#dan is probably wearing matts jacket

[very-small-giant]

w….w-women…..girls………….you know

#all for the game #aftg #renee walker #allison reynolds #dan wilds #i think theyre neat #i also could not find renees eye color #dan is probably wearing matts jacket #and allison has heather chandler in her inspiration pinterest board

[northoftheroad]

Dick Grayson’s Nightwing suits, Part Two

The return of the fingerstripes, design by Bruno Redondo, 2021. (First seen in Nightwing vol 4 # 88)

Dick’s original Nightwing suit in a version where he could zip up the deep v-neck and with a wrist-band firing tech. Tales of the Teen Titans Annual # 3. Writers Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, art Gorge Pérez and Dick Giordano. (1984)

Nightwing as an action figure and in a tv and comic cartoon. New Titans # 93. Writer Marv Wolfman, art Tom Grummett, Adam Hughes and Al Vey. (1992)

Elseworld Nightwing in New Teen Titans Annual # 10. Written by Marv Wolfman and Louise Simonson, art Scott Lee, Martin Griffiths, Kevin Conrad and Dan Davis. (1994)

Rebirth suit with glider wings. Nightwing vol 4 # 6. Written by Steve Orlando and Tim Seleey, art Roge Antonio. (2016)

Nightwing vol 4 # 39. Writer Sam Humphries, art Jamal Campbell, Phil Jimenez, Matt Santorelli. In a flashback, the first version of the “discowing” suit is made of Dick’s old workout gear. (2018)

Which artist doesn't love to be able to make new suits for their heroes...? At different times in future-timelines of Future State, Dick was shown wearing several different models. 

Future State: Nightwing # 1. Writer Andrew Constant, art Nicola Scott. (2021)

The Future State: Teen Titans story takes place a few years after Nightwing, but there's also a flashback with Dick in a suit that looks a lot like his current, but with a T on the belt. Future State: Teen Titans # 1. Writer Tim Sheridan, art Rafa Sandoval and Jordi Tarragona. (2021)

Teen Titans Academy # 1. A prequel title for the Future Staten Teen Titans that, honestly, I don’t expect will ever come to pass because I don’t believe a comic book company will or can tie their main comic book line to a future set in stone...

But anyway, it’s pretty much the current (2021) suit and the same as seen in the Furure State flashbacks. The old Titans have a T on their ordinary suits. Writer Tim Sheridan, art Rafa Sandoval. (2021)

The Man who Flies. in Batman Black & White (2021) # 5. Story and art Jamal Campell. A version of the Rebirth suit with glider wings – and it's probably those wings which gives the suit stripes on the side of his torso in a lighter colour.

Titans United # 1 (2021), a comic tied to the tv- show Titans. 

Nightwing in the Fanon-friendly Webtoon Batman: Wayne Family Adventures (2021). Episode # 7. Writing CRC Payne, inks Starbite, flats & rendering C M Cameron. 

Young Justice: Phantoms, season 4 (2021). 

In the Fantasy AU comic Dark Knights of Steel (2021). # 1, writer Tom Taylor, art Yasmine Putri.

Nightwing in the 2021 animated Injustice movie, where he of course dies and becomes the new Deadman.

Nightwing dress uniform in Teen Titans Academy # 9 (2021).

Nightwing in the third season of the animated Harley Quinn on HBO Max, with Harvey Guillen as voice actor. (2022)

Batman: Gotham Knights – Gilded city # 2 (2022), a tie-in prequel comic to the game Gotham Knights.

A number of costume options for Nightwing in the Gotham Knights game (2022).

Matching biker jacket in Nightwing vol 4 # 93 (2022).

Another version with glider wings in Nightwing vol 4 # 94 (2022).

Nightwing vol 4 # 104. (Dick gets a temporary new suit when he is tempted by a bad guy with the powers of Superman.)

In Batman Superman: World’s Finest # 21 (2023), main universe Batman and Superman visits Earth-22, known from Kingdom Come where Dick was called Red Robin. Here, he is called Nightwing and the artist Dan Mora wrote on X/former Twitter that this takes place before Dick became Red Robin. So there appears a retcon of Dick’s history on Earth-22 has taken place. 

(At least, it would make his daughter’s codename Nightstar more logical, if her parents were Starfire and Nightwing rather than Robin/Red Robin. And in the comic The Kingdom: Nightstar from 1999, a younger Dick is seen with a Nightwing-like suit.)

Se also Dick Grayson’s Nightwing suits, Part one:  

https://northoftheroad.tumblr.com/post/618292087194025984/dick-graysons-nightwing-suits

#Dick Grayson #Nightwing #Robin #Batman

[hotchkiss-and-tell]

Dates or Time of Year for Each Nancy Drew Game

whatamagicalplace made one of these charts last year. Those efforts gave me a starting point but I wanted to tweak it after doing my own research. I decided to share my final result since my version differs from hers in several ways. My reasoning for each game is discussed below; but if you have any evidence to add, feel free.

SCK: Nancy says in the opening letter she took a semester off school to visit Eloise in Florida. The banners for Senior Prom are still prominent throughout the school and the event is scheduled for May 23. Game takes place in a single day but that day could be any time in late spring semester prior to May 23.

SCK2: Homecoming banners are prominent and the event is scheduled for Sept 23. A flyer with Jake’s secret messages has a date of Sept 05, so let’s assume Jake was still alive then. The game says Nancy is there to investigate after Jake was murdered “last week.” That could mean three to seven days after the murder since it happened on a Thurs. Thus Remastered takes place in a single day but that day could be anywhere from Sept 08 to 22.

STFD: Nov 13 (confirmed with calendar). Game takes place for as many days and nights as player needs.

MHM: “Winter Festival” and Charlie studying for finals indicates late Nov to early Dec. Newspaper about the lost gold at the end is dated Mar 03; it could’ve been published after money settlement and the renovations completed though. Game takes place for as many days and nights as player needs.

TRT: December. The Spanish letter from Lisa’s friend is dated Nov 30 and acknowledges that Lisa is already in Wisconsin. By now, time should be well into Dec. 

FIN: Possibly Nov (game’s release) but there are no confirmed dates on anything. It’s likely during the school year since Maya is doing the interview for the student newspaper. Game takes place over three days.

SSH: Calendar on Henrik’s desk is for the month of April. The book version takes place during the DC Cherry Blossom parade which usually occurs last week of March or early April. Game takes place for as many days as player needs. (Early April timeline would match with end of game trailer and dates for DOG.)

DOG: Jeff’s calendar is open to April. Culprit’s log book says Sally is due to move in to the cabin on April 19. Sally says she spent four weeks at Moon Lake, implying the game starts May 18. But I really don’t see Jeff’s character forgetting to change the calendar, so either Sally moved in early or she means four weeks total including seeing the property, bidding, and the final sale plus moving in. And let’s remember there’s no safe water source, so it’s unlikely Sally could live there for four weeks straight. Sally says the dogs howled a full week before they attacked the house and then they appeared every night since; maybe Sally lasted 9-14 days with the ghost dogs. The game could likely begin anywhere between Apr 28 and May 18. Then continue for as many days and nights as the player needs.

CAR: Culprit’s emails with black market dealer date from May 23 through June 04. Harlan’s appt book opens to June 09-13 with the significant clue on June 10. Game is a single day, likely on June 10, but could be as early as June 05.

DDI: June 17 (confirmed with calendar). Single day of gameplay.

SHA: Sept 15 to 17. Nancy’s airline ticket confirms arrival date in AZ. Timeline of the game takes place in three days. (Tex’s b-day is Sept 16!)

CUR: This is anybody’s guess. Hugh and Linda were married Aug 22. The lawyer’s letter to Mrs. Drake states Linda must live at the manor for another three months to fulfill the “six-month-habitation-clause” and those six months must be consecutive in the first year of marriage. Game could be late Nov at the earliest. However, frogs are chirping when Nancy arrives at the manor which is a spring thing and Bess and George say they are attending sailing camp. The fact that no one is suggesting that Linda can leave due to health reasons and start the six months over when she’s well again makes me think the year is half gone already. So the game could also be taking place in April or May at the latest.

CLK: May 07 (confirmed with calendar). Single day of gameplay.

TRN: We see snow in Copper Gorge, but it’s in Colorado and snow can be any time of year there. Frank and Lori are wearing the puffy vests and everyone else has jackets and sweaters. Fatima says it’s the off-season now and summer is the busy season. Makes me think winter is my best guess.

DAN: Game takes place for as many days as player needs. The newspaper on Day 1 is dated Aug 28. Newspapers continue to appear through Sept 06, which publishes that the journalists are negotiating for raises and the sounds of the impending strike are occurring outside JJ’s apartment. Day 11 (Sept 07) and onward have no more newspapers appear on the kitchen table. Let’s say Aug 28 to Sept 07 for simplicity.

CRE: Mike’s calendar is set to March. Quigley’s tape recorder log updates as of Mar 28. Craven’s shipping records say his latest sample was sent to Aikens Biotech on Apr 09. Game takes place in a single day, probably Apr 09 or 10. (Mike just hasn’t turned over the calendar yet)

ICE: Newspaper in the lodge is dated Jan 13. Elsa’s resignation letter is dated Jan 15. Lodge computer says Lupe checked in on Jan 15 and she noticed the lack of maid services for days. Game likely takes place that same week, starting maybe Jan 18 at the earliest, and lasts over several days and nights.

CRY: May 31 (confirmed with calendar). Single day of gameplay.

VEN: Newspaper in the Ca’ terrace says chalice was stolen “this morning” and the police records say the theft happened Jan 25. When Nancy nabs Nico on the stakeout, the next day’s newspaper is dated Feb 03. Since game takes place over several days, it likely plays from Jan 25 to Feb 03.

HAU: Night of May 28. The wedding is set for June 01. The end dialogue says Kyler and Matt couldn’t stop saying “I love you” from when the rocket launched to four days later, which was their wedding day.

RAN: The float plane pilot says resorts like Dread Isle shut down in the summer for “hurricane season” in the Bahamas. And the game was released in July. Since we see the map that charts all of Nancy’s past cases (including HAU) so the game is after the wedding on Jun 01. But there is no reference to the current date aside from “summer.” Single day of gameplay.

WAC: The essay Mel receives from her teacher with the plagiarist comments is dated Nov 21. Since two more nights of sleep are required to trigger events in the game, we can figure that the game takes place from Nov 21 to 23.

TOT: Scott’s calendar is open to May and filled in with code until the 19th. The log book of precipitation is filled out until May 24. Game likely takes place from May 20 to 25.

SAW: The TE-Japan brochure in Nancy’s teacher tote says her exchange program runs from Jun 01 to Sept 15 with different durations of 2 weeks, 3-4 weeks, and 5-8 weeks. With no specific date in the game and the player taking as many days and nights as needed to solve the mystery, we have to settle for saying it takes place in “summer.”

CAP: Karl’s daily calendar is on page March 12. When Nancy finds the final forged email from “Markus” she remarks that it has tomorrow’s date, which is Mar 13. Game is a single night of play on Mar 12.

ASH: Newspaper and police report of Nancy’s arrest say the game is done in a single day of August 18. The fire took place on Aug 17.

TMB: It’s the desert and there are no dates on any clue in the game. Since Lily is a student and Abdullah and Jon are professors, perhaps the game takes place in summer between any busy semester/class schedules.

DED: Ellie’s notepad in the control booth says she gave the coil demo to Nancy on Oct 29. Nancy arrived in daylight hours but since Ellie is on the night shift, the demo could have taken place on either side of midnight which means the game could start on either Oct 28 or 29. (Nancy arrived 10/28, night fell and midnight passed, then Ellie gives demo 10/29 OR Nancy arrives 10/29, night fell and it’s not midnight yet, then Ellie gives the demo still on 10/29.) Game continues for as many days and nights as the player needs.

GTH: Jessalyn’s phone recorded her bachelorette party antics from the night of Oct 27 to early morning of Oct 28. Addison says Jess had vanished for the second time after sun-up. It is unclear how many days Jessalyn has been missing before Nancy arrives on the island. Nancy was deep asleep when Savannah calls her for help, which means Jess has been gone at least a full day. Then Nancy arrives on the island at night which either means it’s evening on the same day of Savannah’s call or another day has passed by the time Nancy gets there. Oct 29 is the earliest possibility. Game takes place over three nights. Likely set between Oct 29 and Nov 01.

SPY: The newspaper reports that July 14 is near and it will be the eighth anniversary of Revenant’s first attack. Alec’s letter documents that his sister was kidnapped on the first of the month and has not been seen since. Game takes place between Jul 02 and 14. While Nancy cannot sleep or change the time of day, it is hard to believe that traveling back and forth throughout Scotland’s towns and the different phases of the spy operation all take place in a single day.

MED: Summer in the southern hemisphere, so datewise it’s set between Dec and Feb. Again there’s no sleep or time of day transitions but the elimination rounds likely take place over several days.

LIE: Employee timecards are recorded through July 05, the artifact exchange log is filled out through July 06, and the packing slip on the open crate says received July 06. Game is a single day of play, likely on July 06 or 07.

SEA: Soren’s winter guest log says Nancy is visiting in January. Game takes place for as many days and nights as player needs.

MID: Minion’s plane ticket TO Austria where the game begins is dated Oct 26 and the game goes into Halloween.

#all games #chart #Nancy Drew #look what i made

[karsonisnot]

A New Family.

It has been about three months since tommy had gotten close to schlatt, Sam, and Charlie. Really the catalyst for all of this was Shalott breaking the news that he was, in fact, Tubbos father. 

During this time, they all moved in close together, and really got to know each other. Shlatt started his recovery from his addictions During all of this, and he became kinda like a father figure to them all surprisingly enough

He walked on the prime path, remembering the one time they were all at Schlatt's house while he was slightly drunk, giving life advice. In fact he was so in his own thoughts that he didn't see his actual father right in front of him.

"Tommy."

He looked up to see philza, staring him down. He was clearly not happy for some reason, and Tommy immediately got nervous.

"Uh… hi Phil. Whats… what's going on." He says, laughing nervously.

"What's going on is that I've heard your getting close to… certain people."

"Uhhh, okay? Why does it matt-"

"What's up with the pin?"

Tommy looked down at his red jacket, and looked at the tiny pin on it. Schlatt gave it to him, an exact copy of the little schlattcoin pin he sometimes wears on the collar of his shirts. 

"Oh yeah, the pin schlatt gave me."

"What the actual fuck, and your wearing it?!"

Tommy looked at his father, who had gotten slightly closer.

"I...I mean yeah? He's actually pretty chill n-"

"HES A FUCKING POLITCAL TERRORIST."

"Wha- hes a nice guy now, whats ur fuckin issue man?!"

Philza got even closer, too close for comfort. Tommy Tommy gave a slight side glance just to break eye contact, but swore he saw someone move in the shadows, making him more nervous.

"I don't want you to be around him." Philza said, coldly.

"Wh-what? No. Why do you even fucking care, you haven't even had a conversation with me in fuckin months?!"

"Because he's dangerous!!"

"Excuse me?! You fuckin blew up a country with me in it, don't talk to me about dan-"

He was cut off the image of a man with long pink hair jumping from a tree. He hadn't even realized techno was even there. Before he could react though, wilbur was at his side, with a fucking knife.

"What the absolute fuck is happening." Tommy said, backing up.

"Toms. If your a friend of schlatt, your an enemy of us." Philza said.

Tommy was stunned. Yes his family had been complete assholes to him, but to kill him? Not only that, their motivations fucking sucked.

"What, fucking why! I haven't even seen you in forever. I don't even want any beef anymore!"

"Well, can't have beef if you're dead." Techno said, and then charged.

Tommy dove out of the way, not ready for a fight. Techno turned on his heels, running towards him. He also heard what was most likely wilbur behind him. He was dead.

But, all of a sudden, techno got knocked in the head by a bottle, so hard it broke.

Tommy didn't have time to see who it was, and rolled out of the way of a knife coming down on him. Tommy saw the knife hit the ground and heard wilbur cuss loudly, immediately before he heard a voice behind him.

"Don't move wilbur."

He looked in the direction of the voice, to see Sam standing there, aiming a bow directly at wil. He looked in the direction where techno got hit, and saw jschlatt. And techno very much about to overpower him. 

Seemingly out of nowhere, Charlie appeared, and hit techno with an arrow. Causing him to back off. Immediately Tommy noticed that techno wasn't wearing any armour for some reason. Maybe thought it was going to be an easy fight. 

"What the absolute fuck do you three think your fucking doing?!" Schlatt said, holding the broken jack Daniels bottle. 

"Well, this is interesting." Phil said, being protected by techno.

"Tommy. What prompted this." Sam said, still concentrating on wilbur.

"I don't know! I just… they… they fucking jumped me… for making friends with schlatt."

All of a sudden, schlatt looked at phil, gripping the bottle tighter.

"You motherfucker." 

"Right, because you're the upholder of morals yourself, schlatt." Phil responded.

"At least I'm not ambushing my own son in the middle of the night for existing."

Sam all of a sudden, sam let the string of the bow go, hitting Wilbur in the head, instantly killing him. And reloaded, pointing at philza.

"Give me one reason not to shoot you right now, and leave techno to get beat to death by a bottle."

"Well, because then you'll be killing Tommy's precious family."

All of a sudden, rage fumed in tommy. He realized something after that sentence. And being with this group of people after the past three months, he felt less… alone. He felt at home. Like… like… he has a family. And for Philza to use the blood he was born into against him. He… he felt attacked.

"Your not fucking precious to me at all you bitch."

"What the fuck are you-"

"NO, YOU LISTEN TO ME FUCKER." Tommy raged at Philza's backlash. "You… you have caused me nothing but pain. You have been nothing but against me since the beginning. You've… you've been the worst father ever. Blowing up the country I care about, making me feel small, being a bitch to me. Im… done with it. I'm done with you. I'm done with all of you. I never want you in my life again."

"Tommy, don't be irrational. Where else are going to go to… were your fucking family." Philza said, backing up a tiny bit.

"No. Fuck no. You were never my family. In fact, I don't need you a lot at all. In fact, schlatt

… schlatt has been more of a dad to me then you ever were in the last three months. And unlike techno and wilbur, sam and Charlie have only ever come to my defense and have been… been like brothers to me. If I dare say it… they are my family now. Hell, they are always here for me! While you've done nothing but… but neglect me."

Philza stood stunned. Techno lowered his sword. 

"Im… did… did you really just disown… us?! Philza said, now shaky. 

"Yes… yes I did."

They all went silent for a second. Charlie now at schlatters side, who was looking at tommy, slightly shocked. Sam still trained on the older man behind techno. 

"You should leave." Charlie said, finally speaking.

"Yeah. Or i'll put an arrow between your eyes." Sam said. 

Techno looked at Philza, who only nodded, and they both took off, knowing this wasn't a fight worth getting into with their current lack of gear.

Sam lowered his bow, and walked towards tommy. Schlatt and Charlie both lowered their defenses, Schlatt dropping the bottle. 

"Tommy… im." Schlatt said, walking towards him.

"I know… i probably messed up… im sorry, I shouldn't have said yall were my… family."

"What, no. Don't be ridiculous." Schlatt said, pulling Tommy into a hug. "You're always welcome into my home… my family."

All of a sudden, Tommy felt a sudden relief… and… happiness.

"Hell, you two, get your asses over here." He motioned to Charlie and Sam, while still holding Tommy in a half hug.

Charlie and Sam stood next to them, Charlie standing on schlatters side, getting slatts free arm around his shoulder. Sam on Tommy's side, getting schlatters hand halfway on his shoulder.

"You know what. I have an actual son, tubbo. However, I am aware that all of you don't really have a family, and you wanna know that, that isn't fair. I've seen how you three get along, and I can see the brotherly bond you all have. After tonight, I feel like maybe, just maybe, it's time to expand my family a little bit. So how about this. I'm your new dad. Even if it's not official, I can and will always be here for you. Like a father should. And I have no doubt in my mind after tonight that you will be like brothers to each other."

"...you know what, hell yes." Charlie said. "I am 100% in."

"Fuck yeah brother, I am so in." Sam said.

"So… what do you say tommy, are we your new family… dare I say your new SBI?"

Tommy looked at Schlatt, already knowing his answer.

"Absolutely. Let's fuckin do this."

Sam took Tommy into a headlock out of excitement. After he let go, and they all had their laugh and little celebration, they made their way back to their houses. The new family, ready to face whatever may come.

#dream smp #tommyinnit #jschlatt #awesamdude #slimecicle #ph1lza #technoblade #wilbur soot

[fallingin-like]

november 23

the real folk blues by @annawrites [requested by @allforthebee]

see which other fics i’m reviewing this month! / my review request post!

this absolutely amazing and captivating fic that has the foxes as space bounty hunters and neil who is, as usual, and exceptionally skilled runaway. set away some time to read this fic as soon as possible, because once you start, you won’t be able to put it down until you finish.

this is such an entertaining, fun fic and you did an amazing job at balancing the softer moments with intense, action-packed scenes. at all times i was fully immersed in the story, you handled everything so well. i’m always a fan of your writing, so it’s not a surprised that i had a wonderful experience rereading this.

bits that stood out to me:

”counting stars has become a habit, something to subdue the memories” ah this is really cute and i can totally imagine canon andrew, lying on the roof of some building counting stars instead of trying to sleep

”renee cracks a chicken bone smile in the corner of her mouth” i have never heard this phrase before but i love it!

”there’s a collective intake of breath - andrew, who remembers every single bounty ever placed, can’t remember it ever being this big” for some reason, i love when this kind of thing happens. it feels so cool, knowing someone wants that character that bad and gets me excited for what kind of skills the hunted person has, to be able to evade the people looking for them (reminds me of john wick lol)

”nathaniel wesninski alias neil josten is a hacker, con artist, engineer and pilot” BLESS HIM FOR BEING SO CAPABLE AND SKILLED

matt’s infamous bell peppers and beef with no beef!!! that’s funny and i think about it surprisingly often

”renee pulls up a few more photographs of neil wesninski on the hologram screen. she deals them out like cards until they fan out in a neat timeline of faded hoodies and various iterations of the same polished smile, a mouth sharpened to cutting perfection… the eyes, in contrast, look consistently hunted” holograms and just this space tech is SO cool. i love seeing how the foxes view neil before they meet him. it’s interesting how many sightings they have of him, but also how blank he seems, when we all know that there’s so much personality under that surface

”the ISSP are a bunch of corrupt, incompetent idiots” LOL

”’tone down the optimism, day,’ andrew drawls. ‘we might start overestimating our chances’” agh i love your characterization of all of these characters and this is a great example of why! and i like that you used drawls, it feels very andrew-like

”andrew waggles his fingers lazily in the air” yeah this is andrew

woah i have never seen the art for this fic (i guess because i have the fic downloaded and i just read that version instead of going on ao3, the pictures must not have downloaded) but it’s great!

gasp, i love the idea of the foxes Dressed Up

ALLISON BEING BANNED FROM PLAYING!! “her former alias - lady luck, also known as poker alice” oh this is great. for some reason, them having reputations like this really excites me

”it’s in my blind spot” ANDREW this is so funny

ahhhh i can’t believE you added the “better luck next time” line in!!

okay so the whole action part of this scene is so intense, love andrew throwing the poker chip as a diversion, and neil pretending to give up for a moment before ACTIVATING HIS ARMED SHIP AND SHOOTING EVERYONE. ugh, hearing about neil being so good at what he does (steering, hacking, while taking off his jacket) makes me love this scene so much

”vowels rolling like a pair of dice” this is so good on its own, but paired with the casino scene that precedes it? stunning

”kevin values his ship, and his life, in that order.” i can imagine. i wonder, is there competitive racing in this au? i can imagine kevin being obsessed with that

thank goodness riko is dead, one less thing (on a list of many things) to worry about. whoop and i see that easthaven has passed, good.

KEVIN DAY WITH A METAL ARM AND A TRANSMITTER PLATE THAT COVERS HIS TATTOO YEAH

oh dang limb regrowth tech in this au? wild

”’minyard and the monster, how lovely to see you again.’ neil greets him through the once more hijacked comm. they’ve been playing this game for weeks now, racing each other across the milky way like starved lovers. even allison is starting to run out of lewd jokes” i find it so interesting hearing about this relationship that’s being built between them even though they basically never meet in person, the joking from neil’s side

these hints of andrew’s eye mods are really great, i definitely didn’t notice them as much as i should have when i first read this fic, but every time after that, i appreciate little details like these more and more

RENEE WITH A KATANA YES PLEASE

”andrew shakes off the last dregs of sunday sleepiness that cling to his lips like the skin on warm milk. neil wesninski might have become a game by now, but the malcolms still mean business” ohhh boy, even knowing what comes next i get nervous hearing this. i love the contrast between the softness of what sundays mean with the conflict to come, especially when you jump right into the action

”renee pants, her voice cool and slippery like broken tiles amid the crackle of static” oh i love this description

LOL i can’t believe that andrew got matt’s dessert rations and gets to invite neil to be a part of their crew

”missions are slow and neil’s face keeps showing up on big shot, though not for lack of people trying to hunt him down.” i don’t know why but i really like this!! you go, neil!

oh oh thank you so much for the way that you describe neil alone on his ship, his hoodies, gloves, “one sad-looking sock”, “the one sock he’s wearing has holes”, talking to himself, “yet he’s still inexplicably trying to shield his robots from andrew’s gun” so cute!

”eyes like the gleaming insides of a wire in the dark” this!!!!

the! cats! neil made his robots cats!!

NEIL HACKING INTO THEIR COMMS I LOVE HIM

”neil is like a live fish under his hands, constantly wriggling and sliding out of his grip, fingers twitching back toward his abandoned project like flies caught in a spiderweb” ahh squirmy neil is super cute, “neil shivers under the touch like he’s not used to being touched at all” this doesn’t surprise me. even if i didn’t have an idea of what his childhood might have been like (with mary and nathan, i imagine there was not very much affection), he’s probably been alone for so long, when would the last time someone would have touched him? i don’t think i would be able to handle it

ahh barefoot neil is always cute

SCARS no matter how many fics i read, i always love moments when neil’s scars are revealed

NEIL RUNNING LAPS IN HIS TINY SHORTS AROUND AND AROUND AHH

”neil slinks into the room late, looking tousled and a little sticky around the edges like he’s just woken up from a nap. he freezes when he sees andrew, stuck standing right in the middle of the projection, and only moves when dan throws a cushion at him” your writing actually paints scenes in my head which for me, a person really bad at visualizing things, is really impressive. it makes the experiences of reading exponentially more interesting, and doesn’t happen that often.

renee as praying mantis!! what a perfect nickname. is she religious in this au as well? i can’t remember if any religions even exist in this au (whoops i know nothing about cowboy bebop)

”she looks stiff and faded like old newspaper in the light of the kitchen lamps” what a gem of a sentence

me: sees the nickname gorilla and gets excited because i know some action is going to go down

”the three of them would just  about reach his head if renee sat on andrew’s shoulders and lifted neil up” THIS IS AMAZING. i mean, andrew and neil are tiny but they are not that tiny

”andrew begins tonelessly, tracing patterns into neil’s skin” if we ignore the fact that andrew is telling a terrible terrible story, this is so soft

”his breathing is viscous now, like syrup in his lungs. his left eye aches and the corner of his mouth twitches painfully into the ghost of a manic grin. he bites his tongue and it tastes like the word please” i am speechless but i really wanted to acknowledge this sentences lakjsdf

NEIL WINNING THE BET ABOUT BEING ABLE TO STEAL THINGS FROM THE VENDOR AND ROBBING THE MAN JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING. uGH you do such a good job of integrating humour like this into your story and having it fit the tone and pacing of the fic effortlessly.

excuse me how is it possible that you followed such a lighthearted scene with something so devastating as andrew explaining his past to allison and neil and have it still flow??? “because… i did not mean for you to get hurt” ANDREW YOU’RE SO GOOD

”he’s smoking outside and watching the dusk unfurl like an exotic flower when there’s a crash inside the store” this description is so gorgeous

what in the world, andrew i don’t even know how to describe you. he really just helps catch the robbers with his headphones on while choosing things to buy, killing a dude, then checking out, no big deal???? i understand neil’s attraction to him a little bit more now…

andrew and renee sharing clothes is now canon, please and thank you

oh no, lola is Bad News, especially when it comes to threatening neil’s family

NEIL PACKING ANDREW’S LEATHER JACKET AHH

”the bebop crew are basically overgrown children and react very well to the little sugary rewards for good behaviour” yeah this is very true haha

”’your blatant flirting woke me up,’ matt grins weakly. ‘can i have a lollipop too, neil?” i remember this whole scene so well, the second the infirmary was mentioned i knew it was lollipop time. matt, is basically how i feel right now HAH

woah wymack taking care of bonsai trees? i didn’t know i needed that in my life so badly. just like neil and the twins, so tiny :’)

uhm so, the tape that nicky sent to andrew? it’s actually making me cry (which is super rare for fics) “i hope you know that i love you”, “things aren’t so easy at the moment, and maybe they still aren’t easy for you watching this ten years from now, but i’ll always be there for you, and for aaron, too. i hope that one day we can be a family. happy birthday, my little piyoko, don’t eat all the cake by yourself!” i love this so much, and it makes me so sad and happy. this nicky is so good, and as much as i think andrew needed to see this, i think that i needed to read this more. thank you

nicky calling the twins his little piyokos, his lucky birds ;-;

the reunion scenes are so good, i really don’t think i can write anything that sufficiently describes how i feel. the way that nicky acts, the new relatives, older aaron, it all feels so right, so real.

andrea minyard deserves her own bullet point

neil just goes and makes all the police ships crash by controlling them remotely just for andrew to be hit by a moon rock?!?!?

”something irritatingly warm rises and swells inside andrew like yeast dough and he plunges his fists into it and kneads it into submission, twists it until all that remains is sticky, frothy anger” and “andrew sits down on a crate and prods at the yeasty mass still fermenting in his insides. the sudden bloating of anger has subsided to the usual starchy nothingness, but there’s a sugary residue of unease that he doesn’t want to examine any further right now” as much as i adore your jokes and beautiful descriptions of scenes, sentences like these ones that blow me away completely are why you’re one of my favourite fanfic authors. these are the kinds of sentences that i carry with me even after i am finished reading

”i can’t decide if you two are more like toddlers or like an old married couple… either way, it’s really bizarre to see andrew having feelings other than hate and destruction” LOL

thea is the coolest person ever

”kevin makes a noise like a dying dog” me too, kevin

NONONONONO ICHIROU AND JEAN AND EASTHAVEN

thank goodness neil is here

apparently i am very fond of the words “juice pack” and think it is cute. why? i also do not know

huh, riko naming his identity kevin king?? feels… not good

oh boy, lola is back

ANDREW CAN PICK OPEN HIS HANDCUFFS THANK YOU FOR THIS

is it bad if i am happy that all these people are dying (proust, lola, etc.)

NEIL AMPUTATES NATHAN’S HAND WITH A CLEAVER WHILE HE’S HOLDING A CLEAVER AND THEN KILLS HIM LDKSJFLK

oh dang, it’s stuart (i trust him)

andrew’s eye! thank goodness, because although it kind of sucks, it also Really Does Not Suck

”it’s stiff and awkward and neil quickly wriggles out of it. kevin must be really shaken up, because he tries andrew next. andrew waits passively until he’s close and then steps to the side at the last moment, smothering his amusement in a cough when kevin walks straight into the wall with open arms. serves him right for thinking even for a second that andrew would let him” LOL i love you, anna, so so much

money!! woohoooooo (or should i say woolonghooo okay sorry that’s like the world’s worst pun)

BELL PEPPERS AND BEEF WITH ACTUAL BEEF AND NO PEPPERS YES! what a great way to bring things full circle, even though it’s small

sweet dumplings filled with fruit? i am intrigued

THE SHIRT

i can’t not acknowledge the bit with the key, neil is too clever for his own good

we finally get to see bee! ugh i love the relationship between bee and andrew

”they may be marks of destruction, but they are still andrew’s; still proof of his existence” yeah (like a good yeah)

interesting about andrew’s memory not being as good without his left eye. does he have eidetic memory in this au? maybe it’s better if he doesn’t

i remember the first time i read this fic, in startling detail. this fic was so good then, and it has been just as good, if not better, every time i have reread it

it’s kind of embarrassing, but one of the things that i remember distinctly (among a lot of other things) is the noodles! reading this fic never fails to make me want to eat instant noodles

so one thing about me is that i am actually really bad at visualizing things. when i read stories, i can never imagine what a character looks like, i just see the feature that is being highlighted at the moment, and the second that sentence ends, that image is gone. like i just have a magnifying glass to someone’s face but i can’t piece together the parts. it makes it so that i often struggle with the visualization of stories. but something about your writing makes it easy for me to pictures scenes happening. everything is so vivid, and real (hence, the instant noodle cravings lol) and i love that so much. it’s so special.

the flow of this fic is amazing, the characterization is incredibly authentic and really helps with carrying the plot. you integrated lighthearted scenes with pure angst and awful things (easthaven) and i’m honestly curious as to the cowboy bebop episodes you took inspiration from. this fic was so well written, you are so skilled at introducing characters, locations, plot points, although i’m not familiar with this universe i wasn’t confused at any point. you explained everything without me noticing. this was just a breathtaking fic. thank you so much for writing this!!

#the real folk blues #aftg fic review #raelle writes

[kar3npage]

The Resort Show

Chapter 7 of Sewing Scissors and Throwing Knives is up! Read from the beginning here. Last chapter: Andrew and Aaron have an argument, they have the fitting for the show. I update this fic every Monday.

Neil feels like he’s barely been in New York before the Resort show comes up. Time is moving too quickly, sliding through Neil’s hands like water. Every time he thinks he has a grip on something, it all changes.

The doomed feeling isn’t being helped by the ever changing world of fashion. Allison has been around more often now that the show is coming so quickly, and Neil has found that he enjoys the feisty, sassy comments that are flung around while she’s in the building. 

Neil has also been getting to know the other members of the team. He hadn’t realized how quickly they accepted him until someone would spout a fact about him, like how his favourite colour is grey (“That isn’t a colour, Neil” Kevin has said with derision) and how he has a soft spot for fruit. He stomach starts turning every time he gets a glimpse of a life with a sort of ‘work family’, like Dan always said. The worst was the longing that came with.

And the work. Neil loved the work. He forgot about the stopwatch ticking away, the impermanence of the situation, the danger of it all when he worked side by side with these people who took him in.

Show day dawned to be bright but crisp. Andrew picked him up at the hotel, like always, but it was much earlier than they usually started their day. 

They had spent most of last night working on final touches, and it was cozier than Neil thought possible with such a hard deadline looming. They had all piled into the sewing room and him and Kevin finalized the lineup while the others worked on details. The atmosphere had been warm and comfortable, and Neil felt content. The feeling was a drug, and he was already afraid that he would never have it again.

The car was uncharacteristically silent as he climbed in and a glance at the other occupants confirmed that they were as exhausted as him. Even Andrew had dark circles under his eyes, and Nicky was zoned out as he looked out the window. Nicky and Kevin both gave Neil a look of tired anticipation as he settled into the back seat and he grinned at them, and Andrew. Andrew just huffed, but Neil noticed that his jaw was softer today, his body less tense than usual.

The office had a similar mood, and Matt almost bowled Neil over when he got inside. Kevin attacked Nicky before he could leave for his office to talk about the logistics of the show being live streamed on instagram and Dan shouted at them for a team meeting. 

Neil dropped to the wall while everyone else crowded forward, trying to stay by Andrew. When Dan started her pep talk, Neil ignored it to pay attention to Andrews calm exterior.

“If I didn’t know you better, I would say that you were looking forward to this,” Neil murmured. 

Andrew huffed, a corner of his lip twitching a bit. “Good thing you know better then.”

Neil is sure that Dan’s speech is as motivating as they always are, but he ignores it in favour of watching Andrew play with his pack of cigarettes. He doesn’t need to be more excited, he needs to keep calm before the show.

Kevin has slipped into that razor focus that made Neil admire him in the beginning. He’s cool and composed, and he works surprisingly well with Neil. After criticizing him non stop over the past month or so, he seems to have forgotten about Neil’s shortcomings for the day. 

In fact, he hasn’t let loose a single well meant but brutal comment on anyone yet. He collaborates with every single member of the team (although there is a tense moment with Seth for a moment, before Renee refocuses their attention) to ensure that the day goes perfectly. 

The excitement is boiling away under the surface, but everyone is working harder than Neil has seen so far. Nicky has been running the social media and posting approved behind-the-scenes photos while they work, and Neil feels a surge of affection for the team. Matt ruffles his hair every time he passes by him, Jeremy sends him a bright grin when he pops in to chat with Kevin about something, Allison gives him a compliment peppered with profanity on the design of his that ended up in the line, and Renee squeezes his shoulder in passing. Never in his life has Neil felt this much love in a room, and not a single one of them were stuck with him. They just decided that they wanted him there. 

And, like a magnet, Neil’s gaze kept moving to Andrew. He still needs to talk with him about what happened at Edens Twilight and ask him why he pressured Kevin to include Neils design, but for now he’s content just to see the reliable black clad figure. Always the calm in the center of the storm.

By the time the makeup and hair is almost done and people are starting to take their seats out in the venue, the day is still going suspiciously well. 

“Something has to go wrong,” Neil says in disbelief to Dan. He’s standing at the bottom of the stairs where the models are starting to line up. They’ll be going up the stairs into the mansions grand hallway, where most of the guests are seated. From there, they will walk into the sitting room and circle back. The baroque styled, frilly venue had been chosen as a contrast to the sleek designs that made up the collection. It was a slightly run down old manor house with silk wallpaper from the early 20th century gracing the walls. Neil had helped Kevin look, and he was ridiculously pleased with the fact that Kevin chose it. Although, he probably chose it because Andrew had given it a nod of approval rather than because Neil liked it. He was pleased anyway.

Dan laughs. “I know, it never goes this well. Usually a hem tears or a gown suddenly doesn’t fit an hour before the show. But let’s cross our fingers that our luck holds.”

Neil nods, but he has a sinking feeling in his stomach that it won’t.

The cue that the show is nearly starting is Allison and Kevin showing up at the bottom of the stairs with the rest of the models. Neither of them look flustered in the slightest, despite the many shouts for their attention. Kevin sidles up to Neil and looks him up and down critically.

“You’ll do. Nicky did a good job.”

Neil snorts. His new wardrobe came back from Abby in the nick of time, and he’s wearing a charcoal three piece suit with a matching charcoal shirt and a gold brocade vest. Nicky had cried when he put it on, like it was his wedding day or something. From across the room Matt gives him a beaming thumbs up and Allison mouths something that he doesn’t catch but makes Dan laugh.  He feels himself blush, so he watches the models to hide it.

There’s a feeling of pride rising in his chest as he looks at the finished pieces. 

Never has he been a part of something so large, or something that was so close to his heart. He can hear the noise of a large crowd up the stairs and he can barely keep the grin in check. Kevin elbows him softly to catch his attention.

“Come,” he tells Neil, already walking up the stairs.

He leads them to the grand hallway, just behind the doorway that the models will come out of. The line of chairs are already full with big names that even Neil can recognize. They’re chatting amiably, like there aren’t a million cameras going off. He can see an even larger crowd in the sitting room, and yet more noise is coming from outside where guests are still arriving on the red carpet. It’s overwhelming and incredible and magnificent and Neil is certain that he made the right decision to stay.

By the time they’ve made it back down the stairs, Andrew and Renee have come back from wherever they disappeared to. It’s funny to see the staff all dressed up, even though they dress nicely for work every day. Andrew is wearing a full black suit with an asymmetrical vest. It reminds Neil of the jacket he designed for this collection. The thought nearly makes him trip on the stairs.

The show itself passes far faster than Neil would have expected. Nicky is still walking around, constantly updating their feed to keep viewers in the loop and Dan has an earpiece in to help her direct the models. She sends each of them up the stairs with a gentle push and a grin.

Neil almost wishes that he could watch the show from a seat, but he stands between Kevin and Allison who both explain what is happening as it progresses. 

They peel off to walk the runway at the end and Neil can hear the enormous applause, which the rest of the team joins in through the finale. Neil has relaxed, but that knot of dread is still in his stomach. As the models stream back in, he waits anxiously for Kevin and Allison to come back to the safety of the downstairs. It’s a silly thing, since they will all be milling around and chatting throughout the after party anyway, but he wishes that he could keep an eye on his people while it’s so crowded.

The applause downstairs stutters when Allison reappears, Kevin pale and shocked looking beside her. Her hand his gripping his arm and she looks furious. Renee and Andrew fight their way through the models as soon as they see them, Renee with a calm but determined look on her face. She says something briefly to Kevin, then gently rubs Allisons arm to soothe the anger the radiates off of her.

Neil shares a look with Allison, then works his way over to Kevin as well.

He’s leaning heavily on the wall, his tall frame dwarfed by his terror.

“What happened,” Andrew says harshly. Kevin’s breathe wheezes in his chest. “Kevin, what happened.”

“Riko’s here,” he says finally, sounding winded. All of Neil’s air leaves his lungs, but he concentrates on keeping on his feet. He can’t afford to lose his mind while Kevin is panicking so obviously. It would betray the fact that he knows the Moriyama’s too quickly to everyone in the vicinity. The entire team knew about Kevin and Riko’s past, it wouldn’t take long for them to put 2 and 2 together if Neil had a panic attack at the base of the stairs.

“How did he get in?” Neil asks once he’s certain that his voice won’t betray him.

Disgust twists Andrew’s face in a shocking show of emotion. “He has a vested interest in the company, nothing is stopping him from having a little visit.”

Kevin looks to be on the verge of tears. “I can’t do it Andrew, I can’t go back. Oh God, oh God.”

“Kevin” Andrew has a firm hold of his lapel in an effort to keep him standing. “Kevin, listen to me. You will not go back. Even if he asks you. Even if he orders you to. They need you here, remember? Ichirou needs this company to do well, and it won’t without you. So you can’t go back.”

Kevin nods and Andrew pulls a flask out of his vest pocket. Kevin grabs it and takes a few swigs, drinking like it’s water. Neil can smell the vodka from where he’s standing, and he grimaces at the scent.

Andrew slowly lets go, holding his hands up in case Kevin topples. There’s a tense moment while they watch Kevin get a hold of himself, then he nods firmly. 

“You two will stick by?” he asks, his voice the shell of his usual tone. Neil is surprised to be included in the ‘security detail’ along with Andrew, but he nods anyway.

“Into the frying pan…” Andrew mutters as they follow Kevin back into the fray.

#andreil #aftg #aftg fanfic #all for the game #the foxhole court #tfc #neil josten #fashion designer neil josten #designer au #andrew minyard #kevin day #allison reynolds #renee walker #matt boyd #dan wilds #fanfic #my writing #writing #nicky hemmick

[whatmack]

UR MATTNEIL....... I MSOBBING

!!!!! AHHH had to post this rn bc it was really getting too long for how I’m formatting this series (why doth my fingers write with such long winds): have some loving neil hours in this house

——————————————-

“You’re going to be a hot mess,” Allison promises over the phone.“Thanks,” Neil says sardonically, juggling the phone to his other shoulder sohe can fit another piece into the puzzle spread over the coffee table. Andrewhas made a game of finding the most psychedelic, difficult to look at puzzleshe can and spreading them over useful surfaces. He gets bored with themquickly, so they remain half-finished unless Neil makes an effort to completethem.“You know I love you,” says Allison. “But you’ve been dating one person, sincelike, forever. You’re like a little baby bird again.”Neil’s fairly certain that’s another insult. He squints at a swirl of glitterypink and tries to see if the shape matches any of the loose pieces he’sarranged in front of him. “It’s Matt.”“Exactly,” Allison coos. “I was there when he won Dan. You have no idea whatyou’re in for, chickadee. No, Parker, down!”Rustling and barking come through the other end. Renee and Allison arefostering hypoallergenic seeing eye dogs, because Renee is a good person andAllison gets hives around anything with fur. Allison pretends she hates the work.Neil sees through her. He’s had practice.“But we already know each other,” Neil says, pushing sternly down on theanxiety rising in his chest. He tries a piece against the edge of the pinkswirl. Nope. “It’s not like we have to make a good impression.”“Just you wait,” Allison says ominously, which doesn’t help Neil’s anxiety atall.Thankfully Neil is too tired to be nervous when he gets off the plane,stumbling from the baggage claim into Dan and Matt’s waiting arms. Checkingbaggage is old hat by now, and he spares a thought to wonder at it as he letsDan sling the case protecting his Exy stick over her back and Matt take overhis carry-on. He falls asleep on Matt’s shoulder in the back seat.

He gets set up in the guest bedroom, same as usual, and it’s not until the nextmorning that Neil thinks to wonder if he should’ve expected to stay in themaster with Matt (and Dan). He flips over onto his back and stares up at thestippled ceiling. It’s not like he’s never slept beside them before, during Foxsleepovers or accidental naps on the couch. Thinking about doing the same thingnow, in this context, gives rise to a squirmy feeling that isn’t quitecomfortable. Not bad, but not good, either. He decides he’s glad he slept inthe guest bedroom this time.The smell of coffee and frying butter beckons him from the kitchen. Neil wrapshimself in a blanket (Matt likes the apartment so cold, he and Dan agree it’s terrible) and makes his way into theopen. Dan is flipping pancakes on the stove, Matt reading from his phone at thetable. Matt’s eyes light up when he sees Neil.“I was hoping I would catch you before I had to leave today! Good morning,” headds as an afterthought, scooting his chair over to leave room for Neil. Neilgrabs the open seat and sits in it crosslegged, drawing the blanket up over hishead. He makes eyes at the three mugs waiting by the coffee maker.“I’m hungry,” Matt whines, leaning back to nuzzle his face into Dan’s back. Shepokes him with the butt of the spatula, shooting Neil a look that says can you believe this guy?“You rush pancakes, you get shit pancakes,” she says. “I know how to cook onething and I’m gonna do it right. Morning, Neil. Coffee?”“Yes.”Matt has practice for most of the day (he’s apologetic, which Neil finds silly,because he’s the last person to think that’s a bad excuse), but it’s a schoolholiday so Dan stays at the apartment with Neil and her playbook. Shegravitates from the table to the couch to the floor to the table again,watching replays on her laptop and taking copious notes. There are fivedifferent pens in her hair before she starts running out of space.With the nonstop rush Neil’s life usually is, Neil is happy to take upresidence spread-eagle in the middle of the rug. He rambles on to Dan about histeammates. He flips through channels until he finds a sepia-steeped Westernmovie and decides it’s good enough. He texts Andrew, and gets back a picture ofthe new cat (whom Matt has finally decided to name “Thunderkick 3000;” Neil andAndrew usually just call him “Teddy”) hanging from a claw snagged in Andrew’sarmband. Dan calls him over for his opinion on her players, and Neil advisesher happily. Though she does keep reminding him that these are freshmen, nothis professional colleagues. Neil keeps reminding her that they’ve got to learn sometime.He doesn’t remember to be nervous until Dan points to the threadbare shirt andpair of (Andrew’s) sweatpants he’s been wearing all day and asks, “Matt’salmost home. Is that really what you’re going out in tonight?”A swift kick to the gut would make him less suddenly nauseous. Neil knows fromexperience. “I don’t know where we’re going.”“He didn’t say to dress fancy,” Dan says, propping her hands on her hips andscanning Neil from head to toe. Neil’s skin prickles. “You’ll probably be goodwith jeans. As long as they’re not fifty years old or ripped. My man’s a classyone.”“Since when?” Dan sticks out her tongue and implies something rude about Neil’s parentage,which all things considered might even be true.She is Neil’s family, though, so she cuddles him on the couch after he getschanged until Matt comes home. The rush of warm air from outside and Matt’sheavy footsteps announce him plainly, but neither of them move until Matt tipshis head over the back of the couch, shaking his sweaty headband onto Dan’sstomach. Dan picks it up and snaps it back into his face. “Ewww,” she says, grinning.“I kinda like coming home to my two favorite people,” Matt says, and whileNeil’s face goes hot he leans down to kiss Dan hello. Neil’s instinct is tolook at his feet, but their faces are in the way and so that would becounterproductive. Well, why should he? Didn’t he and Matt agree that they were going to kiss whenthey saw each other again? Habit makes Neil stop before reaching up, tucking his hands behind his back.“Do I get one too?”“Wh—oh,” Matt says, hand flying up to cover his face. “I. Not yet? Is thatokay?” His voice gets squeakier, so at the end he sounds like a cartooncharacter.“Okay,” says Neil. He starts to ask where they’re going, but Matt stops himwith a hand on his arm.“It’s not that I don’t want to,” he says. “Like. I’m totally still down withkissing. Kissing’s great!” The last time Neil saw Matt bouncing around on his feet that much, it wasbecause he had to go to the bathroom; that doesn’t fit, here.“You’re just a romantic,” Dan teases,and there’s the gut-kick again. Neil’s arms tighten around Dan. She pats him.“You good?”“Mmhm,” Neil says into the pens sticking out of her head.“We don’t have to go out tonight,” Matt says, concerned. 

 That sounds awful.“I’m good. I promise!” 

“Really? Because—”

“Shut up. Where are we going?” Neil says, quickly, before any more argumentscan come through. “Is this okay? What I’m wearing.” Dan shifts to the side soMatt can get the full view. 

“Perfect,” Matt says, all bright white teeth, and oh, Neil wants Matt to lookat him like that and say nice things about him forever. 

After a shower and change himself (“He looks hot in his uniform, doesn’t he?”Dan says to Neil, winking, and Neil feels a quiet thrill when he answers, “Yeah”),Matt slings a jacket over his shoulder and offers Neil his hand. Neil takes it,comforted by the familiar gesture. Matt smells like hair gel and soap andcologne, and Neil presses his face into Matt’s shirt in appreciation.“Drive safe,” Dan says, opening the door for them. She pecks them both on thecheek, stretching up for Matt and leaning down for Neil. “Have fun, you two.”“Don’t blow up the house when I’m not here to see,” Matt responds, and they’reoff, carried down the stairs to the parking garage on Dan’s laugh.

#all for the game #the foxhole court #mattneil #boydsten #my fics #part 6 of #I'm not making u eggs #HAPPY PRIDE

[onceinaugust]

Ranking David Rose’s sweaters in Season 2 of Schitt’s Creek

That’s right, I’m not stopping.

 In case you missed it, Click here to see my season 1 rundown of the best in David Rose sweater fashion . And by best of, I mean every sweater he wore, because who can choose only a few? 

But now we’re onto season two, where we’ve increased in number from 14 to 17 (just wait for season 3- it’s probably going to be broken into two posts), the fashion is getting a tiny bit wilder, and my despair at the emptyness of my bank account grows as I covet more and more of these sweaters. 

Onwards to Season 2: Still not sick of black and white sweaters

A recap of the rules:  I only rank each sweater once, even if it shows up in multiple episodes. I only look at what can be loosely described as a sweater- no button-ups, no t-shirts, no jackets. Cardigans count. Unfortunately, this means no amazing leather jacket from the first episode, no Don’t t-shirt, no hunting outfit, no pajamas, no baseball uniform in later seasons. Yes, I know, this hurts me too. But this is about my love for mainly black and white sweaters, so Here. We. Go.

First up, two quick honorable mentions to this jacket and suit because I just really like them, but they’re not sweaters, so they don’t count.

#17

This one was hard to make any of the details out on because it is such a solid matte black, but it has gathered fabric around the neck and all other details just blend in. (S02E05)

#16

I thought that this sweater was kind of unflattering and boxy, and altogether rather unremarkable for a David Rose sweater. (S02E07)

#15

This is probably by a famous designer, but all it looks like to me is the Detroit Tigers logo, and something about the off white of the inset square clashing with the cream of the stripes makes this a little off putting to me. (S02E02)

#14

It’s a poncho. (s02E05)

#13

Just in case you were worried after reading the season 1 post that there wouldn’t be a black sweater with only one part covered in a shiny faux leather (see elbow patch or shoulder patch sweaters), you can breathe easy as this season we have the entire front of the sweater covered in shiny material. It’s a little much, and doesn’t really go with those pants. (S02E10)

#12

I kept tabbing through pages of my spreadsheet swearing that I had seen this sweater in the first season, but it turns out David just has like two short sleeve shirts with stars on them as well. This is just okay. (S02E09)

#11

I must have flipped this shirt with the #10 choice 5 different times making this post. I like them both, but this one ended up just a hair worse just because we only saw David wearing it while riding a bike and I couldn’t get a true sense of fit. (S02E04)

#10

At first I wasn’t sold on this sweater, but then I noticed the subtle pattern on the black neckline portion, and now I want it very badly. (S02E04)

#9

While it reminded me a bit of the white/blue sweater that topped the S1 list, this sweater that closed out the season didn’t leave as lasting of an impression with me. It’s a bit of a Rorschach Test on the eyes- I see a weird cat man in the middle. What do you see? (S02E13)

#8

The length of this is really working for David (and for me). I thought it was going to be near the bottom as I watched the episodes to take screenshots, but it really grew on me, and it’s another one I really want. (S02E06)

#7

I love a fun geometric pattern, although I kind of wish it covered the whole sweater? Or maybe not, that might be too much. I really like it as is though. (S02E03)

#6

Numbers 6 and 5 were also incredibly close, but I ended up putting this tie-dyed sweater just a little bit lower because it reminded me of when tie-dye got cool for roughly six months when I was in high school and then I had about 10 shirts that I never wore again outside of volleyball practice. (S02E06)

#5

This is another say what you see sweater...I can’t stop staring at the eyes in the middle of his chest. But this really works for Dan/David and it looks great on. (S02E12)

#4

Believe it or not, it took until the second season to get to a sweater that has words on the front. I love this a lot (although not enough to pay 160 actual dollars to buy it). Please Dan, bust this back out in the fifth season with Patrick. (S02E01)

#3

I still love a good colorblocked sweater, even if there’s really no color to it. The shiny chevron that leads to two different colored sleeves works and I really hope this one comes back someday (maybe paired with a button up?)  (S02E11)

#2

Much like season one, there is a black/white fuzzy striped sweater right near the top, but couldn’t quite reach number one again. This looks so, so comfortable and got a bonus point for being the sweater in which David learns how to fold in the cheese.  (S02E02)

#1

It’s so ridiculous that it works, and lends itself to one of the most iconic Schitt’s Creek images. (PS, if you haven’t seen the WindowsXP wallpaper that the official twitter account made yesterday with this image, go to their twitter now. I made it my phone wallpaper and it brings me so much joy every time I see it). I know Dan has talked about how this was his dream piece of wardrobe to get onscreen, and you can see why. Who would have thought that you could put a mohawk on a sweater?  Also, I know the sunglasses aren’t a sweater, but they add so much to the look, it’s perfect. While I wouldn’t wear this ever, part of me wants to own it just for the absurdity. (S02E01)

And that’s another season down! What were your favorites? No color to be found at all this season- the flower sweater from the finale is probably the closest to actual color. To be honest, I think I might have liked the group from season 1 better on the whole than the season 2 group, but I can NOT wait for season 3. There are some amazing sweaters coming.

#Schitt's Creek #Schitts Creek #ranking David's sweaters #David Rose #love this not showing up in the tags for some reason

[jemej3m]

To the Good Place We Go (p.2)

part two! (sorry about errors totally didn’t read over this)

credit goes to @gluupor​ for the idea! link to their the good place au here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16782301

warning: aftg typical violence

part one here: http://jemejem.tumblr.com/post/182518320202/to-the-good-place-we-go

“I don’t belong here.” His voice shook. He imagined his father was looking up from the Bad Place, grinning like the mad-man he was. Neil was delivering himself into hell, because it was the right thing to do. His morals had been warped and distorted on Earth. If he was going to spend eternity suffering, he might as well make himself feel better by doing it honourably.

Also, he wanted to prove Andrew wrong. But that was besides the point.

Three-hundred and twenty-one residents, an omnipotent ethereal being and a walking Wikipedia stared at him in shock.

“Well.” Wymack clapped his hands together. “Dismissed, everyone!” He crooked a finger at Neil, and he felt his heart clambering to get out of his chest as he shuffled forward. He tried not to flinch as Wymack’s fingers brushed over his shoulder, and in less than a blink, they were standing in his office. Wymack rounded the desk and grabbed a stress ball off the desk and propping his feet up on the oaken edge, throwing it up and catching it repeatedly.

“Well?” Wymack offered him the chair. Neil sat. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I didn’t try to get in or hack the system somehow.” Neil murmured. “I’m not a mole. It’s a complete mistake.”

“Ha. A human, hacking into the universe? Very interesting. Very impossible. You humans are so strange.” He caught the ball, took his feet off the desk and leaned forward. “Neil Josten, you’ve been chosen as a candidate for MPP. The Middle Place Project. Nicky!”

“Yes?” Nicky had blooped into existence next to him.

“Strike Neil Josten off the Test One list.” Wymack’s smile was small but warm.

“That was a test?” Neil said testily. Wymack held out his hands.

“Honesty is an integral part of being a good person. You, out of everyone, are the most practised liar. Eight years on the run, twenty-two identities—I’m surprised you aren’t having an identity crisis.”

“Same.” Neil muttered. In all honesty, he was glad to have died as Neil Josten. Neil Abram Josten. Out of everyone he’d been, Neil was his favourite.

“If you can come forward, in front of the entire neighbourhood nonetheless, then I’m sure the rest will follow.” He cleared his throat. “The Middle Place Project is proving that humans are capable of  change, whether it be improving, or failing. There’s a few in the midst of the neighbourhood that we’re watching to see whether or not you can improve from your characteristic behaviours on earth.”

“Will we get into the Good Place if you do?”

“Maybe in five-thousand years.” Wymack promised. “If I can manage to convince my superiors of  your genuine progress.”

“Right.” Neil drawled. “Five-thousand years. No biggie.”

He glared at Neil with intense scrutiny, but somehow, Neil was unafraid of this ethereal being. He was giving Neil a chance, wasn’t he?

“Well?” Wymack grouched. “What are you still doing here?”

“What am I supposed to—“

“Figure it out, Josten. Just don’t tell anyone it’s a test. Got it?”

He pursed his lips. “Cool. Yeah. Got it.”

Wymack watched him, unimpressed, as he shuffled towards the door. Neil shot Wymack a quick grimace as he slipped out.

He blew his bangs out of his face with relief. Andrew stood in the waiting room, arms crossed and eyes barely slits. “So?”

“I’m alive.” He twinkled his fingers. “See?”

“Actually,” Nicky piped up.

“Shut up, Nicky.” They both ground out.

“Test forty-seven!” Wymack clapped his hands. “We’re finally getting into the good stuff. Ethical responsibility!”

Neil threw a troubled glance at Andrew, who, of course, stared impassively back. Ethics?

“What’s sitting in a classroom gonna do about our ethics.” Seth grunted.

Neil had decided he disliked Seth intensely. It was something about the constant fits of anger, irrational judgements and toxic intolerance to everything that wasn’t Allison’s tits or Adderall.

“Well, actually,” Kevin chided. Wymack snapped his fingers, effectively muting Kevin. The young man tried to scream in horror, but slumped in his chair with defeat.

“We’re going to be learning about some of your moral philosophisers and interpret what they had to say about what’s right and wrong. How about some basic questions, hm? Just to gage where each of you at.”

This wasn’t going to go well.

It was fine, wasn’t it? They had, what, five-thousand years?

“These first few should be simple.” Wymack picked a clipboard off his desk. “Let’s see. Neil?”

He looked up at the towering, omnipotent being. “What?”

“Is murder good or bad?”

Neil shrugged. “Depends.”

Wymack looked a little dismayed. “Andrew?”

Andrew jerked his thumb at Neil. “What he said. For example, Seth is a perfect example of why murder isn’t always bad.”

Neil grinned at him, and liked the way a spark of amusement glinted in his eye. Seth was probably clambering out of his chair to haul himself at Andrew in a fit of rage, but Neil wasn’t watching. He simply appreciated the sunlit hair that shone like spun gold, and the perfect understanding shared between them.

Their benevolent guardian simply dragged a hand over his face as his classroom dissolved into chaos.

“Good morning, son.”

Neil opened his eyes slowly. He was sleeping in a double bed, his double bed, in his cottage. In the afterlife. He was in the Middle Place. His name was Neil Josten. He had died at the age of 19. He played striker. His soulmate was Andrew Minyard.

Sitting upright, he saw Andrew standing at the opposite end of his bed. There was a young man standing behind him with a vicious glean to his eye; He had his chin hooked over Andrew’s shoulder.

Andrew was gagged, hands cuffed behind him. His feet were bare: His skin shone with sweat as his muscles convulsed. There were bruises blossoming under his skin: He’d put up a serious fight. How was he bruising? Could you be hurt in the afterlife?

“I said, good morning.”

Slowly, Neil craned his neck around. All six-feet of his father were craned over the edge of his bed, one fist denting the mattress and the other wrapped around Neil’s neck. He was looking at a mirror image, the eyes and the hair and the sadistic smile. Thick fingers tightened around Neil’s windpipe.

“Young Drake Spear was promoted to help me. It’s time to collect our rewards for such excellent work down in the Bad Place.” His grin was that of a wolfs.

“Fitting.” Neil wheezed out. Honestly, he was terrified. The thought of eternity trapped with the unending methods of his father was enough to wish that there was a way for Neil to die and end up in a further layer of the afterlife.

His father only laughed. The last thing he remembered noticing was Andrew closing his eyes. For a moment, it looked as though an angel was praying.

Dan crouched down, back to the wall. In her hand was a magnetic clamp, ready for Bad Nicky. It’d render him useless, and they couldn’t let Nathan Wesninski, Drake Spear or Riko Moriyama have access to him. They were powerful enough as it was.

Kevin was bone-white beside her. It had to have been years since he saw Riko Moriyama. Neil and Andrew weren’t the only ones facing their old demons today.

The man who’d stabbed Dan in the back had been boiling in a pit of acid. The demon in charge of the tank flashed a grin at her. “Want to join him?”

Aaron’s mother had leapt out at him from a shuffling line of prisoners, grabbing for fists of his hair and screaming. She hadn’t been able to tell which twin it was, mixing up the names as she spasmed with hysteria. Aaron had clutched his arms to his stomach and hurried away.

With Dan and Aaron’s close calls, Renee knew it was every possibility that her old gang leader had heard the commotion the group had caused and would want to connect with the girl who ended his life in a knife fight. Renee was clutching her rosary, praying as every demon brushed by her.

God, was Dan exhausted. Matt, Aaron and Seth had all been lured with narcotics. Then Matt got into a fight with a security guard, and Seth backed him up. Then someone insulted Allison as she was trying to flirt her way through a checkpoint, and she’d clawed their eyes out with her nails, but gotten bust up at a result.

So yeah. Not a great time for any of them.

“This is it, kid.” Wymack warned. “We’ve got a window of thirty seconds to get them out of there.”

Dan nodded.

A young man left the room, meaning Bad Nicky was watching over Andrew and Neil. Dan rolled out from her hiding position and bolted at the black-clad man standing in front of her. She whacked the cuffs on, stunning the look of contempt right out of those big brown eyes. He stumbled, turning around to look at her.

“Oh my god,” Allison cackled. “Bad Nicky is a straight, fuck-boy version of Nicky?”

It was true. He was wearing a flat-cap, backwards, and a big grey hoodie underneath a leather jacket. His jeans were torn and he wore stupid, stereotypical boots. He had a tattoo of a girl with her tongue between her fingers on his neck, and a gold-capped tooth.

“Hell.” He slurred. “You got me. Ha-aahh.”

Nicky was staring at himself with horror. “Disgusting.”

“Andrew,” Kevin faltered. “Where’s Neil?”

Andrew was sitting up, both hands chained to the bedposts behind him. He was blindfolded, his clothes in tatters and bloodied. Aaron rushed forward, dragging Nicky with him. The chains were cut and Dan watched Aaron murmur something to Andrew as he tore his blindfold off.

“We have to go.” Andrew said, fierce. Dan had never seen him so angered. “I know where Neil is.”

Matt grabbed bad Nicky and hauled him over his shoulder. The group filed out, lead by Andrew, Aaron surprisingly right on his heels. Despite the obvious abuse, he was legging it down the hallway. With the chaos of the Bad Place, the rag-tag team and their badges had looked like nothing more that a bunch of demons. With a Bad Nicky incapacitated and over Matt’s shoulder, they were running out of time. Andrew somehow had perfectly memorised the route to Neil’s cell.

They were almost there, when Andrew staggered to a holt. The young man they’d seen leaving the room earlier was standing in front of them. Aaron acted too quickly, brandishing a knife and jumping the guy. The knife buried itself into the man’s chest. Dan gasped.

“I won’t let him touch you again.” Aaron promised his twin. “Go.”

Andrew said nothing, instead shoving his way through a metal door on the left just metres past.

The demons present whirled upon their entrance. Dan felt her blood boil as she saw Neil in a chair, head hung. He couldn’t even lift his head to see who’d appeared.

“Wesninski, these humans are mine.” Wymack growled. “Give them back. They’re official property of the Middle Place.”

“Oh, oops.” The man—who did look scarily similar to Neil—grinned at the younger boy. Riko Moriyama. “It’s almost as though demons have to follow rules. Incredible.”

Riko had no eyes for anyone but Kevin. Kevin, who stood with his chin up and broad shoulders as he stared the other boy down.

“I’ll oversee your retirement myself, you rotten sack of sadistic fuckery.” Wymack snarled, stepping forward with Nicky at one side and Andrew at the other. “Back down. Now.”

“Kevin, Kevin, Kevin.” Riko clucked his tongue. “It’s so nice to see you. Such a shame that we’re opposed like this, brother.”

“I’m nothing like you.” Kevin rasped. “I’m going to go to the Good Place.”

“Why bother?” Riko leered. “When you can have so much more power, down here? They recruit the worst, you know. I was just human too. Now look at me.” He lifted his hand, and Neil spasmed, head flung back and mouth open in an aborted scream.

That was the precise moment that everything went to shit — as if everything hadn’t already gone to shit. Wymack launched at Wesninski: Andrew was hurling towards Riko, and the rest were attempting to shut the door on the copious amounts of demonic spawn trying to get a better look.

Dan was desperately trying to get someone’s attention but the only one who listened to her was Renee. That was ultimately futile, because Allison was thrown aside and Renee, obviously lost her shit. Even the faithful had their breaking points.

Kevin was desperately clawing for Neil to break him free: Andrew was brawling with Riko with a desperation that had Riko shaken, Wesninski was waving a knife in Wymack’s general direction, Matt was thrown over a demon’s shoulder and causing a ruckus, Seth was yelling and Allison was wiping furious tears off her face, snatching a knife off Renee.

Wesninski threw the knife. Riko threw himself at Neil. The door was thrown open.

“ENOUGH.” Nicky screamed, standing in the middle of the room.

Everyone froze.

“I’ve been through a lot, today!” Nicky’s voice was so shrill that Dan would have winced if she weren’t completely stiff. “I’ve hauled almost a dozen of you shits through portals, this way and that way. I’ve been running faster than I’ve ever had to run in my life, because I don’t run, I teleport! My husband’s disappeared because he wasn’t compatible with the Bad Place, I’m not meant to be this emotionally distraught because I’m just a machine, and now this?” He gasped. “I. Am. Flabbergasted. It’s my favourite human word, and that’s what I am right now. Not only have you—“ He pointed to Wesninski. “Defied basic laws by having a child with a human, you’ve been recruiting humans! Gracious, do you know the worst part of this entire shit-fuckery?” His voice raised into a scream once more. “I have to live out the rest of my eternal existence knowing that Bad Nicky is a straight fuck-boy!”

“That’s the worst part?” Neil said, weakly, his voice raw with screaming. “Well, gee, Nicky. I missed you too.”

“So,” Nicky continued. “I’m going to unfreeze my friends. Friends. F-R-I-E-N-D-S. And we’re going to leave. And am going to report your demonic asses to the new Lord Ichirou of the underworld, and I hope you live in agony for eternity. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” He snapped his fingers and Dan almost collapsed, if it weren’t for Matt holding her up. “We’re leaving.”

Andrew hauled Neil to his feet, clutching the taller boy to his side in a fit of possessiveness.

Dan stood by the door as she counted her crew out of Neil’s cell, watching Nicky carve an angry path through the mob of frozen demons. She glanced over her shoulder to see Kevin glaring at Riko.

“Kevin,” Dan started.

The man slapped Riko so hard that Riko’s head shifted, even with Nicky’s freeze power. Or whatever the fuck that was.

“You deserve so much worse than hell.” He said, calmly, before marching out the door. Dan followed him, squeezed his shoulder. His look was not as confident as he’d been momentarily ago, but he offered her a shaky smile.

“Let’s go home.” Wymack said, tiredly slinging an arm around Nicky’s shoulders.

They all smiled faintly, and with a nod, they were on their way home.

“How’d you do in the Trolley exam?”

Andrew glared at the sun. It was still peering over the horizon, the endless rolling hills, trying in vain to grasp a few more minutes of illumination. It turned the sky into a brilliant palette of purples and blues.

He wanted to shove Neil off the roof of this stupid house, but he probably wouldn’t even break a bone. He had been sleeping in Neil’s grossly cramped cottage for a few months, where there was only one room and Andrew had been donated the couch. They’d razed Andrew’s old house to the ground a few weeks back. That had been great fun.

The reason he wanted to shove Neil off was murky, but he knew part of it was because Neil provided him a tether: To stay in the Middle Place, to try and achieve Good Place status with everyone else, to stop himself from marching down and delivering himself into greedy hands. It didn’t matter if Drake and Wesninski and Riko were gone. Hell would still suck.

He hated it.

But he also couldn’t cut the rope.

“I ran you over. It was very satisfying.”

They corner of Neil’s mouth quirked. Andrew hated that too. He hated Neil’s stupid red curls and brilliantly blue eyes. They were sparkling in the sunset, each freckle and scar glossed with a decadent shade of gold. “What was it between?”

“You and nothing. I think I’m a bit behind in class.”

Again, the quirk of the mouth.

Truthfully, the choice had been between Neil and Aaron. Because they were all already dead and this was just a theory, Andrew knew it didn’t matter. But still, he’d found himself torn. Usually apathetic and uninterested, he was placed in the simulation and felt a strange thrumming in his. ear. His heartbeat. Quickening.

Aaron was his brother. He had promised Aaron protection. Aaron had gotten them both killed. Aaron ignored his conditions and went out with Katelyn, and lied about it. Aaron was his brother. Andrew died protecting Aaron from their mother. Aaron had stabbed Drake for him. Aaron was his brother.

But Neil was his other. Neil listened. Neil smiled. Neil was honest with Andrew. Neil was relaxed with Andrew. Neil looked at Andrew in a way that made Andrew felt as though he was coming undone, unravelling at the seams. Neil could see Andrew. Neil understood Andrew.

He’d only had a split second left to decide.

He’d chosen Neil over Aaron.

“Yes or no?”

Neil narrowed his eyes. “To what?”

“A kiss.”

The word sounded so delicate out of Andrew’s mouth. He felt delicate, exposed and raw to Neil’s understanding gaze. All this studying of ethics and morality and those stupid philosophers was getting to Andrew’s head. The question yes or no was balanced on a scale, the decision between forever and never ultimately resting on Neil’s final answer. Andrew fucking hoped it was a yes.

Death made one’s apathetic resolve melt like ice sometimes.

Gosh, he was a miserable forking sap. It was disgusting.

Neil smiled, so hesitant that it was almost unnoticeable. But Andrew saw it. Maybe Andrew understood Neil, too. “Yes.”

Fork the Good Place. Andrew was already there.

once again, credit goes to @gluupor /// link to their the good place au here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16782301

hope u enjoyed!

#the good place #neil josten #andrew minyard #the good place au #andreil #the foxes #all for the game #aftg #david wymack #dan wilds #the foxhole court #part two #jem writes

[hey-itsnxel]

Level Nine.

*I never posted this fic on tumblr, but after just editing it, I figured why not?*

Rating: General Audiences. Words: 3,025 Tags: Rich Dan, Bartender Phil, Short & Sweet, Drunkeness Summary:  No one ever sat at the bar, until one night someone did.

[read on ao3]

Phil wasn’t sure how he ended up bartending at one of the most prestigious bars in New York City. One minute, he was pouring beer at a sports bar, barely getting paid minimum wage, and having to deal with the obnoxiously drunk groups of college kids that hung out there and the next? He was being whisked away by a man in a suit that probably cost more than Phil’s whole apartment to the rooftop of The Belmont Hotel.

Just like everyone else who frequented the bar scene, he’d heard about Level Nine. Despite being far past the ninth floor of the hotel it sat atop of, Level Nine was the kind of place only rich people could afford to step into. Gone were the frat boys spilling beer everywhere. Now it was socialites; It was men in business attire sipping rum and cokes by outdoor fireplaces while they discussed politics and business deals. Couples who were dressed to the nines, little black dresses and Gucci suits, downing extra dry martinis faster than Phil could make them.

It was for the socially elite. The rich. The famous.

Somewhere Phil definitely didn’t belong. Yet, here he stood, black slacks and a white button down shirt donned and martini shaker in hand. His hair was meticulously pushed back into a quiff despite knowing the strands were bound to fall in his face by the end of the night.

He just had to look the part. No one here had to know that he lived in a shitty one bedroom apartment on the other side of the city, no one had to know how pathetically broke he was until he got this job, no one even had to know his name if he didn’t want to tell them. It didn’t matter though because no one ever asked. Phil wasn’t even sure if he’d heard anything other than drinks orders since his feet his the patio floor on his first day.

Tonight was no different. The city lights were spread out like stars, a harsh contrast against the sky. The sound of traffic was muffled by the music playing over the speakers. Phil briefly wondered what it would be like to live this kind of life as he tipped a bottle of champagne into the flute in his hand, dropping a few raspberries to the bottom of the glass once he was done. The bubbles rose to the top and he repeated the process four more times before signaling a co-worker to come take the drinks where they needed to go.

No one ever sat at the bar. There was a set of three stools, matte black from top to bottom, sitting empty in front of him. The only human interaction they ever received was when someone bumped into them while ordering a drink. He supposed it would be weird to come to a place like Level Nine and talk to the bartender. They should probably just move them, honestly.

Phil had gotten lost in his thoughts of barstools and living the socially elite dream life when he heard someone’s fingers tapping against the bar. He jumped as he saw them, fumbling with the glass he had been wiping in his hands, before regaining some of the composure he was supposed to always have while he was working. The man didn’t even give Phil a chance to say anything before slapping a black card down on the counter, ordering a pair of manhattans, and walking away towards a much younger boy on the terrace.

His eyebrow rose as it fell on the black card. Even for Level Nine that wasn’t common. But he decided to think nothing of it and went to work making the man’s drinks.

Phil didn’t interact with the man again until he came back for his card. All his drink orders had been placed through one of the waitresses, who he had running back and forth all night. He signed off on the receipt without a word and walked out the door, hands stuffed angrily in the pockets of his pinstripe suit.

The boy who he had been sitting with was still on the terrace, a half empty glass dangled precariously in his left hand as he leaned against the railing. His head was hung, curls occasionally getting tussled by the breeze that had begun. With a sigh, he tipped the glass back like a shot and placed it on the table, walking out without a glance in Phil’s direction.

-

It was cold.

The outdoor fire places were lit, the hidden heaters in the base of the patio roof were on. None of those luxuries extended to the bar though, so Phil was freezing. His hands shook as he ran the cleaning rag over the surface for what felt like the 30th time despite their being nothing to wipe away. It was their dead hour, that awkward time where everyone was out eating dinner and had no reason to be at a bar. Yet Phil still had to stand there, attention ready, just in case someone were to come in.

He always felt awkward standing around doing nothing. He got fidgety and nervous, which resulted in him repetitively wiping down the counters and unused barstools. He turned the liquor bottles so the labels faced outwards, wiping the cloth over them as well. It was his least favorite part of the day.

Luckily, it seemed that part of the day wasn’t going to last very long.

Despite being early into their dead hour, the door of the elevator swept open and the same boy from a few nights ago stepped out. Phil hadn’t had a chance to look at him until now. His hair was dark, the same color as the whiskey he poured every night, falling in a mix of wavy curls across his forehead. He was wearing a black suit, minus the jacket which was draped over his arm. A black tie hung loosely from his neck.  All of that seemed normal from what Phil had gotten used to. Expensive suits were almost as common at Level Nine as the taxis were on the streets below. What really caught his attention, however, was the black and white Converse on his feet. The laces were tied sloppily, the sides scuffed, and they were a complete contradiction to the probably designer suit on his body.

The boy hesitated in the exact middle of the patio, his eyes flickering to the couches where he had sat previously and then back to Phil a few times, before his converse clad feet began to make his way towards the bar, eventually leaning against the counter.

“Hey. How are you?”

Phil was surprised. He wasn’t used to anything other than drink orders, but this random boy (who barely looked old enough to be in here) had his head tipped to the side, waiting for Phil to answer.

“I’m doing fine, thank you. What can I get you this evening?”

He looked past Phil, slipping onto one of the stools in front of the bar as he eyed the rows of liquor bottles on the shelves behind him. Phil’s eyebrow rose subconsciously. Much to his dismay, his mouth began moving on it’s own accord.

“No one ever sits there.”

The boy looked back at Phil, propping his chin in his hand.

“Well, I’m happy to be the first. I’ll look like less of a loser if I’m sitting here drinking as opposed to sitting over there drinking by myself. Rum and coke. Heavy on the rum, light on the coke.”

He flipped open his wallet, sliding yet another black card across the counter. That was two in one week. Phil stared at it blankly, his mind running with thoughts. Daniel Howell. The name on the card seemed familiar but Phil couldn’t grasp where from. It had to be somewhere important if he had a black card of all things.

Daniel seemed to read his mind, sighing slightly before he started speaking.

“Howell and Son Law Firm. My dad is Howell, I am unfortunately the son. One of them anyway.”

Oh! Duh! Now Phil could see it. The commercials, the newspaper write ups, the feature in that random magazine that had been accidentally delivered to his door. It all made sense as to why he would have a card of this caliber. He was slightly embarrassed at being so transparent. It took Dan all of ten seconds flat to practically read his mind and only another few seconds to do it again.

“Don’t worry. I get it a lot when I use that card.”

“Oh, right, I apologize.” Phil plastered his best customer service voice on as he moved to pour his drink.

To his surprise, Daniel laughed.

“You don’t have to be that professional with me. Trust me, I am nothing like anyone who comes up here.”

“I could tell by the Converse.”

Phil mentally slapped himself for saying that, turning on his heel to apologize. His words were caught in his throat when he saw the sheepish expression on Daniel’s face. His lips had quirked into an embarrassed smile, shrugging so faintly that Phil barely noticed it.

“Yeah, full disclosure, my father is going to have a fit about that whenever he shows up. So, I’m warning you to take cover.”

He watched as Dan forced a laugh, rolling his eyes in a way to was meant to be sarcastic. It came off as more sad than anything.

“I think I’m the safest out of everyone here. I have a whole bar to hide behind.”

Phil felt Dan watching him over the rim of his glass, his eyes following him as he moved around behind the bar to place the bottle back. It was unnerving, to say the least. Everyone who came to the bar barely cast Phil a second glance and now some lawyer’s kid was practically staring him down.

“What’s your name?” Finally breaking the silence, Daniel placed the glass down on the counter with a clink.

“Phil. I’ll add that to your lists of firsts, no one here has asked me before.”

The frown that fell across Dan’s face was sincere, his brow furrowed immediately. He took a slow sip of his drink, swirling the liquid in the glass.

“Rich people suck, tbh.”

Phil nodded a bit too quickly, making Dan snort. Their conversation , along with Dan’s drinks, flowed naturally from there.

By the time Dan’s father showed up, Dan was a bit drunk. His eyes had glassed over a long time ago, his sentences reducing to giggles every time he stumbled over a word. Phil had found the whole sight adorable, spending a solid portion of their conversation coercing Dan into drinking some water.

“I hate it, you know?” Dan slurred, leaning back on the barstool in a way that made Phil’s pulse quicken. He resisted the urge to reach out and push it back down to the floor.

“Hate what?”

“This.” He waved around, the stool wobbling beneath him before Dan moved forward and grounded it again. He leaned across the counter as if the next words that were going to leave her lips were some big secret. Phil obliged and met him in the middle, eyebrow risen.

“Working for my dad sucks. Going to law school sucks. Having to sit on that couch and talk about my future sucks…” Dan had turned the stool so he was looking away from Phil, his eyes locked on the elevator door. As if on cue, his father and an older boy stepped out. With a sigh, he glanced over his shoulder at Phil. “… I think most of all, my brother sucks.”

Pushing himself away from the counter, Dan grabbed his jacket and headed towards the couch. Just like he had warned, his father was already chastising him about the shoes. The brother stood off to the side, looking incredibly smug as he nodded along with everything Mr. Howell was saying.

-

For the rest of the night, Phil found himself staring towards Dan’s corner. He was slumped back against the couch, nursing a vodka tonic Phil had just made. The brother, who Phil found out was named Alex when he saw his credit card, was talking animatedly. Mr. Howell was practically beaming at every word that came out of his mouth. When the conversation fell on Dan, his expression immediately changed. He looked disapproving and stern, his lips drawn into a tight line as he shook his head everytime Dan spoke.

The later it became, the less Dan spoke. Until it was almost like he wasn’t there at all.

Phil found himself feeling bad for Dan. Despite only talking to him for an hour or two earlier, he could admit he’d developed a tiny crush on the brunette. They had a lot in common despite coming from two different paths of life.

When Dan got started on something he loved, the way he talked about it was captivating. Even if he was drunk. Phil had found this out when an older pop song started playing throughout through the speakers. Dan had immediately swerved the conversation onto that, ranting a mile a minute about different styles of music and how they’d changed over the years. Admittedly, Phil didn’t care but found himself hanging on every word Dan said like his life depended on it.

Maybe the crush also stemmed from the fact Dan was the first person in Level Nine who had spoken more than two words to him. He had seemed genuinely interested in whatever Phil was saying even stopping him to ask questions. Phil had never been more paid attention to in his life.

It was late. People had started to drift out of the bar, leaving only the  Howell’s and a few odd people meandering about. Dan caught Phil’s eye from across the room, rolling his eyes with what Phil assumed was supposed to be subtle head nod towards his brother.

It definitely wasn’t subtle.

His father and brother had already turned their heads, casting a single glace at Phil before before turning back around. Mr. Howell stood up and Alex followed, leaving Dan slumped against the couch. It was sad that it didn’t surprise Phil when they left without speaking a word to Dan.

“Bye to you too.” Dan huffed, loud enough to attract attention from the few remaining customers. His father didn’t turn around, the elevator doors already closing behind him. Phil smiled sympathetically at him, to which Dan raised his empty glass, mocking a cheers motion from across the patio, before returning to the barstool he’d claimed early.

“Well that sucked.”

Phil was already sliding a glass of water down the bar a lemon wedge on the side (because ‘water without lemons was gross’ according to Dan.) Dan twirled the lemon in between his fingers, fumbling with it before it fell to the floor. His bottom lip poked out in a pout as he looked down towards the floor, eyes lifting to Phil in the best puppy dog expression he’d ever seen. It took Dan approximately three bats of his eyelashes before Phil was practically power walking to the end of the bar where they kept the fruits for cocktails and placing another lemon in Dan’s drink.

“Thank you, Philly.”

The smirk on Dan’s lips alongside the nickname made Phil roll his eyes and a blush creep onto his cheeks simultaneously.  

“It’s my job.” He mumbled, resisting the urge to take the lemon away out of spite (he would just end up giving him a new one five seconds later anyway).

Dan stared at the water, silently watching the condensation drip down the side, while Phil resumed the nightly cleaning schedule for the bar. Every so often, he could feel Dan looking at him, but he’d always looked back down before he could catch him in the act.

“You’re the last person here, you know we technically closed like 30 minutes ago.”

Phil moved from behind the bar, the latch of the gate clicking behind him.

Dan hopped from the barstool, his feet hitting the floor with a thud.

“I know. I was waiting for you to get off.”

Swinging his arm forward, he motioned for Phil to lead the way.

“Why?” Phil started walking, pausing in front of the elevator before turning to the stairs the employees usually took. Dan quickly looped his arm through his, stopping him dead in his tracks. Before Phil could object, he had pushed the button for the elevator door and drug Phil inside.

“So I can take you home, duh.”

The way Dan spoke made it sound like it should have been obvious. His confidence faltered a split second later, when he started stammering over himself.

“I mean, like, literally home. I’m not trying to fuck you or anything yet.... Not yet like I’m planning on it or anything. I mean I could be into that one day if you’re into that. I mean literally take you to your house. Is that creepy? Now that I’m saying it outloud it sounds incredibly creepy.”

Phil couldn’t stop himself from erupting into a fit of laughter. Dan’s drunken rambling was almost as cute as the blush the spread across his face. He leaned back against the wall of the elevator, looking up at the weird designs painted on the ceiling.

Once he finally calmed down, he turned to Dan.

“It’s not creepy. But, you definitely can’t drive right now.”  

“Phil, Phil, Phil." Dan tsk-ed sarcastically, shaking his head, before he wrapped his hand around Phil’s. "You think I, the son of the man who founded Howell and Son Law firm, drives himself anywhere? Ha!”

Phil deadpanned at his dramatics. What was even happening?

“No, seriously. I have a driver tonight. Let me take you home?”

Phil hesitated, but after taking one look at the hopeful expression on Dan’s face, he knew there was no way he was going to tell him no.

(Little did Phil know, this wouldn't be the last time he found himself in the backseat of this car. Funny how things work out sometimes.)

#phanfic #my fic #<3

[wematch]

Only You

In their second year a deal is made. Andrew wants to explore his boundaries and there’s really just one person he trusts around himself.

Set in a universe where everything is the same except that Andrew never kissed Neil on the rooftop that night. Instead, they just got closer and more comfortable around each other.

Read from the start if you haven’t yet! [Part 1]

You can also read it on [AO3]

As always a huge thank you to @velvetnoodle for being an amazing beta <3<3

Part 5

At practice, everyone is starting to feel the pressure of their next game on Friday. And Kevin has become intolerable with his incessant criticism, which made Andrew aim a few shots at his head that only made Kevin complain louder at everyone else.

When they take a five-minute break Dan stops near Neil. “This isn’t productive,” she tells him, sounding frustrated while glaring at Kevin’s back.

“No, it isn’t,” Neil agrees. Everyone that had been on the team last year is more or less used to Kevin’s way on the court; the new additions to the team, however, are not. And they are the ones receiving the worst of it.

Matt comes to join them looking exhausted. He grabs his water bottle and drinks half of it before he has the energy to speak. “Does he ever shut up?” he mutters, still trying to catch his breath, “I don’t think I can handle ten more minutes of this.”

Dan leans against him, her expression a clear indicator that she agrees. “I’ll go talk to him before we resume practice.”

They stay quiet for a few moments, all sipping water and trying to rest their aching muscles before going back to the court. They all watch Kevin say something to Andrew that makes him pause drinking his energy drink and stare blankly at Kevin. “I could ask Andrew to knock him out,” Neil comments grinning, not taking his eyes away from Andrew.

“Oh, yeah I don’t think he would mind that request,” Matt says once he notices what’s happening. “You’re the only one he listens to anyway,” he comments and shares a look with Dan.

“No,” Dan says firmly and turns her attention away from Kevin. “We need Kevin to win the game,” she reminds them, and then she turns her full attention to Neil. “Don’t ask him to do anything.”

Neil shrugs. “Relax, it was just an idea,” he says, adding, “and he wouldn't do it anyway.” Whatever Kevin had said was not enough of a reason for Andrew to do something like that. Neil turns around and starts to walk back to court. He can hear Dan whispering something to Matt but he doesn't turn around. He walks past Andrew and Kevin and without stopping he tells them, “Let’s go,” and Kevin immediately grabs his helmet to follow him to resume their practice.

***

After night practice with Kevin, Andrew and Neil walk the stairs up to the rooftop. They sit in there in silence staring at campus beneath them while Andrew smokes a cigarette.

As he watches the smoke disappear around them, all Neil can think about is going back to Columbia at the end of the week and on how the last time they went there Andrew had let Neil touch him. It makes him think back to the deal they made weeks ago. It’s still hard to believe that Andrew had wanted to do this. Nicky would probably make a scene if he ever found what’s been going on between them.

Neil glances at Andrew who’s calmly staring ahead of them while he finishes his cigarette. After a few moments, he watches Andrew’s fingers stubbing out the cigarette onto the floor and Neil bites his lip. He’s been curious to know if Andrew would allow him to touch him if he asked. He knows not to take offense if the answer is no but he had never tried to touch Andrew before he initiated it. “Can I?” Neil says gesturing in the direction of Andrew’s upper arm.

Andrew tilts his head to the side to see where Neil is pointing and for a moment he only stares at Neil’s hand. ”Yes,” he answers and turns to properly face Neil. ”You can touch me if it’s not anywhere new.”

Neil fights the urge to smile at that and inches closer to Andrew. He places his hand where he initially pointed at and moves slowly from Andrew’s elbow up to his neck and then starts to run his hand down towards his chest. “Is this really okay?” Neil asks, wanting to be sure that he isn’t pushing it too far.

“There’s no ‘this’.”

“You know what I mean, Andrew,” Neil says and brings his other hand up in a silent question. When Andrew nods his acceptance Neil places it on Andrew's shoulder.

Then he feels a hand come to rest on his waist, and then moving towards his back. He looks up from Andrew’s chest and finds Andrew already studying him. They stay frozen in place staring at each other until Andrew breaks the silence.

“I don't–” Andrew starts, and grabs Neil neck with his other hand, moving slightly closer to him. “It’s fine when it’s you,” he concludes.

Neil feels his heart begin to beat even faster with what Andrew just said. He can’t think of anything to reply to that and a second later the hand on his neck pulls him closer until there's no space left between them. Andrew kisses him like the world stops and starts with Neil's mouth.

It takes him a moment for his brain to start working again but then Neil moves his hand to Andrew’s hair in search of something to hold onto.

The kiss is electrifying, Neil has never felt anything like the way Andrew’s chapped lips feel pressed against his own. And he almost wants to complain when not long after, Andrew stops kissing him and moves just enough to ask. “Yes or no to this, Neil?” his lips brushing Neil’s as he speaks.

Andrew’s deep voice, sounding out of breath is almost too much to Neil and it takes him a moment longer than normal to register the question. But he doesn’t want to stop this just yet; it feels too good to stop. “Fuck yes,” whispers back before moving closer to lock their mouths together again.

***

Neil enters the cafeteria, grabs some food and moves to sit down at the table where Kevin and Nicky are already eating. He takes his jacket off and glances at the pouring rain outside, suddenly glad that Nicky made him buy one a few weeks ago.

He sits down, opening his water bottle and taking a sip while he scans the room full of people. He notices Aaron eating lunch with Katelyn on the other side of the cafeteria and Allison sitting a few tables ahead looking at her phone, so Neil brings out his own and texts her to wait for him after lunch since they're headed the same way. After a few moments, Allison looks up from her phone and looks around until she finds Neil. Then she gives him a smile before returning to type on her phone and talk with the other Foxes sitting with her.

Neil starts to eat but after his second bite, he pauses as soon as he notices Andrew step inside the cafeteria doors completely soaked. The hoodie he’s wearing had not provided any protection against the storm outside. He watches as Andrew grabs his food and starts to walk in their direction. As he gets closer Neil takes notice of Andrew's appearance, his blonde hair is plastered to his face and the hoodie is clinging to his body. Neil frowns; Andrew could get sick from this but after noticing Andrew’s annoyed face he decides not to say anything about it.

When Andrew puts down his tray at the table and sits at Neil’s side, Nicky takes one look at his cousin and comments, “You’re dripping.”

Andrew gives him a death glare that immediately makes Nicky return his attention back to his food. Then Andrew takes his drenched hoodie off, leaving him with only a thin loose black t-shirt.

While they eat, Kevin begins to talk about Exy, and Neil answers him without really paying too much attention. He focuses on how Andrew uncomfortable looks eating at his side, he can see that his shoulders are tense, and he keeps pausing to pull his sleeves down to cover his armbands.

Once Nicky finishes eating, Kevin starts to get up to leave with him. He looks at Neil who has already finished eating too, then to Andrew still eating his jello. He opens his mouth to speak but then he seems to change his mind and decides to follow Nicky outside without saying a word.

Neil bites his lip as he watches Andrew. “You can take my jacket if you want,” he says quietly once the others have left the cafeteria.

“What makes you think I want your jacket?”

“Just take it or leave it, it’s up to you.”

Andrew seems to consider it while he finishes his dessert. When he finishes eating, he grabs the jacket from Neil's chair and puts it on, closing the zipper all the way up. Neil is glad that the jacket is a dark gray, because otherwise, Andrew might not have accepted it.

Andrew then grabs his drenched hoodie and they get up to put their trays back in place. Andrew gets out of the cafeteria to go to his next class while Neil walks back to Allison’s table to see if she’s ready to walk to his next class with him.

He stops at her side and she looks up at him with a devilish smile. “Where’s your jacket?”

Neil freezes for a moment, not expecting that question. She was either watching them during lunch or she just noticed Andrew leaving with the jacket on. He ultimately decides to ignore it. “Are you ready to go or not?” he says more harshly than he intended. Everyone else at the table looks up at him but he ignores their stares.

She gives him a bored look and gets up. “Fine, don’t answer. Let’s just go.” Then she grabs her purse and a massive umbrella before grabbing her tray and begins to walk towards the exit. Once they get outside she opens the umbrella and steps as close to Neil as possible to cover him too. And the moment they begin to walk in the rain Neil is suddenly glad they’re walking together to their next class since he would now get drenched on his way to class and be stuck in the classroom soaking wet.

“I fucking hate this weather so let's walk quickly,” she tells him looking pissed and they begin to walk at a fast pace towards the building.

***

After his classes finish, Neil meets the others at the Maserati and Andrew drives them all to practice. Neil can see in the mirror Nicky sharing looks with Aaron in the back but doesn’t think too much about it. But when they enter the locker room with Andrew in front of them, he catches the rest of the team stealing curious glances towards Andrew.

They both put on their gear and head to court. After some warm-up laps, Andrew moves to his position as the goalkeeper and Nicky comes to stop near Neil. ”Was I seeing correctly?” he asks glancing in the direction of his cousin. “Was he really wearing your coat?”

Neil notices Aaron pause near them to try to listen in but Neil doesn't care, so he answers Nicky loud enough for Aaron to easily hear it. “Because I told him he could have it.”

“Andrew was wearing your coat,” Nicky says looking strangely at him, “because you offered.”

“Yes,” Neil says, exasperated. He's losing his patience, and he’s tired of people not getting Andrew. “Now go to your position, and stop with the questions, Nicky.”

“Yes, captain!” Nicky half shouts shaking his head and starts a slow jog to his place.

Not a minute later, Aaron moves to step in front of him. “Last year you said you didn’t swing,” he points out and touches Neil on the chest with his racquet, pushing him slightly back. “So what are you doing with him now?”

“None of your business,” Neil answers angrily, he's done with all the questions for today.

“The freshmen think you two are dating but some of the others are betting you’re just fucking around. Which one is it?” Aaron asks him, sounding pissed off and stepping closer to Neil.

“Why do you even care?” Neil spits, clenching his fists in an attempt to control himself.

Aaron continues as if Neil didn’t speak. “He wouldn’t have broken our deal last year if it was the latter. Either way, I won’t let you fucking use him,” Aaron tells him angrily.

Neil doesn't back down, he looks him in the eye and warns him. “Get out of my face now.”

“Or what–”

The sudden sound of something hitting hard against the plexiglass wall makes them both jump. They look to the side to see what had caused the sound, and they find Andrew with his racquet still against the wall from smashing it against it.

When Andrew sees them both looking at him he begins to walk towards them. Neil knows that the whole team is staring at them but he doesn’t care; if Aaron knew his own brother he would know that Andrew would never allow anyone to use him. Neil glances at Aaron, and fights the urge to grin when he sees him visibly tensing as his brother approaches them.

Andrew stops in front of them and crosses his arms. “Is there a problem?”

“Aaron seems to think that there’s one,” Neil tells him.

“Oh? Do you?” Andrew asks turning to focus on his brother. “And do tell, what’s the problem?”

“He is,” Aaron says in a pissed off tone.

“We’ve been over this last year,” Andrew points out and takes a step closer to his twin.

“Yes, but–”

“You got what you wanted,” Andrew interrupts him. “Don’t bother me again about things that are not your concern. Is that clear?” Andrew says in a bored tone, but his eyes say he’s anything but calm, there’s a fire in there just waiting to be unleashed if challenged.

Aaron takes a step back and looks between his brother and Neil for a second. Then he gives Andrew a nod and begins to walk to the other side of the court. Everyone else immediately starts to move around to get ready to start practice but Andrew turns to stare at Neil.

Neil takes a deep breath and takes one step closer to Andrew. “Your brother is an idiot,” Neil comments after looking over Andrew’s shoulder at Aaron’s figure still walking away.

“He’s not the only one,” Andrew informs him while looking straight at him. Neil rolls his eyes and begins to walk away. He can’t deal with any of this shit today, he wants to focus on Exy until his legs feel numb and his body is too tired for his head to think about anything else.

[Part 6]

#andreil #aftg #andrew minyard #neil josten #dan wilds #Allison Reynolds #matt boyd #kevin day #nicky hemmick #aaron minyard #andreil fic #aftg fic #tfc #myandreilfic

[rebeccalynndufresne98-blog]

Afternoon Tea (part 3)

Sorry it took me so long to post this I just couldn’t decide how I wanted to write this part, but I’m happy with how it turned out.

I moved the time frame up a few weeks after Dan confesses his feelings and it’s still a slow burn but more of she starting to have feelings but she’s in denial about them type of slow burn.

Warnings: cussing (only a little bit)

—————————————————————

It’s been weeks since Dan confessed his feelings to me, and in these few weeks we’ve gotten a lot closer. We’ve began to really open up to one another about everything. It’s nice to have this type of connection with him, but I’m still not sure if I have any romantic feelings towards him. I feel like I’m leading him on; getting his hopes up, but that is the last thing I’m trying to do. I care very deeply for Dan and I wish I could just hurry up and have these feelings he wants me to have, but I just don’t know what I’m feeling right now. I know I’ve been feeling differently about him and I get tingles every time he looks at me or even when he texts me, but I’m not sure if it’s a romantic or platonic feeling.

“Speaking of him,” I say out loud to myself seeing that Dan has texted me. Those tingly feelings arising as I read his text.

Dan: Hey Y/N Phil and I are actually going outside today. We are going to that winter wonderland place with PJ and Sophie and we were wondering if you’d like to come with?

Y/N : Yeah sure! Do you want me to meet you guys there?

Dan: You can come to Phil and mine’s we are all meeting up here so we can go as a group.

Y/N: Okay! See you in a few!

Y/N: wait what time are we going? I forgot to ask lol

Dan: I think in about an hour

Y/N: cool I’m going to get ready and then I’ll head right over

Dan: Ok see you then!

I set my phone down on my bedside table. I get out of bed and go to my closet to pick an outfit. I pondered at what I wanted to wear, finally deciding on simple black skinny jeans and an oversized cream colored sweater. I paired it with my black booties and my black jacket. I left my hair in its natural state only brushing through it. I decided to do light makeup this time adding a pink matte gloss lipstick. I looked in the mirror and decided I like how I looked, so I grabbed my purse, phone, phone charger, and my keys.

I knocked on their door waiting to be let in. As I was waiting I began to reminisce on all the times I’ve been over here and all the good memories with both Dan and Phil.

My thoughts were cut short when the door opened revealing Phil.

“Hey Y/N! Wow you look lovely. Sorry it took me forever to get to the door I was talking to PJ and Dan was being lazy and didn’t want to get it.” Phil laughed.

“That’s okay, and thanks you look lovely too.” I smiled at him. We joined the group in the lounge. They seemed to be in a deep conversation when we walked in. They suddenly fell silent once we entered the room only to be broken by PJ a few seconds later.

“Hello Y/N!”

“Hey PJ! I haven’t seen you in what feels like forever!” We hugged hello.

“Hi Sophie! How are you?” I asked my friend.

“I’m good! How are you Y/N?”

We had a long conversation when Dan stated we should leave before the winter wonderland closed. We rode in PJ’s car with him driving, Sophie in the passenger seat, Phil behind her, me in the middle, and Dan behind PJ. We finished our conversation about some conspiracy theory Phil read about as we pulled up to where we were headed.

“Yay, we’re here!” Phil and I said in unison causing everyone to laugh.

“You two are such children I swear!” Dan said rolling his eyes and with a light chuckle.

“Whatever I know you are just as excited as we are!” I exclaimed sticking my tongue out at him.

“Yeah alright you got me. I am really excited!” Dan admitted. I smiled fondly at him.

We’d been walking around this little fair ground for a few hours talking about everything and nothing all at once when I got this sudden urge to hold Dan’s hand. I didn’t though, but man do I want too. We were walking side by side our hands would slowly brush up against each other and every time they did I want to grab his hand a intertwine our fingers. It’s an innocent thought, but it got me thinking ‘do I have feelings for Dan?’ I pushed the thought aside thinking to myself, ‘no holding hands can be a platonic thing it doesn’t mean anything. I probably just want to hold his hand because our hands keep brushing against each other.’ That had to be it, right?

We continued our stroll when PJ, Sophie, and Phil wanted to go ride one of the rides. Dan and I waited behind not really up for any rides right at that moment.

“Are you having fun?” Dan looked down at me.

“Yeah, this has been one of the best nights of my life honestly. How about you? Are you having fun?”

“Yeah I am.” Dan didn’t sound too sure of himself with his response.

“What’s wrong?” I inquired.

“Nothing. I-It’s nothing.”

“No Dan don’t do that. I can see something is bothering you and I’m not going to force you to tell me anything but don’t dismiss how you feel. It’s okay to say something is bothering me but I’m not ready to talk about. I’ll still respect your wishes and not pry.” I lectured.

“I know.” He seemed hesitant to say anything else.

“I want to tell you what’s bothering me, but I don’t want this night to become awkward because it is a really good night.” Dan expressed. I began to think that he wanted to tell me how he couldn’t handle our friendship anymore. That it was all too much for him. I began to get sad and worried. I really want to be his friend.

“I’m sure whatever it is won’t make tonight awkward, but whenever you’re ready to tell me I’ll be here to lis-“ I was cut off by Dan beginning to speak.

“I’ve met someone. I really like her and we’ve gone out on a couple of dates and I don’t..... I felt weird keeping it from you. I know we aren’t and never have been a thing but I don’t know I just felt like you should know.” Dan rambled speaking in a fast pace.

“Oh.. um.. okay.. cool.. is she..

Is she nice?”

“Yeah she’s really nice.” Dan said.

‘WHAT THE FUCK?! WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!’ I thought to myself. When the hell did he start talking to someone? When and how did they even meet? Why am I so jealous right now? I need to calm myself down before I finish this conversation.

“Oh that’s good. Hey um I-I need to go to the bathroom so I’ll be right back, okay?”

“Yeah um okay.”

I walk into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. As I gazed at

myself I began to wonder why I was feeling so upset over the fact that Dan had met someone. I mean it’s not like we are dating or have dated, so why is it bothering me so much? I’m not jealous or anything I just don’t understand how he could be with someone when he claims to have feelings for me. I hate that I feel this way; I hate that I can’t explain why I feel this way. Sophie enters the bathroom and walks up to me.

“Y/N are you okay?” She asked concerned.

“Yeah I just- I just needed a break from the crowds is all.” I lied.

“Okay, well I think we are getting ready to leave and head back to Dan and Phil’s to watch some movies and have dinner.”

“Okay let me just wash up and I’ll be right out there.” I smiled.

“Okay!” She walked out of the bathroom leaving alone again. I washed my hands and left soon after.

Once I approached them we headed back towards the car. I was caught up in my thoughts when Phil said my name.

“Y/N,” Phil started, “we were talking about watching a Christmas movie when we get back to mine and Dan’s place. Which one do you vote for?”

“Um, I like the Santa Claus movies or the grinch or home alone or polar express!” I chimed.

“Okay! We can just have a Christmas movie marathon tonight!” Pj chuckled joining mine and Phil’s mini conversation.

We got back inside the car and headed back to Dan and Phil’s. The only noise was the radio playing softly. My phone vibrated in my pocket signaling a text notification.

Dan: you okay?

Y/N: yeah why wouldn’t I be?

Dan: I don’t know you just seemed a bit off when I told you, and you rushed off to the toilets so I don’t know.

Y/N: I’m fine I just had to pee is all.

I locked my phone and tried to ignore Dan’s stare. He was looking at me knowingly. He knew I was lying and I was upset about his news; he just didn’t know why I was upset.

#daniel howell imagine #dan howell fic #dan howell fanfiction #danisnotonfire #dan howell x reader #daniel howell smut #dan howell smut #dan howell imagine #daniel howell #dan howell #daniel howell x reader #dan howell fluff #daniel howell fluff

[milkmoneyzine]

"WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?" #3

#Follow4FollowMyGuy asks: As an artist in uncertain times, how can I keep promoting my music from quarantine?

M$: The first thing you need to do is find some compromising evidence on a friend that runs a website. Then you blackmail them into letting you write a pointless Advice Column that no one actually cares about. That’s the most important place to start.

Once you’ve got that secured, and the money from the blog is flowing endlessly into your account, then you just hustle. Hustling is a lost art these days. There are so many online outlets, and so many different social media platforms that it can get overwhelming pretty quickly. The key is to not let that happen. Focus on one or two at a time. Get weird on Twitter and sneak in some links. Ask for questions on your Instagram story, then find a way to relate your answers to songs you can post. Dive into the hellscape that is Reddit and find a thread that your music fits with, and drop a link. Not all of this is going to work, but it’s worth a shot.

The other important thing to remember is that you don’t have to promote a specific song, or an album, or a video. Just interact with people. Everyone else is online all the time, so just be visible, be friendly, and be accessible. As long as you’re doing something online, no one is going to forget about you.

Maybe don’t use the band page to drop heart eyes on thirst trap photos. Slide into those DM’s from your own account, you know? The last thing you want is the fucking bass player seeing their reply first and stealing your thunder. But then again, all is fair in love and hardrock.

Dan Price asks: Can I have your milk money?

M$:

@FiendingForMosh asks: When are shows coming back?

M$: The real answer is that no one knows. Probably sooner than you think, which is also probably too soon. It’s kind of a lose/lose situation.

Live music is in a weird spot. To go from “Everyone needs to practice social distancing until we can get a handle on this extremely contagious thing” to “Well, it’s not contained, and we don’t have a vaccine, but fuck it. Go ahead and pack as many people as you can into a tiny, poorly ventilated space and let them all slam into each other” in the span of a couple of weeks seems insane.

There are some medical experts that say live shows shouldn’t start again until 2021. That’s not going to happen. That can’t happen. Every place that relies on a steady stream of smaller touring acts and local shows—which is almost all of them—will close if that’s the case. No one wants that. Venues need to make money and bands need to make money. The only way to do that is with shows.

What’s going to be really interesting is seeing who takes the risk. Some bands are going to hit the road two days after “shelter in place” ends. There will be venues ready to host the shows, and people dying to see them—no matter who that band is. The very idea of getting back out in public and seeing their friends is going to be enough for a lot of people. Those bands are probably going to do pretty well, and play for a lot of grateful people every night.

Then there are going to be other bands that take the whole rest of the year off. To them, the juice won’t be worth the squeeze. They’ll stay home, write new songs, make a new record, and continue to wait it out. The bands that take this route are probably the bands that are a little more established, and have other sources of income. Some bands can afford not to tour. Others can’t.

There are also going to be a lot of people who just don’t trust anyone in a large crowd for a while.

“I’d love to see that band. But there’s no way in hell I’m going to stand in the dark while a drunk, sweaty guy—still wearing a heavy denim jacket in fucking July for some reason—brushes his damp hair across my face as he tries to squeeze through an already tiny space.”

It’s weird, it’s scary, and it’s pretty unprecedented. But it is going to be okay. Live music will always be something that people enjoy, and there will always be someone who figures out how to make the most of it. Things aren’t going back to normal anytime soon, but maybe that’s a good thing. It gives everyone a chance to decide what the new normal is.

There is one upside that could come from this, and one that Milk Money wholeheartedly supports: Maybe venues/bars/clubs will actually keep their bathrooms clean, stocked, and operational.

Ahhh, who are we kidding? No one is going to learn anything from the last five weeks.

XtestpressX asks: Who are M$’s favorite current #SLCHC bands?

M$:

M$ PRESENTS THE #SLCHC2020LOVE THE MIXTAPE: 1. Victim To None - Sacred 2. Devoid - Another Life Wasted 3. Ape $hit - Pretty Neat ft. Dea Giokas 4. Degeneration XXX - Bitter End 5. Dirty Mike - Angel (Prod. by Teemane) 6. Zodiac Killer - Serpent's Tongue 7. Crow Killer - Close Grip 8. Witchtrial - Burn 9. Absent - Dimmed Love 10. Tamerlane - Absense

Run tha trak!

Milk Money Mixtapes

·

M$ presents #SLCHC2020LOVE The Mixtape

@StatuteOfLimitations asks: What is your wildest tour story? Dan$: As all of Milk Money will attest, my memory is not the hottest. But I’ve been blessed with a metric shit-ton of sketchy/amazing tour experiences, so here’s a montage of pretty true events... - Coming up with the idea for Milk Money with Trevor on west coast Cherem runs.

- Roger Miret teaching me his prison workout regimen in an old church in Switzerland. 

- Watching Madball and Obituary festival sets in Turino, Italy from the fancy comfort of an above-ground pool.

- Breaking up fights between American soldiers and German hardcore kids.

- Breaking up fights between American soldiers and Japanese hardcore kids.

- Getting into fights with American soldiers in foreign lands.

- The time Lord Ezec asked me if I wanted to smoke some crack with him.

- The time the moon crashed into Idaho.

- Hiding outside the backstage tent of symphonic metal cover band Apocalyptica in a giant mud puddle during a Czech Republic downpour with Vinnie Stigma, waiting for them to take the stage, so we could sneak in and steal coffee from their espresso machine.

- Taking Matt Mascarenas to the beach for the first time in his life.

- Fuck Nick Cannon. - Watching an aggro road-rager freak and back down a steep-ass, 500-foot grassy slope into a cow pasture after he pulled us over to fight. - The Lightkeeper’s Trail (What's good, Countdown to Life/Broadway Calls?!?!?!) - Watching Sparky from Demented Are Go bite the head straight off a dead rat, pound a bottle of vodka, and say, “That’ll clean it up.” - Chasing a not-be-identified drummer from brothel to brothel in Graz, Austria to watch him dance with girls for a few seconds before running to the next brothel… just to make sure he didn’t get left behind by the bus.

- Not joining Hatebreed in a backstage jacuzzi full of actual erotic dancers. - 30 Seconds to Mars telling us we were “pretty heavy” when we shared a venue in Minneapolis. - Moshing in a Drum’n’Bass tent at a Euro festival with a not-to-be-identified NYHC band who were skying way high on ecstasy. = Learning so many important lessons the hard way while making all of my closest friends cuz… hardcore. Trevor$: I don’t have nearly as many globe-trotting adventures as Dan, but some of my favorite moments with my friends happened on tour. - Spending two full days at a Fazoli’s (the only kind-of vegan option in the city) in Grand Island, Nebraska on our first tour because the transmission went out 13 hours after we bought the van. - Directions to a venue that were “Turn left at the women’s prison, and drive to the end of the road. It’s in the junkyard.” Once inside the junkyard, getting the instructions “Stay away from the fences. That’s where the ladies have ‘yard time’ and the guards in the tower get really angry when we talk to them.” - Air guitar and autographs with a drunk guy named “Deth” in Tijuana. - Almost having to fight a promoter in New Mexico because he accused us of stealing a microphone, only to find out ten minutes after leaving that Bill accidentally put it in the pocket of his cargo shorts and forgot. - Swimming too far out in the Florida ocean and getting stopped by the beach patrol just before the shelf drops off and all the bull sharks hang out. - Going on tour without confirming anything, then having to beg every promoter to let us play when we showed up. - Trying to pretend there wasn’t a fight happening in the crowd until Jake pushed his drums out of the way to jump in at every single out-of-state show Tamerlane ever played. So what we're saying here is, once this plague blows off, GET IN THE FUCKIN VAN CUZ LIFE IS SHORT AND YOU SHOULD LIVE IT!

Until next time, this is Milk Money saying, “Tamerlane is not the Five Finger Death Punch of Salt Lake Hardcore."

[paulbenedictblog]

%news%

New Post has been published on %http://paulbenedictsgeneralstore.com%

News It’s ‘America vs. Socialism’ as the CPAC conference previews Trump’s reelection strategy - The Washington Post

News

The Conservative Political Action Convention started on Ash Wednesday in a reelection year with a mute carrier on the shore of the Potomac River. Wearing Trump bumper stickers on their church hats or gold-colored “Trump 2020” pins on their collars, the devoted approached an altar branded with the logo of the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Middle. A priest dabbed their foreheads with the label of the outrageous and knowledgeable them to emulate Jesus. “Act like him, mediate like him, focus on like him.”

Two hours later, these few dozen of us joined the broader CPAC viewers in a cavernous ballroom, the build President Trump campaign adviser Katrina Pierson knowledgeable them to “lift home Donald J. Trump a accumulate in 2020.”

“The absolute top allotment about that,” she promised, “is we accumulate to take into story more liberal tears.”

Since a pre-presidential Ronald Reagan helped inaugurate the annual gathering half a century in the past, CPAC has become a form of political pilgrimage for conservatives, an nearly sacred match that has hosted just some of the motion’s crucial addresses and politicians. Since Trump’s election four years in the past, the convention has functioned in election years because the most predominant revving of the Republican engine, priming the messaging and activist networks that will quickly flood the country. And this year modified into once no varied, even supposing the enlighten messaging struck an apocalyptic point to.

As the self-described democratic socialist Bernie Sanders takes the lead in early Democratic primaries and caucuses, CPAC’s message for 2020 is “The us vs. Socialism.” The slogan modified into once written on posters across the Gaylord and absorbed in the fashions of attendees who lined up for hours open air the ballroom to register: college college students in “Kiss Me I’m a Capitalist” T-shirts, a lady in four-bound considerable particular person-spangled heels, males in fits and tennis sneakers, dogs in dinky pretend combat jackets.

And this approach guard for Trump’s reelection modified into once nothing if now not confident.

“Trump’s going to build up in a landslide,” stated Robert Rappaport, a 77-year-well-liked retired engineer from Naples, Fla., whose conservative philosophy modified into once rooted in the writings of Friedrich Hayek and the Bible, and expressed on his T-shirt: “Substandard Lives Matter.”

CPAC traditionally saves its easiest materials for closing, culminating on Saturday with a scheduled look by Trump. Nevertheless Rappaport and about 800 other of us confirmed up early and stayed gradual on the convention’s first day for “negate motion training,” a preview of the programs Republicans will want to build up surely one of essentially the most nationally unpopular presidents in stylish historical previous reelected.

The session’s titles once quickly promised more drama than the audio system delivered. “Weaponize Social Media” grew to become out to be a mosey-present tutorial on easy programs to half fundraising hyperlinks along with your folks. “The Destiny of Our Culture and Our Nation Hangs in the Balance” modified into once headlined by Accept. Dan Crenshaw (R-Tex.), who entertained the existence of “properly-intentioned liberals,” however stated they dwell up turning into socialists anyway.

“They’re pushing just a few of essentially the most radical insurance policies this country has ever seen,” Crenshaw stated. “How did we accumulate to a diploma the build Bernie Sanders is the belief chief of a predominant democratic Celebration?”

Grand TV shows entertained the gang between lessons, blasting Trump quotes and cable news clips at such volume that one attendee’s carrier canines began to bark in dread. As Wednesday evening anguish down, Mercedes Schlapp — a Trump campaign official who is married to Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union which runs CPAC — equipped this recommendation on recruiting undecided voters to the cause: “Account for them it's now not any longer your grandfather’s Democratic Celebration.”

When the attendees returned Thursday morning, they were greeted by a newly erected barricade of metal detectors and Secret Service officers. CPAC’s first most predominant speaker, Vice President Pence, would approach spherical noon.

Quite minor conservative celebrities floated across the camera-lined hallways in the in the meantime. Accept. Douglas A. Collins (R-Ga.), contemporary off his role defending Trump in opposition to impeachment costs, modified into once mobbed at practically each and every TV or radio gross sales enlighten he walked previous. Scott Jenkins, the 2nd-amendment-loving sheriff of Culpeper County, Va., paraded in uniform with a unparalleled smaller entourage.

Matt Schlapp paused so as to add his signature to a fan’s 10-year-well-liked touring T-shirt, which already bore the marks of Andrew Breitbart and Joe the Plumber. Ronald Solomon, proprietor of TheMAGAMall.com, schmoozed the gang and predicted an easy reelection for the president. “I’ve never equipped more hats," he famed.

An casual sampling of faculty Republicans, who had traveled here from colleges across the country, yielded a more sober evaluate of Trump’s probabilities.

“I mediate this will be tight,” stated Olivia Higgins, a freshman at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis. “Hundreds of my guests, even most, are very liberal.”

Composed, she emerged beaming from the broad auditorium the build she and plenty of other thousand others watched Pence advise that the Democratic predominant contest will dwell when “a monster truck with a fats T on the hood drives into the infield and runs upright over them.”

The group inside of readily burst into applause and chants — particularly when a Trump impersonator in an outsized slither well with and copious face makeup tried to interrupt the speech, most effective to be marched open air and down the corridor by half a dozen security officers.

Within the equivalent hallway, a self-described anti-fascist demonstrator who had purchased a label modified into once arguing at the tip of his lungs with associates of far-upright social media personality Laura Loomer.

“Isn’t this attention-grabbing? It’s a microcosm!” marveled John Folsom as he watched the spectacle. A political “agnostic”, Folsom stated he had attain to CPAC to achieve outreach for a popular’s enhance community in Omaha. “That’s what I admire about The us,” he stated. "You’ve bought a free alternate of suggestions, you’ve bought two of us who obviously don’t accept as true with each and every other. It’s an argument, now not a dialogue.”

Interior the auditorium, the arguments tended to veer one-sided. Trump household Ivanka, Lara and Donald Jr. graced CPAC’s stage on Friday, praising their boss and patriarch’s administration as effusively as Trump will seemingly attain himself when he takes the stage this weekend.

“My father-in law modified into once presumably like so many contributors in his room, so frustrated by what he noticed going on to his country, and the wasteful spending," stated, Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law and a campaign adviser. “I don’t know if any individual remembers the limited on the treadmill,” she added, referring to a federally funded glimpse on water quality that inflamed some conservatives in 2011.

In a panel on fats know-how, the president’s son Donald Trump Jr., a campaign surrogate, complained that Trump fundraising emails were going into his spam, which he instructed modified into once a draw by computer programmers to test out to come to a decision on the election.

“They are going to cheat. They are going to,” stated campaign manager Brad Parscale, echoing a an identical sentiment to Don however directing his ire at Democrats. “What it’s going to be is all of you standing up, doing one thing and combating. ... That’s what’s going to abet this motion alive, that’s what’s going to build up this president four more years.”

Read more:

[rhinnie]

Second Law of Thermodynamics

Once, Trevor didn't think they could work.

They were gasoline set too close to an open flame, complex chemical mechanisms and low relative flash points Trevor could list off by heart once upon a time, but now knew it was just asking for trouble. For all intents and purposes, Trevor should have been terrified--it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that two combustible substances and no safety equipment between them spelled imminent disaster. Nothing but heartache and pain and a rift that could never be repaired.

Trevor could admit that if his life had gone a different way, if he'd continued down the path his parents had so meticulously laid out for him before he was even born, then perhaps he would have been petrified. But, no. This Trevor craved chaos, this Trevor lit kerosene on fire in the middle of his organic chemistry lab, and set homemade fireworks out in the park so he could watch, enraptured, as the trees became engulfed in flames. This Trevor set his house on fire as a graduation gift to himself, a final fuck you to his parents, drove out to Los Santos and never looked back. Found like-minded individuals with the same thirst for bloodshed and the same fire in their veins. Fell in love with the boy who was entropy personified--whose words were dipped in poison and grins were like daggers and bled ichor like only the gods themselves could. The untouchable Golden Boy.

Not so untouchable now.

"Fuck, fuck, Michael cover me! Gavin! Gavin, you fuck, fucking answer me!"

Trevor could barely hear past the buzzing in his ears, couldn't feel his fingers digging painfully into the cushy leather chair as he stared at the screen in horror.

"Visual?" He snapped at Matt hoarsely.

"Fuck, I'm trying, I can't--"

"We're taking fire! Ryan and I can't hold them off much longer!"

"There's more cops pulling up!"

Trevor took a shuddering breath.

"Boss?" Andy whispered, giving him the same wide-eyed, distressed look everyone else in the room was sending his way.

The heist had gone from bad to worse, a tripped silent alarm from a too-brave bystander led to a swarm of cops straight to the Fakes' location far earlier than anticipated. Michael was hurt, Ryan and Jeremy pinned, Gavin--

Trevor clenched his eyes shut. He took another breath and steeled himself. They needed him.

"Jack," he rasped, letting the cool professionalism flow through him. "Get to Michael, now. Jeremy, Ryan, retreat. Use the back alley before they converge there."

"But--"

"Geoff," he steamrolled right over the sudden outcry. "Get Gavin and get to the safe house on the west side. There's a med bay all set up."

"I need to--fuck--stem the fucking bleeding."

"Do the best you can while Jack and Michael cover you. Stay alive, people."

He watched Ryan and Jeremy retreat into the alley and out of sight, saw Jack come to a screeching halt close to Michael's location to lay down some cover fire, enough for her to pop open the door and for Michael to limp over into safety, still firing.

"Got it," Matt said suddenly. Trevor whipped his head to the side, zeroing in on the tableau in front of him. He could feel his breath catch in his chest. God there was so much blood. Geoff was knelt down, blood staining the knees of his trousers, and his hands were already saturated grotesquely as he worked frantically to stifle the bleeding.

"Is he--"

"He's alive," he grunted brusquely, suit jacket stripped off to press roughly to the gut wound. "Sorry buddy." Geoff took a deep breath and then hauled Gavin into his arms, Gavin's head lolling limply against his shoulder.

The rest was a blur, a fugue like state Trevor would later try to remember but be wholly unable to. He called Caleb on autopilot, directing him to the safe house Geoff was trying to get them to. He called Burnie, sent Dan a text, ignored his team's worried looks and drawn faces as he resolutely tried to forget how peaceful Gavin had looked this morning and how...dead he looked now.

He was there when Jeremy and Ryan silently filtered through, roughed up but no worse for the wear. Jack half-carried Michael in nearly an hour later, blood staining his jeans. She set about cleaning his wound clinically, carefully avoiding the topic until she was done with the sutures.

"Anything?"

Trevor shook his head, not moving away from the computer as he tracked the police activity. Thanks to Burnie's contacts, the hunt seemed to be winding down a bit.

"He'll be alright."

"I know," he responded shortly. He zoned out again for an indeterminate amount of time, alternating between watching Matt attempt to erase any trace of them from the security footage, tracking the updates Weazel News had, and remembering how sickeningly domestic that morning was--with Gavin continuing his pre-heist tradition of a full English breakfast for two, and the lingering kisses the two shared, Trevor using his height advantage to hold up Gavin's Crunchie bar over his head, only conceding when he threw his arms around his neck and dragged him in for a heated kiss.

"Trevor."

He startled horribly, nearly toppling from the chair, saved only by Jeremy's quick reflexes.

"Jesus Christ, scared the shit outta me."

"You alright?" Matt asked quietly, taking off his headphones.

If it were anyone else, he would've snapped at them. Would've bristled and gotten up in arms and very well might have just stormed out. Because what a fucking question. The heist was a complete failure, Michael was injured, their fucking boss hadn't checked in yet, and Gavin could very well be dead. Dead, just like that. No more tea brewing at all hours of the day, no more camera flashes in his face when Gavin got the sudden urge to photograph Trevor in various stages of unawareness, no more squeaky laughs and bright eyes that reminded him of the things he loved when he was back in school--glowing nebulae and vast galaxies and the feeling of being so small and yet so comforted by this force you couldn't ever hope to control.

He didn't realize he was shaking until Jeremy grasped his shoulders tightly.

"He's going to be okay."

"You don't know--"

"I do. He's a stubborn bastard that loves you too much to leave you. And too much of a dramatic fuck to let something like a gutshot be the thing to kill him."

Trevor let out a watery scoff. Jeremy grinned at him. "Atta boy. Now c'mon. Caleb hates visitors but he's gonna make an exception this time."

--

They took the long way to the safe house, still too worried about the patrolling cops to just gun it like Trevor wanted to. It probably would've been smarter to take any car other than the Armored Tim, but Trevor couldn't fault Jeremy the comfort it brought.

The ride was thirty minutes of near silence before Jeremy abruptly said, "I know it's going to be hard."

"What?"

"I mean, yeah the PT's gonna be a bitch, but the sex ban? How will you two survive?"

"Fuck off, ass!" But he laughed, a small huff that already had Jeremy beaming at him. He punched him lightly in the shoulder, feeling his body lose some of the tension. "We'll manage perfectly fine. In fact--"

"Ugh, gross."

"Jeremy, let me regale you with a story of two handsome lads, a broom closet, three glitter bombs, and--"

"God, you're such a slut," he laughed, rolling his eyes when Trevor gave him a quick eyebrow flash and winked. The mood remained relatively light for the remainder of the ride, and Trevor couldn't help but be immensely grateful to his friend. The atmosphere dropped considerably when they reached the safe house.

Jeremy punched in the gate code swiftly, and Trevor was out before the car even stopped. He pressed his keycard to the scanner and waited impatiently as it ran through whatever complicated mechanism Matt and Gavin had set up. It clicked and Trevor threw open the door.

He saw Geoff first, sitting on the small couch in the living room, elbows resting heavily on his thighs, dashes of dried blood still clinging to his hands. He looked up when Trevor barged in, looking so defeated, Trevor's mind immediately went to the worst case scenario.

Geoff read his mind before the panic could settle in, "Caleb's still sewing him up. Lost a lot of blood but the bullet's out. There's worry about infection but," he shrugged tiredly. "We'll deal with it."

"You--" he cleared his threat when his voice cracked, walking over to sit across from him. "You should get some rest."

"Nah," he sighed deeply, rubbing his face. "Wanna talk to Caleb first." There was a beat. "Everyone alright?"

"Yeah. Jeremy's parking the car now. Everyone's okay, Michael's leg's fine--just a graze. Jack patched it up and sent him to bed."

"Good." His body loosened up; Trevor was relieved to note he looked less beleaguered with that news. He looked up at Trevor then, maintaining eye contact. "You did good, Trevor. Kept everyone calm, kept your cool while you delegated."

"Well..." he averted his eyes, focusing on a bit of paint splattered on the hardwood floor. "I didn't exactly--"

"You did. It couldn't have been easy to see that, but you still lead the crew. Kept them safe. I'm proud of you, buddy."

Trevor couldn't help the bashful smile that spread across his face, nor the embarrassing blush he was positive was coloring his complexion. "Thanks boss."

"Yeah, don't get used to it. You're still a piece of shit."

"Always feel the love from you, Geoff."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence. Trevor scooted over once Jeremy entered the house, making space for him and drifting off while they talked about what went wrong in the heist. He probably should've been paying attention, analyzing what goes wrong was a part of his job, but if he thought about it, he'd remember Gavin's pale face and horribly limp body and all the blood and...no. He wasn't going there.

He was the first one up when he heard Caleb walk down the steps, looking absolutely exhausted, but calm, which settled something in Trevor. Caleb didn't even look surprised to see him.

"He's going to be fine," he started before anyone could ask. "Nothing vital was hit. On transfusions now, gonna keep an eye out for infection, and his pain's gonna be off the charts, but we're stocked up on morphine. You can stay with him, just don't wake him up and don't fuck around with any of the IVs."

Trevor didn't waste a moment, gave Caleb a distracted salute and a small but sincere smile, and bolted up the steps. He entered the room as quietly as he could, breath catching when he saw his partner attached to the plethora of indistinguishable leads and IVs, looking so small and so incredibly fragile. Trevor crept forward, standing next to the bed and looking him over. God he looked so pale, closer to Trevor's own complexion than his normal tanned glow. Face lax, the tiniest splatter of blood on his neck. The once untouchable Golden Boy. Trevor could feel emotions start to bubble up, threatening to overflow no matter how hard he tried to stifle it, and he took a shuddering breath that ended in a sob. He grasped Gavin's hand as tightly as he dared.

"You bastard," he whispered, barely able to choke it out through the vice in his throat. "I told you to be careful. I wouldn't call this careful, Gav."

He leant down, brought Gavin's knuckles to his lips and just pressed against them, eyes squeezed shut. He scooted into bed beside him, thankful that they'd insisted on king sized beds for every safe house, and gently rested his arm across Gavin's chest. He kissed his temple and then his cheek before he cuddled in flush against his side and nuzzled his neck.

"Wake up soon so I can yell at you, you ass." He pressed another kiss to Gavin's neck and cuddled in as close as he could.

In a few hours, Gavin's going to wake up, groggy and in pain, but with still enough lucidity to give Trevor a wide, sappy smile and rasp out "lo luv." In a few days, he's going to be aching and restless, eager to get back to work, much to the chagrin of everyone, and Trevor will allow him to zip tie his neck to his fucking ankle in order to get Gavin to remain in bed. And in a few weeks, he'll be right back with the crew and right back to Trevor, the way it was before.

Trevor thought he should probably take this as a sign, that everything--them, their relationship, their job--is just too volatile to survive, but pressed up against Gavin, his heart beating steadily under Trevor's hand and his head unconsciously nuzzling against Trevor's, he can't help but think that nature has a way. Entropy in an isolated system is always increasing, nothing can stop that. But he sure as fuck can go along for the ride.

#trevin #freelins #freellins #fahc trevor #fahc gavin #fake ah crew #fahc #guess who wrote trevin!!!!!!! #Took the entire day but I did it #turned out a lil different than i expected #and a lil longer #but eh #trevin y'all #i adore this ship #I really wanna write more for it #but gonna put that too the side for a bit #got so many wips to work on #again completely unproofread #my writing

[ravenvsfox]

okay folks time for renison for the ask meme (part two of anon’s request) let’s dive in

SEND ME A SHIP AND I’LL TELL YOU…

who is more likely to hurt the other?

i wanna say that they’ve transcended hurt and experience only love and peace for the rest of their lives but unfortunately.... allison.... is a bitch bless her

basically I think allison can be harsh when she’s upset and she tries to make sure that shit never touches renee but sometimes it does and she likes it when she can upset ppl bc it makes her feel strong again? but she also can’t stand renee hurting so it’s this constant discord. (but also renee pulls away so much to protect people and it hurts allison to see her go, sometimes.)

who is emotionally stronger?

they’re both absolute warriors lemme tell you. remember when allison’s boyfriend died and she pulled her hair back and got to fucking work?? remember when renee’s life was a vicious cycle of abuse and she took up a bible and started smacking ppl around with it?? BOTH of them could be sifting through their emotional baggage at 5 and kicking ass at 5:30 tbh

who is physically stronger?

renee,,,,, could kill you with her hands tied behind her back

she spars and LIFTS she is gentle and small and she has a six pack and she carries her gf to bed

who is more likely to break a bone? 

I can’t imagine anything getting the best of renee even like.. the ground... but also allison walks in towering heels 24/7 and has yet to bust her ass so maybe they’re both superhuman?? I feel like maybe renee would take things too far and break a pinky when she’s scrapping with andrew and probably dead-faced set her own finger and leave every fox....... shaken

who knows best what to say to upset the other? 

Allison can rip out every follicle of your hair if she’s in the mood, she’s neil with crystal earrings, just bc her mouth is all perfectly applicated peaches & cream doesn’t mean it’s not filthy

she never uses renee’s past against her though. never.

who is most likely to apologize first after an argument? 

I think renee is a LOT more willing to admit when she’s in the wrong, and her life is pretty much a balance of redemption and honesty so I think she apologizes very earnestly and seriously and allison basically snorts and tells her it’s forgotten and goes in for neck kisses

allison is a liiiittle too proud to apologize but when she knows she’s done BAD and when they’re alone & intimate in their apartment allison will come in crying and bare-faced and apologize and apologize and apologize

who treats who’s wounds more often? 

renee is scrappy and allison hates it but she’ll sit down for hours making sure every bit of renee is seen to, and she’ll neatly cover up renee’s bruises like she did for neil, quiet and sweet and methodical like she rarely is

who is in constant need of comfort? 

yikes it’s always both w our foxes man

I think allison’s loss is such a fresh wound in her mind and it’s so constant. She still feels so brutally undervalued for her talent and her ingenuity and her strength, and like. that gets bad. Renee’s loss runs deeper and harder and she can’t even think about it, most of the time. She’s making constant amends, but no matter how many times she prays before bed the nightmares still come. (so does allison, lighting sweet smelling candles and brushing renee’s hair back and kissing her face)

who gets more jealous? 

TOUGH bc I think renee projects this very ‘i’ve transcended human emotions and am an eternal sweetie with clothes knit from bible verses’ but she’s still very human and her girlfriend is very very hot and if one more man touches allison without her permission renee will take his hand off :))

who’s most likely to walk out on the other? 

okay... neither.. 

who will propose? 

I think allison would and I think she would spend 1 million dollars trying to make it unforgettable even though they could be collapsed on the court after a game and renee would say yes? they could be in bed or walking with their arms linked or having their weekly chinese food with dan and matt and renee would always say yes

(she proposes when they’re on vacation, at some european cathedral with streaming stained glass so renee can feel as close to god as allison feels to renee, and every pew is filled with a different colour of flower and a choir sings something ancient and sapphic ok bye)

who has the most difficult parents?

THIS QUESTION DOESN’T WORK FOR FOXES HOLY FUCK THEIR PARENTS ALL SUCK TAINTS THAT’S WHY THEY’VE UPGRADED TO SUPER DAD DAVID WYMACK

who initiates hand-holding when they’re out in public? 

it’s pretty equal on the PDA front they’re very affectionate ppl

like I imagine Allison w her hands in the pockets of her designer bomber jacket and renee slipping her hand in too and smiling like fucking summer just rolled in early and hung up its coat

who comes up for the other all the time? 

you know that post where allison calls renee ‘exy’s cutest goalkeeper’?? yeah.. picture that.... all the time

who hogs the blankets? 

you’d think allison bc she enjoys the height of luxury at All Times but it’s renee actually she nests it’s what she does

I think bc she’s so comfortable that she subconsciously lets herself take more than her fair share

who gets more sad? 

allison is more outwardly sad, and it manifests itself in a shade that’s almost angry, almost nothing at all

she hates that she never got to see what seth could have been and she hates that her parents don’t love her and she hates the sight of her own face sometimes

renee doesn’t let the darkness in but when she does she spirals, hard, and she can’t even feel worthy of the cross she wears or the friends she keeps

who is better at cheering the other up? 

allison is such a whirlwind that she can crush sadness under her stilettos tbh like if renee can’t quite get her serene mask tied at the back allison will come in with truckloads of food and a brand fuckin new rhinestone cross (it was the early 2000′s... leave them be) and Dan in tow, and they talk around renee until she feels herself enough to pay attention and actually... smile a real smile

renee is a soother and she knows how to fight bad moods off, so she can calm people down, but allison can pump them up

who’s the one that playfully slaps the other all the time after they make silly jokes?

i feel like renee is more likely to just look very wryly and fondly at allison if she says something ridiculous, but allison would be more of a slapper

who is more streetwise?

LMAO uh renee. next

who is more wise?

renee has that kind of all-knowing aura about her like I bet she knows the weirdest shit. Allison is smart in a very straightforward, brisk, I know how to fix this or work this out way, but renee just. knows things

who’s the shyest? 

also hilarious allison will stare a stranger down until they cower and die and renee is the most soft-spoken kiddo on earth

like it’s more of a self-imposed restraint than shyness but the fact remains that allison is an extrovertTM and renee is always going to look calm next to her

who boasts about the other more? 

allison thinks renee is the best thing that’s ever happened and she will show renee off the same way she shows off her wealth tbh bc renee is PRECIOUS to her anyway

who sits on who’s lap? 

renee sits in allison’s for height reasons, and bc allison buries her face in her hair and calls her baby when she does and it’s this whole spectacle

#aftg #back at it again with the hc's #renison #the foxhole court #hc #ask meme #long post #I should have more fic tomorroooow