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denimbex1986 · 4 months

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'...“It’s fun playing bad, but actually he’s not,” the actor says, smiling as he reflects on his character, Crowley. “He’s a villain with a heart. The amount of really evil things he does are vanishingly small.”

...As it always has, “Good Omens” dissects the view of good and evil as absolutes, showing viewers that they are not as separate as we were led to believe growing up. Aziraphale and Crowley’s long-standing union is proof of this. The show also urges people to look at what defines our own humanity. For Tennant — who opted to wear a T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Leave trans kids alone you absolute freaks” during a photocall for Season 2 — these themes are more important now than ever before.

“In this society that we’re currently living in, where polarization seems ever more present, fierce and difficult to navigate. Negotiation feels like a dirty word at times,” he says, earnestly. “This is a show about negotiation. Two extremes finding common ground and making their world a better place through it. Making life easier, kinder and better. If that’s the sort of super objective of the show, then I can’t think of anything more timely, relevant or apt for the rather fractious times we’re living in.”

“Good Omens” is back by popular demand for another season. How does it feel?

It’s lovely. Whenever you send something out into the world, you never quite know how it will land. Especially with this, because it was this beloved book that existed, and that creates an extra tension that you might break some dreams. But it really exploded. I guess we were helped by the fact that we had Neil Gaiman with us, so you couldn’t really quibble too much with the decisions that were being made. The reception was, and continues to be, overwhelming.

Now that you’re no longer bound by the original material that people did, perhaps, feel a sense of ownership over, does the new content for Season 2 come with a sense of freedom for you? This is uncharted territory, of sorts.

That’s an interesting point. I didn’t know the book when I got the script. It was only after that I discovered the worlds of passion that this book had incited. Because I came to it that way, perhaps it was easier. I found liberation from that, to an extent. For me, it was always a character that existed in a script. At first, I didn’t have that extra baggage of expectation, but I acquired it in the run-up to Season 1 being released… the sense that suddenly we were carrying a ming vase across a minefield.

In Season 2, we still have Neil and we also have some of the ideas that he and Terry had discussed. During the filming of the first one, Neil would drop little hints about the notions they had for a prospective sequel, the title of which would have been “668: The Neighbour of the Beast,” which is a pretty solid gag to base a book around. Indeed there were elements like Gabriel and the Angels, who don’t feature in the book, that were going to feature in a sequel. They were brought forward into Season 1. So, even in the new episodes, we’re not entirely leaving behind the Terry Pratchett-ness of it all.

It’s great to see yourself and Michael Sheen reunited on screen as these characters. Fans will have also watched you pair up for Season 3 of “Staged.” You’re quite the dynamic duo. What do you think is the magic ingredient that makes the two of you such a good match?

It’s a slightly alchemical thing. We knew each other in passing before, but not well. We were in a film together [“Bright Young Things,” 1993] but we’d never shared a scene. It was a bit of a roll of the dice when we turned up at the read-through for “Good Omens.” I think a lot comes from the writing, as we were both given some pretty juicy material to work with. Those characters are beloved for a reason because there’s something magical about them and the way they complete each other. Also, I think we’re quite similar actors in the way we like to work and how we bounce off each other.

Does the shorthand and trust the two of you have built up now enable you to take more risks on-screen?

Yes, probably. I suppose the more you know someone, the more you trust someone. You don’t have to worry about how an idea might be received and you can help each other out with a more honest opinion than might be the case if you were, you know, dancing around each other’s nervous egos. Enjoying being in someone’s orbit and company is a positive experience. It makes going to work feel pleasant, productive, and creative. The more creative you can be, the better the work is. I don’t think it’s necessarily a given that an off-screen relationship will feed into an on-screen one in a positive or negative way. You can play some very intimate moments with someone you barely know. Acting is a peculiar little contract, in that respect. But it’s disproportionately pleasurable going to work when it’s with a mate.

Fans have long discussed the nature of Crowley and Aziraphale’s relationship. In Season 2, we see several of the characters debate whether the two are an item, prompting them to look at their union and decipher what it is. How would you describe their relationship?

They are utterly co-dependent. There’s no one else having the experience that they are having and they’ve only got each other to empathize with. It’s a very specific set of circumstances they’ve been dealt. In this season, we see them way back at the creation of everything. They’ve known each other a long time and they’ve had to rely on each other more and more. They can’t really exist one without the other and are bound together through eternity. Crowley and Aziraphale definitely come at the relationship with different perspectives, in terms of what they’re willing to admit to the relationship being. I don’t think we can entirely interpret it in human terms, I think that’s fair to say.

Yet fans are trying to do just that. Do you view it as beyond romantic or any other labels, in the sense that it’s an eternal force?

It’s lovely [that fans discuss it] but you think, be careful what you wish for. If you’re willing for a relationship to go in a certain way or for characters to end up in some sort of utopian future, then the story is over. Remember what happened to “Moonlighting,” that’s all I’m saying! [Laughs]

Your father-in-law, Peter Davison, and your son, Ty Tennant, play biblical father-and-son duo Job and Ennon in Episode 2. In a Tumblr Q&A, Neil Gaiman said that he didn’t know who Ty’s family was when he cast him. When did you become aware that Ty had auditioned?

I don’t know how that happened. I do a bunch of self-tapes with Ty, but I don’t think I did this one with him because I was out of town filming “Good Omens.” He certainly wasn’t cast before we started shooting. There were two moments during filming where Neil bowled up to me and said, “Guess, who we’ve cast?” Ty definitely auditioned and, as I understand it, they would tell me, he was the best. I certainly imagine he could only possibly have been the best person for the job. He is really good in it, so I don’t doubt that’s true. And then my father-in-law showed up, as well, which was another delicious treat. In the same episode and the same family! It was pretty weird. I have worked with both of them on other projects, but never altogether.

There’s a “Doctor Who” cameo, of sorts, in Episode 5, when Aziraphale uses a rare annual about the series as a bartering tool. In reality, you’ll be reprising your Time Lord role on screen later this year in three special episodes to mark the 60th anniversary. Did you always feel you’d return to “Doctor Who” at some point?

There’s a precedent for people who have been in the series to return for a multi-doctor show, which is lovely. I did it myself for the 50th anniversary in 2013, and I had a wonderful time with Matt [Smith]. Then, to have John Hurt with us, as well, was a little treat. But I certainly would never have imagined that I’d be back in “Doctor Who” full-time, as it were, and sort of back doing the same job I did all those years ago. It was like being given this delightful, surprise present. Russell T Davies was back as showrunner, Catherine Tate [former on-screen companion] was back, and it was sort of like the last decade and a half hadn’t happened.

Going forward, Ncuti Gatwa will be taking over as the new Doctor. Have you given him any advice while passing the baton?

Oh God, what a force of nature. I’ve caught a little bit of him at work and it’s pretty exciting. I mean, what advice would you give someone? You can see Ncuti has so much talent and energy. He’s so inspired and charismatic. The thing about something like this is: it’s the peripherals, it’s not the job. It’s the other stuff that comes with it, that I didn’t see coming. It’s a show that has so much focus and enthusiasm on it. It’s not like Ncuti hasn’t been in a massive Netflix series [“Sex Education,”] but “Doctor Who” is on a slightly different level. It’s cross-generational, international, and has so much history, that it feels like it belongs to everyone.

To be at the center of the show is wonderful and humbling, but also a bit overwhelming and terrifying. It doesn’t come without some difficulties, such as the immediate loss of anonymity. It takes a bit of getting used to if that’s not been your life up to that point. I was very lucky that when I joined, Billie Piper [who portrayed on-screen companion, Rose] was still there. She’d lived in a glare of publicity since she was 14, so she was a great guide for how to live life under that kind of scrutiny. I owe a degree of sanity to Billie.

Your characters are revered by a few different fandoms. Sci-fi fandoms are especially passionate and loyal. What is it like being on the end of that? I imagine it’s a lot to hold.

Yes, certainly. Having been a fan of “Doctor Who” since I was a tiny kid, you’re aware of how much it means because you’re aware of how much it meant to you. My now father-in-law [who portrayed Doctor Who in the 80s] is someone I used to draw in comic strips when I was a kid. That’s quite peculiar! It’s a difficult balance because on one end, you have to protect your own space, and there aren’t really any lessons in that. That does take a bit of trial and error, to an extent, and it’s something that you’re sometimes having to do quite publicly. But, it is an honor and a privilege, without a doubt. As you’ve said, it means so much to people and you want to be worthy of that. You have to acknowledge that and be careful with it. Some days that’s tough, if you’re not in the mood.

I know you’re returning to the stage later this year to portray Macbeth. You’ve previously voiced the role for BBC Sounds, but how are you feeling about taking on the character in the theater?

I’m really excited about it. It’s been a while since I’ve done Shakespeare. It’s very thrilling but equally — and this analogy probably doesn’t stretch — it’s like when someone prepares for an Olympic event. It does feel like a bit of a mountain and, yeah, you’re daring to set yourself up against some fairly worthy competition from down the years. That’s both the challenge and the horror of doing these types of things. We’ve got a great director, Max Webster, who recently did “Life of Pi.” He’s full of big ideas. It’s going to be exciting, thrilling, and a little bit scary. I’m just going to take a deep breath.

Before we part ways, let’s discuss the future of “Good Omens.” Gaiman has said that he already has ideas for Season 3, should it happen. If you were to do another season, is there anyone in particular you’d love to work with next time around or anything specific you’d like to see happen for Crowley?

Oh, Neil Gaiman knows exactly where he wants to take it. If you’re working with people like Gaiman, I wouldn’t try to tamper with that creative void. Were he to ask my opinion, that would be a different thing, but I can’t imagine he would. He’s known these characters longer than me and what’s interesting is what he does with them. That’s the bit that I’m desperate to know. I do know where Crowley might end up next, but it would be very wrong if I told you.

[At this point, Tennant picks up a pencil and starts writing on a hotel pad of paper.]

I thought you were going to write it down for me then. Perhaps like a clandestine meeting on a bench in St James’ Park, but instead you’d write the information down and slide it across the table…

I should have done! I was drawing a line, which obviously, psychologically, I was thinking, “Say no more. You’re too tempted to reveal a secret!” It was my subconscious going “Shut the fuck up!”

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emilybeemartin · 10 months

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Ok ok ok ok listen. Because I have anxiety I feel it's my duty to say that this show won't be for everyone. I came to it over quarantine because my husband suggested we read Bernard Cornwell's series together, and I agreed because I liked Hornblower and knew this was the army equivalent and, let's face it, I wanted to see scruffy mid-thirties Sean Bean in uniform.

THE PREMISE:

Richard Sharpe is a lowborn rank-and-file soldier in the 95th Rifles during the Napoleonic Wars who is raised to an officer after saving Sir Arthur Wellesley's life (this all happens differently in the books, but the basic event is the same). Throughout the series, he rises in the ranks thanks to his bravery and heroism/recklessness, but he's always caught between two worlds--trying to be a leader of common men while never being accepted by the rest of the highborn officers.

Let's start with the bad:

CONS:

Look, this is a 90s drama glorifying the British army. So like, there are gonna be issues. Women are mostly romantic side pieces to be wooed and rescued, and there are plenty of subplots, verbiage, and stereotypes that didn't age well. Production values are low for the first few and so you've got battle scenes with like fifteen guys and a horse, which honestly I find endearing. But no episode is more cringey than Sharpe's Gold. Due to legal issues, the script had to be rewritten with none of the original material, and it turned into this bizarro semi-supernatural horror involving Aztec gold (in Spain, yes). It's completely different from all the other episodes, and even Sean Bean didn't like it (he called it a "mish mash," which is true). It's such a weird piece of work that we almost stopped watching the show, but we continued, and we were relieved to find that the rest of the series is markedly better. History Hack podcast does a great dive into why this episode was so whack.

PROS:

I MEAN COME ON

Sean really understood this character--absolute chaos on the battlefield and shy and awkward pretty much everywhere else. He's amazing in battle scenes and he's EPIC at acting wounded. But the scenes I replay over and over are when he's socially out of his depth and gets flustered and sputtery and so Sheffield the captions can't handle it.

Supporting cast:

You'll find a lot of your classic British TV favorites making appearances throughout this series, and the camaraderie among the riflemen is always fun. Obviously this is a dude fest, as stated above, but some of the women are also written and acted really, really well--- Assumpta Serna as Teresa is that winning combination of a love interest/action heroine who doesn't devolve into a damsel in distress, and even passes the Bechdel test on a few occasions. And Diana Perez as Ramona is so badass and enjoyable.

Locations: Aside from a few interior sets, these films are mostly shot outside on location, with practical effects and stunts. There's some gorgeous scenery of the Crimean peninsula standing in for Spain and Portugal, and it's just really fun watching these guys run around rocky escarpments and fields with flares and stage explosives going off around them.

Music: I saw someone tag the opening theme as "electric guitar jumpscare" and they're not wrong. It's wonderfully anachronistic and totally 90s and you'll never get used to it. But far better are the soldiers' songs John Tams threads throughout, as well as his and Muldowney's thematic scores, and you will always, always finish an episode with him singing "Over the Hills and Far Away" stuck in your head.

Filming Lore: There was a LOT that happened during filming. Everything from Paul McGann having to drop out as the lead to misadventures in filming in Crimea just after the collapse of the Soviet Union. History Hack podcast has an awesome series of "filming of" episodes with input from cast, crew, and historians, and Jason Salkey (Rifleman Harris) has a book called "From Crimea With Love" that details the batshit filming adventures. I haven't read it but he references it every six minutes throughout the podcasts.

So: you've been warned, you've been primed. Start with Sharpe's Rifles; it's on Youtube. Watch it and Eagle, maybe jump to Battle or Siege if you're not sure, and then make up your mind.

If this all sounds enjoyable to you, but you wish there were more tall ships, more Paul McGann, more heroic brooding, and even MORE true love cosplaying as masculine camaraderie, you're in luck! Because you should also watch Hornblower!

And then draw fan art of it all! Please,,, I am so lon el y

#sharpe #hornblower #sean bean #paul mcgann #ioan gruffud

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burst-of-iridescent · 2 months

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atla live action thoughts: season one review

first things first: anyone who says the Movie That Does Not Exist is better than the live action is straight-up lying. the shymalan film fails on the criteria of even being a decent movie, let alone an adaptation. the netflix series, for all its problems, is at least an enjoyable watch with great effects, music and (mostly) appropriate casting. there's absolutely nothing to compare here - the netflix version clears easily.

now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's delve into the series, starting with the positives.

the good:

visuals and cinematography. they really did a great job of making it feel like a fantasy universe you wanted to be in & i love how vibrant the saturation and colour grading was. it made the world feel so much more dynamic and alive instead of the same flat, boring dullness that so many movies and shows have these days. sometimes i didn't even mind that i was being fed obvious exposition because at least they were giving me something pretty to look at lmao

effects and action. the bending was surprisingly good for the most part, and they did a good job of making the elements feel unique through the stunt choreography and the actors' movements. i'm immensely thankful they didn't try to skimp on budget by merely cutting away from fight scenes or showing us as little as possible. almost all the action sequences were fast-paced and engaging, and i was never bored watching them

acting. the main four were all great, but gordon cormier and dallas liu have to be the standouts for me. gordon brings such an earnest, innocent sweetness to aang that you can't help but like him, and dallas plays all of zuko's facets perfectly: the angst, the explosive anger, the bratty snark, and especially the deep-rooted pain that characterizes so many of zuko's actions in book 1. the range he has, especially when flashing from younger to older zuko, was insane. special shoutout to maria zhang and sebastian amoruso as suki and jet respectively, because they killed it

music. leaves from the vine instrumental had me tearbending and i love how they kept the iconic avatar theme while making it a little darker for this iteration of the story. in general, the soundtrack felt very true to the animation while still being a fresh spin on it

zuko and iroh's relationship and expanding on zuko's crew. i think the fandom universally agrees that lu ten's funeral and zuko's crew being the 41st division were the best changes in the series, so i'm not going to talk about it further other than to say that these scenes show me what the show can be, and that's why i'm not giving up on it

the bad:

characterization. almost all the main characters are missing the little nuances that made them so great in the original, but the greatest casualty is katara. i hate that they took away so much of her rage, and gave many of her traits and struggles to sokka. i don't think this is a problem solely with the writing though, because certain lines do feel like things animated katara would say, but the directing and line delivery don't have the same punch that made her so fierce in the original. this is an easily fixed issue though, so i hope they take the criticism and let my girl be angry and fuck shit up next season

exposition. this was primarily a problem in depicting aang's personality and the relationship between the gaang, because a) why are you TELLING me that aang is mischievous and fun-loving instead of just showing me and b) the gaang do NOT feel like close friends, mostly because they spend so much time apart in every episode that they have little screentime to actually bond and develop intimacy.

lack of focus on the intricacies of bending. for a show whose tagline is "master your element" the characters spend very little time actually... mastering their element. zuko is never shown to struggle with firebending (which is going to have ramifications when it comes to developing his relationship with azula), and neither aang nor katara ever learn waterbending from a master throughout the the entire show. i'm pretty sure aang never willingly waterbends ONCE in the entire eight episodes, discounting the avatar state and koizilla. bending isn't just cool martial arts, it's closely linked to the philosophies and spirituality of each nation, and i wish that had been explored more.

pacing. they really needed to do a better job of conveying that time passed between episodes because an 8-episode season is just going to FEEL shorter than a 20-episode one. the original animation felt as though they'd truly been on a long journey before arriving at the north, but here it feels like the entire show happened in the span of a fortnight or so because each episode seemed to pick up right after the previous. they needed to have more downtime within episodes instead of just rushing from plot beat to plot beat because it made everything feel a lot more rushed. give the characters and story time to breathe.

final rating: 7/10.

overall, i would describe the live action as a better version of the percy jackson movies - not an accurate or perfect adaptation, but a decent story that's very fun to watch. but what really makes me root for this show to get a season 2 is that it has a lot of potential and more importantly, a lot of heart. it's evident that the people who worked on it do genuinely love and respect the original series, and it shows onscreen.

regardless of anything else, this show created opportunities for so many asian and indigenous actors, writers and creators to tell the kinds of stories and play the kinds of roles they don't usually get, and that's something worth supporting. if they take the criticism from this season and improve, i believe they really do have something special on their hands which - although it might not be the original we all know and love - could still be a story to be proud of.

#atla live action

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bobparkhurst · 24 days

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a totally unbiased (no) and mostly serious (i guess) spoiler-free primer

I've seen a bunch of posts floating around encouraging people into the fandom, or HBO War people looking for a new fandom/show to sink their teeth into. Here's my effot to add to the propaganda, because I've been in this fandom since Nov '22, it's delightful here and I always love a new SASRH friend to chat to.

tl;dr: it's a lot of fun

premise & setting

SAS: Rogue Heroes is the story of the founding of the original* Special Air Service (SAS) of the British Army during WW2. It centres three of the initial founders, David Stirling, Blair 'Paddy' Mayne and Jock Lewes. Two of other men credited as founding the SAS, Bill Fraser and Georges Bergé also feature. Bill Stirling, David's older brother and integral to the founding of the SAS, will feature in series 2.

Series 1 is 6 episodes long, covering events from the North African campaign from May '41 through Jan '43. Series 2 has been filmed and will move the action to Europe.

Based largely on the book, SAS: Rogue Heroes by Ben Macintyre.

*it was disbanded in Oct '45, and reformed in '47, ultimately leading, through various machinations, to the modern day SAS.

historical accuracy

Somewhat more fast and loose with history than Band of Brothers, The Pacific or Masters of the Air, but not bad enough to send historians spiralling into deep despair, with one very important caveat: the depiction of Paddy Mayne. More on him and this in a moment. However, it has generally been well received. Damien Lewis (the author and historian, not the actor) said "...it's reasonably realistic. It tells a great yarn. I think they've used some artistic license, I can understand why they've done so to a certain extent... Generally they've got the equipment and the kit bang on, I think they had some very good advisers." (here)

There are some weird timeline issues, which I think is caused largely by odd pacing and editing. I'd not worry about this too much, otherwise you'll break your brain. Likewise, liberties have been taken with the geography, which I think is a bit more heinous, but ymmv.

characters: lads lads lads lads lads

after the first four, these are in no order of importance, before anyone gets on at me about their favourite. i also appreciate there are other characters but this bit was already getting really long.

david stirling (connor swindells) - the dreamer

Arrogant, manipulative, clever, charismatic bastard. David Stirling is fueled chiefly by daddy issues and an inferiority complex a mile wide. Connor Swindells walks a beautiful line between swagger and vulnerability. He does not let things like "common sense", "safety precautions" or "understanding the implications" get in the way of doing important things like flinging himself out of a plane in the middle of the desert or talking his way into army bases armed with nothing but crutches and chutzpah.

blair 'paddy' mayne (jack o'connell) - the madman

Paddy Mayne my BELOVED. Character of all time. He's a drinker, a fighter and abhors a bully. For most of the show, we see him at his most desperate and most angry and arguably most violent. HOWEVER, he's also a highly intelligent, sensitive, compassionate poet and voracious reader; if there's a bunch of poetry being quoted, it's probably Paddy doing it. He loves so very deeply. His depiction in the show is a bit of a bone of contention with family and historians - some people read him as being depicted as a violent thug only, and that's not what the real Blair Mayne was like. Which is simultaneously true and not true. Blair Mayne was an incredibly complicated man.

The other contentious-to-some point is that the show does deliberately suggest his queerness, something Jack O'Connell has talked about in interviews. Some people have taken issue with this. Either way, for those who saw the sand wrestling gifs and wanted to know if SASRH was just queerbaiting, the answer is no, actually. But don't expect anything explicit on this front.

Jack O'Connell looks like he's having a fucking fantastic time.

jock lewes (alfie allen) - the creator

In real life, Jock Lewes was nicknamed "The Wizard", how great is that? David, Paddy and David met in training and are referred to in show as "the Three Musketeers". He is basically the mediator between Paddy and David, which sounds dull, except Jock is also batshit and clever and scary. He makes all the lads do intense marches in the desert without water, but is never willing to ask someone to do what he wouldn't do. Trouble is, as mentions, he is batshit so his standards are VERY VERY HIGH. He also has a fiancee, Mirren, whomst he loves very much and their relationship is so tender and brings me to tears on the regular.

eve mansour (sofia boutella)

Eve works for French Military Intelligence and quietly drives a lot of action behind the scenes. She's a totally fictional invention for the show and I'd be madder about it if Sofia Boutella wasn't being gorgeous and smart all over the place. She is focused on the goal and is generally just. Queen.

dudley clarke (dominic west)

Not so much a member of the SAS as the guy who helps Stirling bring this plan to fruition. He's great fun, charming and affable, and just as dangerous as anyone else. Dudley Clarke doesn't get enough credit, I think.

mike sadler (tom glynn-carney)

Mike Sadler my OTHER beloved. I joke about Mike coming to fix all the stuff around my flat that doesn't work and it's because he's singlehandedly the most competent member of the entire SAS, I think. His introduction scene is the sexiest thing on the entire show. He only gets introduced in episode 3, but in my heart we have six seasons and a movie with him. He's a member of the Long Range Desert Group and knows more about navigating the landscape than anyone. The LRDG are barely part of the show (save for Mike) and are well worth looking up.

IRL Mike Sadler actually only passed away this year, at the age of 103.

eoin mcgonigal (dónal finn)

Most of what Eoin's around for in SAS: RH is to hang out being impossibly beautiful and being ride or die for Paddy Mayne. Dónal Finn and Jack O'Connell created the most beautiful relationship told in touches. Drives me mad. He's also the first one who really understands who Paddy is beyond the brash and violent front. Eoin McGonigal is certainly a creature.

bill fraser, johnny cooper, reg seekings, jim almonds, dave kershaw, pat riley

(stuart campbell, jacob mccarthy, theo barklem-biggs, corin silva, bobby schofield, jacob ifan)

Look, there are a lot of lads and I can't do them all justice. Some of these folks get a lot more to do than the others, and they're all distinct characters in their own right. There are two matched set duos, Reg & Johnny (enemies to lovers, 150k) and Jim & Pat (do not seperate). Jim & Pat were Jock's crew prior to the SAS and the way he gets them to join is basically by saying "hey, there's a really stupid and dangerous thing i want to do, you in?" and they do this:

each and every one of them is as bad as the others.

augustin jordan, georges bergé, andré zirnheld

Free French paratroopers, who Stirling is reluctantly forced into accepting into the SAS by Eve and Clarke. TBF, this is where SAS: RH really starts playing with history, though it serves the narrative well enough. Show!Augustin Jordan was a former professor of Philosophy at La Sorbonne, and is also a tall dark haired man, so you can see how Paddy Mayne is gonna struggle.

I had to use the sand wrestling gif here (that's augustin), you've probably seen it. It's a surprisingly interesting character scene, would you believe.

There are several other named characters, but I'm running out of energy.

other stuff

OK, so I've lost my thread here a bit. SAS: Rogue Heroes is fun, first and foremost. It really does fall down on the side of "Cool Boys Doing War", so if that's not your thing, maybe you'll not enjoy it. I personally do. And I think it does have some further depth to it than that, even if that's where it comes back to. I've never seen Peaky Blinders, but apparently it's a bit like that? IDK.

While it's very violent, I don't think it's as brutal as the HBO War shows. It's a much more heightened kind of drama, so there's a step removal I think, from the really visceral. That said, it's still a war drama, and it does feature some very nasty business.

soundtrack

it's mostly hard rock and if you don't like this, idk what to tell you. i fucking love it. once again though, mike sadler gets the best of this. you'll know it when you see it.

the fandom

The SAS Rogue Heroes fandom is small but it is mighty and it genuinely is very friendly. There is a Discord if you like, but you don't have to do it if Discord is not your thing.

While the overriding popular ship is Paddy/Eoin, Paddy/Augustin and Reg/Johnny are also wildly popular. That said, we are fond of a rarepair in this fandom, and I personally have embarked on a mission of shipping Mike Sadler with every other character. Everyone's very encouraging of wild ideas and aus, anything's welcome.

A few people are writing OCs, and that too is great. I encourage more of that! I don't think I've seen any x Reader yet, but never say never.

Come join us!

a brief suggested further reading

you really don't have to do any of this, but like, some of you are nerds, i get it. i also got a lot of other recs, but these are some good starters. you can hit me up for more, it's all good.

SAS: Rogue Heroes by Ben Macintyre

SAS Brothers in Arms: Churchill's Desperadoes - Damien Lewis

SAS: An Illustrated History of the SAS - Joshua Levine

Speed, Aggression, Surprise: The Untold Secret Origins of the SAS - Tom Petch

One of the Originals: Story of a Founder Member of the S.A.S. - Anthony Kemp & Johnny Cooper (Johnny Cooper's memoir and imo, if you read nothing else, read this)

The Phantom Major: The Story of David Stirling & the SAS Regiment - Virginia Cowles (this was written in 1958. There is a "rebuttal" biog, The Phoney Major by Gavin Mortimer, which also contains a lot of info, but I find Mortimer's bias against Stirling incredibly difficult to stomach. Difficult.)

Paddy Mayne - Hamish Ross (honestly, I'd not bother with other biogs of Blair Mayne unless you want to do a lot of reading around and getting cross)

Special Forces Brothers in Arms: Eoin & Ambrose McGonigal - Patric McGonigal (this is so personal and so beautiful, I cried several times reading it. written by Eoin's great-nephew. Ambrose, Eoin's older brother was part of the SBS, Special Boat Service, who are ALSO very interesting)

Gentleman Jim: The Wartime Story of a Founder of the SAS and Special Forces - Lorna Almonds-Windmill (another biog by a family member, this one is gentle and told with love)

Joy Street: A Wartime Romance in Letters - the published correspondence between Jock Lewes and Mirren Barford. A slightly different kind of book, but gosh. It really hits.

...and that's all I got for you right now. I could talk about this show for days though.

(forgot to add: my SAS RH blog is @regseekings, I posted this on here for the HBO war fandom)

youtube

#sas rogue heroes #i'm very tired now #i'm gonna go get a sandwich #sasrh reading list #sas: rogue heroes #Youtube

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plutoccult · 6 months

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HAIKYUU X THE OFFICE AU — EPISODE TWO: LUNCHTIME VOLLEYBALL MATCH

pairing: sugawara koushi x female reader

description: ukai’s idea to hold a volleyball match with the warehouse staff during lunch proves to be a bad one, but it sure is entertaining for you to watch from the sidelines. well, as long as your fiancé doesn’t ruin the fun for you.

word count: 5.5k

also available to read on my ao3 here

author’s note: hello!!! i’ve been fueled to write the continuation of this au. this time around, it’ll be inspired by the basketball episode, but since haikyuu is all about volleyball… you know what i had to do. i would have waited to do that one company-wide volleyball match episode later on, but who says i can’t do that later anyway? it’s haikyuu, there is NEVER enough volleyball. besides, that’ll give me the opportunity to introduce other haikyuu characters when the time is right. i’m still trying to get my groove when it comes to writing this au, but i think i’m starting to get there. i hope this will be equally as entertaining, and i also hope everyone enjoys it! also, stream livelock by xdinary heroes fr 😮‍💨

ever since filming for the documentary began, ukai had been more… eccentric than usual. everyone knew it was to play up for the cameras, but god, it was annoying. the employees of japan pulp and paper thought they had seen it all when it came to their chaotic boss, but that was proven to be false when ukai burst into the office randomly dressed in sports gear with a wilson volleyball pressed to his hip.

“guys, we’re doing a thing.” ukai announced, much to the confusion of his employees.

“is this the office olympics again?” tanaka questioned. the office olympics was an idea ukai attempted many years ago, and let’s just say it didn’t end well whatsoever.

“no, tanaka, it is not.” he scoffed. “i don’t need corporate threatening to fire me… again.”

“then why are you dressed like an athlete past his prime, but he refuses to let go, so he ends up losing his wife and kids?” tsukishima asked nonchalantly despite completely flaming ukai to bits.

“that kinda sounds like tom brady.” hinata said.

“tom brady was a football player, idiot.” kageyama rolled his eyes, sparking a bickering matching between him and hinata, which was always a classic occurrence in the office since the day they were hired.

“everybody shut up! i’m holding a volleyball match with the warehouse guys during lunch!” ukai yelled over his employees, followed by complete silence. not a peep came out of them, not even a cricket. “come on, why aren’t any of you excited?”

“um… did hr approve of this?” you speak up and ask. it was clear ukai didn’t see how horrible of an idea this was.

“shockingly, specs approved.” he replied. a miracle, really, but ukai claimed it would be a “good way” to “bond” with everybody.

“and he approved of it… with the warehouse guys?” you gulp.

“yes, y/n, why are you so—” ukai cut off his sentence when he realized why you were questioning him with such worry. “oh…”

the reason why holding a match with the warehouse guys worried you was because your fiancé ryo was one of them. it was almost like an unspoken common fact that he was a total jerk who didn’t deserve you. while suga’s fondness towards you wasn’t very known to the office, everyone could at least see that you shouldn’t be with ryo. only tell will tell how this dreaded volleyball match will end up. it was everybody’s funeral, really.

•••

“so, i got the idea to hold a volleyball match because my grandfather—who is a volleyball legend, by the way—suggested it would be a great idea to bring everybody together, so i got him to help me set up some stuff outside the office building.” ukai said to the camera crew while he sat at his desk, his typical interviewing spot. “what i forgot to put into consideration was y/n’s hotheaded fiancé who works in the warehouse downstairs, but who doesn’t love a little chaos, am i right? well, no, not right. it’s just gonna be a friendly game of volleyball. totally friendly.”

•••

while suga sat at his desk with nothing to do, he did what he always did and caught a look at you to see what you were doing in hopes to share at least a moment with you. he always reached for those little moments, even if you seemed to see him as just a friend. when he looked over at your desk, he saw you were staring at your computer, seemingly bored out of your mind, which you most definitely were at this time when there were dry spots in the work day.

suga quietly stood up and went to the break room for a cup of coffee, hoping you’d notice the sound of his footsteps and follow him. there was nobody around, but that soon changed when you followed suit minutes later just as he hoped you would.

“hey, suga.” you say, reaching for the cabinet to grab a mug.

“oh, hey, y/n.” he said, trying to act cool while he waited for his coffee to brew.

“you gonna play in the match later?” you ask. part of you was worried about what would happen with ryo, but at the same time you wanted to root for suga because he was your best friend.

“well, after ukai begged me…” cue war-like flashbacks to ukai begging suga over and over to participate, which included over-dramatically sobbing while on his knees. “unfortunately, yeah.”

“i thought you used to play volleyball in high school? setter, right?” you questioned.

“how did—” suga was shocked but also adorably amazed that you remembered such a thing. “how did you remember that?”

“guess it just stuck with me, i don’t know.” you shrugged. quite a poor lie on your end, really. you would always try your best to remember everything correct out of fear of making a mistake. even if there wasn’t someone there to crucify you for it, you always made sure to get the job done anyway. although you knew suga wouldn’t do such a thing to you, you didn’t want to mess up the only good thing you had in your life.

“i was vice captain too, actually.” he chuckled before taking a sip of his fresh coffee.

“aw, i knew there was something i was forgetting!” you pouted, doing what you knew best and making yourself feel bad for forgetting despite how innocent it was. “i’m sorry!”

suga couldn’t see what you needed to be sorry for, so he always reassured you knowing you truly needed it. “what? it’s okay, really. i’m glad you at least remembered i played volleyball in the first place.”

“you’re serious?” you asked, almost like it was hard to believe him.

“of course.” he said with that smile that always made you feel better, bringing back your light. “why wouldn’t i be?”

“i don’t know.” you sigh for a moment before taking your turn with the coffee maker. you hated yourself for feeling this way all the time. you needed to be bejeweled, but you were always held back by a ball and chain in the form of your fiancé.

“well, if anything, i hope i remember how to play properly, so don’t worry.” suga said to put you at ease.

“why, you rusty?” you question him.

“perhaps.” he jokingly shrugged.

“guess i’ll have to be the judge of that. might whip up some popcorn, who knows?” you tease. “need some entertainment better than the youtube videos i watch during my usual lunch.”

“well, i guess i’ll have to put on a real show for you.” suga smirked.

“i’ll keep that in mind, sugawara.”

•••

while the employees were getting ready to head downstairs for the match, suga was called in for a quick interview with the documentary crew before the inevitable chaos went down. he didn’t find it to be suspicious as everyone was asked questions too, but there was an inkling in his gut that the crew had an ulterior motive questioning him.

“thoughts on playing in the match?”

“ah, i don’t know. i’m just here for some fun, not competition. i’m not trying to take it that seriously. it’s not high school anymore, it’s just a game.” suga said in response to the question, then immediately cringed at his own answer. “oof, i sound like tsukishima. yikes.”

“you’re not worried about ryo?” whoop, there it is. he knew they were onto him when it came to you. suga should’ve known to stop his pining stares while all those cameras were on all of you over eight hours a day.

“huh?” he furrowed his eyebrows before rolling his eyes when the documentary crew gave him a look in hopes he’d spill. “oh, don’t look at me like that. i’m outta here.”

•••

everyone followed ukai to the parking lot to see a volleyball net smack dab in the middle of the sea of cars. his grandfather came while everyone was working to put it all together, and he seemed to have put it in the worst spot possible.

“this… is what you’ve set up?” you question ukai.

with the way the net was set up, it was prime real estate for a ball to fly in the wrong direction and break someone’s window. it was an overpriced repair bill just begging to happen, and none of you got paid enough to throw around money so easily.

“um, hello, my grandfather gave me the hookup.” he rolled his eyes. “amateurs.”

“but it’s outside.” you say, hoping ukai would get the point, but of course, he doesn’t.

“so?”

“in the middle of the parking lot.” you add.

“there’s enough wiggle room, what’s the problem?” ukai shrugged. god, he was clueless.

“to add onto what y/n is saying, some—if not all—of us would like our windows to be intact by the end of the day.” tsukishima said before walking away from the group, leaving ukai unaware of his intentions.

“hey, tsukishima, where are you going?” he called out.

“moving my car?” tsukishima replied with a heap of sass. “god, i don’t get paid enough for this shit.”

“you better come back!” ukai yelled, his words falling on deaf ears. “i need a tall bitch like you for blocking!”

“i’m gonna move my car too…” yamaguchi said sheepishly then followed tsukishima to do the same as him.

in a shocking event, everyone agreed with tsukishima for once and didn’t think he was being hyper-negative for no reason. one by one, almost everyone went to move their cars. some stayed behind, like you, tanaka, and a few others, but ukai began to feel discouraged and worried that his dream match wouldn’t occur.

“suga! everyone! come on!” he whined, hoping they’d come back.

“boss, sir, i can assure you that i can handle balls better than tsukishima.” tanaka said with utmost confidence, thinking his words would make ukai feel better. it only ended up making you resist the urge to laugh, and you had to quickly collect yourself before you did the wrong thing.

“but…” ukai pouted.

“don’t worry, everyone’s coming back, ukai.” you assure him, seeing tsukishima and yamaguchi start to walk back to the group, then daichi and nishinoya, and so forth.

seeing what everyone was doing, your fiancé ryo wanted to hop on the bandwagon, but was a little too “preoccupied” to do so. “babe, can you move the car? i’m in the middle of stretching here and i need to be in top shape for the match.”

“uh, yeah, sure…”

•••

“it’s an unofficial volleyball match in the middle of an office parking lot, not the olympics. what do you need to be in top shape for?” you rant before doing the same thing suga did in his interview earlier. “wow, i sound like tsukki, don’t i?”

“suga said something similar earlier.” a crew member said, mainly to hopefully stir the pot.

“what, did he say something pessimistic like him too?” you question. the crew nodded in response.

“huh. interesting.”

•••

once the whole parking lot ordeal was over with, it was finally time to put this game together. ukai began yelling around like he was some sort of professional coach, which raised questions.

“alright! let’s get into positions everyone!” he hollered. “i need a setter, middle blocker, wing spikers—”

“woah, woah, woah. what position are you gonna play?” daichi interrupted him with the question that was on quite literally everyone’s minds.

“you guys thought i was playing?” ukai questioned as if it were some sort of massive shock.

“uh… yeah?” daichi furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “why else are you dressed like that?”

“is this not what volleyball coaches wear?” ukai asked. what’s ironic about ukai’s look was that he was dressed like a volleyball player, not a coach. whatever sporting goods store employee told him that was a good look on him would remain a mystery, unfortunately.

“they probably wear tracksuits or something, i don’t know.” nishinoya shrugged.

“hm, i oughta look into those.”

“so, who’s playing what?” yamaguchi spoke up, considering they were wasting precious company time. “we need a starting lineup and the warehouse guys are scaring me…”

“well, i can be setter and tsukishima can be middle blocker.” suga volunteered, his words met with an eye roll from tsukishima.

“oh, boy, i wonder why that is.” he scoffed.

“aren’t you a tall bitch who can block?” suga crossed his arms.

“you doubt me, sugawara?” tsukishima questioned him.

“maybe.” he replied, resisting the urge to smirk.

“i’m blocking the hell out of those warehouse guys.” tsukishima said with determination as he rolled up his sleeves. it was manipulation at its finest, and suga wasn’t ashamed of using it for today. unfortunately, not everyone was happy with the results.

“aw, i wanted to be middle blocker.” hinata pouted, having not given the chance to speak up before.

“eh, maybe later, hinata.” suga said, although the chances were quite slim.

“pft, as if you’d let shorty ever be middle blocker.” kageyama snickered.

“i’m not short, i’m fun sized!” hinata exclaimed.

“who even says that anymore?!”

“shut up, you—”

hinata and kageyama then did what they do best, aka start arguing like a married couple out of nowhere. suga and daichi had to break the two up, and while daichi struggled with kageyama, asahi came to his rescue and threw him over his shoulder effortlessly. everyone watched asahi with amazement, including you, but he was quite oblivious to the looks of awe.

“anyways. who’s got ideas?”

everybody was too busy standing there shell shocked until you spoke up with an idea of your own, one that made perfect sense in your eyes. “well, i think daichi should be captain of the office team. he’s really good at handling chaos.”

“you think so, y/n?” daichi asked, touched that you thought so highly of him.

“well, you just handled husband and wife over there. plus, if you can handle those knuckleheads too,” you say, pointing to tanaka and nishinoya. “then yeah, i definitely think so.”

“we are NOT knuckleheads—”

“quiet, you two.” kiyoko cut them off.

“yes, kiyoko.” tanaka and nishinoya say in unison. it was just too easy.

the idea of daichi being captain was in agreement with all of the office employees, but there was still more to figure out before everyone could start playing. “well, if i’m captain, then i think i should have a say in who’s doing what.”

“actually, that’s my job, daichi.” ukai tried to say before he was shut down by asahi, who spoke in a low tone.

“daichi should decide.”

“okayyesjustdon’tkillme.” ukai said quickly.

asahi turned his head and stared into the camera confused.

•••

“he’s always gonna be scared of me, isn’t he?” asahi said with a pout then let out a sigh. “even yachi doesn’t scream in terror when i walk into a room anymore…”

•••

after plenty of debating, the office workers had finally put together their team. daichi as captain and right-wing spiker, suga as setter, tsukishima as middle blocker, tanaka as left-wing spiker, nishinoya as libero, and then asahi as the team’s ace. it had all been so carefully crafted, so they hoped it would be worth it in the end. they all even considered going out for a drink after work if they won too, but everyone was getting too ahead of themselves. they had a match to win.

both teams lined up together on opposite ends, ukai instructing his employees to stand up straight and give their best intimidating look, but they weren’t all that up for it. thankfully for tsukishima and asahi, that was their usual resting face anyway.

kiyoko stood in the middle of the court, taking on the role of scorekeeper for this little event. she did the same during the controversial office olympics, so it was no question of whether she’d do it again today. besides, she loved the power she held right now.

“alright, captains in the middle of the court, please!” kiyoko called out. daichi took a step forward while ryo, the captain for the warehouse team, did the same. “the match will be best two out of three. each captain will pick a side of the coin and whichever side it lands on gets to serve first.”

“i call heads!” ryo claimed over-excitedly, as if the coin toss were the real competition.

“tails, please.” daichi said calmly.

kiyoko grinned happily as she flipped the coin, landing in daichi’a favor, much to her amusement. “it’s tails. daichi, your team will serve first.”

“asahi, it’s your time to shine.” daichi pointed to asahi.

“on it!” he replied, gripping the ball in his hands as he prepared for his first serve.

“alright, guys, let’s go! show me what you’re made of!” ukai yelled from the sidelines as he clapped his hands together, taking on this newfound role as coach seriously, even if no one cared for what he had to say.

ignoring ukai, asahi tossed the ball into the air and performed a flawless ace serve, proving his title as ace was well deserved. everyone in the parking lot was at a lot for words over how effortlessly he pulled that off, especially ukai whose jaw could practically reach the floor.

•••

“i would just like to put on the record that i have never once doubted asahi.” ukai said with utmost confidence, despite the documentary crew having many doubts. “never scared of the guy. never ever. i love that man. he’s my favorite employee, actually.”

•••

the match went back and forth, with your fiancé carrying the warehouse team on his back as they weren’t all that enthused to be on the same team as him. you stood on the sidelines with ukai, taking over as temporary scorekeeper while kiyoko and yachi went into the office building for snacks and waters from the vending machines.

“we’re back!” yachi beamed, skipping towards you while kiyoko held a stack of two boxes; one with drinks and the other with snacks.

“sorry it took so long.” kiyoko said as she set the boxes down. “hopefully you had no trouble?”

“there was a little argument over whether the ball was out or not, but otherwise, it was fine.” you shrugged. in the end, you decided no one got a point, which while controversial, was ultimately the right move.

“good. yachi and i got a bunch of bags of popcorn from the vending machine. want some?” kiyoko asked.

“ooh!” you gasp, hoping they had your favorite. “is it the sweet corn kind?”

“no, they ran out because yamaguchi is always eating them all.” yachi giggled while yamaguchi blushed out of embarrassment.

“really, dude?” you pouted. first your yogurt, now this? the guy was secretly a menace, no matter how innocent he looked.

“i’m sorry…” he looked down.

“ah, it’s fine.” you sigh. “i’ll just take whatever you got. thanks, you two.”

as you start chowing down on a bag a popcorn, your attention is back on the match just in time to watch suga set the ball to tsukishima, who in turn grants the office team another point effortlessly. tsukishima merely shrugged after spiking the ball, but everyone on the office side, including you, cheered the small victory. you particularly yelled out suga’s name and gave him a thumbs up for setting the ball so nicely, which caught the attention of your fiancé, and he sure wasn’t pleased.

kiyoko raised an eyebrow over your cheers, not trying to stir the pot, but couldn’t help but be curious over where your loyalties lie. “so, which team are you rooting for? i thought you’d be a little biased towards ryo, but…”

“huh?” you question. “oh, i’m not really rooting for anyone in particular…”

“oh, okay…”

oof. you’re such a bad liar.

now it was ryo’s turn to serve. still fuming from giving your attention to suga, he served the ball with excessive force. thankfully for your team, nishinoya saved the ball, impressing everyone. now that you thought about it, your coworkers seemed to be a little too good at volleyball to just be casual players.

when the ball came back to the office side, tanaka spiked it and scored. he then proceeded to act like a maniac by ripping his shirt off and obnoxiously waving it around, undoubtedly in hopes to woo kiyoko.

“are you falling head over heels yet, kiyoko?” you nudge and tease her, but she wasn’t going to falter.

“blegh. disgusting.” she fake gagged. despite her words, kiyoko couldn’t help but wonder since when tanaka was so ripped.

•••

“i was NOT blushing. tanaka is gross. and annoying. and stupid. and… oh no.” kiyoko ran out of the room without another word, ashamed of her newfound attraction.

•••

after the end of a difficult first set, the office team was in the lead. before continuing onto the second set, everyone took a little water break as they needed to hydrate and recuperate. while everyone conversed with one another in little groups, you walked over to ryo to hand him a water bottle, and he grabbed it quite aggressively, taking you by surprise.

“okay then.” you mutter and look down, trying to avoid his eyes, but it wouldn’t work.

“i thought you were gonna root for me, not quicksilver and the x-men over there.” his petty statement almost made you think there was no way he could be serious right now, but based off your fiancé’s track record, he was oh so serious. it was ridiculous, really. was it a crime to cheer for your friends? in his eyes, yes, it was.

“i’m just trying to cheer for everyone.” you try reasoning with him, even if there was no point. “sorry that wasn’t clear, i guess.”

“yeah, well maybe consider your fiancé next time.” ryo scoffed as he walked away from you, tossing his now empty water bottle to the side.

without trying, suga overheard the conversation clear as day. you could almost sense his presence from far behind you. but when you look over to him, he quickly turned his head away and acted like he wasn’t listening.

the negative thoughts that swam in your head were interrupted by ukai announcing that the second set would start. you just wanted to have fun today, and you would still try to do exactly that. screw what ryo had to say, right?

as the second set began, yamaguchi came in to pinch serve for daichi after politely asking for just one chance to do so. daichi, being the total sweetheart he is, obviously said yes and told him to do his thing. yamaguchi could feel his hands shake violently as he walked over to the makeshift court, but let his anxieties fade away when yachi gave him a thumbs up.

while his serve wasn’t perfect, the ball thankfully managed to go over the net. the warehouse team tried spiking the ball, but thanks to a triple block from suga, tsukishima, and tanaka, the ball dropped onto the warehouse side, allowing the office team to score.

you without hesitation cheer for suga and the office team extra loud this time. even if you were acting a little extra, you decided not to care about it right now. you knew you’d hear plenty about it later, but that was a future you problem. at least, that’s what you thought.

ryo was boiling with anger now, so when it came for his chance to spike the ball, he slammed it right in suga’s face, knocking him to the ground instantly. it put the entire game on pause as everyone was frozen in shock over what just happened. ryo tried to chest bump his fellow warehouse guys since he scored (although unfairly), but they weren’t feeling it whatsoever because of suga clearly looking like he was in pain.

“suga!” you gasp as you and your coworkers rush to his side.

“man down! we got a man down!” ukai yelled, drumming out the theatrics as per usual.

everyone tried inspecting suga like a guinea pig, words overlapping as they all tried speaking at the same time. he grew frustrated over the sudden treatment, throwing his hands up in the air to make it all stop.

“guys, i’m fine, i’m fine!” suga insisted, trying his best to ignore the pain.

“suga, your nose is bleeding!” nishinoya pointed out. suga swiped his fingers under his nose and watched as droplets of blood fell onto his skin, shocked as he couldn’t feel himself bleeding at all.

“oh my god, he’s dying!” ukai cried out dramatically.

“shut up!”

god, all you could think of was how this was an utter disaster.

•••

“this is all my fault, isn’t it? i should’ve just kept my mouth shut…” you say to the camera with a frown.

•••

while the game was on pause, the office team tried to figure out how they were going to move forward. suga sat there with tissues plugged up his nose, although kiyoko insisted he put pressure on it to stop the bleeding. however, he was insistent on getting back onto the court, but his teammates had other plans.

“suga, you should sit out for awhile.” daichi said, as much as it pained him to say it. “at least until your nose stops bleeding.”

“but…” he pouted, looking over to you. you knew he was having so much fun up until this point. even if it wasn’t a serious match, it was nice seeing him so happy doing something he was good at. suga wanted to see you look so proud of him, but he couldn’t do that with an active nosebleed.

“it’s okay.” you reassure him, and only because you said it was okay, suga surrendered.

“okay.” he sighed, trying to quickly think of a new plan for the team, and he had a lightbulb almost instantly. “kageyama?”

“huh? me?” kageyama questioned.

“i need you to take over.” suga said. “i know you’re good at volleyball. way better than me.”

“well, i haven’t played since college, but—” he shrugged before acting cocky. “oh, alright. don’t threaten me with a good time.”

“if sugawara’s out, can i be out too?” tsukishima raised his hand. he wanted no parts on this nonsense anymore. with good reason, you thought.

“tsukki, you’re literally fine. get your tall ass back out there.” ukai said, seeing no reason why he should quit now.

“yamaguchi, punch me in the face.” tsukishima spoke without hesitation while yamaguchi immediately protested against the idea.

“eh?! no way!”

“okay, i’ll make your little girlfriend do it. come on, yachi.” he said.

“girlfriend?!” yachi exclaimed, her cheeks burning red.

“nobody’s punching you, tsukki!” yamaguchi yelled.

“fine, i’ll do it myself—”

“no, no, no!” yamaguchi and yachi immediately tried to stop him together, swatting tsukishima’s fists away from his face. thankfully, their efforts weren’t in vain as there was no reason for him to inflict harm on himself.

“i can take tsukishima’s place!” hinata leaped and waved his hand for everyone’s attention. it was almost like a record scratch as they all froze in placed and turned to an overenthusiastic hinata.

“huh?!” kageyama gawked. “as if!”

“you don’t know what i’m capable of, kageyama!” he huffed, crossing his arms and pouting like a child.

“daichi, it’s your call.” tanaka said.

daichi put some thought into it for a second, and that second consisted of the words “fuck it, we ball” entering his brain. “let’s see what you got.”

“yay!” hinata jumped for joy, as opposed to kageyama’s despair.

“i hate my life…” he groaned.

•••

“are you excited about playing in the match?”

“excited? excited is an understatement! i’m so…” hinata paused, trying to think of a better word, but failed to do so. “excited! oh man, i need a better word for excited…”

•••

finally, the second set continued. it was pretty rusty for the office team at first as they struggled with the new lineup, and it irritated everyone to no end, especially kageyama.

“god, hinata! you suck!” he groaned in frustration. kageyama was a star setter all throughout his youth, so being matched up with hinata was quite literally his worst nightmare. his fireball of a coworker was too giddy and overhyped to actually hit the ball. instead, hinata always jumped too high to spike the ball in time before it fell to the ground.

“no, you suck! your sets are terrible!” hinata argued. “i thought you were “king of the court”? give me something good, at least!”

“oh, i’ll give you something good, pipsqueak…” kageyama muttered under his breath, cracking his knuckles in preparation to bring on the power.

as the match kept rotating, suga returned to the parking lot after cleaning up in the building bathroom. his nose was cleared up now, but he wasn’t too antsy to return playing just yet. instead, he walked over to you and stood with you while as you continued watching the match from the sidelines.

suga tapped your shoulder, and without him saying a word, you instantly knew it was him standing beside you. of course, your first thought was his well-being as you were ridden with guilt. “suga! are you feeling okay?”

“yeah, i’m okay.” he assured you. “been through worse, no doubt.”

“are you gonna get back in the game then?” you ask him.

“no… i think i should sit the rest of this out. let you root for someone other than me.” suga replied. you knew he had to have heard your conversation with ryo earlier. now you were just embarrassed. you didn’t want him to hear that, and he must have known what ryo did to him was on purpose, you were sure of it.

“yeah, okay, sure…” you frown.

when you turn your attention back to the match, kageyama had given hinata the perfect set. his eyes were so clearly set on the ball, and despite being in the back row, he rushed out of everyone’s way and jumped so high it left the warehouse team frozen in shock. when he spiked the ball, it slammed so hard against the ground that it ricocheted out of sight, and the sound startled all of you.

with the ball gone, no one knew what to do. everyone’s attention turned to hinata, and he couldn’t help but feel like he just did something bad. the stares were killing him. “am i in trouble?”

“trouble? no, no, no.” ukai shook his head. “you just won the game.”

“what? no fair!” ryo instantly complained. the other warehouse guys weren’t all that pressed, just him. but what else are you supposed to play with when there’s no ball?

“we lost our only ball and you were losing anyway! office team wins!” ukai announced, and the office workers immediately roared with excitement. they all lifted hinata into the air and chanted his name, thanking him for not only ending this monstrosity, but also granting them victory.

despite the lively mood, you couldn’t find it in your heart to be happy for your fellow office employees. you wanted to show your happiness for them so badly, but what happened with ryo and suga remained ingrained in your mind. when your eyes meet ryo’s angry gaze, you decided it was best if you just stayed silent.

suga’s focus wasn’t on the celebrations anymore, it was on you. like always, he could read that sad look on your face so easily. he knew, and suga could only hope that one day you’d escape those shackles, even if it meant you didn’t end up in his arms. he just wanted you to be happy.

but regardless of everyone’s excitement, the mood had to be ruined one way or another. “alright, now everyone get back to work!”

“boo!”

•••

“the great thing about sports is that it’s all about character,” ukai began, speaking as if he were giving an inspirational speech. “and you can learn lessons about life even if you don't win… but we did win because we were ahead, so ha!”

“you didn’t do anything, ukai.”

“that’s what she said.” he winked to the camera, resulting in the first of many eye rolls and face palms from the camera crew to occur.

•••

(bonus scene)

later that day, everyone had went home for the night, but you had stayed for a little while longer as ukai needed some extra work done from you on such short notice. you went to the break room for one last cup of coffee before leaving, but there laid a note on the table, one with your name on it.

“thanks for being my biggest fan today. i hadn’t been so excited about volleyball in the longest time and i really appreciate it.

—suga.

ps. check the fridge. you forgot something.”

you furrow your eyebrows in confusion before opening the fridge. inside, there was a yogurt with a sticky note that read “y/n” on it. when you removed the sticky note, it was your favorite, and then you remembered what happened that night ryo called you on your way to the bus stop with suga. you forgot the yogurt he bought you at the convenience store.

ryo would never remember things like that, but suga always did. if only ryo could be like him. if you could only be with suga instead.

oh.

“fuck.” you curse to yourself before realizing you were still being filmed. “you guys can censor that, right?”

“just don’t tell ukai.”

“easy.” you say. what wouldn’t be easy, however, was navigating this newfound revelation.

#haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu fanfiction #haikyuu au #sugawara x reader #sugawara koushi x female reader #sugawara x female reader #sugawara koushi x reader #sugawara #sugawara fanfiction #sugawara koushi fanfiction #haikyu x reader #haikyu #haikyu fanfiction #haikyuu x female reader #haikyu x female reader #pluto writes 📝#haikyuu x the office au 🏢

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steveandbuckysdaughter · 4 months

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Personal review regarding what if…? season 2 episode 8 (spoilers)

No ok, I must admit, the episode was good in some aspects.

Wanda was majestic. Loki and Scott were hilarious and I loved every single moment with them.

Thor was amazing, dark and serious out of loss but still enjoyable, and the crumbs of his relationship with Hela were very nice.

I’ve actually liked Tony for the very first time in my life, probably because I tend to like him a lot more in AUs and fanfictions than I do in the normal timeline.

And then… there were those two.

I will never comprehend why marvel wants Steve to be so dependent on Peggy. And I will never comprehend why, to make him interact with her, they have to destroy or sideline every other relationship he has built, or make his character flat.

Bucky being friends with Scott was amazing, but the fact that him and Steve interacted like two times was extremely disappointing. You’d expect “best friends in every universe”, if you dislike the romantic pairing so much, to acknowledge themselves for more than a few scenes, in only one of which they’re in frame together (Bucky was literally 😐 while his best friend disappeared, come on now).

And the storyline about Peggy coming from another world to save the universe was just… Mbah. It could’ve been executed in another way without including her and it still would have made sense. It really feels like a Y/N insert.

Seeing literally any other character was so good, so fun, and they had to ruin it this way, making Peggy once again the self insert and girlboss she didn’t need to be.

Plus, forgive my constant complaining, but it’s extremely infuriating how all of Steve’s friends were eliminated to put the focus solely on Peggy. Where’s Sam? Where’s Nat? Where’s Clint? It’s not an underrated friendship we’re talking about, a big chunk of the fandom loves the cap quartet or team cap, and after civil war it would have been nice to see them interact, especially after its popularity and popular demand. Outlaw team cap would have been glorious, a good chance to bring back many characters who aren’t here anymore in the right way, and involve characters that are rarely involved in What if in the storyline, for a change.

The treatment of Sam in this series particularly angers me, and even more so in this episode. I understand not involving him in other storylines, but Sam was a big part of CATWS and he wasn’t even in the episode centered on that film. What, because Steve met him while running he can’t be introduced in any other way? And oh, there’s no excuse for this episode. If there was one episode they could have placed Sam in, it was this one. Sam was there in infinity war, where the mess happened, and he should have been with the other avengers in this one.

If marvel wanted to involve someone from another universe so bad, it should have been a Captain America Sam from another universe. Can you imagine the poetry of seeing Steve and Nat again after endgame? Can you imagine having closure with them both, and having fun in the process? It would have been so great.

Another great storyline without involving characters from other universes would have been one where Steve, who touched the time stone, accidentally brought everyone in the past, and he was the only one to remember it. And to go back and prevent everyone’s distraction, he had to recruit the avengers, who don’t know him and don’t trust him but that in the end become his friends and companions. It would have been so interesting to see the original avengers involved in something different from being some side characters or extras in the one woman show that seems to be What if, constantly centered around the same bland, one dimensional reimagined side character. Peggy’s blandness is so obvious in these episodes (aside for some random remarks that made me smile) that literally everyone who’s involved directly with her must be bland like her, otherwise risking to overshadow her.

I don’t think I was supposed to cringe and look away as much as I did during Steggy’s forced scenes, but I did. If they had to force Steggy and Peggy down our throats, at least they could have done something different from the same bland and boring storyline as always. I wouldn’t be as mad as I am now if Peggy and Steve’s relationship wasn’t as bland. I would have preferred an enemies to lovers type of twist or change, where Steve doesn’t trust Peggy and struggles with her because he sees in her a different version of the Peggy that died in that universe. But noooo, god forbid, let’s go with the same old song.

An episode five or ten minutes longer with a better, avengers-centric or Steve-centric storyline would have been much better than what we got.

And given that this was my most anticipated episode, I was very disappointed by it. I hope for the next seasons, if there’s other ones, Marvel will listen to the general complaint regarding Peggy and will give her a break. I don’t think any of the original avengers or relevant MCU characters made as much appearances as Peggy, and being a main focus in four episodes out of nine is ridiculous.

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waitmyturtles · 11 months

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HYPERBOLIC SPOILERS FOR THE PHENOMENAL SECOND EPISODE OF OS2 x BBS x ATOTS

Can I feel so much in just one sitting?! Besides the UTTER giddiness of yesterday’s episode, at least for today, I think I have some actual, sensible, legible analysis to offer. I’m really moved, almost to tears.

I mean, as I blogged just a few minutes ago, part 4/4 of this second episode WILL go down in history in my heart as OBVIOUSLY some of the BEST, most STUNNING content in the HISTORY of anatomical and muscular analysis filmmaking. Yes.

I’m seeing on Twitter some grumpiness for the comedy of this all (the girlies want more woop woop?! I mean?!), but I seriously think this whole crossover set up and the way it’s been written is brilliant. And I don’t think this is just for fun.

But first, regarding the comedy and some other one-off points -- I mean, I knew that all four of these guys would be great, but their comedic TIMING, with the writing, is spectacular. They clearly had a FANTASTIC time filming this, and you can see it -- while they didn’t have much time to actually film it, it’s so well done.

I really want to call it, I really want to see it, I wanna see more subverting of the ships, and I wanna see these guys do more with each other separately -- I’m excited to see the implications of OhmEarth and NanonMix next week, and I think that Aof might be making a huge point by separating these guys, pairing them up together with others, and mixing shit up, because that’s what he does (especially while I have He’s Coming to Me on the mind soon on my OGMMTVC watchlist).

Another one-off point: like I wrote yesterday, we’re getting a double-dose of nostalgia, and I also wrote that I haven’t had to wait NEARLY as long as most of y’all for the return of BBS and ATOTS. But that being said, even though I only watched ATOTS last fall, I actually literally nearly cried when I saw the ATOTS flashbacks and heard the music. Because the way that show was designed in 2021 (I got so much OGMMTVC on my mind) -- those motifs WERE designed to imprint themselves in our memories as remarkable for a kind of cinematic, bildungsroman BL that we weren’t used to seeing back then. That show was nostalgic not JUST for the damn ship, but for Pha Pun Dao, for Chiang Mai, for the Thailand that Aof celebrates vis à vis EarthMix in ATOTS and Moonlight Chicken.

It’s gorgeous, and he knows what he’s doing by putting PatPran in that mix -- another couple at a different stage of their relationship, with a background and shared struggles that are different than TianPhupha’s, but that still offer both freshness AND nostalgia to the backbone story of ATOTS.

What’s moving me about these first two episodes reflects on what I just wrote -- this is no longer a story about Bad Buddy or ATOTS. This is a story about two couples going through their shit. Pat and Pran have ALWAYS been about going through their shit. We went through a A LOT of SHIT with them, including forward flashes after they graduated and seeing how they were faring in their long-distance relationship.

Remember: we haven’t spent ANY time with Tian and Phupha in their relationship yet, ABSOLUTELY NONE. They smooched once on the hill, we saw them cuddle, and Oishii sent us off. So we’re JUST finding out, NOW, how they’re faring, and we get thrown in a fight.

A fight that’s similar to the kinds of struggles that Pat and Pran have already shown us and are showing us now. Tian wants Phupha to see a slice of HIS life in Bangkok. Tian wants Phupha to yield a little, to stop being so stubborn.

Pat wants Pran to open up more. Pat KNOWS why Pran keeps everything so close to the chest. Pat is SO USED to being the balancing effect of their relationship, to push forward, to pull back, but to ALWAYS HOLD PRAN DOWN AND REMAIN AS PRAN’S ROCK, because Pran has not had the same kind of large family structure as Pat could rely on in his childhood and doesn’t know how to take emotional risks. Pat knows this and works hard on balancing it out.

But Pat can go overboard, right, and that’s partly why Pran drove away to Pha Pun Dao -- to prove to himself that he could complete this project on his own, but also, flirtingly, knowing that Pat would ultimately be by his side, and to play the competitive games that these guys always play with each other, because they’re still college dudes with bones to pick.

What we’re seeing is BOTH COUPLES FINDING THEMSELVES IN THEIR MATURING GROWTH STAGES OF THEIR RELATIONSHIPS.

Hello, mic check, there’s something happening here in Our Skyy 2. WHAT HAPPENED IN THE ECLIPSE EPISODES?

Same damn thing, the same damn thing that pissed the girlies off before. WE’RE SEEING AWLLLLLL THESE GUYS IN THE GROWTH STAGES OF THEIR RELATIONSHIPS. Akk was frustrated by all the expressions of care that Ayan is overabundant with. Ayan WANTS Akk to RECEIVE the care, because the RECEPTION OF CARE IS the signal, the trigger, the MEANING of the relationship for Ayan -- it tells Ayan, when I care for you, Akk, I AM SHOWING YOU MY LOVE FOR YOU, and that’s how *I* DEMONSTRATE IT.

Tian: Phupha, come with me to Bangkok.

Pran: Pat, let me do this by myself.

Akk: Ayan, I don’t need as much care as you’re giving me, it’s too much.

Phupha: You’re making only about me being madly in love with you.

Pat: I want to help you, my boyfriend.

Ayan: This is how I show my love for you, Akk.

Y’all. Aof, Golf, these filmmakers. QUEER RELATIONSHIPS ARE RELATIONSHIPS THAT DESERVE THE INVESTMENT AND RESPECT OF EMOTION AND GROWTH IN ART. Not all queer art/BLs need to be about the thrills and frills of the first kiss, of the first sex, of the first whatever. We’re expecting these guys to live together forever in fiction, right? Aof and Golf and the other homies are saying -- kk, girlies, we’ll give you the fan service, alright, but we’re going to show you HOW WE, AS THE QUEER COMMUNITY, DURING PRIDE, GET THERE IN OUR OWN RELATIONSHIPS, TOO, messy details and all. Shit.

Here’s something from reality. I’m the youngest girl of my Indian family -- I was not equal to my older siblings at all, expected to fail, treated as if I didn’t know how to function in society. Y’all can predict what happened. Your gal got a great career, a great family, a husband, the whole thing.

So when I first met my husband, I’m riding my life on my own -- paying my own rent, my own bills, everything. I had already proved I didn’t need my birth family for anything.

But what I didn’t consider during those first years of the relationship was the following: my future husband’s love language was dependence. He was certainly IMPRESSED by dating a woman who had her shit together. BUT. He WANTED me to DEPEND on him, AT LEAST emotionally, if not for other things. I wasn’t going to like, quit my job for a relationship, but -- I was ALSO having REAL trouble DEPENDING on him emotionally.

Like Pran, maybe. I didn’t trust trusting anyone emotionally, because that was a paradigm already created by my family in my upbringing. I had TRAINED myself to NOT need emotional feedback from ANYONE romantically, because I learned to survive in other ways.

Of course, with great communication AND TIME (TIME), I came around and learned to lean on him and trust him.

Aof and Golf are giving their couples the benefits of growth and time to make the relationships better, and stronger, and working, and functioning, and I can’t emphasize enough how REAL THIS IS.

That’s what these episodes are giving me. I WANT TO SEE MORE BLs with established relationships (@bengiyo, @lurkingshan, @wen-kexing-apologist: WHAT DID YOU EAT YESTERDAY FTW). I want to see contextual heartache. I want to see fights. I want to see tears. I want to see snottiness and shittiness and passive aggression, because all of that is worth examining in human emotional art.

That’s real, that’s worth reflecting in art, and I see Aof and Golf doing this on purpose to give RESPECT to the emotional structures that they’ve created in their work.

I’m having so much fucking fun with these episodes, but I should have expected this, I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN, that Aof would already render me an emotional mess as well. It always happens. That it’s happening to our BELOVED COUPLES, AT THE START OF PRIDE, I’m just like. We’re just so blessed to have this art to enjoy.

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respectthepetty · 2 months

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I've been wondering for a while- how did you start getting into all the colour stuff?? I would love an origin story <3 what got you into your passion for deciphering colors and how did you figure out what they mean??

sorry ik it's a lot but ever since I started following you I see colors everywhere and I'm curious of where you started noticing them ((: it's so fun and intriguing to me! I'm usually more of a "foaming at the mouth for the lighting" girlie but it's been a heap of fun figuring out colors with the lights ^^

thanks for everything you do to show us your eye for color btw ♡♡ your blog is so fascinating and I love reading all your theories and notes

@overrgrown, never apologize for asking questions, but I've actually been asked this before by bengiyo. You can find my write up HERE, but the short version of that post is I've always seen colors; therefore, I've always attached meaning to them, even if the meaning was not valid.

TLWR: Appreciate the artists who work on these shows, not me.

In bengiyo's ask, I stated that when I was younger, I thought the colors were showing me what was good and what was bad. That's it. In my defense, I was a kid, so everything really was good or bad in my book with no in-between.

Even though I've always seen colors, and it comes very naturally to me, the meaning I attached to them when I was younger was very much based on who I was rather than what was being shown to me. Five-year old me thought if someone was dressed all in red that they were the devil. Adult me now knows that isn't always the case. Adult me also knows that red in American (United States) culture means something different than other cultures.

Not a flex, just a fact, but I have several degrees in languages, linguistics, and rhetoric. What they are in is not super important, but, in general, a formal education has greatly helped me infer meaning from what I'm visually seeing in the media I consume. My degrees are not in film or communications, yet I've taken undergrad and grad-level courses like Visual Media, Multimedia and Visual Communication, Language of Film, Digital Narratives, Cinematography and Lighting, Film Theory & Criticism, Queer Cinema History, Spanish Film & Feminism, and many more all because under this great big academic umbrella of rhetoric and composition lies storytelling.

And that's what this is really about - How do we tell a story? Regardless if that story is a simple flyer for a school bake sale, a 30-second commercial advertising cleaning wipes, or a 12-episode BL series, how do we get the message across? We can't just rely on ONE thing! We have to use as many things as possible! So when I'm watching a BL series, I'm just not paying attention to the words being spoken or the acting alone. No, I'm paying to the background noise. What do the clothes tell me about the character? What does his apartment tell me about him? And what do the colors mean?! All of it is important!

I've mentioned this before but I serve on a screening committee for a queer film festival. I actually got involved with the film festival as an undergrad because of one of the film courses. This has allowed me the opportunity to speak to several filmmakers about their process, and all of them have confirmed that the colors were intentional. People who deal with props and costume design have spoken to me about trying to find very specific items that reinforce the story being told. Oh, and theater is a whole different level. Because of the nature of the stage versus film, if it is on the stage, it must have a reason for being there.

Basically, people who work in visual media work really fucking hard, which you probably know since you love lighting. Most times, 12-hour days are the average, if not longer. This video does a good job of briefly covering the work that goes into costume design, and I timestamped it to begin at the part that covers colors.

youtube

I love seeing colors. I love deciphering them. I love the story they tell.

But they wouldn't be there if the hardworking people behind them didn't do their job, and those are the people who I appreciate.

So, as always, I'm thankful that you let me know I'm helping you see the beauty is in the details, but I'm really just here to admire the beauty with you.

#the colors mean things #colors are universal #so the fact that everybody color codes is a magical humanistic connection #even if we don't all recognize them #they still exist #and people work hard for us to see them #I'm just here to admire them with you

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psiithirisma · 2 years

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Bedrock Bros Actor AU (but not quite focusing on the acting part, to be fair)

Where star child Tommy gets a role for a sitcom with 3 other actors as part of the main cast, one of them being the famous teenage actor Technoblade, aka Tommy's idol.

15 years old Techno is a famous child actor, know for his participation in multiple renowned films, having leading roles in more than one. However, Tommy recognizes him for his appearance in his favorite cartoon which he has been a fan for years.

This cartoon tells the silly adventures of the protagonist, a hilarious bad-ass cute pig that wears a crown and a cape and is extremely good at fighting. A generic type of serie but with high enough ratings to have kept it going.

In said show there's a special episode where the protagonist fighting against a bad guy resulted into him being teleported to another dimension, the audience's dimension. Most of the episode was live-action, Techno chosen as the actor to be the human version of the pig.

Younger Tommy was obsessed with that episode. With the whole cartoon in general but he ADORED that specific episode and when it aired only made his interest for the series stronger.

So when he realizes he's working with THE Technoblade he has no shame in showing how happy he is.

Techno isn't too surprised. He's aware people look-up to him and that he has fans, but what does takes him aback was the fact this kid apparently recognizes him thanks to his appearance from years ago in a cartoon and no other more famous role.

The main character is called Teno (a shortened version of a much MUCH longer name) so now you have little 7 years old Tommy calling Techno "Te'no" due to the beloved character and the similarities between their names. Also because it's easier and quicker to pronounce.

But most people assume its a cute childish mispronunciation of Tech's name since they dont know the cartoon so the general reaction is “aww he's like your little brother” which embarrasses him to hell and back.

Especially when Tommy adds that he is like an older brother to him.

Terrible, horrific, cringe. He is no one's older brother.

...Techno can't really fight the Big Brother allegations when the show they casted him and Tommy for is literally centered on the day-to-day life of a family of 4 (the other two actors being Phil and Wilbur) and all of them fill their respective roles almost as if it was second-nature for them, with the family dynamic following them behind scenes too and present in their off-camera relationships.

Tommy talks a lot about the show to Techno and preys for any fun facts or “classified information” he may have from working on the show.

Techno sadly doesn't but now Tommy got him invested in the show so he gets in contact with some of the writers to have a chat with them. The little blond pretty much ends up interviewing them trying to squeeze as much information as possible out of them.

Speaking about interviews; in an interview the main cast is told to draw the other members and Tommy draws Techno as the little monarch pig but with glasses and after that pigs became part of Techno's brand.

Tommy at some point tells Techno about the character he created a while back, a similar pig to Teno but yellow and blue eyes, wearing a red and white t-shirt and named Big Man (a nickname since Big Man's real name is Nutpig).

It's a clear self-insert but he doesn't comment on it.

Tommy spends hours rambling about the multiple stories he created where Big Man and Teno go on amazing adventures kicking ass. Techno happily listens, sometimes participating with his own made-up adventures.

Occasionally, after a particular exhausting day filming, Techno would find a sheet of paper with a doodle of 2 pigs, Teno and Big Man, on his desk.

Unaware of the soft smile crawling on his lips or the way his fatigue suddenly would lessen at the sight of the childish scribbles.

Techno discovers these official comics of the show and buys them only to read them along with Tommy when the latter would be tired after an entire day in the set.

Most of their reading sessions ending with the youngest drifting to sleep with his face buried on the older's side.

One day Tommy makes Techno a paper crown as a thank-you gift for being an incredible older brother. Saying he isn't sure how older brothers are because he never had one before but despite this he knows Techno is the best one out there.

Techno tries his hardest not to burst into tears right on the spot.

That is something he would find himself doing a lot since meeting Tommy. Trying not to cry out of pure love and affection.

Maybe being an older brother wasn't too bad.

#tommyinnit #technoblade #bedrock bros #sbi #sleepy bois inc #innitblr #bladeblr #sleepy boys inc #long post #venus whispers #actor au #sbi au #twitter liked this one a lot so here u go #fluff #i like fluff

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bananamarshmallowz · 4 months

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I'm here to talk about Destiel...

The internet is a very funny place.

If you're in need of a good laugh, go to your favorite series, show, films what have you and ask what are you unpopular opinions with _said show_.

I have watched dozens of shows and always think I might be the only one, post that and see what happens.

I am a shipper but I normally don't talk or boast about what/who I ship, it's not relevant and it can be weird. I don't ship actors/real humans, that's crossing lines. Characters however, yes. Anyway, I have to bring up this one. One comment said "Destiel shouldn't have happened." Okay, I get that, people can get weird about it. Then they go on to say how every shipper claws and digs for stuff that isn't there.

And again, I'm not saying some people don't dig but not all gay/LGBTQ+ representation is completely shown in media. Mentioned maybe here and there, sure. But there's endless cis-straight-relationship romance movies, romance themes and what have you. Some series make really bad portrayals and give gay people a bad rap because they're the only representation. And don't get me wrong, sometimes we do dig and claw because we feel what they portray, or at least we think so. But sometimes we don't need to dig.

That same thread added the random siren or even the policeman from yellow fever had more chemistry than Dean and Cas ever have. - Him looking at the soldier's ass in Time After Time while walking in the store. Yes, those were weird scenes, why were they even shown? Great question, I don't know I'm just here. - And as for they have no chemistry... They won best chemistry award for TV... It doesn't get better than that.

This is more of a rant than I want but this is certainly one of my favorite shows. And I feel the need to say what's on my mind because I know I can't afford therapy, so this is the next best thing.

Oh yeah before I start this, I have read numerous comments accusing all the actors of horrendous things... - Firstly, they all have kids, and wives and love their kids so much. I don't think they would do anything to jeopardize that. So stop making up messed up shit. - Secondly, I don't want to believe other people make other people uncomfortable for fun, but some people do. But considering that they acted for more than 8 years together, I'm pretty sure working with people that are cool for that long, they all had a strong bond. And all the times that Jensen looks uncomfortable whenever Misha goes into or talks about Destiel, it's because technically they're not even allowed to say anything about the show regarding shipping characters because anything could've been true, it could've not been. If every actor were able to spoil their movie, we'd be out of movies but we aren't. And Jensen is a rather shy individual, funny enough. At the beginning of Supernatural he was 27, and Jared was 23. When Misha joined when he was 34. They were and still are wholesome and great people. Regardless, All of them would pull pranks and stuff on the show, they're friends, not some messed up whatever someone said, I'm blown away that people would even imply some things. You can look up any video of everyone being close with one another from hugs to dancing, to singing to whatever. So don't say "read the room" when they're just being themselves, I shift a lot when in public, does that mean I'm constantly uncomfortable? No. - THIRDLY, they were all lowkey scared of certain parts of supernatural, in 2017 they did an interview with Entertainment Weekly {this one} and said what the scariest episodes or concepts were at the time for them. Jared's was changelings, shapeshifters, demons possessing people, things that could be real but possibly something posing as someone but something's off. Jensen's was people doing really messed up things and that it was the most realistic thing that could actually happen. Humans being psycho. And vintage dolls, lmao, same. And Misha said that everything could give him nightmares. He's so soft, any of it could give him nightmares. These guys are human. Not some terrible against religion people, they play on a show. Pure human. Just like everyone else.

ANYWAY, I think we all know the infamous eye sex scenes LMAO... if you haven't heard of them... {here's 10 minutes of them staring at each other} and that's not even all the seasons

They always look each other up and down and just stare at each other.

Above, Dean says "Cas, we talked about this. Personal space." and then Cas backs off. He doesn't know why, he just knows it makes Dean uncomfortable, so to make him more comfortable, he takes a few steps back. But Cas isn't aware of how complicated humans are. Personal space are just words, angels shouldn't care what humans have to say. They're so primal and they need more than just basic shelter and foods, they need the whole pyramid of Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. He doesn't understand this until he goes through it himself, but we're getting slightly off topic. Sure, them continuing to stare could be just a funny little thing at the start... no. It still happens up to the last episodes.

This is the musical episode, Fanfiction, Season 10, Episode 5. Destiel, Samstiel and the most dreaded Sam/Dean are mentioned... They're brothers. As someone with siblings... gross.

"You can't spell subtext without S-E-X." Then Jensen gave this look to the camera, I think this is on behalf of many of the people on the show.

Below, they end a scene after talking but it's about 15 seconds of them just staring at each other then it ends. Personally, I'm not a big fan of eye contact, and try to make at least 5 or maybe 2 seconds of contact in between interacting with someone, anything more than 10 is past uncomfortable... I don't stare at anyone this long. Legit the scene is so long lmao

I don't remember the context on this but I just don't like eye contact. Both their eyes are gorgeous but I don't stare like this, especially with any of my siblings. When they have a hard time I hug them if they want a hug, talk to them, but I don't make eye contact like that.

I have never looked at my friends like this, not my best friends, certainly not my siblings. Someone I had a crush on, possibly.

Next, they are going in as Texas Rangers and Dean explains how to get Cas into character. "Yeah. Look, just act like you're from Tombstone, okay?" "The city?" "With Kurt Russell? I made you watch it." "Yeah, yeah. Yeah. The one with the guns and tuberculosis." [in a deep cowboy voice] "I'm your Huckleberry." [gulps] "Yeah, exactly.-"

I don't have anything other than I like that scene and how Cas says, "I'm your Huckleberry" :D

(SPOILERS AHEAD Whoops lol)

When Cas dies Dean tries to pray to God even though he swore off praying to God. One of the lines is "We've lost everything." Mary's gone, correct but everyone else is alive, except Cas. They still had the Bunker, Baby, Jack. Cas and Mary died (she fell through and there was no way to know she was alive.) But considering that Sam is still alive, the guy Dean has fought tooth and nail to save all these years, is standing by him, ready to fight what may come. But Cas is dead... Dean obliterates his hand from punching on a bathroom door. It's frankly the most punches he's made in a single scene I think and even then, God doesn't answer him so he begins to mourn. It creeps in that his friend is gone.

When Cas is being burned, at first it peers to Jack who sees the man who is supposed to be his father, not blood father but someone who promised to look out for him, someone he doesn't even know, he feels the loss but he's just been born and he never really met Cas.

Then we roll to Sam, he's lost a dear friend and is sad. He's wanting to cry and fidget and be sad.

THEN we roll to Dean. His face is drained of all emotion. He has lost his best friend. His dear companion and looks like he lost it all despite his brother being right next to him. He can't even move.

Now I would be sad if one of my brothers died but sadly I don't have that much of a connection with them as Dean and Cas have. And thankfully I haven't yet experienced one of my brothers pass on.

But I have lost a few lovers, and that... That is the face I have felt. When everything else feels irrelevant. You don't care about anything. You can't care about anything. You are numb.

And this all brings us to the finale.

Death is on her way, has them by their hearts, well Dean's in fact. They run/slowly walk over to Basement Storage Room 7B and Cas wards the room, slowing down Death on the other side.

This is the exact moment before he loses Cas for the last time. (I'm copying from the script on the Supernatural wiki, don't hate me, I watched it over and over too, and I've shortened Cas's monologue because I don't want to relive that heartbreak again lmao) But basically Cas realizes this is it, this is the happiest he has been. Everyone was alive and well, he has Dean alone at last. The last exchange they had was this: "You changed me, Dean." "Why does this sound like a goodbye? "Because it is." - "I love you."

"Don't do this, Cas." - "Cas..." "Goodbye, Dean." "What?"

Cas pushes Dean out of the way and gets taken by the Empty.

He has to process all these years of interactions with this awkward little man with sensible shoes in less than five minutes and it all crumbles.

Castiel is gone. And he's not coming back.

Sam keeps trying to call Dean but he's just getting Dean's voicemail and Dean isn't answering. He simply can't.

A few episodes later, Dean fucking dies. Just how he said he would, to a monster, like any other job. It felt rushed and I didn't like it.

But how they ended it could've been so much worse.

Dean makes it to heaven, expecting just memory lane, but Bobby's there and says Jack remade heaven new, everyone's together in heaven where they belong. He offers him a beer and tells him how different heaven is and how it's so much better.

Dean's sold, but it's missing something.

This is directly after Bobby tells Dean that Cas helped Jack rebuild heaven.

After that, he takes a drive as he waits out Sam's life. He meets Sam on the bridge and that's the end.

For years, Dean didn't have an obvious love interest, here and there a fling maybe but nothing romantic. All the soft scenes were pretty much between him and Cas.

Their bond isn't brotherly, it's very best friend-ish but lovers can be friends too.

And that's my review on Destiel and why it's a thing it's 4 am and I haven't slept well the past two days so what to do other than write about destiel

ok bye :]

#supernatural #destiel #dean winchester #sam winchester #castiel #jensen ackles #misha collins #jared padalecki #rant/idk #fuck it #im so tired oml

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jays-nook · 3 months

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Watched the First 4 Episodes of the PJO Series, Here are My Thoughts:

Cast:

I absolutely love the cast!! They are just so perfect for their roles!! I've seen my fair share of clips and behind the scenes footage to know the chemistry between the actors and how perfectly the main trio embodies their characters, but actually seeing their acting and how well they fit together just makes sense in my brain!! They're all so small as well and adorable that it really puts it into perspective how young they truly are to be going through all of this and the things the characters go through as the books progress. It hurts but it's also endears you more to the actors and the characters.

Walker is just absolutely perfect as Percy. He's such a little shit and the way he delivers his lines, whether they're angry/emotional/sad or just comedic, is simply amazing!

"I am impertinent" THAT PART HAD ME WHEEZING FR

Although I don't have an issue with Lin Manuel Miranda as a person (I absolutely love his works and stuff) it does not make sense to cast him as Hermes, and that's just going off the elevator scene when he delivers the package! Like I honestly can't imagine this man as Luke's father :// It could've been better.

But the others are just great! Their energy is amazing and omg Mr. D was a blast! It's a much different portrayal than I was expecting since Mr. D is so chill and like aloof in the books, but seeing him yell and stuff at Percy to take on the quest just made me look at him in a new light!!

Filming/Aesthetics:

Every scene is shot so beautifully! And the choices they made with the places they add the music too!! Like the entire fight with the Minotaur being void of music was such a good choice. It just makes the entire scene so much more emotionally charged and tense while keeping the audience on the edge of their seat!! It was filmed so well and god it transported me to how it felt like when I read the books for the first time and went through that scene~

And omg the scene with Sally just sitting in the rain on the windowsill :(( That one was so soft and sad istg- any scene with Sally was just perfect, love her and the actress who did such a good job with her!!

Changes from the Books:

It's been around 5 or so?? years since I last read the books, so my recollection of what actually happened and what didn't was a bit fuzzy while watching the series but I was able to see how things changed. And so far, I don't mind the changes that much, like yes some had me staring at the screen like "hm" because they wetn a different way than I was expecting, but overall not too bad!

I did enjoy the scenes with Medusa, I liked having Percy wanting to hear her out and trusting to follow her inside because of what Sally had told him when he was a kid. I liked the conversations between Percy and her in the kitchen and even when she was explaining her side of the story to the trio. It was such a good way to present the scene, to show her resentment of both Athena and Posiedon, and also to show how she interacts with Percy to lure him in and play on his trusting and albeit naive nature at that point in the quest.

I did see people talking about episode 8 and the big reveal tho and I'm both excited to see it but also wary of the change they added cause I've seen a lot of mixed reactions. Some prefer the book version, some the version in the series.

General Thoughts:

I'm honestly enjoying the series, it's exciting seeing it all come to life and the dynamics and just sitting there in anticipation of what's to come.

I'm currently watching it with my big sis and let me tell y'all it's so much fun!! She hasn't read the books so all she knows is purely from when we watched the movies together a long time ago so she doesnt remember much (but unfortunately the big reveal at the end isn't going to be a surprise for her). I'm having the time of my life being a little shit and laughing at her confusion or whenever she'd start yelling "WHAT" at the screen like when Sally dissapeared HAHAHA she keeps turning to me and trying to come to conclusions and theories for things while I just smile or shake my head at outrageous ones. I am excited to see her reactions to certain scenes in the other books, especially when it comes to a certain someones end in the last book (she does not like him rn so I'm like 👀 rn to see if that might change along the way).

Uncle Rick did such a good job with the series so far and I'm excited to watch the rest of it, especially now that news of it being renewed for season 2 came out HEHEHE

And thats it for today! I'll be watching the rest of the series at some point this week and will be sharing the rest of my thoughts then. Thank u for reaching the end haha. Till then, have a good day folks and stay tuned! <3

*Last 4 episodes here*

#percy jackson #pjo #pjo series #pjo tv show #I am NOT watching this on the official websites #not giving disney any money #keep boycotting!

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radiostatik · 7 months

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Would you consider yourself more of a Hazbin Hotel or a Helluva Boss fan, or are you into the entire Helluvaverse fandom as a whole?? I've known some folks who are fans and care more about Helluva than Hazbin and I've met others who care and love Hazbin more than Helluva, I'm someone who falls into the second category and even when I was a HB fan, I've honestly always loved Hazbin and it's characters more, IMO. I also wanted to ask if you have any concerns and worries for HH since it's not that far from release and we only have a couple of months, HB S2 hasn't been the best and some have expressed their concerns for HH as HB hasn't been the best honestly, I honestly wanted to know your thoughts if you don't mind responding and answering, it's up to you! 💗

I don't mind answering questions at all!

When Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss both released their pilots these were my first thoughts

Hazbin Hotel: I was awestruck by the pretty and unique art style and animation, I thought the jokes were pretty funny, and it seemed to have a lot of heart. I loved Charlie, she makes a perfect protagonist for taking place in hell. She's clever, optimistic, good hearted, but not afraid to throw a punch.

Sir Pentious was so silly, and had such a fun, hilarious dynamic with Angel Dust.

Alastor drew me in with his goofy, non chalant subtle sadistic personality, along with his old times radio voice that sounds straight outta the 30's.

I enjoyed the pilot and had a lot of hope that it would be a good series. An adult comedy with an appealing art style, an lots of heart is hard to find.

Now let's talk about Helluva Boss

I decided to check out the pilot, but it's whole existence weirded me out. I was like, "Why are you making a pilot for another show right after just making one? Why not just make episode 2? Isn't it a bit early to be making a spin off of a show that has barley started? The view count also said a lot, with Hazbin Hotel Pilot having almost double the views of the Helluva Boss Pilot. And I can see why.

The characters... aren't all that likable. They are all just mean to each other. I know Millie loves Moxxie, she gaslights him when he's rightfully upset.

There's a noticeable difference between the main couple in Hazbin (Chaggie), and the main couple in Helluva (M&M):

For example

Chaggie:

Vaggie: *Is rightfully upset at Angel, but is getting a little too worked up*

Charlie: *Agrees with her and tells Angel what he did was not cool, tell Vaggie to try to relax, things will be okay.*

Meanwhile M&M:

Moxxie: *Is rightfully upset at Blitz for stalking and filming him and Millie , but is maybe getting a little too worked up*

Millie: "It's not that big a deal" "Calm down, you're gonna have another panic attack"

👁👄👁 Millie wtf. How do you not validate your husband's concerns and condem Blitzo's action.

The whole Helluva Boss Pilot has terrible pacing. We have a flashback within a flashback, the first few times seeing it I was so confused. When Loona says "Come on, you know why", I expected the next flashback to explain the "Moxxie is fat" joke. But there's no explanation. Just another scene of Loona being mean I guess?

The next scene is of Loona telling Blitz he has a phone call. These flashbacks are supposed to show us how mean Loona is. But the Stolas phone call... doesn't show that. It just shows how Blitz has another problem because this one night stand is acting really clingy. We then get the flashback, within the flashback, of Blitz stealing the book.

Blitz says the line "If I hadn't slept with that privileged asshole, non of us would have access to the living world." Nothing wrong with this line, but the way it's delivered makes it seem like having access to the living world is a bad thing?? Maybe the line would make more sense if he said "Sleeping with that privileged asshole is the ONLY reason we have access to the living world." It still works even with Moxxie saying "You what?😶"

There are a few funny lines in the HB Pilot, but a lot more gore. The only "gore" in Hazbin are egg yokes, and some blood from an insect Katy kills with her pen.

The gore in Helluva is amped up and a bit disturbing. A child is shot, then mutilated. That scene made me sick to me stomach.

The kid wasn't even that mean. He said to Moxxie "If I wanted to hear from a spineless jackals, I'd Rip out your spine." Implying that Moxxie DOES have a spine.

Speaking of the kid, how did he enter hell without turning into a demon? How are they able to shoot him without him responding back into Hell? Why did I.M.P. even take him with them? Give him back to his mom or just leave him where you found him! It's weird to think they cared enough to take him with them, yet they'd kill him despite not getting any money for it.

I'd love to get into the other Helluva episodes, but maybe if I get another ask about it.

There are some thing I like about Helluva, but a lot of things I dislike. So, yeah I'm more of a Hazbin fan, but I still somewhat enjoy Helluva and look forward to new episodes coming out. (No matter how disappointing some of them have been)

Do I have any fears about Hazbin Hotel coming out?

I'm glad it's finally coming out, but I'll be honest, I wish it were under better circumstances. This is not the way I wanted it to happen. The entire voice cast has been replaced, the animation style has changed, the main characters all received major downgrades with their redesigns, and major characters that were part of the original lineup (Baxter, Mimzy, + Crymini) all appear to have been dropped from the series. So much for female focused.

I'm still excited for it tho because it will still have Charlie and Vaggie, and we will hopefully get to see more concrete proof that they are a couple within the series.

I'm hoping the new voice actors will do the characters justice, but I'm still not over how Viv screwed the pilot cast over in the way that she did.

#hazbin hotel #helluva boss critical #hazbin hotel critical #vivziepop critical #charlie magne #alastor #sir pentious #angel dust #vaggie #chaggie #helluva boss #my shit #asks

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stvrchaser · 1 year

Note

omg omg omg ur such a lifesaver w ur requests for jay kelso being open! but how about going to the drive in movie with jay!! maybe a lil kissing here and there 🤭 n e ways i appreciate all your work! <3

drive-in

( note ) : ahh!! i loved this prompt sm. it gave me an excuse to write teeth-rotting fluff and temporarily retreat to a fandom i abandoned a while ago. the it miniseries had two episodes (I think??) and idk if drive-ins usually show series. if not, let’s say they do for plot purposes. the two episodes are like 3hrs total anyway so it’s a somewhat passable movie length. i just wanted to include a horror movie moment (because jay canonically gets scared easily and i couldn’t not use that to my advantage)… so here we are. have fun!!

oh. and can you tell by reading this that bullying is 80% of my love language? /j

( pairing ) : jay kelso x reader

( words ) : 1700

There’s a certain charm to Point Place. Most people dream of living in the city where time slips by faster than they can keep up with. They seek the thrill in busy streets and sleepless nights. Personally, you don’t think small towns are too bad. Point Place isn’t too bad. Of course, you might be a little biased.

The city doesn’t have a Jay Kelso. It doesn’t have the local ice-cream shop Jay took you to on your first date. It doesn’t have the old gazebo where you waited out the rain on your one-year anniversary. It doesn’t have a weekly drive-in at the local park where you spend hours critiquing movie plots and laughing at stupid jokes over milkshakes and burgers.

There’s only one place you’ll find that — home.

There’s a loud boom over the speakers, the kind they pair with a loud crescendo to evoke that sense of suspense. It shakes the ground and everything that touches it, startling your boyfriend. His hands find your own and grips them tight. When you look up, you see his eyes are squeezed shut.

“Why do they keep doing that?” Jay sounds breathless, his cheeks flushed from knowing that you’d definitely felt him flinch. It’s endearing, really.

“It’s a horror franchise, babe. If you wanted something more quiet, you should have just asked me to read the book. Less sound effects and pointed teeth.” You make a show out of baring your teeth, imitating the snapping jaw of the werewolf on-screen.

“There’s a book?” he asks, finally opening his eyes. You think he’s joking, at first. Like he’s about to say something about how waiting for the movie is just so much easier. But his brows are settled into that look he gets when he’s really confused. You sit upright, startling Jay with the suddenness of your movement.

“There’s a— What do you mean ‘There’s a book?’ It’s Stephen King!” He stares blankly. “You’re kidding. He’s published like thirty novels.”

“Well, none that I’ve read.” You roll your eyes.

“Well, duh. When was the last time you picked up a book?”

“I read!” he bristles.

“Comics don’t count.”

“I read other things! I don’t have an A in English for nothing.” You want to say something about how class novels don’t count either but you decide against it. He is smart, really. He’s easily distracted, sure, but Jay is a lot more knowledgeable than he lets on. He’s particularly good at reading people, what they like and don’t like. It’s probably why he gets along with everyone.

“Alright, fine. But please tell me you’ve watched some of his other films.” He shakes his head. ”No? Not even Carrie? The Shining?” You think your pitch rises with every question, baffled by this new revelation regarding your boyfriend’s lack of horror movie knowledge. “Jay, I don’t know how I feel about this.” He rolls his eyes at your dramatics.

“I’m just not a big horror fan!” That, you know, is a gross understatement. Jay can get scared by so much as a light breeze. You refuse to confirm nor deny whether you find pleasure in taking advantage of that very fun fact.

“Fair enough. Some people just scare easily, I guess.”

“Not me, though,” he huffs a defensive, albeit nervous laugh.

Oh, that’s cute.

“Really?” you challenge.

“Uh-huh. It’s gonna take a lot more than a movie to scare me.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

⋆

“Just imagine this happening in real life. I mean, it’s terrifying. This guy can just get inside your head. Sure, ghosts and stuff can be scary. But at least you can move out or… perform an exorcism for that. How do you tell an ancient omnipotent alien to get out of your head? I don’t even have to be afraid of one specific thing, but if I’m creative enough, who knows what I could come up with? Like… a flesh-eating centipede the size of a crocodile. What do you think he’d shape-shift into if he was trying to scare you?”

You’re only slightly thrown off to be met with silence. Your mind is running through a thousand words a minute, theorizing about hypothetical evils and mind-reading. The absurdity, all too welcome, is only manageable to the extent that you’re still aware of where you are, who you’re with, and how said person seems to have stopped breathing.

“Jay? Ja-ay!” you try to snap him out of it.

“Nothing, duh. I think I’d know if a creepy clown was trying to manipulate me, thanks.” He’s pale as a ghost, clearly unnerved. You’re cruel, and he’s unlucky.

“Really? Not even if a spider started crawling on you?”

“Y/N,” Jay warns, sensing the mischief in your tone, low and taunting.

“I wouldn’t go to sleep with my mouth open tonight, if I were you.”

“No, no, Y/N don’t put that into my head,” he whines. You grin.

“The creepy crawlies are out to get-cha!” You reach for the nape of his neck, fingers crawling upward to imitate his eight-legged foe. Jay’s eyes widen in horror. Before you know it, he’s scrambling for his car keys.

“Nope! Nuh-uh! Not doing this. Going home now, thank you!”

“Oh my god, Jay!” you call after him.

The couple to your right hisses an angry scolding in your direction. In your opinion, that was a hell of a lot scarier than the face-painted clown with a preference for human flesh. Jay doesn’t seem to notice that though because he’s climbing into the driver’s seat, face pale. He looks a little bit sick.

“Jay, baby, I was just messing with you.” He shakes his head profusely.

“First it’s centipedes, next it’s spiders. I don’t even wanna know what else you can come up with. I’m already not sleeping tonight. I’m gonna try to keep it to a one-night maximum.”

“Jay.” He looks at you through the rear-view mirror. “Ja-ay. Can you look at me for a sec?” You crawl after him, wrapping your arms around the backrest of his seat. There’s only an inch of space between your mouth and his neck. Your steady breath, and the softness of your voice, eases the tension in his shoulders. “How about this? If you watch the whole thing with me and still feel scared, I’ll sleep over at your place tonight. I’ll protect you from any killer clowns and creepy insects, hm? What do you think?” He takes ahold of your hand, looking at you through the mirror again with a slight grin. You can tell he’s holding back, biting at his cheek to keep the corners of his mouth from turning upward.

“Is that a promise?” You press a kiss to his knuckle.

“Cross my heart, hope to die. I can throw in a pinky-swear in, if you need it.” With your free hand, you raise a pinky to his face.

“Oh, shut up.”

“You love me.” He grumbles through your fit of laughter. When your breath evens out again, you’re surprised to see his expression change. Jay's eyes crinkle with a smile. Not his usual teeth-baring grin, but the blissed-out turn of the mouth that holds all weight in his gaze, alone. Sincerity. Admiration. Love.

“I do, don’t I?” You’re momentarily stunned by the intimateness of this moment. The sudden vulnerability is so unexpected that all you can do is press a kiss to his cheek – a silent acknowledgement of his affection as if to say ‘I love you too.’

Like most days, you slip back comfortably into childish banter.

“But I still don’t get why you like this movie so much.”

“It’s a classic. Besides, doesn’t The Losers Club kind of remind you of us? Tight-knit friend group in a small town, spending the summer together?” He tilts his head to the side, seemingly deep in thought.

“Does that make you Beverly?” You open your mouth, but hesitate to respond. Jay raises his brow, intrigued by your tentativeness.

“I was thinking Richie.”

“Huh. You know what? That checks out. Trashmouth Tozier’s got nothing on you.”

“Damn right.” You clap an approving hand for his shoulder, reaching back to the abandoned meal you’ve left in the back of the car. Jay, with his impeccable timing, decides to return the attempt of humiliating you just as you reach for your milkshake. Admittedly, it’s well-played. You’d be proud if it wasn’t you he was trying to make fun of.

“You sure it’s got nothing to do with your crush on Bill?” Your jaw drops, surprised.

“I do not have a crush on Bill!” Your voice gives you away, sounding undoubtedly guilty, almost reminiscent of the turbulence in Jay’s voice when he insisted that he wasn’t scared. Turns out, you’re both terrible liars when it comes to each other. It’s quite humbling. “Well, maybe a little.”

“I knew it!”

“Hey! I’m allowed to like things for multiple reasons.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m sure you’re here for the power of friendship.” He waves a dismissive hand.

“See?” You play dumb to his sarcasm. “Now you’re getting it.”

“You’re so lucky I like you.”

“Does that mean we’re staying?” You flash him a sickly sweet smile. With a sigh, Jay finally surrenders.

“Fine. But I’m holding you to that promise. You’re coming over.”

“Good.” You shift back to where you were seated, facing the large screen again. “I really wanted to get through all of the scenes with Bill.” He gasps, feigning offense with an exaggerated hand to his chest.

“First of all, how dare you?”

“You love me! Remember that!”

taglist (reply or dm me if you want me to add you!)

@ajaxisbae

#bullying as a love language #jay kelso hates horror movies it’s true #jay kelso x reader #jay kelso #that 90s show

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