#and i don’t even say this just because of dakavendish
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I stand by the fact that if MML had PNF’s popularity, Cavendish and Dakota would reach iconic status like Doof & Perry have
#milo murphy’s law#this is ignoring the fact that to me the two pairs are equally iconic#and i don’t even say this just because of dakavendish#they have certain traits you’d see in a lot of beloved characters on the internet#short and chubby man with multiple versions of himself that makes lots of jokes to deal with anxiety?#gay british man in a suit?#does that sound familiar at all
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So on the subject of Stucky [VERY LONG, TW: DEPRESSION]
And a quick note, Bucky looks at Steve the same way Q looks at Picard.
So, some member of Marvel or something somewhere if someone could find the web article for me please???
Someone who works for Marvel essentially said that Bucky and Nat were both crushing on Steve.
HAHA OK so since it’s not on the screen, you can tell us?
Yeah, that’s my opinion on a lot of things.
Sometimes on screen, it’s still so damn obvious. Qcard. SO OBVIOUS. Dakavendish.
Look at Dakota’s face. This is the dorky smile I would get around my ex.
Oh also book series, specifically WARRIOR CATS in which Scholastic said “No you can’t have Leafpool and Mothwing be together” and so that didn’t happen because the Erins are pushovers (???) and then behind the scenes they’ll stay stuff like “yes Darkstripe was gay” “some of us see Tallstar and Jake as something more” “oh yeah RavenBarley is canon”
Yeah, so actually making it happen will bother the censors, right? You do realize answers are a translate away?
Yes, this is a person who is aware how broken Google Translate is but believe me.
Alright, back to Stucky. I can understand why it wouldn’t get canonized. In the comics, Bucky was actually younger than Steve. A LOT younger. They had a father-son dynamic, think Batman and Robin from DC. I don’t remember why this was changed, but I suppose it could have been a bit strange.
HOWEVER!!! I, like several other people, HATE the Endgame ending with a passion. Steve’s character arc revolved around Bucky. When was the last time Peggy was relevant? When Steve helped carry her coffin? All of a sudden he sees her in Endgame and “I’m with you till the end of the line” means NOTHING and he goes and lives out his life with a woman who had a full life WITHOUT HIM.
I’m just- I’m just… UPSET with Marvel about this. I’m upset with the Russo Brothers the most cuz they directed this movie.
Guys, when a slash ship is even PARTIALLY canon, treat it with respect on the screen/page. You anger the fandom beast when you don’t.
Oh, and that brings me to another thing that pisses me off. Fandoms bringing canon LGBTQIA-whatever-letters-there’s-a-plus-here-guys+ in so late in the game. Do you realize how long fandoms like Marvel and Star Trek had to wait for this stuff? I mean, I guess Seven counts, but the Seven x Raffi romance wasn’t the best executed??? And the fact Star Trek’s first same-gender kiss WASN’T IN DISCOVERY and was in DS9 and people FORGOT ABOUT IT???
However, even though Eternals SUUUUCKED, it did the whole “Phastos has a husband and son” thing right. Still a twinge annoyed.
Having characters canonized as queer later is cool tho. Warrior Cats with Ravenpaw, Harry Potter and Ron apparently (I do not support JKR) even though if the series happens it will probably suck and their romance would probably feel like shoehorned fan service (Don’t shoehorn your fan service).
BACK ON TOPIC, don’t know if you cared about The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I did. I thought it was… okay dealing with stuff like racism at a time where struggles that the Black community faces really started coming back into the public eye, as well as the idea of the interest narratives that could come from everyone returning after being gone 5 years.
But here, we’re talking about Bucky’s therapy. Don’t know if you know this, but the actress who played Bucky’s therapist, Dr. Raynor, said that this therapy, though court-mandated, could be LIFE-SAVING.
Of course he’s depressed, his best friend/love of his life (AKA NOT SARAH WILSON) ABANDONED him.
I’m just saying saying this stuff doesn’t help with how messed up Steve leaving was to begin with!
Now there was one more thing I was gonna say but I forgot so I’ll post a part 2 when I remember.
#TLDR… actually read it if you care#stucky#steve rogers#bucky barnes#marvel#natasha romanoff#qcard#star trek#dakavendish#balthazar cavendish#vinnie dakota#milo murphys law#warrior cats#mothpool#leafpool#mothwing#darkstripe#talljake#ravenbarley#tallstar#jake warrior cats#ravenpaw#barley warrior cats#peggy carter#endgame sucks#f endgame#pride month 2023#SD 11014.0
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Hi!!
This is a bad au idea, by me!!! aksjdksa
The ideas I’ve got so far are pretty basic and only about the things I like, sorry, it’s all rambling aksdjas, I guess it’s kinda long too, sorry about that aklsda [there's spoilers if you haven’t seen the show!]
Okay, so!
[be careful, there’s a tiny death mention!]
First things first, Milo, Melissa, Zack and Amanda are the four humans that are being psychologically tortured. They’re there even if they weren’t bad on purpose, because of the unfair point system that decides where humans go. Like, Milo is always trying to protect himself and people from Murphy’s law, but, and this is sort of dark, some people has been hurt or died anyways, and he can’t control that. He’s there for that reason, for hurting people indirectly, it’s very unfair of course, but seems perfect to explain the point system.
Anyways, so, there’s the “Good Place”, that is this Good Neighbourhood, the new form they’re trying to use to torture humans. This new idea was brought up by Cavendish, Mr Block doesn’t think that it’s a good idea at all, but he let him do it anyways. So, he steals a Good Dakota from the Good Place.
There are hundreds of Dakotas. And though I wanted him to wear his usual tracksuit I still like the idea of a vest and shirt like Janet wears, like it changes slightly every time he gets killed and updated asdkl.
At the beginning, he just goes with the orders and questions he gets, then he goes though all the updates and gets his personality. also,,, idk maybe there can be some dakavendish ajsdk. as a treat ey. :’v
Well. Cavendish. He creates this Good Neighbourhood with Dakota’s powers and his own, and there are a bunch of demons too that have kid disguises on. He’s constantly stressed about failing once again the test, and more so because his boss and colleagues always went about how it was a bad idea, and since demons are Mean by default, he feels a bit discouraged by all of the you’re useless and stupid and this idea sucks and so does your mum. And well, he fails, of course, because the kids are just too smart or something, more than him being incompetent, i can’t really remember what’s going on about that. All of a sudden I don’t remember the show alksjdas.
So, Milo is the one to feel that he doesn’t belong there, because it’s the Good Place and yet Murphy’s law keeps working (but maybe that’s just out of Cavendish’s hands, and Murphy’s law is just that powerful, and he tries to look for the files of other Murphy’s in the afterlife). Things go wrong and he feels scared about getting kicked out, so he goes to tell Zack, and he gets scared too because what if Milo gets caught and the architect sends him to the Bad Place. Melissa and Amanda are both sure they belong there, and pretty happy about it too. But once they get told about Milo’s problem, they get to try and support him, Amanda not right away tho, because she feels a bit nervous about Murphy’s law being right there.
By the moment that’s all I have. I’m still thinking over the thing with the other three humans, for the new test. And if it’s gonna be Doofensmirtz the judge that decides everything alksjdas, you know how judge Gen is sort of silly yet very serious about her job, but I’m not sure.
Oh and about Dakota and the kids, I say he warmed up to Milo first, you know how it is alkdjas he feels weird about the whole thing about torturing kids yet taking care of them as a Dakota, and all that.
#milo murphy's law#milo murphy#melissa chase#zack underwood#vinnie dakota#balthazar cavendish#amanda lopez#my art#im just gonna tag it as#AU#ajsksj could tag it as the good place?#i'm sorry i dont think i have more ideas than that but alksjdas#im still excited about this jsj#sorryyy#all of a sudden i forgot all about mml and the good place alksjdas#ive rewatched them a kind of times#:'y why'd i forget alkda
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Random Dakavendish + phones headcanons :
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Dakota’s lockscreen wallpaper is a painting of several wild animals.
Dakota’s current phone wallpaper is a selfie of him and Cavendish, both smiling, with something stupid like Dakota messing with Cavendish’s hat and/or Cavendish giving Dakota bunny ears.
Cavendish’s contact picture on Dakota’s phone (I have no idea how it’s actually called…) is either a pic of Cavendish looking determined while on a mission, a picture of Cav that Dakota found soft/cute or a pic of Cavendish being in dumb trouble like the bird picture in their car from “Fungus Among Us”.
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Cavendish’s lockscreen wallpaper is a picture of Dennis in a Professor Time cosplay (or another random outfit. Or just a cute pic of Dennis tbh).
Cavendish’s current phone wallpaper is a picture of Dakota from “We’re Going to the Zoo” dancing with two squirrels in his arms. And a little thought for this headcanon during the rogue arc. = )
Dakota’s contact picture on Cavendish’s phone is a picture of him younger and sleeping on a couch half-sitting with Dennis in his arms. Cavendish found the scene so adorable that he never was able to change the pic and wants to keep it forever (I wish I could draw so that I could make that pic of Dakota sleeping with Dennis, along with younger blond Cavendish taking the picture while melting from the cuteness with even like hearts around him because those are the two most important people in his life and seeing them together like that makes him SO happy !!!).
.
Other ideas with the headcanon of them being married : they both use a number passcode to unlock their phones. Dakota’s passcode is his wedding anniversary because it’s something he’ll never forget + after a long mission, if he notices that the date is identical to his passcode, he’s sure to immediately remember the day and why it’s important. Cavendish’s passcode is Dakota’s birthday because I could see Cav be the kind of person to put dates as phone passcodes + not everyone would expect him to use Dakota’s birthdate instead of his own + it’s easier for Dakota to remember (they both know each other’s code and don’t mind the other using their phone).
Dakota’s contact name on Cavendish’s phone is “Vinnie”. Cavendish’s contact name on Dakota’s phone is “honey”.
.
Last idea : ADHD Dakota either using a notepad app to remember meetings, groceries etc or writing down notes on the phone calendar. He would sometimes mention a date to Cav who later would be like “don’t you have something that day ?”. Or another possibility is that Cavendish likes reminding Dakota every morning to check his phone while having coffee to see if he has anything planned today (would Dakota get offended by that after a while ??? Or would it become part of his morning routine so Cav doesn’t feel obligated to say it each time, even though he enjoys doing so ? Or Dak simply has other ways to remember events ?)
#Milo Murphy's Law#Dakavendish#Balthazar Cavendish#Vinnie Dakota#Flor talks#headcanons#just a random thing that came back to mind yesterday#was wondering if we'll have Cavendish day this year and thought of a scenario that involved Dakota having notes of events on his phone#and about Dakota having 'honey' for Cav in his phone#I can totally see the incorrect quote with like Dak hanging out with the kids#with his phone on the table#then his phone rings and one of the kids sees the name and says like 'Dakota I think your wife is trying to call you'#and then Dakota answers and says something like 'What's going on Cav ?' and the kids spit out their drinks#(man I REALLY need to learn how to draw at some point...there's just SO MUCH I wish I could make !!!)#long post#just in case
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Reasoning (Dakavendish)
Dakota sucks in a hissing breath through clenched teeth as Cavendish applies the antiseptic.
Cavendish doesn’t look up from what he’s doing. One could assume that’s because he’s taking this situation very seriously, and doesn’t want to mess up the cleaning of Dakota’s wound.
But his arched and furrowed brows, his frown set deep enough to pull down his mustache, and the red tint to his face all give away that it’s not focus that keeps him from looking Dakota in the face.
“It’s not that big a deal,” Dakota says, breaking the silence. “It’s just a scra-”
“Not that big a deal?!” Cavendish bursts out, still not looking up. “You could have died! You’re lucky this laceration is all that happened!”
Dakota goes to shrug, and winces. Alright, better not do that again... “It’s just a little nick to my side, Cav, it’s fine.”
“Fine- you’re bleeding!”
“That’s what happens when you get a cut.”
“Now is not the time for stupid jokes!”
“I disagree.”
“Why did you even do that? You could have just shouted for me to move!”
“You wouldn’t have registered the words fast enough, you’re a little slow with things like that.”
“I am not!”
“Yeah you are.”
“No I am-!”
Cavendish pauses.
“Wait a moment... is this in reference to-”
“Like, over a dozen of the times, yeah.”
“... I’m really that slow on the update?”
“It is basically useless to just try to warn you.”
“... Oh dear.”
“Yeah. But hey, you’re fine now, and I didn’t even need the time car. Everything worked out for once.”
“Worked out?!”
Cavendish still isn’t lifting his head to look at Dakota.
“Well yeah, you didn’t die, I didn’t die-”
“Your side is cut open!”
“It’s not even deep! It’s just big. It’s like a tear in the side of a burrito. As long as no-one squishes me, all my insides will stay in just fine.”
“Really? You’re bleeding out-”
“I’m not bleeding out.”
“-and you’re still thinking about food?”
“It’s a metaphor, Cavendish.”
“A food-based one.”
“Yeah, and it works.”
“Hmph.”
There’s a bit of silence.
“What would you have done?”
“Huh?”
“If I had died just then? Without the time car, what would you have done?”
“Well, we still have the car.”
Cavendish almost drops the bandages. “Are you suggesting you would go back and save me?”
“I thought that was obvious-”
“We’re banned from time travel!”
"And?”
“Wh- why do you do this? Why do love breaking the rules so much you’d be willing to go to jail?!”
“Hey, I don’t do this because I just love being a rebel so much! I’ve got layers, you know.”
“Well, then what’s your motivation? And don’t say the ‘Because you’re Cavendish’ thing again, because that’s not a real answer! I accepted it before, but not after this!”
“What do you mean it’s not a real answer? That’s it, that’s all there is to it.”
Now Dakota’s the one getting frustrated.
“That can’t possibly be all there is to it! There must be some larger reason you’re so-”
“So what?”
“So self-sacrificial! What am I to do if one day you’re the one who dies instead, hmm?”
“Look, I’ll be honest. I haven’t ever thought about that.”
“You haven’t-! How could you possibly have never considered your own demise as a possibility in all this?!”
“Because I was busy protecting you!”
“But why are you so set on that?!”
“Because you mean the world to me!”
Cavendish’s head snaps up, his eyes wide and the ends of his mustache uncurls from the sheer shock.
“What?”
... Crud.
No back-tracking now...
“You mean the world to me,” Dakota says, moving to cross his arms and immediately regretting it. He gives a hiss of pain, and lets his arms just go back to his sides.
“... What do you mean I ‘mean the world to you’?”
“... Are you really this dense?”
“I’m not dense, I just- in what way do you-”
Dakota grabs Cavendish’s tie, and pulls closer for a kiss.
Cavendish gives a shocked squeak.
For a second, he’s afraid he’s overstepped. But he just thought Cavendish was so cute when he’s flustered and confused, and he did admit his feelings already, so he took the leap.
His heart pounds in his chest as Cavendish remains stiff. With his eyes closed, he can’t see his partner, but he can easily guess the body language. He can picture Cavendish with his arms raised up, ready to push Dakota away, with his eyes wide and shocked, with his eyebrows all the way up to his hairline.
He waits to be pushed away, yelled at, stormed out on.
And then...
Cavendish relaxes.
His arms move to wrap around Dakota, one hand on the back of his head, the other on his shoulder.
And he kisses back.
They stay like that for what feels like eternity in just a few seconds. When they pull apart, they just stare at each other.
“Now you’re really not allowed to die on me,” Cavendish finally chokes out.
Dakota grins. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
They kiss again.
#This didn't make it into the tag the first time so here's a second try#milo murphy's law#dakavendish#vinnie dakota#balthazar cavendish#fanfic#my attempts at fanfic#blood tw
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Answer questions about Dakavendish pls UwU
YES! I love any excuse to talk about my dorks!
1. Who kissed the other first?
Cavendish.
I know, I know, but hear me out! Let me put a short and a long answer because the long one is long.
Short answer: Cavendish kisses Dakota for the first time without realizing, because he’s simply too excited and not thinking properly. And we know how touchy he gets when he’s excited.
Long answer (you can skip): It’s a personal headcanon that in the future Cavendish alone will get a better job at PIG, and at Dakota insistence he will accept. There’s a ton more to that hc, but basically at some point Cav would be in danger and, in his usual fashion, Dakota would rush to save him. But because they are trying to blackmail PIG and Cav is now important, they kidnap Dakota.
Cavendish tries to convince PIG to send a team to save Dakota, but Bob is all “he’s just the janitor, we can’t waste resorces on a rescue mission for him. Don’t worry about it!” and Cav is FURIOUS, but can’t really do anything about it and he’s too scared to go on a rescue mission on his own. This is too dangerous and he’s clumsy and insecure.
So Cavendish is mopping alone, not knowing what to do. At some point, Milo, Melissa and Zack find him and unaware of the situation just ask where is Dakota. And Cav is like, I can’t tell them the true! They would want to help and get worried, and I can’t involve three innocent children on this. So he lies and tells them everything is fine and Dakota is doing his own thing somewhere else.
But since the topic is there, Milo mentions Dakota is a cool guy and the rest agree. Cavendish, still on his "everything is fine" act tries to act like usual pointing Dakota's flaws "you won't say that if you had to work with him, he's messy, irresponsible, impulsive, always hungry, has no sense of fashion..."
But then he starts to trail off "and he gets excited with the smallest of things, can you imagine? I guess that's quite admirable on it's own way, but... I mean, I don't hate him, Dakota can be pretty helpful sometimes. He knows how to act under pressure, can talk his way out of situations, made our job a lot less boring, and to be honest, he's quite funny, even with that odd sense of humor; and he's the most loyal person I have ever know, he's kind and witty and selfless and..."
He ends listing all kind of virtues and the kids look at each other and Melissa goes: "Wow, someone likes-likes Dakota, uh?". And Cavendish is just "What? No! I don't... I would never... Dakota is not..." then he suddenly is hit by the realization and just stares in the void, eyes wide. And Melissa of course would tell Zack "I told ya" and he would give her five dolars, because they absolutely have a bet going about this.
The kids will leave saying "Tell Dakota we said hi!" and after a few more moments of existential crisis, Cav would change to absolute determined and will go "I will" and decide to save Dakota on his own. And he goes and is BADASS CAVENDISH rescue mission.
And THEN, when he finally gets to Dakota, and sees him, and screams his name and hugs him, he kisses Dakota out of pure joy, and then smiles at him and says “Milo and his friends said hi”.
END OF LONG ANSWER
2. What was their first fight about?
We know it was about using the training car to get burritos hehe
3. Who sleeps in the couch more often?
Once they had a proper bed? Absolutely Dakota. Cavendish gets super huffy and Dakota would rather use the couch that listen to his complains (also Dakota probably don’t have problems sleeping everywhere, not because of the place at least.)
4. Who drinks coffee and who drinks tea?
Easy one! Cavendish drinks tea, Dakota drinks coffee.
Although I will say Cav secretly puts a lot more sugar on his tea that the average person would find acceptable, and despite his sweet tooth in other deparments, Dakota likes his coffe very bitter to keep him awake.
5. Who goes grocery shopping more often?
Dakota. Cavendish had been so sheltered all his life that he’s blissfully unaware on how much money food cost, or what is truly needed in a house. If you let him go shooping, he ends getting too much, and half of it totally unnecessary.
On the other hand, years and years of poverty had made Dakota an expert of how to buy cheap. However he also buys a lot of unhealthy food, but fortunately Cav is improving that part.
6. Who brings breakfast in bed?
Dakota does so often, the thing is that his concept of “breakfast on bed” consist mostly of a cup of tea and whatever sparse pastry was around at the moment.
Cavendish only does so on rare ocassion, but when it happens, he gets flowers, the most fancy breakfast he’s able to prepare and a a sweet note, if not some small detail. He takes the gesture very seriously.
7. Who sleeps first?
Cavendish. He enjoys routine, wakes up at 6:30am every day and it’s in bed at 9:30pm. By 10 he’s sleeping.
8. Who watches the other sleeping?
Dakota has bad sleeping habits, but it’s mostly due to night terrors and nightmares. He often watches Cavendish sleep, just happy he’s there, and he’s alive.
He also enjoys watching him mumble on his dreams, except when it’s about Hildegard or any of the other previour crushes of Cavendish, which Dakota hates. Not as much because the jealousy but at the fact Cav always gets rejected and hurt on these dreams.
9. Who met the parents in law first?
Assuming they ever get to see their families again, Dakota would be the one meeting Cavendish parents for sure. In fact, I’m not even sure Dakota wants to ever introduce Cavendish to his abusive mother and probably absent father, if father at all.
10. Who does the laundry?
Sunday is laundry day (Dakota doesn’t wear much on Sundays!), and the shorter man is the one that takes care of it. Putting clothes on a washing machine it’s easy, so he jumped at claiming the task inmediatly.
Plus he can pretend there’s no clean clothes he can wear for the day...
11. Who washes the dishes?
Cavendish, altough Dakota had to teach him because he hadn’t washed a dish before in his life prior to his job at BoTT.
12. Who clean up the house?
Cavendish. Again, he needed some help, but now he knows how to keep the space clean and tidy, he WILL keep the space clean and tidy. Dakota really don’t care much for order, but Cav can’t live without it.
13. Who washes the car?
You can bet Dakota not only washes the car, but absolutely does a lewd spectacle of it. There’s always more water and soap over him that over the vehicle.
14. Who brings take outs?
Both of them take turns, as take out is one of their favorite things. Sometimes Dakota just appear with them without warning, though.
15. Who calls the other to ask if they want something from the street?
Dakota is always too loud “Hey Cav, Cav, what do you want?? I take a large or an extra large?? What’s better? Cav, Cav, CAV!”
Cavendish often wants to sink on the ground out of embarrassment.
16. Who’s more likely to make plans?
Count on Dakota making plans on the spot and making most of the day. Cavendish has problems with changes, but still obliges because, well, it’s Dakota.
17. Who dreams about a big wedding?
Cavendish always had imagined his wedding as the most big, fancy, white party in the world.
Dakota was unexpected on that plan, of course. Wearing white around him can’t end well, Cavendish knows it. But somehow... he doesn’t care as much about the wedding anymore.
Dakota didn’t even want to get married, but now the idea looks a lot more appealing, if only to have the change to carry Cav around on his arms.
18. Who breaks the cups?
Cavendish, actually, all the time. Too clumsy for this world.
19. Who holds the umbrella?
When raining starts, Dakota usually silently puts the umbrella over Cavendish, which more often than not doesn’t even realize it’s raining and what Dakota is doing for several minutes. Dakota ends wet a lot, but he don’t care. When Cav finally realizes, though, he makes sure to put both of them under it and hold the umbrella, since he’s a lot taller. Dakota is thankful because his arm was starting to hurt.
20. Who takes the other to the dance floor?
Cavendish is a good dancer, but he absolutely never dances on his own volition. Dakota drags him to dance every time, and every time, Cavendish ends enjoying it.
21. Who does the big romantic gestures?
I think sacrificing yourself hundreds of times to save the other’s life counts as a big romantic gesture, so Dakota.
Cav tries his best, but is misfortune doesn’t help. Not that Dakota cares.
22. Who’s more likely to serenade?
Dakota. Not only has he the better singing voice, but he can make songs in the spot. Plus he likes to fluster Cavendish serenading him in public.
23. Who forgets the wet towel in bed?
You can bet Dakota does and you can bet Cavendish nags him for it.
24. Who don’t pick up things when they fell?
Dakota. What’s another thing in the floor?
25. Who keeps losing the keys?
Cavendish is CONSTANTLY missing everything. He don’t even understand why, his order is impeccable! Meanwhile Dakota, that thrives on his own messes, can locate any item in seconds.
26. Who sings the rap part?
The idea of Cavendish trying to rap anything is making me laugh too hard, so Dakota.
27. Who pretends to be sad just so the other will cheer they up?
Dakota is always cheering Cavendish up, although Cav is genuinely sad. It’s possible that he gets more pouty than necesary just to get Dakota’s attention, though.
28. Who wakes up ready for a maraton?
Cavendish does exercise every morning. Dakota hated it, until he discovered Cav wears a really ridiculous and tight 80 workout aerobic outfit for it. Since then, he wakes up early too only to watch Cavendish doing exercise in front of the TV.
29. Who buys them tickets for shows?
Cavendish. He insist they need to do more cultural things. Half of the time they end leaving at the middle and going to some childish activity instead, though.
30. Who choose the movie?
Oh, they are always bickering about who is choosing the movie and who has better taste. True is, both have terrible taste.
31. Who says ‘I love you’ more often?
After the first time (that took more than ten years!), Dakota finally feels free to say I love you, and will absolutely use it. Dakota reminds Cav he loves him several times a day for the tiniest of things.
Cavendish is more reserved, if only because he still gets flustered with the idea. He likes his words to hold a sense of uniqueness, and so he limits his love words to the most intimate or romantic moments.
32. Who keeps waving at people after they got engaged?
Half the city knows all the details about Dakota’s ring, because he can’t stop himself from bragging about Cavendish to everyone.
33. Who uses the most ridiculous nicknames for the other?
Cavendish is not a fan of pet names and only uses Dakota, and sometimes Vinnie or at most dear. Dakota don’t extend the courtesy to him.
Dakota calls Cavendish every pet name under the sun. Babe, handsome, amore, casanova, cutie, cupcake, muffin, sugar plum, sweetie, tesoro mio... even mister hot stuff or sexy pants.
Cavendish hates it.
He tried to make ridiculous names for Dakota, but Dakota loves every one of them. So now Cav calls him teddy bear.
34. Who’s responsible for date nights?
Date nights, as an event, is mostly Cav’s job. He organizes wonderful dates, but gets frustrated quickly if anything goes wrong, so Dakota spontaneous nature it’s a blessing.
35. Who wakes up one day and decides to stay in bed?
That’s Dakota 90% of mornings.
And 85% of the time, Cav doesn’t let him.
Sometimes, though... a few extra cuddles can’t hurt anyone.
#dakavendish#balthazar cavendish/vinnie dakota#balthazar cavendish#vinnie dakota#milo murphy's law#mml dakota#mml cavendish#mml
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Ship asks: what is your absolute favorite ship?/what ship do you hate most?
YEAH MAN I AM SO SORRY IT TOOK ME FOREVER TO REPLY
Okay, this is partially because life right now is mean but also I HOPE YOU KNOW I ALMOST HAD AN EMOTIONAL BREAKDOWN AT THIS QUESTION (I couldn't choose just one, I couldn't)
And thank you SO MUCH FOR ASKING!!!!! <3333A
Okay so that this is out of the way
It really took me some deep diving into my past ships, but my absolute favorite ones i could really pin it down to were:
• Dakavendish (Milo Murphy's Law)
Look man, the Dwampyverse is good at making dramatic gay couples and who am i to deny it. I guess this has really special place in my heart because it started a whole bunch of gay ships and I am very thankful for that. These two, just.... oh god, they make me so soft and happy. They care so much about each other. Good husbands okay. How are they not canon, they are so wonderful and I love both of them. (They also were the only ones to carry season 2 and maybe sometimes Doof, but don't at me)
• Johnlock (BBC Sherlock)
Yeah man i don't know what you want me to say here, they're Johnlock, they're gay, it's science, it's obligatory for me to mention them. Every time I get into them again, I go in DEEP into the feels, so I feel like it wouldn't be fair to leave them out.
• Lego Batjokes (The Lego Batman Movie)
Okay this one is VERY. VERY special to me. I didn't watch the movie when it came out which was a HUGE mistake. Some time last year I discovered that there were edits of these two, so obviously I was interested. I watched the movie. And holy fucking shit. I SO got back into lego. Into Ninjago too. Into everything. Best thing that happened to me. And the ship, just.... I absolutely LOVE how they're written. It is so beautiful. The intentional writing it like a romantic relationship. And the final saving the day scene, I'm - it's so beautiful. Probably one of the pairings I read the most fanfic about simply because their relationship is so much fun and there are so many interesting things you can do with it. Okay I gotta stop talking now, but the inherent beauty and tenderness of them is just so relevant, okay
• Entrapdak (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power)
Did I add this one just because they've been relevant recently? Probably. But look, I - LOVE them. With all of my heart. Entrapta is legit the light of my life (okay I see this about multiple characters, BUT NOT MANY) and seeing her and Hordak together just makes me so so so happy. (Especially in season 5 okay.) They are so tender and soft and important and they make each other so happy and actually feel comfortable and they both deserve it so much and I should stop talking now before I get too into it. (Watch She-Ra, watch season 5, everything about this show is amazing.)
And my least favroite ones, well, I - to be honest, I don't really.... have them??? I mean sure there are pairings I don't love, but even those ones I'm okay with. Like, do I like every ship? No. Do I still get happy when I see that one amazing AMV of them in my youtube recommendations? Yes. I often don't go out of my way to have a special distaste for some ship. I don't know, it just makes me happy when people like something even when I don't. (Exculding pedophilia of course like ouch.)
Okay, Elsa and Jack Frost, like omg, what, just because they have ice powers and isn't he emotionally like 14 or something, I don't know, I think that's sort of creepy (Okay, yes, I said it once now, I'll never say it again, I don't - spread hate, it's just that it kinda was unsettling for me to see it be somewhat popular, but that was mostly years ago and it's not that I mind that much anyway)
This post is a bit very long whoops, I'm sorry, but whatever I guess. Again, I'm so sorry this took so long, but thank you so much!
#jcmorrigan#ask me#you're great thank you!#aaaand sorry for the long reply#whoops#BUT WELL YA ASK AND YA SHALL GET AN ANSWER...... eventually#ships#yay
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Tickling the Ivories
We all know Cavendish and Dakota will be famous pop stars. How they got there is the interesting part.
Dakavendish, because after the Christmas Episode you really can’t convence me otherswise.
“That sounds so wrong,” Dakota commented much to his partner’s dismay. They had finished cleaning yet another alien mess and were starving. Deciding on Mall nachos they made their way to the Food Court when the Brit noticed the lone piano near the escalators. Commenting on how he missed ‘tickling the ivories’ when Dakota made his comment.
“Go get your nachos.” Cavendish snapped back sitting down. They were goofing off at the mall again. It had been a few weeks after Christmas so they mall was quite empty at the moment. Flaring his coattails behind him he made himself comfortable on the bench. Warming his fingers on a few keys recalled one of the easier songs he knew.
“Turkish March” filled the semi-empty halls as the man submerged himself in the music. Internally flinching at the several mistakes he plowed through to the very end. When he finished shook his head in defeat. ‘That was terrible,’ he thought.
“That was amazing,” Dakota spoke up grabbing Cavendish’s attention. Looking over he saw his friend holding a red tray with two servings of nachos on them. Cavendish’s mustache gave a twitch that Dakota knew exactly how he liked his nachos. Finding a table they people watched while they ate.
People around town were starting to get used to the odd pair as they passed by them with staring. Since neither man could cook to save their lives they were forced to eat out for every meal. Many places knew Dakota by name and were even starting to learn Cavendish’s too. One time the taller man just walked into Slushy Dawg and the team had already begun to assemble ‘the usual’.
“Ok. What’s your deal, huh?” Dakota asked setting down his drink hard enough to send droplets of soda onto the table.
“I’ve been thinking lately.” The grey-haired man started to say moving several chips around the plate.
“Here we go.”
“Mostly about myself actually.” Ignoring his food Cavendish rested on his elbows to look back over towards the piano. “Did you know I was fully aware while I was frozen?”
Dakota choked on his food.
“I would'a found you sooner if-” Cavendish put up his hand to stop the fountain of regret Dakota was spouting.
“It’s alright. What happened was your fault. It was mine. My damned pride.” The man stopped talking to gather his thoughts again. “None of that matters now. From now on no more glory hounding. Not more whirlwind adventures through time and space. Just…sigh trash duty.” Cavendish picked up a half soggy corn chip to eat. Dakota knew better than to push it. Once the grey-haired man decided to eat all conversation was over. All Dakota could do is stare at his broken friend. Even if he could time travel, it couldn’t fix this.
* * *
Dakota never thought he hated Cavendish being gone before. They weren’t three feet from each other and yet…
Ever since joining P.I.G the two were forced to live out of their van. Being nothing, if not resourceful the duo used the communal showers to tidy whenever they could. Cavendish learned to make tea using the manifold of the van. Seeing posh man pour hot water from a beat-up camping kettle into a fancy teacup never failed to make Dakota giggle. Neither man had ever gone camping but something told Dakota this was pretty close. They even invested in two sleeping bags for some comfort.
Tonight was especially cramped in the van though. Various crates were waiting to be processed at the local drop off sight that had to wait for tomorrow. They managed to finagle enough room for the two of them to squeeze in for the night. Sometime over the years, their aversion to touching one another seemed to have evaporated. Almost shoulder to shoulder the two men had taken off their eyeglasses and other accessories to bid each other goodnight. This particular night was different though.
Not long after shutting off the electric lamp did something stir Dakota from his sleep. Blinking up at the van roof he tried to piece together what was going on. It was still the middle of the night and there wasn’t a sound to be heard. Becoming more aware of himself he felt something in his right hand. Cavendish once said that Dakota even sleeps messy with his arms and legs sprawled out. Considering the other man slept on his side with his arms stretched out in front of him he had no real room to talk. Squinting he noticed that grasping his hand was none other than Cavendish himself.
‘That’s new.’ He thought wondering if he should take back his hand or not. All choice was taken from him as he was pulled closer by Cavendish’s inhuman strength. Readjusting to get more comfortable he barely heard what was being whispered into his hair.
“I’m so sorry. Don’t want anything…bad…to” Cavendish trailed off burying his face in his partner’s hair. Figuring it would be better to let the taller man let go on his own Dakota went back to sleep. Ignoring how content he was feeling he vowed never to bring this up in the morning.
* * *
Like usual Cavendish was the first to wake up. During the night his and Dakota’s hands had become intertwined. Internally berating himself he carefully let go of the darker man’s hand as gentle as possible. Making his way out of the van he made extra sure to not wake his partner. Since they were parked in the more wooded area starting up a small fire instead of turning on the vehicle would be better. Sipping on his morning tea he took a minute to collect his thoughts. While trapped in the UFO he had a terrifying epiphany, he had somewhere along the way had fallen in love with Dakota.
At first, he thought it was the love of a brother. Strong, and loyal. Then he kept thinking further. The casual, yet welcome touches. Then there was Ditch Day. Finally, his thoughts drifted from Dakota Island where his friend was willing to sacrifice his life for him. Dying for someone is easy. Willing to spend the rest of your limited time on this Earth away from everything you know and love. Now that’s dedication.
Or love.
Tears were now slowly spilling down his cheek. Thankfully healthy expressions of emotion weren’t demonized in the future. From within the van, he heard Dakota moving around. Blotting his face with his kerchief he managed to train his face into its neutral position. Scratching his chest Dakota came stumbling out looking like a mess. There nothing pretty about how people look first thing in the morning. Hair plastered weirdly, crusted eyes, that look of utter loathing to everything.
“Please tell me we have coffee left.” He smacked his mouth trying to get that morning taste out. Reaching over Cavendish produced their old work mug from their time travel days. He had already filled it with the instant coffee grounds and (too much) sugar. With a small smile, he poured the water from the still-hot kettle. Subconsciously he used his own tea spoon to stir the contents before handing it over. Dakota took it with a small ‘thanks’ before taking a loud sip.
Seeing the juxtaposition of the petit spoon against Dakota’s usual oafish manner made him titter a little. Oh, how he wished they could’ve kept that outfit from when they were in the old west. Noticing he was being stared at Dakota asked what was going on.
“Nothing. Just-” Cavendish fumbled for the phone. “Waiting for work to call.” Dakota nodded before wandering off.
“What is wrong with me?” He asked aloud before his phone began ringing. No time for that, there was work to be done.
Part Two: https://bookwyrmcollections.tumblr.com/post/187064869713/tickling-the-ivories-chapter-2
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MML Secret Santa Entry: Winter Wonderland
For @cartoonygirl, who asked for Dakavendish fluff! And thank God, because I seriously need to write a somewhat non-angsty fic with these two! I promise this one isn’t going to run you over with a steel battleship!
Cavendish wasn’t sure when this dinner had become a complete disaster. It started off perfectly normal. Dakota shoveled food into his mouth, they talked about random things, and the shrimp platter was excellent. By all accounts, it should’ve been a normal meal.
Then a horde of cats rushed in, knocking over waiters and spilling food everywhere. They climbed on any surface they could. One cat fished in the lobster tank, until she overbalanced and fell in. As she scrabbled to get out, she leaned against the glass until the entire tank tipped over.
People rushed out of the restaurant, taking care to avoid the lobsters.
They were far enough from the entrance that the lobsters weren’t an issue, but two cats were now chewing the shrimp tails he’d set aside.
“They’re pretty adorable,” Dakota said, petting the calico under her chin. After several minutes, the cats grew bored and wandered elsewhere, no doubt looking for leftover food that had been abandoned on the tables.
“They’d be more adorable if they weren’t freeloading on something we paid for,” Cavendish grumbled. He signaled a waiter for the check.
“Since when do cats pay for things with money?” Dakota asked. “They’d probably have an entire currency based on petting or dead birds. But paper and coins, nah.”
And there was that strange train of thought Dakota always jumped on. It was both distracting and charming. How could talking about cat currencies and breakfast burritos be so distracting and charming at the same time?
When they received the check, Cavendish quickly grabbed it to distract himself from these strange, new thoughts of Dakota. Glance over the prices to make sure they were correct, calculate the tip, stick card in sleeve, it was completely logical. It made sense.
Unlike a certain someone.
He turned it over to the waiter. Wait a few minutes so they could run the card, thank the staff for the service, leave. There was a method to dining out.
But he had yet to figure out the Dakota method. It was a jumbled mess, everything was loud and funky and bright. Logic didn’t apply at all.
“Apart from the cats and the lobsters, this location’s nice,” Cavendish mused. “We should come back.”
Dakota looked up, his shoulders suddenly tensing.
“Something wrong?” Cavendish asked.
Dakota responded by lunging across the table, and before Cavendish could scold him for his horrible manners, Dakota slammed into him. The chair tipped over, sending them skidding across the floor.
It was a miracle he wasn’t nursing a concussion after that.
Cavendish tried standing up, but a pressure on his abdomen prevented him from moving. Then he realized.
Dakota was above him.
Dakota’s knee was on his abdomen.
Feeling his cheeks heat up from the close proximity, Cavendish really hoped Dakota was looking at anywhere but his face. “Your knee,” he managed after his brain started working again.
“Oh,” Dakota said. The lack of a joke was concerning, to say the least. He scrambled off, glancing at the ceiling beam that had fallen across the table where they’d been sitting. “Hey, so I’m just gonna head back to the apartment now.” He was avoiding eye contact for some reason.
Dakota helped Cavendish up, but quickly exited the restaurant without another word.
He probably said something he shouldn’t have. Why would Dakota take offense at cats though? It made no sense. Cavendish recovered enough to take his card and receipt from the dumbfounded waiter, who groaned at the thought of having to clean up this mess.
When he walked out of the restaurant, he was surprised to find Milo kneeling on the snow-covered sidewalk, scolding Diogee gently. “-and tomorrow, I’m taking you back to the retirement home so you can give everyone there a proper apology for scaring all their cats away.”
Well, that explained the cats.
Diogee barked at his arrival, and Milo turned around. “Hey, Cavendish!” he exclaimed. “You just missed Dakota. He went that way! If you hurry, you can probably catch him.” Milo pointed to the apartment complex across the street.
“I know where he went,” Cavendish replied. “We were dining together when that horde of cats came in.”
“Sorry for interrupting your date,” Milo said, grinning sheepishly.
“It was a surprise, but we were finishing up when the cats rushed through. There was no harm-”
Then he realized what Milo said.
“P-pardon me?” Cavendish stammered, just to be sure he wasn’t mishearing things. Maybe he needed to get his ears checked.
“I said, sorry for interrupting your date?” Milo glanced at Diogee. “Did I say something weird?”
Diogee barked, which could’ve meant anything from ‘this is boring, can I chase a squirrel’ to ‘seriously, what in the name of all that is good and pure wrong with you’.
“It wasn’t a date!” Cavendish protested, his voice an embarrassing octave higher than normal. “It was an apology dinner!”
Diogee instantly made a face, his tongue sticking out.
He was being sassed by a dog. How wonderful.
Milo waved his finger like he was chiding a toddler. “Diogee! That’s rude! Be nice or we’re going home.” Diogee barked in response, flopping belly-first into the snow and rolling around. “That’s odd. He only makes that face around Sara when she denies reading shipping fanfiction. He’s a silly pup. If you don’t mind me asking, what were you trying to apologize for?”
“Er, it’s complicated,” Cavendish rubbed the back of his head. Sometimes he wasn’t even sure what happened that day. “If I tried to explain, we’d be here for the next century.”
Oh, I was angry that Dakota took the last egg roll and we nearly broke our partnership after saying the dumbest things. Then our future selves broke regulations to stop us from breaking up and Dakota looks good in a Santa suit.
It sounded even more ridiculous when he put it all together.
“Well, I might not know what happened, but Dakota’s a cool guy,” Milo said. “I’m sure he’s pretty forgiving. Anyway, I need to get going. We’re having a picnic in the park on Saturday at noon. It’s just Melissa, Zack, Sara, and me but we also want you and Dakota there too! There’s this nice secluded spot we like to use over there. Bye!”
He ran off, Diogee trailing behind him.
“It’s the dead of winter,” Cavendish muttered, wondering why anyone would choose to have a picnic in the snow.
But he didn’t have any objections either. And the day Dakota turned down free food would be the day Mr. Block sang opera.
“Maybe he meant a different park,” Cavendish said after they’d walked past the playground for the seventh time.
“This is the largest park in town,” Dakota replied. “Pretty sure Milo would’ve specified if he meant elsewhere.” He leaned against a stop sign. “They won’t hold it against us if we’re fashionably late. Hey, do you think the tongue on a metal pole thing is true?”
Cavendish pulled him away from the stop sign before he had the bright idea of licking it. “I imagine it would be hard to eat if you showed up with a stop sign on your tongue,” he said sternly.
Dakota shrugged. “Not like I was actually gonna-um, you know your hand’s still, kinda on me....”
He quickly removed his hand from Dakota’s shoulder.
They had been making more accidental physical contact lately. It wasn’t bad, just...strange.
But not unwelcome either.
“Um, about the dinner a few days ago,” Cavendish said awkwardly so Dakota wouldn’t linger on the hand-on-shoulder thing for long. “If you want space, I’ll understand. We...I said some things I shouldn’t have. Just trying to make it up to you.”
Dakota shoved his hands into his pockets. “I’m not mad about it anymore. Promise. Besides, the egg rolls at that Chinese place tasted much better anyway.”
“Yeah, they did,” Cavendish admitted.
So if Dakota was fine, why was he still acting weird? Cavendish figured it was best if he didn’t comment on it.
Before he could dwell on it for long, they heard a shout from a nearby grove of trees. “Dakota! Cavendish!” Milo shouted. “We’ve been waiting forever!”
Zack followed behind him, panting heavily. “It was more like four minutes.”
“Great to see you, kid,” Dakota high-fived Milo with a smile. “I bet you can’t wait for summer. That’s supposed to be picnic season.”
Milo shrugged. “Well, it’s not only-”
Zack cut him off. “Yeah, we enjoy picnics in snow! Sara has an everythingproof-tarp we spread out! Besides, we can avoid those pesky ants this way.”
“Anyway, come on!” Milo exclaimed. As soon as he set one foot in the grove, a snowdrift fell on him, knocking him on his back.
Zack tried hauling him to his feet, only to trip and fall facefirst into the snow. He sat up, coughing and rubbing the snow out of his eyes.
“At least there was a lack of icicles this time,” Milo said, standing up and brushing the snow off his jacket.
“Milo, do you have a spare earpiece?” Zack asked, taking a small device out of his ear. “Mine broke when I fell.”
“Hold on a sec. Sara’s trying to get through,” Milo held out his arm. “Is everything ready? Okay, we’ll be there in a few! Cavendish and Dakota are with us.”
Cavendish wondered why he was using an earpiece rather than a cell phone. Milo just wasn’t the secretive type.
“The preparations are complete,” Milo explained to Zack. “Now all we have is the we-umph!”
Zack covered Milo’s mouth. “Wheat bread! That’s all the bread we have! Cause the store ran out of, uh, sourdough!”
Dakota sneezed into his elbow, but Cavendish could tell he was trying not to laugh.
And Cavendish wasn’t buying their story.
Milo and Zack gave their best ‘please believe us’ grins, only it would have been more convincing if their smiles weren’t taking up half of their faces.
“Well, we shouldn’t keep your sister waiting,” Cavendish said.
Milo had been right about the secluded part. It seemed as though people didn’t come this way too often. They reached a clearing, the tallest snowman Cavendish had ever seen sitting in the middle. Sara and Melissa cheered upon their arrival.
“Great! They’re here!” Sara exclaimed. “Let’s get this wedding started!”
What wedding? There weren’t chairs, an officiator, and flowers. Or any people besides them for that matter.
“A little bare for a wedding, don’t you think?” Cavendish asked.
Melissa stared at him. “Wow. I was so sure Milo almost dropped the bomb on what we were planning.”
“He almost did. Twice,” Zack replied. “I had to intervene. Did you guys believe us at all?”
Believe their sorry excuse for a lie? Not for a second. Why did they think it was acceptable to lie to them in the first place though?
Dakota sized up the snowman, then grabbed Cavendish’s hat and tossed it on top. Cavendish glared at him. “What?” Dakota protested. “It was missing something!”
Milo laughed. “We were singing Christmas karaoke when Sara said something about recreating the lyrics from Winter Wonderland. It snowballed from there, I guess. No pun intended.”
“Will the lucky grooms please stand in front of Parson Brown?” Sara announced. “That’s what we named the snowman, by the way.”
Dakota did as she instructed, Milo standing a small distance away. They smiled, sharing a fist-bump. Then Dakota turned to beam at Cavendish, as if waiting expectantly for him to do something.
Everyone was watching him.
And all the pieces were fitting in place.
“Wait!” Cavendish protested. “I-I can’t marry him! He’s my partner!”
Sara fell over, laughing uncontrollably.
“Dude, you just admitted it,” Zack smirked. Milo was snickering too hard to contribute.
Admitting what exactly? Melissa pulled him into position, next to Dakota. She frowned, then pointed to their hands. Dakota took Cavendish’s hands in his own. An odd tingling sensation flowed through Cavendish’s body.
Zack stood by him. He waved to Milo, who returned the gesture.
“So,” Cavendish whispered awkwardly while Sara searched for the right page in a tiny book. “I guess we’re skipping the proposal and engagement period, huh?”
“I’m fine with that. Preparing is the most boring part,” Dakota said with a grin.
“I got it!” Sara exclaimed. “Okay, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of Cavendish and Dakota. Yeah, no one here is objecting. We don’t need that part.”
She obviously wasn’t qualified to legally marry someone, but since when did time travelers abide by traditions anyway?
“Yeah, hope you don’t mind me skipping over the sappy stuff. We know you love each other,” Sara said. “Ugh, the print’s so small. Where’s the stuff for the ‘I do’?”
“By the way, who had the rings?” Zack asked.
“I thought you were handling them!” Melissa frowned.
“We never put a position of ringbearer in,” Milo explained. “I thought we were forgetting something important.”
“Milo, I know you and your friends were probably planning this for a while, but how in the world were you able to afford wedding rings?” Cavendish asked.
“We’re but poor peasant students who can hardly afford a snack in the school vending machines,” Melissa replied. “So we have mood rings instead. At least, we would’ve had mood rings if a certain someone hadn’t lost them.”
Zack folded his arms. “You once left a note that said ‘take home math book’ in the math book you left in the classroom. I’m not the forgetful one here.”
“After Cavendish and I are done, you two should come up here and get married too,” Dakota suggested.
Melissa and Zack’s eyes widened in horror at the mere thought, their argument quickly forgotten.
“Good one,” Cavendish said quietly, so that only Dakota could hear him.
Then he noticed a tunnel forming through the snow, and Diogee popped out, two mood rings hanging from a string in his mouth.
“Good boy, Diogee!” Milo exclaimed. He took the mood rings and passed them to Cavendish and Dakota.
“Great, cause I finally found it!” Sara exclaimed. “Will you, Dakota, take Cavendish for your wedded husband, for better or worse, for rich or poor, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish-” Milo squealed, momentarily interrupting her. “-til death do you part?”
There was something in Dakota’s eyes that was unreadable, almost like a hidden sorrow buried there. “I do,” he said firmly. He gently slid the mood ring onto Cavendish’s finger. The black faded away, revealing a bright red swirl. It was bulky and made of inexpensive material, sure.
And it was perfect.
It was his turn now. Cavendish inhaled deeply as Sara repeated the passage for him. “Will you, Cavendish, take Dakota for your wedded husband, for better or worse, for rich or poor, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish, til death do you part?”
“I do,” Cavendish replied without hesitation. He placed the other mood ring on Dakota’s finger.
Dakota looked down at their clasped hands. “You know it’s called a ring finger for a reason?”
“Er, I knew that,” Cavendish said quickly, correcting his error. His first act as a husband was putting the ring on the wrong finger. He was sure Dakota would never let him live it down.
“Then by the powers invested in me-even though I am not qualified at all to do this, but who cares-I now pronounce you husbands! You may kiss!” Sara exclaimed.
“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” the kids chanted.
“So, were you going to initiate?” Cavendish asked.
Dakota’s hands twitched, as if he wanted to find some food in his pockets to calm his nerves. “You want me to?”
“Well, yes I want you-oh, you meant the kiss,” Cavendish wondered if he should just smash their lips together now and get it over with.
Something rammed into the back of his legs, and he pitched forward. Before he knew it, Dakota caught him, and their lips-
Dear heaven, their lips were touching.
Cavendish applied a little more pressure, and Dakota reciprocated. The kids’ chants died away, and the sound of an accordion filled the air. The rhythm was soft and melodical, the perfect song for a winter wedding.
Unable to support their combined weight, Dakota’s legs buckled, and they fell into the snow. But the kiss only deepened from there, Dakota’s hands massaging his neck gently.
Cavendish held onto the back of Dakota’s head, his fingers stroking his soft, curly hair.
“Do you think we should stop them?”
“Hush! It’s romantic!”
He never wanted it to end, but Cavendish found himself sorely lacking air, and he broke the kiss. He clung to Dakota, breathing heavily. Dakota’s face matched the red on his jacket, his hand clutching his heart as if he couldn’t believe what happened.
The accordion melody came to an end. “Congratulations!” Milo called. “And sorry about Diogee!”
Sara shook her head. “They really needed that push. Good boy, Diogee.”
Diogee ate a treat from the palm of her hand.
Cavendish stood up with some difficulty, taking his hat back from Parson Brown.
“And now for the picnic!” Milo exclaimed. Sara unfolded a tarp and began spreading it out. “I just didn’t mention the wedding part. We got plenty of food!”
Dakota grinned. “Great, cause I’m famished.”
“You ate before we left the apartment,” Cavendish reminded him.
“Exactly! Which was what, a while ago?” Dakota said.
Cavendish had been right to think something had changed. But not all change was bad. After all, he never would’ve met Dakota without it. They would have times where they would goof around and accomplish nothing. They would have their bad days, where nothing went right and left them stewing in frustration. There would be moments where his deepest insecurities came to light and left his a complete mess.
And no matter what, Dakota would always be there. The most loyal person Cavendish had ever known.
It truly was a winter wonderland.
#mml secret santa#milo murphy's law#dakavendish#vinnie dakota#balthazar cavendish#sara murphy#zack underwood#melissa chase
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30 OTP Questions Answered For Dakavendish
Because I was bored, I answered all of them.
1: Who spends almost all their money on the other?
Cavendish thinks it’s him, because he finds himself picking up the check at restaurants. However Dakota is probably having to spend a lot of money on shipping paradox Dakota’s to the island, unbeknownst to Cavendish.
2: Who sleeps in the other’s lap?
Dakota probably falls asleep pretty easily if he’s warm and feels safe, so yeah.
3: Who walks around the house half-naked and who yells at them to put on some clothes?
Dakota clearly tells us he doesn’t wear much on Sundays (much to Cavendish’s chagrin).
4: Which one tells the other not to stay up all night and which one stays up all night anyway?
I don’t think either of the guys are really bad about going to sleep at a reasonable time. (If only because neither likes to sleep without the other)
5: Which one tries to make food for the other but burns it all by accident and which one tells them that it’s okay and makes them both cookies?
This one’s a tough question because we’ve not really gotten any indication that either of them cooks. Milo’s done more on screen cooking than ,I believe, any other character (adult or otherwise) sure...it’s his show but that feels odd somehow.
6: Which one reads OTP prompts and says “Oh that’s us!” and which one goes “Eh, not really”?
I think either of them can admit to similarities that they see between these prompts and their relationship.
7: Which one constantly wears the other’s clothes?
I really love the idea that Dakota constantly gives Cavendish his track suit jacket because Cavendish gets cold really easily.
8: Which one spends all day running errands and which one says “You remembered [thing], right?”
Cavendish runs errands and is the one constantly asking if Dakota remembered to get something he needed.
9: Which one drives the car and which one gives them directions?
Cavendish is often the one driving on missions, and when Dakota does drive its often on simple ‘milk-runs’ when they’re not driving for any specific reason. However, after what we’ll term ‘the mustard on the steering wheel’ incident, I don’t see Cavendish willingly allowing Dakota to drive for a while.
10: Which one does the posing while the other one draws?
I don’t think either of them draw all that much? But Cavendish probably wouldn’t mind being a life drawing reference?
11: If they were about to rob a museum, which one does backflips through lasers and which one is strolling behind with a bag of chips?
While not back-flipping per-say, I think Cavendish would exaggeratedly duck and weave through lasers while Dakota just follows casually behind eating a bag of chips he got from a vending machine.
12: Which one of your OTP overdoes it on the alcohol and which one makes the other stop drinking?
Neither drinks I think, if they do it’s not to excess (this is a Disney show, after all)
13: Which one likes to surprise the other with a lot of small random gifts?
Well we outright see Dakota surprise Cavendish with ‘borrowed’ experimental time devices because he thought he it would be fun to play with them.
14: Which one keeps accidentally using the other’s last name instead of their own?
Dakota 100%. “Hiya, Vinnie Cavendish...Dakota. Vinnie Dakota, nice to meet you.”
15: Which one screams about the spider and which one brings the spider outside?
Cavendish is wigged out by insects but since Dakota values all living things Cavendish doesn’t squash them. Both of them find themselves corralling various bugs outside of their apartment/flat
16: Which one gives the other their jacket?
Dakota totally gives Cavendish his jacket all of the time. I have it in my head that Cavendish gets cold really easy.
17: Who keeps getting threatened by the other’s overprotective older sibling?
I don’t think either of them have met any of the others family...so.
18: Who’s the first one to admit they have feelings for the other?
It depends on the scenario I think, especially since I think Cavendish has got to come to terms with his feelings himself first.
19: How good would your OTP be at parenting?
They’re both Honorary Time Uncles To Milo (and his friends, to a point) Cavendish is the disciplinarian, but isn’t above having fun when Dakota ropes him into it.
20: Which one types with perfect grammar and which one types using numbers as letters?
Cavendish doesn’t like texting but when he does it’s always full sentences and proper spelling (With the British spellings, like ‘colour’) And Dakota’s texts are like 75% Old-School Emojis. XD)
21: Who gets attacked by a bully and who protects them?
Their boss and fellow time agents are constantly berating both of them, so they find themselves constantly coming to the defense of the other.
22: Who makes the bad puns and who makes a pained smile every time the other makes a pun?
Dakota loves making puns and jokes and always explains them if he’s not sure you immediately appreciated them. He sometimes doesn’t even go for the more obvious pins too. (I mean: “I’ve got a clock face for a face, you get it? I got hands on my face, I’m hand—some”)
23: Who comes home from work to see that the other one bought a puppy?
Cavendish has totally been surprised with a stray animal that Dakota’s brought home at least once. Also they’ve totally adopted Catvendish and you cannot convince me otherwise.
24: Which one gives the other a piggyback ride when they’re tired?
That’s not really their thing? I mean Dakota loves giving piggy back rides to Milo (in my mind anyhow) but like neither one of them really would be able to carry the other on their shoulders for any real length of time.
25: Which one competes in some sort of activity and which one does the overzealous cheering?
Cavendish would probably do something in the realm of a classical musical event with his concert piano skills. Dakota doesn’t follow proper appreciation etiquette when he starts cheering. Cavendish will give a golf clap unless he’s really excited then he’s just as energetic as Dakota when celebrating.
26: Who takes a selfie when the other one falls asleep on their shoulder?
Dakota takes the selfies, Cavendish rolls his eyes at the notion of taking a ‘self portrait’ at arms length like in a stuffy ‘you kids and your technology’ sort of way, but he thinks the pictures are cute.
27: Which one would give the other a makeover if they asked?
UH... I feel neither would ask.
28: Which one owns a pet that the other is absolutely terrified of?
Again, neither.
29: Which one holds the umbrella over both of them when it rains?
Cavendish, cause he’s the taller of the two and it’s less strain for him to hold it. If Dakota were to hold it he’d have to extend his arm constantly to make sure to not hit Cavendish with the umbrella.
30: If your OTP went on vacation, where would they go and what would they do? Who would take the pictures?
Well, they had a whole day where they ditched work and went around on a boat, went bungee-jumping and all sorts of other stuff.
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Various MML headcanons of mine because why not
In high school, Milo is either the tallest or shortest of the group with absolutely no in between. Melissa is definitely taller than Zack, though.
Dakota has absolutely used the time car to go to concerts and has no regrets about it. (Personally I see him enjoying Queen)
Elliot, Carl, and Veronica were all in the same graduating class. Elliot was a bit of an outcast, Veronica was one of the popular kids that was nice to everybody, and Carl was more focused on academics than socializing.
No one in universe ships Dakavendish more than Milo. My favorite take on this headcanon is that he literally thinks they’re married long before they get together. (“But we have different last names!” “Oh, I just kind of assumed Dakota-Cavendish was too long so everyone just called you by your original last names.” “Why does Dakota’s last name get to be first?”)
Sara wants to be involved in the TV industry, in hopes of Dr. Zone still being on when she’s old enough to be working on it. I see her as a writer or someone who helps make costumes.
I could make a separate post for my Dakavendish wedding headcanons, let me know if that’s something you’d like to see.
Mr. Drako knows the kids think he’s a vampire. I’m still not sure whether or not he actually is, but I do think he exaggerates it for the meme either way.
I know I said no one ships Dakavendish more than Milo, but Doof is in a close second. However, during the time Cavendish was rogue, he was convinced they were divorced. When Cavendish came back, he would constantly ask “So, does this mean you’re getting back together or what?” Cavendish couldn’t stand this.
Cavendish and Cavenpuss do not get along. I don’t need to elaborate. Also I’m dying at the mental image of Cavenpuss getting punted like a football. (“Why does that THING need to exist?” “I could easily say the same about you.” “YOU WOULDN’T EVEN EXIST WITHOUT ME!”)
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Resolutions Bis
AO3 link
As their first year in a time-period that isn’t their own reaches its end, Cavendish and Dakota have a small talk about their New Year’s resolutions.
CONTENT WARNING : Mild swearing + character drinking alcohol
Note : An expanded version of my contribution to the New Year’s Drabble Collection of the Good Ship Dakavendish Discord, because it’s always a good excuse to share a few headcanons.
Enjoy !
---------------
It was the night of December 31st, five minutes before midnight. Balthazar was sitting on the couch, wrapped under a blanket. He and Vinnie had decided not to do anything special for New Year’s Eve, happy to simply stay home and take it easy.
New Year’s Eve…Balthazar closed his eyes, letting himself get lost in thought.
Celebrating in this time-period felt…odd, to say the least. Of course, it wasn’t the first time the couple spent the new year in the past. But, usually, they did so willingly, going to great celebrations all over time and space ! And once the partying was done, they would go back to the present, their present.
Back in January, had Balthazar been told he would end up spending an entire year stuck in this time-period, he would have never believed it. To think he and Vinnie managed to last so long doing the same detestable job without going insane just to pay the bills of an old office they were forced to call their home, and all the while trying to get accustomed to this time-period…
At least they could congratulate themselves for making it through the year without that many hardships. The couple even managed to talk some things out ! Both men were determined to work on themselves and mend the cracks in their relationship.
Still, after the…everything, this year had been, the two men didn’t feel like doing anything special for tonight. And that was without taking into account the fact that they had neither the plan, nor the money, and even less the connections to party.
In the end, they chose to content themselves with a few warm blankets, the music from a TV channel and some spiked eggnog. Not that Balthazar minded, of course ! While he could enjoy partying from time to time, he wasn’t one to turn down a peaceful evening with his husband.
Lucky for them, nothing crazy or eventful had happened to ruin the night. For once.
“Hey, don’t fall asleep, Balth ! It’s not midnight yet.” Balthazar reopened his eyes to look at the man standing by his desk, cups of eggnog in hand.
“I wasn’t falling asleep,” the taller man replied, annoyed by the interruption, “I’m simply trying to relax.”
“Relax with your eyes closed ? You’re gonna fall asleep,” Vinnie pointed out after taking a sip. What was it, his third drink ? Fourth ? His partner must be pretty tipsy by now… Nonetheless…
“Believe me, closing my eyes for a few seconds isn’t going to make me snore,” Balthazar argued. “Besides, we have yet to see the dawn of the new year.”
“And we still have some eggnog left to drink,” Vinnie finished. He went to the couch, handing his husband one of the drinks. While Balthazar took the cup and thanked the man, he chose to put it aside. He already had had his fair share of alcohol for the night. “You mind if I chill with you ?” Vinnie asked as he sat next to his partner.
“Never.” Balthazar gladly opened the large blanket, inviting his partner in. Vinnie was quick to snuggle against him and Balthazar smiled, pleased to feel his partner’s warmth. He let a hand trail down Vinnie’s waist, pulling him closer and enjoying the feeling of his fluffy hair against his cheek. Meanwhile, the shorter man went back to the eggnog still in his hands.
While his partner finished his drink, Balthazar eyed the clock. Only three minutes remained.
“You’re right, ya know ? Feels good to take it easy.” Vinnie turned towards his partner, “We sure lived one hell of a year.”
Balthazar nodded, “That past winter especially was quite the ride. Then again, I don’t think I went through a single peaceful year ever since I became a time-agent.”
The shorter man’s face became somber. “At least time-travel was fun…” he mumbled.
“…It was,” the taller man agreed sadly, sharing the same longing as his husband.
…
Not wanting to end the year on such a note, Balthazar cleared his throat, deciding to change topics.
“Say, have you decided on any resolution ?”
“Huh ?”
“A New Years’ resolution,” Balthazar repeated. “Have you thought of any ?”
“You mean those promises nobody ever respects ?” Vinnie asked with a chuckle.
“Well we could make an effort to respect them, don’t you think ?”, the taller man huffed. “Since this year wasn’t…all that great, shouldn’t we try our best to make the upcoming one better ?”
“I guess…” His partner went to take another sip of his eggnog, only to notice the cup was empty and toss it to the other end of the couch.
“So, in which ways do you wish to better yourself ?” Balthazar asked.
“…I wanna go home,” Vinnie blurted out, voice suddenly much somber.
“What ?”
“My resolution is to get us out of this hellhole,” the shorter man continued while gesturing at the office. “I’m gonna keep working with Doctor D. until we can finally leave this shitty time-period and go back to our own. We don’t belong here. This-this isn’t our home. B’sides, I owe the kids a few presents.”
Seeing his partner’s bitter expression and not knowing what else to do, Balthazar let a hand run through Vinnie’s hair in an attempt to soothe him. Despite being glad to see his husband opening up without hesitation, he found himself surprised by how brutally honest the shorter man was. Then again, he was half-drunk.
And on top of that…Vinnie had every right to be frustrated. Throughout the entire year, the shorter man had met with Doofenshmirtz almost every single day to help him create a new and operating time-machine. But what they still lacked was a reliable fuel that could replace Time-Juice. And even after months’ worth of work, they hadn’t come close to any sort of progress in that department.
Balthazar joined his free hand with Vinnie’s as he especially thought about how his partner had acted those past four months. Between a family celebration and the holidays coming up, the shorter man had gotten desperate to find a way to reach his family. Even if he wasn’t able to celebrate with them, Vinnie wanted at the very least to send gifts to his niece and nephews. With time-travel on his side, the man prided himself in being the best gifts-giving uncle the three youngsters had. Vinnie had no desire to give up his title now. Besides, he saw any excuse to spoil the children as a good one.
“What about you, hon ? Whaddya wanna change this year ?” Vinnie eventually asked. It was clearly a diversion, but it was a welcomed one.
“Weeell…I actually have two ideas in mind,” Balthazar started. “First of all, I wish to keep doing my best to earn a new promotion, especially since our first one didn’t lead us to the most…glamorous position,” he grumbled that last part, looking sideways.
His gaze landed on his desk and Balthazar immediately found his bitterness partly melt away at the view of the Christmas present his husband got him. It was a golden custom trophy with a plate that read ‘Guy who Saves the World’, a way to pay tribute to the tall man’s passionate courage and determination to always be willing to help those in need.
“…I truly wish more people could finally just see how competent we can prove ourselves to be !” Balthazar still couldn’t help but vent.
“Yeah, you do,” Vinnie confirmed. The shorter man planted a kiss on Balthazar’s hand, helping the taller man calm down. Balthazar let out a frustrated noise before resting his head on top of his partner’s. “…We really need to get better jobs,” Vinnie voiced out of the blue.
“We truly do,” Balthazar concurred with a sigh. With how they were currently seated, his husband had access to his neck and pressed his lips against it, letting the rest of Balthazar’s anguish fade away.
“Wait, didn’t you say you have two resolutions ?” Vinnie continued after a few seconds. “What’s the second one ?”
“I indeed said that,” Balthazar stated. “For my other resolution, I…”
…The words suddenly felt stuck in his throat. Balthazar cursed internally. He usually had no issue speaking his mind ! But…while he knew what he wanted to say, he was unsure how Vinnie would take it. Even though it wouldn’t be the first time the topic was brought up, his husband already had a lot on his mind with the time-machine project, on top of all the stress that came from their living situation. There was no reason to open old wounds. And between that and the eggnog…
“Balth ?” And now Vinnie was getting worried…
Well, Vinnie was being nothing but honest tonight. It would be unfair not to do the same.
Balthazar took a deep breath, “I… Despite my desires to give my all for our job, I am well-aware of how dangerous it can be at times and…I have done quite a lot this past year to look after myself better. I wish to continue to do so.” He glanced at his partner, gently rubbing the hand he was still holding, “I…suppose it must be quite the miracle to you that I managed to stay alive for so long…I don’t have the slightest desire to change that fact.
“Even if it means our situation might take longer to get better, I need to keep being aware of my surroundings and continue to be careful in the most dangerous situations. I do care about my own survival, after all ! Besides, this is the least I can do for you.”
Vinnie smiled, a mix of love and worry shining through his eyes. “You know, maybe I’ll stick to my resolution this time around, if it means you keep this one,” he half-joked.
“Believe me, I have every intention to do so.”
“That’s good,” the shorter man whispered.
Their conversation was cut short as the sound of fireworks reached them from outside. Both men turned towards the noise.
The new year was finally here.
“Come on, let’s go check it out !” Vinnie exclaimed, already running to the door. Balthazar followed with an amused smile. His partner had such an enthusiasm for the little things in life… It never failed to make him feel curious as well, even when he wasn’t all that interested ! This time around though, he was more than happy to join his husband at the doorway.
With Vinnie just standing there and letting the cold inside, Balthazar made a move to their balcony, only for the short man to grab his arms. When Balthazar glanced at him in confusion, Vinnie pointed his head up. It was then that the taller man remembered the mistletoe that had been placed above their door.
Looking back down, Balthazar was met with his husband wiggling his eyebrows, glasses already out of the way. It seemed the eggnog hadn’t been strong enough to prevent his partner from planning to get one last kiss from him. The taller man was glad it didn’t.
Balthazar barely hid his smile as he sighed dramatically, earning a playful smirk from Vinnie. He then cupped his husband’s chin, more than eager to press their lips together. They let the moment last, kissing under the booming lights of the fireworks.
When they pulled away, the two men stared lovingly into each other’s eyes.
“Happy new year, hon.”
“Happy new year, dear.”
“Hope you’re gonna keep that second resolution of yours.”
“I will, darling.
“I will.”
#Milo Murphy's Law#mml#Dakavendish#Balthazar Cavendish#Vinnie Dakota#my fanfics#tw swearing#swearing tw#tw alcohol#alcohol tw#fluff
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About MML season 2
So after rambling about one season 2 episode, I now want to rant a bit. So here’s a list of reasons why I find season 2 weaker than season 1. Obviously, this post is mostly me complaining about some stuff so, if you don’t want to hear about it, don’t read.
Note that this is a personal opinion and you have every right to disagree with it. Also, the points given aren’t sorted in any particular order of importance.
For those who don’t want to read the post (because you don’t have time/aren’t really interested/ can’t stay focused for too long etc) or if you only want to see certain points, here’s a list of what I will discuss here :
- Murphy’s Law seems weakened
- Dakota and Cavendish are like looney toons characters and more time is spent on them getting hurt rather than on their interactions with each other, which makes their plot boring
- Compared to most Dwampyverse couples, Zack and Melissa have no development
- Doofenshmirtz is annoying but does have his few moments
- A few jokes take too much time; in particular, “Cavendish Unleashed” makes me straight-up angry because of that
- They wanted to make a plot for Zack but it goes nowhere
- other smaller things like the lack of time spent on the school characters
Now, onto the longer version (very long post ahead) :
1. Less Murphy’s law
So in season 1, Murphy’s law was a main focus for the story, in the sense that it was pretty strong. Most episodes had stuff blowing up or getting destroyed. And often, you end up thinking that people got hurt by such mess. Take episodes like “Worked Day”, “Family Vacation”, “Murphy’s Lard”, “The Little Engine that Couldn’t” or “Milo's Halloween Scream-a-Torium”, to cite some of the most extreme cases. And yes, not every episode is like that, and some are even pretty chill when it comes to Murphy’s law like “The Race” or “The Substitute”. Also, Murphy’s law was conveniently turned off except when convenient for the story in major episodes like “Missing Milo” and “Fungus Among Us”. But overall, you really had that impression that Milo’s life was chaotic and explosive and hard to live by.
In season 2, there definitely were episodes in which Murphy’s law was strong, like for example “Freefall”, the ending of “Teacher’s Feature” and any episode with the aliens, in particular the last three episodes of the season. But for the most part, Murphy’s law mostly felt like an inconvenience rather than an actual problem. For example, you have “Walker, Runner, Screamer” in which like one problem happens or “Disco Do-Over” in which Milo very easily solves his parents’ problem. It also doesn’t help that both episodes have at least one character make a big deal out of Murphy’s law.
But aside from that, there are also episodes in which Murphy’s law doesn’t even seem to really happen. Like in “Lady Krillers”, “Spy Little Sister” (I’d argue that the lightbulb accident would have happened regardless of Milo’s presence) or even “Cake ‘splosion” in which Murphy’s law is there but overall it feels more like Milo overcoming the show’s obstacles.
So yeah, Murphy’s law is still present but at the same time it doesn’t feel as strong as the first season. And while it does give more time for Milo and co to have some character development I guess, overall it just feels kind of off. And now that I think about it, this lack of a mess in the A plot in a show that’s meant to be chaotic might be the root for my next complain.
2. Dakota and Cavendish are too cartoony
So in season 1, the B plot was my absolute favorite thing in the show. I couldn’t and still can’t get enough of these two idiots and how they play off of each other. But in season 2…let’s just say that I barely watch their plot during the first half of the season, and the reason is simple : Cavendish and Dakota are a joke in this first half. Their plot is all about them trying to get something and stupidly get hurt by it, and it just feels boring.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not against these two getting hurt. After all, they failed basically all their missions in season 1 and looked dumb while doing so. But the thing is : 1. In season 1, it was mostly because of Murphy’s law so it wasn’t always their fault and 2. The main thing about them in season 1 was their interactions. The most interesting thing about them has always been how they act with each other, at least in my opinion. Heck, my favorite B plot (not episode but B plot) is from “Abducting Murphy’s Law”, an episode in which all Dakota and Cavendish do is talk to each other in different places. It’s just two guys talking, and yet I absolutely love this plot.
So yeah, you don’t need to make Dakota and Cavendish be incompetent idiots for them to be great, you just need to make them interact with each other. That’s also why, out of all their “collecting trash” plots, my favorite is in “Lady Krillers”, because I love the first half with Cavendish complaining while Dakota is being baby while listening to music + their dumb argument over moving the bag and then Cavendish getting scared and Dakota immediately getting protective. This is fun ! This is cute ! This is very dumb and I like every second of it !
On the same note, I can’t stand the B plot of “Disco Do-Over”. The idea isn’t bad and the old lady is a great one-of character, but overall the plot is just urgh for me. The only thing I like is when Cavendish says that Drusselstein sounds made up (I guess Professor Time never wrote an autobiography) and Dakota starts listing made-up words, only to end up smiling at Cav while saying his name slowly in a borderline flirty way, as if he enjoyed every syllable of it. But thing is, I consider that, when shipping is the only thing I care about in an episode/plot, it means that it’s bad. And “Walker, Runner, Screamer” is in the same vein. I can’t stand the plot.
There are actually two things about these plots that I thing really pisses me off (the fact that these plots don’t have much of the duo playing off of each other doesn’t really pisses me of, it just makes the plot boring) :
First of, it makes Dakota seems completely incompetent. Yes I know he wasn’t a first-class agent and even in season 1 he wasn’t that athletic or anything but there was still the feeling that he knew what he was doing. He always managed to steal from Brick and Savannah or know where the duo was, he was able to save Cavendish hundreds of times and finally who knows what the Mississippi purchase was. So while he wasn’t the best, there was some competence. But in season 2, it’s more or less gone.
And for my second pet peeve : Cavendish’s mortality. In season 1, it was established that Cav had a hard time staying alive and could die from tons of different ways, including falling from great heights or getting sent through a wall by a horse. And while we do see him survive a giant rolling rock in “Murphy’s Lard”, Dakota still makes a comment asking if Cav is alive.
But is season 2, it seems like they completely forgot about this part of his character. The worse has to be in “Loot at This Ship” in which he somehow survives when messing with the ship. But earlier in the season, there’s also “Lady Krillers” in which he survives a bull attack three times ! Though, what really pisses me off with that isn’t just the fact that he survives for the sake of comedy; it’s Dakota. In this episode, Dakota has no problem just running away and letting Cavendish get attacked by the bull ! And it’s the same thing in “Disco Do-Over”. When Cav tries to sneak into the garden and gets attacked, Dakota just panics and runs away ! I swear the first time I saw this I was like “Excuse me ?!”. Because you’re telling me that Vinnie “sacrificing himself over and over again with no regrets for Cavendish” Dakota is now ditching Cav in situations he finds dangerous in order to save himself ???
I’m sorry but it pisses me off. It might just be me overreacting but seeing two characters whose main strength in the story was their banter now interacting less and getting hurt more, with one of them going against everything he did in the first season; this just angers me. And so when I watch season 2, I tend to skip most parts of the B plot (which makes me watch like 1 min of episode for “Lady Krillers” because the A plot is very meh. “Disco Do-Over” has an adorable A plot tho).
And last note about these plots, I didn’t mention “Field of Screams” and “Managing Murphy’s law” because I tend to forget about the first one that I find pretty meh (the entire episode, not just the B plot) and the second one has a B plot based on cringy humor and I’m not really into it, though I do really like hearing Jeremy getting more and more tired of Dakota and the hug at the end is such a cute and underrated Dakavendish moment. Also Dakota makes a dad joke near the beginning and I absolutely adore that.
I also didn’t mention “Freefall” because it’s fine. Dakota is being Dakota (and I adore this dork), we start to see Cav get genuinely angry about his job which sets the root for the second half of the season, there’s one scene in which the two are clearly very bored and for some reason it makes me laugh, and the action scene is fine (also damn Cavendish knows how to fly a plane !). But I find “Freefall” to be a good episode in general so yeah.
3. Zack and Melissa
First thing first : I have nothing against the ship itself. I’m not a big shipper when it comes to child/teens characters but I completely understand why people ship them, and I agree that they have personalities that mix well together. And honestly, this point is probably my most minor complain.
That being said, I do believe that their relationship has basically no development. Or at least, if you compare them to other couples in the Dwampyverse. Because thing is, Dwampy tend to have pretty high standards when it comes to couples. I mean, if we look at every canon couple + a few fanon (aka “here’s my need to infodump about random stuff nobody cares about”. This part will be in italics so, if you want to skip it, you can see where it ends) :
- Phineas and Isabella : since the first episode, we see that Isabella is attracted to Phineas. And throughout the entire show, these two are always willing to help the other, with Isabella always wishing to help in any way she can with the project of the day and Phineas always wanting to make the best projects when it comes to Isabella (just look at how he gets upset in her birthday episode when the finale doesn’t go according to plan). So yeah, they’re two kids in love with a very sweet friendship that you know will evolve into a relationship once they get older and understand relationships better.
- Ferb and Vanessa : Ignoring “Act your Age”, this is the usual trope of a young kid falling in love with an older person. And just like with Phina/bella, it’s made clear that Ferb likes Vanessa and is willing to do anything for her.
- Candace and Jeremy : Same kind of relationships. Candace is clearly head-over-heels for him, Jeremy often gives her presents since the beginning of the show and overall is always patient and understanding to her. It’s very sweet and it’s satisfying to see them get together and know that they will stay that way.
- Linda and Lawrence : While we don’t see much of them, it’s made clear when they’re together that they genuinely love each other. Same for their respective parents.
- Vanessa and Monty : A very organic relationship. It’s two teens who find each other attractive and, after randomly finding each other in the same place, decide to talk and learn more about each other, eventually deciding to start dating. It’s pretty sweet.
- Sara and Neal : These two are just fucking adorable ! They’re two awkward nerds in love and the episode when they get together really plays onto this and it’s the most adorable thing. And while we don’t see much of them, at the beginning of “Love Toboggan”, it’s made clear that the two have seen each other enough for their respective families to know that they like each other.
- Amanda and Milo : Another duo of cuties. The idea of a relationship between them is hinted very early, in “Smooth Opera-tor” in which we see that Milo likes her. And throughout the show, we see them getting closer as Amanda learns to accept Murphy’s law and becomes a genuine friend to Milo. We also see that Milo really likes her and is always willing to help her in any way he can.
- Brigette and Martin : Probably the most underrated characters of the show. I simply adore these two ! They’re just really wholesome people, especially Brigette. She knew full well what she was getting into when she decided to marry into the Murphy family and it’s clear that she doesn’t have a single regret. Like the Flynn-Fletcher parents, they aren’t around that much but when they do you can tell they love each other.
And for some fanon ships :
- Buford and Baljeet : Basically an enemy to friends to lover trope. They start off as bully and nerd but, the more time they spend with Phineas and co, the more Buford shows off his sensitive side and learns more to respect Baljeet’s boundaries while Baljeet learns to stand up for himself. And by the end of the show, the two are genuinely close. Heck, even in “Act Your Age”, despite the canon ships, there’s one scene in which the guys tell Phineas that “guys don’t talk about their feelings”. After they say that, there’s an awkward silence and at the end of it you can see Buford and Baljeet look at each other before looking away with a sad expression, as if they did have feelings for each other but never talked about it because of the “boys don’t talk feelings” thing (which, in real life, is complete bullshit. Let men be emotive, dammit !). But yeah, these two have a friendship that grows over the show and is sometimes teased as if something else was going on there.
- Heinz and Perry : Fun fact : when I became an adult and started getting back into the show, I couldn’t help but laugh as I started to ship it because this is such a crackship on paper ! Also, everything related to Peter the Panda, especially “Time Out” and “Lost in Danville” is fucking hilarious because of how ridiculous it is. I love the Dwampyverse ! (and I just realized that I didn’t talk about the humans/objects canon couples but given that only one person can evolve in these relationships…yeah)
But looking at the show and the books, yeah, these two are like two people thrown into an arranged marriage and having to figure everything out. Even if they start off as enemies, they eventually get accustomed to each other, to the point of being each other’s most important person. We really feel it in season 4. In a lot of ways, these two are a lot like Buford and Baljeet (which a lot of people had already pointed out).
- Candace and Vanessa : This one is mostly based on how much Candace admires Vanessa in “Night of the Living Pharmacist” and honestly, it’s pretty alright. I can definitely see why people ship it as there’s definitely some material there and there with Candace trying to impress Vanessa and look cool in front of her.
- Cavendish and Dakota : Act like an old married couple 24/7 ; often have physical contact and never react to it, showing that it’s normal to them and that they’re very comfortable with each other, almost to the point of having no notion of personal space when it comes to each other ; call each other “partners” most of the time ; have known each other for at least 10 years given Cavendish’s change in appearance from “First Impressions” to ‘now’ ; have to share a room most of the time due to their work ; are compared to Perry and Heinz, aka Dan’s favorite fan ship (or at least it seems to be) ; would die for each other and are willing to do anything to keep their relationship going, including stopping a “break up” (Dakota’s words). What else is there to say ?
So looking at all these relationships, including the fanon ones, it’s pretty clear that Dan and Swampy like to give out tons of shipping material. But Zack and Melissa ? They act like friends for most of the show. In season 1, the only episode that’s really shippy is “The Math Book” with how they play off of each other.
The saddest part with this relationship for the shippers is that in the PnF crossover, we start to get hints that they might be a couple, only for them to keep the exact same dynamic as season one up until the very last episode of season 2 in which suddenly they act like a couple most of the time. And before you point out “Escape”, it’s probably just me but the way Melissa tells Milo to hurry because “It starts to seem like a date”, followed by Zack saying “You wish” in such a neutral tone gives off the impression that they don’t want it to be a date. So yeah, by the end of the day, it feels like they only got together because 1. Disney likes straight people and 2. They’re the hero’s best friends.
Seriously, on youtube, there’s a video that’s a Zalis//sa compilation, and not only is the video only 6 minutes long, but most of these moments could come off as two friends acting like two friends. And for the video length : reminder that there’s a Milan//da video from the same person that’s 17 minutes long, Amanda being a character that appears like ten times less than Zack and Melissa; and there are also two Daka//vendish videos, both 10 minutes long each, and they barely cover like 1/3 of the episodes the duo show up in. Seriously, a fanon ship has a hundred more shipping material than a canon ship ! Honestly, Zalis//sa shippers were robbed.
I think the only other ship that has that little development (and by that I mean way less development) among major characters is the one between Baljeet and Ginger. Honestly for this ship : Ginger shows that she’s interested and it’s taken as a joke in season 1; in the bees episode, Ginger listens to Baljeet and, while Baljeet is happy that she’s listening, he’s mostly happy that someone is listening, regardless of who it is. Then we see them dance a few times in the background, including in a Halloween episode in which Buford and Baljeet were sharing a costume and, as Baljeet and Ginger start to dance, we have a shot of Buford not looking happy about this. And yet somehow they became a canon couple.
With this forced ship, I tend to accuse Disney being homophobic and refusing Buford and Baljeet to be both single at the end of the show (seriously Disney seems to be so homophobic that they allowed couples between humans and objects but refused any gay couple. At least they seem to have started to be more accepting with recent shows from what I’ve seen).
4. Heinz Doofenshmirtz
So I know it’s been talked about but it’s still a major point in this season so I have to talk about it. So : in Phineas and Ferb, Heinz is a motivated inventor who was able to make inators that worked, though his poor planning and some of his ideas often got the best of him. But overall, he was just a nice guy with a certain genius and who was trying to cope with his childhood trauma in the only ways he knew. He’s also one of the best fathers in all of animation, especially given how much baggage he has, but that’s not the topic here.
Then, when Dwampy made “The O.W.C.A. Files”, they decided to change Heinz’s personality. Suddenly, he was a complete klutz who’s can’t do anything right and just pisses people off. And when they made MML, they kept this personality trait. It also doesn’t help that quite a lot of focus is put on him, which renders him even more annoying. I won’t develop much on his flaws because, again, others already did before. Instead, since so many people already talked about what was wrong with Doof in this show, I actually want to talk about the good moments that Heinz has in MML.
So, to cite a few : First off, the PnF crossover. Yes he does mess up his time machine with orange juice but that’s like his only mistake. Overall, he’s seen to be a great inventor who quickly understands the Pistachions’ weakness after spilling juice on a plant and immediately creates a plan around it. And speaking of which, I also really like how, when he meets the group at the beginning and is told to be a hero, he asks “What do you base your assumption on ?” (not a direct quote), which really shows that yes, he’s a scientist who thinks like one.
The moments where he butts head with Cavendish are also pretty good, especially with how what he says is only the truth : he’s not Professor Time, he’s just some random inventor, and Cavendish feeling so much deception is his own fault for idolizing someone. Thinking about it, it might actually be the only moments in the show in which he’s seen as more mature than another major character.
And overall, he’s just his PnF self in this episode. Like, there’s also how he talks to Diogee and, later, when Milo puts some pressure on him by reminding him of the stakes, he goes “I’m going to go back to talk to the dog”.
As for some other good appearances : “Spy Little Sister” has Heinz show up for a very little and it really works with making him a lot like how he was in PnF (honestly the lightbulb accident seems like something he’ll do in PnF. Heck, in the first part of the episode, he reminds me of how he is in “Doof 101”, episode in which the problems are caused by the annoying bugs and not him).
“Disco Do-Over” does a clever use of the “I am a superstar” video, though Heinz is a bit obnoxious in this episode.
The season 2 finale has Heinz once again act like a scientist when he asks the Octalian about shape-shifting.
Finally, I really like the friendship between him and Dakota. The two are definitely bad for each other and that’s what makes their interactions interesting. Though, I would have loved to see some time spent on pointing out the fact that Dakota grew up seeing Heinz as a hero. And on that same note, I would have loved to see a bit more of Cavendish interacting with Heinz, especially after Heinz and Dakota became “friends” (the last episodes give off the feeling that now that they made up with their respective partner, they aren’t going to hang out with each other).
So yeah, Heinz does have his moments in which he works pretty well. But most of these moments are in episodes in which he’s a minor character. When the show starts to focus more on him, he’s just annoying and immature, which is really sad given how great he was in PnF.
5. The humor
Now it’s time to get the claws out. Seriously, this part was meant to be short but I can tell from what my brain has in mind that I’m going to give a long rant. To be honest this wasn’t even really supposed to be a big thing to point out, like I could’ve put this at the end with the other “minor complains”. But one thing pisses me off so it’s now its own part.
So to make things clear first : when I talk about the humor, I’m talking about one kind of joke that the show has done since season 1 but that feels off in season 2. I’m talking about the jokes that go on for a while, sometimes too long; especially too long in season 2.
I think a good example of a long joke made right is in “Party of Peril”, when we have to watch Elliot get attacked by a duck for like 50 seconds. It’s a joke that probably goes on for too long but let’s be honest it’s hilarious, along with creating the recurring joke of ducks hating Elliot.
In season 2, they kept trying to make these kinds of jokes there and there; but for some reason it doesn’t really work. I have two examples : the first one is in “Teacher’s Feature” in which we spend 20 seconds on Scott dancing in a cringy way while the kids comment on it. And I swear as I’m writing that I’m considering checking the length because it feels like 40 seconds, not 20, and that’s the problem. Watching the scene, they could have easily cut out 5 seconds of him dancing with music to go directly to the part where there’s no music but he keeps going. Seriously. They definitely could have made this joke shorter.
But the worst to me, the absolute worst, is in “Cavendish Unleashed”. OOOH BOY the fucking waste they did there.
So in this episode, there’s a joke that plays out 3 times, two times the same way and a third time with a slight difference. The joke is about people wanting to sign a paper to destroy then protect the forest, only to get crushed by the alien and being unable to use their hand. To put it simply, this joke is boring. It doesn’t even feel like a joke ! It’s just 15 then another 15 and then a whole 20 seconds (more or less) wasted on this shit. And I swear I also want to go check the length because I remember that when I first saw the episode, the third joke felt like it went on for two minutes. It’s not fun, it’s just boring.
But what’s the problem with that ? Simple : the ending of the episode. At the end of the episode, Cavendish talks with the main trio, learns that Milo was the abductee and then tells the teens to leave. And they just leave, asking no questions whatsoever. Like hello ???? Cavendish has been missing for days, maybe weeks ??? Dakota is desperate to find him ??? Haven’t Dakota told the kids that Cavendish was missing ??? Hadn’t they noticed during “Cast Party” and even before or after that Dakota wasn’t with Cavendish anymore ??? WHY IS NOBODY ASKING QUESTIONS ???? Why didn’t the kids go like “Oh yeah, we saw Cavendish today” to Dakota ??? Why waiting DAYS before telling him ??? Hell, in “Escape”, he talks about finding Cavendish like the kids knew ! So what the hell was that all about ?!
Seriously. Would it have been too hard to remove that dumb recurring joke and instead have an angsty scene in which Milo points out that Cavendish is considered missing, only for Cav to feel bad about it, making us feel for him, and then tell the kids that he’s doing what he believes is for the best and then ask them to keep it a secret from Dakota ? How come the only time we see Cav feel bad about leaving is in a fan animation ?
This seriously pisses me off. The whole arc about Cavendish going rogue could have been one of my favorites. We could’ve seen him struggle to live, think about what he’s doing and why, feel homesick or missing Dakota and the others. Hell, he’s been stuck alone and conscious in an ice cube for who knows how long, so why did he never take the time to reflect during that time ? And yes he was conscious. When he gets trapped, his eyes move and when he’s saved, he’s able to protect his face the very moment the ice break, showing that he was well-aware of Dakota breaking the cube.
But no. Instead, this arc spends like 30% of its screen time on Cavendish doing a Candace-like joke about trying to show the ship and 70% of the screen-time on Dakota sulking. And in the last episode, there’s a scene in which Cav complains about Octalia, only to be remembered that he can save the planet; and then he goes on a rant about how he’s going to be the hero of Octalia, showing that he didn’t learn a fucking thing from his arc.
This pisses me off. This really pisses me off. No wonder I wrote like 5 oneshots around that arc. I need to get that “Cavendish is struggling” angst juice one way or another.
And speaking of bad arcs…
6. Zack’s plot
So in the first episode of the season (not counting the crossover), the characters talk about how Zack is a coward who tries to get over his fears. Ok so first question : since when is Zack considered a coward ? I mean, he’s very cautious when it comes to Murphy’s law, yes, but being cautious is not the same as being a coward. Besides, Murphy’s law is dangerous. And for most of the episodes, his reactions are the same as Melissa and Milo, when Milo gets scared. As for his fear of fish, anyone can have these kinds of irrational fears. Also there’s the Halloween episode in which it’s made clear that he doesn’t have much fears aside from the fear of dying from the unpredictable, hence his usual resentment with Murphy’s law.
It’s also worth mentioning that MML follows the trope of having a group with two guys and one girl; with one guy being the main character, the girl being the smart one and the second guy being the coward or the forgettable one in certain shows. I think this might be one of the reasons why there’s this idea that Zack is a coward.
But aside from the fact that, in my personal opinion, this plot comes out of nowhere, there’s also the problem that we barely see it at all. I mean, in “Snow Way out”, it’s put into the story. Then they completely forget about it and Zack goes back to act chill and cautious until “Freefall” whose entire plot revolves around Zack being fearful (again, rightfully fearful given the situation). Then it’s dropped again until “The Mid-Afternoon Snack Club” with the idea that Zack feels overshadowed by Milo (which, honestly, sounds like a more interesting arc than the whole fear thing). And finally, it’s dropped yet again until the very last episode in which they keep insisting that he has no fear anymore.
Seriously, am I the only one seeing this ? Or am I just bad at noticing the character growth ?
7. Smaller pet peeves
So that last point is a list of small things that bother me in this season but that I don’t see myself write 10 paragraphs about :
- Most of the supporting cast needed more screentime. Seriously, characters like Neal and Veronica basically don’t exist this season, Sara also has a much more minor role, Bradley desperately needs some kind of character arc, most of the school characters and staff are also pretty absent (we miss you Drako !), Brick and Savannah only appear twice, once being a cameo in front of a pistachio cart, and I’m sure there’s more that I forgot.
- A very personal opinion so it’s not really a pet peeve but time travel was much more interesting than aliens, though the plots were pretty similar with the people involved trying to get to Milo, only for Murphy’s law to occur and ruin their plan. Also, while I really like the captain/leader, the two guys sent to capture Milo are your usual comedic duo, like the two small devils in Disney’s Hercules (I don’t know their name in English, I only know that they’re named “Peur” and “Panique” in French).
And fun fact, “Spy Little Sister” is probably my favorite episode of the season, and while watching it, I really had a feeling of “god I missed that” when time-travel occurred. Though, I’ll admit, the aliens plot does a much better job using Murphy’s law, not only with the aliens failing constantly because of it but also especially in the finale with each character having their own backpack to “fight against it”.
- Bob Block. There was some potential with that character (*cough* villain *cough*). Though, I won’t develop here because I already did at the beginning of another post.
- The episode “Game Night” is weird to me. Like, it’s not a bad episode, on the contrary it’s a great one, but at the same time I find myself not liking it. I think the main problem is that it should’ve been a season 1 episode due to the whole thing with the deadly vortex and how Cavendish and Dakota somehow knew what it was. Also I feel like there’s a waste of characters. I mean, we get the Murphy parents, Neal and Cav and Dakota and yet it feels like the episode is mostly focused on the main trio + Sara. Also Veronica was robbed. They could have easily removed the whole vortex thing, hence removing Cavendish and Dakota from the story, and have Veronica with the group instead. Look I love the two time-travelling idiots but other characters deserve some spotlight too.
Besides, thinking about it, it’s a bit sad that Cavendish and Dakota don’t really interact with the others when they’re on screen. There’s like 5 people in the room and yet we either see them talk to each other or to the group in general (though to be honest this disconnect between characters even when they’re in the same room is also in the crossover and the season 2 finale).
So yeah, this episode is weird. It has tons of elements that should make me love it (the Murphy parents; Neal; Melissa being Melissa; Dakota being Dakota; some Daka//vendish, including a 3 seconds argument that has some of the biggest “old married couple” energy we’ve seen in this show; Milo and Sara being overly dramatic babies; the Veronica cameo). And yet, I somehow can’t find myself really liking it. It’s weird.
So, overall, it was still a pretty good and solid season. Most episodes were pretty fun and enjoyable. But they were still a lot of small issues that, in my opinion, makes season 1 much better; and when I decide to watch random moments of the show or watch full episodes, I tend to mostly pick in that first season.
#Milo Murphy's Law#mml#mml spoilers#season 2 spoilers#long post#VERY long post#rant#I guess#negative#?#Flor talks#hey look I'm rambling again#I actually wrote this one before the previous ones#but my brain wanted to post it afterwards#for some weird reason#this is probably the last big post#for this fandom#I think#and if you ask why such a post was made#infodumping#just pure and simple infodumping
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An agonizing end
AO3 link
Most of the time, the deaths were short. He fell or got hit by something, dying at the impact, in a single instant. But then they were the long ones, the painful ones, the ones where Dakota had to watch him as his life was slowly being taken away. Those were the worst of all.
Note : And here’s yet another small angsty idea that popped into my mind. As usual, Dakavendish-centric with the two being married. Also, in terms of when it takes place, I’d say around 3-4 years before the show, something like that (so Cavendish and Dakota have the look they have in the show, not the younger version). Enjoy !
WARNING : the entire thing revolves around Cavendish dying and is slightly graphic, so be warned if you’re sensitive to these kind of topics.
Another day, another short mission. This time, Mr.Block asked them to go to the Paleozoic era to prevent an individual from getting eaten on a specific day. Something about the butterfly effect. To be honest, Vinnie didn’t pay much attention to the briefing in the car. He and Balth had gotten into a pretty bad argument the day before and, while he was starting to get over it, to his annoyance, Balth was still very sour about it. So while their boss had been talking, the shorter man had been completely focused on examining his partner’s body language, looking for any sign that the taller man was forgetting the whole thing.
“Here we are.”, Balth declared after parking the car in some random clearing, under a branch that was low and large enough to protect it from any damage that the animals could made.
“So, what are we looking for again ?”, Vinnie asked. While his knowledge on dinosaurs wasn’t the best, as B.O.T.T. took a long time before letting scientists properly document them, he could still recognize a few species and be much more helpful than his grumpy partner.
“We have to find some kind of dragonfly that lives in a swamp nearby. So try not to get it killed and ruin everything just like you did when you broke that relic.”, Balth commented.
“Oh come one honey, I-“
“Don’t you ‘honey’ me, Dakota !”, and of course the tall man was now furious. “After weeks of insignificant work, we finally had an important mission, and you ruined it all !”
“Hey ! H-how was I supposed to know this room was a trap ?”, Balth was starting to get on his nerves talking about that mission.
“You could have guessed ! Or let me go first to test the waters ! Or given me the relic ! Or-“
“Alright, alright, I get it !”, he tried to defuse. “I messed up and we failed the mission because of me. Now can we move on ?”
“As long as you learned your lesson, which you never do.”
“I’m sorry alright ! What more do you want from me ?!”
Balthazar didn’t respond, simply heading towards their objective. “Giving me the silent treatment ? Really ? Alright, fine ! Have it your way !”
Vinnie didn’t bother catching up with his partner and decided to follow behind, his feet angrily knocking the small rocks on his path. He knew it could be dangerous for Balth not to stay close, but he didn’t care right now. If Balthazar was feeling like hating him, that wasn’t his problem ! Nothing was forcing him to stay with Vinnie when working. If he wanted to change partners, all he had to do was say the word !
“WATCH OUT !”
Vinnie was taken out of his reverie by the scream and found himself frozen in place. In his anger, he failed to notice the hills on his left and the sharp rocks that were falling towards him in a much faster pace than he could anticipate. With his instincts of self-preservation kicking in, he thought of running away. But it was obvious that the rocks were too far too close now.
Vinnie braced himself. Looks like it was the end for him. He felt himself shiver, fear and denial setting in. But what was he supposed to do now ?
The impact finally came. But instead of feeling the rocks pierce his abdomen, he felt himself being pushed away, landing on the soft grass. He could hear the rocks end their fall, followed by a piercing shriek.
No…no !
Vinnie’s eyes snapped open and he took with horror the scene in front of him. Balth…Balthazar had saved him. The man was lying under the rocks, the biggest one on his legs while the smallest but sharpest one was lodged into the man’s stomach. His legs were most likely broken and his wound was clearly fatal, but he was still alive, looking at the smaller man with wide eyes, his breath ragged.
“Cavendish !”, Vinnie hurried to his husband’s side, wondering how to get him out of there. But there was nothing he could do. Worse, any movement would make the man pass away faster.
This couldn’t be happening…Balth had died of many ways in the past, but it was never because of him ! He was the one supposed to protect Balth, not the other way around !
“Cavendish ?”, the shorter man tried to get his composure back. It was fine. It was alright. He could go back. He was just shaken by what happened. “Cavendish, can you hear me ?”
Despite his glassy but panicked eyes, the taller man was still looking at him and had enough strength to nod. Vinnie found himself sigh in relief. Balthazar tried to talk, only to cough up blood.
“It’s okay, keep your strength.”, Vinnie murmured. He focused on the man’s head, trying to ignore the state of his body. He had enough material for his nightmares as it was. After a few instants, the reality of what just happened seemed to settle into Balth. While his expression kept the same panic, the man’s breath slowed down.
“D…Dakota…?”
“Shh. It’s alright. You’re going to be alright.”, Vinnie murmured. “You’re just…it’s alright.”
The shorter man turned away. There was nothing more he could do for him, at least in this timeline.
“Vinnie…”, the short man almost didn’t hear his husband’s whisper. He froze but kept looking ahead, having no desire to see the man’s body. “Please…please don’t leave me…”, this time, he couldn’t help but glance back and was immediately hit with guilt. Balth was crying, looking even more terrified than before, with a shaking hand extended towards Vinnie.
“I…”, he didn’t want to stay. He’d rather fix it now to avoid witnessing his partner’s agony. But the way he was looking at him…He must be so terrified, being all alone on the verge of death, with his only companion just turning away and abandoning him to suffer on his own…”I’m-I’m right here.”
The shorter man went to crouch near the body, taking his hand and slowly rubbing it in an attempt to be comforting. “It’s going to be okay.”, he tried to soothe. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere, alright ?”
“I’m…I’m scared.”, Balth admitted between two coughs.
“I know, honey. I know.”, against his best judgement, he took a good look at his partner’s body. Aside from the blood, his body was shaking. He was clearly in agony. “Do you…do you want me to…you know…shorten your suffering ?”
“…No…I don’t…”, as Balth went into a coughing fit, Vinnie felt the man’s hand grip his.
“It’s alright, I understand. I wouldn’t want to die either.”, the shorter man tried to joke.
After that, the duo fell silent. Vinnie stayed by his husband’s side, his gaze avoiding the body. He started to think of what happened, of why Balth was currently crushed under a pile of rocks. Despite the situation, he found himself smile.
“I can’t- I can’t believe you’d take a hit for me like that.”, he remarked. “Especially with how mad you were.”
“Of…of course I would.”, Balthazar managed to whisper between coughs. He tried to say more, but his strength was slowly fading away. This was fine. Vinnie didn’t need to hear him to know what his husband wanted to say. In a way, it made sense. Vinnie loved Balth and was willing to make any sacrifice to keep him safe. He should’ve expected Balthazar to think the same. No matter how dense the taller man was sometimes, Vinnie was still the love of his life.
“I know”, he replied. For an instant, due to his thoughts, the shorter man felt more light-hearted. But one single glance at his partner was enough to bring him down and remind him of why he needed to do this mission all over again. This was still fine. It wasn’t the first time Vinnie had to be in such a situation, after all. “You’re going to be okay.”, he murmured, more to himself than to his agonizing partner. “Everything’s gonna be okay. Just close your eyes and rest. I won’t leave you.”
Balthazar did. And now started the part that Vinnie hated the most : the wait.
---------
Vinnie stayed sitting on the crumpled grass for what felt like forever, holding the hand of his dying partner while facing away from his corpse, trying to ignore the smell of blood still pouring near him. He could hear nothing but the distant animals, the eventual slight wind and the slowing breath of his husband. This truly was what he hated the most in what he was doing. He knew he should just have gone back and fix it the moment Balth was meant to die. It wasn’t like the man would remember anything anyways. But still, seeing the way Balthazar looked at him when he tried to leave, and seeing him in such agony, terrified of what will happen to him…he couldn’t just abandon him. He needed to be by his husband’s side, to help him find peace in his demise, even if that peace was meaningless. Even now, when Balth would probably not even notice him gone, it didn’t feel right to leave him, no matter how horrible it was to see his partner as a limp and crushed body. It wasn’t about how much it would impact the shorter man anyways. If Balth wanted him to stay, he would stay, no matter what. Vinnie was too soft to tell Balth no, especially on his death bed.
Finally, after all this wait, Vinnie felt the hand in his palm lose its grip and the body next to him stopped moving, stopped breathing. The short man let go of the hand and looked at his partner for a few seconds, until finally deciding to head back to their car. Now all he had to do was fix this.
“It’s going to be alright.”, he spoke out loud after one last glance towards the corpse he was leaving behind. “This time, I promise I’ll pay more attention to the hill.
I won’t let you die for me, not ever again.
Please don’t ever kill yourself for me. Don’t ever let me be the reason why I have to lose you.”
#Milo Murphy's Law#mml#Dakavendish#Balthazar Cavendish#Vinnie Dakota#angst#blood cw#cw blood#cw#tw#cw death#death cw#my fanfics#Me ? Only remembering which day we are after posting the fic ?#and realizing that it's probably weird to post angst today ?#definitely#oh well
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As Time Passes Prologue : My Brother, part 1
AO3 link ; Prologue 1 (The Estate)
A collection of scenes from Vinnie’s early life. From his younger years as a toddler to his last years as a teen. From a life of fear to a life of uncertainty. From an abused child relying on the only good people in his life to a young adult determined to make things right for them.
TRIGGER WARNING : child abuse, violence, depression, mentions of drug and alcohol, infidelity. Basically anything that goes with messed up abusive parents. And to that regard, this fic is NOT made to romanticize abuse or mental illness ! There’s also a moment in part 2 mentioning a dystopic future with the urbanization of the world and its consequences on every species (it’s only one part and you see it coming). This also means mentions of animal abuse and LITERAL animal genocide !!
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Notes : Well, this took 8 months longer than expected…
Seriously. I started working on this chapter BEFORE “The Estate”, only deciding later to start with Cav’s backstory because it makes more sense given what I intend to write for chapters 3 and 4.
Though, that chapter is very, VERY long so that also explains the delay. And even despite the size, I feel like I tried to cram in too much elements and underdeveloped some stuff as a result. Like, that whole thing could be a fic in itself if I had enough ideas to fill the holes there and there.
On a lighter note, during that “hiatus”, I read the book “Wanderers” by Chuck Wending and one interlude gave me the idea of putting dates at the beginning of each new part of the story, which is going to come in VERY HANDY for the story (also the fact that the fic is called “As Time Passes” makes it even better).
As for the chapter itself, let’s just say that, after giving an idea of what Cavendish’s life used to be, now it’s time to show Dakota’s. Though, this chapter will be much longer and goes onto basically his entire life before B.O.T.T.. There are also a lot of dark stuff (as said in the trigger warning) because apparently my brain still hasn’t gotten past that teenager need to make anything as messed up as possible.
Regarding the sibling OCs, fun fact : the idea of Dakota having older siblings came partly from Tumblr and partly from my wish to have Dakota be an uncle due to how much the guy seems to love kids (but I don’t see him have his own, for reason that will be talked about in the main fic). Then, while listening to random songs and coming up with Dakavendish animations in my head (yeah I’m THAT kind of weirdo), I ended up listening to “A Guy Like You” from Disney Hunchback and suddenly Dakota had three siblings. Then all that needed to be done was give them a personality and choose which one would have a kid. And then make them all queer because I spend too much time on the internet.
Another thing about them, to make it easier at the beginning : there are four. And for the age-gap, as an example, the fic starts with the ages being 13 (Enzo “Enzie”), 9 (Bettina “Bettie”), 5 (Donatello “Donnie”) and 3 (Viviana “Vivie”/Vincenzo “Vinnie”).
(side-note about the writing at the beginning : using the wrong pronouns for a character is MUCH harder than I thought it would be)
Btw I don’t know how to draw so instead, if you want to see how the siblings look like, I made them in Miitopia (don’t ask). Here’s the link for it (just ignore my ramblings in this...).
Also, while the idea of him having siblings comes partly from my brain, the idea of Dakota being Italian is 100% from Tumblr and AO3 with like half the Dakavendish fandom who seems to follow this headcanon. Hell, I even have an irl friend who told me Dakota gives them a European vibe while I was telling them that one of the reasons people saw him as trans was his height.
(and I guess you could say the same thing about him having heterochromia and being colorblind ; all the credit for these two ideas goes to the fandom)
Btw, despite them being Italians, the dialogue is in english. In future chapters tho, depending on the character’s POV, some dialogue will either be in Italian or in English in italics.
And fun fact : while googling Italian names to help me name these characters, I discovered that there’s an Italian name that’s “Baldassare” and this is 100% how Dakota’s siblings and nephew/nieces would call Cavendish.
And one last “””fun””” fact : the character of Enzo is partly inspired by a guy I know who, by the age of 6, was the one to wake up, dress, feed, bring to school and overall raise his 4 younger siblings. And if you’re wondering, the guy is 23 now and is doing pretty fine (much, MUCH better than the shit I plan for my OC here). And no, the name of the OC isn’t inspired by this guy. I looked up random Italian names for each sibling + Vinnie’s dead name.
Anyways, onto the fic now. Enjoy !
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January 10, 2134
The morning started with their usual routine.
Vivie was sleeping soundly, her brother Donnie by her side, until their oldest brother Enzie came to wake them up. Vivie could hear her sister Bettie grumble, not helped by Enzie urging her to get up. He would always claim that, unlike the other two, she needed to be ready early. They didn’t go to school at the same hours. First it was Bettie, then Donnie, and finally Vivie was brought to the nursery.
Enzie also went to school. Bettie once said that Enzie always turned out late because his school started before them. But Enzie always insisted to take care of them first. The older brother didn’t like letting them alone with Mamma. And, truth be told, Vivie didn’t like it either.
Once Enzie reached their bed, Donnie pretended to still be sleeping and made snoring noises. Sometimes, Vivie would do the same. Today though, she just giggled, listening to her brothers argue.
She couldn’t open her eyes. The light hurt her. So she waited for her brothers to be done, for Enzie to focus his attention to her and give her her sunglasses.
Then, the four kids sat on the beds to have their breakfast, taking out the bags hiding under their beds. Years ago, way before Vivie was born, Enzie had decided that they should all hide their fruits and snacks in the bedroom instead of in the kitchen where Mamma could take them, and the others obeyed.
Enzie was always worried about food. Even though Mamma brought enough for them to eat everyday if they shared in small portions, Enzie insisted that it was never enough, that kids like them needed more than that. He always told them that, if they found something to eat, they should eat until they were full and share if some was left. As a result, Bettie and Donnie often brought food back from their lunch at school.
As for Enzie, how he always found something for the three of them was a mystery. Vivie had heard Bettie get angry at her brother more than once, accusing him of stealing food and talking about how he was going to end up in prison. But then Enzie would show what he got her, and she would stop yelling. But Vivie could see that she was still angry, and it made her sad too. Vivie heard that prison was bad, that the people who went left for a long time.
Vivie didn’t want Enzie to go to prison.
Who would take care of her, if Enzie was not here ?
…
…
Despite her young age, Vivie would sometimes feel bad for Enzie. He was very nice and always helped her when she was upset. But was anybody helping him ? Enzie slept on the scratchy couch in the living-room to let Bettie have her own bed. He refused to eat until his siblings ate enough. He helped Bettie with her homework before doing his. He never slept if one of them wasn’t, willing to tell as many songs and story as needed. He always went outside with them to watch over them. If one of them needed something from Mamma, he would talk to her for them.
Vivie couldn’t talk that well yet. While she knew a few words, she was said to be behind on language. But while she couldn’t communicate, she could observe.
When she was at the nursery, Vivie would see the other children, the other families. She was told about how a family worked.
The parents took care of the children. The parents fed the children, helped them with their homework, told them bedtime stories, watched over them, cared for them, have a bed for each one of them.
Mamma didn’t do any of this. She never did.
Mamma was just there, in the house, with them. Enzie told them not to talk to her. She could be dangerous when she was bothered.
And yet, she would go to them sometimes. She would go outside with them, just walking ahead as she brought Donnie and Vivie to the closest playground. She would mention them on the phone. Vivie even saw her go to Bettie’s school play once.
But the rest of the time, she would be lying down somewhere in “her side” of the house, glaring when any of her children would come close all the while holding one of those bottles Enzie completely forbid them to touch. Or she would be out of the house, especially at night, going to what Vivie supposed was her job.
So, since she was never there, Enzie took care of them.
It wasn’t normal. It wasn’t how the other children lived. Enzie was not an adult, at least Vivie didn’t think so. Bettie said he was as much of a child as she was.
But Vivie couldn’t do anything about it. As of right now, all she could do was finish her morning snack, brush her teeth, let Enzie dress her up and follow her older siblings as they packed for school, listening to the same instructions Enzie gave them each day : “Don’t go with any strangers.”, “Listen to your teachers.”, “Don’t get in trouble.”
Maybe it wasn’t normal, but it was all that Vivie knew. And at the very least, she supposed it was better than nothing.
---------------
October 30, 2134
Vivie didn’t understand how she ended up here, on the examination table of the nearest doctor. She had been in the bedroom, getting yelled at by Donnie for taking his clothes. She always liked his clothes more than her own. But when Enzie arrived to investigate the noise, a confusion happened.
Donnie complained that Vivie took his yellow shirt and his red pants. And while Vivie couldn’t lie about that, she insisted that everything she was wearing was of the same color and that Donnie was using two words that meant the same thing. While Donnie and Vivie went back and forth about colors, Enzie went to pick up a few clothes. He then quickly interrupted his younger siblings, sat Vivie down and asked her to tell him the color of each outfit.
The four years-old was confused but decided to comply. Describing blue shirts, purple costumes and pink underwear. But then, there was the color of the clothes she was wearing, a color Vivie had heard being called by three different names : yellow, red and green.
Each time the clothes would have this color, she would use one of those words randomly, getting several huffs from Donnie, making her feel like she was doing something wrong.
After a few more, the thirteen years-old asked Donnie to close the blinds and turn off every light, which the six years-old quickly did. Then, Enzie requested that his sister remove her sunglasses.
They tried his game again, leading to the same results. The girl started sniffing while twirling one temple of her sunglasses. Was there something wrong with her ? Were her eyes wrong again ? Enzie was quick to hold her and calm her down, singing her her favorite lullaby.
Next thing Vivie knew, she was walked to the hospital by her brother. There, a doctor tried to look at her eyes with a light, leading to a lot of struggling from the young child. He then followed with a guessing game with numbers hidden inside colored circles. It was only then that the doctor explained what was wrong with her.
He called it “color-blindness”. It meant that she didn’t see colors the same way other people did, the same way her siblings did. In his explanation, the doctor mentioned how it was incredibly rare for a girl to be colorblind without any sibling or parent being colorblind as well. Enzie replied that he never questioned his parents about it. And while Mamma seemed able to see colors just fine, the teen had no idea if Papà was the same as her.
But, in any case, there was a way to partially fix this.
The doctor excused himself for a minute, letting the anxious teen and the fidgety child alone. Enzie went to sit next to his sister, who was quick to jump on his lap. He ran a finger through the toddler’s curly hair and she pressed her head against his chest. She smiled, feeling peaceful and safe in his arms.
When the doctor came back, he was holding a small pair of glasses with orange lens, along with two identical balls. Enzie stood back up and the doctor gave the plastic balls to the toddler, telling her to raise her head so that he could put the new glasses.
Once Vivie opened her eyes with the new glasses in place, she found herself squeal in surprise.
The balls in her hands, they weren’t the same color at all ! And those colors…had she even seen them before ?!
While the doctor was talking to her brother, Vivie kept putting the glasses on and off, noticing the immediate difference in colors. How could this even be ?!
But before she could ask any question, Enzie gave her the other pair of sunglasses, took her in his arms, thanked the doctor and left the office.
Vivie seated herself in her brother’s arms, the movement from his walking slowly rocking her to sleep.
“Vivie ?”, the teen’s voice took away the fog in her mind.
“huh ?”
“Did you like seeing those colors with the new glasses ?”
“uh-huh.”, the toddler nodded.
“Do you want to have glasses like that all the time.”
“Yes !”, she replied, her head snapping away from Enzie’s shoulder.
“Then this Saturday we’ll got get you a pair. Okay ?”
“Okay !”
“Good. Now let’s go back home before Donnie or Bettie get on mamma’s nerves.”
As the teenager walked at a fast pace, a new question arose in his sister’s mind.
“Enzie ?”
“Yes ?”
“Do you…you will fall down for my new glasses ?”, the toddler asked full of worry. Bettie had told her the story of how she got her sunglasses. Apparently, she had refused to open her eyes as a baby and, everytime Enzie asked mamma to go see a doctor, she refused. She “didn’t care enough”, Bettie said. So Enzie decided to give her a reason to go, and jumped from a window, forcing mamma to bring him to the hospital, where the then-child was able to convince the doctor to help Vivie.
“Will I…oh ! Oh no, don’t worry !”, the teenager’s laugh didn’t do anything to ease Vivie’s worry. She pouted.
“Do not get hurt !”, she insisted.
“I promise you Vivie, we’re just going to go to a store. I…”, he looked away. “I can get the money for it…I mean…I’m sure mamma wouldn’t mind losing a few euros…”
“Mamma will help ? With no you falling ?”
“She will.”, Enzie assured. “And I won’t fall. Don’t worry about it, piccolina. Everything’s going to be alright.”
---------------
July 4, 2136
Vivie was hiding in a closet. She had done it again. She had taken Donnie’s clothes.
It was something she did a lot, something she had done for a long time now.
It wasn’t that she found it fun to annoy Donnie ! She just didn’t like her clothes. Bettie had tried to get her “good-looking girl clothes” with the little money they had for it, but Vivie couldn’t care less. She only wore the same few outfits, the ones that Bettie never called “girly”. The only “girly” thing she continuously wore was a heart-shaped pink hairclip, but only because it made her sister very happy.
She didn’t want “pretty girl clothes”, she liked Donnie’s clothes more, even if they were too big for her. She actually liked the size of these clothes, as she could flap her hands with the too-long sleeves of his winter shirts.
Sometimes, when Vivie wore his clothes, Donnie would just let it go and they’ll keep playing together. But other times, like today, Donnie got upset by it. And now, the seven years-old had gone to fetch their older brother.
So Vivie stayed hidden, not wanting to face Enzie’s anger. Las time she saw him, the fifteen years-old had been with Bettie, busy doing homework. And Enzie didn’t like being interrupted by their “small and stupid arguments”, as he once put it. Especially for homework. For the last year, he had been complaining more and more about how he never had the time to just sit down and work with three noisy kids running around and needing him left and right.
Still, it didn’t take long for the child to hear the sound of his footsteps getting louder and louder as he approached.
“Vivie !”, the older brother called.
“I’m not here !”, the five years-old replied. She heard her brother sigh.
“Vivie, come out there. We need to have a talk.”
“I don’t want to !”, another sigh.
“Vivie, I’m not mad at you. Just come out. I’m not going to yell.”
“...Promise ?”
“Promise.”
Tentatively, Vivie opened the closet’s door and caught sign of her brother. He was sitting on her and Donnie’s bed. As she opened the door a little more, he patted the space next to him.
She left the closet and went to sit on the bed. Enzie watched as the child scooted over towards him, looked at his face, scooted a little more, looked at him again and finally moved to sit on his knees.
“You want to talk ?”, Vivie asked.
The teen nodded.
“You’re not angry ?”
He shook his head. Vivie looked in front of her as she considered it. If Enzie wasn’t angry about the clothes, then why did he want to talk to her ? But her thoughts were interrupted by the fifteen years-old putting a hand in her hair, prompting his sister to snuggle against his chest.
“Polpetta ?”
“Yeah ?”
“Why do you keep stealing Donnie’s clothes ?”
“I don’t steal them.”, Vivie protested. “I wear them.”
“And why don’t you wear your clothes ? You don’t like them ?”, Enzie’s voice was calm and soft, though Vivie could still hear the sternness and tiredness his voice often carried.
The child shook her head as a reply.
“But you like Donnie’s clothes ?”
“Yes.”
“Why do you like them more than yours ?”
Vivie had to pause to think for a moment. With her worry from earlier and the drowsiness form feeling a hand play with her hair, she found it hard to think.
“Is it because of the colors ?”, Enzie continued. “Or the size ? Or is it because you have girl clothes ?”
“Yes ! That !”, she suddenly jerked.
“You don’t like girl clothes ?”
“Nuh-uh.”, she replied.
“Why not ?”
Vivie was back to thinking. Why didn’t she like girl clothes ? She knew she didn’t like it when Bettie called them girl clothes, but why ?
“Do you want me to tell you what I think ?”, Enzie asked with a smile. Vivie looked up at his face and the teen chuckled. “I think you don’t like girl clothes because you don’t like being a girl. Do you like being a girl ?”
Yet again, Vivie looked away with a frown as she tried to concentrate. Was it true ? Did she not like being a girl ?
Vivie didn’t like her girl clothes. She didn’t like people pointing at her and saying she was a girl. And everytime Bettie wanted to play with her, Vivie would refuse. She didn’t like playing dress-up with Bettie. She preferred to play marbles or yoyo with Donnie. Even at school, she tried and liked spending time with boys more than girls, even though the largest group of boys always rejected her.
But were all these feelings because she wasn’t a girl ?
“I dunno.”, she finally replied, looking at Enzie with a pleading look, as if her brother held all the answers.
“Let me put it that way.”, the teenager continued. “If you were a boy, would you be happy about it ? Just imagine yourself as a boy. With boy clothes. A boy’s voice. A boy’s name.”
Vivie did. She could picture herself among the other boys of kindergarten. She looked like them, talked like them, belonged with them. The thought made her smile. When she opened her eyes, she bounced, looking at her brother with a smile.
“I want to be a boy !”, she exclaimed.
“Are you sure ?”
Vivie nodded excitedly.
“Alright then.”, the teen shrugged. “Polpetta-to, since you’re so eager at the thought of being a boy, how about we got get the tablet downstair to find you an actual boy’s name ? And see if you like it ?”
Vivie jumped off of Enzie’s laps and ran downstairs, leaving the room before the teenager even had the time to stand up.
Half an hour later and the two siblings were still at the coffee table, Enzie reading through a list of names starting with the letter “v”. Vivie wanted a new name that sounded like her current one.
“Vittore ?”
“ummm. No.”
“What about Vladimir ?”
“…Maybe ?”
“We could call you Vladdie. Or Vaddie.”
“no.”
“Are you even sure you want a new name ? Maybe I was wrong earlier when I said you were a boy.”
“No ! You’re not wrong ! I’m a boy ! I want a boy’s name ! Just like you and Donnie !”
“Alright then.”, the teen sighed. He mumbled something.
“huh ?”
“Nevermind. How abou-“
“What are you two doing ?”, Vivie’s head perked up at the sound of Bettie’s voice. The eleven years-old was on top of the stairs, trying to look at the tablet over Enzie’s shoulder.
“Looking for a name for our little brother over here.”, the teen replied. “Where’s Donnie ?”
“In the bedroom.”, Bettie walked down the stairs. “You know Enzie, when I complained that Vivie acts like she wants to be a boy instead of being stuck as a girl, I was joking.”
“Maybe you were but he wasn’t. At least I think.”
he…their brother… Vivie liked being called that.
“Then…it looks like I don’t have a little sister after all.”, Bettie commented with a hint of sadness in her voice. This made Vivie frown. Sh-…He didn’t want to make his sister sad.
“Maybe not,”, the oldest brother defended. “but instead, you have a great little brother.”
“I guess…”, she went to stand near Vivie, her younger brother. “So,”, she continued. “you’re looking for a boy’s name ?”
“Uh-huh !”, the child replied.
“Found anything you like yet ?”
“We’re trying.”, Enzie replied, putting his head back onto the list.
With the teen’s attention away, Bettie turned back to Vivie.
“Say, once you’re done with that, how about we go return your clothes and buy you better ones ?”
“Yes !”, Vivie jumped in his seat. That’s when he remembered the hairclip he was still wearing. He took it off and presented it to Bettie. “For you.”, he explained. “I won’t wear it now. But you like it. So you should wear it.”
Bettie smiled. “Alright. Whatever you say, patatino.”, she looked at Enzie. “Found other names ?”
“You have Vivaldo, Vidone, Vezio, Vincenzo or Vincent in English,-”
“Vincenzo ?”, for some reason, the name stuck with him. Vincenzo…
“Do you like it ?”, Bettie asked. Vivie nodded. “You want to be called Vincenzo ?”
“I think so…yeah…yes ! I want to be Vincenzo !”
“Finally !”, Enzie sighed, dropping the tablet on the table. The two younger siblings just stared at him, until he glanced back and smirked. Bettie laughed.
“Let’s go return your old clothes, Vincenzo.”, the sister said, already on the move.
“Coming !”, the youngest sibling jumped to follow but was interrupted by a hand on his shoulder. Enzie ruffled his hair with a smile.
“Hope you’re going to enjoy being a boy, Vinnie.”
When the evening came, there was one last thing to do.
Vincenzo…Vinnie was standing in the doorway, his fingers tapping the wall as he anxiously watched Enzie walking towards Mamma. The woman was in the kitchen, making herself one of those drink Enzie prevented them to touch.
“…Claudia ?”, the teen asked.
“You know better than to bother me, Enzo.”, Mamma replied in a sharp tone without looking up from her bottle. She took a sip while Enzie seemed to gather his courage.
“It’s about-“
“Enzo.”, Mamma warned. Vinnie didn’t miss how her hand moved to the top of the bottle and he shivered, grabbing the wall. He knew exactly what mamma could do when she was angry.
“Vinnie is a boy, not a girl !”, the fifteen years-old blurted out before taking a few steps back.
Mamma turned around and glared at her son, but she didn’t make a move to hit him. Still, this didn’t make Vinnie feel any less tense.
“Vivie…Viviana. His name is Vincenzo now. He’s a boy.”, Enzie continued with a firmer voice.
Mamma’s gaze seemed to lose some of its anger, though she still gave the teen a dirty look. After a few seconds, she glanced at the child at the door and Vinnie froze. She started to make her way towards him, almost instantly followed by Enzie who ran to his little brother, holding him protectively against his chest.
Mamma ignored him, her gaze on her youngest child. Vinnie looked down, gripping Enzie’s shirt in fear.
“Very well, Vincenzo. And please make your brother understand not to bother me when I’m busy or he’ll deeply regret this.”, and with that, she went to her bedroom, bottle in hand.
Once she was out of view, Enzie let out a deep sigh of relief and let go of his brother. Vinnie continued to cling on his shirt for a moment. He started crying and buried his head in Enzie’s chest, trying to cover his sobs. The older brother ran his fingers in Vinnie’s hair in a soothing motion.
“Shhh, let it all out. It’s okay to cry.”, Vinnie kept his head where it was, though his sobs became louder. “There you go. It’s alright. Everything’s alright.”, Enzie was right, and Vinnie knew it.
Vinnie had a new name. He had new clothes.
His siblings supported him.
Enzie told him that, if he did continue to feel like a boy, there could be a few changes for him to do once he’s older, at least if he wished to. Enzie promised he would do anything to make sure these changes happen.
But for now, they did everything that could be done.
They talked to mamma.
Mamma had accepted him.
…
He was going to be alright.
As long as he stayed away from mamma, as long as he kept listening to Enzie, everything was going to be fine.
---------------
March 22, 2137
Vinnie didn’t know what to make of Papà.
As far as the six years-old could remember, which wasn’t a lot, papà would show up from time to time starting in January. He would spend the afternoon talking to mamma, or going to her bedroom, and then he would leave.
Papà never stayed the entire night. He never showed up two days in a row.
And once spring was coming to an end, during the first days of July, he would leave and not come back for the rest of the year.
Vinnie was curious about the man. He was his papà after all ! But he never got to interact with him, never got to sit down and talk to him. He wanted to learn who he was, what he liked, why he was only here from time to time and why it was only during winter and spring…
Vinnie had tried asking his siblings about papà, but none of them gave him a satisfying answer.
Donnie was as lost as he was. He never had an opportunity to talk to papà, always afraid to run into mamma or to have Enzie yell at him for it.
Bettie looked at Vinnie with sad eyes, told him not to go see papà, that he was dangerous. When the brother asked why, the twelve years-old refused to answer.
As for Enzie…
Enzie didn’t like papà. He said papà was very dangerous, that he didn’t care about them, that the four kids shouldn’t waste their time with him.
Everytime the kids would stumble across him while walking through the house, papà would stop in his tracks to gaze at them with an indecipherable expression. Enzie would immediately shush his younger siblings away, all while glaring at the man. Sometimes, Vinnie would look at his papà and see him glare back at the teen.
While Vinnie didn’t know much about his papà, since he never got to interact with him, there was at least one thing he was sure of.
Enzie hated papà.
Papà hated Enzie.
And because of that, Enzie would never let his siblings approach him.
But one day, Vinnie got an occasion to talk to him.
Enzie was doing homework upstairs with Bettie. Now that the teenager was in high-school, and with the other siblings old enough to be unsupervised for a while, Enzie decided to spend more time working on his future. In the meantime, Bettie has chosen to step up and help him, looking after her younger siblings if needed.
But right now, neither of them was downstairs. Same thing for Donnie.
That was how Vinnie found himself peeking inside the living-room where his parents were. His papà was sitting on the couch with his arms and legs stretched out, while mamma seemed to be “making herself a drink” as Bettie called it. The child crouched down at the entrance and listened as his papà talked.
“-shouldn’t be there anyways.”
“You say the same thing every single year, Pietro. And yet, you always come crawling back to me. It’s been more than ten years. Just admit you can’t help it.”
“Just like you can’t help having your load of kids ? Do you have any idea how much they cost me ?!”
“You can stop sending me money any time you want.”, Vinnie could almost hear the laugh in her voice. “But I don’t think your little family will take it very well once I go to ask them for my money.”
Papà grumbled and looked away from her. “You’re the shittiest human being I ever met, Claudia. I hope you know that.”
“You’re no better yourself. Lying and cheating at any given chance. Honestly it’s a miracle she still doesn’t suspect a thing. You two really found each other. So naïve and in denial of the truth about the world. ~ ”
As mamma kept smirking and teasing papà, the man was getting more and more angry. Vinnie could see his hands gripping on the sofa, as if trying to rip it off. This made the child tense up at the prospect of his parents fighting.
“What now ?”, mamma suddenly spat in annoyance. The two adults glanced at Vinnie, and that’s when he realized that he had been anxiously tapping on the doorway’s wall, giving himself away with his noise.
“Umm…hi…”, Vinnie said in a quiet voice, waving awkwardly. Now that he had been caught spying, he might as well show himself more. Who knew, maybe this would be his only occasion ever to talk to papà !
Mamma just huffed and went back to pour her glass, while papà kept his eyes on the child.
“This is the youngest one, right ?”, papà asked. “Viviana ?”
“Vincenzo.”, mamma corrected before Vinnie could. “Turns out your daughter was a son this whole time.”
“And you changed her-his name, without my permission ?!”
“If you have a problem with that, you can talk to Enzo about it.”
Papà looked down, teeth gritted. “This child should learn a little respect.”, he spat.
“Have fun telling him that.”, mamma replied, completely impassive.
“Why don’t you at least try to teach that boy anything ?!”
“I don’t know. Why do you suddenly care about these children ?”, she shrugged. “Besides, Enzo’s almost an adult. He’s not my problem anymore.”
“You’re going to throw him out ?”
“He intends to throw himself out.”, mamma explained. “But maybe if you give us more financial support, he would have half a mind to stay.”, she joked. Papà was not amused at all.
The man punched the couch and fell silent, looking away from the mother and son. For a few moments, Vinnie just stood there, observing the man with hesitation. He knew he should be leaving, now. If Enzie saw him there, his older brother would kill him. But right now, as he felt so close to having a moment with the older man, his curiosity to meet his father was stronger than his fear of consequences.
Eventually, Vinnie saw papà’s fists unclench. This prompted the child to try and make a move. With hope to finally have a conversation with the man, Vinnie tentatively walked to the couch. When the man didn’t move, Vinnie put a hand on his knee.
Still no reaction.
Getting more and more hopeful, the six years-old hopped on his knees. Papà still didn’t move.
Well, it seemed like Vinnie had to start the conversation.
“I…um…”, Vinnie had his hands on his own knees, opening and closing his legs awkwardly as he thought of what to say. “I’m…I’m not Vivie anymore. I’m Vinnie now.”
No response.
After a few seconds, Vinnie started wondering if maybe his siblings were right. If maybe it would be better to just let it go and leave, especially seeing the dirty look mamma was giving him. But before the child could move, something he didn’t expect happened.
Papà put a hand on his back.
Vinnie froze and looked up. The man still wasn’t looking at him.
Without much thinking, Vinnie pressed his face against papà’s chest. Suddenly, the hand on his back start moving, reaching his shoulder and slowly rubbing it.
Vinnie looked up as papà looked down at his face. The child smiled but his gesture wasn’t reciprocated. The older man just seemed to study his face, keeping the same neutral expression.
Vinnie had no idea how much time wet by before papà decided to open his mouth.
“Why are you wearing those ?”, he asked, tapping the corner of Vinnie’s sunglasses.
Vinnie felt himself ready to jump in happiness. Papà was talking to him ! They were having an actual conversation ! He could learn more about him !
But instead, Vinnie did his best to stay calm, letting his only sign of excitement be the rapid movement of his legs. He really didn’t want to ruin the moment.
Besides, thinking of how papà had acted earlier made the child feel intimidated by the man.
“It’s..for my eyes.”, he explained. “The light is bad for my eyes. So I need to wear those. I also can’t see every color without them.”
“How did you get the money for that ?”, the man asked, glancing at mamma. “Why wasn’t I told about this ?”
“You would have known already if you spent more time here taking care of your children, since you suddenly seem to love them so much.”, she replied in a sharp tone. “Or would it be too suspicious for your dearest missus ? ~ ”
Papà didn’t replied, instead looking back at the child still in his lap. Vinnie didn’t really know what the adults were talking about, and he had a feeling it wasn’t something he was supposed to understand. If anybody were to take care of it, it would be Enzie.
Vinnie was still in his thoughts when papà lifted his head with a finger, taking a better look at his eyes. Remembering his experience at school, Vinnie instinctively grabbed the sides of his glasses in case papà tried to remove them.
“Your eyes…”, the man commented. “They’re different colors ?”
“Uh ? Oh ! Oh yes they are !”, Vinnie was quick to reply. He smiled again, seriously wondering why Enzie was so against them talking to papà. Sure, the man was a bit scary when talking with mamma, but at least he seemed to care about his son. More than mamma at least…Or, well, when he was around at least…
“Vincenzo ?”, papà was moving a hand in front of Vinnie’s face.
“Uh ? Oh ! right ! My eyes !”, Vinnie quickly pointed to his left eye, tapping the glass. “This one is blue. And this one-“, he pointed to his right eye. “is brown. Just like yours !”, he commented with a smile.
“…Sure.”
The man fell silent again and Vinnie looked down, trying to find another thing to say.
“…Sa-“
“VINNIE !”
Vinnie froze at the familiar and booming sound of his oldest brother’s voice.
Uh oh…
“Enz-“, papà tried.
“YOU GET AWAY FROM HIM !”
Enzie ran into the room, snatched the six years-old away and walked out, all while looking at the older man with a murderous stare. Vinnie was able to give one last glance at his parents before the door closed, seeing papà stare in confusion and anger at Enzie while mamma walked towards the man with the same impassive expression, as if she had expected something like that to happen.
With the door now closed, Enzie put his attention onto the scared child.
“WHAT WHERE YOU THINKING BEING WITH THEM ?!”
“I…I just wanted to talk to papà…”, Vinnie sheepishly replied, his head down.
“THAT MAN IS DANGEROUS, VINNIE !”
“But we were just talkin-“
“VINNIE !”
Vinnie fell quiet, finding himself unable to meet his brother’s gaze. He instead focused on the underside of the shirt he was gripping on.
After a few moments, Enzie managed to regain his composure. He sighed.
“Listen, Vinnie. I know you just want to talk to papà, but that man is a bad person. I’ve seen him hurt mamma before, he’s as dangerous as she is, if not more.”, Enzie lifted Vinnie’s head. “I just want you to be safe, polpetto, alright ?”, Vinnie nodded, still avoiding Enzie’s eyes. “Good.”, Enzie kissed his forehead. “Now let’s get back upstairs, alright ? I think I can already hear Donnie calling for you. ~ ”, the teen said in a way that Vinnie knew was an attempt to light up the mood.
“…Alright.”
Enzie held Vinnie’s hand as he led him to his bedroom. Vinnie just followed in silence, stuck into his own mind.
Enzie was a good person. He took care of Bettie, Donnie and him.
Enzie hated papà, and papà hated Enzie.
But did that really mean that papà was a bad person ?
Was there really no way he could prove that papà was better than Enzie thought ?
…
…Will Vinnie ever get the occasion to talk to him again ?
---------------
April 10, 2137
Enzie and Bettie talked a lot when they were doing homework. Sometimes, Vinnie would hide behind the office’s door to listen to them.
They talked about all kinds of topics. From school to the girls Bettie liked to even Donnie and Vinnie and how annoying the brothers could be at times, making the older duo feel exhausted.
But other times, they would talk about their parents, about how they felt about them.
It was obvious that Enzie hated those kinds of talks. But at the same time, he always seemed to use Bettie’s curiosity as an occasion to tell her to avoid being around them.
Bettie mostly asked questions about the relationship between her parents and why they acted the way they did. Enzie answered as best as he could, but even he barely knew about them.
However, among the flow of questions Vinnie heard Bettie ask, one in particular stood out to him.
Does mamma have other men in her life ? Does the four of us come from the same papà ?
When she asked this, Bettie was mostly talking about Donnie and how different the eight years-old looked compared to his siblings.
Curious, Vinnie started to pay attention to the facial features of his family and, soon enough, the six years-old understood what his sister meant :
Out of all of them, Donnie was the only one who didn’t look like papà at all.
Enzie was almost a perfect replica of papà. He had the man’s square chin and nose, his thick eyebrows that were more than often furrowed, along with papà’s curly hair that, in Enzie’s case, was slowly growing past his shoulders. Vinnie wondered how much the sixteen years-old hated looking so much like the man he despised more than anyone else. The only real difference between the men was color, with Enzie having mamma’s black hair and blue eyes where papà had brown eyes and light brown hair.
Vinnie was the second closest to papà. Just like Enzie, he had his old man’s chin, nose and curly hair, though his chin wasn’t as pronounced as his oldest brother. Vinnie even had a brown eye and brown hair, even if his hair was darker than papà’s. Aside from that, the child had one blue eye, like mamma’s, and his eyebrows were not as thick as papà’s or Enzie’s.
Bettie, on the other hand, was more of a mix of her parents. While she had a square chin, it was less pronounced, like for Vinnie. She also had mamma’s smaller nose and eyebrows. For the rest, it was all papà’s. She had his brown eyes and curly hair, which she almost always tied into a bun.
Finally, there was Donnie, who couldn’t be more alike to mamma. He had her rounder head, smaller nose, thin eyebrows and her long straight raven hair that he kept in a ponytail. The only thing that made him different from her, aside from height, voice and personality, was his brown eyes that deferred from her ocean blue ones. Though, as Bettie had pointed it out, a lot of people had brown eyes. From her point of view, any man with brown eyes could be Donnie’s father.
Vinnie never talked about it to Donnie. He didn’t feel the need to.
Even if he did wonder sometimes if they had the same father, it didn’t change the fact that Donnie was his big brother. That Donnie was his best friend and favorite playmate.
Papà or not, Vinnie loved Donnie as much as he loved Bettie and Enzie. If not more.
---------------
November 15, 2138
Today was the day.
It was Enzie’s 18th birthday. The day everything was going to get better. The day they were finally getting away from mamma and papà !
The oldest brother had been talking about it to his siblings for months. Now that he was an adult, he could “have custody of you three instead of losing you to the system”, as he said. Vinnie wasn’t sure if he fully understood what Enzie meant. At least there was one thing he was sure of.
Enzie was trying to protect them no matter the cost. He was willing to do anything for them.
That’s what led the four of them into a lawyer’s office.
Mamma was there with them. As far as Vinnie knew, she hadn’t shown any objections to her son’s decision and even wanted to help his case, claiming that the fastest the trial would go, the less money she would have to waste.
Mamma was sitting in one of the two chairs of the small office. Vinnie and Donnie were sharing the second one, the two oldest siblings standing between them and their mother. Vinnie was bouncing his legs, squirming a bit in his chair. Several times, Bettie gently nudged him, telling him to stand still, but he simply couldn’t do it.
He was bored.
Enzie and the lawyer were talking things Vinnie didn’t understand. And when he understood, his mind would quickly end up zoning out. He mostly thought about how papà was supposed to be here, wondering what was taking the man so long.
He wished he had his toys with him right now. Or anything else that could distract him.
It was during a short moment of focus that Vinnie heard the footsteps coming from the hall, getting louder and louder.
The door busted open, revealing a woman the eight years-old had never met before. She had long frizzy brown hair that was slowly falling back on her shoulders after her running. As she entered the room, she pushed her glasses back onto her nose and looked around until her emerald eyes landed on mamma. She glared at the black-haired lady.
“I had to see it with my own eyes to believe it !”, the new woman said.
“Missus Dakota, I presume ?”, mamma replied. She was sitting cross-legged, her arms folded and her eyes closed, seemingly completely unfazed by what was happening. This confused Vinnie. How could she be so calm when some stranger was yelling at her ?
The child, on the other hand, was glancing in fear at the new lady. When the door had opened, he instinctively took hold of Donnie’s shirt. The ten years-old had been quick to return the gesture. Meanwhile, Bettie had gotten closer to the chair while Enzie stood between the three of them and the door, arms stretched protectively.
“To think this all went under my nose for EIGHTEEN YEARS !”, the lady continued. Vinnie’s grip on his brother’s shirt tightened. The lady was taller than mamma, somehow making her even more intimidating in the moment.
Before mamma could reply, new footsteps could be heard outside. Despite the commotion in the room, all eyes turned towards the door. Two children peeked inside the room. They looked around the same ages as Donnie and Vinnie. But more importantly, their features looked awfully familiar to Vinnie.
Enzie was the first to react.
“Who the hell are you ?!”, he yelled, pointing at the two children. “Who are all of you and what are you doing here ?!”
Before the lady could answer, papà finally arrived, looking at her with an uncertain gaze.
“Serena, you shouldn-“, he tried gently.
“DON’T YOU TRY FINDING EXCUSES !”, the lady replied, her anger now directed towards papà. “HOW DARE YOU HIDE ME ALL THIS ?!”, she continued to yell, cutting papà everytime he was opening his mouth.
Vinnie started feeling tears form at the corner of his eyes. He was scared. Overwhelmed. He had no idea what was happening aside from “the adults are all fighting”. So naturally, the eight years-old turned his attention towards the one new adult that was always there when he was feeling upset. He moved to sit with his chest against the chair’s back, gripping it tightly. From here, he had a good view of his eldest brother.
Surely Enzie had the solution to all this. Surely he could make it all better.
At least, that was what Vinnie hoped.
The oldest brother was looking between the different adults in disbelief. Suddenly, he froze with a look of horror, as if he had just understood something really, really bad.
“YOU HAD A WIFE THIS WHOLE TIME ?!”
Somehow, Enzie’s booming voice managed to quiet the fighting. The lady -Serena- looked at him in confusion for a second, until her face bared the same shocked expression as the oldest brother.
“You didn’t know…?”, her whisper was barely audible. She glanced at the rest of the siblings. “None of you did…?”, while Vinnie believed she was still angry and could blow at any instant, he felt like there was a hint of sadness in her voice. Was she feeling pity for them ? Why for ? What did Enzie meant ? With everything happening, Vinnie found himself unable to follow.
“Bettina.”, mamma suddenly interrupted. Serena’s expression immediately darkened, as if she had just remembered the other woman was in the room. “Why don’t you take your younger siblings outside ? The adults are talking, and there’s already enough shouting as it stands.”
“I…um”, Bettie glanced at Enzie. The older brother put a hand on her shoulder and Vinnie could hear him whisper “go”. “Alright. Yeah.”, she turned to the boys still on the chair. “Come on, ometti. Let’s go to that playground we saw on the way in.”
Donnie and Vinnie shared a confused look before getting down the chair. The room was deadly silent as Bettie took their hands and led them out, under the adults’ gazes.
Right before the door closed behind them, Vinnie turned around one last time, seeing the adults ready to go at it again under the confused and concerned look of the lawyer.
He hoped Enzie would be alright…
--------------
December 3, 2138
The case had been taken into court. There had been a trial already, during which each sibling had been asked to testify about their living conditions. The younger trio spent their entire time talking about how their oldest brother had been taking care of them for as long as they could remember.
Vinnie didn’t know how to feel about all this. He had a hard time understanding everything. But most importantly, he was getting impatient.
It was obvious that mamma was bad at taking care of them. Why couldn’t the judge see it already ? They should already be on the road by now ! The eight years-old and his brother Donnie had already started to pack. Somehow, they hoped it could make things go faster.
The whole situation had also taken a toll on Vinnie’s grades. He already had trouble at school, between barely finding the motivation to do any homework unless someone was helping him and being seen by his teachers as agitated, more so than the other kids. And now that he had to worry about where he will end up soon, Vinnie simply couldn’t help zoning out in class to think about it.
And after the first trial, it only grew worse.
His teachers had gotten angry and started punishing him for it.
Vinnie couldn’t wait for Enzie to take them away.
…
…Enzie…
These last weeks, the older brother had been…distant. He spent all of his free-time in the office, working on his case. He only helped his siblings with basic things. Mostly food.
But more than that, the eighteen years-old had gotten more aggressive towards his parents since that day in the lawyer’s office. He couldn’t stand being downstairs if mamma was around. He was insulting them at any given chance, including during the trial they had had.
Enzie was also trying to get things to go as fast as possible. He absolutely wanted to leave before spring, before papà was around again.
Or so Vinnie thought he did.
According to Bettie, papà wasn’t going to ever come back home. At first, when the youngest brothers asked why, she refused to answer.
It had been like this ever since the day they met the lawyer. When they came back home that day, Enzie locked himself in a room, eventually letting Bettie in to tell her everything. The two then refused to explain the situation to their brothers.
That was, until one day.
Enzie had come back home, looking more stressed than usual. When Bettie went to ask if everything was alright, he snapped at her -something about their parents being the absolute worst-, and went to lock himself in the office. After that, Bettie had gone back to the bedroom, clearly upset by it all. And when Donnie and Vinnie asked her what Enzie meant, she told them the truth that forever changed Vinnie’s perception of his father :
Their parents never loved them. They never wanted them. At least, not the way they were meant to be wanted.
Their mother was a drug dealer, a criminal. There wasn’t a single penny she earned honestly. Her whole life revolved around getting money through schemes.
As it turned out, having children had been one of those schemes.
Mamma and papà met in an alley, in the middle of the night. Mamma had been out to sell illegal substances. Papà had gotten bored being home alone. His wife, Serena Dakota, had a job that led her to leave the country between January and July. They hadn’t been married for long when mamma and papà met. Bettie said it might have been a reason for his actions.
Papà “wanted a good time”, as Bettie said. He was out to meet a few women, doing things the older sister refused to explain to her brothers.
It was while looking for those women that papà ran into mamma. And when she heard what he wanted, she decided to use the situation to her advantage.
“She held him at gunpoint.”, Bettie explained to them. “The first night, Mamma had looked to steal his phone while he was sleeping and found the wedding ring he had been hiding in his jacket. She used that to blackmail him once Enzie was on the way.”
At first, papà had been happy to spend time with mamma. But then, his wife came home and they had to stop seeing each other. A month later, mamma called him out of nowhere.
She was pregnant.
According to Bettie, this had never been papà’s plan. Mamma had promised him that she was being careful. But, as per usual, mamma lied.
Knowing the child was his, she had been able to get money from him, threatening to reveal his secret to his wife. In exchange, papà only asked for two things : being the one to name them, and being able to visit them whenever.
The money had been the reason why mamma would sometimes go out with them or make sure they had good enough clothes or even prevent any of them from dying. She had to pretend like she liked her children. She needed people to believe they were one happy family, or else someone could call child services and “take away her safest source of income”. And while papà visiting them wasn’t part of her plan, it still at least helped her hiding the reality of her parenting.
Bettie believed that papà felt bad for them. The reason why he visited wasn’t because mamma forced him to be there. Sometimes, he just wanted to see his children, make sure they were still alive and well.
This was no excuse.
Even with Enzie’s warryness, he had had dozens of chances to talk to them, to be there for them.
At any moment, he could have said the truth to his wife. Instead, he lied to her. He kept her in the dark and made sure she still loved him. He had children with her, children he took care of. Children he loved.
Children he had chosen the name of years before they were born. Names he made sure none of his “other kids” had.
As he was hearing the truth, Vinnie felt like his parents had just thrown one of their bottles on his body, the glass piercing through his chest. For the following hour after Bettie finished explaining, Vinnie had felt empty. He ended up lying in Bettie’s arms, completely frozen, completely unfazed by the world around him.
Enzie was right.
Enzie had always been right.
Their parents were dangerous. Their parents never loved them. Their parents couldn’t care any less about them.
There was no point trying to get their attention, trying to get their affection. They were heartless. They never had the space in their hearts for him.
Vinnie was an unwanted child. They all were.
They were children born from an affair. Used by their monstrous mother to get money from their unconcerned father.
Enzie had been right all along.
…
…
From now on, Vinnie would listen to Enzie. He would listen to everything his older brother says.
Unlike his parents, Enzie loved him. Enzie wanted what was best for him.
Enzie was the only parent he needed.
---------------
March 22, 2139
“It had been clear for a long time now that Ms. Claudia Drowssap and Mr. Pietro Dakota are not fit to take care of their biological children. However, the question of whether or not Mr. Enzo Dakota could take care of said children had yet to be answered. Today, we have chosen an answer to this question.
While we still remain uncertain of his abilities to provide for them, this court had been told that Mr. Dakota found job opportunities along with possible apartments in Napoli. Furthermore, it is painfully obvious that Mr. Dakota is incredibly attached to his siblings and had been their only anchor for most of their life. For their own well-being as well as his, we believe that separating the four of them is out of the question.
Thus, this court is ready to give its judgment. The custody of the present Bettina, Donatello and Vincenzo Dakota will be granted to their brother Mr. Enzo Dakota. Their parents, Ms. Claudia Drowssap and Mr. Pietro Dakota, will have to repair their inaptitude by paying child support for the next five years. Furthermore, Ms. Drowssap and Mr. Dakota Sr are not to be allowed to visit their children. Finally, they will not be able to keep any other child they may have in the future.
If Mr. Dakota Jr decides to file a claim for child abuse, more consequences might come their way.
This court is adjourned.”
Vinnie couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
They did it.
They really did it !
The banging of the gavel resonated across the room, announcing the end of this session. The end of their last session. Vinnie jumped out of his seat, seeing from the corner of his eyes that he wasn’t the only one. As soon as the way was cleared enough, Bettie and Donnie ran towards Enzie. The youngest sibling immediately followed suit.
They jumped into his arms, all smiles and laughs. Even after they pulled away, the happy chatter remained. Bettie congratulated Enzie excitedly while Donnie was holding onto her, pushing her back and forth. Vinnie himself was jumping in place, his fists shaking left and right in excitement.
They were finally free ! They could finally get away from mamma and papà !
After a few more moments of celebration, Enzie led the group outside. They had to go home and pack up. The oldest brother told them they would leave as soon as possible.
“ENZO !”
The siblings had barely finished walking down the stairs when they saw papà walking towards them. The man was walking fast, teeth gritted and fists clenched, looking at his oldest son with a murderous glare.
Enzie stood in front of his younger siblings, shielding them with his arms. Afraid, Vinnie went to hug Donnie. When papà was only a few steps away, the eight years-old closed his eyes. He heard the footsteps stop, followed by ruffling and a short grunt. Vinnie felt Donnie tense.
“Are you happy with yourself ?! Are you proud of what you did ?!”
Vinnie dared opening his eyes and almost gasped. Papà had grabbed Enzie by the collar.
“Because of you, I lost my wife ! I lost my home ! I might even lose my job ! All because YOU decided to get involved in MY business !”
“All I did was trying to survive !”, Enzie replied, returning papà’s glare. “I’ll never apologize for that.”
“YOU RUINED MY LIFE !”
“YOU RUINED YOUR OWN LIFE !”, Enzie pushed papà away from him. The older man raised a fist but didn’t hit his son. Instead, he looked as the younger trio protectively put their hands on Enzie.
“Go.”, Bettie spoke up with a shaking voice. “Leave us alone.”
“…”, papà’s glare was now directed at the four of them. “You are all nothing but a bunch of ungrateful bastards.”, he growled.
“What should we be grateful for ?”, Vinnie surprised himself by deciding to speak. He knew he shouldn’t. Papà was dangerous, he could clearly see it right now. Enzie had been right about that, just like for anything else. And Enzie had told him never to talk to papà again.
And yet, the child couldn’t stop the words from flowing out of his mouth.
“Have you ever done anything to us ?! Have you ever cared for us ?! DO YOU EVEN LOVE US ?!”
Vinnie felt tears stream down his cheeks. He started sobbing.
“Vinnie…”, Donnie murmured. The ten years-old held his younger sibling. “shhh. It’s okay.”, he soothed. “It’s okay to cry.”, Donnie let a hand gently run into Vinnie’s hair, copying the way their oldest brother comforted them. The youngest sibling leaned into the embrace, crying into Donnie’s shirt. When he tried opening his eyes, he noticed that papà was looking away, seemingly more upset than angry after what his son said.
Enzie was the one to break the silence.
“You’re dead to us.”, he spat. “Don’t ever try to see us again, or they’ll be consequences. And if you don’t keep paying for support, I’ll sue for the child neglect.”, he threatened. “If you think your life is already ruined, you’re not ready for the hell I’m ready to put you through if you ever DARE try anything against us.”
The two men glared at each other for what felt like forever. Enzie’s last words kept replaying in Vinnie’s head. He wondered with dread how serious his older brother was, how far he was willing to go for them.
Finally, after a painfully long silence, papà started to back away. He walked a certain distance, glared at his chil- at them one last time, and turned away.
Enzie snorted. “Come on.”, he told his siblings. “Let’s go home. We have a lot to do if we want to leave.”
The oldest brother started to walk away, soon followed by his sister. Donnie and Vinnie looked at each other as they pulled away from their hug, before finally following the older duo.
As he followed the group, Vinnie couldn’t help but look around him, look back at the older man.
From afar, the eight years-old noticed mamma. She was looking at the man as well.
Despite everything that had happened, she was smiling.
-------------------------
Note : Regarding Vinnie being trans, I’m well-aware that someone doesn’t “become” a boy, they’ve always been one. But since Vinnie is 5 when he realizes that he’s a man, the characters simplify it to “becoming a boy” so that Vinnie can understand easily.
Italian translations :
Mamma : mom
Papà : dad
Piccolina : little one (female)
Polpetto : meatball (apparently it’s a nickname for young kids/siblings)
Patatino : little potato (for some reason I love this nickname)
Ometto : little man (ometti is plural)
Piccino : tiny one
#Milo Murphy's Law#Vinnie Dakota#trans Vinnie Dakota#heterochromia Vinnie Dakota#colorblind Vinnie Dakota#ADHD Dakota#As Time Passes#As Time Passes Prologue#my fanfics#tw#cw#tw abuse#tw child abuse#tw abusive parents#cw abuse#cw drug mention#tw drug mention#tw drugs#tw infidelity#cw infidelity#tw alcohol#cw alcohol#IT'S FINALLY HERE#FIRST PART OUT OF THREE#9K WORDS OUT OF 32K#funnily enough seeing the fic posted on AO3 is making me immediately want to work on part 2#despite the fact that 2 mins ago I felt 100% done with this prologue#anyways I hope it's good !#tomorrow I'll edit Prologue 1 a little
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Sooo, with summer coming to an end (god the passage of time was weird this year), here’s an update about the direction my blog’s going to take.
1. About 9-10 months ago, I started imagining ideas for a Dakavendish fic called “As Time Passes”. Fun fact : the idea started from my very first MML fic, which I wrote on paper but never posted (I know it’s the very first because I mention having a new ship in the beginning). I then started building from this one chapter, turning it into more than a random oneshot. Due to that, I firstly saw “As Time Passes” as a rather short fic and basically made some kind of “skeleton” of a story by dividing the main ideas I had into chapters, thinking that it would be enough to write the story.
Recently though, I decided to take this fic a lot more seriously (maybe a little too much) and so for the last month I’ve been working on really fleshing it out, writing down info for OCs, places, how BOTT works, have a doc with info for the time-periods visited etc and want to write for each chapter what I precisely want to put in, which includes chapters that make the story take its time and progress slowly (hence why just writing down the main chapters ideas doesn’t work anymore for this fic).
As of right now, I’m close to finishing the planning phase and I already have pretty much anything I need to finish the prologues. So I’ll try to finish prologue 2 by the end of the month, but I can’t make any promises (the first prologue is already posted and looking at the date makes me sigh because I’m taking so much time for fuck’s sake !)
Aside from this fic, I also came up with three other ideas for oneshots talking about the rogue arc (because of course I did…) + something about “A Christmas Peril” and maybe something random. But I want to focus on Prologue 2 before working on those.
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2. Miitopia. When the game came out on 3ds, I played the game a lot and made a team with Undertale characters (more precisely Humantale but that’s beside the point).
So when the game came out on switch, I bought it and made characters for the team using my current obsession, aka MML. And with my wish to complete the game 100%, I play it on a daily basis (trying to get my main level 50 for all jobs, currently 6 more to go). This means that I have quite a lot of pics and videos of it.
For a while now I’ve been wishing to share all of those pics and videos but never took the time to do it. So I might as well do so now. Because this game is very dumb and I absolutely ADORE it for that and I really wanna share some of the stuff these miis say.
Btw I don’t trust myself to do cartoon characters with the mii maker tool so my team is made of miis that resemble the characters. I also used other people’s shared miis for any non-team character and some are pretty funny fits.
I’ll probably make a tag like “Milotopia” to put all this spam in since I don’t really want it to show up on the show or the game’s tag .
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3. As mentioned in the part about “As Time Passes”, I made something that describes precisely how I see BOTT work (different jobs possible, rules, how to become an agent, ranks, even emergencies procedures) and I’ve been wishing to share it.
That’s actually why I made a few posts Thursday, I was trying to get myself to post this.
Because the “”“issue””” is, there’s a part in this BOTT infodump about how, no matter how inclusive BOTT is trying to be, agents face discriminations since the agency is about time-traveling. So I talk about the limitations the agents are forced to comply with when time-traveling (you know like how some of my fics have Cavendish worrying about homophobia, forcing the duo to hide their relationship ?).
But since I never talk politics or social issues on this blog (I want my blog to be a space where people can just read about cartoons without worrying about all the stuff going on in our world), I was worried that some people might get the wrong impression from this post.
This worry is actually pretty dumb because, when it comes to social issues, I think my mindset is close to the ones my mutuals have ? To keep it short, let’s just say that, if I had to reblog one post that talks about those topics, it would be that one post saying “this blog supports POC/queer people/autistic people/every religion etc + dni if you’re a p*do, f*cist, exclusionist etc”
Tbh I think I’m going to reblog that post after all. Also I could probably take the time to add something in my bio (like a “exclusionist/f*cist/p*do dni” type of thing).
But still, since I’m afraid for no reason to have troubles with this post, I’ll keep the info about BOTT on the side for now. I’ll most likely post it after Prologue 3 of “As Time Passes” since it’s in the topic.
Though, if some people read this and get really curious about the BOTT info and start requesting it, I guess I’ll consider it okay to post it sooner ? 🤷♂️
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4. Regarding the end of summer : So I’m currently 21 and have been studying for the past few years. But with the pandemic, working from home had been really hard for me.
Right now, I’m at a stage in my studies where I can take a break (I don’t live in the US). And since I’m a privileged bastard with parents who won’t throw me out, I’ll be taking a break in my studies this year. This means that I’ll have the time to be more active here (since I’ll have time to write).
I’ll also start streaming video games by the end of the fall. I haven’t touched a mario game in months and I’m really missing it.
Tbh I’m mostly taking the year off because I know for a fact that, if I study while still forced to stay at home, I’ll fail for sure. So I’m hoping that things will get better next year.
Though, it also feels good to say “fuck you” to the system and simply take a year for myself, trying new things, write more, maybe learn to draw, finally having the time to focus on starting my transition.
But yeah, long story short, I’ll be around more, probably will post more, and I’ll do gaming livestreams in which I would most likely encourage people to talk to me about cartoons (yes I’m going to use streams as an excuse to infodump). I might also take some of my longest posts and make them on a video format, but It’ll take a while since I need some experience on editing for that.
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5. I might start reblogging more texts posts from more shows I never talked about but watched.
#Flor talks#personal#a random little update#like each time I leave tumblr for a while#now time to go back to find that post to reblog#and then go back to write prologue 2#It's going to be such a long chapter...#that's what happens when you get attached to OCs and want to tell their story#then tomorrow I might start posting some mii//topia#(I love this game so much you have no idea)#long post
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