forever and ever, no matter what.

♟️ the naturals headquarters

[thenaturalshq]

#♟️- the official naturals blog hq , come to this post to check on dates and events

⚠️ this will update and change over time! keep checking it so you don't miss anything!

🚨 what's upcoming: august 9-15 michaelia week.

🗓 full schedule (by month) ⬇️

✶ JANUARY:

✶ FEBRUARY: deancassie week, 2nd week of the month. prompts and month-specific dates to come.

✶ MARCH: michael's birthday march 31!

✶ APRIL: character week, 2nd week of the month. more details to come.

✶ MAY:

✶ JUNE: naturals week, 2nd week of the month. and sloane's birthday june 21! pretend its canon

✶ JULY:

✶ AUGUST: michaelia week, 2nd week of the month. prompts and month-specific dates to come.

✶ SEPTEMBER:

✶ OCTOBER: rare pair ships week, 2nd week of the month. prompts and month-specific dates to come.

✶ NOVEMBER: dangerous impulses release! mini countdown. more details to come.

✶ DECEMBER: delavish week, 2nd week of the month. prompts and month-specific dates to come.

[p4nd4rii]

Eat Up!

Summary: Michael heals from a case gone wrong. Starting with a milkshake instead of alcohol. Word Count: 1172 a/n: Day 2 of Michaelia Week and minutes before day 3! Apologies as there is actually very little ship content in this one. @thenaturalshq Warnings! Mentions of child abuse, child death, reference to self harm or self endangerment, slight graphic descriptions.

Silence was the only response Michael could give Sloane after she knocked on his door and said some statistics about not eating. Even Dean made an attempt to drag Michael out of his room. To no avail, but it wasn’t too surprising. Not after the last case. Not after Michael shouldered the blame for letting that kid die in front of him.

“Michael. Open up or I’ll find my own way in.” Lia stated, a bag of burgers and fries in her left hand and a carrier with two milkshakes in her right.

She waited for a few moments and debated if she should just pick the lock or go through the window. Luckily, or unluckily, a reluctant and smelly boy emerged.

“You look like quite the charmer, Townsend.” She scoffed as she pushed her way in. The empty alcohol bottles littering the floor and the musty smell that came from them floated. “Open your window and go take a shower or something please.”

“Don’t need to.” Michael grumbled as he plopped on his bed.

“No one needs to know how to detect that lie if they have a nose.” Lia remarked as she cleaned off his desk to make room for the meal. “It’ll help a bit. Please.”

That was the second time Lia had said please. As much as Michael didn’t want to do anything, but lay in his bed, he trudged his way to the bathroom down the hall.

The moment the hot shower water hit his skin, all he could remember was the blood trickling down his hands. Lost in his thoughts as he tried to scrub it all away, all the memories, all the grime,and all the feelings, the water soon went cold. It was a similar sensation to the small body he hunched over, the face he saw clenched in pain and he had no way to stop it. The tiny hand that dug into his shirt until it went limp. The boy who gave some warmth on that cold night, somehow becoming colder than the air itself.

He heard knocking on the door, most likely Lia with how confident they were. “I’ll be out in a minute. I’m fine.”

He doesn’t know why he added the last part. Lia would be able to see through it easier than looking through glasses. Maybe it was to convince himself?

He stepped out of the shower, towel around his waist and realized he never grabbed clothes to change into. He grumbled in annoyance, deciding it was whatever to just walk ten steps down the hall. To his surprise a pile of neatly folded clothes sat in front of the door. It was a pair of batman pj pants and a black tee, a matching set to Lia’s Hello Kitty set.

As he padded down the hallway, he saw Lia, in the complimenting pjs to his own,leaning against the door, “Well hello Boy Blunder.”

He barely stepped into his room and knew that everyone had been inside. After all, the floors were now visible. “Didn’t know I was gone for that long…”

Lia moved to his bed, the now cold burger and soggy fries laid out. “Was almost worried you drowned in there somehow. Well enough of that, I set up your laptop with the oh so lovely Netflix subscription you have as well as the straggler movies on the other platforms. Plus milkshakes won’t give you a headache!”

Michael moved to sit beside Lia on the bed, stomach grumbling after not eating for so long. He appreciated how hard Lia was trying, but he couldn’t focus on the movie in front of him. All he can see is the little boy. The one that was a little too much like him, the one he thought he could save.

“I wonder if he got to eat that night…” the words spilled out from his thoughts and through his mouth.

Lia looked up from the screen. She didn’t have to ask what he was talking about. She placed a hand on his thigh and leaned against his chest. She was warm. Alive.

“He told me he wanted to ride in the McLaren. Said it looked like his hot wheel.” Michael rambled, not sure why. Maybe he felt compelled to share the story of that little eight year old. The boy who would be forgotten by many with a stack of bills. “I could’ve done more. I should’ve done more. I saw it. Lia, I saw me.”

His voice cracked more than he thought it could on that last word.

Lia inhaled, never really knowing how to comfort someone. Especially not Michael. The Michael that usually runs when emotions are high, resorts to reckless behavior. Not the one that’s been rotting in his room for a week and has shut down. “We can bring some burgers or something to his grave, if you’d like?”

Michael poked the inside of his cheek, a habit he does while thinking. “He has a grave?”

He doesn’t know why he’s surprised. To a family like that, appearances matter. But, would visiting him help? Would it give closure or stop the cold burning sensation?

“Screw it. Let’s go.” He forced out, needing to leave this room, this feeling behind finally. 

The next few minutes of getting in the car and driving were a blur. He can barely remember when they got the burgers for him, let alone where he got the hot wheel that matches the very car he’s sitting in.

“Michael?” Lia tapped his shoulder, trying to bring him to the present, “are you sure you want to do this?”

“Yeah.” He let out a sharp exhale, “I want to say sorry one more time, I want to make sure he isn’t alone anymore, I want to make sure he isn’t hurting anymore.”

Lia nodded, leading the way to the grave where all the other Naturals were only days prior. They finally got to a small plaque with a bunch of flowers from the other day still there.

Michael set down the small kids meal they got, placing it on the smooth stone softly. “Hey, didn’t know what you liked, but it has bacon! I remember you said you liked that. There’s extra fries too, since you can eat whatever you want now too.”

Michael could feel his face wet, most likely tears. “I found a hot wheel that I think you said you have. I brought its twin too. You’ll come for a ride, right?” 

Lia sat next to Michael when his legs gave out. Leaning on him in hopes it’d ground him as his voice shook through each word. They sat there, Michael talking for an hour or two, Lia holding his hand as it shook with anger or with sorrow. He felt better though. It was easier to breathe, to look down and not see a face trying to suppress its pain.

“Thank you, Lia.” Michael stood up as they began to leave. “Eat up. You were so strong, Micah.”

[asalmiel]

Moodboard AU time!🤭

Collage AU where Michael and Lia are recruited into an elite private collage serving the offspring of the world's top crime families, training to become assassins with a purpose. She's titled as a rat, the group of students at the bottom of the food chain with no affiliation. He's a legacy, his rich as sin family having been in the collage before. And in between the generational hatred between rats and legacies, things get more complicated....

I'm falling now, I only find the worst for myself...

Just pull me out, I fall into your curse hold me down...

Ok this is meant to be a moodboard but I MIGHT end up writing it someday after I finish my thousand other Michaelia projects. By all means if anyone would like to beat me to it go for it 100%.

@thenaturalshq

[faye12344]

Michael Townsend - Business

Lia Zhang - Law

@thenaturalshq @silvermoon34

[faye12344]

Michael x Lia College Moodboard

@thenaturalshq @silvermoon34

[the2sdqughter]

okay i fucking hate this bye

[ @thenaturalshq ] [ overlays by 4elcu ]

[p4nd4rii]

Tell The Truth and Do The Dare.

Summary: Michael and Lia find themselves trapped in an odd room and forced to play a twisted game that reveals more about their past then it should Word Count: 962 a/n: Day 1 of Michaelia Week!! Totally not late, and totally didnt give up on the ending T-T @thenaturalshq

“Lia…” Michael swallowed hard before asking, “truth or dare?”

“This is stupid, we don’t have to play this dumb game-” Lia was scowling before being interrupted by a bullet hole appearing right next to her hand.

A voice over the intercom repeated the instructions they received only 5 minutes ago. “Again, since you’re being difficult. Play the game or I’ll ensure you bleed out slowly. Tell a lie, and the other person will suffer the consequences. Now answer the boy, girl.”

“...Truth.”

A second later a small card slowly ascended out from a slit in the center of the table. Michael sharply inhaled before he took the card to read aloud, “Have you ever been in a cult before?”

The question wasn’t a problem to answer. The question itself was the problem. Whoever had placed Lia and Michael here had done some research. They weren’t just randomly picked.

“I have.” Lia spat out. “Townsend, truth or dare?”

Between any of the naturals, these two believed they had a slight advantage to this game. Or so they thought. Lia should be able to lie her way out of truths, but these questions asked seemed researched, things she can’t lie her way out of. What’s worse is the unknown punishment Michael will have to face if she’s caught. Then there’s Michael, who should be able to handle most dares. He’s reckless to an extent, lacks self preservation and to keep Lia safe, he’d do a lot. However, when Lia read the card holding his dare, he wavered.

“Break the vase.” Lia read out, “what vase?’

As Lia was reading, Michael already saw the vase in question. It was a translucent light green vase with vine detailing on the handles. About as high as his knee, sitting on a familiar pedestal behind a wall that had slowly spun 180 degrees.

The task was easy. The memory attached to that vase wasn’t. When Michael was younger, 6 years old roughly, he recalled shattering that exact vase off of the exact pedestal after bumping into it. That day he broke it, was one of the first times he ever got beat to the point of fainting.

He slowly walked over, his limp leg dragging along. Once he reached the vase, he tipped it over. Hating how hard he flinched upon hearing the glass hit the floor.

“Truth or Dare?” He murmured as he stared at the fractured glass of his childhood.

Based on Michael’s reaction to a simple dare, she figured there had to be more to it. Though it seemed better than whatever question the person behind the intercom was planning to ask.

“Dare.” Just as she made her choice another slip of paper emerged from the center of the table.

Lia picked it up herself this time as Michael was still lost in whatever memory he was stuck in.

“Chain yourself for two rounds.” She looked up to the wall turning once again. Michael moving out of the way, glass still everywhere.

There in front of them was a white twin sized bed. The bed from her childhood. The one from the cult.

A moment of silence passed between the two. Lia hadn’t taken a step to join Michael in front of the wall. Michael had seen every flash of emotion on Lia’s face.

He saw disgust, anger, confusion, panic and mostly fear.

“Lia?” He called out, trying to get her attention, “the clock is about to start beeping.”

She pulled her attention from the bed to the small digital clock above the only door in sight. 15 seconds left. She took a breath and moved, trying to not let it shake her too much.

The metal shackles were cold, not too tight around her wrists, and just enough slack to allow her to move three feet from the bed. Just like before.

“Truth or dare?” She forced out, voice straining just as much as she used to against these bindings.

“Truth.” 

As per usual a card came out, “When Thatcher Townsend hit your mom instead of you for the first time, did you smile?”

Michael’s cheek protruded a bit as he poked the inside of it with his tongue. With a heavy exhale he admitted, “For a split second, I did.”

He didn’t want to turn to see Lia’s face, didn’t want to know how she’d react to this. Sure he did smile for a second when he was 8, but through tears and relief that it wasn't him. Not to mention the guilt he felt after. It doesn’t make him less of a jerk for it, but it’s what happened.

The game goes on for at least two hours. Secrets and buried pasts are revealed. Bits and pieces that should not be known by anyone unless they’ve been watched since a young age. It was terrifying. Everything they both wanted to hide was being thrown in their faces and there was no being to fight back against, unless they wanted to hurt each other in the process.

Two hours and 45 minutes since the game had started. Two hours and 45 minutes was how long it lasted before Briggs had kicked the door down and Sterling’s voice was heard through the intercom.

The two teens left the room with literal and emotional cuts emended into their very souls. The truths they tried to hide in vain left too many marks on each other that they ever wanted to be responsible for. The dares that had them reenact their childhoods in front of the other were moments that’ll never be spoken about. The lightless look in their eyes and dissociated behavior took at least a week to fade away. What never went away was Michael’s last response to his truth, “Do you love Lia?”

[rainforcsts]

surprise surprise i couldn't leave my michaelia children with nothing

michaelia week, august 11: college

@thenaturalshq

i chose fashion design for lia because i feel like she would be really interested in fashion (even in canon) and her fashion is one of the things that she's always been able to control, like one day she could be this cutesy coquette girl and the next day she could be this witchy goth girl and either way it's still her because she can wear anything and everything she wants. it makes her feel like her.

i'm NOT GONNA LIE aviation was chosen completely at random for michael. BUT BUT ok i have some reasons why this one felt right it's because he loves his little cars right and he knows how to operate all that machinery inside and outside idk where he learned i mean i think he was destroying it mostly but yeah. and i was deciding between science courses, engineering courses, and business courses for him but i immediately discarded business because i don't think he would wanna do something his father does and frankly it's too boring for him. science i don't think he's interested in that typa stuff so i was leaning towards engineering but only what type and aviation/aerospace engineering (im using them interchangeably idgaf) was calling out to me.

oh and college!au lia and michael met during an event that they both attended for their close personal mutual friend cassie hobbes xoxo

[hs4atm1dnight]

✶⋆.˚ say you can't sleep, baby, i know

that's that me espresso! ✧˚ ⋆｡˚

⋆.˚☕ michaelia as an espresso/espresso martini @thenaturalshq michaelia week day 2: food/drink

[liazhangjuridico]

A night with Michael Townsend

Synopsis: After one of Lia and Michael’s nights, she is determined to make him eat Chinese food for her, it will be a funny thing considering Michael is the pickiest eater Lia’s ever met

@thenaturalshq

Day 2 of Michaelia week: food !

[faye12344]

I don't think I should, but I want you

Synopsis: When Lia sends Michael a late night demand to meet her at the pool, he knows it’s a petty play at revenge for disrupting her sleep the night before. He goes anyway—always does. Because no matter how hard he tries, he can never resist the pull of her. After all, no one else is quite like Lia Zhang.

Song Inspo: Doomed by Tate McRae

@thenaturalshq @silvermoon34

[asalmiel]

Michaelia cooking headcanons (Michaelia week: food prompt)

There is a reason Judd keeps them far far away from the kitchen, but that doesn't mean they won't try their hand in tormenting the entire house.

Lia always insists on Michael wearing an apron because she lives for making fun of him and has a collection of photos in her phone labeled "Domestic Michael Alexander Thomas Townsend".

Michael does not know that collection exists or else he would set Lia's phone on fire.

He likes his eggs over easy and she likes them sunny side up which always causes them to argue when they're on breakfast duty (spoiler: Lia wins.)

He helped Judd make some homemade ice cream for Lia's alleged birthday (well most likely just made things difficult for Judd but hey at least he tried)

Some of their cooking experiences has led to the most aggressive food fights you've ever seen. Lia started throwing flour at him to make her point and Michael rubbed chocolate powder all over her hair.

Veronica stopped this and ordered them to go take a shower. She did not mean take a shower together and start another war in there but still.

You could not PAY him to touch mint ice cream but it's Lia's favorite.

He overcooks things and calls them perfectly roasted and she doesn't cook them enough and if you make a single comment about it your life is forfeit.

Dean has caught them making out over the food on the stove multiple times and has gone back to Cassie traumatized down to his soul.

I'm talking Michael fully pinning her to the counter and Lia grabbing his hair while the spaghetti wails in the pot if you were curious.

Sloane gives a list of food to Michael, data over the years she collected that Lia likes. When they were off, Michael and Sloane spent an entire evening trying to make french toast and pancakes only for Michael to pretend Sloane made all of those because he's too proud to apologize (Lia finds out he's lying anyways)

He's allergic to cinnamon and she uses this against him when he pisses her off (mildly)

She pretends the sour patches she buys are for herself but really they're for him because he prefers things sour.

Whenever they are on a grocery run they purposefully mess up requests and act innocent. Michael specifically will mess Dean's up if he has any when Lia isn't looking.

Whenever they're banned from cooking with each other or they have an argument they find ridiculous reasons to criticize each other's food like "Lia are you positive you didn't use sugar instead of salt? They look awfully alike." Or "Michael dearest I believe your definition of cooked potatoes needs some work."

The concept of recipes is non existent to them. They go by the flow✌️

When he was at the academy with Dean and Sloane in twelve he called her daily for the sole reason of complaining about the horrible food (this is an excuse btw he missed her) and her response was basically "this is karma on your ass"🥰

@thenaturalshq

[aquamagrine]

are you playing? truth or dare

now you care? truth or dare

are you playing? truth or -

idk if this counts as a dare but yay michaelia week!

dividers by @uzmacchiato

image credits pinterest #notmine

@thenaturalshq

[the2sdqughter]

idek if this counts for dares but whatever HAPPY MICHAELIA WEEK!

[ @faye12344 ] [ @thenaturalshq ]

[liazhangjuridico]

Truth

Dare

Spin bottles

You know

how to ball

I know

Aristotle

This is my first moodboard in tumblr ever so I did my best for Michaelia week <3 @thenaturalshq

Dividers by @uzmacchiato

[faye12344]

Lia's Dares:

Dared Michael to let her dye his hair pink for a week

Dared Michael to let her take his new car out for a test drive (he ended up coming with her and riding shotgun the entire time for "safety purposes," and they ended up blasting loud music and having a lot of fun)

Dared Michael to speak in a British accent for an hour (it ended up annoying her more than she thought when he kept it up for the whole day)

Dared Michael to try to sneak up on Agent Sterling (it ended with Michael getting flipped over her shoulder)

Dared Michael to eat the world's hottest chip without making a face (he kept it up for a solid minute, but then caved and needed milk)

Dared Michael to ask Judd to read him a bedtime story (Judd handed him a case file for bed instead)

Dared Michael to go skinny dipping in the pool (Agent Starmans saw him through the window and gave a disgusted expression, but Michael just winked at him)

Dared him to do a TikTok dance with Cassie and keep insisting it wasn't perfect so they had to redo it (it took fifteen attempts for her to give up)

Dared Michael to wear a blindfold for a whole day so he wouldn't read her expressions

Michael's Dares:

Dared Lia to be nice to him for a week (it didn't work out as he intended when she was passive-aggressive the whole time)

Dared Lia to tell Judd she's pregnant (he just walked away)

Dared Lia to give him a hug every morning for a week (she normally hates hugs, but did it anyways, and he accepted with the most obnoxious expression on his face each time)

Dared Lia to gaslight Sloane into believing an absurd fake fact about flamingos being naturally purple (they ended up going back and forth for a whole hour and a half about it)

Dared Lia to sneak into Dean's room, steal his favorite jacket, and wear it around all day (she did it, and he noticed, but he let her wear it anyways and didn't ask for it back)

Dared Lia to fake an argument with him in front of the house to see whose side they took (Dean took Lia's, Sloane stayed neutral which Michael got offended about, Celine took Lia's just to mess with Michael, Judd didn't care, and Cassie initially stayed out of it but took Michael's when he insisted he was being ganged up on)

Dared Lia to let him dress her for a whole week (he ended up picking the most absurd, ridiculous outfits in her closet, except for the last night when he dressed her in lingerie...)

Dared Lia to flirt with Celine out of the blue (Celine caught on and both of them flirted ten times harder to mess with him)

@thenaturalshq @silvermoon34

[asalmiel]

Let me Start by saying, happy Michaelia week!

For the dares prompt, presented to you from the depth of my twisted mind, here comes Heartburn!

In an AU where Michael hasn't joined the naturals program yet, things slowly start to go sideways when Lia Zhang meets the one and only Townsend heir in the back of a very questionable bar. Spoiler: things are not going well for him.

Hope you enjoy and please tell what you think, I'd love to hear all of your thoughts, whether it's here or on Ao3!

@thenaturalshq