#but it really applies for him the entire season ^_^ /hell

[vanivanvanilla]

lifestealtober2023 day 20 - breakdown

#princezam #lifesteal smp #lifestealtober2023 #lssmp #vans art #feat his normal outfit eclipse outfit solar union outfit n his farmer outfit ^_^ since he had breakdowns in all those #the sign behind him is referencing when he wrote that down when contemplating betraying team awesome btw #but it really applies for him the entire season ^_^ /hell

[jeonsbabygirlsworld]

SUMMARY: Life was easy until you meet the eye candy of your life and the adventure with him is a hell of ride, but there is certain someone who seems to get hurt in this.

PAIRINGS: Gynecologist Jungkook X reader ft. bartender yoongi

WORD COUNT: 1.2K

A/N: lol I see no one wants to get tagged in this when I posted the snippet but anyway the tag list is open, and please guys don't let this flop; [ I worked really hard to get motivated enough and write, and this a series and this the first part.✨smut will be there eventually ✨

Note : this is inspired by a web series and I’m GONNA EDIT IT , I’m not gonna make it a whole ass 3 season containing 10-12 episodes per season and I felt like I could do something with this series. Thankyou

Your surroundings suddenly felt hot, the interns did a great job explaining the project to the clients sitting in front of you. The air conditioner did a shit job of keeping the surroundings but it's just you because you see your other intern rubbing her palms under the table.

The meeting was about to end and just when you were about to get up from the chair to leave the hall, the intern called out your name just so you could brief out the entire thing and thank the clients, grabbing on the metal stick you stand in the place where your intern was speaking.

"I hereby extensively elaborate on the profile success of our company, we all can see the numbers of shares growing quickly, see for yourselves" You point to the whiteboard where the graph was made, your company making progress in these past years.

"We can be a great profit for the leading country, sir, I hope you can see the numbers growing live" You then point to the laptop which has a live count of people buying the shares from the company, in the middle while everyone was focused you undo some of the buttons of your red satin shirt and mutter about the poor air conditioner "why am I so damn hot?"

Just when you were about to continue you see Mr. Jeon sitting on one of the chairs that too naked, just in his Calvin Klein boxers, what the fuck? "Yes Ms. Kim, why are you so damn hot?" Jungkook says he rises from his seat climbs over the desk and walks towards you.

you can see the client in shock and eye him, while he climbs down from the table your doctor "Mr. Jeon" is in front of you, his eight packs abs and muscular biceps all out to see, just when you are registering about his details, he picks up the glass of water on the table and drops it all over the neck and you hiss at the cold feeling.

Jungkook scurries the files away from the table and picks you up so you can sit on the table, your shirt is then unbuttoned by him, and he lays soft kisses and slowly bends you down completely until your back is pressed on the table.

Beep beep beep

A loud beep of your alarm drags you out of the dream and you gasp and sit up "fuck did I just have a wet dream about my doctor?" you mutter and grab your phone to off the alarm, you check the number of notifications you had overnight and stumble upon the "doctor's appointment" reminder.

Gasping for the second time now you scurry away from the bed to get a nice warm shower and head to the mister ever so sexy man your doctor "Jeon Jungkook".

"It's itchy lately, hasn't got better since last week" You talk to the man who is between your legs while you keep trying to not moan while checking your vagina. "You may get dressed now and it looks completely fine, and I can't see any infection" Jungkook says and stands straight and moves to his chair right behind the desk giving you some space so you can change.

closing the blinds and getting dressed you place the hospital gown tidily in the basket and move to his table, you grab on the sanitizer which is on his table pump a few drops on yours and apply it while your doctor writes down the prescription.

You notice the hot features of a sleeve tattoo of his you saw on his Instagram when you stalked him on the first day of meeting him, the depth of his gaze looked enchanting, and the afternoon sunlight complimented his skin tone well while you were busy studying his features a small cough brings you out of the daydream.

"Here miss y/n" The doctor hands you the prescription and you widen your eyes seeing at the statement which had written "bath three times a day" You eye him and check yourself by smelling when he isn't looking, and you smell perfectly fine because you sprayed almost the bottle of the perfume and bathed with the new soap bar you bought recently. Giving him a crooked smile you leave the room embarrassed.

Crumbling the paper you place it in your purse and straight away call your best friends to meet up for a brunch and she gladly accepts.

"No, but like seriously y/n" Chae and Yuna both seem shocked and confused and you appear to be more embarrassed "Yeah, he wrote that in the prescription" You show her the paper Jungkook gave you, and she says he wrote it so that you could maintain a proper hygiene and you buy it and proceed to eat your brunch in the cafe.

"Chae Yuna, you can go ahead I'm staying back so I can spend some time with Yoongi, I haven't been catching up on him." Tell her you give her a hug and a kiss on the cheeks, and you part ways.

You head to the bar where yoongi works as a bartender and you make sure to buy his favorite chocolate on your way, you reach there in less than five minutes and there you see Yoongi arranging the glasses in line just to make them fancier.

"Hey, how are you?" Yoongi is slightly confused to see you in the middle of the day and that too a weekday, you chuckle at him, and you tell him you are fine, and you had to meet a friend and not tell him the details about the meeting with the doctor.

"You up for a drink y/n?" The sweet boy asks you and you gladly accept it, looking here and there you realize he is working alone and his intern who never fails to hit on Chae is missing.

"Is Taehyung not here?" you ask him, and he says he had ditched today just because he had an early date and will be here for the night shift nodding you accept his famous highball, "you want any help? I'm free for the day" you offer him, and he casually refuses, and you become a bit sad, but you play it cool.

Yoongi looks at your features and chuckles and tells you he is just kidding and won't mind your help and he's rather happy you want to help him, before coming back to the other side of the table you hand him the chocolate you bought.

Helping him and chatting for a while you hug him and say goodbye, you notice a bit of blush creeping on his cheeks but you wave it up because it can be the alcohol you both drank, and you get back to your home and get a bit of rest so you can wake up fresh and get back on your work from home.

Taglist: @jungk97kwife, @kimmingyuswifee ,@kingofbodyrolls

A/n : this short but hehe more is yet to come 💖

#jungkook fic #jungkook imagines #jungkook fanfics #jungkook x reader #jungkook smut #bts smut #bts x reader #bts fanfic #bts jungkook #jungkook series #jungkook x oc #jjk smut #jjk series #yoongi #min yoongi #bts #jeon jungkook #jungkook #bts fanfic bts smut

[laundrybiscuits]

Eddie’s doing some dumb trick with a couple of wooden spoons, clever hands making them move through the air in improbable ways, and Steve’s about to bite his whisk in half. 

He’d thought for sure that Eddie would be going home the first week; Edward Munson, 29, bartender/musician from Brighton with mismatched tattoos and wild hair, seemed like exactly the kind of pretentious asshole who would flame out early with some ill-advised hipster experimentation. If Steve (28, social worker from Indiana, USA) had been a complete asshole, he’d have said that Eddie didn’t have the fundamentals. That he was all sizzle, no steak. 

It’s a good thing Steve’s not a complete asshole, because Eddie’s been blowing the technicals out of the water so consistently it’s actually pretty fucking embarrassing. His signatures and showstoppers are making a very respectable showing too, except for the time he tried to incorporate some fresh pandan extract and fucked up the liquid ratio, leaving him with a dripping mess that Mary’d declined to even try. 

Afterwards, Steve had seen him leaning against a tree and struggling to light a cigarette. Steve went over for no particular reason, flicking on his lighter and holding it out like a peace offering. Eddie looked at him warily, but bent over the offered flame. 

“Can’t believe I made it through this one,” Eddie said after a moment, white smoke curling out of his mouth.

“Yeah, I feel like that every week.” Steve leaned against the tree next to Eddie. It was a big tree, the kind that’s probably been growing in this field since before England was even England. 

“Nah, but—c’mon, you know what I mean.”

“You had some bad luck with your showstopper. Happens to the best of us, man. Your signature hand pies looked sick as hell.” Steve’s own hand pies had turned out pretty well, so he was feeling generous. It had only been the third week; plenty of time for Steve to snag Star Baker, though even by that point, Steve had been getting the creeping feeling that he was being a little too American about the whole thing. Everyone else seemed to think competitiveness was some kind of deadly sin. It was—actually kind of nice, to get the same kind of nerves he’d always gotten before high school basketball games, but know that he wasn’t really fighting against anyone except himself in the tent.

Anyway, the very next week, Eddie had done some kind of kickass gothic castle with a shiny chocolate dragon and gotten Star Baker for the second time. Steve had clapped him on the back, appropriately manly. Eddie had pulled Steve into a real hug, arms tight around Steve’s shoulders and his whole lean body pressed up close and warm. It had only lasted a moment, and then Eddie had bounded over to Mel and Sue, both of whom he’s been thoroughly charming since the get-go. 

Steve thinks that when this season—or, uh, series—airs, no matter where Eddie places, the entire country is going to be just as charmed. Eddie’s going to get whatever kind of cookbook deal or streaming show he wants. Sponsors will take one look at that handsome face and charismatic grin, and a whole world of possibilities is going to open up for Eddie. 

Steve’s not in it for any of that, of course. He’s here kind of by accident, because Robin pushed him to apply, and it’s a goddamn miracle he’s been holding his own. Hell, it’s a miracle he’s in this country at all. When Robin had started looking at the Cambridge MPhil program in linguistics, she’d said wouldn’t it be great if and he’d snorted, yeah right, like I could ever get whatever job I’d need to move to another freaking country, but then—well. Things had happened the way they’d happened, and now Robin’s almost finished with her degree and Steve is taking time off from the London charity he works at in order to be on Bake Off. 

He’s told all this to the cameras, plus the stuff about how baking started as a way for him to connect with the kids he used to babysit in Indiana, blah blah blah. He thinks it’s probably too boring for them to air, but he gets that they have to try to get a story anyway. 

Eddie Munson, on the other hand, is probably going to be featured in all the series promos. Steve is rabidly curious about what Eddie’s story is, but he hasn’t worked up the nerve to just ask. It should be the easiest thing in the world. They’ve got kind of a camaraderie going, the two of them; a bit of a bromance, as Mel’s put it more than once. 

It’s true they get along pretty well, and the cameras have been picking up on it: on the way Eddie’ll wander over to Steve’s bench like a stray cat whenever they get some downtime, how they wind up horsing around sometimes, working off leftover adrenaline from the frantic rush of caramelization or whatever. There’s the time Eddie had hopped up on a stool to deliver some kind of speech from Macbeth, of all things, and overbalanced right onto Steve, who had barely managed to keep them both from careening into a stand mixer. Sue had patted Eddie on the shoulder and said, “Well, boys, that’ll be going in the episode for sure.”

They both get along with the other contestants just fine, of course, but they’re two guys of about the same age with no wife and kids waiting at home. It’s only natural that they’re gravitating together, becoming something like friends, Steve figures. It’s pretty great that he’s getting at least one real friend out of this whole thing.

It would be even greater if Steve could stop thinking about Eddie’s hands in decidedly non-friendly ways. With all the paperwork he’s signed, he can’t even complain to Robin about how Eddie looks with his sleeves pushed up to show off the tattoos on his forearms, kneading dough and grunting a little under his breath with effort. Steve had almost forgotten to pre-heat his oven that day. 

Two benches away, Eddie fumbles the spoons he’s been juggling with a clatter, and he bursts out laughing, glancing over at Steve like Steve’s in on the joke. Steve grins back, heart twanging painfully in his chest, and thinks: well, fuck. Guess this is happening.

#this is a TRULY bonkers AU like wtf even is the venn diagram of steddie fans and people who exclusively like the BBC GBBO #I know nothing about the process of creating reality tv so I most likely will not be continuing this #(plus ST is just so intrinsically American to me) #but I saw the GBBO musical last week and that's what prompted this little abomination #steddie #GBBO AU #ETA: ftr I rated the GBBO musical 2.5/5. I have a colour-coded spreadsheet. #decent songwriting & solid performances but the emotional beats/pacing were all over the place and it did some weird revisionist callbacks #plus the level of assumed thirst for not!Paul Hollywood was wildly off-putting to me #a person who finds neither his personality nor his appearance in any way attractive #anyway I paid £15 for my ticket and that felt right to me. I will see literally any show for £15.

[lenaellsi]

What people need to understand is that when Crowley denies being kind, he is deliberately lying. He doesn’t actually think he’s evil—I don’t think Crowley really believes in ‘evil’ as a concept, at least when applied to people and not actions—but being seen as good is extraordinarily dangerous for him. He doesn’t allow Aziraphale or anyone else to say that he’s nice not because he thinks he isn’t, but because if he’s caught by Hell being anything less than the kind of demon who would gleefully incite the Spanish Inquisition, he’s dragged down to the Pit for a few decades. It’s self-defense, not self-loathing. This season, when Gabriel tells him he’s really nice, he sputters over it for a bit and then says, “Well, nobody would believe you anyway,” which I think is a sign that he’s recovering a bit from the power that Hell had over him before the end of S1.

Crowley’s confidence in his own identity is actually pretty strong, especially when compared to Aziraphale. Crowley knows who he is, and he’s comfortable with it. Where he struggles much more is how he can fit into the binary world of Heaven and Hell. He does have a couple of scenes where he is angsting over being a demon, yes, but I think that’s much less “I wish I could be Good like an angel” and much more “hey, hurting me and kicking me out for asking questions was BULLSHIT, and so is this entire system, actually.”

And to be fair, I think Crowley would genuinely object to the idea that he’s ‘good.’ As mentioned above, absolutes like good and evil make Crowley itch. He’s rude, and he makes peoples’ lives worse on purpose sometimes, and he loves pissing people off, and he’s also deeply compassionate and brave and loving. He makes the choice, every time, between helping and hurting, and that choice is more important to him than directives to do Good or Evil could ever be. And of course it is—above everything else, Crowley believes in self-determination, in thwarting a destiny that seems inevitable, in building beautiful things out of dust. He gave us the apple, didn’t he?

(But was it ever the apple? Or was it just the idea of choice, planted by a lonely serpent who didn’t want to see his new friend Eve boxed into the same prison of ideals as the angel on the wall?

Who can say.)

And that’s why Aziraphale’s offer is so repulsive to him. Crowley knows and likes who he is. Going back to Heaven wouldn’t allow him to ‘be good’ the way Aziraphale thinks it would. He’s been doing good the whole time—his way, and often in direct opposition to both Heaven and Hell. Aziraphale knows that—he’s not stupid—but Aziraphale is also a master of thinking multiple contradictory things at the same time, so he’s going to have to REALLY learn it in S3.

#good omens #gos2 spoilers #good omens meta #good omens 2 #crowley

[arielburrow]

So It Goes

Your relationship with Joe seems to be a flame that was never put out.

“I just don’t see how this is ever going to work.” You struggle to get the words out through your sobs. Your hands cupped your face as you sat at the edge of your boyfriend's bed, his figure sulking above. “We keep telling ourselves we can push through but Joe we are miserable, and we aren’t anywhere near the end. You're going to Cincinnati in less than a month and I’m working out of Miami for at least the next three years!” Your cries become heavier as you feel his weight beside you as his head falls to your shoulder. You hear his silent cries as well.

“Your right…I hate it, but your right,” he mumbles into your shoulder. You pull him closer to you, grasping the fact that your relationship was inevitably at the end. “I mean really Joe, before I flew out here we shared what? Five texts in the last month? I barely made it to three games this season,” You whisper towards him. “I know, I know but baby you have to understand it won’t always be like that…just right now life is a whirlwind, and I just have to figure some things out but then-”

“Joey,” you cut him off. “You’ve been saying that for two years now…I mean i’ve accepted at this point your entire life is a whirlwind and I just don’t seem to fit into it.” You lift your head and stare blankly out of the window of his apartment. Thinking back to the first day you stepped foot in here and how optimistic you both were for the success of your long-distance relationship. You and Joe had been dating for two years back in Ohio and you’d be lying if you said those weren’t the best two years of your life. It started with innocent study sessions that eventually led to late-night conversations lying next to each other on his rickety dorm mattress. Before you knew it, he swept you off your feet and showed you what love really was. You remember the tears you wept when he first told you he decided on LSU. He immediately embraced you and you promised him they were “happy” tears and you were just so “excited” for his future. That being undoubtedly true, you never imagined how much Joe's life would change in the upcoming years, and how little you would be a part of it.

“y/n…I’m willing to wait, I promise you I don't care how much longer we’re apart for I’ll wait for the days when I get to wake up to you every morning.” he seemingly pleads as his head rises off your shoulder and you both meet each other's eyes. “Joe I am so beyond proud of everything this year has brought you and everything the next years are going to bring you. But, honey you know as well as I do that we are not the same people we were two year ago unpacking in this very apartment. Joe this is not a bad thing i need you to hear me, it’s just not healthy for either of us to keep dragging on a relationship that is fighting to keep its head above water.” You grab his hand and hold it close to you before you reluctantly stand and head for the door, tears streaming down your face as you reach for the handle.

“y/n…it’ll always be you, I promise even if we never see each other again, we both know deep down we were always meant for each other.”

That was four years ago

and as you stood in the mirror applying final touches to your face, it finally hit you. That gut feeling that you’ve had since you opened the invite but couldn’t quite put your finger on.

He’s going to be there.

There was no doubt about it. Sam was one of his best friends and it was the middle of the off-season. Hell he might even be in the wedding you think to yourself as you notice your face turn in the mirror. You both had lived about a million lives since you last saw each other which you know to be a fact due to your “surprising interest” in football whenever the Bengals were playing as your brother would joke. It was unintentional snooping on a life you swore you were putting an end to as soon as you got back to Florida. Of course your life carried on, you started dating again and made a great group of friends. But no matter what every Sunday you found yourself sat watching Joe through his brutal knee injury, Super bowl attempt, and current list of nagging injuries. Every now and then your mom would mention him over the phone but you were always quick to dismiss him, refusing to admit you still kept an eye on him. Besides the pit in your stomach, you were excited to watch your friend Sam marry his childhood best friend Ava and see all your friends you hadn’t gotten a chance to catch up with since moving back to the Ohio area. You moved back a couple of months ago, finding peace working with a new company that promised a more stationary enviorment for you. It was nice to be closer to family and friends and although it wasn’t considered Ohio, Covington was just under two miles from Cincinnati.

“Have you seen the gold hoops i laid out? I cant find them,” rachel comes into the room in a search. She was your best friend and you were so excited to be staying with her for the weekend, given she lived in down town cincy where the wedding was taking place. “here.” You hand her the earrings as she smiles.

“you look extra good,” she smirks bouncing your curls and flatting your dress once more. You roll your eyes knowing where she was going with this. “C'mon y/n, it’s been like a year since you’ve gotten laid, I just know tonight’s the night.” she laughs as she puts on her heels. “Your terrible, I’m not going to this wedding to get some, I’m going to celebrate our friends and-”

“you know he’s in the wedding right? I just wanted to warn you, Sam said he’s his best man,” she says looking up with a sympathetic smile. You sigh, “that’s good for him, glad him and Sam are still just as close.” You smile trying to brush off the conversation.

Arriving at the venue, you took in how beautifully decorated it was. White roses lined the entire isle and fairy lights were strung from each end of the ceiling. You and Rachel greeted familiar faces as you found your seats. You chatted for a bit with others, greeting both Sam and Ava’s parents. Soon after, silence fell as piano chords began to play and heads turned towards the double doors as they began to open. You watched as the party made its way down the aisle, some new faces, but for the most part, you recognized everyone.

Finally, you spotted him. His dirty blonde locks grown out long, framing his face in a way that brought out his features like no other. His frame was just as tall, just much more muscular in comparison to when you last saw him. He made his way down the aisle, arms locked with a pretty blonde with blue eyes. They walked with a sort of synchronicity, capturing every eye in the room even more than before. You couldn’t help but let out a smile at the fact that his eyes remained glued in-front of him, he seemed nervous. You felt Rachel poke your stomach, making you giggle a little. You hated to admit it, but he looked good, so good.

Finally Ava entered as everyone rose, she was such a beautiful bride and watching Sam’s reaction almost brought tears to your eyes. They looked so happy to be taking this step together and it pulled at your heartstrings knowing how far you still were from this step.

The ceremony started as you kept and eye on Joe, he still seemed to be in a trance just watching Sam, not taking note of the crowd. When they finally kissed, everyone stood in applause. You smiled as you scanned your eyes down the groomsmen once more, only to be stopped by a pair of blue eyes locked directly at you. You felt frozen for a moment, but forced yourself to let out a small smile, only met with a continuous face of shock from Joe. You would have probably stood there forever, however a shove from Rachel got you moving with the rest of the row out to the reception area.

Once everyone made their way to the much more open space with even more white roses and lights, you finally had a second to breath and take in what just happened. Everyone found their designated seat once again and watched as the bride and groom made their big entrance and began to make their way around greeting everyone.

You looked up to the wedding party table and immediately spotted him.

Well, not only him.

The same blonde you had assumed was only Ava’s maid of honor had her head rested on Joe’s shoulder and a hand on his chest. You took in her entire appearance. She was undoubtedly gorgeous and very petite compared to your taller figure. As your eyes scanned up you were met in a deadlock with Joe's eyes once again. His face was expressionless, but nonetheless, he had caught you in some sort of trance once again. Only shaking out of it when you heard Ava and Sam approaching your table. You greeted the two and chatted with them for a few minutes, trying to bury a growing feeling inside your stomach.

Before food was served, speeches were started by both sets of parents. All of them were beautifully worded and carefully thought out to honor the couple. As Joe stood to say his, you latched on to every word, secretly admiring the sincerity he had for his best friend. He kept it short but sweet, and of course, claps seemed a little louder after his. Finally, you watched as the blonde stood, introducing herself as Stephanie, she went on about her best friend Ava and you subconsciously tuned her out. You were brought back when Joe’s name was mentioned, specifically how, “thankful” she was for Sam bringing such a “special man” into her life. She smiled looking down at him and placing a hand on his shoulder as he looked up to her with a small smile. You couldn’t tell if you were more shocked at her words or the twisting in your stomach because of her words. The adoring coos from the audience didn’t help the feeling, and neither did the few glances you picked up from individuals who knew well of your past with Joe.

As the reception continued, the dance floor got more crowded and the music got louder as the night continued. Your mind was in a different place than it was an hour ago, you were actually enjoying dancing with your friends and catching up with people you hadn’t seen in years. “You want a drink?” you loudly ask Rachel over the music as she dances next to you. “No thanks! Still working on this one!” she shows you her drink and you nod, letting her know you’d be at the bar. You hopped up on a barstool greeting the bartender with a smile as you rattled off your order. Turning away only for a second to look at the dance floor, you were startled when you turned back, noticing who had joined you.

“vodka soda please.” Joe orders from the man and slowly turns his head towards you with a smile. You can’t help but giggle a little. “How are you still drinking the same thing from college? Some things really never change I guess.” You raise your eyebrows as you take a sip from your drink. “Hello to you too.” He sarcastically replies making you both smile a little. “I honestly had no idea you were going to be here, I mean i can’t believe Sam didn’t mention it,” he states. “Yeah well it was great timing, I moved to the Covington area a few months ago so I was excited to come see everyone again,” you reply trying to make casual conversation. “Wow…I had no idea you were back, I mean i’m just really surprised to see you after all this time.” His eyes softened a bit and you could’ve sworn he had gotten closer. “You look really great, y/n” his words are quieter and you swear you see a shift in his eyes. You blush a bit at his words and fail to hide it. “Thank you, so do you. How have you been doing?” you reply trying to change the path of the conversation. “I’m alright, just making it through the off-season right now after such a shitty season. Looking forward to some trips and stuff,” he reply’s with a shrug. “That’s nice, I’m glad you let yourself relax a little,” You give him a genuine smile. Your eyes both lingered on each other a little too long, leaving you both in a blushed giggle. “So are you still working the same job,” he questions. “No, I mean technically yeah, but for a different company. I wasn’t happy anymore and felt like I couldn’t move up at all. Now I can stay here and feel a lot more productive with what I’m actually doing.” you stop yourself from going on not wanting to bombard him with a vent. “That’s nice you can stay in one place now, wish it could’ve been like that a couple years ago.” He laughs to himself but immediately regrets his word choice seeing your reaction. You felt a ping of guilt. He was right, things would be so different if you hadn’t uprooted your whole life for a job you wouldn’t even end up settling on. “I’m sorry, that came out wrong.” His hand inched toward yours but he stopped himself, seeming to be fighting an internal conflict. “It’s okay” you give him a reassuring smile.

You two continue to catch up and throw back a couple more drinks which you couldn’t even deny you were heavily feeling. You both watched the movement on the dance floor and your eyes fell on Stephanie who you had caught suspiciously watching Joe a few times throughout the night. Your mind honestly no longer had a say in what your words were. “So…” you press on “Stephanie seems nice!” You say with a clearly high octave in your voice making Joe laugh and shake his head. “Yeah..Yeah you know Sam introduced us, and we basically went on a double date and all and you know, it’s all good.” He finishes off his drink and places it on the bar with a hint of aggression. You watch her make her way off the dance floor and towards you and Joe. She pulls him off the barstool, clearly ignoring you and drags him to dance. He was clearly just as drunk as you which you felt partially at fault for, but decided to go find Rachel. You searched around for a bit but couldn’t seem to find her anywhere. You noticed Stephanie taking a selfie with Joe from across the room which he seemed antsy to get away from. You figured maybe Rachel took a step outside so made your way to the lit-up back patio area. You felt a sharp breeze as you stepped outside, regretting not bringing a coat as you held your arms and began to walk in search of her. After a long walk around the venue, you felt less under the influence and took a deep breath before you were stopped in your tracks.

“you just seem to be everywhere tonight.” You Joke, causing Joe's head to turn from where he was leaning on the railing looking out towards the city. “You look absolutely freezing,” his eyebrows raise as you accept the spot next to him. “just a bit” you joke, not expecting what he does next. You feel his suit jacket rest over your shoulders and a feeling of warmth overcomes you, something greater than just the feeling of a jacket. You look up to him with a smile before looking back towards the city. You both stood there, in absolute silence, for what felt like an eternity. The sun was long set by now, and the city glowed as each building outlined its own unique story. Your eyes traced each one, you felt so in touch at this moment, probably partially due to the alcohol, and partially due to something much greater than that.

Joe was the first to break the silence. “y/n…I’m really glad I got to see you, I really thought I’d never see you again.” he admits keeping his eyes ahead. You take a deep breath before speaking. “Yeah me too Joe, i’m glad everything worked out for us you know? We both got what we wanted in the end.” You said trying to convince yourself your words held truth. Joe seemed happy and like he had it all, you on the other hand felt like a lost puppy. He lets out a breath as his head drops before he turns to you. “Are you happy?” he asks. You freeze at the question, such simple words left you so complexed. Your silence seemingly answers his question. “Y/n…I told you a long time ago how much you mean to me, I just want you to know that hasn’t changed.” You both turn to each other at his words. “Joe-” you start but he cuts you off.

“Just listen. You ended things a long time ago with us and I let you. But I shouldn’t have, I should’ve fought harder and you know, I guess I just wanted you to know I’m sorry, for not fighting harder.” he stares into your eyes in a way you knew all too well. A feeling you hadn’t felt in years crept back into your body as you felt yourself gravitate towards him. You feel him pick up your hand as he moves in. His other hand meets your chin as he lifts your head towards his.

Inches away,

You feel your nose graze his, and in a quick second, you are met with the only lips that have ever meant anything to you.

Part two here

#joe burrow #joeburrow #joe burrow fic #joe burrow imagine #joe burrow x reader #joey burrow #joe burrow x y/n #joey b #joe burrow fan fic #joe burrow bengals #cincinnati bengals

[somehow-a-human]

Whose POV is it Anyway?

A Conclusion.

DO NOT ASK NEIL ABOUT FAN THEORY

Okay. Well. That was more intense i'll say than I expected. There is a lot happening with these filters over these 6 episodes and it was a bit more detailed and harder to follow than I had originally expected but we got through it and I have more than a few final thoughts to wrap this up.

For reference & context, I recommend reading these posts:

Whose POV is it Anyway? - Introduction

POV "Your 'Something's Wrong' Voice"

POV a Trip to Hell and a 25 Lazarii Miracle

POV a Companion to Owls

POV The Dirty Donkey & I think I Found a *Clue*!

POV Bodysnatchers & Cosplaying a bookseller

POV 1941

POV The Ball

POV The End?

Lens Filters

Shall we conclude?

So, if you remember back to my originally introductory post for this series, the thing that kicked off this entire analysis was a bit of commentary made by the cinematographer Gavin Finney in this article.

Finney Describes the Bronze Glimmerglass filter as being used for "bookshop scenes", the Black Pro Mist filter for "Hell", and Black Diffusion FX for "Crowley's Present Day Storyline". I still hate that wording.

Something in that zinged my brain just right and I launched into research about the cameras and these specific lens filters. Give that post a read seriously or none of this will make much sense. ANYWAY.

What I had decided for writing these posts, since we had two main characters, was that I was going to apply the Bronze Glimmerglass (BGG) filter to Aziraphale's POV, since it was mentioned it's applied to bookshop scenes and he's always there anyway, and the Black Diffusion FX (BDFX) filter to Crowley's POV, since well, that's what they said it is kinda.

Do I think it is as simple as, it is either Crowley or Aziraphale's POV? no.

It was a decent jumping off point though, and it was working really well for the first few episodes but once we got past the halfway mark of the season, the lines started to blur, and I think that is perfectly in line with our story.

The BGG filter is usually applied to scenes in the bookshop, featuring Aziraphale, or the record shop, sometimes the coffee shop when Maggie is being lovesick over Nina. We even see it in heaven during the Job minisode and its on THICK during the Whickber Street Ball. The BGG filter is romantic, idealistic, it's just that a filter. Looking at the world through rose colored glasses! Looking at the world likely how Aziraphale would like to see it.

The BDFX filter is cooler toned, more realistic, it's used in scenes with Shax and Crowley, and often Nina when Maggie isn't around because these characters are pragmatic. They aren't dreamers, they see things for the reality that they are.

Whenever Crowley shows up and says something snarky to Aziraphale to break him out of his fanciful delusions and insults him (affectionate), like the scene at the coffee shop, or the scene at the pub, the filter switches from BGG to BDFX. We're being broken out of the dream, brought back into the colder reality.

I think it makes sense to apply the filters to characters for a lot of the season because their actions fit in their characterization. Aziraphale is daydreamy BGG, Crowley is a realist BDFX. It just works. But then we start to add in the demons attacking The Ball and the offer from the Metatron and everything falls apart. The BGG filter is gone. The dream is gone. We're in cold reality, even in the bookshop where we are usually consistently in a dreamy state.

Even Crowley gets the dreamy effects of the BGG filter and of what-could-be peace & domesticity in the bookshop when Aziraphale is in Edinburgh and he's forced to just hang around and chill with Jim. I'm sure that type of life is all he wants with Aziraphale. Quiet, wearing his cardigan and carrying books around for his love.

I'm glad I wrote my opinions before that C & A were possibly imagining each other in the Edinburgh POV chapter so that theory can exist on the internet somewhere but I think this is more likely the case. The filters are more likely indicating to us what the wants dreams and desires of the characters are compared to the realities they see. What do they choose to see better? Worse?

What does this mean for the Final 15? It's simply reality, and neither of them want it.

I'd like to remind you dear reader that this is one opinion, of which there are many on this website, and plenty of them are worth reading and considering. I don't expect that I'm right. I expect that I'm wrong. In fact, I'll probably write another series of posts next month detailing precisely how everything here is completely backwards to how it ACTUALLY is! Well maybe not. That is to say, if you don't agree with this, that's cool, I might not either tomorrow, but wasn't it entertaining to read?

#good omens #good omens 2 #michael sheen #aziraphale #good omens meta #crowley #david tennant #good omens theories #crowley x aziraphale #good omens clues #ineffable mystery #ineffable husbands #ineffable idiots #ineffable spouses #ineffable divorce #ineffable fandom #good omen season 3 #good omens theory #good omens clue #good omens fandom

[anthurak]

One aspect of Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel that I’ve always found particularly interesting is the power-dynamics between the Human Sinners and the native Demons of Hell. And how the differences between them are far more complex than they might first appear.

See, on paper it might seem like the Sinners get the far better deal while the Hellborn Demons are effectively second-class citizens in their own home. The Sinners are effectively immortal, can seemingly only be permanently killed by angelic weapons/powers and can wield much more power than the average Imp, Succubus or other demon, with some of the Sinner Overlords even wielding power apparently comparable to that of the Goetia nobility. Even the official word of the creators listing the ‘classes’ of Hellish society put the Sinners above all of the Hellborn Demons save for the Goetia.

However, while this may seem clear-cut on paper, I have a feeling that the reality is FAR more complex than it may first appear. And that there is actually a very interesting aspect that the native demons hold over the Sinners.

Because for all their apparent superior power and immortality, at the end of the day the Sinners are still prisoners. And not just of Hell in general, but a single part of it. Vivzie has also confirmed that Sinners are confined specifically to the Pride Ring, and cannot travel to other areas of Hell.*

Meanwhile, we’ve seen on multiple occasions that there isn’t anything keeping the Hellborn Demons confined to any specific Ring. Despite supposedly being the lowest in Hell’s societal hierarchy, it seems that even Imps and Hellhounds can travel between the Rings freely.

And that’s not even touching on the fact that Hellborn Demons can outright travel to EARTH ITSELF if they want to. Sure, it may not be as easy for them as traveling to other areas of Hell, but it’s clear that there ARE ways for native Demons to go to Earth, and that it happens fairly often.

Despite their apparent lower class and power, it seems like the native Demons of Hell conversely enjoy far more freedom than the Sinners do. Really think about how Sinners like Alastor and Valentino wield power and authority approaching that of Hell’s nobility, yet a ‘lowly’ Imp like Blitzo, Moxxie or Millie does things every day that they simply… CAN’T.

And that’s not even diving into one VERY significant aspect of life in Hell that I imagine effects these two groups VERY differently:

The yearly Extermination.

It’s not clear yet just how Heaven’s yearly purge of Sinners effects the Hellborn Demons, but I imagine in basically any instance, they have a MAJOR advantage over the Sinners. It’s very likely that the extermination is confined to the Pride Ring itself, since that’s where all the Sinners are. Meaning that even if the Exorcists are totally indiscriminate and go around blasting everything that moves, the native Demons can simply LEAVE Pride to go elsewhere in Hell where it’s safe for the day, whereas the Sinners are stuck in their prison at the nonexistent mercy of the Angels. It’s even possible that the Exorcists simply don’t target Hellborn Demons at all during the yearly purge, focusing specifically on Sinners.

Which means that for all their possible power and status, most Sinners have basically a 50-50 or worse shot of straight up dying every year. While the natives of Hell simply… DON’T have to deal with that.

The funny thing is, the more I’ve thought about it, the more it feels like this same dynamic applies not just to the Sinners and the Demons, but to other levels of Hellish society. Where those with less power end up having more freedom than those with more power.

For one, this idea of ‘power and status coming at the cost of freedom’ has been a key theme of Stolas’ character since the start of Season 2 of Helluva Boss. That Stolas was born into all this power and status, yet has had his entire life effectively dictated to him from day one. Which is why he threw himself so completely into his tryst with Blitzo, as it felt liberating for him.

For another example, let’s look at the Goetia nobility like Stolas as a whole and the Kings of Sin like Asmodeus. It’s been made pretty clear that the Sins are about as far above the Goetia as the Goetia are above the likes of Imps and Hellhounds. That for all their flaunting of power and status, the Goetia are effectively ‘middle-management’ while the Sins are pretty much the ‘God-Emperors’ of Hell.

Yet when we consider the possibility that all of the Sins are Fallen Angels just like Lucifer, an interesting wrinkle in this dynamic emerges: If all seven of the Sins were originally expelled from Heaven for whatever transgressions/rebellions/basic mistakes, that could mean they are actually PRISONERS of Hell just like the Human Sinners! Certainly they may be able to travel between the areas of Hell freely, but still nonetheless trapped in Hell overall.

Which would mean that despite the massive difference in power and authority, the Goetia like Stolas can do ONE key thing that even the might, all-powerful Sins cannot:

They can leave Hell if they want to.

And on top of all this, this dynamic even extends beyond Hell. Just look at what we’ve seen of Heaven. On paper, Heaven seems to be, well Heaven. With the Angels holding enormous power, status and wealth. Yet it’s also clear that Heaven is this EXTREMELY rigid, controlling society where even the lowest-ranked members are tightly monitored.

And where even the slightest slip-up can potentially cost you EVERYTHING.

The episode C.H.E.R.U.B. really did give us a VERY interesting look at the dynamics between Heaven and Hell. On the one hand, I.M.P. is this cheap, ramshackle startup company while C.H.E.R.U.B. is flashy, well-maintained and even the Heaven equivalent of government-funded. But on the other hand, Blitzo, Moxxie and Millie clearly operate with ZERO oversight from any kind of higherup, can operate pretty much however the fuck they want, and also have access to a crazy powerful demonic artifact, even if Loona seems to be the only one who actually knows how to use it. Meanwhile, Cletus, Collin and Keenie got straight-up expelled from Heaven PERMANENTLY for being accidentally involved in the death of ONE human.

*The nature how the Sinners are confined and what is actually ‘keeping’ them in the Pride ring is still pretty unclear, but I have to imagine this is some ‘Divine Mandate’ thing, tied to whatever sends human sinners to Hell in the first place. Meaning that Sinners literally CANNOT leave Pride through any means, probably with some impassible barrier around any way out of Pride. Like if one of I.M.P.s clients tried to pull a fast one and jump through a portal Loona made to Earth, they would probably just bounce right off of it. And that’s the charitable option. Another possibility is that a Sinner leaving the Pride Ring in any way just straight up dies. As in, incinerated in divine or infernal flames if they pass outside the boundaries of Pride. Or perhaps Sinners simply can’t survive outside of Pride.

#helluva boss #hazbin hotel #helluva boss analysis

[biceratops7]

Good omens leak talk under cut, literally just vivid descriptions, keep away unless you’ve seen it and it’s too late:

Ok I have literally been staring at that image periodically whenever I think about it for several days. Because I am normal and like things neurotypically. So here’s literally just a big list of observations no matter how minute. If you read this whole thing then the brain worms have made it to your prefrontal cortex.

Crowley has his glasses on (already explained my theory behind that)

Crowley is obviously the instigator but it’s unclear whether or not Azirphale is currently an active participant, or if he’s still processing. I’m leaning on still processing, but it’s hard to tell with the shadow on his brow obscuring his expression and not being able to see his hands

Speaking of that shadow, what the hell is up with the lighting in this scene?? It’s not bad except for making things in an already blurry still unclear, it’s just strange to have something softly back lit but also clearing having another additional light source else where. It’s an interesting choice because it can lead to inference of the circumstances here.

Second, related question: where the hell are they?? So let’s just take stock of everything BUT Azirphale and Crowley we see here. First of all it’s mostly in shadow, however there is a prominent light source behind Aziraphale, possibly close to him. The light we see on Crowley’s hair is likely from the doorway behind them.

Quick detour, the doorway is the brightest thing in the frame, creating a slight silhouette effect. Silhouettes are often used in film for moments that are a big deal but visually obvious. It shows weight through simplicity because you still know what’s happening and why it’s important with way less visual info than normal. We all IMMEDIATELY recognized what was happening and lost our shits even though it’s in shadow and currently obscured by giant text.

Ok so anyway this all leads me to believe they’re in a mostly dark room with one bright but not very far reaching light. I wanna say it’s almost fluorescent? Or an exposed lightbulb? It certainly doesn’t look warm like a lamp to me.

In addition I believe they’re inside a room to a larger building. The light coming from the door is almost certainly NOT day light. It’s purely white as if it’s a very well lit room or hall. There also is what I think looks like an exit sign near the top next to the doorway, or at least idk what else it could be. Because of that I don’t think this is anyone’s home or small shop.

I find this EXTREMELY interesting because the only prominent location we really see fit that vibe or description is the office building of heaven and hell. This season seems to be particularly highlighting that “neutral ground” between then, with the elevator showing up three times.

Now this one is just me trying to interpret literal blobs, but there either appears to be some sort of rounded extension to the top of the door way, or the walls are just thick. Make of that what you will

the room appears relatively spacious but mostly bare, almost like a holding place. But obviously with such a tight frame this can be hard to tell. I did take note of the fact that you can see some brown lines behind Aziraphale in the first frame, so there is clearly something there.

Alright enough waxing poetry about the damn walls, I know that they're probably standing up. Crowley might be in a position where he can twist into it from a sitting position, but with Aziraphale' shoulders so far forward and his back entirely angled to face Crowley, he'd either have to be straddling a chair or his lower spine is snapping like a glowstick.

Aziraphale is not being pushed against anything, he’s rocking backwards despite the force being applied to pull him forward, so in other words our boy Crowley’s REALLY shooting his shot, lmao

Aziraphale’s arms are confusing. They’re clearly not holding onto Crowley even out of frame, but they also don’t seem fully relaxed at his sides to me either.

WAIT, ok so the standing is still a strong contender, but they could also be sitting across from eachother at a small table. Crowley seems hunched over a bit more than is warranted for Aziraphale’s height, and Aziraphale’s arms could propped up at the elbows supporting his weight.

So damnit this adds a whole new layer to the location question

#this is so unhinged please forgive me #good omens spoilers #good omens #good omens leak #ineffable husbands #analysis #speculation #aziraphale #Crowley #season 2 #biceratops

[ovaryacted]

This is gonna be a longish analysis post but just walk with me for a bit. I don’t even know where I’m going with this, but I’m going to talk about Leon’s humanity and how important it is to his character.

-

The topic of goodness, morality, and humanity when it comes to a zombie apocalypse is something I always find interesting. It’s huge when it comes to depicting what is defined as “good” in a universe where the living are amongst the dead and they are left to survive by any means necessary.

I’m currently rewatching The Walking Dead from the beginning, and I want to focus on Rick Grimes and use him as an example. When we first meet Rick, he’s a sheriff, a good man with a wife and a child (Carl) that he loves dearly. He has community, he has a life, and all of that gets taken away from him when he wakes up in a hospital alone in the middle of an apocalypse. Early on in the show, the first 2 seasons really, Rick is depicted as a man with a big moral compass, he does right by people, he protects who he loves and tries to save whoever he can.

Towards the end of S2 into S3 and beyond, Rick beings to change after he starts killing humans who pose a threat to his livelihood on top of killing the walkers (zombies) as a means of survival. He begins to lose himself the more he kills and the more losses he experiences, because he carries the burden of being the leader and has to protect what he currently has. Killing becomes second nature to him, and he’ll do it without hesitation because he has to.

Within every zombie or monster apocalypse franchise, like TWD, The Last of Us, and Resident Evil included, you quickly learn that zombies aren’t the only things you have to be scared of, but the people that are also surviving alongside you who become corrupt and are a threat to you.

Throughout TWD as the story progresses, Rick faces challenges with other leaders like The Governor and Negan who are seen as a modern depiction of “tyrannical dictators”. These people constantly fighting with Rick in particular, are intended to make the viewers question who is good, and who is evil, because all of these leaders in comparison to Rick are seen as “bad people”. Yet, when Rick goes batshit crazy in S5 and does the things he criticized his late best friend Shane of doing (before he kills him), you start to wonder whether or not Rick is still considered a “good man” or has any humanity left in him.

Why am I talking about this you ask? Well, it’s because the same questions you get when thinking about morally grey characters like Rick Grimes from TWD, it can be applied to perceiving Leon Kennedy’s character from RE. Rick has been through hell and had to do what he could to survive and protect those that he cared for, the same way Leon wanted to do from the beginning except of course it’s a bit different in his particular case.

When we first meet Leon Kennedy as a character, he’s a bright eyed rookie at the age of 21. He’s practically a baby with no proper life experience, and he carries a sense of innocence that he doesn’t really understand until he finds himself smack in the middle of a zombie apocalypse of his own. After experiencing Raccoon City and barely surviving, he gets blackmailed into military service and has to work alongside the corrupt government for years fighting against what essentially ruined his life. He was never meant to be a soldier, or a government lap dog, he was told that from the start of his military career. But he was essentially groomed and molded out to become one by force, and that would make anybody turn cold.

Leon at his core, is someone who is so selfless and heroic that it’s tragic to see how he’s changed as he gets older, of course none of it being his fault. His entire perception of the world gets flipped upside down, and he no longer believes that there is “good” in the world, that there is no justice and the reason why he joined the police force (to protect people) is a fallacy. He’s a good guy that gets thrown into the worst possible situation, and he grows numb and detached from reality because he doesn’t see a point in continuing to fight for a world that will destroy itself.

Despite his thoughts and his traumas, his humanity remains intact. Even when he’s been on so many missions knocking on death’s door, he continues to fight. Of course, a big reason being because of Sherry and because he has nothing else, but at the same time it’s because he still maintains some sense of his moral code after everything happens. He easily could’ve become corrupt with his bitterness and anger towards the government after all the trauma he experienced. If he wanted to he could’ve become like Krauser, or Jason, or even Dylan; trying to gain some power because there is no justice or morality. He also could’ve just ended everything a long time ago if he really didn’t want to live anymore. But he doesn’t. He still helps people, he still wants to save them, and he lives by his own personal mantra: If you don't try to save one life, you'll never save any. (In Degeneration)

And we see that in practice multiple times throughout the times we get to see Leon:

RE2 w/Sherry and Claire, and also trying to save Ada and Marvin

RE4 with Ashley (Luis is questionable but both his death and Krauser’s impacted Leon too)

Infinite Darkness with his team, Claire, and seen in how he treats Patrick

Damnation with how he tells Buddy that he shouldn’t kill himself because he owes it to the people who died to stay alive (kind of questionable cause the delivery was wrong but yeah)

RE6 in general trying to save everyone against Simmons

Vendetta helping Chris to fight against Arias despite being drunk and suicidal

Death Island trying to take down Dylan with everyone else

Leon’s humanity is so fundamental to his character that it’s the one thing that really makes him stand out (of course the main character have their humanity but I’m focusing on Leon in particular). The fact that no matter what happens or what he says or what he’s been through, he still somehow carries the same thinking he had when he became a rookie cop in the first place, and honestly it’s admirable. It’s one of the things that really makes me love him as a character. He’s just a good man with a heart of gold in a shitty situation, even though he doesn’t he’s a good person, and somehow underneath all that trauma, a part of him he still cares enough to keep fighting.

#ovaryacted thoughts #leon kennedy #leon scott kennedy #leon s kennedy #resident evil #resident evil leon kennedy #idek what I was talking about but I hope it makes some sense LMFAO #I just get on here and start yapping geez #I made this at like 4 am last night okay #ignore me #I just be thinking

[thissortofsorcery]

Harringrove social media AU (in a season 2 setting because that is my paradise land) where Billy makes surfing TikToks as a teenager, with a really good following and a promising career as a pro surfer. Until Neil moves the entire family to a landlocked state, and Billy knows it's to punish him.

There could be several reasons for this:

-Billy is becoming too independent from Neil;

-Someone questioned a bruise Billy didn't cover up well enough and now it's all over the internet;

-Billy was caught with a guy he was seeing;

-Billy's mom saw his TikToks and tried to get in touch, Neil had been keeping him from her;

And now Billy's in a town in the middle of nowhere, Indiana, two months into the school year, and everybody expects him to, what, be chill about it? Not care that Neil can just ruin his life and his career on a whim, and there's nothing he can do about it? Billy's raging, Billy's seething, Billy's hurt, and no one wants to or can help him. Susan won't lift a finger or say anything against Neil, looks down every time his dad raises his voice or his hand to hit Billy. And Max- Max is furious with him, blames him for the move like he was the one who decided to pack everything, like he was the one who sold his board and packed the cars and bought the ugly house on Cherry Lane.

What the hell is Billy supposed to do now? He's a senior and he had no plans of going to college, hasn't even thought of applying anywhere. His account is going to die out if he doesn't post anything, and who can guarantee he can raise it from the dead in a year if he makes it back to California once he's eighteen? He needs the TikTok money to make it back to California anyway. He's screwed. He's so screwed.

On the other side of this, is Steve. Steve is a gaming streamer and youtuber, or was- is. He's trying, okay? But ever since- everything, he can't play horror games anymore. He used to stream horror games pretty much exclusively, had whole events for it, charity streams, sponsorships, and then the whole Upside Down thing happened, and he knows his role in it was minor, okay, he knows he was there just for the tail end of it, but a seven-feet tall monster with a flower for a face coming out of the ceiling of the Byers house was both his starting and breaking point, apparently.

His channel was pretty good. Pretty stable. Then he tried to stream Blair Witch about a week after everything and had a panic attack on stream. Things didn't get better after that.

Nancy got him into Animal Crossing, because it's soothing, so he streams that now. And The Sims. Needless to say, his channel took a pretty big hit, as did his reputation. Like Tommy H. says, he turned bitch.

But it's fine, everything's fine. He's got Nancy, he's got a loyal online community that stayed after everything, even if it's small and no one's anywhere near Hawkins. He's got his SAD (Steve After Dark) Streams for when he can't sleep. Halloween is coming up and he's maybe sad he's not doing Spooktober this year, but. Maybe on the last week. Maybe on Halloween Day. If Nancy doesn't want to go to Tina's party.

Billy and Steve collide pretty much the same way. Steve is on edge and Billy is on edge, then the world's ugliest dogs are let out, and Maxine sneaks out, and Billy finds her in a house full of boys and an 18 year old washed out streamer who lies to him about it. Next thing Billy knows he's waking up in a half-destroyed kitchen with an empty syringe two feet from him, car gone, and not a single person in sight.

On Monday, Harrington's face looks bad. It's been a while since Billy's felt this guilty about putting a bruise on someone's face, but he knows he lost it a little, that night. Went too far. He doesn't remember most of it, and Billy doesn't know if that's from whatever drugs Maxine shot him with or from just- anger. Remorse just clogs his throat and he can't breathe. He decides to stay the fuck away from Harrington.

And then Tommy H. just has to take pictures of them, make a damn video, post it to Instagram and TikTok and tag them both. Of course it goes viral.

Billy spends a full week in a state of panic. He fully expects Harrington to press charges now. 

(Steve, similarly, is panicking. He streams family friendly content now. He can't just get into fights. He can't stream until his face heals as it is.)

Billy feels even more like shit when his follower count goes up and his account sees more activity than it has since the move. Like it's a reward for beating up Harrington, or something. It's not right. 

(The same happens to Steve.)

So Billy has an idea. He wants to apologize to Harrington. Wants to make it up to him. Maybe he can help him get his popularity back, get his channel to how it used to be, somehow. And if it keeps his own account alive, well. 

It takes a little convincing, but Steve agrees. Dustin is trying to get him into his nerdy games, but Steve isn't sure he likes them. Steve's been having a hard time, since the second round with the Upside Down. He can't sleep, can't focus, Nancy went off with Jonathan. So maybe he wants a distraction, okay? Maybe he wants something that isn't life or death.

So Billy and Steve start a partnership of sorts. Steve films a couple of youtube videos playing co-op games with Billy. Branches out to TikTok, maybe. Starts bringing Billy to his streams, at first just to hang out and then to take over and play some stuff. Billy manages to burn down Steve's entire 9th generation legacy mansion on The Sims in 30 minutes. Billy and Steve play Dead By Daylight together, and Steve feels increasingly comfortable playing horror games with Billy around. 

It's working so well for Steve, he decides he wants to pay it back. So he teaches Billy to ice skate so they can make content for Billy's TikTok. Steve takes Billy sledding when it snows. Billy films Steve falling asleep in unlikely places during the day and not waking up when Billy piles things on him. 

Steve hunts down and finds Billy's old surfing board that Neil sold and buys it back.

At some point, Steve becomes Billy's best friend. If he could- If they could, Billy would- They could be more, Billy thinks. But they're all over the internet, and Billy doesn't think Neil watches their content, but word can get back to him really easily. People like to speculate as it is. It's a small fucking town. 

The climax would be, of course, getting Billy out of Neil's house. Getting Neil arrested. So Billy can be free.

(Feel free to explore and play with this AU as you like!!)

#harringrove #billy x steve #billy hargrove #billy antis dni #mine

[boliv-jenta]

Joel Miller x f!reader

WC:3.2k

Warnings: Angst. Smut. Sex work. Unprotected sex. P in V sex.

Author note: This has sat in my docs since episode one. I wasn't feeling it. I haven't edited it. It might help tide someone over until season two though.

I Put a Spell on You

The whisky and pills weren't cutting it anymore. The second he stopped working, stopped pushing forward and closed his eyes, there she was. Sarah. He could see every freckle. The tiny parts of her that looked like him. He could feel the weight of her in his arms. Smell the strawberry shampoo she used. He could feel her arms around him, clinging on as they ran. Then he could feel her blood on his hands. 

He pushed through it, worked harder, worked until he felt like dropping. Until the last of his energy carried him to bed to a restless sleep.

That's when he began searching for something more. Something to completely knock him out. While doing a trade on the far side of the QZ, he heard about it. A woman. He didn't get a name. The locals called her The Witch. Some of the less polite ones called her a whore. From what Joel could tell both could apply. Joel made contact through a third party,a guard that owed him a favour. She responded with her fee. Joel now held it in his hands, as he waited for her to answer. As the seconds passed his senses returned to him. What the hell was he doing here? Was he really going to see a witch to help him? Thinking better of it he turned to leave, then he turned back, a slither of guilt urging him to leave her fee for wasting her time. 

As he knelt down to place it on her door mat, the door opened. Lengths of white satin swished around bare legs as she stepped around the door. Joel's eyes scanned upwards, taking in the whimsical change in the colour of her dress. Around thigh height it began to turn purple the colour got stronger the higher his gaze went. Until the deep purple was complemented by an amethyst crystal pendant resting in her cleavage. Beyond that he saw her face. With some of the services she offered he assumed she would be older. If he had to guess, he'd say she was around the age he was before the world went to shit. Maybe younger, it was hard to tell with the smile on her face, it was so bright and carefree. She didn't look as aged as the people walking the street with the weight of the end of the world on their heads.

"You okay down there?" She asked, amusement evident in her tone. 

Suddenly, Joel Miller, a man that had talked his way out of more trouble that he could ever recall, was lost for words.

"Joel, right? Come on in." She moved back in the apartment. 

A light floral scent welcomed him as Joel followed her into her home. For the QZ it was surprisingly nice. It was brightly decorated. Soft furnishings and calming art pieces added colour. Having the penthouse afforded her enough privacy that she could keep the windows uncovered. The sunlight flooded in, warming the space even further. Being in one of the tallest surviving buildings meant her view was mainly sky. For a moment, Joel could imagine himself standing somewhere else entirely. 

"Would you like some tea before we begin?" She spoke softly.

"I was never much of a tea drinker, but thank you." Something about her made Joel remember his manners.

"Ah, a coffee man. I have that too." She smiled at him. "I'm not sure if will be helpful or not but if it makes you happy."

She made him a cup, bringing it over with her own cup. "Your contact said you wanted help sleeping."

"Yeah. I heard you could help with that." Joel felt a nervousness that he hadn't in years. 

"Did they tell you how I could help?" She queried.

"Not exactly. They said that you were a…"Joel caught himself.

"A witch? Baba Yaga? A lady of the night?" She grinned at him.

"Yeah." He laughed, a blush at his cheeks. "Just so we are clear. I offer herbal medicines, relaxation coaching, massage techniques. For a very select clientele, I offered intimate massage and sexual services."

"Very select?"

"Just for the ones I find attractive."

"So what services can you offer me?"

"You?" She looked him up and down, enjoying every second that she took him in. "All of them."

Joel felt an odd swell of pride. It had been a long time since he had been deemed worthy of something other than mere survival.

"We'll start with some simple breathing techniques. We'll get comfortable in each other's spaces then we can talk about my other services."

Joel should feel stupid. A grown man sat criss-cross applesauce on the floor, humming whatever tune came into his head as she instructed. Somehow he didn't. She just made him feel comfortable.

"The humming with help stimulate your vagus nerve. It promotes relaxation. I can help you stimulate it too if you like?"

Joel simple nodded at her question. 

She came to sit behind him, her soft hand working under the collar of his shirt to knead the muscles at the bottom of his neck. Her touch against his skin sent a shiver down his spine. His cock swelling in his jeans made him shuffle to get comfortable.

"You can take your clothes off it you would feel more comfortable. I can take mine off too, if you like?"

"I'd like that." Joel managed to croak out. Now that was embarrassing, a grown man sounding like a horny, hormonal teen. He could hear the rustling of material behind him. Then she was at his back again. Closer this time. He could feel her warmth as her breasts pressed into his back as she leaned into him. Her head resting on his shoulder. Instinctively, he cupped her cheek to keep her there. Joel hadn't felt softness like it in such a long time. He fucked when he needed but being truly intimate with someone that was something his mind didn't even entertain. Her lips pressed to his palm. 

"I'm here, Joel. We're safe here. Let me take care of you." With that she began to strip his shirt off of his shoulders. As the material rolled down his body she pressed soft kisses to each new piece of skin. When they were both bare, she lead him up onto the bed. With her sitting facing him, cross legged and naked, Joel didn't quite know where to look.

"Look at me, Handsome. We're going to begin with eye gazing. We look into each other's eyes. It might feel uncomfortable at first but I want to create a connection between us."

"That wasn't the type of connecting I was thinking was going to happen." Joel quipped.

The laughter that peeled out of her was beautiful. Her eyes shone with it, it made it easier for him to look deep into them watching the amusement dance in them. 

"Here. Put your hand over my heart." Taking his hand she settled it over her breast. Then she mirrored his position, her hand on his firm chest. Next, she covered his hand with hers and told him to do the same with hers. They sat there quietly feeling each breath the other took. Joel was startled by how imitate the whole thing felt. He leaned into the warmth and comfort he let go of the fact that he was paying her and let himself fantasise that the beautiful young woman in front of him was his, his love, his safe space. Something he could no longer indulge in. How could he allow himself to love when he knew how badly it hurt to lose it.

"Can I touch you?" The words came from his mouth as if someone else spoke them.

"Of course. I'll let you know if you do something I don't like. I trust you to stop when I say." She stroked his cheek as she spoke. Her fingertips dragging across his salt and pepper stubble caused a pleasant tingle. Her fingers threaded into his hair lightly tugging to pull him close.

"Are you okay with kissing?" She asked almost against his lips. He hadn't even thought about kissing. He wasn't sure if it would be on the table. He nodded.

"Words, Joel." She prompted.

"Yes. Kissing is okay." The way her lips gently moulded to his broke something in him. He didn't realise how much he'd missed tenderness. There was a time when his hands provide pleasure and comfort not just pain and death. He melted in her kiss as she massaged his scalp. Oddly, his body felt heavier as he released his burdens. Feeling the shift in his body, she move to the side, encouraging him to lay down. He let her guide him onto his back.

"Give me one minute." She hopped up off the bed. The spring in her step was refreshing. His eyes roamed over her curves. Her soft skin. She really was beautiful. He wondered what her story was. Almost selfishly he blinked the thought away. He didn't want to acknowledge anything outside of this room. When she returned she held a small silver jug.

"What's that? Witch's brew?" Joel final regained enough of his wits to make a joke.

"Oh yeah. This one turns you into putty in my hands." She tipped the jug. Joel grasped as the warm liquid hit his chest. His nipples harden and his cock twitched at the sensation. Holding the jug over her own chest, she poured the liquid over herself. Joel had no idea what she was covering them in but he hoped it was editable so he could lick it from her breasts. Setting the jug down she began to spread the liquid over his chest and down his arms. Slowly, she began massage every inch of him. Every inch softened under her touch. Only his cock remained rock hard as she worked her hands over him.

"Would you like me to make you cum?"

"Please." God, how that came out as a genuine plea.

Her slick fingers wrapped firmly around his girth. In under a minute he was on the verge of spilling his load. 

"Wait, wait, wait." He panted. "I don't want to, not yet."

"I bet you have another one in you for me. You just enjoy, Baby." She moved her hand in firm strokes once more. 

When didn't stop her she coaxed his release. "Come on, Joel. Let go. I want to see it. I bet you're so sexy when you cum." 

Her praise provoked something in him. He wanted more of it. He wanted to be worthy of her honeyed words. His cum soon mixed with the oil on her hands and his stomach. 

"Mmm. I was right." She kissed him playfully. Another thing that Joel had missed, idle playfulness.

Grabbing a towel she cleaned him off. Normally, cumming that hard was enough to drop him. Right now he had more energy that he'd had in weeks. He felt like he could be ready to take her in minutes. Arousal already stirred at the base of his cock. He should be sated yet he was even more hungry for her. Sitting up he kissed her before trying to take control. He wanted to make her feel good. A woman like her deserved to feel good. 

"Nuh-uh. You just lay back." 

"I want to see you cum. I bet you're so sexy when you come." He nipped at her lips as he mocked her. 

Pushing him back down, she braced her hands on her chest as she straddled his thigh. The oil made it easy for her to slide along his thigh. The coarse hair dusting his legs and the firmness of his muscles pushed her closer to climax with each sweep of her hips. Joel watched transfixed as his thigh grew wetter. As her moans grew loader. As she completely lost herself. She was free in the moment. Joel was used to people taking what they wanted, he'd been on both sides of it. He wasn't used to being done for anything but survival or greed. Seeing her chase her happiness, using him to provide it, a different sense of purpose filled him. 

He started to wonder if she really was a witch with the way he was under he spell. He was transfixed by every little micro expression as she enjoyed herself. By the time she came on his thigh, he was just as undone as she was. He was near feral as he surged up to catch her lips.

"Easy." She smiled against his lips. "Cross your legs like before."

Doing as he was told, he rested his hands on her hips as she straddled him. Taking his length in her hand, she notched him at her entrance. Just the promise of her warmth around her had him throbbing. Their breaths mingled as she slowly dropped down on him. His hips itched to surge upwards, the position they were in wouldn't really allow for it. She felt his body chasing hers.

"We're just going to take things slow. We have all night."

"I think you're giving an old man too much credit."

"An old man in incredible shape." Her hand wrapped around his taunt bicep. Leaning back, he changed the angle of him inside her, rolling her hips, she sighed happily. 

The sight of her made Joel even less confident that he could go all night. Even if he could distract himself from the feeling of her perfect wet heat clutching him, just looking at her was enough to make him feel like cumming.

"Fuck. If you keep arching those pretty tits in my face while you ride me like that, I won't last long."

"When you get close to cumming, tell me. Give me a number from one to ten. Ten being ready to blow." If she kept talking like that he would blow. "Number?"

Joel took a moment to calm his mind. He purged it of thoughts of how it would feel to fill her. To see his spend dripping out of her thoroughly fucked pussy. He thought about how his body felt instead. "Eight."

"Good. When that number gets higher you let me know."

The way he was able to drop his guard and relinquish control to her pushed him towards nine. Her pace was slow and steady. She rose up squeezing every inch of him until the tip was barely inside her then sunk down achingly slow. Joel hadn't had sex this unhurried in over two decades. He savoured every stroke. He was able to fully be the moment with her.

"Nine." He grunted. Her hips sped up. "Fuck. No, don't. I'm…" Coming to a complete halt she rose off of him. Her hand wrapped around the tip of his length. Squeezing tightly until his approaching climax was abated.

Pressing little kisses around his hairline, she waited patiently for his breathing to slow right down before she resumed riding him slowly. 

"So that's your game? You're going to tease an old man to death. Pick my stuff clean to sell. Nice little side…ah…hustle. Fuck." 

"That wouldn't be a gr-great way to get return customers. Oh, god. I-I'll wait until until I get a few more payments before I fuck you to de..oh..death."

"It might be my turn to question your stamina. Shit. You feel pretty close to me."

"The difference if I can cum and keep going."

"Well, in that case." Joel's thick fingers worked their way between them. With his usual level of competence, he had her muscles convulsing around her. 

The feel of her was incredible, he almost didn't tell her his number. He wanted he to carry on pulling him in deeper. "Nine." He eventually groaned.

Even with her limbs still trembling she rose off him and delayed his orgasm again. "Jesus, Darlin'!" His tongue coming out to wet his lips as he panted threw her off. The incredible luxury of only sleeping with clients she was attracted to had its downsides. Sometimes she wanted them to stick around. For them to share more than just their bodies. Joel brought this urge out in her more than anyone ever had. Aside from being incredibly attractive he had a way about him. Confident without being arrogant. A steady reassuring presence with a vein of softness. All of it was very appealing. As much as she wanted to stretch things out to build his climax until the wave of it pulled him under and washed away his stress leaving him floating free. She also couldn't wait to feel him cum inside of her. They hadn't discussed it but he she figured he wanted that. It was one of the special services that she offered. Not being able to get pregnant was a big draw. Still it wasn't without its risks. That was the other stipulation with her clients. As well as being attracted to them they had to be clean. FEDRA didn't give a shit about most people. They'd given up on a cure. They did however screen some people regularly for any signs that the virus could have mutated. This included a full medical screening. A list one of your contacts had access to. Which she exchanged for 'the best hour of her month'.

Once Joel had calmed down, she started to ride him again. Greedily this time. The stretch of him, the depth of him striking her inside, it was all so good.

"Uncross your legs, Joel." Once he was laid flat, she rode him even harder.

"Fuck. Nine!" 

"I know. I know. Cum for me. Let go."

"Can I…can I cum inside you? It's safe, right?" Joel had heard about the service she offered. Something primal inside him wanted it. There was no way he would ever risk it normally but he had guarantees. One of his contacts had access to your medical files.

"Yes. I want you to Joel. I want to feel you."

With that he was gone. This orgasm was longer than he'd ever felt. After the first sudden release of pressure, coupled with overwhelming ecstasy, waves of pleasure rolled through him. Each one washing away his ability to think coherently. Until he was finally taken by a deep, dreamless sleep.

Joel had barely pulled out of her when he'd started to drift off. Once he was asleep she quickly pressed a plug inside of her to catch his release. He looked so handsome, she took a moment to admire him before slipping away to her bedroom. Quickly, she lay down a towel and grabbed her camera. Spreading her legs wide she removed the plug and took a picture of his cum dripping out of her. Another way for her to make ends meet. One that allowed to be choosy about her clients. She could trade the pictures for a lot of things. Even at the end of the world, sex still sold. Her cunt twitched at the sight of Joel's cum coating her still wanting hole. It lubed up her fingers as she pumped them in and out until she found her own release again. Joel's name on her tongue and thoughts of him fucking her roughly filling her head. She couldn't resist sucking them clean when she was done. The taste of them mixed together was intoxicating. For a brief second, she hoped Joel would visit again. That was the exact moment she knew he never could. With all the loss she'd already experienced. Inviting a man like Joel Miller into her life was the perfect spell for heartache.

Tags @kirsteng42 @prolix-yuy @thegreenkid2 @hquinzelle @fangirl-316 @gracie7209 @jedifarmerr @doommommy @scorpio-marionette @sturkillerbase @harriedandharassed @aynsleywalker @mswarriorbabe80 @quica-quica-quica @rise-my-angel @adancedivasmom @graciexmarvel @kinda-nobody @movievillainess721 @munsonownsmyass

#pedro pascal character fanfiction #joel miller x f!reader #hbo tlou #joel miller #joel miller smut

[td-tbbg-official]

ripper and axel, what have you been up to? still going strong? and if so, how do you feel about competing again, this time as a couple?

“After the first season, we realized we actually go to the same high school. Which, like, what were the odds of that? I’d actually always ignored Ripper whenever I saw him because he annoyed the hell out of me back then.”

“Hey!”

“No offense. I mean, mild offense.”

“Eh, I deserve that, actually.”

“So, anyways, imagine everyone’s shock when we came back after the second season. I will say something and pray McLean doesn’t cut it out – the whole kissing thing? You know, making out all the damn time? Yeah, most of that was scripted. I won’t say which scenes exactly, but most of them, especially the more, uh… You know, ‘intense’ sessions.”

“Some of them were real, though!”

“It always feels real with you.”

“Aww, babe!”

“So, we’ve been going on dates almost every day, since we also live in the same part of the city. We go to the gym together, applied for part-time jobs together, we also visit each other’s houses a lot, though mine is the one we mostly go to, because of… well… Ripper’s parents. They’re… a lot.”

“They could always be worse—”

“Doesn’t help that they’re already bad, babe.”

“…Well, I can’t argue with that… Wait, can I?”

“No, you can’t. Your parents fucking suck.”

“Aw, damn it.”

“Going back on Total Drama as a couple is never a good thing for the contestants, well, except Bowie and Raj, but even they had a fight… We’ll be the first to break that cycle, though. I have faith in our relationship. I… really think that…”

“What was that? You’re whispering, I couldn’t hear you.”

“I—forget it.”

“No, come on, I wanna hear it!”

“I just wanted to say that I—I can see us together in the future, still.”

“Oh.”

“Are you—”

“No—”

“Are you crying??”

“No! I have allergies!”

“To what?”

“Feelings!!”

coming soon to an AO3 near you.

questions, concerns, suggestions to be deposited in the ask box.

TD: TBBG is written by @canonically47. the blog is entirely run by the writer.

!!! reblogs > likes !!!

#total drama #total drama island #total drama reboot #total drama 2023 #tdi #tdi 2023 #td gen 1 #td gen 4 #total drama: the bridge between generations #td: tbbg #total drama: tbbg #tbbg #td 2023 #ask friday #td ripper #ripper td #tdi ripper #ripper tdi #td axel #axel td #tdi axel #axel tdi #ripaxel #axeripper #axel x ripper #ripper x axel #fucking love these two btw #they are staying together BECAUSE I SAID SO #RIPAXEL BLAST

[queerfables]

I have this thought that's simmering in the back of my head, and there's some evidence for it, but I simply can't take myself seriously on it, because the idea hits my favourite tropes way too perfectly. I'm, like, 90% sure I should admit to myself that what I actually want is to write fic about this and skip the meta entirely. But apparently this is how I process things these days, so you get my wild projections masquerading as analysis first, and maybe if you're lucky some kind of story later.

So, Nina's partner, Lindsay. Not so much a person as an analogy, right? The consensus is that this relationship is a stand in for Aziraphale's relationship with Heaven, making Heaven the toxic partner holding Aziraphale back from finding real happiness. But the more I think about it, the more I feel like we've taken that assumption and worked backwards from it to prove that Nina is really Aziraphale's mirror and Maggie is really Crowley's.

Look, I realise that drawing the line from Nina to Crowley and Maggie to Aziraphale feels obnoxiously obvious. There are superficial similarities, but does it go any deeper than their general demeanour? When we look at how Nina describes Crowley and Aziraphale - the hard-bitten one who doesn't trust, the soft one who still believes in goodness - I think there's honestly a solid argument to be made that both descriptions could apply to either one of them. I don't think that's conclusive. The thing that's really giving me pause is that Crowley's car and Nina's shop both play Queen. It seems like such a clear signal that they're foils. There's also the fact that the partition around her shop has a very snake-like pattern embedded in it, quite similar in shape to Crowley's tattoo (a detail that pairs nicely with the apple-tree motif on the French restaurant next door).

If Nina is Crowley's mirror, does that mean that Crowley is the one trapped in a toxic relationship? And here's the part where I absolutely cannot trust my brain to give me sensible feedback, because the little gremlin who lives there immediately shuts off all higher functions at the first hint a character might be unwillingly beholden to a nefarious outside force. Especially if they are keeping it a secret.

Could Crowley have been blackmailed or coerced into working for Hell again, despite nominally being estranged from it? I literally could not tell you, because my brain is too busy yelling yes yes yes please oh my god yes. I just love the idea way too much to be rational about it.

I won't insult anyone by labeling this next section "supporting evidence", but here are some ways I think it could fit into canon as it's been established:

In light of my recent meta on how to think about Good Omen's twists, I've been ruminating on some of the big questions I have about season 2. And one of the ones that keeps jostling for my attention is, why are Crowley and Aziraphale not together yet? I don't mean that flippantly, what I mean is - I believe that Crowley and Aziraphale are both aware of the way they feel about each other, and have been for some time. If that's true, what's keeping them apart? Obviously there are quite a few potential answers to this, including the possibility that I'm wrong and they're not both consciously aware of their feelings for each other. But it's an idea I find compelling. They're not together because they're not free yet. And not just in a hypothetical looming threat kind of way.

When Beelzebub summons Crowley in 2x01, Crowley says "I thought we had a generalised understanding." Beelzebub replies, "We don't. You're still a traitor," and then goes on to threaten him with a bounty. The obvious implication is that the understanding they don't have is from the end of season one, that Hell will leave Crowley and Aziraphale alone. But what if it's a different kind of understanding? What if the subtext of Beelzebub's offer for whatever he wants is that he can have enough power to be free of whatever nasty little job he's supposed to be doing on the sly? (Not enough to break free of Hell entirely, though. Never enough for that.)

On the other hand, Crowley doesn't recognise Beelzebub's new face, but they must have been wearing it for a while given all their meetings with Gabriel. Is Crowley bound to the one demon higher than Beelzebub, then? Sorry, the gleeful brain gremlin is the only one available to take questions on this. It sure would be sexy, though, if both the power difference and the secrecy involved were as extreme as possible.

This is a weird little detail that probably doesn't mean anything, but when Aziraphale gets back from Edinburgh, it's early in the morning the day of the ball. The streets are mostly empty and Nina is just arriving for work. Aziraphale helps Crowley put the plants back in the Bentley, and at some point after this, Crowley takes the car and leaves. He must do, because we see him come back. Where did he go? He can't have been gone more than a couple of hours at most, because he arrives back in time to follow Aziraphale around convincing everyone to attend his ball. Okay, fine, maybe Crowley just needed to get away, relax somewhere there's no amnesiac archangel breathing down his neck. But the timeline is so short it seems like a strange detail. It makes me think that Crowley might actually have been hiding something, here. I don't know that this theory is the most likely explanation, but it sure could be an explanation.

And finally, for maximum angst potential, imagine Aziraphale finding out that after everything Crowley said about how toxic Heaven and Hell are, after all the grief he gave Aziraphale for returning to Heaven, that Crowley had been secretly working for Hell all along? WOOF.

#good omens #i am so sorry that there are some genuinely interesting meta details hidden in this self indulgent trash fire #by rights they should belong to something more sensible #but this is the meta we have #fable talks good omens #it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too late and i'm posting this without reading it over again if i've left any sentences hanging no i didn't

[actual-changeling]

I remember reading somewhere that Neil said the kiss wasn't about lust and I disagree, at least in part, because there is plenty of love-emotional lust between these two. What do you think? Is there physical lust as well ? Also, do you think by the end of S3 we could see Aziraphale Fall (could he actually choose to Fall?), and become a demon ?

Even though some people treat it as such, Neil's opinions aren't the gospel truth and not canon either. The show as it is—everything we can see and hear on screen—is our canon to work with, and while Neil definitely has a unique position when it comes to interpretation and analysis, his thoughts aren't automatically the only correct option.

In short, whatever he retrospectively says about the kiss is simply another possible interpretation of that scene.

'Show not tell' is an important principle in writing, and I think in a way it also applies to here; we have what we see, and telling us what supposedly happened is not the same as writing and producing the episodes.

Personally, I do think their attraction has a sexual & physical aspect to it, and the kiss is an expression of everything Crowley feels towards Aziraphale, including lust/desire/whatever you wanna call it.

Regarding Aziraphale's celestial status—I really hope that we do not get a "he chooses to fall" situation since it would cheapen not just Crowley's traumatic fall but that of every single fallen angel. The point is that falling was not a choice, it was a punishment, and going against heaven does not automatically degrades you or changes your (metaphysical) nature.

Making Aziraphale fall now would also serve no actual purpose. Heaven has ways of punishing angels just like hell does, and while the fall was definitely a deeply physically painful experience, the symbolism of it was just as important.

Make one angel fall and the most you get is that one angel now being in hell.

Make millions of angels fall after forcing them to fight in a war against the other half of the family and effectively remove them from their home & God's love, and you get not just collective punishment but a heaven full of angels absolutely terrified of being subjected to the same thing.

The control heaven has is largely based on fear—a fear that was justified, but is no longer validated by actual experience. Consorting with hell is second nature to the Archangels, that has never been the problem, it's breaking the rules & going against the Great Plan that angers them.

Honestly, I am not entirely sure that Neil will be able to fix the fallout of season two in six episodes, and I wouldn't want him to cheapen the story by trying to rush a fairytale ending. If Aziraphale falls, I want it to be a punishment, not a choice. I want him to go through the exact same pain as everyone else because contrary to popular believe, he is not God's Special Boy; he's an average angel with average status and a shitton of luck and time on earth that he didn't use.

Aziraphale had six thousand years to choose to fall, but he never did. He prioritized his personal comfort and heaven's opinion of him over everything else, and Crowley should have drawn a line so much earlier than he did. If Aziraphale wanted to choose Crowley over heaven, he would have by now, but he hasn't, and everything he does now is something he COULD have done earlier—but Crowley was simply not important enough to him to do it while he was still co-dependent on Aziraphale.

This is a situation of "I asked you to stop hurting me but you never did & now suddenly after the break-up you are doing all the things I have been asking you to do for years".

To quote the Good Place once again: [They were] always capable of change, [Crowley] just wasn't worth changing for.

#alex answers asks #alex talks good omens #good omens #crowley #aziraphale #good omens season 2 #go2 #aziracrow #crowley x aziraphale #ineffable husbands #ineffable wives #ineffable spouses #ineffable divorce #the final fifteen #good omens meta #alex's unhinged meta corner #this got very long but i haven't talked about this show in a hot second so there's a lot of pent-up thoughts

[anticomedygarden]

you're a sad sight honey but you look so cute

On the way back from the marching band's biggest performance of the year, Nico's bus breaks down. With none of his friends with him, he's completely alone, but when the chaperone puts the two section leaders in charge, he's forced to cooperate with Will Solace, his polar opposite and maybe sort of long time crush.

What could go wrong?

also on ao3

sorry it's been so long. i've been working on this long ass bastard for like a month. there will be two more chapters after this, and they're mostly done this time! everyone should be so proud.

if you can, i would recommend reading this one on ao3 because the first chapter is over 11,000 words.

minor tw for implied death of siblings and parents.

title from billy joel's 'i don't want to be alone anymore'

-

Five minutes since

Cold.

That was all Nico felt as he and everybody around him watched smoky tendrils wind their way up from the hood of the big yellow school bus, dancing playfully as if they weren't a message from God that Nico should have stayed in bed this morning and avoided this day from hell entirely.

He had been up since 3:30 a.m. His band grade could've taken the hit.

After the last kid stumbled out of the bus, uniform bag in hand, the bus driver climbed down and said, "We've got an engine problem."

Nico resisted the urge to spit back, "You don't say?", and instead turned to Mrs. Knowles, some freshman's mom and one of the newest members of the band's parent board. She had been appointed chaperone of the juniors for today's trip to New Rome University, and Nico had to say, she was not doing well.

"Um..." she started, sensing the eyes of three dozen 16-17 year olds. Her breath streamed out in white trails. "I'm gonna call the directors. If anyone here is a section leader, you're in charge."

Nico groaned internally and tried to avoid the eyes of the only other junior section leader as well as those of the rest of the teens present. Why, why, did he have to apply for low brass section leader last year?

Oh. He really shouldn't be asking himself that question, not when he already knew the answer.

But he put that thought away because a golden blond head was walking toward him across the stupid highway rest stop they were currently trapped in. Will Solace, the flute section leader and Nico's unfortunate partner for the time being.

If he made it out of this day with his sanity intact, it would be a miracle.

2 years before

Nico walked into the band room of Olympus High School for the first time with a bit of anticipation, some excitement, and a shit ton of dread. So far, his first impression of his new school hadn't been flattering, and his hopes for the next four years tanked with each step he took toward the band room.

If the rest of the school looked like ass, there was no way the band had any decent funding.

"Here's the music hallway," Percy said as they turned down the last hallway in the bottom floor of the school. "If you ever have a choir class, there's the classroom." He pointed to another door to the right. "There's the tuba/sousaphone closet. It looks like that because it used to be a boys' bathroom."

That explained the shitty tile and yellowing sink. At least Nico could say with confidence that he would never have to go in there. He still made note of it, though, since he may actually be staying at this school for a while.

"That's the color guard closet, but they haven't been able to use it this season because someone left cheese in there last season and, long story short, it got flooded."

Nico wasn't quite sure how old cheese led to an entire room being flooded, but if anyone could manage it, it was Percy. Especially in marching band.

"Was Thalia the one who left the cheese in there?" Nico asked, recalling that his oldest cousin of their group did color guard in outdoor season.

Percy's lips quirked. "No comment."

Finally, they got to the end of the white painted hallway and turned into the double doors of the band room, and Nico was immediately hit with the vivid sounds, smells, and sights of a high school marching band. He really should have expected this, but it was 7:45 in the morning and Percy had just taken him on a complete tour of the school. It wasn't exactly in the forefront of his mind.

They had come in on the side of the set up, behind the third trumpets and next to the smaller instruments' cubby. Horrid blue carpet squished under his feet, and the red painted brick walls were a true affront to his tired eyes. Dozens, probably more than a hundred, people packed into the large room, all talking, setting up instruments for practice, and milling around. As a freshman, Nico wasn't entirely used to marching band and all its attributes yet, but the month at his old school had at least helped him prepare a little.

Next was the smell. Sweat was his first impression, but spit from the brass instruments ingrained in the carpet certainly made itself known, and that wasn't even just from marching band. Rocking his trombone case back and forth, he supposed he would be contributing to that smell soon enough.

Probably the biggest assault to his senses was the noise. Everywhere, someone was testing out their instruments, tuning, practicing, or just generally goofing around. Percussionists were going through cadences, flutes were tuning against clarinets (one of the worst sounds in the world in his opinion), and he thought he heard a trumpet playing Baby Shark.

It was warm, too, with so many people blowing hot air. He could practically taste the humidity.

Someone blew a particularly shrill note, drawing his attention to the flute section. He paused. The offending member was a piccolo player, blond and blue eyed. Gorgeous.

The boy's startled eyes caught Nico's, and he looked away, a blush rising to his cheeks. "Who is that?" he asked Percy.

The taller boy didn't stop twirling his drumsticks. "Will Solace. He just started learning picc." He glanced down at Nico. "Will's a freshman, just like you, but I think he's been at Olympus for a few years. Why?"

Nico was spared answering by Percy's girlfriend, Annabeth, who was also their drum major. She stepped up onto a chair and blew her whistle, causing all noise to stop. "Everybody on the field!"

There was a mad scramble as the band rushed out the back doors, and Nico lost sight of the blond boy which was probably for the best. He couldn't, wouldn't, get attached.

He took a deep breath and tried to cast the beautiful boy from his mind and focus on his trombone.

He really had missed this.

15 minutes since

"When are they coming back to get us?" some short little guy who Nico thought might be a trumpet player asked in a whiny voice.

Frankly, Nico'd had enough socializing for one day and was ready to tell the kid to fuck off, but Will just calmly said, "We don't know yet, Hayden. You should probably find somewhere to sit and settle in. We could be here for a while."

Hayden rolled his eyes but turned around, presumably to find his friends. Nico hoped someone else had the kid's uniform bag because that would not be cheap to replace.

Next to him, Will had his own uniform bag by the hanger slung over a shoulder, and the shoes kept bouncing against the backs of his knees every time he moved, making an annoying thud noise. Nico's was in a pool at their feet.

When it became apparent that Hayden was the last kid in line to bug them, Will glanced down and said, "Your uniform's gonna get wrinkled."

Nico quickly rifled through every interaction he'd ever had with the flutist to try and figure out why he thought Nico would care about his band uniform getting wrinkled and came up with nothing.

At this point, he really didn't feel like talking, though, but Will was still looking at him expectantly, so he mumbled out an, "It's fine."

Will shrugged. "Suit yourself." Then, he turned around and walked around the bus to where Mrs. Knowles had gone. Reluctantly, Nico picked up his bag and followed him with the thought that two people were better than 34.

"Mrs. Knowles, any word on-oh." Will stopped in his tracks, nearly causing Nico to run into him in the shade of the bus. A second later, he looked up and saw why.

Mrs. Knowles was not on the phone with either band director like she'd promised but was instead holding up a lit cigarette to her mouth, and the two burnt out orange rolls at her feet told him this wasn't her first. The brunette turned around and squawked, dropping the cigarette.

"Oh, hey, I didn't hear you come around," she said with false nonchalance as she frantically stamped it out.

Fortunately, it seemed Will had decided he would be doing all the talking between the two of them. "We were just wondering if you'd heard anything about the bus? Some people are getting antsy."

And they'd only be getting worse as they realized their bus had broken down an hour into the three hour trip back to Olympus, which meant that no matter if administration called to say they had a bus ready to come get them right fucking now, it would be at least two hours until it got to them and four hours until they got home.

Nico just wanted to go home.

He shivered, and it wasn't just because of the cold. As soon as Will finished asking about the bus, Mrs. Knowles got an unpleasant look on her face. "I called Mr. D-"

"Big mistake," Nico muttered.

"-and he was no help, so I called Chiron, and he said he'd talk to transportation about getting another bus sent out. That was twenty minutes ago." Her brown hair escaping its pink claw clip swirled about her face in the cold October wind.

"Wonderful," Nico muttered.

"Did he give you any sort of timeline?" Will asked.

She winced. "No, sorry boys. You should probably go get comfy. We're gonna be here a while."

Nico did not miss the irony.

13 months before

It hadn't really sunk in yet for Nico, that this was Percy, Annabeth, and Grover's last NRU homecoming parade. Really, he had stopped thinking about anything at all except for his burning arms and legs about four blocks ago. Even the music managed to escape his mind.

But, as the band performed their nine millionth rendition of "How Far I'll Go" and Nico began to think his mouthpiece had frozen to his face, the realization trickled in. The next time he marched in these streets, three of his (only) friends would be watching from the sidelines.

The thought chilled him, more so than the cold wind that bit through his bright orange and purple uniform, cutting off feeling to his already numb fingers.

Suddenly, one of his section mates cut through his spiral. "Guide!"

He glanced down as surreptitiously as he could while holding a long metal tube up to his face to see that he was a step behind the rest of his line. He scrambled to catch up, wishing Chiron and Mr. D hadn't put him in the front row or that trombones didn't make up the first two rows of parade block.

Finally, they finished the song, and everybody brought their instruments down to attention. He took a deep breath.

Somebody in a row behind him (specific, he knew) started doing the steps chant. Left. Left. Left, right, left. He made sure his feet were in line.

They turned another corner, and he caught a whiff of pizza. Jupiter's, the most popular pizza place in the too large college town. That meant they were about three-quarters of the way through. He wondered idly how much time he'd be spending there in the next few years as Hazel dragged them to visit Percy, Annabeth, Grover and eventually Jason, Piper, Leo, and Frank, knowing he would never voluntarily go himself.

They were leaving him. He didn't see why he should have to go out of his way to see them.

The drumline slipped into another cadence, one of the more fun ones. With Percy in complete control and coasting through his final NRU parade, they hadn't done any of the boring ones yet, so kudos to that, though he was sure the freshman snares didn't feel the same.

Unfortunately, with every step, Nico's annoyance grew. The fun, upbeat cadences only served as a reminder that whoever took over as percussion section leader next year wouldn't be Percy, and in less than two years, he'd be left alone, again. (Sure, he'd have Hazel, but she was a year below him and had already made so many new friends that she clearly didn't need him the way he so desperately needed her.) By his senior year, he'd be left with nothing but holes in the spaces his cousins and the people that came with them used to occupy, vacancies unfillable by Nico's social skills alone.

At one time in his life, Nico had welcomed the emptiness because it meant he didn't have to face the biggest void of them all. But now? Well, now it was feeling more and more like the people that forced their way into his life with hammers and claws were the only thing keeping him from escaping back into that cavernous abyss, and for the first time in his life he craved that companionship like a starving man, because the eyes blinking back at him from the void were brown.

So when the parade was over, and everybody celebrated their new first place trophy, Nico didn't care that Percy and Annabeth lost themselves in each other, or that Hazel seemed to forget about him after going off with her friends, or that he had to say goodbye to Jason and get on the sophomore bus, and he definitely didn't care when pretty boy Will Solace and his friends celebrated the whole way home, filling the bus with their laughter and camaraderie.

He just sat alone on his bench seat and stared out the window until he eventually fell into a mercilessly dreamless sleep.

18 minutes since

Before Will could offer some falsely cheery placation that would make Nico nauseated, he turned and stomped back out to the other side of the bus.

Great, just great. Of course this would happen today, of all days, when he was exhausted, and already upset and wrung out.

Not watching where he was going, he tripped on a parking spot bar and ended up stumbling into the grass on the far side of the rest stop, somehow managing to find the only not yet overrun by teenagers in his dazed state.

"Hey, hey," someone said behind him, and he violently shrugged off the hand they settled on his shoulder. "Hey, it's me. It's Will."

As if that was supposed to make him feel better.

"What the hell do you want?" he asked, uncaring how harsh it sounded.

The blond held up his hands in a 'don't kill me gesture.' "Just wanted to make sure that you're alright. You seemed pretty upset."

God, we're all blonds this mother hen-y? If he pulled out a bag of granola bars, Nico would have to start calling him Jason.

"Well, I'm fine, so you can go back to your friends." He looked down at the yellowing grass.

"You are so clearly not fine," Will said firmly. "Besides, none of my friends are here."

Nico looked up in surprise. He could've sworn he'd seen Will hanging out with a baritone and a clarinet player.

He didn't say anything, though, and Will took that as a signal to continue. "Lou Ellen slept through her alarm, and Cecil got excused for a broken arm.

"You only have two friends?" His eyes widened as he realized how bad that sounded. "That came out wrong."

Thankfully, Will chuckled. "It's fine, I knew what you meant. Yeah, I guess so. They're my only two really good friends, if you don't count my siblings."

Nico didn't know he had any siblings. He filed that away for later. "I actually meant that I thought I'd seen you hanging out with more people."

Will shrugged. "I'm pretty friendly with everybody."

Right. Because Nico wasn't, and Will was just being a nice guy.

He turned away. "Well, you can go be friendly with somebody else now. Goodbye."

Once again, Will caught his shoulder, and Nico looked up. To his surprise, Will was blushing. "I, uh. I don't really want to be friendly with anybody else."

Nico wasn't quite sure what to do with that.

1 year before

"Speech! Speech! Speech!" the whole band chanted as Annabeth tried her best to shush them. They were on the track behind the Olympus football team getting ready to march halftime for homecoming, and per tradition, it was time for senior speeches.

AKA, the performance that most of the band was about to march through tears.

Clarisse stepped up first, or more accurately, into the middle of the circle. Her speech was short and sweet but somehow still inspiring. Katie Gardener went next, and then immediately after her was her boyfriend, Travis Stoll. Nico didn't think his speech was particularly sad, but his brother Connor was bawling by the end of it. Next to him, Jason was openly weeping.

Then, Grover went. Nico had never been particularly close with the clarinet player, but he was Percy's best friend, so they'd been in the general proximity of each other enough times that Nico was relatively comfortable around him. It still wasn't enough to make him cry at his speech.

It was clearly enough for Annabeth, though, as her face was swimming in tears when she stumbled into the middle of the circle, mace clutched in her white-gloved hand. "Grover, I'm not gonna be able to get through this now." She swiped a hand under her eyes.

"You got this, babe!" Percy said from the other side of the circle. Even from here, Nico could see the tear tracks from under his hat.

"God, Jackson," Annabeth mumbled. "Dammit. When Thalia did this last year, I really didn't think it would be so hard."

Of course not. Thalia made everything look both easy and painless, simultaneously the best and worst thing about her.

"Okay, here goes." She laughed. "I can't even begin to describe how much the band and all of you mean to me, and I can't imagine not being here next year, but I am so ready for it. The thought of not seeing the band room first thing in the morning every day scares me so much. It's kind of like an anchor even though it smells like sweat, and the walls look like someone rubbed rusty nails all over them; it's been a steady point, one that I don't want to give up yet, but..." She glanced over at Percy, a small smile shining through her tears. "I can't wait for our next adventure."

By the end of her speech, Percy was absolutely bawling, so Annabeth stepped to the side and hugged him, giving everyone else a welcome reprieve from the onslaught of emotion.

To his horror, Nico felt a lump forming in his throat. Why? He and Annabeth weren't even that close. He could make it through some silly little goodbye speeches.

Maddeningly, he tried and failed to swallow, each attempt seemingly bringing more tears to his eyes. This did not bode well for Percy's speech.

He really did not want to cry in front of all these people. He had a reputation, for fuck's sake.

Nico looked up and accidentally caught the teary eyes of Will Solace. The boy didn't look much better than Jason, but he somehow pulled it off. Nico tried to ignore the little flutter that sent to his stomach because just then, Percy stepped into the circle.

35 minutes since

Nico took a second to marvel at the situation he was currently in.

He was seated on a concrete parking bar at a highway restop somewhere in the state New York, and Will Solace was telling him a story about helping birth a goat at his grandparents' farm in Texas.

Now, Nico was and had always been an outdoorsy kid. Back in Italy, there was a small forest near where they lived, and he and his sister would go in there all the time to explore. He was never squeamish, either, constantly picking up frogs and lizards and bugs. At this point in his short life, he'd probably spent more time outside than inside.

But this was a bit much.

Then Will said the most horrifying sentence Nico had ever heard. "Do you wanna see pictures?"

He frantically shook his head. "No, I'm good."

Will had the nerve to laugh at him. "Of the goat, not the birth."

"Oh." Maybe he should've guessed that. "Sure."

That was how he ended up looking at pictures of a baby goat with Will Solace. He had to admit, it was pretty cute.

Will's phone buzzed with a text just then, and Nico couldn't stop himself from reading it before Will took the device away.  

Lou Ellen

just heard about the bus. so glad i slept in today

It sounded exactly like something a best friend would say, not that Nico would know because he'd been purposefully ignoring the buzzing coming from his pocket for the last half hour. It wasn't that he thought his friends would be mean or unsympathetic; quite the opposite, actually. He knew without checking his phone that Percy had already offered to come get him and that Jason was sending words of support along with the rest of his friends, but he just couldn't handle that right now, not after this morning. Besides, he was actually having fun with Will and didn't want to ruin that with emotions.

Speaking of Will, he still wasn't quite sure what was going on there. The way he'd said 'there isn't anyone else' made Nico seem like a last resort. It didn't exactly make him feel good, but the piccolo player was refusing to leave, so Nico was kind of stuck with him, figuratively and literally.

While Will was tapping out a response, the buzzing in Nico's pocket finally graduated to the ringing of a phone call. Several sets of eyes turned toward him.

He sighed and picked up his phone. "What do you want, Jackson?" He wasn't at all surprised that Percy was calling him, but he was a little surprised Jason hadn't gotten there first. Maybe Piper or Leo convinced him to wait. Whatever.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Then, almost as an afterthought, "You're not answering our texts."

Nico took a second to marvel at his friends' inability to take a hint. It did wonders for the feeling talking to Percy again was giving him. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure? I can come get you-"

"You're not driving six hours for me. I said I'm fine." He appreciated the thought, though he'd never say that out loud.

"I wouldn't mind. Or I can bring you back here and you can stay the night-"

"No, definitely don't do that." He raised his voice when he heard a girl laughing. "Annabeth, don't let him do that!"

There was shuffling on the other end. "I won't. But if you change your mind-"

"I won't, but thanks for the offer." It occurred to him then that even if Percy did come get him, he wouldn't be able to leave without a guardian's signature, and that sure as hell wasn't happening. "Tell Jason I'm fine, and he doesn't need to call me." If talking to Percy was hard, Jason would be impossible.

There were more ruffling sounds. "Why don't you just answer the group chat?"

Because he didn't want to open his messaging app and see the last text from Jason. Because he couldn't bear to see all the supportive words when everyone was leaving him. "You're breaking up."

"What? Nico-"

"Sorry, can't hear you." With that, he ended the call and put his phone on do not disturb.

6 months before

When Chiron made the announcement that morning about section leader applications, Nico hadn't really been listening. He'd seen no point; he was but a lowly sophomore, barely better than a freshman (that was a lie). He couldn't even keep himself in line, let alone an entire section. There was no way he'd be chosen even if he did apply.

But the more he thought about it throughout the day, the more it seemed like a good idea. The low brass sections weren't exactly known for their responsibility. Actually, he couldn't think of anyone in his section he'd want to lead him, even the current juniors. (Except Hazel, obviously.)

Then, Percy pulled him aside at the end of the day and said, "You should apply for section leader."

Slightly disoriented, Nico looked around the dingy old tuba closet. There were sousaphones and tubas hanging from big hooks embedded in the walls, and there were drains dotting the dilapidated green tile floor. So much for not spending any time in here. He looked back at Percy's green eyes. "Okay."

"You're smart, commandi-wait, did you say okay?" Percy looked genuinely confused at Nico's lack of resistance, and Nico tried to ignore what Percy calling him 'smart' did to his brain.

He shrugged. "Yeah. There's nobody else except Hazel I'd trust to do it, and we need two."

Percy sighed in relief. "Okay, cool." The percussionist looked around as if he wasn't sure what to do now. "I was expecting a lot more pushback. I even made a speech!" Before Nico could express how much he did not want to hear the speech, Percy continued, "I was gonna talk about how smart and commanding you are and how much you've grown in the last couple years."

The words made heat rise to Nico's cheeks, but it was quickly replaced with a cold, bitter feeling. Why was Percy telling him this now, when he was about to graduate and move three hours away? And he didn't want Percy of all people to tell him how much he'd grown. He didn't want anyone to tell him that, but from Percy, it felt like a double edged sword.

The older boy had been in Nico's life since he first emigrated from Italy, before his life had completely gone to shit. It wasn't a time he wanted to ever think about, but this conversation was doing a great job of reminding him.

He remembered being a relatively normal, happy kid when he first met Percy, and that kid idolized him, and that turned into an ill-advised crush. He couldn't stop, not even when his sister died, and he blamed Percy. He spent a long time in isolation, so long that he couldn't see it was self-inflicted. He became the creepy kid that no one wanted to hang out with. It took the combined efforts of Percy and Jason to realize that there were people in his life that didn't hate him no matter how much he pushed them away.

Now, he was terrified that they would take that progress with them when they left.

So he said, "Save it," and pushed past Percy back into the hallway, and when he picked up a section leader application, he told himself it was to make up for all the free time he would have when his friends graduated.

1 hour since

"Are you taking anatomy?" Will asked, a bit out of the blue. They'd been talking idly about the parade, mostly just discussing which freshmen threw up versus the ones they'd expected to. Apparently, none of the flutes got sick, but a bass drum player did, and a tenor sax player had to drop out from heat exhaustion. Surprisingly, the tenor sax was a senior.

"No," Nico said. "Why?" Anatomy was so ridiculously far from his interests that it was amazing he knew what the word meant.

"We have a test on Monday, and I need to study really bad," Will answered, eyeing Nico's body like it was a real life study guide, which, he supposed that in a way, it was.

He sighed, resigning himself to his fate. "Fine, but no touching." He'd learned early on in his friendships with Percy and Jason that setting up boundaries like that was important, and sometimes people weren't even offended by it.

Will's eyes lit up, and Nico barely concealed his grin. "Awesome! We're going over the skeletal system right now."

Okay, so apparently they were really doing this.

He turned to face Will. "How do you want me?"

"Lean down. I need to see your skull."

Nico pulled back. "Excuse me?"

Will was smirking. "I need to see your skull."

Never before had Nico been so self-conscious of an internal body structure. "Um, okay." He leaned down and vaguely felt Will look down at him.

"Frontal, temporals, occipital, parietals," he said, almost like a chant. "Zygomatics, mandible, maxillas, nasals. Then the palatial, ehtmoid, sthenoid, and vomer are in there somewhere."

"In there somewhere?" he said, alarmed. "Shouldn't you know where-"

"The clavicle is here-" Will pointed to the top of his shoulder, "-with the accromion side on the scapula and the sternal end by your neck. The scapula itself is right there, and it looks kinda like a fucked up wing. The humerus connects to the scapula at the glenoid fossa-"

And that's when Nico stopped listening. Who knew there were so many parts to the skeleton? Definitely not Nico, whose skeletal knowledge began and ended at 206 bones total. He didn't even know there were multiple bones in the skull.

Will pointed to his chest and said, "Ribs."

Nico frowned. "They're just called ribs?"

"Yeah," Will answered. "What did you think they were called?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I thought they'd have a more science-y name. Like," he paused, "costole or something."

For some reason, that made Will blush. "Was that Italian?"

It dawned on Nico then that most people didn't know he was an Italian immigrant...and that he was definitely about to tell Will that he was an Italian immigrant. "Yeah, I, uh. I'm actually from Italy."

"Really?"

Nico nodded, already regretting his brief moment of honesty. "What bones are next?"

Taking the hint (thank god), Will started listing bones again, and Nico let his eyes wander.

It seemed that everybody had settled down by now, hanging out on their phones or just talking. A couple people were asleep, and there was even a group playing catch with somebody's hat. The junior color guard members were practicing with their equipment that couldn't fit in the instrument truck: tossing flags, spinning rifles, twirling batons. It was a wild sea of bright orange band t-shirts, and Nico kinda loved it, though he'd never admit that to anyone.

The orange band shirts were broken up by the purple and orange uniforms that a few shivering souls had donned in a futile attempt to stay warm. It wouldn't work; those ugly things didn't retain anything but sweat.

Under that, most everybody was wearing sweatpants or leggings with the unfortunate few stuck in jeans and even shorts. Rookie mistake. In cold weather, sweatpants and leggings were the only tolerable pants to wear under the marching band uniform, a lesson Nico learned the hard way while marching a football game in freshman year. The chafing, lack of mobility, and feeling of skin tight denim tucked into knee high, thick black socks was not worth the aesthetic. He himself was wearing black sweatpants, and Will was wearing dark gray joggers with - no way.

"Are you wearing flip flops?" The slim, navy blue shoes weren't doing anything to hide the other boy's surprisingly tan feet - he must wear them outside a lot, definitely enough to maintain the light brown color past summer.

Will glanced up from where he was studying the (apparently) multiple bones of the ankle. "They're comfortable," he said defensively.

Nico couldn't argue with that. His own three year old black Converse were ripping at the seams and covered in scribbles. At least his toes were covered, though. "Aren't your feet cold?"

Somehow, Will's cheeks turned even redder. "I don't really get cold."

"I-" he started. "How?" It probably said more about him than Will, but Nico regularly wore pants and hoodies in June. Even now, he was shivering slightly.

The red stopped spreading in Will's cheeks. "For starters, I'm not malnourished."

Nico's dropped. "I'm not malnourished!"

Infuriatingly, the blond gave Nico an appraising look. "Whatever you say."

Okay. Okay, so maybe he was a little skinny, and maybe most of his friends thought he had an eating disorder. But no matter how bad he seemed right now, he was doing better than he was 5 years ago, so Solace could fuck right off.

There was a little nagging voice in the back of his head saying, "He'll never know that if you don't tell him." It sounded like Jason. He ignored it.

Will got up and moved to Nico's side, clearly trying to change the subject. He pointed at the black-haired boy's spine. "Then the 7 cervical vertebrae with the atlas and axis on top, the 12 thoracic, 5 lumbar, and the sacrum ending in the coccyx. That's your back, and that's all the bones and bone parts I need to know."

Nico blinked. That did not seem like 206. "Okay." They just looked at each other, unsure what to do next.

Then, Nico remembered what Will said about his siblings and thought that maybe he could try some honesty, so he cleared his throat and attempted to fabricate some courage. "Hey, what you said earlier about your siblings being some of your best friends?" Will's eyebrows furrowed, obviously unsure where Nico was going with this. He plowed ahead anyway. "All of my friends are either my sister, my cousins, or  their partners, so I think you can count your siblings as your friends."

Will continued to look confused. Then, he smiled. "Thanks. That actually does make me feel less pathetic."

"No problem." If anyone could make others feel better about themselves by being an absolutely wet cat, it was Nico.

"Does that mean Percy and Jason are your cousins?" Will asked innocently.

Oh. Nico probably should've seen that coming. "Yeah."

"Cool," Will continued, completely unaware of the minefield he'd just stepped into. "It must've been really nice seeing Percy and Annabeth today, then."

"It was precious," he bit out. "Hey, why don't we go do our duties as section leaders and check on people?"

"You wanna go talk to people?" Will asked, disbelieving. Nico couldn't decide if it was more insulting that Will had already clocked his fierce antisocial nature, or that he was so easy to read that a boy he'd barely conversed with outside of the last hour could tell he was lying.

"Yep."

Will gave Nico side eye but rose. "Let's go."

2 months before

"Good morning," Chiron said to the obvious displeasure of the entire band room. It was exactly 8:03 a.m. on a Thursday in July, and everybody in the room had exactly two things in common: none of them wanted to be there, and all of them had better things to do.

Sleep, mostly, Nico thought as he yawned. When Hazel had burst into the room an hour ago and forced him to get up, he'd nearly thrown his phone at her. (And he definitely would have if he hadn't been trying to turn off his alarm without getting out from under the blanket.) He'd managed to rouse himself, though, and valiantly make it here on time. He really should get a medal for that.

"Welcome to marching band. I know most of you know me, but for anyone who might be new, my name is Chiron, and I'm your band director. Mr. D, the assistant director, is around here somewhere." Chiron looked around as if that would help him find Mr. D. "Well, I'm sure you'll see him sooner or later." Fat chance. "If you look on the folder that was on your seat when you came in, it should have your name, instrument, part, and a barcode. Inside the folder, there should be 13 half sheets of music and one warmup packet as well as a schedule and sets for the first song. If anything is missing, let your section leader know right after this."

Well, shit, he thought. That's me. No matter. He already knew nothing was missing because he and the other section leaders spent three hours the day before stuffing those bastards themselves.

"Speaking of section leaders," Chiron said, and Nico had barely enough time to think of a few choice words as he remembered what came next, "I think it's time to introduce them. Now, your section leaders are very important. If anything is wrong or you have a question or are confused about anything, you go to them first, then a drum major, then me or Mr. D." Slick bastard. It had never occurred to him how that system kept freshmen from ever talking to Mr. D. "Drum majors first. Reyna and Jason, please stand and tell everyone a little bit about yourselves."

On either side of Chiron, Reyna and Jason rose from their chairs, maces already in hand. Reyna went first. "Hi! I'm Reyna."

"Hi, Reyna," the band echoed in a poor imitation of an AA meeting, because some traditions just never died, no matter how insensitive and unfunny they got.

"I'm a senior, and this is my second year as drum major. I play French horn in indoor season, and I did color guard my first two years in marching band." She had a very serious look on her face, the one that would end up scaring most kids into never asking her anything. They were lucky this year to have Jason because the year before with Reyna and Annabeth? Everybody was constantly confused and had no idea what was going on.

Jason waved. "Hi, I'm Jason."

"Hi, Jason."

"I'm a senior, and this is my first year as drum major. I play trumpet in indoor season and was section leader for two years." He looked over at Chiron. "Am I supposed to say anything else?"

The older man shook his head. "No. Actually, everybody should say less. We want to get on the field before it's too hot or some sport steals it. Flutes, you go."

Piper stood from her door at the very front of the band. "Hi, I'm Piper."

"Hi, Piper."

"I'm a senior. I play a variety of instruments, and this is my third year as section leader."

She sat down, and Will Solace stood up, blond hair as shiny as ever. "I'm Will, flute and piccolo. I'm a junior, and this is my first year as section leader."

The introductions continued for a while, all some variation of that, and Nico tuned it out, instead focusing on controlling his pounding heart as it got closer and closer to his turn.

It wasn't that he was nervous or hated public speaking that much. He was just an introvert. Yeah, that was it.

Then it was Hazel's turn. "Hi, I'm Hazel!"

"Hi, Hazel."

"I'm a sophomore, and this is my first year as a low brass section leader." She sat down.

Groaning internally as his heart attempted to bust his rib cage and bounce out into his open trombone case at his feet, Nico rose. "I'm Nico-" if the band repeated his name back at him in a depressed monotone voice, he would actually vomit "-, I'm a junior, and this is my first year as low brass section leader." He sat back down gratefully, already considering the benefits of giving up his new role. A cursory glance around the room told him that Jason, Hazel, Reyna, and Piper were all giving him thumbs up. Kill him now.

Introductions continued, though without Nico's attention, and they finally got to warmups. That was four pages of basic exercises that they normally did on the field, but Chiron was giving the freshmen a little treat this morning.

Once they were done, Chiron told everyone to start making their way to the practice field, so Nico stood, stuffing his rolled up manila envelope in his back pocket. Somebody tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned to see a little girl (Wow, freshmen were small. Were they always that small?) (The answer was yes.) with chunky black cornrows pulled back into a ponytail (He felt like he should get points for recognizing cornrows and ponytails even if Hazel was the one who taught him what they looked like.) holding a trombone.

"Excuse me-" she paused, looking unsure, "-Mr. Nico, where is the practice field?"

He laughed internally at anyone calling him Mister, and heard from behind him Hazel giggle as well. Then, when he processed her question, he nearly said, "Just follow the rest of the band," but remembered at the last second that he was in charge of this girl and if she got lost, he would be liable, and instead said, "It's behind the high school." When she continued to look confused, he said, "You can follow me," and mentally resigned himself to this kid becoming his duckling for the day. "Oh, and you can just call me Nico."

She beamed, and her braids bounced. There was no way she was even five feet tall. "Thank you!" she said. "My name is Macy."

He nodded, and they walked out the side door of the band, down the history hallway stairs and out the back door which opened into the student parking lot. He could see Jason's red Jeep from here, the car he'd ridden to school in. Including himself, Jason was driving five people to school, Nico, Hazel, Piper, and Leo despite all but one of them being over 16. Nico could definitely acquire a car if he had his license, but he wasn't ready to learn how to drive, and Piper refused to ask her dad for anything, so she was saving up to buy a used one. Leo just couldn't afford one. If he ever got one, it would probably be one he built himself. As for Jason, his dad bought him one for his 16th birthday (a week late because the man was an absentee ass). Thus, the Jason mobile.

They followed the curve through the back lot and reached the stairs leading down to the field.

A word about the field. It was basically a soggy pit that flooded regularly from dew, surface runoff, and the creek at its back border. Because it was so wet, the yard lines were almost never marked down, which made sets fun. The only sport that was brave enough to use it was soccer, and that was only when the actual field was unavailable. Right now, at 8:30 a.m., Nico could already see dew drops glistening on the green grass. Fabulous.

They walked down the stairs behind some trumpets and set their instruments down on the padded section for the shot put practice thingy since the first day of band camp was purely for introducing the freshmen to marching band.

Macy looked at him again. "How do you mark time?"

Nico blinked, unsure where she had heard that phrase already. That was something they were supposed to learn in fundies with one of the drum majors, and he was perfectly fine with that. He didn't want to teach these kids anything more than he absolutely had to. Then he remembered the section leader meeting yesterday.

We all have some big shoes to fill, Reyna had said, looking mainly at Jason and Leo, a certain blonde and black-haired pairs' successors.

Annabeth and Percy, Percy and Annabeth. Always those two. Even after they'd graduated, he couldn't go 10 minutes without hearing them mentioned. They were practically legends at this point. Everybody knew them, but nobody could be them. Fuck that.

He'd fill the damn shoes, alright. For himself and the band, he'd try. But he couldn't do it like them. He'd do it his own way.

Macy was still looking at him expectantly when he turned back around, and he stepped forward to the front of his section. "Okay, low brass freshmen, look up here 'cause I'm not doing this again." When all the low brass that he was pretty sure were freshmen were looking at him, he set his feet in position and said, "This is how you mark time."

2.5 hours since

They only ended up checking in with about half the juniors before sitting back down in their parking spot since they couldn't get past the color guard without getting hit with something. The people they did talk to seemed to be fine, though, so they didn't feel too bad about it, and Mrs. Knowles announced that a bus was on its way, fortunately. It was also around this time that some parents started arriving to take their kids home because they were just too impatient to wait apparently.

As they sat down, Will's stomach grumbled, and Nico realized he was pretty hungry, too. "I'm starving," Will said. "Think they'd order us some food?"

Nico raised an eyebrow. "You mean the same organization that has to reuse tape?"

Will snorted. "Yeah, I guess not."

Suddenly, Nico had an idea. "What's your McDonald's order?"

"What? Why?"

Nico already had his phone in his hand and the GrubHub app open. "I'm gonna order McDonald's." The band may not have been able to send food to them, but there was nothing stopping them from ordering stuff.

The blond boy must have seen Nico open GrubHub because he didn't ask how he was gonna get the food to them. "You're really gonna pay for McDonald's to be delivered to the middle of nowhere?"

"Hell, no," Nico said as he inputted his Happy Meal order. "My dad is."

"And he's ok with that?"

"Yep." Nico's dad was attempting to make up for 13 years of absentee parenting by giving his remaining two children free range of his credit cards. "Order whatever you want."

Will still looked unsure. "That's so unhealthy."

Nico did finally look up at that. "You some kinda health nut?" With his cut features and lean muscles, it wouldn't really surprise Nico if Will did turn out to be into those meticulous health plans, but he really hoped he wasn't.

Will hesitated, then shrugged. "I'll take a ten piece chicken McNugget and a Diet Coke."

Nico nodded. "You're getting an Oreo McFlurry, too."

"If you insist."

Nico looked around to find the rest stop number and highway sign, then hit submit. "Our order will be here in 17 minutes."

Well. He supposed it was called fast food for a reason.

Just as he was wondering what they were supposed to do for the next 17 minutes, Will asked, "Do you wanna play my piccolo?" Then, probably upon seeing Nico's face, said, "That's not a euphemism. It's in my uniform bag."

Nico just nodded.

"Cool." Then, Nico got to watch Will put his piccolo together (all two parts). His own trombone was probably back in the band room after taking the storage truck home. Lucky bastard.

Will handed Nico the delicate instrument. "Here, you hold it like this." He rearranged Nico's fingers so that they were positioned correctly, left hand in front and right hand in back. "Now hold down your left index finger and right pinky." Nico did as he was told. "Try and blow into the mouthpiece."

The mouthpiece on a piccolo was far different from the mouthpiece on a trombone. For starters, on the piccolo, you don't put your mouth directly on the embouchure hole, which is exactly what Nico did, and the sound he produced consequently was more of a breathy exhale than anything else.

"Blow over it, not right into it," Will said, already laughing.

Nico glared at him but tried again. Apparently, when one played piccolo, one also had to be careful not to blow too hard because that produced a squeak akin to Annabeth when she saw a spider.

Several heads turned in their direction, and Nico was brutally reminded of the first time he'd ever seen Will. He's been learning piccolo then, too, and had made roughly the sound Nico just did.

"Gently," Will said, still laughing. Nico did his best to follow Will's instructions, and when he blew this time, nothing happened at all.

"You're such a brass player," Will critiqued, eyes full of mirth. "You're trying to buzz. Just blow gently."

Frustrated, Nico thrust the small instrument back at Will. "Show me, then, if you're so good at it."

Will smirked. "I will." As soon as he put the metal tube up to his embouchure, Nico knew he'd lost the argument in more ways than one.

Slim fingers danced over the keys, producing a beautiful stream of trills, grace notes, and crescendos, and decrescendos that he recognized as "Killer Queen", and his lips-

Well. Best not to think about those.

As he played, Nico realized that he vaguely remembered from two years ago, someone said that some flute was the first freshmen at Olympus in 5 years to make state. At the time, he hadn't cared one bit, still overwhelmed by switching schools and the permanent move into his dad's house, but he wondered now if that flute player was Will.

When the song ended, he set the piccolo down, and Nico almost asked him to play another one.

Instead, he said, "Damn, Solace," and got to watch Will's ears turn red. "There's no way I'm trying again after that."

Will disassembled the piccolo and put it back into the case, zipping it into his uniform bag with his shoes and gloves. "Everybody's gotta start somewhere."

Not after that, I don't, Nico thought. "I'll just stick to the trombone." Shockingly, failing to play the piccolo did not dishearten him in the slightest. Then, he did something very uncharacteristic of himself. He voluntarily continued the conversation. "Are you really into music?"

If Hazel were there she probably would have chided him on asking a judgy sounding question, but to Nico it was relevant. In his experience, there were three types of band kids: those who were only in it for the credits, those who were in it for the atmosphere, and those who actually cared about music. Nico tended to bounce between the last two categories depending on the day (and the music) as did most people. He'd always assumed Will was the same.

But the blond was shaking his head. "Not really, no. I mostly just do it because of my parents. They're both really into music." Then, quieter, "I wanna be a doctor."

Nico frowned, wondering why it sounded like he was telling Nico some big secret. "Do they not approve of doctors?"

Will laughed. "Oh, no, they'd actually love that idea. I just haven't told them yet because they'd get insane about it."

Nico supposed that made sense, but he also had no idea what he wanted to do with his life and was relatively new to having a living parent that cared, so he just said, "Good luck in med school."

"Thanks." Will was quiet for a moment. "Do you have any idea what you want to do?"

Nico could have laughed at how perfectly timed that question was. "No."

Will shrugged. "Well, we're only juniors."

He tried, he really did, but he couldn't just not respond to that. "You sound like every other person who's ever asked me that."

"What else am I supposed to say?" he asked incredulously, waving a hand around. "It's true!"

Nico was saved from responding by their food arriving. He tapped Will on the ankle. "Get up. We gotta get our food before someone else tries to take it."

Turning to look at the highway, Will began to rise, and all the eyes in the parking lot that were latched onto the GrubHub sign suddenly turned to them. The jealous face nearest to them asked, "Is that for you?"

Nico smirked. "Yep." Then, he walked away, toward the entrance to the rest stop. Luckily, their bus was the only vehicle parked here, so their delivery person was able to park right at the front, keeping them from the majority of the other students. Even so, a brown haired girl wearing jean shorts under her band t-shirt (how?) walked over with a red haired boy in black leggings.

The car window rolled open, revealing short blue hair and a pale, round face. "Happy Meal and 10-piece for Nico?"

He stepped forward. "That's me."

Rather than hand him the bag, the delivery person flicked their eyes between the four teens. "I'm gonna have to see some ID."

"Seriously?" Nico said. "No one else is pretending to be me."

"C'mon, man. I don't wanna drive back out here if you're not the right person."

"Fine," he grumbled, pulling his wallet out of his pocket. "Here."

The driver glanced at his license, then shrugged. "Alright. Here you go." They handed over the takeout bag, and Nico gave them a five.

Before they could roll up the window, the brunette leaned on the driver's door and said, "I'll Venmo you 65 bucks to take us home right now."

"No." They started rolling up the window.

"Wait! That's 5 more dollars than you'll make driving around for minimum wage!"

Shockingly, they pulled out of the parking lot anyway.

13 hours before

"Who's the best band?" Jason and Reyna yelled at the top of their lungs, lifting their newest first place trophy above their heads.

"OLYMPUS!" 150 people shrieked back, and for that moment, Nico forgot that this was his last year with most of his friends. Everyone was hyped up on their win and the energy from a college homecoming that nothing else seemed to matter or even exist. For that moment, it was just them and the trophy.

Then, Chiron broke into the middle of the circle and clapped his hands. "Alright, everybody, the buses are here! Time to go home."

All too soon, everything else trickled in, and Nico remembered where they were. The NRU campus was crawling with people from various high schools across the state, NRU students, people living in the surrounding city that wanted to be part of something, and alumni, and Percy and Annabeth had barely been able to spare two minutes to talk to them. He could not think about that for a little while longer, though, just like he could ignore the creeping dread of going home alone.

After packing his trombone into the cargo truck, he filed onto the junior bus, definitely not feeling anything when all of his friends went onto the senior and sophomore buses.

4 hours since

Back in their parking spot (and what a wild focal point for this wild day, huh?), Nico and Will had a pretty impressive spread going. McFlurries to dip their fries in, many and multiple kinds of sauces, two Diet Cokes, Will's nuggets, Nico's burger, and Nico's new Mythomagic hellhound figurine? The looks they were getting from the remaining students were full of jealousy, Nico could tell.

"Thanks for this," Will said through a mouthful of french fry.

Nico waved him away. "It's no problem, seriously. My dad technically bought all of it."

Will's brow furrowed. "What does he do that he doesn't care if you spend-" he paused, counting. "-$20 on some of the most unhealthy food in the world?"

Nico shoved a French fry in his mouth. "He owns a chain of funeral homes."

Will's eyes widened. "Really?"

Nico nodded. "Yeah, Elysium Funeral Homes. You'd be surprised how much money there is in that business."

"How much money do y'all have?" Will asked, sounding skeptical. Nico looked forward to blowing his mind.

"He's a multimillionaire."

"What?"

Nico just nodded, enjoying the astonishment on Will's face. "Told you."

"You really expect me to believe your dad is that rich just from owning some funeral homes?" The other boy would have been more convincing if his voice wasn't wavering.

Messing with Will was fun, but Nico figured he should let him go now. "I'm sure the $500 million inheritance from my grandparents helped."

Will gasped, making Nico laugh, and the blond threw a fry at him. "You couldn't have said that from the start?"

Still laughing, Nico shook his head. "You should have seen your face."

"Jerk," Will said, though he was smiling. "What the hell did your grandparents do?"

"Oh, you know," Nico waved his hand vaguely. "Stuff."

"You have no idea, do you?"

"No clue," Nico admitted. "They died before I was born and nobody ever explained it to me."

"Really? Does Hazel or one of your cousins know?"

Nico shook his head. "I doubt it. They died when Thalia was a year old." And none of us have any discernible relationship with our fathers, he didn't say, so it's not like we can ask them. "All I know is that they were filthy rich, and somehow, my dad got the smallest cut."

"Smallest cut?"

"Yep." If he thought $500 million was a lot of money, Nico couldn't wait to tell him how much Uncle Zeus was worth. Before Will could ask about his mom, he said, "What about your parents? You said they're into music, right?"

"Yeah," Will said. "My mom's a country singer. You actually may have heard of her, Naomi Solace, from Texas."

Country was definitely not his genre, so Nico just nodded, pretending to know who Will was talking about. He'd google her later.

"Then my dad, Apollo, made a bunch of money off ad jingles 17 years ago, the two of them met, made me, and she's on tour somewhere in Nebraska, and he's somewhere in Western Africa working with Doctors Without Borders."

"Oh," Nico blinked. He hadn't known...any of that. Had he really been going through that this whole time? He said the only thing he could think of: "That sucks."

Will laughed humorlessly. "I guess. Dad's a bit of a slut, though, so I've got a bunch of siblings. I'm not lonely."

Nico stared. "Good, that makes me feel so much better."

Will just shrugged.

Gradually, a fragment of a memory tickled the back of Nico's mind, and he tried to shut it down before it fully formed. Despite his efforts, he remembered hearing his dad talk about a memorial for a teenager that passed through his company a few years ago, before he was permanently living with Hades. The kid was 16, the same age as Nico was now. Nico didn't remember a lot about him, but he did remember the dad's name, Apollo with no last name, because it was so weird, and that he had a ton of half-siblings. His dad had been stressed about it since the father was semi-famous.

Now, Nico wasn't sure what to do. It was so awkward knowing something about someone else that they hadn't told you, especially something so deep and personal. He wasn't sure how to proceed. Did he say something? Try to offer comfort?

Unsure, Nico took a second to study Will. It had happened years ago, before they'd ever met, so it wasn't like Will would expect him to know anything or treat him differently. Besides, if Will were still grieving, surely he wouldn't be so well adjusted?

No, that wasn't the right word. He wouldn't be so laid-back. Nico certainly wasn't.

Hold on. For better or worse, this was actually a topic Nico knew about, a situation he'd actually been in multiple times. With that thought in mind, he tried to think about what he'd want if their roles were reversed.

Yeah, he definitely would not want it to be mentioned. He wouldn't want to forget about her or pretend she never existed, but with some guy he'd only been talking to for a few hours that doesn't even know about her? He'd definitely rather stay away from the topic.

But, he had been so much younger when she died and so dependent on her. Nico had no idea what Will's situation had been. Were he and his brother even close? He mentioned that he had a lot of siblings and that he was close to some of them. Was Michael one? How did one even ask that? "Hey, were you your brother close before died? Also, I know you have a dead brother." Yeah, no.

Finally, he settled on an option that would reveal neither of their dead siblings but might still be considered socially on topic. "Hey, I get it. I didn't even meet my dad until I was 10."

Will glanced over at him. "Wait, for real?"

"Yeah, it was after-" he paused. How to explain this without talking about Bianca and ruining the pleasant atmosphere they'd created by pitching himself into a depressive spiral? Then again, if he opened up about her, that could incite Will to talk about Michael, and then Nico could pretend he was just finding out.

Okay, so maybe not the best idea. He restarted. "Something happened, and he ended up with full custody of me. Instead of caring, he stuck me in various boarding schools until he found out about Hazel. Now, I see him at least once a week." That was the nice version of events, the one that didn't make him want to deconstruct his own skeleton and burn it.

Will hesitates, then opened his mouth, and Nico silently prayed he wasn't about to offer an empty apology or a hollow assurance. "That sucks," he said.

Nico snorted in surprise at hearing his own words. "Yeah, it does."

They sat in silence for a moment, processing. This was probably the closest Nico had come to talking about or even mentioning his sister in years without having a meltdown afterward. He wasn't sure how to feel about that.

Instead of dealing with it, he gathered their McDonald's trash and stood. "I'm gonna throw this stuff away. Watch my uniform please."

Will gave a thumbs up, and Nico walked towards the big brick restroom where the trash cans were.

On the way there, he contemplated what it might be like to finally talk about - his breath caught - Bianca. Beyond that, he thought about telling Will about her. He'd avoided the topic of family for so long that it had begun to feel less real and more of a concept that didn't apply to him. His cousins and Hazel were his best friends more than they were family. His dad was more of a guardian than a father. There was no one else, and none of the people close to him ever tried to bring up Bianca unless they were trying to get him to talk about feelings which never went well for any party involved.

So was he really considering doing it himself? After the last few hours, he supposed it wasn't impossible. He'd already told Will more about his home life than he'd ever told another person. Besides, wasn't everybody always telling him that sharing his feelings would be good for him? Sure, he was a little jittery, a little nauseated, but he was also lighter, like just sharing the little bit he did and receiving validation instead of pity released some of the pressure that had been stuck in him for six years. How much lighter would he feel if he released it all?

The thought scared him. He'd lived with it for this long; who was he without it?

Nico reached the trash cans and threw the McDonald's bag in then went to wash the grease off his hands. While there, he decided to go to the bathroom since the bus would be there soon.

Locking himself into a stall, he heard two sets of footsteps enter and loud laughter.

"Yeah, I saw it," one of them said. "Freaky if you ask me."

"I know," said the other one. "That guy's so weird. I never understood why Percy hung out with him."

Nico's blood ran cold.

"Beats me," the first one said. "I heard Octavian bet Solace his spot as section leader that he couldn't get di Angelo to talk to him."

"Damn, that's so bad."

"I know, right? I can't believe it worked."

The two kept talking until they left the bathroom, but Nico's ears were ringing.

After all this time, he was really still just the creepy kid who no one wanted to talk to, living in Percy's shadow. Worse, everything Will said had been a joke. A tactic to keep his spot.

Nico wheezed, pulling on the collar of his shirt. He fumbled with the stall door lock and stumbled over to a sink, trying to breathe.

A deep voice cut through his daze. "Jesus, what did you get from McDonald's?"

He looked over to the boy at the sink next to him. It was just some random kid, no one he even knew. Was that his fault? Should he know this brown haired, brown eyed kid's name? He never even tried to get to know his classmates. Not once. He always felt like he didn't need them, that they could never understand him. This day felt like proof that he was right. They didn't care, they didn't know him. They just wanted to make fun of the weird kid.

He must've been glaring because the brunet held up his hands and backed away until Nico was alone again. Like usual.

He looked in the mirror. The same kid he always saw was staring back: dark hair curling beneath his ears, dark circles under his darker eyes, freckles spread across his pale cheeks.

He hadn't changed. The world hadn't changed. Everything was still the same. He was so stupid, thinking anything was different just because he opened up slightly to some random person who apparently didn't care about him at all.

He couldn't believe he'd considered telling him about Bianca, that they might have something in common that would help them understand each other. Will probably wasn't even Michael Yew's brother.

You know what, he thought, this is stupid. He watched his reflection straighten his spine, angry resolve piercing through his eyes. Nothing was different. He could just go back to where he was when the bus broke down.

Panicking about losing Jason was infinitely better than panicking about losing something he never had.

He walked back outside and was met with a second school bus, kids crowded around it. He almost joined them before realizing Will still had his uniform bag.

Actually, he didn't need it. Someone else would find it and turn it in with minimal hazing when he accepted it in front of the band with the other kids who lost their stuff.  

Of course, that was when Will popped up beside him. "Hey, you ready to go home?"

Nico stared at him, trying to find malice in his bright face. Suddenly exhausted, he decided not to waste his energy. "You don't have to pretend anymore. I know about the bet."

Will has the gall to look confused. "What bet?"

"The one with Octavian. Don't act like you don't know." Nico snatched his uniform bag out of Will's hand. "And don't sit next to me. Figlio di puttana."

He stormed away and onto the bus, settling into the first open seat toward the front of the bus. He let his uniform bag pool on the seat so that no one sat down next to him, then he pulled his knees up to his chest and tried not to cry.

#solangelo #solangelo fic #nico di angelo #will solace #percy jackson #will x nico #nico x will #jason grace #my writing #fanfic #my fic #pjo #my fanfic #fluff #solangelo fluff #ficlet #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo hoo toa #pjo fic #pjoverse #tsats #future fic #marching band #marching band au #angst #heavy angst #solangelo angst

[hello-nichya-here]

I really want Mai to have more depth than "I only changed because of my bf" but we don't see her ever go through the realization that imperialism is bad and what the FN are doing is wrong, so why did she change if it wasn't for Zuko? It definitely wasn't a political/moral decision and I don't think it was because of hatred towards Azula, because we don't really see her mistreat Mai when she fails missions or disobeys orders or being disrespectful. If anything, we still see them vent to each other and playing wing(wo)man for each other, so they seem to be close friends.

So of it wasn't about being against imperialism/racism, and it wasn't about hating Azula and it wasn't about Zuko with, what was it about?

1 - Mai's decision to change sides not being about "I realized imperialism is bad" doesn't mean it was all about Zuko. She clearly didn't like being told what to do, it is not that hard to assume she'd one day realize she was ALWAYS gonna end up being bossed around, by her parents, by Azula, by anyone with more power, in a system like the one she lived under.

2 - Mai doesn't hate Azula. That doesn't mean there was nothing wrong with how their dynamic worked. When refusing to follow Azula's orders in "The Drill", Mai says "She can shoot all the lightning she wants at me." It doesn't matter that, either out of a rare moment of mercy or just because she was too focused on other things, Azula didn't do anything about it - knowing that there's always a very real possibility your friend will hurt or KILL YOU if you don't do what they want you to is more than enough reason to decide "I really shouldn't be friends with this person."

3 - Mai loved Zuko and she wanted to make sure he would survive. Where's the sin in that? Zuko and Iroh saved each other a billion times, including after fights (see Iroh helping in "The Chase"). Same for the Gaang. Why is "I don't really agree with you, but I care about you so I won't let anyone hurt you" only a bad thing when Mai does it?

Why is Mai, who had an entire season of characterization in which Zuko is only mention twice and VERY briefly, reduced to "lives solely for her boyfriend" when she saves him, but he doesn't get the same treatment when he says "I left my girlfriend behind even though I really didn't want to, because leaving Ozai put a target on my back and I couldn't drag her into this mess"?

Sounds like yet another case of this fandom being VERY sexist. Male character does a nice thing for his love interest? That's just seen as one side of character. Female does the exact same thing? She's "defined/held back by romance and has nothing going on outside of it" - again, even though we spent an entire season watching Mai doing her thing, with Zuko rarely coming up.

Hell, even if Mai HAD been defined by her relationship with a guy, that wouldn't automatically mean she was a bad character. Azula's every action revolves around what would or would not please her father, to the point of destroying her friendships with Ty Lee and Mai, with ocasional moments of her trying to salvage her sibling bond with Zuko, and she immediately gets absolutely jealous and resentful towards Ty Lee because she's the one getting all the attention from random boys Azula doesn't care about, yet she still wants their praise more than she wants the praise of her female friend.

We saw where that need to be "perfect", the absolute best at everything, and please a man that did not hesitate to ditch her on what was supposed to be THEIR glory day and even gave her the title she always wanted - only now it was completely hollow, since he greated a higher ranking position for himself anyway - led her, and it was not pretty.

"Character needs to reconsider their priorities" does not always translate to "This character was poorly written." And like I already said, "boyfriend obsessed" doesn't even apply to Mai in the first place.

She ditched her parents and ran around traveling with Azula because it would offer her more freedom than she had in Omashu. But she was not Azula's equal, so when she had to choose between her and Zuko, the flawed but loving boyfriend that never tried to abuse his status as a prince to control her and was trying to get his shit together, it really is no wonder Mai chose the obviously better alternative.

If anyone want to see me rant about how this fandom should PUT SOME RESPECT ON MAI'S NAME ALREADY, here's the thing:

#asks #pro mai #pro maiko