#watched a vine comp and i just did this for some reason

[imnotgrimimjustagrumpyreaper]

Is one of thomas' Sanders sizes literally just the Sanders from vine that wore the su shirt and Jung out with the vas 😭?

I'm gonna use this ask as an excuse to introduce you to all the sides LOL

I’m gonna preface this by saying that this will be LONG and also it has been a while since I rewatched the series or refreshed myself on some of the older stuff

I’m also gonna go ahead and give a quick rundown of my history with the fandom. I was like 12 or 13 when it first started? I didn’t have vine at the time so I just watched vine comps on youtube LOL but I was already like a causal a fan of Thomas Sanders. It wasn’t until the third episode which was a crossover with Lily Singh (I was a Lily Singh and Liza Koshy fan back in the day) that I started watching the series though. I got really into it after that and it was one of the first fandoms where I was like actually a super active member (You can look at  the comments on some old prinxiety fanfics for proof of that LOL) I don’t remember exactly when I fell off but I fell off from the fandom for a good while around the Christmas episode where they all sing together through no fault of the series itself. I still watched the series but I didn’t like actively get into it or anything like I used to. Then the asides episode “Flirting with social anxiety” like REALLY dragged me back in hard and suddenly its like 13 year old me woke up as a 18 year old with the freedom to peruse tumblr as much as I wanted and I was back into it HARD. I try not to be ashamed of it but I know its one of those fandoms that gets a lot of shit for both valid and super not valid reasons. Long story short i’ve been a fan for years and unless things catch on fire worse than they already are I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to jump ship. 

Not a side but a character: C!Thomas (which I think is who you're specifically referencing?) (and yes there was a vine where he met the VAS LOL, “Who ate my fries?” ) 

So like I said I’m pretty sure Thomas was big on way Vine before he was really big on Youtube. He did other stuff on Youtube before SASI but SASI has sorta become his flagship. A lot of his characters that he uses for instagram and yes indeed the sides originated on vine. The one I think you’re specifically referencing is a weird one because its not one of the sides. Thomas wore his Steven Universe shirt A LOT way back when so its how a lot of early fans took to drawing him and to some extent still do. This is a weird one like I said hafljad. So Character Thomas or C!Thomas is what fans call the version of himself Thomas portrays in SASI. This sort of relatable everyman online persona he puts on. I’m glad we do this is a good and healthy way to separate the show from the the man and it makes it a lot less weird to see like an in-depth post speculating about Thomas’s mental health when there’s a little C! In front of it to let you know its the Thomas as portrayed in SASI. Like I said the reason you still see the SU shirt even though I can’t remember the last time Thomas wore it and honestly I don’t even really think fans draw him in it anymore is that a lot of the art and fan content that like has the most notes and stuff is from the heyday way back when when he WAS still wearing the SU shirt. So yeah SU shirt guy isn’t one of the sides that is C!Thomas. 

The basic plot of Sanders Sides is that its a guy standing in his living room with various aspects of himself talking about life. It did the very modern western cartoon thing of starting out a lot more episodic with some smaller long running plot threads being slowly introduced and then spinning wildly off the rails with a higher budget and musical numbers and intricate grand storytelling as the show went on but the basics are still the same hflajf. 

Logan

Logan is another character that made the jump from vine and our first actual side on the list! He started as “The Teacher” character. Now it gets confusing down the line as we talk about the old Vine characters and their side counterparts but with Logan I’m pretty sure “The Teacher” is dead and gone so we don’t have to worry about that. 

Sanders Sides characters all belong in name HELL. Its not really a problem with Logan or the other sides like it is for one of the them specifically (cough cough looking at you JANUS) but we’ll get there. 

*The place it causes issues and possible confusion is in shipping. When you see the ship names pop up like “Logicality” “Intrulogical” “Prinxiety” etc the early ones were established popular pairings way before the sides had names so Morality + Logic = Logicality and later ships like “Intrulogical” kept up the name scheme. Where it gets weird is the later ships though where some characters did have names and some didn’t or people just wanted to abandon the naming scheme altogether and just use their names. The WORST culprit of this that I’ve seen happens to be my own dearly beloved “Dukeceit” or “Demus” or “Receit” or “Trashnoodle” Both of the characters were introduced late in the game so naming conventions were DEAD and Janus didn’t get a name for A LONG ASS TIME so its just like I said NAME HELL (it suits them though). I can’t even imagine what poor Orange’s ship names are going to look like.* 

Back to teacher man who I’m afraid I’m treating just as badly as the series whoops…Long story short when the series first started the characters didn’t have names they had roles. So Logan made the jump from Vine as “The Teacher” character and became “Logic.” That is still his role but not what he gets called as a thing that got introduced later was that the sides had names and them telling their name to Thomas was like a very big series deal with a lot of meaning. Logan was the first to get a name.

So Logan is logic, his color is dark blue. One of the OG three (later four). He’s like the part of Thomas’s brain that wants to focus on work and being productive. He struggles with understanding his much more “Feeling based” companions. A lot of his angst is derived from Thomas’s career being so creativity focused a place where he feels he doesn’t really have much to contribute and Thomas’s continued struggles with (mental health) being productive and having a good work flow. A lot MORE of his angst is how often he is talked over, belittled and outright ignored by everyone. Logan deserves a lot better and with where we are in the series right now he’s gonna snap soon so hopefully he’ll get it. Logan is a bit of a funny case in the fandom. In the early days when it was just the four sides (aka when I was in the fandom the first time) he was the least popular side by a long shot. However, this did a full 180 and I would now argue he is the MOST popular side, which caused some cognitive dissonance because by the time the team made a meta-joke about him being the least popular, that shift was already well under way. 

Patton 

Is the “Dad’ character from Vine. The “Dad” character is our first instance where we see a split between SASI and Thomas’s other stuff. I’m pretty sure “Dad” still pops up in some of his skits but like infrequently, but when you see “Dad” in a skit it's not Patton unless stated otherwise. So there’s that weird split I was talking about LOL. Patton made the jump from Vine as the “Dad” character and then became “Morality.” 

So Patton is Morality. His color is light blue and he’s the second side to get his name. One of the OG three (eventually four). Patton is a really interesting character, it's all too easy to label him Thomas’s “Heart” but I feel like that’s an oversimplification. He is Thomas’s judgment, he is Thomas’s sense of right and wrong and yes he is most of his mushy gushy feely stuff. Patton is the “Dad” but in a very real sense he’s also pretty childish and I don’t say that to demean him. He struggles with being blinded by nostalgia and black and white thinking. His main source of angst is that he feels unprepared to be Thomas’s morality now that Thomas is grown up and it's not so easy to tell what’s right and wrong anymore. However, a good source of angst for him is ALSO his deteriorating relationship with his once very good friend and son figure Virgil. 

Patton is a complicated one to talk about because of how much perception of him in the fandom has shifted over the years. There’s always a tendency for the super cheerful friendly one of the bunch to get “Bullied” by the fandom (I’m guilty of it too) and in the early days there was a small pocket that didn’t like him or found him annoying or whatever. However, he was always, I would say, one of the more popular sides, I think he may have even been the most popular behind Virgil at that point.

This has definitely changed in recent years largely due to the introduction of the “Dark Sides,” especially Janus. There was always this tendency for the fandom to infantilize Patton and smush him down to his base components and it was easier to do so early on before Janus. His main role in the story besides being the sort of lovable goofy “White dad guy” who would scold the other sides for cursing (but might accidentally do so himself) was bringing Virgil into their little found family. However, he’s had a bit of a negative character arc lately that I believe we’re on the tail end of now. 

The fandom generally skews young so we’re just as bad about black and white thinking as Patton is. Janus was introduced as the liar to Patton’s honesty and the selfishness to Patton’s selflessness and Patton made a bit of an ass of himself through the rocky introduction process. This is true but it's also true that Janus was directly goading him a lot of the time to try to make him seem bad. So yes Patton has the capability to be a jerk but he was also a jerk under duress. This is also what led to his relationship with Virgil now being so rocky (mostly). We haven’t gotten a conclusion to that yet. I can’t really look at Patton centric posts without them being super divided between the Patton defenders who still love him and the “Patton is the real villain” crowd. Nuance is dead, Patton villain AUs are at an all time high and Patton defenders tend to turn it around and shit on Janus (I may not like Moceit like at all but god bless the enemies to lovers crowd working their asses off here). While he isn’t my FAVORITE I don’t think he deserves this at all and I hope things look up in the future.

Roman 

Roman is an interesting one on the name front. On vine he was “The prince” character and he jumped to sasi as “Creativity.” But he was still actively called the prince  a lot of the time and dressed like a prince, I think it was a little while before we actually got confirmation of what exactly his official title was? This discrepancy comes into play with his ships (which I PROMISE I will stop bringing up eventually LOL). I’m not sure if its just because “Creativity” is a bitch to work into a ship name or because of the thing I mentioned earlier but Roman’s early ships like the juggernaut “Prinxiety” (Prince or “Princey” x Anxiety) and Logince (Logic x Prince). His later ships however like the ever popular sister ship to my beloved dukeceit, Roceit (Roman x Deceit) do not share this descrepency as they simply chose to use the names. 

So Roman is creativity. His color is red and he was the third side to get his name. One of the og three (eventually four). Roman is not just creativity, he is as his name and color suggest Thomas’s capability for romance and romantic love. Now, I don’t remember the last time I saw “The Prince” character pop up in an instagram short or anything but where the same characters different but also characters drama rears its head for Roman is a little series called “Role Slaying with Roman.” The best way I can put it is the whole C.A Cupid MH EAH thing except not really because there it was canon she was the same person who had crossed over into the other world??...Role Slaying with Roman is basically just Thomas’s take on a DND podcast in which he (this is speculation) used Roman as a way to draw in his pre-existing fans by making him his player character. The universes are completely separate, the Romans are completely separate but they are both Roman. The fandoms have gotten pretty good at tagging for this but still I know it is confusing and it is a lot. As far as popularity in the fandom goes he has always been pretty middling and I think it suits him! He deserves to be higher but I think its pretty fitting that he has never ever dipped below the half way point of adoration. Roman is a theater kid extraordinaire, a sweet, slightly selfish, goofy himbo with big big dreams. He is a lover-boy and a bleeding heart. I HAVE to mention his early on rivalry with Virgil and subsequent friendship arc because its one of my favorite parts of the series but I think that about sums it up. Virgil is like the cause of all of Thomas’s stage fright and self doubt so of course the two are going to be at odds. Roman is very antagonist to Virgil because he can be scary so Virgil was antagonistic back but they slowly come to understand each other in a really believable and sweet way culminating in this absolute GUT PUNCH of a speech from Roman in the season finale and UGHH. Ever since they are besties who are constantly friendly bickering; they have a surprisingly healthy and supportive relationship and I love them dearly. Roman continues his trend of being deeply antagonistic to the dark sides by absolutely simultaneously adoring Janus because of his (sarcastic) flattery towards him and hating him after he figures out he’s lying. Janus made his debut in the series by impersonating Patton for a whole episode and it sort of made a fool of Roman and ever since it has been a very one sided rivalry with Roman absolutely HATING Janus. There is also this thing with a callback that he is very conflicted on and it made the whole thing so much worse. He has a hero complex and to him Janus is the villain and that is all he’ll ever be. I feel like it may also have something to do with…Who Janus brings with him but we’ll get there :))))). I feel like I’m talking about other people a lot in Roman’s section but that is where he shines, his relationships to ALL of the other characters are so nuanced and liable to change, especially now with everything that is currently happening in the series. Roman’s main sources of angst have been Thomas sacrificing opportunities for creative success for various reasons, not feeling like he can be Thomas’s “Hero” anymore (similar vibes to Patton) and Nico. Thomas in canon has recently started dating a man named Nico and…Wellll…Let’s just say things seem sweet now in a understandably bumpy but still favorable road…But the whole fandom can smell a break up coming that would push everyone including and especially our favorite prince over the edge. Hopefully he and Virgil don’t get back on the rocks! 

Virgil 

OH VIRGIL. Virgil Virgil Virgil… Originally the “Anxiety” character on Vine Virgil made the jump to SASI and became “Anxiety.” His is the character where you will see the most confusion with or at least it was before Roman. The confusion comes not only from “Anxiety” still being a pretty frequently used character in Thomas’s other content but also from the hoodie and his first arc. When Virgil first appeared in the series (although I don’t know if the episode technically counts?) was episode three in the crossover with Lily Singh I mentioned before. Both Thomas and Lily often spoke about dealing with mental health so Thomas’s anxiety character made an appearance in the episode as a (seemingly) one off antagonist for them to defeat (of course with the mentioned caveat that anxiety was not something you CAN defeat but still the point was he was an obstacle to face). Virgil in that appearance and every subsequent appearance throughout season one appeared in a grey plaid hoodie. However, after being “Redeemed” later on he swapped out the grey hoodie for a more patchwork custom purple hoodie. The Anxiety that appears in Thomas’s relatable instagram content still wears the grey hoodie and (I think) has a sign taped to his chest that simply says “Anxiety.” But the distinction can be hard to make so the confusion was always there and he was definitely the character where it was the most confusing until RSWR.

I think I have a lot to say about Virgil unfortunately. He is undoubtedly a fandom tour de force. In the early days finding a fander who’s favorite side wasn’t Virgil was a chore. He isn’t my favorite anymore but he still means a lot to me. I was a scared and dumb little kid with a family that mocked you for using words like “Mental health” and Virgil was the first time I ever saw a nuanced take on anxiety. He helped me come to terms with my own anxiety and not hate that part of myself. Despite the series later failures with handling nuance and mental health I stand by Virgil being a fantastic character. Besides all that he was just an angsty emo teen Zuko figure who loved MCR and Nightmare Before Christmas of COURSE he was popular.  He is the only one I think could give Logan a run for his money (I would say maybe Janus but Janus also has a fair number of passionate haters). 

Virgil is anxiety. His color is purple and he was the fourth side to get his name. When I say “original three eventually four” he is that fourth I am referring to, he has been around much longer than the two newer sides but also wasn’t in the first two episodes. Our first “Dark Side” on the list but also not really! That gets a little complicated lol. Virgil used to be a dark side, a concept introduced with the introduction of Janus. The dark sides are like the less desirable parts of Thomas, aka his anxiety and others we’ll get to later. Virgil, however, has been confirmed to be a “Neutral” side which will factor in later. Virgil is not just Thomas’s anxiety he is Thomas’s fear in general. We have seen that without him Thomas cannot function, he keeps him safe, he is fight or flight, he seemingly has control over more basic reflexes too or at least keeps them sharp and without him Thomas quote “Doesn’t fear death.” Which isn’t really a bad thing #deathpositive but in this case that refers to him not valuing his life and taking dumb risks like not locking his door or looking both ways to cross the street which is not good. Virgil’s whole arc first season was finding this nuance and coming to be accepted and it is still some of the series best. However, as time went on Virgil stagnated just a hair there wasn’t really anywhere else obvious for him to grow, he was on decent terms with the other three sides. I think this was about the time his popularity dipped slightly but I wasn’t around to see it. ALL of that changed however when Janus popped up and dragged all of Virgil’s history with him. Virgil wants so badly to forget that he was ever “Like them” he worked so hard to get away from being a dark side, from being seen as a threat to Thomas and now Janus waltzes in and just reminds everyone, literally. No literally those two have personal beef and Janus loves taunting Virgil over how he’ll always be a dark side. This is also where what had previously been Virgil’s strongest relationship crumbled, partially? I don’t know if its quite clear what exactly is the root cause but its definitely got something to do with these two factors. One, Patton simultaneously implying that all dark sides were unforgivable by the way he treated Janus but also two, treating Virgil as if he’d never been an antagonist in the first place, just generally not handling a (albeit very difficult situation with much grace). But also Virgil is definitely coded the youngest of the sides I think, he’s the most teenager and as such he acts like a teenager. Virgil (speculation) doesn’t like that Patton would imply he’s just a sweet helpless innocent baby, as much as he would love to distance himself from the dark sides I think someone else erasing that history for him invalidates him. On a less deep level it is a very typical teenager snapping at their parent and giving them the cold shoulder sort of deal LOL. They will work it out. Him and Janus though? His other parent figure? That seems like it may be another story. 

Remus 

OGH REMUS. I have two favorites and he is one of them. That being said there is some…Stuff to say about Remus. Remus was the second out of the two sides made specifically for the series and not being pre-existing characters to be introduced. However, he was the first of the two to get his name so that’s why he comes first on the list. He is the only side to date that has (and likely ever will) given their name the very first time they appear/meet Thomas and I love him for it. As much as I love Remus as a character, him as a concept is…Flawed… 

See, the dark sides seem to be doing the Virgil thing but ramping up in intensity. The series' whole thing seems to be that every part of you can be good and is necessary; you just have to work with yourself not against yourself. Janus is a good example of this. He isn’t a mental health thing like Virgil, but he is something that is often demonized: he is Thomas’s selfishness and the series had a wonderful and deep and complicated conversation about that and what the balance is of prioritizing yourself but still being a kind and giving person who does right by others. His whole arc (which isn’t even quite over yet, hopefully) is probably the best thing the series has ever done and I LOVE it. 

Remus on the other hand…Woof…So. Here’s the thing. Remus represents intrusive thoughts. The way they’ve spun this is that he’s also Thomas’s capability for more adult oriented creativity, darker stories and sex scenes and stuff. He’s all the stuff that Thomas has locked away as a creator who has made his whole brand kid friendly. AND THAT is a deeply deeply interesting conversation to have! However, he’s still intrusive thoughts. Now I can tell you as someone with severe anxiety that anxiety is no damn joke, chest pain, nausea, weak immune system, panic attacks, insomnia NO FUN. However, a big factor here is that anxiety isn’t demonized like intrusive thoughts. 

 I’m going to speak out of my ass here for a bit based on discourse I’ve seen but….There is a lot of nuance here and I deleted a whole paragraph because I feel like I can’t speak with experience on the matter. I haven’t really dealt with intrusive thoughts since I was a pre-teen and my memory there is practically blacked out. A lot of the issues come with just being slightly tone deaf I think and a lot of the other issues come from the person they consulted to write Remus who as I understand it isn’t a great person. Then there was the issue with fanders tagging Remus related posts with “Intrusive thoughts” and clogging up a tag that should have been dedicated to a serious mental health thing with their blorbo. All in all it was just a mess. 

Overall I don’t feel like this is a topic Thomas was fully prepared to handle. As such Remus has sort of been reduced to a joke character which is fine? I guess? I don’t know in his debut episode that was sort of the conclusion: that you shouldn’t take him seriously. BUT, the thing is he has so much damn potential as a character.  Remus. I love Remus and I think there’s a lot there, like I said the conversation about feeling limited as a creative is one I think would be very interesting but I don’t think its ever going to happen. It feels like Remus was meant for more but due to the (rightful) backlash he received he’ll never get it. Its like the series has backed themselves into a corner in my eyes. If they want to make interesting Remus content with the aspect of him that they can talk about in an interesting and nuanced manner they have to reckon with the fact that they tried to tackle a demonized mental health issue and people weren’t happy with the way they did so. MAYBE I’m just a jaded fan who’s sad my blorbo isn’t gonna get the spotlight but I don’t know. In all the supplemental material we’ve gotten since he cropped up he’s been sort of like the lovable outcast buffoon side character that’s just sort of tolerated by everyone and OCCASIONALLY we’ll see a moment where he makes Thomas feel like shit. And I’m like?? Where did THIS come from? It feels like Remus is a song where the last note never played. I LOVE to see him pop up and eat spaghetti with a straw but I’d also love to see him get treated like a character which they really can’t do because they decided to make him intrusive thoughts. MAYBE this legendary alleged four part season finale that’s SUPPOSEDLY on the horizon will give me what I want. But I don’t think so, it feels like the series has already moved on. And honestly? I wouldn’t blame them if they did.

The problem is is that the way the series is set up where “Every part of you has a role” is that at this point Remus doesn’t. It feels counter intuitive to what I think the series is trying to say to have ALL THESE OTHER CHARACTERS with so much nuance and good and bad qualities and then have that one guy over there who’s flat as a piece of cardboard by design. If they want to go the Virgil route with Remus and stick true to their (presumed) message and have that interesting conversation I want they have to deal with the fact that they made him intrusive thoughts. They’re going to have to have a very uncomfortable conversation about just how seriously and with how much value they should treat Remus considering what they’ve made him represent and face more backlash. And I don’t think they’re ever going to and honestly I don’t know if I want them to….UGH sorry its just MNNGHHHH. 

Anyways. Remus. Remus is…Lets call him “Dark creativity.” Which I believe is his official title. His color is green. He is the second out of the three new sides to be introduced and the first to get his name. He is canonically twin brothers with Roman and they are the only sides to canonically have a familial relationship with another side (although this is debatable). Remus is insane, clown car horn honking outside your window at three am insane. He is random and silly and gross and I love him. He cusses, makes sex jokes and has constant props and gags galore. He is also prone to anger and has a temper. He hates being ignored which unfortunately…Remus’s most interesting relationship is probably with his brother Roman although its never really been explored. Its the classic golden child vs fuck up dynamic with Thomas being the parent. Its unclear how Remus actually feels about his brother so far although he did bash him over the head in his debut episode, classic sibling behavior. Roman hates Remus. He hates that Thomas has (sort of because like I said, WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN) accepted Remus and he fears that people may see him and Remus as being alike in any way. Remus hasn’t had much to say on this matter so…A final note on them is that there is a very popular fan theory regarding their history. There is a line in the show about them having “Split like an amoeba” I believe it was which led a lot of people to think they were one person. That. And the fact that their titles are the prince and the duke…Both implying a higher power… 

Logan is the character with which Remus has had the most interesting interactions (hello intrulogical shippers I see you). The dark sides all have light side counterparts, the most direct example is Patton and Janus but Remus is an interesting case. While Remus’s light side counterpart is Roman the side that actually balances him out is Logan. Logan like I said is logic. How do you defeat unreasonable nonsense violence that your brain is spitting at you because its bored? With logic. So the two have a love hate dynamic, they’re very frosty but I think Remus is regretfully fascinated with Logan and fixated on messing with him specifically and I hate to admit it as someone who has a DIFFERENT otp but yeah there is a LOT of tension there (I am so sorry Remuskinn, if you’re reading this). My favorite dynamic with him is one we technically haven’t even seen play out yet in canon but MNNGHHHH. I love them. I have to get into shipping for a minute. So my otp is seen as basic for a very funny reason. The most popular ship in the fandom is an oldie but a goodie “Prinxiety” which is Roman x Virgil. I am sorry to logicality shippers but Logicality Logan x Patton was basically seen as a default if you already shipped Prinxiety. So when Remus and Janus were introduced the people who already shipped Prinxiety and Logicality picked them up as the third duo to complete the default set fhadlfjl. So they are seen as basic despite not really being all that popular? I love them. I’ll give you a bit more on the name because I think its funny. So, the two most popular options are “Demus” and “Dukeceit.” SO. The options for the Remus half of the ship name are as follows: “Remus,” “Duke,” and “Intrusive Thoughts.” He gave away all three in his debut episode which set ship namers into a frenzy because oh god there’s so much to work with what do we pick. For some reason “Intrusive thoughts” + “Deceit” never really caught on although I think “Intruceit” is fine if an ungraceful mouthful. So we get ‘The Duke” + “Deceit” = “Dukeceit” and “Deceit” + “Remus” = “Demus.” Other options are “Receit” “Intruceit” “Janmus” “Trashnoodle” and more. Remus was the main one complicating things here but I also feel like the conflict between the old and new shipping conventions in the fandom was just at an all time high title vs name war. This was only made worse by the fact that Janus didn’t even HAVE a name yet and wouldn’t until well over a year after being introduced. In short: they don’t really have a set name and tagging for them is hell. But in all honesty the chaos suits them. 

Now like I said, we haven’t seen them interact in canon: technically. We’ve seen them interact once or twice on screen in questionably canon content but as of yet they haven’t spoken a word to each other in a main series episode. We are working with scraps here but OH BOY are they filet mignon trimmings JUICY JUICY JUICY. There was a tiktok that Thomas reacted to a while back before even the semi-canon stuff had come out that was to the “Let’s not be to hasty, still I think he’s rather tasty” audio that he said was pretty much a perfect fit if that gives you any idea of them LOL. They have a Jessy and James ISH dynamic in that they’re a dynamic villain duo. They simultaneously have so much in common but also are opposites attract. Remus is all about loud bleating honesty and Janus is the secretive one who keeps his cards close to his chest. Remus fucks around and finds out and Janus is sick of his shit and cleans up his messes. BUT the beauty is he sticks around anyway. There’s a scene in the “incorrect quotes” video where Janus is keeping Remus company during a hospital stay and I think that’s very telling. I identify a lot of with Remus as someone who’s prone to saying shit that makes people look at me funny. Overly honest and kind of a jerk. As someone who is “Unlovable” and gross. So the fact that there is someone who sticks around on purpose and seemingly enjoys his company makes me feel all mushy gushy inside. It's that “There’s someone for everyone” thing. Even beyond shipping their mostly unexplored but semi-canon friendship means literally EVERYTHING to me and the second their dynamic is fucked up is the second I probably can’t stomach to watch the series anymore. Dukeceit fans work with what we got which is NOT A LOT but hey! All I can say is “There’s a snake in my ass” LOL. 

Back on topic: Remus fans work with what we have too which is also not a lot and though I’d like to have hope that that will change in the future I don’t think there is any ground for that hope to stand on…At least there’s always fanfiction. 

Janus 

Janus is arguably my actual favorite character. I just love him SO goddamn much. First of all he has the COOLEST design because his face is literally half snake half human so freakin COOL. I love him. There is so much room for headcanon with that. Like? Does he wear so many layers because he’s all full of secrets or is he just cold because snake? Love love love it. 

I will say that Janus is also not free of controversy largely due to some unfortunate ties to anti-semetic stereotypes that I am definitely not qualified to speak on. Janus. Janus is Deceit and his color is yellow. He was the first of the new three sides to be introduced and the second to get his name. He is the side with the current record for longest time between introduction and name reveal which like I said I think sits at over a year. This suits him perfectly and also his name reveal is one of my favorite moments in the series. His name also not only suits him perfectly but fits very nicely into the current trend of dark side names just being a smorgasbord for Remus to make filthy jokes out of (I’m keeping my fingers crossed for Uranus to be next LOL).  Janus is Thomas’s capability for deceit, to tell lies to not only others but also to lie to himself. He is also his capability to be selfish. Janus is a character where its unclear exactly where his morals lay. He seems like a wrong things for the right reasons kind of guy but the beauty is we don’t really know. He desperately wants to take care of Thomas and to be recognized as a valuable and good part of Thomas. He wants him to blow off work and take a nap once and a while but also maybe to commit some arson. He is all secrets and shadows. He has so many fun motifs: Jeckle and Hyde, shadows, snakes and snake eyes. GOD I LOVE HIM. He’s also super well written too. There’s this fun thing where he seems incredibly intelligent and don’t get me wrong he probably is smart but he’s also bullshitting 90% of the time about as hard as your average uni student writing a 10 page paper. Every single one of his sources he cites is usually deeply flawed, he’s scrabbling for anything he can use to make himself seem smart and capable and all knowing. He also has this super fucking sick thing where he has six arm, six shadow arms Dr. Facilier style that he can use to make the sides “Silence” themselves ala Pearl from Steven Universe and slap a hand over their mouth and it is DOPE. He seems like a bit of a marxist so respect there, he’s been seen reading marxist lit lol. He is sarcastic as hell and you have to watch his tone to see how serious he’s being at any given moment LOL. OH! Also it's generally accepted that he has the power to suppress the other dark sides, letting Thomas lie to himself about them not being there which is why they didn’t start popping up until after he showed himself. So oh my god there is a LOT there too.  All in all everything about him is just SO COOL. 

A lot of his angst seems to come from (since he’s my favorite you have to take everything I say with a grain of salt) the fact that he is in fact deceit and as such no one really ever trusts him. Everyone distrusts him and calls him a monster and all that shit. 

People are really indecisive on Janus. He is super popular but he’s one of the sides where the love and the hate are about split equal. Since he is deceit a lot of people think he’s bullshitting at all times and is secretly just a villain. Not only do I think this goes against what the series seems to be about but everything we’ve gotten of him in the supplemental material thus far (keenly his character playlist) seems to suggest the opposite. He is GENUINELY trying to be accepted. Don’t get me wrong the way he went about this was a mess. Like I said way back in Patton’s section he goaded and manipulated both him and Roman into being their worst selves and making them question their own morality, which in a way is a good thing but come on man. He’s not so blameless but everyone who thinks he’s JUST a one note villain is as blind as poor Roman. Janus is grey not black or white. He’s a flawed and complex character. He’s funny and charming and there is SO much potential for angst. I could write a whole other 10k words just on his playlist alone and also before I forget to mention it he has  THE COOLEST theme music but GOD all this to say Janus is the best. I love him. I hope his arc isn’t quite over there’s so much more I want to see from him before he steps out of the spotlight. 

???🍊???

Speaking of characters stepping in and out of the spotlight. 

So. When Janus was introduced he brought a whole lot of new lore with him. We got this new idea called “Dark sides” the fact that our beloved guys weren’t just sides they were the “Light sides.” Patton and Janus have pretty direct parallels and Roman and Remus and twins. So the dark sides are all connected to and the counter parts of the light sides. This lead to a whole thing with the fandom trying to figure out Virgil. Was he technically a light side or a dark side? How many other sides were there? Was Virgil the dark side that was opposite to Logan? No. No he wasn’t. Thomas confirmed that Virgil was a “Neutral” side and is the only neutral side. Which left one more spot to be filled…

For a while there was debate on what color he was. We knew he was going to be a color of the rainbow based on the pre-existing color scheme. Most people immediately went to orange although there was a small pocket of the fandom that thought it may have been pink. This is because the color pink often appears as an entity on merch. But, pink is C!Thomas, that is the color that represents him (there is another character in the Thomas canon who’s color is pink but he’s not a side). 

We don’t know a lot about Orange. People debated his existence for a while until he was all but confirmed by the confirmation that Virgil technically wasn’t a dark side. He has now in fact been directly confirmed by the series via a series of teasers. Most exciting of which is Logan’s eyes glowing a bright orange. 

Orange. Purpose unknown and color orange. Name has not yet been revealed and neither has the character himself. We can speculate and it seems to be the case the orange represents anger. This ties into Logan as Logan has been shown to repress a lot of anger in the past. He is ignored and belittled a lot by characters that he can’t help but think of as less intelligent than him. So orange is anger or rage. 

The dark sides have been building in intensity. Janus is definitely the most intriguing so far and the one that had the most focus in the narrative but Remus is the scariest. Parts of his debut episode are literally like horror adjacent. Janus was a force to be reckoned with Remus is a force that you CAN’T reckon with…So the idea is that oh boy where does that leave orange? And considering that he’s waited to reveal himself until the four part season finale? OH BOY…Well…🍊

This is almost 10k. I had more to say but honestly I am out of energy even for info-dumping lol. If you are reading this why?? But also thank you ahfkjdahfkja. I’ll probably reblog this at some point with the rest. I’m sorry I used this ask to yell about my blorbos but it made me feel good to do so hfldjafhld. So to answer your question again: Yes but also no. He is C!Thomas.

#the word of grim #long post #sanders sides #sander sides #logan sanders #patton sanders #Roman sanders #virgil sanders #remus sanders #janus sanders #orange side #thomas sanders #C!thomas #asks #answered #mutual #witch kitty #sanders sides critical

[incorporealbagelbeing]

Hello From the Hallowoods characters based on their Vine knowledge and Energy:

Nikignik: thousand eyes? He knows what Vines are. He probably knows them all word for word and cried a little when it died and did an in-depth monologue about humanity, humor, art and love as a requiem. Doesn't trust TikTok. 100/10

Lady Ethel: Watched one that Brooklyn showed her and immediately started marketing the idea. -10/10, part of Vine's downfall, still doesn't get the references. Also makes bad marketing TikToks

Diggory: 6/10, they've seen a few! Percy showed them some at the scoutpost, and they have a group chat with the mendies where they send memes and vine compilations.

Percy: 8/10. Watches Vine compilations all the time. Knows them by heart, but tends to be more reserved and serious and doesn't quote them a lot. The only reason people know he watches them is because Riot referenced "Jared, 19" and got jumpscared by Percy laughing behind her while invisible, cementing her trust.

Riot: 12/10. Riot "I see Walt is busy. Im going to go bother him" quotes Vine enough to rival Doug Eiffel of Wolf 359. She had all that time in the bunker to learn Vines and decided to make that everyone's problem. Queen shit. Bonds with Percy and Diggory over Vine, and has mixed emotions on TikTok

Clara: 7/10 nows Vine a bit less than Percy. She knows more due to Riot and Friday. Can and will recite many Vines by heart but doesn't watch compilations.

Violet: 4/10 knows a few Vines? Kind of understands the humor? More than anything, she has a knitting TikTok that's super soothing, so points for that.

Bern: 3/10 understands the nihilistic humor but hasn't really ever sat and watched a Vine comp. She does appear in the backgrounds of Violet's TikToks sometimes with large weapons, and she has a small fan base because of it.

Walt: 7/10 knows Vines because 1. He thought some of them were a bit funny and 2. Riot loves Vines and he looked deeper into it. They make jokes back and forth about Vines, trade references, and make each other laugh. However, he has NEVER gotten the phrasing right for "Road Work Ahead?" Has a TikTok for info on various Hallowoods creatures and places.

Olivier: 6.5/10. My score here is less on Vine knowledge (they'd get a 3 based on their friendship with Friday) and more based on the fact that they exhibit the exact energy of Vine. Im giving them honorary points for having the exhausted manic energy. You'd do numbers on TikTok, king

Friday: 9.5/10. She watches Vines, even if you wouldn't expect it. Im adding an extra half point for Clara and her bonding over it. I feel like she's the reason Olivier knows of Vine, and that the two watch Vines sometimes (or Olivier studies while she watches them to chill out during study breaks). She and Clara quote them at each other to confuse other people in the library.

Big Mikey: 6.5 I think he colloquially knows a few! And I also think that Riot and at least one other scoutpost person have showed him the child safe Vine comps. Also I love him.

Polly: controversial take: the posse all have low scores. He gets a 4/10 because he's been loosening up, and I think he'd vibe with it. I also think that he posts on TikTok for aesthetic posts and for the one he has with Yaretzi in wolf for. Oh Mort also appears in the backgrounds sometimes, picking flowers or befriending animals and has answered questions much to the delight of his fans.

Mort: 4/10 appears in Polly's TikToks, and he gets points for being beloved by everyone. However he neither knows nor gets Vines and Polly doesn't know how to explain.

Yaretzi: 4/10: not super well-versed in Vines, but she's learning with Polly. She also has a fanbase from Polly's TikTok background appearances.

Hector: 5/10 knows Vines but never uses them. He smiles at them but its nothing much. He has a TikTok for the dogs which is insanely popular.

Jonah: 5.5/10. Was a huge fan of Vine Back In The Day, and quotes them sometimes. Also has a TikTok, doesn't post much. This is counteracted by the fact that Zelda hopped on his channel, earning him an extra point.

Zelda: 7/10. Knows and quotes the most well known Vines because Jonah was such a big fan and she cares about him. Also, that one lady on TikTok who has the recipe channel where she's like. The funniest person, but its also stuff like meatballs and cookies? Thats Zelda. Shes also decently TikTok famous, and responds to everyone who asks if she can be their mom.

Solomon: fuck you. Crusty bitch. Even if he knew what vine was he wouldn't get it. >:/

Barb: 10/10 made Polly and Yaretzi watch Vines. Makes Vine references. Legend has it, he has a Fre Shava Cado sign somewhere in the Resting Place.

Countess: 2/10 knows little about Vine because she thinks its below her. However, she is the sexy vampire lady that appears in the background of Barb's videos, sooooooo

Brooklyn: 6/10 she's a tech/ social media person i feel like. Showed LEM a Vine and Regretted It. Still thinks about them and mentions them to Marco sometimes. Repeats some under her breath but also doesn't know many at all.

Marco: 4/10: knows less than Brooklyn but still has some Vine knowledge I guess? Sheltered by BotCo

Danielle: 3/10: even more sheltered by BotCo. However, she also met Nikignik

Ray: 8/10: hear me out: this automobile knows Vines. He wants to connect with passengers. He gets them wrong a lot of the time but its the thought that counts. Also? Ray has tremendous meme energy.

Moth 11/10: knows and quotes Vines and has cryptid energy. Currently running a TikTok with Ray which has vine energy and is wildly popular. People do assume that Ray is just camera shy and not an automobile tho.

#hfth #hello from the hallowoods #hfth fandom #polly hfth #hello from the hallowoods polly #mort hfth #olivier hfth #percy hfth #solomon reed #diggory graves #yaretzi hfth #riot maidstone #friday rescher #clara martin #ray hfth #moth hfth #barb hfth #jonah duckworth #hector mendoza #walt pensive #nikignik hfth #lady ethel mallory #zelda duckworth #bern and violet keene #big mikey #apollyon #anyway take my insane ramblings for the night nd enjoy

[pl-panda]

The vines that bind us - Chapter 2

Chapter 1 || Next

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Until a trip to Gotham came knocking on the front doors

“I can’t believe Lie-la of all people managed to somehow get us the trip to Gotham!” Mari moaned with a mixed expression on her face.

Adrien, who was walking next to them, showed absolute disgust. “Technically, It was my father and I that did the heavy lifting. She really wanted to go to the Wayne Gala and…”

“What Lie-la wants, Lie-la gets.” The three finished in unison before laughing a bit. 

“Don’t worry Mari-bear. I can promise you that this no good liar won’t get to ruin your return home.” Chloe pulled her best friend closer. Best friend. Much better than a servant. Who would’ve thought? “And we can even try to find your mom on free Saturday.”

“Yeah…” The girl with black-blue hair didn’t seem particularly cheerful at that. 

“Now I refuse to have you making sad faces throughout the whole flight. You cheer up right this moment and that’s an order!” The blonde commanded. 

“Yes, Maman-bear.” Mari giggled.

The three of them finally arrived at the rest of the class, who were already gathered around madame Bustier. Of course, Lila was bragging about a million different things, but the three paid her no mind. Adrien did his best to hide behind the girls, cherishing the last moments of freedom. Finally, Mari and Chloe had to step forward for their tickets. The blonde got hers without any problem, but for Mari there turned out to be none.

“I’m so so sorry Marinette!” Lila said with fake regret. “I must have accidentally miscounted the number of students… It must’ve been when I was helping those poor orphans. You know, at…”

“Sure��” Mari didn’t even try to act as if she believed her for a moment. When Lila scowled, realizing that it didn’t affect the girl, she smiled. “I guess Chlo, Adrien and I will have to go with the contingency plan number 1.” 

“What?!” The sausage-hair shouted.

“Of course my Daddy would not send us to travel like peasants. We have tickets for the first class.” Chloe supplied, looking smugly. “We did plan to maybe sit with the rest of the class. What a shame…”

“Yeah, My dad also didn’t want me to travel anything less, but I convinced him to let me stay with my friends. Guess he will get what he wanted in the end.” For his part, Adrien at least tried to look apologetic. He didn’t try hard at all, but it’s the thought that counts, right?

“But… But…” Lila tried to come up with something, likely a lie, to counter it. She didn’t have time as the trio handed their teacher the filled forms from their parents/guardians/Nathalie and proceeded to the plane. The tickets were personal, so she couldn’t do anything. The Italian girl came up with a lie to tell to the class, but it would do no good until they landed. 

--------

“Did you see her face?” Plagg was rolling in the air while holding a giant roll of camembert. 

“You were amazing my queen.” Pollen complimented. 

“I still can’t believe your dad just… bought out the whole first class!” Marinette sighed. 

“Phi! Daddy always gives me only the best. You should know it by now, Mari-bear.”

“Okay. Mari. You are the Gotham expert here. Any advice?” Adrien asked a bit more seriously. 

“Gotham survival guide is probably unlike any other city.” She started. “The first rule is, believe it or not, run away if a person laughs too much or smiles too widely. The downside of living in the same city as the Joker is that most people don’t laugh in public. Secondly, never show that you are lost. Wherever you are, it’s exactly where you wanted to be. Finally, the third is to never flaunt your wealth.” She looked critically at Chloe before taking away her purse and lipstick in a golden case. “This,” She then pulled a mobile phone in a ridiculously sparkly case and popped it out of the cover, “this,” finally, she detached the golden chain on which the purse was supposed to be suspended and replaced it with a pre-prepared white one with copper clips, “and this must all go away.” 

“Ridiculous! Utterly Ridiculous! Now it will totally clash with my comb!” Chloe complained.

“Oh no! How will you ever survive that?��� Mari deadpanned. All three of them had another burst of laughter. After they calmed, Adrien started.

“Do you think it’s wrong that I want to bet which rule will Lila break first?”

“Ten macaroons she will say out-loud about money.” Mari threw. 

“I raise, four tea parties she will start by asking for direction.” Chloe had a grin on her face

“Are you sure?” Adrien asked. When the blonde nodded, he shrugged. “Movie night and double popcorn bowl refill that she will do both in one conversation.”

“Hi, could you be so kind to point me to my exclusive hotel? You know, I’m staying at the penthouse of this luxurious new one.” Mari gave a quite good parody of Lilia. 

“So to sum up, the pool is now ten Macaroons, Four Tea parties, and movie night with triple popcorn?” Chloe asked. When they nodded, she quickly noted it on her phone. 

“Now, who wants a movie? I think they have the newest Thomas Astruck one.” Adrien pulled a disc from the container next to his seat.

“Good for me!/Go!” The girls said. Chloe, who was in the middle loaded it and the other two leaned onto her to watch together. The three were happy. Faintly in the background, there was knocking on the doors to their part, but nobody paid attention to very angry Liela and some classmates. For some reason, the doors were stuck and the blinder rolled down. Later if someone asked, Pollen would deny everything. 

------------

When the plane landed, the class was practically kicked out. The team walked calmly down the stairs, all of them having smug expressions. Lila wanted to comment, but a glare from Mme. Bustier shut her up quickly. Mari and co. would later try to guess, what got the crew so pissed at their classmates.

Once everyone was accounted for, the class made its way to the customs to retrieve their luggage. There was a small problem with Mari’s travel bag as it was apparently misplaced to the flight to Timbuktu, but luckily her true suitcase, which had her things inside, arrived safely. She giggled at the thought of custom office in Timbuktu receiving a bag full of Adrien’s old socks that smelled camembert. 

Overall, the airport went mostly unproblematic. At least until they found themselves cleared and gathered in one place while Mme Bustier left to check on their bus. One of the men, wearing a dark blue suit started to laugh almost maniacally. Everybody immediately cleared away from him, out of sheer self-preservation. Lila must’ve decided that a show of kindness was a good way to regain class’ good grace. She was confidently approaching the man before suddenly Mari grabbed her and pulled her away. The designer might’ve despised the liar, but Joker… you don’t mess with Joker. 

Of course, Lila used the chance. She faked falling on the ground and started crying crocodile tears. “Marinette?! How can you be so heartless? I wanted *sniff* to check on the man and you trip me?” Lila sniffled, eyes watering with crocodile tears.

“I might have saved your life genius!” Mari snapped. Joker was a really touchy subject with her. “Does the world Killer Clown mean something?”

“Don’t invent things, you bully!” Alya shouted. That seemed to break the dam and at once the class started to say awful things to Mari. A year ago, it would hurt her. Half a year ago, she would be sad. Now? Now she pitied them. Chloe didn’t, and she was ready to jump to protect her best friend. 

“Ridiculous! Do you like… share a single brain cell? What if that man was…” she didn’t get to finish because Mme. Bustier returned. The commotion immediately calmed. By now the man stopped laughing and returned to talking with his friends.

“The bus is waiting. Come on children. Follow me.”

----------------

Arriving at the hotel, the class was split into different rooms. Of course, Lila tried to lie her way into some privilege, but Mari was too dead inside to care. The Jet Lag was killing her. At least she got some sleep on the plane. From the rumors she heard from the class, they didn’t because of Lila’s drama with the staff. 

“Now I want you all to be ready here at eight a.m. sharp. A Wayne Enterprises representative will come here to explain the details of internships.” Mme. Bustier instructed them. This, for some reason, caused outrage in students.

“What do you mean internships?!”

“Wayne Enterprises?”

“Shouldn’t we be preparing to go to Gotham Academy or something?”

The terrible trio in the back had trouble holding back laugher. Adrien warned the girls about what his father planned, so they could all prepare. Gabriel Agreste, devious as he is, decided to punish Lila and teach Adrien something about running a company at the same time and using his connections to put the class up for an internship at WE. He did send the liar all the details, but she must have skimmed over the corporate jargon because the class was fed overexaggerated stories about what they would and wouldn’t do during two months trip. 

Most parents were more than happy to send their children away from Paris for two months, especially since the Internship was free and the employment rate after it was quite high. WE kept quite a lot of the interns, if only out of habit. But perhaps it was mostly because the class has become a go-to place for the Akuma. Only Mr. Pidgeon and perhaps Gigantitan were akumatized more often. Mari actually picked up to cleansing their class weekly through a ritual she learned, otherwise there would be enough residual dark energy to power a demon portal. Not something one would want in the middle of a classroom.

“I was told you’ve all read the brochure provided and Lila summarised it for you.”

“I did!” The sausage hair defended. “Marinette must have told them some imaginary story about the trip!”

Immediately, several other people started to nod and confirm this. Chloe actually started to walk toward the liar almost red, but Mari grabbed the back of her blazer and held her in place. All the while she had a completely deadpan expression like it was normal for her (it was).

Mme. Bustier sighed. “Well, In that case, I will…”

“Excuse me, but shouldn’t we be going to sleep today already? We don’t want to be late tomorrow.” Adrien asked with an innocent expression, but there was some satisfaction hidden there too.

“Well… um… I…”

“We will be going then.” Chloe grabbed the key and led Mari to their room. Calline didn’t even question it. She wanted a pay raise after this. 

-----------

The next morning, Mari was woken by a frantic Chloe

“Mari-bear! It’s already late! You don’t want to be late for your first day of Internship girl! It would be utterly Ridiculous!” 

At first, the girl mumbled something, but once she finally processed everything she leaped out of her bed and started getting ready in record time. She was brushing her teeth, packing her purse, and tossing clothes at her best friend all at once. Once she had everything, she turned to see Chloe on the ground tied with a gray blazer. Mari just burst out laughing.

“How…”

“Ridiculous!” Chloe shook her head. “I demand you untie me this instant! We don’t have time for this!”

Once they dressed and did their hair, both girls were ready. Chloe now had a black button-down shirt, deep red blazer, and a matching pencil skirt. Mari also made her wear smart black stilettos (instead of her usual that were slightly more extravagant). The look was completed by a tablet in leather flip-over cover. Mari had a similar outfit, except her shirt was white and the suit was in dark blue. She opted for flat shoes to spare the embarrassment that was Marigold on heels.

“Ready to rock Gotham City?”

“Like you have to ask.” Mari smiled. There was something about the city of crime that made her feel safe and open up more. Maybe being on home turf gave her the much-needed confidence boost. 

When Chloe tried to open the doors, she found them stuck. She was about to go on a rant about poor quality when Mari casually grabbed the doorknob and twisted it. There was a faint creaking sound as the mechanism gave.

“Um…”

“It must’ve been old,” Chloe said with a devious grin. “Nothing happened. Don’t you worry! I will deal with it.”

---------------

When the doors to the elevator opened and two girls strode into the lobby, their class was already pushing toward the exit. Adrien looked very much uncomfortable with Lila hanging off his arm, literally sinking her claws into him. He mouthed them a muted ‘later’. Alya stared at the girls with loathing. 

“Ah, you are here.” Mme. Bustier spoke. “Lila said…”

“Whatever.” Chloe dismissed their teacher. “Aren’t we in rush?” The blonde practically seethed the last word. 

“Yes, good to see that someone is responsible.” The teacher gave Mari a pointed look. Apparently, she still didn’t get over the fact that she resigned from the class rep position. 

“But…”

“Drop it. She is not worth it.” Chloe whispered. “Daddy will take care of that once we are done.”

Mari just nodded. She knew Chloe was preparing a lawsuit against the school, but their hands were tied until they graduated or Damocles could try and undermine it. Both girls knew that no adult would help them with the lawsuit beyond Chloe’s father signing whatever dotted line she asked him to. That man was more whipped than a fresh can of whipped cream. 

The ride to the WE was short and uneventful. Girls took up to gossiping in English, effectively limiting any eavesdropping. Mari spent most of the time tearing down the outfits of all the villains. She started with Riddler, more as a joke than actual rant, but then she somehow got onto this new guy Anarky. From there, she just kept on, smoothly sailing from one to the next. Even her mom got some shots. Mari still couldn’t stand how skimpy it was. Her rant carried over when they exited the bus and entered the WE. Security led them to a conference room, where they were told to take seats. 

Mari guessed that it wouldn’t be Lila if she didn’t immediately start sputtering lies about how well she knew the building already because of her Damiboo giving her private tours (All while clutching Adrien like a leech). She didn’t have enough ducks left to give to try to expose Lila about several facts. Such as that Damian Wayne definitely wasn’t living with Bruce when he was five. Any Gothamite could tell her that. Bored, she returned to her rant. 

She was nearing the end of the list and was very much engaged in complimenting Harley Queen for her recent change in wardrobe. She still considered it a disaster, but at least it was somehow human. 

“Ekhm…” A voice broke her out of the rant. “Good morning. My name is Richard Grayson. You are the french class chosen for the internship program, correct?” When people nodded, he continued. Idly, Mari noted that Alya and Lila stiffened and suddenly stopped talking at all. “We reviewed the individual profiles and appointed each of you a mentor that will help you settle into your roles. As I read the names, please come forward so I can update your badges. Do carry them on your person all the time or we will have to take you to our human cloning facility.”

People stared at him. 

“Okaaay… That’s that about jokes…” He sighed. “The rules will be explained by individual departments. Now, who’s up for a tour?” 

People started to cheer at that and Dick smiled. Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad?

-----------------

It was that bad. Even worse. He knew from the background check that the class was both insanely talented… and borderline criminal. It was like someone de-aged the Rogues and put them in one class. The report called them Akuma class, which (if google is to be believed) meant demons. He questioned how they got accepted into the internship. 

They only toured two floors when Dick wanted to tear half of them to shreds. He noted immediately that they were bullying the girl with black (slightly blue? Maybe it was dyed?) hair. What surprised him was that the teacher didn’t react. If he was to be honest, the girl and her friend slightly irritated him too. They kept talking and seemed to ignore him. It was not because they kept tearing down each and every bats’ fashion choices. Definitely not that. When they brought up Discowing he had enough. 

“Ekhm. Excuse me, girls,” he stared at them. Both immediately stopped talking and looked at him. “Could you pay attention? I wouldn’t want any of you to waste your internship lost on our maze-testing floor.”

“There is no maze-testing floor in this building.” The blonde pointed out.

“And besides, we memorized all you’ve said.”

“Care to recall?” He heard several people groan at his pun.

“The first floor is most representative, where guests are welcome and low-level meetings happen. There is a separate kitchen for employers there that is always fresh on fruits. Don’t use the coffee machine there as it was only patched up and there is a high chance it will set itself on fire again. The…”

“Fine. You’re good. Still, I don’t appreciate the chatter.”

“They are always trouble!” A girl in bright pink colors shouted. 

“Yeah! Why do you have to ruin this trip for Lila!?”

“You’re just jealous of her boyfriend!”

More voices like this came from the crowd of kids. Dick started to feel bad that he singled the girls out. It definitely gave the class a reason to gang up on them. And the teacher still did nothing! He sighed. What did HR think when they accepted them. He would have to look into it later.

--------------

Mari decided that she didn’t like Dick. Everyone in their class kept talking, but for some reason, he singled them out. For the rest of the trip, she made sure to pay as much attention as she could. There was this silent determination on her face. Chloe wisely also kept silent. 

After the trip class was led back to the conference room where another employer handed out the identificators and folders containing their assignments. 

“Keep the IDs on you at all times. As opposed to the ones you received, this won’t expire and are synched with your jobs, so you will have access to anything you might need. They are also mandatory to receive lunch in our canteen. When you get acquainted with your tasks, you can go to the level specified at the end of sheet one. Your mentor will meet you there.” With that, he left. Dick really needed to do some in-depth research on this class. Something kept icking his detective sense.

“Well, I’m going to the law department. Apparently whoever made the assignments knew my well.” Chloe bragged to her friend after opening the folder. 

Timidly, Mari also opened her folder. She skimmed over what was inside and groaned. “Apparently, I’m interning as personal assistant to one Tim Drake.”

“They actually assigned you to the sleep-deprived coffee addict?” Chloe asked in disbelief.

“You know him?” She asked in surprise

“He and his brother ruined my daddy’s parties two years ago. They got into an argument that ended up with them wrestling over a cake. It took me weeks to get the cake out of my hair! Weeks!” The blonde summarized.

“oh…” Mari tried to hold back the giggles.

“Don’t laugh! It’s a serious matter! Do you have any idea how much work it takes to have such a perfect hair?!”

“Of course… cakehead.” The girl couldn’t stop herself.

“Ugh, you… you… plant leg.” Chloe said.

“Really?” Mari raised an eyebrow. “That’s the best you can come with?”

“Well, I usually have better things to do than thinking about good insults.” Still, Chloe hugged her best friend. “Be careful. I wouldn’t put it past The Liar to try and sabotage you somehow.”

“I’ll be careful. Wish me luck.”

-----

The elevator took Mari all the way to the highest floor. When the doors opened, she stepped int a large room with one desk. As soon as the doors closed, the woman who was standing there rushed toward her. The girl tensed for a moment but she reminded herself that there is no real threat.

“Oh finally! I was asking them to hire someone else for months!” She had a messed bun of red hair on her head and looked like she didn’t sleep in a week.

“But… I’m just an intern madame!” Mari tried to explain.

“An intern?” The woman paused her packing and stared at the girl with wide eyes.

“Um… Madame Sarah Jackson?” 

“Yes. An intern…” She said in a disappointed voice to herself. “Ah! That’s no problem at all!” She started to tap on her Waynetech Tablet and after a moment she smiled. “There! You’re hired!”

“Wha…?!” Mari shouted, but was interrupted when Sarah pushed the tablet into her hand, followed by a large box full of documents and a small mug with a coffee bean pointing a gun at the reader and words ‘Your Coffee or your life!’.

“They are your problem now! Everything you need is in the box. I left detail about ongoing stuff and whatever you might need. Don’t call. I’m outta here!” She shouted before grabbing her personal belonging and leaping into the elevator.

“But…! But…!?” Mari shouted after the closing doors. She could hear a cheerful shout as the elevator left the level. 

--------------------------------------

Next

#maribat #miraculous ladybug #maribat au #miraculous lb #batman #dc #mlb x dc #Marigold AU #Mother!Ivy

[vias-words]

Ask Game For Fan Fiction Writers

Thank you @mygeeknessisa-quivering for tagging me!

1. What fandoms do you write for? 

Usually The Cursed Child but I’m starting to write for Julie and the Phantoms too. I used to be a big Marvel writer as well and I have one Miss Peregrine’s fic that I’m really proud of. Had a bunch of other fandoms that I wrote for when I was younger but these would be the main ones. 

2. What parings do you write for? 

Scorbus!! Then I used to write Stucky and Clintasha when I did Marvel fics

3. What is your most popular fanfic? 

Albus Potter and the Cursed Legacy on AO3 but my most popular of all time was a Stucky fic on Wattpad called Coming Back Home 

4. Do you write original stories as well? 

Yes! But none are published

5. What is a fandom you will never write for? 

Probably just ones that I’m not interested in or don’t know that much about. 

6. Which platform do you prefer? 

AO3 for sure

7. What are your favorite fanfics? 

There are so many amazing fics that I forgot to save but here are some of my favorites that I have book marked

Scorbus: Blood, Ice, Water ; Paper Dragons ; Beneath the Wisteria 

General Harry Potter: A Future Beyond 17

Jeddy/Scorbus: King and Lionheart

JATP: The Ghosts of My Past

8. How do you stay motivated to finish what you’ve started? 

Definitely getting feedback helps. And just staying invested in the story. I take breaks when needed so I don’t burn out. 

9. What’s your longest fanfic? 

Albus Potter and the Cursed legacy is almost 200,000 words which is absolutely insane to me but I love it dearly

10. Do you use sentence starters, writing prompts and/or fandom headcanons for your fanfics? 

Sometimes! Usually just for shorter fics. But I incorporate fandom headcanons into longer fics as well. Basically my fics are based on fanon most of the time anyway

11. Do you use/follow advice from writing blogs/posts? 

Sometimes!

12. What’s your shortest fanfic? 

Borderline is just under 4,000 words

13. Do you listen to music during your writing process? 

Yes, it helps me focus. I like atmospheric music to match the story. There’s a lot of great youtube videos for that but also instrumentals and movie scores on spotify are great.

14. What is your favorite writing prompt? 

Can’t say I have one

15. Can we get a list of all of your current available fanfics? 

Here is a link to my AO3! I have some reaaaallly old ones on Wattpad too if you want to see how 13-15 y.o. me wrote haha the user is via_words

16. Long chapters or short chapters?

Long. I notoriously write a lot.

17. How many WIPs (work-in-progress) do you’ve got? 

Too many...I’d say a solid 8 but a lot of started fic ideas that never took off

18. Do you take requests? 

I’m open to hearing them but I usually struggle to write someone else’s ideas 

19. What’s more difficult? Fanfics or original work? 

Original work for sure, which is very frustrating to me. I’ve written a novel length fic before I can even get halfway through an original. I think I just know fic characters and the world a whole lot better and I know my audience will too, so there’s not stress about making sure everything is clear.

20. How did you find the magical world of fanfics?

I can’t even remember. I think I got on Wattpad through word of mouth when I was 12 but didn’t start posting until I was like 13 or 14.

21. Do you partake in any fanfic/writing events? 

I try to! 

22. Does fanart of your fanfic exist? 

Yes!! Which is AMAZING! I’ve got a small folder of drawings people have made inspired by or for my fic. I even got a video edit and vine comp once which I could not stop watching and smiling. It’s honestly so incredible that people have done that for something I wrote and I’m so thankful.

23. Do fanfics of your fanfic exist? 

No I didn’t even realize that could be a thing. I’d say if you’re using someone’s OC’s or ideas, do be sure to ask them first.

24. What is your favorite sentence that you’ve used in a fanfic? 

Oh gosh this is hard. One that’s always stood out to my is this line from Draco in chapter 18 of the Cursed Legacy

"Do you really think I wanted to be evil? That I set out to achieve that goal? No, that was never my reasoning to join the Deatheaters. No, mainly I wanted to fit in--to be a part of something greater. And to a naive boy who faced nothing but pressure from his parents to conform to their ideals, this," He forced up the left sleeve of his cloak to reveal the faded scar of where his dark mark once branded him, "seemed like that answer.”

25. Where do you draw inspiration from? 

A lot of music or photos/art. Whatever get’s me in the right mood to delve deeper into these characters. 

26. Can we get a teaser for an upcoming chapter? 

Here’s the one I used in a recent ask game for the next chapter of the Cursed Legacy!

"I think we're all a little afraid of the unknown. But that's what makes life exciting, right?"

James eyed Albus up and down, "Who are you and where's the pessimistic Albus I know?"

Albus gave his brother a small shove but cracked a smile, "You're a git."

No tags for this one since I would probably end tagging people how have already been tagged. But feel free to do this as well if you want to and consider yourself tagged by me :)

[leotssukinaga]

this has nothing to do w 400 questions but since ur an achievement hunter/rt fan, could you do the rfa as achievement hunters?

omg okay first of all this is the best thing anyone will ever ask of me thank you so much what the fuck I love this??? Also, adding V and Saeran bc I had Thoughts on that

Now, I almost immediately hit a point of contention w this, because honestly all of them are pretty silly, and that doesn't translate to a few of the RFA members, but I'm gonna do my best, and some of this will come not just from achievement hunter irl but from FAHC lore and shit bc my fahc obsession will never, ever die.

Seven:

My immediate thought was Gavin. Gavin is incredibly smart, we all know that right? But he's goofy, and foolish and terrible at video games and he has a reputation among AH fans for being a bit of a dumbass. I, Robots "you're the dumbest smart person I've ever met" line comes to mind. Can yall see why I thought he was a good match for Seven? Seven jokes around a lot, much like Gavin, and can seem dumb sometimes because of it (Ellys hands. Ellys paws. Ellys hand paws.) but at the end of the day? He's super smart, and we shouldn't underestimate him. Not to mention, in FAHC lore, Gavin is often our hacker. So, you know. BUT he also reminds me a lot of Michael. If you've seen my mysme vine comp, you'll know I have an AH vine in there featuring Michael, and it's labelled as something Seven would do. This is the man who ate 10 McRibs in one sandwich and drank a bottle of barbecue sauce for a bet more than once. Remember milk yard? or the fucking waterboarding video?? Michael is unstoppable and mildly terrifying and just as goofy as Gavin, and yeah, that reminds me of Seven. Seven is just Team Nice Dynamite in one person.

Yoosung:

I've gotta go for Lindsay here. Find me an AH fan (who isn't an asshole) who wouldn't do anything to protect Mrs Jones. She's an angel, a cinnamon roll, too good for this world. She's also badass as fuck. Remember Lindsay Wins, where she went from "light it up motherfucker now your mother is me!" to "thanks guys, bye!" in like 2 seconds? She's an ANGEL but she'll fuck you up. Yoosung is underestimated a lot but honestly? Give him a chance and he'll do some damage. But he's also a cinnamon roll. I love him.

Jumin:

I struggled a little with this one, and you can probably tell why. All the AH crew are funny and goofy and on the surface that just doesn't translate to Jumin all that well. Except yeah it totally fucking does, if you try to understand him. He's Mr cold hearted but if you pay attention to him and learn how he jokes, you pick up a joke from him pretty often. For that reason, I gotta go with Jack. A lot of people say Jack isn't funny, and I have to disagree. I find Jack hilarious, but sometimes you have to understand him to get his jokes. I've been watching AH videos since their first minecraft let's play, which was almost 8 years ago (May 12 2012 yes I know that off the top of my head) and he's great. You just gotta understand him.

Jaehee:

Zen:

Your initial thought would be Ryan, right? Our ex model who did theatre in college? Nah. Jeremy. He's pretty (fight me), lyrically talented (AH musical, guys) and honestly a fan favourite. Everybody loves Jeremy! He's also our workout king. He's nowhere near as vain as Zen, but Zen has good reason so we're letting that slide. Obviously there's the whole cat issue but like. fucking fight me.

V/Jihyun:

Going for the obvious here: Geoff. Sometimes absent leader who most of the fans adore, and who has some serious (though often well hidden) self esteem issues (DID YOU SEE THAT HAUNTER EPISODE? IT BROKE ME YALL IT BROKE ME)? Geoff. He's also pretty good at dealing with issues among other members, and I like to imagine V sometimes does that thing where he sits there looking like an exhausted dad while other members fight. He's just. He's Geoff, guys.

Saeran:

Please tell me you knew where I was going with this. He's Ryan!!! Of course he's Ryan! Ryan the computer guy. And of course, THIS is where my FAHC lore comes in. Ryan, who's sweet and funny and gets on really well with the crew. Ryan, who at the drop of the hat becomes the Vagabond, a silent and sadistic killer who you do NOT want to mess with. Ryan, who can laugh and joke like the next guy, who seems sweet and innocent at first but harbours a dark secret. Ryan, who's just as good at hacking as Gavin, if not better. Whose family hasnt heard from him since he joined the crew, who's both notorious and invisible in Los Santos. And on the IRL side of things, we all know Ryan is a big softie with a heart of gold. Saeran is too. He’s absolutely Ryan. I knew it the second I read this ask. You probably knew it the second you sent it. Of course he's Ryan. Who else could he be? (This wasn't influenced by the fact that Ryan and Saeran are my respective favourites at all)

#this is an ESSAY im sorry i love AH #anon #asks #jayden speaks #mystic messenger #mm #mysme #achievement hunter #ah #fahc #707 #saeyoung choi #yoosung kim #jumin han #zen #hyun ryu #v mysme #jihyun kim #saeran choi

[tfwhynoy]

Can I request headcannons for TFA (Ratchet, Optimus, Bee and Megatron) reacting to funny cat videos with their human s/o?

Bumblee seen the next day trying to steal every stray cat on the street

Tfa Ratchet

He was really busy and especially grumpy as of late so you suggested taking a break. He refuses though since he has better things to do but you are persistent.

You think for a moment and come up with a plan. You make a deal to stop bothering him if he just watches one ten minute cat video with him. He finds it ridiculous but if it gets you to leave him alone fine.

He doesn’t want to laugh, it’s so dumb and he refuses to laugh at this. Then he sees the video of the cat trying to jump over a baby gate and failing and he can’t stop laughing. You have to pause the video to make sure he’s okay. He was just holding it in for so long and it was at the tail end but now he’s laughing so hard he’s wheezing.

When he’s finally done laughing at the video you resume it and now he’s chucking at each one.

You get the slick idea to ‘accedntily’ turn of the screen. When you go to resume the video on your phone you pull it from his view and turn it to an hour-long comp that was in the recommendation to see if he would notice.

He doesn’t. You watch the whole things with him and for once he’s not being absolutely grouchy about everything. When the video ends you ask if he wants to watch another and he agrees.

Tfa Optimus

You joke that 50% of the internet is used to just look at cute cat videos and the joke flies over his head. He asks why this is and you take this opportunity to show him cute cat vids.

He doesn’t say a word but you can see it on his face that he’s silently squealing at it the whole time. They’re just so cute! Though he has a few questions about their behavior. Why are they so spooked by bananas? Why do they wiggle their afts before pouncing? Why do they clench and unclench their paws?

Google is your best friend with this. It makes things all the cuter to know the reason behind some of their behaviors. And when you tell him what snurgling is he just repeats the word three pitches higher than usual. The behavior itself is cute but the name snurgle is so adorable he may actually cry.

You show him a video that’s all about cats befriending other animals it’s just too much. The cats raised by rabbits so they just hop around? The cat who was raised by dogs so they bark? A cat snuggling with a duck. He’s nearly crying it’s so cute.

If only he was smaller so he could have a pet cat himself.

Tfa Bumblebee

You tell him you have a video to show him and he’s all up for it.

It’s all of two seconds before he’s laughing. He never gets to rolling on the floor level but he’s consistently giggling through any videos the two of you are watching.

He asks if all animals are as silly as cats. This leads to you watching general funny animals vine compilations all day.

Tfa Megatron

You tell him you have a video to show him. When you tell him it’s cat videos he loses all interest. He has far more important things then watch stupid Earth fauna act especially stupid.

If you really really REALLY want him to watch it with you, you will have to be very persistent and lay the guilt down unimaginably thick. You thought he would just take a kick out of it after all and his always so busy that he can’t make room to watch one video? You even spent quite some time trying to find the best one he would like and all that time has gone to waste…

If you do manage to convince him to watch it with you don’t expect much. He does find it slightly amusing but in less of a “they’re doing silly things” way and more of a “they are so pathetic it’s funny” kind of way.

At least if you did convince him it becomes easier to get him to watch them in the future. It is something so small and you seemed to care so much about it so if something so simple then fine. Don’t push your luck though he will still turn you down and if you start whining he’ll just get annoyed.

#tfa #transformers animated #megatron #TFA Megatron #bumblebee #tfa bumblebee #optimus prime #tfa optimus prime #ratchet #tfa ratchet #x reader #reader insert #my writings

[morally-clean]

I was watching vine comps and this vine just reminded me of chapter 6 for some reason so I did this

#danganronpav1 #junko enoshima #monokuma

[pappydaddy]

Hi lovlies!

Today isn’t a good mental health day for me, but have no fear, that does not mean I’m not going to write! I thought that since I just went through my bad day routine and did my comfort things this would be a perfect time to share those things with you!

STEP ONE:

  The very first thing I do when I wake up on a bad mental health day is to start doing comfort things on my phone before I get up. This most likely doesn’t work for everyone since getting out of bed (no matter how hard it is) is the best way to start. I personally do this before getting up bc it makes it a bit easier to get up. My comfort activities on my phone include:

1. Watching Tik Toks

This makes me feel better because I follow pretty funny creators and I can always get a bit of a boost from their content. This just helps me boost my spirits, even if the video isn’t funny, the comments never fail to cheer me up!  

2. Read Comfort Fics 

I usually end up just looking through fluff hashtags on tumblr, currently, I am on a Fred Weasley kick (who happens to be one of my comfort characters) so I could always use some good recs for Fred fluff😊! This just makes me feel butterflies when I read all the cute fluff. 

3. Watch Compilation Videos on YouTube

I recently searched up ‘videos that boost serotonin’ and found a few compilations. I normally switch between Tik Tok comps and vine comps. 

STEP TWO

  After I get up, I make sure to go my morning routine. I keep all my personal products in my room (my makeup, my skin care, my hair brush, etc.). For my morning routine, I need a sink so I gather my stuff (skin care, hair brush, phone, headband, chapstick) and head into my bathroom to get started. I always play music while doing this because music is a huge comfort tool for me. Here are the songs that I listen to during this (i usually end up lip syncing in the mirror so, carry on at your own risk):

This side of paradise by Coyote Theory 

Falling by Harry Styles

ultraviolet by prettyboyshav

Dirty Little Secret by The All-American Rejects

Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol 

I Like Me Better by Lauv

Cold As You by Taylor Swift

Cough Syrup (Glee Cast Version) cover by Darren Criss 

Ocean Avenue by Yellowcard

Check Yes Juliet by We The Kings

Electric Love cover by Paravi Das (highly recommend this cover if you like the original and don’t want to support the original artists)

Can’t Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley (or the cover by Hayley Reinhart)

Haunted by Taylor Swift

Anything by Taylor Swift tbh - her songs are huge comforts for me bc I grew up being obsessed with her ngl

you broke me first by Tate McRae

Mercenary by Panic! At The Disco

Anything by 5sos

80s rock/soft-rock/pop

There are so many more, it would take me forever to list them all. 

OTHER COMFORT THINGS

Comfort Movies:

Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and The Order of Phoenix (except the last bit for obvious reasons)

10 Things I Hate About You

Legally Blonde

Bring It On (the Original) 

Scooby-Doo movies (Cartoon + the two live-actions only bc of the cast) - I am a child, I know, but these bring me such comfort

Pride and Prejudice (The one with Kiara Knightly)

Disney Halloween movies 

Dirty Dancing (the ex-dancer in me longs to find someone who I can do the dance with - lift included)

Bonus movies that I just enjoy:

Romeo and Juliet (Leonardo DiCaprio - thats all I’m gonna say)

Princess Bride

White Chicks

Deadpool (bc Ryan Reynolds)

Comfort Shows:

Friends

The old Scooby-Doo Cartoons that I grew up with

Looney Tunes (I told you I’m a child)

Teen Wolf 

Jeopardy 

Glee 

Stranger Things

The Nanny

Gravity Falls 

The Simpsons

Brain Games (bc I love psychology)

Wizards of Waverly Place

Comfort Characters

Fred Weasley

George Weasley

Arthur Weasley (such a pure soul)

Steve Harrington (duo)

Dustin Henderson (duo)

Chandler Bing

Phoebe Buffay

Norville Shaggy Rogers

Stiles Stilinski

Elle Woods (couple)

Emmett Richmond (even though he gets barely any screen time) (couple)

Bonus Comfort Show Bc It’s a Youtube Channel But It’s my Only Comfort Youtube Channel

Buzzfeed Unsolved/Watcher (even though it scared the shit out of me)

So yeah! Those are my comfort things and how I get ready to conquer bad mental health days! Of course, there are days where these are too hard so I end up staying in bed and watching comfort shows/movies or listening to comfort songs.

#pappydaddy talks #i just spilled it all out there #didn't mean to make it so long but this is a new comfort activity #ngl #i tend to overshare online #sorry #get to know me

[sing-swan-spring-swan]

color me complicated

part two of the “color me in” series

A sequel to color me colorblind, in which Fitz and Dex meet up at a bagel shop and everything is awkward and awful, until it isn’t. Involving copious amounts of boys being stupid, and rain,

Fitz prided himself on being timely; the minutes on his watch flashed 3:30 just as he stopped in front of Starkflower. He generally took his bike to school, but Biana had something to do earlier that morning, which meant his parents had dropped him off. That meant he’d had to walk, which took longer, but Fitz wasn’t going to miss this chance. When the last school bell rang, Fitz had immediately grabbed his stuff and rushed off campus to ensure he wouldn't be late. It was just polite, after all. Of course, he spent the rest of the way there trying to convince himself it had nothing to do with the fluttering feeling in his chest—thank you, foolish heart—but that was entirely irrelevant. He was here, at Starkflower, he was on time, and best of all, he’d managed to avoid getting rained on by the gray clouds overhead. There was going to be a rainstorm, he was sure, but he could deal with that later. Along with any odd fluttering feelings.

The door swung open easily, and Fitz was instantly draped in the smell of baking bread (or bagels, as it might be) and the scent of what was likely wood smoke from the ovens. From his left, Fitz caught a different smell: a whiff of sugar from Ripplefluffs, the next-door cupcake shop. It was separated from Starkflower by a wrought-iron divider, patterned with vines, but the two shops were partnered together.  He’d never been in either shop before; he’d often imagined what it would be like inside. Unfortunately, there had always been some other commitment or place to be. Still, the place felt like home, almost: warm, cozy, and comfortable, as if he’d been there thousands of times and the bakery was just welcoming him back. There was just one thing he couldn't see: Dex.

Fitz assumed that, for most people, Dex would be easy to spot, more or less. Red hair stood out, even if it was just strawberry blond. Fitz, on the other hand, couldn't see red, so there was a chance he'd just missed Dex's face. It was, admittedly, a small chance—there were no more than 20 people in the small shop altogether, and even that was pushing it. Still, he scanned the people again, searching for blue eyes and freckles. Some part of him knew it was pointless; Dex obviously wasn't there. Then again, that didn't mean Fitz couldn't deny that fact for as long as possible. Even if ‘as long as possible’ was only a few more minutes, as he ran his eyes over the other patrons one last time.

So Dex wasn't there. As much as he wanted to stay in denial, Fitz had to accept that. But just because he wasn't there now didn't mean Dex hadn't been here earlier. Maybe he'd written the wrong time on the note. Maybe he'd come in earlier, and then left when he couldn't find Fitz. Maybe he'd just needed to rush out for a moment and he'd left a note saying that he'd be back soon. Fitz just had to find someone who'd been here for a while, most likely an employee, and then he could ask them. If Dex had come in, Fitz was certain almost everyone would have seen him, working color rods or not; it was hard to miss a not-too-quiet, occasionally distracted boy with a tendency to bump into things and stunning blue eyes—aaand focusing. Fitz’s entirely unrequited crush on Dex had no bearing on anything happening right now, at all. He just had to find a cashier who hopefully didn’t look too busy, without getting distracted by annoyingly gay thoughts.

A short, matronly woman stood to his right. She had an apron tied around her waist and long gray hair done in a braid that fell to her hips. The woman, who appeared to be the manager, was telling a customer for what must have been at least the third time that no, they didn’t have any more stew, they’re very sorry, if you’d like to come back tomorrow we’ll have a fresh batch then, miss. Fitz thought she had near saint-like patience; despite the obstinate customer, she hadn’t raised her voice or gotten angry. Despite that, Fitz could see the beginnings of exasperation pricking at the corners of her eyes, so he thought maybe if he gave her a way out, she'd tell him about Dex. Besides, she seemed nice enough. Fitz headed over.

"Pardon me, ma'am?"

The woman glanced over, and he caught a flash of relief before she turned back to the customer.

"I'm sorry, miss, but I must get back to my other customers, thank you."

Without waiting for a response, the woman turned around, braid swinging, hooked her arm around Fitz's, and guided him over to the other side of the shop, near the divider.

"Thank you for the escape, child," she said, releasing his arm and dusting infinitesimal particles off her apron. "Now, what did you need?"

Fitz, who had been caught off guard by her reaction, took a few seconds before he answered.

"Um, I'm looking for someone. His name is Dex?"

"Dex? Red hair, freckles, blue eyes?"

"Er—yes." Fitz wanted to ask how she knew Dex but didn't really want to get off-topic. Dex's personal life was none of his business either way.

"Unfortunately, I haven't seen him today. You must be Fitz, then?"

Alright, now he really was curious, and perhaps a little suspicious too. Who was this woman, who somehow knew both Dex and him, especially since he'd never seen her before?

"Yeah, my name is Fitz. How did you know? And how do you know Dex?"

"He's a regular here," she said, as if this were information everybody knew, "and he talks about you."

Oh. So that was how.

Fitz almost couldn't believe her. Dex hated him with a vengeance; why would he ever spend any time thinking about Fitz, aside from when they were forced to interact? But then, if Dex really hated him, why had the boy invited him over to Starkflower at all? All of it was far too complicated for a Tuesday afternoon, and Fitz would much rather not deal with it. He was just about ready to leave when behind him, the woman spoke.

"You make a very cute couple. It reminds me of Lilli and me, when we were girlfriends."

Fitz whirled around, shocked.

"I—He—We're not dating!"

She looked at him quizzically, as if to say Really? I was so certain you were.

"It was just—I needed some help on my homework—Dex hates me—we would never—"

"You're rambling."

"Dex and I are not, nor will we ever be, dating." Fitz finished emphatically. He couldn’t make his feelings go away through brute force, but perhaps if he tried he could at least make them a bit less obvious; hopefully, that would also convince this woman Dex wasn’t dating him. Fitz didn’t stand a chance with Dex, no matter how much he liked him, and he didn’t particularly want to be reminded.

"Alright, child." It was placating. Fitz would feel mildly insulted if she wasn't being so nice about it. "Here." She snatched a bagel from the shelves. "On the house. Go sit down, Dex should be in soon."

“I—”

The woman pushed the bagel into his hand.

"Take it."

“I—ma’am?”

“No need for the formalities. Call me Calla. Now go, find a table before they’re all gone.”

Fitz bobbed his head silently. Then, trying to reclaim his wayward thoughts, he claimed a nearby table and prepared to wait.

Dex knew he was late.

In his defense, it wasn’t really his fault. He couldn’t have known that Mr. Bronte would have pulled him into an entirely unplanned meeting about his Comp Sci project. There was a super cool tech program at Foxfire, and Dex had longed to get in since he’d enrolled. However, every student who wanted to get into the program had to create and present a tech project, whether it was software, hardware, or both. Dex was making a more efficient way to organize school records, and he was proud of it. It was good; he deserved to be proud of it. But Mr. Bronte didn’t see it that way.

He doesn't really think it's good enough either, but he's not getting into that now.

So, he was late because apparently an A- in English was ‘concerning’—he knew he had to do better, but once again, not getting into that—and now he had to rush. Dex snatched his stuff and careened out of the school gates, heading for Starkflower.

He'd already been horrible to Fitz earlier because of the whole colorblindness thing in chemistry. Standing him up would seem a little extra cruel, especially since Fitz already thought he was an insensitive prick.

Not that he could stand Fitz up anyway. Because this wasn't a date. So he couldn't stand Fitz up, because this was not a date where people could stand other people up or anything.

Point was, he was late and that was rude. No matter what he felt about Fitz, Dex couldn't just keep him waiting. He had to hurry, if he didn't want to be later than he already was.

If he'd checked his watch, Dex might have seen that he was only ten minutes late, more or less. Even still, the talk with Bronte had already felt like hours, and he didn't have a sense of time anyway. For all he knew, Fitz had already left.

Wait.

Dex skidded to a stop in front of Starkflower, a sudden realization hitting him. Fitz probably had already left. There was no reason for the other boy to believe anything good about Dex. He'd been incredibly rude since they'd met.  So when he hadn't shown up, there was no reason for Fitz to believe he was coming. Actually, Fitz probably thought Dex had played a really cruel prank on him. But then, should he even bother going in? Maybe if he just left now, he wouldn't have to deal with the guilt. Dex knew it wasn't the right thing to do. But it was easier, and Dex was tempted.

And then the weather chose for him. The gray clouds hovering above had finally decided to rain. Dex felt one drop, then another, and then suddenly it was pouring. All his thoughts were abandoned in favor of not getting soaked, and he ducked into Starkflower to avoid the storm.

The bell chimed as he swung open the door. Instantly, he was surrounded by warmth. Smells of baking bread permeated the air. Dex felt himself relax. He was in Starkflower: familiar, comfortable, and safe. That was when he heard it.

"Dex!"

And oh, he knew that voice, and oh, he was in trouble. Dex whirled around to see Fitz, seated at one of the nearby tables with his laptop out. Fitz looked at him as if the other boy had always expected him to be there, and it was a shock, yeah, but also kind of nice.

"Fitz?" Dex's disbelief colored his voice. He regretted it immediately when hurt flashed over Fitz's face.

"Did you not want me here?"

"No, I—I was surprised you waited. I haven't really given you a reason to believe in me."

Fitz visibly brightened, smiling.

Oh wow, he's really cute—no. Stop it, Dex thought. He'd had one barely-even-decent interaction with the boy and the minor knot of feelings in his chest had already spiraled into a massive crush, which would almost certainly go unreturned. What was he doing? Why was he doing this? And most importantly, why couldn't he stop?

He was pulled out of his slightly panicked questioning when he heard Fitz.

"Dex?"

"Oh, yeah."

He pulled up a chair and sat down. Fitz didn't move. There was a moment of silence where neither of them knew what to say. Dex was starting to fidget uncomfortably when Fitz asked, "Aren't you going to get your laptop?"

"I, uh, don't have a laptop," Dex responded. It was kind of embarrassing, but his family didn't have money to spare and he wouldn't ask that of them.

There's more silence. He was definitely fidgeting now, fiddling with his thumbs like that would help anything.

"Uh, sorry?" Fitz said.

"Sorry for what?" Dex responded, and maybe the words came out too harsh or Fitz was just embarrassed, but Dex knew he'd said something wrong when Fitz abruptly stared down and didn't look back up.

They were back to silence. Dex wished he knew what to say or what to do and he honestly wished he could do anything at all, but he felt frozen. Guilt, anxiety, and completely misplaced affection tangled in his chest, and the mess they made was strangling him. He had to apologize for what he'd done earlier; that was why he'd originally invited Fitz over here. But how was he supposed to do that, when every time he met Fitz's eyes, his brain got sidetracked with a useless crush? It was completely unhelpful!

Okay, understatement of the century there, but at this point Dex would have settled for anything.

"So, um, science?" he said, grasping at anything to break the silence. Apparently, anything even included homework.

"Science," Fitz replied, with audible relief.

He pulled up the website on his laptop, and then Dex remembered.

"Do you, uh, um, mind if I, uh—"

"Oh, um, yes, sure, no, I mean, go ahead."

Dex nearly groaned out loud. He was never going to get through this. At least, not with his sanity intact. Fitz scrolled down to the first picture, where a deep red flame was burning.

"Dark yellow?" Fitz guessed, leaning in closer as if that would help him see the color. Their shoulders brushed, and Dex's breath caught in his throat. There was electricity was running through his veins, and the feeling terrified him.

"Dark red," Dex corrected, pulling back as quickly as he could. His voice was thick, choked up, and doing nothing to convince Fitz he wasn't in love. When Dex glanced up, though, he saw nothing but confusion and what almost seemed like betrayal. He hadn't been expecting either of those. But what he focused on were Fitz's eyes. They sparkled, like crystals caught in the light. It felt like Fitz was looking into Dex's soul, and it scared him but he never wanted it to stop. Dex wanted to know the person behind those eyes He wanted to do things like take that person out for coffee, or buy him flowers, or—

He looked away.

Yeah, he was never going to get through this.

Fitz cleared his throat. "Next?"

"Mhm, yeah, sure," Dex said, staring intently at the paper, even though he already had his answer written down.

Fitz scrolled down again, except this time, Dex knew better. He made sure that they never touched, and definitely never made eye contact. If he wanted the slightest chance of surviving this, he would have to make sure his crush didn't interfere.

Fitz wanted to scream.

Dex wouldn’t look at him. He wouldn’t even meet Fitz’s eyes. What had he done wrong? Was it because he’d been insensitive? It was because he’d been insensitive, wasn’t it? He shouldn’t have assumed. How was he going to fix this?

How could he fix this, when Dex wouldn’t even look at him?

Fitz didn’t know what he was supposed to do. The only thing he could think of was to bury his head even deeper in their chemistry homework. But, of course, he couldn’t do that without Dex either, so Fitz was stuck in this awkward game of avoidance. Tension hung thick in the air, and it was stifling.

If he were anyone else, he might have been able to handle it. Fitz was sure even Sophie, the most oblivious person Fitz had ever met—seriously, how had she and Keefe managed to miss their feelings about each other—would be able to manage this better. Then again, Sophie was so unperceptive she might have missed the awkwardness entirely, which wasn’t really a solution so much as it was a bigger problem. Keefe, on the other hand, would have made a joke about how “it looks like we’ve got . . . chemistry” or some other equally blatant pickup line.

Unfortunately, Fitz wasn’t clueless enough for Sophie’s solution, nor was he reckless enough for Keefe’s. His solution wasn’t really a solution, just more of the same: focus on your work and pretend nothing was there. It wouldn’t work for long, and it didn’t actually solve anything, but it was the best thing Fitz could come up with.

Dex, however, was making that solution especially hard.

Every time Fitz leaned over to check his answers, Dex leaned away. Every time Fitz leaned in to move to the next picture, Dex pulled back. It was as if Fitz had strep throat or another incredibly contagious disease. He’d thought the two of them had gotten over their animosity. Dex didn’t still hate him. Did he? No, he’d been through this train of thought already and it wouldn’t get him any more answers. Fitz just had to finish this. They were on their last problem either way, so it wouldn’t be long. Fitz stared at the image, and saw what looked gray-yellow to him. Although, it could have been green, red, or actually gray-yellow.

“Green,” Dex told him.

Boron, Fitz wrote.

There was silence.

Fitz didn’t want to leave now. He felt like he couldn’t; there was too much left unsaid. But Dex was already putting his papers away and if he didn’t say something, Dex would leave and nothing would ever be solved. Fitz had to say something.

So he did.

“Dex?”

Dex stiffens.

"Yeah?"

"I know—" Fitz cuts off, lost. There's a pause.

"You know what?"

And it’s like those words break his brain-to-mouth filter because suddenly words are spilling out of him and he can't seem to stop talking.

"I know you don't like me, alright? And I'm sorry for whatever I've done to you that made you hate me like this, but I thought we were over that. I thought we could be friends. You brought me here. And now you're back to actively avoiding me. Why did you tell me to come here? Did you just want to say "oh, sorry, that thing in chem was a fluke and I actually still hate you”? I can't even lean closer to my laptop without you pulling away. I don't understand, Dex."

Fitz took a shuddering breath, reined his emotions back in, but he had one more thing to say.

"You won't even look me in the eye."

And he was done. He'd said everything. Whether he got answers or not, this was in Dex's hands now. To be honest, he wasn't really expecting answers. Dex would probably get defensive, or just leave. But what happened next was neither of those things.

"You have pretty eyes."

Wait. What?

Had—he heard that right?

"I have pretty eyes. You think I have pretty eyes." Fitz sounded like a broken robot, but he was dumbfounded, and he needed a little clarification.

Dex mouthed wordlessly for a second, before shrugging, helpless.

"Yeah."

"I—is this why you've been—"

"Yeah."

"So, you—do you really?"

"Uh, yeah."

They fell back into silence. Fitz knew he had to respond somehow, but—how? All his feelings were coming to the surface, and he couldn't deal with any of them. As he stared blankly, searching for words, Dex shouldered his backpack.

"I'm sorry. I'll go." Dex said, and turned away.

"Wait, no." The words near burst out from Fitz. He couldn't remember thinking them, or taking a step forward, for that matter. But he was here now, staring at Dex's back and knowing in his bones that he was not willing to lose this whatever-it-may-be, this might-be-something, this chance. Fitz took a deep breath, scraped up whatever confidence he could, and called on his inner Keefe.

"I think you have pretty eyes too."

Dex turned back to him at that and blinked once, twice. Then, of all things, he started laughing. For a moment, Fitz thought Dex had gone insane. “I don’t see what’s so funny?”

More laughter.

“Dex, are you alright?”

Dex raised his hand in the universal sign for "give me a second" as he tried to get himself under control.

"It's just," more laughing, "that's the best you can come up with?"

Alright, that stung a little.

"Well, I'm sorry I'm not eloquent enough for you."

"No, I didn't mean that," Dex said, still snickering. "But this is such a mess.  I hated you for more than a year because I thought you hated me, and I've been awkwardly avoiding you this whole time because I'd just found out you didn't hate me and I was sure you would if you found out I had a massive crush on you, and I wasn't expecting this. And, I mean, now—" Dex gestured in front of him, as if to indicate everything, and started laughing again.

And well, when Dex put it like that, it was kind of funny. Fitz found himself smiling, and then chuckling, and then laughing right along with Dex at the absurdity of the situation. The rain was pounding at the walls and people were starting to give them looks, but they didn't care. For now, it was just them, in the corner of Starkflower, laughing at the sheer weirdness of the world.

(And if Lilli came in just at that moment with a kiss for Calla and a tray of free cupcakes from Ripplefluffs, drawing the attention away from the two boys in the corner because she and Calla knew just how long Dex had been pining, well, they could thank her later.)

It took forever for Dex to finally stop laughing. Every time he got close, he'd look at Fitz and remember, well, everything. That would start it all over again, and it would be at least another minute before he could even begin to calm down. It was a vicious cycle, but eventually he did manage to breathe, and they tried to get back to work.

Fitz remembered he had a bagel, which was cold but still good, so Dex cut it in half and Fitz took one. Chocolate chip bagels were Dex's favorite, and the fact that Fitz just so happened to have one wasn't lost on him. It especially wasn't lost on him when he went to go get cream cheese and Calla winked at him. Still, even meddling bagel shop owners couldn't change the fact that Dex wasn't done with his science homework, thanks to analysis questions. He'd planned to leave once they'd finished the actual image part of their science homework, but this storm and his lack of an umbrella gave him some extra time here, so he might as well use it. And besides, he probably should have been thankful. Calla and her wife had probably had a pretty big hand in this, whatever this was. He still wasn't going to call it a date, but Fitz liked him, actually liked him back, despite everything. Dex felt like he could do the impossible, like defy gravity or fly to Saturn or kiss—

Anyway. Homework.

He wouldn't get much done though because, a few minutes into question one, Dex realized something.

"Wait."

"What is it?" asked Fitz.

Dex stared at him, stunned.

"Did Mr. Leto know?"

Blood rushed to Fitz's face and Dex's jaw dropped. He'd been right.

"He did know! That was why we got paired for every single project in English that year!"

Fitz looked mortified, and Dex wondered if he'd done something wrong.

Then Fitz muttered, "I may or may not have written a poem about your eyes. He came to his own conclusions."

"That was about me?"

Dex was honored. He remembered that poem; everyone in their class did. It was maybe the best piece of writing that had ever come out of a 9th grade English course. Knowing that the mysterious blue-eyed person had been him—well, it was nice.

Fitz, who was growing more embarrassed by the second, finally sputtered, "Well, it's not like I'm the only one who was found out!"

Dex wanted to say “yeah, you were the only one,” and hide all his awkward stories about Biana trying to matchmake— for someone so decidedly single, that girl could spot a crush a mile away. Even still, fair was fair, so Dex inhaled through his teeth and said, "Biana tried to set us up once."

Fitz stared, all prior embarrassment forgotten (although his cheeks were still a little flushed and Dex found it infuriatingly cute).

"My sister did what?"

"Well . . ."

And so Dex told his story. And then Fitz told another one, and Dex told another one, and by the time they realized what time it was, it was already 5:15. If Dex didn't go now the late bus would leave without him, and he'd end up having to sleep at school. Unfortunately, the rain hadn't let up at all. If anything, it had gotten harder, and Dex still didn't have an umbrella. He was going to get soaked, but he didn't really have any other choice. Dex swept his things into his backpack, stuffed his sweater on top for some meager protection against the rain, and prepared to be drenched.

As he headed for the door, Fitz caught his hand.

"What are you doing? It's still raining outside, you'll get wet."

Dex shrugged and pointed to the clock.

"My bus leaves at 5:30, raining or not. I can't really wait."

"But it's pouring! You don't have anything to protect you?"

"In my defense, the weather forecast said nothing about rain. Besides, you don't have anything either, do you?"

Fitz didn't reply to that, but he didn't have to. His wince was answer enough.

Behind them, someone coughed politely, and Dex looked over to see Calla, holding a brightly patterned umbrella.

"If you need an umbrella, I can lend you mine and use Lilli's, but we've only got the one."

Oh, thank goodness, Dex thought. "I could kiss you right now," Dex blurted out, before realizing what he'd said. "Um, I mean—" Fitz cut him off and Dex had never been more grateful. "We'll take it, thank you." Calla smirked and handed Dex the umbrella. "Have a nice walk, you two." Heat rushed to his face, and the ground suddenly grew very interesting. Dex was intently studying the pattern in the wood when Fitz laid a hand on his arm. "So, I'll get my stuff?" "Yeah, sure," Dex responded.

He watched blankly as Fitz scooped up his backpack. The other boy headed to the door, sweeping it open and bowing dramatically.

“My lord,” he said, grinning, and suddenly all the awkwardness in the air was gone, like a breeze had blown the clouds away. Dex bit his tongue to hold back his laughter and tilted his head up imperiously.

“Your services are appreciated,” he replied, striding through the doorway and opening the umbrella. Rain pattered down on everything, tapping a drumbeat on Calla’s umbrella. Dex smiled back at Fitz.

“You coming?”

They walked back in silence, but it was companionable silence, the kind that hung easy between them. The quiet tranquility wrapped around Fitz like a warm blanket, and he reveled in the feeling of being there, with Dex, who against all odds actually liked him back. He would think he was dreaming, but even his dreams couldn’t come up with something like this.

It was cheesy to even think it, but there was nowhere else Fitz would rather have been. It felt as if he could stay there forever, in this moment, with rain tumbling down all around them and Dex's hand in his. Time might have been frozen, held in limbo, forever floating in a little street a few minutes from Foxfire, with two boys holding hands under a brightly patterned umbrella.

Of course, time wasn't frozen and they couldn't stay there forever. The campus was just up ahead, and Fitz could already see people getting on the bus. Dex had to leave or he'd miss his ride home. That didn't mean Fitz wanted him to go.

"I have to . . ." Dex trailed off, but he made no move to let go. Fitz squeezed his hand.

"Here, take the umbrella. You'll need to give it back to Calla later." Fitz pushed the handle towards Dex, who released his grasp on Fitz's hand to grab it. Something small and petty inside him whined at the loss. Fitz ignored it.

"But, aren't you gonna—" Dex gestured to him vaguely. "You know?"

Fitz was about to say something like "No, I'll be fine" or "Don't worry about me," but Dex was standing there looking at him, worry and concern and something else in his eyes. Fitz stared at those eyes, bright blue eyes, truly blue eyes—he was so uncertain of color most of the time but he knew, deep in his bones, those eyes were blue—and he chose to believe that something was the same warmth he'd been holding in his chest this entire time.

They were inches apart.

Maybe it was bravery. Maybe it was only sheer recklessness. Maybe it was the fact that Fitz was a hopeless romantic who'd always longed to kiss someone in the rain.

But whatever it was, it was what pushed Fitz to lean down those last few inches and softly, gently, touch his lips to Dex's.

The world glowed. That was the only way Fitz could explain what kissing Dex felt like. He'd imagined it thousands of times, but nothing compared to this. Nothing even came close. This was something entirely new and different and wonderful. This was everything turning into light, bright as sunrise, and all around him the taste of Dex’s lips on his, the feel of Dex's hand in his hair, the sense of Dex whirling and growing and surrounding him.

When they broke apart, Dex was staring at him like there was nothing and no one else in the world.

“So.” Fitz cleared his throat. “Are we, um, dating now?”

The blinding smile Dex gave him when he said yes was the most beautiful thing Fitz had ever seen.

(He would come up with an explanation for Biana later, as to why he was soaking wet. For now, though, he would simply stare as Dex ran to the bus, still awed by his wonderful, amazing, magnificent boyfriend, and so, so very much in love.)

#kotlc #dex dizznee #fitz vacker #detz #color me in #colorblind au #color me complicated #so you know that thing i wrote a month ago? #i just finished the sequel #a month later #:) i'm fine #enjoy #@ the discord chat #this is for you #this is hands down the LONGEST thing i have ever written #like seriously holy frick it's like 10 pages i don't #aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah #fitz is probably ooc and so is dex but idk man #i never said i could actually characterize #i really want this to actually be #like #a series of fics #i have about three or four more ideas #so if you think of a adjective that starts with c please send it in and maybe i can make a fic out of it #if you read this far thanks for reading! #and if you didn't read the tags thanks for reading anyway #though you won't see it #but thank you!

[chemically-imbalanced-romance]

How did u come across Thomas? An what’s you’re fav video of his? Idk I’m jus kinda curious. I know him from vine an one time I searched into yt like “vine narrator dude guy” and I watched a billion comps. An then I came across his yt, and I’ve been watching ever since like 2016 I think. Idk it’s jus cool to see how other people found out abt him and why they like him an stuff yknow?

His q and a video with the Sides came up on my Tumblr dash like five times. I have anxiety when it comes to watching new YouTubers for some reason but Inwas finally just like uGH FINE. My fave vid of his is uh. Right now I’ve been watching the Showtunes one, so I guess that, but I’m super fond of the newest Cartoon Therapy.