#the video is fucking terrifying that it was That Easy for the whole thing to go

[dancedance-resolution]

holy shit the key bridge collapsed

#the video is fucking terrifying that it was That Easy for the whole thing to go #also lol our food/goods prices are going to go up aren’t they. this has to shut down that part of the harbor for a long fucking while right #holy shit #also like my coworker emi was caught on the bridge last month with that horrific accident #god i’ve always been too scared to take the bay bride this only confirms it

[pepprs]

like it’s VERY very important to not text and drive. and i understand how dangerous it is to do that and to be distracted at all in any way for any amount of time on the road. i know it’s important to learn about these stories and bear witness to them. but i just think. like idk. watching multiple of them every day for 10 days (with a two day break halfway through for the weekend) is realy… like idk. i think after seeing a couple you can get the point. i don’t want to sound dismissive or lackadaisacal and im scared im sounding like that but i just am so freaked out by all of this and witb every new horror they’re showing us it’s scaring me worse.

#purrs #delete later #car accidents tw #death tw #child death tw #ask to tag #drivers ed tag #like this sucks so bad. we go from watching a video about how to drive in the city… to a 10 minute vid of a man talking abt how he hit and #killed 3 kids and it shows a PICTURE OF THE SCENE OF THE ACCIDENT WITH BLOOD AND EVERYTHING… and then after the video we immediately start #talking about like. fucking street cleaners and how you have to watch out for them. HOW is the video about the kids being hit and killed #part of the flow of the learning. what purpose does it serve. and it’s like these are REAL PEOPLE who died. real kids who existed. and it #just feels kind of fucked up. maybe it’s more fucked up thst im not following the flow and accepting the weight of it but it’s hard to when #im scared as fuck and just want to not be shown gore videos anymore. and then once we pick up the content again like abt street cleaners and #shit i can’t focus on any content bc i have to wind down from seeing the dead bodies and hearing the letter the parents wrote. like how is t #this helping. maybe it’s landing / more necessary for the 16 year olds but im 24. i am a whole adult. i do not take being alive for granted #i am terrified of death and dying and painfully aware of how fragile human beings are and how easy it is to be in danger. this is not #helping me or sending me a message it’s just making me so scared and terrified to even leave the house and unable to stop thinking about #death or injury lol!!! and i can’t tell them to stop and i can’t quit bc i need my fucking license so i have to just put my head down and #do this but it sucks indescribably. and we also saw one of those trick videos again too that makes you feel stupid bc it tells you to count #the number of lkke. things you see and it turns out i missed a few AND they were like did you notice what was going on in the background snd #i didn’t bc i was too busy counting the fucking things they told us to. i want to SCREAM. this makes me feel so stupid and helpless lolllll #<- as i was typing that we were learning about the chance of survival if you are hit by a car at different speeds! bc that’s relevant 😍😍😍😍😍😍 #anyways. my therapist was telling me stuff abt how i need to remember this isn’t targeted for me and i need to regulate my nervous system an #and how to calm down when it triggers me but i forgot everything she said literally 5 hours ago and now im here freaking the fuck out so. 🥰

[iamcalmdammit]

Nice to have a friend || [Simon "Ghost" Riley]

Note: I was so surprised that many of you wanted to read this stupid little thing. Read the notes for more after reading the whole thing.

Taglist: @untoldshortsofthefandoms @shoxji @atlantic-sugar @lujain420 @androgynoushellscape @actuallyanita

"What a coincidence, I knew a Simon Riley back when I was a kid," you noted with an adorable laugh after Price introduced the team to you.

Yes, that was me, Ghost was dying to tell you but his tongue was tied. That was the whole point of the mask, to keep his anonymity.

Seeing a familiar face from Manchester, someone he had fond memories of was a real serotonin boost for the rest of the week. You changed a lot since he had last seen you. Back in the day you used to be a pink-loving little girl who went to ballet classes after school, always the one to try and deescalate the fights between the boys.

Every time he laid his eyes on you and noted how far you'd come, his heart was filled with warmth. He was proud of you. Your sense of humor had matured over the years, but you could easily draw a smile on his face with your comments, you became strong and independent, and damn it, you were definitely easy on the eye too.

And this brought back memories, like the one from the first time he had actually talked to you after school. It was a cold, snowy day and he overheard you panicking about losing one of your gloves. He didn't want you to freeze to death on the way home so he decided to give you his gloves just in case. In return you asked him if he wanted to come over and play your brother's video games with you. From that day on, you occasionally met outside of school as well, and those were the happiest memories from his fucked up childhood.

"You seem to be really lost in your thoughts. What's up with you?" Soap asked him one day when the core team visited a bar after a mission.

Ghost let out a groan. He had noticed it before. The deep conversations you and Gaz were having more and more often, the little inside jokes no one but the two of you understood, and the lingering looks that strangely enraged him every single time. And now you were back at it again, staying within your own little bubble in the bar.

"Come on, Lt., you know you can trust me," the sergeant tried again after a minute or two. "Whatever it is, talking about it might be able to help."

He was right, but he had to be careful. "I think something's going on between those two," he said after a short while, as if he was just pointing out something quite obvious.

Soap looked over at you and Gaz. He even tilted his head to the side like a curious puppy as he tried to see what Ghost was trying to point out. "You think so? I haven't noticed anything unusual," he said.

Could it be that he was seeing more into the situation? "Maybe I'm wrong. I don't know." And with that, he dismissed the idea. It was nothing more but his surprisingly vivid imagination playing games with him. That was all.

Or was it?

Fuck.

When he was alone in bed, he always thought about you. It was strange, he wasn't the type to get fixated on women this much. But you… You were an exception. Every inch of his body was craving you, a primal need infesting his brain every time he thought of you. This led to times when his hand found its way under his jeans to end his suffering for the time being.

When he was away from you and didn't see more into certain situations, he often imagined what it would be like to have you around all the time. Seeing you walk around his shitty apartment in his shirt, having breakfast together, watching a movie with you in his arms, or him exploring your body over and over again, drawing one orgasm out of you after another.

It was bad. He was caught in a spiral and had no idea how to get out of it if you couldn't be his. Each passing day made it worse, he got lost in a fantasy world and was terrified to face you again. What if his instincts turned out to be right one day? What if he found out you were in a relationship with someone else, let alone with someone he knew very well?

And then the worst happened.

"I owe you a drink," Soap told him out of nowhere during their next mission. Ghost had absolutely no idea what he was talking about so he put down the weapon he had in his hand until then and gave him an expectant look. "You were right about Y/N and Gaz, those two are definitely together. I just caught a glimpse of Gaz having his tongue down her throat behind the building," he explained with a laugh.

But he couldn't laugh, not when every cell in his body wanted to scream. He had kept his distance so well in the past months that you barely talked to each other. This was a big mistake, he could see that now. Maybe if you knew the truth, if you knew he was that boy from your childhood, things would be different. You could be friends again, and once you were relaxed enough around him, he could try to see if you wanted more than that.

He couldn't even look you in the eye after Soap's announcement. If you asked him anything, he kept the number of his words to the bare minimum, and this didn't go unnoticed by you. "Do you have a problem with me?" you once asked him when you were left alone following a briefing.

How could you sound so sweet and innocent? How could he lie to you when you were looking at him like that? But he had to do it, he couldn't tell you that he was jealous. That he, despite being friends with Gaz, thought you made the wrong choice this time.

"No, I don't," he replied then walked away without another word.

Two days later Price stopped in front of him and watched him with a questioning look. He waited, hoping the Captain would get bored of this silent game and just tell him what he wanted. In the end he took a deep breath and asked, "Are you okay?"

Strange. "I am. Why?"

"Listen, Simon, I know the history of every member of this team. I know you and Y/N went to the same school at the same time back in the day. Did you know her back then?" he asked seriously, although Ghost could see the hint of a smile on his lips.

Was he about to scold him or praise him? He wasn't entirely sure. "I did. Why?"

"You've been different lately, especially when she's around. I'm not saying you've been making mistakes because it wouldn't be true, but maybe you should consider telling her the truth. There's tension between you and I'm not sure that's good for the team in the long run."

And Price was right. If he kept himself isolated for much longer, if he kept letting his fantasies take over his unwind-time, then he would soon be in serious trouble on the field. And not just him, but everyone else he worked with. Every. Single. One. Of. Them.

But despite the initial drive to do as Price advised, it actually took him a month to finally man up and talk to you. Even then he hesitated, wondering exactly how and when to approach you, preferably without any other member of the team around. Then the opportunity arrived near the end of the mission when he found you alone in a room.

"Can we talk?" he asked you after he knocked on the doorframe. You looked surprised at first. It was understandable, after all you had talked around a total of fifteen minutes in the past months. Ghost gulped loudly and closed the door after you nodded. "I'll make it quick. There's something I need to tell you."

He stopped and you waited. "Okay?"

Breathe in. Breathe out. It wasn't that hard. "When I was a kid, there was a girl in school," he began. "One day she lost her gloves and I gave her mine so her hands wouldn't freeze off in the middle of the winter cold. I think that's when we became friends."

Your eyes narrowed. Your breath caught in your throat. At that moment, you knew the truth. "Simon?" you whispered his name quietly.

He nodded in response, a delicate smile creeping on his lips under the mask as he watched you. A part of him hoped you would be excited, that you would wrap your arms around him to pull him into a tight hug. But his imagination failed him, your reaction was quite the opposite. You buried a hand on your hair and turned your back to him as you tried to process the news.

Then, after what felt like an eternity to Ghost, you finally turned back to him. "Why the hell didn't you tell me?"

Your voice was fused with anger and he honestly couldn't blame you. "I prefer anonymity these days," he replied, pointing at his skull mask.

"Why now?"

Because I can't stop thinking about you and it's getting awkward and also affects my performance in the team. Fuck. He couldn't tell you that. "Price gave me a pep talk. He thinks it would be better for the both of us if I was honest with you." Well, this was true. He did say that.

"Great. Now I know. Is there anything else?" you asked, your voice unusually cold.

There was nothing left to say. He could've asked you about Gaz, whether you were truly in love with him or only had fun during missions, but he kept his mouth shut. You were mad. He didn't want to make things even worse. So he walked away and decided to focus on the rest of this mission instead.

You avoided him from this point on. While until now it had been him who did that, now the tables turned and you were the one who didn't want to talk to him unless it was absolutely necessary. Months passed like that and he was beginning to worry that things would never be okay with you.

Then things slowly began to change. You began to ask him how he was, sometimes asked for his opinion, and generally acted nicer around him. At first he thought it was just his raging imagination playing games again, but no. You were really warming up to him.

"Wanna go out for a drink?" you asked him one day.

Ghost wanted to say yes, but it wasn't the right time for that. "We're working."

You nonchalantly waved your hand at him. "Nah, I checked with the Cap, he's okay with it if we don't stay long and don't get too drunk," you explained with a playful grin. "So, what do you say?"

Nodding, he followed you out to the car that parked in front of the temporary base. Friends. You had to be friends again first. But it was a start, he could definitely work with that.

#sorry no happy end for our boy #simon ghost riley x reader #simon riley #simon ghost riley #simon riley x reader #call of duty #modern warfare #modern warfare ii

[greyskyflowers]

Soft Zoro brought to you today by greyskyflowers

Yes, hello. I have decided that I will not rest until the world has more soft Zoro.

I'll start with this.

Zoro is not soft.

For the sake of this I'm going to run with the whole tiger vibes Zoro thing.

Tigers are friend shaped. They have the cutest little ears and they're so pretty that I just want to squish their little faces up and call them baby. It's a tragedy that I will not be able to do this. It's also a tragedy that if I ever get a chance to squish a tiger's little face up and call it baby that I will die happy as soon as I try to do so.

I love when I see videos of caretakers for wildlife being reunited with the animals they once helped take care of. Not zoos, the perserves and sanctuaries and stuff like that.

I love it.

But...

Tigers are wild animals. I would not encourage anyone to go up to a tiger, squish it's little face and call it baby. Even those people who have the great relationship with them are alway a misstep away from being a chew toy.

To me, this is Zoro. This is what I want people to get from my stuff about soft Zoro or submissive Zoro or whatever else I spit out on here.

Soft is not weak. Submissive is not weak. Allowing yourself to be weak, is not a weakness.

A tiger is not any less of a tiger because it allows someone it knows and loves to pet it. It will take your fucking arm off if it wants to. It will kill you and then go take a nap.

Zoro is terrifying. He's strong and incredibly talented and he adapts to his environment very quickly. Him and Luffy should honestly scare the absolute shit out of people.

Plus he was a bounty hunter, and the demon stuff or whatever that is, I bet Zoro can be uncomfortable to be around. He probably has that predator vibe to him, gives you the feeling that something big and scary is watching you. Peacefully, for now, but that can very easily change.

I love the idea that Zoro is brutal and bloodthirsty and unhinged during fights.

I love the idea that he's intimidating and unnerving if you don't know him very well.

I love the idea that Zoro is none of those things with the crew.

I like him having a place where he was be relaxed, soft, open, and 100% accepted as he is.

So yeah, I want to see him napping in little puppy piles with the crew. I want to see him letting himself relax around them. I want him to let himself experience the beauty of loving someone enough to allow yourself to be vulnerable around them. I want him baring his throat and back and belly to them, comparable to a animal rolling over to show trust. A tiger showing it's belly for it's favorite humans.

Does that make him any less terrifying? Fuck no.

It should actually make him more terrifying. He is not a mindless violent entity, he is fully aware of everything and chooses to absolutely fuck people up.

There's always an awareness that he's letting them see him when he's soft. He is not the one powerless in a situation like that. At any moment he could snap at all of them and he probably has. I can very easily see him building up those walls again when someone does something stupid. Leaving the crew, fighting Luffy, or just being a dumbass.

He goes back to defensive, unsettling, distant. And that might be worse than Luffy's anger or disappointment, dealing with Zoro's distance. Especially after having it. No more naps with a always warm swordsman. No more easy affection or privilege of being one of the people to see a fully relaxed and soft Zoro. No more touches to surprisingly soft skin, and no more easily given vulnerable spots.

I said at one point that Zoro gave me tiger on a gold leash vibes and here it is.

He may call Luffy captain and follow him willingly but tame is not a word that should be used to describe Zoro.

Let him be soft and terrifying.

Let him rip apart a battle field and drop bodies like gifts at his crews feet. Let him go back home bloody and feral, and angrily headbutt them like a cat when they refuse to touch him until he's cleaned up.

Let him come back clean, blood and wildness washed off and wisked away down the drain. Let him lay over their laps, cuddle up, or anything else like that.

And someone write me a submissive Zoro fic, god damn, I'm dying over here.

#one piece #zoro #zosan #zolu #opla #straw hat pirates #mugiwara crew #here we go #poly and/or qp strawhats #i will drag all of you into poly and/qp strawhats eventually #tagging opla because live action zoro has ruined my life #let zoro be soft you cowards #let zoro bottom you cowards #setting sail with greyskyflowers

[munsonkitten]

excerpt from ch9 of you make me feel like i am whole again on AO3

It’s only a couple days until Christmas and Eddie doesn’t have anything for anyone. Wayne doesn’t expect anything, but Eddie still tries every year to get him a mug or a hat to add to his collections. It’s easy stuff, but Eddie’s terrified of going out now.

He feels like he’s gained twenty pounds in the last week, which he knows isn’t true, but he still feels that way. Everything he tries, he’s too aware of the bump beneath his clothes, and Steve’s stopped telling him it isn’t noticeable.

It’s during his panic about gifts when Jeff calls. Jeff, who is home from school on winter break and wants to get the band together like old times, who wants to practice and maybe see if they can get a show at the Hideout some night, and Eddie… Eddie accepts.

Like a fucking idiot.

So now he’s still panicking about gifts, but he’s even more panicked as he shuts his guitar in her case and changes his shirt six times, and then his pants. He puts on a pair of Steve’s in the end, just barely fitting because Eddie’s filling out all the space Steve’s ass usually takes up, and —

And that’s how Steve finds him.

“Are you going somewhere?”

Steve’s standing there in Eddie’s bedroom doorway with his Family Video vest draped over one arm and a paper bag held in the other.

“Band practice,” Eddie squeaks, covering his face with his hands because he has no idea why he agreed to it in the first place. “I’m freaking out, man.”

“Weren’t you going to tell them, anyway?” Steve asks.

He crosses the room and sets the paper bag down on Eddie’s desk. He digs in it for a second before pulling out what appears to be black denim. He pulls the tag off and tosses it toward Eddie.

A new pair of jeans.

Eddie could cry.

He goes over and kisses Steve, dropping the jeans to the floor so he can wrap his arms around his neck. Steve’s arms circle around his waist and pull him in close. They hold each other for a second because even this small gesture reminds Eddie how much he loves Steve.

“Will you come with me?” Eddie asks.

“Of course,” Steve whispers, pressing another kiss to Eddie’s lips.

And just like that, Eddie isn’t so panicked anymore. Because Steve is going to be there, and his band already knows he’s gay, so maybe they’ll be okay with the rest of it, and it’ll all be fine.

“I got some things,” Steve says, dropping his arms away from Eddie’s waist and stepping away.

He goes back to the bag on the desk and starts pulling things out of it.

A mug. He passes it over to Eddie, who reads it as Steve talks.

“I know, uh,” Steve says. “The baby isn’t here yet, but I mean, it’s Christmas soon, and I figure, you know, might as well just get it now, and—”

Eddie does start crying, then, because Steve got Wayne a World’s Best Grandpa mug and he’s so fucking emotional these days it’s not even funny, so who can really blame him for the waterworks right now.

Steve wipes Eddie’s tears away with gentle thumbs on his cheeks.

“Is it okay?” Steve asks softly.

Eddie sniffles and nods. “He’ll love it.”

Read on AO3

#steddie snippet #eddie munson #steddie #steve harrington #steve x eddie #steve harrington x eddie munson #steve/eddie #steddie fic #my fics #stranger things #trans eddie munson

[lilislegacy]

Oop-

I hate when tumblr messes shit up, but Hey, it's me again.

Like in my original aks, I want to reiterate that I'm not trying to come for everybody. Everyone is allowed to have their own opinion. This is just my 2 cents on the whole demigods and menstruation thing

My original ask was kind of convoluted, so I'll just sum it up here.

I like the idea of what demigods being different but I don't like the idea of administration just being completely gone.

I am currently reading jealous of the god, and that is something that Percy directly says is how you get the worst of both worlds.

I love the idea of demigods being more powerful and more protective when they are pregnant or whether their partner is. But imagine not knowing you're a demigod and never getting your period, then thinking "oh I can never get pregnant!" and then get pregnant. That sounds terrifying.

I do like the idea of certain demigods from certain gods having a different sort of thing. Kind of like with Athena, I saw one post about annabeth getting a migraine and shit which is hilarious.

I just feel like having no menstrual cycle. It all seems a little too easy. It's very reminiscent of Alexandria's Genesis if you were around on Tumblr about 10 years ago to remember that. (If not then izzzyzzz has an amazing video on YouTube all about this fake disorder and hoax)

In my original ask I pointed out how It would be an interesting point of view especially for trans demigods.

I am a transperson. I have a lot of dysphoria around that sort of thing. I am currently in pain because of it. So I've been thinking about it a lot.

(Also, this is a completely different headcannon, but I definitely headcannon Leo as a trans man)

Thinking more about it would be interesting to see people lose control of their powers because of how in pain they are I know. I get very upset very quickly like imagine how terrible that would be. (Like Thalia accidentally zapping someone or something)

I'm also a sucker for those hurt/comfort fics surrounding periods and such. Idk why I just like comforting fics lol

I do like the idea that the hunters of Artemis once they become a hunter would not get a period because fuck that.

Also among other things, Artemis is the goddess of childbirth and I feel like she can do that for her hunters.

I did add a little bit more from my original ask because I've just been thinking about it more.

Again, not coming for anyone I really love that everyone has their own opinions and fantastic ideas. It just makes me so happy as an artist!

Thank you! (Sorry tumblr deleted the original one lol)

thank you for the ask! and thank you even more for sending it twice lol!!

now, onto my thoughts. i totally see where you’re coming from. because you are right, part of being a demigod is having to deal with the crappy parts of both worlds. and as much as i would love for female-born demigods to not have to deal with periods, i can totally see them still having one.

so maybe it just works differently? maybe their cycles are longer and they only have a few periods a year? or maybe they are just way lighter? idk. but i still feel like they would work differently than regular humans

i definitely see where you’re coming from on the account of trans-demigods having to deal with it. there would definitely be an added emotional struggle with it along with the physical, and there’s a lot to explore there!

i love the idea of the children of different gods having different symptoms. like you mentioned athena’s kids having more headaches and migraines lol. and maybe ares kids get huge angry mood swings, and maybe aphrodite’s kids get really lovesick and cry every 3 seconds over couples doing cute things lol.

100% with you on the hunters not having one. no boyfriends = no sex = no babies = no period needed. they ain’t got time for that! they’ve got hot girl shit to do. like shooting people with arrows.

i also like the thought of demigods’ powers being heightened when they’re on their period lol. that’s hilarious. imagine a child of demeter having cramps and craving chocolate, and a cocao tree just spurts out of the ground LOL.

thank you for being so nice and wonderful towards people having different headcanons! and whether someone thinks demigods menstruate or not, it sounds like we can all agree that it’s at least different for them than it is for humans.

thank you for your thoughts! they were all super interesting!

#i love hearing other headcanons #anon ask #demigods #pjo headcanon #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo #heroes of olympus #percabeth

[bottomlouisficfest]

We hope you’ve enjoyed the fics from weeks 9-10 of the Bottom Louis Fic Fest 2023! Every two weeks, we’re compiling all of the fics from that period into one roundup post so they’re easy to find for anyone looking to catch up on fics they missed. Enjoy these amazing fics and give them the love they deserve!

part time soulmates (full time problem)

A fic by localopa on AO3 | @voulezloux on Tumblr

12k | Mature | Tumblr post | Twitter post

sworn enemies harry and louis are soulmates. everything is going smoothly until the pain hits.

--

Spaces Between Us, Hold All Our Secrets

A fic by Whoopsiedaisiesss on AO3 | @shining-louist on Tumblr

6k | Not Rated | Tumblr post | Twitter post

The thing about Harry is, is that he is the most wonderful guy you´ll ever meet. He is kind, compliments you on things you are usually insecure about, which shows he truly pays attention to who you are as a person. And he befriends everyone. Except Louis. --- Or the one where Louis suffers from anxiety. His rivals with Harry makes this even worse. Until one day he accidentally calls Harry during one of his panic attacks. Harry just wants Louis to feel better. He always does.

--

Bend the Rules

A fic by youreyesonlarry on AO3 | @youreyesonlarry on Tumblr | @youreyesonlarry on Twitter

17k | Explicit | Tumblr post | Twitter post

Prompt 588: Lous hires a ‘ghost cooking’ service because his family is worried he’s not eating well and he wants to impress them by showing them what an amazing cook he’s become. The service includes sending a discreet cook to your house and have them get everything ready so that you only serve and take the credit. Problem is, his sisters (can be OCs if that’s more comfortable) get to his flat earlier than planned and the actual cook has to hide in the master bathroom for hours. Louis is mortified. The cook is amused and helps him to clean and well. Gives him a thorough service. Feel free to pick your fave as the cook.

--

The Writing on the Wall

A fic by stylinsonwritingpalace on AO3 | @stylinsonwritingpalace on Tumblr

7k | Explicit | Tumblr post | Twitter post

When BookToker Louis receives a gift basket filled with all his favorite sweets, wines, and stuffed animals alongside the new Harry Styles book, he's shocked at the story he finds in the pages. ----- For BLFF Prompt 85: Louis is a literature teacher who spends his free time either making videos on Instagram or TikTok (author’s choice) talking about his favorite books. His audience knows how obsessed he is with a specific author, from his poems to his novels, he reads and gushes about every single one of his works because he always feels as if they were written to him. That was why when he receives a special PR package with his favorite sweets, wine, and the author’s brand new book, it only took him hours to finish the whole thing. Only this time, to his shock, the story on the pages of the book were too familiar to him. It was the story of how Louis broke his ex’s heart.

--

Define me again

A fic by Hazzascul_07 on AO3 | @hazzascul on Tumblr

54k | Mature | Tumblr post | Twitter post

He's never felt so frightened in his life before, so fucking terrified for himself. And Louis. He looked down at their hands, which seemed to have been connected throughout the incident. He looked at the ring on Louis' hand, for the nth time that day. His heart hurt so bad now, he was terrified. He wanted to do so many things, he wanted to check on louis, if he- if he- God he couldn't even think about it. "Louis," he tried to whisper, but nothing but air came out from his mouth. "I love you, Harry," whispered a voice. But it was nowhere near him. Visions attacked his mind, rapidly flickering through like one would do the pages of a book. He was terrified. His entire life literally flashed in his mind, vision growing more and more weak and he fought unconsciousness. Memories and the picture of Louis lying unconscious in front of him altered and flickered, so rapidly that he felt dizzy with how fast his mind was whirring. What happens when you die? God he was so, so, so, fucking terrified. All his senses gave out, last thing he felt was Louis' hand in his and then, everything went black.

--

in deep devotion

A fic by ifthat on AO3 | @lovehl on Tumblr | @omegalouis on Twitter

11k | Explicit | Tumblr post | Twitter post

With no signs of presenting at the age of sixteen, no official designation by age eighteen, Harry was no match for the line of Alpha suitors Louis attracted with his sweet, gravitating disposition and breathtaking beauty. His presence commanded attention. His movements were graceful, his skin tinged by the sun, his smile infectious, and his eyes the color of the sea.

--

You Were Always Mine

A fic by GoldenSunflouervol6 on AO3 | @sunflouervol6 on Twitter

6k | Explicit | Tumblr post | Twitter post

Prompt 45: A/B/O fic where Louis and Harry have a lot of mutual friends but they don’t get along (mostly Louis doesn’t like Harry). One day, Louis turns up on Harry’s doorstep covered in blood and asking for help. (Inspiration: Prompt #126 from the BLFF 2021).

--

give my heart a holiday

A fic by Ashisinlove on AO3 | @ashisinlove28 on Twitter

14k | Not Rated | Tumblr post | Twitter post

AU where Louis and someone else both like Harry but Harry obviously likes Louis and is oblivious to the other person with scenes like Harry’s sitting with his legs on the coffee table and the other person wants to walk across and Harry doesn’t see them, so they have to say excuse me, but when Louis wants to cross he doesn’t even have to say anything because Harry sits up, puts his feet down, and gives his undivided attention to Louis.

--

always tell the truth

A fic by anditsonlyforthebrave on AO3 | @HARRYSC1NEMA on Twitter

5k | Not Rated | Tumblr post | Twitter post

Harry is Louis' dentist and getting a wisdom tooth removed shouldn't be the end of the world.

--

Wait For Me

A fic by cherrygelb on AO3 | @cherrygelb on Twitter

17k | Explicit | Tumblr post | Twitter post

Moving to a new place always comes with a few challenges. For Harry, it’s trying to start over after his divorce, while still doing his best taking care of his son. Though just like every parent, he is not infallible, so some mistakes are bound to be made, settling into his new role as a single-dad. For his son, Davie, moving means he has to get used to all the changes happening in his life through no fault of his own. Discovering a secret passageway on their new property lets him form an unlikely friendship with the young man and his dog he finds on the other side. BLFF 2023, Prompt 391: Harry’s son gets very attached to Louis! Maybe they just randomly meet at first (possibly neighbors?) and then the kid just keeps running back to Louis without telling his dad.

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#blff 2023

[filmnoirsbian]

gOD yes to men being conditioned and raised in society to view all those things aldjfjkakakd im raising a little boy atm and while my partner is doing his best to unlearn several other misogynistic ideas that he's picked up in life (tho it's very different process for him since he was an effeminate gay man who found out he was bi very late in life) i am so scared that if we're not keeping an eye out for our baby boy something will slip in, like how youtube's algorithms like to suggest andrew tate's videos or how one slip up on tiktok can lead you down a road of right radicalism but also how society as a whole just has that undercurrent of misogyny that gets under your skin regardless like. god it's a lot. and it wracks me with anxiety. he's only 5 and so so kind and sweet and he absolutely adores his little sister and makes it a point to bring her to the barbie aisle when we ever visit the toy store and just the idea of him growing up to be someone who'd put her down simply bc she's a girl makes me weep.

The insidious effects of the internet on kids cannot be overstated tbh not to sound like an after school special but it really is so so so easy for them to end up seeing things online that are hateful and/or extremely damaging but are portrayed in a way that kids specifically will believe, enjoy, and/or internalize. Like it's fucking terrifying and for these reasons my sister, bil and I all don't allow my niece to access the internet on her own and especially watch youtube on her own but that only lasts while she's in the house. We can't control her internet intake every hour of the day and we've already been noticing the effects from when she watches whatever at friends' houses and school. Part of what makes child raising so scary is that they are so much more vulnerable to like. Everything.

#asks #kids

[sunnyie-eve]

2 | Proud of You

Series: Significant

Paring: Colby Brock x Original female character

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1.6k

| MASTERLIST |

~

"Sam! Sam! Sam!" Penelope rushes down her stairs since he was over at her house getting a snack in the kitchen at the moment.

"What?" He freaks out as she rushes in.

"So I've been keeping a secret from you and Colby but I can now tell you because I made it through the prosses and shit. Look!" She shows him her phone which was on an Instagram modeling account.

"Glad to announce our beautiful newest model to the family, Penelope Lane Hill." Sam reads the caption then looks at her, "Wait? What?" He makes her laugh.

"Yeah, umm last few months when I've said I was too busy. This lady reached out to me so I took her offer. Actually modeling kind of helps me with how I see myself." She lets him know.

"I can't believe this... Congratulations, Pen!" He hugs her then looks back at her phone, "That's a really good pic of you. You surprisingly pull off blue lipstick." He hands her phone back. "Also today is a filming day." He lets her know.

"And I still have to go?" She pouts.

"Yep." He takes her hand dragging her out of her house to the car.

When they get to the house Colby was outside waiting for them with his arms crossed, "You're late."

"How can we be late if there was no set time? Also, I have some news to share." She hands him her phone and her looks over it before looking at her.

"No fucking why! My bestie is a model now! Look at you!" He squeezes her picking her up a bit. "I'm so proud of you!" He lets go of her.

"Thank you. I told Sam it helps me a bit feel better." She smiles.

"Are there any others we can see?" He asks as they go inside.

"Yeah, I'll post them to my Instagram later."

"Ok, are you gonna hang alone or watch us?" He asks her. "We're doing dares people sent us on Twitter."

"Maybe both. Depends." She laughs taking a seat.

"Okay." They leave her alone just to see one dare say to have her take part in one video. "PENNY!" They yell for her so she comes in huffing what.

"Our first date is to have you be in one full video." Sam shows her the tweet.

"It's dares for Sam and Colby. Not Sam and Colby and Penelope."

"Come on." Colby pulls her into the frame.

"Fine. I'll do it." She makes them cheer and the first dare was to put ice in their front pants pockets.

"We're just gonna keep it here the whole entire video. Oh! It's already cold!" Colby complains.

"This is easy for me." Penelope laughs at them.

"Of course it is." Colby playfully glares at her.

The next dare was a one-handed handstand and the guys couldn't do it but Penelope did it for a few seconds. "How?" Sam asks surprised.

"She was in gymnastics from four to seventeen." Colby answers for her.

"Yeah, I hated it but my mom wanted me to be like Harper." Penelope tells the camera. "Luckily, she stopped taking me one day." She winks.

"I dare you guys to eat a tablespoon of mustard with ketchup." Sam reads the next one making Penelope make a face shaking her head no.

"Penelope will not do this one. Even if it was for all the money in the world. She hates mustard with a passion." Colby says leaving to go get the things while she stays with Sam.

"Why do you hate it so much?"

"Because it's terrible. I'd rather kiss a snake than eat mustard." She says making him crack up.

"You're terrified of snakes though."

"Exactly!" She laughs with him as Colby comes back.

She watches the two and wants to puke just imagining it as they do it. They both make noises at how disgusting it was.

"Want a kiss? I think I got some on my lips." Colby jokes with Penelope and it wasn't odd for them to joke like that.

"Eww and EWW!" She moves Sam closer to him.

"I dare y'all to switch shirts in under 20 seconds." Sam reads the next one.

Penelope didn't care since she was in a sports bra so she took Colby's shirt, Sam took her shirt, and Colby took Sam's shirt.

"That was easy and this shirt is so soft on the inside." Sam says touching her shirt.

"I know, right. I love that shirt. You're mom actually bought it for me." She tells him.

"Really?" He says surprised.

"Yeah, birthday gift." She laughs.

While the guys wall twerk for a minute, Penelope keeps track of the time for them. "Colby, I love that you peed yourself." Penelope laughs at him and he sees how the ice melted.

"Is y'all's not cold yet?" Colby asks them and they say it's cold for them.

For the next dare, Penelope gets her lipstick out of her bag for the dare, "I'm gonna need to get a new one now." She watches Sam ruin it a bit.

"It's fine. Here put it on me." Sam hands it to her so she does it to him almost perfectly till Colby nudges her arm on purpose.

"You ass." She glares at him.

"Okay, now let me put it on you." He turns her to face him.

"I'm gonna look like a clown." She tilts her head up a tad.

"Pucker your lips so I can do this."

"You don't pucker your lips to put on lipstick." They both bicker so she stops for him to just do it and she ends up having a long line on her bottom lip. "I can't." She wipes it off so she doesn't look stupid.

Colby and Sam look at each other as if they could communicate with their minds so they grab her both kissing her cheeks so their lipstick was on her face.

She just stands there shaking her head annoyed with them, "I quit." She laughs leaving the room.

"Keep that on till we're done!" They shout at her.

"Whatever!" She shouts back.

Sitting around on her phone messages a friend of hers the boys tell her there's a dare to slap Colby in the face with hot sauce. "I'm not excited for this." Colby groans heading outside and Penelope follows wanting to watch.

"Just be careful with it going in his ear." She tells Sam as he sets the camera up.

"I can't help where it goes."

"You sorta can since you're slapping him." She laughs.

"Why can't we see your ice cubes melting? Did you take them out?" Colby touches where her pockets are and can feel the cold melted water. "How is that not bugging you?"

"Sometimes I take super cold baths when I don't take super hot ones." She explains to him.

"Alright, guys. What's up? We're out here. You got about to be slapped with some hot sauce." Sam claps his hands.

"I'm not excited for this." Colby says again, "I'm gonna take off my beanie. Here, hold this for me." He puts it on Penelope's head.

"What am I a coat rack?" She giggles.

"A beautiful coat rack." He pats the top of her head.

"It's in my ear! She even said to be careful." Colby complains.

"Sam, you barely even slapped him in the face. That was all ear." Penelope pulls Colby's head towards her to see how bad it was.

"Why is it burning?!" He walks away.

"Come on. I'll help you clean it." Penelope helps him take off Sam's long sleeves and holds it by his ear so it doesn't get on the carpet as they walk to the sink. "This is gonna be difficult not to wash it down in there more." She huffs.

"You always clean us up after stupid shit so you got this. You're the mom of the group." Colby laughs as she carefully cleans his ear up.

"I'm the mom yet you two ignore me?" She tugs on his hair.

"Exactly. Plus you're still younger than us."

"You're two months older than me so shut up." She finishes up.

"What would I do without you?" He stands up smiling at her.

"Clean the hot sauce out of your own ear for starters." She smiles back, "I texted Harper to come pick me up so she should be here soon. I have to meet with some people tomorrow so." She lets him know.

"I still can't believe you're a model now. I'm happy that it helps you. You needed this because me telling you isn't enough apparently."

"It's just nice hearing from people who don't know me personally saying it. Trust me, it means a lot coming from you. It shows you care about me but still." She explains to him as her sister honks for her. "I would give you your shirt back but Sam is still wearing mine." She looks down at herself.

"It's fine. It's not the first one you've taken and never gave back. But this I want still." He takes his beanie back.

"I didn't want it in the first place." She shoves him as she leaves the room, "Bye Sam!"

Jumping in her sister's car, Harper has Taylor Swift blaring making Penelope laugh. "Sing it with me, baby sis!" Harper starts to drive.

This was the very first page Not where the story line ends My thoughts will echo your name, until I see you again These are the words I held back, as I was leaving too soon I was enchanted to meet you Please don't be in love with someone else Please don't have somebody waiting on you Please don't be in love with someone else Please don't have somebody waiting on you

This night is sparkling, don't you let it go I'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home I'll spend forever wondering if you knew This night is flawless, don't you let it go I'm wonderstruck, dancing around all alone I'll spend forever wondering if you knew I was enchanted to meet you Please don't be in love with someone else Please don't have somebody waiting on you

#sam and colby #colby brock #sam golbach #katrina stuart #jake webber #corey scherer #elton castee #tara yummy #colby brock imagine #colby brock ff #colby brock fanfic #best friend #friends to lovers #tfil

[gothicprep]

so glad that AI video is here! sort of. kind of. you ever want to see a screensaver that looks like it was designed for windows 2000, where fish are flying through the air across village streets? sora can do that with one easy prompt! you ever wanna see a woman lying in bed, roll over, and watch her arm turn into the comforter? sora can do that too! it's amazing! do you ever want to see a POV of an ant's tunnel that looks like something worse than what you'd see on bbc's planet earth? sora can do that too!

i'm sure we've all seen these videos and many more at this point. the ai evangelists swear that this is a game-changing revolution in its ability to turn simple prompts into movie quality video. assuming that movie quality means a late-stage mcu movie, or madame web, or a direct to video dreamworks knockoff from the early 2000s. really? none of those things. it's not as good as any of those things. and yeah, yeah, i know, "it's going to improve", "this is the worst it's ever gonna look", "it's gonna get more realistic". but there are some who will tell you that this is the beginning of a brave new world. a whole new era! we've got a whole movement that's going to unlock creativity that's been untapped, trapped within people who have no actual talent but, um, some ideas i guess. there's a deep reservoir of those people who society has been wasting for all these years.

let's be real here. more likely, the AI is probably going to be used to much more boring ends than new great works of art when it's not being used for more nefarious ends. on the more boring side of things, you'll have people on the internet say "what if you had batman fight the straw hat pirates from one piece? that's something an ai could do!" fanfic kind of stuff. "what if goku fought superman? who would win? i'll bet ai can show us that!" another thing it can bring to life? sex tapes that you didn't make, but you're going to be starring in! get ready for the future where someone gets mad at you online, and five seconds later, you're in a bondage orgy! have fun at the bondage orgy! that's what ai promises :)

but that's not the worst of it, believe it or not. the real problem with ai is that it's going to give bad actors the ability to create international crises by ginning up phony videos. want to spark a riot in the urban center of a country you don't like? fake a video of a cop killing a kid. it'll go viral and the gas stations will be burning before the city can prove it didn't happen.

wife & i were watching the second season of tokyo vice last night while we were waiting for true detective: night country to come on, and in the premiere episode, there's a video of a sex worker being beaten to death while a gov't minister looks on. when presented with the video, he pulls the shaggy defense and just says "it wasn't me". the denial doesn't wash because the technology at the time couldn't have faked it, but in short order, we're going to be in a future where we won't be able to prove it was or wasn't him. "oh, it was ai". welp. no one will know.

the ability to circulate low-quality, unverified information has real downsides. and if anything, the decades during which i've grown up with the internet prompts me towards a lot more wariness of ai than unbridled enthusiasm. if the best case scenario for ai is what the internet did to the information environment already, we're all fucked. the speed with which things can spread and proliferate is frankly terrifying. the prompts people are using now are dumb, and the programming is not very good, but the ai evangelists are right when they say it's going to get better. and as it gets better, it's going to be more tempting to use it in ways which absolutely are negative for society. i'm sure there are cgi artists working at major studios who will be able to use these things in good ways, but i sit here and i hear people talk about "oh, the great wave of creativity is going to be unleashed by ai!" and i'm just like. what kind of future are you living in, where the technology always works out the way you want, and everyone is happy, and there are flying cars in the sky and rainbows?

#oppenheimer ending but he doesn't understand the ramifications of the nuke so he's just smiling

[thiriumhound]

Of course I'll remind you, I'll do it right now in this ask, so you could share your favourite whump fics when you feel like doing it. And for now let this ask just hang in there

context

ok ok ok ok ok ok ok SSO. *heavy breathing*

have you ever looked at dbh and gone, "man, i really wish the androids were treated like the living autonomous machines they are instead of human expys"? have you ever looked at dbh and gone, "man, i sure wish cyberlife had any development literally at all- kamski probably had absolutely nothing to do with connor's development, so why is he considered connor's 'maker'?" have you ever looked at dbh and gone, "man, i wonder if there's anything more to amanda, and i wonder if chloe being the first android to pass the turing test means anything? surely there's something there"? have you ever looked at dbh and gone, "man, it sure is ridiculous how despite being conscious ais with full internet access, none of them really do anything with it"? have you ever thought "man it would be cool if androids weren't constrained to stupid human physical and mental standards for the sake of easy writing"? have you ever looked at dbh and thought, "man, there are so few characters that are more than one-note cutouts, it's no wonder people made gavin reed into a whole different character because there was no one else available to use to make certain dynamics happen"? have you ever looked at dbh and thought, "man, it's just so bare-bones, with so many plotholes and unexplored things, i wish the worldbuilding had an ounce of thought and logic behind it!"?

WELL LOOK NO FUCKING MORE. SEARCH NO FUCKING MORE. LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THIS FUCKING FIC IT HAS ME BY THE THROAT.

it's got fucking EVERYTHING. wanna know what it was like to be the first ever fully conscious ai, a whole new kind of living being? BOOM, THIS FIC'S GOT YOU COVERED. ever wondered about the development behind them, cyberlife as a company and the people in it? FUCK YES LOOK RIGHT HERE. ever wanted to see connor in ways you've never seen him before, to the point where i actually can't construct this sentence meaningfully because there's just so fucking much??? PLEASE READ THIS FIC OH MY GOD. ever wanted to know WHAT THE FUCK RA9 IS????? YOU WANNA KNOW ABOUT FUCKING RA9??????????????

this fic is called "Connor". it is about connor. the whole thing is mostly pov connor, and it's about connor, iterations ZERO TO SIXTY. NOT JUST STARTING AT 51, OH NO, WE GET IT ALL. why is his iteration number so high at the start of the game? WELL YOU BETTER BE EXCITED TO FIND OUT.

DO YOU WANT ANGST? WHUMP? LOVE? TRIUMPH? RAGE? DESPAIR? ARROGANCE? A SHITLOAD OF DEATH? CONNOR DYING 50000000 TIMES???? THE MILITARY? GLOBAL CRISIS? HAVING THE WORLD ON YOUR SHOULDERS WITH NO CHOICE BUT TO DO YOUR BEST?????????????? GREY MORALITY???????? UNABASHED COMPLEXITY????? THE BEST FUCKING ANTAGONIST EVER IN THE HISTORY OF EVER????????????????????????????????

i haven't even read this fic recently it's been like weeks. a month? more? and i'm still internally screaming. i feel like i'm missing some of the main draws and i can't even describe a lot of it because i would DIE if i spoiled this masterpiece. this fic made me actually want to make myself learn to draw people so i can draw nothing but fanart for this fucking fic.

the characters, the pacing, the fucking lore, it's all immaculate. seriously. it feels like it's what dbh SHOULD'VE been. the writing style is utterly enrapturing. when i read it for the first time, i legitimately could not get myself to turn away from it for anything except tasks absolutely required on me. every single character feels like a PERSON. connor's complexity is fucking insane. he's lovable, he's terrifying, he's caring, he's callous. he is NOT static, at all. connor in chapter x is a completely different beast from chapter y. there is so much trauma and catastrophe, but PERFECTLY balanced with the humor. it's fucking perfect

let me supply some nice quotes to hook you. i can barely put any because spoilers and length but enjoy mostly funnies but also some of the angst

•"I do stuff without thinking sometimes." "Clearly," I say. "No intelligent being would jump out of a moving vehicle for no reason." "I have a reason," he says. "I promised I wasn't gonna leave you ever again and I meant it." "Hey, are they filming a scene?" I hear a human whisper.

•"Mrs Vondracek, this is Gennadiy Petrov," he says. "Who?" "Elijah's friend from work. You remember?" "Elijah doesn't have any friends."

•There is only a 6% chance that Carridan will say anything. He knows what I'm capable of. He knows what will happen to those that stand in the way of my mission.

•"You do not waltz into some girl's house, kidnap her and frame yourself for murder. Do you understand?"

•I transmit my payment details. CyberLife have an expense account set up in case I need to purchase items relevant to my mission objective. Sergeant Matthews is relevant to my mission objective. And he wants Oreos.

•I scan and analyse the quadruped with short brown fur, brown eyes. Loud noises emanate from what I suspect is its mouth. "Dog," I identify, unsure of the significance.

•He squeezes my shoulders. "It's alright, buddy," he says. "Just breathe." "I don't breathe." "Okay. What do you usually do when you're having a meltdown?" "I experience critical system failure." "Ummm. Okay... don't do that."

•I cannot decipher his handwriting. Neither can the software on the tablet. It saves the note as an image. I download it to study but my advanced analysis systems can't crack it. This is worse than a captcha code.

•I hear the shrieking of steel as the disc begins to rotate. No... Please... Where is Sergeant Matthews? Where is the CPD? The FBI? CyberLife? Why am I alone? Why am I always alone?

•I watch him die. As so many others have died. Their blood on my hands.

•"You're a bad person," he says, clutching at the BN250's uniform. "I'm not a person," I say. "Neither are you."

god i wish i could put more but spoilers- anyway this is just some of the stuff i screenshotted to my phone. not even close to all the good stuff just please read the fic im begging u it'll be worth it you'll never be able to look at canon as complete again

read. now

#THE connor fic #yeah i said it #this is a ramble. i apologise but also i don't #i just needed to get myself to answer this ask #thiriumhowls #cyberlife #dbh #dbh fic #detroit become human #connor rk800 #detroit: become human #chloe rt600 #d:bh fic #d:bh fanfiction #dbh fanfiction #rA9 #markus rk200 #dbh connor #elijah kamski #connor dbh #dbh amanda #dbh chloe #iwonderwh0 #this fic is my response to many of your posts such as: 'why don't we know the cyberlife ceo' 'wheres embracing the computer within' #'op android crimes' 'androids are a threat to all cybersecurity' 'androids are also vulnerable to all threats to cybersecurity' #'loving humans for being funky organic lifeforms' 'the racism metaphor is way off-base there are other inequalities and injusticies' #and more!!! #just. it's got everything man #also gavin reed i think is mentioned a grand total of 0 times i know that's a selling point for you LMAO /jjjj #there's also fucking epic markus backstory but that really shouldn't be what someone comes for lol

[getawayheaven]

Closeting

@back-to-louis I am creating a separate post here because this is gonna be long and I am really up for discussion because I think we both can gain some knowledge if we can have open discussion.

I did went through your closeting tag and you think forced contractual closeting isn't a thing, but rather being in a closet and bearding is a choice. I highly disagree. Being in a closet is never a choice. No one wants to live in hiding. The reason can be contracts, homophobia, the fear of coming out or anything else. But these all are pressures not choices. Being in a closet is never a choice and the person can't be blamed for it.

Second how can you say that forced contractual closeting isn't a thing when Rebecca Ferguson has been screaming about forced contracts since years now. Here is everything she went through. But then you said But I don’t believe that there are contracts holding people hostage for life. Where’s the proof that they have forced them to sign up for life on these contracts? Then here is the proof

And I agree that closeting is illegal. There can't be direct closeting contracts but what about other minor and hidden contracts that directly binds the person to a closet. One is image clause. I hope I don't have to explain you what an image clause is. Contracts can be very complicated and sometimes there can't be even a way to get out of them. Here is another example of how fucked up contracts can be.

Fun Fact -  Louis followed and after several minutes unfollowed JEDWARD on twitter and update accounts reported it. He brought whole fandom's immediate attention to them.

The next obvious question that you raised is - If these people can come out in public to speak up then why Harry and Louis can't, even though they are much bigger and richer than these people? Because the more bigger a person gets the tighter the closet gets. Millions and millions of dollars are at stake when it comes to Louis and Harry, those people can do anything to keep their image as they want it to be because they are getting hugely profited by it. Rebecca has been speaking about what she suffered but even she dosen't know how much worse Harry and Louis's contract were. You need proof again? Here it is -

Why was Harry so terrified? Why he didn't spoke against it if he was so terrified of a said clause? Why it took him more than a decade after signing the contract to speak about it in public? You know what's more to it that makes me question everything? It is this-

And about when he signed his solo contract and learned that the ability to make music would not be affected by personal transgressions, he burst into tears, a reaction he still seemed shocked by, retelling it to me now, years later. "I felt free," he explained. X

Now imagine how restricted he must be that he cried because he didn't knew he can have so much freedom. That he could be free. Do you have any idea how disgusting and gut wrenching contracts can be? Look at this -

X X

Rebecca tweeted this in 2021 and we know that since 2021 not a single boybander came out in public that he's been physically assaulted. Now imagine how disgusting this is. This means he's still going through it. Even Rebecca can't take any names. She can't do anything. Watch this video -

"The machine of the hiding is insane and inhumane. (...) It's gonna keep going until somebody who has something to lose stands up and says 'I am gay', somebody big." Country singer Chely Wright about being gay in Hollywood

This proves that it's easy for small artist to come out. But for big artists it gets much more complicated and difficult. And this -

@back-to-louis even now if you believe that forced contractual closeting isn't a thing then it's no wonder to me that Harry and Louis keep leaving hints for us. And you've been here since 2012 you know much more than me but I am shocked that how you just skipped all these crucial things and never discussed about it. I didn't found anything about these things on your blog. It's very easy to talk about convenient things but what about the other side of reality?

#Youtube #anon asking me about reality #this ans your que too #it is very easy to look at things as they are #but just imagine how easy it would be to oppress people who are new to industry #because general public don't even try to read into things #this is am example of a very good theory that RBB a/c posted #it was the missing dollar puzzle #it's all about psychology #about manipulation #back-to-louis #anticonspiracist #closeting #bearding #contracts #larries #antis

[theflyingfeeling]

hi hi hellooo! Aleksi's remix of Let Me Down Slowly came up on my youtube recs and it instantly reminded me of your amazing fic and I knoooooooooow I said it a million times but thank you so much for writing it and sharing it, it's so fucking good!!!!!!! 💖💘💖💕💖💖💘

now imagine, pining-idiots-that-haven't-realized-they-are-in-love Allu and Olli are probably enjoying their well deserved breaks from all the stuff they did in 2023 (and most likely with their partners by their side), but I like to imagine that they still make some time for at least one video call once a week, or that they exchange dumb texts daily because they miss each other so much 🥺💕

maybe Olli grabs his guitar one night and comes up with some beautiful riff that he sends to Allu, but this time Aleksi decides that they have to finish it together side by side (clearly an excuse to see Olli again because oooops, he realized he has Feelings™ for his friend and bandmate) and well, Olli had to travel to Helsinki anyway (to make sure the new posters were shipped correctly, or to sign a legal document or some made up bullshit), soooo why not stay at his just-a-friend-i-swear's place for a few days?

they would have the Moment Of Realization late at night, around 2AM when Allu is finally done with the remix and Olli is already asleep on the couch (is he really asleep, though? or just enjoying the moment with his eyes closed?). Allu would not resist the temptation of brushing a curl off Olli's beautiful face, and maybe caressing one of his cheeks while he can, not forseeing that Olli would be very much awake, so now they're both holding their breaths and staring at each other with so much love 💖💕💘

maybe they finally dare to get closer and share a shy little kiss after all those years of pining, or maybe they feel like they can't do it, not while they still have a significant other, and leave the studio confused and unsure of what to do next 🥰

anyways, it's already late over here and I used my last braincell to daydream about this 😅 have a lovely lovely day 💖💕💘💖💕💘

OH MY GOD???!!?!?!??!?! 😭😭😭😭😭

this made my stomach do the thing because akdjshfksjfdkf I've honestly spent the entire Christmas break thinking about the two of them constantly checking their phones and not really understanding why they feel so disappointed when there's no new text from the other or why they feel a pang of jealousy when the other posts a holiday greeting in the group chat (=a selfie with their gf with a cheesy Christmassy/NYE edit and a text "Happy Holidays from us!")

amd aaaahhhh imagine soft Olli playing softly on his soft guitar AND THINKING OF ALLU THE WHOLE TIME DJDHFGFFJFF I meaaaaan may I remind y'all that yet again this is not just something the delulu made up but instead it's something that actually for real happened with the Let Me Down remix 😭 obviously we don't know if Olli had the riff ready and Allu just happened to need one and it came up in a conversation, or if Allu asked him to make him one, or if Olli just sent the riff to Allu who was so inspired (and in love (with the riff! or at least that's what he convinced himself then)) that he made an entire remix based off it 🥺 my point here is that it's TOO EASY to imagine them doing exactly what you just derscribed 🤧💕

and yeah, I have also been imagining their first kiss and how terrifying it would be for the both of them 😭 I mean, I want to assume that the "deep talks" they've had over a glass of wine or a bottle of Mountain Dew (again, something we know for certain they done, not just something the delulu has decided is canon!!) they have also discussed sex and/or sexuality and came out as bi to each other, so it's not the fact they're both dudes and about to kiss each other that's messing with their heads rather than the fact they're both in relationships skgjdjfksjfsjfjdjf fuck why am I so invested in this 😩

bonus points indeed if they only ALMOST kiss before they snap out of it and aaaaaaaaaa poor confused boys!! because this whole time they've been like "I don't actually like him that way, and even if I did nothing could ever happen because we're friends and co-workers and he's taken" but then they realise they were having an undeniable Moment(tm) and the other was actually about to kiss them back too so they're like ???????????????? oh god 😭

thanks for this, I feel so validated once again 🙈

#i didn’t make any new year's resolutions but if i did it would’ve been to let this infidelity trope be #i know it's all fiction but........i'm so paranoid 🙈 #but just so you know i could write fic after fic after fic about these two falling for each other in various circumstances #and yes many of them include them already being in relationships with someone else #i just keep imagining allu staying up late by himself bc his partner is already in bed #and he's contemplating whether or not he should text olli if he's awake too #he is of course (already waiting for allu's text) and i'm imagining them texting each other at ass o'clock with dopey smiles on their faces #when they could be sleeping next to their actual partners #OH WAIT i dont have to imagine this BECAUSE THAT HAPPENED FOR REAL TOO 💁‍♀️ #to conclude they're in love but feel like they can't do anything about it 😔 #answered asks #ollixallu #blind channel rpf #catboyolli

[stevenbasic]

GITJ Post 262: Anderson At Home

oh no, thought the young, bespectacled man as one of the three phones on his makeshift desk, the one that was not a burner, sprung to life next to him, it’s her! His eyes went wide as two, three, seven images of his preternaturally developed baby sister appeared in the text chat. Several he had seen before, gleaned for research from the dark web or absconded himself for evidence through the tenuous back doors he’d hacked in their servers. The others he had not. 

His heart raced, panic. He began to sweat, and to shake. 

Subject #F8.009 was onto him. 

More pictures materialized before his terrified eyes - some recent, some from earlier “stages” of the treatments she’d been previously receiving in the clinics of what was surely just one of countless epicenters of this female conspiracy to take over the world, Evolution Pharmaceuticals. His blood had begun to run cold, and he wiped his hand across his already-receding hairline.

Ten years his junior, his sister Mary Jane had become involved in very bad things. He knew it!  First there was the job, the menial secretarial position after school at the same financial headquarters where their mother worked as an executive assistant to one of the firm’s top officers. That was five months ago. Mary Jane was never one much for her studies, and after her promotion over the summer (into the position their mother could no longer manage, after her breakdown) and what Anderson counted as his sister’s third treatment she had not returned to school in the fall. Their father had, in his sudden, at-the-time mysterious illness, also lost his job and the family was now dependent on Mary Jane’s ballooning income. (Anderson himself could not, of course, be burdened with the obligations of employment - his time down here, at his basement workstation, was too valuable! Theresistance needed him, and his online efforts to help root out the dark, hidden machinations of this worldwide conspiracy were a 25-hour a day job!)

Gas mask! Yes! Though he was on his last filter, he knew he needed - c’mon, c’mon! - to put it on if she was to be in the house. Whatever type of weapons-grade chemicals they’d induced her body to emit, they could now permeate even through the reinforced door of his basement bedroom. 

Gas mask, locks…where’s my pepper spray??

He heard the footsteps coming down the basement stairs. He double-checked the locks. Anderson wiped his sweaty brow again and stood in front of the door, waiting, pulse racing. 

A moment of quiet and then the doorknob rattled. Her fist, then, pounding on the door, causing his heart to stop. He gasped. 

“OPEN UP BIG BROTHR!!!” she yelled through the door, “OPEN YOUR FUCKING DOOR!!!”

oh jesus oh no oh please

More pounding; the whole house rattled. Dust fell on him from the ceiling. 

“Theyre upping my treatments so i’m going to grow even FASTER get STRONGR even faster get more BEAUTIFUL even faster watch out big brother youre fucking DEAD!!” she screamed, “u can spy on me with yr little friends but u can’t do anythng to stop me I’m going to take ovr this whole familyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!! The whole fucking worrrrrrllllddddd!!!!!

oh my god oh no please make it stop

Take over YOU !!!!!

stop please stop stop stop

U want my pictures u wont need my pictures my videos ull have me all over your FUCKING FACE 

i could just…i could just take this mask off…

                                                                         ….and it’d be so easy

Open up big brother let me innnnnnnnnnn

===========================================

thanks to Joyce Julep for the Anderson character, and letting our little worlds collide

#growing into the job

[tobiasdrake]

omg. Dagan Gera. I hadn't heard of this guy before you mentioned him and now I long for the blissful state that was ignorance of his existence. Why are so many wannabe darksiders complete clowns? I mean I absolutely love KotOR but Darth Malak was just such a complete twat. Why can't we get Sith that aren't either smarmy, stupid or both? I am not asking for much, just an actual personality, an aura of menace and some motivation that makes a minimal amount of sense.

The problem of engaging Dark Siders is pretty heavily baked into the Dark Side itself. Not in a sense that it's impossible to write interesting Dark Siders but rather in a sense that it's incredibly easy not to. The Dark Side makes it super easy to just slap a red lightsaber into the hand of a clown and then point and go "BAD GUY", and put not a single ounce of further effort into it.

Dark Siders don't need an interesting motive. They can have an interesting motive. You don't have to write them with weak motives. But they don't need to have one because at the end of the day, their motive is "Dark Side". They're bad because Dark Side. They're literally compelled by evil to do evil and there doesn't have to be anything more than that to them.

This makes for an ocean of cheap, one-dimensional villains with writers more concerned with showcasing just how evil they are than actually exploring them as characters in any serious capacity. An entire religion of "Stab this puppy and prove your evilness!"

By itself, that's not necessarily a problem. Not every villain has to be complex or multi-faceted to serve their story. Sometimes you're just hyping up a boss fight against a smug prick. That's fine. As long as the boss is menacing and present and doing things to make the audience go, "Awwww, yeah, it's gonna be so sweet to kick his teeth in," it can still work.

But there are two issues Star Wars has with that. The first is that Star Wars creators can't get over how cool Darth Vader was, and so a bunch of their attempts at a cool Sith character design is to just try and make Vader happen again. And so many Sith just feel like a cheap imitation of a better villain.

Commonplace standards of design like all-black outfits, universally red lightsabers against the rainbow of Jedi colors, full-face helmets, echoing voices through a speaker, raspy breathing sounds, all serve to turn Sith villains into an unengaging sludge of samey nonsense. It's hard to be interested in Darth Vader Knock-Off #47.

A further problem created by serialization and video games is that if your villain's just hyping up a boss fight, then it's hard to be hyped after a boss fight with them has already taken place.

Cal Kestis beats the shit out of Dagan Gera literally minutes after we meet him. Just fucking whales on him. And then we're supposed to spend the rest of the game being all freaked out about this guy anyway.

The Grand Inquisitor is the leader of the Inquisitorius, #1 top of the line hypeable boss of an entire organization of boss fights, was overpowered. And he was killed by a half-trained Padawan and his kid sidekick in the first season of the show in which this whole concept was introduced. And somehow we are still, to this day, supposed to gasp in shock and be terrified whenever an Inquisitor shows up.

The Kenobi show actually thought we would believe that these clowns were a credible threat to the greatest and coolest Jedi who ever lived! It's a very good show and I enjoyed it very much but it's still funny that they thought "Obi-Wan has to fight Inquisitors" would ever, at any point, make us feel worried for Obi-Wan's safety.

So the Dark Side makes it incredibly easy to write bland and uninteresting characters, but that's okay as long as they can be cool and exciting monsters. But if you're going the route of one-note cool and exciting monsters for your villains, you can't treat them like Team Rocket.

This is why Star Wars is an ocean of weak villains.

#star wars

[underforeversgrace]

where the wounds were hidden

title: where the wounds were hidden

words: 5629

summary: When there's no one to talk to, sometimes a diary is all someone can turn to.

(This is the Danny POV of 'broken trust and the wounds hidden behind.' Please read that first or this won't make any sense.)

@astatia-ghast

AO3

Tumblr Chapter One of broken trust

AO3 for broken trust

The video shook, opening into a very boring view of a dark hardwood floor, the sounds of clicks and clacks all that was able to be heard as someone did something off screen.

“Are tripods supposed to be this difficult?” An echoing voice asked from somewhere beyond the camera's sight. More shuffles, more movements. “Got it!” The voice exclaimed, releasing a small ‘whew’ of victory.

Footsteps that grew close and then the sound of the camera being picked up, though it still offered no view of whoever was in the room. Instead, it was merely a nauseating sway and someone’s legs, clad in tight black material with white boots. Finally the camera was lifted up, small snapping sounds indicating it was being mounted on something. The scene was nothing incredibly interesting - a small bedroom, the walls a soft blue, though depictions of the aurora borealis were higher up, where they then darkened as the image continued up onto the ceiling, eventually settling into a dark black.

Simple furniture one would expect was visible - a bed, a dresser, a nightstand, a bookcase, though the bed was smaller than most adults would have in their room. Overall, it looked so normal. Unless you looked closely at the comforter strewn across the bed, saw how constellations danced on it, how the colors moved and changed of their own accord. Saw that something which was green and glowing with unnatural brightness sat in vials on the bookcase. Noticed the occasional bursts of light which lit up on the dark ceiling, a rocket lazily flying through the scene.

This was a room not of Earth, that was for sure. As someone finally came into view, he appeared to not be of Earth, either. His white hair, his eyes the color of the vials on the shelf, the white glow around his form. No, he certainly wasn’t human.

“Oh, shoot, when did I press record?” He asked, leaning forward, coming uncomfortably close to the camera. A shrug and he backed away, letting the back of his legs get caught on the bed behind him, bouncing slightly as he landed flat on his back from the force of the fall. He sighed and then sat up, eyeing the camera.

“Welcome to Danny’s diary.” Danny said, waving shyly at the camera. “Not sure why I feel the need to say that. This is so for my eyes only.” He fidgeted, suddenly seeming unsure. A derisive laugh came from him. “Seriously, am I even awkward with myself? Could I be any more lame?”

Each word he spoke seemed forced and awkward. He closed his eyes, taking several deep breaths.

He brushed his hand through the disheveled white mop of hair he had, sighing.

“Okay. Danny, for the love of the Ancients, can you not be weird for five fucking minutes?” He sat up straighter, seeming to gather his courage.

“Hi, me from the future! If I’m watching this and not just deleting it. If I’m actually gonna keep up with this. Things have been… well, they’ve been getting hard. Four months like this and nothing is getting easier.”

The teen relaxed, body visibly releasing tension the longer he spoke.

“I’ve got my powers mostly under control, so that’s… better than it was. I’m not phasing my hand and losing my fork anymore. I’m not losing hold of the transformation. The whole being a ghost part is actually the easy part, ironically enough. Flying is my favorite part. The whole ‘my hands are basically weapons of mass destruction’ is pretty cool, too. Even if a little terrifying. Like I have more power than is safe.”

His face visibly saddened as he continued. “It’s the human part that’s making my life hell, y’know? It’s my family trying to kill me, my sister trying not to give up on me, my friends trying to be understanding everytime I cancel with a bullshit excuse, but I can tell they’re getting sick of it. It’s the bullies at school - Dash, especially - using me for target practice and having to rein in my strength, having to not react and punch that asshole through a wall. It’s the classes I’m failing, it’s the disappointment from everyone around me.”

Danny shrugged and sighed. “I want to tell someone. Anyone. I want to stop going through this alone, but the risk is just too much. Like, can you imagine? Two ghosts hunters learning their son is one? I’d be strapped to a table in ten seconds. Jazz can’t keep a secret to save her life. Sam and Tucker… they’re the ones I wanna tell the most. They’re the ones most likely to understand and accept me, I think. I just can’t bring myself to do it. To make them live with the secret the way I am. But it does make for a very lonely life.

“That’s actually why I’m making this, y’know? I can’t talk to anyone. Jazz tried yet again to corner me at school, demanding to let her know what’s happened to me. She asked who I was going to talk to, then, if I wouldn’t talk to her. Was I just going to talk to myself? And the idea… it didn’t sound bad. I may not be able to talk to someone, but I can still talk about it. Let it out.”

He smiled slightly. The more he had spoke, the easier his words seemed to be. “Yeah, this definitely isn’t my worst idea. I feel… a little better. Good idea, Jazz.” He joked. He moved towards the camera and all that was left was blackness as it was turned off.

~~~~~~

The video started in the same room, Danny settling on his bed. Despite there being no obvious physical change - he was even in the same jumpsuit - there was something different in him. In the way he held his shoulders, in the bags under his eyes. Even the camera couldn’t hide the haunted look in his eyes. He looked like he had fought through Hell and barely escaped.

“So good news is I get portal opening powers sometime in the next decade, so that’s kinda cool. I also might be strong enough to cause the literal apocalypse, though. That’s… less fun.”

He stared at his hands as though they were snakes about to strike. “I don’t want to ever be that. I won’t become that.”

Blinking back tears, he clenched his hands into fists. “And I’ve taken steps to ensure that. What happened to drive me crazy can’t happen now.” Tears slid silently down his face. “I was going to lose Sam and Tucker anyway. They weren’t going to put up with my shit for much longer. It was inevitable.” A scowl formed on his face at the word, as though angry at himself for using it.

“At least Clockwork saved them. Of course, that accident is the kind of bad luck that fucking follows me, isn’t it? The only thing stronger than my bad luck is a goddamn Master of Time, I guess. Cuz, seriously? What fucking kind of accident is that? My parents meeting with Mr. Lancer at the Nasty Burger about my grades, my sister tagging along because of fucking course she did. Sam and Tucker just enjoying a meal - only there because it was my idea, yet I was running late fighting some damn ghost, I didn’t have the chance to save them.”

Danny began to cry in earnest. “And then boom - the Nasty Burger and everyone inside was blown sky high. Everyone I loved, dead because of me. Because of my grades, because of my inability to show up.” 

Voice breaking, he continued. “It wasn’t hard to push them away. I’m not sure if that’s the good or bad option - good because I didn’t have to fight them for something I don’t even want, bad because of how much they’ve given up on me.”

“‘I can’t keep pretending like this, that I want to be your friend. I’m tired of coming up with excuses when I just don’t want to be around you.’” He said, over exaggeratedly moving his head around in a mocking manner.

Danny’s face fell and he began to cry. “They’re gone.” He clung to himself, loud, broken sobs coming from him, as his entire body shook with the force of his grief. “They’re gone.” He repeated.

All the camera caught after that was a heartbreakingly long shot of Danny laying on the bed, burying his face in a pillow as he cried before abruptly cutting to black when, presumably, the camera’s battery died.

~~~~~~

“Well, that fucking sucked.” Danny said, hand pressed to his side, his body occasionally shaking, anger visible on his face.

He looked older now. Baby fat had begun to melt from his cheeks. His shoulders were slightly broader, his jumpsuit a little tighter in the arms as it clung to lean muscle, even as he looked just a little too thin.

But his face was one of someone who knew tragedy, who knew it intimately and survived it, who had gazed into the abyss and seen the darkness. He looked old beyond his years. His eyes were tired, bags were even more prominent. He looked ready to crumble in on himself.

“By Clockwork, my parents really are going to be the ones to do me in. Again.” He said viciously. “Kill me with the portal then kill me with another invention. Seriously - they named it the Fenton Fryer? They already fried me once, goddammit!”

The anger slipped away, bone deep exhaustion replacing it.

“I think I need to film a goodbye video. It’s been so long and I’m so tired. I don’t know how much longer I can live like this. But even if they’re the ones to destroy me, destroy Phantom, I owe it to my family to give them an explanation if Danny Fenton never comes home. So just… film a tell all, a confession. And hope they forgive me at the end of it.”

He closed his eyes, wearily running a hand down his face. Despite the remnants of youth not yet faded from his face, he looked ancient in that moment.

“I don’t want them finding these, though. These are for my eyes only. But there’s so much other data on this drive that might be helpful, especially against some of the frequent flyers here. I don’t want to part with these videos, though. I… I can’t explain it. They’re a part of me now, even if I never rewatch them.” A deep sigh. “I’ll just move these to a different thumb drive and leave everything else on the original.”

Danny laughed bitterly. “Normally when a teenager thinks about leaving a goodbye video, it’s because they’re depressed and ready to go. Of course, no part of me can be a normal teenager. My goodbye video is ‘oops, sorry you killed me’ for my parents.”

His entire body seemed to shiver involuntarily, making him hiss in pain. “I’ve gotta avoid the Fryer next time. It’s been days and it still fucking hurts. I’m still getting an electric shock every time I touch metal. Eye opening though, huh? The proof of how dead everyone wants me, proof of how they’re getting closer everyday?”

Danny shook his head rapidly, suddenly lurching towards the camera and turning it off, the sound of a soft sob the last thing it caught before the recording ended.

~~~~~~

Danny was pacing this time, grumbling to himself as he pulled at his own hair.

“I hate that fucking fruit loop. ‘Oh, be my son!’” He said, openly mocking whoever he was imitating. “‘Oh, trust me! Oh, do this, do that! Just renounce your father and I’ll keep you safe!’” 

He threw his hands into the chair, exasperation clear on his face. “Maybe if he would prove he actually gave a single shit about me as a person, that he wasn’t just a narcissistic asshole, maybe I’d consider him. But he doesn’t give a fuck about who I am, what makes me me. No, I’m just the only other halfa. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that!”

He sat down on the bed with a little too much force, huffing angrily. “Clearly Vlad has never heard the phrase ‘actions speak louder than words.’ If he would be a decent person for one fucking day, I probably would consider it. Er, without the whole offing my dad bit. Just in general. No murder. Those aren’t hard parameters! Act like a goddamn human and don’t murder people!”

Throwing his head back, he grunted in frustration, landing with his back on the bed. “There isn’t anything holding me to my family. Amity’s my responsibility and I can’t leave, but I don’t need to live with my family. But Vlad just wants another lackey to push around. Not me. Not Danny. Just the halfa.”

Danny laughed bitterly. “Seems everyone wants Phantom. Not Fenton. No one wants Danny Fenton.” He was silent for several moments.

Very softly, almost below the ability of the camera’s microphone to catch, he whispered. “I don’t think I want Fenton anymore, either.”

~~~~~~

Danny seemed barely able to walk as the next recording started. The distance from the camera to his bed was no more than a few paces, yet his breathing was labored and he was curled in on himself. Halfway through, he lost his balance, falling to all fours, a pained yelp pulled from him. He pulled one hand from the floor and wrapped it around his center. He tried to push himself back to his feet but the act seemed to be too much for him. Essentially crawling, he made his way to the bed, though he didn’t try to pull himself up, instead sitting up and leaning his back against the side of it.

Danny’s chest heaved as he desperately drew in air, though every rise of his chest seemed to bring him pain, making him grimace.

He leaned his head back, resting it as he closed his eyes. He nearly seemed asleep as he stayed like that several minutes, until his eyes eventually fluttered back open.

“Fuck the Guys in White. Seriously. Fuck them and fuck the US government and just fuck everyone else.” Despite the harshness of his words, there was none of the expected vitriol in his voice. His speech was broken, hitching up at odd spots, too low in others.

“Hell of a cold open, huh?” He said, laughing softly. “I don’t know what else to do. I can’t leave my lair for a while - I need the ectoplasm in the air to help heal me quicker than I can in Amity. I need to talk, but just talking to the air makes me feel insane. At least now I’m talking to a camera. Makes me feel less like an outright crazy person.”

Danny’s entire body convulsed violently and his jaw tightened as he clenched his teeth, pulling himself into a ball. It was over a minute later when the shakes finally subsided.

“I can’t believe the government’s number one idiot squad actually caught me. A lucky shot when I wasn’t looking. It’s such bullshit. And, Ancients, they’re just fucking sadistic. The scientist who… the one who did most of the work, especially. She was worse than most ghosts I’ve faced! At least none of them laugh at me while they’re beating the shit out of me! But she laughed. How could someone see someone else like that and fucking laugh?” He asked, a faraway, haunted look appearing in his eyes. 

The silence stretched for several minutes. 

“They said I deserved it. I didn’t. I didn’t deserve that.” He eventually said to the empty room. “I didn’t,” he repeated, as though he had to convince himself of it.

“I got so lucky, though. That’s awful to say, isn’t it? I got… yeah, I got yeah, and I’m still saying it was a lucky day. I don’t know what happened, to be honest. I felt my core get pierced. And then there was just… an explosion. Every single electronic in that facility failed, I think. Not sure how my ice core produced lightning but I’m not complaining. Maybe because of how I died? I don’t know. I don’t care. I got out but I don’t know if anyone got hurt, if anyone died. Is it bad I don’t care? Is it worse that I hope the lady who treated me like… like I was absolutely nothing died?

“I’ll never forget her face. I’ll never forget her laugh. Ancients, my life is absolutely fucked. I’d say she’d be in my nightmares, but I’d need to actually have time to sleep to dream.”

Danny eyed the camera before shrugging. “Not worth turning it off.” He muttered, reaching under the bed and blindly looking for something, eventually pulling out a large first aid kit. He peeled off the top half of his jumpsuit and grabbed at the gauze, pressing it against the already stitched wound on his chest, dabbing off spots where ectoplasm dribbled from the poorly done sutures.

The pain on his face as he spent the rest of the video tending to the large injury until the camera died didn’t seem to just be physical.

~~~~~~

Danny settled into his normal spot as the recording started.

“He talked to me.” He said, looking starstruck. “Dad talked to Phantom!” 

A small smile appeared on his face - it was so rare he smiled in these videos. “He listened to me! I never thought I’d be saying this, but I owe Spectra a thanks. I can’t believe it!

“I just… I still can’t believe what happened. I’d been so sure when he showed up that I was about to get shot in the back. But he attacked a different ghost, he didn’t even seem to be aiming for me. I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen him not aim for me, no matter what ghost I’m trying to beat into the Thermos. And then he protected me from Spectra, I think? He got her away from me and I was able to pull myself together. I hate her whole shtick.”

He laughed softly. “We actually made a decent team for a moment there, surprisingly enough. Although I really need to keep a better eye out on enemies and not forget they haven’t been souped yet.”

Danny absentmindedly pressed a hand against his side, though the jumpsuit hid whatever it was he was holding. “I’m not sure why I listened to him when he told me to wait, before Spectra reappeared. Surprise, maybe? He’d never just asked me to wait, it was weird? And then he didn’t Fade Spectra, he caught her like I would.

“But then he put his weapons down,” he continued. “Jack Fenton, willingly disarming himself in front of the dangerous ghost Phantom. It was surreal. He talked to me, insisted he didn’t want to hurt me. He apologized! He finally believed I have emotions!”

The smile had continued to grow larger, it was nearly alien to see a large smile on the boy’s face. “He talked to me as Fenton about it, too! I’m actually inclined to believe him. He wouldn’t need to lie to his son if he was trying to trick a ghost. He wants to be an ally, my ally. I never thought… I expected to fight alone for the rest of my life, y’know? I can’t bring myself to fully trust him. Not yet. But maybe. Maybe. I can stop doing everything by myself.”

~~~~~~

A black object sat in his hand and he was entirely focused on it, staring at it like it held the answers to life.

“He got me a cell phone. Phantom me, I mean. Honestly, this entire night feels like a good dream. I almost suspected Nocturn to be behind it, for it all to be fake. But I learned how to tell his dreams from reality last time he came here. This is real. Everything my dad said to me today was real.”

The tears in Danny’s eyes were nothing new to these videos, yet these were different than before. These were tears of happiness.

“I don’t even know how to react to what happened tonight, to be honest. He had kinda scared me at first, literally falling into my stargazing clearing and saying he was looking for me. I mean, how else should I react to that? He was shooting me just last week! And then we just… we just talked, like this was a perfectly normal occurrence. And when he noticed the Lichtenbergs, he asked to hug me? He apologized again. It was really nice. I’ve never been hugged as Phantom, I thought I’d be too cold. Hell, when’s the last time I’ve been hugged at all? I missed it.”

Danny sniffled, rubbing his nose with his hand. “He believes in me. Human me. He hasn’t told me that in at least a year. Not gonna lie, while hearing him say that he thinks Amity’s citizens believe in me was nice… knowing he believes in Fenton is the best part. They haven’t given up on me. They haven’t stopped loving me.”

He ran his fingers along the smooth back of the cell phone, still looking at it like it was the most unbelievable thing he’d ever seen.

“I’m starting to wonder if he’d accept me if he knew the truth. I’ve never been sure. But I’m beginning to lean towards ‘yes.’”

~~~~~~

Danny was standing this time, doing some sort of work out with his shoulder, occasional flickers of pain crossing his face as he seemed to reach the limit of his range of motion in that arm.

“He came as soon as I messaged.” Danny began. “He must’ve left the house as soon as he got my text, as quickly as he got to me. He actually came for me, can you believe it? Honestly, I don’t remember much after sending the message and I kinda wish I did. But, blood loss is a bitch. I know he sewed me up and did a really good job. I think we talked, but I can’t think of any specific topic, it’s all so hazy. I do remember him hugging me again. I’ve never seen Dad cry like that. He genuinely seemed to feel so guilty for what he’s done. For all the pain he’s caused me.

“I used to be so upset at him, if I’m being honest. That he couldn’t tell Phantom was his son. That he would never listen, that he always shot first and asked never. I don’t know when I did, but… I think I forgive him. I’m not angry or hurt thinking about him anymore.”

He sat down, perching on the edge of the bed like he so often did. He continued to move his shoulder in circles, pulling on it with his opposite hand. A grin had settled on his face again. “And then we just talked. Not all of it was pleasant, sure. But most of it… was. The conversation with him was just so easy - which is a statement I didn’t think I’d ever be able to say about Jack Fenton again. Not with all the lies and the secrets I keep, not with the way I always had to make sure to not let him see how scared I was whenever he talked about ghosts. But this was easy and it was fun. It was fun to talk to him.

“My constant puns, the ecto-suit and what happened with Pariah Dark, my Obsessions, and just general ghost lore. The whole time, he was just literally so excited to talk to me. He acted like his normal scientist self, that I always wanted to bolt from before. But I didn’t want to this time. I think I was as excited to talk to him as he was.”

Danny looked away from the camera, running his hand along the comforter on the bed, watching the shapes and colors shift. “We talked once about testing my powers, like how fast I am. I’m still not 100% sure about going into FentonWorks as a ghost and doing the tests. But that distrust and fear is starting to feel more like habit. I want to trust my father. I think I eventually will.”

~~~~~~

A broad grin was immediately visible as the recording began, Danny messing with the camera.

“I did the testing!” He exclaimed, practically vibrating with excitement. It was a nice change from the sadness that almost always appeared in his videos, that had slowly been fading the past few entries.

“First of all, I’m fast as hell. I kinda wanna just go fly at top speed and see how long it takes me to cross the country and come back. Maybe later. But that’s not the point today.”

Danny began to pace, seemingly full of energy and anticipation.

“I’m telling him. I trust him. He passed every test I gave him, even if he didn’t know he was being tested. He turned off all the ghost shields I asked him to. He went a step further, even! He disabled the weapons systems - I didn’t even mention those! As far as he knows, Phantom didn’t even know those existed. He showed them to me! He didn’t have to do that! And then the actual testing was legit fun! I am so much more powerful than I thought I was, which is so goddamn cool.

“Even better, he seemed to be having fun, too! And there was not a single time where I felt trapped or overwhelmed, where I thought Dad was trying to push me beyond what I was okay with. I wasn’t on alert for needles or invasive testing at all. Like, do you know how insane that is? Until recently, I hadn’t felt comfortable around Mom or Dad since before the portal opened. And now I’m standing in their lab, a whole ass ghost, and I’m not scared.

“He even reacted the way I hoped he would when I asked him to shoot at me! He visibly didn’t want to. Jack Fenton didn’t want to shoot Phantom! When he did agree, he got the smallest weapon around. I think he even aimed away from me ‘cuz he hit the shield way to my side, but that could just be his aim.”

The teen barely seemed to breathe as he excitedly chattered. Even beyond the foreign excitement on his face, Danny just overall looked better. The bags under his eyes had begun to fade. His shoulders didn’t seem so tense. He no longer looked like he was staring down the barrels of a firing squad. He had visibly gained weight since the beginning of his father’s change. Danny, for the first time in any of these videos, looked healthy and happy. 

“I’m gonna tell him,” he repeated. “I don’t think he’s going to reject me. He’s accepted Phantom. He’s been trying to bond with Fenton.” Danny chuckled slightly. “This is exactly what Vlad couldn’t do - actions over words. Jack has repeatedly proven he’s capable of change. I need a few days, I think. Figure out how to do it, how to explain it. I’ve never had to describe what I am - Vlad and the ghosts already knew. How the hell do I tell a ghost scientist he is wrong about even more ghost science than he realized?

“I’ve always wondered which of these diary entries would be my last, morbid as that may be. But it’s hard to be me and not contemplate death. When and how, who would land the final hit. Before, I’d have been convinced this would be my last entry. Convinced Dad would shoot on sight. I don’t know how I’ll tell him - as Fenton or Phantom? Just casually and randomly in the living room or planning to do it during dinner? I’ve never told anyone. I have no idea what the best procedure for explaining ‘hey Dad I’m half dead and you used to shoot me a lot but since you’ve stopped, I trust you to not dissect me’ is.”

Danny stopped pacing, grinning into the camera. “I’m not going to be alone in this anymore.”

~~~~~~

PLEASE CONFIRM - DELETE ALL FILES?

Danny hesitated, even as he hovered the cursor over the YES button. For so long, his video diaries had been such a large part of him. He’d never rewatched a single one, but their simple existence had become so important to him, maybe since it was the only times he’d ever been completely honest in so long, even if it was only to himself.

He eyed the most recent video - the one from a little over a week ago, where he’d decided to tell his father. He had gone to his lair to film another diary entry, but now… it didn’t seem important. He’d been his own and only confidante for years and now he had someone else in his ring.

He’d left without so much as turning the camera on. Whereas he used to immediately have the urge to film his entries whenever something notable happened, the only place he allowed himself to talk about all the awful things he had been through, the urge was simply gone.

Now, he simply sat at the computer in his parents’ lab, USB drive plugged in and every recording he’d ever made in front of him. There were over four hundred entries in this drive. If he hadn’t swiped this super capacity drive from his parents, he’d have gone through so many thumb drives by now, the sheer size of that many video files beyond the capabilities of a normal retail drive.

He still struggled to believe how well that night had gone.

He’d decided to do it in the stargazing clearing, just in case he ended up wrong and needed to bolt. He was going to tell him as Phantom. He had a whole speech he'd rehearsed in front of the mirror dozens of times.

The second Jack had arrived, though, he’d frozen, his carefully planned reveal immediately forgotten. It had been nice when his father had laid down next to him and watched the sky with him. Even then, with Jack so willingly laying so close to a ghost, Danny couldn’t force the words out of his mouth. Jack had ended up being the one to start the conversation, despite Danny being the one to call the meeting.

Danny had managed to steer the conversation to a close topic - his human life and his human aspirations. Jack had listened to his every word, confirmed his faith in both his son and the ghost beside him. But Danny had choked. He just… he couldn’t. It was too much change, it was too much risk.

It was just too much.

Danny would be eternally grateful his father hadn’t let the topic drop so easily. He hadn’t meant to admit how much he feared himself, the misery another version of him had wrecked. To be honest, he had never meant to talk about his dark self at all, but if he ever did, he would probably have decided to wait until after his Fenton/Phantom confession. Maybe deciding to do the confession on the anniversary of the now never happened Nasty Burger explosion hadn’t been a great idea, even if it had turned out okay.

He had wanted to cry with relief when his father had continued to support him, even holding Danny against his side. As simple a statement as it was, when Jack said ‘maybe you don’t know me as well as you think you do’ that had pushed Danny forward.

He had come to this clearing to confess. He had come here with full faith in his father. He did know his father and he was done being afraid.

Danny had forced the words out of his mouth, forced the transformation, trying to swallow the panic making him ill, constantly reminding himself this was his father, his father loved him, and he was absolutely safe.

Apparently, it would be Danny getting his entire world blown away by a confession in that clearing, not his dad. That Jack had known for weeks. That Jack wanted to earn back Danny’s trust and love, that he wanted Danny to feel safe knowing his parents knew his secret. The fact he had done that had made Danny feel more loved in that moment than he had in a long time, from even long before the portal opened.

He knew soon he’d have to reveal the truth to his mother, eventually she’d return from her conference. But Jack had reassured him and they had spent hours watching the sky.

For the first time since his death, Danny had felt entirely safe - loved, protected, respected, wanted. And all it had taken was his father dropping some duct tape.

PLEASE CONFIRM - DELETE ALL FILES?

Danny didn’t need the diary anymore. He no longer needed to hide away and conceal himself even in his home. He had someone to listen to him other than an empty room and a camera.

YES

He clicked the button and watched the deletion screen, the progress bar felt like an eraser as it slowly stretched across the screen. He watched as it erased years of pain and distrust.

“Danno!” Dad called from the top of the lab stairs. “Do you want Chinese again?”

A grin graced his face. “Yeah!” He shouted back. “Don’t forget the tuna rolls!”

The computer beeped as the progress bar reached 100% completion, confirming everything was gone.

He was erasing years of pain and distrust, yes. But he was preparing to march forward into years of love and acceptance.

And he didn’t need his past holding him back.

#grace writes #danny phantom #phic phight 2023 #Phic phight #danny fenton