#because I’m a *hipster* and started following her before she was cool

[whiskeyadams]

#I made a comment on a tiktokers video I’ve been following for years #I’ve made them before on her posts but forgot for a moment that she’s famous #because I’m a *hipster* and started following her before she was cool #shit #what if they find my fan fic #I can barely handle the 900 people waiting for an update as it is

[alfiecohen]

The weekend usually belonged to Glenn and whatever escapades they get up to while staying under the radar but with shooting starting this week, they both agreed to postpone their Sunday Funday AKA endless humping and smoking. Sometimes you just need your big sister and that is exactly how Alfie has chosen to occupy his Sunday afternoon. 

Miriam lived alone in a three bedroom apartment in Silver Lake, not far from East Hollywood. The two were very similar in disposition; their bond was virtually unbreakable. They were only separated in age by two years but they were frequently asked if they were twins growing up. 

Alfie gives a courtesy knock to let Miriam know he has arrived before helping himself into her apartment. Miriam did well for herself but only assistance from mom and dad can land you a pad overlooking all of Silver Lake like this. 

“Hello, hello,” he greets, following the sound of the television coming from the living room. Once he crosses the threshold into the main space, Miriam’s head pops up from the couch. Her hair was in a messy bun and she wears a pair of overalls he had seen many times before. The hipster lifestyle of East Los Angeles was getting to her. “Hi boy,” she smiles and climbs to her feet to throw her arms around her brother. Despite their similarities, Miriam was a solid ten inches shorter than Alfie was. Small but mighty, Alfie would tell her.

“Hiiiii. Sorry, I didn’t bring anything food wise. I figured if we were eating we would just order or you would make me something.”

“Oh, I would make you something,” she scoffs. “What would you do if you ever went to some place like Wyoming and you couldn’t GrubHub every meal and had to cook for yourself?”

“I simply wouldn’t go to a place like Wyoming. Next question.” 

Miriam lets out a loud cackle and collapses back onto the couch while Alfie makes himself right at home and fetches two beers from the fridge. 

“How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun?” he asks, handing her one of the beers in his hand before taking the spot next to her. Once he’s comfortable, he reaches into his bag and pulls out a tightly rolled joint. Without saying another word, he lights it up, takes a puff and passes it to Miriam. “Indica-hybrid. Really good. Enjoy,” he says.

“It was cool. A few of us went to 33 Taps last night and that was fun. The food is so good,” she says and takes the joint with an approving nod. Miriam takes a deep hit and holds it. “You should’ve been there,” she tells him, stifling a cough. She recovers and begins blowing O’s in Alfie’s direction. He swats them away.

“Bruh, 33 Taps?! Why the fuck wasn’t I invited?” he moans, the FOMO rapidly setting in. 

“Oh, I’m sorry, are you suddenly available on weekends, Mr. Sorry-I-Already-Have-Plans-All-The-Time-Now?” A call-out. Alfie’s cheeks begin to burn because he knows exactly where this conversation is going.

Miriam takes a sip of her beer and watches her brother carefully as he takes his turn on the joint. “You’re really spending a lot of time with him lately,” she says quietly this time. She makes sure not to push. 

“Yep, I have been. A lot,” Alfie passes the joint and toys with the pull tab of his Michalob Ultra can. And he’s thinking about him again. A small smile plays on his lips but just as it does, he feels Miriam give him a gentle kick in the leg.

“Look at you smiling, you loser,” she laughs and sits up for story time. “So, what about it? No one knows anything still, right?” The joint goes out but she promptly relights it. They continue to pass it back and forth until she meets her fate.

Alfie lets out a long exhale, still avoiding eye contact. “Nah, no one really knows,” he says sure of himself. “We try to be careful and we are for the most part.”

“For the most part,” Miriam echos with a smirk. There’s a comfortable silence for a moment and Alfie smiles like a doofus. “I just want to know you’re happy, Al,” she tells him, putting her freshly manicured hand on his thigh. He takes her hand immediately and almost bursts.

“I am so happy,” he blurts, the excitement almost making him jump to his feet. “You have no clue, dude. We are so fucking compatible and he is so good to me. Like, actually so good to me. We cannot get enough of each other and we have the most freeing, beautiful conversations all the time, I literally vibrate when I’m around him, the sex is fucking amazing - sorry, TMI, I know,” he attempts to calm himself. “I’ve never felt like that before, not even with Khadeeja. I think he’s serious about us. Actually, no. I’m positive he is. And I high key want you to meet him.”

Miriam holds her hands out and makes a random gesture as to indicate she is processing everything. “Whoa, you are for real into this guy,” she says out loud as if she is realizing it for the first time. She is happy for him but she can’t help but shake a sense of skepticism. “And what if dad finds out?”

Alfie’s grin falls and he feels his stomach turn. Why did she have to bring that up? “I haven’t gotten that far yet,” he admits.

“Maybe it’s worth thinking about...just a little,” she warns but with a note of empathy. “If you’re as serious as you say you are, it’s time to consider the future.”

The future. That is something Alfie thinks about a lot with very little regard of realism. He takes a large gulp of his beer. “I will. It’ll happen at some point but right now, we’re just happy.”

Miriam gets it. She touches Alfie’s cheek lovingly and scoots closer to lean her head on his shoulder. “I know you’re happy. And I’m happy you’re happy. And I high key would also like to meet him too,” she says.

A smile reappears on Alfie’s face. “Let’s plan something. Maybe Wednesday?”

“Wednesday works. Tell him to get ready,” he jests.

“And send him running for the hills? No, thank you.”

#( miriam. ) #one shot #omg good 4 me actually going thru w a one shot #( para. )

[susansontag]

hey everyone. I hate feeling the need to write this, but I want to let it all out and be done with it, and then hopefully never have to think about it again. maybe the person in question will see it, maybe she won’t; I’m mostly writing this for clarification of what I’ve been so upset about these past few days and how it’s escalated.

over a year ago (in late 2020, I believe) I posted a screenshot of a 1930s film I’d watched recently and was contacted and then followed by a blogger I was already following. she said it was cool to find someone else around her age in the uk who was interested in similar things, or something along those lines. I was thrilled; I’d been a fan of her blog for a while and admired her drive and passion for her interests (classic cinema being one of them). I was also interested in becoming more knowledgable about old films and she herself seemed to know a lot about them.

what started then was a year-long correspondence that lasted up until four days ago, when I woke up on the 17th to find she had blocked me across multiple social media platforms. I was shocked and had no clue why this had happened. in the weeks leading up to christmas, and then afterwards as that had fallen through, we were even discussing meeting irl as we live very close by. I was very hurt by this, quite a few people noticed and got in contact. I did admire this person a lot! she’a very interesting and intelligent and I looked up to her.

she began making some odd posts which I believed may be referencing me. posts about ‘hipster posers’ who have a superiority complex over others who make people who actually like these things look bad, and even a nice reference to my ostensibly futile attempts to sort out my low self-esteem issues. I say ‘my’ because without a doubt I now know these posts were referring to me. when I made some comments on my blog in disbelief at this situation (and clarifying that I don’t think I’m better than anyone for my interests), she made a callous remark about how posting your Ls on the internet is unbecoming of a lady. at this point I thought she was just mean, gleeful in the fact she’d hurt me.

I then was in the process of moving past it until last night, when she made a post that is definitely about me and clarifies why it is she blocked me. I’m going to respond to that post now, because given the nature of some of the things she says about my character, I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t tell it from my perspective.

screenshots incoming:

there is so much I could say here, but here’s the important stuff: this is all news to me, and does not from my side seem at all how we’d been messaging these past few months. I also need to clarify here that we message relatively infrequently compared to some other people I know on here, and usually for not very long at one time. here’s a summary of topics: my bad experience working at a café before christmas and why I’d quit, what projects she’s working on, us laughing at a user who made a callout post about me, if she had any advice on what to send publishers in a prospective cover letter, her anxiety over driving, the lecturer strikes at our respective universities, if she liked the new mamamoo song, and an embarrassing student teacher she’d had. I’ve taken you back to the beginning of november with that. all of this was characterised on my side, and seemingly on hers, by good humour and a bit of online hater action for lack of a better word. all conversations were relatively short-lived. we barely talked on whatsapp or instagram.

we did discuss meeting up, and I’ve decided after considering it that I will include a few screenshots here as I believe these do not give away any details of her life and are relatively benign, mostly mentioning dates. I think it’s a good representation of the general tone of our conversations:

make of that what you will, and I do believe this is an honest representation of most of our conversations. I speak to quite a few people on here and didn’t behave any differently over dm with her than I do anybody else.

she’s effectively saying here she believed I was trying to take over her personality bit by bit, which I’ll get to in a minute but re: publishing: I decided before I even knew she wanted to get into the industry that I was going to look into it. I messaged her initially about it after she’d posted an interest in it, as it was a funny coincidence. by ‘exact same job role’ she may mean that she also wants to go into production - I can’t remember if this is true and if she ever said so it didn’t stick to my memory. this idea I was trying to steal her career prospect or did this deliberately to imitate her is her own invention (though likely not a malicious one on her part).

re: desperation and low self-esteem… I don’t know what compels her to think it’s her place to question my esteem tbh. she is not my therapist, nobody on here is. this is a very small slither of my life anybody is seeing on the internet, you do not see me engaging in my hobbies, going out with friends, my interpersonal interactions in general. I am, for the most part, a happy and secure person, dealing as everyone else is with a global pandemic. my ‘internet personality’ is just me writing on a blog. it’s also a weirdly offensive thing to hear from someone who sees a slither of my life that there’s this incongruence between my ideal self and my actual self and how this all indicates my of course low self-esteem. this is ridiculous. if I knew she was thinking this of me I would have blocked her.

I was not interested in copying her or subsuming her personality. this does, considering what our limited interactions consisted of, seem paranoid, but regardless of that it’s just not true. I barely posted about old films on here to begin with as I haven’t watched many for a while, publishing was entirely coincidental, literature wise I am not inspired by her to read books, this is something I’ve always done. the reason you may have been met with denial and defensiveness is because it seems you’ve crafted a whole image of me and my intentions in your head based on very little. I’m sorry if you felt my interests in old films was ingenuine and poserish. I suppose the irony of all of this is it seems she spent far longer thinking about me and my apparent character than I ever thought about hers.

no, to my knowledge the only person who has had a bad experience with me in regards to feeling I’m encroaching on their personality with my weirdly low self-esteem is you. and yes, I’ve read susan sontag.

now, I do need to emphasise here the obvious point that it’s absolutely her right to block whoever she chooses to, just as it is understandable of me to feel hurt and upset about waking up to find someone you thought would become your friend has blocked you without a word of explanation. I want people to trust their gut. but at the same time it’s my right to stand up for myself and say this was not my experience or intent, I am quite bewildered over this whole situation, and negative comments about my self-esteem, said as though they’re an indicator of my character and personality flaws are inappropriate at best. I’m being described here as though I’m engaging in a nefarious plot to take over her personality in an obsessive and parasocial way; it’s my right to say this isn’t true.

I’m sad she felt this way about me and that she believed I was being intrusive about her life or interests, and as I made her feel that way I am sorry for it (and would have happily responded to any complaint regarding this at the time). however, I will say that reading back through our messages, I don’t think I have anything real to apologise for. I would happily leak our entire year-long correspondences to everyone who follows me on this blog with a completely clear conscience because I never behaved inappropriately or in a way intended to make her feel concerned or intruded upon. (obviously the real reason I would not do this is because it’s an invasion of her privacy).

lastly, I did not think about her as an irl friend. there is probably only one person on this website I’d trust with all the things I would a real-life friend (+ those I have met irl), and that is my friend essie who has known me in some capacity for the past 5 years. I have a good amount of friends on here who have met me in real life and can vouch for my normal character and regular self-esteem, and thank you to all those who reached out to me when this first happened and I was very upset and confused, especially over something that seems in the grand scheme of things, minor (and this actually brings me a lot of comfort to know). I’ll be honest, I’m still very upset and confused.

this is all I’m going to say about it now, this is it all from my perspective. I don’t want to keep thinking about this any longer. I’m sorry you felt this way and wish you happiness and success in your life. if anything I’m just regretful that this all happened at all.

— — —

to everyone else, I’m going to log off for the rest of today after posting this as I’m going out to a museum and later for drinks with some friends - hopefully it’ll take my mind off everything. I may then take a break from here for a few days because this whole ordeal has been stressful and upsetting for me. thank you again to all who reached out.

#but if you do write a screenplay in future about this as you joked in your tags #where I’m characterised as a creepy obsessive person out to steal your career or personality I will like. get a lawyer. lol #moth.txt

[mediocre-writerr]

i just want to be the one you love [love quinn]

love quinn x reader

requested: Heyy could you maybe do a Reader X Love Quinn (if those are still available) where Love is obsessed with the reader like Joe is in the show You. Thank you xx

*not my gif*

A masterpiece. That’s what Love Quinn thought you were. Your beautiful eyes to your natural hair. The way your nose crinkled every time you smiled. Or when you laughed it sounded like a whole symphony playing.

Or well that’s what she imagined when she saw you walk into Anavrin. She was in the back cutting up some veggies when she saw you there, searching through aisles of fresh produce. The only thing in her mind saying, I have to know her.

And that’s exactly what she did.

But not without some research first. Not too much, but good enough to spark up a conversation. So she followed you, she knew this was a major privacy invasion. But she had to know you.

You went into a local bookstore. It’s not that you didn’t like the Anavrin book collections, they were just so...hipster? The local bookstore was sweet, cozy, and had ranges from the classic to the grungy.

You skimmed there for hours, not even noticing the girl following a few distances behind you. She took a seat on one of the chairs, pretending to read another book. And when you finally made your decision settling on: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab.

You didn’t really care for the description, but just feeling the book and looking at the cover, you just knew it would be a good one. You purchased it and walked back to your small apartment, a couple blocks away from Anavarin.

Love followed your every footstep before watching you enter your apartment. And then she went all the way back to the bookstore and bought a copy. That night she read it as fast as she could. Because another thing she picked up on while observing you was how fast you read.

And the next day she saw you back at her store and finally decided to make a move. You were looking at the juices, no one seemed to be around you. When all of a sudden you felt someone accidentally bump it to you. Something landed on the ground with a hard thud.

“Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!” you heard the voice say and you turned around to face the beautiful brunette.

The beautiful brunette with piercing blue eyes. Now she was a masterpiece. Someone described only in books at how absolutely beautiful she is.

You looked on the floor at what she dropped to see the familiar book cover. You smiled softly, before picking it up and handing it to her, “When I turn around you’re not gonna be magically erased from my memory, are you?”

She chuckled softly, “Oh no. You’ve read it?” she asked.

You nodded, “Yeah, funny enough I actually got it yesterday. I’m about a little more than halfway done. It’s good I like it so far.” you say and you just kept getting lost in those bright blue eyes of hers. You extended your hand out, “I’m sorry, where are my manners? I’m Y/N Y/L/N. It’s nice to meet you.”

You didn’t need to give her your name. Unbeknownst to you, the beautiful brunette already knew your name.

She shook your hand, “Love Quinn. It’s uh it’s nice to meet you too.”

You smiled at her name. It seemed fitting, like if you could pick a perfect name for her it would be Love Quinn.

All of a sudden you felt a pair of arms wrap around your waist. A kiss placed onto your cheek. You looked up to see your girlfriend with a bright smile on her face.

And your eyes immediately started to Love’s. Her face mixed with confusion and shock.

Well this was certainly not something she observed before.

“Hey babe, are you ready to go?” your girlfriend asked and you nodded, “Oh wait who’s this?”

“Love, this is my girlfriend Danielle. Danielle, this is Love Quinn.” you introduced awkwardly.

You desperately wanted to know Love. It wasn’t that Danielle was a bad girlfriend, the two of you just wanted different things in life. And somehow, someway when Love came you were absolutely drawn to her, like everything you ever wanted was in her.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Love said, “We were just talking about a new book that I was reading. Maybe we can continue this conversation later?” she suggested.

A smile creeped onto your face. You tried to hide it, but you just couldn’t. You smiled widely before nodding, “Yeah that’s cool with me.”

Both you and Danielle started leaving Anavarin, but not without one look back to that beautiful brunette. Who to your excitement was still staring right back at you.

#you imagines #you on netflix #love quinn x reader #love quinn imagines #love quinn

[clairenatural]

Shy Nerd | Dean

Punk | Castiel

[ the world needs more of this]

college au! this ran away from me and ended up 2.2k whoops :’) i hope you like it! (also note i have no idea how motors work i am not an engineer)

There’s an open textbook on his bed, but Dean is ignoring it; instead, he’s scrolling aimlessly through Instagram. He doesn’t really understand Instagram, but Charlie had looked so shocked and dismayed when she found out he didn’t have one that he’d given in. He doesn’t post much—doesn’t have much to post, really, besides his car and LARPing with Charlie—but it sure is a good distraction from his physics work. He sighs and flops down on his back as he taps through stories. It’s a Friday night, so there’s all the usual parties, and clubbing videos, and group dinner shots. He frowns as he taps through Charlie’s story of a few of their friends playing D&D—he’d be there, too, if it weren’t for his exam. His physics final, on Monday, that he should be studying for. Instead of being on Instagram.

Dean is about to close the app and begrudgingly turn his attention back to his notes when he clicks onto one last story.

HELP NEEDED ASAP, it says, white against a black background, in all caps. Someone who is good at engineering. Or building. Or even just welding things. I’ll pay you, it continues, and then in pizza and beer. Please, in smaller font, directly below.

Dean pauses. He likes beer. And pizza. And building things. He could help out this—who posted this, anyway? It’s a name he doesn’t recognize. casanova.k. He taps on the profile picture. His eyes go wide.

Oh.

That guy. That guy from the hipster art party Charlie had dragged him to earlier in the semester, when she was still dating that art girl, and he’d ended up in a dark room thick with smoke, blurry with alcohol, talking to a guy about three levels of cool higher than him about…something he can’t remember. He just remembers hastily exchanging Instagrams as Charlie dragged him out of the party, ranting about her soon-to-be-ex.

And now he needs help.

Dean looks at his textbook. He looks back at the guy’s—Cas?—Instagram. He takes a deep breath and pulls up a message.

i like beer, pizza, and welding things

It’s smoother than usual, and Dean is proud of himself for about 2 seconds before he panics and ruins it: i’m an engineer, i mean. not just a rando with a thing for power tools, haha.

There’s an achingly long pause before Cas likes both messages.

This is how Dean Winchester ends up standing in the University’s metalwork studio, with 24 hours left until his final exam, staring at a multi-eyed, multi-winged, metal…thing.

It’s due next week, Cas had said. I know it’s last minute. The only studio space I could get was Sunday.

And Dean had said yes, like a fool, because he can never say no to boys in eyeliner with pretty eyes.

Now, staring up at the sculpture, Dean lets out a low whistle. Cas, next to him, groans and drags one hand down his face. “I know. It’s—this is why I need help, alright? I think I can still salvage it if I just—”

Dean, who has taken a few steps forward to admire the intricacies, looks up sharply. “What?”

Cas frowns back. “What?”

Dean shakes his head. “No, I mean—I’m not an art guy, but this metalwork is great, man.” He traces one of the welded seams. “You, uh. Obviously have good hands,” he continues, and then winces. Great compliment.

There’s a soft huff and Dean looks up to see Cas watching him, bemused. “My good hands,” he emphasizes it, and part of Dean wishes he could melt like solder. “Make me a good artist. They do not make me good at making things move.”

Dean blinks at him. “Excuse me?” Move?

Cas frowns again, but it’s more out of worry than confusion. His arms are crossed, and Dean tries very hard not to focus on the black ink swirling down his forearm. “I sent you the plans yesterday.” Now he’s chewing on his lip ring, too, and Dean rips his attention back to the steel structure to stop himself from focusing on that, either. He tries to think about these plans. He remembers getting the text, opening them……and immediately disregarding them in lieu of getting as much studying done as possible. Internally, he groans.

Externally, he nods, pretends to know exactly what these “plans” are. “Sure, yeah,” he covers, and hopes it’s convincing.

The metal…thing, because Dean still isn’t sure exactly what it is, has a cluster of wings in the middle—6, to be exact, and they’re poking up around 3 large rings. He reaches out for one of the rings, right between two of its welded eyes, and gives it an experimental push. It creaks, and sways, and Dean winces when he hears Cas suck in a breath behind him. “Sorry”, he mutters, but when he turns back around Cas is frowning at the art piece and not at him.

Dean is expecting to hear either it’s alright or, more likely, never touch my art again, but Cas just hums and steps up until he’s standing next to Dean. “What do you think this is?”

It’s the closest they’ve been since he arrived, and Dean takes a moment to observe the other student from this distance. He’s wearing black boots, black jeans. A t-shirt with a band on it that Dean has never heard of. His nails are black but the rings he’s wearing are silver, and so is the cross hanging around his neck. His hair looks like he either spent an hour on it or no time at all, and his eyes—like at that party, the one neither of them has mentioned yet—are rimmed in black. Dean, in his sneakers and second-hand jeans and faded Batman shirt, has never felt less cool.

“It’s an angel,” Cas continues, and Dean isn’t sure if he’s given up on waiting for a response or if he’d never expected one in the first place. “A biblical one. You know, the ‘be not afraid,’ kind.” He lowers his voice for the angel impression, which Dean didn’t think was possible. He doesn’t know what to do with the realization that it is.

“Don’t think this is what my mom meant when she used to say angels were watching over me,” Dean tries for a joke, and it’s half-hearted, but to his relief Cas chuckles anyway.

“Yes, well. The church preaches them as significantly more…cuddly.” Cas frowns. “It makes praying to them easier to sell.”

The cross around his neck is starting to get confusing.

“And these—these are gonna move,” Dean hazards a guess, reaching out to touch one of the rings again. “All of them?”

“They’re electrons,” Cas nods, which Dean supposes is an answer. “They should all circle the wings together, like the classic atom diagram. But I can’t—” Cas reaches out for the ring this time, hand landing directly above Dean’s. He pushes it, and it sways. Obviously frustrated, he pulls back. “I need it to be motorized, to look right. And I have the motor but don’t know how…to do it.”

And, well. That, Dean understands. He smiles and, in a burst of confidence, claps Cas on the shoulder. Cas looks up at him, startled, but his expression morphs into a soft smile at the look on Dean’s face.

“Let’s get her moving, then.”

He tries not to think about the time slipping away as Cas hauls out the motor, or when he hands Dean tools. He does not stare too long at Cas’ biceps when he’s screwing something in, or when they have to do last-minute welding. They get it hooked up, and it whirs to life, and Dean does not think about how late it is when Cas gives him a hug in his excitement, or when he promises to follow up on his beer and pizza promise at his apartment.

It’s there, back in Cas’ apartment, sitting on his living room floor, both a beer or two in, when Cas finally mentions it.

“You’re the one who gave me that idea, you know.”

Dean stops mid-chew and blinks at him. “Whg—” he swallows his bite of pizza and tries again. “What?”

Cas shrugs and doesn’t make eye contact. He picks at the beer label. “At the party we met at. The one we aren’t talking about, for some reason.”

Dean wants Cas’ ugly, blue, cigarette-smelling shag carpet to swallow him whole.

“You told me you don’t ‘get’ art,” he sets the beer bottle down to do air quotes, and Dean’s shame deepens. “Because you only ‘get’ science. And I told you they were the same thing. And you told me to prove it.”

Suddenly, it clicks, and Dean risks making eye contact. Cas catches his gaze and holds it steady, and he’s calm—not upset, Dean registers, which is a relief. “The atom,” he blurts out, and Cas grins. “Yeah.”

“Art and science.”

“Yeah.”

Dean is sitting up straighter now. “But, the angel—”

Cas sighs and pushes himself up from where he’d been leaning against the couch. He turns until he’s fully facing Dean. “Divinity,” he raises one hand, “and the core building blocks of humanity,” he raises the other. “Art,” he gestures with the first hand, “and science.” With the second.

Dean stares at him. “Are you calling art divine?”

“Art is an expression of divinity,” Cas shrugs. “Science is an explanation for it. But it’s—you know. The same thing.”

Dean wonders how he can say that so casually, so nonchalantly. He wonders what would happen if he crossed the pizza-box distance and kissed him.

“I’m sorry,” he blurts instead, and Cas raises his eyebrows. “The party, I didn’t think—I didn’t think you remembered.”

“I assumed you didn’t,” Cas counters. “But you did. You do. Why didn’t you text me?”

It’s exactly what he expected to hear and it still catches him off guard. “Um—” Dean stammers, trying to think of a good excuse. Cas is just watching him—not staring at, watching—brows furrowed.

With a heavy sigh, Dean settles on the truth. “Come on, man. Look at me,” he scoffs and stares down at his jeans, the already worn knees even worse after the day spent kneeling on concrete. “I’m an engineering dork who plays D&D on Fridays and you’re—” he waves vaguely in Cas’ direction. “You know.”

The frown has deepened. “I don’t.”

“Cool.” It sounds so juvenile to say it out loud.

Now, Cas looks taken aback. “Dean. We met at a party where I voluntarily listened to you talk about string theory for an hour and a half.”

Dean doesn’t know if that’s a compliment or not. He buries any possible blush with a swig of beer. “String theory’s cool,” he grumbles into the bottle.

“Yes.” Cas agrees. “And so are you. Although—” he pauses and tilts his head. “I could have sworn you were in physics, based on how much you talk—”

Dean is so caught up in Cas Novak calling him cool that it takes his brain a second to process the word “physics,” but when he does he nearly spits beer all over the ugly carpet. “Shit,” he swears, already starting to scramble up.

“What?” Cas is following him, frowning.

“Physics final. In—” he checks his watch, “—16 hours. I gotta—” he still has time to water down the beer, study, and get at least 7 hours of sleep before—

“…Why did you just spend all day helping me if you have a final tomorrow?” Dean pauses from where he’s trying to find his other shoe to glance back at Cas, who looks so genuinely baffled it shoots a warmness into Dean’s heart.

“You needed help,” Dean shrugs, finally locating the missing sneaker and pulling it on. “Good luck with the angel, though, okay? If it gives you any running issues, feel free to—”

He’s pulling on his jacket when he feels a touch on his arm and realizes that, sometime in the past 20 seconds, Cas has crossed the room to him. “Dean,”

Dean pauses, and Cas…looks nervous.

“I like D&D,” he offers, and Dean stares at him.

“What.”

Cas levels his gaze. “There is nothing more punk than dragons,” he replies, incredibly seriously.

Dean’s brain short-circuits.

Maybe it’s the adrenaline from the exam panic, maybe it’s the 1.5 beers, maybe it’s Cas’ hand still warm on his arm, maybe he’s still caught up in Cas calling him cool and maybe his brain takes an extra second to load his self-consciousness on its reboot, but—he leans down and kisses him.

Cas makes a small noise but kisses him back almost immediately—but then he’s pulling back nearly as quickly, and he gently pushes Dean back by the shoulders when he tries to follow. Not far enough away to be a rejection, just…enough. “You have an exam in the morning,” he says this like an apology, and the warmth in Dean’s chest grows. “Text me after?”

Dean nods, then pauses, realizes what Cas just said, and nods again. “Yeah, I—yeah, I will.”

“There’s not enough alcohol here for you to pretend to forget this time,” he teases, but he’s smiling.

Dean flushes anyway. “I’m sorry.”

Cas shakes his head and pushes him a bit. “Apologize tomorrow. Go.”

“Okay.” Dean doesn’t move.

“Okay,” Cas replies.

“Okay,” Dean says, and leans down to kiss him again, a quick one, because he thinks maybe he can.

“Okay,” Cas repeats, but his tone is fond. “Go.”

“Okay,” Dean repeats back. But this time, he does.

The next day, after he aces his physics final, he doesn’t pretend to forget.

#destiel #deancas #punk!cas #nerd!dean #i didnt know how to end this lmao sorry!!!! #(also ik this isn't quite as punk as the typical punk!cas im sorry sadhakdsh) #but wow i love these two now #this took me back its been a WHILE since i read/wrote some good punk/nerd #thank u anon #they live in my brain now #my words #follower fics #alcohol mention

[swiftgronmasterpost]

GRYLES!!!

Rebuilding the Gryles Timeline expertly crafted here because I’m always afraid of broken links and people going private and losing data.

Not only is there a ton of great evidence that these guys were dating such as Harry leaving Nick’s place in the morning wearing the same clothes as he’d worn the night before, I’ve also got a friend who works in the UK music industry and she did tell me these guys did date.  Nick is 100% out as gay so it really does all add up.

Gryles very obviously takes place during Haylor, debunking Harry as the 1989 muse, and if it’s not Harry you do have to wonder... who with green eyes and an obsession with Alice and Wonderland was heavily featured in Taylor’s life and then disappeared before 1989 - a breakup album about someone with green eyes who seems to relate to Alice in Wonderland drops?

You get it.

Anyway here’s Gryles:

This is a little game I like to call "let's talk about Nick/Harry dates and how they line up with Harry leaving and entering the country".

06. February 5th 2012 - Harry and Nick go to a Super Bowl party together.

One Direction in Sweden February 12th - 14th. (Came home by train on the 14th.)

07. February 14, 2012 - VALENTINE'S DAY!

08. February 18, 2012 - Stella McCartney Fashion show with Nick's mom.

09. February 21, 2012 - Brit Awards!

10. February 22, 2012 - They attend a party together. (Nick might have been DJing?)

11. February 23, 2012 - Harry spotted leaving Nick Grimshaw's flat in the same outfit he was wearing the night before.

The morning of February 23rd One Direction flies to the US for their tour and doesn't return to the UK until April 24th, 2012.

This trip is supposedly where Haylor 1.0 happens.  Harry supposedly meets Taylor at the KCA’s on March 31 and they fall for one another.  Taylor supposedly goes to NYC to be with Harry (even though she spends the whole time with Dianna) during the first week of April.  Then they supposedly enter into a long distance relationship that is broken up because Harry was seen out with another girl.

All the while the last thing Harry does before he leaves the UK is spend the night with Nick and then the first thing he does is goes back to him.

Yeah, I’m not buying Haylor 1.0 it seems pretty clear to me that Taylor wanted to pin I Knew You Were Trouble on Harry as a big pop anthem to support her transition to pop.  I think it’s even possible they faked Harry being spotted out with that girl or perhaps he and Nick had some kind of agreement.  I’m not saying Gryles was always exclusive (they may have been), but regardless I don’t see Red era Taylor being cool enough to share her boyfriend with a man.

12. April 25, 2012 - Nick and Harry out together the morning after he returned.

Harry also calls into Nick's radio show on the 25th and confirms that the first thing he did upon returning on the 24th was meet up with Nick and Matt Fincham for drinks so one can theorize he probably crashed w/ Nick that night.

Harry goes to LA by himself on May 1st and returns to the UK on the 5th.

May 5th, 2012 - Harry out with Annie Mac and Nick. (Thanks to my anon for clueing me into this little gem of information.)

13. May 7th, 2012 - Harry and Nick out with friends

One Direction goes to Sweden from May 10th to May 16th.

14. May 17, 2012 - The Sun reports Harry driving Nick to work.

Also out shopping together

15. May 19, 2012 - Nick posts a picture to his instragram from the Kanye West/Jay Z show at the O2.

Who cares right? So he went to see a show. But then.

Hey guess what happened the very next day? One Direction flew to Boston on May 20th, 2012 to start their summer tour in the U.S. They're gone from the 20th to July 3rd.

16. July 5, 2012 - Nick and Harry attend the launch of Tinie Tempah's shoes line.

There's some downtime and vacation time here where Harry disappears for a week while Louis is France w/ Eleanor, Niall goes to Spain, Liam and Danielle are on vacation, etc and then One Direction goes back to work July 11th recording and doing photo shoots.

17. July 19, 2012 - Harry goes out with Nick and Aimee and tweets this.

18. August 10, 2012 - Harry attends Nick's 28th birthday party at La Bodega Negra.

Pregaming before the party!

Outside La Bodega Negra

19. August 11, 2012 - Primrose Hill picnic

20. August 20, 2012 - One Direction visit Nick at BBCR1 to announce their headlining of the BBC Radio 1 Teen Choice Awards.

21. August 25, 2012 -

Nick and Harry go to lunch. (Would also like to point out that they are switching places and that Harry is going to the driver's side of Nick's car :333)

and then to Reading Festival

then Nick accompanies Harry to Liam's party at Funky Buddha

and then they leave together and go see Rita Ora at G.A.Y.

22. August 26, 2012 - The morning after, Nick tweets a shot of his hangover breakfast from Harry's Range Rover (Nick owns a Mercedes).

then a lunch date with several people

They spend this entire day together and this is the day the pics of them in the grocery store  are taken where Nick buys Harry a banana, etc

and then Harry drops Nick off for his nighttime show and picks him up again to take him to/stay with him while Nick DJs at Wonderland nightclub.

(Although, lbr. Given what we learn from Nick's final nighttime show about how often Harry hung around the studio, he probably never left.)

Wonderland! (the only time that fucking song has any bearing on Harry and he’s off being a MLM king)

23. August 28, 2012 - Leaving Nick's flat

spotted in the studio w/ Nick at BBCR1

24. August 30, 2012 - Harry films the Breakfast Show advert for Nick's #Team Grimmy commercial and then they go to Mahiki Club that night.

25. August 31, 2012 - Harry goes with Nick to his DJ gig at Paradise

and then to karaoke afterward

The lo and behold One Direction flies to Florida the very next day to film their Pepsi commercial. They're gone until September 11th.

on September 6, 2012 Taylor has Sushi with Ed and Harry in LA supposedly signaling the start of Haylor 2.0 as if Harry is not fully boyfriends with Nick.

26. September 12, 2012 - Nick's final nighttime show. (this was a gif of them being cute and playing around but I was too lazy to bring it over, you get it they’re touchy, flirty, and playful):

Nick and Aimee go on vacation together from the 14th to the 18th.

27. September 18, 2012 - This dude says he spotted Harry Styles waiting in arrivals at the airport while waiting for his sister's flight to arrive insinuating perhaps Harry was traveling with Nick and Aimee:

28. September 20, 2012 - iTunes Festival where One Direction was interviewed by Nick and Annie Mac

29. Harry calls into Nick's first Breakfast Show on September 25, 2012. Then they meet up after to see Perks of Being a Wallflower together. I can't find the tweets from the ladies who saw them there, but Nick and Emma Watson confirm later that Harry was indeed there.

30. September 29, 2012 - Spotted at Waitrose together and then the following morning Nick regales his listeners with the tale of a Spinach pie he made for a ~friend~.

31. October 5th (or 6th?), 2012 - Preparation for Ladz FM

But also on October 5th, Taylor is on Nick’s show:

32. October 6, 2012 - Ladz FM

Supposedly on this show Nick gives Harry hell for Taylor, the Haylor timeline I like puts it this way:

“One Direction and Harry make an appearance on Nick’s show the following day, and they talk about Taylor on-air for 4 minutes straight. Nick teases Harry by saying “Ol’ Swiftyyyy” over and over again when she is brought up in the conversation.” Yup that’s right, Nick was giving his own boyfriend shit about his fake girlfriend 😭😭😭 this is why I fuck w Nick’s energy.

then they went for lunch in notting hill (no Taylor? why not Harry aren’t you so happy to be back with her and in love w her?)

33. October 7, 2012 - BBC Teen Choice Awards

One Direction doing promotion for the new album.

Paris - October 11, 2012

Ireland - October 12, 2012

Manchester - October 16, 2012

Leeds - October 17, 2012

34. October 19, 2012 - Lunch in London

October 31 - One Direction in Spain

Early November One Direction goes to the US for Ellen, X Factor USA, and The Today Show. After The Today Show Harry flies to LA while the rest of One Direction goes back to London. Harry writes a song with the lead singer of Snow Patrol and rumors start flying about him hooking up with Taylor Swift.

Harry arrives back in London on November 16, 2012.

35. November 16, 2012 - Children in Need benefit concert

November 30th One Direction goes back to the U.S. for one off shows and MSG show. Haylor happens.

Harry returns to London on December 8th via Taylor's private jet and plays the Jingle Ball with the rest of One Direction. Harry and Taylor tour the UK together until December 15th when Taylor leaves for France.  Meanwhile Dianna heads out on a mystery 14 hour long flight on December 14th.

36. December 16, 2012 - Roast Dinner!

One Direction returns to the U.S. for the X Factor USA finale. Harry stays in the U.S. and goes on a ski vacation with Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, and Selena Gomez.

He returns to the UK on December 24th.

37. December 25, 2012 - Late night Christmas leftovers. (Yes they’re spending Christmas together, that’s boyfriend behavior!)

Harry and Nick both leave London on the 29th (Nick for Puerto Rico and Harry for NYC) Harry spends New Years with Taylor and Nick spends New Years with Pixie, Aimee, and the rest of the hipster crew. Harry and Taylor then fly to Gorda British Virgin Islands where they are supposed to vacation until the 7th. Taylor leaves on the 4th and Harry goes to Necker Island alone. Tabloids say Harry and Taylor have broken up.

And that’s it for Haylor!

Harry arrives back in the UK on January 8th

38. January 8, 2013 - Sushi lunch date! (tweet confirming nick was also there.)

and harry with the girl who tweeted it.

39. January 10, 2013 - Tinie Tempah's GQ dinner.

The party was for people on the British GQ best dressed list (Nick was on it. Harry was not.)

Jessie J puts a picture of the table cards from her table on instagram. Harry doesn't have one which, you know. I'll just be here imagining him as Nick's + 1.

One Direction fly to Ghana on the 12th or 13th and return on the 15th. On the 16th Harry calls into Grimmy’s show to talk about how Fincham DOES NOT LOOK LIKE A MEMBER OF ONE DIRECTION. Finchy asks Harry when he’s back and Harry says “in a couple of days”. (Small side note here that I don’t think Finchy and Harry are at the level of friends where they keep track of one another’s schedules so the only way Finchy could have known that Harry was heading back out of town to Japan that very day is if Nick told him.)

One Direction in Japan from January 16th to the 20th.

I'm not going to count this as a time they were together because I have no hard evidence, but the night of January 20th Harry was spotted in a grocery store buying wine and Annie Mac mentions on her show that Nick ditched coming over for dinner that evening to have a friend round to his house instead. We assume it was Harry, but w/o actual proof I don't want to say it concretely.

40. January 21, 2013 - Baking for Radio 1! (Tweet confirming the friend was Harry.)

Nick tells this story the morning of the 22nd about how he forgot he had to bake, so he got up from bed, went to the store for supplies, and forgot eggs. So, he texted his friend who was coming over to bring eggs and then Nick baked while his friend yelled at him to add more butter.

41. January 22, 2013 - Watching Great British Bake Off

Do what you will with this one. Obviously there is not definite way to tell if this is Harry or not, but given the evidence of the amount of time they spend together that has been laid forth thus far, I feel comfortable saying those are indeed Harry's legs.

42. January 31, 2013 - Out for Harry's birthday at La Bodega Negra (the same place they celebrated Nick's birthday.)

Nick also went to Groucho Club afterward with Harry and mentioned on his show this morning that he hadn't slept at all. (He was still wearing the same outfit.)

43. February 1, 2013 - Aimee tweets about being in the car with Nick en route to play Laser Quest. (Can't imagine who they might be playing with.)

Nick tweeted this :)

Never

Getting

Over

This

February 19, 2013 - PreBrit Awards Dinner Hosted by Nick!

THEIR SMILEY LITTLE FACES. :3

Legit SHARING A TAXI ON THE WAY HOME

2/20/13 - At the Brit Awards together!

Leaving an after party!

taking a cab to Nick's house so Nick can change for work

hands hands hands

At Nick's flat

 2/21/13 - On The Breakfast show the morning after the Brits!

Harry on The Breakfast Show!

2/23/2013 - Nick attends One Direction's first show at the O2 in London

THE DROUGHT IS OVER!!!

8/21/2013 - Nick interviews Harry, Zayn, and Liam for TBS

Then Nick and Harry hook up later for dinner.

September 12, 2013

Harry gets off the plane from LAX, gets on the tube and meets Nick at an Elton John concert

Harry and Nick's dad at the concert, posted to Nick's instagram.

September 13, 2013

This person says they saw nick and Harry at Apartment 58 (members only club) together

https://twitter.com/LightbownL/status/378610145271771136

But, Sadie Frost also posted a picture of her and Nick getting ready to go out for LFW with no mention of Harry, so the tweet could be false facts.

But then! September 14, 2013

Sadie posts this picture of Nick sleeping on her sofa

Followed by this picture of Harry posing with her daughter

And then Nick and Harry went to Henry Hollands show at LFW together

Then to a pub with Gemma, Kelly Osborn and others

Then to dinner with James Corden and his wife

September 15, 2013

September 17, 2013 - Fashion Show East in London

November 9, 2013 - Breakfast with Anne and Robin at the Wolseley.

So Anne tweeted this in the morning. You can see the Wolseley logo at the top of the plate.

Then this girl got a pic with Harry at the Wolseley during his breakfast with Anne and Robin.

and she confirmed that Nick was eating with them https://twitter.com/alexandra_imper/status/400204985222193152

Then off to Selfridges to shop!

At Alexa Chung's birthday party!

November 10, 2013 - Ladz instagram and Aimee Phillips birthday party!

LADZ VIDEO!

November 30, 2013

Harry playing with Puppy at Nick's house.

Poppy Delevingne's hen party!

Leaving Groucho club.

December 1, 2013

Primrose Hill lighting ceremony!

Nick with Daisy Lowe and his dad!

Then this girl met Nick

https://twitter.com/rpcheald/status/407224559687852032/photo/1

and saw Harry

https://twitter.com/rpcheald/status/407209332858552320

Class of '92 movie premiere

Nick and his dad on the red carpet

Harry meeting Beckham!

December 4, 2013 - London Fashion Awards

February 17, 2014 - Taking a random taxi ride?????

and leaving Nick's flat

March 29, 2014

Sleepover at Harry's house!

Nick posted this on instagram

http://instagram.com/p/mHpTBdPJyt/

At the time we weren't sure it was Harry's drive but...

https://twitter.com/cuppanarryx/status/481310537817399296/photo/1

Hiya, doggie.

Also Nick's tweet from the morning after just because.

https://twitter.com/grimmers/status/449814322399940609

May 24, 2014 - Radio 1's Big Weekend

May 28, 2014 - Barry's BC London

And link to post about the other tweets x

June 8, 2014

Nick attends One Directions show at Wembley Stadium.

June 12, 2014

Harry at Nick driving around London in a Ferrari.

and another tweet about the Ferarri sighting.

https://twitter.com/ItsJustMikey/status/477133631602065408

Then later that evening Harry went to Nick's for his World Cup barbecue and fans took pics with Harry outside Nick's house.

[5thmarauderwrites]

Apps, Texts & Wizardry — The Marauders x Reader | Request.

Requests are: OPEN.

Requested by Anonymous: “Helooo💛 could you write a modern au where the reader is teaching the marauders how to use tech? Have a nice day :)“.

Pairing: The Marauders x Fem!Reader [platonic].

Word Count: 2,4K

Warnings: None, it’s basically all fun and teasing and friends being friends.

A/N: Hope you like this! I had to refrain myself from the dialogues a bit because i had lots of fun remarks and teasing moments in my head as i imagined how the teaching process would be, so it would end up being very, very long if i hand’t stopped myself. Also the title SUCKS because i literally couldn’t think about anything good.

“L/N!” James yelled your last name in the middle of the library, shaking a brand new smartphone clutched in his hand; Sirius and Peter on his trail. Remus walked a little further, an apologetic frown on his features as he looked at you.

“Potter!” Madam Pince shrieked. “Out! Now!”

“But I’ve just got here!” The boy with unruly black hair protested.

“I do not care! Screams and loud tones of voice are strictly forbidden in my library! Go on – out! Out before I hex you!” The witch brandished her feather duster at the boy as she gesticulated for him to leave.

James grimaced, pushing his glasses higher up on the bridge of his nose, “I just need to talk to my friend, please! She’s right there!” He pointed to you, who watched the unfolding scene with a look of pure terror, in fear that Madam Pince would banish you from the library for good after James’ antics.

Madame Pince sent you a death glare before turning back to the Marauders with a fulminant look on her face, “out, all of you! NOW!”

“We haven’t even done anything!” Sirius shrugged with a frown, trying to defend himself.

The older witch gave them a last warning glare and, getting the message; Remus mumbled an apology and dragged the other three boys out of the room. Madam Pince waited until they were completely off the library’s limits to walk angrily to the table you were sharing with Lily, Marlene and Alice in the quieter corner of the study room.

“L/N!” She spat as she approached your table. “You know you’re one of the few students that I actually tolerate in this school, but this better not happen again because next time you’ll be kicked out with them!”

You widened your eyes in horror and nodded vigorously, afraid to make any noise and irritate the librarian even more. Madam Pince huffed satisfied at your acknowledgement of her threat before turning on her heels and leaving you with a dumbfounded look on your face.

“I don’t know how you and Remus can be friends with those twats,” Lily said in a belittled tone of voice whilst rolling her eyes.

“They’re not that bad once-“ you started to defend the Marauders but trailed off as you looked in the direction of the closed window by the side of the door and saw James and Sirius with their faces glued to the glass, waving for you to come to them.

“You were saying?” Marlene frowned disgustedly at their behaviour.

“Come on, they’re nice people, girls!” Alice chuckled, defending the boys as the sweet and kind person she was.

“They are! Thank you, Ali!” You wrapped your arm around the girl’s shoulders in a gesture of appreciation.

“Sure,” Lily teased with a frown as she studied the boys, whom were now making silly faces at your group from behind the glass window. “I’m sure if you google stupid twats their names won’t come up as soon as you hit the search button.”

Marlene high-fived Lily at her remark and you couldn’t help but smile, even though you rolled your eyes at your redhead friend, “you know you and James have a lot in common, don’t you?” You teased, getting up and grabbing your phone and laptop.

“Where are you going?” She asked amidst a blush, purposely ignoring what you had just said.

“To see what they bloody want before Madam Pince spots them and forbids me to step a foot into the library for good of course,” you shrugged with a lopsided grin and walked away from your lady friends, heading to the boys in the corridor.

 -

 “Y/N, I’m so sorry! I told these idiots that you were studying and they should not bother you!” Remus said as soon as he saw your moving figure approaching the door, his arms up in an apologetic gesture.

“That’s okay, Rem. I know their stupidity is uncontrollable,” you chuckled, squeezing the taller boy’s shoulder.

“Hey!” Sirius exclaimed, offended, as he ran a hand through his thick dark locks.

“She’s not lying,” Remus said with a light shrug of his shoulders, pressing his lips together to contain a smile.

“What do you bloody want from me anyway to barge in the library like that?” You winged your brows, specifically scolding James.

“Sorry about that, little one. Madam Pince really needs to learn how to relax,” he frowned, recalling her unpleasant screams. “Anyway, we got ourselves brand new phones and this muggle box you call a laptop and we were wondering if you could help us out with those… things.”

You lifted a brow as you crossed your arms across your chest, “you got phones? And laptops?” You repeated his sentence with a surprised tone of voice.

“That’s what I just said, yes,” James frowned.

“I reckon you saying something like,” you started, raising your hands in the air and mimicking quotes as you tried your best to impersonate James, “’I will never trade my owl and parchments for these bloody muggle things with these annoying noises.’”

“I’ll admit I may have spoken too soon,” he shrugged with a grimace. “Blimey, it’s hard not to surrender to those things when the entire school and even the Professors are using it!”

You gazed at James with an amused look on your face.

“So, will you help us out, love?” Sirius steadied himself on you as he wrapped his arm around your shoulders and stared at you with puppy eyes.

“I could use the help of these things to improve my studying method and have easier access to books,” Remus said shyly, putting his hands into his pockets.

“I want to try those games the lads have been playing, they’re even talking about doing championships and starting clubs,” Peter’s eyes twinkled as he nodded excitedly.

You heaved a sigh as you looked to the pleading faces of the four Marauders. “Fine, I’ll help you idiots out.”

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 You had been helping the Marauders with the muggle technology for a few days now and it wasn’t getting any easier. As wizards born and raised into wizarding families, the boys never had any sort of familiarity with technology nor muggle devices before, which hampered the task in hand considerably. Even Remus, who was unquestionably the cleverest among them, was struggling to learn how to properly use a phone.

Beginning with the smartphone was your idea, because you thought that after they mastered this complex device, learning how to use a laptop would be a piece of cake. You just didn’t imagine that it would be so bloody difficult.

“Wait, wait, and wait!” Sirius interrupted your explanation about the Face ID for the third time with a confused frown as he threw his head back heavily into the back pillow of the Gryffindor Common Room sofa. “How am I supposed to make my face unlock this thing? Will I have to hex it?”

“No, you daft dimbo!” You huffed, annoyed. “I’ll get there if you just stop interrupting me!”

“Sorry, love,” he smirked satisfied at your apparent annoyance, resting his elbows on Remus’ and James’ shoulders. “I’ll admit I have a liking to piss you off; and apparently I accomplish that even when I’m not trying to.”

“You sure do!” You smiled wryly at him, curling your legs on the seat of the stuffed armchair you were occupying, leaning yourself a little in the boys direction. “Anyway, you’ll access your phone settings right… here,” you said, showing them with your phone where to tap. “To register your face, you’ll need to hold your device between 10 and 20 inches away from you. With your face centered in the circle, you’ll move your head around until the scan is complete.”

The boys quickly followed your instructions and registered their faces, finally completing the basic configurations of their phones as they did so, allowing you to start teaching them how to use its apps and download other ones.

“There’s a camera in this? Cool!” Sirius exclaimed excitedly once he unlocked his phone screen. “What?” He added with a smile when you chuckled at his reaction.

“I’ve always thought that if you were a muggle, you’d sort of be an edgy photographer,” you answered with a lopsided grin.

“I could be one to,” James shrugged uninterested. “I’d definitely be edgy.”

“You, James? Come on!” You rolled your eyes, laughing wholeheartedly. “You’d be an annoying influencer jock.”

“A what?” He asked, utterly confused as if you were speaking in another language.

“You’d definitely be an overachiever high school athlete who were not only famous at school but also on the internet,” you winged your brows at him, resting your chin of your fist.

“You’d definitely be like that, mate!” Remus laughed, pointing his index finger at James.

“Yeah? And how would all-mighty Moony be?” James teased, crossing his arms across his chest and bending his head a little so he could playfully stare at his brown-haired friend.

“Rem would be a total hipster!” You shouted excitedly, clapping your hands. “He’d definitely be an outsider to the cultural mainstream, he’d have an online blog where he’d review books and would definitely be vocal about structural issues in the muggle society.”

“Why would he be the coolest among us?” James frowned, a little annoyed.

“Because he already is,” you shrugged, winging your brows.

“I can totally see muggle Moony being like that too,” Peter nodded vaguely from his seat on the arm of the sofa, picturing what you had just said inside his head.

“Can we focus on the tech again?” James said, swinging his phone in the air.

“Yes, we can, you pampered berk,” you answered, the ends of your lips curling up into an amused smirk as you got up of the armchair and motioned to the sofa, squeezing yourself between James and Sirius.

Slowly, you started to explain to them how to use the iMessage service and how to text someone and read the texts you receive. The boys seemed awestruck by the fact that you could get in touch with someone so easily and get an instant response back.

“Wicked! Now I can ask Lily out without putting myself in danger!” James exclaimed excitedly, the blaze that crackled in the fireplace lighting up his features. “Can’t I?”

“Well, she can always block your number, you know…” you frowned mockingly at him, earning amused laughs from Remus, Sirius and Peter.

The four of you teased James for a while before you and the boys got back to the teaching process. An hour or so later, you had already covered all the phone basic apps and they were already familiar with their functions and how to properly use them.

“Now, to the fun stuff!” You announced excitedly. “Let’s introduce you lads to the wonderful world of the trending apps.”

“Are there more?” Sirius widened his eyes as he rested his head on your shoulder.

“Indeed, my dear Black!” You quirked your brows satisfied, tilting your head so you could look him in the eyes. “There are tons of apps you can download to improve your experience, apps that match your likings such as, in your case, dating apps.”

“Dating apps? Can’t you just charm the ladies through texts?” He asked confusedly.

“You sure can, but these apps are basically made for people who want to engage on… knowing someone a little bit better, if you know what I mean,” you chuckled. “With the dating apps you don’t have to ask yourself if the other person is somehow romantically interested in you, because when they swipe right and the match is made, it means the interest is mutual.”

“And how would you know all this?” He asked, lifting his head and smirking mockingly at you. “Y/N L/N, do you use dating apps?”

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” you retorted, blushing furiously. Sirius’ smirk grew wider.

A sudden silence fell among the five of you as you and Sirius stared at each other with narrowed eyes; he holding a teasing look whilst you held a deadly one. James and Remus watched the scene with delighted expressions whilst Peter monotonously scrolled through his phone screen.

“Ahem,” Remus cleared his throat with an amused smile, dragging you and Sirius back to reality. “Are there any good apps to download books and to read them?”

You slowly tilted your head in Remus’ direction and, nodding, started to show him the apps you had on your phone for reading purposes and which ones you thought would fit his needs better. Remus avidly listened to your tips whilst downloading each and every app you had mentioned on his own phone.

The day quickly faded into night as you and the Marauders went on and on about the technologies and its functions and soon, the five of you were the only ones in the now silent Common Room, the light coming from the fireplace and the displays of your phones being the only things shining in the almost complete darkness.

“And done!” James exclaimed, getting up from the sofa and stretching himself. “TikTok is already downloaded and ready to be used! Tomorrow we’ll pull the ‘Dance Like a Hippogriff’ prank and Y/N here will film everything so we can upload the edited video on our TikTok account later.”

“Excuse you?” You frowned, crossing your arms across your chest.

“It’ll be fun, I promise!” He joined his hands pleadingly. “Come on! Please?” He added at the grimace you made.

“Fine!” You rolled your eyes with a smile after a few seconds. “Now I’m going to bed before another brilliant idea pops up into that twat mind of yours."

Saying goodbye to the Marauders, you walked to the stairs that led to the girls’ dormitory and took a quick look over your shoulder. Before you climbed up the stairs, a smile formed on your lips as you saw the four boys talking excitedly and laughing whilst scrolling through their phones.

#au #modern au #imagines #the marauders #the marauders imagine #harry potter #harry potter imagine #harry potter x reader #james potter x reader #sirius black x reader #remus lupin x reader #james potter #sirius black #remus lupin #peter pettigrew

[mrs-nate-humphrey]

So not to be dramatic, but if you could get a degree in discourse-ology, the topic of my master’s thesis would definitely be “Which political candidates did the characters of the CW’s Gossip Girl (2007-2012) support?” I’m doing this in order from most to least obvious, and considering both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.

[ little ivy interjection here: i haven’t changed ANYTHING, except adding a screencap of the title + the submission, because that made me laugh & more people deserve to see it, and putting this under a read more because that’s how i generally try & organise stuff on this blog. so this submission is exactly as it was when i received it! also while we’re at it, anon, this MADE my day.]

Blair Waldorf: “Hillary Clinton is one of my role models. I do not break treaties, you ass!” (04x13) There’s no question that Blair would go hard for Hillary in 2016, she praised her on multiple occasions throughout the series. Blair’s a classic American neoliberal, third wave Democrat-type: she’s decently progressive when it comes to social policies, and would be decidedly supportive of causes like gay marriage, racial equity, and women’s reproductive rights, but she’s still very much in favor of maintaining the status quo when it comes to capitalism and the hegemonic structure of power that, lets face it, heavily favors her own class interests. To use the American healthcare system as an example: Blair would have been all for the Affordable Care Act, and is largely supportive of the idea of creating a public option - but single payer, nationalized health care? It just wouldn't work in a country like the United States for “X” reason (although the real reason, deep down, is that she doesn’t want to see her tax rate go up in any meaningful way). So she’s thoroughly for Clinton in both the 2016 primaries and the general election, she maybe even comes out with a line of high-end “I’m With Her” merchandise if she’s still CEO of Waldorf Designs, and is personally heartbroken when Clinton loses.

Flash forward to the 2020 primaries. Blairhates Donald Trump, like emotionally, viscerally hates him - his misogyny, his incompetence, and his blatant tackiness are a direct repudiation of her beliefs, and the fact that he’s representing Manhattan society and the Upper East Side to the world in such a godawful way is frankly embarrassing. So in a certain sense, her strategy, like frankly many Americans at the time going into the 2020 Democratic primaries is, “Which one of these candidates has the greatest chance at beating Donald Trump?” I see Blair being rather conflicted at first, but ultimately going for either Amy Klobuchar or Kamala Harris. She has a certain admiration for Elizabeth Warren given her professional background, but her policies are a bit too progressive for someone like Blair. Buttigeg is fine, but not especially thrilling. Biden, quite frankly, doesn’t seem like he has any real chance at winning, although I think he’d be Blair’s third choice after Harris and Klobuchar. I can see her leaning more towards Harris ultimately - although, after the “Amy Klobuchar throws staplers at her interns!!” rumors start spreading, Blair cannot help but, at a personal level, kind of respect her for that. When Biden unexpectedly takes South Carolina and then the Democratic nomination, Blair is a bit disappointed, but not overly so, and quickly marshals her financial resources into supporting and fundraising for him for the remainder of the election. At least it’s not Sanders - or Bloomberg. As a New Yorker, of course Blair’s opinion is “Fuck Michael Bloomberg”.

Chuck Bass: Now here’s where it gets interesting. Chuck, as you said, isn’t stupid - there’s no way he falls for the “build the wall” crap or any of Trump’s rhetoric, he knows it’s a bullshit farce and sees right through it. But you know what he definitely is? Deeply greedy and deeply selfish. I’m hardly the first person to point this out, but Chuck Bass is, in many ways, the fictional equivalent of the Donald Trumps and Michael Bloombergs and Brett Kavanaughs of the world - new money billionaire who inherited his wealth from his father working in the real estate industry, who despite his lack of business acumen and deeply problematic history with women, has managed to coast through life failing upwards with absolutely no social or legal accountability? I mean, back in 2010, Forbes Magazine actually did a real interview with the fictional Chuck Bass in which they outright compare him to Donald Trump. I couldn’t tell you if the Gossip Girl writers meant to write Chuck as their Trump analogue - I mean, they did invite Jared and Ivanka onto the show, after all - but the parallels are just too strong to ignore. All of which is to say, not only did Chuck Bass vote for Donald Trump, he held exclusive political fundraisers for him and was probably a substantial donor to his campaign. Now, did Chuck distance himself publicly over time as the political climate became increasingly caustic and public sentiment towards Trump plummeted even further? Perhaps, perhaps not. It really depends on if the board of Bass Industries felt like being connected to Trump was a liability or an asset - but privately, I imagine Chuck once again voted for him in 2020, because the one policy Donald Trump did effectively execute during his tenure in office was massive tax cuts for billionaires, and for someone like Chuck Bass, that’s the only political policy that really matters. He wouldn’t wear a red hat and wouldn’t be caught dead within sniffing distance of a MAGA rally and the hoi polloi, but dude is basically the image of what the kind of rich conservatives backing the Trump administration for personal gain look like. On the off chance that the distastefulness of it all got to be a little much for even Chuck post-2016, perhaps he might switch his vote to Bloomberg. But I highly doubt Chuck would be politically invested in anything other than his own wallet to such an extent that he wouldn’t vote for Trump, no matter how much it would no doubt completely infuriate Blair.

Dan Humphrey: As the unofficial king of the hipsters, Dan has been a Sanders supporter since before it was cool. Seriously, Bernie Sanders appeals to Dan intrinsically on every level - his policies, his rhetoric, even his aesthetic - the rumpled old man with wild hair wearing mittens and railing against the upper class is the sort of thing that’s basically political catnip for someone like Dan Humphrey. Not only would Dan vote for Sanders in both the 2016 and 2020 primaries, he’d go out and be one of the celebrities campaigning for him. This would definitely lead to him butting heads with Blair, and she would no doubt call him out on supporting someone like Sanders when Dan himself is now a millionaire, who made his money from writing stories about the upper class. The fact that in 2017 he apparently gets married to Serena, a billionaire heiress, and may or may not have been engaged to her back in 2016 when the Democratic primaries were happening might cause him a bit of cognitive dissonance, but really, just because he’s climbed up the socio-economic ladder now doesn’t mean his values have really changed, have they? (Debatable.) In any case, in both the 2016 and 2020 general elections, Dan would definitely vote for Clinton and Biden respectively - although he’d be significantly more disgruntled about it than Blair would be switching from Harris to Biden. I don’t think Dan would be a “Bernie bro” in the way that term is used, but he’d definitely chafe against Clinton’s past policy decisions, and would probably make some snippy Tweets about her during the election. Nevertheless, once it became clear that Trump was going to be the Republican nominee and was a serious threat, I think Dan would change his tone and start encouraging his fans and followers to vote for Clinton. Likewise, in 2020, Dan would probably become one of the Sanders supporters doing outreach for Biden, having become more politically pragmatic following the experience of living under the Trump administration.

Vanessa Abrams: Much like Dan, Vanessa is a progressive, although unlike Dan, Vanessa’s activism is more focused around specific issues and less around specific politicians. I can see Dan and Vanessa being in roughly the same place in 2016, and given that the only real choices were between Sanders and Clinton in the primaries (RIP to Martin O'Malley), Vanessa would no doubt go for Sanders. Whereas Dan might campaign for Sanders directly however, Vanessa would instead focus her time and resources around advocacy for specific causes that are important to her, like climate change and racial justice, and would probably use her platform as a filmmaker and documentarian to advance those causes. I could very much see her getting involved with movements like Black Lives Matter and organizations like the Sunrise Movement, and taking part in protests, marches, and sit-ins. When the 2020 Democratic primaries come around, I could see her possibly switching from Sanders to Warren for a while (and Dan would definitely argue with her about it if she did), but I can also see her switching back to Sanders after Warren amended her support for single-payer, “Medicare for All”. She’d definitely vote for Clinton and Biden in the generals, but not enthusiastically.

Nate Archibald: For someone whose family business is politics and who, in 2017, is apparently a candidate in the New York City mayoral election, Nate seems to be rather removed from politics. As Vanessa puts it in 02x19, “The only thing Nate’s ever voted for is American Idol.” Still, as Editor-in-Chief of The Spectator, Nate kind of has to have an opinion, and in that respect, I see him gravitating towards the type of center-left “establishment” candidates that he and his family would no doubt have close ties with. In the Gossip Girl universe, the Vanderbilts are portrayed as being a lot like the Kennedys, and I think Nate’s policies as a mayoral candidate would really reflect that. In 2016, he would vote for Hillary Clinton in both the primaries and the generals without much of a second thought - after all, she’s the obvious choice, and there’s no way a candidate like Donald Trump could actually beat her, right? Actually, optimistically, maybe that’s why Nate decides to jump into the mayoral race in 2017 - previously, he had been for all intents and purposes politically apathetic, but seeing someone as genuinely vile as Donald Trump ascend to the office of the presidency stirs him out of that apathy, and he wants to make a positive difference in the only way an incredibly privileged white man from a politically prominent family knows how. So he runs as a Kennedy-esque center left candidate, further left of someone like Hillary Clinton, but more moderate than someone like Elizabeth Warren - sort of like Kamala Harris, now that I think about it. I have no idea if he would actually be able to beat Bill de Blasio given the major incumbency advantage de Blasio would have, but who knows. Come the 2020 Democratic primaries, I think Nate would probably just vote for whoever he believed was most likely to beat Donald Trump. I don’t see him having any sort of clear preference - maybe he would gravitate towards Biden on the basis of him being the most established candidate, or maybe he would gravitate towards Harris on the basis of her campaigning as the “moderate progressive” candidate. I could also seeing him liking Andrew Yang, come to think of it. In any case, he would most definitely support Joe Biden in the generals. How involved he’d be in supporting him really depends on whether or not Nate actually gets elected to mayor - if he was the mayor, he’d definitely endorse him and probably donate to him, but I think he’d be too wrapped up in his own political responsibilities to really do much more than that. If, however, he lost the election and was still the Editor-in-Chief of The Spectator, I can see Nate getting more involved alongside the rest of his family, officially endorsing him in The Spectator, hosting political fundraisers for him, and maybe even campaigning for him. The Vanderbilts in the Gossip Girl universe (I have no idea what the family’s actual political beliefs are in real life) definitely seem to me like they’d be Biden supporters, and I imagine they’d use their political clout to try and get Biden in, and more importantly, Trump out.

Serena van der Woodsen: Oh Serena. Look, she knows it’s important, okay? It’s just, she’s been really busy lately, and she doesn’t really like to think about politics, and hey, remember that fundraiser she did with her mom for last month’s philanthropic cause du jour? Serena’s a Democrat, vaguely, but if you tried to really pin her down on her political beliefs she’d probably just change the topic. So who does she vote for in 2016? The truth is, she doesn’t. Not in the primaries, not in the general, not at all. She meant to, okay, Blair’s definitely been pestering her to send in her mail-in-ballot for weeks, but she just got distracted and forgot. Serena really strikes me as the kind of person who doesn’t enjoy thinking or talking about politics, save for perhaps a few specific issues, and she has a sense that everything will work itself out eventually and she doesn’t really need to participate. And then the 2016 election happens, and holy shit, she didn’t vote. Blair and Dan might have spent early 2016 bickering with each other over Clinton versus Sanders, but the one thing they can definitely agree on is “What the fuck, Serena?!?!” They both reminded her like, a million times, how could she possibly forget?! Serena feels really bad about it - she didn’t think it was such a big deal, she didn’t think Donald Trump could actually win! - and so she starts overcompensating whenever the topic of politics comes up, maybe even joins Vanessa at a few protests and marches, even though she’s still sort of clueless about the actual issues at hand. She does vote in the 2018 midterms, although only in the general election - straight blue ticket, all the way down. She takes a picture of herself at the voting booth wearing an “I Voted!” sticker and posts it on Instagram, tagging both Dan and Blair in the post (who already voted weeks ago using mail-in ballots, but it’s the thought that counts). Flash forward to 2020, and she really needs to make a decision about who to vote for in the primaries… but there’s just so many choices. Everything seems so scary and stressful and real in a way now that it didn’t back in 2016, and she can’t just ignore it and assume things will work out for the best like she did back then. So who does she vote for? Well, Serena always wins, so she votes for Biden. Conspiratorially, both Dan and Blair privately wonder if her voting for Biden isn’t on some cosmic level the reason for his unexpected victory, even if they know there’s no logical way that’s possible, right? But it would be such a Serena thing to do… In any case, Serena’s just happy her candidate won, and would probably host political fundraisers for him with her mom’s circle of philanthropic friends. Assuming she and Dan are still married at this point, she offers to help him do political outreach to Sanders supporters to get them to vote for Biden, which he sweetly dissuades her from given that most Sanders supporters would probably dislike her on principle.

So that’s how, in my opinion, the main cast would vote, ordered roughly in how confident I am about that analysis. You could make the argument that perhaps some characters would vote or act differently based on whether or not they’re dating or married at the time - like, would Chuck openly fundraise for Trump when Blair is a dyed-in-the-wool Clinton supporter if they’re married? (He totally would.) But I tried to consider them purely on the merits of their personalities and values, and not on the particularities of their situations at the time (with the exception of Nate, just because him being in office or not would obviously make a huge difference in regards to how politically involved he’s going to be).

I wish I put as much effort into my actual university essays as I did on Gossip Girl political analysis.

#meta #gossip girl #anon you're literally a legend #i cannot believe you submitted this to my little blog when you could've like...... #sent it in to vox or something #it's just SO good? #also honestly 'i wish i put as much effort into uni as i did into gg meta' is like #THE BRAND on my blog so #*raises a glass* cheers! #i don't even have words i just think you're objectively correct about ALL of this #gg politics #submission #i am LITERALLY flattered to receive this gem thank you so much? #no no flattered is the wrong word: honoured is better #but i really appreciate it is all

[clevermonkey93]

Mr Frilly part 2

Part 1

Jaskier makes pizza with Geralt and Ciri. It’s cute and fluffy. Oh and they flirt.

also on ao3

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Jaskier wasn’t nervous. He absolutely wasn’t nervous. Except he was. He totally was because he had a dinner date – was it even a date? It’s just dinner, come on Jask – with a gorgeous hunk of a complete dork of a dad that was utterly besotted with his angelic little gremlin. And Jaskier had just met him. Just met Geralt and Ciri and already he was determined not to blow it. Frankly, Jaskier didn’t care if Geralt wasn’t interested – he's probably ten years older than me, he’s got a kid, he might be straight-straight not just kinda straight – but he so desperately wanted to spend more time with them both and get to know them.

God knows he could use some more friends. Valdo seemed to have left their relationship with all their mutual friends, but I suppose that’s what happens when you date a guy from university for four years and just make friends with all his music friends and –

Jaskier wanted so badly to get this right.

Which is why he stood outside the Rivia house – a beautiful old tall town house which Jaskier would have bet has one of those gorgeous long winding gardens – with a distinctly not-rubbish film and some flowers. A simple but beautiful bunch of wildflowers that Jaskier had stared at for at least fifteen minutes at the shop after he’d left Geralt and Ciri in confectionary. He’d decided to risk it but they’re white and delicate so if he's read the vibe completely wrong they’re obviously for Ciri.

He knocked. Geralt said not to ring the doorbell because next door has a baby.

Oh God I should have changed. Why am I still wearing my shopping clothes and this dumb scarf –

“Hey, Jaskier.”

Jaskier looked up to see Geralt at the doorway, long white hair tied up now and an apron at his waist – oh man why is that sexy?

He had a flour smudge on his cheek and his shirt was covered in flecks. Jaskier was about to tease him and ask why he’s only got a tiny apron when he's wearing a black shirt when he heard footsteps behind the man.

“Mr Frilly!” Ciri cheered as she joined them in the doorway. She was wearing a full-size apron which on a child should look utterly ridiculous but she was also wearing an expression that said she was in charge.

“Already started on dinner I see!” Jaskier said with a grin.

Geralt looked down at his shirt and gave a very sweet shrug before standing to the side and gesturing for Jaskier to join them inside.

“Make yourself comfortable,” he offered. Ciri had already bounded back down the hallway so Jaskier shuffled in and started to wiggle his shoes off with his feet. This inadvertently drew attention to the flowers in his hand.

“Uh, I brought these,” Jaskier started, studying Geralt’s face carefully. Beneath the white smudge of flour there was a distinct pink blush. He didn’t think Geralt looked uncomfortable but oh God it’s so hard to tell. “I brought these.” He repeated quietly.

Jaskier inched the flowers forward to Geralt and thank God he took them. Geralt smiled. No doubt there, that was a proper nice smile.

“Thank you, Jaskier,” he said softly. Jaskier felt Geralt's hand on his shoulder and he was about to say something when –

“Daddy, the dough has gotten SO big!”

Jaskier and Geralt shared a little laugh before Geralt lead him further into the house.

The kitchen was in surprising order considering the state of the chefs, and Jaskier and Geralt walked in to find Ciri proudly holding up a bowl of proofing dough.

“I’ll show you how to make a base,” Ciri said excitedly.

“Wash your hands, Ciri,” Geralt reminded her and Jaskier also took his turn at the sink. As he dried his hands, we watched Geralt dig around a cupboard for a vase, as though he hadn’t used one in a long time, before carefully arranging the flowers to sit in the middle of the kitchen table.

It was a wonderfully sweet evening. Jaskier and Ciri both managed to get covered in flour as they tried to shape pizza crusts while Geralt seemed to be able to do it blind and helping them at the same time.

Jaskier had figured they’d be using tomato puree (he won’t admit to how many years at university he’d lived on pasta and tomato puree) but Geralt brought over a pan of homemade tomato sauce that smelled so good. Even better was the proud little smile he made when Jaskier told him how good it smelled. Best yet was the blush and sudden inhale Geralt didn’t manage to hide when Jaskier couldn’t resist sticking a finger in to try a lick.

“Toppings!” Ciri exclaimed as she carried what Jaskier assumed was a stack of everything from the fridge. Cheese quickly went absolutely everywhere as they each assembled a pizza and it turned out the pair had a tradition of making an extra Frankenstein pizza with every topping.

They loaded them into the oven – “Daddy's going to build a pizza oven in the garden next spring,” Ciri excitedly informed Jaskier. “But they’re still good in the oven.”

Geralt started to clear up while the pizzas cooked, and Ciri immediately vanished. Jaskier stood next to him at the sink to dry things up.

“Thank you for asking me over,” Jaskier said, even though it was clearly Ciri that asked. “I'm really glad I’m here.”

Geralt Hmmed at that, and Jaskier had started to notice it might be his default setting but it sounded like a happy Hmm at least. “What would your Saturday night have been otherwise?” Geralt asked.

“Oh, um,” Jaskier hesitated and dammit he knew he was blushing but he’s going to think I'm so naive and just struggling and – “Well, I’m usually performing at some venue or another, if I’ve managed to get any bookings.” He looked over at Geralt and he seemed interested, not like he suddenly regretted inviting a hipster over, so, “I sing and, uh, play guitar. Among other things.”

Geralt nodded, and definitely didn’t look at Jaskier's mouth when he bit his lip nervously, except Jaskier definitely saw his eyes dart down.

Jaskier shrugged. “But nobody knows me around here. Not yet anyway,” Jaskier laughed quietly. “I’m on at the open mic night this week at Posada's –”

“The live night at The Mandrake is pretty good,” Geralt cut in. Jaskier couldn’t have contained his smile even if he’d tried. Honestly, so many people laughed at him for still trying and –

Breathe, Jask.

“Yeah? What kind of music do they usually have? I mean, well, a lot of my covers usually go down really well, but I also play a lot of my own songs,” Jaskier asked as he dried up the last bowl. Damn it, he was starting to ramble. But he looked over again at Geralt and the man was nodding, and Jaskier thought he might have Hmmed again. Silently though. Jaskier got a little distracted again watching Geralt dry his hands on Jaskier's dish towel and then start to put things away.

“Hmm? What sort of things do you write?” Geralt finally asked, and he definitely stood closer than he needed to as he reached around Jaskier to pick crockery up from the counter.

Jaskier was absolutely not about to reply something like meeting hot dads at the supermarket when the oven timer beeped loudly.

“Pizza!!”

Jaskier jumped a little at Ciri's sudden – immediate – reappearance and although he had no real reason to blush, his cheeks felt like they were on fire.

Geralt laughed ever so quietly. Jaskier eyed him carefully as the man's mouth turned up in the slightest smirk. Oh, Geralt was teasing him.

Jaskier flicked the dish towel at Geralt before joining Ciri at the oven, taking the mitts from her before she could try to hurt herself carrying too many hot pizzas. They took the pizzas to the lounge and before Jaskier could worry about where he should sit, Ciri sat him in the middle of the sofa because that’s where guests sit, Mr. Frilly.

“What film are we watching?” Ciri asked, sat on the floor in front of the telly to get to the DVD player.

“Oh!” Jaskier popped up again and went to his bag. “Have you guys seen The Princess Bride?”

Ciri had not and Gert agreed it was a not-rubbish film. Not that Jaskier would have judged him too harshly if he didn’t liked his favourite film.

He sat between Geralt and Ciri as they ate pizza, and Jaskier definitely agreed it was at least the best pizza in town and quite frankly until he tried ‘Papa Vesemir's’ pizza, he was willing to say best ever. They watched the film, Geralt and Jaskier both half watching Ciri watch it for the first time. When Geralt took his hair out from its bun, Jaskier couldn’t help but reach over to tuck a stray lock behind his ear before Geralt tied half of it back anyway.

Away from the warm kitchen, it cooled down quickly in the lounge so Geralt pulled the throw blanket over them from the back of the sofa. He laughed softly when Jaskier stole the opportunity to tuck in closer as his arms were raised, and then laughed properly when Ciri used Jaskier's distraction to steal his frilly scarf.

Jaskier must have dozed off towards the end of the film because he woke up to Geralt carefully easing him up from leaning against his chest as the credits rolled. “Just putting Ciri to bed.”

Ah, yes, parenting to be done. Jaskier blinked himself awake somewhat while Geralt followed Ciri upstairs. As he listened to muffled arguments about whether she'd brushed her teeth for long enough and how many stories she needed before sleep, Jaskier took their cleared plates back to the kitchen.

He was putting the last of the clean dishes away when Geralt reappeared.

“The princess sleeps?” Jaskier asked softly. Geralt Hmmed at him, leaning against the door frame in a way that looked far too good for him to not be aware.

“Are you awake now?” Geralt teased, and Jaskier admirably resisted sticking his tongue out. Really though, he only resisted because he finally closed the distance between them and leaned up, hopeful, towards Geralt. He was pretty sure, but Oh god what if he really had misread things –

Geralt kissed him. He kissed him softly, steadily and with a firm hand holding Jaskier's hip to his waist.

Jaskier sighed, only loud enough for Geralt to just hear. “Yeah, I'm awake.”

#I wrote a thing #geraskier #geraskier fanfic #witcher fanfic #geraskier modern au #single dad geralt #jaskier has the hots for single dad geralt #geraskier being cute #geraskier snuggles #ciri is the sweetest angel gremlin #all fluff no plot

[king-finnigan]

5 times Geralt failed to ask Jaskier out and 1 time he somehow managed

I.

Yen calls him immediately after he’s sent her the text. “What’s going on? You said it was an emergency?” She sounds slightly worried, and Geralt realizes that ‘Need help. Emergency.’ does sound like something to be worried about.

“I wanna ask Jaskier out.”

She lets out a long-suffering sigh, and he could swear he hears a ‘fucking finally’ muttered away from the receiver. “Cool, sure. So what do you need my help for?”

“Asking him out.”

She laughs softly. “Seriously? You’re a grown-ass man, surely you can ask someone out, right? You’ve done it before.”

He keeps quiet, and blesses all his lucky stars that she isn’t here to see shame rise red to his cheeks.

“Wait-“ He hears her let out a startled laugh. “You’ve never asked someone out before?”

His silence is confirmation enough.

“How the fuck did you manage to go your entire life without asking someone out?” She doesn’t wait for an answer. “Whatever. Alright, so, here’s what you gotta do-“

---

He’s waiting outside the doors of the cinema, bouncing on his heels a bit. Jaskier’s always a bit late – fashionably late, as Jaskier himself calls it – which is fine under any other circumstances, but the movie won’t wait for them, so it sets Geralt’s nerves on fire.

Finally, Jaskier shows up. With Triss and Sabrina in tow. To what was supposed to be a date.

“Hi!” Jaskier greets him brightly. “Hope it’s alright that I brought Triss and Sabrina. A movie is just much more fun when there are more people, you know? Hope you don’t mind?”

Geralt smiles tightly, and shakes his head. Later, after the movie, he rereads the text he sent Jaskier a few days earlier, and realizes he maybe didn’t really make it clear that he intended it as a date. Great. Something to remember for next time. Though he’s not gonna ask Jaskier on a movie date again. Firstly because Jaskier apparently likes it better when it’s not just the two of them, and also because they stumbled into their seats ten minutes late, and he doesn’t think he’s gonna survive that kind of embarrassment again.

 II.

Okay, so clearly Yennefer’s plan didn’t work out. Maybe he should ask someone else.

It takes a while before Eskel picks up, but Geralt immediately relaxes when he hears his brother’s voice. “Yeah?”

“I wanna ask Jaskier out. I need your advice.”

Eskel breathes out something that sounds suspiciously like ‘finally’. It’s quiet for a while, as Geralt gives his brother time to think.

“Flowers,” Eskel eventually says. “Jaskier likes flowers, right? He seems like a flower kinda guy. So give him flowers.”

“Okay, thanks,” he says.

“By the way, can I borrow your drill? I’m making a shed and mine broke.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Okay, thanks. Bye.” Eskel hangs up, and Geralt drops his phone on his bed, thoughts mulling over how best to handle this.

---

He shuffles from one foot to another as he waits for Jaskier to open the door, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a bouquet of different types of orange flowers. It had caught his eye at the florist, because of its obnoxious colours, and he figured Jaskier would love it.

Finally, the door opens. And immediately slams shut again, Jaskier’s high-pitched shriek muffled from behind the wood. “Fucking shit!”

Geralt frowns, and knocks on the door. “Jaskier? Are you alright?”

A muffled sneeze, followed by: “No! I’m allergic to flowers.” Another three sneezes, in quick succession. “Very.”

Great. Just his fucking luck. “Uh… r-right,” he stammers. “I’ll- I’ll throw them away, then.”

He apologizes for it later, and Jaskier tells him not to worry about it, though he’s hardly able to string the sentence together through several sneezes and wet sniffles, eyes red and swollen.

 III.

Okay, so no movie date, and definitely no flowers. Maybe he should call someone else. He considers calling Lambert for a second, but he knows that would probably be the worst idea of his life – Lambert would either laugh in his face and hang up, or he would suggest something ridiculous like a bungee-jumping proposal or some shit like that.

Instead, he calls his dad. He’s always been able to rely on Vesemir for advice, so he supposes this time won’t be any different.

“What’s wrong?” his dad asks as soon as he picks up the phone.

Geralt frowns. “Nothing. I’m calling for advice.”

It’s quiet for a while. Then: “Alright, but disposing of a body is a lot harder than you think it is. Just take that into consideration before you go through with it. So first you gotta-”

“What? No, I wanna ask Jaskier out.”

Silence. “Oh. Who?”

“Jaskier. You met him last Christmas. Brown hair, blue eyes.”

“That loud-mouth that kept following you at the party?”

“Yes.”

It’s quiet for a few seconds, and Geralt could swear he hears a muffled ‘thank the gods’, as if Vesemir is holding his hand over the receiver. “Try flowers.”

“Already tried that. Nearly killed him because he’s allergic.”

“Hmm. Take him to a nice restaurant.”

Geralt nods, and he realizes embarrassingly late that Vesemir can’t see him. “Alright. Thank you. But, what you said about disposing of a body, what-“ The line clicks. Vesemir’s hung up.

---

“Hey, there’s this new restaurant, a few blocks away. Di Mare, I think it’s called. Wanna go there, maybe next Saturday?”

Jaskier snorts at him, incredulous expression on his face. “That place? No thanks, way too fancy for me. What do you take me for, a rich person?”

“Jaskier, you’re literally royalty.”

“Nah,” Jaskier continues, ignoring him, “let’s just order take-out. Have a little movie night.”

Geralt nods, hope shining in his chest. “Yeah, sure.”

Jaskier grins at him, pulling his phone out. “Cool! I’ll text Yen and Triss, let them know. Been a while since we all hung out together.” Oh, fucking brilliant.

 IV.

“Triss? I need your help.”

“Sure, what can I do?”

“I wanna ask Jaskier out.”

“Oh, yeah, Yen told me about that. So I figure you still haven’t managed?”

“Clearly.” He doesn’t mention the fact that so far, she’s come between his plans twice. He doesn’t want to hurt her feelings, and she’s obviously not doing it on purpose.

It’s quiet for a while. “Uh… Flowers are a big no-no, he’s allergic to those.”

“Figured that out by now.”

“The hard way?”

“The hard way.”

“Yikes. Hmm. Restaurant?”

“No.”

“Fuck, then I’m fresh outta ideas, chief. Wait, no. There’s this new coffeeshop just around the corner. Jask loves coffee, no way you can go wrong with this one.” Geralt highly doubts it, but thanks her anyways and hangs up.

---

The barista makes heart-eyes at Jaskier the entire time they’re ordering, and when they go to sit down, Jaskier turns his cup and finds the guy’s phone number written on the side. He immediately pulls out his phone and sends the barista a text. Geralt tries and fails not to sulk.

 V.

“Hey.”

He blinks, then frowns at his five year-old neighbour who’s blocking the exit of the apartment building, looking up at him with a glint in her eyes that she always gets when she’s about to drop snowballs through people’s mailboxes.

“… Hi.”

“Heard you were trying to ask your boyfriend out,” Ciri says.

“He’s not my boyfriend. And how’d you know that?”

“Gran-gran says the walls are thin and you talk loud when you’re on the phone.”

“… Okay.”

It’s quiet for a while, her gaze intent on him the entire time, and he starts to feel uncomfortable, shuffling on his feet. Sure, the effect may be mollified by the fact that she’s missing her front teeth, but she’s still very unnerving.

“… Ciri, can I leave n-“

“You should ask him out.”

“That’s why I’m trying t-“

“Just ask.”

“Ciri-“

“Give him alcohol. Grown-ups like alcohol. Then ask.”

He sighs. “If I promise to do that, can you please let me pass so I can go to work?”

She holds up her hand, pinkie finger extended. “Pinkie promise.”

He hooks his little finger through hers. “Pinkie promise. Now can I please go?”

She nods solemnly, and steps to the side. He’s halfway down the stairs when she calls out to him: “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”

He looks back, sees her staring at him, face blank and grave, and he turns back, getting out of there as fast as he can. What the fuck?

---

Geralt’s walking to Jaskier’s door, two cups of coffee in his hands. Sure, the giving-Jaskier-alcohol part of Ciri’s plan wasn’t the greatest, but he couldn’t deny that simply asking Jaskier on a date might be effective and solid, because it’s so simple.

Except, just his luck, as he walks to Jaskier’s door, Jaskier barges out of his apartment, and smashes into Geralt, coffee spilling over both of them.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Jaskier exclaims, throwing his hands in the arms exasperatingly. He sighs, his foul mood evident on his face. “Guys and coffee seems to be a deadly combination for me, lately.”

“I guess it didn’t work out with the barista, then?” He somehow manages to keep his hope out of his voice.

Jaskier sighs and shakes his head, fishing a paper tissue out of his backpack to wipe at the front of his shirt. “Yeah, no. Total hipster, and he couldn’t stop talking about himself. Like, yada-yada-yada, you like old music, we get it, now can we please talk about me?” He sighs, seems to give up on saving his shirt. “Guess I’ll have to go back inside to get a new one,” he mutters. “Anyways, why are you here? Is there something going on?”

Geralt swallows, shakes his head. “No, just wanted to bring you some coffee. Sorry about uh…” he waves his hand a bit “that. Gotta go.”

He rushes out of there, ignoring Jaskier’s inquiring “Geralt?” behind him.

 + I

“So you’ve finally turned to me for council,” Lambert says in lieu of greeting when he answers the phone.

Geralt sighs.

“I want to hear you say it, Ger-Ger. I’ll help you but I need to hear you say it.”

“Don’t call me Ger-Ger.”

“Say it.”

He sighs again, a headache starting to form behind his eyes. “Fine. I need your help.”

He can practically hear Lambert’s self-satisfied smirk. “Lucky for you, I’ve got just the idea…”

For some reason, Geralt doesn’t exactly feel lucky.

---

The first pebble he throws misses its target, and he cringes as it nearly hits Jaskier’s downstairs neighbor’s window. He tries again. This time it hits its mark, but there’s no sign of life from Jaskier’s apartment. He tries again. No response. And again. No response. He throws three pebbles against the window in quick succession.

Finally, a light turns on and Jaskier opens the window, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “Geralt? It’s one in the morning, what-“

He looks down at his phone, frantically searching for the song that Lambert recommended- fucking Lambert. He never should’ve agreed to this, and he’s going to kill his brother once this is over. Finally, he finds the right song. It’s the same one as in that one movie Lambert told him about where this guy held a boombox over his head or some shit – ‘something Jaskier will have definitely watched’, his brother had reassured him. Finally, he finds the right song, and holds his phone over his head, volume as loud as possible, and-

“WANT A BREAK FROM THE ADS?-”

Geralt closes his eyes in horror as the ad continues playing, several lights turning on in the windows of the apartment building. Jaskier on the other hand, is- gone.

Geralt frowns, turns the ad off, and looks at Jaskier’s window, painfully empty. Suddenly, the door to the building opens, and Jaskier comes staggering out, wheezing and clutching his stomach as he makes his way towards Geralt.

“That-“ he says between giggles “that was the funniest and most adorable shit I’ve ever seen.” He hiccups, starts laughing uncontrollably again. “What…?”

“Lambert’s idea.”

Jaskier laughs again, desperately holding on to Geralt’s shoulder as to not keel over. “Of- of course it’s his idea, oh gods-“ He hiccups, finally calming down a bit. “Isn’t this from that one movie?”

“Yeah.”

“Isn’t it a romantic movie?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you trying to ask me out, Geralt?”

“… Yeah.”

Jaskier smiles softly. “I accept. But please- next time, you can just ask. There’s no need to go through all this trouble.”

Geralt resists the urge to smack his palm against his face. “Alright, I’ll remember that for next time.”

Jaskier looks back, sees multiple lights on in the windows, sees some neighbors frowning down at them angrily. “Better wrap this up or they’re gonna call the cops on us.” He leans forward, pressing a soft kiss against Geralt’s cheek. “Goodnight, Geralt.” He turns around and makes his way back to the apartment complex.

“Goodnight, Jaskier.”

#the witcher #geraskier #geralt of rivia #jaskier #drabble #5 + 1 things #fluff #crack #everyone in this is a chaotic bastard #and i regret nothing #literally no one asked for this #but i do what i want babey #feral hours #fuck you spotify ads #modern au #the thing ciri says is shakespeare btw lmao

[sunmoonandeddie]

rosemary’s corner

pairing: bucky barnes x reader

word count: 2,788

summary: There’s something up with Bucky.

warnings: Some h*ckin’ words.

a/n:  This is dedicated to @johnnynunzio.  I love you so, so much and I’m so proud of you.

There was something up with Bucky.

And Sam could call him paranoid all he wanted, but at the end of the day, Steve Rogers knew his best friend—goddamnit—and he knew something was going on.

Bucky had gotten into the habit of disappearing for hours on end—sometimes entire nights—without warning, only to reappear and act as though he had been in the Tower the whole time.  And even though he wasn’t big on hanging out with the rest of the team before, it had gotten even worse over the past few months.  Hell, when he was with the team, he spent the entire time staring at his phone.

Steve’s brows furrowed as he stepped out of the elevator.  He’d spent the past four hours down in the gym, desperately trying to figure out what the hell was going on with his best friend.

But if he couldn’t figure it out, maybe FRIDAY could.

“Hey, Fri?” He called out as he shut his bedroom door.

“Yes, Captain Rogers?”

The heat of the water turns his skin pink as he scrubs at his hair.  “Do you know where Bucky’s been going?”

“Yes, Captain Rogers.”

When the A.I. doesn’t continue, he frowns up at the ceiling as though she was up there.  “... Can you tell me where he is?”

The A.I. sounded almost sorry as she said, “I’m sorry, Captain Rogers, but Sergeant Barnes asked me to not tell anyone his whereabouts.”

“Even me?”

“Yes, even you.”

And okay, yeah, that kind of really fucking hurts.  It hurts that Bucky is keeping something from him because in their hundred years or so of being alive, they’d never kept secrets from each other.  Shit, Bucky had even told Steve when he first got his hands up a dame’s skirt way back in ‘34.

They told each other everything.

“Alright,” the blond said as he shut off the water.  “Guess it’s time for Plan C.”

Plan C, as it turns out, requires a little more time.  It means waiting until Bucky gets back to the Tower and then waiting for him to leave again.

But apparently that’s even harder than he thought it would be since trying to catch the former Winter Soldier leaving is like trying to catch a ghost.

It took him almost two weeks to finally catch him.  It was a little after nine, and the rest of the team had retreated to their respective bedrooms for the night.

Steve, however, spent almost half an hour by his door, ear pressed to the wood and listening for the tell tale sound of Bucky’s door opening from across the hall.

When he finally heard the creak at precisely 9:42 PM, he makes sure to wait a few minutes before following him out.  He took the stairs, bolting down each flight.  He had to wait several long minutes for the elevator to catch up, watching as Bucky zipped up his jacket before heading out into the cool autumn air.

Not for the first time, he cursed his best friend’s ability to sneak through the streets of New York almost undetected.  Plan A had been Bucky just telling his best friend where he was going as he should’ve done as his goddamn best friend, and if that had happened like Steve had hoped, he wouldn’t be traversing down tenth, after having to follow him through several subway rides.

He’s even more confused when he started to spot the NYU signs littering the area.

He stopped in his tracks as Bucky stepped into a familiar looking store, a string of lights glittering brightly in the window display despite the late hour.

He vaguely remembered walking past the shop with him a few weeks before, but when he’d told Bucky that they should stop in sometime, he’d immediately clammed up and shrugged, claiming that it was probably too hipstery for either of their tastes.

Which, to be fair, it was really close to the New York University campus.

Steve got a little closer, just enough to peek in through the window that had ‘Rosemary’s Corner’ emblazoned across it.

The store was the perfect picture of cozy, though it did have that hipster feel that both him and Bucky tried to avoid.  Shelves full of records lined the front end of the shop, lights hung up along the tops of each one.  He could just barely see what seemed to be a coffee station towards the back, a menu with titles such as ‘Pumpkin Spice Marshmallow Latte’ and ‘Blueberry Delight Cappuccino’ hung up on the wall behind it.  A vintage record player in the corner was crooning out the familiar voice of Billie Holiday, just barely audible outside the shop.

And there in the back, amidst the waist high shelves, was his best friend.  Steve’s eyes widened as he watched him grab a record from a cart next to him, handing it to a girl who seemed to be the only employee present.  There was a flush in his cheeks, a shy smile tugging at his lips, that the blond hadn’t seen since the forties.

The girl seemed to be just as enamoured as him as she placed the record amongst the stacks.  Her movements were slow, unhurried, as she took each record that Bucky offered her.  She seemed so content to just be in his presence.

Bucky’s mouth moved silently and he lit up like a Christmas tree as he watched the girl erupt into giggles.  Her teeth caught her lower lip as she moved to shelve yet another record, but she froze as the man’s flesh hand reached up to gently tug it, releasing it.  The two of them were stuck in place, too lost in each other to think about the task at hand.

And despite the fact that anyone could walk past at any moment and see them through the window, Steve felt like he was intruding on something… private.  The intimacy between the two so apparent that it sent a blush to his cheeks to have seen it.  Just before he turned to leave, he saw Bucky rub the back of his neck in embarrassment, the both of them attempting to pretend that they didn’t just have a moment.

He went back the next day, when he knew that Bucky would be stuck at the Tower for at least a few more hours.  He wanted to be able to talk to her in private, to maybe ask her intentions.

And yeah, it was really shady for him to go behind Bucky’s back, but he wasn’t about to just let some girl walk in and fuck with his emotions if she didn’t intend on staying.

So he made the trek up to tenth once again, though it went a lot faster now that he knew where he was going and he didn’t have to hide.

Rosemary’s Corner looked almost the exact same during daylight, though Steve wasn’t sure why he was expecting any different.  The only difference is that there’s a few more patrons than just Bucky during the day all spread out through the shop.

The girl’s sitting at the cash register towards the back, flipping through a book.  She looked up as the bells above the door chimed with his entrance, an easy smile gracing her features.  His eyes are drawn to her shirt, recognizing it as the flannel that Bucky had been wearing the night before over his t-shirt.  The sleeves were rolled in order to accommodate her—she wasn’t exactly the size of the super soldier—but she looked so cozy it was hard to imagine her ever wishing him harm.  “Hi!  Welcome to Rosemary’s!”

He tried to pretend as though he’s not there to interrogate her, perusing through the stacks in what he hopes is a casual and aimless manner.

“Hi.”

Steve jumped, whirling around to stare at the girl.  “Hey.”  The super soldier was more than a little surprised that she was able to sneak up at him—he had espionage training from Natasha fucking Romanoff.  But even so, she’d somehow managed to approach him without making the slightest noise.

“You’re James’s friend, Steve,” she said, holding out her hand for him to shake as she gave him her name.

He eyed her hand warily.  “How do you know me?”

Her eyebrows rose as she stared at him, reminding him a little too much of how a certain redhead would look at him when he was being particularly stupid.  “It takes more than a baseball hat to fool me, Captain.”

Swallowing, he crossed his arms over his chest, going into full Captain mode.  “Then I’m sure you know why I’m here.”

But she simply breezed past him, heading for a cart at the end of the aisle with a sign on it that read Don’t want it?  Leave it here!  Thanks!

He stood there in his spot for what seemed like ages, staring after her.  Did she really just disregard him?  He was Captain fucking America.  No one had disregarded him like that since he was in the USO shows.

“You know, I used to come here everyday when I was a student,” she said, pushing up the sleeves of the flannel to her elbows, before nudging the cart towards the first row of stacks.  “Back then, it was owned by Albert Cook.  He opened it for his wife back in ‘97 because his wife, Rosemary, missed records.  Everyone was using CDs at that point, and it just wasn’t the same.  They added the coffee shop in ‘02.”

Steve followed her like a puppy as she reshelved the records.  He wasn’t sure where she was going with all of this, but she’d made it clear that she wasn’t going to put up with him pushing her around.

“They hired me here my freshman year, but I was here even when I wasn’t working.  It’s my favorite place in the entire world, and Albert and Rosemary became my home away from home.  It’s not easy moving so far from home for college, but they helped me.  A lot.  Two years after I graduated, it became mine.”  She paused, staring at the Cher record in her hand.  Her eyes glimmered with unshed tears and Steve could feel the sorrow rolling off of her in waves.  “Albert passed and in his will…  I told Rosemary that I wasn’t going to take the shop from her, that she could have it, but she insisted I take it.  Apparently her and Albert had decided to put me in his will ages before he died…”  Her eyes crinkled up as she laughed, “I thought their kids were going to shit themselves.  They were so mad.”  She shrugged as she finally put the Cher record in its place.  “Rosemary didn’t really understand why they were so mad about me getting the shop when they never came in.  But she moved upstate with her kids and I moved into the apartment upstairs.  I still see her every week for lunch.”

“Excuse my interruption,” Steve said when he finally sensed a pause.  “But why are you telling me all of this?”

She finally turned to him then, looking so open and honest that it took him aback.  “You’re here to question me about James, and I get that.  He’s been through a lot.”

“He’s told you?” He asked, blue eyes wide.  “About all the… HYDRA stuff?”  At her nod, he narrowed his eyes at her.  “But he never tells anyone about—”

“Well, he tells me,” she snapped, her hands going to her hips.  “I know about all the things he’s done and I don’t care.  He’s the best man I’ve ever met.”  The girl closed her eyes as she paused, taking in a deep breath.  When she opened her eyes, the storm in her eyes had settled.  “I need you to know that I love James.  I wouldn’t ever do anything to hurt him.  And while I can appreciate that he has a best friend like you—”

“You don’t like your loyalty being questioned,” Steve finished, much quieter.  He felt as though he’d been put in his place, which didn’t happen often.  “I…  I don’t either.  Not when it comes to Bucky.”

A sarcastic smile settled on her lips.  “We have that in common, Captain.”

The two of them went quiet as she went back to her task, occasionally having to go to the front to ring up a customer or make a cup of coffee.  At some point, Steve started helping her, handing her the records just as Bucky had been doing the night before.  Customers came and went, but as it got later, it got less and less populated.

“I changed the hours a few months after I got the shop,” she mused as she glanced over at the few college kids studying at one of the tables.  One of them had put on a Hozier album, the earthy songs sounding like they belonged on a record.  “It’s better for college students.  Gives them a place to study or just hang out late at night, and they can choose any album from the used record wall to play for free.”  Her nose scrunched as she smiled.  “And I’m not much of a morning person, so it gives me a reason to sleep in until noon.”

“Does he know you love him?” Steve asked suddenly, cheeks going a particular shade of pink.  “Bucky, I mean.”

“Yeah, I got that,” she said, nudging him.  But she was just as flushed as him.  “I hope so.  I haven’t exactly been subtle.  But I might have to make a move soon if he doesn’t.”

He cleared his throat, shoving his hands into his pockets.  “You should.  Make a move, that is.”

“He can be rather shy, can’t he?”

“What the hell are you doing here?”

Both of them looked up, startled, to see the man of the hour standing there in the doorway.  Neither of them had heard the bells above the door as he entered.

“James,” she breathed, a fond smile painting her lips as she saw him.  “You’re early tonight.”

His ocean eyes softened just a tad as they flickered over to her, but hardened juts as quickly when he turned his attention back to the other man.  “What are you doing here?”

“I followed you last night,” he said, apology clear in his eyes.

“Why?”

Steve flinched at the harshness of his tone, but knowing that he more than deserved it.  “I was worried, Buck.  You weren’t telling me where you were going, and you disappeared for so long and I was just…  I was worried.”

“You don’t have to take care of me,” Bucky said as he moved to stand in between his girl and his best friend.  “I’m more than capable of taking care of myself.”

“I know that.”

“Then why—”

“James,” she said, cutting him off, “He’s here because he cares.  We both do.”  The man searched her eyes, his metal hand gently resting on her elbow.  “I’m okay.  Captain America can’t scare me.”

Steve crossed his arms over his chest, once again feeling like an intruder.  He’d never seen his best friend so taken with a girl, so... enraptured.  “Don’t worry.  Your girl put me in my place faster than I could blink.”

The brunet flushed, shaking his head.  “She’s not—”

“I think I should go,” he said, backing towards the door.  “I’ll leave you two alone.  But, Buck—”  He nodded towards the girl, who had slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow.  “Don’t be afraid to bring her around the Tower.  I’m sure everyone would love her.”

Bucky nodded once, his arm moving to wrap around the girl’s waist and bring her into his chest.  “I will.”

As Steve stepped out into the night air, he was shocked by how late it had gotten, by just how long he’d spent in the shop.  A breeze promising an early winter ruffled his hair and sent a chill through him.  As he wrapped his jacket tighter around him, he took one last look at the two through the window.

The girl was pressed up against him, eyes sparkling as she stared up at Bucky.  He could clearly read the words ‘I love you’ on her lips and the shock on his best friend’s face.  Without a second thought, she pressed her lips to his, her fingers tangling in his hair.  It took a few seconds for his brain to start working again, but when it did, his arms wrapped around her tightly, pulling her in for another kiss just as she started to pull away.

Steve headed for the subway, a smirk on his lips.  “You’re in good hands, jerk.”

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky x you #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky x y/n #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes fic

[rainboq]

46 on the fluff/angst prompts list, LiS, your choice of ship.

I may have gotten a little carried away with this one.

Trapped in the Vortex

Max hugged the wall like her life depended on it. Which it probably did, well her social life did at any rate.

Chloe had told her that she’d be back what felt like an eternity ago. She didn’t actually know, she’d stupidly left her phone in her purse. Why did I think wearing a dress was a good idea?! I totally don’t have the body for it, and Chloe just showed up in her usual clothes. God I’m such an idiot.

Her head hurt from all the flashing lights and the pounding bass. No matter how many times she brought the solo cup of decidedly non-alcoholic punch to her lips, her mouth was always dry. She bit down on her chapped lower lip, the lipstick she had applied for whatever weird reason long since rubbed away by her nervous habit.

She wanted to go and try to find Chloe, but with all the flashing lights and bodies mashing together, she was more likely to get lost or get smacked in the face by an elbow than actually make any progress.

So, there she stands, trying to meld into the wall instead of just bolting from the party.

God why does anyone even hang out with a loser like me? I can’t even handle one stupid Vortex club party.

From the corner of her eye she spotted the person she most dreaded encountering that evening. She immediately regretted not simply bolting for the safety of her dorm when their eyes met. First surprise was on Victoria’s face, then sheer contempt.

If her mouth had been dry before, it was a desert now.

She hoped Victoria couldn’t see her hands shaking as she approached.

“Who let you in?” She sneered; her words shouted over the thumping bass.

“S-Stella.” Max managed, quietly cursing the stutter.

Victoria rolled her eyes. “Of course. Is that really your excuse for a little black dress Maxine?”

Max tried not to shrink further back into the wall, but failed. “It’s Max.”

“What. Ever. Do you seriously think you’ve got what it takes to step to the Vortex Club in that dress with fucking sneakers?”

“H-hey! I like my shoes!”

“Where the hell did you get such ratty converse, the fucking thrift shop?”

Victoria was dead on, as ever. “No!”

“Oh right. I forgot. Lame-o hipster Caulfield probably got them when they first came out and can’t afford anything new.”

Max started desperately looking for an exit and Victoria leaned closer, her face the picture of aloof contempt as she continued. “Just like your fucking camera, god I can’t believe they let trash like you into this school. You’d think they’d give a scholarship to someone actually talented.”

The words cut deep and she shrank further into the wall, her breath starting to hitch and her chest starting to feel like it was being squeezed. If Victoria could tell what she was doing, she gave no indication. “Your idiot selfies and dumbass polaroids might have impressed Mrs. Chavez, but you’re nothing. No fucking way a little twee waif like you is going to make it in the art world.”

“V-Victoria… I…” Max reached a hand up to her chest, clutching at the fabric of her dress as she struggled to breath. Her vision started to narrow. Her thoughts raced. She knew the signs of a panic attack, she had them often enough. But between Victoria tearing her apart, the sounds, the crush of the crowd and the lights…

“V-V-V-Victoria. Fuck, you can’t even talk lamefield.” Victoria pressed closer; her face twisted in disgust.

“Victoria!”

A hand clamped over Max’s shoulder and tugged her away. Victoria wheeled, her face a mask of rage. “What do you want?”

“How about you stop fucking with my date?” Rachel spat back. “And have you never seen a fucking panic attack before?”

Victoria blanched a little before throwing her hands up in disgust. “Oh, fuck off Amber, you and your little harem are so fucking low!”

Rachel tugged Max behind her, and she sagged into the other woman, glad for the barrier and for the familiar face. “Get fucking lost Chase, go suck Hayden’s dick again.”

Victoria rolled her eyes before disappearing into the crowd.

Rachel turned to Max, a finger tilting her head up bun the chin. “You okay Max?”

Max shook her head, her vision starting to get spotty. “C-can’t… breathe…”

Rachel nodded and wrapped an arm around Max, expertly guiding her through the crowd until they crashed out a side door and into the cool evening air. Max sagged and nearly collapsed, but Rachel kept her upright. “I know I’m not Chloe, but I need you to breathe with me, okay?”

Max nodded and tried to sync herself up to Rachel’s breathing. It took a few fumbled tries, but eventually she was able to find her pace and steady herself.

The pair ended up sitting in the grass in the gloom of dusk, blissfully upwind from a nearby pack of smokers. Rachel rubbed at her back as Max leaned into her. “Thanks Rachel…”

“Don’t mention it. Sorry about being so late, I got really held up. Chloe sent me to find you as soon as I got through the doors, but David saw her and practically dragged her out before she could follow.”

Max winced, dreading the thought of Chloe showing up with red face the next day. Or worse, a black eye. “Fuck.”

“She’ll be okay, I saw the whole thing and Chloe is heading to the junkyard until we’re done here, then she’ll crash at my place.” Rachel assured her, a hand moving up to gently brush Max’s hair.

“Okay… I just wish we could get out of here already.”

“Soon, my little doe, soon. We’ll all get out of here.”

Rachel tilted her head up with a tender hand on her cheek and the two shared a gentle kiss. When Max pulled away, Rachel grinned at her. “Of course, we can just get out of here now, and have our own party in American Rust.”

Max felt her cheeks starting to redden and Rachel giggled softly before tussling her hair. “You are seriously too cute. I totally get why Chloe never shut up about you.”

“You’re just saying that,” Max halfheartedly protested.

“No way! You are hella cute, and that dress actually looks pretty good on you. Victoria’s just jealous because she’s not getting any sweet action from you.”

Max’s cheeks were definitely burning now and she gathered her knees in her arms. “A-are you cereal?!”

“Oh god, that bitch acts like a fucking toddler when she has a crush. Total mean girl and then she has no idea why they run away. Actually, you know what? Let’s show her up.”

“What?” Max squeaked.

Rachel’s grin turned devilish. “Dance with me.”

“What?” She repeated, eyes wide.

“You heard me Caulfield, let’s go shake that cute little ass.”

Before she could object, Rachel hauled her to her feet and she was led by the arm back into the party. Somehow, Rachel found an empty space in the chaos, or one was made for her, Max wasn’t sure which. She tried to imitate Rachel’s dance moves, throwing herself about in a tangle of poorly coordinated limbs that she was sure would turn anyone off.

Instead Rachel looked delighted and moved closer, letting her body rub up against Max in ways she had no idea how to handle. The past month with the two girls had definitely been a month of firsts for her, and this was another for the pile. Especially with the way Rachel was grinding up against her.

Before her face could catch fire, the song changed to a slow dance and Rachel was all over her. At least Max could slow dance, it was just stepping in a circle.

Even if she had to try really hard not to step on Rachel’s feet.

She couldn’t tear her gaze from Rachel’s eyes. They shimmered with amusement, affection and dare Max hope she saw adoration as well?

That was probably a bit much, but Rachel had this way of making you seem like the center of her world, and it melted Max’s insides in just the right way. She barely even noticed when Rachel went in for a kiss, but when their lips met, she gave herself over to it, shutting her eyes and keeping the rest of the world out while she focused on it.

It was only when someone nearby let out a whoop that her eyes snapped open and she could see a bunch of people surrounding them openly gawking.

Especially the guys, but Dana did give her a shout of “You go girl!”

Rachel pulled back, a wicked grin on her face. “I think that did the trick, let’s go find Chloe.”

#life is strange #max caulfield #victoria chase #chloe price #rachel amber #amberpricefield #angst and fluff prompts #prompt tag

[dimitrescus-bitch]

Mixtape of Our Love - Chapter 3: Sleep Now in the Fire

"Come on, everybody else's girlfriend goes to watch the practices," Will pleaded with JJ. The two of them had been standing in the parking lot for the past five minutes since school had let out. JJ knew that Will wasn't really asking much, he never really asked too much of her. He had been fine with her distancing herself since she'd been taken off of her medication. He had been fine with JJ spending her nights with her friends instead of going on dates with him. Will had been good about all that stuff because he felt like JJ had been good to him before. Now though, there were times when he wondered if she was really invested in their relationship anymore.

"Okay, I'll be up there in a couple minutes," JJ said and Will leaned in to kiss her. JJ moved her head to the side a bit so that Will's kiss landed on her cheek instead of her mouth. Will frowned when JJ turned around and got into her car.

"I'll see you up there," Will said and JJ nodded. He ran over to a teammate's truck and got in the bed, joining a few of his other teammates.

"Sorry guys," JJ said as she turned to Garcia and Reid. "I'll drop you guys off real quick."

"We could have walked home. It's not too long," Reid and JJ shook her head. "You don't have to drive us everywhere."

"Reid, it's safer if I drive you," JJ pointed out. Garcia glanced at JJ, knowing the blonde felt bad about the couple of instances last year whenever she'd gotten sick and Reid had walked to and from school. It didn't help that Reid refused to accept the new copy of the book that had been ruined when some assholes threw Reid's backpack into a storm drain. Neither Garcia nor Reid decided to argue with JJ on that, especially since it was true. People may have been nice to JJ, but that curtesy was not normally extended to Penelope and Reid.

JJ dropped off her friends and then promptly turned her car around back towards the school. At a stoplight, she connected her phone to her car's radio and pressed play on her favorite playlist. Immediately, she was filled with a familiar feeling as the opening riff of one of JJ's favorite songs started. It wasn't often that JJ could just sit in her car, listen to music, and think about nothing. Instead of getting that chance at relaxation, she was going to watch her boyfriend's football practice. JJ loved sports, she always had, but nobody really cared to watch the practices, they wanted the games. JJ would never have asked Will to go to a soccer practice, especially since she knew he barely paid attention to her games when he went.

"You don't have to wait here. I'd be happy to drop you off at your place," Haley told Emily. "Aaron told me that you're not really interested in football. This gets boring for people who are interested."

"If I get too bored, I'll call for a car I guess," Emily half-joked. Haley wasn't quite sure whether or not she was supposed to laugh at that. Emily's had good humor, but occasionally she'd joke about things that most people didn't really understand.

"Most people say they'll get an Uber or Lyft," JJ said, spooking Emily a bit. Emily and Haley both turned to where JJ was leaning against the side of her car. Emily noted that JJ wasn't wearing the same outfit that she had been during lunch. JJ's skinny jeans were traded in for a pair of basketball shorts and her floral top had been traded in for a Patriots shirt with the sleeves and part of the bottom cut off. Emily would have been lying if she said that she didn't find JJ to be very attractive in that outfit. Well, she'd have been lying if she had said she didn't find JJ generally attractive. JJ was the kind of girl that Emily knew her mother would have liked her to be on some level: preppy, popular, and athletic.

"I wasn't talking about those things. I shouldn't let strangers know where an ambassador's house is," Emily pointed out. JJ pushed off of the side of the car and walked over towards Emily and Haley. Haley joined the other cheerleaders and Emily followed JJ over to the bleachers. It took a whole 10 minutes for JJ to decide that she wanted to be absolutely anywhere else.

"Wanna go get a pizza?" JJ asked Emily randomly. "There's this place that has like experimental-type shit. It's pretty cool."

"Won't William get mad that you just left?" Emily asked and JJ shook her head. "Oh, that's very cool of him."

"I just need to tell him that I got hungry," JJ said as she sent a text to Will. JJ stood up and offered a hand to Emily, who accepted it. The two of them walked back to JJ's car and on instinct, JJ got the door for Emily.

"Oh, thank you." Emily sat down in the passenger's seat and JJ shut the door. She jogged over to the driver's side and opened the door. She slid into her own seat, buckled up, and then shut the door. JJ put her keys in the ignition and turned the engine on. For a moment, the car made a sputtering noise, but started right up. "I don't think your car is supposed to sound like that."

"It's kind of old, but nothing I can't fix," JJ said with a wink. Emily turned her head away from JJ slightly and bit the corner of her lip. JJ switched on the radio, hoping that Emily liked whatever Garcia had put it to that morning. "I don't know what kind of music you like, so I hope this is okay."

"It's definitely interesting," Emily said. She smiled as the song that Garcia had been humming during their homeroom came on. "I take it this is Garcia's station pick. Reid strikes me more as a classical kind of guy."

"He definitely is and yeah, Garcia picked this station this morning," JJ answered. "I let them have full control over the radio when I drive. It doesn't really matter what's playing most of the time though, we tend to be a talkative little group."

"It's nice to have people that you feel comfortable talking around." JJ glanced over at Emily, noting the slightly sad tone in her voice. Emily brushed it off quickly though, tapping her fingers to the beat of the song on her lap.

"Garcia definitely likes you, and I think Reid does too. Sometimes it's hard to tell. If any of us overstep, just tell us," JJ said and Emily nodded. The two of them spent the rest of the ride in silence, but unlike the silences that Emily was used to, this one wasn't awkward or uncomfortable. Emily could tell that JJ was still trying to get a feel for her still. In a lot of ways, Emily was trying to get a feel for JJ too. The general consensus on JJ was that she was a nice and welcoming person, which Emily honestly had to agree with. "We're here!"

"What is that smell?" Emily asked as she got out of JJ's car. It was definitely coming from the pizza place. JJ's face contorted a bit when it hit her, but she gave Emily a small smile and then walked into the pizza place. Once they were inside, an array of different scents hit them. It smelled like pizza, but also like some very distinct toppings. JJ grabbed Emily's wrist and gently pulled her over to a table. A waiter handed them menus and two cups so that they could get their drinks when they were ready.

"What sounds good to you?" JJ asked Emily as they both flipped through the menu. "They don't really a whole lot of the same things from the last time I was here."

"Well, what did you get?" Emily asked and JJ thought back on when Garcia had brought her there to pick up pizza for game night.

"It was sort of like a regular pizza, but there were mozzarella stick bits on top," JJ told her. "I'm thinking of getting a slice of the Cheetos pizza and then we can share a dessert one if you'd like. The slices are pretty big here."

"I guess that sounds good," Emily said as she flipped through the menu. Most of what she saw seemed too weird to actually be good. This was obviously a gimmick restaurant, something that was created to make Buzzfeed headlines and attract hipsters. Growing slightly frustrated with the lack of appealing choices, Emily huffed and just set the menu down. The same waiter from before walked over to them to take their orders. JJ gave hers first and then Emily just asked for a slice of cheese pizza and he walked off. There was a number card left at their table so that nobody took it while they were getting their drinks.

"Sometimes Reid, Garcia, and I come here just to see if they got any new sodas in," JJ said as she looked at the selection.

"Anything new?" Emily asked and JJ shook her head. JJ kept looking for something specific, exclaiming a little in excitement when she found it. Emily kept on looking at the selection until she stumbled upon something she'd tried in Prague, but never found anywhere else.

"Is that any good?" JJ asked as she watched Emily get her drink. The color was off-putting to say the very least. Emily's mother had let her go to one of the factories where it was made and if not for the extra dye, it would have been a very nice and warm brown color, like a cider. Instead, there was a greenish tint to the brown that made it look a little sickening.

"Once you get past the color, it's great," Emily told her. JJ nodded and led Emily back to their table. Minutes later, their pizza came and neither of them had to figure out a good conversation topic just yet. "There's a blueberry flavor that looks a lot nicer. It doesn't as strong of a flavor though."

"Sometimes subtle flavors are nice," JJ said thoughtlessly. Emily could see a bit of distance behind her eyes as she stared off towards the window. Thinking that maybe someone was there, Emily turned around, but didn't see anybody from school. JJ's phone started to buzz, distracting both of them for a moment.

"Sorry, I have to take this. It's Will," JJ said and Emily nodded. JJ slid away from their table and stepped outside. Emily watched as she paced around on the sidewalk. Emily felt a little guilty watching JJ, so she turned away and focused back on her pizza. It wasn't a simple cheese pizza. Yes, there was mozzarella, but there were also cheeses that Emily had definitely only eaten in France.

She remembered that night well because it'd been the last one she spent there before her mother was moved to a new embassy. It was one of the few times that Emily and Elizabeth had genuinely enjoyed spending time with each other. Emily knew that her mother loved her, but it was difficult for the two of them to relate. Yes, Emily did what she could to be a daughter that her parents could be proud of, but there were definitely things that Emily knew she did that Elizabeth wished she wouldn't. But for that night, there was no tension between the Prentiss women at all and Emily had come out of that dinner with a greater understanding of the difficulties of trying to parent with her mother's job.

"Hey, you okay?" JJ asked. Emily hadn't noticed that JJ had come back inside of the pizza place. For a moment, Emily wondered how long JJ had been there before saying something. She had to been there long enough to notice that something was weighing on Emily's mind. Taking a deep breath, Emily turned to where JJ was sitting back down in her chair.

"I'm fine. The cheese got me thinking about a dinner I had with my mom in France before we left." Emily hadn't expected herself to have answered so honestly. She had known JJ for maybe a week and a half now, but the blonde had a trustworthy vibe and Emily had a knack for figuring out the vibes of other people. She had met a lot of genuinely scummy people and JJ wasn't one of them, nor was on the path to becoming one. "Nostalgia I guess."

"Man, I almost forgot that you got to travel the world before getting stuck here," JJ said with a chuckle. "Is Europe nice?"

"Very, the parts of it I stayed at. If you get the chance to see it, you should," Emily advised her.

"And if I don't?" JJ asked. It was almost flirty, the tone of her voice and the way that she leaned in towards Emily a bit.

"My mom's got a private plane that I'm sure I could get for a week or so." JJ leaned back a bit, unsure of whether or not Emily was being serious. Emily kept in her amusement at the sort of shocked look on JJ's face and just focused on finishing her pizza and soda.

"I might just have to take you up on that."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The call from her mother on her drive home that there was a gift waiting for her in the garage had excited JJ. Her parents, at least her father, knew that JJ's car had been making suspicious noises for the past month or so. JJ also knew that her parents had been helping her grandpa pick out a new truck to possibly get. JJ had gotten to be included on the conversation a few times, and she'd helped them decide on one at a smaller lot that wouldn't be as expensive as one from the city. So, yes, JJ had sped home to see if the old truck was in the garage waiting for her.

"Hell yeah," JJ muttered as she saw the truck sitting there. She'd be getting a paint job, maybe a nice sky blue or possibly a glossy black. The old and faded red may have been aesthetically pleasing on the farm, but JJ was not planning on keeping it there. Even if the gas mileage sucked on the truck, she could use it until her dad told her what she needed to fix her own car. JJ turned the truck on and almost immediately noticed that it'd need new headlights. When she went to take it for a little spin, she noticed that the tires also were starting to need to be replaced.

The garage had headlights somewhere. JJ remembered her dad talking about bringing in the truck to try and keep it in good shape. It was older, but it was also a genuinely nice vehicle. The new headlights were sitting in the box, unopened. JJ contemplated waiting a while and just buying some LEDs whenever she had the time, but if she needed to go out at night, she wanted a more trustworthy vehicle than her car. JJ popped the hood of the truck and felt around the front until she hit the headlight holder. She leaned down a bit to make sure she properly disconnected the wires before taking out the old bulb. She put the new ones in and reconnected all the wires that had to be reconnected. Once she finished the first side, she walked over and changed out the other side's headlights.

"Can we talk about earlier?" Will asked, spooking JJ a bit. She didn't jump, but if she had, she definitely would have hit her head on the hood of her new truck.

"We can if you help me move some tires," JJ said and Will nodded. JJ led Will towards the back of the garage. Really, it was more like a warehouse or a really big shed that her dad used to fix their cars and the farm equipment when it needed to be fixed. "What's up?"

"You blew off my practice to get pizza with that new girl," Will said and JJ sighed. "You promised me you'd come."

"I did, I was there for a bit. I got hungry Will and Emily doesn't have a lot of friends here. I was hoping that maybe I could be one more of them. I am sorry if me leaving early upset you," JJ apologized. Will grit his teeth a little bit, but he just nodded in acceptance. He knew that JJ was legitimately sorry for blowing him off, but he also knew that it'd most likely happen again. Will tried to make JJ a priority, but lately, it didn't feel like JJ wanted Will to be one of her top priorities.

"It's fine. You don't have to tell me that it won't happen again because it will, but that's fine. This is a rough time for you," Will said and JJ cleared her throat awkwardly.

"Let's just, move these tires okay?" JJ suggested and Will nodded. JJ pointed Will in the direction of the tires that she was sure were meant for the truck and the two of them moved them together. JJ probably could have gotten them all herself, but since Will was there and willing to help her, she'd take him up on that.

"I'm gonna head out if you don't need any more help," Will said and JJ nodded. She waved at him and then got the jack ready. Will sighed and walked away from her. Once Will was gone, JJ put some music on from her phone and then got to work. It was simple, she just did what her father had taught her to do before she'd even started driving. They had been driving back from an Eagles game and despite their animosity after the Patriots had won that game, Richard had requested that JJ be there for the teachable moment.

It was easier to do now than it had been then. JJ could move the tires easier and she'd gotten more experience with the jack and wrenches. She had built up strength and experience in the four years since that night. JJ had also taken more of an interest in building and fixing things. Whenever her dad would work late, she was the one who helped her mother. JJ had even taken shop class her junior year and impressed the teacher with her ability to use the correct tools.

Even after JJ had finished fixing the tires on the truck, she stayed in the garage. It was obvious whose section was whose. Most of it was her father's or grandfather's, but there was a little area that was just hers. She kept her tools there, both the ones she bought to actually use and the ones that she had bought because she thought they looked cool. Of course if she needed them, she would use them, but those ones weren't as commonly used as the others. JJ sat back in the wooden chair that she'd build with her dad and Roslyn. It had been a rough process, but JJ was proud of what they'd built together. Especially since it was one of the last memories she had of getting to do something with her sister.

"Hey kiddo," Richard greeted as he walked into the garage. "Those new tires?"

"They are," JJ said as Richard kicked one of them to check it. "Can you not kick my handiwork please?"

"Can't have my little girl driving around on loose tires," Richard said and JJ scoffed.

"If they're loose it's because you didn't teach me how to tighten correctly," JJ pointed out. Richard ruffled JJ's hair and looked at the letters carved into the back of the chair JJ was sitting in.

"You two were so proud when the chair was done." Richard smiled fondly at the memory.

"You yelled at us more that day than you had our entire lives," JJ chuckled. "And then you lost it when we signed the chair."

"An artist always leaves their signature." Richard's smile fell a little as he repeated what Roslyn had told him. "She told me it was her idea at first so I wouldn't get mad at you."

"And I said it was a team effort. I think you were angrier about us using that burning tool to do it," JJ speculated. Richard nodded as he leaned against the truck.

"I'd hug you to close out this nice moment, but you're sweaty and you smell like rubber," Richard said and JJ rolled her eyes at him. "Quick beer before we head in for dinner?"

"That'd be nice," JJ said and Richard walked over to grab a couple bottles from the mini-fridge in the corner. Richard handed one to JJ and they stood there and drank together, both of them thinking silently about that day to themselves.

#mixtape of our love #jemily #criminal minds fanfiction #jennifer jareau #jennifer jareau x emily prentiss #emily prentiss

[shan2-d2]

As the garbage fire year of 2020 continues, I have been struggling to find something to fill the Schitt’s-Creek-sized hole in my heart.

Which, come to think of it, replaced the Parks-and-Rec-sized hole in my heart prior to that.  I’ve always been a sucker for “soft” television, but with everything going on the world, whatever tolerance I had for heavier fare has disappeared completely.  Like, yeah, I’d love to catch I May Destroy You or I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, but I just. Can’t. Handle. Them. Right now, anyway.  

I do have some old standards to fall back on-- Bob’s Burgers, The Good Place, The Great British Baking Show, and Kim’s Convenience (bless you, Canada) work just fine.  But with so much time at home, I’ve been getting antsy for new, soft, comforting content.

Then I watched Julie and the Phantoms on Netflix.

And I loved it SO. MUCH. 

(Warning, since this is a family-friendly show: profanity ahead.)

Which, I have to admit, I’m kind of embarrassed about.  Like, look: I fully own up to the fact that my tastes aren’t exactly refined or mature.  I’m one of those contemptible “childless millennials”, after all.  There are things on my Netflix and Spotify lists that would make film buffs and hipsters cry.

But what I will give myself a pat on the back for is that I’m extremely open-minded when it comes to any sort of art consumption.  My tastes are super-varied, and I don’t have the burden of worrying about what is “socially acceptable” for me to watch.  I can watch Barry and Fleabag just as happily as I can watch Sarah & Duck (literally, a show for preschoolers that works better than any anti-anxiety medication I’ve tried) and old episodes of Tiny Toon Adventures.

Regardless, there’s embarrassment. Which is not about the fact that it’s a cheesy, High-School-Musical-esque, pre-teen friendly series, actually (... okay, maybe a little), but because the aging freakout is real, my friends.  Hitting the “Oh-My-God, I’d-Have-To-Play-the-PARENT” period of your life is fucking rough.  

Basically, in the words of Roger Murtaugh... I’m too old for this shit.

But I’m trying to tell myself that 1) Generation Z is delightful and I refuse to feel guilt for appreciating them, 2) god knows we’re all watching Stranger Things without embarrassment, and those kids are, like, twelve, and 3) now that I’m apparently ANCIENT, I’m supposed to stop caring about what other people think.

So: Julie and the Phantoms made my heart grow three sizes and I loved it a whole lot.

Quick synopsis: Julie, our hero, is a performing arts school student who is grieving the death of her mom and unable to continue making/playing music because of it.  One day, three ghosts of teenage boys who were in a mid-90’s rock band show up in her garage.  They form a new band (insert title of show here) and help Julie rediscover her love of music, while she helps them navigate the afterlife.  Bonding occurs, lessons are learned, the power of friendship is discovered, you get the idea.

And okay-- at its surface, it’s family-friendly entertainment, you know? Cute story, funny moments, the music is catchy, the whole cast is super talented (and, hey, can actually play their instruments! Whaddaya know!).

But the CHARACTERS!  THE SOFTNESS! THE REPRESENTATION!  If this is how young adults are going to written from now on, sign me the fuck up.

First of all, the two female leads of the show are women of color-- Julie (Madison Reyes) is Latinx and her best friend, Flynn (Jadah Marie), is Black.  That alone is (sadly, STILL) noteworthy, but I literally wanted to stand on my couch and yell about how wonderfully self-assured, smart, mature, strong, and competent these girls are.  Julie, in particular, is just… she’s just so cool, you guys. She never once has to rely on anyone else but herself to get shit done, and she takes responsibility for her own actions.  The girl very clearly knows her talent, capabilities, and worth, and PHEW, do we need to see more young women like her on our screens!  Like, yes, the boys support her, but they’re complete equals.  Julie doesn’t need any male saviors up in this business. She’s got this.  I LOVE HER. I SOMEHOW WANT TO BE HER WHEN I GROW UP, EVEN THOUGH SHE’S LIKE HALF MY AGE (oh GOD. I’m so OLD).

In fact, throughout the series, the importance of honesty, respect, and healthy support is repeatedly emphasized.  There’s no dependency issues here, and lying of any kind is clearly forbidden.  Which I loved, because the whole “teen lying to everyone” storyline has been done to death.

Then there’s the three boys of Sunset Curve-- Luke (Charlie Gillespie), Alex (Owen Joyner), and Reggie (Jeremy Shada), i.e. the messengers of destruction for toxic masculinity.  THIS IS THE MALE FRIENDSHIP PORTRAYAL WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR, PEOPLE.  They’re so nice to each other! They’re so supportive! They’re tactile, openly emotional, and completely devoid of judgment of any interests or behaviors that don’t follow male social standards.  Bless the Age of the Soft Boys, may their reign be unbreakable and everlasting.

Oh, and Alex is openly gay.  It’s not just hinted at-- he’s out and proud, with an adorable crush/pre-relationship with a skater boy named Willie (Booboo Stewart).  And, apart from a quick mention about Alex’s parents being homophobic, the show pretty much takes the Schitt’s Creek route-- all love and acceptance, with not much of a thing made of his sexuality at all (in fact, there’s enough evidence that none of the boys are completely straight, and I’m here for that, too).

And if all of that isn’t enough of a cuddle to the heart for you, THERE’S MORE:

Julie’s supportive, soft dad

Reggie’s immediate, one-sided bond with Julie’s supportive, soft dad and her brother

Julie and Luke totally have crushes on each other and it’s SO SWEET but completely age-appropriate, good job guys

I’m a sucker for good harmonies and the band HAS ‘EM IN SPADES

Flynn being HBIC the entire series

Julie’s crush Nick being very realistically awkward and dopey in the shadow of Luke’s arms (Nick, dude, lose that HAT, I beg of you)

A surprisingly moving side-plot/song about Luke’s parents

Alex just wanting to dance, and also being a high-key feminist and calling out the others when they slip up

EVERYONE’S JUST SO FUCKING NICE, OKAY

So yeah. Shut up. It’s wonderful and pure, and I WILL TAKE ANY SOFTNESS I CAN GET IN THIS HELL YEAR, WHEREVER I CAN GET IT.

In conclusion, Kenny Ortega can have my entire soul if he wants it, for not only this but also Hocus Pocus and Newsies.

Completely Unnecessary Afterword:

Being old enough to remember 1995-- and, specifically, what was popular that year-- has brought up some important questions regarding the Sunset Curve boys:

We know they died in ‘95, but like… when? Did they get to see Empire Records, for Christ’s sake?! Did they see Casper, because, I mean, they’re basically the Devon Sawas of 2020?  Were they spared their contemporaries’ fate of constantly over-quoting Billy Madison and Tommy Boy?  

OH MY GOD, DID THEY HAVE AOL SCREEN NAMES, AND WHAT WERE THEY??

What are each of the guys’ favorite song off of Boyz II Men’s “II”? This is possibly the MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION.

Did they die before Jagged Little Pill came out?  That would kind of break my heart.  Not that I expect Julie to start portraying Alanis-levels of anger/angst, but ‘95 was a YEAR for women in rock.  Garbage, Hole, No Doubt, PJ Harvey, The Cranberries, Veruca Salt, Bjork, and countless others-- they all had massive hits that year.  I love the idea of Julie and the guys sitting around the garage listening to all of those women for inspiration.  Can we have a resurgence of female-led rock bands taking over the charts, please?

On a much more serious note, given where the AIDS crisis was in ‘95, it’s no wonder Alex is a nervous wreck. It’s not really something I expect the show to delve into, but man… getting transported to 2020 might’ve been a bit of a blessing (not that things are great now, but y’know, medical progress).

How in the world did none of them fall victim to the whole “white boys dressing hip-hop” trend back in ‘95? I mean… Clueless got it right. (Wait, did they make it to Clueless??)

#julie and the phantoms #jatp #blog #netflix #I am old

[shadows-and-flowercrowns]

Reforget (pt1)

There are lost loves that you can mourn for openly but the pain Elain feels now is something that needs to be kept secret. Because of this, Elain has been distancing herself from the rest of the inner circle for a few weeks. Tonight was supposed to be a care-free reunion with her sister but when Azriel’s name is brought up again, Elain begins to spiral. 

__________________________________________________

Elain fought the instinct to roll her eyes as she caught the nervous look her sisters shared.

They wouldn't confront her. They never did.

She took a sip from her drink, wondering if their timidness around her was part of the problem.

It had been like this her whole life, everyone walking on eggs shells around her like she was some fragile thing moments away from shattering completely. Even when they were small children, the two of them had done everything in their power to shield her from the realties of how bad things had become with their mother, so much so that her death had completely blindsided Elain. 

Both Nesta and Feyre had stayed silent through her relationship with Grayson. The only commented on how much they disliked him after he had ended things with her.

Elain ran an idle finger down the side of her glass, swirling the condensation building up on the side as she remembered back to the days where the grief of her cancelled engagement had utterly consumed her. She hadn't eaten much, stopped speaking to anyone unless it was absolutely essential.

Elain had let herself wither away as she mourned the loss of her love and the life she had planned on having. 

In a way, that had been easier. There was a peace that came with the freedom of being able to grieve openly. 

But this? This was nothing like it had been with Grayson.

She smiled, a bland thing that she knew didn't reach her eyes, back up at her sisters. She leaned forward, signaling for Nesta to continue on with her story about the most recent bout of shenanigan's Cassian had gotten into.

Elain didn't care about anything she was saying. 

Well, that wasn't true. She cared so deeply that it was driving her mad. 

It had been weeks since Elain had withdrawn from their circle of friends, making up paper thin excuses and cancelling well established plans. This was the first time she had even seen her sisters. 

Even this had nearly been ruined when Feyre had excitedly text back that she would make sure that Mor and Amren were free too. Elain had sent a rushed text back saying that she really needed some quality sister time. She wasn't ready to see the others yet. 

Still, she kept her ears perked, listening for even a hint of an update. She couldn't ask outright, it would give too much away but she was desperate.

"..anyway, that's when Azriel showed up. He made the two of them take off the elephant onesies and get back to work before HR got wind of what they were up to."

Feyre laughed, wiping her eyes. "Typical Az. How's he doing lately?"

Elain jolted, realizing with a start that Feyre was addressing her.

"Good." She said with a non-committal shrug. 

"Really?" Nesta asked, head cocked to the side, "He's been acting odd lately. Cassian said he won't talk about it but something is definitely up.” 

“I’m not sure. We haven’t talked. Not for a few weeks.”

Feyre nodded but Nesta narrowed her eyes at Elain. 

"This doesn't have anything to do with your disappearing act, does it?"

Feyre elbowed Nesta but she kept gaze fixed on Elain. 

"I don't know what you're talking about." Elain answered, a nervous giggle bubbling to her lips.

She quickly downed the rest of her drink to buy herself more time. She hopped off her stool, ignoring the tell tale wobble in her knees that told her that it was time to go home. 

"Come on, lets go dance!" She said with a little too much enthusiasm before marching into the crowd of people on the small dance floor, praying that they wouldn't follow. 

Elain needed to move, just needed to get away from them. Her eyes were burning and it would only be a matter of time before Nesta bluntly plowed into a conversation Elain wasn't ready to have.  

It had been a mistake to bring them here tonight. She had hoped that this could be the first step in bringing back a sense of normalcy in her life. At the start, she knew she wasn't strong enough to even hear Azriel's name in casual conversation so when she pulled away, she pulled back from the two of them as well. 

Elain had thought enough time had passed, she thought she was ready. She had told herself all day that she could handle this.

Oh, how wrong she had been.

After arriving at the bar, Elain had casually asked what her brother-in-laws were doing.

Simple.

Innocent.

Feyre explained that they were having a night out on the town and it was then that she spoke Azriel's name for the first time. Elain had downed the contents of the glass in front of her then too, quickly shouting to the bartender to make the next round a double before she realized that her sisters were giving her a strange look.

That had been several drinks ago.

A man touched her hips, pulling her in closer to dance. Elain leaned into his touch and, after a moment, let her hips settle against him as she danced in time with the music. 

There was no reason to feel guilty. 

None.

Not when Azriel had made it obvious that her feelings were just a one sided obsession that would never go further. 

The stranger let his hands trail over her, his finger tips brushing gently against the exposed skin of her arms.

Memories flashed in her mind, Azriel's scared hand pulling back from her with a jerk. The shame of it all twisting through her stomach once more as a wave of despair crashed over her.  

In an instant she was pushing away from the stranger, twisting and bouncing away until she was further inside the crowd of people. 

Though she become a regular in recent weeks, Elain hated this dingy little hipster bar on the west side. It was dirty and the air conditioner was shit so she always felt sticky in the summer heat.

The only good thing she could say about it was that the drinks were strong, making it so her memories of this place were nothing more than constant blur of bodies moving past her. 

She hated it.

Elain missed the nights spent at the quiet bar near the townhouse, the one with the booth they used to all sit around. That is where they should all be right now; in their booth, his arm tossed casually behind her as they all laughed at something ridiculous Cassian or Rhys had just said.

Her stomach surged as she thought of where he might be now.

Probably in a glitzy club downtown. Probably with her. Elain had gone with them to places like that, never truly enjoying herself but finding solace in his presence. Suddenly, it all became too much and Elain pushed her way out of the crowd to a trash can in the corner near the DJ stand. 

"Alright, its time for you to go." A gruff male voice was saying as she emptied her stomach. "We've got her." Nesta said forcefully from somewhere right behind her. Elain felt her sister's cold hands grasp her upper arm but Elain jerked out of her touch. 

When she was finally confident that she could walk to the front door without getting sick on the dance floor, Elain stood, straightening her back as much as possible. 

She could see Feyre near the door, her phone pressed to her ear, a frantic look plastered over her face as she spoke to whoever was on the other end. Rhys, probably. 

With as much dignity as she could muster, Elain walked towards her, shaking off Nesta's second attempt to physically steer her. 

As she neared Feyre, Elain flashed both of her sisters a look, silently daring them to say anything. Feyre glanced down at the floor, falling in step behind them but not before Elain saw the pitting look Feyre gave her. 

Anger licked its way through Elain, causing the skin on her chest and neck to flush. How dare they judge her after all of the mistakes they had done?

Had Elain judged them? No.

Not when Nesta had slept with half the men in the city.

Not when Feyre ran away from home with that psychopath. 

And Elain, who had always kept herself on such a tight leash would be damned if she let them judge her now. She didn't even care if it would cause a scene. Hell, it would be nice to lose control for once.

Elain threw open the front door and the night air washed over her. As she took a deep breath in, she let the cool air fill her lungs. She turned to face her sisters, ready to fight but froze. The hot anger that had coursed its way through Elain's blood so quickly disappeared as fast as it had come, leaving her cold and drained. 

She had expected judgement, maybe even disgust, but both of her sisters had a look of understanding that shook her more than she had ever imagined. 

Elain walked over to the side of the building, raising a hand to brace herself against the brick wall. The world was spinning and she needed something, anything, to anchor her in place. 

She hadn't even realized she was crying until Nesta threw an arm over her shoulder and Elain instinctively turned into her. She felt Nesta wrap her arms around her, pulling her in closer and Elain's chest opened as she let the tears fall thick and heavy. 

Shit.

Shit.

How had she let this happen? How had she let herself fall for a man who could  never love her in return?

He had been honest with her from the moment they met, confiding in her about his intimacy and trust issues from his abusive childhood. Still, they had grown close. They were able to find peace with one another when their friends and family became too loud. The two of them had traded in secrets of heart ache and pain until the hurt was soothed to be masked with laughter and joy. 

Elain had only ever wanted to be friends with him. She had been grateful to have someone she could open up to after the disastrous end with Grayson. 

She had never wanted these feelings but they crept up so slowly, infecting her very essence until every cell hummed with the desire to be with him. 

The pain with Grayson made sense. 

Of course, she should be sad for that loss. That was a pain that was commonly understood.

But how was she supposed to explain this?

How could she even begin to make people understand that the love she had for Azriel made her feelings towards Grayson feel like cobwebs? How could she let people know that, though he had never truly been hers, she had felt that her soul had somehow been made of the same substance? 

A slight intake of breath from Feyre caused Elain to pull back from Nesta's embrace. 

A black sedan had pulled up to the curb in front of them and Elain was able to make out Rhys in the driver seat. Feyre instantly rushed towards the front door but Rhys held up a hand, halting Feyre.

Elain wiped her eyes, startled by what she was seeing.

In the years they had been together, Elain had only ever seen her brother-in-law let his anger slip through his calm façade on a select few occasions. Those moments were tied to some of Elain's most painful memories: him returning home from Mor's court case saying that the judge had sided with her abuser, watching their father try to explain why he walked out their lives after their mother had passed away, finding out that Cassian's father had known he became homeless at a young age yet chose to do nothing. 

Now, he was visibly angry and she watched as his mouth moved, clearly arguing with someone before punching a button on his car's console. 

Fear washed over Elain. 

Rhys pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment before his shoulders relaxed. There was the sound of a soft click as the door unlocked before Elain was being pulled into the backseat by Nesta.

A stillness that settled over them. Elain couldn't make out the quiet whispers exchanged between Rhys and Feyre but Elain knew that they were talking about her. Elain wanted to apologize but the words were stuck in her throat Instead of saying anything, Elain leaned into Neta. Quiet tears fell down her cheeks as, in the darkness of the backseat, she admitted to herself that she truly was pathetic. Her chest burned with the shame of it all. 

She closed her eyes, so tired of the constant pain in her chest. She prayed for it to stop until the dark blanket of sleep settled over her. 

The next morning was terrible. 

It took longer than Elian would care to admit for her to roll herself out of bed and stumble into a warm shower. 

She felt sick.

Her head was pounding and her body ached in ways that she hadn't imagined possible. Then there was the shame. She cringed as flashes of last night resurfaced. 

She couldn’t remember how exactly she had gotten into her apartment and into bed. There was a vague memory of someone carrying her. 

Exactly what she wanted. Her brother-in-law to have to carry her into bed because her dumbass had fallen in love with one of his best friends and didn’t know how to cope with his rejection like a flipping adult. 

Elain wanted to crawl back in bed and pretend nothing ever happened but she made herself look at her phone. 7 messages from Feyre, 3 from Nesta. 

She knew what they would say.. That they were worried about her but she needed to knock it off because getting blackout drunk by herself in a seedy neighborhood was just an unnecessary risk for her to be taking. 

Still, it hurt to read them.

 The right thing to do would be to message them back at the very least but Elain didn't feel like being mature yet. Instead, she put on a fresh pair of leggings and a tank top to at least be a tiny bit presentable so she could stop by the coffee shop down the corner from her apartment. 

She could face the rest after she had a little caffeine in her. 

She pulled open her front door and let out a scream.

Sitting on the floor against the wall across from her door was none other than Azriel.

He had been dozing but her piercing scream of fright turned into horrified surprise had jolted him away. Now she was staring into his hazel eyes for the first time in week. With each blink, the sleep cleared from his face to be replaced by a cold anger.

"We need to talk." 

Well, shit.

————————-

Part 2

#elriel #elain archeron #Azriel #azriel x elain #elain x azriel #azriel and elain #elain and azriel #reforget #acotar #acowar #acomaf

[deukaeloveclub]

Response to @wickymicky ‘s top ten kpop songs of 2020

I was gonna drop an ask or message but this got long so I’ll annoy the whole tl

10 Izone - Fiesta) I'm not a huge izone fan but I think Fiesta is the song I like the most and I agree about them filling a niche. 

9 Gfriend - Crossroads) Crossroads definitely is an emotional song but it's really driven and pulls at your emotions. The choreography is excellent! I also love pink Eunha ✊🏾

8 Cignature - Assa) Oh I haven't thought about Assa in awhile but it's also my favorite cignature song. It's slick yet fun. I think your descriptions of the concept are spot on.

7 Dreamcatcher - BOCA) I totally agree with your first two paragraphs about BOCA being a good follow up to Scream. And tbh the 2nd installments of trilogies are notoriously weak and BOCA doesn’t fall into that but I am def excited for part 3 with Handong back

6 NCT 127 - Kick It) Kick It was definitely very NCT and very iconic. Like the level of coverage was kinda crazy (I wish like even a quarter of the amount of people had covered superhuman cuz I feel like it’s their best song) It was a great title for a great album tho

5 Cool - Weki Meki) Cool is definitely smartly written because it completely conveys the title. I really like Cool although I think I like Oopsy a little better song-wise. So I have the hipster lean of not wanting to bias the ioi members in any post ioi group and even naturally I didn’t gravitate towards dodaeng but one thing about Oopsy was that it was the first time that I was really hit with how good Doyeon’s singing is? Which is kinda weird because it’s not like she lacked lines to show it in the past but it just never really stuck out to me. But it’s not even just Doyeon, although that was the most prominent, all of their voices really stood out to me in Oopsy. Particularly Elly, Suyeon and Lucy you know how you listen to a group and your like ‘oh that’s the main vocal’ I hadn’t quite had that moment with Suyeon yet. Weki Meki has really cool song production so that’s often what I’m paying more attention to. Oopsy still has a solid instrumental but something about the way it’s written or mixed really allows me to appreciate the vocals. But lol sorry for making this about Oopsy. I am also really happy to see Lua’s confidence and the attention she’s getting. I remember when La La La came out I noticed her and was like oh yeah she’s an amazing dancer (who is also main dancer) and being confused that no one seemed to pay attention to her. But I think all eyes are on her now :)

4 Everglow - LA DI DA) Just like you said as soon as I heard this I understood the hype and knew I was also gonna like it. Which came as a surprise to me because up to this point I was not a fan of Everglow’s music. Bon Bon Chocolat to Dun Dun just wasn’t my style of music although I will say that I think they are excellently written particularly Dun Dun. I’m also a 96 baby but I love 80s music or anything inspired by it because 80s music is very often dance music and that’s my favorite kind of music. The strength and consistency of the creative direction between the visuals and audio makes LA DI DA an even stronger package. Adios and Dun Dun being “too built around the drop” I feel that. I also didn’t expect much from LA DI DA though I like it but I ended up listening to their whole mini album so much that one of the songs managed to make it to my top 100 list

3 Gfriend - MAGO) This song is light and easy to listen to because like you said the whole song flows so well. I didn’t get the chance to listen to it too much so Crossroads is still above it for me but I do really like the way they sing in this it’s like a little bit sultry? I didn’t even attempt to follow the arc from crossroads but your interpretation makes sense.

2 Weeekly - Tag Me(@Me) Tag Me came out of nowhere for me too. Youtube had recommended me some of their predebut covers but I don’t think I watched or if I did I forgot. It’s interesting that you compared it to Picky Picky because I also made a comparison between them and early Seventeen (Adore U, Mansae, Aju Nice). There’s that overbrimming youthful energy, incredibly catchy song, the fun and unique choreo. But Weeekly and Tag Me can stand on their own (and they are). I actually think I remember one of your posts about not having checked out Tag Me yet 😂 I remember thinking something like just wait til you do. But yeah every part of the song is amazing I hadn’t even thought about how impressive it is for Monday to have gotten and done that rap part so well as the groups main vocalist :o The group is so talented. And company supporting and pushing Jiyoon's composing that makes me really excited for the future too!? And on top of that they’re all really fun. Sometimes I’ll like a groups music and check out variety/behind the scenes stuff and you don’t really feel drawn to anyone but with Weeekly I immediately latched onto like all of them. I was trying to map out a bias ranking and I realized that I put Jihan 5th and I was like 5th sounds too low for how much I like Jihan. They’re all so adorable and likeable 😭 They really are a breath of fresh air.

1 Dreamcatcher - Scream)  Sceram being the most EDM-inspired but the most metal is interesting. I think the mv is also the more horror-themed than the cbs before it. You like music that is noisy and more metal but I also like non-noisy music a lot so I think that’s why the verses don’t bother me as much. It’s also something is present in other dc songs. The soft verses against a very distinct rock chorus/drop. Wow “what was kpop to me before scream”, funny story I think I was odd InSomnia out during the year because I really wasn’t sure if I like Scream of BOCA better. I saw so many people definitely having a favorite but I kept vacillating. And then after seeing them perform both songs at the concert with Handong I immediately realized that Scream is also the song I prefer 😂😂😂

I think you had a very respectable list and it was cool to here your thoughts on the songs. I’ve only just started my list 😭 but I think all of these besides Fiesta and Assa are also up for consideration for soty for me too!

#key talks #gwen #discussion #sweet sweet moots #kpop #oh also the links worked for me at least on desktop (writing long posts on mobile is annoying)