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sleepy-dreamers-inc · 3 years

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Being Exiled with Tommy Headcannons!|| 🥀

irl/ in-game

Genre| angst + comfort

h e a d c a n n o n s||

Sypnosis|

Both you and Tommy ended up getting exiled together.

Artist| OliverSonder on twitter!!

Warnings] mentions of manipulation, character death, spoilers for Tommy’s Exile Arc and the Season 2 finale!!

[can be seen as both platonic or romantic!!]

||gender neutral reader!!||

(also this was not grammar checked and im to lazy to watch through hours of footage so if anything in here is wrong blame it on the DSMP Wiki OKAY LETS GO-)

So i think its pretty established that if you end up getting exiled with Tommy your one of two things.

- Really sweet and loyal friend that will stick up for in-justice and be there when someone needs you the most

- A total fucking gremlin that will steal your kneecaps and toes and eat your shower curtains in the middle of the night.

There is no inbetween here you guys.

I did end up going for Reader A, though. But you guys tell me if you want headcannons for a gremlin!reader because i will gladly do that!!

But anyways just... enjoy exile!

Exile|

- It was about his third day in exile when Y/N appeared through the nether portal, bags, pouches, tools, armor, etc. on their person. Tommy thought they either were here to beat him up or got exiled themselves.

- Tommy was pleasantly surprised when he learned that Y/N was actually there on their own accord, helping him through exile and being his shoulder to lean on. The first few days we’re rough, fighting back mobs in the night and farming crops all day. His clothes we’re starting to get dirty and torn by the time Y/N got there.

- Y/N ended up making a little bunker about 30 blocks from where they’re tent was, where they hid all theirs and Tommy’s valuables, such as armor, diamonds & iron, and rations. Although Y/N never gave into Dream and gave him they’re stuff, Y/N simply refused, they wouldn’t be giving in that easily.

- Most of they’re days are spent in caves mining away, chatting and fighting off Creeper’s as they tried to keep the moral high, always keeping Tommy company. Y/N never let him go anywhere alone, they we’re always with him, like his own bodyguard of sorts.

- One time they both find a Mineshaft though and got lost, they ended up at the surface two dayd later with torn clothes, cuts and bruises and we’re in bad shape. Thankfully Y/N had a brewing stand at they’re camp though, so Healing Potions we’re semi-easy to make/get.

- After the duo end up going to the artic though... things got... weird.

- Techno was not expecting to open his door to find the heathen Tommy and sweetheart Y/N at his doorstep shivering and begging to come inside, bags thrown on they’re shoulders as they teeth chattered from the cold wind and snow.

- Whenever Dream comes to visit Y/N always has to hide with Tommy, reassuring him that its okay and they’ll always be there for him, and protect him at any cost, which he highly appreciates.

- The ‘gapple-eating’ thing Tommy did was a cute, yet depressing thing. Seeing him hasitly munching on golden-coated apples was funny and caused giggles, but the meaning behind it always left Y/N with a lump in their throat and a hole in their heart.

- Whenever Tommy is in danger and calls for Dream, Y/N always has to stop him and bring him back to reality, making Tommy realize Dream isnt his friend, and never was. Many nights have happened where the two talk about Tommy’s feelings with Dream, not only for Tommy to vent and let everything out, but also for Y/N to understand whats going on in his head.

- When going into the Nether Tommy always grips Y/N’s hand, as his fear of lava and heights consumes him whole in that firey dimension.

- When Tommy gets up close to Dream in the cabin? Y/N is scared spineless, if people could see them, they’d see the palest, most terrified and worried being on earth.

- Y/N having a heart attack when Ghostbur slips up

- Ghostbur is just a whole thing and just. Y/N needs a break, okay?

- Y/N begrudgingly helping Tommy build his cobblestone tower outside of Techno’s cabin.

- Y/N apologizing soon after to Techno only for him to laugh and ruffle Y/N’s hair, saying he knows how Tommy can get anyone to any situation.

- Very rarely does Y/N ever leave Tommy’s side, when they do its usually to get supplies or visit they’re friends. So when Y/N was walking back to the Nether portal to see Tommy, Techno and Dream all standing there, looking like they’re about to slit the others throat, well...

- Nobody has ever seen Y/N drop kick a person so fast.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Y/N yelled, they’re sword at Dream’s neck, as he laid on his back, his mask covering his shocked expression.

“Answer. Me.” Y/N gritted through their teeth, pushing their swordfurther against the masked mans throat. Techno soon chimed in, reassuring Y/N that nothing to terrible happened.

“It’s fine, Y/N. He didn’t do anything, why not we head back home? Wouldn’t want that homeless man to be to scared spineless, eh?” Techno said, hand on they’re shoulder as he looked Y/N in the eyes.

The 3 walked back to the Nether portal, purple mist engulfing Tommy and Techno as Y/N stood in front of the portal. Back turned towards Dream, Y/N shifted they’re head and glared at Dream with eyes that could kill.

“Don’t do anything you might regret, you megalomaniac.”

- When Tommy and Tubbo decide to go fight Dream, Y/N is both excited and scared. They hope Dream will finally be taken down, but they dont want Tommy (& Tubbo) to be taken down as well.

- So like any amazing best friend, Y/N brews up a bunch of potions of Strength, Healing + Regen, Invisibility and more. Even if Tommy thought he was going to be walking out of there alone, he wasn’t going to be. Y/N would make sure.

- Y/N watched from afar as Tommy got his disc out of the jukebox, laughing in success. All Y/N did was clap quietly, making sure they’re Invisibility didn’t wear off. They we’re making sure Tommy stayed safe, even if he didn’t realize it. Y/N loved him with they’re whole heart, and everyone knew that.

- At Dreams secret base, Y/N was just getting there as Tommy took Dreams first canon life.

“Tommy. Stop. Dont do anything you might regret.” Dream snarled, looking at the teenage boy, his blue eyes dull, yet full of passion and vigor.

All Tommy did was pursue forward, as everyone waited for what was to come. Tommy took one step to close though, because Dream had decided that he had enough.

Dream brought his arm into the air, hand curled into a fist, he was about to hurl his hand into Tommy’s face when Dream suddenly fell to the ground, arrow in his forehead.

Dream was shot by Y/N

Y/N stood there, enchanted bow in hand, infront of the nether portal that swirled with an eerie purple mist. Y/N lowered their bow, staring at the man who tortured Tommy for weeks now. Y/N simply stepped forward and towered over Dreams corpse before it disappeared in thin air.

Lets just say Dream wouldn’t be hurting the blonde heathen anytime soon.

a/n: howdy everyone how we doing? Decided to do Tommy x Reader for this post, although i am MAJORLY simping for Wilbur atm and i have brainrot so that’ll most likely be the next post (if i dont do a pt. 2 for this one but even so WILBUR).

Anyways i hope i did racooninnit justice, i have no idea how to do headcannons since half the time i ramble (its the adhd) so this was new for me. Definitely not my strong suit but like you live ya learn. Also, sorry if i left out quite a lot, i might make a fic about this and include more events, but this is really long for headcannons (because of my layout) so i didn’t include to much. I dont want people scrolling for like 20 seconds to go to another post (i write on mobile so undercut is not a thing for me RIP)

Anyways have a lovely day and dont let Tommy eat all your gapples!!

#tommyinnit x reader #tommyinnit imagine #tommyinnit fanfic #tommy x reader #tommy imagine #tommy fanfic #mcyt x reader #mcyt imagine #mcyt fanfiction #dream smp x reader #dream smp imagine #dream smp fanfiction #dreamer posts ♠️

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prettywarriors · 3 years

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Ok ill bite whats the worst mg series

alright, whats the worst magical girl series in your opinion?

Thanks you two for letting me do some yelling. The obvious guess would likely be one of the recent edgelord shows right? Magical Girl Site or something similar? But nay I say, for while MGS and Day Break Illusion and such and what not generally tell you what to expect right away. Don't like super violence and suffering? Watch something else is the clear message from the get go. One of the bait and switch series then like Madoka or maybe Yuki Yuna? For what faults they may or may not have, at least these series do something and are interesting, even if you're not huge on what goes down in the series. A parody then? They range from affectionate to banned in New Zealand but regardless of quality and their feelings for MGs, it's a parody. It's a joke and shouldn't be taken seriously (plus they're usually short so you can just forget about them forever).

So what makes a series terrible then, I am sure you are asking. IMO? Setting expectations for an interesting and enjoyable series, and then dashing them to hell.

Come with me below the cut, as I talk about Key Princess Story: Kagihime Eternal Alice Rondo!

Spoilers abound so if you care about those for a 15 year old series, click away.

Background: Kagihime was a 4 volume manga that ran from 2004-2006 that was picked up for a 13 episode anime adaptation near the end of its run. The manga is created by a pair (Kaishaku) who you may know for making Magical Nyan Nyan Taruto. Kannazuki no Miko, and Steel Angel Kurumi, and the anime had a script written by the same writer (Mamiko Ikeda) for Tenshi Ni Narumon who also did some script writing for Princess Tutu and Seven of Seven. The anime also had 6 character music videos which are fairly simple but a nice addition to the series for the main girls. Discotek has been publishing the anime in the states in recent years, and the manga was brought over by *squints at book spine* Dr Master Publications.

The Premise: Girls transform and enter weird outside of reality spaces to fight each other with giant keys to take each other’s stories to create a third Alice In Wonderland story.

Well, an off-brand Alice story written by Alternate L. Takion, rather than Lewis Carroll/Charles Dodgson, that while the series uses all the aesthetic hallmarks of the tradition Alice, the little we see of the in universe Alice story is clearly different. Which is fine, at the end of the day, it’s still about someone who loves the Alice stories and wishes there was more, and even makes his own fanfiction version. His? Oh yeah, while the girls do all the fighting, the main character is Aruto, a teen boy who loves Alice, and for reasons we don’t know till late game, can enter the liminal spaces that the ‘Alice Users’ fight in. He chases a girl who looks like the Alice he sees in his story, who is named Arisu, and gets roped into this fanfic battle royale. He is also the older brother of the very needy Kirihara, who also ends up being and Alice User. As does Kirihara’s bff Kisa. To round out the group of enemies-turned-friends-who-will-work-together-to-collect-the-Eternal-Alice-without-having-to-fight-eachother group is a young genius researcher Kirika who wants to know more about Aruto’s connection that allows him to enter the spaces where the girls fight.

Then there’s all the other girls, some of whom still have real importance to the story and some who have a few panels or 2 scenes total. But with a whole bunch of girls to design, the creators reached out to a whole lot of other people to have them create designs! Eventually the battle gets down to the last few girls, there’s a confrontation with the guy running the whole thing, and while the anime and manga vary quite a bit the whole time, in both version Aruto ends up with Kirihara. Oh and Arisu was created by Aruto’s super imagination powers.

The Promise: Here on is subjective, particularly with what I personally saw as potential from this series. because I need you to understand how much I want to like this series.

~Alice in Wonderland themed: I know some people aren’t alice fans and that’s fine you do you but as a big alice fan this is great. We have a few alice episodes and themed characters amongst series like CCS and MGRP, and even Alice themes in other series like Tweeny Witches and Alice 19th. But damn it I am down for Alice series.

~Giant Keyyyyyyyys: Yeah yeah Kingdom Hearts but these keys are much more staff like for a lot of the characters which ads and air of elegance rather than the KH ones that for me at least feel well designed for big ol props rather than actual weapons. We also get...

~Weapon variety: It counts as a key if it’s a thorn whip that can be shaped like a key right? How about a giant pocket knife? Crossbows can also be keys. Hush. And we have this variety because

~Guest Artists: For magical girl series where we have a variety of outfits designed by different people, we have Kagihime, Uta~Kata, and uhh I guess Magia Record? But that’s a mobile game with a hella number of characters and with how mobile game works I wouldn’t count it just because it’s less the intent of the series to have variety and more the nature of having lots of girls. (Precure doesn’t count because unless I missed a memo each season’s set is still by one designer). If a series isn’t about a team and therefore doesn’t need cohesion, bringing in other artists is a great way for variety and new looks.

~The long term goal: Fighting with other people who love the same piece of media you do in hopes of creating new material that will be viewed as official? That’s just fandom nowadays. But it’s a legitimate interesting concept, and opens up so many doors for a message for the series, be it ‘what you create is no less valuable than the canon work’ or ‘it’s hard to let go when something you love doesn’t have more to it but you can still love it for what it is’ or ‘bond with the people who like the thing you like ya idiot instead of fighting about it’. The concept is interesting and there are so many narrative ways you can take this.

~Gays: Between the anime and manga, we have at least 5 wlw. Is it a magical girl series without some gays? (side note- the manga had a short thing where the MC wears a girl’s uniform and is pretty comfortable in it and while there is no way this was the intent, between that and the emphasis on the stories that live in girls and how the fight zones have no men, I’m just saying, Trans girl Aruto.)

~Greater Fairy Tale Premise: We meet a Little Match Girl based MG who is obsessed with Andersen rather than the Alice books, and touch on a Sleeping Beauty character in the manga. The manga at least implies that classic stories and fairy tale authors uh. Live on in a liminal space as immortals with world warping powers within that world and there could be opportunities for other girls in the real world to fight for Little Mermaid 2: Electric Boogaloo.

The Good: Everything has positive points, no matter how bad it is.

~Character Designs: Some of those looks slap. As do most of their weapons.

~Backgrounds: I have a strong opinion on backgrounds in anime that can be easily boiled down to old watercolor backgrounds good, modern filtered photos as background bad, and as a 2006 series, this might not be Memole nice but they’re quite attractive.

~Splash Pages: Easily my favorite thing after the designs, each chapter’s title page for the manga just has a character standing in a setting. Which is not everyone’s thing I’m sure but it’s a nice simplistic way to let the characters breathe imo. Even if at least some of the settings were deffo traced. But that’s how backgrounds work to some extent? If I ever get to the Met again, I am tracking down this exact photo, but here is a likely candidate for an example.

~Different Versions: I do not understand the need to make an adaptation that tries to be a 1:1. Kagihime had the same ideas and characters and did some of the same beats but very much had a different finale story and a lot of changes in the middle (like the Alice cops in the manga). Again, not something everyone probably wants I’m sure, but I very appreciate this, especially since the Anime kept good pace with the number of Manga chapters (reading the manga again while watching the anime at 3.8x speed just now was very interesting to see the different interpretations of events in a different medium.)

The ‘Fine’: Yeah.

~Anime Visuals: Look 2006 was still early enough into digipaint that I will give it a total pass on these. The colors are too bright but in a very bland way, the lineart is nothing interesting, and the faces are. Iffy. But it’s not total garbage to look at (probably helped by backgrounds and character designs...) it just came out in an era where not enough people knew how to stylize things to account for the weakness of the tools of the time. (It was 4 years earlier but I feel Kagihime is the polar opposite of Chobits with its painfully bland color palette while still being just. Flat. Sorry for the drive by Chii.)

~Music?: There sure were songs. Obviously, they are nothing to me.

The Bad: CW for.... somehow all the big things to an extent.

~Fanservice: Look, I am fine with fanservice, especially for a series that’s, ya know, not targeted at kids, big Mai Hime fan here even if I would recommend skipping the panty thief episode. And honestly the series generally isn’t fanservicey, at least by the modern standards of having the camera choosing under the skirt rather than an over the shoulder shot like I’ve seen plenty in other shows. Even the sexier outfits like the rose whip dominatrix aren’t bad BUT. When the girls fight. One takes her phallic key and drives it into another girls chest between the boobs while the loser cries in pain and then her book comes out and when the victor rips out pages, the loser’s clothes also rip. It is very SuperS Amazon Trio assault metaphor-y. There’s also a bit of fanservice with the sister becauseeeee....

~Incest: If you read the premise up there, first wow good job because I’m sure not re-reading that, you might have noticed I said MC ends up with his sister. As someone who is a big mythology fan and watches plenty of anime, I have a decent tolerance for your obligatory ‘oh we’re siblings but actually cousins so our feelings are okay’ or whatever the fuck Citrus has going on I don’t know that series and I don’t vibe BUT. I have limits and boy did this series go beyond that because multiple episodes are dedicated to the sister being in love with the brother? And the brother returns her feelings but knows that they are wrong so he put everything he likes in his sister into his version of Alice who, of course, physically manifests as Arisu who he creates accidentally with his uh. Magic imagination powers. But again in both versions MC still ends up with his sister. Hey, at least the manga eventually said the boy was adopted when the sister was like, 3, so if nothing else no blood relations? The anime did not ad this. -_-

~Under Utilized Characters: Arisu’s gradual revelation that she has no childhood memories because she isn’t a real person is so interesting and they don’t do nothing with it but also? That’s the kind of thing I personally would love to dig into and Kagihime, while touching on this world shattering revelation, easily loops back to So Anyway She Should Fight For The Man and to hell with developing a life or personality outside of what has been written for her. The rest of the main 5 were 2 note characters which. Could be worse? The most interesting character ends up being the child genius who accidentally murdered her childhood bestie (and/or lover? depending on version) and her coming to terms with that (the friend is alive but the version changes how and why she thinks she’s dead). Then the villain has the motivation of ‘i lost my creativity and now have become an immortal living outside of normal space and am getting girls to fight each other because that’s like a story so I’m still relevant right?’. But shoutout to the anime for then taking death of the author literally. The numerous other girls are canon fodder outside of like. The manga version of the dead gf and the little match girl.

~Battle Royale: This is not a thing I have an issue with generally. Again, but Mai Hime fan, I need to read MGRP 11, BUT by not developing the non-main girls there is no emotional connection which makes them just canon fodder and that’s boring as sin for a royale system. The initial main character fights revolve so much around the MC guy being there that they fall flat, and the 2 or 3 final battles in both versions still feel without any stakes. Also for a royale thing most of the characters don’t actually die, which cool! Neat! Except when they do? Some nobodies and a somebody are murdered (at least in the manga) and the tone never feels like it’s supposed to be upping the stakes, it’s just. Some people are dead now. And do you want to guess which of the main characters died?

~Gays: Oh boy the best friend of the brother-complex sister is in love with her and (in the manga) dies. She does apparently get better for the last chapter but the death itself is only felt by the rest of the cast for a page or two before we go back to feeling sad big brother wants to kiss his mentally generated sister clone rather than his actual sister u_u. Bury your gays is nothing new, but I wonder if it was also intended to be justified because Guess Who Is Creepy and a bit Perverted? Oh look the lesbian keeps the used swimsuit of her beloved and manipulates events to get an indirect kiss and when she sees the sister trying to strange Arisu for a moment she decides to do it for the sister? It’s not good. You want bad gay rep in a magical girl series, well here ya go. We also had a nobody in the first(second?) episode whose story pages reveal her having a kiss with a girl, and then we also have the prodigy again and- in the manga- her. Uh. childhood lover who she thought she killed but the girl has been wiping her mind over and over so prodigy remembers ‘killing’ the friend and not the she’s alive so she can keep? fucking with her? Toxic!

~Sexual Content: But wait you say, you already covered fanservice! Ah but that is sexual content for titilation. This is sexual content for dramatic backstory! The red riding hood character was sexually assaulted, another character was manipulated into sex first as a teen and then more often to ‘get into the publishing industry’, and the same writer forces some aggressive kisses on the MC. None of it is gratuitous which is nice, but also, was it necessary? Not making a new point for this but read riding hood’s dog was also murdered so unnecessary animal death gets tossed on in there.

~Male Lead: You can have a male, non magical character as the main character surrounded by magical girls. This is not how to do it. If I can make a vicious and hopefully not understood reference, Aruto is basically Tate from the Mai Hime Manga. If you understood that, I am so sorry. If you didn’t, congrats! Don’t read the manga. Or do and send me asks about the iconic final page of the first volume (18+). Anyway, this dude is boring, everything revolves around him, BUT I’ll be generous and say at least this isn’t a harem series? It looks like it out of context but it’s just a triangle with a fun attached scientist and token lesbian.

~Premise: They didn’t make good use of it. The initial goals of ‘take other girls pages from their soul books because if we get enough we unlock a third alice book’ is good! And then we add the twist that that was never going to happen and either if we get all the pages we can grant a wish, or these fights are just happening for the amusement of and asshole. Either way, yeah okay I guess. But at no point do we ever achieve this forbidden wish granting book and the asshole just. Lives. Nothing happens to him. His peers don’t even dunk on him. The only real changes from the beginning and the end of the series are: the siblings are now chill with dating, and the scientist lady won’t turn into a child in magical spaces. Oh. Yeah.

~Why did we make this adult a child sometimes?: I think we know why. Stop trying to get those types of folks to watch your already meh series. I also could have sworn at points in the past looking up images for this series I’ve seen extra art for Yuuri the Thumbelina-y Alice User that seemed like it would fit alongside anything by POP. You know, the Moetan guy. If you don’t know, god I wish that were me.

Wrap Up: I have definitely forgotten some points and am well within my rights to ad to this whenever I remember more points but uh. Yeah.

Listen you want an alice themed battle royale with nice outfits? Rozen maiden is right there. Battle Royale magical girl series that’s good with fanservice? Mai Hime. Series with different outfits while being based on a classic story? Pretear.

Hope anyone who read all of this at least got what I was saying, even if they don’t agree with it. And thanks for reading because whoops.

#why do ya'll let me write so damn many words #thanks ya'll for letting me write so many words #kagihime eternal alice rondo #long post #text #not fashion #whoops 3k words

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rpg-elf-girl · 3 years

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Shadows House

I have a lot of thoughts surrounding this particular show, both good & bad.

Allow me to give a quick summary for anyone who hasn't seen/read it!

Shadows House is about 'a faceless family of nobles who all live within this giant manor, the Shadows House.

When a Shadow comes of age they receive a 'Living Doll' to both serve as their face and to clean the soot they emit from their bodies.

The most important rule of the living dolls is "don't fret over trivial matters"

A task which is difficult for the ever curious doll Emiliko.

Watch this tale unfold as Emiliko & her mistress Kate navigate this ever mysterious Manor together.'

For a fan of slow burn thrillers, horror, slice of life, supernatural & mystery series' this has been an absolute blast!

It's not quite the combination of genres you'd expect from a show, but it works really well here!

In fact I was so into the anime that this is actually the first show where I broke down and read the manga!

Unfortunately there's no official English release, but at least there are some people translating the series!

As much as I'd like to go on about the manga, this post is meant to be more so about the anime so I'll (try to) leave it at that.

Though i feel obligated to warn anime onlys I'll likely refer the manga a lot in a spoiler section latter in this post I'll try to be vague but I can't guarantee anything. For anyone worried about that I'll lable it do you can read on until then.

Everything from the animation to the music was amazing & completely fit the mood of the story! I remember a couple scenes where I actually teared up because of this!

The Ending theme is an absolute banger! I've listened to that on repeat ever since I first heard it! And the Opening is also great! It's cool for it to be an instrumental, stuff like that is pretty rare! I also heard the song in the op as a motif in the music throughout the show! It really sets the right mood in each scene it's in! It's amazing for getting into each episode!

In terms of adaptation almost everything from the beginning to the end of the Debut arc was done amazingly well!

Even with the stuff they cut it still holds true to the spirit of its source.

The main important part that was cut is something that could easily be introduced latter if they decide to go for a second season, so I'm not too mad about that.

However! Everything after the debut is a bit of a different story.

There was a lot I liked about the last couple episodes but there were some parts that were immersion breaking for me.

I've been being vague up until this point l, but I'm planning on going into spoiler territory for both the anime and manga after this. So I'll make a quick spoiler free summary of my thoughts before moving onto that.

I really really loved this show but in my opinion the last 3 episodes were the weakest of them all. They went anime only for the ending. I don't mind that on it's own, but it was rushed and the writing was sloppy at times.

Now I'm not telling you to not watch the show! Most of It's really really good, and I can still see people enjoying the parts I'm talking about if they want to give the anime a try. Overall I've fallen in love with this series and I could never recommend it enough.

If what I'm saying is giving you bad vibes the manga is available and doesn't have the issues I've mentioned. You can look for a translation online, it didn't take me long to find one so don't worry too much about that.

Also! if you're an anime only who's finished the series and want to know where to pick up the Manga I'd recommend at least skiming through the beginning. I know it might not be what you're looking for but there were a bunch of small scenes that either got cut or were merged for adaptation purposes that I think are super cute & give more context to different aspects of the setting. However! Pay close attention during the "night watchers part" something important got cut .

~~~Now for spoilers!!!!~~~

I don't want to make it sound like I'm some manga purist who hates the very thought of the slightest change from the source. I'm anime only for a lot of different shows and I've always despised it when that type of manga reader reared it's ugly head.

While I'll admit some changes did bother me I won't make a fuss about the smaller stuff.

With that said!

I hinted earlier in this post that I didn't have a big problem with Robe-same being cut. That was because without them there it does make for a more complete story if they only get one season to work with.

If there is another season they can easily be introduced latter on. Like maybe Emiliko & Shaun can meet them when the Debutant class reunion is going on before they talk on the roof (or right after that) I actually think that would be the perfect time to introduce them (other than the time they were supposed to appear, but I digress)

Louise teaming up & being friendly with Kate can be explained with some dialogue changes at the first Debutant Class Reunion. Louise can say she was just trying to show off or that she just wanted to get back at Edward and that she isn't interested in helping Kate with her problems. Things can then go on as they did in the manga.

Kates being reckless & telling everything to John can be explained by her being extremely panicked when Emiliko went missing, as long as there are some lines of dialogue adressing this it's fine. Though I do wish she tried to keep some stuff a secret but couldn't because Shaun tries to interfer because he's still brainwashed, or something along those lines. It felt a bit weird after she just told Emiliko to keep that stuff between them. Still that could be explained by how panicked she was.

There are other things, but I don't want to drag the post on too long. Most of the issues can be fixed with little changes here & there.

I never had a problem with the idea of them going in an anime only direction. I just want to have a good time with the show.

Unfortunately I can't 100% vouche for the direction the show went in. There were elements that I can't excuse, even viewing it as it's own entity instead of an adaptation.

My main complaint with it is how they handled the brainwashing of Ricky & Lou. They didn't say a word when the Debutants were talking badly about Edward & even went along with a plan to go against him. It makes absolutely no sense!

Shaun freaked out when John only suggested that he didn't have to be loyal to the house. These guys were flat out rebelling against an adult! It felt like Ricky & Lou didn't have a purpose & were just there to be there.

The whole point of the coffee is to influence shadows against doing stuff like this. It makes the coffee seem pointless and the adults seem dumb for relying on it to control the kids.

I haven't even brought up the fact that both of their brainwashings were broken by something as simple as a few kind words. It straight up contradicts the rules established by both the Anime and Manga.

This becomes very apparent when you consider all the trouble John & Kate went through to free Shaun & Emiliko.

This was my biggest complaint, but I have some other issues as well.

The next big one is how they handled Edward.

1. Why on earth would he even consider kidnapping Emiliko when he had complete control of the childrens wing? Before this point he was depicted as being a lot more crafty than this. He could easily have Kate monitored or something.

2. Why didn't he use his powers to stop them like what he did to Maryrose & Rosemary when they fought back being taken to the adults wing? He's already shown off his power at this point, why not?

3. Why did he reveal his soot powers at all!? Especially while using his face in front of the kids! The whole unification thing is one of the biggest secrets of the house for good reason! There's no way he wouldn't get in huge trouble for exposing it to children!

Here are some other related questions.

Why didn't Kate, Emiliko, & John react to Edward using soot powers? They shouldn't know about unification yet so why didn't they act shocked, or say anything about it?

Is Edward being banished even an option in the Shadows House? Wouldn't the third floor lords just dispose of him rather than risk letting him leave?

How did John even get a veiled dolls outfit? Louise had to use her powers to get Kate one & she left a long time ago.

I can't think of much else at the moment, but I think you get my point.

Please don't take this as me saying that I hate the show because of these episodes. Even if I consider them the weakest of the series I still found a lot of parts to be very enjoyable!

Like I thought it was adorable When Edward was attempting to interrogate Emiliko & she kept being her sunshine self pretending to eat & falling asleep.

Barbara getting to tell off Edward for breaking the rules was great!

I loved seeing Shaun hatch the plan to get Kate into the adults wing to save Emiliko.

Seeing John (attempt to) sneak around the adults wing had me rolling!

The ending scene of Shaun, Ricky, & Lou singing gave me the chills.

(Though I wonder how they'd handle Shaun & Emiliko being brainwashed again since they already used the scenes where they're freed)

Kate & Emilico being propelled by John back to the children's wing was absolutely amazing! I found Shaun & Ricky running over to catch them to be super sweet! (Not to mention the way that scene was animated was absolutely gorgeous!)

Getting hints to what was supposed to come after the debut was nice, at least the groundwork is there in case this gets a season 2!

To (try to) wrap this all up while there were a lot of things I loved and disliked about this show I still had a really fun time watching it!

I kinda hope there's a season two just to see if they can tidy up the mess that the last few episodes created.

Regardless of whether that happens or not I came out of this with a series I absolutely adore.

Heck I could make a whole other post about the manga. (Hopefully one that's less ranty)

Anyway! I won't take any more of your time.

I hope you all have a wonderful day/night! And I hope to see you in my next post!

(Sorry if this one was a bit of a mess!)

#Shadows House #Shadows House Review #Shadows House Anime #Shadows House Manga #anime #anime review #seasonal anime

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smilingperformer · 3 years

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Hmm, the general consensus of Goh seems to be: Most like his character/personality or don't mind him, but his goal [or rather, how it's being handled] is where the all the mixed reactions is coming from. (Whether it's feeling like theres no stakes to it since he's handed everything, or captures are weaseling into places that breaks the flow of an episode. And while he IS shown to care about his Pokemon and pushes his development, the irregular appearances of ones like Cinderace are jarring now)

Mmmm.

Seems to hit the nail there.

Gonna put rest under the cut because erm... I felt like getting this stuff out of my chest again and I feel it’s a bit, ranty. I apologize for it in advance, and I hope people can respect how I feel.

I certainly don’t like how we’re not seeing Cinderace at all already, i’d be somewhat fine if it was late late series (as in don’t like it but it’d had good amount of screentime already), but this early already? Nah. |D I’m so sorry to say I ain’t a fan. Also don’t like how Sobble disappeared from the cast completely as soon as Grookey came along. Some say it’s because it’s to like, make do for the lack of Grookey for so long, but why not have it appear earlier then. I don’t really agree with it :(

I have to right now admit I’ve never ever felt like this about a protag character before and it’s kinda why I hate feeling like this, like, Gou’s character is fiiiiiiine but I hate how he and his Pokémon relations are written in a way that they sorta exist and aren’t really shown how they bond after the captures outside of the starters and, and well...

Recently I ranted to sis about how I might actually not BE into dual protag concept that much, esp. for longer shows? Like, the only other dual protag shows I’ve watched are Maho Tsukai Precure, Fullmetal Alchemist / Brotherhood, Supernatural (only 5 seasons) and like... Maho Tsukai has other dynamics involved besides the duo and they gain third team member mid season (each Precure season is about 45-50 eps long btw), so it doesn’t get boring with dynamics to me, Supernatural I don’t remember much at all but it did kinda suffer from same old stuff happening with dynamics during the seasons I watched, And Fullmetal Alchemist has a HUGE amount of cast that pretty much makes up for the dual protag roles, because it’s not just Ed and Al, it’s a whole bunch of others too, making the story and characters super interesting to me.

So with 2019/Journeys series constantly focusing on Satoshi and Gou and rarely has other dynamics involved (like Tokio and Koharu and Sakuragi lab crew actually doing something of interest instead of just being there most of the time :’D), I’m... kinda becoming bored of seeing their dynamic over and over again. And it makes me bored with Gou (and Satoshi a bit tbf, but I still manage to love his character due to past seasons). And I’ve figured out it’s partly why I like Koharu, because she brings that different air to the show. Althou, I AM annoyed that this series seemingly refuses to let Koharu watch any of Satoshi’s Battles, let her meet his old friends or actually interact with more interesting people. It’s so weird. I should wait and see how this part evolves but, it’s sort of annoying to see this aspect.

Like. I’ve always been the kind of person who starts liking a show for the characters and the character dynamics in it, and not really mind if the plot itself is basic or anything, as long as the characters manage to keep me entertained. And... I hate to say that JN really has trouble keeping me in. Esp. when the dynamic seems to be remaining the same all the time.

Which is why I’m excited for character returns as they bring chances for new dynamics to exists, a new chance for me to enjoy. I really look forward to seeing how Shigeru will work nowdays, and how Gou will exactly react to meeting Satoshi’s life-long rival and friend.

I also seem somewhat annoyed how Gou gets all the emotional-themed episodes and Satoshi seems to get none now? And it feels like there’s been too many recently, so I just, feel nothing because there’s not enough time to refill my emotional tanks? Idk? For my tastes, I’d like it better if there was more space between “this is an ep where you’re supposed to feel the tears“ kinds.

It’s, kinda why I loved Sun & Moon so much too I guess. There were tons of different dynamics to watch, lots of humor and entertainment before being treated with heart-clutching themes. Like, it was the perfect show for me who loves watching character dynamics and such. So I guess having way less dynamics kinda hurts JN for me.

Anyway, sorry, I hate sounding ranty, but I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I want to like Gou so bad but the harder I try the more I actually go towards negative side of neutral ground and I hate it, hate it hate it hate it. Ugh.

I don’t know how to get out of this hell hole.

#ranty post warning #thanks anon for the ask and you've got pretty good eye #I just #needed to empty my chest before bed #just a bit really not anything grand.#anon #asks

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steve0discusses · 3 years

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Yugioh Season Zero: The Yo-yo Crimes of Jounouchi Pt 2

OK, last we left off, we were in a different Youtube video. This one I grabbed off of 2 different videos (you’ll see their watermark in the corner change) and it makes me appreciate the quality that our other episodes have been, honestly. A little bit of compression going on in these, just to give you even more of that nostalgic feel of watching a bootleg anime from the 90′s your brother got from his weird high school friend’s Napster account.

Because this is done with subtitles on, it takes more caps to cover it. Part of why I rewrite the dialogue in these recaps is to help abridge stuff, and so consider yourself warned...there’s a lot of caps in this one. For most of you, that’s probably not much of a problem. But I’m just letting you know because...I sure wasn’t expecting it to be over 40 caps for half an episode, and I’ll probably just type less to make up for that. (Tumblr keeps Erasing All My Words anyway, so this is for the best, but that’s a tech issue I already went into in another post.)

(read more under the cut)

So, to start off, Yugioh and co. walk up to a bar like a really weird version of a bar joke and are like “do you know where we can find the yo-yo gang?” And, much like a video game npc, the bartender was like “I know EXACTLY what you’re talking about, and I heard every part of their intimate conversation. Let me give you all the details, children.”

Hey, PS, there’s an entire Wikipedia entry about the bar joke. And that is wild. Apparently the first bar joke was from Ancient Sumeria, and Wikipedia was like “Here is the Sumerian joke, but we Do Not Get it. Please don’t try to get it.”

The joke being: "A dog walked into a tavern and said, 'I can't see a thing. I'll open this one'."

Damn. I can’t believe the Sumerians were onto meme humor before we ever invented memes. They were in the Galaxy brain over there in the land before time, holy crap. Depositing their memes knowing that 7,000 years later mankind would look at the world’s first joke and be like “I don’t get it!” while all the millennials and zoomers with our MB of nonsense memes on our phones are like “No. I get it.” Good on you Sumerians, that is freakin the best joke ever made. 7000 years to get to the punch line of confusing the hell out of all us. Bless.

They promptly tell Miho that everything was resolved and that she should go to bed and she was like “Cool!” and exited stage left. Bye, I guess. Anzu also went home, but she didn’t have to be tricked into doing it, she just went the hell to bed.

(PS, I just realized that if I want to write less...I should probably not look up Wikipedia articles about the world’s first ever bar joke. But y’all, habits die so freakin hard, and I just feel like it’s very pertinent to this Yugioh recap, although I know it’s really not.)

Yuugi and Honda decide to visit the warehouse and harass Jounouchi. In the context of the show, they’re going out of their way to pull their best friend out of society’s systemic downward pull of a life of crime and most likely turning into exactly like his Father. But, the way that it’s storyboarded makes it look a lot like these kids just show up out of the corner and this gang was like “Damn it, again? OMG small children, please leave us alone!”

Honda hands over the symbolism sash, to which Jounouchi symbolically says “Nyeh.”

And Honda didn’t take it very well.

After tending to his kidneys for a little while, Honda decided to go back at it again at the Krispy Cream and do some sort of insane parkour over this completely ordinary fence.

Ah, the very first instance of real duel law where you duel over a relationship. In later seasons duel law is invoked for things like Mai’s marriage and the right to date Tea (and then just kind of forgetting you ever won the right to date Tea twice). But to think the very first time was Honda dueling for the right of Jounouchi to be part of nerd gang because Jounouchi had fallen to the dark side yo-yo gang across the street run by some 40 year old man with blue hair.

How many times is Honda gonna fight with a broom? Like are they just magnetized to his location? where are they even coming from?

Freakin janitor powers over here, put him in a Final Fantasy style RPG. I want to see what his limit break would be.

Not like it matters, because Hirotani very quickly explains why these yo-yo’s are at all a threat.

Which honestly shouldn’t be...so lethal? Seems like the weight is all you need, not really the spikes. But it’s at least stronger than Honda’s janitor stuff.

Unfortunate for Honda that he just destroyed an antique.

So with lightning reflexes, Yuugi does what he does most:

The death yo-yo ricochets back and does this little itty bitty scrape to this guy’s face and he’s real bothered by it. Although it’s like...well dude, you’re a 50 year old high schooler, I don’t think people will notice the scrape compared to everything else falling apart in your life.

And so then the Yugioh Season Zero team was like “oh shoot is it time to torture Yuugi???” and they got hella excited.

Like I thought it was just Yuugi’s class that were a bunch of disturbing criminal disasters, but I guess it’s the whole city. Like...was Yuugi’s class the good school?

I mean, it can’t be, there’s no way...

but like...is there a good school in this universe? How does anyone survive till graduation? If you so much as disgrace a yo-yo, you will get the torture treatment that I sure did expect in Yakuza games, but not so much in Yugioh, tbh.

Just a reminder: This is the third time we’ve beat up Yuugi this episode. Within the first meeting of Yuugi and Hirotani, he beat the tar out of Yuugi within eye shot of Jounouchi. So like...Jounouchi was reallllllllllllllllly lax on that deal, right? Like...he took his toot sweet time to realize “yeah this just ain’t ever gonna happen.”

And then the yo-yo wars begin.

Just like Solid Snake crawling through the radiation chamber.

Hirotani throws his Fyper-yoyo, Jounouchi intercepts with his Eireboy, and Hirotani’s completely terrible yo-yo just flies off the string again because Hirotani should have just sticked to using his fists. No wonder they wanted to recruit Jounouchi so badly, their yo-yo game is so off.

We never get a door to darkness in this episode, dipping our enemies into mind horrors. Instead, we get home-alone style traps. But, this makes sense. Not only do the show makers have to make Yuugi avoid solving problems with magic in front of Jounouchi, they also have to make it Jounouchi’s choice to leave Hirotani behind. If Yuugi did it for him in like...some sort of duel law situation...then that sort of leaves out Jounouchi’s choice in the equation.

Not like this ever really comes up in later seasons, since who even follows through with duel law and marries Mai? But like, it does feel like Season Zero calls out the later Seasons a bit in this regard. Honda got beat up because he tried to win Jounouchi back by force (or game, I guess.) That was just another form of coercion on the heels of Hirotani’s. What Jounouchi actually needed was to make his own decision to leave.

...most other anime I’d be like “I’m sure that’s just a translation error” but not this one.

So Yuugi runs to the roof where Jounouchi will never see this.

My audible sigh reading this line about fight club roof.

These stupid gang members went into Yuugi’s native territory, not just a fight club roof, but on a warehouse? They were dead before they arrived.

This was like maybe 3 frames of animation in just rapid succession, it was pretty silly and good.

Reminder that like 4 minutes ago, Yuugi was about to get like executed on a meat hook.

Speaking of getting executed on a meathook:

Hope you like the idea of glass in your eyes, because this anime’s got it.

They chase Yuugi around, in a sequence that was done mostly to conserve frames, so you rarely saw the ground until this shot:

Lots of falling down this episode, but unlike Tea, who fell from a warehouse ceiling once and just kind of rubbed her ass after and was like “ah damn it.” these guys won’t come out of it virtually unscathed.

Also, Honda is here now:

Jumping off of his symbolic sash trapeze, he decides to do in Hirotani for good.

Hey so like...walk the dog is a fairly gentle walk that a yo-yo does slowly on the ground right?

Just pointing out how sensitive Hirotani’s fingies are.

And he...didn’t appear to be dead, so I don’t have to add to the bodycount...but it’s gonna be a real long road for recovery.

And now, with the gang back together Jounouchi is back at school knee deep in make up assignments he’ll probably completely ignore since we know that in a years time, these fools are going to be trapped on Pegasus’ island, and at that point school will be just that place you talk about when you try to remember why you’re friends with Bakura.

---hey aren’t those chairs attached to the desks?

Because...holy crap, Anzu.

Honestly this is what you see before you die, but I guess Jounouchi died off screen after the episode ended, so I don’t have to add him to the deathcount (again). RIP.

Alright! That took like...8 tries to get Tumblr to save this one, but it managed! (well...I guess “managed” isn’t the word you’d use for a typing program that takes 8 tries to save)

Next time, we’ll be back to S5, for an arc I’ve heard is kind of boring. We’ll see. If it truly is, I can condense episodes into fewer posts. Or maybe it’s a secret gem? I guess we shall see.

And if you just got here this is a link to read all the Season Zero recaps from the start:

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yuugi-muto/chrono

(there’s also a link to read all the Yugioh posts we wrote from the start in chrono order but straight up, this file won’t freakin save, and I just can’t even will myself to look up that link again. It’s on the home page of this blog on the right.)

#YGO #yugioh #yu gi oh #Yuugi Muto #Jounouchi #Honda #Anzu #Miho #yo yo gang #Hirotani #Yuugi and the gang do serious property damage

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spine-buster · 4 years

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The President Wears Prada (William Nylander) | Chapter 4

September 28th 2019

Aberdeen Bloom was letting it all out.

Siena had called, cooped up in her room in the house she rented with two other girls, taking a break from studying for torts law or shorts law or whatever type of law it was that she had to study. It was these moments – moments when Siena caught up with her younger sister – that reminded her that she was slaving through law school because Aberdeen would probably need a lawyer one day after doing something colossally stupid. She’d usually start the conversations with “You can’t tell mom and dad…” and Siena would promise not to. And, well, she’d keep that promise. Because sisters never told. They only ever told on Camden.

Aberdeen told Siena about the night with William in June – she told her about a week later, after Siena was finally settled back into her place in Ottawa. They’d talked about it for a while and had come to terms with the fact that Aberdeen would never see William again because of the whole Sweden thing and because of the fact that Toronto was a city full of a few million people. They’d accepted it and moved on.

But then, of course, William showed up in the elevator on her first day of work and the floodgates opened.

“Wait…hold on a second,” Siena held her hand up. “You’re telling me you hooked up with a Toronto Maple Leaf.”

“Yes.”

“A hockey player. That guy was a hockey player.”

“Yes,” Aberdeen stressed.

“And now…” Siena paused. “You work for the president of the team that he plays for.”

“Precisely.”

Siena let out a long, loud sign, facepalming before rubbing her temples. “I don’t know how you get yourself into these situations, Aberdeen,” she shook her head. “I honestly don’t.”

“I don’t, either.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

Aberdeen looked at her sister weird. “There’s nothing I can do about it. It says right in the employee handbook that no employee and player are allowed to hook up. I can’t tell Brendan and William can’t tell the rest of the team. That’s that.”

“Are you scared he might?”

Aberdeen considered the question. “I really don’t know. On one side, I feel like if he really wanted to tell them he would have told them already, and Brendan Shanahan would have found out through the grapevine and I would have already lost my job. Like, I wouldn’t have even gone to Newfoundland. On the other hand, I feel like the comments he’s been saying to me just make it seem like this is a game to him and he’s waiting on the most opportune moment to tell.”

“Comments?” Siena asked.

Aberdeen sighed. “I went to dinner with a bunch of them in St. John’s because Jason invited me, and he asked me who my favourite Leaf was in this really flirty way,” she explained. “Then a few days later he found me alone and told me I should have said him. Or at least have said he was fucking awesome because that’s what I said that night after we hooked up.”

Siena facepalmed again. “Oh, Aberdeen…”

“I know, Siena.”

“Does Kasha know?” she asked.

“Of course Kasha knows.”

“Kasha won’t tell a soul. She’s good like that.”

“I know. My problem here is William.”

“Listen, Aberdeen…this is a fucked up situation but it’s…I mean, technically you didn’t hook up with him when you were employee. It was months before. You had no idea who he was. That’s what my lawyer brain is telling me right now.”

“I don’t know if that matters,” Aberdeen said. “I keep getting told that this is the dream job, that if I do well with Mr. Shanahan I can have my pick of any job in any field that I want in Toronto, including writing. That’s how well connected he is. I wouldn’t want to get on his bad side at all. I have to be on my best behaviour and I have to keep doing well.”

“Then keep being on your best behaviour. Keep doing your job,” Siena encouraged. “And keep William away.”

***

September 30th, 2019

With only two days until the start of the season, Brendan had a lot of meetings with a lot of people. There were meetings with hockey ops, meetings with the head scouts, meetings with player development, meetings with analytics. It was a much busier time than just three weeks ago. A lot more coffee runs. More ordering of catered lunches. More running around like a chicken with her head cut off, like Brendan said she would. And this wasn’t even the start of the season.

Brendan wanted her to sit it in on the meeting he had now with basically the entire senior management so they could go over upcoming events and initiatives they’d put on throughout the season. Kyle Dubas would be there. Brandon Pridham and Laurence Gilman, the assistant general managers would be there. Dave Morrison, the director of player personnel would be there. Brad Lynn, the director of team operations would be there. Stephen Hare, the director of finance would be there. Steve Keogh, the director of media relations would be there. Alison Rockwell, the director of business relations would be there. Leanne Hederson, the manager of hockey operations would be there.

Aberdeen was clearly studying the employee directory.

They had a list of things to talk about, and talked through them all. Aberdeen had her notebook and tried to take notes, but she felt like she was writing a foreign language and none of this would make sense when she went to read them again. There was talk about “You Can Play Night”, about galas, about charity golf tournaments, about community outreach programs, about the alumni events, about the MLSE Launchpad initiatives…

Then they started to talk about alternate jerseys. She thought there was only home and away jerseys, but no, there was apparently a third for a special night. A “St. Pats” jersey. It was green. A definite change from the blue, but they kept going on and on about it. Do we do this? What about this? How about this? It was incredibly pedantic. She felt like she was in science class again, doodling instead of taking notes since she had no clue what was being said or what was going on.

“Do you think we should go with the same one from last season, or should we choose a new design?” Dave Morrison asked.

“It’s hard to say. If we go with last year’s design, jersey sales may stagnate or decline if we compare it on a year-by-year basis, but a new design will boost that,” Stephen Hare said.

“Well, listen. It’s the 2019-2020 season. We can go with the design from 1919-1920,” Brandon Pridhan said, pulling up the mock-ups of the jersey. Aberdeen took into account the green and white, the lettering, everything. “Or should we balk the season number and go with this one, the 1926-1927 season design?” he held up the other mock-up. It was basically the exact same design, except the colours were inverted.

They were having an extremely serious and long discussion about this? Aberdeen snorted from the corner.

Suddenly, when she looked up, every eye in the room was on her. The smile immediately dropped from her face. Brendan was looking at her. “Something funny?”

Oh shit. Oh shit. Ohfuckohfuckohfuck. “No, no…” she began, trying to cover for herself. “It’s nothing – you know – it’s just that they look exactly the same to me. I…you know, I’m still learning about all this stuff.”

“This…stuff?” Brendan asked, repeating her words. The look that he gave her – she never wanted to be looked at like that again for the rest of her life. “Oh…okay. I see. You think this has nothing to do with you. You get hired by the Maple Leafs and you sit in on this meeting with, oh I don’t know, that iPad Pro which the company paid for, and you scoff because you think we’re taking this too seriously, and you don’t care about what jerseys fans put on their back. But what you don’t know is that this hockey sweater is not just blue and white, it’s not just green and white, it’s actually a symbol,” he paused, moving from his spot at the table, walking around it. “You’re also blindly unaware of the fact that in 1919 the Toronto Arenas were about to go under, only to be saved by a group of investors who renamed the team the Toronto St. Patricks, and who later made Conn Smythe their managing partner and their eventual owner. Conn Smythe ended up changing their name in 1927 to the Toronto Maple Leafs because that maple leaf was the national symbol of Canada and, as he said, a badge of courage and a reminder of home of when he was a Canadian Army officer during World War One,” he picked the design he liked most from Brandon and pinned it onto the board, taking another from the pile. Aberdeen’s heart stopped beating. “The blue and white, he said, represented the Canadian skies and Canadian snow. The name has changed, the investors have changed, and the logo has seen design changes, but that maple leaf is a symbol that represents the identity of Toronto, the history of this city, and the pride of the country. It represents millions of dollars and countless jobs, and so it’s sort of comical how you think that you ever made a choice that exempted you from caring about these jerseys when, in fact, this city’s identity and one of the most well-known national symbols were selected for you by the people in this room who ran this hockey club. All because of the influence of this stuff.”

He held onto a picture, holding it face up. She broke eye contact to look down at it, only to see it was the maple leaf that was currently on the jersey. The thirty-one points, meant to represent 1931 and the opening of Maple Leaf Gardens; the 17-vein detail, meant to represent when the franchise was founded in 1917; the 13 veins at the top, meant to represent the 13 Stanley Cup championships. She realized what this symbol meant to not only the people in this room, but to the city, to the fabric and identity of it, to its storied past and bright future. She realized the history behind it, the countless people who wore the sweater or jersey with pride for over a century now. She realized how wrong and careless she’d been.

When she looked back up, Brendan was staring at her. So was everyone else still seated at the board table, some of them with amused looks on their faces. “I’ll be outside if you need me,” she said, barely above a whisper because she was too embarrassed to even speak. She clutched her iPad Pro and took the picture, walking out of the room.

The second the door closed behind her, she burst out into tears. The tears streamed down her face as she escaped into the washroom, slamming the stall door behind her and locking it before breaking down in the bathroom stall. Brendan Shanahan had just embarrassed her in front of some of the hockey world’s most important people and she deserved it. She couldn’t believe she could be so fucking stupid and so dumb and callous and just such a…such an idiot. And now here she was, crying about it in a bathroom stall. She’d never be able to recover from this. Brendan would think she was an idiot until the day she died. He’d die before her and in heaven he’d still think her an idiot.

She stayed in the bathroom stall for a while, crying it all out and eventually stopping because she had no more energy to cry. She opened the stall door and looked at herself in the mirror, trying to wipe away the tears. Her eyes were red and of course, her cheeks were stained with tears, but she was thankful that she wore waterproof mascara that day. She tried to collect herself, even though she had just made a complete ass of herself. She still had a full day of work to do. She still had to make it until 5pm. Somehow.

When there was nothing more she could do to fix her appearance, she sighed and decided to head back to her desk, ready to face whatever punishment Brendan was going to give her when he got out of the meeting. There was nothing more she could say or do. She swung open the door to the washroom and stepped out into the hallway.

Although when she did, she crashed into a body. When she looked up, it was, of course, none other than William Nylander. Because her day couldn’t get any better from here. “Hey,” he said, smiling at her.

“What do you need?” she asked, not bothering to greet him.

He noticed the tone of her voice and the redness of her eyes and immediately changed his demeanour. “What’s wrong?”

She side-eyed him. As if he cared. “I just made a complete ass of myself in front of Brendan. No biggie,” she huffed.

“Did you get a coffee order wrong or something?”

Now she really side eyed him. She understood the stereotype of personal assistants, but this was not the time to start making jokes and devaluing her job. “What do you want? Why are you even in the offices?” she asked.

He shrugged his shoulders. “I wanted to see you.”

She scoffed. “Oh, get a life, William.”

“Excuse me?”

“I don’t know why you feel the need to keep taunting me when we’re on the job, but it needs to stop,” she said. “Don’t you have drills to go through? Don’t you like, I don’t know, need to tape a stick?”

It was his turn to give her a look. “Hey, don’t be mad at me just because you screwed up at your job today. I came up here to see you because I wanted to see you. I’m trying to be nice.”

“Taunting me at my job isn’t being nice,” she said. “If you can’t tell, I’m not having a good day. So I’d appreciate it if you just…wouldn’t.”

“Whatever you did can’t be worse than sleeping with a Maple Leaf and then working for his boss,” William retorted.

Okay, now she was angry. She grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the small kitchen – the one she’d retreated to when she walked in on them in their underwear – and shut the door behind them so they could have a private conversation. “Listen to me,” she began, her voice as steady and as intimidating as it could be. “I know I’m not saving the world or anything, but this job means a lot to me. This isn’t a fucking game to me like it is to you. This is my life. This is my livelihood. This is my career prospects in any industry in Toronto if I do a good job here. And you, William Nylander, are not going to take that away from me.”

“I’m not trying to take that away from you,” William declared. “Don’t you think that if I didn’t want you here, I would have told the guys or told Brendan already?”

Aberdeen thought back to the conversation she’d had with her sister, where she brought up the exact same point. She shook her head. “Then stop with the comments. Stop with the ‘coming to see me’, flirting in front of your teammates, and the flirting in general.”

“I can’t do that,” he responded.

“Why not?” she demanded.

“Because I want you.”

The words hung in the air for an uncomfortable amount of time as William and Aberdeen stared at each other, his blue eyes piercing her hazel ones. Her jaw dropped at his words, and she tried to respond but she couldn’t think of anything to say. There was nothing to say. He just dropped a bombshell and she had no way to recover. He wanted her. He wanted her. He…wanted her? “W…What?”

William didn’t respond. He only smiled. He didn’t say anything else as he left those words with her, opening the door and leaving the kitchen, leaving her completely dumbfounded.

***

Later on that night, as Aberdeen was walking back to her condo after the day’s work (and not seeing Brendan again – probably for the best, since she was going to write out and rehearse her apology she’d tell him tomorrow if she didn’t get a call that she’d been fired tonight), her phone buzzed in her pocket. She assumed that it would be Kasha, wanting to know what they were going to do for dinner. But when she looked at her screen, it was an unknown number that texted her.

i promise im not going to tell anybody. im not going to tell any of the guys, or kyle, or brendan, or anyone what happened in june. that stays between us.

im not that guy. i wouldn’t do that to you.

She stopped dead in her tracks. A pedestrian behind her almost crashed into her and yelled at her to watch where she was going. She collected herself and moved off to the side so people could pass by her and she could read the texts over and over and over again. She didn’t even want to know how he got her number. She didn’t want to know what covert operation he pulled.

She gulped.

***

October 1st, 2019

Aberdeen was impatient in the backseat of the town car as she and Lou waited for Brendan to appear. Her leg was bobbing up and down and she was pretty sure she would have chipped all her nail polish off by now if it wasn’t shellac. She had written out and rehearsed her apology to him and knew exactly how she was going to deliver it. She knew she had to makes things right.

“Miss Bloom,” Lou said from the driver’s seat, looking at her through the rear-view mirror like he often did. “Nervous energy.”

“I’m sorry Lou,” she apologized, trying not to bob her leg. “I just need to say something to Mr. Shanahan.”

“Something bad?”

“How many apologies have you heard in this car?” she asked.

Lou chuckled. “Many, Miss Bloom.”

“How does he react to them?”

Lou shrugged. “Depends.”

She gulped. As if on cue, Brendan emerged from his house. Lou got out of the car to open the door for him.

“Good morning, Aberdeen,” he said, his voice cheery as he got into the backseat. He already had a stack of newspapers with him. He was acting as if nothing was wrong. “How are you this morning?”

“I’m…good,” she replied, confused. She decided she should just get right into it. “Mr. Shanahan, can I speak to you about something?”

“Brendan,” he corrected her like he always did. He was focused on the newspaper in front of him. “And yes, Aberdeen, you may.”

“Can you look at me?”

That caught his attention. He lowered the newspaper and took off his glasses, waiting for her to begin. She took a deep breath. “I want to sincerely apologize for my comments yesterday in the meeting,” she began. “It was really insensitive of me to scoff, and then to make that comment – just really callous, and I want to apologize. I don’t want you thinking that this job means nothing to me, because it does. It means the world—”

“Aberdeen,” Brendan interrupted her, holding up his hand. She stopped talking, and could tell he was thinking of what to say. “First of all, thank you for your apology,” he began. “What I said to you in that room, in front of everybody – I just wanted to make sure you know the importance of the work we do here.”

“I do. I mean – I do now.”

“Hockey in Toronto is not just hockey,” he began. “It’s a living, breathing entity in and of itself. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you will see the importance of not just my work, or the work of anybody else that was in the room that day, but of your work too. You are part of the Toronto Maple Leafs now, Aberdeen, whether you like it or not. You have a role to play here in the success of the team just like anybody else. Just because you’re an executive assistant, it doesn’t mean you don’t.”

“Yes sir,” she nodded her head.

“I know you have a steep learning curve to go through. I knew that when I hired you. You’ll go through it. And you’ll make a hell of a lot of mistakes along the way. But you’ll go through it. And you’ll come out better. With more knowledge. Understood?”

“Yes sir. Absolutely,” she nodded her head. Brendan sent her a quick smile before putting his glasses back on and focusing on the newspaper again. “So…I guess this means I’m not fired?” she asked, just for reassurance.

That actually got a laugh out of Brendan. “No, Aberdeen. I could never fire an Etobicoke girl.”

***

October 2nd 2019

The season opener was just pure insanity. There was no other way Aberdeen could rephrase it besides that – just pure insanity. Brendan had meetings, she had to coordinate this, she had to run for coffees, she had to go get notes from someone, the phone was ringing off the hook…Lou even had to take her in the town car up to Yorkville, to Prada and to Gucci and to Hermes, so she could pick up ties for him to wear once all the media came rushing in. It was a complete shit show. She barely had time to eat, drink, or even think because she was so busy trying to get everything done.

But something happened to her once she and Brendan made their way up to the media gondola to sit in the President’s private box with Kyle Dubas and Brandon Pridham: she watched the game. From start to finish, she watched the Toronto Maple Leafs dominate the Ottawa Senators 5-3 to win the game. She saw Auston Matthews score two goals – and William assist beautifully on one of them. It was textbook perfect. She saw the comradery of the boys on the bench. She saw Brendan and Kyle seem excited.

She remembered back to how excited the people of Newfoundland were at just a practice and an exhibition game. She saw how excited the crowd was tonight at the way the team played and the outcome of the game.

She began to get it.

She followed Brendan out of the gondola so they could head down to the locker room about five minutes before the game was going to end. When the team began to come in, she wondered if she should clap – her questions were answered when she saw the equipment personnel fist-bump the boys. She held out her hand to show her support. Brendan laughed.

“Wooooo! Let’s go baby!” Auston screamed as he looked directly at her, fist-bumping her with his enormously large hockey glove. In that moment, she was sure one of them was going to knock her over one day.

“Good job boys!” she yelled out as they trickled in. John was next, giving her a fist-bump and a quick nod.

Morgan saw her and screamed at her. “Wooooo!”

“Wooooo!” she mimicked, smiling from ear to ear as she fist-bumped him. She held her hand out for Andreas, for Kasperi, and for Sandin. William filtered through, and when she caught his eye, a large smile appeared on his face. “Good job boys!” she yelled out again as they fist-pumped.

As they boys filtered into the locker room and began to take off their gear, Brendan walked in, motioning for Aberdeen to follow him. She stood behind him and Kyle Dubas as they watched Mike Babcock make his post-game speech and present the team with one of the Raptors’ game used balls from their championship run. One player would get it after every game won. Auston got it tonight for scoring two goals, and he did a few tricks.

Aberdeen helped usher Mike into a separate room so he could do post-game media before they went into the locker room. She watched as a horde of reporters stuck microphones into his face and asked him questions about the game. When Brendan called her back into the locker room, he told her he was free to go.

She looked up at one of the TV monitors that was broadcasting Mike’s interview from the other room live, wanting to hear what good things he had to say before she left. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw William approach her, the bottom half of his gear still on, chucking something into the garbage. He stood beside her, looking up at the monitor too to listen in.

“Can you speak to Matthews’s goals tonight? The assist from Nylander must have looked good on your end,” one of the reporters asked.

“Yeah, the goals were good. Looked really good. The assist looked better than the one’s from last season, that’s for sure – he’s clearly been practicing,” Mike began.

Aberdeen didn’t hear anything else he had to say as she furrowed her brows. She knew that she didn’t know anything about hockey, but she thought the team played fantastic tonight. They won, for heaven’s sake. If she was a casual viewer and thought they played well, and that William’s assist on Auston’s goal looked incredible, that had to speak for something, right? A person who wasn’t even a fan being impressed? She didn’t know. But when she looked over at William, she saw a defeated look on his face. He clearly took the comments to heart, and it killed her to see his excitement die down over a stupid comment.

“Does he always give you backhanded compliments?” she asked quietly, looking at him.

William noticed her looking, and gave her one of those tight-lipped smiles as he shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t worry about it. I’m used to it.”

Aberdeen didn’t like that answer.

#william nylander #william nylander imagine #william nylander fic #william nylander fan fic #toronto maple leafs #toronto maple leafs imagine #toronto maple leafs fic #toronto maple leafs fan fic #nhl #nhl imagine #nhl fic #nhl fan fic #hockey #hockey imagine #hockey fic #hockey fan fic #the president wears prada series

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theangriestpea · 4 years

Text

Love in Color

Summary: You can only see color after you’ve touched your soulmate. You lived your life in greyscale until a certain Serpent brushes you with his fingertips.

Pairing: Sweet Pea x Reader

Rating: PG

Word Count: 2.1k+

Warnings: Mentions of drug use.

A/N: This was an anon request for a soulmate AU. Takes place during Season 2. It’s a little short and kind of just...ends. idk I may make a second part if people ask. I didn’t quite know where I wanted to go with this so yeah. Enjoy!

When you arrived at school that morning, you assumed everything would be normal. That is until you saw the line of motorcycles parked out back with a motley of beat up pickup trucks and sedans, most of which had some kind of snake identifier. You weren’t sure how you could have forgotten that the kids from Southside High had integrated into Riverdale while you were out with pneumonia. You’d been out a full week and had missed the grand entrance of leather jackets and switchblades.

That was probably for the better.

Now as you walked inside you felt nerves creep up your esophagus and sit heavily in your throat, making it feel tight. You didn’t have any prejudice against Southsiders, you just assumed they’d have prejudice against you. After all, it was the Northside that had their school shutdown in the first place.

The rumors of what went down at Southside High had flooded the halls shortly after it was announced that it was going to be shut down. The student body was filled with gangbangers. Violence and drugs were ingrained in the everyday life of the students. An hour didn’t go by where a fight didn’t break out.

Despite all of this, there was a small bud of curiosity blooming in your stomach. Would you find him now? Your soulmate? No one here at Riverdale High had made you see the brilliant colors that one only saw after they’d met their one and only. Even had sixteen life was set in its boring hues of grey. Your best friend had tried to describe color to you but they found it difficult to convey the emotion one felt when they could finally see the rainbow.

You were used to the blandness of the world. It was monotonous. Boring. But there was comfort in it. It was still fairly early to find ones soulmate. Most didn’t even see color until college. The thought made you groan inwardly. It could be years before you saw something new.

Once inside the school you noticed that everyone clung to their cliques. While this was pretty typical, the tightness the groups held were a little different. You were mostly a floater, never sticking to just one group. Your personality made you versatile and you got along with most everyone. It was nice for the most part and you weren’t involved in much drama.

At least, not yet.

You could see the mass of black leather jackets crowding around a cluster of lockers. Across their backs were the words Southside Serpents along with a grey double-headed snake that was hissing from both mouths. Your teeth met your lower lip in anticipation only to find that they completely ignored you. You walked by, breath hitched, but none so much as turned to look your way. It was a little disheartening to know that you weren’t even a blip on their radar.

As you turned your head to continue, eyes away from them, the tallest of the Serpents finally noticed the girl walking past. It was a face he hadn’t seen before, a beautiful face that looked forlorn and lonely. He wondered what had made her feel that way as she retreated into a classroom.

Fangs hit him on the arm to get his attention. Sweet Pea looked down at his friend before tuning back in to whatever Jughead was droning on about. It was going to be another long week here in the peppy school that despised their presence.

At lunch you took your lunchbox to your typical seat at an empty table. It was vacant as usual. Normally only you and whoever decided to stray from their packs sat with you. Oddly enough no one seemed to approach the table to join you. Maybe they thought you were still contagious or something.

You bit into your sandwich, reading over some notes from a class you had missed with a group of leather clad Southsiders sat down around you. Your eyes slowly moved up to see a particularly tall boy in front of you. “This is our table.” He said in a low and angry tone. You stared at him blankly before looking around to see others had sat down around you.

“That’s funny. I don’t see your name on it.” You quipped while pretending to search for a name etched onto the table.

The Serpent boy scowled at you. “Go run to your friends, princess.”

You opened your mouth to speak when Jughead walked up with his food. “Sweet Pea, leave her alone. Y/N, you don’t mind if we sit with you?” He asked and Sweet Pea shot him a look to portray the offense in Jughead’s question to her. This was their spot. Why was he asking her if they could be here?

You shrugged your shoulders, obviously not caring about their presence. “If you want. I don’t care.” You said flatly before giving the stranger that had spoken to you first a pointed look. He just huffed in response and started to eat, not wanting to say anything more.

This continued throughout the week and you began to learn more and even befriend the Serpents. Toni in particular was very sweet to you and you had quickly become almost inseparable. Fangs was pretty nice as well, always cracking jokes. The only one that seemed resistant to have anything to do with you was Sweet Pea, the one that gave you so much trouble on that first day during lunch. He would barely speak to you, ignoring you most of the time. At first it hurt, but now as you were so used to it, you just found it annoying.

“You should come to the quarry tonight, Y/N.” Toni said as she flicked back her long pink hair. “We’re having a bonfire. It’ll be fun! A few beers in us and we can all go swimming.” She turned to look at you, smiling brightly.

You thought about it for a moment before returning the smile, “Sure, Toni. I would love to come out. Will everyone be there?”

Toni smirked, “just the Serpents.” She said, “Maybe Betty too. She sometimes hangs out with us with Jughead. That’s okay, right? Not worried about being seen with a bunch of snakes, are you?”

A light laugh erupted from your chest, “You know I couldn’t care less about that. You guys are fun...well, most of you.” You shot a look towards Sweet Pea who was a few paces in front of you. He seemed to sense this and offered up a glare over his right shoulder.

“He’ll warm up to you eventually,” Toni whispered to her, “just give it some time. I promise he’s a big softy deep down.”

“I just have to get past the hard bastard coating, huh?” You teased, making her giggle.

She gave you a brief hug, “I’ll see you tonight then, text me!”

You grinned, hugging her back, “I will, bye Toni.”

That night you arrived at the quarry to see a large fire that appeared to be a bunch of different greys and whites. It offered plenty of light even though the sun had fallen about an hour before. You wore a black bikini top with a pair of cut off jean shorts, the black bottoms underneath in case you decided to go swimming. You weren’t sure how serious Toni had been when she mentioned it.

Fangs handed you a can of cheap beer when he saw you. You thanked him before popping the tab and taking a sip. You grimaced at the taste. It was pretty terrible but it would be worth it for the buzz it’d give you. You were pretty lightweight and after two and a half beers you’d been pretty tipsy. Toni said that made you a cheap date which always made you roll your eyes.

Sweet Pea was in a sleeveless flannel shirt and gym shorts. You had never noticed how large his biceps were as usually when you saw him he had long sleeves on. You swallowed hard at the sight, watching the muscles flex as he crushed a beer can while laughing with another Serpent. It was strange to see him laugh...nice almost.

He noticed you staring and flashed a devious smirk. A dark grey blush crossed the tops of your cheeks and you quickly looked away, embarrassed for having been caught ogling him like that. You never knew what to make of Sweet Pea. Toni said he’d warm up to you but he always seemed to callous. He acted like you were a thorn in his side.

Still the brawny Serpent was easy on the eyes so you suffered his presence whenever you were hanging out with Toni, Fangs, and Jughead. Most days he sat almost directly in front of you at lunch, glowering at the Northsider that had invaded the hearts of his brethren. Although, secretly, if he had to pick any Northsider to hang out with then it would be you. You didn’t treat them differently or look at them like they was scum. It was nice compared to most of the other students.

The sight of you in such little clothing piqued Sweet Pea’s interest. That and the heart-eyed look you’d been giving his muscles just a moment earlier. How cute you looked when you got embarrassed...He grabbed another can of beer before walking up to you, the same cocky look plastered onto his face.

“Y/L/N.” He said, looking you over with slow movements of his dark eyes. “Surprised you showed up. This place isn’t too dirty to you Northsiders?”

You dared to look up at him, face still flushed as you rolled your eyes at him. “I had my tetanus booster a few months ago, Sweet Pea, so I think I’ll survive.”

He opened his beer and chugged it, a look of disgust crossing your face at the weird display. Once finished he looked back down at you, flexing as he crushed the can and tossed it. He was obviously putting more effort into it then he needed you. “You seem to like it when I do that.”

A scoff left your lips, “please. I’ve just had too much to drink.” It was an excuse, of course, you were barely halfway through your first beer. You didn’t feel anything yet. Maybe he wouldn’t notice.

But this wasn’t Sweet Pea’s first, second, or even third beer. It was more like his sixth and he was definitely feeling it. He reached out and brushed the stray piece of hair that hand wandered across your face. The very tip of his index finger brushing your skin.

Color blossomed in your vision, the bright blue of his flannel, his eyes suddenly a deep brown instead of impossibly black. And the fire...the fire was probably the most beautiful thing you’d ever seen. Your breath clung to your throat as tears nearly spilled from your eyes at the sheer beauty of the world.

Sweet Pea was staring at you still, your face illuminated with color suddenly. He realized your bikini wasn’t black but a really deep purple. Well, he didn’t actually know the name of the color, just that it wasn’t black. The two of you stood dumbfounded at the revelation that you were soulmates, destined to be together until the end of time.

“It’s you…” You murmured softly as your eyes connected once again. There was a silence between you as Toni trotted up happily.

“Hey you two, I was just-” She stopped, seeing the foreign looks on each other’s faces. “What? What is it?”

The two looked at her, her once grey hair was now brown with bright pink streaks. “We’re…” You couldn’t even bring yourself to say it, the shock still evident on your face. “It’s...your hair…”

Toni threaded a hand through her locks, “My hair? What about it?”

“It’s...so colorful.” You said breathlessly.

A look of confusion crossed Toni’s face before it dawned on her, “You can see it? The color? You found him!” She then looked at Sweet Pea who also seemed captivated by the pink of her hair.

“Wait...Sweet Pea is your soulmate?” She asked before bursting into a fit of giggles, “This is perfect! I have to tell Fangs!” She turned and ran to find the other Serpent, laughing the entire time.

“Want to get out of here?” Sweet Pea asked finally once she had left. “Or suffer those two the rest of the night?”

You turned back towards him, a wide smile on your face, “I’d love to.”

#sweet pea #jordan connor #sweet pea x reader #soulmate au #sweet pea fanfiction #sweet pea imagine #sweet pea imagines #sweet pea fanfic #riverdale fanfic #riverdale fanfiction #riverdale imagine #sweet pea x you #riverdale oneshot #sweet pea oneshot #toni topaz #req #anon request #riverdale #riverdale season 2

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shefanispeculator · 3 years

Link

Gwen Stefani had begun working on new music before the lockdown hit, but says it was only when she brought up the idea of reintroducing herself to her collaborators that inspiration struck. “I'm not trying to force myself on anyone, and I'm not trying to have a comeback,” she says with a laugh. “I’m simply going to do some music without feeling defensive about it. Whoever likes me can listen. If you don't like it, you can actually say you don't like it! I don't care. I just want to put music out.”

After cutting a song in February with rising songwriter and producer Luke Niccoli (who’s worked with buzzy acts like Yves Tumor, Miya Folick, and Joji), Stefani was virtually introduced to pop hitmaker Ross Golan (Selena Gomez, The Chicks, P!nk), who suggested the trio write about exactly what the singer was feeling: a desire to remind people that she’s not just records collecting dust on your shelf.

“Let Me Reintroduce Myself,” released Monday, is a feel-good return to the ska/pop/reggae hybrid — record-scratching, horns, a walking bass line — that Stefani perfected during her time fronting No Doubt. Using her downtime in Oklahoma during the pandemic to dig back into ska’s roots, she immersed herself in the history of the genre, leading her to feel like now was the right moment to return to the sounds that first put her on the map 30 years ago. “All of the riots had happened, and I just started thinking so much about when I started loving music and why,” she says. “It was eighth grade when I learned about ska and Madness and the Selecter and all those bands that started to define the kind of music that I felt like I fit into; here I was, this Catholic girl from Anaheim doing reggae music! But that music was all about unity and anti-racism, and that was in the '70s. Then we were doing it in the '90s. And now here we are, again, in the same old mess.”

After the “Let Me Reintroduce Myself” writing session in late August (for which she later cut her vocals safely at the Los Angeles studio, the Village), Stefani began referring to Golan and Niccoli as her “song soulmates,” joining forces on a handful of other Zoom-born songs since then that will, if all goes according to plan, see the light of day some time in 2021. But for now, the No Doubt singer’s new track is a welcome return to form after five seasons judging The Voice, twice topping the country charts with fiance Blake Shelton, and building upon the success of her first-ever Christmas album, 2017’s You Make It Feel Like Christmas. “I just said, "I want to do some reggae,’” she remembers. “And it was just this weird full circle moment, because as soon as I started telling whoever I was going into the studio about that, they were so inspired too.”

In a call late last week, Stefani walked EW through returning to solo music, revisiting her back catalogue on the heels of Tragic Kingdom’s 25th anniversary, and how some of her biggest hits have gained new resonance in recent years.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How are you feeling knowing this song is about to come out? GWEN STEFANI: Under the circumstances, to be able to put out new music is just beyond a gift. Even if it wasn't a pandemic it would be exciting, but it's crazy with the pandemic, you know what I'm saying? I just didn't think it was going to come this year or that I'd be this lucky.

What was your headspace like as you went into writing and recording new solo material this year? Well, this is the deal: I haven't really put a record out in five years. That's a long time. I don't know how it went by so quickly. I would have loved to, but I was doing the Vegas show [Just a Girl] and that took up a lot of time. Before that, I toured the record before, [2016’s This Is What the Truth Feels Like], and the next thing you know, five years passed. I also was feeling like... "Does anyone really want to hear new music from me?" It's so much work to make new music, and I think about all the bands that I loved — I don't go looking for their new records. I just listen to the stuff that I liked in high school .

Somebody sent me a song called “When Loving Gets Old,” and I really loved it. Nobody sends me songs. Why doesn't anyone just send me, like, “Umbrella”? I got this song, I actually liked it. I went in to record it. The girl that sent it to me said, "They actually wrote this for you." And I was like, "Really? No wonder the lyrics feel so good. Why don't I write with them?” We wrote this song called “Cry Happy,” made up of all of these lyrics I’d written on my phone. We had this really great day, but I had to rush home to the kids. It's so different these days; you get there and you have to get home to cook dinner, so I didn't get to cut a demo. That was last February. And then we hit lockdown.

I spent a hundred days in Oklahoma, doing laundry and cooking. We had 15 people there. It was an incredible pause on life to be there at the ranch with the boys and just have this surreal lifestyle for a while, but nothing to do with the life included creating music or anything like that. But Blake happens to have a studio there and had to do some work and brought an engineer in. So I recorded the vocals on “Cry Happy,” and that was like lighting a match to a wildfire because I was like, “My god, I’ve got to do music."

You felt inspiration again? I felt all kinds of inspirations and ideas. It's like God saying, "You’ve got to do this now." When I get that urgency, you can't stop me. I'm like, “I’ve got to go write songs. That's what I need right now. And I don't even care if anyone hears them, or if they think they suck, I'm doing it, now.”

When I got back to L.A., I went into the studio. Everything was plastic-guarded. You get your temperature taken. Everybody's wearing masks. By then, all of the riots had happened. I started to go back and investigate ska and reggae, and I found all these documentaries about how ska was born in the 1960s, how that was linked to the Jubilee when Jamaica was being freed from England. Starting No Doubt, we were the third-wave imitating the 1960s.Then I found this documentary on a school in Jamaica called the Alpha Boys School, which was run by Catholic nuns. There's this little white Catholic nun called Sister Mary Ignatius Davies who helped nurture reggae music. You can see all these pictures of her with these little boys and they're learning these brass instruments. The first ska band that was ever born was these kids out of Alpha Boys School, the Skatalites. No Doubt used to listen to them. Doing my research, it all just felt so full-circle.

So this music was born out of that. I wanted to go back and make something that was joyful and back to my roots, where it all started. [Pre-pandemic] I’d been in the studio with Luke Niccoli and he's the one that said you really should work with my friend Ross, who turned out to be someone who really gets my sarcasm, and the fun side of my lyrics. We really hit it off.

With Luke, we taught each other a lot, especially when it came to ska and reggae, because I kept saying, "Dude, no, listen to Sublime. It has to have scratching in it. It has to be '90s." So he was discovering all this stuff that he didn't know, but bringing his technology and youth to the sound. It was a perfect kind of combination between the three of us. And we wrote a bunch of songs together and I know we're going to write more.

Lyrically, “Let Me Reintroduce Myself” addresses the idea of people thinking of you as a relic. Is that how you feel? At the beginning of this process, I feel like I had to make excuses for why I wanted to make new music. I felt like people were going to judge me and be like, "Well, you're like super old. Why would you even want to?" This is just how my brain works. Anyone would, you know what I mean? Everybody has their own fears or insecurities.

Ross’s reaction was [for us to incorporate] a way of saying, “Well, I haven't really gone anywhere if you really think about it.” I just had a No. 1 hit on [country] radio ["Nobody But You"] — two of them actually, because the next one's ["Happy Anywhere"] going to go No. 1 soon [Editor’s note: it did, 24 hours after our call]. We were just trying to say I haven't really gone anywhere. I'm still doing the same thing. I still wear the same kind of stuff that I've always worn. It's just an evolution.

“Let Me Reintroduce Myself” references your past, lyrically and visually. Some artists are really loath to look backwards, but you seem extremely willing to. Why is that? Five years ago, when my life blew up in my face, there was a lot of looking back. Music has always been a really amazing place to pour my heart and emotions into. It's like therapy.

When I was offered to do the Vegas show — a huge milestone for me — it was very reflective. I think it's an incredible thing to put out new music and have your sound evolve, whether it be through the No Doubt years or the three solo records I did. The first solo record [2004’s Love. Angel. Music. Baby.] was very much a dance record — that was the pop music when I was in high school that I wasn't into, but was the backdrop of my life. Back then, I said, "You know what? I want to try to make that kind of music. I want a dance song." It was so incredible to be able to work with all the talented people that I did and have such a different kind of sound like that, which made me want to do the second record, [2007’s The Sweet Escape].

The third solo record was not born in the same way. It didn't have a reference for the production. It was just, “How do I get through this time in my life? I've got to write these songs. I don't care how they're dressed up sonically. It's just getting them out.” During the process of doing that, I fall in love and I'm writing a song about my life basically being over and then starting to fall in love at the same time, all with one album.

After that, it was like, how do I evolve? When you do a new record, usually everything comes with that: the tour, the merch, the vibe. But when you're doing a Vegas show, you don't have a new song. You don't have anything new. How do you create a show around everything you've done? So there was a lot of looking back and thinking about, “How do I make this feel super nostalgic? How do I make this feel like, when everyone's coming from around the whole world to see me in this room, we have this common story, and that these songs were the backdrop to our lives?”

This year marked the 25th anniversary of No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom. How has that record changed meaning for you over the years? I don't really like anniversaries. I don't really celebrate like, “Oh, I wore that in 1995. Now it's 10 years later, woo!” But then when it actually happened and I started seeing everyone posting and seeing all the stuff that we had done — things I don't remember, until I see the image — I was just overwhelmed, like, "Oh my god, we did that?" It was a really emotional couple of days. I really enjoyed hearing just how much that record impacted people. It really is truly mind-blowing to me that I get to do music, let alone to be part of people's lives in that way. It's hard to wrap my head around it.

I'm really proud of Tragic Kingdom. It was a very weird album. I was so naive. I didn't even know how to write a song. I don't know how I wrote those songs because I didn’t know anything back then. But doing the Vegas show was a really reflective time, because doing a song like “Just a Girl” every night felt more relevant than ever, especially in the last couple of years with the rise of the #MeToo movement. It feels like history repeating itself. We've come far, but we haven't. I always thought that I would outgrow that song and be a woman and not be able to sing the words “I'm just a girl” anymore, but it felt more relevant than it ever felt in my whole life. It was bizarre.

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bobgasm · 4 years

Text

hush | c.b

pairing: chris beck x reader word count: 4461 warnings: tooth rotting fluff,

prompt: librarian!au | college!au

summary: in which the good guy gets the girl

author’s note: repost

oneshot | masterlist

If there was one thing she needed tonight, more than anything, was for the floor of her dorm not to host a party. Yet, as she shoved her earbuds into her ears, she’s already packing her books and laptop into a backpack. The earbuds do nothing to hide the fact that Ruby and her latest beau were going at it in the room next door, even with the music at a deafening volume. The bed squeaking obnoxiously and the frame connecting with the wall.

Y/N makes sure she’s got her key and purse before she leaves, locking the door to make sure no one goes inside. It’s happened before and things have gone missing. At least her roommate has finished her exams and gone home for break, which means no one will accidentally leave the door unlocked.

Y/N nipped into the pizzeria on her walk to the library, tucking her earbuds into the pocket of her jacket as she ordered a large pepperoni. Only needing to wait ten minutes before it was ready and she was carrying it into the library.

You weren’t supposed to have food in the library, but the librarian on Tuesdays was more lenient than the one on Wednesdays or Fridays. He didn’t mind if you ate, so long as you kept your area clean and didn’t use the library’s computers while you were eating. The same went for the books. Always keep them clean.

The only reason she needed the library tonight was because of how quiet it was compared to her dorm currently. She had one final exam to study for, which wasn’t for another two days, but she didn’t want to be cramming the night before. She wanted to go to bed feeling well rested and prepared. But knowing her, she’d be cramming, stressed she wasn’t going to pass.

As Y/N entered the library her gaze turned towards the librarian’s desk. He barely looked up from his astronomy textbook as she took a seat at a large group of desks. Setting the box on the table as she unloaded her laptop and books from her bag.

Y/N looked towards him, the librarian, as he scanned a few books for a customer. Making small talk as he entered the card number in the system.

He always looked so soft, wearing a slightly larger grey hoodie with a NASA symbol on the breast, his hair usually a mess from running his hands through it constantly. Circles under his eyes making him look perpetually exhausted, which wasn’t a shock to any college kid. Sleep was scarce around exam season. Hell, it was scarce any season. Y/N should know, the bags under her eyes were constant.

The second she opened the box of pizza she’d caught the librarian’s attention. He was in her space science class, but she’d never learnt his name. He kept mostly to himself, except for when he dominated their professors questions, whereas almost every one else struggled. He was effortlessly smart, and she’d admired him from afar for the longest time. Noticing how some days he’d come to class wide awake and alert, but more often than not, he looked as exhausted as the rest of them.

His fascination with space was incomparable to anyone Y/N had ever met. His vast knowledge of the cosmos was intriguing. Endearing. It made no sense to her that she never saw him with anyone around campus, no bros, no girls. It was always just him, with his nose buried in a new space book each time.

Y/N typed with one hand as she ate, her eyes skimming her books for anything that she knew she needed to elaborate on with a further explanation. Her hand grew tired of typing quickly and she sighed, wiggling her fingers and taking a break from staring at the screen of her laptop. The bright white occasionally hurting her eyes, this time no different.

She yawned as she shut the pizza box, unable to finish the last few slices. Casting her gaze towards the librarian who’d gotten up from his desk and wandered towards a section of books, placing the ones from his arms back into their rightful places.

Y/N looked at the clock hanging on the wall and groaned, it was almost eleven, which was when the library closed. She rubbed my hands over my face to wake herself up a bit and started packing her things back into her bag. She hadn’t thought it was that late when she’d first arrived, but clearly time had gotten away from her. Taking one too many ‘breaks’ to admire the cute librarian as he spoke in a hushed whisper to himself.

Scribbling out a little note on a scrap of paper before placing the half eaten pizza on his desk, the note sitting atop it. Telling him he could’ve asked her earlier for a slice if he was as hungry as he looked, and leaving her name and number on the off chance he wanted to use it some time.

+++

After Y/N left the library she had turned her phone off, too scared to learn whether or not he’d sent her a message at all. She had a sudden burst in confidence, yet couldn’t even handle learning the truth; if he was interested in her or not. No matter how hard a pill rejection is to swallow, no one wanted to learn that the person they’re interested in doesn’t share those same feelings. It’s hard.

At least that’s what Y/N kept telling herself.

The day of her exam she turned her phone back on to see if he’d sent anything. Clearing the notifications from a couple of apps, her breath catching in her throat when she realised there was a missed call from an unsaved number and a voicemail that’d been left. She checked the voicemail first, holding her phone to my ear.

“Uhh, hey, Y/N. It’s Chris, uhh, the librarian you left your pizza for. I’m just, thank you so much, honesty, I’ve been studying my ass off for finals and keep forgetting to eat. So thank you. You didn’t have to, but I’m glad you did.”

Y/N smiled at the recorded message, finding Chris’ rambling adorable. And his voice, god, his voice was like heaven. She never wanted the rambling to stop.

“I’m c-calling from the library’s phone because, well, long story short, I-I dropped mine in a puddle and someone d-drove over it. And I don’t know w-why I told you that! It’s not relevant, shit. I’m s-sorry. Um, I was just k-kinda hoping that m-maybe, on the off chance that you d-don’t already have plans this F-Friday, if you’d like to j-join me for dinner? I, uhh,–” he couched to clear his throat, a nervous laugh sounded in the earpiece. “I’ll be at t-the library all day T-Thursday if you wanna g-give m...”

The dial tone sounded, letting her know that the message had been cut short since he’d exceeded the time limit. But luckily he’d left another message which started off with a small nervous laugh.

“I’m s-sorry, the last message was s-supposed to say I’ll be a-at the l-library all day Thursday if you w-want to give me a c-call or s-stop by. I m-mean, if y-you don’t that’s...l’life, I guess. I m-mean, I h-hope you do, b-but no p-pressure. I – J-Jesus, you’re r-really nailing this w-whole thing, B-Beck. Real s-smooth. If I s-see you, I see you, a-and if I-I don’t, w-well, I’m sorry for w-wasting your t-time. Good n-night, Y/N. T-Thank you again for t-the pizza.”

She saved the messages to her phone, unable to bring myself to delete them. Spending ten minutes replying to a few texts before grabbing everything she needed and heading to her exam, a plan in her head to catch up with Chris at the library afterwards.

+++

Y/N spent a total of two hours and thirty seven minutes in the exam, making sure she’d answered everything to the best of my ability before handing my paper in and making her trek across campus to the library. SHe was nervous, to say the least. Her hands sweaty as she gripped the straps of her backpack. Blowing out a shaky breath as the building came into her line of sight.

Campus was dead. There were only two more days of exams and then it was Christmas/New Year break. A few lights were strung up around the courtyard as she walked down the alley between two buildings. The library was one of the only places still open, housing a few students sipping coffees from the shop next door as they tried their hardest to absorb any information they needed to prepare themselves for their exam.

It was weird feeling like she’d done well in my exam. Like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders the second she passed through those doors. But it could have also been because she was going to see Chris at the library and confirm their date for tomorrow night.

Y/N was excited. Exams were over and she potentially had a date with the guy she’d been crushing on for months. And it was Christmas in a little under a week. Even though she wasn’t going home for the holiday there were a bunch of students in the dorms staying back and were planning their own Christmas shindig. They had a tree put up and decorated on the 8th floor. Y/N was making one of her favourite desserts.

Hannah, on the third floor, had a friend who’d been buying them alcohol to stock up on since the shops would all be closed and the majority of our plans consisted of drinking. Once they’d opened presents, of course. They’re not totally uncivilised.

Y/N unwrapped her scarf from her neck as she entered the library, automatically engulfed by a wall of warmth. She walked towards Chris at his desk. He was currently serving a customer but looked towards her when he noticed someone was standing to the side. A grin forming on his lips as he went back to serving the customer.

She didn’t mind waiting. Watching him bumble around, stammering over his words as he kept sneaking a look in her direction. The guy walked off with his books, leaving the pair alone to talk.

“H-hey. Uhh, hey,” Chris greeted nervously, walking out from behind the desk. Rubbing the back of his neck as he walked towards her.

“Hi,” she replied, breathing out a smile. “I guess I should properly introduce myself, huh? I’m Y/N.”

Y/N held her hand towards him and he smiled down at it as he grasped it with his own. “I’m Chris.” He looked up at her with the most mesmerising smile, his blue/grey eyes catching the light from above.

“So, tomorrow night…”

“I was h-hoping I could c-cook for you,” he said, rubbing his arm. “I’m a p-pretty good cook, and I-I’m kind of too b-broke to take you a-anywhere nice right n-now.”

Y/N laughed, appreciating his honesty. “A home cooked meal sounds lovely,” she assured him with a smile. “Did you want me to bring anything?”

He shook his head. “Just yourself.” He reached toward his desk for a pen and a piece of paper, quickly scribbling down his address before handing the paper to her. “Does s-six-thirty suit?”

“Perfect,” she replied, folding the paper and tucking it into her pocket for safe keeping. “I’ll see you tomorrow at six-thirty, Chris. Have a good night.”

“You too, Y/N,” he farewelled, cheeks tinged with warmth and a smile on his lips. “See-see ya tomorrow.”

She gave him a slightly awkward wave before turning around and leaving the library, taking a peek over her shoulder to look back at him. Still smiling after her. Raising his hand in a wave before she braved the cold weather outside. Wrapping her scarf around her neck and disappearing out the door.

+++

Y/N stood in the middle of the room dressed in only her underwear, hands on her hips as she looked at the selection of clothes laid out. A pair of jeans and a woollen jumper. A cute dress and some stockings, with a lovely warm coat. Her pyjamas.

A chill ran up her spine, making her reach for the jeans even though she desperately wanted to put her pj’s back on and go to bed. She wiggled the denim up her legs, doing a little hop, step and jump to bring the material over the curve of her ass. Huffing as she finally managed to pop the button through the hole and tug the zipper up. Grabbing a singlet to wear under a long sleeved shirt before putting a jumper on.

Her bed looked extremely inviting, piled with a thick duvet and deliciously soft, warm blankets. Still unmade from earlier today when she’d finally decided to crawl out of the warm nest and venture to Bobbie’s, since she’d agreed to buy her a nice bottle of wine for her date tonight.

She was nervous for her date with Chris, but was also extremely excited. It’d been awhile since she’d last been on a date, the last few having gone awry. But those guys weren’t awkward, stuttering Chris Beck. They were the over-confident, bordering on cocky assholes that assumed after a date she’d be willing to fuck them as a thank you. The first couple of dates had been average, as well as the sex, so eventually she just stopped going on dates.

She didn’t need a half-assed attempt at conversation when they both knew what direction the date was heading in, and more importantly, she didn’t deserve to be left high and dry after they came and left her to take care of herself. College guys are the worst. But she got the feeling that Chris wasn’t like that. Even though he planned on cooking her dinner at his place, it didn’t feel like an attempt to get her into his bed. she was excited to see how the shy, quiet guy treated a girl compared to the arrogant jerks she was used to seeing.

Y/N spent a small amount of time on her makeup, since she’d already applied it this morning. Just touching up a few areas here and there. Not wanting to overdo it, but still wanting to look nice.

She blew out a breath as she packed her makeup away and stuffed her feet into a pair of boots, sitting on the end of her bed as she laced them up. Taking a minute to gather er nerves as she looked at the alarm clock sitting on the bedside table, the glowing red numbers reading 18:04, letting her know she had less than half an hour to get to Chris’ place, and that her Uber should be here any minute.

Rising to her feet, Y/N shrugged into my jacket and tucked the bottle of wine into her purse. Her phone buzzing with a text from the Uber driver, letting her know he was outside, so hastily making her way down. Locking her dorm behind me.

The ride to Chris’ place took just over 20 minutes, Y/N’s leg bouncing with nerves the whole way. Rubbing her sweaty palms against her thighs. Thanking the driver as she climbed out of the car and walked up to the house, knocking on the door thrice.

She exhaled heavily, a smile coming easily to her face as soon as Chris opened the door. A bright smile on his own face.

“H-Hey, come in,” he greeted, stepping aside so she could come in out of the cold, already shrugging out of her coat.

“I know you said not to bring anything but I couldn’t show up empty handed,” Y/N said, hanging her coat up and pulling the wine from her purse, handing it over to him. “The finest wine eight dollars can buy.”

Chris chuckled as he closed the door. “Then l-let’s open it. S-Shall we?”

Y/N was already on her second glass when Chris finally served dinner, the delicious smell of a homemade roast chicken with all the fixings filling the little space.

�� The house itself was cozy. He lived with three other guys who were all home with their families for the holidays, but it was kept nice and tidy. She suspected because it was just him there at the moment.

They sat at the dining table to eat, a candle was lit between them, their glasses full of wine. A warmth to Chris’ cheeks from the alcohol, or from Y/N’s flirting. Perhaps both. Asking each other why they were still here instead of with their families. Her reason being that she couldn’t afford it, and his being that it was easier being apart for the holidays. Family is messy. That didn’t mean it was an easy decision for him to stay away. The hurt she saw on his face told her there was more to the story, but that he wasn’t ready to share it.

Dinner had been amazing, to the point that after they finished eating they stayed at the table drinking. Their faces lit up with the flickering light of the candle dancing over our skin.

He was beautiful. The way he spoke, wise beyond his years. Voice smooth, the alcohol ridding him of his stuttering, but slurring his speech. The corners of his eyes crinkling with each laugh, his hand covering his mouth as he giggled.

God, she was in deep, and it was only the first date.

+++

Y/N ended up inviting Chris to the halls for Christmas, telling him a bunch of them had plans to eat and drink and celebrate together because they couldn’t be with their families. He’d agreed to think about it, but when she’d swung by the library to see him on the 23rd he’d told her he’d be there.

It’d been a couple of Christmases that he’d spent the holiday alone, and now that an opportunity presented itself where he didn’t have to be, he’d be stupid not to go at least for a couple of hours. That was what he’d told her when she’d happily embraced him, anyway.

And now it was Christmas day and Y/N was waiting in the lobby of the building to let Chris in. He’d said he’d be there around ten, and it had just gone five past. She was starting to get a little fidgety when he knocked on the glass door. She stood up to open it for him, my mood changing from upset to happy upon seeing his face.

“S-Sorry I’m a little l-late,” he apologised, shrugging out of his jacket. “It’s i-icy and I k-kept s-slippin’ over.”

Y/N laughed and shook her head. “I’m sorry for laughing,” she replied. “I’m glad you made it here in one piece, though.”

“So am I.” He smiled.

“C’mon. The party’s already started.”

SHe took his hand in hers and led him towards the elevators, his gloved fingers slipping between her own as the doors opened and they stepped inside. She hit the button for the eighth floor and held her key to the sensor, and only then did the elevator work. Taking them up to the eighth.

“Thank-thank you for i-inviting me again,” he said softly.

“Thank you for agreeing to come,” she told him, smiling up at him and giving his hand a squeeze.

The party was in full swing when the elevator doors opened. They had to wait for a couple of guys racing on swivel chairs in the hallway to roll past before they could exit.

“You can chuck your stuff in my room to keep it safe if ya want,” I offered and he nodded, letting her drag him around the hallway until they reached her room. Using her keys to unlock the door and then pushing it open, letting him walk in first.

He sat his bag on the desk and hung his coat up on the rack, unwrapping his scarf from his neck. “I h-hope ya d-don’t mind,” he said as she leant against the doorframe. “B-But I bought u-us a b-bottle of that w-wine.”

“I don’t mind at all,” Y/N said as he handed the bottle to her, smiling at him as she grabbed two plastic glasses from her desk drawer and set them on the desk. Opening the bottle and pouring themselves a glass each. Ignoring the chaos out in the hallway, handing one of the glasses to him. “To the finest wine eight dollars can buy.”

His hand came up to cup her jaw, thumb brushing over her cheek lightly as he stared at er. Gaze flickering from her eyes to her lips and back to her eyes.

“And to n-not being alone on C-Christmas,” he added softly.

“And to not being alone on Christmas,” she repeated, clinking her glass with his and having a sip as he did the same.

“Can-can I…” he stuttered, looking back down at her lips as he shuffled closer.

“Kiss me, Chris,” she whispered.

He dipped his head and pressed his lips to hers, no trace of hesitation in his actions. Kissing her with certainty. Lips firm against her own at first, softening when she kissed him back almost instantly. Tasting like the wine they’d just drank.

Only detaching when Brooke waltzed in and announced it was time for presents. She was gone as soon as she arrived, moving onto the next room.

“I, uhh...” Chris downed his drink. “I’m not c-expectin’ anything in r-return, but I wanted to g-give you some-somethin’.” He reached into his bag and pulled out a tupperware container. “I m-made you some cookies. F-Family recipe. I-I hope you l-like ‘em.”

Y/N rose to her tiptoes and pressed another kiss to his lips as she graciously accepted the container from him. “Thank you, Chris,” she replied, smiling as she set the container and her wine on the desk. Opening one of her clothing drawers and pulling out a hoodie she’d seen at an op shop. “I haven’t seen you wearing this design so I wasn’t sure if you’ve got it or not.”

He took the hoodie from her and his eyes lit up when he unfolded it, a large grin spreading across his face. Reaching for the back of the current sweatshirt he was wearing and pulling it over his head so he could put it on.

“I wasn’t sure about the size…”

He shook his head after pulling it over his head, sliding his arms through it. Wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her off the ground, a laugh escaping her lips before he silenced her with a kiss.

“It’s great–it’s the greatest g-gift anyone has ever g-given me,” he confessed. “Thank you, Y/N. S-So much.”

Y/N laughed and shook her head. “You’re welcome,” she told him. “Merry Christmas, Chris.”

“M-Merry Christmas, Y/N,” he said back, the most joyous expression on his face.

“You wanna go and watch everyone else open presents or stay here and make out a little bit?” She asked him, her hands running through his hair.

Heat rose to his cheeks as he coughed. “Uhh, m-make out a little b-bit,” he replied honestly.

+++

With the holiday’s over and done with, a mistletoe kiss and a New Years Eve kiss crossed off her bucket list, college classes had officially started back up. Chris and Y/N had made things official before they welcomed in the New Year together, and they’d been on several dates since he first cooked her dinner.

She’d met his roommates, mostly because she spent a lot of her free time at his place. They seemed nice enough – typical guy behaviour trying to piss Chris off by hitting on her. Though he knew she only had eyes for him.

He’d met her roommate, who’d badgered him with question after question since she’d given her no warning that she now had a boyfriend. So she’d returned back from break to find him asleep in Y/N’s bed. No funny business had been happening. They’d just been sleeping after a long first day back of classes.

Her flight had been delayed time and time again, which was why she had no idea when she was coming back; because she didn’t know herself until she was boarding her flight.

It was fine. She was cool with it. And she was happy that Y/N’d finally met a guy who treated her the way she deserved.

Y/N was too. He was so good to her. And she always made sure to look after him, too. When he let her.

It was Tuesday today and he still had his shift at the library to complete before he’d go home. She knew he never took anything to eat with him – knowledge she’d gained from past experience, – so after making her own dinner, she took a container full of lasagne to the library for him.

It was still warm when she got there, sneaking up behind him and wrapping her arms around his waist, tucking myself under his arm.

“Hi-hi, beautiful,” he greeted with a soft chuckle. “I d-didn’t think I’d get t-to see you today.”

Y/N hummed as she leant up to press a kiss to his cheek. “Brought you dinner,” she told him. “Because I know you never bring anything to work.”

“Thank you,” he told her, kissing her forehead as he took the container from her hand. “Lasagne?”

Y/N hummed, producing a fork from her pocket and placing it on top of the container. “Yeah. I hope you enjoy.”

“Can’t stay?”

“Afraid not,” she replied. “Got a lot of reading to catch up on that I was supposed to do over the holiday but I got a little sidetracked.”

“It’s that b-boyfriend of yours, I t-tell ya,” he said, nuzzling his nose into her hair. “He’s a b-bad influence.”

Y/N laughed. Loud. “He’s lucky I love him.”

“He–you, what?”

“I love you.”

And she did. He was the kind of guy you knew from the moment you met him that you’d fall in love with him. All the blushing looks and nervous laughter, piled in with how much of a genuinely nice guy he was...it was a no brainer. She’d happily fallen in love with him.

“I-I love you, too-too. Shit, no. I can say this without stutt-stuttering.” He took a deep breath and steadied himself, cupping my face with both of his hands. Dinner all but forgotten about. “I love-lo, no. Wait-wait. I love you too.”

#chris beck #chris beck x reader #chris beck x you #chris beck fanfic #chris beck fanfiction #*hush

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ihassheepquake · 4 years

Text

Stargirl 1.11 “Shining Knight” is out now on DCU & I’m here to talk about it.

This week, the DCU intro is accompanied by the sound of an old, medieval style battle, and seeing poor Sir Justin get shit on by some random farmer or whatever. Poor guy. This opening scene does a great job at pulling me into this narrative & character, I really wanna know more about Sir Justin and what’s going on with him.

And then we pop over to Sam Kurtis?? Excuse me??? They’re very clearly trying to keep us from actually seeing his face for as long as they can get away with it, his first several shots are all specifically from the back. We don’t even get a side-profile. And then we get to cut to Barbara being a part of the actual team, ya know. She immediately wants in on how to deal with Brainwave & the ISA. But now can finally see that Courtney’s dad is, in fact, not Starman. I can see how I, and I’m sure others, were tricked into thinking it’s really possible that it could Starman in the photo in Courtney’s locket. But as I’ve said when asked directly about it, it certainly makes a more interesting narrative for Courtney with her dad not being Starman, and I’m glad the show didn’t try and bullshit their way into creating this connection. I know Sam Kurtis is a real piece of shit in the comics so I’m interested to see how far the show will go with that, if at all. I mean, how much worse can they get? And now confronted with this reality, Courtney is shaken to her core, and immediately blames herself for Henry & Joey’s deaths, questioning why she puts on the costume and goes out, why she does anything she’s been doing this entire series. Everything Courtney think she knows about herself and about being Stargirl has been based on a lie she’s let herself believe. I’m really glad the show is willing to actually commit to this level of comic history., and I’m interested to see how far they’re willing to go.

As we cut back to Sir Justin, it really feels like he’s losing it. Whatever sent him here has clearly really affected him. It’s like his mind has been broken (which as M’gann would say, is easier to do than fixing a mind). If only Henry hadn’t been killed last week.

I really like how Beth & Rick seem to just be hanging out at the Pit Shop (Pit Stop?). I’m not sure Pat called them there. And then Sir Justin shows up and thinks Pat is Dragon King, wild, and starts attacking. The visual affect of the group changing into DK and his weird cultists is pretty neat. As Pat tries to help Sir Justin remember who he is, and tells his story, I do wish Rick would be more supportive. At least Beth is willing to hear him out, and seems to believe him. Rick, baby, please work on your people skills. And this following a dragon, Dragon King? And then Brainwave fucked with his mind? Is this the ISA’s machine going wrong??

Henry King Sr isn’t acting at all like he cares about the fact that he just killed his own son last week. He’s even more intimidating than he was before. And now Jordan cares about how killing people affects their loved ones, where was that in episode three you arse?

Courtney is really just not into this Sam bullshit, and I am here for it. She’s really giving him the cold shoulder, until they get back to the house. If this Sam Kurtis goes the same way as the comics, Courtney is going to be devastated. And he already seems to be going there, he’s after her locket. Maybe it’s the connotation's I have for the character, but he seems really iffy. Something is off about him. And maybe I’m right, maybe he is just trash in the show too. He gets Courtney’s locket and then he just dips. But I kinda think Courtney knows? Or at least doesn’t really believe him.

I bring it up every episode but I really love any moments with Barbara and the collective family. Especially now she’s in on the secret, and I hope Mike gets to be in on it soon too. Pat is, as always, a great dad for Courtney too. He’s really the best dad she could ask for her. It’s hard not to feel for Courtney, and it even hurts a little bit more seeing Barbara watching her daughter cry on Pat’s shoulder, knowing that she’s the reason Courtney has been exposed to this dude. And then Pat really gets Dad of the year when he goes and fucking deck’s Sam, the icon!

We get a really sad moment between mother and daughter, and suddenly the Staff isn’t working anymore. It seems that the Staff has quit because Courtney has. As long as Courtney believes that she isn’t meant to be Stargirl anymore, the Staff will continue to deny her. She needs to return to one of her core character traits as chose to be Stargirl. She has to make the choice to continue Starman’s legacy anyway. The most powerful legacy’s are the ones that transcend the limitations of a simple bloodline.

Hi, I need to take a break from my deeper musing and question why we get a whole memorial scene for Henry but not our baby boi Joey Zarick. It’s rude.

Okay, returning to my deeper musings. I think this line that Pat says, “heroes can come from anywhere” (which is definitely some quote from the comics but idk who says it there) is really what this show is about, and it’s exactly what Courtney needs to hear. She has to believe in herself, she has to believe that she can be the hero she has already been becoming. She has to make a choice And so she does. With Pat & Barbara behind her, she chooses to continue Starman’s legacy, to finish what he started, and when she does, the Staff chooses to work with her again. And it seems to be stronger than ever now. The glow is bright enough that both Pat & Barbara need to turn away, and we all know how the brighter something is, the stronger it is. Classic trope.

Man fuck Jordan, out here having Mike killed too? I know he dies in the comics, and that’s a big thing for Courtney and her character, but I really hope the show doesn’t do that here. We’ve already killed two kids, we don’t need a third in this season.

Alright, that’s where the episode ends. Not an action packed episode, but it honestly might be the best of the bunch. Next week the stage is set for the finale in 1.12 “Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E. Part One” and as we can see in this weeks closing shot, we only have just over 12 hours until the ISA’s plan is enacted. Will the JSA be able to stop them before it happens, or will they have to try and find a solution after the fact. Get ready everyone, I can tell that this is going to be one hell of a finale.

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not-close-to-straight · 4 years

Text

Summer Nights (Final)

A quick look at the race, and then our final make up scene!

COMPLETED MASTERLIST HERE

******************

“Okay.” Pepper pulled off her sunglasses and squinted across the canal to where Loki was hanging off Bruce’s side, eyeing the length of leg peeking out beneath Loki’s shockingly short shorts. “Loki isn’t my favorite person in the world, but I would quite literally kill to have legs like that.”

“Eh.” Sam tipped his head and looked Loki over, then turned and looked Pepper up and down. “You do have legs like that, baby. Better legs, probably.”

“Aw.” Pepper flushed a little when Sam smecked a kiss to her cheek. “Thanks Sam.”

“I feel like Sam’s lyin’.” Clint disagreed. “Which I mean, ya can’t blame the guy, I’d lie to you about everything if I got to see you naked but--OW!” He yelped when Carol smacked him across the head. “Damn it, Carol! What, you get a butchy hair cut and now you’re just gonna beat me up all the time!”

“Hey!” Valkyrie snaked an arm around Carol’s waist and tugged her back into her arms. “Make fun of my girlfriend’s hair again and I’ll beat you up.”

“Yeah, that’s fair.” Clint scowled and rubbed at his head. “M’just saying, Pepper you got good gams, but I would willingly suffocate between Loki’s thighs.”

“Preach.” Valkyrie said begrudgingly. “But seriously, no more making fun of Carol’s hair and Thor? Seriously get better at haircuts and Carol definitely stop letting Thor practice on you.”

“Nah, it’s totally fine, I think it’s a good look on me.” Carol felt along the tips of her mohawk gently. “And the green is cool, right?”

“It was supposed to be black.” Thor grimaced apologetically. “I got the bottles mixed up.”

“The green is cool.” Carol repeated. “You’re doing just fine Thor.”

“Hey everyone.” Steve came up with a smile and a wave, then looked over at the car where Tony was digging around beneath the hood. “Race time yet?”

“Not for another few minutes.” Pepper sighed when she saw Steve was just as buttoned up as he always was despite the near sweltering day. “Steve, maybe undo your collar a little, you’re going to die in this heat.”

“Oh.” Steve glanced down, then popped the top button and smiled. “Better?”

“...sure.” Pepper patted at the big blond’s shoulder. “Did you come to cheer Tony on? That’s… surprising.”

“Well, Bucky is my friend too.” Steve ducked his head so no one would see the anxious in his expression. “I wanted to support him. Plus, half the school turned out for the race, I didn’t want to miss it.”

“Well let’s go get seats, then.” Apparently content with Steve’s answer, or at least surprisingly polite enough to not push the issue, Valkyrie poked Steve in the side and herded him towards the sides of the canal where a crowd was gathered. “We’ll get our asses ran over if we stay here. Let’s go, let’s go.”

“Yeah, alright.” Steve glanced back over his shoulder and tried to find Tony, just as Tony looked up to find him. Tony grinned and waved, and Steve’s heart about soared in his chest. “Yeah, let’s-- let’s um--”

“Oh my god, you people and relationships. Let’s go-o--o already!” Clint hollered and dealt Thor a swift kick in the butt. “Get up there big guy! Mush!”

Down at the track, Tony’s grin stretched a little bigger when Steve kept checking back at him, and finally Bucky jerked at his sleeve and ordered, “Damn it, Tony. Pay attention!”

“Sorry sorry.” Tony forced his attention back to Bucky and then over to Bruce, sneering when he saw the way the rich kid sprawled against his fancy ride. “What’s going on, what are we racing for? Natasha? Honor? The right to punch you in your irritating face?”

“We’re racing for pinks.” Bruce brushed an imaginary piece of lint off his expensive shirt. “Pink slips. I win and I get to tow that Frankenstein’d piece of shit back to my side of the bay and burn it for my bonfire party tonight.”

“And if we win?”

“If for some reason you win?” Bruce raised his eyebrows and patted his car gently. “You get this one. But that won’t happen, so I’m not real worried.”

“Well maybe you should be.” Tony snorted. “Our car moves like greased lightning, she’s gonna kick your pampered, rich boy ass right back to the Academy.”

“Put up or shut up.” Bruce clapped his hands. “See you at the starting line, boys.”

Bucky turned to Tony with an expectant grin and Tony nodded, “We got this Buck, we got it.”

*********

….they most decidedly did not have it, but that had less to do with their car and more to do with the fact that Bruce Wayne was a low down, dirty dog, no good cheat.

“What in the hell is that?” Clint shouted when the two cars leapt away from the starting line and Bruce’s car blew black smoke right into Bucky’s windshield, before spitting enough oil to make the other car slip and slide and lose several feet of traction. “What is he doing?!”

“He’s got a bunch of gadgets on that thing.” Someone from the Academy informed them. “Mr. Wayne designs tech for the military so Bruce has got his car set up with an oil slick and like, tire slashers and everything?”

“And in what universe is that fair?” Carol exploded. “We stole car parts from old men to build Bucky’s car and Bruce has got gadgets?!”

“He calls them bat-gadgets.” someone else said helpfully and when Clint made a disbelieving noise, they shrugged, “I dunno man. Something about how bats are feared by everyone, or how they own the night or something? Rich people are weird.”

“The Wayne family crest has a bat on it, you dimwit.” A third person chimed in and Sam pointed out, “Okay but that doesn’t make Bruce any less weird. Bat gadgets? Really?”

Even Steve laughed a little at Sam’s incredulous expression but he didn’t take his eyes off the race, cringing when one of Bruce’s bat gadgets cut into the side of Bucky's car, slicing through the passenger side door and narrowly missing the tire as Bucky yanked the wheel away. More smoke from Bruce’s vehicle and Bucky swerved to avoid it, and Steve nearly bit through his lip in fear when Tony’s damaged door swung open and the brunette nearly tumbled out.

“Ohhh my god, I can’t watch.” Pepper hid her face in Sam’s shoulder. “Tell me if someone dies!”

“Damn you woman, don’t say that!” Valkyrie scolded. “You’re going to jinx--”

“LOOK LOOK LOOK BUCKY’S WINNING!” Thor pumped his fist in the air in excitement as Bucky’s car rounded the far pillar first, somehow miraculously making the turn tighter than Bruce’s big engined car could, and tearing down the canal back towards the finish line. “HE’S GOT IT! HE’S GOING TO WIN!”

The crowd erupted into cheers and screams as Bucky wobbled and nearly lost control, as Bruce chased him down the straightaway and up onto the sides of the canal to avoid a strip of potholes, as the cars came crashing back down into the puddles and sprayed water everywhere.

Even with Tony in the front seat, Bucky’s car was lighter and even though the front fender crumpled when the car rocketed over a bump and hit a little too hard, the engine didn’t give up, didn’t even sputter. Bruce’s heavy beast on the other hand, hit the same bump hard and veered off wildly to the left, glancing off a median separator and smashing through the guard rails, blowing the air bags.

Tony stood up in the front seat and shouted in victory as Bucky crossed the finish line and the crowd split into two, the kids from the Academy running to make sure Bruce was okay, the kids from Andover swarming Bucky and the banged up car, clapping him on the back, cheering with Tony and shouting the Andover anthem over and over.

Bucky whistled and whooped and popped the car into neutral to rev the engine as loud as he could, and Tony took a few hugs, and then directed the rest of the attention to Bucky so he could duck out of the melee so he could scan the crowd for Steve.

“Are you coming down?” Thor nudged Steve and pointed to the track. “Tony’s looking for you.”

“I see him.” Steve stood on his toes and waved, and down below, Tony jumped up and waved in excitement, motioning Steve to come down and see him. “But um, remember that thing I asked you to help me with? Can we go ahead and start working on that?”

“Sure.” Thor put his fingers to his mouth and whistled sharply for Pepper. He and Steve had agreed Pepper’s experise was definitely necessary for this little project, and the giant smiled when Pepper kissed Bucky’s cheek, then stopped to say something to Tony and headed their way. “You got the pictures from the magazine?”

Steve pulled the torn out pages from his back pocket and took a deep breath. “Yeah, yeah I got them.”

“Hey boys.” Pepper had ditched her usual high heels for sneakers today, giving up fashion in favor of practicality for once in her life. “I told the gang we’d catch them later to celebrate, so we’re good to go for a few hours. Ready to say goodbye to the old you, Steve?

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Steve took one last look at Tony, who was laughing out loud as Valkyrie all but strangled him in a hug. “This will be worth it.”

“I promise it will be” Pepper was practically beaming with excitement as she took Steve’s hand. “Now where did we land on a lip piercing? Thor has been practicing on a piece of styrofoam and I promise he’s so much better than he used to be.”

“...yeah, I’m still not a hundred percent on that one.”

“I’m so much better than I used to be!” Thor insisted. “I promise! Really!

*************

The city of Andover took their Memorial Day celebration very seriously. School let out for the summer the Thursday before, and graduation was the Thursday after so seniors could party for a whole week to celebrate finally being done.

The fairgrounds opened at nine in the morning and didn't shut down until well after midnight, and there were fireworks from Friday night clear through the early morning hours of the following Tuesday.

It was the official kick off to summer, the official kick off to tourist season and vacation and all the good times that came with warm weather and beautiful sunsets over the beach.

“I cannot wait until graduation!” Valkyrie shoved most of a corn dog into her mouth, juggling a bag of cotton candy with an over large soda in the other hand. “Then it’s officially summer time!”

“Feels pretty official summer time right now.” Carol shared a funnel-cake-sweet kiss with her girlfriend and grinned. “I say we ditch graduation and make them just mail our diplomas to our parents. Who needs diplomas when there is a bikini and the ocean calling my name?”

“An itsy bitsy bikini?” Clint waggled his eyebrows and was rewarded with twin looks of scorn from the girls. “Alright, never mind, I definitely will not volunteer to be the dedicated photographer for your summer.”

“I tried the same line on Pep and it didn’t work either. Apparently offering to take various pictures of her new bikini didn’t work as a come on line” Sam sauntered over holding two giant turkey legs, one for him and one for Clint. “She decided that all the rich touristy boys are in town and she doesn’t want a boyfriend holding her down. Looks like we’re free to cause mayhem together all summer, Clint.”

“That’s what I’m talking about.” Clint high fived Sam and took the food. “Where’s Bucky?”

“Said something about finding Natasha.” Thor reached a massive hand over Sam’s shoulder and plucked the turkey leg right from his hands, ripping off a huge bite before dropping it back onto the plate. “He seemed pretty determined to fix this thing between them once and for all.”

“Well he should watch out, she’s been on the war path.” Pepper popped up as well, sucking on one of those sugar free popsicles the cheerleaders were selling. “Sam, you look cute in that shirt.”

“Cute enough for a date tonight?” Sam asked hopefully and Pepper rolled her eyes. “Huh. Haven't checked out the touristy talent yet?”

“I adore you.” Pepper said simply. “But I’m keeping my fingers crossed for someone who drives a BMW.”

“Ice cold.” Sam muttered, but he still offered Pepper a bite of his snack and smiled when she did. “And just so beautiful.”

“I do adore you.” Pepper whispered and scooted a little closer. “Maybe a date tonight.”

“Hey whoa whoa whoa.” Clint slapped Thor’s hand away when the big blond tried to take his turkey leg too. “I don’t mind sharing, but with you it’s always a seventy-thirty split and you’re the one who ends up with the seventy percent. Get your own snack, Thor. And while you’re at it, track down Tony. Where the hell is he these days?”

“Um--” Carol about choked on her next bite of funnel cake. “Tony is walking right towards us. Wearing a damn letter man jacket.”

“No he’s not--” Clint started to protest but he shut up when he saw Tony. “...what?”

“What?” Sam echoed, and then reached over and tapped at Valkyrie’s open jaw until she closed her mouth. “Tony, what in the hell ?”

Thor and Pepper were the only ones who didn’t look surprised, Pepper might have even looked proud as she reached out to brush at the bold red collar. “Looks good on you, Tony.”

“Uh, I think you mean it looks a little athletic and non leather.” Clint spluttered. “What are you doing? Tony Stark going-- going jock on us?”

“Does Bucky know about this?” Valkyrie finally demanded. “Because I feel like the Bronco would have a thing or two to say and none of it would approving.”

“I know about it.” Bucky passed by the crowd on his way to find Natasha, but he stopped to ruffle Tony’s surprisingly un-gelled hair. “You look good, Tony.”

“Thanks Buck.” Tony grinned, and then called, “Good luck!” as Bucky headed towards the Ferris Wheel and the redhead idly rocking her seat back and forth as the ride slowed and lowered her back towards the ground.

“Tasha!” Bucky cupped his hands around his mouth and hollered once he was closer to the ride. “Natasha! Get down here! What th’ hell do you think you’re doing?”

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Natasha brushed past Bucky on her way to the pretzel stand. “Why are you yelling at me?”

“Why are you riding a damn Ferris Wheel?” Bucky stomped along behind her. “Those are dangerous! You could have fallen off or the rocking would’a made you sick or all sorta things!”

“Don’t act like you care.” Natasha sighed over loud when Bucky grabbed gently at her wrist and pulled her to a stop. “Ugh, what, Bucky?”

“Hey hey hey, just listen to me for a minute.” Bucky tugged her off to the side of the path and cupped her face in his hands. “Tasha listen, I um-- I’m here, alright?”

“You’re here.” Natasha repeated flatly. “And what does that mean?”

“It means that I’m gonna take responsibility for all this.” Bucky lowered his voice, hesitating before brushing careful fingers over her stomach. “Even if it’s not my responsibility, alright? You hear me? I got you baby doll. I got you and I--” Bucky lifted Natasha’s hand and kissed her palm. “I got us. I’m here.”

“Do you--” Natasha’s voice wobbled and she cleared her throat. “Do you mean that?”

“Of course I do.” Bucky pulled his class ring out of the pocket of his jacket and slid the chunky jewelry onto Natasha’s finger. “This is a bona fide offer, Tasha. I mean every word.”

“Bucky.” Natasha stared down at the ring for a minute, then pulled it off and shoved it back onto his palm. “Don’t bother. I know you heard the rumour about me being knocked up, but it was a false alarm. Take your ring back and get lost. I don’t need you tying me down out of some weird sense of misplaced responsibility.”

“Wait you-- you aren’t--” Bucky peered a little closer at Natasha’s stomach as if he could tell anything at all through her clothes. “Not pregnant?”

“False alarm.” Natasha forced a smile. “I checked and double checked. But hey, even if it were true, it probably wouldn’t have been your responsibility, you know? No harm done, thanks but no thanks.”

“Tasha.” Bucky didn’t let go when Natasha tried to leave, and when she put up a little bit of a fuss he simply folded the tiny redhead into his big arms, cuddling her against his chest and kissing her forehead. “Sweetheart, I told you this is a bona fide offer. Responsibility or not, alright? I’m not going anywhere.”

“...you’re serious.” Natasha leaned back until she could see Bucky’s eyes, hardly daring to breathe, much less daring to hope-- “You want me, you want us? Are you serious?”

“Course I’m serious.” Bucky fit the ring back onto Natasha’s finger and this time she didn’t take it off. “You’re the only one for me babydoll, and I’m tired of pretending I don’t love you. You don’t have to say it back but--”

“I love you too.” Natasha stood on her toes and kissed Bucky as hard as she could. “Oh my god, I love you too. And I’m sorry about Bruce--”

“Nope.” Bucky shook his head and kissed her again. “Don’t apologize baby, don’t matter none so long as you’re mine now.”

“I’m yours.” Natasha blinked back tears and let Bucky pick her right up off the ground in a long hug, clinging to him tight. “I’m yours, Buck.”

“That’s exactly what I wanted to--” Bucky’s sentence trailed off when something red and black and smoking hot strolled past. “Um-- that’s exactly what I wanted-- holy shit, I’m sorry babydoll but did you just see--”

“-- Was that Steve?” Natasha wriggled out of Bucky's arms and gaped after the blond. “Oh my god that was Steve! What in the hell is he wearing?”

“I don’t know, but I definitely need to be there when Tony’s head explodes.” Bucky swung Natasha up into his arms and hurried through the crowd. “You don’t mind me carryin’ you, right? I don’t wanna lose him.”

“Carry me whenever you want.” Natasha murmured and Bucky paused to bend down and give her an achingly tender kiss, before nearly running to try and follow Steve across the fairgrounds.

It ended up being fairly easy to find Steve. All they had to do was follow the whistles and wide eyes, the dropped jaws and dropped food as one by one people turned to track Steve’s progress right towards Tony.

Pepper heard the whistles first, and she smacked Thor in the shoulder, biting her lip to hide a grin. Sam saw Steve next, and the turkey leg fell to the ground unnoticed as he patted at Clint with a near panicked expression. “Looklooklooklooklook-- holy shit, I’m dying, Clint LOOK!”

“Oh ho ho holy crap look at Christmas coming early this year.” Valkyrie breathed and Carol had never whistled at a boy in her life but she whistled now as Steve came to a stop in front of the group and tipped his chin up, clearly waiting for Tony to notice him.

“Steve?” Tony’s voice went high pitched and hilarious, his eyes popping wide and mouth falling open, knees visibly wobbling as he clutched at the nearest booth to keep himself upright. “What--what--what--you look-- oh my god-- Steve?”

“Like what you see?” Steve smoothed his fingers along the nearly shaved sides of his head and through the longer strands on top, the entire look rakish and rebellious and so far from his usual perfectly combed look it made Tony’s head spin. “Sweetheart?”

“What--what--what--” Tony was pretty sure he was broken, he was broken, there was no way Steve was standing in front of him in a bright red pair of skinny jeans and a black leather jacket and not a damn thing more.

So much golden skin, all those gorgeous muscles Tony hadn’t seen since last summer, the gleam of a gold hoop in Steve’s beautiful mouth--

--he was broken.

Just wrecked.

“Nice jacket.” Steve tipped his head back and peeked at Tony from beneath his lashes. “I like the letter man look.”

“I--I--I--”

Steve smirked when it was obvious Tony wasn’t going to get a single word out, and sauntered closer, skinny jeans riding scandalously low along his hips. They were a shockingly tight fit, and his lip stung from the still fresh piercing, and the jacket was hot and a little uncomfortable against his bare back and shoulders but oh was it worth it just to see the stunned look on Tony’s face.

“So I thought about what you said.” Steve made an effort to keep his voice low and flirty as he got closer to Tony, trying to remember what Pepper had said about sexy tones and purposeful eye contact. “About how you were the same person even if you wore a leather jacket now? And I figured I’d test the theory and see how it felt.”

Steve tried for a somewhat sexy pose like the one he’d practiced in the mirror, ducking his chin to look through his lashes, cocking his hip to make sure his body looked good... phew it was a lot of work being like this, how did people do it all the time?

“...y--yeah?” Tony gulped when Steve got close enough to nearly touch, twisting his fingers in the pockets of his jacket so he wouldn’t so anything stupid, blatantly staring at the Steve’s abs tensed when the blond struck a pose that had no business being so eye catching. “And-and--and--how-- um how--how-- is it-- how is it--”

“How is it going?” Steve raised his eyebrows, the look nearly wicked thanks to his new haircut and that damnable lip ring. “Why don’t you tell me?”

“I think I’m gonna combust.” Tony finally got out and when Steve inched closer, Tony very slowly put his hands on Steve’s waist, pushing aside the leather to smooth his palms over the jut of Steve’s hipbone and brush his pinky along the low low waistband of the jeans. “What are you doing, baby? You look amazing, but-- but--”

He shook his head and pulled himself together, whispering, “Steve, you didn’t-- you didn’t have to do this. You didn’t have to change like this for me. I should have always been who I was at the beach with you. I should have changed faster and I’m sorry, but you--- holy shit--”

Tony gulped when Steve moved further into his hands. “Damn sweetheart, you look so good but um-- I-- I-- you didn’t have to--” he tried for a real sentence again when Steve looked like he might laugh. “I love you, Steve.”

“Oh.” Steve breathed softly and Tony nodded, “I love you whether you’re wearing this or-- or your usual stuff. You don’t have to change for me.”

“I didn’t change for you.” Steve said simply, covering Tony’s hand where it rested at his hip. “I’m just wearing something I knew you’d like. I’m still me, Tony. You’re still you whether its leather or an athletic jacket, right? I’m still me, I'm still a goody two shoes compared to you and your friends and I still want sex to mean something. I’m going to study extra hard for tests and I’m never going to be able to smoke and I’m still going to blush when you kiss me but--”

Tony jolted forward and kissed him, and predictably, Steve blushed.

“You’re so damn beautiful.” Tony said hoarsely, “And I promise, I promise to be good to you. I promise to treat you special and if we ever decide to--you know? It’s going to be amazing and special and it’s going to mean everything in the entire world. You mean everything in the entire world. I don’t want you to ever change. I love you so much.”

“I love you too.” Steve closed the distance between them for another kiss and then another, hissing when Tony bumped too hard against the still tender piercing and then sighing when Tony soothed it with his tongue. “And I promise to be good to you. And not to judge so quickly and to believe you when you say you’ve changed and to--”

“--and to keep these clothes?” Tony interrupted. “Because I love you even when you wear pleats but please god keep the clothes.”

“I’ll keep them.” Steve grinned when Tony’s dark eyes sparked in excitement. “I’ve missed you.”

“I missed you too.” Tony’s hands gentled at Steve’s side, swept up to brush over his chest and then to land over Steve’s heart.. “Oh baby, I’ve missed you too. You and me are meant to be together, you know? We go together like-- like--”

He laughed quietly. “What was that song we listened to on repeat all summer? The one with the dumb words?”

“We go together like rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong?” Steve asked. “That’s the worst song in the world.”

“Oh my god it’s the worst song.” Tony agreed. “But that’s what you and I are like. Rama lama lama ka ding--whatever the hell the rest of it is. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Steve’s smile turned a little shy. “This is going to be the best summer of my life.”

“The best summer of my life.” Tony agreed, and then with a wink, “Sure can’t wait for those summer nights with you, sweetheart. I got all sorts of things planned for us.”

“Mmm, summer nights.” Steve leaned in for a slow kiss. “Tell me more.”

**************

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#ncts fics #stony #grease au #steve rogers #tony stark

103 notes · View notes

stillwinterair · 4 years

Text

2020 in books so far! All 21 of them!

Season of Storms by Andrzej Sapkowski -- Finished January 1st. My least favorite Witcher novel. In a series that managed to surprise and endear me at every turn, this one final romp did almost nothing for me. 2/5 stars.

Star Wars: Hard Merchandise by K.W. Jeter -- Finished January 17th. The final chapter in the Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy, and by far the worst of the three. 2/5 stars.

Migration by Julie E. Czerneda -- Finished February 18th. The middle chapter in Czerneda’s excellent Species Imperative trilogy, fun and charismatic, sciencey and cute. Didn’t hit me quite the same way as the first in the trilogy did, but still had fun. 4/5 stars.

Star Wars: Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn -- Finished February 2nd. It was okay. 3/5 stars.

To be continued under the cut, including thoughts on The Expanse, which has taken over my life this year:

Mass Effect: Revelation by Drew Karpyshyn -- Finished February 25th. Borrowed from a coworker, was immensely disappointed, decided once and for all I wasn’t going to touch tie-in novels for the rest of the year. That wound up being a great decision. 2/5 stars.

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty -- Finished March 12th. The first of Chakraborty’s Daevabad trilogy, this was a great little historical fantasy fiction about a half-djinn caught up in about a thousand tropes I usually hate, but were written with care and nuance and charm. 4/5 stars.

Midway through The City of Brass, news of a virus overseas begin making waves.

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie -- Finished March 29th. The first of Leckie’s Imperial Radch saga. So, so, so many incredible concepts that I loved dearly... but all just slightly off to the side of where they would normally hit me. I wanted to love this book so badly, and it kept almost hitting me, but never quite did, at least not as hard as I wanted it to. Still, I enjoyed the world and the characters enough that I bought the sequel and will read it soon. 3/5 stars.

AAAAAND PANDEMIC! I began this book when I was still working, and finished it while in quarantine. So that’s fun. From here on out, all of these books were read from my couch or my bed.

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison -- Finished April 16th. Another book I wanted desperately to love and... succeeded a bit more than with Ancillary Justice, thanks to how ceaselessly charming it was. But the names. Oh, god this book is full of fake fantasy names and titles and you have to remember all of them and the glossary isn’t always helpful. But, still. I found myself so endeared, I couldn’t put it down. 4/5 stars.

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey -- Finished May 3rd. The first book of The Expanse, and I fell in love instantly. This one hit all the right buttons and didn’t stop: good science fiction, fun space adventure, charming characters, perfect level of tension, the list goes on. And reading this one was... the beginning of a certain obsession I’ve had this year. 5/5 stars.

Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks -- Finished May 21st. The latter half of this book? Great. Stellar. The first half...? Uhhhhh. Eh? By far one of the most insufferable protagonists I’ve ever had to slog through, but some really cool scifi concepts here (and also some really bad ones -- the whole desert island cannibal thing was stupid as hell, but the Damage Game got me). 3/5 stars.

Caliban’s War by James S.A. Corey -- Finished May 30th. The second book in The Expanse series. I could not put this one down. Everything I loved about Leviathan Wakes, amplified a thousand times. The additions of Bobbie, Prax, and Avasarala made me ascend. This book fired on all cylinders and I loved every moment of it; it stands as one of my three favorite Expanse books so far -- but we’ll get to those. Anyway, I can’t give it 6/5, so we’ll have to settle with: 5/5 stars.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut -- Finished June 1st. A book I’d been meaning to read for a while and finally got around to. Literally finished it in two sittings. Mostly it made me sad. 4/5 stars.

The Strong Shall Live by Louis L’Amour -- Finished June 2nd. A collection of wild west short stories. A couple were great, a few were awful -- most were just okay. I’d been reading it slowly since December, and finishing felt more like a weight off my mind than anything else. Still, some of these stories were incredibly memorable. 3/5 stars.

Larissa by Emily Devenport -- Finished June 4th. I read this in about three sittings overall, which is a lot faster than I usually read. It wasn’t particularly good, but it was the exact sort of scifi junk I eat up for some reason. This is... a very, very weird one. It was very progressive for the time (the book is as old as I am), so much so that I wasn’t surprised to find her on Twitter very publicly supporting BLM and decrying the current administration. It’s about a black woman in space, wealth disparity, and a bunch of other stuff. Some of it works, some of it doesn’t, but Devenport was trying, all the way back in 93. It’s also the sequel to a book I didn’t know existed until I’d already finished, but I guess that one didn’t matter so much to the plot of Larissa? Anyway, had a blast, even though I can’t quite put a finger on why. 4/5 stars. (I actually had this one marked as 3/5 stars, but my memories of it are all very positive, so... it was worth the bump.)

Abaddon’s Gate by James S.A. Corey -- Finished June 13th. Third in The Expanse, and not my favorite. The pacing in the first half was a little wonky, but once it gets going, boy does it go. 4/5 stars.

Regeneration by Julie E. Czerneda -- Finished June 25th. The final entry in the Species Imperative trilogy. This might have been my least favorite of the three, unfortunately, as much like Ancillary Justice it always seemed to hit just to the side of where I wanted it to. The first one was by far my favorite, and the third installment just couldn’t recapture that magic, but I love the protagonist and was happy to walk with her to the end. Plus, as always, there’s some damn good science fiction here. 4/5 stars.

Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey -- Finished July 4th. HELL YEAH MOTHERFUCKER, this one has everything! I don’t even want to spoil what, just know that this is exactly what you want after Abaddon’s Gate, and had everything it was missing and more. This one rocked my fucking world, and is one of my three favorite Expanse books so far. Another one I’d rate higher if I could, but for now... 5/5 stars.

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold -- DNF, July 8th. This book had me until the 35-year-old protagonist started trying to hide his arousal while he was watching the two teenage girls he was tutoring swim, and it was played off as like... cute? I don’t know man, fuck this book, it made me miserable.

Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey -- Finished July 16th. Once again, HELL YEAH MOTHERFUCKER, HELL YEAH! This book begins with some of the slowest pacing in the series so far, but god, have they earned it. It feels so good to just take a break and walk a mile in the shoes of all your favorite characters. And then when things hit? Boy do they fucking hit. The third in my trifecta of favorite Expanse books so far, and another I’d rate higher if I could. 5/5 stars.

The Assassin’s Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke -- Finished July 21st. I really thought this was going to be a fun pirate book. Instead, it’s a book about a fun pirate slogging along with the most obnoxious man in the history of fiction, who she is also falling in love with, apparently, for some reason. I don’t know. This is a duology but idk if I’m even interested in the sequel. Which is a shame, because I really liked the protagonist. 2/5 stars.

Babylon’s Ashes by James S.A. Corey -- Finished August 5th. Definitely my least favorite Expanse novel so far, mostly because the narrative was stretched very thin. This one hit really fucking hard toward the beginning, and again at the end, but in the middle? The middle was very... nebulous. A lot happens and I’m not interested in all of it, which is something this series has thus far managed to avoid doing. Still, very good, just not quite up to the standards I’m used to from this series. 4/5 stars.

And... it’s August! And I haven’t picked up another book since the 5th, which feels weird, but is due to a lot of factors. I’m in the middle of moving, so I don’t have as much time to read during the day. But also I’m waiting on a shipment of books to come in, and it hasn’t yet, and that’s stressing me out. Of those, there are a couple I’m leaning toward reading, but if the ol’ Read The First Page trick doesn’t work on any of them, I’ll probably hop back to Imperial Radch.

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secretkidcolor · 4 years

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A Good View from the Sidelines

A simple game of basketball with a bunch of sweaty guys in shorts shouldn't be that big of a deal. Naturally, it ends up being a bigger deal once Tyler meets someone from the other team for the first time.

Also posted to fanfiction.net and Archive of Our Own under the same title~

Happy Pride Month!

“Bro, you might want to sit this one out.”

Tyler adjusted the sweatband keeping some of his hair out of his face as he heard his friend’s advice. Well, friend was a loose term. He and Geoff weren’t exactly close, but they got along fine. Geoff, who oozed coolness with his fondness for open-chested shirts and cowboy hats, had no reason to invite Tyler to hang out as often as he did. But that was Geoff’s character-defining trait. He was cool in every sense of the word. That included being nice to everyone. So when he advised Tyler to sit out, Tyler knew it probably wasn’t in a way that was meant to be disrespectful.

“No way dude,” Tyler said, “I just got warmed up. Afraid I’m gonna beat you guys?” Tyler and Geoff were at the local park with two other guys, DJ and Duncan, and were supposed to be shooting hoops together. They hadn’t started yet though, which was why Tyler was confused. Usually he’d play a couple rounds, hurt himself, and sit out to watch, but he was in perfect shape still and wanted to take advantage of that for what little time he was able to maintain it.

“Pffft, as if,” Duncan cut in, rolling his eyes. “That new guy, Alejandro, is going to be coming by with some of his buddies to play us in a little game of three on three. And no offense, but we want to win.” Unlike Geoff, Duncan was most likely intending to be disrespectful. With his bright green mohawk, various piercings, and constantly pissed off expression, Duncan scared the crap out of Tyler. Whether it was death threats (followed by an unconvincing “Kidding!”) or just senseless violence against people Duncan deemed uncool, Tyler tried to stay off his radar as much as possible. There had been a brief conflict between them when Tyler had dated Lindsay, and the jock had truly feared for his life for a moment, but that had come to pass.

“Ale…” Tyler’s voice trailed off as he tried to replicate the name. It was clearly Spanish, but Tyler wasn’t the best speaker to begin with. “Alejandro,” he managed to say finally. The name sounded vaguely familiar. “He’s new?’

“Chyeah dude,” Geoff said, dribbling the ball in place. “He just transferred here over the weekend. Bridge said that all the girls were talking about him today. Even Heather.”

“I was getting an icepack from the nurse when I heard him introducing himself to Principal Mclean,” DJ spoke up from his spot on the ground. “That man doesn’t like anybody, but this guy pushed all the right buttons. Mclean even offered to let him skip his first class of the day. He’s smooth as Mama’s gravy.”

“Which is why it’s important that we beat his ass at basketball today,” Duncan said, his eyes narrowing. “Nobody makes our chicks talk but us.” Tyler winced a little at the possessive wording Duncan used. Duncan’s girlfriend Courtney would probably throw a fit if she heard him talk about her like that, and Tyler wouldn’t have ever dared claim ownership over Lindsay.

While Tyler’s relationship with Lindsay was solid, it was certainly an anomaly to everyone at school. At first the idea of a pretty- no, beautiful. Tyler believed she was the most beautiful girl he had ever met. The idea of a beautiful, blonde cheerleader dating a jock was a given. It was less of a given when it was apparent that Tyler wasn’t very good at any of the many sports he participated in. He was clumsy to a fault and spent more time on the bench than actually playing, and the few times he did play he usually ended up getting hurt. This normally didn’t put a damper on his spirits though. He had won the Team Spirit award every season since freshman year. His teammates had given him flack for it at first, but Lindsay’s immense popularity and their immediate connection had helped with that. By now, most of the other school athletes admired (at least secretly) his perseverance and now that he was a junior, he saw some of his younger teammates actually looking up to him. Rival schools still gave him a hard time, but he had come to rely on his teammates to have his back when that happened.

Tyler wasn’t an overly spiritual man, but he thanked the higher powers for putting Lindsay into his life. She was the perfect girlfriend. Sweet, caring, smar- okay she wasn’t that smart. But that hardly mattered anyway, especially after she had gotten past always getting his name wrong. Their relationship had started as a quick burst of teenage passion and had actually developed into something meaningful. As they got older they began to rely on one another for more than just a physical release. Tyler considered Lindsay to be his best friend and he trusted her with everything, and that bond only seemed to strengthen when they had stopped dating (there was a bad incident with her forgetting his name in front of his parents). He trusted her with everything. Well, almost everything…

“Chill dudes,” Geoff said. “Alejandro’s bringing three friends so it’ll be four guys to a team. Tyler can sub in at some point. Is that cool?” He looked at Tyler as he asked this, and Tyler nodded.

“Yeah, it’ll give me extra time to warm up!” With that, Tyler began to do some push-ups for effect. Soon enough, four guys could be seen walking toward the court as Tyler flopped on the ground after his push-ups. He groaned as Geoff, Duncan, and DJ greeted the approaching four guys. There were a couple of voices he could recognize as the guys talked.

“I’ll be the first one sitting out,” said Justin, a guy who ran a modeling Instagram account. “This is the perfect lighting for some sporty pics. You guys just let me know if you need me, okay?’

“Pfft, whatever,” Duncan said and Tyler could practically feel his eyeroll. “Are we gonna stand around all day or actually play?”

“Lightning’s ready to play!” That was another voice that Tyler definitely recognized. Lightning was the star quarterback and the only student who referred to himself in third person almost constantly. Tyler never really cared for him as he was one of the less kind football players when it came to Tyler’s habit of injuring himself. His dad was a big name in sports broadcasting and donated generously to the football team though, and Tyler did like the new uniforms each year.

“My friend, are you in need of some assistance?” A voice flowed through Tyler’s ears like silk and he looked up to see a tan hand being offered. He grabbed it and was immediately surprised by the firm, but careful grip that pulled him to his feet. Tyler steadied himself and found himself face to face with one of the most attractive men he had ever seen. That…sounded weird, but it was true. This man was jacked, and while Tyler himself was pretty muscular he felt a little self-conscious as he looked at the guy in a totally objective way. He was wearing a dark red shirt, not too much darker than Tyler’s own, which clung to his muscles. There was something tied to a cord around his neck. A skull of some kind. His hair was long, but well-maintained. The closed-mouth smile he gave Tyler seemed to just be polite, but his eyes were…calculating. Not recognizing him, Tyler assumed that this must be Alejandro.

As Alejandro’s eyebrow raised, Tyler realized he must have been staring at him for an unusual amount of time and looked down, only to see that he was still holding his hand. He quickly withdrew his own hand and sputtered out the first thing that came to mind, “I-I uh, I like girls!”

What.

Alejandro didn’t even seem fazed by the remark. “Noted,” he said politely. “Although probably not relevant to basketball.” He chuckled and Tyler really hoped that nobody else had heard his remark. “My name’s Alejandro,” he said, confirming his name. “And you are?”

“Tyler,” the jock responded quickly. “Uh, nice to meet you…er, yeah.”

“Um, are we gonna play or what?” Duncan asked impatiently from a few feet away. He held up the basketball.

Alejandro nodded at Duncan and turned back to Tyler. “Best of luck Tyler,” he said with another closed-mouth smile.

“Uh thanks but I’m actually gonna be sitting this one out,” Tyler said, backing up off the court.

“Pity,” Alejandro replied, “but I hope you enjoy watching the game then.” Another smile. Tyler felt his face begin to heat up, but fortunately the guys were quick to start their game.

Thirty seconds of watching the game and Tyler had come to the conclusion that basketball was the world’s most unnecessarily sexual sport. Growing up, Tyler had played more sports than most, and he was just now deciding on this fact. Contact sports, while intensely physical, usually involved the wearing of gear for protection. Basketball? While it wasn’t an intentional contact sport, there were still plenty of points of contact during a single game. And with no gear, there were no barriers between skin. Nothing between smooth, sweaty, tan skin.

Oh.

Tyler had started the game trying to focus in on his friends and provide moral support from the sidelines, but that quickly stopped when he saw Alejandro on the court. Tyler had never seen someone play basketball so gracefully before. Alejandro moved with confidence and power, but he clearly possessed total control over himself and the ball when he had it. None of the other guys could even touch him as he practically glided across the court. At one point, he even seemed to turn and look right at Tyler.

His calculating eyes.

Slowly widening in alarm.

A large orange orb slowly growing bigger over his face.

Wait.

A flash of pain and Tyler’s vision temporarily darkened as the basketball collided straight into his face. His head snapped back, his neck making a soft pop as he fell onto his back. Fortunately, he had been sitting in the grass and the back of his head came into contact with untrimmed grass and not the concrete of the basketball court. Tyler may have developed a high pain tolerance, but he wasn’t invincible and concussions were no joke.

Tyler could hear laughing, and some concerned shouts, but soon that seemed to fade away as he saw Alejandro’s face appear hovering over him. “I am so incredibly sorry,” he said, and Tyler could feel a hand on the side of his face. Alejandro had such smooth skin. He slowly helped Tyler up to a sitting position, asking him the usual questions that coaches and trainers asked Tyler after he got took a hard enough blow to the head. It was all very professional sounding coming from someone who likely was the same age as Tyler, but there was something else too. Alejandro had come off as so confident and in control of everything when he had introduced himself not even fifteen minutes ago, and yet now he was flustered and worried and just reacting. And yet he still oozed confidence. And if anything, he was even more beautiful for it.

Hmm.

“It’s all good dude,” Tyler finally said after the round of questions and Alejandro was convinced he didn’t need medical attention. “I’ve taken way harder hits before.” He reached up to rap his knuckles against his skull for effect, Alejandro’s soft hiss under his breath made him reconsider. “But,” he offered, “I’ll probably stay out for the whole game to be safe.”

“Yes, I…I think that would be best,” Alejandro agreed. “It was an accident, I swear.”

“Doing us a favor honestly,” Duncan muttered. Geoff jabbed him with his elbow. “Kidding,” he added.

“Is it cool if we keep playing?” Geoff asked Tyler. “As long as you’re good.

“I’m good,” Tyler said with a slight nod. Duncan went to get the ball and the guys tried to figure out where to position themselves for the game to resume.

“Hey Alejandro,” Tyler said with a grin as Alejandro stood up to resume playing, “I knew what you were doing. I know you just needed to take out the strongest player before he could turn the game around on you guys.”

Alejandro look’s initial look of alarm quickly changed to match Tyler’s grin. “You caught me,” he said in a teasing tone. “It seems you’re too smart for me Tyler, and I was intimidated by the athletic prowess you possess. I do hope you’ll find it in your heart to forgive me.” They shared a laugh and after a few seconds Alejandro gave him a nod before heading back to the game.

Tyler rubbed the bridge of his nose, feeling where a bruise was going to form, and leaned back. If he wasn’t going to play, he was at least going to enjoy watching the world’s most unnecessarily sexual sport. Of course, there was one player he tended to focus on more, and he was pretty sure that player caught his glances multiple times without breaking his concentration on the game.

In the end, Alejandro’s team had won by a lot of points. Duncan was annoyed, DJ seemed a little embarrassed, and Geoff was chill like always. The guys still shook hands with one another, and Alejandro walked over to shake Tyler’s hand as well.

“Again, I do hope you can forgive me for your bruised face,” he said, which Tyler just waved off. “Maybe next time, when you’re able to play, your friends won’t lose quite as badly.”

Tyler looked over at his friends and then at Alejandro, meeting his amused gaze with a smirk. “Yeah,” he said, standing up, “because next time…we’re gonna win.”

“Well then I might have to hit you with the ball again,” Alejandro remarked, again with that teasing tone.

“Well then I guess we’ll have to keep playing until my face becomes so strong it bounces the ball right back at you!” Tyler declared.

“Sounds like we’ll be playing basketball together for quite a long time then,” Alejandro said, and Tyler realized that while their handshake had stopped, neither of them had let go of the other’s hand. Tyler felt his face begin to heat up.

“Guess so,” Tyler said, but his voice sounded much less confident than it had moments ago. Alejandro chuckled and released Tyler’s hand.

“I’m sure I’ll see you around Tyler,” he said before turning to leave. “Let me know if you ever want to just play one on one.” It was a normal enough offer but the way he said those last three words sent Tyler’s mind racing as he watched Alejandro walk away.

It hadn’t been a lie when he told Alejandro he liked girls. It was more of a half-truth. But maybe Alejandro had known that from the start. He would have to ask Lindsay what she thought of all this later tonight.

As Tyler said goodbye to his teammates and headed home, he used his phone to check the bruise on his face. It was big, but it would heal quickly. Just in time for another game of Tyler’s new favorite sport.

#writing #fanfiction #total drama #pride

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film-masochisme · 5 years

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Midsommar (2019)

Directed by Ari Aster

Doomsy’s Rating: 56/100

Ari Aster certainly didn’t make friends with me with his debut feature. I hated, absolutely LOATHED Hereditary, which was for my money the worst film I saw in 2018. My problems with that film were the unbridled pretensions Aster demonstrated throughout that film, going extremely hard on film-school level stylistic choices and a whole bunch of art-house rip offs that read like that one dorky cousin you have who’s like “OH HEY LOOK AT THIS SCENE FROM SO AND SO MOVIE!, so cool right?” and doesn’t want to engage you in conversation. The script made no sense, and his scenes were played so terribly straight that they were unintentionally funny. Like a lot of the time in Hereditary I couldn’t contain my laughter over how hard it was trying to be **shocking**. As far as I was concerned, me, a seasoned horror fan, can smell bullshite a mile away and Aster was cooking a big, steaming load of it. The entire second half of that movie literally was just people standing around and badly explaining the plot to each other while he stuck on some pathetically surface-level themes about grief and families and whatnot.

When Midsommar was first announced, Aster was one again doing his “list” of movies he’s using for references (read: ripping off) which included things like Tess, Macbeth, Hard to Be a God (come on Ari, chill out... you’re a lot of things but Aleksei German you will never be), I was definitely looking for a trash barrel to vomit in, because it just looked like he was serving a bunch of half-cooked collage art to an unaware mainstream audience who probably hasn’t seen any art house films in their lives (or if they haven’t, they haven’t seen the films he’s ripping off). I’ve had my issues with Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth doing similarly juvenile things with movie-buff too-cool-for-the-room-asswipe references and pastiches and homages and whatnot, but Aster was making me cringe before his film even premiered. Then I saw the runtime was 150 mintues! Then I groaned again, because what Aster needed was a producer to make him cut shit out to make the story more concise and disciplined, not to add another twenty fucking minutes to fill the prestige market’s sad message to narcissistic young directors that if a film is longer, it’s better. So earlier today I coughed up my eight quid and sat down to watch Midsommar. About two-thirds of the way through it, a strange feeling crept through me. And as the credits rolled, I found myself in an even more insane revelation:

I...

I kinda liked it

I was in genuine shock at how not terrible Midsommar turned out to be. Now, I need to be clear that the movie is heavily flawed and then some, and also I think my reasons for not hating it are much, much different than the general consensus’s reasons for their enjoyment. First of all, I want to state all of the things that are very, very, very wrong with the film. In fact, things that are so wrong that nearly push the film into outright shameful treatment of mental illness, trauma, etc. that is so misjudged and so shallow that if Ari Aster really is that ignorant (which he may very well be) I can’t forgive him for it. Warning, there are spoilers ahead. If you want to skip them, scroll down until you see the next bold marker.

--- SPOILERS AHEAD ----

Midsommar’s opening movement sets up a family tragedy to haunt Dani (Florence Pugh) for the rest of the film. She has a sister named Terri who is depicted as bipolar and frequently threatens or hints at suicide in a way that is casually thrown aside by both her and Dani’s boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor) until one night when Terri kills her and Dani’s parents, then herself. Now, I don’t know about you guys here on tumblr, but I found the way this was presented as the definition of perpetuating stereotypes about bipolar disorder, namely that they want attention, and/or are monsters that ruin everything around them. I found that initial set up to be bordering on offensive, actually.

After that, we are led to the Swedish village where all the crazy shit takes place and it actually was much more tame than I was expecting. As far as the craziness, it’s initially represented through a crude and (again) stereotyped ritual called Attetsupa, which Aster seems to derive great shock value from an otherwise insidious and calculated bit of cultural revisionism. Then, my other huge issue with the film comes late when there is a sexual assault of a man that is either meant to be played as a joke (in which case it wasn’t funny) or for shock value, in which case it isn’t even shocking, just goofy. All that and more in the sake of a film that ends without a third act, and Christian is literally sacrificed because Dani thinks that he cheated on her when in actuality he was being drugged, coerced, and sexually assaulted? That has to be either a shaggy dog kind of thing, or just weak storytelling. Either way, that bit wasn’t smart and was bordering on juvenile.

--- END SPOILERS ---

So, as you can see, the movie is extremely disorganized and sloppy, and horribly put together from a storytelling perspective. So why did I somewhat enjoy it? A couple of reasons. Firstly, there’s a scene relatively early in the film in which one of the more annoying American characters (who no lie spends the whole movie vaping) walks across the village and takes a piss on a sacred tree, and it was right then that I realized the film must be a black comedy. So from then on, watching the film in that mindset, I actually found it rather hilarious when I thought it was being intentional. It is also gorgeously shot, even if it does occasionally wash over into unnecessarily stylized territory. People love Aster’s symmetry and slow zooms (not me, I hate them) but I was more impressed by his slow and low tracking shots through the village that looked like evocations of the classical Russian sci-fi such as Tarkovsky or Evgeny Yffit.

On a pure surface level enjoyment, the film actually moves along rather nicely, using its length to build rather than explain the plot (cough...Hereditary... cough). I must confess, however, that I struggle to see a lot of the “depth” written about in the overwhelmingly glowing reviews I’ve read thus far. I found it to be very empty and hollow, which isn’t a bad thing the way that I was watching it, but if there was thematic profundity or allegory in any way shape or form, it was completely lost amongst the increasingly ludicrous “shock” scenes which all played at least to me as effective punchlines. I think marketing this as a horror film has greatly hurt its chances at the box office, because it’s neither scary nor shocking enough. Audiences expecting a traditional horror movie will be put off by the weirdness of it more than they will be frightened. Also, I should point out, in the screening I saw it in, there was a LOT of laughter, so again, I’m not sure in what position the film is asking me to watch it in.

But as a comedy, it’s fucking hilarious and a formally impressive one, too. Also, Jack Reynor is lowkey extremely hot and uhhh yeah.

Also, p.s. the movie paled in comparison to the old lady behind me’s reaction to the film as we were walking out:

“I’ve never seen so many penises in one film before.”

Oh boy.

#film #filmreview #midsommar #2019 #ari aster #jack reynor #florence pugh #will poulter #horror #pagan #cults #cinema #movies #folk horror #black comedy #scandinavian horror #so much gratuitous nudity #so so much

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