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the-rewatch-rewind · 8 months

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Another new episode! Getting into the home stretch!

Script below the break

Hello and welcome back to The Rewatch Rewind! My name is Jane, and this is the podcast where I count down my top 40 most frequently rewatched movies in a 20-year period. Today I will be discussing number 8 on my list: Universal Pictures’ 1936 screwball comedy My Man Godfrey, directed by Gregory La Cava, written by Morrie Ryskind and Eric Hatch, based on a book by Eric Hatch, and starring William Powell and Carole Lombard.

The rich and spoiled Bullock sisters, Irene (Carole Lombard) and Cornelia (Gail Patrick), are participating in a scavenger hunt that requires them to find a “forgotten man,” so they race to a shanty town at a city dump. Cornelia gets there first and approaches a homeless man named Godfrey (William Powell), who finds her rude and condescending and therefore refuses to take her offered $5, instead causing her to fall into an ash pile. Irene is amused by Godfrey’s treatment of her sister/rival, and after a brief conversation, Godfrey is amused enough by Irene to agree to be her forgotten man. Irene is so grateful to him for helping her win the scavenger hunt against Cornelia that she offers him a job as the butler for their wacky family, and he accepts without having any idea what he’s in for.

I remember being introduced to this movie rather early in my foray into old Hollywood back in 2002. I can’t recall my exact first impressions, but I’m pretty sure I had seen it several times and was already kind of obsessed with it before I started keeping track of the movies I watched. Once I started keeping track, I watched My Man Godfrey six times in 2003, three times in 2004, three times in 2005, twice in 2007, once in 2008, twice in 2009, once in 2010, twice in 2011, once in 2013, once in 2014, once in 2017, once in 2018, twice in 2019, twice in 2020, once in 2021, and once in 2022.

The main thing that initially drew me to this movie was its silliness. Based on the movies I’ve talked about on this podcast so far, I think it’s pretty clear that I love to watch a bunch of ridiculous characters having a fun romp, and that’s what a lot of My Man Godfrey is. Angelica, the scatterbrained mother of the Bullock family, played delightfully by Alice Brady, is one of the silliest characters in any movie ever, and when I was a young teen, all she had to do was open her mouth to crack me up. Now I find some of her antics a bit grating, which they are definitely meant to be, but some of her lines do still make me laugh every time, like, “I’m positive I didn’t ride a horse last night because I didn’t have my riding costume on!” and “If you’re going to be rude to my daughter, you might at least take your hat off!” and, in response to Godfrey saying that he sold short to save the family from financial ruin, “I don’t understand, you sold short? You mean, gentlemen’s underwear?” My brother was particularly tickled by that last one as a child, to the point that when we played The Sims together, we created a character named Gentleman’s Underwear after that line.

Angelica is far from the only silly character in this movie, and what I love about the whole ensemble is that each character is entertaining in a different way. Angelica is scatterbrained and doesn’t really care what’s going on, while her husband Alexander (played by Eugene Pallette) has lost track of what’s going on mostly because he’s so fed up with his wife’s ridiculousness. And then there’s Carlo (played by Mischa Auer) who is Angelica’s “protégé,” and I’m still not really sure exactly what that means. I can’t tell if it’s a euphemism, or if she’s like, supposed to be teaching him piano? We definitely see him playing piano, and eating, and impersonating a gorilla, and reading to Angelica, and that seems to be all he does. So unclear what his purpose is, but he is amusing. On the other hand, Molly (played by Jean Dixon, who also played Edward Everett Horton’s wife in Holiday) has the very clear purpose of being the Bullock family’s maid. Her dry, sarcastic wit is amusing in an entirely different way that I love very much. There’s also Tommy Gray (played by Alan Mowbray), a friend of the Bullock family who also happens to recognize Godfrey from their college days. Not wanting to reveal that he came from a wealthy Boston family, Godfrey says that he was Tommy’s valet in college, forcing Tommy to try to invent a story explaining why Godfrey wouldn’t have given him as a reference when the Bullocks hired him. Tommy seems like a relatively normal guy who isn’t particularly bright. Watching him flounder in that scene could have easily become uncomfortable, but they managed to portray it in a way that’s just silly. And his invention of a wife and five children for Godfrey adds to the confusion and tension behind the main romance in the movie.

If you’ve listened to previous episodes of this podcast and have an especially keen memory, you may recall that Gregory La Cava also directed Stage Door, which was number 31 on my list and came out the year after My Man Godfrey. I’m not sure how much say he had in the casting of both of those movies, but I enjoy that there are several people who appeared in both, such as character actors Franklin Pangborn and Grady Sutton, neither of whom was credited in My Man Godfrey but both of whom make memorable appearances. The most notable cast member the two movies have in common is Gail Patrick, who was Ginger Rogers’s main rival besides Katharine Hepburn in Stage Door and Cornelia Bullock in My Man Godfrey. In both of these, as in most of her movies, Patrick’s character is rather unpleasant, but Cornelia is a bit more complex than that, and she fascinates me. She’s bitter and spoiled and mean to her sister and can’t decide if she wants to seduce Godfrey or hurt him or both. After Godfrey tells her what he thinks of her, she tries to frame him for robbery by hiding her pearl necklace under his mattress, but he manages to find it and hide it better before the police search his room. Cornelia is so insistent that it must be under the mattress that the police get suspicious and ask why she’s so sure of that, to which she responds with the amazing and thoroughly unconvincing line, “I read that that’s where people put things when they steal them!” Shockingly, even after all of this, the story actually redeems Cornelia somewhat. Godfrey is able to save the family financially by pawning her necklace, and after he reveals this he tells her that he, too, was once a spoiled child, and that she has the potential to be a good person if she so chooses. Cornelia is visibly moved by his words, and while we unfortunately never see her again after that scene, I like to believe that she takes them to heart and stops being so awful going forward.

But as much as I love all the supporting characters, I don’t think I’d have watched this movie nearly as many times if not for the leads. William Powell brings just the right combination of sophistication and jadedness to the role of Godfrey, making it easy to believe that he was once a rich man but lost everything he had to a woman he loved who betrayed him. It’s beautiful to watch him rediscover his own purpose and humanity in response to the Bullocks’ kindness and choose to focus on the positive aspects of their quirks. When William Powell was offered the role of Godfrey, he agreed to take it only if Carole Lombard would play Irene, knowing that she would be perfect, and he was completely correct. Lombard absolutely kills it as Irene, flawlessly combining the dramatic naïveté of an overgrown toddler with a genuine desire to be a good and mature person. And the way Powell and Lombard play off each other is utterly delightful. Their first conversation sets up their dynamic beautifully – he’s rather amused by her, but she takes everything he says extremely seriously. Like when she asks him, “Why do you live in a place like this when there are so many nice places?” and he responds, “It’s because my real estate agent felt that the altitude would be very good for my asthma,” she doesn’t seem to know that he’s joking, and says, “Oh my uncle has asthma!” And he just rolls with it and replies, “No! Well, now there’s a coincidence!” This is already funny as written, but their delivery and facial expressions make it so much funnier. Then probably my favorite part of the movie is when Irene is sulking and trying to get Godfrey to notice her, but she mostly just comes across as ridiculous, and Cornelia is heckling her mercilessly. Godfrey is trying to act uninterested, but it’s clear from a few of his glances in her direction that he really does want to give her the attention she craves. It’s readily apparent from all of their scenes that they both thoroughly understood the assignment and knew how to play off each other. Powell and Lombard had worked together twice before and had even been briefly married to each other from 1931 to 1933. Despite the fact that things didn’t work out between them romantically in real life, they remained good friends, and seem to have only used their history to bring out the best performance in each other here. It is kind of funny that Godfrey keeps telling Irene that she’s way too young for him because it’s like, “You clearly didn’t think she was too young when you married her five years ago!” Mostly, though, it just makes me really happy as someone who has no interest in pursuing romantic relationships to know that it was Powell and Lombard’s post-divorce friendship that led to possibly the best movie that either of them ever made. It’s so encouraging to see the evidence that sometimes the relationship between two people can actually get better when they stop trying to make it romantic.

However, it took me a while to see things that way, because in the movie itself, Godfrey and Irene do end up together romantically. Once I learned that the actors were divorced in real life, my first thought was more, “Wow, amazing that they could still pretend to be in love after falling out of love.” In more recent rewatches, I’ve come to realize that the romance in the movie is very weird – which, to be fair, is quite usual for screwball comedies – but I think as an obliviously aromantic teenager it greatly informed what I thought romance was. Irene meets a nice man who helps her win a game against her awful sister and decides to be in love with him, so all she has to do is convince him that he’s also in love with her. Not understanding that romantic attraction was a thing that I was not experiencing, teenaged me thought that was how that worked: you just pick somebody and decide you have a crush on them, and if the other person has also picked you to be their crush, romance is born. Right? Apparently not. Anyway, in more recent rewatches, when it gets to the part where Godfrey tells Irene, “You’re grateful to me because I helped you to beat Cornelia. And I’m grateful to you because you helped me to beat life. But that doesn’t mean that we have to fall in love,” I’m like, “Correct! It doesn’t mean that! You don’t have to fall in love!” But the movie implies that Godfrey is suppressing his feelings for Irene because of the previous bad relationship that led to his homelessness, and it expects us to all be on board with the way Irene follows him after he quits and basically forces him to marry her. The older I get, the more this ending bothers me. I realize that it’s meant to be part of the screwball silliness of it all, and that it was inevitable for a movie like this to make the male and female lead end up together, but it’s like, can we maybe make sure that Godfrey is on board with that first? I can very much see their marriage going the same way as that of the actors who played them, with Irene and Godfrey ultimately concluding that they’re better suited as friends than lovers. But again, as a young person watching this movie, I thought their relationship was beautiful. Soon after I first got really into My Man Godfrey, my friend had a Build-A-Bear birthday party, and I named my bear Godfrey. I can’t remember who I was talking to or how this came up, but I remember making the declaration that if I was still single at 40, I would marry that Godfrey bear. So if you’re listening to this, consider yourself invited to our wedding in seven years. It probably won’t be much weirder than Irene and Godfrey’s wedding at the end of this movie.

There is another element to My Man Godfrey besides its silliness and unconvincing romance that makes it particularly fascinating. While most 1930s screwball comedies seem to be intended to help audiences temporarily forget about the hardships of the Great Depression, My Man Godfrey uses the Depression as a big part of the plot. The rich are portrayed as frivolous and ridiculous, while the homeless “forgotten men” are portrayed as resilient and noble. Godfrey reveals to Tommy that after having his heart broken, he intended to drown himself in the river, but seeing people living at the dump next to the river, determined to survive despite their circumstances, made him change his mind. The hard times even impact the well-to-do, with Alexander Bullock nearly losing everything in bad investments. At first it seems odd that Godfrey would use the money from Cornelia’s necklace merely to help the rich snobs, but then it’s revealed that in addition to that, he converted the dump he used to live in to a nightclub, creating jobs, and affordable housing. And all of that was possible because the jobless men convinced Godfrey to keep living, then Irene was nice enough to employ Godfrey as a butler, and Cornelia was bitter enough to try to frame him for robbery. I assume that doing something like that would not have been nearly as easy as the movie makes it look, but I appreciate that instead of leaning into the pure escapism of so many films from that era, My Man Godfrey says, “Yes, times are hard, but don’t give up hope. Things can improve unexpectedly at any time. And small kindnesses can add up to make a very big difference.” And that message continues to resonate 87 years later. So while this is mostly a very silly comedy, its genuine moments showing the importance of human connection help keep it from descending into complete and utter chaos like some other screwball comedies I could name.

And perhaps it was that touch of seriousness that led this mostly silly comedy to six Oscar nominations: Gregory La Cava for Best Director, Eric Hatch and Morrie Ryskind for Best Adapted Screenplay, William Powell for Best Actor, Carole Lombard for Best Actress, Mischa Auer for Best Supporting Actor, and Alice Brady for Best Supporting Actress. This made My Man Godfrey the first movie to be nominated in all four acting categories, which isn’t saying much because that was also the first year that the Oscars had four acting categories, but it remains the only film to this day to be nominated in all four acting categories without being nominated for Best Picture. And it was the only movie to be nominated in those six categories without winning anything until American Hustle, 77 years later. Of all the people nominated for Oscars for My Man Godfrey, only Alice Brady would ever win one, for In Old Chicago the following year. The director and one of the writers would each be nominated once more, also the following year, for Stage Door. William Powell had been nominated once before, for 1934’s The Thin Man, and would be nominated again for 1947’s Life With Father. But this was the only nomination for both Mischa Auer and Carole Lombard. Lombard in particular really wanted an Oscar and moved on to dramatic roles for a few years hoping that would help, but it didn’t. So she briefly returned to comedy before her career and life were tragically cut short by a plane crash in 1942, when she was only 33 years old. So, my age. I feel like, had Carole Lombard lived longer and continued to make more films in a similar vein, she probably would have made it into more than one of my top 40. The more I rewatch My Man Godfrey, the more impressed I become with her performance. This is one of the few old movies that actually has a blooper reel available, and that shows just how different her normal speech and facial expressions and mannerisms were from Irene’s. I have watched and enjoyed several of Lombard’s other films, but a lot of them are a bit too silly even for me, and I really wish she could have been in more of the still fun and kooky but not-quite-as-screwball-as-the-‘30s comedies that were just starting to become popular around the time of her death. But at least we get to see her in My Man Godfrey. Thank you, William Powell.

My Man Godfrey was remade in 1957, and I watched that version one time in 2003, reacted with, Ew, they ruined it,and have never rewatched it. Maybe I will someday, just to see if it’s as bad as I remember it. No offense to that cast – there was no possible way to reach the standard set by the original. Sometimes remakes are great, but sometimes the original was already perfect and shouldn’t be messed with, and in my opinion, My Man Godfrey absolutely falls into the latter category. So what I’m saying is, if this podcast has made you want to watch this movie, make sure you get the 1936 version.

Thank you for listening to me discuss another of my most frequently rewatched movies. Next week I will be joined by not one but two very special guests, to discuss the longer of the two movies I watched 30 times, which is going to be very fun, so stay tuned for that. As always, I will leave you with a quote from that next movie: “Wait up! Wait for me! Not you, I don’t even know you!”

#my man godfrey #gregory la cava #william powell #carole lombard #this movie is so good #the rewatch rewind

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tellthemeerkatsitsfine · 4 days

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April 2024 was a big month for Scottish comedians on television networks. Here are some things I watched.

Baby Reindeer

I watched this a couple of days ago, and in those couple of days I must admit I have done some Googling and have come to the conclusion that the last thing the world needs is one more person publicly expressing anything about that show. It’s a very good show. It’s very well made, well written and well acted and a compelling and terrifying story well told. I highly recommend it if you like that sort of thing, though I do recommend first looking up what sort of thing it is, because trigger warning for just about everything. Mainly stalking and sexual assault.

I do not recommend further Googling, as I found out after watching it that that it was apparently much closer to “true crime” than I’d thought initially. I mean, I knew it was based on a true story. I knew it covered the same part of his real life as the autobiographical story in his stand-up show Monkey See Monkey Do, which was broadcast on Comedy Central and which I also watched last week and it’s also very good.

But it’s looking like Baby Reindeer may be less fictionalized than I’d assumed, and maybe covers ground that’s less resolved/consigned to the past than I’d assumed, that makes it seem like a weird thing to put on Netflix, and definitely makes me think it doesn’t need more people pontificating about it publicly on the internet. So I won’t do much more of that. Something seems a bit off in general and makes me want to stay away from much comment. This part of the post would have been a lot longer if I’d written it a couple of days ago. Seriously though, it’s a very good show. If you assume it exists in a vacuum.

Dinosaur

I watched this because I liked Ashely Storrie from things like The News Quiz, and she has a special I liked on Radio 4, and, you know, autism stories. I think I made a mistake by watching it immediately after I watched Baby Reindeer. I’d thought I could use it as a bit of a palette cleanser for that heavier show, the way if I see a horror movie I always have to immediately watch an episode of 30 Rock after or I can’t sleep. But Baby Reindeer’s heaviness got so deep in my head that it made it hard to get too into anything else, so my enjoyment of Dinosaur suffered for that, which is not Ashley Storrie’s fault.

I’m pretty sure this show is pretty good for what it is, which is a fairly formulaic sitcom but with the twist of an openly autistic main character who can point out how bullshit more sitcom tropes are. Watching two people get married when they’ve known each other for two months is more fun to watch from the perspective of an outsider who thinks it’s stupid, than it would be to see it just from their perspective.

This show definitely picked up steam as it went along, and as the characters developed slightly beyond stock sitcom people. I think my favourite parts of the show were Ashley Storrie at her paleontology job, so I was sorry that we didn’t see much of that after the first episode. I’m just not that into shows based around a wedding, even if it’s only to point out how bad the idea is.

Overall I came away thinking it was all right, but also that I’d definitely watch a second season if there is one, because by the very end I’d found myself starting to get invested in the characters and thinking this has potential. And the wedding’s happened now so season 2 might be built around something else. And I did think the main character was good. Six episodes was just not quite enough time for me to fully get into it.

Fern Brady – Autistic Bikini Queen

Fucking brilliant, as good as I expected it to be and that was a pretty high bar. I’d heard probably 40% of the material before in some form or another, because small parts of it were in her previous show and her next show, bits of it were in her book, and I’ve sought out so much Fern Brady stuff that I’ve seen her tell a few of these stories in other contexts. But that made it seem like a consolidation of the best jokes I’ve heard her tell before, plus a bunch of stuff I haven’t heard, and it was so good.

It is, as she says at the beginning, only a bit about autism. Well only a bit of it is explicitly about autism – the rest is about her views on life and death and love and marriage, and those are of course partly influenced by autism, and they feel refreshing and interesting and funny to me. The hour went by so fast, I thought it was only about halfway done when she started wrapping up.

I love her delivery so much, I think it's improved over the years and really peaked here. The confidence really adds to it.

There isn’t one obvious theme, aside from the idea that romanticized notions are bullshit, but it still feels like everything she says makes sense together. There’s no classic “sad bit at the end” (though it does build to a fun little ending, no spoilers), but it still felt meaningful as well as funny. A lot of it was delightfully rude but it wasn’t funny (just) because it was rude, and it was edgy without being, you know, a dick about it. All the other words that get thrown around about Fern Brady, brutal and honest and whatever else, were earned. And it was funny.

I hear she’s cracking America now, so everyone should watch this (plus the two other specials she has on YouTube) so you can say you were into her stand-up before she was a huge American star (she's already a fairly huge British star, but still).

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numetalpuppygirl · 8 months

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what i'm listening to 9/5/2023 (song notes under cut)

spot. link//yt link

Laura Les - Haunted: haunted. by laura les.

Laura Les/osno1 - ditch a body in the laundry (feat. Dylan Brady): i'll make no secret of it; i've been a sad little dog this past month. and this song is like PERFECT sad little dog soundtrack material (the whole ep is, and lots of laura's work if we're honest... but more on that later). there's this absolutely ice-cold novocaine hatred instilled in it, the kind of agony that stings the skin because the very action of having to exist as a physical animal hurts so bitterly. i'm really terribly obsessed with it and have also cried a lot to it and i really like the addition of dylan because while his part is short it's very good. links to this post also

House Of Pain - On Point: i lovvvve house of pain omg ^-^ their second album is kind of a cult classic and while idk if i'd say i like it better than the first, it's still real good. and this is a banger single. that horn riff? awesome. we did this one for videos night (which i am still planning more of!!) and it was fun. there is a little surprise slur moment in the last verse which is. y'know. but as far as the sound goes i think this is basically unparalleled, i could listen to songs that sounnd just like this forever and ever

Radiohead - How To Disappear Completely: did i mention that i was sad. bc i was. this was another song i turned to when lying in bed late at night and just really going through it. the idea of being able to disappear off to somewhere, anywhere that wasn't where i was...... well you get it. tears a gal up. it's almost like this is a good song on a good album or something

Madness - One Step Beyond: yeah okay a couple songs from the skaugust WILT stuck around. i just adore that fucking deep growly riff that comes in after the spoken intro, i can never ever get enough of it. and it's so danceable but still maintains that narstyness. good good shit i love ska so terribly much and especially the rockingest rocksteady beat..... of MADNESS

Nirvana - Blew: this should probably be higher tbh but it's close competition. despite remaining relatively unknown when held up next to something like about a girl, blew is SUCH a highlight from bleach (and i do really like bleach). the way kurt's voice lays over the main riff makes it so chunky and layered but it also feels dissonant, like it was accidental or improvised. every day i become slightly more of a nirvana fangirl.... there's worse things to be

Ada Rook - UNDERNEATH IT ALL: GOD i fucking love this album. it can be really dumb sometimes but it's so just. grrrrrrrrrh. ada rook is one of those musicians who just Gets It, i've often said that her music is the type of music i wish i could make. and the addition of ash nerve on this one creates that nice balance between abrasive screaming cyber rage and prettier clean sung choruses and harmonies. kind of the same effect the two achieve on angel electronics projects but i prefer the overall sound of this a lot

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - See Me: does anybody have the video of that weird as fuck animation with this song over it....... i watched that and was like idk what to do with this but the song jams i wonder who this is. and i found it in the notes and was like ahhhh that makes sense. the glizzard. and yeah idk the descending melody that kind of quavers around the lead line is just really otherworldly and takes me in right away each time i hear it. it's cool

The Specials - A Message To You Rudy: i feel i've said pretty much everythingg i wanted to say about this song. it's just one of the catchiest damn things ever

House Of Pain - I'm A Swing It: hey they're back!!! this one doesn't stick in my head as much as on point but again the sound is just immaculate and there's always so many corny-but-actually-really-good lines. it also always interests me how much everlast referecnes rock musicians and the like. he knows the audience lol

laura les/osno1 - nothing just hanging out: less of a song really, but still so representative of that coldness that represents me. none of the cemetary stuff is gonna be available on spotify, those are my local bandcamp files, and i don't have an individual upload of this track on youtube nor the time to create one, so i just put in an upload of the full ep. just listen to the whole thing it's really good and not that long. but yeah sorry lol

Mark Morrison - Return Of The Mack: i think this appeared on a previous WILT but i mean. talk about the catchiest things ever!!!!

Crisis Sigil - Blood Semen Box-Elder: a favorite album cut from the new crisis sigil. this release my first proper exposure to the project and mannnn that shit is brutal. this one esp methinks. once again. rook music good

Nicki Minaj - Roman Holiday: was listening to this one because of worstsongever and being like whoever nominated this doesn't know shit. this slaps hard. i was never like especially a nicki fan but this just straight up goes. weird as fuck but that's kind of the appeal. if you want a REAL bad song, that will come later

The Front Bottoms - Au Revoir (Adios): no not this one!! well. maybe a bit. idk i like folk punk but never really cared about these guys that much? but i've met some people recently who do like them and was like yeah i could give this another spin. i do admittedly alwways think of the post that's like "this gif is silent but it still manages to sound like shit." it's not as deep of a song as it's probably supposed to be, but i still think there's something there. a lot of folk punk songs focus around character writing that acknowledge their flaws, including (and sometimes especially) the narrator and this is a good example without coming out and stating it. it piqued my inch rest

Roxy Radclyffe - Exemption's Dominion: i'll be real i don't exactly "get" what this song is about but it is freaky and cool. i was really interested to see the music video when it popped up in my subscriptions. the part of the song that does get stuck in my head is the little two-word pitchshifted phrases in one of the verses

Haggus - Uneducated Politician: someone recommended "mincecore" to me, and these guys in particular. weird as fuck sound but i think it's fun! maybe it's just the bad recording quality but the growls on this track in particular come out sounding reallll fucked up, which is what drew me to this selection in particular. still got a lot to learn about this whole scene but it's made it this far with me!

MC Boing - Car Song: tbh i don't tend to really like danny harle, i don't mind him but it's just not really my deal. this one got me, though, despite being dumb as all fuck. we are driving in a car car car car car car. mc boing indeed

Eminem - FACK: you did this to me, worstsongever (R.I.P.). it's annoying to me that i actually don't completely hate this thing.... it manages to be so stupid it loops back around to being funny for about a minute and then it just gets so old so quickly. but somehow still found itself stuck in my head :( many such cases

#i am on a fucking time budget rn i hope i didn't mess this up at all. it's rpobably fine #*char noises*#talking pop

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rewatching-sam-and-dean · 1 year

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The Pilot (Part 2 of 3)

Thanks so much to everyone who checked out my Part 1 post!

To see Part 1, if you missed it and are interested, you can check it out here. Now, on to the next section of SPN S01-E01, and the grown up brothers reuniting. This is probably my favorite aspect of the episode (update: I actually talk about this more in part 3 than 2).

Reunited and It Feels So … Awkward

(But, in a good way)

If you’re interested in my more detailed commentary, check it out under the cut

JARED, JENSEN, and EXPOSITION: Jared and Jensen had a tall order to fill with the Pilot, needing to both give the audience an idea of their relationship as brothers, as well as delivering a good deal of exposition without bogging down the episode's momentum. They do an amazing job with the former and a very decent job with the latter. Their acting choices and chemistry paint a very full picture of who these guys are and what they mean to each other, which I’ll go into more chronologically as examples come up. The exposition of filling us in on the family situation, their dad in particular, and the fact that they are monster hunters is done quite well for the most part. However, while a good deal of it comes across quite naturally, some moments do stand out to me as a bit too rehearsed (the scene with "… Dad gave me a forty-five." "What was he supposed to do?") and can feel a little too expositiony to me now, but that's probably partly because I’ve seen them so much now. However, the scenes are necessary, and as far as the telling vs showing ratio goes, the Pilot does a lot more showing, so overall even this aspect is handled quite well regardless of some moments scratching for me now.

JESSICA: So … where to start on this introduction to the adult Sam and Dean. Actually, let’s start with Jess. She seems great: responsible, punctual, loving, supportive, encouraging, funny, and beautiful. And Sam looks at her like he can’t believe how lucky he is to be with her. Generally, I like her, though we don’t get to see a lot of her. However, I wonder if she would be as supportive if she knew who Sam really was and what he did. The fact that Sam never told her about his past could just be because he wants to put it aside and pretend that part of him doesn’t exist, but given how quickly he givens in when Dean asks for help, he must have known he couldn’t avoid it forever. Denial is not just a river in Egypt…or whatever. Maybe, he’s just trying to protect her, but something could come for him whether she knows about the danger or not (and it does, sadly….damn you, Brady!). On the other hand, maybe he didn’t tell her because he didn’t believe she would have been okay with it. And as Dean sarcastically points out, "That’s healthy." The irony of Dean commenting on healthy relationships, and withholding important information, is just too much knowing what’s coming for the guys. Anyway, regardless of Sam's motivations, Jess does seem great, but she’s so great that it was pretty obvious to me that she, the relationship, or both, were doomed. Sam may as well have jinxed them when he asked what he would do without her, and her "Crash and burn" response … well, sadly, the boy does burn. How much she could have helped him avoid his Season 5 fate is not possible to know, but it certainly didn’t help him. I’ve commented on my previous Post, The Pilot (Part 1), on how this episode sets up so many things that run well into later seasons and Jess is no exception. Sam still thinks of her, misses her, loves her years later. I can’t remember right now just how late his last mention of her is…is it all the way into Seasons 14 or 15? Regardless, I love, and it makes me sad, to see her in the Pilot and know that she and her tragedy will pretty much impact Sam for the rest of the show, if not his whole life. Talk about building strong foundations in this episode.

SAM: So, Sam is the first of our main characters to show up on screen, signaling that Supernatural is going to be about Sam's journey, and while it’s also clearly Dean's as well, Sam is the character who goes through the biggest transformation. It starts with Sam and ends with Sam in the audience's "current time," while it starts with the brothers and ends with the brothers if we include the past and the future/heaven (or what amounts to the prologue and epilogue). Anyway, Sam popping into the scene through that doorframe is pretty cute. It’s a very definite shift in tone. Sam playfully whining about going to a Halloween party is a huge contrast to where we left off before the title card. This scene with Sam looking adorable and so happy is downright wholesome after the scene we just left with the three Winchester males huddled together in misery over the loss of wife and mother, while their home burns. The Sam we see today appears to be very well adjusted (though he doesn’t like Halloween … interesting …) despite the tragedy his younger self lived through: he is tall, handsome, in university, in an a seemingly fairly serious relationship as he appears to live with his girlfriend, and as we find out at the party, he’s smart and ambitious. Sam, in short, is thriving. The first hint that things aren’t great for him is when we find out that his family, John and Dean, don’t even know how well he is doing in school, and with the way Jessica comforts him, this is clearly something that upsets him despite the casual attitude he tries to project about it.

At this point in the episode, my first impression of Sam was that he was cute (I didn’t really find him sexy until later in the series because in Season 1 he feels like a boy), loyal, smart, and maybe a little bit of a stick in the mud. Jared, at this point, is starting to give off his puppy energy, especially with his devoted heart eyes for Jess, but I feel like it takes him a minute to give Sam more nuance; but once he gets there, he kills it. When we meet Dean, more aspects of Sam, a fuller picture, starts to become more clear. He is the one who chose to leave his family. He grew up fighting monsters, but clearly just wanted a normal life. He was clearly out of sync with his dad and brother. With these bits of new information, when I first watched the show (this has changed since then) it originally made me feel like maybe Sam was a little bit selfish or maybe he didn’t care that much about his family. For me, him being so dismissive of John being missing (or "going overtime on a Miller Time shift") pointed either to Sam being a bit of an uncaring dick, or to their dad being a bit of a careless drunk. Neither, as it turns out is exactly the case, but the Pilot definitely drops info bombs on us, and some of the debris is left for us to sort through for now. We see Sam go from flippant to to concerned real quick when Dean rephrases his message to, "Dad's on a hunting trip. And he hasn’t been home in a few days."

Visually, this scene is set up very well. Particularly from just before Jess turns on the light to Sam’s reaction to Dean’s words above, we see Sam struggle to fit into the world he chose. First, we have Sam and Dean appear as a joint silhouette, all in shadow (the dark hunting world, their traumatic past). When Jess flips on the light, we see her wearing a Smurfs pj top (in the lighter, more care-free normal world). There is a clear contrast between the brothers on one side in the dark and Jess on the other in her cartoon jammies. Sam hastens to leave Dean's side and ally himself with Jess when Dean says he has to tell him something. Sam literally joins the other side as he crosses the room and gives off the vibes or building a brick wall between them and Dean. Two college kids in their jammies vs a rough adult in street clothes. But as soon as Dean clarifies that dad is on a hunting trip, the camera tightens in on Sam, effectively cutting Jess out of the picture altogether. Sam compounds this by asking her to excuse him and Dean. The scene ends on a visually isolated Sam, who has just verbally allied himself with Dean. Anyway, I just really like how this scene uses the blocking, lighting and language illustrate Sam's conflict. As much as he’s tried, it already seems clear that Sam can’t escape his old life, and he’s even complicit in it because he won’t fully abandon Dean.

DEAN: Minutes ago in the episode, we got Sam's entrance with him popping around the door frame, happy, domestic, practically wholesome (and cute as heck). In contrast, Dean enters the scene as a mysterious figure who we can’t see clearly, at first. This is apt given how Dean puts up walls and uses humor to deflect when we first meet him, and for a long time to come, actually. So, it’s hard to know exactly who he is. Just like in the fight we see glimpses of his and Sam’s faces, we can’t see either of them fully or consistently, and they can’t see each other, until the lights are switched on. I like the symbolism or metaphor of the way the fight is shot; we don't have a full idea of who either brother is yet, and they don’t fully know each other anymore either, after years apart.

Anyway, Dean enters the scene cloaked in shadows and literally brings chaos and violence into Sam's previously cozy, domestic, and structured life. It’s a pretty iconic introduction to a character and the brother dynamic, and a reunion all rolled into one. Dean comes in hot, and I don’t mean physically (though, yeah), he’s practically buzzing with manic energy. He wrestles with his brother, asks for a beer and hits on his brother’s girlfriend all in the matter of a couple of minutes, before dropping his info bomb on Sam.

My first impression of Dean was that he was hot, lacked boundaries, really cared about his dad, and was a bit of a dick. I really don’t like him telling Jess that she’s out of Sam's league while he gives her the eye because, come on, Sam is adorable, and it shows a lack of respect for both of them. I get it’s a short hand for showing Dean is a "ladies man" but it just makes him seem a bit gross, to me. Really, I think this is supposed to just be a healthy dose of screwing with his brother, but it’s not for me.

Also, Dean showing up at night is totally weird, and he never gives a real answer for this (besides beer). We find out in the final episode of the show that he waited outside for hours because he was scared Sam would tell him to "get lost or get dead," and it truly gives me all the feels when I watch this part of the episode now, and it makes absolute sense given some hints we see of Dean's feelings later in the episode. I just wonder if that was always the intended reason for Dean showing up in the middle of the night, him being afraid and breaking in so he could tell himself Sam blew him off because of the way he showed up, if that happened. Or was it more for the horror, bump in the night, aesthetic and to simply add to Dean's cool persona. Also, I find Dean's energy almost manic in this scene, but this also makes sense if he’s worried and just trying to brazen out the situation, pour on the careless bravado to avoid this worry and nerves.

At this point in the episode, I think Dean is fun, but kind of a jerk. Jensen is definitely a scene stealer, though, and he’s lively and compelling to watch. Dean is exciting. When I start to genuinely like him more though is when he lowers the walls a little and admits to Sam that he doesn’t want to look for their dad alone. It’s clear that he just wants Sam with him. We can see his vulnerability as he avoids making eye contact as he admits this truth to Sam. And Dean being honest works on Sam immediately, when suggesting it was his duty to help or that his dad was really in trouble this time didn’t. This moment is pretty quick, but it starts to show us that the brothers do have definite soft spots for each other despite the issues they clearly have.

(The Pilot Part 3 coming soonish … this one took me a while …)

#sam and dean #sam winchester #dean winchester #jared padalecki #jensen ackles #jessica moore #supernatural #Rewatching S&D #my thoughts #The Pilot #my edits

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crispyblonde · 1 year

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** This will likely continue to expand with further development. This verse is closed to @azrahel and my Mick Davies on @bleakfated. Other than that it is fair game to other characters **

Seasons 10/11

Before Metatron was broken out of Heaven, he convinced one of the angels that were still partial to his side to resurrect souls that had been important to the Winchesters. Metatron had a sinking feeling that the Winchesters and Castiel would come back for him and he wanted to have some leverage. Naturally, Jess became one of those souls as she was one that Ash had taught to break out of her section of Heaven and was often found in Ash's Heaven that only consisted of The Roadhouse. The souls being yanked out of Heaven hadn't gone unnoticed and the angel was quickly killed for their crimes against the new order of Heaven. Around this same time, with the help of Bobby, Metatron is taken back to Earth and loses his grace, thus losing any potential to use those he resurrected against them because he no longer had any allies.

Jessica woke up at her headstone in San Francisco. Terrified of what this meant, she quickly worked on fleeing the city in the off chance that anyone she had known in her human life would see her, especially her parents or sister. Little did she know that her parents now lived in Palo Alto and her sister was attending Stanford Law School. She bummed a ride off of a guy to Concord, at which point she ran off while he was inside a gas station. Having no idea how many years had passed since her death, Jessica was terrified of the potential of being brought back by demons to be used against Sam. She found her way to a Catholic church in hopes that she could remain safe there. The taunting of the demon inside of Tyson Brady had come back to her in waves. As he pulled the knife out of his chest, unbothered, he had let her know that she didn't stand a chance against him without salt, iron, or a devil's trap.

If that were the case, she needed a vessel to steal some holy water in and maybe something iron to protect herself, because she was still far too close for comfort to where it was most likely others would recognize her. She stole a water bottle off of a bike chained up outside of a coffee shop and quietly took some holy water from another church. It was at this moment that an unknown woman appeared not too far from Jessica. Azrael, the angel of death, was investigating why souls had been taken from Heaven. At first, Jessica immediately assumed danger and the idea of dying again with the potential of being intercepted on her way back to Heaven terrified her almost as much as being used as a bargaining chip against Sam. When the angel assured her that she didn't mean her any harm, Jessica relaxed enough for little bits of her personality to shine through and Azrael took a quick liking to her.

After this, Azrael assured Jess that she would help her get on her feet... but this turned into a rather strong friendship. Hunting came pretty easily with an angel by her side, but Jessica honed up her self-defense skills and knowledge of the supernatural. Azrael would often need to return to Heaven or solve other crises and this left Jessica with some time to integrate herself into the hunting community. Sometimes with other hunters, she would give her main alias name Vanessa, but she became more comfortable with some of them to give her her first name alone. Sporadically, she would spend some time at The Crossroads and became pretty friendly with Teddy and Cam, sometimes taking cases with them when Azrael was away on business. They were a few of the hunters that she had grown to trust, but she still wouldn't let on to anyone about her true identity other than Azzie who had obviously figured it out on her own.

Nightmares had plagued her since the moment she had first been brought back, mostly about her death and demons at first, but they quickly developed into ones about Sam. Were they no longer compatible because of how much they had both changed since 2005? Would he not want her as a memory of not being able to escape the hunting life for one that was normal? Had he met someone else, maybe a hunter that was way more badass than she could ever dream to be? Even the thought of him having met someone else and being ready to drop them for Jess made her feel sick to her stomach. Ultimately, all of these thoughts messed with her head enough to believe that leaving Sam in the dark about her resurrection would be what was best for both of them, so whenever she did go to The Crossroads, she made sure to message Cam or Teddy to see who had been around.

Season 12

About two years after Azrael and Jessica had become friends, they were on a case when they met Mick Davies. Mick had picked up hunting in the American fashion after he had not returned to the British Men of Letters compound where he knew they would kill him for breaking the code. He was a bit clumsy as a hunter, after being part of the brains of the operation of the BMOL for so long, so Azrael and Jessica were already in town when he had gotten there. The man was rather terrified of getting caught, because he knew they would have other members on the case of finding him to make sure he met his demise. Azrael and Jessica took a liking to him and promised to help keep him safe from what little of his story he was willing to share at first. After a month of being on the road together, Azrael was made aware of the carnage that took place when American hunters had stormed the compound.

If the agents weren't killed, they fled back to England. Doctor Hess was confirmed among the dead. It was at this time that Mick felt comfortable enough to use the key that he had to unlock all Men of Letters bunker. He knew where all of them were located because he had brought out the information on the defunct chapter as they set their eyes on the Winchesters from overseas. They settled in to the bunker in Missoula, Montana. Mick and Jessica developed a playfully friendly bond and the three were all pretty honest with each other. Jess had told Mick about who she was and that she was resurrected and Mick had let her know that it seemed that Eileen Leahy and Sam had some sort of romantic bond at least starting to form. This was something he quickly came to regret, because it only solidified Jessica's decision to not tell Sam about her further. Mick had grown to like the Winchesters and would often try to prod Jessica into changing her mind, because he believed that Sam deserved to know.

Season 13+

The tranquility of having a real home base only lasted for a few moments, however. A few weeks after settling in the Men of Letters bunker, Arthur Ketch picked the same bunker to regroup himself. He had found out from Doctor Hess before her death that she had gotten information on Mick from Crowley. He was paling around with an archangel, Azrael, the angel of death. Completely separate from the organization himself because they demanded he returned, he had started hunting under the alias Alexander after he had been resurrected from getting killed by the Winchesters with his resurrection seal. It became apparent that the bunker was lived in and he quietly made his way to the garage and made some noise, attracting the attention of Azrael and Mick. Rather effortlessly, he lit a match and trapped Azrael in the ring of holy oil he had made.

When Mick rushed at him, he rendered him unconscious and tied him up to watch the show as he strapped Azrael to a chair with straps etched with angel depowering and suppressing sigils. For a few moments, he considered killing both of them, but it didn't really seem fitting. He wanted Mick to suffer for being a weak point in their plans against the Winchesters. Instead, he decided that archangel grace was something that would come in handy in a lot of ways. For a few painstaking hours, he removed Azrael's grace with grace extracting syringes. The rest of the grace was extracted through a cut to the throat into a vial. This was a very painful process and the tortured screams of Azrael were enough fuel for Mick to break free of the binds placed on him. The two men fought it out for a long while, leaving the bunker in a state of disrepair. Eventually, Mick lost the fight and Ketch left the bunker after telling Mick that he hoped he enjoyed the rest of his pathetic existence.

Jessica was not home this night and instead had been staying in a motel in Smith Center to spend a few days at The Crossroads to unwind and catch up with some of her hunter friends. When she returned home, she immediately knew something was wrong when she saw a ring of soot left in the garage of the bunker. Gun drawn, she made her way inside the bunker screaming for Azrael and Mick. The scene she was met with only further twisted her stomach as the bunker was in a complete state of disarray. Shattered glass, knocked over bookcases, and broken chairs were scattered everywhere. A rather beaten up Mick left his bedroom to meet her, telling her to stop screaming because Azrael needed her rest. He did too, but he told Jess about all that had happened when she was gone. Distraught, Jess tried to pick up what she could while Mick worked on adding a secondary lock to the bunker's entrances.

When Azrael and Mick both felt well enough to travel, they set their sights on the bunker in Roswell, New Mexico. This bunker became their primary place of residence, but they would stay at the Missoula bunker as well when they were more northern. Mick and Azrael got a lot closer in the time that Azrael was human and with a lot of goading form Jess, they began dating. What she hadn't thought about was that she would become the third wheel. It didn't bother her, most of the time, but sometimes it made her heart ache for Sam. Mick had since stopped pushing her toward telling Sam after a particularly large blow-up by Jess. Her visits to The Crossroads became a bit more frequent and she hooked up with some hunters from time to time, usually one night stands apart from Cameron Ambrose. They entered a friends with benefits sort of relationship and he would sometimes stay at the bunker after a case before heading back to Smith Center.

The three remained a trio, hunting and taking time off between the two bunkers, both with secondary locking systems and more updated technology for nearly a year without incident. Mick and Jess helped Azzie adjust to a human life and they were all a little more cautious with the cases they took. During this time, Mick helped Jess learn how to document accurate information about the supernatural on a website for hunters, complete with the vast amount of information the British Men of Letters had compiled. However, this all came to an end when Dean Winchester himself knocked on the bunker. He and Ketch had witnessed humans being lined up for slaughter by the angels in the apocalypse world and as a sign of good faith Ketch had given him Azrael's grace and told him where to find her. The three were at the Missoula bunker at the time, but with the secondary lock, Dean was unable to get inside.

Jolted into action by the sound of banging on the door, Mick and Azzie answered it with their guns drawn. Jessica was about to join in investigating the disturbance when she heard Mick say Dean's name. That made her run back to her room and quietly shut the door. Azrael was given back her grace and agreed to help fight in the apocalypse world, because the humans deserved peace from the onslaught of misery the angels were inflicting on that world. The mere thought of angels lining up humans for slaughter infuriated her. Mick agreed to help as well and they traveled back to the main bunker in Kansas. Jess on the other hand was completely torn on what to do, but she eventually joined in on this fight as well when apocalypse Michael was brought to their universe.

#╰––– » 「 ✞ 」 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗻. ┊ is it me? am i the drama?#╰––– » 「 ✞ 」 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼. ┊ three amigos

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jrpneblog · 6 months

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Derby day delight

Amid scenes of wild celebration, and utter carnage, a last minute goal saw North End win the big Lancashire derby 2-1 at Ewood Park. Followed by a fanatical support of 5.789, North End weathered the storm early in the second half having taken the lead after thirty five minutes via Alan Browne. Rovers equalised early in the second period but the introduction of substitute Ched Evans changed the game and when Lindsay headed home Whiteman's pinpoint cross it was the cue for the celebration of the season. This was a cut and thrust game of football with the home side quite elegant on the ball, but ultimately the strength of the respective benches proved to be the difference and North End took full advantage.

Ryan Lowe made just one change to the starting line up with Will Keane coming in for Mads Frokjaer as North End once again went 4-2-3-1. The game started quickly and North End had a chance early on when a Holmes shot was blocked in the first five minutes. Rovers had a couple of chances of their own with Storey putting in a fabulous block before Sigurdsson hit the bar for the home side. Ten minutes from half time North End took the lead when Potts switched play from the right and Alan Browne took a superb touch with his right foot in the inside left position before smashing the ball home with his left peg to give North End the lead. North End were in the ascendancy with Millar and Osmajic having chances but Rovers again hit the top of the bar right on the stroke of half time through Moran.

It had been a non stop first period and with no changes for North End the second half started in a very similar manner. This time though it was Rovers turn to celebrate as Szmodics came in from the left hand side and fired past Woodman to level the scores with just four minutes gone in the second period. For the next ten minutes or so North End were under pressure as Rovers charged forward looking for a second. Just after the hour mark Evans replaced Keane and North End started to get some forward momentum into their game. Holmes was desperately unlucky to see his shot hit the inside of the post and roll across the goal and away to safety. Frokjaer and Brady were then introduced as North End started to look the more likely. The Blackburn subs were pretty ineffective whilst the Preston changes very much strengthened North End`s position. With the time on the clock showing eighty nine minutes a ball out to the Preston left found Whiteman and he hit a beautiful in-swinging ball with his right foot. The pin point cross found Liam Lindsay at the back post and the North End centre back gleefully nodded home the winner to spark wild celebrations on the Darwen End.

A great advert for Championship football in my opinion. Hand on heart, I think Rovers will feel a little unlucky not to have taken something from the game. No doubt in my mind that the experience and application of North End in the last thirty minutes of this encounter is the main reason the points came West back down the M65. The win ensures we will remain in the top six for the third International break on the trot and with sixteen games gone our position is probably a little better than we expected. Having said that we are where we are on merit and not luck and long may it continue. The hardest job is picking the man of the match for North End with every player putting in a good shift. I am going to go with Alan Browne who just shaded it from Lindsay, Potts and the Evans last thirty. Time to have a celebration and fifteen days off before battle recommences with an international of our own against Cardiff City at Deepdale.

BLACKBURN ROVERS 1-2 PRESTON

WOODMAN 7

POTTS 7 STOREY 7 LINDSAY 7 BEST 7

BROWNE 8 WHITEMAN 7

HOLMES 7 KEANE 7 MILLAR 6

OSMAJIC 6

Subs:

EVANS 8

FROKJAER 7

BRADY 7

MOTM: Alan Browne

Attendance 20,596

Preston Fans 5,789 (28.11%).

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daysofourlivesrecaps · 10 months

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Friday, 14 July 2023

A couple of weeks ago, I thought I might be getting a little burned out on this show. At the very least, I wasn’t feeling particularly engaged in most of the plots, which didn’t seem to be going anywhere.

Boy, it did not take them long to turn THAT around.

Let’s start with Marlena, who’s still confronting Kristen over the whereabouts of Rachel (Kristen’s daughter, Marlena’s granddaughter). Kristen continues to insist that she has no idea where Rachel could be.

Then she pivots to that old standby: “but hypothetically, if I did know where she was, I might be more inclined to tell you if there was something in it for me.”

Marlena is, as I have mentioned many times, the moral center of this show (when she isn’t possessed by the Devil, anyway — and it’s been over a year since that was true). But she’s been making some pretty weird choices lately. Like this one, where she just agrees to Kristen’s hypothetical scenario and swears to use her Main Character powers to convince Brady to revisit the custody agreement that currently doesn’t allow Kristen to see her daughter at all.

So Marlena leaves to do that. And then someone emerges from the secret room. OH NO, IT’S A BEAR!!

Oh, whew. It’s not a bear. It’s just the daughter that Kristen is illegally hiding here. That’s entirely fine.

Apparently Rachel was hiding in plain sight up in the attic, amidst a vast assortment of stuffed animals that we apparently don’t have the budget to show.

They have, by my accounting, paid for two bear suits now, though: this child-sized one, and the adult-sized Duke. Duke’s heyday was a storyline from over a year ago, but he still makes the occasional appearance — one as recently as a couple of months ago!

Marlena finds Brady and Belle chatting in the town square and goes over her “just give custody back to Kristen and she’ll tell us where Rachel” plan.

Brady thinks this is a terrible plan and so does Belle, but Marlena has Therapist Powers and Main Character Powers and, over these two particular people, Mom Powers, so there’s absolutely no way they can resist. My god, no wonder Satan keeps coming after this woman. She has an entire town under her thrall.

So Belle uses her Lawyer Powers to draw up a new custody agreement.

Which Brady then takes over to Kristen.

Then, after making a big show of having Kristen sign it, he tears it up in her face.

Which… is a highly impractical way to make your point, but also, 10/10 for handling it in the most melodramatically soapish way possible.

And while all of this really was quintessential soap stuff that really delivers everything you want out of a show like this… trust me when I tell you that it was the much less interesting B-story today.

First, we pick up where we left off with Lani confronting Jerry about his part in Abe’s disappearance.

Lani might only be on temporary furlough from prison, but she’s still one hell of a detective. Jerry endures her questioning for all of about thirty seconds before essentially collapsing to the floor in a fetal position, weeping openly and confessing every last detail of Nurse King’s very stupid plan.

Meanwhile, at the hospital, Nurse King is being questioned by Steve.

She also folds almost immediately, but her plan is to just throw Jerry under the bus and resume fleeing town with Abe’s poor, drugged-up body.

So they’re all getting pretty close to finding Abe, who’s still zonked out on Nurse King’s couch watching Body and Soul. AND NOW HE’S SEEING HIS OWN ACTUAL SELF IN THE SHOW.

This is the dumbest thing I have ever seen and I love it so much. Best of all, they actually deliver on everything that “beloved character recovering from amnesia think’s he lives in a soap that exists inside our soap” promises. Up to and including an appearance by a fictionalized version of his wife, Paulina!

Jackée (best known for the 80s sitcom 227) has always looked great on Days, but her Body and Soul appearance is some real next-level shit. Honestly, sometimes I find myself wishing she was a little better at selling some of the heavier emotional stuff on this show but this camp comedy stuff is completely her wheelhouse and She. Fucking. Nails it.

TV Abe sort-of recognizes his wife, and other elements of his actual existence start seeping into the show. He even starts to remember that he and Paulina have a daughter together: Lani.

Fictional Paulina (whom they’ve given the surprisingly not-over-the-top name Sandra Clarkington) doesn’t know what he’s talking about. They’ve never even met before, so how could they possibly have a daughter?

But then Abe’s viewing is abruptly interrupted by a tap-tap-tapping on Nurse King’s chamber door and IT’S LANI! HIS ACTUAL DAUGHTER! SHE FOUND HIM!

Days of Our Lives, I am truly sorry that I ever doubted you.

#days of our lives #dool #peacock #soap opera

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glenrocklibraryteens · 11 months

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BOOK REVIEW: INHERIT THE WIND

Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee

Genre: Play, Historical Fiction, Musical

Pages: 130

Rating: 3/5 - The beginning is boring, but the second half is really good.

Reviewed by: Neil Sahu

Inherit the Wind is a play fictionalizing the 1925 John Scopes Monkey trial. It is about a teacher who is arrested for teaching evolution. The bulk of the book is the trial. The characters of this story are largely pointless. Most of the characters introduced in the first act aren’t really noteworthy. The characters that are important are: Bertram Cates, Rachel Brown, Reverend Brown, Henry Drummond, Matthew Harrison Brady, and Hornbeck (I forgot his first name).

Bertram Cates and Rachel Brown are both schoolteachers. Cates was arrested for teaching evolution, and Rachel doesn’t agree with his points, but she wants him to be safe. They’re both written pretty well. I think that they both seem realistic and normal. Reverend Brown is a typical crazy priest who’s hellbent on destroying evolution. This is standard for books like this. Henry Drummond is a pretty compelling character, actually! He’s the defense in the book. He brings up interesting points, and it’s fun to see how the people react to him throughout the play. He also has a nice character arc. Matthew Harrison Brady is a funny character. He’s a big shot politician, though the book does not hesitate to make him as lame as possible. He also gets very interesting in the second and third acts. Hornbeck is a journalist. I hate Hornbeck. He is so punchable. His temperament is very self-righteous, patronizing, and overall annoying. He doesn’t understand a lot in life.

My main issue with this book is the first act. It introduces a bunch of characters that don’t matter, and the exposition isn’t particularly interesting. The good parts are the middle and end. The first act is boring, the first half of the second act is cringeworthy, the second half is hilarious, and the third act is a nice wrap-up. I think the third act is the best part. It’s satisfying and nice, while still being humorous. Overall, I think the book is alright. The beginning could be more interesting, but the rest of it is pretty good. I’d recommend this for people who like books with trials and comedy plays.

#book review #teen book review #fiction #nonfiction #classic #glen rock teens #glen rock nj #blog post #submission

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letmedeleteitplz · 1 year

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This will likely continue to expand with further development. This verse is closed to @azrahel and my Mick Davies on @bleakfated. Other than that it is fair game to other characters. Jessica is resurrected in late season 10 by Metatron.

Seasons 10/11

Before Metatron was broken out of Heaven, he convinced one of the angels that were still partial to his side to resurrect souls that had been important to the Winchesters. Metatron had a sinking feeling that the Winchesters and Castiel would come back for him and he wanted to have some leverage. Naturally, Jess became one of those souls as she was one that Ash had taught to break out of her section of Heaven and was often found in Ash’s Heaven that only consisted of The Roadhouse. The souls being yanked out of Heaven hadn’t gone unnoticed and the angel was quickly killed for their crimes against the new order of Heaven. Around this same time, with the help of Bobby, Metatron is taken back to Earth and loses his grace, thus losing any potential to use those he resurrected against them because he no longer had any allies.

Jessica woke up at her headstone in San Francisco. Terrified of what this meant, she quickly worked on fleeing the city in the off chance that anyone she had known in her human life would see her, especially her parents or sister. Little did she know that her parents now lived in Palo Alto and her sister was attending Stanford Law School. She bummed a ride off of a guy to Concord, at which point she ran off while he was inside a gas station. Having no idea how many years had passed since her death, Jessica was terrified of the potential of being brought back by demons to be used against Sam. She found her way to a Catholic church in hopes that she could remain safe there. The taunting of the demon inside of Tyson Brady had come back to her in waves. As he pulled the knife out of his chest, unbothered, he had let her know that she didn’t stand a chance against him without salt, iron, or a devil’s trap.

If that were the case, she needed a vessel to steal some holy water in and maybe something iron to protect herself, because she was still far too close for comfort to where it was most likely others would recognize her. She stole a water bottle off of a bike chained up outside of a coffee shop and quietly took some holy water from another church. It was at this moment that an unknown woman appeared not too far from Jessica. Azrael, the angel of death, was investigating why souls had been taken from Heaven. At first, Jessica immediately assumed danger and the idea of dying again with the potential of being intercepted on her way back to Heaven terrified her almost as much as being used as a bargaining chip against Sam. When the angel assured her that she didn’t mean her any harm, Jessica relaxed enough for little bits of her personality to shine through and Azrael took a quick liking to her.

After this, Azrael assured Jess that she would help her get on her feet… but this turned into a rather strong friendship. Hunting came pretty easily with an angel by her side, but Jessica honed up her self-defense skills and knowledge of the supernatural. Azrael would often need to return to Heaven or solve other crises and this left Jessica with some time to integrate herself into the hunting community. Sometimes with other hunters, she would give her main alias name Vanessa, but she became more comfortable with some of them to give her her first name alone. Sporadically, she would spend some time at The Crossroads and became pretty friendly with Teddy and Cam, sometimes taking cases with them when Azrael was away on business. They were a few of the hunters that she had grown to trust, but she still wouldn’t let on to anyone about her true identity other than Azzie who had obviously figured it out on her own.

Season 12

If the agents weren’t killed, they fled back to England. Doctor Hess was confirmed among the dead. It was at this time that Mick felt comfortable enough to use the key that he had to unlock all Men of Letters bunker. He knew where all of them were located because he had brought out the information on the defunct chapter as they set their eyes on the Winchesters from overseas. They settled in to the bunker in Missoula, Montana. Mick and Jessica developed a playfully friendly bond and the three were all pretty honest with each other. Jess had told Mick about who she was and that she was resurrected and Mick had let her know that it seemed that Eileen Leahy and Sam had some sort of romantic bond at least starting to form. This was something he quickly came to regret, because it only solidified Jessica’s decision to not tell Sam about her further. Mick had grown to like the Winchesters and would often try to prod Jessica into changing her mind, because he believed that Sam deserved to know.

Season 13+

When Mick rushed at him, he rendered him unconscious and tied him up to watch the show as he strapped Azrael to a chair with straps etched with angel depowering and suppressing sigils. For a few moments, he considered killing both of them, but it didn’t really seem fitting. He wanted Mick to suffer for being a weak point in their plans against the Winchesters. Instead, he decided that archangel grace was something that would come in handy in a lot of ways. For a few painstaking hours, he removed Azrael’s grace with grace extracting syringes. The rest of the grace was extracted through a cut to the throat into a vial. This was a very painful process and the tortured screams of Azrael were enough fuel for Mick to break free of the binds placed on him. The two men fought it out for a long while, leaving the bunker in a state of disrepair. Eventually, Mick lost the fight and Ketch left the bunker after telling Mick that he hoped he enjoyed the rest of his pathetic existence.

When Azrael and Mick both felt well enough to travel, they set their sights on the bunker in Roswell, New Mexico. This bunker became their primary place of residence, but they would stay at the Missoula bunker as well when they were more northern. Mick and Azrael got a lot closer in the time that Azrael was human and with a lot of goading form Jess, they began dating. What she hadn’t thought about was that she would become the third wheel. It didn’t bother her, most of the time, but sometimes it made her heart ache for Sam. Mick had since stopped pushing her toward telling Sam after a particularly large blow-up by Jess. Her visits to The Crossroads became a bit more frequent and she hooked up with some hunters from time to time, usually one night stands apart from Cameron Ambrose. They entered a friends with benefits sort of relationship and he would sometimes stay at the bunker after a case before heading back to Smith Center.

The three remained a trio, hunting and taking time off between the two bunkers, both with secondary locking systems and more updated technology for nearly a year without incident. Mick and Jess helped Azzie adjust to a human life and they were all a little more cautious with the cases they took. During this time, Mick helped Jess learn how to document accurate information about the supernatural on a website for hunters, complete with the vast amount of information the British Men of Letters had compiled. However, this all came to an end when Dean Winchester himself knocked on the bunker. He and Ketch had witnessed humans being lined up for slaughter by the angels in the apocalypse world and as a sign of good faith Ketch had given him Azrael’s grace and told him where to find her. The three were at the Missoula bunker at the time, but with the secondary lock, Dean was unable to get inside.

Jolted into action by the sound of banging on the door, Mick and Azzie answered it with their guns drawn. Jessica was about to join in investigating the disturbance when she heard Mick say Dean’s name. That made her run back to her room and quietly shut the door. Azrael was given back her grace and agreed to help fight in the apocalypse world, because the humans deserved peace from the onslaught of misery the angels were inflicting on that world. The mere thought of angels lining up humans for slaughter infuriated her. Mick agreed to help as well and they traveled back to the main bunker in Kansas. Jess on the other hand was completely torn on what to do, but she eventually joined in on this fight as well when apocalypse Michael was brought to their universe.

#╰––– » 「 ✞ 」 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼. ┊ three amigos #╰––– » 「 ✞ 」 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗻. ┊ is it me? am i the drama?

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existential-cringe · 1 year

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If I were to make one if those teen flics where all the character friends groups are close with good senses of humour and the vibes were cool, I wouldn’t want it with any crazy twist with like aliens or drugs or federal crime, I would just want like 100mins of these guys just shootin the shit for like a week of school and the conflict is like one dudes presentation and then the school dance. No dates or bullys just these chill friends trying to dye their hair and maybe on Monday they go to the mall to look for outfits and maybe one isn’t feeling the dark blue anymore and aha shes thinks sage green is looking real nice today right? They gather on Tuesday to help with the dudes presentation and on Wednesday it is stiff but he warms up and lands a great finish, the cute boy he sits besides wispers that was great. On Thursday in the morning announcement, dealing fruit snacks in the cafeteria is banned. Friday morning they get a pop quiz and wtf Mrs. Brady theres a dance tonight, but hey shes a cool teacher and y’all were mostly super prepared and only Jake did bad cause fuck jake (its an inside joke that we get a flashback to explain). The dance goes great, everyone looks appropriately kinda pretty good and maybe a little more unique then you’d expect (fuck them trends, wear what makes you feel best). Cute boy asks presentation dude to dance to a slow song and it goes pretty well and later that night he gets his number. They absolutely jam out to the ymca and someone gets slapped in the face and they all buckle over laughing. Someone yells fuck Jake and they try to get a chant started but it gets drowned out by dubstep. Theres some bathroom girl gangs that deal in smuggled in fruit snacks cause at some point that became a tradition that they all revel in. As they walk down the dark street at 11pm the moon is full and they are high on life and root beer floats, debating wether cereal is a soup as they walk in the crisp night air. One girl passes a fruit snack to the other and presentation dude clutches that phone number to his chest. They all parts ways with a see ya Monday! Everyone lays down in their beds jackets half off and makeup smeared, smiles and clicks on a super jammin main character outro. No crazy humiliating drama or conflict, just a bunch of chill confident kids that aren’t being awkward and are just loving life, I know it’s something I would have loved to watch to idk give young people more confidence by putting them in a realistically attainable, not embarrassing events. Would definitely help me stop overthinking peoples reactions to really normal things that literally no one remembers.

#fuck me that just wrote itself #teen #teen movies #slice of life #high thoughts #this edible is in fact the shit #movies #teenagers #high school

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milazka · 3 years

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someone said they left together |𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝.

the less i know the better masterlist

main masterlist

harry and charlie polaroids

warnings: sex, swearing, choking, underrage drinking, little age gap.

last thought: sorry for the delay! i had to finish all my exams before starting this and i had the white page syndrom for a few days, but now i’m back! i hope you will like it! love, milz.

─── ° • ❀ ───

The warm weather of September had recently given way to the raining days of October. It has always been her least favorite month; first, she was forced to remain confined to the four walls of her home. Second, she hated halloween and everything that came with it. Third, her father always spent most of his time in the hospital due to limited staff resources or locked in his office with his patients files. Rain flowing down her window accompanied by Sweater Weather echoing in her dimly lit room only makes her boredom worse. She misses the summer evenings working on Marcus' motorcycle or staying up until the early hours of the morning, drinking cheap wine on the roof of her house.

Touch my neck and I'll touch yours

A shiver runs down her spine at the words. It’s been more than a week since his perfectly shaped face was buried between her shaking thighs; she can still remember exactly how his big paw-like hands gripping her thighs felt. Her face heats up and flush at the thought of being in that position with him again. It had been more than a year since she had orgasmed this hard with a man.

Realising her father will most likely be stuck in his office for the whole evening, she slips on her favorite oversized flannel over her black hoodie and grabs the camera on her desk before walking down the hardwood stairs.

"I'm going to be at Marcus'!" she shouts to his dad who looks at a white sheet of paper, eyebrows furrowed. "Just text me if you're leaving for the hospital so I know you need me to come back and take care of Brady," she pets the little dog on the head before closing the door behind her.

The droplets of rain glide along her face despite her hood pulled back over her head. As soon as she reaches Marcus’ bedroom window, she can’t help but laugh at his awkward position; he is laying on his bed, his head upside down in the void.

“Are you drunk, stoned, or just stupid?” she looks amused, a smile slipping on her lips as she stands in front of him, taking a picture of him with her disposable camera.

“All of them,” he smiles clumsily, patting the mattress on his left to encourage her to lay down by his side. Upside down like him, she feels the blood flowing to her head, making her feel a bit lightheaded.

“Why don’t we join Max and the others downstairs?” she suggests, sitting at the end of his bed, feeling the blood leave her head. “We have nothing else to do and you already smoked the last blunt without me,” she emphasizes the fact that he didn't wait for her, which amuses him.

“Alright, let me change and I'll meet you downstairs,” he sighs; he knows that she gets along with her twin and her friends more than him.

The multicolored lights flash to the rhythm of the music. Her eyes take a few moments to get used to the intense lighting while she pours some vodka and orange juice in a red solo cup.

“Hey pretty girl, would you pour me one of those?” this voice, she could recognize it among hundreds. She turns around instantly, meeting two ocean irises and a smile that awakens millions of butterflies in her tummy.

“Harry!” she smiles, slipping her arms around his neck, burying her nose in the crook of his neck while his hands grab her hips firmly. The familiar fragrance of Giorgio Armani tickles her senses, bringing back memories from two years ago. “I thought you were still in Indiana?” she says, pulling back from the hug to face him.

God, she missed those blue eyes and perfect blond hair.

“I’m just visiting my family for the week,” his hands lightly squeeze her hips like he used to do, making her weak in the knees. “Jordan told me Maxine was having a little get together and I had nothing better to do,“ he laughs, deliberately omitting to say that he was hoping to run into her.

“I missed you,” she admits, her thumb caressing his cheek.

“I missed you too, pretty girl,” he kisses the palm of her hand, making her blush and lose the last ounce of self control that she had left.

He was her first.

Her first kiss.

Her first date.

Her first 'i love you'

Her first time.

Her first heartbreak.

It’s probably the emotion of the moment mixed with the alcohol flowing in her veins, but her eyes get lost in his and their lips collide in a fiery kiss. She can taste the last bit of beer on his lips when she bites his bottom lip, stealing a grunt from him that makes her core throb in desire. Both of his hands cup her face as his tongue slips into her mouth to move in sync with hers.

“Take me to your place,” she whimpers against his lips, pulling on his belt so that their crotches collide.

─── ° • ❀ ───

“Have you seen Charlie?” Marcus asks Abby as he pours himself a drink.

“Last time I saw her, she was with Harry,” she answers, grabbing a few cans of beer in her hands.

His heart tightens at the mention of this name. Harry was Charlie's first boyfriend and her first heartbreak. Marcus clearly remembers the day he picked her up in crumbs after they decided to break up because Harry was going to Indiana to play quarterback for the University of Notre Dame. Marcus never really liked him; Harry had always had a reputation for sleeping with girls and wasn't the type to have girlfriends. It surprised everyone in school the day he arrived hand in hand with Charlie. She was the first girl to win his heart. Six years younger than him, she had him wrapped around her finger for two years.

“Do you know where they are?” he tries to look unaffected by the whole thing.

“Someone said they left together,” Brodie shrugs, taking a sip of his beer, not noticing the way Marcus' face drops.

─── ° • ❀ ───

As soon as they reach Harry’s room, his lips meet hers while he waste no time to sit her on his old school desk. Her fingers lace across his hips, pulling him close to get the friction she is desperate for. Her hands find their place at the back of his neck while he grabs the bottom of her black hoodie, peeling it off her body in no time and does the same thing with her jeans. Charlie starts to grind on his crotch, moaning silently at the feeling of his hard on.

“Fuck… you’re…so hot...” his jaw goes sharp in hunger as he takes a look at her perfect boobs squeezed in a forest green lace bra. She almost rips his shirt off when she pulls the black clothing from him, biting her bottom at the sight of his toned chest. His lips are reddened and swollen from the kiss, hair messy like she loves. Her hands roam his chest, feeling his abs tense under her touch. She squeeze her legs around his hips, sending him a clear message of her intentions.

“Eager, ma’am?” he teases her, slowly unzipping his belt until his erection is only contained in his briefs. He presses his hard on against her core, rubbing himself up and down. The whimpers leaving Charlie’s parted lips are like music to his ears as his lips suck the sensitive skin of her neck. “Fuck, I’ve missed this…” she moans, tugging at the roots of his hair while his mouth works wonder on her neck.

In one harsh motion, he lays her down on his bed, hovering above her until his lips crash against hers. His hand slides down into her underwear, running two of his fingers up her slit. She groans when his fingers graze her clit, slowly circling the bundle of nerves.

“Please… I want you,” she begs, her hands grabbing his biceps.

“Say it again,” he demands, applying more pressure on her clit until she starts to squirm under him.

“I want you,” she cries out. “I fucking need you.”

Charlie’s legs spread open on either side of him, he grabs the lace underwear off her body, lifting her legs up in the air as he slides the material off her ankles. Completely naked on his bed, she remembers the first time they did it, how safe she felt with him. She blushes when she notices the way he bites his bottom lips as his gaze travels down her body. He pulls out a silver square foil from his jeans pocket, ripping the corner open.

“You sure about this?” he asks one last time in all seriousness. She nods quickly, lifting herself on her elbows to kiss his plump lips. A smirk curves up his face as he wraps one of her thighs around his waist and throws the other over his shoulder, kissing the ankle bone next to his head. He takes his tip, running it up and down her slit in tease. Holding himself in place, he slowly push his hips forward, a whimper escaping the back of her throat at the so desired feeling. He lets out a heavy exhale when his hips meet the back of her thighs.

“Fuck Charlz...you feel so good,” he cusses in pleasure.

He slowly pulls back and rolls forward, letting her get adjusted to him. She feels lightheaded; she missed this feeling of fulfillment that he had always given her and the way he can be gentle and rough with her at the same time.

“Harry...fuck, harder…” she moans, eager for him to rock his body into hers. He immediately picks up speed, sending a wave of warmth pleasure in her lower stomach. Trembling whines leave her parted lips as he rolls his hips in a perfect rhythm. He had always known what angles and speed felt good for her, he loved to watch her lose control under his touch. Her stomach starts to spin, the familiar warm feeling starting to grow in her lower abdomen.

“Shit, right there!” she cries out, her nails digging into his skin.

“Are you gonna cum for me, pretty girl?” he encourages her, squeezing her hips firmly to the point of leaving a dark red mark. She hums, eyes shut under the pleasure. His hands slide further up her body, meeting her throat where he wraps both hands. The pornographic moan that escapes her lips when he applies pressure around her throat makes his dick twitch.

“You missed being choke, didn’t you?” he whispers darkly, rocking his hips harder to hit the right spot. She whines in response, clenching around him as his grip on her becomes tighter. He crashes his lips on hers, kissing her without slowing down his pace. She digs her hands into his hair, yanking it hard. He moans into the kiss, his hand around her throat tightening.

“You still like it when I pull your hair?” she says in a cocky way, pulling his blond locks harder. She knows he likes to be in control. He grunts into the top of her shoulders, rocking his body roughly into her. He brings his thumb in her mouth, lubricating it with her own saliva before bringing it between their bodies. She gasps at the sudden feeling on her sensitive nerves, whining as he starts to circle it with the pad of his thumb. It doesn’t take long for her to start feeling the familiar feeling of her orgasm. Her jaw drops as she feels the wave of bliss rolling up her body.

“Oh shit!” she screams, her core pulsating around him and her head getting filled with hot air.

“Give it to me, pretty girl,” his raspy voice sends her over the edge and he soon follows, thrusting fast into her as they both ride out their orgasm. His forehead crashes to her chest in total exhaustion, heavy breath leaving his parted lips. They both catch their breath, his hands engulfing her sides. He slowly pulls up and locks his eyes into hers.

“I’ve really missed you, pretty girl.”

─── ° • ❀ ───

taglist; @cognacdelights @ellegotohell @janedartist @weasleytommy @horcruxmanor @amyvandijk @blooms-and-roses @whom-are-you @its-yasbxtch @dreamydreamerwriting

#the less i know the better #marcus baker x charlie henson #marcus baker x reader #marcus baker fic #marcus baker x oc #marcus baker #marcus #marcus baker imagine #marcus baker fluff #marcus baker imagines #marcus baker angst #marcus baker smut #ginny and georgia imagine #ginny and georgia smut #ginny and georgia fluff #ginny and georgia one shot #ginny and georgia imagines #felix mallard imagines #felix mallard

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laurenairay · 3 years

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1 with Matthew Tkachuk possibly if you want to?

Thanks for requesting this one, anon! I had a lot of fun writing this one – maybe I should write more for him in the future?

Tagging @danglesnipecelly for getting me on the Matthew Tkachuk train the first place! 😘

“You owe me.” “Fine, whatever you want.”

Summer. The start of warmer weather, longer nights, ice-cream dripping down your fingers, the happiness that only true sunshine could bring. It also meant gatherings of friends from far and wide, those still living at home in St Louis like you, or those who ventured out of state and further afield. Friends whose lives had taken then far away from home, but the lure of summer always brought them back. Friends, like your neighbour Matthew Tkachuk.

You’d already seen him a couple of times since he arrived home a few days ago, a wave from your house next door and a pizza night when Taryn had come back home too yesterday, but you couldn’t wait for summer to sink into his bones, to give him that freedom he’d been missing too.

That’s when summer would really start.

Growing up, he’d always had that big brother vibe, despite you only being a couple of months younger than him, and you were glad for his steady friendship. But for the past few summers, things had changed slightly. Those friendly brotherly vibes had shifted, the airs of childhood having long faded away, and a teasing playful vibe had turned up in its place. Summer had never lasted long enough for you to figure out how you felt about this change, to be honest. But you were hoping that this was the year, this was when you finally figured out what it all meant.

You were sitting in your room, putting away some laundry when your phone buzzed with a call. The Best Tkachuk. Huh.

“Hey, Matty, what’s up?” you said, smiling.

“Hey, I need your help,”

Woah.

“What’s wrong? What happened? Are you hurt?” you frowned, dropping the last of your clean socks onto the floor.

“Oh, no, no I’m fine. Well, I’m stressed out because I’m trying to do this dinner thing and…damn it, can you drive me to the grocery store?”

“Why don’t you take your mom’s car? Or the car that you and Brady are sharing?” you asked, confused.

“Mom and Dad took Taryn out to the mall to get some new sneakers. And Brady took off in the car to see that girl he’s sneaking around with that he thinks we don’t know about,”

Oh yeah, Brady was super obvious.

“There’s a grocery store you can walk to in 15 minutes, Matty,” you mused, rolling your eyes.

“I went to that one yesterday and I thought I picked up everything on my list but I missed an ingredient because they didn’t have it,”

His voice was getting a little petulant, a whining tone, making you grin. You were going to help him, obviously, but it didn’t hurt to make him work for it.

“And I should help you…why?” you said simply.

“Because if I screw this up when I said I didn’t need any help then Brady and Taryn will never let me hear the end of it!”

“Again, why should I help you?” you teased.

Matthew groaned down the phone, making you smile.

“Because Brady chopped off your favourite Barbie’s hair when we were kids and Taryn scratched up your 13th birthday CD?”

He had a point…

“Try again,” you grinned.

“Because you’ll have my everlasting gratitude?”

“Hmm…”

You trailed off, pretending to think, earning another groan, although you were pretty sure he’d figured out your game by this point.

“Please?”

The softness of his voice made butterflies fizzle in your stomach at the vulnerability. How could you say not to him?

“Yeah, I’ll take you to the grocery store, Matty. Let me put on some shoes,” you said, smiling.

“Thank you, so much,”

You just laughed, shaking your head. “You owe me,”

“Fine, whatever you want,”

“Ooh that could be dangerous,” you teased.

“I can handle it,”

You grinned at what you knew was a smirk in his voice. This was much more like it. “I’ll see you in just a minute,”

And with that, you ended the call. It didn’t take long for you to get some shoes on, and by the time you were downstairs, Matthew was waiting by the car. You bit your lip to hide your smile at how good he looked, sleeveless shirt exposing those sculpted arms, beautiful eyes dangerously focused, hair mussed and wild. Damn. You wiggled your fingers at him in a wave, smile coming through properly at the look of relief on his face.

“You’re a lifesaver,” he groaned, getting in the passenger seat of your car.

“I know,” you mused, “What went wrong?”

Matthew huffed out a laugh, running a hand over his messy hair as you pulled out of your driveway. “You know how mom always throws the big neighbourhood get-together when me, Brady and Taryn are all home for the summer?”

You nodded, knowing it well. “Yeah it’s this weekend, right?”

“Right! Well, I said that I would cook for the family tonight, give her a night off before the big party,”

“She does deserve the rest,” you nodded.

God knows that poor woman put up with enough thanks to all those big personalities.

“Exactly! She deserves it. I got the recipes for her favourite foods, and I planned it all out properly because I want to make it special for her, but I literally forgot the key ingredient for the spices in the main dish and it won’t be the same without it,” he grumbled.

“That’s really sweet of you, Matty. You’re a good son,” you said softly.

“I try,” he mumbled, blushing lightly at your compliment, “But if I don’t get it right then Brady and Taryn will make fun of me for ages,”

“I don’t know how your mom puts up with all of you, really,” you snorted.

Matthew blushed a little more, but laughed. “Yeah, I know we’re a bit much. You love me anyway, right?”

“Don’t push your luck, Tkachuk,” you said dryly.

When Matthew pouted, you just laughed, shaking your head. Having grown up next door to the Tkachuk family had always been a loud intense ride, but your friendship with Matthew, especially now that he’d settled more into himself, was something you cherished. And it was times like this, when he went out of his way to make his mom happy, that reminded you of just how sweet he was. You may only really see him in the summer now, your lives having taken you in different directions, but you missed him like this.

“You know she’ll love it, whatever you make, because you made it, right?” you pointed out.

Matthew smiled, a little shyly, but shrugged. “I’d hope so…but I still want to do it well,”

“There’s the Tkachuk fighting spirit talking,” you laughed, pulling into the parking lot of the grocery store.

Matthew laughed as well, a bit more of his usual sparkle coming into his eyes as you parked the car.

“I’ll be really quick, I promise,” he grinned, unbuckling his seatbelt.

“Yeah no worries, take as long as you need. Just remember that you owe me, Matty,” you grinned back.

You saw a flash of fire in Matthew’s eyes, making those butterflies flare up again, but you managed to keep your face calm and collected.

“Oh I haven’t forgotten, trust me,” he murmured.

He winked as he walked towards the store, that little smirk on his face that you loved, leaving you a little stunned before you shook your head with a laugh. Looks like you had a lot of thinking to do before the big party this weekend.

#my writing #lauren turns 30 blurbs #matthew tkachuk #all that teasing flirting feels so right for him #i think he definitely has a sweet side though #matthew tkachuk blurb #prompt list blurb #matthew tkachuk fic #matthew tkachuk x reader #matthew tkachuk fanfic #hockey blurb #hockey writing #hockey imagine #nhl blurb #nhl writing #nhl imagine

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luci-in-trenchcoats · 3 years

Text

By My Side (Part 4)

Summary: The reader goes to dinner with her step brothers, Michael and Nick, as well as Jensen. When Jensen starts to see how her brothers treat her though, Jensen and the reader have a heart to heart and start to try a different tactic with their relationship...

Masterlist

Pairing: Bodyguard!Jensen x reader

Word Count: 3,700ish

Warnings: language, sibling angst, minor violence, mentioned prior deaths

A/N: Enjoy!

_________

Monday Evening

“Hey pipsqueak,” said Nick, your arms crossed from where you sat on the couch trying to watch TV. “Since dad and your mom are at dinner at that fancy place, maybe you could take us out?”

“Yeah,” said Michael, still texting away on his phone at the other end of the couch. “There’s that steak place dad said was good. Y/N, you want to have dinner with your big brothers?”

“Not particularly,” you said.

“She still hate us?” said Nick as he came up to the back of the couch, ruffling your hair and placing his hands on your shoulders. “You gotta let that shit go. We were kids.”

“I was a kid. You were both twenty years old and you two harassed me until I moved out, well past when you knew better. Now that I have money, you two-”

“What was that?” asked Nick and you swallowed. “Come on. Let’s get dinner.”

“Whatever. Jensen! We’re going to dinner wherever you are,” you called out. “Jensen!”

He came down the far hallway near where your office was, his hand behind his back on his holster but you shook your head.

“We’re going out,” you said as he dropped his hand down. “To eat. We’ll be back in a couple hours.”

“I’m going with you,” he said. You thought that was odd of him but he made his jaw hard and clenched it. “It’s part of my contract. I go where you go.”

“He’s perky isn’t he,” said Michael as he stood up. You rolled your eyes and went towards the front door to get your purse.

Half an hour later the three of you were seated with Jensen sat at the bar close by and keeping an eye on you.

“Surprised he didn’t ask to sit with us,” mumbled Nick. “Why do you have a bodyguard again?”

“After my old manager tried to have me kidnapped for publicity,” you said.

“You know how to pick ‘em,” said Michael. You gripped the menu tight and reviewed it, already knowing your step brothers wouldn’t even pretend to offer to pay for their meals. You never quite understood them. Chuck was always good to your mom and nice to you. You weren’t particularly close but you didn’t dislike each other either. You got along, he asked about you, you spent time together whenever you visited them. Chuck had always been okay in your book. His children though you could have sworn were adopted with how horrible they could be to you.

“How much you want to bet me I could get that douchey little bodyguard over here in less then five seconds?” asked Nick, a smirk on his face you didn’t like.

“He’s just doing his job. Let him do it in peace.”

“I still don’t get why you have one,” said Michael as he looked over the wine list. “Compared to the other girl on the show, you’re like, not good looking.”

“Dude, I’m your sister. You’re not supposed to find me good looking.”

“I know that, dipshit. I mean, you’re just, plain,” he said. “You’re not the main lead. That’s probably why.”

“I’m co-lead. We have no main lead.”

“But you’re second on the call sheet credits thing,” said Nick.

“Cause Gen got hired before me.”

“She’s still hotter than you,” mumbled Nick.

“She’s married and they’re both my best friends.”

“I didn’t say I want to fuck her. Relax. You’re always so uptight,” said Nick. You bit your tongue and weren’t surprised when Michael ordered a few hundred dollar bottle of wine. You got the twenty dollar one you normally did that tasted just as good and Nick went for an expensive Scotch you’d never heard of.

“Oh,” you said to the waiter before he could leave. “The man on the end of the bar there, his drinks and meal are on me.”

“No problem,” he said as he took off.

“She’s got no problem paying for his food,” muttered Michael.

“It’s part of his job. For him, this is a business expense,” you said. You gnawed the inside of your cheek and forced a smile. “The garlic bread is very good here if you guys want to get some.”

“Good with me,” said Michael. He gave you a smile, a genuine one before he was checking his phone again. You’d always liked Michael far more than Nick. On his own, Michael was a pretty decent guy. When he got with Nick though, and that was more often than not, even into adulthood, he was normally pretty unbearable.

“Working any big new clients?” you asked, your voice a tad too high but he ignored it while Nick went to the restroom.

“Potentially. I actually got a job offer in LA. Senior partner,” he said.

“That’s great,” you said, Michael smiling.

“You’re actually happy about that, for real,” he said.

“You’re incredibly smart. You always have been. I’m really happy you’re getting out of our little hometown and going to work at a bigger firm,” you said. “That’s a really big deal. You should be proud.”

“Here I thought you’d tell me not to move to your city,” he said.

“Why do you think I’d say that?” you asked.

“You don’t like us,” he said, nodding to the empty spot beside him. “You never have.”

“You guys are dicks most of the time. You skipped over the getting to know each other thing and went right into horrible dick older brothers.”

“We weren’t horrible. We still aren’t. I have worked cases that would make your skin crawl. We’re the Brady bunch compared to most people.”

“My dad died and I was so excited to have big brothers, you know? That year was so horrible and Chuck made mom stop crying and laugh again and I love him for that. But you guys...it doesn’t matter. I’m happy you’re getting a promotion, Michael.”

“Our mom died too that year,” he said, lowering his head.

“I know she did,” you said. “Forget I said anything.”

“So when do you go back to work?” asked Michael as Nick returned.

“A few months from now,” you said.

“What are you gonna do after that?” he asked.

“Honestly I’m not sure right now. I like TV but I might do movies. My options are pretty open,” you said. “How’s teaching going?”

“Always a joy,” said Nick, taking a long sip of his water. “I got tenure finally. Not sure if I’m gonna stay though. If Mikey moves out here I might take a position at UCLA.”

“Oh. So you’re thinking of moving out here too?” you asked. Nick narrowed his eyes and you you looked away. “Maybe mom and Chuck will come out if you guys do.”

“Maybe,” said Nick. Thankfully you spotted your waiter come back with your drinks and you were able to order your appetizer and dinner, already expecting a nearly thousand dollar bill thanks to their alcohol choices.

“I’ll be right back,” you said. You excused yourself and walked over to the bar, Jensen sipping on a glass of beer while he half-watched a TV behind the bar.

“Require saving from your brothers?” he smirked to himself, turning before you could tap him on the shoulder.

“Why do you say that?” you asked, leaning against the padded bartop.

“Just a vibe I get, you and Nick especially,” he said. “Nobody gets a pass from me.”

“He’s not a great older brother but he’s harmless,” you said.

“He intimidates you.”

“Like I said, he’s not great but the worst thing he’s ever done was leave me with a group of strange guys. Michael did the same thing. Otherwise they’re just like, crappy older brothers.”

“Crappy or something else? Like I said, nobody gets a pass from me.”

“Jensen. They would never hurt me. I swear on my life.”

“Michael wouldn’t. Nick...I’ll be keeping an eye on him, both of them, whether you want me to or not. I’m the asshole bodyguard after all,” he smirked again.

“Well, it sounds like they’re both gonna move out here soon so we’ll be seeing them more.”

“Lovely,” said Jensen. “So why’d you come over? Need a break from them?”

“Yes. Also, I already told the waiter but your drinks and food are all on me. Feel free to order whatever you want,” you said.

“I’ll stick to the one beer. I’m at work still,” he said.

“They have really good steak. The filet is amazing along with the green beans,” you said. Jensen smiled and played with his glass, swishing the ice cubes around. “The lobster macaroni is also a great side.”

“That’s a hundred dollar steak.”

“Jensen, you know I can afford it.”

“I also know how much you’re paying me. I can afford it.”

“Jensen. I’m your boss. I’m paying for it. Next time I want Taco Bell, you can pay at the drive through if it makes you feel better,” you said. He smiled, a soft gentle little smile you’d never seen on his face before. You returned it, Jensen staring at you before he shook his head and it fell away.

“I’m going to lose this argument, aren’t I.”

“Yeah, you are. I’d much rather pay for your meal than those two bimbos. I like you better,” you said.

“Must have a pretty low bar for them then,” he said.

“Why’d you stop talking to me? After the paparazzi guy?” you asked. He shrugged and wiped off a stray drop of condensation on his glass. “Please?”

“There’s a line I have to keep with you. We can be friendly but if something happens, I am in charge. There can be no doubts about that. I felt that I needed to step back and reaffirm that boundary.”

“We can keep the boundary. But we can be friends too. If you say hide, I’ll hide. If you say run, I’ll run. I know you think I’m a dumb actress but-”

“You’re not dumb. You’re one of the smartest people I’ve ever met,” he said. You blinked and he offered a half smile. “You have an ability to push through panic and be logical. I know guys with all the training in the world that can’t do that. You’re not a dumb actress. It’s obvious that you were raised to be intelligent.”

“My point is, I will do what you tell me to when it’s those hard moments. But I have confidence that you were wrong before. You can like someone, maybe even care about them like a friend, and still be able to protect them. I actually think it’ll make you better at your job.”

“Give me one example of where that works. Just one.”

“Maybe you want to try talking to your bestie, Jared,” you said. “Or literally most anyone in a relationship anywhere.”

“Touche,” he said. He smiled and nodded. “No more cold shoulder.”

“Thanks.”

“So I should try the macaroni with my steak?” he asked.

“And the green beans. You get two sides. You can get however many you want actually. The dessert selection here is even better than the steak if you can believe it.”

“I’ll have to check it out,” he said. “But no green beans. Traumatic childhood incident with them.”

“I better not be attacked by the cabbage patch kids. They might just take you down,” you said, Jensen giggling to himself. “Oh, he does laugh. Good to know. The roasted truffle garlic fries are really good too.”

“Thanks,” he said. “I think I’ll check them out.”

“Do you want to sit with us?” you asked, nodding back towards the table.

“I better not. I don’t think your brothers like me very much,” he said. “I got a better vantage point over here anyways.”

“Vantage point?” you asked.

“Got a weird feeling is all. I want to stay sharp tonight,” he said. You nodded and turned to go, Jensen catching your bicep. “If something happens, what do you do?”

“Duck and cover and wait for you to get me,” you said.

“Good girl. You did read my instructions.”

“Yup. Even read the part about how to get out of your hands being tied behind your back. Unfortunately, I’m not flexible enough and my ass is too big for that,” you said. He chuckled and you smirked. “Oh you know it is.”

“I’m not opposed to that fact,” he said. You went wide eyed and he laughed. “My boss is hot, what can I say.”

“You better stick to the one drink after all, Ackles,” you said, laughing as you lightly whacked his arm. “Try the triple brownie sundae for dessert. You won’t regret it.”

“Thanks, Y/N.”

“I think I gained five pounds,” said Michael, stretching out in his seat nearly two hours later, the waiter bringing over the check. You frowned at the bill but it was what you were expecting. You stuck your card in the pocket and caught the waiter pretty quickly. It was getting late and you were tired. Even your step-brothers were getting quiet so you hoped to get home quickly.

The waiter returned and you wrote out a tip, sticking your card back in your wallet and purse. You stretched as you stood up, your step brothers taking their time to get to their feet. You headed over towards Jensen when the sound of glass shattering caught your attention. You turned your head and heard tires screeching outside, spotting that the window at the front of the restaurant was gone now. You barely saw the cop car driving by before you heard sharp little noises in the air and felt like you got hit by a truck.

Suddenly you were on the ground, Jensen on top of you. Nick and Michael were ducked down under the table along with most everyone in the restaurant, some people at the bar hopping over the counter and diving behind the back. The whole place was silent and you all heard the front door to the place open abruptly. Jensen stood up in one smooth motion, his gun out and aimed, a shot ringing out a second later as someone yelled. A few seconds later there was a loud echo of feet, Jensen setting his gun on the ground and holding up his hands. Police filled in the place, two very angry looking officers rushing over to him and barking orders.

“It’s okay,” said Jensen to you as he knelt down.

Less than five minutes later he was released and some hostess was thanking him over and over still for stopping the guy that had come in looking for trouble. Jensen shrugged it off, only grazing the guy and the police pretty impressed with him for doing so.

“Are we free to go?” asked Jensen, an officer nodding. He waved for you and your step-brothers to follow, Jensen driving the four of you back to your place quickly. Nick and Michael took their rental car back to their hotel, neither one much in the mood to talk after what had happened.

Jensen checked that the house was secure before he went to his room and shut the door. You weren’t sure if he was okay or not. He seemed pretty calm but he had shot a guy, if only barely. Instead of heading to your bedroom, you wandered down the hall to his area of the house. There was a guest suite there he used for his bed and bathroom but he rarely used it unless he was going to bed and he always, always told you when he was turning in for the night.

As you were about to knock on the door you heard the faint sound of a shower and nodded. He was simply cleaning up. It didn’t sound like a bad idea to yourself honestly. You went down the hall to your room, flipping on the light. It was a soft white in there, the wall behind the bed a shiplap that led up to wood beams going across the vaulted ceiling. Another light was flipped on in the bathroom and you stepped under the shower for a few minutes, washing off your face and skin. After five minutes you went out to the bedroom and over to the closet, finding a pajama shirt and shorts to slip into. Your hair was thrown up in a messy bun and you found your oversized fleece hoodie you occasionally slept in. Tucking it under your arm, you headed out of the room and back down the hall, Jensen’s door still shut.

“Jensen?” you said, knocking on the door lightly. “Can I come in?”

“Yeah,” he said. Carefully you pushed the door open, Jensen walking out of his bathroom in just his boxer briefs, wiping a towel over his head. He tugged it down and stared at you, your eyes going to his chest, legs and everywhere in between.

“I uh, wanted to make sure you were alright,” you said, ripping your eyes away and meeting his gaze. He nodded and tossed his towel back into the laundry basket by the closet.

“I’m fine. You?”

“Yeah. I uh-”

“No need to be nervous around me,” he said.

“Right,” you said, Jensen walking right in front of you before stopping. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay and to say thanks.”

“It’s my job,” he said.

“Still,” you said. “I...here. I thought you might like this.”

“A hoodie?” he asked as you handed him the fleece. “What’s this for?”

“S’my bad day hoodie. I wear it to bed sometimes. Makes me feel better,” you said with a shrug.

“Old boyfriend’s?” he asked as he pulled it on, a soft smile spreading across his cheeks. “It’s so soft. Thanks, Y/N.”

“You’re welcome,” you said.

“So was it the boyfriends? Or you get it for yourself?” he asked.

“It was a birthday present for my dad. He died the week before. I never got to give it to him.”

“I shouldn’t be wearing this,” he said, moving to take it off when you caught his wrists. He was so much stronger than you but he let you manhandle him and move his hands back to his sides.

“It fits you better than it ever did me. Besides, I think you’re a little on edge and not telling me which is fine. It’s good for that,” you said. “I want you to keep it.”

“Y/N, I can’t keep something like this,” he said. You stared at him, Jensen swallowing. “It’s important to you.”

“Yes. But you gave me your blanket and wouldn’t let me return it. Fair is fair,” you said.

“Y/N-”

“S’an order, Jensen. Keep it.”

“Yes mam,” he said quietly.

“I hate when you call me that,” you said, moving your hands away from him.

“I know you do,” he said, a quick smirk crossing his face. “Why aren’t you using this yourself tonight?”

“I got my blanket. I’m good,” you said.

“It doesn’t explain why you’re giving me this though.”

“Lately, something else has been making me feel better and safe. My dad would have liked you.”

“Your father was a good person. A brave person,” said Jensen.

“You know how he died,” you said, Jensen returning a nod. “I used to be really angry at him. Why’d he have to go help that woman? He could have walked past and been alive. But since I got older, if I was that woman being attacked, I would pray for a man like that to come help me. I know he was good.”

“I will do my very best to be that man for you,” he said.

“I know you will. If you need something, come get me,” you said.

“Y/N,” he said just as you spun around. “May I have the morning off? You will be with family and my sister is in town for the day for work. I’d like to get lunch with her if I could.”

“Take the day,” you said with a smile, looking back over your shoulder. “She can come to dinner if you like.”

“She’s got a flight back at five thirty,” he said. “Thanks though.”

“It’s no problem,” you said. “Goodnight, Jensen.”

“Goodnight,” he said. You pulled his door shut after yourself and went down to your own bedroom to get under the covers. You stared up at the ceiling, hearing a light pitter patter on the rooftop. Rain was so rare in LA that you normally welcomed it when it came around. It reminded you of back home in a way.

A text popped up on your phone just as you were closing your eyes. It was from Gen and was a link to some news article about the restaurant, a picture of you and Jensen front and center.

You wrote back you were fine and turned off your phone, knowing you’d have to deal with questions in the morning.

________

A/N: Read Part 5 here!

#spn #supernatural #jensen ackles #jensen ackles au #jensen ackles x reader #jensen ackles x you #au #bodyguard!AU #bodyguard!jensen #bodyguard!jensen x reader #spn fanfic #supernatural fanfiction

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lovemeleo · 3 years

Text

Me without You (Part 2)

Alrighty y'all, it's finally here. Time for Part 2 of Me without You! Though they didn't know it, the discord server helped choose the ending for this one.

Nuny and the SW world belong to the lovely @lumosinlove.

If you haven't read it yet, here's Part 1 and you can read my entire Nuny series here on ao3.

***

It’s been three days since Zhenya left, and Jackson had never felt so lost. Normally at the end of a season, they’d take a breather for a couple days, just chill around the house. Sometimes they’d even go on a road trip. Jackson tended to get inside his head a bit so it was better to be out of the house.

He hadn’t gotten much sleep after his conversation with Zhenya the night before. There was around a 7 hour time difference so they tried to keep the conversations to decent times to not mess up sleep patterns too much, but Zhenya had plans with family the entire day, planning to slowly begin the process of coming out. Instead of his normal afternoon call time, Zhenya called him as soon as he got up which meant Jackson didn’t get to sleep until around 1am.

Waking up the following morning was a bit rough, his warm bed still calling his name as he dragged himself to the kitchen for coffee. Jackson didn’t want to stay in bed though. Zhenya wasn’t there, so what was the point?

He wasn’t the only one who was not taking Zhenya’s absence well. The cats were confused about their missing dad as well. Loki had climbed up on top of the fridge, waiting for Zhenya to take him down but he never came. Jackson had to get a chair so he could reach the giant cat and help him down. Pumpkin had taken to sleeping on the Russian man’s pillow, and Milo tended to look for him in the shower. Milo and Pumpkin were still sprawled on Zhenya’s side of the bed when he left but Loki trailed after him.

Jackson went to pull down his coffee mug, reaching for Zhenya’s as well before he realized it wasn’t needed. Damn.. maybe this was going to be harder than expected. Setting the Stormtrooper mug back in the cabinet, he filled the cats’ bowls as the coffee brewed. He was even more off-kilter than usual today, anxious for Zhenya who would be going through the difficult steps of coming out to his parents. Jackson remembers how nervous he was when he told his parents, but he was lucky. He had Zhenya next to him.

Maybe he should just fly to Russia.. Just to be safe. What if he needed him? No.. Zhenya said he had to do this by himself. This had been a frequent argument he had with himself since the moment he left the airport.

Today, he was getting out of the house. Smitty had called, asking him if he wanted to come out with him and his kids. He was taking the three to the zoo so Allison could get some rest, and asked if Jackson minded being an extra pair of hands. Eager to get out of the house and see the little munchkins he had very quickly come to love, Jackson said yes.

To be honest, he was pretty sure Zhenya had told Smitty to keep an eye on him.

After a quick shower, Jackson pulled on Zhenya’s hoodie from when he played for the Flames over one of his t-shirts. It was one of Zhenya’s favorite hoodies, worn and soft in all the right places. It was also Jackson’s favorite to steal. He loved that it was big on him and just felt like Zhenya was wrapped all around him.

As he pulled his shoes on, the doorbell went off. His eyebrows furrowed as he glanced up at the door. He wasn’t expecting anyone. When he opened the door, Brady was standing there.

“Hey, man. Thought I’d just pick you up since you’re on the way.” He said with a smile, pulling Jackson in for a hug.

Jackson couldn’t help but lean into the hug, the lack of human interaction obviously getting to him. “Sounds like a plan to me. Thanks.” He grabbed his wallet and keys after pulling away, making sure his phone was tucked into his pockets.

Brady led the way to his car, climbing in the driver's seat, “I appreciate you coming with me. Don’t know that I'd be able to handle all three of these hooligans by myself at the zoo.” He said, glancing back at his kids with a grin.

A chorus of “Uncle Nado!!” came from the backseat, Brady’s youngest cheering from her carseat in the middle. Olivia was born not long after the 2020 season, and was coming up on two years.

“Hello, tiny gremlins!” Jackson said with a laugh, pulling on his seatbelt as Brady started towards the Gryffindor Zoo.

The kids were already bouncing in their seats, rambling over each other as they talked about all the animals they were going to see. Max was excited for the aquarium while Noah just wanted to see the Lions, of course. Olivia’s favorites were the penguins.

“Allison told me they’re allowed one plushy per kid this time.” Brady said with a huff. Jackson couldn’t help but laugh at his friend. Last time they had gone to the zoo, their entire van was filled with plushies. Brady had tried to blame Jackson, and while he had bought them all one or two, Brady was the main culprit.

Getting everyone out of the car was an adventure all its own. They had to bring the double stroller because Olivia spent most of the time in there, as she still got tired easily and while Noah said he was going to walk the whole time like his big brother Max, he usually ended up climbing in the stroller once or twice. Little legs could only carry you so far.

The lions were right in the front when they got in, Noah running as fast as he could to the railing of the exhibit, “Dad, Uncle Nado, Look! They’re just like you!” He said, his face lighting up as he watched the lions prowling.

“Yeah, bud. That one even has long hair like Uncle Nado.” Brady said with a grin, pointing out the male lion with the full mane.

Jackson laughed, leaning on the railing next to them as he held Olivia’s hand, “You’re just mad ‘cause Allison won’t let you grow your hair out.” Brady shoved him, laughing as they carried on throughout the zoo.

They made their way into the aquarium, the kids running ahead a bit to see all the different fish with Jackson and Brady following at a more leisurely pace.

“So…” Brady said, glancing at him out of the corner of his eye.

Jackson let out a huff, “Here it comes…”

Letting out a chuckle, Brady elbowed him in the ribs, “Hey, don’t be a shit. I just wanted to ask how you were doing. It’s been a long couple months for you with your leg, and then with Zhenya being gone.. Just wanted to check.”

“I’m alright.. Leg doesn’t really bother me, been keeping up with my exercises from PT. And Zhenya.. I miss him. It’s only been three days but fuck I miss him.” Jackson replied, tugging on the sleeves of his hoodie as he watched the kids.

Brady squeezed his shoulder, his eyes flickering between his kids and Nado, “That’s normal, Jax. I’d say it would be abnormal if you didn’t miss him.”

A shriek from Olivia had both their heads whipping in her direction, but it seemed to be one of delight. Her face lit up as a turtle swam past the window again. Both men let out a quiet sigh of relief.

“I know it’s normal. I just- I just wish I could be there for him, y’know? It was hard enough for me to come out to my folks, and I knew they would be supportive. He doesn’t have that luxury, that knowing.” Jackson said with a sigh, his hand absentmindedly checking that his phone was in his pocket.

Brady let out a soft sigh as he nodded, “It sucks, it really does but no matter what happens, he knows he has you. He’s got the team. We’re all here for him.”

Jackson could only nod, a shaky breath falling from his lips as they reached the end of the aquarium. Olivia ran back to him as quickly as her little legs would take her, automatically reaching up to him. “Up? Up please?” She said, puppy dog eyes in full effect.

As if he could say no to that face. Jackson quickly swooped her up, setting her on his hip as they carried on. After a couple hours of walking around, they stopped at one of the restaurants to grab something to eat.

“We still have to see Liv’s penguins, Dad.” Noah pointed out as he ate a couple of his french fries, a map of the zoo in between himself and Max.

Brady was already nodding as he wiped up Olivia’s face, sauce from her pizza smeared across her chubby cheeks, “We’re not gonna miss the penguins.” Jackson couldn’t help the fond smile as he watched his friend with his kids. He always enjoyed watching their family dynamic, and just being with them. Normally Zhenya would be there too, throwing the boys over his shoulders and running around with them or letting Olivia play with his hair.

Damn, Jackson missed him.

And then, as if he knew Jackson’s phone went off with Zhenya’s ringtone. It was the Imperial March from Star Wars, and it had been his ringtone for as long as Jackson could remember. Brady shooed him off as soon as he heard the ringtone, reassuring Jackson that he could handle his own kids for a little bit.

Stepping out of the restaurant, Jackson quickly answered the phone, a smile spreading on his face, “Hey baby, I was just thinkin-”

His smile dropped as he was cut off by a sob from the other end of the line.

“Zhenya? Babe? What’s wrong? You gotta talk to me, baby, you’re scaring me.” Jackson pleaded, his heart feeling as though it was shattering at the sound of his boyfriend falling apart.

His breathing was ragged as Zhenya let out another sob before he finally was able to get it out: “T-They kick me out. M-My Mama and Papa, they kick me out.”

#nuny #nuny series #lumosinlove #sweater weather #jackson nadeau #evgeni kuznetsov #brady smith #smitty #kuny #nado #zhenya #fic #fic writing #coming out

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