#playing for three days in chicago clearly he’s trying to tell me to come see

[whisperlullaby]

Just Say It And I’m Yours- Ch. 7

Pairing: Steve x Reader

Words: 1685

Warnings: Dumb Steve, angst

Summary: You and Steve have a movie night that does not end like you would expect.

A/N: I need to give very special thanks to @river-soul​ for helping me with this chapter so much. Seriously thank you. I hope you enjoy!

Tags: @sagechanoafterdark​ @bestofbucky​ @sweetkingdomstarlight-blog​ @libbymouse​ if you want to be added to my tag list please send me an ask or DM.

You finally had a three-day weekend which meant some time to yourself. Well, yourself and Steve and Bucky for your Friday movie night. Connor had an intense case in progress and was staying at his apartment which gave you a little bit of freedom to do what you wanted. 

Ever since your dinner party, Connor had continued to voice his concern about the amount of time you spent with Steve. The dinner party was supposed to show him he had nothing to worry about but it had the opposite effect. He thought Steve was too handsy with you and it made him uncomfortable. You knew you had to bring it up to Steve, Connor was your boyfriend you didn’t want to upset him.

You had just finished setting out the plates when you heard the door swing shut. 

“Hey, guys! In here, I have the food ready,” You shouted from the tv room.

You looked up and noticed Bucky wasn’t with Steve.

“Wasn’t Bucky gonna come tonight? I have that weird sci-fi movie he’s been dying to watch queued up.”

“You know I’m starting to think you like him more than me.” Steve gave a soft smile. “He has a date. It’s just you and me. Like old times, doll.”

A slow smile started to spread across your face. You pulled him into a hug and breathed in his warm comforting scent. You always loved how close he held you, like you were the most precious thing he ever had in his arms. Shaking the thought out of your head you pulled away.

“That’s fine by me Cap. We can pick a good movie this time.” You winked at him and settled on the couch.

Steve sat next to you and fidgeted with his hands. You passed him a plate of pizza and narrowed your eyes.

“Everything alright?” You asked cautiously.

He looked at you warily. “Sweetheart I want to talk to you about the dinner party last week.”

You rolled your eyes at his insistence and felt your shoulders tense. He had already talked to you in the kitchen at the party. What more could he have to say about your relationship with Connor?

“What more is there to talk about Steve? You said plenty at the party.”

“I know, but something seemed off. I didn’t know if you were just putting on an act or something.” Steve reasoned. “I thought if I came here alone you might open up a bit more.”

“An act? You think the dinner party was what? A performance?” You spat and stood up. “I have been nothing but honest with you since we’ve met. Have I ever given you an instance not to trust me?”

Steve blinked at you, mouth agape. “Doll, I didn’t say any of that. Of course I trust you, I just don’t think Connor is right for you.”

You sucked in a breath and slowly let it out. 

“I don’t need you coming into my house and attacking my relationship,” you started when Steve cut you off.

“I am not attacking your-” you put up your hand and Steve shut his mouth quickly.

“My relationship with Connor is fine. Have you ever thrown a dinner party before? It’s stressful! You have to take so many things into consideration from allergies to food preferences and it’s exhausting. Plus after the fight Connor and I had, I thought the roast would be a peace offering and I ruined it.” You let out a shaky breath.

“You and Connor fought? About what?” Steve pressed.

You looked up at Steve teary-eyed and sighed. “You.”

“Me?” Steve asked, surprised.

“He thinks you’re in love with me or something.” You paused, taking in a cleansing breath. “He doesn’t want me hanging out with you anymore.”

You saw Steve’s jaw tense and his hands clench into fists.

“Sweetheart, are you telling me you don’t want to be friends anymore?”

You looked back at him stunned.

“Steve. I would never let anyone tell me who I can and cannot be friends with. That’s what the fight was about. I thought inviting you to the dinner party would show him he had nothing to worry about.” You ran a hand over your face. “He thought you were too handsy with me. It made him uncomfortable.”

Your voice was just above a whisper. Steve placed his hands on your shoulders causing you to look up at him. His eyes were glassy and his nostrils flared.

“I think Connor is being a bit too controlling. We’ve always been this way and I don’t think you’re seeing clearly.” Steve drew in a breath. “I don’t think Connor is right for you and I can help you if you’re scared.”

You pushed him off of you as you felt anger coarse through your veins.

“Who do you think you are Steve? Do you think I’m the type of person who needs saving? Am I that weak to you? You don’t think Connor is right for me? Why?”

Steve started sputtering a response and you held up your hand.

“Here’s what I’m seeing Cap. You almost kiss me and then tell me you want to just be friends. Then when I get a boyfriend and find someone who actually puts me first and cares about me in a way that not even my family has, you tell me you don’t trust him? You don’t even know him. You two haven’t spent more than an hour together since we started dating. Tell me, Steve, what exactly do you want from me?” 

You looked at Steve and watched him wipe the tears off his face. You shook your head and huffed.

“Steve when you almost kissed me in that warehouse, I was ready to be with you. When you said you didn’t want that I understood and moved on.”

“I just want you to be happy,” Steve said.

“Yeah? You have a funny way of showing it.” You pinched the bridge of your nose. “You know what Steve, maybe you should go.”

Steve let out an annoyed huff. “Are you seriously mad at me for trying to protect you? For doing what is best for you?”

“Steve, I think you should leave before we say something we might regret.”

Steve looked at you for a moment before leaving and slamming the door.

The next day you went to breakfast with Connor and told him what happened, leaving out a few of the more heart wrenching details.

“So he left. He’s been texting me, trying to apologize but I’m just so mad.” You placed your head in your hands as Connor rubbed your back.

“He just doesn’t understand what being in a partnership is like. It’s probably for the best  that you don’t see him for a while.”

You looked at Connor with your mouth agape. “Connor it’s just a fight, he’s still my best friend.”

Connor scoffed. “A friend who doesn’t respect you’re in a committed relationship?”

You glared at Connor. “He respects me. He’s just dumb.”

Connor laughed. “Well you got me there,” he grabbed your hands. “Darling there is something I need to talk to you about.”

You chuckled. “Something other than what we were just discussing?”

“Yes,” his voice was serious and you straightened up. “I got a job offer. In Chicago. I want you to come with me.”

You sucked in a sharp breath. “Connor, I can’t. My life is here. What would I do in Chicago?”

“You’d be with me. I would take care of you. You’ve been at the prosecutor’s office for a few months and that job tends to have a lot of turnover anyway. Your family isn’t around and you don’t talk to them as it is. So tell me, what life is here?”

You knew your answer. You had Steve here but you hesitated to say that to Connor knowing how he felt about him. Connor noticed and shifted, placing a velvet box on the table.

“I want you to come to Chicago with me as my wife,” he said firmly. “You wouldn’t have to work, the job pays enough to support both of us. We could start our own family.”

You gasped and tears flooded your eyes.

“Connor…. this is too much too soon. I don’t know-”

“Take the ring. Sleep on it. I have to go, I have court in a few hours and I have to prep.” He got up and gave you a peck on the cheek. “I love you. I’ll make sure you’re happy.”

He left without a word from you. You finished your breakfast in stunned silence, looking at the velvet box on the table. It felt surreal, this wasn’t how you wanted your life to play out but this was how it was happening. You needed to talk about this with someone and there was no doubt in your mind who you would call. You picked up your phone and dialed the first number.

You drew in a breath already knowing your voice was going to betray you. The call went to voicemail.

“Hey, it’s me, Sparky.” You took in a shuddering breath. “Listen something happened and, um, I just need you to come over tonight. Seven, please. I just need you to be there.”

You hung up and dialed a second number, also getting voicemail.

“Hey, Steve. I know you’ve been texting me and I just.” You paused, letting out a sob. “I just need you to come over. Please 7:30 tonight. I’m okay but something happened and I need you. You promised you would always be there for me. Be there. Please.”

You hung up and reached for the velvet box. Opening it you found a large square cut solitaire diamond with a yellow gold band. It must have cost a small fortune judging by the size. It wasn’t you at all, and when you tried it on it didn’t fit. It was an easy fix and you reminded yourself that, just because something doesn’t fit right at the moment, didn’t mean it couldn’t be adjusted to fit in the future.

#steve rogers #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x you #steve rogers series #just say it and i'm yours

[i-like-it-when-ju-sleeps]

I am the Apocalypse (Part 3)

Pairing: Jay Halstead x Sarah (OC)

Summary:  Takes place during Chicago Fire 3x18. Sarah is a doctor at Med and in a long term relationshp with Jay. She is at Med when the grenade goes off.

Part 1

Part 2 

The next hour was spent trying to help as many people as they could but at this point, they had seen everybody who needed to be seen and people were just really playing the waiting game. Sarah looked at the woman who was in the room with Hermann and came in, deciding to check on them.

“What you got?” She asked the two and Hermann answered instead of the woman.

“We need to patch in your boyfriend” he stated grimly, and the young woman nodded, getting her phone out.

“He was working with Marburg.” Sarah told the blonde woman as she listened to Jay’s information. “He injected himself with it.”

“What's Marburg?” Hermann asked.

“It's a viral hemorrhagic fever. The Soviets developed it as a biological weapon. Ask them which strain of the Marburg virus.”

“Yeah, which strain?” Sarah transmitted over the phone and listened intently before answering the woman. “Raven.”

“Okay. All right. Okay, so now I just have to see if he was past the incubation period and actually infectious.” She stated clearly and the doctor and the firefighter looked at her expectantly.  

“And if he was past the incubation period?” Hermann asked worriedly.

“It means Aleem was a walking biological weapon.” Diane announced and the three of them shared a look before glancing at all of the people outside.

“Alright,” Sarah sighed “Keep me posted, okay?” she asked the other woman before returning outside the room.  The ER was still dark and filled with smoke, people anxiously waiting against the walls. Right now, there was nothing left to do but wait, as everyone who could be treated had already been taken care of. Sarah sighed and sat down, a feeling of tiredness taking ahold of her now that she knew she couldn’t do anything more to help. She leaned against the wall and let her head fall backwards, a feeling of dizziness taking over and her head pounding. She lifted her hand to her forehead, where blood was coming out when the explosion happened. There was still fresh blood on the wound but it was not bleeding too much; She refused to believe that it was something serious. Still, she felt a bit nauseous but blamed it on the lack a clean air rather than a mild head injury. Will, noticing that she looked a bit pale, crouched in front of her and she perked up, looking at his concerned features.

“You okay?” he asked motioning to her forehead.

“Yeah….” She sighed “I’m fine. Just hit my head during the explosion.” She shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“And you still ran around for the past couple of hours? Not checking if it was serious?” Will frowned. She felt like a child being scolded.

“You know I’m a doctor, right?” she chuckled quietly. “If it really was serious, I would have noticed. I just felt dizzy because I’ve been on my feet for hours that’s all”

The man in front of her rolled his eyes and got a small light out of his pocket, checking her eyes.

“You could have a concussion, seriously you…”

“Seriously I’m fine stop fussing over me” Sarah cut him off, a little annoyed. She hated when people treated her as if she were made out of glass, and she did not want to have someone taking care of her when so many were in worse shape that she was. Still, she let Will grab bandages and securing one on her forehead, where the wound was finally stopping to bleed.

The young brunette stood up with a sigh once he was done, aware that he was still looking at her carefully, when movement got their attention. Hermann had just gotten out of the room with Diane Claman and wore a solemn expression.

“What is it?” Matt Casey asked worriedly from behind the two doctors.

“Not contagious” Hermann told everyone, a grin breaking onto his face. Sarah’s eyes widened slightly, and she let out a breath she didn’t even know she was holding.

“Influenza A tested positive, but the Marburg virus didn't have time to incubate. Whatever he had in his body died with him.” Diane then said, her helmet off. The crowd cheered, people letting cries of joy and relief. Sarah turned to Will and the two shared a bone-breaking hug, laughing as a way to let out the stress.

“Open up the ER” Will called out and Otis who was close happily complied. Over his radio, Matt informed the chief that it was all clear and cheers could be heard outside. Sarah looked over at Gabby who was still siting with the older man, Jim. She approached them and gave Gabby a side hug before looking at Jim.

“Ready to pull that thing out and get out of here?” She asked with smile and the man nodded gratefully. The two women helped him sit on a wheelchair and watched as a nurse started guiding him towards another part of the hospital. Before he left, he latched onto Gabby’s arm, thanking her for everything. Gabby blushed slightly and brushed it off quickly, watching him leave.

“You know” Sarah said watching her with a smile. “I still remember when you wanted to become a doctor”

“I sure have gone a long way, haven’t I?” Gabby answered with the same small smile.

“Yeah you have.” Sarah chuckled and gave her another hug.

“You know we still all miss you at the firehouse… You sure you don’t want to come back?” she joked

“As much as I miss all of you, I guess I was always meant to be there.” Sarah sighed looking over her shoulder at the doctors and nurses of Chicago Med who were walking around helping people out. Gabby was about to say something else when a very worried Jay made his way towards his girlfriend. He took a few long steps and engulfed the girl into his arms. Gabby left quietly, not wanting to disturb the two as Sarah’s arms went around her lover’s torso, burying her face into his neck. As they broke the hug, Jay’s hand went to her face, his eyes widening slightly at the blood on her forehead.

“It’s nothing” she reassured him with a soft smile. “I’m fine I promise”. Jay let out a deep sigh looking her in the eyes to make sure she was telling the truth before nodding and taking her into his arms again. As they broke their second hug, Will put his hand on his brother’s shoulder, and Jay turned to him, giving him also a tight hug.

It took them a long time to actually transport everyone to different wings of the hospital. Every member of the staff that had been in the explosion had been dismissed, but none of them had actually left, helping around as much as they could. Once the day was over, and every patient had been looked after, Sarah tiredly walked into the resting room, only to find Hannah Tramble, sitting down on the ground, tears in her eyes, and Will’s hand placed on her knee in an attempt to comfort her. Sarah gave the two a week smile, sitting cross legged across from them.

“One hell of a first day huh?” she asked Will, although her tone made it clear that she wasn’t expecting an answer. It was a dark question to end a dark day.

 Sarah had finally been able to go home and shower, to wash away the grime, dust and blood from the day. As she wiped the fog on her mirror, she took a look at her reflection. She looked pale, her skin contrasting with her dark brown hair, but also with the purple under her eyes. And on the top of her forehead, hidden among her hairline, there was a purple bruise, on which stood a red angry line. The young woman sighed before concealing her eye bags, applying a bit of makeup and going to her bedroom.

Jay sat on the edge of the bed, simply waiting for her to come out. He hadn’t really been able to talk to her since this morning, as both of them had been busy. He looked up as she entered the room, noticing the tired eyes of his girlfriend.

“We don’t have to go out, you know?” he said quietly “We could stay here and rest if you want to.”

“It’s fine” Sarah answered softly “Everyone is going out and I really need something normal today.” she explained.

Jay stood up and walked towards her, stopping only and inch from her. She could feel his breath as he looked at her, his hand slowly grabbing hers.

“I was so worried about you. When I heard, I hoped that you weren’t there. I just…” he struggled to find his next words, so he settled for simpler ones that he thought conveyed his feelings as best as possible. “I love you”

“I love you too” Sarah answered with a conviction in her eyes that made Jay smile. Jay’s hand rose towards her cheek, touching it as if she was the most precious thing in the world, before their lips connected, a way for them to express what their words couldn’t.

At Molly’s, the couple stood with their friends, beers in hand and laughing around when Chief Boden called for everyone’s attention. The room fell silent, looking at him as he spoke.

“Just a quick word.” He explained “Wanna take a moment and let you all get back to the fine cocktails that they serve here at Molly's.”

“Keep talking, Chief.” Hermann interrupted, which made everyone chuckle.

“To the good people at Chicago Med.” He said, raising his beer slightly. “You made us proud today. And we are very grateful for the service that you do for us and for the city. It's not said enough.” He told us, looking over at the different doctors, a small smile on his face.

“Thank you, Chief.” Sharon Goodwin answered for all of the staff that was here. “We want you all to know that every time those doors crash open, there are good people, strong people, people at the top of their game ready on the other side.”

With that being said, everyone raised their drinks, a distinct “hear, hear” to end and terrible day on a good note, surrounded by family.

Sarah leaned into Jay as they spoke to Brett, Mills and Will, and she stopped listening to the conversation for a minute, taking a moment to appreciate being surrounded by people she loved, and she smiled to herself, enjoying the beautiful moment she was living after a terrible day. She had hope that no matter how bad everything could get, she’d always get better.

#jay halstead #jay halstead imagine #jay halstead x reader #One Chicago #Chicago Fire #Chicago PD #chicago med #chicago pd imagine #chicago med imagine #one chicago imagine #OC #fanfic

[letterboxd]

Wigging Out.

Choreographer and director Jonathan Butterell tells Gemma Gracewood about stepping behind the camera for Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, his love for Sheffield, and making sure queer history is kept alive. Richard E. Grant weighs in on tolerance and Thatcher.

Of 2021’s many conundrums, one for musical lovers is why the narratively problematic Dear Evan Hansen gets a TIFF premiere and theatrical release this month, while the joyously awaited Everybody’s Talking About Jamie went straight to Amazon Prime.

And yet, as the show’s lyrics go, life keeps you guessing, along came a blessing. There’s something about the film streaming onto young people’s home screens, with its moments of fourth-wall breaking where Jamie speaks straight to the viewer, that feels so important, given the content: a gay teen whose drag-queen destiny sits at odds with the less ambitious expectations of his working-class town.

Director and choreographer Jonathan Butterell, who also helmed the stage production (itself inspired by Jenny Popplewell’s 2011 BBC documentary, Jamie: Drag Queen at 16) agrees that the worldwide Amazon release is a very good silver lining. “I made the film for the cinema but, in 250 territories across the world, this is going to have a reach that—don’t get me wrong, cinema, cinema, cinema, collective experience, collective experience, collective experience—but it will get to people that it might not have got to before.

Jonathan Butterell on set with star Max Harwood, as Jamie.

“It feels as niche a story as you could possibly be. But also for me, I wanted it to feel like a universal story, that it didn’t matter where on any spectrum you found yourself, you could understand a young person wanting to take their place in the world freely, openly and safely.”

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, with screenplay and lyrics by Tom MacRae and songs by Dan Gillespie Sells, sits neatly among a series of very specific feel-good British films about the working class experience, such as Billy Elliot, Kinky Boots and Pride. The film adds some historical weight to the story with a new song, ‘This Was Me’, which allows Jamie’s mentor, Hugo (played by Richard E. Grant), to take us into England’s recent past—the dark days of the discriminatory Section 28 laws, at a time when the HIV/AIDS epidemic was still ravaging the community.

Hugo’s drag persona Loco Chanelle (played in the flashback by the stage musical’s original Jamie—John McCrea from Cruella and God’s Own Country), sports a wig that looks suspiciously like the Iron Lady’s unmistakable head of hair. Grant confirms that was Hugo’s intention. “His heyday was in the 1980s, so as a ‘fuck you’ to Mrs Thatcher, what better than to be dressed up like that, at six-foot-eight, with a wig that could bring down the Taj Mahal!”

Richard E. Grant as Hugo, getting to work on Jamie’s contours.

In light of the current pandemic, and the fact that the 1967 legalization of homosexuality in Britain is only “an historical blink away”, Grant’s hope is for more tolerance in the world. “Maybe Covid gives people some sense of what that was like, but with Covid there’s not the prejudice against you, whereas AIDS, for the most part in my understanding, was [seen as] a ‘gay disease’, and there were many people across the globe who thought that this was, you know, whatever god they believe in, was their way of punishing something that they thought was unacceptable.

“The message of this movie is of inclusivity, diversity, and more than ever, tolerance. My god, we could do with a dose of that right now.”

Read on for our Q&A with Jonathan Butterell about the filmic influences behind Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.

Hugo in a reverie, surrounded by his drag menagerie.

Can we talk about the new song, ‘This Was Me’, and the way you directed it in the film? It’s a show-stopper, with Richard E. Grant singing in that beautiful high register, and then moving into Holly Johnson’s singing, as you go back in time to show that deeply devastating and important history. Jonathan Butterell: It felt inevitable, the shift, and necessary. Myself, Dan Gillespie Sells, the composer, and Tom MacRae, the screenwriter, we created this piece together, the three of us, and it’s a film by the three of us. We lived through that time, we went on those marches. Actually, in one of those marches [shown in flashback], Dan’s mum—actual mum—is in a wheelchair, by a young boy who was holding a plaque saying “my mum’s a lesbian and I love her”.

That is Dan with his mum back in the day, and it all speaks to our stories and it moves me, I can see it’s moving you. It moves me because I lived through that time, and it was a complex time for a young person. It was a time that you felt you had to be empowered in order to fight, and you felt very vulnerable because of the need to fight. And because of that disease, because HIV was prevalent and we lost people—we lost close people—it was a difficult time. I wanted to make sure that that story kept being told and was passed on to the next generation.

It’s so important isn’t it, to walk into the future facing backwards? It still exists, that need to fight still exists. The conversation, yes, has moved on, has changed, but not for all people and not in all communities.

What would be your go-to movie musical song at a karaoke night? My goodness. There’d be so many.

I mean, is it going to be a Cabaret, a Chicago showstopper, or something more Mary Poppins, something from Rent? I think what I would go to, which is what I remember as a little boy, is Curly singing ‘Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin’. It’s such a kind of perfect, beautiful, simple song. That, and ‘The Lonely Goatherd’, because I just want to yodel. It would be epic. Trust me.

What is the best film featuring posing and why is it Paris Is Burning? It’s always Paris Is Burning. Back in the day, I was obsessed with Paris Is Burning, I was obsessed with that world. In fact, at one moment I even met [director] Jennie Livingston in trying to make a theater piece inspired by that. I lived in New York for eleven years and I met Willi Ninja. I just adored everything about him, and he would tell me stories. And again, it was so removed from the boy from Sheffield, I mean so far. That New York ballroom scene was so removed from my world, but I got it. Those two boys at the top of the film, I just wanted to be one of those boys who just hung out outside the club.

Harwood and Butterell on set, with Lauren Patel (right) as Jamie’s bestie Pritti Pasha.

What films did you and Tom and Dan look at to get a feeling for how to present the musical numbers? Actually, a lot of pop videos, from present day to past. There’s an homage, in the black-and-white sequences, to a little ‘Vogue’ Madonna moment. Pop is very central to me in this story because pop is what a working-class kid from a working-class community will be listening to. That’s in his phone, that’s in his ears. Not that many young people listen to much radio at this moment in time, but that’s what will be on Margaret’s radio, that’s what’s coming into the kitchen. And that was central to the storytelling for me.

Bob Fosse also really influenced me, and particularly All That Jazz and where his flights of imagination take him. I felt that was so appropriate for Jamie, and again in a very, very different way, but I could see how Jamie’s imagination could spark something so fantastical that would lead him to dance, lead him to walk on the most amazing catwalk, lead into being in the most fabulous, fabulous nightclub with the most amazing creatures you’ve ever met in your life.

For me personally, the film that most inspired me was Ken Loach’s Kes, because that is my community. Both the world in which Jamie exists—Parsons Cross council estate, is my world, is my community—and the world of that young boy, finding his place in the world with his kestrel friend, I remember identifying with that boy so clearly. He was very different from me, very different. But I got him, and I felt like Ken Loach got me through him.

Ken Loach made a few films set in Sheffield, didn’t he? But also, Sheffield is a setting and an influence on The Full Monty, The History Boys, Funny Cow and that brilliant Pulp documentary. So Jamie feels like a natural successor. It absolutely does. Sheffield’s where I grew up, it’s my hometown. Although I moved away from it, I always return. To have a chance to celebrate my community, and particularly that community in Parsons Cross council estate. If you’re in Sheffield and you’re in a taxi and you said, “Take me to Parsons Cross,” they’d say, “Well, I’ll drop you there, but I’m not staying.” Because again there’s a blinkered view of that community. And I know that community to be proud, glorious and beautiful.

And yes, that community, particularly through the ’80s, really suffered because some of that community would serve the steelworks and had three generations of unemployment, so they became disenfranchised because of that. But the community I grew up in, my Auntie Joan, who lived on that road, literally on that road, was a proud, working class, glorious woman who served chips at school.

Aside from Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, what would be the most important queer British cinematic story to you? (And how do you choose between My Beautiful Laundrette and God’s Own Country?!) You can’t. My Beautiful Laundrette influenced me so much because, one, Daniel Day Lewis was extraordinary in that film, and two, because of the cross-cultural aspect of it. I went, “I know this world”, because again I grew up in that world. And it affirmed something in me, which is the power and the radicalness of who I could be and what I could be.

With God’s Own Country, when I saw that film—and that was Francis’ first film, which I thought was extraordinary for a first-time filmmaker—I knew he knew that world from the inside, from the absolute inside. And I know what that rural community was like. I read that script, because we share agents, and I was blown away by it—again, because of the two cultures coming together.

Jamie Campbell, the film’s real-life inspiration, with screen-Jamie Max Harwood.

Richard E. Grant’s character, Hugo, is such a pivotal mentor for Jamie. What did you need to hear from a mentor when you were sixteen? Don’t let yourself hold yourself back, because I think it was me who put some limitations on myself. And of course I came from a working-class community. I was a queer kid in a tough British comprehensive school. And did I experience tough times? Yes I did. And did I deal with those tough times? Yes I did. But the song that speaks to me mostly in this is ‘Wall in my Head’, in which Jamie takes some responsibility for the continuation of those thoughts, continuations of the sorts of shame, and that’s a sophisticated thing for a sixteen-year-old boy to tackle.

I also was lucky enough to have a mother like Margaret—and a dad like Margaret as well, just to be clear! And I remember my mum, at seventeen when I left home, just leaving a little note on my bed. It was quite a long letter. She said, Jonathan, you’ve probably chosen to walk a rocky path, but don’t stray from it, don’t steer away from it. That’s the path you've chosen, there may be rock-throwers along the way, but you’ll find your way through it. That stayed with me and I think that’s what resonates with me. And when I saw that documentary, Jamie: Drag Queen at 16, I felt that that sparked the need for me to tell that story.

Sarah Lancashire as Jamie’s mum, Margaret New.

We need more mums and dads like Margaret, don’t we? We do, we do. And the wonderful thing is, Margaret Campbell will say it and I think Margaret New in the film will say it: she’s not a Saint, she’s an ordinary mum. And she has to play catch up and she doesn’t understand in many ways, and she gets things wrong and she overprotects. But she comes from one place and that is a mum’s love of her child and wanting them to take their place safely in the world and to be fully and totally themselves.

Related content

Eternal Alien’s list of films Made in Sheffield

Letterboxd’s Camp Showdown

Persephon’s list of films recommended by drag queens

Passion’s list of films mentioned by Jaymes Mansfield in her Drag Herstory YouTube series

Follow Gemma on Letterboxd

‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’ is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.

#everybody's talking about jamie #max harwood #john mccrae #richard e. grant #sharon horgan #jonathan butterell #musicals #drag queen #queer film #lgbtqia cinema #british cinema

[doitjake]

The music in us - P1

Jake kiszka x reader

warnings: none.

Requests: “two rockstars meeting in a festival, and both bands hanging out cause they are both friends with the struts, then jake starts falling in love w this person because of their personality, talent and charisma, they start to match in the second day of camping at the festival and then the bands have to play in the same day, jake tells his feeling and the reader doesn’t know how to react.”

A/N:  this was an incredible request and I took a while to post it because I wanted it to be at least reasonable haha. this is the first part, i will probably post the second part on saturday or sunday. I hope you like it and if you want to see a specific scene in the second part comment here or you can send me a message / question!!

Requests here: https://forms.gle/6uMRSCzFvyR2FgZPA

Being in a band with your 2 best friends and your cousin is definitely awesome, until the first week.

"POPPY WHERE'S MY FUCKING HAIRBRUSH?" A super angry drummer was seen getting on the bus.

"Ana, can't you speak a sentence at a normal voice volume?" That was Lexa, our guitarist or our mother, whichever you prefer. She performs both functions very well.

"No, I can't." She walks over to Poppy and snatches her hairbrush out of her hand. "At least not when vocalists with superiority complexes steal my stuff." She walks to the small bathroom on the bus as Poppy showed her the middle finger.

Even inside the bus you could hear several bands doing sound checks and stages being finalized outside. We had arrived at the Summer Rock Festival a few hours ago, it would be three days of festival, we would perform on the second day, after our friends from The Struts and before the boys from Greta Van Fleet.

"Luke texted me, he and the boys are already heading to the bar." Lexa stands up fixing the bottom of her beautiful dress that looked like it was straight out of the 70's, "So if we don't want to be late our dear drummer had better get out of this fucking bathroom soon."

"Hey, no swearing, Mom." I walk past her grabbing my leather jacket from the seat. "Ana! Let's go!"

By the time Lexa and Poppy are outside I am trying to find my cell phone amidst a pile of clothes, Ana finally comes out of the bathroom.

"Cousins by chance, twins by choice." She pulls up the sleeves of her jacket, just like mine, smiling at me.

I find my cell phone and slip my arm over Ana's shoulders, leading us to the bus door.

"Did I mention I hate you?" I ask coming down the small staircase and find Poppy and Lexa waiting for us to go.

"Hm, I guess not today yet." She goes to Poppy's side and pats her chin. "Stop drooling, Poppy."

Lexa and I turn to where Poppy was looking and find the 4 boys from Greta taking their instruments off the bus, about 50 feet away from us.

"Fuck you, Ana," Poppy starts walking towards the exit of the festival, where there is an avenue full of bars, nightclubs, strip clubs and karaoke places.

In less than 10 minutes we had already arrived at the bar and before we even entered Jed already called us shouting. "Hey, girls! Over here!"

It was always really cool to hang out with the boys, we knew each other because of Jed and Adam being friends with Poppy's older brother. We joined them and other people from the crew and some other artists at the festival and less than 2 minutes later several bottles of beer were already on the tables.

I looked at my band mates, we spend so much time together that it is fun to analyze them socializing with other people besides ourselves.

Poppy was probably the most outgoing of us, everyone liked her, she was always nice and polite to everyone and it was amazing to see men with long beards and leather vests making fun of a girl singing rock and then Poppy shutting them up, either with her talent or her knowledge.

Lexa was so calm that it is still shocking to me to see her play and totally transform on stage. She had a 70's hippie style that matched perfectly with her long blond hair and delicate features.

And Ana, my band mate that I have known all my life, my younger cousin. Certainly the strongest personality among the four of us, her life revolved around music, and I loved that about her.

Oh, of course. There's me too, but I don't think it's worth describing myself too much. I'm probably too dull around them. I wasn't outgoing like Poppy, I wasn't charming like Lexa, and I definitely didn't have as much personality as Ana.

My God, what a depression. I need another drink, one stronger than beer.

"Hey, I'm going to go to the bar. I'll be right back." I speak to Lexa receiving a nod in response.

Reaching over I choose the only drink capable of cheering me up.

"A shot of Jack Daniels. No ice please" I speak loudly so the bartender can hear through the music of The Who playing at the bar.

"I always thought it was the guitar players who were more into whiskey" A husky voice came over the music right in my right ear. "I thought bass players were more into vodka"

And then the seat next to me was taken by Jake Kiszka, guitarist for Greta Van Fleet, well I definitely can't compare to Poppy on the subject of "GVF FANGIRL", but wow.

"What about the vocalists and drummers?" I asked as the bartender left the shot of Jack Daniels in front of me.

"Vocalists? Probably some weird drink and drummers for sure are the beer guys." He smiles and turns the stool around facing me "I'm Jake" He holds out his hand to you.

"Y/N" I hold his hand.

"The bass player who made my theory go down the drain." He laughs arching an eyebrow.

"Well, maybe I'm an exception.

"Yeah, maybe there was a glitch in the matrix." He turns to call the bartender. "May I imitate you?" He indicates my glass with his head.

"You're the guitar player here, I think I'm the one copying you." I smile at him and he reciprocates, and shit, why do I think I could stare at him smile forever? And then I feel an arm on my shoulders.

"So you mean my friends are friends, and I didn't know?" Luke leaned one arm on me and the other on Jake, clearly not sober anymore. "Come on over to the table, antisocial people, your bands are waiting."

Luke releases our shoulders and looks at us. "Or are you guys busy planning to pick each other up?"

I could feel all my blood rising to my cheeks in a second, and thank God I had already swallowed the whiskey, otherwise I probably would have spit it all out.

"Of course not Luke." I gave a nervous laugh praying that I could disguise my embarrassment. Which only increased when Jake tilted his head to the side looking at me and gave a weak laugh and then getting up to walk over to the table.

Now there were more people at the table, including the other three members of Greta, and I sat down between Adam and Ana. "Please dig a hole and stick me in" I whispered to my cousin.

"With pleasure." She winked and smiled at me, "But may I know why?"

With the music loud and our friends talking around us I had to lean 'round to whisper right into her ear. "I was talking to Jake Kiszka and then Luke came over and thought we were going to kiss and I looked like an idiot."

"You always look like an idiot, cousin." He whispered in response. "But you want to kiss him?" Ana smiled mischievously.

"Oh my god, I was just talking to him."

"Well, you should kiss him, he's handsome." She picks up her beer and offers me a bottle.

"You say that because you have a crush on his twin." I open my bottle as I watch Ana choke on her own beer and cast a quick glance at Josh. "Oh come on, you can't disguise yourself." I laugh slapping our bottles together before taking a long sip.

"I don't have a crush on him." Ana squirms in her chair uncomfortably. "He's the lead singer, he has several women after him, and he must have a superiority complex just like Poppy."

"He seems pretty cool!"

"Y/N! ANA!" Poppy's voice managed without louder than the music in the bar, causing us to turn around and find 10 pairs of eyes staring at us. "Are you guys deaf?"

As I run my gaze around the table I realize that all the boys' crew have left, now it's just us, the boys from The Struts and Greta Van Fleet.

"Hm, hey!" I reply before Ana has a chance to cuss Poppy out.

"We're going to karaoke, the bar closes early today." Gethin gets up from the table, being followed by his bandmates, Josh, Sam, Danny, Poppy and Lexa.

"I'm in!" Ana stands up.

"I'm going back to the bus, I don't have as much energy as you guys." I stand up grabbing my cell phone and wallet.

"Let's go together." Jake speaks and I realize that he was the only one who hadn't gotten up until now.

"Ok" I say trying to look calm and not knowing why I am nervous, like a teenage girl who likes the popular boy.

I say goodbye to everyone and when I pass by Ana she winks at me, in a not discreet way.

After we pay for our drinks, Jake and I head out onto the streets of Chicago to return to the festival.

"Excited for tomorrow?" Jake asks as we cross one of the avenue streets.

"For sure, tomorrow and our days will have the best shows!" I look at him. "I feel like I might faint just remembering that I'm going to see Steven Tyler live tomorrow." He throws his head back and laughs. "Now you think I'm some kind of crazy fangirl." I smile.

"Oh, of course not." Jake returns the smile by looking at me. "The chances of me passing out at the Stones concert are not small either."

"So, you're a 'fangirl' for Keith Richards?"

"Definitely." He laughs again shaking his head.

"Does that mean that for you 'team stones' is right?

"Well, it's certainly a tough contest, but yes 'team stones'." He turns to me with the corners of his lips raised. "Team Beatles?"

"And a George stan with pride." I smile and wink at him amused. "Okay, important question."

"Okay, speak." Jake runs his fingers through the strands of hair that fall down the side of his face.

"Pearl Jam or Nirvana?"

"Is there a right answer?" He asks and I arch an eyebrow at him. "Okay, hm, Nirvana."

"You had a right answer! And you got it wrong." I smile. "Come on, Eddie Veder is almost a God."

Jake laughs and brings his hands in front of his body in a sign of redemption. "I don't disagree!"

And then I realize that we arrived at the festival some time ago and are now facing my bus.

"Thank you so much, for walking me here." I say to him, climbing up the first step of the entrance stairs, almost standing the same height as Jake.

"You're welcome!" He gives me a smile and puts his hands in the pockets of his black skinny pants. "See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure."

You smile at him and Jake moves closer and deposits a kiss on your cheek.

"Bye!"

“Bye, Jake!”

#greta van fleet #greta van fleet fic #greta van fic #greta van fleet imagine #gvf #gvf imagine #jake kiszka gvf #jake gvf #jake kiszka #jake kiszka imagine #jake kiszka fic #jake kiszka x reader #fanfic #imagine #jake imagines #jake x reader #jacob kiszka

[jay4firefic]

How Buck accidentally adopted a cat... (featuring Christopher Diaz)

“What’s with the sour face?” Buck asks, dropping into a chair at the kids’ table beside Christopher. The kid in question is still picking at his half eaten barbecue long after the other firehouse children have run off to play in the big backyard.

“Harry’s dad might let him get a pet.” Christopher stabs viciously at his pasta salad with his adaptive fork, only succeeding at scattering pieces in every direction. “My dad says we can’t have a pet and I’ve been asking for ages.”

“I’m sure your dad has a really good reason for saying you can’t get a pet.” Which for the life of him Buck can’t remember at the moment, despite the fact that he knows Eddie told him about Christopher’s crusade to get a dog just last week. He catches Eddie’s eye over the top of Christopher’s head and jerks his head in a silent come here.

“He says we don’t have time for a pet but that’s stupid.” Christopher’s fork clatters and scrapes across the plate again. “I have lots of time.”

“Well, buddy, taking care of a pet is a lot of work,” Buck says, slinging his arm around Christopher’s narrow shoulders. 

“How would you know, you don’t even have a pet.”

“Actually,” Buck pulls Christopher in a little closer and ruffles his hair, “I’ve got a cat. And she’s pretty high maintenance.”

For the first time since Buck sat down Christopher looks up at him. His furrowed brow is so clearly a scaled down version of what Buck thinks of as Eddie’s ‘what are you talking about, dumbass?’ expression that Buck nearly melts. “You don’t have a cat, Bucky. I’ve been to your house.”

“Yeah, Bucky,” Chimney sits down across from them in tandem with Eddie and steals a carrot stick off of Christopher’s plate. Eddie just watches Buck with a confused frown. “You don’t have a cat, unless something happened in the last 24 hours that you miraculously haven’t told us all about.”

“I’ve never told you about my cat?” Buck looks between three baffled expressions. He doesn’t talk about Chicago much for a variety of reasons, but he really never told them about the cat? “Huh. Well, I totally have a cat. When I moved to Los Angeles I left her in Chicago with my old roommate because,” he turns back to Christopher with a serious expression - or his best attempt at one, at least, “pets need stability and a lot of attention, and when I first moved here I wasn’t living somewhere I could give her that.”

Christopher scrunches up his nose in an adorable frown. “If she doesn’t live with you how is she still your pet?”

“I’m with the kid on this one. You’ve been in LA like three years, that’s not your cat anymore man.”

Buck steals another carrot from Christopher and throws it at Chimney, who catches it right before it can hit him between the eyes and pops it in his mouth instead. “Rude. She’s totally still my cat. I rescued her!”

“You rescued her?” Christopher’s eyes widen and yeah, Buck is starting to win him over.

“I did! I rescued her from a warehouse fire in Chicago. Here, let me…” Buck digs out his phone and starts scrolling through old Instagram posts until he gets back to 2016. When he finds the right picture he makes a triumphant noise and turns the phone toward Christopher, then Chim and Eddie. The screen is taken up by a photo of Buck, a half a decade younger and a little leaner, decked out in CFD gear, covered in soot and ash, and holding something that looks like a dirty rag. He scrolls to the next picture - a close up of the pitiful gray bundle peeking out the collar of his turnout coat that resolves into a singed and filthy cat. “See? I rescued her, she’s my cat.”

“That’s a pretty sad looking cat,” Eddie observes, and it’s truthful but Buck still squawks in protest.

“She was having a bad day, alright? She’s a beautiful lady.” He closes instagram, opens his messages and finds the most recent one from Casey. Stupid Cat still misses you, and a picture of Kelly asleep on the couch in a pool of sunlight with a black and white cat curled up on his bare chest. Buck used to spend lazy mornings in the exact same position. “See?”

He startles and nearly drops the phone when Athena lets out a low whistle and leans in over his shoulder. “Are we supposed to be looking at the cat or that man, Buckaroo?”

Both, Buck thinks, even as he scoffs at her. Christopher provides a convenient distraction by tugging on his arm and demanding to know the cat’s name, his frown replaced by a grin that could light up a Christmas tree. Crisis averted. “Uh, her name is...Cat, actually,” he laughs, rubbing at the back of his neck.

Now it’s Athena’s turn to scoff. “You named your cat Cat?”

“Well, uhm…” Buck briefly has a whole different crisis on his hands trying to figure out how to tell that story without giving too much away. “My roommate said if we named her we’d get attached and have to keep her, so he insisted on just calling her Cat until we found her a new home. And then we...never found her a new home. Kinda hard to rehome something with three and a half legs and one eye, y’know? By the time he gave up and admitted she was ours it was too late to change it.”

He had tried for weeks, surfing baby name websites on his phone over breakfast or while lounging around the house and calling her by anything that caught his interest. At the end of the day he was always still calling for Cat, though, and Kelly had never stopped adding Stupid as a prefix. 

“Looks like your roommate ended up getting pretty attached himself,” Chim observes as Buck flips to a different picture - a selfie of a grumpy-looking Kelly with bedhead, holding a mug to his lips while Cat balances precariously on his bare shoulders.

“Does that man own any shirts?” Athena asks. 

Buck elects to ignore her and answer Chimney. “Severide will never admit it, but he loves the Stupid Cat. I was gonna go back for her once I got settled, but…” He shrugs. He wasn’t ready to face Kelly without the distance provided by a phone line at first, and then it had just seemed cruel to separate them. He had always meant to return to Chicago, to 51 and home, someday anyway. That someday had just started getting further and further away once he got attached to everyone at the 118. “She’s got a pretty cushy life in Chicago, and lots of people to take care of her. Here it would just be me, and like I said,” he looks down at Christopher again, “pets are a lot of work. It wouldn’t be fair to her.”

“Can I meet her someday?” Chris asks, because he always knows just how to pull on Buck’s heartstrings. 

“I don’t know, buddy. Maybe someday. For now I’ll see if K-” he catches himself, smooths it into, “Casey and Severide can send me some videos to show you. How does that sound?”

“Okayyyyy,” Christopher agrees with a put upon sigh. 

A few minutes later he finally gets up and joins the rest of the kids at play, and Buck has to uncurl himself from the uncomfortably small chair. Eddie bumps their shoulders together while Buck is still trying to shake feeling back into his feet. “Good distraction, but you realize he’s gonna be asking you for pictures all the time now, right?”

Buck shrugs and jostles Eddie in return. “That’s fine, I’ve got plenty.”

#9-1-1 fanfiction #evan buckley #christopher diaz #i was writing a lot of angst and i just needed this ok? #buck would adopt the most pathetic animals #i will not be convinced otherwise #eddie diaz #911 chimney #chicago: 911 #kelly severide #my fic

[strangerobin]

Rue: Chapter 3 (A Jasper Hale x OC Imagine)

A play of hide and seek.

Writer's note: I had initially intended for this to be a reader insert piece, but it gets difficult trying to write without a name. So I decided for an OC instead lol

“Welcome to Northern Lights Resort and Spa, how may I help you?” Adeline smiled as she welcomed the next set of guests at the front lobby.

She’d moved to Whitehorse where the city was permanently covered with white snow and blanketed by the night sky more than half of the day. Found a part time job at the local resort, rented a run-down flat in downtown. It was cold and dark and it was everything she needed and loved.

Depression always did look good on her, as Tatiana would say.

But Tatiana would not think to find her here, nor Father, or anyone else for the matter. And she was safe, free to wallow in self pity and self loathing; free to ruminate on every last regret she had.

Thursday nights were reserved for movie nights; the local cinema showed sepia movies every Thursday nights, and it was nostalgic to see Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor and all those stars again on the big screen, she was always addicted to the motion pictures back then.

She even managed to keep a fling on the side. A young college boy with golden curls, though his eyes were not quite the right shade of brown, his were too dark. And she wished he wouldn’t talk so much of his self absorbed art pieces, she’d rather he talked about the literature he should be reading instead. She’d picked a copy of Frankenstein from the local book store again, and he’d only given it a side glance and never returned to it again. But he was a warm embrace in the dead of the night, so she guess she’ll let it pass for now.

Other nights though, she would walk out alone in the reserves, hunting, mesmerised by the Northern Lights, solar winds from the sun meeting this earth’s atmosphere, deflected by the earth's magnetism to become polar lights that twist on itself to form an array of colours. It made her feel small, reminded her that she did not mattered, that nothing mattered.

“Your rooms are on the fifth floor, the lift is just past the lobby on the right. Please enjoy your stay here.” Adeline recited her lines, directing her guests on their right way.

It wasn’t much really, but mundane was good, habits made her feel safe. She’d managed to carve out a little safe haven for herself in this gigantic world.

It was enough for now.

Until she felt the strangest sensation in her chest. It had begun as a dull ache, so insidious she did not notice when it first started. Not long after, the pain began to come in waves, crashing, clenching at her heart so painfully she was starting to sweat. Adeline clawed at her chest. Mumbling an apology, she quickly ran to the back and folded into herself, sweating dropping down her brow as she tried to make the pain go away.

It didn’t feel so much as a physical pain. Nor was it the usual warnings that her instinct whispered. No, it was something else, something more emotional, something more primal.

What was happening?

It felt as if she was reminded of all the things she had lost in her entire existence, all the grief she could not hold. But there was another sharp tug at her heart, urging her to move in some unknown direction, lest she should regret.

The feeling only seemed to intensify as the seconds passed. And then she knew.

It was coming towards her. Whatever it was that her heart sought.

Just as the doors to the resort opened-

Adeline Ruelle did the only thing she was good at.

She ran.

In the exact opposite direction.

*

It took them quite a while to even figure out in which direction she had gone. It had taken Alice an even lengthier time to pinpoint which area she might be, scouring all her visions for a single blindspot. It was near impossible.

Jasper’s anxiety was quickly infecting the whole household; everyone could feel the tension in the air, electrifying. Edward and Bella had to take Renesmee to stay in their little cottage; even Emmett had been quiet for most of the days. Jasper mostly kept to himself in his room, oscillating between two extremes, bouncing on the balls of his feet and sitting hunched in the corner, frozen in his thoughts.

“North.” Alice had finally muttered on the tenth day. “Canada.”

From there on, it was another few weeks before the pair managed to locate their target working in a resort in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. Tracking her scent, and where the blindspots were appearing, but even that proved difficult. And by the time they had arrived, she had been gone.

Just gone. Her colleagues had no way of knowing where she had suddenly vanished to in the middle of her shift.

They did, however, managed to locate her little flat in downtown.

And possibly a fling or two.

Jasper had simply looked on in distaste at the man, never uttering a single word. Alice was left with the questions.

How long had they known each other? What did she tell him of herself? Did he have any clue where she might go next? On and on and on, which they gleaned pretty much close to nothing for the college boy. Jasper had simply rolled his eyes and stuffed his hands petulantly into his pockets.

Alice though, she did not miss the resemblance the man had with Jasper.

Then they had gone into the flat she had rented. Clearly she had been there before, hastily packing her, possibly, few possessions with her. Except one or two mass paperbacks she had evidently bought to pass time.

Alice watched as Jasper lingered on the little paperback edition of Frankenstein carelessly strewn over the coffee table. Watched as he fingered the cover of the book thoughtfully, then leafed through the pages of the book. When he caught her staring he merely shrugged.

“It was always her favourite.”

She did not miss it when Jasper quietly tucked the book into the pocket of his jacket.

*

“I do know that for the sympathy of one living being. I would make peace with all. I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other.”

“That’s a little too morbid, wouldn’t you say so darling?”

“On the contrary, I find it exceedingly accurate and befitting.”

“Come now.” He chuckled good-naturedly. “You are not a monster, darlin’.”

“And who’s to say I am not?” She challenged with steel in her eyes.

“Adeline.” He admonished softly, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. “You could never be one.”

“And how would you know? Perhaps it is because I hide my fiendish side behind a mask so masterfully that I have deceived the world, and even you.” She hated the shrillness in her voice, the desperation she tried to conceal.

“Sweetheart, only my heart cannot deceive me. You have bared your heart and soul to me and I have seen, have felt the kindness and love overflowing from your heart. How could a monster possess of such?”

“And if I had committed crimes in my past?”

“Then I know with confidence that it was not out of ill intent on your part.”

“You are too kind, Jasper.”

“Am I now? Come let us read something sweeter darling.”

Adeline pouted. “You know it is only my favourite.”

“And I do not understand your morbid fascination of it.”

Adeline huffed in annoyance and Jasper laughed poking her in the cheek. “That being said.”

“The monster was never truly the monster Adeline. It was always Frankenstein. Remember when he said ‘Life, although it may be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it.’”

“He loved life more than anyone else, he possessed the gentlest soul and a deep appreciation to life like no other. He deserved to live, to be loved more than anyone else.”

Adeline blinked in shock at Jasper’s passionate outburst and before she realised, a single tear had rolled down her cheek.

“Adeline?”

She leaned forward and to capture him in a passionate kiss.

*

Adeline awoke with a start. Turning away from the blinding sun, she rubbed her eyes blearily. What time was it even?

Certainly not the 1800s.

Misplaced memories. Huh.

Adeline tried not to let her mind wander back to her dream just now, and certainly not the man of her dream.

It was close to three months after that incident at Whitehorse, She was in Minnesota now, surely no one would think to look for her here. It wasn’t New York or Chicago or Seattle. Nowhere conspicuous, middle of the line, your average American midwestern state. Surely that would provide for some camouflage or something?

No matter.

She had far troubling things to be concerned of right now.

She had been going over it time and again since her flight. The incident at Whitehorse was strange really because in all her existence, she had never once felt that before, the strange pull at her heart. The ache in her chest.

Or not?

Something was goading at her in the back of her mind, to examine the incident closer, to remind her of certain memories she would rather not remember; but she refused to let anything surface.

She picked up her new copy of Fitzgerald - Tender is the Night.

She had a shift at the local bar in three hours. She was determined to be their on time and not go down some damned rabbit hole.

*

“It’s here.” Alice looked to Jasper as he took in the environment, the rain falling softly beside them in the chilly January night; the lights from the bar, the cheap building. She hadn’t yet met the girl, but Adeline sure did know how to blend in, finding the most ordinary of places to hide amongst humans. Places not too obvious, but also not too obscure, where no one would bother to look twice, or even think to look.

Jasper’s face was grim and his eyes set. He was radiating anxiety, probably without meaning to. She gently patted Jasper on the back to soothe him.

“It’s alright, I’ll go in first. You wait here for my signal.”

He only nodded.

Ducking into the threshold she was immediately assaulted by the barrage of lights and noise; it took Alice a few minutes before she caught sight of a head of brown curls at the bar table chatting with her fellow bar tenders, all the while cleaning glasses. She made a beeline for it.

“Adeline Ruelle?”

The girl turned towards her and assumed a businesslike front, ready to serve. But Alice did not miss the small tremor in her shoulders, the uncomfortable shift in position, subtle and quick as it may be.

Bingo.

She was evidently a master in concealing her emotions, her nervousness hidden behind a reassuring smile, anyone would have been fooled. Except Alice. She watched the bartender closely.

“I’m sorry Miss, we don’t have an Adeline here. I’m Cordelia, perhaps I can get you a drink first while you wait for your friend?”

“Bourbon, if you would be so kind.”

“Just a minute.” She turned to get the drink and Alice took her time to appraise the girl.

She really was beautiful. Alice thought. She might be posing as your ordinary college student/part time bartender, but the way she held herself, her grace and poise, it was something she could never lose even on purpose. And the breathtaking beauty, she stuck out like a sore thumb.

It was no wonder Jasper had loved her so completely, irrevocably in his past life. How could any man resist such an alluring woman? She could not be mad at Jasper for his choices in his past life; and judging by his recounts and the hardworking girl right in front of her, neither had anticipated the whirlwind of romance and the subsequent breakup when they first met. In fact she might just be a tad bit jealous of the bond they shared, she’d never in her life experienced something so strong and consuming. Sure she loved Jasper and no one could deny the love that they shared. But it paled in comparison to one the two shared. She was almost sure they were mates.

It still left her heartbroken all the same.

But then she remembered the first time she met Jasper; we’re not mates but if you would have me we could keep each other company until our mates showed up. I mean, two is always better than one right? It left her conflicted now; she was reaping what she had sowed.

Yet as Alice continued to observe the girl closely, she noted how her coworkers seemed to treat her as if she was just any normal college student. Talking to her, bantering lightly, she threw her head and laughed heartily. To them, She was just the right amount of charismatic it seemed. And her smell…

It was then she realised she did not catch ahold of her scent.

Had she concealed it? Could one even do so on voluntary grounds?

“Your bourbon miss.” Adeline returned, sliding a small glass across the bar table.

“So what brings you here, to Minnesota?” Alice decided to make a strike.

The bartender’s face twitched momentarily. “Pardon?”

“You don’t seem like you're from around here. You don’t look like it.”

“I mean, It’s a free country. Anyone can go anywhere really.” Adeline shrugged.

“Lemme guess.” Alice pretended to think all the while observing the other closely. “You’re from the South, aren't you? Like Louisiana, or Texas.”

“I’ve lived there, yes… but then again I’ve lived almost everywhere really.” The bartended shot her a tight-lipped smile, the stiffness in her posture even more profound now. “Well if you need anything just give me a holler will you? I hope your friend finds you soon.”

It was her.

Alice watched as she turned to smile at her coworkers and then ducked into the kitchen.

She was making her escape.

Well, they can't let her go that easily now can they?

Alice raced out of the bar immediately, searching for her companion outside the parking lot.

But she was only left with an empty parking lot as the wind blew and the rain fell harder than ever.

#jasper hale #jasper hale imagine #jasper hale x reader #twilight #twilight imagine

[detectiveupstead]

What A Guy [Upstead One Shot]

Summary: Jay pays Hailey a visit when he hears about her break up with Adam. Because he’s a good partner.

“Man, this week felt like it dragged,” Adam sighed, running his fingers through his hair as he slid into the booth across from Jay.

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Jay said, leaning back in the booth, hands wrapped around the beer bottle as he played with the label. Molly’s was somewhat busy that night, given the weekend was coming up. Music was playing and he could see Severide and Casey playing darts on the other side.

Kevin, who swallowed his sip of beer, settled the bottle back down and let out a breath of his own. “Well, at least we got Shaw. And Gina got her meds,” he said, looking towards the brighter side of things.

Jay flicked his eyebrows up, nodding in agreement. They’d just wrapped up the case the day before, and today had been spent finishing up any of the paperwork that needed to be filed. They all agreed it had been a bit of a difficult case, given that Gina and her husband Bob only wanted her to live and were wrapped up in Shaw’s schemes. It was rough, to say the least, to see how far a man would go for someone he loved. But Jay couldn’t fault Bob for that.

“Gotta tell you guys—after I down a few beers, I can’t wait to knock out,” Adam said with a shake of his head. Jay was inclined to agree with him.

“’Course you can’t,” Kevin said, shooting his friend a teasing look, eyebrows raised and smile coy. “You’ve got Upton right next to you.”

Jay hoped neither of them noticed the way his grip tightened on his beer bottle, feeling something clench in his chest as he took a long sip. He’d been doing a good job in not thinking about his partner and Adam together—and an even better job in not considering why he felt so uncomfortable about it.

Across from him, he noticed the way Adam’s expression faltered, leaning back. “Ah,” he said, clicking his tongue, avoiding eye contact with either of his friends. “Yeah, no, Hailey and I—we’re over.”

A startled expression crossed over Jay’s face at Adam’s news, blinking at him in incredulity, unsure if he’d heard him right. But judging by Kevin’s bewildered expression, Jay knew he’d heard Adam right. They’d ended things? When? And why hadn’t Hailey said anything?

He thought of how she hadn’t told him she and Adam were together until Jay walked in on them arguing, so he wasn’t too surprised that she didn’t tell him the relationship was over. Despite his disappointment.

“Oh, shit, bro, I’m sorry to hear that,” Kevin said with a frown. He patted Adam’s shoulder as he asked, “You wanna talk about it?”

Adam’s lips quirked to the side. “Nah, it’s fine.”

Unable to help his curiosity, yet maintaining sensitivity for his friend, Jay asked, “What happened?”

“We just. . .” Adam shrugged, lips puckering thoughtfully for a moment. “We didn’t mesh well, y’know? Relationship wise.” He let out a breath, offering a small smile. “It wasn’t meant to become anything more and I think we both realized that in the end. So we, uh, broke it off last night.”

Last night?

Jay remembered Hailey’s words, remembered how she’d told him that she hadn’t expected anything to truly come from her and Adam getting together. How it had taken her off guard. He wondered if this breakup took her off guard, too. Wondered if he should be there for her.

She was his partner. He wanted to be there for her.

Jay frowned, shaking his head slightly at Adam. “I’m sorry, man,” he said genuinely, echoing Kevin’s words.

He stayed at Molly’s for another forty-five minutes before calling it a night. He bid Adam and Kevin goodnight and as he walked over to his truck, he shot Hailey a text.

Hey, you awake?

She responded quickly. Yeah, what’s up? Everything good?

Jay opened the door of his truck but didn’t get in as he texted her. Mind if I come over?

He bit his lip, watching as the three dots appeared in the lower left-hand corner. Yeah, sure thing.

A quick smile lifted at Jay’s lips as he hopped into the truck, letting out a breath as the engine roared to life. The drive to Hailey’s place was quick, consisting of Jay tapping his thumbs against the steering wheel and running his thoughts through his mind, wondering what, exactly, he was going to say to Hailey. Nothing came up, but that didn’t stop him from pulling up in front of her house.

Jay pocketed his keys as he approached the door, ringing the doorbell as he let out a breath. He could feel his heart drumming in his chest, telling himself he had no reason to be nervous. He was just checking in on his partner. He was allowed to do that, wasn’t he?

Unless he was overstepping. Unless this wasn’t something Hailey wanted to talk about and he was just going to make her uncomfortable.

He could feel himself beginning to panic at the idea of him shoving his nose in business that wasn’t his. But before he could back off, the door swung open, and there stood Hailey. She was in her leggings and an oversized Chicago Bears sweatshirt, looking all kinds of comfortable and homey, blonde tresses falling over her shoulders. Pretty, as always.

“Hey,” she greeted with a smile that hinted at her dimples, stepping to the side to let him in. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah,” Jay answered as he stepped into the warmth of her home, hands still shoved in the pockets of his jacket as he turned to face her. He offered a smile. “Can’t a guy drop by to chat with his partner?”

Hailey raised her eyebrows, though a smile played on her mouth. “At eleven at night? Maybe,” she hummed as they walked into the kitchen. Glancing at him over her shoulder, she asked, “Scotch?”

One drink wouldn’t hurt—it’d ease his nerves far easier than the beer ever could. “Don’t mind if I do.”

He watched as Hailey poured them two glasses, his gaze trained on her face. She didn’t look. . . Heartbroken. Not that Hailey ever wore her emotions so clearly on her face on a regular basis. But Jay liked to think he was starting to read her expressions the longer they were partnered together. And right now, she was guarded. As if she knew exactly why he was there and was doing her best in keeping herself in check. He wanted to tell her she didn’t have to do that—not with him.

As she slid the glass over to him, Hailey raised her eyebrows. “Seriously, though—to what do I owe this pleasure?”

They stood at the counter, Jay bracing himself with one hand against it and the other wrapped around his glass. Meeting her blue eyes, Jay started cautiously, “I was at Molly’s with Adam, and. . .”

Understanding flickered across her features as she nodded. “And he told you we ended things.”

Jay pressed his lips together. “He did.” Hailey nodded again, dropping her gaze to her glass, tapping her nails against it. Jay ducked his head, trying to meet her eyes as he said, “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Hailey let out a short, breathless chuckle as she pushed herself away from the counter. She shot him a quick smile. “I’m fine, Jay,” she told him, turning to walk towards the living room with her glass.

He gave her a flat look, even though she couldn’t see it, as he followed her. “Yeah, that was convincing,” he said after taking a sip of the Scotch. Hailey sat down on the couch and Jay joined her, putting his glass down on the coffee table. Resting his arms on his knees, Jay looked at Hailey, who sat to his right. “Look, Hails—I know it probably sounds a bit hypocritical coming from me, but our little talks over drinks don’t just have to be about work, you know? If there’s ever anything on your mind, you know I’m more than willing to listen.”

She was always willing to listen to him, to get him to talk if there was anything on his mind. He didn’t often cash that in, but he did at times, and Jay could admit after talking to Hailey, he always felt better. Especially when they got together after a bad case and needed to vent. Talking to Hailey. . . It always helped. She never judged him, always listened. And they worked—always.

“I know, Jay,” Hailey said, her voice quiet yet the gratitude obvious. She looked down at her hands between her knees, blonde hair curtaining her profile. Hailey was silent for a few moments and Jay wondered if she was going to let him in. If not, he was fine to sit in silence with her. Her company was always a comfort, and he knew the feeling was mutual.

“It wasn’t meant to last,” she finally said, catching Jay’s attention. “We got together without expecting much, y’know? I mean, we work well together but just. . . Professionally, I guess.” Hailey let out a laugh, then, but it was fake and didn’t sound right coming from her. “But I’m not heartbroken or anything. I mean, it sucks, but it’ll be fine.” When she smiled this time, Jay saw the sincerity in it, feeling something tighten in his chest at it being directed towards him. “No big deal—you didn’t have to check on me.”

Jay knew Hailey kept a lot to herself; he was the same way, but that’s why they worked—they were able to pull each out. They were able to find that balance, knowing when to push and when to give space. So, Jay shot Hailey a flat look, one that told her what exactly he thought of not checking on her. “You’re my partner.” Then, jokingly he added, “It’s in the job description.”

Hailey rolled her eyes, though her smile lingered, the fondness that prompted her dimples easing something in Jay’s chest. “What, having my back on the field and when I’m going through a break-up?”

Jay flashed her a grin, quick yet charming. “Absolutely.”

She snorted, reaching for her glass, bringing it up to her lips right after muttering fondly, “What a guy.”

He tipped his glass towards her before sipping it as well, feeling his smile grow. Her guy. He was her guy, and Jay could declare that unabashedly and proudly as he leaned back on the couch, comfortable in her presence as Hailey settled back as well. And so they sat together in silence, drinking their Scotch and reveling in each other’s company.

When Jay glanced over her, he’d see the small smile playing at her lips, any lingering tension having long since gone. As if his company was enough to put her at ease, make her forget anything weighing her down. He knew that’s how it felt for him when she was with him. He loved knowing it was mutual.

And so he sat with his partner in the quiet of her living room, giving her his company for as long as she wanted it, not knowing that if Hailey had it her way, she’d never let him leave.

#writing #upstead #jay halstead #hailey upton #upstead fanfic #upstead fic #upstead one shot #jay halstead x hailey upton #hailey upton x jay halstead #hailey upton fanfic #hailey upton fic #jay halstead fanfic #jay halstead fic #chicago p.d. #chicago pd #cpd

[somestansomewhere]

Frank’s Dementia in 11a

Points to discuss:

Moments where Frank forgot.

Things he might be able to remember.

Other characters finding out.

Aftermath...

So to start of, I made a list of every instance in SEASON ELEVEN A, where Frank’s memory seemed a bit off, I’m not gonna analyze the whole series for this but I’m sure there’s more there. Now:

Moments Where Frank Forgot

11x01

1. Frank’s History of Chicago

While this does appear to imply just the opening monologue, there are actually several moments throughout the episode where Frank is talking about the Gallagher’s running Chicago to Alan. And while this seems like typical “Frank being drunk nonsense”, plus a spectacular opening to the season... I now see it in a different light especially after:

2. Frank’s Memory Elixir

Frank LITERALLY has a line asking for “memory elixir”, meaning booze, which Alan hands him. Ironic since he has ALCOHOLIC DEMENTIA. You can’t tell me that wasn’t intentional!

3. He Forgot Bars Were Closed

Now, I may be reaching here... BUT when Frank enters The Alibi for the first time this season (what a grand enterence btw) he says “I heard somewhere all bars were open again”. V responds by saying something along the lines of “three weeks ago maybe” and that the mayor shut them down again. Frank says “Well who the hell can keep track”. And okay, yeah maybe Frank genuinely didn’t know... but this is the bar he goes to EVERYDAY. Not to mention if they shut down less than THREE WEEKS AGO, Frank should know... idk this one might not count but I added it anyway. Kermit is unaware of bars being open/shut down in 11x03 so moving on:

11x02

4. The Alibi’s Secret Enterence

Okay, again REACHING! However, when Frank entered The Alibi through the Keg Zone door he forgot to use the “secret knock” and Kev had to remind him about it. Now in 11x01 he used the front door (and I’m not sure he knew to use the other door in that ep) but still at least he remembered to use the correct door in 11x02.

11x03

This is where it got noticeable.. strap in, here we go:

5. Taking Franny to School

He took her to the wrong school. This is the same person that knows the Southside perhaps better than his kids (lol), like the back of his hand! He not only took her to the wrong school but a middle/grade school. Franny is in elementary/preschool school. You can see in WHM’s face here that Frank was confused...

6. Uncle V and Aunt Kev

Maybe just a comedic slip up, but Frank calls Kev and V “Uncle V and Aunt Kev” as opposed to what they really are. Maybe he forgot? I’m reaching LOL.

7. Debbie Is Not Fiona

Frank talks about one of his favorite MEMORIES with Franny’s mom: Debbie, but “oh no, maybe that was Fiona”. Small moment, typical Frank but... nonetheless, poor memory. The writers are smart by mentioning Fiona in this scene... it’s “a Fiona mention”, we’re going to remember this, and that’s probably why they did it.

8. The Paper Store

Yeah, this was the first red flag for me and if I can recall, the moment EVERYONE knew something seemed off. Frank, walks out of the paper store with Franny and cannot remember where he is, or where they are headed. Once he is reminded of their “goals” for the day (by Franny, a five year old) he proceeds to head to the paper store... Franny once again let’s him know that they already went there and Frank notices the paper already in his (Franny’s) backpack. Ouch.

11x04

9. The Nation of Islam

Ooo this one hurt! After Frank suggests to visit The Nation of Islam in an attempt to get their help to get rid of the Milkoviches, him, Kev, and Liam do. We SEE them go there. It’s a whole scene, so later in the episode when Frank suggests to go ask them for help AGAIN as if it were a completely new idea, we as an audience know they already did that. As Kevin says they “JUST did that”. Frank forgot. Shit.

11x05

10. Mrs.McCurdy

Frank discusses with Kev about murdering Mrs.McCurdy, later he tries to murder her. We see it, we remember it becaue she grabbed Frank’s dick. It was funny, the scene evoked laughter, it forces the audience to remember it. Frank mindlessly walks into The Alibi and Kev asks Frank if he “did the thing”. Now at first Frank is confused. They were using “quotation talk” earlier so yeah I get it, but then when Kevin is more direct with Frank, Frank thinks Kev is implying that he had sex with Mrs.McCurdy... Frank is clearly confused. Only then does Kev point out that he meant MURDER. Frank takes a second, again if you watch he does not know what Kev is talking about, but then it hits him, and he remembers. Thus continuing the convo like nothing.

11x06

11. Monica

Now this one REALLY hurt. Frank’s first scene of the episode is a sex scene between him and Letty. She’s blonde, and Frank calls her Monica. He truly believes he is sleeping with Monica, only Monica is dead, she been since season seven. When Letty mentions that she isn’t Monica (thinking Frank calling her that was only a sex thing), we see WHM’s brilliant preformence once again. Frank doesn’t know what Letty means, he thinks she’s Monica. Then when he realizes she isn’t, he gets this lost dejected look on his face. He’s confused and knows that he keeps getting confused.

Frank says “I gotta get to work”. Letty asks him where he works and Frank is left bewildered.

12. Seven

Okay so remember Frank and Franny’s adventure in 11x03? Frank visits a dry cleaners to get some weed. They make a point of Franny saying that Frank will pay SEVEN for the weed. No offer is made and Frank must get it somewhere else. Throughout the episode Frank refterences SEVEN to Kev & V as the asking price to sell. We as an audience are forced to remember SEVEN. Also in 11x03, as Debbie frantically looks for Frank/Franny, she visits the dry cleaners where they were (retracing their steps). We as an audience have been there twice.

Now, in 11x06 Frank goes to pick up an order but like, we already saw him go there episodes ago. When the woman behind the counter literally tells him she has nothing for him and he argues with her, WE KNOW she is right. Once again, Frank forgot. I’m so sad. Not only that but Kev and V don’t have Frank going on runs anymore. Ian & Mickey are doing it... Frank is legit lost and forgot that he’s not doing that anymore, Kev tells him he’s not in 11x04.

Ms.G even says to Frank that she doesn’t need to write anything down to remember it because the “Mind’s a steel trap”. She doesn’t owe him... she can use her mind to remember where Frank cannot. The irony.

13. Pedestrian, Blue, Handlebar (abc)

a) Frank getting hit in the head results in him having a visit to the hospital where a nurse discovers that Frank has no clue how he got there and more specifically, how he got hit in the first place.

b) The saddest part, when asked his name he remembers FRANK. But has to look down at her sheet to know his last name is GALLAGHER. This is the man who walks around saying “It’s up to Frank Gallagher to save the neighborhood”. He forgot his last name.

c) The scene goes on, the nurse asks him to remember three words: pedestrian, blue, and handlebar. They discuss other things, then she asks him to tell her those words. It’s so abundantly clear that Frank just cannot. He doesn’t remember. He was told like 30sec ago and gets, for the first time ASHAMED. He’s the most shameless person ever (hence the title of the show) but now the tides have turned. He “doesn’t wanna play this game anymore”. Frank can recognize AGAIN that he is confused, only now he is forced to face it. The nurse noticed, she runs some tests and Frank learns that he has early stages of alcoholic dementia. This isn’t his liver, he can’t get a new one, this is his brain.

14. + 15. Letty & Terry

Just two bonuses, Frank wanders aimlessly into the Alibi again (like in 11x05) because it’s routine for him. Letty calls him over. Frank forgot they were supposed to meet there. :(

Frank and Terry on the porch: Maybe it’s just bad writing or they were trying to make a point but like a “Gallagher-Milkovich War” never happened??? We watched the show for 11 seasons... Also are the Milkoviches actually from Poland Frank? I’ll excuse that one cuz Ian mentioned it too, but I thought they wer Ukrainian. These seem like writing mistakes tho so oops.

Things He Might Be Able To Remember

Frank has his and Franny’s name tattooed on his body... he literally forgot his last name at the hospital. And if he forgets a bunch in 11b then that’ll be the payoff for the tattoo... he might not know why the tattoo is there or who the people are listed on his arm, or even what it means exactly, but he will know that Frank loves Franny.

Where he lives. Frank never threw out the paper with his diagnosis. He might remember his home, however the conflict comes in the fact that the Gallaghers might be selling it. He needs to be around people/places that are familiar to him. This could jeopardize his memory.

The Alibi is where Frank seems to just walk to or go to whenever he has no clue where he is or going but it’s subtle. I could see him getting lost and no one knowing where he is and Frank just being at the Alibi beacuse idk muscle memory? He’s on autopilot.

Early stages of ALCOHOLIC Dementia can improve. Like if maybe Frank were to tell someone and if he wasn’t removed from the Gallagher house, and oh I don’t know if Frank STOPPED DRINKING, he could remember. But I don’t think we’re heading in that direction, especially if the house is sold, and let’s face it... it looks that way.

Fiona? Will he forget her... this all feels reminiscent of 4x11.

Other Characters Finding Out

Franny, Kevin, and Liam, are the only people who have REALLY been subject to the possibility of noticing... but think about it. Franny is too young to notice anything, Kevin is not the brightest bulb, he doesn’t seem to realize it either, and Liam was exposed to it once, but at that time he was so scared about the Milkoviches that he didn’t notice it. Maybe if he saw it again, he would. Liam is smart enough.

I wonder if the Gallaghers will just find out the hard way (,like those stills from 11x08 are making me think,) or if anyone will begin to seriously pick up on it. I intially thought they would show Frank forgetting in front of each character until someone was able to notice but scratch that. They seem to be setting Lip up on the “alcoholic path” this season, (and I may go more into depth about that one another time, it’s another big post if I do get into it). But what will the Gallagher’s reactions/feelings be towards Frank’s diagnosis? Mickey and Ian had many Terry/Frank discussions in 11x06 literally setting up for it. It hurt when they all kept dismissing Frank because yup, they don’t know yet. They would have to help him in order to keep his memory maintained, but that’s the thing... Frank’s pride. He might deny their help even if they actually were to give it to him... Either way, I’m “looking forward” to see how this all unravels and how everyone finds out and what their reactions will be, which brings me to my final topic:

Aftermath...

So what happens? Will they sell the house, potentially causing Frank to forget? Will he not know his kids, his history? Will he die? Will Frank finally stop drinking... yeah I doubt that... So what WILL happen? Will the Gallaghers be left to take care of Frank? Will they even do that? Will he remember them?

What if in 1x01 Frank’s narration IS his memory? We see him talking about his kids to someone? It circles back? I don’t know, but either way I expect this whole thing to pull on our heartstrings. When the rest of the regulars find out... it’s gonna get real, and rough.

Interesting stuff coming up in 11b I’m sure. Let’s see how this plays out for our Protagonist and Patriarch: Frank Gallagher.

Omg, if you read through this, you are so cool and I really really appreciate you! Please send me an ask or write a note, I would love to get your take on the matter. 💙

Hope you enjoyed this analysis and I hope it didn’t go on too long.

#frank gallagher #season 11 #shameless season 11 #shameless #gallavich #dementia #my lists

[spine-buster]

The President Wears Prada (William Nylander) | Chapter 8

November 10th, 2019

Aberdeen Bloom was in her hotel room.  

The Leafs had lost to Chicago.  Chicago scored four goals in the first period.  It was a shitshow.  And although the boys rallied back late in the third period, they just couldn’t get that fifth goal to send it into overtime and at least get a point.  William scored two goals – en route to a hat trick – but didn’t get it.  He did get third star of the game though.  Aberdeen knew he was trying to impress his parents and show off in front of his brother.

The team was spending the night in Chicago before leaving late tomorrow for Long Island, meaning that Aberdeen had the day off and could actually go and explore.  She’d never been, and she knew eight or ten hours was not nearly enough to really explore a city, but she thought about taking a city bus tour that hit all the major sites.  Truthfully, she was learning more towards just spending the entire day at the Art Institute of Chicago.  It was on her bucket list.  

After the stress of travelling and the back to back games, she was tired.  She’d taken a long, hot shower before putting on her pajamas and slipping into the hotel bathrobe.  With her hair wrapped in a towel, she ripped open a sheet mask and put it on, massaging it onto her face.  She texted Kasha, who sent her some pictures and videos of Minerva sleeping on her bed, which calmed her down but also made her wish she was curled up with her cat.  Eventually, Aberdeen lay upright in bed, trying to get some reading of Women Talking by Miriam Toews done before she fell asleep.

But then there was a light knock at her door.

She was so tired and so annoyed and so engrossed in her book that she didn’t even bother to look through the peephole to see who it was.  She forgot she was in her pajamas and bathrobe.  She forgot she had an entire sheet mask on her face that made her look like Jason.  She just opened the door, not thinking about anything.

Which made seeing William on the other side of the door all the more frightening.  

He had quite the amused look on his face.  “Hey.”

She shut the door in his face.  She turned around so her back was against the door, internally freaking out, looking around for a means of escape.  She seriously contemplated jumping out the window.  It was only eight floors – that didn’t mean too many broken bones, right?  She could…she could…

“Open the door, Aberdeen,” she could hear him from the other side, his voice low but loud enough that only she could hear.  

“No,” she said, having the wherewithal to finally rip the sheet mask off her face and shove it into the pocket of the robe.  It was still wet, damn it.  A sheet mask wasted.  

“Come on, Aberdeen.”

“What are you even doing here?” she asked.

“Would you rather Brendan find me outside your hotel room or would you rather hide me in the shower where he wouldn’t see me?” William asked rhetorically.  

Aberdeen’s heart and her mind started racing, thinking that Brendan was on the way down to her room or down the hallway or something.  She rushed to open the door and stuck her head out, looking down both ends of the hallway.  William, for his part, slipped past her and into her room.  “Is he here?!” she asked in a harsh whisper.  

“God no.  Brendan’s asleep,” William said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.  “It’s eleven at night, Aberdeen.  The man needs his rest.”

She looked back at him practically sauntering into her hotel room and shut the door, locking it behind her for full effect.  She crossed her arms to make herself appear angry.  William still had an amused smile on his face.  “I reiterate my question – what are you even doing here?”

“Why wouldn’t I be here?”

“Weren’t you going to dinner with your parents and Alex?”

“That’s done.”

“So, like, don’t you want to spend time with your parents?”

“They have an early morning flight to catch to Dallas to visit Jackie at SMU,” he said.  “They went back to their hotel and went to bed.”

“And shouldn’t you be doing the same thing?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Cause I wanted to see you, minskatt.”

A blush overcame her cheeks.  “Will, this is really inappropriate,” she said, trying to mask it.

“Why?”

“You’re a hockey player in my hotel room,” she felt like she had to spell everything out for him.  “If Brendan finds out he’d freak.  If Kyle or Peter found out, they’d freak.  Hell, if your teammates found out—”

“Even if they did, they wouldn’t say anything,” William interrupted her.

She stopped dead in her tracks.  That was not plausible.  Any single one of them would go to Brendan in a second if she and Will were caught together like this.  In her hotel room.  At night.  Alone.  “I have a hard time believing that.”

“They wouldn’t.  They know that I like you, so they wouldn’t.”

Aberdeen couldn’t respond with anything because she could think of anything to say.  He flummoxed her constantly.  He kept rendering her speechless and she didn’t know what to do about it – didn’t know if she could do anything about it.  She watched as he leaned against the TV stand, crossing his own arms over his chest.  “I’m asking for a third time now – what are you doing here?”

“Was that a sheet mask you had on your face before?”

“Yes.”

“For what?”

She gave him major side eye.  “Moisturizing.  The traveling is drying out my skin.”

Will let out a slight chuckle.  He looked past her towards her bed, and she followed his eyes and looked behind her.  “What book are you reading?”

Was he being serious right now?  Had he seriously made his way into her room to ask her about sheet masks and books?  Not like she’d do anything else with him.  But still.  “Women Talking by Miriam Toews.”

“Do women talk in it?”

She audibly scoffed.  “It’s about sexual assault in a Mennonite community.”

Will’s face dropped.  “Oh fuck.”  

Aberdeen couldn’t help but snort as she saw the look on his face.  She tried to cover her mouth and her smile but the attempt was futile.  He looked so embarrassed and it just brought her so much…well, delight.  “God, Will,” she said, sitting on the edge of the bed, leaning back to grab the book.  “You are something else.”

“You like to read, then?” he tried to recover the conversation.

“I have a major in English, Will.  And I want to become a writer.  You can’t become a writer if you don’t read.  Well I mean, you can, but you won’t be very good.  And beyond that, I’ve made it my goal to read the shortlist of the Governor General Awards and the Giller Prize,” she said.  She saw a slightly confused look on Will’s face.  “They’re Canada’s highest literary awards.  They’re like – well, not really, but you’re Swedish, so – it’s like being a Nobel Laureate, but obviously the Nobel is much more prestigious.  I read them too.”

The smile that appeared on his face was so innocent and pure that she wanted to wipe it off his face.  She couldn’t handle it.  “I remember that you want to be a writer.  You told me the first time we met,” he said.  Aberdeen shivered.  “So what are you doing here with the Leafs?”

“In my quest for any type of job, they were the only ones that called,” she informed him.  “No newspapers or magazines came calling, so it was this or bank telling.”

He pushed himself off the TV console, making his way over to sit beside her on the edge of the bed.  He looked over at her.  “I think you’d make a great writer.”

“Thanks, but you haven’t read any of my writing.”

“Can I?”

“No.”

It was Will’s turn to snort.  “Fair enough.  Maybe I’ll get to read it one day.”

“I don’t know about that,” she said, smiling down at the book as she held it between her hands, being very careful not to lose the page.  “How was dinner with your parents?” she pivoted, not wanting to talk about herself or her writing anymore.  “I bet you miss them a lot.”

William shrugged his shoulders.  “I’m kind of used to it.  When I was a kid my dad would be gone a lot.”

Aberdeen thought the worst.  “Why?”

William looked at her weirdly.  “My dad was an NHL player, Aberdeen.”  He saw the shock on her face and couldn’t help but chuckle.  “Do you not, like, google these things?”

“Why would I google your dad?  I thought he was just…I don’t know, your dad!” she tried to defend herself.  

“Well, he is just my dad—”

“But he was an NHL player,” she said.  “What team did he play for?”

“A bunch.  He was a journeyman.  Alex and I were actually born in Calgary, but then it was Tampa, Chicago, Washington, Boston, New York…then back to Washington,” William listed off the cities he’d lived in.  “It was a lot of moving around.  A lot of back and forth.  A lot of missing dad.”

Aberdeen could never imagine moving around that much as a kid.  She was very fortunate to have lived in the same house her entire life, however old and small it was.  She knew William’s life growing up was probably very nice – much nicer than hers, in the sense that he had a lot more money with his dad being an NHL player and all – but all of that couldn’t make up for missing your dad because you couldn’t actually see your dad.  The first time Aberdeen realized she actually missed her parents was the grade nine orientation retreat her school ran, when she went to a camp in Muskoka for three days and two nights and got eaten alive by mosquitos.  She couldn’t imagine that feeling happening over and over again.  And not just over and over again…but throughout her entire childhood.  “But Sweden is always home?” she asked, trying to brighten up the mood.  

“Always,” he replied automatically, resolute in his tone.  “In the summers, when we’d be all together in Sweden, and it was just…you know, family time…that was the best.  Our house in Stockholm, or our house in the countryside…it was always amazing.”

Aberdeen smiled at him.  He was so clearly fond of Sweden and fond of his family.  If their Halloween talk didn’t secure it enough, this did.  She wondered how much he missed his siblings on a regular basis; how geographically, they were so far away from each other, but in every other way they were so close.  Much like she and Siena.  She missed Siena every day.

“Hey Aberdeen?” Will’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

“Yeah?”

“You haven’t kicked me out yet.”

She gave him a look.  He started chuckling at her scrunched up face, still glowing with moisturizer.  “Don’t push it.”

***

November 13th 2019

Aberdeen felt both mentally and physically exhausted as the charter plane landed in Toronto just before midnight.  The Leafs suffered another loss to the New York Islanders, John’s old team (who booed him every time he touched the puck, the savages), even though they battled back again from a goal deficit.  Will scored.  John scored too.  But it wasn’t enough.  Now, the team was officially on a three game losing streak (okay, technically only two if you didn’t count the shootout loss against Philly).  Aberdeen was just…tired.  She had the day off tomorrow to prepare for the Major Donor Dinner that night, worked Friday, and then – surprisingly – a full weekend off, since Brendan wasn’t traveling to Pittsburgh.  

To says she was looking forward to it was an understatement.  

“Who’s driving Aberdeen home?” John asked out loud as he always did when they came back from road trips late at night.  She didn’t know if he’d taken it upon himself as the team captain to spearhead the movement, but she didn’t oppose it anymore.  If they wanted to be chivalrous, she wasn’t going to stop them.  

She usually rode into the city with Morgan, with Bee picking them up.  Twice she’d gotten driven back into the city with Saylor and Kasperi.  She was fully ready to hear Morgan’s voice pipe up like it always did – especially because Bee was always on time and already waiting for them by the time they landed.  She even saw him about to say it, but he was cut off.  “I’ve got it,” Will said immediately, not even looking at her.  Morgan looked back at him, shrugging his shoulders.  That was that.  

Aberdeen noticed he drove a Volvo – of course he would, the Swede.  She put her carry-on in the trunk and slipped into the passenger seat, waving goodbye at Justin Holl who had parked beside Will and was already backing out of his space.  Will slipped into the driver’s seat, starting the car.  He looked over at her, the smallest smile on his face.  “Hey.”

“Hello.”

“You tired?” he asked.

“I’m exhausted.”

“Good,” he said, backing out of the parking spot, making his way out and onto the street.

“Good?”

“I’ve been waiting for this moment for a while,” he said, a smile on his face.

She side-eyed him.  What exactly did he think they were going to get up to in his car of all places?  She was wide awake now.  “Why?”

“You always have your headphones in on the bus or plane when Brendan doesn’t need you.”

“So?”

“So it’s obvious you like music, and I’ve curated a playlist for this exact moment,” he smiled, fiddling around with his phone.  He really shouldn’t have been doing that, since he was driving and it was illegal to do so.  Aberdeen looked as he swiped through Spotify quickly, obviously knowing exactly where he needed to go.  

“What moment is that?” she asked.  

“Driving through Toronto at night,” he said, stopping at the red light.  She chuckled slightly to herself, leaning her head back on the headrest and looking out her window.  Of all the guys on the team, only Will would do something like this.  Bee never made any playlists for driving Morgan home in the middle of the night.  Hell, Saylor didn’t either.  She was more preoccupied with telling Kasperi the exact details of what she’d been up to while he was gone, or telling him where they were going to go for drinks and oysters after they dropped Aberdeen off. “You ready?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

“If you put on Drake to drive through Toronto at night, Will, I swear to God…” she warned.

There was a dramatic pause.  The opening notes of Drake’s ‘Passionfruit’ played.  Aberdeen overexaggerated her scoff and disgusted face, and William’s infamous laugh was so loud it could be heard over the music.  “God, William…” she chastised playfully.

“Oh come on!  It’s a good song!” he tried to defend himself.

“It’s one of his better songs, sure.  I’ll give you that,” she said.  “But what a lousy start.”

Will’s jaw dropped.  “Oh, really?  You can think of something better?”

“I can think of a million different songs that are better,” she quipped.  She looked down at his phone sitting in the little cubby and went to grab it.  She scrolled through the list, getting more and more disgusted by the songs and artists he’d added to the playlist.  “Your taste in music is awful,” she scoffed again.

“HEY!”

“It’s true!”

“Okay Miss Superior Music Taste—”

“Okay, first of all, if you’re going to choose a Toronto artist to start a ‘driving though Toronto at night’ playlist, it should be The Weeknd,” she began, typing his name into the screen and swiping to add ‘Starboy’ and ‘I Feel It Coming’ to the playlist.  “Like, where is Tory Lanez?  Where’s Daniel Caesar?  And why is it all rappers?  This is so stereotypical.  You need better music.”

“It doesn’t just have to be people from Toronto,” he said, making a turn.  “And it’s all rappers because I li—”

“Seriously, this is awful.”

“You’re really mean when you’re exhausted,” he quipped.  

“If it doesn’t have to be just full of people from Toronto then I’m hijacking this playlist and making it good,” she ignored his comment, already swiping her fingers all over his screen and typing in name after name.  

Will would glance over occasionally, trying to keep his eyes on the road but finding it hard.  She looked so cute concentrating so hard as Passionfruit played in the background.  He bit his lip, trying to remain composed.  “God, you’re gutting that thing,” he said.

“That’s how bad it is.”

He shook his head playfully.  “You better hurry up.  Passionfruit’s almost over.”  Aberdeen finished off, keeping his phone in her lap as she let Passionfruit end.  “It better be good,” he said.

She shot him a playful glare.  “It’s awesome, thank you very much.”

As ‘Passionfruit’ ended, ‘Bride’ by San Fermin came on.  Aberdeen was immediately pulled into the sounds and beats, closing her eyes and let it wash over her.  William, on the other hand, furrowed his brows.  “What is this?”

“San Fermin.”

“Who?”

She shot him another glare – how many she’d shot him in this car ride alone, she couldn’t even say.  “Can you just listen?”

William gave it about a minute before he began shaking his head again.  “I’m sorry.  I can’t do this.”

“You’re weak.”

“Put on something good this time,” he said as she picked up the phone again.  He switched lanes to get onto the onramp for the Gardiner Expressway.  He saw Aberdeen scrolling through the playlist, finally picking a song.  ‘Green Light’ by Lorde.  “Lorde?  Really?”

“Don’t you dare say a bad word about Lorde,” she warned.  “She’s perfect.  Her music is perfect.”

“You think so?”

“She wrote Pure Heroine at sixteen.  Sixteen!” she exclaimed.  “I would give my left arm to have written like that at sixteen.  I was writing awful, pretentious poetry about stupid boys in my high school at sixteen.  And she wrote that entire album!”

William laughed, her clear enthusiasm and love of Lorde shining through in her words.  It was adorable.  She was adorable.  She was many things, but right now, she was adorable.  “Is she your favourite?” he asked.

“I have a lot of favourites,” Aberdeen admitted.  “But yeah.  She’s up there.  Do you not listen to her?”

William shrugged his shoulders.  “I know Royals.  That was the big one, right?  That’s basically it.”

“Well, you need to listen more.”

“Not the first time someone’s told me that,” he joked, keeping his eyes focused on the road.

Aberdeen bit her lip.  She knew they were in the context of talking about music and her favourite artists, but that was a loaded sentence.  When she and Brendan made their way to the locker room after the Islanders game, she could hear Mike Babcock’s voice from down the hallway.  She’d watched and listened to some of his post-game interviews, and she wasn’t completely ignorant to the fact that he constantly, constantly, backhand complimented William and his skills.  It didn’t matter if William got an assist, got one goal, even two goals – it was like Mike couldn’t say a good word about Will without undermining him somehow.  She remembered the season opener, when William told her “I’m used to it” when she asked about it.  She shifted uncomfortably in the passenger’s seat.  “Will…”

“Hm?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course, minskatt.”

She paused to try to collect herself.  “What, like…I mean, I don’t mean to be nosey or whatever, or intrude…but what – I mean…like what kind of like—”

“Spit it out, Aberdeen.”

“What’s the issue between you and Mike Babcock?” she finally asked.  

Will looked over at her quickly, shocked that she’d asked the question.  “Hell if I knew,” he mumbled, shrugging his shoulders.  That was a lie – he did know part of it.  At least, he thought he knew part of it.  “I don’t…I…okay.  Last year,” he began, “the 2018-2019 season.  It was my contract negotiation year.  I went unsigned throughout the summer because I was holding out for a specific number and a long-term deal instead of what we call a ‘bridge’, so like a two or three year deal.  I…I didn’t want to be anywhere else but Toronto, no matter what anyone else said.  I still don’t want to be anywhere else but Toronto,” he explained.  “And so, because of that holdout, I didn’t attend training camp.  I didn’t play basically for the beginning half of the season.  There…there was a lot of drama.  A lot of rumours in the Toronto media – really nasty rumours, some of them.  A bunch of talk about trading me.  It produced this really…I don’t know, this really toxic, like, cloud surrounding me.  A lot of people were angry about it.  But I got my deal – I signed on December 1st, the last day legally possible to be able to play.”

Aberdeen thought back to what he told her about his dad.  How much Will missed him as a kid growing up because Michael would be travelling for hockey.  How much Michael was gone all the time.  How every few years, the family would have to pack up and move to a completely different city, in a completely different part of the country, following Michael on his journeyman hockey career.  Of course William wanted a long term deal.  It was no wonder.  He didn’t want to experience what he had to experience growing up – being shuffled around the league – now as an adult.  

“The media did their job though,” he continued, breaking her train of thought.  “They were relentless.  Malicious.  They turned a lot of people against me – a lot of fans who were influenced into thinking I was a spoiled Swedish brat.  Overhyped, overpaid, waste of money.  A plug.  Getting in the way of hiring a good Canadian boy, forgetting the fact that I was born in Calgary,” he almost smiled to himself, shaking his head.  “So…I don’t know.  I guess Mike didn’t get over my holdout.  Maybe he feels bitter about it.  Maybe he thinks I’m selfish, that I shouldn’t have held out.  Maybe he thinks I’m an overhyped, overpaid plug taking a spot from a good Canadian enforcer or something.  But it’s all hypothetical.  It’s all maybes.  I can’t tell you why, exactly, he always says those things.”

Aberdeen didn’t know any of this.  She didn’t know William held out on his contract.  She didn’t know there was a portion of the city that hated just him specifically.  She didn’t know about bridge deals, long term deals, and about him wanting to be in Toronto – nowhere else.  She didn’t know any of it.  And that’s when she finally realized: that was her exact problem.  This was why she kept making careless comments that made Brendan so upset.  She didn’t know anything about the team; she didn’t know anything about its members, how they got to Toronto, how they liked being here.  She didn’t know the history and barely took time to learn.

“You need to walk into this building everyday knowing and understanding the history of this hockey club beyond just the surface level and what Brendan tells you,” Kyle told her after she went crying to him like a baby.  “But you already know what to do, Aberdeen.  You just need to find it within yourself and do it.”

She needed to understand the team as an institution, but also as a group of guys creating and carrying on the legacy of that institution.  

Now she knew.

“That’s awful,” she said, considering everything he told her.  She couldn’t believe a coach would hold something like that against a player.  “You…you don’t deserve that, Will.  Any of it.”

“I know,” he said, nodding his head slightly.  “You don’t have to tell me that, minskatt.  Mike’s just…listen, he’s a good coach – a great coach.  I mean, he’s won two gold medals.  And he has a very specific system—”

“William,” she interrupted him.  He looked over at her.  “Don’t make excuses.”

He smiled at her – a true, genuine smile.  And as he did, the opening notes of ‘Style’ by Taylor Swift began to play, and a shiver ran up Aberdeen’s spine.  She had to look away – had to – because if she looked any longer at him, she would spontaneously self-combust.  That, or lean over the centre console and do something she would immediately regret.  As she looked out the front, she saw them approaching downtown – all the lights and the skyscrapers illuminating the city, and the CN Tower lit up brightly in red.  “This is my favourite drive,” she mumbled.

“What?”

“This is my favourite drive,” she repeated, speaking up.  “This…the Gardiner going into the city.  Swerving through all the buildings.  All the lights.  And this song is perfect for it.  Absolutely fucking perfect.”

William continued to smile at her, looking between her and the road as ‘Style’ continued to play.  The riff, the beat…everything was perfect.  She was busy focused on the view, and on the beat of the song, singing it lightly to herself, her voice getting above the volume of the song only minimally.  She even took out her own phone and began recording the drive and the lights, no doubt to post on Instagram later.  She looked perfect.  She was perfect, at least to him.  He needed to utilize every ounce of self-control he had in him as he continued to watch her.  “This is really hard,” he said out loud, breaking somewhat.

“What?  Listening to Taylor Swift?”

He laughed.  “No.  All I really want to do is reach across the dash and hold your hand but I know I can’t.”

She blushed, looking down at her hands instead of looking at him.  She always had a few rings on – a few dainty ones, stacked, and one her mom gave her that once belonged to her grandmother – and she began playing with them nervously.  He signalled to get off at the appropriate exit.   “Will…”

“I know, I know,” he said.  He was biting his lip down, hard, probably to stop him from saying or doing anything else.  “I’m sorry.”

The rest of their ride was silent, since it wasn’t much longer until he reached her condo.  When they finally arrived, she made sure he knew he didn’t have to get out of the car when he popped the trunk for her to get her carry-on.  She rolled it back to the passenger window.  “Thanks for the ride Will,” she smiled.

“Will I see you at the dinner tomorrow?” Will asked out the window, leaning over the centre console.

She paused for a second.  He knew about that?  She thought it was an office personnel only event.  “You’re going?”

“Of course I am,” he smiled.  

She rolled her eyes.  “Of course you are.”

“Brendan likes to shuffle some of us out as a surprise for the donors.  It’ll be me, John, Jason, and Mitch,” he explained quickly.  “So I’ll see you there?”

“Yes.  You’ll see me there.”

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

[like-a-bag-of-potatoes]

Playing With Fire - Moving On

A/N: So this is my first crack at Chicago fire fanfiction, so don't judge too hard, alright? This will unfold from the beginning of season three, so if you haven't watched it yet, but plan to; SPOILER ALERT! I tried to follow along with the storyline of the show, but some things have been changed. Shout out to my superawesome beta @thorne93​, you rock! 

Fandom: Chicago Fire

Pairing: Kelly Severide x Beth (OFC) 

Warnings: Language probably. 

Wordcount: 2065

MASTERLIST

The world was spinning when Beth woke up the next morning, so she decided it wasn't even worth it to open her eyes. That's until she remembered how the night had ended, and her eyes flew open. 

“Oh thank god,” she muttered when she learned she was alone in her bed. For a while she just lay there in silence, listening for any sounds in her apartment, when she was certain that she was alone she decided to get up. Groaning, she rolled out of bed and threw a blanket around her shoulders before she padded to the kitchen in need of water, Advil, and bacon.

She furrowed her brows at the little note on her table, her tired and puffy eyes having a hard time concentrating on the words. 

 Thanks for a fun night! Sorry to sneak out before dawn, but duty calls. I realized that I didn't get your number, so I'm gonna leave you with mine just in case you want a re-run. No pressure. 

- Jay   

Beth groaned as she balled up the paper. “Nice jobb, dumbass,” she scolded herself.

Thanks to the copious amount of alcohol she had consumed last night, her nerves were fried, so when there was a knock on the door, she jumped. For a second she just stared at the door, very annoyed with the person on the other side of it. 

“Good morning, player,” Gabby greeted in a chipper tone, smiling from ear to ear. “You look like shit,” she added as she handed Beth a cup of coffee she had brought for her. 

“I look better than I feel then,” Beth mumbled as she took the styrofoam cup from her friend. She didn't even invite her in, just turned around and started making her way back to the kitchen. 

“You alone?” Gabby asked, tentatively looking around the small apartment. 

“Why?” Beth asked, snapping her head around so fast she thought she might throw up. Damn hangover. 

“You know Jay works with my brother right?” she deadpanned. “Plus, Otis and Hermann were still at the bar when you two left. So was Kelly - my roommate,” she summarized.

“Gossip spreads faster through a firehouse than it does through my family. I'm impressed,” Beth said with annoyance in her voice. 

“Tell me about it,” Gabby agreed. “Look… I had Matt drive me downtown to get your car-” she handed Beth the keys - “He's outside and we really have to get to work. I just wanted to get you your keys and check in.” 

“Thanks,” Beth said softly. “I'm good. A little embarrassed, and a lot hungover, but I'll live.” 

“Nothing to be embarrassed about,” Gabby assured. “You are both consenting adults, nothing wrong with having a little fun.” 

“I know. Just thinking that getting over someone by getting under someone else might not be the best plan of action,” Beth said with a dry chuckle. 

“Fair point,” Gabby agreed. “Look, can we catch up later?” She was clearly stressed and in a rush to get to work, so the two said their goodbyes and then she was out the door. 

Beth threw back some Advil, grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and then went straight back to bed, hoping she would be able to sleep away the hangover before she had to be at work that afternoon. At least she knew that everyone at 51 would be working that night so she wouldn't have to run into any of them. And by any of them, she meant one in particular. 

***

A couple of days went by without Beth really socializing with anyone. She hid in her apartment as much as she could, still sort of embarrassed by the events of the other night. 

That night there was quite the crowd at Molly’s, so Beth was more than a little relieved when Gabby showed up to help out. It was crazy busy, but it didn't take long before Beth realized that something was up with her friend. Behind Gabby’s beautiful smile, there was a hint of sadness and at the first opportunity, Beth dragged her friend to the end of the bar so they could talk privately.

The past two days had been crazy. Mills and Brett, the two EMTs, had been kidnapped, but ultimately found in one piece. Chief Boden and his wife, Donna, had their baby, but little Baby Boden had some complications and was still being treated at the hospital. Kelly had broken things off with his wife and sent her back to Florida. It was a lot of information to get all at once, but they didn't have time to go into too much detail. 

“And today, this gorgeous blonde comes trotting into the station on ten inch heels, looking for Matt. I ask her what it was about and then she hands me his phone and announces that he had left it at her place when he left that morning,” Gabby explained, finishing up the tale of crazy that had been going on. 

“What?!” Beth exclaimed. “He cheated on you?” 

“No. Turns out it was Severide’s bimbo and Matt had just crashed on the couch,” she said. “I'm just.. I think I'm just starting to realize that we’re not gonna make it through this,” she concluded with a heavy sigh. 

“What are you going to do?” Beth asked, trying not to put too much thought into the whole Kelly part of the story. 

Gabby just shrugged, and before she could say anything else, Jay walked up and interrupted them. “I'm gonna go- uhm - be somewhere else,” Gabby said awkwardly before hurrying away. 

Beth had dreaded this moment since the other night. She wasn't really a one night stand kind of girl, so this situation was a little unfamiliar to her. “Hey,” she said a little awkwardly. Jay’s smile was very charming as he greeted her back. “Gabby just filled me in on what's been going on. Seems like you’ve had a few busy days,” she noted. 

The intelligence squad that Jay worked for had been the ones that helped find Brett and Mills. “Yeah,” he nodded. “But we got them back in one piece, and the bad guys are behind bars, which is all that matters.” 

“Good job, Detective,” she complimented. “Can I get you a drink?” 

“I'm actually on call,” he said simply. “I just came by to say hey. Maybe see if you have any plans tomorrow?” 

Fuck. “Look-” Beth started, not really knowing what to say. “I had a really great time the other night-” 

Jay cut her off. “But you’re not really looking for anything right now,” he finished without any accusation in his voice, still with that charming smile on his face. 

“It's just that I'm trying to get over someone and I don't think using you as a rebound is fair on either one of us,” she tried to explain. Jay was smart, kind, and funny, and under different circumstances she would be all over this. However, right now wasn't the time for them. 

“Lieutenant Severide?” he asked. Beth didn't answer him, but he definitely knew. “Alright then. We still good?” 

“I hope so,” Beth said. 

He leaned down and placed a chaste kiss to her cheek before saying goodbye and heading back to work. 

***

The evening went by in a hurry and before they knew it, Gabby was shooing the last of the customers out the door, locking it behind them while Beth grabbed them each a beer so they could finish the talk they started on earlier. 

“I have to get out of Matt's house,” she suddenly said. “Two months ago, if that girl had shown up at the firehouse like she did today, my first thought would have been that there's a reasonable explanation here. Now, though, my first instinct was that he had cheated on me and I - I don't know. I'm just thinking that it's already over between us.” 

Beth didn't really know what to say, but she had seen how they had struggled for the past couple of months. “If you need a place to crash, my door is always open. And my couch is surprisingly comfortable,” she offered. 

“Thank you,” Gabby said with a half hearted smile. “Tonight?” 

“Absolutely,” Beth said, pulling her friend into a hug. “And for the record, I think that you and Matt will figure this all out. Maybe not right away, but I do believe in the two of you.” 

“You’re a good friend, Beth.” 

Both of them were more than ready to call it a night and go back to Beth’s for some much needed rest, but it turned out that the evening wasn't quite over for Beth yet. 

When they stepped out of Molly’s the first thing they saw was Kelly, leaning against his blue Mustang, waiting for her. 

“You have a minute?” he asked, looking at Beth as he pushed himself off of the car and taking a few steps closer to them. 

Beth fished her keys out of her pocket and handed them to Gabby. “I'll be right there,” she assured. 

“You sure?” Gabby questioned, looking between Beth and Kelly, but when Beth nodded her head, she turned on her heel and walked away. 

“What's that about?” Kelly asked, shoving his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. 

“Not my place to say,” she stated simply. “Why are you here?” It was a chilly night and Beth tugged her jacket tighter around her body to shield her from the cold wind. 

“I just wanted to apologize for the other night. It wasn't my place to say anything.” 

“Apology accepted. That all?” she asked coldly. 

Kelly didn't say anything, his mind busy searching for words he couldn't find. 

“Alright then. Good talk,” she said sarcastically as she took a few steps backwards before starting to turn away. 

“No. Wait,” he said, making her stop in her tracs. “You said that you hoped we could find a way to be friends down the line… Guess I just needed to know that I didn't fuck that up.” 

“You didn't,” she assured. “But we’re not there yet. At least I'm not.” 

“Anything I can do to help you get there?” he wondered, taking a few steps closer to her. He desperately missed her. Her smile. Her laugh. Her touch. He knew that he had ruined any chance of a relationship between them, but he couldn't stand the thought of losing her completely. 

“Space and time, just like I asked for. I told you that as long as you’re seeking answers at the bottom of a bottle-” 

“I promise you that I'm done with that,” he vowed, cutting her off. 

“So you weren't out with Matt - two days after your wife left- getting drunk and crawling into someone else's bed?” She wasn't angry at him, but the accusation and jealousy in her voice was clear as day. 

“That's different,” he defended. 

“I shouldn't have brought that up,” she said quietly. It had nothing to do with them really, and it wasn't like she hadn't done the same thing with Jay. 

“That's okay,” he assured. 

“Look,” she said with a deep sigh. “Honestly, I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything that happened between us, and what happened after.” 

“What are you saying?” 

“That I care about you,” she admitted, looking up into his eyes. “Probably more than I should. And I have no idea where to go from here.” 

Hope rose in him at her words, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Beth, I'm not the kind of guy that shows up in the middle of the night to make amends. I care about you too, a lot.” It was so great to finally get that off his chest, to finally admit to her how he felt. 

“Yeah. You showed me just how much when you went to Vegas and married the first girl you met,” she accused. 

Now he was confused again. “I made a mistake, Beth,” he pleaded. 

“I can't do this,” she said, slowly taking a few steps backwards. “I hope we can be friends one day, Kelly. I really do. But I can't do this dance with you right now.” She shook her head as she turned around and started on the short walk home, not stopping or looking back as he called out her name. 

Tags: @campingmonkey @deansgirl215 @thevelvetseries @graniairish 

#Kelly Severide #kelly severide fanfiction #kelly severide fanfic #kelly severide x reader #kelly severide series #Chicago Fire #chicago fire fanfic #chicago fire fanfiction

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E96 (February 25, 2020)

Tonight’s guests are Taliesin Jaffe and Liam O’Brien!

Announcements: The Chicago live show and C2E2 are imminent! The live show will be on Thursday night, but an hour earlier than usual, at 6 PM Pacific/8 PM Central! Liam will be at the live show, but unfortunately has to leave C2E2 early and won’t be able to make it on Sunday. On Friday, the first behind-the-scenes video for The Legend of Vox Machina animated series was posted on YouTube, introducing the writing team!

Episode 96: Family Shatters

Stats for this week’s episode! Of the 16 times Caleb has cast Teleportation Circle, the M9 have remembered to contact someone prior to their arrival 7 times. Of those 7 times, they were successful at contacting someone at the location only 3. Taliesin: “We’re playing this game like Skyrim, we’re just going through people’s houses breaking pottery.” Caduceus got the straw hat that he gave to Clarabelle in episode 31, about 188 in-game days ago. There were 17 cow-related puns. Dani: “Is that above or below average for a Critical Role episode?”

“Clay was kind of built relatively quickly. I didn’t give Matt a ton to play with. I gave him the order in which they left, I gave him Clay’s attitude and his impression of his family members, which was usually just one sentence, and some basic idea of what their power set might be if they had one. I always thought of him as, from a family perspective, of what would have happened to Percy if nothing went wrong.” He was happy to be the one to run the family business and just hang around at home and run the shrine. “I think the rest of the kids’ wanderlust probably put them at odds quite a bit.” He liked being able to play that conflict and show what Caduceus was like when he was annoyed. Cad took after his father, the girls generally wanted to leave, and Colton is “just sort of a doofus.”

Caleb was an only child, so seeing this many kids was a lot. “They clearly had their grudges and their different dynamics with each other, but that’s normal, for sure. Caleb’s very unfamiliar with it.” He also keeps looking at Nott and thinking about how everything he’s doing is about wanting to rebuild his family, whereas Nott is so conflicted about going back to hers. “He doesn’t understand it, but he doesn’t want to push it” or judge her for it. “I thought I had a really defined direction at the start of the campaign, but my seven best friends have knocked it silly.”

What’s keeping Cad with the Nein? “Caduceus is not ready to go home at all. He’s not done with his walkabout. He feels like he wants to see a bit more. He feels he has an intense debt to pay. He feels he has a mission to see everybody else through, at the very least. Or at least he’s telling himself that. So he’s saved his home, or at least he thinks he’s saved his home, and his family’s all right, so now it’s debts that must be paid. He’s not somebody who thinks you can just get off the bus.”

“Caleb was going to ask [the hag] about the ability to travel backward through time, not really believing that she could do that, but was still like, show me what you’ve got.” Even if she’d said it, he would have thought she was a liar. “Probably would’ve offered to kill the M9″ in exchange, then would’ve turned around to hit her with a surprise Disintegrate. Liam notes repeatedly that nothing could possibly have been as cool as what Laura wound up doing.

On the Nein not worrying about places Cad considered sacred ground, Caduceus “is fine with conflict. He doesn’t even really have to have conflict, he could assert himself if he were so inclined. It’s that he’s aware that there are limits to what these people can do. It’s very much the philosophy of ‘children and drunks can do no wrong’.” He’s picking his battles.

Was there a defining moment where Caleb started seeing the Nein as family? No single moment. “It’s like love by a thousand cuts.” Liam notes that he’s still not sure how Caleb would react if he suddenly had the means to carry out his plans. “He’s got the recovering-addict mentality.”

Cosplay of the Week: an amazing Pumat! (CriticalHitical, photo by Minniemooncos on Twitter)

Taliesin notes that Caduceus is definitely feeling more connected to the group. “If anything, Caduceus is really embracing his role as the spiritual guide to the group. He feels like he really has a lot to offer from that perspective of being the roving therapist. Or at least, he thinks he’s a roving therapist.” Liam notes that Cad is the most mysterious of the group to Caleb. “He’s the most religious character I’ve ever played, too. He’s fun! He really came together very nicely.”

On Caleb being more lighthearted on occasion: “He’s been out of practice being a human being for a long time.” The Nein’s brand of ridiculousness is rubbing off on him.

Why hasn’t Cad been pranking the Nein? “They don’t treat him poorly in that way yet. Siblings, man. I have quite a few siblings, and there is an energy. It’s the same way like when you’re around your parents, you revert to a 15-year-old.” Same with siblings. “There’s just something-- just the urge to torture them is so overpowering.” The moment he got the whistle, he knew exactly what he was going to do with it. Liam was reminded of Taliesin’s real-life siblings while watching these interactions in the game.

On Caleb’s laying on compliments for the Traveler: “The thing about time travel is it’s so implausible. It’s so implausible that I could see us finishing this campaign and Caleb will still have it in the back of his head for the rest of his life. But maybe Artagan could help with that. He certainly sees the potential in Artagan, and it was a balance between wanting to support everything Jester has devoted her life to, so it just felt like everyone was ready to write it off. Life is often like this, life isn’t what you thought it would be, it is what it is. Let’s not damn this yet, let’s feel it out. And if I can use this situation to possibly eradicate ultimate evil, that’s a win.”

Cad found it tough to have family and friends in the same room and play both roles. “I don’t know how much it came across that he was trying to keep them, not necessarily separated, but ‘family, guys, guys, family, ANYWAY.’” He did want to get his family on their way as quickly as possible. Cad is the equivalent of his early 20s, so something like 85-120 years old for a firbolg. 

Liam is asked about the conversation between Caleb and Yasha on watch several episodes ago. "You know what one of the best parts of that scene that played out was, is about 20 minutes or 30 minutes before that happened, I texted Ashley at the table and said, ‘Want to take watch? I have nothing planned, it could be fun.’” He wasn’t expecting it to go that far. “I think he had such an extreme reaction because he felt that he had done a good job of hiding things, and he was suddenly worried that he was transparent, that everyone had been able to read him this whole time when he’d thought that he was-- well, he’s a little in love with Jester Lavorre, and has been for a while, uselessly in love with her. The waltz was probably a little pebble. And in that moment-- this doesn’t play out verbally too much in the show, but he just was worried that this thing that he’s never going to admit to because it’s useless, she’s finding herself, and has her whole life ahead of her, and has other people around her who care about her and are a whole lot better for her than he is. And he’s aware of the way those two [Fjord and Beau] feel as well. It’s just there in the background fucking up his shit. It’s really just a problem. Big fucking problem.” 

Fan art of the week: a gorgeous Clay family portrait! (by Teaweltzer on Twitter)

On Clay being absent for the renewal of his home: “I don’t think his arc’s ending off-screen. I think his arc ends when he comes home to see what’s become of it.”

Is Caleb worried about Beau since the confrontation with her father? “Of course he is. She’s ignoring all the advice that she gave him. He doesn’t like to see her that hard on herself when she’s so competent and probably the backbone of the group. It’s the most judgey Caleb’s been of anybody, really, but he’s very aware of the pain of family and personal stuff. She knows her, and even though he broke his shit in half, he could still see the dynamic in the room when we visited his family, so he feels for her. We need you and we love you and we will miss you, you don’t fucking get to go.”

Each of the temples has a secondary god; what was the Blooming Grove’s other god? “The Blooming Grove is for the Archeart because it is a gift of beauty. It’s the Allhammer, the Changebringer, and the Archeart. It’s kind of a powerplay from the Wildmother, in my opinion. They’re all three based off of very specific types of funereal practices that are common throughout the world.”

Caleb saw giving over the transformation spell to Essek as a returning of one of his many favors. “Caleb likes Essek a lot. They’re like two highly gifted kids at school together. And, you know, he’s quirkily charming and handsome. There’s just no reason not to, in his mind. Outside of the M9, he’s probably the only person that Caleb would see as a friend that he’s made. Everyone else is just sort of scenery around the M9.”

What’s next for Cad? “It’s a little bit of finding himself, or at least finishing himself would be the way to put it.” (cue snickering from off-camera) “He’s also vaguely aware of some of the things that are going to possibly emotionally damage the party on the horizon, and he wants to be ready to deal with, in vague order, whatever’s going to happen to Jester, and then whatever’s going to happen to Fjord, and then whatever’s going to happen to Nott, and Yasha, and Caleb. He doesn’t know how to deal with what Beau’s going through. It’s the one thing he has no experience of, because he has no experience with that family dynamic. When he met people with that family dynamic, it was always at the end of it.”

Some fans sent in death whistles. Brian encourages Taliesin to play one on the plane.

The hat for Calliope was a last-minute thought. The flute could also have gone for Colton, depending on “who I could sneak up on”.

Caleb took a symbol of the Archeart from the Labenda Swamp. “I think it was familiar to me. I think I might have either correctly or mistakenly thought it reminded me of the woman who helped Caleb in the Sanatorium.”

#critical role #critical role spoilers #talks machina #talks machina spoilers #long text post

[nextqueue]

Love and Volleyball

Genre(s): college!au, romance, slow burn, coming of age, friendship, drama, angst

Pairing: Johnny x OC black female (certain NCT members make appearances)

Word Count: 5.3k

Summary: Soraya is starting her first year of university in Chicago on a full ride volleyball scholarship. Her life hasn't been very eventful and a guy she meets one night is determined to change that.

[a/n]: This is my first fanfic! I plan to add more to this story if you guys like it so lemme know what you think. Thank you 🥰

~~~Soraya~~~

“Mom. Mommy. Mother. Female that pushed me out of her vagina!” My mother finally stops fawning over my belongings long enough to listen to me.

“I got it. I’ll finish decorating it later.” she gives me a withering look because she knows I’m lying.

“I’m still not moving until I meet your roommate so you can stop tryna get me ta leave.” rolling my eyes I examine the rest of the room liking the simple double room layout. 

Excited for my first year of college doesn’t even begin to describe how I’m feeling right now. Finally all my hard work paid off. The four years of only studying and practicing in high school lead me here to this moment. Chicago State University became my dream college after a class field trip in my junior year, I fell in love with the city and the overall vibes it gave me. I didn’t have a specific school I wanted to attend, my mother did, but I knew I wanted to play some type of sport. When senior year came around and the scholarships started rolling in for all three of the sports I played I was overwhelmed. I didn’t know which school to pick let alone which sport.

The answer was made for me when a letter from Chicago State University came in. My mother wanted me to take the basketball scholarship to Duke but I had already made my mind up. 

A loud bang followed by multiple voices shouting brings me out of my reverence. Looking at my mom we move in sync to the door. Before we can even touch the knob the door bursts open and a tall asian girl all but falls in followed by four more bodies. 

“Oh! Hello! Sorry for the commotion.” addressing my mother and I in a heavily accented tongue. Japanese I presume from the conversation I hear from her family.

She is really beautiful, standing at like six feet two inches. Arms and legs long and muscular from what I can see under her clothes. Her hair is cute short in a pixie cut which accentuates her face well, bringing out her delicate features. Her face is small, lips full, eyes large and nose small and straight. When she smiles rows of perfectly brace aligned teeth flash at you.

The girl and her family drag in hella suitcases all the while talking over one another. I laugh at their dynamic while my mother looks offended at the intrusion. 

“Um...hello? Yeah, excuse me what are you all doing here?” shaking my head at what is to come I try to stop it before it does. 

“Oh, my name is Miyabi and I am on the volleyball team. This is the room I was given. We just came from the airport.” 

As my mother was fixing another round of probably intrusive questions I jump in. 

“Are you from Japan?” my curiosity winning out as usual.

“Yeah! How did you know?”

“Good guess.” 

The smile that over takes her face makes me smile as well. She introduces her family to my mother and I before starting to unpack. I have never seen a group of people move as fast or as efficiently as hers did within the span of 20 minutes. Her entire side of the room was cleaned and fully decorated, clothes placed neatly in her side of the closet, desk organised and bed made. My mom and I watched as they interacted with each other for the first ten then continued setting up my side. All we finished setting up was my desk and bed area. Finally convincing my mother to leave the rest for me to finish we head to the cafeteria with Miyabi and her family for some lunch. 

The campus is filled with new students moving in with their families much like Miyabi and myself. It’s nice to see so many different demographics of people in one place, a complete 180 of where I grew up. Montana is predominantly caucasian so I got used to being the only dark skinned kid, it became normal to me to be the odd one out. Now in a place like this where so many look like me I feel more out of place than I ever did in Montana. 

Miyabi’s family leaves to rest at their hotel before they leave tomorrow, each one of them crying over having to leave the other. Before they depart her mother takes my hands in hers and asks in broken English if I can look out for her. Not knowing what else to do I promise her I will.

My mother leaves a little while after, our goodbyes far less emotional. I make her promise to let me know when she arrives safely back home and she makes me promise to at least send a text once a day to let her know I’m still alive. The rest of the day Miyabi and I explore the campus and get to know each other.

She is a middle blocker and was personally recruited by the head coach. When she learns I am a wing spiker her shock is unrestrained. Being so used to this reaction I just laugh it off. Standing at only five feet eight inches I am more in line with being a librero than a wing spiker but my athleticism and vertical leap do more than make up for my lack of height.

We meet a few more of our teammates along the way and introduce ourselves. They tell us about a party being thrown at one of the frat houses tonight in celebration of new pledges, suggesting we come. They part ways with us when some guys from the basketball team come up to them. Never being much of a partier it takes Miyabi unleashing a potent dose of puppy dog eyes on me for me to agree to go. I also would feel terrible letting her go out her first night here alone although she does well interacting with others, I doubt she would have any trouble making friends. 

Heading back to our room we spend the next few hours unpacking and picking out our outfits for tonight. Both of us came here in very travel savvy fits consisting mainly of oversized shirts and sportswear. Summer hasn’t completely abandoned us yet so we both opt for lighter more summery clothing. Keeping my look simple I throw on a pair of high waisted mom jeans and a white tee tied in front with my old white Keds. Miyabi’s fit is a little more extravagant but suits her bubbly personality well. Black and white plaid schoolgirl skirt paired with a white skin tight faux turtleneck tucked into them and the sickest pair of white platform boots I have ever seen.

“I am so mad we don’t wear the same shoe size right now.” I gush at her as I salivate over her shoes. 

“I can send you the link of where I got 'em if you want.”

“Girl, please do cause those are everything.”

We both opt to keep our makeup light and soon we are making our way to the frat houses. Other people are walking in the same direction as us clearly having heard about the party as well. Soon enough loud music can be heard and flashing lights become visible, the amount of people we see increases also. A large group has formed around what looks to be a group of guys, pledges I’m assuming. Pushing our way to the front Miyabi and I watch the guys be put through a rough series of trials, from drinking water with a goldfish in it, to being forced to streak. Things like this never interested or entertained me so I tell Miyabi I am leaving to go check out the rest of the party, she grabs my arm telling me we go together everywhere. Agreeing with her we make our way into the house. The music is loudest there, people are everywhere and all over each other. Finding the kitchen quickly Miyabi drags me with her to find drinks for the both of us. When she offers me a Corona I decline. 

“No thank you sis. I don’t drink.” she nods and switches drinks to a Coca-Cola for me.

Taking the unopened can I thank her and we chat amongst ourselves until the girls we met earlier find us and drag us to the dance floor, the living room, where we spend the next hour dancing our lives away. I break away first to get water.

Finally making it to the kitchen through the mobs of people packed in one place I catch my breath. The only other person in the kitchen with me is a guy. He smiles softly at me when he notices me. He’s cute, well more than cute. Standing well over six feet he towers over me as he straightens up from looking in the fridge for something. Smiling back at him I put my locs up in a messy bun away from my neck as I crouch in front of the open fridge looking for bottles of water. 

“What are you looking for?” a voice startles me a little, peering around the fridge door I see the guy watching me closely.

The lighting in the kitchen is dim but enough for me to see just how beautiful he really is up close. Longish dark brown hair messily falling into his eyes, pretty down turned eyes, pretty brown down turned eyes that look sleepy hidden behind glasses. Round glasses that sit atop a gorgeously straight nose bridge. My hand itches to trace his features as I lay my eyes on his lips. A deep cupid’s bow, plump pink lips that upturn at the corners, the most striking part of his face to me besides his eyes. Clearing my throat to answer him I stand tucking the last loc away from my face.

“Bottled water.”

“Thought so. They are outside in the cooler out back.” gesturing for me to follow him he leads me through the house to the backyard where the setting seems more intimate. Couples holding to each other tightly and strangers finding comfort in deep conversation.

“Here you go.” he hands me a bottle of water. I thank him then go to sit on the steps of the deck we are on.

I don’t expect him to sit next to me and jump a little when he does. His large frame filling the rest of the space on the staircase.

“Johnny.” holding his hand out for me to shake he looks into my eyes. Looking from his eyes to his hand and back again I shake his hand lightly.

“Soraya.”

The smile that over takes his face makes me hold my breath. It is beautiful, adding a youthful effect to his overall look. His eyes crinkle up into slits and my heart skips a beat. 

“Nice to meet you Soraya.”

~~~Johnny~~~

She is beautiful, one Soraya. With her long black locs, mischievous feline eyes, high cheekbones, a cute upturned button nose and lips so large, pink and soft looking I find myself staring at them anytime she speaks. I remember seeing her in the cafeteria earlier today with who I assume is her mother and the tall girl she came to the party with. I couldn’t stop looking at her then just like now. She looked mean and unapproachable at first but the longer I watched her interact with everyone around her I realise she is so full of life that you can’t help but be drawn to her.

I watched her dance with her friend and some other random people that she welcomed to be in her presence. Deciding I was being a little too creepy I left to go hang in the  kitchen away from the girls trying to gain my attention and my friends getting wasted.

I never expected her to walk in, let alone by herself. Her skin glowed in the soft light of the kitchen. Little beads of sweat dotting her forehead. When she began fanning herself and tying her hair up I couldn’t look away. She crouched in front of the open fridge and I truly noticed all of her for the first time. Her body caught my whole attention. She is tall, not tall like her friend who clearly stands over six feet, but tall enough to be noticeable. Her arms and legs are long, her waist small, hips wide but not too wide and even though the pants she has on are kind of baggy you can tell her legs and ass are quite ample. She looks athletic and quite flexible. It’s not easy for people to squat into the crouched position she is in unless they have an Asian heritage or some sort of dance/gymnastics background. When I asked her what she was looking for I wasn’t prepared for what she sounded like.

There was a slight presence of an accent which made her deeper voice sound all the more sexy to me. I wanted her to keep talking to me somehow.

When she sat on the porch steps just watching everyone interact with each other my heart lurked in my chest. She looked so at peace but so lonely sitting there I couldn’t help myself when I sat next to her. I want to know everything about her.

“Nice to meet you Soraya.”

“Nice to meet you Johnny.” loving the way she says my name and the little smile that graces her lips. I throw all caution to the wind.

“Are you a freshman?” she doesn’t avoid my eyes as I ask her questions and that makes me nervous. Usually the average human can’t hold eye contact for more than a few seconds especially in this close of proximity. I like to hold eye contact with people because I feel a surge of power and excitement when they look away. She doesn’t waver though and I find myself fighting to keep hold of her gaze.

“I am.”

She has freckles and little moles all over her face and parts of her skin I can see. I want to count them all. I remember my mother telling me where you have moles is where your lover kissed you most in your past life. 

“Do you play a sport?”

“Volleyball.” 

“What position?”

“Wing Spiker.” her answer is surprising to say the least. I figure she would be a libero with her smaller size. One look at her face tells me she is used to this assumption.

“Your vertical must be ridiculous, makes sense though.”

Cocking her head at me she asks what I mean.

“Your legs. I can tell they are really powerful not to mention long. Your arms are really long too and your hands are huge.” She looks away from me for the first time since I sat next to her and I see her play with one of the rings she wears.

“What about you? Do you play a sport?”

“I used to my freshman year, I’m a junior by the way, then I got hurt.”

“What happened?” she looks back at me, her eyes holding concern and warmth.

“I blew out my knee last year. Now I just redshirt. I was never really into sports intensely anyways. It was just a way to pay for school.” 

“What sport did you play?” 

“Soccer.” 

“Really? My little brother plays, he’s really good.” 

The way her face lights up talking about someone she loves makes me feel funny. I want her to light up that way when talking about me. It’s been a while since I felt like this about anyone.

“How many siblings do you have?” 

“I have two younger brothers. Kyle and Andre. Seventeen and Thirteen. Andre just turned thirteen in August. Do you have any siblings?”

I want her to look at me this way for the rest of eternity. She holds stars in her eyes and has my heart in her hands already. 

“No, I’m an only child.”

“How old are you?”

“I’m twenty-one. You I am assuming are eighteen.”

“I’ll be nineteen in a few weeks.” September. Her birthday is in September.

“Nice.” 

“What is your majour and what are you passionate about since sports ain’t it?” her question catches me off guard. She seems to have relaxed some.

“Music. I majour in music. I’m the DJ for the campus radio station also.”

Her eyes open wide at my revelation. The way she listens and takes in information is cute like it is the most amazing thing she has ever heard in her life. It’s honest. She can’t seem to hide her emotions well all being shown on her face.

“I’ll have to subscribe!” I chuckle at her excitement.

“What is your majour?” I tried to guess what she would be studying but the longer I talk with her the less I can grasp an idea. Maybe some sort of psychology, something to do with people.

“English majour with a minor in International Relations.” Yupp, would have never guessed that.

“Why those?”

“I’m not from America. I am from Barbados and have always loved to travel, to write and love learning languages.”

“Ahh, that makes sense now.”

“What makes sense?”

“The little accent I hear.” shock passes through her eyes.

“You can tell?”

“Yeah, only cause my parents are from South Korea and I grew up around accented English. I’ve always been able to tell no matter how slight it is. You say certain words differently.”

Nodding her head she starts speaking to me in Korean. I am so shocked I don’t hear a word of what she said.

“W-what?” Repeating what she said I am floored at her fluency.

“How do you know Korean?” 

“I told you I like learning languages.”

“Yeah, but Korean? That’s kind of random.” I laugh a little.

“Not really.” She goes on to tell me the story of how she came to speak Korean and I can’t help but like her more than I already do. 

“Have you ever been?” the way she speaks about the country you would swear she has been or is Korean herself.

“No, sadly I haven’t. I have plans to though. Have you?”

“Twice yeah. I was born here though, in Chicago.”

“How was it?”

Stars light up her eyes as she leans closer to me without realising in her excitement. She smells so good, not like the annoying fruity perfumes most women wear but something more earthy and deep. Under the lights from the house her skin looks even softer than before. Swallowing heavily I glance quickly at her lips. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Why does she affect me so badly?

“It was great, there is alot to do and it’s alot more diverse than you think in some places.”

She hangs onto every word that exits my mouth even leaning against my shoulder slightly as we trade stories late into the night. After talking for hours she suddenly jumps up.

“I have to go find Miyabi.”

“The girl you came with?” seeing her panic a little over her friend is cute. She leaves me sitting there as she all but sprints back into the house. Trailing after her I watch as her body relaxes visibly upon seeing her friend sitting in the living area playing a game of Never Have I Ever with a few other people.

“Soraya! There you are. Come play!” tugging Soraya down to sit next to her she declares the game restarted.

A few of my friends are in on the game as well so I decide to join.

“John where you been?” one of my best friends and teammates asks. He is sprawled out on a couch looking at peace with himself. Yuta’s eyes flit to Soraya momentarily then back to me raising an eyebrow. 

“Around.” is all I say sitting down next to my friend Taeyong.  

The game starts pretty mildly with innocent topics such as stealing or skipping class. Soraya still has all her fingers up and is quietly watching everyone around her lose fingers myself included.

When the questions made their way around to Yuta I could almost hear the trouble start.

“Never have I ever slept with more than three people in one night.” He looks directly at me daring me to lie. Glaring at him I begrudgingly lower another one of my fingers.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Soraya staring at my hands. Ashamed for once in my life I wish she didn’t have to see this side of me.

~~~Soraya~~~

More than three people in one night. Chuckling softly to myself I see him peep at me from the corner of his eye. The guy is funny, seeming so calm and collected all night but now I see as usual you can’t judge a book by its cover and humans are far more complex than they ever care to admit.

The questions continue and all my fingers stay spread. I realise my life has lacked any real excitement or adventure, this realisation makes me melancholy. At least I will win this game it seems. Everyone in the room has either folded all their fingers or on their last two or three. Miyabi has three fingers left. Johnny has two.

“Never have I ever stolen a friend's crush.” Johnny brings me out of my stupor with his question. Looking up at him I see him staring down the guy lounging on the couch.

Yuta I think his name is. A cheeky fellow with a serious expression and a lovely smile when he does use it. His appearance is kind of messy but in a very aesthetically pleasing way. Hair dyed a bright red and long, pulled back into a half updo bun. Yuta puts his last finger down with a smirk on his face. Looking between the two of them the tension is palpable.The moment passes and the game continues with everyone none the wiser. Finally it is my turn, I have only folded two fingers so far and for very minor things compared to what the others have done. Wanting this game to be over I choose a question everyone will most likely have to put a finger down for.

“Never have I kissed someone.”

As I thought everyone who was left put their finger down. I win the game. Johnny openly stares at my hands, an unreadable expression on his face. Miyabi yawns loudly declaring she is tired and ready to go to sleep. Checking the time on my phone I see it is well into the early morning hours. Excusing us I let Miyabi lean on me as I lead us out of the house and back to our dorm. The walk was longer than when we came with her full weight on me so I stop and help her up onto my back. Carrying her the rest of the way on my back we reach our place of residence quicker.

Dropping her onto her bed heavily and taking her shoes off I search through my things for makeup wipes to clear both our faces.

Tonight was an experience, my first real party that wasn’t a team dinner or school dance. The drinking, smoking, and general freeness of it all was not something I am used to. Talking to guys also was never on my radar but talking to Johnny wasn’t so nerve-wracking. He was intriguing and very honest in the way he speaks something I notice you don’t see very often these days. I wouldn’t mind talking to him again, finding out the story behind the apparent wild choices he made and the obvious tension between him and Yuta. 

Gently wiping the little bit of makeup from Miyabi’s face then applying some of my moisturising lotion just so her face wouldn’t be dry when she wakes up. Taking care of my skin I finally change and make my way into my bed.

Waking up I check the time, sighing when I see I haven’t been asleep for more than two hours. Insomnia is a bitch and she just keeps coming back. 

Rummaging through my backpack I pull out my diary, in times like these it’s the only thing that gives my mind peace. Writing has always been a safe place for me, when I would forego parties I would write about them. When I lost a game I would write that I had won as if the words scribbled onto paper or typed onto a document could change the past or predict the future. I write until Miyabi wakes up then we decide to go to the cafe for breakfast after we wash up.

It’s still early when we enter the cafe so not many people are present. Entering the line for breakfast, Miyabi and I chat about last night.

“No, but listen! He was so cute and charming. Yuta I think his name was and he is Japanese too from Osaka. I think he might be on the soccer team.” Yuta. That name…. I think it’s the name of the friend of Johnny’s from last night.

“We can go to a practice later if you would like.” 

“Can we really? I didn’t get a chance to talk to him long last night but…wait what about that guy you came in with before the game? He was cute and seemed into you.” she watches me with a twinkle in her eye, a hopeless romantic type, not what I would have pegged her for. Cute.

“Johnny. Yeah, he was nice.” 

“He seemed more than nice. All throughout the game he was watching you.”

“Mmmm.” 

“He seemed surprised when you ended the game with that question. I’m curious too, have you really never kissed anyone?”

~~~Johnny~~~

Waking up early for my morning run and exercise I can’t seem to get Soraya off my mind. Her innocence baffled me. When she implied she had never kissed anyone I wonder if that was the truth or if she just wanted the game to end? She looked tired so maybe that was it, she just wanted to go sleep and didn’t want to be rude. But what if?

Coffee. My body is screaming for coffee as I end my run, deciding to stop by the cafe. It’s empty, the few people in here don’t look like they have woken up fully yet. The coffee here is surprisingly good, not what I’m used to but tasty enough.

Scanning the cafe I see two girls looking a lot livelier than the rest. The shorter one looks familiar, it’s hard to make out her features without my glasses but it looks like Soraya. Her hair is covered by some sort of scarf and her clothes are extra baggy sweats. The coffee machine pings bringing me out of my stupor. 

You should go talk to her Johnny. Yeah. Yeah. Do that. It’s no big deal. She’s the same girl from last night right? Right. Let’s do this!

Making my way over to her I pause when I hear the conversation she is having with her friend. The same friend from last night.

“No, I wasn’t lying. I haven’t kissed anyone.” she chuckles a little then fills up her plate with more food.

“Seriously? Like ever? Never? Why?”

Yeah, why? I want to know why too.

“It just never came up or was a priority of mine.” I am sure my face looks stupid right now. 

“Wait does that mean you have never had a boyfriend?”

Surely she had to have had a boyfriend. What man or even an adolescent boy would see her and not want to date her? In the daylight she is even more mesmerising. She looks warm in her oversized grey hoodie and matching grey sweat shorts. The scarf hiding her locs is a pretty golden yellow. The starkness of the colour against her skin is gorgeous. The way she stands like she is the most important person in the room is quite attractive as well.

“Correct. I’ve never had a boyfriend.”

Coughing from shock I alert the two women to my presence.

“Oh! Johnny right?” her friend addresses me first.

“Hey. Morning.” I wave at them. Wave? Come on John.

“Morning Johnny.” the smile that falls on her lips makes my heart stutter. Dimples. Fucking dimples. Of course she has to have dimples.

“Morning Soraya.” 

~~~Soraya~~~

My goodness he looks so good. Like he just came from working out or something. His hair pushed back with a sportsband. The shirt he wears is black and sleeveless, giving me an unobstructed view of his arms and damn it if they look amazing. His joggers are black as well but fit him so perfectly I wonder if they were specifically tailored for him. My eyes travel up from his feet to his eyes. Those eyes. Like freshly made honey straight from the comb of the most hardworking bees. 

“Are you here for breakfast?” Miyabi breaks the ice once again. Her bright personality proving to be a joy to have around. 

“Uh, yeah.” he grabs a plate and begins adding food to it.

Watching him fills me with a sense of warmth.

“Come eat with us.” the words leave my mouth before I can stop them. He looks surprised but nods and finishes piling food on his plate. He follows us to a table near the windows.

We eat in silence for the most part each one of us taking turns to make polite conversation with one another. Miyabi finishes eating first then leaves claiming she has something to do but as I watch her leave she has a shit-eating grin on her face and is making obscene motions behind Johnny’s back. Rolling my eyes I focus on the gorgeous man in front of me. The sun is hitting one side of his face just right, highlighting his sharp features and bringing out the lighter tones of his eyes. 

“What’s your favourite colour?” I blink a few times not sure what I heard.

“Huh?” smooth as sandpaper Raya.

He smiles softly and repeats the question.

“Violet.”

“Violet? Isn’t-” cutting him off with a hand before he can even finish that statement I go off on a tangent about the differences in the colours Violet and Purple, going so far as to pull up a chart on my phone.

“You get that alot I see.” he laughs like a teleprompter wrote it out and I find it so endearing.

“Yeah. Only artists seem to understand what I mean.”

“You should meet my friend Taeyong then, the shorter guy I was sitting next to at the party. He is an Arts majour.” 

“I would love to!”

“Give me your number and we can all hang some time then.” smooth Mr. Johnny. Real smooth. Don’t think I didn’t see what you did there sir.

I give him my number because truthfully I was looking for a way to ask him for his as well, he just beat me to it. Talking some more I learn quite a bit about this man. As more people fill the cafe the quiet almost magical bubble we had for ourselves pops. Figuring there is no point in dragging this on I make up an excuse to leave.

“So, can I text you sometime?” standing outside the building to the cafeteria I get shy as I watch literally everyone that passes us stare at our interaction.

“If you would like. I must warn you though, I’m terrible at replying unless I deem you important or entertaining in my life.” he smiles at my words and says he will just have to become both before he leaves.

Watching him jog away I can’t help but fawn over him. I didn’t come here to this school to date but maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to try it out.

#johnny #nct #johnny fanfic #johnny romance #johnny angst #johnny fluff #johnny scenarios #nct fluff #nct 127 #johnny series #seo youngho #johnny seo #love and volleyball #nct fanfic #taeyong #yuta

[365days365movies]

February 3, 2021: Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

The year: 1986. A small new fictionation is founded as part of a disparate group of similar territories. Near to another civilization founded by Woody Allen (we’ll get to him later this month, whoof), a new settlement was founded by one Nora Ephron. It began with Heartburn, a rom-com starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson. While it was somewhat successful, it wasn’t exactly a dynamo by any means. And that is when Nora met the future Empress of her fictonation.

Her name was Meg Ryan, and the film...was When Harry Met Sally.

Ephron only wrote this film, rather than direct it. But it didn’t matter, as this film was CRAZY successful (and I’ll be watching it later this month). Some years past, and both Ryan and Ephron rose in power. Ephron became a director, Ryan became a movie star, and the two pillars would reunite for greater things. And THAT is when the future Empress met her Emperor.

Enter Joe vs. the Volcano, where Meg Ryan...met Tom Hanks.

Now, was this movie amazing? No, not from what I’ve heard. But the two new co-stars apparently made an impression on Hollywood at this point, as their respective stars would only grow brighter. And so, when 1993 came along, the three pillars finally met, and ascended to their true roles as the rulers of a now united Holy Romance Empire. And that film...was Sleepless in Seattle.

Time to witness a nation RISE. SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

We start where all romantic comedies should start: at a Chicago graveyard!

Architect Sam Baldwin’s (Tom Hanks) wife, Maggie, has sadly passed away, leaving Sam and their son, Jonah (Ross Malinger). Sam’s clearly broken, understandably, and he decides to move from Chicago in order to leave behind the bittersweet memories of his wife. And where he’s headed? You know where.

Jimmy Durante’s rendition of “As Time Goes By”

Jimmy Durante sings us in (I love this song, for the record), and we head not to Seattle, but to Baltimore, 18 months afterwards. There, reporter Annie Reed (Meg Ryan) is going to a Christmas party with her new fiancée, Walter Jackson (Bill Pullman), which is announced to great aplomb at the party. Her brother Dennis is played by Niles from Frasier (David Hyde Pierce), and I nearly spit out my sandwich.

That night, Annie’s mother gives her her old wedding dress, and have a VERY frank conversation about their sexual relationships. It is...awkward. Anyway, the dress tears, which Annie sees as a sign. In any case, she still seems happy...I think. On the way to Walter’s parents’ place, she tunes into a radio talk show, where a child is making a Christmas wish to the station.

This child is, of course, Jonah, calling on behalf of his father from Seattle. He tells the host, Dr. Marcia Fieldstone (Caroline Aaron), that his father is lonely after his wife’s death, and that he wishes he had a new wife. She convinces Jonah to put him on the phone, and while he’s reluctant to do so (understandably), he accepts. All the while, Annie’s listening, and seems to sympathize deeply with him and his sarcastic responses.

However, Sam begins to open up, and Dr. Fieldstone christens him “Sleepless in Seattle,” after the fact that he doesn’t sleep much at all these days. His story resonates with a number of people, Annie included. A few people call in to respond to him, and at the end of the call, he describes how much and why he misses his wife. And I gotta be honest, I’m with Annie here. It is...very moving.

Damn you, Tom Hanks, it’s only 20 minutes in, why are you already making me FEEEEEEL?

The next day, it’s a splash, and over 2,000 women call in in response to this. This is discounted by her co-worker and friend, Becky (Rosie O’Donnell). At the New Year’s party soon after, she and Walter make a date to meet in New York City, and register for their eventual wedding. Meanwhile, Sam tucks Jonah in to sleep, as Nat King Cole serenades us (I ALSO love Nat King Cole, real talk) and Sam stares at the fireworks off of his houseboat.

And, mentally haunted by the ghost of his wife, he’s seemingly literally haunted by the ghost of his wife, Maggie (Carey Lowell). The next morning, he goes to help a client, Barbara (Dana Ivey), and his co-worker Jay Matthews (Rob Reiner) with a house, and finds out that everybody knows who he is at this point. Additionally, Jonah also give the radio station their address, and MANY women are now soliciting Sam, including...his third-grade teacher. Ew. EW.

Sam and Jonah next have a talk about whether or not a prospective new wife would have sex with Sam, and I wonder if sexual conversations with your parents are supposed to be this common, or if I’m just crazy. Because me and my Dad? Nuh-uh. And no worries if your relationship with your folks is like this, but mine DEFINITELY IS NOT, lemme tell you.

Annie and Walter prepare for bed, and Ray Charles sings them to sleep, followed by Carly Simon talking about the wee small hours of the morning. During those hours, Annie gets up, also unable to sleep, and turns on the Dr. Marcia Fieldstone show. During the highlight reel for the show, Disappointed in Denver notes that:

Everytime I come close to orgasm, he goes and makes himself a sandwich.

...Wow. Um. Asshole? And then Marcia tells her to make a sandwich for him beforehand, WHICH IS NOT SOLVING THE PROBLEM. Anyway, Sam is also featured in that highlight reel, and Annie cries again as he talks about his wife, and it’s a disproportionately long excerpt compared to the others, what the hell? Marooned in Miami is DISAPPOINTED now.

Annie goes to meet her brother Niles (he’s basically Niles from Frasier, seriously) the next day, and explains that she’s fantasizing about Sam, a man she’s never even MET. She’s also feeling doubt about her upcoming marriage, which is...interesting. I’ll get to that later. In Seattle, meanwhile, Sam asks Jay what it’s like as a single man in Seattle, and they have a conversation about how cute Sam’s butt is. Nice.

Upon the realization that his 9-year old son is hanging out with more girls than he is (yeah, there’s a kid named Jessica hanging out with him when Sam gets home, it’s awkward), Sam’s back in the saddle again (as the song indicates; that said, goddamn is the music choice on the nose sometimes, seriously). He calls a woman named Victoria (Barbara Garrick), and asks her out on a date.

Annie’s watching the movie An Affair to Remember (lateeeeeer) at Becky’s, as she’s lamenting her fixation on Sam, while also struggling to fully understand how she feels about Walter. Becky RIGHTFULLY accuses her of believing in Hollywood, movie love, which is demonstrated by Annie’s meaningless platitudes about her supposed love for Walter. This is while she’s writing a letter to Sam, then aborts it when she realizes what she’s doing. She sits on the couch with Becky, they mouth the words together in the movie, and they cry while I laugh, because that was funny.

Things aren’t as jovial for Sam and Jonah, as Jonah’s had a nightmare, and the two reminisce over missing their mother. Sam notes that Maggie could peel an apple in one long...curly...strip. You mean...like Annie was doing earlier? I see what you did there, movie. I see what you did there. As if to compound their invisible connection, both of them sit on a dock, staring into two separate oceans at night.

Sam proceeds to write a story for the paper on “Sleepless in Seattle,” and through some...mildly creepy personal invasion, she finds his address in Seattle, and a hell of a lot more personal information. Like I said, it’s a little creepy. Sam, meanwhile, is going on a date with Victoria, when Jonah opens a letter...from Annie.

Annie. What’re you doin’?

Jonah appears to IMMEDIATELY ship the two, but Sam quotes the coast-to-coast distance as being a bit too much, and goes on the date with Victoria. While on the date, Jonah tries to hook Sam up with Annie by getting him to agree to take them to New York City on Valentine’s Day. Damn, Jonah, you lookin’ to escape a whale, because you are BUILDING A GODDAMN SHIP

Victoria, a woman with an amazingly obnoxious laugh, does not rub off well on Jonah, or me, or my girlfriend. I’m really hoping that somehow, in SOME WAY, Victoria and Walter get together. He’s boring, she’s obnoxious, who knows? They might like each other. My ship...is being built.

Jonah, meanwhile, is TAKING THE FUCKING WHEEL of this ship. He calls the radio station once again, and Annie is alerted to this by Becky. She wakes up, punching Walter in the process (dude gets HURT), and goes downstairs to listen. Jonah’s telling the station that Victoria SUUUUUCKS, and straight up calls her “a ho.” He hangs up abruptly, and screams to stop his father from kissing Victoria. Annie, meanwhile, listens to this in the closet for some reason.

The next day, Jonah’s friend, Jessica, tells Jonah to send a letter to Annie on his father’s behalf. Meanwhile, Annie flies to Seattle in the guise of doing a story, when she’s actually going to try and meet Sam. Victoria, meanwhile, is leaving from the airport, where Sam and Jonah are seeing her off. Victoria basically implies that she’d like to ditch the kid and go fuck someplace sometime, which might FINALLY rub Sam the wrong way.

Sam talks to Jonah about the fact that he’s dating Victoria, not marrying her, and that she might not be the one for him. He also says that there’s no such thing as soul- 

-mates.

Yeah, they actually did just do that. Sam loses Annie at the airport, after immediately chasing after her. They’re perfect for each other, as Annie goes RIGHT to Sam’s houseboat address. She hangs around the neighborhood, and sees them having fun on the beach together as Harry Connick Jr. plays in the background. That night, she confides in Becky about her guilt in lying to Walter.

And if I can just say this...yeah, THAT isn’t great. I get that there’s some cinematic paegentry to the whole thing, but, like...tell your FIANCEE about your FEELINGS. It’s hard, yeah, duh, but YOU GOTTA DO IT. You most certainly owe it to Walter. At least she appears to know it, though.

Annie at the hotel

The next day, Annie goes once again to weirdly spy on Jonah, and sees him hug a woman very happily, and of course believes that that’s Victoria. However, this is his friend, Suzy (Rita Wilson), who’s visiting with her husband, Greg (Victor Garber). In any case, this leads to Sam and Annie seeing each other for the first time. He says hello. She says hello. Then she almost gets hit by a taxi, and she IMMEDIATELY flies back home WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUUH

We find this out later, but the taxi and the fact that all she could say was “Hello” is actually all a reference to the film seen earlier, An Affair to Remember (again, later this month). This is also part of the repeating motif that this film has: signs. Y’know, the kind of “IT’S A SIGN” thing. However, the real twist here is that the signs are the ones that they can’t see. Like the apple and the hello thing. Not yet, anyway.

Also, dear lord, An Affair to Remember is just making EVERY woman in the film cry, even when they’re TALKING about it. And every time, the men just look at each other like “WOMEN, with their EMOTIONS and their VAGOOOOOOS.” Jesus, ‘90s movies. Even JESSICA (Gaby Hoffman), Jonah’s friend, the LITTLE GIRL, is crying at this movie. JESUS, I’m really interested in seeing this movie now.

Jessica and Jonah start conspiring on how to get to New York to meet Annie, and do so by FAKING AIRLINE TICKETS OK THEN. Meanwhile, Annie’s given up on the whole “Sleepless in Seattle” thing, and goes to meet Walter for their Valentine’s date in NYC. Walter rightfully comments that Annie’s seemed distant, and here’s the thing: Walter deserves better than this. Yeah, he’s BORING AS SHIT, but the dude’s committed to her, and she’s amazingly flaky in comparison. I dunno, maybe it’s because it’s Bill Pullman, but I feel bad for him.

Anyway, in New York, the two begin to rekindle their relationship, and Walter gets a ring for her at FUCKING TIFFANY’S HOLY SHIT. Meanwhile, Sam’s THIRSTY AS FUUUUUUUCK, and is leaving to spend the weekend with Victoria, which Jonah is NOT a fan of. This ship is gonna SAIL if JONAH HAS TO FLY TO NEW YORK CITY HIMSELF

So, Jonah flies to New York City himself, in order to...meet his new mother. This movie has some VERY interesting issues, Jesus. Jonah does, indeed go to the top of the Empire State Building to look for Annie, and he asks all the girls on the Observation Deck if they’re Annie. Which, of course, none of them are. Why?

Annie’s at dinner, that’s why, and at the FUCKING RAINBOW ROOM DEAR LORD HOW MUCH MONEY DOES WALTER MAKE? Sam also makes his way to New York, probably to DESTROY HIS CHILD

And at dinner, Annie actually redeems herself by telling Walter the ENTIRE TRUTH about her feelings, and about “Sleepless in Seattle.” And Walter is a CLASSY-ASS GUY ABOUT THE ENTIRE THING, and the two break off their engagement amicably. Annie says that she doesn’t deserve Walter, and BY GOD SHE’S RIGHT. Walter’s a sweet dude. And as soon as they break up...a sign.

Sam finds Jonah on the Observation Deck, and the two tearfully reunite. And as they two unite, and everybody else leaves the Observation Deck as it closes for the night, Annie rushes on her way there. An Affair to Remember is invoked one last time, as Annie convinces the guard to let her up there. But, OF GODDAMN COURSE...she goes up in one elevator, and Sam and Jonah head down in another.

But wait. Isn’t that Jonah’s backpack on the ground of the Observation Deck? 

Yup. THERE’S the happy ending we’re lookin’ for. They finally formally introduce each other, and Sam says that they’d better leave...ALL of them, together. Love at first sight. PLAY US OUT JIMMY DURANTE!!!! And yeah, I know that Celine Dion sings the end credits song, but NOPE! TAKE ME AWAY, JIMMY! MAKE ME HAPPY!

And that was Sleepless in Seattle! And again, I liked it! I’ll get more into it during the Review!

#sleepless in seattle #nora ephron #tom hanks #meg ryan #rosie o'donnell #bill pullman #ross malinger #romance february #romance movie #365 movie challenge #365 movies 365 days #365 Days 365 Movies #365 movies a year #user365

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 263: [Immigrant Song Intensifies]

Previously on BnHA: Ujiko sicced five Noumus on Miruko. Rephrase that: Ujiko sicced only five Noumus on Miruko. In hindsight this was obviously a mistake. Miruko proceeded to laugh and jump around kicking all of them and literally ripping the head off of the strongest one’s neck with nothing but her thighs. It was legendary and awe-inspiring and also she lost an arm but WHO EVEN CARES, I’m still pledging my allegiance to her. Miruko once beat the sun in a staring contest. Miruko’s calendar goes straight from March 31st to April 2nd, because nobody fucking fools Miruko. Anyway so also the heroes are finally attacking the League of Pliff’s HQ and Skeptic is running around all “AHHHH” so I guess we’ll see how that goes now.

Today on BnHA: Things finally get started over in Gunga, although for the time being most of the kids from 1-A and 1-B are still sitting around in the woods all pent-up and anxious and restlessly shipping KamiJirou. Meanwhile on the front lines, three-and-a-half-year-old Kaminari Denki is all “SOB I WANT TO BE BACK WITH MY FRIENDS WHERE IT’S SAFE”, to which Midnight, who I would just like to remind you is (1) an adult, (2) a teacher, and (3) a person responsible for this literal child’s safety in any number of other capacities, responds with “SORRY KIDDO WE NEED YOUR QUIRK.” I have yet to see any compelling evidence that they really do need it, but putting that dubious matter aside, Kaminari does kick some ass once he gets over his anxieties. Meanwhile Cementoss tears a building in half, Tokoyami reflects on how he was exposed to Kaminari’s good and pure moral character during their many soulful jam sessions, Hawks is about to kill Twice, and – wait, what.

a few stray thoughts since this chapter is taking forever to come out today. one, the good guys need to take out Twice and Toga as soon as they find them, because they’re currently the deadliest combination in the League. Twice for obvious reasons, and Toga because I’m pretty sure she got some of Aizawa’s blood that one time back during the Basement arc, and that fact coupled with the fact that she can now use the quirk of whoever she transforms into spells big trouble for the good guys since she can basically just cancel out whoever’s quirk she wants. plus she’s probably also immune to Midnight’s quirk. all in all bad news

two, it is interesting that Hagakure is the only 1-A kid we haven’t seen yet! probably just me overreacting, but still interesting!

(ETA: we do see her standing next to Mina in this chapter, so so much for that. you get out of it this time Tooru!)

and three, I’m not clear on whether or not Skeptic has actually figured out that Hawks betrayed them, or if he just suspects it, or if he thinks that Hawks leaked something accidentally and doesn’t realize that this entire time the dude was 100% playing them. I’m sure we’ll find out shortly. but regardless of how this plays out, I’m already dreading Twice’s reaction to all this :/ my sweet innocent baby. HE THOUGHT YOU WERE HIS FRIEND HAWKS. HE TRUSTED YOU. fff I really hope Twice’s inherently good and trusting nature isn’t a casualty of all this. then again I still think Twice himself is very unlikely to survive this. so basically I’m just bracing myself for pain sob

(ETA: oh this is bad.)

(ETA 2: by the way just to clarify, the above paragraphs were all written on Friday, and the rest of this recap+all ETAs were written the next day when I finally got to read the chapter! this is not important in any way whatsoever but now you know and that’s half the battle!)

“it’s time” holy shit finally lol. you all have been camped out over here for weeks now. not that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy each and every second of Miruko’s one-woman murder show, but it is nice to finally check in with you guys over here so we can get to work at last and I can get a better feel for who’s about to die. cuz someone here is dying guys

the chapter is called “I wanna be with the others!!” so. this is gonna be a Kaminari chapter isn’t it. I wonder what fresh new traitorous hijinks he’ll be getting up to this week. that detestable scoundrel

Mineta is being all weasel-y and reluctant, and honestly, I’m a bit annoyed. and for once it’s not directed at him! it’s like... how do I explain it. okay, so like, the manga is showing him being all cowardly and clearly not at all happy about being out here, and the fact that it’s Mineta doing it only adds to the general flavor of this being the wrong attitude to have and just a really shameful way of acting in general, because it’s Mineta and we all know Mineta is vile and so clearly he’s in the wrong here! the only thing is though, I actually don’t blame him even if he’s being a little shit about it, because the kids absolutely should not be here in the first place. are they strong? fuck yes. are they gonna end up being the ones to turn the tide once everything inevitably goes to shit, and thus the others are really goddamn lucky that they’re here? probably. does that make it right to conscript kids and send them out here to a soon-to-be war zone which the adults have very little control over meaning that some of these children will almost certainly be injured and traumatized and possibly even killed? nope! not right at all! no amount of “plus ultra” can justify this, folks. and “we get that it’s wrong but that’s just the fucked up times we live in” doesn’t actually justify it either, even if the HPSC seems to think so

but having said all that, there’s clearly nothing to be done about it at this point, and I’m about to enjoy this chapter of the kids presumably kicking ass even after all that whining, so I’ll just carefully climb down from my soapbox now. but I’m still keeping it handy just in case!

who the fuck is this Thundercats guy who looks like he was part of an old timey street gang in 1920s Chicago

lol can he hear the villain hotel being ripped in half over there in the distance

and speaking of hearing, Jirou is popping her earbuds into the ground to do some reconnaissance of her own I guess!

the heroes?? she better not mean the villains. oh lord I still don’t have the faintest idea how they’re planning on actually containing them all. well, brace yourselves everyone. here comes the shitshow

now Gangs of New York is making the most unnecessary speech in the history of this manga

were any of them actually going to be careless?? I’m pretty sure they understand the gravity of the situation my dude. and if they didn’t, I’d say that’s honestly on you guys and not on them because, again, they’re kids. and if you didn’t want a bunch of teenagers goofing off during your incredibly dangerous and vitally important do-or-die hero mission, then maybe you shouldn’t have brought a bunch of teenagers to your incredibly dangerous and vitally important do-or-die hero mission

“listen makeste are you just going to sit around all day bitching about my cardinal sin of daring to involve your precious little darlings in the actual plot,” the imaginary Horikoshi that sits around trying to keep these recaps from veering off track interjects. and okay fine

sob it feels wrong to see MomoJirou there without their Kaminari

(ETA: and there is Hagakure on the left, FYI. at least I think that’s her?)

their baby boy is all out there alone in the woods. is that why you were really listening, Jirou? you can tell me, I promise not to make a big deal about it

MOMO ARE YOU COMFORTING JIROU WHILE SHE OPENLY WORRIES ABOUT “TOKOYAMI”

I lied, I might make a big thing about it. what a beautiful March day for some OT3

MY INFANT SON!!

HE’S ONLY TWO YEARS OLD!! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!? MIDNIGHT YOU BETTER KEEP HIM SAFE!! at least until he makes it back safely into the hands of his friends, the League of Villains

meanwhile here’s a fun tip, this manga gets 100x funnier if you scroll back up to that panel of Jirou being all serious and saying “they’re on the move” now that we know that this outburst is almost certainly what she was listening to lmao. “oh, Kaminari is crying, that must mean they’re getting started”

and here they go!!

who is that in the witch hat?? COULD THIS BE THE LEGENDARY MAJESTIC, AT LONG LAST? this person looks like they cobbled together their entire hero costume from Sero’s bedroom. just ransacked it and draped all of his tapestries and throw pillows every which way over some Adidas pants. goddammit who is this person, I need to know everything about them right now

DAMMIT MIDNIGHT

HE’S NOT OLD ENOUGH TO MAKE THOSE KIND OF DECISIONS GODDAMMIT. HE IS YOUNG AND PLIABLE!! WHAT DID YOU DO, OFFER HIM CANDY. DID YOU PROMISE YOU WOULD TAKE HIM TO CHUCK E. CHEESE AFTER IF HE WAS GOOD

SON OF A BITCH ARE YOU GUILTING HIM

I DON’T LIKE THIS, MIDNIGHT. I MEAN, YOU ALREADY KNOW, IT’S NOT LIKE I’VE MADE A BIG SECRET OF IT OR ANYTHING. GUH

and he’s shouting back “no I don’t think you adults are pathetic at all!” while still looking terrified! goddammit how do I cast protection on a fictional character in a manga. I don’t play D&D, but D&D players can do that, right? how do I create a shield around my party. Kaminari you stay put while I try and figure this all out

lmaoooooo Tokoyami’s words of encouragement

A MAGNIFICENT FELLOW. you guys I’m gonna be honest, lately I’ve been enjoying these fan scanlations even more than the official ones at times. obviously Viz’s are fine and good, but sometimes it’s almost like they localize everything a little too much, you know? most people don’t go around calling other people magnificent fellows, but would Tokoyami? yes. yes he would. I believe this in every fiber of my heart

LMAO KAMINARI

“KAMINARI, I REALIZED WHEN WE WERE PLAYING GUITAR TOGETHER... WAY TO WHITE-KNUCKLE THOSE SICK FRETS, HALEN.” thank you so much for that Tokoyami but we are kind of in the middle of something so I’m not sure if right now is really the time to start asking my boy here for his autograph. after, maybe

now Cementoss is literally screaming “ATTACK!” and throwing subtlety to the winds

and now we’re back to this!

and it looks like this is most likely Cementoss using his quirk to tear the building in half! so that’s one mystery from last week solved! holy shit you guys I just realized we’re actually going to see Cementoss in action. so long as the environment is right, dude is a literal earthbender. we may be in for a rare treat

Skeptic is shouting at his minions to alert the Council. it’s okay, Cementoss already alerted them for you I’m pretty sure

so he’s sending Violet and Black to the front entrance, and Cleveland and Carmine to the Assembly Hall (where the Council is). these, if you recall, are the names of the various Vanguard squads, though I don’t recall who is actually on which squad and I really don’t want to go back and look it up... but fine!

okay, Twice is on the Black squad and Dabi and Otter Pop are on Violet. so they’re being dispatched to the front, while Toga, Compress, Spinner, and Skeptic himself (how convenient for you Skeptic) are heading to the Assembly Hall. isn’t that nice that Dabi is heading out to the front, where my son Kaminari “Clapton” Denki is. hahaha. fuck

Lefty Hair is now making a sudden appearance and giving Skeptic some threatening “you majorly fucked up and the only reason I’m letting it slide for now is because we’ve got bigger things to worry about” vibes, which I like. also he has a cigarette. it’s been a while since I’ve seen a manga character actually smoke a cigarette. I guess only villains are allowed to smoke them now

YOU GUYS LOOK HOW FUCKING RAW CEMENTOSS LOOKS HERE HOLY SHIT

HOW MANY PEOPLE IS CEMENTOSS GOING TO KILL TODAY. place your bets. and is cement stronger than fire. please don’t die Cementoss

YOU GUYS HE FUCKING SLAMMED THE FUCKING BUILDING OPEN LIKE ARAGORN OPENING THOSE FUCKING DOUBLE DOORS IN THE TWO TOWERS. I KNOW YOU CAN’T ACTUALLY SLAM A DOOR OPEN BUT ARE WE GOING TO SIT HERE AND ARGUE SEMANTICS ALL DAY OR ARE WE GOING TO KEEP READING??

ARE WE EVEN ALLOWED TO HAVE THIS MUCH BADASSERY IN A CHAPTER THAT DOESN’T HAVE MIRUKO IN IT. LOOKS LIKE SOMEBODY FORGOT TO INFORM THE BADASSERY GUILD THAT THEIR UNION MEMBERS ARE WORKING OVERTIME. I DON’T KNOW WHERE I’M GOING WITH THIS METAPHOR I GOT TOO EXCITED

by the way I like how a key part of their “let’s contain all the villains” plan was to open up their secret HQ and spill them all out like a bunch of ants. everyone knows this is the best way to keep people contained. instead of stationing people outside of every exit, let’s just make the entire building into one giant exit and MELEE AWAY ALL YOUR PROBLEMS

who died and made Lefty the smartest guy in the room

if only they had all listened to you, Mister Smart Guy. you’re so smart. why didn’t they put you in charge. probably just because they were jealous

booooo it looks like Black and Violet are attacking but Twice and Dabi are nowhere to be found! because they’re part of the Council?? boooo

Best Sweaterist can do anything a sweater can do. it’s not a very good power. everyone was all “you look like the number 3 hero you must be really strong” and so she got promoted waaaaay above her skill level and it’s too late for her to do anything about it now so good luck Best Sweaterist

finally some people from the League!

but where is Hawks? AND WHY IS DABI HEADING THE OPPOSITE WAY AS EVERYONE ELSE HOLY SHIT

LOL HAWKS YOU BEST MAKE YOURSELF SCARCE MY DUDE. OH FUCK

(ETA: Dabi is either going to arrive just in time to save Twice, or just in time to witness Hawks murdering him, and I’m not sure which would be worse.)

OH MY GOD EDGESHOT GOT A LINE

I CAN’T FUCKING WAIT TO HEAR THIS WITH MY OWN TWO EARS IN THE ANIME. IT’S GONNA BE SO GREAT AH MAN. but real talk, Miruko should be above him in the power rankings. I’m sorry I don’t make the rules. but unless you kill three Noumus within the next few pages here I’d say it’s pretty clear cut

OH NO MY SIX-YEAR-OLD SON, MY POOR BABY, HE LOOKS SO FRIGHTENED NOW. LIKE GENUINELY AFRAID-FOR-HIS-LIFE FRIGHTENED AND NOT JUST COMICALLY FRIGHTENED OH MY GOD I CAN’T

Kaminari you sweet little lamb, it’s going to be okay. you just take a deep breath and zap some of these PLF fuckers and then you can go run and hide and you’ll be playing tacky arcade games and eating hit-or-miss-quality pizza before you know it

Kami is actually in a lot of danger here what with how helpless he gets after he uses too much of his quirk though. (unless of course you subscribe to the theory that he doesn’t actually go dumb at all and that’s when he’s secretly transmitting his traitor messages to the zetans.) whose fucking idea was it to put him on the front lines, honestly. he’s only four!!

fuck me, Midnight sees him panicking and she’s being all soothing and encouraging while also being ridiculously sexy as usual. dammit Midnight

hey Kaminari if you want to think about Momo and Jirou I’m not going to complain, I just want you to know that. you can even make it all platonic by just saying “my friends.” either way is fine and I will respect your smokescreen

ahh he’s turning around and the camera is zooming back to the woods where the rest of 1-A are!

the title of this chapter is becoming surprisingly meaningful!! well played!

WOW

I don’t even know what to say?! I basically just slapped both of my cheeks and said “AWWW” out loud?! would you fucking look at these two bisexual icons living it up in this the year of our lord 2020. what a blessing

oh hey this guy decided it was time for him to talk again

okay Kami I give you permission to go pikachu on his ass. go ahead and show us why the heroes went ahead and violated ILO conventions in order to bring you here

don’t tell me this guy is also an electric type. lol who could have guessed that, there were absolutely no clues at all in his hairstyle or anywhere else. I would definitely have noticed something like that because I definitely pay attention to these things lol

(ETA: and presumably the heroes knew the identities of the Vanguard squadron leaders thanks to Hawks, and knew they had to have some sort of plan in place for this guy’s quirk, hence them being all “hey Kaminari let’s talk.”)

anyway

OH SHIT YOU GUYS KAMINARI IS ABOUT TO BE A BADASS!?

MOTHERFUCKER WAS THAT A SHOUNEN WOOSH???! whaaaaaat oh shit everybody brace yourselves

and now a Tokoyami flashback to the two of them jamming like little hero Hendrixes

because he prioritized the health of his fingers beneath his desire to learn the guitar to help his friends perform, you realized he was truly a magnificent fellow. aw shit it’s all coming together

yep

look how evil that smile in the last panel is. clearly the traitor. probably this other electric man is his dad

USING AN ELECTRIC ATTACK AGAINST ANOTHER ELECTRIC TYPE CLEARLY WON’T WORK AND THUS THIS IS ONLY A FAKE ATTACK DESIGNED IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN HIS COVER!

LOOK HOW EVIL HE IS

HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN A FIVE-YEAR-OLD HAVING THIS KIND OF RAW FIREPOWER UNLESS HE’S SECRETLY EVIL!??!

OH MY GOD I LITERALLY SAID “OH MY GOD” VERY LOUDLY IN REAL LIFE AND NOW I’M HOPING MY NEIGHBORS DIDN’T HEAR HOW LOUDLY AND EMBARASSINGLY I SAID “OH MY GOD”

FUUUUCK

just. it’s like this weird and crazy feeling that’s a combination of adrenaline and chills-rushing-up-your-spine. that’s the sensation of clicking to a page and suddenly seeing the thing we fucking knew was going to happen, but just because we knew doesn’t mean we actually wanted it to happen, shit

holy shit. does Jin have to die in order for the heroes to succeed? probably. do I want it to actually happen? NO. am I suddenly reevaluating every single thing I thought I knew about Hawks and mentally updating Jeanist’s presumed mortality status in my head?? yes. are Hawks’s eyes here going to give me nightmares for the entire coming week? also yes. am I really unsettled wondering if those eyes were the last thing Jeanist ever saw? listen why do you keep asking me all of these intrusive and deeply upsetting questions like I’m some kind of magic 8 ball?? am I going to be on the edge of my fucking seat now waiting for next week? fuck

#bnha 263 #kaminari denki #jirou kyouka #tokoyami fumikage #cementoss #hawks #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste spoiler recap #makeste reads bnha #is kaminari the traitor? still no #is horikoshi the traitor? probably #nah you know what #yes

[misssophiachase]

For @klaroline-events​​ KC Bingo - “Opera House”

Bill Forbes is a well known mafia boss in Chicago. At 19, Caroline turned her back on her upbringing and left to study at a musical conservatory in Europe. Fast forward ten years and she’s a famous opera singer. Due to recent security concerns, she’s been saddled with a bodyguard she’s determined to resent, mainly because she knows the idiot.

Safe and Sound

-Caroline-

Present Day - The Bolshoi Theatre - Moscow, Russia

“Don’t you knock?”

“I did but I don’t actually need your explicit permission to enter.”

“What if I was changing?”

“It’s not like I haven’t seen it before,” he murmured, his dark, blue eyes flickering down the length of her neck and focusing on her gold necklace, obviously partially visible and peeking out from her costume.

Caroline could have kicked herself for letting him see that. But she’d become so accustomed to it and the way it made her feel.

Safe. 

Protected.

The last thing she needed was to give him an inkling that she cared. 

He was a well-built, five-foot nine, suit-wearing, former Navy Seal, pain-in-the-ass who liked to be right. All the time. He also liked telling her what to do. It was like he got a kick out of being the alpha male.

How did she know this? They had a complicated past, and he didn’t seem to have changed one bit in ten years. 

Caroline didn’t like alpha males then and she sure as hell didn’t like them now. She also didn’t like playing the victim. She was many things, but she wasn’t that. 

“You can’t just come and go as you please, Mikaelson,” she growled. “I’d like to have some semblance of normalcy in my life and your presence is cramping my style.”

“Well, I’m sorry to ruin your social life, sweetheart, but there are greater things at play here.”

“I don’t need reminding.”

“I actually think you do,” he shot back, his forehead creasing. “These people don’t mess around and given your past,” she gave him a knowing look., “our past,” he corrected for her benefit. “You should know just how much.”

“I’m perfectly aware,” she shouted. “But we’re not kids anymore, and I’d really prefer not to be treated like one.”

“Caroline,” he implored, instinctively moving closer, his hand finding a stray lock of hair and fastening it behind her ear. She felt her chest constrict; his touch was as familiar as it was tender.

She shook her head determined to pretend that their past and whatever this conversation had become was a distant memory.

“I’ve got to get to rehearsal.” She left without a backwards glance, albeit on unsteady legs.

Why did he have to come back into her life and why did it have to be now? She could still remember their reunion like it was yesterday.

3 months earlier - La Fanciulla del West Opening Night - Sydney Opera House, Australia 

Caroline took her obligatory bow as the thunderous applause reverberated throughout the venue. 

As someone who’d been singing since she was five, moments like this were still surreal. Caroline had worked hard to get where she was, and she didn’t take anything for granted.

Especially nights like this. 

As she made her way from the stage, arms full of flowers, she noticed him standing in the wings. Given the intensity of the stage lights, all she could make out was his pristine suit, striped tie and imposing stance.

Caroline only realised it was him as she was giving her flowers to the stage attendant.

From one glance, Caroline could see that, albeit older, the years had been good to him. There were still the tell-tale curls, stormy, blue eyes and crimson lips but they seemed to be even more pronounced now if possible.

She was immediately curious about his unexpected appearance, but Caroline had no intention of reacting or acknowledging him, he didn’t deserve it.  

She could sense him watching her, intense and focused, as she made her way purposefully towards her dressing room.

Caroline walked past several well-wishers but she could still feel him following closely. His footsteps were undetectable, but she could still sense his overwhelming presence. 

She placed her hand on the door handle to the dressing room, not expecting his warm and masculine one to cover it. Before she could react, he’d spun her around so her back was up against the door and her arms pinned. 

He was towering over her, his chest mere inches from hers, those dark, blue eyes angry and demanding. Those crimson lips she knew intimately were so temptingly close but pursed tightly. Caroline knew from experience she was in trouble but right now that was the least of her problems.

“Are you lost?”

“Cute,” he muttered, his hands slowly releasing her wrists. “Maybe you should consider a career in stand up comedy and not opera.”

“Maybe you should with lines like that,” she countered, her gaze unwavering. 

Unapologetic.

“Can I go into my dressing room now?” 

He didn’t verbalise a response just moved to the side so she could slip inside. Once the door was closed and curious onlookers shut out she let loose. 

“How dare you manhandle me like that in front of the cast and crew!”

“Manhandle, Forbes? Nice to see your dramatic tendencies haven’t abated over the years.”

“That’s what you’re going to say to me after that little performance?”

“I’m your bodyguard, love, it’s what I do.” Caroline faltered, wondering when this terrible decision was made and also trying to ignore that familiar endearment which still sounded so good as it rolled off his tongue effortlessly. “Your team told me to introduce myself after the opera ended.”   

She was going to kill Enzo and Katherine. 

Sure, some guy had decided he liked her a bit too much and had sent a bunch of unsolicited mail and gifts, but she had no intention of changing her life for him and had told them as much. That was until her manager and publicist decided to conspire together, despite her express wishes, and contract a bodyguard without her knowledge.

A bodyguard that was not supposed to be her ex-boyfriend from another life. But here he was in the flesh. She couldn’t stop the memories from ten years ago flashing through her mind if she tried.

Kissing in the rain. Telling her he’d love her forever. Telling her she’d never be alone. Now, here he was after all this time.

Beautiful but demanding.

Breathtaking but arrogant.  

“That’s what you call an introduction, Mikaelson?”

“Well, we do know each other so I had to be creative.”

“I didn’t appreciate you…”

“I only did that to illustrate danger is everywhere. In an applauding audience, in the wings, backstage in your dressing room. You need to be more aware of your surroundings.”

“You’ve only been back five minutes, and are already lecturing me. And when in the last ten years did you become a bodyguard?”

He paused, closing his eyes briefly, no doubt trying to find the words. Caroline mentally kicked herself for asking that. She didn’t want him to think she cared.

In reality she knew he’d left Chicago to join the Navy all those years ago. The only reason she knew that was because he left her there. Alone.   

“I’m here because...”

“Actually don’t worry about it,” she said dismissively. “I don’t need to know. But it’s only one guy who likes to write letters so I think this is all overkill.” 

It was only as she said it and noticed his expression change, and then darken, that this suddenly didn’t seem like such a big coincidence. 

“My father asked you to come?” He nodded. “And this isn’t just some guy who likes giving creepy gifts, is it?” He shook his head. 

Caroline needed to sit down. 

She found her chair and sunk into it, her fingers combing through her golden waves. It was something she did when she was trying to process something she really didn’t want to process.   

“They released him from jail.” Caroline barely got the words out. It was a statement more than a question. 

“He won’t hurt you, Caroline.” He was beside her in an instant, his hand finding its way to her leg. It wasn’t necessarily unwelcome and that frustrated her more than anything. “I won’t let him.”

“Well, let’s hope you’re right,” she murmured. “I have an after party to get ready for and I’d appreciate it if you left the room.”

She busied herself choosing an outfit to wear, knowing if she looked in his eyes she was a goner. And she had no intention of losing it in front of him, of all people.

Present Day - Turandot Restaurant - Moscow

“How could you do this to me?”

“You’re going to have to be more specific, Care,” she replied. “I do things that annoy people on a regular basis.”

“Kat!”

“Fine,” she admitted. “But there are worse things than having a gorgeous hunk of man meat like that by your side twenty-four-seven.”

“Hunk of man meat? Just how many vodkas have you knocked back tonight?”

The Russian Operatic Society was hosting a dinner for Caroline, the cast and crew at the famed restaurant to welcome the production to Moscow. Her publicist and best friend Katherine had clearly been taking advantage of the free hospitality.

They’d met in Bulgaria three years earlier. Katherine was visiting family and Caroline was on a brief vacation between shows. Being European residents born in America, the two had hit it off and Katherine had become her publicist not long after.    

“I lost count after the first couple,” she drawled. “You really could do with a few of these, they take the edge off.”

“I don’t need to take the edge off anything,” she hissed. Given the curious glances from their fellow diners she’d no doubt said it a bit too loudly. 

“Say it louder for the people at the back,” Kat teased. “This is exactly what I mean. Something to take the edge off from all that sexual tension bubbling below the surface between you and lover boy.”

“Shhhh,” she chided. “Any louder and lover boy, uh I mean Klaus, will hear you.”

“For the last time, I had no idea you two had a past. The company said he came very highly recommended.”

“My father has networks everywhere,” she growled. “He has this amazing ability to insert himself into a situation without leaving his fingerprints.”

Caroline had left her family behind a decade earlier and even though it was difficult she knew to have any kind of a normal life it needed to happen. She was also aware that, deep down, her father knew that too which is why he’d let her go. 

Obviously though not completely. . 

“Who knew my bestie was a mafia princess? It’s like something out of a Robert De Niro movie.”

“Shhhh,” she repeated. “I really shouldn’t let you out in public, Pierce.”

“Says the girl who’s a famous opera singer and didn’t feel the need to tell me this pertinent detail that could come out at any time?”

“I’m sorry. You must think I’m strange wanting an out from my former life but choosing a not-so secret career path. I didn’t expect the singing career to happen so fast, let alone at all. I did change my surname.”

“Yes, Caroline Cassidy. Now I know why you weren’t impressed when I asked if your nickname was CC.”

“Cassidy is my middle name.”

“How original.”

“Enough with the snark, Pierce. I know I should have told you in case something came up but it just seemed easier to…”

“Play pretend and let some madman stalk you instead?”

“Yeah because I’d let him do that,” she teased, attempting to lighten the mood.  Caroline knew exactly who he was and what he wanted with her and that thought was ruining the last shreds of her good mood. 

“This isn’t a joke and as much as you like to pretend you hate Mister Muscles you need him.” Caroline snorted by way of response. “What’s the story with you two anyway? Were you like a modern day Romeo and Juliet, well without the dying part.”

“We weren’t the Montagues and the Capulets, Kat. Our fathers were in the business together and given my father sent Klaus my way I imagine they’re still close. And we had something, yes, but it’s been over for a very long time.”

“Did he dump you?”

“Why do you assume he did the dumping?”

“I’m just trying to put the pieces of this very complicated puzzle together, Cassidy or Forbes or whatever your name is.”

“He left to join the navy and I left to study in Europe.”

In truth, that’s what happened, plain and simple, but Caroline was still harbouring a grudge. One that had festered for years and now the memory of their time together as teenagers in love wasn’t a happy one. It was one full of questions and doubt that what they had wasn’t real.   

She had never loved anyone like Klaus, even to this day, and she’d often wondered whether he felt the same way. Whether he found himself thinking about what they could have had. What they could have been. 

It was something she desperately needed to know but would never ask. Her pride was everything. 

“Well, if that isn’t the precis to a really boring movie,” she pretended to yawn for effect. “You wouldn’t be so hot under the collar about him if that was everything.” She had a point but Caroline had no intention of giving her the satisfaction. 

“Why can’t we just ditch him? Enzo can protect me.”

“Enzo can’t protect himself let alone anyone else and you know how much he hates spiders. Yeah that’s a surefire way to protect you from getting killed.”

“Way to ruin the mood.”

“No, that’s my job,” Klaus murmured, suddenly appearing from what seemed like nowhere and placing himself between their seats discreetly. She was trying to ignore just how good he smelled, a mixture of sandalwood and spices. “We need to get out of here now.”

“This guy is the life of the party,” Caroline joked. She was getting a little sick of all the interruptions. Every time something seemed untoward they had to leave and every time it was a false alarm.   

“I don’t want to scare you but there is someone across the room…”

“Where?” Kat asked, suddenly turning around. 

“This is why I don’t tell you that information because you can’t be discreet, Pierce,” he noted, a grimace on his face. 

“Enough with the theatrics,” Caroline muttered. 

“The person in question looks like he wants to devour you and I don’t mean it in a nice way, Caroline.”

“Maybe he’s still hungry after the appetizer?” Kat suggested. “I know I am.”

“Do I need to call your sponsor?” Caroline asked, trying not to laugh. 

“Enough, you two let’s go,” he gestured impatiently toward the exit. 

“You’re really helping my dating life, you know that, Mikaelson?” Katherine asked, locating her purse and following him and Caroline from the room. 

“You can stay as long as you like, Katherine,” he said, ushering them towards the exit. “Caroline’s mine.” 

She should have been offended, he basically said he owned her like some chauvinistic ass, even if it probably wasn’t meant that way.

But for some reason she wanted him to mean it. And now it was too late. She felt the heat coil in her abdomen, the arousal that had been building for weeks between them threatening to spillover and Caroline was struggling to say the least.

She licked her lips, watching his taut behind move from side to side in those fitted suit pants thinking just what she wanted to do with him.     

What came next she wasn’t expecting, three loud shots rang out and she felt his hard body envelop her, knocking her to the ground. 

She was shocked, the fact she was also winded didn’t register, neither did the cries of the people in the room nor the general mayhem as they rushed to the exit all at once. 

Suddenly darkness overtook her and everything went black. 

-Klaus-

Present Day - Chastnaya Klinika Na Vernadskogo Private Hospital, Moscow

Klaus didn’t show emotion. He found that it just got in the way. He’d trained himself well over the past ten years in the Navy not to care about anything. 

Klaus found without emotion he was unstoppable, focused and at his very best.  

Now was not one of those times. And if he was being honest, Klaus knew that he’d shut her out of his life years earlier because the associated emotion would make him feel exactly like this. 

Angry.

Confused.

Desperate. 

All the things he hated because they made him extremely vulnerable and right now he needed to be able to protect Caroline.  

He’d been in similar situations, gunfire wasn’t new, but with her it was. When her father called to ask he couldn’t say no. Not just because Bill had asked but because Klaus had missed her so much he ached. 

He’d conveniently forgotten just how much his reappearance would affect Caroline and just how much their unresolved issues would be compounded. 

And those two factors had combined together the past three months to create fireworks and not of the sexual kind, even if their tension was off the charts. 

Being at the hospital brought back so many memories of a time when they were two very different people leading two very different lives. 

12 years earlier - Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago Illinois, USA

“I came as soon as I finished work at the restaurant,” Klaus smiled, making his way to her bed side a bunch of white lilies , her favourite, in hand.  “If I have to make another tortellini it won’t be soon enough.”

His father owned an Italian restaurant in downtown Chicago, amongst other things, and Klaus worked there a couple of days after school a week.  He didn’t need the money but Mikael thought a job was good to build a strong constitution. 

“I knew there was a reason I kept you around, Mikaelson,” she grinned, pulling him closer for a kiss. It was only when he pressed against her chest that she winced, her pain visible. 

“I’m sorry,” he soothed. “At least tell me you fared better than the other person?” 

“This is me we’re talking about,” she teased. “Hang on, how did you know there was someone else?”

“I’ve seen you yield that hockey stick. What exactly happened at practice?” He asked warmly, taking a seat and holding out his hand so she could place hers in it.  

While Caroline attended Mount St Joseph Private Girls’ School, Klaus went to St Ignatius College Prep. A lot of their mutual friends were dating so were all part of the same group.     

“It wasn’t my fault...”

“But yet starting your story like that tells me it’s probably the exact opposite, sweetheart.” She gave him a look which clearly meant she wasn’t thrilled by his response. “You know just saying.”

“In my defence…”

“This isn’t Judge Judy, Caroline. Just tell me what happened.”

“I fell over during our practice hockey match and bruised my ribs but it was totally worth it.” 

“Why exactly?” He asked knowingly, a smile playing on his lips. “Fess up, Forbes.”

“I might have accidentally,” he gave her a look which clearly said he didn’t believe her. “Okay, I tripped Hayley Marshall with my hockey stick but she totally deserved it.”

“Oh really?”

“She said you were too hot for me and let’s just say I didn’t appreciate her for insulting my looks and fawning all over my boyfriend,” she seethed, her jealous tone not lost on Klaus. “If anyone gets to call you hot it’s going to be me not some whiny, doe eyed and, might I add, bad hockey player.”

“If you weren’t sporting an injury right now I’d show you just how hot I can be,” he said, emitting a low growl. “And she’s got nothing on you, love.” 

“I’m far more resilient than you think,,” she purred, placing a lingering kiss on his mouth. 

“So, today it’s tripping mean girls by hockey stick, how are you going to top this?” She rolled her eyes by way of response. “I know you like to run screaming in the opposite direction of your roots but maybe there’s more mafia in you than you think, Caroline Forbes.”

 “My father will be so proud to hear his little girl is literally beating girls off you with a stick,” she drawled sarcastically. “But it’s my mother I get the hot temper from, don't forget.”

“I couldn’t forget that, love,” he shot back, thinking he’d been on the wrong end of her fiery nature more than once, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.  “It’s extremely arousing.”

“I wasn’t lying about the resilience either so you better get me out of here before I encourage you to not be so PG with me, Mikaelson.”

Present Day 

“How is she?” Klaus was broken from his trance by a familiar face.   

Enzo St John was Caroline’s Manager and although he was jealous to begin with, Klaus had come to like the guy even if he was a little weird sometimes.  He’d chosen not to go to the dinner in lieu of a date with a prima ballerina. From what Katherine told him, Enzo liked to experience the local talent wherever they travelled. 

“I haven’t been in there,” he murmured knowing exactly why. “I, uh, had some phone calls to make.”

“But she’s going to be alright?”

“Yeah. Besides some bruising from the fall and a sprained ankle Caroline will be fine, I thought it was best to bring her in just in case.” Klaus knew he wasn’t the lightest of people and was worried that pushing her to the floor while throwing himself on top of her lithe figure might have caused some damage.

He’d never been so scared, even after years in the Navy. But that was because he was saving faceless civilians not the love of his life.  

It scared him to think about it. But it was true. 

“You did the right thing, I’m glad you were there to be honest, Katherine has a sharp tongue but when it comes to combat or protection of any kind she’s a pussy cat. But just don’t tell her I said that because she scares the hell out of me.” 

Klaus fought the urge to smile thinking back to her interesting commentary about him compromising her dating life.

“Katherine’s gone home to nurse her hangover after one too many vodkas, so you’re safe. But It could have been much worse.”

“Thankfully you were there, if you hadn’t been I’m not sure what I would have done without my Care Bear,” Klaus again found himself suppressing a grin. And to think he was worried they were ever romantically involved. 

“Unfortunately, that’s where the good news ends. I had a chance to speak to the local police afterwards and they didn’t catch the perpetrator.” 

“So, he’s still on the loose?” Klaus merely nodded knowing just how fraught the situation was. 

Yes, they were dealing with a lot more than one person. They were dealing with the full force of the Chicago Mafia who could dispatch hundreds more people like the one tonight.  They wouldn’t stop until Bill Forbes’ daughter was killed in retribution for something she didn’t invite. 

“I spoke to the Bolshoi Management and they have some safety concerns about the opera going ahead. Not just for Caroline but also the cast, crew and audience and I’m fairly certain this kind of threat isn’t covered by their public liability insurance.”

“Of course,” he replied. “I was going to suggest it be postponed indefinitely but I also enjoy living and knew Caroline wouldn’t see it that way.”

“Is this your way of telling me I need to break the bad news?”

“Well, you are her manager, I think it goes with the territory.”

“Fine,” he conceded. “Plus, she seems to have years of resentment stored up against you so at least I can take one for the team this time.”

“Thanks, I think.”

“I’m not going to even try and understand your situation or your past with Caroline but if you hurt her I will kill you,” he promised before breaking into a mischievous smile. “Oh who am I kidding? You’d crush me like a bug. But you get my drift, right?” 

Before Klaus could even begin to know how to respond they were interrupted. 

“Excuse me?” They both looked up to see a nurse coming from Caroline’s room. “She’s asking to see the idiot who sprained her ankle,” they both looked at her curiously. “Her words, not mine.”

“You’re completely on your own this time,” Enzo teased, his gaze now resting on the nurse who seemed to have taken his fancy.  “Maybe you can just tell her about the opera, you know while you’re in there anyway.”

He was chasing after the nurse before Klaus could respond. He really deserved a pay rise to deal with these people. 

“I’m glad you cracked my code,” she drawled. Albeit a little dishevelled from the fall, Klaus didn’t think she could look anymore beautiful in her fitted, red gown with her blonde locks tumbling around her shoulders. 

Suddenly it felt like déjà vu, like they were seventeen years-old again and she’d beaten up someone in a jealous rage. Times had changed in twelve years. 

“It’s not the first time you’ve called me that and probably won’t be the last. Enzo is here but is currently trying to pick up your nurse and avoid telling you that the Bolshoi has decided to postpone the opera indefinitely due to safety concerns and Katherine needed to sleep off the vodka. Between you and me I’m glad they aren’t charged with protecting you, just saying.”

“It’s not over is it?” Her demeanour had rapidly changed from teasing to deathly serious.

She was scared and Klaus was too. 

“They didn’t catch the shooter, no,” he offered. “But, if anything, this will serve as a deterrent to…”

“Please tell me you’re not saying what you think I want to hear,” she murmured. “Not after everything we’ve been through. This guy was put behind bars because my father framed him and this is called settling the score. Thanks, dad.”

“He didn’t do it,” Klaus replied, taking a seat on the bed and looking into her eyes. Klaus knew she could tell if he was lying and hoped that this would prove it to her. “Your father never framed him, it was an inside job. He’s doing everything he can to try and put a stop to this at his end, trust me on that.”

“Yeah because my father is such a saint.”

“I never said that,” Klaus agreed. “But this time it’s different.”

“Is it?” She asked, her blue eyes clouded with unshed tears. “Between you and me it feels a lot like the good, old days. And my father wonders why I needed to get away from him and that messed up life.”

“He understood it’s what you needed to do and he did let you go, Caroline. He’s so proud of you and what you’ve achieved, whatever you think he’s always loved you and wanted what was best.”

“Since when have you been my father’s biggest fan? I seem to recall you wanting to leave just as much, if not more, than me. You couldn’t wait to go and then one day you were just gone. I came to your house and that was it.”

“You were leaving me,” he bit back, frustrated that she got to be mad at him but he didn’t get the same chance. “You’d already been accepted to the music conservatory, I just got a head start I suppose.”

“But I would have said goodbye at least,” she mumbled just as the few tears that had been threatening to fall rolled down her creamy cheeks. “I must have read your letter hundreds of times, I’m surprised the ink hasn’t worn off completely.”

“I was a coward I know,” he admitted, instinctively wiping the tears away with his thumb. “And you don’t know how much I regret not saying it in person. But it was too damn hard. Life back then was too damn hard because escaping from that life meant, unfortunately, escaping from each other too.” 

“I know,” she nodded. “But there hasn’t been a day in the last ten years that I haven’t thought about you and what we had,” she whimpered, fingering the gold necklace she kept safely around her neck. The one he gave her all those years ago. 

“When I saw you wearing that, I thought that maybe there was a chance that,” he broke off, too overcome with emotion to finish that sentence. “And when those shots rang out tonight all I could think was that I hoped those ten years apart and finding each other again wasn’t for nothing.”

“I’m fine, although I’m not sure for how much longer.”

“Don’t talk like that,” he insisted. “Although, I do think it’s time to leave.”

“Leave where?”

“Back home. You can only run so far and for so long. I can only do so much. To these people the law doesn’t matter, borders don’t matter. Europe, North America it doesn’t matter.  You’ve been running your whole life you just didn’t realise it.”  

“So have you.”

“I have, I admit it.  I thought that escaping to the Navy was going to somehow erase where I came from. But it seems like it has caught up to me like it has you. You need to go back, if anything just to sort this out with your father. I know you’re mad at him but he has the capacity and the resources to protect you, I don’t.” 

“And what about you? Are you going to just up and leave me again? I remember once you said you’d never leave me alone.”

“And I meant it.”

“You really shouldn’t make promises if you’re not going to keep them,” she smiled despite everything. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this but, fine, let’s go back to Chicago.”

“And that’s what we’ll do once everything has died down in a month or two.”

“So, what exactly do we do until then?”

“We need to collect ourselves and be prepared for what’s to come.”

“Why do I suddenly feel like I’m in some post-apocalyptic movie? Are you going to take me out to the middle of nowhere and teach me how to defend myself?”

“You’ve seen this one then I assume?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me?”

“On the contrary, love, I’m deathly serious. An old colleague of mine has a cabin in the Austrian mountains. Nothing fancy but it’ll do.”

There was also only one bed but Klaus decided he’d broach that topic once they arrived. Yes, he knew that being with her in the middle of nowhere for two months was going to test every last shred of willpower but he welcomed the challenge. 

He didn’t know it but, at the exact time, Caroline was thinking the same thing. And neither one was altogether upset by their impending predicament. 

Once they dealt with that then they could face the bad guys once and for all.

#kcbingo2020 #klaroline drabbles #klaroline fanfiction #klaroline fanfic #klaroline #misssophiachase #safe and sound #my wriitng #phew that was a long one

[girlsgonemildblog]

Wait, Is This Show Actually Good? - Emily in Paris, Episode 4 Recap (Spoilers!!)

Poster from IMDB

I actually liked this episode. In general, I enjoy watching this show, but it has been in an I-hate-it-so-much-I-enjoy-it type of way. This episode I actually liked. Crazy, right? But don’t worry, it still had the eye-roll moments we know and love from the show.

It begins with a French florist trying to refuse to sell Emily pretty roses and instead giving her worse ones. I don’t think she deserves pretty flowers either, nameless French women. Then a gorgeous blonde woman comes up and helps Emily out. For no explicable reason, this woman, named Camille, decides to befriend Emily.

Photo from IMDB

Camille (played by Camille Razat) invites Emily to an art exhibit that night at the gallery where she works. Emily mentions this means she will have to miss her language class, which she is in absolutely no position to skip. Only a minute earlier, she asked the florist, “I can the roses?” Whatever, I’m not her mom. Also, as they say goodbye, Emily and Camille kiss on the lips, which I guess isn’t that unusual in French culture. Still, this was made for an American audience, and Mindy later hints that perhaps Camille was hitting on Emily, and this all felt very queerbait-y to me.

Emily then returns to her apartment and has a bunch of packages to pick up, and who comes in to help her but Gabriel? Does literally any other person live in this six-story building? We have never seen a single other neighbor, but Gabriel always seems to be around. Emily opens her package to discover that her peanut butter has exploded and is now smeared all over her belongings, which is not how peanut butter works in my experience, but whatever. Gabriel decides he must make her an omelet right then because apparently Emily did not have any food in her apartment and was really relying on her peanut butter showing up soon, or else she was going to die of starvation.

Gabriel, who had noticed the lingerie that Antoine had gifted Emily at the end of the previous episode, asks why a client giving her lingerie is an issue for her. It’s crazy to me that that needs to be explained. Emily responds with three reasons, in the following order:

Antoine is married.

Antoine is having an affair with Emily’s boss.

The gift is wildly inappropriate.

I cannot be alone in thinking that this is in no way the correct order of importance. His marital status is not even a fraction of the problem compared to the level of inappropriateness.

When Emily arrives at work (she must show up at that office at like, noon, right?), Antoine and Sylvie are in the middle of a fight, and Emily decides to insert herself. To calm Antoine down, she tells him a half baked plan to pitch a line of perfumes from his company to a hotel chain owner from Chicago who she knows will be at Camille’s gallery that night. She implies that the hotel company has already expressed interest in this idea, despite having just come up with it. While this may stop his anger temporarily, it could make the situation a lot worse farther down the road. If her plan doesn’t work out, and he finds out she lied, there is no salvaging that relationship.

When Sylvie asks Emily who sent her the lingerie, for some inexplicable reason, Emily says Gabriel. I can’t imagine how that could possibly backfire. Then, Luc and Julien swoop in to take her out to lunch. They sit her down and explain to her why she needs to be careful with Antoine, as he is her client and her boss’s boyfriend. Again, absolutely wild that this needs to be explained. Also, Emily seems shocked at the suggestion that Antoine wants to sleep with her. How are you surprised, baby? He sent you lingerie! What did you think that meant?

In the next scene, Emily and Mindy are walking into the art gallery, discussing if Emily should give Antoine the lingerie back, and I have to wonder if her company has an HR department. It sure seems like they don’t. Mindy, for some reason, encourages Emily to sleep with Antoine. She is clearly not a good friend, or at least not a good friend to ask for advice. When they get to the party, Emily sees Camille speaking to the hotel owner, Randy Zimmer, who looks a lot like Antoine. (Sidenote, Randy is played by Elon Bailey, who I know from playing Pinocchio on Once Upon a Time, which was very distracting for me).

Camille introduces Emily to Randy, and the whole time Emily is making googly eyes at Camille, which again felt very...suggestive?

Emily then tries to court Randy as a client by reciting his own quotes from interviews to him and telling him he needs to “tease the smell” of his hotels, whatever the fuck that means. There is no way that this would work in the real world, but in the Emily in Paris universe, it does, because here up is down, and Emily is good at her job.

The next day, Randy comes to Emily’s office, and Antoine gives him a demonstration of their products because obviously, the CEOs of each of these companies would be hands-on with this project. They decide to have dinner together, prompting Randy to state, “I’m up for anything with a Michelin star,” which is quite possibly the worst sentence I have ever heard in my entire life.

While Emily is on the phone trying to make a reservation, Antoine sneaks up behind her in the creepiest way possible. He tells her he didn’t buy the lingerie for himself, but for her. I don’t care who he bought it for; it is still inappropriate and creepy. He also says, “I understand you have different boundaries,” while stepping towards her and invading her personal space. So, while he may understand she has different boundaries, he definitely does not respect them.

When they get to the restaurant, Emily discovers that because Europeans write the date day before month, as opposed to the American month before day, she made the reservation for November 8th rather than August 11th. As opposed to Emily’s usual stupid mistakes, this blunder, I found funny and relatable. I could see myself doing this. She then calls Gabriel, because a professional chef can definitely take a phone call in the middle of service, and asks him to stay open late for her group. He says yes, and then his wait staff apparently doesn’t murder him, which they would’ve been 100% justified in doing.

Why would she take them to Gabriel’s restaurant? She told Sylvie that Gabriel was the one who sent her the lingerie. I felt like I could see where this was going from a mile away. But then, it doesn’t go there. Like, yes, Sylvie does tell Gabriel that he has exquisite taste in lingerie, which Gabriel questions, but Emily pushes Sylvie out of the restaurant, and everyone just moves on? I feel like they’ll circle back in a later episode, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t based on how this show has gone so far.

Outside the restaurant, Sylvie, who now feels confident she is not competing with Emily for Antoine, is actually nice(ish) to Emily. She tells her she did a good job and encourages her to go after Gabriel. I loved this because I desperately want Sylvie and Emily to be friends. Television is always better when women are working together instead of against each other. Women competing for men’s attention is a tired, dated trope, and we, as a society, need to move on. (Unrelated, but did you guys see my Bachelor recap?)

Emily takes Sylvie’s advice, goes back into the restaurant, and has a steamy makeout with Gabriel. Fuck yes, Emily! After this, Emily exits the restaurant and runs into Camille, who is revealed to be Gabriel’s girlfriend, and holy shit, is that a good plot twist! The episode ends on this note, and I was so eager to continue, I almost watched the next episode without writing the blog first. Expect the next recap imminently.

#Emily in Paris #eip #Emily in Paris season 1 #Emily in Paris season 1 episode 4 #Emily in Paris a kiss is just a kiss #a kiss is just a kiss #lily collins #Ashley park #philippine leroy-beaulieu #Lucas bravo #William abadie #elon bailey #Camille razat #netflix #Netflix original #tv review #Emily in Paris review #tv recap #Emily in Paris recap #netflix emily in paris #Emily in Paris netflix #girls gone mild #girlsgonemild #television #television review #tv #girls gone mild blog