#the joke has gotten out of hand XD

[daydreamerwonderkid]

If you don't like being compared to Tim, why do you keep posting about him?

Self-loathing.

#anon ask #dreamer ask #tim drake #red robin #robin iii #timmers is a darling mess of a person #but i don't want to acknowledge any potential similarities #between my own habits #and his #i'm queer and mentally ill #but not like THAT #it's mostly an inside joke at this point #due to how often i get assigned tim as my batfam sona #whenever i take which batfam member are you quizzes #the joke has gotten out of hand XD #not an anti tim drake post #get that shit away from me

[hawkflame999]

Ninjago headcanons 17-19

#17:

The word “Spin” is an inside joke among the Ninja and their friends. 

Like once, they’ll be spying on some random… let’s say gang, that’s been doing stuff besides living in the streets and stealing food. 

Lloyd: “Soooo….” Zane: “Spin?” Jay: *nodding* “Spin.” Kai: “Let’s just spin this out…..” Cole: “SPIN!”

Nya: *Facepalm* The other five:

Nya:

The other five: “Come on…….” Nya: *sighs* “Fine.”

Nya: “Spin.”

#18:

All ninja, every single one, and every single Elemental in existence knows Japanese. 

Even if they don’t have parents around or anything. They just instinctively know the tongue. 

The six and Wu will often just speak in Japanese to each other, and they use this during missions.

Like once, The Six + Skylor and Pixal were in a street fight (somehow) and the six were yelling at each other in Japanese. The gang thought they were warning each other or saying something along the lines of “Ok, how do we get out of this?”.

But Sky and Pix were trying very hard not to laugh because they could understand and knew that the Six were actually yelling insults at the gang leader. 

#19:

Wu will sometimes just Abandon English and go full Japanese when he’s stressed or angry or something like that.

Once, sometime after the Hands of Time, Ray, Maya, and Wu caught all six awake at like 4:AM and discovered they were up the whole night.

They got grounded. (XD, yes, Wu has the authority to ground them now)

The next day the six were bored so they snuck out and were just fooling around in the woods near the monastery.

Cole may have gotten a sprained wrist after a rabid bear came at them.  All six might have gotten a 30-minute lecture in Japanese from three people.

And grounded for a longer time

#ninjago #lego ninjago #ninjago lloyd #lloyd garmadon #ninjago wu #ninjago zane #ninjago jay #nya smith #nya ninjago #ninjago nya #zane julien #zane ninjago #lloyd ninjago #jay walker #jay ninjago #kai smith #kai ninjago #ninjago kai #cole brookstone #cole ninjago #ninjago cole #jay walker ninjago #nya smith ninjago #ninjago thoughts #ninjago headcanons #ninjago hc #@hawkflame999 #ninjago ray #ninjago maya #ninjago master wu

[altraviolet]

Hi! Hope you're doing well! Just an ask abt the ch47 spoiler(thanks for that btw<3)

So in one of the paragraphs it says he feels love for sw and thinks of him as a sorta lover because sw cares for him in a way no not has but doesn't want to acknowledge it bc the only other time he felt that way was with drift. My question is that before sw confessed did he already feel this way before and I just haven't picked it up yet ?

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

(I just wanted to thank you for getting me into reading mtmte, I'm currently on issue #26 :D)

Before I read teg I had no idea what mtmte was so I just took your description of every character and just rolled with it, but now that I have read a few comics and have a somewhat grasp on their canon attitudes, I can confidently say that you wrote them so well! Every description and attitude you gave the characters matched up so perfectly I just AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Also I'm very sorry if this is reaches you at 4am I'M VERY VERY SORRY

yayyyy I'm glad you picked up mtmte!! isn't it good?!?! I'm glad you enjoy the comic and that the fic's characterization works well with it.

>My question is that before sw confessed did he already feel this way before and I just haven't picked it up yet ?

Okay I'll admit I've read this question a bunch of times and I'm not exactly sure how to answer it. I thiiiiink the 'he' refers to Rodimus. I think you're asking, "has Rodimus shown any signs of liking SW and I missed it?" and I don't really have an answer to that, as I don't know what you've gotten out of the text. I think the answer here is: yes?

The fic is told mostly through SW's point of view, so while we haven't seen Rodimus pine over SW, we have gotten other clues as to how he feels. The ch 47 excerpt is the most explicit statement we've gotten about it: we see Rodimus drawing a ton of parallels between waking up with SW and waking up with Drift. As you said, he "doesn't want to acknowledge it bc the only other time he felt that way was with drift." So that part at least is clear.

You want examples of Rodimus becoming close to SW from earlier in the story? They're there. The biggest one is probably holding SW's hand, unprompted, in 2938. Usually I don't mind writing out examples and details, but I'mma be honest with you, I'm really tired xD If you ever feel like rereading the fic, keep an eye on Rodimus as you go. Watch him slowly change. There is definitely a first time he laughs at a SW joke. We do see him acknowledge his own obsession with alt dimensioners until they're assimilated. He tells SW a really big secret very early on. We see him share his private screaming place (the dead zone). We see how hurt he is when SW avoids him after The Irradion incident. We just usually see all these things from SW's point of view, so they don't feel as definitive.

Hope that helps/answered the question :)

#ask #yourperfectionistprocrastinator #rodimus

[goggles-mcgee]

For the "All The World's A Stage" Idea, how many Manynettes would there be?

Oooooo I don't think I've gotten a ATWAS ask before. Fun!

List of Many-nettes:

•Class Presi-nette - a manynette to take over the role of class president and be as helpful and efficient as she can be! She inadvertently starts an investigation on Caline as she reveals just how much work she does for her teacher in a meeting with all the other class presidents and their teachers. They are horrified by all the work that is pushed onto Marinette. [This happens the morning after Marinette has been akumatized so no one knows yet]

•Design-nette - a many-nette that takes over all the commissions Marinette has to finish and she starts any and all ideas she's wanted to start but didn't have to time for. She stayed home, her parents are constantly checking on her and the other many-nettes that stayed home.

•Guardian-nette - a many-nette that watches over the Miracle Box and studies the Grimoire in Fu’s apartment that was separate from his studio as in this story he left the place to her when he gave up the box and his memory. HM does not know about the apartment as Fu never mentioned it to Marinette, he was paranoid and it paid off as Marinette has a base of operations of sorts.

•Studen-nette - a many-nette who goes to school for Marinette and does the schoolwork and homework that needs/needed to be done with 100% her attention. No distractions. She's even on time.

•Hero-nette - a many-nette who takes on the role of Ladybug but there is a twist too! There is two Hero-nettes! A Ladybug one and a Mouse-keteer one (mouse Miraculous Mari) since she resonated with both so well in this au. She is a true chosen of the Ladybug but she and the mouse work so well together too. These two are out to find HM and Mayura and bring them to justice. And Lila too as they view her as just as bad as HM and Mayura.

•Baker-nette - a many-nette that helps out in the bakery whether it be baking or assisting customers. She's helpful and happy and always ready to give a hand and a smile.

•Daughter-nette - a many-nette who is out to be the perfect daughter! She does the chores. She is constantly giving her parents hugs and telling them how much she loves and appreciates them. She is never without a smile. Her and Baker-nette work closely together if she goes down to the shop.

•Friend-inette - a many-nette out to be the perfect friend to those she still sees as friends. She is also just plain friendly and goes out of her way to help everyone in the school she sees as a potential friend. It is noted that most of the akuma class is not included in this.

•Sleep-inette - a many-nette out to just sleep. Literally all she is doing is catching up on all the sleep she has lost and all the sleep she wants. But she's not sleeping in her room or just any random place. She is sleeping somewhere she feels safe, secure and not judged. She is the one with the akuma.

•Negative-nette - a many-nette unlike all the others. She holds all of Marinette's negative emotions, the ones she hasn't let herself feel. When she felt herself start to feel any negative emotions she would push them away and say "nope. Those are for Negative-nette and we don't have time for that." It was a running joke when she was younger and threw tantrums or cried or got angry, her parents gave her the nickname and she took to calling herself that when the negative emotions got too much especially now with HM.

Negative-nette is now free to feel and act on all the emotions she pushed away. She is constantly crying and blends in with the shadows unless she wants you to see her. She tears into anyone who she believes wronged her. Everyone believes she's the one with the akuma.

So in total: 11 XD

#akumanette #akumatized marinette #ml class salt #miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #all the world's a stage au #atwas au #goggles answer #goggles ask

[egotisticaleverything]

High school Party

Bo Burnham x reader

A/N: this has been rotting in my draft for centuries so not requested just needed to finish this and cure my writers block for good !!

Warnings: swearing, mentions of sex, Bo being unreasonably mean, reader is a down bad loser, almost fucking to prove a point

“Hey-Uh Bo?” I tap the tall boys shoulder, trying to get his attention in the crowded living room we’re standing in, “I wanted to ask if I could have your number- so we could like hand out some time?”

“What?” He says after turning around

“I said could I have your number-“

“I heard you fuck face I’m just not falling for the same song and dance again” he scoffs, taking a sip from his cup.

“What do you mean-“ I sputter out

“I know Chrissy sent you over here to fuck with me alright?” He shrugs “hey hot popular conventionally attractive friend of mine, go over and ask out the weird skinny kid.” He mocks her in a high pitched voice.

“What- no I just want your number asshole the fuck?” I scowl at him stepping back, phone in my left hand, beer in my right.

“Fine whatever. I’ll put my number in your phone. Just shut up.” He grabs my phone.

“Thanks, geez for an apparent ‘nerd’ you sure are a dickhead” I roll my eyes, looking down at my beer.

“Here.” He almost chucks the phone back at me “you win your little dare, pass go to collect 200” he walks away unphased.

“Bo- wait” I grab his arm “could we like maybe hang out some time..?” I manage to crack a slight smile as if my heart isn’t racing

“God you’re a good actress” he turns his head towards me “fine. Lunch. Tomorrow. Text me your address.” He pulls his arm away.

I look down at my phone to see the contact name he’s given himself “Truth or dare”, thought he’d be more original.

Me: I’m not Jk wit u I actly like u dmbas :/

TorD: ok def selling it 2 hard

Me: fuk u

TorD: shut up ur drnk

Me: I wish I wernt so cute cuz if u wernt id kill u

TorD: get sober then u can smd :P jkkkk

Me: u still at da party

TorD: obvi dmbas

Me: meet u upstairs in 10

TorD: no u wont

Me: yes I will

TorD: fine im redy for ur prank or wtver

Me: u still think im jk lol XD

________________________________

———————————

I walk into the room to see Bo sat on the bed “Surprised to see me here?” He jokes “I made sure to scope out the whole room for whatever you’re planning.”

“I’m not planning anything- what is wrong with you?” I am starting to get annoyed at this point,

“Yeah sure whatever-“ I cut him off by pulling him into a kiss, grabbing the collar of his shirt as I straddle his hips on the bed. I slowly bring my left hand up behind his head, pulling him closer to deepen the kiss as he groans. “You’re a good fucken actor.”

“I-… am not-… acting-…” I say between kisses as I lower Bo onto the bed, “you fucking brat.” I heave,

“God you’re something alright…” Bo attempts to catch his breath

“You’re lucky I take birth control” I say as I start undoing my jeans,

“Holy fuck you’re serious about this…” he looks up red faced

“You’re finally catching on, great work.” I scoff “Now what do you want me to do to you?” I giggle, trailing a hand down his chest.

“I-uhm wow” his cocky demeanour has completely disappeared, replaced with a flustered mess of a man who’s almost melting below me.

“What do you want me to do to you?” I ask him firmer this time as I throw my shirt across the room.

“I-oh wow uhm I-I’ve never gotten this far” he stutters and stumbles as i straddle him in nothing but my underwear and bra,

“I can tell.” I cross my arms “now use your big boy words and tell me what you want me to do to you.”

“I mean I really do-I’m not sure I-“

“Just say it”

“What”

“The first thing that comes to your mind”

“I-uh- fuck- I’m sorry” he facepalms, the crimson of his face barley peaking out.

“What-Bo?” I pull his hands away from his face, genuinely concerned.

“Why are you of all people into me?” He looks away,

“I-what do you mean?” I ask genuinely confused, what does he mean ‘me of all people’.

“You’re friends with Chrissy and Grace and all those other really pretty girls-“ he starts rambling “fuck you’re gorgeous, I-I mean that’s the reason I was so defensive…” his eyes drifted towards me, as he obviously tried to not look at my body.

“Bo… why do you think I stare at you every day in chemistry-?” I ask now just as red faced as the man below me “why do you think I spend so much time around the drama club when crew aren’t even needed-“

“What-?”

“Ever since freshman year- Bo I’ve been in love with yo-“ I’m suddenly cut off by a kiss, as he sits up, one of Bo’s hands finds its place on the back of my neck, the other places itself on my lower back.

“I’m- I don’t think I want to rush into this…” he sighs “I think you’re really pretty and fun to be around but I don’t want to take things too fast-“

“Thank god-sorry but I like you too much to just fuck you and prove a point.” I laugh sitting up “so… are you free next Friday after drama club?”

#fanfic #drabble #fluff #bo burnham #bo burnham x reader #zach stone #Zach stone is gonna be famous

[shoezuki]

Drunk Gep anon back at it again. How bout I call myself Whiskey🥃?

Fully agree. Dude didn't make it to Captain of the guard with little noodle arms and a weak stomach. I'dimagine Sampo'sbeen slung over his shoulder more than once lmfao. He's defo been shoving bite-sized anything in his gob since he could crawl.

Also love earnest Gep!!! Gepard being all soft and inquiring. Bet Sampo isn't used to havin someone so genuinely interested/knowing of him but so gentle about it, with no ulterior motive. He's got Natasha but she's more the loving yet serious sister who damn near KOs him with the first aid kit when he tries to sneak out whilst injured. Now you've got my head spinnin with ideas!!

May we also consider:

Sampo fucks up. Geppie started gettin soft, not quite drunk but enough to loosen him into sayin things that make Sampo's heart warm and hands fidget, and he just stopped keeping track of his drinks.

He's on cloud 9. Maybe? He's not exactly ecstatic but he's havin a pretty grand time. Maybe cloud 7? He doesn't remember when they left the bar but they've been wandering about for so long it's gotten dark and his mind's too foggy to recognise where they are.

He's also too loose lipped, knows he's being too honest, that his attempts to play off his words as jokes is too long winded and fake but he also can't quite remember what he's said???

Gepard is havin a grand time. He's pretty out of it but can at least walk this time. Happy to trail after Sampo, ask questions about obscure places they pass in the Underworld and about the people, before working up to talk about Sampo himself. How he's a pain in the ass but he admires his work ethic yada yada. He's unfamiliar with the area so he's hoping Sampo knows where they're going. He doesn't.

Neither of em make it home. Not even into a building. Sampo wakes up in the geomarrow equivalent of a tree, doesn't fall purely because he's damn near tied to the thing. There's more half empty bottles on the floor and Gepard has absolutely no clue where his jacket is and Sampo does not own a cane that embezzled, where did he get that?

There's an attempted 'arrest' of course. Gep may be off duty but he's nothing if not devoted to his role. They don't make it far and Bronya/Seele find them half curled up on the floor, holding their heads up against the cold brick XD.

The previous night's open-hearted discussion is blurred but not forgotten.

~ 🥃

GBFJDV GODDDDDD ANON UR SOF RCEYEKE. GOD. FICK SHIT...

Sampo stumbling into gepard at a bar nursing a drink, not tipsy but still loose enough to tell sampo to leave rather than tryna arrest him right away. Sampo obviously staying cuz this is a Great Opportunity no way hes letting this chance to break down geps walls slip thru his fingers.

And just. Sampo wanting to get gepard to open up to him and break down his barriers. Totally to get info out of him of course its not like hes infatuated with the man and wants to know him underneath his position as captain.

Sampo doesnt realize hes getting drunk too, opening up himself. Doesnt realize hes actually having fun w gepard and enjoying talking with him. Doesnt realize hes actually answering gepards questions, telling both personal things about himself and small inconsequential things that arent important but gepard acts like they are.

Gepards genuine So SO genuine and earnest. All kinds of 'youre a hard worker you do help the underworld a lot even if you pretend you dont' and 'i know some of those tips about illegal operations were from you sampo thank you' and 'i admire how focused and strong you are. If only youd put the criminal stuff behind you' and sampo isnt sure if its the liquor or gepard hes drunk off of.

And it ending with gepard having the fucking worst hangover of his life, sampo tied to a large stalagmite passed out and snoring. Gepard like 'god my head hurts. That was the best night of my life. Time to arrest him i guess' and seele being the one to find em bickering halfheartedly while gepard keeps trying to get handcuffs on sampo

#🥃 #anon #GOD. FUCK . .DVDHDVDVDNDV #alcohol mention #i am in love w u now anon. hold ny hand

[jefferythejelly]

ok more kidfic: do u have any pregnancy hcs? Especially for Foolish bc I've only rarely seen him as a dad :3

u have no idea what u've just unleashed 90% of the brainrot bulletpoint list i have for this au is pregnancy headcanons asjdfadkjs

this is like 90% just copy pasted from that bulletpoint list and slightly edited and also i've had this document since may of last year and have been slowly adding on to it every once in a while since then so FAIR WARNING this post is Quite Long

they try decorating the nursery themselves but neither of them know what to get or how to make it cute so then foolish calls up tina who eventually just makes them call up an interior designer XD

can you imagine them telling their friends abt it. can u imagine how cute auntie tina would be. she would be taking it so serious like she doesnt want any of the responsibility but she wants to be like the cool aunt y'know

random tidbit but i can so imagine a conversation between tina and foosh where they start talkin about the phrase "buns in the oven." like i think tina would think that phrase is really cute. i think that phrase is really cute tbh. hes got buns in the oven :>

following in the vein of nervous-but-excited-newly-pregnant-couple them going to foolish's prenatal care appointments and taking his health like super seriously. also ultrasounds. i dont think either of them would Cry cry but theyd maybe get a little teary eyed lookin at their kids for the first time

on some more classic omegaverse bullshit: punz had always been a bit possessive/protective as a partner and that very much continues once theyre mates and foolish is pregnant. like really frequently is holding his hand or has an arm around him, tries to be really doting and get him whatever he asks. not as common when theyre in public but one of his fave things to do is hug foolish from behind with his hands on his stomach

i'd imagine they have a few arguments esp when foolish is hormonal and does/says shit that annoys punz and he cant understand why. they work it out tho, bc they love each other <3

in the time leading up to foolish's due date his nesting instincts go crazy. theres nests everywhere in the whole house. when hes not sitting chilling in a nest hes making a new one or readjusting one

(this one is real long bc it is a vaguely drafted out scene oops) foolish's water breaks on stream/at least when he's in vc on someone else's stream bc like. i deffo think it would. u think this man would take a break? like the streams would get shorter especially as his hormones and instincts get more fucky but he would still be trying to be on that grindTM. and (bcuz this is the part i actually vaguely researched) he's been having like the irregular not actually real contractions (theres a name im forgetting it rn) so hes gotten used to just like feeling them, noting when the time is, and brushing it off when it doesnt happen again. so he's in vc with someone, i'm thinking tina lets just say tina, and he's in the middle of laughing really hard at a joke, but abruptly cuts off his windexing when he feels the whole "rush of fluid" thing and is all like o_o and tina's all like "foolish? you okay?" when he stops laughing like that and foolish is like "uh. i think my water just broke?" which makes tina go all "wait What?! like- like the baby's coming?" "yeah" "foolish!" (chat is freaking out. monkaS monkaW fukW) "shouldnt you like, go to the hospital?" "yeah, uh, bye chat!" (chat has been yelling at him since he said his water broke to end stream) he yells for punz who ofc comes rushing into the room like "whats going on do you need something" and when foolish tells him his water just broke he starts freaking out a little and then foolish has a contraction right then (is that realistic timing tbh its been a while since i did that google search. what i do remember is that theres apparently apps for timing contractions like isnt that neat. anyways) but then theyre like "sorry tina bye!" and then tinas like "good luck!" (is that a normal thing to say idk. even if it isnt it could be funny hashtag awkward girl swag /affectionate) and then they like drive to the hospital and stuff

i just have this image of like the night they come back from the hospital both of them in their nest with the babies laying between them oughhhhhh

listen i just think this is really cute but punz sitting on the edge of the hospital bed while foolish is in labor so he can lean into him and calm down with his scent

actually thought abt it a bit more and mayb this is more general omegaverse hcs but like i think omegas would have an instinct to give birth in a nest which obv is harder to do while also having the support of modern medicine in a hospital but maybe it is more normalized to bring some blankets/pillows/clothes/what have you to make a lil temporary nest in the hospital bed

foolish is way more absentminded/no thoughts head empty than usual (like forgets what hes saying in the middle of a sentence bad) bc of fucked up hormones pregnancy brain

he tries having one or two blankets wrapped around him on stream to be sort of like a temporary nest when his instincts start going wacky. sometimes it works sometimes he accidentally gets too sleepy and begrudgingly admits that he should probably end stream bc he can barely think thru the omega nesting instinct brain fog

actually on that note i think there a couple of times where punz basically forces him to take a break from streaming. it never lasts very long

i have decided that the timing of their baby is such that foolish is like 7/8 months when christmas rolls around bc i was at family christmas brainrotting what it would be like for them to have like cute domestic family christmas while foolish is still pregnant. he falls asleep on the couch leaning against punz's shoulder after dinner its very cute

they maybe do a thing where like they have christmas with one family on eve and one on day and have a slightly chaotic nighttime flight? do the flight times work out for that idk. but its bc their families wanna see them bc theyre all excited for the baby awwww

wait just remembered the whole scene i had imagined for this where they land in mass super late at night/early morning and once they get back to punz's parents house p much immediately go to bed but foolish cant sleep bc the babies keep moving and kicking and punz scootches down so hes all curled up next to his tummy and purrs at them so that they calm down and foolish can sleep

at the end of his pregnancy foolish is just like capital d Done like get these babies out my back hurts im tired my belly is fuckin huge. ive got tits now

punz very happily gives him back massages tho <3 even if he sometimes gets overdramatically whiny about it first

foolish is one day horrified to realize none of his usual foods are appealing and he is instead craving some weird ass food combo

when foolish starts showing more and its gonna be harder to hide on stream they do a cute lil classic pregnancy announcement photo where punz like has his hands around him on his belly (maybe taken by karl? or someone? i just realized i have no idea where i hc them living like i guess its always been vaguely nc but idk if thats like. necessary? idk whatever) but im imagining the one they end up posting isnt even one of the ones they were posing for its like a candid one where theyre looking at each other over foolishs shoulder or like laughing or something idk its cute its not staged and weird lookin

oh also at some point punz convinces foolish to do a maternity photoshoot (well kind of. its just punz taking pics of him in his underwear bc he maybe has a Thing for heavily pregnant foolish) and at first foolish feels kinda embarrassed and silly and punz keeps complimenting him and making him flustered (i have a couple of lil doodles of this + a few other ones related to this au in a sketchbook somewhere but i dont feel like digging them out + taking pics rn ajfsbajskb)

final note would like everyone to know as i was typing this foolish lost his water bucket in mc and he phrased it like "my water just broke" and chat was all like "wow congratulations whos the father." like what are the chances. also why is he like this. also can u really blame me for making this au when he is like this

#long post #its under a read more but still. i just feel bad postin it cuz its so long and i know im prob the only one who cares as much as i do abt it #this au is actually quite close to my heart in the fact that it is so self indulgent so posting this feels a bit like flaying myself open #but i am being brave i am cringe but i am free etc #also i know u dont watch it but its funny to me that ur saying u've rarely seen him as a dad when for a year hes been logging onto #a mc server where he roleplays as a dad lmao #asks #funz #should i start a tag for this au idk. idek what to call it like the document title is just 'funz pregnancy slash kidfic brainrot' lmao

[capo-cino]

finished the thumbnail sketch last night i think it’s cool

also there’s a long fuckin description below so like, yeah its about the phobia pit

it started out as me jotting down ideas for this concept but then it became a whole ass short story that is probably never going to be professionally written because i don’t like to write but basically:

i like to think that the pit doesn’t have an actual bottom, and when you think you’ve reached it, when the pit gradually gets narrower and you’re completely surrounded by darkness at that point, there’s a hole that you could fall through and when you do, you fall out of the entire pit itself and you don’t stop falling, ever. you’re surrounded by absolutely nothing, not sure if it’s darkness or a white void when you fall through, all i can say is that you’re falling within nothingness.

as for the pit itself i figured that the beginning or the top of the pit would have objects relating to the most common phobias, including those that may be prominent in some cultures but rarely seen in others, and as you go further down, the phobias would get weirder or just more obscure, and even further below, the surroundings become more dim and darker and the objects either gradually begin to disappear or scattered

but hey vex has glowing eyes and shit he and sackboy will be fine i think

jokes aside i imagine that vex is more excited about what lies at the near bottom of the pit; where from the top view, it’s a tiny black circle

i did kinda headcanon his one fear; nothingness, or specifically being surrounded by literally nothing you can see, hear or feel.

but that he still wants to venture below where it looks dark because hes expecting something to be there and he’ll be fine because his face literally glows. but lmao xd

sackboy on the other hand is cautious, but also fascinated by the clustered surroundings at the start of the pit; some objects resembling more obvious/common phobias may startle him, but seeing every other object representing more weirder/obscure phobias are still captivating to him.

at the very least, his surroundings at that point keep his eyes entertained and also, he’s not by himself.

vex is taking note of how absorbed sackboy is in the chaotic environment (and would use some of the objects to startle him for shits and giggles)

sackboy is also noticeably more distanced from vex while they’re still at the top of the pit

as they make their way further below, the objects begin to become more abstracted and/or confusing to look at. the environment becomes less vibrant; any color within it would be muted or dull. imagine the color palette for a lot of liminal space images.

speaking of space, even though the pit becomes narrower, the objects become more eerily spread out instead of being all clustered together and it doesn’t quite look or feel like the pit’s even gotten thinner. it’s the literal opposite if anything.

sackboy goes from mesmerized to visibly unsettled of how empty (and also dim) the surroundings become and clings onto vex a little more.

vex is confused and bewildered by how empty everything’s become. hes also mildly annoyed by how fast (to him) sackboy lost his sense of curiosity and is nudging at his cape, desperately signaling that they should go back

but sackers’ pleas are not listened to because he’s venturing with vex

everything below that liminal space point becomes more difficult (and eventually impossible) to see. vex’s glowing face heavily dims, and as soon as sackboy notices, he quickly climbs up vex and makes his way into one of the pockets on his vest. hes batshit terrified and his only comfort is feeling the fabric of the pocket surrounding him. it’s better than the cold hard ground amidst the darkness.

vex is actually disturbed now.

at this point he can’t see or feel anything else but the ground getting steeper and sackboy shaking like a leaf in one of his pockets. any light he tries to conjure (electric sparks, portals, etc.) don’t illuminate at all.

oh yeah remember that part about the hole at the very bottom of the pit that leads to absolutely nowhere and you would fall forever if you just fell through it

well vex falls down. almost. his hands just barely catch the edge of the ground, and in the few seconds that his legs were dangling and was startled to near death, he remembers he can fly.

so his literal flight response activates and he heads straight back upwards through the darkness. from how fast he was flying, it takes him around 20 seconds tops to reach the,, top.

the sun’s just starting to rise.

vex is on the soft ground, shaking.

sackboy slowly crawls out of the pocket and falls to the ground. before he crawls any further, vex quickly snatches sackboy close to his face with both hands, still shaking.

why did this need to be involved with saba? idk lol

side edit: i think its funny that if you told vex at the top of the pit that there was legitimately nothing at the bottom, he would just tell you to shut the fuck up and then he discovers, nearly possibly dying at doing so, that there is legitimately nothing and his one fear is just down there now. although if this were more canonical, the game would probably hint that he does have a single fear, but will just never tell you what

imma go eat some leftover steak yummm

#little big planet #littlebigplanet #sackboy #sackboy a big adventure #saba #lbp #long ass fucking post of my life i don’t really like doing them but idk how to make this shorter either hummmm

[skeletonsfortea]

*slips something goofy into your inbox*

Scene Fades In

It's been many years since VBPS! Y/N has moved in with the Underfell brothers after going to their universe. Although it was difficult for Y/N in the beginning, with the help of Red and Edge, they have fallen into a wonderfully comfortable routine. They're all still working on themselves, but doing so alongside each other has made things so much easier. It isn't difficult to be silly and let go with Red, and the way he expresses his feelings is a breath of fresh air - when he isn't making them wheeze or smile till their cheeks hurt.

Edge though, he's kind but...genuine praises and gentle displays of affection - which at first started off platonically until said human began to wonder... - have him standing straight in an instant before he quickly leaves the room. Y/N knows he isn't uncomfortable or upset...just new to it all (which they can relate to), even if he doesn't admit it. And it's honestly adorable at times, if not really funny. Red likes to joke about things being a slow burn, whatever that means.

Y/N, for so long, had been so unsure and scared back at...back when- But now, at least now when it comes to this, they are certain. More certain than they have ever been in their life. It wasn't hard with Red, he's not much for bells and whistles. Edge though, the little human wanted to put extra effort to meet his standards. Was the human jumping the gun, sure. But with some liquor in their system - thanks Red - they can do anything. It was his idea to race things to the end anyways. Was he drunk when he said that though? Maybe that's why he was stunned the following week when his happened. Eh whatever.

VBPS! Y/N finishes setting up the table. A gift box hidden on the side with a new set of gloves that had been created by their own hands, made with the finest of materials that could be found in the Underground no less. Red helped fetch those of course. It was designed differently from the ones he normally wears so he can save those for when he actually needs to use them. The human's fingers were covered in bandaids but they were worth the hours put into making them. Along the sides of the table were some nicely lit candles. In the center was the lasagna they had prepared, being certain that it was made exactly the way Edge likes in. Y/N takes a seat, fiddling with their nicely pressed clothes. Not a wrinkle in sight. They take a deep breath and focus on the colors in the dining area. Red, red, red, black...more red. They tap their foot against the floor. Shit maybe this was a bad idea. What were they thinking they haven't even started dating yet?!?! What the FUCK Red!! They take a deep breath again before walking to the kitchen to take another swig of the liquor Red had hidden. Much better.

The walk across the hallway to throw out the empty bottle, before the door suddenly opens. Wait shit he's 10 minutes early?!

VBPS! Reader slurring their words: UM Edge! Hey- *makes a gag sound* Oh shit- *gags again before dashing to the bathroom*

Edge: .... *walks after them before noticing the open box in the dining room table with his name on it*

The tall skeleton takes a curious peek, but the item inside has him reaching for it before he realizes what he's doing. When he takes a glove out, he realizes there is a slight weight to it. There's something inside. He pulls it out. It's a ring.

(lol might've gotten too into this thought!! sorry!)

Bro's put a whole fanfiction up in here XD

Yer good, I can totally see Red being the overzealous hype man, that's for sure. I can also see Edge either fainting or just sitting down at the table, expression empty, skull empty, having no idea what to do.

#vivid blood pale scars #vivid blood pale scars meets aus

[unknown-jewel]

Little details/things to think about/things to appreciate in Motorcity: 

- Mike is always dropping un-prompted compliments into conversations with his friends (calling Dutch “the best mechanic in Motorcity” in “Like Father, Like Daughter”, calling Chuck a genius in “Vega”, etc). It’s really sweet. X3

- The Duke’s security system said “Ouch” when Julie shorted it out in “The Duke of Detroit”

- Mike is very protective of his bobblehead dog. He held onto it during the Detroit Doom Jump, so it wouldn’t get damaged in the explosion. And he made sure to take it with him even when he abandoned Mutt in the finale. He really loves that thing.

- In “Vega” when the Duke is proposing that they team up, it looks like Roth and Cyborg Dan are about to fight. Do they have beef with each other? XD

- In “Like Father, Like Daughter” when they’re all discussing what they would do to torment Kane, Chuck is the only one whose idea would have instantly killed him

- In Texas’ imagination sequence in “Texas-ify It” everyone else gets carried (semi)comfortably on Texas’ back, while Chuck gets dragged behind him like a sack of potatoes. Even in an imaginary scenario Chuck can’t catch a break.

- Chuck only has nine toes, and he’s afraid of cats. These are both canon facts that the show mentions once, then never brings up again.

- Claire was just casually watching cartoons, while everyone else was fighting for their lives with the climator. XD

- The show never states or gives any hint that Motorcity has any sort of government

- Claire was so excited to help during the big battle at the climax of “Julie and the Amazons”. It’s cute. :3

- Based on “The Duke of Detroit” and “Vendetta” it seems Chuck has a big appetite

- Chuck and Texas are both visibly amused by Julie’s “Their moms forgot to pick them up from hockey practice” joke in “The Duke of Detroit”

- Kaia sounds so awkward when speaking to Mike after she left him for dead. Like she legitimately didn’t think he’d survive and now she doesn’t know what to say upon seeing that he has.

- Kane hates cars and banned them... but he’s actually a really good driver?

- Mike is the only one of the Burners who doesn’t have friends outside the group

- Claire seems a lot more receptive to Chuck’s advances when he acts more confident (see “Fearless” and the ending of “Reunion”)

- Chuck and Claire both like puns (see “Ride of the Fantasy Vans” and “Mayhem Night”)

- Mike stress-cleans

- Most animal species are probably extinct in the show’s setting

- The brown parts of the Duke’s hair don’t seem to be attached to the blond parts. They look like extensions.

- Julie has a paper with little cat sketches on it pinned to her bedroom wall. Did she sketch them herself? Or was it one of her friends?

- Julie wears high heels, but is still the shortest person in her friend group

- In “Julie and the Amazons” Claire could have said “Then you met the Burners” or “Then you came to Motorcity” instead of “Then you met Mike” and gotten the same point across. But she felt the need to single Mike out. My Jukebox brain refuses to let that go. X3

- Jacob suffers from chronic night terrors (see “The Robo-Roundup”) :(

- Jacob immediately goes to Mike for comfort when it seems like the Mama’s Boys have killed Roth

- The location captions in “Threat Level: Texas” are perfect. “The Duke’s Stupid House” is my favorite. XD

- In “Mayhem Night” Mike says “You remember last year” when addressing the whole group. The Burners were definitely already formed by Halloween of the previous year.

- Julie seemed pretty happy about Claire kissing Chuck. Does she ship them as much as Mike does?

- Dutch was so ready to throw hands with the Duke in the finale

#this show and all it's little details are gonna kill me #motorcity #mike chilton #dutch gordy #motorcity chuck #the duke of detroit #julie kane #motorcity roth #cyborg dan #abraham kane #motorcity texas #motorcity claire #motorcity kaia #motorcity jacob #my post

[tiredassmage]

I wish you would write a fic where...Tyr gets a break! A quiet moment, a vacation, a cat purring on his lap or something relaxing xD

I keep saying it's what he fucking deserves, for stars' sake, and yet I keep writing that man in SITUATIONS. Of distress. We are not talking about the other half-bendy straw corpse of a WIP that's languishing in docs rn because I needed to vent it out of my head lest it consume me like a ravenous creature.

Anyway. I'd like the general public to know that this cat has theoretically existed in our dms for maybe like... a month? Two??? I still haven't named it.

(The running joke is that one runs into him in a Zakuulan alley and decides that's Her Person Now. And Tyr keeps chiding her for trying to blow his cover until she finally gets smuggled home with him in his jacket.)

(She becomes very popular in the Alliance leadership group chat.)

x-x-x-x-x-

Mrr-ah!

A faint frown toyed at the corner of Tyr’s lips as he stared through the macrobinoculars. Targets were on the move and payloads were exchanging hands. This was not the time for a distraction.

He increased the zoom to get a better view of the hand-off. If this all went well, the Alliance could expect some new information filtering back through their networks in the coming weeks about some of the underworld movements in the Old World.

Hylo still required a diversified network of suppliers and the stronger the foothold they had on Zakuulan operations, the better the lookout they could keep on Arcann. Keeping a pulse on Zakuulan public opinion and the manipulations of it coming down from the Eternal Throne was going to be immensely important.

Mrrpprrp.

How did a cat get up on a rooftop, anyway?

A small bump against his calf. Tyr idly offered out a hand, steadying the binoculars with the other to watch information trade hands. A slightly cold nose bopped against his fingers before the furred creature rubbed its cheek against his hand, the ex-Cipher giving a vague scratch around the ears.

Discussion. As the spy’s attention flitted carefully between targets, his odd company stilled underneath his hand, delicately settling on webbed paws and tucking its tail around them, blue eyes blinking into the hazy streets below. The creature flicked a delicate, large ear split at the tip from an old, healed wound.

The binoculars came down as the quiet meeting broke up. His rifle remained untouched, if loaded and ready at his side.

“Deal’s good, Commander. I’ll include the coordinates for the drops in my report.”

A quiet exhale slipped his lips. “Good work, Lacey. I’ve got some other business to wrap up. Forward your reports to Operations for now and I’ll review them when I’m back. Lay low awhile. I don't want the Knights catching your scent.”

“Understood, Outlander. Stay safe out there.”

Finally, he looked down at the gray short-haired feline that blinked slowly back up at him and frowned. “Bloody lucky you haven’t gotten us caught, you know?” he muttered.

His eyes narrowed slightly as a faint mrrr emitted from the creature with another slow blink back up at him.

“Right. Now we’re talking to cats.” He closed his eyes for a moment and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

Very lightly, claws batted at his exposed fingers, catching on the edges of his gloves - a webbed paw attempting to drag a hand back for attention.

He splayed a few fingers and watched the feline paw at them as they moved - slowly. Perhaps still with claws, but…

He exhaled a bit more heavily. “Fine. But only because if you keep following me, you’re likely to get me arrested.” He shook his head. "And then where would we both be, hmm?"

His fingers danced once more, watching as the feline stretched up to bat a bit more animatedly in the chase.

#of course he found the cat on the job would we expect anything less #anyway: yes eventually i need him on the couch with this little cat just purring away #it might not fix him but fuck at least he'd maybe take a nap that might help #answered #swtor fanfic #dot words #swtor fanfiction #ch: tyr #woe vaguely defined space cat be upon ye

[no-psi-nan]

hsfjdlshfks okay I appreciate y'all keeping me busy, @crookedlyinnernightmare, @hillbilly---man, @akirameta84, and Anon XD

Easy-peasy! It's a funny, fluffy get-together with a tall glass of lemonade at the end lol.

Dialogue / characterization! I am extremely picky about characterization and I'm just not interested in anything that doesn't feel in-character. My goal is that, no matter how wild the situation, the characters feel just like their canon counterparts, and react accordingly.

Ooh, tough one... This says "dialogue scene", so I guess I can't just plop down an Akechi monologue XD

I'm still going to cheat and say "the whole last chapter of Moving Forward 1", because honestly that was insane of me. I've never seen it done, I was advised against trying, and I still managed to write a scene that has like 15 different people in it with no dialogue tags, that was comprehensible to readers on the first pass. Call that a hashtag writer flex lol.

Hardest is definitely the Moving Forward fics. Writing gen fic is just not something I have a lot of practice doing. And to be honest, it's not something I tend to read either hsfjdlshfks. There's also other characters besides the Psychickers involved, and I'll admit that I don't think much about those guys, rip. They're not blorbo to me, so while I can write them, it's not nearly as fun most of the time. 😔

Easiest would be pretty much all of the romance n lemon ones hsfjdlshfks. Creeping like Ivy was particularly easy because it was short lol. And there's no pesky other characters or even a semblance of plot lmao. I would just dash off one of the lil scenes when I had a minute! I think the hardest part of it was deciding the scene order honestly.

A secret fic I haven't posted yet. >:3

Semi-reclined on my nice leather couch with my phone in hand, only sound is the purr of the cat on my lap :3

Oh boy, I don't think they're old enough to really need revising in general, but my way of writing Akechi has gotten more convoluted and Saiki now speaks in shorter bursts. The latest chapter I posted in Extra Love Stories of Psychics Volume 2 was actually written over a year ago so I did actually tweak Akechi's verbiage quite a bit before posting it lol.

Recency bias, etc but the other day I was feeling really down about posting like 30k of fic and getting no comments at all until I discovered that at some point, one person bookmarked most of my Saiki fics and left glowing reviews in the bookmarks, pointing out their favorite jokes and mentioning that I converted them on a couple of ships. That was REALLY nice!! I would have never seen all of those sweet comments if I didn't know to check the public bookmarks occasionally though hsfjdlshfks. So they should've been ideally in the actual comments section, but it was a nice surprise when I was feeling down!

[Context for asks] <- now closed

#nopsi fic #notes to nopsi

[angelsandarsenic]

As the Fates Decreed

Word Count: 13000+ words

Summary: The three fates of Emperor XD's pantheon have officially declared Tommy a dead man. On the one hand, he'll finally be with his brother again. On the the other., Tommy isn't ready to die yet. The vigilante has given up on any chance of being saved, but Tubbo has always been willing to take a long shot chance if it's to save his best friend and the Antarctic Empire might have exactly what they need.

TW: cursing, shouting, lots of death mentions, panic attack, fighting (but no blood), mention of losing limbs (let me know if I need any more)

Requested?: no

Notes: I’ve been so excited to post this!! I hope y’all like it :)

        Sol 17 was the day I died, Tommy wrote. He started this page in his journal the night The Fates told him his future, that being that he had none.

        As he flew from planet Olyms 23, officially named the Pantheon, he wondered why he bothered. When The Fates told you that you would die, you will die. There is no escape (though many have tried). He’s just glad that he was the only one who got caught, not Tubbo or Ranboo.

        The simple fact though, was that Emperor XD's fleet didn't even need to follow him this time, he would meet his end either way, as the Fates decreed.

        The feel of his soft leather journal would usually be comforting, but now, as Tommy sat writing, his beautiful ship on autopilot (perhaps he could at least save Clementine), it was just a book. He ran his fingers along the familiar grooves on the cover anyway. The tree of life, he thought ruefully. What a joke. The journal had been a gift from Wilbur before he died. He told Tommy that their father and brother had wanted him to have it as protection and as a promise that they'd find each other again. Not that that ever happened. It was worn and almost smelled old, it's pages were permanently wrinkled slightly from the time it got dumped in a river. On a couple pages his handwriting was smudged or scribbled out and on several you could see where the ink in his pen had been running out, yet he couldn't get a new one.

        To be fair, he had gotten through his fair share of rough scrapes, including ones he didn't think he would get out of, but even the tree of life couldn't get him out of this one, he guessed. But if it had done anything in the first place, it wouldn't have gotten him into this mess with The Fates to begin with and it wouldn't have gotten Wilbur killed.

        He hoped Wilbur couldn't see him now. Supposedly, he was with the stars, watching Tommy from light years away that he could never travel too. He wished they had gotten to go on that last trip together. Wilbur had been so excited, twisting his ring every time he talked about it. That was his tell. Tommy wished Wilbur hadn't kept it a secret, then he could go and at least bring that ring and pretend his brother was still with him.

        Tommy would be with him soon enough though. Unless he went to Valhalla. It wasn't incredibly likely, Tommy didn't think, but Wil had been rather interested in that planet system with their own supposed afterlife. He fit the bill to get in as well--Tommy hadn't met many folks from the Antarctic Empire, but what he had heard was that the only requirement was to die a warrior's death. Wilbur may not be a hero to the rest of the universe, but he was a hero to Tommy.

        He must have known he was going to die. He spent nights on end pacing and muttering to himself when he thought Tommy was asleep. He never fought with Tommy beyond their play fights in his last days. He must have known he was going to die when he cuddled Tommy close and preened his wings and pressed the journal into his hands, a fond smile on his face and promised everything would be ok. Tommy should have known something was up.  He should have asked more questions, fought harder and died with his brother in the explosion.

        That was seven years ago. Tommy spent six of those years raining vigilante hell on the Essempi Empire in Wilbur's name. He wanted to start earlier, but resources were hard to come by as a broke eleven year old with a high bounty and a missing arm. Thank the stars for Tubbo. With nothing else use the notebook for, Tommy filled it with his adventures, detailed accounts of how he, the amazing and most pog vigilante Theseus, continued to screw over XD and his "Pantheon" and how they could never catch him. Only the best one's thought, (there were few that weren't "the best") he didn't want to waste it. Not to mention, physical paper books were hard to come by. Whoever his family was must've been filthy rich. Not that it mattered. He had yet to reunite with them, Wilbur had never gotten to either.      

        He finally stopped his recount of the "trial". "My empire," An echoing voice boomed. It sounded like several voices layered on top of each other. The room itself wasn't incredibly large, but he knew they were being broadcast to the entire galaxy and beyond. "Today we finally unmask the pesky flea that had been biting our great people." Tommy sneered. How fucking dare XD try to belittle him down to nothing but a bug?! Tommy lunged for him, watching the entire rest of the courtroom startle before remembering he was chained, even the big twelve bristled and readied their weapons. The massive winged creature before him didn't even flinch, but Tommy thought he might have seen Dream's halo flicker. Perhaps XD could pretend to squash him underfoot and forget about him, but the entire Olyms system and whoever else was watching had just seen a captive who was barely an adult, intimidate the big twelve of the Pantheon, the iron willed and fisted guard of XD himself. 

        When the emperor reached down for his mask, Tommy had to be careful not to flinch. Neither the emperor, nor Dream's eyes betrayed any form of recognition, that was what had stung the worst. Even more than when Drista, head of The Fates, swept into the room and pointed a golden ringed finger at him. Switching his notebook and pencil to his prosthetic left arm, he used his right hand to type in some coordinates. He shuffled a bit in his seat to situate his grey wings around the back of the chair. There was no way to change the fact that Tubbo had surely already head the news and wouldn't rest until he found a way for Tommy to survive, but he would be damned if he didn't see his brothers again before he died.

After that…he wasn’t really sure what to do.

        Tommy flew. Logstedshire was almost four sol cycles from here, that's where he would go first. All that really mattered right now was seeing Tubbo and Ranboo again.

-----

        3rd sol of being a dead man walking- If he was being a little dramatic, blame it on Wilbur. Tommy had picked up so many of his habits and mannerisms before he died. Frankly, Tommy thought he was well within his rights to be dramatic. -A strange ship has been following me since yesterday evening. Now that the galaxy knew what his ship looked like, Tommy had seen progressively fewer and fewer other people over the last three cycles. That only made it easier to figure out when he was being followed, like now. The lack of companionship was already getting to him, so he was almost grateful for the dark, vaguely pointy blob that had been tailing him, but he knew it was going to be far more trouble than it was worth, especially if the strange way the ship seemed to disappear in the inky space around it was anything to go by. How does it even do that?! More importantly, what kind of asshole won't just let a guy die in peace? It was probably some honorless bounty hunter who thought he wouldn't put up as much of a fight now that he was condemned to death anyway. Anyone with half a brain would realize that Emperor Pissface would never give them the reward now though, moron.

Fuck this guy, Tommy was busy doing big man shit, he couldn't be bothered with this right now and he couldn't bring the guy back to Tubbo and Ranboo. That means it's time for some evasive maneuvers.

        Just in time, Tommy and his stalker came up on a long  asteroid belt. It was far below his ship, floating above a large moon. Tommy waited until they were already part way over it to flip on the thrusters and nose dive. He peeled away from the incoming chunk of rock and into a void in the belt, slowing slightly to watch the dark ship spark to life and attempt to follow him. He kept slowing himself down, making it easy to swerve around the obstacles with all his experience, but the alien ship held its own. He cut left above one and barrel rolled around another, barely making it between two that were slowly drifting towards each other. Expecting that was enough to shake off his tail, as usual, he accelerated and started aiming for the top of the belt again. Glancing in his rear view camera, his smirk dropped and his wings flared. How is he still following me?!

        This can’t be one of the Pantheon, they wouldn’t bother with me anymore and that isn’t any of their ships. Who the fuck?? The ship behind him started to close in and Tommy’s heart jumped. No no no no no! He dove again before immediately pulling back up, turning around an asteroid as he went for good measure. When he flattened out he was still being followed. Tommy’s hands flew over Clementine’s controls, guiding his beloved ship through a jagged zig zag, side to side and up and down, horizontal and vertical, but it wasn’t enough. The longer this went on, the closer the other ship got and Tommy couldn’t help the way he kept staring down at his external cameras. His breaths were beginning to come short and at one point his hand slipped off the control panel, almost sending him careening into a stray asteroid. What the fuck?! This was familiar territory—he’s had to throw off followers more time than he can count, he was just that popular, so why was he getting so shaken up?!

        Tommy forced himself to take a deep breath. Think, what else can you do? Eliminate the threat, scare them so bad they’ll never want to look at you again. What size is the ship? Only slightly smaller than Clementine, a one passenger fighter. He looked back up in front of him. The other ship was getting far too close for comfort, he had to get rid of it now. 

        With the press of a button, Tommy brought up on rod Tubbo’s best improvements to his ship: a 3-D map of whatever was surrounding Clementine for two miles. There, dead center of the field. There was an asteroid just big enough to wreck his ship is he ran into it, but small enough that he could shield it from view if he flew right. The stalker would have to be directly behind him. 

        Good thing he was leading this chase then. Taking a sharp right turn, Tommy brought them around a long strip of debris, watching his map to determine when to curve back around. Just after another large chunk of space rock, he made a precise 90 degree turn, heading straight for the target. With how close the other ship was, he wouldn't have been able to see around Tommy's wing even if he wasn't matching Clementine's path yard for yard. Tommy sped up. The other ship sped up. Tommy waited. 

        He kept waiting.

        The other ship didn't hesitate to follow. At the very last second, Tommy peeled up and around and absolutely gunned it out of the asteroid belt, hoping to make a jump through hyperspace before his stalker could recover.

-------

       Sol 3--evening

        Planet Martiys 64--Abatojour

        A landing bay is the most dangerous place for a traveler. Smugglers and criminals and opposing systems all come together in one massive area, hidden by their own ships and loading and unloading cargo and they could steal your ship or break it or follow you into the city and kidnap you in your most vulnerable time of travel.

        A landing bay is the most dangerous place for a vigilante. Smugglers and criminals and bounty hunters and everyone could recognize you or your ship and either kill you or get you arrested.

        If you were more careful you wouldn't be in this situation.

        On every planet he went to, Tommy's face was plastered to every holoboard, every TV screen and every poster. 

————————DEATH WATCH—————————

        He cringed and ripped one of the paper ones down as he passed by. It didn't change the fact that as soon as someone saw a curl of his blonde hair (it was pretty rare out in space), he would be done for on this planet, no one would even come near him, much less trade with him and he needed food. He hadn't cut his hair since Wilbur died, so it was pretty easy to pull it back out of his face and tie it, then pin his hood in place. His usual mask was too well known, so he left it in Clementine's bay and found an old grey scarf to wrap around his face instead. With avians being decently common in this galaxy, he didn't need to bind his wings up, but he still peppered some dark tinted powder over their top and rubbed the stain into his feathers to make them seem like not his. He hasn't seen the small, dark ship since he lost it in the asteroid belt, but still remained highly on guard. At this point, it was second nature. 

        Stars, he would kill for an apple right now. He wondered how hard it would be to find them on this planet. He was close to the Ygdris system, surely it would be easier than anywhere else. This area was famous for their apples, it was part of what made the Antarctic Empire so rich. Tommy stalked the streets, eyeing the various vendors and not getting a second glance from the passers by. Dried meats and fruits from all over the galaxy were proudly displayed, plump and bright against the myriad of rainbow fabrics and dangling jewels also for sale. Carefully displaced from the more perishable items, blacksmiths with glinting blades and pyrotechs meticulously monitoring their blaze powder and various other explosive goods from wandering hands called out their wares, side by side with the apothecaries and potion masters. Tommy loved small merchant planets like this. Sure, he had used them as an early hunting ground for thieving skills, but he genuinely appreciated the lack of massive buildings and excess tech, not to mention the generally cheerful and amiable nature of the occupants.

       When he spotted his prize, Tommy hardly debated his choices--not that he would have made the more responsible one on any other day--deciding to go for the apple before any other food, rationalizing it with the admittedly dark argument of ensuring himself a final treat. It wasn't like it mattered if he ate full meals now anyway. (He still hoped the delicacy wasn't too expensive this close to it's main distributor, he didn't like being hungry.) At the stall was a rather tall being, pure white eyes kind, but somehow glinting with wry knowledge. Thick curly hair fell to their shoulders over a gorgeous cloak, a few strands framing a light smile as they sent another customer on their way. They looked familiar...

        Wilbur had had a friend once. It was rare that his older brother went out without Tommy, but this friend had a ship and now the pair were leaving more and more often. Sometimes Tommy asked why the friend--he couldn't remember their name, Eren maybe? Eret?--couldn't just take them both away from this awful planet. For only the second time since meeting them, the friend turns to look at Tommy. Their eyes are solid white and sadden when they see him. "I'm sorry Tommy, it's...complicated."

        "She is helping us get away sunshine, it's just not that simple."

        "Because we're in debt," the child mumbles. He's heard this before. He's not sure how they got this way, or why it's such a big deal, but Wilbur said they'll be hunted down if they run. They've had this conversation before. 

It was never meant to be.

        The sales person's voice was smooth and melodic, the closest he'd ever heard to Wilbur's voice and he might have gotten teary if it wasn't so deep. "Good morning, what can I get you?"

        Tommy suddenly remembered he barely had any money. Real money at least. "How much are your apples?"

        "Ah, good choice. Only 170 credits." He had about 100 real, 150 fake. He handed over all the real ones, hoping the merchant wouldn't notice the rest weren't right. He had good fakes, it should be fine, but higher valued goods always checked more thoroughly. The person let them leave before going through all the bills, so Tommy gladly pocketed his snack and moved on to a food stall several booths down. The actual restaurants were tempting, especially when he had enough for a delicious meal, but he needed food to last. He had one more anonymous job he could collect money from, if he acted like he was going to be around long enough to leave Tubbo and Ranboo again, but those didn't pay as well usually and after that, that was it. 

        He could probably keep taking jobs, find a new mask and start a new identity, maybe even become another vigilante again, because wouldn't that be a reall kick int he balls to the Empire of Essempi, but maybe this meant it was time to settle down, live the rest of his life for himself, the way Wilbur had wanted him too. Surely that would be ok now, surely the Goddess wouldn't be disappointed in him if he quit--it wasn't even quitting, it was...retiring. 

        There was a garden back home, he remembered. If Tommy was around more, they had thought about getting animals. They always made sure to keep one person back at Logstedshire but unless one of them was going to retire--they had always talked about Tommy. The others could too, he insisted, but even having brought up the idea of dropping his vengeful vigilantism once, his brothers had seemed to be determined to get him to relax, live his life--they wouldn't actually get any because animals were a lot of work and attention. Tommt wanted a cow. Cows were cute, he could name it Henry, and he could learn how to take care of bees for Tubbo. Ranboo never had the same enthusiasm, but they said they were happy to help with the pets and they were excellent at growing things, being half the reason the garden was so well maintained. It only grew potatoes and carrots right now, sometimes turnips, but maybe he could bring some other seeds home. They could learn to make bread, make the garden bigger, build that barn Tommy's been imagining...

        The blonde whipped his head around, scarf almost coming undone with the abruptness of the action. Eyes locked on the corner of a building, he stared, then shifted focus to scan the area, keeping a side eye on where he thought he had seen it. There was something there...he was sure of it. Just a moment ago, a dark blob that looked vaguely like a person. 

        Eventually, he had to relax. There was nothing there, it must've just been his imagination. 

        That thought didn't sit right with Tommy. Surely he couldn't be hallucinating, he'd always been wary of wayward shadows, it came with the territory of being a criminal. 

        Did Wilbur ever seem more paranoid before he died?

        Tommy couldn't remember. Instead, he let the smell of dinner lead him away. 

------

        The entire rest of the way back to Logstedshire, Tommy kept his external cameras on. Clementine didn't have any of the fancy upgrades that would alert him to other ships or movement around him, so he had to keep an eye out on his own, but thankfully, he never seemed to see anything. He still took a short detour before closing in on their little planet. He did that sometimes anyway, it didn't mean anything. 

        There was no air traffic control around Logstedshire, and as far as they knew, it being a tiny dwarf planet, He, Tubbo and Ranboo were the only occupants. The real trick, was knowing just where to land in the crevice of a ravine that they used as their port and then finding the hidden button that opened the tunnel to the cabin. 

        It was dimly lit and a little damp, chilly seeing as it never saw the sun, but Tommy ran his hands over the stone, doing his best to memorize every divot and bump that he feels like he's never known before. The trek felt both longer and shorter than ever at the same time and Tommy had to stop before he opened the trapdoor at the top of the stairs. Breathe in, breathe out. They're your family, you can do this. He wasn't sure what he was so nervous about. It wasn't like they'd give him any grief for getting caught, or get angry with him. Even Tubbo--mr.-I-show-how-worried-I-was-for-you-by-getting-upset-Underscore wouldn't pull that card with him now. 

        The way the trees seemed to actively reach out to touch his hand back, as if they were saying love you too glad to have had you don't be afraid made him realize that it was the looks in their eyes he didn't want to see.

        He was glad Ranboo was the first one he met. They weren't really sure where Ranboo came from; they didn't look like any planetary creature Tubbo or Tommy had ever seen, nor even anything Tommy had read about. Their existence was frankly more like a piece of the universe--the Milky Way galaxy specifically--had broken off and taken bipedal form. Ranboo's freckles looked like tiny stars (and they had about as many as the skies above), skin and hair pitch black except for the slight shimmer of blues and greens and purples of deeps space, mottled with white patches that covered almost half their body. The fluffy end of their slender tail turned wispy like smoke more often than not and disappeared into the world around it. As he does, Tubbo had simply picked them up somewhere (not even Tubbo quite remembers where) and they soon became a part of the crew. At first, Tommy hadn't liked Ranboo, but he doesn't know what he'd do without them now. 

        As soon as he stepped through the door of the trio's little shared cabin, Tommy was practically tackled in a hug. He knew it was Ranboo from the way a tail wrapped tightly around his waist and a head of soft hair was pressed up against his chin, tickling his nose. "Ran- Ran please-"

        "Shut up! You're dying, why are you dying Tommy this was never supposed to happen! How did you get caught?! Tommy I- I'm gonna miss you, I can't- we can't- Why-?!" The poor creature broke down into stutters and ceaseless questions. Tommy knew they weren't going to stop anytime soon, so he let them go on without bothering to interrupt, just attempting to get comfortable on the floor. 

        Ranboo hugged him for what felt like hours, and if Tommy wasn't still so emotionally numb (or whatever strange state he was in), he probably would have cried until he ran out of tears. Instead, when they pulled themself off, Tommy simply gulped and offered them a grimace. "I- I'm sorry, Boo, I don't really know what to say..."

        Ranboo's eyes widened. "Of course! Of course not, oh Tommy I'm so sorry! This- this must be terrifying..." They would do anything in the universe to help you right now. The thought made him smile, just a little bit.

        He shook his head. "Honestly, right now all I want is some food-" Just as he knew, Ranboo leapt at the opportunity. 

        "We have eggs! And ramen and some bread. It's not much right now, I'm afraid, but-"

        "That sounds great Ranboo, thank you." They grinned. "Where's Tubbo?" He figured he knew the answer, but "outside" was incredibly vague when you were on a mountainous forest planet. "I have an apple we can split too," he added.

        Their grin dropped and they gave him a lopsided frown. "He's...by the river I think? The far one, in the canyon." They frowned deeper and their eyes tilted upwards in sympathy. "Good luck."

        When Tommy glided down over the ridge and saw Tubbo, he was curled up into a ball, holding himself tightly, one hand fiddling with the ring on his left horn, the exact opposite of the way the Fauyn usually looked when he came to this spot. 

        When Tubbo saw Tommy, he cried.

-----

        Are they going to forget me when I'm gone? Will Tubbo and Ranboo move on without me? His breaths were coming faster and faster. The thick wooden walls of Logstedshire were familiar but currently discomforting. The carpet was thin and hard underneath him. Tommy had moved from his bed to the ground for the solidity, like he could somehow attach himself to the world around him and not disappear, but it hadn't helped. He wanted to leave Clementine with his friends, he decided. If they ever had to scrap it for money, he wouldn't mind, but he wanted them to remember him. He needed to know he wasn't simply there and then gone, that his life meant something to someone. 

        "Today we finally unmask the pesky flea that had been biting our great people." XD was going to snuff him out like he never mattered. His breaths turned into a shaking whine. The universe was going to keep going, he hadn't left anything behind. He was going to be forgotten. His life will have meant nothing, his work will have meant nothing, his brother's death will have meant nothing. The world was a buzz around him, static noise and blurred colors. His cheeks were wet.His wings were hitting something hard, again and again. Trapped! Trapped trapped trapped trapped- He thinks he wanted to do something after his vigilante-ism, he didn't want to be angry forever. He didn't spend enough simple time with Tubbo and Ranboo, he had worked too much, he had never let himself live. And I'm never going to get too. 

Tommy Big Man Innit was scared, he realized. 

        He had always said he didn't fear death. He had always thought that was true. "If I die, I die," he kept telling Tubbo and Ranboo. He wouldn't entirely mind, he missed his brother. He was going to die eventually anyway, right? Was it going to hurt? He was only 18, why did it have to be now? Couldn't he have a little longer? His brother's ring pressed dully into his skin. What was it going to be like? Dark? Empty? There wasn't anything after this, was there? That couldn't be right, this couldn't be it. This didn't feel like the end, please don't let it be the end!

         He hadn't realized how much he was shaking until Ranboo's hands clamped down on his shoulders and held him gently in place, carefully guiding his wings away from whatever they were bumping into. He hadn't realized how loud he was being until Tubbo was almost shouting to get his attention, hurrying to crouch down in front of him when he and Ranboo should have been in bed. "Tommy?! Tommy it's ok! It's ok, you're safe here-" He wailed. No he wasn't safe, he was going to die! Tubbo faltered, then slowly reached a hand into his hair, gently beginning to scratch his scalp and twist the curls around his fingers. "Tommy we're here with you. You're still breathing, just breathe, you're alive I promise." Ranboo let him rock, but kept his hands steadily on his back, rubbing around his shoulders and down his spine. He was so strange, switching between almost normal body warmth and pure chill on a dime, like his skin can't hold the temperature. He was starting to slow, pushing his head into Tubbo's hands, thankfully beginning to get enough air to sob instead of the panic of hyperventilation. His hands still drummed wildly on the ground, occasionally up his legs and curling in and out of fists. "There you go, good Tommy, good job. Just breathe, we're right here, ok? We're never letting you go." 

        That was how he broke. With a loud cry, Tommy collapsed in on himself, falling into Tubbo's lap and wrapping his arms tight around his best friend's waist. Immediately, the other two were all over him. Ranboo's tail wrapped around his leg as they curled themself around Tommy protectively. He could feel the rumble of their chest against his back as they made that almost purring sound they do for comfort. It really did work, Tommy almost laughed. Tubbo's hand carded fully through his hair, brushing warm against the back of his neck on every run through, while the other took over stroking circles around Tommy's shoulders and back. He sobbed. He didn't want to die, he was still so afraid, yet somehow his tears were slowly beginning to run dry. 

------

        They had mac and cheese today. Tommy eagerly made himself a bowl and went to sit on one of the plush chairs in the common room, carefully dodging the mechanical parts of one of Tubbo's latest projects scattered on the floor. Since getting back home with his friends, he'd been smiling more and more and almost forgetting the nag of the ticking timer in the back of his mind. "Tommy, have you ever heard about the Antarctic Empire?" 

        Tommy's gaze slid over to his friend and he scoffed. Tubbo wasn't eating, just fiddling absentmindedly with his spoon. His horns needed to be trimmed. Ranboo could probably do that for him when they woke up from their nap, Tommy was no good at it. He wished he was, now more than ever. "Of course I have, everyone has. They're the only force that could possibly stand up to Essempi."

        "You know about their, well, I wouldn't say religion, but their practice, I guess? The one about eternal life?" 

        The line of Tommy's mouth hardened. "Tubbo that's not real. That's just how they gain citizens without and territories without having to forcefully take planets."

        "What if it is?! We don't know for sure that it's not possible, there have been accounts of revival after death, isn't it worth a shot?"

        "That doesn't mean anything! People will say anything, everybody lies and cheats, you know that."

        "But Tommy-"

        "It doesn't work Tubbo! If it did, Wilbur would still be alive!" He was on his feet in an instant, charging past the Fauyn and back into the kitchen. 

The air around them rang with the echo of Tommy's shout. His mouth was still stretched into his cheeks, baring his teeth. Tubbo didn't answer. It wasn't until Tommy started to relax, letting out a long exhale through his nose, that he heard a sniffle. Then another. Slowly, he turned around and immediately his hard expression broke.

        Tubbo wiped his tears away, but they kept coming. He was hunched in on himself, staring at the floor. "I- I just want to try. Please, I don't want to lose my best friend, Tommy...was Wilbur even for sure set up to revive with both of you living on Olyms 19?"

        His heart sank, regret and sorrow and guilt all accumulating in his chest in a dark, heavy pool. "He- n-no. I'm sorry Tubbo, I-"

        "Then can we please try? Please Tommy, I'm so scared and I know you are too. What if it does work? What if you don't have to die? I- I couldn't live with myself if you died and there was something we could have done about it."

        Tommy swallowed thickly. "Alright. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you. If you want me too, I will."

-----

        Tommy's favorite part of the Ygdris system was easily the sun. He didn't know how it was possible (he was a vigilante pilot, not a scientist, fuck off) but the sun--maybe it was a sun, maybe something else, he wasn't sure--was always cleaved in half, permanently split on the horizon giving the vast emptiness of the space around it a perpetual sunrise or sunset appearance, depending on where you were looking at it. 

        The Antarctic Empire, on the planet Ygdris 5, was positioned directly below it, just barely in reach of it's rays. It was notoriously frozen and the shimmering crystal blue sheen of ice and clouded frosty air hovering in its atmosphere confirmed it. Ranboo made a quiet, pleased trill, leaning over Tommy's shoulders with both claws placed neatly on his shirt. They liked the cold. Tommy knew Ranboo was surprisingly cuddly, which worked fine because Tommy was too, but since he had returned to their little dwarf planet they used as a home base, the creature had hardly stopped touching him. It got to the point that even Tommy was starting to find it annoying, but he wouldn't comment. If he thought about it for even a moment, he knew he was glad for it. It was comforting, it was grounding and if he didn't want to freak his friends out any more than they already were, he'd be asking Tubbo for hugs every ten minutes too. 

        Speaking of, Tubbo had actually kept his distance more and more. Literally. They would easily slip into times where he would forget that he was supposed to be worried and they would be attached at the hip, laughing and roughhousing and playing just like normal; then it would end and the fauyn would seemingly remember that he thinks he should be treating Tommy like glass. It made him mad, but then Tommy would remind himself that he didn't want a fight to be one of his last moments with his friends, just like Wilbur hadn't. At the moment, Tubbo was pacing the cabin of the ship behind their chairs, chewing incessantly on his lips and occasionally muttering to himself. His hooves clunked against Clementine's floor and Tommy had to resist the urge to tell him to sit down. It was rare that Tommyinnit of all people was bothered by noise, but since he had been put on Death Watch it was like his senses were constantly dialed up to eleven, his brain and body trying to live as much of life as it could get before it couldn't anymore. 

        "Tubbs," Tommy called. "We're here. You're the one getting us in, we need you on the intercom."

        "Ah! Right, right." His tail flicked behind him as he came over and he picked up the radio prematurely. A few minutes later, when they'd officially entered the atmosphere, it crackled to life, a small call profile from Antarctic Empire Official Communications appearing on screen. 

        "Attention incoming ship, you have breached Antarctic Empire airspace, please state your name and business and ship ID."

        "Tubbo Underscore, frie- a-acquaintance? of Technoblade, here on invitation with two guests. Thomas Innit and Ranboo. Ship ID HS-17Clem." He never knew his friend had actually become closer with the one of the leaders of such a powerful system, just that Tubbo seemed to make a lot of tech and weapons for them. Good. They'll be protected when I'm gone. There were a couple minutes of hushed static while they found and processed his and Ranboo's official information. Tommy's heart seemed to beat even faster than before. Neither of them had much official information. Getting Ranboo properly registered in the Inter-Galactic Travel System had been a nightmare, and mainly working as a vigilante, Tommy would look suspicious as fuck as well. Fuck, he hoped they let them in, they were far to touchy about communications and intergalactic travel in this system. Not oppressively, like Essempi, just paranoid. The first time he had taken a job with them as Theseus had been a major hassle. Luckily, it got easier after that, but he still hadn't worked with them much. 

        Video call requested, showed up on Clementine's screen. Tubbo accepted and Tommy tried to put on a neutral face. They didn't get to see the air traffic controller on the other side, but after a short wait, they said, "Very well. Ship HS-17Clem is cleared for lading, follow the map to bay 3." 

        A simple topographical map into the mountains appeared on their screen, replacing the call, with a blinking red line of travel laid out. It seemed to lead them right into the side of a mountain. Both Ranboo and Tommy glanced over at Tubbo, who didn't bat an eye. Even as they got closer and closer to the flat sheet of rock Tommy knew that was probably an indicator of a hidden area but they weren't slowing down and no doors were opening-

        -until the very last second. Tommy let out a sigh and rolled his eyes. That shouldn't have bothered him. He does shit like that all the time, besides, if Tubbo knew what he was doing, it would be fine. 

        They stepped out into a massive ship bay, easily big enough to hold 7- no 10 more Clementines. Wrapping his wings around himself because it was fucking cold, Tommy used the excuse to pull Tubbo into his side and wrap him up as well. A large blue hedgehog came waddling up to them, stood up on its hind legs to show that it was wearing an Antarctic Empire uniform and said, "Hi! I'm Connor. Welcome to the Antarctic Empire! The Blood God will see you now."

"Were you followed?"

        "F-followed?" Tommy glances down again at the dark shine of the sword blade. The man behind it was no less intimidating; a massive piglin with several more weapons hanging from his belt or strapped to his back, sharp tusks protruding from his lower jaw, adorned with gold, in a pristine Anatartctic Empire uniform, cape billowing out behind him. "No?" He was about to say that at least, he didn't think so, but he had been at a point, before deciding it probably wasn't the best decision for his safety at the moment.

        The piglin nodded and lowered his sword. "Good." He motioned to the guards standing on either side of him. They strode off briskly, like they already knew what he was asking. It was mercifully warm inside compared to the landing bay, maybe a bit too warm, but chills still rattled down Tommy's spine. 

        "W-why?"

        Blood red eyes met his own. The piglin wasn't glaring, but his gaze was still piercing and Tommy had to resist the urge to shrink back. "You're on Death Watch," he answered simply. Tommy was about to protest, reminding the man that that doesn't make sense. Since I'm on Death Watch nobody has to follow me and nobody wants too, but before he could, the man continued. "You probably were followed, that's how they get you. The clairvoyance of Emperor XD's Fates isn't real, he made it up decades ago to give him a power that no one could take away. Sometimes people do die on their own, or commit suicide, but that was only after Death Watch became legend. In reality, it's an assassin." An assassin?! Immediately, Tommy's mind flashes back to the dark ship, the way it was small, sleek and sharp edged, made for speed and stealth and like almost every ship in the cosmos, probably had some guns on it. It had been like no ship he had ever seen before. "They call him Nightmare. Only XD, Nightmare, maybe the Pantheon and we know about him and if Sam hadn't come to us before they could kill him, we never would have learned. He claims some magic, unstoppable force kills the people that XD so conveniently wants dead--only the one who have been giving him the most trouble, or it would get suspicious--then he sends his personal assassin after them in a covert operation while he gets to cover everything up and push the empire forward again, neatly moving on from the resistance and scaring the galaxy too badly to mess with him. Well, for the most part." He gave Tommy a feral grin, like they were sharing some kind of secret. It disappeared almost as soon as it came. 

Nightmare...

Assassin?!

        Holy shit! That cheating bastard was going to kill him and cover it up! Fury and indignation sparked to life in Tommy's chest, making him shriek. Beside him, Ranboo gulped and Tubbo just stared, slack jawed. 

        "Heh, yeah. Don't trust anything the Empire tells you, kid. Lies and propaganda are the only thing they're actually good at. Anyway, they've been trying to find out home base for almost as long, especially now that we've gotten so used to housing Essempi's most wanted."

        The blonde avian behind him stepped forward. He and the piglin wore matching emeralds framed in some larger silver design. His green striped bucket hat seemed out of place with the uniform, but Tommy had already seen several pieces of personal flair or adornment on the other soldiers and officers they'd passed. "Eh, you could give them a little more credit, mate, they've certainly given us some trouble now and then."

         The piglin huffed and turned away. The blonde man ushered them to follow as he introduced himself. "Welcome back Tubbo," he greeted, "and this must be Tommy and Ranboo! We've heard so much about both of you!" He smiled a kind smile and Tommy's guard was already slipping. "I'm Philza and this is Technoblade. Welcome to the Antarctic Empire."

        Now that he didn't have a sword in his face, Tommy could properly appreciate the humongous room around them. It was the exact opposite of XD's home base; where the Essempi Emperor inlaid marble walls with as much gold as he could find, occasionally with a green decorative carpet or banner here and there, a throne in the main hall and servants slipping inconspicuously in and out of secret hallways and corners, the Antarctic Empire's main hall was dark, almost hard to see in, yes, but much nicer on the eyes and with frozen sunlight streaming in through giant glass windows, not really that bad. Instead of a solid, closed in room, large collumns held up the walls along the sides, allowing people to go in and out from anywhere along the hall and to the rest of the building. The base walls were clearly obsidian, not the most decorative rock in mass amounts, but durable as all hell. It could hardly be seen anyway, with velvet drapes bigger than single seater ship hung fro the walls and deep red banners underneath. a good three fifths of the floor in the middle was carpet, the purplish netherite color first with another red carpet on top in the very center, leaving only the outside edges to the hard tile. The two rulers (leaders? Emperors? He wasn't sure what they liked to be called) didn't seem to mind everybody stepping all over them, only stopping the one person who's boots were still dripping with mud there's a mud room, remember? Please go change before you track filth everywhere. Some people were walking together, chatting amiably, not having to bow or take a respectful silence around their rulers, no strict lines and salutes, bowed heads "yes lord". 

        There were no thrones at the end of the hall, only more doors, which again, everyone seemed to have free reign to travel in and out of. It was understandable why Tubbo talked about this place so fondly, there was no strict hierarchy, no servitude, just equals--the famous anarchist society really held up in person. There was even a mud room! Like someone's childhood home or something. It was already relaxing Tommy as well. 

        Philza pointed out doors through the columns on either side as they passed, mentioning thing like, "That's the direction of the wash rooms, if you keep following the hallway you'll be outside near the stables, we have gardens on the opposite side of the building through those doors, one for food and other for decoration, it's a lovely place, I recommend a visit." Tommy wasn't sure how they managed to keep plants alive on this perpetually snowing planet, but they must be good at it. Green houses probably? The two didn't ask any more questions yet, simply took them on a tour of the building. Through the big doors at the end of the hallway to the left were the kitchens (he could hear laughter and good natured banter all the way out here), they went through the right and would circle back around. The training center was the first door after that to the right, with a more gym style room directly after, through that door on the left is the private meeting hall, considerably smaller than the entrance room. Tommy did his best to memorize everything, but he was already forgetting. Well, he supposed he'd either live long enough to get used to it, or die before it mattered anyway.

        Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. If he- if he lived...he wasn't betraying Wilbur at all by not coming to see him again, right? If he lived the rest of his life after this, didn't die a hero's death, like Wil did, would he be disappointed? Tommy had done great things, right? He had lived up to his brother's legacy?Wilbur would want him to be happy, he told himself, he'd want him to live, that's why he did what he did in the first place, that's why he's not here anymore-

Tommy wished he was here. He wished his brother could live with him now that he was retired, take care of pets together and be friends with Tubbo and Ranboo and live in this warm, lively place instead of that rotten Olyms system and their old planet. No one was staring down their noses at each other, there weren't eyes on his back everywhere he went. He wished Wilbur had gotten to see a life beyond lesser beings and more work for you, gràson we're in debt Toms we'll get out of here promise.

        Philza's voice brought him out of his thoughts. "Here is the dining hall. It's a community area, you can eat whenever you liek and you can take food back to your room if you wish, but typically people like to eat together. It's connected to the kitchen here," he motioned to an open counter area where food was displayed on shelves and in pots, being served by folks in aprons. Behind them he could see the larger kitchen, food being made and brought up front. Further across the room was a counter with stools, where the diners and chefs were chatting and laughing like friends. "Everyone takes turns in the kitchen, we have senior cooks who make sure the food won't be an absolute disaster or nothing gets burned down, because dear goddess, some of these little shits cannot fucking cook." There were some shouts of protest from nearby tables, but when Tommy and Philza looked over, the darker winged avian just laughed and the fauyn waving a fork at him was grinning. They didn't even hesitate to talk back and weren't afraid of the consequences. Technoblade huffed what might have sounded like a chuckle. Tommy took in the rest of the room and had to stop his mouth from dropping open.

        Long tables of dark wood were spread throughout the room, which was large enough to hold two armies and thankfully, well lit. People of every species, even some Tommy had never seen before, were intermingled, shouting and laughing and pushing eachother off their benches. He watched several folks get up and go back in line for seconds and another just walk right through the door to the kitchen, grab something out of the fridge and leave. In addition, the food selection was extensive, offering fully vegetarian and vegan meals, mixed, carnivorous meals, some were solely made from the cuisine of certain planets and others were everything all at once and it all smelled heavenly. Tommy's wings ruffled in delight. People were walking easily between tables, switching seats and food and it was an extroverts dream, he could get used to this. 

        There was a cry of surprise, and suddenly, something was flying across the room. Someone pointed and laughed when a clump of mashed potatoes splattered in someone else's face. Head whipped around to the opposite end of the hall, with one person climbing up on the table and grabbing a tray. "Oh, it's on!" 

        "No, no wait-"

        Philza's protests were in vain as another figure, a lanky brunette with glasses that flashed in the light, also climbed up on his seat. "Gentlemen, ladies and all other comrades," he began in a pompous voice, the way an old fashioned military general would. "We have been issued a challenge! And it is our duty to defend our great table and all it's inhabitants from these vile aggressors!" Everyone cheered and Tommy's heart had completely stopped, because this couldn't be real. This couldn't be real, he knows that voice, knows that man, knows that body language and tone and-

       "What'll we do?!"

        "Fight!" The troops had been effortlessly rallied.

        "Wilbur no!" 

        Wilbur laughed as he spun Tommy around in his arms, the boy squealed, partially in delight, partially in terror at the sideways way he was held off the ground. "Wilbur yes!" his older brother laughed.

Somehow, Philza was already standing between the two tables, arms held out on either side and the ceasefire was called before the battle had even really begun. Spoons clattered back onto plates and half hearted groans sounded from around the room, like that of children who knew their mischief wouldn't be acceptable yet tried anyway. "No, no, no food fights. You all know better than that."

        "But Phil..." Wilbur--Wilbur whined, still grinning that dopey familiar grin. 

        "No buts. Besides, we have company!"

        Then Wilbur turned to look at him and for a moment nothing was real neither the emperor, nor Dream's eyes betrayed any form of recognition pesky fly nobody important your life or death never mattered his death never mattered Wilbur-

        His older brother's eyes widened in an instant that had felt like an eternity. "Tommy..." He didn't forget me

        He's coming over what do I do it's Wilbur that's impossible what do I-

        Wilbur greeted Tommy with open arms and an ear to ear grin, as if he hadn't left his little brother to fend for himself for seven years, all alone and thinking he was dead. Tommy could only stand and stare as Wilbur approached, tears building quickly in his eyes. As soon as Wilbur touched him, they fell. His brother pulled him into a bone crushing hug and suddenly Wilbur was real.

When he didn't react, Wilbur pulled back, giving him fearful looks with also teary eyes. "Tommy? Are you alright? I- I know it's been a long time Sunshine, but- "

        Tommy punched him square in the face with all his might.

-----

        It wasn’t so much the fact that Tommy punched Wilbur with his metal arm that did all the damage, but the seven years of built up fury, loneliness, sorrow and betrayal.

        Other members of the Antarctic Empire had to pull Tommy off of Wilbur. He thrashed in their arms, screaming and crying, berating Wilbur for leaving him. The only one who stood aside was Eret, head bowed. “WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?! HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME?! I LOST MY ARM BECAUSE OF YOU, YOU SELFISH MOTHERFUCKER-“

        ”Tommy! Tommy stop!”

        ”I WAS MISERABLE WITHOUT YOU! I MOURNED YOU EVERY DAY—YOU COULDN'T HAVE GIVEN ME SOME HINT THAT YOU WERE ALIVE?! YOU COULDN'T HAVE COME TO SAVE ME?!”

        ”TOMMY!”

        People were shouting, Tommy wasn’t listening. All he knew was that he was furious. There had only been one other time that he had blamed Wilbur for what he did—only one other time that he got angry at his brother and that was seven years ago, when everything was still fresh and hurting and awful, but now? Now the wound was torn open and being dug into with red hot metal. Now Tommy wanted to hurt him. He wanted Wilbur to feel just as much pain as Tommy had, all seven years of it. He changed hands, almost being able to dart back to his brother moaning on the floor, but someone grabbed him around the ribs and hefted him all the way up to their head, swinging him over their shoulder and walking away. Tubbo and Ranboo were somewhere, frankly Tommy didn't care where and didn't know when they disappeared. Tommy pounded on the blue cloak underneath him, wild swings almost hitting the green hat off the man who was walking with him and his captor. His wings flapped wildly, but the height of the man carrying him made them almost useless. The two let him scream until his voice went hoarse, struggles rapidly getting weaker and weaker as soon as Wilbur was out of sight.

        Finally, they reached a thick oak door. He was unceremoniously dropped onto the plush bed inside the room. The massive piglin glared down at him, flicking two hooves in his direction. "Stay."

        The other one didn't leave with his friend. After a moment of assessing Tommy's change in behavior, he deemed it safe to sit down on the bed beside him. Tommy curled into himself and tried to stop crying. Philza's dark wings fluttered around his back hesitantly, before ultimately deciding to fold back down onto the bed. There was silence, like the blonde man didn't know what to say. Then, "I didn't know Wilbur was your brother."

        Tommy made a feral noise of discontent and pushed his face further into his arms. "I suppose, that makes you the Tommy then?"

        He couldn't help but perk up, though he tried to make it look like he didn't. The Tommy? "...Did he talk about me?"

        Philza smiled. His eyes were as vivid blue as Tommy's own, perhaps the only difference being a sharp icy hue. "Oh yes, all the time." Every single one of Tommy's functions stalled. Was that a good thing? It was insulting. He didn't forget about me.

Why didn't he come back? Why didn't he take me with him?!

"It's nice to meet you again Tommy. I can't wait to get to know you. You can just call me Phil, by the way." What? Not wanting to be impolite to the host of his new planet, he accepted the handshake. He liked Phil's smile. Until blue eyes glanced down and the smile dropped, pupils momentarily dilating into slits. His gaze was hard set on the shining obsidian band around Tommy's finger. "Where did you get that?"

        His eyes narrowed. Phil wouldn't let him pull his hand away. "It was Wilbur's, before the explosion. Why?"

        The grip remained firm as Philza seemed to think about this, then his expression softened into something loving and his mouth split into a grin. "I'm glad you have it," was all he said. Then he let go and stood before Tommy could ask any important questions, such as "what the fuck?". "Well, I'll leave you be for tonight, I'm sure you have a lot to get settled and today was a big day. As you can see, everything has been brought in for you already. All I must say, is please no fighting outside of designated combat scenarios." In only a few strides, he was over by the door, already slipping out of the room before pausing one last time to smile at him. "Sleep well Tommy, I'll see you tomorrow." 

        That- that was strange. He didn't like it. However, he was much to tired in every possible way to deal with it right now. He wasn't even entirely sure what all he had to deal with anymore, there was just so much so fast, how was he supposed to-

        Nope. That was Tomorrow Tommy's problem. He was going to sleep.

        Immediately the next morning, Tommy was summoned to the private dining room. Philza greeted him with a delighted smile from the head of the single, mostly empty table. "Good morning Tommy! How are you feeling?" Techno grunted a greeting from beside him, then tilted his head up to eye him curiously.

        "Mneh," Tommy answered. Phil motioned for him to sit down across from Techno and Tommy immediately went for the pastries. As soon as he bit into one, a wonderful taste exploded in his mouth. "Holy stars, are these apple?" 

        "Of course, we have plenty here. Would you like to see the orchards?"

        "Orchards?!" Philza chuckled at his amazement and suddenly Tommy remembered to be suspicious. "Hold on, why am I here?"

        "We want to get to know you," Philza answered simply. "Don't worry, Wilbur won't be here today. Tomorrow either, probably, you gave him a hell time yesterday, and we didn't think it's be great to put you in the same room together again too soon."

        Tommy balked. He almost felt bad, hearing that he had hurt his brother badly, but the image of his face, healthier and older, with those white streaks in his hair sent a wave of resentment crashing over him again. He stuffed his mouth with another pastry. 

        Why would he be here? 

        We're causing trouble already, they're trying to fix us. It's not their job, it's not their business fuck off!

        They're the only thing keeping you from an assassin right now, be calm.

"Where are Tubbo and Ranboo?"

        "Either still sleeping or down in the main dining room, I presume. I promise, they're well taken care of and you'll have all day to be with them later." He nodded reluctantly, for lack of anything better to do. "So, Tommy, how old are you?"

        "Eighteen." A chunk of pastry got lodged in his throat and he swears he had a mini heart attack, instantly grabbing his neck with one hand and almost spilling his water with the other, hurrying to guzzle it down. His heart went from a near standstill to attempting to beat out of his chest in only a moment. No, no, no, please I can't- I can't die now, I'm so close, please this can't be the end-

A hand pounded on his back and the chunk dislodged and Tommy filled his lungs with as much air as he could possibly get. He was alive. He wasn't going to die from- from something as petty as that. 

        Philza's face had fallen when he went to sit back down. "You're on Death Watch,"

        "I'm on Death Watch," all three of them chorused. Both men were staring at him intensely, like they could see his heartbeat ebbing away. Tommy swallowed thickly and drank some more water. A sharp pang in his chest reminded him that even when Emperor XD condemned him, for every galaxy to see, Wilbur had still been just sitting here, having a grand old time with his new friends. He scowled and tried not to think about it so heart ache would stop making it so hard to breathe. Philza opened his mouth, like he was planning to say something, then closed it. He did it again. Then, he looked over to Techno with pleading eyes.They seemed to have an entire conversation with their eyes, before eventually, Techno sighed and waved at Philza dismissively. 

        The blonde pursed his lips. Lastly, he turned back to Tommy. "You came here for immortality," he surmised. 

        "Yes. Sort of. Not really, I'd just settle for not dying." Tommy wouldn't beat around the bush. He tried not to shrink under the man's icy gaze; he knew that was probably the man reason people came to the Antarctic Empire, he only hoped they would determine that he was worth it. 

        "You were a vigilante, that's why XD condemned you?"

        "Yes."

        "Why?"

        Tommy stilled. It seemed silly now. It seemed too personal. Would they care? Would they think he was foolish and overreacting? He had to tell the truth anyway, he was putting his life in these people's hands, he wouldn't hold back. "They killed my brother. Or I thought they did. I don't know how, but we got stuck on one of their colony planets, Olyms 19. We weren't natives of the planet, but we got indebted to the Emperor somehow and repaid that with work. We lived in the government's housing with others, but it was hardly livable. They treated us like scum and we were lesser beings, if they said jump, we said how high and if we didn't, we could die. They were doing it all over the galaxy, trapping travelers and colonizing planets and generally treating people like absolute shit. I didn't really know what was going on at the time, only that we were stuck and miserable, but Wilbur started telling me, he said he was going to change things. Then one day he put me on a ship away and blew up the entire capitol city of Olyms 19. It was a fucking failure, I lost my arm, the Pantheon kept enslaving planets and then I was just lost. I learned for myself more of what was happening while I was on the run and once I got on my feet I wanted to stick it to the Pantheon as well and finish what Wilbur started."

        "But if the Pantheon thought you were dead, why not move on with your life? You ended up making them hunt you down and kill you anyway," Technoblade pointed out.

        "There were other people stuck in my situation, I wasn't going to not help them. Besides, Emperor Fuckface deserves it."

        Both men snorted and Tommy thinks he might have gotten a smile out of Techno. "We've been watching you, you know. There have been other rebellion efforts and other vigilantes, but Theseus was in a league of his own. You inspired a lot of our citizens here, actually."

        "Really?"

        "Oh yes," Philza smiled. "It was clear to see that XD was having trouble with you as well. I'm sorry that he ended up catching you, but we're glad you're here. We're proud of you, Theseus, and we know Wilbur is too." The teen couldn't help the way his heart swelled at that. The Antarctic Empire was a notoriously anarchist group, staging rebellions across the galaxy. Theseus was just one kid and they thought he did well! 

        Philza's demeanor changed, though Tommy couldn't read it anymore. "Tommy, do you have a journal?"

        "What? Uh, yeah? Why?"

        "Would you go get it please?" 

        The entire walk back to his room, his thoughts were racing. How did they know? Why did that matter? What if they found something inside that they didn't like? What if they were going to throw it away? He didn't know why they would do that, but the thought made his hands shake and he thumbed over the engraving again an again until he returned to the dining room. Somehow this time the room felt larger, Tommy felt more exposed. Perhaps it was because they knew who he was or perhaps the way he was quite literally about to hand over his entire life the last seven years to these strange people. He crossed the long table and sat himself down on the other side of Philza again, trying not to grasp the book too hard. 

        The older blonde held his hand out. "May I?" Both adults were watching him closely.

        Deliberately avoiding hesitation, he handed it over. He tried not to fiddle with his hands. He wasn't hungry anymore. 

        Philza ran a hand over the cover almost lovingly, like greeting an old friend, dipping a finger into one of the imprints of an apple hanging form the branches of the tree. He took note of the well worn edges and the softness of the leather, the way the binding string was ready to fall apart. Tommy was eternally relieved that he didn't read what was inside, or even so much and skim the pages, only flipped them through his fingers like he was testing the paper. Eventually, he gave it to Technoblade to do the same and held his hand out to Tommy again. "The ring as well please? We'll give it back, I promise."

        He wasn't expecting that. he wasn't ready for that. He didn't want to give his ring up, not once since Wilbur gave it to him had he taken it off. It slipped off his finger painfully easily. Once again, Philza looked at it in that strange, familiar way, quickly giving it as well to the piglin who hadn't already seen it. Technoblade turned both items over in his hooves with a critical eye. "The Sword and the sandals," he muttered.

        "What?"

        Blood red eyes met his own. "Tommy, did you choose your vigilante name based off of the legend of Theseus?"

        "No. I don't know who that is. I--this is going to sound so dumb--the night I decided to be a vigilante, a woman appeared in my dream. I think she was a goddess from somewhere, I don't know, I'm an atheist; she was suuuper tall and all dressed in black, with a veiled hat? She called me Theseus and begged me to 'take [my] journey by ship' instead of staying on-planet, so I did. I don't know, it was confusing, but I got the feeling she was talking about the vigilante-ism--that Dream Feeling, you know? Besides, I had no other idea what to call myself, so I just went with it." 

        Technoblade and Philza just stared for a moment, then both burst out laughing. Techno rose from his seat and walked around the table, kneeling by Tommy's chair. "Tommy, before Aegeus, Theseus' father left for Athens, he hid a sword and a pair of sandals under a giant boulder and told Aethra 'If you bore a son in nine months and if he is able to lift this rock once he reaches manhood, then send him to Athens with this sword and these sandals, for then I’d know that he is, indeed, my son, the future king of Athens'." The piglin took Tommy's hand and slid the ring back on his finger, then pressed the journal into his palms. "When Theseus did, Aethra begged him to travel to Athens by sea, because of all the dangers waiting by land. Theseus refused, wanting to prove himself a worthy hero, instead facing threat after threat until he arrived and was hailed as a great warrior."

        "Rather poetic, don't you think, mate?"

        Techno nodded, but Tommy was still lost. Thankfully, the piglin continued as he stood. "Phil is my father and Wilbur is my twin; we had a younger brother a long time ago, but in an accident, we got separated. Wilbur and the youngest were lost. Almost a decade ago, Wilbur found us again, on a mission from the Pantheon. He still had mom's ring, that's how we knew."

        Suddenly, all the pieces began to click into place. Tommy gaped. "You gave him the journal! When- when he said we'd see our family again-"

        "Yes. He told us about your situation and how the Pantheon was would never let you travel with him in order to make sure he came back. We helped him plan your escape. We've been looking for you everywhere, Theseus, we were almost afraid you really had died in the explosion. Yet you were right in front of us the whole time," Phil finished. His eyes were teary and Tommy could feel his own starting to wet. Even Technoblade was smiling.

”So…you…” He didn’t just have an older brother, he had a whole family.

A whole family who didn't leave him on purpose, a whole family who had been searching for him the whole time.

        "Welcome home, Theseus."

        After the reunion, Techno and Phil led him on a tour around the building, saying they’ll have more than enough time to get to the rest of the city and the planet later. He didn't mind waiting another day to go see Tubbo and Ranboo, they would understand. They ended in the infirmary. 

        Tommy had been a chatterbox the entire time, but neither Phi, nor Techno seemed to mind. “Wait so, how do you guys do the immortality thing? Is it even real?? It has to be since Wilbur is alive, right?”

        ”It is real. Frankly, we prefer to keep it more of a legend, especially so others like XD don’t figure it out as well. There are two parts to it.”

        ”One,” Techno began, “the gapples. Golden apples could bring someone back from the very brink of death, one heartbeat left. They have magical properties that make you more durable and helps wound close faster. Usually the effect is only temporary, but if you eat enough…well, theoretically you could become immortal or close enough at least.” He glanced over at Phil. Tommy’s eyes widened to the size of saucers.

”Trust me mate, it’s not actually that great.”

        ”Regeneration beds are…complicated. They’re hard to explain,” Techno continued. “Essentially, there’s some spiritual mumbo jumbo that Phil could tell you more about if you’re interested that makes places of rest an anchor for the soul. With some magical intervention, you can anchor a soul there permanently. We have people eat the gapples so that they can reform after death and they don’t just end up haunting us instead.” They pushed open the massive doors to the infirmary, leading into a large white hospital room. “We keep all of our regen beds in here, so if something happens to you, this is where you’ll end up. Using them as a place of healing strengthens the revival factor as well.”

”We also occasionally make protective pendants,” Phil adds.

        ”You’re not a real member of the Antarctic Empire if you haven’t died at least once,” a voice called cheerfully. Halfway across the room on the right, a girl with pink hair in twin buns turned away from a bed and waved at them. 

        “That’s not true Nemesis, stop scaring him,” Phil chided.

        The girl shrugged, wandering over. She held out her hand with a kind smile. “But you do have to prove yourself a hero and a true warrior. Immortality isn't free. Though, from what I've heard, that won't be a problem for you. Hi, I’m Niki. You must be Tommy!”

        "Hi. Nemesis? Or Niki?"

        "Oh, you can call me either. Some Syndicate members have codenames. Phil and Tech are Zephyrus and Protesilaus, respectively. You probably haven't heard of Harpocrates, Apollo is the dog, you'll see him wandering around. There are a lot of dogs actually, but he's the one with the golden collar. And then...wasn't Tubbo going to become an official member soon?"

        Tommy's head whipped around to stare at the two behind him. His brother, a member of the Syndicate?! "Yeah, we haven't actually offered it yet though, I'm not sure he would want to, but we've been coming up with names for him."

        "I can make him!" Tommy declared. "Ohhhh that would be so pog! Can I have a codename?! And can Ranboo stay here too??"

        Phil put a hand on his head, effectively calming his bouncing. "Of course, mate. You don't have to live here to be a member of the Syndicate though. Although, we were hoping you would stay."

        "Of course! This place is fucking awesome!! So what's my codename?? It's gotta be something cool."

        "You already have a codename Tommy, you're Theseus. Ah, but we understand if you want to change it. I assure you though, XD--no one--can hurt you here."

Oh. 

That- wow it's been a long time since he's heard that.

No one can hurt you while I'm here sunshine, I promise.

       Welcome home Theseus. "Heh, nah. I think Theseus is fine. I just forgot for a sec."

        Then, behind Niki, he saw a head of curly brown hair, tucked into a hospital bed. The face turned away when they locked eyes, like he was afraid to be caught staring. Tommy gulped and his feathers ruffled, instinctively swiping one back towards where Phil was standing close behind him. The older avian- Tommy's father reached him hand out to meet it reassuringly and with a deep breath, Tommy walked to the bed. 

        The other two followed behind, trying to give him his space while simultaneously staying well withing arms reach.  

        The difference between Wilbur today and Wilbur yesterday was stark. He looked like he hadn't slept all night and the bruises blooming across his eyes and cheek and jaw only made the worn down, pitiful appearance worse. A wave of sickness rolled n Tommy's stomach and he suddenly felt very very guilty because he had done that, he had hurt his own brother--his Wilbur. Even if he wasn't the exact same Wilbur Tommy remembered, even if he was growing a beard and looked just a bit older and had those unnatural white streaks in his hair, he was still, undeniably Tommy's brother. 

        ”Hi Tommy.” Wilbur kept his voice low and soft, prepared for Tommy to go off on him again.

        "Hi," he answered quietly.

        ”Your hair has gotten so long,” Wil muttered, pushing a few curls away from his face. The blonde tried not to melt into the touch.

        ”Yeah, well, I didn’t have you there to cut it for me.” It was equal parts bitter dig, honesty and invitation.

        “Why did you leave me? Why didn’t you at least tell me?”

        Wilbur opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, a deafening boom shook the building.

        “ATTENTION YGDRIS 5, THE EMPEROR OF ESSEMPI ORDERS YOU TO HAND OVER YOUR LEADERS AND SURRENDER FOR CRIMES AGAINST THE EMPIRE”

        ”What!?”

        ”How the fuck-?!”

        In an instant, Technoblade had whirled around and was rushing out the door, already unsheathing an axe across his back. Alarms were blaring in Tommy’s ears and Wilbur jumped out of bed, grabbing him before he could do anything else. “Tommy go to your room and hide-“

        ”No!”

        "Tommy I'm not letting you get hurt again, you'll be safe there-"

        "No! I'm not running away, they're here for me!"

        "He's right mate," Phil interjected.

        "Wh- Phil! No. I don't care, I know I haven't been there but I love you Tommy and I'm going to keep you safe!"

        "I can keep myself safe bitch, I've been doing it this whole time, haven't I?!" Wilbur's expression broke and his grip on Tommy's shoulders slackened. The blonde couldn't help but feel bad again, his heart aching to just ahve his brother back, they simple way they used to be. "Yo- I- Look, I've got this covered, ok? But I need Tubbo and Ranboo to be safe too, I don't want them dragged into this mess. Wil please, will you go find them? Protect them, that- that's what you can do for me." 

        Wilbur's eyes widened with something like hope--pained, but hope nonetheless. "Ok. Ok, I can do that. I- I'll keep them safe, promise." He turned to leave but before he could Tommy yanked him back in and crushed him in a hug, this time letting himself cry freely. Wilbur's arms settled perfectly beside his wings and wrapped warm around his body just like they always had, like they had never parted.

        "I missed you."

        "I missed you too Sunshine."

        "I love you."

        Wilbur pressed a kiss to the top of his head and Tommy could hear the smile in his voice when he said, "I love you too."

        Another boom rattled the building and they practically threw each other off, Wilbur turning and sprinting for the doors with his long legs, but not before twisting back to give him one last joyous smile and wave which Tommy gladly returned. Let's just hope this time-

No, nope not thinking about that.

        "I'm glad you made up mate." There was a hand on his shoulder and Tommy looked up to his father, the same bright blue eyes and blonde hair and Tommy felt safe despite it all. 

        "I'm still gonna fight him later," he answered and Phil laughed. Then, something was being pressed into Tommy's hands. It was Phil's emerald pendant. The silver designs around it were another tree of life, just like the one on his journal, with the emerald set firmly in the trunk. 

        "Wear that. It'll keep you safe."

        Tommy gaped up at him, but grinned wide and clipped the pendant to the hole in the zipper on his jacket's breast pocket and held his hands out expectantly. "So, do I get a sword too, or what? 'Cause you guys kind of took away my blaster." He was practically bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet with excitement, making the grabby hands and Phil was trying not to laugh, staring down at him with unfettered fondness in his eyes already. 

        "Absolutely not, I don't trust you with one of those yet." Phil rushed over to the wall by the nurse's station and pressed a button and the entire wall opened up to reveal a fully stocked weapons cabinet. Tommy screamed with delight. Quickly choosing a blaster to sheath on his hip and another, larger one to carry around, he practically jumped out to follow Phil out of the infirmary. 

        Just a few turns that Tommy still couldn't remember later, and they were skidding to a stop in the center of the entrance hall, where Tommy had first met Phil and Techno. He ddn't have to look around for the source of the commotion, besides the fact that soldiers were assembling en mass and already in fights with Essempi soldiers, almost half the roof had been blown open, letting bright white light stream in. Hovering just outside of his enormous imperial ship, was XD himself, with his little piss ant number 2, Dream, next to him. 

        Dream was on his own ship and didn't look anything like how he normally does. His white face mask was the same, with the same painfully bright halo around his head that mirrored XD's (once again Tommy couldn't help but wonder if they were related) but his clothes were dark and much more suited for tactical operations than even the usual manhunt clothes he wore as the head of the Pantheon. At his side he held a long, wickedly sharp sword, with an equally intimidating dagger at his belt. That was the ship! Tommy realized. The ship Dream is standing on- That was the ship that was following me!

        But he didn't have time to gape as someone almost slammed into him from the side. Tommy darted out of the way, only not getting hit by vigilante's reflexes, and realized that everyone was here. There, just a little off to his left was an enraged shout of "Sapnap!" and some more words he couldn't hear and looking over, there was Ares using his blazeborn abilities to blast fire at Hephaestus- no, not Hephaestus, he thought. Sam. The ex-Pantheon member and the only Death Watch not to be confirmed. On his right, he whirled around to see Nemesis viciously slash out at Hermes, a tall demonic looking creature who he didn't know the real name of, Dionysus and Athena were tag teaming a battalion of Antarctic Empire soldiers with the Dionysus, the Platyanas swooping down on them from above with his golden wings and Athena (yet another strange species Tommy had never known, he was starting to think Ranboo's very normal alien existence was actually plausible) using his book to warp the cosmos around them momentarily. Immediately, Tommy moved to go help them, he'd dealt with everyone in the Pantheon before and escaped, they needed him, but Phil grabbed his collar. 

        "No," They have other friends, they can take care of themselves. We're needed up there." He pointed to the top of the rubble pile where a familiar piglin form was squared off against all five of the rest of the Pantheon, XD and Dream watching with feigned disinterest, yet not moving from their safe positions several hundred yards above. Techno was doing well, of course he was, being notoriously one of the only beings to scare Emperor XD (and everyone knew it, even if they couldn't admit it), but there were bigger fish to fry that he was too preoccupied to take down. Tommy almost feared for his life--honestly, he kind of was afraid. What if something happened to his new brother? This was no easy fight, what if-

        Two were unconscious and tumbling down the rubble pile at the piglin's feet, he threw off a third and slashed a fourth, leaving the fifth to zip away out of fear. Tommy was sure they would come back, but it gave Techno a break. He noticed them at the exact same time they had both flared their wings to take off, and grinned savagely. "Welcome to the party! Yer late!" It's ok, it's ok, he's fucking insane, he's got this, no one can take down The Blade.

        With a single powerful beat of his wings, Phil was beside Technoblade, darting forward in a black blur to spear the fifth Pantheon member out of the air when they returned. Technoblade hadn't even bothered to look behind him. Something shiny in his hooves caught Tommy's eyes from all the way on the ground. Technoblade held the golden apple out to Tommy with an expectant look and that same wild, sharp tusked grin. "You want to be a hero Tommy? Then die like one."

        Without a single thought, Tommy leapt into the air and caught it, ripping a piece out with his teeth in one fell swoop. It tasted better than anything he had ever tried, anything he had ever experienced. It tasted like magic, like victory, like life, shimmering, popping, exploding flavor on his tongue. It tasted like cold metal and blood, snakes venom running down his throat and smelled like flowers and earth and old bones held up to his face.

        He leveled his aim at XD's chest as the Emperor was turning towards him and flew directly to his death.

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

I didn’t know the story of Theseus very well before this and I didn’t expect it to match up as well as it did but now I feel like a literary genius. We even got a king Minos parallel at the end with XD showing up for blood and Tommy going to fight for his new country/planet

This whole thing is very greek but celtic/norse antarctic empire is my everything so I put it in there anyway.

IVE WANTED TO POST THIS For FOREVER

-sorta ad astra inspired usually sci-fi isn't my thing

-so tumblr doesn't have a word limit apparently or at least I haven't found it yet

#tommy centric #dream smp fanfiction #dream smp oneshot #origin smp #origins smp fanfic #osmp #tubbo underscore #ranboo #philza minecraft #technoblade #wilbur soot #dsmp #angel writes #space #sci fi #antarctic empire #dream xd #oneshot #sleepy bois inc #sleepy bois fanfic #anarchy #vigilante tommy #eret #dream team #dream #winged tommy #goat tubbo #piglin technoblade #outer space #tommyinnit

[jacksnwangs]

Lol, I don't mind long messages at all ;) Anyway, I wanted to request snapshots of Jihoon's perspective. You know how you rewrote the major scenes in Yoongi's perspective? I was wondering like, what was Jihoon thinking when he suggested that Jimin should date Yoongi, when he saw Yoongi come home crying, when they got married, etc. Thank you! ;) (Also I literally just read so many of your Yoonmins and I love your angst so much, I recced your fics on bantanficrecs, I don't know if you saw. xD)

does anyone even follow me anymore? i know it's been literal years since you asked this and unfortunately, i don't know that i'll follow through and finish all the scenes, but i did in the past couple years write a solid 6k of jihoon perspective so i thought i'd post a little bit just to honor this very very old request! and who knows. i miss writing a lot and even though i'm not really on the rpf/kpop fic train anymore, i love the relationships i created with jihoon as an oc so it's not impossible i finish this as a whole story one day soon ;)

you definitely need to read the original when you're in love all the lines get blurred for this one to make sense

i.

Jihoon is fourteen when he answers the phone, Jimin already partway through whining a complaint as the connection completes. There’s the rough crackle of static that he’s gotten used to from his old, hand-me down flip phone and then he hears, “… that I’m gay and she laughed at me!”

It’s said with that can you even believe it! kind of tone that makes it seem like Jihoon should know what’s going on and he should be on Jimin’s side. Jihoon, as is usually true, does not know what’s going on, and probably wouldn’t even if he’d caught the first half of Jimin’s sentence, but, as is always true, he is on Jimin’s side.

He tucks away Jimin’s casual announcement away to consider later, if he can remember to, and focuses on the more pressing issue: “She laughed at you?” Jimin makes an enthusiastic noise, which Jihoon hears clearly as thank god, you understand, before launching back into a rant about his mom and not being taken seriously. It gives Jihoon the same sense of pride he feels when a teacher calls on him because they know he isn’t paying attention and he gets the answer right anyways.

Jihoon follows the conversation, making vague sounds to express outrage and sympathy at all the right points until he hears a faint knocking through the line and Jimin hurries to end the call with a grateful and cheery, “love you, bye!”

Jihoon does not, in fact, remember to address the part where Jimin just came out to him.  

ii.

Jihoon is sixteen when he has to spend half a week needling Jimin to find out why he’s been using every free period to pout and stare longingly out windows like a weekday drama character. When he finally does get Jimin to cop to marathon moping, the two of them slumped against each other on Jihoon’s bed with their backs against the wall, Jimin still tries to get away with mumbling, “It’s nothing, just a… little argument with my mom.”

“Oh,” Jihoon says, because Jimin never fights with his mom, or anyone, really, and he can’t remember the last time Jimin was even annoyed with her. Until he does, and he says, a little too excited, “Oh! Did you try to tell her you’re gay again?”

Jimin blanches, immediately, and Jihoon can’t fathom why he’s got that wide-eyed, stricken look on his face. It’s not like Jihoon cares. He’s never thought twice about it, not once in the years since he found out, not even long enough to tease Jimin about how much he blushed and stammered when that one handsome teacher from the dance studio complimented him on his improving skill.

“I-I-I,” He stutters, and Jihoon briefly wants to make the joke about how nervous that guy makes Jimin now, but he waits, because he lives mostly to embarrass Jimin but there’s a time and a place and this probably isn’t it. Jimin abruptly scrambles away from Jihoon, nearly falling off the bed in his rush to create some distance, “How did you know?”

“What do you mean, how did I know? You told me!” It never occurred to Jihoon that it might be a big deal. The first time, Jihoon had accepted it just as casually and easily as Jimin had said it. If Jimin had sat him down to have a big coming out moment like they sometimes do in American movies, Jihoon probably would’ve said something at least vaguely nice to fit the moment. “Did you forget?”

“You never said anything!” Jimin accuses instead of admitting he totally forgot he came out to his best friend in the middle of complaining about his mom one time, like, two years ago.

“Why would I say anything? You’re the one who’s gay!”

“Stop saying that,” Jimin demands. Jihoon swallows back a petulant ‘but you are’.  No one is home, Jihoon knows, and Jimin probably does too, but he still glances furtively towards the door like someone might hear. There’s another sarcastic comment, as there usually is, on the tip of Jihoon’s tongue – something disparaging about his older brother, no doubt.

Probably also thinking about Yoongi, Jimin suddenly asks, without looking at Jihoon, “Did you tell anyone?” He’s so tense it seems painful, hands closing into fists around Jihoon’s wrinkled bed spread, smoothing Jihoon’s own defensive edge into something more sympathetic.

“Who would I tell?” Jihoon replies softly. Sure, he’ll whine and argue when Yoongi makes some passing comment about Jihoon only having one friend because Yoongi sucks, but it’s not like he’s wrong. He’ll pretend to be bitter about it, but, in reality, Jimin and Jihoon have been friends for sixteen years and Jihoon’s never seen the need for anyone else. And, contrary to popular (read: Yoongi’s) belief, Jihoon isn’t a huge asshole. If he did have someone worth telling, even if he thought Jimin wouldn’t care who knows, he wouldn’t have.

Jimin accepts this without further argument, maybe because he’s acknowledging that Jihoon is a better friend than that and wouldn’t spill secrets that aren’t his to share, but probably because he also knows they are an exclusive duo.

They fall into a long silence, Jimin panicking while Jihoon sits very still and hopes Jimin will come to his own conclusions. The facts are obvious – Jihoon has known for two years, and Jihoon has known while believing Jimin wanted Jihoon to know, and absolutely nothing about their friendship has changed. If Jihoon was going to care, if Jihoon was going to spread rumors and turn his back on his best friend, he would’ve done it by now.

Jimin seems to get there, eventually, but he still whispers, too full of doubt, “you really don’t care?

Jihoon drags Jimin back into his side by grabbing him loosely around his neck and yanking him into a headlock. He rests his cheek against the top of Jimin’s head, keeping him close, and promises, “You are the same person you’ve always been.”

iii.

Jihoon is eighteen when he gets a text from his best friend saying, apropos of nothing, “I’m an idiot.”

He doesn’t ask why. Jimin doesn’t explain.

Jihoon texts back, “i think you meant ‘a dumbass’ but ok.”

iv.

Jihoon isn’t sure exactly how long Jimin’s been lying next to his bed. He didn’t pay much attention when Jimin came in and shut the door with an irritated huff. In fact, Jihoon didn’t even look up from his phone, recognizing the sound of Jimin’s heavy footfalls on the steps leading up to his bedroom before the door opened. Jimin might have texted to say he was coming, the message buried somewhere in any number of notifications Jihoon has been ignoring for the sake of doing nothing else, but it’s just as likely he showed up unannounced.

He’s been sighing at freakishly perfect one minute and forty second intervals – Jihoon counted the time between five in a row after the first dozen before getting bored – since he arrived and threw himself bodily onto the floor of Jihoon’s bedroom, which is certainly unclean.

Jimin will keep sighing and Jihoon will keep pretending he doesn’t notice, not because he doesn’t care, but because he knows better. If he tries to ask what’s wrong, Jimin will insist it’s nothing, and then worry about why Jihoon thought something was wrong, and then he’ll get self-conscious about how his face looks and what his voice sounds like and act weird and robotic because he’s trying so hard to make it seem like everything is fine and then it’ll take an extra three days for Jimin to actually talk about whatever it is he’s sighing about. It’s better to let Jimin huff and puff until he’s built up enough steam to bring it up himself.

The rhythm of Jimin’s angst becomes strangely soothing, turning into such a relaxing backdrop to Jihoon’s mindless scrolling that he’s somewhere near half-asleep by the time Jimin speaks.

“What am I gonna do?” The question prompts Jihoon closer to consciousness. Jimin keeps talking, but Jihoon only has the chance to process the word “boyfriend” before he’s dropping his phone and rolling away from the wall to glare at Jimin.

“You got a boyfriend?” Jihoon feels a genuine hurt, thinking that Jimin, who Jihoon has always supported without question and very few (genuine) complaints, would keep secrets from him.

“No,” Jihoon is pleased to see that Jimin looks as scandalized as he feels. “That’s the whole problem,” he continues, and then asks again, because it apparently wasn’t rhetorical, “what am I going to do?”

Jihoon suggests he fake a breakup, the easiest solution, but Jimin is right that it won’t work. Ending the life of a lie quickly is, of course, ideal, but lies are best when there are some messy loose ends that just can’t be tied up or explained away. Having a few holes in your story can make it more believable, as long as you’re careful about where you leave them.

Jihoon also suggests Jimin gets a boyfriend, which is a win-win. Maybe even a win-win-win. Jimin’s mom believes he’s gay, win. Jimin has a boyfriend, big win.  Jihoon’s best friend is happy, the biggest win of them all.

And, sure, Jimin has a point. If it were that easy to find someone to date, Jimin would have brought one home back when he was fourteen and his mom laughed at him, and Jihoon would not be counting the seconds between Jimin’s exhales at three in the afternoon on a beautiful spring Saturday, and Yoongi would have something to do other than sleep for twelve hours at a time and somehow still be the crankiest man alive.

Jimin visibly gives up when Jihoon declines to be Jimin’s fake boyfriend, easily the worst idea either of them has ever suggested. What should happen is Jihoon should be sympathetic and comforting, while they conclude Jimin will admit he lied and continue to live his life as he has been. If the two of them thought about it for maybe, like, fifteen more minutes they would realize that Jimin’s mom refusing to accept his identity is unfair and hurtful but ultimately inconsequential. That, eventually, Jimin will naturally find a genuine relationship and he will introduce that person to his mom because he wants to share his life with them, not because he wants this specific acknowledgment from his otherwise loving mother.

However, what actually happens, because Jihoon does not believe in thinking about things for more than one minute, and because Jimin looks kind of pathetic and more importantly, sad, and Jihoon simply will not stand for that, is Jihoon grapples for any other plan, just anything to get Jimin’s enthusiasm back. What actually happens is, Jihoon says, “My brother’s gay!”

Jimin doesn’t look like he believes Jihoon, even when Jihoon lays out his very strong evidence of Yoongi kissing boys sometimes like, five years ago. Yoongi never said he was gay, sure, but in Jihoon’s defense, Yoongi didn’t say much of anything, especially not to him, and especially not when Yoongi was in high school. The most they ever talked about it, Jihoon thinks, is after the third time when Yoongi came inside after saying goodbye to his friend and found Jihoon staring at him over the back of the couch. They’d held silent eye contact until Jihoon had pursed his lips to make kissy noises and Yoongi, before Jihoon could follow through, told him to shut up and left the room.

So, maybe Yoongi never said he’s gay, but he also never said he wasn’t gay, and that’s about as close to Jimin’s type as they’re going to get in the next sixty seconds – and as established, Jihoon does not plan farther ahead than that – so he suggests him.

It’s only meant to be that – a suggestion. Something that will get Jimin’s spirit back for a few more minutes until the new plan is inevitably foiled. Jihoon gives it, at best, a two percent chance Yoongi even entertains the idea. If it were him, ignoring the deeply problematic nature of asking your own brother to fake date you to fool your mom, he’d give it a solid zero. The odds of Yoongi doing something for another person are, by Jihoon’s estimation, astronomically low. The odds of Yoongi doing something for him are lower. But, in his roughly fifteen years of observation, Jihoon’s noticed that Yoongi has what one may call, if they were being generous, a bit of a soft spot for Jimin. Jihoon does not blame him. Jimin is very hard not to adore.

“You want me to date your brother?” Jimin asks, and that is not what Jihoon said. He gags, only a little on purpose, at the idea. It’s not clear if he’s more disgusted at the idea of Jimin dating his brother, or Jimin dating his brother, and he’s not going to consider it long enough to figure it out.

“I want you to fake date him,” Jihoon clarifies, and he doesn’t dwell on how, nothing better to do or not, Yoongi probably isn’t going to help. And he doesn’t dwell on how the entire charade is definitely dumb and unnecessary, because Jimin doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone but himself. And he doesn’t dwell on the mounting swell of unease when Jimin peeks his head around the open doorway to say, full of disbelief, “uh, he said yes, so I’m going to talk to him for a while.”

v.

“Stop telling people I’m gay,” Jihoon is startled but forces himself not to flinch when Yoongi suddenly speaks, catching Jihoon as he passes Yoongi’s bedroom to get to the bathroom.

Jihoon manages to take it in stride and says without looking, “Then stop doing gay shit.”

vi.

In a truly delightful turn of events, Jihoon catches Yoongi talking to himself in front of a pile of black t-shirts several hours before he’s supposed to fake meet Jimin’s mom for not the first time. It’s been a long time since Jihoon has seen Yoongi flustered and off-kilter like this and he’s going to enjoy it as much as he can.

“Aren’t you going to Jimin’s today?” Jihoon asks, squinting at the pile to try and see if he can guess what Yoongi’s current contenders are. It’s a pointless question. There are roughly two hundred anxious, nonsensical text messages clogging his inbox making him damn certain Yoongi is, unless Jimin’s clearly

unfounded fears that Yoongi suddenly changes his mind come true. Well, maybe not entirely unfounded, Jihoon thinks. Perhaps Yoongi won’t be able to pick a shirt and will cancel to avoid the shame.

Jihoon is not one to let such a wonderful opportunity go to waste, so he takes his time teasing Yoongi until Yoongi has physically removed him and slammed his bedroom door completely shut. He’s also not one to let Yoongi have the last word, making sure to yell back through the wall that Yoongi’s ridiculous.

Halfway through making good on his promise to tell Jimin that Yoongi spent all morning picking an outfit, standing in the middle of his room because he couldn’t hold it in long enough to flop back onto his bed, Jihoon pauses. It’s been a long time since Jihoon has seen Yoongi flustered and off-kilter.

The harder he tries to remember, the more he realizes he’s never seen Yoongi that flustered and off-kilter.

Jihoon erases the message and heads to his closet.

vii.

Jihoon isn’t waiting for Yoongi. He just happens to be downstairs. Did he watch Yoongi nitpick at his clothes through the window until he had walked out of sight? It’s possible. Has he spent the past two and a half flipping anxiously between channels because he can’t focus on any one show? Maybe. Is he waiting for Yoongi to come back from his first fake date? Absolutely not.

He does, when he hears the sound of a key in the front door, suddenly rearrange himself from his stiff, upright position into a (hopefully) casual-looking slouch and try to appear extremely invested in the baseball game he hasn’t been watching. Since he wasn’t waiting for Yoongi, he doesn’t look up when the front door opens and shuts, or when he hears Yoongi puttering around in the entryway.

After changing his shoes and hanging up his coat, Yoongi comes to stand behind the couch. Jihoon doesn’t really care, of course, but it seems impolite not to, so he asks, “How was your date?”

“Fake date,” Yoongi corrects absently, weirdly focused on the tv while Jihoon stares up at his chin. It seems like it’s all he’s going to say, which should not surprise or disappoint Jihoon, but kind of does. They don’t really talk, about anything. Yoongi doesn’t talk much to anyone, and they aren’t close, and Jihoon has learned to be okay with the ever-widening distance between them.

But, maybe Jihoon was waiting, and maybe Jihoon did think it would be different this time. Even though they’re brothers, it was starting to feel like Jimin was something they could have in common. Yoongi did agree to Jimin’s insane fake dating scheme, and if Jimin can be trusted, Yoongi did most of the actual planning. In the back of his mind, Jihoon thought, maybe if Yoongi was opening up to Jimin, and Jimin is an extension of Jihoon, then Yoongi could let Jihoon in too.

“How was your fake date?” Jihoon sighs, long-suffering, and hopes it hides any desperation.

Almost on cue, Jihoon’s phone vibrates noisily from where it’s fallen between the couch cushions. They both know, without looking, exactly who the message is from. Yoongi snorts before asking, “Hasn’t Jimin already told you?”

They both know the message is from Jimin, and they both know Jimin has been messaging consistently for the past three hours, and Jihoon could let this go. He could let it go like he always does. He can pretend he wasn’t waiting, and he can pretend he doesn’t care. Instead, Jihoon says, a touch too softly, “Yeah, but I’m asking you.”

The silence goes on long enough that Jihoon thinks Yoongi might really ignore him, which isn’t that strange, but normally he at least has the decency to leave a room if he’s going to act like Jihoon isn’t there.

Just before Jihoon gets uncomfortable enough to exit the conversation himself, Yoongi says, “You don’t like baseball.”

“Yes,” Jihoon agrees. He’s been staring up at Yoongi’s chin, watching Yoongi not-watch the game, Unexpectedly, Yoongi glances down and meets his eyes. Jihoon would feel exposed, but Yoongi doesn’t look long.

“It was fine,” Yoongi says.

viii.

Jihoon isn’t jealous. He totally doesn’t care that his best friend, his only friend, if you ask anyone, is suddenly spending his free time with Jihoon’s brother. Jihoon definitely doesn’t think they’re being excessive, with how much they’re suddenly hanging around Jimin’s house, even though Jimin’s mom has a job and probably isn’t even there half the time. It’s not like Jihoon wants to hang out with both of them and watch them do weird, fake couple stuff, either.

Jihoon isn’t mad. It doesn’t matter to him that his brother, the same brother that once took every opportunity to complain about the general existence of Jihoon as a person and Jimin as a permanent fixture, has all the time in the world to play happy couple with someone he acted like he hated three weeks ago. He definitely doesn’t want Yoongi to suddenly decide he’s worth his time and start playing happy big brother.

Jihoon isn’t disappointed. He doesn’t care that his best friend seems to have forgotten he exists, and it doesn’t matter that his brother chose his best friend over him. It’s not like he thought maybe the three of them would bond, like they would all laugh about Jihoon’s great idea and what a success it was, and Jihoon could fake third wheel until the three of them together wasn’t so pretend anymore.

Jihoon’s fine.

ix.

About a month after the whole stupid charade started, and no, Jihoon is not acknowledging that it was, technically, his idea, Jimin’s over for the first time in a couple weeks. He’s sitting on the floor next to the couch while Jihoon is stretched out across the cushions. A movie they’ve both seen about one hundred times is playing on the tv, so neither of them is paying much attention, but it’s nice. Jihoon thinks they should probably be talking more, given how little they have been lately, but there’s something to be said about companionable silence. Every five minutes or so, Jimin will lean back enough that the back of his head will press into the soft dip below Jihoon’s ribs and it feels familiar, like home. It makes Jihoon wonder if Jimin has been missing him just as much. On one of the touches, Jihoon reaches out to affectionately ruffle up Jimin’s hair.

Jimin shifts, pushing into the contact, so Jihoon leaves his hand there. He wants to say something, talk about how he’s doing, but he’s afraid it’ll all come out too honest – it’s been lonely, I wish I’d been more included, I wish things could be different between me and Yoongi, I wish I could be close to Yoongi like you seem to be. He wants to ask what it’s like, when he and Yoongi are together, what do they talk about, is he nice, does he talk about me.

He doesn’t say those things, but he does ask, hopeful things will go back to normal soon, “did you two fake break up yet?”

Unexpectedly, Jimin seems a little surprised by the question, even though Jihoon was pretty sure that’s why Yoongi went to Jimin’s house all weird and morose the morning before. Predictably, when he came back in the afternoon, he didn’t say anything, but he seemed normal, at the least, if not a bit happy. Jihoon hadn’t known if he should take it as the breakup being successful, or nothing happening at all, but he’d assumed the former.

Jihoon tries not to read into what Yoongi’s moods before and after may have meant, as Jimin tells him, “oh, um, no, we decided to continuing faking for a while longer.”

When Jihoon asks why, Jimin says, “Well, it’s not like there’s any reason we have to stop now, and, my mom seems to be really getting used to the idea, you know, so I think with some more time she’ll really accept it, and, Yoongi agreed we should continue, so…”

Jimin trails off and Jihoon lets him. None of it is quite a lie, but it’s not the truth either. Jihoon knows Jimin better than he knows himself, can hear him scrambling for another excuse, something to prove that he believes in what he’s saying, something to make it make sense to himself. It’s obvious that Jimin has no idea why, but Jihoon doesn’t call him on it.

They’re both idiots, Jihoon thinks. They’re both idiots, but they probably know what they’re doing.

Probably.

Right?

x.

They do this now, sometimes, have conversations. It’s not like Yoongi is spilling his darkest secrets and asking Jihoon about his and there’s no brotherly bonding but it is a step up from passing each other like strangers in the hallway or only communicating through insults across the dinner table.

He can ask “how was your day” and Yoongi will respond with something vague and uninformative but not overtly negative and let them lapse back into silence. Jihoon can then, in an intentionally bad approximation of his brother, say, “Wow, Jihoon, thank you for asking, how was your day?” And Yoongi will give him the stink-eye, and he won’t say the words, but he’ll wait around and actually listen when Jihoon does tell him. It’s progress.

Today, Jihoon finds Yoongi drinking juice straight out of the shared carton and calls him a heathen. It’s a Sunday, and its only early afternoon, so Jihoon is surprised to find him out of his room at all. In a big step up from their normal routine, when Jihoon asks what he’s up to, Yoongi says, “I went for lunch with Jimin and some other people.”

Jihoon knows ‘some other people’ can’t be ‘some other people Jimin knows’, because he’s the only other people Jimin knows. By process of elimination, then, these must be people Yoongi knows, and shocked, he says “You have friends?”

This earns him a very familiar dirty look, Yoongi mumbling something about how alike he and Jimin are before replying clearly, “I have more friends than you and Jimin combined.”

With a thoughtful hum, Jihoon asks, “Combined, do we have one friend or two friends?”

Yoongi smiles, really smiles, genuinely, and Jihoon has to tense up his whole body to keep from physically pumping his fist into the air at his success.

If they were any two other people, that wouldn’t be the end of the conversation, but they are who they are, so it is.

Progress is progress.

xi.

“That was nice of you.”

“What?”

“What you said to Jimin – it was nice.”

“I can be nice.”

“But you aren’t.”

“Are you picking a fight?”

“I’m just saying. You can be nice, but it seems like you only are nice to one person.”

“It sounds like you’re not saying anything.”

“I meant – “

“Jihoon, just drop it.”

Jihoon, in a rare show of magnanimity, does.

xii.

Jihoon swallows back the hurt, and the jealousy, and the anger, and the disappointment, just like he swallows back his desperate questions, why did you stop following us around back then and are you teasing, or do you really mean those things and what did I do wrong and can I fix it?

xiii.

It’s been at least thirty minutes since Jimin stammered out an excuse about needing to “ask Yoongi uh, something, about the, you know, fake boyfriend… thing.” Jihoon isn’t sure what they could possibly have to talk about. First of all, they’ve had plenty of time outside of the few precious hours Jihoon has convinced Jimin to finally pay attention to him. Secondly, how difficult can it be to pretend to be in a relationship for a few months. Has Jimin’s mom really not gotten it, yet? She seemed pretty convinced when Jihoon saw the three of them after Jimin’s last showcase, but what would he know.

Part of him hopes that they’re up there discussing how to break up, because then Jimin won’t do things like disappear mid-game to talk to Yoongi, or stop coming over for a week at a time because he’s hanging out with Yoongi at his own house, and he won’t get so distracted responding to texts that he doesn’t even notice Jihoon needling him about some handsome actor or another. That hope placates him for another fifteen minutes of getting angry at pre-teens who are much better at video games than he is, but Jihoon can only handle so much x-box live before he wants Jimin to be the one kicking his ass.

After almost an hour of waiting, Jihoon’s patience reaches its limit, and he tilts his head back to yell Jimin’s name at the ceiling. Nothing happens for another several minutes, not even a shout back or an irritated ‘shut up’ from Yoongi. He pauses the game to hear better and tries again. This time, immediately, there’s a heavy thud of something hitting the floor and a short burst of footsteps. Jihoon waits for the sound of the door creaking open, but it doesn’t come.

He presses his head back against the couch cushions until he can almost see the stairs and calls, “If you don’t come down, I’ll come up there!”

It’s supposed to be a benign, meaningless threat. In part because he won’t, Jihoon’s laziness outweighing his desire for Jimin to rejoin the game, in part because there shouldn’t be any real consequence if he does go to see what’s taking so long.

Apparently, there could’ve been, because Jimin comes rushing down the stairs already spilling out apologies. As he comes around the couch, Jihoon notices that Jimin’s face is flushed pink and his hair is unusually disheveled and his bottom lip is just a little swollen and startingly red and, “oh my god, did you just make out with my brother?”

“What?” Jimin is immediately too defensive, looking anywhere but at Jihoon, and, because he is a lying liar who lies, he says, “no!”

“You just made out with my brother!” Jihoon repeats, “You left me down here to go and make out with my brother! For an hour!”

“We didn’t make out for an hour,” it takes Jimin ten seconds too long to realize that his argument only proves Jihoon right. He looks sheepish, briefly, before falling back into defensive, “It doesn’t matter, anyways! You know we’re only faking dating.”

“You can’t fake kiss!” Jihoon bursts, incredulous and furious and disgusted. It doesn’t help that Jimin looks, behind the bravado, lost and a little helpless.

“It doesn’t matter, okay?” He insists, “It didn’t mean anything.”

Jihoon makes a high-pitched, frustrated noise meant to convey are you sure and does he know that and why would you kiss him and why would he kiss you and I don’t even know who I’m angrier at.

Apparently, Jimin is not so attuned to Jihoon these days, because he doesn’t get it, and he just says, quick and dismissive even though he’s still clearly anxious, “Really, don’t worry about it.”

Jihoon is well-versed in not worrying about it. Jihoon worries about very little. Jihoon lets things go, all the time, easy as breathing.

Jihoon is, whether he’ll admit it or not, a little worried.

xiv.

The first thing Jihoon thinks, when Jimin tells him he has a boyfriend, is that Jimin should probably sound happier about it. His whole story comes out uncharacteristically stilted and flat, Jimin’s smile looking so forced while he recounts the first date and jokes about some kiss they almost got seen having last weekend. It’s not like Jimin, excitedly recounting some fake couple outing he and Yoongi had under the guise of updating Jihoon on how successful the plan was going. Or when Jihoon caught on to his impromptu make-out with Yoongi, where Jimin was flushed and stuttering and embarrassed and every few minutes Jihoon would catch him fighting a smile in his peripherals.

That’s the second thing Jihoon thinks, what about Yoongi? He wonders idly if Yoongi knew. If that’s what that look Yoongi’s been giving him lately is for. Yoongi never intentionally seeks him out, but when they do cross paths in their shared house, Yoongi will stare at him, uncomfortably long and searching, like Jihoon knows something he doesn’t. The likelihood would normally be low, because Jihoon is not one for knowing things. However, the things Jihoon does know are usually about Jimin, and the things Yoongi cares about these days are also usually about Jimin, an unexpected venn diagram. So, in this one case, there’s a fair chance Jihoon has whatever information Yoongi is silently looking for.

Was this what Yoongi was waiting for him to know?

“So, you and Yoongi are over, or whatever?” Jihoon asks, a little nonsensically, but there’s a quiet bitterness that Yoongi never said anything. Sure, Yoongi doesn’t say much of substance to him, but he was starting to. And those looks – did Jimin tell Yoongi first?  

“We were never together,” Jimin replies stiffly, and Jihoon has that thought again – shouldn’t he be happier about this?

Before he can ask, Jihoon is struck with a terrible realization.

He and Yoongi were almost getting closer, because Jimin was a tether between them. If their thing is done, the progress Jihoon made will go too.

xv.

It’s pure chance that Jihoon runs into Yoongi. The shine of loitering around waiting for him after every visit to Jimin’s for the chance to pry into what the two of them could possibly talk about all those hours they spend together has long worn off, in part because the answer typically turned out to be we sat in silence like absolute freaks for most of it.

So, this time, Jihoon really isn’t waiting for Yoongi. He’s got his knee bent at an awkward angle so he can press his shoe, sole first, against the wall. Yoongi opens the door just as he’s leaning forward against his own thigh to adjust the laces and Jihoon immediately prepares to argue, because Yoongi hates when he doesn’t just sit down on the bench to tie his shoes, and always nags about how that’s what it’s there for  and you’re going to scuff up the walls and Jihoon finds great joy in how much Yoongi seems to care about something so inconsequential. The anticipation for the pointless but familiar routine is quickly curbed by Yoongi not acknowledging Jihoon’s presence at all.

Yoongi kicks his own shoes off roughly, throwing them into the normally pristine line of other pairs so that shoes scatter and knock noisily against the wall. It’s so deeply out of character, Jihoon doesn’t even think to take the opportunity to call him out on the hypocrisy. He’s not looking at Jihoon, either, and not in that usual you’re-not-worth-my-attention kind of way, or like he’s just so distracted by his own bullshit he’s genuinely not noticed Jihoon. The not-looking is intentional, like he’s trying to hide something. Jihoon leans so far back he almost falls on his ass, trying to look, thinking maybe he’s gotten a secret face piercing, or someone gave him a black eye.

What Jihoon sees, when he manages to peek at Yoongi’s face before Yoongi can rush himself up the stairs, is much worse.

#yoonmin #bts fic #writing #bts #when you're in love all the lines get blurred

[ilikemcdanno]

Talking about 10x22 (the finale) for the millionth time

LOOK, look…. About Steve leaving….

On one hand, I am glad Steve decided to take a breather. For him to the place that he’s been in for the past ten years. That’s what I wanted for him, some sort of peace. So many things have happened in his life just in general. Not to mention losing Joe, his mother, the 10th anniversary of his father’s death. The overall weight of being a cop too. It’s such a heavy burden. Steve needed to do whatever he felt was best for him.

But to some extent, maybe it felt out of character? At least to me. I mean steve started off as a loner and throughout the show he’s learned how to not be.

A man who has lost whatever family he had, he gains a new one. And the finale was him somewhat reverting back to becoming a loner again. But it’s also a tough situation because I do support him.

And you could interpret the ending however you want too. Maybe Catherine sticks around and her and Steve finally work it out. Maybe Catherine is only there for a little, then eventually Steve and her part ways. Maybe Steve stays away for years, or maybe he comes back after weeks or even months. It’s really how you want to see it.

At first I will admit I had mixed feelings about the finale. Most of said feelings were angry. But I think overtime… I’ve started to be okay with certain things. Also I really can’t imagine what else could of happened with the finale anyways. Other than Steve just simply retiring and staying in Hawaii. And personally I go with the idea that Steve goes wherever he wants; but eventually comes back. And Danny, is me in this scenario. Where he feels a little hurt that he left (at least that’s how I saw Danny’s reaction) but he also understands Steve’s need to leave. You support your best friend in whatever they want.

The bottom line was that Steve was finally paying attention to what he wanted. And that’s all that matters, that’s what I wanted too. For him to stop saving others and think about saving himself. And what he might want now after he’s given up a part of himself.

Also I need to take into account that, the ending was - from what I can remember - rushed a little. Another season was probably green-lit to happen. But in so little words, Alex and Scott didn’t want to continue (don’t quote me on that) so I’m sure that played a role.

The idea of Steve not being on his A-game anymore and everything catching up to him was sudden. It was bound to happen though. So I’m happy that it was addressed a bit.

Or maybe if you look at it a little differently. Maybe it really was that Steve woke up one day and just… couldn’t do it anymore. And the team notices this and has slowly gotten more worried for him. (Especially Danny) so it’s leading to that ending all in one season.

And don’t get me started on how Danny has seen all of this. Not only is he living under Steve’s roof but he’s known him longer than anyone else. When you’ve known each other that long you can see right through them. You know their behavior; and there’s a certain seniority that Danny has over how they interrupt Steve’s behavior as well?

And you know it’s serious too when Danny isn’t cracking jokes too. And I’ve spoken about this in another post too. Where Danny tries to speak to him on the beach and Steve deflects. Aren’t we all Steve when family members voice concern? XD

TLDR: Anyways. I still feel a little on the fence about it. I guess overall I like it. It’s just that Steve becomes a lone wolf again. And maybe that’s what he needs at the end of the day. To rethink his life.

#I’m not tagging this cause it’s really just messy

[kenobster]

😈💖

thank you for the ask!!

😈 Has there been a point in a story where you did something just to be playfully mean to your readers?

Damn this is a good question, and I am CERTAIN I have done this, but I can't remember examples... and even if I do, I don't think they'd be from this fandom. Maybe I'll come back to this lol.

On a tangentially related subject, I can think of examples of times I wrote things to be playfully (or sometimes seriously xD) mean to commonly held fandom opinions in general. For example, Five Peggats Each was NOT going to be post-Hardeen at all.... not even a little.... not until every single Hardeen fic/post/opinion pissed me the fuck off and I was like "okay we are gonna do this MY WAY now" lol. For another example, Every Shadow (big bang fic) has unfortunately become my antithesis to every single post-Zygerria fic I've ever read (99% of these fics are incredible and favorites of mine, but they have gotten Obi-Wan & Anakin's relationship slightly wrong... in my not-so-humble, unsolicited, biased, and frankly rude opinion lol.)

I often have a terrible relationship with fandom discourse and fanon concepts in general, and I've started unleashing these personal vendettas in my writing lol (mostly to stop myself from unleashing them in public).

💖 What made you start writing?

I started writing from the moment my infant hand could hold a pencil lol, so this is an impossible question to answer. xD But "what made you continue writing?" could be fun.

When I was a kid/teen, it was probably fame-driven, like... "I want to create a story as beloved as [insert whatever book I was obsessed with]."

In my late teens/early twenties, that wish morphed into, "I want to finish something, become published, and make it a career." So still fairly fame/success-driven.

Writing fanfic was partly because it was a low-stakes way to practice and/or a quicker way to get validation aka dopamine. But in the background, fanfic (writing and reading) became a really good way for me to figure out what kinds of stories I love and why....

Thus, began an obsession with trauma and recovery in writing that was enhanced while I studied in university. At that point, it became not fame-driven (finally, thank god), but more "I want to do good; I want to help; I want people to have stories that can heal them, that they can relate to, that can make them feel heard." But I still coupled that goal with the same fame/success-driven rubric I'd been using... which complicated things in an emotionally unhelpful way I think.

Which eventually exploded into a sudden backlash era in my late twenties, during which I rebelled against all of the above reasons... All I wanted while writing was to "satisfy my id/hurt the blorbo/do whatever I want." My joke is that I wanted to write the trashiest fanfic tropes but in a realistic way, like crack taken seriously lol. It was (is?) a lawless time lol.

These days though, I think I just want to have fun. I already know I like writing. I already know what subjects I like to write about. I already know I can get better at certain techniques/tropes/skills that I want to get better at. I already know that ppl can be touched/affirmed/etc by my writing. I already know that the very skewed understanding of "success" that capitalism taught me is optional. So I don't really feel a need to question these things anymore.

At this point, I continue writing just because I want to. It makes me happy. Both to write something and to read it afterward. And that's about it.

#ask game #writing