the nerd tumble

Meet sam-art21321, a paired page artist for Pins & Patches! They can be found on Tumblr at @sam-art21321 and on Instagram at sam_art21321.

Meet khorazir, a member of our merch team and a paired page and feature artist for Pins & Patches! They can be found on Tumblr, Bluesky, and AO3 at @khorazir.

Holding hands to keep you close

This adorable comic was a commission for @creamsoda1998! As all of her ideas, it's just the cutest thing.

And she also wanted a summer illustration!

I am so happy to be a part of the fantastic Charles Rowland fanzine that's coming your way soon! You can check out the @dbdauplifts blog to find out more about the zine and all the wonderful writers and artists who are participating in this project.

For now, I hope you'll enjoy this little appetizer from my own contribution...

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His dad had been in a foul mood all day, and as much as Charles had tried to avoid him, what had happened had really been inevitable. It only took one wrong word, the wrong tone of voice, one tiny mishap to set his dad off on days like this. And something was always wrong, no matter how hard Charles tried.

He flinched when he heard the basement door open. But the sound was far too quiet for it to be his father in the darkness at the top of the stairs. There was something… furtive about the slow motion and near silence, and the lights stayed out. His mum, then. Dad must've gone to bed.

Charles listened carefully as his mother came down the stairs. She barely made a sound - she knew all the creaky spots almost as well as Charles himself did. He listened, but didn't look - didn't want her to see him like this, hurt and with dried tear tracks on his cheeks, and a childish, silly part of him hoped that if only he didn't look her way, she wouldn't be able to see. Wouldn't have to hurt as well.

"Charles?", his mum said, standing only a short distance away now.

"Hey." The word came out reluctantly. "You okay?"

There was a pause and a quiet exhale before his mother answered. "Yes." Another pause. "Your father went to bed a while ago. I thought I could bring you some snacks." It was almost a question, like she was bringing him a peace offering she wasn't sure he'd accept.