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iguana-eyanna · 3 years

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Strawberry Boba Pt. 4

Pairing: Ned Leeds x reader

Summary: Ned Leeds has a special eye on a girl that is sweet as strawberries.

The night was a wreck. All of the actors and backstage people were going through a meltdown as the director wanted to close the opening night. You were currently in the dressing room, slowly accepting that your Berklee dreams are not obtainable as your tears rolling down your face.

MJ rushes in with a smile on her face, then softening her face as she sees you crying. “Hey, what’s wrong?” she says, kneeling in front of you as you’re sitting at the makeup table. “Everything.” you huffed, grabbing a tissue and cleaning your running mascara.

“Hey, the show is still going on. Peter is fixing the lights as we speak, there’s nothing to be upset about.” She says reassuringly.

“I’m not upset about the show or the recruiter or Berklee, MJ. I’m upset that... he’s not here.” your voice lowered just by thinking of Ned.

“He broke up with me because he didn’t want to get in the way of my dreams. But all of the nights of him helping me run lines or watching different versions of the show on youtube with me … what did they count for? He’s helped me in every single way and I’m here without him.” You said, looking down in your hand.

“He’s not.” a voice said. You look up to see Ned as MJ gives you a small smile and leaves both of you to give you space. He slowly walks in and approaches you. “You look beautiful,” he said in a low tone, admiring your costume.

“Thanks.” you said a bit bluntly as you slowly got up to be at Ned at the same level. “I-I wanted to see you before you went on.” You turn away and fixed your running mascara, trying your best not to cry again in front of Ned.

“y/n, there’s something I need to tell you.” Ned said, walking closer to you. You still face the opposite direction of him, not wanting to show how broken you were.

“Please, Ned… I don’t want an apology right now. I’m a hot mess right now and I don’t need to cry more.” you said, heaving your chest as the nerves took over your body. Ned softly takes your hand and turns you around slowly as his hands are around your waist.

“I can’t go on, knowing that I’m the reason you’ve been feeling this remorse. I should have NEVER let you go, it was the biggest mistake of my life. You showed me a whole other world of art and music and tons of cool stuff. I know you don’t need me to be awesome on stage, you’ve been doing that long before you met me. I am deeply in love with you, y/n. I understand if you don’t want me back, but I'm going to do everything in my power tonight to make you shine bright for that recruiter.” Ned concluded.

What you didn’t expect was Peter rushing to the room, out of breath. “Ned, I need you right now to control the lights with me. It’s about to start soon.” he huffed out before running away. You both look at each other, laughing at Parker’s interruption. “I better go.” Ned said. You look down, smirking.

“I’m still mad at you though.” you lightly punch his arm. “I know, we can talk later after the show if you give me a chance.” He says, letting go of your waist.

You nod your head as he heads out of the room, now turning around “Break a leg.” Ned says, flashing a bright smile at him. Your cheeks burn red, remembering how Ned gave you butterflies. You breathe out before heading to the stage, getting ready for places.

Once you’re cued to go on stage, you walk forward from the wings to act out the first scene. You glance around the crowd as your cast mates say their lines. You carefully look up to see no other than Ned who’s placing the spotlight on you.

You smile to yourself, realizing Ned truly kept his word. Even if you couldn’t truly see his face, Ned was beaming with pride at your performance.

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Once the final scene ended, the whole crowd gave a standing ovation. Peter and Ned high five each other as the show was a success with no hiccups. “Go to y/n man. I’ll wrap up around here.” Peter says to Ned.

He does what his friend says as he grabs the pink bouquet he was saving for you after the performance. Once he arrives downstairs from the lighting room, swarms of people are taking pictures of the cast and crew.

Ned moved side to side, searching for you. Once he does, he sees you talking to an older woman who’s shaking your hand. Ned could only imagine that it was the Berklee recruiter.

You now see him with a bouquet of your favorite flowers, now walking toward you. "This is for you." Ned says as he gives you the flowers. Both of your hands brush against each other as your fingers linger for a moment.

“Is that who I think it is?” he asks, referring to the woman who was just talking to you. You smile brightly and shake your head.

“She says she can’t wait for me to go to Boston this summer!” you excitedly say as happy tears form. Ned yells in joy as he grabs you and twirls you around in the air. You yelp from the surprise but giggle crazy.

“I know you could do it! I’m so proud of you, y/n.” he grins.

You don’t react to his words. His features look defeated as he thinks you’re still mad at him till you cradle his face, giving him a kiss: both of your first kisses. Time slowed down around you as both of you felt fireworks in each other's chest, hearts ready to burst outward.

"I love you too, Ned."

He smiles again and kisses you again. You hear a gagging noise from the background, realizing it was Flash. Without breaking your kiss, you flick him off and returned your attention to your boyfriend.

Later when you got out of costume, MJ and Peter join you two near the end of the stage. "The cast and crew are heading to Denny's right now. You guy's coming?" MJ asks as she invited Peter to be her plus one.

"Actually, can we go get boba instead?" you ask as Ned gives a hearty laugh. Peter and MJ agree as you all begin to walk out. You lace your hand in Ned's as you begin to exit. He looks at you for a brief moment as you return the gaze, winking at him.

Ned knew right there that he needed to show how special you truly were to him.

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Summer approached as you and Ned exchanged goodbyes at your bus stop to Boston. He promised to call at least once a week as he knew you'd be busy at your workshops and rehearsals for your final presentation at the end of the term.

Once you arrive in the dorms given for the students, you settle in to relax. You send pictures to Ned of where you're living and the area of the busy city. Later in the week, you attend orientation and meet cool people that had the same interests as you.

After three weeks, Ned calls you in the middle of a Friday night. You pick up your phone and placed it near your ear. "Hey, babe! Miss you, why are you calling so late?" you asked as you were aimlessly reading a book in your hand.

"Day was great! But I had to catch a ride to a hotel tonight." he says as you could hear a bit of busy background noise. "Oh? Where are you staying?" you reply, shooting up in curiousness. "In Massachusettes," he says. You gasp as you drop your book on the floor from the news.

"What are you doing here?" you asked in disbelief. "I wanted to surprise you. I wanted to take you out on a date." He says while you cover your mouth from his touching act.

"I found a great place for us to eat and got two tickets to go to the Museum of Fine Arts tomorrow. I'll go to your dorm building at 11 o'clock, make sure to wear something fancy." He says before he yawns from the long bus ride.

"Ned, that's the most romantic thing anyone has ever done. Thank you so much," you said as your excitement took over.

"Anything for you, m'lady. I'll see you tomorrow. I love you." he says before he hangs up to prepare for the amazing day he planned for you.

The next day, a dressed Ned is waiting by the sidewalk with a flower in hand, waiting for you. He turns to see you walking toward him as you wear an infamous strawberry dress, taking his breath away.

You quicken your step as you give him the biggest hug. He soon lets go as he gives you a red rose. "A beautiful rose for my beautiful girl," he says, charming you. You sniff the petals, admiring the scent as you kiss Ned.

"You're the sweetest, lover boy." You tease as his cheeks are as pink as his shirt. He gives you a quick peck and takes your hand to your destination.

From then on, Ned never let his insecurities take over the best thing that's ever happened to him.

Fin

#spiderman: homecoming #spiderman: far from home #jacob batalon #peter parker #spider man #marvel cinematic universe #mcu #ned leeds x reader #ned leeds #far from home #homecoming #tom holland #zendaya

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jessicakehoe · 5 years

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How Alok Vaid-Menon is Making the World a Safer Place for Everyone

It’s Friday night in Toronto, and The Garrison is packed with a motley crew of people with angular haircuts and septum piercings—the kind of crowd one might expect in attendance at Venus Fest, a feminist music festival that aims to remove toxic male aggression from live music environments. We’ve all assembled here to watch a South Asian drag queen named Manghoe Lassi gyrate with a comically oversized fake blunt to Bollywood music. The air in the club is nearly unbreathable, spiced with the ubiquitous scent of Santal 33 and generous base notes of body odour.

After Lassi finishes stripping down to her pot-leaf nipple pasties, Alok Vaid-Menon, a gender-nonconforming performance artist (who goes by they/them pronouns), arrives onstage dressed like a futuristic prophet attending Coachella, wearing a blue spandex crop top and matching pencil skirt that reveal a thatch of body hair, a Frida Kahlo flower crown adorning their magenta locks. After a moment of silence for the Christchurch, New Zealand, massacre, they proceed to launch into a rapid-fire act evoking the violence that trans people face on a daily basis and, in the same breath, throw shade on Ariana Grande.

By the end of the show, Vaid-Menon is visibly in tears and at least one person in the audience has passed out. I feel as if I’ve been shaken out of complacency so hard that I might wake up tomorrow with whiplash. It’s hard to reconcile the garrulous figure onstage with the soft-spoken, thoughtful person I met one day earlier.

“I never was able to consent to the various sets of stereotypes around gender and race that were ascribed to me, but with my outfits, I found I could interrupt those logics.”

Vaid-Menon ushers me into the lobby of the old Victorian home that serves as their crash pad in Toronto. They’re clad in a mix of colours and patterns that conjures the cacophony of a Jackson Pollock painting: a flowy earth mother tunic, zebra-print pants, a splotched ’80s-print skirt and door knocker earrings—finished off with a vibrant swipe of coral lipstick. For Vaid-Menon, whose tag line is “not a girl, not a boy, just me,” style is one of the most important weapons deployed in their ongoing crusade against the gender binary. “I do a lot of what the world calls ‘power clashing,’ but clashing denotes dissonance, and I don’t see it as that,” they say. “I’m trying to tell a story of mistaken dissonance—of harmony that is waiting to be recognized but is suppressed.”

Mistaken dissonance is perhaps the most succinct metaphor to describe the activism that is Vaid-Menon’s life’s work. “People see me as a failed man, a failed woman and, increasingly, a failed trans person,�� says Vaid-Menon. Yet nothing about their self-presentation is a failure. As a non-binary transfeminine person, they have the ability to cast off stifling gender categories with the same ease one has when discarding a pair of ill-fitting pants in a change room—it’s every bit as intentional. “I never was able to consent to the various sets of stereotypes around gender and race that were ascribed to me,” they say, “but with my outfits, I found I could interrupt those logics.”

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here are my top 10 #streetstyle moments of 2018! so hard to choose! comment with your fav # 🥳🥳

A post shared by ALOK (@alokvmenon) on Dec 19, 2018 at 9:57am PST

As the author of the poetry book Femme in Public, Vaid-Menon has been touring around the world for the past three years drawing attention to the plight of visibly-gender-nonconforming people through their unique brand of comedy, slam poetry and music. “I cannot isolate Alok’s writing and poetry from the fashion, visual art, activism and performance aspects,” says Umlilo, one of Vaid-Menon’s contemporaries, who is based in South Africa.

Vaid-Menon’s father, Ramdas Menon, says Vaid-Menon wasn’t always fashion-forward, describing them as a “normal kid” who could be gregarious or introspective depending on their mood. “I always understood gender to be an obstacle to style,” Vaid-Menon explains, but they now view clothing as a site of political possibility. In 2013, Vaid-Menon began performing poetry onstage with Janani Balasubramanian under the moniker DarkMatter. Vaid-Menon began to dress up for performances but found that the act of exploring creativity through clothing felt so good, they began to cultivate a studied appearance offstage as well.

“I have a ‘boring section’ [in my closet] for when I just want to operate from point A to point B without getting harassed. But that section is getting increasingly smaller,” says Vaid-Menon. When tasked with wearing a gender-conforming outfit to an ex’s wedding last year, they showed up in a pair of banana-print pants.

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as the year comes to a close i will be sharing some of my highlights of 2018! first up is the 2nd gender free fashion collection i designed in delhi with @adrianne.ayao ! (stay tuned: we are already hard at work for 2019 collection). comment with the # of your fav look !!! also we have some of these as prints in my online store if you’d like one (link in bio)

A post shared by ALOK (@alokvmenon) on Dec 17, 2018 at 10:54am PST

In 2017, Vaid-Menon began to design their own clothing as a way to imagine what they would wear if they didn’t have to face violence, sketching out a flamenco-ruffle dress and a pink baby-doll dress with exaggerated bell sleeves. Right now, the clothing is strictly non-commercial, but Vaid-Menon dreams of a brand reaching out to collaborate on a gender-neutral capsule collection that doesn’t look like an assortment of beige-coloured flour sacks.

“Alok manages to straddle this fine line between a fierce warrior goddess that can be intimidating and a gentle clairvoyant spirit that is approachable,” says Umlilo. But by simply existing and living their truth—a.k.a. “being hairy as fuck and wearing makeup”—they are creating a sense of social possibility for others to do the same. “If there was ever a person able to express what I feel and put it into words, it’s Alok,” Umlilo continues. “There’s a raw honesty that their work has that manages to transcend space and time and express all the ancestral cries of sisters from yonder.”

“I’m still trying to figure out why my fabulosity threatens people. I think that at a fundamental level, people have been taught to fear the very things that have the potential to set them free.”

“At the core of it, I’m trying to challenge the international crisis of loneliness,” says Vaid-Menon. Growing up, the only characters on television they could relate to were cartoon villains like HIM, the lobster-clawed, falsetto-voiced villain of The Powerpuff Girls. Vaid-Menon displays a rare willingness to be vulnerable in public, a human quality that’s beginning to feel endangered in the age of Instagram, when most people choose to present a highlight reel of their accomplishments for the world to fawn over. Vaid-Menon’s poetry performances and writing workshops often double as group therapy sessions for participants. “When your job is to cry in public to hundreds of people who tell you ‘good job,’ it just kind of reinforces that you’re on to something.”

Photography by Bronson Farr

Despite Vaid-Menon’s inner power and strength, their self-expression is not a welcome sight for everyone and is often the target of cruelty and violence. “I’m still trying to figure out why my fabulosity threatens people. I think that at a fundamental level, people have been taught to fear the very things that have the potential to set them free.” But Vaid-Menon perseveres, partly because they are a pioneer and partly because they see no other way to live. “When non-binary and gender-nonconforming people critique gender binarism, it’s not just because we have selfish interests or are some angry minority of people. It’s because we’re trying to create a world that is more just and inclusive for everyone.”

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HOWDY!!!! today’s forecast is so cold outside but so fire 🔥 inside! excited to be making magic & photo shooting with my glam squad @double_d_production today!!!✨✨✨

A post shared by ALOK (@alokvmenon) on Nov 25, 2018 at 7:54am PST

Back at The Garrison, Vaid-Menon performs their wild and rancorous mix of political commentary, decrying the tribulations of irritable bowel syndrome and calling for a Hilary Duff 2020 presidential campaign. Like in a church, the set is punctuated by audible “mm-hmms” and scattered applause each time Vaid-Menon makes a salient point. By the end of the show, my mind drifts toward something they mentioned the day before: “I want to create irresistible images of what freedom can and does look like.” Onstage at The Garrison, that is exactly what is happening.

The post How Alok Vaid-Menon is Making the World a Safer Place for Everyone appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

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