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incandescentflower · 9 months

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bad buddy fandom getting-to-know-you meme!

a getting-to-know-you meme for people to introduce themselves in the bbs fandom by @fiercynn

note: "fanworks" are defined here as pretty much everything people create related to a fandom, including but not limited to meta/analysis/discussion, gifs, fanvids/edits/fancams, filk, fanart, fanfic, fan food, fan crafts, etc. please include this note with the meme unless you have a different definition!

name and whatever you want to share about yourself

I'm MJ. I love writing fic and talking about shows with people. I write mostly BL. I am in a few fandoms, but bbs is definitely one I'm still writing (albeit slower lately).

this is crazy long so here's a cut -

when did you watch bad buddy/join the fandom?

I started watching after episode 2 aired. The name first turned me off. I didn't actually know who Ohm or Nanon was, lol I know right? I enjoyed some Thai BLs but none had hit for me. I saw a gif set of when Pat and Pran were looking at that empty dorm and Pat grabbed Pran right by the thigh and I was like, what the hell, I have to know what is happening there. Except, they were fooling me that this was just a light, silly, flirty show and hit me with such emotional resonance that I haven't freed myself yet. I wrote my first fic at the end of November 2021 and have been writing for them ever since.

favorite ship(s)

I am Pat/Pran through and through. I like other ships too but they are the reason I'm here.

favorite character(s)

I love both Pat and Pran. I like writing more from Pat pov because honestly Pran hits a little too close to home for me. :) All the side characters are fun and that is one of the reasons I love this show - Ink/Pa especially.

favorite episode(s) - these kinds of choices are just cruel but I would say episode 11. The raw emotions throughout it just killed me.

favorite scene (s) - rooftop aside, I recently mentioned the "thanks for trying to make this silly guy happy" scene from 11 as one of my favorites of all Thai bl (it's true), besides that, the scene when Pran brings Pat the drink, Pat tries to offer to say they aren't together anymore, the way Pran initiates them holding hands under the table and the way Pran knows Pat liked his drink less sweet. My heart tugs just thinking about it. <3

one thing you would change about the show if you could

more Ink/Pa would have been so nice and also, stop teasing us P'Aof and give us Wai/Korn

what are some of your favorite fanworks made by other people?

This is absolutely impossible. This fandom has so many wonderful creators in so many ways - art, fic, meta, edits. I think some things just stuck in the brain either because they were given to me because that's what I love about fandom most - the giving - or I was struck by them as they really hit my feels about the show at the time. but this is by no means an exhaustive list and I don't even know how I'd do that.

@geonbaeeee makes all kinds of amazing art, but I loved this one because they are some of my favorite scenes.

when I think of bbs art, I always think of this series. I don't even care about weddings tbh, but I just love how all their personalities are displayed here and I do think this is exactly what Pat and Pran would want haha

@funyasm made me this wonderful mood board for bbs as gift that was a big heart hug

@creativityobsessed wrote the coolest music meta about episode 5 and I still think about it sometimes.

I've been fortunate enough to be given two really wonderful gift fics. @galauvant gifted me Family Ties with some good Jindapat siblings content and triplelovescore gifted me a crack in the foundation with some excellent Pat hurt/comfort. Both were so good at giving the heart a little twist.

(if you create fanworks) what are your favorite fanworks that you’ve made?

I would say if you've only read one work in the fandom by me it's probably Up the Ante. And I do love it, but I think honestly, my favorite might be one of my least read - "I'm here, if you want me," which I wrote in the week between episode 11 and 12 in that "you had to be there" time in the fandom. It was a "if they really did break up let's fix-it" fic. I think it could have actually been a longer AU if I had any patience at all, but I needed soothing in the moment lol. Pat's love for Pran shown in the way we all know he would give it - as self-sacrificing as possible, and Pran's love of Pat shown through his music. It just felt right.

Anyway, I have others too. Honestly, it's like trying to pick a favorite child. Fanworks are works of love and each have their reasons for why I wanted to write them and why I love them.

a song that makes you think of bbs (the ones in the show don’t count lol) ha ha, look, this show has a theme song with multiple versions, a secondary song, another song that is now an in canon Pran-written song, Pat's ourskyy song, the og trailer song, the when we were younger instrumental, when the lyrical version is also amazing, and one of my faves is Keep Coming Back to the Start which we only hear for a tiny bit at the end of episode 6, but is an awesome song. but okay, yeah, beyond that and the instrumentals, I have a whole playlist that includes these and others. many songs come from some of the amazing edits out there. anyway, that's a long answer to mention "If our Love is Wrong" by Calum Scott, which I got from this edit (yes this is a cheat to link another fanwork)

idk anything else you want us to know?

I've met some really kind people through the bbs fandom and I really appreciate them very much. <3

I know that there are definitely people who used to be in bbs fandom not tagged in someone else's posts but I am not sure who still considers themselves in it. so this is a chance to say so. :)

#bad buddy #bad buddy fandom #tag game #getting to know you meme

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liebgotts-lovergirl · 9 months

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Hiya bestie, welcome back! 💕 8, 9, and 16 for the violence ask game?

Aw thank you so much, bestie!! 💖 I had to give these some serious ponderance lol

♥ 8.) Common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about?

Way too many people seem to have a very tough/borderline violent badboy idea of Lieb but I will live and die by Soft!Lieb, I don't even care. Dude literally risked his life to comfort and save Ed Tipper and was the oldest child in his family, taking care of his younger siblings. Yes he was a ruthless interrogator and yes he had a hatred for Nazis but that is exactly why the contrast is so striking and I wish we saw that more!

♥ 9.) Worst part of canon?

Skip's death. Knowing all that I know about the amazing person he was, it just really hits extra hard because we all needed someone like that in our lives at some point and it's a crime that he didn't get to live into old age like he deserved. I mean, Jesus Christ, he died at age 22. I'm 24 now and like, I can't even properly fucking fathom that.

But also, on a lighter note, why do we all seem to routinely ignore the fact that Bill Guarnere actually ended up getting an STI?? Why are we not talking about this more? You just know people never let him live that down. It's awful but it's fucking Hilarious imo 🤣

♥ 16.) You can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)?

It took me so fucking long to finally understand the Friends-To-Lovers trope (Ik, Ik, boo me 💀) because I've only ever been extremely disappointed when my guy friends end up crushing on me lol. My friendships and my love life are generally pretty separate-- I don't have male friends that I'm attracted to, I just don't. If I'm attracted to someone, I make a move; it's very simple lol. So it took me a really long time to be able to wrap my head around the notion. Reading hella good fics-- *cough* LAGLAM and SBT *cough*-- made me come around to understanding it but it took a lot of time up to that point to get me there! 🤣

Thank you so much for the ask, my darling!! 💖

#AlyAnswers #TumblrBesties

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wwalkingdread · 2 years

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Hi, can I just say how thankful I am you're keeping the fandom breathing? I love TWDG so much, Louis and Mitch are my comfort characters, and I can really picture them with how well you write about them!

So thank you! U da best, and take care of yourself!

Also um, if it's not a bother, will you write something about Lou and Mitch (separate) reacting to an s/o who can sing really well? If not, it's totally fine 😊

❥ Mitch and Louis with an S/O Who Can Sing

Characters: Louis, Mitch

Description: Louis and Mitch with an S/O who’s a great singer.

Warnings: None :o)

Notes: THIS IS VERY SWEET THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! <3333 AHhhhhH!!!! I appreciate this feedback so much you don’t understand <3 :o) You have no idea how much this means to me <333 I struggle to write for Louis and Mitch so I’m very surprised… But thank you!! <3

Sidenote, but does anybody else know the song We Don’t Talk About Bruno from Encanto? I can’t explain why, but I feel like Camilo’s part has Louis vibes. I can just imagine him singing that constantly. Especially with the way he sings “Isabella, your boyfriends’ here” in that teasing cousin way? Louis vibes. Rest in peace Louis. You would’ve loved the Encanto soundtrack.

Louis

♥︎ Honestly, Louis would be thrilled. He’s very theatric and enjoys singing, so he’d be very happy to know somebody he could have duetting him. There are some broadway songs he needs two people for and nobody else at Ericson will entertain the idea of helping him out, despite his pleading.

♥︎ He was blown away the first time he hears you and wasn’t afraid to let you know. He’d immediately start complimenting you. Then he’d try to arrange a duet.

♥︎ If it was a song he knew, he might’ve even started singing along with you, grinning.

♥︎ “What parts would you say you’re better at? ‘Cause I could try with the high parts, but I’m not sure if I want my voice breaking around you.”

♥︎ I think people would honestly be annoyed at how cutesy you two were. They could hear Louis, and maybe even you, both playing the piano together and just harmonising. It’s nice. It’s peaceful and it’s sweet to hear something like that when roaming the hallway. It makes you forget about what’s just over the walls and how everything wants to kill you.

♥︎ But guys… Please stop. It’s staring to feel incredibly Disney…

♥︎ You’re his muse. He takes so much inspiration from you and does his best to compose music that helps him express exactly what he feels about you, without the jokes and the humour.

♥︎ He’s so in love with you, he just has to express it in a way you’d both connect with.

♥︎ You help him live out his life the way he wants. Not many people understand his way of living, how he wants to not worry about tomorrow and just have fun today. He wants to play piano everyday with you, to sing everyday with you. You make him start to actually think about tomorrow, just because he’s already planning ahead. Like, he’s getting ready to practice a song from a musical with you.

♥︎ He doesn’t worry about tomorrow, he’s just excited for it because you’ll be there singing with him.

♥︎ He’ll definitely want to throw a concert. He’ll introduce himself but then he’ll hype you up, introducing you as his amazing, attractive, wonderfully talented and incredible partner. People can’t help but roll their eyes, but also can’t help but smile as his clear adoration regarding you. You two are perfect together.

Mitch

♥︎ Mitch doesn’t really show his appreciation for your voice, but it’s definitely there.

♥︎ Mitch’s love for your singing voice doesn’t come out in heartfelt duets, but rather more quiet moments. He’ll try to subtly ask for you to sing to him so he can drift to sleep to your voice.

♥︎ “That one song… The one you like that’s about dogs or something… How does it go again?” He’ll ask through bleary eyes, his voice thick with sleep. He honestly just wants you to sing him a lullaby. It soothes his nerves and calms his anger.

♥︎ When he first found out he didn’t really say a lot, just saying you were pretty good. Mitch had a hard time complimenting people, especially in a way that sounded genuine, but he tried.

♥︎ It’s weird, but as much as he’s proud of you he gets embarrassed if you sing for other people?? I can’t explain the feeling very well, but I have a musician in the family and I feel weird when people play his music?? I can’t explain it at all without it sounding incredibly negative-

♥︎ But Mitch likes it when your songs are just between you and him… Maybe Willy too. Willy is the only person he’d listen to you with.

♥︎ He’ll say “Willy wanted to hear a song” when it’s not true, but Willy doesn’t blow his cover. Not outright, but he’ll hint at it with a crooked grin as Mitch glares at him. Willy does like your voice too, so he’s okay with letting it slide.

♥︎ Again, he’d never outright ask for you to sing him a song. He found it embarrassing and he had time admitting he liked it. Mitch struggles admitting his positive feelings with anything, so don’t take it personally. He knew that you knew he just wanted you to sing him to sleep, but he didn’t change his approach.

♥︎ “It’s stuck in my head. Hearing it again might make it go away.” Was a popular excuse.

♥︎ He cherishes you so much. He really appreciates you and your talent and he does appreciate the way you lift peoples spirits up with your singing, but he loves it when it’s just for him. He loves the fact you sing just for him, even though you don’t have to .

♥︎ He’ll show you his appreciation through gifts, like carvings or by punching a walker in the face for you. He’ll let you know just how much he loves you through the ways he knows best.

#twdg #twdg hc #twdg s4 #twdg x reader #twdg mitch x reader #twdg louis x reader #twdg imagines #twdg imagine #twdg headcanon

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eaucian · 3 years

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I just found your account and I really like it. I was wondering if write headcanons for any characters in mha (My Hero Academia). Cause if you do, I was wondering if you can do a headcanon on where Tamaki or Mirio finds out his in love with the reader (x male reader). if you don’t want to, I will completely understand if you ignore this request I have. I just wanted to let you know I really like your content so far I can’t wait to see what you’ll write next 🥺👉👈

★ mirio and tamaki when they find out they're in love with you

impt. tamaki x m!reader — mirio x m!reader

w. none, at least i don't think there are any!

n. ahh hello anon! i’m so glad you like what i’m writing and i hope you continue to like it!! i may have gotten carried away and completed both, so you get tamaki AND mirio :)) p.s. yes! i do write for mha, i should probably make a list about what fandoms i write for-

★ mirio

◉ he’s surprisingly chill about it, like really

◉ literally doesn’t even matter you’re a guy, completely accepts the fact he loves you in the first second of knowing it. it barely phases him and he thinks “i like him, wait no. i love him, oooh time to tell~”

◉ then he proceeds to come up with some extravagant plan to tell you, which isn’t really necessary but-

◉ it happens like this:

◉ it’s a sunny day and you and the big three are having some late lunch after school at his favorite ramen place, because mirio won some bet against nejire to choose where you’d all be eating that day

◉ he was sitting across from you and he’d noticed every little movement you made the whole day. the best way you could ever describe it was like a mother hen, but a subtle mother hen right?

◉ ex. you’d tripped over something, almost falling down a few days before, and mirio?

◉ he was there in two seconds flat, faster than he thought he would find himself moving over someone tripping. so why was he so worried about you recently?

◉ well well, let me tell you!

◉ you had been sparring with him, a practice match to work with your quirks and he had accidentally hurt you. hurt you like, you had to go to recovery girl because of him

◉ soo, that in turn made him feel horrible

◉ actually more like terrible

◉ now he makes puppy eyes every time he looks at you. he just looks so sad because he hurt someone he-

◉ and that was how he found out. he, had hurt. someone. he. loved. then he knows that’s part of the reason why he feels like crap. it was his fault you were a little wobbly (it wasn’t, you were just clumsy that day)

◉ but the truth was, there he was. sat in a ramen place, you across from him, and a revelation of the ages happening in his brain. so what does he do, you ask?

◉ he stares at you all lovey-dovey and sighs dreamily when the sun catches your face just right

◉ because god now you look even more perfect than he thought. and oh no, he’s in trouble cause he’s already fallen in love with you

◉ and he missed it!

◉ he missed his own falling in love! but anyways, he sticks with looking at you lovingly for a while. until one day he gets tired of it, the plan goes to crap, and he just kisses you smack on the lips

◉ that’ll be a good day ♥

★ tamaki

◉ baby boy!

◉ he’s a mess with it a first

◉ it’s not even the fact your the same gender, he literally just doesn’t know how to deal with the fact he loves you

◉ he finds out when it’s just the two of you studying and you’re laying on your stomach on his bed, and he just wants to get up from his spot and cuddle you

◉ he didn’t exactly study much that night, but! other than the fact he really has no clue where to place his love he just kinda pushes it into a room inside his head and locks the door for a little bit

◉ a little bit meaning every time he sees you he gets flustered, and starts blushing like a cherry. but you know, its cute on him

◉ he just has trouble telling you how he feels, but he does take the chance to be around you whenever he can. meaning there will be awkward sleepovers and study ‘dates’ that aren’t really dates in his eyes, but close enough eh?

◉ and the thing is, you noticed. it may have taken a little while but eventually, you caught on with a little help from the others (mirio and nejire)

◉ sooo, you started being the little damn tease you are

◉ touching increased tenfold. there was a ton of hugging every time you met up adding some small kisses to the cheek or holding hands when it wasn’t exactly necessary

◉ the boy was a mess

◉ how he broke it to you, because no, you weren’t going to tell him you knew as that would ruin the fun ;)

◉ he told you by giving a letter. a long ass letter that mostly consisted of rambling and a lot of crossed out words that you could still read

◉ most of them were: i love you. but you went to meet him, and he was a mess even before you started talking. you just hugged him, whispering into his neck “love you too”

#mirio x male reader #tamaki x male reader #mirio togata x male reader #tamaki amajiki x male reader #x mirio #x tamaki #x male reader #xm!reader

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goodkwuestion · 6 years

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Grown Folks (A SHITW mini-sequel)–Chapter 4

Pairing: Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich (Gallavich) Fandom: Shameless US AO3: 1, 2, 3, 4 Summary: Will we ever have it all figured out?

A/N: Apologies for the long wait. I'll try my darndest to make sure that I don't take so long to post next (and likely last) chapter. You might know that I've turned my energies to developing my original work, including my newest OTP. I was thinking of making a little introduction for them so you can meet my current obsession and get a feel for the world I'm trying to build. I figure I'd post it on tumblr so you guys can take a gander and give some feedback if so inclined. Would anyone be interested in that? Let me know. Anyway, enough of that. Thanks for your indulgence and patience, and I'll get on with it. ♥

The Pursuit of Happiness

“Did you know I have a thing for redheads?”

Mickey curled a lock of Ian’s hair around his finger as the latter rested his head on Mickey’s chest. Mickey grinned as Ian sniffed self-importantly.

“Of course, because of me.”

Mickey laughed, “Oh fuck you and your ego; that didn’t start with you.”

Ian remained unconvinced but let Mickey continue uninterrupted. “I’ve always had a thing for carrot tops. I will give it to you though; you are, hands down, the best one I’ve ever seen.”

“Naturally.”

“I remember the first time I saw you,” Mickey continued musing, “you guys were just blowing up and you were on the cover of some nerd bible in the store I was trying to knock over.”

“Did you swipe it?”

“Do you even have to ask?”

“Did you get a lot of use out of it?” Ian asked, grinning against Mickey’s chest.

“Don’t make it sound so cheap; glossy Ian and I had a beautiful and passionate relationship,” Mickey replied. “But yeah, you are definitely the best redhead there is. Even back then, I don’t know, I didn’t think I had preferences within the preference, but yours was just perfect somehow. The perfect shade…”

Ian grinned harder and snuggled closer to Mickey, beyond pleased with the praise and the current mood. That is until Mickey continued talking.

“So you can imagine how upset I’d be if in some vainglorious attempt to cling to youth or what have you, someone were to mess with this very specific, exactly perfect shade of red that I love so very much.”

Ian sat up abruptly and immediately began his breathless defence. “What the fuck, did Lip say something to you?! I went in there for some aspirin, did he tell you that?! I can’t help what’s in the aisle when I try to get from A to B. You got an issue; take it up with the floor manager—”

“Lip didn’t tell me shit,” Mickey cut in coolly.

“Then how did you—”

“Because I know you, and you’re an idiot,” Mickey explained. “Are you seriously making a thing out of a couple of grey hairs? When did you get this vain?”

“Vain?!” Ian sputtered, “I’m being vain?! Did you or did you not just spend the last three minutes slowly getting hard over the utter, ‘specific’ perfection of my hair?!”

“Well yeah, but…”

“Me being a redhead has always been a big deal to you, and it’s growing out of my head, so naturally it’s always been a big deal to me. I don’t know if you know this, but greying is a continuous process. It’s not going to stop when I look wizened and distinguished. All this?” Ian said, waving a hand over the entirety of his head, “is going to disappear into a cloud of grey one day without intervention. So what then?”

“So then I’ll be way into silver foxes,” Mickey said with a grin, “I think Anderson Cooper’s been grey his entire life, you think I’d kick him out of bed? I mean, right? Anderson Cooper’s still super hot, yeah?”

“Do...do you really think this is the time to expound on the hotness of Anderson Cooper, you unbelievable twat?”

“Just making a point,” Mickey said quickly. “Dumbass, I think your hair is perfect because it happens to be growing out of your head. I’d have thought it was perfect no matter what shade it actually was.”

“So then a dye job would be no big deal…”

“Oh fuck yes it would,” Mickey retorted, “I’m used to that colour and I want to see it like that for as long as possible. Natural reds are tricky as hell. You start fucking around with it and next thing I know I’m going to feel like I’m getting nailed by a Stephen King villain.”

“Is that a Pennywise reference?” Ian asked dryly.

“If it is, what of it?”

“That hasn’t been topical in like ten years.”

“Maybe not, but it’s still applicable. Ian, I’m not fucking around, leave your hair alone or I will be pissed.”

“Fine!” Ian said huffily and settled back into his earlier position with his head atop Mickey’s chest.

“Besides,” Mickey continued trying to smooth Ian’s ruffled feathers as he stroked his hair, “you don’t want the hassle of maintaining a dye job. That shit’s like a prison sentence sometimes.”

“How would you know?” Ian pouted.

“You know, on the account of how me and Mandy are actually natural blondes.”

Ian’s head shot up so fast it was a miracle he didn’t get whiplash. Mickey promptly burst out laughing at his idiot’s gobsmacked expression. “Jesus Christ, you cannot be this easy. I’m fucking with you. You practically live inside my ass; I’m sure you’d notice if my roots needed a touch up.” Mickey kept laughing as Ian eyed him suspiciously even as the latter was settling back down again. “See, not so fun when your SO messes with your mind's eye.”

“Cuddle time is supposed to be stress free, Mickey.”

“Not even going to try to find a better name for this, are you?” Mickey sighed.

“What would you even look like as a blond?” Ian mused. “You’re so pale. You’d be walking around looking like you had a bright idea all the time.”

“You saying I’d have a light bulb head?” Mickey laughed.

“Or you’d look like Casper,” Ian said.

“Whatever, I’d make it work.”

“Yeah, you probably would.”

Mickey shuffled through the mail as he headed towards Ian who was standing sipping his morning coffee, staring serenely out a window.

“It’s like the year 3000; who is still sending us paper mail?” Mickey mused before tossing the mail on the table and slapping Ian on the ass. He followed Ian’s eyes to take in a window washer who seemed to be struggling mightily with his setup outside their condo. “Weren’t those just cleaned? Did we get any notifications about window cleaning or repair?”

“Nope,” Ian said placidly.

“So what am I looking at here?” Mickey asked, squinting a little at the man swaying dizzyingly outside their window.

“Nate,” Ian said with another blissful sip of his coffee.

Mickey did a double take before scrambling for his glasses and jamming them onto his face. “What the fuck! It’s Nate!”

Ian chuckled sinisterly into his coffee, “yep.”

“What the fuck’s he doing out there?!”

“Struggling clearly,” Ian said with sustained dark amusement. Nate was indeed having a warm time with the window washing rig outside their window. Mickey expected the man to go tumbling over the edge at any moment. Ian had his fingers crossed for just that outcome. “He’s doing some Nate nonsense. It’s either recon or he’s planning on busting in Mission Impossible style. Good luck cutting that circle into the glass.”

Mickey was still dumbstruck. “Is this really a thing people do outside of movies? People actually commandeer rigs to do this shit? This is actually a thing?!”

“Well obviously,” Ian said, nodding to the window.

“Nate is a cartoon character,” Mickey said, wincing as Nate pitched sideways. “I meant normal people; not that maniac.”

“Please, Mickey, that’s offensive to maniacs,” Ian sniffed. “I would know—I’m half maniac.”

Mickey burst out laughing before remembering the peril of the moment. “Why are you so stu—could you just call someone to get him down, please?”

Ian made a noncommittal noise. “Can’t we just see how this plays out a little while longer?”

“Ian! No! I will not have Nate splattered all over my sidewalk. Plus it’s Nate; he’ll cover miles! Who wants to walk their dogs through that?!” Mickey realized his error too late. The dogs had already been activated and were jumping and circling him in excitement. “No, that’s not what I—”

“You know you can’t say walk the dogs in a sentence if you don’t plan to actually walk the dogs, Mickey,” Ian murmured, whipping the dogs into a near frenzy.

“Ian!”

“Who wants to go walkies with Mickey?”

“Ian, I swear to god—alright! Fine, fine, go get your shit!” Mickey relented and the dogs shot off to fetch their leashes. Mickey used the brief respite to focus on Ian. “Ian, I am not kidding. Call whoever and get him down. I don’t want to see that when I come back.” Mickey got the dogs ready and prepared to head out. He ignored the tugging dogs and fixed Ian with a final look. “Ian?”

“Alright,” Ian pouted before muttering under his breath. “Never let me have any fun.”

Nate had to fight hard against the urge to toss off the paramedic’s blanket so he could get on his knees and kiss the ground. Instead, he stayed put in the back of the ambulance as the crowd lost interest in his rescue and humiliation, and quickly dispersed. He regretted fighting against the urge. Maybe if he had put his pride aside and made out with the ground, it would have opened up and swallowed him before Ian could reach him.

“Nate, long time,” Ian greeted him with bone-chilling warmth.

“Ian,” Nate croaked back.

“Didn’t know about the one way windows, huh?”

No, he hadn’t known. Nate had been horrified to see his own reflection staring back when he tried to peer into their apartment. By then though, his rig had started trying to kill him and he was faced with more pressing matters. He reddened but ignored Ian’s question.

“You know when Mickey told me you had reappeared, I braced myself for some kind of nonsense,” Ian continued. “Then when I saw you outside my window, flailing like an idiot, I felt myself getting into fight mode to protect my family and thwart said nonsense. But while I was watching the excruciatingly long rescue efforts, I had some time to think and I realize that I really don’t have time for this.”

Nate could only blink at Ian’s emphatic declaration and gaped as his sworn nemesis continued.

“It’s just that Mickey and I are at a really sensitive juncture in our lives and we’re working on our personal development. Especially Mickey!” Ian exclaimed, “he’s coming to some pretty important realizations about himself and he’s trying to push through it and go forward and I need to be here for that. I need to support him and be fully present for this and with that and work and my struggle to stay even… I just can’t do this thing with you. So how can we resolve this, like right now?”

Nate was momentarily dumbstruck. He eventually shook himself awake. “Well, why bother with a resolution at all? Clearly you’re busy, so why don’t I just bugger off and get out of your hair so you can get on with your personal development during this very sensitive juncture?”

Ian eyed Nate askance. “Sarcasm?”

“Of bloody course I’m being sarcastic, you rust-headed hand puppet!” Nate snarled as he struggled out the ambulance and tossed the blanket.

“I don’t even know what that means…”

“Why anyone would think that I would give a damn about your life goals is completely beyond me,” Nate scoffed. “Unbelievable, completely unbelievable. After all this time and alleged self-actualization, how are you still the outrageously self-centred asshole you were nearly two decades ago?”

Ian looked on in disbelief. “I’m an asshole? You’ve been bitter and combative since the day we formed this company. You made my life hell at every opportunity and I’m the asshole?”

“I wasn’t bitter from day one, Ian,” Nate pointed out, “Southside Enterprises wasn’t created the day you registered the trademark. It was born in the computer lab back at school, the day when you and Lip sold us on the videogame that just had to be made. You’re a great storyteller, Ian, but do you really think your ideas were in any way truly groundbreaking? The story wasn’t the most original, but the twists and outline were cool and your energy—whatever the source—was infectious, so we bought in. Your fever dream would have gone nowhere without my graphic design, Gary’s coding, Sydney’s storyboarding…without all of us! And what did you do once we got going? You let Lip go full mercenary on us and cut us out, just tossing us some consolation jobs to assuage your guilt. You don’t think I have a right to be bitter?!”

Ian scratched the bridge of his nose—a habit he’d picked up from Mickey whenever his fight or flight response got triggered. He stayed mum, however, as Nate continued venting his spleen.

“Then to add insult to injury, years later, your boy toy attacks me and destroys one of the few things I care about,” Nate fumed. “You don’t know what it’s like dealing with the bad jokes and the ridicule, just because you don’t understand someone’s lifestyle choices—”, Nate missed Ian’s incredulous snort and persisted in his diatribe. “—this does not give anyone a pass to invade my home and defile my love!”

“You’re right.”

Nate sputtered to a halt, “what?”

“You’re right,” Ian repeated.

“I am?”

Ian sighed, “look, back then I was half out of my mind, and Lip and I were paranoid as fuck that we were going to get screwed out of the one good thing we had going for us. I guess in trying to protect ourselves and our property, we were the ones who ended up doing the screwing. I guess any amends I tried to make were pretty weak in retrospect.”

Nate blinked, stupefied. He stammered badly as he tried to respond. “Y-yes, I suppose they were.”

“And if I had handled my issues with you more directly, Mickey probably wouldn’t have felt the need to step in and try to defend my honour…”

“No,” Nate said slowly, still sceptical of this turnaround. “No, he wouldn’t.”

“Yeah, so what do you want?”

“What?” Nate asked, bewildered, feeling himself growing wobbly with confusion.

“What do you need to make this right?”

“I don’t know,” Nate admitted at length, “I…I never thought I’d get this far.” He stood still for a moment while his mind scrambled desperately. “The wikis!” he said suddenly.

“Huh?”

“The wiki entries for the early games—I don’t think they sufficiently reflect the significance of my contributions.”

Ian began to question the notion but then thought better of it, “You know what; you got it. What else?”

“Stock options!” Nate blurted out, “The stock options I would have had had I still been around when you went public. Options I should have had from the very beginning, mind you.”

“I’ll talk to Mick and Lip. I’m sure we can come up with something that’s fair,” Ian nodded.

Nate was staggered at the windfall of good fortune. He quickly and greedily grasped for more. “As for reparations for Twilight Sparkle… I heard that Mickey might have a stuffed animal that I could—”

Ian took a menacing step forwards that had the man sputtering to a halt. “How about we buy you a really expensive replacement and pretend that you weren’t about to go down a dark and very dangerous path?” Ian suggested softly.

Nate gulped and nodded jerkily. “Fair,” he squeaked.

“So,” Ian brightened up suddenly, clapped his hands together and the world seemed to release its collective breath, “we’re good now, right? Amicable solution achieved?”

“I-I guess…?”

“Great! I’ll have my people call your people and iron everything out. So get some people!” Ian clicked his tongue and hit Nate with double barrelled finger guns before turning heel to head back home. “Good luck with the rest of your life, Nate!”

Nate waved feebly, feeling as if he’d been hit by a Mack truck. He had triumphed, his evil nemesis had been defeated and the loot had been plundered. Now what was he going to do with the rest of his life? What adventure would be woven next into the rich tapestry of his existence?

“Hey!” Fate called out and Nate turned to see Officers Martinez and Priestley, forgotten spectres from his haunted past.

“You!”

“Us,” Martinez confirmed, “Jesus, still nuts, huh? We got a bunch of phone calls and now we need to have a talk with you about the little stunt you just pulled.”

“Why?” Nate asked suspiciously.

“Well, crazy as it sounds, it’s not exactly legal to steal a window washing rig to trespass on private property and harass and violate the privacy of the people therein. There’s also the issue of creating a public disturbance with all that flailing and screaming you were doing up there.”

Nate sniffed delicately and tried to keep his composure. “What’s the statute of limitations on such charges?”

“Longer than an hour,” Priestley said dryly. “So you want to come with us for a minute?”

“Well, you see—” Nate began before charging away to jog up the street. “You’ll never take me alive!”

“Sir, you’re only embarrassing yourself—ay, fuck it,” Martinez scoffed and turned to his partner, “chase and taze?”

“The fuck for, just wait another minute.” As Priestley easily predicted, a minute later, Nate had keeled over a couple blocks over, huffing and puffing after figuratively and literally hitting the wall. “Alright, let’s go get him.”

“He knows just about anyone can edit Wikipedia, right?” Lip asked blithely as he sipped his coffee. He had met his younger brother at an outdoor café for lunch and had listened with a cocked eyebrow as Ian caught him up.

“I didn’t feel like belabouring the point. Let’s just say he’s god in a few of them, prove to him that we definitely did that and whatever happens after, happens,” Ian replied.

“He knows he can just buy our stock, right?” Lip continued to point out.

“Clearly he’d prefer it to be free,” Ian said, “can we just give him whatever and be done with it. I just want him out of my hair so I can focus on getting Mickey down the proverbial aisle and into therapy…”

Ian trailed off when he realized that his brother was no longer listening to him. He followed his brother’s gaze to see that he was now focused on another redhead—a stunning one with mile long legs who was splitting her attention between Lip and her nails. Before long, the young woman appeared to come to a conclusion and she slid out of her seat to come over to their table.

She nodded coolly to Ian before she swept her hair back and leaned down to whisper in Lip’s ear. Ian fought the urge to roll his eyes at the interplay before the young woman straightened up, gracefully turned heel, and strolled away. Lip watched her go, waiting to see if she’d look back one more time. She didn’t, apparently already forgotten all about her potential paramour. Lip figured that alone was worth a phone call. Ian took the folded paper the woman had left behind from his brother and read it.

“Trish?” Ian sniffed disdainfully, “what sort of trailer park princess realness?”

“Don’t judge,” Lip replied with a smile. “Bet Mickey would like her.”

“He does love a trashy redhead, so…” Ian admitted.

Lip shook his head at his brother and pocketed the phone number. “I really can’t believe you gave all this up for monogamy.”

“Gave what up, the thrilling risk of venereal disease?” Ian laughed. “I bought the dairy farm, according to you. Why keep going out to get milk?”

“Variety?” Lip offered. “There’re so many other types of milk out there! Strawberry milk,” he said, nodding to where the young woman had been seated, “almond milk, coconut milk… rice milk!” he exclaimed, tilting his head towards a young man of Japanese descent who was shyly sneaking peeks at Ian.

Ian glanced over at the man and rolled his eyes at his brother. “Rice milk, really? You micro-aggressive racist.”

“I can’t be racist; I voted for Kanye,” Lip defended himself.

“You didn’t vote for Kanye, you voted for chaos and a Yeezy-based economy.”

“You bought and sold just as much Adidas stock as I did,” Lip reminded him. He studied his brother closely for a moment before asking a strange question. “You’re really happy, aren’t you?”

Ian was about to reel off a sassy restort, but paused at the odd note of sincere bafflement in his brother’s voice. He looked back at his brother before nodding slowly. “Yeah…yeah, I’m happy.”

“Just like that? Like all the time?”

“I mean, you know there will be rough patches…really bad ones maybe, but yeah,” Ian said as he regarded his brother carefully, “I’m happy all the time.”

“Why though,” Lip persisted, “because of Mickey?”

Ian thought it over. “Mickey’s a huge part of it and the best part of it, but it’s not just because of him. It took a lot of hard work for me to get to where I am now. I’m stable, I’m committed to my self-care and staying even, I have a career I’m good at and have people who know they can depend on me. I started realizing I was happy when I finally felt like I fit in my skin after feeling like I was spiralling for ages,” Ian said. “Then Mickey came along and he became part of all of that and expanded it. I mean, I think he’s my soul mate and the best thing in the world, but maybe if we had met before I was truly okay with myself, it would have just been like crashing into each other, you know; powerful, but no good. It’s hard to explain, but I think about it all the time.” Ian stopped himself from babbling and studied his brother before hesitantly asking, “Aren’t you happy?”

Lip shrugged as he fished for a lighter to light his cigarette. “Fuck if I know what that is,” he said wryly.

“Seriously?”

“Emotions are some of those things I could never quite get a handle on, and ‘happy’ is one of the weirder ones. I don’t exactly know what it is anymore, even if I thought I did once.”

Ian frowned, “so…what are you then?”

“I don’t know, restless? Bored?” Empty. Lip expelled a plume of smoke and hazarded a bit of brutal honesty. “All I know is, I’ve been working my ass off trying not to be Frank. The problem is that the harder I work, is the more I find myself empathizing with the gross fuck despite myself. I look in the mirror sometimes and I see him looking back and it’s infuriating… and terrifying.”

Ian felt completely at sea as to how to deal with this loaded revelation. “How have I never wondered if any of us were actually happy?” he asked, bewildered.

“Because we were doing okay and that’s all that mattered,” Lip said with a comforting smile. “We spent our entire lives just trying to stay above the shit, who had time to worry about actually being happy?”

“Well, when was the last time you even thought you were... happy?”

Lip’s smile was small and enigmatic and he simply shrugged again. “I was thinking after you get hitched and the dust settles that I might take off for a while.”

“Where? And if you shrug one more time, I will strangle you!”

Lip laughed, “but I really don’t know though. I haven’t figured anything out yet. I just need to stretch my legs a little.”

To Ian, the idea was alarmingly Frank in its sentimentality. “Lip, maybe you should just—”

“I’m not taking off on you,” Lip interjected gently, “and I’m definitely not going anywhere without decent cell phone signal and emergency concierge service. The second you need me for anything, I’ll be back. I just need some time off.”

The brothers regarded each other silently across the small table. Ian tried to remember the last time they had truly been apart since they had chased a video game dream together. Memories of a time before with a broken and scattered family filled him as well as all the Frank parallels that hadn’t occurred to him until now. Ian thought once again about protesting and offering a list of alternatives to keep his brother put. Instead, he inhaled and nodded. “Whatever you need.”

“I don’t negotiate with terrorists.”

Ian burst out laughing at the dry remark. “For fuck’s sake, it’s a Wikipedia edit and some stock. I just want him out of our hair.”

Mickey sniffed and scrolled through his tablet. “Another thing, as a father of a defenseless stuffed animal, I don’t know how comfortable I am delivering another innocent one right into the hands of some perverted fuck face.”

Ian came over to Mickey and captured his face in his hands. “Mickey, it will be a stuffed horse with cotton, hopefully absorbent, guts and plastic eyes. It does not give a fuck about Nate’s proclivities. Non-human toys have no feelings,” Ian quickly amended when Mickey took a sharp breath. “With the notable exception of Clay who has all the feelings and will probably be an Ivy League valedictorian one day… and the toys from Toy Story.” Ian quickly added again before Mickey could protest again. “Oh my god, we’re so getting you into therapy,” Ian muttered under his breath. “Just give Nate what he wants, please.”

Mickey snorted begrudgingly as Ian went to join Lola on the couch. She settled on his chest as Ian stretched out.

“Whatever, I’m just going to change the wiki back two days later,” Mickey grumbled.

“You and Lip really should be better friends.”

Mickey didn’t bother responding to that as he evicted a loudly protesting Lola from the couch. “Yeah, yeah, go bark at your mother.” He readjusted Ian so he could get cuddled while he perused his tablet.

“So,” Ian started off as he hugged Mickey closely, “we all set for tomorrow?”

“You mean for city hall?” Mickey asked and felt Ian nod. “Just to head down there and sign the documents, right?”

“Yeah, just making sure you’re still okay with everything—”

“And that my feet weren’t getting cold?” Mickey deduced. “I told you, it’s fine, I’m onboard. Plus, it’s not even a big deal, right?”

“Totally not a big deal,” Ian quickly agreed.

“Right… I gotta admit though, I’m pretty excited about tomorrow,” Mickey said softly and Ian perked up immediately.

“You are?!”

“Yeah, Danny’s is having their grand opening on the Lower East Side.”

“The-the pizza joint?!”

“Yeah, what, you forget?” Mickey asked, glancing over his shoulder at a stupefied Ian. “We’ve been talking about it for ages. I figured after we get the marriage stuff done, we’d head down there and get a couple slices.”

“You’re excited for some pizza?” Ian repeated hollowly.

“Ian, when is the last time you had a decent deep dish pie without having to haul your ass all the way back to Chicago. If Danny’s is half as good as they are back home, it will be heaven. I’m telling you; tomorrow could be the first day of the rest of our lives.”

“Because of pizza?” Ian said weakly.

“Mmhmm,” Mickey hummed, smiling to himself being fully aware of the fact that Ian was behind him pouting up a storm over Mickey’s apparently whacked out priorities. He let Ian stew for a minute before adding, “you know another thing about tomorrow?”

“Are we still talking about the goddamned pizza?!”

Mickey turned to side-eye Ian. “What’s your problem, Sunshine? I was just going to say that I realize that after tomorrow, I’ll be officially sleeping with a married man.”

Ian’s blinked nonplussed before his pique dissolved and he eased into the mutual teasing. “What’s the matter, nervous?”

“I’ve never been with a married man before,” Mickey continued coyly, “at least I don’t think. You never really know the guys that show up to bang in a park bathroom.”

Ian snorted loudly. “Well don’t worry about it; I’ve been with a few. The pants come off the same way.”

“So you’re saying married sex is no different from living in sin sex?”

“If anything, it can only get better,” Ian said confidently.

“Ah, so I guess you’d rather wait for tomorrow and you’d have no interest in getting on me and taking one last bite out of this still single ass; kiss it goodbye?”

“I mean, for the sake of nostalgia…”

Mickey laughed, got to his feet and started heading to their bedroom with Ian closely following.

“You better get it while it’s hot,” Mickey called back as he peeled off his shirt, “because after tomorrow, I might start developing a whole lot of headaches.”

“Good thing I have a cure for that,” Ian smirked, sliding past Mickey.

“Yeah a bet you do,” Mickey said as he closed their bedroom door, “come show it to me.”

TBC

#gallavich #ian x mickey #shamelessfic #shitw #My writing

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