#mystery schoo

[occult-roommates]

For April Fool's day tomorrow I almost made a fake chapter where it's revealed Rudi and Dawud are siblings and their respective dead dad is actually the same person but it was so obviously a joke I cringed myself into being unable to write it 💀

#i mean do i even need to explain why this plot twist wouldn't work #like we straight up know who Dawud's dad is it has never been a mystery #and while we never saw Rudi's dad we do have some information about him #and we know the two men had a different nationality/religion/job/species/name like... #the only thing they have in common is they're dead and still they didn't died the same way or even the same year #Boris died in a plane crash in 2012 and Rashid of an aneurysm in 2009 #like unless Guadalupe had an affair with Rashid and Boris is not their actual dad it would straight up not be possible #or Farida/Boris and Rashid is not actually Dawud's dad #and even that is a stretch within the context of the story and not work well at all #it would just be drama for the sake of it #i think the only way this could even be foreshadowed is cause Rudi is from Germany and Dawud used to take german classes back in high schoo #elouan's rambling

[contemplatingoutlander]

In the 1920s, a series of greed-based, racially charged murders of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation occurred in Oklahoma. (The linked article is a gift 🎁 link, so anyone can read the entire article, even if they do not subscribe to The New York Times.)

The article's authors, Jim Gray and David Grann, also point out how legislatures in red states like Oklahoma have created laws that are being used to prevent the teaching of significant racist incidents in American history for fear that it could be implied that students are being taught that they "'should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress' on account of their race or sex." Consequently, teaching about the Reign of Terror against the Osage Nation is being stifled in some Oklahoma schools.

Here is a video about the murders.

.Below are some excerpts from the article:

During the early 20th century, members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma were systematically murdered by white settlers. Yet outside the Osage Nation, the history of this racial injustice — one of the worst in American history — was distorted and then largely erased from memory. “Killers of the Flower Moon,” a film directed by Martin Scorsese, shines an extraordinary light on these events and provides a long overdue opportunity to restore them in our consciousness. But ironically, at the same time that the film is being released, there is a new attempt to suppress the teaching of this very history in the state where it took place. In 2021 the Oklahoma Legislature passed a bill prohibiting teachers in public school from instructing several concepts, including that “any individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress” on account of their race or sex. The vagueness of the law has caused teachers to censor themselves, for fear of losing their licenses or their school’s accreditation. In a high school classroom in Dewey, Okla., copies of “Killers of the Flower Moon,” the nonfiction book behind the film, were left unread because the teacher worried about running afoul of the law. Another teacher confessed that she was uncertain if she could refer to the settlers who murdered the Osage as white. At stake in these fights is not only factual accuracy. It is also how new generations will be taught to record and remember the past — both the good and the bad — so that they can learn to make their own history. The story of what’s now called the Osage Reign of Terror is essential to understanding America’s past. After vast oil deposits were discovered under their lands, the Osage were suddenly, by the 1920s, among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. In the year 1923 alone, the roughly 2,000 Osage on the tribal roll received a total of more than $30 million, the equivalent today of more than $400 million. As their wealth increased, though, it unleashed an insidious backlash across the country. The U.S. government passed legislation requiring many Osage to have white guardians to manage their fortunes — a system that was both abhorrently racist and widely corrupt. Then the Osage began to die under mysterious circumstances: There were shootings, poisonings and even a bombing. [color emphasis added]

I encourage you to read the entire article. It is tragic that red states are so afraid of their racist past that they are making it extremely difficult for children in those states to learn about the racist underbelly of American history, and how that history continues to reverberate in our society.

_______________ Video source for gif (before edits/caption) Originally posted 10.21.23; last edited 01.20.24

#osage murders #oklahoma #american history #killers of the flower moon #censorship #anti-crt legislation #david grann #jim gray #Youtube #the1920s channel #the new york times #my gifs #gift link

[nysocboy]

School Spirits: Ghost girl, her gay bff, and their buds solve the mystery.

I'm a sucker for teenage ghost stories, as long as they are comedies, so I reviewed the first episode of School Spirits on Netflix

Maddie (Peyton List) wakes up in the boiler room of her high school.  Her blood is splattered around.  But that's not the worst part: she's dead!  She can't touch or move anything.  She can see and hear the living , but they can't see or hear her.  And she can't leave the campus!  

Her self-appointed guide is Charlie (Nick Pugliese, center), a gay kid who died in the school during the 1990s (peanut allergy, not hate crime).  He advises her to not try to remember how she died, since she can't change anything: no communication with the living is possible. But don't ghosts communicate with people all the time?  Maybe in the next episode.  And becoming fixated on the past is dangerous: some band members who died in a bus crash many years ago are obsessively performing the school fight song, over and over.

Charlie introduces Maddie to some other ghosts from various decades, notably Wally (Milo Mannheim, top photo and right), who died on the football field, and wishes that he had managed to shower first;  and the Goth Kirsten, who was murdered by her guidance counselor.  

Mr. Martin (Josh Zuckerman), a teacher who died in the school, offers regular group therapy, with regular homework ("write your obituary").  This doesn't get boring after 20 years because ghosts don't experience time in the same way that the living do.  He also advises Maddie to resist checking up on her living friends, as they will gradually forget her and move on.

Of course, Maddie doesn't listen.  She tries to recall events leading up to her death: first, she made plans with her BFFs, Simon (Kristian Ventura) and Nicole, to see Carrie that night.  

Her boyfriend Xavier (Spencer MacPherson) was skipping class, and texted her to join him for a smooch session in his car.  She talked him into going to the movie.  They met the others after class with the tickets.  And that's it.

Out in the living world, Maddie's body has not been found, so she gets "missing person" posters and "thoughts and prayers" in class.  The BFFs think that this is ridiculous: they should be out looking for her.  Suddenly Xavier's bag flies open: he has Maddie's cell phone!  Why didn't he tell anyone for the last three days?  This makes him the prime suspect in her murder. The sheriff (Ian Tracey, left), who also happens to be his Dad, arrests him.

Beefcake: Charlie's "office" is the shower room in the boy's gym, where he can watch an endless parade of butts.

Gay Characters: Charlie, and maybe Maddie's living bff, Simon. A future episode shows us Charlie’s high school boyfriend, Emilio, who is now all grown up, married to another guy, and teaching at the schoo (played as an adult by Andres Soto, seen here doing...um)

The Mystery:  "Who killed Maddie, and why?"  It's obviously not Xavier or one of her bffs, and those are the major living characters introduced to date.  I also hope that we have some subplots involving the other ghosts.

My Grade: A-

The NSFW version of this review, with Andres Soto desnudo, is on Righteous Gemstones Beefcake and Boyfriends. (No connection to the show: it's just where I put NSFW reviews).

#School Spirits #Nick Pugliese #Andres Soto #Spencer MacPherson #Ian Tracey

[softskiesahead]

14 days of lukeyaya 5/14 <33 :DDc <3

the notes appeared rather suddenly one day. Middle school yaya had no clue where they were coming from, but she accepted them pretty quickly. After all, they were always sweet and kind, and put her in this light she wished she could see herself in. she'd find them on her binder, in her bag, on her desk, anywhere really. the only issue was... they were never signed.

the mysterious notes always talked about her in a way that felt so personal. so loving. she wanted to know who the culprit was so badly, both so she could thank them and find out why they were doing it to begin with. rosa teased her, saying maybe someone in the class was in love with her from afar, or something romantic like that. luke always stayed quiet, though he never seemed to like the implication that there was someone out there flirting with her.

either way, no matter who it may be doing it, they were pretty constant, and always seemed to have something lovely to say about her. sometimes theyd even be cut into the shape of a little heart, or other times decorated with sweet little stickers. unfortunately, there was nothing that was quite personal enough for her to pinpoint one person as the sole perpetrator.

she got used to them not being there anymore one day, just as she had gotten used to them being there before. a part of her missed them when they were gone, because it was nice to think about someone who cared so much to put all that effort in for her. but with the re-entrance of her old friend luke into her life again, armed with a cute glitter pen and a stack of sticky notes, he was ready to bring back a tradition he adored doing so long ago.

secret admirer luke …. :<< he probably has such a hard time keeping up a straight face but yaya and rosa assume it’s just his annoyance that he can’t scare off this admirer like he does with anyone else interested in them (it’s a best friend duty <3 he can’t have his closest friends with people who could hurt them !!) but secretly he’s trying so hard not to grin when he sees yaya smiling softly at the most recent note ……

hhhh you put the cutest most canon things in my inbox like it’s nothing ;;;;

yaya 100% keeps the notes btw. probably in a journal or scrapbook. when they are to appear again - it doesn’t take a detective to figure out who is always over and has a key. she probably finds out it was him back then too when she teases him (lovingly) about the newest note and brings it up as a memory, “remember when I got notes in middle schoo-“ and has her realization halfway through (followed by a long hug and a soft kiss)

#this one!!!! hhhhhh it’s so …….. #I’m going to have a cavity by the 14th at this rate ^^;; #♡ friend: dwyer #✉️letters #lukeyaya

[ngmn2002]

Something to consider/not consider

Alright, letting this thing out... here we go. Assuming that sakura was /locked,kept/ in school since the very first day the school was built, doesn't that mean lots of things? Like... she maybe knows almost everything about the school? Anyway, following that line of thought... she saw every generation enter and leave the school since its first day. So that means she was also there the whole time the twins were students. Maybe she knows a few things about them?

Maybe some highlights? What kind of students they used to be or something like that? If she payed a close eye to the 2 back when they were still students? Whether she really knew a few things about them/ interacted with them/ living Tsukasa or not, the fact that she was there when Amane was fixing the clock, is a bit scary.

As she is also the one who appointed the mysteries (as it's kind of implied),

That means she is the one who put No. 1 in their place. ..... A huge thing happened with Amane and the clock, leading to some time pradox things, and a huge mess in the school. And, she is been there all the time. She MUST have known about all that happened that time and still does until now. Assuming No. 1 turned back time back then to fix things,

It doesn't affect powerful supernaturals or special people's memories that much.

Meaning that until this day, along side No. 1, Tsukasa, she still remembers all about that day. And who knows? Maybe she tried to take advantage of that time thingy Amane caused in the past some way or another? Maybe she is now after recreating what happened in that festival once again? Then get the clock to move? Gain something out of it? Something that maybe she failed to gain the time the mess happened in Amane's and Tsukasa's time? An extra gain in addition to destroying the yorishiro if No.1? Or... thinking a bit deeper... Maybe we should take she might be the one who is behind Amane trying to fix the clock in the past after all and not No. 1 themselves into consideration for a sec? To get that something of hers out of it? As a person who likes to get her work done in secret, and to play from behind the scenes to manipulate people into getting her what she wants,

using something special to achieve her plans, usually a rumor or/and the usage of 'special people suitable for her plan ; like Kou in No.6's case & Akane in No.1's;. and...

Or anything she has at hand for that matter. secretive boy is facing away I see, while Nene-chan… haha, interesting. A "rumor"

is all it takes her to lure Amane/or anyone else interested to gain something out of doing the work of trying to fix the clock to do it for her, and if any managed to do it, she will get the outcome she wants. Tsukasa told Nene the rumor in ch 102, didn't he? (that doesn't explain why Amane had a "time limit". Who told him about it? the rumor may be her doing, but someone else actually came into the picture.. maybe again.. No.1 chose Amane and gave him a deal of some kind.) OR/// the whole 'rumor' thing could be that Tsukasa really was only saying this to Nene-chan in a form of a rumor to get her to know about the magical clock. Following the line of sakura being the founder of that rumor/ As sakura was there since the school was built and the supernatural world is built on rumours and she is the one in charge of 'changing the rumors' now...

why not extend this and say she was on charge of the rumors since the day she was kept in school? So that makes her, the one who came with every single rumour we have since day 1. By now, while working for 'Tsukasa'/her sake actually.. she is very skilled at it. Of course she is, she has been in the career for more than 100 years. Isn't it funny? Hilarious even? The rumors were getting changed from how they originally were? Well, the person who inetially created them is actually the one who changed them. Why is it weird for that person to change them after some time? Of course, I'm just taking about the "school" rumors system. The rumors of things outside the school are not her game, like the red house 'rumor' for example or even the supernatural the minamotos deal with outside school. Speaking about the 'clock' rumor... she changed it a lot from how it originally was.

It didn't have any dark theme previously. Maybe to get people to try to fix the clock without fear "either you get what you want or lose 'nothing" "why not try it? there is nothing to lose.", or it could be that over the years, people strated to tend to like scary/dark themes and she was going with that. Hmm... why not both? It doesn't matter that much now to have people scared or not, Nene & No.7 (or even kou, haha, the poor thing was used in a reallllly dirty way by her) are there to be manipulated to do all she wants after all.

Now, going back to the point, she needed the clock for something, to gain it, she came with a rumor to encourage people to do the work while she does the harvest if any succeed (again, poor Kou). And, maybe she "somehow" noticed Amane's want to "control" time for some reason. Made the rumor to take advantage of him, or simply, as suggested before she created the rumor either way to get anyone with the desire to gain something out of moving the clock do it. Like... Tell 200 person under a tree, there is a treasure, wouldn't they all go there fast and try to get it?? Same as the rumor. Move the clock, control time. Who doesn't want that? And it's not like there is anything to lose. But of course, the "gain" will be "hers" at the end. Now, with Tsukasa in the middle, I don't think things went as she expected? He seemed to be watching over the situation very closely and also taking it into his advantage.

Maybe by that time, neither she nor Tsukasa knew each other. But with each of them working their way and using the situation to their advantage, they were like "enemies" getting in each other's way by trying to get what they want. Kinda like they are now; both want something different but share the same path. Hmm... But the difference is.. in the past they weren't on "good" terms and got on each other's way... while each didn't know about the other one, while now they work "to ge th er". Though, even now, while working together... 'trust' doesn't seem to be a thing they have in each other that much? /She is doing things of her own from behind his back and Tsukasa seems to be hinting that he knows/

At least that's how I see this scene. Seems even now while seemingly working together... They aren't really on "good" terms. One day, they may turn against each other and really show it, if she wanted to get something that actually stands in Tsukasa's way. Kinda exciting to think about. Though, I don't think AidaIro would really take such a path with things, still fun to consider seeing her facing defeat after coming against Tsukasa, right? If it somehow came true... hmm... how fun. Speaking about 'trust' once more... surely she doesn't put much trust in him, she simply goes her way, also, doesn't really care for him as a person. On Tsukasa's side, he doesn't hate her, calls her a "good assistant" for some odd reason (talk about me absolutely not agreeing with Tsukasa on something. kinda nice.) I sometimes wonder, if he really trusts her with his eyes closed... if he does... she wouldn't have said this to Nene

It makes me feel he is keeping a close eye on her? It's funny.. even if they didn't know about each other in the past, they don't really trust eachother now. If Tsukasa has an eye on her all the time... Doesn't that mean he knows all that happened in ch 103? Hmm.... Anyway, I would rather wait and see how much trust they put in each other for real.

Sooo... we have a festival (past & now)... Tsukasa / sakura wants to get something out of a thing happening during it (past & now), they were working separately (past), seemingly together (now), goal in the past (meet Nene? / ??? - ????), in the present (get the yorishiro destroyed/ something to do with Nene & Amane?/ ??? - get the yorishiro destroyed/ ??? ) Hmm...maybe both would get what they want and just move on without a word to each other about their 'personal gains' like the thing with No.6. haha, Tsukasa had no personal gain in No.6's thing while she did, maybe now... it's either both have things or only he does Tsukasa VS kind of Sakura in a past festival. Tsukasa & Sakura seemingly together in the festival after about 50 years. If that isn't funny. If that isn't funny. So, concluding, ''''maybe'''' -in the past- she had a thing to do with the mess that happened in the past festival & wanted to gain something out of it, made a rumor to use Amane/ anyone to do the work for her, failed at the end, -now- is trying to do it again now by making a mess and then get No.7 & Nene destroy No.1's yorishiro and at the same time get that something she failed to get in the past. Lowering expectations- she has nothing to do with the clock topic aside from making the rumor about it (or again it could be that Tsukasa told Nene the fact in a form of a rumor) and was having tea all the time in her room, but she knows about what happened back then and still does until now. The Tsukasa deal... ah... I'm wondering now how the 2 really met and 'when'. Was it back when he was still alive? Or after he became a yorishiro? Both can happen. Not that I'm really that interested to know how they met or to know anything about how they came together, really. I used to be, but not anymore. At least I do care about Tsukasa's side of the story, while she can be whatever.

Though... In some way... I really wonder if she knows he has the red house kami inside of him.. or noticed he is an unnormal boy during his time in the school. Hmm... When she went to him while a yorishiro... She knew fully what she was doing, right? She doesn't enter a game she knows whe will loose. As a girl who has been there since the very start, she studies all her moves before making them. Going to Tsukasa and making the wish to him, then seemingly working for him is a thing she had to do to reach what she wants. It's all planned carefully by her and not randlomly done.

Speaking about her rumours... How powerful is her dominance over them? Hmm... If she is really afraid of Tsukasa not being destroyed...

Couldn't she use a rumour like:

"Did you know? The school 7 mysteries... each of them has a thing called yorishiro. They are .... . It's said one day all of them will be destroyed, not only that, the yorishiro of No. 7, the leader, Will be destroyed with his own hands. And when all of them are destroyed, something huge will happen." Can't she do that? Tsukasa will be the last yorishiro. Betraying him at that stage is child's play. That way.. wouldn't she just control Amane and make him do so? Buttt... Duh.. AidaIro won't do that... The twins thing should be "wholesome " and not "forced" on any of them. And, I don't think rumors really work that much on powerful spernaturals like Hanako. No.2... really wanted what she was doing. Anyway... fun to consider since I think if the rumors would give her full control of the person she want to use, she wouldn't hesitate to use them in the ugliest ways.

Her want is to get out, right? At times... It comes to me that she has the "nowhere " place... Instead of going through all she is going through now... Couldn't she just go to the time she was "forced" to stay in the school and change the past and stop it from happening? A lot easier than what is happening now? But maybe.. the "past" is fixed after all. There is no such thing as changing the past. With Tsukasa... It was kou trying to change it.. but he actually made the present come true. So maybe... The past is set in stone and you can't do nothing about it. While with some miracle, you can change the "future".

Ah, speaking about her... it seems it came to her mind to pretend to be a student now? Looks like during all the +100 years she was having tea in her room, not bothering to deal with the 'outside' or to be a 'student', Hmm... she pretented to be a third year student since when? The same year Nene went to Hanako-kun for the wish? I see. Anyway, I want to keep this thing in mind ~

As well as this little thing <3

Tsukasa... again... show up soon please? I need to see what you have in mind.

#can't believe i thought about possibilities with her #anyway... #this came to existent #so here it is

[thedisabilitybookarchive]

'Throwaway Girls'- Contos, Andrea

Disability Rep: Anxiety (MC), Depression (SC)

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Contemporary

Age: Young Adult

Setting: USA

Additional Rep: Bisexual MC, Indian-American SC

For more information on summaries, content warnings and additional tropes, see here:

#books #disability books #disability representation #disability #disabled characters #anxiety #mystery #thriller #contemporary #fiction #lgbtq books #lgbtq+ #lgbtq characters #lgbtq representation #bisexual character #lesbian characters #bisexual #lesbian #link

[xexiar]

Keep Watching. 44

Ch43 Ao3

----

Chapter 44

While entering class, I quickly rushed over to Bakugo and Midoriya. “Are you serious about the collector's edition to All Might Brawl 6? Cause I heard that was going to be extra expensive when it gets released to the public.”

“Good morning, Kirishima. And yeah. The store I usually go to, during game release, informed me of the special event happening for this game. At that, I had already entered the raffle for early comers. And during the actual release, I can enter again, along with everyone us.”

“What the hell!” We looked over to Bakugo, who fully turned around to face us. Before long, Kaminari, Sato, Ojiro, Tokoyami, Mineta, and Sero joined us in talking about the upcoming game. “There’s no way they’re finally adding Jack Rabbit! They said that about the last game, and he wasn’t there.”

“Right! But when looking through the upcoming raster, there was Jack Rabbit and even the new hero costume for Edgeshot.”

“You’re lying, Deku! They promised us Jack Rabbit for All Might Brawl 5 and ended up giving us Brazilian jumping hero, Rasta.”

“Bakubro is right. I was so looking forward to Steelcage, but he ended up being cut. So, unless I see that Jack Rabbit and Steelcage in AMB6, I won’t believe it.”

“Exactly.” We looked over at Tokoyami. “They promised Ms. Kist 3 games in a row. But she always gets cut. So, what makes you think we will believe their lies now?”

As Midoriya was about to say something, is when we could hear the door about to open. We quickly rushed to our seats and got ready for class. After Aizawa went over the course again for the internships next week, he reminded us that today, we get to start picking out our heroes' names. Which I almost completely forgot about. And the way I could see Kaminari shake in front of me, I’m glad I wasn’t the only person.

Now that I think about it, I’m not sure if I ever thought of a name. Maybe I could pay homage to my favorite hero. Would that even be allowed? Especially since he’s my inspiration for the type of hero I want to be. So, what kind of name would pay homage while it still being me? 

What if I have something that mentions my quirk? What kind of name would sound cool with having “hardened’ in it? Thinking about it now, that sounds so wrong. But what would be about something manly? I looked up as I tried to think, and that’s when I saw Ashido. At that moment, I couldn’t stop smiling as I remembered how she had handled that bully from middle school. She was such a riot. THAT’S IT! “My hero name will be Red Riot!” 

When we were dismissed for lunch, I walked over to Midoriya. “Are you serious about Deku being your hero name?”

“Yeah.” Before I could say anything else, Tokoyami and Todoroki started to walk next to us. “Why do you want Ms. Kist, Tokoyami?”

“Why not? She’s mysterious while also being able to use her sword hair quirk.”

“Wait a minute.” We looked over at Todoroki. “Are you talking about the very same Norwegian number 17 hero, Ms. Kist?”

“The very one. Even though her ranking dropped every time the game was about to be released. It’s truly unfair that such a great hero isn’t appreciated enough.”

“I agree.” Todoroki took out his phone and pulled up the latest Norwegian hero rankings. “It seems in recent polls, she might drop rank again.”

“No way.” As we walked to the lunchroom, we talked about Ms. Kist. This then led to talking about a few other heroes we are hoping will be in AMB6. “I really hope they kept to their word and we get to be able to customize our online hero. Wouldn’t that be so cool?”

“I’ll say.” I took a bite of my burger. “Besides, isn’t the new Natenx console coming out the same week?”

“Actually! On the same day.”

“A Natenx? What’s that?” We all looked at Todoroki.

“Don’t you game?” The way he looked confused was weird. “Don’t you play video games?” That’s when he shook his head. “No way!” We all looked at Todoroki in surprise. “We got to get you step up so you can join us brawling!”

“Yeah! Let’s go after school to the nearby game shop and get you started.”

“I’m not too sure, Kaminari. What would be the point of getting a system now when the new one is coming out soon.”

“Good point.” We watched as Midoriya started to go off about what would be the best possible way to get Todoroki started going with us while also getting around the upcoming release. “I got it!”

“Tell us.”

Midoriya smiled as he took out his phone. “Todoroki-chan could at least set up an account online. Then, he could borrow my Natenx 2 to get used to the system. So, when he gets the game and new console, he’ll already have everything set up.”

“Do you really think it’s ok if I borrow your Natenx, Midoriya? What if you wish to use it?”

Midoriya just waved it off. “It’s ok. During the two weeks before release day, I will be too busy with internship and studying for midterms.”

“Midterms!” Everyone looked at Kaminari. “I completely forget about midterms coming up. I’m going to fail.”

“As long as you study, Kaminari, you should do well.”

We looked at Ida. “Says the one who’s always passing every pop quiz.”

“I don’t see the problem. One must always study to be able to succeed.”

“Whatever you say, class president.” Before long, we started heading back to class. As we did so, Midoriya chatted with Todoroki about setting him up after school.  “If you need to, I brought my laptop.  So, we can set up during homeroom.”

“You mean AFTER homeroom.” I couldn’t help but chuckle at how Ida tried to lecture Kaminari about class rules.

…

I still couldn’t believe he actually chose that as his name. Deku is so brave, which makes me even more confident in my choice. And as we dismissed for lunch, I couldn’t help but watch Ashido skip over to Bakugo. I wondered what that was about, so I tagged along. “I still can’t believe how Midnight-San kept turning down all your names. Besides the whole kill and murder parts, I thought they were pretty cool.”

“Sure,” I looked and saw that Tsu was next to me. “For over blasty boy who’s favorite word is kill, ribbit.” We all started to laugh as Bakugo folded his arms while standing in front of Tsu.

“Then why the fuck you didn’t use Ribbit as your hero name, uh? Since you always say that.”

“I’m a frog. And why would I encourage people to mock my speech pattern?”

“Tch. Whatever.” With that, we just continued walking the halls. That was until Bakugo suddenly stopped and looked over his shoulder. “My old hag is making me go to the mall this weekend. You extras wanna tag along?”

“A shopping trip. Hell yeah!” Ashido was practically bouncing next to Bakugo as we kept walking. That was until we spotted Yaoyorozu, Jiro, and Hagakure standing in line. Ashido rushed over and seemed to say something to them. Which had at least 2 of them jumping from excitement. All while Jiro was twirling her ear jack.

I stepped next to Bakugo. “Guess we just got 3 more people to go shopping.” I looked at the grumpy blonde as we got in line. “So why did you invite us?”

“The hag said I can. So, why not.”

It was when we went to sit down that I noticed something. I looked over to the table where I usually sat with Deku and Ida and saw the boys were still talking about that game from this morning. I then looked at Bakugo, who was sitting next to a chatty Ashido. “Why don’t you sit with the rest of the boys?”

“Na.” I watched as he made a slight frown before returning to his typical grumpy face. For some reason, that seemed strange. There was no usual aggressive response, but I tried to ignore it. For the rest of lunch, we talked about the upcoming shopping trip with Bakugo and his mom. But I did catch a few times that he would try to look over at the table behind me. 

…

As we started getting changed in the locker room, I couldn’t help but shake my head. The idiots were still talking about All Might Brawl 6. It's not like I didn’t want to join in the conversation or anything. We did have training class to deal with. “Kacchan.” I turned in time to see a shirtless Deku next to me. Usually, I had caught a glimpse of his back, but seeing his front was a different experience. Especially when I saw small scars along his under ribs and one nearing his lower abdomen. Where did he get all those scars? They looked so old.

“What, nerd?”

I watched as Deku bounced up and down before grabbing his phone from his locker. Why was he being so cute that I could just bite him? He held up his phone to my face, showcasing some updates for AMB6. “They’re finally returning Egyptian flame hero, Braziir!”

I snatched Deku’s phone from him as I read the update closely. “There’s no way. He hasn’t been in All Might Brawl since the original.”

“I know, right!” I looked at Deku, and it felt like I was staring at the sun. “You always used to main him when we fought to see who could use All Might! And! And!” He started excitedly mumbling about something along the lines of how we used to play every weekend during 1st grade. “At that, I have gotten better with American hero Cross Hair. So, I’m going to beat you this time!”

I shoved Deku’s phone in his face. “In your dreams, nerd! I kicked your ass then, and I’m still going to kick your ass now!”

“Wait?” We looked over at tape face. “You two used to play together?” 

Then shitty hair tried to drape an arm over Deku’s shoulders, but he quickly stepped back. Good. “So does that mean we get to have a game night once we all get AMB6? Just us guys?”

“But where would we gather to play? Unless we do so online.”

“We could chill at my place.” We looked over at big lips. “I have plenty of space to host a game night. Plus, I have a huge gaming setup in my living room. You guys could bring the snacks.”

“That’s such a sausage fest.” I could hear the shorty behind me, and the way the others looked confirmed he was there. “Just hear me out, fellas. Let’s invite the ladies.”

“But it’s a manly game night for all us bros.”

“You just scared that a girl could kick your ass.” I tried not to laugh at that comment from Deku. Even the rest of the guys were snickering.

“What the hell, Midoriya. You spent too much time with Bakugo with how mean you’re being.”

“You’re just mad that I’m right.” The way dunce face was banging on the lockers as he laughed was super loud, especially with how close it was to my ears. As we walked to the class, the guys were still snickering over what Deku said. That was until Deku was walking alongside shitty hair, and what he said next had me ready to crack up. “Don’t worry. I’m sure one of the girls would let you win out of pity.” What is with Deku today?

Even during training class, Deku did not give up on the comments. What the fuck? The usually shy nerd was talking shit. What made it worse was that it was funny. “Is Midoriya ok?” I looked over at glasses as he stood next to me. “He hasn’t stopped since we left the locker room. Do you happen to know anything about this?”

“Why are you asking me? I don’t know shit.”

“I expected bad mouth from you, but not Midoriya. Which, I’m still confused about what triggered it. Along with why he seemed to only say them to boys. It’s very un-team-like of him.”

“And what do you expect to get out of this by telling me?” He just did that weird robot arm thing as he pointed over to the nerd. I sucked my teeth as I stood up from leaning against the wall. “Whatever.” I walked over to where the nerd and floaty were talking. I happened to overhear him chatting about something to do with swimming with sharks. “Nerd.”

The way he turned around, I questioned how his neck was still attached to his shoulders. “Is something wrong, Kacchan?” He was doing the bouncing thing. Maybe something is wrong. That’s when I recalled how he gets when he isn’t able to finish a thought. So, he tends to just jump from one topic to another. But did that really have anything to do with why he was making such comments to the rest of our male classmates? Perhaps it would explain a few things.

So, I looked over at round cheeks. “Do you play any Natenx games?”

“Does this have to do with that game you guys are excited for? I was going to ask Deku but got sidetracked by him talking about extreme spots.”

“What was it that you wanted to ask, Ochako?” Which then set off the nerd to mumble up a storm about the game. So, with that, I walked back to my spot by the wall. When I got there, four eyes simply nodded his head in approval, I guess. Once school hours were over, I watched as Icyhot and Deku surrounded dunce face. Even four eyes and grape shit. I wonder what that was about.

Not only were they setting up a Natenx account for Icyhot, but they were also doing one for four eyes. “You two seriously never gamed before?”

…

After setting up Ida and Todoroki with Natenx accounts, I was finally able to head home. Well, kind of. This time around, I was bringing a friend home. Wow. Just thinking that was super exciting. Besides Kacchan, I have never brought anyone else over. At that, it felt like forever that I had someone over. 

Speaking of Kacchan, I noticed how calm he seemed today. But also how he was talking with the girls of our class. I don’t think I've ever seen him this calm when speaking with a girl before. He usually would shout at them to leave him alone. Or completely ignore them. I wondered what changed.

Then I looked over to my right and couldn’t help taking note of Todoroki. After everything he told me about his upbringing, I may have jumped at the chance to help him out. Yet, as I was looking at him, I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about how pretty he was. Which is completely unfair. Besides trying to be a hero and learning to handle One For All, there was something else about UA I just wanted to avoid. But it couldn’t be helped.

Maybe since Kacchan is the only person who knows me the longest, I might be able to get away with hiding other things about me. I was already technically lying about my quirk, so what’s a few more lies? It's not like anyone is going to notice. Will they? Compared to elementary and middle school, the teachers aren’t singling me out. At that, most times, our classmates have been picking on Kacchan. I surprisingly have been getting such a strange treatment that I’m not sure how to feel about it.

It’s almost like I exist but don’t. I’m not getting mean looks or having people write death threats on my locker anymore. Is this what high school is really like? Or was this everyone else experience but my own? Then there’s something else I couldn’t shake off. “Nerd!”

I blinked a few times and looked around me. “Midoriya, are you ok?”

“Of course not, half and half. the nerd’s crying.” I looked between Todoroki and Kacchan before I realized that we were standing at the corner between our homes. “What the fuck, nerd?” Suddenly, there were snapping fingers in my face. “Deku!”

“What?” I tried to smile, but it hurt. “I’m fine, Kacchan.”

“Are you sure, Midoriya?” I looked over at Todoroki. “You suddenly started to cry. Bakugo tried shaking you and such, but nothing seemed to work. Instead, you just cried harder. What happened?”

I tried to walk past them, but I could feel the heat from Kacchan’s quirk as his grip on my shoulder tightened. “I’m ok. I’ll be fine.”

#mha #bakugo katsuki #fanfic #bkdk #izuku midoriya #bnha bkdk #bakugou x deku #bkdk fanfic

[ffreviewsblog]

THE MYSTERY SCHOOL CODE REVIEW 2023 - Does It Really Work? Mystery Schoo...

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[reviewsjavaburnn]

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[nenes-wifey]

Aoi approaches Nene and asks what's going on, only getting a nervous shrug and an obvious lie in response. Hanako's laughs come to an end as he glances at Kou with a smug expression, the exorcist staring at the floor with frustration. Teru walks toward his brother but pauses as the love guru passes by. He hears multiple voices talking at once over their phone, the loudest being one cackling too much to speak coherently. Kou looks up upon hearing his name, seeing Akane at the end of the hallway.

Akane, T-posing at the end of the hallway in his school mystery form: c̵̡̡̨̛̛̯͎̼͕̤͍̟͇̝͕̱͎͓̦̞̝͎͙̪̟̹̦̩͕̘͎̳̲͙̱͍̄̐͑͛̑̂̄̃̓́͆̓̏̇͗̊̈̎͊͑́̒͊̽̑͆͒͋́̽̈́̾̚̕͜͠͠͝͝ǫ̷̡̡͓̦̜̳̥̘̲̖̖͕͚̥̹̙̦̞̻̪̲͑̇̍̏͊͐̊̂́̀͛̽̂͛̉͋̍̽̓̒̈͘͘͝͝͠͝��̨̡͙̪̬̭͍̙̰͈͔̱̺̳̝̠͖m̸̧̨̡̛̝̫̹̠̣͎͍͉̪͕̤̯̜͍͙̥̣̱͔͍̭̘͖̲̤͍̠̣̱͕͚̘͓̣̜̹̘̓͒̄͘͘͜͜͠ë̶̡̢͇̫̜͉̳͉̳̼̥̗̖̳̤̦̗̬̖͍͓̦̳̪̞̜̹̭́͋̈́͠ ̷̰͗̓̇̍̾̈́̐̄͛̒́̽̈́͛̈̊͆̊̐͛́̈́̉̒͆͒́̋̾̇̍̃̌̕̕̚̚͘̚h̷̡̛͍̥̘̙͕̒̈̑̅͋͗̇̈́͑̆̑̆̆̿̎̓̂̿̅̓̈́̌͋̽̎̔̾͠͝͝ȩ̵̧̡͕̩̟̻̤͎̲̹͇̬̮͎͌̽̊̀̔̈́̑̅̔̉̾̈́̊͐̋̆́̉͂̾͒͗̊͊̈́̊̿̉̈́̿̂̔̕̕͘̚̚͠͠͠͠ͅr̷̛̛̠̻̦̺̗̘̯̬̗͓̜͍̥̬̼̻̂̑̅̓̑̒̋͒͑̾̌̉̋͋̈́̂̔͋̅̈́͂͛̊̇̆̀̽̄̏̊̿̚̚͝͠͝͝ę̵͖͎͔̻͍̟̗͕̲̞̆̑̿̚͜ͅͅ ̷̧̛͔̫̳̣͎̫͉͔̝̬̭̟͍͙͍̤̫̳̂̾͗͊͋̇́̀̃̂͋̉̏̈́͗̍̾͒̀̒͋̎̈́̉͑̓̒̂̍́̔͘̚̕͘͜͜͝l̸̖̺͇̰̾͝͝į̷̤̬̗̼̜͙̬̠̥̯͖̻͖̣̺̩͓̟̥̜̲͈̠͍̣̫̼͋͜͜͜͜ͅͅt̶̘̹͙̹̉̾̍̑̐͊̽̌̃̐͘̕͝t̵̨̢̡̡͍̝̠̬̼͖̗̦̗̻͎͖̞̝̦̺͖̗̣̫̹̠͑ͅͅͅl̴̛͚̝͈̙̳̲̀̊̀͐̄̿̈́̄̎̀̄̿̅͗͋͠͠͝ȩ̷͔̜̣͇̰̮̬̄̀̑͆̅͗͋̈́̕͝ͅ ̷̨̭̦͍̤͙̠͚̠̱͎̝͖̣̙͇̪̣͂̽͋͆̅́̋͜͝͝b̷̤̬͔͍̜̪̝̜͈̣͍̯̰̦̣͓̟̻͔̠̭͕͙̘̥͈̹̠͈̒͂͗̋̍̿̓̋̍̾̈́̍̏̍̍͛̌͒̂̏̉̍̽̿̇̈́̀̆̀̏̄͘̚̕͠͠͠ơ̸̢̨̛͔̤͎̘̞̖̯͙͎̳̫͓̖͇̲͍̹̼̻̗̇́̿́̒͆̀̅̐̔̀̇̕͠ͅÿ̴̧̨̭͎̞͍͍̖͎̩̦̖͍͉̰̙̯͔̝̰̮̘̭̼̰̫͉͇̰̩̰͇̙̝͔́̆͑̅͂̄̎̓̉̏͐̔̀̌͆̔̿͛̾͊̉̈́̈́͊̑̽͛͛̃͗̓̚͝͠

#it says ‘akane t-posing at the end of the hallway in his schoo mystery form: come here little boy’ just in case someone cant read it #ask #love guru #feedmestraycats

[hikari-kaitou]

Capcom’s Official AA Fanclub Surveys - Main Series Edition

Naturally, Capcom’s official AA fanclub site didn't only post surveys about the DGS characters; they published far more of them about the main series characters. It makes sense, as they started the trend before the DGS series had even been conceived.

Back in the old days, they used to hold a survey on Capcom’s official AA fansite every few months where they’d write about the seasonal activities of a handful of characters and ask fans to vote for the funniest/most pleasant/strangest/etc answer.

They stopped doing them in like… 2016? 2017? The original text is lost for good as far as I can tell. Even the wayback machine couldn’t help because the content was password locked and you can’t get past the password wall while remaining in the archived version.

Fortunately, I saved some of my translations of them so I thought I’d share them. Unfortunately, I was doing these translations very casually and only intended to share them with two of my close friends at the time when I did them, so some of them are just summaries rather than proper translations, and I tended to only focus on characters that we personally were interested in or scenarios that we thought were funny or interesting. That means there are parts missing, and because I didn't expect the original text to be wiped off the site I didn't save it so I could go back and fill in the blanks. Sorry about that...

Cut for length!

"Spring is on its way and each of the AA cast members spent their day off in different ways. Who's way of spending their day off sounds the most pleasant?"

Phoenix- he finished unpacking his moving boxes and sorting his seasonal clothing. While he was packing away his ugly pink sweater and such, he happened across the complete works of Shakespeare at the bottom of one of the boxes, got completely absorbed in reading, and ended up abandoning his unpacking.

Mia- She went shopping at a department store for a new summer suit. On her way, she coincidentally ran into Maya, who was on her way to the agency to hang out, but then at some point Maya vanished. Mia tried calling her cell phone but she didn't answer. "Don't tell me she's lost at her age," Mia thought, and began to search for her. She found Maya transfixed by a rooftop Steel Samurai show. It seems that she was both exasperated and relieved.

Maya- she tagged along on Mia's shopping trip, but the second she spied a poster for a rooftop Steel Samurai show, she made a beeline for the roof. She got into a cheering battle with a mean-looking elementary school boy and really enjoyed the show. When the show was over, she reunited with an exasperated looking Mia. She gleefully led Mia to a burger restaurant so they could eat some burgers together.

Edgeworth- he treated himself to a drive along the coast in his red sports car... Well, that was the plan, but then he was pushed by his mentor Von Karma into being the driver for his shopping trip. As a reward for his service, he received a brand new Von Karma style, stylish and flashy summer suit.

Then there's Larry, who dragged Phoenix to a café to hit on its hot owner, and the judge who bought a wig.

"Apollo, Fulbright, Edgeworth, Klavier and Kristoph made visits to a nursery school near the courthouse. Which of them did the most pleasant activity with the children?"

Apollo acted out the story of the “Crying Red Ogre” for the children. Phoenix played the part of the blue ogre, and Apollo was the red ogre, and Apollo’s wailing moved the children to tears too. In a panic over all the crying, they got Trucy to cheer them up with a magic trick in which she made Apollo disappear.

Fulbright: He came dressed in a blinding white costume to teach the children about justice and put on a play. The children gave him thunderous applause... But when Jinxie, who had been forced to play the part of the heroine, saw Fulbright, she thought he was the ghost of an army general, got scared, and slapped a charm on his face.

Edgeworth and Gumshoe: He and Gumshoe were going to reenact the story of Kintarou (an old Japanese fairytale). Franziska handed Edgeworth the Kintarou costume she’d designed (If you've seen Ghibli's Spirited Away, recall what Bou, the giant baby, wears. That's what we're talking about here). Edgeworth fearfully asked “You... expect me to wear this...?” Gumshoe, who had painted his whole body black to play the role of a bear, told him “Of course, sir! It doesn’t fit me!” and shoved Edgeworth out on stage in it. Edgeworth quickly began to reconsider Gumshoe’s salary for next month.

Klavier and Kristoph: Kristoph started giving a boring lecture on the importance of law, and the kids were getting antsy. Seeing this, Klavier came over with his guitar to liven things up, performing a rock style arrangement of the “The Bear Went Over The Mountain". But then he threw in the unnecessary comment of “If any of you scratch the frets of my guitar, I’ll be suing for damage of property, ok?” And they both ended up getting kicked out.

"This survey is about who knows how to enjoy a sunny day at Gourd Lake the best"

Simon: To give Taka some exercise, Blackquill took him and Fulbright (who was on guard duty) out for some falconry. Things were going well until Taka heard something about this mysterious creature “Gourdy,” freaked out, flew into the little shop selling Gourdy merchandise and started making a huge mess. Blackquill and Fulbright gathered Taka up in a panic and hightailed it out of there as fast as they could.

Edgeworth had seen Phoenix home and on his way back passed by Gourd Lake. Just as he was starting to get bad flashbacks... he happened to hear Larry in the middle of a flirting attempt and got dragged in. The woman he was trying to put the moves on was a foreigner, and she and Edgeworth started chatting in her native language. Larry couldn’t understand and was annoyed that Edgeworth was apparently moving in on his target, so he sulked and blew up at Edgeworth.

Athena tried to play matchmaker for Apollo and Juniper, so she told them to meet her in the forest near Gourd Lake so that they would run into each other there and hopefully hit it off. Juniper got there first, expecting to find Athena, but when Apollo showed up, she panicked and hid behind a tree. While she was trying to gather her nerve to go talk to him, he wandered off and she lost sight of him.

Phoenix was at the park and he got caught by Larry who was doing his part time job of selling Samurai Dogs. Larry saw a pretty lady that he wanted to flirt with so he asked Phoenix to mind the shop while he was gone. Business was slow, so he called in all the WAA members to put their full range of skills to use. They seem to have managed to sell them all!

Gumshoe took Missile for a walk in the park. They stopped for a rest and Gumshoe fell asleep, so Missile slipped out of his collar and ran over to where the Samurai Dogs were being sold. He ate them all without Phoenix noticing. Phoenix handed things back over to Larry when he got back and Larry got in huge trouble for losing so much product.

"This survey is talking about how the cast spent their Valentines Day"

Trucy gave Polly chocolate for himself and some for Klavier and asked Apollo to give it to him for her. Klavier wasn’t in court when Apollo went to look for him, though, so he and Phoenix went to the prosecutors’ office together with their chocolate. On their way, though, Apollo found himself getting a lot of strange looks from Themis Legal Academy students.

Ema gave some chocolates to Phoenix to give to Edgeworth because she suddenly got called to a crime scene. Phoenix headed over to the prosecutors’ office but Edgeworth was in court and wasn’t there, so Phoenix waited out in front of the prosecutors’ office with this flashy, girly looking bag of chocolates. Edgeworth’s trial ended up going a long time and Phoenix got a lot of stares as he waited.

Edgeworth was hit by a pollen-filled spring breeze on his way back to the office and suddenly his eyes got all red and itchy and he was left sneezing and sniffling. Phoenix came to talk to him and got quite a surprise when he saw the state Edgeworth’s face was in. The chocolates Ema gave him were in the shape of the Steel Samurai and they made Edgeworth so pleased that it seemed to ease his suffering a little.

Flower Viewing:

Phoenix and Apollo go to the park early to hold flower viewing spots for the WAA members. They see some people from around town that they know who ask them to hold their spots while they go and grab this or that. Phoenix and Apollo do their best to hold those people’s spots and in the process lose their own. They end up begging Edgeworth to let them share his and Klavier’s spot.

White Day:

Because of his painful memories about Valentine’s Day from elementary school, he doesn’t like Valentine’s Day or White Day that much. As a return gift to his beloved daughter, he gave her painstakingly handmade magic panty shaped chocolates. Apparently he forced the ones that didn’t turn out on Edgeworth...

Klavier was holding a ladies only concert, which he invited Trucy to. Phoenix was worried about letting Trucy be out at night by herself, so he sent Apollo along in disguise (as a woman!!). But Klavier saw through Apollo’s disguise easily and to Apollo’s horror, called him up on stage.

Autumn/Moon Viewing:

Phoenix, Edgeworth and Larry went to collect chestnuts together. Larry was too focused on looking for chestnuts and not watching where he was going and fell down the mountain slope. Phoenix had tried to catch Larry but he ended up falling too and spraining his ankle slightly. Edgeworth had to carry Phoenix on his back down the mountain.

Apollo went moon viewing with the rest of the WAA. It turned out into kind of an office party and Apollo had drink after drink while assuring everyone that “I’m fine!” but ended up getting pretty hammered. He proceeded to pass out and Phoenix took care of him.

Obon Festival:

Klavier performed a bonfire festival dance version of the Guitar’s Serenade at the summer festival and Apollo provided the taiko drum backup. He filled the gaps in the taiko drumming with his chords of steel, and it was a very energetic bonfire dance.

Edgeworth noticed the festival going on on his way home from work and decided to have a look. He saw Phoenix selling Samurai Dogs and desperately wanted one, but couldn’t bear the thought of Phoenix finding out that he was a Steel Samurai fan. He hemmed and hawed in front of the festival stall, trying to decide whether to buy one, but they sold out before he could make up his mind.

Phoenix went to the festival with Maya. Larry, who was working the Samurai Dog stand, called them over and forced them to watch the stand while he made a booty call. Phoenix and Maya’s manzai comedy duo style vocal advertising was so successful that they quickly sold out.

Christmas:

Phoenix, Trucy, Athena, Apollo and Pearl all spent the night at the office after their party wrapped up. Phoenix put presents next to the kids' pillows during the night.

Edgeworth grumbled about having to play Santa but dressed up anyway and snuck in at night to bring the younger ones at Phoenix's office some presents. He accidentally ends up sneaking into Phoenix’s room instead.

Apollo wanted to be a good big brother to Trucy and Pearl, so he snuck into their rooms to leave gifts but tripped over something, let out a Chords of Steel volume shout as he fell and ruined the surprise/

Klavier, as a favor to Trucy, snuck in dressed as a Visual Kei style Santa, but he announced his arrival with a rock arrangement of Santa Claus is Coming to Town and got caught and kicked out.

Blackquill had to make a jailbreak in order to play Santa, was chased down and Phoenix woke to find the police surrounding his office.

DGS Edition

#ace attorney #phoenix wright #miles edgeworth #maya fey #mia fey #larry butz #simon blackquill #apollo justice #klavier gavin #kristoph gavin #dick gumshoe #manfred von karma #franziska von karma #trucy wright #athena cykes #taka #bobby fulbright #missile #ema skye #my translation #translations #official content

[yutahoes]

Gang

main characters: gang member! Yuta Nakamoto and student! Y/N  other characters: brother! Lee Haechan word count: 1.7k words  genre: fluff summary: Yuta doesn’t fear anyone. Except for someone who makes him weak.  warnings: gang wars, blood, knife, getting wounded, a slap, dead parents inspired by Manjiro Sano’s character in the anime ‘Tokyo Revengers’

CZENNIES’ ANIME BOY BIRTHDAY PROJECT - DAY 24

Being a gang leader has its pros and cons.

Pros, everyone fears you. The moment you step foot in the place, everyone knew who the king is.

Cons, everyone fears you. It’s hard to find loyal subjects.

But it doesn’t stop Yuta Nakamoto.

All he had are the pros of running the most feared gang in town. He liked being feared. He liked being the reason why the crowd would shut up whenever he would set foot in one place. He liked being the king of the town.

That was until he met her.

The girl who dared slap him hard on the cheek the first time they met.

All because of the new kid.  

Lee Haechan was a freshman who begged to join the gang. As an initiation, the gang members beat him up yet he kept standing up and expressing his want to join the said gang. The resiliency touched Yuta and spared the little newbie’s life. Maybe he can be a great addition to the gang.

Yuta personally went to his school to call him up, let him join a gang attack nearby so he can learn the ropes of their brotherhood. But they never reached the exit of the school when a female voice called Haechan followed by a hard slap on the gang leader’s cheek.

The other gang members were all ready to fight her but the guy just held his cheek, shaking his head. “We don’t fight girls.” he claimed before turning to her, making him stop. Isn’t she scared? Why is she fuming with anger? And why is she so pretty?

“Noona,” Haechan called that startled the leader some more. They don’t even look alike. “Please, stop.”

But she held her brother’s wrist and pulled him behind her. Yuta stared at her hold on him, jealousy raging inside him. “Where are you taking my brother? What do you need from him?”

“I joined their gang,” Haechan claimed that made the girl cock her head to the side, looking confused. She looked so cute, Yuta thought. “Please don’t embarrass me. I want to do this.” The younger guy bowed at the leader, apologizing for her sister’s action and explaining that she doesn’t know what she was doing. The girl only stared at her brother that pissed off Yuta. “Hyung, please don’t punish my noona.”

Yuta smirked. That has some nice ring to it. The leader lend a hand to shake but she just stared at it. “I’m Yuta.” He retracted his hand with a light cough. “I’m taking your brother to train him.”    

Haechan removed his sister’s hold on him before walking next to the other gang members that surprised the girl. “Lee Haechan!” she called but the younger just shouted to let him. The girl only sighed in response, looking really worried.

Once outside, Yuta slapped the back of the new kid’s head that surprised everyone following them. “Don’t talk to your sister like that.” he scolded. “If you shout at her like that again, I’ll punch the hell out of you.” Haechan nodded, looking scared.

Every day, Yuta would make it a point to go to Haechan’s school. Some guys would claim that it was unfair how he favored over the new kid but the leader would just smile and grab the complainer by the neck. “Stop saying useless things that would get you killed.” And the guy would start walking away, fearing his own life.

Yuta would always notice how she’s the lone student from their class. She doesn’t interact much with her classmates, doesn’t even smile much. They would tell him that she’s weird. That she doesn’t like to talk to them so they wouldn’t bother her. And he found himself falling more.

He loved how mysterious she is. How her eyes would always look so cold but when gazing at her brother, it’s suddenly filled with warmth and worry. He loved how she doesn’t bother about his existence when the girls from her school would squeal and even faint at just his presence. She makes him want her. And he’s caving in.

It was that one fight. They were outnumbered, not expecting that the other gang member had increased. When the backup from his gang came, he only hissed even if he had a bruised lip and scarred arm. Haechan’s sister will kill him.

Yuta was surprised at how old the apartment building looked when Haechan pointed where they live. How shabby. It was some long walk to the stairs when they reached the rooftop room. There were only the two of them living here? Where are their parents?

The moment she opened the door, she looked so surprised. “What happened?” she asked, holding Haechan’s chin to look at the bruise on his cheek. Yuta didn’t know what ached more, his arm that was wounded or his heart that is jealous over the concern. “You told me I don’t have to worry about you.”

“I’m sorry,” Yuta whispered. “It was my fault.” She sighed then closed her eyes as if calming herself down. “Just put some ice on the bruise, it will heal. If you don’t want Haechan to return to the gang, I understand,” he claimed, surprising the younger guy. “Listen to your sister.” He turned around. 

Maybe this is the last time that they’re going to see each other.

“Wait.” Yuta stopped hearing her voice. “You’re bleeding.” He glanced at the makeshift bandage on his arm and smiled. Why does he feel giddy at those words? “Haechan, get my first aid kit,” she ordered. “Yuta,” she called. “Sit down.” she motioned at the small platform at the center of the rooftop.

His heart kept beating so wild in his chest as she sat cross-legged on the platform, facing his wounded arm. She gently removed the bandage, hissing at the blood gushing from his arm. “I didn’t know knives are allowed in gang fights.” she whispered.

It’s not. But the weapon slipped past them and before the other guy could slash Haechan’s face, he stopped him with his arm. The younger guy returned with a huge box and she thanked him, “Go downstairs and ask halmeoni for ice. Put it on your bruise.”

“But she’ll ask…”

“Tell her I punched you.”

Yuta looked surprised but Haechan was already heading downstairs. “Do you think she’ll believe that you punched Haechan?” he asked while watching her put some medicine on the cotton.

The girl nodded, “That’s better than telling her that Haechan joined a gang.” Yuta hissed at the contact of medicine on his skin. When she pushed the cotton harder, he yelped in pain which made the girl giggle. “For a gang leader, you’re such a baby.”

If a normal person would tell him that, he would have punched a face now. But he was so distracted at the little giggles that made his brain shut down. Yuta hissed some more, making the girl smile. He didn’t care that he’s becoming such a mess in front of her as long as he can hear her small laughs.

She’s making him weak. This is dangerous.

But it didn’t scare him. Instead, he felt giddy. Like a young boy in love.

“You’re pretty good at this.”

She was just focused on putting a bandage on his arm, very different from the usual messy bandaging that the others in the gang would do. “I’ve been wanting to be a nurse since I was young. They looked so cool when they were trying to treat our parents back then.” She blew a heavy breath then tapped the bandaged arm.

“What happened to your parents?”

“Car accident,” she claimed before putting away the things she used. “There’s only me and Haechan now so I understand why he wanted to join your gang. He had always wanted to be a superhero.” He didn’t know why Haechan joined the gang but now that he understood his reason, he admired his courage. “I only have Haechan left. Please take care of him, Yuta.”

Even the way she calls his name sends warmth in his heart.

He is in love. With her.

“Y/N,” he called which made the girl turn to him. “Let me protect you and Haechan.”

It was love. He’s aware of that. The same love that made him determined to protect his brotherhood with all his life. Instead of repeatedly fighting for power like what he did in his teenage years, he let the younger members deal with all the gang troubles with Haechan leading them. Of course, there are times when he needed to help the other members. Times when he’s in deep trouble with Y/N.

Yuta was grinning when she went inside the door, sighing at him. “You’re here again?” He mumbled a soft apology before asking the other members to go out. She checked Haechan who only gave her a timid smile then turned to the guy lying on the bed. “What happened?”

Haechan excused that he’ll check the other guys that made the older two nod. “They needed back-up.” the guy answered then hissed at the medicine making the girl laugh. “I miss you.”

“I’m sorry for not going home. The hospital work is just too much.” He shook his head. He’s happy that she’s doing what she loves. His angel in white. “You didn’t do this just to see me, right?” She pushed the gauze on his wound, making him whine. She focused on putting a bandage on his wound. “I swear, Yuta, the next time you’re going to get hurt like this I won’t be treating you.” She tapped the bandaged arm like what she usually does whenever he got hurt. “Let the younger kids handle these, hmm?”

The guy smiled, holding her cheek. “I’m sorry but when Haechan called me, I acted out of impulse.” The girl sighed, holding his hand that was resting on her cheek. “I like that you’re worried about me.” He then smiled warmly. “I feel like you’re finally in love with me.”

The girl giggled. “I am, babo.” The girl took her tools then stood up to kiss him on the forehead. “I wouldn’t marry you if I’m not in love with you.”

“Not as much as I love you.”

She smiled, “Of course, you wouldn’t even shut up about it.”  

Yuta smiled. Who would have thought that he’ll feel this kind of feeling just because of one slap? 

#yuta #yuta nakamoto #nakamoto yuta #yuta fluff #yuta nakamoto fluff #nakamoto yuta fluff #czennies' anime boy project #hotpinklists

[therealvinelle]

What if it was Charlie and Bella that switched bodies upon Bella's arrival at Forks?

Oh, god, the awkwardness.

The only thing worse than being a shy, virgin teenaged girl in her father's body, having to figure out how dress in the morning and pee, is being a middle-aged man in his teenaged daughter's body.

Charlie and Bella are both shy and awkward people and it's very possible they would just die. Both of them. The embarrassment might just prove too much to handle.

If, however, it didn't, and they have to live like this...

Bella's education can't be put on hold, and Charlie can't afford to stop going to work.

They'd have to impersonate each other in their respective zones - Charlie goes to high school and brings the homework back to Bella, and Bella goes to work for Charlie and brings the paperwork home. At home they suffer terribly under the awkwardness of it all.

Bella as Chief Swan

She goes to work, and has no idea what she's doing. Someone is drunk in public and needs escorting home? Bella reeeeally doesn't want to be the one to do that. Or should she be arresting them?

She performs poorly at work, and relies completely on her colleagues for even basic judgement calls. Which is bad because she's supposed to be the sheriff, not them. From being a seasoned cop, chief Swan has suddenly become a jumpy rookie.

Charlie, hearing about this at home, is tearing his hair out and seriously worried about losing his job over this.

He has to tell Bella to take out a sick leave. She jumps on that.

Charlie as Isabella Swan

He goes to school, and is every bit as awkward as the new girl in class as Bella is, only with the added dimension that he's hanging around his friends' kids and that's... it's weird, it's just weird.

Weirder still is Biology class.

He's always had a high opinion of the Cullens. It's a good, wholesome family.

Or so he thought.

There is something wrong with that Cullen kid.

Charlie spends that Biology class feeling increasingly alarmed by Edward's behavior.

When Edward takes a leave of absence for a week after that he's not sure what to think. It's not enough to send Bella to have a chat with the boy's father, he'd only be putting more stress on his already stressed out daughter, but... Charlie doesn't like this. He doesn't like this at all.

Edward returns to schoo, and starts making small talk with Charlie, suddenly Mr. Polite.

It becomes real clear to Charlie, real quick, as Edward asks questions and is interested in Bella, that this kid is flirting with his daughter.

Oh, no. No. No for all the reasons. This kid is a creep, he looks creepy, and even if he was alright, Charlie absolutely cannot encourage any romantic endeavors while in his daughter's body. Oh no.

He cuts off Edward's questions with a polite, but firm "Sorry, not interested."

Edward is agog.

He is agog, astonished, mortified, and offended.

Who does this girl think she is?!

He shuts right up, and spends the rest of the day stewing. So this is what's happening in this girl's brain. It's not that she's not talking to the other students because she's mysterious and on a higher mental plane, nope, she's just that much of a stuck up.

"Not interested"?!

He recovers well enough, or, well enough to go talk to her after school that day.

He's standing by her car when she gets to it, smiling crookedly. "Hello, Bella," he murmurs, leaning against the driver door. (Can't have her leave before they've talked.)

Charlie blanches.

His instincts were right about this kid.

He finds himself suddenly glad he and Bella swapped bodies. He's an adult and a cop, he knows how to deal with this kind of situation. Bella is safe elsewhere.

This kid can look forward to a juvenile restraining order.

"Hello, Cullen," he says civilly, not wanting to escalate the situation. "Would you please move?"

Edward's boyish smile widens. "I just want a quick word with you, if that's alright," he says, not moving. He lowers his chin, and looks up at Charlie through his eyelashes. "It seems I gave you the wrong idea earlier."

Is this the kid's idea of making like he's not flirting with Charlie's daughter?

"I see," is all Charlie says, and throws a pointed look at the car door. "Look, I really do need to leave. I have to be at work in fifteen minutes."

Edward's lip twitches. Does she really.

At this point, he doesn't want her to get away so easy, if only out of spite. Again, who does this girl think she is.

"How about I give you a ride?" he asks politely, still smiling. Nevermind that he knows her scent would become overwhelmingly strong if they were in a car together. It's overwhelmingly strong as it is.

God, that scent.

Charlie, meanwhile, hearing those words, watching that kid's eyes look less and less human by the minute, is suddenly wishing he had a tazer. Scratch that, a gun.

Thank god it's him in this situation, and not his daughter.

"No thank you," he says tightly.

Well then.

Edward tried, he really did.

He gave her several chances.

All too aware of the many witnesses in the parking lot he lets Bella get into her car, and then once she parks her house in the driveway (of course she was lying about work!) and no one is there to see, he whisks her away to be killed in the woods.

The aftermath

Charlie-as-Bella is murdered in the woods, it's horrible, then suddenly he's back in his own body.

He tries to find the place he was taken to, desperate to find her, to find something, but Edward was moving at a pace where he couldn't see at all where he was going.

A funeral is held.

The Cullens show up, Edward sporting a pair of black aviators.

He goes to Billy, tells him what happened, that he was right about the Cullens being demons. They killed his daughter, and god knows who else they're going to kill.

Billy is horrified, but ultimately not surprised. The Cullens were lying about their intentions, then.

The treaty is void, and the Cullens have to die.

As Sam and others start phasing, they start preparing for war.

And this is where I'll leave this AU of, as we're headed towards a bloodbath.

#charlie swan #bella swan #edward cullen #twilight #twilight meta #twilight renaissance #the cullens #billy black

[diversegaminglists]

Magical School games that aren’t Harry Potter

Instead of buying Hogwarts Legacy, you could play these instead.

Academagia (Steam)

Ancient Magic: Bazoo! Mahou Sekai (SNES ROM hack)

Avencast: Rise of the Mage (Steam)

Grim Grimoire (PS2, PS3)

Ikenfell (Release date 8th October 2020: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, macOS)

Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time (Steam, PS4)

LUNAR Walking School (Neogeo ROM hack)

Magic Academy & Magic Academy 2

Magic Maker (Steam, GOG)

Magic School (Also available on Kindle)

Magical Diary: Horse Hall (Steam, itch, hanako games)

Magical Diary: Wolf Hall (Steam, itch, hanako games)

Magical High School

Magic School Slacking

Magical School Story (Google Play, Apple Store)

Magical Vacation (GBA ROM hack) & Magical Starsign (Nintendo DS)

Magician's Quest: Mysterious Times (Nintendo DS)

Mana Khemia Franchise (PS2, PSP)

Sable’s Grimoire Franchise (Steam, itch)

School of Magic (Steam demo)

Schools of Magic (Apple Store)

Shall We Date?: Wizardess Heart (Google Play, Apple Store)

Sorcery (Playstation Move)

Spellcaster University (Steam)

Spellcasting Franchise (MS-DOS, Adult Content)

Twisted Wonderland (Google Play, Apple Store - Currently only in Japanese)

Valthirian Arc 1

Valthriain Arc 2

Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story (Steam, PS4, Nintendo Switch)

Witchbrook (Up coming game)

Wizard101 (Also on Steam)

The Worst Witch Magical Mystery

#magical school games #list actually

[mongooseblues]

Bless You Father for I Have Sinned (Fleabag, Hot Priest) 1/1

Did anyone watch Fleabag and/or want to read about a hot priest sneezing?

This works just fine as a standalone if u haven’t seen the show but for context: Hot Irish prob alcoholic “cool swear-y” priest and recovering sex addict and all-around hot mess main character (who doesn’t have a name) strike up a “friendship” that is just a poorly veiled excuse for spending time with someone they want very badly to fuck but can’t bc priesthood vow of celibacy and whatnot.

Here’s ~2k words in which I continuously get off on the idea of blessing a priest and unresolved sexual tension I also don’t resolve.

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

“Fuck you, calling me Father like it doesn’t turn you on just to say it…”

It happens for maybe ten minutes before it starts to stick out to her. Because it’s cold, as it always is on early-spring nights in London, and while they’re both fully dressed (unfortunately), neither is probably quite dressed enough to be out in a garden at this hour. And they’re a bit drunk—not that drunk, they’re both pretty practiced—on the G&Ts he’s so fond of for whatever reason. He specifically likes the kind you get already mixed in a can, which are especially shit, but it’s almost endearing that he likes those in particular. Well, very endearing actually. Goddamn this man—or… hmm, poor choice of words.

It doesn’t really grab her attention until he combines the sniffling with pinching his nostrils together.

“You alright, you’re quite sniffly?”

“I know, I dunno what’s going on,” he says, and punctuates it with a harsher sniffle than the ones previously unacknowledged, “Think ‘m just cold.” He zips his sweatshirt up a bit as if to illustrate.

“We could get you a blanket and swaddle you up like baby Jesus.”

He laughs. She extracts from her coat pocket a pack of cigarettes, takes one herself and angles the carton toward him in offering. Mostly because she wants him to scoot closer to her on the bench as she flicks the lighter for him. The flame illuminates the angles of his face in orange, the back of his fingers grazing her hand by happy accident, and yes, it’s a little pathetic that this momentary skin-to-skin contact is as erotic as it is to her, but that’s what you get when you fancy a priest isn’t it?

“They’re always describing him as being swaddled. Odd word, swaddled. Sounds kind of violent.”

“It does kind of,” he agrees, leaning back against the bench and exhaling a stream of smoke into the night air. Her plan worked, he’s ever so slightly closer to her now, post cigarette exchange, close enough that when he sniffles she can feel the slight vibration of his shoulders through the loose fabric on her coat sleeve. It unites them like an accidental spark of electricity she can sense just faintly enough to feel jumpy. Or turned on. Or both.

She really shouldn’t be this shameless about trying desperately to corrupt a man of the cloth she wants to get under. Maybe she’d feel properly guilty if she wasn’t quite so fucking horny.

“So you did read more than just the passages I marked for you?” He asks, at once surprised and pleased and maybe nervous, grinning but also looking away for a moment as if he could disguise all of that.

“Not really, just the birth of the ol’ lord and savior. It seemed like it’d be climactic.”

“Was it?”

“Can’t say I climaxed reading it, no,” she says with a cheeky look that elicits the laughter she’s looking for, “No offense but it’s really quite boring, this book you love so much.”

“Yeah… that’s a tragically common sentiment among reviewers.” He’s scratching at his nose with the back of one wrist with such intensity it’s unmistakeable how much it’s bothering him.

“Don’t care much for the writing style either, I have to say.”

If the irritation could be resolved with a mouse-like scrunch of the nose he’d have figured it out by now, and clearly he hasn’t because he still has to shrink into his crossed arms like an accordion with a fairly high-pitched, vocal and thus somehow Irish-accented, “Hehh-ishhYUE!”

“Bless. The only way I was able to get through it was by imagining you in every speaking role.”

It’s a sentence meant to provoke him, not unlike most of her sentences, and for a minute as her eyes are on her own exhaled smoke and he fails to respond, she wonders whether it sounded even weirder than she meant it, but as it turns out he’s just about to sneeze again — squinting into the distance and bringing an arm to his face in slow motion.

“Mmff-SHOO!” He blinks in surprise as he resumes his previous position on the bench, now shifted just a bit farther away from her. Damn.

“Ugh, sorry. Every speaking role?? Ohfuck— ahh-ishSHEU!”

“Jesus.”

“You imagined me as Jesus??”

“No I mean Jesus, are you okay, did you catch something?” Of course she imagined him as Jesus.

“Ooh I hope not,” he says with a nervous look, “that’d be lousy timing.”

“The lord works in mysterious ways.”

“Thuh-that he does—” A sudden inhale, a crooked arm rising at a much hastened speed. It begins in a manageable way, somewhat controlled, but then it seems to get away from him.

“Hh… hehd’SHHUE!”

“Bless you, Father."

He mumbles a thank you bookended by soft snuffling.

“Maybe he’s sent you a plague of sneezing. He does that sometimes doesn’t he? Send plagues?”

His face just scarcely conveys amusement before it’s hijacked again by the same expectant expression, but he still attempts to talk through it, even as irritation becomes evident in every feature. “S-sometimes…”

She thinks about saying bless you in advance but decides instead to just wait for him to succumb to it. A flicker of lashes, a reveal of the very tips of canines, his entire face crinkles around his visibly twitching nose. It pulls him downward and then forward in that order, as he collapses into a crooked arm as if stumbling despite being seated.

An especially desperate, “hehhSCHOO!” that begins quietly but certainly doesn’t end that way.

“God bless you, Father, again.”

“Wow,” he says with a sniff, knuckles swiping under his nose in a single smooth motion, “Maybe I’m allergic to you. My body’s having a reaction.”

“Is it?”

An eyeroll and a grin, and then he goes back to scratching at his aggravated face in a manner that’s becoming aggressive.

“Well stop manhandling your nose that’s clearly not working.” Before she can think better of it, she takes his elbow to pull the offending arm away from his face. She can feel his muscles tense with the movement, but when she looks up at him there’s only a blurry-eyed smile chased by a nervous huff of a laugh. Another line she can’t uncross but doesn’t particularly want to.

The therapist hadn’t needed to point out that her all-consuming attraction to someone she couldn’t have was probably a healthy coping mechanism of her recently adopted abstinence. She hadn’t really expected this though — for her advances to not be rejected entirely. She hadn’t planned for hope to cease feeling like such a daft, one-sided notion.

“Should I even be blessing you or is that overkill? Or am I even qualified to bless you? Can one bless a priest if they’re not like, anointed or something?”

“You can bless me,” he confirms, looking like he’s barely got a handle on controlling his own eyebrows. Or lips for that matter. God, that mouth, those lips. Parting by accident the way she’d like to make them open on purpose.

“Little greedy of you. You’re not blessed enough as is?”

“Neh—neverhurts…” He pitches sidewards with a slurred, tellingly tipsy, “hehh-ESHHyoooo!”

“Bless you…”

“Thank you,” he sniffles with embarrassed necessity, bringing the back of a sleeve to his nose.

“Hold on, I think I have some tissues,” she says as she feels around in her bag in the darkness, “Well, cocktail napkins at least.” Another knuckle brush as she hands them to him. How arousing. How pitifully arousing. She really should come up with ways to hand him things more often.

“Ahh you were holding out on me,” he says, and then after a gentle blow, “Sorry.”

“You are coming down with something aren’t you?"

He thinks about it, bringing the napkin away from his nostrils with a final follow-up dab. “I dunno, maybe?”

“Do you feel ill?”

“Mostly just very itchy.”

How many other chances will she get… She reaches a hand to gingerly press the back of her fingers against his forehead. He blinks a few times in response, rapidly and reflexively, and swallows back a smile. There’s a burning in her stomach that’s neither pleasant nor unpleasant.

“Um, you feel okay I think?” She says, attention course-corrected back to the cigarette crumbling in her hand, but still glancing at him to measure the aftermath of the relatively bold gesture and they lock smiling eyes in the process.

If he really wanted to ward her off he’s doing a phenomenally shitty job of it. She knows he wants her. God if only that was enough, to know he wanted her.

“I think you’re right I’ve been sent a plague of sneezing. Probably trying to tell me something.”

“Something about how your new friend could take care of you?”

He grins with half of his mouth. “Or something about how I probably shouldn’t be drinking G&Ts in the middle of the night with my new friend who I like a little too much.”

Oh he… really shouldn’t have given her that.

“ExxSHHUE!!” He shakes the whole bench with this, then straightens back up, not looking entirely recovered, and says almost to himself, “And about how I probably shouldn’t tell my new friend that I like them a little too much.”

“But you did anyway and he hasn’t, I dunno, smote you down yet.”

Irritation is still etched into his features, his chest slowly swelling with air, hastily fiddling with the napkins.

“Are you actually going to sneeze again? You haven’t finished?”

He shakes his head as his eyes close and seizes into a rushed, “hehESHHyue!"

“It’s a plague I can’t stop! Snf, it’s out of my hands."

She knows the night’s over, she does. She gets the sense that she’d been invited to overstay her welcome, but it’s getting past that point now. Whenever she leaves after being around him her face hurts from smiling like an idiot the whole time and she comes away aching in more ways than one. That ache is starting already, another sign they’ve stretched this interaction too long once again.

However, alcohol. “If you tell me to leave and you sneeze again perhaps we’ll know whether or not it was divine intervention.”

“He might just be punishing me now anyway,” he sighs, remembering a cigarette he may not have taken a single drag from, neglected and foreshortening in his fingers.

“We haven’t done anything we’re just talking. I’m a—what is it, parishioner?”

“That is a word, yes. Snf! Though it implies someone who’s actually going to church to, you know, practice their faith."

“I’m a parishioner here to…” she’s not even sure what to say, she still doesn’t know shit about Catholicism aside from the fact that it’s a massive cockblock, “seek your… counsel? Guidance? Guidance counseling.”

He puts a hand over part of his face, tired but amused. “You can’t act innocent even when you’re trying your best, can you?"

She almost snorts. Is this what he thinks trying her best looks like?—No, don’t actually say— “Who said I was trying my best?”

Why can’t she stop herself from saying things like that to him? The only thing that’s going to stop her now is a ‘no’ that’s actually firm enough not to give way when she presses against it relentlessly. He honestly needs to just get it over with before he really gives her too much to hold onto. She’s not going to win out over God, the guy’s pretty fucking stiff competition.

Goddamnit, just break her heart already, what the fuck is he waiting for? This should have ended ages ago, and now it’s getting dangerously close to too late.

Was it unfair to assume he’d be stronger than her? Or is he trying to hurt himself too? A duetted exercise in masochism, mutually assured destruc—

“—ESSHHYUE!” He looks at her through wet lashes, bleary and sheepish and drunk and cute and fuck.

She sighs loudly, looks skyward and says, “Right, you’ve made your point! I’m leaving!”

#am i going to include the forehead feeling trope in every fic I ever write? ur goddamn right I am #to be fair I resisted the heightened temperature temptation aaand he’s not technically sick so I’m ‘doing something new’ #I’ve done this platonic-but-not dynamic to death and I’ll 100% do it again in the future #i have absolutely no concept of how popular this show is or isn't #but hey hot priest is hot so here ya go #i am not even a little bit catholic but neither is fleabag so no research for meeeee #mongoose writes sometimes

[stardustanddaffodils]

Smiling at the Stars

@analogicalweek day 2: song / stars

Notes: saw this post and my brain said “analogical soulmate AU,” this is the product! please disregard the title i couldnt think of anything

Pairings: platonic Analogical, background Royality, other familial pairings

Word count: 7714

Warnings: feelings of numbness, discussion of the future, fear of the future, fear of failure, growing up, existential thoughts and conversations, mentions of sickness, mentions of pet death, please let me know if i missed anything!

Summary: When Logan is eight, he learns about soulmates for the first time. Apparently when he turns eighteen, words will appear on his skin—the first words his soulmate will ever say to him. “Soulmates are just people that the universe thinks can change your life,” Mx. Picani explains. “And sometimes they do. But other times the universe makes a mistake, or they change your life in ways that the universe didn’t expect. And that’s okay, that’s just part of being human. The universe can push us in the right direction, but we’re the ones who have to pave our paths from there.” (Looking back on it, Logan thinks that’s when his fascination with space really began.)

The universe is vast and mystical, and it works in mysterious ways. Logan knows this. He loves the universe with all his heart, he loves gazing at the shimmering specks of light in the inky sky, he loves seeing pictures of stars and planets and galaxies and the absolute wonder that is his universe.

As Logan grows, he’s taught that the universe is more than just a place to live in. In a way, it’s alive as well—except it isn’t, but it works like a planet or an ecosystem, all parts affecting and influencing each other. Logan will admit that it is a bit terrifying, sometimes, but he loves the universe and all of its little quirks and mysteries. Some days, he looks up at the stars and imagines all of the secrets hidden in them and all of the different pathways woven into the stars. He wonders how many paths were walked and how many were left unexplored in the pursuit of a figurative road less traveled.

Some days, Logan marvels at how the universe gives them the tools they need to make their way out of the nest, but it lets them take flight all on their own. Some days, Logan looks up at the universe and wonders about how, in all its glory, the universe made a tiny space just for him.

He thinks it’s a little frightening, but Logan loves his universe.

*

When Logan is eight, he learns about soulmates for the first time. Apparently when he turns eighteen, words will appear on his skin—the first words his soulmate will ever say to him. In school one day, they take the day off and instead shepherd all the kids down to the auditorium, where Mx. Picani, the principal, gives them a presentation on soulmates. Logan learns that red writing indicates that your soulmate will be romantic and blue writing means that your soulmate will be platonic or queerplatonic, and when you find your soulmate the writing turns black.

The next few slides are an explanation of how some people don’t have soulmates, some people end up with someone who isn’t their soulmate, some people become romantic partners with their platonic soulmates or platonic partners with their romantic soulmates, some people’s words change after meeting their soulmates because even fate can’t predict everything, and some people defy norms in other ways, and all of that is more than okay.

“Soulmates are just people that the universe thinks can change your life,” Mx. Picani explains. “And sometimes they do. But other times the universe makes a mistake, or they change your life in ways that the universe didn’t expect. And that’s okay, that’s just part of being human. The universe can push us in the right direction, but we’re the ones who have to pave our paths from there.”

(Looking back on it, Logan thinks that’s when his fascination with space really began.)

When Logan gets home, he tells his parents that he learned about soulmates in school and wastes no time in telling them everything he learned. Then he asks Papa if he and Dad are romantic soulmates or platonic soulmates or something else.

Papa smiles at him and ruffles his hair a bit and says that he and Dad aren’t soulmates.

Logan considers, shrugs, and says, “Okay!”

And that’s the end of that.

*

When Logan is twelve he interviews his parents for a school project. He’s a rather serious child by now, preferring plain clothing to more outlandish things like the vividly patterned shirts Dad wears or Papa’s cat hoodie. Somewhere in the last four years he got glasses, wiry round frames reminiscent of Harry Potter. Logan prefers his books to watching TV, and he’d rather be out at night, alone with the stars, than have to be with his peers. He’s okay with it, but he knows his dads are a bit worried—he hears them whispering to each other at night when they think he’s asleep.

The school project is about soulmates, and Logan isn’t too enthusiastic about it. If he has to learn about soulmates, he’d rather learn about the science and mythology and space behind it—constellations and astrological signs and phases of the moon, galaxies and stars colliding, somehow all of it coming together to make space for them all there on earth. Sure, the science behind soulmates is sketchy, most of it speculation, but Logan thinks it’d be fascinating to learn about nonetheless.

He’s heard the older kids say that he’ll learn about that next year, though, so Logan has something to look forward to.

Regardless, this project should be interesting because it gives him an excuse to interview his parents (if only Papa would just stop gushing over how “cute” and “grown up” he is). Logan sits them down and asks the questions from the sheet they were assigned in class in his most formal tone, and his parents answer everything.

Logan learns that Papa has a soulmate, but after some time getting to know each other, his soulmate realized that he was aromantic and asexual and didn’t want a relationship of any sort. After some time, they drifted apart.

Meanwhile, Dad doesn’t have a soulmate. He and Papa met in college, though, and became friends and slowly fell for each other.

“And, well, the rest is history,” Dad says, pecking Papa on the lips.

Logan makes a face. “Ew, gross.”

Dad smirks and makes a big show of kissing Logan’s forehead. In return, Logan makes a big show of wiping it off. Dad just laughs.

*

When Logan is fourteen he goes on a trip to the Grand Canyon. Papa and Dad have been planning this for a while, and Logan is thrilled beyond belief—they all are. Dad is looking forward to going hiking. Papa is excited to spend time with his family and see all the wildlife and natural formations. Logan can’t wait—the geology, exposed rock layers portraying the passage of time, and the culture and the sheer science and discovery in the area… all of it is a dream come true.

The canyon itself is magnificent. Layers of rock—red and brown and yellow and orange draped in mystical purple shadows—lead down, where a glittering strip that must be the Colorado river is just barely visible. Rock formations jut out of the earth, and the view is breathtaking. Logan finds himself rattling off facts about the possible causes for each formation, reciting facts about erosion and everything he’s learned. His dads don’t seem to mind, thankfully, listening and occasionally humming in interest as they take in the view and snap pictures.

Here, the earth beneath his feet is fascinating in unimaginable ways. Layer upon layer of history lies around him. Logan has never been happier to be grounded on his planet than he is now.

That night, the sky is cloudy, but Logan and Dad found a book about constellations in the gift shop when they were going to dinner earlier, so he pores over that until his parents quietly tell him that it’s bed time. Unfortunately, they’re all in the same room, so Logan can’t read under the covers like he usually does.

The next day, Papa shakes him awake. “Logan, c’mon, I wanna see the sunrise,” he whispers, and Logan is filled with fondness for just how childlike and wonderstruck his father sounds. They tiptoe quietly out the door so as not to wake Dad, who is far from a morning person, and hurry down to the canyon. The sun’s first rays wash over the canyon, causing yellow and orange and purple ripples of light to shimmer along its walls, the sky is a backdrop of pink and orange filled with pale purple clouds, and Logan thinks that he’s never seen anything quite so magical before.

Later that day, after Dad wakes up and they’ve all had breakfast and Logan has been slathered in so much sunscreen it’s unbearable, they hike a little ways down the canyon. Dad does think that it might be fun to go all the way to the bottom—“An adventure!” he declares grandly, and Logan rolls his eyes—but Papa and Logan are hardly athletic, so they haven’t made any plans for that on this trip. Instead, they carefully hike a good ways down, stopping at an outlook to snack on sandwiches and trail mix before beginning the trek back to the canyon’s rim. Each bend in the path brings a new, spectacular view. As the sun and shadows shift, different parts of the canyon are plunged into darkness. It looks like something out of science fiction. Logan has never felt so small, humble, and awed before.

He has to amend that statement later that night, of course. The sky is clear today, and Logan has been outside since sunset, sitting on Dad’s lap in the grass even though he’s getting a little too old for that now. The Grand Canyon supposedly has zero light pollution, and Logan is positive that he has never been more excited about anything in his life. He sits quietly with Dad—Papa is already asleep, tuckered out after their hike, but he says he’ll go stargazing with Logan tomorrow—and closes his eyes to rest them for a minute. The next thing he knows, he is groggily blinking as Dad shakes his shoulder. The orange, red, and purple streaks of sky have been replaced with a deep ebony shade, and… oh.

Logan cranes his head up, hastily cleaning his glasses on his shirt. The sky is easily the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. It’s almost pitch black out, dark enough that Logan can barely make out his dad’s face, but that only makes the stars easier to see.

And they’re so beautiful. The night is an inky canvas, and the stars are like little glowing flecks splattered onto it, twinkling and spanning out indefinitely. “Speechless” has never been a word to describe Logan, but that’s exactly how he feels right now. Logan stands, beaming as he cranes his neck so far back he almost falls over. He stumbles, tripping over his feet as he spins around and giggles softly, gazing at the sky above.

Logan has always been a calm, rational person, and he’s not the best at expressing emotion. Right now, though, he is positively giddy as he twirls, logical thought entirely gone as he stares up at the vast expanse of sky, giggling and smiling so hard his face hurts. Logan has always been serious and grounded, not one for flowery language, but in this moment he floats; in this moment he is made of stars.

*

When Logan is fifteen he thinks that he has never felt so alone. School feels like it is suffocating him, he’s disconnected from his peers, and he doesn’t have the slightest clue about how to tell his parents something’s wrong. Perhaps worst of all, he can’t feel anything anymore. Science and English class no longer excite him the way that they used to—although Mr. Duke, his biology teacher, is a lifeline—and even learning about the stars and their universe isn’t enough to elicit a smile.

Logan is growing into himself a bit more, though he wishes the process would hurry up a bit. For now he’s a tall, lanky teen with a face marked with pimples and a voice that won’t stop cracking. Dad regales him with awkward stories about his teenage years while Papa cries about how much he’s grown. Logan goes along with it and wishes the emptiness pervading him would go away.

He’s said before that he doesn’t like emotions, but suddenly everything about his world feels dull, or monochromatic. He gets an A and feels nothing—it’s what’s expected. He’s assigned a fun project and goes through the motions—anything for that perfect grade. Nothing in life seems to have meaning anymore except for school, and school is slowly crushing him. At night he buries his face into his pillow and wishes he could cry, wishes the invisible aches in his chest would stop when there’s nothing physically wrong with him, so why does his body still hurt. Logan wants to ask for help, to make the emptiness go away, but every time he opens his mouth his voice seizes up and the words crawl back down his throat.

He’s not usually one for figurative language, but it seems to be the only accurate way to describe the new state of his life.

“Papa?” Logan asks one evening. Dad is working late, so the two of them are having dinner alone together. The room feels cold, or maybe that’s just Logan.

“What’s up, kiddo?” Papa replies, and usually Logan scoffs at the childish nickname but today it feels so accurate; today he feels just like a little kid again, small enough to crawl onto his Papa’s lap and somehow believe that’s enough to protect him from the world.

Logan looks down at his mashed potatoes and for the first time in months, a tear runs down his face.

“Papa, I’m—I’m not okay.”

*

When Logan is sixteen, he realizes that he has no clue what he’s doing with his life. College is growing nearer at an alarming rate and Logan doesn’t have the slightest idea what he wants. His longest lasting dream is to study soulmate sciences in relation to astrology, with astrophysics as another strong contender, but is that really what he wants from the rest of his life? Logan doesn’t know anymore.

School is only getting harder and more demanding, and although Logan has talked to his parents, his therapist, his guidance counselor, and even Mr. Duke at really low points, and he’s tried to find more effective ways of managing things, he still feels like he’s drowning some days.

People have always asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Logan has never had a concrete answer. When he was little he first said a father, then an astronaut, then a poet, then a scientist. At one point he wanted to be a cartographer. The closest he’s come to knowing what he wants to do with his life is his interest in soulmate sciences, but when he tries to imagine dedicating the rest of his life to it, there’s nothing there. Most days he can barely see the future, but when he can, a career in studying soulmate sciences has no part in it—not anymore. Besides, those were all the fleeting wishes of a small child, looking at the people around him and deciding that he ought to follow in their footsteps if only because he didn’t have other footsteps to follow. Now, though, he is older. Now he has to pave his own path and, frankly, that terrifies him.

Logan is good at school. He knows how to solve equations and write paragraphs and get good grades. He knows how much coffee he’ll need to pull through after an all-nighter and which classes he can afford to fall asleep in or skip an assignment for. He knows how to push aside his emotions and make himself stay up late enough to finish and perfect everything. He doesn’t quite know how to handle the debilitating numbness that accompanies his manner of handling things, but it’s alright, because he’s learning. One could call his methods of dealing with school unhealthy and they would probably be right, but at least he knows what to do. College and everything beyond is scary. It means having to grow up and pick a passion to stick with for the rest of his life, and Logan doesn’t know if he’s ready for that.

So he does what he does best: he falls apart behind an impeccably indifferent facade, lets Papa make him breakfast and hug him extra tight in the mornings, and lets Dad read to him before bed. He maintains his grades and “perfect student” mask. He deflects and lies whenever anyone asks how he’s doing, he pretends the numbness doesn’t feel like the end of the world whenever it seeps in, and he works on opening up to his therapist. Life goes on and he goes with it, trying to pretend he’s not freaking out about where it’s leading him.

Of course, even the present can’t be effortless. Logan rubs his eyes and bangs his head on the desk with a small huff. He’s been staring at the same math problem for about fifteen minutes, as a glance at the clock reveals, and he just can’t bring himself to understand it. The equation blurs, and Logan dazedly stumbles to the window and shoves it open, hoping some air will help. It doesn’t.

“What do you want from me?” he yells to the sky in an angry, emotional tone that doesn’t match the hollowness spreading through his veins. Then again, dull and blank and defeated: “What do you want from me.”

Nothing, Logan realizes. The universe wants nothing from him. It couldn’t care less about Logan. It doesn’t matter to the universe if Logan goes to college or what he does with his life; the universe doesn’t even care if he graduates high school or not! To the universe, Logan means nothing. Maybe that’s a good thing. The universe is the only thing that doesn’t have any expectations for Logan—not like his teachers who expect him to be perfect, not like his peers who wish he was normal, not like his therapist who expects him to be open, not like his soulmate (if he has one) who will expect love, not even like his parents who want him to be okay. The universe doesn’t want Logan to do anything but exist, if even that, and Logan is almost grateful for it.

He stares out into the chilly night for a moment longer and the stars stare back at him, but they don’t provide the solace that they usually give. With a sigh, Logan closes the window and goes back to his homework. He stares at the assignment for a minute before he groans, slamming his head on the desk again. He blinks and looks at the problem again. His head throbs. He can’t make his brain process the equation.

With a trembling hand, Logan grabs his pencil and writes “Sorry.” in the blank space on his paper where the problems he hasn’t done are supposed to go. Then he puts it away. It feels hard and wrong and different, though this isn’t quite the first assignment he’s failed to complete—that’s right, he’s a failure because he should be able to handle this but he couldn’t because he can’t do anything right, can he, and now his teacher will be disappointed because he failed to be the perfect student that everyone needs him to be and his dads will worry more and if the kids at school find out they’ll think he’s a failure too—

The only thing that saves him from going into a complete spiral is exhaustion. A bone-deep tiredness settles upon him, as though the hollowness previously encompassing him is filling with lead. Logan tucks away his fear and turmoil to let it fester for later, and he barely manages to put on his pajamas before collapsing into bed and burrowing into the blankets, letting the thought that maybe tomorrow will be better lull him to sleep.

He doesn’t believe it, but it’s a beautiful lie nonetheless.

*

When Logan is eighteen, he doesn’t go to college. He’s not quitting or failing, no matter what his mind might whisper to him. He just needs to remind himself how to breathe before he can try climbing the next mountain in life.

(Dad’s affinity for figurative language has clearly had more of an effect on him than he thought.)

Logan stays with his parents. He discusses everything from politics to music with Dad, volunteers at the animal shelter with Papa, and spends clear nights staring out his window, sometimes with the telescope his dads gave him a few years ago. He works at an afterschool daycare, where he helps the fourth graders with their homework and reads aloud to the first graders and plays tag with the third graders and tells the fifth graders about the different types of galaxies. Logan loves seeing their smiles and hearing their laughter and watching their passion grow, and the fact that he’s helping them along their journeys makes his heart swell.

Oh, and he finds out that he does have a soulmate. At midnight on his eighteenth birthday, an itch spreads across his forearm. When he looks down, the words “The big dipper” are scrawled across his wrist in red letters that almost remind him of blood. Logan thinks that it’s fitting that the prophesied love of his life’s first words to him will be about the stars. Then he pockets the thought and saves it for another day. His soulmate will find him someday (or maybe they’ll never find each other, and that’s alright too), and Logan has a life to live, with or without a few scarlet words on his wrist.

It’s when he’s waiting with Maria Alvarez at the aftercare center that it hits him. Once again, Maria’s mom is working late and his coworkers have headed home already (except for Beth, who’s doing paperwork), so it’s just the two of them. Logan half expects Maria to just read until her mom gets there, or maybe to ask him to play cards with her or something along those lines, but instead she looks at him with an eager, bright expression that he knows all too well and asks, “What are elliptical galaxies?”

Logan smiles and puts on his best teacher voice as he begins to explain. He’s just pulled up some pictures on his phone when Maria’s mom comes to pick her up. Logan watches, heart full, as she walks away, already telling Mrs. Alvarez about what she’s learned. Logan loves working with these kids, sharing his interests with them and seeing all the little ways it ignites that beautiful spark of passion in them. He thinks about Maria and all of the other kids and he thinks about Mr. Duke, who he knows he’ll remember forever, and then it hits him like a train and he straightens with a little gasp, unable to stop a painfully large smile from overtaking his face.

After getting the all-clear from Beth, who comments that it’s nice to see him looking so “peppy,” Logan heads home. “How was work?” Dad asks when he walks in the door.

Logan beams. “I want to be a teacher.”

Later, he considers this new thought again. It’s quite different from any of his original plans for his life, but maybe that’s alright. For the first time in years, Logan can see a future.

*

When Logan is twenty-two, now back in school, he meets Virgil. He’s taking an astronomy class, just for fun, and they’re given some time to socialize, so he smiles professionally at the person next to him—slouched over with long bangs and a few piercings—and asks, “What’s your favorite constellation? Mine’s Orion, I love the mythology behind it.”

The man stiffens and replies slowly, “The big dipper.”

Logan’s wrist begins to itch as the words on it morph until they are inked in black, the letters stark against his skin. Logan blinks, then smiles cordially.

“I’m Logan, he/him pronouns,” he says pleasantly, as though his heart is not thudding in his chest and his entire being doesn’t feel like it’s shaking with excitement or perhaps terror because this is his soulmate and maybe it will lead to nothing, just another passing event in the story of Logan’s life, but it can also be everything. As a scientist, Logan has learned to love possibilities, and this encounter is brimming with them. “What’s your name?”

“Virgil. He/they.” Their words are stilted, and he appears to be trying to hide behind their bangs.

Logan tries to veer the conversation into what he hopes is safer territory. “So, how come the big dipper is your favorite?”

Virgil’s shoulders relax the tiniest amount. Logan counts that as a win.

They talk about constellations and stars until the class resumes, and afterwards they talk some more. Logan tells Virgil how he’s planning to teach highschool science—most likely biology, he admits, and Virgil quietly expresses support. In turn, Logan learns about how Virgil wants to be an aerospace engineer—specifically, working in astronautical engineering—and he can’t help the massive grin that spreads across his face. Aerospace engineering isn’t a career that Logan considered very strongly—while it is undeniably fascinating, Logan is far more interested in space itself than the machines that traverse it—but it still intrigues him a great deal. He’s delighted to find that his soulmate shares some of his passions. Prompted by Logan, Virgil tells him about what they’ve been learning, and Logan hangs onto every word. Finally, Logan realizes just how late it’s gotten when Virgil says they have to head home.

It’s when he’s in the car, his soulmate already long gone, that Logan realizes they forgot to exchange phone numbers. It’s alright, he reminds himself. If nothing else, they’ll see each other again at the next astronomy class.

As it turns out, they don’t even have to wait that long.

Logan is driving home from a visit to the bookstore when he sees a hooded figure hunched over and walking along the sidewalk. It’s raining pretty hard, dark clouds and downpour covering the sky that Logan loves so much, and the person doesn’t have an umbrella. Logan slows his car and rolls down the window.

“It’s rather wet out, would you like to borrow my um—Virgil?”

Logan’s soulmate looks at him through eyes far too red for the water on their face to only be rain. Logan tries to smile warmly. “Would you like a ride?” he says, and perhaps it’s unwise to offer a ride to someone he’s only really met once, but he can’t bring himself to care right now. (This is exactly the type of stupidly kind thing Papa would do, the sort of thing Logan always warned him against. Now look who’s going soft.)

Virgil only hesitates for a moment before climbing in the car. Logan passes them his coat.

“I don’t have a towel, but you can use my jacket if you’d like.”

Virgil dries himself off and looks up through red-rimmed eyes. “Thank you.” His voice is choked and wobbly and a little hoarse.

Logan smiles gently. There’s clearly something wrong, so Logan offers, “Would you like to talk about it?”

“Talk about what?” In an instant Virgil is on edge, sharp and bristling and defensive.

“Whatever’s bothering you,” Logan persists, looking straight ahead as the windshield wipers slide across the window.

Virgil opens his mouth, then closes it again, a certain reluctance in their expression.

“You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to. But the offer stands if you would.”

Virgil considers. “Then I don’t. Want to, that is.” He wraps their arms around himself. “Not now.”

Logan nods. “Can you tell me how to get to your place? Or would you like to spend the night at mine?”

Virgil rattles off directions and the rest of the car ride is spent in silence. It’s not awkward or uncomfortable. It’s pleasant. They don’t need words, not right now. The rain drums against the windows and the tires whir against the wet asphalt and that’s more than enough to fill the quiet.

“Wait!” Logan calls as Virgil opens the door. He quickly grabs a pen and pad of paper from the glove compartment and scribbles down his phone number. “Contact me at some point if you wish, I’d love to talk more.”

Virgil accepts with a brief nod and a faint “Thank you.” Then they disappear.

*

When Logan is twenty-three, he has what you might call a crisis. He and Virgil have steadily grown closer—it started with simply seeing each other in the astronomy class, perhaps texting every now and then, until Logan asked if Virgil wanted to go out for coffee with him. (Virgil ended up having tea instead; they don’t drink coffee, as it turns out.) Soon enough that turned into weekly coffee meetups, which evolved into stargazing at the park, then Virgil spent the night with Logan, and before he could fully process it Virgil had become a critical part of his life.

Logan didn't quite realize things had changed so much until yesterday morning, when he went to do his laundry and found that one of Virgil’s hoodies had made its way into the mix. Now he’s sitting in the kitchen and trying to rationalize through his worries—specifically, the nagging fear that he’s somehow doing this whole “friendship” thing wrong.

Virgil would tell me if something’s upsetting them, he reminds himself.

Unless their anxiety prevents him from speaking up, his brain counters.

Logan groans and lays his head on his arms. Really, the only thing to do is to talk to Virgil about it.

The next time they see each other, Logan brings it up. “Virgil? Am I a bad friend?”

Virgil looks at him incredulously, speaking as though his next words are obvious. “No, not at all. Why?”

Logan studies his shoes, feeling irrationally embarrassed. “I don’t know, I’ve just… I’ve never really done this before.”

“Done what?” Virgil’s tone is steady and patient; his expression is calm as their eyes stare into Logan’s soul.

“Had a friend? I’ve never really needed any before now… I don’t know, I guess I’m just wondering if my… inexperience is… diminishing the quality of our friendship at all.”

Virgil snorts, his bangs flopping in front of his face. “I’m new to this ‘friendship thing’ too, Pocket Protector. Believe it or not, I’ve never been much of a social butterfly.”

Logan chuckles. “Oh, I believe it.”

Virgil elbows him lightly before their expression sobers again. “I don’t think there’s any right or wrong way to be a friend, L. It’s just… whatever works for the people in the relationship. And this, what we have? This works perfectly for me.” Anxiety creeps into his tone, and the slow words speed up frantically. “That is, unless this doesn’t work for you, or if I’m, uh, messing something up or—”

“Virgil.” Their mouth snaps shut. “You aren’t messing anything up. I, too, find our relationship to be… satisfactory.”

Virgil pouts. “Only satisfactory?” he accuses, but they’re both grinning.

Virgil knows Logan too well, though, and after a minute of studying him they say, “That’s not it, is it? What’s on your mind, Lo?”

“Well, we’re romantic soulmates, aren’t we?” he says after a moment, as though confessing something.

“Yeah?”

“But we’re fully platonic. We’ve known each other for at least a year now. Wouldn’t most people like us be dating by now?”

Virgil outright wheezes at that.

“I fail to see what is so funny.”

“This is coming from you, Logan. You, the person who has lectured me more times than I can count—stop apologizing, I enjoyed it—on just how fickle the science and logic of soulmates is? You, the person whose life motto is pretty much… ah, what was it? ‘Soulmates are just people that the universe thinks can change your life.’ Logan, are you of all people worrying about this?”

He knew it was an unfounded fear, but it’s nice to hear it from his soulmate nonetheless. “Well, when you put it that way….”

Virgil’s tone softens. “Logan, look at me. Do you want to be in a romantic relationship?”

Logan considers, then wrinkles his nose.

Virgil laughs, a hearty, wild sound that Logan has come to love almost as much as the person it belongs to. “Yeah, see? Me neither.”

Logan studies the words on his wrist. Virgil places their hand next to his, palm facing up, so the sentences align. They're just little black words, an innocent conversation about constellations. Logan thinks about where it’s led them and smiles to himself.

It’s hard to believe he’s known Virgil for an entire year. It feels like hardly any time has passed since the red letters on his arm turned black and his soulmate entered his life. At the same time, it feels like he’s known Virgil forever. It’s hard to imagine his life without them.

Virgil stares at their wrists contemplatively. “You know,” he says, “Maybe the reason the words change to black after we meet is because the universe is trying to tell us that it’s played its part. We met like it thought we would, and now it’s up to us what we do with it.” They smile crookedly at Logan. “Or maybe I’m just full of bull.”

Logan blinks. “No, that is… astute.”

He thinks about their conversation for a long time afterwards.

*

When Logan is twenty-five, he gets a call from Virgil. They usually prefer to text, or at least ask if it’s a good time before calling, so Logan figures it’s important. He picks up and Virgil is speaking before Logan can even say hi.

“What do you think it’s all for?”

“I’m sorry, what?”

Virgil’s tone is urgent. It makes Logan’s stomach twist.

“What do you think it’s all for? You know, this…. Life. Us. School. Everything we’re doing. What’s it all for?”

Logan takes a minute to process, and then another to try to put his thoughts in order. “I think it depends on what you want it to be for.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, some people find purpose in the belief of a higher power, right? Others find purpose in their soulmates—finding them, building a relationship with them, that sort of thing.” He begins to pace until he ultimately finds himself by the window. The stars are visible, and Logan watches them as he talks. Briefly, he wonders if Virgil is looking at the sky too. “Some people find purpose in their work or in the people they love, or in pursuit of knowledge or self discovery.” Logan thinks of Papa and Dad and smiles, the next words graced with love. “Some people find purpose in helping others, or in adventure. For some people, the point of life is life itself—living every day to its fullest and seeing where it takes them.”

That’s one thing his dads have in common. They both love life because they love living itself. For Dad it’s in the journey, following his path and finding a sliver of adventure in every place it takes him. For Papa it’s in the little moments, the smiles and laughter and terrible jokes (Dad calls them witty, but he’s biased) and all the people he crosses paths with along the way.

“So it’s different for everyone?” Virgil sounds calmer. Logan hopes he’s saying the right thing.

“Well, yes. Everyone’s different, after all. And when it comes to the point of life itself, is there really a right answer? Does it really matter what someone’s purpose in life is as long as it’s enough to make life worthwhile for them?”

Logan isn’t expecting an answer, and Virgil doesn’t give him one. For a long while, the only sound is their breathing on the other end of the line. Then he asks, “What’s it for you? Your purpose in life, I mean?”

Logan considers this. “I don’t think I know yet.”

“Yeah.” There’s a pause. “I guess we can figure it out together.”

It feels like a promise.

*

When Logan is twenty-seven, he and Virgil move in together. Logan first pitched the idea, half expecting Virgil to laugh in his face, but instead he was on board almost immediately. “Yeah, sure,” Logan remembers them saying, “I think it’d be nice to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Sometimes, Logan wonders about who they are in the admittedly narrow scope of society’s norms. From the outside, they look more like partners than friends. Sometimes, Logan almost feels like that’s what they should be. He doesn’t want to date Virgil, but if that’s what people think they are, is that what they’re supposed to be?

Virgil never fails to reassure him. “We’re best friends, Lo,” they remind him. “So what if we don’t look like your typical pair of friends, the kind who’d forget each other in the name of romance? Who wants that anyway? I’d rather have this. I'd rather have you.”

He’s right. He usually is, and Logan is there to set them straight when they aren’t.

Logan also teaches highschool now, like he planned when he was younger. It has its ups and downs, like anything, but for the most part he is quite enamored with his job. He adores getting questions from the kids and watching them grow. He hears their whispers and he gossips with the other staff like any other teacher, so he knows he’s a hit-or-miss teacher. Some kids think he’s too harsh when grading while others just don’t enjoy the subject he teaches or dislike him for different reasons, but many seem to think he’s a good teacher. Julianna O’Brian, the English teacher, once asked him how he managed to become an instant favorite for so many of the students. Matching her joking tone, Logan told her that she’d have to ask them. Then, quietly and much more seriously, he mused, “My best guess is that I remember what it’s like to be in their position. You don’t find adults like that very often.”

And it’s true, Logan does know what it’s like to be in their shoes. He promised himself, back when he was just another teenager struggling to find time to breathe in the chaos of highschool, that he’d never be another adult who forgot just what it felt like to be a kid. He hasn’t broken his promise to himself yet, and he doesn’t plan on it anytime soon.

The best part of his job, without question, is his students. He watches as Priya goes from straight Cs to the B range and feels his heart swell with pride. He sees Aaliyah’s hand shoot up almost every day, her entire form screaming excitement as she silently begs for permission to share her thoughts. He loves when Jackson stays after class to ask him question upon question until he inevitably stumbles across one that Logan doesn’t know the answer to and they learn together. When Alex comes out as nonbinary, he gives xem a hug that Papa would be proud of and is careful to respect xyr pronouns. He watches his students graduate and learn and realizes that they really are teaching him just as much as he hopes they’re learning from him.

It’s true, he discovers, that what goes around comes around. On teacher appreciation day one year, Sheila makes him a card that Logan carefully keeps on his nightstand, where it still resides. Another year, Harper gets him a mug with the words “Space Ace” on it. Logan laughs until he can’t breathe. It’s still his favorite mug (and Virgil likes stealing it, even if they don’t like to admit it).

Speaking of Virgil, Logan’s soulmate works for NASA, and Logan couldn’t be more proud. He especially loves hearing him talk about what they’re working on, when they can. Logan gets permission from the principal for Virgil to come in once a year and give talks to the students about his work. It’s always a highlight of the year for both of them, and the kids seem to enjoy it as well.

Life keeps moving, and so far Logan has loved where it’s led him, for the most part. There have been some lows as well, like when Virgil’s childhood dog died, or when Dad sprained his ankle, or when Papa got pneumonia. As always, there are good days and bad days and even days when the numbness comes back, because adulthood isn’t a magical solution to all the problems in the world and society is eternally flawed, but it isn’t nearly as bad as it was during his teenage years or even in college. Besides, now he has Virgil on the bad days, and Virgil has him when they need him, and that makes everything so much more okay—better than okay, really.

*

When Logan is twenty-nine, his parents finally meet Virgil’s. The two are close enough that Dad says they’re starting to act like an old married couple—or perhaps two newlyweds still in the honeymoon phase, apparently it’s always one or the other with them. Logan retorts that he’s one to talk.

At any rate, this visit is long overdue, but between life and conflicting schedules and periods where he just didn’t talk to his family as much, further enforced by the fact that there’s less societal pressure for friends’ families to meet, their parents somehow haven’t been introduced yet. For winter break, Virgil takes some time off of work and they all make plans to stay at Logan’s parents’ house—they have the most space, so it makes sense. Logan and Virgil arrive first and start setting up in Logan’s childhood bedroom. They’ve just finished putting their suitcases away and are having a snack in the kitchen when the doorbell rings. Papa goes to get it. Logan and Virgil hurry over to see what’s wrong when the door swings open and the cheerful greeting on his lips morphs into a strangled, indecipherable noise.

It’s just Virgil’s dad, but Papa looks like he’s seen a ghost… so does Virgil’s father, for that matter.

“Janus?” Papa whispers.

“Patton,” Virgil’s dad answers, eyes wide and voice uncharacteristically unsteady.

Virgil looks between the two, confusion written on his face. “You know each other?”

Papa laughs in disbelief, blinking dazedly and patting the other man on the shoulder, almost as though making sure he’s real. “Yeah, uh, yeah! Janus is my soulmate.”

Logan blinks, dumbfounded. All he can think to say is, “We really should’ve introduced you guys sooner.”

Papa laughs at that before calling Dad. “Roman, come on! The guest bedroom is fine, you’ve double checked it at least five times, and I want you to meet someone.”

Virgil’s father looks nervous at first, but Dad just smiles, says that it’s nice to meet him, and pulls him into a one-armed hug.

The rest of the night is interspersed with “I can’t believe it’s you”s and “Do you remember when”s and “I didn’t think I’d see you again”s. Papa and Janus act like old friends—because they are, Logan reminds himself. It’s quite strange, but pleasantly so. This will take some adjustment, but Logan notices the way things automatically shifted to accommodate Janus and knows he’s already been accepted as a part of their family.

Later that night, a dramatic wail makes Virgil put down their book so everyone can tease Dad for losing checkers to Janus for the third time in a row. Papa is the only one offering an ounce of sympathy from the kitchen, where he’s drying the dishes, but even he sounds like he’s trying not to laugh. Dad challenges Janus to a rematch and Papa comes to sit in his armchair while Virgil reads aloud, curled on the couch next to Logan, who smiles.

It’s strange and it’s new, but this already feels like home.

*

When Logan is thirty, he feels so unbelievably alive. The previous weekend was quite the opposite—it was cloudy and cool, raining on and off, and Logan felt the chill seep into his veins until he couldn’t feel much of anything. Fortunately, Virgil was there as always, wrapping him in their arms and letting their warmth help him thaw a bit.

Virgil is here today as well, but it is very different, because today Logan is overflowing with life. The stars are shining, dimmed by the city lights but still so beautiful, and energy pulses through Logan. It’s late and there’s a slight chill in the air, and he and Virgil are both in their pajamas already, but that doesn’t stop Logan from forcibly asking his friend to come outside. Virgil watches, a tender smile on their face, as Logan beams, inhaling the evening air and sighing contentedly. He only protests slightly when Logan grabs his arm and exclaims, “Dance with me!”

Logan twists awkwardly and waves his hands as “Fireflies” by Owl City—the first song that came on when Virgil shuffled their playlist—plays in the background. Virgil seems to think he can get away with just standing and watching and tapping their foot slightly, but Logan isn’t having it. He grabs his soulmate’s hand and the two fall into some sort of clumsy dance, giggling like children and exchanging playful jabs.

Spinning aimlessly in the night, Logan feels like he’s fourteen again.

*

When Logan is thirty-two, he looks up at the stars. He’s dragged Virgil on a camping trip for the weekend, just the two of them. The light pollution here is so much better than it is in the city, and the sky is clear, so the two lie on the grass together and admire the starry expanse above. Logan watches as Virgil points out constellations and makes quiet comments, then Virgil does the same for him. Eventually, though, they fall silent.

The ground under their backs is cool, the air is still, and Logan can feel the warmth from where Virgil is lying nearby, their fingers loosely intertwined. Crickets chirp and the wind rustles through the trees as Logan and Virgil gaze up at the universe, spanning infinitely above. Pinpricks of light—stars—dot the dark expanse, and Logan smiles up at them. Out here, alone with Virgil and the stars, Logan feels more at peace than he has in a while.

He glances at his best friend, who glows under the silvery light of the half moon, and Logan’s smile widens. He’s glad to have come this far with him, from two strangers talking about constellations to two friends hand in hand beneath the stars.

Logan looks back up at the stars.

“Thank you,” he whispers to the universe, sinking into the comfort of the earth beneath him and the stars above him and his soulmate beside him.

Virgil doesn’t ask what he said or why he said it. They just squeeze his hand tighter. Logan squeezes back.

#sanders sides #analogical #royality #analogicalweek #ts logan #ts virgil #ts patton #ts roman #ts janus #ts remus #(oh um patton is papa roman is dad janus is virgils dad and remus is mr duke if you couldnt tell) #existential thoughts #tw numbness #ask to tag #written in the stars #smiling at the stars #gosh i hate the title so much :/ #thought puddles