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lbxbx · 2 months

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Cockpit 12 | knj

Pair: Namjoon x reader

Summary: Namjoon goes through a rough time while getting a divorce, meeting you at the club two weeks in a row when attraction becomes unreal.

Rating: +18 mature content, Smut, divorce, fatherhood, major toxic behavior, fluff.

a/n: This is a subtle ending and tbh was a little hard for to actually mold up, there can't be a happy ending 100% and ya'll know that. i strongly believe that there are many drabbles that might come up that may show you different scenarios for this fic and possibly another end. Ily guys and i love cockpit that introduced me to so many of you guys <3 ps i hope i didn't disappoint with this update because i think i slightly did.

Previous | End.

It’s a cold cloudy day as the winter has already made its way finally, It was your favorite season throughout the entire year, and it’s usually the season you and your friends decide on doing outdoor activities, and of course it’s the holiday season where you actually how so many days off. You just got off your morning shift and picked up Hoseok from his office, his car is in maintenance and you need to get groceries for the week, so you offered to drive him and in return he’ll help you with groceries.

The windows are open in the car, he’s on his phone scrolling and you’re tapping on the steering wheel with your leg on the gas pedal, singing along whole heartedly to the song you started in your car.

I fantasize about it all the time, if you were mine.

I’d give this pussy to you, nine to five, five to nine.

Trying to behave but I’m feeling some type of way.

Even dancing to it, with one hand on the steering wheel now, Hoseok first seems unbothered, he’s used to you being like this, he’s too focused on his phone. But then it hits him and he stares at you suspiciously, and of course you’re too occupied on the song, but then he shuts off the stereo which leaves you singing awkwardly with your not so acceptable voice.

“Why would you do that?” You whine, you can’t look at him your eyes are on the road, but you feel his eyes on the side of you face. “What’s the matter?”

“With what?” You try to take a quick glance at him when he’s smirking. “How are things with Namjoon?”

“Oh, I kind of.. met his ex wife when I was staying there a while ago.”

“How did it go?”

You look her in the eye with your chest heaving dramatically.

This was something you were anticipating long time ago, you wanted her to know everything. There’s nothing to be afraid of.

Namjoon never felt this strong before, having you stand up for him even when he could stand up for himself the whole time. But still having you in front of her scratched an itch for him and he himself wanted this to happen too, he wanted her to see what he has in hand, and that even when she was after his money, he was after his freedom. She still didn’t get what she wanted but he did.

Everything is happening right in front of her own eyes, she clearly sees that her ex husband was actually cheating on her with someone.

Not anyone.

The doctor that she saw a couple of times one of them Namjoon was actually with her. She’s the woman that treated her own son long time ago, the woman who actually had the same perfume on that she smelled on her husband’s clothes so many times.

Gosh this was months ago, she feels betrayed more than she already is when she recalls that you pretended to help her with the fake medical report, you were actually defending him? This has to be serious between you and Namjoon then. Have you two been together for that long for you to actually help him?

She recalls the nights he stayed out, he must’ve been with you, the nights he went back home smelling like you, there were too many of them. It did make sense to her now.

And you finally get the chance to look her in the eye without having to hide and beat around the bush, the greediness inside you is increasing and you feel so desperate to show her that you stole her man.

“What are you doing here?” You ask, your arms crossed to your chest while you eye her from head to toe, she glances at Namjoon and looks back at you before laughing. “Oh so it was you.”

You mirror her laugh and nod your head. “It has been me all along.”

She takes a step closer to you and actually takes a sniff, before looking at Namjoon. “No one, and I mean no one, can stand tolerating you like I did, Namjoon.”

Of course you weren’t going to believe anything she’s saying.

“And you’ll realize the mistake you’re making, perhaps not now, but you will eventually.” She takes another step towards you.

Even when you’re fuming and you genuinely hate the woman, you masked it so well as you chuckle and click your tongue, shaking your head left and right. “Is that what being broke and pathetic feels like? I feel so bad for you.”

“I will give him to you, I just hope you like leftovers.” The answer was on the tip of her tongue. “Who knows, you might end up like me.”

“Oh honey trust me, you and I are not alike.” You eye her again from head to toe, a visible cringe on your face when you look into her face. “You and I are totally different, and I think you know that very well.”

Her face changes and she clears her throat, she even looks back at Namjoon behind you, hoping that he’ll say something and tame you, or do anything to just silence you, but it’s the exact opposite. He wraps an arm around you and walks into the bedroom before turning his head towards her. “Take your trash and leave, and next time if you want anything send someone else. This house isn’t yours to barge in.” And he slams the bedroom door shut and locks it with the key

Your eyes meet for a second before you pull him in for a kiss, your lips pressed against his and your arms wrapped around him. You tried to convince yourself that nothing is different but it actually is.

He tastes sweeter in your mouth and it feels so fucking good to have him for yourself. For the first time ever when you’re in bed with him you feel like that and it feels good. Your friends were right, it was totally worth the suffer.

“That’s all.” You finally park your car near the grocery shop, Hoseok takes a long breath and exhales. “Y/N, this shouldn’t have happened.”

“I don’t know what got into me, I just wanted her to know that he’s way better off without her.” You seriously have no idea where this toxic behavior is coming from, and what’s weirder is that you don’t regret thinking this way.

“Did he do anything?” Hoseok asks as you two get out of the car, he grabs a cart and starts pushing it inside, you’re a little distracted first when you see the advertisements for the products and the discounts around the place for the holiday season that’s coming up, the sound of background music mixed with kids running around, you’ve always enjoyed running errands and now you enjoy it more when you get to spend quality time with your best friend.

“Nope, it’s like he wanted this to happen too.” You grab the flyer. “Oh look, there’s a discount on short ribs.”

“You don’t eat short ribs.” He stops pushing the cart. “But you do, I’ll cook them for you.” You walk towards that aisle to put the short ribs into your cart.

“Someone is in a great mood today.” He chuckles and looks around the aisle for other kinds of meets. “Actually yeah, I’m supposed to meet his parents tonight for dinner.”

“Wow he must be pretty serious about you.” You hear a smirk on his face and when you look at him you find him in fact smirking. “Did you think he wasn’t?”

“No not at all.” He puts pork belly into the cart and continues pushing it. “I just didn’t see it happening so quickly.”

“Gosh, you have no idea how nervous I am about this.” Your hand sits onto your stomach. “I’ve been having nightmares.”

“Hey, you’re an incredible woman who usually leaves a great first impression—“ He doesn’t sound half convincing which makes you push him subtly. “Stop lying.”

“Okay, you don’t usually leave good first impressions, but hey does it matter?” He’s right.

Nothing’s going to change whether they like you or not, you and Namjoon want each other and that’s what matters. “Yeah, it doesn’t. But hey I still need to be careful.”

“Did you ask him about his folks?” He pushes the cart towards the produce aisle. “Yeah, multiple times, he said they were nice, but still they’re his parents, he can’t just tell me that they’re awful, right?”

“True.” You look around for grapes since it’s the season. “I wish I can cancel the whole thing, I’m not really good with strangers.”

“They’re not strangers they’re your in-laws.” He teases you which again makes you hit his shoulder. “Shut up.

“You know what, fuck it, just go, what’s the worst that could happen?” He says it so carelessly which makes you think you’re exaggerating, but you really weren’t.

You were standing in front of your full body mirror that holds so many memories for you now, zipping up your short burgundy dress. Honestly it was an entire debate for you whether you should choose this color or not, but the dress fitted you like a glove, respectful, yet revealing on some places and really flattering.

You grab your high heels and take a seat onto your bed to put them on. You needed the high heels because the man you’re going out with is tall and big, you need some height yourself.

You cannot deny your stomach was pinching you the entire time, you totally forgot that this moment had to come sometime you never even thought of it. Tonight was exceptionally cold but you were sweating. You weren’t anticipating this night what so ever.

Your door knocks a couple of times when you still had one of your heels on, so you get up on your feet and walk crookedly to your door to open it with the other pair of heels in your hand. “Hey big boy.” Your smile lingers on your face when you see him standing by your door wearing a casual suit, his long hair pushed back and smelling like a mix of his cologne and cigarettes, the smell you grew to love and find really warm.

“Look at you.” He takes a step inside your house and prints a soft kiss on your cheek. “You look incredible.”

“This is the dress I told you I was worried about.” You giggle and close the door. You were texting him the entire afternoon asking him what you should wear and he agreed with you on that burgundy dress.

He grabs your hand and twirls you once, his eyes scanning on your entire body and ass. “Baby you would look sexy in a potato sack.”

“Stop.” You hit his chest and let go of his hand. “Take a seat I’ll be ready in no time.” You point towards the living room with the hand that’s holding the shoe. He laughs and grabs the shoe away from you. “Let me help you with that.”

You both head to the living room and take a seat onto your couch, you put your leg up onto his lap and he helps you putting on your heels. “So..” You start talking, clearing your throat before you finish. “Any instructions? Should I be careful with anything?”

He rolls his eyes and looks at you. “Y/N, you don’t have to worry, they’re nice people I promise you’ll love them.”

“I’m not really good when it comes to meeting new people.” Your hand lands onto your stomach. “I wish I can back out.”

“Hey, they’re the ones who asked to see you in person, plus, I know they’ll like you too.” He shrugs, too occupied trying to figure out the straps on your heels. “You already met Jay and it wasn’t that bad, meeting my parents can’t be that bad too.”

He told his parents frankly that he was seeing someone, and they were really welcoming the idea generally, the entire story now makes sense to them and they can finally understand what their son went through and why he needs to be with you. Namjoon was absolutely glad that his parents were supporting his choices.

They’re flying over from Ilsan just to have dinner with you two, and you didn’t mind the idea generally and they must be really nice people, but you were simply not ready.

“Am I doing this right?” He asks, finally done with your heels, you nod your head and get up on your feet to tuck your dress down. “Thank you. What do you think?”

“Absolutely beautiful.” He flashes you a toothy smile, his dimple that makes your heart skip a beat digging onto his cheek. “Thank you, let’s get going.” You turn off the lights and make your way out with him to head towards the place he had reservations in.

The entire ride there your head was storming with every possible scenario, and no matter how hard Namjoon tried distracting you on your way there or comforting you, still, you just simply can’t relax.

You tried distracting yourself and actually googling topics the bring up during the dinner, but it wasn’t helping, your head was all over the place.

To them you’re probably the home wrecker that thanks to her their grandson will have to grow up with his parents separated. You’re the woman who accepted to be with a married man, which now you think was a little selfish, but you’ve grown to like the man.

The day you went back home with him after he got his divorce was when you actually felt your entire relationship with him suddenly grew tighter and stronger, you wanted to face his ex wife long time ago and what happened that night scratched an itch for you.

You snap out of your thoughts when he makes the last turn and parks his car in front of the restaurant, you take one last breath and unbuckle your seatbelt, you remember what Hob said and you hardly convinced yourself that no matter how tonight ends, nothing is going to change the fact that you want him and he wants you too.

He can’t help but to notice your legs shaking anxiously before you leave the car which immediately make him caress your knee and up your thigh. “Are you going to be okay?”

“It’s too late to ask that” You bite at him which makes him chuckle at you.

He feels a little guilty on the inside now, he would’ve never forced you on anything if he knew you’d be this anxious about meeting them. Even though he’s sure that there’s nothing to worry about, his parents are really nice. And to answer his question, You nod your head and he presses softly onto your knee. He’s here for you.

Your hand is locked in his, and the gentle squeeze of reassurance of his hand surrounds yours when you walk inside, slowly making your way to the reserved table that his parents are already seated on, a little younger than you thought they would be, and his mother who’s already in heels tip toes to wrap her arms around her son, pulling him in closer and kissing his cheek. “Gosh, I miss you so much.” She squeals.

“You must be Y/N.” His father stretches his hand out to shake yours, you force out a nervous smile and shake back his hand. “Mr. Kim, I’ve heard so much about you.” Well, you practically didn’t, but you were trying your best to break the ice.

“We’ve heard so much about you too.” He smiles back at you, at least his was genuine unlike yours. The dimples on his face were the ones that Namjoon and his son got. You shake his mother’s hand after she finally let go of her son, “Mrs. Kim, it’s good to see you.” And your eyes almost pop out of their sockets when she pulls you in for a hug and a little kiss on the cheek. You could swear you heard Namjoon giggling behind you.

“Please, just Soohyun.” She shrugs it off. “Take a seat.”

Namjoon’s behavior doesn’t get unnoticed by his parents of course, he’s whipped and they can easily admit that. He’s been married for three years and never has he ever pulled a chair for his wife for her to sit, the way he looked at you was totally different than the way he looked at his wife. He pulls you a chair to sit and helps you take off the little cardigan you put on, before getting you seated and pulling the chair next to you.

Of course they’re across the table from you two, but Namjoon’s hands were in yours the entire time, intertwined under the table, his thumb rubbing the back of your hand and gently caressing your fingers. It was so hard for you to focus when his parents were trying to get to know you more.

“So what do you do?” His father takes a sip of his wine, you straighten your back on your chair and tell him about your job briefly, which he and his wife admire. “Do you love your job?”

“Of course I do, I enjoy it so much.” You nod. “It gets tiring sometimes and my schedule is all over the place, but I love it.”

His mother’s eyes were on her son the entire time, a grin lingering on her face when she sees her son ready to devour you. His glances towards you were warm and loving, he even looks proud of you when you talk about how you have medical students being trained under you. “That’s incredible.” His father speaks, “My friend teaches at your hospital, I’m pretty sure you know him.” And he mentions his friend who actually taught you too, which makes you bond with his father in a snap of a finger.

“And when did you and Joonie meet? His schedule is all over the place too.” Soohyun leans her elbows on the table. “You must’ve met him back when he was still married.”

She clearly didn’t mean no harm, but you find it hard to swallow even though it’s true, and since your hand that’s holding onto Namjoon’s is sitting onto his leg, you can feel him nudge his mother with his leg which makes you force a laugh, “Yes, we met around six months ago.”

“Actually I came onto her.” Namjoon looks at you, his eyes traveling down to your lips and his hands gripping tighter to yours. “And I was unfair to her when I didn’t let her know about my situation.”

“Are you happy?” His mother asks, one hand on her chest and the other reaching to grab Namjoon’s. He smiles and nods his head. “I am. I really am.” Which makes her heart full, she’s really proud of her son that he managed to not only go through this on his own, yet he got back on his feet really fast and is currently happy being with someone else.

At this point you’re totally numb, you could easily fold at what he’s saying but you’re still stiff in your seat. The things you do for this man.

His mother again bonds with you in seconds when she brings up Namjoon’s embarrassing childhood which makes you laugh your heart out, she can easily tell that you’re nervous which makes her a little glad that you actually care what they think of you, which by the way they adore you.

The conversation was about to go downhill a couple of times when his mom mentioning that it’s so hard to raise your first child, she clearly said that you’ll understand what she’s talking about when you and Namjoon have kids. Namjoon was sulking in his seat totally embarrassed and you trying to avoid the topic with dumb ways.

“It was really nice to see you.” You shake their hands one last time before hugging your cardigan tighter around your chest, it was just starting to rain and the weather is starting to get really windy during the night time. “You two should totally come over to Ilsan this upcoming weekend, we have to show you around the town.” His father suggests, his relationship with Namjoon’s ex partner was really shallow and they barely spoke, he was generally excited to have you over and show you around their town after you two had mentioned something about the bike path around the lake park.

“Do you wanna go?” Namjoon puts one hand in his pocket and wraps the other one around you, you nod your head aggressively. “Absolutely, I would love to.”

“We’ll see you next weekend.” They finally bid their goodbyes and head back to their rented car, and you and Namjoon hit the road back to his place. “So how was it?” He barely glances towards you when he’s driving. You lean your head back and sigh. “I need to lay down.”

Your social battery was running low, you spent the entire evening in an uncomfortable dress while having to keep talking, and sometimes even forcing out a laugh or anything. You couldn’t wait to go back home because you have a shift to cover the next morning. “I can’t think with this dress on, and I need to take my heels off like right now.”

“My place or yours?” He asks, and you answer right away. “Mine, I have to work tomorrow.”

As you two get into your place, you rush to take your heels off and run over to your bedroom, you plop down onto your bed face first and hug onto your pillows. “It feels good to be home.”

He laughs when he makes his way towards your bed and plop down on his back right next to you. “Are you okay?”

You nod and turn to face him. “Yeah, it was okay. Although I think we should’ve took things a tad slower.”

“Slower?” He sits on his elbows, his face tilted towards you, and you continue. “To them I’m still a stranger who’s going out with their son, and they probably think I was the reason you really got the divorce.”

“But you were.” He shrugs. Your eyes meet and right when you’re about to ask him to elaborate he continues. “Y/N, when I met you I realized that my life would be a waste of time if it wasn’t with you.”

“You’re overreacting.” You roll your eyes. “You got that from meeting me when I was drunk in a bar? Come on Joon.”

He nudges you with his elbow and chuckles. “I did. I went back home that night thinking about you. Maybe it was physical to begin with and maybe it was a little selfish to not let you know that I was involved in a relationship, deep down I missed the feeling of being loved and touched by someone who actually craves me and wants me for me. And you gave me everything I needed which made me hold on to you.”

You giggle and nudge him back. “It was a little selfish, but we need to stop bringing this up, it’s the past now.”

“You’re right. But you’re more than that to me, you’re incredibly beautiful and really smart, and not to sound so desperate but I want to be around you the entire time.” He whispers.

“I did get the divorce because I wanted you instead.” He inches closer to print the softest kiss to your forehead, you can’t remember if you were ever kissed there but it feels different on so many levels. It’s nothing like the kiss on the lips that you’re used to, and it’s totally different from the kisses and pecks you get on your cheeks from people around you.

It feels warmer and a lot more.. Loving.

Your eyes meets his, it feels like it’s your first time seeing this side from him and it probably is. He even smiles which makes you totally lost in his features, your stomach suddenly pinches you and is this what actual butterflies feel like?

Your face heats up and you clear your throat, your gaze never leaving his, he tucks your hair behind your ear and inches closer to press his lips against yours softly, printing the softest most loving kiss you’ve ever felt.

Forget the butterflies, is this what actual feelings feel like? It suddenly hits you, you’re not unsure anymore. You know exactly what you want with him.

“I really wanted this to be special, but I can’t hold it back any longer.” He covers his face and throws his head back onto your bed, laughing and curling in his spot. “Just say it Namjoon.” You laugh and hit his chest.

“I want you to be my girlfriend.” He finally gathers up enough courage to spit it out, which makes you laugh your heart out. “This is not middle school Joon. You’re thirty and I’m like twenty something.”

“Come on, just say yes.” He bites on his bottom lip, you decide on teasing him so you lean your chin onto your palm and hum. “Give me some time to think.” Of course you were going to say yes, but you enjoyed seeing him like this. “Make me say yes.”

He grabs your head closer to press his lips against yours, adrenaline rushes through both your bodies and you climb on top of him, leaning your body against his, his hands grab onto your hips before he fully wraps his arms around your waist to hug you towards him, his lips melting with yours into a deep kiss, his teeth grazing over your lower lip to bite into it softly and tugging it. “Alright.” You lean your forehead against his with your eyes half open.

His hands caress your cheeks and he pulls you in for a quick peck. “Is that a yes?” A grin fighting the urge to appear on his lips, you nod your head and nuzzle your nose against his. “Yes.”

“Oh, rest in peace to the Namjoon that escorted me to my seat.” You raise an eyebrow at him while taking a sip of your coffee. “Typical male behavior, you’re always too nice in the beginning—“

“I would kiss you to shut you up really, but I’m working.” He interrupts you.

It’s the weekend already and you two are finally flying to Ilsan to stay at his parents, he kept insisting that he wants to be alone and away and even tried to convince you to forget about Ilsan and fly to Jeju or something but of course you had to say no, you promised his parents after all. Although you felt bad for the man who’s been working nonstop this week, so this is like a little vacation for you two.

Of course he’s flying the plane and he gifted you your tickets, and of course you would agree, because come on.

Who wouldn’t fly for free?

You two are sitting near the gate and the cabin crew started boarding, and when he stands up and collects his phone and coffee you rolled your eyes, he once escorted you to your seat and now he’s going ahead of you.

“Even if you weren’t working, I wasn’t going to allow you to kiss me.” You shrug your shoulders carelessly, taking another sip of your coffee which makes him roll his eyes. “You’re so dramatic, come here.” He leans one of his palms against the coffee table and bends down to cup your cheek and kiss you on the lips. “I’ll see you on board baby, okay?”

“Fine.” The little smirk you were trying to hide finally shows on your face when your lip curves up a little.

Namjoon boards the plane, and not too long after you get on board and you finally get seated, you buckle up, put your important documents back in your bag and look through the window, the cabin crew serves you champagne which you are more than glad to have, you needed something to relax you since you were already nervous at the fact of having to not only meet his parents again, this time you’re staying with them for the whole weekend.

You took the champagne because you wouldn’t mind some pampering after all.

Namjoon makes his way out from the cockpit and makes small talk with the flight attendants, and damn it you wish he didn’t look that good when he’s talking to other women.

You curse on the inside at the birth control you’re on because it makes you very hormonal, not in an emotional way, but in a physical way, your body is on fire the whole time. So when you see him in his uniform, his shirt so tight around his arm and his chest, his fingers go through his dark long hair before he looks around trying to locate you, and when your eyes meets he flashes you a smile that melts your heart in a second.

He makes his way towards you and leans down and puts his hands on your legs. “Hey beautiful.”

“Hey captain.” You play with the badges on his shoulder and lean forward. “You look like a snack.”

“A snack?” He teases and his eyes land on your lips, you nod and continue. “And I would love a snack right now.”

“Careful what you wish for baby.” He whispers and visibly swallows. “Just give me a sign and I will fuck you right here, and they can hear, or watch I don’t care.”

“Oh so it’s okay to fuck me on the plane, but it’s not okay to kiss me in the airport?” You scoff. “Captain, we’re ready for the takeoff announcement.” The flight attendant nudges his shoulder from behind and cuts through the sexual tension that was increasing by the second between the two of you, he stands up in front of you and your eyes level with his covered boner.

You could swear if passengers took their time and squint really hard they would notice.

He puts his hands in his pockets to loosen the tightness, and he can clearly see your eyes locked onto his erection. “It’s all for you.”

“Mister Kim?” The flight attendant calls for him again and he turns to walk to the front of the plane.

He grabs the speaker phone and turns to face the passengers.

“Good evening passengers, this is your captain Kim Namjoon speaking.” And fuck you can’t control yourself anymore.

“First I’d like to welcome you on Korean airlines flight number KA87 heading to Ilsan, we are currently third in line for takeoff.” He looks at his watch. “We are expected to be in the air in approximately eleven minutes, we’ll be up to a cruising altitude of 35 thousand feet, flight time will be one hour, if the seat belt sign is turned please remain seated with your seatbelts fastened.”

He looks at you in the eyes with one of his eyebrows shooting up. “In about ten minutes after departure the cabin crew will be coming around to offer you a light snack and a beverage, until then, sit back, relax and enjoy your flight, thank you.”

He closes the speaker phone and gives you one last look before he turns and heads back inside the cockpit.

You feel extremely impatient and you cannot wait for the second you land there, you have to let it out of your system and you don’t a single damn about his parents at this moment.

Almost 20 minutes into the flight, you’re leaning your head back and looking through the window, a second away from closing your eyes and taking a nap before you hear one of the flight attendants come out from the cockpit, you can’t take your eyes off of her especially when she’s walking towards you.

“Ma’am?” She leans forward to whisper. “We have the lavatory ready for you if you want to.”

You stare at her totally clueless of what she’s talking about, you even look behind you to make sure that she’s talking to you. “Huh?”

She turns her head to look towards the cockpit and you follow her eyesight, and you can see Namjoon waiting near the door with his hands in his pockets, eyes locked onto you.

He’s been waiting for this moment since forever. All his colleagues experienced the mile high club, and back when he was with his ex wife, they suggested that Namjoon should bring her along so he can have that experience too, but of course, they were never there together, they never even had a spark.

And finally, today Namjoon asked the cabin crew to empty out the lavatory throughout the entire flight so he can fulfill one of his long awaited wishes.

You and Namjoon had never done things publicly and you find it a little risky, the plane was too small and you’re not sure if you can control yourself.

You unbuckle your belt and watch Namjoon go inside the bathroom, you nod your head thank you to the flight attendant and follow Namjoon in there, your stomach drops at the excitement and thrill of this idea.

You lock the door behind you and look up at him. “Namjoon we can’t do anything here.”

He rolls his eyes and leans his arm on the door behind you to corner you in the little tiny lavatory that barely leaves you space to get away. “It won’t take ten minutes, come on.” He buries his face in the crook of your neck and inhales your scent before peppering you with little wet kisses on your skin that’s slowly heating up.

“Out of all places you want to have sex here?” Your eyes feel heavy when he sends goosebumps all over your body with his hot breath, he even whispers. “I’ve been wanting to do this to you for so long.” An audible smirk in his voice. “I want you to cum and I need to watch you trying to stay quiet.”

“They’ll hear us.” You hardly make the effort to push him because you want it too. And the thrill of being heard or caught makes your heart skip a beat and your thighs are already pressed together.

He prints one last kiss onto your jaw and leans his forehead against yours, his fingers wrapping around your neck not too tight. “You know, I kind of want them to hear us, or probably see you with my cum all over that beautiful face of yours.”

Your breath hitches when he tightens the grip around your neck and presses his body against yours, you can feel every inch of him against you including his angry cock that’s buried into his tight pant and begging to be let out.

He steals one kiss from your lips and goes down on his knees, lifting your shirt up to kiss your belly button and move further down to unzip your pants and pull them down with your panties to your ankles. His smirk doesn’t wash away when he sees how wet you already are when he barely touched you, and even when you two have been together for a while now this still boosts up his ego. “Look at you.”

“Shut up.” You whine and lean your head back against the door, your stomach dropping in anticipation at the thought of him touching you, at the thought of his mouth coming in contact to your wet folds.

His gaze meets yours for a split second, you feel your heart racing and you immediately look away, your face and body heating up, you’re slowly getting impatient, and he knows exactly how to tease you. Your body flinches and you immediately grab onto his hair when his plump lips finally landing onto your cunt, his tongue collecting the wetness that already escaped you and finally landing onto your clit before pulling back. He catches the string of your wetness that’s still attached to his lips with his finger and sucks on it. “Mmm.”

A rush of adrenaline combs your entire body that makes you grab tighter onto his hair and pull him towards you, of course he saw it coming and he’s been wanting to lick you clean, both his hands hug your thighs and he dives in, sucking onto your little throbbing bean and flicking his tongue against it, the taste of you sits on his mouth and you taste like absolute candy to him.

“Oh my god.” You find it hard to keep quiet when you feel your body slowly being drugged with pleasure, the man knows what to do with his hands and he slowly teases your entrance and pushes his middle and ring finger inside your clenching vagina making you gasp. He gets up onto his feet to whisper. “Fuck, I knew I’d enjoy watching you suffer to stay quiet.”

His cock is already bulging through his pants when he speaks, you move your knee up to rub it against his clothed boner, he bites onto his bottom lip as his hands work to his neck as he removes his neck tie quickly and grabs your hands together tying them up tightly, he grabs you by your shoulder and pushes you down on the bathroom floor, your head pressed against the door as he unzips his pants and takes out his dick to stroke it a couple of times before pointing it to your lips. “Open.”

You look him up in the eyes and bite onto your lips, he wraps his fingers around your neck and bends down to whisper while biting on his own teeth. “I said open.” And you obey immediately, opening your mouth and he doesn’t hesitate once before spitting on his palm and stroking his cock and shoving it into your mouth, tugging tightly on your hair and fucking your face.

You choke on him with your spit drooling down your chin and top, the tip of his cock repeatedly rubbing down your tonsils, subtle gags escape your mouth while you dig your nails into his thighs trying to slow him down but it was kind of useless. He throws his head back and his jaw falls down when he feels your throat tightening around every curve of his cock.

Your thighs are pressed against each other at the thrill of the situation, your body is acting up on it and you’re even turned on more at the thought of being caught or heard in the bathroom. Although Namjoon on the other side doesn’t care at all, he is willing to pound into you and he won’t care if you were caught or heard. His uncontrollable thrusts down your throat finally halt down when you push him strong enough to catch a breath, you look up at him and wipe your mouth with the back of your tied up hands while you’re panting. “Are you okay princess?” He leans forward towards you while he grazes his thumb on your bottom lip and jaw. Your innocent nods with your doe eyes locked onto his drives him insane. He’s even more impatient to fuck you senseless right now.

He helps you rise up on your feet and presses you against the door again to kiss you harder than before, you grab onto his cock to palm it slowly, you pull back from the kiss and bury your face in the crook of his neck to inhale his scent and kiss him, licking your way up to his ear. “Where do you want me to cum?” He barely speaks when he’s already out of breath.

You look into his eyes worried and confused for a second, he chuckles and turns you to face the lavatory door and whispers into your ear. “After I fuck you of course.” His hands already working to pull down your jeans and panties to your ankles, the view of your wet folds right in front of him makes him go feral and as much as he wants to eat you out again right now but he can’t leave the cockpit empty for too long.

“I can’t let you cum on my face when we’re less than an hour away from meeting your parents.” You look at him over your shoulder, he delivers a loud spank onto your ass and grabs his cock to rub your folds with the tip, smearing your wetness all over your pussy that’s already clenching and asking for attention. “Mmm.” Escapes your lips that you’re biting on when he presses against your entrance.

“Although it’s quite tempting to cum on that beautiful face of yours.” He pushes the tip of his cock into you making you hold your breath and clench onto your fists, the stretch is incredible and it’s already making you see stars. “I think it’s picture worthy.” He smirks and pulls out of you before spitting onto his fingers and rubbing your entrance and pushing back again slowly, this time pushing further inside you and the angle is driving you insane.

“Holy fuck.” You can’t seem to swallow your whimpers, he bites onto your earlobe before whispering. “That little slutty cunt of yours takes me so well baby, doesn’t it?”

“Mhm.” You agree right away and your eyes shut tight when he pushes his cock balls deep into you forcing a breath out of your lungs. His pulsating cock inside you feels so good when it hits all the right spots, and he doesn’t waste the chance to make you feel so good with his fingers when he uses two fingers to rub your clit slowly, your hips grind down on him and he takes at a sign to go when he feels your wet cunt relax around him.

As he finally prepares to pound into you, he wraps one arm around your waist to pin you against him, and the other hand moves to your neck, his fingers wrapping around it and adding the perfect amount of pressure to make it feel better.

Slowly he starts moving his hips up against yours, the friction inside you is incredible and with each thrust the tip hits your spot making the pressure inside your stomach increase and you feel your body tensing. You cover your own mouth with your hand because you’re only seconds away from screaming out his name when he starts slamming inside you.

You look at him over your shoulder to meet his gaze, his eyes are lost between yours and the view of his cock disappearing in and out of you. And in his head he’s totally glad that condoms are officially off the table and no longer an option.

He feels your cunt relax around him before clenching again, he knows your body so well and he’s totally aware that you came surprisingly fast. Your eyes shut and your body shudders in front of him, your legs barely holding the weight of your body and you feel them shaking even.

Your chest rises to catch a breath and only one little whimper makes it out of your lips, your entire back relaxes and you grind your hips against his through your orgasm and he makes sure to pound into you faster through it too. You didn’t know it was physically possible but you feel yourself chasing after another orgasm even when you’re already over stimulated.

Right outside the door you’re leaned against is the flight attendant guarding the door, and she can clearly hear the sounds of your body meeting his which makes her rummage through the glasses to make any sort of noise for the passengers not to hear.

And Namjoon couldn’t give a single care whether people heard or even saw, his fogged up brain can’t comprehend anything but the fact that he’s fucking the woman he’s head over heels for raw which drives him feral and he even pounds harder inside you that you lose your gate and you can’t stand on your feet anymore.

He turns you to face him and lifts you up against the door to wrap your legs around him, and in less than a second he slams harder than before inside you. And you’re fucked already. Your hair is frizzy and your face is flushed red and sweaty, your heart is racing when you feel your next orgasm, and this time you feel it building in your shoulders and your lower back, it feels fucking insane that your tears roll down your cheeks, you cry out his name over and over with each bounce on him. It’s heavier than an orgasm and you know it, he knows it too.. “I’m gonna cum.”

“Cum for me baby, good girl.” He delivers a loud spank to your ass cheek that you instantly feel it heating up, and you can’t see it but it totally left a print there.

He grabs onto you tighter and seconds after fucking your breaths out of you, you’re squirting on him hard enough to push his cock out of you and he’s so aroused by what he’s seeing. You cry his name out again with your hand reaching down to your pussy to rub it while you’re squirting, his motion halting and slowly coming to an end when he feels your body calming down slowly.

He presses his forehead against yours and devours into your lips, you’re barely keeping up with him when you’re trying to catch a breath, he puts you down onto your feet and turns you again to face the door, he needs to cum on the view of your ass spread onto his cock all fucked up by his dick, your squirt soaked him so wet. He reaches his hand for his cock and starts stroking it with his other hand onto your ass, his grip tightens around the head and he jerks himself off to the view of your swollen pink pussy. “Shit—“ He starts releasing his seed onto your ass and cunt, his body tenses with each release before finally relaxing and shooting the last drop near your entrance.

You reach your hand down to rub your clit with that drop, smearing it all over your pussy before putting your fingers into your mouth to taste him, your gaze meets his over your shoulder and you laughs lazily before reaching your hand down to his cock stroking it slowly, “Your pull out game is excellent.”

“I was forced out.” He mirrors your laugh and spanks your ass again making you giggle, you take a step forward and walk towards the mirror, turning to see your ass. “Great art work too.”

“Next time I’ll do the same art work on your face.” He shrugs. “No excuses then, I’m taking pictures of it.” He grabs the toilet paper and rips some.

“Then do it.” You look at him, blinking your eyes a couple of times and he laughs, thinking that you might be joking but you’re not, and he realizes that when you don’t laugh. “You’re kidding.”

And to prove that you’re not, you see his phone in his pocket so you pick it out and slide to the left to open the camera app and hand it to him. “I think this is picture worthy too. Unless you think otherwise.”

It takes him a couple of seconds to take the phone from your hand and get ready to take the shot. “Turn around.” And you don’t think twice, turning around and leaning forward a little to reveal the art work.

He proceeds to take the picture of your lovely ass painted with his cum, the head of his dick positioned against your butt cheek which makes the photos eve spicier. He doesn’t get enough as he kneels down and snaps a couple more pictures, examining them and snapping a couple more again, before getting up and handing you the phone, and if he had the time he would’ve licked you clean and made you cum one more time.

You grab his phone and scroll through the pictures before looking up at him. “Joonie do you think they heard us?”

He grabs the scrunched up toilet paper and runs it under warm water before cleaning you up. “I think so, yeah. So what? Who cares if they heard or not.”

“Oh my god. Of course you don’t care you’re going back to the cockpit but I have to get back to my seat.” You put your pants on. “Can I stay here for the rest of the flight?”

He chuckles before pressing one last kiss onto your lips. “I’ll walk out first if it makes you feel better.” He puts his boxers back on and zips his pants. “I’ll see you later.”

The sun was setting near the lake, you and his father rented a couple bikes and drove around the lake while chatting and even racing. Your stomach was starting to hurt from all the laughing and goofing around, the man was incredible and really sweet to you and he was enjoying the bike ride more than you are. He does activities like that with his daughter but if felt really warm to the heart to be able to do this kind of activities with someone new.

Namjoon was watching you from afar with his mother, both carrying their hot drinks and walking around the lake, it was cold enough to put on heavy jackets and scarves, smokes of condensation rising up from their mouths as they speak. “Your father is having way more fun than I thought.”

Namjoon laughs and bobs his head. “Y/N is a really nice person and it’s so easy being around her, it just feels normal.”

“Yeah, this afternoon your father kept blabbering about her nonstop, she’s like a friend he never had.” She crosses her arms and sits on the nearest bench. “He loves her.”

“And you?”

“She makes my son happy, of course I love her.” She leans her head onto his shoulder. “And you?”

“Yes.” He very clearly answers, not beating around the bush. “I’m in love with her.”

He doesn’t even think before speaking as words just flow out of his mouth. “And I don’t think I’ve loved anyone this way before, I haven’t been completely honest with anyone about this yet, but I can easily see myself spending the rest of my life with her.”

“Joonie, honey you need to take things slower.” She worriedly speaks, her hand landing on his knee for reassurance. “I want you to choose her when you’re really sure that she’s the one.”

“I know she’s the one.” He wraps his arm around her shoulder and exhales, a large cloud escaping his mouth. “Do you think she feels the same way?”

“Otherwise she wouldn’t have agreed to spend the weekend with your old parents, and trust me she would’ve backed out on hanging out with your father.” Namjoon and his mother both look up at you and his father laughing your hearts out at how you almost fell into the lake after your last race.

“You’re right.” He bites onto his lip when he sees you putting the bike down and sitting onto the floor near the lake, totally pooped out and exhausted. “I need to rest.” You even cough and put your hand on your stomach. You needed to catch a breath.

“Look at your father.” His mother laughs when she sees her husband put his bike down and land onto the floor next to you. “I’ve been trying to convince him for ages to come here and ride our bikes but it takes your girlfriend one dinner.”

“Should I be worried? Is he going to try and steal her away from me?” Namjoon jokes and rubs her shoulder. “Mom are you jealous?”

“Of course I’m not.” She straightens her back and takes a look at her husband who quickly rises on his feet when you do, you make your way towards a bunch of children skateboarding and ask to join them even when you never did it before. “Okay maybe I am, but just a little.” And Namjoon laughs at his mother while he’s anxiously looking at you worried you’d hurt yourself.

The moment he realized how he actually felt towards you, there’s this instinct that built inside him and he feels the need to protect you at all costs, and he needs to keep you safe, he wouldn’t want you to be hurt or upset. It may be a father instinct but not in a creepy way or anything because he feels the same way towards Jay. He’s always on standby when you’re away from him, ready to help you and pick you up if you fall.

“Is your father actually going to ride the skateboard? … Oh no he is.”

You’re holding his father’s hands while he’s trying to balance on the skateboard, and you’re laughing your heart out at him when he’s stiff and trying his best not to fall, and he’s bickering at you and biting onto his own teeth trying to hold a laugh.

Not only Namjoon and his mother are watching you.

There’s another set of eyes staring at you from far way wondering what you and Namjoon did to actually deserve being happy, because this person simply thinks you don’t.

She thinks that all the misery she’s currently going through is all because of him, she wasted her life being with him and she wasn’t even half happy, she never wanted him nor loved him.

Back when he tutored her when they were in high school she never thought of him more than a friend or even a classmate, her parents never forced her neither, they simply manipulated her and made her think that he’s going to be her partner for the rest of her life.

They dated not because they wanted to, they simply dated because they were around each other the entire time, and if she recalls correctly, she never told him that she loved him because she never did, and she didn’t hate him neither back then.

Her entire life growing up was a literal struggle when her parents kept comparing her to him. Namjoon is better at this, Namjoon got a higher grade, Namjoon is smarter, Namjoon this Namjoon that.

Okay scratch the fact that she didn’t hate him, she does, and more than ever.

She hates the way he always looked at her, she hates the way he talks and even the voice tone he argued with, she couldn’t stand his touch, the way his hand felt on her skin was unbearable.

The nights she cried herself to sleep were countless, she thinks he doesn’t deserve this happy ending and he simply just can’t have it.

What made things even worse was in fact Jay, she can’t stand the man and now she has a piece of him lying around her and actually calling her mom, and by then she knowss she reached rock bottom.

And to be fair she wasn’t quite disappointed when she found out that he’s seeing someone, she thought it could be her only way out and it actually was. But Namjoon does not deserve to be this happy.

Seeing you with his family around the lake scratched something inside her and made her insist on fucking up your lives even more. She needs to take her revenge even when she can easily admit that it was equally her fault and he feels the same way towards her.

And what better way is there to hurt Namjoon than to hurt the person he loves the most?

Namjoon gets up on his feet quickly and rushes towards you when you fall to the floor while you were trying to balance on the skateboard. Your ankle hurts and you scraped your knee until it was actually bleeding. “It’s okay, you’re okay, right?” He gets down onto his knees to help you, you gasp when his hand hovers above your knee barely touching it. “It hurts.”

“You should’ve thought about this earlier when you decided getting on the skateboard.” Namjoon carries you up and puts you down on the nearest bench before looking around trying to figure out a way to help you. “We’ll return the bikes, you can take her home.” His father suggests before Soohyun hits his shoulder. “You’re equally guilty.”

The man argues with his wife and Namjoon rolls his eyes. “I’ll take Y/N home.” And he proceeds to carry you up again and walk towards his car that wasn’t parked very far away before he takes you home.

“I’m sorry I probably ruined the night.” You land on his bed before he kneels down to wipe the blood on your knees with an alcohol swab. “Of course you didn’t, don’t say that, you were having fun.”

“I saw you talking to your mom.” You clench your fists into the bed sheets when the alcohol starts burning your wound, “I’m almost done. Yeah we were chatting.”

“Mhm.” You nod, then the room turns quiet for nearly a minute, you look at his lips twitching as if there’s something to say and he’s been hiding something. Before he finally speaks. “I’m in love with you Y/N.”

Your heart races because you didn’t see that coming, you knew it already but it felt different to actually hear it.

Your gaze shifts to his eyes as he reciprocates, he clears his throat and exhales. “I’ve been wanting to tell you a couple nights before I got the divorce, I just didn’t want to scare you or something.. Which seems.. That you are.. right now?”

“N-no. I’m not scared, there’s nothing to be scared about.” You shrug nonchalantly, trying hard to keep a straight face, “I just… Didn’t see it coming like right now.”

“Right now?” He asks.

“I figured I’d be dressed up when you actually say it, but right now I smell like blood and actually need a shower.”

He tilts his face as his eyes are still locked onto yours, before he leans in and presses the softest kiss to your cheek. “I don’t care.”

You find it very hard to say it back even when you feel the same way, it’s just that you never did this before, you never told anyone that you were in love with them too. “Okay.”

Honestly no answer was better than this answer. That was so stupid.

“Okay?” He laughs, this could usually set any guy off and it could easily mean that you don’t love him back. But Namjoon knows you very well like the back of his hand and he knows you feel the same way. And he feels so relieved that he finally said it to you.

“Okay.” You giggle. He cups your cheek and kisses your cheek once more before saying. “Okay.” And nodding his head.

No matter how hard his ex wife tried to hurt you, Namjoon was always one step ahead of her, he’s been living with that woman for three years he knows how she thinks.

Her thought process was impaired and she was blinded by hate, he knew she’s onto something but he can’t tell you, and he’ll try his best to handle everything without you knowing and having to be worried or scared.

He was always there for you and he can’t let you get hurt.

#bts smut #bts fanfic #bts x fem!reader #bts x reader #bts x y/n #bts x you #kim namjoon #kim namjoon x reader #kpop fanfic #kpop smut #kim namjoon smut #namjoon x you #namjoon smut #kpop x reader #imagine bts

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12-seconds-to-live · 11 months

Text

(Un)Lost: The art of war

Pairing: F12022/3!Grid! x Fem!Driver!Oc

Warnings: DNF’s, angst, a little bit of love, episodes of anxiety, Seb’s retirement, harsh words.

DRIVE TO SURVIVE SEASON 5 - EP. 1 THE NEW ERA

“It’s freezing in here” I said while I was puting my cap in my head, my Williams cap, ready to sit in the famous black chair of Netflix. “Thank you Netflix for make this possible, Bahrain is being cooking itself now” The producer chuckle.

“So, we’re going to let you introduce you and then make you a few questions. Everything clear?”

“Sure” I look for a better position in the chair and look to the camera “My name is Charlotte Robyn-Jones and I’m engineer strategist for Williams Racing Formula One Team” I said with a smile on my face. I saw the people in the back laugh and I copy the action

“You can’t lie to Netflix, kid”

“I think I just did ... Anyway, 1, 2, 3, Monday to Friday, My name is Charlotte Robyn-Jones, I’m 23 and I’m a race driver for Williams Racing Formula One Team” I tilt my head to one side and laugh “Cool”

“So cool. What’s for you to be at the top of the game right now?, obviously avoiding the question that you must be bored about”

“Being a woman is fantastic, except for that thing every month but I can’t complain. I have to say that it’s not easy. You can dream of some things happening but all the same time, If you really wanted, the answer is get up and look for your better options to make things happen.” I gassped and look down and to the camera. “I remenber when I told my dad that I wanted to give it a try in karting and I wasn’t even 6, he looked at me like I was some sort of silly muppet but then he make me promise that I will do great in school and then he will help me with the racing carreer I wanted. The rest is history”

A series of videos of her carreer show up, from her beginning in karts, F4, F3 and her successfull 2021 in F2 finishing as champion, smiling faces all around and obviously a very proud Charlotte.

“You just mention your dad. What about other members in your family? Friends or even a boyfriend?” I look at the producer with a side smile

“You guys are really something else, right?” they laugh “I’m single ready to mingle. I don’t talk to much about my family, I like to be private about that. I almost dropped all this. My family is my priority and two years ago I lost my mom due cancer so...”

“I’m sorry we don’t...”

“No, it’s okay” I smiled to the camera “She’s not here but I still talk about her like she’s just in the back of the house screaming to the dog for being so silly, she’s still here and I know she’s proud”

“Sure she is. Just to finish ... Any expectations for your team. Everybody wanted to see you in a bigger team like Mercedes or Ferrari, did you hear any rumors about that?”

“Well, certanly I did hear, but the thing is, mmm, I always believe that If you wanna prove yourself is better to start from the very bottom, understand the little things and then you’ll find success, almost glory. Being in this sport is so tricky, like, one day you won in Monaco and the next day you’re out of the points or feeling that all your pasion is going out to your body” I see everybody’s faces like I was saying something fascinating “This is sport is like war, you better watch out your back ‘cause even your own team could kill you.”

“So, this is your year to discover yourself?”

“Yes, my bingo card this year will imply me being playing the art of war that is F1″

“Okay Charlotte, this is all for today. We’ll see you along the year”

“Thanks and don’t spill my secrets. Snitches end up in ditches, they say”

I go out of the room straight to the Williams garage. Sure thing is that this year is going to be wild, after what happened last year between Red Bull and Mercedes, man, I really don’t want to be any member of those teams.

“Hello Ms. Jones, everything all right with Netflix?” My PR, Ava asked. She was in Alex side of the garage talking to other people

“Yeah, they’re like school girls” She laugh

“Yeah, sometimes. Today is media day so since you’re ready with your Williams merch, we can start signing some caps and cards and then continue with your schedule. Or do you want to start with press?”

“Up to you really, better doing the easiest first then I’ll face the sharks” We walk to a conference room when I found Alex with his girlfriend and his PR. Last year I met the girl in a tournament in the UK and we have been really close since then.

“Oh hello you, my girl and my boy rocking together this year” Lily said and hug me, while Alex put a false angry face

“Nice to see you Lily and yes, we’re going to rock or better than that” I said she smack Alex shoulder

“See, I tould you she has spirit!”

“I know, I think that everybody saw that video of her running along the track after her win in last year championship”

That video.

Well, you don’t win F2 championship many times in your life, right?

“I don’t know what are you talking about”

“Everybody know you do”

“Shh” I sit next to the pile of merch with my face on it. It’s 9:45 so I have time ‘till lunch and more interviews.

INTERVIEW ROOM @14:20

W/ Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel

“Don’t be nervous, ok? I’m not gonna tell what to answer, you’re smart so answer like a pro”

“Like a pro? So I can say <<inchident>> or even ask about the interviewers plans for the summer?” I showed Ava a side smiled

“Please don’t and you’re going to be in between, your name is on the sofa” I enter the room and saw the amount of people organized in the back of the room with notepads, cameras and tricky looks.

“So, welcome everybody to the second session here in Bahrain, we are here with Lando Norris from McLaren, Carlos Sainz from Ferrari, Charlotte Jones from Williams, Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes and Sebastian Vettel from Aston Martin. Welcome to the drivers, we’re going to have a round of questions for this sesion, if that’s ok” I look at the others who nod.

“Hello, this question is for Charlotte” Great. “We want to hear your first impresions of your new team, if you have the chance to meet the other drivers and expectations for your rookie season”

I tried to smiled but I suddenly felt like I wanna dissapear and the lights we’re too bright so I put on my glasses and I hear Lewis laugh and how he copy my action and take the microphone “It’s sunny outside so there’s no need to put the light to bright, thanks guys” And squeezed my hand.

“Yeah, lights, mmm, almost everybody saw me in the car last year when I met the team and my teammate. Everything has been great so far, mmm I spent half of the holidays with the Sainz family, there been close to my mom’s family so, yeah, Carlos and his trainer just help me to get in better shape for this rodeo, something that I’m grateful for” I fist bump with Carlos and laugh “And expectations, well, I prefer to see how it goes after the race, I sent my ideas and questions the past month so I know now that the car is fast and let’s see If we can put Williams on the top again”

Sebastian took the microphone and look at me “Do you know about engineering?”

“Yeah, I finished my degree in mechanical engineering last month, obviously online, so...”

“That’s impresive, kid” answer Sebastian

“Am I the only one scared now?” Ask Lando to everybody. Everybody laugh at that. The interview session went smoothly and not many questions were to me, since Lewis was in the room, the events of november where reminded. Questions about strategies and upgrades for Ferrari and Aston Martin and the chances of McLaren of getting a podium this year. After that, the session ended, Carlos stopped me.

“Welcome officially, girasol” He hug me in the process and we heard a cough

“Are you good, man?”

“Since my friend here it’s so disrespectfull, nice to meet you, yo soy Lago”

“Nunca le enseñaste bien español” I said laughing to the spaniard

“Ciertamente él fue un terrible alumno”

“Please don’t. Back to a common language” I smiled to him and oh boy! such beautiful eyes

“Charlotte, rookie, friend of this guy, fan of dogs, chocolate cake and be on my xbox the whole day” I shake his hand and he gasp

“Marry me”

“In a few years, maybe” I look to Carlos who look at me with wide eyes

“I don’t want him on family holidays, ten moths are too much now” As we were walking through the paddock, a few photographers and fans aproach us. Since Carlando were more famous that I am, so I go straight to my motorhome to lay down for a bit.

What a day.

A few headers on instagram and twitter about the conference

2022 ROOKIE READY TO DRIVE AND BEING A THREAT

CHARLOTTE ROBYN-JONES, NEW SENSATION IN THE PADDOCK

IS THIS THE YEAR OF WILLIAMS?

Mind clear and then start proving myself.

I’m a girl, yes, but right now I feel that I have a chance to be like them, it’s ny time.

A champion, one ready to fight.

I finished my day with more media duties, to 6 pm I was going to wait for Carlos who offer a ride to the hotel. While I was waiting in the parking lot, the papaya pair waved at me.

“Hiya, you must me Charlotte. I’m Daniel, the one with good looks in the team” He said with a smile.

“Nice to meet you Daniel, how you guys doin’?”

“All good, we’re heading to the hotel, ready to kick asses tomorrow?” I saw how Lando seems certanly interested in the question

“I’m feeling normal, but yeah, let’s see tomorrow. My driver arrived so... see ya” I waved at them when Carlos opened his car. Daniel and Lando saw the couple leaving the parking lot when the australian looks at the youngest

“Say it”

“What?”

“Why do you look so shock around her? I mean, even Max who lives in a rock knew about her”

“I’ve been friends of Carlos and I never see her around, it’s weird”

“Ooow, the kid is jealous of the newie” Daniel started laughing and going to his car

“Man stop... I’m not jealous and also I’m a man!”

BAHREIN CIRCUIT @13:45 - FP1 & FP2

“Radio check, please” my race engineer said. Williams had the chance to start fourth in the two practices after Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Red Bull and Alpine.

“ And I thought my heart was detached, from all the sunlight of our past, but she's so sweet, she's so pretty, does she mean you forgot about me? Yeah, yes, I’m going to send you my playlist for the race, what dou you think?”

“We’ll evaluate that after practice”

“It’s not a no, I wil take it”

“Ok Charlotte, 30 seconds to start heating the tyres and whenever you ready, your flying lap”

“Copy”

“Now, we’ll have Williams coming out the pits to start practice, first our rookie Charlotte, fresh out the oven as F2 champion. She’s heating the tyres and has 15 minutes to do a few laps and see how that car goes”

On the broadcast, the faces of the team principals were on screen, with their expectations on the girl and see how she start.

“Ok Charlotte, you can start in the next lap with Leclerc and Ocon in front of you” I pressed the copy bottom. Here I go.

One thing about me it’s that I brake late but my left foot likes to keep itself on the throttle. A girl have to give it all, right?

“I feel like I’m watching the Mercedes W11 all over again. Wow! I can see a future world champion, multiple times If she wanted too”

“That car is fast” said Christian Horner looking to Max’s engineer “What the hell?”

“Definitely it is”

“Toto, even when she brake the car doesn’t go below 170 km/h. what?” Lewis and Bono stand beside the team principal of Mercedes.

“I think that your eight championship have to wait a bit, I can’t believe my eyes”

“That girl is the real Toretto, don´t you think?” asked Yuki to the french man

“I wanna throw myself down a hill to be honest”

“What the f***?, which car is that?, I almost get dizzy” asked Charles over the radio

“That was a Williams, the rookie, she’s 3 seconds faster than you”

“This is going to be a long season. F***”

“Well done Charlotte. With his pace you can certanly win every race this season”

“Haha, good job to everybody from those in the factory to the ones in the garage. What about Alex?”

“As good as you, the difference is 0.337″

“That’s good”

“Yes, we’ll wait for you in the garage”

As I parked, I could heard the applauses from my team and the people around the garage.

And yes.

A very long season ahead.

intro

That was fun.

For those who doesn’t speak spanish, here the translation:

Girasol: sunflower.

Nunca le enseñaste bien español: you never taught him Spanish well.

Ciertamente él fue un terrible alumno: He certainly was a terrible student.

Hope you liked it :)

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drak3n · 5 months

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TO ALL THE MEN YOU’VE LOVED BEFORE: PROLOGUE

ꨄ. SYNOPSIS: the launching of a new platform magically re-connecting seperated people has shaken the entirety of social media. after many months of contemplation and denial, you give in to your urges.

ꨄ. SENA’S NOTE: this merely serves as a way to introduce all eight parts of the mini-series! as they’re all characters from different fandoms, there clearly won’t be names or any specific action in this! so this is a little short :)

TO ALL THE MEN YOU’VE LOVED BEFORE MASTERLIST

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ♡•°`.

everywhere.

it was everywhere you went. following you around like it was your shadow, cornering you at any given possibility.

you knew the drill. once something went viral anywhere, it would stick around for some time and then be forgotten.

that wasn’t the case with this damn live show. not at all. the first time it had been announced on international tv must have been ages ago, like around the beginning of the year. yet, the hype never seemed to die down, with more and more people freaking out online and in real life about how it changed their lives.

you were convinced it was a scam. like come on, who even believed in a fairy tale like that? being reunited with a lost lover, or any kind of lover who it didn’t work out with?

there was a reason it hadn’t worked out. because if there wasn’t, you’d still surely be with that person.

it started with trailers being shown on every channel you zipped through, announcing free slots for their newest season and putting emphasis on their confidentiality. how people had the choice to stay anonymous while spilling their private and embarrassing matters to so-called love experts.

such bullshit.

now, it went way past that. you ended up avoiding watching tv, just to literally be haunted by that cursed show in other ways. through flyers and stickers flying around, through posters hung up on subway stations and even inside of said subways, hell, a couple of days ago, there was even an airship promoting it.

TO ALL THE MEN YOU’VE LOVED BEFORE. a silly name for a concept just as silly as that.

what did you have to do again to apply?

right, as if there was any way of forgetting with how much your coworkers were babbling about it. they made sure to remind you of that every day.

“i’m still thinking if i should just call them the next time and try my luck,” you heard one of many tell another while you were waiting in the line for your lunch. “i really, really want to make up with my ex. they’re my only hope.”

their conversation went on for many more minutes, and you were glad when you finally were next in line to greet the lunch lady with a tired smile. as she filled your tray in a halfhearted manner, your smile quickly faded away upon hearing her talk to a fellow worker behind the counters.

“my son and his teenage love reconciled after he applied there. they are awaiting their first child soon!” the elderly woman gushed while placing a cup of pudding onto your tray, waiting for you to scan your employee id before you shuffled away from the line to plop down on an empty space in the crowded lunch hall.

it was all the same. love, love, love. always those same old problems. getting dumped, being abandoned, or doing the dumping and abandoning.

regret, sadness, frustration, desperation.

you came home that sane evening with thoughts plaguing your mind; with the big question if those were all signs for you to see. if everything you’d been hearing and seeing for these past couple of months were meant to open your eyes, somehow. to get the hint.

making a beeline to your bedroom, your eyes darted to the package placed on your bed. still untouched and waiting to be sent. the pastel pink stamp had been placed on the corner of the box yesterday by you. those fuckers made so much money with their hit show that they distributed stamps, to force them to send more drama their way for them to indulge in.

it was stupid that you had even put in the effort to package what was meant to have been tossed away long ago. it might or might not have been long yet, but why did you keep that?

as a writer, you couldn’t contain yourself. even back then, you had always known you’d end up becoming anything connected to writing, journaling, whatever. it was almost annoying how you used to document all those feelings you couldn’t put into words.

specifically writing letters had always been your passion. writing down your heartbreaks and grief into words and making them come to life on paper.

words you failed to tell him.

the recipients were all written on the envelopes inside the box, some years ago, and some recently, and you didn’t even know if they were still the same addresses.

for some, you knew for sure they weren’t.

even if the cast of TO ALL THE MEN YOU’VE LOVED BEFORE — if they picked you, that is — wouldn’t find their current addresses, you were for sure going to be relieved. those letters had been a significant burden on your heart ever since you had written them.

for the first time in your life, you didn’t feel any kind of satisfaction from writing. these letters existed to be sent. and you were realizing it just now.

they were meant to be read aloud, understood. they had to be read by others for you to be at peace with your unresolved feelings.

the very next morning, you handed the package to the post office, bidding farewell to years of bottled-up and hidden feelings.

it wasn’t until a week later that you received a letter, with the same pink stamp and sender the same you had sent your letters to. you found yourself reading it in front of the door to your apartment:

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ♡•°`.

dear contestant,

we thank you for your package and were enthralled to read about your experiences. upon short discussions within our team of experts, we soon decided to choose your case to present in our next live airing, which is going to be this saturday!

the letters have already been sent out to their respective addresses — some of which we had to adjust as there have been changes.

it is up to you if you want to join us for our next airing — it be via call or even by showing up at our studio! we will welcome you in any case and make sure you will reunite with one of your lost loves.

please do not worry, as we will handle all of your data with the utmost care and make sure that none of it is leaked for other purposes.

up until then, stay lovely and trust the process!

ꨄ. your TO ALL THE MEN YOU’VE LOVED BEFORE cast

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ♡•°`.

PROCEED TO OPEN LETTER

THE LOST LOVE ꨄ TOJI FUSHIGURO

THE ONE NIGHT STAND ꨄ HIROMI HIGURUMA

THE NEMESIS ꨄ ATSUMU MIYA

THE BEST FRIEND ꨄ KEN RYUGYJI

FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS GONE WRONG ꨄ SHUJI HANMA

THE FORBIDDEN LOVE ꨄ LEVI ACKERMAN

RIGHT PERSON, WRONG TIMING ꨄ TOUYA TODOROKI

THE BOY NEXT DOOR ꨄ SHOUEI BAROU

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ♡•°`.

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coraniaid · 3 months

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I don't think there should be a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot and I don't have any reason to believe there is going to be a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot and I would not watch a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot.

But, that said, if there were to be a Buffy reboot I think a big (small) change that would improve the show a lot (especially in its first season) would be to have a much broader pool of recurring student characters from the very beginning. Not just the Scooby Gang and Cordelia, but ideally almost all the students we see in the first season should appear in multiple episodes and, if they die, they should be talked about at least once afterwards. As it is, Season 1 is full of ghosts: characters like Amy and Harmony who will go on to be somewhat recurring but aren't quite there yet, and characters like Jesse and Cordelia's boyfriend Kevin (remember him?) who only exist to die and are not mentioned before or after. Most of the show's recurring minor student characters will only be introduced in Season 2.

In particular, I think the characters most ill-served by this in canon are, in order of first (and often only) appearance:

Jesse

I actually think the concept of Jesse – as a sympathetic character who is killed in the opening episodes before we really get to know him – is a good one. Beyond any possible shock value of his death, it's a useful way of establishing that people can and will die in this story, and of stating out loud the setting's rules for vampires ("you're not looking at your friend, you're looking at the thing that killed him"). On the other hand, the execution is pretty awful because it is immediately clear that Jesse is not the same status of character as Willow and Xander (he isn’t even in the opening credits), he is not actually sympathetic at all (he seems to exist to answer the question "what if Xander Harris but Worse?"), and large parts of the fandom (and later writers of the show itself) will decide to completely ignore what the show is telling them about how vampires as a concept on Buffy work and why Buffy is not only justified but morally obliged to Slay them.

But the most egregious thing about Jesse is, of course, that after his death in The Harvest he is never talked about again. I honestly think that just a couple of lines of dialogue spread out over Season 1 (Buffy blaming herself for Jesse's death while worrying whether she’s making a positive difference as a Slayer, say, or Xander mentioning Jesse as a reason for disliking vampires, or Jesse being named as one of several mysteriously missing students by Principal Flutie) would go a really long way to fixing that.

A brief cameo appearance in Nightmares wouldn't have hurt either. (Just months ago Xander failed to save his best friend from vampires and was taunted by the demon wearing his corpse and had to watch him turn to dust in front of his eyes, so of course he’s terrified of … clowns. OK.)

Amy

OK, for real, if I were in charge of creating a Buffy reboot I would be very tempted to just add Amy to the Gang after Witch. She knows that magic is real! She knows Buffy knows magic is real! She seems to be on friendly terms with both Buffy and Willow when the episode ends! And yet she vanishes after her first appearance more quickly than Marcie Ross.

But, failing that, having Amy show up more than once a year in the high school seasons would be a start (especially since the show implies so much is happening to her behind the scenes each year). Let her be a friend of Buffy's who doesn't know anything about Buffy being the Slayer. Have Willow at least think about asking her for help with Angel’s soul curse! Pull the trick the writers used in The Wish (and never used again) of having Willow talk about her as if they're friends even in episodes she's not appearing in. Show us Willow spending time with her rather than Buffy during Dead Man's Party! Remember that this character exists even when she’s not on screen!

Lance (and his various bullies) from The Pack

Hapless victim Lance is basically a proto-Jonathan and, if I were remaking the show, I would just lean into that fully and simply replace him with Jonathan from the very beginning.

It would be tempting to do the same thing with Kyle and Heidi and the others, too: rather than retroactively introduce multiple new characters who apparently used to bully Xander in Seasons 2 and 3 that we’ve never met before and never will again (how big is Sunnydale High meant to be?).

The obvious problem with that is that the show tells us that the Pack remember eating Principal Flutie alive, which means rather than hanging out in school giving Xander and Willow a hard time when the plot requires it they should probably all be in therapy for years. But you can fix that while fixing The Pack as an episode by just ... not having the fact Xander not only remembers assaulting Buffy but lies about it to her face presented to us as a punchline? Have Xander forget what happened to him. Have them all forget what happened when they were possessed, and then Kyle and Heidi and the others can be conflated with Inca Mummy Girl's Rodney and School Hard's Sheila as and when required.

Owen

This requires slightly more work, but I think Owen and Scott work better if they're the same character too. Rather than Owen promising to stay friends with Buffy and then never appearing or being mentioned again, or Willow telling Buffy she "wasn't ready" to date Scott before Season 3 as if he even existed then, just make Scott somebody that we've already met and who Buffy had previously briefly dated pre-Angel.

The challenge here is that Buffy breaks up with Owen because she doesn’t want to get him hurt and she’s still very focussed on keeping her identity as the Slayer secret and only letting a handful of people know.

But that fits into the wider theme of Season 3 perfectly. By this point, Buffy’s let far more people know than just Willow and Xander. Xander’s girlfriend Cordelia knows, and Willow’s boyfriend Oz knows, and Buffy’s own mother knows, and none of this has caused the world to end. Why shouldn’t Buffy try dating a normal guy who knows she’s the Slayer?

(And I think everything about Scott works better if he’s somebody we’ve seen before – somebody we’ve seen Buffy be romantically interested in before – rather than suddenly appearing only to disappear almost as quickly. Scott is meant to represent Buffy trying to reassert her claim to a 'normal' life after everything that happened with Angel last year.. What better way to do that than to try to start things over with the one person we do see her trying to date on the show before Angel? How much harder would Scott's rejection of Buffy hit if we'd seen that the pre-Angelus version of Buffy really did get on well with him and would have expected to make things work?)

Kevin

The end of Season 1 features, back-to-back, two of its best episodes. In Out of Mind Out of Sight, we focus on Cordelia Chase. We're reintroduced to Cordelia's friend Harmony and we meet Cordelia's current boyfriend, Mitch. (Who is attacked by Marice Ross, but survives.) In Prophecy Girl Cordelia briefly bonds with Willow while talking about how much she likes her current boyfriend, Kevin, only for the two of them to discover him dead, killed by vampires on school grounds.

Wouldn't the death in the latter episode work much better if those two "current boyfriends" were the same person? Wouldn't we care more about Kevin's death if he was somebody we'd actually met before?

But let’s go further than that: at the start of Season 2, in Some Assembly Required, we meet Chris, whose brother used to date Cordelia but tragically died. Chris tries to bring him back, and his brother pursues Cordelia. The show doesn’t mention – or doesn’t remember – that Cordelia already has a tragically dead ex-boyfriend, one who died only two episodes ago. Why not fix that? Why not identify Chris’s brother Darryl with Kevin as well?

Make Mitch/Kevin/Darryl a single character, and then we would achieve that rarest of sights on Buffy: a minor character who we meet an episode before they die and who is mentioned again in an episode after they died.

And wouldn’t that almost make a potential Buffy reboot palatable?

#btvs #the answer to that last question is 'no'

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cranberryjuice-posts · 4 months

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I’m abt to post a new clarisse FIC but I just wanted to go on a rant abt this

SPOILERS FOR PJO

Clarisse and silena Were in love. Ive already made a post abt thhis before but I wanna just like elaborate

- “Clarisse is in love with Chris and silena is in love with Charles beckendorf”

Yes that’s true but have you ever noticed how differently clarisse treats female characters vrs male characters. She softer and while still a bitch not an actually shitty person to characters like for example annabeth, silena and more, in the sea of monsters she was concerned for annabeth after she broke her ribs but in the next line insulted Percy.

She is also seen countless times being kinder to annabeth in multiple different scenes while still be harsh to other male characters. She gets ruthless in the war meeting in the final book and all she said is “I apologize to only silena” or something like that. When have we ever seen clarisse apologize than to silena

- “clarisse went into the labyrinth to find Chris she loved him”

Clarisse went into the labyrinth to find Chris, the only reason for this was because he showed up to her house in Arizona. She felt responsible to get him back from camp. She also helped nurse him back to sanity until Dionysius could help.

Clarisse felt responsible for Chris, that’s why and she can still love him platonically. That’s how I’ve always viewed their relationship was them being platonic.

- “silena and clarisse Were Just good friends that’s it”

Clarisse and silena Are direct parallels to Achilles and Patroclus, two characters in the Iliad who are very clearly lovers.

I Said it once I’ll say it again, Rick most likely didn’t think about making both girls the parallels to the myth until he was already writing the book. If he had decided on that way before I firmly believe he would of made them both together

But I would also like to add his books came out in the early 2000’s the last Olympian coming out in 2009 and queer represantion wasn’t as “common” as it is now. With Disney also being his publisher he was probably hesitant to even introduce a gay character in his books let alone two sapphic women.

Yes we started to see change for queer identies in the early 2000’s we also have to still think that again Disney is ricks publisher, even Disney didn’t really start being more accepting of LGBTQ+ identies until recently.

- “well if all that’s true why didn’t Rick just make them in love in the final book”

I Just explained why above but also he had already written their relationships out, silena and beckendorf in the demigod diaries or which ever one it was and clarisse and Chris in the battle of the labyrinth.

He can’t just go back and completely rewrite the cannon relationships he has set without it being weird.

——

In the end even actors like Dior who plays clarisse says that her character and silena will have a more sapphic relationship and with the show coming out now and with season 2 being announced, Rick having cannon gay characters a whole book about nico and will who are to young men in a relationship going through Tartarus, I belive Rick will make silena and clarisse have a more romantic relationship compared to the books.

Also we’re going to be seeing a lot of change anyways, Rick wrote these books YEARS ago and of course like any artist you will critique your old work. So again I hope we see a more developed and romantic relationship between silena and clarisse especially since Clarisse is very much a lesbian coded character

That’s it Ty for coming to my Ted talk 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩

#lesbian #wlw #clarisse la rue #clarisse pjo #clarisse x reader #clarisse larue #clarisse x silena #percy jackson show #pjo show #pjo fandom #percy jackson

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aziraphales-library · 26 days

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Lost Fic #181

1. i can’t remember the name of a fic it was a ‘Raphael was Crowley before the fall’ type fic, and it was one where Crowley could still use his archangel skills even after his fall. in part of it, Michael shows up and starts talking (maybe yelling) at Crowley and Crowley shows her (him?them?) that he used to be Raphael and that he can still summon his archangel staff. the fic might’ve been a 5+1 fic but i cannot be too sure Thanks!!!! - @cosmxc-ars3hol3

2. hi! thank you so much for the work you do in this blog!!! i lost a fic that i read years ago. human au and i think crowley owns a flowershop? i think there was a part in the fic where aziraphale has to leave the bookshop for quite a while for a book deal and crowley decides to fill the front of the bookshop with all kinds of plants and flowers before aziraphale comes back. i was wondering if u folks or ur followers can recognize this fic 🥹 im not sure if im remembering this correctly so i apologize. and thank you once again!! - anon

3. Hello! I was wondering if you could help me find a fic with Crowley as a florist and Newt as his assistant. There's a scene where Az visits the flower shop and when he introduces himself to Newt, Newt says something like "You're the cute bookshop owner Crowley was talking about," or something. I'm not entirely sure if Az is a bookshop owner in this AU. I've been trying to find it using the Flowershop AU tag on AO3 but with no luck. Thank you for your help! - anon

4. hi, I really love perusing the almost limitless recs you have here and am always so amazed how you are able to find so many fics people have lost track of. So I was hoping I could ask for your help in finding one I cursedly did not bookmark once a upon a time. It had three chapters I believe and started during the future war between heaven and hell. Crowley dies on the battle field and the earth is destroyed and a new world is created, where Aziraphale becomes the new earths satan equivalent. He's also lost his memory of the previous world and ends up magic mirror/window staking this new angel and demon pair that make him feel like his lost something inconceivably important. It was really incredible and it would be lovely to experience it again. thanks so, so much for all your incredible work - @tomato-soup-and-cats

5. Hello! I hope you are having a lovely. Unfortunately I have lost a fic that I really enjoyed and despite quite a bit of scouring, I haven’t been able to find it again. For anyone else reading this the description of the fic will have some spoilers for season two. In this fic, the Metatron kills what he believes to be Crowley, much to Aziraphale’s dismay. Aziraphale shows up at Crowley’s flat to threaten and scare away the Metatron and there is also some crying over what he believes to be Crowley’s remains. However, Crowley managed to store and use a spare corporation to trick the Metatron into killing him. Crowley also steals and book of life and miracles it to look like a pair of his sunglasses. I can’t help but love a bit of angst with a happy ending so I’d greatly appreciate any help you can provide. - @kittykat2005

If you know any of these fics please include the number in your reply! Thank you :)

- Mod D

#good omens #lost fic #ineffable husbands #mod d

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canonmisogynyvictimstournament · 9 months

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PROPAGANDA

ARCEE (TRANSFORMERS) (CW: Transphobia)

1.) Transformers has had a troubled history with female transformers as a whole. They didn't really even exist until Season 2. And while they've all gotten the short end of the stick until recently, Arcee, who kinda ended up The Main Girl (sorry Elita) has gotten the brunt of this mistreatment. Mostly talking G1 here.

Toys kept getting cancelled over and over even though she's a main, important character of Season 3. She didn't get a decent widely available toy that actually resembled her G1 version (first one was a Botcon exclusive Blackarachnia redeco which I disqualify because convention-exclusive spider is not what I was looking for, and Binaltech is just kinda a pink and white robot who looks nothing like her, just with her name slapped on) until 2014. I wish I could use bold here, because there's no such thing as uppercase numbers. Before that, you just kinda had to look at the toys from other canons and squint because Hasbro doesn't think the pink girl toy will sell well.

And misogyny present in the fiction? A lot can be summed up in a couple words, namely, "Furman, why?" While most people go with his excuses of not believing in Cybertronian gender, it really comes across as him seeing men as the default, neutral state of being, and women as something that must be explained. Poorly. Explained very poorly. Not to explain things in Tv Tropes terms, but I have to, it reeks of the 'Men Are Generic, Women Are Special' https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MenAreGenericWomenAreSpecial trope.

Let's get us started with Prime's Rib. Oh my goodness, Prime's Rib. So, Furman doesn't believe in Cybertronian gender (and male is seen as default), and this has reflected in his writing. He's going along perfectly fine writing his dudes in the US run of the Marvel comics, Arcee entirely ignored… but what's this? The connected UK comic has her. He can't just ignore her. So, well. He needs an explanation. Explaining a plot hole isn't bad. It's how he did it. Arcee was created in response to a feminist mob who was mad Cybertronians were all guys. I don't think I need to explain this one.

I'm too tired to explain her treatment in IDW now. Something something unnatural attempt to introduce gender into a genderless species, something something, really weird uncomfortable treatment, it's a long story and I'm not an IDW expert, read the TFWiki page for Spotlight: Arcee.

I'm sure there's more in other media, but I've blathered on way too long and I'm starting to get frustrated and tired and AGH FURMAN WHY. He's gotten better, too, definitely not judging his present self over comics that are from many years ago, but asdfghjkl

Ok fine, one more thing. This isn't G1 but Michael Bay stated in interviews that he gleefully killed her movieverse version off specifically because he didn't like her. It's not NECESSARILY misogyny motivated. I wouldn't deem it misogyny coming from a different director with a different film series. Transformers writers have had personal beef with random characters which they wished to unceremoniously kill off before--Animated Beachcomber comes to mind, even if the writers never got the chance. But it's also Michael Bay's Transformers we're talking about here. Can you blame me for thinking that?

Arcee has gotten better treatment in recent years. Furman's clumsy attempts to explain Arcee's gender in tbe IDW run were slowly retconned into some pretty decent trans rep by other authors, she's really just come into her own as a character. But it was a long and rocky road to get there, and I believe we all need to acknowledge that.

2.) Was initially introduced in the 80's transformers movie only after being strong armed by Ron Friedman, being the first female presenting robot to be seen in the show. bright pink, cause, ya know, female. has the most romantic involvement of any transformer ever across all transformations media, cause, ya know, female, and god forbid she be her own person when hasbro can stick to her to Some Guy. she was made trans in the 2005 continuity and was immediately made berserk as a result. marvel made her a freak science experiment to shame feminists. why does the robot have curves when no one else does istg

i love her too much to stand by idly while she's treated this way

3.) hasbro keeps trying to convince people that her and elita-one (another pink fem character) are actually the same. "who cares same lore different names. what do you mean they're different characters?" and constantly flips their lore, designs, and names around with every single FUCKING continuity ie transformers rise of the beasts where they use arcee's design but call her elita-one SMASHES MY HEAD INTO THE WALL bro there's a whole group of autobots called the "female transformers". i don't. there's so little female representation in this series that hasbro decided the best way to fix it would be… segregation, ig. arcee is apart of it obviously. elita-one leads it. reminds me that i should (and maybe sick a couple friends on this poll) make a submission for elita because JESUS CHRIST hasbro fucked her up also apparently in some continuities arcee is trans. upon getting bottom surgery it fucking. idk how turns her berserk?? it's so weird. mind controlled/sleeper agent in like half of the fucking continuities for some reason. in every single one of these continuities she either gets with Springer or Hot Rod and ends up betraying them. every single time why does the robot have boobs

NAOMI MISORA (DEATH NOTE)

1.) I know everyone is gonna submit Misa but honestly she had it worse.

She gets introduced as this competent lady who's gonna help find Kira but then she just, decides to show some teenager her real ID as a show of trust and whoops that's Kira.

Also part of her introduction was her fiance going "You don't need to worry about this tracking down the killer nonsense, you're gonna be my wife, you should just be worried about raising kids in the future :)" or some shit. And it's barely addressed, because she just fucking dies.

2.) She was the only woman in the series to show any level of competence. She figured out more about how the death note works from some small context clues than L did in considerably less time. She was apparently so competent that the author decided to kill her off despite initially planning to make her a main character, fearing she would distract from the L and Light rivalry.

3.) the victim of “writer doesn’t understand women and also hates them” disease. Like, seriously, the author of Death Note could only imagine a female FBI agent as the fiancée of another, more senior FBI agent. The main character Light kills her fiancé Raye Penber (in honestly a really tightly written and cool episode) and so she tries to figure out who killed her husband. Unlike Raye who only figured out that Light was Kira as he was dying because Light basically told him, Naomi figures it out a lot sooner so oops guess she’s gotta die because she’s too good at her job.

#polls #round 1 #week 2 #new #cw transphobia

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littlebitsmile · 3 months

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in flames [C.L.] | Chapter V

This is it, finally. With this chapter, we kick off the 2024 season and Emma takes part in her first official F1 race in Bahrain. I'm really excited about going forward with this, hopefully you are too.

Enjoy this chapter, breathe it in, feel it in your heart xx

story: in flames driver: Charles Leclerc [C.L.] trope: #haterstolovers summary: Always working three times as hard as everyone else, Emma does not intend to blow her chance of driving among the best of the best in her very first season in Formula 1. Concentrating on first and foremost getting ahead of her brother, she does not even notice that there are some people even in her own team who think she does not deserve this spot and would rather see her fail. And one driver in particular seems to have a need of always reminding her of that.

────ʚ C H A P T E R V ɞ────

"How exactly does this work here?" I ask, while two screens of light shine directly into my face and three or four cameras are pointed at me. A makeup artist is just powdering the last of the anxious sweat on my forehead dry, and a young man is sitting opposite me with a script in his hand. Probably the same one that was sent to me two weeks ago.

"You introduce yourself with your name, which team you drive for, and then I'll ask you a few questions. Easy cheesy lemon squeezy," he replies without looking up from his script.

I can't deny that I'm afraid of messing something up. I still regularly attend the social media training sessions run by Aston Martin's PR department, but Netflix's Drive to Survive team is probably in a whole different league. At least most of the drivers have already warned me about it.

Someone shouts "30 seconds," and suddenly the room empties. The lights are still blinding, and apart from the camera lenses and three-quarters of the interviewer's face, I can't really see much. Just a dark room, almost as if I were the suspect in a murder case and was being questioned - creepy.

I'm handed a film flap with my name, my team, and "Take 1" written on it. I hold it up in front of me and wait for the interviewer's hand signal.

"Hi!" I wave at the camera. "My name is Emma Verstappen, I'm turning 21 this year, and I'm driving for Aston Martin as a rookie in my first Formula 1 season."

"Cut!" A little bit of shuffling around echoes through the room. "That's great, Emma. You're doing good!"

"Thanks, I'm trying my best. Do you need that again or...?" My voice goes up half an octave towards the end of the sentence, unintentionally.

"Ah, no, thanks! But you can answer a question for me directly! How does it feel to sit in this chair?"

"Honestly, like I've been accused." I laugh nervously into the camera. A montage of the last six seasons of the show plays in my mind's eye - almost as if my brain is warning me not to say the wrong thing or get emotional.

"Don't worry, the jury found not guilty. For now, at least." A brief pause as he flicks through his question pad and finally stops at a page. "Emma, when you think about the coming year, what do you feel?"

"You're not the first to ask me that, what do you think my answer will be?" I raise my eyebrows. After his interview, Max gave me the advice to be as detached as possible. Don't stir up drama. Don't take shots at other drivers. Then I take two breaths and continue: "This is a huge year, not only for me, but also for my team. Aston Martin has made a huge bet by putting me in one of their cockpits. But I have no intention of making them regret it."

"Completely understandable! Do you feel comfortable in your team? It was actually very surprising that you didn't end up with your brother's team, Oracle Red Bull Racing! Would you like to tell us briefly how that came about?"

"Well, you probably all know Max, and you don't know me, but let me tell you, even though I love him and he's my brother... we would need some more time to get acquainted with the feeling of being stuck in a team together. Our mom could tell you that as well - everywhere Max and I are involved, there is trouble to follow." I answer honestly. What I don't say is that Max didn't speak to me for a week and a half after I turned down Red Bull's offer to be a test driver for this season. That I had to explain to him almost every hour why the match with Fernando Alonso works better for me at the moment and that later, after I've proven myself, we can drive together until we're old and gray.

"Emma? Are you still there?" The interviewer waves his hand vigorously in front of my face. I apologize and ask him to repeat the question.

"As you know, some contracts are coming to an end this year, and that's why there are a few places with big teams that have been in high demand for years. With Lewis moving from Mercedes to Ferrari and some contracts expiring, for example, Sergio Perez at Red Bull - are you speculating on one of them?"

I have to think for a moment, do some soul-searching. Do I even want to join a big team? Is "Formula 1 World Champion" at the top of my list of dreams? Then I answer: "As a driver, every week you're fighting for your seat, especially this season. It's no longer about where I stand in the world rankings, but rather about the potential I bring with me. I am convinced that I will find my way - regardless of my brother, Red Bull, or anyone else. Where this path will ultimately take me... I don't think anyone really knows."

"Two more laps, Emma," Sarah orders over the team radio. She still doesn't speak much, but at least the radio communication works well. Will I ever have as much fun with her as I did with Enzo? Probably not.

"Copy."

I say copy, but what I really mean is I hate you. Forty-five laps under the desert sun of Bahrain, drops of sweat evaporating in my racesuit and making the fabric stick to my skin. I've been trying to suppress my thirst for half an eternity. At least the heat is now my only problem. During the first few test laps, I had to mentally remind myself several times that throwing up in a new car doesn't make a good impression - especially not on the official first day of work. That moment when you're standing at the end of the pit lane waiting to get the final go. In the first corners while hitting the brakes for the first time, my head got put back against the headrest, body compressed. It felt like my heart was going to give up at any moment.

Pre-season testing is the first chance to see if what my team spent the whole year designing is actually going to work. So far, the car feels great - a few comments here and there about oversteer, the right braking behavior, and the optimal line, but at least I'm not a total failure. At least, I hope I'm not.

Fernando has already completed laps in the three-digit range yesterday and this morning combined. I happen to be put in the same test window as Max. I didn't think long about whether this was perhaps intentional, so that we could compare ourselves better, but after the first few laps, the thought crept into my head and wouldn't let go.

As I return to the pit lane faster than expected and the engineering team pushes the car and me back into the garage, I realize that I'm still holding my breath. I take off the steering wheel, release the headrest, and squeeze out of the tight seat. A few mechanics murmur "Good job!" or pat me on the back, but no one says a word. I exhale. Then I look at the car again. Standing right in front of it while the green of the bodywork hits me - an indescribable feeling.

"You know I'm your biggest critic, but that was a good performance today. We can work with that," says Sarah as she comes to a halt next to me and compares graphs on her clipboard. She looks at me from the side, then glances at the car and back at me. "This is your car, you better believe it."

I laugh and nod. "Thank you, Sarah. I don't think that was such a bad practice. There's still plenty to do." As I start to speak, I take off my helmet, finally remove the hearing protection from my other ear, and walk towards my cabin in the back of the garage. Sarah is hot on my heels. "I feel like I have to turn the steering wheel a bit more on the right-hand bends... but maybe it's just because the right-hand bends are a bit faster than I originally thought. I don't feel the headwind as much as I did in the wind tunnel, you can really feel the aerodynamic adjustments on the sides straight away. Do you think I can do one or two laps, just running around the track tomorrow before the start of training? I feel like I don't have every corner completely under control yet and..."

"Emma," Sarah tries to interrupt me, but I keep talking. Unlike me, she is at a loss for words and never let me finish my thoughts during our first few weeks. But this is about our car, about the points, about moving forward and not standing still. I carry on talking impartially.

"...maybe I can have a quick word with Fernando tomorrow? I'd like the front end to be a little sharper, at the moment we still have a lot of leeway - only if it's okay with him."

"Emma."

"Hm?" Now I'm paying attention.

"You're in fifth place at the moment."

"Wow, I didn't think so. That's good news, isn't it?"

"Max is in P6," she says slowly, smiles and then leaves me standing alone in the corridor. My water bottle almost falls out of my hand. I turn around quickly and call after her.

"Hey! You can't just say something like that and then disappear," but she's already around the corner and isn't paying any more attention to me. Has she just smiled for the first time since I met her? And that makes me almost more nervous than the fact that I have beaten my brother for the first time.

I'm not that lucky over the next few days of pre-season testing. But the high from my first day of practice on the track carries me through the week like clouds, before we even get to the first three free practices. I stay in the top 10 during the practice sessions that are part of the race weekend, but I seem to have completely lost my groove in qualifying. Starting from 12th on the grid, neither I nor my team are particularly enthusiastic about my performance, and this contributes to the fact that I don't get much sleep the night before the actual race.

I also have to attend several photo shoots in between - not just from my own team but also the official ones. For the first time, I get placed in an all-male field of riders, which is why I am allowed to stand in the middle of the so-called "class of 2024"-picture this year. That is more than awkward for me, but in that respect I will probably have to get used to not being allowed to have a say. On this occasion, I also try to spend more time with my brother, firstly to get some first hand insider advice and secondly to get to know the people he gets on well with.

Carlos Sainz, who tried to persuade me at all costs to go and celebrate with the group before my first race - as a season opener – immediately melts my heart. When I thankfully declined, he laughed and told me not to worry so much - after all, the Verstappen gene is in me too. I didn't mention that I wasn't so sure about that. At the same time, I wish him all the luck in the world - after all, he is currently without a seat for 2025. Secretly, I hope that he achieves better results than Charles, but of course I'm not allowed to say that out loud.

I also have time for a game of paddle tennis with Max, Fernando, Lando Norris, and Daniel Ricciardo - none of them seem to care that I've never held a tennis racket in my life, let alone a paddle tennis racket. On the contrary, each of them patiently explains their way of playing to me, until at some point I'm sure that each of them has at least slipped me some false information so that I don't turn out to be a sudden natural talent.

Unfortunately, all these distractions have not helped to reduce the pressure. The pressure from my father, who follows every Instagram post with excitement and then asks me whether I can really afford to play paddle tennis with Max and whether he missed the fact that I already have a World Drivers' Champions title in my pocket, which would explain why I would think that some free time is something I am allowed to have. The pressure from my team, whose hopes are mainly pinned on Fernando, but a driver duo consists of two people and not everyone is convinced that this is the right place for me. So I continue to sleep uneasily.

Before the race starts, I march up and down in the garage with a pulse of just under 130. Outside, I see fans running past, taking their seats, while the structure of the course burns in a continuous loop in my mind. It feels like I remind myself every five minutes that I shouldn't pick at my fingernails and instead find my focus. Max wished me good luck as I left the hotel, and he meant it, but that's easy to say when you start from pole position and have literally nothing to loose.

I overhear Sarah being interviewed somewhere, but unfortunately, I can't quite make out who it is from the voice. The walls here are so thin that I can hear every little movement of the technicians on the car, so I'm not surprised that I overhear conversations that aren't really meant for my ears. Only the interviewer's question burns itself into my head: Do you think you put too much faith in someone who is still so young?

I immediately shake my head, grab my helmet and water bottle, and make my way to my car. There I high-five one or two mechanics and then squeeze into the seat of my car. The cable for the radio connection on my left shoulder is connected to the car, someone plugs in my steering wheel, and the crew slowly removes the heaters from the tires. I wrap my fingers around the steering wheel, squeeze harder, and then let go again. Sitting here feels right, just like the pedals under the soles of my feet and the muffled sounds that can’t quite reach my ears. I try to find my focus and go over the route again in my head. Too much faith in someone who is still so young. The colleague in front of my car gives me the signal to rev the engine and drive out of the garage. Then I'm pushed to the starting grid.

The next few minutes fly by. The impressions of the last few days, the ups and downs, the conversations with other drivers, but also the phone calls with my father and his criticism - everything is buzzing around in my head without having an outlet for it. My body is tense at every turn and I'm literally clutching the piece of metal between my hands. I keep counting to ten in my head and tell myself that everything will be fine, no matter where I end up today - at least that's what I try to tell myself.

The signal is given for the last call to leave the start area. I get some last looks before my team makes its way towards the pit lane.

"Let's go, Emma," says Sarah through the microphone. I nod, even though I'm aware that she can't see me. My brain empties completely during the warm-up lap. Quicker than I'd like, I'm back in my starting position and looking towards the traffic lights. I feel nothing, think nothing. This is the first race of the season and nothing has been won or lost yet. All the cards have been reshuffled and we can only really say how the cars will actually perform afterward. The first lights turn red. Red. Red. Red. Red. And then the lights go out, and my foot presses down on the gas pedal. This is the official start of the 2024 season.

────ʚ [Masterlist] [Chapter IV] [Chapter VI (in progress)] ɞ────

Tags: @cmleitora @alliwantisadonut

#f1 #f1 fanfic #formula 1 #charles leclerc #slow burn #f1 imagine #haters to lovers

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skamenglishsubs · 1 year

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Subtext and Culture, Young Royals, Season 2, Episode 5

This episode picks up the day after the Valentine's ball.

Blink and you miss it: Simon hid Wilhelm's sweater under his pillow.

Subtext: A parallel to S1E5 when Wilhelm made the exact same crispbread sandwich as breakfast for Simon.

Subtext: Meanwhile, Alexander has been stewing over what August told him, that Wilhelm was the one to throw him under the bus, so he's not exactly keen on talking to Wilhelm right now.

Blink and you miss it: As soon as Wilhelm gets the text message with the speech, he nervously starts biting his fingernails.

Subtext: Simon is wearing his purple shirt, of course this is how he's feeling.

Subtext: Sara is projecting a bit of her own storyline with August here. She knows he is the wrong person, but she still has feelings for him.

Subtext: Felice's hair has been a theme this season, she's literally been letting her hair out as a way of protesting her mom's controlling behaviour, and other traditions. She can't defy the housemistress, though, so she ties up her hair.

Blink and you miss it: As soon as Felice gets corrected, Stella ties up her own hair as well. She's also not ready to rebel just yet.

Subtext: There's going to be a parallel here in the next episode, so for now, just note how August sucks up to Jan-Olof, meekly asks to make some changes to the speech, and is shut down.

Subtext: And of course he is a stickler for titles, he doesn't care that August and Wilhelm are informal with each other, the hierarchy must be preserved at all times!

Subtext: Jan-Olof is really on a roll here, perfectly embodying the Evil System and its boring traditions.

Culture: Året med Kungafamiljen is a real show, it's a year-end retrospective containing highlights of what the royal family did during the year, and it is usually aired around Christmas time. However, it's definitely not the most-watched show in Sweden.

Subtext: Wilhelm is the last person to figure out that the obvious song is obviously about him.

Cinematography: There's some interesting composition in this scene, they're arguing, they're in the same room, they're actually pretty close to each other, but the camerawork highlights the distance between them by making sure they're never both in the shot at the same time.

Subtext: There's maybe a parallel here, Marcus said the opposite to Simon a few episodes ago.

Subtext: And what Simon says is absolutely true, in season 1, the Queen kept it a secret that she knew it was August, to get Wilhelm to deny it was him in the video, and she claimed it was to protect Wilhelm, but in reality she was just protecting the monarchy by burying all unwanted attention.

Subtext: Again, Jan-Olof never contradicts Wilhelm or argues with him. Of course one of the reasons he decided against the new school song was because of Simon, but he can't say that, so he deflects instead.

Subtext: A bit on the nose to have Wilhelm physically being suffocated by the clothes he's going to wear while holding his speech, but whatever.

Subtext: Bless their hearts for being supportive, but I don't think Rosh and Ayub really understand what they're up against if Simon reports August to the police. Wilhelm wasn't wrong, the court will obviously back August, because he's family.

Subtext: It's pretty funny how Wilhelm sees the entire court as a unit, but of course the Queen has no idea what he's talking about, she doesn't know Jan-Olof made the decision about the song earlier, so to her Wilhelm is having yet another random outburst.

Subtext: Just like Wilhelm told the truth about August and the video, revealing the stakes to Simon, she does the same to Wilhelm and reveals the stakes about the speech and about August being his spare.

Subtext: You all saw my longer explanation post of the plot point, here's the Queen spelling it out again, their plan is to introduce August as a member of the royal family, slowly, to make people get used to him.

Subtext: The way the Queen views her role leaks out a bit here. To her, royal duty is the most important thing, being queen is a job to her that she takes seriously. All the privileges is secondary to her, so she mostly sees what she did to August as burdening him with duty.

Subtext: This is going to be important for later, she tells Wilhelm to think of the repercussions of his choices first, and what he wants second.

Blink and you miss it: Fredrika proposes to Stella as a joke.

Subtext: The dark side is of course that she's been having a relationship with August in secret.

Subtext: Wilhelm is really warming up to therapy, in this session he pours coffee for both himself and Boris, and he's actively driving the discussion.

Subtext: This is how modern monarchies justify their own existence. It is inherently unfair and undemocratic that they inherit their positions, so one way they justify it to themselves is by convincing themselves that they are fit for the duty, that the can handle the job, and that they are better at the job than most others. Because if they aren't good at the job, why should the country tolerate the royals?

Subtext: Yet another callback to season 1, Erik tried teaching Wilhelm how to do the same, how to keep up a façade, a public persona, and that's what it looked like to Wilhelm because he knew the private Erik, the one the public never got to see.

Subtext: Yet another another callback to season 1. When the Queen tried to convince Wilhelm to deny it was him in the video, she said that no-one asked for this, none of them asked to be born royals.

Subtext: A recurring theme for Wilhelm is that he is never free to make his own choices, he is always bound by duty or traditions or expectations, so it's important that Boris encourages him to start making his own choices.

Subtext: August is practically holding court here, so Wilhelm gets a glimpse of what it would be like if he lets August take over for him. The choice is his, but this is one of the consequences.

Subtext: We're really on a roll here with all these choice and their consequences, so here Wilhelm lays out Simon's choices - and consequences - around reporting August to the police.

Subtext: In the end, Wilhelm chooses to accept whatever Simon decides, and if August can't be his backup any longer, he has decided to keep being the crown prince, for Erik's sake, and not for his mom's sake.

Subtext: A nice little callback to episode 1 where Simon told Wilhelm to start being honest and talking about how he felt.

Subtext: We don't know it yet, but this is where August tells his mom to sell off some of his assets, so he can buy Rosseau for Sara's sake. He refused to do this to pay for his tuition last season, but apparently this is worth more to him? How sweet, character development! Sara is changing him into a better person! Let's see how long that'll last...

Cinematography: When the show was casting people, Malte originally auditioned for the role of Simon. I thought that was ridiculous, because he's so good at being stuck up and smarmy and evil as August, how could he possibly play Simon? I don't know what they've done with the lighting and styling in this scene, but damn it if he isn't cute as fuck here! How does he do it? I could totally see Malte pull off playing Simon if he looked like this the entire time!

Subtext: I think it's interesting that Wilhelm and Simon have never ever had an interaction like this, they have never discussed their future life as royals, because neither of them really wants that kind of life. But both August and Sara want that, so they're having this discussion, they're imagining themselves as future royals.

Subtext: This entire book discussion is dripping with obvious subtext, you should all be able to pick this up without my explanations! Let's go through the highlights.

I think Henry is projecting a bit here, maybe he is the one that hasn't talked to his crush? Maybe he sent the poem to Madison? We'll never know!

Sara is definitely projecting, she's saying it's ok for her to be in love with August despite all the bad things he's done, because she thinks she can change him.

Simon is just straight up admitting that he's finally realizing all the pressure Wilhelm is under, and that it's actually not that easy for him to make the choice to live openly.

And Wilhelm straight up admits that he's been somewhat of a selfish jerk, putting himself and his royal troubles above everyone else.

Subtext: Karin Boye really did commit suicide, so let's hope that's not some kind of foreshadowing or symbolism.

Blink and you miss it: August is actually looking at Sara and smiling at her, but Simon misinterprets it as August secretly laughing at him for the sex tape.

Subtext: It's a bit late for this now, but here's one more detail on how Marcus is "perfect" for Simon, their parents apparently know each other, and both moms are so happy that their sons are dating. That Sara tries to teach her mom how to behave around the Queen is the complete opposite of that.

Cinematography: I've bitched before about how many gay-themed tv shows still use homophobia as a driver for drama, and it's just so nice to watch a show that's the opposite of that. Simon is gay, Marcus is gay, and their moms are just getting together and gushing about how cute their sons look together and how nice it is that they're dating.

Subtext: Sara is panicking here while trying to hide it, because she still hasn't told her brother that she knew it was August from the start. Bit of a dark side, eh?

Subtext: We've seen a lot of reasons for Simon making this decision, and one other reason has been somewhat of a theme in the first half of this season; we've seen Simon getting unfairly punished all the time, while the upper-class kids got away scot free. So enough is enough, it's time for August to get what he deserves.

Subtext: This episode has focused a lot on choice and consequences, but here Wilhelm decides not to burden Simon with the consequences of the choice. He's selflessly accepting it and that he now must keep being the crown prince, even though the pressure of it makes him physically ill.

Blink and you miss it: Wilhelm printed out the speech and nailed to his wall so he could practice it.

Cinematography: Colour theory anyone? Simon has been bottling up his feelings for Wilhelm almost the entire season, he wore a yellow sweater this episode, hiding the purple shirt beneath, but Wilhelm took off Simon's clothes and turned the whole thing inside out so the purple shirt is now very visible, finally. Also, that is one blue room!

Subtext: Yes, they finally remembered to close the curtains. And this time the show also fades to black, we don't get to see them having sex, because we are the nosy public that has been watching all along.

#young royals #young royals analysis #young royals subtext #young royals season 2

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champgnesny · 10 months

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well, sadly i finished the second season of ‘good omens’ a few hours ago and after a really long nap, here we have:

“some things about the second season of ‘good omens’ that really stuck with me and i’ll think about forever and ever (amen)”

• beginning of creation and my baby crowley being just so excited about the galaxy, and stars, and her little jumps and shouts, she’s my silly girl

• crowley protecting aziraphale from the stars rain (or whatever was going on in there) with his wing and later on, aziraphale doing the same

• aziraphale caring about crowley since the beginning of ages is just so heartwarming

• “how much trouble can i get into just for asking a few questions?” my princess just wanted to know what was all of this for, is that so wrong?

• aziraphale thinking crowley was talking about him when he said the stars were beautiful pls

• their little lunches through all the season, at the pub, the cafeteria, the other little french stablishment, etc

• aziraphale panicking while explaining crowley why is there a “naked man” on his library 😭😭

• crowley recognizing “trouble” on aziraphale voice just because they know each other that well

• the amount of times “our” and “we” was used to by crowley and aziraphale themselves, talking as if they could not live without the other (they actually can’t)

• crowley refusing to help aziraphale and aziraphale being like “okay, i can’t make you help me, i’ll be fine” and crowley simply throwing a tantrum just to be back and help him

• crowley’s tantrum, yes, but specially the way he stomps on the ground like a little kid

• their little apology dance lmfao (how much cuter can they get?)

• the way they worked together to make a silly little small minuscule miracle once and ended up being way too extra like it wasn’t that hard!

• crowley introducing aziraphale to food

• also, crowley in the turtle neck (i would’ve also used any excuse to put my hand in his chest like that, aziraphale)

• the magic trick and how the person aziraphale thinks of when they say “trust” is automatically crowley, they make me so ugh

• aziraphale not only stealing the proof photo, but keeping it and showing it to crowley

• crowley actually lending aziraphale his car, like he’s so down bad it hurts (if anyone ever had a doubt of how much love this man has for his angel, then this must say something)

• crowley on the library, carrying books, his little sweater, throwing the books everywhere, she’s just so cutesy, i need to eat her

• aziraphale and crowley being domestic and cute and in love together, my babies

• crowley making hot chocolate for gabriel (plus that one time he went all protective on aziraphale)

• the way aziraphale has a dairy (and probably many other) where he writes about crowley, and he just talks about her with so much love, excitement, cherishing their memories together

• the way neither crowley, nor aziraphale ever deny the gay accusations like they just stare and say nothing because they are!

• crowley following aziraphale everywhere when he was organizing his ball pls

• aziraphale and crowley dancing 💓💓💓

• crowley and aziraphale trying to get nina and maggie together when they can’t sort out their own shit like bffr and talk abt ur feelings instead?

• aziraphale telling nina that he has his own plans but he just lets crowley save him cause it’s makes him just “oh, so happy!”

• crowley’s heaven outfit and the way he was walking like she’s just everything to me

• crowley getting choked up when he tried to say he’d like to spend eternity with aziraphale

• crowley actually willing to talk about it and aziraphale just hitting him up like “hey let’s go to heaven together!” like bro, kindly and very gently, what the fuck?

• the kiss (boy, you needed to talk, there’s many time for kissing later; or there was, who knows)

• “i forgive you” lovely, you have so much audacity but this wasn’t the moment haha! (still love u, aziraphale, i promise)

• “you idiot, we could’ve been… us” i think them telling each other to kill themselves would’ve hurt me less

• crowley in the car, still waiting in case aziraphale decided to change his mind (i threw up)

• aziraphale literally looking like he’s going insane while leaving crowley like he’s genuinely just losing it more every single second that passes

• conclusion, they are very much in love, they just need a break and many, many deep talks about their feelings

“honorable mentions to: the whole gabriel and beelzebub plot <3 it was so cutesy, i love them”

by the way, here’s part one of this mini post series, in case you wanna check it out! ⭐️

#this has many spoilers #so be aware #good omens #aziraphale #aziraphale x crowley #crowley #david tennant #michael sheen #neil gaiman #ineffable husbands #ineffable bureaucracy

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foreveralwaysanauthor · 18 days

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Same Trailer, Different Park

(Season 1, Episode 1 - A Slice of Life)

May 14, 2024

Notes - This took a lot longer than I anticipated, but I had a lot going on with work and Mother's Day, so I'm not surprised it took me a bit longer than it normally would have. Anyway, it's here now, it’s 40-something pages long, and I'll be starting on the next one tonight, if everything goes well at work this afternoon!

Waves crashed along the shore, lapping calmly against the sand as emerald eyes scoured for shells along the water’s edge. Salty ocean air mingled with the distant smell of grilled foods as Vivien walked along the beach. Hours had passed since her arrival in St. Pete Beach, but the crowded restaurant everyone seemed to love just wasn’t her scene. Crowded places, in general, weren’t something Vivien cared for - bar the occasional mall trip, that was - but after being shuffled around for what felt like forever, listening to people sing and being shown off like a shiny trophy, she grew tired of the crowds and excused herself.

Royce and Bentley had been eager to show her off to, well, everyone they knew in Big Momma’s, but after a while, Vivien had found it hard to keep track of all the names and faces she’d been introduced to. By the time they were done showing her off, it was time for Royce to return to work, so Bentley was quick to pull her over to the booth where they were eating. That did nothing to stop the crowd from gathering at their table, making Vivien’s chest tighten as they herded around the end of the table. Claustrophobia settled in, pinning her to the booth like a wall of concrete had fallen on her from above, but it wasn’t until Carrie said something about ordering her something to eat that people began moving away.

Unable to even think of food without feeling nauseous, Vivien excused herself and ducked out through the kitchen, ducking as she scooted past the restaurant’s windows and made her way around the building to the beach. Although it didn’t take long for her to finally relax once she was away from the chaos, Vivien found herself incapable of forcing herself back inside. The thought of admitting her fears and potentially facing the swarm of people not only interested in her but also in her relationship with Royce made her breath catch in her throat, and she ultimately decided to continue along the water’s edge, keeping her distance from any rogue sun tanners or volleyball players as she went.

Her sneakers had been abandoned at some point and were tied by their laces around the belt Lela had loaned her, the Converse tapping her thigh and cascading sand down her legs with every step she took. She made sure not to stray too far from the restaurant in case anyone went searching for her, but as the collection of tiny shells in her hand began to grow, she wondered if they had chosen to let her come back when she wanted to. Examining another moon snail shell and finding it still had a little critter living inside, Vivien waited for a wave to roll in by her feet and released it back to the ocean before choosing to turn around and venture back toward the restaurant.

In the back of her mind, she wondered if anybody owned a metal detector. Her dad had taught her how to use one during their annual road trip to Hampton Beach back when her parents were still married. Though it felt like forever ago, she could distinctly recall the excitement she felt when the machine started beeping and her subsequent disappointment when they found it was just a dirty quarter that had fallen from someone’s pocket. Despite her initial dissatisfaction at the discovery, Vivien had refused to leave until she found something else, and when she later discovered someone’s watch buried in the sand on their way to their hotel for the night, her excitement returned. Nowadays, their trips to the beach were few and far between, but Vivien’s memories of happier days with her family still lived on.

As a group of people left Big Momma’s, laughing and chattering loudly as they grabbed their surfboards and took off for the waves, Vivien took in a deep breath and wondered how many people still crowded the restaurant. Checking the cell phone she had tucked into her back pocket, Vivien sighed - it was just barely two in the afternoon. The lunch rush would soon be replaced with the dinner rush, and she would be bombarded by yet another crowd of rowdy surfers and boisterous bikers, all clamoring for a chance to speak with the new girl who had somehow managed to be the object of Royce’s affection.

They meant well - Vivien knew they did - but it was all too much, too quickly. She could handle being the drummer at the back of the stage that hardly anyone conversed with after performances, letting Riven do all the talking in interviews whenever they won a competition, and being the last one to talk during group presentations, but being the main focus of everyone’s attention - be it a big or small crowd - had never been easy for her. Honestly, it was a miracle she didn’t pass out in the booth right then and there. If it hadn’t been for Carrie stepping up and gently pushing people away with her signature, beaming smile and a thinly veiled promise for autographs if they left them alone long enough to have a meal, Vivien was sure she would have been on the floor, surrounded by worried patrons.

The idea of that crowd surrounding her and being the first thing she’d see when she came to, sent a shiver down Vivien’s spine despite the Florida heat. Yeah, that would have only made things worse. Bentley had tried to help her while the crowds cornered them, holding her hand and offering her a small smile that appeared apologetic as he tried to combat as many questions for her as the people allowed. In a way, Vivien knew he must have dealt with a similar situation upon his arrival in the small town. She could only imagine him and Royce standing in the center of Big Momma’s, being fawned over by anyone who even minutely considered Miles a friend. They probably handled it far better than she had.

They probably had warnings ahead of time. Bentley most likely handled them with ease, spouting off answers to every question with a cheerful smile and the enthusiasm of a child who still believed in Santa Claus. Royce, on the other hand, probably wasn’t much better than Vivien. As ambiverted as he was, he most likely only began to enjoy the sudden popularity once he realized it was both temporary and commonplace in the small community. Vivien’s reaction to the whole thing probably felt a bit overboard to the people in the restaurant, but being thrust into the spotlight and surrounded by total strangers in a small booth with no easy way to escape made it feel as though the world was closing in around her.

Vivien sighed to herself as she stared out at the surfers gliding over the warm water of the Gulf of Mexico. Maybe she should have gone back to the restaurant. Maybe she was just overreacting. Swallowing thickly, Vivien hoped nobody thought she was being rude for just up and leaving once she had a way out. In a way, she knew she was, but her quick departure had nothing to do with the people and everything to do with the little person in her head pressing the panic button every time someone aimed another question at her. How on earth celebrities could handle the constant spotlight and pressing questions, she would never know.

Wandering down the beach, Vivien let out a noise as she tripped over a beach bag she was sure hadn’t been there a moment ago, stumbling through the sand with an apology tumbling out of her mouth as she righted herself. The beach-goer simply waved her off and returned to the book they were reading, and with a sigh, Vivien continued her trek, only stopping as a voice called out to her, “You alright, kid?”

Squinting as the person jogged over to her, Vivien shrugged, toying with the handful of shells in her hand as she said, “I’m fine, Miles.”

The taller brunette sighed, his hands placed firmly on his hips in what Vivien could only consider to be a “dad pose” as he said, “You’re not.”

“It’s nothing,” Vivien offered, hoping to brush the whole situation under the rug. “Did the food come yet?”

“First of all,” Miles began with a somewhat disappointed look in his gaze, “you didn’t even order. Second, don’t change the subject on me. I’ve known you for long enough to know when you’re not alright.” Placing a hand on Vivien’s arm, he asked, “You know you can talk to me, right, Viv?”

Not wanting to upset the boy who was only trying to help, Vivien admitted, “I don’t like people.”

Miles chuckled, “Tell me how you really feel.”

Vivien looked up at Miles, ready to argue, before rolling her eyes as she took in the genuine humor in his eyes, “You know what I mean.” Huffing a sigh as she began walking again, Vivien admitted, “Crowds, crowded people, being the center of attention - that kind of thing. I get all claustrophobic and shit.”

Humming in understanding, Miles followed alongside the younger girl and brought an arm around her shoulders as he asked, “What happens?”

“I can’t breathe, I can’t think,” Vivien shrugged. “I remember this one time that we were at a competition, and a bunch of people with cameras came around, and I ended up passing out.”

“Damn,” Miles breathed. “Was it that bad in there for you?”

“Getting there,” Vivien sighed, leaning her head against Miles as he guided her back toward the restaurant. “I went out through the kitchen the first chance I got.”

Miles glanced around at the beach, taking in a slow breath that encouraged Vivien to do the same, “Did the fresh air help?”

“Mhm,” she nodded against his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Miles said firmly as he guided Vivien toward an empty table on the front porch of the restaurant. “I, of all people, understand how hard it is to be the new kid in town. Why don’t you sit out here for a bit? I’ll get the others, and we can eat out here.”

Vivien was quick to shake her head, “I don’t want to make them drop everything and come out just because of me. I can handle it.”

“But you don’t have to,” Miles argued sincerely. “And, for the record, nobody’s going to mind moving out here if it means we don’t have to call an ambulance for you on your first day here. Besides, if anything, it gives Royce an excuse to be our waiter.”

At that, Vivien paused, her argument dying in her throat. The idea of going back into the crowded restaurant just to sit there, hoping no people crowded their table while they ate, was mildly overwhelming. Whilst she didn’t care for the notion of making everyone abandon their usual places in their favorite hangout spot, she knew it would be easier to sit outside. And, to top it all off, Miles’ suggestion that Royce would be coming to their table more frequently made her answer seem even more obvious. Finding the courage to meet Miles’ concerned blue eyes, Vivien allowed herself to nod, muttering a soft thanks as he smiled back at her.

“Don’t thank me yet,” he chuckled, patting her on the shoulder before making his way toward the front door. “You had Carrie thinking you somehow climbed out the bathroom window and ran away.”

Feeling embarrassment flood her face again, Vivien sat so that she could see the beach and began tapping her feet on the wooden deck as she distantly examined the menu before her. Though the thought of making everyone eat outside rather than inside, where the overhead fans kept everyone as cool as a cucumber, made her disappointed in herself for not being able to pull herself together in a new environment, Vivien knew Miles’ encouragement for her to choose the safest option for herself, would ultimately be the best decision in the end. It wasn’t long before Mack and Brady emerged from the restaurant, scanning the area before finding Vivien and dragging another table and handful of chairs over to meet hers.

As Mack pushed a chair in, she said, “You know, you’re not the first person to find this whole place a bit much.”

“I’m not?” Vivien asked, setting the menu down as she glanced up at the woman.

Mack laughed, shaking her head, “My first time here, I was thrown head-first into a musical number and made to dance in the center of the room with all of the other surfers and bikers. If you think I wasn’t ready to run the second it started, you’re dead wrong.”

Vivien let out a soft chuckle but, after taking a deep breath, decided to ask, “Is it always like that in there? Chaos?”

“Not all the time,” Brady offered. “Once they get used to you, you’ll meld into one group or another, and they’ll leave you alone.”

“From the sound of it, though,” Mack began with a grin, “they’re more interested in how you ended up with Royce.”

Vivien scoffed, fighting the urge to roll her eyes as she asked, “Is it really that big of a deal?”

“To them, yeah,” Brady claimed. “Since he got here, Royce hasn’t shown a deep interest in anyone. When he came back from Christmas vacation and claimed he had a girlfriend, not a lot of people believed him.”

Mack hummed, nodding in agreement as she spoke, “I think that seeing you show up all of a sudden made everyone want to know what was so special about you that he pushed aside any offers from other girls at school.”

Vivien nodded, but as the others began to pour out of the building, her mind drifted to the thought of random girls at Royce’s school asking him out. Was it just something Mack had said to ease her mind, or was it a fact that others had tried asking him out? Vivien knew he had gone on a date before, but that he and the girl - Samantha, Serenity, something with an S - only went on one relatively awful date a few months before he even met Vivien. They had talked about their previous relationships - or lack thereof - but Royce had never mentioned anything about girls asking him out at school. Vivien could understand if girls had been asking him out - hell, that’s how she ended up with him - but to think that he had been turning them away without a second thought brought a smile to Vivien’s face.

She had to wonder, though, if it was true. Royce was the kind to get on the phone with her, listen to her blabber on and on about her day, and then do the same while she listened intently. Never had he mentioned letting down girls from his school. If it was true, he had no reason to keep it from her; she wasn’t a jealous person, after all, and they both knew that. Shaking her head with a smile as Bentley raised an eyebrow curiously at her, Vivien brushed off the thought and focused on asking everyone what they thought would be the best thing for her to order.

When Royce made his first appearance at the table, he stepped around Bentley’s chair at the end of the table and stepped up behind Vivien, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and asking if she was alright before beginning to write out their orders. Tipping her head to the side to watch as Royce scribbled out Bentley’s presumably habitual order of chicken tenders and fries, Vivien smiled up at her boyfriend as she watched him fondly. Her staring became evident as it became her turn to order, but as she’d been more focused on him than on the menu before her, Vivien stumbled over her words and hastily scanned the page in search of something to eat.

With a chuckle, Royce lowered himself to the floor beside her and softly said, “You don’t have to rush. The longer you take to order, the longer I’m able to stay out here with you.”

Vivien glanced back at him, ready to argue that it wasn’t right for him to ignore his other tables just to spend time with her, but found the words trapped in her throat as she nodded dumbly. Clearing her throat, she asked, “Well, what do you think I should get? You know this place more than I do.”

Tawny eyes scanned over the menu with ease, and Vivien found herself following his finger as he pointed at a few different things. “You like mac and cheese, so the mac and cheese bites are right up your alley, but they’re only in small portions, so if you get them with a burger, hot dog, or maybe some fish and get a cup of nacho cheese on the side, it would be good, but that’s just what I think. You don’t have to get it.”

Eyeing the small image of a basket of fried balls of mac and cheese, Vivien smiled and nodded, “Actually, I think that’s just what I’ll get. Haddock with mac and cheese bites, please.”

Royce smiled as he wrote her order on his notepad and asked, “Baked or fried fish?”

Confused by the question, Vivien softly asked, “There’s more than one way to get fish?”

“Yeah,” Royce nodded, a small laugh passing his lips. “How do you usually get yours?”

Opening and closing her mouth like a fish out of water, Vivien muttered, “I don’t know. My dad usually orders it when we eat out because I always go up to get stuff from the salad bar with Mom.” Hurriedly turning and leaning over so that she could see the Birches at the other side of the joined tables, she asked, “Do any of you know what I usually get?”

Brady held in a laugh and nodded knowingly, “Your dad always jokes about baked fish being healthier for you, so when your mom leaves to get her salad, he orders you guys…”

As the older man gestured toward her, the lightbulb inside her head flickered on, and Vivien turned back to her boyfriend with a smile, “Fried!” At the glowing amusement in Royce’s eyes, Vivien cleared her throat and toned down her voice as her face warmed, “I, uh, I mean, fried, please.”

Patting Vivien’s arm as she rested it on the armrest of her chair, Royce smiled and stood, “Alright. I’ll be back in a bit.”

Vivien nodded, smiling up at her boyfriend until he disappeared into the restaurant once more, and she was free to let out an uncomfortable groan as she placed her hands over her face. “I feel like a complete moron.”

Entertained by the girl’s mortification, Bentley shrugged and set his bottle of soda back on the table as he teased, “If the shoe fits.”

Miles choked on his drink, fighting to swallow his soda before coughing, “Bentley!”

Vivien was quick to brush off the remark, her smile evidence that she didn’t take the comment to heart in the slightest. “Miles, it’s fine. I thought it was funny,” she claimed with a small laugh. Turning her attention onto the blonde to her right, she asked, “So, do you have anything fun in mind that we can do while I’m here?”

Bentley was quick to nod, “I’ve already been thinking of places we should take you to and things we should do.”

“I’m not surprised,” Vivien commented with a grin. “Care to fill me in, or is it all a surprise?”

“Not all of it,” Bentley shrugged. “We can go to the record shop, and you can meet some of our friends from school and all of that stuff, but first, I have a question.”

Vivien let out a soft snort, “I might have an answer.”

Eager, Bentley beamed as he asked, “Are you gonna be staying with us while you’re here?”

“Benny,” Miles sighed, “where are we going to put her?”

“We have an extra room,” Bentley said as though it should have occurred to Miles.

Glancing at the blond boy, Carrie asked, “I thought you were going to move into that room once Miles got it cleaned out?”

“But Viv’s here now. I can wait,” Bentley brushed off with a wave of his hand. “And, for your information, I like sharing a room with Royce.”

“I never said you didn’t,” Carrie said with a shrug, brushing off the boy’s faintly snippy tone with a sigh.

Choosing to ignore the blonde, Bentley turned his pleading blue eyes onto Miles and said, “Anyway, my point is, we have a whole spare room she can use if we clean it out.”

Weakened by his brother’s powerful puppy dog eyes, Miles took in a breath and sighed, “Baby, I don’t even know where we’re going to put all of that stuff. It’s not like the cabin or our old place. We don’t have a basement to shove stuff in.”

“You don’t?” Vivien wondered, bewildered by the idea of any home not having a basement. As Miles shook his head, Bentley looked ready to whine his way to victory, but Vivien quickly jumped in, “Well, if it’s any help, I like organizing things.”

Mick let out a snort from her seat beside Vivien, “Yeah, except your closet.”

Vivien discretely flipped the older girl the bird before directing her attention back to Miles, “What I mean is that I can help put everything wherever you need it, if that’s any help to you.”

“See?” Bentley asked with a smile. “She’s even willing to help us! Can she stay with us now?”

Spotting the look of worry on Miles’ face at potentially having another mouth to feed with his already tight budget, Butchy piped up, “Actually, bud, Viv was supposed to stay with Mickie, Lela, and I.”

Bentley’s head tipped to the side, his confusion evident as he simply asked, “Where?”

“What do you mean?” Lela asked.

“With Aunt Mack and Uncle Brady in Miles’ old room, where is she going to sleep?” Bentley rephrased. “The couch?”

Miles evaded Bentley’s curiosity, glancing pleadingly toward his friends and silently asking them for help with the situation. However, it was Carrie who tried next, “When we went to Mick’s house for that Valentine’s party, Vivi and I talked on that video call thing about her staying in my apartment for a while if she ever came to visit.”

Butchy scoffed, and Vivien could almost hear him roll his eyes at the blonde from across the table as he said, “I can’t imagine anyone, especially Vivien, willingly staying under the same roof as you for any amount of time.”

Vivien made an attempt to cut in, hoping to keep the energy around the table calm before Royce returned with the food, but she was quickly interrupted as Carrie said, “Vivi and I are friends, dipshit. Right, Vivi?”

Again, Vivien opened her mouth to reply, but Butchy spoke up, “Just because you two have talked all of - what? - two times since she found out about this world, doesn’t make you friends.”

“Actually-” Vivien began, ready to defend the blonde as gently as possible, only to be cut off.

“Says the asshole who won’t even let her talk!” Carrie exclaimed.

Determined to stop things before they could escalate, Vivien tried again, “Guys, I-“

“You’re one to talk,” Butchy scoffed. “Look, just because your head’s so far up your own ass that your idea of friendship is a few little chit-chats here and there, Cole, doesn’t mean it has to be that way for the rest of us.”

As the argument continued, Vivien looked around the table. Although nobody seemed keen on stopping the pair from fighting, Bentley had pushed himself back in his chair, his eyes glued to his lap while Miles held his hand on the table, Mack and Brady appeared exasperated by the argument, though neither seemed ready to step in as both offending parties were still arguing at a relatively normal volume, and Mick and Lela just sat quietly, both seeming tired of the pair’s fights occurring so often. Tired of being spoken over, angered by the conversation spiraling out of control, and upset that nobody else seemed half as bothered as she was, Vivien took in a deep breath and thumped her fist on the table, causing those around her to jump at the noise as she turned toward the arguing pair, and snapped, “Enough! Can both of you just stop?”

Silence fell over the table as Vivien’s gaze flickered between the pair, the group watching as the usually argumentative pair fell silent. Whether it was due to the girl’s tone or the pleading look in her eyes, neither Carrie nor Butchy could be sure, but regardless, they felt their quarrel die in the silence as Vivien’s piercing emerald eyes flickered between them, effectively staring them down. With the table sitting in silence and the verbal smackdown extinguished, Vivien felt herself growing uncomfortable as she began to feel the various pairs of eyes flitting between her and the others. Sucking in a breath, she softly apologized and sunk back in her chair, hoping the cushion behind her would swallow her embarrassment.

“Viv?” Bentley asked softly, placing a hand atop the girl’s closed fist.

Letting out the rest of her breath in a sigh, Vivien opened her hand to hold Bentley’s, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have raised my voice like that, especially in public.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Brady said with a shake of his head. “Are you okay?”

Not willing to look up from an old scratch she has found on the table as her leg began bouncing again under it, Vivien shrugged, “I’m fine, it’s just-” she cut herself off with a huff, taking a moment to think about what she wanted to say. Glancing at the older couple at the end of the table, she admitted, “My parents have been arguing a lot the last week or so because Dad told Oliver he could join his boyfriend’s family on a trip during summer break, but they never asked her what she thought about it before agreeing, and I’ve had to step in to stop them a few times so Mom wouldn’t cancel all of the trips we had planned for this week. I guess I just… I wanted to stop their fight before it got worse like my parents’ have been.”

Before the others could think of something to say, Bentley grinned and squeezed Vivien’s hand, gaining her attention as he spoke, “Butchy and Carrie don’t get much worse than that. They insult each other and play tetherball with nasty remarks until someone stops them, or they get sick of each other.”

“Or one shoves the other into the town pool,” Royce commented as he stepped outside with a wide tray of food in plastic baskets with pieces of wax paper preventing anything from spilling.

Vivien attempted a small chuckle as her boyfriend placed her basket of fish before her, looking up at him as she asked, “And how often does that happen?”

As Carrie opened her mouth to respond, Bentley took his food from his brother and beamed, “Butchy’s only shoved Carrie into the pool once so far, but their fighting is pretty much an everyday thing.”

Glancing away from the brothers, who both seemed to enjoy the memory of Carrie getting pushed into the pool by the metaphorical guard dog of their mismatched, makeshift family, Vivien looked around the table and asked, “Why don’t you just lock them in a room until they work things out?”

Without allowing Butchy the chance to voice his opinion, Mick gave Vivien a look and answered, “Because they’d both come out of it in body bags if we did.”

Snorting a laugh, Vivien allowed her gaze to drift back onto her boyfriend, watching as he circled the table before coming to a stop behind her and tucking his tray under his arm. With her head tipped back, she smiled up at him and mouthed a greeting as he chuckled at her. With his free hand, Royce tapped the tip of her nose before asking if she was alright.

Incapable of wiping the smile from her face now that he was present, Vivien, in turn, asked, “What time do you get off of work?”

Out of habit, Royce shrugged, “I get out in about an hour, so two o’clock. Why?”

“That’s when I’ll be alright,” Vivien decided. “I’ll be fine in the meantime, but the moment you get to clock out and join the rest of us wherever they choose to take me, is when I’ll actually be alright.”

A deep shade of pink began to flush Royce’s cheeks, peeking through the tan the Floridian sun had graced him with over his time living in the state, but he chose to ignore the burn under his skin as he grinned at the brunette seated before him. “Well, in that case, I might just go inside and start putting all the clocks ahead an hour.”

Vivien smirked, “I won’t tell if you won’t.”

“Deal,” Royce smiled. As though he had only just remembered the others sitting around the table, Royce glanced around and quickly said, “I’ll check on you guys in a few. I have to clear some tables.”

Grinning at the blush still evident on her boyfriend’s face, Vivien teased, “Hurry back.”

Before his older brother could respond in kind, Bentley looked up at Royce and batted his eyes at him as he repeated Vivien, “Yeah, Royce, hurry back!”

Batting the back of his brother’s head with his serving tray, Royce rolled his eyes, “Keep it up and I’ll stop buying you ice cream after school.”

“Nooo,” Bentley whined, grabbing Royce’s wrist and tugging him back to the table. Pressing the back of his free hand to his forehead, he complained, “Whatever will I do without my daily dose of crack?”

“Bentley,” Miles chided as he glanced around to make sure nobody apart from their tables had heard the boy. “You’ve got to stop with the crack thing.”

The young blond snickered, “Says the guy who has some every morning.”

Looking pleadingly at his youngest brother, Miles took in a breath and spoke in a hushed voice, “I don’t do crack.”

“Sure, you do,” Bentley teased, leaning back in his chair and beginning to count on his fingers. “You have some when you wake up, you always take some to work, and sometimes you even have some when you get home. You can’t go a day without it.”

“Ben,” Miles sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose exasperatedly as he realized exactly what Bentley meant. “How on earth does coffee equal crack to you?”

Vivien grinned, nudging Bentley’s arm as she joined the blond’s efforts and asked Miles, “Are you sure you didn’t do crack this morning?”

Looking across the table with wide eyes, Miles shook his head, “What? No.”

“In the bathroom when you got here?”

“No, I-”

“Are you doing some right now?”

“No!” Miles exclaimed with a shake of his head. “Vivien-”

“Then when?” Vivien pressed.

“Never!” Miles barked. “I have never - nor will I ever - do crack!”

“Are you sure?” Bentley questioned.

Beaming from behind Bentley’s chair, Royce spoke up before Miles could, “Are you lying?”

“Yes,” Miles said in response to Bentley before realizing Royce’s question and backpedaling. “Wait, no! Look, you-”

“See how angry you are?” Vivien asked somewhat rhetorically. “It’s the crack.”

“Just admit it,” Bentley said with a sigh, shaking his head at his older brother. “Royce is your faithful crack dealer just as much as he is mine.”

Miles looked between the trio, beginning to wonder if he would regret offering to house the girl if this was what he would be getting himself into. Taking in a breath, he slowly turned to the others sitting around the table and breathed, “I’m going to have an aneurysm with them all together under one roof, aren’t I?”

Mack chuckled as she placed her drink back down on the table, “And you wonder what it’s like for us everytime we take you kids up to the cabin.”

“Does that mean Viv is staying with us while she’s here?” Royce asked, hope glimmering in his caramel eyes.

Hoping to finally get an answer to his earlier question, Bentley’s pale blue irises searched Miles’ face as he pleaded, “Yeah, Miley, does it?”

For a moment, Miles seemed to hesitate, momentarily thrown off by the boys’ complete one-eighty turn from taunting him to begging him for permission to house Vivien. He began to weigh his options - on one hand, the extra room had a bed and a somewhat functional closet for Vivien to put her belongings in until they got the rest of the room cleared out, but on the other, the savings he had been squirreling away to be able to buy better quality gifts for his brothers and Carrie would end up taking a hit if he had another mouth to feed. Ultimately, it was the look of hope in the trio's eyes that sealed his fate, resulting in a somewhat tentative nod from the eldest of the Murphy brothers.

“Yeah, alright,” he allowed, taking a moment to enjoy the simultaneous burst of excitement the three reveled in. With a smile, he then added, “Viv can stay with us, but you guys are going to have your work cut out for you with that bedroom.”

While the three teens began talking about how they would handle everything, Miles felt a hand on his arm, making him turn to the blonde beside him as she softly asked, “Are you sure? I don’t mind taking her back to my place.”

Miles returned her offer with a smile and a shake of his head, “It’s alright. I’ll figure something out for now and we’ll work it all out later on.”

Although he was sure that the subject was far from dropped by anyone around the table apart from the children, Miles tried to relax as the table’s occupants resumed their meal while Royce returned to his duties inside the restaurant. However, despite appearing interested in the conversations that flitted around the table and flowed from topic to topic, a mental jungle gym had already begun construction in Miles’ head. He worked hard all the time to provide for his brothers and still have a small fund set aside for dates with Carrie and days off with the boys - would having the girl stay with them be as difficult as he was making it out to be?

Since he had met her a few years back, Miles knew all too well that Vivien was far from a difficult child. She would eat pretty much anything handed to her, and he had seen her fall asleep practically anywhere she could - she wouldn’t be hard to house. However, Vivien was used to modern things that he didn’t have access to - televisions with more than a few select channels, computers that could find anything in the blink of an eye, internet, social media, and so on - and he could only provide so much. Would she be okay with the severe lack of technology in his fixer-upper of a home?

To top it all off, he knew firsthand how hard it was to stretch meals four ways. When they lived with their father, Miles would make meals every day for the four of them, taking whatever he could find in the fridge or pantry and making up a random recipe that he practically pulled out of his ass. With just his brothers, it was easy enough as they weren’t picky eaters - Pop-Tarts or toast for breakfast, discounted meals at school or work for lunch, and something more fulfilling for supper so that they had at least one meal together where they didn’t have to feel like cheapskates living paycheck to paycheck. Miles could manage that well enough. However, with Vivien not having a job or school to give her something for lunch, he’d have to take her shopping for things to eat throughout the day.

By the time the meal was over, Miles realized he hadn’t followed any of the conversation, his mind too preoccupied with his finances - or lack thereof - to bother listening to anything he wasn’t actively a part of. Once the table was cleared, they broke onto the beach, but Miles chose to sit on the front steps of the restaurant so that he was there when Royce clocked out. Carrie had sat with him for a few minutes before Vivien came over and begged them to join her in building a sandcastle. Miles had smiled and politely declined after explaining his desire to talk with Royce, but he nudged Carrie to join the group, watching the brunette pull his girlfriend away by the hand with a smile.

After discarding his apron and saying a quick farewell to some of his coworkers, Royce made his way out of the restaurant with a sigh, ready to start his three-day break from the place as the sun greeted him. Spotting his brother on the steps, Royce grinned and stepped down next to him, sitting beside Miles and leaning his head on the elder’s shoulder. “I forgot to thank you earlier.”

Glancing down at Royce’s tangled curls, Miles allowed a smirk to tug at his lips as he rested his cheek atop Royce’s head. “Oh yeah? What for?”

“Letting Viv stay with us,” Royce spoke softly as he listened to the waves crash against the shore. Lifting his head from its resting place, Royce found Miles’ baby blue eyes and said, “I’ll help however you need me to. If we need money or anything-”

“No,” Miles breathed, shaking his head lightly. Taking Royce’s hand in his, Miles squeezed it reassuringly. “We already talked about this, baby. I’m not letting you pay for anything.”

Royce’s expression contorted into one of exasperated understanding, “Miley-”

“RJ,” Miles interrupted with a smile, stopping his brother’s argument in its tracks. “I’ve got this. We’ll be alright. The only things you should focus on are work, school, and cleaning that disaster area you and Ben call a bedroom.”

Royce let out a scoff, “That’s more his disaster than it is mine.”

“Tell that to the pretty girl you’ve got staying with us,” Miles chuckled. As he glanced over at the group who were mourning the loss of a sand tower that had crumbled due to lack of moisture, Royce followed his gaze and smiled at the brunette who seemed to glow in the warmth of the Florida sun. Miles grinned at his brother’s expression and watched the group as he said, “The minute she walks in the door, you’ll see every little thing you forgot to clean and wish like hell it would all disappear before she saw anything.”

Royce’s smile seemed to falter as he recalled just how many dishes he’d left in the sink that morning that he was supposed to do after dinner that night, the basket full of freshly done laundry on the floor in his room that he’d neglected to put away and had just been pulling clothes out of for the last few days, and the multitude of books and paperwork strewn about the living room where his and Bentley’s friend groups congregated to work on homework and assignments together. As his gaze landed on Vivien once more, her infectious smile beaming proudly as she carried a snail back to the group alongside her bucket of wet sand, Royce couldn’t help but breathe, “I’m so screwed.”

Miles let out a soft chuckle and patted Royce’s knee as he stood, “Welcome to the club.”

Tearing his gaze away from his girlfriend of nearly four months to peer up at his brother, Royce’s eyebrow lifted and his head tipped to the side ever so slightly as he cautiously asked, “What club?”

Miles grinned, “The Whipped Idiots Committee. Butchy started it, I joined later on, and now, you’re here; congrats. If you’re anything like us, you’ll be here for a while.”

Though, as Miles walked off to join the others, Royce’s first instinct was to tiredly roll his eyes in disgust at the thought of Miles - of all people - feeling “whipped” over someone like Carrie, he found himself stopping to think for a moment. He knew from the relatively short amount of time he knew the man that Butchy was truly, inescapably attached to Mick’s hip; she could ask him anything and he would do it at the drop of a hat for her. And though it disgusted Royce to think about Carrie having Miles wrapped around her manicured little claws, he knew for a fact that if she told him to jump, he’d ask “how high”. Was he really any different from either of them?

If Vivien needed Royce for anything, he would be there in an instant and they both knew it. Hell, everyone who knew about their relationship, knew it. And he knew from experience she would do the same for him. Well… him, his brothers, their collective friend group, and even people he couldn’t stand someone like Carrie. Vivien was a naturally selfless person, but Royce knew that she cared about him and he’d be damned if she didn’t know he was crazy about her. He would do anything she wanted or needed him to do; even when they were just friends, he would have done anything for her, and they both knew it.

Thinking for a moment as he watched Vivien help build a castle in the sand, Royce smiled as he realized Miles was right. He was unconditionally, irrevocably, head-over-heels whipped for the brunette girl he was fortunate enough to call his girlfriend. Was that a problem? If you asked Royce, he would say no, no it wasn’t. Not in the slightest. If anything, he was proud. You could’ve put a plastic cap on his head and shoved him into one of the refrigerators at the grocery store alongside the cans of whipped cream for all he cared. He adored Vivien with all he had, and heaven help anyone who said otherwise.

Pushing himself from the steps with a goofy grin that just wouldn’t go away despite his efforts, Royce tucked his hands into the pockets of his shorts and made his way across the sand to where Vivien had begun decorating a lopsided, half-crumbling sandcastle with the shells she had pocketed on her earlier walk. The way her tongue poked out between her lips in concentration made his grin split into a smile, but as he watched her eyes sparkle as she turned her attention toward him, he felt as though he could have melted into the sand under his feet and he would have died happy right then and there.

Vivien patted the sand on her right, an invitation of sorts that Royce eagerly accepted, his hands immediately filled with a pile of shells as Bentley continued to spout off ideas about things they could do in the area. Although Vivien’s attention was split between the brothers and the castle before her, Royce found himself listening intently as his gaze drifted onto the eldest of his siblings, finding Miles smirking knowingly at him. Royce rolled his eyes, a soft sigh passing his lips as he relented with a shrug. Yeah, Miles was right, but did he have to act like he knew he was right?

Focusing on the task at hand, Royce slid a seashell into one of the sand walls and listened as Bentley began rattling off about places he enjoyed, “There’s a nature preserve that my whole grade went to and we got to feed the alligators, but I don’t know if we would be allowed to since we’re not with the school.”

“It still sounds cool,” Vivien said with a smile. “Is that your favorite place around here?”

Bentley was quick to shake his head, but Miles began teasing him before he could speak, “No, he prefers hanging out with his little girlfriend at the art museum.”

As soon as the words left Miles’ mouth, Bentley’s face scrunched up as a look nobody could quite decipher filled his face and he shook his head, “Kona and I are just friends.”

“Whatever you say, bud,” Butchy chuckled as he and Mick worked on sculpting a moat.

“Kona?” Vivien repeated with a grin. “Like my car?”

“It’s spelled the same,” Royce shrugged. “She moved here from Hawaii not long after we got here and is in the same grade as Bentley.”

Bentley’s smile returned as he explained, “Her parents own this really cool record shop near where Miles works. Her dad runs a radio station out of it and they live upstairs. You’ve gotta meet her; you would love her.”

Vivien smiled in kind, but couldn’t help teasing the boy as she elbowed his arm, “Not nearly as much as you do, apparently.”

Choosing to simply ignore the girl’s teasing, Bentley said, “She’s got two cats who roam around the store and beg for treats.”

With a nod, Vivien sighed, “I’m not a big cat person, but I bet they’re cute.”

As though snapped from a trance, Royce looked up and found Miles’ gaze already on him, concern filling their locked eyes as Bentley asked, “You don’t like cats?”

Vivien shrugged, “It’s not that I don’t like them - I do and I think they’re adorable - I’ve just never had one around, so I prefer dogs. My mom claims that she’s allergic to cats, so we’ve always had dogs. Personally, I think she just doesn’t like cats because she’s always calling them prissy and aggressive.”

Tentatively, Royce swallowed thickly and turned toward his girlfriend with a hopeful grin, “Would you mind living with one?”

Confused, Vivien shook her head, “No, why? Do you want one?”

“We already have one,” Miles explained. “A black cat we got around Halloween a while back.”

“His name is Binx - like the Hocus Pocus cat,” Bentley added with a proud smile as he stuck a stick into the top of a sand tower. “He likes Cheetos, long baths, and he sits on our shoulders like a parrot sometimes.”

Vivien giggled, while the concept of the boys having a pet had crossed her mind, she just assumed Miles would have a German shepherd or something for protection - if not a breed with enough energy to entertain Bentley’s golden retriever mannerisms. If anything, the only person in that house who she could imagine owning a cat was her boyfriend. Royce was, for all intents and purposes, the embodiment of a Chartreux - quiet, inquisitive, and gentle, yet playful when he wanted to be. He seemed to be the oddball of the group - Vivien’s spirit animal of sorts being the same outgoing, yet calm and perceptive hound who always fell asleep somewhere on her bed back home.

Shaking her head, Vivien grinned, “If you guys don’t have Cheetos at home, we need to pick some up for him.”

Carrie beamed, “They keep a bag just for him.”

“Aww!” Vivien cooed, her smile growing so big it began pushing her eyes closed. Lightly smacking Royce’s arm with the back of her hand, she asked, “Why didn’t you tell me about him before?”

“I thought I had,” Royce admitted shyly.

Vivien shook her head, “I would’ve remembered his name! Hocus Pocus is one of my favorite movies of all time.”

“Sorry,” Royce chuckled, a hand coming up to the back of his neck as Vivien smiled in his direction.

Nudging Royce’s arm with an elbow, Vivien grinned, “That just means you’ll have to formally introduce us later.”

Feeling himself smile as warmth crawled up his neck and spread across his cheeks, Royce nodded and breathed, “Yeah, okay.”

Giggling at her boyfriend’s reaction, Vivien turned to the others and asked, “So, what should we do first? Should we take the day to clean, and then you guys can show me around tomorrow, or…?”

“Well, today’s Saturday, so Kona should be busy helping her dad with his broadcast,” Bentley commented thoughtfully. “And the museums will be packed.”

“Sadly, so will that new mall I told you about on the phone,” Carrie mentioned as Vivien glanced her way. “Saturdays are when everyone and their mother try to get good deals.”

Royce looked ready to argue that he knew all too well that the blonde had already wasted enough money at the shiny new building, but Vivien spoke before he got the chance, effectively shutting down any snide remarks he planned on making as she smiled in Carrie’s direction. “I guess some things never change. My bandmates, Erica and Jade, work at the Mall of New Hampshire and say that they only work weekends so they get to watch the chaos from the food court on their breaks.”

Realizing, to his dismay, that his girlfriend would probably be just as enamored with the new shopping center as Carrie was, Royce asked, “Do you go there often?”

“All the time!” Vivien exclaimed. “It’s not a huge mall or anything, but they have some of the best clothes and stuff. I got my first pair of skates at that mall when I was little.”

“They sell figure skates at the mall?” Bentley asked.

“Yeah,” Vivien nodded. Glancing over at the unsuspecting Butchy, she smirked and added, “We went to Dick’s.”

Butchy looked up, an eyebrow raised at the younger girl as she grinned in his direction. Although he looked ready to speak up and ask the girl how on earth that could be the name of a store, Bentley beat him to the punch as his blue eyes sparkled with glee, “Dick’s?”

Vivien nodded, glad to finally have found a way to evade Butchy’s tax on swearing, but Royce let out a snort as he asked, “Is there seriously a store named Dick’s?”

“Dick’s Sporting Goods,” Mick nodded, fighting back a laugh as Butchy’s head practically snapped toward her, an incredulous look in his eyes. “What? It’s true!”

“You’ve got to be screwing with me,” Butchy muttered.

Carrie scoffed a laugh, her oversized sunglasses lifting as she smirked at Butchy, “What? Can’t handle a few Dick’s being thrown around here and there?”

“Yeah, it’s just a sports shop, big guy.” Vivien smirked, glancing around the group as she thoughtfully said, “I bet you would’ve had a heart attack if you had been with us on that trip my school took to the Hoover Dam.”

Bentley’s eyes sparkled as the third Percy Jackson book dragged to the front of his mind, and he asked, “Did you have to ride the dam elevator?”

Ignoring Butchy’s startled call of her friend’s name, Vivien beamed, “We did, but a few of us had to stop to use the dam bathroom first.”

Having read the books with his brother and girlfriend, Royce grinned as he questioned, “Did you get any dam snacks from the dam snack bar?”

“I bet those dam t-shirts were expensive.” An almost maniacal giggle bubbled up from Vivien’s chest as Mick spoke, her nonchalance causing a ripple of laughter to course through the group as Butchy sighed.

“This is the part where I admit defeat,” he muttered, pushing himself to his feet.

“I’d tell you to give up while you’re ahead, but you’re definitely not ahead of them by any means,” Miles chuckled, following his friend’s lead before reaching down and offering a hand to his girlfriend. As the kids scrambled to their feet, proud smiles on their faces as Butchy and Mick began the walk to Mick’s bus, Miles asked, “So, kiddies, where to first?”

Vivien took in a breath as both Royce and Bentley turned toward her expectantly, but her first thought wasn’t of adventure; it was of genuine confusion as Miles and Carrie followed the others toward Mick’s Volkswagen. “I thought we were going with you guys. Where’s your car?”

“We walked,” Bentley said with a shrug. “Our house is close enough that we walk or ride our bikes everywhere almost every day.”

“And I left my car at their house,” Carrie added, nudging her sunglasses further up her nose with a smile at the brunette.

Ignoring the blonde’s addition to the conversation with ease despite his girlfriend’s nod of understanding, Royce added, “And Miles’ piece of crap Jeep needs new spark plugs.”

“It’s not a piece of crap if it gets you two to school on time,” Miles sighed, the mere thought of having to put more work into the rust bucket exhausting him.

“What do you need to have done to it?” Vivien asked. “My Grandpa George lets me help him with his old truck all the time; maybe I can help.”

Miles shook his head, “You’re our guest; you shouldn’t be helping me with stuff like that. Besides, it’s mostly simple fixes - new spark plugs, an oil change, that kind of thing. The only thing I need to check on other than that is the clutch.”

“You drive a stick?” Vivien asked, her eyes sparkling at the thought. “Can you teach me how?”

Smiling at the girl, Miles chuckled and nodded, “Maybe one of these days, sure. Now, where do you need to go?”

Sighing as Miles turned the topic back onto her, Vivien shrugged as she replied, “Can we stop at a gas station or something so I can pick up some snacks before we get to cleaning?”

“Then what?” Carrie asked before Miles could ask her what she wanted.

“I don’t know, really,” Vivien admitted as Bentley tucked his arm into the crook of her elbow, her other arm already looped around Royce’s. “I’m just happy to be here with you guys. It doesn’t feel real.”

“I know the feeling,” Royce chuckled, offering his girlfriend a smile. “Having you here is so surreal.”

“Just wait until you meet everyone,” Bentley said, hopping off of a concrete parking block as Vivien laughed.

“You mean I haven’t already?” she asked. “I think I met everyone in town.”

“Not everyone,” Royce claimed, “but there aren’t a lot of people you haven’t met yet.”

“Kona, Zack, and August,” Bentley began.

“Benny’s friends from school,” Royce explained, to which Vivien nodded.

“Don’t forget Sandy, Lake, and Kit,” Miles tacked on.

“Cassandra Wheaton, and Laken and Katrina Dubois,” Bentley explained, tugging Vivien’s hand as he spoke. “Those are Royce’s friends.”

“Sandy is this red-head girl in my grade who constantly picks fights with the teachers if she thinks they’re wrong,” Royce explained. “She’s related to Butchy’s friend, Larry.”

“Lugnut,” Miles stated, holding the door open for the kids to climb in. “That’s what we call him. And, for the record, they’re cousins.”

“Why on earth do you call him that?” Vivien asked with a grin, pausing by the doorway. “Because he’s got bolts for brains?”

Butchy snorted from the front seat, turning to grin at the kids, “That’s one reason.”

As Bentley followed Vivien into the VW bus, Royce said, “She and her family are on vacation this week, though. Lake and Kit, on the other hand, are Lela's boyfriend’s best friend’s younger brother and sister - they’re twins.”

“Lake is usually the one getting into trouble at school, but he gets good enough grades that nobody really says anything,” Royce explained. “Kit, on the other hand, is the only sane one. She’s the polar opposite of her brother in school, but we’re all pretty sure she’s got some kind of rebellious side under her good-girl exterior.”

As Vivien pieced together the web that linked the group together as friends, she smiled curiously, “And they’re your friends from school?” Royce nodded, and Vivien shook her head with a chuckle. “Sounds like my friends - a mismatched abomination that works, for whatever reason.”

Royce smiled, but it was Bentley who spoke up, “You know, Lake’s the only reason Royce didn’t get in much trouble for punching that kid in the face back in February.”

“Really?” Vivien asked. When Bentley nodded proudly, still clearly relishing in how protective his typically calm older brother had gotten, Vivien turned to Royce and said, “I have to say, when I first found out about that, I didn’t believe it, but now that I know it’s true, I’m proud of you.”

Royce looked away as he heaved a sigh, “I could have handled it better.”

“You could,” Vivien shrugged, “but I would have done the same.”

“You would have?” Royce asked softly as the door slid shut behind Miles.

Vivien hummed, nodding in confirmation before smiling at her boyfriend, “Nobody messes with our siblings.”

Royce smiled, a breath of a laugh escaping him as he nodded, “I still feel kind of bad about breaking his nose and tripping the other one down the stairs.”

“You shouldn’t,” Vivien claimed calmly. Leaning her head on Royce’s shoulder, she smirked as she added, “Besides, I kind of like the thought of seeing you get all protective over the people you care about.”

One of Royce’s eyebrows raised as he looked down at the top of Vivien’s head. “Yeah?”

Instead of replying outright, she nodded against his shoulder, tipping her head back so that she could see his face as she muttered, “I would have paid big bucks to watch it go down.”

“I watched it in real time,” Bentley claimed, heaving a laugh as he recalled the day he watched his ever-calm older brother rail his fist into an upperclassman’s face. “It was a wonder Royce didn’t break his fist in Darren’s face.”

“Or get into any more trouble than I did,” Royce sighed as he leaned over to look at Bentley. “It was honestly a miracle I wasn’t suspended.”

Bentley rolled his eyes before grinning at Vivien and explaining, “Lake went with us to the principal and explained that he saw the whole thing. If he hadn’t, we would’ve gone back and forth until the bell rang.”

“Instead,” Royce continued, “they took his word and called Miles to come and pick us up.”

Turning enough to see the kids, Miles mused, “Most terrifying call of my life.”

“How come?” Vivien asked.

“All they told me was that there was a fight and I needed to get the boys,” Miles recalled. With a sigh, he said, “Since neither of them start fights, I figured I’d be dealing with broken teeth and blood everywhere. Instead, I get to the office, find some kid being called into the principal’s office with an icepack on his face, and these two sitting with the nurse, looking relatively unharmed.”

Royce glanced down at the knuckles on his right hand, flexing and clenching his fist as he examined the leftover marks from his first-ever fistfight. Though it wasn’t his dominant hand, his punch to the older boy’s face had certainly made a mark on both him and the older boy - breaking Darren’s nose for the second time that school year. The quarterback was a caricature of the stereotypical jock - obnoxiously loud, rude, and always vying for access to some poor girl’s skirt. Although Royce doubted he had much success with women in general, Darren acted like he had been crowned King of the school anytime he had a girl under his arm, pushing underclassmen out of his way and picking out random things to taunt them with at least once a day. He was rude, uncouth, and, quite frankly, had the punch coming.

“It’s just a miracle his parent’s didn’t press charges,” Miles mused. “Lawyer fees wouldn’t be cheap if we went against the town’s darling little quarterback.”

“It would have been sooo worth it to take them all down a peg, though,” Carrie sighed.

“Why do you even care?” Royce asked with a roll of his eyes. “Just because you would’ve had the money to handle it doesn’t mean all of us peasants could’ve.”

Though Carrie looked ready to fire back something about how money had little to do with the situation or how she cared because Miles cared, she bit her tongue and instead sighed, “I’ve heard enough shit about that family. They’re dicks to everyone.”

“Oh, joy,” Vivien sighed with a roll of her eyes. “I get away from one asshole family at my school only to meet another asshole family at this one.”

“Swear jar,” Butchy muttered from the front, echoed in near unison by his younger sister and Miles.

“Good thing I’m not staying at your place tonight,” Vivien snickered.

Lela glanced at the girl and sighed, “Don’t be surprised if he nails you for it later.”

“That’s not fair,” Vivien huffed.

“Neither is the swear jar,” Miles laughed.

“College fund,” Butchy corrected.

“More like the bullshit fund,” Carrie claimed with a roll of her eyes as she looked out the window at the passing scenery.

“Wait, how come she gets to cuss, but I don’t?” Vivien scoffed in disbelief, gesturing to Carrie.

Twisting in his seat to look back at the teenager in the backseat, Butchy grinned, “Because I don’t care what she does. You, on the other hand, are one of my responsibilities while you’re here.”

Crossing her arms over her chest and preparing her fiercest glare, Vivien smirked, but Miles caught on quickly, smirking as he attempted to placate the girl before she could push Butchy’s buttons any more than he was sure she had already planned to, “I wouldn’t.”

Choosing to ignore Miles’ tame warning, Vivien giggled, “If Butchy can’t handle the heat, maybe he shouldn’t be such a colossal dickhead.”

“Vivien,” Mack cautioned, “be nice.”

“I just want to see where the line is so that I can play jump rope with it,” Vivien claimed somewhat innocently, making Butchy roll his eyes as he turned back toward the road ahead. “Have I crossed it yet?”

“Wouldn’t be the first or the last time you did,” Butchy shrugged.

Vivien’s smile only seemed to grow as she contemplated her next course of action. Tapping her chin thoughtfully, she hummed, “How about prick; is that okay, Corporal Shithead?”

“I mean, under certain circumstances, I guess, but-”

“Shit? Damn?” Vivien continued. “How about Dick’s? The sporting goods place, not the anatomy.”

“I don’t have a written list of acceptable swears,” Butchy claimed with a chuckle. “And, yeah, store names are fine. Why do you-”

“How about fuck-nuggets?” Vivien pressed, her eyes practically glistening with joy. “I reserve that one for special people, you know, Señor Fu-”

“We’re here!” Mick exclaimed, cutting off Vivien’s fun as she pulled into the parking lot of a red and white convenience store, rolling up to the side of a gas pump before putting the oversized vehicle in park.

As she jumped out of the van, Vivien stared up at the building’s name with a look of scrutiny, encouraging a snort from Butchy as he smirked at her. “What’s with your face, piccola?”

Without batting an eye, Vivien stared up at the sign and asked, “The fuck is Wawa - some baby store bullshit?”

“It’s a gas station,” Bentley laughed as he followed Miles toward the store, digging into his pocket for some money. “You wanted snacks.”

Nudging the girl with his arm, Butchy grinned, “They have some of the best mac and cheese you will ever try.”

Slowly tearing her gaze from the store, Vivien looked up at Butchy and inspected his expression before softly asking him, “Better than Chick-fil-A?”

Dutifully, Butchy nodded as he brought an arm around the brunette’s shoulders, “By far.”

Eyes widening at the idea of anything being better than Chick-fil-A’s mac and cheese, Vivien swallowed and allowed Butchy to guide her toward the store. “I swear,” she began as he pulled the door open for her, “if you’re lying to me, I’ll strangle you.”

With a chuckle and a shake of his head, Butchy asked, “And if I was right?”

Vivien thought for a moment before shrugging, “I don’t know - I’ll tell Mick to kiss you or something.”

Butchy’s flat stare landed on Vivien as he asked, “She and I have been together for years now; why wouldn’t she kiss me?”

After thinking for a second, she shuddered and made a face at the taller man, “Well, I’m certainly not kissing you.”

Though Butchy pretended to gag at the thought, Vivien giggled, shoving him with her elbow as he guided her toward the wall of buffet-style foods across from the door. Chuckling, Butchy said, “Go check out the food, child. I’m going to pry Lela away from the Slurpee machine before she brings home another abomination that makes her sick.”

“Good luck with that,” Vivien snickered, watching him saunter off with a grin before turning to the food before her. The typical gas station foods - cheap hotdogs, sketchy burritos, and some half-empty trays of pizza - were on full display, but Vivien passed them with ease as her gaze narrowed in on a heated section of deep metal bowls of soups and steaming mac and cheese. Taking in a slow breath, Vivien paused as the smell of the food filled her. Why did it smell good? Gas station food never smelled good.

As a hand landed on her shoulder, Vivien jumped, turning toward Mack with wide eyes. Curious, the woman examined the food before asking, “Looks a hell of a lot better than the stuff we’d get at Cumby’s, doesn’t it?”

Cumberland Farms, a convenience store chain most commonly found in the New England region that Vivien proudly hailed from, was known amongst locals for their terrible, grow-hair-on-your-chest type coffee and shitty selection of “hot foods” that workers would hastily throw into the microwave before selling. Despite their food being sub-par, Vivien almost always stopped there for gas and a snack between school and skate practice. This Wawa place was putting her favorite gas station to shame with their fancy displays of food and varied selection of decent-looking snacks!

Nodding at the older woman, she asked, “Why does it smell so good?”

Mack smiled, “Because, believe it or not, it’s good food.”

“You’ve had some?” Vivien asked. When the graying woman nodded, she looked at the array of food and asked, “What do you recommend?”

“Just about anything,” Mack shrugged. “It’s all a lot cheaper than the stuff back home.”

As the brunette woman patted her shoulder and walked away, Vivien’s eyebrow raised, but as she slowly turned her attention back to the food before her, her curiosity was quickly replaced with surprise as she read the prices along the top of the heated cases. Thirty-five cents for a bowl of mac and cheese?! A box of uncooked mac and cheese - not even a good brand, just the generic, store-brand kind - back home was almost two dollars, and you still had to buy butter and milk to make it! Digging into the purse Lela had let her borrow, Vivien dug out her NASA-branded wallet and came to the realization that she had saved a load more money for the trip than she would probably ever need. Feeling a sense of wealth in a gas station - of all places - was surreal, but there she was, standing in front of the gas station’s array of mac and cheeses, feeling like the richest person in the world. Having saved all of her money from her band’s tip jar at their gigs, her allowances, and her part-time work at her family’s winery, she now had just shy of a thousand dollars saved for a trip that would, more likely than not, cost a whole lot less than she had anticipated.

“Are you good, kid?” a voice asked, making Vivien hastily zip her wallet shut as she turned toward Miles, her thoughts running wild at the thought of storming into the nearby mall and buying everything her heart desired without feeling bad for spending a ton on herself.

Vivien scrambled to find the words to say before stammering out, “I-I, uh, I just- I saved money for this trip.”

Miles smiled, a sense of pride filling him as he nodded, “Good job. Is it enough to buy what you want or do you need some change?”

Vivien’s eyes flickered to the sign, its two-digit number startling her once more as she half expected it to have changed since the last time she looked. With a vehement shake of her head, she began, “N-No, it’s not-!” She cut herself off and took in a breath, lowering her voice to a whisper and holding up her wallet with wide eyes, “I think I could buy a house with this.”

Miles glanced at the girl’s wallet and smirked, placing a hand over it and lowering it, “I highly doubt that, but isn’t that a good thing?”

“Yeah, I think so, but-”

“But nothing,” Miles interrupted, taking the girl’s arms in his hands and forcing her to focus on his words. “You’re here to have fun, not worry about finances.”

Vivien nodded dutifully, but as her gaze fell on her borrowed clothes, she found herself beginning to worry again as she muttered, “I don’t have any clothes.”

“What?” Miles asked, not having heard the girl’s simple statement.

Emerald eyes flickered up to meet Miles’, and he watched as worry filled them. “Mick told me to leave my clothes at her parent’s house and only take what I needed because I’d leave here with more clothes than I could fit in my suitcase. I borrowed all of this-” she gestured to herself, “from Lela. I don’t- I don’t have pajamas for tonight or clothes for tomorrow - o-or any day, for that matter. Miles, what am I going to do? I can’t just run around in the same outfit every day!”

“First of all, breathe,” Miles instructed, waiting until Vivien sucked in a breath before continuing, “and second, relax. You can borrow something for tonight, and I can take you clothes shopping tomorrow.”

Vivien took in the idea and slowly nodded. “Are you sure? I don’t want to get in the way of your plans.”

“You won’t,” Miles decided with a shake of his head. “We’ll worry about all of that tomorrow. Now, go pick out some snacks for tonight before the boys decide to buy half the store for you.”

Allowing Miles to nudge her toward the coolers full of drinks where Bentley and Royce were arguing over which drink they thought Vivien would want, she shoved her wallet back into her bag and allowed their voices to lure her in, glancing around at the myriad of snacks available as she closed the distance between them. “What’re you guys talking about?”

Glad to have someone there as a tie-breaker, Bentley beamed, “Oh, good! Viv, would you please tell your boyfriend that you’d like root beer more than Mountain Dew?”

Switching her gaze from the bottle of A&W in Bentley’s hand to the sloshing, radioactive green liquid in the glass bottle held by the brunet on her right, Vivien opened her mouth to speak, but Royce spoke first, “She’s been talking about having us bring her a bottle of this stuff since January, Ben.”

Choosing to speak up before the boys could argue more about her choice of drink, Vivien asked, “Why not just get both?” When the boys looked her way, she said, “I can have one tonight while we work and another in the morning with breakfast.”

“Soda with breakfast?” Bentley wondered aloud, glancing between Vivien and Royce. “Is that allowed?”

Vivien shrugged as she took the bottles from the boys, “Why not? If Miles can have his crackhead coffee in the morning, I can have a soda.”

Turning on her heel, Vivien headed for the chip aisle, examining the funky fonts with a smile as the boys fetched their own drinks from the coolers. As she picked up a tube of Pringles - the “newfangled” chip in a can, as the container claimed - Vivien tucked it into the crook of her elbow and waited for the boys to pick out their own snacks before following them to the cash register where a middle-aged man in a sweater vest began punching in the prices of their selection. Pulling out her wallet, Vivien began searching for her one-dollar bills, but Royce was quicker as he handed over a few bills and accepted the change from the cashier.

Taking the bag of items from the counter and thanking the man, Vivien allowed Royce to lead her outside before speaking, “I was going to pay for that, you know.”

“I know,” Royce said, a hint of a grin tugging at his lips as Bentley pulled his drink and snack from the bag in Vivien’s arms and took off for the van, “but I also know how expensive things are back in your world and how cheap everything seems here. You and I both know you’ll try paying for anything and everything if you get the chance, and I wanted to be able to say that I paid for at least one thing for you while you’re here.”

Vivien couldn’t argue with her boyfriend’s good intentions. She knew he meant well and, well, he wasn’t wrong. She liked being able to provide for the people she cared about. Taking in a breath and sighing, she relented, “Alright, you’ve got me there.”

“I know,” Royce smirked triumphantly. “I just hope you’ll let me pay for our anniversary dinner.”

“Anniversary dinner?” Vivien echoed. “We haven’t been together a year yet, Rolls.”

“No, but it’s almost our four-month anniversary, and we haven’t had the chance to really celebrate the last three,” Royce stated as they reached Mick’s bus, taking the bag from Vivien and stepping aside to allow her to climb in. “Why; do you not want to celebrate it?”

“I hadn’t thought about it, to be honest with you,” Vivien admitted. “My parents only really ever celebrated their yearly anniversary.” Pausing as she stepped into the bus, Vivien turned back to Royce and said, “But, I guess, if you think about it, they are divorced now. Maybe it’s not such a good idea to follow their lead.”

Royce let out a breathy laugh, “Yeah, maybe not.”

Once they were seated, Vivien leaned her head on Royce’s shoulder and asked, “So what did you have in mind for it?”

Royce chuckled somewhat nervously, “Honestly, I hadn’t really planned anything since I thought we would be on opposite sides of the country. My original plan was to see if we could have dinner over video chat or something, but now that you’re here, I don’t know what to do.”

Vivien hummed as she smiled up at her boyfriend, “Well, we have plenty of time to figure it out.”

“Yeah,” Royce nodded as he returned her smile, leaning closer to her with the intention of pressing the tip of his nose to hers in a sort of eskimo kiss. However, the van’s other occupant had another idea.

“Can you guys not be all lovey-dovey and gross when I’m trying to eat?” Bentley complained, interrupting the couple’s interaction and digging his hand back into his snack bag as the others began to return to the vehicle.

Instead of resorting to sitting silently and putting up with the boy’s teasing, Vivien turned toward the blond and pursed her lips, smacking them in an effort to psych him out with her exaggerated kissing noises as she leaned toward him, acting as though she was going to kiss him. Bentley was quick to react, letting out a squeal as he pressed himself as far away from her as possible. As he tossed a handful of Corn Diggers at Vivien, pleading with her to stop, Vivien laughed triumphantly and returned to her seat, pulling a couple of the Bugles' predecessors from her ponytail and popping them into her mouth as Bentley let out a noise of complaint.

“You tossed ‘em, you lost ‘em,” Vivien taunted in a sing-song voice, handing one of the corn chips to Royce as he chuckled beside her.

Before Bentley could complain any further, Mick turned toward the others in the back of the bus and asked, “Everybody in?”

Once everyone gave some form of confirmation, Mick turned back to the wheel before her and twisted the key in the ignition, feeling the vehicle rumble to life before pulling away from the gas pump. As the bus pulled away from the gas station and began to roll down Gulf Boulevard, Bentley and Royce began showing Vivien their town through the windows, pointing out locations as they flew by. Although the glimpses of buildings and hang-out spots wouldn’t satiate Vivien’s desire to explore to small city to its fullest, the palpable excitement radiating off of the boys on either side of her as they rambled and raved about their favorite places made her feel as though she had explored the area alongside them.

To Vivien’s great disappointment, the car ride didn’t last long, and they were pulling into the brick-lined driveway of Butchy and Lela’s Mediterranean-style home within minutes. The red shingles on the roof glistened in the afternoon sun, giving the structure a warm, comforting glow as Mick rolled to a stop in front of the garage. Climbing out of the bus, Vivien looked around at the neighborhood, a collection of one-floor, mid-century homes dotting the streets amidst the occasional larger home and making Vivien breath a sort of chuckle through her nose as she smirked. The pattern of large and small homes distantly reminded her of Morse Code - the larger building becoming dashes and the smaller ones turning into little dots in her head. However, before she could think too much on it, Lela took the girl by the hand and began leading her up the brick walkway to the front door, pushing her way inside before turning back toward the group and calling for Carrie to join them. Lela pulled Vivien inside before leaving to retrieve the girl’s suitcase from the kitchen where she had abandoned it earlier, allowing the younger teen to look around the living room for the first time as Carrie’s platform boots clunked against the hardwood floors. Though Vivien was only somewhat disappointed the home didn’t have a sunken conversation pit for a living room, the patterns and warm colors gave off an inherently sixties vibe that made her smile nonetheless. Turning to Carrie with a smile, Vivien watched as the blonde rolled her eyes, nudging her sunglasses atop her head with a sigh.

“This place feels like something out of I Dream of Jeannie,” Vivien commented with a smile, “or Bewitched or I Love Lucy.”

Carrie looked around and shrugged slightly, her head tipping to the side in a sort of “I guess so,” movement. Then, she beamed, “If you think this is nice, just wait until you see my place.”

“I thought you said you guys weren’t done rearranging your furniture again?” Lela wondered as she rolled Vivien’s suitcase into the living room.

“We’re not,” Carrie agreed, “but it still has one of the best ocean views anyone could ask for.”

“And looks like the inside of a Barbie Dreamhouse,” Butchy poked as he followed his wife into the house and headed for the kitchen with one of their bags from the convenience store.

The half-assed jab at her choice in decor did nothing to Carrie as she rolled her eyes and called after him, “At least I have taste. Your wallpaper is so bright it could blind the people on the moon.”

“Hey,” Mick whined in a mildly offended tone as she looked around her ecclectically decorated living quarters. “I thought you liked the wallpaper.”

As Carrie struggled to find something nice to say about the yellow, floral, somewhat kitschy wallpaper, Vivien quickly turned to the brunette and attempted to cover for the blonde, “I think it’s beautiful, Mickie. Loud and proud, but beautiful. Right, Carrie?”

“Yeah!” Carrie hurried to agree, plastering a smile on her face that only a skilled actress - such as herself - could have pulled off so flawlessly. “It matches the furniture and decor perfectly.”

Wiping her dismay from her face, Mick grinned, “I’m just screwing with you. It’s ugly as sin and we all know it.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, Carrie pressed a hand to her chest and breathed, “Oh, thank God.”

“It really is awful,” Vivien muttered as she looked around. Glancing at the coffee table in all of its wiry, metallic glory, Vivien winced at the rug. “I mean, come on, Mick! You’ve got a baby-poop-green rug, for crying out loud.”

Mick leaned against the back of the couch and laughed, “It’s atrocious, isn’t it? We’re going to be redecorating entire ground level soon.”

“Finally getting rid of the poop rug?” Bentley asked in a giggle as he perched himself on the armrest of a chair.

“If that thing’s not the first thing that gets thrown in the dumpster,” Butchy began as he came back into the room with a freshly opened box of popsicles and began handing them out, “I might just pitch myself off of the roof.”

“Promise?” Carrie asked with a smirk.

Digging into the box, Butchy produced a purple popsicle with a grin and held it out to the blonde with a smirk, watching as her expression soured once he pushed the clear plastic wrapper into her hand. “Just for that, here you go.”

“I’d rather drink sewer water,” Carrie claimed, letting the popsicle dangle from her fingers as she pinched the stick, her nose crinkling in disgust as she eyes the offensively purple ice pop.

With a giggle, Vivien pried the popsicle from Carrie’s hand and swapped it for the blue raspberry one she had been given, claiming, “I love the grape ones.”

“More power to ya,” Carrie shuddered. “They taste like these shitty throat drops I had to take before singing lessons.”

Butchy smiled as he slowly turned, ready to hit the blonde with a comment about how her singing lessons were clearly a waste of her family’s money, but Lela quickly intervened with a smile, stepping up to grab a pink-lemonade-flavored pop from the box in her brother’s hands before turning to Vivien and Carrie. “Are you girls ready?”

“For what?” Vivien asked as she unwrapped her purple pop.

“We need to make up a list of all the things you need so that we can go shopping,” Carrie explained.

Vivien shook her head with a small smile, “That’s alright, guys, Miles already said he’d take me shopping tomorrow.”

Not even a moment after the words left Vivien’s mouth, Miles felt the urge to run, hide, melt in to the floor - anything to get away before he felt the stares of the women around him sear holes into his skin. However, to his dismay, he felt rooted in place by an invisible force that he knew could only be described as fear - though he would never admit it. If it wasn’t bad enough that Lela’s mildly bewildered, somewhat upset blue eyes landed on him with an immediate “how dare you” glare befitting of her status as the self-proclaimed, spoiled youngest child, Miles tried not to wince as Carrie’s sharp gaze landed on him, her rarely used, angry girlfriend stare boring into his soul. Miles had hoped he would have the chance to tell at least Carrie about his short conversation with Vivien about taking the chance to shop on a day he and his brothers had nothing better to do. He knew Carrie would have understood and told the others - mainly the raven-haired girl starring daggers at him in the hopes he would croak where he stood - to let things go for the night.

Clearly, however, he hadn’t had the chance.

“You what?” Lela asked darkly, a thinly veiled threat latched onto her words.

“Yeah,” Carrie nodded, her arms crossing over her chest as she watched her boyfriend’s expression flit as he fought the urge to speak up in defense of his actions. “We told you we wanted to take her shipping tonight while you guys worked on getting things set up for her in the spare room.”

Shrugging in a vain attempt to calm the girls’ fury, Miles admitted, “I told her she could just relax tonight and get used to our place a bit before we hound her with shopping trips and adventures. You guys can still take her, but I wanted her to feel comfortable first.”

“He’s right,” Vivien confirmed with a nod as she took a bite of her popsicle, watching in mild amusement as Carrie and Lela’s matching aquamarine gazes fell on her in near-perfect unison. “I wanted to help clean out the room I’m staying in tonight anyway. I like organizing, and, besides, I would’ve felt bad if the guys did all the work when I had already offered to help.”

Carrie hummed thoughtfully, accepting the teen’s statement with relative ease as Lela huffed, “Fine, but we’re taking you out tomorrow - no excuses.”

Raising her hands in surrender, Vivien nodded, “So long as I can crash in a nice, comfy bed tonight, I have no issue with going out tomorrow. You can drag me out of bed, for all I care.”

“Don’t tell them that,” Bentley said quickly, shaking his head emphatically at the brunette. “They take that stuff literally.”

Vivien smiled at the young blond, but found her amusement wiped off her face as she caught sight of Lela’s mischievously glittering eyes. She attempted a glance at Carrie, but found the blonde smiling knowingly in her direction, the actress’ excitement fueled by her eagerness to get the chance to spend time with Vivien and get to know the young figure skater better. Hoping she wouldn’t regret signing up for whatever day-long plans the girls had in store for her, Vivien swallowed and plastered a wary smile on her face as she asked, “Why do I have the feeling I'm going to regret agreeing to this?”

“Hanging out with Lela is fun, but you’re spending the day with Carrie too,” Royce stated before taking in the last bite of his popsicle. Quickly polishing it off, he grinned as he rhetorically asked, “Who wouldn’t regret that?”

Though Royce was quickly shut up by Miles elbowing his side and quietly telling him to quit it, Vivien latched onto his words and stared him down with a disappointed frown knitting her eyebrows together. With Vivien’s stare unwavering, Royce opened his mouth to speak before sighing and looking away, his small argument forgotten. Placing a hand on Carrie’s arm, Vivien turned her gaze onto the blonde and smiled, “I’m actually looking forward to spending more time with you.”

“You are?” Carrie asked, echoed bewilderedly by Butchy, Royce, and Bentley.

The smiling brunette nodded, ignoring the boys’ comments and grinning as she admitted, “We haven’t really gotten the chance to get to know each other other than our love of theatre and music, so I don’t doubt we’ll have a lot of fun tomorrow.”

Vivien could tell by her smile that Carrie was happy, but the actress’ eyes seemed to water at her words, tears she was determined not to shed making her eyes burn. Carrie pulled herself together as best she could before nodding, “Lela and I will make sure you have fun.”

“And,” Lela began, sidling up to the pair with a smile and bringing her arms around them, “maybe we can even make a detour to Sycamore Close to check out where Miles and Carrie work.”

Though confused at first, realization hit Vivien like a Mack truck speeding down the highway as she recalled just where Carrie worked. Beaming at the blonde, she asked, “Really? Can we check out the studio?”

Carrie shrugged, a teasing gleam in her eyes as she offered, “I guess we’ll just have to find out, won’t we?”

As Carrie pivoted on her heel and began sauntering toward the door, Vivien balked and squawked, “You can’t just give me a ‘you’ll see’ and walk away!”

“I just did!” Carrie laughed as she stepped outside.

Vivien made a noise of disgruntled surprise and followed the actress, but was stopped at the doorway by Butchy’s arm. Looking up at the man, she found him smirking at her. Lifting an eyebrow curiously, Vivien followed his gaze to where Lela stood with a suitcase as he asked, “Forgetting something?”

Sighing, Vivien jogged back to Lela, thanking her with a hug as Miles led his brothers out of the house. Dragging her suitcase behind her, Vivien wrapped Mick in an embrace next, thanking her once more in a whisper. Running her hand up and down the younger brunette’s back, Mick grinned, “Anytime.”

As they separated, Mack stepped up and said, “Next week, the boys will be back to school and Brady and I will be going back to California. The choice is yours whether or not you want to stay at their house or come stay here in the spare room, but you should probably talk it over with Miles and the boys before Monday.”

Vivien nodded, glancing toward the door as Miles told Bentley to stop chasing Carrie around the driveway with a worm he plucked from the bushes while Royce laughed. Turning back to her neighbor and friend, Vivien smiled, “I think I can handle that.”

“Good,” Brady spoke up. Patting his pseudo-daughter on the shoulder, he grinned, “Have fun, alright?”

“I will,” Vivien said, tucking herself into the couple’s open arms and squeezing them close before heading back to the doorway Butchy leaned against. She examined him for a moment, taking in his laid-back expression and his knowing smirk before asking, “You knew I was coming, didn’t you?”

Lifting a brow, Butchy asked, “What gave you that idea?”

“You weren’t surprised to see me, but Lela was,” Vivien claimed. “That means that either Mickie told you or you just seem to know things, which would mean I have to go all super spy mode while I’m around you.”

Leaning closer to the girl, Butchy lowered his voice and grinned as he said, “Mick’s great with secrets, but I think we both know that she’s pretty shit at keeping her excitement for surprises under wraps.”

Vivien snickered, a knowing nod following soon after. However, as she took in his words once again, she gasped dramatically, pointing up at him with wide, sparkling eyes, “You swore!”

Butchy rolled his eyes and placed his hands on his hips, “I have been known to, yeah.”

“But the swear jar-”

“Has been decommissioned until you go home,” Butchy interrupted. When Vivien’s accusatory gaze begged him to explain his decision, he simply shrugged, brushing off the matter with ease. “You’re on vacation, piccola - I’d rather you didn’t go broke just because you swear like a drunken sailor.”

Vivien’s expression shifted, a knowing smile taking over her face as she patted his arm, “Whatever you say, big guy.”

Sighing in some form of admittance - at least, that’s how it sounded to Vivien - Butchy shook his head and tugged the younger girl into a hug, smiling as her snake-like arms wound around him in a tight squeeze. “Have fun with the guys.”

“And Carrie,” Vivien tried, a part of her still hoping to mend the blonde’s relationships with both Butchy and Royce during her stay despite the reluctance from all parties.

“Yeah, sure,” Butchy scoffed as Vivien took a step back. Cocking his head in a sort of shrug, he chuckled, “Well, I’m sure you’ll have fun with that empty-headed plaything; the boys aren’t exactly the Barbie-doll type.”

“You’re such a dick,” Vivien retorted, thumping her fist against his chest as she took her suitcase by the handle once more.

“To her, absolutely.”

“That’s not a good thing.”

“Is to me.”

Vivien rolled her eyes and nudged her glasses further up her nose before scoffing and allowing the subject to drop. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow, right?”

“Maybe after you’re done with your girl’s day,” Mick said with a nod.

“Aren’t you joining us?” Vivien asked.

With a shake of her head and a smile, Mick admitted, “Butchy and I have to help some friends move into their new place tomorrow, but I’m sure you’ll have a blast.”

Although the thought of not having Mick there as a buffer between herself and the other girls made her nervous, Vivien masked her worries with a smile and a nod, and gave the group a final wave before leaving the house, jogging down the front steps and joining the others at the end of the driveway. Miles looked up from his conversation with Royce and smiled, “You ready, kid?”

Nodding more for herself than for Miles, Vivien smiled, “As I’ll ever be. Did you guys call a taxi or something to bring us to your place?”

“No,” Miles chuckled with a shake of his head, gently tugging the girl’s suitcase from her hand and pulling it behind him as he began leading the way down the street. “We can walk from here to our house. It’ll take us maybe five minutes.”

“Seriously?” Vivien asked as Bentley took up the hand Miles emptied and began swinging it between them as they walked down Bay Street. “I know you guys said you could ride your bikes everywhere, but I didn’t know you could get where you needed to go so quickly.”

“It must be odd to you,” Carrie offered the younger girl as she fell into step on Miles free side. “I remember when I came to your world that everything in New Hampshire was really spread out. It made everything feel so small.”

Before Royce could butt in with a snappy comment, Vivien hummed, “Yeah, well, most of New England is like that, I think. The area used to be a lot of big farming areas and stuff in colonial times, so when things progressed, the plots of land didn’t, and there are a ton of places where you have to walk a country mile to get to your neighbor’s house.”

“It’s definitely not like that here,” Royce chuckled as Bentley took his hand and began swinging their joined arms between them in time with the other hand the blond had captured along the way to their home. “There may not be a lot of sidewalks on back streets, but in cities and communities like ours, it’s easier to walk places.”

Vivien smiled, “That’ll take some getting used to.”

Bentley grinned, “Nah, you’ll be a city girl before you know it.”

Although Vivien agreed with a nod, allowing the boys to carry the conversation as she let her mind wander. Though she could definitely get used to spending her days lounging on the beach with the boys or shopping with her friends for clothes that would only cost her a fraction of what they would back home, would she truly be able to adjust to wandering a city without a care in the world? In a way, she supposed, there would be pros and cons as there would be anywhere, but safety was something she doubted she had the need to worry about. With them living in a sort of movie universe, Vivien doubted there would be much crime, if any existed in their world at all - a welcome difference from her world.

Maybe staying In St. Pete Beach would be like the stories her grandparents had told her from their childhood - homes being left unlocked all day and night regardless of whether or not anyone was home and kids roaming the neighborhood until the street lights came on. Basically, things that would give her parents a literal heart attack if they knew where - or when - she really was. Would it really be so hard to adjust? Maybe it wouldn’t be half as hard as she was making it out to be. Regardless, as she listened to Bentley ramble about much he loved Florida more than their old hometown in South Carolina, Vivien came to the conclusion that she would try her hardest to feel at home in the small city.

As they turned right off of 64th Avenue and onto Gulf Winds Drive, Vivien found sandy, crack-riddled, cement driveways becoming more and more common than the clean-cut, brick driveways on the street Mick, Butchy, and Lela lived on. The larger, waterfront homes that lined the Boca Ciega Bay became nonexistent - replaced by a handful of one-floor, mid-century-style homes with cheerfully colored exteriors and neatly-kept gardens filled with palm trees, cacti, and other succulents. With a gentle tug on her sleeve and a somewhat apologetic smile, Royce led Vivien toward a pale turquoise house with a matching, topless Mustang parked out front, encouraging her to step over the edge of the driveway that the cement company hadn’t completely flattened out before allowing her to stop as she examined their home in full.

For a while now, Vivien had only seen glimpses of the building in pictures. She had practically memorized the peeled spot in the living room wallpaper from the background of where Bentley had opened his birthday presents the month before, the terracotta tiles of the back patio where everyone seemed to congregate on the weekends for cookouts, and the chipped, peeling paint of the front door that the trio of brothers had taken pictures in front of not long after Royce and Bentley had moved in with Miles. Now that she had their home in front of her and she was able to take in all of its haphazard glory, the idea of piecing together the rest of the puzzle pieces and seeing the rest of the house filled her with a sort of childlike wonder she hadn’t felt in a long time.

Nervously clearing his throat as his girlfriend stared at their house in silence, Royce admitted, “I know it’s nothing big or exciting like what you’re used to - and we’re still working on fixing up the walls and stuff - but it’s home.”

Vivien was quick to shake her head, wrapping her arm around Royce’s and squeezing it as she asked, “What are you talking about? I love it already.”

“Y-You do?” Royce asked in a breath.

“Yeah,” Vivien beamed. “I’ve only ever seen pictures of your house, so I’ve been looking forward to exploring it for months now.”

As Royce struggled to find something to say in response, Miles nudged Vivien and said, “If you’re that excited, the spare key is above the door frame. You can use it while you’re here.”

“Aren’t you guys coming inside?” Vivien asked, her eyebrow lifting in mild concern.

Miles nodded, smiling reassuringly at the younger brunette, “Carrie and I are just saying goodbye for the night. I’ll be in after she heads out.”

“I’ll pick you up around nine, if that’s alright?” Carrie offered as she tugged her car keys from her purse. “The mall opens at nine thirty, so that gives us plenty of time to pick Lela up and stop for coffee on the way.”

“Sounds good,” Vivien agreed with a smile.

“Good,” Miles grinned. “Now, go. I’m sure you’re dying to check out the dumpster fire that is our house.”

Carrie lightly smacked his chest with the back of her hand, scoffing that it wasn’t a dumpster fire now that they had started fixing everything up, but the comment went mostly ignored as the teenagers began making their way up the driveway. Although Vivien’s excitement was obvious and understandable as she began pulling Royce toward the door, Bentley jogged across the sandy grass to the door, his hand-painted key already glistening in the light as he tugged its chain over his head and slipped the key into the handle of the door. Stepping to the side as Royce took the key down from above the door frame and handed it to his girlfriend, Bentley pushed the door open and gestured for Vivien to enter first, “Ladies first.”

However, before she could take a step inside, Miles called out to Vivien from near Carrie’s Mustang, “Make sure the cat doesn’t get out!”

Vivien glanced back at Miles and nodded, but almost as though he had been summoned, a sleek black cat with golden eyes that shimmered in the sunlight trotted up to the door, sitting at the threshold as it observed the visitor before him with silent scrutiny. Without giving Vivien the chance to introduce herself to the cat, Bentley leaned down and scooped him up, cradling the onyx feline to his chest as he asked, “Did you come out to meet Vivien, Binx?”

Eyeing the girl, the cat’s golden eyes slid closed in a slow blink before peeling back open as he meowed softly. Reaching up a hand, Vivien allowed the cat to sniff her fingers with a grin, her smile growing as the cat’s head nuzzled into her hand, giving her permission to pet him. As Royce let out a breath of a chuckle, Vivien turned to him and said, “I think he likes me.”

Royce nodded, unable to wipe the smile from his face as he agreed, “I knew he would.”

Wriggling in Bentley’s grasp, the cat stretched out toward Vivien, forcing the girl to hold him as he climbed toward her shoulder and perched himself there. Smiling at the cat as his purrs filled her ear, Vivien chuckled, “He really is part parrot.”

“Told you,” Bentley grinned.

As the cat sprawled out, curling around the back of Vivien’s neck and resting his head on her left shoulder, she pressed a kiss to the top of his head. Watching his girlfriend as she nuzzled the top of the cat’s head and scratched between his ears, Royce smiled and spared a glance at the chaos they had left in the house that morning when they were rushing out the door. Miles was right; it was a dumpster fire. Although Royce was certain Vivien wouldn’t care that much about the art supplies littering the counters or the cat toys strewn across the floor, the urge to clean while she was distracted with the cat was strong. However, his time ran out as Vivien turned toward the door, stepping across the threshold and allowing the cat to jump onto the table by the door where Miles always ditched his keys.

As she began looking around, drinking in the details of the house with a smile, Royce stepped up beside her and said, “If we had known you were coming, we would’ve cleaned before we left this morning.”

“No, we wouldn’t have,” Bentley retorted with a snort as he stepped into the house and closed the door. “Miles woke up late because his alarm clock is a piece of junk, Jules picked you up early for work, and I was half-asleep still since you weren’t there to keep me or Miles awake.”

Reaching behind Vivien to half-heartedly slap the back of Bentley’s head, Royce sent him a look that begged for him to shut up as Vivien laughed, “I don't care how clean your home is. It’s your home and it should look lived in, not like some house on Trulia that’s been staged to look good.”

“Well, that’s good,” Bentley said with a grin, pointedly giving Royce an ‘I told you so’ look before taking Vivien’s arm and dragging her into the kitchen, exclaiming something about having to show her the progress report card he had been sent home from school with on Friday.

Royce let out a sigh and turned his attention to Binx as the cat head-butted his arm, asking for attention. “I’m glad you like her, Binx,” he whispered as he picked up the cat, the feline’s golden eyes somewhat calming as Royce took in a breath. “Knowing her, you’ll be spoiled rotten by the time she has to go home.”

The cat’s soft meow encouraged Royce to smile as the front door opened behind him, allowing Miles to step inside as the roaring engine of Carrie’s Mustang faded outside. Petting the cat as he set Vivien’s suitcase by the wall, Miles greeted him before turning his attention to Royce, “Where did they go?”

“Kitchen,” Royce replied with a shrug. Glancing at the door, he asked, “Where did she run off to?”

Brushing off his brother’s snipped tone, Miles answered, “She’s going home to make up a list of everything she thinks Viv might want.”

Royce scoffed, rolling his eyes at the thought, “How could she possibly know what Viv wants?”

“Royce,” Miles sighed softly as he put his hands on his hips, “can we not do this while Vivien’s here? You know she likes Carrie.”

“I don’t see how she can,” Royce commented with a shake of his head. “But seriously, Carrie hardly knows Viv; what gives her the idea that she can make up a list for her without talking it over with her first?”

“All I know is that she’s calling Lela and Mick for ideas,” Miles admitted with a shrug. “Knowing them, they’ll be on the phone all night.”

Running his hand down Binx’s side, Royce refrained from rolling his eyes as he relented, “That’s good. At least they’d take Viv’s interests into account.”

Curious yet cautious as he knew how deep Royce’s distaste for Carrie went, Miles asked, “What do you mean?”

“Well, Viv and Carrie are total opposites,” Royce stated as though his brother should have known that a long time ago. “The chances of Vivien liking anything Carrie picks out for her are slim to none.”

Hoping he didn’t appear nearly as happy to correct his younger brother as he felt, Miles grinned as he said, “Actually, Carrie was telling me that Vivien’s borrowed clothes from her a couple of times since they went to that show together; something about Mick being their delivery person.”

Though he didn’t want to believe his brother’s claim - or Carrie’s, for that matter - Royce sighed and chose to drop the subject, determined not to let his distaste for Carrie get in the way of him enjoying having his girlfriend around. Instead, he allowed Miles to bring an arm around his shoulders and guide him to the kitchen where Vivien was looking over a piece of paper. Bentley shifted a few magnets around on the fridge, nudging one from Miles’ work and one with their school’s mascot up to make room for the paper once Vivien was done with it.

As he caught sight of Vivien’s smile, Miles asked, “We’ve got a real genius on our hands, right, kid?”

Vivien nodded, glancing up from the paper briefly to tease the eldest of the brothers, “What does that make it, then; two out of three? That’s pretty good odds, all things considered.”

“Look here, you little shit,” Miles said, his grin still strong as he pointed at the brunette, “I happened to get good grades when I was in school.”

Waving Bentley’s progress report in the air, Vivien pointed at the teacher’s remarks and taunted, “I bet you weren’t this good, though. I mean, come on, Miles! How could you - of all people - possibly beat ‘has an inquisitive and engaged mind’?”

Miles shook his head, his smile beaming as Bentley’s face turned a soft pink at the praise from his friend, and the youngest of the family said, “It’s not that great. I’ve only got one A so far this year.”

“That’s because the American grading system is a pile of hot garbage,” Vivien scoffed, shoving the boy’s shoulder. “Besides, it’s still better than last time, if this is anything to go by. Last time, you had no A’s at all.”

“My art teacher liked me,” Bentley shrugged, hoping to brush off the praise. “This last trimester, I have French, and I just know it’s going to suck.”

“We can work on that,” Royce chimed in as Binx crawled out of his arms and perched himself on one of the kitchen counters. “Miles has been trying to teach me some more lately, so that won’t be a problem.”

Miles hummed, “And English should also be a breeze since Royce had Cushing last year too.”

“And I’m good with math and history, so those are covered,” Vivien added with a smile. Glancing down at the paper in her hands, she tried not to wince at the glaring D in the slot for Bentley’s science class as she said, “All we need to work on after that is science since everything else has a pretty good mark.”

“Science will be a bust,” Bentley huffed as he leaned against the fridge. “I think Mrs. Purington has it out for me.”

“She doesn’t have it out for you,” Royce claimed with a chuckle. “You just hate science.”

“I mean, yeah,” Bentley relented. “It makes no sense! The stuff she teaches doesn’t even come up on our tests, and half the class can’t stand her because of it. Most of our final grades this year will come from the science fair, and nobody knows what to do for it.”

As Miles hummed thoughtfully, a lightbulb flickered on in Vivien’s mind, snapping to life with a jolt as she thumped a fist on the counter and hissed, “Motherfucker!”

The three brothers and their cat jumped, watching as Vivien let out a frustrated sigh. Tentatively, Royce placed a hand on her shoulder and asked, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just-” she let out a heavy sigh, “I just realized that I left all the stuff for my battle bot project at home. I was going to ask Mickie to work on it with me while I’m here, and I figured Ben could borrow it, but without the motors, the radio control system, and some of the stuff I literally picked up yesterday at school, it’s useless.”

“That’s alright,” Miles reassured as Bentley stepped up and graciously wrapped an arm around Vivien’s back. “We’ll find something to do for his project - and maybe help you with the rest of yours too… if we can find anything for whatever it is.”

Though Vivien looked ready to explain her project, Bentley piped up, “Besides, the science fair isn’t until the middle of next month.”

Vivien grinned at the boy as Royce asked, “The Friday before prom, right?”

Bentley nodded, but it was Vivien’s gaze that locked on the curly-haired boy almost instantly. “Prom?” Vivien asked, earning a nod from her boyfriend. “You have prom in May? My school’s prom isn’t until the beginning of June!”

Though Royce was pleased to know that he would be able to attend Vivien’s prom - if she was willing to have him by her side in front of her entire grade, that is - the thought of her potentially still being in the area for his prom sent a hurricane of rabid butterflies through his stomach as he turned to Miles, a silent question on his lips as he grinned curiously at his older brother. With a smirk and a subtle roll of his eyes, Miles suggested, “Maybe, if you’re still here, you can go to Royce’s prom.”

Though Vivien’s eyes sparkled at the idea of attending another prom, she grinned and shrugged, “Well, he’d have to ask me to go with him first, but I’m sure I could find a place in my schedule for it.”

Royce’s smile widened as Vivien’s eyes met his, a surge of emotions flooding his veins as she smiled back at him. Maybe Miles was right - he was wrapped around her finger like one of her rings. He would drop anything to be with her so long as she would have him. Then, Bentley’s voice cut through their moment like a dagger, “You just got here, Viv. How do you have a schedule already?”

Wrapping an arm around Bentley’s shoulders, Miles chuckled and ushered him out of the room, “Come on, Benny, let’s get to cleaning Viv’s room.”

“But what about her schedule?” Bentley wondered as Binx hopped down from the counter and began following them. “How are we going to take her places if she has a schedule already?”

“She was joking,” Miles chuckled, tugging Bentley into the hall to leave the young couple alone.

“Oh,” Bentley breathed, a wave of understanding washing over his features as he turned back to Vivien, who nodded in confirmation. Beaming back at his brother’s girlfriend, Bentley wiggled his eyebrows at the pair and whistled comically before Miles slapped a hand over his mouth and pulled him away.

As his brothers left the room, Royce closed his eyes, turned to Vivien, and sighed, “I’m sorry about them.”

“Don’t be,” Vivien giggled, tucking Bentley’s report card back under a set of magnets on the refrigerator and turning toward Royce with a smile. “I’m used to their shenanigans by now.”

“I’m not so sure that’s a good thing,” Royce breathed as Vivien stepped into his personal space and draped her arms around his shoulders. “They can get a bit wild.”

Vivien snorted, “What, like I can’t?”

“Touché,” Royce grinned, bringing his arms around Vivien’s back. Smiling as he breathed in the scent of her perfume - a light, fruity combination of pomegranates, strawberries, and apple juice that was so distinctly Vivien that it had his attention in an instant - Royce swallowed his apprehension and asked, “Are you thinking of staying here for my prom?”

“If you’ll have me,” Vivien agreed with a nod. After a brief moment of silence, she met his gaze and asked, “Is this your way of asking me to go to prom with you?”

Royce grinned, but shook his head, “Not yet; I want it to be special.”

Grinning so hard her cheeks began to burn, she teased, “So, me flying across the country and entering another world for you isn’t special enough?”

“You know what I mean,” Royce chuckled, his fingers absentmindedly toying with the ends of Vivien’s hair as his thumbs rubbed circles on her spine. “As special as all of this day has been, I want to do one of those prom-posal things that are popular in your world. I don’t want to look back at this moment when we’re all old and wrinkly, and regret that I hadn’t been some knight in shining armor for you; riding up to you on a horse and asking you to prom like it was some fantasy ball.”

Smiling as his words came to life in her mind, images of him in blinding silver armor, riding up to her on a Clydesdale with a single question on his mind flooding her overactive imagination, she tugged her bottom lip between her teeth. “A knight in shining armor, huh?” she asked softly, running her fingers through his curls as she hummed thoughtfully. “I could see that.”

“You could?”

“Mhm,” she hummed, twirling a single curl around her index finger and allowing it to bounce back into place. “But, what I’m more interested in is the fact that you see the two of us growing old together.”

Freezing as his prior statement surged back to the front of his mind, Royce softly asked, “Can… Do you think we won’t?”

“I want us to - believe me, I do,” Vivien stated calmly, “but I guess I always sort of worry about the future. As much as I want a fairytale love like my grandparents’, my only other relationship crashed and burned so suddenly it made my head spin, and my parents’ relationship isn’t exactly sunshine and rainbows.”

Royce hummed thoughtfully. Vivien had told him enough about her parents and their on-again-off-again relationship for him to know that their relationship wasn’t something worth aspiring for. With a small smile, he said, “Well, if it means anything, I have every intention of staying by your side until you tell me you no longer want me to.”

“That won’t happen,” Vivien said with a firm shake of her head.

“In that case,” Royce began with a small smile, “we’ll have that happily ever after someday.”

“You think so?”

Royce’s curls bounced as he nodded, “I know so.”

Though her fond smile was evident, Vivien couldn’t resist teasing her boyfriend as she smirked, “That was so damn cheesy.”

“You love it,” Royce chuckled, smiling as his gaze flickered between Vivien’s eyes.

“I love-” Vivien’s brain froze as she coughed to clear her throat, her mind struggling to reboot itself as she realized how close she had come to telling Royce she loved him. Pretending to have gotten a hair in her mouth, Vivien wiped at the corners of her lips and made a face before deciding how to respond to Royce’s jest. “I-I’ll always love your way with words, but that doesn’t make it any less cheesy.”

“Are you okay?” Royce asked, taking a step back as Vivien dragged her nails across her bottom lip.

Nodding eagerly in the hopes that Royce hadn’t taken notice of her near-confession, she smiled and breathed, “Yeah, I think I just had some cat hair in my mouth, that’s all.”

Glancing toward the hall Binx had followed his brothers into as he grabbed a bottle of water from the floor by the refrigerator and handed it to Vivien, Royce chuckled, “That happens a lot with Binx. I think he sheds enough to make a whole other cat out of his fur.”

Glad to have moved on from her moment of adoration-fueled dipshittery with relative ease, Vivien smiled and opened the bottle after thanking her boyfriend, “Where is Binx, anyway?”

“He’s a nosy little guy, so he’s probably bugging my brothers while they clean,” Royce shrugged, watching Vivien take in a gulp of water. Holding a hand out to her, he offered, “Want to help me look for him?”

“Sure,” she replied as she capped her new drink. Smiling, she reached out for his hand, her fingertips just barely grazing his as an electrifying jolt ran up her arm toward her chest, forcing her to reel her hand back with a gasp. Royce was quick to follow suit, a noise of surprise leaving him as he jumped, his hand flinching toward his chest as aftershocks fizzled up and down his arm. Laughing as Royce shook his hand to rid himself of the electric tingles, she wiggled her fingers and gasped, “You shocked me!”

“No,” Royce argued lightly with a smile, “you shocked me!”

“Bullshit!” she laughed, shaking the electricity from her hand. “I think you were rubbing your shoes on a rug or something, because that hurt.”

“I could say the same,” Royce taunted as Vivien stuck her tongue out at him in retaliation, which he quickly reciprocated.

Brushing off the zap and their playful banter with a fond giggle, Vivien took Royce’s hand and laced her fingers with his as the static-like tingles pulsed under her skin, “Lead the way, static boy.” Though Royce looked ready to continue their mock-argument and declare, once again, that it wasn’t him who had shocked her, but the other way around, he took in her victorious smile and resigned with a humored shake of his head before guiding Vivien out of the room. Watching with a fond smile as Royce showed her the rest of the house, Vivien’s mind flitted back to her almost confession and she began to wonder why it had come with such ease?

They hadn’t even been dating for four months; how had she been so ready to tell him she loved him? She had dated Lexi for a lot longer and never once felt ready to tell her that. What was different with Royce? Well, actually, Vivien knew a lot of things that were different between the two. Really, there was no comparison. Royce was - in one way or another - a lot of things to her that Lexi never was. Despite their - quite literal - time difference, they never once had any issues with communication, and they had both been quite open with each other about what was going on in their lives, even before Vivien knew about his actual home.

Royce stepped aside as he guided her into the bedroom she would be staying in, allowing her to get a look at where she would be staying for the foreseeable future. Vivien smiled at him as she realized that she now had a lot more questions to ponder than she ever thought she would have while on her little stay-cation. With her luck, she would be up all night, staring at the ceiling in the dark as her thoughts wandered to her relationship with Royce. Letting out a soft sigh as she examined the room before her, Vivien grinned. So long as her thoughts were full of Royce, she really didn’t care if they kept her up all night.

#Same Trailer Different Park #STDP

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bread-squid-uwu · 2 months

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I'm so tired of people forgetting this is a conversation in the canon series between Travis and Katelyn. I copied this down exactly by the word,

" - tired of it Katelyn. Katelyn I want to talk to you like a person, not being yelled at or hit - that's not okay! If you aren't going to grant me the respect of talking this out, then I don't.. know if I want to get more involved."

"Travis, I just can't believe you didn't think about me, the last person who never thought about me was -"

"Your mom, I know - but, Katelyn that happened a long time ago. You can't be like this and expect to be happy with someone, how long are you gonna be miserable? Please, talk to me-"

"What? What do you want me to say? Maybe I wanna be miserable!-"

"Fine. Enjoy your cruise, I'll be waiting if you wanna talk again."

But yeah, keep going saying Katelyn did nothing wrong. Even though she had a whole scene calling out her behavior, and another one calling out her unhealthy behaviors in the college series, and she went through a recovery period after s2 and she actually kinda mentions it herself when crying over Travis in s6 when she thought he was dead.

I hate Travlyn, I really do. Because they weren't good together, Travis was terrible with basic boundaries when he was first introduced, and Katelyn was a very aggressive and blatantly abusive character, this was especially towards each other. Travlyn shouldn't have been a ship.

But they went through changes and both got better, and I'll honestly be the first to defend that for them both even though my dislike of Katelyn is very strong.

You can't just say Katelyn did nothing wrong, because the show itself disagrees with you. They both did things wrong.

She was abusive towards her friends, and the quoted scene is literally what starts her recovery we see in the third season. While Travis cut his bad behavior in the end of the first season, but sure "he's a freak" in the entire series.

And sure, "Katelyn is unproblematic" in the entire series.

Please, tell me which version of MyStreet you were watching? Clearly it's not the same one I did.

[ - a Travis fictive ]

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shurisu · 1 month

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Wait, Shurisu is the ship name between Shun and Alice?

I remember when Bakugan was airing and I would look for the episodes in YouTube and I would stumble upon ship amvs of Shun and Alice, even one where they claimed they would kiss later in S1 (obviously fake).

I distinctly remember it being one of the most popular ships in the fandom, but was the series hinting and building a possible relationship or friendship between the two and then dropped it later seasons? Or was it more of a fandom invention?

I wish Alice hadn’t been dropped as a character just to see how Shun came into terms with her being Masquerade. Is that something Shurisu as a ship has explored?

Yes it's the combination of Shun+Arisu (Alice's romanisation in JP) . Shalice was also a common name but I think Shurisu sounds better.

About them kissing I have an idea why. If you know Inesidora, she used to make lots of beautiful Shurisu fanarts. She would use a similar artstyle to bakugan's own for them, so people would share her art as spoilers 😂

Shurisu wasn't one of the most popular ships, it was THE most popular ship.There was literally no competition.Even when s4 was airing people were still waiting Alice to come back.Even right now talking about this like it was ages ago feels so weird to me but I know fandom changed so much since then

Ah little me knew and claimed the ship the moment i saw them 😄I still remember very clearly watching the intro for ep 1 for the first time(where Dan introduces us the brawlers) I looked at Dan and Runo and said "oh mc and his love interest?" and seeing Shun and Alice right after, fireworks went up inside my brain. I was like "and this is the couple that will steal the show" I wasn't completely wrong at least lol

In all seriousness though i think, the creators definitely had the intention to make them a couple but dropped it later.

Shun and Alice are both similar, so they are also very different compared to the rest of the team. I think that was intentional.They are both raised by their grandfathers,Shun was trained to be ninja and Alice was also learning under her scientist grandfather.Both are very smart, act mature for their age but also lonely inside.The difference is Alice was masking it (no pun intended🎭) with her more bubbly front. I think Alice also knew how similar they truly were.She was one of the very few people who could see through him and those who could, had already known him for a very long time unlike her(Shiori, Skyress and Dan)

She could sense his mood or what's going on inside his head despite the tough act he puts on.Also the time he wanted to leave the team and she went back after him,her words got to him because she told what he needed to hear,because she could understand how he was feeling.

Maybe not much important but it also always piqued my interest how we would see them together even on most random shots because apart from that, Shun would be pictured either alone or further back in group shots.

Like this moment before the last battle,they were at the opposite sides of the city,how did they end up together?

I think Shurisu was intended to be the opposite of the main couple in mind. In contrast to Dan and Runo's childishness, they would be the mature ship.Why I think they dropped later is that

1)They didn't know what to do with Alice later on so they wrote her off

2)They also didn't seemed to know how to handle Shun any better so decided to keep him as a loner and made being a "loner" his only character trait.

Which I think is very sad because they both individually and together had a lot of potential(not gonna drag this one i know y'all hear me keep talking about this lmao)

About her being Masquerade,We at least know Shun accepts her like the rest of group but since last arc focused more on the battles there was no focus on relationship or characters.And on NV Alice had limited appearance while Shun was on Vestroia most of the time. Through the whole season only once they seemed to be in the same room together (when they send Shun to vestroia via Michael's teleporter) and I belive that's where this pic came from?

Tl,dr; i think they were definitely made to be canon.But even if the creators were to came up today and claim they had no intention like that at all,it still wouldn't change anything for me.What matters is the characters dynamic.When you compare how they act like with eachother and with others and also look at their characters it becomes more clear. "The kind boy who puts on a tough act because he is troubled" and "The cheerful girl who is also troubled inside" is an old but loved dynamic afterall.So that's what drew a lot people in.

#bakugan #bakugan new vestroia #new vestroia #bakugan battle brawlers #alice gehabich #shun kazami #as #sa

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butterflydm · 11 months

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wot s2 trailer: detailed second look

Okay, that's a lie, I've watched it more than twice. But, yes.

Spoilers mostly for show stuff but also for relevant book stuff through around The Great Hunt.

I have sadly been persuaded that we will not get Rand In The White Tower. One of my earlier speculations (around a month ago), I did suggest the idea that Siuan might go to Cairhien, though it was in the context of "going with Mat" and Mat's plotline still seems so up in the air, so who knows where he'll be. But Siuan going with Logain does set up some interesting opportunities.

When I was thinking Siuan would go with Mat, I was thinking it would happen after the girls had been tricked to leave by Liandrin, but if she's going with Logain, I think it's more likely that her absence leaves an opportunity for Liandrin to pounce on the girls while she's gone. Especially if Siuan doesn't give them any information.

I am really excited by the idea of Rand and Logain having a conversation here, it sets up some interesting things for the future.

I feel like a lot of @markantonys's thoughts here are still pretty likely in light of what we saw in the trailer: https://markantonys.tumblr.com/post/720125468680060928/my-rough-guesses-2x01-a-taste-of-solitude

Maybe Siuan's trip to Cairhien is around episode 6-ish (making Siuan and Moiraine's reunion in ep 6 in both s1 & s2).

It really is hard to figure out where Mat's storyline is going because the covid change really did take him pretty far off-book (and since he's still in his Two Rivers clothes in Falme, that implies he's had no chance to get a change of clothes at any point).

I am also really wondering how action-packed the finale will be vs emotional beats -- will Rand reunite with his friends or will we be focused on the action?

So, we see wanderer Rand in one shot: with 'Selene'. I'm guessing that's right after she arranges for him to 'save' her from something dangerous. Then we have a few shots of him in plainer shirts or in no shirt. Then we have the blue robe-like overshirt. Then we have the fancy black emo coat that it looks like he wears for the rest of the season.

We have Moiraine in her traveler's clothes for a bit, including I think when she first sees Rand again. Then she takes a bath and changes her clothes, probably, and tries again with Rand.

We're probably going to see Egwene & Elayne in novice whites for pretty much the whole season after Egwene arrives at the White Tower. It looks like Nynaeve has a bit more variation but mostly in episode three (probably) when she has her Accepted Test. It does seem like we're going to have at least one flashback (Moiraine and Siuan New Spring'ing it up) so we may get more flashbacks for each of the characters -- Perrin's flash of happiness with that young girl might be a flashback.

So, attempting to place things in order --

Episode One: Perrin & co start on their Hunt for Horn and dagger; Rand wanders the countryside, Moiraine & Lan... maybe end up researching with Verin (and that's how we're introduced to her and how she works her way into the plotline?) or something else; Mat gets nabbed by Liandrin and taken prisoner; and Egwene & Nynaeve arrive at the White Tower (meet Elayne?). Nynaeve tells Alanna that she's not sure anyone should have as much power as they tell her that she has.

I suspect all the scenes of Moiraine & Lan at night with the Fade are episode one, since it vibes like Moiraine still looks like she did at the end of last season, so this is them leaving the Blight maybe, because Moiraine needs to process a lot of shit right now. The Perrin riding scene could happen here or in the next couple of episodes. This also might be when he encounters The Wolf Who Might Be Hopper that we see later in the trailer (or... etc).

Episode Two: Rand spends time with Selene (the cuddling shots). We may start with a cold open relating to either Ishy unearthing bloody Lanfear or something related to the Seanchan. I'm guessing this episode will cover basically the entire Rand and 'Selene' relationship, with them separating either at the end of this episode or the very beginning of episode three.

Episode Three: Nynaeve's Accepted test! All the shots of her in her shift and all bloody go here. Her surge of power near a house that looks like it's in the Two Rivers style goes here. I'm guessing that Lan on Mandarb in the woods also goes here. We will probably also get Egwene and Elayne building up their friendship in this episode. This is maybe the episode where we get shirtless Rand as he broods in Foregate.

Episode Four: Moiraine catches up to Rand (finds him in Foregate; he pins her; she and Lan have a conversation about Rand; I'm guessing she sends a message to Siuan that inspires Siuan to decided she needs to go to Cairhien with Logain, to help get Rand under control; has a Sad Bath; and dresses like a Cairhienin).

Episode Five: Perrin & co have their run-in with the Seanchan. This might be the episode where we meet Aviendha and have a run-in with the Whitecloaks as well? If Loial gets captured by the Seanchan at the start of the episode, then Perrin can run into the Whitecloaks later as he's trying to figure out how to help Loial. Has Fain given the Seanchan the Horn yet? I'm curious about how they'll pepper the Seanchan throughout the season. Siuan leaves the White Tower with Logain to travel to Cairhien.

Episode Six: Starts with Liandrin at the Darkfriend social and ends with her delivering the girls to the Seanchan (so all the damane capturing scenes & etc; "if our friends are in trouble, why would I ever stay here?" scene with Egwene and Elayne). Rand talks first to Logain (more casual blue robes) and then gets dressed in his fancy black emo coat that he'll wear the rest of the season and talks to Siuan. Might go off on his own at the end? This might be the episode where we get the New Spring flashback, see Moiraine & Siuan happy and young and then hear Gitara's Foretelling?

Episode Seven: Focus on Egwene in captivity, which I expect to be really brutal. We'll probably get a lot of Seanchan-related info in this episode. How long she is in captivity probably depends on how Rand is traveling to Falme (because I think this will be his traveling episode). Mat is also approaching Falme at this same time maybe? We have so little info to go on regarding Mat, lol. Perrin is already in the area. It's possible that this is when Perrin meets Aviendha, depending on how many episodes we have her for this season.

Episode Eight: Rand faces off against Turak. Whatever that explosion at that gate is happens. Mat stabs someone with a spear (that potentially has raven detailing). Probably lots of other (Horn-related and breaking-Egwene-out related) stuff happens too! I really hope we get some emotional moments of people realizing that Rand isn't dead, though (unless they find out earlier -- Liandrin might tell Egwene & Nynaeve that Rand is alive).

I am hardcore mourning that I can't see any place in this structure for my Randlayne meet-cute. Rand really isn't in an emotional place for meet-cutes. :-(

I am really curious to see how Moiraine and Lan's relationship evolves in this season. It looks like they run into some friction between each other and so I wonder if we'll get Lan offering Rand suggestions on how to face the Amrylin Seat and Moiraine disapproving (like happens in TGH), maybe because now that Rand is a person and not an idea, Lan wants him to have control of his own destiny?

There was no sign of Moiraine or Lan in the Falme-related shots, but we did get those still of them walking on a beach, with Moiraine in her Cairhienin dress. If she were traveling on her own with just Lan, I'd expect her to be back in her traveling clothes.

We're going to be getting Perrin losing himself in the wolf and getting scared of it, when he kills that Whitecloak. Pretty sure that the wolf we saw in the trailer is going to be Hopper. We didn't get any shots of Elyas but I think he's been confirmed for the season? We also didn't get any shots of Loial and we know that he's there because of that earlier still that was released. We know that he's the first of the group to end up in Seanchan territory, because Loial has been captured by the Seanchan as of episode five. I do still suspect that Verin will be in Perrin's plotline mostly, but there's a chance that we first get introduced to her via Moiraine searching for answers.

I think we won't get confirmation that Liandrin is a Darkfriend until maybe episode six, when she tricks the girls into going into the Ways. Maybe the cold open for that episode is the Darkfriend social? Either that or it's the cold open for episode five and the audience learns about Liandrin the episode before her betrayal of the girls (maybe this is when we see her up by the Flame of Tar Valon and the place where the rings are melted).

I'm guessing that Min will pop up in two or three episodes, maybe? She's not listed as a regular, I don't think, so she won't be in all eight. She's likely in Tar Valon and will likely go along with the Wondergirls to Falme, like she does in the books, so we may get her meeting Aviendha in Falme. It really depends on the pacing of the final episode and how much post-battle time we get.

I do feel like Rafe is invested in showing the realistic emotions of our characters, so I'm hoping we get some downtime where all the polycule all gets to meet each other and we get some reunions between the characters.

It looks like we'll be getting a lot of Egwene & Nynaeve's emotional beats from the show. We'll be meeting Elayne and getting introduced to her brothers and potentially Elaida. They'll probably spend five episodes in the White Tower and then head to Falme for the last three.

Mat remains our biggest question mark. We know he starts in Tar Valon, spends some time captured by Liandrin, and then somehow ends up free in Falme, wielding a spear. And that's pretty much it.

Here is all the detail I wrote out about each of the shots (so where I'm getting some of my guesses from):

Shot 1: Moiraine in Foregate. We know this is episode four because of the photos we got earlier of this scene. I'm assuming that this is her working on locating Rand at the moment. She's dressed up Cairhienin style, high and modest neckline and keisera.

Shot 2: White Tower from above, craning down to get a better look at the sides, where we see a bright blue dress. This might be part of what is likely a flashback that we'll get to later. I am guessing the Moiraine does not go back to Tar Valon this season at all, at this point. It also just might be another Blue Ajah Sister in a wide shot!

Shot 3/4: Moiraine is sad in her bathtub. I'm guessing this is in one of the first three episodes, but it might be episode four. I'm guessing this is the Bath of Sadness that will lead into her dressing up in her Cairhienin outfit.

Shot 5/6: Rand stands on a floodplain-ish area that I'm guessing is him approaching Falme (...I don't know geology). He appears to be alone in this shot but he also might be out of camera view of whoever he's traveling with. We see here that his fancy new emo black coat has a rising sun motif. I feel like we saw something in the promos about Aviendha having a rising sun thing somewhere? Is my brain making that up or is it real? Plus it also would connect to both Elayne & Moiraine for obvious reasons. And it's the opposite of Lanfear's moon motif. We do see Rand both from behind and from the front and he looks alone in both shots. Probably episode seven or eight.

Shot 7/8: These appear to be connected. Moiraine facing a Fade. This might be Moiraine and Lan leaving the Blight? Or just them traveling at night? But I think Moiraine is wearing her traveling clothes from last season in this shot, though the lighting is pretty dim, so it's hard to say. And she has the knife from last season too. So my guess is that this is from episode one.

Shot 9: Ishy looking kinda business-casual, just in a shirt, though it looks like he may have a tie-holder. Darkly-lit scene. He bamfs away, using... well, if you know, then you know. It goes beyond the spoilers I listed at the top. I think this is the same outfit he's wearing later when he's hanging with Suroth (which is different from the outfit he's wearing in the scene with Loial that we only saw a photo of).

Shot 10: Egwene... maybe in the Testing Chamber?

Shot 11: Liandrin staring forward. Might be the same place? She looks a bit like she's dressed for travel, though, so this could be the prepping to leave for the Ways.

Shot 12: Super quick glance at the Darkfriend social.

Shot 13: Nynaeve telling Alanna, I think, that "no one should have that much power". So instead of Alanna trying to be a busybody because she's interested in Rand and she's honing in on the girls by proxy, I think she'll be interested in talking to Nynaeve because she's so strong in the One Power. This is from one of the first three episodes, I would guess. Before Nynaeve does her Accepted Testing.

Shot 14: Ishy is in a different outfit than he was in Shot 9. He's got a jacket on and no tie-clip thing. This might be what he was wearing last season? He's doing something with the Power and the way it's shining is reminding me of the constrained look of the damane's flows that we see later.

Shot 15/16/17: We cut to bloody Lanfear (I'm guessing but I feel like this is probably Lanfear), with the implication that maybe this is Ishy waking her up?

Shot 18/19/20/21: Two damane are launching an attack on a village at nighttime. In the second to last of the shots, I think that I see Uno & his eyepatch, and I'm pretty sure that Perrin is in the last of the shots, so this may be when Perrin & co encounter the Seanchan and Loial gets captured.

Shot 22/23/24/25: Opening the door to the Accepted Testing chamber -- probably episode 3. We see Nynaeve revealed by the opening of the door and then switch to behind her and see the archways for the testing. There are three Sisters with her. Actually, it looks like Liandrin might be wearing the outfit from Shot 11 so that might actually be her reacting to Nynaeve's Test. I think the lady on the left is Sheriam but I'm not sure who the woman just behind Nynaeve is.

Shot 26/27/28: Perrin & co riding down a hilly area. Guessing that this is early on, searching out the Horn & dagger? This is Perrin in his new S2 outfit.

Shot 29: 'Selene' cuddles Rand, who is still in his wanderer outfit, so this would be early season. I really am fascinated by her choice to cosplay Moiraine here (someone mentioned Selene being in her 'Moiraine cosplay era' in the tag, and the thought definitely stuck). Unless that's just a blue cloak that she threw on and her actual outfit isn't blue. Lanfear looks way more into the touching than Rand does -- he's basically just standing there while she plasters herself against him (her hand is even around his back). At least it looks that way from this angle. She does fit pretty neatly under his chin.

Shot 30/31: Rand walks down a hall with arches. He's wearing the same outfit here that we'll later see in his conversation with Logain, so I'll place this around episode 5 or 6.

Shot 32: Tar Valon (?) at night, with lightning flashing.

Shot 33: Moiraine races away on a horse, during the night. A dark horse, so this is not Aldieb (who is a white mare).

Shot 34/35: Lan listens as Moiraine passionately explains that guiding Rand is the only thing that matters. Moiraine is dressed in her Cairhienin clothes here, so maybe episode four.

Shot 36: Siuan on her fancy throne that was probably just set up now, because this is likely all in Cairhien, tells Moiraine, maybe, "You can't control him" possibly talking about Rand. This might be after the conversation that Siuan and Moiraine have that we see later in the trailer, because Siuan has An Opinion about Rand. She's in her super-fancy Amyrlin clothes.

Shot 37/38: Rand is in a dark room, shutters drawn, and we can see him surrounded by yellow-red flows. He's wearing a plain shirt but it looks nice.

Shot 39/40/41: Perrin looks at a wolf. A wolf looks back. Hopper? Perrin's eyes shift to gold.

Shot 42: Rand pins Moiraine up against the wall of a room. By her throat. He looks very intense and I'm pretty sure I can see the black tendrils of the taint in the flows as they pass over his neck. It looks like Moiraine is in her traveling clothes here, so it could be that she doesn't change into her Cairhienin duds until after she's encountered Rand again for the first time. The subtitles says "Kill them all" here and you can kinda hear it if you concentrate. The first glimmers of you-know-who?

Shot 43: Egwene is in the collar and she looks WRECKED. Blood-shot eyes. Bloody cheek. Hair damp (with sweat probably). Either episode seven or eight is my guess for this one.

Shot 44: Nynaeve in her shift in the Testing room, covered in blood. She also looks pretty emotionally wrecked.

Shot 45/46: Panning shot of the dagger on a fancy table as Mat sits in a chair, with some great conflict on his face. This is interesting because it implies that Fain is in Tar Valon? I like all the emphasis on how all five of the ta'veren are going through these intense emotional journeys. It's not just Rand who is struggling with himself.

Shot 47: This shot is fascinating. Rand is standing in front of 'Selene' while the Power is flowing all around him. Very creepy vibes.

Shot 48: Rand tells Logain that he wants to learn how to control it. And he's wearing the same kind of robe-ish overshirt that he was wearing when he was walking down the hall in Shots 30/31 but which is very different than the formal clothes that we see him wearing when he talks to Siuan at the end of the trailer. Rand and Logain both in blue here.

Shot 49/50/51: Wide shot of Suroth & Co being domineering over a village, then going to a closer shot of Suroth sitting on the throne while her Voice and Ishy are on either side of her. I think Ishy is wearing the same outfit here that he was wearing in Shot 9. Oh, I think there are people actually carrying that palanquin! Yikes, that has to be so heavy. So maybe a ~procession~ of the conquered territory?

Shot 52/53: Turok opens the box for the Horn. It's interesting that he doesn't have the mask that Suroth has. His nails also appear to be more functional than hers, or less likely to get in his way. His costuming is actually pretty different from hers. I wonder if we're going to keep seeing different variations between the Bloods. Because she has that metal theme while his theme feels more... bone-like?

Shot 54/55/56/57: I believe all this is the capture of Egwene. Looks very intense. It looks like Egwene goes on the attack while Elayne runs. I can't see Nynaeve at all in any of the shots.

Shot 58/59: But we do transition from the burst of power over Egwene into one over Nynaeve, probably during her Accepted Test, because both her clothes and the house behind her look like the Two Rivers. So this is likely episode three.

Shot 60: I think this is the Whitecloaks riding towards Falme.

Shot 61: Liandrin stands at the Flame of Tar Valon and stares down at the big forge-bowl-ring where the old rings get melted and new ones made.

Shot 62/63: A child and Perrin playing together. Might be a flashback? He isn't wearing what we've seen him wearing in most of the S2-related material.

Shot 64: If it is a flashback, then it would pair well with this shot of Moiraine and Siuan kissing, because I feel like this is most likely a flashback as well, because Siuan is in blue.

Shot 65/66: Egwene (in her kitchen outfit) hugs Nynaeve (in her Two Rivers outfit). Are Egwene and Nynave going to arrive at the Tower separately (why would they do that? Hmm).

Shot 67: Nynaeve's Accepted Test beginning, as the Aes Sedai channel into the archways.

Shot 68/69: Egwene talks to Elayne - "If our friends are in trouble, why would I ever stay here?" So this is probably the conversation that leads to Elayne coming along with Egwene. Hmm, given that Elayne doesn't know literally any of the other potential players involved, I wonder if they're going to lean on the "friendship" angle or the "adventure" angle with why Elayne leaves with Egwene. In the books, Elayne already had a level of investment going on.

Shot 70: Moiraine walks out of a door at night. Maybe the same scene as Rand pinning her against the wall?

Shot 71: Moiraine from much earlier in the season, judging by her vibes.

Shot 72: Lan on Mandarb. I'm still guessing that this is from Nynaeve's Accepted Test in episode three, because Moiraine and Lan don't appear to be near any nice woodlands in their current travels.

Shot 73: Lan tells Moiraine: "You can't do this by yourself." Guessing it's part of the conversation about guiding Rand, because I can make out the pointed collar on Moiraine's outfit.

Shot 74/75/76/77: Aviendha veils up at nighttime, with Perrin in the background. Then she fights some Whitecloaks. Aviendha has a head injury here, some blood near her temple.

Shot 78: Nynaeve spars with the Warders -- we saw this back in the earlier teaser as well.

Shot 79/80: Lan fights a Fade. Guessing this is the same scene as Moiraine & the Fade from Shots 7/8.

Shot 81: Nighttime overlooking shot of Tar Valon. Maybe the same night as the one with the lightning flashing earlier. Maybe the night when Liandrin & the girls leave? /wild speculation

Shot 82: Liandrin with her red all covered up with a black cloak, walking through the streets at night. I saw someone speculate that she's on her way to the Darkfriend social and that would be a pretty great way to bring us into it.

Shot 83: Shirtless Rand stares out the window at maybe the morning light. This is another shot that we've seen before. Guessing Foregate because those shutters look like the ones we saw earlier in the trailer.

Shot 84: Nynaeve exits one of the archways in a burst of light, and we can see blood on her shift. More of her Testing.

Shot 85: Perrin kills a Whitecloak. It does not look like the same location as where we saw Aviendha fighting the Whitecloaks.

Shot 86: Egwene screams in the collar.

Shot 87: Rand is bound shirtless on a huge wheel in the desert (almost certainly in the dream world).

Shot 88: I think Liandrin is talking to Egwene here, though we can only really see her hair. "It's not always the most powerful who write history. It's the ones who survive." Same outfit that we saw on her before.

Shot 89/90/91/92/93: Rand in a plaza at Falme, in his fancy emo black coat (now covered with a brown cloak), about to fight Turak. Rand talks about being tired of being "a spoke in the wheel".

Shot 94: We go back to the shot of Rand bound on the wheel and then pull way back. It does look like there's something directly in front of him, but I can't tell if it's a person or if it's just... set up to look like a person, if that makes sense.

Shot 95: Someone kills a Fade with a flaming sword at night. On reflection... not Rand, I think? (which would make sense -- Rand still has his dad's sword). It might belong to the same scene as Moiraine and Lan facing the Fades?

Shot 96: Mat stabs someone with a spear. He's still wearing his Two Rivers clothes. Given the earlier photo we got of Mat, I'm guessing this is Falme.

Shot 97/98: Hard cut to that explosion. It's actually a top-down view at first and it looks like someone is exploding the door to a gate. Maybe fireworks but maybe channeling? It looks like Falme, though, either way.

Shot 99/100/101: Siuan tells Rand that he's the water that turns the wheel of time. He's in his fancy black emo coat here.

#wot #wheel of time #wot on prime #wot speculation #wot season 2 spoilers #wot on prime spoilers #wot book spoilers #wot spoilers #the great hunt #butterfly watches wot

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