sweet music playing in the dark

[pale-silver-comb]

For @emmmna who asked me for something to cheer them up. I went through my blog looking at fluffy otp prompts and found this: “‘Be nice to your seat partner. They might just be your future spouse!’ the teacher says, and you turn to me and wink. Are you even real??” au. I wrote it rather quickly but I hope it makes you smile, sweetheart!

Derek is a popular kid, and by law (according to every teen movie ever made) his brand of popular is not supposed to get this dumbstruck when the guy who once sneezed on his apple the first day of pre-school winks at him in the middle of Biology.

Derek doesn’t know what it is about Stiles Stilinski but he drives him insane– standing by his locker, talking to that McCall kid in class, sitting on the bench, fidgeting at lacrosse games. One moment Derek is a perfectly normal teenage boy with a perfectly functioning teenage brain and the next he’s that guy in a romantic comedy; all the lights dim and it’s just him, Stiles and whatever bizarre thing Stiles is doing. It’s horribly, wonderfully unsettling and Derek is 95% sure he’s in some kind of love. (He is still a little disturbed Erica had to physically drag him away last week when his eyes refused to stop looking as Stiles tried and failed to lick some kind of sauce – meat, Derek thinks it was – from his elbow.)

“What?” he asks, blinking, trying to look up at Stiles’ face. Unfortunately, his brain has other plans and he continues to remain fixated on the way Stiles is holding his pencil, twirling it between his fingers. He wonders, briefly, what they would feel like laced between his fingers or running through his hair before immediately stopping because no. Stiles also makes him want to bash his head against the wall 75% of the time. He’s a lethal combination.

Lethal.

“I said I’d like a fall wedding. They seem to be quite popular for some reason. Maybe it’s all the pretty leaves.”

Derek blinks again, suddenly struck by the image of Stiles in a suit surrounded by crisp, golden leaves to match his eyes. It’s a strangely lovely image and turning away a little, he scowls at the way his stomach flutters. He’s seventeen for Christ’s sake. He’s only kissed one person: Paige Krasikeva during a game of truth or dare. “You know Miss Byrne was kidding when she said we’d all get married, right? We’re not going to fall in love just because we got seated together in one class together.”

Derek hopes it will be just one class, anyway. He doesn’t think he’ll survive the year otherwise. At least, his grades won’t.

“That’s what you think.” Derek feels his scowl deepen and Stiles throws his head back, sighing. “Yes, buzz kill, I do actually know what a joke is, thank you very much.” He blushes a little, ducking his head, and Derek instantly feels bad.

“I, uh…”

“Dude, look. It’s fine. Sorry.  I didn’t mean to, like, offend you or whatever.”

“You didn’t offend me.”

Stiles snorts. “Uh-huh. You moved your chair the moment you sat down next to me. I get it, it’s fine. I’ll shut up, I promise.” He mimes zipping his lips, blush deepening, and his eyes zero in on his textbook but Derek can tell he’s not taking in a word of it, even as he turns the page.

Opening his note book, Derek cringes, writing down the date. He looks to the clock. He’s got another thirty minutes of sitting here with Stiles.

Twenty-nine, he swallows.

Twenty-eight, sneaking a glance at him.

Twenty-seven: “I’m sure you’d make a beautiful bridegroom.”

Stiles’ head snaps up and he drops his pencil. They both watch it roll away. “What?”

Derek wants to slap himself. Of all the things he could have said, of all the fucking things, who the fuck says…that?

“I, erm-”

“You don’t have to mock me, you know,” Stiles hisses, defensive, embarrassed. “I get it. You’re the basketball captain and I’m on the bleachers. You don’t belong with me, whatever.”

Derek bites his lip, supressing a smirk. “Did you…did you just paraphrase Taylor Swift to me?”

Stiles’ cheeks colour again and Derek’s breath hitches. Fuck, he’s never going to tire of that.

“You knew I was paraphrasing Taylor Swift?”

They both burst out laughing at the same time, earning them a scowl from Miss Byrne and a guffaw from the back of the room. Turning, Derek catches Lydia Martin roll her eyes at them before shooting Stiles a knowing look. When he turns back around, Stiles is an even brighter shade of red, if that’s even possible, mouthing something to her. It’s utterly, utterly endearing and Derek kind of wants to do something stupid, like hold Stiles’ hand or draw hearts all over his notebook.

“You know,” he whispers, after a moment, feeling brave, “I’ve still never forgiven you for sneezing on my apple. Maybe you could buy me a new one, after school.”

Stiles’ mouth drops open. “That one is on you, buddy. Who actually brings an apple to give to their teacher on the first day of school anyway?”

It’s Derek’s turn to blush. Dammit. “Oh, I don’t know. People with manners?”

Stiles’ eyes widen. “That’s…the most adorable thing I’ve ever heard, dude.”

“Shut up.”

“Oh my god, but it is.”

“Are you going to buy me another one or not?” Derek asks, rolling his eyes, resisting the urge to wrap his arms around himself. God, what is wrong with him.

Grinning, Stiles reaches into his bag, presenting him with a –

“I don’t know what kind of apples you eat but that is an orange.”

Stiles curses, scratching the back of his neck, and Derek just about falls out of his seat with how tingly he feels looking at him.

He desperately hopes he’s not giving him heart eyes.

“Points for trying?” Stiles grins, hopeful.

Derek pretends to consider him before taking the orange and beginning to peel it. “Depends.”

“On?”

“If marrying me includes a date after school today.”

In the end, it’s Stiles who falls out of his seat, and Derek can’t stop grinning for the rest of the day thinking about it.

Pick you up at 6? comes a text the moment he sits down in History. Erica peeks over his shoulder, trying to pry as usual, but Derek hides his phone, heart pounding as he replies, I help coach the pee wee basketball team until seven. Pick me up then?

So. Darn. Cute, Stiles texts back.

“Derek…are you – are you blushing? Oh my god, you never blush. Who was that? Was that Stilinski?”

“Shut up, Erica.”

~

Stiles ends up taking him to an apple orchard and buys him exactly one hundred and one apples. 

“One hundred and one apples for forever and a day?” he asks, winking. Derek’s stomach flips.

“Sure,” Derek says, shaking his head fondly, biting into one and then, because Stiles bought him several different kinds, another.

~

“Forever and a day?” Stiles asks, fourteen years later, holding out an apple. It’s cut in half and getting down on one knee he opens it carefully, like a box. Inside is a ring.

“Sure,” Derek whispers, grinning so hard it hurts, falling to his knees and burying his face in Stiles’ neck to hide his blush.

“Dork.”

“Nerd.”

Stiles laughs. “Fair enough.”

[kayakoba]

Them, but got caught on 4k

[latibule-e-deactivated20231012]

When Richard siken said “it keeps coming back to that: what do i do with these hands?” and when Mitski said “i don't know what to do without you, i don't know where to put my hands” and when Olivia gatwood said “what am i, if not yours? what do i do with my hands when they are just hands?” and when Sylvia plath said “what did my fingers do before they held him? what did my heart do, with its love?

[cobaltfluff]

happy halloween to my beloved blorbos!!!

[hanamasus]

part 2 of “Back when (we didn’t know each other yet)”

2/3

read from right to left

[slfcare]

things to do when your day's been bad

lie down on the floor beside your bed

take a shower, use the good soap

listen to a song you liked ages ago

write your thoughts out in all caps

draw a head and then 'decorate' that head however you're feeling (I drew a man with a hole for a face. It worked)

listen to a song and try to focus on one (1) instrument at a time, baseline, drums, guitar, another guitar, repeating sound effect

wash your face

take a nap or go to bed early

call someone. tell them about your horrible day or let them talk about theirs or both

go through your camera roll (specifically the screenshots folder)

go through your saved instagram posts / tumblr likes

watch That One Really Great Live Performance of That Artist You Love, then read the comments of everyone having great taste like you do

cry a little about it

remember that this day will end and another will begin. it'll be all new, never experienced before, no bad things will have happened, and you'll be okay.

[browneyeslouis]

having a character playlist is like this song is them. this song is who they think they are. this song is their brand of insanity. and this song is about a specific ass situation they were in. this song is about their relationship with another character. that song is about the relationship they would have with another character. this song is them but slightly to the left. this song is totally misinterpreted just to fit them. this song is just their vibesTM. this song is if everything had gone different. this song only has one line that applies to them. and this one has nothing to do with them but i was vibing with it real hard at the same time i fixated on them and now i'm unable to think of it without thinking of them

[inkskinned]

probably time for this story i guess but when i was a kid there was a summer that my brother was really into making smoothies and milkshakes. part of this was that we didn't have AC and couldn't afford to run fans all day so it was kind of important to get good at making Cool Down Concoctions.

we also had a patch of mint, and he had two impressionable little sisters who had the attitude of "fuck it, might as well."

at one point, for fun, this 16 year old boy with a dream in his eye and scientific fervor in heart just wanted to see how far one could push the idea of "vanilla mint smoothie". how much vanilla extract and how much mint can go into a blender before it truly is inedible.

the answer is 3 cups of vanilla extract, 1/2 cup milk alternative, and about 50 sprigs (not leaves, whole spring) of mint. add ice and the courage of a child. idk, it was summer and we were bored.

the word i would use to describe the feeling of drinking it would maybe be "violent" or perhaps, like. "triangular." my nose felt pristine. inhaling following the first sip was like trying to sculpt a new face. i was ensconced in a mesh of horror. it was something beyond taste. for years after, i assumed those commercials that said "this is how it feels to chew five gum" were referencing the exact experience of this singular viscous smoothie.

what's worse is that we knew our mother would hate that we wasted so much vanilla extract. so we had to make it worth it. we had to actually finish the drink. it wasn't "wasting" it if we actually drank it, right? we huddled around outside in the blistering sun, gagging and passing around a single green potion, shivering with disgust. each sip was transcendent, but in a sort of non-euclidean way. i think this is where i lost my binary gender. it eroded certain parts of me in an acidic gut ecology collapse.

here's the thing about love and trust: the next day my brother made a different shake, and i drank it without complaint. it's been like 15 years. he's now a genuinely skilled cook. sometimes one of the three of us will fuck up in the kitchen or find something horrible or make a terrible smoothie mistake and then we pass it to each other, single potion bottle, and we say try it it's delicious. it always smells disgusting. and then, cerimonious, we drink it together. because that's what family does.

[varsityqueerleadercaptain-deact]

how do i become easier to love

[animentality]

Goncharov broke containment.

[broomsticks]

[special-lucky-chosen-one]

[maa-chudao-apni-nhiaarhavps-dea]

I found a woman, stronger than anyone I know

She shares my dreams

I hope that someday I'll share her home

I found a lover, to carry more than just my secrets

To carry love, to carry children of our own

[jussumsum]

[someguyiguess-deactivated202511]

[vanshira]

The fact that We All Know The Joke is why Tumblr will never die

[juliaxyn]

It is time to take the books and start studying, you will achieve your goals📚🎓✨

[chalseud]

Actor AU! Promoting The Final Season 🤟🔥

[smol-ackerman]

THE COMMANDERS' SACRIFICE:

"Everyone will die someday. Does that mean life is meaningless? "Was there ever any meaning in our being born?" Would you say that of our fallen comrades? Their lives... were they meaningless? No, they weren't! It's we who give meaning to our comrades' lives. The brave fallen! The anguished fallen! The once who will remember them... are us, the living! We die trusting the living who follow to find meaning in our lives! This is the sole method in which we can rebel against this cruel world! My soldiers, rage! My soldiers, scream! MY SOLDIERS, FIGHT!"

[anonazure]

The sheriff treating his adult scary children like babies?

The sheriff treating them like his precious baby boys in public?

“Richie, what did I say about smoking? Put.It.Out!”

“Mitch, kiddo, we use our words before we use our fists. You’re 36, I shouldn’t have to say these things.”

“Stiles, for the love of Christ speak English. You’re butchering my mother language.” (The man, in my head, was born and raised in Poland until he was like ten. Polish is his first language and while he’s got English down packed and uses that predominantly in public he speaks polish mostly at home with the family. People in town look at them all weird when they speak Polish so he feels weird about speaking it in public and Stiles? He butchers it. Like a lot. Think Spanglish but with Polish.)

“He daddio, there’s this new laser tag place that opened up in town-”

“Father mine, daddy-man, please please please please can I borrow the armored truck? Jackson’s visiting and I wanna relive old times with the fucker I mean my precious friend-”

“…Dad…can I just sleep in the office? Richie talks in his sleep and moves around a lot so the bunk beds shake. I tried staying with stiles but he’s only got one bed and he’s clingy. And drools. I don’t want to accidentally sleep shoot my brothers.”

Sheriff, at his breakfast book, hasn’t even had coffee when his three children came barreling in to annoy him and this 7AM on a Sunday.

He sighs.

“Richie, if you swindle or threaten any children at laser tag you’re grounded. Stiles, no. And I don’t mean no you can’t wink wink, I do not mean no but do it anyway so long as I don’t notice. I mean no, don’t. You cannot. Do it and you’re grounded. And Mitch,” The sheriff takes a long drink of his black coffee. “If you’re okay with that sure. If not just bunk with me till we can get the spare sorted out with a bed.”

The kids all separate for the day and unsurprising he grounds 34 year old Richie for threatening a group of twelve year olds “they started it!”

Grounds Stiles for stealing the armored truck, “I was gonna put it back!” And laughs at his community service. Hard. “It’s not fair! Scott was there too of course he was there so I didn’t do too much damage but he was!”

And Mitch? Well he doesn’t have to ground Mitch. Mitch is a silent child who sometimes scares him by just appearing out of the darkness but is his good boy. Mitch is the one that doesn’t give him any ounce of trouble.

He also sleeps like the dead and keeps the sheriff up at night to check his breathing with a mirror, so there’s that too.

At least he couldn’t get any worse. Until the front door bursts open and they see a colorful mass barreling towards the sheriff, the hug is tight, he is lifted up off the ground. He pats the top of the bleach blonde head.

“Colin, kid, how you been?”

“Big Papa you have no idea!” Colin has his phone out and angled for selfies.

Whoever said kids keep you young has never met the Stilinski’s. And there is still two more out there that have yet to make it home. This sheriff wonders if he has room in the house and he’s trying to figure out how he did it the first time around.

(Cuz it’s a funny idea and you liked it the first time😊

This is the best thing I've ever read about the Stilinski family

[philosophybits]

“My friend, to love people as they are is impossible. And yet one must. And therefore do good to them, clenching your feelings, holding your nose, and shutting your eyes (this last is necessary). Endure evil from them, not getting angry with them if possible, ‘remembering that you, too, are a human being’.”

— Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Adolescent