#so i did not like the show but then all the criticism was like 'evan is an irredeemably awful person for all of this' | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

laufeysodinson · 2 years

Text

Hell Loop

Pairing: Chris Evans x Actress!Reader

Rating: G

Warning/s: angst but then i promise it’s worth it in the end 🥹🫶🏼

Summary: “where did we go wrong?”

A/n: made me cry while i was writing. STILL inspired by after i do by taylor jenkins reid, and a little bit of cardigan by taylor swift :) OH I WAS ALSO LISTENING TO THIS LOVE BY TAYLOR SWIFT AND IT’S LITERALLY THE PERFECT SONG

there’s a line in after i do which says “just because you can live without someone doesn’t mean you want to” and UGHHHHHHH that was good. here’s my version of needing to separate for your own growth! enjoy! not proofread lol, please bear with possible errors!

pics used were found on pinterest!

“Where did we go wrong?” You sniffled, wiping your face even though the tears never seemed to stop falling. You and Chris were sitting on the ground, backs against the couch as the question lingered in the air.

You felt him turn his head to look at you, not able to answer your question.

Silence.

Not as comfortable as the one you both had been used to for the past two years.

In fact, it had been a while since the silence wasn’t deafening instead of comforting. Both of you never felt the need to fill the quiet with unnecessary noise and conversation. It always just seemed natural, until one day it felt like all you did was try. And try. And try.

And when you did try, it just seemed to piss off the both of you more and more every time.

Where did it all go wrong?

You didn’t know how long you both sat there after the umpteenth argument that started when you found an empty milk carton still in the fridge. It was funny at first, one of his annoying habits that seemed cute and was something you adored about him. But after two years of repeated “please throw it out next time,” “sorry, honey. I will.” conversations and apologetic forehead kisses you’d grown tired of it.

Endearing annoying habits turned into something both of you couldn’t stand about each other.

“No, tell me more about your day” turned into “I’m too tired to listen to this.”

Not being able to sleep after an argument turned into snoring after a whole day of not talking to each other at all.

It felt different today. No more apologetic kisses and promises to do better next time.

But there was a forehead kiss—one last time. “I’m sorry. I love you,” whispered between two lovers who knew it was better to be apart than stay together and ruin each other forever.

And so you moved out, saying goodbye to everything you’d been used to for the past two years. You said goodbye to Dodger, who just had his head tilted while he sat and stared at you when you were packing your stuff. You said goodbye to hearing him play the piano during Sunday afternoons. You said goodbye to hearing surprised screams every time Scott was around to prank the both of you. You said goodbye to early morning hikes, stopping by creeks to admire its view and sharing secret kisses, pretending you weren’t out of breath from all the walking.

Days, weeks, and months passed, it somehow got leaked to the press that you and Chris broke up. Make no mistake, of course there were haters and bashers who never seemed to tire of criticizing the both of you. They celebrated, cheered as you mourned, saying that the PR relationship was finally over.

But there was the other side, who seemed to grieve with the two of you. The other side that cheered the both of you individually as life went on and the sun shone everyday (even though it didn’t really feel like it). Movie after movie, hundreds of press interviews, award shows, and hollywood parties.

Life went on and both of you learned that you could survive without each other. But you couldn’t really live without each other, could you?

And three years after the two of you officially ended it, you’d seen each other for the first time at a party you were forced to go to by your manager.

You were talking to a man who very so clearly loved talking about himself and absolutely couldn’t take a hint after your fifth, “wow! That’s crazy!”

Until you heard someone exclaim “Hey! Y/n! It’s been a while!” Wait. You knew that voice.

Your head whipped to the sound, wondering if maybe there was something else laced in the drink you’d been sipping all night. “Chris?” You breathed out in shock, reaching out absentmindedly as he pulled you into a hug.

Breathing in and smelling his familiar scent (gucci guilty? he still uses that after all these years?), you closed your eyes, letting yourself get used to the feeling of his arms around you once again.

Both of you pulled away, the man you were talking to casting the both of you confused looks. “Wait—aren’t you both exe-“ but Chris interrupted saying, “Hey man, can I steal her off for a bit? We haven’t seen each other in years.”

Still confused, the man slowly nodded, carrying his drink off and walking off to whoever knows where. “Chris,” you repeated, still in shock. Your hand was now resting on his bicep, and his on your waist.

“Geez, yes, it’s me, Chris! I think your brain is broken,” He joked, reaching a hand towards your face and tapping your temple. You blinked, still surprised that he was in front of you and even joking with you.

He stared at you nervously. Maybe I shouldn’t have joked around too quickly?

But then you slapped his arm, your face breaking out into a grin and he tried (and failed) to dodge your attack. What he didn’t see was a server who was right next to him carrying a tray of drinks.

You watched with wide eyes as the tray went out of balance on the server’s hand and almost all of the drinks spilled on Chris. Everyone stopped schmoozing and talking to each other to look at the two of you, the both of you immediately apologizing and helping to clean up the mess.

A few minutes later, both of you were in the bathroom trying and failing to wipe up the alcohol that had already seeped into Chris’ clothes. He was wearing a white polo shirt with gray pants, and you snorted, trying to keep yourself from laughing as you turned your back on him to throw away the tissues you’d used up.

“What?” He asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He was already smirking even though he didn’t know what was so funny.

You pressed your lips together as you looked back at him, glancing down quickly and looking into his eyes once again. You weren’t subtle at all, so he looked down and groaned, knowing what you were laughing at. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.” He grumbled, but the corner of his mouth curved up so you knew he wasn’t really annoyed at all.

You burst out laughing, “y-you… did you pee your… oh my god…” You couldn’t even continue, laughing so hard that your cheeks started hurting and you were sure that you’d wake up with 8-pack abs the next morning.

Chris uncrossed his arms, leaning with one hand on the sink. He was smiling at you, and it was the kind that made you just want to run up into his arms and stay there forever.

Unfortunately for him, you were too busy laughing.

And that was how it all started again.

You were scared, knowing that the first time almost made you both despise each other. But now you were older, a few years wiser, a thousand times better at communicating your needs and a little less toxic to others you dated after each other.

enews

Liked by fanaccount and others

enews Chris Evans and Y/n spotted sharing a kiss in Los Angeles. Are they FINALLY back together?! Link in bio for more details.

View all 5,604 comments

y/nfan HOLY FUcKING SHIT

cevansforever AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH RISE AND SHINE MORHERFUCKEBRS ❤️💜🤍🧡💛🤎💚💙❤️‍🔥❤️‍🩹❣️💞💓💗💘

randomperson who are these people??

And a year after that night, he picked you up from the airport, coming home to Massachusetts exhausted after two weeks of press for a movie of yours that just came out. You bought chinese food for take out and you were parked outside the store, eating your food inside the car.

“How was the trip, sweetheart?” He asked, opening up the food and handing it to you. And then he listened intently to your story, with you wildly gesturing your hand around with the chopsticks in between your fingers. When he laughed with you after you told him the crazy story about your co-star’s giant dog chasing around a squirrel that had somehow gotten inside the hotel, you quietly said “I missed you, though.”

“Hm? What was that?” He teased, his eyebrow going up.

You rolled your eyes lovingly, leaving the chopsticks you were holding inside takeout box and putting the container in between your thighs. You reached both of your hands towards his face, squishing his cheeks.

“I missed you sooooo much, guppy!” You exclaimed, and squishing his face even more. He was laughing, trying to say “I mished you too” but it came out all funny because of how you were holding his face.

You let go, the both of you snickering and smiling at each other at a random parking lot in Massachusetts.

He pulled off his cap, placing it over your head. Your eyebrows rose, “wow, to what do I owe the honors of wearing your hat?”

He laughed, that “hehehe” making your heart flutter inside your chest. And then he just smiled at you, staring at you and seeming to study your face. Your face was heating up and you knew that if you touched your cheeks it would’ve felt like you had a fever.

He reached inside his pocket, pulling out something you couldn’t quite see because it was easily covered by his large hand.

He let out a breath and looked at you, still with your brows raised in question as to what was happening. “What is it, babe? Tell me.” You said softly, putting your hand on his thigh and stroking it comfortingly.

Your brain couldn’t quite comprehend it when he opened up his hand and lifted the top of what he was holding. His hands were shaking, and the first thing that came into your mind was “oh that’s sparkly.” OH WAIT THAT’S SPARKLY-

You gasped, your eyes shifting towards his and both of you immediately tearing up.

“Yes!!!”

He laughed again, his right hand going to his left pec. “Honey, I haven’t even asked you yet!”

“Well—okay, sorry! Go on!”

He sighed happily, holding your left hand with his right.

“I had a speech and all—but honestly it just went straight out of my mind when I took out this ring and you just immediately said yes with no hesitation at all.” He paused, pondering on what to say next.

“The years we spent without each other was one of the hardest things I’d ever gone through. Especially when we realized that maybe we didn’t make each other happy anymore.” Tears started falling down your faces, remembering how difficult it was for you to not pick up the phone and beg him to take you back.

He looked straight into your eyes and said, “But without a doubt I know I’d go through it all over again because now I know that it would still lead me to you. That it would lead to this.” He chuckled, sniffling. “You’d asked me before which memory would replay over and over again if I was stuck in some sort of punishment in hell—a hell loop, you said?” You nodded.

“I’d pick those three years I wasn’t with you, because there’s comfort in knowing that the next ones after that I’d spend the rest of my life with you.”

You were now an absolute mess, trying not to sob too loud as you listened to his impromptu speech.

He let go of your hand, touching your face to wipe the tears away. He took the ring from the box, the both of you waiting in anticipation for him to finally ask you the question.

“So,” you already knew he was going to joke about it first because there was a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Will you hold this ring for me until I find the on-ow!” You laughed with tears still streaming down your face as you hit him, “stop being such an asshole!”

He snickered, “alright, alright!”

Now turning serious, he grinned. “You ready for this?”

“Chris, I swear to god. I am going to say no if you keep—” and this man… This man you loved so dearly with all that you had in you shushed you and put his finger on your lips.

“Will you marry me, y/n?”

yourusername

#chris evans #chris evans x you #chris evans angst #chris evans fanfiction #chris evans fluff #chris evans x reader #chris evans x actress!reader

864 notes · View notes

therummesoccupied · 4 months

Text

IDW SONIC #68 - THOUGHTS

Warning: Spoilers Ahead

This issue was really good! From what I could gather, @spiritsonic was trying some new stuff with her art here, and her hard work really shows! She's always great, but I'm real excited to see what she gives us in the future.

After all the debate, I still do consider the circumstances surrounding this update somewhat unfortunate, but whether it was brought on by (perhaps unnecessarily) harsh criticisms from the community or not, it does look really good, and Evan seems happy with it on her various social media feeds, so I'm happy, too.

Aside from the fantastic art, this issue also had a lot of stuff I've really been wanting from IDW Sonic!

The story features a single Chaos Emerald hunt instead of just nabbing a bunch of 'em at once.

I always prefer this to stuff like Starline just bringing them all to Eggman or the Roboticized Masters collecting them off-page. Placing them one by one over time really helps drive home to me how significant these gems are to this world, and makes them feel like part of the overarching narrative instead of a simple macguffin that can just appear whenever it's convenient for the plot.

I guess what I'm saying is I like the setup phase of Chekhov's Gun just as much as the payoff.

As of this issue, we now know the location of three Emeralds - Rouge grabbed the white one in the 2022 Annual, Tails ended up with the purple one in Winter Jam, and now we've got the yellow one here.

We got some nice exploration of Sonic and Tails' dynamic in this one. It's nothing new, Sonic and Tails are naturally seen together quite a lot in this comic, but they're often in communication with other characters working toward a greater goal, or trying to solve some kind of crisis. They're after the Emerald here, but there's no great catastrophe and it's just them... spending time together. They get competitive, they banter, they pick up where the other falters - it's a really great reflection of the strong relationship Sonic points out between Silver and Blaze in Issue 64.

They get lots of little moments in this story, but I especially appreciate this one:

It's a small thing, but I think this is the first time in the comic's 5+ year run that Sonic has referred to Tails as his "little brother." When you think about it, these two really have spent most of their lives together, and this is a nice reminder of that.

What I really appreciate most in this issue, though, is the

🫒Environments.🫒

I've always felt that IDW Sonic's world was a little... homogenous, without a lot of the beautiful, fantastical scenery we see in the games.

Even when we DID get cool set pieces, they were usually direct references to the games - not a lot of spectacular, new settings made to fit the games' world.

But this one had a cool ravine with weird hexagonal pillars and old bridges for Sonic and Tails to race through!

That looked like it could be a game level! Then they get into the cave and we get this cool, glowing, underground green world with a giant salamander stalking around - this is also a really neat way of hinting at how the Emeralds affect the environment around them!

I know it's gonna be a while before we return back to the main series - the Fang the Hunter mini-series does seem fun, though - but I'm really, really excited to see where it takes us next!

#sonic the hedgehog #sega #idw sonic #spoilers #idw sonic spoilers #idw sonic 68 #miles “tails” prower #tails #evan stanley

34 notes · View notes

cialovesklopp · 10 months

Text

𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐄 𝐈𝐒 𝐀 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐇 𝐁𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐃 | k.mbappé

𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚 — where a talented singer climbs back to the top of the music industry while also managing her newly couple life that is going very strong

𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 — kylian mbappé x amara imani (oc)

𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕 — 8.1k 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 — hrs & hrs [muni long]

𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆 — the revenge era can officially begin and amara can be sure to count on kylian. i apologize for the delay, i had a very busy week and words weren’t wording. also thank you to my lovely angel @lorarri for giving me all this inspiriation and also thank you to @aechii

taglist: @lorarri @locedes @aechii

masterlist

𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐌

𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚.𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞

liked by selenagomez, dualipa and 26.732.195 others

amara.imani thank u, next officially out — very happy that i got to work with this gorgeous queen on my first song after the hiatus @arianagrande we did good 💋

view all 167.423 comments

arianagrande we were fab 💋

liyah.clark that song is so GENUIS, on repeat the entire day, you two slayeddd

honeymoon_avenue why did this song make me rethink my sexuality

amara.e.imani1 it certainly proved that amara imani and ariana grande are two gorgeous women

stanamara_imani bi-panic immediately

graceywood all those late phone calles def paid off, the song is amazing, already breaking records

username MY NEW FAVORITE SONG

username it def gave Evan a taste of his own medicine

username FR, Amara and Ariana really roasted him

𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚.𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢

liked by selenagomez, dualipa and 26.732.195 others

amara.imani “look at you, boy i invented you” — in my head OUT NOW, the second of many coming

the user unabled their comments

𝐓𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑

𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄

she was truly back. days, weeks, months had gone into this, had prepared her for this day and yet it felt even more special than she had ever anticipated. she had put everything into it, her time, her energy, her motivation— amara doesn’t think she would have survived if it had failed. the photo dump she had posted had announced her return but it were the publifications of thank u, next and in my head that had truly officialised her return to the music industry, — her comeback to the top.

especially thank u, next was one of her faves. the passive agressive but easy message towards her ex had truly given her the closure she needed before sue could continue. the finishing to their story that had taken so many ups and downs. their relationship had been a short high, a period of her life but one, that was over now — the message she tried to transfer through the song. she was genuinely thankful for evan, for showing her what love should NOT be like and for paving the way for kylian. who knows how long she would have stayed in that toxic environment if he hadn’t cheated on her?

was it smart to publicly shame evan and give misogynistic music critics the confirmation that she was just a copy of the likes of taylor swift and beyoncé? maybe not. but was she still proud she had done it? hell yeah.

deep down, she knew that the reason she had written the song was to shut up every newsletter and gossip magazine that claimed she was still crying over him, that their relationship was the only thing she was worth. she had matured a lot over the time, had let her feelings out and written them down before she had gotten the idea. why should she act like the mature woman who had to find five ways to euphemism the way he treated her when it should be him, who could just act mature the moment she would release the song? accept the fact that he hadn’t been the nicest to her and claim the criticism?

it were officially two days that had passed since she had released “thank u, next” and to be honest, amara was still buzzing. people could try to hide it but the song was genuis. everything that had been poured into it was a success. and she could never be thankful enough to ariana grande for accepting to be featured on the song. she remembered grace’s struggle to find a co-singer for her song, knowing that amara’s reputation had not been the best. and yet, she had one afternoon received ariana’s call, asking if she still needed a person and that she would be happy to feature on it. even though she had been shocked at the sudden call, a part of her suspected that kylian somehow had wriggled his way in. especially because the next day, she had gotten a long call from grace, telling her to keep kylian and all of sudden, she found kylian’s name in ariana’s followern (but she would never admit that she was stalking him sometimes).

in my head though was a complete different story. in all her career she had never doubted a song like this, never gotten anxious over it. perhaps, all the bad memories that were connected with every verse she wrote, brought it all back up again. or she still feared the failure she would maybe receive because everyone still held her for a bitch after evan’s interview. either way, the process of “in my head” was not one she would like to recreate.

but kylian had been there for her. every line that had brought her down, he had been there (whether live or onscreen) to cheer her up, to remind her that those times were over and she would never have to endure things like that again. maybe, he couldn’t promise her that she would never experience pain again but he had made the promise to himself that she would never ever find herself in the position, capable of writing a song like in my head. he had listened to her when she complained why it felt so hard for her to write, why she couldn’t find the words to describe what had happened. amara’s goal had been for in my head to be last song she would ever write about Evan again. the final page of the evan chapter before she would finally (and specifically for the press) move on from him.

she’d probably never admit it but all the shade thrown at evan felt good. two different people and yet the same intentions. he went on tv to throw her under the bus, she wrote songs about him, giving people the own right to analyse how much of an asshole he actually was. especially because there so many different interpretations of it but all had one common point — evan henderson was an asshole.

the good thing though was that, now that she finished with evan, she could finally focus on kylian. show him truly how much she loved him. he was her only thought now.

even when she celebrated her success, her thoughts were still on kylian. the air was filled with excitement as they celebrated the immense success of amara’s latest songs. both had claimed the charts rapidly, breaking records by being listened to over a billion times already. it brought a smile to her face, illuminating and radiant at the fact that she found her passion for music again, the sparkle that had been lit again.

it wasn’t exactly the tidiest space, with all the note sheets and song papers thrown around but they still found some space to put a bottle of wine to celebrate. she served herself another glass, still feeling the euphoria of her success and what better way to celebrate it, than with alcohol?

“so now you’re drinking without me?” someone whispered in her ear, making amara jump up out of shock as she hadn’t even seen anyone enter the place, except herself, grace and hudson. she hadn’t even gotten time to think about who it was when her eyes were suddenly covered by a pair of big hands but she recognized immediately who it was. only one person had that smell. “guess who it is?”

“let me guess, neymar?”

he chuckled mischievously, his breath warm against her ear. “essaie encore.” — try again

she pretended to think for a moment, biting her lip to add to her expression. “oh my god, it’s erling haaland. i feel so honored.”

the light nudge he gave her, made a laugh escape from her lips as she continued to play with kylian’s nerves. “last try,” the french striker warned.

“fine, fine, i know it’s you ky,” she replied, removing his hands from her eyes and turning around as she looked into his eyes.

he grinned at her, clutching his chest dramatically. “nice to know you didn’t forget me,” he replied, grinning widely at her. he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly. “congratulations for the two songs. i’ve been playing them on repeat.”

“merci beaucoup,” she exclaimed, deepening their hug as she hid in his neck. “i can’t believe you’re here.” she mumbled under her breath, inhaling the so-familiar scent of his.

“i was invited as special guest,” he pointed at grace, who sent a sly look towards the couple before turning away again and continuing her conversation with hudson. “apparently i lift certain people’s motivation.”

she glanced at grace who sent her a smirk in return. how she had managed to get kylian’s number and even get him here was beyond her imagination but she was glad to have him here. to introduce him to her world.

“if you tell anyone i agreed to this, i’ll deny it.” she threatened jokingly, grinning at him.

he waved dismissively. “don’t worry, your reputation’s save with me.”

“you know, this is as much my celebration party as it’s yours. i don’t know how you did it but thank u, next wouldn’t have existed without you.” she thanked him, wanting to pass him a glass of wine but remembering at the same time that he couldn’t drink mid-season. “je te remercie tellement pour ça. pour sauver ma carrière. i owe you, whatever you want.” — i am so thankful to you for this, for saving my career

their hands sneakily intertwined, making sure to not be seen by grace or hudson. they didn’t want for the others to know about them so soon, preferring to enjoy their honeymoon phase for bit longer. “well, there’s something i wanted to ask you.”

“i’m all ear,” the singer retorted, looking at him expectantly.

he cleared his throat, letting go of amara’s hand to draw circles on it with his thumb while leaning closer. “you think you’re ready to make your first appearance as my nr. 1 die-hard fan with your presence at my game on saturday?” he asked her, his voice soft and tender with a sarcastic undertone. “parce que j’aimerais bien que tu sois là samedi.” — because i would love it if you were there saturday.

he was expecting a rejection, already having prepared for it. but he hadn’t really measured the way her comeback would change her. amara was done with hiding from the public and bad press. she had long enough play their game, where they could silence her with one bad article. and she was excited to see kylian play live.

“i’ll be there don’t worry,” she replied nonchalantly, accepting his request. “but you’ll have to score. i’m not leaving my couch for just anybody.”

he arched an eyebrow, skeptic expression on his face visible. “so now i’m just anybody?” he asked her incredulously. “wow, i see how it is.”

she rolled her eyes at his antics but wasn’t able to hide the way she enjoyed his dramatic act. “kylian!” she exclaimed, lightly nudging him.

“ça va, j’ai compris,” he held his hand up in surrender. “donc, combien des buts veux-tu, ma belle?” — okay, i understood. so, how many goals do you want, beautiful?

“two,” she stated firmly after thinking for some time. “i want a double.”

he laughed. “two goals it is.” he repeated, brushing some, hair out of her face. truthfully there wasn’t any hair in her face but he loved the feeling of touching her. there was a sense of longing for her, to be near her and feel her close to him. to touch her every time. “and what will i get if i do?”

she shrugged, her face implying everything. “how many kisses do you want?”

he pretended to think for a moment, even putting a hand on his chin before replying, “for a lifetime.”

“a lifetime?”

he nodded. “a lifetime.” he repeated proudly, “nous deux c’est pour l’éternité.” — we two are forever

“so you thought this far already?”

“all i know is that i’ll never let you go. and if you do, then i must have done something stupid.”

a new sense of comfort spread through her body listening to him. butterflies were an understatement for what she was feeling in her stomach. the room seemed to fade away, leaving only the two of them in their own little world as they stared into each other’s eyes with their hearts beating in unison.

their kind of love, so innocent and untypical — it was based on more than just love. because sometimes even love was not enough. what actually strengthened their bond was the blind trust they held for each other, she had let herself fall from the clip she was grasping on with her entire strength and he had caught her. made sure she landed safely before taking her own way again. and he had come to terms with the possibility of maybe not playing an as big role in her life as she was playing in his. (luckily that had turned out different) — he was somehow willing to do everything for her.

but just as they see about to lose themselves completely in their souls, grace interrupted them, nudging the couple slightly. “as cute as this is between you, we still need to record some songs,” she said, directing the last part of her sentence to amara before pointing at kylian. “and you, i didn’t bring you here to distract my workers from working.”

“worker? you’re my manager.” amara retorted amusingly, grin quickly disappearing when grace sent her a cold glance. “i’m coming.”

“can i listen to it?” kylian asked, throwing his question in the middle of their conversation.

she shook her head, the mischievous twinkle practically sparking. “i’ll let you hear it soon. it’s a surprise.” she replied, assuring him as her voice brimmed with sincerity.

he nodded, though he couldn’t completely hide his disappointment. they exchanged a quick, longing glance before reluctantly parting, painfully aware that their obligations called them back to reality. “i’ll wait for you here,” he told her softly, instantly summoning a smile on her lips. that smile intensified when he took amara’s face in his hands (a gesture she had gotten used to) and planted a soft yet passionate peck on her lips — right in front of an unsuspecting grace.

any sense of seriousness and productivity left her body as she watched her best friend kiss the french striker, jaw nearly dropping in disbelief. but she was doing a great job at hiding it and acting as if whatever just happened in front of her was normal.

when everyone had gone back to work, grace seized her chance during a small lunchtime break. hudson had engaged into a very lively conversation with the french striker, not being able to contain his football-love anymore, bombarding kylian with question. this gave grace the possibility to drag amara away and do her own questioning relating to what had just happened between her and her beau.

without any forewarning, grace dragged amara to the back of the studio, her mind racing as she tried to piece the puzzle of the revelation in front of her together.

“what the hell did i just see?” she exclaimed excitedly. “a peck — a real relationship peck! when did this happen?”

her face was covered with a sheepish smile as she shrugged. “we’re dating now. we moved forward and things happened and now we’re dating.”

“that’s all you’ve got to say? we had thousands of phone calls and not even once did you mention this.” grace retorted loudly, staring incredulous at her best friend.

“honestly, it's a relatively new relationship, and i didn't want to make a big deal out of it. enjoy the small bliss.”

“wait till liyah hears that.” she furiously took out her phone, dialing liyah’s number and calling the latter by facetime. amara groaned, already seeing the kind of embarrassment she would get from liyah, especially because from the trio, she was the most livid when it came to exciting news.

to amara’s small dismay, liyah instantly took the call. “gracey, surprised you’re calling.” she greeted the pr-manager, loud noises in the back indicating that liyah must have been at the grand prix that was taking place on sunday.

grace grinned as they saw liyah all dressed in red-attire, probably to support her boyfriend. “liyah! thank god you took the call! i have news!”

“spill the tea!” liyah replied excitedly, matching grace’s enthusiasm.

“amara and kylian are dating. like fully dating! she’s off the market.”

liyah’s eyes widened at the new revelation, immediately turning to amara, who hid her face behind her hands. “what do you mean, they’re dating? you and kylian made a step forward? that final step we were all waiting for?”

before amara could reply, grace had already cut in. “and she probably wouldn’t have told us if i hadn’t invited kylian for today. this little bitch,” she pointed at amara, “would have probably waited a week before telling us that she and kylian even talked about making the next step.”

“how could you amara? i spent five days in paris with you and not even once did you mention that something happened!” liyah scolded her, voice getting louder to overcome the noises from the garage. “now spill everything. and i mean everything. every little detail.”

slightly panicking, she sighed. “well, he was over. he had planned on coming directly after they had come back to paris from their away match but i convinced him to come later because my mom was over—“

“mama imani was over?”

“she visited to check up on me and all that stuff,” amara explained, shrugging dismissively. “anyway, we talked about us and then there was a kiss…,” she confessed sheepishly, shyly turning away as her friends’ smiles got wider. “and then we decided to move forward. especially because the line of friendship was crossed a long time ago. oh… and the flowers he got me that day because they reminded him of him also were a factor that played into my decision.”

grace and amara covered their ears when liyah let out a loud scream, managing to even drown out the noises around her. “omg! how could you keep this from us? wait till i’m over again.”

“how long have you been in this new phase? i gotta know how long you’ve kept this up from us.” grace inquired, scrutinizing amara closely.

again, amara thanked the gods that she couldn’t blush. “well, it’s been two weeks now and like i said, we’re just looking where all this is leading to.”

“and now the real details?” liyah demanded, “did you only kiss or did more happen?” she asked, her tone becoming slightly suggestive.

“well, if you’re so curious. no we haven’t had sex yet. but we made out. a lot.” she admitted, hiding her face as liyah let out a scream.

“omg, this just made my day.”

grace smirked. “he’s also the reason why thank u, next exists. he’s the one who got in contact with ariana grande.”

another scream pierced through the phone, this time louder as liyah failed to contain her happiness.

“mon coeur, tu vas bien?” they suddenly heard in the background, and liyah turned to face the person calling after her. “i heard you screaming on the phone, even carlos was worried for a moment and andrea sent me to check on you.”

they watched liyah laugh, before peck the man’s lips, who they assumed was charles softly. “don’t worry babe. just excited because of some news i just got. wait, i just remembered that you haven’t even met the two most important persons in my life.” holding up a finger to indicate that he had to wait for a minute, she grabbed her phone, putting it in front of them, making charles appear on the screen. “meet my soul sisters, grace and amara, who is finally off the market.”

amara buried her face in her head out of embarrassment, listening to liyah introduce them. “she’s also the third person in our secret marriage with lewis.”

“third person?” she questioned, forgetting all embarrassment and arching an eyebrow. “now i’m offended.

charles laughed as they started to bicker around, his dimples reminding amara of kylian’s. “it’s very nice to meet you. she talks a lot about you. sometimes i feel like you’re dating her and not me.”

liyah rolled her eyes. “as if that isn’t the same with you and pierre.” she turned back to face her friends. “it’s literally me, my boyfriend and my boyfriend’s boyfriend.”

“if this is because pierre tagged along on our date once, i already apologized.” he groaned, turning his attention back to amara. “i’m a big fan of your music. especially your new song, ‘thank u, next’. a fave of mine.”

“thank you so much. i am also a big fan of your driving, especially your victory in austria. but i still prefer lewis.” she added jokingly.

he grinned too, taking no offense to her remark. “fair enough. athough now i can brag to the others that i met you. especially lando and carlos. they’re die-hard fans.”

“greet them for me. make their day.” amara’s smile radiated through the phone, her happiness clear on her face. “also do we need to do the threatening-thing, where we tell him how we can kill him in fifty-seven different ways or should we just skip it and talk about what dating you includes? because i actually like you, charles.”

the couple laughed, charles sneakily putting an arm around his girlfriend to bring her closer. liyah waved dismissively. “girls, don’t worry. you forget i’m the baddest bitch out of the three of us so i’ll know what to do if he ever steps out of lane. and honestly, after having been in a relationship with james, it’s not really hard to top that.”

still, they mustered him, scrutinizing him very closely though they were satisfied by him. just the way he held and looked at liyah was enough to prove that he really loved her.

it also didn’t hurt, that charles was happily ready to accept all of the conditions, amara and grace laid down for him.

he accepted the monthly girls’ nights and didn’t mind the three am calls between the girls as they all were sometimes in different timezones.

neither was he against weekly date nights, no matter whether it was a night in or night out and accepted quickly the rule to never leave the other on read.

grace and amara would lie if they said that they didn’t have fun, analysing charles and having him agree to every of their rule. and the ferrari driver would probably never admit, but he liked seeing her have such good and caring friends. even though he had already forgotten half the things he had agreed to.

listening to them, liyah suddenly understood what her friends were doing. they were making sure she finally got to have the perfect relationship with charles that she had been wishing for during her time with james. the dating nights, no fighting because she spent too much time with her friends, no jealousy crises — they were making sure she was finally living the bliss, she was supposed to live during a relationship.

hanging up once they had finished with their conversation, the two women walked back to the men again, who had longly finished their conversation and had taken on to talk about god and the world as they waited for the girls to finish their conversation.

“so, did you talk to your biggest fan?” amara asked kylian, leaning her head on his shoulder as hudson arranged everything so they could continue recording.

“fallais me dire qu’il était fan de manchester city.” kylian let out, grumbling a bit. “i am still a bit sore over that defeat.” — you should have told me he was manchester city fan

she grinned. “he’s a football fan. i thought that would be all you cared about.”

he rolled his eyes, smile still not leaving his lips. he sat down on the black revolving chair, taking a few spins. this time it was amara’s turn to roll her eyes. especially because she wasn’t finished and this was her place.

“kylian, you’re sitting in my chair,” she complained, groaning slightly. “please sit somewhere else.”

“mais celui-ci est plus confortable,” he replied, spinning around again to purposely miss the pout amara gave him. — but this one is more comfortable

“please,” she begged him again. “there are hundred different chairs here, just take one of these.”

“how about you take one of those,” he retorted before continuing to spin around, annoying amara even more. she let out an ‘uf’, groaning as she turned to make her way to the other chairs. “or you could just sit down on my lap.” he proposed slyly, smirking at her just as she was about to grab a chair.

she arched an eyebrow, weighing her options in her head. crossing her arms, amara sighed as she rolled her eyes and gave in, sitting down on kylian’s lap.

her body grew a bit tense, uncomfortable as she had never sat in someone’s lap before and somehow he sensed it. his arms wrapped sneakily around her waist, pulling her closer to his chest.

amara turned, smiling at him as kylian buried his head into her neck, his warm breath sending tingles down her body. his hands drew soft circles into her skin, tracing her body and every of her small defaults. the ones he had grown to love for her.

the new-found pair was so lost in each other, their flowing conversation distracting them from their surroundings thag they failed to notice the pr-manager take out her phone and capture this moment of love. smiling to herself, grace put her phone back after uploading the picture of the two to her story.

“after everything that happened,” hudson remarked, appearing next to grace as they watched the couple laugh together, only god knowing what they could talk about, “she definitely deserves this. someone who will love her the way he does.”

even though she had already been many times in his apartment, this time it felt different. perhaps because this time she wouldn’t be entering it as amara imani, the singer who had just had the worst year of her life. instead she was going into this apartment as amara, the girl dating him now. there wouldn’t be reasons anymore as to why she was there, she didn’t need any reasons anymore to be there.

the living room was tastefully decorated, lots of pictures showcasing his victories and achievements. she remembered her first time over, when she had been over here and the picture of their win from the lighe 1 had taken all her attention. the picture that had made her feel attired to kylian, with that certain twinkle in his eyes. while her eyes travelled around the room, he had quickly gone to his room, wanting to change into more comfortable clothes before spending the evening with her.

as she perused the shelves, her fingers wandering over the different book shelves, she noticed his music collection consisting of a long tower of cds piled up. needless to say, she was impresssed by his huge music collection and the way it varied from classical to contemporary. now it made sense why he had known so many old school and 80s hits . but what especially caught her eye was the dusty jazz cd, hidden away between a cd of whitney houston’s best hits and a 2000 party hits cd that instantly caught her interest. like they always said, curiosity killed the cat and amara couldn’t resist the temptation to play it.

confusion was clear on kylian’s face when he entered the living room, soft jazz tunes sounding out of the speakers. he arched an eyebrow as he joined her, placing himself next to her.

“do i even want to know why jazz is playing at the moment?” he questioned, amused that he was already so used to amara’s impulsive thoughts and ideas.

“nope,” she replied, shaking her head while a grin appeared on her lips. “but you need to dance with me. mayhe i’ll tell you then.” she replied mischievously, putting her hands around his neck.

he sighed but complied nonetheless and placed his hands on her hips before sliding them upwards for them to rest on her waist. “i have no idea how to dance to jazz,” he admitted, feelings heat in his cheeks even though there was no blush.

“me neither honestly.” she confessed, but shrugged happily. “but i don’t care. let’s just give it a try.”

the pair tried to keep with the slow rythm of the music but both realized quickly that jazz was not their music. they swayed and spun around, trying to dance the steps they had seen in music but the more they tried, the more awkward it became as they never managed to stay in the beat.

as kylian extended his arm and spun her around, amara tripped over his foot trying to match the rythm, resulting in both falling to the ground and landing softly on the carpet. one look was all they shared before they began to laugh. “we suck at this, don’t we?” kylian grinned, a sparkle in his eyes.

“yeah,” amara giggled, sitting up. “we should stop before someone mistakes us for actual dancers.”

the two let the jazz music play in the background, still fond of the memories with them failing to dance. while kylian got comfortable on the couch, taking over the whole sofa by extending his feet, amara preferred to stay on the fluffy carpet, songbook in her hands along with a pen.

“so… why were you so keen on dancing to jazz? i’m not judging but why, of all music genres did you take jazz?”

“i listened to the two of us and i just wanted to truly feel the song.” she replied sheepishly. “but as we all saw, it’s not really ours. i think we’re made to listen to it.”

he laughed at her but at the same time couldn’t stop himself from falling even more in love with her. she was truly the sunshine he had imagined her to be, the happy bubble she had once been. evan had only put a small black cloud on her head but once she had finally gained her self-trust and confidence back, the black cloud also disappeared and her sun shined through

“well, would you be so kind as to put on some serious music now?”

“only if i get to choose,” she commented, her face brightening up at kylian’s short nod. she quickly crawled to the music box, connecting her phone before she took back her place, getting truly comfortable now.

after their comical attempt at dancing jazz, they were ready to try out something new, listen to their own music. amara realized that music had become their own proper love language. while other couples communicated through affection, touch or soft words, their language was music. a language no one but them spoke.

she was used to express her feelings via verses and music but they had never spoken to someone. but with him, suddenly every song had an answer, a reply to it. they felt closer to each other when they listened to music and shared their feelings through soft melodies. a perfect duett.

as she scribbled through her notebook, going over the two songs that were next to record, kylian propped himself on one elbow to get a better view of her, watching her work. before her, he used to think songs were easy, they were just a few words that had to rhyme but after meeting her he had finally seen the process that went into it — was finally able to measure the worth of their work.

the first tunes of “style” filled the room, taylor swift’s song immediately lighting her face up with joy. she hadn’t even noticed that she had continued to sing along while working on her own lyrics — that much she loved the song. she wanted to ask kylian to sing along with her, dance with her to it but a certain sense of comfort prevented her from doing so. they were comfortable, at home in this position. she wouldn’t want to destroy it and kylian could always have another dance party with her.

the latter watched her intently, totally mesmerized and enchanted by her singing and her voice. each second that passed, he fell more in love with her, with the way she was just so natural. her talent and her passion were just two things of a long list that kylian loved about her. another thing was the way she was able to take another artist’s song and add her own note to it, her own touch. just the sight of her, fully in her element and singing to the song, fueled the fire in kylian’s heart that burned for her. somehow even the smallest moments like that deepened their connection.

amara would only know later how lucky she had gotten with kylian. someone who loved her because she was so passionate and talented and not just for her looks and reputation. he admired her creativity, her dedication and the way she always wanted to give her fans the 100% of herself that she deserved. she was the only one able to make him feel things he didn’t even know he could feel. he would follow her everywhere around if she asked him — kylian was completely enamored with her and probably loved her more than she did him.

even though she was deeply focused on her writing, she could still feel his gaze on her. the affection he gave her still made goosebumps spread through her entire body but here, she found comfort in it with him playing with some of her loose curls. it helped her concentrate. she turned, sending him a warm smile before turning around and setting her eyes on the paper in front of her again. it felt nice to have someone like kylian support her.

the song had longly ended and she had drowned out her surroundings to better focus on her work. it came easy to her with kylian’s support and encouragement along with the endearing smile he sent her. his gaze was comforting, calming.

“did i tell you about my coming collaboration with…” she broke the silence, trailing off. “i get to do a song with beyoncé.” she exclaimed happily.

“what?” his eyes widened in surprised before his perplexed expression turned into a happy one.

“yes. you know how she was my mentor and brought me into this business and now i actually get to do a song with her. that’s why i need this,” she pointed at the lyrics, “to be perfect. especially because she will be going over it and add her own lyrics for her part.”

“that’s incredible,” he gushed excitingly. “and believe me, your work is phenomenal. just what i got to see today was enough for me to know that you’re the most talented one.”

“well, i’m no beyoncé.” she mumbled shyly. “i just want this to work.”

“and it will mara. i’ll gladly call her if she doesn’t like it.” he advised, proudly smiling at her.

amara rolled her eyes. “get off your high horse. tu crois que tu es qui par rapport a beyoncé pour l’appeler?“ — who do you think you are in relation to beyoncé?

she laughed at his offended expression and continued to work on her song. she was immediately immersed in her songwriting again, adamant on making sure to give her idol her 100%. there was no way she’d disappoint the queen b.

while she wrote and erased words, kylian couldn’t help but be completely captivated by her focused expression. and to him in that moment, she was the most beautiful person ever. he had always thought that she was the most beautiful when she was laughing but he had seen another side of her — her passionate one. where she gave everything to make sure her words were perfect and made sense. and it made her even prettier than she already was.

he couldn’t even stop himself from taking out his phone and discreetly starting to take pictures of her without her noticing. he wasn’t very often a fan of taking pictures when the two were together but here, he knew he had to preserve this memory, this state of her.

after a few moments she started to sense something though. kylian was abnormally silent and calm for his usual state. she turned around, making kylian jump up at her sudden movement and a playful smirk build on her lips.

“you’re taking pictures of me again, aren’t you?” she asked, putting her book on the floor.

he chuckled, unable to hide his smile and pulled out her phone again to show her the endless pictures he had taken off her. before she realized, he started to take pictures of her again, making her groan.

“ky, please stop this.” she demanded, self-conscious taking over.

“never. i’ve never seen you so focused before, i had to capture this moment.” he just replied, laughing gently as he took another one.

“ky. at least delete it if i look bad in any of them.” she insisted, half-jokingly.

he shook his head, still amused by her slight discomfort. “ma belle, trust me, you look good in every lightening to me.” he replied sincerely, looking at her with so much love her heart filled with warmth

“why are you even taking them?” she questioned the french striker, putting down her book for final. she knew she wouldn’t get anymore work done today.

he shrugged nonchalantly. “i needed a new wallpaper. and why not take the person i like most.”

“fine,” she bit her lip to prevent herself from smiling but it was useless — a huge smile plastered on her face, reaching from one ear to the other as she let him take pictures of him for the rest of the night with small fights sometimes escalating as they thought over the phone. and still, she wouldn’t trade this evening for anything.

with an oversized shirt she had borrowed from kylian (which he knew he would never get back), amara found herself in the bathroom next to kylian as they brushed their teeth. she hadn’t really planned on staying over for the night but time had other plans, passing so quickly neither of the two had realized how late it had gotten. before they knew it, it was already too late for amara to go home (or more like, Kylian didn’t trust her to be alone at this hour in paris).

standing in front of the mirror, the two brushed their teeth, amused grins displayed on their face as they stared at each other through the glass. after spitting out the remainder of the toothpaste that stuck in her mouth, she washed her toothbrush and reached for her toiletries bag.

wanting to give her more place as he knew what she was about to do, the french international player placed his brush back into the small cup and took a few steps back to sit down on the border of the bathtub. he watched with amazement and an innocent kind of love and endearment as she gracefully washed her face before starting to apply various creams to it. with the soft bathroom light reflecting in his eyes, he smiled at her as his eyes glanced over her natural state. it felt like home.

amara glanced back at him through the mirror as she caught him staring at her, probably daydreaming with the way his eyes were locked on her. smiling, she turned to him, face creme still on her fingers. “do you want me to give you a skincare routine too? just asking with the way you’re staring at me. believe me, i’d be doing you a favor.”

he looked at her confusingly, chuckling as he shook his head. “don’t worry about me, i’m fine as i am.”

she walked towards him, squinting her eyes to scrutinize his skin. “your skin looks horrible,” she stated shockingly. “how come i’ve never noticed with how often we made out?”

kylian laughed at the way she seemed so upset, smirking as he responded, “guess that means im doing my job right.”

she rolled her eyes at her retort, exhaling loudly. “non, mais kylian sérieusement. i don’t want to kiss your face if it’s all scratchy and full of dead skin you probably didn’t really wash off.” — no but seriously kylian

he let out a small groan, realizing what that probably meant. “i take good care of my skin, don’t worry.” he replied but he hadn’t reckoned with amara’s persistence.

with a mischievous glint apparent in her eyes, she grabbed one of her moisturizing creams and moved slowly towards him. “i am so sorry but you left me no other choice.”

every step that she took towards him, he took one back, trying to get away from his as she neared him with an evil grin. “amara, really, it’s not necessary.” but she didn’t give up, ready to put some cream on his skin.

in the span of a second, he took off, trying to hide from her as she began to pursue him. the pair found themselves in a playful fight, both laughing as she tried to dab a bit of her moisturizing cream onto his cheeks.

he was successful in dodging every of her attempts but he hadn’t expected her to be so determined on it as she did not show any signs of abandonment or giving up.

“you’d make me so happy if you took good care of your skin.” she pouted, hoping to make him crack which worked. looking at her one last time, kylian finally gave in. but while amara thought it was because she finally wore him down, he had other reasons. and the biggest one was seeing her smile grow wider because she thought she had won. he’d do everything to see her smile.

“but don’t put on too much,” kylian instructed, “and just the cream. no serums or whatever you have in that bag.”

her face lit up with delight, nodding quickly as she made him sit down on the border of the bathtub again and gently applied the white cream to his cheeks. without even noticing, he closed his eyes as a sense of tenderness and softness washed over him. he’d never admit it but it felt good as she brushed her fingers softly over his face.

“and finished,” amara cheered, closing the cream, “now your skin is happy and smells amazing.” she leaned in, placing a soft peck on his cheek, her lips lingering for a little longer on his face.

he pulled her down next to him, his arm wrapping around her figure immediately. she laid her head down on his shoulder, playing loosely with the strings of his hoodie. “ready for bed now and some cuddles?”

“lead the way.” she replied quietly, intertwining their hands.

they exited the bathroom, heading directly for the bedroom to lay down. Kylian had been unsure whether amara wanted to sleep in the guest room or with him but his worries quickly vanished when they reached his bedroom and she laid down on the bed, hitting the free place next to her to signal for him to join her.

his cheeks were probably already hurting from all the smiling today and yet he couldn’t get himself to stop. laying next to her felt like a dream, the ones that felt so real that one often wondered whether it was really a dream. the soft scent of cherry and vanilla crawled up his nose as he buried his head in her neck, his arm pulling her closer to his chest.

it didn’t take long for them to fall asleep or at least enter the dazed state of sleep. nights that amara had spent, staring at the ceiling hoping to fall asleep seemed like a distant memory now that she had kylian. the sense of belonging he spread made it easy for her to fall asleep — because now she could let herself fall freely without worrying. except the butterflies in her stomach, she didn’t really feel anything that made her want to worry. and sleeping belonged to that.

“kylian, are you still awake,” she asked into the silence, hoping that kylian wasn’t asleep already, she nudged him lightly, happy when she felt him turn towards her. “tu te rappelles quand je t’avais promis une chanson?” — remember when i promised you a song?

“hm…,” he replied sleepily, “yes, that by the way i’m still waiting for.”

she stared up at him, waiting till his eyes were fully open and focused on her. taking a deep breath, she snuggled closer into his chest. “well, i wrote you an entire album.”

𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚.𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢

liked by selenagomez, dualipa and 26.732.195 others

amara.imani mon amour, je t’aime — the album, COMING SOON

user disabled the comments

64 notes · View notes

hotdamnitsmoony · 3 months

Text

what i think the marauders favourite tv show would be - based on my favs :)

james - stranger things. he’d watch it because everyone was raving about it and then become emotionally invested in the characters. he thinks the concept of the monsters is really cool but also very terrifying. he’d definitely make everyone else watch it too, and he’d be mouthing along the lines while they did. his favourite character would be steve harrington, because i think they’re pretty similar. the episode he’d like the most would be s4 ep6.

regulus - the rain on netflix. it’s a kinda disturbing show about an apocalyptic world where the rain literally kills you if it touches you and there’s a whole thing with sibling betrayal and i just feel like he’d eat it up. his favourite character would be lea or kira. he would really love dystopian and apocalyptic shows in general tbh. his favourite episode would be the cult one, because it explores religion in an apocalyptic world.

sirius - greys anatomy. i’ve said this before but he would secretly LOVE greys, even if he won’t admit it. his favourite character is addison montgomery, closely followed by mark sloan. the episode he likes the most is the musical episode but if you ask him, he hates it. also he would so do the superhero pose amelia shepherd does before her surgeries before he does anything important.

remus - the society. it’s a dark, weird and kinda obscure show that only had one season because of covid but he’d love it. he’d bring it up in conversation with everyone and ask them what they’d do if all adults suddenly disappeared, which would obviously have varying responses. he’d complain about not getting a satisfying ending to it all the time. his favourite character is sam or kelly definitely. he can’t choose a favourite episode because literally so much happens in every one.

lily - the good place. i’ve also said this before, but i just genuinely think she’d love it. it’s a show that she would watch while knitting or studying, because it’s easy to follow and funny. she’d definitely quote it a lot and it’d create some great & healthy conversations between the marauders about mortality, morals and death. her favourite character is janet!

pandora - a series of unfortunate events. she’d love this show wholeheartedly. it’s so messy and reminds her of the odd things that seem to keep happening to her. she’d know the “that’s not how the story goes” song and sing it all the time, though she’d change the lyrics to fit whatever situation or drama is going on. her favourite character is sunny, and she started wearing more bows in her hair because of violet! her favourite episode would be s2 ep3!

mary - desperate housewives. she would love the drama, the betrayals and the overall storylines. she’d know every little thing about it, from all the names of lynette’s children to mrs mccluskey’s backstory. her favourite character is gabby solis and she will take no criticism. her favourite episode is the one where carlos’ mum falls down the stairs.

marlene - glee. i genuinely believe she’d know every single big song and wouldn’t stop singing them. you hear “Don’t Stop Belivin’” being sung (badly) in the hallway? it’s marlene. her favourite character is santana lopez and she knows the entire monologue that she says to kurt in season 6. she constantly complains about this show but really does love it. her favourite episode is the klaine & brittana wedding!

dorcas - heartbreak high! she’d love the petty drama and storylines that happen in this show, and she’d so create her own “map” but put concealment charms on it because unlike harper and amerie she’s smart enough not to get caught. her favourite character would be ca$h or harper, and the episode she likes the most would be ep4.

barty - how to sell drugs online (fast)! this show is so hilarious and i really think he’d enjoy it. he’d smell the plot twists coming a mile away but he’d still love it, and probably make evan watch it with him. his favourite character is moritz because he’s just such an idiot and he sort of reminds him of himself, though i feel like he’d love lisa too. he would say that he doesn’t have a favourite episode because he loved it all.

evan - the umbrella academy. he would compare the dysfunctional family to the marauders nonstop. he’d love the way it explores time travel and superpowers, and would spend hours in the library researching if it was possible because he’d get hyper fixated on it of course. his favourite character is klaus (no surprise there lol) and he literally cried during that one episode in season 3. his favourite episode is the first ever one.

(as always, these are my own opinions!! i’ve personally watched all these shows and love them all very much!! this took a while to make but we move who needs a sleep schedule anyway. )

29 notes · View notes

ericdeggans · 2 years

Photo

Reckoning with the long shadow of TV dads on Fathers Day

As a longtime TV critic, I have written a lot of pieces about dads and television for Fathers Day. Some of them have felt a bit contrived, like this piece on TVs Dumb Dads, which is an evergreen subject; television loves taking characters who actually have the most agency and power in society and making them look vulnerable for storytelling purposes.

But TV’s relationship to the subject of fatherhood and parenting is far more complex. I’m much prouder of this piece I did five years ago on how I mostly learned about being a father from watching characters on film, TV and theater.

A sample: “My own father isn't with us anymore, and I loved him a lot. But he and my mother split before I was born, and during my formative years, it was mostly me and Mom against the world. Any sense of what it might feel like to have a father close by came from the first sitcom with a father who felt like he could live in my world: James Evans on Good Times. These days, when TV shows like Black-ish and Queen Sugar offer lots of different takes on black family and fatherhood, it might be tough to imagine how rare and important it was for a young black kid to see Good Times in 1974.”

Hear the NPR story by clicking here.

After raising four kids of my own, I’ve learned that fatherhood is such a big job, it’s tough to find one portrayal on the small screen that does it justice. In the real world, it’s a job defined by trying to provide everything your children require to have the best life possible. It means knowing when to encourage their passions, meet their needs and satisfy their desires and when to save them from their own excesses, inexperience, lack of judgment or impatience.

It means soaring when they succeed and feeling crushed when they fall short. It also means understanding that your own actions always serve as example and model – it’s up to you whether that conduct is something to emulate or avoid like a cautionary tale.

On the subject of fathering and TV, I also like an essay I wrote for IndieWire a few years ago; basically, a slightly different version of the piece I did for NPR. Here’s an abridged version of that essay below.

And have a Happy Fathers’ Day.

“For a long while, I thought most married couples were like Rob and Laura Petrie in “The Dick Van Dyke Show”; sleeping in two twin beds separated by a nightstand. So when I saw John Amos as James Evans Sr. on the legendary sitcom “Good Times,” I felt like I finally saw a dad who was something like the other fathers on my block, and something like the dad I could have had.

Yeah, he was often angry and threatened corporal punishment WAY too often for my tastes, especially back then. But he worked hard, loved and valued his kids, encouraged them to get educated and take advantage of every opportunity and wanted nothing more than for them to do far better than he ever would. It wasn’t just that James Evans was black; it was that he was a black man whose primary goal was taking care of his wife and kids. All these years later, I’ve seen other TV dads who also taught me lessons.

John Goodman’s Dan Conner on “Roseanne” taught me how to make space for a strong wife and mom, but assert yourself when circumstances require.

Bill Bixby’s Tom Corbett on “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father” taught me the power of a parent paying attention.

I like fathers who show that being a dad takes effort and intention, like Michael Rapaport’s Doug Gardner on Netflix’s “Atypical.”

And even though Milo Ventimiglia’s Jack Pearson is modern TV’s best dad on “This Is Us,” I identify a lot more with his adopted son, Sterling K. Brown’s Randall Pearson.

In the same way Randall, as a black man raised in a white family, had to learn what being black meant to him, I had to learn what being a father meant to and for me. In the same way he found and reconciled with his biological father shortly before his death, I reconciled mostly with my dad before he passed. And Randall has a goofy earnestness mixed with a capacity to work a little too hard on stuff that takes him outside the family, which I also – sadly — can relate to.

My four kids are mostly grown now. But seeing a dad on TV who still struggles, despite having had the best example of fatherhood in his life, means a lot. Even now.”

727 notes · View notes

spacexcowgirl · 5 months

Text

@jegulus-microfic - December 13 - prompt: jail - words: 1,282

tw: alcohol abuse, mentions of past minor character death, unhealthy/toxic relationship dynamics

He doesn’t understand why James is making such a big deal out of this. People who love you hurt you; it’s inevitable. But, they still love you, so that’s should be enough… right?

So what if over the last few months, since his mother’s death, he’s taken to getting drunk and getting mean. So what if he stopped showing up for work, and stopped cleaning his house, and stopped letting James hold him. So what if he can only stand to tell James he loves him after drink number 3, and if by 4 he’s criticizing him, and if by 5 he’s weepy.

Why should any of that matter?

Regulus loves him. James knows that.

Is James saying that’s not enough? Because, if so, that’s just not fair. Regulus has been torn to shreds by the people who love him his entire life, and he’s never left, because that’s just how love is. He thought James understood that.

But now, here he is, drunk and alone in a cold holding cell. He’d really thought it was quite ridiculous when the bar owner had called the police after Barty punched that guy, the one who Regulus had been running his mouth off too. After all, it was just one little punch, and the guy was probably fine. There wasn’t even that much blood.

But then there were sirens and two officers were questioning him—Barty already in the backseat of the cruiser, unable to stop himself from mouthing off, even if he wanted to—and unfortunately for the officers, they’d caught Regulus after drink number 4, so he was anything but kind or respectful.

During the ride to the station, Barty had mumbled on and on about how this was pointless, because Evan would bail him out in under an hour, and he had been right. Regulus hadn’t even questioned that the same would be the case for him, when he called James.

But, there was a small voice in his head telling him it wouldn’t be the same. Because—James had broken up with him, just a few days ago, hadn’t he?

Regulus brushed the thought off. It didn’t matter, it wouldn’t stick; Regulus loved James, and that meant he could hurt him, and James would stick around. Because to love is enough.

Except…

Well, now it’s been an hour, and Barty has already left—he offered to have Evan bail him out too, but he’d stubbornly declined, because James would come.

As the minutes tick past, Regulus begins to doubt this thought, replaying the short call he’d been allowed to make. It had never even crossed his mind to dial Sirius’ number, or anyone else. It was James. It was always James.

“Regulus?” James had answered tiredly, seemingly already knowing it would be him. Perhaps calling past 3 am had become too common of an occurrence, but Regulus didn’t dwell on it.

James had been silent while Regulus slurred his way through a recount of the events, and then silent for a few moments after, before sighing.

“I love you, you know that?” James had whispered into the line, and for some reason it had made Regulus’ stomach drop. Because it didn’t sound like it was enough—it sounded like goodbye.

“I know,” Regulus shakily replied, wetting his lips. For some reason, he couldn’t form the words back.

(He loved him, and love is enough, so he wouldn’t say goodbye, too.)

The line went dead.

Regulus is still waiting.

The longer he has to sober up, the more he begins to question what this means. James has claimed to love him more times than his mother ever did, and yet she never left. How can James say those words and then just—

“Regulus Black,” An officer calls out, approaching his cell and interrupting his thoughts. Regulus stands up quickly, so quick that his head begins to spin a bit. “It’s your lucky night; you’ve been bailed out.”

Hope swirls in his chest.

Pride and a smug sense of satisfaction because ha—he knew it. Love is enough; and so James came.

Except—

When he follows the officer into the lobby, he’s not greeted with warm tired eyes nor messy dark curls nor James in his soft red pajama pants—the ones patterned with bucks across them. No, instead he finds Sirius, hands in the pockets of his jacket, messy hair pulled back into a bun, eyes looking wary.

The hurt and worry and confusion sting more than Regulus had anticipated.

After filling out some paperwork, they walk out into the cool night in silence. Regulus’ world is falling apart, and that’s not something he wants to discuss with Sirius at nearly 4 in the morning, but apparently it is something Sirius wants to discuss, because he sighs upon getting it into his car and starting it up.

“You have to stop doing this to yourself,” he pleads gently. “She’s not worth spiraling over. She’s not worth losing the people you love over.”

She’s not worth losing James over, is what he means to say. Regulus knows it.

“He said he loved me.”

There’s a pause.

“What?” Sirius asks quietly, tired and sad eyes turned upon Regulus.

“He said he loved me,” Regulus repeats blankly. “And he’s not here, so clearly he didn’t. Mother—she would be here.”

Because she loved him. And love is enough.

Sirius stares at him for a few moments longer, something Regulus can’t quite interpret in his expression. Then, he puts the car in drive, and begins to pull out of the parking lot. They don’t speak for a while, and Regulus assumes this is because he has stumped Sirius, shown him that clearly James never really loved him. Because Regulus did—does—love James, so if the roles were reversed, he’d do anything. Even now, it’s James that he dials while drunk.

They pull up to a red light, and Sirius releases a soft exhale before glancing over at Regulus. In the soft glow, where Sirius’ face is only illuminated by fluorescent red, Regulus can see just how exhausted he is.

But he came, a voice in his head supplies. Because he loves Regulus, and love is enough.

“James loves you,” Sirius says softly, and Regulus wants to snort and argue, but Sirius doesn’t give him the chance. “So much so that he won’t sit around and do nothing while you destroy yourself. So much so that’s he’s in our flat, probably worrying himself to death, waiting for me to call and say that you’re okay. So much so that he’s willing to stay away from you—which is killing him, by the way—if he thinks that’s what will help stop this spiral.”

Regulus doesn’t know what to say to that because—because isn’t love pain? Isn’t love supposed to hurt? Isn’t love still showing up despite that?

“James loves you.”

But.

He wants to scream. He wants to thrash and kick and throw a tantrum like a child. Because if James loved him he’d be here, right? That’s what love is!

And still—

There’s a pain in his chest, an undeniable aching in his heart, that tells him maybe this is love. He wasn’t wrong to think that love can be pain, but he was wrong to think that it was mutual commiseration in it.

Because maybe love is pain, sometimes, but maybe it’s supposed to be painful in the way resetting a broken bone is—agony that leads to healing. Maybe, right now, this pain is from Regulus continuing to snap, and James continuing to put him back. Maybe James is leaving, so Regulus has to learn how to do it on his own.

Maybe love is enough, just not in the way he thought.

#rose's microfics #look I wrote this before work #I did not proofread it bc no time oops #rose write something under 1k challenge !!!!#this was inspired by dial drunk can you tell #jegulus #james potter #regulus black #starchaser #sunseeker #jegulus microfic

28 notes · View notes

mywingsareonwheels · 8 months

Text

On "Endeavour" series 9 (a critical/disappointed but affectionate post)

Cut for length, spoilers, and criticism :)

I've been thinking so much (too much ;-) ) about the ending of Endeavour since it came out. Sometimes joyfully, sometimes wistfully, mostly sadly. Occasionally angrily.

What series 9, and especially 9.3 really needed to do was a) wind up and honour the character arcs/plot arcs of Endeavour and b) set things up for Inspector Morse. And honestly, after months of pondering and thinking and hearing other people's views on it (both those I agree with and those I don't, the latter actually including Shaun Evans's ;-) )... I think it did at least partially fail in both those aims. But I think it failed ambitiously and lovingly. Which matters.

The Bad Stuff:-

The key problem Russell Lewis has said he had in writing s9 was the Thursday family and the fact that Morse never mentions any of them in IM, at least unless Joan really is the Mrs Strange of that period of time.

This problem was made worse by the fact that they are four of the most lovable characters in Endeavour, and that the relationship between Morse and Fred Thursday is the key one within it. So I can see the logic! Something awful has to happen. And given Morse's romantic interest in Joan, the Thursday family generational war trauma, and Fred's PTSD-ridden tendencies towards explosive violence when he's feeling protective of his loved ones or other vulnerable people... I can see why Lewis went with the solution he did.

The trouble is... solving the Problem of the Thursdays I think took over series 9 to such an extent that the writing managed to:-

a) honestly? fridge the character development and perceived quality of all four Thursdays (especially Fred and Joan, both of whom I think got a really rough deal tbh) in order to further Morse's long-term arc, which really is a bit bloody unfair after 9 seasons. Very very damn unfair in fact. And... uncompassionate, which is awful given that overall Endeavour is one of the most compassionate shows I've ever seen.

b) undermine Jakes's return by giving a necessary incompleteness to his search for Big Pete (and also massively underusing Jack Laskey, but honestly the fact that series 9 was only three episodes long did cause problems there).

c) turn Big Pete/Raymond Kennet into just a plot device for the aforementioned fridging of Fred's character development which... actually I admit didn't fully notice until I read a fic chapter today which did the opposite, but oof.

d) undermine Max's friendship with Morse in Inspector Morse by ignoring it completely and implying that Morse is Alone Forever after the events of Endeavour which just Isn't The Case (and again, James Bradshaw was shockingly underused). Gods could we have done with at least one scene where it was recognised that Max isn't going anywhere and they like each other so much. <3

e) actually? Undermine the complexity of the Morse of Inspector Morse too. Because DCI Morse? Is not constantly miserable and dour and closed off and unable to connect with people. He has friends, he has choir, he can make literary references in the station and have a random PC pick them up, he has a positively impish sense of humour at times, he still has his wonderful relationship with Joyce. His house is gorgeous and thoroughly well-loved. He immediately warms to Lewis who is a lot like Thursday at times, and he clearly rather enjoys Lewis teasing him so much. He is kind and compassionate, and sometimes his manner with witnesses is very like Thursday's avuncular best moments. Sure, DCI Morse is also difficult and grumpy and most definitely an alcoholic; he struggles to open up fully to people and never manages to pull off a long-term romantic relationship. But he's not a permanent ice king. He's actually a lot more like the earlier DC Morse at times than the Morse of the last few minutes of 9.3! The whole "I was betrayed by Thursday and now I will never trust anyone ever again ever" thing just wasn't necessary in order to set up Morse in his 40s and 50s. If anything, it leaves open the question of how he navigates what's actually a rather larger character jump than it would have been if Endeavour had ended earlier. Which just... ngyargh. (Also, I mean... I'm not aro, very emphatically not, but even I can see that there's something more than a bit problematic about the suggestion that Morse's life is tragic forever because he's usually single.)

Here's the other thing though: the one respect in which he is very closed-off even with Lewis in Inspector Morse is that he never tells Lewis about anyone important in his past unless he actually has to (usually because they die a violent death and his connection with the victim comes up). Never mentioning the Thursdays, Dorothea, Bright, Jakes? It didn't need that intense an explanation. At least, not a "he can't even bear to think about Fred or Joan again" explanation. It just means none of them died a violent death in Thames Valley during his time as DCI which, you know, I am extremely fricking glad about! ;-) He could press the still-beloved Thursday family to his heart like flowers, and that would be enough. He could still be getting postcards from all of them right up to the end (and I'm persisting in believing that he does ;-) ).

To unpack point a) a bit:- I mean where Joan's concerned I think a lot of us agree on this. I actually do like Strange! But it is horrible that we never hear anything about Joan's social work in series 9; it's implied that she's giving up her job in order to marry him. And Joan finding herself and moving towards saving the world one woman at a time was beautiful. I mean, there was no obligation to have everyone have a happy ending series 9! But the ending of that arc of Joan's without explanation and without comment. Not even a brief discussion where she says that she's regarding it as worth it, or is wondering about going back to work at some point... gah. That's harsh. Also, if she is the Mrs Strange of Inspector Morse? That isn't going to be a very happy marriage. :( So we're left I think hoping that they'll divorce, and that Joan will go back to social work one day, and perhaps go and find her family.

And Fred. Oh Gods, Fred. I mean, I have made so many posts about him on here. ;-) The thing is: with the context provided in series 9, him committing manslaughter (not murder! not under English/Welsh law! and he might even have a decent case for self-(and other) defense!) and perverting the course of justice (yeah okay that he definitely is guilty of) in order to save Sam... it makes sense. He has had his moments of violence, and I think it's crucial to not forget that he's killed two people to save Morse in the past. Which... is part of what frustrates me, because it feels like the narrative in 9.3 is that we should treat Fred killing to save Sam as somehow less morally okay than him killing to save Morse. Which is the kind of protagonist-centered morality (or indeed police-centered morality?) that the morseverse generally avoids, and I Do Not Like It.

But the precise circumstances that series 9 creates in order to make it convincing for Fred to a) do that, b) cover it up, c) snap that badly at Morse, d) try to justify what he's done to Morse... they were extreme. It takes one of the most intense piles of trauma laid on one character in one 3-episode season of anything I think I've ever seen. Fred is going through so much, he's so broken, he's so burnt out. And I mean... of course! It took all of that to make him make those mistakes! But in retrospect... if you need to set up that intense a situation in order to make a character fuck up enough to further the plot line of another character... yeah. Hence my comment about fridging his arc. The point of Morse and Fred's relationship until series 9 has always been that even though they are both very flawed and very fallible, their love for each other is a good and awesome thing (series 7 I think really brings that home <3 ). It feels to me that 9.3 makes the whole of the rest of the show less moving and good, and that's... oh that's sad. So sad. :( I mean, I'm very biased, the Morse & Fred relationship has always been my favourite thing about Endeavour! But if the ultimate message is "Morse should never have loved Fred that much, however kind Fred was and however often he saved Morse's life"... oh that's just... it makes the whole thing so much thinner. This is, apart from anything else, a man who explicitly puts his marriage at risk when his son is missing in order to save Morse at the end of s8! But now we're supposed to see everything a tragedy because Morse has to accept that he isn't that important to Fred and never has been because during a really intense few months he's not been Fred's number 1 priority and... gaaaah.

This is terribly rambly; I'm really not as articulate today as I should like. Apologies!

The thing is: I've been fighting actually-being-a-bit-disappointed-in-series 9 for months, but now I'm going "no actually they failed" I can be a bit more generous. :)

Because...

The Good Stuff:

a) Bright's arc is fantastic. 100/10, no criticisms. <3 Probably the only one I'm fully happy about but I am very happy about it.

b) There is not a split-second in the whole of series 9 (the whole of Endeavour in fact) in which the acting is other than superb, especially from the main cast. That farewell scene between Morse and Thursday? Fucking hell. I mean, Roger Allam is my favourite actor, he never disappoints, but he still astounded me! And Shaun was also just magnificent. <3 And why hasn't Anton Lesser played Prospero yet; his delivery of the speech was incredible! Also fucking hell Caroline O'Neill is an unsung hero of the whole show.

c) To do the Fred arc justice: Fred's morality wasn't thrown away over nothing. I do feel that the trauma-conga-line-to-enable-Fred-to-let-Morse-down-sufficiently bordered at least on the contrived and unkind, but my Gods it would have been so much worse if it wasn't there! <3

d) So much nuance. I mean the fact that a lot of us cheerfully disagree with each other over how forgiving or otherwise Morse was feeling towards Fred? Is based on microexpressions, and call-backs, and how much we can read into the layering of Fred's image over the reference to Lazarus "born a pauper" in the "In Paradisum" of the Faure Requiem, and what sounds like was more than one filmed version of the farewell scene. I mean, my Gods. Endeavour has always respected the intelligence of the viewer, but that was something else.

e) The nitty-gritty of the dialogue never stopped being wonderful. Some absolutely incredible lines, literary references, layered scenes... I know I talk about James Bradshaw and Jack Laskey being underused, but the lines that each of Max and Jakes got while actually onscreen? Phenomenal. Ditto Abigail Thaw/Dorothea, on all counts.

f) The cinematography bloody hell. <3 <3 <3 And the music! Aaah!

The failures of series 9 I see are in pacing, and in making flawed decisions that don't serve the characterisation. They aren't, not once, about the quality of filmmaking being anything other than fantastic. <3 Or the storyline being other than extremely ambitious. There's nothing lazy or cheap or shock-tactics-for-the-sake-of-shock-tactics or (grr) prioritising being unpredictable over being good. It's all earnest and loving and beautifully-realised.

So many times when a show ends disappointingly (or a show's current main actor's final series ending disappointingly *cough*Shetland*cough*) it's down to lack of care and attention and love. I can't possibly accuse Russell Lewis or anyone involved in Endeavour of that. <3

I just... I just wish, so much, that they'd made different choices for the Thursdays. But at least we still have fanfic. :-)

(Also, full love to those of you who disagree with me on part or all of this! I love that this is a fandom where we can agree to disagree, and avoid much in the way of ship wars/character wars etc.. <3 Long may it continue!)

#itv endeavour #endeavour spoilers #endeavour s9 #endeavour s9 spoilers #itv inspector morse #mild inspector morse spoilers #endeavour critical #but also #endeavour admiring #e morse #endeavour morse #inspector morse #fred thursday #joan thursday #russell lewis

35 notes · View notes

jamesunderwater · 11 days

Text

20 Qᴜᴇꜱᴛɪᴏɴꜱ ꜰᴏʀ ꜰɪᴄ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇʀꜱ

Thanks for tagging me!! @gracelesslady23 @annabtg @kay-elle-cee this was very sweet to get to do.

Ao3 Username: itsjamespotter

1. How many works do you have on A03?

31, wow! How wild, that feels like a lot.

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count?

162k!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Show and Tell (3k, wolfstar smut)

Dead To Me (91k, wip lily evans angst)

Tall Dark and Glasses (3k, jily fluff)

"you have no idea how long i've been wanting to do that" (1k, prongsfoot smut)

Bring Your Kid to Work Day(s never end when your godfather is Sirius Black) (2k, good godfather sirius black fluff)

5. Do you respond to comments?

I try to, or at least have the goal to, but admittedly I'm very bad at it. (not to use it as an excuse but my adhd is fully to blame.) I plan to go back and catch up on all of them soon & have a dream of being much better about it, though. I do intentionally make sure I eventually respond to the ones for my WIPs, at least.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

well, since dead to me hasn't ended yet (kidding kidding kidding kidding!!!) lmao I really thought I was gonna have a hard time finding a fic with an unhappy ending but I evidently forgot who I am. I dunno how to choose between: 1. i don't even know where you end and i begin (500 words, canon prongsfoot....you get it) 2. Promises to Keep (1k words, dorlene with canon ending....you get it)

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Okay listen, do I technically have a fic that mentions living happily ever after in the last line? Yes. Am I choosing that fic? No. I'm choosing Happy Holidays, You Filthy Potters, because 1. smut, 2. sassy young Harry, and best of all, 3. sassy good godfather sirius black 😉

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I've gotten a couple of comments about Lily in Dead To Me but I've decided it's not my problem if people don't have critical analysis skills 💀

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do! I write smut for a number of different ships and plan on doing others! Uhhh, what kind? the fact that I don't really know what that means probably means it's pretty vanilla 😆 there's a lot of going down on people 🤐

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Haha, no, but if I did I'd probably do PJO/HP

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge. that would be so heartbreaking.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but that's SO cool that people offer to do that for some fics!!!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have!! @charmsandtealeaves and I co-wrote a fic for a jilychallenge last year, before we were even friends! It was my first time co-writing a fic, which was very cool and different, but also didn't feel that foreign to me -- I think because I've spent a lot more years doing para RP than I have writing fics. It was fun to kind of riff off another writer in a different way. I would definitely do it again!

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Okay, this is kind of tough because I only recently got into Prongsfoot, and they are the definition of soulmates... But because I ultimately see Sirius as more of an ace/aro character, Jily wins the place of favorite ship in my heart. <3

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Well, I really only have two WIPs posted on AO3: Dead To Me and Just This Once, and I have all of DTM outlined and plan to finish it by fall. Just This Once might be a while, but I also have a plan for it and would like to finish it at some point... But I guess there's a chance I won't finish it -- I do have a lot of other multi-chaps I am going to be starting soon.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Hm. I like to think I'm good at getting into the minds of my characters, really thinking through their motivations and emotions and then expressing those to the reader. I also think I'm fairly good at dialogue. I really like writing banter so I hope others think I'm good at it, haha. And based on what I've been told, my smut isn't half bad 😆

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Oh, definitely writing descriptions of any kind. I never remember to describe the scene and when I do, I think it feels clunky. I'm not great at writing in a more direct way, either; I struggle to express a character's emotions without getting a bit flowery with it. Just generally, I think my writing could be tighter, you know? I'm sure I'll realize other things I need to work on as I write more long fics, too.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Ah, haven't done it yet, so don't have any thoughts to share.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

HP -- Jily on the Neopets forums... never 4get <3

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

If we're talking finished works, I'd have to say Tall Dark and Glasses, which I wrote for the masquerade event for Jilytober last year. To me, that fic has a certain je ne sais quois that is hard to replicate. But unfinished? Dead To Me, hands down, and once it's finished it will be very hard to ever top it. It's imperfect and there are a lot of edits I'd make if I were to go back through and polish it up, but it's the first multi chap fic I've ever written, and beyond just feeling immensely proud of that, the story itself and how I'm writing it is one of the most heartfelt and meaningful things I'll ever write in my life.

these were such a pleasure to respond to, thanks again for the tags! <3 I'm tagging: @goldenbi @abihastastybeans & @nodirectionhome-ao3

#hp #me #my writing #jily #wolfstar #prongsfoot

9 notes · View notes

world-cinema-research · 11 days

Text

Superbad, 2007

a personal favorite film

The film that I have decided to rediscover is the movie Superbad starring Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. They star alongside Seth Rogan who happens to be one of the three writers who created the screenplay for the film. Seth and his childhood friend, Evan Goldberg, decided to write this film together as it reflected on the high school experience they had with each other, along with some dramatics added for entertainment. Something I found to be very interesting about the movie was that it took around 12 years to fully make from writing to filming all together. Seth Rogen had even possibly thought about playing the role of himself in it, which. ended up being given to Jonah Hill It depicts a somewhat coming of age moment in life as well as showing adolescence and the beauty of friendship in a way. When I first saw the movie, I believe I was around 15 or 16, and I had watched it with my best friend at the time on a movie website called Watch Party in which you can watch the same movie at the same exact time as someone and you are able to chat about it as you are watching it. I think the combination of watching it with my best friend and us being able to comment on it together and experiencing high school at the same time, it kind of felt really just fun and entertaining. Looking back on it now, it really just feels nostalgic. I tend to rewatch it whenever I want a pick me up or a good laugh, and it always takes me back to a point in life when I was in high school and the nostalgia is something I will carry with me with each rewatch. It seems weird that a silly movie like Superbad would leave a strong impact on me, but I love it. I have also introduced the movie to more friends who haven't already seen it, and they always end up loving it, which makes me happy as well.

The movie seemed to have been met with great critical acclaim. It was almost an outright hit as a film and did very well. When it comes to numbers, the film had a domestic opening of $33,052,411 and ended up grossing $121,463,226 overall, according to Box Office Mojo. Seth Rogan being a big name already is somewhat what drew people's attention toward the film as he had been previously partaking in other movies that did well. A mix of actors was also intriguing to viewers, as Emma Stone is also a supporting actor throughout the movie. Something that assisted the return of investment was simply by the genre of the movie, comedy. The film was primarily a comedy, relying on its witty dialogue, raunchy humor, and absurd situations to entertain audiences. This comedic approach appealed to a wide demographic, particularly younger audiences. I feel like nowadays the film industry is heavily lacking in comedies, unless I am simply missing them. In the early to mid 2000’s, I feel as though comedy was so much more apparent and frequent and I hope it can make a return. "Superbad" blends conventional comedy elements with unconventional humor and character dynamics. While it follows a typical narrative structure and features familiar high school archetypes, its raunchy humor and realistic portrayal of teenage life set it apart. The film's unique tone and fresh character interactions contribute to its unconventional appeal within the comedy genre. The only real limiting factor I would say that possibly prevented bringing in more viewers was the R-rating that this movie holds. The movie is pretty raunchy and the language that is used very clearly depicts a movie that would be rated-r. Something interesting I discovered was that Spider-Man 3 premiered this year as well and it had become the top grossing movie of 2007, with Superbad a bit down the list at 21.

youtube

Upon rewatching, I find myself with the same feelings as before, in the most positive way. I simply love the movie, and it definitely stands as one of my most watched movies ever and a comfort movie I always turn to. Like stated previously, it now holds a lot of nostalgia for my own adolescence and it feels really cool to watch it again and somehow feel like how I did when I was 15 watching it for the first time on a random day. Something I noticed this time when watching it was how much I enjoyed how the movie timeline was only one day, and it felt like I was going through the whole day with them as a viewer, and I just love when movies do that.

#Youtube

9 notes · View notes

vyeoh · 21 days

Note

sorry i literally just watched a boot of deh for the first time and saw your post abt how people couldn't even handle evan from december and like. yeah. god. evan is a miserable freak, but we all are. (well i guess the issue is that deh critics aren't lmao). we might not perpetuate huge lies because we cant stand to face who we really are, but i just cant believe ppl have never been that miserable before and prioritized their own selfish needs like he did. what can you even do when youre that suicidal and ashamed of who you are? its a cliche but hurt people do hurt people. but everyone in the musical does. nothing for people with mental illnesses can improve unless we accept the messy gross and uncomfortable truths. no one can be "found" until we stop condemning ppl punitively (like what most ppl wanted for evan, when he already lost everything again anyway). we have to empathize even with ppl who do bad things because otherwise theres no room for growth of any kind. no room to fuck up or ever act imperfect or well: mentally ill. im not even arguing "oh so that means everything he did was okay". bc, no. but if we cant tell a story like evans, whose mental illness can we even show? the social media version of it? which i think deh as a musical perfectly explores lol

Anon we should make out sloppy style

#vio.ask

8 notes · View notes

wonderlandleighleigh · 1 year

Text

For your reading pleasure, with @alixinwwonderland‘s blessing

I present to you ten pages of 89-year-old Midge Maisel on Hot Ones.

“Hey, what’s up, everybody. For First We Feast, I’m Sean Evans, and you’re watching Hot Ones. The show with hot questions and even hotter wings. Today we’re joined by Midge Maisel. She’s a comedy legend with credits that span the Gordon Ford program, the Tonight Show, the Carol Burnett Show, as well as countless other variety shows and comedy specials as well as her own show, Midge Hour. She has a new memoir coming out, entitled ‘What’s My Name Again?’ Midge, welcome to the show.”

“Quite an introduction, thank you,” Midge beams.

“Now, Midge, how are you with spicy food?” Sean asks.

“I love spicy food,” she tells him, her smile still big. “I used to eat hot peppers to get out of dates.”

Sean blinks. “Wow. That is…so you’re ready for this, huh?”

“Fuck yeah.”

They dig into the first wing, and Midge doesn’t flinch, taking a nice bite, and nodding. “Mm. This one is nice.”

“High praise, that’s one of ours,” Sean tells her.

“Oh, can I get a bottle?”

“You can have that bottle.”

“Oh.” She reaches out, taking it and shoving it into her purse, making Sean and the crew laugh.

“Midge, you’ve written a few books now about comedy and show business and your experiences, what makes this new one different?” Sean asks, as he tries to control his laughter.

Midge chews and swallows, sitting back. “This one got personal in ways I’d previously shied away from,” she explains. “You know, before it felt a little salacious to talk about my personal life, and my struggles outside of show business, but at this point in my life, I don’t really care anymore. And I think if people can relate to those personal struggles and see themselves in some of them, then that’s valuable. Also, all of the men I mention in the book have died, so everyone is fair game.”

More laughter.

They eat the next wing and Midge nods thoughtfully. “Sweeter. Nice.”

“Yeah, the tropiqante is real unique,” Sean agrees. “So your father went from a math professor at Columbia to a renowned theater critic, and your mother went from being a housewife to a popular matchmaker in the Upper West Side. They went through transitions in the early sixties in the same way you did, finding themselves and these new passions and careers. Did that influence your comedy trajectory?”

Midge laughs softly. “Oh. No. No, no, no, my comedy career influenced them. They saw me going out and going after what I wanted and they both realized that they could also do more. Be more than they were, and they were both very talented, determined people. My mother actually became a matchmaker out of necessity. My father’s journalism career was nowhere near lucrative enough to support himself and Mama, so she went pro with the matchmaking to support the family. We definitely pool resources. But they blamed me for the changes they wound up making in their lives. I got yelled at about a few times.”

They move on to the next wing and Midge takes a bite, stopping and nodding. “Mmm. I like that one. That one is great.”

“Right?” Sean agrees. “That’s my favorite this season.”

Midge picks up the bottle, grinning. “I like the kitty label. Can I have this one too?”

“You sure can.”

She grins and drops it into her purse, earning her more laughter.

“You’re off to a great start,” Sean chuckles.

“It’s good!” Midge chirps happily.

“Is it true that when you were working on the Gordon Ford Show, Lucille Ball used to come backstage to hang out with you?” Sean asks.

Midge laughs, clapping her hands and shaking her head. “Not even a little bit! I met Lucille Ball a few times, at things like awards shows, but by and large, we didn’t run into each other. I had nothing but respect for her, but we just didn’t run in the same circles. There were two women who, when they came on the show, would come backstage and we’d smoke cigarettes and gossip and have a good time.”

“Carol Burnett and Julie Andrews?” Sean guesses.

She nods, beaming at him. “I love them both dearly. Desperately. They once helped me scare off Warren Beatty. All we had to do was tell him how old I was, and he lost interest.”

The laughs from that joke are a little more nervous.

“See, I should have been more prepared for you to make jokes like that,” Sean says nervously.

Midge smirks as they eat the next wing.

“Los Calientes Barbacoa Hot Sauce,” Midge reads the label. “Hmm.” She drops the bottle into her bag.

“High praise again, we make that one, too,” Sean tells her.

She grins. “You guys do good work.”

“Thank you. So back in the day, Lenny hosted his own late night show that you wrote for on the side while working for Gordon Ford. Was it hard to balance the two shows? And what was the most fun you ever had doing that kind of work?”

“It was actually pretty easy,” Midge admits. “I mean, from a time perspective, it was challenging, because it was doing double duty and working two jobs, but it was easy to keep the two shows separate, you know? Lenny’s humor was so much more irreverent and bad boy than Gordon’s was, so it was easy to keep it straight in my head. And I was paid well for both jobs. Obviously a little more from Gordon because I was spending more time and I was a regular on the show, but Lenny made sure the studio paid me for my work on his show. The most fun I ever had, was writing them the same monologue. And everyone was in on it. Everybody knew that was the joke, but having Gordon deliver it early in the night on his show, and then having Lenny deliver later on his show and having Gordon storm onto Lenny’s set and watching those two get into a fake fight and then realize that I’d written it and given it to both of them. That was so fun. That aha moment still gets used in clip reels for both of them on tributes and retrospectives, and it was just the best. Both of those men were so talented and so different in how they saw and related to the world, but they made this almost perfect odd couple when you put them on screen together, and I loved working with both of them. Gordon was easy-going but firm. He knew what he wanted, but he was always open to new things, or other suggestions, and he could spot talent and great ideas easily. And Lenny, yes, had a dark side, but there was such a joy in him when he was having a good time. It’s not something people think of when they think of him, but when he’s on a role, you can tell how happy he is, and he’s never above changing things if he realizes someone has something better. He wasn’t terribly precious about his material, and creating with the person you’re in love with is really the best thing ever.”

They eat the next wing and Midge narrows her eyes as she looks at the bottle. “Fly boy Jing - this is very - I don’t know. It’s not for me. I mean, the flavor is good, but- hmm.”

“A lot of people say it’s an oily texture,” Sean tells her.

“Mm, that might be it. I mean it’s not bad! It’s just not my favorite,” she tells him. “I’ll leave this one behind. Sorry, Fly by Jing.”

“So we have a segment on our show called Explain that ‘Gram, where we do a deep dive on our guests’ Instagram, pull interesting pictures that need more context. So we’ll pull up photos on the monitor, and you tell us the bigger story,” Sean tells her.

Midge nods and smiles. “Okay.” She looks at the monitor, and her smile goes wider as she sees a photo of Herself and Lenny in the middle of the snow storm, newspapers over their heads, clearly unable to see in the storm. “Ooooooh,” she laughs. “I love that photo.”

“It was taken in November of 1960,” Sean says.

“That was a night or two before Lenny’s very first Carnegie Hall gig, before we got together,” Midge explains. “And he had come to the strip club I was MC’ing at to apologize to me for some truly dramatic, bad behavior. So we’re backstage, and we’re talking, and suddenly, there’s screaming from onstage. Because it was an illegal strip club, and it was being raided by the cops! So he grabs my hand and we’re trying to get out without getting arrested, and I stop to try and find my coat and purse and he comes back for me, and I’m like ‘I need to get my things!’ and he’s like ‘get more things!’ and drags me out the door, and into the snow, and I have no coat and no umbrella, and my shoes are ruined and Lenny refuses to carry me, but he gave me his suit jacket, and we stole newspapers from a corner newsstand to cover our heads as he rushes me to the hotel the Carnegie people put him up in.”

“That is wild,” Sean laughs.

“Oh, it was really crazy,” Midge giggles, looking a couple of decades younger than she actually is suddenly. “And we…we waited out the snow together. We kissed for the first time that night. Well, we did a lot of things for the first time that night. It’s in the new book!”

Sean and the crew laugh at that.

“Once the snow had let up a little, we trekked back out, and we bailed out Lenny’s friends and a few of the strippers from the club, and then we get the worst Chinese food I have ever had. What a great night. That was the night I fell in love with Lenny. You know, the world thinks of Lenny Bruce as this bad boy, who was seen as a degenerate and a sicknik, but behind closed doors, when he wasn’t on stage, he was so sweet. He wanted to make people laugh and tell truth to power in his career, but at home, he just wanted to be a good husband and a good father, and he was both of those things. I was very lucky to find him, and share almost fifty years with him.”

They move onto the next wing, and Midge takes a bite, chewing slowly as she reads the label. “Turmeric bomb. Hm. It’s not bad. It’s not my favorite. But it is getting hotter. I’m starting to feel it now.”

“Yeah, we’re getting to the back half, here,” Sean agrees. “The scotch bonnets in this one make it hotter.”

Midge nods, chewing still. “Mm. Yeah. Not my favorite. It’s not going in the bag.”

“It’s become legend that Sophie Lennon was not your favorite person, and one of your early sets roasted her for a number of things you found insufferable about her,” Sean comments. “Where did that feud come from? How did that start?”

Midge laughs a little and picks up her egg cream, taking a sip. “Mm. So. I almost scored a gig opening for Sophie back at the beginning of my career, and before she made a decision on giving me the job, she asked me to come to her house to talk. And it turned out that the Sophie Lennon audiences get on stage, and the real Sophie Lennon could not have been more different. She presents as a very humble, down-to-earth working class house wife type to the public, and in private, she is…not that at all. And I get keeping those two personas separate. Lenny did that. You know, his whole face would change just before hitting the stage. But the real Sophie Lennon was not a good person. She was, in fact, cruel, and she was cruel to me. The thing about that conversation that sticks out to me is that she looked at me and she said ‘darling, look at you. I mean really, men don’t want to laugh at you. They want to fuck you.’ And she told me that if I wanted to get ahead in comedy, I couldn’t go on stage and be a woman. I had to be a thing. A character, like her. And I left, bewildered, and then the more I thought about the things she said, the angrier I got about it, and I absolutely fucked myself over by trash talking her onstage. She had me blackballed for as long as she could manage. And we made a little peace eventually, but for a very long time we just couldn’t stand each other. She thought I was a hack, and I thought she was a phony.”

“Cosmic Disco,” Midge reads as she eats, wrinkling her nose. “It’s good. It’s not bad. It’s not as good as some of the earlier ones. And Cosmic disco sounds like something my kids would have been into in the seventies.”

Sean laughs. “It’s well documented that you hold brunch every Sunday and invite both well-known and up-and-coming comedians. How did these brunches come about?”

Midge smiles as she sips more of her egg cream. “Fuck, these really are getting hotter. Okay. So funny brunch is something I started doing back in the eighties, and Lenny just kind of went along with it. But something that really struck me about Sophie Lennon was that she was this hugely successful icon in comedy, and she had no interest in holding the door open for the next generation of comedians, and I hated that. Not just because I was someone she slammed the door on, but because comedy is a living, breathing thing that changes with the times, right? New people are constantly finding different ways to make people laugh, and that’s a good thing. An important thing. So I started using the brunches as a way to meet other comedians, and to - to really help them, too. Comedy is a tough career, so for the people that were really struggling, it was a hot meal once a week that didn’t come in a pouch, and for the more successful comedians it was a way to hang out, and maybe get some career advice from myself or Lenny or the other old timers who would drop in. And I just loved it. I loved doing that. Robin Williams was a regular, what a sweetie he was. I miss him. Bob Sagat used to pop in. Whoopi Goldberg would show up after a tough Saturday night club crowd. And I still hold them. My kids will come by and help with the cooking sometimes, but I just love it. Amber Ruffin comes sometimes, and I just adore her. She’s amazing. And John Oliver will show up most weekends. Kenan Thompson has been coming for brunch for ten years now. Once in a blue moon, I’ll open the door and Steve Martin will be standing on my doorstep with a bottle of fresh squeezed orange juice. The first time Patton Oswalt showed up at my door, he was so nervous, I thought he was going to pass out, poor thing. You know. It’s all sorts of comics. Occasionally, when the College Humor guys are in town, I invite them - the- the Game Changer guys, those guys. Sam Reich and his unruly pre-schoolers, I call them. They’re fun. It’s just wonderful to be able to connect with people who do the same job that I’ve been doing all this time. It’s a strange community. We should all be thrown into a mental ward, probably, but almost everyone is great.”

“Almost everyone,” Sean repeats, grinning.

Midge takes a breath and lets it out slowly. “I’m not going to name names. But there are a few people who just aren’t interested in being a part of the community. They want to be famous, and they don’t care about other people. And that’s fine, that’s their choice, but they do miss out on nice things.”

They move on to the next wing, and midge blows out a breath.

“Da Bomb, Beyond Insanity,” she reads, before sniffing her wing and wrinkling her nose. “Ugh. This- Sean. This smells like something Lenny vomited up while he was going through withdrawal.”

“Not quite a ringing endorsement,” Sean says.

Midge sigh softly and lifts it up. “Whelp. Tits up.” With that, she takes a bite, and wrinkles her nose. “Augh. Sean. What the fuck.”

Sean takes his own bite and nods. “I know.”

“Fuck,”

“Yeah.”

“Sean. Why. Jesus.”

“Just do your best with it. You’re doing great.”

“I get that this is how you get views, but holy fuck is this bad,” Midge tells him. “And hot. Christ!” She takes her egg cream and takes a big gulp. “Sean. I am going to be ninety in a few months! Why would you do this to an old woman?!”

“I’m sorry, Midge,” Sean says, trying not to laugh.

“No you’re not. You’re not sorry. People who are sorry don’t smile like that,” Midge accuses him. “If the devil exists, his jizz probably tastes just like this hot sauce.”

The crew and Sean burst out laughing at that.

He tries to catch his breath as he drinks his own egg cream. “You grew up during World War II.”

Midge nods, drinking more of her egg cream. “I’m gonna need another. Ethan, Sweetie, can you please grab me another egg cream, I’m melting.”

“Sure, Ma,” Ethan says from off camera.

“Thank you. That’s my son. He’s wonderful. He took over my manager’s company after she retired and he’s been doing an amazing job,” Midge tells Sean. “Yes. I grew up during the war.”

“Was that something that informed the way you’ve lived your life since then?” Sean asks.

“Not at first,” Midge admits as Ethan brings her another egg cream. “Thank you, Sweetie, you really are the best.” She takes another sip. “Fuck. Okay. So. You know, after the war ended, America really wanted us to forget about it. To forget about all the changes. The fifties were, on their surface, a perfect time in America, but they truly were very scary for women and for people of color. And even for white men. It was- how to explain - we were expected to be perfect. We were expected to be…happy. Just happy. All the time. And yes, there was an economic boom, and that was good, but the men who survived the war and came back had shell shock - PTSD as we know it now - and women were expected to go from working in factories to being homemakers again and it was an existence that hurt a lot of people. I keep bringing up Lenny, but his drug use was a direct result of fighting in the war. They gave him amphetamines to keep him alert, and he got hooked, and to calm him down and get him off them, they gave him morphine and then he got hooked on that. And so many people went through those kinds painful experiences, but you weren’t supposed to talk about them. It was why a lot of people hated my comedy at first. I wasn’t supposed to get on a stage and tell strangers about how my husband fucked someone else and left. I was just supposed to keep going. But keeping it in - lying to people, because that’s what you did when you got divorced, you lied to your neighbors and acquaintances about it to save face - was too much for me. And that kind of swallowing of pain and trauma became too much for a lot of people. You can draw a line from that mindset to how sick of it people were by the time the Vietnam War really blew up. It was too much. But I didn’t understand that until my first husband left me, and my life blew up. And then all bets were off.”

“You ready for the next wing?” Sean asks.

“Fuck, I guess so,” Midge says, sipping more egg cream and then picking up her next wing.

She takes a bite and looks at the bottle. “Puckerbutt,” she giggles. “Sean, you dirty, dirty boy.”

The crew laughs and Sean shakes his head, resting his arm against his eyes so he doesn’t get hot sauce in them. “Midge.”

“God, this one is hot too, it’s all building, fuck, why did I agree to this?”

“Well, we’re glad you did, and you’re getting so close to the end,” Sean assures her. “You’re doing great.”

Midge picks up a tissue and blows her nose. “Jesus. So. Back before I met him, Lenny did a guest spot on the Playboy Penthouse TV show with Hugh Hefner, and he had to blow his nose in the middle of the interview, and now I know exactly how he feels.”

Sean smiles. “Do you think he’d have come on here?”

“No,” Midge says immediately. “I love spicy food, he really didn’t. He would have come to sit next to me and dab my forehead, but he would have told you to fuck yourself if you’d offered him one of these.”

The crew laughs again.

“Shy Baldwin is one of your best friends, but you’ve had a rocky history. Can you talk a little about how you’ve kept that friendship going, even through difficult times?” Sean asks.

Midge drinks more egg cream and sighs. “I love Shy. I have always loved Shy. It’s like having a little brother. I love him to death, but I really fucked things up back in the early early sixties, and I’m really lucky he forgave me. But after we put that kind of behind us, we were just there for each other. He’s my youngest daughter’s godfather, and I when he and his partner adopted a baby in the seventies, we talked a lot about parenting and what it is to really give up a big chunk of your life to care for someone else, and when the AIDS crisis hit in the eighties, we started performing together again to raise money and awareness. Shy had come out about five years before it truly hit, and we took shit-tons of photos together, hugging and holding hands and kissing cheeks and eating together to assure the public that you couldn’t get AIDS just by touching someone or being around someone. But there was so much misinformation - so much non-information at the time - it was tough, but because our government was fucking up everything about the AIDS crisis, as public figures, we felt like it was our responsibility to try and help get accurate information to the masses. And the people who hated me for it, largely already hated me because I was Jewish anyway, so it wasn’t any extra skin off my back.”

She watches as Sean picks up the last bottle and gives it a shake.

“What- what is this?” Midge asks. “Are you going to throw that on me?”

Sean laughs. “No, no, I promise, that’s not what’s happening. This is called the last dab. We put a little hot sauce on the last wing in the lineup.”

“Do I have to?”

“You don’t. But you can.”

“Well, if you’re doing it, I don’t wanna look like a pussy,” Midge says, lifting her own bottle and giving it a shake. “I’ve come this far.” She pours a little on her wing. “The Last Dab Apollo. That’s the gig that got me kicked off that first Shy Baldwin tour.”

The crew laugh, as she picks up her wing.

“What did you say before? Tits up?” Sean asks, as he lifts his wing.

Midge smiles and nods, lifting her own. “Tits up,” she says, before taking a bite. “Mm. Hot. But good hot.” She lifts the bottle and tosses it into her bag.

Sean watches her and shakes his head. “Midge. I am floored. I - you are 89 years old, likely the oldest person we’ve ever had on this show, and you crushed it. We’ve reached the end, and you have beaten the gauntlet.”

“Fuck yeah,” Midge cheers, tossing down her half-eaten wing and taking another sip of her egg cream.

“Just one more question. I want to ask you about something that Lenny once said about you.”

“Oh, no,” Midge smirks.

“He said ‘Midge Maisel is the voice of women throughout time. She speaks for the women in our society who have been subjected to horrors only men can dream up, and she does so with an unparalleled sense of humor. There is no one like her.’”

“Fuck,” Midge sniffles. She looks up. “You died! You’re not supposed to keep making me cry, you schmuck!” She takes a breath. “He was really my champion, but I don’t think he’s right. Because women’s experiences aren’t universal. I can’t possibly speak for all women, because my experiences as a white, Jewish woman don’t line up with those of black women, or Asian women, or Latina women, or gay women, or- or Non-binary female-presenting- is that right? God I get confused sometimes. But I don’t think he’s right. I think I do the best I can. But as always, Lenny remains sweet.”

“Midge Maisel,” Sean grins. “You’ve beaten the wings of death. Plowed through these hot sauces like they were nothing, and now all that’s left to do is take a bow. This camera, this camera, this camera - let the people know what you have going on in your life.”

Midge laughs and turns to one of the cameras he pointed out. “Hi. I’m Mrs. Maisel. I have a new book coming out, it’s called ‘What’s My Name Again?’ because I’ve had so fucking many. I’m co-producing a documentary on New York’s West Village nightlight and what it was like back when I was still a size two, and my daughter runs a charity that helps recovering addicts get back on their feet and support their families and loved ones through difficult times. I’m going to force Sean to put the link in the description. Thank you and goodnight!”

Sean and the crew laugh.

“Ma, it’s ten AM!” Ethan calls.

“Fuck you!” Midge chirps back as everyone applauds and laughs.

#fic #au #tmmm #Midge Maisel #Midge x Lenny #Midge/Lenny #Future Fic

71 notes · View notes