Tumgik
#so u be the judge here
daisy-mooon · 8 months
Text
"I want Annabeth to be blonde :(" then pick up a PJO book and read it you dumb fuck
#pjo fans stop being weird about black annabeth challenge IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#first off annabeths race isnt important to her story. annabeth could be any race. her skin colour doesnt actually impact her. her hair does#now im not blonde but im a white girl so let me explain why some pjo fans need to stfu. i have grade 9s. im called stupid for my appearance#im not insulted bc im white or bc i have blue eyes or brown hair. im insulted bc women are judged on their appearance. im insulted bc SEXIS#annabeth isnt really called dumb for being blonde. shes called dumb bc shes female. and ppl are more likely to stereotype women than men#this is especially true for black women! whatever sexism white women get is always horrifically multiplied for poc women#black hair frequently gets called unprofessional untidy unhygienic etc. its VERY likely that show annabeth has been called dumb for her hai#does this make the casting “accurate”? no. but castings don't have to be accurate. they have to ADD to the character.#annabeth being black ADDS to her character because it showcases how women (esp black women) are devalued for their appearance#movie annabeth wasnt bad for having brown hair or white hair she was a bad adaptation bc she was ooc#i just think its ironic that a core aspect of annabeth was being judged for her looks. and now show annabeth is getting judged for her look#like. you guys really missed the point here.#anyways disagree all you want but book annabeth is still blonde. no one is erasing her. theres a new PJO book w blonde annabeth SEPTEMBER 2#GO READ CHALICE OF THE GODS IF U WANT BLONDE ANNABETH OMG! adaptions and source material can be separate and coexist!#rant over sorry#pjo#percy jackson#annabeth chase#pjo show#percy jackson and the olympians#the lightning thief#discourse#shitpost#percy jackson show#pjo discourse#riordanverse
431 notes · View notes
suffarustuffaru · 3 months
Text
hi i made a tier list of how homophobic rezero characters are
Tumblr media
hello in the spirit of valentine's day and the very welcoming community here on rezero tumblr i decided to make this with the help of my lovely mutuals.
#anyway heres some fun little explanations if youd like to read:#otto has. so much internalized shit going on i dont even know where to begin. not as severe as like subaru fr and def not in the same way a#whatevers happening with ferris but like by the time u get to arc 8 hes a total shitshow LJSLDKF#like ottos. transphobic. canonically. with natsumi schwartz. and then hes def got More going on bc his attachment style is soo....#wilhelm and heinkel i think would def be homophobic outside of reinhard/reinhard related things but its funnier to describe it like that ok#and either way the main target of their homophobia is gonna be reinhard LMAO#oni elders suck ok. theyd all be homophobic#rams got a strong case of comphet rn but when she doesnt have comphet shes chillin with subarus gf and having wlw mlm hostility with subaru#and otto. the entire judges your taste tier is all insane teen girls or frufoo and patrasche (who DEFINITELY judge otto and subarus taste)#frufoo patrasche are like that one reddit post about that one guys dog being homophobic after seeing their owner get topped in gay sex#also als in that tier bc al.#alcor is technically subaru but he gets to be a tier lower than subaru bc. hes also not technically subaru its very complicated but#at least he doesnt have the entire boy drama subaru has LSJDF#reids iconic line is the ones where he calls julisuba boyfriends u know. its extremely iconic.#a dear mutual of mine has informed me tivey is in lol ok while his triplet siblings wouldnt know what being gay is which LKJDSLFSD thats#fucking funny i had to do it#id argue satella is in lol ok bc she lets subaru do almost anything ok. this includes being terribly into men. she knows shes got his heart#either way. and also elsa dont care unless it affects how ur guts taste#rems reaction is gonna be lol ok unless its subaru coming out to her. then shes gonna have some Mixed Feelings#rezero#re:zero#i forgot to add but u could def argue garf knows what being gay is bc his two older brothers are just Like That#but also neither of his brothers would be caught dead explaining what being gay is to him
79 notes · View notes
l3mmingue · 2 months
Text
Tumblr media
100+ followers special - pablo shidding
50 notes · View notes
hauntedhowling · 27 days
Text
Tumblr media
It's wet beast Wednesday you fuckin animals
31 notes · View notes
oceanwithouthermoon · 3 months
Text
OKAY im posting this crappy wip kubosai one-shot because ive been lagging severely on writing... sorry if its cringe, its completely unedited rn</3
this is roughly 1800 words.. the actual wip is about 4000 LOL but i skipped a couple parts so this is about half the wip i guess..
Kusuo was sitting at his desk with his legs curled to his chest, glaring at nothing, when his phone dinged next to him. Already not in the best mood, he sneered as his eyes snapped over to the device. The noise had disturbed one of his favorite pastimes; being moody for no reason and doing nothing, and the bright light was equally disturbing. When he looked over, it also shone the time as "1:36am" which ruined his blissful unawareness of how long he'd been brooding. His unusually accurate internal clock could have told him that, really, but Kusuo would never pass up an opportunity to be mad about something stupid.
His eyes softened significantly when he caught sight of what the notification actually was. A text from contact name "Kuboyasu Aren" with no contact picture. Yeah, that was how Kusuo kept all his contacts. Super boring and super normal.
He clenched his teeth, trying to bring his anger from before back after realizing how much and how easily his mood lifted just reading his classmate's name.
His phone had gone back to a black screen before Kusuo could read the actual contents of the message, so he begrudgingly unfurled himself from his position with a heavy sigh. He planted his feet back on the floor just a bit too aggressively and swiped up his phone as he stomped over to his bed to flop himself down on it.
When he finally turned his phone back on, the notification read “3m ago” and he clicked on it.
The message read, “hey princess when u wake up do u wanna hangout ??!? could i come overrr tomorrow please”
Annoying lack and misuse of punctuation, but Kusuo has learned that this tends to be the norm in texting, especially with other teenagers. In all fairness, the way Kusuo texts isn't very conventional either. He made fun of Toritsuka’s severe overuse of emojis once, and then immediately got ganged up on by all of the self proclaimed ‘PK psychickers’ because he tends to overuse emoticons in the same way. He doesn't know how else to express himself over text, alright? He learned to text only from his mom, Akechi, and Aiura and this is just how it turned out.
And for your information, the stupid princess pet name was just some silly thing Kuboyasu had gotten in the habit of doing lately. Trust Kusuo when he says it's much more embarrassing when he says it out loud, especially at school, than when he texts it, though knowing that his name in Kuboyasu’s contacts was “My Princess :)” was probably even worse.
Anyway, Kuboyasu had clearly made the assumption that Kusuo would be sleeping at this hour. Well, usually he would be. Kusuo LOVES getting his sleep in, but he just so happened to have taken a very long nap earlier that day, so he had a late dinner, and subsequently a late dessert. So, his usually abnormally fast metabolism hadn't quite been rid of all the sugar and caffeine he'd consumed not long ago. A series of unfortunate events, really, which culminated in him not being tired enough to sleep yet. At least he got to get in his usual ‘angrily staring at nothing for no reason’ time that he accidentally skipped because of his nap, although that did just get interrupted too.
So finally, he responded to Kuboyasu with, “I'm awake. (-.-;) Sure, I guess.”
Kuboyasu read the message and began typing unnervingly quickly after it was sent. “really ?!?!? also y r u awake lol i thought u would be asleep hours ago”
The poor guy probably wasn't expecting him to say yes immediately. Kusuo usually would argue about it for a bit before giving in to the teasing and pleading of his self proclaimed friends. It was way too late (/early) to play that game right now though, he knew he would just say yes in the end anyway. It had nothing to do with him actually wanting to see the dumb former punk who he had been unusually close with lately.
The taller boy just GOT him in a way other people never did. His undying loyalty and honesty was a refreshing contrast from many of the other people the psychic was often forced to be around. Loyal, honest, strong, romantic, protective. Not that those last few things affected the way he interacted with Kusuo or anything…
Kusuo replied again, “Yes. And I usually would be, but… too much caffeine. ( ̄^ ̄)”
Another quick response, “lol thats totally something u would do.. since ur up, r u down to call right now ?”
“To call? It's almost 2am. ಠ_ಠ Why are YOU awake anyway?”
“lol i know i know but im so bored… i just cant sleep.. we can be quiet on the call, but id like to hear ur voice right now :)”
Good grief, ew. How disgusting. “Hm… okay. ∩(。-_-。)∩”
(Don't you dare ask Kusuo why his internal monologue is so different from what he actually replies with. It's definitely not because he's an unreliable narrator who doesn't want to admit to himself or anyone that he actually wants to talk to a boy. Why would that be the case? Don't be dumb.)
Kusuo forgot to turn his ringer off before Kuboyasu could call him, so despite entirely expecting the phone call, the loud ringing startled him into dropping his phone on his face. How embarrassing, all-powerful psychic drops his phone on his face at almost 2am.
He scrambled to pick it back up and answer it so that the noise wouldn't wake up his parents. It would be really easy for him to just lull them back to sleep with his telepathy the second they wake up, but it would be inconvenient and his dad might complain in the morning. About either remembering waking up or just about not getting a good night’s sleep.
He finally clicked the answer button, luckily before his parents could wake up, and held back a sigh as he held the phone up to his ear.
“Hey, princess!” Kuboyasu was speaking in a whisper yell, probably also a room away from his sleeping parents.
“Hello.” He tried to speak in a way that wouldn't give away the fact that he was recovering from a smack to the face. Phone calls were a bit awkward for Kusuo, since microphones didn't pick up on his telepathy so he had to use his actual voice to speak over the phone. He always just hoped people wouldn't notice the extra rasp to his voice, but the late hour might work in his favor in this situation.
“So what have you been up to?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing? Up at 2 am and you're just sitting there, doing nothing?”
“Yes, that's exactly what I've been doing. What else is there to do at 2am?”
“Well, I've been making the most of MY time, personally.”
“And how have you been doing that, exactly?”
“Thinkin’ about you.”
“...”
“...”
“... *snort*” Okay, how could that NOT make him laugh? He took the phone slightly away from his face and laughed into his hand.
“What?? It's true!” The idiot couldn't hold back his laughter either.
“Yeah, yeah, okay… whatever, you're such a pain…”
“Yeah? Am I?”
“Yes.”
“And yet, you're here talking to me at 2 am just because I asked you to? Admit it, you love it.”
“Tch. You really need to get over yourself, you know that?”
“Well. Humor me for a bit longer, will you?”
“You're desperate.”
“For you.”
Kusuo muttered into his hand, “Oh my god.”
“I wish I could see your face right now, I know you're blushing.”
“Yeah, right. Not like you can prove that.”
“You want me to?”
“What do you mean?”
“You want me to come over there and check?”
Kusuo could hear the smirk in Kuboyasu’s voice. The jerk knew Kusuo couldn't say no to him. They both knew this game. Kusuo would deny him just for show, even though they both know he wants to say yes, and Kuboyasu would tease the truth out of him. Well, fine. Kusuo could play this game.
“You want to sneak out of your house and into mine at 2am just so you can check how successful your teasing is?”
“Mhm. Not just that, I would do anything to see my pretty princess’ face right now. I'm bored, you're bored, the only solution is for the knight to rescue the princess from this ailment, obviously.”
“You're an idiot.”
“You want to see me, I know it.” And he did. Kusuo could hear shuffling over the phone. That asshole was probably already putting his shoes on, knowing Kusuo would say yes. “What, you scared to prove me right? You don't want me to see your pretty pink face right now?”
… Kuboyasu was good at this game. He knows that husky voice is fucking irresistible. To Kusuo, at least. “... Okay, okay. Only so I can prove you WRONG.”
He knew Kuboyasu was smiling, but then the mood settled a bit. “You serious, Saiki? I know I'm messing with you, but I won't pressure you if you don't wanna sneak me in. I mean, that's kinda a lot to ask now that I'm thinkin’ about it. I really wanna see you, but I wouldn't make you do that.”
“Yeah, yeah, shut up, I've already made up my mind. Are YOU sure? You realize how late and dark it is, yeah? You can't just stroll the streets at 2 am, you're gonna get hurt.”
“Awee, you worried about me, princess? No need, your knight in shining armor can protect himself just fine.”
"... Fine. Just stay on the phone with me."
"Hm? While I walk?"
He figured Kuboyasu wouldn't want to have a conversation over the phone in favor of paying attention to his surroundings, but... Kusuo couldn't help but be nervous about his friend's safety at this hour. He just wanted to make sure he was fine the whole walk.
"We don't have to talk, just... stay on the phone with me..."
Kuboyasu snorted. "What, you gonna miss me in those, what, ten whole minutes?"
Kusuo scoffed quietly. "Don't be so full of yourself. I'm just making sure you don't trip and fall or something at 2am on the way to my house. Wouldn't want the blame to fall back on me." He somehow still managed to convey snark in his almost monotone voice despite his whisper.
Kuboyasu chuckled softly, as he snarked back teasingly, "You know I can take care of myself. Can't believe you're still worried about me~."
Kusuo did know that. It didn't change anything. And he WASN'T worried, he just knew that his various nuisances tended to get into trouble when he wasn't there to monitor them. He was always getting them out of trouble even in broad daylight, so there was absolutely no reason to think that walking alone in the middle of the night would prove to be an exception.
"Just shut up and don't hang up, alright?"
He heard the quiet creak of a door closing and shutting, barely drowning out Kuboyasu’s attempt at muffling his laughter. "Alright, sweet boy. I'm right here."
-
EWWWW CRINGEE EW THEY HAVE COOTIES
37 notes · View notes
infernaleikon · 11 months
Text
on this wip wednesday i revisit my actual wip that i should get back to 🙈🙈🙈
have a snippet of the fake married au
****************************************
When Anakin had proposed—emotionally (ostensibly) fake but otherwise legal—marriage, eager to secure a neat pay raise, he’d definitely not thought about the careful maintenance and painstaking planning such a charade would entail. So when Obi-Wan suggests Anakin move in with him, Anakin feels like every last breath of air has been squeezed from his lungs. The words ring in his head, less like a siren and more like a siren call, and Obi-Wan needs to call his name twice with a worried frown on his face before Anakin manages an answer.
Still, he has to clear his throat, embarrassingly, three times before his voice sounds anywhere near normal and even then he sounds hoarse and croaky to his own ears when he asks, “Are you sure?”
Obi-Wan kinks an eyebrow at him. “It would call the legitimacy of our marriage into question if we didn’t live under one roof.”
It doesn’t quite answer Anakin’s question. It wouldn’t dispute their marriage but rather the status of their relationship, Anakin thinks faintly.
Anakin has to clear his throat again. “Maybe we’re more…modern than other couples and don’t need to live together,” he offers. It sounds beyond stupid—and nobody who truly knows him would believe that he wouldn’t want to live with—with his husband. But Obi-Wan dodges answering the question and Anakin realizes that of course he isn’t thrilled at the prospect of having to share his apartment—for potential years—with Anakin.
Obi-Wan looks at him with an unreadable expression for a moment before an apologetic smile tugs at his lips. “I understand that you wouldn’t want to—give up your freedom in such a way,” he says diplomatically. As if Obi-Wan isn’t giving up his own freedom by marrying Anakin. “It’s just—” Now Obi-Wan clears his throat. “Everyone who knows me knows that I—I’d want to live with my spouse, is all. I’m not…modern.”
Anakin feels like there is only white noise in his head. “I wanna live with my spouse, too,” he says, like an idiot.
“Oh,” Obi-Wan says, and then a wry little smile passes over his face. “Well then.”
It somehow sounds both like a question and a statement.
“I’ll move in,” Anakin hurries to add, his words sounding embarrassingly breathless. “I just—”
He just—
The realization of how much he is truly asking of Obi-Wan impacts like a meteor hitting a planet’s surface, and Anakin can’t even begin to fathom how—or why—Obi-Wan takes it in stride so elegantly.
“Uh,” Anakin says, at a loss for words, and rubs the back of his neck.
The corners of Obi-Wan’s eyes crinkle slightly and the smile grows but becomes seemingly thinner. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure out an arrangement for when you want to bring someone—for when you want to spend the night with someone,” he assures. His tone is light and teasing, and there’s a glint in his eyes that sends tiny little shocks up and down Anakin’s spine.
Anakin flushes: heat rising into his cheeks so sudden and unbidden that he feels breathless with it. He can’t imagine there being anybody he’d rather spend the night with than Obi-Wan. The heat in his cheeks intensifies once he realizes Obi-Wan means sex, and then even more so when he discovers that he himself does not—or well, not just.
81 notes · View notes
autistic-katara · 1 month
Text
there r fics that make u insane (so amazingly good it’s removed ur sanity) and then there’s fics that make u insane (you need to fistfight the author for how they did a specific thing that caused u to rant for hours)
#i know i just posted that other thing but ffs that is NOT how u handle someone in that situation everyone involved made everything 10x worse#yet it’s being treated like the right thing to do (which again ofc they’re cops they don’t understand harm reduction but still) like#seriously everything’s so forceful like u seriously think forcing ur friend to talk to u or forcing a patient to talk to a therapist under#the threat of being admitted to a psychiatric hospital is gonna make her feel comfortable talking to u? or anyone? she’s just gonna trust u#less and get better at hiding it and speaking of which the taking away all sharp objects thing makes sense in theory but like think abt it#for a minute she confirmed she isn’t suicidal and this is her only way of coping so do not just forcibly take away all her coping mechanism#like yes she is hurting herself but it’s a COPING MECHANISM. she’s coping with something. help her with that don’t just take away her penci#sharpers or whatever (which btw since she’s an adult she could easily buy more stuff and yk learn to hide it better) which again has to be#voluntary it isn’t gonna work if u force someone to do smthn they don’t want to like as ur friend u could’ve made it clear u care abt her#and wouldn’t judge her for anything and r here if she wants to talk don’t just say “you have to talk to me” and casually threaten#hospitalisation when she isn’t ready in the moment like seriously if this wasn’t a badly written fanfic she would completely stop trusting#bcz given that this wasn’t even done out of panic i would like ffs u are NOT doing any of this right#oops sorry ranted abt the bad fic in my tags-#it’s not where the author’ll see it and know it’s about them i don’t feel bad abt it#this was my first time even looking at stuff for this fandom so#cw self harm in tags#idk if i need to tag anything else for that 😭#fanfic#ao3#ryan shut the fuck up
12 notes · View notes
hella1975 · 7 months
Text
the mutuals are like. ethel cain and blood and cannibalism and love as consumption and toxic psychosexual obsession and dog motif and teeth and sex/violence parallels with love/hate parallels and deer motif and antlerlock and ouroboros and religious themes and greek mythology and hair symbolism and sympathising with the monster and personification of the house and the mother as a god and tragic siblings and fruit symbolism and vampires and stabbing as a metaphor for penetration and body horror and. but if you asked we’re just really normal guys
39 notes · View notes
jrueships · 10 days
Text
ill be having such a good time then Boom, someone says something
#i love to drive... when i know where im going#im a great driver#but my navigation skills are so shit. theyre so shit#yall i cannot. for the life of me. read fuckin google maps well while driving#i cant judge the distance of a turn.. i think a right turn is a left bcs the screen didnt rotate yet and it's#and i cant remember road names bcs im a landmark man#it's so embarrassing. and all my good driving turns to shy shit bcs it's like. idk. i hate being weird. i hate feeling stupid#i hate being stupid#i hate being told im not stupid until i do smthing stupid again and they get annoyed and u can tell they took it back#bcs everyones right. everyones so right so im not mad at them. im not#im just mad at myself. like it's so fucked. i hate being fucked (literally) (asexual)#i hate getting marked for being wrong in math bcs i saw the + as a ÷ and i did the division right but no one cares abt that bcs it's weird#it's fucked it's so fucked im so fucked#it's so embarrassing. i hate being embarrassing#it's not quirky or cute or anything. setting the wrong alarm bcs i saw the 8 as a 6 is not funny. it's not when u keep doing it#and u keep doublechecking urself and get it wrong anyways#i hate being stupid. i hate being stupid. i hate being stupid. i hate being stupid#u think i dont want to just be normal and fun and carefree with things people find easy? you think i dont want an easy life?#u think i like making people's lives hard? you think i Like being a burden???#i dont wanna be here .
10 notes · View notes
eldritchmochi · 22 days
Text
i think, finally, after a year of living in this flat, i have found a solution to my Craft Hell Zone problem!!!!
it involves me continuing to do ill advised furniture tetris as well as hoping to god that the shelf i got actually fits the way i think it will. its a duplicate of a shelf i got for my living room last fall that i really like which, by measurements, has a quarter of an inch clearance between the top of my desk and the top of my wife's desk, except my desk is a vanity with beautiful curvy legs that have been the bane of my existence for the entire time ive had it. these legs mean the shelf, by measurements, is a quart of an inch *too wide* to fit in the space
but
the shelf
has a metal frame and open sides
meaning i should be able to slot the curve of the offending vanity leg into the open space of the side of the shelf and have just SO MUCH MORE storage for my eight million crafts
for context, The Craft Hell Zone, in its current iteration
Tumblr media
it stresses me out so bad 🥲
7 notes · View notes
boxwinebaddie · 5 months
Text
an uncle nina update...i mean UPHATE!
okay there's a couple lines at the bottom i didn't fill in...i don't want to talk about it...that's a problem for future me idc idc! it's done, okay?
BUT AT LONG....LONG LAST....I AM FINALLY....FINISHED fuCkiNG WRITING RM6 AND AM EDITING AND FORMATING IT ON AO3!
when i tell you there are tears in my tears...oh my god...please, clap.
i am going to start deletion progress of probably 1k worth of spaces between lines ( whoever decided that when you paste a google doc it double spaces everything...please meet me in the pit, motherfucker! ) running a fine tooth comb through everything, figuring out where certain italics/blockquote goes, writing the sh*t i put off at the end & crying to taylor swift loudly over the sound of my cracking fingers.
but first...i am taking...a nap....or i'm gonna try. #freeunclenina
because i pulled a writer girl all-nighter.
...and brain hurty so, so bad.
-uncle nina, making miracles happen on the last day of nanowrimo
p.s. if you see me on here answering ask memes and being a circus clown, please close your eyes...i miss her ( my not-stressful inbox )
9 notes · View notes
Text
haven't reread this or edited it. idc. it's cute. enjoy.
word count: 3k
warnings: child abuse (rich's whole situation with his dad---it's not bad, and it's only mentioned in one paragraph, but it's there enough that it's worth mentioning)
Jake was standing in the center of the crowded hallway leaning heavily on his cane. Freshmen and seniors alike twisted and stumbled out of the way as they rushed down to lunch. His feet were shoulder width apart and his chin held high, much like a rock in the center of a rushing river.
Rich was hyper-aware of Jake from the second he slipped out of pre-calc, his attention (much like everyone else’s) immediately drawn to him. Tall. Confident. He stood like he belonged to the extent those who had to dodge out of his way were convinced they were the ones in the wrong, not him.
“And they say Christine’s dramatic,” Rich greeted. He sidestepped out of the current of students into the safety of Jake’s shadow. Jake’s gaze flickered from somewhere in the distance down to Rich and immediately his expression morphed from one of deep concentration to rosy excitement. Then, as if realizing himself, Jake pressed his lips together and snuffed out his happiness like a flame (not the first fire Jake had put out, both metaphorically and literally).
“We need to talk,” he said simply, tone barren and controlled. Rich masked the instinctive panic that promptly flooded the room at those words behind an amused quirked eyebrow.
“Intense opening line,” he commented, “8/10. Delivery could’ve been better.”
Jake’s purposeful intensity faltered just long enough for him to duck his head to hide his summertime smile. Rich, despite already sorting through all the worst-case scenarios—death, hatred, squips and secrets—did a small, mental fist pump. Having the newfound freedom to think his own thoughts without anyone there to criticize him besides his own subconscious meant spending an increasing amount of time dedicating himself to seeing Jake smile, watching him laugh, and feeling no shame at the way life seemed to return to every previously colorless corner of the room, the way his heart so hard he was convinced it was a destructive force rather than a romantic one.
“Shut up, I’m being serious.”
It’d been a minute, at least, and the halls were slowly emptying out of bystanders. Rich shifted back slightly, now free to be farther away from Jake without being trampled. Self-preservation kept him from creeping closer even as he shivered at the cold that slithered into the room at Jake’s distance.
Rich tried to keep his voice from trembling as he got out, “Okay, then. Talk to me.”
Jake shook his head and Rich frowned.
Rich felt dread, yes. Though it couldn’t have been past noon, a bluish-black dusk almost the same color as a bruise was swimming in his vision and dragging its sharp nails over every inch of exposed skin. Rich was restless in his desperation to get as far from this conversation as possible, a feeling so overwhelming he had to consciously talk himself down from an anxiety attack.
But where Rich’s anxiety manifested itself in his fidgeting fingers and tapping foot—something that wasn’t out of the ordinary for him, even a relatively calm Rich was a jittery Rich—Jake looked like he’d just watched tragedy strike an entire nation.
“Not here,” he muttered, so quiet Rich was convinced he didn’t want him to hear. “…Library? Or—”
“Library works,” Rich smiled, “We can watch horny freshmen make out in the back while we… break up? Platonically? I don’t know what you’re planning on.”
Jake didn’t seem to find Rich’s facetiousness amusing. He looked down at his shoes, seemingly deeply entertained by the intricacies of his poorly tied laces.
“Perfect,” he whispered, his voice taking on a customer-service tone he adopted when he knew his natural voice would be on the verge of breaking. Rich couldn’t even find it in him to summon another shitty joke.
Jake led Rich to the library briskly, ignoring the cafeteria completely while Rich cast a longing glance back at his lunch table, where all his friends were laughing without a care in the world.
Jake was facing straight ahead and a step ahead of Rich—his face was out of view, but Rich could hear the faint sound of him reciting a speech to himself, rehearsing whatever he was going to say to Rich in a moment. Rich strained to hear every—any—word, but all he got were empty shells of sorry and we can fix it.
“Okay,” Jake said as he pulled out Rich’s chair and sat across from him, his cane leaning against the table. They were sat in the back of the library by a window. Jake dropped his backpack on the ground next to him and unzipped it, pulling out a binder Rich had never seen before. Strange, considering Rich had sat through every pre-test, stress-induced haze while Jake paced the living room, reciting definitions from flashcards and making Rich read aloud passages from binders that only slightly resembled the one on the table between them.
Rich let out a tiny sigh of relief that he hoped wasn’t noticeable. So it was just a test or presentation—something important enough to Jake’s final grade that he was freaking out enough that he’d totally missed the mini-mental breakdown he’d caused Rich.
Jake took a deep breath. Rich leaned back, prepared and patient to listen as Jake first apologized for bothering him, then made Rich quickly skim the source material before quizzing him on every possible question or logic fallacy that would most surely never show up on a test intended for high schoolers. Rich wasn’t bothered when Jake’s expression changed from nervous to one of pure determination and cynical analysis—he was well accustomed to this version of Jake, one who compartmentalized until all the dark and scary feelings were just files to be sorted rather than genuine emotions to be processed. He’d get through it eventually, but only after he’d solved whatever problem he was facing.
“Physics?” Rich guessed. Jake looked up from his papers, barely aware of what Rich had said, his focus completely and utterly on the task at hand.
“What?”
“Physics? Is that what we’re studying?”
Another moment of awkward silence before Jake finally seemed to understand.
“Oh,” he said, “No. No, worse. Here.”
He passed Rich a paper—a timeline, starting December 3rd. Rich didn’t get the chance to read a single word before Jake shoved another paper into his hand, this one a calendar for this month—April. Then a list. A picture. A color-coded set of notes. A survey? Rich scrambled to organize himself as Jake shoved yet another paper into his hand, this one a printed-out, annotated article from one sketchy health website or another.
“Do you want a chance to review the material before I start, or can I just jump right in?”
Rich looked up helplessly from the April calendar and squeaked, “Huh?”
Jake studied him for a moment, gaze a stormy mix of expectancy and determination. Then, having come to a conclusion Rich wasn’t privy to, he said, “We’re going to start on page one.”
Rich blinked at him.
“Timeline,” Jake clarified, “The first paper I handed to you.”
Rich struggled through the pile of papers until he pulled the timeline out. He displayed it to Jake proudly only to be met with a nervous smile that quickly faded into a grimace.
“Alright,” Jake said, his voice quivering in a similar fashion to a guitar string—musically, beautifully. He clenched his paper to the point it crinkled. “As you can see, it starts December 3rd, the day I first visited you in the hospital, and ends yesterday.”
Rich’s eyes flit from the beginning to the end of the timeline to confirm Jake’s words. He nodded, unsure as to why Jake’s tidbit about the hospital was necessary.
“So upon first contact post-fire, we ignored the topic of the fire and simply discussed the play and Jeremy, correct?”
“Uh, yeah?”
“Good. And you didn’t apologize until the 8th, the next date marked on the timeline.”
Rich found the 8th, labeled ‘THE APOLOGY’ in all caps. Rich searched the words for a hidden meaning, praying it’d also be the birthday of some American president or treaty signing.
“I was, at first, resistant, but by the 11th I had come to forgive you. I visited again and we discussed possible steps forward.”
Unsurprisingly, the 11th was the next marked date. Rich swallowed a confused sob.
“Yeah, I know,” Rich said, the words tumbling out of his throat like his body was trying to purge him of a poison, “What the fuck?”
Jake continued without so much as looking up.
“On the 20th, you were released from the hospital. You, your brother, and I all spent Christmas at my apartment—purchased before the timeline began—over the 25th and into the 26th. Does that sound right to you?”
“Yes. Still kind of dark times, though, so if we could skip to—”
“You moved in on January 5th.”
Rich’s memory of that day lived serenely in the back of his mind to be summoned with perfect clarity whenever he felt unworthy or scared. It had been impulsive and dangerous—Rich had called Jake in the middle of the night, bruised and scared and exhausted. He’d come home from a six-hour shift on the verge of collapse, his burns itching and screaming, the lingering memory of the squip spouting deprecations at the way he winced with every step. He was unlucky enough to find his father still conscious in the living room, anger emanating off of him in waves of violence that manifested in thrown dishes and kicked over trashcans because where the fuck have you been?! You think you have any right to parade around with your rich friends while your family is stuck here?! You should’ve been—
The list was long. You should’ve been cleaning the dishes, making dinner, doing the laundry. He made it worse by crying.
He stayed kneeling in the kitchen long after his father passed out on the couch and, with shaking hands, because he didn’t want to cry anymore—he really, really didn’t want to cry—he called Jake.
Jake offered every cliche affirmation and more. You’re enough, you’re more than enough, I love you, you deserve better, you’re beautiful, you’re smart, I forgive you, I forgive you, I forgive you.
All the while, Jake was texting Michael. He still had his casts on—he couldn’t drive, and Michael told Rich later that he’d never seen someone manage to sound so panicked over text.
Less than twenty minutes later, Michael had snuck in the window. He cleaned the broken dishes, set the trashcan upright, and picked Rich up off the floor and dragged him kicking and screaming out of his father’s house.
“No, no, no, I can’t leave, he needs me, he needs me—”
Upon collapsing into Jake’s arms ten minutes later, Rich realized he needed to be loved a lot more than his dad needed him. He didn't go back.
“Yeah,” Rich breathed, “I remember.”
“January 15th: The first incident happens.”
“Incident?” Rich asked blankly, his mind still replaying the car ride from his father’s to Jake’s house.
“Yes. Any urges to kiss you or—or more, will be referred to using the term ‘incident,’ whereas more innocent urges—possibly wanting to go out on a date, or hold your hand, things along those lines—will be referred to using ‘episodes.’”
“Mhm,” Rich confirmed mindlessly. Jake’s words drifted up and around him much water falling off his face and body rather than sinking into his skin. It took Jake’s heavy gaze—staring expectantly, his lips parted, forming questions Rich couldn’t hear.
Wait. What?
“Go back,” Rich rushed out, back straightening. Hope hadn’t sunk in yet—he wasn’t quite there. Only confusion. “What the hell?”
Jake nodded once. He’d been expecting this reaction.
“Beginning January 7th, I developed a crush on you.”
Instead of turning to Jake, Rich turned to the papers for confirmation. He scoured the timeline for the words crush or love. All he got were incident #4 (#7, #9, #54, #78) and episode #7 (#15, #29, #156).
Shaky, he rushed to the next paper. A list of twenty entitled Modes for Moving On. The article from Healthline or Web MD: Psychologists Estimate Crushes become a True Love After Four Months.
“I’m sorry,” Jake whispered, his voice so simply scared Rich was convinced he must be hiding from a monster under the bed or the boogyman—a childish fear. “I didn’t mean to.”
“You—” Rich started. He distantly heard Jake make a strangled sound but was too lost in flashes of the past three and a half months. Jake, flinching away when Rich got too close—Rich blaming it on the fire. Jake going out with three different girls in a week with no sign of stopping until Brooke slapped him and told him to stop playing with people’s feelings. The way he’d listened to Brooke but had been staring at Rich the whole time, his shoulders hunched over as he tried to curl in on himself.
“I… I don’t understand,” Rich whispered, though of course, by now, understanding was settling in his spine and gripping his nervous system like it was the only thing tethering him to reality. Jake liked him. Jake liked him.
“I’m trying to fix it. That’s the point. The article—”
Jake was in such a blind rush to show Rich that he practically fell from his chair, kicking it back with a ferocity as he stood and winced, his legs unprepared for the sudden weight on them.
“Fuck—the article, four months, right? And—” he hastily re-situated his chair and stumbled over to Rich, his hands clumsily shuffling through the papers until he managed to shove the Healthline/Web MD article in Rich’s face.
“See! Four months! I’ve still got two weeks, right? I’m not in love with you. I’ve got—I’ve got a plan. I looked up a bunch of stuff on the internet on how to move on, and it all told me to like, avoid you and stuff, but I can’t do that, so instead I’m ‘loving myself’ and ‘working through lingering feelings’—just a bunch of weird self-care stuff, but I’m fucking desperate, I’ll—”
He straightened suddenly, struck with the realization he’d just been so close to the source of all his problems. His expression singed and pride marred, he backed up a step, posture erect and his faked smile tight. He shook out his hands and turned to the sky for a quick moment. When he finally spoke again, it was in the same presenter’s tone he’d been offering since the beginning. In control; calm. His acting was worse than it had been in the play. Rich could hear every bit of panic running under his tone.
“Following the ten-step plan outlined on page seven, these feelings should be resolved by the 13th, with two days of cushion time in case one or two steps are thwarted or interfered with. I thought it right to make you aware of, of my intentions. I do think it would be best if I—”
Rich did the only thing he could think of to stop Jake from talking. He threw the nearest highlighter at Jake’s face.
For a moment afterward, there was only silence. Jake’s eyes were crossed to try and see where he’d been hit, right below the nose, and Rich was so mortified by his own unfounded actions to even begin to apologize.
“…You could’ve just said you don’t feel the same,” Jake finally murmured. He looked like he was physically fighting melancholia from his face and trying to stuff it into one of his file cabinets. He failed, and he had to turn away so Rich couldn’t see. He appeared to be blinking back tears.
“Oh my god, you are so fucking dramatic.”
Jake pouted. Rich laughed delightedly and got up to take Jake’s hands in his own. Jake stayed staring at the floor.
“Next time, just tell me how you’re feeling, yeah? Would’ve saved a lot of trees.”
Jake sniffled.
“I like you," Rich grinned, "If you somehow missed that. For a lot more than four months, too.”
Finally, Jake looked at Rich, his expression open and hopeful, a smile comparable to everything springtime and flowery blooming on his face.
“Really?” he whispered.
“Yes, really.”
“Oh. Oh my god.”
“Yeah.”
Unable to stop himself any longer, Rich got up on his tippy toes, smiling softly, in an attempt to kiss Jake for the first time. His crush liked him back—
Jake jerked away, eyes wide and mortified.
“Oh my god.”
“What?”
“Oh my god, that was so fucking embarrassing. Oh my god. I literally told you when I fell in love with you. Oh my god. We’re not even dating.”
Rich tried to suppress his smile—just for Jake’s dignity—but a small laugh escaped him before he could stop himself. Jake’s face went from a rosy red to the color of wine. Rich wanted to kiss it off him.
“No, stop it," Jake said, "don’t say anything. This didn’t happen. Oh my god. Get out! Now!”
“What?” Rich said, his amusement so complete in essence he was sure Jake could feel it like a slap across the face, “Why?”
“Because!!!” Jake screeched, “I need to destroy all the evidence! Then I’m just going to ask you out like a normal person, Jesus fuck. No. I’m just going to ask Chloe to kill me. She’ll be glad to. Goodbye.”
Jake spun back to the table and, without organizing them in the slightest (something so un-Jake-like Rich seriously considered the possibility that this whole thing had been orchestrated by a clone), shoved the papers back into his backpack, uncaring that half of them were ripped or crinkled. When he turned back to Rich, it was like nothing had ever happened. He looked like he had that morning: happy in a Jake way. Almost like a golden retriever, ready to do whatever necessary to make the people around him smile. In control. Suave and nonchalant; a flirt.
Jake conjured a look of confusion onto his face.
“Dude, what the fuck, you didn’t tell me you were French.”
“What?! Dude—” Rich giggled into his hand, so delighted by the entire affair he couldn’t even really be confused by Jake’s sudden assumption that Rich was French, of all things, “—I’m not fucking French.”
“Really?” He squinted at Rich, “Because I could’ve sworn Eiffel for you.”
He flashed Rich a grin and a peace sign before swooping down like he was going to kiss Rich. He stopped last second, less than an inch away, and carefully cupped Rich’s jaw. Rich watched as the confident exterior Jake had managed to summon last second slipped into a pure, childish excitement. His breath caught for a moment, so utterly elated at the idea that he was this close to kissing Rich—
Rich tried to close the gap. Jake’s fingers dug into Rich’s jaw, something that could’ve quite possibly been considered violent had it come from anyone else, but Jake seemed so set on making sure Rich wasn’t hurt that the show of strength came off as affectionate rather than scary. Rich frowned.
“When you tell people how we got together,” Jake seethed. Though his humor had darkened into a bad boy character that suspiciously resembled the love interest of a romance movie he and Jake had watched together a week ago, it was offset by the fact Rich had seen the utter awe on his face a moment earlier. “You tell them about this, yeah? That—” with his free hand, he motioned vaguely to the table behind them. “—that never happened. I fed you a nice pickup line and you liked it. Understood?”
“Perfectly,” Rich said, his voice so quiet and seductive Jake was forced to pull away before he did something he’d regret.
Then, the second they arrived at their lunch table, “Jenna motherfucking Rolan, you will not believe what just happened—”
42 notes · View notes
dullahandyke · 5 months
Text
i look at some of u guys talking abt a new show u watched or a new thing u read and im like. holy shit thats a thing u can do. im in awe of u. i spend my time slowly ping-ponging between several interests whose base componants i can never experience because i get scard
#right now its danganronpa again grin. did u know ive been into it on and off for lets say 7 years at this point#and ive never once played it myself. i have it installed on this laptop ready to go and i just! never open it!#because if Im the one playing it then i have to pay attention and i get scared#but if im watching a lets player i just naturally pay attention without the pressure#ive talked before how i always feel i need to have the smart cool takes on shit#n this deep plays into that#idk boti was good for me bcos nobody fucking knew what it was so nobody could judge me for pardoning anotsu's crimes bcos he was hot#so i probs need to do that again#yknow a thing where i disconnect from anything that anyone knows about and get really really into some dipshit manga from 2008#but also like. i get a lot of my media recs from people talking abt what they like#which then means i defacto have someone who is gonna know if my takes are shit#and like even now. im watching mop cycle w dri and im having fun w it#but i feel bad bcos i see so many ppl like This Is The Best Anime Ever and i just like. dont get it#like i can actively feel the messages and shit whooshing over my head#its a fine anime! i'm having fun watching it! but i don't get all the commentary abt pacifism or whatever#idk. something something my need to be The Smart Kid The Bookworm Kid that went unchecked too long without peers to challenge me#so now im here like Uh Oh#and like this wouldnt be the end of the world (save for its impact on my mood n stuff)#but also like. i am an english student. i should know this shit. but i stragiht up do not feel smart enough to sometimes#i keep coasting by on the assumption that im a smart kid and i'll automatically be better than my peers#and im being disproven#i got an english exam back tonight and i got like 63%#and i like college! i just dont like. college.#anywho its approaching 3am and i have a 9am tomorrow morning which means bedtime
11 notes · View notes
dotmander · 1 year
Text
new reblog game: let's give our OCs some friends
when you reblog this post, show off one of your OCs that you think would get along with the previous poster's OC, and tell us why you think they would get along. i'll start:
Tumblr media
this is jack! she's a mentor in the grove, usually taking on the more Problematic(tm) saplings that need individual attention. outside of sapling season, she can be found traveling tyria, or at home practicing one of her (many many) hobbies. she likes...just about everyone, honestly. she tries to understand everyone's point of view - all things have a right to grow, right?
28 notes · View notes
petrellicest · 2 months
Text
People who like/rb my heroes gifsets (from my main tbf) and then I go on their blog and they’re like NO INCEST NO PETRELLICEST EW GROSS BAD. Buddy this is the freaks n degenerates fandom. cmon man
4 notes · View notes
andromeddog · 1 year
Note
hello there fellow gay ww1 enthusiast :D
*pointing dramatically through the crowd* ah hello!!!! there are others out there…. the few the proud….. through posting this stuff online i’ve met a handful of other gay ppl who are into this era but a majority have been what i have to assume are straight guys who really like war and guns and war movies with guns! so it is always nice to find community here and there :^)
41 notes · View notes