The good thing about not having parents was that Alex could do basically anything she wanted. So, she was awake when Magnus called her at 12a.m.

    "Alex, are you able to leave your house and go to IHOP with me?" Magnus said once Alex answered.

    "Why IHOP?" Alex asked, already getting out of bed. "Also, how are your parents allowing this?"

    "Why not!" Magnus said. "And they said that I can go anywhere so long as I text them that I'm alive. They actually said they were surprised people wanted to hang out with me. I have to be back by 2."

    "What the fuck do I wear to IHOP at 12 in the morning?"

    "Your fucking pajamas?"

    "I don't own any."

    Magnus was silent for a minute. "What the fuck do you wear to sleep then?"

    "A fucking sweater, Magnus."

    "Then wear a fucking sweater."

    "But I just watched Do Revenge, and I want to be fashionable."

    "At an IHOP?"

    Alex was silent. "Good point. Which IHOP are we going to?"

    Magnus didn't answer. "Fuck."

    They chose one in a safer section of New York, and Alex sat in the booth in a corner with a cup of coffee. She wore the same sweater and flannel pants that didn't match. She then spilled coffee on her sweater, but Alex felt it added to the exhausted mom aesthetic she was currently rocking.

    Magnus slowly came into view. His hair was loosely tied up, and he dressed like Adam Sandler. Stained white tee, ugly sweats, Crocs. Despite how horrid his outfit was (not like Alex could say anything), she still found herself thinking, damn, I lucked out.

    "Welcome to the height of luxury," Magnus said as he sat. "On the subway, I watched a fight. They both fucking sucked at throwing punches."

    "Oh, did you take a video?"

    "Who the fuck do you think I am?" Magnus asked. "Of course, I took a video." The two men were, in fact, shit at fighting.

    "Wow. That was terrible. Anyway," Alex said. "As a call-back, I looked up maganizes. I found an alpha male who is willing to help us take our relationship to the next level with these fucking amazing questions."

    Magnus flexed the muscles he did not have. "As a beta, I am ready for these questions. I will follow my destiny to become an alpha through... I don't know, omegaverse sex?"

    Alex had to pause at that. "Is it omegaverse or A/B/O? I feel like people use them interchangeably."

    "I don't know," Magnus admitted. "But you know who does?"

    "Is it perhaps Google?"

    "It is, in fact, Google." Magnus cleared his throat. "A/B/O is all about the sexual dynamics between two or three people, usually containing an alpha, beta, or omega. Omegaverse is used to describe the whole glorious world of werewolf sex."

    Alex sat there for a moment to take that in before the waitress came over, saving her from addressing whatever the fuck Google just told Magnus. She took a sip of the watered-down coffee served at the IHOP. "Okay then. Anyway, I am now scared to open this website. I'm gonna go on BuzzFeed instead. Oh, you want to take a compatibility test?"

    "I would love to. This coffee's shit."

    "For real. How often do we spend together? Wow, grammar really left," Alex muttered. "It just," Alex dramatically flipped her hair, "happens so naturally. Two: A lot. Three: An hour a week. Four: I don't know."

    "Just an hour every fucking week," Magnus said. "This is our time slot," he checked his watch. "You've got 45 minutes left of my glorious presence."

    "Oh, I'm truly blessed," Alex monotoned.

    "Your sarcasm is wasted on the likes of someone as fucking perfect as me."

    "You're correct. Anyway, I've selected a singular hour." Alex did so, then wheezed. "It just says I was wrong!"

    Magnus looked over at her screen and then cackled. "Imagine being fucking false about how your relationship works."

    "You have your own boundaries?" Alex asked. "Fucking shameful."

    The burnt pancakes didn't take long to come out, which the duo devoured. Magnus promptly vomited it up.

    "IHOP was a great idea," Alex said after Magnus recovered.

    "I will kiss you without finding mouth wash somewhere," Magnus countered.

    Alex screamed and hid in front of the shitty restaurant.

-

It was 3 am. Maybe that's why Shel couldn't sleep. It was close to Halloween, and it was 3 am. Maybe her apartment was haunted.

    That wasn't it, obviously, but it was certainly a fun thought.

    There was no use in trying to go back to sleep. 3 hours would have to be enough. Shel wanted coffee, but the idea of getting out of her room was too much. So, she just grabbed her computer and glasses from her nightstand, went blind at the light from her laptop, and opened discord.

~gay~: i assume y'all are up

emo: yeah

stock photo white guy: the idea that we have a healthy sleep schedule is absurd

a literal elf: lmao i just spent two hours building my brother's science project

lightning mcqueen: i need to put his chat on silent

bad romance: not you pretending you weren't awake

emo: you guys want to play a game?

the best person ever: yeah why not

They group got on a call. "What do y'all want to play?" Nico asked.

    There was a gasp in the background. "Play the bisexual game!"

    "Hi, Hazel," Shel said. "What is the bisexual game?"

    "Is it Hades?" Piper asked. "Because I would love to watch Nico play Hades."

    "Oh, we should let Zagreus get pegged by Meg," Sadie commented.

    "Let's play a horror game," Reyna said.

    "Oh, that's a good idea," Will said. "Except it's 3 am and I have family who are asleep."

    "I played Suite 776 with you last night," Nico said.

    "Okay, but I'm Colombian," Shel said.

    "Live dangerously," Leo said.

    "Y'all are gonna fucking kill me," Shel muttered. She then wanted to say okay, but her bilingual ass forgot the word. "Shit. What's the word for bien?"

    "Good?" Reyna suggested.

    "No, not that one," Shel said. "There's another one... oh, okay."

    "Speaking more than one language seems like a curse," Sadie said. "Anyway, what horror games do you have?"

    They settled on the Mortuary Assistant.

    "I don't know how people--" Leo began. He was cut off by the body they were embalming having a fucking seizure. "HOLY SHIT!" he screamed.

    Nico ran back to the picture of Jesus hanging on the wall. "Why can't you protect me?" he helplessly whispered.

    "Do the smoke card thing," Will said.

    Nico obliged; there was a rune directly above Jesus. The group erupted in whispered cries of anguish. "Not Jesus," Hazel cried. "He didn't deserve this."

    "Okay, but it has to be that body," Will said.

    "100%," Piper said.

    "It might not be," Reyna said. "When I played with Nico, I burned a body that did this shit, and that one dude still got Vecna'd."

    Sadie yawned. "So check the other bodies," they said. "And then if none of them are--" a demon was on top of the armoire. "FUCK THIS."

    Shel was now covering Goblin's innocent eyes. "You don't deserve to live in fear," she whispered.

hi my violation beans

merry crisis and happy hannukah

welcome back to tangents with gabby

by the grace of jesus christ, i was able to write 1,000 words

sorry for the distinct lack of updates, my writer's block has been popping the fuck off

i have too many things going on in my life rn, and i have a latin family christmas to go to in a bit and i have to deal with my abuelo meeting my aunts new bf

they've known each other for years and i met him a few months ago, but only for 30 secs but he seemed chill

the problem is that he smokes weed, which is legal in the wonderous world of Florida and i, frankly, couldn't give a fuck.

but my abuelo is going on tangent after tangent about how this man is a bad influence on my aunt, who has had a medical card for about a year

it's gonna be sooo fun

but i will be eating vaca frita so

anyway, short chapter but whatever

is it the fluff you wanted? meh. but i genuinely can't write for shit right now so, i'm really sorry

anyway, my schedule is busy today, so i will have to leave you with this short ass note as well

love y'all and happy holidays.