#ignoring the specific show that was cancelled today it is happening all the time to genuinely GREAT shows in all genres. its such a shame | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

after-nine-at-the-oasis · 9 months

Text

Hey guys! Time for HSMTMTS Appreciation Week Day Three: Favorite Quote/Scene/Original Song/Performance! I honestly don't think I would be able to pick for both of those, but I'll at least talk about one of my favorite quotes (if I try to talk about anything else this will most definitely be late, because it's midnight in 8 minutes, so we'll see - or maybe I'll make another post sometime lol. Coming back here with an edit from later in the post: yeah it's past midnight lol. Ignore that - I'm sure for other people it won't be xD).

And that quote is: "And now we're all here, maybe for the last time together. For some of us this has become. . ." "Family."

LISTEN OKAY!!!

XD Yeah, maybe a stereotypical quote, but it's always the first one I think of when I think of HSMTMTS quotes. It's just so relatable to almost any theatre kid, and I totally feel it. Especially given that this is in 1x06. At the end of the year before last, my amazing theatre teacher left. And last year, our musical was cancelled, shortly before we lost one of our members. I know that fear. During my rewatch, it hit me how much I did, when EJ said "I'm sorry no one will get to see you play Gabriella" (something like that). And that specifically relates to ANOTHER experience lol. My first real musical was High School Musical. I was cast as Sharpay, and I was so excited. COVID killed it, and after months of waiting and trying, we performed it on Zoom.

So I just feel this scene so much. They all have no clue what's going to happen, they're angry, they're upset, they don't want to lose this. And they're just barely starting to come together as a cast. But they know. They know that they're family. And it's right after this quote that they decide to do something about it.

And it brings me back to how much I love the Wildcats (guess I'm going to talk about that every post this week lol). They truly are a family, and seeing it from in Season 1 is just so special. And even though they keep going from here, and keep growing, this quote is the moment we know. The moment THEY know. That they're a family, and they're not going to give up on each other. Despite how different they all are, and despite their different opinions and emotions in that moment or all the time, they're not going to leave or give up. And I just love that, so, so much :').

I don't know if I managed to find all the words I wanted to there, but yeah lol :'). Now, since it's past midnight anyway, I will actually talk about the other options for today a bit lol.

Again, I could never truly pick a favorite of any of these lol, these are just examples of some of my favorites.

Favorite Performance: Stick to the Status Quo. Is this because of Seb? Maybe, who knows. But seriously xD, it's so good. The dancing, to AAHHH GINA'S BACK!!! AND SHE'S AMAZING!! To SEB MATTHEW-SMITH SLAYING THE HOUSE DOWN!!! It's just so good xD. And it's at the point during the show where they're all still having a good time, not switching roles and losing their minds yet lol. The amount of times me and my sister would be watching YouTube and see if in the search history and just. Look at each other. And immediately watch it again xD. It's just so epic.

And, this could be a point for or against it, it does make me feel some feelings (besides love for my babeys). Related to previously discussed crazy theatre happenings lol. It's kind of a bittersweet thing for me, just feeling a tiny bit off "I never got that". But it's worth it lol.

Favorite Scene: Honestly I genuinely don't know what to put for this lol. I want to put SOMETHING specific, even though this is probably harder to pick anything close to a favorite than any other category, but still lol. Okay, I thought of one lol. Yes, it includes a seblos moment, but shush, I can do what I want lol. Anyway! Carlos welcoming Ashlyn to the queer community :'). That entire scene lol, with EJ coming up after that and supporting Carlos, and then SEB!!! MY SEBLOS REUNION!! AND A KISS!!!! It's just such a good scene, I love it so much :'D. Like, seeing Carlos welcome Ashlyn and give her the pin :') - especially considering it like 100% definitely for sure confirmed it <33. And then seeing a bit of Carlos's insecurities, but EJ reminds us of that Wildcat love in saying that he doesn't have to do anything he doesn't want to do :'). And then Seb, showing up and being the cutest ever, and Ashlyn looking so happy that he's there, and Carlos seeing him, and just aAH!! I love them all so much <33 😭❤️❤️❤️🥰. I love all of those mini-scenes in one scene so much :') :'DD.

Favorite Original Song: Oh my gosh, I love them all xd. Okay, here are a few of my favorites (but it's a lot of them lol): In a Heartbeat, Born to Be Brave, Second Chance, and You Ain't Seen Nothin'. But honestly those are just some of the ones that get stuck in my head a lot or I listen to a lot lol.

In a Heartbeat: the perfect Seblos song. Also Ricky just. Being there. Always makes me die xDD. But seriously, it's SO CUTE, and it's a BOP (and Frankie's voice is amazing)! But seriously it's perfect for Seblos, like I said, and it's just so sweet :'). I have literal records (like in documents where I talk about it lol) of me freaking out over In a Heartbeat lol. It's perfect <33. Also, don't even talk to me about the homecoming suits sequence ❤️❤️.

Born to Be Brave: The icon of the series. I mean, clearly, since (SPOILERS) the last episode is named after it. Honestly if there's not a reprise of it I may riot /hj. But seriously, it's such a cute and empowering moment between Nini and Kourt, and of COURSE it's also empowering on Carlos's side :'D. And as someone who loves just dancing crazy however I want with my friends at dances? Yeah :'). Love <33. Anyway, it represents such big moments in multiple character arcs, and I just love it so much :')). Plus, again, it's a BOP!! And the ACOUSTIC VERSION!!! Don't even get the started on that :D.

Second Chance: THIS SONGGG!!! It makes me feel so many feelings 😭😭❤️. It's such a great summary of all four of their character arcs, and the VISUALS!!! They just kill me so much. Everyone back in their episode one outfits 😭😭💔❤️. And it back to the core four, especially knowing Nini's pretty much done :'(( ❤️. Honestly, I really want a song similar to Second Chance for everyone at the end of Season 4. I know we probably won't get it, but just- flashbacks to everyone's first outfits (honestly I'd take/love flashbacks in general 👀 but the point here is like Second Chance lol), everyone getting a part. And oh my gosh, if they all had individual lines? Like the little phrases the core four have in Second Chance? I don't know how that would even work (four overlapping in Second Chance works but everyone would be a LOT lol o.o xd), but it would be so cool. Anyway, Second Chance makes me so sad and nostalgic but it is SO GOOD!! It hurts but it hits xD. I just love it so much <33.

You Ain't Seen Nothin': This one, like I just said, just hits xDD. It's a BOP!!! And the video call format of it is really cool :D. But honestly, everyone gets their own part (as I saw pointed out in the comment section of it once lol, it fits everyone's voices, like Belle), and it's so upbeat and GOOD and just AGH!! I love it so much. It also accidentally makes me feel a bit of Feels™ (we're not worrying about that phrasing right now), because happy/"yeah let's make them most of this"/"we do amazing things and we will do amazing things" songs do that to me sometimes lol, but still. It gets stuck in my head SO MUCH!! Like the other songs I feel like are more appreciated/iconic than this one, but it just STUCK to me. I don't know why, but I don't care xDD. I love it <33. Also, it brings together everyone from the episode really well, just like the calls did throughout, but with music :D. And again, it's just so uplifting :). And also again, I love it <3 ❤️🥰🥰.

Also, special shout-out to the beginning of Here I Come for getting STUCK in my brain!! It's just. OUAGH!! Not that I don't love the entire song, but there's something about that beginning 👀. And also, again, the Wildcats loving each other gives me feelings xdd <33.

Anyway!! So those are some of my favorites of all those lol. This got pretty long, but I should expect that by now lol. I do hope y'all enjoyed seeing me freak out over a bunch of HSMTMTS scenes (and such) for 10 paragraphs though lol :). It's pretty much how I roll xD.

But yeah! I am so excited for Season 4 :DD. Just two days, people!!!

8 notes · View notes

enchanting-grom-fright · 2 months

Text

today was nice question mark

this morning was not like especially horrible but like pretty bad and then i was going to cancel it but didn’t want to actually ask to cancel it so my mom picked me up at like 12:45 to go and to the animal shelter i volunteer at and for some reason like right before the ride there my mood just like got 100x better and the ride there was so enjoyable like my mom wasn’t talking to me so i just got to listen to music (i’ve had punisher on repeat all day) and look out the window and like it was very nice weather and the ride is like 45 minutes all the way across the city so there was like a decent amount to see and i loveeeee people watching like genuinely like !! and i love seeing like all the graffiti and murals and bumper stickers and animals and every just everything ahhhh and then i went to the shelter and the cats were being so sweet i actually like prompted someone to adopt the specific cat i was socializing and then i had to print stuff so my mom took me to her house and i like never do this bcs my mom doesn’t usually let me but i just like didn’t ask her and i just walked around my neighborhood for like over an hr and i saw a cool punk person who i complimented and i picked up some trash to reuse for collage and i got a monster bcs duh and i had music on blast the whole time and it was so nice like :3 to be fair i was like also nauseatingly anxious the whole time for no real reason but like i mostly ignored that and tbh it was also nice bcs like i by myself made the day better for me instead of doing the opposite which is what i usually do so likee

oh wait photo dump time ok

[i took a bunch of photos of cool graffiti and art and places too but i don’t feel like putting them here so]

ooo kitty from the shelter awww

whatt it’s me getting a monster ?! guys i love monster i love the pink I LOVE THE COLOR PINK !!!!! umm also excuse the boring outfit i’ve been in the same clothes since like thursday evening but bcs i was like going out in public i finally changed but i didn’t have the energy to like actually wear cool clothes sooo but also my closet is like strictly alt stuff anyways i happened to pick out a very convenient outfit though at least bcs tank tops give me like genuinely ridiculous amounts of gender euphoria but also i hate wearing short sleeves bcs it’s very sensory intense to but i also grabbed my hoodie so like i got the tank top ness but also hoodie ness and also i love my hoodie it’s like so old but it has like the best feel to it

butttt i forgot i don’t have more photos with those from before oops wtvr in other news dead end is a really good show watch it and punisher is truly an amazing album that phoebe bridgers definitely took from my non existent diary (obviously) ummmm guys i never know what i’m saying ever i don’t remember what i said i remember thinking like omg this sounds pathetic and also thinking abt how one time on twt i saw someone say that :3 would sound like the mlp smile noise ok iii should shut up now byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

(get it like the owl house hahaha ok)

4 notes · View notes

fzzr · 11 months

Text

The most iconic Magic: The Gathering cards.

What does it mean to be iconic? I think it's pretty simple - it's whatever you think of first. This is to be independent of any particular format - so for example Sol Ring's overwhelming popularity in Commander doesn't make it an automatic winner. These will not be controversial opinions, I just want to talk about them.

White: Wrath of God

White is the color of fairness, and what's more fair than the equality of the grave? The transition from regeneration to "indestructible until end of turn" as protection against board wipes has robbed Wrath of God of some of its power, but it's still the standard for mass destruction effects.

Runner up: Swords to Plowshares - Pinpoint removal, with due compensation paid to the owner of the removed creature. Fairness in a different form, even if it's too efficient to be printed today.

Blue: Counterspell

"Counter target spell." Or, even more succinctly: "No". Blue is the color of magic itself, and no spell demonstrates that more than Counterspell. As with Wrath of God and board wipes, Counterspell is the standard against which all countermagic is judged. Nearly every set gets a Cancel - "Counter target spell" plus some set-specific upside, costing one and two blue. When it comes to simplicity and efficiency (and ignoring the broken Mana Drain) Counterspell is the go-to way to make your objections known.

Runner up: Ancestral Recall. Blue is the color of knowledge, and Ancestral Recall is what happens when that is taken too far.

Black: Vampiric Tutor

Black is the color that can get anything it want... for a price. Every color has some ability to search the library for one mana, but only Black can get anything it wants and be guaranteed to keep it. In exchange, it costs more than mana - you also pay in life. Between the functionality and the flavor, nothing so simply demonstrates the essence of Black.

Runner up: Necropotence. When you discard the simplicty of Vampiric Tutor, this is what you get: As much life as you wish to spend, for as many cards as you need - and one of the most busted cards in all of Magic.

Red: Lightning Bolt

"Lightning Bolt deals 3 damage to any target." One sentence, eight words, infinite possibility. What could represent Red better than mana for damage? As of March of the Machine, there are four things Lightning Bolt can target: Creatures, Planeswalkers, Battles, and Players. Anyone who thinks Red is all about chaos and smashing rocks together is invited to consider the subtleties of Lightning Bolt. Turn one, bolt their Birds of Paradise - it puts back their whole strategy. You chump blocked their 7/4 - it has one damage marked on it - finish it off with a bolt. Lightning Bolt to the face when they have 20 life - a waste. The same thing at 3 - that's the game. Do they have a huge field of blockers, but you want to take down some 'walkers or battles? Bolt! Did you block something that would die, but they pumped with Giant Growth? Bolt in response! Lightning Bolt might be the best-designed spell in Magic, and the better you get at the game the more you can do with it.

A note on the flavor text: For a long time, Wizards stopped reprinting Lightning Bolt due to concerns that it was too powerful. When it did return, they gave it the flavor text you can see above in reference to that delay. Today it is considered too powerful for Standard, but does show up in supplemental sets.

Runner up: Wheel of Fortune: OK but red *is* still about chaos.

Green: Llanowar Elves

Green is the color of creatures. Green is the color of growth. Elf is the characteristic creature type of Green. Llanowar Elves is an Elf creature that makes your mana grow. It's really that simple! Llanowar Elves is so fundamentally Green that they printed two functionally identical cards (Elvish Mystic and Fyndhorn Elves) due to needing the effect with different flavor.

Runner up: Giant Growth. This was very close. Giant Growth or some variation of it is printed in virtually every magic set. It represents the essence of Green in a different way, by making a statement that for one green mana, my creatures will beat yours.

Colorless: Skullclamp

This was tricky. Colorless, by definition, doesn't really have an identity of its own. An artifact can do almost anything, but shouldn't do things too efficiently or it would be able to undermine the weaknesses of the colors. Skullclamp was first printed in the Mirrodin block, while design was using Equipment for the first time. They looked at a card for one mana that was making a creature stronger and decided no, that's too good. Let's make it a tradeoff by reducing toughness. As a result, if you equip Skullclamp to a one toughness creature it dies instantly and you draw two cards. Oops, we created one of the most efficient card advantage pieces in the game's history and made it available to every color. By any standard, Skullclamp is a design mistake, but it represents exactly why and how artifacts and colorless cards in general can be so powerful, and so dangerous.

Runner up: Black Lotus. It's probably the most iconic Magic card, but one doesn't necessarily think of it in the same category as other colorless cards. It sorta exists in a category of its own. I put it here anyway, to recognize its overall impact.

Land (without a basic land type): Strip Mine

I decided to specify lands without basic land types because otherwise the answer would be the basic lands and if it was just nonbasic lands the answer would be the ABU duals. That's boring, so let's look at utility lands.

The only true identity lands have is "produce mana" (there are a few lands that don't produce mana on their own, but they don't print new ones). Strip Mine is one of the first utility lands ever printed and it stands as a symbol of just how powerful and important lands actually are. Lands don't cost mana, and you almost always get at least one a turn. Strip Mine's lesson is just how scary that "almost" is. No format allows for more than one in your deck, because if you could play more than one it would allow you to lock down any opponent with more expensive cards than you, by effectively unplaying their land from the previous turn. The land that hates land is a lesson about why land, and Magic's mana system in general, is so precious.

Runner Up: Mana Confluence - When looking at lands without basic land types that just produce mana, nothing hits quite like Mana Confluence. Legal in nearly every format, generically good but not broken - this is the true neutral of nonbasic lands, and arguably a baseline against which all others can be judged.

Conclusion

So, what do these iconic cards have in common? For starters, they're often very old - several were printed in Alpha. Indeed, between the main list and the runners-up, three of the five original boons (one mana for three of something) are represented. They're all powerful, probably because bad cards don't see play often enough to become iconic. They're usually cheap to cast - though this tracks with power, because low cost and high efficiency is a classic way to make a powerful card. Most of them are simple - often one or two lines. This leads to them being the baseline (or the ceiling) for what the color can do.

#magic: the gathering #mtg #wrath of god #counterspell #vampiric tutor #lightning bolt #llanowar elves #skullclamp #strip mine #original post

3 notes · View notes

oprika · 1 year

Text

Topic #2: Awareness

This topic is born out of the fear of discussing certain subjects. Topics shouldn’t be labeled as too ‘taboo’ nor should they become trigger phrases.

Recently I wanted to make a comment about Kanye and the hypocrisy in what’s happening, however out of fear of being ‘canceled’, treated harshly, or as far as being doxxed– I didn’t comment on it. This creates trouble because it limits how much information people have available– yes you’re right, people should be doing their own research– but if you’re like me, a conversation IS where all your questions can get answered in the format that YOU specifically need.

There was another instance where I brought up some speculation I had about the Holocaust and how it came to be, (in terms of political strategy), but there were people who focused on the incorrect parts of my statement. I decided to simply apologize and move along when in reality I didn’t really understand what I did wrong nor did I feel anything other than dreadful adrenaline at being morally “wrong” for bringing up the topic. Living at a time where the only feeling I have is the fear of being “wrong” rather than a genuine enthusiasm to understand is horrible. It shows a shallowness to the interactions happening in today’s age.

There ARE times when people say disrespectful, or ignorant, things though rather than making the experience equal to you’re either on the ‘right side’ or ‘you’re a horrible person’, is childish and stupid. It should be about correctly informing people.

Honestly, this could even venture into the same effects of making s3x a taboo topic. When something significant is kept under the rug the only things that will be seen are people making uninformed choices, misinformation, and easier to be manipulated into horrible parties.

#awareness #trigger phrases #keeping things quiet is the way bad people get away with things #speak up #political strategy #manipulative #being informed #if you’re tired of people being ignorant then simply step back #it’s not your job to inform others but it’s also ignorant of you to think that everyone has the same information available #this came from an angry place

0 notes

zafirosreverie · 3 years

Text

Must be the eyes (Teacher!Agatha x Fem!Student!Reader) part 2

(Part 1)

a/n: this is long, like, really long. Uppsies

- - - - - - - - - - -

Salem ... you were going to Salem !!

Nick laughed at you when you jumped out of happiness, before wrapping your arms around him and spinning him around. You were quite excited.

"I see someone is excited" he laughed as you let him go

"Sorry" you laughed "I just can't believe it! We’re going to Salem, Nick!" you screamed with excitement

"Yes yes, I was in class too, history girl” he laughed again "But it doesn't seem a bit strange to you that just last friday you mentioned that you wanted to go, and today, monday, they tell us that they will take us on a field trip precisely to Salem? Not to mention that Ms Harkness doesn't seem like the kind of teacher who wants to take her students on trips. "

"So?" you asked. You knew exactly what he was implying, but you decided to play innocent "Maybe the universe thought it would be a good time to pay me what it owes me"

"Suuuuure. And Ms Harkness totally wasn't looking at you during the entire announcement" He said

"She wasn't" you agreed, making him roll his eyes.

Except that she totally was. Nick was right. From the moment the older woman had walked into the classroom, you could feel her eyes fixed on you. At first you felt like you were in trouble, but when she started talking about the trip she and professor Maximoff had planned, a part of you (a small and somewhat selfish part) couldn't help but think that maybe she was doing it for you.

It was silly and you knew it, why would a woman like Agatha Harkness go to the trouble of planning a whole field trip, getting a hotel, food and transportation for almost 30 students, just so that you specifically could fulfill one of your dreams? Not to mention, there was no way she knew about it.

But the feeling that you were something special to her, even if it was only in your imagination, was enough for you.

You sighed "Nick, if you're still upset about the project, I'm sorry ok? But don't get me in your business with her"

"Hey! I didn't sleep all weekend to finish it, okay?" he defended himself "I didn't even go to the movies with Dalton, Y/N. Do you know what that means? I missed a date with him!" he pouted, making you laugh

"First of all, you had almost the entire month to do the project, you shouldn't have put it off until the last minute. Second, it wasn't even a date! You haven't been able to confess your feelings to Dalton in two years"

"So? At least I'm making progress with him, you've been drooling over our teacher since the first day of college and all you've done is have these tense discussions with her."

"Shhhhh" you shut him up "shout it out to everyone, would you?"

"Hey, you started"

"It's different and you know it Nick" you sighed "You're only a year older than Dalton. There are at least 10 years between me and Ms Harkness, not to mention that she is our teacher!"

"Pfff, 10 years? Come on Y/N, we both know she's probably twice your age" Nick scoffed

"She's not that old" you blushed "And that's not the point anyway"

"Right" he nodded "the point is that your girlfriend is going to take us all to a haunted town just to make you happy" he smirked.

"My what- she’s not-" you stuttered.

Nick laughed and you flushed with both embarrassment and anger. You ran after him to try to hit him, not noticing the pair of blue eyes staring at you from a window.

________

Agatha sighed to herself as she watched you walk away with that little friend of yours. She had watched all the interaction and when she saw you blush she wished she could listen, but you were too far away.

However, what she did hear were your screams of excitement and she couldn't help but notice that her heart leapt a little at the thought that it was she who had made you so happy.

Again, she would never tell anyone, but the only reason she had agreed to accompany Wanda was because of the conversation she had overheard, when you told Nicholas that you didn't have money for two trips.

At first, it had been easy to lie to herself, saying that she was simply killing two birds with one stone: Wanda could have her field trip and you could visit Salem at no expense, that way you could save up to go elsewhere in summer.

However, when Wanda asked why she had specifically chosen your class, she hadn't known what to answer. She wanted to see you happy, she felt you deserved everything in the world, but she couldn't say that to the redhead, so she had given a bad excuse that your group was the least problematic. Wanda hadn't believed it, but at least she had the decency not to comment on anything.

She told herself that she had to be more careful. She couldn’t let anyone, student or teacher, find out that perhaps it was no longer simple affection what she felt for you.

When she walked into your classroom, however, she couldn't help staring at you from the get-go. She didn't want to miss your reaction to the news. From the sparkle in your eyes, the way the corner of your mouth lifted, how your nose wrinkled, the way your shoulders tensed, and how you clenched your hands to avoid showing your emotion.

She wanted to see all of that.

But that had made her look at you the whole time. She never once had she taken her eyes off you, almost forgetting that it was supposed to be a school trip, for all of her students, not a surprise gift specifically for you.

Even if that's what it really was. As she had told Wanda, she was more than capable of teaching Salem's history without having to take you there, but she did it for you. And a small part of her wanted to tell you, she wanted you to know what she had done, she wanted you to understand how much you meant to her, without having to use her words.

She wasn't sure if she'd made it, but your excitement was enough for her. She just wished she could be the one receiving that crushing hug, instead of Nicholas.

"Earth to Agatha" said a voice behind her, making her jump

"Maximoff" she sighed "No one told you it's rude to approach people like this" she crossed her arms and frowned.

"In my defense, I've been here for about 15 minutes, it's not my fault that you get lost in your thoughts so quickly" the redhead teased as she handed her a coffee "It must be age"

"I'm going to ignore the fact that you called me old, just because of the coffee" the brunette growled, taking it.

"Lucky me" the youngest smiled "So, ready for the trip?" she asked

"There's still a whole month to go, cutie" she said

"Don't even remind me, I was hoping they'd let us go sooner" sighed the redhead.

"Wanda, I know they are university students, but not all of them have the income, no matter how little the school charges them. We have to pay for transportation, meals and hotel, not to mention that many of them will want to buy souvenirs or do another activities" Agatha reminded her

"It's a field trip, Aggs, not a vacation."

"Try to convince 30 students of that" scoffed the older woman

"... fair enough" sighed Wanda "and we still need another chaperone"

"What do you mean?" Agatha frowned "Isn't that why I'm going?"

"Yes, but as we also take male students, by law we must bring a male teacher too"

"That’s bullshit"

"I know, but I'm not going to complain and risk losing my permit."

The brunette thought about it for a moment before sighing. Wanda was right. And she wouldn't risk having the trip canceled either, not after seeing how happy it made you.

___________

It was the longest month of your life! You were too excited, you could hardly think of anything other than the trip. You had worried a bit that it was too expensive, but were pleasantly surprised when you realized that it was less than half of what the trip would cost you alone.

Besides, Nick had told you that he could lend you money if necessary. It wasn't that you were broke, far from it, but being a college student, living alone in a rental department and with a part-time job, was difficult.

However, you had managed to save enough money to pay for the trip and still be able to even spend a little on souvenirs or other things, which would be necessary to thank your boss for giving you permission to be absent for two weeks and your friend Alisha for covering you.

"Hello" you smiled at the secretary

"Good afternoon" she replied, a little serious but at least she smiled back at you "can I help you miss?"

"Yeah, uhm, I'm here to pay for the trip to Salem, group 203" you said

"One moment please" she nodded and pulled out a couple of lists "Your name, queen?" she asked kindly

"Y/N Y/L/N"

The woman scanned the names with her eyes, searching for the letter of your last name, but you felt your stomach drop a little when she frowned before looking at you.

"Are you sure, dear?" she asked

You blinked in surprise before nodding.

"How strange" she said "it appears that it is already paid"

"W-what?" now you frowned "It must be a mistake"

"No, Y/N Y/L/N, paid. Are you sure you didn't forget? It usually happens" she assured you, smiling at you.

But you knew that was not the case. You hadn't paid before because you didn't have the money. Damn, you were sure you were the last to pay! You were supposed to leave in three days!

"No" you said softly "I'm sure I didn't pay for it"

The woman was about to say something when you heard a rather familiar pair of heels coming up behind you. You didn't even have to turn around to find out who she was.

Agatha smiled as she stood right next to you, her hand pressed to your lower back. She smiled at the secretary before speaking.

"Good afternoon, Lu" she said to the woman

"Good afternoon, Ms Harkness"

"Is something wrong? Or why the long face, Miss Y/L/N?" she asked, smiling at you

It took you a moment to answer, too stunned by the warm touch of her hand on your back and the smell of her perfume filling your air.

"Someone paid for my trip" you said simply

"Excuse me?" she asked confused

"Someone paid for my trip" you repeated "it wasn't me, miss"

"Well, I still don't see the problem" she smiled at you "maybe that little friend of yours paid for you, or someone is trying to win your heart" she winked

The way she said the last part sent a chill down your spine. It felt too intimate for some reason.

"Either way, I wouldn't worry about it" she said, pulling you out of your thoughts "take advantage of it, Miss Y/L/N, not all of us are lucky enough to be given a free trip, right Lu?"

"Absolutely Ms Harkness"

You weren't so convinced, but you weren't in a position to argue with a teacher and a secretary, they were two against one. That and the hand on your back was too much of a distraction to think properly.

You nodded and thanked them before turning on your heel to go find Nick, hoping it was really him who paid for you. You immediately missed the warmth of the hand on your back.

____________

Well shit.

You cursed yourself while running around your apartment. You were sure you had set the alarm, but it hadn't gone on. If it weren't for the fact that you had left the window open and the sun hit you in the face, you wouldn’t have woken up.

When you looked at the clock on your desk, you jumped up. You noticed that your phone had not charged at all and was, in fact, turned off. Double shit.

You tossed it along with the charger in your backpack, after getting out of a quick shower and bouncing around the room as you put on your floral dress and a pair of tennis shoes. You did not care about the mess you left, you would fix it when you returned.

You had 20 minutes to get to school or you were saying goodbye to Salem.

_____________

Agatha tried to appear neutral as Wanda took roll and Jimmy helped the students put their bags onto the bus as they arrived.

She supposed it could have been worse. Of all the male teachers in the school, Jimmy Woo, the chemistry teacher, was the most educated and one of the few that Agatha actually liked a little. At least the students listened to him.

Not that she was really paying attention to that, if she was honest.

Actually, the only thing on her mind was you. Nothing new, but this was different. You hadn't arrived yet and they were 15 minutes away from leaving. She was beginning to worry.

She didn't understand what was happening, you were the most excited about the trip, she had paid for you, and yet you weren't here? She had thought you would be the first to arrive. Have you regretted it? No, you would have told her or Wanda. Something happened to you? Surely Nicholas would have said something when he arrived.

So why was there no sign of your precious face? The brunette could convince Wanda to wait for you a little longer, but she wasn't even sure you were going to come. That made her sulk quickly.

She had agreed to take this trip, for you. If you didn't show up, she would have done everything in vain! She didn't even want to go to Salem to babysit! So you had better arrive in the next 10 minutes or you would be in serious trouble when they come back in two weeks.

"Smile Harkness" Wanda laughed, seeing her partner with her arms crossed and a frown "We're almost gone"

"Good, because we still have five hours of travel and I'm already starting to get tired of the voices of these children" she growled.

She really did hope her concern wasn't so noticeable.

____________

You sighed in relief when the taxi finally arrived at the school, seeing that the bus was still there. You did it!

You walked quickly, smiling at Professor Woo, who kindly put your suitcase on the underside of the truck.

"We were waiting for you, miss Y/L/N" he said kindly, helping you up the steps.

"Oh no, am I the last one?" you asked, blushing with shame.

"That's right" said Professor Maximoff, smiling at you as you went upstairs.

Well, at least no one had noticed. The rest of your classmates were all talking to each other, laughing and some flirting, not paying attention to the fact that you had just arrived. Excellent.

Except ... oh no.

You looked for Nick, to go sit with him. Sadly, it looks like Dalton was ahead of you and your best friend was too busy flirting to have saved you a spot.

"Take a seat please Y/N" Wanda told you

"Uhm ... where?" you asked, pointing to your companions.

The red-haired woman followed your gaze and realized that you were right. All the seats were taken. That made her frown. They were supposed to have all seats counted, so she, Jimmy, and Agatha had taken the liberty of using two seats each. But it seems they had miscounted.

"Well, I suppose you will have to sit with one of us" she told you.

You nodded, but didn't move, not knowing exactly which of the three to sit next to.

Fortunately for you, you didn't have to make the decision.

Agatha had kept a sigh of relief from escaping her lips when she saw you and Jimmy getting on the bus. She had been biting her nails nervously.

Your choice of clothes had not gone unnoticed and she, taking care that neither Wanda nor Jimmy caught her, let her eyes roam your body. The dress fit too well on you, hugging all the right parts, and ended just above the knees, allowing her to observe your beautiful legs.

She was so busy scanning you with her gaze that she almost missed Wanda's comment. "I suppose you will have to sit down with one of us." Her reaction was almost automatic.

She got up and motioned for you to sit in the window seat. "Take a seat, miss Y/L/N" she said, a little anxious, but with a frown so that the others would think that she was simply desperate to leave.

You blinked before nodding and scooting into the seat. You tried not to show any emotion when the older woman sat next to you and her thigh brushed yours.

You didn't know if you wanted to curse Nick for abandoning you in favor of flirting, or if you wanted to kiss him. You had five hours to think about it from here to Salem.

Wait. Five hours. Five hours trapped between Agatha Harkness and the window and without the possibility of distracting yourself with your cell phone. Oh shit.

___________

"It's not as bad as I thought" said Wanda "You were right Aggs, it's the least troublesome group" she laughed

The older woman rolled her eyes without answering. Her friend was right, most of the students were behaving quite well. There was no excessive yelling, no one was getting up from their seats or causing trouble, everyone seemed more interested in catching up on gossip.

But that didn't mean she liked being there. Her head was already spinning and there were still another three hours to go. The only good thing she had was that you were next to her.

Sure, she had to act nonchalant with you, just trying to get you talking a few times (which didn't work, but at least you had smiled at her and that was enough for her), but she couldn't help stealing glances from you every now and then.

She had given you the place by the window with the excuse that she needed to be in the hallway so she could throw death glares at others and make sure everything was in order, but the truth was, she just wanted you to be able to see everything. So that you don't miss even the entrance to the town.

It had worked for a while, because you looked quite entertained. Until that moment.

When the brunette looked at you sideways, she could see that your eyelids seemed to weigh and how you were starting to nod. Agatha had to admit that a sleepy Y/N was probably the cutest thing she had seen in a long time.

You struggled to stay awake, but after two hours of staring out the window (you were definitely not looking at your teacher through the reflection, thank you very much) your eyes felt tired. Maybe, you could sleep for a while, and hopefully when you woke up, you would be arriving in Salem and you wouldn't have to deal with the blush on your cheeks caused by the mere presence of your crush by your side.

It seemed like a good plan.

Sighing and careful not to kick the older woman, you settled into the seat better, closing your eyes and blocking out the noise around you. It didn't take you long to fall asleep.

Agatha knew the exact moment you had been lost from the world of the living, when your head began to tilt a little. She inwardly cursed you for being so cute.

However, she froze when she realized that little by little, you were sticking closer to her.

At first it was just your head leaning in her direction, but then you were leaning on her shoulder. It wasn't an entirely unpleasant feeling (actually, it was perfect), but it did make her pulse race, especially when you kept falling more and more on her, until you ended up with your head on her chest and basically using her breasts as a pillow.

"Ok, okay, don't panic, everything is fine" she thought "act normal, you are a teacher taking care of her student, nothing to see here"

But she could feel her heart racing at a thousand kilometers per hour and as much as she didn't want to wake you up, she doubted you couldn't hear it, you had your hearing just above it!

She was too busy trying not to move, not to bother you, that she didn't notice the knowing looks and smiles that her two colleagues shared.

When Wanda stood up to supervise the students in the background, she raised an eyebrow, smirking at Agatha. The older woman rolled her eyes and mumbled something about not wanting to wake you up out of mere politeness, but the truth was that her arms burned with the need to hold you and pull you closer to her.

____________

Wanda giggled and motioned for Jimmy to take a look at Agatha's seat. When the man did, he had to bite his lip to keep from laughing out loud.

At some point during the trip, the brunette had fallen asleep too, probably bored of not moving so as not to wake you up. However, it seemed like her precautions weren't working on autopilot, because the moment she fell asleep, she leaned on you, portraying a cute scene with you on the older woman's chest and Agatha's head on top of yours.

Wanda took out her cell phone and quickly took a photo of you two.

"This is gold" she whispered to Jimmy "this is valuable blackmail material, Harkness will have to do what I ask for at least a month"

"I guess I owe you 10 dollars" said the man.

When they were discussing the details of the trip, the redhead had told him her theory about how the brunette felt about you. Surprisingly, Jimmy hadn't been shocked, he didn't think the other woman had a crush on her student, but he wouldn't look down on Agatha if that was the case. They had both gambled on how long it would take for the woman to start being more obvious.

"And a coffee when we get to Salem" Wanda reminded him.

_____________

Agatha woke up when a particularly loud sound from the movie they were playing in the bus sounded from the speaker above her head. The woman blinked several times, before looking around her.

Jimmy seemed absorbed in the movie and Wanda was asleep. And God knew what the students were doing behind her.

But that was not the important thing. What mattered was the bulge in her arms.

Your hair had fallen over your face, so the older woman gently brushed it away, letting her fingers brush against your skin. You were a beautiful sight. You always were, sure, but just like that, asleep and vulnerable, you were just breathtaking.

Looking at the clock, Agatha knew that they were about to arrive in town, and although she didn't want to wake you up, really enjoying having you like this, she also wanted you to see everything. So she gently started shaking you to wake you up.

You groaned a bit at the annoyance, but in a few more moments your eyes began to open. It took a moment for your eyes to adjust to the light, but when they did, you frowned.

Why were you so low? You remembered falling asleep almost glued to the window, so why weren't you there? And why did you have a pillow? You hadn't brought a pillow with you.

It wasn't until you caught a familiar scent that you realized you weren't on a pillow. You were on top of your teacher. More specifically, on her chest. Shit.

You got up quickly, muttering an apology and trying desperately not to look at her. You just used Agatha Harkness as a pillow! What an idiot! She sure hates you now.

The older woman was a bit surprised when you jumped up, almost hitting her in the process. If it wasn't because you looked adorable with a red face, she would have tried to comfort you. Besides, she couldn't risk any of her colleagues finding out about her feelings for you.

So she didn't say anything, as if nothing had happened. But she was loving the nervous version of you more and more.

_______________

When you entered the city, you completely forgot the whole incident. Your mind quickly entertained with the landscape and you could see how all those witch tales came to life in front of your eyes. Definitely better than Disneyland.

Agatha couldn't help the pang of pride she felt when she saw your excited face. It was a good choice to sit you by the window. If anyone deserved to have the best possible experience in Salem, it was you.

She just hoped the rest of the trip would go without incidents. Not that she thought falling asleep on her was a bad thing, it was just that she trusted herself less and less to keep herself under control.

- - - - - - - - - - -

tags: @midnight-lestrange @everythingmarvelsherlockspn (tag not working) @amethyst-bitch @juliejules-089 @powerfulmagicalgirl (tag not working) @novohyde @annie-mit-ie @agentbrownierso

#x reader #reader insert #imagine #agatha harkness #agatha harkness x reader #agatha harkness imagine #agatha harkness x y/n #agatha harkness x you #agnes x reader #request #must be the eyes #please tell me if i did the tag list thing right #;-;

386 notes · View notes

january31st · 3 years

Text

Ablaze: Chapter 2

Cruella (2021) x reader

A/N: Lmao I’ve never been to London, you can throw eggs at me, yes. I wrote based on weather stereotypes. Moving along.

Warnings: catcalling? sorta? someone being sick (vomiting and passing out)

|| Masterlist || Chapter 1 || Chapter 3 || Chapter 4 || Chapter 5 || Chapter 6 || Chapter 7 || Chapter 8 || Wattpad Link ||

~3000 words

The April showers did nothing to degrade your mood, in fact, it seemed as though nothing could. Also? Whoever came up with that saying definitely didn’t come to London much. More like April showers bring May more showers. Which in turn brings June more showers. Endless showers. Waterfalls from the sky all year long.

And on this specific Wednesday they weren’t quite just showers, the heavens seemed to have opened. After you got to the address you had now memorised by heart, you hopped up the steps and got in, leaving your umbrella with the other ones by the door.

You approached the front desk, smiling politely at the lady who sat across from it.

“How can I help you?” She asked.

“I have a meeting today? In just ten minutes.” You said showing her the card you had been given.

“Oh, I’m afraid it has been canceled dear.”

Frowning in confusion you asked “And when was it rescheduled to?”

She pressed her lips together, clearly at a loss for words “It wasn’t.”

“What? Can’t I set up another time for it?”

“I’m afraid not. I’m sorry.”

“Oh… Okay then. Thank you, have a nice day.” And with that you turned around to leave, grabbing the wet umbrella.

The smell of the rain was almost bitter now. What the hell were you to do with that? Keep performing until another chance showed up? It was probably a once in a lifetime thing, and without even knowing you screwed it up. The idea of grabbing your stupid guitar ever again made you mad.

You were now walking down the street, rain completely forgotten, just as the umbrella that was still unopened in your hand. God, how did you let this happen? You were so close you could almost touch that future, but it turned to smoke and you couldn’t figure out why. You stopped in your tracks to think about what had been your fatal mistake, and it seemed impossible to come to any conclusion.

As you sat there, clothes glued to you, you heard a honk from a car nearby, and saw a guy waving at you from inside it. You decided to ignore him, turned around, and wrapped your coat tighter around you, now awfully aware of how you should have opened the damn umbrella, only now was too late.

“Excuse me lady?” He shouted with a thick accent. “Are you Miss Y/N? Y/N Y/LN?”

You turned back around and walked closer.

“Who on earth are you?” you asked.

“Oh, I’m Horace, so very nice to meet you!” He answered, stretching his hand out from the passenger window. You shook it, only not to be rude.

“You should prolly hop in! It’s raining cats and dogs.” He said.

“Thank you, but I don’t think I will. I have somewhere to be.”

“Oh no one told us you had to be somewhere! I’m sorry to have come at a bad time then.” He said.

You were about to turn around again when you heard another voice from the driver’s seat.

“You idiot Horace! Hey, don’t mind him will ya? Artie told us to come pick you up.”

“What? Why would he do that? Do you even know Artie?” Your confusion only grew bigger with each sentence they said.

“Yeah, funny bloke he is! With the mullet? Such an interesting guy!” Said this Horace man.

“Horace! I’m Jasper by the way. I’m sorry that my friend here can’t act normal. We work with Artie, he asked us to pick you up here.” said the other one.

The rain seemed to have reached your bones by now, you felt achingly cold, so you ignored the strangeness of the situation and got in the car.

“So didn't you say you had to be somewhere?” Horace turned to face you in the back seat as the car started rolling down the street.

Your cheeks flushed, and before you could answer, the other one- this Jasper guy- answered for you.

“Mate don’t you think it’s a bit weird that you ask a lady to get in your car out of the blue? You didn’t have to be such a creep!”

“Oh yeah.. I see that.”

“I’m so sorry if we threw you off Y/N.”

“It’s okay” you answered before you sneezed loudly. “Crap.”

“I knew you’d get the sniffles out there.” Mumbled Horace.

After a while it dawned on you. If they worked with Artie then their boss had to be?

Your thoughts were only confirmed by the giant words you read outside:

House of DeVil

“Heh you see the funny thing? It’s spelled devil but it’s pronounced DeVil!”

“Mate if I have to hear you say that again I might throw myself from the Big Ben” said Jasper.

They led you into a side of the place you hadn’t seen on your first visit, her office was on the west-most part of the building, whereas now you headed in the opposite direction. With a smile and a “See you later” Jasper left you in what seemed to be a backstage/preparation sort of room, equipped with a bunch of vanity tables each with their own lighted mirror. On one of the walls sat a big storage cabinet and drawer chest which could only be filled with makeup.

Dripping coat now in hand, you cursed at yourself loudly when you caught a good glimpse of your wet clothes on one of the mirrors.

“Someone’s in a bad mood.” said a raspy voice behind you.

You spun on your heels to find the black and white haired woman standing by the door, cane in one hand and a folder in the other.

"I hope the boys didn't catch you at a bad time, darling, did they?" She asked.

"Well-"

"Good. So, my Spring collection will hit the runaway in two days. I do hope Artie told you that." she said, interrupting you.

"I mean, yes, but I didn't think I-"

And she cut you off again "So I do believe that today and tomorrow will be more than enough for you to practise your final looks for the show."

"So you're saying I'm hired? Now?"

"Why yes darling, why else would you be here?" she said with a malicious smile. "Follow me."

She led you to an adjacent room where you recognised the pieces from your "job interview", but also a couple more. One in particular grabbed your attention. There was no way you could describe it, just that it was exactly the type of piece you would gravitate toward. You had a fluid style, but this one somehow held your essence.

“They are magnificent, aren’t they?” she exclaimed in awe as if she hadn’t been the one designing them.

You hated to give her credit, but she was extremely talented, and there was no denying that those pieces were stunning. “Yes.” you answered when you realised it wasn’t just a rhetorical question.

“Soak them in a bit, they look much better in the flesh than on paper.”

“Here” she gave you the folder she had been holding. “I’ll have to lock the room up, but you can still conjure the looks.”

Although you tried very hard to stop it, while she was locking the room you sneezed again.

“Oh, darling, don’t you dare be ill for my show. I’ll have someone send you something to change into.”

“Thank you.” You said, once again, only not to come off as cross. Not that you cared to be very nice to her, mostly because you wanted to prove to yourself you weren’t mean like her.

“Gratitude’s for losers.” She answered, and it was all you needed to hear in your already annoyed state to snap back.

“What? Being polite is for losers?” and before she could say anything you added “I bet you think apologising is also for losers. Well, I’m sorry that you think being a decent human makes you weak.”

Instead of being mad at you, she only looked at you with an amused look about her, and oh boy did that make your anger burn even brighter. The silence was starting to really get to you, but thankfully, Artie came to the rescue as he so often did.

Only spotting you at first he exclaimed “Hello lovergirl!” you turned around to give him a look of why would you say that, and he only smiled in answer and greeted your boss as well.

She narrowed her eyes at the two of you and said “Oh? What have we here? Are you two…?”

You and Artie turned to each other and burst into laughter. Once he caught his breath again he answered no as you shook your head exaggeratedly. “That would be as if hell froze over!” he said.

“I thought you two were friends?” you said, confused that she would assume that Artie (of all people) would be dating you. “Cause of course he- well, we are friends with Dorothy.”

She answered only with a curious look and you said to Artie “I told you to stop calling me that in public.”

“And I’ve told you under what conditions I would stop.” he retorted.

Him mocking you again made you huff in frustration “I’m off to work, I guess” you said walking past him to get back to the makeup room.

“Not so fast foxy mama! I’m going to explain to you how the dice are going to roll on Friday. I’ll join you in a minute, let me just talk to the boss.”

Only you couldn’t stand being around her another minute so you walked away anyway. Then when he joined you, looking back down the hallway to check that she was gone, he poked fun at you one more time.

“I’ll stop calling you that once you stop swooning over every girl you meet.”

“It’s not my fault women are literal Goddesses walking among us! And I don’t swoon over every girl I meet.”

“Yeah? Give me one example.”

“Well… Her for one!” you answered, pointing outside the room.

“Sure, I’ll pretend I believe you.”

“Artie!! Don’t offend me like that, she’s the worst! If you didn’t come in just then she might have set me on fire.” when he raised his eyebrows in question you said “I might have gotten a bit snappy and told her that being nice wouldn’t kill her.”

“Either way, I was going to ask, how did you know what time to pick me up?” you asked when you remembered how you got there in the first place.

“Pick you up?” he looked at you confused.

“Yeah, the two funny guys. Jasper and Horace I believe it was, from the record label thing”

“Oh the boys picked you up? I didn’t know they did? And how did it go?”

“Well they told me you sent them to get me. And the meeting was cancelled, like, no explanation, just off.”

“Oh I’m sorry to hear that.”

But the circumstances of your mysterious ride there remained that way, because a girl came knocking on the door to give you the promised change of clothes. After that the two of you forgot about it and busied yourselves with work.

You spent the two days working closely with the models to make sure you could do everything flawlessly on the big day, and especially the girl who would be walking with that one dress, the signature piece for the show. Her name was Elizabeth Jones (who you called Lilly), and thanks to your friendliness, you actually got along with her well, not a friend per say, but a known face to greet around the workplace. Maybe the two of you worked a bit too close, or maybe she was just a bit more prone to it, because on the second day she started showing signs of having caught your sniffles. By the time your colleagues were heading back home -too late to still be at work either way- she looked awful, a bad fever coming up.

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

Friday came by, the chaos in that building only getting more chaotic each minute the show approached. You were to spend the most part of it backstage, and you weren’t even mad about it, the fancy people who would be attending had to be all of that rude type.

But of course things couldn’t happen as planned.

About two hours before the guests arrived, you stumbled your way to the bathroom carrying Lilly, impossibly pale, and very much not okay. While she retched on the toilet you wet a towel to clean the sweat off, and held her crying in your arms and assuring her she would be okay.

Until she really wasn’t, and passed out on you.

At that you asked for the first person you saw to keep an eye on her while you ran to snatch some water and sugar from the kitchens. When you reached the door you were stopped by a cane on your arm.

“And what would you be doing here darling? So far away from your spot.” she asked, the last face you needed to see now, but also the one person who needed to know what was happening.

“Yeah we kinda have a situation… Lilly’s out cold. She really isn’t feeling well, I think we should take her to the hospital or call an ambulance or something.”

“Who?”

“Elizabeth? Your main model! The one with your signature piece!” you exclaimed.

“And so you came to the kitchen?” she asked.

“Yeah, to get her some water and sugar, basic passed out person treatment.” you answered, opening the door and going inside to look for it.

“How about the other ones? Have you finished their makeup?”

“Yes, everyone was ready to go”

“Well it’s not your job to nanny her. And she better be up and going for the show, we don’t have a replacement for her.” and though she said that with her usual coolness, you could sense she was not happy about it at all. “I don’t think you understand, but the spring collection is the most important event of the year.”

Sugar water now in hand, you moved back out and past her and said “I don’t think you understand, but the only place she’s going tonight is the hospital. She probably got my cold, but for some reason it hit her like a truck.”

She was walking fast to keep up with you, now clearly mad. “If she can’t do it then we won’t have anyone to walk the piece! I will be wearing my own gown, I can’t do it. And it was made to her measurements.”

Reaching the bathroom again you thanked whoever had been there, and asked for them to call an ambulance. Then you put the cup down on the floor and grabbed her face (now sort of conscious) with both hands. “Hey! Hey, please stay awake for me? We’re getting you to a hospital baby, you’ll be okay. Now I’m gonna need you to drink this.” you handed her the cup and put your hand to her forehead, burning as expected.

In between sips and sobs you reassured her and rubbed soft circles on her back, Cruella awfully silent by the door.

“Y/N what size are you?” she asked all of a sudden.

“What? Are you saying I should walk the signature piece?” You asked in shock.

“Yes darling, I don’t like it anymore than you do, but I don’t think there’s a better option.”

You told her your rough measurements and she stormed off, leaving you to your mum duty while the ambulance arrived. When it did, you carried Lilly outside and then came back in, finding Artie.

“Where is Cruella?” You asked him.

“Backstage, but trust me you don’t want to talk to her right now.” he said.

“I know, she must be pissed. I just shipped Lilly off to the hospital, and guess who will replace her?”

“Are you joking? Cruella put you on the runway? Oh that’s why she was fuming. I found her altering the dress, didn’t even know what had gotten into her.” he said, leading you to the back.

When he knocked on the door to the sewing room she told you to “Get over here” without even looking at you. She handed you the dress to put on and grabbed her pins while Artie helped you put it on. Stabbing you with them a couple times she put everything in place and then took a couple steps back to look at you. On her face was an expression you couldn’t quite place, she was angry but also somehow looked pleased to see you wearing the piece.

“So, as I’m sure, you are no stranger to being on the stage, you will just walk up to the front, stop for a moment, and wait for the others to join you, you are the last one but in the end you all walk together.” she said to you. You ignored the fact that she knew about your concerts and stuff and decided to concentrate only on what to do so you wouldn’t make a fool of yourself.

“You can take it off now, I’ll take care of sewing everything in place while you go off to get your makeup and hair done. We have half an hour I believe? Artie please go check that everything else isn’t going terribly wrong.”

You got back into the makeup room, and as you got ready, you quickly told the story to the other models, hoping for your life they wouldn’t be super pissed that you, and not one of them, a person who was hired to do this very job, got to do the most important one. Though given that you had become friendly with them, there was nothing much to really worry about, and they actually gave you tips on what to do.

It hadn’t settled into your mind that you were doing this until you were all ready and waiting for your cue to walk on stage. To your surprise, given that a while ago you had come face to face with the worst case scenario you could imagine, the night flowed beautifully.

|| Masterlist || Chapter 1 || Chapter 3 || Chapter 4 || Chapter 5 || Chapter 6 || Chapter 7 || Chapter 8 || Wattpad link ||

if you want to be added to a taglist for this series, feel free to reach out in whatever way you prefer :)

70 notes · View notes

fandom-monium · 3 years

Note

I JUST READ KITCHEN CATASTROPHES OMG ITS SOOO CUTE UGH MY HEART SO SOFT CAN YOU PLSSS DO A PART 2? THANK YOU KEEP DOING WHAT YOU DO

AN: thank you, anon! i dont plan to make a sequel to KC. But if i did:

For Valentine’s Day

Summary: In which you throw a wrench in Spencer’s plans: you don’t like Valentine’s Day. “If it’s with you, I guess it’s not so bad.”

WC: 2.9k (whoops)

Tags/Warnings: Spencer Reid x GN!Reader, fluff, cussing, semi anti-valentines day, Spencer tears up but dont worry were there to fix that, established relationships (blegh), Garvez if you squint, post-For the Holidays

Fuck cooking, Spencer thinks one day.

It's an irrational thought. The kind that strikes through his mind in a flash of irritation like a scrape of the knee as he is perusing the internet. Yes, he is using a computer willingly. He has to because he's desperate.

Cooking is stupid. Who really needs it, right?

…

He needs it. God, he needs it so bad.

His need to learn cooking wasn't as incessant until recently. Until you came along.

Spencer is a meticulous person and a romantic if you'd ever met one. Makes sense considering how he grew up, reading the classics and all that. He's read all the gooey literary shit old people write and while he never understood those meanings it all dawned on him one day. Quotes written like 'the stars in their eyes' and 'sunshine glowing off them like a halo', suddenly makes sense once he meets you. Or at least, after coming to know you, months into your newfound friendship.

It's because of this he plans accordingly the weeks leading up to Valentine's day! Because again he's meticulous and a romantic and a genius so he plans every step and makes a back up plan in case A, B, and C fall through.

Is he going overboard?

… Nah. No way. Not when it comes to you.

But fuck with a capital F, man.

It's your third date. Or what is supposed to be your third date if you would just stop being you for a second.

Then again, he loves you a lot and he wouldn't love you if you weren't, well, you.

Although—pardon his french—what the fuck.

Spencer knows he needs to learn to cook. You've tried plenty of times to teach him and he loves learning and he especially loves it when you are the teacher (wait, does he have a teacher/student fantasy? Maybe. That’s something he'll look into later. Preferably with you).

Unfortunately, he's terrible at it.

He's made progress and he knows it's true because you said so but the miniscule progress he's made is. Not. Enough. And it's all your fault! Because he gets so distracted by you during your lessons, like when you put your hands over his to show him proper slicing techniques—holy fuck, he wanted to combust right there—or just watching your deft hands at work, lips and brow scrunched in concentration in that adorable way. And you smell like cooking oil or whatever you're making and you're hot.

He's so into you it physically hurts. Ugh. How is he so lucky?

You're also the first person he's been this into since Maeve. And everyone knows how well that turned out.

So he tries to dial it down for Valentine’s Day. Morgan told him once he tends to throw himself into everything he does, including love. And when you two got together, he promised the universe he will not fuck this up. He ends up combining Morgan’s advice with Luke’s, trying to be casual like Luke says because apparently you're just as into him as he is of you.

The thought makes him grin uncontrollably. Luke says it makes him look like a clown but a lovesick clown. A lovefool, Luke hehs.

Spencer doesn’t get the joke, but it does nothing to deter him.

As Luke advised, Spencer does “not” make a dozen back up plans and does “not" plan weeks in advance. Because that wouldn't be casual, would it?

But now the day’s come and as Valentine’s Day turns to Valentine’s Night, Spencer wants to pull his hair, rub his frustratedly stinging eyes but he can't because he's in the middle of work, in the middle of the bullpen, in the middle of his desk and he refuses to be that guy. Not again.

Why does he feel like sobbing? Like a loser?

Because you don't like Valentine’s Day. No, you abhor it.

It happens in the middle of the work day. It's like he tried to open a door only for a bucket of ice water to be dumped on him and now he looks like a drowned rat. He definitely feels like one.

You're talking with Garcia about her Valentine’s Day plans as you multitask, switching between putting together packets and stacking them aside. Then taking them under the hole-puncher and stapling them together because the BAU isn't all kicking down doors and catching freaks.

It makes sense that you’re chatting with Garcia during your break. The two of you have become two peas in a pod after you came out of your shell. Now you're inseparable. Only you make Garcia leave her batcave as much as she does now.

Out of sight, he catches tidbits of your conversation when he hears distinctively: Fuck Valentine’s Day.

Okay, you didn't say that verbatim but you might as well have, grimacing as you three hole-punch a packet and his heart. Then a nail on his coffin only it’s with a stapler.

Thump. Chick.

Spencer winces; there goes your his Valentine’s Day plans.

It shouldn't sting as much as it does. You've been dating for over a month and Valentine’s Day is definitely not his favorite holiday either. It's not even top 3. And as you rant he can’t help but silently nod in agreement, all the facts straight: yes, it's an eyesore. Yes, it's a capitalistic holiday. Yes, people should do nice things for their significant others no matter the time and not because it's expected on a specific day. Yes, it doesn't compare to Halloween—

The thing is, you two aren't that “couple-y”, at least in a traditional sense. Not like Will and JJ who got a babysitter so they could go out or like Luke and Garcia as they plan to go to a special Valentine’s Day event she wants to check out (she vehemently denies anything going on between them but he doesn't need to be a genius to see the affection they have for one another. Just kiss already, damn).

So yeah, Spencer hoped to spend the romantic holiday with you. For once, he'd have Valentine’s Day plans, aside from exchanging cards with the team and his mother.

But apparently you hate Valentine’s Day! So there goes plan A, B, C, and D!

Spencer feels the tears spring at the corner of his eyes. He sniffs as subtly as he can, raising an open case file to his face. Of all the plans he hadn't thought through this was not one of them. IQ 187, his ass.

He should've known. Or at least ask your thoughts on Valentine’s Day. That was inconsiderate on his part. He blinks back tears, withdrawing into himself despite his hurt because he is a lovefool and only for you. He just wants to impress you, make you happy even if that means canceling your first Valentine’s Day together.

Now if you'll excuse him, he has to call off a few reservations and make some returns. Several actually.

Can you return a dozen donuts in the shape of hearts?

… Yeah, he better ask Emily for the rest of the day off.

—

"Hey Newb, have you seen Spencer? I haven't seen him since his break," You ask, resting your chin in your hand as you squint at another form. Your eyes are beginning to tire.

Spencer asked you several times over the course of the last week, checking to see if you were free today. You are, so you planned to hang with him after work, but he hasn't returned from his break and he wasn't answering your calls or texts. Not unusual but still odd for your boyfriend (you still can’t believe you get to say that).

Luke sighs, his smooth voice reaching over your shared divider, "You know at some point I'm just not going to respond. You guys can’t call me Newbie forever."

"Keep telling yourself that," You snort without looking up.

Another sigh and you smirk: you win.

"For your information," Luke grumbles, words punctuated with sass, "Doc went home."

You pause. "Home?" He didn't tell you.

"Yeah, probably to get ready for your date."

"Our date?" You frown and stand up, leaning over the divider to see if Luke’s fucking with you.

He isn't. Luke shrugs, humming wistfully as he rests his cheek in his hand, "You should've seen how excited he was, being it your first Valentine's Day and all. I told him to chill out because you'll love whatever it is no matter what but I'm sure he ignored that and planned something spectacular for you guys." Sitting back, he twirls around in his chair.

You grimace, recalling your earlier conversation with Garcia.

Shit.

"Meanwhile, I have to spend Galentine's Day with Garcia because all the ladies of the BAU are taken and I have nothing better to do—" Luke comes to a full 720, catching the tail end of your coat as you whip it on and make for the door. "—um, excuse you?"

"If Emily asks, I had an emergency!" You manage to call back, throwing open the glass door.

"Okay?"

"Thanks, Newb!"

As the elevator door dings shut with you inside, leg jumping because you have a sneaking suspicion you fucked up, Luke slouches in his chair and grumbles.

He's not a newb. Or a newbie.

—

You rush over to Spencer's, catching your breath as you stumble to his front door. There's shuffling from inside, the faint sound of clanking and crashing and your heart swells because this is the man you’ve fallen for, the first one you've ever felt this way for. Here he is, being all considerate and romantic. And here you are, fucking it up when your relationship’s barely even started.

God, you're an asshole, you berate yourself as you turn the doorknob and push open the door. You're an asshole you're an asshole you’re an asshole—

Then your eyes widen and your jaw goes slack.

Immediately, you slap a hand over your mouth and nose as your favorite scented candles hit you like someone shoved a bouquet in your face. The description isn't too far off considering there's a lovely bouquet of your favorite flowers still in its wrapping, haphazardly set next to a dozen donuts on the coffee table like no one's business. Its petals are strewn across the floor, a few in tiny piles like they were hastily swept to the side. Red and pink and dark green fill your vision.

Who gutted Cupid and tossed his organs around, holy fu-

"(Your name)?"

Startled, you crane your head to find Spencer, beautiful hair askew and his tie hanging loosely around his neck. His sleeves are pushed up to his elbows as he clutches flowers to his chest. In his other hand, he grips the colored strings of several shiny red and pink balloons in the shape of hearts and—fuck—your heart might actually float up from your chest and into your eyes.

This is your man. Your partner. Your boyfriend.

Your boyfriend panics, fumbling for a second before stuffing the balloons and trimmed flowers back into the room behind him and slamming the door shut. He turns back to you, eyes wide.

"What-what are you doing here?" Spencer stammers, wringing his hands together.

You blink at him, dumbly holding up your phone. "You-uh-you left early and didn't return my calls."

"I'm sorry. I think I left my phone at work," Probably because he left in such a rush, Spencer groans, looking anywhere but you. The petals scattered over his floor are quite pretty in this light. "And I was a bit busy."

"I'm sure you were," You gawk openly at the strings of fairy lights hung around his living room. It's a clash of aesthetics. Spencer always rocked dark academia, but despite how ugly the combination of red and pink decorations with his nature green walls and dark wood is, it leaves his apartment a little brighter, a little cozier, and you love it.

You love everything about this.

But as you take in the ugly beauty of it all, Spencer fidgets at the doorway, mistaking your awe as shock and disgust. Wiping sweaty palms on his trousers, his eyes dart around, trying to focus on something, but every place he lays his eyes on makes him cringe. He catches all the things he couldn't clean up or put away in time. No doubt you do too. All the leftover flower petals, the donuts he can’t return, candles that haven’t blown out because he has the lungs of an 8-year old asthmatic.

Spencer can't imagine how appalled you are.

And the longer your silence stretches on, the more nervous he gets so he blurts out, "I'm so sorry, (Your Name)!"

Your brow shoots up as he begins to ramble.

"You must hate this. I'll put everything away."

"You really don't have to—" You stop him, and your heart nearly crumbles as Spencer's does when he finally meets your worried gaze.

His eyes gleam with unshed tears. He swallows, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have—"

"Doc—"

"At least not without asking you—"

"Doctor—"

"I understand if you want to break up—" His voice cracks, as if the idea itself will destroy him (it definitely will).

"Spencer—" His voice, wobbly and dripping with unnecessary guilt, draws you to him.

"But I want you to know that I—"

With an exasperated sigh, you grab his hand as yours finds the nape of his neck, pulling him into a soft kiss.

For a second, Spencer doesn't respond because who kisses the person they're about to break up with? Strange, really. But then he kisses you back. His hands remain frozen, unsure of where he stands, but he tilts his head to deepen the kiss. He figures this is a new social cue he has yet to learn. And if this is the last time you kiss him, he'll treasure every second of it, take whatever you'll give him because again he's a lovefool for you.

And when you pull back, he's too dazed he nearly misses the look you give him. Suddenly, he can’t breathe.

You look at him like he hung the stars instead of cheap fairy lights around his apartment.

Spencer’s confused. "I-I... Wha—"

"I'm not breaking up with you," You chuckle, and you nearly burst out laughing as genuine puzzlement takes over his face. You tug him behind you, plopping yourselves on his couch. You smile, appreciating the way he organized the cushions and throw-pillows; there's now space for two people to lay down.

You take a breath. "You wanna know why I don't like Valentine’s Day?"

Spencer slouches, though his body is angled towards you so you suppose that's good. He sighs, "Because it's a capitalistic holiday that reinforces the idea of doing the bare minimum…"

He begins listing your reasons, and your eyes soften. Of course he listened and remembered even if you mentioned it offhandedly.

You nod once he finishes. "Yes but before that—and I can't believe I'm telling you this—back when I was a little kid, I didn’t get any Valentines."

Spencer's brow furrows at the newfound information. You continue, "I'd get some from my friends and stuff but that's not what Valentine's Day is about. At least not when you're a kid. When you’re a dumb kid, it’s about couples and romantic shit, and I didn't really have any of that growing up." You purse your lips and glance away, face flushed with embarrassment. It's really not that big a deal, but putting it into words makes the idea seem more intimate and personal.

It takes a moment for your words to sink in as Spencer can't believe his ears. How could you not have been showered with love and affection and presents on Valentines Day? It's like water doesn't make things wet or fire doesn't produce heat; it just doesn't make sense. Because you deserve that much and more.

"So every Valentine's Day, I lowered my expectations and eventually I stopped caring. I'd tell myself those things and I started to believe them," You bite your lip, eyes crinkling as you give Spencer a sheepish smile. "But now I have you."

At that, Spencer returns your smile, letting you take his hand. Any tears he had seem to evaporate instantly.

“So, I'm sorry that I hurt you. I stand by what I said before, Valentine’s Day sucks. But if it’s with you,” Blushing deeply, you play with Spencer's hand, large and veins defined compared to yours, shrugging, “I guess it’s not so bad.”

Spencer’s smile broadens, and he intertwines your fingers together. "So what you’re saying is, you don’t hate this?” He looks around his living room.

You shake your head, unable to stop the grin crossing your lips. “No. In fact, very much the opposite. Honestly, thank you for this, it’s beautiful. I have no words.” You breathe it all in; the candles, the flowers, the— Your nose wrinkles and you snort, “Did you burn something?”

Bashfully looking down, he scratches his chin. “I-uh-tried to make your favorite dishes. Though, I was hoping the candles and flowers would mask it.”

You giggle and pull him into you, snuggling into his side. “That’s okay. I’d much rather have you anyway.”

With Spencer a blushing, stuttering mess in your arms, head resting on your chest, you press a kiss to his hair and conclude; yeah, you don’t like Valentine’s Day.

But you sure as hell love Spencer more.

—

AN: FtH status: finished - 7/5. yes 7.

I realize this was not what anon requested but oh well i wrote this at 2 am

I’m not that anti v day but i stand by the capitalistic aspect.

yes this takes place after For the Holidays.

also included luke bc hes my bro and i honestly think he deserves so much more than what the show gave also garvez ftw

happy post valentine’s day!!

Song: Lovefool by The Cardigans

#spencer reid x reader #mgg x reader #matthew gray gubler x reader #criminal minds x reader #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid #mgg imagine #mgg fic #mgg x y/n #mgg fanfiction #mgg #matthew gray gubler x oc #matthew gray gubler imagine #criminal minds x y/n #criminal minds x oc #criminal minds

257 notes · View notes

shadowturtlesstuff · 3 years

Text

You belong with me

so i decided to post wadsworth first. modern au cressworth- you belong with me taylor swift

Thomas throws his phone down on the bed with frustration swirling around him as he paces. I set down my pen and wait till he turns and spots me. We often find ourselves talking via paper throughout the nights, from questions about our day to helping each other study. It is also often we watch each other be angry at something, yet I've not seen him this bad before. Finally Thomas turns and catches my eye. He stands there for a second before smiling and I quickly move around my various workbooks till I find my notebook I use to talk to him. I take my sharpie and write: ‘Are you okay?’

I watch him shake his head ever so slightly, seemingly baffled at it, but he walks to his window and opens it. The wind brushes his deep brown hair and I can't help but want to reach out and run my hand through it. I curse myself for it as he motions for me to open my window. Moving my books and pens off of me and cursing at my stiff leg as I go and open the window. Somehow I manage to hit my arm in the process and I curse, which makes Thomas laugh slightly so I forgive my body for hurting me.

“You have a wicked mouth Wadsworth. Did you not learn cursing is unlady-like?” he teases and I relax slightly because of it.

“Fuck you,” I scowl at his smirk and the frigid wind. His eyes light up at my temper. We live across from one another, if we were to reach out we could hold hands. Which we have done. When I got rejected from the specific school I was desperate to go to, Thomas had managed to climb into my room and hold me as I cried. He's only ever needed to climb over twice to cheer me up, the other times have been to study or watch some romance programme he thought was good. I hoped wherever was troubling was something that wouldn't resort to me having to climb over. As much as I would want to, my brain may have a hard time letting me attempt it.

“I assume dear Wadworth, you want to ask what has made me so irate?” he asks, eyes focused on behind me and fingers tapping his window sill as he sits. I watch as his cat, ridiculously named Sir Isaac Mewton, jumps off his bed and onto his seat next to him. He grabs the cat and kisses the top of his head before holding him in his lap.

“Perhaps,” I say, moving so I rest my head on the wall, “perhaps I merely wanted to ask if Sir Issac was okay.” his eyes shift to mine and despite him still being angry they soften at my attempt at humour. I am not as good as Thomas at using humour to help someone, but he always does it for me.

“Really? You always refer to him as a little pest, whereas as with me, I am your dearest person, of course you want to know how I am feeling. My son is good though, very energetic today.” he smiles down at his cat. I remember the day he brought him home, he made me go over to his house and we spent all night playing with him. Thomas did, I ended up studying and making notes for the both of us while he gave Sir Isaac a ‘grand tour’ of his new home. The smile vanishes off Thomas's face and once again his gaze goes past me. “I assume you saw the call, well that was William. Yes, awful. Apparently though, there is a rumour that I'm with Miss Whitehall. I don't even remember her first name, but he was convinced of our relation despite my protests. Madness.” I watch him scoff, anger once again taking over his features. His cat nuzzles into him and Thomas leans into his cat. If I wasn't also mad now I'd smile at the sight.

“Is this the same William that had convinced everyone I was dating him?”

“Yes.”

“Bitch. Why on earth is he such a problem? Where on earth does he even make this assumptions about us?'' I find myself standing and pacing, trying to quell my own rising anger. A year ago, William had been my lab partner for a few weeks, he was friendly, but people had got it in their head that we were somehow together, and he went with it. Gossiped about me, even Thomas, and then was somehow enraged I dared to stop those rumours and be angry at him. I'd come home one day when it was particularly too much, when my father had found out and lectured me about it, as though I was in the wrong for standing up for myself. He'd cancel my lesson with my uncle out of spite, and I stormed upstairs. Thomas had been at the window, as if he was expecting me. One look at his face made me cry. I managed to open my window and he'd once again climbed in and held me as I cried. Then he made us watch this awful romance film together and held me still as I fell asleep on him.

“I have never once,” Thomas says, dragging me back from those awful memories, “shown interest in her, nor will I ever.” He drags a hand through his hair. “She's just- a lot.”

I huff a sigh. She is awful. Had been awful to Liza and I for years. With her short skirts, high heels and the most rotten attitude I have ever witnessed. It wasn't often that I'd hate someone like that, someone so different from me in nearly every way, but she has tried to make me feel that I don't belong because of my interest in science and not the traditional girl interests.. “That is the understatement of the year Cresswell. Beside, you wouldn't work, she's too- your,” I have no idea how to explain how excellent Thomas is, how wonderful his mind is and how kind he is. It's not a side he shows to most, yet if he was ever with someone like Whitehall, it would be disastrous. I take my seat again and find him looking at me, suppressing a smirk and raising an eyebrow at me. “What?” I ask. I shrink under his gaze, pulling my hoodie over my legs as I curl in on myself.

“I’m what? I'd be delighted to know your innermost thoughts of me, Wadsworth.”

“Your absurd but fine I'll elaborate,” I roll my eyes as he shifts so he is fully facing me, eyes completely focused, no sign of the anger he had only moments ago, “your too kind, too witty and clever and Whitehall wouldn’t appreciate you enough. You-” don’t belong with her.

Ever since he mentioned the idea of being with someone else, real or not, I have tried to ignore how much it pained me that he would be with someone else. I never expected to want to be with him, yet lately the premise of dating him has seemed very pleasing to me.

“You forgot to mention how handsome I look, or how charming I am, but I'll take it,” his voice is deeper than normal and his gaze travels over me even though his eyes are on my own. Thomas pats Sir Issac and his cat jumps off behind him with a whine. His hand reaches out for mine and I lean forward, wind making my loose strands of hair fly across my face. His hands are warm as I take them but his smile warms me more. It is small but genuine and filled with the normal Cresswell charm mixed with something I can't quite name.

“I don’t need to inflate your ego further Thomas.”

“I know but it would've been nice. I did say the inner most thoughts but we’ll get there. Audrey rose-” he looks down contemplating his words before he once again locks his gaze on mine, his dark brown eyes bright, “I dont belong with her, your right, my heart would never belong to her especially since it already belongs to someone else.”

I blink at the honesty. I want to scream that you belong with me; but if Thomas is in love with someone else then I suppose I will have to find a way to deal with it. I try to keep the hurt of my face even as he smiles at me.

“I-” Thomas lets go of my hand and stands. There's a silence between us until he motions for me to move. The idiot is going to climb into my house so he can tell me about his new found love. Like the fool I am, I'm going to let him talk about this girl who makes him look this happy. Even though it hurts that it's not me who is making him look like that. Even though I'm the one who makes him laugh when he is angry or upset. Even though I'm the one who knows his favourite songs, the books beside his bed and all his hopes and dreams.

He climbs over and sets himself on the window sill, giving me room to sit across from him. I do, even as I try to ignore the weight pressing down on my chest. “I hope you are happy with whomever has your heart Cresswell.” I say and mean it. I once again curl into myself, hoodie covering my legs as i watch him continue to smile at me,

“Of course I'll be happy. She's amazing. Let me tell you all about her. I met her many years back and was instantly smitten with her emerald eyes and her quick witted mind. How she sings to herself every morning and how her dark curls fall across her face whenever she sits on her bed and reads. I adore her curiosity for the dead and how wicked her mouth is and how delightful it is to watch your mind at work. I love when she shows me a note through the window to see if I'm doing okay and-”

“Wait,” I blurt out, my mind catching up, “Thomas, are you talking about me?”

“Yes, finally! I thought I'd have to keep speaking forever till you realized it was you.” He starts laughing at my gaping mouth until I collect myself enough to scowl at him slightly for laughing. Thomas reaches out for my hand, moving closer to me until my back is pressed against the wall, my hoodie no longer over my legs as he rests his other hand on my leg, warmth seeping through me. “Wadsworth, darling, I have been in love with you for some time now.”

Silence washes over us as we stare, trying to convince ourselves this is really happening. “I have something to show you.” My voice is barely about a whisper and I slide out of his grasp even though I don't want to. I walk to my bed where all my notebooks were left open and my notebooks sits. I open it out and let a piece of paper fall out. Facing Thomas I open the sheet slowly, watch him read the words. His eyes lit up at them.

I love you.

I take my place beside him again, his hands finding their way in mine once again. “I wrote that the night after you came here the second time. Something in me clicked that no matter what you'd find a way to comfort me. Not save me, but work alongside me. I wanted to tell you I just couldn't face it. But I needed to acknowledge it. So I wrote it down, and I look at it every time we use the note system; I try to convince myself to show you.” Thomas just stares at me, eyes flicking down to my lips every now and then. His hands are making circles on my leg, not entirely intentional. Thomas has always shown if he is excited or nervous by either tapping or making shapes on surfaces. The world slows completely as he leans in and presses his lips against mine. He pulls back ever so slightly, resting his head against mine and we are both smiling wildly at each other, pressing kisses until he leans further away. Thomas goes back to his side of the wall, which may as well be across the other side of the world, then he pulls me to him and I twist so that my back is against his. He holds me as we both look out the window, enjoying the freeing feeling of telling each other how we feel.

“Now would be a perfect time to tell me how handsome I am, my love.”

@fangirling-again @kittycat2187 @goatahoan @city-of-fae @the-hoofflepooff @padfoot-sirius-black-blog @purplecreatorhorsewagon @boredbookwormgirl @goddess-of-writing-wars @lovecakeandmore @yikesitsmaddie @loveyatopluto @throneofsc @bookscressworth

#sjtr #hpd #efh #btdp #ctd #stalking jack the ripper #hunting prince dracula #escaping from houdini #capturing the devil #thomas cresswell #cresswell #audrey rose #audrey rose wadsworth #wadsworth #cressworth #kerii maniscalco #you belong with me

215 notes · View notes

dreamcatcherrs · 4 years

Text

3 types of kisses - technoblade

FOREHEAD KISS

so wholesome, I had to put it in here. forehead kisses signal the love he feels for you, which is perfect for him because sometimes he has difficulties talking about his love for you and would MUCH RATHER want to show you love through affection and actions instead of words.

nothing was going right for you.

the entire day had been a disaster from the moment you stepped out of your bed, and up until now, the moment you stepped into your boyfriends apartment.

number one, you had to wake up at 6.30 am for an early meeting at work, only to find that your coffee machine was freaking broken, which meant you’d be absolutely drained during the meeting. and as if that wasn't enough, your train decided to run 20 minutes late, so you didn't even have an option to buy a coffee before work.

number two, your boss had given you the most work a person could handle on possibly the busiest day ever, which meant that you had to stay at work for at least 2 hours longer to catch up on the work you had left.

number three, your boss had yelled at you for not being able to complete the work he’d given you, and even when you tried explaining by saying it was too much work at once for one person, and that no one could possibly finish it in time, he just yelled at you some more.

number four, once you finally got your hands on a cup of coffee, you spilled it all over yourself.

number five, you had to text your boyfriend that you had to cancel your date for tonight, since you had to stay overtime. he had been kind about the situation, as always, but you still felt guilty about having to cancel your plans with him on such short notice.

number six, the moment you stepped out of your work place to head home, it was pouring down with rain, and you had to run to the train station to prevent getting yourself completely soaked. it didn't work that well.

your feet squeaked as you stepped into the apartment, your nostrils taking in the pleasant smell of.. was that lasagna? the air felt warm and nice against your cheeks, like a newly lit fireplace would. you peeled your wet jacket off of your body and kicked off your shoes, staring into the dimly lit dining room.

you moved into the room, eyes landing on the dining table that was lit up with candles, making the room smell like cinnamon. the smell of food intensified and you could now hear the low sound of music playing from a speaker nearby.

with your brows furrowed in confusion, you were about to call out the name of your boyfriend, when he suddenly appeared from the darkness of the living room. once he saw you a smile spread widely across his face.

“oh, you're home baby,” he smiled, opening his arms up to a hug. your heart dropped to your stomach the moment you saw him, finally having something good about today. you felt like crying and yelling and thanking him all at the same time, but instead you dived right into his arms, wrapping yours around his waist.

he was taken aback at first at the powerful grip you had on him, but then pressed your head further into his hoodie-clad chest to bring you some sort of comfort. knowing you, you’d be feeling some sort of guilt from having to cancel the date, but usually you knew it wasn't a big deal to him. he knew you were a hardworking person, which was something he adored and looked up to.

you felt him place a warm hand on the back of your head, making you sigh into his chest, finally able to feel some type of relief from your stressful day.

“hard day?” he asked, and you just nodded, not wanting to talk about it just yet, but just enjoy the much needed silence. he sighed at that, but didn't further the conversation without you wanting to. instead he pressed your body as close to his as possible, rubbing your back up and down.

you stood there for a while, just breathing each other in and hugging it out, before he started pulling away. he looked into your eyes for a moment, seeing the frustration and exhaustion laying behind their glimmer, and then moved the hair away from your forehead to press a gentle kiss onto the soft skin there. you closed your eyes, a small smile stretching onto one side of your face as his lips lingered for a while.

when he pulled away, he grabbed your hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, before leading you into the living room and over to the couch. “come on, I made lasagna - your favourite.”

I knew it, you thought.

on the coffee table, two plates of nicely cut out and steaming lasagna were placed in the middle of it, surround by a couple of lit candles and two cups of what looked like freshly made hot chocolate. and of course he hadn't forgotten to hang up the fairy lights you got him a while ago. “wow, this is- this is amazing, baby. thank you so much.” you tilted your head up to kiss his cheek, whereas he let you linger for a moment before leaning in for a kiss on the lips.

you smiled lightly once pulling away, mirroring him, and then crashed onto the couch to finally rest your aching body somewhere. he followed after you, sitting down beside you and resting his arm over your shoulders.

“so, what do you wanna watch on Disney plus?”

HAND KISS

again, very wholesome. everything about him is just so wholesome🥺 prove me wrong. anyways, he would definitely use a hand kiss often as well, but in situations where he felt like leaving a more romantic and heartwarming touch. would def be the type to make sure you weren't uncomfortable or unsure of something before you did it, and would use the hand kiss as a way of telling you he’d be right by your side. sorry, I’m getting too carried away now;

tonight was a very special night.

you had been invited to a large dinner party by one of your friends, who was allowed to bring a plus one. it was a gathering with a lot of known youtubers from the gaming community, and your friend just so happened to be close with one of them.

well, in a way you were also familiar with them. you had met Technoblade a couple of months ago, not knowing anything about his popularity on the internet until you got to know him better. he revealed what he really did for a living, and you couldn't help but to be surprised. overtime you had grown very fond of him, and deep down you knew that your feelings for him was more than just a friendship. but your denial got the best of you and now you're running around your bedroom, panicking over what to wear since you knew he was gonna be there tonight.

of course he was, how could you forget? he’s one of the bigger youtubers who’s friends with even bigger youtubers! and who are you? just some stupid no-one in his life who happens to appear at the same party this night, who doesn't even know anyone!

maybe I shouldn't go, you thought. maybe this is the worst idea and is gonna end up being the worst night of my life.

you picked up your phone, about to text your friend that you had other plans tonight so you couldn't go, but the sound of the doorbell ringing stopped you in your tracks. “oh shit.”

you went downstars, deciding that you couldn't just ignore your friend because they always found a way to get you out of the house anyway. you opened up the door, only to be met with a glamorous looking person, also known as your best friend, dressed in the finest clothes you’d seen them in.

the smile on their face disappeared the moment they saw you. “why aren't you dressed yet?”

you scratched the back of your head, grimacing and not meeting their eyes. “well, you see…”

“ugh, we’re gonna be late! come on, I’ll help you get into something.” they grabbed your hand, charging up the stairs again before you had the chance to protest, and was at your closet in no time.

there had to be a way to get out of this

• • •

there was no way you were getting out of this.

there you were, sitting in one of the lounging chairs all by yourself, sipping on your champagne in boredom. your friend had left for the dance floor with one of her fellow youtube friends, who you know they’d been crushing on for a while, which left you all by yourself in the corner of the room.

so far you had only seen a couple of recognisable faces, yet not the one specific face you were looking for. your friend had ended up picking out a deep red silky look for tonight, shade so dark that it matched the colour of your blood.

you spun your glass around in circles in your hand, bored from this party already since the only person you knew wasn't even there for you to talk with. but suddenly, your train of thought was interrupted once noticing a darkness stretching over your form, the change of lighting confusing you. you looked up to see what happened, only to be faced with the one and only person you’d secretly tried to avoid seeing the whole night.

“why is a person this lovely-looking sitting here all by themselves?” Technoblade’s eyes took in your figure with a light glimmer to them, a lopsided smirk etched onto his face as he spoke. you stared at him with big doe eyes, swallowing a lump that you weren’t aware had formed in your throat. you stared at him in awe, not able to believe that the handsome tux-clad man in front of you was the very same person you’d spoken too not that long ago, who you'd only ever seen in hoodies and t-shirts.

he chuckled at your lack of words, and instead chose to speak up. “I usually never end up in these kind of situations, so I’m not really that good at this… but do you think there's a chance- I mean if you want to- what I’m trying to say is; do you want to dance with me?”

it came as a shock to you - the whole situation was really just unexpected if you were being honest. you couldn't help but to let out a giggle nonetheless at his sudden shyness and stumbling of words, easing up the built-up tension between the two of you. you wondered if he also felt that tension of untold feelings, or if it was all just something you’d made up in your head.

anyway, you nodded at him, smile stretching out on your face, glad to have someone like him to ask for a dance instead of some weird creep like you'd feared. “I’d love to dance with you.”

the two of you moved towards the dance floor, blending in with the crowd of other people, who were too busy admiring one another's presence to notice the arrival of you and him. you looked at the way the other people changed pace in their steps as the song switched to a more slower-paced song, before turning around to see the very handsome man in front of you.

his hand was extended out to you, waiting for you to put yours in the rightful place of his palm. you did so, but not without a warmth weighing down on your cheeks. and just when you thought you couldn't get more flustered, he lifted your hand up to his face, gazing into your eyes as he placed a delicate kiss on your knuckles.

“I’m happy to see you here tonight,” he stated, lacing his fingers with yours to position himself in a suitable way for dancing, other hand resting on your waist as he slowly took control and started moving your bodies in slow motions. “I didn't think you'd be here, but I was pleasantly surprised to say the least.”

his hand on your waist was burning through the silky material of your clothes and onto your skin - well just about everything was burning at this point - and you could still feel the soft plushness of his lips tingling the skin on your hand. you felt like a million fireworks were going off inside your chest, your heart not catching a break from beating so fast. you didn't know what to do with yourself, but managed to let out a small; “I’m glad.”

he showed off his pearly white teeth at your response, nervous yet excited to spend a moment like this with you - and he wished for many more moments like these in the future. if only he knew you felt exactly the same way. though he didn't have to wait for long, for there was a whole night in front of you.

NECK KISS

this man looooooves just cuddling up with you in his arms, leaving small love pecks on your neck when you're just chilling together. most of the time he just kisses your neck out of boredom - or when he isn't fiddling with anything, he’ll just start leaving pecks all over your neck. would be very subtle about it, though and probably isn't the type to kiss you in public. such a cutie though (I’m not simping, you are).

“I’m done!” a tired-looking Techno entered the living room to your pleasure, hair messy and wearing his usual hoodie he wore when recording videos. that one or the grey one that you may or may not be wearing at this very moment.

a smile spread onto your face at his presence. “perfect timing! I was just about to watch harry potter,” you said as he moved to crash onto the bed beside you. he left an long peck on your lips, craving the touch after the last time you’d left him to record alone. “you want to watch that?” you asked him once pulling away from the sweetness of his kisses.

“yes~. I haven't watched that movie since I was, like, sixteen,” he yawned, wrapping his arms around your shoulders to pull your back to his chest.

“you say that like you're old,” you laughed, resting a hand onto one of his by your chest, and with the other one you started the movie.

“I am old,” he responded, fiddling with one of your fingers, taking in the difference in size.

“shut up.”

as the movie progressed, he found it harder and harder not to do something else than just sit and watch. so what better way to distract his mind than to start showing you just how much he enjoyed spending time with you.

a warm smile reached your cheeks when you felt your boyfriend starting his routine of leaving loving pecks across the skin of your neck, making sure to push any hair out of his way to leave space for even more kisses. his hand resting on your chest slid further down, landing on the softness of your belly and rubbing the flesh gently.

you sighed in satisfaction, closing your eyes for a moment. you needed this - silence yet the three important words hanging in the air like silent screams of pure affection. you wished for nothing else in that moment.

kiss after kiss and a few belly rubs later, the two of you fell asleep silently with harry potter playing in the background. the perfect way to finish the night.

* *

hope you enjoyed! who do you want a 3 types of kisses for next? requests are always open, so don't be afraid to request anything! thank you for reading :)

598 notes · View notes

ilikekidsshows · 3 years

Note

One thing that pisses me off not just about the miraculous fandom but modern fandoms is fans inability to consume long overarching stories.

Like so many people are complaining about how long the reveal is taking or why haven't certain characters outgrown this trait yet or why is this character arc botched or abandoned. Like guys we just got the confirmation this show will be 7 seasons long PLUS like 3 tv specials. We're only roughly halfway through the series.

Once the reveal happens half the tension in the show is gone! I'm not saying leave the reveal till season 7 and make us wait 9 years this isn't HIMYM but miraculous is not a fast paced story. It's a long haul story. I just wish more fans would be patient. Miraculous is in the extremely fortunate and rare position that it will have a conclusive end and not be suddenly cancelled. That was and still is a huge problem for shows and cartoons with dedicated fans but networks pull the plug for stupid ass reasons.

So miraculous fans please chill the fuck out on things not resolving right away. We still have 78+ episodes plus the tv specials. If we get the end to certain things now it'll be so boring.

I think the concept of Instant Gratification describes the issue with many modern fandoms today. I hate to sound like I'm anti-technology, but the constant stream of quick and short bursts of entertainment allowed by the information age has made people more impatient. It's not about waiting for the climax to get a deeper sense of satisfaction, it's about getting that instant gratification right this instant. It's why one-shot fanfics are all over the place, when multi-chapter stories used to be just as common and popular, if not even more so, and it’s also why people are less willing to read a fic that’s still a work in progress. It's why people refuse to watch Youtube video essays even as they leave comments on the topic based on the title and thumbnail alone because, while they couldn't be assed to watch a 20-minute video (let alone an hour long one), they sure can spend that time calling the Youtuber names and making arguments the video actually already refutes. It's why a lot of online arguments happen only because one party read nothing but the first and maybe the last paragraph of someone's post and skipped all the explanation for their point of view (if I've ignored an counter argument for one of my posts, it was either because I missed it or because said counter argument did this. I have attention deficit issues so I do genuinely forget responses sometimes, but I'm also not writing a second essay for someone who's proven to me they won't read it).

Of course, it's only by constantly consuming only fast-paced content that you can become this impatient. People have different ideas about stories based on what stories they have encountered in the past.

Another thing that influences the Miraculous fandom in particular is that, while I love to show off exactly how much Miraculous has done to build up the overarching plotlines, Miraculous isn't really a show that's about a single story. It's easy to understand why people think it is one though: there's one main villain, we keep discovering more about the mythology, one of the main plot threads is the romantic relationship between the leads and singular episodes and plot elements tend to get payoff later. What is the purpose of a show if not to progress the story? Because the heroes aren't getting closer to defeating Gabriel or getting together, people think that the story isn't accomplishing anything.

I'll do a comparison to illustrate why these things aren't as clear-cut signs of a continuous storyline as people think. In the Spider-Man comics, you can pick any issue up and the chances are that the villain will be a part of Spider-Man's already established Rogues Gallery, who's back for more after who knows how many defeats, and those past defeats might even get referenced in callbacks to previous issues. It's also very possible that Peter and Mary Jane's relationship is the central focus with them not being together yet, having relationship problems or even having broken up (in really old issues the girl might be Gwen Stacy and short-term options have also always been available for romantic entanglements). Does this mean Spider-Man is a continuous story where the only point is that all the villains get put away for good and Peter and MJ live happily ever after? No, it doesn't. Spider-Man is designed to go on indefinitely, so there's no clear ending point. So, what is the point of Spider-Man then, if there is no Ending?

It used to be the single issue, because comic books used to have every issue be a stand-alone story about the hero and their supportive cast. These days it's more every three-to-six issues, because superhero comics are written to have short story arcs that can then be collected into trade paperbacks. A superhero series is not a single story; it's a series that functions as a story engine, meaning the series can generate several shorter stories where the hero helps fix a problem or solve a mystery.

In the superhero genre a villain will never get killed off or removed from stories permanently as long as the writers think they can still come up with stories to tell about them. The hero's romantic life will never be completely smooth sailing unless the writer is using other things to ramp up the stakes. Everything always allows for there to be another adventure.

I think the huge success of Avatar: the Last Airbender made people think that a series that is a single story is always superior to a series with multiple shorter plots. When I was liveblogging Sailor Moon, a viewer offered to give me a list of all the non-filler episodes because they genuinely thought I'd feel like I was wasting time on the show otherwise. This attitude is simply not based on fact. It's not fair to compare Miraculous Ladybug to Avatar, because they're both setting up to do completely different things. Miraculous Ladybug is trying to become a brand, like Batman or Spider-Man. It is part of the "Zag Heroes" lineup, a series of French-created superhero franchises to compete in the America-centric superhero market. This challenge is good for the genre, because Marvel and DC have started resembling each other more and more as these companies stew in their old ideas and copy everything that worked for the other one. The superhero genre needs new blood.

Also, Avatar: the Last Airbender first became popular by doing episodic plots for almost the entirety of the first season because it's actually not a wise choice to expect the audience to be willing to commit to a story that'll only give payoff later when working with an untested IP. Very often shows with longer story arcs start with the episodic format to hook people first, and sometimes the more linear plot is introduced specifically because the audience for the show is now expected to be both dedicated enough and older and capable of keeping up. Because, here's the thing: you can't expect little kids to remember every episode or even every character you've introduced in your show. I'm not sure if people are ready to hear that but I'm throwing it out there anyway. Kids are not dumb, they can understand more complex storylines, but many kids are still training their memory, so they might not remember the details of complex storylines that go on for too long.

This is why the news that Miraculous Ladybug's fourth season was going to have a recommended viewing order originally had me concerned. Miraculous is being branded for kids. The plot requiring too much skill in memorizing story details will make it less accessible to kids and might put those two additional seasons at risk. However, it seems that the "constantly changing status quo" concept of Truth, Lies and Gang of Secrets was a fluke and the evolution of the show is more subtle, so they might not be cutting the amount of episodes for those final seasons because the show is getting too complicated for kids to follow all the important details.

Regardless, Miraculous Ladybug being an adventure cartoon TV show instead of a comic book or a more cheaper-to-produce TV drama does mean that Miraculous Ladybug isn’t expected to go on for decades like a superhero comic or a soap opera. Because of this, it can have evolution and changes and even a planned ending. The show is expected to end at some point, even by the people making money off of it, mostly because making a cartoon like this indefinitely costs a lot of money, and kids’ adventure shows tend to see a decrease in returns if they go on for too long.

#media and fandom response #ml fandom salt #miraculous ladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir

50 notes · View notes

laurenairay · 4 years

Text

5 Times Erik Johnson Surprised You & 1 Time You Surprised Him - E.Johnson

Word Count: 5.7k

Warnings: Some bad language. Some sexual moments.

Summary: What it says on the tin, 5 times that Erik Johnson surprises you and 1 time you surprise him - a journey through a relationship!

A/N: This is the longest piece I’ve written in a very long time, and I’ve spent days going over every little detail - I’ve really enjoyed putting it together so I hope you enjoy it too!

~~~

“So did you think about it?”

You jumped at the sound of your friend’s voice, shrieking slightly as you spun around to face her.

“Gah, you should wear a bell!” you gasped, clutching your chest.

Mel just laughed, tossing her hair over her shoulder. How she looked so put together after an hour of vinyasa yoga was beyond you. That’s how the two of you had become friends nearly 2 years ago; you’d met in this same yoga class on a Saturday morning, Mel having asked one week to borrow a hair tie when hers had snapped. You’d chatted in passing from that day on, which graduated into getting smoothies together after class, and then to having coffee, lunch, Sunday brunches, and even wine nights. She was genuinely one of the sweetest people you’d ever met, and was a godsend when you needed girl time.

But for the past couple of weeks, she’d been bugging you with a question.

“Come on Y/N, you promised me you’d think about it!” she pouted.

You rolled your eyes slightly, unable to help but smile at her as you slipped into your jacket.

“I know, I know. I just…”

You bit your bottom lip, hesitating a little.

And why were you hesitating? Because she was trying to set you up on a blind date with one of her husband’s friends. Specifically, one of his teammates. And you did not look like the typical WAG, at least according to the internet.

“Y/N, babe, I’ve told Erik all about you. He’s interested, I promise,” Mel said, smiling even wider, trying to encourage you.

You groaned a little, hanging your head back, making Mel laugh.

“I just don’t get why! I’m not exactly the usual hockey player’s type and you know it,” you frowned, gesturing between the two of you.

And you were right. Where Mel’s hair was blonde and artfully plaited, yours was an absolute mess. Where she was tall, toned and tanned, you were...not. And where she was about to head back to her Saturday of leisure with her husband, you were heading back to your small apartment to finish off more work and do laundry for one. As always.

“Oh my god, Y/N, stop it. You’re a sexy smart accountant with an ass to die for, the kindest heart and you don’t take any shit. Erik is interested, trust me,” Mel insisted, nudging you with her arm as you gathered your gym bags.

You sighed, trying to ignore the warmth that filled you from her words. She really was so sweet.

“Alright, alright, you win. I’ll go on a date with Erik,” you said, smiling at her.

Mel grinned back. “You won’t regret this, I promise!”

“I’ll hold you to that,” you said dryly, earning another laugh.

Nearly a week later, Friday night, you were approaching the Italian restaurant that Mel told you to meet Erik at. She’d arranged everything for you, wanting you to have a ‘true blind date’, so all you had to do was show up. And here you were.

“Hi, uh, I’m here for a reservation under Erik Johnson?” you said nervously.

“Ah yes, the other member of your party is already here. Please follow me,”

You let out a shaky breath, smoothing your hands over your navy velvet tea-dress, before walking over to the table you were directed to. Here goes nothing. At least you could potentially get some pasta out of this night, if nothing else. Oh wow. Oh wow. Mel had said Erik was handsome…but damn.

“Hey, you must be Y/N! I’m Erik,”

He stood up and pulled your chair out for you, and you couldn’t help but to blush.

Oh wow. Tall, blonde, broad shoulders, gorgeous and a gentleman? So far, Mel had nailed this.

“Hi,” you murmured back, smiling shyly up at him as he pushed your chair in for you, sitting down as gracefully as you could.

Erik beamed back at you, making your breath catch in your throat. Oh yeah. Mel had definitely nailed this.

A couple of hours later, after great pasta, fantastic wine, and an even better flow of conversation, Erik was walking you to your door. You honestly couldn’t believe how easily the two of you had clicked. As soon as you’d ordered, Erik has started talking, and from there you hadn’t stopped. He was attentive, genuinely seeming to be interested in what you were saying, and he made you laugh as well as making you blush with compliments. It had been…perfect. So much better than you had expected. To be honest, you couldn’t remember the last time you’d had a date that went this well. Wow.

“What?” Erik asked, smiling down at you.

“Nothing…well, I’m just…surprised,”

“Surprised?” he asked, confused.

You blushed a little. “I haven’t been on a date in a while, let alone a blind date, so I didn’t have very high hopes. But you surprised me,”

Erik smiled widely, making your breath catch in your throat again. Oh wow.

“A good surprise then. I’ll take that,” he said smoothly, winking at you.

You laughed, nudging him with your shoulder, earning a nudge back. All too soon, you reached your front door, but you paused outside, looking up at him. It was only early October, so the weather wasn’t too cold, and you were more than happy to linger outside if it meant a few more moments with him.

“I guess this is it then,” you murmured, biting your bottom lip slightly.

Erik smiled at you, but his eyes were serious. “I’m glad Mel set us up – I had a really great evening,”

He had a great evening. He was glad Mel set you up. Even just those simple confessions lit you up inside. Wow.

“Me too. I’m glad I took this chance,” you said softly.

“Do you mind if I take a chance?” Erik said, just as softly.

What?

You stayed silent in confusion, until his hand rose to your cheek, his thumb lightly stroking your cheekbone.

“Can I kiss you?” he asked, voice now as serious as his eyes.

It was all you could to breathe “yes,”

He smiled slightly, leaning his head down and pressing his lips lightly to yours. Oh wow. The kiss stayed soft, and sweet, and slow, but your body rushed with warmth, your hands rising to clutch at his jacket. Erik kissed you again and again and again, each kiss as syrupy sweet as the last, until he pulled away, hand sliding down to clasp yours.

“Wow,” he said, sounding dazed.

“My thoughts exactly,” you blurted.

Oh you absolute dork.

But Erik just smiled, laughing softly. “Can I see you again?”

And you smiled back.

“Yeah, I would like that,”

Mel was getting a bouquet of flowers first thing tomorrow, that was for sure.

~~~~~

6 weeks later, and you were still going on dates with Erik. He was honestly the nicest guy you’d ever dated. You weren’t official yet, but over the past six weeks, you’d been on over a dozen dates, fitting lunches and dinners and even fitted a hike in around his roadtrips. You had to admit that it was a bit strange to work around his athlete’s schedule – having the guy you were seeing being away for work for a week at a time wasn’t what you were used to – but it was worth it. It was so worth it.

You’d even mentioned him to your mom, letting her know how lucky you felt to have him in your life, regardless of how early on it was.

Erik was everything you could’ve hoped for. He called you every night he was on the road, just asking about your day, and told you funny stories about his teammates in return. He’d sent you flowers to work after your third date, earning you a lot of compliments and impressed whispers. He’d held your hand, opened doors for you, leant you a sweater when it was cold…he was a complete gentleman. Sure, he had a filthy mouth that made you blush at inopportune moments. Sure, his snoring took some getting used to. And sure, the first time he stayed over and left his fake teeth in your bathroom, it made you jump out of your skin.

You were besotted, not dumb. Nobody was perfect, but Erik sure came close.

And no, the two of you hadn’t been intimate yet, just slept in each other’s arms with a lot of making out. But damn you knew it was going to be good when you did – the chemistry between you was too good not to be. There was no rush though, you knew that the right moment would happen when it happened. And you knew Erik felt the same way, at least if the fire in his eyes was anything to go by.

Today you were meant to be going out for brunch, a rare Sunday off – but you’d woken up with a completely blocked nose, pounding head and a nasty cough. You knew when you couldn’t even keep down a slice of plain toast that you needed to cancel your date, as much as you didn’t want to miss seeing Erik. But there was no way you could see him like this.

To: Erik

I’m sorry but I’m going to have to cancel.

I think I’ve got the flu.

Sorry x

It was all you could do to roll over and bury your head under the covers.

In what felt like seconds later, you were woken up by someone knocking on your door. No, pounding on your door. What the hell? You groaned, forcing yourself upright, bracing yourself a little as your head swam with dizziness. But the knocking was still happening and it was so loud and you just wanted it to stop.

“Alright, ‘nuff! ‘m coming,” you yelled, your voice cracking and rasping.

You shuffled over to the door, duvet draped around your shoulders like a pathetic cape, and you wrenched open the door with a glare…only to see Erik.

What the hell?

“What are you doing here?” you mumbled, leaning against the door to keep yourself upright.

Erik’s eyes widened at your appearance and your voice.

“Damn, Y/N, you really do have the flu. Get back to bed!” he said, shocked, herding you back inside your own apartment.

“Told you I did. And I was in bed before you knocked. Why are you here?” you groaned, pulling the duvet tighter around you.

You had not wanted him to see you like this.

“You’re sick, I want to take care of you,” he shrugged, smiling.

That was…sweet. But you couldn’t allow it.

“Erik, I’m not getting you sick too. You need to leave,” you murmured, shaking your head.

But Erik just grinned.

“I’m not going anywhere. If seeing you means I need to take care of you when you’re sick, then that’s what we’re doing today. I want to look after you, Y/N,” he said simply.

How were you supposed to argue with that?

“Erik…”

You trailed off, hesitating.

“Go and take a shower. I’ll put some clean pyjamas outside the bathroom door and when you’re dressed come out and sit on the sofa with me. We’re going to have a lazy movie day and you won’t have to worry about a thing,” Erik announced, hands squeezing your shoulders.

Wow. Just wow.

Erik took in the stunned look on your face and laughed softly, giving you a gentle nudge.

“Go, I’ll be out here when you’re ready,” Erik promised.

Well, no-one was perfect, but you weren’t expecting this. You really were so lucky.

~~~~~

There. That was it. That was the dress. You were out shopping on your lunch break; you’d met with Mel quickly ahead of Gabe’s birthday bar crawl tonight, when you realised that you really had nothing that you wanted to wear. In came Mel, suggesting a last-minute shopping trip, and here you were now, in a little boutique not too far from your office.

The dress you were wearing was high-necked, long-sleeved, and knee-length…but it was completely fitted, clinging to you. A beautiful shimmery champagne-coloured bodycon dress. It was nothing that you usually would wear, but there was just something about it that had caught your eye. And you were right. It highlighted everything you loved about your body while still feeling classy, and you just felt amazing in it.

“Mel, I think this is the one!” you called out.

“Come out and show me then!” Mel called back.

So you took a deep breath and opened the dressing room curtain. Mel’s jaw dropped a little, before a big grin lit up her face.

“Oh yes. That’s it, you have to buy it!” Mel squealed, clasping her hands together.

You just bit your lip, glancing over your shoulder into the mirror. It really was a beautiful dress.

“My legs do look pretty great…” you said softly, twisting back and forth.

“And your boobs. And your ass. And your everything. Oh you have to get it Y/N, Erik will just die,” Mel said, laughing.

You couldn’t help but laugh as well. That was true.

“Alright, sold,” you giggled.

If nothing else, Erik would enjoy you trying something different!

You ended up getting ready over at Mel’s, some of the other WAGs joining you too, while Gabe, Erik and the rest of the team went out to a bar first. A glass or two or prosecco, a lot of singing, and one lipstick emergency later, your group of glamourous women was heading into the guys’ second bar to meet them, arriving to a chorus of cheers.

“Oh wow, looks like we need to catch up,” Mel laughed, noticing their tipsy states.

You just laughed at Erik’s flushed cheeks, unbuttoning your jacket as you walked towards him. But when you took it off, you were met with stunned silence from your boyfriend. Oh…did he not like the dress? Maybe you’d been wrong about it after all.

“Holy shit Y/N,” Nate blurted.

Then Sam wolf-whistled, breaking Erik out of his frozen state to punch him in the shoulder, making everyone roar with laughter. Erik stumbled towards you, eyes still wide in disbelief, making you bite your lip nervously.

“Wow. My god, wow. You look amazing” Erik stammered, hands going straight to your waist.

Oh. Good. You let out a breath you didn’t realise you were holding, and smiled up at him.

“Yeah? You like it?”

“Fucking love it. Wow,” Erik grinned.

You just laughed, leaning up to press your lips firmly to his, earning jeers and catcalls as Erik tugged you against his body. You may have been dating for over 12 months now, but his kiss still lit up your body every time. Damn.

“Get a room!” Gabe crowed.

Erik flipped him off, before breaking the kiss, resting his forehead against yours.

“Drink?” he murmured, gazing down at you.

You nodded, smiling. “Drink,”

A couple of hours later, more than a few drinks down, and you were up at the bar, waiting to get a new round of drinks for the people still at the table who weren’t on the dance floor. Erik had barely left your side all night, his hands seeming to not want to leave your body – not that you were complaining. But now you were standing by yourself, having volunteered your turn.

“Hi there,”

You turned your head in confusion, to see a guy standing next to you, smiling.

“Uh, hi,” you replied, smiling politely.

Were you in the way of his drinks at the bar?

“What’s a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?” the stranger drawled.

Oh jeez. Really?

“I’m out with my boyfriend for a birthday,” you shrugged, being brutally honest.

“Your boyfriend doesn’t let you make friends?”

You couldn’t stop yourself from rolling your eyes. Really?

“Friends? That’s what you’re going with?” you asked dryly, raising your eyebrow.

The guy laughed, grinning.

“Can you blame me?” he said, grin turning to a smirk as he looked you up and down.

Oh, no. That’s just not happening.

But as you squared your shoulders and narrowed your eyes to give him a piece of your mind, you felt a body step up behind you, a warm hand sliding around your waist. You knew these arms anywhere. Erik.

“Thought I’d come up and help you with the drinks, babe. Everything okay?” Erik asked almost-coldly, squeezing your hip a little.

Erik just towered over the guy that had been flirting with you, and you could tell he was balking at your boyfriend’s size. Hah. Serves him right.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just waiting to be served still,” you shrugged, struggling not to laugh.

“Then I’ll wait with you,” Erik shrugged, leaning against the bar, making you fall into his side even more, “So you can leave now, bud,”

Holy shit. The flirty stranger open and closed his mouth, before just walking away.

Erik nodded sharply, as if to say ‘good’.

“Erik!” you giggled, hand coming up to cover your mouth.

“What?” he said, mouth in a surly twist.

Why was he acting like such a caveman?

That’s when it hit you. Erik was jealous. That was…unexpected. He’d never shown any insecurity to you before, not when it came to your relationship. Over the last 12 months, you’d been to plenty of bars and events with him and his friends, and not once had he ever reacted like this to anyone who approached you. What had changed?

“You’re jealous,” you blurted, stunned.

Erik scowled slightly, making you laugh. You turned to face him fully and rested your hand on his chest, looking up at him with a smile, making his scowl soften slightly. He slumped his shoulders a little in shame, a slight flush on his cheeks as he placed both of his hands on your waist again.

“Okay, I’m a little jealous. You look so hot tonight. You look always so hot, but this dress…”

He trailed off, biting his lip. Huh. The dress did it?

Erik noticed the look on your face and pulled you closer towards him.

“Not just the dress. You’re just…glowing tonight, babe. You look incredible and it shows that you feel incredible and…he was looking. He wanted you,” Erik muttered

You just shook your head, smiling slightly.

“Hey, Erik, I don’t care if he was looking or what he wanted. I bought this dress because I like how it looks on me, and I thought you would too. Just you. You’re the guy I’ve been dating for a year. You’re the one whose arms I want around me. You’re the one I’m going home with,” you mused.

Erik smirked, making you roll your eyes.

“Damn right you’re going home with me,” he purred, sliding his hands round your body to rest on your ass.

You blushed as you heard the hooting of his teammates back at your table behind you, batting at his chest as he squeezed his hands cheekily.

“Behave yourself, Johnson” you warned, unable to stop a small smile spreading across your lips.

“Make me, Y/L/N,” he winked.

Challenge accepted.

~~~~~

Sunlight streamed through the curtains as you slowly opened your eyes, blinking yourself out of sleep. You stretched your arms out wide to catch the kinks in your back, only to realise that the other side of Erik’s bed was empty. And the sheets were completely cold. What the hell?

You pushed yourself up onto your elbow, trying to puzzle out your confusion. Today was your 2 year anniversary, that’s why you’d stayed over. So where the hell was your boyfriend? It was only after a few moments that you realised you could hear noise coming from downstairs. It wasn’t like Erik to be awake before you, especially not on a Sunday morning when he had a day off. So you crept over to the door, cracking it open silently.

All you could hear was a bit of shuffling, some clinking and some murmuring voices. Kitchen, maybe? And something smelled amazing. Maybe he ordered in breakfast! How thoughtful! Then the voices stopped and you heard footsteps, so you walked back over to Erik’s bed, sitting upright with the pillows behind you. No point pretending you were asleep for whatever he was planning.

And you were right – less than a minute later, Erik pushed open the door, holding a tray in his hands. Whatever was on it had the same amazing smell as downstairs. Erik’s eyes lit up as he realised you were awake, making you smile.

“Happy 2 year anniversary, Y/N,” Erik said softly, smiling back at you.

“Happy anniversary!” you said breathily.

Oh wow.

The tray he laid on the bed had a plate with three huge pancakes on, covered with a mix of berries and syrup. This looked amazing! But did he…

“Did you cook this all yourself?” you asked in disbelief.

Not that Erik couldn’t cook, but he’d never made a sweet breakfast from scratch like this before. As if in admission, he rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.

“I might have called my mom for guidance? Like, she was on facetime with me while I made them. But I did make them all myself other than that,” Erik promised.

Holy shit. That was cute and impressive.

“Thank you, Erik. This looks amazing,” you said happily.

What a hell of a surprise.

“I may have eaten as I was going along. Taste testing, you know,” he confessed, making you giggle as his shame-face, “so this is all for you,”

Well then.

To be honest, the breakfast was incredible. The pancakes were fluffy and delicate, and the berries were perfectly sweet, bursting with flavour in your mouth. You did make Erik eat alongside you, feeling awkward just eating by yourself, but he insisted you eat the last blueberry.

“Damn, Erik, that was so good!” you groaned, flopping on your back onto the pillows, “you should cook breakfast more often!”

Erik just laughed, placing the tray on the floor and pushing it back out of the way. You turned your head to face him as he rolled onto his side, propping his head up his hand. Hmm bicep flex. Nice. Erik grinned as your hand reached out to stroke his arm, unable to help yourself, but there was something strange in his expression…

“You could have this all the time if you moved in with me,” Erik said faux-casually, the hope in his eyes betraying him.

Your breath caught in your throat, your hand involuntarily squeezing down on his bicep in shock. Erik smiled down at you for your reaction, but you could see that the smile was nervous. That was a big step. But a good step. And a step you so desperately wanted to take. But…

“You think we’re ready after only two years of dating?” you asked, hesitant.

Erik nodded so vigorously he reminded you of a bobblehead figure, and you couldn’t help but laugh.

“Fuck, yeah, move in with me Y/N. I’ve been trying to figure out how to ask you to move in here smoothly but fuck it – I want you to be the first thing I see in the morning and the last thing I see at night. I want to come back from roadtrips and know that you��ll be waiting here for me. I want to make this a home with you,” Erik said seriously.

Oh god. This man was so sweet. How did you get so lucky?

Tears filled your eyes, and Erik froze, until a smile spread across your face.

“Yeah, babe, I’ll move in,” you said happily.

Erik whooped, punching a fist in the air, making you laugh loudly. He rolled on top of you, pressing kisses into your neck, and you shrieked as his stubble scraped across your skin, only fuelling him on further. The quick kisses turned slower, wetter, until he was kissing down your body, only pausing briefly to whip your strap top over your head. His thumbs briefly brushed against your nipples, causing you to whimper, which Erik only smirked at before his kisses continued their path down.

“Happy anniversary to me,” Erik growled, tugging your pyjamas shorts down your legs, helping you kick them off.

You just inhaled sharply as he roughly pushed your legs up to your chest, moving to press kisses from your knee down your inner thigh, until he…

“Erik!”

~~~~~

Normandale Lake Park had quickly become one of your favourite places in Bloomington, MN. The first time Erik had taken you there, during the first time he’d introduced you to his parents, you’d fallen in love with the peace and tranquillity of it. So every year now when the two of you visited in the summer, you’d made an effort to spend some time there with him as a tradition of sorts.

And this year was no different.

The two of you had gotten up fairly early, Erik having wanted to have brunch in a little spot by the river that he liked, and had insisted that all you needed to do was get yourself ready. Not that you were complaining. It wasn’t like you were going to say no to Erik spoiling you with breakfast.

Soon enough the two of you were walking towards where Erik wanted to set up the blanket, his mom having sent you out of the door with a thermos of coffee and a huge hug, the biggest smile on her face. You knew she loved how much Erik adored you, especially since you made no effort to hide how much you adored him in return. How could you not? The man you loved was single-handedly setting up a picnic blanket and picnic basket to spend a quiet morning with you. What could get cuter than that?

“I prepared a few things today, I hope that’s okay?” Erik said, a little awkward.

Strange man.

“Of course it is – why would I complain?” you laughed.

Erik snorted. “I know carbs are always a winner with you, but I put together a few other bits too,”

Well now you were intrigued.

You watched as your boyfriend pulled out box after box from the basket, everything from croissants to strawberries to bacon sandwiches, finishing with a bottle of prosecco. What the hell?

“Damn, Erik. What is all this?” you said, slightly shocked.

Not that you didn’t appreciate this incredible spread of food, but it really wasn’t what you and Erik normally did…

“I just…I wanted to do something special. For you. For us,” Erik mumbled.

You just smiled, getting the feeling that he wasn’t quite finished. Erik sighed, laughing softly.

“You always know how to read my mind, don’t you? You know me better than I know myself sometimes. Even from the moment I met you, I knew you were special. And I was right,”

Your breath caught in your throat as Erik trailed off, reaching out to hold your hand, and your heart started beating even faster. Was he really…

“I know that I’m not perfect, and I know that I have flaws. But you make me want to be the best version of myself, be the best that I can be in every aspect of my life. And with you in my world, I feel I can take on any challenge, I feel I can handle any situation. My heart is yours 100% and I don’t want to even think about living a moment without you by my side. I love you so so much. Will you marry me?”

Tears filled your eyes as Erik moved to kneel on one knee, pulling a ring out of his pocket. This was everything you’d ever hoped for, and with the man of your dreams – there was only one answer.

“Yes, of course I’ll marry you!” you gasped.

The biggest smile you’d ever seen spread across Erik’s lips, and as he slid the ring onto your finger, tears ran down your cheeks. Oh wow. Oh wow. The ring was perfect – a simple square diamond on a study platinum band, delicate but classy, and it fit just right. Holy shit you were a lucky woman.

“I love you, Erik,” you whimpered, pulling him down to kiss you, strawberries be damned.

Erik laughed shakily into your mouth, kissing you over and over and over again, until the two of you were laughing and crying too hard to continue. So you sat upright, wiping your cheeks dry and leaning into his chest as he sat behind you, admiring the ring on your left hand with a smile. Wow.

“Your mom knew, huh,” you murmured, thinking back to the smile she’d sent you off with this morning.

“Yeah, she knew I was going to attempt a proposal today at least,” he laughed.

“Anyone else?”

Erik nodded. “My dad. Gabe too, he went shopping with me. Maybe Mel? Also your mom and dad,”

“My parents?” you asked, shocked, twisting to look up at him.

He just smiled. “Yeah, I asked your dad’s permission. Had to do things right,”

How could you not kiss him for that?

~~~~~

The box in your hands looked pretty simple, a small plain square, but it was going to change your life. In it was the gift you had prepared to welcome your husband home, with some news that you had been hoping for since you’d gotten married last year.

You’d felt off for weeks, but you’d initially put it down to a bad hangover from NYE (you were over 30 now, these things happened), and then to some bad sushi that Cale’s girlfriend had suggested (never again!). But then it became something you couldn’t ignore, and all of your instincts had been correct.

And you’d found out for certain while Erik was away with the team for the first road trip of the New Year. You’d enlisted Mel’s help to come up with a fun way to tell him, swearing her to secrecy of course, and she’d been more than happy to help.

And now here you were, waiting on the sofa for Erik to arrive home.

As soon as you heard the key turning in the lock, you slid the box under the sofa, jumping to your feet to greet him properly.

“Hey, babe,” you grinned, throwing your arms around him.

“Hey,” Erik mumbled, sighing as he hugged you back.

Ouch. It hadn’t been a great trip, you had to admit, 2 losses and one OT win that was a hard fight, but Erik had played his ass off and you were proud of him.

“I missed you,” you said softly, raising your head for a kiss.

Erik managed a smile, kissing you as you’d silently requested. The kiss stayed slow and soft, only a little light tongue, but it still sent shivers down your spine. Eventually you broke away, and Erik was smiling a bit more genuinely now. Good.

“Sofa?” you suggested.

Erik just shrugged, following behind you. Hopefully the news you had for him would cheer him up. Hopefully. As you sat down, Erik pulled you tightly against his side, kissing you a bit more firmly, and you couldn’t help but melt into his arms, sliding your hands around his neck. I love you I love you I love you. You didn’t know how long you stayed kissing for, the embrace going from slow to fast and intense to slow again, but when you broke away for air your body was tingling. Damn.

“Hey, I have something for you,” you said suddenly, breaking the moment. You wanted to tell him before you broke your nerve.

Erik huffed a laugh, slumping back into the sofa cushions next to you.

“Sure, go for it,” he nodded.

You bit your bottom lip at his indifference. Hopefully you’d get more of a response than that. So you pulled the small box out from under the sofa where you’d hidden it, passing it to Erik silently. He raised an eyebrow at you, but you just shrugged, smiling at him. Erik smiled softly back at you, pulling off the lid.

But then he just looked down at the contents with a frown, clearly confused.

“You got me…my own jersey?” he asked, looking back at you.

You just laughed, shaking your head. You had folded it purposefully to only show his number, but you hadn’t thought he would just stop there.

“Pull it out babe,” you prompted, not saying anything further.

Erik pouted but turned back to the box, and did so. But then he froze at the tiny jersey in his hands.

“Daddy?” he murmured, his voice cracking as he read the name.

Then he whipped his head towards you, eyes desperate, and you grinned.

“I’m…daddy?”

You just burst out laughing, making him blush. But the hope in his eyes hadn’t dimmed at all.

“Yeah Erik, you’re daddy,” you nodded, laying a hand on your stomach where the smallest of bumps was forming.

Your eyes widened as Erik choked out a noise that sounded like a sob, but shrieked with laughter as he launched himself forward, his hands cupping your cheeks as he pressed kisses all over your face.

“Erik!” you giggled, batting at his hands half-heartedly.

Erik just pressed a firm kiss to your lips, making you sigh and melt into his grasp. When he pulled away, he had tears in his eyes, making you tear up as well.

“You’re pregnant? How far along?” he murmured, eyes glancing down to your stomach.

You smiled, moving one of his hands to press where he was looking, knowing that was what he wanted.

“About two months. Would’ve been early November, the doctor said,” you admitted.

Erik huffed out a breath, eyes still full of tears, making you laugh.

“Happy tears?” you asked hopefully.

“So happy,” he nodded quickly, “happy tears, happy news, happy surprise,”

You couldn’t help but to smile, leaning up to kiss him again, Erik kissing you back desperately. Whatever surprises the future would hold, you knew you could handle anything thrown at you, as long as you had him by your side.

#fic rec #erik johnson #erik johnson fic #erik johnson imagine #hockey fic #hockey imagine #i hope you like this!#5+1 #5+1 fic

421 notes · View notes

potteresque-ire · 3 years

Text

Here’s my response to @pussyibo, who tagged me on a post about Gg’s Li-Ning brand endorsement.

First of all, I’d like everyone to please read @accio-victuuri‘s wonderfully written, detailedly researched post on the Li-Ning brand, the Xinjiang cotton support rally on Weibo, and the narrative the state has spun on the issue. I would’ve provided similar information in my response as well—although no way I could’ve laid it out as clearly, as to-the-point as @accio-victuuri did—because this background is critical in explaining my thoughts on this issue.

I haven’t reblogged the Li-Ning ads, but I must confess that the decision had little to do with politics. I’ve always leaned towards re-blogging art than real people.

That said, however, Gg’s Li-Ning ads have, of course, crossed my dash. And I’d be honest and say this as well: I haven’t really found them—or by extension, the idea that Gg was endorsing the brand—offensive, precisely for the reasons @accio-victuuri laid out. Li-Ning is a legend in China; a highly decorated olympic gymnast, he was the national pride chosen to be the final torch-bearer and torch-lighter for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. His company, established in 1990, was among the first Chinese brands with name-recognition overseas and has won high-profile international sponsorships—rare achievements among Chinese-owned enterprises, even to this day.

Based on Li Ning’s identity and his company being a National Brand, I’d be more surprise if the Li-Ning brand doesn’t use homegrown, “patriotic” cotton, before even considering the practical reasons—Xinjiang cotton being a domestic product that eliminates the costs of shipping, tariffs etc; that it’s of such superior quality that international brands touted its use—a reversal of the usual downplaying of their products’ Chinese origin, due to the common associations of “Made in China”=“Bootleg”,“awful quality”; that makes up ~20% of worldwide cotton production—ie. most Chinese families are probably already using products with cotton from the region (blankets, for example).

From that perspective, therefore, I’ve viewed the endorsement as little more than a case of a high-profile Chinese celebrity endorsing a high-profile Chinese brand, named after a national hero and targeted towards the local market. I breathed a little sigh of relief for Gg, admittedly—imagine if his new endorsement over those same few days had been for a brand under the Better Cotton Initiative; he would’ve been flayed alive, if the antis’ words were knives.

(And who said they aren’t?)

As such, I also haven’t considered the Li-Ning brand as “morally inferior” to Gg or Dd, or, the other way around, that Gg or Dd are “morally superior” to the Li-Ning brand. I haven’t considered drawing a moral ruler along this axis. I either believe they’re all doing what their sociopolitical environment has taught them, guided them, demanded them to do, or I don’t. Li Ning (the person and the brand), Gg, and Dd all have a celebrity status attached to them. They’ve all flourished in that one sociopolitical environment—that one they also call home.

Ultimately, Gg and Dd belong to China. They’re the product of the country, its all powerful, all controlling regime. No one can be isolated from their backgrounds—my background colours every word I say here; likewise, there’s no place I can draw a line and separate Gg and Dd from the Communist Red behind them. I wouldn’t have posted about China’s sociopolitical environment, researched on it as a GgDd fan otherwise.

I either walk away from them all, or I don’t. I either stay a fan, or I don’t. The latter is my choice. Every minute.

Have there been instances in which news about Gg and Dd make me especially uncomfortable? Yes. Photos of Gg in PLA (People’s Liberation Army; Chinese army) uniform for AT, or Dd in police uniform for BAH, for TTXS still give me stomach churns every time I see them. A violent squeeze of the heart.

Visceral reactions that come from, I suppose, the amyglada. More organic, primitive than thought.

I’ve seen those uniforms in RL action—uniforms worn by those who’re truly responsible for the labor camps and mass surveillance, the torture, the unreported deaths, the disappearances; uniforms Gg and Dd have expressed support outside their drama, their host roles:

Translation: #I support Hong Kong Police too# (On red banner) “I support HK police. You can beat me up now.” What a shame for Hong Kong.

(Dd reblogged the same post originated from People’s Daily, the State-Controlled Newspaper).

I’m going to go on a quick detour and provide the backstory of this red little box, this piece of propaganda that is much more blatant than a clothing ad. I’ll explain why in a bit.

Here’s an article that explained the incident from which the quote was drawn, that occurred on 8/13/2019 during the Hong Kong Protest and the airing of The Untamed. Essentially, a Chinese state media reporter was suspected to be a spy among the protestors after taking photos, refusing to show his press pass (he was found to have one but not his own), and possessing a “I love HK Police” shirt; he was tied to the luggage cart and beaten up. The reporter said the quote in the red little box; he suffered mild injuries and was soon discharged by the hospital. What was the background of this story, however? Why did the protestors beat up someone who could be from the press—who, regardless of their affiliation, protestors know should be protected? The protests began in June, 2019. Hong Kong had had another large scale protest in between September to November, 2014 (aka the “Umbrella Revolution”). Spies had always been an issue. Why didn’t a spy beating happen earlier?

Here’s an English-subbed documentary (warning: violence) that offers insight of the background—the fear and fury of the protestors. The subject is what is now known as 721 Yuen Long incident, or the evening Hong Kongers—even those who had not been involved, who had been unsure about the protests—lost their trust of the Hong Kong Police, once known as “Asia’s finest”.

That evening went like this. On 7/21/2019, the local mafia violently attacked the passengers of a late night train in Yuen Long station—passengers who weren‘t protestors (who wore black)—while the police ignored the multiple emergency calls from locals who’d spotted something suspicious, and didn’t show up on the scene while the beatings occurred. Evidences, which the documentary detailed, pointed to the Hong Kong Police, and the government that backed it, endorsing the beatings, therefore working with the local mafia to deal with the protests.

By 8/13/2019, therefore, protestors were convinced that their opposition wasn’t beyond using very low blows to get their way. One could argue that they overreacted to the spy-reporter; the Western media, who had long trusted HKers to know what they were doing, expressed its disappointment, and the protestors soon apologised. The Chinese propaganda machine, of course, jumped at the chance of casting the protestors as bad people, and the online rally on Weibo ensued (It lasted for at least three days; Gg and Dd reblogged post about HK between 8/14/2019-8/16/2019).

That was, briefly, the story behind Gg and Dd’s Weibo reblog.

Why did I make a detour and write up this story? Because I’ve actually posted blatant propaganda on my blog—the Weibo post, with its red little box. However, does it still feel like propaganda with the story?

Therefore, I haven’t, and don’t plan on pressuring anyone to stop posting and re-blogging specific pieces of GgDd information—be it an ad as in this scenario, or propaganda material from films, series, government/state-controlled media announcements etc. That I believe everyone should set their own boundaries, be their own judge of what they’d like to share on their own blog aside, I think—and this is where my opinion may deviate from many—“canceling” falsehoods often isn’t the best way to deal with them.

This opinion is likely, again, coloured by my background.

My observations have been this: “cancelling” is effective only if the cancelling force is, overall, significantly stronger than the force being cancelled. In the scenario that prompted this post, making Gg’s Li-Ning ads disappear from the dash is only possible if there are more fans who ignore the ads than those who post and reblog them. “Canceling” is therefore a competition of headcount, with tactics for sidekick—the side with more people, and people who are good at disseminating information, decides the outcome: whether the intended-to-be-cancelled material go viral within the fandom, or whether they die out.

I’d like to highlight this word: headcount.

This isn’t the most favourable kind of competition to participate in, therefore, if the potential opposition belongs to the populous country in the world, its members, people who may have participated in fan circles, which are essentially fan armies who’ve been used to organising, battling on social media for their idols. I’ve previously set up a hypothetical scenario, in which Dd’s supertopic members were encouraged by their government to scale the Great Firewall to Twitter, spread their support of Xinjiang cotton—a scenario that is not totally unrealistic, given that the Chinese government has previously mobilised fans for propaganda purpose.

We’ll use this thought experiment again ~ please bear in mind, once more, that this is SJD; a figment of our imagination.

Since we’re talking about Li-Ning brand, let’s add Gg’s supertopic members to the mix. The total supertopics member count is 6.11 + 8.34 = 14.45 million, as of today (2021/04/04).

Let’s say, only a tiny, tiny percent—0.01% of them are mobilised; that’s 1,400 people.

Is it possible to cancel the voices, the retweets of 1,400 in Gg and Dd’s i-fandom? Cut down another 90%, reduce the opposition headcount to 140. Is it possible?

There are also overseas Chinese who do not intend to spread propaganda, but believe in the story and have no qualms disseminating the information. There are also fans who wish to remove politics from fandom and pass all information along.

Here lies the frustration of those who’ve tried to raise their voice of concerns re: the policies and practices of the Chinese government on social media; and this is why I mentioned that my background informed my opinion. On social media, where headcount and whoever shouts the loudest, retweet etc the most wins the exposure game, it’s nearly impossible to win against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s propaganda machine, if the party chooses to have the machine running.

Their side has so many people.

One more RL example: here’s a scholarly article detailing how Diba (帝吧), an old, popular online forum in China with 20 million members, mobilised, collectively scaled the Firewall and engaged in a cyberattack of the Facebook page of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen on January 20, 2016 — the day of President Tsai Ing-wen’s first inauguration; they left a total of 26,000 comments against Taiwan independence, using Simplified Chinese (which China uses) for their font instead of Traditional Chinese (which Taiwan and Hong Kong uses)—ie, the commenters didn’t even pretend to be not from China. They were proud and open about their "Expedition”.

(China’s state-controlled tabloid Global Times—yes, the same one involved in the Hong Kong airport incident above—”concluded the campaign was a “fun normal incident” that showcased young people’s passion for politics”)

Is it possible to try to cancel something of that scale? Is it realistic?

Personally, therefore, I’ve always advocated for “immunisation”: rather than protecting a fact by wiping out its associated lies—the idea behind “cancelling” a message, not having it show up on the dash—I prefer to do so by allowing it to be visibly challenged, until observers are no longer easily swayed by falsehoods. I used Gg and Dd’s Weibo reblog re: Hong Kong police as an example—is the red little box propaganda, a challenge to the protests? Yes. Is it information that I deeply disagree with, something I wish I’ll never see again? Also yes. But by providing context to it, I’m hoping to turn it into a vaccine—something mimicking the virus, the potentially viral piece of information, but doesn’t function the same way anymore.

Hopefully, this vaccine will also encourage stop-and-think moments that boost future immunity; hopefully, with a few more boosters, questions will come automatically with such red little boxes reappear— questions about the context, the purpose, the message.

Questions like these, for this incident: why did the State media make this incident the “Gotcha” moment in the Hong Kong Protests, important enough for People’s Daily to make a rally-starting meme? Why was the reporter, Fu Guohao hailed as a hero, when he’d just got ... beaten up?

What did People’s Daily, and the government behind it, want people to find when the red little box popped up everywhere on Weibo, including the Weibo of the fastest rising stars from the hit summer TV series? What belief could be expected to be instilled into the audience with this photo, published by China’s state TV station (CGTN), of the reporter tied up to a luggage cart and surrounded by black-cladded protestors?

Who looked like the strong, evil side? The meek, good side? Why, finally, was the tag about the Hong Kong Police, when the conflict was between the protestors and an alleged Chinese state media reporter?

By then, Hong Kongers were already suspicious that the Hong Kong Police had been infiltrated by China’s law enforcement arm, from hints from the different dialects the police used, how they handled the protestors etc. It was the start the final break down of Hong Kong’s autonomy. Their suspicions were not wrong. Now, with the National Security Law having taken effect since July 2020, Hong Kong’s transformation into a police state is well under way.

What does the tag #I support Hong Kong Police too# mean now?

[Please excuse my using many examples from HK because 1) I’m familiar with the details; and 2) it’s the only instance in recent history in which the outside world can see, with relative clarity, a large-scale protest against the Chinese government and its outcome.]

Here’s my humble wish: next time, when a government-sponsored memes like this get translated and posted, be it originally reblogged by Gg, Dd, or other c-ent stars, be it on Twitter or Tumblr, the vaccinated, immunised will pause and wonder: What’s the story? What’s being told inside the Great Firewall, and outside?

If this happens, red little boxes on my blog, unpleasant as they are, are 100% worth it.

The Li-Ning ads are therefore worth it too, IMO, if they spark a conversation, a dissemination of facts and perspectives. To me, the latter is especially precious in this fandom, where significant language and cultural barriers exist. Fans who move Gg and Dd’s news and candies from Weibo are the pillars of this fandom. Sieving through that website is hard, translations harder; it’s unfair and unrealistic to ask them to also be the background knowledge deliverers.

I’ve tried to do a small part, but I’m ... slow. Very, very slow. However, even if the background isn’t available, I’ve found being careful, skeptical about the information is already a very good thing. At heart, this is no different from the lessons from media literacy here, except there are even more falsehoods and half-truths to wade through given the country of origin of Gg and Dd’s material, and trustworthy sources are not always available. Li-Ning brand is an example that things do not need to be blatant propaganda to carry a pro-CCP message.

What can i-fans do then about the Xinjiang cotton situation, if competing against the Chinese government propaganda machine on social media appears to be a losing game?

My thoughts are these, at the moment. First, please consider not dwelling on the competition, especially within fandom. Remember: getting several fewer fans to buy Li-Ning brand isn’t going to change the big picture.

Instead, if this is an area of activism you choose to participate in—please consider channeling your effort to watching the companies in your country. Put pressure on sustainability & good practice certification companies like Better Cotton Initiative, make sure they don’t, can’t have it both ways. Xinjiang cotton is either certified or it isn’t. There’re suspicions of forced labor on its production or there aren’t. The answer should be a simple yes or no, not whether the office is in Geneva or in Shanghai.

This is an answer that we, as consumers, have the right to know. Transparency in China isn’t for us to demand; we can, however, demand transparency in our own country. Remember too: it makes a far, far greater difference for one international company to re-consider its cotton source, than for one fandom to do the same.

Meanwhile, and again, this is my humble opinion—please do whatever you’re comfortable with, that is within your ability, to fortify your stance. Should you choose to speak out online, you’ll likely meet opposition. Responses on current events from the Chinese Foreign Ministry (you can also find the spokespeople on Twitter) can offer a glimpse of the counterarguments you may meet. How will you answer them? Here’s a clip of one of the spokespeople arguing that the US used to use black slavery to pick cotton in the past. If you’re American and this is presented to you—what would you say? (Does mistakes by one country in the past mean mistakes by another country in the present is automatically acceptable?) The opposition may also use vicious words, the most extreme of which is probably “racist”. If someone call you racist—if many Twitter users scream racist!!!!!!!! at you at the same time for your critique—can you stand firm?

[The pro-CCP camp has been taking advantage of the West’s effort to move forward from its racist past to stop any criticism of the Chinese government. It already knows the easiest way to silence the criticisms is to call whoever makes them racist.]

[If everyone fears the racist allegation, allows the conflation of Chinese government and Chinese people to take root, will there be more or less anti-Asian sentiments in the long run?]

[I’ve been called racist by writing these metas.]

The last thing I’d like to say is this: please be kind to your fellow fans who’ve kept mum, or been hesitant about making their stance known. Some may be closely connected to China, others may not be in a psychological / health space to deal with the politics. Also, and here’s my default way of looking at this: I disagree with the idea that anyone owes anyone else a declaration of their political beliefs. I can’t imagine this issue to be an easy thing to think about for many Gg and Dd fans, myself most definitely included ~ as a (former) Hong Konger, a uniformed Gg or Dd gives me an unpleasant visceral response, but at the same time, it also means I’m used to accepting, even genuinely liking people on the other side of this political ... Grand Canyon. I can imagine the conflict, the pain this issue may have caused some fans who’re not accustomed to the latter, as being a fan, IMO, is never purely logical ~ and I mean that in the best of ways.

Passion is the magic ingredient that separates a fan and a consumer. It’s also what makes choices difficult, when conclusions from logic, political stance included, conflict with it. Some make the hard choices quickly; some, slowly. Some make them in one go; some, piece by piece. Some never make them, let time be the decision maker.

As Dd said so famously and wisely, about the conflict between passion and logic: 愛就是這樣，沒有辦法 Love is like that. Nothing can be done.

The only common denominator is this: we’re all made to love.

❤️.💛.💚.

#pie metas #yizhan #bjyx

73 notes · View notes

skzleeknow12 · 3 years

Text

Love Conquers All - Hyunjin

Genre: Angst, Fluff, Idol au, Set at MAMA

Word Count: Approximately 4k

“So my next question will go to Cindy,” the presenter said and Cindy immediately froze as the camera panned to her. She looked at her members, who were giving her worried looks, and her leader subtly asked her with her eyes if she wanted her to help. Cindy pressed a strained smile onto her face and subtly shook her head before trying to relax her smile more as she looked at the presenter. Her group was currently being interviewed at the red carpet at their fourth MAMA of their professional career. She took the mic hesitantly handed to her by one of her members, who smiled at her as a source of comfort.

“Cindy, I understand you were meant to have a collaboration this year with Hwanwoong of Oneus and San of Ateez which was supposed to be a highly anticipated part of today’s show? What are your thoughts on not being able to do it?”

Cindy knew the presenters has a script to follow and she could see the guilt in the presenter’s eyes so she simply smiled at her as if to tell her it was ok. What made things worse was that when she looked towards the backstage, she saw all of eight of the boys standing there, looking at her with worry, but his face stuck out the most. She knew it wasn’t his fault, but she was the one who had to pay the price for the both of them. She needed to show she was strong so she brought the mic towards her mouth so that she could speak clearly.

“Obviously, I was looking really forward to the collaboration, I don’t know if this information was shared with the public or not but we had already started to rehearse it and were quite a way through it, so it was a bit frustrating when it was cancelled due to specific reasons.” She made sure her voice didn’t waver as she looked at the fans of many other groups behind the camera. Her eyes suddenly caught a certain fan who was waving a large banner with the writing “WE LOVE YOU CINDY!” and that gave her the strength to continue. “I understand that everything happens for a reason though, so I’m sure that the reason the collaboration was called off was the best thing for myself and the other parties. The time that would have been spent in practice gave me a chance to reflect on myself and improve more as well as think back on everything to ensure I don’t make any mistakes in the future.”

“Ah yes of course, at least there was a positive outcome,” the second presenter said, but her eyes were still glued to Cindy which she took as another question about to be thrown her way. “You also wrote one of the songs that your group will be performing today, would you like to tell us about what inspired you to write it and your train of thoughts?”

“The song I wrote, to be honest I related it to myself quite a lot,” she said. “I’ve been misunderstood a lot; when you’re in the public eye, you don’t get a chance to explain yourself, one wrong move that may be made with a pure intention could cost you your mental health as well as your career. The song is basically talking about how no one knows what we’re going through unless they actually go through it the way we have to. I know a lot of people know what I mean when I say life as an idol isn’t always rainbows and sparkles, but unless you actually live this life, then you can’t imagine the hardships it takes to even stand here. We’re humans too, so I guess I was just trying to portray how not everything is as it seems.” She let out a small laugh which the presenters mirrored in order to lighten the mood, but her members and the eight boys on the side could tell how forced and bitter it was.

“But there are obviously fulfilling moments?” the presenter asked, trying to stir the conversation back to a lighter topic. Cindy was aware their group had probably gone overtime by a minute so they had to wrap the interview up to move onto the next group.

“Yes of course, our fans and the members are the most rewarding part,” Cindy said and she smiled with the other members as she heard a loud chorus of screams of delight from their fans.

The interview ended quickly after that and the girls made their way off the red carpet, but obviously fate was not being good to her today. As Cindy walked off the stage, she heard a voice call out to her from the crowd.

“CINDY YOU B****!” a fan cursed, causing her and her members to stop in their tracks, shocked. “FIRST YOU DATE OUR HYUNJIN FOR FAME, AND THEN YOU USE HWANWOONG AND SAN TO MAKE YOURSELF LOOK BETTER. YOU’RE SO DESPERATE. WE HATE YOU!” The words didn’t hurt as much as the noises of agreement coming from the audience, and the angry protests and comforting cheers of her fans did not help drown them out. She turned to look at the eight boys, one of them particularly who looked as if someone had just slapped his face. He noticed how her facial expressions showed how she was trying to stop herself from crying and he wanted nothing more than to just engulf her in a hug and tell her it would all be alright. Cindy’s leader quickly ushered her off the stage as her members followed, and they were glad to see their seniors as well as close friends, Oneus, waiting for them at the end, out of sight of the cameras. The members gave her encouraging smiles as Hwanwoong gave her a brotherly hug. Xion and Keonhee immediately came to her and put their arms around her, quickly engaging her in a conversation sure to make her laugh, whilst her members and the rest of the Oneus members talked quietly about what had just happened. Whilst they were walking away, they heard the presenters call the next group onto the stage.

“Please give a warm welcome to… Stray Kids!”

(Time Skip)

The stage erupted into flames as BTS’ Fire started playing and that sent the crowd into a frenzy of screams, not to mention how all the other idols, who were meant to look professional and show minimum reaction, jumped out of their seats as the performers on stage got into formation. Cindy and her members were no exception and she, along with her other member, started energetically dancing, living up to their positions as main and lead dancer. The Oneus members next to them were singing the lyrics loudly and if any outsider came in they would have thought they were at a concert instead of an award show. Cindy happened to turn to her left and was immediately surprised and freaked out when she saw Hyunjin’s eyes trained on her, and it looked so extremely obvious. She panicked and looked around when her heart stopped. Right in the front row of where the fans were seated, she saw a camera pointed towards them, catching the whole interaction. She just felt so overwhelmed at that point that she tapped her leader and told her she was going out for some fresh air. They knew they couldn’t just leave halfway through but her leader saw how troubled she looked so she helped sneak her backstage. This did not go unnoticed by the Stray Kids members and Hyunjin quickly turned to Bangchan to ask him for permission to leave. Noticing Bangchan’s hesitance, Minho patted Hyunjin’s back, as if telling him to go. Hyunjin smiled gratefully before disappearing backstage, not knowing about the camera still recording him, the one that had caused Cindy to leave so suddenly.

Hyunjin walked down the corridor of dressing rooms, ignoring the looks of surprise the staff members were giving him, all of then wondering why he was backstage and not in the idol sitting area. He finally reached Cindy’s groups dressing room, just as her manager walked out. She was evidently surprised as she quickly pulled him away from the door to the room and took him behind the vending machine, out of sight.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” she hissed in fear as she looked around.

“Please let me talk to her, I’ve not heard from her since Dispatch outed our relationship,” Hyunjin pleaded. Cindy’s manager had been one of the first to find out about their relationship, other than his manager. The members and the company as well as the rest of the staff ended up finding out only a few days later than the two managers.

“Hyunjin, please understand,” her manager said desperately, “I know you both love each other, even someone as inexperienced as me can see that. But you need to be prepared that maybe you won’t be able to go back to how you were. Think about the reputation of your groups too. And think about her. That stunt at the red carpet today didn’t help her at all, especially because it only targeted her.”

“I need her to know I still love her; I’m willing to go through the hardships for her.” He looked at her manager desperately and she sighed in defeat as she patted his shoulder lightly.

“Don’t take too long, you need to get back,” she said sternly and he nodded his head. He thanked her with a hug before quickly rushing towards his initial destination. He paused a bit before he opened the door, slowly peaking his head in. the sight in front of him broke his heart. Cindy was sitting on the floor against the wall and her cheeks were tearstained, but she was no longer crying. She hadn’t realised the door had opened and her hands were playing with an unopened bottle of water. Hyunjin stepped in and lightly cleared his throat, and that’s when she looked up. Her eyes widened so fast that if they had been in a different situation it would have looked comical. She stood up and the bottle of water dropped from her hands, rolling around on the floor without a care in the world. Time stopped as the two stared at each other, none of them knowing what to say. There were so many unspoken words between them, yet the speech Hyunjin had prepared in his head completely vanished. He decided to make the first move and he stepped a bit closer to her, checking to see if was uncomfortable. She didn’t show any signs of discomfort, so he carried on walking towards her until all she had to do was lift her hand and he would be within her reach.

Cindy’s tears cascaded down her face, soft sniffles following them. She hesitated for a second before slowly closing the distance as she walked into his embrace, crying against his chest. Hyunjin paused for only a split second before holding onto her tightly as if scared that she would be ripped away from him, whilst running his fingers through her hair. He kissed the top of her head as her cries turned to small hiccups. She gripped onto his shirt tightly before slowly pulling away, eyes filled with fear.

“You need to go,” she said and Hyunjin’s heart broke as he watched her take a step away from him, “our groups will get ruined-” She was about to continue rambling on when Hyunjin captured her lips in his, muffling any more words coming out of her mouth. His hands were loose around her waist and his eyes shut as he moulded his lips against hers, but after a few seconds he noticed she wasn’t kissing him back. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he looked at her teary eyes, and she took that as an opportunity to push him away harshly.

“What’s wrong?” he started but she immediately cut him off.

“What are you doing?” she asked as her eyes darted around the room fearfully, and it dawned on Hyunjin just how scared she was. “Hyunjin, we can’t-”

“But why can’t we?” he asked exasperatedly looking as if he too was going to break down into tears. “What’s so wrong with us being together if it makes us happy? Why can’t people just accept that you’re the only one for me and I can’t live without you in my life?” His words made her feel so heartbroken because she knew he was right, and she knew that she couldn’t live without him either. But there was no way they would be able to avoid the hate they would get from both fandoms collectively, not to mention how it could have a huge toll on their groups considering how well they were doing at the moment.

“Hyunjin, you were fine before we dated,” she said gently but he shook his head firmly.

“But I always knew that something was missing from my life,” he said as he took her hand in his, slightly smiling as he felt hers tighten around his, “when you came into my life, I knew that you were the one. You were the one who completed me, and no one but you can take that space in my heart. Please.” He closed his eyes as he felt the tears run down his cheek. He suddenly felt something soft against his skin and when he opened his eyes once more, he saw her wiping his tears away with her thumb. She held onto his cheek and he melted into her touch, but the moment was short-lived as she took her hand away.

“Hyunjin, I… I think we should officially break up.” Her tone was soft and she was no longer crying, but Hyunjin could hear how she strained her voice as she tried to keep it steady, and he noticed how it faded out at the end as she breathed deeply.

“You… you don’t mean that,” he said brokenly as he tried to read her face, but she maintained her expression, keeping it emotionless.

“As hard as it is for us,” she whispered, “this is the only way to keep everyone off our backs, and to save our careers. We have our groups to think of, we can’t be selfish.”

“But what if I want to be selfish for once?” Hyunjin burst out and Cindy looked at him, surprised. When the two had started dating, they had agreed that they would work their relationship around their schedules so as not to mess anything up for their groups. He was probably one of the most selfless people she had ever met. To hear him say that he wanted to be selfish for once, for her, made her heart leap despite her dejected mood.

“What if I want to become selfish, for us?” he asked again and she looked at the ground, trying to avoid his gaze. He sighed deeply and she knew he was trying to hold his tears back for the umpteenth time. “But if that’s not what you really want, then… then I’ll let you go.” Cindy looked up at him and he bit his lip, swallowing the lump in his throat. “But only on one condition.” Cindy’s heart was tearing apart as she looked at him, waiting for him to speak again. She couldn’t believe that they were ending everything, even though none of them wanted to.

“And that condition is?” she asked, sniffling slightly.

“Look me straight in the eye. And tell me that… you no longer love me.” His words struck her hard and for a second all she could do was blink at him.

“W-what?” she whispered.

“Tell me that you don’t love me anymore, and that that’s the reason you want to end us,” he said, his voice wavering a bit. “If you do that, then I’ll believe you, but if you don’t, then I know that you still want me just as I want you. And if you still love me like I love you, then we will get through all the hardships together, and I’ll always fight for you no matter what.” If Cindy hadn’t been such an emotional wreck at that point then she would have rolled her eyes at how hard he made the decision. On one side was her love for Hyunjin, and on the other was the harsh industry.

She looked him in the eye and her heart tore apart as she saw the hope vanish from his eyes. Taking a shaky breath, she opened her mouth to speak.

“Hyunjin, I…” she tried to get the words out, but it was harder to lie when the person she loved more than anyone was looking at her as if his whole world had ended. “I… oh, screw it!”

Before Hyunjin could even react, Cindy grabbed his face with both of her hands and smashed her lips onto his, surprising him. He stood still for a moment before quickly snaking his arms around her waist and bringing her impossibly nearer to him. The kiss somehow made their hearts flutter yet thump loudly at the same time. Cindy could feel the butterflies in her stomach as Hyunjin gently tilted her head back, deepening the kiss with his soft lips. The kiss was desperate, yet slow and meaningful, passionate but not too steamy. The two finally broke apart, panting a little from the lack of air. They closed their eyes, savouring the feeling of being in each other’s embrace. Hyunjin kissed her temple as she hummed softly, before sharing a heart-warming smile.

“Well, I did not think that was how you would answer my question,” Hyunjin said teasingly as Cindy lightly slapped him on the arm. But then she realised a big problem.

“Hyunjin, this will be so bad for our groups-” she tried to explain but was cut off by a voice at the door.

“Don’t worry about us,” Chan said as he walked forward with Cindy’s groups leader, “what matters is that the two of you are okay. Thankfully, none of us have to deal with a depressed Hyunjin anymore!” Hyunjin scowled at Chan playfully as they all laughed.

“Cindy wasn’t any better,” her leader said, smiling fondly at the couple in front of her, “but I’m glad you two are back together now. And don’t worry about the antis, haters are gonna hate, we already knew we would get backlash for these kind of things when we first became trainees.”

“Exactly,” Chan agreed, “as long as you two are happy, no one has any right to say anything to you. Besides, you have all of us with you. And our true fans will accept your happiness.”

“But, um, I think we should get your guys’ makeup done again, you both look like a mess,” her leader said and Hyunjin grabbed onto Cindy as the girl was about to playfully throw herself at her leader for her comment. Chan and Cindy’s leader gave the couple equally motivating smiles and told them to come straight back to the seating area after their makeup was done. Hyunjin’s stylist came into the room along with Cindy’s and they busily started reapplying the makeup onto the two idols, not fussed about them ruining it as they too were happy the couple were back together again. Throughout their makeup reapplication, Cindy and Hyunjin held each other’s hands, sitting in a comfortable silence while the two stylists chatted to each other.

As they got closer to the seating area, Cindy suddenly remembered what had caused her to go running off.

“Hyunjin, we were being filmed,” she whispered to him as they stood outside the entrance. He turned to look at her and for a second he looked panicked before he showed her his signature smirk.

“Good, now we can give them something more to film,” he said as he held her hand. Her eyes widened but after looking at Hyunjin’s reassuring smile, she felt most of her nerves slip away. The two walked in and Cindy was glad to see that Oneus were just about to perform; she didn’t want to miss their stage. As they made their way to their seats, the other idols stood up to bow respectfully as they were all colleagues, and the looks on their faces when they saw the couples entwined hands was the most comical thing Cindy had ever seen. Many of them whispered words of encouragement whilst others gave them envious but approving looks. Hyunjin walked Cindy to her seat and to everyone’s surprise as well as delight, he gave her a small but sweet kiss on the cheek as he squeezed her hand tightly before making his way towards his members, all who were looking at him in astonishment as well as pride.

Cindy sat down next to her leader, who was trying not to laugh.

“When I told you not to care about other’s reactions, I didn’t mean this, but I’m not complaining,” she laughed and the rest of the members grinned at Cindy happily. Then, Oneus’ performance started and they were all too preoccupied with singing and dancing along to think of anything else.

…

“And the Album of the Year Award goes to… Stray Kids, congratulations!” The stadium erupted into loud cheers and screams as the Stray Kids members looked around in shock, not being able to believe that the MC had just called their name. Bangchan recovered first and quickly ushered the boys to the main stage, whilst bowing and thanking the other idols who congratulated them. Hyunjin looked dazed as he walked past, but as he passed Cindy he gave her a playful wink as she enthusiastically gave him two thumbs up. The members reached the stage and gratefully accepted the award before going on to making their speech.

“Hello, we are Stray Kids!” Bangchan started thanking everyone for helping them and expressed how grateful they all were for the award, and the members smiled as they heard their fans cheering for them. After he finished, he looked around at the others, asking if anyone else wanted to say anything. To their surprise, Hyunjin stepped forward, even though he never gave acceptance speeches. Bangchan stepped to the side as Hyunjin came in front of the mic, and the audience started cheering once again as they saw him.

“Stay, thank you so much for giving us this award, I have no words to be able to thank you enough for this,” he began as he looked around the audience. Finally, his eyes went to the idols seating section, where he sought out a particular face. After finding it, he smiled as he saw the happiness and pride on Cindy’s face and quickly continued. “I also want to thank a special person who has made this past year one of the best years of my life. We’ve come across a few hardships, and I’m so glad we were able to overcome them. I love you.” Cindy was beyond relieved when she heard the audience scream for the umpteenth time that night, and that made her so happy.

The Stray Kids members made their way back to the seating place and by chance there were seats right next to Cindy’s group so they sat down there. The group reshuffled so that Cindy and Hyunjin ended up sitting next to each other. Hyunjin bashfully put an arm around her shoulders and Cindy laughed at his playfulness before she spotted the same fan-camera filing them. She turned towards Hyunjin and he followed her gaze, before leaning to whisper something in her ear.

“Just wave and then they’ll get confused,” he said, trying not to laugh, and so they did just that. After a few seconds of them smiling and waving at the camera, the fan hesitantly put it down and turned her attention towards the stage instead. Hyunjin and Cindy grinned at each other before also focusing on the stage. And when Cindy’s group won an award for, Hyunjin made sure to clap for them the most, to many of the idol’s amusement.

After the award show ended, the two groups, along with Oneus, decided to go out for a celebratory meal in happiness of all of them winning an award that night. Cindy leaned her head on Hyunjin’s shoulder as they watched their friends talk excitedly with each other, and for the first time in their relationship, they felt truly and blissfully at peace. They finally didn’t have to worry about Dispatch or any other reporters, anti-fans etc. They could finally be with each other the way they wanted. Of course, there was bound to be backlash, but as the saying goes, love conquers all.

A.N// Thank you for taking the time out for reading this. I also wanted to say a big big big thank you to everyone who read my Lee Know Final Escape au, it felt amazing when I saw how many notes it had, I genuinely expected that it wouldn’t be liked too much but THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH!! I am writing more au’s and I’ve thought of writing some series too (I’m in the middle of writing a Minho au Mafia/ Gang etc series so if anyone has any ideas for that plsss let me know :) ) so I will try harder to improve in the future. Thank you once again!!!

#straykidsfanfiction #straykidsstory #hyunjin fanfic #hyunjin #idolau #stray kids fluff #straykidsangst

26 notes · View notes

royallyprincesslilly · 4 years

Text

Title: All Eyes On You {One-Shot}***

Lewis Tan x Reader

Warning: Cursing, NSFW AT ALL, SMUTTT, DO NOT READ AT WORK!!

Words: 4.1k

Summary: Hmmmm, Naaaaah! 🙃

Note: You all have Brandie, @night-of-the-living-shred to thank for this oh and Lewis’ thirst trappin’ ass.

***Loosely Edited/Proofread***

***Mildly Interactive***

You couldn’t believe it had been three months. Three freaking months since you’d physically been able to touch him. Three months since you’d felt his fingertips graze your skin. Three months since you’d felt his lips on yours. Three months since you’d tasted the delicate mix of sea salt, vanilla, and spice, that was his skin. Three months since you’d felt his arms around you as you came awake every morning. Three months since you’d smelled him. Three months too long.

You loved that he had a career he enjoyed and took pride in. Loved that this career was finally beginning to show him the same love and attention he’d shown it for years, but that also meant you spent a lot more time without him in your bed and a lot more time being your own company and best friend, outside of the company and friends you had. It was often lonely, but you’d been together for almost two years now and had developed a working regiment that combated the loneliness.

Staring at the message exchange between you and Lewis had your belly filling with butterflies all over again.

MSG My Heart: Guess who’s coming home a whole week early?

MSG: Don’t play with me, Lewis.

MSG My Heart: I don’t play about coming home to my queen.

MSG: Oh my god. Really? Babe? When? Oh my god.

MSG My Heart: LOL. I love that you’re so excited.

MSG: You’re kidding. Do you know how long it’s been?

MSG My Heart: Three months, fourteen days, ten hours, eighteen minutes, and thirty seconds. I know just how long it’s been.

MSG: Melt my heart.

MSG My Heart: That’s not all I plan on melting.

The row of emojis was what sent you to the grave. You were practically still quivering from anticipation, and this was yesterday.

“All finished.”

You sat up and thanked Lucy, your wax lady who’d just made you a completely smooth again. When Lewis was away, you kept things tidy, but there was no need to get all extravagant. Today, you went all out, and that included a little surprise below the belt.

“Thank you, Lucy. Same card on file, please.”

“You got the full special. Does this mean boyfriend is back in town?”

You giggled. It was a shame she knew the drill. As she ran your credit card, you endured her teasing and salacious suggestions on how to properly welcome Lewis home so he wouldn’t dare think of leaving again. By the time you walked out of the salon, your face was red hot from embarrassment. As you got into your car, you ran down the to-do list you’d made at five this morning.

Hair, Eyebrow Threading, nails, feet, wax, shop.

Somehow you’d managed to get through all of the list, except the shopping part, and it wasn’t even three in the afternoon. Lewis’s flight didn’t come in until five. The plan was for him to come home, and the two of you would go to dinner, but you planned on surprising him at the airport. You were that anxious to see him.

As you were in the midst of getting ready to go to surprise him at the airport, your phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Guess who is officially in the same state as you?”

“Baby?”

“That’s right. I landed forty minutes ago.”

Your head snapped to the clock. It wasn’t even five o’clock.

“Baby, you said five.”

“I know, look, I thought it would be too but looks like even time and space wanted us to be together.”

You remembered the first time he said those words to you. They did the same thing now as they did almost two years ago—made your heart skip a beat.

“I just wanted to give you a heads up before I walked in the door,” Lewis added. That was when you heard a car door shut.

“Thank you, have a good one.”

Sensing something was going on, you perked up. As you walked to the window of your bedroom, your phone chime for the Ring went off, indicating someone had tripped the sensor.

“Lew, baby, is that--.”

“Honey, I’m home. Come to daddy.”

A scream escaped you before you dropped your phone and ran out of the bedroom.

“Slow down.”

Ignoring his warning, you barreled down the stairs and through your home. For the first time, you regretted signing the contract on this mammoth of a house. You should have stuck to your guns when Lewis said it was perfect, and you mentioned it was only going to be the two of you in a house meant for six people. His rebuttal—then we’ll fill it up with some kids. Once he said that you happily signed the contract right beside his name.

After way too long, you found him in the foyer at the front door, and that was when you picked up speed.

“Baby!”

Lewis opened his arms and waited for you to leap into them. Once you did, you wrapped your legs around his back and crashed your lips to his. It had been three months since you’d been kissed, and it was long overdue. Eagerly you dipped your tongue into his mouth, hoping to show him just how excited you were to see him. Lewis moaned then turned your body to press you onto the dark wooden door.

“I missed you so much,” you panted out in between kisses.

“I missed you more.”

Feeling as if there were too many barriers between you, you began peeling them off one by one. His jacket dropped to the floor within seconds. Then came his polo that you peeled off of him. with him bare chest, you allowed your fingers to reacquaint with his skin. Lewis must have felt the same way because the tee-shirt you wore, his tee-shirt was gone a few seconds after your nails scraped his back. Realizing you didn’t have on a bra, his eyes feasted on your flesh.

“Welcome home to me, indeed.”

You snorted and shook your head before wrapping your arms around his neck to kiss him some more. Lewis carried you through your home until he’d laid you onto the extra-large sectional couch. On lazy days this was where the two of you always ended up just cuddling, watching TV, or just chatting. Lewis pressed kiss after kiss onto your neck, collar, and chest before he rested his head in between your breasts and moaned.

“Mmmm, I missed your skin,” he muttered.

You lazily played with his midnight locks taking your time to graze his scalp with your nail tips.

“I missed your smell,” you replied, inhaling deeply, allowing the scent that was all him to envelope you.

Lewis turned his head and kissed your sternum before trailing down your belly. When he kissed your pelvis over your leggings, he moaned.

“I canceled that dinner.”

“What?”

“I know it was supposed to be a surprise, but when my mom texted me to confirm she kind of let it slip,” he admitted.

You snorted, then laughed. It echoed through the first floor of your home.

“Okay, so dinner is canceled. What’s planned in its place?”

“Nothing.”

“What do you mean nothing? Baby, I’m sure everyone who was supposed to come to this dinner tonight wanted to see you. It has been months,” you stressed.

“Oh, I know it’s been months. That is why I canceled with my mom’s blessing. She even had a message for you.”

You piqued up, straining your neck so you could gaze down at him. Making eye contact without angling his head up, Lewis smirked but didn’t speak.

“What message?”

“She’s not getting any younger and would like to be able to do Tik Tok dances with her grandchild without worry about her knees.”

Your jaw dropped to which Lewis busted out laughing.

“Wait, wait. What!?”

“You heard me.” He kissed your belly again and dipped his tongue into your belly button. Moaning softly, you bit into your bottom lip.

“So you’re saying your mother not so specifically but specifically is suggesting that--.”

“—I put a baby in you? Yeah,” Lewis filled in.

Your jaw was again ajar from your state of shock.

“Wow.”

You’d always known his mother wanted grandkids, but it was always one of those once a year at family dinners passing comment. She’d graduated now. Before you knew it, Lewis had lifted you into his arms again and was now carrying you through the halls, up the stairs.

“You’re walking away from the door. What exactly are we supposed to do with the rest of the day?”

“I think I have plenty of ideas,” Lewis answered as he carried you into your bedroom.

From walking into the bedroom, he walked on into the bathroom. Once inside, Lewis plopped you onto the sink. As soon as you were seated, he began pulling off your leggings.

��What’s happening right now?”

“I’m getting you naked. I want to wash off the airplane and travel off of me before I smother myself with you, and you’re going to help me.”

“Oh, am I?” Lewis then yanked off your pants and dropped them onto the floor, leaving you in your high waisted bikini-style thong. Lewis lowly growled as he peeped peeks of your ass in the mirror behind you.

“You were ready for me to come home, you know how much I love these,” he grunted out, snapping the elastic against your skin, leaving a subtle stinging sensation that slowly dulled. Though it dulled, it awoke and intensified another sensation—arousal.

He pulled back and began working on his jeans. Once he dropped them and pulled his boxer-briefs off, your teeth once again sank into your bottom lip. Your eyes traveled along his body, taking in the sleek muscles that decorated his torso down to his well defined oblique muscles that slanted inward, tempting you with that under bellybutton tattoo. He was even more ripped than he was three months ago. He was also a lot more bruised and scraped up.

“Jeez, what have they done to you?”

Glancing over his body, Lewis shrugged nonchalantly. “Eh, occupational hazard.”

You hopped off the sink and closed the space between you trailing your hand from his hip, over his ribs, and up to his chest. Once you reached his jaw, you gently cupped it.

“Let’s get you cleaned so I can take care of you.”

Walking behind him, you led the way to the shower, turned on the water, and allowed the moisture to rain over you. It was hard not to smirk when you heard Lewis’s guttural groan. As soon as he let it out to bounce off the tiled walls, his arms were wrapping around you, pulling you into him.

Lewis’s lips latched onto your neck and sucked. The force of that suck had you remembering everything that mouth had ever done to you. As if he remembered as well, his grip tightened as his hand roamed to your backside to cup it. It felt like he moved his hands everywhere all at once as if he couldn’t be happy with one location.

“It’s been so long, baby. I need you so much,” Lewis whispered in your ear, sending a violent shiver through you that awakened so much in you that you nearly overpowered him and took control. Almost.

Before you could, Lewis pressed you to the wall, stretching your hands out along the tile. His mouth moved from your neck to your lips to suck the air right from your lungs. The man was meant for kissing. Once he was sure you wouldn’t be able to function, you felt his knee nudge your legs apart. Within seconds you felt his hand cup your sex, making you loudly gasp.

“Do you need me as much as I need you?” Knowing you had no words to express how much you needed him, you nodded.

“Words, babygirl.”

You already saw what mood he was setting. Gathering your composure, you pushed off the wall and walked over to your bath products then lathered your bath gloves. Turning back to Lewis, you gently rubbed along his body taking care not to hurt him anywhere accidentally. As your gloved hands slowly traveled across his skin, your eyes followed where they went. The white lather of the soap was a nice contrast with his tanned and tattooed skin.

Once you made it to his back, you relished the feel of his muscles dancing underneath your fingers, showing you again just how hard he pushed his body. Seductively you swirled your finger down his spine until you made it to the top of his taunt ass. There was nothing but trust from him as your hand rubbed his derriere, a trust you’d mirrored every day since nearly the day you’d met.

After several long minutes of cleaning and teasing every inch of him, Lewis again pushed you against the shower wall. This time your abdomen and face rested against its cool surface while he pressed his body against your back and ass. Instead of speaking, Lewis kissed your jaw, brought his mouth to your ear, and bit down as he pulled the shower glove off of your hand. He knew damn well it wouldn’t fit his much larger one.

It didn’t matter if they fit perfectly to him; a few moments later, you felt his gloved hand rub against your backside.

Up—down—up—down.

Lewis released a deep groan right beside your ear. Bringing his hand up your back, he gently rubbed your skin, applying enough pressure and force to clean but not enough to give you any sort of pleasure. He was an expert tease. Once his hand made it to your shoulder, he massaged it, applying more pressure dragging a satisfying moan from your lips.

“You’re tense, love.”

“I wonder why,” you whispered.

Quickly, Lewis had you flipped around staring into your eyes. As he distracted you with his golden chestnut orbs, pulling you even more under his spell, his hand wreaked havoc on your breast. He rubbed, circled, pinched, and repeated the process. Bringing his ungloved hand to join in on the pleasure, he cupped and massaged them until he brought both hands to your throat to gently but forcefully hold you there.

His lips crashed to yours soon after. His tongue was a work of art and spelled by a sorcerer and was proving to you just how well he knew how to use it. Your moans matched his, but when you felt his gloved hand against your folds, your moans increased.

“Oh, baby.”

“I can feel that tension increasing,” Lewis taunted as he turned you, placing you under one of the two overhead shower fixtures.

Once the soap from your bodies was washed away, Lewis was carrying you once again into the bedroom. With you rested across it with your legs spread, Lewis’s head and mouth licked, nibbled, and sucked a path down your body until you felt his tongue flick across your needy bud. With the arch of your back, you gasped again.

“Fuck, baby!”

“Mmm.”

In seconds his mouth was fastened over your sex, feasting as if his last meal was right between your thighs. There was an urgency to how his tongue flicked your clit and then delved between your folds only to nibble against your labia. After a few short minutes, you were a whimpering, writhing mess. Needing something to touch, your hands raked along his head. Every time you tried to snap your thighs together, he used his strength on you prying them apart and holding them to the bed so he could do as he wished.

“Fuck Lewis, yes!”

His moans were the only reply he gave. Just as you felt yourself nearing the threshold of absolute ecstasy, he pulled away and stood at the foot of the bed. As if he had a tether from him to you, your body yanked to a half-sitting position.

“What!? What’s wrong? What’re you doing?”

Lewis didn’t answer. He just stood there licking his lips before he used his thumb to swipe at the corner of his mouth. The look in his eyes told you he had no intention of coming back to finish the job.

“Lew---,” you cautiously began watching him. He couldn’t tell you that he no longer wanted you; the uterus destroying lightsaber that Kylo Ren wished he possessed said otherwise. Biting your bottom lip, you moaned.

“Come here, baby, let me help.”

Lewis walked away to the leather armchair that was in the nearest corner to the bed. He then pulled it across the room to place it at the foot of the bed. By that time, you thought he meant for you to straddle him on it. So when Lewis sat, you began to move.

“Stop!”

Pausing, you gave him a questioning look.

“How long have I been gone?”

Crinkling your brow, you sighed. “Months.”

“How many?”

“Lewis--,” you began.

“—Y/N. be a good girl and answer me.”

Like a brat, you kissed your teeth and sighed out exaggeratedly. “Three months.”

“Have you touched yourself since I’ve been gone?”

Your eyes bugged. He knew the answer to that. Lewis’s eyes flicked to the right bedside table, where he knew you had your toys.

“Lewis, I don’t want to play this game,” you whined.

“Are you sure? Your nipples are telling a different story.”

Narrowing your eyes, you ended on an eye-roll. “Yes.”

With your answer, Lewis stroked his cock, bringing your attention to the massive erection just standing tall as if it knew there was none like it. Lewis groaned and sucked in a breath.

“Though I’ve tried not to, I’ve done this several times. I’ve lost track of how many.”

You could hear his voice speaking, but you were too focused on his actions to really allow any words to resonate. Watching his large, veiny hand stroke his need had your mouth watering. It was so damn sexy. The sighed, coupled with his moans, was enough to make fresh wetness pool between your legs.

When his hand stopped, you followed it to rest on the arm of the chair. A few seconds passed before you realized he wasn’t going to bring it back to continue. Locking eyes with him, you recognized the look.

“Show me how you’ve done it.”

You could have choked from the shock. You knew he wasn’t joking, and you knew better than to toy with him when he got like this. Bringing your hand down your body, you cupped your own sex and groaned. It was insane how wet you were.

“Show me,” Lewis said in his impossibly deep voice. It had been months since you’d heard it this clearly. Facetime sex was great, and all, but there was nothing like his voice in person.

Using your two fingers, you spread yourself so he could see. Lewis’s grunt was loud, and the jerk of his member was a substantial one. As if in a trance, your fingers found your opening and swirled around, coating themselves before circling your clit. The second you began, you had to steady yourself. You knew you wouldn’t last long with him sitting there, but you wanted to give him a good show. Your fingers sped despite your best efforts to slow them. Once your back arched, you had to pull your hand away. The action had your back arched more as you dropped your head back.

“Fuck!”

“Such a beautiful pussy baby,” Lewis huskily whispered.

Bringing your head back to resume eye contact, you took a deep breath then continued. Starting slowly, you sucked your bottom lip and focused on his eyes rather than how you were making yourself feel. Dipping two digits inside your heat, you squirmed, jutting your breasts into the air. Lewis groaned from across the room and brought his hand back to his cock. After a few strokes, he groaned and put his hand back on the arm of the chair.

“How’s it feel, baby?”

As you plunged your fingers in and out of your body, you spoke, “So good, but I want your hand. Your fingers. Your mouth.”

You gasped then brought your soaking fingers to your clit, intent on one thing. Release. Your fingers moved quickly, racing you toward your release. Lewis must have sensed it too because he was now at the edge of the chair observing.

“Come for me, Y/N!”

“Mmm, fuck Lewis, I’m gonna—gonna--.”

Your back arched again, and your fingers sped, and within seconds you screamed out and shook from the sheer power of your release. While you were lost in your pleasure, you didn’t hear anything else but the pounding of your heart. When you felt his cock fill you to the hilt, you screamed and came again and clenched around him. Lewis growled, pinned your thighs to the bed, and plowed into you in a way that you knew you’d feel even tomorrow.

His strokes were not meant to tease you or reacquaint his body with yours. They were meant to please, meant to mark, meant to ruin you for any other separations. He wanted to erase months, show you how he alone could make you feel this way, and how only he could give you what you needed. When he shifted your body to hoist it a few inches off the bed to give you long, deep strokes, it was over. another orgasm claimed you, and your nails claimed his skin—marking him as yours as much as he marked you as his.

“Fuck, you’re so tight. I’ve missed you so much.”

With those words, Lewis pulled you up to him, so he was holding you as he was sitting back on his legs, and you were straddling him with your legs wrapped around his back. He controlled your body with ease and skill, lifting you only to drop you on his protruding heat.

“I missed you.” Your lips crashed to his and took control of this. You nibbled his lips and sucked his tongue.

It was such a beautiful mix of submission and dominance that the sheer intimacy of it had your belly fluttering.

“This won’t be long, babe, I want too much,” Lewis warned.

“Fuck me!”

Dropping you back to the bed, Lewis held your legs like a pair of scissors and began throwing pummeling thrusts into you. You were thankful you’d chosen a home that had no neighbors for miles and in the middle of plenty of greenery. As he gave you everything he had the next few minutes, you took it all.

Once you felt his move from thoughtful calculation to no order or rhythm, you knew it was a matter of seconds. Sure enough, you felt him release into you as he grunted and groaned loud enough to compete with your shrieks and shouts in between his utterance of how much he loved you. Lewis buried himself inside of you and pulled your final orgasm free.

The two of you laid there for long minutes, composing yourselves while trying to catch tour breaths. When he rolled off of you onto the bed beside you, he groaned.

“Mmm, I love you so much,” Lewis repeated.

You rolled to his side and rested your head on his chest as he wrapped his arm around you.

“I love you more, baby.”

“Although I think that was the one that did it, we have all night.”

“Did what?”

Lewis rolled on top of you and plastered his hands on your belly. “Put a baby in here.”

You couldn’t help but laugh.

“Oh, so you were trying to get me pregnant?”

His smile was wide, cheesy, and completely charming.

“Do you have any objections? According to my calendar, you’re fertile.”

Lewis thrust forward, joining your bodies again. Completely shocked, you gasped.

“Lewis.”

“Mmmm, god you feel like mine. Let me give you something else that’s mine.”

“You’re serious?”

You’d talked about starting a family together before, but you’d never made a decision. It was still something sweet to think about. Lewis stroked forward, then retreated and did it again and again.

“I am, but I want you to be my wife first.”

Your heart stopped.

“Are you breathing?”

As if for emphasis, he rotated his hips, making you feel his depth and breadth completely. Clenching around him, you shivered.

“Mrs. Tan has a nice ring to it, as does wife, mother of my children.” With every word he spoke, he circled some more.

“Love of my life,” he finished before he picked up his pace making your eyes roll to the back of your head.

You knew that there would be no rest for the wicked, and it was evident Lewis was in a wicked mood.

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

Tag List:

@munteanhorewrites @night-of-the-living-shred @caramara3 @chaneajoyyy @dangerouslovefanfic @sonjashuterbugjohnson @i-just-like-fanfics @areubeingserved @areubeingserved-too

#all eyes on you one shot #Lewis Tan #lewis tan fanfiction #lewis tan one shot #lewis tan x reader #lewis tan x you #lewis tan x black reader #lewis tan smut #black fanfiction

231 notes · View notes

adiwriting · 4 years

Text

So I’m going to preface this by saying that I love Jeanine, Tyler, Vlamis, Heather, Trevenio… the entire cast. I love this cast, but they are human and like most of us, they make mistakes at times. None of them are perfect.

Still, it’s okay to hold people accountable for their mistakes. We don’t have to cancel somebody over them, but it doesn’t make you an anti-fan to question an actors questionable actions and ask them to do better next time. And herein lies the reason for why I’ve been so uncomfortable lately in fandom spaces (fandom spaces in general, but for today, I’m talking about RNM). Fandom has this unhealthy culture where you either stan somebody so hard they can do no wrong and excuse every mistake, or we cancel somebody over a single mistake. We don’t allow actors, writers, anyone in the business to be human… and because of that, I don’t think we leave much room to grow.

2020 has been a year many deeply seeded issues in our country have finally started to receive the spotlight they deserve - racism being one of them. And in that, I’ve been doing a lot of reading about the importance of calling people in rather than calling people out. But I’ve also been reading about how we as a society have to do better about calling out racism wherever we see it.

It’s alright to question your favorite show and still watch it. It is not out of line to question things like why the show allowed themselves to write a storyline that put a black woman in the middle of a queer endgame ship as if nobody could have guessed that it would pit the queer community (another oppressed group) against the only black woman on the show. I don’t think it’s out of line for a fandom to question why the show was allowing so much torture porn for their queer characters. Or ask if the show considered casting a disabled actor to play a disabled character.

If we don’t ask these questions, how is change ever going to happen? It doesn’t mean we have to stop watching (though it’s valid if you do). It doesn’t mean that we harass the show’s cast and crew to the point of being mean. We can criticize actions without criticizing people.

So that brings me to the point I’m trying to make… Or perhaps the question I’m trying to ask.

This past month, we learned from Tyler Blackburn himself that he is not Native. Now, before everyone jumps down my throat about DNA testing, let’s look at the facts Tyler himself gave us. On the Pretty Little Wine Moms podcast, Tyler informed us that he took a DNA test during S1 of RNM and discovered he has no native blood. One of the moms was quick to point out that those tests aren’t always accurate especially if they don’t have much native DNA to test you against. I’m not here to argue that fact or argue the accuracy of DNA testing that tribes themselves rarely use for determining membership. I’m here to discuss what he explained afterwards.

Way back when PLL was casting for Caleb, the casting called for an ethnic actor. Tyler went up for the part. He didn’t get it originally because he wasn’t ethnic and the show was looking to expand it’s diversity. Now, things should have ended there. The show should have been able to find a POC to play Caleb. The casting team should have held to their promise to bring in a more diverse cast and regardless of Tyler’s background, cast a POC, specifically a non-white passing actor. Nobody can tell me that there wasn’t a single POC talented enough to play that part. If they couldn’t find one, they weren’t looking hard enough. And that’s a big red flag on that PLL team and to Hollywood as a whole because these stories are so common and why Hollywood has such a deep problem with race.

The fact that Tyler was cast instead of a POC is a problem with the PLL casting team. But back to Tyler. The PLL team came back to him after they couldn’t find anyone to play Caleb and asked him if he was ethnic. Tyler, not knowing if he was ethnic (pointing to the fact that he had no connection to any non-white culture) went to his grandmother. And his grandmother told him a story. A story many of us have heard… A story of his native american heritage. A heritage that he didn’t know of or have a connection to until he suddenly was up for a job. And a heritage he claimed in order to get a job intended for an “ethnic” actor.

Does Tyler really have native heritage? He claims no. In his own words he says that he’s not native. Even if his grandmother was right, he’s at most 1/32 native with no tribal or cultural connection. But even that seemed like a giant question mark since the people he would need to ask to verify have all passed.

Tyler was cast as Caleb, and later cast as Alex, based in part to a native background he claimed for himself that he now says is not part of his culture or heritage.

This isn’t a stain on Tyler. It’s questionable behavior of a white boy raised in a society that has been racist since it’s founding. We are all guilty of committing racist acts because of this upbringing. It’s not mean to say that Tyler’s actions were questionable and racist. It’s fact. Doesn’t mean I can’t love and forgive him, but it does mean I’m no longer going to allow myself to use “But Tyler is native” as a defense against my own racist comments towards other cast members. And I would hope the same would hold true for the rest of this fandom as well. It’s simply not true and unfair to anyone that actually is indigenous to allow ourselves to defend Tyler as a POC. Especially when we have other cast members of the show who are native with tribal connections. And cast members of color who are repeated cast as villains on the show or otherwise put into very difficult positions that invite racial hate.

I hold the show accountable for casting a white-passing boy as a native. When they decided to cast Tyler, they should have changed his heritage and his disability. Or they should have cast somebody more diverse. That’s on the casting team.

I’m hoping that Tyler’s admission on this podcast means that he will no longer allow himself to be cast as a POC, taking jobs away from POC who still struggle in Hollywood cause of racism. I hope he learns and grows from this cause I think he’s a great person and a great role model and has the platform to push others to do better.

My frustration with fandom comes in the fact that this podcast and admission has gone ignored. Even those that heard the admission, continue to make excuses for him and defend their right to call Tyler (Not Alex, TYLER) a POC. Yet, other actors continue to not get the same freedom to be human to make mistakes. Vlamis is dragged over the coals for profiting off of the LGBTQ community. I don’t even know if I can go into how badly Heather is treated. I guess I’m just confused why we can forgive some of our cast and not others for very questionable decisions?

I’m not here to drag Tyler. I love the guy. He’s a good Alex. I’m just tired of the double standard and the racism I constantly see in this community. I love this show and I love this cast. I’m not trying to call anyone out, I’m just hoping to call us in and ask our show, cast, crew, and fandom to do better.

#Roswell New Mexico #privledge #a commentary on fandom #A commentary on the show #Genuine love #but wanting the entire community to do better

165 notes · View notes