stuffy.

Rapunzel

Her ending dress is grossly underrated and if anyone of you knows of a cosplayer who has made this dress irl, let me know cause I'd love to see this dress come to life. I think her normal dress is cute too, but this is utterly adorable.

Merida

I really like Merida's normal dress, but this is about the "gowns" and since this is the more formal attire she has, that's the one that had to be on the list. I do really like this one (as long as it wouldn't be so goddamn tight on her lol) It's simple and elegant, I love the blue and gold, and I love the simplicity of it until the very bottom where we get multi-colored gems and a really cute pattern.

Belle

We're getting to the "meh" tier now and it may come as a surprise to some of you that, despite my love for Belle, I don't care for her ballgown. One reason is that I straight up don't see Belle choosing that type of gown for herself. I know that "logically" she kinda just has to wear whatever is available, so whatever, but I genuinely don't think Belle would choose that dress for herself if she had completely free choice. And the other reason is that I just am not a big fan of yellow... most of the time. Not always. I've seen this dress in multiple different colors at this point (mostly because of my own experimentation) and I like it a lot more in almost every single other color.

Ariel

I don't mind this dress too much. I think it's cute... for Ariel. Pink looks really good on redheads, I like that it's big, but also somewhat muted. I like the long sleeves, but HATE the poofy shoulders. I despise puff sleeves, unless they're very controlled (like on Rapunzel). Her wedding dress is a million times worse though xD

Elsa

The dress that inspired the post to begin with... Elsa's ice gown. It's... fine. Could have had WAY more fun with the ice and snow theme so as it is it's a bit underwhelming. It's kinda cute... and that's it.

Mulan

I was neutral on Mulan's hanfu until I actually looked up hanfu to see more examples of it and then I started hating it. What the FUCK is this, Disney??? Literally the first 50 images that show up when you google "hanfu" are a million times more gorgeous than this. I don't want to step on any toes if I'm accidentally being culturally ignorant here, but judging this purely as a "princess dress"... it could just have been so much better. (Seriously, google "hanfu", holy crap can they be gorgeous!) I'm so mad at this one, I might edit Mulan into a different hanfu xD

Kida

... only thing I like about this one is the random cold shoulders. Or, well, not shoulders, it's more like part of the upper arms, but you know what I mean. It's just... wah.

Aurora

I don't care if it's pink or blue, it's boring. I like the stabbing potential from the shoulders, but that's it. It's too simple. And, again, look up princess gowns from this historic period and you'll see so many gorgeous dresses. Wasted opportunity.

Cinderella

I SWEAR I'm not hating on her dress just cause I don't like her xD Once again, it's just too boring. It's all just one color, there's close to no accessories, accents or just... something. With Belle's dress, there's at least bows and pearls to give it some more oomph. And while those puffy shoulders aren't a travesty like Ariel's are, they just look so fucking weird x'D

Snow White

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS DRESS?! No, seriously, the one who designed it should have been fired the moment they proposed the color scheme. Baby yellow with dark blue and red... WHAT. This is a dress I've hated since I was a child, and my mom can confirm that. I hate it. There's not a single thing about it I like, I legit hate every single thing about this dress and absolutely nothing and no one can change my mind that this is the worst Disney dress PERIOD. Not just princesses, not just backgrounds characters, ALL DRESSES.

Check out my tier list for Disney princess casual outfits here!

#disney #gowns #disney dresses #disney princess gowns #tier

[roseprincesskristina]

My Midnight Rose ((Vamp!Yami x Reader Part 1))

((Whaddup, dudes and chicks. Since last Halloween, I’ve decided to create my very first YuGiOh fan fiction X Reader for the fans out there as well as across the globe. But with the handsome Yami Yugi as a sexy vampire for the fangirls. ;) Took my time to write anything like this without rushing myself whatsoever, tho. Plus, I was gonna do a full fan novel, yet I had to divide into two parts instead because I’m lazy. Sorry XD. Alright had the first one done last month, so I’ll might do the second next soon. Tried my best to create the fictional story even though I sucked. XD It was still fun nonetheless. Anywho, without further ado, please enjoy this steamy story before your peepers! :D))

It was an utterly pleasant mid morning evening onto this first day of autumn where several other leaf bearing trees especially bushes all around the area have began to merge into five colorful shades that will not only make the entire vegetation themselves look more pretty, yet so can the lively twilight atmosphere/mood as well for every generation or few to fully indulge the seasonal beauty right before their outstanding plus awe inspiring eyes.

Regardless about how unlikely chilly the weather degrees could truly be according to the television forecast, it's still blissfully sunny outside for local individuals besiding with civilians to gain extra fun underneath the friendly orb of daylight granting them a brightening smile upon its face followed by a warm loving embrace that'll surely keep them cozy from a slight cold season than a late winter.

Not to mention, of course, that upon this monthly event of October arriving onto the bone chilling rise of a bootiful nightfall for plentiful frights, thrillers, screams, petrification, horror, even some harmless tricks as well as tasty treats, is the upcoming spooktacular holiday known as Halloween revealing itself into an unexpected preparation or simply thrilled to spread out multiple scares everywhere without a rest to require until a single shrill has been blown from anyone's mouth instantly when it comes to frightful haunts casting a roaring fear into everyone's hearts which shall force their bodies to rock a terrified shiver downward the spines.

Although it wouldn't be a scarerrific blast of a celebrational enjoyment without a few dozen laughs, happiness, and let's not forget, a joyful get together activity to make any holiday a lot more smashing, especially through good as well as bad times in life no matter the odds nor difficulty if necessarily.

Returning home by a comfortable stroll throughout the neighborhood after a wonderful day in high school holding less books into your hands to study for homework, you, a beautiful yet also sweethearted young woman as well as honorable grade A student who hardly fails at anything, would also appreciate a rather decent environment of a season heretofore your graceful gaze including everybody else there is in the faultless suburban locality.

Witnessing deeply on how entirely breathtaking this Fall themed scenery before you really is since your early childhood, a gentle sigh from your thinly maw had escaped within a form of a puffy mist while remembering your first experience of this calming season as an innocent toddler observing the emerald coated leaves at the window transforming slowly from a normal color into several opposite, but wonderful hues of any kind such as red, brown, yellow, brown, as well as orange. Greatly astonished by their fascinated changes, it properly fills your heart with absolute delight siding by a rapid clap of your hands, marking as your far most favorite season to easily enjoy in absolute history.

Right now, as a youthful late adolescent, your love for hue changing plants next to spring blooming flowers will hardly cease to appease the living heck out of you for one minute, and nothing shall effortlessly rearrange your mind. Never now, nor ever for your whole ordinary young adult life.

Approaching toward the closed door of your household taking out the key from your pocket then placing it into the knobhole turning carefully to hear a click meaning that it's clearly opened, you entered inside. Home sweet home, as some or more people would always say when they can relax their energy from work as well as school at last. You, on the other hand, have plenty more in your system to spare for your daily chores across the living room, upstairs, and backyard before starting your homework about the origin of mythical monsters later tonight.

Placing down your homework books carefully upon the coffee table, you begin to stretch your arms all the way up high non tightly, cracking both knuckles especially the neck left and right following with a self indoor inhales then exhales various times to prevent a stressful pressure on yourself during an inauguration of your quotidian home cleansing. Rolling your inexisted long sleeves in ascendance mid high since they are mediumly short lacking any further ado just to stand around goofing off by doing plural stretching exercises, the task for tidying this normal abode into a standard non rushing pace than hasting oneself nevertheless, will now commence.

Meanwhile, into the distant location of an hollowed yet quiet park fields atop the half risen moonlight darkness, leaving only a couple of few benches sided along with empty swing sets instead of guiltless denizens who are now at home, a mysterious creature known as the bat flutters forwardly into the world soaring within the tranquil breeze like a free bird, but thrice dark.

Gliding its way over to the branch of the tree for a safe hover/land above it after a pleasing hobby of an enjoyable saunter in a blackened flight observing the gorgeously white diamond sphere centering into the dim blue navy skies at ease, until surprisingly, the half large devil winged beast have finally started to morphed itself from an airborne animal into an incredibly suavish human like form whose superior beauty will instantaneously outclass all handsome men that are unequally bested from someone more dashingly masculine such as he.

Fully revealing himself than just his godly attractive muscled slim feature alone, but secondly the slightly paled yet smooth looking skin, ravishingly amethyst pupils of his unbeatable manly eyes, four brassly shaded bangs that flow majestically through the singing wind considering the three pointed strands as well as the tri colored spiked hair dough, donning into a sleeveless obsidian shirt same for the leather pants, visibly showing off his kinky abs of a crop topped midriff designed with a navel pierced jewelry curved within the shape of an ancient object called the Millennium Puzzle, although basically in a small size unlike the original one he adorned across his neck and buckled choker. Cloaked with the extended indigo jacket worn onto his shoulders posing as a cape to act seriously cool than solely for show.

Slowly writing a fanged smirk within his luscious face as he seated onto a branching tree crossing his thin legs lounging properly to peer upward the delightful moon endlessly for awhile heretofore proceeding onward, the well mature shadowed person that goes by the name of Yami Yugi began to speak with a sexually deep voice.

"Hmm.... What a magnificent sight to behold indeed.... Yet also very beautiful to observe so closely...." He said calmly, having his golden bangs besiding with multi color mane softly brushed by the peaceful chill of the midnight gale. Unlike his faraway kingdom, he enjoys a great deal of close up observation seating on the front row branch, which it better than a balcony.

"Nothing shall be far more satisfying than the first glimpse of the graceful full moonlight of this fascinating night..... It truly does steal away my very breath and soul quite quickly.... Ahhhh.... How I adore such a lovely environment...."

As the mythical book obviously indicates, is that these night dwelling monsters known as vampires are famously realized for their possessive immortality beside in shimmering daylight when it comes to seeking as well as preying upon aidless flesh by their necks for refreshing blood to survive without the urge for harshful starvation whatsoever.

Unfortunately for this mysterious gentlemanly figure of a pharaoh before all, he is exceedingly beyond deathless compared to those that are foolishly ordinary and weak against him in every way indefinitely. In fact, no one else around the universe would even dare attempt to increase their worthless level up to his for something that barely matters to him at all.

His unsurpassable speed, strength, suave, even power comprehends no measley equality undoubted according to his inexplainable origin that remains a difficult mystery for all scientists, librarians, intellectuals, teachers, the whole rest to easily specify. Meaning that nothing or nobody will eagerly find out about who, what, or where he actually existed from, or their demise shall be crucially met by his punishable wrath.

This supremely charming vampiric male, additionally a sovereign prince, is also symbolized as the most powerful being in the world partially above all complete mortals alike, possessing such a dreamily unblemished complexation body as well as everything which can simply conquer the hearts of every beautiful helpless mortal women in the planet.

Speaking of that, he also inherits a bewitching type of spell, or more, so inescapable that their trained resistance would scarcely avail them from his dazzling stare or possibly an alluring belly dancing hex once their will has been dominated permanently, stealing away their attention from what they focused on within life by sensually beckoning his prey to come toward him.

Before the comforting initiation of inserting his pearly white fangs into their soothing colled skin quite deeply, he would sexually seduces his compelled victims without a practice to abstain himself from doing whatever he wishes to do, whether they appreciate it or not. As an example, requiring the desired taste for their delectably fresh anatomies to place his tongue onto than only the neck alone itself, slithering it very slow as well as steady with ascend and descend by pleasant force as possible.

For now, on his unrestrained well earned free time at lonesome, all that he has to do is rest soundly to the serene nighting scenery before him lying half way onto a branch sideways to obtain a clearer view of a nightfall entertainment. Magically snapping his gothic nailed painted fingers to create a formal glass of crimson wine, raising a glass mid up in a toast for a marvelous evening without an end.

"Here's to the most ravishing mistress of the eternal nightfall who has established such rare beatification for my utmost enjoyment...." The vampiric blonde smiled, complementing toward the gracious viewing of a noiseless darkness as well as the shining moon rising his glassed beverage once more then offers himself a nice mannered sip on a sweet red refreshment from a pure stainless wine glass that touched his dangerously mild lips.

Whistling both a soft satisfied sigh as well as deep chuckle exiting from his mouth, his tongue performs the honors by circling across the non salivated lips numerous times with a decent leisure, resuming his silent indulgement relishing the ageless outlook of the youthful night pleasing his needs.

"Ahhhhh..... It is so good to be greatly free within the gifted sea of midnight than to rest upon the throne with the lack of excitement that will entertain my interest...." Yami sighed in complete relaxation, hidden his arms behind the head while his legs are still firmly crossed wallowing into the comforting palms of the night goddess that is nighttime.

Until suddenly, appearing from afar or out of nowhere have came an unknown sweet aroma traveling through the personless park into a formless mist like an unseen fog guiding its path toward the tree where the crowned man is sitting, circling his surroundings just to gain his attention from the nightly daydream.

"Hmm? What is this?" He questioned, seeing this curious mist that emerge his presence with one of his eyes opened. Having no clue of what this strange odor could be, he would decide to take a careful whiff of it to make sure it's hardly gas, poison, or the putrid stench of a disgustingly raw onion smell that most vampires strongly despise. Then, an opposite sort of a aroma that's very harmonic had simmered his curiosity down to a minimum.

"By the Egyptian gods.... What is that lovely aroma that I have smelt? And where might it come from?"

Howbeit, toward his shocking discovery, it is neither one nor three of those rough stentches that he suspiciously detects at all, but a different type of fragrance to which surprises his keen sense of smell ever so quickly than several more boorish odors would ridiculously hope to impress his strong whiffing ability.

Above several kinds of foul stenches, this strange yet ultimately sweetened aroma emitting from farther beyond known as perfume has intrigued him so quickly he continued to sniff it non stop once it enters his nostrils. Purring in interested, the starfish haired prince was delightfully moved by this freshly scented fog like mist than multiple reeking odors at best.

"Mmmm.... Such a delicate scent... So sweet and pleasant..... It has lifted my very soul so vastly than anything else in the world...." He had almost swooned by the incredibly unique fragrance used by millions of ladies in different ages to kill off the repugnant stink from their bodies to smell real nice for any occasion or place to go.

Still totally phased by its angelic fragrance embracing his anatomy so closely refusing to let go, he had decided to pay a certain person, or to his case a kind young lady, a pleasant little visit while risen himself up from the seated branch after a wonderfully hobby of nightseeing, flipping his bangs slightly by the hand writing a seductive smirk into the handsome facial expression.

"Hmm. It would seem that I will have to investigate this ravishing smell before me in order to obtain my answer... And when I do, it will be quite a pleasure to sink my teeth into something, or otherwise, someone so beautiful and innocent.... He he he he he....."

With that, he began to sets off to locate a compassionate girl by following the fairly scent in front of him using teleporting to move himself toward the mellow neighborhood via swarming bats that transport him to any destination, making it more simpler to just beat the snot out of walking.

Back at the mellow suburbian area into the centering start of Halloween where children, teens, as well as adults cladded into their costumes all at once stroll across the district collecting loads of delicious candies offered from many houses that gave them all out, having tons of fun as safely necessary as the streetlights are on, while you are upstairs into the bedroom spraying your favorite rose scented perfume across yourself from a nice long shower you had after sanitizing the whole household living room and all before doing your homework.

Wearing a water absorbed bathrobe on your somewhat drenched body as you dry off your hair with a towel sitting on the bed folding your legs firmly, you would gaze the direction of the exquisite nightrise from the window viewing it on about how breathtakingly graceful this dark navy skied background properly is to you than only the love for autumn at solo. Grinning peacefully at its timeless beautification due to the middle of desiccating yourself, you decided to seat by the casement to side watch for a few minutes.

Outside reappearing into the neighborhooded location done by teleportation, the handsomely divine pharaoh looks around the area left, right, top to bottom feeling mildly impressed by such a remarkably normal suburbs that humans live here without a sign of violence whatsoever.

"My. This is such a rather peaceful community when I first laid my eyes upon it. Very non threatening indeed." He said admirably. "But I cannot fool around for much longer. I must locate the elegant scent immediately."

Refocusing on the top priority at hand self preventing himself not to stand oddly by or come here just to tour throughout the neighboring fields before him, he teleports yet again. But this time, his next stop: your place.

Fully clothed into your collared pajama gown at last, but deciding to let your temporarily locks out to blow dry as well as brush at the similar time while sitting onto the mattress at still, you grabbed both of them from the dresser next to you, plugging up the dryer first then setting it to high making it easier to dehydrate your hair thrice faster.

Elsewhere outside your humble abode appearing once again standing atop of the tree branch next to the window, Yami is still on the endless search to seek the mysterious aroma that increases his desires up to maximum. Finding out that either one of the houses he investigated do not have the succulent scent he whiffed back at the park.

"I have investigated every single household around this stationary neighborhood, but no sign of that sweet scent." He quietly growled, almost giving up on the lonesome search party until checking on the last house for tonight.

Sighing underneath his breath to get this wasteful reconnaissance over with, the dashing heir would ascend forwardly by staring into the window in a slight distance. Scrutinizing closely with the assistance of his transparent vision changing his eyes from purple into black, he can now research what's inside the building carefully.

Examining the entire bedroom non stop to capture this secret source of the delectable scent, his pupils would slowly direct their attention toward a special someone whose magnificent innocence than only beauty alone brings out a trillion smiles upon all faces unconditionally throughout the worst times in the world: You.

Silently gasping both in total awe as well as flabbergasted at your pure radiance before his violet peepers, he has never seen anyone this outrageously gorgeous heretofore in his immortal life until right now, causing his heart to skip a non rushing beat including eyes to half widen.

"My gods..... To who might be this....beautiful creature that stood before me? For I have never seen such rare elegance within my eternal life..."

Observing your flawless feature from head to toe with instant fascination by the window until a familar aroma had made its returning arrival yet again to surround His Royal Hotness by giving him a reminder about the real source that will surely answers his desperate question.

"There's that heavenly scent again.... And it's very close to this house... Could this mean....?"

Placing all of the pieces of the solving puzzle together into his mind during the temporary trek, the true answer lies toward this household directly before him through that bedroom window for you are sitting next to. Which can also mean that the marvelous fragrance he had been shortly trailing at the start, definitely comes from you all along.

You are the rare source of this gifted redolence that called onto the fanged pharaoh from the beginning because your window was slightly opened to air out the room since you covered your body with a scented Spring Rose perfume too much. Toward his liking, he always loved the smell of the crimson blooms so much when he was only a young prince.

Finally, the soughtful task of seeking the memorable scent from his childhood has offically become concluded to a close now that he possesses the answer into his palm. As a victorious celebration for his hard work, the greatest reward of all is clearly right in front of him, ripe for the taking.

"At long last..... I have found the source of the remarkable fragrance that I truly long for...." He grinned thankfully, redirecting his observation toward you in the resting room window brushing your lovely mane into a slow careful paste. "And I must admit, for an innocent young mortal such as her, she has a delightful scent of a beautiful rose...."

Proceeding once more to enjoy your richly blessed innocence spending most of your time on your own getting yourself together to start working on your homework before a gentle knock on your window glass, the mild mannered brassed vampire prince shall now perform on what he'll do best: paying a kind visit to your room and to have himself a permanent fun with you, including your scarless body, when you're unexpecting something or not looking, which is simply easy for him.

Only when the time comes, of course, but very soon you will become his favorable little rose to harmlessly play as well as seduce with all night long. Depending on how long the private romance between a human and vampire could sometimes take.

The blessful night remains within its youthful stratosphere caressing the calmly matured pharaoh's shoulder to ease his non stressful nerves, a beautiful full moonlight pours out its glimmering light upon the world featuring him himself, and lastingly, the sounding cry of the howling wolf echoes around the celestial sphere being the comforting music toward his ears. Now, without any further ado, a pleasurable evening, shall be formally introduced at last.

"Enjoy your most precious moment of your sweet young life, my darling little rose~ For it can be the only matter of time....until you, your body, and the elegant taste of your warm marvelous blood, will belong to me~..... He he he he he he~....."

((To Be Continued))

#yugioh #duel monsters #yami yugi #pharaoh atem #king of games #vampire atem #x reader #pov #halloween 2022 #vampire #steamy

[the-dalish-dish]

We're backish!

This blog hasn't been updated since 2017, and I personally have never interacted with it, despite asking my friend for mod rights when I was playing dragon age.

But that's about to change! I have semi-recently gotten super into cooking with my partner, and as such I'd love to get involved in this blog again, especially since I'm getting back into themed blog content.

And here we go! I'll start with an introduction and a recipe I enjoy.

On here I go by Alioth, which is the name of my main Dragonage OC. I might share some stuff about his story here and my art of him occasionally as well, but this is mostly going to be a blog that shares recipes I enjoy. I've been playing dragon age for a long time and I've always felt a kinship with the Dalish, who simply resonated greatly with the experiences I had growing up different, especially in the context of my life where I was raised Christian, by a devout stepfather, and I am now (and have been for a very long time) very very pagan.

I enjoy being a ray of sunshine in people's lives, and while I'm far from perfect, I strive to be better every day so I can always do that for the people in my life. My favorite color is yellow, and I prefer to bake than cook, but I enjoy both. If you remember me from the old days of Tumblr, that's ok, but I'm a very different adult than I was sub-21. I hope you're willing to learn the new me. I'm 26, turning 27 in November, and my favorite animals are hyenas and cheetahs. Dingos get an honorable mention though.

I'm living in a Celtic region of the world these days and as such my inspiration for today's recipe is one I think is important to know (everyone who wants to cook should make bread) and also is a fun way to do so. I noticed a lot of Celtic imagery in the Dalish storylines in the game, so I have taken that into account (though not all my recipes will have specific inspirations, some just FEEL Dalish to me, and I will add those as well or I will quickly run out of recipes to put on this blog....) this recipe isn't mine, and I will therefore be linking the blog post I found it on here in this post, but for brevity's sake and just in case the blog is ever removed, I will also post the recipe as well as a picture of it here. In the future, I plan to add my own pictures, and I will always tag those pictures as my own. I will also add my own recipes, which I will also tag accordingly.

Today's recipe is Celtic Knot bread, which is fun and tasty. I will post it in another post so you guys don't have to dig through an introduction to find it!

#introduction #mod Alioth #elfkin #dalish recipes #elvhen

[ohhoneato]

Hey-yo friends, mutuals and everyone in between!

My birthday is coming up on the 27th! As excited as I am for it, bestie is leaving for vacation the day before my brithday and I won't get to spend it with my favorite person. But my parents are going to take me out for dinner and my dad is helping me make bulk beef sticks, because the beef stick market is FAR too expensive.

Bestie and I still have bills due though, and although we've been far too chill with things, we just got new vehicles, since I use mine for work and my car was straight up dying. We desperately need to start saving some money and bestie really wanted to take me out for food for my birthday.

Below I have my PayPal linked (I'd have venmo and cashapp too, but I completely lost access to my venmo and I don't have room to download cashapp on my phone), if you like to send a little birthday money or to just help with bills at all! The birthday money I get is going to either bills or to help me get a TV and better bed, since I'm sleeping with bestie for those two things. I'm also wanting to decorate my room better and get myself a snack cart! I snack a lot and don't really eat a lot of full meals anymore, so I wanted to have some snacks I'd like just available. Or on the flip side, I'm going to be home by myself for a week after I pick up bestie's mom's dog to watch while they're on vacation. If anyone wants to send a gift or some food, I'm all for that, the less expenses I have while she's gone (she does everything with finances in our household) the better.

For anyone wanting to get me anything for my room, my theme is yellow. Even yellow wall paint would be nice, I tried painting it already, but it's too dull of a yellow, plus my dark yellow blackout curtains aren't the right color either.

But yeah, I'd really appreciate these things, but if all you can do is just say happy birthday, well I'm just glad someone said it. My birthday is around memorial day and no one was ever able to celebrate it with me when I was younger, because they were off doing memorial day cook-outs or spending time with their families. I'm not upset about them celebrating their fallen family and those who served, my grandfather was in the navy and when I'm up around my birthday, he'll take me to see the people who fell that he served with. I was always just sad that when I tried to change the date, people always told me they still couldn't go. I know now they were just trying not to go, but it gave me animosity towards the holiday.

So I'm happy that now that I'm an adult, I have people to talk to that I can spend my birthday with, even if it's just online. So thank you all, mutuals and friends, for talking to me and interacting with me.

I really never thought I'd live to my 26th birthday and now that it's right around the corner, I'm still in shock. I'm still depressed, God I'm still depressed. But I've become a much better person than I was. I've grown so much and I'm glad I got to take this journey with you all.

https://paypal.me/beanthestring?country.x=US&locale.x=en_US

#birthday

[monitsou]

HOW THEY WOULD PLAY ANIMAL CROSSING + WITH THEIR S/O

characters: kenma, atsumu, akaashi

warnings: a bit of swearing :p

post note: so it’s been 6 years since i played ac :( so i just recalled the things that ac features usually had, pls tell me if i mentioned something wrong ! and reblogs are highly appreciated!

KENMA KOZUME

you can’t tell me that kozume doesn’t daily grind? he probably would spend all day just catching fishes and foils around his island

he wouldn’t pay too much attention decorating his island though, he will just put everything in one place so he can see that it’s there ??

he usually completes his task but tend to get bored so he’s just free styling whenever he’s playing

actually likes tom nook, even though he’s almost broke from paying his debts

his island can look neat at some point because you would encourage him to put a little bit more design to it.

doesn’t care about the design of his villager’s house but he’ll still talk to them because it’s part of the game after all.

his character always goes for a comfortable look, like sweaters and sweats ‘cause he thinks it’s nice to have a miniature character of him.

you once gave him a custom design sweater and trust me, he never took it off <3

has a little corner of his island to drop off bells for you to receive whenever you drop by his island.

one time he dropped 20k bells and you cried for hours

eventually, kuroo would try to steal the bells and kenma threatened him that he’ll block the shit out of him ( and he did lmao )

he absolutely LOVES it when you update him about the new tiny details you placed on your island, he thinks it adorable <3

because kozume usually likes to play animal crossing at night, both of you would stay up late to do such things

this always leads to midnight walks across either your town or his, nonetheless he finds it pretty relaxing when you play with him while he tries to keep up to your enthusiasm over the game

ATSUMU MIYA

this mf is annoying as hell, he prolly doesn’t know how the game works

“ angel! why’d they talk like that? am i on the wrong settings or — “

he can’t even catch fish ...

spends all his bells to the able sisters to get new fancy clothing and he tried making a design for himself but it didn’t turned out as great :/

so focused at talking to his villagers, it’s like how he’s talking to real life people ??

he’ll show off any kind of rare and expensive stuff that he got and maybe even shove his switch to your face

his island would look kinda messy at first but it gets better once you actually explore more, that’s because he likes to kinda surprise you and see your reaction at first 🙄

he always prepares a red carpet for you to walk on whenever you visit to feel how special you are even in games, however he removes it INSTANTLY if osamu and suna comes to tease him about it.

i can see his island theme having the color palette of yellow, beige and white, maybe a tad bit of maroon as well.

LOOOVES hyping you up !! when he sees you wearing a new hat, clothing or having new decors around your island, he’ll always have the best reactions to appreciate your work !

picnic dates are a thing with him !! he picked a nice spot to place the picnic decors to watch the sunset, it even has trees and flowers surrounding it for you to enjoy. ( i’m sobbing )

exchanging gifts and letters were always a thing ever since atsumu learned how to write postcards. it also happens once a week so prepare yourself for some fun stuff <3

he’ll sometimes write sweet messages but often it’s just bad jokes that still makes you laugh at some point.

AKAASHI KEIJI

let’s hear it from the best animal crossing player of all time !!!

plays animal crossing like a pro, and can manage to pay his debt while designing his island better than you ( JUST SAYING 😳 )

he likes taking his time while playing it, he doesn’t usually use time travel unless he really needs to.

his favorite part about playing it is how the music changes as the time passes, it really relaxes him after a day of work + bonus relaxing points if he plays with you !

his island’s color palette would include different shades of brown, beige, white, gray and maybe a bit of baby blue

his island looks so neat and organize! he’ll definitely have those nicely designed coffee shop with a library next to it ( it makes you want to quit tbh )

lowkey excited whenever he sees a balloon with a present floating in air or whenever he sees a bottle w/ a letter on the beach

he literally just appreciates every single thing and detail in the game

MUSEUM. DATES. ARE. HIS. THING !!!

he often lets you visit his museum to look how far he’s gone by collection his fishes, butterflies and fossils.

and he’s highkey proud of it

always takes couple pictures near the aquarium and the !!! butterfly house !!! while doing cute poses and he’ll eventually make it his lock screen ( it’s too cute for him )

he would make a waterfall area that’s actually nicely built and he also placed it with his pastel colored flowers.

he also prepared a diner set that’s close to the waterfall so it would look so ethereal at night because of how romantic and peaceful it looks :(

he gives so much effort when designing areas and making clothes for you in particular.

and he would always invite you whenever he’ll have meteor showers because it’s a moment where you both wish on shooting stars with the most heavenly scenery <//3

© ATSUMAKI — do not plagiarize my future and current works as well as posting it to other platforms.

#haikyuu x reader #haikyuu x gn!reader #haikyu x you #haikyuu!! #anime #haikyuu kenma #haikyu kenma #haikyuu atsumu #haikyu akaashi #haikyuu akaashi #kenma kozume #kenma headcanons #kenma fluff #atsumu miya #hq atsumu #atsumu fluff #atsumu x gender neutral reader #msby atsumu #hq kenma #kenma x reader #atsumu headcanons #akaashi x y/n #akaashi hcs #akaashi headcanons #akaashi fluff #akaashi keiji #haikyuu headcanons #📄 : scenarios

[m3li3x]

It's been a while and as much as i wanted to upload an Easter look then eventually an actual Easter event came around which i never uploaded anything about and it's summer now 🤣🤣🤣perhaps I can fill you in with what you've missed :)

This is what the Easter event had to offer us, probably one of my favorite events because it had such pretty items to buy 😍😍😍

I decided to add the Easter event items with the autumn event items because the colors blended very nicely and i also bought a new wooden floor and walls because i haven't ever changed both the walls or floors in this game and it seemed like something i should do if i stick to one theme for a long time and besides it's very easy to make money on this game.

The garden is more simple probably because there was a lot of things you could purchase from the Easter event for the garden and i didn't want everything to look crowded but somehow ended up looking empty too but in the end i loved it and it's always fun to play around with how you want to decorate 😆😆

This is little baby Emerson's room, my favorite item to buy from the Easter event was definitely the rabbit plushy next to his bed it's so big and cute holding the egg🥺🥺🥺

This is the living room! I really like the wooden furniture and colorful warm colors in this Easter event!!

Now i don't think swans have anything to do with Easter bunnies but since we had a flamingo bathtub for valentine's i thought why not switch it up to a swan now 😆😆, i adore this picture because there's an actual swan in the swan bathtub 🤣🤣🤣.

Here's the kitchen filled with lots of color also, in my head i though blue and yellow would be nice for Easter!

Recently the game finally added cloud save so i was very happy with that! Just incase there ever came a time where i needed to delete the game i could always come back with full progress!!

Also found it really cool that it shows how many items and rooms you have purchased along with how much love(currency) you have in the game!

Oh and i almost forgot there's this new feature in the game where you can press this button that had eyes on the top left hand corner of your screen and it will remove all tabs on your game which is handy for people who want to take screenshots of the full visual or even just to be able to press on an animal and obtain love it always the shrimp in the river being at an awkward angle and you're unable to collect it everytime 😆😆

There's a big difference and i find it very handy for both gameplay and uploading!

Hope to see you soon☺️, i hope everyone is doing well 🤗🤗byeee

#adorable home

[pop-goes-the-sneasel]

Do you have a moment to talk about our lord and savior Arceus?

Arceus!!!! The Original One!

Arceus is a pretty big deal. According to legends – or at least the legends of Sinnoh – Arceus is responsible for the creation of the entire pokemon world, and potentially the entire universe. Mythology was a heavy theme of the Sinnoh games, as was the continual conceptual power creep of Legendary pokemon. The version mascots of Diamond and Pearl – Dialga and Palkia – respectively represent time and space with reality-warping powers to match. Arceus, in turn, is essentially the ultimate culmination of this power creep – an almighty creator god hatched in a void before the universe existed. Again, just according to legend.

That said, the only creation-y thing Arceus was ever shown to do was manifest an egg containing Dialga, Palkia, or Giratina in HGSS as part of a special event. This is probably the means it created the universe with – it just made Dialga and Palkia then they did all the actual creative stuff. This event was also accompanied by a very surreal cutscene featuring real-life photographs of space, landscapes, cities, and even blood cells, along with some arcane symbols. Frankly the sheer insanity of this cutscene is probably the strongest argument for Arceus being a legitimate godlike being. There has never been anything quite as jarringly strange in this franchise before or since.

Another question Arceus raises is how many are there, exactly? Legendary and Mythical pokemon are both established as incredibly rare, but not even the human-modified Mewtwo and Genesect are treated as truly one-of-a-kind. As such, I highly doubt Arceus has just one sole member of its species. The dex entries make reference to how it shaped the universe with its “1,000 arms”, which is obviously a peculiar statement given Arceus has no visible arms at all. My theory is that the term “arm” is being used metaphorically here – the universe was actually created by 1,000 different individual Arceus. Assuming it did create the universe, I mean. And of course, that might not be an exact number.

Anyway, as a Mythical pokemon, Arceus historically isn’t available through normal means, instead being distributed through special real-world events. Notably, it was one of several Mythical and Legendary pokemon of the era intended to be obtained through capture, with Arceus spawning in a special location atop Mt. Coronet known as the Hall of Origin. The Hall of Origin would be accessed using the Azure Flute (or Heaven Flute, in Japan) – an item distributed by the associated event. Unfortunately, though, the Azure Flute event never actually materialized, apparently because Game Freak believed it would be “too confusing” for players to use. Instead, Arceus was just given to the player directly without any special fanfare, and this became the norm for almost all Mythical pokemon thereafter. Still, the Azure Flute and Hall of Origin maintained a certain mystique, especially due to their lack of official use.

To represent Arceus’s omnipotent nature, it has an ability known as Multitype. Multitype allows Arceus to change its type based on what elemental Plate it holds, with one Plate for every type besides Normal (Arceus’s default type). The Plates bear engravings describing their legend, each supposedly being a shard of the universe left over from its creation. Each different type yields a slightly different appearance, usually changing the yellow components of Arceus’s design and sometimes the gray parts as well, generally corresponding to the main thematic color of each type. Dragon is a notable exception, as rather than using the usual color of indigo, Dragon Arceus uses a dark green and purple. Arceus also bears a signature move known as Judgement, which changes its type to match Arceus’s current form.

While the other forms are sometimes more aesthetically interesting, it’s the Normal-type Arceus that really best-captures the intended vibes of the pokemon. The yellow and white combo gives off a certain “holy” appearance. Paired with the moves “Judgement” and “Punishment”, Arceus seems to particularly allude to Abrahamic conceptions of God, though thankfully it does so in a decidedly unique way. Although the basic silhouette of Arceus is a rather “normal” animal, perhaps most resembling an alpaca, but its specific features remarkably uncanny. Its legs end in footless points, its stomach is oddly engorged, and its body is covered in peculiar points and knobs. Its face is also wholly unnatural, with no clearly defined features beyond its colorful eyes and green circles below them that almost evoke another pair of eyes. The ring around its body seems intended to represent a halo, but does so in a way I’ve never seen on anything else. Arceus definitely feels “godly”, whether it’s truly a god or not.

Appropriate for a god, Arceus has a history of breaking some established conventions of the TCG as well. Its original appearance in the eponymous Arceus set had an Arceus card corresponding to every type in the TCG, with a special Arceus-specific ruling that you can have as many Arceus cards in your deck as you want, rather than being limited to four. These cards weren’t actually that great, though. It wasn’t til relatively recently that Arceus got a card truly appropriate for a deity: a Tag Team card alongside Dialga and Palkia. Their GX attack, Altered Creation GX, allows them to do more damage to your opponent for the rest of the game in addition to taking an additional prize card for every pokemon you knock out. This is anunprecedented degree of power, and the ADP archetype has become a format-shaping force.

Arceus’s shiny is kinda mediocre. It replaces the white with a creamy yellow, clashing horribly with the yellow accents of its Normal form and generally being kinda hit-or-miss with the other forms. Shown here is the shiny variant of Arceus’s Fairy form, which I chose to showcase because the Fairy form isn’t shown above and because it’s probably my favorite of the bunch. It actually looks pretty alright with the yellow body, thankfully.

Overall, Arceus really isn’t my personal style, but I don’t dislike it. I don’t think the franchise really needed an all-powerful creator god, but I do think Arceus is a pretty cool one. Hopefully Legends: Arceus does something cool with it.

The number of footprints Arceus's 1,000 arms leave in the sand/10

#pokemon #pkmn #swsh #pokemon reviews #arceus #normal type #also the other types #mythical #legendary #sinnoh #gen 4

[narrators-journal]

Months of tolerance

So, I was looking back at my ranpoe valentines story and I got an idea. Why not write a little collection? A little trio or so of Valentines-themed sort of ship stories?

And so, I wrote a second one for Shin-soukoku! Though, please be forgiving, I’m not a super big fan of Atsushi, so I don’t have a lot of ideas and experience on how he works and behaves, so I kinda took inspiration from the rp me and my friend did for BSD and their sort of rendition of Atsushi mixed with canon.

Atsushi had never really experienced Valentines day or White day, so when Dazai offered to take him out on one of his days off and introduce him to the basics of the event he accepted it. He was quick to find it to be a bit depressing.            “Dazai, I don't think I have any real...reason to be here," The tiger sighed, putting down one of the little Valentines bears he'd been looking at in the shop and looking over at the bandage-clad brunette that was to be his mentor in the ADA. The rail of a man just pouted at him,            "Nonsense, Atsushi! You're learning about romance," he assured, giving the white-haired man a sweet smile, which made Atsushi grimace,            "Yeah, but this holiday is obviously for couples, and I don't have any romantic partner of any sort," He pointed out, a stone of loneliness settling in the bottom of his stomach as he spoke, but his mentor simply snorted as if that point was moot.            "Sushi, you don't need a romantic partner to celebrate Valentines day, you can just as easily get gifts for friends. After all, I don't have a partner but I'm gonna get a gift for someone." He assured, and while the tiger was still a bit unsure, he just nodded.

After that, he just went back to milling around up and down the aisle as he poked at the little toys, knick knacks, or sweets scattered about until Dazai clapped his hands together in an idea,          "Atsushi! I have an idea for what you can do on Valentines day!" he chirped, bouncing on his feet in some childish, giddy high, "Why not get a gift for Ryuunosuke!" The tiger blinked and scowled at the idea,          "Why the hell would I do that? I don't have any sort of feelings for him," he about spat, almost feeling his lip curl in a snarl at the mere mention of the wheezing, gothic, Dazai fanboy. However, the brunette simply rolled his eyes at his venom,          "There is a very common phrase, 'kill your enemies with kindness', you ever hear it?" before the weretiger could answer, he continued, "Akutagawa doesn't like you. At all. Hates your guts. But! If you get him a gift, maybe be as friendly as you can be, you can get him to warm up to you!" the weretiger's scowl only deepened, which made his mentor huff and drop the excited, bubbly tone, "If you get him to like you, you won't have to spend quite as much on shirts every week." Atsushi ended up buying a cheap little gift for the goth. However, that now left him with a question. How was he to get the cheap plush cat to Akutagawa? He'd been pondering the question all through out the three days that led up to Valentines day, going back and forth on whether or not he should even bother with Dazai's stupid idea. Is it really worth risking getting stabbed again? Just to give this cheap little thing to a bastard like Akutagawa? He thought bitterly, though his cheeks burned a slight pink while he glared down at the floppy little beanie baby cat that was sprawled out on his meager little coffee table, staring up at the tiger with glassy amber eyes while he sat on his couch the evening before Valentines day. I'd sooner drink my own piss then give Akutagawa a Valentines gift. He told himself firmly, getting up from his couch and plucking the toy from the cheap table to get rid of it. To do this, he threw it out of his livingroom window into the darkness of the cold night and listened to it land in the dumpster across the street with a soft thud thanks to how hard he'd thrown it. And, with that, he shut his window with a decisive 'humph' and went to bed. Dazai was a smart man, but Atsushi was not going to have conflicting and confusing feelings plague him just to placate a violent asshole with a hateboner for him. An hour later, the tiger went out to the dumpster he'd heard the cat slam against and dug the poor thing out to be washed. Not that the weretiger had changed his mind or anything, he'd just spent money on the derpy little toy, he didn't want to waste it. Or, so he told himself. So, he instead returned it to his bedside table after washing it a few times, trying to see if he could somehow rub the new crack out of his amber eye while doing his best to get the dumpster stench out of its fur. If he really was going to 'kill Akutagawa with kindness' like Dazai said, the least he could do was make sure the gift didn't reek of three day old take out and dog vomit. When the next day came, he took the toy to work, then walked home with it draped over his arm after a day of dealing with petty couple squabbles that had turned nasty, or helping Ranpo to and from the smattering of robberies he'd been requested on. Y'know, this just proves why I should've kept this thing in the garbage, he fumed to himself, staring at the sidewalk ahead of him so he didn't see even more lovey-dovey couples for the day, If I gave this to Akutagawa somehow, all that would happen is I'd be a statistic. Nothing more. He hates me too much, it'd probably off- Atsushi's ill-tempered thoughts were cut short when he ran into someone else on the sidewalk, sending them both sprawling to the pavement.           "O-oh my god! I'm so sorry, are you hurt miss?!" The weretiger squeaked, hopping up to his feet at record speeds to offer a hand to the pretty lady in white. She had long black hair, and a familiar style of dress on, but it was her light, steel-colored eyes that finally got her face to click in the frazzled tiger's irrational mind.          "Oh!...Gin, right?" he asked as she took his hand and let him help her up while she nodded,          "Sorry, I didn't mean to run you over," she said, her voice as quiet as the first time he'd met her with Katai and Kunikida, but her words shot a nebulous sort of anxiety into his veins,         "Oh, no no no, it was my fault, I wasn't looking where I-I was going," he stammered, trying desperately to comfort her as he reached to dust her off, but then changed his mind half way, doing that would be super weird, so he instead tried to think up another way to make up for running into her. He felt awful for knocking her over, but had no clue what to do, so he just ended up putting a hand over his anxious heart and staying quiet. Gin, meanwhile, had spotted the saggy stuffed toy on the sidewalk,           "Um, is that yours?" She asked, picking it up and dusting the little thing off gently, snapping Atsushi out of his thoughts,          "What? Oh! Yeah, that's...actually, I bought it for...Akutagawa." he admitted, not knowing what else to say to explain why he had a stuffed cat. Gin blinked at him, raising an eyebrow,           "No offense, but why did you buy my brother a toy? Is it for Valentines day?" Atsushi gaped for a moment, for some reason his brain struggling to give even the simplest answer for a moment,          "I...D-Dazai suggested getting him a gift..." he muttered, his cheeks beginning to heat up as he spoke, which Gin seemed to notice, but she said nothing,          "Well, how about I deliver it to him? He likes cats, I'm sure he'd enjoy this one," she offered sweetly instead, and for a moment Atsushi could only stare at her while his cheeks undoubtedly glowed a healthy pink until he cleared his throat, get yourself together Atsushi! This is a fine way to get the damned gift to Akutagawa, then Dazai can get off your ass, he told himself, pushing down the weird flustered feeling in his chest,         "Um, t-that would be helpful," She nodded, smiling a bit at the toy cat. With that, she wished him well as the sky darkened from the yellow-purple gradient of Atsushi's eyes, to a dark, star-speckled blue, leaving the tiger to walk home and contemplate his day. For the next few days, the weretiger was on edge, just waiting for the wheezing goth to pop out from behind every corner ready to stab him. However, it never happened. Atsushi was expecting it, always at the ready to defend himself, but for the entire month he didn't even see his nemesis on jobs, let alone when he was walking home or too work. So, he began to relax. Maybe he really did enjoy the stuffed toy, he thought a month or so later on his walk home from the ADA. The thought brought an odd warm feeling to his chest, but he was swift to stomp the detested feeling back down into that part of himself he refused to acknowledge. He could accept his tiger, but he was not ready to face anything like that emotion. Then, something slammed into the side of his head. In an instant, Atsushi was knocked onto the sidewalk with his world swimming for a moment or two. In those moments, he laid there in a daze, forced to wait for his senses to return and the throbbing ache in his skull to die before he could finally stumble to his feet. When the pain stopped and he could bare to stand once again, the white-haired man looked around for what might've hit him in the head, but the only thing he found was a can of soda. A soda that, upon closer inspection, he found to be one of his favorites, which was weird enough, since usually his favorite soft drink doesn't fly at people's heads, but, no one was currently around to explain why an unopened, very dented can of his preferred soda was rolling around at his feet after knocking him on his ass like it had. He'd tried to look around, taking advantage of his improved night vision to try and spot anyone trying to hide from the blame for throwing it at him, but the street was currently sparse in other people in the area. However, after a moment of thinking, and examining the near-bursting can, it slowly dawned on the tiger who might've thrown it. Then, the date set in, bringing a stronger wave of hot embarrassment to his cheeks.           "Um?? T-thanks I guess?" he called out into the swiftly growing darkness, and then swiftly continued home, before the hiding goth caught sight of the way his cheeks tinged a small shade of pink or decided to come out to maul him for acknowledging him.

#Shin soukoku #bsd #Bungo stray dogs #Atsushi Nakajima #Akutagawa Ryunosuke #scenario #fluff #valentines day

[musicallisto]

omg okay so I seen your post about your layout and I only followed you a few days ago but I’ve just started up on this blog and was wondering if you had any tips? honestly literally anything would be helpful your theme is just beautiful

hi! so first of all, thank you so much, it means the world that you enjoy my theme 💜

I've tried to think of some tips - though I wouldn't say my blog is a "reference" in terms of beauty at all, and these tips are not necessarily universal, but they work for me and I hope you find them useful!

— a few words of advice to new bloggers who wish to improve their (mobile) theme;

➣ first of all: let your theme be you. this is the most important point I think, and that's why I'm mentioning it first. compared to other social media platforms, tumblr offers you a wide array of customization options from the way your blog looks to what you reblog, and in my humble opinion you will never be entirely satisfied with your theme if it's not representative of what you like, or how you feel at the moment. my theme has a majority of purple & lilac because they're my favorite colors — it also references the sky because I'm really passionate about it. before even reading a word of my blog, you already know two things about me: 1) I love purple and 2) I love the sky. if you get the reference, you might even know that 3) I like playchoices and more specifically blades of light and shadow, based on my profile picture. let your imagination be wild, express yourself! like pastel colors? go all for it! love flowers? flower up that whole blog. your layout is the first thing people will see about you, and first impressions matter ッ

➣ have your icon and header match. the way I build my themes is very often as follows: I find (or make!) a beautiful icon of someone I like, then I scout tumblr in search of a matching header, and lastly I have the background and text colors match the set. you can also decide you want, say, a yellow or gold theme this time and look for icons & headers in that range. finding matching colors based on the header is easy for me since I love "cropped" headers or those that have a ripped paper effect, and allow the background color to kind of bleed onto the rest of the page. however if you have a regular-sized, rectangular header, you can easily find matching colors/palettes with websites like this one.

➣ keep your bio short. now this is entirely personal preference, but a very long bio tends to turn me off. mine is maybe a little too short, but I think it contains the most vital information about me: how to address me, my age, and what I do on here. if you want to dig deeper, you can click the links — never underestimate the power of links in your bio! imo, your bio should be somewhere between 1-3 lines of text, enough to add whatever quote you resonate with or important information or links you want people to know at first glance (pronouns, age...) but this is entirely subjective! if you want to go for a very long bio, by all means, do it!

➣ have a little trademark. this is totally optional, but a lot of blogs that I follow and whose aesthetics I love have their own little quirks when it comes to formatting their posts, or the way they speak in general. maybe they don't use capital letters ever, maybe they use the small text feature and italicize all their ponctuation like @meiitanoia, maybe they are known for their use of the ™ symbol like @lxncelot. maybe they have an emoji of choice! mine is the purple heart 💜 ; it's my Brand. I also use a lot of little symbols, stuff these little bad boys — anywhere I can, start all my important posts with ˚ ༘✶, and write all my titles with messletters. it's all about finding what you like best to express yourself, like figuring out your fashion style. once again, this is probably the most optional out of all these tips, but it's sure to crown your theme. (and, indirectly, your tumblr persona, because we are visual animals and will inevitably form an image of you more or less based on the look of your blog. no presssure, though!)

➣ for writers: have an organized navigation post/tagging system. this could arguably be extended to gifmakers and other editors, but I'm not really one of them so I couldn't really tell you. if your blog is organized, easy to maneuver — if it's basically impossible to get lost on your blog, then it will give an impression of well-kept and beautiful, like a maze with trimmed hedges where roses nest. i recommend having a fandom list, a masterlist of your works, maybe a post for your rules and what you're willing to write or not. you can also make little banners at the top of each post, like I do — but the one thing I find the most life-changing are dividers. you can use them anywhere, they're elegant, super easy to make in a variety of colors that go well with your theme; it's basically accessorizing your blog. a pleasure. It requires the tiniest bit of knowledge with photoshop or other softwares of the sort, but there are plenty of tutorials if you want to learn!

➣ lastly, keep it fun. don't fret about having the most beautiful theme or get anxious over whether or not the colors work well together or people are going to like the layout or not. a blog can only be as pretty as the person behind it! as long as you are having fun, showing what you want to show, posting what you want to post, and saying what you want to say, people will love your blog for its sincerity and good vibes, I can assure you!

#hope this was somewhat useful! #don't hesitate if you have more precise questions #cityofstaars #useful

[tales-of-spring]

A - Z of Fluff | Steve Rogers

A= Attractive (What do they find attractive about the other?)

Steve adores eyes, it’s just a fact. He can’t help but stare into your gorgeous, dreamy eyes every time you two talk. Or don’t talk, he just likes to stare at them and daydream wether or not you two are in contact with one another. You actually caught him staring at you before you two got together a few times. 

B= Baby (Do they want a family? Why/ Why not?)

Steve, despite being an all-American hero, hasn’t thought much about starting a family. He let his brain drift off to the thought once or twice and wouldn’t have a problem with it, especially if it makes you happy. 

C= Cuddle (How do they cuddle?)

Despite common controversy, Steve likes being both the big and little spoon. Thought he usually goes for the big spoon since that is where he feels more comfortable, and you like to feel his muscled-up soldier arms around your frame. He presses himself tightly against you and nuzzles his nose in your hair which always smells, in his words, ‘’heavenly’’ this scent calms him in seconds. 

D= Dates (What are dates with them like?)

You know it, classic dates with Rogers. Going to the cinema, doing a picnic in the park, visiting a theme park. As long as you two are having fun and feel like you’re on an adventure together. 

E= Everything (You are my ___ (e.g my life, my world…))

‘’You are my whole world.’’

F= Feelings (When did they know they were falling in love?)

When on a mission, you sacrificed yourself in order to save Steve. He’s a selfless person by nature and when he saw that you were so willing to give yourself to safe him, he knew you were the one for him. 

G= Gentle (Are they gentle? If so, how?)

Steve isn’t super gentle, but he isn’t super rough too. He starts slowly but as the tension increases, Steve gets more passionate, but never so it would hurt you. He’s been known to pin you up against something or clear a full desk, but that’s it. 

H= Hand/ Hold (How do they like to hold? How do they like to hold hands?)

Steve is an absolute SUCKER for public displays of affection. You wouldn’t guess it but Steve is really a territorial person when it comes to his significant other, so letting the world know your his by holding hands or kissing is no biggie for him. He laces his fingers with your and makes sure to squeeze a few times, just to remind himself and you that you guys are together. 

I= Impression (First Impressions/s)

Deep from within Steve was amazed and bedazzled by you, but like any American Himbo, he needed to find that out on his own. On the surface though, he didn’t make any sort of effort for hiding how he liked you. 

J= Joker (Are they into pranks?)

Steve likes a good teasing prank every once in a while, and it always catches you off-guard. He’s such a good-doer that you don’t expect it from him. But deep down he still likes to feel like a little kid racing the streets of Brooklyn, and no one better to do it with than the love of his life. 

K= Kisses (How do they kiss?)

Steve kisses wholeheartedly. He isn’t about boating, showing you off or putting on a show. He kisses you with the highest degree of sincerity, love and passion. He means the promise he makes with his lips every time. 

L= Little Things (What little things do they love/ notice.)

Steve notices how you bite your lip every time you’re trying to focus, or how you roll your ‘’Ls’’ when you write, or your daily routine. 

M= Memory (Their favorite moment together.)

Your first kiss, it’s cheesy but it’s also Steve Rogers we’re talking about. Everything about it felt so real, so true and so right. Steve loved how you stood on your toes, hands on his chest and slightly leaned into him like in the classics. He had one arm wrapped around your waist tightly while the other was occupied with cupping your cheek in his hand. He felt like the truest gentlemen doing it. 

N= Nickel (Do they spoil? Do they buy the person they love everything?)

Steve doesn’t spoil like Tony or Klaus would do, he’s too humble and not obsessed with money. Steve would be the type of guy to buy you your favorite things on either one of your anniversaries, or when you’re feeling down in the dumps. He knows exactly what you like, what makes you relaxed etc. so he will play with that knowledge and let you indulge whatever he got for you. 

O= Orange (What color reminds them of their other half?)

When Steve sees yellow, he is reminded of his significant other. The color stands for joy and loyalty and whenever he’s around you, he instantly feels more happy. Your loyalty to him and vice versa are as strong as a mountain and he loves to be reminded of the strength of your relationship.

P= Pet names (What pet names do they use?)

Gender Neutral: Baby, babe, honey, sweetie

Feminine: Babygirl, princess, dreamgirl

Masculine: Babyboy, prince, hubby

Q= Questions (What are the questions they’re always asking?)

‘’How did you sleep?’’ ‘’Want some fruit?’’ ‘’Where do you wanna go?’’ 

R= Remember (Their favorite memory of each other.)

Your first date together. It was such a classic affair, the way it would’ve gone had you guys lived in the 40s. Steve picked you up at seven, obviously gasped when you opened up the door, and took you on his motorcycle to the restaurant. After the dinner, you two were strolling down in a park, arms hooked into each other, Steve being the total gentlemen that he is. 

S= Sad (How do they cheer themselves/ each other up.)

Themselves: Steve is a simple man. A good workout where he can punch away all his stress, or worry, or anger usually works for him. 

Each other: When Steve sees that you’re upset, he will usually get you out of your slump by taking you to nostalgic places, trying to get you inspired and fired up. It’s either that, or he takes you on one of his hikes and let’s you intentionally win so you feel better. 

T= Talking (What do they love to talk about?)

His life in the 40s, Bucky and Peggy. His favorite food, the outfit that makes him feel most confident. His ass (he said it himself, folks) You, out of all things. 

U= Universe (Use a metaphor, what are they to each other? (e.g he was the universe, ever-changing and mysterious.))

He was the soft blanket that hugged your body, yet also the broad and steady walls that kept danger out. 

V = Vaunt. (What do they like to show off? What are they proud of?)

How strong or fast he is. His stamina, his body. How much he loves you. 

W= Why (Reasons why they love you.)

Steve loves you because you remind him of a feeling that he felt a long time ago; joy, a sense of adventure, and someone he can trust. He feels he can be totally himself around you and he loves how you challenge him. 

X= Xylophone (What’s their song?)

‘’It’s Been a Long, Long Time’’ or ‘’Dream A Little Dream Of Me’’

Y= You (The ___ to my ___ (e.g the cookies to my milk, the macaroni to my cheese.))

You are the love to his life, without it he is incomplete. 

Z= Zebra (If they wanted a pet, what pet would they get?)

Something easy to maintain and raise, a good dog breed like a golden retriever or husky. Maybe he’d go for a cat too. 

#Steve Rogers imagine #Steve Rogers headcanons #captain America imagine #captain America headcanons #steve rogers #captain america #marvel imagine #marvel headcanons #avengers imagine #avengers headcanons #marvel universe #Steve Rogers one shot #fluff alphabet #Steve Rogers x reader #Chris evans #marvel fluff #avengers fluff #captain America fluff #Steve Rogers fluff

[clumsyclifford]

cruel summer fic: director’s cut

fever dream high in the quiet of the night

so...............for a fic i wrote in such a short amount of time, and also for a fic written by me, there’s actually a surprising amount of Stuff To Analyze in here. themes. motifs, if you will. anyway. i am really proud of them, and ainslee and helen and sam enabled me, so i’m gonna talk about some of them here! 

fair warning, this gets a little long. hence the cut. also i know not everyone cares. and that is super fucking valid. anyway. let’s get into it. spoilers for the fic under the cut, obviously.

1. colors

so this fic has a lot of colors, like a lot more than i normally include (since i tend to write dialogue-heavy stuff). thematically the main important colors are blue and red. the ~blue~ is more or less for this like...physical relationship, but also blue of course connotes sadness and any kind of negative feeling in general (and re: cruel summer the song, "it's blue, the feeling i got"); the ~red~ is there in more romantic moments. the VERY first line of the fic says "the sky is bleeding navy blue" talking from the get-go about jack's uncertainty and how nervous he is and how unfamiliar the terrain is for him. but later on, in the scene when alex randomly picks jack up to go on a late-night adventure, we get this line:

“You certainly surprised me showing up at my house,” he says. “Any reason you thought I would be the best person to join you on your adventure?” 

 Alex casts a glance at him. The red stop sign before them is a jarring change from all the blacks and blues and washed-out yellows around them.

so there's this flash of red in the midst of the darkness and all this ~blue~ around them, and this is almost a romantic moment, because up until this they've pretty much only been hooking up and they're not even really friends. but now alex has specifically come to take jack on an Adventure. also i think it's interesting that it's a stop sign! possibly conflicting signals!

but then in the nightclub scene there's these lights ("flashes of blue and red keep washing over Alex’s face, making him difficult to look at for too long") and this is the scene where jack tells alex how he feels and then alex says that they wouldn't work. and it's not that alex doesn't feel the same, but alex is rejecting him anyway, so it's somehow a moment that is both romantic and tragic, hence both colors over alex's face at once. and then here:

Blue light washes over Alex. He gives Jack a hard look. “You’d tell your family?”

it's like..........that's the turning point. alex says this and it flips the argument in his favor and proves his point that they couldn't work, and that's a really fucking sad moment for the two of them. but then outside the nightclub, jack keeps talking about alex's red converse. like:

Jack staggers, and Alex grabs ahold of him, wrapping one of Jack’s arms around his shoulders. 

 “Easy,” he says. “I got you. Just focus on one spot until you get your balance.” 

 [...] Jack stares lasers into Alex’s red Converse.

because first of all the gesture itself of alex holding jack to help him get his balance is romantic and that even THOUGH alex rejected him there is still something romantic there. and it's here again later:

The scenery races by, Baltimore in all its trashy glory, but Jack fixes his gaze on Alex’s shoe until all he sees is red.

until all he sees is red.......it's all love baby. just call him FLETCHER cos it's all love

(there's also something to be said about the hickeys that are supposedly "reddish-purple"...purple as the middle ground between red and blue...something romantic but kind of painful...masquerading as a thing that exists without feeling...and another thing to be said about when jack falls from the tree and his palms are bleeding red and alex patches him up...but we'd be here all day)

2. shadows/darkness

i honestly don't know how much of this was intentional and how much just worked out, but there’s this idea of a dark cloud of rumors that surrounds alex? there's a lot of talk about rumors and reputation in here. like one of the first lines is:

From what Jack has heard, Alex is bad news. All he has to go on are rumors, but rumors start from somewhere, and rumors surround Alex like a storm cloud.

he's surrounded in this dark cloud of rumors! that's mentioned again in the scene at the high school:

After a while, a cloud of rumors resolves into a reputation, and Alex’s is impossible to ignore.

and this feels inherently dark, and this fic is inherently dark (not thematically just literally dark because it almost entirely takes place at night) but alex specifically seems to be shrouded in shadows and darkness, a LOT. his very first appearance in the fic is introduced like this:

There’s a shadow outside Jack’s window. 

 Something too irregular to be a heartbeat rams against Jack’s chest. He approaches the window. In the dark, dressed in black from head-to-toe, Alex looks like a robber, or maybe a ninja, or maybe a nightmare.

and almost immediately after that:

Alex fits so incongruously into it, absorbing all the light from Jack’s lamp like a six-foot black hole.

importantly, this is the very first scene of the fic, so this alex is the closest to Reputation-Alex as he gets in the fic, because hereafter jack starts learning more and more about him and the threads of this reputation start to fray and fall away. but in this very beginning, jack sees alex as someone surrounded by these rumors, and he keeps noticing shadows and darkness around alex, and alex (dressed in all black) kind of tries to be seen that way, too.

and then when they're in the high school, this Dark High School At Nighttime, the darkness over alex's face returns. they've all but broken into their high school and that's a very Reputation-Alex thing to do! jack sees this reputation around him, not necessarily as a bad thing but just as something that is very present. this exchange:

“No, it’s cool. I get it. Lotta rumors about me.” Alex nods. Jack can’t read his tone, can’t tell if he likes that his reputation precedes him or not. 

 “What’s your favorite?” he asks. “Is that a weird question?” 

 Alex looks at Jack, face shrouded in shadows. “Who cares?”

they're talking about alex's rep and his face is shrouded in shadows. jack is very aware of these shadows. he's not afraid of them or anything. but he knows they're there. he keeps mentioning them. he's never not aware.

and theeeen when there's light on his face...and jack sees him........clearing away this Shadow of a Reputation..........there's subsequently this theme of gold/light on or around alex, in certain moments when jack Sees alex. in the first scene:

Jack breaks away and the lamp light casts a glow over Alex’s face. It occurs to Jack for the first time that Alex is beautiful.

and also from that scene:

“Shh,” he says, grabbing Jack’s face in one hand. His eyes look like shimmering gold. “Your parents will hear.”

and in the high school (this one has Layers) when alex buys jack something from the vending machine, and they kind of...........become friends:

Now he and Alex stand before one, bluish-white light awash over Alex like a fluorescent halo.

there's this light around him and jack can see him, and especially on the heels of that conversation where they both talk about how the other person is good for them, this is a good moment of jack Seeing alex as a person and a friend and not seeing his Reputation

3. the halo (aka the devil/angel dichotomy)

this part is very important to me, so here we go. in the final scene, when alex comes out of his house to talk to jack, his appearance is characterized like this:

By the time Alex appears, a shadow backlit by streetlamps, incandescent halo in full effect, Jack is very close to a nervous breakdown.

now. first of all. his halo at the vending machine had been fluorescent, and his halo now is incandescent. aside from the obvious ~angel/devil~ dichotomy (this part happens only moments later: “I love you too,” Alex says in a rush, and then a devilish grin splits his face in two as he takes Jack’s hand in his own) (i.e. "he looks up, grinning like a devil"), the color of the halo has changed. it started as this clean fluorescent bluish white, like their relationship was before; incandescent light is warmer and it feels a lot closer to red. so the light behind alex's halo has changed, because the nature of their relationship has changed. and that's important. 

but the other important thing is that he has a halo at all. because alex is the "devil" in this fic and jack is the "angel," so to speak, of course. but in these two moments, jack sees him as an angel, and he sees this halo. and then JUST after that incandescent halo line, there's this line:

As he comes closer, the streetlight glow fades until only darkness surrounds them both.

importantly: it surrounds them BOTH. the darkness isn't just alex's now. maybe that's because jack has changed and he's done a very non-jack thing, a very alex thing, but whatever the reason, the Rep isn't just alex's now, and jack is aware (not negatively or anything, just Conscious) that it's now around them both. in short, the devil isn't just alex now, but jack as well, at least a little. and then there's also this, and this is the last way jack describes alex:

Alex’s smile gleams brilliantly, impossibly white.

so......maybe.......he's a little bit an angel. a little.

4. height

this is small, but in the beginning there's this:

With a start, Jack realizes he’s actually taller than Alex. Somehow he’d never noticed. Alex takes up space. Jack never has.

this is a scene in which jack feels like alex has the power. because alex has the experience and the Reputation and this is the kind of thing he Does, and it's not something jack has Ever Done. but THEN, in the high school, there's THIS:

An echoing silence fills the space between them. Jack pushes himself off the wall. The two inches he has on Alex suddenly feel very real.

alex is insecure in this scene. he's saying jack is a good kid and that jack is good for him because alex is a bad kid and a bad influence, and suddenly jack has the "power" (so to speak) and alex is the weaker one. because alex is feeling insecure. so suddenly jack realizes not only that he and alex might not be as different as he thinks, but also that alex isn't this untouchable Reputation, that he's also just a kid who resents himself sometimes. and that's very important for their relationship! for jack to realize that alex is not on this pedestal, that he is also just a kid.

5. stuff i did not do on purpose

these are things that either i noticed or that got pointed out to me after i posted the fic but i will gladly take credit for them if you feel like giving it lmfao

(1) there are a lot of taylor references. some of these were intentional (yes it does say cruel twice, that was on purpose lmao), and the mention of august ("August starts melting away, slipping through Jack’s fingers") was kinda a callback, but it fully slipped my mind that all the reputation talk could have read like a reference. "For something so heated, it certainly feels delicate” was not an intentional reference to delicate. but kinda cool that it worked out that way !!! 

(2) in the high school scene, jack tells alex that he's the worst thing he's ever done. and then at the end he tells alex, “Alex, I honestly think you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” talk about a fucking 180!!!!! 

(3) in the very first scene there's this:

and when Jack says he’s out on a limb he means it. To fall from here would mean almost certain death, but fuck, it might just be worth it.

and then later, jack literally falls from the tree. and on top of that, alex is the reason he falls (the texts), but ALSO, alex is the person who's there to patch jack up. it's not "certain death," BECAUSE alex is there. jack hadn't been wrong; alex had been the cause of his fall, but he'd also been the reason why the fall hadn't been "fatal." (using hyperbolic words to make this point)

(4) the first and final scenes parallel each other. in the first scene jack's room is in complete darkness except for the one light at his bedside. in the last scene, too, they're surrounded by darkness. the streetlamps illuminate alex briefly but then the light fades and it's just the two of them in the dark again. 

 on top of that, here's this from the scene in the car towards the beginning:

“What are you doing here?” [Jack] whispers, leaning through the window. “Turn off your headlights, someone might see.”

and from the last scene:

“What the fuck are you doing?” Alex hisses, and he sounds nervous, for what Jack thinks might be the first time since they’ve known each other. “My dad is still awake, you know.”

so the cautious (jack) has become the reckless, and the reckless (alex) becomes the cautious!!!! that's shown in a LOT of ways in this last scene, but that one is particularly salient.

~

also, this doesn’t really go anywhere but it is one of my favorite lines of figurative language in the whole thing:

It’s a dumb joke in a lot of ways and Jack gets the sense that had he made it to anyone else it would have landed like an airplane on fire, but Alex actually chuckles.

airplane on fire!!! it’s just so much fun. and so evocative. and i like it.

~

so anyway, that’s my director’s cut analysis of cruel summer fic. if you read this, or even if you just read the fic, or even if you read this WITHOUT reading the fic (although ???? i think it will make more sense if you read the fic), thank you for indulging me!!! i am extremely happy with the way this fic came out. point being. thank you for joining me. love ya <3

#god i wanna make a playlist for this fic so BAD #the thing is i HAVE a playlist where the plot is very close to the plot of this fic but that's just coincidence #so i might just fuck around and do it #anyway thanks everyone for humoring me #xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo ill kill and die for you all xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo #stuff #director's cut #cruel summer fic #i've never done a director's cut but that's because there has never been so much stuff to Talk About before so like #also yessss i know i'm not a Director and this is Fanfiction #but i like the phrase director's cut i think it fits i'm keeping it you can pry it outta my COLD DEAD HANDS #complete full disclosure this was originally typed up with the intent of only sending it to helen and ainslee and possibly sam #and it was written on discord #sorry if it doesnt make a lotta sense #theres some other stuff but it's a lot more obvious #like the scene in jack's bed where jack resists the urge to brush alex's hair away and when he DOES do it it's with the excuse of sex #versus in the nightclub when he doesn't disguise the action at all #or the 'take your parents' car' 'no' >>> he takes his parents car thing #anyway there are just THINGS in here #STUFF!!!!

[artificialqueens]

Tree House Kisses, Chapter 43 (Adorney) - Scorpio and Veronica

A/N: Click here for previous chapters here on AQ or here if you’d rather read on AO3. xoxo!

And thank you again to our wonderful betas: @saiphl, @sillylittlecandycane

Chapter Summary: It’s finally the night of senior prom!! It starts out great...but will it end in disaster? (Spoiler alert: yes)

Chapter 43: I Just Wanna Dance

There were a million things Courtney loved about being in the The Scarlet Pimpernel--finally getting a chance to play a lead role in a musical, the songs themselves, the beautiful costumes they’d borrowed from a nearby university’s theatre company, the warm encouragement from Mrs. Maguire, watching her friends and castmates shine, when her dad surprised her by showing up for one of the weekend shows with a bouquet of pink roses…

But her favorite thing of all was being onstage with Adore. It was the first time they’d had multiple scenes together since playing Annie and Miss Hannigan in 5th grade, and for Courtney, it made the experience a million times better.

Closing night was bittersweet. In some ways, Courtney wished that it would never end. But she was excited for prom and graduation, their Mexico road trip and their first apartment. So even though it was a little bit sad, she didn’t cling to it. Instead, she focused on the excitement she felt about everything to come, and really tried to live in the moment, committing every single second to memory.

In the garden scene with Adore, she noticed the little wisps of hair around her face that were lit up by the bright stage lights, the way her hazel eyes gleamed, and when she leaned toward her, it was the closest they’d ever come to actually kissing in this scene. All Courtney wanted was to surrender, to just close her eyes, let their lips touch, but she fought it, finally pushing Adore away like she was supposed to at the last possible second, heart pounding, feeling a bit light-headed while she watched her sing. Really listening to the lyrics for what felt like the first time.

“Marguerite, don't forget I know who you are. We were cut from the same surly star, like two jewels in the sky, sharing fire. Where's the girl, so alive and still aching for more? We had dreams that were worth dying for. We were caught in the eye of a storm! Come again!”

Adore grabbed her hands, spinning her in a circle, and a lump formed in Courtney’s throat.

“Let the girl in your heart tumble free. Bring your renegade heart home to me. In the dark of the morning, I'll warm you, I'll rouse you . . .”

As they slowly stopped turning in a circle, Courtney swallowed hard, the dizziness getting to her, stomach in knots, and it was if Adore could sense it. She pulled her in by the waist, singing the last verse softly, directly to her. And something happened for the first time that Courtney couldn’t explain--a single tear began to slip down her cheek.

“Where's the girl? Is she gazing at me with surprise? Do I still see that blaze in her eyes? Am I dreaming or is she beside me . . . now . . .?”

The music slowly faded out, and Courtney knew that Adore was waiting for her next line, her eyes soft and expectant. She knew that she had to get it out; this was the script, and she couldn’t change it no matter how much she wanted to. So she mustered up all of her strength, squaring her shoulders and speaking, firmly and hoarsely.

“No. Get out.”

Adore’s eyes went cold as she turned and left the stage, and for a second Courtney really did think that she was going to fall, to faint or throw up or something else entirely unexpected. She knew she only had about three seconds before Willam and Gia entered, so she quickly swiped the tear from her cheek and took a deep breath, pushing down the terrible feeling that something had broken inside of her, something she wouldn’t ever be able to fix.

-

“Hey…”

Courtney whirled around as Adore touched her shoulder, a startled look on her face that softened when she saw Adore.

“Oh, hi.”

“Are you alright?” Adore asked. She’d noticed the tears while they were onstage, and had a feeling that it was more than just acting.

“Yeah, sorry, it’s...I guess just that this is the last time we’re gonna be doing the show. Kinda silly.” She wiped her eyes, looking a bit embarrassed.

Adore smiled softly, pulling her in for a hug. “Nah, I know how you feel.”

Courtney squeezed her back tightly. “Thanks, Dory. I love you.”

“Me too, babe.”

-

“You girls are just so gorgeous and grown-up,” Bonnie said, sniffling a little as she snapped photo after photo.

It was finally the night of their senior prom, and as a treat, Bonnie and Karen had gotten together and treated the girls to a little spa day: mani pedis - the fancy kind with paraffin wax and massages and rhinestone embellishments, lunch at their favorite café, and professional hair styling. Courtney had gone for a glamorous updo studded with tiny red roses, Adore for a half-up style with criss-crossing fishtail braids, and Tati for smooth finger-waves that made her look like an old-time movie star. Afterwards, they’d all headed back to Adore’s house to do their makeup and get dressed.

To Adore’s relief, Courtney hadn’t brought up her weird objections to Tati being her date, and she was friendly as can be to Tati just like usual, gossiping about their classmates, giggling, having a grand old time.

Adore was very pleased with the outfit she’d ended up with: an amazing thrift store find, a short, square-necked black lace dress, very bruja, and she’d paired it with studded black boots, fishnets, and the leather choker that Courtney’d gotten her for her birthday last year. Tati looked amazing as always, her skin-tight hot pink minidress really pushing the dress code limits, but the color so fun that she’d probably be fine.

And then there was Courtney. Adore was surprised when she’d chosen it, the sleek white two-piece so unlike her: no sparkly embellishments or flouncy girliness--just a simple, spaghetti-strapped, open-backed top and long slitted skirt that made her early summer tan glow. When she first put it on, Adore had to look away for a moment, so as not to get choked up about how beautiful she was. Then of course, she completed the look with sparkly silver star accessories, red stones in her necklace matching the roses in her hair. Before they’d headed downstairs for photos, Adore gestured to her charm bracelet, the rose-gold obviously not fitting the color theme of her ensemble.

“That doesn’t really match,” she noted, and Courtney bit her lip, meeting Adore’s eyes with a look that made her insides twist.

“I don’t care.”

Now, in Courtney’s backyard, they posed for the dozens of pictures that Karen and Bonnie insisted on. First all the girls separately, then together, then Adore and Tati, who were still posing when Roy finally rounded the corner in his white tux. The second Adore caught sight of his red pocket square she burst out laughing, unable to help herself.

“Thanks, Delano, exactly the reaction I was hoping for,” he said.

“No, it’s cause your pocket square is...Courtney, I fucking knew that you’d do that shit again!” Adore laughed, and Courtney just shrugged, accepting first a kiss on the cheek and then the wrist corsage with the requested red roses.

“I never denied it!” Courtney said. She reached out and adjusted Roy’s lapels, grinning. “I think he looks perfect.”

“Thank you, babe, and you’re beautiful,” Roy said, before ruining the moment by turning and blowing a raspberry in Adore’s direction.

“That’s mature.”

“Adore, please pull it together for two more shots!” Bonnie interrupted, and Adore put her arm back around Tati’s waist.

Courtney and Roy were next, followed by group shots, and then Karen insisted on a couple with Courtney and Adore.

Adore swallowed, letting Courtney take her hand and lean a head on her shoulder, feeling slightly awkward.

“It’s kind of funny, don’t you think?” Courtney asked, between shots.

“What?”

Courtney gestured to their outfits. “Black and white.”

“Oh yeah. Very fitting, huh?” Adore said.

Courtney gazed up at her, a starry-eyed smile on her face, and Adore could feel herself melting right back to the place she’d insisted she’d never go again as the camera flashed.

“Mom! I wasn’t ready!”

“It was cute!” Karen defended herself.

“Do you think we should call Pearl and ask when-”

“Limo has arrived, bitcheeeeeees!” screeched a voice, and everyone turned to see Willam at the gate, along with Trinity, Pearl, Fame and Violet, who all came bounding in, dressed to the nines.

Courtney squealed happily, clapping her hands. After about ten or twenty more pictures of the whole group, Bonnie and Karen finally dismissed them, letting them pile into the limo, laughing and screaming happily, music blasting.

Adore was the last one to go, turning to give her mother one last little wave, pretending not to notice the tears shining in her eyes as she called, “Bye Ma! Don’t wait up!”

-

The hotel ballroom where their prom was held was the fanciest place Adore had ever been. After looking up at the huge crystal chandelier over the dance floor, Adore turned to Tati with a look of confusion and asked, “Oh my god...is our school bougie?”

Tati laughed, pulling her onto the dance floor with the rest of their group. The DJ was surprisingly good, and they twirled and laughed, dancing for hours before Tati finally admitted that her feet were killing her and she needed a break.

“Ugh, same,” said Pearl.

“This is why you wusses should have worn more comfortable shoes,” Adore proclaimed, modeling her combat boots as they trooped over to grab some punch and sit down.

“Not everyone can pull that off, dear,” Tati told her.

“Or you can just do what Trinity did,” Pearl said, gesturing to her prom date, platform sandals kicked off to the side of the dance floor, her bright yellow dress hiked up with her hands as she, Courtney and Willam shook it to Shakira’s ‘Hips Don’t Lie,’ Roy awkwardly joining in with decidedly less enthusiasm than the others.

“Still think my solution’s better,” said Adore, settling down at the table with a glass of sugary punch.

They relaxed for a few minutes, chatting and giggling, before they were joined by first Violet, then Fame, then Bob, who came bounding over with April to hype up the afterparty.

“You guys are going, right? It’s gonna be amazing!” he exclaimed, and Violet shook her head in disbelief.

“You really think a school-sanctioned afterparty will be that much fun?” she asked.

“I’m telling you! Everyone says it’s the best part of the night.”

“Really? I would think the best part of the night is how sexy your girlfriend looks,” said Pearl, sending a wink in April’s direction, making her giggle and preen.

“Okay, yes, she does, but also...after the afterparty, there’s a pancake breakfast. So, come on...”

“Robert! Hello young man! Lookin’ slick!” Roy called, walking over to give Bob a hug and slap on the back. He looked a bit sweaty and disheveled, and it made Adore chuckle.

“Courtney’s giving you a real workout, huh?” she teased.

“That girl wouldn’t leave a dance floor if you paid her,” Roy answered with a sigh, dragging a chair over from a nearby table to sit heavily. “Luckily, Willam and Trinity have much higher endurance than me, so-”

“Guess again!” Trinity exclaimed, as she flopped into Pearl’s lap. “I’m fucking exhausted.”

“Aww, you guys all abandoned the blue-eyed devils,” Bob said, gesturing to Courtney and Willam on the dance floor, making April crack up.

“They’re fine,” Roy said, leaning back in the chair, eyes closing.

Adore looked over at the dance floor, watching them while everyone chatted. When the song ended, to her surprise, Courtney made her way over to the group too.

“Whoa, maybe she’s actually tired! Did someone slip you some Benadryl, Court?”

Turned out, she was only there to ask Adore to come back onto the dance floor.

“Will you come dance with me?” she cajoled, reaching out her hand, a soft and hopeful look in her eyes.

“Uh…” Adore knew this was a bad idea. As much as she tried not to, told herself not to, she’d already spent too much of the evening with one eye on Courtney with Roy, fixated on the way they laughed and flirted and touched each other--it was like regressing two years, and she just wasn’t in the right headspace to confront her feelings.

“Please?” Courtney touched Adore’s lace-covered wrist, adding with a twinkle, “I’ll be your best friend...”

Adore had to chuckle at that, standing up with a resigned sigh. “Good one, bitch.”

Courtney beamed at her, leading her to the dance floor. Of course, it was some slow, schmaltzy pop ballad. And of course, Courtney’s arms immediately went around her neck, pulling her close. Head resting on her shoulder.

Adore didn’t know where to put her hands. Courtney’s skimpy top left so much of her back exposed, she could feel herself panicking before finally letting them settle on her hips. Even then, it was impossible to avoid her waist, her thumbs grazing the soft bare skin a few times before she tried tucking them into her palms.

“I love you, Dory,” Courtney murmured, and Adore gulped.

“Love you too.”

Adore tried to get her heart to settle, tried to stop the churning in her stomach, the song dragging on for what felt like an eternity while she sweated and held back her tears. When it finally ended, she broke away immediately, mumbling about how she needed a cigarette, and bolted from the dance floor.

-

Courtney watched Adore go, misty-eyed, wondering why she always ran away just when it felt like they were getting closer, and couldn’t help the dejected feeling inside, stomach twisting with regret.

“Punch?”

Courtney turned around to see Roy, holding out a cup of red punch for her. Of course he was. He was always there: dependent, steadfast, the one person in her life that she could always count on. The guilt Courtney felt would be crushing if she didn’t love him so much.

She slid her arms around his waist, pulling him close, asking, “How did I end up with the best boyfriend in the world?”

Roy sighed, setting the cup on a nearby table and wrapping her into a hug, resting his chin on top of her head.

“Just lucky, I guess.” After a few moments, he ventured softly, “Do you wanna dance some more?”

“Yes,” Courtney said, arms tightening around him even more. “Yes, I really fucking do.”

-

“There you are…” Tati said, when she finally found Adore in the hotel courtyard, sitting against a stucco wall, smoking a cigarette. “You alright?”

She settled in beside her, maneuvering the best she could so as not to let her dress ride up around her hips. This didn’t feel like a conversation where it would be productive to have her underwear showing.

“Just fucking peachy.” Adore took a long drag.

“Yeah. Listen, I-”

“I really don’t want any advice right now,” Adore said, and Tati immediately closed her mouth.

“Ooookay,” she breathed, realizing that now wasn’t the right time to say what she had to say.

“Sorry. It’s just, my head is all-”

“Nah, I get it.” Tati patted her fishnet-covered thigh.

“Thanks.”

They sat in silence for a few moments, Adore’s head leaning back on the wall, Tati watching the smoke curling up into the midnight sky.

“Can I ask you a question, though?”

“I guess.” Adore’s voice was tired and hoarse, so Tati tried to phrase it as gently and tactfully as possible.

“What’s the worst thing that could happen? If you, like, told her?”

Adore took a long drag of her cigarette, pondering the answer before saying, “I could die. I could literally die.”

“Alright.” Tati said, stretching her legs out in front of her. She wasn’t inclined to push it, adding a simple, “Just seems like something to think about.”

After a few more moments of tense silence, Adore sniffled, and Tati realized that she was crying.

“I should get out of here,” she said, stabbing the cigarette out on the pavement, using her lacy sleeve to wipe her eyes.

“Do you want me to go with you?”

“No. It’s prom. Stay and have fun,” Adore said, and Tati was overcome with sympathy, wished there was something she could do to make her feel better--or at least, enough better to have a carefree and fun night like they all deserved. It had started out so well, and Tati still wasn’t sure where it’d gone wrong.

“Adore, come on, you can-”

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Tati said, staying on the ground while Adore got up, resigned to just let her have her feelings, realizing that there really was nothing she could do in that moment.

-

“Yeah, I know! There’s just something off about his face!” Violet laughed, following Trinity out of the bathroom, still talking about an idiot jock who’d tried to feel her up on the dance floor.

“I think it would be an okay face if he wasn't such a jerk,” Trinity said.

“Okay face is probably the best he can hope for,” Violet agreed. “But don’t you think he-”

Violet stopped short, abdomen twisting when she spotted Fame, in the same location they’d left her outside the restrooms, looking beautiful as ever in her full, floor-length gown covered in a large-scale blue flower print. Only she wasn’t alone. There was a blonde girl chatting with her...a blonde girl in a short, sparkly pink dress who was acting awfully familiar, a hand on Fame’s bare upper arm, flashing a bright white smile.

“Who the hell are you?” Violet asked, and the girl turned to her, blinking her brown eyes slowly.

“Excuse me?”

“I said-” Violet began, but Fame jumped in.

“You know what? We should talk later,” she told the girl, mouthing ‘sorry’ in an annoyingly obvious way, clearly not caring that Violet could see her. Or maybe doing it specifically for Violet’s benefit. Violet’s nails dug into her palms at the thought.

“Alright. Later then. Can’t wait to hang out again,” the girl said, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to Fame’s cheek before sauntering away with a victorious smirk.

“Who the fuck was that?” Violet asked, and Fame turned to her with crossed arms and a crosser expression.

“Hey, I think I hear...something...uh…” Trinity stammered out, backing away so as not to get caught up in the drama, calling out to an imaginary person, “What? Oh, you need-okay, coming!”

She turned and ran back towards the ballroom, leaving Fame and Violet alone.

“Well?” Violet asked, her tone still hostile, but how else was she supposed to be right now?

Fame let out a long sigh, asking, “Why are you so difficult?” She began to walk away, but Violet reached for her, fingers closing around her wrist and tugging her back.

“Fame. Who was that?”

“She’s just a girl I know from working at the bakery,” Fame said, eyes closing as if the conversation was too exhausting for words. “She graduated last year, but I guess she’s here with a friend, so-”

“No. I mean, why were you flirting with her? I thought tonight was about us.”

“Vi…” Fame finally looked into her eyes, blue eyes a bit sad, shaking her head. “Why do you always have to do this?”

“Do what?” Violet could feel herself growing more and more agitated, more and more uneasy, the ground shifting beneath her.

“Talk about us, like that. You’re my best friend. You know how much I love you. But not...not like that.”

Violet didn’t like where this conversation was going, not one bit. She bit back her anger, her impatience, her jealousy, and made her voice as soft and calm as possible.

“But you agreed to be my date. You came here with me-”

“As friends.”

“I don’t get it!” Violet exploded. “You finally broke up with Patrick, officially, and-”

“This is not about Patrick!” Fame exclaimed, exasperation all over her face. “It never was. I guess it was easy to use him as an excuse, but...I just don’t think of you that way.”

Bitterness swirled in Violet’s chest, and before she could stop herself, she spit out, “But you think of that random slut that way?” She gestured angrly in the direction of the blonde, the girl who it seemed had single-handedly managed to ruin her night. “And what did she mean by ‘again’?”

“I...we kind of...hooked up last year,” Fame admitted. “When Patrick and I were on a break, after-”

“You hooked up with a girl and you didn’t tell me? What the fuck?” Violet said, anger and confusion combining, the whole thing like hands wrapped around her throat, making her eyes water and her chest constrict.

“Well, I wasn’t sure how you’d react. I guess I was wrong, since you’re being so understanding.”

“Fuck you,” Violet spat out, turning and walking away.

“Violet, wait!”

Violet stopped walking, but she didn’t turn. She couldn’t bear to look at Fame’s face right now, not when tears were burning in her eyes, threatening to spill over any second.

“Look, I’m sorry! Okay? I guess I just...I didn’t want to say anything that would risk hurting you. Because I don’t want to lose you as a friend. I do love you-”

At that, Violet whirled back around, those angry tears streaking hotly down her cheeks.

“No you don’t,” she said. “You never have. God, I’m so stupid.”

“Vi-”

“Enjoy your prom,” she choked out, before breaking away and rushing towards the lobby. She had no idea where she was going, but she knew that she couldn’t go back into that ballroom, with those people. Not like this.

-

Adore trudged slowly through the parking lot, wondering where she should even go. This part of town was mostly new--lots of pointless high-end stores, yuppie restaurants, hipster bars.

“Hey! Where the fuck are you going?” demanded a voice, and Adore smiled to herself, turning around to find Violet, face streaked in tears, stomping from the hotel angrily.

Adore chuckled sadly. “You look like I feel.”

“Well you look like shit,” Violet countered.

“Okay, so I guess I look like I feel too.”

“God fucking damn it, why can’t we just have one night where we’re like, normal teenagers?” Violet exclaimed, face turned upwards, and Adore shook her head.

“I dunno.”

“Where were you going, anyway?”

“I honestly don’t know. Just...anywhere but here.”

“Same.” Violet took her hand. “I think there’s a diner a few blocks away that’ll be open. Come on.”

#rpdr fanfiction #tree house kisses #scorpio #veronica #adorney #adore delano #courtney act #tatianna #bianca del rio #violet chachki #miss fame #bitney #adore x tatianna #famelet #viadore #willam belli #trinity k bonet #pearl liaison #lesbian au #high school au #m/f au #angst #fluff

[reversemoon255]

Healin' Good Precure

I finished another season of Precure; yeah! It's not that I didn't watch Hugtto or Twinkle, but I had issues with the sub groups I was following during both seasons, and fell off half-way through. Which sucks because I heard Twinkle ended up being really good. I do have all the episodes I haven't watched saved somewhere, but whether I'll get to them or not is up in the air as I'm really bad at binging shows.

But we're not here to talk about those seasons, we're here to talk about the latest season, which I quite enjoyed. It was definitely on the more mellow side of the spectrum, but it had a very well-rounded cast of both humans, faeries, and villains, which fits the more slice-of-life attitude the show rolled with. Is it my favorite? No, but I think it still had a lot of positive things going for it.

The Good: Let's start with the characters. Nodoka was a very chill pink, which is a nice change of pace. Pinks are usually very energetic and outgoing, and Nodoka still has those characteristics, but a much more laid-back personality. Her backstory is also very poignant for the series, and how it ends up tying into the plot was not unforeseeable, but still well executed. Chiyu is a standard cool blue with chinks in her armor, but like Nodoka is usually very laid back which helps her stand out amongst the crowd. Despite how generic she seems on paper, I can't really think of another blue that acts like Chiyu, which is a point in the positive. Hinata has the quirky yellow thing down flat. In terms of general personality, she acts more like a pink than Nodoka does. She's also two character tropes we haven't seen in Precure yet: Gyaru and Dumb. I don't mean anything bad by that, but Hinata definitely acts very anime-gyaru, which is very funny to me as I feel like Gyaru are typically not portrayed as role models. She's also not smart; and don't get me wrong, there are plenty of Precure that aren't geniuses, but Hinata actively tries and doesn't have the attention span to do it. It makes her far too relatable as someone who was not the biggest fan of school. Asumi was an interesting take on the fairy-turned-Precure idea, basically being a husk that has to experience emotions for the first time. She is also very mellow, making it 3-for-4. It's a very laid back team.

Rabirin, Pegitan, and Nyatoran are all very good faries. They can carry entire scenes and episodes on their own, and despite their cute appearances are able to do it with as much weight as a human character. Latte may also be my favorite fairy ever, as she's a non-talking dog, and just acts like a very smart dog. It's both adorable and hilarious. The Pathogerms are also pretty well done. They all have very standard personalities and drives, but there's nuances to how they act and do things. When we get to them evolving, each of them creates their own way of making more powerful Mega and Gigapathogerms. And the fact that none of them are redeemed is very different for Precure, but not unwelcome. They have their funny moments, but they were bad guys through and through.

I'll also say that the character development for this season was very different than what we normally see. Like, most of the time it's "I'm shy and want to be more outgoing," "I'm aiming for my dream job," or something along those lines. Here, other than maybe Pegitan, nobody really goes through that type of standard, measurable progression. Nodoka's big character moment is realizing she doesn't have to put herself at risk to help others if she doesn't want to. Chiyu's is realizing she can have multiple interests. And Hinata is just realizing she's ok as she is and doesn't need to try and change. None of them are bad revelations, it's just none of the characters really go through anything that fundamentally changes them as a person; they're all pretty much the same from start to finish. Which, they're all 14. It's not super weird.

The plot feels very in-style with what Toei's been doing for a bit now. It's very episodic. Not a ton of huge shake-ups, and those that we do get are resolved pretty quickly so people tuning in for the first time or skip episodes don't get lost. It's the type of show that feels formulated to attract new viewers, and I'm ok with it since everything was well written. I can't think of an episode I didn't think was at least decent, and there were a few gems sprinkled throughout. The one-off characters from all those episodes have very distinct personalities, and nothing ever felt too rushed.

One thing though; I get this is the doctor series, but I find it strange that they went with the usual Earth-Water-Sky motif, and not have any aspects of the animal partners be incorporated into the actual costume design. They didn't have to go all out, like in Kira Kira, but I don't think they even had a paw-print on anything but their weapons.

The Bad: So I mentioned one-off characters earlier, and one of my problems with this show is that it's filled with one-off characters. Other than the parents, there are no real reoccurring characters. No other friends they all hang out with. It's just the main cast most of the time. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as it allows more time for developing the characters you care about, but at the same time it makes the focus of the show very narrow, to the point that  near the end of the series you can't help but think "Oh yeah, this takes place in more than a small town." And while I feel for the characters when they're going through something tough, there weren’t that many moments like that. There’s a lack of overall investment. Even near the finale, I never walked away from an episode begging for more. There were plenty of times where I'd just binge through a month's worth of episodes while doing other stuff. And, again, that's not a bad thing, but, even if I didn't finish it, I got that feeling of investment from Star Twinkle, from Kira Kira, from Maho. Maybe it's because the Precure themselves were seldom attacked? The only mess-with-your-character moment I can think of is when Nodoka get infected, and that was just because she stumbled onto Daruizen; he wasn't actively targeting her. It's more that the chill nature of the show has a double-edged nature to it. It's cute and fun and easy to watch, but you're not going to walk away with it changed in any way, like I was with Go! Princess.

And on the ending, it was very abrupt. I know a few episodes got cut, but that would have been known near the start of the series, and there was plenty of filler. As much as I complain about the time issues associated with the epilogues in accordance to new series and crossover movies, this felt like a season that could have used it. In fact, I think it's the first since Princess to not have one.

Overall, I'm fealin' good ‘bout Healin' Good. It's a nice, easy watch with some fun characters. It's just not very meaty, and I could have used a little more. I'm looking forward to Tropical Rouge. It's already starting out with some interesting premises, like having Summer copy the Zenkaiser color scheme, staying away from the typical colors, etc. Also, whenever I try and design a Precure season (because I get bored at work and do that sometimes) I always do an ocean theme in a seaside town. In fact, Coral is usually the name I give my pink. But enough about how my mind wanders; let's hope the next season is just as fun, but a bit more compelling than this season.

#Precure #Healin' Good Precure #Review #Finale #Pretty Cure #Glitter Force

[softboywriting]

A Perfect Fall

Summary: You and Shawn have been best friends for most of your lives and since you were a teenager you’ve had a crush on him. He has no idea, or so you think. Things are about to change, and all it takes is a trip to the best pumpkin patch around for true feelings to surface. [fluff] [best friends to lovers] [fall/autumn theme]

Word Count: 4k

|Masterlist In Bio|

If someone were to ask you your favorite color you would say gold. Gold like the leaves on the trees in the middle of October. Gold like the letters of Shawn’s last name gilded across the back of the letter man jacket that sits over your desk chair at home that he left there a year ago. Gold like the sun going down over the river on a cool autumn night. But most of all, gold, like the color Shawn's eyes are when he sits across from you in a barn an hour from your house and stares out at horses in the nearby corral. He's beautiful. Breathtaking. Outstanding in every way. He's your best friend in the entire world and he has no idea that you're completely gone for him, or does he? Let's go back to how this day started.

Beeping, incessant, droning beeping. The sound of your alarm clock going off at its regular time, seven in the morning. Right now you should be getting up and making yourself appear to be somewhat human before heading to class, praying you remembered all of your homework. You should be scrambling through your kitchen, grabbing a banana for breakfast as you head out to meet Shawn in his Jeep. Not this week though. It's the first day of Thanksgiving break and you're so happy to be able to smash that snooze button and bury your face into a pillow.

Your phone goes off, a low buzz buzz against the pillow your head is on. You've almost fallen back to sleep, nearly reached that floaty state of perfect warmth under the blankets that gives you an express ticket to dreamland. Almost.

Buzz buzz.

"For the love of everything holy, can you go away?" You groan angrily into the pillow. As if the phone might switch itself into silent mode out of pure fear. That would be that day wouldn't it?

Buzz buzz.

You slide your hand under the pillow and extract your phone, turn your head just enough to see the screen and lay it against the pillow next to you. Three missed messages.

Shawn: you awake?

Shawn: get up loser i have coffee

Shawn: I'll come in there

You drop the phone on its face and tug your blanket up over your head. If he wants you to get up on your first day of this mini vacation from the hell that is your second year of college, he can come get you his damn self. He may be your best friend, and yes, you may be head over heels for him, but getting up early on vacation happens for no man.

The sound of rattling outside your window followed by a dull thump is a dead giveaway that Shawn has scaled your mother's new trellis and tripped on the old shingles of the back patio roof. Clumsy and dumb. That's Shawn for you.

"Get up, hey," he talks against the glass as if you'll hear him better by doing so but ends up only muffling his voice further. "I know you're up."

"Go away!"

"No!"

The latch on the window wiggles, you can hear a familiar scrape of his student ID card from his wallet against the wood of the window frame. You watch as the ancient lock flips 180 degrees and the window slides up, sending a cold gust of morning air into your bedroom.

"You're a dick." Shawn grumbles, squeezing through the narrow window frame. He's had trouble getting through it since freshman year of high school. Really the only reason he's climbing through it now is to avoid making too much noise coming in the front door and enduring the wrath of your dad who is surely still asleep because he works nights at the packing plant in town. Shawn woke him up once by just walking too loudly and that was enough.

"You're a dick for waking me up on my vacation." You roll over and face the wall.

Shawn flops on the bed, leaning over across your legs and waving something in your face. "I am not, I'm the best person ever."

"Nope."

"Come on! Look at the tickets!"

You slip your hand out of the blankets and snatch the papers from Shawn's hand. Two all access passes to the Friendly Farms Pumpkin Patch. You narrow your eyes at him and he raises his eyebrows. This is such an unfair move. He knows how much you love pumpkin patches and he knows that you've never been to the Friendly Farms Pumpkin Patch because it's so far away and it usually costs an arm and a leg if you don't buy preseason passes.

"Eh? Whatdya say? Me, you, old J-Bone and the open road to the best place to get your pumpkins this side of the river?"

You groan and drop the tickets on the pillow. "Okay! Okay fine I'll get up." You shove the blanket back and it covers his lap. "But stop calling the Jeep "J-Bone" it's so weird."

"She has a name okay, and I'm gonna call her by it."

You sit up and shove him down on the bed. "Freak."

"Only for you." He smirks, sticking his tongue out and making lewd licking motions.

"Oh God please stop." You throw your pillow at his face and get up to get dressed in whatever was semi clean. Laundry had taken a backseat to classwork these days, you’re planning on catching up during the break.

One big hoodie, Shawn's that he left at your house a few days ago, a pair of leggings under some fitted sweatpants and a lopsided ponytail later and you're ready to go. As promised Shawn has a coffee in the Jeep for you as well as a croissant breakfast sandwich.

"How long is this drive again?" You ask over a mouth full of buttery sausage and egg goodness. "An hour?"

"An hour and a half."

"I'm gonna go to sleep then."

Shawn chuckles. He pulls the Jeep out of your driveway and heads for the highway. "I have a feeling you'll stay awake."

"Why's that?"

"The drive is too beautiful to miss."

_________________________________

Shawn is absolutely correct. The drive down the highway is way too incredible to miss for just a few more minutes of sleep. Of course you've seen the trees around your town turn shades of red, orange and yellow before but driving through open roads where trees grow in massive forests completely unbridled by man, is an experience you won't soon forget. Never in your life have you seen so many different hues of fall colors at one time.

"Shawn, pull over, I need to get out and do something."

Shawn looks over and quickly turns off the highway onto the shoulder where the gravel meets the grass. "Everything okay?"

"More than okay." You grin and unbuckle your seatbelt. You open the passenger door and slide out, leaving the door open as you tromp across the grass to the edge of the forested area. Behind you Shawn kills the engine and you can hear his door open then close followed by your door being closed.

"What are you doing?" He laughs, following you into the trees. "We're not even at the pumpkin patch and you're going crazy."

"I've been crazy. You know that, come on, we've been friends for how long?"

"Twelve years and counting."

You stop before a tree that has bring pinkish red leaves on it. They're like no others around it and you pick up a few of the ones that have fallen. "Pink leaves." You hold them out and Shawn takes one.

"These are pretty. I've never seen them this color."

"Take my picture? I wanna remember this tree forever."

Shawn takes your phone and types in your pass code to unlock it. He's the only person on the planet who knows it beside you and you know his as well. "Alright, do you wanna pose or something?"

"I'm gonna throw a bunch of leaves up in the air and if you can, try to snap the picture as they fall around me?"

"I'll do my best." He chuckles and kneels down a bit to get you in full frame for a better angle.

"Okay on three? One, two, three!" You fling an arm full of leaves up into the air and laugh as they rain down over you.

"Nailed it."

"Really?!" You rush over and Shawn hands you the phone. Sure enough it's you standing and grinning at the leaves as they fall around you with the pink tree in the background. "Oh my God it's perfect."

Shawn puts his arm around you and starts walking back to the Jeep. "I've been messing around with my friend Josiah's camera a bit. He showed me a few tricks for everyday stuff."

"Oh wow, fancy boy."

"Shut up, I am not fancy."

"Fancy pants Mendes learning all the tips and tricks on photography to pick up chicks."

He scoffs. "Yeah, as if. I just wanted to try it out. Josiah takes some awesome photos and it looks so easy, I was curious how he did it."

"I'm just teasing you Shawn." You pat his chest as you reach the Jeep and he pulls his arm away from you. "I think it's cool that you're interested in photography. It's definitely something that could be useful one day."

"Like taking photos of you today."

You smile and let out a little laugh. "Yeah, definitely like today."

Shawn gets in the Jeep and you haul yourself up into the passenger's seat. "You ready for the real fun to begin?"

"Hell yeah. How many pumpkins do you think we can fit in the back of this thing?"

"I dunno," he says, looking into the back where the seats are down and then looks at you. "But we're not going to find out."

"Buzz kill."

"Sorry, but I'm not having my Jeep chock full of pumpkins."

"Psh, it's for science."

Shawn's rolls his eyes and signals as he pulls out onto the highway. The two of you have at least another forty minutes before you reach the farm. Shawn turns up the radio and you decide to lean the seat back and just enjoy the rest of the ride.

_________________________________

The entryway to the Friendly Farms Pumpkin Patch is huge. There are wrought iron gates with metal pumpkin cutouts all along the bars of the fencing with ivy like casts on the top. Shawn drives down the bumpy dirt road to the designated parking area and stops to park near the ticket windows and actual gates inside. There are maybe a dozen cars already parked as well, which considering the popularity of the place isn't hardly anyone. It's still early though, they have just opened for business at nine and it's only about a quarter till ten.

Shawn opens the back of the Jeep while you grab your backpack purse off the floor of the backseat. "Do you need a water bottle?"

"Yeah." You walk around to meet him. "I thought you were going eco friendly?"

"I am." He hands you a reusable metal bottle. "I promise I washed it this morning."

You slip the bottle into your side pocket and chuckle. "Like we haven't been sharing germs forever."

"True." He closes the door and pulls the tickets out of his back pocket. "Ready?"

"I was born ready."

Shawn wraps his arm around your shoulders and heads to the ticket windows. You're excited beyond belief to see what is in store for you beyond the corn stalk covered gates before you. It's going to be perfect.

_________________________________

To say the pumpkin patch is beyond expectations would be about right. You and Shawn walk past the ticket booths and through the gates into a whole town built up around the fall theme. There are shopping booths, food booths, a sign for a corn maze, a hay rack ride, and the pumpkin patch. There is a whole slew of games and places to take photos as well and all that is just what you can see when you walk inside. There's a whole path along the shops that just keeps going and you are floored.

Shawn grins at you, beaming, because you're beaming right back at him. He knew this place was going to be great. Photos online just didn't do it justice. "What do you wanna do first?"

"Just...take it all in." You walk forward toward the center of the town like set up where there is a huge wooden windmill, hay bales and benches all sitting in a circle around it.

Shawn walks along beside you and chuckles. "It's pretty awesome."

"Awesome isn't the word." You laugh and plop down on a hay bale next to a smiley homemade scarecrow. "It's a dream, Shawn."

"I'm glad." He thumbs toward a nearby caramel apple stand. "Let's get a snack and start this day right huh?"

"You read my mind."

_________________________________

You and Shawn spend the whole late morning into the early afternoon wandering around, checking out the entire lay out of the pumpkin patch. You grab cider around eleven and then cocoa at noon. A late lunch consists of a shared smoked turkey leg, a funnel cake and some tomato salad that was being made fresh by some little old ladies at a booth near the center of the patch. The food is incredible and you and Shawn take turns feeding each other bites of this and that, giggling when one of you ends up with powdered sugar on your face from the funnel cake.

Spending time like this with Shawn is the best and worst thing to ever happen to you. It's a glimpse at what life with him would be like if you were together. Your heart swells every time he leans in to say something about the scenery that he’s noticed because you think he's going to kiss you.

Lunch wraps up and Shawn goes to toss your trash in a nearby oak barrel that's set up as a trashcan. He dusts his hands off on his jeans and pulls his sweater off over his head. "Here," he holds it out to you and you raise your eyebrows.

"Why do I want it?"

"Because you're going to get cold on the hayrack ride."

"Psh no I won't."

"Yeah you will." Shawn bunches up the sweater from the bottom up and holds it out for you to put your arms in. "Come on, I know you wanna."

You stick your arms out and he helps you get the sleeves over them and tugs the sweater down so your head pops through the neck hole. "It's so warm." You look down and pull out the soft knit fabric that's far too large on you. "You must be like a thousand degrees."

Shawn shrugs. "I'm always hot. You've slept with me, you know that."

"I-I-" You freeze, brain definitely going down a very different road from what Shawn means.

"Yes?" He chuckles.

"I have not slept with you."

"Well, not like that but... y'know." He shrugs and you knit your brows together.

What does that mean? Y'know what? What do you know? Does he want to sleep with you like that? What...just what?

Shawn waves his hand in your face. "Hey, earth to space cadet. The hayrack ride is gonna be boarding soon."

"Oh! Yeah!" You shake your head and start walking toward the signs pointing to the line for it. Shawn follows close behind, throwing his arm around your shoulders and leaning his head on yours.

You and Shawn take a seat at the back of the ride on a hay bale covered with a red plaid blanket. He's completely right about you needing his sweater. It is a lot colder up off the ground with the breeze from the moving ride blowing around you.

"Look, there's the pumpkins!" Shawn says, pointing to the left.

You look over through the slats of the walls of the ride. Sure enough there is a sea of orange pumpkins and deep green leaves that are yellowing with age as the plants are ready to be picked. There are a couple of very big ones and you definitely need one of those. You don't care how you get it to the car, you need it.

"Check those out," you say, pointing out the massive pumpkins.

"Holy cow those gotta be like fifty pounds."

"I want one."

"Okay."

You sit back and stare at him with your eyes wide. "Okay? You're not gonna convince me to get a few small ones instead?"

"Nope." He grins. "I'll buy you that pumpkin there."

"What's the catch?"

"No catch."

You narrow your eyes but don't argue the deal any further. He must have some motive. There has to be some catch. Maybe he'll say you have to move it or something. Seems fishy.

The ride stops at the entrance to the pumpkin picking area and you and Shawn get off with a few other visitors. There are tons of great pumpkins all around but you waste no time heading for the giant ones.

"How are you going to lift that?" Shawn pipes up as you reach them.

"Well, that's why I've got you."

"Oh? I'm gonna lift that?"

"Please?" You pout your lip out. "You said you'd buy it for me."

"I did." He chuckles, circling the giant orange mass. "I sure did."

"Regretting that?"

"Absolutely not."

You put your hands into the sleeves of Shawn's sweater and put them over your ears. They're cold and you wish you'd brought a hat or even some earmuffs. "Can I get it? For real?"

"Yes." Shawn kneels down and lifts the pumpkin up with ease. "Let's go."

"Isn't that heavy?"

"Not that heavy." He smirks and you walk next to him out of the patch to the line of employees waiting with ATVs that have little trailers attached for carrying visitors pumpkins to their cars or to the front entrance to drop them off until they leave.

"Name and car description?" The woman at the ATV asks as Shawn loads up the pumpkin.

"Ah-"

"Mendes with an s. Black four door Jeep Wrangler." Shawn says, dusting his hands off. "We'll pick it up at the gates."

"Alrighty." The woman scribbles down Shawn's information and peels a sticker of her clipboard to put on the pumpkin. "You got a big one eh?"

"Yes." Shawn wraps his arms around you and lays his chin on top of your head. "Biggest one for my best friend."

"That's so sweet. Would you like to pay here or at the gate?"

"Here." Shawn pulls his wallet out and hands over a ten dollar bill, the rate for extra large pumpkins from the yard. "Thank you ma'am."

"It's what we do," she says with a smile and a tip of her floppy straw hat. "I'll see this baby up to the gates. Have a friendly fun time!"

You and Shawn wave her off as she drives away with your pumpkin.

Shawn pulls away from you and grabs your sweater covered hands. "Wanna go over to the barn and feed the horses?"

You glance over at the big red barn where they show the horses and cattle throughout the day. "Sure. It doesn't look took busy."

Shawn turns around and squats down. "Get on my back, I'll carry you over there."

"What? Why? I can walk!" You laugh and he pats his back.

"Come on!"

"Okay okay, don't have to tell me twice." You climb on his back and he hoists you up so he can hook his arms under your legs. It reminds you of when you were nine and you first met. Shawn was big then too, tall for his age and athletic as ever being in hockey almost year round. He would always give you piggy back rides around the yard to catch lightning bugs on hot summer nights.

Shawn drops you off on a haybale near the first stall inside the barn. There is literally no one in there at the moment and you have the place all to yourselves. "I'm going to get a couple of drinks. Any preference?"

"Cider is fine. Hot please."

He disappears and you lean back against the old wooden wall. Today has been one of the best days of your life hands down. It's everything you love all wrapped into one, a pumpkin patch, oversized sweaters, hot cider, pumpkin picking...Shawn. You sigh and chuckle to yourself. Did Shawn realize how romantic this is? Did he have any clue how it must seem to any stranger passing by? The two of you would be the cutest couple. The dynamic is there, but what you lack is a pair of balls to say or do anything.

"Hot cider." Shawn says, handing you your brown paper cup and sitting down on the hay bale opposite you. "Fresh too."

"Thanks." You smile as you sip the warm spicy sweet liquid.

Shawn stares out at the corral nearby, eyes catching and sparkling in the late afternoon sun. He's gorgeous. Everything about him makes your heart soar. From his soft eyes to his slightly rough hands curled delicately around his paper cup, he is truly the only person you've cared so deeply for.

"Can I ask you something?" You say softly, barely realizing you've spoken. Too late to take it back now.

"Anything."

"Why haven't we ever gone out?"

He chuckles, a wide smile spreading across his face like wildfire. "Haven't we though?"

"No?"

"Can I tell you something?"

You lean forward, setting your cup beside your folded legs on the hay bale. "Of course, anything."

"This was supposed to be a date." He bites his lip and looks down, thumb circling the spout of his lid. "I was going to ask you out, like, for real."

"W-what?"

"Yeah." He laughs, looking up, anywhere but at you. "I chickened out though. I didn't ask you, I just sort of handed you the tickets and said let's go. Which in retrospect was fine, but it's definitely not what I had planned on doing."

"You wanted to take me on a date?"

"Yeah?"

"You...you want to be more than friends?"

Shawn rubs the back of his neck. "Shit, I guess? It's weird. You make me happier than literally anyone I've ever dated. You get my jokes and you sass me right back when I get smart with you. You're really beautiful and sexy in this crazy everyday way without even trying. And you're so smart and- how could I not want to date you? I've literally been so stupid for my entire life because I-"

You lean across the hay bale and press your lips to his. It's a moment you've been waiting for since you were thirteen years old and first realized you had feelings for him. You didn't expect to be the one initiating the kiss but here you are and there Shawn is. You pull back and Shawn just gawks at you.

"That was...you...you taste like apple cider."

You giggle. "You do too, dork."

"Can we do it again?" He asks, putting his cup aside and leaning toward you. "I think I need another taste."

"Mmhmm."

Shawn cups your cheeks and brings you in, kissing you lovingly like this is his way of making up for the last twelve years of your lives. He tugs you forward gently and you crawl over onto his lap, straddling his thighs as you grip his hair. It's been forever since he's had a haircut and it's a bit long, soft as can be, curly and absolutely grabable.

"Hey," he mutters, pulling back just enough to break the kiss. He bumps his nose to yours and you open your eyes to see his beautiful green and gold flecked hazel ones staring back at you. "Do you wanna go out with me?"

You smile and nudge his nose with yours once more. "I thought you'd never ask."

End.

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

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Thank you so much for reading this piece!  - A

*****Note: none of my works should be posted anywhere outside of my linked accounts. I do not give permission to repost with or without credit to my accounts. Please notify me of any reposted fics.*****

#stories #friends to lovers

[thiswasinevitableid]

Rockstar (Indruck)

A friend on discord, @morganeashton, requested #28 of the meet ugly list for Indruck: I’m a famous singer and you’re the new techie who just tripped and pulled the plug out of my microphone mid-concert [extra awkward if they lip sync, extra badass if they keep singing and their voice is still on point]. This is NSFW.

A peril of high quality sound equipment is that when it goes out, it’s very obvious.

The mic goes, his guitar and Dani’s bass cut out, and the effects are gone. For a moment it’s total silence as the audience watches him. 

Then he picks up exactly where he left off, notes coming as easy as breath. After a moment Jake starts up quieter than usual on the drums, giving him rhythm. By the time he finishes, the mic and instruments are back on and the applause is deafening. He smiles to himself.

He’s still got it. 

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

Duck knocks on the dressing room door. 

He’s so fucking fired.

“Come in.”

Mr. Cold is sitting at a mirror, takes note of Duck’s reflection.

“Ah, Duck, I thought it might be you. Mama said you were the one who disconnected our sound tonight.”

“Yessir. I, uh, it was an accident, I was movin somethin in a tight space and caught my foot on the cord without noticin’. I’m, uh, I’m real sorry, and, uh, I’ll, uh-”

Mr. Cold holds up his hand and Duck shuts his mouth. The singer turns, in his chair, face now free of make-up. His features still have that alien edge to them, the strange mix of young and old that’s made his attractiveness the subject of much debate. Duck knows where he falls on it; anyone who thinks Indrid Cold is anything other than sex on legs should get their eyes checked. 

That won’t help him, he knows that.

Indrid leans back in his chair, “you don’t need to plead your case to me Duck, for two reasons. One is that I’m not the one in charge of hiring or firing the road crew. That falls to Mama and Joseph completely, and if I ever tried to toss someone out for an accident they’d put me in my place very quickly. But more importantly, I’m not angry with you for what happened. Quite the opposite.”

“You...wait, really?”

Mr. Cold counts off on his fingers, “The space was small, so everyone could still hear me. There’s been rumors I’ve been using a dub, so this ought to quell them nicely, and” he looks at Duck over his trademark red glasses, smile widening, “it was unexpected, something that’s rare for me these days. When you get to this level of fame, everyone is terrified of not having a flawlessly executed plan. But that is not how the world is; it’s not how art is. So it was nice to have the chance to show everyone that the unexpected can be invigorating. Thank you for that.”

“You’re, uh, you’re welcome?”

Mr. Cold  smiles as he stands up, “you should sit down, you look like you’re about to pass out.”

“It’s fine, uh-”

The singer simply rests a hand on his shoulder and gently pushes. Duck sits. 

“Would you, ah, like a drink? The hosts here left a very nice bottle of tequila.”

“Sure.” Duck tries not to stare as he bends over to retrieve a glass and a bottle, pouring Duck a shots worth of tequila that costs more than his rent. Duck mumbles a thank you when he hands it to him, then gawps when Mr. Cold sets the bottle aside and retrieves a Capri Sun from the mini-fridge.

“I can’t stand alcohol. Used to try for the sake of fitting in but” he makes a face like a disgusted cat, “eech. One moment, I need to change.” He disappears around a corner, leaving Duck to wonder what the fuck the polite thing to do is. Mr. Cold is always polite to his crew, but he keeps to himself much of the time. Not to mention Duck’s only been with them since the tour started a month ago. 

A photo on the table catches his eye, and he scoots his chair closer to get a look.

“Was, uh, was this an alternate cover or somethin?”

“Hmm? Oh” a light laugh, “no, though you’ve got a good eye; we shot it the same day we shot the cover image for The Cryptids. That was a shot that was nixed because we looked too silly, I think Vincent had said something funny and cracked Barclay up, who set me off. I bring it with me to every show, a sort of good luck charm mixed with a reminder of where I came from.” 

From the faded photo, nineteen year old Indrid Cold smiles at him. 

“I take it you’re a long time fan, then.” Mr. Cold reappears in a pink and yellow bathrobe, the last color scheme Duck would have assumed he owned. 

“Yeah, over a decade. I, uh, I was sixteen when The Cryptids released their first album. Scraped together fifteen bucks to buy the C.D and wore the damn thing out I listened to it so much. Never heard anything like it. That’s, uh,” he scratches the back of his neck, “that’s not why I took the job, though. Mama didn’t tell me who I’d be crewin’ for until after I accepted.”

“If you’re afraid of looking like a ‘fanboy,’ don’t be. Do you know how Joseph came to be our manager?”

“Uh, story I always heard was he came backstage during a show on your first tour and offered.”

Mr. Cold chuckles, “he did. But what very few people know is that he came back in his lovingly homemade  ‘Bigfoot’s Boy’ t-shirt and a a lot of glitter--remember, that was the E.T tour so everyone was space themed--clearly having left the house with the intent of trying to get into our bassist’s pants, and instead proceeded to tell us he’d seen how our manager operated through the night and we could so better and here’s how.”

“Jesus.”

“He was remarkably intimidating in spite of the glitter and his argument was airtight. So we fired Hayes and hired him. He did eventually bang our bassist, but that was perhaps obvious.”

“Given that they’ve been married for like five years, yeah. Still can’t believe Barclay went from beiin a rockstar to bein’ a chef.”

“He was always an ingenious cook. He once made breakfast using nothing but the still-hot engine of a mini-van.”

“AGH, god, why?”

“We were broke and hungry and there was nowhere to buy food.”

“That’s hardcore.”

“Mostly just oily.” Mr. Cold grabs another Capri Sun, sitting down across from him, “hmm, if you were sixteen when we started, did you ever get to see us?”

Duck shakes his head, “only kinda. Y’all mainly played twenty-one plus places even after you started gettin big, then you weren’t tourin nearby. When you announced the farewell tour, my friend Juno and I drove to Richmond to hear y’all play from outside the stadium. She’s still got a picture of us from that night somewhere, all geared out, tryin to look cool enough to be there.”

“You’ll have to let me see it, so I can determine if you pass muster.” Mr. Cold teases. 

“I ask if she can send me it. Christ, I remember bein’ so fuckin bummed when y’all announced The Cryptids were disbanding, then so fuckin relieved when you said you were gonna keep makin new stuff and performin just as Indrid Cold. Your voice is fuckin amazin.”

“That’s not always the word used.”

“So you don’t sound like Bruno Mars or some pop diva, big fuckin’ deal. You sing and people listen because they ain’t ever heard anyone like you. No one in the world sounds like Indrid Cold.”

The singer gives him an odd smile, “that’s very kind of you to say.”

“Sorry, guess there’s still some fanboy hidin’ out under the roadie.” His cheeks heat up as he finishes his drink.

“I think we should both get some rest.” Mr. Cold stands, ushering him to the door, “and that we should talk again sometime. And thank you again, Duck, for your happy accident.”

‘You’re welcome, Mr. Cold.”

A famous smile that’s never stopped being weirdly captivating, “please, call me Indrid.”

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

“You sure Indrid wants me on the bus and not just to, I dunno, load it?”

“Yes indeed.” Ned, Indrid’s publicity man, gestures grandly to the open door of the tour bus, “now kindly get yourself and your bag on it so we can get a move on.”

Duck climbs aboard, awkwardly sets his bag on the carrier shelf as he nods hello to Boyd, Indrid’s driver and part time bodyguard. 

Indrid is lounging on a black couch, but sits up when he sees Duck, “ah good, you decided to join me.”

“Yep. Uh, did you ask me for a reason or?”

“I like talking with you.” Indrid cocks his head, as if puzzled by the question. Duck wants to point out that the a god of the alt scene, a musical genius, who could have anyone he wanted for company, seeming to be excited by hanging out with a roadie is a bit confusing.

Indrid, meanwhile, is shoving drawings and notes aside so Duck can sit down, “mind you, I don’t expect you entertain me or something; I’m working on some poster art right now, for that fundraiser, so if you have things you like to do on the road, you’re welcome to do them. My room is that way if you want to nap, and it has a t.v as well if you want to watch something. Oh, and we have wi-fi, of course.”

He sounds like a college kid showing off his first apartment and it wrong-foots Duck enough that he just grabs his book from the pocket of his bag.

“Thanks, uh, think I’ll read for a bit.”

Indrid grins, goes back to his drawing, pen scratching hurriedly as the bus jolts to a start and pulls onto the road. 

After awhile, Indrid glances at him and asks mildly, “what was your favorite album? Of The Cryptids, I mean, not my solo stuff.”

Duck taps the spine of the book against the table as he thinks, “I mean The Cryptids  has that whole edge by bein’ the first, because there was nothin like hearin’ your sound for the first time. But I gotta say...Unsolved. Whole thing is fuckin amazin, but your vocals on “To a Flame” still give me fuckin chills.”

“I haven’t played that song in a long time.” Indrid says softly, smiling, “it was always a favorite. I wrote it about someone I could never have.”

“You can feel it. In, uh, in the way it’s arranged, the way you sing, gives this whole feelin of someone who’s decided to love someone completely even though they’ll never be loved back.”

Indrid looks at him a moment, that same odd, small smile quirking his lips, then returns to his drawing. When the road gets bumpier, they move to a couch in the middle of the bus with a low table nearby. Duck pulls out his laptop and plugs in his headphones, pulls up Planet Earth as Indrid’s head starts drooping. Two episodes in, the singer falls asleep, flopping sideways so his head is in Duck’s lap. 

He should move him, Indrid will probably think this is weird when he wakes up. Then again, he looks so cute like this. And it’d be rude to wake him up. 

Duck’s to the episode on jungles when a slender, tan hand reaches up and plucks his left earbud out. Startled, he looks down to find Indrid putting it on and adjusting his head in Duck’s lap, clearly engrossed in the carnivorous plants onscreen.

“Do you want me to just turn the normal sound on?”

“No” Indrid murmurs sleepily, “this is perfect.”

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

Duck assumes the bus will be a one-time event, but he’s ridden with Indrid each time since. Which is why, when his phone dings, Indrid is sitting right beside him. 

“Looks like Juno found the, uh, the photo.”

“Let me see” Indrid grabs the phone from him, cackling with delight when he sees the image, “you two were really the pair of cryptozoologists, weren’t you?”

“Told you we were tryin too hard.”

“On the contrary, I love it, it’s exactly the kind of weirdness we wanted to inspire in people. And if seems you did like to collect our merch, that shirt you’re wearing was a limited run.”

“I know. I, uh, I saved up for it, way I always did if something had art of yours on it.” He slaps his hand over his mouth, embarrassed by the admission.

“That’s very sweet.” Indrid smiles at him, then lifts his glasses for a better look, “what does the collar you’re wearing say?”

“I, uh, fuck, I don’t remember, got, uh, got amnesia, collar specific amnesia, fuck, uh-”

“C, O, L...you were wearing a collar with my name on it.” Indrid’s grin takes on a hungry edge, “someone was downplaying whose fanboy he was.”

“I, I didn’t want you thinkin I was creepy, or that I was just bein nice to you because of the crush I had on you in college.”

“I don’t, I promise, though I appreciate the consideration. Here” he hands the phone back, but as Duck takes it he leans in and whispers, “but you really should wear a collar more often.”

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

“Sooooo how’s it going with Indrid?” Aubrey, Indrid’s magician opening act, sits down next to Duck at dinner.

“Good. Wait, shit, are people talkin about us?”

“Kinda? I mean, Indrid hangs out with the band, and with me, plenty, but none of us get to be on that bus. Not like I’m complaining, Dani and I have our own sweet ride.”

“There ain’t anythin goin on between us. It just...Indrid seem like he likes bein’ friends with me.”

“That’s awesome!”

“Yeah” Duck sighs, wistfully, “y’know, it’s funny. Even after I started workin here, he was still Indrid Cold in my head, the guy who sang like he was diggin down in my head, who did wild shit like kiss his male bandmates on stage, who was always so fuckin cool. And now he’s Indrid, this guy who’s kinda awkward and wears way more pink than I assumed and flaps his hands when gets excited and somehow that’s even better.”

“Awww, someone has a cruuUUshh.”

“Had, Aubrey. Had.”

“Whatever you say, Duck” she winks at him, “whatever you say.”

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

“Are these yours?”

Duck shakes himself awake. They’ve been driving all evening and well into the night, and he must have nodded off and knocked his notebook over. Which is why Indrid is now holding several sheets of loose paper.

“Shit! I mean, uh, yeah, but they ain’t anythin special.”

“I didn’t know you wrote songs.” Indrid scans the pages with a critical eye.

“Sometimes. Like I said, they ain’t anythin to make a fuss over.” 

Indrid makes a noncommittal noise and picks up a nearby guitar, tuning it, “you can go back to sleep, I’m just going to fiddle about for a bit.”

Duck lays down on the couch, and falls asleep to the sound of Indrid’s hums.

He’s shaken awake two hours later, and is thoroughly confused to find Indrid in tight black pants and silvery shirt, black boots on his feet and a deep green on his lips; that’s his stagewear, not his pajamas.

“Put on your most punk-rock outfit, and make it fast.”

He manages to get an old Cryptids t-shirt on along with black jeans that, if he does say so himself, make his ass look good, and is tugging on his boots when the bus pulls into a dusty parking lot.

“It’s the only goth/gay bar in the county.” Indrid says by way of explanation as he pulls Duck out the door, Boyd following them as Ned stays behind to watch the van (“in case we need to make a hasty retreat”).

“Wait, holy fuck, I always thought that was a myth, that you would stop at random clubs and play.”

“Not in the least, though it’s been awhile. Ooh, whoever is already playing sounds very good.” He pushes open the door, the smell of smoke and stale beer and sweat pouring over them in waves as they enter. Indrid keeps to the side of the room, holding Duck’s hand all the while, and spots the tiny merch table with “The Hornets” painted on a yellow sign on the front. 

“Wait for me here.” He kisses Duck’s cheek and disappears into the crowd. When the band finishes the song, a youngish woman waves them over to the side of the stage, strangers in the crowd turning to each other to ask what the fuck is going on.

The guitarist and lead singer reappears, giant H on their shirt,  and grabs the mic, “y’all aren’t gonna believe this, but the Hornets have just acquired a new singer and it’s gonna blow your fucking minds. Give it up for one of the gods of horror-surf, the grinning man, the mothman himself, Indrid fucking Cold!” 

The crowd screams loud enough to shake an entire coat of dust from the walls as Indrid steps on stage, beaming and waving.

“Thank you very much, Hollis. I’ve got four songs for you tonight, including something very, very new. So, without further ado” he grabs the mic, flicks his hair, “let’s prowl.”

The Hornets launch into the opening notes of “on the prowl,” the crowd cheering and hooting and singing along with so much energy that Duck can’t hear Indrid’s voice until the last verse. He claps along with everyone else as Indrid takes the mic of the stand, “and here’s one I haven’t sung in far too long.”

The bass and guitar start in a minor key, half country swing and half horror sting.

“Always on the outs, always in the dark.” Indrid shuts his eyes as he croons, “always so hungry for one little spark. Always so willing to play your game. What can I say? I’m like a moth to flame.”

Duck knows the song by heart but he’s never heard Indrid sing it live, like there was someone in the room he was hoping would hear it and know it was for them. He doesn’t breathe until the song ends; he doesn’t want to miss a single note, miss the way Indrid’s voice curls around the room as if searching for him. 

As the crowd applauds at the end, Indrid crosses to Hollis, who hands him their guitar. He loops it over his shoulder, returns the mic to the stand. 

“Now, this next song is very special, it doesn’t have an arrangement yet, so you’ll have to live with just my melodious voice.” He picks the guitar, brow furrowed in concentration, and Duck gasps. 

He knows this song, he’s just never heard it played anywhere but inside his head. Indrid sings it flawlessly, the crowd swaying in time with him, and Duck realizes he must have practiced nonstop while he was asleep. 

The short song comes to a close and he tilts his head, “what did you think?”

The audience bursts out cheering and Indrid grins, “yes, that’s about how I feel too. I can’t take credit though, it was written by a friend.”

He returns the guitar, nods to the band, and purrs into the mic, “the sun goes down and the moon comes up.”

Shit how did he know? Does he know? He can’t know.

He can’t know this is the song Duck used to jack off to. A cover of a cover, a video where Indrid growls and purrs and nearly fucks the mic as he sings. 

“You better duck, when I show up, the goo goo muck” he writhes in time with the music, “I’m a nightmare, honey, looking for some head.”

God, fuck, how could he have forgotten just how Indrid sounds when he sings this, like the monster under the bed came to life, turned out to be hot, and really wants to fuck you. Indrid is on his knees now, working the front row, dragging his free hand across his body with moans between the words.

“He must really like you, mate.”

“Gahfuck, Boyd.” Duck jumps, but doesn’t take his eyes off the stage.

“I’m just sayin’, he’s never let anyone come to one of these before. I only do because Stern’ll kill us if we let him go without some kind of backup.” Boyd pats his shoulder, heading back towards the door. 

Indrid finishes the song panting, the Hornets looking harried from keeping up with his energy. As the crowd screams and claps he bows, and hurries off the stage. In cries for an encore and the darkened house, Indrid finds him again, grabbing his hand and sprinting outside.

“God I missed doing that!” He laughs as they run, “did you have fun?”

“Fuck yeah, Indrid, fuck, you really liked my song?”

“Of course. And it seems they did too.” The bus doors close behind them, but Indrid doesn;t stop moving, “we’re both very tired, going to bed now, goodnight!” 

Duck’s about to point out he sleeps on the pullout couch, not the bed, when the bedroom door slams shut and Indrid yanks him into a kiss, tongue in his mouth and hands in his back pockets, groping him with a growl. 

When Indrid breaks the kiss, Duck’s certain he has stars in his eyes. 

“Is this alright?”

“Hell fuckin yeah it is.”

“Good” Indrid shoves him backwards onto the bed, “shirt off.”

Duck obeys, Indrid stripping his own away and tossing it on the ground. As Duck fights with his jeans, Indrid retrieves a condom and something black from a box, setting them on the bed. He notices his struggle and shakes his head as he prowls on top of him, “ah ah, we don’t have time for that.”

“Butmmmmfff” Duck gasps and moans as Indrid kisses him again, demanding and messy.

“Get them low enough for me to fuck you.” He bites Duck’s lip and sits up, wiggling his own black pants down enough to free his cock. By the time he gets them free one leg and down to his knee on the other, Indrid has the condom on.

Indrid tosses away his glasses, gives him a long once over, licking his lips, “good boy.”

Then he’s on top of him again, cock inside him and fingers tangled in his hair.

“Oh fuck, you’re soaking, god, what got you so wound up, hm?”

“You, just you, watching you, Indrid, god please fuck me.”

“Gladly, goodness, fuck, that’s it sweetheart, you take me so well.” Indrid hammers into him again and again, kissing him each time he whimpers or moans. 

Duck wraps his legs around him, manages to get his head up enough to tease his tongue along Indrid’s nipple. 

“AH! Good boy, mmmm, I knew you’d be perfect to fuck.” He adjusts so he can run his hand up Duck’s throat. There’s no pressure in the gesture, but plenty of possession.

“What do you think, shall we get you a new collar?”

“Yes, yesyesyes, Indrid, god, fuck please.”

“Oh you like that, mmm” he switches to slow, deliberate thrusts, a counterpoint to Duck’s frantically jerking hips that makes them moan in tandem, “we could get you several, would you like that? I could put them on you according to my mood and what I wanted you to be that day.”

Duck means to say yes, whines instead, grinning breathlessly when Indrid strokes his cheek.

“Good. I’d like it, too. Nnnh, god I’m close.” He stops entirely, awkwardly shifts and pulls them until he’s on his knees with Ducks ass in his lap, “but I want you to cum first.”

“I, I can try.”

“It was an order.” He reaches down, revealing the black object from earlier; a vibrating wand.

“Oh fuck yeah, fuckFUCK” his legs thrash when the vibe presses against his dick, “Indrid, sugar, ohmyfuckinggod.”

Indrid grins, wide and wanton, and turns the toy up, eyes flicking between Ducks face and cock as he cries out and bucks his hips. 

“What a good boy, getting my cock so wet” he wiggles his hips with a moan, “you feel delightful when I use this on you, perhaps tomorrow I’ll have you sit on my cock and do the same thing over and over again, edge myself with the feeling of you needy and tightening around me.”

“Indrid, fuckplease, yes, yes, fuck, I’m so fuckin close darlin, ple-fuck, ‘Drid!” He cums with groan, whole body shaking as pleasure overloads his nerves. 

The vibrator thunks to the floor as Indrid lunges forward, pinning him to the bed and fucking him hard and fast, cock thudding into him in time with his purring groans. 

“So, so good, my Duck, so very good, god, yes, yesyes” he’s moving so violently Duck is now grunting from the force of the impact, “that’s it, good boy, take what I give youAHHnnn, Duck, Duck.” His hips slow as he groans, Duck drinking in the sight of him, orgasmic and loving above him.

Indrid pulls out, condom hitting what is hopefully the trash and not his guitar case, and immediately curls around Duck, kissing his neck and face.

“Thank you, thankyouthankyou.”

Duck giggles, kisses him back, “why are you thankin me? I’m the one who just got to fuck a rockstar. You got to fuck some regular dipshit.” He bumps their foreheads together to show he’s teasing. 

“Incorrect. I got to fuck you. You, who are funny and charming and to the point, and who has taught me a remarkable amount about plants.”

“S’important to have hobbies.” Duck mumbles into his shoulder. 

“Indeed. My point is, you make me happier than I’ve been in a long, long time. And while fucking you has been on my mind has been on my mind lately, it was not actually what I planned to do first. I, ah, I” he rests his head on Duck’s shoulder, hides his face in his neck, “I wanted to ask if you wanted to be my boyfriend.”

“Hell fuckin yeah.” Duck hugs him tight as he laughs with relief, “Indrid, I wanna be with you, the real you, not the one I had the crush on all those years ago. I wanna make you happy.”

“You do that just by existing, but I have some other ideas as well.”

“Oh yeah?” Duck kisses his nose.

“Well, for starters” Indrid’s eyes gleam as he looks up at him, “how would you like to write some music with me, boyfriend?”

“I think that sounds fuckin amazin. Boyfriend.”

#indruck #rockstar au #indrid cold/duck newton #meet ugly #prompt fills