#you're awful i love you

[rinwellisathing]

You're Awful, I Love You: All Chapters so far: In case anyone wanted to read more while I wait for an email inviting me to Ao3 so I can post it a little more normally. Part 1

https://www.tumblr.com/rinwellisathing/742300681378119680/here-it-is-my-durgetash-fic-please-be-gentle-i?source=share

Part 2:

https://www.tumblr.com/rinwellisathing/742348442586775552/youre-awful-i-love-you-part-2?source=share

Part 3

https://www.tumblr.com/rinwellisathing/742753057329250304/youre-awful-i-love-you-part-3?source=share

Part 4

https://www.tumblr.com/rinwellisathing/742802992051453952/youre-awful-i-love-you-part-4?source=share

Part 5

https://www.tumblr.com/rinwellisathing/742935988047872000/youre-awful-i-love-you-part-5-6?source=share

Part 6:

https://www.tumblr.com/rinwellisathing/743025724762587136/youre-awful-i-love-you-part-7?source=share

Part 7:

https://www.tumblr.com/rinwellisathing/743074689178648576/youre-awful-i-love-you-part-8-content-warning?source=share

Part 8:

https://www.tumblr.com/rinwellisathing/743206604452904960/youre-awful-i-love-you-part-10-enver?source=share

Part 9:

https://www.tumblr.com/rinwellisathing/743308542219567104/youre-awful-i-love-you-part-11-enver-gortash?source=share

Part 10:

https://www.tumblr.com/rinwellisathing/743422173799137280/youre-awful-i-love-you-part-12?source=share

#baldurs gate 3 #baldur's gate 3 #tiefling #oc #durge #dark urge #writing #fanfic #gortash x durge #lord enver gortash #enver gortash #durgetash #you're Awful I Love You #OC: Sentry Ojeda

[dragonmuse]

Hey, that YAILY ask you answered a few anons back, how you mentioned you were trying to figure out how Izzy finds Read. "greasepaint is a bitch to get out of fabric" - what about Izzy tries taking it to dry cleaners, but "hmm, that kid on the other side of the street looks like they’re about to keel over-oh, never mind they did, welp, guess its hospital time. Hey eddy, I'm in the ER, no, no allergies, someone got stabbed. No, not me. anyway, how do feel about having a guest for dinner tonight?"

(ANON ANON YOU ARE A GENIUS! And anon who initially requested this, I hope this at last scratches the itch)

Fridays, Izzy picked up and dropped off the dry cleaning. He was so regular that they usually had it ready for him. The prices was generally astronomical thanks to a million kinds of fabric pressed against his work uniforms, but he paid it unthinkingly. Such was the way of his world.

"Sorry!" Marcus behind the counter called when he came in that day. "We've been overloaded this week, yours is ready, just buried. Give me five?"

Izzy nodded, turning to head back outside. It was a decent day and the smell of the dry cleaners was not a favorite. He cased the street idly. The kid that lingered by the convenience store was there again today. They'd appeared a week or two ago, not quite panhandling, but not refusing the few dollars that Izzy offered as he walked by either.

They were big, for all they folded down small. Smaller than last week. Hm. They were listing a little.

....and there they went. Shit. Izzy pushed off the wall, checked traffic, then hustled across the street.

He squatted down to their side,

"Hey," he said sharply, clearly. "You alive?"

No answer. Shit. He touched them gently, got a pulse and could hear them breathing. There was blood, he realized, soaking through the arm of their shirt at an astounding rate. Clinically, he took out his cell, punched numbers, jammed it between his shoulder and ear even as he got out his knife and started cutting away at their sleeve.

"What's your emergency?" A calm voice asked him,

"Hey, Barb, it's Izzy. I've got a fainter on Broadway, in front of the Sip and Go. Looks like blood loss I'm trying to get at the wound now."

"Why are you calling me?" Barb asked.

"It's my day off. Can I get a bus?"

"Lucky you, huh? Okay, I'm sending someone to your location. Do you know anything about them?"

He glanced at the face, broken nose definitely, along with a split lip.

"No, looks young, white. Underfed." He got the sleeve open and found a wicked, ragged wound. "Cut inflicted by something dull or went in dirty. They're going to need stitches, tetanus shot and probably a blood bag. Who's on duty?"

"Deb and Skunk are on their way to you."

"Great, thanks."

The cops always showed to scenes, but Deb and Skunk were a good smokescreen. They showed, got the kid on a stretcher and in the bus, Izzy still putting pressure on the wound until Skunk took over. The cops would get a bare bones statement later.

They didn't come to on the way to the hospital and being unconscious got you some privileges. They were whipped away past the waiting room. An hour later, one of the nurses that he knew well let him into the room.

"No ID," the nurse told him solemnly. "They've been sleeping rough, if I had to guess. There's a shelter that we can direct them too when they're up and about."

"Yeah, good," Izzy nodded.

Eddy: where'd you go to get the dry cleaning? Russia?

Izzy: in the er. not for me. kid passed out on the sidewalk. blood loss. must've been in a hell of a fight.

Eddy: you took them in?

Izzy: wasn't going to just leave them.

Eddy: ok. no dry cleaning?

Izzy: going to stay until they wake up at least.

That wasn't too long a wait. Eyelids fluttered open a few minutes later followed by a bone deep groan. Izzy waited until they'd sat up a little, oriented themselves.

"Am I in the fucking hospital?" they groaned.

"Yeah, that's what happens when you free bleed everywhere like a dipshit," Izzy leaned back in the chair, relieved that they seemed with it. "Who beat your face in?"

"I beat their face in," they said, a vicious undercurrent in their voice that he appreciated vastly.

"Got learn how to duck then."

"Who are you?" they asked warily.

"Lucky you, a bystander who moonlights as an EMT. Izzy Hands. You?"

"Read."

"You got somewhere to go home to, Read? Because the nurses are going to come back with pamphlets, tissues and questions."

They shifted, looked away.

"Sure I do."

"Uh huh."

He stayed while the nurses came in, then the doctors. Then the cops. He didn't say much. All he learned was her pronouns, and that she did not, in fact, have an address to provide. She gave nothing away about the fight and stonewalled them at every turn.

Izzy: she's homeless

Eddy: fuck, fine. I'll make the guest bed. where was all this sainthood in our twenties?

Izzy: drowned by the booze probably

Eddy: pickled. I'm leaving for the bar in an hour.

Izzy: probably miss you entirely then. see you on monday.

Read argued about going home with him right up until the nurse asked about calling a family member and then all of a sudden, Izzy was a dear family friend as it turned out. He had to leave to get the car and she was waiting in the parking lot when he got back.

"Grabbed your bag," he pointed in the backseat and relief passed over her face.

The further out they got, the tenser she went, but there wasn't much he could do for that. It was warm out, and the garden was in full bloom as he pulled up the drive. The sight of that seemed to ease her a little.

"This your work?"

"Nah, that's Eddy."

"Eddy is your..."

"Spouse. But they're with their boyfriend this weekend," he could generally say that in a neutral tone these days. Practice made mediocrity or something.

"Oh," Read settled on and followed him inside.

He got her set up in the guest room, pointed out the bathroom then made himself scarce. She falls asleep before he can get dinner into her.

Read haunted the house that weekend. He left food out for her, lets her maintain her space. He spent a lot of time outside. On Sunday, Lucius called and Izzy caught him up.

"You took in a stray?"

"Seemed like the thing to do," he meandered through the vegetable patch.

"Did it? Look at you. Very cute. What will you do with her?"

"Dunno if she'll let me do jack shit, but she needs help."

"She's staying, that means something."

Eddy came home on Monday morning in a great mood. She was singing to herself, and came to find him right away.

"Where's the girl?" Eddy wound an arm around Izzy's waist.

"In the guest room, probably," he stepped in closer.

Eddy kissed him, other hand sinking into his hair and Izzy just managed to switch off the burner before losing himself in it.

"Oh, shit, sorry," someone said and Eddy broke off with a soft sigh, turning.

"No worries," she shoved off Izzy, and held out a hand. "Eddy."

"Read," Read said tightly. "I was um. I'm going to-"

And she was gone.

"What the fuck?" Eddy glanced back at Izzy.

"No idea. She's skittish."

Skittish enough that Izzy caught her headed for the door later that night.

"You going to walk to town?" He asked from the couch and watched her jump about a foot in the air.

"Shit," she muttered.

"If you've got somewhere, I'll give you a ride," he offered mildly. "But otherwise that's a long fucking stumble in the dark."

"I can't stay," she lifted her pack a little.

"Why not?" Her eyes flicked up the stairs. "Eddy?"

Read looked at him miserably, not saying a word.

"Iz?" Eddy called down the stairs, "Where's the- oh! Never mind, found it."

"What about them?"

Read only shook her head, moved closer to the door.

"Shit, fine, hold on," Izzy got out his phone.

Group Text: THEM

Izzy: one twenty-something idiot needs temporary housing asap

Lucius: re-homing already?

Izzy: she doesn't want to stay, but it's us or the street so someone better pony the fuck up

Jim: she can stay on our futon

Roach: that's cruel and unusual punishment.

Jim: what about your place then?

Roach: fuck no.

Stede: It's not very large, but I have Alma's room if she'd like it.

Izzy hesitated, watched the way Read stood in the moonlight, ready to bolt. Not the fucking time.

Izzy: fine. we'll be there in an hour.

"Your lucky day," he told her, getting up. "Give me five. You've got a bed in the city."

"That's where I was headed," she said quietly. "I can get work there."

"Stede'll give you a job. And anything else your want if you turn those big blues on him. He's a fucking soft touch."

He went upstairs. Eddy was in their closet, putting away laundry.

"I saw the texts," they said, not looking up. "It's me, huh?"

"She's scared shitless of you," he agreed.

"Smart girl," she smoothed down the folds of a t-shirt, voice tight.

"Hey," Izzy stepped in closer. "Not like you did anything."

"No, I know," Eddy brushed hair back from her forehead. "Honestly, I didn't want her here anyway. But...still. Doesn't feel great."

"You'll win her over," Izzy said with certainty. "Everyone always winds up liking you better than me."

"That's cause you're an incurable asshole," she smiled at him touched his wrist. "But I think maybe not this time."

"Every time," he countered and kissed her cheek. "I'll drive her in."

Stede was waiting and Izzy could practically taste Read's relief at the sight of the man, about as threatening as a loofah. Izzy didn't bother telling her how dangerous Stede was in his own right. She needed to believe she was safe and she was. Good enough.

"You're not headed straight back home?" Stede frowned as Izzy lingered in the door, watching Read run a hand over the velvet couch.

"Yeah," he said readily. "I am."

"But-"

"Eddy," Izzy shrugged.

"Oh. Yes. I suppose..."

They stared helplessly at each other. It wasn't a bridge Izzy could bring himself to build, but once and a great long while, he appreciated looking over the valley anyway. To see someone else that had a general idea of the circumstance,

"Night, Bonnet. Night, Read."

"Good night," Read stepped towards him then stopped. "Thanks. For everything."

Izzy went home to crawl into bed with Eddy. He knew he was a living reminder of the past, but he could kiss her the way they did now. Be a reminder of the now too.

And he was right, of course. Eddy won Read over though it took months and a red head and the kind of night Izzy thought he'd never see again.

Read technically had a terrible little room that she would tell everyone was her home address, but after that, she lived scattershot between Bonnet's studio, Izzy and Eddy's house and sometimes even on Jim's terrible futon. It was only when Anne and her started both making a reasonable living that she genuinely had her own place. Even then, often she'd drive out on Izzy's bike (her bike now really, Izzy never needed it) and invade the kitchen for supper.

"Your kid is eating my leftovers," Eddy would inform him tartly when he got off a late shift.

"Uh huh," Izzy would laugh at her. "And you could've stopped her at literally any point."

"She was hungry," Eddy would grumble.

Read would make it up to them in the morning, weeding down rows of flowers tirelessly at Eddy's side. Izzy would watch them idly from the porch, Lucius sometimes there too, feet in Izzy's lap. The world was a strange and wonderful place some days.

#leda house and the kraken verse #ficlet #you're awful i love you #au of the au #izzy hands #mary read #eddy teach bonnet

[bylovesfirstkiss]

you're awful, I love you blinkies (x)

#decrees #gif #eyestrain #you're awful I love you #ludo #andrew volpe

[biracy]

I want you stuffed into my mouth Hold you down and tear you open And live inside you Love, I'd never hurt you But I'll grind against your bones until our marrows mix I will eat you slowly

Ludo - The Horror of Our Love [You're Awful, I Love You, 2008]

#not to songpost and CERTAINLY not to ludopost but. i miss my wife tails i miss her a lot #and i'm SORRY but once AGAIN i am overcome with the need to crawl all up inside her ribcage and live there forever. it overpowers me #my wife and my husband are the only freaks in this world for me and i mean it. when u guys see this mwahmwahmwahmwah i love you #open mick night #music #ludo #you're awful i love you #Spotify

[kidpix-album-covers]

Ludo - You're Awful, I Love You (2008)

(requested by two anons)

#ludo #you're awful i love you #rock #alternative #punk #pop punk #2000s #2008

[haveyouheardthissong-poll]

#music #polls #lake pontchartrain #ludo #you're awful i love you #emo pop #power pop #pop punk #geek rock #america

[kitkatpancakestack]

Not gonna lie the way some of y'all put words on a page is....whoagh. there really is magic in this world.

#you might be thinking “aw this post is about every writer but ME” but you're wrong. it's about you #i love you #writing positivity #k spirals

[wasyago]

so, would you?

nothing important under the cut, you don't need to look haha

#inspired by the random youtube short i saw about how these types of questions are not really about logic but about emotion and reassurance #doesn't matter if the question doesn't make sense. you say 'yes' because you love them no matter what. not because its a worm or a bug or #or anything. its a way of saying 'i will love you when you've changed and when you're different. because it's still *you*.' #idk something about it just felt so gentle and genuine. like a pure display of affection through a silly question... #and of course fnc was the first thing i thought about because i got brainworms #jrwi fish and chips #jrwi riptide #jrwi chip #gillion tidestrider #my art #sketch #also im back from a vacation! and i feel so awful i got sick the first day home and im sitting here at 6am drawing fishes and chips #the dialog feels a little ooc but i cant figure out if it really is or if its because my head hurts and i cant think #tbh it doesn't really matter.......... but it matters to me augh #ALSO yes the under the cut bit is about episode 109. i dont know if its clear or not

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Sharing is Caring!

[First] Prev <–-> Next

#poorly drawn mdzs #mdzs #wei wuxian #lan wangji #jiang cheng #While listening to the Lotus Seed extra I was like 'aw this art is so cute.' #Post The Fanfic Fiasco (re: last comic's tags) I am haunted by the green orbs. WWX has a bag of edible green orbs and I am in hell. #First draft of this comic's script has JC saying 'dude you wouldn't even share with me!' and I love his little sibling indignation. #Middle child power is knowing that you don't have to share with your siblings. The little wet eyes and weak hand slaps do NOTHING. #JC probably already ate all of his lotus seeds. That's on you dude! #Part of me wants to get deeper with the metaphor of the lotus seeds here. It is a gesture of a certain kind of affection. #JYL gives something to WWX she does not quite share with JC. And WWX in turn gives something to LWJ he does not share with JC. #Really puts JC's line 'You're always eating...eating eating' into a very different light. #There are other kinds of starving besides hunger. There are other ways to be a glutton than just food and drink. #WWX's character pre-burial mounds is heavily focused on 'Indulgence'. Be it wine or flirting or hunting or eating- #-or receiving admiration; He is always indulging in ways we never see JC do. #I think the intentional contrast was with the Lan's 'Live simple and without indulgence' lifestyle. LWJ is the abstainer to wwx's gluttony. #But it does expand to JC as well! Both are locked into the role model position to have friction against WWX's apparent freedom. #I think LWJ and JC (at this point) see WWX as something they both want (in different capacities) and someone they want to be. #Yet despite the history between them it is not JC who WWX reaches out to. It's LWJ. #The boy already has an inferiority complex! Stop making it accidently worse!

[brother-emperors]

komik re draw since caligula has evolved to have his own look. in theory.

it's extremely easy to take a sledgehammer to a construct when the house of cards in question is built precariously on a corpse (the republic) that everyone's been keeping around in the house as it decays

caligula, aloys winterling

the emperor gaius caligula and his hellenistic aspirations, geoff w. adams

⭐ I have a tip jar (ko-fi)!

⭐ and other places I’m at! bsky / pixiv / pillowfort /cohost / cara.app

#caligula #(ludo voice) you're awful i love you #komiks tag #roman empire tag #drawing tag #octavian

[crabussy]

turned in my psychology essay with the adrenaline levels of a recently retired racing greyhound who just accidentally ingested a bathtub of black coffee but its okay I survived. thank god I don't have unmedicated adhd or anything like that which would cause me to have this experience every single time I have to complete work. wouldn't that be funny. it would be funny. it would. be so funny if that was the case I'm so relieved that its not the case

#GRIPPING MY HEAAAAAAD #yayy yayyyyyyy I love being slapped with a bullshit label for children that is completely nondescript of any specific symptom or disorder #'your diagnosis is twice exceptional!!' how about I kill you twice with my exceptionally sharp sword #god. search up twice exceptional if you're not clear on it #every single infographic says “2e kids” and “twice exceptional students' #as well as '2e kids MAY have adhd or autism or ocd or dyslexia' OKAY!!!! ^_^ CAN YOU GIVE ME AT LEAST A HINT PLEASE #its infuriating the diagnosis gives me Nothing that can improve my situation #anyway. thanks for following me you get ? funny posts sometimes and then This #adhd #FUUUCK #rant #listen to my gibberish boy #IM SO GLAD I FINISHED IT IN TIME BUT GOD THAT WAS AWFUL #eeeeevery tiiiiime no matter how hard I try

[cametotheshowinsd]

Who would you be sad with? And who would you deal with when they were sad? Grey skies every day for months, would you still stay?

#taylor swift #tswiftedit #tswiftgif #hoax #folklore the long pond studio sessions #it feels AWFUL when these lyrics are relatable but hey #I know you're going thru a hard time #I'm not very bright and I can't be with you like actually physically be by your side #but I CAN keep you in mind and be sad #FOR MONTHS #maybe even for a year #hope you could feel that I'm with you spiritually #always #these colors I use is how I feel about you #blue? yes #I'm sad every day for the past 2 weeks bc of what happened to you #but I pray that the blue will become lighter and lighter and eventually turn into a beautiful bright sky #I love you so much #wish you all the best #(also I guess you never paid any attention to a sorta b-side song until it's relatable)

[dragonmuse]

”He doesn’t live in the city, but has a house in a quiet neighborhood (I would say ironically probably in a similar neighborhood to Izzy and Eddy in You’re Awful, I Love You) with his husband Thomas.” So... neighbors AU? :)

(why start a new AU when it's all there already! You’re Awful, I Love You tickles me so. I've got two asks in it, but this one grabbed me by the neck for some reason. As a refresher YA,ILU is the one where Eddy and Izzy get married and live in the burbs. Also because I got this as a comment, yes! The au title is a lyric from the amazing Ludo song ‘Love Me Dead’ which I highly recommend and is a very Eddy/Izzy song.)

Izzy has no idea why Eddy hates the neighbors. They barely share the property line, an easement between their two parcels owned by the town so they could reach the powerlines meant that they technically had no border. And the neighbors had lined their side with tall trees anyway. 

“He’s out there again,” Eddy would say ominous. 

“It’s his fucking yard,” Izzy would roll his eyes. 

It was a nice change, he supposed, to have Eddy being the one carrying a bitter pointless grudge. Usually that was Izzy’s job. Eddy tended to forgive and forget, especially if she’d already taken her pound of flesh. 

“How many times can someone trim the same three rose bushes?” 

“I don’t know, but I’m starting to think I should be worried that you’re keeping count.” 

He set down breakfast in front of her. Her feet were bare, traces of early morning dew soaked dirt around her toes.  She had on tiny shorts, almost entirely hidden by the oversized purple sweater that she wore most mornings, ratty as anything. 

Fucking gorgeous, of course. Izzy considered if it would distract her if he got on his knees right now. 

“It’s obsessive,” she muttered into her bacon. 

“Yeah, okay,” he settled on instead, not liking his odds and not needing that ego bruise. 

Izzy had met the next door neighbors all of once because meeting people was not his job. Eddy met people. Izzy remembered their names, preferences, and criminal backgrounds.  Everyone had a role. 

They were two guys, probably together, both tallish and good looking. One was blond and one was a redhead with a ponytail.  Occasionally,  he saw them headed to their cars in the driveway.  Thomas and Flint. 

The only time they’d met it was because Izzy was taking a box off the truck they'd rented to move in and Thomas had swung by with a half-smile and said, 

“Hello! You must be the new neighbor.” 

“Yeah,” Izzy watched him warily. It was early days of their retirement and Izzy had not even begun to unwind (it could be argued he’d never gotten around to it, but hey it was on the ‘to do’ list these days. Mostly on Lucius’ ‘to do’ list, but that counted for something). 

“Just you?” 

“No, me and my...” There hadn't yet been a word for what he and Eddy were to each other. He hadn’t dared something with any romantic weight, but he certainly wasn’t calling her boss anymore. “Eddy.” 

“Ah,”  Thomas said gently as if he entirely understood, which was fucking annoying. “My husband and I have lived here for a few years. It’s a good neighborhood.” 

“Just need it to be quiet,” Izzy shrugged. 

“It is that. Do you need a hand with that?” 

“No,” Izzy got the box up on one shoulder.  

“Ah,” Thomas watched the move with a twitch of the lips. “I don’t think I caught your name.” 

“Izzy,” he said reluctantly. They weren’t hiding here. 

“Hey, Flint!” Thomas called out and Izzy did his best not to flinch. Even in the short weeks since they’d retired, Izzy had gotten used to the silences. Come to enjoy them.  

The other man, the one Izzy had clocked as soon as he’d stepped out of the car, stood up from the rose bushes. The tiny ponytail which had seemed ridiculous melted from his perception immediately. Even from a hundred feet away, Izzy could feel his gaze like a two-handed shove. 

“Yes?” The man who must be Flint called back with a voice like velvet. 

“This is Izzy! He’s our new neighbor!” 

Eddy pulled up right then, her bike roaring, then silenced with a turn of the key. She dismounted, still in her leathers then, beard thick. Izzy knew from long experience that if one of them showed up like that, then it was a fun eccentricity to people like Thomas and maybe the husband. Two of them though, that was a threat. 

Thomas just smiled even more broadly. “Hello!” 

“Hello,” Eddy set her helmet on the seat, walking up the driveway. 

“I was just introducing me and my husband to Izzy here,” Thomas said genially. “I’m Thomas and he’s...Flint!” 

“What?” Flint looked away from Izzy at last and he sucked in a desperate breath. Fucking hell. 

“Come over here and be a person!” 

“I am a person all the time,” Flint said with a grimace, but he came over. His stride was ground-eating and his hand came up protectively to Thomas' back the second he was close enough. 

“A rude one,” Thomas scolded, then looked back to Eddy and Izzy like they might want to take part in this domestic bickering.  

“Can’t be ruder than Iz,” Eddy offered, always willing to play. She extended her hand, “Eddy. You’ve met Izzy apparently.” 

“Apparently,” Flint said quietly, a thrum underneath that gave Izzy a chill all down his spine. Made him aware he’d been standing there with a box on his shoulder for too long. 

“Going inside,” Izzy said to his feet, not even loud enough for himself to hear and vanished into the house. 

He didn’t know where the box actually went, but he could figure that out later and just set it down by the door. He should go get another one, but instead he lingered by the door and it was with great relief that Eddy came back in not a minute later. 

“Weird guys,” she determined. “You good?” 

“Yuh huh,” he frowned. Had they been weird? 

“C’mon,” she grabbed his forearm. “Let’s make a good first memory here, huh?” 

Who was he to argue? Even if they had already fucked by the front door last week when they got the keys. 

After that, Izzy had mostly just waved at the two vaguely if they waved at him and aside from that, kept to himself. Eddy, who in this new place was bubbling over with meeting people and ferreting out their interesting secrets to share with Izzy like prizes she’d dug up in the yard, didn’t talk to them either. 

That held for years. They weren’t the kind that invited the neighbors over for a meal anyway. And then there were bigger fish to fry. Motherfucking Stede Bonnet. And who knew what the neighbors made of that, all these new people suddenly coming and going from the formerly quiet house?

Then a couple of months ago, Izzy had waved vaguely at Flint, keeping his eyes down, Eddy at his side. 

“I fucking hate that guy,” Eddy said vehemently. 

Izzy’s head whipped up. “What? Why?” 

“He’s just-” she waved emphatically. “Always out there with the fucking roses.” 

“Yeah,” Izzy frowned at her, “you’re out here more than anyone else, so what?” 

“He’s an asshole,” she announced. “Anyway, you sure you want to come in tonight?” 

“Said I would,” he sighed. “We’re almost in the car. What do you think I’m going to do? Do a runner?” 

“Maybe,” she poked him in the ribs and he swatted at her hand. It was distracting. 

It had taken a lot of time to get Izzy into the Revenge and in the end it was Lucius who managed to draw him inside, not Eddy. Something Eddy didn’t know and never would if Izzy had any say in it. Because Lucius had just straight up bribed him rather than bothering with convincing. 

“I’ll get us a hotel room,” he’d licked his lips. “And we can ruin it.”  

They’d done that and Izzy would think about that night whenever Eddy asked if he’d come watch her perform. He loved watching her, as it happened, even if the rest of it was a trial.  

Tonight as he slid into his seat at the bar, Lucius was on him in an instant, 

“Hello, lover,” he purred, so that Izzy would laugh. 

“Hello,” Izzy obliged him. “What am I drinking tonight?”

“I’m feeling kind, so I won’t foist the Swede’s latest disaster on you,” Lucius touched his hand, alighting light as a butterfly. “How about one of my little inventions?” 

“Yeah, all right.” 

The drink was a wicked shade of green and tasted like sour apples with what was probably champagne bubbling through it. 

“This one got a name?” 

“How about the Happy Tart?” Lucius suggested. 

“Naming it after yourself then?” 

“Mean,” Lucius stuck out his tongue at him. “You’ve got your lines going.” 

“What lines?” 

Leaning forward, Lucius poked him in the forehead, “Those lines. Your worry lines.” 

“Not worried,” he denied, then crumbled under Lucius’ disbelieving stare. “It’s an Eddy thing, you don’t want to-” 

“I can deal,” Lucius cut him off. “Come on, you get tense when you’re worried for her, and I like you relaxed. Spill.” 

“She’s gotten into this grudge with the neighbors and I can’t fucking figure it,” he exhaled. “It’s not like her. To just...dislike someone for no reason. Every time, she just carries on about the roses, but you can’t even see them from our property really.” 

“That hot couple next door?” Lucius asked. 

“The-” Izzy paused, recalled and then nodded, “Yeah, okay. Them. Or at least one of them.” 

“Huh. Let me think about it.” 

“Yeah, okay.” 

What was the worst that could come of it?  

Belladonna ruled the stage that night and Izzy gave her his full attention. She seemed normal...as normal as any six foot tall siren with ivy trailed through her hair and leaves painted on her skin could look anyway. 

Too bad she was staying with Stede that night. Though Izzy did get one hell of a midnight kiss that left him with green paint smeared over his mouth and down his neck. He took the mess of it home and climbed into bed alone. 

Lucius arrived the next day, said nothing about the whole thing and got to make good use of Izzy’s pent up energy. It wasn’t until the next morning while Izzy made breakfast that Lucius apparently decided to move into action. 

Which for him was putting on cut-off jeans, a t-shirt with a v so low it was probably a crime and a pair of sunglasses, stalking across the lawn and greeting the neighbors like he fucking lived there. Izzy watched from the kitchen window. He hadn’t known Lucius owned shorts like that and it was doing some things to his brain. 

Flint stood up beside the roses to greet him. And for a flickering second, Izzy watched Lucius take a step back. 

Oh, I’ll fucking kill him, the beast inside Izzy hissed. But then subsided. Because dear Lucius wasn’t cowed for any longer than that, taking back that step and more besides. Coming in close enough to reach out a hand which Flint shook. 

They spoke for only a minute or so, before Lucius waved a little and went down to the end of the driveway to check the mailbox. Which was...weird because he definitely did not get mail here. Then back up the drive with a shit-eating grin on. 

“What was that about?” Izzy asked as Lucius came into the kitchen. 

“I have done my research,” Lucius announced, pushing his sunglasses upwards. “And I have an answer for you.” 

“In a one minute conversation.” Izzy’s eyes dropped to long milky thighs. “Were you baiting a trap?” 

“A little,” Lucius leaned in and gave him a long filthy kiss. “And you can eat the bait later.” 

“So what’d you trap then?” 

“That man,” and...huh...Lucius didn’t sound thrilled with him either. “Radiates dom energy.” 

“Yeah, I know,” Izzy frowned. “I can’t even fucking look at him.” 

“You knew?” 

“I mean you gave me the words for it, but it’s hard to spend all these years doing what Eddy and I do and not notice when someone’s like that,” he shrugged. “But he’s not doing it on purpose. I think it’s just how he is.” 

“Oookay, well then obviously Eddy doesn’t like him.” 

Izzy knit his eyebrows together, “Obvious how?” 

“Do you not look at him every time?” 

“Yeah? It’s not my proudest moment of the day, but it’s that or I get kind of...” he sighed. “You know. It’s embarrassing.” 

“Eddy knows you space out when you’re hot,” Lucius said like it explained everything. 

“Yeah and?” Izzy paused. “Wait.” 

“Uh huh,” Lucius kissed his cheek. “Ding ding, the train has pulled into the station.” 

“Really?” 

“Really,” “Lucius’ arms slid around his waist. 

“Huh.” 

There was a nip at his neck and Izzy was no longer thinking about Flint even a little. “You too?” 

“Mhm,” Lucius pulled him in close. “Only human. Even if I know you’re about as likely to do something about it as I am to get on the roof and pull a superman.” 

It was a really good day after that, but after Lucius left, Izzy found himself stymied. He went into the workshop, but couldn’t start a project. He went to the kitchen, but the idea of making dinner didn’t appeal either. 

In the end, he sat down on the couch and picked listlessly through a book until he heard Eddy’s motorcycle coming. Even then, he didn’t really move, just set the book aside so he could watch her come in the front door. 

He couldn’t help, but admire her. There was probably never going to be a day when he didn’t. She had her hair half up, the rest cascading around her shoulders, messily wind blown. Stede must’ve bought her this outfit. It looked expensive, a shimmer instead of sheen to the lavender top with it’s knot in the front, showing off a tantalizing line of skin above tight black pants.  

“Thought you’d be in the workshop,” Eddy said when she’d hung up her jacket. “Nothing on the lathe today?” 

“Not in the mood,” Izzy said quietly. 

“Yeah?” She glanced up, caught his expression. “You alright there?” 

“Thinking.” 

“Dangerous,” Eddy surmised and walked over to him, dipping down for a kiss. He kissed back, cupping her jaw. It was so smooth to the touch these days and he often found himself running his thumb along the bone of it. “What’s got your gears grinding?” 

“I was thinking...” he sighed. “Fuck this sounds stupid, even in my head.” 

“That’s gonna be good then,” she sat down beside him, resting elbow on the back of the couch, chin in her palm. “Tell me.” 

“I was thinking that I wish it didn’t make me happy that you get jealous,” he admitted, sinking his head back beside her elbow, looking up at her. “Don’t think it says anything good about me.” 

“I’ve been good about it for weeks,” she protested. “Lucius and I even did a whole event together and kept civil tongues in our head. Didn’t he say?” 

“Not Lucius, though, yeah good job on not killing each other, I appreciate it,” he sighed. “I meant the neighbor.” 

“What about him?” Eddy looked away. 

“I didn’t notice. That it was messing with you,” Izzy watched her carefully. “I don’t even know the guy. Don’t really care to.”

“Yeah, you don’t care to know anyone,” she mumbled.

“I care to know you,” he turned his head enough to press his lips to her arm. “Eddy. You know no one else is allowed to touch me the way you do, right?” 

Her hand flexed above him. A knuckle cracked. He stayed as he was. Waited. 

“I hate how jealous you get,” Eddy said at last. “It's impossible sometimes, the way you want me. And so when I...when I get like that, I hate it even more. I’m such a fucking hypocrite. How can you like it?” 

“Cause I want you to own me,” Izzy pointed out. Maybe instead of being distracted that afternoon, he’d been thinking. Turning old rocks around and around in his mind until they tumbled out polished and ready. “And you don’t want anyone to possess you. Not me. Not Bonnet. Not the world. And they don’t, Eddy. They can’t. I can’t. Tried. Didn’t work. Gave up.” 

“Yeah, I know,” her hand dropped at last. Open, not a fist. It ended up on his chest, right over his heart. Her emerald glittered in the light. “Watching you react to someone else like that makes me want to spit acid anyway.” 

“I don’t even look him in the eye.” 

“That’s on purpose?” She frowned. “I thought that was kind of your whole...you don’t make eye contact with me either when you get like that.” 

“Different reasons. If I look at you while I’m like that, it’s too intense too quickly and it’d all end in a second and a half,” he snorted. “I don’t look at him cause I don’t like a stranger rifling through my head. Felt like he knew what I was like the second he saw me. I don’t need more of that in my life. You are more than enough for one man to survive.” 

“Really?” She turned the full force of that gaze on him and met it.

“Yeah, really. What? You think I’m out here trolling for more people to put me in my place?” He set his hand over hers. “I’ve got a demanding job, a house to keep up with, a spouse and a boyfriend to keep happy and satisfied, all with a fifty year old body. I’m spinning enough fucking plates.” 

Her lips curved ever so slightly upward, “Getting tired, Iz? Too old to keep up?” 

“With you?” He shook his head slowly, maintaining eye contact. “There’s no pace you could set that I wouldn’t keep up with.” 

“Sure, I get a boyfriend, you gotta find one, half our age and twice as lively, huh?” 

“It’s not a competition,” Izzy smiled lazily, stretching a little. The hand on his chest exerted pressure, kept him down. “But I think we know who’s winning.” 

“Big words to someone who just admitted he’d come if I gave him too much eye contact.” 

“Well,” Izzy tilted his chest up, “got to put a new tool in your kit for you sometimes.” 

“I don’t need help,” her hand slid up to his shoulder, gripping hard. The nerves there had never healed right and pain rose up to meet her touch. “But I think tonight, I’ll take it.” 

It took Izzy a full three days to recover from that night, and he enjoyed every last second of it. On the fourth morning, he was still riding the high a little as he went out to the workshop. There was a stool he was working on, an improvement over the last one Eddy had claimed for the garden. He was sanding it by hand, enjoying the process. 

She stepped into the room and her usual basket had the shears sticking out and three roses, blood red, were nestled beside them. 

“We have rose bushes now?” He asked distractedly. There was always something new out there and he could have easily missed her planting them. 

“No. Flint offered up a few. They came with the property and he says there a bitch and a half, impossible to keep off the sidewalk. Has to trim them constantly.” 

“Does he now?” Izzy paused in his work. “And when did he say that?” 

“Just now. He was out while I was looking for fallen branches for the fire pit,” she said casually. “Asked him about them. He’s a lawyer apparently. Pfft. You know I feel about lawyers.” 

“I do,” Izzy said solemnly.  

“Anyway, they’re going away next week, so I said we’d keep an eye on the place. Could be good for when we’re not home too, huh?” 

“Yeah.” And it was such a good thing he had long practice with not laughing at all because it was taking a lot of energy not to do it now. 

“I know how you like red,” Eddy swept the flowers up and held them out to him. “Mind the thorns, huh?” 

And she was in the ragged purple sweater, sweating a little and smiling herself. Maybe, maybe, on the cusp of laughing at herself a little. Holding out flowers to him as if this was how they always did things. 

“Like the thorns,” he said, no longer anywhere near laughter as he took them from her. They were pretty things, probably last a few days in water. 

She kissed him, soft and sweet. “Gonna go wash up. Coming with?” 

He’d put them in water later. And then when they started to wither, he might just get a bit of twine, hang them in the corner of the garage to dry out. Maybe keep them there as if he’d forgotten about them, just another thing collecting dust in a garage. Even if they did hang just inside his peripheral vision as he sanded down the rough edges of his small domain.

#leda house and the kraken verse #ficlet #you're awful i love you

[unforth]

@esper-aroon has enabled me, so here let me scream at y'all about The Imperial Uncle.

Okay, so I recently read The Imperial Uncle (Huang Shu) by Da Feng Gua Guo from Peach Flower House and I really loved it??? It's first person pov, mlm, about the Emperor's uncle Jing Chengjun, who is mistrusted by everyone simply because of who his parents were and his position, and so he's basically given up on trying to convince people that he's actually a nice, decent person without ulterior motives. He's super trapped by his position, and there's so much he can't say and do, and he's also a hopeless romantic, like, from his own mouth all he really wants is to sleep beside and wake up next to someone who actually gives a shit about him, and even that is basically out of reach in his life. Like, the book starts with his wife (who he has never once had sex with) storming into a meeting he's having and announcing he's a cuckold and she's pregnant.

But also, this poor bastard really thinks he knows what's going on and his very smart. Very unreliable narrator. He's actually kinda a hilarious, impulsive himbo. But the TL:DR is that his loneliness and isolation and the extent to which he's politically trapped routinely lead him to make absolutely terrible decisions.

E. Danglar's translation is absolutely gorgeous, too, and... idk, if you love political plots, melodramatic idiot main characters, a dose of pining, and a slow burn that eventually pays off, come take a look??? (some people think it's a love triangle??? idk, I never really got that vibe, I never felt it was really in doubt which of the two potential dudes he'd end up with, but maybe I only feel that way because I got it right, lmao).

Anyway, I can't stop thinking about how these two idiots end up finally finding each other and getting together, and I have an entire AU in my head (a modern corporate one) and part of another (canon divergent from like a decade before the book starts), and I just want people to love this book as much as I did and scream with me about it.

#unforth rambles #da feng gua guo #the imperial uncle #huang shu #the first au is jing chengjun and li ransi meet and have a fling during a vacation #and then find out that they work for the same company #hijinks ensue #the other is an au that starts with what if jing chengjun's father had actually been accused and convicted of treason #whether he was guilty or not #and his family was sentenced to death #but because jing chengjun is a youth he is instead made into a eunuch and forced into servitude to the imperial family #i know it's a stretch that someone of his stature would be treated that way instead of killed or sold off as a slave #i just don't care #anyway he's given awful jobs at first and they leave him weak and sickly but eventually it because clear he really isn't a threat #and he's allowed to help raise the princes in the next generation including the crown prince #and he also gets to know the other young people around the palace but as a subservient slightly older person #instead of as their elder of higher rank #and then liu tongyi is like okay so everyone thinks you're useless do you want to be a spy for me and help me uncover treason #and he's like FUCK YEAH #and love unfolds from there ofc

[deathlessathanasia]

Every time I see people try to make the children of Kronos and Rhea into some big happy loving family who are so close and would do anything for one another I can't help but instantly remember that Demeter had her child kidnapped by one of her brothers and that another brother sanctioned the kidnapping and didn't bother to inform her either before or after, that the same brother killed her lover (it is pretty clear in the Odyssey at least that Demeter slept with Iasion willingly), that her third brother raped her, that Hera and Poseidon tried to put Zeus in chains, that in multiple variants Hera is responsible for the birth of Typhon because of her anger against Zeus, that Zeus inflicted on Hera a form of public torture the ancient Greeks used for slaves, that he made a Giant try to rape her and only killed him when she cried out for help, that Poseidon dried up the rivers of the Argolid in revenge for them choosing Hera instead of him to preside over the region, that in Claudian's De Raptu Proserpinae Ceres imagines Juno taking satisfaction in her suffering, that-

#like... I have nothing against people interpreting things in any ways they want but this doesn't work for me at all #greek mythology #greek gods #zeus #hera #poseidon #demeter #hades #hestia #I'm assuming everyone gets along with Hestia though. no evidence suggests otherwise #but needless to say that I have 0 interest in any exploration of this family #if it involves making up more palatable dynamics and disregarding the awful treatment they inflict on one another in the source material #again: if you feel the need to change everything about a character or a relationship you don't actually like them #if you're writing about a loving and supportive family you're not writing about the Kronids. Full stop #ramblings

[immunetoneurotoxin]

“Not a soul assigned to their case at the Bureau could make sense of their existence. There wasn’t a single scientist, parapsychologist, doctor, or specialist with over a dozen PHD’s under the sun that could figure them out. Pyrokinesis in a human? They defy every law of nature, yet they exist amongst humanity regardless. How do you explain that?” “The truth is that there are a lot of unknown things out there in the world that mankind hasn't even begun to scratch the surface of. Everyone flocked to this case trying to find rational answers, but there aren’t any. Look at the files in your hands. By the eyes of science, Pyro should not exist. Don’t you know what happens to things mankind doesn’t understand? The Bureau has done sickening things to them in the name of research.” “That’s why I helped them escape, Conagher.”

Excerpt from the novel INCENDIARY; A TF2 Pyro origin story Read the latest chapter of 'Incendiary' on AO3 here! Artwork created by the incredible @narklos ♡ 

#tf2 #tf2 pyro #if you're reading this hello!! I'm the author of this story! #I was basically struck with an idea one day... what if I created a whole pyro origin story with deep world building and original characters #7 years later here I am :) #the pyro origin story nobody asked for but is getting anyways! #while it is on track to be a origin-type novel it is also still very much a self-indulgent fanfic #I still have a long ways to go before this fic is done but this is by far one of the most ambitious projects Ive ever done for any fandom #and I hope you all love it too <3 #also CAN I JUST SAY #NARKLOS IS A GOD #I gave him a vision and he just blew my fucking mind away with the final product that I'm still in awe about this #Narklos if you're reading this ILY and I can't wait to work with you again <3 #also I should mention that the excerpt IS in the story but in a future chapter that isn’t out yet #but it was fitting for this post :)