#so you know the joe brainrot is real

[normal-thoughts-official]

That post I made earlier today got me Thinking™ about Mr Yusuf al-Kaysani and the way he uses humor, and turns out that I find that a really interesting trait of his character, so I'm giving it its own analysis

Like. Listen. Joe is funny. We know this and he knows this. It comes naturally to him and it's part of who he is. However, the more I think about the times he made deliberate jokes in the movie, the more I realize that they were almost always made in times of distress or to diffuse a tense situation

When we get the first scene of the immortal family, Joe shows that he is fun and carefree (the way that he spins Andy and makes her laugh nearly instantly), but he's also pretty laid back. He's happy to sit back and laugh as the moon when he's lost in darkness gets his ass handed to him in a bet, and generally takes a backseat in the interactions while the others do their respective clown routines. He isn't really trying to be funny, at that point; the ones making jokes are the others

The first time we see Joe have an "I am fucking hilarious" moment is when they're in the helicopter and he hits Nicky with his Fuckboy Grin™, and that is a mood diffuser if I've ever seen one. The other three are all tense, armed and getting ready for battle, and we get several slightly-uncomfortable long shots of them sitting still and getting into their Soldier Headspaces, and then it pans directly from Nicky's longsword to Joe's open mouthed grin. It makes Nicky smile, and it also gives some relief to the tension that had been building up

And sure, part of that is that it's how Joe is, he's the carefree one, but part of it also seems like a very intentional way of lightening the mood - and it works, too, both for Nicky and the audience

Then, the first joke he tells in the movie is the one about the shoes Copley planted in South Sudan, which. I hesitate to even call it a joke because it falls so flat, but that just solidifies the point that Joe is using humor on purpose to try and diffuse the tension in the group. It is clearly an attempt at a joke, he even gives a little chuckle at the end, but he's obviously hurt and it doesn't quite land. Still, he tries, because everyone is tense, and upset. And humor is the best way he has to try and pull them back from that state, if only for a moment

Then, over the rest of the movie, we- okay, to be fair they are in stressful situations the entire rest of the movie, but most of his deliberate jokes come as direct responses to Moments of Duress™ - "he thinks you're a mouse, Nicky" comes when Merrick is threatening them, "bedhead?" when they are strapped to their tables, "faster than the elevator" when the fight with Merrick is over and they're all catching up with their tiredness and tension, and so on. Similarly, his silliest moments come when they are in tense situations (the wink and other funny faces and laughing when they are in the dinner with Nile, which is obviously tense as hell for all of them). The fact that he's using humor deliberately to try and lighten the mood during hard times becomes pretty obvious when you put all of his jokes together

Which isn't unusual, plenty of people use humor as a coping mechanism. Hell, I'm from Latin America, "laughing so we don't cry" is a common saying where I live. But the thing that gets me is that Joe is not using humor as a coping mechanism, because it's not supposed to help him

He doesn't make a joke when he sees the shoes, despite the fact that they clearly get to him. He makes it when the others are rattled by the fact that they've been set up. When Nile dreams of Quỳnh, Joe is so visibly devastated, but he doesn't try to lighten the mood once. When he is in the van, chained and desperate to see if Nicky will wake up, he doesn't make a joke. When he finds out that Booker has betrayed them, which obviously hurts him, maybe more than any other of them, he doesn't make jokes (he is cutting, yes, and I'll admit that "no man left behind" "well there's always a first time" is one of the funniest lines in the movie to me, but I don't think he intends it as a joke; he means it, because he's angry, and the humorous effect of the response is cut by the "he's nothing but a traitor" at the end. But, again, Joe is just naturally witty so it comes across as funny without that being, necessarily, his intention). In the moments when Joe is in the most distress, his humor is nowhere to be found. When his family isn't there to hear/see his response, he is just as tense as the rest of them are

Which brings me to my main point - Joe isn't using humor as a coping mechanism, because he isn't using it for himself. He uses it for his family's sake. Every time he makes a deliberate joke, or is goofy, it's for an audience, it is directed at the rest of the family, it is functional. He is trying to make them feel better, not himself

And that makes sense, because after Quỳnh was gone and before Nile joined? Joe was the only one who was really light in their group. Andy and Booker were obviously doing their Depression and Self Destruction Tour at nearly all times, and Nicky is a rational person. When confronted with problems, he thinks of solutions. When Andy is mad at Copley, his response is to say "we did it right, for the right reasons" - which doesn't work, because Andy doesn't want to hear it, but it's the way Nicky thinks. He has no regrets as long as his heart is in the right place, and when in a tight situation, he's going to try and get out of it. He's not the kind of guy who lightens the mood when things get tough; he is the kind of guy who takes everything deeply seriously, and takes it upon himself to find a way out of bad situations

Which is not to say that Nicky is a closed-off cold weirdo who doesn't know how to have fun, because if the baklava bet proved anything it's that Nicky also knows how to try and make his family happy. I know we all love to roast him for being shit at bets, but let's be real for a moment here - after a millennium of knowing Andy, there's no way he doesn't know that he will never fucking win at this. When he loses, he puts his hands over his face, but we can see that he is smiling about it, and I think he covers his face to hide that fact. I'm pretty sure Nicky was genuinely trying to outsmart Andy when this started, but at this point I'm also completely sure he just keeps doing it because it makes everyone laugh when he inevitably loses

(I think Joe knows that, too, because the smile he gives Nicky when he proposes the bet is too knowing and too fond)

But Nicky's moments of lightness come when they are already at ease; once the mood darkens, Nicky immerses himself in the seriousness of the situation. He is a soldier, and that's the headspace he immediately goes into. Which has its role in the group, but the fact remains - without Joe, the three of them would let themselves be swept up by the tension in their lives and never come back. They need Joe, because they need someone who can bring levity and soul into their lives

Which is a role Joe fulfills naturally, of course, because that is who he is - he is the artist, the one who's in love with life, the one with the easygoing personality and sense of humor. But it is also a role he fulfills consciously, and deliberately, because Joe also cares deeply, and so he knows that they need him to bring them back in the moments of darkness, and he is still trying, desperately, to keep his family together emotionally

And I just wonder how much of a toll that takes on him sometimes. Because after Quỳnh and before Nile, there was no one to do it for him, no one to pull him from his own darkness. And whenever there is tension in the group, Joe needs to step up and try to take care of everyone. And I'm not saying they don't take care of him as well, obviously, but this does mean that Joe is frequently choosing to put his own fears in the backseat in order to help his family. And the thing about using humor as a coping mechanism is that it's an easy way to make your own feelings ignored, both by yourself and others

Now, obviously Joe also allows himself his feelings - part of his whole thing is that he feels so openly and so intensely - and him and Nicky are clearly constantly playing taking-care-of-each-other chess trying to outprotect the other at all times, and Andy also tries to care for them all despite her own pain. But there is this particular thing that he also needs and that no one else is really well-equipped to provide, and that kind of forces him to put his own feelings aside on a regular basis so he can help the others. And it's gotta be pretty lonely and alienating, sometimes, to be the one to always take the lead in these moments and be the only source of lightness when things get heavy

(I'd also like to take this moment to praise TOG for making it so that Joe takes this role without making him a Comic Relief Character™ and also giving him the depth and complexity he deserves. God, I love this movie)

So, in conclusion, I believe that Joe being the only one who is able to diffuse the tension in the group a lot of the time is one of the ways in which he suffers from their isolation. It makes him uniquely lonely and challenged by their immortality situation, as they all are. It is also one of the small ways in which he takes care of everyone else, and an important role he plays in the group, particularly after Quỳnh is gone and before Nile comes*

*by which I don't mean that Nile is the New Comic Relief, although she is also pretty funny. What I mean is that her arrival changes a lot in their dynamics, particularly because it makes Andy visibly lighter, so the situation changes considerably once she's in the picture

TLDR: Joe uses humor to try to support the rest of his family emotionally, and it's an interesting trait of his character

#i wrote this whole post on my phone #which had 10% battery and no signal #on a shitty public WiFi while my phone lagged and bugged every five minutes #so you know the joe brainrot is real #mr al kaysani please release my brain #tog #the old guard #meta #yusuf al kaysani #joe the old guard #joe tog #tog meta #long post #eventual italics #has tldr #immortal family

[its-steddie-time]

hi everyone !! this is maya (they/them, 27)! you might know me from my tiktok steddie fic rec videos, but I'm also a steddie fic writer! there's never a time when I'm not thinking about these two lovely idiots.

I have two completed longer fics (the joan flicker project & you were sleeping with your rings on) and a bunch of oneshots featuring all things smut/angst/fluff and beyond! I'm currently working on blue on blue (a blue velvet inspired steddie fic) with @infinite-orangepeel my partner in crime ♡

you can find me on ao3 here

you can find me on tiktok here

you can find me on twitter here

my ko-fi if you'd like to support what I do ♡

on this blog I post/reblog about:

✩ steddie (like 98% of what you'll find here, what can I say, the brainrot is real!)

✩ steddie ficlets + headcanons

✩ joe keery/djo (his face, his music, his everything)

✩ steddie fic recs (I'm always looking for new fics to read and rec!)

✩ general stranger things content

✩ wip excerpts + fic updates

general notes:

✩ I do post NSFW content so this blog is 18+, minors DNI!

✩ feel free to rec your own fic! I can't promise I'll have time to read it (my tbr is out of control), but I will do my best!

other things I'd love to talk about (ask me anything—inbox or dms):

✩ all things poetry and fanfic (book recs, fic writing, fic recs, writing help, etc;)

✩ music: (give me recs, ask for recs—also here are my steddie and steve harrington playlists)

✩ tv shows: stranger things, the magicians, the oa, community, the haunting of hill house/bly manor, etc;)

✩ movies: david lynch, wes anderson, sci-fi/fantasy, rom-coms, etc;

✩ anything else you'd like to know! i love to talk to people and make new steddie/st friends ♡

♡ gorgeous steddie fanart at the top by @bbgirlsteve for my fic "songs for beginners (i used to be a king)" ♡

#welcome #pinned post #steddie #steddie brainrot #steve x eddie #joe keery #stranger things #steddie fanfic #ao3 writer

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

Can I just say that as much as I'm usually talking into the void here, I'm so grateful for this community, even if I'm usually hanging out on the sidelines?

It's so nice to be able to come on here and write my silly little posts about the things Taylor's music makes me think about and to then have you wonderful people continue the discussion, or to read what you are all observing or analyzing and have my mind blown or chuckle or share in the joy or whatever.

For comparison, there are people who I used to love talking about this stuff with but over the years they've soured on Taylor (totally her prerogative) and we've stopped being able to have these discussions, because the nuance just goes out the window in the process. Like thinking Taylor was obsessive for writing as much as she did about JG because they were only together three months (when those of us who follow her realize it was more complicated than that), or insisting Midnights is a breakup album and the last year and a half of the relationship with Joe was fake going through the motions or fake and that they broke up way before tour (when... it's pretty damn obvious when it happened from the set list alone) and thinking TTPD is just going to be a diss album used to bury a helpless ex (...) or using the situation last May (ahem) as proof of her callousness or whatever, when again a more human answer is that she wasn't exactly thinking clearly and in The Pit in the wake of a life-changing upheaval etc. Or what really gets me, dismissing the Snakegate stuff as her being petty and holding onto grudges and ignoring the really intense mental and physical consequences that she dealt with for years afterwards.

Which is not to say this is all about her personal life, but that by being able to look at the music through a more nuanced lens instead of, like, taking it literally, for lack of better word, it colours in the lines and not only situates the music more in the context in which it was created, but also makes it feel richer to our own interpretations and associations with it. I LOVE when we all go back and find parallels with her other songs, and it's even more fun now because the mash-ups on stage show Taylor does the same thing with her own music! It's such a rich tapestry and we're in such a unique position as fans where an artist is reaching (if not has reached) living legend status in real time, while at an unprecedented level of creative output, and we get to digest the music and study it and watch it evolve before our eyes!

It's just really nice to have a space online where we *can* do that, because I feel like there just is nowhere else to really do that? It seems like people I know in real life either a) actively avoid her music (totally fair, not everyone's cup of tea) b) only care in terms of current pop culture value (also fair, although it gets annoying when it veers into TikTok brainrot into easter egging and shit instead of being about hte music) or c) obsessed with the Travis romance of it all. And I think most online spaces are kind of caught in these camps too. It's either unrelenting criticism (which is fine, not everyone has to like her and there are valid things to critique, even if I don't particularly care to myself) veering into hatred for the sake of hatred, or obsessing over her personal life to the point of dehumanizing her as a person and artist.

I know I'm being a cupcake but like, this is the cupcake website, so who cares. I use this space to delve into the shows and movies and music I love because there isn't anywhere else you can curate your experience as much as you can here. And when it comes to Taylor's music, I love that I can just spill my guts about what sets my brain on fire (affectionate) and the connections that emerge and just how much it makes me feel. And between the reblogs and comments and messages, it's slightly less lonely talking to everyone else too.

So, thank you friends! I don't know why I'm in my feels today but it seems like as good a time as any!

#ttpd time is gonna be a riot #writing letters addressed to the fire #i just... really like writing stuff #without having to get defensive or bite my tongue because someone is yelling BUT ACTUALLY #like believe me i'm a huge celebrity snarker #but i have a taylor shaped hole in my cynicism! #anyway happy weekend everyone! #i'm thinking about how much i've written about midnights (since I'm currently listening to it lol) #and there's nowhere else I would have been able to do that #and there's nowhere else I could spit out all the theorizing about ttpd i'm thinking #and it's just fun! #if detrimental to my social life lol

[sparxwrites]

scar having "This is your land, where you are the author of your own story" in his theme park announcement is standing out so strongly to me. you've infected me with meta brainrot

YEAH the noise i made when he was like "look at my announcement" and started fucking talking about stories was. not human. mr goodtimes thank you for feeding a poor humble fic writer's lust for narrative worship. it's appreciated.

(but Yes pls join me in the scar-and-stories meta brainrot pit. it's dark down here, but it's pretty comfy. i have marshmallows. and my leg in this bear trap that means i can never leave, but don't worry about that. ignore it. focus on the marshmallows.)

real talk, the fun thing about the scar-and-stories theme i keep banging away at is that like...

one, c!scar is canonically a conman / confidence trickster / high pressure salesman / charming asshole who always gets what he wants, which means he does legitimately constantly use weaponised stories, and it's only a tiny nudge sideways to make that an occult / spiritual / world-build-y thing.

two, i personally have a lot of fun weird semi-religious opinions about stories, and this is a very cathartic way of working out what exactly those feelings are, and also propaganda.

but three, cc!scar - perhaps best out of everyone on the server, other than maybe bdubs, and maybe joe but i think tbh joe is just Being Weird rather than doing this on purpose - understands how storytelling works.

we see this constantly. like, yes, mcc has improved his combat skills, but it's very very obvious that he plays up being an imcompetent klutz. other than when the narrative allows him to do otherwise. which is why, now, at the moment, he's suddenly very good with a bow - yes, because he's gotten good with it bc mcc, but mostly because it's funny and serves the story that ren has initiated. and, out of all the hermits, he's perhaps the most responsive to changing what or who he is in response to the demands of the story, without it ever feeling ooc or like it's some dramatic change. just... scar is good with a bow now because it's funny in the context of the current story for him to be good, and he'll stop being good with with (or at least stop doing pvp) when it stops being funny. and at no point will this feel incoherent, or jarring, because he is very good with this.

(and, here, i start blurring the c! vs cc! lines, because when we're talking about acting skills or style, there's an inherent ambiguity there. is c!scar or cc!scar a good actor and storyteller? yes.)

crucially, though, this shape-shifting, story-shaping skill scar has - where he adapts seamlessly to and merges into the story being told, even if he's not the one that started telling it - means that he can ensnare other people in stories too. we all know it from third life, with the whole "give me your armour and i'll give you friendship points" where he dangles a yes and opportunity in front of the other ccs that is too fun for them to pass up and so manages to snag decent armour (despite grian behind him the whole time yelling that they shouldn't listen and it's a bad deal). but he's doing it with ren and bdubs this season, too, just... never saying no, but trapping them within the conceits of the story they themselves are telling to get what he wants (i.e. not having to give up his shop). and it's very well done. he's very good at this! very, very good. and it's done deliberately enough he clearly knows what he's doing, he knows he's playing people-

and then we tangle back into c!scar as a conman, and a confidence trickster, and a charming asshole who always gets what he wants. and how some of that, part of that, a large part of that, is because cc!scar (and, by extension, c!scar) is very good with stories.

#xelidonia #ask #sparx chats #hermits crafting #life smp tag #meta #this was not supposed to be meta #but here we are i guess!!!!!!

[liver-ology]

The Inevitably Divisive Nature of Billy Hargrove

I really understand where Billy antis are coming from. He’s terrible, objectively. But the one thing that’s not letting me dislike him is the scene when he’s flayed and he tells Karen Wheeler to stay away from him. There’s something genuine in him that knows he’s going to hurt someone and desperately doesn’t want to. So I see a path to redemption. A common argument against Billy is that if Dacre Montgomery wasn’t so attractive, people wouldn’t be looking so hard for a way to redeem him. This is undoubtedly true, but he played Billy with so much nuance that it’s impossible not to want to explore that. The character may have been racist and abusive, but he also breeds brainrot. How did he get that way? Why is he such a dick? Can he be saved? Should we want him to be? Every post I see about why people shouldn’t engage with Billy in fandom just digs him deeper into my mind, makes me ask more questions.

Pre-flaying, Billy is obviously racist and abusive and terrible. He has almost no redemptive qualities other than the fact that his abusive tendencies are clearly continuing a cycle perpetrated by Neil’s own abusive parenting, which isn’t much of a redemption. But putting characters in Situations reveals their inner nature, and a scared, caring guy comes out when he tries to resist the Mind Flayer. This leads me to believe that the hateful things he says and does aren’t really his beliefs but reflections of what he’s been taught. This thought is definitely influenced by Dacre being exceptionally hot in a wig, but the underlying point would still stand even if Billy looked like Gollum. But because he doesn’t, a problem I see a lot is the willingness to overlook everything bad Billy has done. People who believe Billy is redeemable tend not to even attempt to redeem him, choosing instead to make him an entirely different character that isn’t nearly as deeply entrenched in the fucked-up mindset that canon Billy inarguably is. I think this is where the issues arise for Billy antis, with the excusal of all the bad shit Billy’s done. I think this approach is lazy and boring, but finding fanworks of Billy where he actually sucks and goes through the long, difficult process of change and real redemption is damn near impossible. If you find one, drop the link.

The root of his divisiveness is within the conflict between the character as a whole and his script. In the script, Billy was originally supposed to say the n word, but Dacre Montgomery refused. The Duffers wrote him as a one-dimensional evil douchebag, but Dacre turned him into a real, nuanced character with more to him than Racist Abused Abuser That Gets Evil-ified. I think this is why he’s so divisive. Billy antis can’t look past the way he was written, and his supporters can’t let go of all his little nuances. Both sides have merit, and I think this is where it’s important to recognize that the Duffers do this all the time. Steve was originally supposed to be a Billy-esque character that was only there to be a douchebag plot device that died in the first season, and then Joe Keery played him so likeably and with so much more complexity than what was written that he stayed on for the whole run of the show. In subsequent seasons, Steve grew and changed and became a better person than he was in season 1. I think there was an avenue for this same thing to happen with Billy, had he been given the time. Some people don’t agree, and I see why. Either way, the takeaway from this is that everything wrong with anything ever is the fault of the Duffer Bros. Thank you for reading this egregiously long post, and have a lovely rest of your day.

#billy hargrove #fuck the duffers #is excusal a word?? #steve harrington #stranger things #everything is the duffers fault

[theminecraftbee]

as another timeloop lover, who'd you put through that, if you felt so inclined?

personally, i like the idea of either Bdubs (as a nod to the Time King bit) or perhaps Joel. they'd both play the tragic role so well, i think, beneath the fool veneer

forever doomed to repeat misery they cannot escape; and forever cursed to bear it with denial, ignorance, and a smile too tight

so this depends on my mood and which of my thoughts I’m thinking about the time loop thing. however joel is SUCH a big-brained option. i think it takes him a week of the same day to acknowledge what’s happening. i think to him the day he’s repeating is a normal day if it weren’t for the weird part at the end and everyone else acting like something’s wrong. and then bit by bit, he’s forced to acknowledge it’s real. the wall of “magic isn’t real and i’m the most amazing person” has to get peeled away but by bit. he gets desperate. he starts bargaining. he just wants everyone to make it through the day. and the worst part is, everyone who isn’t lizzie and jimmy is just like “I guess he just got weirder” even as he visibly breaks down, because of course they do, of course, he doesn’t bother acting like he knows anyone but his family, they WOULDN’T know this is a joel on the brink of breaking, over and over again—

listen now i have brainrot. the idea here is “joel timeloops either a bad end where xonorth wins or empires’s actual bad end” god you’re SO big-brained.

anyway the other ones I rotate are:

joe hills. not just because he’s my guy but because he already has a groundhog day reference in his stream, and because i think you could get the right vibes for this from super hostile. i think he’d try and try again, and fail and fail again, and slowly manage to claw his way to victory while railing against god, and it would be good.

at one point i almost wrote “ren and doc get stuck in a time loop when the hermatrix breaks and have to break it from the inside”, at least in part because i wanted to give doc a breakdown, lol. the idea was that they had to speedrun all the hermatrix clues in their short one-day loops and then had to speedrun building this massive redstone contraption that would have let ren run arbitrary code on the universe to fix it. i ditched this only because i had trouble working this with how the actual hermatrix plot ended up working. a big thing with them would have ended up being “the two of them work against the clock, as the day resets at the same time every day and the things they have to do eventually barely are doable in twenty-four hours”

i think pearl would make a good time traveler in general. i think pearl is the comedy time traveler option actually; i think she’d still have her moments of horrible existential dread and despair, but i think she’d use being in a time loop to do Whatever She Wants in order to keep her spirits up and also because she can. that’s always a fun one to mess with.

#answered #just… time loops…. good. #time loop joel

[transngin]

this might be random but do you have any headcanons of the Daltons/lucky luke cause now they are my hyperfixation and yes I've joined a pretty much dead fandom but I was to hear your thoughts.

(only if u want to ofc)

hiiii anon its been. so insanely long since ive thought abt lucky luke and the daltons rotated them in my small brain but i love looove them as a characters so very dearly to this day and id be more than happy to give u. some of my carefully thought out (brainrot induced) thoughts :]

- JOE ADHD KING. no but seriously this fucking guy is so nd and mentally ill in so many ways. hes collecting them like cool rocks (<- im nd and mentally ill (obviously) and have always related to him)

- i know the entire thing abt the daltons is how theyre only distinguished from each other when it comes to height but i love playing around w the idea that they have like. subtle differences in their appearance that you wont notice unless you squint and use a telescope. like william having heterochromia, jack having freckles and joe having beauty marks and whatnot (cant think of anything for averell when it comes to this trope sorry </3)

- aroacespec gay lucky luke is so real and true and my alltime fave sexuality hc. also a little transgenderism for him as a treat. sometimes

- adding to the former: luke telling ppl he got his diy top surgery scars from a brutal shootout

- i dont like the modern daltons cartoon (it kinda sucks) but i really really like how they characterized william in it (bookworm and man of many talents iirc) and i really like the idea of him potentially being a graduate/of higher education but sticking with his brothers out of loyalty/peer pressure (<- potential for him to be the black sheep of his family and give him more character than in the comics and the old cartoons)

- luke and joe's archnemesis relationship oh my GOD [head in hands] ive always loved the multiple layers of their dynamic and the "cool hero who loves toying with the bad guy" vs "batshit crazy unhinged small guy villain" thing they always got going on. lukejoe is so good whether its platonically or romantically or anything in between i still care them so much. funny guys who hate each other fight each other are friends are besties are outlaws kiss kill each other have repressed homosexual feelings have never had friends before killed people with no remorse and have issues. i like that in men

- t4t lukejoe is. so good. perfection

- while im a professional les daltons #hater i love that one guy who showed up for like one episode and was never brought up again except in the bg of some episodes. unlucky luke (small dark haired manloser) if youre out there...

- el gee bee tee hc lightning round:

cis bi (sometimes transmasc) joe [wtf is a pronoun i will kill you], transhet jack [he/him], nonbiney [he/him] william, unlabeled averell [he/she + any] and ofc aroace gay trans luke [he/they]. idc abt other characters enough to form opinions on them

- ill most definitely add to this later if and when i start binging the entirety of ll again but for now. thats all. come get your food lucky luke enjoyers <3 shoutout to the three of you who still enjoy this media despite its many many MANY flaws

#💌; ask #good god its been so long since ive been on here sorry guys #i have a life now thats why #lucky luke #the daltons #idc going in the tags bc i wrote that much and i want the world to see my vision (im right and i should say it) #so nostalgic looking back at the lucky luke posts i made when i was literally 14-15. insane #literally grew up on ll now as an adult i fondly look back on my childhood and teenage years when these fun guys altered my brain chemistry #im still insane abt lukejoe after all these years i think theyre the mlms ever #something something repressed old man yaoi #lukejoe

[speedane]

The Joe posting these past few days has started to get to me, to the point of me dreaming? Hallucinating? about it (thank you me for eating way too much sugar last night, 0/10 would not recommend), and my brain just... thought an entire dislyte patch about it. I am brainrotting so hard right now I need people to know the things I discussed with @murkyike and @bluntfish and put it out in the wild-

Echo

It started with me going into the Echo, and lo and behold there’s two featured espers similar to the Ife and Brewster rate up:

Joe [Psyche], *5 Shimmer 

Someone not in the game who is also a *5 Shimmer, but visually he had tentacles, an electric guitar and has a black/white color scheme (???)

It felt like absolute hell to see 2 *5 Shimmers in the banner, but at least you can pick one for guarantee pity (I chose Joe of course).

Event

The real focus of this post, there’s an event with a similar format as Desperado and Dreams Afar (so there’s the event instances and stages and a daily maze). The main character of the story is Joe, while the final boss is the other guy who was in the banner with him. I’ll summarize what I can remember in bullet form:

Story starts with Joe waking up in a room, disoriented with his surroundings with only a telecom to bring him back to reality.

Someone speaks to him from it, explaining to him that he was a part of an experiment, and he must pass through the maze in order to grant himself freedom. I’m not sure when exactly will it be mentioned that he was revived, but he gets informed about it somewhere in the story.

Joe, with having no other options, is now forced pass through trials, exercises, and interrogations as he traverse around the maze (and the mazes reflect this, from fighting stages [trials], gaining hearts [exercises], and questions [interrogations]). If he manages to survive, he is given either refreshments or first aid (I guess this is the “stamina regen” of the maze)

Along the way, Joe can ask questions regarding the experiment, but he can only ask one at a time before starting another trial. So piece-by-piece he slowly finds out what the experiment is about:

Divine Waves are similar to sound waves, and with the correct frequency it can possibly revive a dead esper.... in theory. The person wanted to test if this was possible I guess.

There were multiple attempts, and only Joe so far was successful.

The experiment is possibly done to see how long Joe could last, or if there are any adverse effects towards the revived person. This is just me speculating btw. 

Joe is still part light elf, but his very being is being held together by “something else” that is acting as his glue. Possibly the Psyche in him. 

The researcher didn’t want him dead. In fact, he wanted him to live, and wished that he could be nice to him. However, he also wanted results and data. 

At the end of the maze, Joe finally meets with the person who has been keeping him. The final trial he had to face was to beat him. (This is the Final Boss)

After Joe defeats the researcher, He was given the freedom he deserves... but also directed him to the Esper Union with an address, a phone (with the researcher’s contact number), and some allowance.

There is an Epilogue where the researcher calls for Meredith (who didn’t seemed too pleased to hear his voice) and asked for a favor. Basically, he sends Joe and his research data to the Esper Union, but Meredith has to give him observation data regarding Joe’s well-being and progress. It’s basically a weird request and the guy hung up before Meredith could ask further questions.

Basically Meredith had to wait for Joe’s arrival in the Union. Event Story ends here.

About... The Researcher

So the other event esper in the rate up along with Joe is neither affiliated with the Union or the Decree. He’s cooped into his lab/office, performing research on Divine Waves. He has tentacles that he used to operate his synthesizer and computer, while using his two hands to play his electric guitar. Man’s very weird, doesn’t seem have any motive other than research. Then again, dreams are pretty vague, but at least he was nice to Joe. I do not know what this man’s patron is but my friends suggested that it’s a sea monster (possibly Kraken). Sadly, I can’t recall anything about the boss fight. I assume his Divine Artifact is his guitar, so that’s his main weapon. He does bear similarities with Meredith, but with a more offensive kit. 

Final Thoughts

If you managed to get this far, congratulation! Pretty sad that Q wasn’t involved in any way (it’s okay, we can always come up with bounties LMAO) but it’s nice to see Joe in action even if things were blurry most of the time. I had to fill in the gaps about missing stuff obviously to make it comprehensible for everybody, and I wished this event was real now LMAO-

I’d gladly pull for a Joe esper.... but maybe please not make him a 5* Shimmer QwQ

Also might make the other guy an oc if I got enough energy... I was kinda interesting in my dream. 

#jee rambles #dislyte #joe dislyte #meredith dislyte #long post #guys you don't understand I was pushing my brain to remember as much as I can #man if Lilith would have an event similar to this I will cry and shake and scream #Lilith please.... #I got an event idea for you qwq

[tennessoui]

Tag Game to Better Know You

Send this to people you’d like to know better!

Tagged by @lilredghost, thank you :D

What book are you currently reading? oof honestly, i'm not reading anything right now :( i'm very busy with silly lil fanfic writing instead which is probably the definition of brainrot, but it is time consuming

What’s your favorite movie you saw in theaters this year? i've...only seen one movie in theaters since COVID-19, and that was actually last month when i went to go see the second black panther. it was good but like. really long. 2 hours and 45 minutes is too long for any movie i said what i said

What do you usually wear? hm i have one pair of jeans i love and wear a lot! and one pair of office pants i also like. and then a lot of shirts. and some cute dresses, but that's more of a summer thing

How tall are you? 5’6”? 5'7"? I haven't been to the doctor since 2016 and I have not measured myself independently.

What’s your Star Sign? Do you share a birthday with a celebrity or a historical event? Aquarius :> and my birthday is Mozart's birthday! that's the only one I know! I can't even play piano :D

Do you go by your name or a nickname? Kit is my nickname! but i do go by it in real life, though most people think i say Kim and i usually do not correct them

Did you grow up to become what you wanted to be when you were a child? i don't think im done growing up (maybe if i went to the doctor, they would tell me differently idk)

Are you in a relationship? If not, who is your crush if you have one? That one tumblr post: "not in a relationship, not aromantic, but a secret third thing. unwanted ;) "

What’s something you’re good at vs. something you’re bad at? im pretty good at writing but im pretty bad at using commas correctly

Dogs or cats? dogs :>

If you draw/write or create in any way, what’s your favorite picture/line/etc from something you created this year? i do write!! but actually one of my favorite things i've made this year is a painting i did for a friend as a goodbye present. a little 5x7 canvas of a sunrise over some cherry blossoms

(and also i can't think of a quote i've written this year and i'm too lazy to find one)

What’s something you would like to create content for? me, one day lol

What’s something you’re currently obsessed with? ack, gotta say star wars. but also gotta say cooked octopus. it's the moment. oh and toast and trader joe's tomato and red pepper soup.

What’s something you were excited about that turned out to be disappointing this year? umm i had a really nice vacation planned with friends i haven't seen for ages, but i had to leave early cause there was a family emergency thing which sorta sucked (for my family mostly)

What’s a hidden talent of yours? oh im really good at cutting a circular object into perfect eighths. or fourths! a weird superpower

Are you religious? my dad told me once that there's got to be something out there that makes the leaves so green in the spring and he calls it Big Ernie. he's a hippie but he might be onto something

What’s something you wish to have at this moment? a new keyboard im this close to snapping at all the times i hit a key once and suddenly have 5 extra letters. >:(

ack i feel like i've seen these around but also i can't remember if i have, so feel free to ignore this tag: @ellie-you-idiot @kdm103020 @demondean-writes @sweet-cynic @kittonafoxgirl @bi-wan @obiwan @mysticmjolnir

#tag games #feel free to a) ignore #b) tag yourself #there were a couple of blogs i wanted to tag that wouldn't come up when i typed them in #im blaming it on the keyboard and alsso tumblr #kit to kit

[almost-a-class-act]

🎶✨when u get this put 5 songs u actually listen to, publish. then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers 🎶✨

Listen, I love receiving any and all asks even when I don't respond to them due to, you know, me being the worst, but my taste in music is VERY embarrassing. You guys know I spent like three years in the One Direction fandom right? The brainrot was real. With that in mind, you're getting old-timey tunes that I listen to when I'm writing my WWII shenanigans.

Harbour Lights, The Platters. This one has been covered like a million times since it came out in the late 30s so there are other versions. I think Vera Lynn has one that's nice too. It was my grandparents' song - for some reason; it's very sad! What a choice, gram and gramps! - and I just mentioned it in a fic, which I have been gagging to do.

Cryin' Time, Buck Owens. I actually prefer the version by LeAnn Rimes but that might be sacrilege if you are a true country fan.

She's Got You, Patsy Cline. Another sad one. Are they all sad? Did they make happy music in the mid-century?

We'll Meet Again, Vera Lynn. Nothing like a WWII era song about promising to come back someday. I sang this song at my grandpa's funeral. It still guts me a little.

I'll Be Seeing You, Billie Holiday. Another one that I've mentioned in a fic, partly because it's true historical fact that Joe Toye loved singing this one and sucked mightily at it. <3

To the room at large: if we follow each other and you want to do this and haven't, I'd love to see your song list! Feel free to tag me.

#asks

[henrysfedora]

brainrot compilations really are fun

gotta get that aesthetic comfort brainrot going you know

vito resting his head on henry's chest while they lie down together in bed. it's raining outside and vito can just hear the rain hitting the roof and windows, he can just hear the tires of cars on the road driving by the apartment. he can hear the crackling of the fire and the soft croon of the radio in the living room, and he can hear henny's steady breathing.

young leo and frank sitting underneath an attic window in an old, wall paper coming off the walls, light wooden floored attic filled with boxes of belongings while they lean on each other. the sun shining through the window above forming rays of light in the air.

just found out that you can see a train going by above the road to the foundry in north millville and you can even find one stopped a little ways away. with marty mostly being in chapter eight (at least in just the base game) and living in oyster bay, i really associate him with an industrial aesthetic i guess, muddy waters, bo diddley kinda vibes you know, a little grunge fashion, tartan + leather clothes, a little hanging out with your buddies in the industrial, overgrown part of town til like nine at night cause it's daylight savings. so i just think it's really cute to picture him vibing around north millville, being a little shit and climbing up the tall grass bank to the train bridge and waiting for a train to come past.

and speaking of marty i really wonder if he's ever had a buddy. and i don't mean joe or vito or anyone else in the cast, i mean just some other teenager in empire bay who could've shared the same job as marty or worked another but their paths crossed. and it's nothing tragic, i mean a real vito and joe situation (which is tragic but i mean- this is marty, a lot of people can't handle him and/or they put on an act to talk to him or straight up just don't talk to him at all. this guy is a genuine friend, one who'd fight by marty's side), this guy is marty's buddy and they do the dumbest shit together, just like vito and joe.

i love the thought that marty would just want to listen to all his favourite rock bands and singers but i think it's really cute that he also knows every damn word to the chordettes hello ma baby and mr sandman.

i like thinking of all the possible ways eddie finds out henry has curly hair. henry having a bad hair day and wearing a hat inside the falcon, until eddie snatches it off his head: "you're inside have some fuckin' manners" and then they just stare at each other before henry tries rescuing his fedora but eddie ain't letting it go. eddie may even try reaching out to touch his hair curiously like: "look at that you got curls.." but henry slaps his hand away: "just give me my fuckin' hat back would ya?"

speaking of these two, henry moving into eddie's apartment and helping him clean it up <3. i think they would both benefit from the company and the emotional support however messy and non helpful it may come.

and to think about the mobsters that inspired carlo, eddie, clemente, frank and leo respectively. back in sicily and in their young days in empire bay, who were they watching run errands or sit in a diner smoking their cigars, all fancy and stern. who were the ones watching it all unfold in their neighbourhood curiosity peaking and who were the ones who didn't have a choice but to resort to violent ways. i can see frank and carlo looking up to and idolising mobsters when they were young, wanting to be strong and live the high life, and then they both find their best friends who needed protecting, who wanted to be friends, wanted any kind of work, discovering what it's like to really live.

#hehehe #brainrot #pixel men my beloved getting me through it #lmao #marty deserved so much more #stomping #crying #i can't begin to explain how much i love the thought of older marty wearing tartan hipsters #the older he gets the gayer the clothes #every year he gets more #and more confident but not much more powerful unfortunately. he can drive really good though #marty <3 #vito <3 #henry <3 #leo <3

[naomana]

I'm getting more young leo and frank brainrot (I don't know if we ever did get more insight into their backstory but): I like to think they met as kids and leo's line to vito: "but I figured joe there is your best friend.. you guys grew up together, just like me and frank.." just made my brainrot sky rocket. I'm obsessed with frank seeing leo around at school during their early teens and with leo being a bare-knuckle boxer later on in his life, I wonder if he got into a scuffle every now and then with another kid during break. frank started picking up on it, started worrying about it: "I admire his bravery but holy fuck he's going to get himself killed-" and I imagine, like joe, frank would have his own petty local gang and he wouldn't mind having this wound up angry amoeba on his side. although I do like to think that even though he was quite untrained and messy in a fight then, leo was still brutal - he just became a lot more graceful later on in his life when he became a young adult and was stronger.

I may be in love with this picture of leo in my head: a young leo in a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, suspenders and slacks, some nice shiny brogues. he always looks so closed off and quiet, but he eventually warms up to frank and joins his gang and starts getting real good at fighting as they get older. they both start maturing and leo slowly develops into what he's like when he's older. I mean he would've even then, as a child had those traits he had when we see him in game. frank would suggest something wild and seventeen year old leo would and will complain frank's ears off, even at this age playing the role of a consigliere - trying to fool proof every idea frank has without intentionally meaning to, he's just a whiny bitch lmao.

I love thisbdjdj stop grtting me more hooked on these two idiots djdj

I can imagine Leo getting constantly hit on by anybody, with his looks (blonde hair and blue eyes?!) and if it's a guy, he's really flustered but has to keep his name clear ya know

#Leo galante #Frank vinci #Ask

[the-invisible-queer]

https://www.tumblr.com/yourlocalamoeba/736783400122417152/ah-i-get-it-now?source=share

this is a series of shots of Bruce Springsteen looking hot. while this is a bit of "what were *you* doing at the devil's sacrament", why be into these 3 guys from jersey when this 1 guy from jersey has all of their charisma and sex appeal of all 3 of them put together?

FIRST OF ALL

Why are you acting like the Jonas brainrot is a fucking CHOICE?!?!?! I hate this fixation as much as you guys do. But I need them for survival purposes right now. Once my mental health stabilizes I'll probably be able to be more "normal" about them again.

SECONDLY

Do you know HOW MUCH fanfiction how much SMUT I've written about Bruce? Besties. That was my fucking GUY! He is 100% on the "I wanna fuck that old man" list.

Like BRO YOU HAVE NO FUCKING IDEA! I am so mentally ill about this man.

He was the first man I ever was horny on the main over way back in 2013 on IG.

Fell in love with him the same night I fell in love with Paul. 12.12.12.

I saw old man Bruce perform on TV and my brain fucking exploded.

I got in trouble for watching the "Dancing in the Dark" music video ON LOOP because it was the first time my parents realized I was a teenager going through puberty

And they didn't like that because GODS FORBID I felt horny for an old man meanwhile my older brother was fingering bitches in the kitchen at church BUT I DIGRESS

HEAR ME OUT REAL QUICK

My type has never lied

In the way of men I am attracted to: Joe walked so Bruce could run

[incarnateirony]

I'm like. On the fucking floor. I wanted to go to bed at a normal time tonight, but no, I'm reeling that this bitch named her bird Lucifer in the middle of this while Lucifer is telling her to stop playing house with birds, and no matter what tree or language she be eating from, from Lu to Locke to Loki to Mercury to Hermes to Hermanubis she's fucking retarded, and disassociating herself into everything. From Athena to Eve to Arachne to ... Luna to Freyja to whatever. Or letting other people name things from Luna to Pickles. And refusing to understand what a collective unconscious is, for that matter, so she can go "NUH UH, IT'S NOT AARON." Like. No, it's still Aaron. You're just... well, retarded, like Lucifer said, while telling you to stop playing house with birds.

I already told her a million times how and why it works, but she doesn't want to understand, just like she doesn't want to remember, so she chooses to lobotomize herself on the entire subject. She's a radial collective unconscious manifestation bomb that can only use it to her benefit when she takes real action to herself on an actual individual want without disassociating it. Which she then takes as proof of the octopus jibberish god being real cuz she chatted with herself before that. And then falls back into disassociating and then picks her nose when the people around her are influencing her to my messaging.

I meant what I said, the void is generally blind, that's why it was so shocking the few times I literally got visuals over there, like that's not supposed to be happening yet. So I have limit of what I know. I can tell she's alive. Sometimes I can tell roughly what she's thinking about or feeling. But man, I brought a lot of friends that are packing ideas up her head very successfully, like Chloe the Magic Solar Eightball Flowergirl from Trader Joes that got hit with all her muse inspiration when Loki Of The Truth comes out of his coffin who will haunt her for 37 years, and now she needs a newsboy cosplay hat. Chloe Sunflower. Lmao, I can't. Some random persona fan now has a bird named after it and Shealyn will never be any the wiser.

Brainrot is a hell of a thing.

But. I also meant what I said, in that I knew I was fucking her up way, way more than anything she's put on her blog. Just cuz I can't see how it's manifesting doesn't mean it isn't, her blog is just where she gets busted being clueless and trying to ignore it.

Goddamn. I'm Mr Pickles, my ex won't get off my cucumber latch road, and I'm tired, and she's a piece of crap person. What even is this cocaine bear movie. Friggin. Alert megathoth.

Listen, Lady Niekai, I know this saga is incredibly embarrassing, but it's time to Know Thys(Elf).

the cat the cat the cat the cat

OH DAMN, STEF, NOIZ, I WAS RIGHT. MY MOUSE FRYING OUT JUST BEFORE 5 OCLOCK CST AND WIGGING OUT BOTH MY COMPUTERS WAS WHEN IT WENT STILL, WHEN MY WORK PC THOUGHT IT WAS TOMORROW AT 9 AM. WE RETROGRADIN NOW

#Youtube

[bravevolunteer]

hey. hey. hey. I love you. you are seriously one of the best people I know and you have been SUCH an incredible support for me this year from my highs to my lows and I truly cannot thank you enough for everything. I love writing with you and I love terrorizing coffee shops with you and look forward to every time we laugh and joke around because you are one of my best friends and being your emotional support grad student is such a PRIVILEGE. I know I say it all the time but I’m so proud of you and all your hard work and I can’t wait to give you the biggest hug next week ❤️ 2024 is the year we finally go to joe’s crab shack!

2023 is almost over

why did you hit me with this right when i was leaving work yesterday fuck you

FOR REAL I LOVE YOU SO MUCH AUGHH <33 it has truly been one of the highlights of this year and before to spend this time with you– i truly value every little thing about our friendship from constant coffee runs to watching your progression as an artist to infecting each other with brainrot ( i am Not sorry for what i've caused LMAO ), AND I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU NEXT WEEK 😭😭😭 ILY

#2024 we finally go to joe's crab shack!!!! #⁂ ･ﾟ: i was looking for a job‚ and then i found a job‚ and heaven knows i’m miserable now ➛ ooc #braveburned #⁂ ･ﾟ: i feel more free than i have in years‚ six feet in the ground ➛ answered #saved

[reki-of-the-valley]

More Renga brainrot because that's all I do! - Pet names edition!

Langa calls Reki his Sunshine, but he says it in English to Reki doesn't get it. And Langa starts calling him Sunshine before they start dating so Reki doesn't click that it's a pet name

At first, Langa only uses Sunshine to refer to Reki when he's just talking to himself, mostly when he's tired or his head and heart are just fluttering with Reki Reki Reki

The first time Langa slips up, he's with his mom. They're out shopping, one of the rare occasions when they spend time together.

Nanako is going on about how she wishes she made more traditional Japanese dishes and meals, but she's so used to making western food that she never has any ideas of what to make or how they never taste the way she really wants them to when she does makes dishes from her childhood. Langa is nodding along - Nanako is used to her son being silent - but then he's talking so her full attention is on her son, especially when he's saying things like "I could always ask Sunshine's mom how she makes [insert whatever dish]"

There's a silence, then Langa feels the panic build up in him. "Wait! No! I mean Reki's mom! Not-!" Langa's biting the inside of his cheeks, so embarrassed. Nanako is grinning and she will be asking more about this whole "Sunshine" situation, to Langa's disenchantment

Langa is pretty good with concealing the whole thing, especially when he's only speaking Japanese. But it happens, he does slip up around Reki. It's after an especially thrilling yet exhausting night at S. Both as sweaty and tired, ready to crash, but Langa is hungry because he just burned so much energy. His mind is a blissful haze, somewhere between Japanese and English. That's how he ends up casually asking something along the lines of "Wanna go get burgers, Sunshine?"

He nearly doesn't catch his own words, and he wouldn't have thought twice if it wasn't for Reki looking at him in confusion. Panic once again. Because this time it's not his mom, it's not a stranger, it isn't in his head and heart. He called Reki Sunshine to his face. Reki was sunshine, yes, but saying it, it makes things real. It's putting his feelings out there for everyone to see. It's admitting to Reki that he thinks about him a little too much, a little too intensely, a little more than just platonically

But Reki is oblivious, because it's Reki. Reki who doesn't understand English. Reki who has a thousand nicknames for Langa. So for Reki, Sunshine is just Langa's equivalent of dude but in English, so he doesn't mind at all. And Langa is both extremely relieved and extremely frustrated

After that, Langa only uses Sunshine when he's praising Reki. It's unconscious, really, but it's fitting. And in a way, it's telling Reki he loves him, it's telling Reki that he loves him so much, enough to be giving him pet names. Reki is his summer sunshine, his morning sun, his light, but only in English. Langa can't quite say it in Japanese, in a language Reki understands. That's too much. Langa isn't ready to admit his feelings. Langa isn't ready to confess, not yet. Maybe never, but he is ready to call Reki his Sunshine in a language he's truly comfortable in

And this goes on for a while. Months of a secret pet name. Until Reki is getting ready for a race against Miya. No high stakes, probably something dumb like loser has to do the other's homework of choice (obvs it has to be reasonable, not like a whole essay or asking a middle schooler to do something he doesn't know like advanced math or whatever). Reki and Miya are bickering and teasing each other, friendly trash talk as they're used to at S. At least until Langa is coming along, wishing his Sunshine good luck. Reki grins because Langa is good luck to him. Miya is gapping.

"Sunshine? That's so gross, you slime! Of all the pet names you could choose, you go with Sunshine? And you didn't bother telling me you two are dating? How long have you been hiding it?"

Langa feels his whole insides twist. His heart stops. He feels sick. Miya is staring between the two. Reki is staring at him, frozen. Everything is wrong. This is not how Langa wanted this to go. This isn't how he wanted Reki to learn about-!

"Langa?" Reki's hand is squeezing Langa's arm. "Langa, you good man?" Reki is crouched down next to Langa. Reki - Langa can see the panic in his eyes, the uncertainty, the anxiety - is pushing all his own feelings aside, acting brave for Langa. Langa who never felt this overwhelmed until now.

Obviously, at this point, the race is postponed, Joe, Cherry, even Shadow, having gathered around to see what was happening. Miya is apologizing, but mostly unsure of what he did wrong. At least, he doesn't know until Reki is snapping back, big amber eyes staring the boy down and telling him that he isn't dating Langa. And Langa's heart tightens in his chest.

Joe is the one to clear the crowd, pushing everyone away to give Langa and Reki space. Cherry stays behind, but as soon as the two are calm enough, he gives them a curt nod before walking off.

The silence is thick and awkward, and Langa wants to die on the spot. He can't face Reki. Reki wasn't supposed to know about the pet name in the first place!

But then Reki's hand is on his, his smile soft, his eyes... Deep amber and looking at him in a way Reki's never looked at him. There's something in Reki's expression that makes Langa's stomach flip, his heart doing cartwheels in his chest.

"Hey, man, you good?" "I'm sorry." "What? Why?" "I shouldn't have..." "Is this about the whole Sunshine thing?" Langa nods. "Don't worry 'bout it, dude. And I mean, it's not mean. You're allowed."

That's when Langa notices it, the way Reki's thumb is rubbing his knuckles, the way Reki's looking at him, a light blush making his face glow, every freckle like a star against a sunset. That's why Reki is Langa's sunshine. Because he's beautiful, he's calming, he's the end of the day, the time to wind down and relax. Reki is a continual golden hour, with his grin and shiny eyes

It's now or never, Langa knows that. It's now or he'll have to die with that knowledge. It's now or Langa will never have another shot to see this beautiful view ever again

"I like you. I like you so much, Reki."

Langa feels Reki tense up, his fingers going rigid against Langa's. Langa sees how Reki's eyes widen, his shoulders freezing midbreath. But then he's grinning. And laughing. And nodding.

"Yeah, man? You mean it?" Langa nods hesitantly. "Man, aw, dude! That's- Yeah, yeah, okay, man. I mean- Aw, dude, this is so much harder than I thought... Of course you make it sound so easy to say, but like, man! Langa, dude, I like you too!"

Reki is grinning, wider than Langa's ever seen. So bright, like the Sunshine that he is. And at that moment, Langa almost blurts out that he loves him. (He has more self-control than that. One step at a time)

Reki refuses to let go of Langa's hand after that. They don't talk about what that means quite yet, what they are now, since they're still at S and it's noisy and this is a conversation they should probably have on their own, but Reki doesn't let go of Langa's hand and Langa takes that as a win in his book. Especially when Reki is pulling him up, dragging him back to their friends

Miya's got his hands stuffed in his pockets, not quite wanting to talk to the two, probably embarrassed about all the commotion he caused (he also probably got scolded by Cherry and Joe). He's only pulled out of his teenage pouting when Reki is ruffling his hair, reminding him that they had a beef

Both get ready for the race, everyone's spirits lifted once more. And Reki is especially pumped now. He's just missing one thing: his good luck charm

"C'mon! Say it! Please?" "But I said it before." "Say it again, please Langa?" "Fine, fine. Good luck, Sunshine. I believe in you."

And with the rush of adrenaline that hangs in the air at S, Langa finds the confidence to press a kiss to Reki's cheek, whispering "good luck, Reki" into the warm skin. There's an explosion of cheers and screams but Reki doesn't have time to linger onto the sensation of Langa's lips pressed to his cheek because the lights are already going, the race about to start

Edit: just a reminder that there is a fic version of this that can be found here!

#whoops #This turned out to be a whole ass fanfic #If anyone was wondering this is how my fanfic notes look like most of the time #This was supposed to be short and dumb but then it got long #Sorry yall #renga #snowgear #lanreki #reki x langa #langa x reki #reki #langa #kyan reki #reki kyan #langa hasegawa #hasegawa langa #sk8 #sk8 the infinity #sk8 headcanons #lils rambles #lils writes