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larissa-the-scribe · 5 months

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Terrarium Lights Part 2.3

Last time on Terrarium Lights: Gail discovered whether or not the immaterially non-existent can be touched. (Next part >>here)

Gail had mostly finished the terrarium for Mrs. Oberson—she was slow at it without Michael. It really only needed one thing more, but she was stuck wavering between driftwood or extra plants.

The lad came by every day. Each time, he appeared visibly relieved to have made it back another day, to still be a part of reality. Mostly he spent his time standing beside her as she did chores, or sitting nearby while she gardened or read or worked on the terrarium.

Sometimes he was as talkative as a windship broken loose from its moorings, other times he kept a quiet watch. So far, he hadn't brought up names again, or visiting town, but he did talk about his memories, and asked Gail questions about anything and everything he could imagine.

He told her about the vague snippets he remembered. There were more fantastical places that he was pretty sure he had been to—one he said floated above the clouds, higher than an airship could go, and with trees growing in and through it and holding the earth of it together. He also became more assured that someone had been with him, though he couldn't seem to place any distinct aspects about them other than that they were there.

"He was my friend, though," he said. "I remember that. I don't know what we were doing or why we were where we were, but… we were in it together. We had each others' backs."

He had much more distant memories of somewhere a lot more like the world Gail knew, like Santa Juliana. Streets with cabs and powered cycles and gearmounts. Sea and sails hovering in the distance. Airships and windships and letterships and more humming overhead.

In her turn, she told him about the lighthouse, and the yearly commemoration there, started four years ago by the lighthouse keepers as a way to honor those lost at sea. It was a time of remembering and mourning and celebrating those who had made it back to shore because of the lighthouse. Since David had been lost at sea, she went herself.

"Not all of us go," she said. "Benjamen and Timothy can find it hard to get here, and we've all agreed that we don't want to make more of David’s death than he would want. We want to remember his life, who he was, and be grateful as much as we can for the time we had with him. Michael and I have made it a habit to go, though, and Charity has gone twice. It can certainly be a hard time, though. He… he was very young."

She told him about her collection of bugs and sketches, and showed him her very informal notes on the denizens of the garden. She also pulled out the encyclopedia that her children had gotten her one Christmas, and confessing that she was touched by the present, but rarely used it—she much preferred observing her little friends on her own, without the weight of needing to understand the more formal knowledge surrounding them. Mostly she used it after she had finished her observations. Then it was very interesting and amusing to compare to her own scratchings.

Meanwhile, the lad showed a surprising aptitude with electrical knowledge. During their times together, he repeatedly asked questions about how power got generated this far out into the country without any visible lines, and had rattled off several different kinds of possible models or modes that might have be used. He’d been hoping Gail would recognize one of them, but without luck. He also seemed to understand how their generator worked with some kind of mix of electric powering and the heat and steam generated by their internal heating system and kitchen. Most of his questions about how it worked she did not understand at all, and he did not know any way to explain it to her, so he poked around the house and had to remain satisfied with knowing little. It proved useful, however, when he suggested a simple fix for the inconsistent flickering of the lights in Michael’s office. Thankfully, she understood enough about things once they reached indoors and interacted with normal life to be able to sufficiently regear the cogstow. Anything more complicated she would leave to Michael when he returned. She had no idea about the pipewires at all.

And yet, Gail still did not know how to regear the problem of communicating with her ghost about who he was.

For now, she found herself stuck with just praying, and keeping her eyes and ears open for the results.

"So why terrariums?" He asked one day. He was standing by the desk where some of the ingredients were kept, leaning over it to get a better view of the sand, gravel, ground charcoal, rocks, spray bottles, pieces of bark, and whatever other odds and ends had ended up tucked away in cubbies.

Gail was darning socks in the sitting room. She had zoomed her glasses in further so that she could see the details better—she had never been particularly skilled with needlework, even in her younger days when she’d been able to see without extra aid. The increased size of the world gave her a comical picture of her serious-faced companion staring at her from across the room, features distorted in the curve created by the more intense zoom (she had a cheaper pair of glasses).

"Hmmmm. Well, I can't quite remember how it started. It was an idea that Michael picked up in his travels, I think. He got a few books from somewhere and it… fit somehow. I like collecting odds and ends and we both like making things and working with our hands, even if I’m not as steady with it. I like plants well enough, but sometimes they can be a handful to manage, so I like the simplicity of it all once its done and set up. A lovely thing to look at, a world unto itself, almost. And," she added with a chuckle, "much easier to take care of than most gardens. Or worlds."

"That makes sense." He poked at one of the jars of rocks. "I agree that they are quite pretty. I like the moss."

"Me too." She barely avoided getting her fingers pricked by her needle. "It's a very peaceful creature, somehow."

"Yeah. I've noticed, too, that for all the materials you have to make them, you don't seem to have too many around the house. Do you tend to make them more for other people?"

"I do." She pulled the thread to. "Well, the collection is bit of me being a packrat when it comes to keeping materials, a bit of me being slow at the job, a bit of Michael traveling often, and a bit of us giving them away. They can be quite nice as gifts. For example, Mrs. Oberson, she has arthritis, and trouble in her back. She used to garden, but can't now. I thought she might like to have plants about her again, and ones that don't require much effort or memory to take care of—she's complained to me often enough that she can hardly rely on her own mind anymore. So I imagined she might like something to brighten the house up, bring new life to the place."

#welcome to me trying to sound like I know what I'm talking about with electricity when I very much do not #this is um. alternate universe. don't worry about it #terrarium lights #gail goffrey #inklingschallenge #inklings 2023 #story: finished #genre: portal fantasy #theme: burial #theme: visit the sick #the santa juliana files #salt and light #ocs #original content #writerblr #first draft

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ncisfranchise-source · 3 months

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Brian Dietzen had a tall order when it came to the latest NCIS episode he cowrote with Scott Williams: the tribute to Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard and the actor who played him, the late David McCallum. But it’s one the two were more than ready to take on.

“When you lose someone very close, you can fall into just crying and mourning continually, and while we wanted to pay homage to him, we didn’t want that to be it,” Dietzen tells TV Insider ahead of the February 19 episode. “We wanted to celebrate the fun times as well, and we wanted to celebrate the amazing work that this great actor did on our show and also honor the character that he created. And I think both those people, the character and the actor, would love to see us continuing on and honoring him through continuing to do good work.”

The Season 21 premiere ended with Dietzen’s Dr. Jimmy Palmer calling Alden Parker (Gary Cole) to tell him of Ducky’s death. Now, the focus will turn to celebrating him—and solving the case he was working on before he died. Below, Dietzen talks about writing the episode and shares memories with McCallum, going back to their first scene together.

Talk about how you co-writing this episode came about because it is so fitting that you did so.

Brian Dietzen: We had the work stoppage this last year because of the [writers’ and actors] strikes, so we have a 10-episode order this season instead of our normal 22, sometimes 24 episodes. I’ve been cowriting with Scott Williams just about once a year, the last couple years, and so this year, I let my showrunners, David North and Steven Binder, know that I wasn’t going to request a script because we have a wonderful writing staff and I felt like, oh, there’s no need for me to step in there because we only have 10 episodes. Then David passed away, and I think that Scott really wanted to write his farewell episode and he thought it would be fitting if it would be a co-written with me. David and Steve said, that’s super appropriate. We all think that’s a really good thing, and you two obviously work well together, so go off and do your thing. I was really honored to be asked to do so, and I just wanted to make him proud.

What was your approach to this episode? Because you have to balance honoring David, honoring Ducky, but then also the case and the team’s grief.

Yeah, I think it’s really important that this remains an NCIS episode. It cannot just be some series of flashbacks to prior Ducky Mallard scenes. It was really important for us that we still have a case to solve. You’re living in a legacy of this person that you’ve lost, being Ducky, so we decided to craft a case where there would be something that would thematically link the case to the team’s loss, and those two don’t necessarily have to go hand in glove. They don’t have to be related. It’s not as though the case has to be related to Ducky in any way, but thematically speaking, it really should be.

Michael Yarish/CBS

What can you say about any characters returning or the acknowledgement of them and what Ducky meant to them?

What we tried to do with this episode was we tried honor the team that he worked with, and when I say the team, I mean the greater team, not just this team that we have right now that involves Parker, Torres [Wilmer Valderrama], Knight [Katrina Law], McGee [Sean Murray], Palmer, Kasie [Diona Reasonover], and Vance [Rocky Carroll]. The greater team is all of the different teams he’s worked with, many of which involved Gibbs [Mark Harmon], and then of course there’s Tony [Michael Weatherly] and Ziva [Cote de Pablo], and there’s Bishop [Emily Wickersham], Abby [Pauley Perrette], of course, and everyone in between.

And so when we wrote this thing, while it’s certainly not a show that’s just all about clips or anything like that, there are these remembrances of Ducky and we wanted to see him interacting with people that are on our current team and also people that are on our iterations of our team, too. I think we did a pretty good job with that, and I think that people like to see that they’re getting to see their Ducky many years past as well as the more recent.

What moments working with David came to mind while you were writing the episode then filming it?

Oh, about 6,000, if I’m being honest. I was going through, and I was looking up my first scene with him with a tape recorder at the end of Season 1. I was looking at “The Meat Puzzle” in Season 2. I was looking at “Detour,” a Steven Binder classic where we’re being chased through the woods directed by Mario Van Peebles. That was actually a really cool episode to look back on because David, if I look at it now, I thought, oh man, he was 80 years old, 81 years old when we shot that episode. And it’s Jimmy and Ducky running through a wooded forest at night in the snow, and obviously asking an 80-something-year old man to do that for continual night shoots, that’s not okay. So they ended up building a whole forest on our set and made it snow [and] we shot it during the day.

Monty Brinton/CBS

Some of those things hit me and memories hit me. And so as I’m watching all these old shows as we’re writing this new show, I can’t tell you how many just good times that we had together, and I don’t want to try to summarize it in just a couple of quotes here because it’s tough to summarize 20 years of friendship and 20 years of camaraderie and mentorship and great scenes together being shared. But what I will say is that the thing that I’ll always remember and that hit me so hard when I was watching all of these things is just what a terrific worker David McCallum was continually. He always showed up prepared. He knew his things. He did every scene with the absolute best of his ability. And that’s something that I watched him do for years and tried to adopt for myself as well. So yeah, it’s been an honor.

How do you remember Jimmy and Ducky’s relationship?

I see it as a partnership and somewhat of a mentorship. I remember there’s one point at which some writer on our staff years ago—I can’t remember who the person was exactly—started wanting to get into this, oh, he’s like a son to Ducky, this is like his father figure, and had some lines about that. And David said, “Oh, no, no, no, no, no. They’re partners, and they’re work colleagues. The second we start getting into a hierarchy of, he’s my son or I’m his father sort of thing, there’ll be a power dynamic that I don’t want to explore too much. I want it to be that Jimmy can speak his mind when he needs to and so can Ducky.” And that’s the way he treated it. It was really about, we’re in this thing together.

I think that was what was really, really great about those two characters is that they both lifted each other up. Jimmy had this reverence for Ducky that was so easy to see, and Ducky, the moment that he found out that Jimmy had passed his medical examiner’s license test, he was a doctor, the first thing he says is “Dr. Palmer” with all this pride in his voice. And I’d be lying if I didn’t say it made me teary to think about because David treated me that way as well in my personal life. He was very kind, very proud when I started to take over more of the load of the M.E. at NCIS. He’d call me and say, “I love the scene you did. I love this and that. I’m so proud you’re doing this in my stead.” And so yeah, art imitated life here and there.

What do you recall about your first and last scenes together?

Our first scene together, I remember I booked this episode. It was a one day guest star, and so I was just going to go and do one scene for NCIS, and it was a spinoff of JAG, and I think I’d seen one episode of it at the time, and I’ll be honest, I didn’t know who David McCallum was, and I’d never seen The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. At the time, I’d never seen The Great Escape. So I was pretty uncultured. I walked in, and I did this scene with this really terrific actor. That’s all I knew. I just knew, well, he’s really good, he’s really fantastic. And so I went home and I looked up, who is this guy? What has he been in before? Only to find out that he was like one of film and TV’s Beatles from the 1960s. [Laughs] He was a living legend, and that was pretty great.

And what was wonderful is that we got along well and the producer at the time, Don Bellisario, saw, oh, those two work really well together. Let’s have Brian come back next week and then the next week and then the next week. It’s because the two of us worked well together and we worked well on our scenes that I got to keep working. So that was really, really wonderful.

I’ll say one of the last scenes that I remember doing with David in person—because over the last few years, David was shooting most of his scenes in New York and we would have him on a screen or an iPad or something like that—was Ducky and Jimmy at a diner just eating together. There was no case that we were talking about, there was no red herring or anything like that. It was just two guys sitting there talking about a girl that Jimmy likes, and it was a friend listening to another friend over a sandwich. I thought, looking back on it, that’s really wonderful. Because we did that so often within our autopsy scenes where the scene is about this body before us and all of the evidence that we have to deliver to the rest of the team, but the dialogue could be about just about anything. We could be joking about things. He could be going off on some diatribe about something that was seemingly unrelated but it really came through historically in this situation. And so yeah, it was a cool scene to go back and reflect on.

#ncis #interview

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plentyoffandoms · 1 year

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WARDLOW X F/READER (18+)

Part 1

Main Masterlist ♡ AEW Masterlist ♡ Wardlow Masterlist ♡ Alternate Universe Masterlist

Warnings: Some swearing. Descriptive sexual acts. Minors do not read. Unprotected sex.

Just like all my other stories, this has not been proofread, but please enjoy.

Gifs and photos do not belong to me. 1st gif & 2nd gif @junglehooks 3rd @warinhisname 4th @archbishop-of-maxlow

WC 3923

David - Dax Harwood ☆ Daniel - Cash Wheeler ☆ Professor Sopp - Billy Gunn ☆ Will - Powerhouse Hobbs

Summary: f/Reader & Wardlow are both students at Ohio State, growing up together, but f/Reader can't stand the Frat Boy Wardlow, that is until she must help pass a class.

YN'S POV:

I am walking through the quad, on my way to a place I have yet to step foot in since I started at Ohio State a few years ago.

The Alpha Gamma Sigma house.

They are one of the nicer fraternities on campus, but I have stayed far away from the house because of one person and one person only.

Michael Wardlow.

A man who fully believes that he is above anyone on this earth. Even as children, people praised him for his athletic abilities. Teachers would make exceptions for him if a big game was coming up, and they would just pass him because they knew he would be the one to bring our school the win.

He never seemed to get in trouble for all the stupid pranks he pulled on me back in the day.

Like one time in Junior High, he filled my locker with shaving cream and ruined everything I had there. From my homework to my gym clothes, and yet, I was the one who got in trouble when I took a handful of shaving cream and shoved it in his face.

From that moment on, our teachers knew to keep us apart as all we did was bicker and fight. Once we entered high school, I had nothing to do with him.

I barely went to any football games as I was more concerned about keeping my grades up so I could get a full scholarship.

Which I did. I got a full scholarship to Ohio State that pays for everything. From my boarding to my books and supplies. I have kept my 4.0 GPA as having a full ride was the only way I could get into university.

I was so happy that I got the scholarship that when I found out that Michael also got a scholarship for football, I did not care in that moment and actually forgot that we were going to the same school, until I saw him on the first day of classes.

I froze when I saw him, and all he did was smile and wave at me, making sure to wink at me to just piss me off even more.

I continued on the unfamiliar path towards the Alpha Gamma Sigma house, replaying the words of Professor Sopp over in my head.

"YN, I know the history between you and Mr Wardlow, but you have the highest grade in my class, and he needs a tutor to help him with the exams."

And even though I loathe the man, I could never see someone failing just because I hate them, so I said yes to helping the Frat Boy, but as I saw the Alpha Gamma Sigma house come into view, I was slowly starting to regret it.

But I held my head up high, and I rang the doorbell, waiting for one of them to come to the door.

I heard someone yell out that they were coming and the door opened to the smiling face that is Daniel Wheeler.

"Well, isn't this a suprise. What can I do for you, YN?"

"I am looking for Michael."

Before Daniel could answer, a new voice piped up, "You will have to be more specific, YN." David Harwood said.

"Wardlow."

The two Frat Boys glanced at one another, silently communicating, and then they looked back at me.

"He is busy right now," Daniel said.

"I don't care what or whom he is doing. Just tell him I need to see him. It deals with kinesiology."

Daniel went off to find Michael, and David leaned against the doorframe as we had polite conversation.

"So how is Maria doing?"

"Maria is doing good. Talking about coming to your party this weekend."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but she isn't sure. Maybe you should text her or talk to her and see what she says. Maybe convince her to come."

"Yeah, yeah, I will do that."

The two of them have been dancing around one another for ages now, and they just need a push in the right direction. They have been on a few dates, but they keep going around in circles for some odd reason.

Our conversation died down once Daniel and Michael came around the corner, and I had to mentally slap myself as I stared at Michael's sweaty chest.

He may be a douche, but the man is built, and I do have eyes.

"What can I do for you, LN?" Daniel and David left the two of us alone, but I am pretty sure the two of them are just around the corner, listening in on our conversation.

"Professor Sopp asked me to help you to study."

"And you agreed to help me? Why? What is in it for you?"

"I may be a bitch but when I am asked to help someone so they don't fail a class, I will."

"Okay, well thanks. When do you want to do this?"

"Tomorrow. Meet me in the library at 6. Don't be late," He agreed to meet me at the library the next day.

Once the door was closed, I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths, wondering what the hell I am getting myself into.

WARDLOW'S POV:

I was working out in the fraternities gym when Daniel came to get me. I was halfway through my set, barely paying attention until he said something strange.

"Who did you say was here looking for me?"

A smirk came over his face as he repeated her name again, YN LN.

"You have to be shitting me?" All he did was shake his head and said she was there to discuss Kinesiology.

But that asshole couldn't keep the smirk off of his face. He knew how I felt about her. One time, when I had a bit too much to drink, I told him about how much I like her and have ever since I pulled on her pigtails all the way back in the first grade.

I still didn't believe him as the two of us walked to the front door and saw David and her talking.

My two Vice-presidents left YN and I alone, but knowing those assholes, they were around the corner.

As I listened to YN explain why she was there, it dawned on me that I could use this time together to show her I am just not some asshole.

I agreed to meet her in the library, and I closed the door. Now, I am mentally trying to prepare myself for the next day.

♥︎

The only word that was going through my head right now as I ran through towards the library was, 'fuck.'

It was 6:45 and I know YN is probably long gone from the library. People moved out of my way, not wanting to be run over by me.

I slowed down once the building came into view, and I came to a stop just before the doors to fix myself up, but Maria walked out, almost walking right into me.

"Oh hey Mike. Are you okay?"

I muttered yes and then went to walk by her, but she placed her hand on my arm to stop me. "She left about 20 minutes ago. Got sick of waiting for you."

I cursed under my breath. "Did you not bother to message her to say practice ran late?"

"I don't have her number."

"Come with me. I know where she is." Maria walked past me, and I quickly followed her, wondering why she was even helping me.

The two of us made small talk as we walked to where YN may be. I knew of Maria. We had a few classes throughout the years, and David is madly in love with her.

I saw that we were near Raney House, and even though I have spent many nights here, I had no idea YN even lived her.

I know Maria lived here as well, but I know she has a single room. "Does YN know we are coming?" She was already angry with me, and I didn't need another excuse for her to even more angry with me.

"She knows I am coming, but if I even mentioned you, well, you can imagine how that would have turned out." She said to me as we stepped onto the elevator.

I took note of the floor she pressed and the door number once we got to the floor. Maria knocked on the door, and we waited for YN to answer.

YN opened the door with a smile on her face, and then a scowl came across it the moment she saw that Maria wasn't alone.

"What is he doing here?" YN practically spat out as she glared at her friend.

"Football practice ran long for him, and he had no way of reaching you. I saw him running towards the library. YN. Maybe you two should exchange numbers just in case this happens again."

"I am not helping you today." She finally looked at me instead of Maria.

"YN, you two have a test coming up. Do not put this off just because you are mad at him. He needs to pass, or he can't play football."

"Fine. Shoes off Frat Boy."

I mouthed thank you to Maria as YN turned and walked into her dorm, leaving me to close the door.

"You owe me, Mike." Was all Maria whispered to me. I really did.

♥︎

I went back to here place every day to study. We tried the library, but people kept coming up and talking to me, and like the people pleaser I am, I couldn't help but talk to them, but this seemed to work out for the best.

The first test I took after YN started to help me, I barely just passed, but my grade was higher than the one I got previously, so I called that a win.

"Why don't we take a break?" YN could clearly tell I was getting frustrated with this new topic. The one I have been dreading, Pathophysiology.

"Thank God," I practically slammed my textbook shut.

"You want a drink?"

"Just water, please." YN got us both a glass of water, and she let me calm down.

"You know this stuff, Mike." YN said after a few minutes of silence.

"It is just all the technical terms and shit. I know I know this stuff. It just comes to writing the tests."

"Maybe we have to figure out how to get you to relax during the tests. You psych yourself out. I know you could have gotten a better grade on the last test."

"I don't even know why I even took this course."

"Now that is a lie. You have had your whole life planned out since we were kids."

YN was right. I always knew I wanted to play football, but I wanted to have a fallback just in case.

"What made you take this course?"

YN'S POV:

"Remember my Grandpa?"

"Yeah, one of the original Cincinnati Bengals."

"He got hurt during practice one day, I mean really hurt. They really didn't have the medicine they do now, and they thought he had a minor concussion."

That was the story that was put out to the media.

"So after a short time off and a bit of basic rehab, he went back out to play, but his brain injury got worse and worse. He died from chronic traumatic encephalopathy. That is what the autopsy said. I want to help football players with their injuries. That is why I got into this, so that way I can work in or open my own Kinesiology based Rehabilitation Centre."

"Oh." Was all Mike could say.

"Yeah, when he knew something wasn't right with him after he retired, he stayed home, not wanting his fans or even his family really to see him when the aggression was at its peak. He had other symptoms, too, like impulse control problems, memory loss, depression and anxiety, but the aggression is what really got to him as he wasn't that type of guy," I trailed off, hoping now we would can get back to studying.

"How about we call it a night and go and have some fun."

"Got a date or something, Mike?" I saw him roll his eyes at me.

"No, but there is a party at my place tonight. Come on, YN, it is Friday night, and we are studying. Let loose a little."

"Oh yeah, cause watching a bunch of Frat Boys and their groupies get drunk sounds like fun." I snorted.

"Why do you have to be such a kill joy? Fine, stay here, I was just trying to help." I watched as Mike grabbed his books and shoved them into his backpack.

I didn't say anything as he left my dorm. Why would I? It's not like he actually wants me there.

♥︎

Mike called and cancelled the studying session for the next day. I figured he would, knowing him he probably has some girl in his bed and / or is too hungover to try and study.

So I did what I usually do on Saturdays, which is clean, shop, and relax after a stressful week of school now dealing with a Frat Boy who is just trying to slide by in class.

But as I opened the door, I was stunned to see his two friends standing there, one ready to knock on the door.

"And how can I help you, gentlemen, and how did you know where I live?" My eyes narrowed when I saw Maria step out from behind David.

"You really gotta stop telling people where I live, Maria."

"I know, but they need your help."

"My help?" I looked between Daniel and David.

"It is Mike. He hasn't come out of his room since he got home last night. Not even for the party, and he isn't opening his door."

"And what makes you think I can help David?"

"You were the last one with him, and for some reason, he listens to you." Daniel cut in.

"Fine. I'll deal with him."

♥︎

I found myself deep in the heart of Alpha Gamma Sigma house. Looking at the men watching me as I knocked on their Presidents door.

"Go away, Daniel."

"It isn't Daniel."

I heard no noise, and then the door was open, and there he was, his hair a mess, no shirt and grey sweatpants on, and no socks.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Well," I pointed behind me, and Mike stuck his head out and looked up and down the hall, "your two friends got worried about you. My best friend brought them to me."

He hesitated for a moment and then stepped aside. I walked into his room as he closed the door behind me.

"What is the problem, Mike?" I asked him as he sat on his bed.

"Nothing."

"I don't think that is true. I was told that you didn't go to the party last night. That you just stayed in your room."

"I had stuff to think about."

"And that is?"

"It isn't your concern now, is it YN?"

"I was asked to come here, Mike. You and the rest of your Frat Boys are wasting my time." I could feel myself getting angry, and I saw the anger in his eyes as he finally looked at me.

"Is that all I am to you? Huh? Some fucking Frat Boy who only thinks with his dick?"

"Oh please Mike, the minute you aren't thinking about football, you are thinking about your next lay."

"It isn't true YN. Yeah, I have fun and get laid, so what? I am the star football player, and I am the president of my Frat House. It is gonna happen."

"You have coasted by in your life. Never getting into shit for the shit you have pulled, just because you are good at some game."

"How the hell are you helping me right now? You need to leave YN."

"I am happy too. Oh, find someone else to help you study."

I swung the door open, and it bounced off the wall. I heard Mike yell at me, but I ignored him as I stomped out of his room and past his housemates like a brat.

I walked past Daniel and then took a few steps back, so I was standing in front of him. I jabbed my finger into his chest as I spoke, "Leave me the fuck alone. I am through with helping him. Good luck at the next game if he doesn't pass the test."

♥︎

He didn't pass the test.

He didn't pass the makeup test that Professor Sopp nicely gave him.

From what I know, he just failed, a few more correct answers, and he would have passed the test.

"YN, you are the only one who can help him with this." Maria tried to say to me.

"People need to stop giving into him. He gets whatever he wants, well it is time he learns that not everything can go is way." I said to her as I walked away from her. People were glaring at me, knowing I was the reason why Mike couldn't play.

"He is going to lose his scholarship, YN." That made me stop. I looked at the ground, fighting an inner battle with myself.

"They wouldn't cut him off with him almost being done school." I turned around and looked at her.

"His scholarship is football. He doesn't play. He loses it."

Fuck.

WARDLOW'S POV:

David, Daniel, Dante, and Darius, two of the younger members, were trying to help me study, but nothing, and I mean nothing was helping.

They have no idea what any of this stuff is, and them mumbling under their breaths is not helping me.

I was so focused on trying to study whatever was on the page that I didn't even hear someone knock on my open door.

"Oh, thank God, YN." I looked up at David's voice.

"I see that you need some help."

"You came back." It wasn't a question, just a fact.

"Yeah, guys, may we be left alone?"

The four of them practically ran from the room, David and Daniel kissing her on her cheeks on the way out, slamming the door behind them.

"Before we start, I want to apologise for everything." I was too stunned to speak.

"I know you are smart, and you just don't think with your dick. I am sorry.

"I am more than just a Frat Boy, YN. You seem to forget that."

"I know. I have to let go of the past between us so that way you pass this class and don't lose your scholarship."

I watched as she held her hand out, "Hi, my name is YN."

"Mike."

We are now starting fresh.

♥︎

YN stayed with me and helped me study. I passed with the best grade I have gotten so far in the class, but we didn't stop there.

She helped me with the midterms, and I passed those with amazing grades. So much so that they thought I actually cheated.

YN made sure to inform our professors that she was helping me study.

I finally got her to come to one of our parties after coming back from the holidays and it is a big may be is she does.

It took a lot of convincing for her to come, and I was practically on my knees.

"Come on, YN. This is one of the last big parties before we really crack down on the end of year stuff. Please."

"Fine, but,"

I didn't even let her finish, I picked her up in my arms in a bone crushing hug. "Can't....breathe," I loosed my grip but didn't put her on the ground. Our faces were close together.

I waited for her to pull back, but she didn't. YN was staring at my lips, and I just decided to go for it. Just as our lips were about to touch, her phone went off. The two of us sprung apart, and she quickly grabbed her phone.

I keep wondering if we would have kissed or not. I wonder if she would have slapped me or if it would have gone further.

"You have been looking into the mirror for the past two minutes." I turned my head and saw the woman that has haunted my dreams ever since we were children.

"Just trying to decide what I should do with my hair." Was the first stupid thing that I blurted out as I sat on my bed.

"You don't have much ever since you cut it." She said as she walked closer to me.

"I still want to look good, YN."

"You always look good, Mike." I saw her eyes widen as well. I don't think she meant to say that.

The air in the room felt thick as she stood between close to me, as she tried to do something with me hair.

I tried to focus on anything but her breasts that were in my face. "There, perfect." She went to drop her hands, but I caught one and held onto it.

"Mike, what are you doing?"

"YN, I am...what I mean to say is," but we were interrupted by Will.

"Hey Mike, Dante got caught in the library with his girl."

"Fucking kids man," I muttered under my breath as I let go of YN's hand.

"Thanks, Will," I said to him as I also narrowed my eyes at him as well. I could see his eyes looking YN up and down.

"Hey YN, if you ever want to meet up."

"She is taken Will. Go and be with your girl." I quickly said as I stood up and in front of YN, trying to block her from him. All he did was chuckle and walk away.

Will and I aren't exactly friends. We play football and are fraternity brothers, but we don't go out of our way to hang out with one another.

"Taken? I am no one's property, Mike." I could hear the anger in her voice as I turned to look at her.

"I know that, but I know how some of these guys are. They would try to get with you."

"So?"

"Look, YN, I am just trying to look out for you."

"I don't need you too, Mike. I can take care of myself, I have been doing a fine," I cut her off by crashing my lips against hers. I expected her to pull back and slap me, but she wrapped her arms around me.

I placed my hands under her ass and lifted her as she wrapped her legs around my waist.

The next thing I knew, the two of us were in my bed, naked. YN on her knees, ass up in the air as I slammed into her. The two of us moaning as I fucked her. She turned her head so she was facing the mirror, and I almost came from the looked on her face. Her mouth opened, letting out little moans. Her coming all over my cock and I was just about to finish, when she opened her mouth to let out a scream.

But it was just my damn alarm that woke me up.

I woke up with a start, groaning at the feeling of my come soaked boxers.

This is going to be a very long day.

Tag List: If you would like to be added, please let me know. @lghockey @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch @crowleysqueenofhell @thenerdybaker523 @nicoleveno14 @1rsolideranna @legit9thlunaticwarrior @blaquekittycat @wwenhlimagines @melissahausen @tahiri-veyla @malakaiblacksgirl1989 @wardlow

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gothamslostboy · 2 years

Text

The Lost Boys (Marko & Dwayne)

Love Languages <3

DAVID&PAUL MICHAEL&STAR

Marko

Giving:

Gifts

Words of affirmation

Acts of service

Physical touch

Quality time

He wants you to know that he thinks about you when apart, but thinks it’s too cheesy to actually say

So gifts it is!

He’s like a cat: he just takes whatever items he got for you and leaves it on your bed he also hisses at ppl but that’s not the point

If it’s a poly relationship he leaves a little note, even though he’s the only one that doesn’t hand it to you

If he’s being honest, he just really likes stealing things & making you happy adds to the thrill

He makes a mental note if you say that certain patches in a store look cool bc he wants to make you a jacket

The thing he hated most about his human life was how everyone just saw him as a troublemaking hothead, and never wants any partner of his to feel the way he did

He’s very supportive of new hobbies and interest

“Yo, you made this babe? Am I/(are) we dating a genius or what Paul?”

He’s like Paul in that he calls you nicknames most of the time, but still calls you at least a version of your name at times

He’s very happy to do things for the ppl he loves bc it means they trust him enough to ask

He and David get along especially well bc of this

The only times he might say no is if it’s an errand to close to sunrise, if he’s focused on art, or if he’s pissed at you

But he will eventually do it if he can afterwards

“Don’t worry Angel, your amazing boyfriend will take care of it”

Like Paul, he doesn’t care about any reputation & wants ppl to know you’re together

But sometimes you gotta let the man be

He won’t go too far in public, but he will do enough to earn some eye rolls from older crowd members

If he sees them he makes a note to “deal with them later”

In the cave, as long as Laddies not there he doesn’t care who sees

He likes to sleep between your legs with his head on your stomach(if you’re on a bed)

If you’re sleeping while hanging he chooses a random person to snuggle up close

The day the frog brothers came was the only time he didn’t

“Aww geez can you guys go somewhere else? I’m trying to eat here” “fuck off Mikey, there’s more places to eat around here!”

Marko doesn’t like most peaceful activities

Sitting together doing separate things in silence? He can already feel himself falling asleep

The only exception is drawing, but he still wants to talk with you

“Wanna see David in a sombrero? How about Star as Wonder Woman?”

If it is quality time, he wants to do activities WITH you or add one of the other love Languages to the mix

Receiving:

Words of affirmation

Acts of service

Physical touch

Gifts

Quality time

Like I said before, Marko had a bad time in his human life, so when you give him compliments he is over the moon

Especially if it’s not just physical compliments, though they’re also appreciated

If you like his art he might cry with joy

Then bribe you not to tell anyone he did

If he’s upset at himself, all he wants is someone to notice he’s trying his best

I hc that he is trans, so masculine nicknames do the trick

“Hey handsome, how’s it going?” “I love you Angel” he proceeds to stick his tongue down your throat

He really appreciates ppl doing things for him bc he used to be on his own for the most part

It still amazes him anytime anyone does something for him w/o expecting something in return

“So you just, decided to get the food for everyone so I wouldn’t have to stop drawing?”

When Star pieced his ear for him is when he first wanted David to turn her

He loves when you hug him for no reason

Hell he loves when anybody from the cave wants to hug him

Even Michael

It sends chills down his spine if you kiss below his ear

Every. Single. Time.

If you show him physical attention in public like an arm around him or a kiss, he can’t help but smile

He does need physical space at times and as long as you respect it when he tells you he won’t be annoyed

He likes patches and art supplies you give him

Maybe some jewelry

But overall just feels bad when you get him big/expensive things even though he does it all the time

“I know I stole you 10 things yesterday but this is a really nice shirt!”

He feels a little better if it’s stolen, but is still guilty that you risk getting in trouble for him

It makes him giddy at the same time

As long as it’s a small thing you know he likes, he gets excited and will immediately start thinking of how to incorporate it into his life

“Do you think Star would give be a second piercing so I could wear this at the same time?”

Again he needs activities you can do together and talk about

He really appreciates when you set up activities for him & you to do with some or all the other vampire ppl to do

Dwayne

Giving:

Quality time

Acts of service

Gifts

Physical touch

Words of affirmation

He’s a lot quieter than the other boys and I think that plays into how he shows love

Sitting together reading, listening to music, or just doing your own things is enough for him

He’d take his partners on bike rides separately, if it’s one of the boys he asks if they’d ride on the back of his bike

He wants you to know that you make him comfortable enough to let his guard down

If you don’t know how, he wants to teach you to drive a motorcycle

He’s like Marko: he sees you asking for things as trust

He likes doing things that you struggle with rather than little things

Have a hard time doing menial task? He made your bed and folded/ put away your laundry while you were out

Wants to make sure you’re alright and ur needs are met

Ok tbh, I struggled with the gift placement

I know it’s not low on the list, but it’s not high

He doesn’t so much get you things, but he will make you trinkets or help Marko customize clothes for you

He’s fine with PDA, he just doesn’t want to make you uncomfortable

He does it more and more once you get to know each other

He likes to cuddle as long as you aren’t on top of him

He will lay on you though

Mostly just holds & kisses your hand if Laddie is nearby

Like I said, he’s a quiet guy

He does compliment and say your attractive, it’s just not that often

When someone he cares for is upset or stressed, he lets them know he’s proud of them

“It’s ok Marko, that guy was a jackass but I’m proud of you for not fighting him here, I’ll help you catch him for dinner”

Receiving:

Quality time

Gifts

Physical touch

Words of affirmation

Acts of service

He likes when you just plop down next to him on the couch and do your own thing

You chose him to be near and he loves that

If you surprise him with a date night just the two of you he’s thrilled

Even more happy when you do activities with him and Laddie (taking them to get comics, drawing, teaching laddie to skateboard)

It makes Dwayne feel special when you get him things, even if it’s stupid

“Look at this little stuffed animal I got for you. I know it’s not your thing, but come on it’s a bat on a skateboard!” Literally looks at your with heart eyes

Takes VERY good care of the things ppl give him

Paul ripped a page of a book David gave him once and the others had to hold him back for a while

He may be nervous about touching you, but LOVES when you touch him

Literally anything: jokingly punching his shoulder still makes him smile

Plz massage this boys head, he doesn’t even realize that he lets out a moan or a whimper sometimes

Likes when ppl hold his cheek and do the thumb swiping thing

He likes to arm wrestle ppl too, idk why

He likes being told he’s doing good bc he gets really in his head about messing up

He was painting something for Star and messed up the colors, she said it was still wonderful and can’t believe how much talent he had

She was lifted into a hug so fast and NOBODY expected it

Comments on his appearance such as calling him handsome makes him flustered

Normally just smiles, shakes his head a little, and says thanks

Overall prefers he just does things for you

You don’t need to do things for him, but he likes it

The first thing that made him see Star as a potential sister was her giving him his piercing bc he always wanted one but didn’t trust the boys or himself to do it

If he’s nervous about messing up and you help that’s when he’ll probably compliment you

#tlb #tlb 1987 #the lost boys #the lost boys 1987 #the lost boys marko #the lost boys dwayne #tlb dwayne #tlb marko #Dwayne tlb hc #Marko tlb hc #glb tlb

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two-red-lungs · 2 years

Text

Collection of Lost Boys thoughts I have:

Wait is Star just David’s beard (slang for ‘dating someone’ as a coverup for sexual orientation). Is that. Is that what’s going on

So David ‘n Michael really just are Hannibal and Will with the whole “how far are you willing to go/trying to kill one another” dynamic huh. Seems fruity to me IDK

New challenge: Marko tries to keep his tongue inside his mouth for more than 15 minutes. He WILL not make it. Put that thing back where it came from or so help me

Does anyone in this FUCKING GANG have more than a singular ear piercing??? Guys WHAT are you doing. Is to match? Is it a matching thing???

If this movie was made in 2022 the big epic David and Michael final fight would have ended with them really aggressively love/hate kissing

The idea that since they don’t wear helmets sometimes one of the boys just fucking BRAINS themselves is so funny to me. (David voice) “Pack it in, boys, we’re calling it an early night. Marko’s gonna need a day to heal after he split his fuckin’ head open on that rock”

Star should date Robin from Stranger Things because A. Robin would be SO head over heels for her and B. Star doesn’t get any attention from the boys and I just know she and Robin would become an inseparable unit

When David blew smoke in Michael’s face on the boardwalk he ABSOLUTELY wanted to kiss the dude. Officer that’s not an undead vampire that’s a repressed gay man who has internalized his feelings so much they come out as aggression

PAUL HAS A COMMENT ABT EVERYTHING??? During the chinese food scene he just HAD to interject like, every five seconds. He’s so chatty. He’s the running commentary. I feel like he could sweep u away in a one-sided conversation honestly

“Michael don’t :((((( it’s blood :((((((” Yes go queen give us nothing, you literally didn’t try to stop him even a little bit

David drinking from the Blood Bottle was just

Do we all agree Dwayne is the silent honeypot and Paul is the talker (not the sweet-talker, more just Talks So Much At You that suddenly you’re in a different location with no idea how you got there)

DWAYNE PLAYING DEAD ON THE FLOOR??? His mental voice just saying “oh yeah, this is gonna surprise em, gonna get em so good with THIS one, the ol I’m dead trick”

They all drive in formation right. Do they take turns on who has to be in the far back because they get sprayed to shit w sand and dirt

IMAGINE THEM ALL STANDING AROUND WAITING FOR THEIR BIKES TO FILL UP AT THE GAS STATION SDUBDFGDFG 🧍🧍🧍🧍

This is terrible but I'm so right okay??? If the boys pick a target who won’t respond to flirting they use Laddie. Walk him over, hand in hand, with him fake-crying like “hey, scuse me, my brother can’t find our pops and he’s real upset about it, think you can help us out?”

Does the blood have a drug effect? BC Michael is clearly zonked as soon as he drinks it, like the dude is toasted

The bonfire scene was.... kinda hot. Idk don’t look at me

What is the Boys’s bedtime ritual like??? They all gotta get up there. They all fall asleep at the same time. Do they talk??? Gossip? Does David slap the backs of their heads and say “shaddup, ‘m tryin to sleep”???

A really epic way to kill a TLB-style vampire would be to trap them in a sunbed and turn it on. Instant smoke/fog machine. Lots of screaming.

None of the boys can sneak up on people, they’re all so fucking jingly

#the lost boys 1987 #the lost boys #david the lost boys #TLB #the lost boys marko #the lost boys paul #the lost boys dwayne

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milllies · 1 year

Text

Good day or night everyone!

I really don't understand how people can think that Midleven can be canon when they lose on all fronts.

1. Love actors

Yes, actors do not always need to be listened to, because they are told that they must answer certain questions and it is very important for Duffers that unnecessary information does not leak into the network, but by their reaction you can see how they feel about certain pairings. I think you've all seen those interviews, but the conversation where they were talking about how the ending of Stranger Things was similar to the ending of Shitts Creek. Let me remind you that it ended with the wedding of a same-sex couple. I advise you to look at your leisure) The faces of David and Finn when they said that Will wants to spend his life with Mike in the basement playing D&D. Also, the serious attitude of other actors towards the byler, they don’t joke, they don’t condemn, they don’t laugh, but they say that their love is beautiful and all that. By the way, it’s very strange that they don’t talk about them a lot, that is, it would be it is logical to mention the other side of the triangle and say that Will's feelings are unrequited, but Mike will still be on his side and all that, instead we get Finn's words that Mike will accept this and understand (though he will understand himself too)).

2. Marketing

Things have recently been released with a picture logo on them, would they release a collection with a picture that is not needed and will not matter in the Mike and Will arc, and also if the feelings are unrequited and our boy is rejected. Seriously? This is very strange, given the type of thinking of the Duffers and their love of logic in everything.

3. The goals of the characters

For El, the goal of her entire journey was to find family and friends, she began dating someone before she knew what relationships and romantic love were. Her ideas about love are made up of soap operas that she watched on TV and thought that this is how love should look, and then she started projecting it onto Mike and nothing good came of it.

For Mike, acceptance was the goal. That is, starting from the end of season 2, Michael realized that he was in love with Will (his view of the ball and the state Dustin was also in because of Lucas and Max). Due to the homophobia that was developed in the 80s, Michael was unable to accept his feelings in season 3, but he had to do it at the very end, when El kissed him and it was clear that he did not feel anything and was in confusion.

Will's goal was to forgive himself. He was able to get used to and accept what he tried to reject all the time, but his arch in is not yet closed and will not be until Mike's confession.

4. Tips of the creators.

There are a lot of them, the entire twitter dedicated to the series consists of them, but I want to show my favorite tweet:

5. Lies and everything else

We all know about the lies in Michael's monologue, because El did not find any memories on any of his words, except for a T-shirt, and it was disgusting and painful for her to hear Mike's "confession", because it was Will who suggested this to him. She heard it. She's not stupid. You know, it hurts so much when you try to knock out a declaration of love for 3 years, and another person succeeds at the snap of his fingers. In an instant, he gets what was not available to you.

Will and Michael used the name El to talk about each other because, Mike, everyone knows she's special, you're not the first to discover this, but the first to see things in Will that you didn't see in anyone else. He's special to you, right? Some of his words were really about El, but such a lie is immediately visible, because it refutes what was in the series)

And this is the minimum that I can call, midlevel is not created to be canon, because they do not have the foundation that they gave to Will and Mike, they are the prototype of typical lovers who think that their feelings are not mutual.

Most likely it turned out to be confusion, but these are just my thoughts on this matter

#byler #will byers #el hopper #mike wheeler

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nightgoodomens · 3 months

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I am answering a lot of asks RE: GT and AL below so please don’t click *keep reading* if you don’t want to read them.

It’s sad because you know how difficult it is to accomplish anything as an actor so to get everything just because you know the right guy is simply unfair on people who work hard and have talent but don’t have the privilege. Even in the most basic job it fucks you off when promotion goes to boss’ family member or bestie even though they don’t know anything while competent people get overlooked. This is what happens every time AL and GT get jobs that could have went to someone better.

However I also think that it says a lot that with such backup they’re still not becoming famous on their own - sometimes someone just needs a little help and then they do all the work themselves but the fact that the only roles they get is through nepotism says everything really.

I was pretty sure that they both would be with MS on red carpet so to see them within the audience not even acknowledged said to me that their roles have to be very insignificant. We will see I guess.

I honestly wouldn’t worry about them. Think of the fact that there’s still years to go and so many things can happen within that time. The nepotism would frustrate me a lot too but what would surprise me more is if they both jumped at the opportunity to act in GO3 knowing it’s pure nepotism. Well, maybe I wouldn’t be surprised, I guess.

I don’t have trust in NG that he won’t try to insert them for their fans sake but I hope everyone around him will remind him that this is suppose to be a quality show. Not a spot a family member show.

No point stressing when there’s nothing we can do about it to be fair…

I honestly doubt they’re actually friends. I mean… we all have friends. We know what kind of selfies we post, how we talk about each other, how it looks. Their whole thing only began when the photoshoot happened and suddenly they were wives and totally loved each other. Come on 😂

GT didn’t last long before going a little sarcastic on a fan saying they’re linked (😂) which makes me think it’s far from the warmth they’re trying to portray. Also I think she doesn’t like AL copying her. Which she does quite a lot actually. Pretending they’re wives is a huge reach when I doubt they are even more than acquaintances.

They went together to prepare for BAFTAs so it’s not exactly personal either tbf. Whether someone thinks they’re promoting everything about DT/MS out of love or to get attention themselves - either way they’re getting attention which AL needs desperately at the moment.

I wonder if she will be working overtime at the BAFTAs.

There are two ways to get a tick on insta, she either went through the whole verification process or paid them. I’m hardly surprised to be fair, she’s been begging to *be famous* for years now. Nothing has worked, so now they paid for the photoshoot and involved GT in her promo, she increased her visibility a lot, linked herself to Tennant’s, damn she was even allowed to post about David, but nobody is calling so she got a check to *be verified* now too which she hopes will help too. Honestly, as much as I doubt in her modeling career, let her try, I don’t know how many more miserable Michael selfies I can take!

Priorities eh 😂 Girl wants her fame, maybe she wants to escape too so she desperately keeps on reposting, using famous surnames, and now even grabbed her tick on insta to appear more established and trust worthy hoping for that job offer. It all started with her photoshoot and her PR was very obvious. I wish her luck but I think she’s looking in wrong departments.

There is a huge difference between her and MS and DT/GT in many ways - it is quite surprising how people who have two kids together can feel like such strangers five years later.

Well we don’t know who spent Valentines with who because both ladies posted their men without their women…

Maybe she is slowly checking out too?

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that AL is fighting very hard for a career suddenly and her PR is very obvious, and MS is making a point to show he is not happy when they’re together, and MS/DT rumours are increasing. All done by the four people in question.

Nothing that’s been happening since before end of 2023 happened for no reason.

Well there was a card, but I don’t know whether it was from DT to GT, from GT to DT, or from MS to DT 😂😂😂😂😂😂

Phewww! That’s all folks.

#NightGoodOmens talks Michael and David #well technically their partners #but I can’t be bothered to create another blockable tag #so I just hid it under read more

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misslavenderlady · 1 year

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The Boys Who Wouldn’t Grow Up - Chapter 19

Summary: After witnessing the horrors his former friends have committed, David is desperate to be human again and end this nightmare. Thankfully, he has a friend who wants to fix things just as badly as he does.

WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER: There are major plot reveals in this, so please read my previous chapters if you haven't or need a refresher. This has themes of manipulation, use of powers on someone against their will, torture, mental/emotional abuse, talk of murder/killing

Credit to news.com.au and conventionallstars.com for pics

Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Getting a proper night's sleep was not working out well for Marko. Not only was he worried about what was going on with his brother and where he was right now, but he couldn't stop thinking about the interaction he had with Lucy before she left for the night. Something about that woman had rubbed him the wrong way and the scary changes David was experiencing made him wonder if this was an entirely new problem he had to be cautious about. If Lucy truly was a problem in the making, then dealing with her dating his father would have to be dealt with later. A loud thump came from his bedroom window, rattling the glass and startling him into jumping out of his bed. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness he could finally see what had caused such a noise. David was staring back at him from the outside, eyes wide and frantic and forehead dripping with sweat. It was an absolute miracle that Marko didn’t scream from the shock of such a sight. Not wasting a second he threw the covers off his body and sprinted over to the window to let his brother inside. He couldn’t risk having him fly off into the sky without any control of his powers again. “Finally! I’ve been totally freaking out all night. I was hoping you’d get home ASAP,” Marko scolded his older brother while lifting the window open. “Holy shit, you look like you’ve seen a ghost” David shook his head as he climbed into the bedroom, firmly planting his feet on the ground so he wouldn’t have to do any more flying.

“No, I saw a vampire,” he clarified, voice shaking. “Four of them, actually”

Now it was Marko’s turn to look freaked out. He ushered David further into his room, pulling up the chair from his desk so he could sit down. David looked more than grateful for the seat, exhaustion settling in from all of the stress he’d just gone through. He wanted to collapse to the ground and just shut his eyes. Never wake up again. But he couldn’t. Even if he wanted to every time he shut his eyes he saw those images of death and brutality in his head. All those young faces twisting in looks of utter terror as they were slaughtered left and right. When he didn’t see that, David was taunted by the sinister smiles of Michael and his brothers. Their massive fangs stained with innocent blood. David didn’t even have to say anything for Marko to understand the gravity of the situation. He’d never seen his brother so broken and scared in his life. It was best to be careful. Patient. Just stay by his side and help to fix this mess. “David, listen to me,” Marko spoke softly, kneeling down by his brother. “My friends and I can help you. I know you’re scared, but they know what they’re doing. Just tell me who these vampires were and we can take them down. Maybe if we kill the right one you’ll go back to normal and we can put this mess behind us!” The idea of his little brother going after those bloodsuckers didn’t make David feel any better. Marko was still human and vulnerable. If Michael had been so ruthless with those kids, he’d be even worse with someone David was close to. Before he could even get a word out there was a third voice. One calling to them from outside.

“David! David, are you there?!”

The two boys shared a glance at one another. Marko looked confused but David made it very clear he knew exactly who that voice belonged to. He pushed himself out of the chair and ran over to the window, sticking his head out to see the person calling him from below. Maria. Dark curls moved in the wind and a shawl tightly wrapped around her frame. “Oh thank God! David, please can I come in? I have to talk and I don’t have much time” David opened his mouth to speak, but a hand quickly slapped in front of it. Marko wasn’t about to let a monster in their house if she was one of the vampires that his brother had interacted with. “No goddamn way! You’re not hurting my family!” he snapped at her before dragging his brother back into the room. He didn’t get far as David elbowed him in the ribs so he’d let go. “She’s not like them, Marko! Don’t talk to her that way!” David scolded him. Although he was about to turn around and call out to her again, he got quite the surprise when he saw her in Marko’s room, just standing a few feet away from them. A look of pure guilt was spread across her face, no doubt from entering their home without permission. Although David looked at her with affection, Marko quite had the opposite expression. He moved in adrenaline-fueled haste, throwing open the drawer of his desk and getting out the gift that his grandmother had been smart to give him the other knife. Pushing David out of the way, he held up the naval dirk, positioning himself in a fight stance just as Dwayne and Paul had shown him before. “Get away from my brother you she-witch!” he scowled at her. Maria’s eyes widened and her hands lifted in a surrender-like gesture. “Goddamnit, Marko, calm down!” David snapped. A hand grabbed at the back of Marko’s t-shirt, tugging backward to send the curly-haired boy falling back onto the bed. He still held the knife in his hand but was looking far less confident and brave now. Seeing David act in her defense put Maria in a far more calm state. She lowered her hands and stayed where she was, not wanting to startle Marko anymore. David kept his eyes on her as he reached out to her, pulling her in close so she knew he still trusted her. Even though things had gone so wrong, he still had his faith in her.

“I know what you are, Maria. What I am,” he said. “I saw it for myself. Michael and the others…they….fuck th-they killed a bunch of kids. Barely out of high school…I…” Maria put a hand on his cheek, letting him soften and relax into her touch. Everything was getting so intense and he had never felt more scared of the future in his entire life. The look in her eyes told him she understood. “It’s my fault, David,” she whispered. “That night….at the concert…I was supposed to kill you and complete my transformation” Tears were welling up, glistening over her dark brown eyes. David could see the faded remains of his reflection in them. It was a painful reminder of what was happening to him. “I couldn’t do it. I was so hungry, yet I knew in my heart I couldn’t kill you. Anyone, really. You were so kind and wonderful, I knew from the moment we danced together I couldn’t let Michael make me into a monster. You gave me hope, David. That meant the world to me” “Yeah, but you’re still one of them!!” Marko snapped, sitting up on his bed. He shut his mouth again when David looked over his shoulder for a moment to glare at him. “Later on Michael said the plans changed. He wanted you to join the Lost Boys. That’s why he invited you to hang out on the boardwalk. I know he seemed kind and friendly, but he just wanted to make himself look better…”

That truly confused David. He had assumed the meetup with the boys was a pure coincidence. He had felt so lucky to see Maria again and when the others met up he assumed it was to see her. That special night was just a way to manipulate him? “You’re kidding me…” “I….D-David…it’s not just that…”

Tears were slipping past her lashes now, falling down her cheeks as the guilt got stronger. It was absolutely breaking David’s heart and lowering Marko’s confidence that she was a monster like the others. Neither one of them had seen someone so vulnerable in their lives. “Michael…he…he’s starving me…” she explained. “He won’t let me eat any human food. That’s why I had an empty plate at dinner the other night. He’s trying to push me to make my first kill” That was why Maria felt so frail when he held her in his arms! Why she was so somber during their dinner. What kind of sadistic fuck starved someone so proudly? “I have to sneak drinks from the bottle he gave you during the daytime when he’s asleep. It’s the only thing keeping me alive. Keeping me half-human like you”

“The bottle…” he repeated. “So it wasn’t wine I drank. It was-” “Blood,” Maria finished, confirming his worst fears. “Michael’s blood”

If David wasn’t already disgusted by Michael’s actions, he certainly was now. It was all making sense to him. He was so sick and tired and turning more and more into a monster with these powers. Seeing the woman he cared about suffer at his hand made it even worse. “What happens if you try to leave or get actual food?” David asked her. Both of his hands were on each side of her face, gently moving the tears away. He was scared he’d break her with just the wrong touch. Maria’s frown worsened as she gave her answer. “He tortures me,” she whimpered. Now even Marko was concerned about her. The blade slipped out of his hand and he stood up once again to stand by his brother. Right at that moment, David looked like he was preparing to strangle Michael with his bare hands. “It’s one of h-his powers…he’ll g-get inside your h-head..and…and he’ll say things…m-make you do things…he’ll put your l-life at risk just so you’ll give in…” Her crying was morphing into sobbing now. Maria moved in closer to David, clutching onto him as tightly as possible as huge drops of tears stained the front of his shirt. It was so clear to him that she had been holding back all of these feelings for far too long now. He was truly worried about her, but her words made him think about something he had experienced too. “Maria..” he spoke softly. “When Michael does that to you, does it feel like he’s speaking in your brain? Like you can feel him pulling you in to listen and do something?” “Yes, that’s exactly what it feels like”

It felt like a bomb had been dropped on David. A devastating explosion that scattered in his mind as he thought back to every time he felt that pull from the sound of Michael's voice alone.

The alleyway. The backyard. The drop over the ocean. The drink. The train.

Michael hadn’t saved him that night. He was the one who pulled him onto the tracks in the first place. Putting him in danger and then swooping in at the last second to play the hero. Michael manipulated every single experience David had since the moment he arrived in Santa Carla. Making him do things he’d never do. Open up about his pain and struggles only to use them to his advantage. Trying to take him away from his own family. And the worst of all, murdering innocent kids no older than David himself. All this time he thought he owed Michael as a friend for saving him at his worst moment. Now he truly saw him for what he was. Evil. He didn’t have to express his realizations for Maria to understand what pain he was feeling. She simply held him tighter, not daring to let go. Marko added to the comfort, placing a hand on David’s back to show his support. “That night at dinner I tried to use my own powers,” she explained. “I thought if I scared you away with something horrifying you’d run off and stay away from Michael. But I’m only half a vampire and my hunger is making me weak. I couldn’t keep the illusion for more than a few seconds” So that’s why he saw all that blood and gore when they all ate together! It wasn’t him going crazy, she had been trying to save him. To see her feel such failure for her attempt only hurt his heart more. “Maria…fuck, I’m so sorry…” was all David managed to say. “Me too,” Marko added. He had a look of guilt now, regretting the threats he made earlier. “I shouldn’t have acted like that. I just wanted to help save my brother” She nodded, a soft, understanding smile on her face. Though her expression was sweet, her eyes still showed a great sense of sadness. “I do too. Becoming what I am was a big mistake. I want to go back to being human and live my life again. The only problem is that there’s one way we can do that being what we are…” The brothers gave each other a look. Even if they didn’t have to say the obvious answer, it was David who spoke it out loud.

“We have to kill Michael, don’t we?”

“Yes,” Maria answered. “But I don’t know if I can even ask that of you. Michael is far from innocent, but taking another life is not an easy thing to do. Even with my hunger growing stronger the idea scares me…” David didn’t have the right words for such a thing. He swore he wouldn’t become like the monster Michael truly was, but there really wasn’t a choice here. They didn’t just have to become human again, they had to save all the other innocent lives of Santa Carla before they became the next meal for the vampire family. “But maybe it’s for the best that I face my fears and take him on myself. I can’t let Michael manipulate me any longer, and I certainly can’t let him hurt you,” Maria sighed. She slipped out of David’s embrace and put a hand onto the ledge of the window. “David, whatever happens, please know that I care about you. I truly can’t thank you enough for being there for me” “Maria,” David started. He didn’t get to finish his sentence. She silenced him with a soft kiss, squeezing his hand in comfort as she did so. He remembered how icy her touch was the night they met. Even though he was just as cold now, he longed to make her warm again. Human again. It wasn’t until the whipping of the winds from outside the window hit his skin that he realized she was gone. Out into the night sky once again. David’s heart hammered in his chest, fearing the worst for her. “David, listen to me,” Marko said, interrupting his thoughts. “She’s not going to have to do this alone. Tomorrow when the sun’s up I’m gonna get Dwayne and Paul. We’re gonna be the ones to take down this bastard” “Are you insane?! I saw these guys tear bodies apart like they were tissue paper! I’m not letting you go out there and get yourself killed” “And I’m not letting you fight this battle on your own!” the younger boy insisted. He grabbed hold of David’s shoulders, holding him in place. “You’re not alone in this, David. You never were alone. Let me help you with this, please. Just get your sleep when the morning comes. My friends and I are going to take care of this vampire problem and save you and Maria” As much as David hated to admit it, he really couldn’t do this by himself. He truly was terrified of what Michael was and what he himself would become if he gave into the thirst growing within. If Marko truly had a way to help take Michael down, then David would have to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

“I’m gonna save you. I promise” For the first time all night, David was able to smile again. A small, tired smile, but a smile nonetheless. How could he possibly doubt his own family?

#the lost boys #tlb #swap fic #swap au #david the lost boys #marko the lost boys #maria the lost boys #my fic #ao3 fic

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musclesaber · 5 months

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Merry ChristMASS Chapter 2: Santa's Workshop

[Story Gallery] [First Part] [Previous Part] [Next Part] [Latest Part]

After some introductions, the group is introduced to their first test. Building a toy train. How hard could that be?

Back in the room, the four are getting settled in. Eating cookies and talking about each other’s lives. Their hobbies, their families, what they do to be so charitable. Their conversations were interrupted as their hosts walked back into the room.

“Okay. If you all will follow us, we’ll get you to the workshop for one of our first tasks,” said David as he motioned them to follow him. They left the building that they were currently in and through the snow.

“So we’re really in the North Pole sir?” asked Bruno.

“Who’s this sir? I told you to call me David. Saint David if you want to get technical, but David is fine. And yes, you are. I transported you all from your respective homes through magic,” said David.

“Is that how you deliver presents every Christmas Eve?” asked Peter.

“In a way. Remember when I mentioned Father Time? Every Christmas Eve, he has agreed to stop time for us in order for all of the presents to be delivered. Old Saint Nick did use the reindeer from time to time, but ever since we made our deal with Father Time and I learned a little teleportation magic, it’s been easier this way.”

“Couldn’t you just teleport all of the presents at once?” asked Vincent.

“We tried that once. It was a disaster. Wrong presents were scattered across the globe,” said David

“Yeah, that was a bad year. Everyone was generally mean that following year and it plunged the world into World War 1. And then there was Nick. He nearly blew up,” added Joseph.

“Blew up? Santa Claus nearly blew up?” asked Rafael with concern.

“He was fine. Nothing I couldn’t handle. But ever since then, we’ve just tasked Santa with being teleported to each home in order to ensure that each gift gets delivered properly,” said David. They finally made their way to a set of two large wooden doors.

“Gentlemen, welcome to Santa’s Workshop.” David opened the doors, and they were met with a bright light as they entered the room. The men rushed to a railing in front of them and saw blinking lights, lifts, and conveyor belts moving toys all over the large room. Men in tight uniforms tinkering with toys below them.

“Where are the elves?” asked Vincent.

“Oh we got new elves a few decades ago. Far different from what you’ve seen in the media. As Christmas gained more popularity, the demand for bigger, better, and generally more presents became too much for the poor elves. We created a new type of elf in order to take their place. These new elves have the original strand of elf DNA with some dwarf thrown in for strength along with some human DNA for some height to them.” The men looked at the many muscular men that were clad in tight pants and tank tops. “And they’re pretty easy on the eyes.”

“Getting back on track, this is where all of the toys are created,” said Joseph. “All of the elves are assigned a specific toy they need to make. They have supervisors that know everything about a group of toys and then each level of the chain of command is broader until you reach Santa and I. We each should be knowledgeable on all toys or any gift that someone might ask for from a teddy bear, to a PS5, to a dildo.”

“I should get one of those for my husband,” said Peter.

“Oh you have a husband Peter?” asked David.

“Yeah. Michael and I have been together for 3 years now.”

“Oh, how sweet. Want another cookie?” David snapped his fingers and a bigger cookie appeared.

“Sure. These are delicious.” Peter grabbed the cookie and started eating.

“Not a problem. Now to test you all a little bit.” David snapped his fingers and four doors appeared in front of them. “You will need to build a toy. Nothing too extravagant. Just a basic child’s toy,” said David.

“Excuse me sir. I have no knowledge on how to build toys,” said Rafael.

“This is a very basic toy that even some monkeys have been able to build. Joseph, take it away,” said David

“Sure. You all will be creating a toy train. You will have 10 minutes to complete this and all of the tools you need are right in your room,” said Joseph.

“Enter your rooms and we will begin,” said David. The men walked into their respective rooms. Each room was about 10x10 feet with an 8-foot-tall ceiling. In it, there was a table with various tools sitting on it. Each man took their seat behind the table and a mirror appeared where the door just was.

“3, 2, 1, Go!” flashed the mirror. The men started to work on the trains. Bruno breezed through this task as performing surgery multiple times on people has prepared him to work with his hands on this task. Vincent also picked up on the train and the mechanics of it all. Rafael took his time on figuring out how each piece fit together but was making good progress.

Peter however was having an increasingly more difficult time with putting the toy together. Hearing soft sounds from below him as he continued to put everything together. So focused in on the task in front of him, he did not notice his ball gut growing below him. He was only brought back to reality when his pajamas he had been wearing started to ride up on him. He looked down and clutched his gurgling gut as the sounds got louder and louder. He felt it pulse outward with each release. His shirt running up his torso as his belly fought for more space.

“Excuse me David, I think I have a problem he-“*GLOOOOOOOOORRPPPP* Peter clutched his belly as it ran into the table with that burst. The only response that was given to Peter was a blinking number on the mirror saying, “7 minutes”. Seemingly unaware of Peter’s grievance. Peter looked back down at his train and tried to continue as his gut only grew bigger.

“What did you do to him?” asked Joseph, seeing the display going on in Peter’s room through the one-sided mirror they put on the wall.

“Oh nothing. Just wanted a little show before he leaves. I also realized I should have put another stipulation in the magical search. Hot, gay, selfless, and SINGLE. I’m no homewrecker. Once he loses this challenge, he’ll go back to his husband and deflate by morning with no memory of what happened,” said David

“Okay, but why’d you have to do this to him?” asked Joseph as he motioned to the ever-expanding gut on Peter that has swelled to the size of a beach ball.

“Oh that’s for him and his husband. I saw that the two of them are into the inflation fetish so it’s a little “I’m sorry for almost stealing your husband” gift,” said David. Snapping his fingers again, a new phrase appeared in front of the contestants, “5 Minutes”.

Peter saw the mirror’s warning and was getting worried. His belly had only been growing since the first warning. Letting out more gurgles as his gut started to push the table away from him. He could feel his fingers begin to chub up as he tried to work. Becoming too sausage like to work with the tiny parts. His shirt and pants began to rip as he gained more and more weight.

“What is happening to me?” *BBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTT* came his stomach as it surged forward knocking over the table. “I know I had a few of those cookies,” *GLOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRPPPPPPP* His stomach hit the floor with that one. “But Rafael had way more!” *SWEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL* His stomach reaching the other end of the room and forcing Peter to fall out of his chair.

David snapped his fingers to reveal a new message that read “2 Minutes”. Peter no longer cared about the competition. He was consumed by his growth. His body had reached immense proportions. His clothes had become just pieces of fabric thanks to his ever-growing form. Now standing up, Peter’s stomach rested flat on the floor and was getting closer and closer to the ceiling.

“Fuck it!” *SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLL* “If I’m gonna be big,” *BBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTTTT* “I’m gonna be fucking big!” *GLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRPPPP* Peter had fully embraced his belly as he filled the small room. His gut pressing into the ceiling and beginning to press into the walls. With his back presses up against the wall behind him, he could feel the pressure of each wall pushing against his belly.

“It’s getting a little cramped in here!” *SWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLL* “Please stop!” *BBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT* “I’m gonna burst!” *GLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP* He braced himself when the pressure became too immense when suddenly he heard a bell.

“Times up!” David snapped his fingers and doors appeared again on the rooms. The other three men walked out of their room with their finished products. David and Joseph walked by each contestant judging their work. “Excellent job Bruno, love your attention to detail,” said David.

“Good work Vincent. A solid train,” said Joseph.

“Rafael, your train leaves a bit to be desired. But with some practice, I’m sure you’ll be a master in no time,” said David.

“Hey, where’s Peter?” asked Bruno. The five men turned to look at the unopened door. David walked up to the door and turned the knob. The door immediately swung open to reveal a wall of flesh pouring out of the doorway.

“Peter, how are you doing in there?” asked David. Peter felt a bit of the pressure be relieved from his stomach when the door opened, and some of him got out.

“Uh well, I’ve been better,” came a muffled voice from behind the fat.

“Do you think you can get out of there?” asked David.

“I don’t think so. It’s a pretty tight fit in here,” again came the voice from the doorway.

“Alright then. I’m gonna get you unstuck then. You all should probably stand back,” said David as the four men took some steps back. David snapped his fingers and there was a loud *GGGGGGGGGGGGGGLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP*. The wall tore down like it was paper by the belly that charged toward the men like a locomotive. The gut even broke down the walls of the other rooms as it fought for more space.

“Couldn’t you have just broken the wall down yourself?” asked Joseph.

“Of course I could’ve, but this way was more fun. James! Francis! Would you come get Peter out?” Two 6’6, well-muscled elves appeared on each side of Peter. They grabbed at the fat and pulled. With loud pop, Peter flopped out of the room.

“Wait, that’s Peter? All of that is Peter?” said a perplexed Rafael. The once slim man had morphed into a large orb of lard that was well over 15 feet tall. The two men rolled the ball of a man over so that the others could see the rest of his body.

“I’m sorry to say, but Peter, for not completing your train, you have been eliminated from the competition. Any parting words?” asked David

“Not at all! This is incredible! It’s an honor just to be nominated!” yelled out Peter.

“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself. Now Francis and James will escort you out.” The two men got on one side of Peter and started to roll the overinflated man out. The other contestants started with a mixture of shock and lust as Peter left them.

“Now gentlemen, shall we continue on with our tour?”

#gay #growth #gaining #giant #blob #blobification #hyper

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ingravinoveritas · 9 months

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Something I’ve noticed that interests me is how David & Georgia & Michael refer to Michael as “David’s other wife.” They use ‘partners’ occassionally, but most of the time it’s “other wife,” which reads as feminine and a possessive

Anna (is that her name? She’s so nonessential I forget) is never mentioned & it’s always in the context of a female David “owns,” yet secondary, underneath. It could be interpreted as something silly & innocent but I just think the positoning and delineation is very specific and interesting in the dominance + stability in whatever dynamic they have

Hi there! Oh, yes, this is something I have also noticed and talked about previously on my blog. I agree with you that the positioning/delineation is specific and done for a reason (calling Michael "other wife" instead of David's "husband," for instance).

What's really interesting to me, though, is how many times Michael has done it himself. The first instance was even before the whole "other wife" thing happened, which was on a breakfast show that he and David were interviewed on during the GO season 1 press tour. Georgia was pregnant with Birdie at the time, and the host mentioned that there was "another one on the way," to which Michael said this:

And while I mentioned in my timeline Georgia initially calling Michael David's "other wife" in 2021, what I didn't include was a screenshot of Michael's response, which is just as notable:

So for those who have not seen the movie, Love, Actually is a a very British romcom from 2003. Emma Thompson plays a character who is married to Alan Rickman's character, and he subsequently cheats on his wife with another woman, his secretary.

What makes Michael's tweet above so interesting, however, is that Michael chose to identify with the main spouse, rather than the side piece/mistress. The suggestion here is that Michael views his relationship with David as something deep and meaningful, rather than a cheap affair. He sees himself in a place of prominence in David's life, rather than relegated to the back burner (can we say "Nobody puts Michael in a corner?" I think we can...).

I think for some time now, Georgia has known and seen the place that Michael has in David's life, and setting up these boundaries/demarcations has likely been part of multiple conversations over the last few years (between her and David, and between David and Michael, though I am guessing Michael and Georgia haven't spoken directly very often). If Michael and David did start to become involved during the GO season 1 press tour (which is when Michael said that they got "very, very close"), it would make sense for things to be laid out then, before Georgia started slowly "testing the waters" on social media in 2020 and then more so later on in 2021.

Taking all of this together--"mother," "other wife"--I think there is a deliberateness to this because it reflects the emotional need that David fills in Michael. That is, it seems as if he doesn't feel like he "belongs" to someone, and for Michael, being taken care of is as important as him taking care of others. We've seen Michael be protective/possessive of David in the past, but letting himself be "owned" speaks to a level of vulnerability that he allows himself to have with David that he doesn't have with anyone else, and it shows exactly who Michael belongs to (and vice-versa).

So yes, those are my thoughts on the aforementioned dynamic between Michael, David, and Georgia, and all that it may imply. I do agree that it is very interesting, and it will remain interesting as we see all of this continue to play out...

#cloud-based-and-rainpilled #reply post #michael sheen #welsh seduction machine #david tennant #soft scottish hipster gigolo #also: 'nonessential'#this made me laugh damn it #where is the lie though #throuples are totally cool now #or 'V-style' as I understand it #there's teasing the fandom and then there's whatever these two are doing #truth disguised as a joke #ineffable lovers #discourse

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nerdygaymormon · 2 years

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My trip to Utah, Oct 2022

I recently took a trip to Utah for 5 days and it was terrific. I’ll post in more details later about several of these things. Here’s the highlights:

Wednesday, Oct 5 - Arrived in Utah. Who thought having a 1/2 mile walk at the airport to get to baggage claim is a good idea...especially at that elevation? I live at sea level, that walk had me huffing and puffing.

I drove down to Provo and met a friend who took me to see the Roots of Knowledge stained glass display at UVU. I enjoyed that. He also took me for my first Swig experience. What’s up with all these drive-thru soda places in Utah?

Had dinner with a BYU student who had contacted me and wanted to meet

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Thursday, Oct 6 - Had lunch with Allison Dayton who co-founded Lift+Love, brought my friend @loveerran along. It was a great conversation.

Erran and I then went to the Salt Lake City library, which is an amazing building, and met a friend we’ve known from Tumblr & the Queerward Discord. That was a good get together.

That evening was a BBQ social at Encircle House in Salt Lake City. I was surprised by several folks from the Queerward Discord being there, that was fun to meet y’all. One of them said, “Look at all the older queer people, guess we aren’t the pioneers we thought we were.” My response was, “it’s rare to see older queer people like this outside of LDS adjacent spaces. It’s sad that something which saved them also caused them so much pain. And we weren’t out at your ages, you are definitely still pioneers!”

My friend Ghost, who used to live in Florida, was at the Encircle BBQ. Had friends who are husband-and-wife who came to show support and I enjoyed introducing them as my “straight friends.” Having so many friends there made me feel like the Belle of the Ball.

And OMG, Adam from the It Gets Better at BYU video was at the SLC Encircle House, he interns there. He’s cuter than ever. I am so glad to see him thriving.

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Friday, Oct 7 - I had some appointments with General Authorities. I met with Elder Kevin Hamilton for 90 minutes, then had lunch with Elder & Sister Renlund for an hour. We had some great conversations which I’ll post about. They were all very generous with their time.

Friday evening, the Affirmation conference began with dinner & speakers. David Hayward, aka the Naked Pastor spoke, and he made a cartoon specifically for Affirmation! Sue Robbins spoke, she is a trans activist in Utah, and Michael Todd, a gay country singer from Utah, sang for us.

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Saturday, Oct 8 - I met early this morning with my friend Claudio Costa, an emeritus Seventy. He updated me on his life and newest calling as a missionary working with the Tabernacle Choir. I updated him on my life and he says, “David, you’re more LDS than most LDS.” It’s often that way, queer people who are trying to make church work often embrace their church and its culture very tightly, kind of becoming Super Mormon. Claudio also chides me for not contacting him months earlier about my health crisis with blood clots and says he can pray for me & put my name on the temple, and anytime I need to talk or vent that I should call him. And the cutest thing is he talks about me often enough that his wife will now say, “My friend David,” when she mentions me, she feels she knows me.

Affirmation conference began this morning with Roni Jo Draper speaking in the plenary session. Loved her remarks. She spoke about community and likened it to dancing at her tribe’s reservation. Everybody dances, don’t say you don’t dance and sit out life. Everybody has issues, don’t say you’re too chubby to dance, instead put your weight into it. Don’t get along with someone else, dance it out. She also said don’t go around complaining you’re out of shape, we can all see that, instead do what you can and others will do what they can.

The great thing about going to a conference like this is the new friends we make, finding people who understand and get us in a way few others truly do.

After the plenary session, I was on a panel and parents with LGBTQ children could ask us questions. I think it went well. We spent the first half of the session talking about trans people and transitioning, which meant I learned a lot but didn’t have much to say. When the moderator had us move on, the next question was aimed directly to me, how do you stay an active member and make that work?

After lunch, I recorded a podcast episode with Latter Gay Stories. I was initially reluctant to do so as I’m not their typical guest, often they’ve recently been part of a high profile activity, or they have books out, and many of them have left the church. Also, I was first asked at Thursday’s Encircle BBQ to be on the podcast, and therefore didn’t have time to prepare (as someone with social anxiety, I usually way over prepare for things, so going in with no prep was a little unsettling). In addition to an audio podcast, they also release it as video, which meant I was filmed. I have a lot of body issues related to my weight, and being on camera for everyone to see was hard for me. Additionally, this wasn’t in their usual studio, but a makeshift space at the conference, and their portable lights made such a glare on my glasses that I had to take them off, which meant I couldn’t clearly see the facial expression of the host. Latter Gay Stories recorded several episodes over the conference, so I don’t know when my episode will be released

This day was full of hard things for someone with social anxiety, but I was brave and did all the things.

I had dinner with a friend of mine, we spent 5 hours catching up, laughing, and having heart-to-heart conversations. We stayed at the City Creek Mall until they turned out the lights out on us.

There was a dance at the Affirmation Conference that I considered going to, dancing is the #1 trigger of my social anxiety and I thought about going to the dance as a form of exposure therapy, but instead decided why ruin an amazing day with a bout of anxiety (and likely tears and going back to my hotel room to hide for the rest of the night), and instead stayed in the moment with my friend with whom I was having a delightful time.

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Sunday, Oct 9 - Final day of the Affirmation Conference. Heard Paul Cardall play piano live!!!! Love him. His music moves me. Just as his music brings me peace, his words also settled well on me as he spoke of interactions with Ty Herndon, Glenn Tyler, David Archuleta, and a music producer whose name I can’t remember, all of whom are gay.

I was nominated for the Mortensen Award, which is the big award given each year by Affirmation. The bio they read about me had me simultaneously wanting to hide (thanks social anxiety), and also very proud.

After conference, I gave Nathan Mclaughlin, who is recently returned from his mission in Georgia, a ride over to Richard Ostler’s home so they could record an episode of Richard’s podcast Listen, Learn & Love. I got to sit in as they recorded the podcast, it was incredible to be there and witness that. For those who don’t know, Nathan organized Pride demonstrations at BYU-I in response to the reversal of the Honor Code change in 2020, and is the first missionary to come out publicly via social media, which he did with a Facebook post.

The day ended with me and several queer friends having dinner at the home of a family who are close to me. There is a wonderful story I want to share in more detail of a queer youth who came out to their ward that Sunday, and was invited to come over for dessert with me and my queer LDS friends. It shows that our Heavenly Parents love their children, all of them, and organized a special queer welcoming committee for this wonderful trans daughter.

The night ended when it was time for me to head to the airport and catch a midnight flight to Florida.

#queerstake

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