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imaginesandinserts · 3 years

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Irreverent Pt. 60 - Epilogue

Title: Irreverent Pt. 60 - Epilogue

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x Reader Rating: M Words: ~2K

Status: Complete

A/N: That’s all folks. Chapters 59 and 60 coming out together today.

For J - For being the reason I finish this.

Irreverent Series Masterlist

Aaron's been seated in his new office for the past hour, going over the new certification and training requirements for the BAU with Dave. Technically, it should've been Prentiss he was meeting with, but she'd happily passed along that piece of her new responsibilities, stating that the grouchy old men would do a much better job at it than she ever could.

From across the way, he can see through the glass walls into his old office which Prentiss now occupies. Both Garcia and JJ are sat across from her, no doubt convening there before they all fly out for your bachelorette party. It was a bit unbelievable to think he was only a week away from officially marrying you.

That is, if you survived this weekend, as you'd commented apprehensively earlier that morning. You've been terrified about what Emily had planned, especially given how his bachelor party had gone a few weeks prior. Dave had lured him away with the promise of good steaks and cigars, and then ambushed him with private dancers. He'd even gone out of his way to find one that held an uncanny resemblance to you. John had been sure to give that one a wide berth, making a beeline for the other corner of the room and staunchly avoiding any sort of eye contact with Aaron, much to his amusement. The night had culminated in a panicked text from Aaron to you, begging to be rescued. You'd arrived – his knight in shining armor – and taken him, a terrified Reid who'd been on the phone texting his girlfriend half the night, and a reluctant John who had finally relaxed enough to enjoy the company of the other dancer when you'd arrived and fixed him with an unamused regard that had the poor guy following the rest of you out with quick goodbyes to Dave and Morgan.

"You talk to Morgan recently?" Dave asks idly, sifting through the files in search of the old requirements documentation.

"Yes, he seems to be liking the transition to the academy," Aaron remarks, flipping through the file in front of him in search of the same. "We grabbed lunch last week when I did the Profiling and Prosecution seminar."

Dave smiles with a contemplative nod, and Aaron can only imagine what was going through his friend's head. Things were changing around them slowly – you'd left the team and had built your own, Prentiss was running the BAU, Morgan had retired to spend more time with his wife and soon to arrive son. Aaron himself had taken on the mantle of Section Chief, a role to which he was taking to far better than previously anticipated. Though, he supposed it helped that this time, he was only doing the Section Chief job and not also running the BAU.

It had been the right decision – for him, for you, for Jack. Both of you were home for dinner more nights than not. The three of you had settled into a routine that felt comfortable, and while he missed being directly in the field, he could see the change in him, his body. At his last doctor's visit, Dr. Robbins had commented that his stress levels appeared to be lowered and having a job that wasn't quite so hard on his body was a great help in that.

John was over every few weekends, very much a part of that routine you'd created, and the three of you had flown to New York a handful of times as well, taking Jack to a Yankees game (which he enjoyed thoroughly) and taking him on the subway (which he didn't care for). Dave had asked him half a dozen times, how he felt about John's presence in your lives. Aaron was incredibly alright with it – he hadn't been the only one who thought he'd lost you.

If he was being truly honest with himself, he was far more comfortable with John than he'd ever allowed himself to be around anyone that wasn't you or Haley. He's had time to think about it, about why that was the case. He figures it's because John is possibly the only other person in the world who understands the importance of you, the impact of you. For Aaron, in many ways, John also felt like an extension of you. The same biting humor, the forced humbleness – the way neither one of you could see anything wrong with spoiling Jack entirely.

Aaron could still easily recall the day he'd made an offhand remark about him not wanting Jack to grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth. John had grown quiet, eyes fixed towards where you were finishing making lunch. Jack was sat on the countertop, mixing together a bowl of cookie dough for you, to be baked for after lunch. Aaron had followed his gaze, his heart warming gently at the sight. It was so familiar, Jack always loved helping you in the kitchen. Aaron's mouth involuntarily turns into a smile as you laugh at something Jack had said, your head falling back easily, the musical notes of your laughter making the room feel brighter.

When John had turned back, he had a far away look in his eyes. "You're right," he'd said, clearing his throat, his voice a little heavier than before. "At the end of the day you want to be sure of only one thing – that he feels immensely loved. Because kids who aren't fed love by a silver spoon, they tend to lick it off of knives."

Aaron knew, without being told, that John was referring to Julian. He found himself incredibly grateful that his son got to be fed by you, wielding a platinum spoon. With John in your lives, that love in Jack's life only increased.

*------------*

You stood at the door of Aaron's office, having walked down from your own, on the way to Emily's so that you and the girls could fly off to a weekend of controlled (hopefully) fun. Who were you kidding? Emily Prentiss was in charge of your bachelorette party. You'd be lucky if you made it back in time to meet Aaron at the altar.

It takes a few seconds for them to notice your presence. A few seconds during which you get to admire the late afternoon sun hitting Aaron's frame just right, the golden hues turning his hair a lighter brown – it made him seem younger than his age, and the white flecks (which he blamed almost entirely on you and your disappearance) would suggest. The pronounced furrowed brow that seemed to be a permanent fixture for him while he was in the office, the warm eyes turned seriously down towards the papers in front of him, the pink lips that had spent a fair amount of time between your legs the night prior, causing you to shatter around him. That had resulted in John making a few crude remarks at breakfast that morning, which thankfully flew over Jack's head. Your son was far too excited to have an entire weekend with just his dad and favorite Uncle for a "Boys Only Weekend" to make up for you missing his soccer game on Saturday.

Aaron shifts, noticing your presence, head tilting up and eyes meeting your own. At the sight of you, they imbue warmth and familiarity, sparkling against the reflected sunlight. You're struck for a moment. Your husband-to-be was remarkably beautiful.

"Hey, how's it going?" You smile at both Aaron and Dave, entering quickly to meet Aaron on his side of the desk. Both of them turn to look at you.

"You still have no idea where Emily is taking you?" Rossi's face betrays his glee at your misfortune. He's been cross with you ever since you kidnapped Aaron from his own bachelor party. In your defense, the man had practically begged you to.

"No, she won't tell me." You sigh, your voice coming out almost in a whine.

Rossi's lip twitches, though he does a good enough job at not laughing outright.

You perched on the arm of Aaron's chair, placing a quick kiss to his cheek. "Harvey sent these over," you tell him, placing the envelope you had been carrying on his desk, your hand returning to play with the ring on your finger around as you were prone to do nowadays. "Would you please sign them and make sure they get to his office before Monday? He wants them finalized before the wedding."

Aaron nods, noting how your delicate fingers caress the stone of the ring that's sat on your hand and made him – quite literally – the luckiest man alive.

He's been expecting some paperwork coming his way in light of your upcoming ceremony. He'd lightly brought up the idea of a pre-nuptial agreement with you early on – for your sake – and had been laughed out of the room. You did however, feel it necessary to make him aware of exactly what assets he'd have access to, and thus your lawyer had been busy creating a summary for him to look over and acknowledge. Apparently, it had taken a full staff to do the entire work up, over the course of a month. If the thud the envelope had made when you'd set on his desk was any indication, he was in for a long night of reading.

"Alright, I should go." You heave off of his chair and the two of you look at each other and then Rossi, who takes a hint and looks away, leaving you to bend down and capture his lips against yours. You feel his arm winding around your waist and tightening into your side briefly, before you withdraw, your tongue peaking out to lick your lips. Aaron looks just barely flushed as Rossi turns back, his lips twitching in amusement as you fix yourself and take your leave.

*------------*

The door closes behind you, Aaron's eyes following your walk across the floor towards Emily's office.

"Is that what I think it is?" Dave asks, drawing his attention back to the envelope you'd dropped off for him. There's something oddly familiar about this – the two of them in his office, an envelope related to you dropped off at his desk. Though this time, under far less confusing and much happier conditions.

Aaron nods, doing his best to hide the smile threatening to break through at his friend's curiosity. Ever since New York, Dave had been very interested in learning exactly how much richer than him you were.

Reaching for the envelope, Aaron opens it up and withdraws the large stack of papers, and flips to the first page. Disclosure of Assets – the name of the document hardly did justice to the summary that followed. Properties across the U.S., Europe, South America, and the Caymans. A plethora of divided up Swiss bank accounts, each with a balance more staggering than the last. A stock portfolio rivaling Buffets. The number at the bottom of the page takes his breath away entirely.

Aaron turns once more to look towards his old office – he can see you gathered there with the rest of the girls, laughing about something. Given the piece of paper in his hand, he has to hand it to you in that moment. You lived far below your means. To think that someone your age had access to that kind of money – that kind of freedom – and still chose to do what you did. He didn't think there were many others who would.

Before Aaron can react, Dave has reached across the table and yanked the piece of paper right out of his hands.

The noise of complete shock that leaves his friend's body was not one that Aaron was likely to forget anytime soon. He watches as Dave reads the same summary he just had, his eyebrows moving further and further into his hairline as he goes down the page.

When he finally looks back at Aaron it's with a look that couldn't quite be described – surprise, awe, a hint of envy. Aaron can viscerally see the same thought he had moments ago regarding you and your work at the Bureau flit through Dave's head as he too turns to assess you across the floor.

Quietly, he hands the documents back to Aaron. Shifting in his chair, Dave clears his throat. "You do know that you're going to be picking up the tab every time now, right?"

Aaron chuckles, nodding. He'd assumed as much.

He turns back to you, only to catch you looking towards him as well through the glass walls. Your mouth turns up into a smile as your eyes meet his. Eyes like the sunrise colliding with his, causing his stomach to flip in that torturously delicious manner that only you seem to invoke. Eyes that meet his and stay. Eyes that have followed him, mirrored his, since the moment the two of you met. Eyes that betrayed you both when you looked at one another, the sheer intensity of the emotion behind them giving you away entirely. It didn't matter what distance, what time, what circumstance separated you from one another – somehow his eyes knew to always find their companion in yours.

Aaron might have fallen first, but he is forever grateful that you'd followed.

#irreverentseries #aaron hotchner #criminal minds #aaron hotch x reader #aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner x you #criminal minds imagine #criminal minds reader insert #hotch x you #hotch x reader

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frederickthegreat · 4 years

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my thoughts on TUA season 2

(spoilers, obviously)

- opened with Klaus and Ben, my kings. Klaus’s hair looks so weird straightened while short

- AWESOME opening soundtrack

- seeing all their powers so controlled makes me wonder how they leveled up to that skill in the alternate timeline. like the only time we saw Klaus use the powers of other ghosts in the correct timeline was when two of them caught him falling out of the sky. however Diego did end up controlling bullets and Allison used her voice to technically kill one of the Swedes

- the homeless man screaming Allison’s name alongside Luther... funny shit

- big teddy bear Hazel

- Elliot was fucking awesome i think he was a great addition as a side character. rip tho :(

- honestly i don’t understand why Diego would WANT to save JFK. like it’s not that big of a deal. does he not understand what messing with the timeline can do??

- Lila... impeccable

- Sissy and Vanya... impeccable <3

- yeah and fuck u Carl

- ugh, Klaus’s beard. disgusting <3

- Ben and Klaus definitely act like they should be, given that they’ve been stuck with each other for over a decade. i’ve seen some people calling Klaus an asshole for not telling his siblings about Ben, which is completely understandable (cause he was an asshole), but I’m guessing it was because he was afraid? that sharing Ben with his siblings would mean that he would lose him to them, or his siblings would find him selfish, or they would ask something of him that he couldn’t give. if that makes sense

- that ghost bitch comment was funny tho

- to the guy who called Klaus pretty boy at the bar: sir you don’t know what you’re getting into

- Raymond!! he’s such a sweetheart, i really liked him in the show. i’m really happy that Allison has found a bit of normalcy (as normal as the 1960s Civil Rights movement could be). it shows how passionate she is about what she believes in: even though she knows the movement is far from over, even back in 2019, she’s not gonna abandon it

- Allison staring at the moon every night: either thinking about Luther or how the moon blows them all up. maybe both

- of course Luther would be working for Jack Ruby

- awesome cinematography during the mental asylum escape

- yeah it makes sense that the Handler would still be alive. she was a cool villain. although it would’ve been awesome to see how evil a fish could be

- Diego’s plan was pretty stupid. that’s my boy

- honestly they revealed how Klaus started a cult really well by having one of his followers find him at jail. Klaus, ever the musical aficionado, of course writes his scripture based off of pop songs

- Raymond and Klaus meeting!! that was cool to see how their paths connected

- Lila painting Elliot’s toenails green. ugh i love that crazy bitch

- i LOVE how they incorporated the umbrella man!! tbh i’ve always believed he was the one behind the assassination. Lee Harvey Oswald was framed

- honestly a bit understandable that Luther was planning on killing Vanya? cause he had no idea who she is now, but them reuniting was actually really sweet. he’s grown up so much

- the Swedes and their cats.

- the Umbrella company building with the nuclear family mannequins... creepy, awesome shit

- baby pogo baby pogo baby pogo baby pogo

- shanked diego shanked diego shanked diego shanked diego

- did anyone else get vibes from Klaus’s episode opening that he was an escort to the old woman? like how he was being shown off at her arm or something and getting out of jail from a call from the governor. idk maybe the lady was just very taken with him, as anyone would be

- Elliot, our helpful king

- Allison and Klaus’s reunion was so sweet!! i’m so glad they got to interact so much more in this season

- Ben getting Raymond out through a haunting... hilarious

- sweet intimate moment between Lila and Diego

- Ray meeting Luther was hilarious, but i do feel for the poor guy. i mean i’m not in love with my adoptive sister but still

- the sit-in was really well done and beautiful while terrible. the ‘riot’ that ensued was very appropriate for today’s setting

- D-Dave

- honestly i was scared that Klaus was gonna be overly attracted to him or whatever, which would be weird cause he’s years younger than Klaus, but honestly, at the core he just wanted to save Dave’s life. even if it means never meeting him in a different timeline. he truly loved Dave. and that ptsd flashback was done so well

- i knew Lila wasn’t trustworthy but i didn’t REALLY expect that!

- Vanya and Luther talking with each other, Luther admitting the apocalypse wasn’t all her fault. beautiful

- the Majestic 12 reminds me of the conspiracy theory that only a few families control basically everything in the world. the Majestic 12 may be based off of that, idk

- idk about everyone else but Klaus’s scorpion and the frog story made total sense to me! frogs ARE bitches

- the diner scene.... ugh. it really shows that the two of them did fall in love and they did stupid in love things, like talking about their family, about why Dave wanted to join, favorite colors, favorite foods, etc. however that’s seen later on when Dave visits the compound

- yes it’s very disheartening when Klaus is attacked, but honestly i think it had to happen, just like the riot had to happen. the 60s weren’t a fun time for lgbt people and poc. it was only going to be a matter of time before the show HAD to acknowledge the consequences of Klaus’s ‘flamboyancy’ in 1963 Texas. it doesn’t make it right or easy to see, but it’s realistic.

- it also makes sense that Klaus fell off the wagon after experiencing something like that. yes we all would’ve liked him to stay sober, but sobriety and recovery aren’t linear.

- Allison is so happy with Ray can we please drop this pseudo-incest plotline let’s MOVE ON

- Texas Grace ! who is not actually Grace rip (i think? i was a bit confused lol)

- the scene with Harlan running off was really upsetting but we got to see those weird light particles that we saw in the first season

- Pogo Pogo Pogo Pogo

- Klaus being a dick to Ben again, as brothers do. i do feel bad for Ben though it must be sooo frustrating. that scene with him and Allison was really sweet and funny tho

- i just have to say that Luther and Diego are so fucking funny this season it’s awesome. like there are a LOT of good lines overall by everyone but they’re hilarious. “At least he didn’t shank my ass” “no bro, he shanked your heart”“Dads part of a sinister CABAL that’s plotting on killing the president.” “a caBAL?”“You two still a thing? *leans in* do we need to talk?” “No, she’s married.” “Woah dude... that’s rough.” and countless others

- the sibling reunion!!

- Klaus really does get left out of everything tbh

- Ben :(

- sisters and Klaus!! that was so awesome to see. and Klaus’s hairpins, Vanya saying she’s gonna tell Sissy she loves her, their dance sequence, Klaus calling Allison out on that incest. beautiful

- the fucking Swedish cover of Hello was PERFECT i mean i was sad for the Swedes but it was hilarious. there were a couple beautiful shots of the boat on fire though

- god it must’ve been so traumatizing for Allison to be thrust into such a hostile place with no voice and no way to contact her family

- idk about you guys but long live Team Zero

- calling Ben that he was becoming their father was a bit uncalled for

- the fact that Klaus didn’t help Dave’s chances, and in fact escalated Dave’s own timeline.. his trembling hands... robert sheehan is an amazing actor

- the Black president bit lmaoo loved it

- the way Reginald spoke to Diego.. i’m gonna throw hands with an old man

- Klaus LITERALLY looked like he was having a seizure and they all just... played it off??

- poor, poor Carl. nah fuck him lol

- that bloody opening scene was awesome! and thank god Five got to say fuck. the fact that it was about a candy bar makes too much sense

- Robert Sheehan acting as Ben: amazing showstopping spectacular he’s so talented

- the whole multiple Fives and Luther bit was honestly really funny, and i immensely respect smaller Five over bigger Five.

- yes Klaus, you survived a family of seven. you got this

- not sad about Carl dying one bit!

- Ben... that was such a beautiful scene. not just the content of the scene, but the cinematography. Ben fading away... Vanya hugging him... ugh. the main takeaway i had from that scene is that at the core of it all, Ben and Klaus love each other immensely. they have a weird, dysfunctional, fucked up relationship, where Klaus is an asshole and Ben definitely shouldn’t of possessed him without his consent, but they’re still brothers, and Ben forgives him.

- oof Ben’s funeral was hard. also was it just me or did Klaus’s kid actor sound weird? like it sounded like Robert was dubbing his lines

- all the siblings back together again!!!! Klaus going with Vanya to save Harlan!! Vanya telling him Ben forgives him and that it wasn’t Klaus’s fault Ben got stuck with him!! everyone in the car!!! be still my beating heart

- yeah didn’t see Lila having powers coming tbh. i really feel bad for her she’s had such a rough and traumatic life, especially with the Handler as her only parental figure

- the Swede brother and Five putting down their weapons: “enough.” the Swede wanted revenge for his brothers - an eye for an eye, but there was a mutual understanding between the two of them: they would do anything for their family. if the Swede hurts one of the Hargreeves, Five would never stop coming after him. i thought it was very beautiful

- mmm Reggie’s foreshadowing coming into play. proud of u Five

- the ending was so beautiful. everyone got closure in some type of way. except now Klaus is alone with nothing but his dog tags :(

- EMO BEN HAHAHA WTFFF?? is Lila in the sparrow academy? why was Ben’s portrait over the mantle piece? did Five disappear?? is the sparrow academy just older versions of the siblings who stuck around?? so many questions

FINAL THOUGHTS

- Ellen Page’s acting consistently blows me away. she is amazing

- beautiful cinematography, funny writing, pretty good acting. i didn’t like the soundtrack as much as i did the first season’s, but some of it wasn’t bad.

- i’m glad ben got peace, but i’m also glad justin min isn’t gone for good. his social media presence is too vital for us

- i swear to god if they keep treating klaus as a joke and don’t let him get any actual development like everyone else had (he barely got closure with Dave, he reconciled with Ben through a second party) next season, i’m gonna riot. PLEASE i want to learn more about his powers now that Ben is gone. what happened to seeing tons of ghosts when he’s sober??

- Luther and Diego were probably my favorite duo of the season, I’m so happy that they’ve reconciled and are bonding more.

- just seeing Vanya grow and be happy was amazing

all in all, really wonderful season. i probably liked it better than the first one. now it’s time to consume fanfiction and maybe finish my own (check out “god doesn’t want him and neither does the devil” on ao3!)

#the umbrella academy #tua spoilers #tua season 2 spoilers #the umbrella academy season 2 spoilers #the umbrella academy season 2 #tua season 2 #klaus hargreeves #luther hargreeves #vanya hargreeves #five hargreeves #ben hargreeves #allison hargreeves #raymond chestnut #dave katz #diego hargreeves #reginald hargreeves

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innately-pretentious · 4 years

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Dating Klaus Hargreeves ❤️✨

A/N I’m back lads, and yes this is very long and super messy! Ik I’m super behind but I literally just finished the newest season of TUA and was feeling super inspired. Here are some headcanons for our favourite mess.

You probably ran into each other during one of his late night drug binges, finding him lying on the ground in your local park whilst you were clearing you head, his eyes were moving around, observing the stars in the night sky.

As you slowly approached him you became increasingly concerned, discovering that he was not only watching the stars but also yelling at the blank space next to him. You almost didn’t approach him, writing him off as another high person riding a wild trip, however, something told you to go and check up on him.

When you got next to him, interrupting his seemingly one-sided conversation, you asked him if he was alright.

Turning to you and muttering out a slightly coherent ‘yeah’, you insisted he sit and talk to you for a while, to unload whatever has got him so stressed out. You had nowhere to be and neither did he, that was how he found himself spilling the details of his extremely unique life to a total stranger until the early hours of the morning.

Nothing could prepare you for what he was about to unload, but when he is finished telling you about his family, his father, his powers, Ben and every other intimate detail he could think of, you knew you couldn’t just leave him here. After minimal persuasion on your part you drag him back to your apartment, making him some tea, putting him in the shower and getting him into bed.

Nobody had ever treated him this well, not even his own family. Now this stranger was showing him the greatest display of hospitality, he dozed off with tears in his eyes.

You watch him from across the room, this was probably the first good sleep he has had in a while. You didn’t know what drew you to this strange boy, but you were determined to help him.

He pretty much lived with you on and off for the next few months, hanging out with you multiple times a week. He discovered (with the help of Ben) his growing feelings for you, but he never wanted to act on them.

He is extremely shy initially with showing any signs of attraction towards you. Having been put down by his family for most of his life, he truly believes he will just eventually disappoint you. Ben has been bugging him to make a move for months, it is the first time he has ever seen his usually-confident brother act bashful. You would find yourself often initiating intimate acts or even talking about dating one another, due to his fear of dragging you into his mess of a life.

His insecurities do seem to fade as your relationship progresses, however, you often have to reassure him that his best is more than enough. You will always be there to pick up the pieces as long as he is willing to help.

However, when you do finally get together and comfortable, he is not shy about his displays of affection in any way! You often find that he always has to be touching you in some way. Placing his hand of your thigh while sitting next to each other, draping his arm around your shoulder, leaning into you when watching a movie, reaching for you in the middle of the night, half asleep. You almost wonder if he does it subconsciously. Pulling you into him for a quick kiss, even if it is in public. Not that you mind, you’re just glad he finally let his walls down for you.

Although he dislikes it in the moment, you make a point not to enable him. Instead you honestly ask him about his addictions and try to understand it, nobody has ever done this before. One of the proudest moments is finding him on your doorstep in the early hours of the morning, holding a fresh packet in his hand.

‘Take them, I’m gonna do them and I really don’t want to.’

You teared up at how far he has come, spending the night tangled in each others limbs, telling him how proud you were as he snuggled further into your waist.

Being there for him when his father dies, even though it really doesn’t take much of a toll on him, you tag along to make sure. When you finally meet his other siblings, you truly understand the reasons behind his addiction, often being pushed aside or ignored by his family members. The people that are supposed to care about him most, it takes a lot for you to hold your tongue.

Klaus can be quite a homebody when he wants to be, one of his favourite activities is just hanging around the mansion with you.

He loves finding you in the kitchen, drawn in by the smell of you making something delicious. He will come up behind you, arms snaking around your waist, head tucked into the crook of your neck.

He also loves to play his music loud, so the two of you can scream the lyrics to your favourite songs, dancing around the kitchen like idiots whilst simultaneously trying to cook a meal is a skill you have definitely acquired during your relationship.

Ben is completely in awe of you being able to steer Klaus in such a positive direction, he cannot be prouder of his brother. You often get Klaus to be the middle man in your conversations, even though the two of you have never met face to face, you honestly believe he is one of your close friends.

He introduces you to the clubbing scene, taking you out dancing every other weekend! You notice that he believes getting ready to go out is just as much of the fun, you both take turns picking out each others outfits. Blaring your favourite songs as you paint his nails or he does your eyeliner, leaving your bedroom in a massive mess that you would worry about tomorrow morning.

Dancing together in a packed nightclub, giggling as he attempts to spin you round, sneaking kisses here and there until the lights come on.

When Sunday comes around, you are both allowed to spend the day lazing in bed. Now Klaus is sober, he sometimes finds himself waking up before you. Finding you tucked under his arm in the morning is a dream, brushing your hair gently out of your face as he watches the sun pour in from a crack in the curtain. Nothing could be more blissful.

Occasionally you will wake up alone in bed, these days always make you slightly uneasy. Deep down you know Klaus is probably just downstairs making coffee or running a bath for the two of you, a small part of you can’t help but be scared he has relapsed.

He pretends he doesn’t notice, but his heart aches knowing that you still worry about him, even after all this time.

You always catch him staring at you, he is not really subtle about it either, even if you are concentrating on an important task.

‘Klaus I actually have to work this time!’

‘Hey don’t blame me! I can’t help it if you’re the best thing to look at.”

When you find out about the impending apocalypse, you make a pact to stick together til the end, desperate to get as much time together as possible. During this time he becomes even more protective, never straying too far away from you, even following you into different rooms of to need to go grab something. If any precarious situation arises, he pushes you back, using himself as a barrier between you and the action.

With Five botching the whole time-travel thing, you both find yourself in the 1960s.

When he first arrived in the alley with Ben, he began frantically looking for you, becoming almost hysterical as he felt really alone for the first time in a long time. It took almost everything he had not to raid the local liquor shop to just forget about his predicament for just a moment. Ben is the voice of reason for him.

‘Fuck off Ben, can’t I just feel numb for once, I’ve lost her alright?!’

‘This is the last thing she would have wanted and you know it.’

It’s not until a year later you see each other again. You were revisiting the town where you first arrived in the 60s, picking up some new clothes and planning to get back on the road. Klaus, on his way to the diner for a quick bite to eat could spot you anywhere.

You were shocked when you heard a bang on the shop window, looking up and finding the same hazel eyes you would never forget, Klaus.

He bust through the shop doors, not caring that he knocked over a few clothing racks as he bounded towards you, jumping into your arms. He smelt the same, cigarette smoke masked with fresh cologne.

Landing on the floor together, laughing with tears streaming down your face, you just hold onto each other. (The shopkeeper is yelling, but this is more important than some scattered clothes!)

Having lunch together and catching up on everything you had been up to. He was impressed with you living on the road, finding various jobs and travelling across America. Although the thought of you going out there alone made his stomach flip, scared something bad might happen. When he tells you about ‘Destiny’s Children’ you wish you could say you were surprised, but you really expected nothing less. Of course Klaus would do something as extravagant as this.

That night is one of the best of your relationship. Making up for a whole year of lost time, he holds you closer, your entire body on top of his, head resting on his chest as he lazily rubs circles on your back.

When you are about to pass out you hear soft sobs coming from under you. Sitting up and holding his face in your hands, you reassure him that you’re here, you’re ok, you’re not going anywhere and you’re going to be alright. He grips onto you tighter and sobs into your shoulder, overwhelmed with emotions about how you finally managed to find each other again.

The clinginess does not end there, a year is a long time! Refusing to let go of you waist when you try to get up, always having his hand in yours, picking you up and spinning you round in the pool etc.

He takes full advantage of shopping with you in the 60s, with the fashion being almost as loud as he is. Watching him dance in and out of the racks of clothing, throwing various garments for you to try on. He loves to sneak into your changing room to ‘help’ you change into your next outfit…

When Ben is gone, you are the sole person he goes to for comfort. Holding onto each other and reminiscing about the good memories you all shared. After that day promising not to cry over him anymore, instead you would happily remember everything the three of you went through, looking back at his life positively.

#the umbrella academy #tua #klaus hargreeves #klaus hargreeves imagine #klaus hargreeves x reader #klaus hargreeves headcanon #klaus hargreeves fanfiction #the umbrella academy imagine #the umbrella academy x reader #the umbrella academy headcanon #the umbrella academy fanfiction

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etoileholland · 4 years

Text

lead me to your door

@mayberosey asked: The Tom and reader are neighbors (apartment setting) and every time he passes by her apartment, she plays different types of genres. She would play classical to jazz to rock to indie and so on. Tom finds it endearing that she has such wide range of music taste, but one day it just stops. And it lasts for maybe a week or two. So he’s worried but doesn’t do anything. When he finally hears music playing, the sounds are more mellow and it doesn’t change for a few days. That’s when Tom decided to knock on her door...

Pairing: Tom x female reader

Word count: 1.9k

Warnings: none

A/N: so I've been on a lil hiatus from writing but I finally finished this so I wanted to share it. Requests are open and I’m personally out of ideas, so please don’t hesitate to send something in. Although please don’t send in any requests about drama revolving around Tom’s girlfriend, I’ve already received a few and I won’t write those xx also the gif isn’t mine, all credit goes to its respective owner

“L, is for the way you look at me. ‘O’ is for the only one I see, ‘V’ is very very, extraordinary…”

Tom smiled to himself when he heard the faint music from the other side of the wall. It was 8am and his neighbour was already playing music. It was something that he had to grow accustomed to when he moved in about a month ago. At first it was a bit annoying to always hear some form of music from the apartment right next to his, but now, he welcomed it.

He was eating breakfast in the kitchen, and the music accompaniment was a nice way to start the day. He mouthed along to the familiar words, a smile erupted on his face as he enjoyed his scone.

Tom had grown to find there was a schedule with the music that he heard from next door. Since today was Monday, it was usually old jazz tunes, like Sinatra, Benny Goodman or Louis Armstrong. Tuesday’s were a mix of contemporary pop music, Wednesday’s were nothing but music from The Beatles, Thursday and Friday were dedicated to Harry Styles, Saturday’s was an array of songs and genres from the ‘60s to about the 80’s, and Sunday's were nothing but sad songs, the theme usually revolving around unrequited love.

He often wondered why there was such a distinct schedule, and why you only listened to sad songs on Sunday’s. It had become a bit of a game for him to try to figure out why, but so far he’s settled on the idea that maybe you had your heart broken on a Sunday, and therefore, dedicated sad songs to that day only.

On the weekdays, the music would stop around 10am, and would pick back up again around 6pm, and would cease around 9pm. It was rare to hear music past that point, which made him think that you went to bed extremely early. And on the weekends, the music would go from noon to midnight, which suggested you stayed up later.

He loved building a fantasy around the person he deduced based on your patterns and music choice, but the truth is that he had never met you. He had no idea who his neighbour was, and he didn’t want to knock on your door in case you were a creep or something.

He figured his neighbour was a female, since he often heard a light airy laugh from the other side of the wall, but it could be a man with a really high pitched laugh. Or you could be married, or old, but he had no idea, and frankly he had no intention of finding out.

Until one day, the music stopped.

It happened abruptly, he awoke one day on a Tuesday morning and realised that there wasn’t any music coming from your apartment. But he didn’t worry since he figured you were either sleeping in, or you had left early for work or something. He was gone the whole day at a rehearsal for the show he was in, so he didn’t think twice about the silence.

The next day, Wednesday around noon, he was hoping to hear the melodic voices of Lennon and McCartney from the other side of the wall, but once again it was silent. Usually at this point in the day, you had already finished the first two Beatles albums, and were quick to put on ‘A Hard Day’s Night’. He began to wonder if maybe you were out of town, but the nagging thought in the back of his head wondered if something bad had happened.

I’ll give it a few more days, and then if I still hear silence, I’ll check up on them, he thought to himself.

—

A week had gone past, and still radio silence. It was beginning to worry Tom, and he knew that he would have to go check on you, but every time he tried, he couldn’t.

He would head out to go to the gym, and would walk past your door, hesitating to see if he should knock. His hand would hover over the doorbell, but always stopped a centimetre away from pushing it.

Maybe they moved, or maybe something really bad happened, he thought, or maybe they’re out of town?

The thoughts swirled around his head, making him anxious and flustered until he decided that he shouldn’t bother you. And besides, how would he even start the conversation?

He backed away from your door, but then swiftly took a step forward and nearly knocked on the dark wood grained door.

What am I thinking? He thought, before beginning to pace the hallway while he thought of the best way to handle this. Don’t be dumb, there’s no good way to start a conversation with them. Would I really be stupid enough to say, “‘Hey, not to sound like a creep but I noticed I don’t hear you playing music anymore?’ or ‘hey, so I’ve never once spoken to you before but I can always hear you from my apartment and I find pleasure in knowing you’re alive but now I hear nothing and I’m assuming the worst?’” They’ll call the cops on me for sure.

He paced around in front of your door for about a minute, until walking back in the direction of his apartment, surrendering to his ever-so-increasingly intrusive thoughts.

—

Today had marked two weeks without hearing music from your apartment, and Tom had grown increasingly worried. If it’s still silent by this time tomorrow, I’ll confront my fear and knock on the door.

Miraculously, he didn’t need to knock on your door at all. When he awoke at 9am on a Tuesday, he almost didn’t hear the faint music playing from the room on the other side of his bedroom wall.

He pressed his ear to the wall and could hear a somber song playing. His eyes nearly welled up with tears when he realised that you were okay. But as the day went on, he grew worried. Tuesday’s were your ‘pop music’ days, but he only heard sad Taylor Swift songs.

Well that’s odd, they only play those on Sunday, he pondered.

The next four days were filled with heart wrenching ballads, somber piano music floating through the air. The nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach never went away, and he knew that he would have no choice but to knock on your door.

He figured the best way to go about it was to inquire about the music, and say that as a caring neighbour, he wanted to make sure all was well.

Standing in front of the mirror, wearing his favourite pair of jeans and t-shirt, he left his apartment and walked over to your front door.

You can do it Tom, just say you’re concerned about their health and well-being.

As he lifted his arm to knock on your door, you had just opened your door and were startled to see someone standing in front of your door.

“Holy shit!” You exclaimed as you closed your door, but Tom put his hand out to keep your door open.

“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t trying to startle you.” He exhaled, stepping back into the hallway.

“I figured, I’m sorry for that, I just wasn’t expecting anyone to be standing on the other side of my door.”

“Me either.” He breathed, holding an arm out and propping himself up against the wall. “Were you about to head out?”

“I was just going to go down to pick up a package from the front desk, but it can definitely wait.”

He nodded his head and unsuccessfully pushed a stray curl away from his face, it falling right back near his eye in a matter of seconds. You stood there admiring the man in front of you, making a mental note of the loose curl in front of his face, and his slightly awkward demeanour. He was handsome, and you found it cute how he was speechless.

“Well, do you mind telling me why you were just about to knock on my door?” You inquired while Tom let out a small laugh.

“Right.” He placed his hand on the back of his neck and took a deep breath in. “I don’t want to overstep, but I was wondering if everything was alright with you?”

He saw a distinct shift in your facial expressions, but he continued to ramble on. “It’s just that I can always hear you playing music from my apartment right next door, and I love hearing it, but I noticed that it stopped for about two weeks. And then when it started again, it was only sad songs and you only usually play those on Sunday’s. Oh gosh, now I sound like a creep for observing that and I promise I’m not, I just thought it was odd and I wanted to make sure you were alright.” He took a deep breath out and paused before saying, “I hope that wasn’t too weird.”

You laughed lightly, before saying, “I’ve experienced weirder. But thank you for checking up on me…” you trailed off, realising that you don’t actually know your neighbours name.

“I-I’m Tom.” He stated, and you told him your name as well.

“It’s nice to meet you Tom, and once again thank you. I just went through a hard patch in my life, and listening to sad music made me feel better, in a way. But it’s nice to know you care, so thank you again.” You smiled, and Tom smiled back.

“Right, well I probably should get going since I know I’ve already made the weirdest first impression,” you both laughed, “but I’m glad to know you’re alright. But if you’re not, my apartment is 2B so you’re more than welcome to come over.” He blushed, gaze fixed on the carpeted floor.

“It was a perfectly fine first impression, but if you don’t mind me asking, do you like my music choice?” You laughed, and Tom’s face broke out into a smile, brown eyes piercing through yours.

“I wasn’t expecting that question, but yes, absolutely. I’ve found a lot of good songs and artists because of you. I’ve been loving FINNEAS’ album, and ELO, so I can thank you for that.” He grinned, the crinkles by his eyes becoming prominent.

“You’re welcome.” You had your door open all the way now, and you could smell that your pizza in the oven was nearly ready.

“Mm, that smells good.” Tom commented, and you looked into your apartment to make sure the oven wasn’t on fire.

“It does, I made some pizza and I think it’s nearly done.”

“I think so as well.” He added, the both of you sharing a comfortable silence. “I’ll let you eat though, but I’m glad to know you’re alright.” He smiled and began to take a step back when you lightly grabbed his arm, surprising you both.

“Wait, would you want to come inside? I made enough pizza for at least two people, and I also have a bottle of wine if you’d want some.” You asked, hoping that your very attractive neighbour would say…

“Yes, I’d love that. Only if it’s okay with you, of course.”

“It is okay, I asked you.” You smiled, and Tom laughed nervously.

“Right.” He half smiled.

“Well, come on in.” You motioned for him to step in, “let’s eat and listen to some music, yeah?”

“Absolutely.”

————

mes anges (taglist): @scarletxwidow @sunflowerhollands @fangirlwithasweettooth @taciturnspidey @musicalkeys @harrysleftchelseaboot @quaksonhehe @halfblood-princess-505

#tom holland x you #tom holland x reader #tom holland x y/n #tom holland x female reader #tom holland blurb #tom holland imagine #tom holland imagines #tom holland and you #tom holland and reader #tom holland and y/n #tom holland fluff #tom holland one shot #tom holland one shots #tom holland fanfic #tom holland fanfics #tom holland #tom holland writing #mine #text

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galacticlamps · 3 years

Text

Tagged by @the--highlanders ! Thanks!

How many works do you have on AO3?

What’s your total AO3 word count?

76,200

(oh what a nice even number - I should try to mess that up as soon as possible, shouldn’t I?)

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Aw man is this intentionally worded to be really hard to answer? I get that it says ‘written’ and not ‘posted’ but then what constitutes a ‘fandom?’ I definitely wrote fics for stuff I was interested in long before I even knew the word ‘fic’ - I did it throughout my childhood, and then in high school, and while I didn’t do it as much in college, it still happened from time to time. So a lot of the books/movies/tv shows/plays/musicals I wrote things for aren’t really fandoms, and frankly, I had to check my old folder just now to even remember some of them existed. I’ll just list the ones that I know for sure had fandoms, since that’s more fun (and embarrassing), right?

Obviously Doctor Who, classic and modern, Torchwood, Sherlock Holmes (ironically more of these seem to be about the books, but yes, I will admit, some for that tv show too), Les Mis, a couple different Marvel comics & movies, Good Omens, hell, I even found a Night Vale fic in there just now.

And I know there are other older things not even in that folder, some of which never made it to a computer at all, so if I had to ballpark a number I’d probably say around 25ish but really, who knows?

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Across the Gap

On the Spot

Expectations

Shards of Memories & Fragments of Glass

Itemized

(this was fun, I’d never noticed Ao3 even had a stats page until now lol)

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try to! Sometimes I take a long time to do so but for the most part, I usually get around to it. The rare exception would be if I first saw the comment when I was super busy/distracted and then felt like way too much time passed before I noticed it again, that it might be awkward if I said something at that point.

I do genuinely enjoy hearing what people think, but I’m also weirdly terrified of making anyone feel like they have to reply to my comments. I know that’s probably a little strange, but it’s actually a large part of why I made this Ao3 account in the first place - my original one, from high school, is followed by some long-time friends of mine who aren’t interested in this fandom, some of whom are involved in art & writing professionally. The thought of anyone like that reading something I wrote out of friendliness or even just curiosity and potentially having to pretend they liked it for the same reasons stressed me tf out, so I like having this virtually anonymous one because I can relax knowing that anyone who reads or interacts with something I wrote has probably done so only because they wanted to, rather than feeling obligated, and there’s no pressure on them to be nice to me about it if anything I write or post annoys them - so I really hope nobody who does just know me as an anonymous blog has ever worried about offending me by not replying to something, trust me, I’m perfectly happy with it!

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I don’t think I’ve really written any angsty endings? I guess the answer would have to be Reckless just because it involves the characters arguing about sad/weighty things and there isn’t really any solution to those issues - but even then I think I ended it with a kind of acceptance that stops it from really qualifying as angst? I also set it in the the same universe as other fics, so maybe that doesn’t even count as an ending? Am I that bad at ending things on angst? Lol

Do you write crossovers? If so what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Obviously none of the fics I’ve posted are crossovers but I’m trying to think now if any of my WIP’s are - I’ve definitely poached setting/premise ideas from other media, but in terms of actual crossovers . . . I’ve got a few cross-era or cross-Doctor, a few involving Torchwood, but that’s already the same universe, so the only thing that’d qualify as a true crossover would be some vague pieces of a fic where Jamie, Zoe, and Two end up on the Enterprise, since I think the 60s series of Star Trek and Dr Who feel kind of compatible, don’t they? In fact, aren’t there like officially licensed crossover comics or something? Or did I make that up? Idk, and the ideas are very loose, so it’s not much of a WIP either

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Nope, never

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I’ve never written smut, but I’m wondering if it’s possible that could change soon. There’s a longish multi-chapter fic I’ve been working on for a frankly embarrassing amount of time, and the plot does call for a sex scene at one point towards the end, but I can’t seem to make up my mind on how - uh, I guess the word is explicit? - it should get. I know I could easily do a fade to black/implication thing, but it’s kind of a source of contention and anxiety for the characters, so to skip over writing the actual scene and just revisit them afterwards rings of “and they slept together and now everything’s fine!” which feels kinda cheap to me - in this context, anyway - and not the right payoff for a long fic that’s otherwise more of an interpersonal drama/slightly a period piece, if I had to place it in a genre. I feel like my aversion to actually writing the scene might just be prudishness I should get over, or maybe just self-doubt, because I know I’d rather have a well-written, funny, character-development-supporting sex scene than nothing at all, but since I’ve never had any interest in writing a scene like that before, I don’t know if I can do it well, and I also don’t want to ruin a fic I’m otherwise proud of by doing it badly... ugh I have to figure this out

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I seriously doubt it

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope

What’s your all time favorite ship?

I mean, it’s gotta be Two & Jamie. I’ve shipped things before with varying levels of investment, but I’ve never been able to use the term ‘otp’ in a literal sense until I came across them, and now it’s already basically gone out of fashion, go figure!

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I’m not sure if I have one? My WIP doc is huge, but I don’t actually intend to get around to finishing everything in it, so I’d like to think that anything I’ve currently singled out to complete can actually get done.

That said, I do have a few AU’s that I don’t really plan to finish, but it might be cool if I could. Two of them are for all the main + some supporting characters of the Second Doctor’s era - one’s a modern day school teachers AU, and the other is a typical fantasy/fairy tale AU. Another is just Two/Jamie, based on Doctor Faustus (specifically the Marlowe play version) but right now there are two different versions of the ending coexisting in my head. I’ve written parts of scenes & some gen. backstory for all of those ideas, but I don’t know if I’ll ever try to finish them, or what form a finished product would even take - a series of one-shots set in the same universe? one long multi-chapter fic with some kind of overarching plot? And the amount of context/worldbuilding a big AU like these would require might not make them very appealing fics for people to read, so maybe it is better if I just keep them to myself, since in my head I already know what’s going on in those worlds lol.

What are your writing strengths?

I honestly don’t know. I haven’t had a creative writing class since middle school, and since then I’ve only ever shown creative writing to others in a fandom context, so it’s been a while since I’ve discussed it or gotten critical feedback. I suppose when I work in other arts or even academic writing contexts, people usually say I’m kind of insightful or at least detail oriented, which might just be another way of saying I overthink things, but I like to imagine I’m decent at finding little points of interest to expand upon.

What are your writing weaknesses?

If you’ve read this far I feel like you must know what I’m about to say: I do not know how to be concise.

Usually when I’m writing a fic, I put down the dialogue first on its own, leaving out the action of the scene and whatever plot/context led there, even if I’ve already figured all of that out. But then when I go to add those things in, they’re always longer than I wanted them to be. I don’t mind writing something long, but I don’t want my fics to be a slog to get through either, and there can be a point at which the stuff I’ve added for context overwhelms the stuff that I wanted the fic to be about in the first place, so it becomes a structural/proportion issue too. I haven’t completely given up on any fics because of this yet, but there’s one I’ve been struggling with for a couple months now - probably because I’m even second-guessing myself on which scenes need to be written out and which can just be referenced like a recap. Hopefully I figure that one out soon.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

((this is karma isn’t it? i posted a fic last week with two words of gaelic in it and was worried about that and now this is karma))

In general, I don’t want to do it. I feel like you’ve gotta have a really good grasp of a language to write dialogue & speech patterns for someone who’s a native speaker, and since I’m far from fluent in any language the characters I write for are, I wouldn’t feel confident writing any significant amount of dialogue in, say, Gaelic.

As a sidenote, though, I kinda love it when other people do it, particularly for Jamie. Irish (Gaeilge) and Scottish (Gàidhlig) are both languages I’ve wanted to learn for a long time, because my family’s fresh out of living speakers of either & I think that’s a shame, but I started with Irish and at the moment I’m still very much learning it. As different as they are, it still helps me understand parts of lyrics or texts that I come across in Gàidhlig fairly frequently, so when it comes up in a fic I get to feel like I’m being responsible and practicing, and it’s great when I can actually understand what’s being said.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I’m gonna go with Harry Potter even though that’s probably not a perfectly accurate answer - it’s almost certainly the first thing that has a fandom that I ever wrote for, but it was in a notebook when I was a kid and never something that I even typed on a computer, much less posted online or shared with other members of a fandom. But even then, I’m sure it wasn’t the first pre-existing fictional universe I ever set an original story in, because I did that a lot when I was a kid, it’s just hard to remember those clearly or on any kind of timeline.

What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written?

I’m very partial to Across the Gap, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that ranked first on the kudos thing above - but I’ve also got a soft spot for So Merrily We’ll Sing. It’s so self-indulgent it feels silly saying ‘it was so easy to write!’ but I guess having a fic that’s already just 100% headcaonons and fluff tied together by a song you really love does prevent it from being much of a labor (I also managed to refrain from making that one unnecessarily long, so that’s another win there)

tagging @terryfphanatics and anyone else who wants to do it - sorry I’m bad at remembering whose tumblr goes with whose Ao3 account, but I really would be interested to read this if anyone else feels like answering them!

#oh boy that was long #sorry #also sorry if the 13 is really big for some reason #i dont know how it got that way so i dont know how to change it #it doesnt look like that when i edit the post only when i save it #not fic but fic talk

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happyandticklish · 3 years

Text

Stress Reliever - Part Two

Summary: Gansey can’t stop thinking about Ronan tickling him to pieces on the couch and tries to seek the other out for a repeat of that day. Ronan is happy to oblige so long as he hears a certain confession from the other boy.

Gansey had been trying all week to get Ronan to tickle him, and the fifth time it happened Ronan finally caught on to what was happening.

After that first and second time on the couch, Ronan had left the other boy relatively alone. There were a couple moments when Ronan would jab him in the ribs, or that teasing smirk would play once again at his lips, moments where Gansey suspected he would pounce. Each time nothing happened. It was almost annoying as Gansey had been on edge ever since that day, waiting for Ronan to take advantage of his newfound information. As days and then weeks went by, however, Gansey began to accept that maybe he had forgotten. Or worse—maybe he was weirded out by the whole thing and was avoiding him on purpose. The thought was mortifying and Gansey tried to push it from his mind, though anxiety kept it there at the edges of his consciousness, needling away at him endlessly.

After a while of this strange radio silence from Ronan, Gansey decided to take matters into his own hands. The first time he had provoked Ronan into retaliation he had been acting like a dick; maybe it would work a second time.

When Gansey was feeling particularly stressed or needed something to help him focus, he would often turn on a playlist of classic jazz from the 60’s. Ronan was not a fan of this particular brand of music, something Gansey was well aware of. Hence why now he blasted it through all of Monmouth Manufacturing while leaning back in his chair and waiting. Sure enough, a couple minutes later he heard a bang, a muffled curse, and then Ronan stumbled out of the confines of his room. Gansey waited, casually twirling a pencil between his fingers as Ronan approached him.

“Turn it off.”

It was more of a demand than a request, but Gansey sat there stubbornly, refusing to touch his phone which was connected to a shitty stereo he had found at a gas station. He could have bought something of better quality, technically, but he preferred the retro aesthetic. It was yet another of the things that Adam often got annoyed at him for. “Why? Is it bothering you?”

“Obviously,” Ronan snarked. “I can’t hear myself over your damn music. I’m trying to sleep. Dream? You know? Work on my skills?”

“It’s three in the afternoon,” Gansey replied dryly.

Ronan examined him for a moment, making a mental calculation, before lunging forward and attempting to grab the stereo himself. Gansey had been expecting this, however, and quickly launched to his feet so that he was directly in-between his jazz and Ronan.

Ronan appeared startled by the confrontation; usually Gansey preferred to settle things peacefully. Still, he wasn’t one to give in easily so he narrowed his eyes, taking a step forward. “Move.”

“No.”

“Gansey.”

“Lynch.”

Ronan continued to glare at him for a moment, and Gansey could see his fingers twitching by his sides, the solution to their problem simple and easy if either was to act upon it. Triumph glimmered in Gansey’s eyes.

To Gansey’s surprise, however, Ronan simply sighed, turning around suddenly and grabbing his keys off the desk.

“I’m going out,” was his only answer to Gansey’s questioning gaze, and then he was gone, leaving the latter alone in the house once more, having failed at his mission.

Gansey tried a couple more times after that, each time trying to find the right words that would provoke Ronan, small jabs that he was sure would make the other boy retaliate in kind. Each time it failed, leaving Gansey increasingly frustrated. His annoyance only grew as he watched Adam make the same kind of comments only to have Ronan pin him down on whatever surface they happened to be one, digging fingers into flailing skin. Gansey tried not to be jealous. The two were in a relationship after all; it only made sense that they would be more handsy with each other.

Still, Gansey couldn’t think of anything that he wasn’t doing. He stretched for abnormally long amounts of time whenever Ronan was around, raising his arms painstakingly above his head. He had even starting walking around the apartment shirtless, something that before would have mortified him. No matter what he did, Ronan would simply toss him a strange glance and then move on.

Maybe he wasn’t being overt enough. It pained him to be any more obvious than he was already being, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

“What are you doing?” Ronan asked when Gansey sat on the couch besides him, stretching his legs out so that they crossed over the former’s lap. Ronan was watching a movie, possibly a nature documentary though it seemed unlikely. He appeared less than pleased to suddenly have an entire extra Gansey on his person.

The Gansey in question shrugged, acting completely oblivious. “Sitting on my couch.”

“No, you’re sitting on me,” Ronan pointed out. He frowned down at the other boy’s legs for a moment, but after a while decided it was more trouble that it was worth to move him and settled back into the couch, turning his attention back towards the screen.

As it turned out, it was a nature documentary. Something about the dangerous lives of baby turtles, or something along those lines. It didn’t seem like the sort of thing Ronan would watch, but he appeared fully engaged as one, thus far successful, turtle evaded hungry seabirds and pointy rocks.

Gansey on the other hand, found himself fully unable to focus on the TV. All he could think about was how Ronan’s hand, stretched out as it was on the armrest, was mere inches away from his feet and how easy it would be for Ronan to tickle him at that exact moment. His heart raced with strange nerves at the thought, desperately hoping that Ronan would take the hint and he wouldn’t have to say anything.

Half an hour passed in the same tense silence. Around then, however, Gansey managed to catch the other’s eye and just noticed a smirk play over Ronan’s lips before he redirected his attention back to the TV. That was when Gansey suddenly realized that they had both been playing separate games all along.

Ronan knew.

Of course he knew. He hadn’t been oblivious to Gansey’s attempts, he had merely been willfully ignorant. He knew exactly what he was doing right now and he was going to make Gansey say it because Ronan was an unforgivable sadist.

It shouldn’t have been as hard as it was to say the words out loud. He could play off his last request as a fluke, a momentary bad decision, a play for attention. This, however, would be an admittance of a desire that Gansey had only just come to realize in himself. After that day on the couch he had found himself unable to think of anything but Ronan’s fingers digging into his sides, his hips, right above his knee. He had tried replicating the sensation with his own fingers, but it hadn’t been the same.

One month. That’s how long the want had been festering inside of him, and he could feel it at the edge of his mind, desperate to escape. So, swallowing his pride, Gansey finally gave in.

“Could you—” he started, breaking off suddenly. Ronan turned to face him casually, arching an eyebrow and waiting for the words he had known were coming for weeks now. “Uh, could you, maybe… you know… er, that thing you did before… the, uh, the tickling thing?”

Ronan grinned then and simultaneous relief and nerves flooded Gansey’s system as he realized he wasn’t angry or disgusted. The next words that came out of his mouth, however, shattered that relief into a million tiny pieces. “Why?”

Gansey swallowed audibly. “Uh, I’m sorry, what?”

“Why do you want me to tickle you?” Ronan repeated calmly.

Fuck.

Shit.

Fuck.

Gansey was going to kill Ronan. Sure, it would be unfortunate for Adam and even Henry had started to grow fond of him, but at the moment it seemed the only way for him to get out of answering the question.

“Well…” Gansey started and then faltered, trying to think of a way to phrase it without sounding like a lunatic. Because he needed it? Because the unbearable sensation had been haunting him for a month now? Because the only way for him to get rid of this ball of stress in his stomach was to be able to laugh and squirm freely under devious fingers?

“Hmm?”

“I… sort of… like it?” Gansey cringed even as he said the words. “When you tickle me that is.” He cleared his throat awkwardly. “I like you… uh, I like you tickling me. I don’t know... why, necessarily. I guess I just enjoy the feeling, not, like, in a weird way. I just...” He tugged at his collar in the most Gansey-like gesture to ever have been attempted. “It helps me relax I suppose, and it feels... nice?”

Ronan examined him for a moment, a moment where Gansey waited on edge for him to respond, and finally said, “Okay.”

“O-Okay?” Gansey repeated slowly, uncertain if he had heard him right. “Okay what?”

“Okay, now we’re getting somewhere.” Quick as lightning Ronan had snatched his ankles up in one arm, Gansey’s eyes wide at the sudden helpless position. “Now I believe there was a certain request you had made of me?

“Y-Yeah,” Gansey stammered, unable to stop a helpless grin from taking over his features. “I mean, if that’s okay with you?”

The request was so unnecessarily polite that Ronan felt it was now his sworn duty to wreck the boy to pieces.

He started out light, however, wanting to lull him into a false sense of security. Gansey’s smile widened as nimble fingers drew slow circles over his feet, softly tracing the outline of the soles. Gansey hadn’t been sure before if his feet were even ticklish at all, but due to the electric currents running up his legs he figured it was a safe assumption to make.

Ronan started gently scratched his nails against the ball of his foot, startling a squeak out of Gansey that he quickly muffled by pressing a hand against his mouth. The squeak soon turned into a couple of hesitant giggles, his leg jerking against Ronan’s hold.

“I thought you wanted me to tickle you?” Ronan inquired innocently when Gansey’s struggling increased due to fingers raking suddenly down his soles. “I mean, you were the one who asked for this.”

“I-I did,” Gansey agreed, shifting on the couch as he tried to adjust himself to the sensation. “It just—ah, pfft, hmm—it just—nohoho, wait—”

“Tickles?” Ronan filled in for him and Gansey was only able to nod in response as Ronan suddenly dug in with vigor, spidering his fingers with quick intensity all over his soles.

Gansey’s response was instant. He jerked forward on the couch, one hand outstretched as if to stop him, before falling uselessly back again. “Rohohohohohonan!”

“This is incredible,” Ronan muttered with a shit-eating grin. “I can’t believe you’re ticklish and you like it, and somehow we never found out about this. I guess I’m going to have to make up for lost time.”

“Y-Yohohou’re an ahahahass!” Gansey complained, one hand covering his face to hide his growing blush while the other furiously gripped the couch in an attempt to prevent himself from stopping the other.

“I’m a what now?” Ronan dug under his toes and Gansey snorted, leg twitching involuntarily. “I don’t think you’re in any position to be back-talking right now.”

“W-Whahahat ihihif Ihihihi, gahahaha, whahahat ihihihif ihihi tihihihickled yohohou?” Gansey shot back, the threat sounding much less intimidating through helpless giggles.

Ronan couldn’t help but be aware how vulnerable his torso was, however, as both arms were occupied with Gansey’s legs. He stiffened, glaring back at his friend. “Then you’d be dead and I’d get revenge tenfold.”

“Ahahafter, or behehehefore y-yohohou kihihilled mehehe?” Gansey pointed out.

“You’ll never get to know, because you’ll never try it.”

“W-Wahahanna behehet?”

The shaky, laughter-filled words had Ronan immediately on edge. Before he could say anything back, Gansey had lunged forward and latched both hands onto his ribs, vibrating his fingers against the bone. Ronan choked on a laugh, the intensity of the sudden tickling making him immediately release Gansey’s legs and dart his elbows down protectively. Gansey had a precious few moments of wrecking Ronan’s torso while the other was still paralyzed with snorts and laughter from the sudden attack, before Ronan whirled around and grabbed each of his wrists, pulling them above his head.

Gansey swallowed as he stared up at him. “Hello there.”

“Hey,” Ronan said, a sadistic fire burning in his eyes that had Gansey’s nerves thriving with excitement.

“I don’t suppose there’s any chance that you’ve decided to forget revenge and let me go?” he inquired hopefully.

“I don’t know.” Ronan switched his hold to one hand so that the other could slowly walk up the length of his right side. Gansey squirmed apprehensively at the touch. “What do you think?”

Gansey squeezed his eyes shut, giggling as the fingers reached his armpits. “N-No?”

“I guess you do have some brains in you after all.”

Monmouth Manufacturing was soon filled with the sounds of Gansey’s hysterical laughter. After that, Ronan sought Gansey out for a repeat of that day, almost as often as Gansey sought him out. There was never a quiet day between the two again.

Gansey decided that he should be honest with his friends more often.

#tickle fic #the raven cycle #gansey #ronan lynch #richard campbell gansey iii #trc #fanfic #fanfiction #tickling #part two

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tumbling-odyssey · 3 years

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Games I played in 2020

Just felt like getting my thoughts out on all the games I played this year. I’ve been wanting to do something like this for years but I always let it pass me by. Well not this year! Fuck you laziness!

I played the first half in 2019 but finished it in 2020 so I guess I'll count it. DQ11 was my intro to Dragon Quest and what a good starting point. I'm not exaggerating when I say this is one of the best traditional JRPGs on the market. Characters, story, combat, it all clicks in just the right way to make a flawless game... until the end credits roll that is.

I have no idea what happened with the post game but by god does it dive off a cliff. It undermines everything you worked to do in the main plot. The characters act brain dead and it shamelessly reuses events from the main game. Please pick up and play DQ11 but for the love of god just stop when the credits roll.

Doom is a game I knew I'd like. The heavy metal ascetic and soundtrack were right up my alley, but I just never found the time. With Eternal on the way though and having found it on the cheap at a pawn shop I figured there was no time like the present. Needless to say but I was right. I loved everything about this game. The thrill of combat, the screech of the guitars, and the silent take no shit attitude of Doomguy. Make no mistake though, I SUCK at this game. I played on easy but still got my ass handed to me on the regular. But I don't care, I was having way to much fun.

I flipped my shit when this game got leaked at the tail end of 2019. Zero 3 is my all time favourite game. To celebrate this getting announced I went and 100% Zero 3 as I hadn't done it on my current cart, and Zero 3 was still the first thing I played when I got this collection! I love that game to death and I’m glad to have it on modern consoles again. As I was under a bit of time crunch with other games releasing soon I only played 2 other games in the collection Zero 4 and ZX Advent. Until the DS collection those and 3 were the only Zero/ZX games I had so I have a lot of nostalgia for them.

Zero 4 hold ups better then I remember. Not as good as 3 but a damn solid game with tweaks I honestly wish hit the series before its end. I remember having issues with the stage design and ya it’s not perfect, but it’s far from as bad as I thought. For ZXA this was the first time I beat the game on normal difficulty. For some reason the ZX games have always given me more trouble than the Zero games, so finally beating one on normal was very exciting. Maybe I can now finally go and beat ZX for the first time...

The Mystery Dungeon series rising from the depth to punch all those unexpecting in the face was a very welcome surprise. I had a lot of hype going into this one as I have very fond memories of my time with Red Rescue Team and even more with Explorers of Darkness. And the game lived up to it! The remastered music is great and crazy nostalgic, the 3D models are well used and don't feel as stiff as they do in the core series, and the QOL changes are near perfect... So why did I drop this game like a rock once I finished the main quest?

Anyone familiar with Mystery Dungeon will know that the post game is the real meat of it. The story is short and all the really cool shit comes in after it's done. But I just couldn't bring myself to put more time in after I finished said story mode. I'm definitely chocking that up to me just not being in the mood then an issue with the game. Here's hoping we get an Explorers DX sometime soon. That will fucking hook me for all it's got.

Second verse same as the first. I loved this game and sucked at it horribly. Out of all the games I've played this year Doom Eternal is the one I want to go back to the most. I was not the hugest fan of some of the changes made and retained a stance that I liked 2016 better. First person platforming has never been a fun experience in my opinion and Eternal did little to change that. And I know this a lukewarm take at best but fuck Marauders!. They are so unfun to fight and ruin the pace. The Marauder in the last mook wave took me so long I was worried I wouldn’t be able to finish the game. But the more I've seen of Eternal after my playthrough makes me think I was being far to harsh. I haven't played the DLC yet either. Mostly cuss I haven't heard great things about it. Gonna wait for the rest of it to come out to see if it's worth getting. Might just replay to whole game at that point to see if it clicks with me better.

This was my second favourite game of the year, and was going to take the top slot until a certain other game came out. Addressing the elephant in room right away, I hated the ending. But I was expecting something like that, I think we all were. I won't let the ending ruin the rest of the game though. Not gonna let 1 segment colour everything that came before it. We have to see how the later parts play out to truly see if this ending was trash or not anyway.

It took Square over a decade but they finally got an action RPG battle system that works and feels good to play. This may be my favourite battle system in an RPG period honestly. All four characters are a blast and it only gets better the more time you spend with it. Figuring out the nuances of each character’s skills and how to combine them not only with the skills of the others but how to enhance them with the right Materia set. This makes fights thrilling and satisfying when you finally best whatever was giving you trouble. Tis was the best way to bring 7′s mechanics into the modern landscape while also fixing the BIGGEST issue the OG had. The fact every character feels the same aside from Limit Breaks.

All this on top of graphics that just look fucking stunning, a few glitched out doors aside. Fuck I still feel blown away looking at the characters models (mostly Tifa) and see how god damn pretty everyone is. Also Tifa’s Chinese dress is gift from the Gods and I still haven’t picked my jaw up from the floor after I first saw it.

In my circle of the internet there was a lot of hype for this game. So much so that I ended up buying it to see what all the hubbub was about. I had never played a Streets of Rage game before and my only experience with beat'em ups was playing a LOT of Scott Pilgrim and last year's River City Girls. Turns out Streets of Rage plays quite a bit different and it kicked my ass! So sadly I had to switch to easy to make it through but I still had a fun time with it.

I started playing mostly as Blaze but once Adam hit the scene oooooh fucking boy. I didn’t play anyone else. There's a deceptive amount of content in this game. You can unlock almost every character from the previous games and all of them rocking their original sprites and moves. If I had more of a connection with this series I'm sure I would have gone nuts on unlocking everything. I stopped after my one playthrough and I was happy with that. Always glad to support a long overdue franchise revival.

To properly talk about P5R I think I need to air a lot of my feelings on the original game and the importance it has to me. You see, prior to 2017 I barely played games, only sticking to specific franchises. AKA Pokemon and Mega Man/Mega Man like games. Until 2016 though I still bought a lot of games. Eating up Steam sales and deals I found at pawn shops. This lead to a Steam library and shelf filled with games I've never touched outside of maybe an hour or 2. So in 2016 when I took interest in the newly released Kirby Planet Robobot I made a deal with myself. I could get the game but I HAD to beat it. And I did just that, gaining not just a new fav Kirby game but a new rule for game purchases. If I knew I wouldn't beat a game I was not aloud to buy it. Now what does ANY of this have to do with P5 you may ask? Well... almost everything.

I was immediately interested in P5 when it hit the west in 2017. I loved the 20 or so hours I but into P3 years ago and really liked the P4 anime I had watched around the same time. So of course with all the hype around it I wanted to dive into the series full force with P5. But I knew myself. Putting over 100 hours into a game was beyond me and I had a weird relationship with home console games as I was predominately a handheld gamer. Add in the fact I didn't even have a PS4 and I was convinced P5 would be something I always wanted to play, but never would. So when I went to the mall with a few friends and they showed me that P5 had a PS3 version, I had a dilemma on my hands. I knew I wanted to play it and I now had a way to do so. But doing that would require me to change 2 HUGE hang ups I had with games. Would I being willing to waste 60 bucks with so much working against me? Apparently I was. I immediately started going to town on this game. Making sure I spent no less then 2 hours a day playing NO MATTER WHAT. Which may not seem like a lot but it was to me... at the time.. I also had just moved to my current house, so coming home from my still relatively new job and going straight into P5 was the first real routine I formed during this heavily transitional part of my life.

I of course ended up loving P5 and put 200 hours into it. As such my outlook on gaming was forever changed. Console games were no longer out of reach and I knew I could handle playing monster length game. I started playing way more games then I ever did before and trying out generas I never thought I would play. P5 is the main reason for this and why I'm able to make a post like this. To actually touch on Royal though? It's unarguably the better version of the game and Atlus learned all the right lessons from P4G. The new characters are great and the added section at the end is possibly the best shit Atlus has ever written. I only wish Yoshizawa joined the party sooner so I could play as her more.

The release of this really came out of nowhere huh? Wayforward announced it was being made mid way through 2019, then there was its weird half release on the Apple store... and then suddenly it was out! Very little fanfare for this one. Is that indicative of the games quality? Luckily no. Seven Sirens is a solid addition to the series and follows up Half Genies Hero nicely. The game goes back to Shantae's Metroidvania roots and makes a TON of improvements.

Transformations are now instant instead of having to dance for them (don't worry dancing is still in the game) making the game feel more like Pirates Curse in its fast flow. They also added the Monster Cards which take heavy inspiration from Aria of Sorrow's Soul system. A feature I'm happy to see in any Metroidvania since Aria is one of my all time favourite games. Sadly though the game does not take the best advantage of these improvements.

Over all the game feels kinda empty. The dungeons aren't super exciting to explore nor are they challenging in any way. And the plot is very repetitive, with each dungeon repeating the same beats. Really this game feels more like set up for a better game down the line. The mechanics are all here and Wayforward has a solid art style with the sprites from Half Genie Hero. Hopefully they capitalizes on this for Shantae 6 and we get the best game in the series.

While it may not have been the most thrilling game, Seven Sirens really put me into a Shantae mood. So much so that I went back to play the 2 games in the series I had never touched. This being the first game and Risky's Revenge. Shantae 1 really is a hidden gem in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, it's the definition of jank, but there's a lot of heart to this game. The sprites are great, the soundtrack is good, and the characters are funny... but it's still on the OG Gameboy and that's a massive hindrance for any game. I'm hard pressed to recommend this with how poorly its aged but I think it's better then it looks.

Risky's Revenge on the other hand was a game that shocked me by how little it had to offer. I know this game went through a hellish development and what we got was far from what Wayforward planned to make, but it's hard to imagine a world where this was the technical BEST Shantae game. It's not a bad game by any stretch... just a boring one.

For the record my ranking of the games goes Pirates Curse>Half Genie Hero>Seven Sirens>Original>Risky’s Revenge

Sword and Shield are mediocre games at best. I know, real steaming hot take there. I managed to make my Sword playthrough a lot more fun by not spoiling myself on the new Pokemon designs for the first time since Gen 3. Either way, I enjoyed myself enough that I didn't mind playing more of it with these DLC campaigns. Plus I love the idea of Game Freak switching over to this method as apposed to making a third version, so I wanted to support it.

Klara is a fucking top tier Poke Girl both in design and personality and is probably the highlight of Isle of Armour. GF actually went out of their way to give her multiple expressions to sell her toxic bitch personality and I love every minute of it. She sadly drifts into the background for the second half of the DLC’s story which hurts an already rough section even more. Not more then having to grind Kubfuu all the way to fucking level 70 though! That put a serious hamper on my motivation to finish the story but I pushed through anyway. Having to solo the tower with Kubfuu was at least a fun challenge though, as was the final fight with Mustard. Fuck the Diglett hunt though. Ain’t no one got time for that.

Crown Tundra may be my fav of the 2 though even if there isn't a character as good as Klara in it. The hunt for the legendaries was just pure adventure and I had a fucking blast doing it. The joy I felt when I figured out Registeel’s puzzle put a smile on my face unlike any Pokemon game since I was a kid. The whole Regi stuff was honestly a nice Nostalgia trip to my times with Emerald. The story around Calyrex was enjoyable, even if I still hate its design. Not revealing the horses before release was a good call to as it gave an honest surprise. Having to chase down the Galar forme Birds in the overworld is a great way to evolve the roaming legendaries idea and I hope GF sticks to this. Plus the Galar forme birds are some of the best legendary designs since Gen 5 and I love Chocodos way to fucking much.

Here we are folks, my GotY. I love Panzer Paladin so fucking much. A combination of mechanics from Mega Man, Castlevania, and Blaster Master? Sign me the fuck up! This game is tailored made for me and I knew I had to play it once it started making the rounds on social media. I'll admit though, I was a bit worried when the the first full trailer dropped and showed the weapon mechanics. Breakable weapons that you have to sacrifice for checkpoints and power ups? I'm not sure about that.... Luckily I was being a complete moron and those mechanics are near perfect.

I love the set up of each boss being a mythological creature from different cultures. They didn’t just pull the easy ones either. A lot of these things I learned of for the first time here. I love how Grit controls. Using the upward stab as a double jump and being able to pogo off enemies Shovel Knight style just felt great and satisfying. Flame was limited but it made her sections feel tense. She does more damage then you think she could at first glance. Also the only way to heal Grit being to use pods that only Flame could access was a cool idea.

I am begging you Tribute Games, you have to make more Panzer Paladin games. Slap some new upgrades on Grit and expand what Flame can do and you have an even better sequel on your hands. Also maybe not have so many 'gotcha' moments with enemy placement. That's really my only complaint about the game. Great music, great sprites, giant robots, unique premise, and a reference to Canadian legends. The ultimate self indulgent game for me.

It felt super out of left field for Curse of the Moon to be getting a sequel. The games fucking amazing but it was really just a tie in for the main Bloodstained product. Not something I expect to get a continuation. Either way I was pumped. If this was even half as good as the original then I was in for a great time. Which held true... cuss this legitimately is only half as good as Curse of the Moon. I still like the game, quite a lot actually. I mean how could I not with a fucking Corgi piloting a Death Train Mech.

Something was just missing here that never made this click like the first game. Maybe it was the stage design, maybe the bosses, maybe the fact that it's a bit to long. I'm not sure. All I know is I couldn't bring myself to play all the modes like I did in the original. . Stopping part way in to the one where you can get the first games characters. I want to go back some day... I just don’t know when someday is.

This was an announcement I never saw coming. A Gundam Verses game coming to the west? That hasn't happened in the entire time I've been a Gundam fan. I had played a bit of Full Boost on my old roommates PS3 thanks to him having a Japanese account and I played Force on the Vita a few years ago. But to have the latest version fully translated with open servers? Holy hell that's a dream come true.

Having the open betas every weekend leading up to launch was some much needed fun during this shit hole year. I had a lot of fun just fucking around with different suits and seeing what I could do with 'em. Absolutely trashing two Bael players as the Kapool is a memory I'll keep with me for a long time. Fucking danced on their graves. This gave me some new appreciation for suits like the Baund Doc and Hambrabi, the later becoming a lowkey fav as it was my main.

I've fallen off with the game in the last few months but I definitely want to go back. I hope to start learning the game and take parts in tourneys when cons aren’t death sentences anymore.

It felt like everything in my life was SCREAMING at me to start the Yakuza series. From 2 of my friends playing 0 recently, a youtuber I following live tweeting as he played through the WHOLE series back-to-back, and Yakuza 2 having a run at AGDQ 2020. Plus the constant pleas to play this series you get from following Little Kuriboh on Twitter. I finally broke and picked up 0 in the middle of August. Boooooooooy howdy did I not know what I was getting in to. And no I don't mean the content. I knew Yakuza was a series of wildly conflicting tones between the main story and side quests. What I mean is the length. I legit thought this was gonna be a 20-30 hour game. When i reached hour 30 of my playthrough and realized I wasn't even close to a conclusion, I think I knew I had bitten off more then I was planning. That misstep aside I ended up loving this game and want to play the rest of the series.... I just need to rest up first before I dive into Kiwami 1.

Let's actually talk about the game for a moment here. Kiryu and Majima quickly clicked as likeable characters to me and I cared about their stories. Combat is fun and the multiple styles are all great.... though both the default styles take a while to get there. The mad rush I felt at the end was fantastic and the last bosses are a joy to fight. Only real complaint is the pacing of the side stories. I loved being able to just stumble into various different events while on route to the next plot objective. But this became less common as the game went on and side stories started getting more tucked away. Also hot take here, the host club mingame is more tedious then fun and I like Kiryu’s business stuff as I could do that in the background. I’m excited to dive into Kiwami and probably Kiwami 2 this year... Though I’m not sure when just yet.

Just gonna say it flat out, I think this is better the the 2018 game. The smaller scale helps in this style of game and Miles just naturally has a better move set then Peter. I'm not sure if they actually tightened up the combat system or if they just threw less bullshit enemies at you but fighting feels so much better in this one. Traversal is better too, simply because they changed the button for tricks. In the original you have to hold down 2 face buttons to enter trick mode??? In hindsight that was such a bad call.

Having both the heal and venom powers run off the same meter was a good idea. Making the choice between keeping yourself alive guaranteed or potentially ending a fight quicker/disposing of a problem enemy is super fun. The player having to make small choices like this during combat is what helps it not be brainless. I love all the different venom skills you get. While they all achieve the same thing in stunning opponents, how you achieve that goal is up to you. Do you want to just slug the bastard, throw 'em up in the air, tackle the shit out of them? The choice is yours.

Only real big complaint is certain upgrades being NG+ locked. I know you want to encourage replays, but this is a shitty way to do it I feel. Also can we retire Rhino for the next game. Man has had 2 shitty boss fights now and I need a break. Between this and Spider-Verse, I'm honestly starting to like Miles as Spider-Man more then Peter.

I got this game more on a whim then anything. I was definitely interested when it was first announced for the west. Vanillaware's beautiful art style in a story about giant robots beating the shit out of Kaijus? Sign me the fuck uuuuuu-oh wait it's an RTS? I had never played an RTS's before, mainly due to the sheer concept stressing me out. So I let it fall to the wayside. The game started coming up again though towards the end of the year with GotY on everyone's minds. This revived my interest, especially as what I HAD planned to be playing around that time was... well. Cyberpunk. Don't think I need to say much more. Also I had worried for nothing as the Real Time Strategy was not that Real Time.

This game really lays on the analysis paralysis once you're out of the tutorial. Do you want to fight, do you want to do story, who's story do you want to do, what branch should you follow, how much should you play with this one character? It's very overwhelming at first. I decided to not go ham on just one character and swap around all the time. The twists in this game are equal parts exciting and infuriating. Learning something new always came with the caveat of more questions, or something you knew 'for sure' being disproven. Like when I learned 1 characters was actually 4 separate ones! Anyone that's played knows exactly what I'm talking about.

Natsuno ended up being my fav and not just because of.... obvious reasons. BJ was cute if unfortunately named and her relationship with Mirua was my favourite in the game. Not that there was much competition except for maybe Ogata and Tomi. I ended up really liking the combat but I can see why RTS fans say it's the weakest part. It's far from complex and I had a winning strat by the third or so real fight. Aka spam turrets and have the Gen 1′s gank all the bosses.

One quick thing I want to share was how I beat the boss at the end of Area 2. The one where Inaba is singing. I had Hijiyama use the limit break skill to bum rush the boss right off the hop. I took out half its health in one hit but Hijiyama’s Sentinel was on death’s door. Only thing that saved him was sending in Amaguchi to blow up a bunch of missiles. Hijiyama took it out on his next attack but lost his Sentinel at the same time. It was a real clutch victory and crazy fucking anime.

The best way to really describe Carrion is that it's a fantastic proof of concept. Can you make a game where you play as The Thing? Why yes, yes you can. Carrion just needed a bit more tweaking to really bring this concept home and be the A+ game I know it can be. As it is now the game is a bit empty. The level design is super samey and the lack of a map is fucking brutal at points. I know it would make no sense for a blob monster to have a map but somethings you just have to gameify for convenience. The level design must have done something right as even though I was completely lost I still moved from area to area properly. Hell by the time I actually looked up a map I had 1 more item to get and I learned I was one door away from beating the game.

I love the idea of losing mass as you take damage and gaining more by eating people, but having abilities tied to size was a terrible idea. It just leads to tedium as I have to go and shed myself to the right size, do the puzzle, then of course I'm going to go back and rebuild myself to see if I can do the next segment at full power. Just make it so you can swap between abilities using the d-pad or something. I hope this game gets a sequel just so this sick ass concept can be fully realized.

#games #goty #Final Fantasy #pokemon #spiderman #yakuza #gundam #bloodstained #panzer paladin #shantae #persona #streets of rage #doom #mega man #dragon quest #13 sentinels: aegis rim #carrion

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marvelbbyx · 4 years

Text

And they were roommates! (College AU: Mason Weaver x Fem! Reader)

Summary:

You discovered that you liked girls when you were very young, knowing how others would react, you kept it a secret from your loved ones. Hiding from it well into your adult years.

Starting college, you expected yourself to keep your head down, get good grades, and stay out of everyone’s way. That is until you were roomed with Mason Weaver, a bold and intrepid individual that surprised you the moment you laid eyes on her. Certain feelings arising between the two of you, in order to try and put a stop to it, you distance yourself from Mason.

Until she realizes what’s going on and urges you to tell her how you feel.

Author’s Note: This is for the @versdan writing challenge! I chose Mason Weaver for this because there is a lack of Mason Weaver FICS on this platform. But if you’d like me to write more I will! Enjoy! ☺️

This fic is also based in the ’60s.

Prompt:

“I don’t get why you can’t tell me how you truly feel.”

Song featured: Leavin’ On Your Mind- Patsy Cline

Warnings! A little lengthy but that’s it.

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Sunday

August 8th, 1965

You set down your last box in the corner of your side of the dorm before plopping yourself down face first on your new bed. Your arms were sore and worn out from carrying all of your stuff up and down the stairs, thankfully you were finished now and could rest a bit before you unpack everything.

You were mainly excited to unpack your record player, a powder blue 1964 Dansette Tempo—with four speeds. After begging for one for years, your parents got it for you as a graduation gift. Eventually starting your horde of record albums. Your favorites were: Doris Day’s Day by Night—Connie Francis’s Who’s Sorry Now?—and Patsy Cline’s single Leavin’ On Your Mind.

Besides your impressive collection of records, you also own a vast majority of books. Books have kept you company since you were very small. When you hit the age of twelve, everything seemed to have made sense quicker than you realized, beginning to show more romantic feelings towards your childhood friend, Caroline.

As you were moving stuff into your room, you couldn’t help but hear whispers and murmurs as you walked. The paranoid side of you thought that they were about you, but you knew that you were just overthinking it. Even if they did know about you, the comments would be just as hurtful. But you couldn’t do anything about it nor wanted to. That would cause more problems on your part, especially if it got one of the deans involved. So you decided that it was best to keep to yourself and not stir up any trouble for you or anyone.

Your head perks up when you hear the doorknob turning, automatically; you surmise that it’s your new roommate and await the worst. You see a girl walk through the door carrying a large box, wearing high-waisted denim jeans and a button-up red flannel shirt. Her hair cascades down her shoulders in long dark blonde waves.

She shuts the door behind her, her hazel eyes darting up to look at you. “Oh wow, I’m sorry, I didn’t think anyone was in here. Were you sleeping?”

You shook your head vigorously. “N-No, I was just resting. My arms are tired.” You say meekly.

She breathes out a laugh, making your heart flutter inside your chest.

“I’m Mason, Mason Weaver.” She extended a free hand towards you, keeping the box close to her chest with the other. You were rooted to your spot, unable to stand or reach your arm out to hers. Even if you did you’d probably melt all over the floor.

Mason’s eyes scan you up and down curiously, “Ya know when someone introduces themselves it’s common courtesy to do the same.”

“Y/N...Y/N L/N.” You say quietly, sitting up and lifting your hand to shake hers.

“Oh, she does have a name,” The blonde jokes with a grin. You nearly turn red at her words, the cool drawl in her voice causing your stomach to do somersaults.

Mason turns her back to you and sets her box down on the bed opposite to yours. Sitting down next to it and kicking off her boots, you tried your best not to stare at her but something about her held your gaze. You felt warm, you wanted to think because of how hot it was outside, but you knew it was because of her.

You saw her start to unpack her box, the contents inside weren’t exactly what you had expected to be inside. You anticipated something like toiletries or old books. Instead, she took out 35mm film rolls and a Canon Demi.

“You take pictures?” You ask softly.

You see her nod. “Yeah, I’m majoring in photography, so I have to take a lot of pictures. What’s yours?”

“Biochemistry.” You reply ducking your head down. “It sounds lame compared to yours.”

Mason shook her head. “Not at all. It’s different, I like different.” She beams over at you.

The overwhelming heat now scorched your face, you felt faint and light-headed. You needed to leave as soon as possible or else you’d pass out right then and there. You quickly rose to your feet, the dizzy feeling only intensifying. “I’m-I’m gonna go check out the library.”

“Oh, o-okay.” She gives you a small wave as you dashed out the door, beating yourself mentally for acting a fool in front of her.

You could only imagine how tomorrow would play out...

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

Monday

August 9th, 1965

You were the first one to wake up the following morning, it was surprising that you didn’t wake up Mason with all of the noise that you were making. You raced out the door before she could wake up and greet you. You had three classes today, the first two blowing by fast. You couldn’t wait to be done for the day. That way you could go back to the dorm to listen to your records and unpack everything.

Upon arriving to one of them, you were asked to sit in the front row, your professor claimed that it would make an example of yourself to the students in the back. Instead, the front happened to be an ideal shooting range for paper hornets from the two boys sitting behind you.

A few hit the back of your neck as you were taking notes.

You were now seated at one of the far lunch tables on the outside of the cafeteria, reading your textbook for your next class, Math. You stopped once you heard someone sit down next to you, lifting your head up slowly to see Mason sitting across from you.

“Hey roomie,” She breathes, giving you a soft smile.

“Oh, hi.” You say softly, looking back down at your book to mask your now flushing face.

Mason wipes her forehead with the back of her hand, emitting another sigh, “God, I’m beat, I can’t wait to head back to the dorm and rest a bit after this next class.”

You hummed in response, flipping onto the next page of your textbook.

“So...how was the library yesterday? I assume it was good since you were gone all day, and you left so fast this morning I didn’t even get to talk to you.”

“I’m sorry if I woke you up,” You murmured.

She waves a dismissive hand. “I had to get up early anyway, the best pictures are at sunrise and sunset.”

You lifted your eyes from your book once more. “Because of the lighting?”

“That and the colors in the sky are absolutely gorgeous.”

There was sunshine in her smile and her eyes. The brown orbs showing a glimpse of her soul when she smiled, the honeyed hues twinkling in the sun like a rich topaz. They were safe and welcoming, perhaps that was the best way to describe them. And though you never saw them yourself, you could assume that Mason’s pictures were damn near incomparable to her.

But what had confused you was the fact that someone as pretty as her was carrying a conversation with you. Though you hardly exchanged any words back—she still talked to you. You wondered if she knew about you, maybe she didn’t. Or maybe she did and just didn’t care. Or maybe she did and she was just being nice to you out of sympathy. Whatever it was—it had started to scare you.

“My next class is two hours long,” Mason comments as she takes out the list of her classes. “College Mathematics with Dr. Mayfield.”

“I have that class too.” You managed to speak out.

A grin plays on Mason’s lips. “Really? Well, this day just keeps getting better. I’m glad I’m not going in blind.” She stands up from the table, your eyes following her form. “I finally have a walking buddy.”

“You wanna walk...with me?” You questioned innocently.

“Yeah, is there something wrong with that?”

“I-I don’t know. I just—“

“Come on.”

Mason takes your hand, pulling you out from the seat. You quickly collect all of your stuff before walking with her—your hand still in hers. Butterflies fluttered within your stomach, no—all over your body. To your surprise, you were shocked that she couldn’t feel your pulse racing while your hand was clasped on hers.

Even when you two were inside of the building she still held your hand, earning disapproving looks from students as well as some teachers in the hallways. But Mason didn’t seem to care about that. She appeared to not care about a lot of things.

~~~~~~~~

The second the two of walked into your dorm room, you dashed over your box full of records. Forgoing your backpack and all of the contents inside. Mason gave you a quizzical look until she saw what you had pulled out from behind your bed.

“Is that a record player?” She asks.

You nodded eagerly. “Yeah, my parents got it for me when I graduated high school. I’ve been dying to listen to it all day.”

You took out the powder blue chest and set it up on your bed, then you took the Patsy Cline record and gently placed it over the spindle, you then turned the power knob until you heard it click, after that you adjusted the tone arm, setting it down on the record as it spun around. Soon the music began to play and Patsy Cline’s beautiful voice filled the dorm.

If you got leavin' on your mind

Tell me now, get it over

Hurt me now, get it over

If you got leavin' on your mind

“You like this song too?” Mason asked excitedly.

Your eyes lit up, “Yes!”

“Not a lot of people do,” Mason chirps. “But I’m glad you at least have taste.”

You blush. “I have more, if you wanna listen to them.”

“Do you have The Beatles?”

You bit your lip and nod. “Mm-hm,”

If there's a new love in your heart

Tell me now, get it over

Hurt me now, get it over

If there's a new love in your heart

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

It had been a few weeks now, and since that day you and Mason have gotten closer than ever. Everyday after your classes you would head back to the dorm and listen to your records, dancing in your room and failing your arms around like no one was watching.

In that time you now realized that you had fallen for Mason, and hard. Everything that she did had sent your heart in a frenzy, you were drowning and sinking deeper by the second. But you didn’t know if she felt the same and it pained you everyday. One day after Mayfield’s, you saw her talking with a guy, you thought nothing of it until she gave him a hug. Not a buddy hug either, a good hug. A hug that you desperately wanted to receive from her. Which hurt even more.

Since then, you decided to distance yourself from her, exchanging only a few words such as: ‘Hi’ and ‘Bye’. Keeping to yourself from the time you woke up to the time you went to bed. Mason had tried to talk with you as you were doing homework or studying, but you had just given her the cold shoulder. Ignoring whatever she tried to say.

And that made her angry.

You didn’t want to ignore her, in fact, you wanted the opposite. You wanted nothing more than to talk to her all day long, basking in each other’s presence, and to press a light kiss to her lips without a care in the world. But that guy—that guy you saw hugging her. Hugging the girl you loved. Killed you inside.

~~~~~~~~

Monday

August 23rd, 1965

You had been in the library for two hours now, you weren’t studying or anything, you just wanted to pass the time until Mason went to sleep. She had to wake up early tomorrow to develop her photos. So you decided to stay a little longer until the library closed, then you would head back to your room and go to sleep, doing the same thing tomorrow morning.

You felt guilty. Guiltier than normal. It started to make you sick, your stomach bubbling up with bile. Why was it so hard to talk to her? Why was it so hard to take away this pain? Distancing yourself keeps you from getting hurt, right? If so, then why wasn’t it working? Why wasn’t anything working? It hurt so much and you could only imagine the way Mason was feeling right now.

With that, you decided to leave the library and head back to your dorm. To your surprise Mason was waiting up for you, sitting at the edge of her bed, Leavin’ On Your Mind playing in the background. She looked like she had been crying, swollen eyes an irritated shade of red, crinkling slightly as she managed a weak smile for you.

“Hey,”

“Hey,” You say.

“Can we talk?”

“Yeah,” You nodded, making way to your bed.

Don't leave me here, in a world

Filled with dreams that might have been

Hurt me now, get it over

I may learn to love again

Your hands patted a rhythm on your knees, as you awaited what Mason was going to say. You heard your heart thudding loudly in your ears, a thick gob of spit in the pit of your throat made it hard to swallow. Please...say something. You thought.

“Did I do something wrong?” Mason asks hoarsely. “If so, can you tell me?”

“You didn’t.” You mutter.

“Then why are you ignoring me? I must’ve done something if you’re not talking to me anymore.” Tears streamed down from her eyes. “Y/N, can you please tell me?”

You shook your head. “If I do then we won’t be friends anymore.”

Mason sprung off the bed and onto her feet, “You’re acting like we’re not friends now!” She boomed. “You’re my only friend here, and you’re treating me like I did something wrong. Like I’ve offended you in some way. Why?”

“Because...” You trailed off.

“Because what, Y/N?” Mason cried. “I don’t get why you can’t tell me how you truly feel!”

“Because I love you!” You shout at her, warm tears spilling down your face. “For so long I had to hide myself because I was afraid of getting hurt by somebody I loved. You brought out those feelings—Mason—feelings of complete and utter happiness. I never wanted to be around someone more than I want to be around you...and I’m so sorry I did that to you. But I know you don’t love me, so that’s why I stayed away from you!”

If there's a new love in your heart

Tell me now, get it over

Hurt me now, get it over

If there's a new love in your heart

“Did you think that that would work?” Mason questions harshly. “That ignoring me for a long time would help you?”

“But I saw you with that guy the other day. I assumed that he was your boyfriend and I just—it hurt so much watching that. So much that I couldn’t bear to be around you anymore.” You explained with a sob.

“Boyfriend? No, he’s one of my classmates from photography! He found my camera in the darkroom after I left it there accidentally.” She tells you. “And he’s not important to me because it’s you that I want!” You felt Mason’s hands cup both of your cheeks, inching her face closer to you. “It’s always been you. From the very beginning.“

The next thing you knew, her mouth was pressed firmly against yours, knocking the wind out of your lungs and making you lose balance. It was the most incredible feeling you had ever known.

So you kissed her back, desperate and eager, your hands finding their way around her neck and into her beautiful hair. Mason’s hands fell to your waist pulling you in closer. You eventually pull away from each other, your chests rising and falling fast as your struggles to catch your breath.

A blush crept over your cheeks. “So...does that mean you love me too?”

Mason laughs and nods. “Yes, Y/N. I do love you too.” She wipes your tears with the pads of her thumbs before kissing you again, the kiss soft and syrupy this time.

Hurt me now, get it over

If there's a new love in your heart

#versdan800wc #mason weaver imagine #mason weaver x reader #mason weaver #mason weaver imagines #kong skull island #kong skull island imagine #brie larson

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tobin-heaths · 4 years

Text

Surprise

request: Can I get a Julie x r where JJ is a gay mess around the r and vice versa. R sees her in sweats and a sports bra and gets all flustered but JJ has no idea why cause she’s a oblivious shithead. One night before a game they have a movie night and the r cuddles up to JJ and JJ gets all blushy and the team teases her about it the next day. During the game JJ gets injured and the r is worried and confesses her feelings in the locker room. The team ends up waking in on them kissing.

pairing: Julie Ertz x Reader

words: 1376

You stepped into the hallway with your phone in your hands scrolling through Instagram after a certain someone banged against your hotel door. You stared at Ashlyn as she went from door to door banging and yelling something about a movie night.

"Ash, what the hell is going on?" You yelled rubbing your left eye.

"It's movie night, bitch. Get your stuff and move your ass into my room."

You laughed but quickly shut up as the door opposite you opened, Julie leaning against the doorframe with a quizzical look on her face.

"What's going on?" She asked as more people opened their doors. You could spot Crystal behind her.

"Um–" You tried your hardest to speak without stuttering but the view in front of you made that very hard. "Uh, it's movie night, apparently."

Your eyes scanned her whole body. A snapback on her head, her hair open and messy, wearing grey sweatpants and a black sports bra.

You blushed heavily as she crossed her arms, completely showing her arm and stomach muscles.

"I'll see you there then." She said and winked.

You quickly closed your door with wide eyes and mentally slapped yourself. She must think you're a complete idiot now.

You arrived at Ashlyn's room after everyone got shut up by Jill and co. Now most of the team sat somewhere inside the room waiting for the movie to be played.

"Look who's finally here. Did they get your ass as well?" Pinoe asked, sitting on one of the beds.

"Yeah, they got me and So–" your words died in your throat once you saw Julie next to her, luckily wearing a shirt this time. Nonetheless it was a bit too much for your poor brain.

The way she stared at you, checking you out, made you feel uneasy. She wouldn't judge you, right?

"Come sit here, Y/N!" Pinoe grinned and patted the spot next to Julie and her side.

You narrowed your eyes, shooting invisible daggers towards her. 'Fuck it.' You thought and sighed, your legs carrying you over to said spot.

You bit the insides of your cheek while trying to climb over Julie's legs to sit next to her. Relief washed over you once you made it to safety.

But how would you be able to concentrate on the movie with that goddess next to you?

"Okay, who decided to put on a damn horror movie? We got kids in the room!" Kelley yelled and cackled. The whole room fell into laughter as the heads of Rose, Sonny, Lindsey, Mal and you turned towards her at the same time.

You flipped her off and stared back at the screen, not expecting the jump scare startling you. Out of the corner of your eye you could see Julie looking down at you, slightly grinning.

Not really paying attention to anything around you, just staring at the screen with tension, you suddenly felt cold hands on your arm pulling you over and into Julie's warm body.

Julie placed your head onto her chest, half of your body laying on top of hers. The horror movie seemed like the perfect excuse to get you close to her for once.

You felt completely at peace in that moment, despite panicking and blushing at first, not used to being this close to her. Still, you realized that this was exactly what you always wanted, with her.

Julie didn't feel much different, her arms tight around your body, like she planned on never letting you go again.

The next morning you were one of the first to board the bus for the upcoming game against Germany. You sat down somewhere in the back and put your AirPods in.

Gradually the rest of your teammates arrived and sat in their usual places. Tobin and Christen sat down behind you while Sonny claimed the seat next to you.

Sitting there with music in your ear you couldn't think about anything but yesterday and the way Julie held you against her and every time you did your heart fluttered, butterflies in your stomach.

Julie wasn't sitting very far from you either and everyone around her seemed to tease her endlessly.

"You're such a softy, you know that?" Ali joked looking through the seat slits in front of Julie.

The blonde rolled her eyes. "They're totally gay for each other, babe. Didn't know you liked younger ones, JJ." Ash winked at her.

"Will you guys stop! There's nothing going on, I'm not gay for anyone and so is she. Enough of this." Julie blushed and looked out of the window, putting her earbuds back in.

"Totally gay for her." Pinoe smirked at Ali and Ash, wiggling her eyebrows.

But somehow the thought of you wouldn't leave her head. Not until it was time to put a game face on and score some goals against Germany.

You were doing a remarkable job as a forward, so far 60 minutes on the clock, two goals for your team.

Ten minutes later you were subbed off, shaking hands with Jill, throwing on your shirt and sitting down next to Abby on the bench as Ash handed you a water bottle.

Now was the perfect time to keep your eyes on Julie's every move and become even gayer for her. The way she defended the ball or passed it with all her passion and aggression was a sight for sore eyes, always giving 110%, never less.

Magull performed a nasty tackle on Julie, sending her straight to the ground holding her ankle, her eyes squeezed shut in pain. You jumped out of your seat running over to where Jill was standing, yelling at the ref and players.

Your nerves were on edge, how dare someone hurt her like that?

Your teammates had to pull you away from the sideline before you could storm onto the field to confront any of them.

"Will you calm down, Y/N! She'll be fine, alright?" You stared back at Abby with wide eyes. The medics made it to Julie and Magull was carded, it wasn't enough to calm you down completely but at least you were willing to sit down again.

Once the game was over and done with you didn't waste any time since Julie had to be brought backstage and ran back to the locker room.

Opening the door in a haste you stopped and spotted Julie sitting in front of her locker, her ankle wrapped in ice and held up by a chair. You sighed in relief and closed the door before walking over to her side.

She was alone and on her phone, her greenish eyes watching you since you've stepped into the room. "Y/N?" She sounded surprised.

"Hey, JJ, how are you feeling?" You asked, catching your breath, sitting down next to her.

"Nothing too bad, don't worry about it. They'll fix it in no time. Short break for me." Her stare made you nervous.

You took a deep breath. "I– uhm, guess I gotta tell you something. When I saw you get hurt I realized something. I might like you more than I thought. More than just a– uh– friend. Surpriseeee." You blushed and held your hands up.

Julie's jaw dropped to the floor, out of the all the things she could've expected, it definitely wasn't this. "You were worried? God, that's really cute. And you know what? I really feel the same."

Your eyes widened in shock, now it was your turn to not expect stuff out of this. "But how? I always thought you weren't interested and then you really confused me when we cuddled yesterday and you–" Julie cut you off with a passionate and strong kiss to your lips.

"Ha! I knew it!"

"Someone take a photo!"

"Right in front of my salad? Really guys?"

"Quick, someone shield Mal's eyes." "Hey! I'm right here, you know that?!"

The door of the locker room opened and it was like a wild bunch of bears waltzed into the room, everyone was either yelling, teasing or making fun of you, unfortunately interrupting your long awaited kiss.

"We'll continue this talk later. There's a lot we need to talk about." Your face heated up as Julie whispered into your ear.

#julie ertz imagines #uswnt imagines #julie ertz #uswnt #woso #woso imagines #wlw imagine #wlw

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razorblade180 · 3 years

Text

So I finished Age of Calamity

[spoilers]

Thanks to the beauty of holiday time off I have logged in 40 plus hours into this game and just beaten it, so naturally I’m gonna talk about it a bit. I’ll save the spoiler stuff for a little later though.

The game

This game might be my favorite game of 2020, or at least top three. Not just because of the world, but because everything is over the top! So far I’ve done 131 missions and 90% has the consistent energy of “we are fucking under attack” and it’s almost overwhelming in the best way possible. It really felt like you were on a battlefield field. Your map is just a sea of red and it’s your job to clean it up. What kept me engaged in the fights was all of the character’s different uses runes. I found myself constantly ordering my teammates to face certain enemy types that match best with how they fight.

Originally, I really wanted to be fair and rotate between characters. That didn’t last long. Mipha and Link in my opinion don’t have a single bad move. The bias only got worse whenever the master sword is obtained. Before that, my Link had a spear most of the time but that sword is just handy. Especially with item drop rate and attack range on it. In the end, my strongest characters were Link 74, Mipha 70, Impa 60, and Zelda 60. It’s been awhile since I played the first hyrule warriors so I can’t remember if they had the level up system were you can pay for experience but or definitely came in handy. Combine that with how many guardians were in this game and I quickly found out I needed Link with a shield on a regular bases. I also learned I didn’t forget how to time a vase amount of blocks and dodges.

The amount of characters you get to play quickly became too massive for me to juggle, but they all had their own merits for the most part, though I did find a few of the gimmick characters a bit of a hassle. My opinion on who was viable was constantly changing as I unlocked more combos. Originally, wasn’t the biggest fan of Urbosa. That second and fifth combo modifier changed everything.

The real portion of the game that really kept me wanting to play more was not only the ability to order other people, but seeing them fight along side you. I’m a softie for things like this, but genuinely felt relieved or hyped whenever I was fighting something crazy and I can see Impa rushing over towards me while text from soldiers scream “Just keep pushing!!!!” The AI wasn’t dumb either! There’s plenty of moments that controllable and NPC characters will just go where they’re supposed to, or kill targeted enemies. I remember not wanting to switch over to Link because he had low health, so as I’m running over to him as Mipha to heal him, the madman kills the Lynel. Ran all the way over there to watch him flex. That combined with elemental reactions you can cause in a fight, and the entire spectacle just felt elevated. The feeling of fighting three Lynel’s at once becomes a little less scary when you have a lightning rod and puddles everywhere.

The only negative I found in a gameplay perspective is some of the resource gathering. Gaining the trophy notes for killing a type of enemy isn’t too much of a hassle, but I found getting the materials they drop to be a bit harder, even with increased drop rate statuses. Most of this I find irritating for two reasons. One, specialized enemies show up in relatively small groups in a majority of missions, so getting things from them could be a flop altogether. Number two, a fair amount of these missions take a decent chunk of time if you’re being thorough and killing as much as possible. So grinding is a pain. Fortunately most missions a majority of what you need . If the game wanted chu chu jelly, I knew one of the missions coming up had chu chu as an enemy. You could also keep track of what you needed with material sensor that told you when you had enough.

The story

I’ll be honest, I was upset with this game for a hot second. It was advertised as a prequel to BoTW and while sad, I was truly invested to playing the events that lead to the fall of the champions. What this game didn’t tell you is it’s like most LoZ games, on its own separate part of the timeline. This isn’t the story of they lost. It’s the story of how they win, thanks to the little adorable robot mascot that has the ability to not only show the future, but bring people from the future; the champion’s descendants. At first I was upset with this. Mainly because I’m a little tired of time travel plots and it felt really out of place here. However, time travel gave way more to this game than what I expected this game to have in the first place. It allowed at least six more playable characters that wouldn’t have been possible in the other timeline, and a wellspring of interactions through missions. Every time Mipha was with Sidon, I smiled. Having Urbosa being this super encouraging role model to Riju was so nice since BoTW had expressed just how much those two admired and missed those people. Revali was nice to Teba! They were vibing. Even the soldier commentary on the new champions were a treat. So I got over the time travel issue pretty quick. It made things sad as well when the new generation leaves because they’re going back to a time where they lost it all. There was no great union that took place across hyrule to fight Ganon and their beloved champions failed. I do appreciate that the diverge in the timeline really takes place on the day they’re supposed to die, moments before the final blow. It still lets the player see the definitive moment where good was supposed to lose.

The “new” villain is meh. I wouldn’t really say he stands out. His entire thing is thinking he’s gonna win because he doesn’t realize that he isn’t seeing hyrule’s future. He’s seeing another hyrule’s future. What comes out of his character is cool though because it gives a different, yet same finale boss. I wasn’t expecting to basically fight a giant Ganondorf. Honestly, you can kinda say you fought Demise. At least aesthetically speaking. Or Yuga. This game has also made me care about robot. Something I haven’t done in awhile. A few scenes near the end felt hammy, but also amazingly realistic to how a lot of people would feel when someone breaks your favorite thing. The war was already personal, but now it’s really personal. Quests open up after the game that plays on those emotions too. It’s very clever.

Overall, Age of Calamities story felt like a love letter to everyone who loves this rendition of hyrule and the characters in it. They even another one named Sooga, who just might be my favorite. That man has no choice but to be the brain and muscle of the Yiga. It kinda makes me sad he’s introduced here because you can assume he didn’t make it in the other timeline, so he has no descendents. The amount of serotonin I felt just seeing all of these characters fighting together as the absolutely conquer the battlefield was more than satisfying. Definitely worth the money. I don’t know if they can, but Nintendo might wanna consider some sort of audio patch. The mixing is bad in certain parts. Voice lines get really quiet. Other than that, this game is real solid. I’d give it an 8.5/10

Side note

The music is really good. Especially the Zoe’s demain track. Also, I never noticed frame rate dropping or lag, except on two occasions. Both of these happened to be me pushing the game to its limits. The first is being surrounded by enemies in a small space as Mipha. Creating the water vortex and raining down bombs makes the game wanna cry a little. The second one is a similar case. Sidon’s fifth or sixth combo made the made the game drop frames because it’s incredibly fast, involves timing, makes a vortex, and i was in a small space with tons of enemies. Other than that, not even Urbosa’s or Riju’s lightning made the game freak out from what I noticed. That may have something to do with me never using them in a place where there’s constant rain. That might actually be the cause of the drop in combination of everything else.

#hyrule warriors age of calamity #age of calamity #legend of zelda breath of the wild #botw #nintendo #legend of zelda

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recentanimenews · 3 years

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IN-DEPTH: How Did Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Become Japan’s Hottest Domestic Franchise?

At this point, it’s safe to say that Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is one of the biggest franchises this decade. The manga series sold more than double what One Piece did at its peak in 2020, the Mugen Train anime film has outgrossed Hayao Miyazaki’s Academy Award-winning Spirited Away to become the king of the Japanese box office, and the franchise is estimated to bring in 270 billion yen to the Japanese economy by itself this year.

Looking at all of that, there is no question that Demon Slayer is the hottest domestic property in Japan right now. But how did it get here? Let’s examine how the little manga series from new author Koyoharu Gotouge became a cultural phenomenon in Japan.

Demon Slayer’s History with Jump

Before the Demon Slayer anime started, the series was running in Weekly Shonen Jump, one of Japan’s top manga magazines. The series started in Jump on February 15, 2016, and had modest success, with around 3.5 million copies of the manga series printed and sold as of February 2019, just a few months before the anime premiered in April 2019.

During Jump Festa 2017 — an annual exhibition for series being released by Shueisha in Weekly Shonen Jump and their other manga magazines — the first chapter of Demon Slayer was given out in a sample booklet alongside other new series that had started in 2016, such as THE PROMISED NEVERLAND. Outside that sample booklet though, Demon Slayer barely existed in the mind’s eyes of attendees, with gazes glued to NEVERLAND and BORUTO as the new hot series.

It wasn’t until Jump Festa 2020 (held in December 2019) that Demon Slayer got some time in the spotlight, with the Aniplex booth doing its best at showing off the series that had become such a hit over the previous summer.

Demon Slayer at the Aniplex booth during Jump Festa 2020 (photo: Daryl Harding)

Even though the collected manga volumes weren’t selling as much as one might expect from the now behemoth of a series, Demon Slayer was slowly gaining traction among fans, but wouldn’t really break out until just before the first episode of the TV anime aired on television in Japan.

The Outside Influences Brought into Demon Slayer

When the Demon Slayer TV anime was announced in June 2018, it was revealed that the studio Ufotable would be adapting the series. The Aniplex-affiliated studio is widely praised for their work on the Fate franchise, which has culminated with the Fate/stay night [Heaven’s Feel] film series. Ufotable-produced works are known to already be event-type series, and with Demon Slayer being their first Weekly Shonen Jump adaptation, it was a series to look forward to on that point alone.

First Demon Slayer TV anime key visual (source: Anime Eiga)

Just before the series premiered in April 2019, it was also revealed that popular singer LiSA — who was then mostly known for her work on the Sword Art Online openings, including the wildly popular theme to the Ordinal Scale anime film “Catch the Moment” — would be singing the opening theme for the series, with the first preview of the song at Anime Japan that year. LiSA went on to have a solo concert at the Yokohama Arena on the last days of the Heisei era in April 2019, selling out the 17,000 capacity hall.

youtube

AnimeJapan 2019 Trailer

Music can be a huge element in propelling the popularity of a series in Japan. Some of the biggest anime over the last decade was supported by their opening and ending themes, which kept the anime in people's minds. Demon Slayer’s opening theme “Gurenge” became such a hit in its own right that it dragged the rest of the series along with it. This formula worked to bring Your Name to the forefront of Japanese pop culture in 2016 — you couldn’t go anywhere in Tokyo without hearing Radwimps. And the double whammy of “Gurenge” and “Homura” (the theme for Demon Slayer: Mugen Train) has helped the series achieve even more success.

Rounding out the series was the star-studded voice cast who all have their own fan bases. Voicing Tanjiro is Natsuki Hanae, who was best known at the time for Ken Kaneki in Tokyo Ghoul; Zenitsu is voiced by Hiro Shimono, who voices Connie in Attack on Titan, and the boar himself Inosuke is voiced by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, who voices Kirito in Sword Art Online. Nezuko's voice actor Akari Kito, who largely played side characters up until her casting in Demon Slayer, would become a well-known name and go on to play many more lead roles after the series became popular.

On paper, the breadth of talent involved in Demon Slayer far exceeded that of just any TV anime series. The production committee, led by Aniplex, was banking hard on people giving the series a try before the first episode had even aired. And it worked.

Topping the Film Charts before the First Episode Even Aired

Demon Slayer: Mugen Train has topped the film charts since it first premiered on October 18, 2020, but it’s not the first time the series has been in theaters. Prior to the TV airing of the first episode on April 6, 2019, the first five episodes were shown in eleven theaters across Japan starting on March 29. The screenings were dubbed “The Bonds Between Brother and Sister” and topped the mini-theater rankings, with over 10,000 people going in just the first three days.

Ironically the press release from Aniplex announcing that the screenings were being extended in early 2019 said the “excitement for Demon Slayer is at its peak!” If those screenings were anything on the mountain of the popularity of Demon Slayer, they’d be right near the start of the trek.

“The Bonds Between Brother and Sister” Visual

Due to the immense popularity, the two-week special screenings were then extended for another week at all eleven cinemas, which were coming in at Number 1 on the mini-theater rankings (for screenings in less than 30) for the two weeks it was originally scheduled for.

It’s no surprise then that just after these screenings had finished, and during the early broadcast of the anime on TV, that the production committee ordered the Mugen Train arc — which directly follows after the ending of the first season — to be produced as a film, according to industry sources.

Demon Slayer’s Evolving Popularity Throughout Its Airing

Hiroyuki Nakano, the editor-in-chief of Weekly Shonen Jump, spoke to Nikkei Entertainment in the March 2020 issue of the magazine on the slow success of the manga series, explaining that “normally the number of sales of a series increases gradually during the broadcast, but the number of copies sold of Demon Slayer exploded when the broadcast ended.” Nakano alluded to streaming services helping the anime series escalate the popularity of the original series by giving people the accessibility of being able to catch up on the show the next day via services like Amazon Prime and Netflix, who streamed the show weekly in Japan.

Gone are the days where an anime fan would have to record an episode of a late-night anime series because it aired early in the morning. With streaming services on the rise within Japan, that night’s episode of Demon Slayer could be watched the next day on the way to work or school, on the train, or on the toilet.

“I felt that the way people interacted with anime had changed and that we had entered a new phase,” Nakano explained, discussing how Demon Slayer’s rise in popularity was due to the evolving ways of media consumption.

This helped the series when the famous Episode 19 aired, blowing away all expectations of what an anime could do in animation. If Demon Slayer wasn’t already part of the modern anime zeitgeist, that one episode — which trended worldwide on Twitter after airing — propelled the series to the forefront by word-of-mouth. Inside Japan, people couldn’t help but talk about the latest episode of the series, treating it like prime-time event television in the same vein as Game of Thrones would have been in the west.

Demon Slayer’s success has also been well documented since the anime finished airing on September 28, 2019. The manga series has broken all records to become the most-sold series for a year, the Mugen Train sequel film is now the highest-grossing film of all time in Japan, and has given Japan the honor of being the third country to have a film reach US $300 million in a single market during its initial run.

Why Does Demon Slayer Resonate With Japanese Audiences?

How Demon Slayer became popular is one thing, but why did this one series, when many others have the same level of talent behind them, become the cultural phenomenon it is today? In December, Oricon released the results of a survey given to Japanese people on how well they know the series, and if so, why did they like it so much.

An astonishing 97.6 percent of the 3,848 respondents, who ranged from teens to the elderly, said they knew of the series, with 40.5 percent of people saying they knew it well. Of those who knew the series, they described how they liked the world setting and had sympathy for the characters. A male teenager said that he “was fascinated by the story of the main character growing up while struggling with various difficulties,” while a woman in her sixties enjoyed “the storytelling and LiSA's powerful voice.” A woman in her thirties remarked that she “never thought I'd be talking about anime at my age with my 60-something mother.”

All through the responses, Demon Slayer is bridging the divide between generations, with each generation taking something out of the story that Gotouge has crafted.

The top-notch action scenes and relatable characters draw in the younger crowd, while more middle-aged people get a kick out of the family bonds that weave throughout the story, and the aesthetic of the entire series gives older people a sense of nostalgia, also known as “Taisho romance,” but without it being overly melodramatic about the era. Even kids are going to the schoolyard to reproduce the breathing techniques seen in the series. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga joined them when he made a cheeky reference to Demon Slayer’s breathing techniques while speaking to the DIET in November.

The accumulation of these points has made Demon Slayer a cultural touchstone, one that could only be born out of Japan. Even if the world wasn’t in the current state it is in, the Shonen Jump series would be just as big in its homeland, if not bigger, with more people going to the theaters and traveling to the areas that influenced the series.

Living in Japan at the moment means living in a world surrounded by Demon Slayer. From billboards promoting the film to masks people wear, you can’t go outside (not that people should be!) without having the series in your eyesight. And with how good the series is, and how many people are enjoying it, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba deserves its time in the sun.

Demon Slayer masks being sold in Harajuku in December 2020 (photo: Daryl Harding)

Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features.

By: Daryl Harding

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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sebbyjoy · 4 years

Text

THEIR RUINS

Being on the run is never easy in a land at war. With two countries fighting for dominance, silence never found the peace to exist, and all Jimin wanted was a place to stay, and a sense of security. He never expected to find a friend along with it.

All Jimin could do was run. It was ironic, yet very fucking sad because he had always been shamed of being a daddy’s boy and that he wouldn’t have to lift a finger to protect himself. Now on the run, all he could think was how everything went wrong. How one moment, he was sitting in his own home—mansion maybe, if you will—comfortably flicking through his phone while classical music played.

Of course, you’d expect such pampering to actually kill him the moment the first shot through the glass windows took place, but Jimin’s father (god bless him) was insightful enough to teach his family how to fight and handle people to their advantage for a very long time.

The Park family was not as influential as the ruling family of Jimin’s country, but they were one of the richest. Taking them down and obliterating whoever lived in their house was like a slap to the face for the government.

All the headlines then (whatever remained) wrote about the sorrowful massacre of the Park Manor. Ever since then, enemy forces who have been provoked by Goll’s—Jimin’s country—previous obnoxious attacks, have finally struck back. And now left in despair, were the ruins of his home, and in turn, 50% of the population’s as well.

Jimin didn’t have time to fully digest what happened because his mind was fully concentrated on where to go. He knew that even with Goll still being fucking petty and Oren—the enemy country—being ten times pettier, that Goll would no longer be a safe place to live in. Especially with all the gunshots resounding everywhere every time. Jimin memorized the sound in his sleep, knew of the shape the bullets left in their wake, knew of every type of every fucking gun he encountered and dealt with.

So it would make sense if he held one in his hand right now.

Jimin rarely used his gun, and tried to refrain from doing it as much as possible; the bullets were hard to find, and if they were easy to find, he’d have no time for refills. It was useful flaunting it around and watch people get scared out of their boots and give him food. He barely ate decent portions to satisfy his everlasting hunger from luxurious houses. Not to mention that sleep and rest were slowly disappearing from his dictionary. These houses are far from any local authorities that have the ability to catch him if he runs.

The houses at the border between Goll and Oren, however, he couldn’t say the same for them.

Since they were next to the border, it had more possibility of the soldiers to not let him in. Although he knew many refugees made it in and actually have quite a decent life, but more than many others weren’t so lucky. At the mercy of the guards’ and soldiers’ brutality, they were always faced with the 60% possibility of dying in their spot.

From the inside, Goll was considered safe, and of course it made sense that war victims and refugees would seek safety in its walls. Jimin knew that once he was inside, he had nothing to worry about except finding himself a home, knowing all too well that the damage that could be done inside the walls is far les damaging (in all aspects) than outside.

So he had to get in. There was no doubt about that.

You could say that it was a struck of luck when he peered over the corner of the wall and saw a part of the entrance empty. You could say that fate has decided something much dangerous for him in the future which is why it went easy on Jimin this time—but he couldn’t fucking care less. There was a way in, and there was nothing that could make him pass this.

Ecstasy. The moment he stepped foot into Goll’s grounds, he felt ecstasy. He kept staring at the houses lined up and packed tightly together in the streets, wondering if any of these would be his someday...

He also couldn’t help but worry that people won’t give him a home easily. But then, his mind drifted to the gun safely tucked in his pocket, and he felt a little better about it. And after many minutes of walking and not even getting a second glance, he felt much better when he stumbled into an area marked as “soundproof buildings”.

It was a bit father from the borders but near it nonetheless. Jimin now knew that if anyone inside the closed walls died on his hands, people might not even find out about until weeks later. An advantage.

He didn’t give it much thought, because the only thing keeping him walking towards the area was the feeling of a cozy home, a warm meal, and a comfy bed right at night, holding him tightly and giving him the comfort of a mother he lost. He missed this. At this point, he’d give anything he had to have it back.

This was why when he spotted a door in a random apartment barely left open, he didn’t hesitate to barge in and slam the door shut behind him, raising his gun in the air, and shouting at the top of his lungs:

“Get the fuck down! Get down or I shoot!”

Before his eyes, a man not much older than him, panicked and scrambled to do the order, looking scared out of his wits, trembling as he hunched over the floor, raising his hands in defense before his face.

“Don’t shoot! Please don’t shoot! Please! Take whatever you want and leave—please!”

Having the upper hand with the gun aimed at the strange man, Jimin took his time to survey they surroundings—more specifically, his potential future home. It was much smaller than her thought... then again, maybe the walls were just too thick. The walls weren’t brand new, and so was the furniture... it didn’t look appealing but Jimin had a man kneeling at gunpoint so he couldn’t just leave with a chance of getting reported.

“Please what do you want? I’ll give it to you, just please—“

“Shut up!”

Jimin didn’t see the bedroom or the bathroom yet, but figuring those wouldn’t be necessary now, he knew that later he had to pinpoint an opinion on them. Right now, the man’s voice was getting annoying and it was his turn to be inspected by Jimin’s sharp eyes. He was wearing a striped cardigan over tight fitting dark jeans. His sweaty mullet covered the back of his neck and his long, slender fingers now covered his head as if that would protect him from getting shot in the head.

“Is there anyone else in the house?” Jimin asked, still pointing his gun to the man, who rose his head at the question, and looked at Jimin with—what he assumed were—terrified eyes. When he didn’t answer, Jimin shook the gun a little, alerting him and making him flinch. “Is there anyone else?”

“I—I—”

“Daddy?”

___________ part 2 here!

#bts rm angst #bts rm #namjoon #jimin #bts jimin #kim namjoon #park jimin #bts dad au #angst #fluff #war au #joon is a dad #minjoon are besties #violence

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artificialqueens · 4 years

Text

Whiskey Girls, Chapter 1 (Branjie) - Mac

AN: Hi hi! So this is a little thing I’ve been working on for a bit! Thanks to Meggie for betaing and being a gem of a human. Hope you enjoy!

Summary: Brooke plays lead guitar in an all-female rock band. Vanessa owns the local bar in the tiny town of Walls, Mississippi. It’s the late 60s and it’s hotter than hell.

The oppressive heat and small town backdrop act as the perfect set for their chance encounter.

The summer of ‘68 brought record high temperatures to the Mississippi Delta, Desoto County ranking among the top ten hottest places in the US that year. Temperatures reached upwards of 110 degrees for two straight weeks.

But if you asked any local, they would tell you the same: it’s not the heat that gets you, it’s the humidity.

…

Rolling up into the little town of Walls, Brooke smiled instinctively, the small town ambiance reminding her of her own upbringing in a little community on the outskirts of Ontario. Though to be fair, Walls had that southern American flair that not many other places could boast. In that, it was ridiculously hot and housed a maximum population of 3,000.

This was made evident by the lack of buildings, or maybe Brooke had just gotten used to the bustling city streets of Los Angeles. Even after only a few month’s residence in the city, she had already become accustomed to the fast-paced nature of life there.

It was oddly refreshing when their tour bus pulled up to the only motel in town, the age stains on the outside of the establishment calming in their simplicity. The garish aqua of the doors clashed with the faded rust-red window trimmings, making the whole layout horrendously outdated.

But Victoria Motel stood proudly in its place, not looking a day over ancient.

Brooke liked it that way.

She and her fellow bandmates piled out of the bus, bags thrown over their shoulders, as they headed toward the small office just off the collection of rooms.

Nina went in and got their room keys, as was customary after they sent Yvie in a few stops ago and got the cops called on them. They were even deeper in the south now and attracted enough attention as an all-female rock band as it was, they didn’t need any more trouble.

As the group stumbled down the long corridor, dragging their feet in their exhaustion, Brooke chanced a look around, noting vending and ice machines just past the farthest room. She felt sweat on the back of her neck begin to slide down her spine, slipping down each vertebra with every step she took. As more sweat began to prick at her hairline, Brooke was faced with a hard truth, the heat was inescapable.

They had barely unlocked the door to room 138 when Yvie launched herself onto the only bed in the rundown room.

“Dibs,” she mumbled against the off-white comforter.

Nina just rolled her eyes and looked to Brooke who shrugged. They both turned in time to see Scarlet get a running start from the door and launch herself on top of Yvie, the younger of the two shrieked at the sudden weight on top of her.

Nina and Brooke just backed away slowly, content to let the pair fight it out.

They walked a few steps over to the adjacent room, pushing open the door with a bit of extra force as it stuck to the frame initially.

They surveyed their home for the next few weeks.

The walls were a drab sort of yellow that was patchy in some places, exposing the much rougher green pigment beneath it. The comforter on the bed looked worn in the middle.

But Brooke set her things down anyway, her precious guitar in the far corner of the room next to the bathroom. Nina smiled when she wasn’t looking.

The older woman stretched out on the uncomfortable-looking bed as Brooke turned around.

“You hungry?”

Nina shook her head.

“You about to pass out?”

Nina nodded, letting her eyes drift shut.

Brooke smiled softly to herself before turning to look at the still-open door to their room. “Well, I’m gonna go look around the town a bit.”

Nina pried one knowing eye open. “I knew you would.”

Brooke wiped at the back of her neck sheepishly.

“Go on.” Nina nodded toward the door.

Brooke gave her oldest friend an appreciative smile before shutting the door behind her quietly.

Brooke breathed in the hot Mississippi air, and a part of her felt like it never left her lungs. She walked down a few dirt roads before coming upon a paved street that led to what she presumed to be the heart of the town.

There was a collection of storefronts: a hair shop, a grocery store, and a municipal building all shared one edifice. Across the street was a drugstore and hardware shop. Each local business named after presumable residents of Walls.

Brooke continued walking down the sidewalk, noting the smattering of flyers on a bookstore front.

She came to the end of the street to find a bustling diner and the town’s local bar, Vanjie’s.

It was a bit run down, looked a bit like a barn, felt every bit what Brooke had expected from the small town.

The cheery music and boisterous conversations that could be heard just outside the establishment filled Brooke with surprising calm. The windows were wide open. They had to be with the Mississippi heat being what it was. But they also allowed the combination of music and conversation to flow freely out to her, drawing Brooke closer.

The well-worn wooden steps creaked as Brooke ascended them. The crisp summer night air brushed against her cheeks, and she smiled instinctively as warm light spilled out of the building and across her form.

She pushed open the door, noting the chime of the bell above her head.

The bar was crowded, but not overly so. Locals were gathered in groups around tables or waiting in line for pool. Brooke eyed an unused dartboard in the far corner next to the bar.

But what really caught Brooke’s attention was the pretty girl tending said bar.

She had her head thrown back in a raucous laugh that beat and echoed against the dark wood walls. Brooke found herself helplessly pulled closer to the gorgeous woman, whose chocolate brown eyes and wavy dark hair framed her face almost angelically.

Brooke pulled up a stool, the rough wood scratching against the floor.

The woman didn’t notice her at first, enthralled by an older man’s outrageous facial expressions coupled with his wide sweeping gestures.

Brooke watched for a while, as the pretty brunette gave laugh after laugh to the poor soul.

She only noticed Brooke’s presence when the man she had been paying so much attention to nodded in her direction. The bartender thanked him with a gentle hand that lingered a bit too long, before making her way over to Brooke’s side of the bar, sidling up and leaning across the counter.

“Haven’t seen you ‘round before,” the woman drawled, her accent thick, but not strong enough to overpower her words.

Brooke looked up from where she had been fiddling with the corner of a napkin, and god the bartender was even more beautiful up close.

“No, you wouldn’t have,” she mused.

“Just passin’ through?”

Brooke smiled to herself. “My band is on tour. We’re making a stop here for a few weeks.”

“Oh, you in a band?” The woman raised an eyebrow. “That supposed to impress me?” she teased.

Brooke chuckled and looked down to fiddle with the napkin again. “No, but I play guitar.”

“And why’s that impressive?”

Brooke glanced back up with a devilish smirk. “It means I know how to use my fingers.”

Usually, when Brooke came on strong to women they did one of two things, they either melted on the spot or rejected her without another word.

But this woman, this gorgeously fascinating woman, just whistled high and shook her head knowingly. “You sound like trouble.”

“You seem the type to like trouble,” Brooke shot back.

The pretty bartender hummed noncommittally, but the corner of her mouth quirked up, which Brooke counted as a win.

She smiled and eased back in her seat, mind suddenly swimming with possibilities.

It wasn’t often that she came across other people like her. The world was changing, albeit at a glacial pace, but it was changing. Still, setting foot on southern soil always made unease pool in Brooke’s stomach. The constant worry, and even fear at times was crippling.

But for some reason this girl seemed to ease that nagging. She made Brooke feel brave.

“What can I get you to drink, Miss Famous Guitar Player?”

“An old fashioned.”

The woman smiled to herself before nodding and turning away.

Brooke watched her walk, openly admiring the view.

She knew she was being ballsy. More reckless than she probably should be seeing as they were in rural Mississippi. But she couldn’t seem to help herself, the charm practically rolling off her tongue of its own free will.

And who was she to deny herself?

When the pretty girl flirted back.

Brooke let her eyes stay fixed on the bartender as she made her way over to the unoccupied dartboard in the corner, beginning to fire shot after shot against the board.

The woman came over to place Brooke’s drink down on the table behind her, and much to Brooke’s surprise, she sat down at said table and propped her feet up on the stool across from her, eyes never leaving the dartboard.

Brooke soon learned her name was Vanessa and she owned the place. Brooke thought she was awfully young to be a business owner, but Vanessa didn’t elaborate. She got up every now and then to top off drinks and keep everything running smoothly, but she always came back to watch Brooke throw dart after dart against the board.

She didn’t say much, only made discontented noises under her breath when Brooke messed up a throw.

After one particularly lousy shot, Vanessa stood up with a huff, her irritation reaching a boiling point. The stool scraping against the floor set Brooke’s nerves alight, but she stood her ground, watching from over her shoulder as Vanessa took three confident steps forward so she was practically flush against Brooke’s back. The younger woman’s hands moved almost in slow motion up toward Brooke’s shoulders.

Her eyes flicked upward in that suspended moment in time, question clear in the dark brown orbs.

‘Is this okay?’

Brooke nodded dumbly, surprising herself with how much she suddenly craved skin to skin contact.

Vanessa smiled, and time moved normally once again as her shorter arm ran the length of Brooke’s outstretched hand, wrapping loosely around Brooke’s that held the dart.

“You gotta line yo’ hand up with the center.” Her breath tickled the base of Brooke’s neck, sending pleasant shivers down to her toes.

Brooke did her best to focus, her mind feeling hazy as Vanessa’s warm exhales beat against her already overheated skin.

“Keep lookin’ at the center,” she instructed. “Don’t look away.”

Brooke focused, lining up her shot with Vanessa’s steady hand as a guide. She breathed in and out slowly, steadying her suddenly racing heartbeat.

Vanessa led her hand slightly back toward their faces.

“One. Two. Three.”

Brooke turned her head just the slightest bit at the last second and the dart went flying, landing with a resounding thud just off center of the bullseye.

“You looked away!” The bartender exclaimed, eyes wide, one hand planted firmly on a hip.

“I couldn’t help it!” Brooke threw her hands up dramatically. “You’re too pretty. It’s distracting.”

Vanessa chuckled and shook her head disbelievingly, “I dunno where you come from, but down here you ain’t talk to another girl like that.”

“Well, where I come from you don’t blush like that unless you’re interested.”

Vanessa bit the inside of her cheek to hide a smile.

Brooke made no attempt to hide hers.

The two women stared at each other for a beat, letting the past few minutes wash over them, getting lost in it.

“I gotta get back to work,” Vanessa finally said, cutting into silence.

Brooke nodded, making no attempt to stop her.

Vanessa lingered a moment, seemingly torn about what to say. She shook her head and made to get back to the bar, but stopped a second later.

She turned back to Brooke. “You’ll come back tomorrow, yeah?”

“Was that a question or a request?”

Vanessa rolled her eyes. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Brooke chuckled and nodded her head. Yes. She would come back tomorrow

…

As Vanessa locked up the bar for the night, she found her mind kept drifting back to the beautiful blonde stranger. Her long legs and bright blue eyes and her incessant flirting that Vanessa really should have put a stop to sooner.

She still wasn’t entirely sure why she didn’t. If anyone else had been half as brazen as the woman, Vanessa would have kicked them to the curb without a second thought.

But for some reason, the playful smile at Vanessa’s lips wouldn’t abate.

No matter how much she wanted it to.

#rpdr fanfiction #brooke lynn hytes #vanessa vanjie mateo #nina west #scarlet envy #yvie oddly #branjie #celebrity au #lesbian au #1960s au #whiskey girls #mac #s11 #historical au #tw brief mentions of racism and homophobia

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