#Ever live read Worm so fucking well that a cute girl admits to having a crush on you?

[reluctant-fan-girl]

My thoughts on 139 as an Ereri shipper

Buckle up for a long read and some unpopular opinions haha. Feel free to add on/ correct me but this is only how I feel so take it with a pinch of salt, I'm not asking anyone to change how they feel because we're all feeling some feels right now and your grief is valid. I just really wanna talk about the chapter before I go back to my Yaoi ship. (Forgive my grammar errors and all I wrote this at 5am and I'll probably come back and fix the spelling and stuff later today)

Thoughts on ch 139:

Well... here we are guys. The last chapter, it's been one hell of a ride and even though I have only been a part of the community for three years I'm still sad it ended. (Not to mention it finished 4 days before my birthday but that's just an extra oof) I keep seeing a lot of Mikasa hate and even though I used to despise her this chapter really got me thinking and damn, she's definitely one of the strongest characters (second to Levi at least in terms of resolve but hey I'm biased lol) she killed the person she loved, who pushed her away time and time again, and until the very end wanted to save him yet she was the one who ended it all. I doubt I could do that if my girlfriend was doing something similar... but I guess most people are like that. I admit, when I read the chapter at work I began crying in the break room, not because the ending caught me off guard, it was about what I was expecting, but I'm still sad Eren died. All this stuff was foreshadowed through especially the last few chapters and I kind of hopped into the manga around when Zeke blew Levi up, and even then... I feel like I knew this would be how it turned out some time last year? It was mostly predictable since this story, from it's inception, has done nothing but break the shonen stereotype time and time again and this was just the kind of ending that would shatter the mould and make it worthy of that moniker. Now am I happy that Eremika is canon? Not really, in fact not at all I'm mad. Although tbh it's not that I really expected a same sex, age gap relationship to be canon in mainstream manga, but this is what fan fiction is made for right? Besides as much as this manga has challenged or straight up ignored it's very obvious what the intended ship was going to be from the start. Even still the confession at the end by Eren is honestly OOC from most of everything else he's said/done and feels forced but, 🤷🏻‍♀️ like... the ending would have been better if Eren's feelings stayed vague so we could come to our own conclusion. If I had my way I'd have Eren confessing to Levi and they'd run off to live in secret but again... that isn't how it ended and I'm accepting that even if I don't like it. (Plus I can read/write a fanfic of a 'better' ending to make myself feel better) but I'm glad I stuck around for such a bitter sweet end.

Eren's character:

Now I love Eren as much as anyone else, but I see lots of people crying "character assassination" and I feel this personally isnt true at least not completely. We're all grieving right now and I know he was so cute and lovable at the start (hell in a way he still is) but this has always been his character. He is the one who most desperately yearns for freedom because feels trapped by his fate more than anyone else. The line "I felt like I had to and I let myself get caught up in the flow" is proof he *knows* he isn't free despite his father's reassurance, and his own repetition of the phrase. There's a common phenomenon with mantras or the practice of repeating something over and over in your head, the more you say it, *the less you believe it* and IMHO Eren never really felt free from the start. He knew his fate was sealed and he probably could have, no... *should* have acted differently yet he himself couldn't change what fate had in store. He just kept moving forward for no other reason than he wanted to save Mikasa, Armin, and his people. He (may have?) sacrificed Carla, not to serve as motivation, but so that he could save Armin later on by eating the Colossal titan instead of burning to death. It must have been a heart wrenching choice to make but he cares for his friends more than anyone else. He gave them a fighting chance and his death gave the alliance a good name so the world (or the 20% left of it) would see they aren't the same as him. Of course I'm thinking, "What if he had Dina free Carla or just let her eat Bert I mean Grisha probably would have passed on the Attack titan to Eren even if Carla had lived," but Armin very well could've died in another way or things could've turned out so much worse for everyone else. But even if Eren hates his choice I think something to note here is he doesn't seem to regret it, taking some of Levi's advice with him to the grave (quite literally) Plus you guys have to remember he died at 19 years old, that is *young* and I may only be a few years older but 18-21 is a huge period of change and you wont make the best choices, he's dealing with all that on top of the memories of the other titan holders, and the founding titan which I think really messed with him more than anything. He even says he only wants to live 10 more years ;-; the poor thing deserved a full life too even if his perception of time is warped and he never got a chance to become an adult.

The aftermath:

Well, everyone seems happy for the most part which is great! The one thing that I didn't expect was for the ending to be bitter sweet rather than total annihilation. Historia really does seem... fuck it I don't know and this is the part that bugs me most is she never really got the ending she deserved and felt kinda... forgotten? It's hard to tell but I think she ended up loving her child in the end... maybe... she's smiling while holding her... right? Levi is out beyond the walls and he may be wheelchair bound and half blind but he's still alive! Now this is honestly my saving grace here I mean god imagine him surviving a literal bomb only to die such a lame and pointless death in the last chapter. My boy made it through everything though and he's still got them dad vibes with Gabi and Falco which is kinds sweet... but I still hate Gabi. I still really hate Gabi, but it's nice to see that they're all somewhat okay. (Plus okay... Eren Canonically being reborn as a bird is kinda hilarious yet fitting since he got his freedom... Parasitic Jaeger haha good one Isayama.) Who knows if the war will ever end, heck Isayama himself said this is only the begining and while the fight goes on they have a chance thanks to Eren sacrificing himself the way he did. He could've made so many other choices and I don't know what could've/would've been better. Maybe Isayama knows but time travel and altering the past opens a whole ass can of worms that is just... like the killing your grandpa paradox kinda thing and if I were writing this story I wouldn't wanna try and deal with that either, especially after writing one story for eleven years.

(LEVI LIVED MY BEST BOI LIVED WHOOOO YESS 😭😭😭 ALL I COULD ASK FOR AHHH) *cough* sorry I had some crying fan girl in me that demanded to be seen too

Anyways this was just my thoughts for now, I may eventually write more and hell I'll probably go back to sweet sweet denial myself, posting contradictions because dammit I love my ereri too much and some people have good points or some posts are just funny in general. Have a good day, stay safe, and we are all in this together <3 Thanks for reading all the way if you did! (And here's a good meme to lighten the mood too)

[silkylious]

Hi dear. I’m the anon who requested an istp reader earlier and i’m so sorry I completely missed the requests closed sign. Congrats on 400 followers!! Your event is so cute and I’m here to request a matchup! I’m a straight 5’7 girl whose personality type is istp. I have long brown hair and brown eyes. I’m a figure skater who loves to read, write and watch anime. I also like to bake whenever I have time. I’m rather analytical, with my strengths lying in math and science and history as my weakest. My writing style is more poetic, consisting of long sentences, metaphors and personophication. I’m blunt and my humor is dry and witty. However, even though I usually can keep a cool head, I get flustered easily (it’s one of the things I hate most lmao). I generally don’t take BS and my style is minimalist. I prefer to stay in by myself rather than go out with large groups of people. If I had an SO, I would much rather stay in and enjoy each other’s presence than go out on elaborate dates. I have a really low social battery too. My music taste is all over the place, but I love Chase Atlantic and Arctic Monkeys. I’m more of a cat person, though I do love dogs, and I like nature and spending time outside. Hopefully that’s enough information! Thank you so much! - 🧩 anon

Thank you so much for sending this in!! <3 I hope you like your matchup! :3

I ship you with...

general relationship dynamic: 

A match made in heaven or hell depending on who you ask

Similar enough to maintain stability, but different enough to keep things unpredictable and fun

Katsuki appreciates your rational nature, as he himself is extremely pragmatic. That common denominator relives the stress of having to deal with problems caused by emotional misunderstandings 

I can definitely see this dynamic as a slowly building friendship at first

Your tendency to not let anyone walk all over you and keep a calm aura about you immediately attracted him, but simultaneously frustrated him to no visible end

The blatant contrast between your personalities instantaneously made him want to break that collected demeanor of yours. 

All in the name of competition. At least it started out that way.

Battle after battle, bruise after bruise and trail after trail, the more hardships you faced together, the more teasing your remarks became.

What started out as him hurling every curse word known to man in hopes of shattering that nonchalant exterior of yours (and you ultimately ignoring him), slowly but surely turned into both of you exchanging well-crafted remarks.

Your sardonic humor was such a good match for him. Both knocked him off his high horse and left him in complete awe (and affection. Though he’d never admit it) of your quick, sarcastic wit all packaged in a light-hearted tone that didn’t wound his ego (too much).

More often than not, you’d fluster the hell out of him. Not that it was hard to get a reaction out of Bakugo Katsuki to begin with.

Your sharp responses just made him want to see you lose your cool even more. He never wallowed in his embarrassment too long, always too eager to grasp the next opportunity to turn the tables on you.

You bet your ass the first time he saw your composure slip, the bastard basked in it. Laughing to his heart’s content while you indignantly screeched at him to shut up.

He’d never forget that moment; and he made damn sure you wouldn’t either, not hesitating to bring it up whenever he wanted to put you in your place or just to get a rise out of you for the hell of it.

And from there it just doesn’t stop. He’s a quick learner and oddly observant, and he uses both those traits to his full advantage when picking on you. His relentless teasing never ceasing to give him the satisfaction of seeing your disheveled composure.

He also loved the gentle crease in your brows and that adorable pout on your lips whenever he verbally pushes you into a corner but that’s beside the point-

Not that it mattered anyway, you had plenty blackmail material of his less than dignified moments to spare.

Your friendship was easy going, trustworthy, reliable. But neither of you could admit your feelings to each other to save your lives. Much to the dismay of your friends, who had to watch the absolute clownery of you tip-toeing around your feelings in muted agony.

Cue perpetual pining.

Once you finally confess your feelings for each other, I honestly don’t see the relationship shifting much.

You act like really, really close friends who just happen to be affectionate and completely enamored by one another

I see Katsuki as a high energy person. Regardless of where he chooses to focus that energy, he needs external stimulus. More often than not, he directs his abundant energy into training and sparring. But generally, a lot of his excess energy is expelled through social interaction. Whether or not this social interaction is mirthful doesn’t really matter so long as he’s depleting his excessive energy.

Your low social battery might pose a small issue, dealing with Katsuki alone is like dealing with a dozen other less intense individuals. But you can easily work around it through your common interests and hobbies that can stimulate you both without depriving you into mental exhaustion

trivia:

Katsuki loves going on outdoor dates with you. A picnic in a secluded park, hiking, stargazing, camping- you name it

These dates are perfect for you two, combining your love for nature and privacy all the while giving him an activity to expel his stamina

Though he can’t say no a good at home date with you.

I absolutely adore the one headcanon about him being an amazing cook but a horrible baker

With a bit of coaxing on your part, you somehow manage to get him into baking. His skills are fucking abysmal.

He’s also distracting

Every time you try to bake together it almost always ends with both of you covered in flour with like three batches of burnt cookie dough, and childlike grins on your faces

Katsuki doesn’t really mind what the two of you do on dates, so long as he’s spending alone time with you, and you wouldn’t have it any other way

He’s a lost cause you figure. But he'll secretly practice at home, to his mother's dismay. But he doesn't care, it's all worth it in the end as he catches sight of pride and admiration in your eyes the one time he baked you a simple treat for your birthday

He made sure to learn your favorite baked goods, if only as a back up plan when he fucked up and needed to worm his way back into your arms

His curiosity was peaked when you’d told him that you’re a figure skater. So much so that one day he asks (read: demands) that you take him to an ice rink

As you show him one of your choreographies, he’s in a state of silent admiration

Katsuki is extremely kinesthetic, so he could easily pick up on the countless hours of hardwork you’d spent mastering your form, perfecting your footing, building up astounding flexibility to be able to preform and make it seem so effortless

The way your muscles pulled taut and relaxed again from stance to stance, the way small bruises lay proud on your skin as an indictive of all the effort you’d put into this sport all but made him fall in love with you again

When you strike a final pose, looking at him expectantly, noiselessly, he doesn’t say anything. But the star-eyed gaze and gentle smile he gave you spoke louder than any of his crude words ever could.

The cherry red in his eyes every so often melted so softly, it set your heart ablaze each and every time

He ended up reluctantly swallowing his pride and asking you to teach him a couple moves that day

You have study dates. All. The time.

He’s a jack of all trades so history is a no brainer for him. When you ask him to help you with it he begrudgingly complies.

Now whether or not his teaching actually helped is up to your imagination lmfao

I think one of Katsuki’s main love languages is quality time; you don’t even have to be actively helping each other while studying, just your presence around him sedates his mind exceptionally

Seconds tick by on his digital clock, each thirtieth tick he discreetly glances at you to make sure you’re still there, if he’s in the mood he’ll have to touch you in some way or another. Doesn’t even have to be affectionate, just your skin on his is enough to spur a content sigh out of him

when you’re simply reading a book or watching an anime together, he’ll lay his head on your lap without a word, or he’ll sit behind you with his arms wrapped tightly around your waist. Give it some time and his roughed-up hands will snake their way into your long hair, making a mess out of it, braiding and unbraiding it as he pleases. Tease him and he’ll instantly move

He loves reading your writing! To him, it’s like you’re inviting him into a corner of your mind. A corner very few get to explore, and he takes pride in that privilege

Can be a bit hesitant to give his full interpretations of your works at first, often just replying with one word “encouragements” but he quickly recognizes your discontent and tries to be a bit more open with his thoughts.

Slowly but surely he lets you into a corner of his mind as well, and you couldn’t be happier in those moments

[bus ride home]

The sun lovingly cast its last embers upon his face, framing and sculpting it with sharp shadows and soft reds into a breathtaking portrait as his matching crimson irises look far away, far beyond the sunset. He’s unfairly handsome. You huffed, forcing yourself to look away from what you could only describe as perfection, lest the last remnants of breath elude your lungs.

With your stare finally detached from him, all your senses started bleeding back into reality. The hum of soft rock buzzing through your plugged earbud caught your attention. Ah, this was one of your favorites. Your mind started painting his visage behind your closed lids, the music only added to the vividness of the dozen or so shades of oranges and yellows. You hummed along; the crescendo was steadily approaching.

“… But I crumble completely when you cry…”

The gentle tenor in your voice lulled Katsuki away from his muddled thoughts, instead focusing on your serenity. You’d always being good at keeping your cool, but this was different. With a tiny tug at your lips as they moved with each delicate syllable, you looked truly in your element. Angelic in a sense as the warm rays of dusk embraced you. He couldn’t look away from what he could only describe as perfection. His flushed ears barely picked up on the porcelain notes leaking from the unplugged earbud before his tongue started imitating your own.

“… In my imagination you’re waiting, lying on your side, with your hands between your thighs and a smile.”

One brown eye blinked open, surprised at the gruff bass joining your little jamming session. Katsuki snatched the unused earpiece and put in his own.

“Weren’t you the one that said my music taste is trash?” You raised an eyebrow.

“It is trash.” The glimmer in his gaze told you otherwise. You scoffed and looked away, attempting to hide the smile pulling on your lips.

The next song started playing.

<3

#matchmaker silky #🧩 anon #bnha matchup #mha matchup #505 is the best am song dont @ me

[thebisexualapprentice]

Lucio And Nadia Didn't Sign The Divorce

Ok so.... I've got an AU

Personally, it's really hard for me to picture Nadia and Lucio ever being in love, but for this one we'll make them in love because it makes this AU less uncomfortable

Backstory!!

Lucio becomes count earlier in his life and the plague strikes Vesuvia earlier. And womp womp!!! Nadia ends up bearing a child into the plague era of Vesuvia. It's terrifying and Nadia is confronted with her need for control when she can't control this situation, no way to keep her child completely safe. Lucio is suddenly confronted with really, deeply, caring for something enough to make him doubt his selfish actions.

Sure, he loves Nadia, but he was still always a bit arrogant and cocksure. But now? Holy shit. He's got a /kid/. (More on the kid later)

The time line is a bit fuzzy in my head but basically instead of magic fire with sick Lucio, around that time both lucio and the kid fall ill. Lucio's horrified. He begs and pleads and threatens to no avail, with him outliving his child (personal headcanon - children under 10 tended to not last as long, seeing as their immune systems were even kess equipped to deal with the illness). So eventually he goes back to our wormy pestilence man and asks what he has to do. Mr. Worm says the plague will stop following him once he's got lucio's mother's heart. So Lucio pulls some fuckery and ding dong! Morga is dead in exchange for The end of the plague. This, however, does not bring back his daughter.

So Lucio continues to make deals, and things continue to be morally questionable as Nadia attempts to seek out less fucked up resurection methods, til eventually lucio manages to bring the kid back. The child is mostly fine, except now with a pretty strong magical intuition and the inability ti distinguish the voices and figures of the dead from those of the living. Leads to some awkward moments.

And that's the back story!!! Things get less fucky, then more murdery, but let's continue.

The kids!!

The oldest, the one who died, is a girl. She ends up named Lydia, after a character from one of Nadia's favorite stories. She doesn't admit this to Lucio.

Lydia tends to be more reserved, and though she doesn't say it often, she looks up to her mother. Lydia has interests in magic, the sciences, and generally the veil between. She occasionally has nightmares of goatish creatures and terrible landscapes. They almost always start the same, with a doctor she swears shes never met before and yet is the same in every dream. She isn't very expressive with her face, but when she smirks she's a carbon copy of Lucio.

She's not really that interested in romance, and tends to make people who don't know her well creeped out.

About two years later comes a boy, no red eyes and no impending doom on the city. His name is Samuel. Hes a bit insecure, constantly worried he can't live up to his parents as a younger kid, which eventually turns into him not wanting to pursue anything near leadership or politics. He enjoys most sports, and tends to be a bit naive. By age 14 he by far sneaks out of the palace the most. His older sister covers for him, having come up with an ongoing story of Samuel 'feeding the alleycats' because Lydia likes to make fun of Samuels friends. Totally not because she's jealous. Preposterous.

By age 17 Samuel has a secret boyfriend, who Lydia nicknames alleycat to carry on the tradition. Samuel knows neither Nadia nor Lucio would react badly, but Sam kind of enjoys the drama of sneaking around.

Sam ends up a bit taller than lucio, which infuriates Lucio to no end. Sam looks more similar to his aunt's, a wide easy going grin, bright orange hair contrasting his skin, wide eyes. He's charming, and quite cute, in a dweeby way.

Four years after Samuel is yet another daughter, Lilith. She's absolutely the baby, consistently in her own spacey world. She has a heavy enjoyment of fiction, and tends to enjoy cheesy dramatic romance that ends in death the most. She's definitely not suited for politics. She can sometimes get overwhelmed when things are too loud, so she usually spends masquerades with at least one family member with her at all times.

Lucio babys her so much. So, so much. She's the first to admit the terrible things he's done (shes the one who read of them first) but she still loves him despite it.

Sam and Lydia are pretty protective of her, in their own ways. Lydia is a pretty morally gray person and willing to do quite a bit if she thinks someone's 'earned' it. Sam just tends to try and physically intimidate.

Sibling Adventures!!!

They've been to Prakra before, when Lydia was 17, Sam 15, and Lilith 11. It was a new experience for them, not constantly worrying if they'll be swarmed by people. They could just go around and as long as they didn't throw money around they were unnoticed. They chose to spend the entire time dicking around in markets, eating bread and pointing out species of birds they had never seen. Sam gets dragged into a brief romance and his sisters refuse to not mock him for it.

It is an unspoken rule that it's the three of them against the world. They all love their parents, but there's political allies, and all the fucked up stuff dads done, so they've just accepted that they have eachothers backs until the end. This includes Samuel disposing of an unknown body without a word, only hoping Lydia had good reasons.

Anyways yeah!!! Tell me what you think of them! I'm proud of them but in case you want a

Tl;dr

Nadia and Lucio commit some sins with magic and have some kids

Lydia - goth icon, secretly lonely, was dead but isn't now, low-key wants to bone valdemar

Sam - gay icon, over protective, is all brains until confronted with cute boys, isn't cut out for politics

Lilith - soft girl, baby of the family, loves dark fantasy, easily distracted

If you want more in depth of what they look like I'd be happy to give more detailed descriptions!!!!!!!!!!!! :D and if you draw them i will cry tears of happiness

#the arcana #the arcana game #the arcana oc #the arcana lucio #count lucio #the arcana nadia #countess nadia #the arcana valdemar #abby speaks #abby writes #abbywrites #abbyspeaks #the arcana alternate universe #the arcana au

[millieswickedbooks]

the somewhat tragic story of georgie’s savior - chapter three

CHAPTER THREE: bowers, burgers and b-what in the actual fuck is happening?

(3/?)

previous chapter || masterlist || next chapter >>

pairing: Loser’s Club x black!OC (platonic), Pennywise x black!OC (NOT ROMANTIC AT ALL)

WARNINGS: PENNYWISE, the Bowers’ gang, racism, racial slurs, LGBT+ related slurs, sexual harassment, harassment, bullying, DESCRIPTIVE CHILD ABUSE, bruises, wounds, blood, puke, some disgusting food description, snakes, chase scene, nightmares, swearing

word count: 7,955

~~~~~

EXTENDED WARNING: 

THIS CHAPTER WILL HAVE A SCENE THAT DESCRIBES CHILD ABUSE

SLIGHT SPOILER: IT WILL BEGIN WHEN JORDYN GETS HOME

!!! PLEASE READ WITH CAUTION !!!

~~~~~

☹

Previously:

After taking a peek into her mind, and saw it as a gold mine of fears. Behind the ‘brave’ act this girl put up was a messed up, scared little girl. What if making her even more scared, made her taste even better? IT laughed, knowing that he would have a lot of fun with her. She had no idea that that summer, which was rapidly approaching, would be a memorable yet harrowing one.

 ☹

  Eight months later…

 THE BELL HAD JUST RUNG meaning that Hell would let its tortured souls have a three-month break. That’s right; school is out. Summer has officially begun and the halls are now flooded with hundreds of loud and excited teenagers, who have been waiting for this day since the first day of school. One of those hundreds people being Jordyn.

Jordyn sighed as she walked through the crowded and loud hall, immediately getting irritated with the fact that she has only been out in the hall for five seconds and she has already bumped into six people. She never used her locker throughout the school year so she was able to skip that hassle walk right to the doors. 

She walked out and felt the sun on her skin, and she sort of basked in it. She sighed and remembered that today, she would be babysitting Bill. She scanned the yard full of kids, searching for him and his friends, which she knew he would be with. After walking a bit, she managed to find Bill and she made her way over to him. And she was correct, he was accompanied by Stan, Richie, and Eddie. They were standing near the trash can, their bags empty and in the middle of a conversation so they didn’t notice her coming towards them.

“Is that how you wanna spend your summer?” Jordyn heard Eddie ask, who was looking at Richie. “Inside an arcade?” She remembered Richie talking about this new game he wanted to beat really badly. What was it called again? Oh. Street Fighter! 

Jordyn wasn’t a big fan of video games but she listened to Richie talk on and on about them because she knew he was very passionate about them and she simply amazed at how much he liked them.

“Beats spending it inside your mother, oooh!” Richie quickly retorted and he lifted his hand up to accept a high-five from Stan, to which the unamused Stan quickly rejected by grabbing Richie’s arm and bringing it down. Jordyn rolled her eyes at Richie’s comment, silently laughing on the inside but she would never admit that.

“What if we go to the Quarry?” Stan suggested.

“G-guys, we were g-going to th-the woods tomorrow, r-rem-remember?” Bill said. The boys nodded, remembering that they promised Bill they would join him in the hunt to find the animal that attacked Georgie. It was silent for a moment and at that very moment, Jordyn had finally reached the boys, who still hadn’t noticed her.

“Hey guys,” she announced herself, causing all four of the boys to turn and look at her. They all smiled when they realized it was Jordyn.

“Hey, J-Jordyn,” Bill said, happy to see his brother’s savior. Ever since she had saved Georgie and been babysitting him and Georgie, he had grown very fond of the girl. Despite the fact that he hated the idea of having a babysitter at his age, he couldn’t hate Jordyn. He loved having her around, she made him feel as if he had a friend over instead of babysitting him and his brother.

Jordyn smiled at him and then at the other three boys, who, in return, murmured ‘hi’ s, and she wondered why they were acting so off. She soon realized that Eddie, Richie, Stan, and now Bill, were staring at her body. She blushed, tucking a strand of her curly hair behind her hair, feeling slightly self-conscious. 

Today, she decided to actually clean up a little bit, make herself more presentable. She was wearing a white crop top that showed off her stomach and a light blue denim jacket. She paired it with a light blue denim mini-skirt that complimented her long, dark legs and a pair of black converse. In the boys’ eyes, the top… really— really— complimented her chest. 

Eddie was slightly blushing at being caught staring there while Stan’s eyes were definitely checking out her legs. Bill’s eyes were wide, just taking her appearance and Richie just whistled. The boys, deep down, were still shocked that after all this time, a cute sophomore like Jordyn would even hang out with them. To them, Jordyn was absolutely gorgeous, and the fact that she had such a big heart and saved Georgie, only augmented her looks. Richie was the first to speak up about her attire.

“Damn, Jordyn! Remind me why do you hide that hot bod every day again?” Richie joked, winking at her. Jordyn just rolled her eyes at him, smiling slightly, ignoring his comment.

“Got any plans for later on today?” She asked, knowing that she would stick with them for the entire afternoon until the curfew, because of babysitting duties and whatnot.

“Nothing really but tomorrow we will be taking a nice trip down to the forest for our regularly scheduled hunt–!” Richie started to explain but he never finished because he was abruptly interrupted by Eddie.

“Beep beep Richie!” Stan quickly told him but it was too late. They all stared at Jordyn, knowing what she was about to say. 

They knew she would end up going with them tomorrow because she would have to watch Bill, but they knew Jordyn was super against hunting for the animal that attacked her and Georgie. 

She never really talked about what happened that day in full detail, even though just about everyone knew she could recite the whole thing as if it happened yesterday. The four boys knew the whole ordeal was mostly likely traumatizing all together, so they never mentioned the hunting in front of her. They watched as Jordyn’s face went from confused and curious to conflicted in a matter of seconds and they all felt bad, thinking they had reopened old wounds for her. 

She knew Bill was almost hell-bent on catching this ‘animal’ he thought attacked Georgie and it worried her. He told her that she had inspired him, he wanted to save other people like she did with Georgie. But he wanted a bigger impact, he wanted to stop animal altogether so the kids wouldn’t stop going missing by the dozens like they were at the moment. He wanted to catch the animal so they could live in Derry in peace. Jordyn tried to change his mind and warn him as much as possible how fucking dangerous that shit was but Bill is stubborn as hell.

She worried that whatever the thing she saw in the sewer or at the hospital would end up getting him or one of his friends and she would be at fault, it’s her lie. It would cost them their life. 

The clown-thing eyes flashed in her mind and she shuddered.

“Are you guys seriously going after that animal?” Jordyn asked, knowing very well that she would not like the answer to her question. The boys nodded slowly and she sighed, knowing she wouldn’t be able to convince them not to. “Ugh, you guys are so infuriating. But there’s nothing I can do. Make sure you all have weapons and calamine.” 

The boys felt relieved at her reaction and a smile was plastered on Bill’s face. He was happy to have Jordyn on board.

“Guys, look…” Eddie said, looking off to the side. “Betty Ripsom’s mom.” They all turned in the direction where he was looking and Jordyn saw a distressed pale, white lady in a light green dress. Her hair was dark and curly and she had tears brimming her eyes as she frantically looked for any sign of her missing daughter, like as if the girl would be here. 

The sight made Jordyn’s heart feel like it was breaking. She felt for the woman, the loss of a child must be… unbearable. And right behind the mother was two police officers, one being Henry Bowers’ father. 

She got shivers down her spine as she made eye contact with the man. He glared at her, his eyes trying to project how much he hated the girl. She quickly looked away, turning back to the group.

“Is she really expecting to see her coming out of school?” Stan asked, confused by Betty’s mother’s actions.

“Stan, the lady is desperate. Just look at her… imagine being in her shoes. I’d be looking just about anywhere too if I was her,” Jordyn explained, trying to get Stanley to understand. The boy nodded at her, now getting why the lady was acting so weird.

“But still, it’s not like Betty Ripsom has been hiding in HomeEc for the last three weeks,” Eddie said, still not getting why the mother choose probably the least likely place to search for her missing daughter.

“Do you think they’ll actually find her?” Stan asked genuinely and Jordyn wanted to nod and be optimistic but something deep down told her “absolutely not” .

“Sure,” Richie replied. “In a ditch, all decomposed, covered in worms and maggots, smelling like Eddie’s mom’s underwear,” he finished, trying to lighten the mood, in such a bad way. Jordyn grimaced at the joke and at the godforsaken image that just came to life in her mind.

“Shut up, that’s fricking disgusting…” Eddie retaliated, making a face at Richie’s inappropriate comment.

“Okay, enough talk about missing kids,” Jordyn broke in, not wanting to talk about the topic anymore since it increased the guilt she held within her. “It’s totally killing my summer vibe right now. Since you guys aren’t going anywhere right now, how about burgers? On me?”

“On y-you?” Bill asked, knowing that that would be a lot of money.

“Yeah, your dad paid me extra because I successfully taught Georgie how to divide, I did all your chores, and I cleaned the bathroom,” Jordyn recounted. “Annddd I found $20 on my way to lunch today!” She happily finished, pulling the $20 out of her pocket, to show the boy she wasn’t lying. 

The boys looked shocked and smiled at her, all happy about going out to eat. As she tried to put the bill back in her pocket, it slipped from her hands and fell to the ground… next to a $10 bill! Damn, this day got eighty times better.

“Holy shit, a $10 bill! Now we’re getting dessert! Let’s go and actually talk about how tomorrow is gonna go down. Just because I’m allowing you to go doesn’t mean we’re gonna go in all willy-nilly and fuck around in the woods,” Jordyn informed the boys in what she liked to call her ‘Mom Voice’, as she shoved the cash into her pocket and turned around to begin walking away from the school. 

Stan, Bill, Richie, and Eddie stood there, still shocked that she just found more money but they soon began to walk with her. Bill and Eddie sped up to walk in front of Jordyn, while Richie and Stan stayed behind her.

“I’m glad Jordyn’s actually coming with us for once. You know, Jordyn, the forest isn’t that bad. There’s nothing better than having your shoes smell like lake water and having a poison ivy rash on your ankles and knees,” Richie joked, nudging her shoulder. 

“Poison ivy is my favorite!” Jordyn sarcastically confessed, joining in on the joke almost at once. “Thank God I was actually invited this time, it’s been my lifelong dream to rub poison ivy on every inch of my hot bod while you guys watch me.”

Jordyn never really thought herself to be a hilarious person like Richie but she knew she could be funny at times, so she felt kind of embarrassed when she expected to hear a couple of laughs or another joke in response from Richie but she heard none of that. Instead, all she heard was a couple of grunts and the sound of a body hitting the ground. 

She turned around to see what happened and saw that Richie and Stan were currently on the floor and in front of her, and quite close to her might she add, was the one and only Demon Bowers. And he was smirking evilly at her. 

She didn’t have any time to react to his presence because she was quickly shoved to the side by him and she stumbled into someone’s arms. A pair of lanky arms. She looked around and saw Henry standing in front of Richie and Stan’s fallen bodies, behind Eddie and Bill, who had just turned around after hearing the commotion, Belch was behind Eddie and Victor standing near Stan’s head. Meaning that there’s only one answer to who was holding her. Jordyn tensed up as the arms wrapped tighter around her waist, bringing her closer to his body.

“You wanted to rub what exactly all over your hot bod?” Patrick asked, his menacing smirk making her feel dirty all over. 

“Get off of me–” Jordyn spit out but Patrick interrupted her, his hot breath making her gag.

“I have a couple of ideas in mind of what you can do to that hot body. All of them involving me,” He suggested disgustingly, leaning down to smell her conditioned curly hair and her perfume. His pupils were blown wide with lust as he stared at her. Jordyn struggled against his hold but his grip became painful and she had to stop, a whimper of pain escaping her throat.

Stan, Richie, Eddie, and Bill were all watching them from their own various troubling positions and they all felt sick to their stomachs at Patrick’s comments. Richie on the other hand, felt as if he couldn’t just stand there and watch that happen. Bowers and his dickheads could harass him and his friends all they wanted but he drew the line at Jordyn. He went to stand up but Bowers pushed him back down. 

“Don’t even try it,” Henry warned him, somehow making Richie hate him even more. Beside them, Victor saw Stan trying to reach for his fallen kippah and he quickly grabbed it, waving it out of reach for the Jewish boy.

“Give that back!” Stan pleaded angrily, looking irritated as he tried to reach for it from the ground but, no, Victor was just having too much fun. Of course he wasn’t going to give that stupid hat back to that stupid kid. 

“No, I’d much rather play frisbee,” Victor commented bluntly, giving Stan a rude look as he flung the kippah onto the moving bus that just drove down the road and past them. 

‘What a fucking dick,’ Jordyn thought. The blond boy was probably proud of himself as he walked away, smirking his whole way towards the parking lot. 

Belch then decided it was his time to shine as he burped right into Eddie’s face, causing the boy to gag. Jordyn tried to get out of Patrick’s grip once again, feeling the need to defend the younger boys swell in her chest. 

Bill watched as she failed once again. He too was disgusted at how Patrick was acting towards Jordyn and he was about to go do something when Henry began to walk away from the group, bumping roughly into Bill’s shoulder to get past him. 

Patrick got to pinch Jordyn’s arm, causing her to yelp, and inhaled her scent before letting her go, following Henry and Belch. Jordyn shivered as the tall boy winked at her while checking her out and licking his lips. She now regretted putting on the outfit.

Bill was fed up. And he was about to say something. While Richie helped Stan get up behind them, Bill spoke up.

“Y-you s-s-s-su-su-suck, Bowers!”

“Shut up, Billy!” Eddie frantically blurted out, not wanting any more trouble with the rather terrifying older boys. Yet the three boys turned around upon hearing the stuttering boy’s insult, all three of them actually surprise the boy had the balls to stand up to them, but they made sure not to show it on their faces. 

“Y-you s-s-suh-suh-say something? B-B-B-Buh-Buh-Billy?” Henry falsely-stuttered out, mocking Bill’s disorder. Belch and Patrick both found this highly amusing, both of them laughing. This angered Jordyn to end. She wanted to rip a chunk of the boy’s ugly, greasy ass mullet out his mostly likely dandruff-and-lice-infected scalp. He continued his taunting.

“You,” and then he turned towards Jordyn, “and you, got free rides because of Stuttering Billy’s brother. You guys had so much attention on yourselves, if anyone laid a hand on any of you, especially you, Miss Savior of Derry, the town would riot. But guess what,” As Henry got closer to Bill, Jordyn was subconsciously getting closer too. She didn’t like where this was going. “Free rides over.”

Henry had taken another step closer to Bill and Jordyn had finally decided enough was enough. In a quick movement, Jordyn stood in front of Bill, shoving Henry back. He stumbled back a little bit and it took a while to process what just happened. Once he realized what had happened, he moved forward, his hand raised in a fist, aiming at Jordyn. Richie and Bill went to grab Jordyn, to move her out of the way of Henry’s wrath. But before the hit could land, Jordyn called out.

“Your father’s right there!” She had no idea why she felt the need to say that but it obviously worked since that triggered something in the mullet boy, making him freeze. 

Silence fell over the two groups. Patrick and Belch looked at Jordyn, in shock and waiting, not knowing what to expect was going to happen next. Meanwhile, Eddie, Richie, Stan and Bill were confused as to what Jordyn was planning, yet they knew whatever she was doing was working. Henry looked over at his father and something like fear flashed before his eyes. She continued. “I wonder how he would feel about you putting your hands on the oldest Denbrough’s son. At school. Where everyone was watching.”

Henry looked torn. He didn’t know how Jordyn had figured his fear of his father but he wanted to kill her for it. But he knew she was right, there would be hell to pay at home if he did anything to them out here in here in open. The boy huffed angrily.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the boy tried to quickly cover up and Jordyn almost smiled. “But I sure do know that he would love to watch me beat you to a pulp. He might care for those f*rries but not for you, n*gger. This summer is gonna be a hurt train, for you and your f*ggot friends. Don’t think that hanging out with them will save you. Watch your back.”

And with that, the three bullies walked away, going towards their car and speeding off down the road, most likely on their way to find a new victim to harass and assault.

Jordyn, Eddie, Bill, Richie, and Stan stood there, subconsciously huddling together as they watched their tormentors drive off and then everyone kind of let out a breath they didn’t know they were holding in.

“I wish he’d go missing,” Richie spoke up from her left and Jordyn sighed, feeling the same way.

“Yeah, so does every child in this fucking town,” she commented, rolling her eyes as she adjusted herself, feeling appetite vanish after dealing with Patrick’s grubby hands. She absolutely despised the boy.

“He’s probably the one doing it,” Eddie claimed, looking at the group and Jordyn shook her head, knowing that his dumbass wouldn’t be able to hide all those bodies.

“Whatever, let’s go, I’m starving,” Jordyn murmured, knowing the boys could hear her and began to walk away from the scene. Even though she lied to them, she hoped maybe smelling the food or seeing it would reawaken the dead appetite within her. She didn’t need to look back to know her boys were following behind, them not wanting to be there anymore either, thanks to Bowers.

  ☹

  They stopped at Georgie’s elementary school before going out to eat, picking up Georgie who was waiting for them. His face lit up when he caught sight of Jordyn and her friends. His happiness brought joy to her heart. He ran over and hugged her tightly and took her hand as they began to walk away from the school. She didn’t think the boy could get any happier but then she told him that they were going out to eat and it was like watching a ball of energy burst into flames.

Once the group got to the diner, everything was fine. Like Jordyn had hoped, the sight of food brought the joy back into the group that had been snatched away and stomped on by the Bowers and his minions.

They all ate burgers and drank their milkshakes happily, cracking jokes here and there, laughing loudly and enjoying each others company. 

They were so distracted enjoying each other’s company that no one saw the red balloon just outside the window a few feet behind them.

  ☹

  After hanging out with her boys for a while around town—thank god it was Bowers-free—and then dropping Richie, Stan and Eddie off at their homes, Jordyn had gone with Bill and Georgie to their house. She wanted to hang out at the Denbrough’s house for a bit until the curfew came around, which was usually when Mr. and Mrs. Denbrough came home and when she was able to go home. She hugged Bill, kissed Georgie’s forehead and bid the family adieu as she made her way home. 

When Jordyn had gotten home, she didn’t like the feeling of dread that filled her stomach, making it feel heavier than it already was with the burger she had eaten earlier. Had she done something wrong? Curfew didn’t start until a couple of minutes from now…

She shook her head, walking up her porch and into her house, quietly shutting the door behind her. The room was dark so she had to be careful so she wouldn’t bump into anything. But what she wasn’t expecting was the loud voice of her father screeching at her.

“Where the FUCK have you been?!” Isaiah roared out in anger at his daughter, which caused Jordyn to flinch so hard, she fell backwards in utter shock and fear, bumping into something on the way down. The sound of something crashing and breaking accompanies the light being turned on, finally allowing Jordyn to see. 

And the sight caused her muscles to contract in fear. Her father was standing a couple of feet away, seething with rage. She turned to see what she had bumped into and she felt her heart drop. She had accidentally bumped into the end table, which knocked the picture of her father and her mother hugging and smiling at the camera over. The glass was cracked and some parts of it even fell out, glass all haphazardly splayed all over the ground beside the end table. Also, the golden frame was broken, which was a frame that Mama had gotten custom-made for that picture.

Jordyn looked over and saw her father looking over at the broken picture and she closed her eyes, trying to prepare herself for what was about to happen as the fear settled deep within her gut.

“Jordyn, Jordyn, Jordyn…” Isaiah started in a low voice and Jordyn cringed, knowing exactly what she was in for. ”First you come home late, nearly past curfew might I add and now… you… you fucking broke your mother’s frame? Is that correct? Because if it isn't, please correct me.”

“Dad–” Jordyn began, trying to get her apology out, knowing that explaining she hadn’t meant to break it wouldn’t work with him. But Isaiah was not having any of it.

“DID I SAY YOU COULD SPEAK?! HUH?! DID I SAY THAT, LIL’ BITCH?!” Isaiah bellowed at her, running at her and grabbing her forcefully by her biceps. He had a bruising grip on her arms as he shook her violently. Jordyn brought her forearms up, her hands feebly in front of her face as a way to protect her in some way. She was cowering, turning her face away from Isaiah’s mouth, not wanting to feel the brute intensity of hate that was coming out of her father’s mouth head-on.

“Dad, I did'n–” She tried to explain, looking forward at her father, deciding to abandon the ‘just take the blame and apologize’ route. She wanted to get away from him as fast as possible. But Isaiah cut her off once again, this time he brought his hand down on her face, slapping her hard. 

Jordyn didn’t feel the slap at first—since he hit her that hard—she just suddenly realized she wasn’t looking at him anymore. After a couple of seconds of Jordyn blinking, trying to focus her blurry eyesight, she felt her cheek get warm as the blood rushed to the spot he had hit. The stinging sensation was very much present there in the cheek as she heard her father bellow at her once again.

“SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH! I bet you were out there with those little white boys doing God knows fucking what. Is that why you’re always late, you fucking slut?” Isaiah accused and Jordyn shook her head, tears rapidly falling down her cheeks. “Because you’re letting those boys use you and when one is done with you, they pass you on to the other one? Is that what you do out there, get passed around like some fucking sex doll all fucking day?!”

“No Dad, they’re just my friends! I swear!”

“You lying fucking bitch… and after all that sinning you doin’, you have the audacity to come show your face here and you barely get here and you’re already fucking this place up like you do with every-fucking-thing!” Isaiah screamed right into Jordyn’s face, spit landing on her cheek and chin. She cringed again and tried to get out his painful grip but he wasn’t letting up. “You ruin everything, you hear me?! EVERYTHING! You ruined your body, you ruined your mother, you ruined our marriage, you ruin everything!”

Isaiah punched Jordyn in the jaw, causing her to fall back just by the sheer force of the punch. Isaiah was a large man, he was 6’4 and one-hundred-ninety-one pounds of pure muscle. Jordyn, on the other hand, was 5’3 and weighed one-hundred-eight pounds. And she certainly didn’t work out.

From her position on the ground, Jordyn saw her father raise his leg and she winced, as she laid there as the man repeatedly kicked her stomach.

Unbeknownst to the father and the child, a pair of glowing yellow eyes watched from the corners of the room. IT stood there, watching the father as he grabbed the girl’s hair and drag her as she screamed and cried out in pain. He had a huge smirk on his face as he watched the abuse unfold right before his very eyes.

‘Interesting…’ He thought to himself as he sniffed the air, the fear and pain in the air caused him to let out a groan in satisfaction. ‘This is good.’

  ☹

  Jordyn sat in the bathroom, dabbing the small and scattered wounds on her right shoulder and arm with warm water. At some point during the beating, Isaiah pushed her and she fell out the glass from the broken picture frame.

After she pulled several pieces of glass out, she rinsed the cuts with mild soap and warm water and was now trying to get the bleeding to stop by applying pressure over several areas at the same time. It was working but slowly. 

Jordyn sighed as she looked at the bruise on her jaw in the mirror and she rolled her eyes, already trying to come up with her excuse. She sighed and painfully stood up, her ribs protesting highly at the movement. 

She didn’t need to lift her shirt up to know that there was a bruise there but she did anyway. And ‘lo and behold, thereupon her brown skin, was an enormous bruise from Isaiah’s kicks. While flashbacks played in her head of her father’s abuse, Jordyn shivered in fear. 

The feeling of tears rolling down her cheeks is what snapped her out of her trance.

Jordyn stared at herself as she watched the tears that were falling down her face. She felt something stirring deep within her and she couldn’t understand it at first. But she soon recognized it was anger. She was angry, so angry she could feel her hands shaking, her jaw clenching and her chest, neck, and ears getting warm with the flush that was creeping up to them. The longer she stared, the angrier she got. Angry with herself. For allowing her father to make her cry. She knew he couldn’t exactly see her but this to her, still felt he was winning in a sick way.

“Stop,” Jordyn told herself in a shaky voice as she kept glaring at herself in the mirror, irately wiping the tears away. “Stop fucking crying.”

Another tear slipped out and Jordyn swiftly wiped it away just like had done with the others. She shook her head and took a deep breath, pushing her sadness deep down her like she always did after these things. She bottled it all up, not wanting to deal with her… issues or feelings afterwards.

Jordyn decided to distract herself by fixing her hair for sleep since she was already in the bathroom. She dampened her hair and proceeded to use a comb to detangle it with some Detangle Aid!—she always used to see her mom use it for her hair and Jordyn was fascinated by her mother’s lacquered, kinky hair, so she would always buy it for herself.

After successfully detangling her hair, she parted into sections and beginning to do four dutch braids.

With aching arms muscles—and aching everywhere else—and now sporting four neat and firm dutch braids on her head—she does this nearly every night, it would be shocking if she wasn’t a pro at braiding—Jordyn silently walked out of the bathroom. She tip-toed to the kitchen downstairs, not wanting to wake her father and have to endure what she just went through once again. Once was already way more than enough. 

She grabbed the frozen peas from the freezer and made her way upstairs to her room, stopping in the hallway closet to get a small towel as well. 

Once she was inside her room, Jordyn gently closed the door behind her and sighed, as she changed out of her clothes carefully, not wanting to irritate her ribs further. She threw on a light gray top and some black plaid pajama shorts and turned on her fan and walked over to her bed and carefully tucked herself in. 

Once she was comfortable—well, as comfortable as one could after what just happened to her—under her warm and heavy comforter, Jordyn laid the peas on the towel and put it on her stomach, the weight of the peas on her tender bruise hurt, producing a gasp of pain from her. But the coldness sent shivers down her spine. She knew by morning the peas would be melted and would’ve soaked her shirt so that's why she got the towel.

Jordyn was very exhausted so it didn’t take her long to fall asleep, which she did happily, she was tired of many things, like tired of being awake. She was tired of living in this house, tired of dealing with her father’s anger issues, tired of missing her mother, tired of dealing with Bowers and his goons, tired of this childhood she was forced to live in. She was tired of Derry. 

She was tired of living. 

So Jordyn closed her eyes, letting all the tiredness drift her off into unconsciousness, praying that whoever was above would have some mercy on her soul and grant her wish of not waking up the next morning.

Not so surprisingly, Jordyn wasn’t lying about being tired at all, because she was so tired, she didn’t even see the red balloon just outside of her window.

  ☹

  The smell of syrupy pancakes and eggs almost immediately woke Jordyn up. She sat up in her bed, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and saw that it was morning already, so she should probably get ready to go hunting with Bill and others soon.

But after getting another waft of that delicious food, she couldn’t even stop herself from getting up and out of bed and walking to the kitchen. When she got downstairs she froze at the sight. Her father was wearing an apron and cooking. Something that he doesn’t do—well not anymore, since her mother went missing.

Jordyn felt uneasy suddenly, not understanding what was going on but what she does understand is everything in her body screaming her to GET AWAY but she doesn't understand why it's telling her that. It all seems so nice though. It was just like old times, when her Mom was still there.

“Hi, sweetheart, you sleep well?” Isaiah asked as he continued to cook the eggs on the hot pan. He didn’t need to look at her for her to hear the smile in his voice, the smile she missed seeing so deeply—he doesn’t do it anymore.

“Yeah, I did, Isa–Dad,” Jordyn corrected herself as she looked at her father, cooking just like old times. She couldn’t stop the smile from appearing on her face if she wanted to.

“Why don’t you sit down and wait for breakfast, yeah? I’m almost done,” Her father told her and Jordyn scrunched her eyebrows in confusion; he hasn’t turned to look at her, how can he see that she is standing? Her father spoke up once again. “I said sit down.”

His voice made her hair stand on end as she was taken back to times she didn’t want to remember. She quickly sat down at the table to upset him any further.

As she sat there, she heard a noise from her right and she looked over, seeing… something… scurry out of sight into a rather large hole in their dining room. Since when were there holes or animals in their house? She heard something else make some noise from her left and she turned to look and she couldn’t explain what she saw before it ran off. It was long, slimy-looking, bleeding and… decaying. Jordyn could see the stain it left behind from its slimy skin—actually everything it had touched was turning a blotchy gray-black color. It was spreading throughout the room. 

‘Wait…’ Jordyn thought to herself as she soon realized that everything was too bright and… saturated. It was starting to give her a headache.

“Dad… do we have animals in the house?” Jordyn found herself asking as she rubbed her eyes, trying to have her eyes adjust to the unusual brightness. 

“Yeah, I bought something earlier today, decided you would totally want to see it,” Her father informed her as his whole body twitched, his eyes never leaving the now burning food in front of him. Jordyn still hadn’t seen his face yet.

“Dad, why is it loose in the house? What is it?” Jordyn questioned her father further, eyes wide as the rot neared the kitchen further and further. It had absorbed just about everything but the room they were currently in but it was getting there steadily. 

Jordyn watched as chunks of their decayed house began to fall apart from behind her. She tried to get up but she found rope wrapped around her arms, legs, and torso, holding her down and not letting her get up from her chair. She felt her breath become more rapid and she struggled to get out, everything becoming too scary and confusing for her to handle. 

She heard the creature scurrying around once again and she flinched at the sound—it was getting closer.

“Don’t worry about that, how’s your food, darling?” Her father asked her and she looked down in front of her and saw what her father had cooked. She gagged at the sight. 

It was a huge plate of what Jordyn could only make out as puke and undigested food. And it had fucking giant maggots wiggling around in it. There was hair, bloody toenails, mold, bloody eyeballs, and what looked like octopus legs all wiggling around on the plate, causing everything to make a wet, squelch-y noise. And not to mention that all over were just-hatched baby chicks and they were squealing and squawking loudly and painfully, but that all ended when blood suddenly came pouring out of their tiny eyes and mouths. The birds, now dead, slouched forward and their blood began to mix into the rest of the disgusting mush on the plate. 

And to top it off, it smelled like straight horse-shit and it was making Jordyn was gagging so hard that her throat hurt.

“Dad…” She managed to spit out in a whimper but her father cut her off.

“JORDYN!” He roared out and Jordyn flinched, trying to hide but she was still tied to the chair. The rope was now painfully tighter and Jordyn could feel her skin nearly splitting from how tight it was now. She let out a whine of pain as the room suddenly got dark. The decay had reached them, it had engulfed the whole house, everything, absolutely everything. 

Jordyn heard her father breathing heavy and she looked over to see him looking right at her. And she couldn’t believe what she was looking at. 

Her father’s eyes were black. Like all black. Like ‘demonic possession’ black. And he has these red lines painted on his face, coming out of the corners of his mouth and going up to his eyes, over them and just a couple inches above his eyebrows. 

‘Where have I seen that before?’ Jordyn thought to herself, her eyebrows scrunching up in confusion as she looked at her father with wide, scared eyes. But before Jordyn could think further, her father spoke up once again, but it was different this time. Jordyn didn’t know what exactly was happening but she could hear his voice as it neared the end of his sentence. It became all distorted and weird, his voice becoming something else… something so familiar. 

Jordyn gasped as she slowly began to figure out who was standing before her, and it wasn’t her father like she had thought it was. Was it that fucking thing from the sewers?

“You have been causing such a ruckus out of this stupid pet thing, you haven’t even said hi to your mother who has been sitting beside you this entire time, now go on, say hi Jojo-Bear,” Not-father told her as his face began to warp and… melt?

‘Mom?’ Jordyn thought to herself. She wanted to turn and look but everything in her told her not to. 

‘It’s fucking a trick,’ she thought to herself. ‘The clown is doing this to you, so wake up! It’s a fucking dream!’

“Jordyn…” She heard from beside her and she gasped at the sound of her mother’s voice, so clear and so close to her. Was she really there? Jordyn, after fighting with herself, sucked in a breath and turned around and she immediately regretted it.

Beside Jordyn was her mother, so the thing was not lying but it was different. Her eyes were gouged out with blood spilling out of the holes in her head and her skin was decomposed, her skin blue and gray and her mouth black like tar.

“ WAKE UP! ” Her mother screeched out, her voice loud and powerful, like a sonic boom that gave Jordyn a sense of control of this situation. Her mouth was opened and Jordyn could see the creature that was crawling around the house in there, just sitting in her mother’s mouth and threatening her with its glowing yellow eyes.

But Jordyn knew better. This isn’t real.

And just as the creature jumped out to attack her, Jordyn closed her eyes and simply told herself; ‘Wake up.’

And she did. But not it was not where she expected. 

  ☹

  Jordyn gasped as she sat up, not feeling her comfortable bed under her body. She was covered in a cold sweat as she looked around and realized that she, in fact, wasn’t in bed, or her room, or even her house. She was outside, literally. She was laying in the middle of the road and it was dark. She looked down and saw the pajamas she had put on before she went to bed and she had a throbbing pain all over her body.

‘My bruises…’ She thought to herself as she carefully stood up, looking around to see where she was and to figure out exactly how she got there.

‘Did I sleepwalk? I must’ve. There’s no other way I would’ve gotten here if it wasn’t that�� That’s weird though. I’ve never sleepwalked before…’ Jordyn thought to herself as she rubbed her arms up and down her bare arms. Couldn’t she have grabbed a coat first before she sleepwalked all the way out here?

While she was looking around she saw a house that she realized looked familiar and she felt grateful to at least be in Derry. She walked over to a street sign, one she had to get closer to read since the darkness was shrouding it almost completely. Once she was close enough, she read the words; ‘Jackson St.’ and she couldn’t stop the gasp that she let out.

She was in fucking Jackson Street? That was at least a good mile from her house. She looked to her left and saw the dreaded sewer opening from eight fucking months ago. The one where that clown thing came out of and snatched Georgie’s arm clean off. She took a couple of steps back from it but it was hard because of this darkness…

Then suddenly, the darkness surrounding her made her hair stand on edge as she realized two things; One, she was out past curfew. If the cops caught her, she would be so ridiculously fucked. Two, the sound of giggling coming from the—the fucking sewer, of fucking course—a couple of feet behind in front of her made her realizeshe wasn’t alone.

Jordyn didn’t even dare look into the sewer to see what was waiting for her. She knew it was that fucking clown. He got into her head and she knows it. Is IT the reason why she is out here? Was IT in her house?

“Jordyn…” His voice completely derailed her anxious thinking. His voice alone sent shivers down her spine. He wasn’t done tormenting her. She was frozen with fear.

“Little baby Jo is scared of the dark isn’t she? Don’t know what could be hiding in there right?” IT commented, his voice now behind her and she didn’t hesitate to book it the fuck out of there, her legs finally deciding to be useful at the moment. She was running as fast as fucking possible in the direction of her house but she had a wholemile left—all she did in Track was the one-hundred meter.

“Im’ma coming Jojie, you can’t escape me!” IT taunted her, and she couldn’t stop the tears from pouring out of her eyes as she ran. When will IT leave her alone… She didn’t think she could continue on like this forever. Despite how fast she was going, the cold air roaring in her ears.

“Stay here and play Jo! You wanna go back home? You wanna go to the house where your father beats you?” IT jibed at her and Jordyn was so shocked at the fact that that thing was in her house she tripped, falling onto the ground hard. “You know you don’t wanna go there, so come with me, where we all float!”

Jordyn tried getting up but she was so out of breath, she thought she would pass out before she could do anything, let alone get up from the ground. She looked down to see what she tripped over and couldn’t even believe what she was looking at. 

She had tripped over a turtle. 

Like a real-life turtle. Like a living, breathing turtle. A reptile. Literally just standing on the road.

And it was staring at her. Like its’ beady little eyes were staring at her. And she knew it was looking at her because she could… feel it staring at her. Like as if this turtle was somehow staring right into her soul.

Jordyn felt as if she was malfunctioning. Given any other circumstance Jordyn probably would’ve laugh so hard at the weird situation she was in, she probably would’ve ended up crying and pissing herself at the same. But at the moment, Jordyn simply couldn’t wrap her mind around what was happening. Like she simply couldn’t understand the fact that a turtle that small caused her to fall and that she didn’t completely crush it with how recklessly she was running.

‘Running…?’ Jordyn thought to herself, wondering what she was doing before she got here when she remembered the fucking clown.

Jordyn quickly snapped out of the weird trance she was in when she remembered exactly why she was there. She stood up quickly as she looked around for anything, anything that gave away that IT was near but when she saw that the coast was clear, she booked it to her house.

She had already ran a considerable amount when the clown was chasing her so when her house came into view, she nearly collapsed with relief—which was something she never thought she would do since it is her house after all.

She bounded up the steps of her porch and quickly came in, happy that the door was left unlocked. She carefully ran up the steps of the stairs and locked herself in her bedroom.

Jordyn tried to stay up to maybe be able to defend herself if whatever the fuck that thing is came to torment her again but it was 3:47 a.m. and her exhaustion was winning. She convinced herself that IT went to go torment some other innocent child or hopefully get some rest—if whatever the fuck that is even needs it—and she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

Little did know, right on her porch was the tiny turtle from earlier, standing in front of her house protectively.

The clown, on the other hand, was seething. That fucking turtle had decided to get off its’ lazy ass for once and do something, and completely ruined his plans for Jordyn tonight.

IT wouldn’t have really minded with any other random child but there was something about Jordyn that… IT needed. IT needed to have her. And now was when the turtle decided it would intervene. But he knew why. It’s because the turtle knows something about her, that something is what IT craves about her.

‘The turtle won’t always be there to protect her, ’ IT thought to himself as he slinked away into the shadows, his glowing yellow eyes looking at Jordyn’s house, taking in the decor of the house. It would be a place he would be spending a lot of time in so might as well memorize its features by heart. ‘And when he isn’t there… then she will be mine.’

  ☹

#it #it 2017 #it movie #richie tozier #bill denbrough #georgie denbrough #georgie denbrough lives #the somewhat tragic story of georgie's savior masterlist #the somewhat tragic story of georgie's savior #pennywise #beverly marsh #mike hanlon #stanley uris #ben hanscom #eddie kaspbrak #it (2017) rewrite #rewrite #the losers club #black oc #MY OCs #oc: jordyn garcia #jordyn garcia #black women #black original character #black girl #it fic #angst

[northsidemarleyrose]

I Got You || Hummelrose

WHO: Marley Rose and Aaron Hummel

WHERE: Aaron’s apartment

WHEN: Thursday May 2nd, 2019

NOTES: This was headcanoned out and then put together so it reads like a self para both both players had equal input.

TRIGGERS: None that I can spot.

WORD COUNT: 1825

Marley picked up the pizza and gummy worms first, having a feeling Aaron would most likely appreciate the onion rings being the hottest. When she pulled up to his place she quickly answered her last text to her sister and silenced her phone, not wanting to have to deal with it right now. She grabbed the food, her DVD, and went up to the door and knocked.

When Aaron answered he looked tired, but he was grinning widely so she didn’t say anything, happy to just see him at all. He grabbed the food and led her inside.

“Onion rings were my last stop,” Marley informed him, flashing him a grin as she kicked her shoes off and hung her jacket up.

“You know me so well, pretty girl,” Aaron replied as he placed the food down on the table. He grabbed a couple plates from the kitchen and nearly grabbed a bottle of wine before he remembered that he wanted Marley to think he was drinking far less than he actually was. He handed her a plate and dug into the pizza and onion rings quickly and efficiently.

Marley grabbed a slice and ate it slowly, mind still a little preoccupied with all she’d been told over the last couple of days. She glanced over at Aaron every now and then, enjoying his eagerness over something so simple, something easy. It’s comfortable, sitting there nibbling at her slice while he devoured his way through the pizza and the onion rings.

When they finished, Marley stood and handed Aaron the DVD with a smirk. “You’re just like him and you’ll see that now, babe,” she teased playfully. It wasn’t something she’d ever called him in person, only during their text conversations but she figured he wouldn’t mind.

“I have never been more attracted to someone calling me babe in my life,” Aaron blurted out unashamed, which only caused Marley to blush profusely as she turned around to make her way to the couch, smiling the entire time.

Aaron would follow after a second, quite proud that even in that moment, he still managed to have the upper hand. He put the movie in and turned it on before plopping himself beside her on the couch, making himself comfortable as she curled up right beside him, not noticing his giant fucking idiot grin.

Throughout the movie Marley sits up slightly, trying to wage Aaron’s reactions to whatever was on screen at the time, especially to Flynn, but only briefly before resuming being curled to his side. She also can’t help but sing along to all the songs, but she does so quietly so he can still actually hear the TV. That being said, Aaron decided to actually pay attention to her because, not that he’d likely admit it to anyone else, he thought it was the cutest thing in the world. During Marley would call the emotional peak of the movie, she couldn’t help but tear up when Flynn cuts Rapunzel’s hair, even if she’d seen it many times before and she prayed Aaron didn’t notice (but he did but he’s nice enough not to comment). Because of this, she actually forgot to see what Aaron thought. He was actually pretty lucky in this regard because he couldn’t help but getting a little emotional himself.

When the credits started to roll, Marley sat up, turned to face Aaron, legs under her, and just waited for his reaction. She raised an eyebrow at him expectantly.

“It was good. Flynn is definitely good Halloween costume material,” he said, purposely being vague. “You could even go as Rapunzel for Halloween if you wanted, pretty girl.”

Marley shot him a very smug look. “So you liked it and you liked him,” she replied triumphantly.

“I did,” Aaron confirmed. “He was very charming. I think he deserved his own movie.”

Marley laughed, very pleased at her victory, being sure to take it all in in case she had to use it against him. “So you’re saying I’m right, right?” She asked, internally willing him to finally give in.

Aaron paused before agreeing. “Yes, I am more like Flynn than Hans, is that what you wanted to hear?” He teased her.

Marley smiled and leaned forward, kissing him softly. She couldn’t help it, ‘even if the world is confusing right now, this, right here, isn’t’ she thought. After a few seconds, she leaned back, red again, but that’s not all that surprising at this point. She looked up at him and shrugged. “I like winning,” she tried to justify, weakly.

“If I get kissed every time you win then I will let you win all of the time,” Aaron smirked.

“Noted.” And she kissed him again because that’s all she wanted to think about right then and Aaron was obviously more than happy to oblige.

This goes on for a little while before Marley pulled back, only slightly though. She stayed close, practically on his lap, forehead on his shoulder and she just took in the moment, trying to fight back all the emotions bubbling inside of her, trying to fight their way out, probably in the form of tears. Aaron doesn’t mind and held her quietly, running his hands through her hair gently.

After a while she shifted, turning slightly, but still in contact. “I’m too tired to move, so you’re stuck here now,” she joked, only half serious. She was really tired but she’d go when it’s time.

“Well you can pick one of two options then,” Aaron replied “You’re welcome to stay here, you shouldn’t be driving if you’re that tired. So you can either sleep in my room with me again or I can take the couch if you just need some space.”

“There’s no way I’m sleeping in your room without you,” Marley answered. “With my luck I’d wake up in the middle of the night and have no clue where I was,” she added before Aaron could throw in a smart comment. She was a little surprised at herself for coming up with something so convincing on the fly like that, but there was no way she was going to show it.

Aaron, shockingly enough didn’t entirely buy that, but he rolled with it anyway. “Okay, pretty girl,” he grinned, earning himself a small smile back from Marley. With that, Marley moved slightly so Aaron can turn the TV off and lead her down the hall to his bedroom. Being the obnoxious dork that he is, Aaron bowed and gestured at the bed. “What’s mine is yours, princess.”

Marley laughed before coming to the sudden realization that she didn’t really have anything to sleep in. “Do you have like a t-shirt or something…?” She asked quietly; this hadn’t exactly been on her radar tonight.

Aaron nodded, grabbing a t-shirt and tossing it over to her. She caught it and walked out, heading towards the bathroom. “I really wouldn't mind if you changed in here,” Aaron called after her.

Marley rolled her eyes, not that Aaron could see, her back was to him. She knew he wouldn’t mind, but she she did, at least for now. After a minute, she padded back into his bedroom, barefoot, in his stupid t-shirt.

In the time it took Marley to change, Aaron changed into a pair of pyjama pants and removed his shirt. When she came back he couldn’t help but grin. “Looks good on you, pretty girl,” he remarked.

Marley smiled and looked down, she really should have expected such a comment but it makes her blush nonetheless. “You’re not so bad yourself,” she said, walking over and sitting on the bed, not quite ready to lay down.

Aaron readily plopped onto the bed, but leaned up on his elbow so he could still see her face. “I had a great time tonight, princess. Really. Plus, you saved me from having to cook, which you know I totally can, I just didn’t want to, and I got to see you,” he went on, making sure she knew he had a good night.

“Tonight is exactly what I needed,” Marley nodded. “And you promise you actually liked it and you aren’t just telling me what I want to hear?” She asked, not sure why exactly it means so much to her.

“Yes,” Aaron assured. “I liked it, and you’re right, it is better than Frozen. I might even watch it again.”

Marley beamed before finally laying down and pulling the covers up around her. She laid there quietly for a moment, staring at the ceiling like it had the answer to life itself. Eventually she turned her head and faced Aaron. “Thank you. Really,” she said quietly, not much more than a whisper.

Aaron shrugged slightly. “I meant what I said. Anything for you. If I suddenly changed my mind of processing issues that you’d do the same for me.”

“Yeah, but this was me avoiding any kind of processing,” she tried, and failed, to joke.

"Still, you'd do the same for me. I'd do anything for you, works out fine. Sometimes you just need a night away from processing,” Aaron reasoned.

Unfortunately in her mind, she couldn’t argue with that logic. It was true, she would be there for him for whatever he needed at this point and she already proved, so him doing the same shouldn’t be as big of a deal as she was seemingly making it. She sighed and scooted a tiny bit closer to Aaron.

Aaron reached over and gently touched her arm, doing his best to let her know that he was there. Marley took this as an invitation, and slid right over to him, using his chest as a pillow now and wrapped an arm around his torso. Aaron wrapped his arm around her, rubbing her back.

Moments passed and Marley couldn’t help herself. “You’re being very sweet,” she grinned, already knowing he’d disagree.

"Whatever you want to think, princess. Just know I'm not sweet and this is completely selfish,” Aaron retorted with confidence.

"If this was entirely selfish, wouldn't you be trying to get laid?" Marley laughed, shaking her head.

"I'm very offended you think sex is the only thing I want from people.” Aaron exclaimed, feigning hurt. “Sometimes having cute girls wearing my shirts and sleeping in my bed is enough for me."

“I’m never living this t-shirt thing down, am I?” Marley asked, making a face, trying not to smile.

"Absolutely not, princess. You're wearing it, you look great, you should want to never live it down,” he smirked, knowing full well that the smirk was evident in his voice.

Marley looked up at Aaron, doing her best not to smile back at him and rolled her eyes.

Aaron grinned and kissed her forehead. “Night, pretty girl.”

Marley put her head back on his chest, blood rushing to her cheeks for probably the millionth time that night. “Good night, handsome.”

#aaron #para #//this is so sweet it could give you cavities

[trimaplenut]

hey maple! I was wondering, do you have any book/fic/story recommendations? ❤️

Hoo boy, I can certainly offer some! I’m more well-versed in fanfics than actual books but I think I’ve stumbled across my fair share of good fics over the years.

Also I’ll warn you this’ll be long.

Cycle by RoseGarden

Hot. Damn.

If you’re a Fire Emblem Awakening fan there is not a fic I can recommend to you more than this one. Cycle is easily in my top 5, no top 3, heck my absolute favourite story ever. The updates are slow - I started following it in 2016 summer at Ch 44, and the latest chapter was (at posting) 55 in 2018 winter - but this is not a complaint. This delay is understandably so because these chapters fucking deliver. Each chapter averages about 10,000-25,000 words (by my rough estimate - chapters tend to include a lot of reviewer replies from the author). This is honestly my current inspiration, and has been since I found it. I dream of writing like this one day. I cannot express how much I love this goddamn story.

Okay enough fangirling, time to buckle down to the content. From the beginning, it seems like your average but well-written insert - Robin is an FE fan and baker from the real world who wakes up to find Blue-Haired McGee and his motley crew with no idea how she ended up in the field in Ylisse. But you find out pretty quick that things aren’t quite what they seem. Mysterious unfamiliar characters are popping up, some people know more about events than they’re letting on, and Robin’s gotta figure out all this shit while dealing with her own missing memory and the responsibilities that come with playing tactician for a nation going to war.

It’s amazing. It follows along Awakening’s plot, but honestly I’m on edge the entire time, I don’t know what’s going to happen next. The worldbuilding is hefty and incredible and really brings the world to life. The character interactions are gorgeous. The characters themselves are gold. One of my favourite things is that each character has a clear and defined voice - even if there’s no narration to say who’s speaking, you can work it out by their words and tone. The character interactions are charming and even if the ships aren’t your favourite or usual cup of tea, they’re all so genuine and they work. Robin is different from what I think is the general depiction of canon Robin in fics, she’s pretty crass and blunt and the Earth culture she and the readers know shows, but she certainly stands out as her own personality and still fits in well with the Shepards. She’s also got her own issues and problems and she makes mistakes so that’s fun.

Oh, that reminds me, also be prepared for a heck ton of feels. Laughter and heartbreak in equal helpings. Always a good time.

Queen of Hearts by Circuit

One of the first, and one of my favourite, Persona 5 fanfics that I’ve come across so far. Queen of Hearts retells Persona 5 but with Makoto Niijima playing the role of Wild Card. The change in protagonist brings a few new interesting changes, the big one being the Confidants Makoto hangs out with, including people such as Shiho and original characters in the Student Council. It’s cool to see the changes caused by a Makoto-led Phantom Thieves and also the struggles she herself has with being in that position of leader.

This feels small in comparison to the wall of text for Cycle, so I’m just gonna throw in another P5 fanfic, Crimson. This one’s closer to a retelling of P5′s canon than Queen of Hearts but tackles it with a lot more realism of kids messing with the law and the big bads of P5 and includes quite a bit of Questionable And Morally Ambiguous Choices:tm:. It’s one I’m honestly losing a little interest in, hence why it’s only got this small section here, but it’s still a good fic. I remember liking the beginning and certain scenes that are thrown around here and there, but this fic starts off pretty depressing and gets even more morally ambiguous in more recent chapters. Still a good read. Queen of Hearts is just a lot lighter in comparison and that’s why I recommend it a little more.

Worm by Wildbow

Okay this one’s a little different but hear me out. Technically a web serial, Worm is an original story written on Wordpress. I found it when I read a crossover between it and Okami (also a good fanfic in and of itself, has a pretty different tone from Worm but it’s very entertaining. I’d recommend reading Worm first though since I read the crossover first and, it’s fine to read through itself, but I understood some of the details and nods only after reading Worm). Honestly, I’m still not done with Worm. There’s a lot of story to get through. But what I’ve seen so far is pretty interesting.

The story follows Taylor, a teenaged girl with superpowers, called parahumans in this universe. It starts off pretty dark, though, and honestly it stays that way. Taylor’s bullied at school and feels pretty shitty, but she wants to be a hero. So one night she tries her hand at some vigilantism. Result? Nearly gets killed by a superpowered gang leader, gets saved by a small group of supervillains her age, they think she’s actually a supervillain too. They offer Taylor to join them and she figures it’s a way to go undercover, but over time she faces an internal dilemna since she finds herself actually enjoying their company.

There’s more to the story beyond that. Like I said, I’m not actually done reading it. There’s like 30 arcs, with each arc having about 8-10 chapters, each chapter about 5000 words?? and I’ve only read up to Arc 11. It’s an interesting take on a superpowered world, though, where villains aren’t so evil, good guys aren’t so good, and there’s a whole lot of morality and gritty details that come with it.

Through Her Eyes by Peroth

A RWBY fic that actually has a remastered version currently being written. The story’s about a Ruby that actually has a different semblance than the one we’re used to. This Ruby has the power to summon Grimm - and that’s it. She can’t control them whatsoever. This leads to Ruby being stuck at home for most of her childhood and gives us quite a different personality than canon Ruby - she’s a lot more shy and nervous around people and usually speaks with a stammer. Still the badass little scythe-wielding Grimm slayer we love though. Ruby’s also got eyes pretty similar to Salem’s, which also come with a fear factor, inciting primal fear in anyone who looks at her eyes, which means she has to wear big goggles.

So there’s a lot of changes, but it still mostly follows Volume 1. Ruby goes to Beacon because she still wants to help people -  with some focus on the catchup work Ruby has to do as a result of her missing school as a kid - teams up with WBY, makes friends with JNPR, usual kind of stuff. The original fic ends where Volume 1 ends, but I can’t say what changes the remastered version will bring. It seems to mostly be following the original with a few details changed or added, though. 

The Shrouded Throne by Iburtide

Okay yes it’s another FE Awakening fic, sue me I’ve been through a massive FE faze. Chrobin is near and dear to my heart. Iburtide has actually written more Chrobin fics, both male and female, but I admit I’ve only read this one, The Heart of the Moon which is also a good one, and Crown of Shadows which is almost the same as Shrouded Throne but told with Male Robin (and also explicit so u18′s don’t look at it you hear me).

So Shrouded Throne (and Crown of Shadows) tells the story of a Robin who fled from a Plegian civil war to request aid from Ylisse. By the time the story starts, they’re in the employment of the Shepards, and after some words shared during a battle, Chrom offers to get Robin an audience with Emmeryn, which pretty much kicks off the story. Kinda follows Awakening’s plot but Robin knows they’re from Plegia and the civil war is between Gangrel and Validar.

I guess I’ll talk briefly about Heart of the Moon too since I mentioned it already. The Shepards get sent out to a village where a monster is stalking the woods. When they meet the creature, Chrom gets challenged to a hunt, one-on-one, with the beast. In the middle of this, Chrom comes across an old abandoned castle - or not quite so abandoned, as a young woman lives there, one who claims to be prisoner to the beast.

Both fics include fun new things like Henry being Robin’s little brother - not by blood but their relationship is cute and precious and gives me new life - and a normal Grimleal religion practiced by normal people and Validar just takes it to an extreme.

Those are a handful of ones I can recommend. I read a lot of fics though so I have skipped over some of the ones I wouldn’t say are my favourites but are still quite high on my list. These are all also multi-chaptered fics, a few of them being unfinished as well. There are more fics I wanted to talk about but they’re either one-shots or don’t have enough chapters for me to definitively recommend them. I dunno, if people want more recommendations or recs from specific fandoms like DR (which surprisingly I haven’t touched upon at all, wow it’s been a while since I’ve read a dr fic), I could do another post or something. One covering a lot of one-shots or short stories, but not speaking in as much detail as I have here oops somebody gets distracted and goes on tangents

OH AND BOOKS. Quick book recs are Percy Jackson and How to Train Your Dragon. I’ll be honest, I don’t read a lot of books these days. And I think these are popular enough that they don’t really need a big ol’ explanation from me.

#I spent like three hours writing this #which wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact it's now 2am #oops #I read a lot of fics bc I generally go and look for fics once I finish a piece of media #also I kinda jumped at the opportunity to yell about cycle #look I'm really passionate about it #and fe awakening and chrobin in general #gosh it's good

[melwriteswhatever]

Life is Strange: Girls Like Girls (Kate Marsh/Reader)

Title: Girls Like Girls Pairing: Kate/Reader Characters: Reader, Kate Marsh, Dana Ward (briefly), Victoria (mentioned), Vortex Club (general) Author: Mel

Notes: I wrote this for my own gay needs because tbh Kate is my gf lol. No specific pronouns or sexualities are mentioned. This is also like, my first reader-insert piece. I hope I did decent. I like how it turned out. There’s alcohol consumption (teenage partying) and a slur in here, be warned. And the title comes from Hayley Kiyoko’s Girls Like Girls, because I was listening to that as I wrote this. Anyway, enjoy!

You met Kate about a year before. At first, you didn’t think much about her, but you did like her. You thought she was the cutest thing you ever saw, but you didn’t realize you had a crush on her until a few months later, when Dana had pointed it out. You had kept your sexuality a secret from others for only God knew how long, however. No one knew that you were not straight. Well, at least that’s what you thought.

“No I don’t!” You sputtered, turning red. Dana only gave you a look.

“You’re a horrible liar, [Y/N]. I think it’s sweet, and Kate is sweet too,” Dana went on.

“I don’t think she’ll like me back like that,” you say in a rather saddening tone. You knew Kate, but not as well as you hoped. You did talk to her quite frequently, and you knew she was tied deep into her religious faith. You weren’t sure how she would feel if....well, you know. You just knew that if your own family knew about you, you would probably be dead.

Dana gave her a sympathetic look. Dana was one of your friends, and one of the nicer people at Blackwell.

“Well, you’ll never know unless you try,” Dana said. You snort into your drink. You knew she was right, but even if you had the courage, you had no idea where to begin.

“Yeah, right.”

* * *

You did follow Dana’s advice, though. Kind of. Not really.

You started out small. You got to know Kate a little bit better. You hung out with her more. The two of you would walk to class together and hangout outside of school. You were still right about Kate: she was the sweetest, kindest girl you ever met. There was no way she would like you like you wanted her too. It pained you to think about, but you really did not want to open that can of worms.

Some of the students of Blackwell, however, thought different.

As far as you knew, only Dana knew. There was a good chance that Juliet may know as well, but you doubted it. Some of your fellow peers may know, but you had no idea. You knew that Victoria Chase had an idea, however. You wanted to scream just thinking about it. Victoria was a piece of work, much like her friend Nathan.

Victoria and her cronies were never nice to what could be dubbed as “the outer rim” of students. As in: she was cool with her Vortex friends, but everyone else deemed as “loser” should watch their back. That included Kate Marsh.

You tried to protect Kate as much as you could. If you couldn’t, you would instead try to soothe her. You found your bond becoming stronger this way. Your connection felt stronger, and your feelings were practically trying to burst out of your chest at this point. God, Kate was so cute. You wish you could hold her hand, take her out, and kiss her, but you just couldn’t. It was too conflicting for too many reasons, and you hated it. God, did you hate it.

Victoria seemed to know about your little crush on Kate, however. She and her two shadows would call you names and taunt you more than the usual if your paths crossed, and they would purposefully bully Kate even more. That made your blood boil, and you swore that you would go fist city if someone tried to physically harm Kate.

* * *

Turns out, you did have to go fist city. Not on Victoria, though, but some jocks out of all people.

You were at another Vortex party, steadily drinking your sorrows away. Everyone was having a blast, except for you. Dana noticed and tried to help, but to no avail. You told her not to worry about you, and instead have fun.

You had seen Kate earlier, looking like a brightly lit angel even in the dark and neon lighting. She wasn’t in what was dubbed as the “VIP” section, and you should have known that it would have gone to hell.

You didn’t see what happened, but you heard a loud shriek and SPLASH! that followed. Everyone had stopped to look what had happened, yourself included. You saw two of the jocks (you couldn’t see their faces from where you were) standing by the edge of the pool, laughing their asses off. You did see Kate resurface from the water, splashing and sputtering around.

Seeing red, you marched right over to the two sportsmen of Blackwell Academy. They were laughing, but that was going to change. As soon as you were in range, you empty the contents of your cup, soaking the closest one in alcohol.

“What the hell?” the jock yelled. You didn’t answer as you kicked him in the knee. He went down, grunting.

“You fucking dyke!” the second one shouted, reaching out for you. You stepped to the side, with him missing you completely. He lost his balance (you were shorter than he was), slipping and falling to the floor. It sounded like he busted his chin. You inwardly cringed, but felt no sympathy.

“Fuck you!” you shouted. It was as if time had stopped. You were sure everyone was staring at you. You didn’t care, though. You noticed that Kate was still in the water, visibly upset, but confused at the scene in front of her. You could feel your insides freeze in fear, but fuck it. (You were...tipsy to say the least.)

Ignoring everyone around you, you knelt down to the ledge, extending a hand out to Kate. Even if she was soaked, she was still very beautiful.

“Come on, Kate. Take my hand.”

Knowing she could trust you, Kate took your hand (you knew your face was flaming red. You could feel that tingling sensation when she touched you), and together the two of you were able to get her out of the pool. Water was dripping from her form, and she was shivering. She also lost one of her shoes. You couldn’t do anything about that at the moment, but you did offer her your jacket.

“Take it,” you said, handing to her. She accepted it.

“Thanks, [Y/N],” Kate said, and again you could feel that burning sensation. You loved hearing her say your name. The two of you stared at each other, before you decided to drag her out of that place. She would have to change, right?

“[Y/N], where are we going?” Kate questioned, as she noticed everyone was watching you two leave. You offered no answer as you finally made it outside, the door shutting behind you. “[Y/N]-”

Without thinking, you stopped, turning and pulling her in for a kiss. It felt so good as you did, her lips felt soft, just like you thought they would. Suddenly, a bell was going off your head, as you realized she wasn’t reciprocating. Shit! You pulled away fast, turning and started walking away. Fuck, you were stupid. You were so, so stupid.

Kate was calling out your name, but you were too buzzed for it to register. You found yourself in your dorm minutes later, closing and locking your door behind you. You were panting hard, as you slid down onto the floor, the tears forming in your eyes. Fuck, how could you be so stupid?

As you wallowed in your own pity, there was a rapid knock on your door. It scared the living hell out of you.

“[Y/N]?” You heard. You cursed as it was Kate. “[Y/N], can you open the door, please? I need to talk to you.”

You really didn’t want to open the door. You wanted to be selfish and never answer, never talk to Kate ever again. However, you couldn’t do that, especially to Kate. It wouldn’t be fair. She at least deserved some sort of explanation. Then you thought about what you could say. Do you lie? Do you lie, telling her you kissed her because you were drunk? Or do you tell the truth? Tell her the truth, saying that you kissed her because she was just so pretty and pure and--

“[Y/N]?” You heard Kate say softly. You realized you were stalling, even if it was unintentionally. Quickly you jumped to your feet, anxiously pulling at your doorknob before opening the door. Kate stood there, with a look you couldn’t exactly read. It wasn’t (pure?) disgust, worry....mystified? No, you were getting confused with yoursel--

Then you felt a soft pair of lips on yours. You must have staring at her for too long, or something, but you kissed back. Then you realized who exactly was kissing you, and pulled away. She almost followed you, but stopped.

“What the fuck?” You suddenly blurted. “I mean, I--I was asking myself that, not you! I, uh...I...” you were trailing off, but then you asked, “Why did you kiss me?”

Kate all of sudden looked shy. “Why did you kiss me?”

You couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle. You really weren’t expecting that. Well, maybe a little.

“Seriously, [Y/N], why did you kiss me?”

All of a sudden you felt as if tears were going to come out of your eyes. Why? Were you ashamed? Well, yes and no. Embarrassment? Maybe a little. Yeah, somewhat. Eventually, you took a deep breath.

“Because you’re really pretty,” you admit. “And I--Kate, I don’t know how to tell you this, because I--I...” you were having a little trouble speaking now, but Kate only gave you a soft look of understanding.

“You what? [Y/N], it’s okay. You can tell me,” Kate assured.

The funny thing is, you knew you could tell her, but it was just so hard to. How the fuck do you tell your (probably) straight crush that you like her? You nodded,  acknowledging her, and took another deep breath. Okay, you can do this. Here it goes...

“I love you,” you blurted out. You covered your mouth as soon as you said that. You felt your eyes go wide and your face heat up. You let your hand fall freely as you began again. “I mean, I, well....fuck. Kate, I like you. I like you a lot,”

You didn’t notice it, but Kate’s face was flushing pink as she looked down to the floor in a bashful manner.

“I know,” she admitted, smiling widely. Realizing she wasn’t mad or disgusted, you began to smile widely too, especially when she admitted, “I like you a lot too. But why did you run away?”

“I thought,” you began, pausing as you tried to word it properly. “I just, I kind of did that on a whim and I...didn’t think you would like me back.” Your voice became more soft, more quiet near the end as you looked down to your shoes.

“Oh,” Kate said. “Well, I’ll admit it did surprise me at first. I never thought--well, I never thought about....us together,” she admitted, and you felt your heart sinking. “But I like it. Can we...do that again?”

You looked back up to face her, knowing there was full hope but caution filling you up.

“You...you want to do it again?”

It was Kate’s turn to look nervous, as if she wanted to cry too, but she nodded.

“Yes.”

You stared at her for a moment, an uneasy feeling filling the both of you up due to the heavy silence in the air.

“Do you really want to?” you ask, wanting to be sure. Kate nodded in a timid manner. Oh, what the hell, you thought. What did you have to lose? You pull in Kate once more, your hands cradling her face as you kiss her. You kiss her with care, and not wanting to push it, since you didn’t want to overstep any boundaries. You smile as she reciprocates, and you two really start to kiss.

All of a sudden, you pull away. Not only do you study her face, but you look over her body as well.

“What?” Kate asks, nervous.

“You’re still wet!” you exclaimed. “You need to change.”

“But--” Kate began, but you silence her by pressing your index finger to her lips.

“Don’t worry, we can get back to what we were doing,” you assured, smiling. Kate smiled too. You hoped this would work out, whatever it was.

#life is strange #kate marsh #life is strange imagine #kate marsh imagine #kate marsh x reader #life is strange x reader #lis x reader #dana ward #victoria chase #vortex club #vortex party #reader is..well the reader #honestly kate is so adorable and i love her!!! #feel free to request anything #also this isn't set at a specific time so #go wild with the timeline i guess lol #reader insert #life is strange fanfiction #life is strange fanfic #lis fanfic #lis fanfaction #my writing #(i need to put more of my stuff on here lol) #please enjoy! #mel writes stuff

[summerseachild]

Summersea’s GoT Season 5 2019 Rewatch

We’ve reached the season that made me rage-quit a show that had once been my absolute favorite back in May of 2015! That means I’ve seen about half of these once four years ago. So... here we go. 

5x01

1. WHY is Maggy the Frog sexy?

2. WHY is there no mention of the valonqar? Were they already planning Bran? Did they not think we could handle a word in another language? WHAT?

3. That scene with Jaime and Cersei at Tywin’s body hurts but SHE KIND OF HAS A POINT ABOUT JAIME KIND OF ACCIDENTALLY BEING A TEENY BIT RESPONSIBLE THO (on the other hand how could he have knoooooown Tyrion was going to KILL DAD?)

4. So... Varys is an immigrant who cares more about Westeros than most people born there, yes?

5. That poor Unsullied JUST WANTED TO CUDDLE

6. Missandei being to shy to say something to the tune of “whatever it is you can do I’d like to do it with you” to Grey Worm is... impossibly sweet.

7. HOW DID ALLISER LIVE THROUGH THAT? Slynt living is also not fair. What a waste of space.

8. Stannis’ offer to the wildlings is fair... underestimating how unlikely Mance is to kneel, but fair.

9. Brienne is MEAN to Pod here! I guess the losing Arya thing broke her a bit.

10. UGH SANSA RODE RIGHT BY THEM

11. Lancel’s actor BEEFED UP WOW

12. Margaery trying to watch out for her brother... what a good sister.

13. Daario 2 has a cute butt

14. Remember when Drogon got loose and Dany was worried that there was an ENTIRE DRAGON JUST FLYING AROUND SOMEWHERE?

15. Mance Rayder was a good person who cares about the Wildlings. All of them.

16. Jon putting that arrow into Mance’s heart while he was burning endeared Jon to me quite a lot.

5x02

1. Braavos is SO PRETTY! And the house of Black and White... so simple and stark. I love the architecture.

2. SHIPS THAT PASS IN THE FUCKING NIGHT?? Oh wait Podrick knows what Sansa looks like! What a sweet and useful boy.

3. Jeez Brienne intense much? Don’t frighten the girl.

4. “Why don’t you stay?  It’s dangerous on the road” is Littlefinger speak for “I am going to kill you in your sleep” and BRIENNE KNOWS IT.

5. So I wonder who in Dorne thought it was a good idea to send Myrcella’s necklace.

6. Jeez Cersei what do you want from Jaime? You wouldn’t LET HIM be a father to the kids.

7. Jaime offering to GO GET HER... and with Bronn! LANNISTER AND BRONN ROAD TRIP PART 2 HERE WE COME.

8. Today the part of Elia I will be played Doran and the part of Arianne will be played by Elia. it’s very confusing.

9. Doran’s casting is still SO GOOD.

10. ELIA DO NOT MAKE CERSEI RIGHT ABOUT HER LINE “EVERYWHERE IN THE WORLD THEY HURT LITTLE GIRLS” 

11. I remember so little of Dany’s story from this part... Mossador seems cool but is he secretly loyal to the sons of the Harpy??? I remember something about her being ambushed? (I was right about the ambush, wrong about Mossador he was always loyal to Dany in his way.)

12. Barristan dropping some truth about the Mad King = GOOD

13. Varys being like DRINK LESS TYRION

14. Qyburn is more useful than ten Pycelles.

15. AND FUCK YOU TOO UNCLE KEVAN

16. Shireen teaching Gilly to read is SO CUTE. And... Greyscale can be cured? The spread arrested? I thought Shireen just had a very slow moving case. How is she CURED?

17. Lyanna’s response to Stannis... your favs could never

18. His face when Stannis asks Jon if he wants to be legitimized is like ????

19. No one likes you Janos sit down

20. Sam’s speech for Jon... what impeccable delivery. Making them laugh at Slynt, making them remember how badass Jon is... smart boy.

21. Good to see you again Jaqen-no-one!

22. Why so PUBLIC with Mossador’s execution? What kind of idiocy is this READ THE ROOM DANY. And execute him QUIETLY as your advisers probably told you was a good idea.

23. Drogon’s like “wow this roof looks nice oh hai mom”

5x03

1. That interior of the house of black and white with the pool and all of the gods... so cool and creepy

2. HOW OLD IS TOMMEN ANYWAY?? What a sweet kid though.

3. The Queen off continues... and Margaery shoots herself in the foot. That was CERSEI TRYING TO BE NICE FOR HER SON’S SAKE. And you can SEE the moment Cersei’s like FUCK THIS IT’S WAR

4. OMG pooR traumatized Theon and EW flayed men

5. RIDE THE OTHER WAY SANSA

6. Littlefinger has clearly not met Ramsay fucking Snow. Otherwise nothing he says to Sansa here makes sense.

7. At least they had the decency to admit that Brienne had been nasty to Pod and have them actually start to develop a sweet friendship. And Brienne tells him the story of the ball and Renly :(

8. I like that we’re getting some Jon and Davos interaction. So much good hearted gruffness in one place!

9. Sansa’s arrival at Winterfell just... no

10. TAKE LORD JANOS OUTSIDE YES THIS WAS SO LONG COMING

11. Ok that scene with the high septon and the prostitutes in the costumes of the Seven was kind of hysterical

12. Stay away from the high sparrow Cersei my love...

13. Wow, Jonathan Pryce, how did they get you for this? You’re better than this nonsense but getting to see you and Lena in a scene together is a gift.

14. Ok I jumped at Gregor rattling around on the table

15. So... Littlefinger hadn’t heard much about Ramsay, and the bastard is on his best behavior when LF comes to Winterfell. That answers some questions

16. Holy crap Tyrion is a child playing with the windows that roll up and down.

17. We get to see Volantis???? Coooool!

18. What is a red priestess doing preaching that Dany is the savior? Do they each have their own pet theories about who AA is?

19. Tyrion is terribly good at getting kidnapped.

5x04: Jaime and Bronn go to Dorne and there are some people pretending to be the Sand Snakes

1. The theme of this ep so far is “Lannister brothers on ships”

2. Jorah stealing the boat and throwing silver on the poor dude 😂

3. I... think I might not have seen this episode because I have NO MEMORY of that scene where Jaime tells Bronn he’s going to kill Tyrion if he ever sees him again. My heart.💔 (I found my tumblr archive form May of 2015, and I definitely HAD seen it. I think my brain just protected me from remembering this because it hurt too much. 

4. I want a million reaction gifs of Qyburn being done or clearly having Thoughts Not Expressed

5. Do you know WHY the Faith Militant was disbanded Cersei my love? Cersei who is the mother of three of her brother’s children? BECAUSE THE FAITH HAD ISSUES WITH THE ALL THE TARGARYEN INCEST. What in ALL SEVEN HELLS possessed you to rearm them that kind of power?

6. I still HATE that the show makes the Faith SO MUCH MORE HOMOPHOBIC than it is in the books.

7. I’m going full on Lannister here because me reaction to Margaery bursting in on Tommen was BACK OFF, TYRELL.

8. LEAVE. TOMMEN. THE FUCK. ALONE. (Sparrows, Tyrells, EVERYONE.)

9. Jon writing to the Boltons for men even though he HATES THEM says a lot about him.

10. Mel just does a whole lot of sex magic doesn’t she...

11. I LOVE that we get a scene between just Stannis and Shireen where it’s obvious he loves her. And it makes me hate what happens later even more.

12. Sansa honoring Lyanna in the crypts is sweet. And LITTLEFINGER is the one who tells her the story of Lyanna and Rhaegar at Harrenhal?

13. Also how is Littlefinger assuming Sansa SURVIVES Stannis taking Winterfell from the Boltons?

14. EW HE KISSES HER AGAIN GROSS GROSS GROSS

15. I DEFINITELY HAVE NOT SEEN THIS. (Narrator’s voice: But she had)  I would have remembered Jaime saying he wanted to die in the arms of the woman he loves. (Narrator’s voice: But she didn’t, which didn’t bother her as much as it might have. It was like getting to see shippy scenes for the first time all over again.) 

16. THAT ONE SHOULD BE SLOW ENOUGH 😂 ILU BRONN

17. Jaime being obsessed with not starting a war makes sense because he ALREADY DID IT ONCE AND THIS TIME DAD IS DEAD.

18. And on the other hand Elia wanting to START A WAR I AM SO ANGRY

19. Obarra getting tell the story about the spear is cool though

20. BUT WHERE IS ARIANNE? STILL ANGRY.

21. Poor not drunk as he would like to be Tyrion. He’s quick though with recognizing Jorah.

22. I’m trying to imagine younger Barristan protecting his idiot prince who liked singing in public and it’s kind of fun

23. Well this is clearly a trap. Also that many unsullied should have been able to WIPE THE FLOOR with those sons of the Harpy even in close quarters.

24. Barristan Selmy: WHAT A BADASS. He’ll be missed.

5x05: And now my watch was ended because D and D did something awful in the next episode. 

As I mentioned before, after I rewatched the whole season, I went back to my archive and found the last post where I talked about watching GoT when it aired first run, and it was about this episode. I just read it again for the first time and MY FEELINGS HAVE NOT CHANGED on many points. 

1. Letting Viserion and Rhaegar eat that Meereenese noble is something Aerys would have done and doesn’t make them love her any more likely to behave.

2. So... who is writing Maester Aemon about Dany?

3. Jon Snow, Breaker of Chains? I like that he frees Tormund and gives him reasons to follow him but lets the choice be his.

4. Grammar stickler Stannis is always good for a laugh.

5. Wait wait... Brienne was close enough to Winterfell to SEE IT OUT THE WINDOW??? What in all Seven Hells?

6. We needed a scene of Myranda and Ramsay talking about Sansa like I needed a dagger in the eye

7. Ok ok cool parallel of Sansa standing at the base of the tower looking a lot like Cat.

8. Holy shit did Sansa not know Theon was there before Myranda showed her???

9. Ramsay playing mind games with Theon making him think he’s going to hurt him... yikes

10. And forcing the two of them to interact in ways that he could control and make awful was... kind of smart

11. No Walda should not be telling people she’s pregnant... but how could she know that Ramsay was a danger to her unborn child? She seems a trusting sort.

12. Sam insisting that Gilly knows valuable things too is... so pure

13. This rewatch is turning me into a rampant Missandei/ Grey Worm shipper and I like it.

14. Dany’s outfit when she goes to see Hizdar in prison looks very Star Wars to me.

15. Jorah and Tyrion sailing through the Doom is still the DUMBEST shit.

16. The old city looks neat though. And that’s a fun poem.

17. AND A WHOLE ENTIRE DRAGON (are dragons homing pigeons?)

18. Tyrion’s face when he sees that dragon is still so great

19. STONE ZOMBIES ARE CREEPY and now Jorah has greyscale.

5x06: I want to just watch this episode and get it out of the way and at the exact same moment I NEVER WANT TO WATCH IT EVER. It’s Schroedinger’s Episode.

I know this is the episode with THAT SCENE. The reason that I finally stopped watching. Let’s just assume I’m going to be angry but also probably very affected by performances and extremely upset.

1. In the House Of Black and White, a curious child adores an open door....

2. Arya doesn’t hate the Hound. That she still does is a lie she tells to herself, and I THINK THAT’S INTERESTING. 

3. Well of course Jorah wouldn’t know about his dad’s death... :(

4. holy shit Arya making up lies on the spot to comfort that sick little girl before helping her KILL HERSELF

5. That is some SERIOUS MAGIC SHIT GOING ON with all those faces. That scene is exactly as creepy as it needs to be

6. Tyrion has some points about Dany having Targaryen crazy in her dna and how she hasn’t spent a day in Westeros...

7. Well... Tyrion found some people who think his cock is as magical as he does. To bad they want to sell it unattached.

8. Cersei is working out of Tywin’s office. Love it.

9. Wow Petyr... that’s a play for power. He gets the North, he gets Sansa...

10. Trystane Martell is SO CUTE. And I miss Aimee as Myrcella.

11. I LIKE TO IMPROVISE?? Like Indy??? Jfc Jaime

12. Wtf even was all that nonsense in the water gardens other than some cool fight choreography. (Have I mentioned how pretty the Water Gardens are? SO PRETTY.) 

13. The parallels between Cersei and Olenna and Tywin and Olenna in that office.... right down to the Lannister writing to make Olenna wait... fascinating.

14. Cersei did NOT expect the Sparrows to trot out Olyvar. Did she? She genuinely seemed surprised when he walked into the room.

15. Olenna thinks it’s Cersei’s fault anyway and that’s what matters.

16. Sansa’s dress is pretty and the Weirwood is pretty and everything else is awful and there was NO NEED FOR THAT SCENE. It didn’t tell us ANYTHING NEW ABOUT RAMSAY and what he’s capable of or shed any new light on Sansa or Theon it’s just gratuitous rape and psychological torture porn and it’s just gross.

5x07

1. Maester Aemon holding little Sam is the most precious thing. He will be missed. “Egg I dreamed I was old” 😢

2. Oof. That first scene in this ep between Sansa and Theon is ROUGH. She is so desperate and he is so brainwashed and the fact that she can be furious at him one moment and reminding him who he is the next... my heart was not meant to take this.

3. Is this scene supposed to mirror Sansa and Joffrey on the wall? IT IS only with more sophisticated mind games.

4. WHY ARE YOU POKING HIM ABOUT WALDA’S BABY SANSA DO YOU WANT ALL OF YOU TO DIE

5. Stannis being like THIS IS OUT LAST CHANCE TO MARCH SOUTH AND NOT BE STUCK AT THE WALL. But... don’t people bop up there all the time after this? D and D probs forgot. 

6. So... Ghost has just decided he likes Sam and Gilly? He has good taste in people.

7. Dany is with Daario for a LONG time. I hadn’t realized how drawn out their thing was.

8. I AM A QUEEN NOT A BUTCHER no Dany you’re a bbq-er. Sigh. 

9. Tommen being helpless breaks my heart a bit. And that scene between him and Cersei is... devastating.

10. Myrcella is Sansa part 2... pretty and naive and at the mercy of the adults around her

11. what is the point of sand snake boobs here

12. How did I not know that Jorah ended up in the fighting pits?

13. Tyrion is a gift indeed.

14. Fucking puritans I cannot stand them (ask me about how I cursed Oliver Cromwell’s name in England a lot.)

15. I cannot wait to see Cersei keep her promise to that Septa. I do not think that was what I was supposed to take away from Cersei getting thrown in that cell but I’m over here like PAY THAT DEBT MY BEAUTIFUL GOLDEN QUEEN 👑

5x08

1. Tyrion’s intro to Dany about why he’s valuable makes me so angry. Not because I think it’s badly written, but because Tyrion tells her true things that she apparently didn’t internalize about devotion and wisdom.

2. Poor scaly Jorah... tossed out of Meereen.

3. Religious people who try to starve and torture confessions out of those they think have sinned need to DIE IN A FIRE. I am so done with the Faith.

4. Arya “Lanna” selling oysters is cool and all but now I want oysters.

5. Qyburn is a darling atheist and Cersei’s best ally in that place.

6. I HATE SANSA TELLING THEON SHE WOULD DO TO HIM WHAT RAMSAY DID I don’t care that she doesn’t know the extent of what Ramsay did to him it makes her look cruel and the VIEWERS KNOW and UGH GROSS 

7. Holy shit Sansa didn’t know Bran and Rickon were alive.

8. Theon insisting he’s Reek 💔💔💔

9. Tyrion and Dany’s interactions have got my attention. I’m cautiously here for them.

10. Do we know how things are going over in Slaver’s Bay by the end? Does anyone care?

11. Yes but Dany THE WHEEL HAS A PURPOSE. What do you propose to replace it with?

12. The question Olly brings up of “why ally with the people who slaughtered peaceful farmers? What keeps them from killing people on our side of the wall?” Is a good one, and I wish we’d gotten to see Jon argue sensibly for his solution more.

13. Wow did Tormund just kill Rattleshirt?

14. The leaders of the free folk are an interesting group. What is the woman’s name I wonder? Also I hate spiders but WHY DID WE NOT GET ICE SPIDERS.

15. Tormund gets it and likes Jon. It’s kind of sweet.

16. So... I’m calling that cool wildling leader woman isn’t going to last the episode. Ladies without names don’t get to bond with their kids that much if they’re going to live. <--It’s an awful burden being right all the time. 

17. Shit these wights are a lot more active than the old ones

18. Jon and the Night’s watch and the wildlings fighting alongside each other to give people time 👍

19. VALYRIAN STEEL BITCHES

20. Of course she died because women are soft hearted and can’t deal with zombie kids.

21. Jon and the night king having an epic stare off before he raised the dead was kind of cool tho. Also I think Wun Wun the giant is nine kinds of awesome.

5x09: In which I am probably about to lose all respect I ever had for Stannis Baratheon.

1. So I forgot about Ramsay and thought Mel was lighting fires with her mind 🔥

2. Did... Alliser just give Jon a complement? A backhanded one?

3. Omg Stannis is GETTING DAVOS OUT OF THE WAY for what he plans to do YOU BASTARD YOU KNEW DAVOS WOULD STOP YOU.

4. Ok Show Ellaria pouring out wine rather than drinking with a Lannister is fun but NOT HER.

5. Also wherever they filmed that scene with Doran is SO BEAUTIFUL.

6. Meryn Trant is ON HER LIST AND RIGHT THERE

7. And he’s a fucking pedophile ew. Kill him good, Arya.

8. A girl thinks she just lied to Jaqen without him noticing.

9. You know who’s responsible for Oberyn’s death? OBERYN who volunteered and THE MOUNTAIN who killed him. Not Jaime or Tywin or ANYONE BUT THOSE TWO and anyone who actually saw it happen should KNOW THAT, ELLARIA

10. FEEL BAD WHEN SHIREEN ASKS TO HELP, STANNIS. that’s right feel bad

11. I can’t believe NONE OF THEM in that Baratheon army stopped Mel from BURNING A CHILD. Bystander effect?

12. Too little too late Selyse.

13. As of right now, he loses any moral superiority he ever had and I can’t wait to see Brienne shish kabob him

14. Jorah what is the PURPOSE of getting yourself in front of her at the pits?? (Dany’s dragon collar is badass tho)

15. And all of a sudden sons of the Harpy, who were apparently hiding those masks like guy fawkes masks at a protest...

16. TYRION SAVED MISSANDEI YES GOOD also that shot of Dany taking Missandei’s hand gave me feelings

17. LEAVE MY MOM ALONE AND ALSO I AM HUNGRY: Drogon pretty much

18. Ok DANY FLYING OFF WAS COOL.

5x10 I have SO MUCH WINE READY

1. The armchair theologian in me has questions about the reality of the lord of light given the timing of the snow melting enough that Stannis can movie his army. (My wife thinks Mel did some serious blood magic in this case that may or may not have involved any actual divine intervention)

2. FEEL BAD STANNIS YOU MADE CHOICES

3. I would feel worse for Selyse if she hadn’t been horrid to Shireen every single other second.

4. Yay they figured the Valyrian steel swords work. Sam is smart.

5. Jon’s “congrats on the sex, friend” face is priceless

6. Wow the sellswords took ALL THE HORSES. This means Stannis Baratheon, claimant to the throne, is WALKING.

7. YES SANSA PICK THAT LOCK

8. Wow that’s gonna be a masacre. Yikes. I’d call Stannis brave for standing and fighting but he probs knew he had no chance of surrender with the Boltons.

9. UGH SHE LIT THE CANDLE AND BRIENNE ISN’T THERE TO SEE IT

10. I don’t know what Brienne is going to say when she kills Stannis but I would like to suggest “Renly Baratheon sends his regards”

11. Ok that was much more honorable.

12. Me to Ramsay: 🎶 “You’re going to get eaten by dogs AND I’M NOT SORRY.” 🎶 (my sis in law snorted from the other room at that)

13. No one told me Theon kills Myranda for Sansa yes good

14. THEY FLEW

15. Arya killing Meryn Trant is a special kind of horrifying I’m just bloodthirsty enough to cheer for.

16. Wait wait she just STOLE A FACE? It works for her without any permission?

17. Oh ok I see that wasn’t creepy at all.

18. ...and Ellaria just literally gave Myrcella the kiss of death what

19. THE BAD PUSSY LINE GAVE MY WIFE A HEADACHE I AM NOT KIDDING

20. Jaime trying to be dad and bonding with Myrcella (or trying to) is SO CUTE and the look on his face when she says SHE IS GLAD HE’S HER DAD AND SHE HUGS HIM KILL ME NOW

21. I can hear book Ellaria screaming from here. And I just killed about half a glass of wine for Myrcella.

22. Of course Tyrion speaks Valyrian that’s darling

23. The meeting of the “Find Dany Committee” is fascinating. Daario is kind of in control here??? But what he suggests makes sense???

24. What an adorable triumvirate of Tyrion, Missandei, and Grey Worm!

25. VARYS! Hiiiii! Tyrion is going to need you I have a feeling.

26. Aww look at Drogon’s little dragon nest poor wounded thing.

27. Now... was this Khalasar just passing by? Did they see the dragon and come to see what was up?

28. SAY CONFESS ONE MORE TIME BITCH

29. A girl lies well. Good one Cersei.

30. AND HAIR GROWS BACK. (She doesn’t get to say it here but I was screaming it internally) I kind of can’t wait for her to wildfire the lot of them. The Faith and the high sparrow and all of the self righteous assholes can go fuck themselves

31. SOMEONE GIVE HER A CLOAK

32. THANK YOU QYBURN. When the necromancer is the most welcome sight ever... things have taken an odd turn (seriously though the genuine care he seems to have for her is touching???)

33. DOES DAVOS KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO SHIREEN Must not because Mel would be dead right now

34. Happy Ides of Winter Jon

35. Congrats dudes you killed a kid (ok fine a man) that was better than all of you

36. Glasses of wine consumed: Two BIG ones.

#summersea got rewatch 2019 #summersea has feels about got #I've had this in my drafts for days #don't know what happened #we watched 6x10 last night #so that's coming up as soon as I edit the flailing I did on my phone

[tobiologist]

swipe right (if you like me)

Keith/Lance // met on tinder!au // 9.3k+ // sfw // part 1/?

Summary: "I’m doin’ it. Lance giggles under his breath and drags the cat meme picture to the right side of his screen.

But this, friends, is why one shouldn’t tempt fate over Tinder."

or: Lance finds the most unlikely match on Tinder and (might) gain a boyfriend in the process

Lance can’t believe he hasn’t deleted this stupid app yet.

Okay… okay, maybe that’s not completely true. He knows exactly why he hasn’t deleted it yet— and why he downloaded Tinder in the first place, to be honest. Because drunk Lance makes poor decisions sometimes, especially when he’s feeling lonely and worthless.

Tonight just so happens to be one of those awful nights.

He and Hunk planned this party in advance, as per usual. They’re only a couple weeks into the new semester and homework loads are still reasonable. Unless you’re Hunk, but that’s what he gets for having a dual major. And in mechanical and aerospace engineering, no less. Regardless, their professors have been kind, and there aren’t any assignments either of them have to work on until Sunday.

It’s a Saturday night. That’s when they usually invite people over. A couple dozen guests filter into their tiny apartment with racks of beer, bottles of liquor, and bags of pong balls. Scattered around the apartment are bowls of chips, boxes of delivery pizza, and a few stacks of playing cards; everything is there and accounted for.

Lance usually loves wandering through the crowds at parties, but not tonight. For some reason, he’s feeling kind of shitty. Which is weird and definitely unwelcome, but Lance is familiar with the daunting rain cloud hanging over his head.

“Dude, are you sure you don’t want to send these people home?” Hunk asks, for what’s probably the hundredth time that evening. “I’m sure they wouldn’t mind. We can just do this next week or something.”

“Nah, it’s fine. I swear.” Lance kicks his socked feet up and stretches out over the length of the couch. “I’ll just chill over here for now. I might get up in an hour or two and make the rounds.”

“You can always just go to your room if it gets to be too much. I really don’t mind kicking them all out, though.”

“Hunk, seriously. I appreciate it, but it’s all good. In the hood.” Lance snickers, and Hunk, naturally, rolls his eyes. “Go have fun. I heard Pidge is over there killing it at beer pong. You need to make sure she doesn’t steal your champion title.”

“I thought that was your title?”

“That hasn’t been decided yet,” Lance clarifies. “Pidge and I kick everyone’s asses. That’s why we usually play separately now instead of on the same team. To be fair to all those poor unsuspecting assholes.”

“Yeah… yeah, that’s right.”

“Hunk, buddy, have fun! It’s a party! Give me a few minutes, okay? And I’ll come watch the pong table later.”

Hunk seems reluctant to leave but winces as techno music starts blaring from the speakers in the living room. Skrillex, maybe? He flashes Lance one more concerned glance before heading over to the circle of cackling people cheering on Pidge. Lance watches with a little snicker as Hunk points accusingly at the speakers, and Pidge pretends like she can’t hear him over the pulsating beat.

That’s how Lance ends up here: perusing Tinder.

Alcohol buzzes pleasantly through his system. He opens the app and taps the screen impatiently as it tries to pinpoint his location. The dumb “There are no new people around you” line isn’t displayed, though, which is a solid start. Eventually, the first person pops up.

A pretty girl stares back at him, blond curls framing her heart-shaped face. She’s definitely cute. Her pictures include a chubby black cat and slew of sorority friends. Lance shrugs and swipes right. Again, a nice start.

He flips through about twenty more people, half of which are right swipes, before his fingers freeze.

Oh no.

He’s about to swipe left— because there’s no way he can swipe right on this guy— but hesitates. The distinct blue-purple eyes, dark hair long enough to curl at the nape of his neck, and thin lips set in an indifferent line, are not completely unattractive features. He stands in front of a motorcycle, arms folded across his chest. Lance squints at the font below, just to be sure. Keith, 21.

Definitely him. It’s the Keith from a couple of his engineering classes, the very same Keith he’s been trying to outscore for years. The Keith that Pidge has been trying to drag to parties since she wormed her way into Hunk and Lance’s lives their sophomore year. And he’s also the same Keith on Lance’s Tinder, which can only mean one thing.

Keith is into dudes.

Now, it doesn’t mean he’s only into guys, but it definitely piques Lance’s curiosity. He scrolls over and, unsurprisingly, the second picture is of his bike. The third is one of him with Pidge, who looks a great deal happier to be in the picture than Keith does. There’s a guy standing on his other side, an arm over Keith’s shoulder, and Lance distantly recalls Pidge mentioning him having an older brother. He swears the dude is best friends with Pidge’s brother, Matt.

Lance flips to the next picture and it’s— it’s a selfie. Keith stands in front of the mirror in a fitted black shirt and fingerless gloves, legs accentuated by spandex pants and, wow, Keith actually has a cliché gym selfie on his profile.

The realization makes Lance scoff and shake his head. But, at the same time, Lance has to admit… Keith isn’t hard on the eyes. The dude is sort of scrawny but certainly in-shape. Lance doesn’t know if Keith runs or does karate or taekwondo or lifts weights or— fuck, it doesn’t matter because, boy, is his body nice to look at. How has he never noticed before?

Chill out, Lance, he chides himself and quickly swipes over to the fifth picture. Keith isn’t in the actual shot and, shockingly enough, neither is his bike. Neither is Pidge or Shiro. It’s a nature shot, likely from the top of one of the lookouts at the nearest park. The green hillsides of mountains are illuminated by the sun overhead, rays of light gleaming off the surface of the river nestled between them. Was Keith into photography? Or did he just like nature? Going on hikes?

Lance hums softly to himself and flips over to the last picture. And, well. He doesn’t know what he expected, but it definitely wasn’t this.

It’s the knife cat meme. The damn knife cat meme with Keith’s face very crudely Photoshopped over the cat’s face. Oh my God? Lance would love to credit Keith for the genius idea, but the picture has ‘Pidge’ written all over it.

Lance covers his mouth to stop a stream of giggles from escaping. He finally turns his attention to the bio. There’s a list of several random items underneath his name and age.

bikes, nature, fitness, and aliens

The guy is practically begging to be meme’d.

also I like cats and knives. if the last picture didn’t make that obvious

Freakin’ Pidge. Lance wishes he could’ve seen Keith’s reaction to her additions to his profile. Although, he must not have been too upset if he didn’t take the time to change it back or make adjustments. And, boy, does Lance have a lot of questions.

Primarily: why does Keith have a Tinder?

He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would care about dating or (knowing how some users are) getting laid. Of course, Lance has no idea if Keith identifies as gay or bisexual or pansexual or— who knows. He certainly issn’t on the straight and narrow, though, if you catch Lance’s drift.

Lance’s finger hovers over the profile. He could do it. He could totally swipe right on the mysterious and elusive Keith. Hell, maybe he might match with the dude. Not that he expects Keith to ever swipe right on his profile. The couple of group shots from he and Hunk’s parties would likely be the greatest deterrent, especially the one with a lampshade on his head and the other with red solo cups strapped to his chest like bra cups.

But who gives a flying fuck? The alcohol is telling him it’s a good idea, a harmless idea, because it’s not like Keith will match with him. And, even if he does, so what? Lance can explain he was drunk when he did it and bam— no hard feelings. No awkward encounters in class. Just the usual uncertain eye contact in the hallways.

I’m doin’ it. Lance giggles under his breath and drags the cat meme picture to the right side of his screen.

But this, friends, is why one shouldn’t tempt fate over Tinder.

Because, by some ridiculous twist of fate, they’re a match.

Lance stares blankly at the screen, vision swimming a bit from the jungle juice trickling through his system. It… has to be some kind of joke. Right? Maybe Keith doesn’t even run his own Tinder account? Pidge probably forced him to make one and sits, sorting through strangers whenever she gets bored.

“What the fuck,” Lance mutters to himself. He shakes his head, hard, almost hard enough to give himself the beginnings of an alcohol-induced headache. He pinches his arm and winces. He looks away from the phone, back, away, and back again.

Nope, still there. Two little circles, one with Lance’s favorite selfie and the other with Keith’s bike picture. “It’s a match!” the screen proclaims much too excitedly.

Lance quickly locks his phone screen and tosses it toward the opposite end of the couch. There’s a soft thud as it hits the cushion and then it falls, flipping over. The tiny part of his brain that retains sobriety thanks his past self for purchasing a sturdy case for the damn thing.

“Wait, oh.” Lance dives for the phone and tucks it into his pocket. He moves a bit too fast, and the room turns on its axis. “Woah, buddy, you better slow down on the fucking jungle juice,” he scolds himself.

Lance tucks the phone into his pocket, hoping not to make any more regrettable decisions for the rest of the evening.

--

“Dude, I’m so glad you seem to be doing better.” Hunk pats Lance solidly on the back and returns his attention to the current game of Asshole. “You looked… gloomy. Gloomy Lance is no fun at these things. I was worried.”

Lance snorts and presses his cards to his chest. He’s constantly impressed by how Hunk manages to string together full sentences when he’s several drinks (and shots) deep.  The guy easily drinks Lance under the table. He’d kill for that tolerance. Pidge has called him a “lightweight” on more occasions than he’d like to admit. And the sad thing is she’s definitely not wrong.

“It’s fine,” Lance drawls, dragging out the ‘i’ until Hunk’s eyebrows crawl all the way up his forehead. “Just a rough week, ya know? And— and! I found some cute people on Tinder so… really, who’s winning here?”

Hunk clicks his tongue and then surveys his hand of cards. He sets two Jacks on the growing pile in the middle of their makeshift circle. And Lance curses loudly because hot damn his largest pair is a set of measly 4’s. Or maybe they’re 9’s? Either way, he’s screwed.

“Dammit, dude,” Lance sighs and reaches for his half-empty cup of vodka and Sprite. “I’m gonna be the Asshole again at this rate.”

“You’ll always be the Asshole in our hearts.” Pidge touches a hand to her chest and pretends to wipe away tears with the other. Lance sticks his tongue out at her from across the circle.

“The worst president ever…”

“I’m sorry, there’s no way I heard that right.” Pidge gestures at Lance. “Drink up, nerd.”

“It’s the tailor.”

“Yeah, no, that’s definitely not your nickname. You can’t just give yourself a nickname! Other people do that for you.”

“The sharpshooter?”

Pidge makes an obnoxious buzzer sound. She takes a healthy sip from her beer as she throws down her last card and languidly leans back. “Also a big fat nope.”

Lance opens his mouth to protest but, suddenly, his pocket vibrates.

One of the guys nearby whistles appreciatively, watching Lance unlock his phone. Rolo, that’s his name. Or at least Lance thinks. “Talking to someone important over there?” he asks groggily. Lance can barely make out the last couple words through the slur in his voice.

“Nah, just checkin’ Tinder. Probably a new match.” Lance opens the app and, yep, there she is. A pretty, tall girl with strawberry blond hair, glasses, and an absolutely blinding smile. Lance smiles back at her. “Bingo.”

He’s about to close Tinder— because messaging people after drinking this much alcohol is never a good idea— but something silent, something evil, urges him to scroll through his other matches. And there, still very near the top of the list, is Keith.

You should message him.

No, you definitely shouldn’t do that. No.

Do it.

“Shut the fuck up,” he grumbles out loud. Lance’s conscious engages in a heated war with his drunk alter ego. His finger hovers over the tiny circle for a few seconds before he finally caves and presses the screen. The icon at the top is small, but not small enough to obscure Keith’s deadpan expression.

Okay, now, Lance isn’t known for making the best decisions. He knows this. But the thought of sending Keith some ridiculous pickup line is far too tempting. What would it hurt anyway? He could always pass it off as “drunk texting” or maybe he could just unmatch Keith immediately afterward and, boomity boom, problem solved.

Lance glances around the circle, just to make sure Hunk and Pidge are thoroughly distracted, before pulling up his keyboard. There are so many terrible ones to choose from. Lance has seen some of the most cringe-worthy shit. He needs it to be relevant, but it shouldn’t be difficult. Keith’s profile provides a plethora of juicy meme material. A meme gold mine, honestly.

There is one, though, that Lance has always wanted to use.

is your mom an alien? because dat ass is out of this world

Oh God, oh God, he’s dying on the inside. He really just sent that message. To Keith, of all people. Keith, who glares at anyone who tries to take the seats on either side of him in their flight dynamics class. Keith, who refuses to go to a single of their parties, even if only the original trio members— Hunk, Pidge, and Lance— are present. Keith, who has an awkward fucking post-workout selfie on his Tinder profile.

Lance waits for a few minutes, maybe an hour, who knows, before he starts getting anxious. They’re in the middle of a round of Asshole when Lance checks his phone. Still nothing. It isn’t until Pidge has claimed her sixth consecutive presidency and instills a second player rule that Lance lets his frustration get the better of him.

Stupid Keith. Probably thinks he’s better than me or something. With that stupid, stupid mullet of his. Lance angrily scrolls through his matches once again and stares at his earlier message. Is Keith really that much of a party pooper that he can’t even appreciate a dumb pickup line?

“Fine,” Lance grumbles, quiet enough that no one else appears to hear him. “I see how it is.”

The keyboard fills the bottom of the screen, and Lance types another message.

the aliens made me swipe right

And another.

hey baby wanna take a ride in my flying saucer?

Holy shit. Typing that message alone made Lance cringe; he can only imagine what Keith will think when he opens it. Lance kind of hopes he’ll laugh. Or at least crack a smile. Does Keith smile? For safe measure, Lance decides to tack on a more serious message.

well you seem cool as fuck

This is it- this is the end of Lance McClain. He’s now sent four consecutive unanswered messages to Keith on Tinder. And the first three are a couple of the most outrageous pickup lines he’s ever used before.

“Messaging that new match of yours?”

Lance squeaks and hastily stows away his phone. He turns, wide-eyed, toward Hunk. “Huh?”

Hunk gestures at the lump on his hip, faint blue light blinking through denim. “I saw you typing away over there. Fingers of fury-“ Hunk mimics his rapid-fire movements- “that’s you. So I figured it was the girl you just matched with on Tinder. Or, well, the guy. Doesn’t matter.”

“Oh, uh, yeah,” Lance manages to answer. “Yeah, it was.” Which isn’t technically a lie, now that he thinks about it. He and Keith did match, after all. As fucked up as that is.

“Just be careful, buddy. I know how your drunk texts can be.”

“I feel you,” Lance says. He silently wills his hand to move from his bulging pocket, but it refuses to do as he wants. “I’ll be careful.”

“Typical,” Pidge pipes up. She proudly fixes her attention on the girl next to her as she sets down her last card. “Well, well, well. I won again. I’m sure everyone’s surprised. And I think the president mandates that everyone switch to playing spin the bottle now.”

Oh boy.

--

Lance can barely drag himself out of bed the next morning.

Hunk is an amazing friend and runs out to grab the two of them some burgers and fries from the closest Five Guys. One double cheeseburger and regular cup of fries later, Lance starts to feel remotely more human. He takes something for the headache rattling inside his skull and chugs an entire bottle of water. Well, actually two bottles. He’s dehydrated, okay, and they ran out of Gatorade a couple days ago.

Once his stomach is full, headache subsided, Lance slinks into his room and gets to work on his assignments. There’s a shit ton of coding involved, and Lance is ready to jump out the window. Put an end to the shitshow that is his life. These are the moments he’s especially thankful he’s friends with Pidge.

Homework keeps him distracted for most of the day. Any breaks are spent eating or staring aimlessly at the ceiling of his room. He doesn’t check social media and opts to wait to check texts before he goes to bed. His friends will survive. Plus, the most important dude of the bunch lives with Lance.

By the time midnight rolls around, Lance crawls into bed. Ten minutes is all it takes for him to drop into dreamland. He fantasizes about lakes filled with orange soda, Swedish Fish swimming around like actual fish, and canoes made of hollowed out waffle-cones.

There’s a glimpse of dark hair and- Lance can’t tell. He doesn’t know. His dreams are always pretty bizarre the night after a party. And that’s coming from someone with a vivid imagination and the ability to occasionally lucid dream.

Too bad there aren’t any candy mermaids.

--

Monday’s are the worst.

Lance almost doesn’t get out of bed the following morning. Screw his classes. Screw his professors and their garbage homework. Screw the people on campus who would probably chastise him for not showing up and make him feel like a big ole disappointment and— dammit. Yeah, that’s what finally pulls him out from under the covers.

He kicks the week off with flight dynamics. Which is just fan-freaking-tastic on days like this when he’d rather be at home, sleeping for the next… oh, ten hours. At least.

Slipping quietly into the front row, Lance sets his backpack down and folds the desk over his lap. The room is filled with the sounds of other students trudging in, equally unenthused about being there at such an early hour. They talk animatedly amongst themselves, but Lance doesn’t hear a word of it. Headphones in, he hums along to the tune of “Mr. Blue Sky” and takes the chance to stare at the blank board at the front of the lecture hall.

(Of course he’s not zoning out— that’s crazy talk.)

And, sometime during his usual Zone Out Session, Lance must slip into an alternate dimension. It’s the only explanation for what happens next.

“Hey.”

“Jesus Ch—“ Lance nearly jumps out of his own skin. A headphone slips free from his ear when he jerks to attention, eyes bulging out of his skull, as he comes face-to-face with none other than Keith. Tinder Keith. Grumpy maybe-photographer Keith. “Oh.”

“Are you—“ Keith’s face contorts into the weirdest of expressions and then his jaw snaps shut. He motions at Lance’s phone, sitting on the desk in front of him. “Do you— um?”

“Do I…?”

“Is that your phone?”

Lance blinks. “Yeah? Yeah, it’s my phone.”

He gives Keith a quick onceover. He’s wearing skin-tight dark jeans, black combat boots, and a scarlet red shirt, under a worn leather jacket. A huge NASA patch emblazons one arm and a Garrison Flight Academy on the other. He hardly knows Keith, having only watched him from a distance, and knows what little he does know thanks to Pidge.

“Don’t people usually start conversations with, like, a ‘hi’ or something? Maybe a ‘hey, dude, mind if I sit next to you?’” Lance crosses his arms over his chest and leans back in his chair.

The slightest flush tinges Keith’s cheeks. His brows furrow, regarding Lance critically. “You don’t know why I walked over here.”

“Sure, sure. But I also know you usually sit a few seats over. Down there, yeah, by that dude with the spiky hair. And yet you’re currently standing next to yours truly. So it’s not all that far-fetched to think you came over to say ‘hi,’ you know?”

Keith grimaces— he definitely knows.

“Although… you don’t like it when anyone sits on either side of you. I’ve noticed that, too. Is it because you need extra space for ‘business in the front, party in the back?’”

“Are you making fun of my hair?”

Lance shrugs. “It’s a mullet.”

“And?”

“And? And? It’s 2017, buddy. That style died years ago.”

Lance is really hoping Keith doesn’t recognize him. Casual, he needs to play it casual. He needs to convince Keith he doesn’t secretly like his hair and wonder how thick it is and what it’d feel like to run his fingers through— okay, yeah, not going there. This dude is supposed to be his academic rival. Lance just has to keep a level head, scare Keith off, and get ready for lecture. Piece of cake.

“Whatever. I don’t even know why I bothered to come over here. You were probably trashed when you messaged me last night anyway.”

When you messaged me last night.

Lance’s brain shuts down from that single sentence alone. He opts to play dumb. “Message?”  

If at all possible, Keith looks even more anxious. “Yeah… you have— you’re on that Tinder site or whatever, right?”

“Okay, first off,” Lance starts, lifting a single finger in the air, “Tinder is an app, not a website. Secondly…”

Lance wants to curl up in a ball and die. This is awful, the worst case scenario playing out in front of his very own eyes. Keith was supposed to ignore him. He was supposed to read Lance’s message, dismiss it as drunk gibberish, and carry on as if nothing happened. Never in a million years did Lance expect Keith to approach him about this. Lance has matched with countless people on Tinder who haven’t answered his messages— and even more avoid him in public.

So why did Keith have to be different?

“Secondly?” Keith prompts, glancing at Lance’s two raised fingers.

“Uh, secondly… yes? I have a Tinder?”

“You don’t sound too sure about that. Do you or do you not?”

God, when did this turn into an interrogation? Lance sighs resignedly. “Yeah, I have one.”

Keith offers a slight nod and reaches into his jacket. The leather is worn, clearly a hand-me-down, and it completes the Bad Boy image he has going on. Lance itches to reach out and touch, to brush his hand up the length of his arm and— that’s weird, Lance. Weird.

Keith pulls a phone out of his pocket and, oh no, why is he unlocking the screen?

Lance chuckles nervously. “What are you—”

“This is you, right?” Keith holds the phone in front of Lance’s face. It’s unmistakably him. The selfie, one of Lance’s absolute favorites, grins smugly back at him. Keith tilts the screen slightly. “Lance. You’re Lance.”

He doesn’t word it like a question at all. The little bastard already knows he’s found me out. Lance shrugs by way of agreement. There’s no point in arguing when his own fucking face is right there, in the palm of Keith’s hand.

“And based on these pictures… you were totally shit-faced last night, weren’t you?”

He was, but that wasn’t the primary reason he’d sought out Keith. “I was feelin’ myself, sure.”

Keith rolls his eyes. “Figures.”

Lie, Lance, lie! “I would’ve swiped right whether I was drunk off my ass or totally sober.”

No, no, no, no, what the actual fuck is wrong with you, no—

“Would you have sent those shitty pickup lines even if you were sober? Please say no. I need you to say no or I’m walking away.”

“Um…”

“Alright, well, it’s been nice. I guess. But I think I’ll just see myself out.”

“Wait!” Lance finds himself yelling after Keith. To his surprise— and delight— Keith stops in his tracks and turns. “Aw, c’mon, it’s Tinder. You’re supposed to open with a dumb icebreaker. That’s what makes it fun!”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Maybe a little, but it keeps things interesting.” Lance flashes Keith a weak smile. “Besides, it got your attention, didn’t it?”

“If by attention, you mean I read each new message, cringed harder every time, and considered deleting the damn thing off my phone…”

“Fine, geez, your definition of ‘fun’ is totally different than mine,” Lance says, “I get it if you don’t want any part of me after all that. But just know I wasn’t trying to be a dick. I didn’t do it— I didn’t do it just to get in your pants.”

Keith purses his lips, nose scrunching. Lance tries desperately not to think about how cute the gesture is but, well, he fails spectacularly. Keith scrutinizes Lance like he would one of their flight dynamics problems, like he scrutinizes their professor on a daily basis whenever the guy talks about his personal flight experience and attempts relating it to course material.

“The last message,” Keith begins, eyes fixed on Lance. “You sent all of those messages. Even the last one. About…”

“About how cool you are? Yeah, dude,” Lance interjects, “And I was serious. I don’t know you all that well, and we're kinda rivals” —Keith scoffs at that— “but Pidge seems to think pretty highly of you, which says a lot. Plus, we’re in the same major, and this professor is lowkey in love with you. Even though he also seems to hate you? Confusing stuff, but, yeah, you must be smart.”

Lance watches in fascination as this stoic, mysterious dork has the nerve to blush. Crimson floods his face and, yep, there’s no way in hell Lance can stop the word cute from popping up in his head now. Keith generally has an angry sort of air about him, the sort of attitude you expect from someone who’s always raring for a fight. But like this— Lance thinks he’s glimpsing a new side of Keith, a side not many people are lucky enough to see.

And, God, does that do things to his poor little bisexual heart.

“When’s your next party?”

“Huh?”

“When are you and your friends having another party? I could come—“ Keith hesitates mid-sentence. “I could head over with Pidge and stay for a little bit.”

Lance grins. It looks like he’s been right all along; Keith is full of surprises.

--

The rest of the week seems to pass by in a blur.

Lance pays attention in class as usual and finishes his assignments– no problem there. But it’s like he’s operating on autopilot or something. Wake up, eat breakfast, go to class, eat lunch, come home, maybe workout, finish homework, eat dinner, go to sleep. Lance feels like a robot, carrying out the days’ preprogrammed tasks.

Maybe Pidge finally built a full-scale robot and stuck Lance’s consciousness inside; he wouldn’t be shocked. And, as distracted as he’s been all week, it wouldn’t have been difficult to catch him off guard.

When Saturday finally rolls around, Lance is amazed he hasn’t gone completely out of his mind.

Hunk pours a bag of Dorito’s into a bowl and scooches across the kitchen to check the oven, peeking at the boneless wings and potato wedges cooking inside. The timer isn’t set to go off for another ten minutes, and Lance is starving.

“Hey, Lance?”

“Hm?” Lance hums. He leans his elbows against the kitchen island, propping his chin in his hands. The chips and salsa are glaring at him from their place on the counter; he’s sure of it.

“Are you okay? You seem a little… preoccupied.”

Shit. Hunk has always been obnoxiously perceptive. It’s sad how easy it is for him to pick up on Lance’s mood changes. He can practically tell when Lance is upset before Lance himself even realizes it.

“Yeah, I’m totally fine. Fine as wine,” Lance answers, sitting up a bit straighter in his seat. “You worry too much, buddy.”

“Maybe I do, but still. You’ve been acting sorta weird ever since our party last week. I didn’t notice you get any new numbers. Usually, you get at least… like, five over the course of the night.”

“Eh, no one really caught my eye this time around.” Lance shrugs. It’s supposed to come off as nonchalant. Well, supposed to. “Plus, I was having a shitty day, remember? Hard to put the moves on all the ladies and gents when I’m feeling like garbage.”

“I guess…”

“Listen, dude, I would tell you if something was wrong. You know that.”

“I do, don’t get me wrong,” Hunk says with a nod. He pauses for a moment and, thankfully, switches topics. “Oh, totally random, but did you hear about who might be coming tonight?”

Lance smirks. Now, this is safe territory. Whenever a cute girl or guy is invited to one of their parties, Hunk is the first to let Lance know. He’s quite the matchmaker when he wants to be and, ever since he and Shay started dating, he’s been even more adamant about finding someone for Lance. Double dating– he really wants to go on double dates. Well, he’s also an awesome friend who wants what’s best for Lance, but that’s a given.

“No,” Lance fake gasps, bringing a hand to his mouth. ”Who? Is it that Chelsea girl from Pidge’s physics class? Or that dude who looks like a supermodel and sits next to you in fluid mechanics?”

“Nope and nope. Guess again.”

“Uh… Jake from State Farm?”

Hunk glares daggers in his direction. “Lance, seriously? A good guess. I doubt you’re gonna get it.”

“Nyma?”

“No, not your ex-girlfriend, dude. She’s cool, but that would just be weird. Try harder.”

“Rolo? He came last time, though.”

“No sir-ee,” Hunk singsongs.

“Ugh, fine. I hate these guessing games. Please, just tell me already? I’m going crazy over here.”

Hunk motions for Lance to come closer and, of course, Lance complies. Hunk lifts a hand and shields his moving lips from anyone– the ghosts because their apartment is almost definitely haunted– who may be listening to their conversation. “You won’t believe this.”

“Okay,” Lance huffs.

“Like… it’ll blow your mind.”

“Yeah, yeah, get on with it already. The suspense is killing me.”

Hunk pauses for dramatic effect and, just when Lance is about to scream, finishes in a whisper, “Keith.”

Yes, his life is a joke, in case you were wondering. A certifiable and totally unfunny joke. The kind with chirping crickets and everything.

Lance has known Keith planned on coming since Monday. Monday. But of course he couldn’t tell Hunk. He loves the guy to death, but Lance knew exactly what would happen had he told him. He would’ve drowned in the usual slew of questions. Have you guys been talking? How long? When did it start? Do you like him?

Bleh.

It’s bad enough that Lance is crushing on Keith– because, yes, he’s accepted he has a teeny tiny crush, at this point– but toss in Hunk’s protectiveness and the whole situation goes “to hell in a handbasket,” as his mom would say.

“Really?” Lance attempts to feign surprise. “That antisocial dickbag?”

“Hey, dude, give him a chance. He doesn’t get out much, and Pidge has been trying to get him over here for ages. The least we can do is be good hosts.”

Oh, Lance plans on being a good host. The best host. “I’ll behave myself, don’t worry. He’ll probably just ignore me anyway.” Lance gestures at the couch in the other room. “He’ll claim the couch and chill there for the rest of the night. I can almost guarantee it.”

Hunk scoffs and shakes his head. “Maybe. But you never know… he seems like the kind of guy who’s full of surprises.”

Lance stifles a laugh at that. You have no idea, Hunk.

--

Lance wishes he hadn’t been the one to answer the door when Keith and Pidge show up.

He wishes he hadn’t felt his face flush pink at the sight of Keith, dressed in the kind of clothes he often wears to class. He wishes that a simple black t-shirt and skinny jeans didn’t make him weak in the knees. He wishes Keith hadn’t met his flustered greeting with a quiet, “Hey.” And, God, does he wish Pidge would stop smirking in his direction every time he and Keith are within a couple feet of each other.

The party started about an hour ago. Most of the guests have filed into the room with the pong table. Lance bought the plastic, dinky thing dirt cheap from a friend of his, and Hunk keeps it stored in his closet. On nights like this, they set it up in the living room, close to the opposite wall and as far from the television as possible.

Hunk and Shay are halfway through a heated game against Rolo and his friend. Lance never did get his name- but that’s beside the point.

“So…” Pidge slides over and trills, to be heard over the din of excited voices. “Lance, my good friend. You having fun?”

Lance knows that tone. It’s the sort of tone you’d expect from an evil villain as they explain the details of their plot to take over the world. Which, come to think of it, is pretty fitting since Pidge could be an evil genius mastermind, if she so desired.

“Uh, yeah. Duh. Why?”

“Hm, nothing. You just seemed… really happy tonight.”

“Okay? I’ve had a pretty kickass week. Finished all my homework early, got an A on my first thermodynamics quiz.” Like with Hunk, Lance tries to keep his voice neutral. “You and Hunk both need to chill.”

“Lance… I wasn’t born yesterday.”

“Are you sure? You could pass as a high school- ouch!” Lance winces, rubbing the tender area Pidge just dug her bony elbow into. “Fine, I deserved that. But, seriously, I have no idea what you’re getting at.”

“You’ve been ogling Keith all fucking night and didn’t expect me to notice?”

Nervous laughter bursts from Lance’s mouth. “What? Are you crazy?”

“Not any more than normal. Keith told me that he was coming so he could see you.”

Oh.

There’s no way out of this one– not when Pidge clearly knows the truth. Plus, his brain is pretty stuck on the whole “Keith is here to see you” thing. Because he figured Keith wouldn’t even show up in the first place, let alone seek him out.

“The mullet of truth strikes again…” Lance mutters.

“Chill, chill. Go talk to him or something! You’ve been too busy drooling to actually chat, and I think he’s starting to feel pretty damn awkward.”

“Pfft, that was my plan all along.” Lance flourishes his hand, tipping his chin toward Keith. “Gotta keep the guests happy.”

“Yeah, ‘happy’ is a word for it…”

Lance decides to let the comment slide for now and carefully pushes his way through the crowd. Keith stands on the other side of the table, closest to Hunk and Shay. His arms are folded across his chest, and his gaze is currently boring holes through the back of a particularly loud partygoer's head.

He attempts to ignore the nervous fluttering in his stomach— go away, you damn butterflies— and grins. Keith doesn’t seem to notice Lance’s approach and continues glaring.

“You know, if you keep crossing your arms like that, they might freeze that way,” Lance teases. His smile grows when Keith flinches, wide eyes turning on Lance like he’s materialized out of thin air before him. “Hey, there.”

“When did— whatever.” Keith huffs— seriously huffs— and refuses to meet Lance’s stare. The current pong game is obviously more important. “Nice of you to finally come say ‘hi.’”

“I can’t even argue that one. I’ve been making the rounds but shame on me, neglecting the special guest of the evening.”

“Special guest?”

“Most of these losers show up to all of our parties. They’re the ‘regular guests.’ Then, you have the hosts. Hunk“ –he points out his roommate– “this fine piece of ass” –he playfully smacks his own ass and Keith scoffs– “and Pidge. Because, let’s face it, she’s pretty much a host regardless of whether she lives here or not.

“And you, my dude, are the ‘special guest.’”

Keith mulls the words over in his head, brows scrunched up in a way that Lance shouldn’t find as adorable as he does. “Why?”

“Didn’t Pidge tell you? You’re on the VIP list!”

Poor Keith’s eyes go even wider, wide as saucers. “Uh–“

“Kidding, kidding,” Lance snorts, “But only a little. I mean, for as long as we’ve been trying to get your ass here, I’d say you qualify as a VIP guest. Or… the VIM? Very Important Mullet?”

“God, you’re so hung up on my hair. Does it really bother you that much?”

“It’s the 21st century…”

“Yeah?”

“I shouldn’t have to go into any more detail than that.” Lance shakes his finger at Keith. “You should know better, young man.”

Lance anticipates a good eye roll or Keith telling him to fuck off or, hell, maybe even walking away. But no. He fucking laughs. This gorgeous human being tosses back his head and laughs like a dork. Unbridled and genuine laughter fills the space between them, mostly drowned out by the surrounding cacophony of drunkenness. Lance savors the fact he’s the only one who seemed to have heard it.

“That… that wasn’t even one of my better jokes, dude,” Lance chuckles anxiously.

“You’re just so weird sometimes,” Keith explains, once his laughter dies down a bit. “I don’t even know how to describe it.”

“I’m not sure whether I should be offended or…?”

“Offended. Definitely.”

But Keith’s body language tells Lance he should feel downright flattered right now.

“We should go somewhere quieter,” Keith continues, “I mean– we don’t have to. It’s whatever you want.”

Lance’s brain is broken. Seriously, he can hardly remember his own name because Keith is  propositioning him or some shit. It’s the closest he can imagine Keith getting to the whole cliché “let’s get out of here” excuse.

“Totally. We can go into my room if you want?”

Keith nods jerkily. “Cool.”

“Cool,” Lance mimes, drawing out the ‘o’ sound.

A couple uncomfortable moments of silence pass before Lance realizes they’re standing there, doing nothing. Not moving towards his room. Not talking. Literally, they are frozen in place like pieces of furniture, while people chat and mill around them.

Before he can lose confidence, Lance reaches out and snags Keith’s wrist. Keith outright gapes at him, confusion rolling off of him in waves. “C’mon, buddy, let’s blow this popsicle stand.”

“We’re not actually leaving the apartment, are we?”

“My room? Remember?” Lance lets out an overdramatic, longsuffering sigh and tugs Keith in the direction of the hallway. “That mullet is absorbing all your memories. You probably don’t even remember what you had for breakfast this morning.”

“…”

“Oh God, you got quiet! You really don’t remember what you ate for—“

“You have a problem, Lance.”

--

This might also qualify as one of Lance’s infamous Bad Decisions.

It’s easy for Lance to act cool and like he has his shit together when there are other people around. Hunk has a knack for making Lance seem more suave than he actually is. But when he’s trapped in his room with Keith, truly alone, for the first time, none of that matters.

He fits in here. The thought crosses Lance’s mind before he can stop it. He wants to kick himself but, holy balls, it’s true.

A wide variety of posters for sci-fi shows and movies, for NASA, for the Garrison Academy, fill the walls. There are even a couple from when he was little and his mom would help him tear posters out of National Geographic magazines. The ceiling is also covered but with glow-in-the-dark stars. He remembers the day Pidge helped, handing stars up to Lance who was much taller and could effortlessly reach the ceiling from his bed.

His desk sits in the opposite corner. The shelf over his working space is filled with books, old comics from his dad, and a handful of manga volumes. There are other little collectibles scattered throughout the room. Keith circles the perimeter, peering curiously at Lance’s assortment of weird items. A moon night light, a stuffed Saturn plush, one of his most prized surfboards— the entire room is filled to the brim with items that simply scream ‘Lance’ and yet… Keith doesn’t seem out of place.

The realization stirs something inside Lance’s chest he’d rather not confront.

“Hi, I’m Lance McClain, and welcome to my crib,” Lance says. Keith pauses his inspection of the American X-Planes poster near Lance’s bed. “You like planes?”

Keith presses his palm to the picture of the X-15. “Yeah… yeah, my dad used to fly them.”

“That’s awesome!” Lance can’t help his outburst. The five-year-old trapped inside his body is dying to pilot a plane. “Is that what got you into the whole aerospace field?”

“Sort of…”

“Okay, sit down. There’s obviously more to it than that.” Lance takes a seat at the end of his bed and eagerly pats the spot next to him. “Let’s hear it, mullet.”

“My name is Keith, okay,” Keith answers with a sigh but joins Lance anyway. “And do I really have to share that? I basically just met you.”

“If we’re going to be friends, I think I deserve to know. Here, I’ll go first! I got into it because I’ve always wanted to be a pilot. And, I don’t know, there’s just something I really love about planes and space and all that fun stuff. So the thought of helping build or design an aircraft...”

The very beginnings of a smile start to take shape on Keith’s lips; Lance somehow manages to live through it.

“That makes sense, though,” Keith concedes. “But my other reason is… you’re going to laugh at me.”

“I swear I won’t.”

“We just met, Lance, but I already know that’s a load of bullshit.”

“Hey! I have serious conversations with Hunk and Pidge all the time. Just spit it out already, dude. I’m sure I have far more embarrassing stories from my past. Hell, I have a shit load from freshman year alone!” He offers what he hopes to be a reassuring smile and elbows Keith. “So go ahead. Tell Lancelot what’s on your mind.”

Keith blinks. “Lancelot.”

“That would be me. Now, explain.”

“You’re drunk.”

“It’s hardly a buzz at this point. Stop trying to distract me!”

“Says the guy who just called himself Lancelot—“

“Keith,” Lance whines and, without a second thought, lets his body slump over. He instantly feels Keith stiffen against him. Uh oh.

“You’re drunk,” Keith repeats, voice strained.

He’s so damn warm and not quite the bony pillow Lance imagined him to be. Not that he’s imagined using Keith as a pillow or anything. Nope, never. And maybe Keith is right, he’s a little buzzed. Certainly not enough to lose control of his own actions, though.

“Only a little,” Lance answers and smirks; his words don’t even come out slurred. Score one for tipsy Lance. “So, tell me.”

Keith shifts in place. “Okay, well… I want to meet an alien.”

Lance musters every ounce of self-control left in his body and contains his laughter. Keith would likely misinterpret it anyway when, in reality, Lance finds the reasoning to be endearing. “Don’t we all?”

“You’re not going to make fun of me?”

“I might slip a couple jokes in, here and there, but no. We all have dreams, dude. And so what if yours is meeting E.T.? I’d love to meet an alien, too. So whenever you finally come across one, you better let me know first. Okay? Not the F.B.I. or C.I.A. Me. ”

The air stills. Lance can practically feel the tension hanging in the space around them. “Yeah. Yeah, okay.”

“You’re the bomb,” Lance insists, and tries to subtly scoot closer. He doubts it’s even remotely subtle. “Now, since you’re the one who wanted to get away from all the craziness… what do you wanna do?”

Still as stiff as a board next to him, Keith clears his throat. “I, uh. I don’t know. There was just so much going on, and I needed some peace and quiet.”

“Ah, so that’s it.”

“…What’s it?”

“Why you never come to our parties. I used to always think it was because you thought you were too good to come over and drink—“

“What the hell?”

“—with us. But it’s really because you’re not much of a social butterfly, huh, Keithy?”

Keith shifts and, for a split second, Lance is sure he’s going to get shoved off the bed. “Don’t call me that,” he grumbles, “And, no, I’m not an asshole. I never thought I was ‘too good’ to hang out with you guys. It’s just the crowds and the drinking… it’s not my thing. At all.”

Lance hums. “That makes sense. It’s alright, dude, I get it. I have an older sister who never got into the whole party scene. And, I mean, our parties aren’t like the ones on frat row. We all know each other somehow, and we play it pretty safe.”

“I know… Pidge has told me before.” Keith pauses and groans. “Constantly tells me.”

“Well, it’s the truth. You’ve always been welcome here. And if you’d rather just chill in my room instead… that would be okay with me.”

Lance can practically feel the tension leaving Keith’s body, loosening his muscles. He definitely doesn’t seem as comfortable as Lance, but it’s an improvement.

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool, um. Thank you.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

The room goes silent. Outside, a chorus of “Kick his ass, kick his ass, kick his ass!” echoes throughout the apartment. Lance is pretty sure it’s directed at some drunk sap, seconds away from getting destroyed by Hunk and Shay at pong. He focuses on the noise rather than the far more disconcerting lack of noise inside the cramped confines of his bedroom.

“Do you wanna watch something on Netflix? Like… a movie?”

The invitation has the desired effect. Keith laughs— a real laugh— and starts rattling off all the shows he’s been watching or wanted to watch. There are a few Lance recognizes and loves, while there are others that make Lance giggle because they’re way too ridiculous to actually watch. Keith spends a solid ten minutes defending the cheesy alien movies on the Syfy channel, and Lance spends another fifteen minutes explaining the beauty of Twin Peaks. They find a common ground in X-Files and Stranger Things which Lance doesn’t find all that surprising, considering how much Keith is starting to remind him of Mulder.

Somehow, they end up sitting side-by-side on Lance’s bed, laptop between them, watching Ancient Aliens late into the night.

Lance has more fun than he’s had in months.

--

Pidge teases him for the rest of the week about sneaking off with Keith. Hunk and Shay gush over how cute they were when Keith eventually went home and Lance led him to the door. Lance isn’t sure which is worse, but he knows his friends are certifiable dicks and need to let him live.

Keith starts sitting next to him in class. It’s both a blessing and a curse because, on one hand, Lance gets a perfect view of Keith’s attractive profile. But, on the other hand, it means the professor starts paying more attention to his existence since Keith refuses to shut up. He’s always raising his hand and asking questions. And, by proxy, the professors start assuming Lance is an equally persistent student.

He’s never been called on so many times in his entire life.

Keith becomes a regular at their weekly get-togethers. As promised, Lance lets him flee to the safety of his room when the drinking games get to be too loud and boisterous for his tastes. And, alright, so what if Lance joins him every time? What if he gives zero shits about the cute new guests and cares a lot more about the dorky genius with a mullet who insists on devising theories for every sci-fi show in existence, cheesy or not?

It’s no big deal or anything.

They also start eating lunch together a couple days a week, when their schedules match up. It’s fantastic, but there’s a voice in the back of Lance’s head that keeps reminding him that he and Keith are only friends.

Friends.

Freakin’ weird. Lance loves having a bunch of friends. He prefers having a small group of close friends and a second, much larger group, of acquaintances to drink with at parties. He’s been that way since high school and yet… Lance winces every time the word crosses his mind and Keith is involved.

On one of the days he eats lunch with Hunk and Pidge, Lance can’t stop thinking about it. Keith, broody but dorky, serious but silly, realistic but out there because the dude believes in aliens and— Keith is different. Totally unique. It’s the worst.

“Are you sure nothing happened with you and Keith?” Pidge asks between mouthfuls of pizza. She always starts by eating the cheese and toppings off the top and saves the crust for last.

Right on cue, Lance feels his phone vibrate and glances down to check the notification. A snapchat from Keith.

“Like that!” Hunk points, grinning wide and much too excited. “I didn’t even know you two snapped each other. How long has that been going on?”

Lance shrugs. “I don’t know, I gave him my snap a couple weekends ago. We wanted to watch this new movie on the Syfy channel, and he got all pissy because I couldn’t wait a couple days longer to watch it so we could together.”

Hunk blinks owlishly back at Lance. Pidge freezes, a string of melty cheese dangling from her gaping mouth. Neither say a word, and a guffaw wrenches itself from Lance’s throat. “What?”

Hunk is the first to regain control of his mouth. “I don’t want to freak you out or anything, dude, but… you guys are totally dating.”

Lance almost spills an entire can of orange soda down the front of his shirt. ”What?”

“Oh, c’mon. You guys are practically inseparable. Plus, I know that Keith spent the night the last couple times he came over. Something had to have happened. You’re” –Pidge swishes her hand through the air, indicating Lance’s whole person– “Lance. You can’t tell me you guys didn’t have crazy, hot s—“

Hunk claps a hand over Pidge’s mouth. Her eyes bulge and then narrow into a murderous glare, directed fully at Hunk. “I think what Pidge is trying to say is that… we know what happens with the girls and guys who spend the night after our parties. And we’re happy that you’re actually still talking to Keith. He’s too cool to be a one night stand.”

They think he slept with Keith. Lance can’t stop the onslaught of mental images at the mere mention of he and Keith, sleeping together. Dark hair plastered to Keith’s forehead, head thrown back as moans and whimpers spill over his lips, heavy with longing. Lance, he would sigh. Lance, between bouts of breathless laughter as their lips slide together, slow and languid, fingers gliding over warm skin. Lance, whispered into the curve of his neck as their breathing eventually settles, wrapped around each other before they drift off to sleep.

Lance is so completely and utterly fucked. And not in the literal sense.

“He’s not— we didn’t— Keith and I are friends,” Lance stresses. Because they are. If he were to ask Keith right now if they were dating, he would think Lance had lost his mind. “I promise.”

Pidge turns the fiery intensity of her stare on Lance. Hunk lowers his hand and levels Lance with a frustrated look of his own. Lance has seen both expressions far too many times. His stomach sinks.

“You like him,” Pidge deadpans. Her tone leaves no room for argument. Definitive— a statement of fact. “You like Keith.”

“I—“

“You can tell us the truth, buddy. It’s not like we’re going to tell him,” Hunk explains, somewhat softer than Pidge. “But you should be honest with yourself. I’d hate to see either of you get hurt.”

“Guys, we haven’t even kissed.”

Hunk looks downright scandalized. “You haven’t?”

“Are you sure?” Pidge leans across the table.

“Uh, yeah? How would I forget something like that?”

Lance doesn’t catch his mistake until it’s a second too late.

“I knew it!”

“You do like him!”

Pidge and Hunk both screech at the same time, and Lance motions for them to lower their voices, frantically hissing, “Shhhh. Shh, shhh.”

“This is the cutest thing that’s ever happened to me?” Hunk intones, pressing a hand to his chest.

“You guys are the stupidest dorks I’ve ever met,” Pidge says between bites of pizza crust. “This makes so much sense. I can’t believe I didn’t try to set you guys up sooner.”

“Hunk, you and Shay are sickeningly cute so I don’t want to hear it. And Keith is only a friend, okay?”

Pidge shakes her head. “No, I’m serious about you both being idiots. Keith talks about you all the fucking time around the apartment. Poor Shiro has asked me, like, a thousand times if you two have started going out yet. He said he’s never seen Keith like this before.”

Lance’s heart does something weird inside his chest, flipping and flopping like a fish out of water. He and Keith have had several discussions about siblings, and Lance knows just how important Shiro is to Keith. When Keith’s parents passed away, Shiro’s family took him in and raised him like he was one of their own. If Keith values Lance enough to tell Shiro…

“This sucks ass,” Lance mutters and sinks in his seat, covering his face with his hands. “Like, wow, this sucks.”

“What, because you’re interested in someone for more than just a night of sex?”

“Pidge,” Hunk hisses. He offers Lance an apologetic smile. “I’m sure it’s tough. You could always start by asking him out? Like on an actual date?”

And that, friends, is when things get really interesting.

#klance #voltron #voltron legendary defender #vld #klance fic #keith #lance #otp: we had a bonding moment! #i cradled you in my arms! #my fic #mine #my fic: klance #my fic: voltron #WOW THIS IS THE EPITOME OF SELF-INDULGENCE #heavy on the humor #or at least i think/hope so #there won't be many chapters but yeah here we go #hope everyone enjoys the ride #long post for ts