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randomshyperson · 3 years

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hi! hope you're alright! love your writing!! ~

can you do a fluffy sexy one where R and wanda are really close friends (not those secret crushs kind of friend - neither has realized that they are too close to be just friends) until one-day the avengers find out about fanfics and shipps and loose their mind over it cause they are all grown up and didn't know this was a thing, they are all reunited at the living room looking online what are the shipps and, let's say Tony is the one looking while they are all gathered listening, he says like "oh apparently everybody thinks Wanda and R are a couple" and someone -thor, bucky or Sam of course- gets surprise like "they are not dating???" (Wanda is even sitting on R lap and playing with her hair!!) the girls deny and the turns out all team thought they were together, later they are reading some fic about them cause they're curious and its a smut, R gets shy and wanda gets a little turn on about it and says "you know if I was to date anyone here it would be you" so R realizes the same and they eventually get together

I think it has way too much details, sorry

Hello anon! Hope you’re well. This took me long enough i know, but i hope you like it. It’s really short, but it’s all you asked.

Wanda Maximoff x Reader - The fandom knows best

Summary: Prompt based “Reader and Wanda are best friends who are one of the popular ships from the Avengers, but they have no clue. It takes one fan fiction for things to work out.”

Warnings: Fluff, humor, brief hint of smut (it’s nothing really), (brief) kissing.

Words: 1.400 k (Drabble i think) // Read on AO3

Marks: @mionemymind @abimess

Wanda Maximoff is your favorite person in the world.

You are colleagues on the Avengers team, and clicked together the very moment you first saw each other.

Everyone on the team knows that you are inseparable and if someone is looking for you and can't find you anywhere, it's because you are sleeping in Wanda's room.

You never really thought about what this implied, so during the Halloween party that Tony planned, you were very surprised when this subject came up.

The avengers were gathered around the table, a few hours had passed since the party had ended, and Tony was beginning to feel bored. So he grabbed the tablet on the table and announced it to everyone:

- I made a very interesting discovery this weekend! - he says with a mischievous smile. - Tell me Avengers, have you had a look at the work of our dear fans?

The team let out a chorus of apprehension. Tony laughed.

- God I'm surrounded by old people. - He comments as he activates the hologram playback function on the tablet on the table. - I found some interesting content about the Avengers. Say, folks, have you ever heard of fanfiction?

The group let out a chorus of excitement, and Tony giggled.

- I should have known you would eventually make us watch porn. - Natasha laughed, making everyone laugh. And then Tony was running through some files, mostly innocent artwork, of the team on adventures or facing supervillains, and you all looked excited. Then Tony let out a little laugh.

- Whoa, I found something interesting. - he says with a mischievous smile. - It has the hashtag "NSFW”.

- What does this mean? - Steve asked curiously.

- You're going to love it, Cap. - Tony retorted, and then there is a not-so-innocent artwork of Steve in the hologram. The shield being the only item he is wearing.

The team lets out a mixed exclamation of surprise and laughter, and Steve turns bright red.

For the next few minutes you laugh and are embarrassed by various more adult art that people have done, and then Tony lets out a wry chuckle.

- Look, this is interesting. - He starts. - The best couples from the Avengers.

- This is going to be good. - Nat mocked, crossing her legs and taking a sip of her beer.

- I am surprised that Potts and I don't come first, it is disappointing to know that people don't recognize a love as amazing as ours. - Declares Tony and everyone laughs lightly. He moves his fingers again, reading something on the screen. - Check it out, Romanoff. Your affair with Banner is in fourth place.

Nat laughs, and Bruce gets a little embarrassed, but he doesn't say anything. Tony continues.

- That is funny. - Tony says with a chuckle. - Apparently all the fans think that Wanda and Y/N are a couple. They are the most popular.

You let out a short laugh, surprised at the insinuation. Wanda follows you, settling better on your lap as she laughs.

- Wait, Tony, what do you mean they think? - Bucky asked with a confused expression. - Aren't you two dating?

You and Wanda frown confusedly in his direction, and you notice that Thor has the same confused expression as Bucky. And then you look around and everyone, except Tony, has the same look on their faces.

- Who else thought we were dating? - Wanda asks and the whole team choruses in agreement. Tony says "I thought you were playing along".

You and Wanda laugh awkwardly.

- Where did you get that from? - you ask in surprise. Then the team shares a wry laugh and you frown.

- Really Y/N? - Bucky replies. - Wanda is literally on your lap! And you've been playing with her hair all night!

You and Wanda shake your heads in denial, laughing lightly.

When you return to your room however, you are thinking about it.

- Hey, stop overthinking it. - Wanda jokes as you walk together down the hall toward your room, and you laugh weakly.

- Stop reading my mind. - You retort without any hint of aggressiveness. You loved to provoke Wanda, and you had no problem if she used her powers on you.

When you arrived at your room, Wanda threw herself on your bed, and you went to find something comfortable to wear.

- Lie down here, I got curious. - She says as you are putting on your pajama pants. When you are finished, you lie down next to her on the bed, stomach down on the mattress, mimicking her position. Wanda is on her cell phone, and holds it out a little to the side so that you can see it. She starts typing something next, and you laugh lightly.

- Why are you researching this? - you ask as you read "fanfic Wanda Maximoff and Y/N".

She shrugs, smiling.

- I want to know what people think we do.

- Wanda.

- Shh, look at that. - She says, holding her cell phone up to her face. She laughs lightly, and then pulls it away showing you a text.

- "Wanda and Y/N have always been in love with each other." - You start reading and Wanda lets out a giggle. - Wow, that is a surprise.

- "In the Avengers tower, they have always gotten along much better than any other member of the team." - Wanda continues reading and you make a noise of agreement with your mouth.

- Technically, I get along with everyone. - You comment and Wanda laughs, pushing her shoulders against you lightly.

- "However, the nature of their relationship changed during a particularly physical training session." - Wanda continues reading and you raise an eyebrow. - That sounds promising. - You laugh half-heartedly, but Wanda continues reading. - "The redhead had been assigned to train with her friend, and during that training she realized the undeniable attraction she felt for the other girl”.

- Oh my god. - You mumbled in embarrassment, trying to snatch the cell phone from Wanda's hands, but she just laughed, moving away. When you insisted, she stood up, laughing lightly as she continued reading.

- "When Y/N made a move that knocked Wanda to the ground, the witch couldn't help but kiss her passionately."- She read aloud and you let out a grumble, getting up. - "Their tongues fought together as Wanda let her hands go up the inside of her shirt to her breasts, making Y/N moan"

Wanda's reading died in a laugh as you tickled her to reach for the cell phone. She threw her body at you next, but you didn't return the device, laughing lightly.

- Stop it, this is embarrassing. - You say with flushed cheeks, dodging the girl's hands as you get back into bed. Wanda grumbles, but follows you.

You sit side by side, and you only hand the phone back to her when you close the page.

- You know what? - She says after a moment, her cheeks slightly pink. You look at her curiously. - If I were going to date anyone here, it would be you.

You blink in surprise, feeling your heart race at the phrase, and look away from Wanda quickly.

It takes a moment, but you finally speak.

- Yeah, I... I would date you too. - You confess, looking forward. To try to relieve the tension, you quickly add. - Maybe Bucky or Nat too, but my first choice would be you.

Wanda laughs, turning to you and ruffling your hair. Your natural instinct is to grab her by the wrists, and throw her on the bed. You laugh for a few seconds, but something has changed. The closeness of your faces makes your breath catch.

- Wanda... I...

- Are you trying to figure out the ending to that fic? - She teases breathlessly, and you laugh, letting go of her wrists. But Wanda uses her freedom to pull your face against her, kissing you softly, and making you sigh in surprise.

- Wow. - You say as you walk away, feeling your lips tingling.

- I know. - she whispers. - Why did it take us so long to do this?

You smiled, kissing her again, properly this time.

When you two parted again, completely out of breath, and with your clothes crumpled, you threw yourself next to Wanda on the bed, laughing lightly.

- I can't believe that the fans knew that you were in love with me before I did! - Wanda then announced.

- And you call yourself a telepath.

You scoffed next, and she laughed as she slapped you on the shoulder. It didn't take long before you were laughing together.

#wanda maximoff #wanda x reader #wandaxreader #wanda maximoff x reader #wanda x you #wandaxyou #wandamaximoffxreader #marvel imagines

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ao3commentoftheday · 4 years

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I’m one of the more prominent authors in a very talented and prolific fandom (my fics are the ones with the most kudos and comments). A lesser-known but celebrated author gifted me a really well-written fic and I was so grateful and emotional I made a big deal about it on my twitter, where I have a lot of followers. It looked like an endorsement and that fic got a lot of hits too. Another author, who’s just started out, gifted me a fic too, but I didn’t like it very much (the ship and style are not what usually read), so I left a long comment thanking them a lot for being so kind and praising their story but didn’t publicly express my appreciation on twitter like I did with the other. This second writer got mad at me and subtweted me that I, a “big” writer, only promote and help other “big” writers be successful and make it harder for everyone else. This sprawled into a broader discussion about how famous authors only hype each other and how selfish it is to only encourage readership of fics that are already created under conditions that ensure they’ll be successful regardless—i.e. written by authors who don’t need “boosting.” I don’t know whether I should speak up—I’d be lying if I said I liked that 2nd fic but it kills me inside that in expressing my appreciation of one but not the other I hurt this 2nd author so much. At the same time, I’m unsure if reaching out to them would be wise. They don’t seem to like me much now, and I’m afraid telling them what I truly believe—every fic makes someone’s day and means a lot to somebody—would sound condescending. I also don’t think I should necessarily apologize because I don’t know what I’d be apologizing for. I think I’ll hurt their feelings even more or potentially insult them if I disclose why I didn’t like their fic and suggest, for an example, that they get a beta, which is what I believe would really improve their storytelling. I don’t know what to do here but being painted as a villain and seeing others discuss boycotting me and other “big” writers is really gutting and making me wonder if I should just abandon this fandom and start over somewhere else. Sorry for the long rant-ish ask—I didn’t know who else to turn to with this question.

While you probably did hurt their feelings from the sound of things, you also didn’t do anything wrong. Whether you’re a popular author or someone no one ever heard of, it’s your choice how you react to stories. Even ones that are gifted to you.

You received a gift fic and you left a comment on it. That’s all that’s required in the unwritten rules of fandom etiquette. If that second author hoped to receive the same treatment as the first author, then I understand their disappointment of course but that doesn’t mean that their conclusions were the right ones.

When people are hurt, they can be unfair. When jealousy is a factor (as it might be in this case), accusations can be made. While it’s true that Big Name Fans have a wider reach and get more attention, they weren’t always Big Name Fans. They won’t always remain that way either.

If you want to repair the relationship with that second author, then talking to them privately is the best way to go. But wait until they’ve calmed down from their anger and their hurt first. If the hurt is still fresh, you will almost certainly sound condescending. In fact, even after they’re past those emotions you might still.

You’re points are true but the fact that they’re coming from you will make them harder to hear and believe. You’ll sound less sincere talking about how comments aren’t a measure of success just because of the fact that you get lots of comments.

The fans that you’re seeing talking about boycotting you aren’t all of the fans in the whole fandom. They’re similarly frustrated or they’re siding with friends - both natural human responses. They’ll get over it or they won’t. The only person whose reaction you can control in this situation is yourself, though.

Give it a little time and see if things cool down a bit. Right now tempers are hot and that has a tendency to make a situation feel worse. You don’t have to make any decisions about leaving just yet. See how you feel once things are a bit calmer and go from there.

#asks and answers #Anonymous

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kiribaku-queen · 4 years

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Let’s gooo! How about Oikawa x reader, but it’s a secret relationship (married) because she’s a trainer alongside Iwa, but she starts getting shipped with Iwa and pictures of them hugging show up... Basically Oikawa isn’t stupid, he KNOWS they aren’t doing anything behind his back but he does get jealous. So roll around to the Olympics and Iwa and reader are being asked about their relationship and bam Oikawas had enough so he comes over, kisses her and is like this is MY wife so fuck off and stop shipping her with my BESTFRIEND HAHAH

She’s Mine

Pairing: Oikawa x reader

Fluff

Word count: 2.6K

A/N: Thank you for being the first requester ever! I hope this is to your liking. I was actually worried that it wouldn’t be long enough but it actually turned out longer than I was expecting! I tried to make it funny and add Oikawa’s personality to give it that flavour. I’d love to know what you think about it anon! Thank you for your support! <3

“One touch!”

“Chance ball!”

“Get it over!”

The gym was loud with calls from their teammates, every player wanting to play their best even if it was just a practice game. You watched from the bleaches, eyes shining with admiration when you watch a certain brown haired boy spike, earning his team a point.

“Yes!” he cheered for himself and then turned to face you. “(y/n) did you see that?! That was for you baby!” he shouted, making the rest of his teammates laugh and you all red and embarrassed. You just signaled a thumbs up and let them continue with their practice game. You didn’t want to interfere, no matter how much your husband was already interfering.

“Oi, Oikawa! Focus on the game, not your wife! You can do that after!” Iwaizumi scolded him. Oikawa waved him off, his attention back on the game.

“This guy…” Iwa said under his breath. You giggled to yourself and looked at the clipboard in front of you. You were still learning how to effectively position people so that they can play their best against their opponent. And Iwa was there to help you. You guess who could say you were his assistant coach. But it was hard trying to stay professional while your husband is on the team you are coaching.

It was no surprise to the team that you guys were married. Your wedding pictures with them in the background drunk was proof enough. But you had to keep your marriage secret from the rest of the world. And this was purely based on your decision. Oikawa has always been popular, ever since high school. When he became pro, he gained even more followers. You saw it first hand. Some fans could be really obsessive and scary. Though, you knew that most fans would be supportive of you two, but you really didn’t want to risk it. You weren’t scared that they were going to come after you. Actually, you have been preparing for it ever since you got together in case you got exposed early on in your relationship. You didn’t want his fans to freak out and then he would lose his popularity over it. You were so scared that it would permanently damage his career. So you both kept it a secret. For now, at least.

“Good work today!” Iwa shouted. The boys immediately fell to the floor, exhausted. But your hubby didn’t do that. Instead, he ran up to you as soon as he finished practice to embrace you in the tightest hug.

“Babe!” you laughed and tried pushing him away. You pushing away only made him hug you tighter. And since you were trying to run away from him, he added in a few smooches just for fun.

“Okay, okay,” Iwa tugged on Oikawa’s collar to pull him away from you. “You can hug your wife later. Go clean up.” He ordered. With a pout, he left but never failed to look back at you and give you kissy faces. You were also cleaning up, putting the volleyballs away and packing up your things in your duffle bag.

“(y/n),” Iwa called to you and to ran up to him immediately. “What do you think about this line up for the game this weekend?” he asked you. You got close to look at the plan he laid out. As you and Iwa were discussing, a photographer snuck into the private gym and hid in the stands.

“Shit, looks like practice is over,” he cursed to himself. How was he going to get a good scoop now? He looked around the gym. None of the players were around. Just the coaches and maybe a few other irrelevant people. He wanted an exclusive showing how practice was going for the big team, but now he never going to get a good picture in if no one was here. The photographer was about to leave, when out of the corner of his eye, he saw you standing next to the team’s coach. You were wearing the team’s colors and outfit. So you had to be a coach if you were standing close to coach Iwaizumi. You were standing a little too close. And you two were laughing. And play fighting? And flirting? The photographer smirked.

“Now this could be a story,” he said as he snapped a few shots of you and Iwa together. Then he made his way out of the gym, looking at the freshly took pictures for his story.

“Honey!” Oikawa came running with his bag hanging loosely over his shoulder. You ran towards him, meeting halfway and you jumped into his arms. “Ready to go home?”

“Mhm!” you hummed, placing a kiss on his lips. He kissed with equal force, if not harder, and gently set you back down on the ground.

“Still up for lunch tomorrow?” Oikawa turned to his best friend.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll meet you guys there,” he said. Oikawa then wrapped his arm around your waist and held you close.

“Let’s go,” he told you. You looked back at Iwa as you left the gym.

“See you later, Iwa-chan!” you waved at him.

“Mhm, good work today!” he yelled back. He wouldn’t have to yell if Oikawa hadn’t kept you from continuously walking away, further and further from him. But Oikawa was always one to be touchy and protective so it was nothing new. And he was trying to be as lovey-dovey as he could because once they were out in public, absolutely no touching.

The next day, lunch rolls around and Iwaizumi is already waiting for you two at the restaurant you picked out.

“You’re late,” Iwa stated. You sat down, apologizing profusely while your husband just laughs it off.

“Sorry! Someone was in the bathroom too long,” you glared at the man beside you. He scoffed and pointed an accusing finger at you.

“I was ready before you! I was waiting so long, by the time you got out of the bathroom, I had to take a shit,” Oikawa explained himself.

“Well you should have just held it in!”

“I can’t hold my shits in!”

“Well I can!”

“That is so unhealthy,” Iwa chimed in, shaking his head in disappointment. “Why are we even having this conversation?”

“She started it,” Oikawa breathed but oh, you could hear it. And you were about to retort back if it wasn’t for Iwa to stop another oncoming argument.

“Okay, okay. Let’s just order. I’m starving,” Iwa stated, looking over the menu. It took the guys a few minutes to figure out what they wanted but you were stuck on two options. Glancing around the room, you saw another table that had the same order you wanted and boy did it look delicious. The only problem? The portion was gigantic. There was no way you were going to finish all that. So you did what any girlfriend would do.

“Babe, can you share with me?” you asked Oikawa, giving him a pouty face.

“Mm, but I’ll still be hungry later,” he said, giving you an apologetic look.

“But it’s too much food!” you stated, trying to reason with him. If they had a half portion, you would definitely take that. But unfortunately, there was no such thing.

“I’ll eat your leftovers, how about that?” he compromised, making you equally as happy.

“Tank you,” you said in the cutest baby voice that you know he loves. He gushes at how cute you are.

“Anything for you, my love,” he says back in an equally cute tone and touched noses with you. Iwaizumi is just watching this all unfold in front of him. And to think they were just arguing a second ago. He pretends to have a disgusted look on his face but on the inside, he’s happy that you two found each other. Of course, he’s never going to admit that and never will he ever mention it…. EVER.

Time flies when you’re with your two best friends. You guys could talk about everything and anything, arguing back and forth, making fun of each other, having deep talks, you do it all. Sometimes its hard to believe that you guys work together and it makes you cringe how professional you have to be with each other because you’re not used to it at all. You’re already finished with your food because you couldn’t even stomach all that. Now, you were just waiting on the boys to finish up. Especially, Oikawa since he also had to each your leftovers.

“I’ll be back. I’m gonna wash my hands real quick,” Oikawa announces and heads for the men’s room. You and Iwa were left at the table together. You lean your elbows on the table and rest your chin in your hands.

“You think we’re gonna win tomorrow?” you asked Iwa. He’s much more knowledgeable that you were after all.

“Even if we don’t, it’s no big deal. But I want you to take charge tomorrow so you can get the feel and practice,” he explained. You internally, and maybe externally, groaned. You didn’t feel like you were ready and now all the pressure was going to get to your head. “So if we lose tomorrow, it’s all your fault.”

“Iwa!” you smacked his hand across the table. He kept poking fun and laughing at you, loving the reactions you were giving him. If no one knew you guys, they’d think you were dating. And that’s exactly what Mr. Photographer was thinking.

He had just arrived at the restaurant you guys were eating at, watching from behind a few trees with a big camera in hand. You were laughing at something Iwaizumi had said, earning him a few, nice shots. The photographer made sure to get the food presented on the table, as well as a few cute snaps of you two play fighting, laughing and smiling with each other. He was going to wait around longer, in case you two kissed, but he was too eager to write this new news story that he left when he got enough pictures of you two. When the photographer left, Oikawa came back to pay the check and you were on your way out.

It’s the morning of the game and you were fixing up some coffee while Oikawa sat at the dining table, eating the breakfast that you prepared for him. Both of you were minding your own business; you jamming out and singing to your music and your husband reading the news on his phone. Everything was in the ordinary until Oikawa spotted an article that made him do a double take.

[BREAKING] Coach Iwaizumi and Assistant (y/n) Dating!!!

“Honey?” he calls out for you in a questioning tone, like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing you. You go over to him, coffee in hand and hug him from behind with your chin resting on his shoulder.

“What is it, love?” you ask and take a sip of your coffee.

“Look at this,” he says and brings his phone up so you can see it as clear as day. “You and Iwa? Dating?! And look at these pictures. What are these?!” You take a closer look and its definitely you and Iwaizumi. But the first picture was from the other day when you were going over positioning. And then the other picture was from yesterday at lunch. Out of context, you guys did look close and lovey-dovey… but it was all false. The more Oikawa looked at these pictures, the more irritated and jealous he got. For heavens sake, he was there both times! And that dumb paparazzi couldn’t see that you and him were together?

“Babe, looks like I’m dating your best friend now,” you laugh but Oikawa didn’t find it funny. He had a big, old pout sitting on his lips and seeing that? You knew it was going to be drama, drama, drama all day.

“Baby, don’t pout. It’s all just rumors. I love you and only you,” you try to cheer him up by giving him as many cheek kisses as you could. Your husband loved that but it didn’t make him feel any better. He should be the one in that article title not Iwa-chan. “It is kind of funny though, I’ll have to let Iwa know later.” You laugh it off and go back to the kitchen. Oikawa laughs too but it was fake and forceful. The moment you went back to the kitchen, his smile drops and a frown is immediately replaced.

It was right before the game and the boys were warming up on the court. The whole ride there, Oikawa was silent. He was acting like a child but you were used to it already that you paid him no mind. You knew he was just going to let it all out during the game. You were standing next to Iwaizumi, watching them practice their spikes. But let’s be honest, you were looking at your dashing husband the whole time. When you got to the venue, you immediately told Iwa the news but he wasn’t surprised because he had already seen it. You both had a good laugh over it and dismissed it. Because what was there to discuss? The whole news was just ridiculous with no proof as backup.

“(y/n),” Iwa came up to you with a clipboard in hand. “Did you-” but before he could finish that sentence, you were both rudely interrupted by a lady shoving a microphone and camera in your face.

“Iwaizumi, (y/n), do you have time for a quick interview?” she asks you. You look up at Iwa because you weren’t used to the sudden aggression. He felt how awkward you were and was the one to speak for the both of you.

“What is it about?”

“You guys look really good together. Is it true that you are both dating?” she asks and shoves the big microphone right in your face.

“No,” Iwa butts in, giving the interviewer and the camera an unamused face.

While Oikawa was focusing on his spikes, he panned over to you just so he could see you. But what he was left a bad taste in his mouth. Interviewers were all in your face. You had a painstakingly uncomfortable expression on your face and he was so tempted to just storm over there and take you away. But professionalism. Remember that. He’s trying so hard to focus back on the warmups but his ears are listening in on your interview.

His ears perk up when he hears that you and his best friend look good together. He looks back in your direction and you were being peer pressured into telling the truth and just being bombarded with unnecessary questions. That’s it. He’s had it. You were his and no one else’s.

“Come on, (y/n). Give us a statement,” the interviewer was coming into you.

“Uhm,” you felt yourself literally backing up. The answer was said to them multiple times but they kept pushing and pushing. It started to get suffocating. And no matter how many times Iwa tried to calm down the situation, it felt like it was just getting worse. All that seemed to disappear when a hand grabs your waist from behind, spins you around and a pair of lips gently cover yours. Your eyes widen in surprise as you see Oikawa passionately kissing you. In public. And on the big screen. A wave of gasps spread throughout the venue and even the interviewer was in shock. When he lets go, you are just all around flustered and Iwa is standing on the side rolling his eyes.

“Please stop pressuring MY WIFE. And please stop shipping her with my dear friend because she’s mine,” Oikawa said to the lady and straight at the camera with a polite smile but threatening eyes.

“And you!” Oikawa dramatically points at his friend and sticks up both middle fingers. “She’s mine so you can fuck off!”

“I don’t even want her, dumbass,” Iwa informs him of the obvious. Oikawa walks off with your hand in his, proud to finally let the world know that you were his and his alone.

#oikawa x reader #oikawa fluff #haikyuu oikawa #oikawa fic #oikawa torū #oikawa oneshot #haikyuu imagine #oikawa imagine #haikyuu oneshot #haikyuu fluff #anon request

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autisticcassandracain · 3 years

Text

I have many thoughts on the weird phenomena in the DC fandom and the Batfam fandom specifically where probably the majority of people just straight up. haven’t interacted with the source material. and almost all of those thoughts can be summarized as ‘lmao that’s weird and mildly concerning’.

and because I’m annoying I will list them all here right now <3

1. To preface this post, I mean, obviously, comics are inaccessible as all hell, both in the disability kind of way and the ‘you need to understand the concept of hypertime to fully comprehend the DC timeline’ kind of way. Because of this, even if you don’t have a disability that prevents you from reading comics, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to look at the amount of comics you need to read to have even a base understanding of a character and go ‘no thanks <3′ and just enjoy fanart and fanfic in a vacuum. Ultimately, this is fandom, this is supposed to be fun, it doesn’t really matter.

2. That said, it’s VERY weird to me that the majority of this fandom just straight up hasn’t interacted with the source material, and moreover, that it’s considered rude to tell people that they should do so. It’s especially weird considering the amount of fanon-only fans I’ve seen who straight up have a superiority complex over canon. The idea that it’s gatekeeping to tell fans of something to actually interact with canon is just. so weird, and a fundamental misunderstanding of what ‘gatekeeping’ actually entails.

3. But honestly I’m less interested in discussing the ways in which canon and fanon fans should interact with each other (personally, I think it would be helpful to create separate tags of some kind, but that’d require quite a big overhaul of the current fandom state) than in figuring out how this actually happened in the first place. On the one hand, it’s obvious; long-running superhero comics the way DC writes them have made themselves so thoroughly inaccessible that most people are simply too daunted to even try. Most media has a cohesive beginning and end (or at least, a planned end somewhere). Comics just... don’t.

But I do think it says something that, even among people who are clearly interested in the characters (since they have, you know, entire blogs about them), the effort to get into comics just seems to be too much to even bother. This really doesn’t bode well for the future of DC Comics. Obviously, I am no expert on anything at all ever, but I’d personally be surprised if DC survives beyond the few decades, at least in its current form/without a big overhaul.

4. But on the other hand, I don’t think the confusing state of DC Comics is the only thing to blame here. Fandom has a well-known problem with reducing any character down to archetypes to more easily ship and write fic/make content with. This problem is particularly prominent in fanfic, which, if you read enough of it, you’ll eventually start seeing not just the same tropes and trends, but essentially the same fics over and over again. And not just within the same fandom; everywhere, or every large fandom, at least.

Fanon Batfam is entirely built on a bunch of those tropes; insecure/depressed sadboy Tim, team mom with optional hidden trauma/emotional problems Dick, bad boy with a heart of gold + sadboy combo Jason, abused sadboy Damian/angry easily-villified-for-fic-reasons monster Damian, good dad Bruce for found family fic and bad dad Bruce for angst fic, etc. This all culminates in a found family dynamic that’s generic and malleable to whatever fic the writer wants to write.

(This isn’t getting into the ship fic, which I avoid like the plague because the vast majority of it is incest, but I’d bet real actual money that the tropes in those fics fall under what is often preferred by the Migratory Slash Fandom.)

By having a decent excuse not to get into canon (the inaccessibility of comics) and a, by now, well-established fanon fandom, many fans feel free to use the batfam fandom as essentially an excuse to write whatever fic with reduced archetypes and tropes they personally feel the itch to write, without having to bother with even consuming a canon. This is compounded by the fact that canon itself is often contradictory and frankly bad, meaning that whatever interpretation of a character you want/need to go for your fic is at least theoretically backed up by canon (for example, you can just as easily cast Bruce as an abusive shithole dad who his kids need to get away from as a loving father figure who cares deeply for his children), which you can always use as a defense if people question your characterization.

5. This focus on fandom trends and tropes over actual creativity or care for the characters is also visible in the way bigotry manifests in this fandom; namely, in literally the exact way you’d expect. The female characters and characters of colour are shuffled to the side, non-existent, vilified, and/or reduced to harmful stereotypes.

Barbara is probably the one I saw the most often in fanfic, but usually just as ‘Dick’s girlfriend’, and even then, she was often vilified for Dick angst (especially in fics about examining Dick’s trauma from his canon sexual assault; Kori also often gets the short end of the stick in those). After that, probably Stephanie, who fanon fans don’t really seem to know what to do with, so she’s basically just there as comic relief waffle girl, most of the time, though sometimes she can be used to either further Tim angst or further vilify Tim, whatever the fic calls for. Cass has gotten included more in batfam fics as of late, likely in response to critiques of fandom racism for leaving her out, but again, it’s clear people don’t actually know what to do with her. She’s often reduced to a racist stereotype of a quite, stoic therapist for whatever guy du jour needs it. That, or she’s in Hong Kong and just not there. Duke especially gets left in the dust in fandom, usually just being non-existent, but when he’s there, he’s almost always nothing more than the straight man for the actual fun characters to play off of. Talia probably has it the worst, though, and almost universally gets vilified by fanon stans in order to write sadboy Damian.

All of this is extremely predictable behaviour and falls entirely in line with general fandom misogyny and racism; ignoring or vilifying women and characters of colour, or using them as very minor characters at best. The only two characters of colour who aren’t regularly left out of fic are Dick and Damian, who are both also conveniently the two characters most often drawn and written in a whitewashed manner. In addition, there’s a real trend of demonizing Damian in fanon fics where he isn’t written as an abused sadboy, which I’d argue is in no small part due to fandom racism, considering Damian’s behaviour is in no way as bad as Jason’s, who doesn’t get anywhere close to the same demonization and gets woobiefied instead. I also find it convenient that Damian is probably the batboy who receives the most vilification in fic, when he’s the most obviously non-white of the batboys they’re willing to acknowledge.

Fandom often cries for more diversity in canon, only to ignore the diversity already there and focus on the same generic white guys. The batfam fandom is a brilliant example of this.

Which is not to say that fandom racism and misogyny isn’t present in the canon parts of the fandom (and canon itself); it absolutely 100% is. But I’ve found that canon fans are also more likely to like and care about at least one of the characters I’ve listed as ignored/vilified, and are willing to create and consume content for them, whereas fanon fans... aren’t, really. I’ve never seen a fan of fanon Cass the way I’ve seen fans of fanon Dick, for example. Obviously, this could just be by coincidence, or I’ve just surrounded myself with people like that, but it’s been a trend I noticed. Racism and misogyny is present in every part of this fandom and should be addressed as such, but I feel like it manifests the most blatantly in the fanon parts of this fandom.

(I’d also recommend the articles Migratory Slash Fandom’s Focus and Beige Blank Slates, which expand more on the type of fandom racism I think is especially prominent in the batfam fandom, as well as literally every article in the What Fandom Racism Looks Like series.)

6. All this leads me to conclude that the majority of fanon fans don’t actually like the characters all that much; they’re convenient excuses for them to participate in fandom. Which I also think is, in no small part, a reason why so many of them react so negatively to being told to pick up a comic; they came to this fandom specifically to consume it as a fandom, because they wanted the fandom experience without having to consume a canon.

This is not a phenomena unique to the batfam fandom (again, see the Migratory Slash Fandom), but it does fascinate me. While fandom is often said to be an experience focusing on transformative art, I think it’s also safe to say that, especially as fandom has become more mainstream, an increasing amount of people are looking to it less as a way to engage with their favourite pieces of media, and more as a type of media in and of itself. I think the reasons for this are similar to the reasons mass media entertainment like the MCU are so popular; you gain a lot of enjoyment out of it with very little risk involved.

By consuming the same fics of the same characters (or the same archetypes) over and over again, you are rarely at risk of being challenged or even disappointed. It’s often very clear right from the start whether or not a fic will appeal to you, and if it isn’t, it’s easy to just look for another one. It requires less emotional investment than most other types of media, even ‘popcorn media’ like the MCU - or, yes, DC Comics. It’s safe, it’s enjoyable, it’s comforting, like McDonalds, but just like McDonalds, it’s ultimately bland and unsubstantial.

7, TL;DR. Ultimately, I don’t think it’s like, wrong to enjoy the fanon version of the batfam without wanting to engage with canon, and I certainly don’t think it’s okay to harrass people over it. But I do think it’s in large part based on a desire to interact with fandom rather than other pieces of media because people are scared of being let down by those pieces of media (or worse, just uninterested in actually thinking), which is mildly concerning.

#long post #my posts #infodumping #btw i say this as someone who also has trouble consuming much more than popcorn media/fanfic due to emotional exhaustion #but it's not a healthy habit and it's something people can and should try to break out of #also obviously this isn't about EVERY fanon fan specifically so if this doesn't apply to you specifically great then move on

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samwilsonrights · 3 years

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Queerbaiting in tfatws. Went through tags and saw your post from April, sorry if this seems random. I agree with you 100%. Anthony & Sebastian have a very close friendship, but since they’re males, it’s more analyzed. I’ve seen women who act together with relationships like theirs, and queerbaiting isn’t brought up. As a male I’ve been asked if I’m gay for my male friends, but no one has ever asked my sister that. She cuddles on couches with them, but as soon as I hug my friend, red flags are raised. And the last thing I want to say is, You know Disney will NEVER make them gay, why did you set yourself up to be disappointed and mad when they didn’t?

hey, so as usual i'm of several minds with this.

first, yeah, nothing in tfatws was remotely close to queerbaiting, like at all. to tell you my honest opinion, the way i saw it, they were barely even friends for most the show. in episode 3 they checked in on each other a couple of times, but a simple ass "you okay?" aint affection in my eyes. that's not companionship, that's not camaraderie, it's not an example of groundbreaking male friendship, it's the bare minimum of writing. more of the same happens in episode 4. there's a shift in sam and bucky's relationship in episodes 5 and 6, like fixing the boat together or the dumb bro slap hug in the finale. but even then, i never got the sense that sam and bucky ever actually liked each other as people, only liked each other in relation to the ever present third wheel that was steve rogers. the show never let them shine in their own right, barely gave sam any bit of personality that wasn't provided by mackie himself, and never developed an actual, meaningful, and thoughtful relationship between the two leads.

the writers never stopped to ask, why do sam and bucky work well, outside of the meta real life friendship of sebastian and mackie? how do their personalities fit together? in what way does one help the other grow? how do they come out to be different from before and after their friendship? do they push each other? do they inspire one another? do they like each other's company? but no, tfatws didn't posit a single meaningful thought concerning male friendships because any bit of chemistry came from what the actors established off screen. there was no queerbaiting in tfatws because any platonic love or devotion that could even be misinterpreted as queerbaiting was never baked into the writing or direction.

and all this coming from a devout sambucky shipper.

my second opinion is this. say sam and bucky did have an actual friendship in the show. maybe they hugged, and cried in front of each other, and said platonic i love yous and allat. the only example i can think of right now is frodo and sam in lotr. if sam and bucky were like that, no, it would still not be queerbaiting. but here's the thing: there are barely any male friendships in popular media that are like this! when people say "oh boo hoo why can't y'all just let men be friends :(" i'm like where?!?!? where are these male friends on tv and movies y'all keep talking about?!?! bc all i see is a bunch of dick measuring competitions, not friendship. truth is, there is barely any actual representation of male friendships in popular media. they all hate each other!

so when people lament that oh the fangirls don't let men be friends without shipping them, bro the WRITERS don't let men be friends period. it's not the fans that are imposing toxic expectations on male relationships (in most cases, but that's another discussion), it's these giant ass corporations and mega-media conglomerates that aren't letting the reality of male friendships shine through the screen . so bc of all the internalized homophobia that is seeded into every aspect of media and entertainment, and in much more tangible ways in our laws and societal norms, now YOU as a man can't hug your friend. you can't kiss them goodbye, can't cuddle with them while watching a movie. you can't tell them i love you without using drunkenness as an excuse. can't sleep in the same bed during a sleep over. bc as soon as you do any of that, you're deemed as queer, in a derogatory way.

the next time someone says some shit about you hugging your boys, questioning your sexuality and all that nonsense, just say, "and???" get em to talk through their homophobia. BUT, also question yourself why being perceived as gay is such a bad thing, because that's internalized homophobia too. deal with that on your own time.

tldr; man idek this ask got away from me. first, there was no queerbaiting in tfatws, they would have to be at least friends first. second, the problem is society.

#asks #sambucky #tfatws #AND SAYING ALL THAT #i'm still gon ship sambucky #see if yall can stop me

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appleb18 · 4 years

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Why Modern Cartoons is Not Great as it Used to be in this Decade

As 2010′s draw near to the end and begin a next-generation, cartoons have changed from being a fun episodic adventure with a meaningful message and can get dark sometimes to a story-driven show with deep messages. While cartoons have a great start in early 2010s such as Adventure Time, Regular Show, Gravity Falls, and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, however as time passes cartoons are becoming less interesting and not many aren’t talking about it. So what the hell happened with modern cartoons? Let’s get to the bottom of what happened to this decade of cartoons and why isn’t anyone talking about it anymore

The Animation Quality

The quality of the animation of cartoons back in 2000′s were amazing, so many variations of animation styles that look very appealing such as

Samurai Jack

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends

Recess

Proud Family and so many more

But now in modern cartoons, most cartoon shows are using a similar style of animation which many people called it “Calarts style”. Most cartoon shows are using because it’s cheap however it takes away creativity, more detail nor being organic. Look at Infinity Train, compare from the pilot to the release

It looks very boring having most cartoons look the same. Then there’s artistic freedom where creators let them draw whatever they want such as Steven Universe and OK KO. That sounds good but really though it just looks lazy and unprofessional. This is very distracting that most characters go off-model every scene like why Rebecca and Ian-Jones Quarry think it was a good idea!

Great to Below Average

So now let’s talk about the three shows that were once popular Steven Universe, Voltron, and Star vs The Forces of Evil. The trope I’ve been seeing as of late about these shows that it was pretty hype and they deliver on that. All they need to do is conclude it and call it a good cartoon but then crash and burned in later seasons.

Steven Universe didn’t get popular until “Jailbreak” and that was when everyone was watching it. It had character development, an interesting world of gems, a gorgeous background and has one of the best soundtracks. This isn’t surprising because the creator is the same person who wrote Marceline episodes in Adventure Time which was Rebecca Sugar that created the series. Then season 4 and season 5 happened which the show drop in quality like mostly the show prefer showing filler which makes the plot go too fast and made arcs underwhelming, crystals gems and Lapis Lazuli and Peridot aren’t being used that much in the show and having each villain being beaten by simply talking to them. While there is Steven Universe Future but that hasn’t gotten interesting in my opinion.

Star vs The Forces of Evil is a show used to be interesting for the two seasons and “Battle for Mewni” arc but then shipping drama got out of hand and that resulted to fell from grace

Then there’s Voltron and we all how that turned out for the last two seasons

What these three have in common that they set up this interesting premise and world in the first few seasons but they all went downhill. Awful character writing, insane plot twist, and terrible pacing. I did wish that those shows would get better like how Adventure Time and Regular Show had one bad season but after that, they both got better but they didn’t and it went from being great to disappointingly average.

Comedy Over Messages

Now that’s got the most hype shows, let’s talk about shows that not many people talk about because the premise and world aren’t engaging enough to watch and which they are We Bare Bears, Craig in the Creek, Clarence, OK KO, and The Loud House. While I’m not saying they aren’t bad but it is just not interesting to watch, it's just that it’s too tame and too comedic. The main issue I have it doesn’t really teach viewers like they used to anymore

OK KO was about to talk about gun violence but they turn it into a comedy. In “Let’s Not Be Skeletons” people overuse the gun and resulting everyone to turn skeletons and KO tries to stop it but fails. By the end of the episode, it was a dream and calls Congress to stop it from happening. I really hate how writers of this episode of making a serious issue turn into comedy and that’s a pretty awful way of doing it.

Look at Static Shock and Fat Albert, instead of making Gun Violence a joke, they talk about how serious it is by having someone shot and that devastated the characters a lot

Then there's Hey Arnold, it really dives into serious issues such as

“Pigeon Man” showcases that some people are meant to be with other people while others like Pigeon Man are just different and can’t be with other people.

“Helga on the Couch” showcases Helga's anger issues and those issues manifest because her family ignores her because of her sister. Never truly cares for like no makes her lunch for school and no one brought her to school when she was a young girl. The only person that cares for was Arnold.

Then there’s my personal favorite, “Arnold Christmas”. Mr. Hyunh is always sad at Christmas and this episode revealed that he had a daughter and all he wanted was to see her grow up but there was a war coming near his village. In order to do so, he had to give her up so she can have a better life. It took 20 years to get out of the country and he almost gave up hope to find her until Helga helped Arnold to search for her and be reunited with her father.

Modern cartoons don’t show those kinds of messages anymore and there’s something worse than that and I hate how cartoon shows keep doing this.

Today’s Villains

I” ve been seeing a lot lately that the main antagonist isn't handled well in cartoons as of lately. Most villains have been getting redeemed lately and not paying their crimes. While show creatures try to make them sympathetic and the victim however it doesn’t excuse them for their crimes.

White Diamond who caused multiple mass genocide on worlds, brainwash any gem that stands in her way and shatter gems gets easily defeated by simply getting talk to and just not gonna do it anymore because Steven said so.

Mina Loveberry and her Mewni soldiers wanted to destroy monsters. When her and her army magic depleted, she just goes in the wilderness and no one stopped her.

Moon Butterfly helped Mina create her soldiers so she can retake the throne from Ecipsa. Instead of having the monsters and her surrendering the throne that she was attending to do, however, her plan backfired when Mewni Soldiers and Mina wanted to kill all the monsters. Why didn’t Moon saw that coming, they were clearly racist against them. Then by the end of the show, she never once apologized for what she has done.

Starlight Glimmer created a cult that no one has cutie marks until the mane six defeated her in “Cutie Map” She returns and her revenge on Twilight by going back in time and making sure Rainbow Dash doesn’t perform the Sonic Rainboom. After multiple going to multiple timelines, she finally catches up to her and then her tragic backstory been revealed and it was very disappointing. The reason she caused all of this because her friend moved away and that’s it. That’s not all, instead of her facing her crimes like most villains such as Tirek or Queen Chrysalis, she gets off the hook and she became friends with Twilight in a matter of minutes

A good example of a good antagonist is Aku from Samurai Jack. When he first appeared in the show, he’s pure evil, destroying anything that stood in his way and ruling over the weak but as the show progresses, the serious villain became more comedic villain but that doesn’t mean he’s a silly character, he’s far from that. He’s still all-powerful and should be taken seriously. This is what I want from a villain. He’s powerful, he’s truly evil and has a personality.

Villains can be sympathetic and relatable however shouldn’t be forgiven so easily. When a character crosses the line by taking multiple innocent lives should never be redeemed, even if they have a sad backstory

Cartoons lately have become less popular in this past decade, the glaring problems about cartoons are its animation, comedy over messages, messy plots, and terrible villain. People will only talk about cartoons from the late ’80s to 2012. I’m afraid that this day of age that it isn’t appealing anymore than in previous years. The only animation that people will talk about is anime shows which I can’t lie, is far superior to cartoons as of now. I feel that the only way it can make it back on top is it needs something like Adventure Time or Gravity Falls moment that reinvent it more relevant and view to modern audiences. I really do like to watch cartoon shows for animation, message, and characters but I keep seeing issues in modern cartoons and I hope that it will change in the future.

#Adventure Time #My Litte Pony: Friendship is Magic #MLP:FiM #Regular Show #Gravity Falls #Steven Universe #OK KO Let's Be Heroes #Craig of the Creek #Steven Universe Future #Star vs The Forces of Evil #Voltron #Clarence #Infinity Train #She-Ra #The Amazing World of Gumball #We Bare Bears

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perlukafarinn · 3 years

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I posted two polls yesterday, asking who is your favorite potential love interest for Dean besides Cas and vice versa. I’ve tallied the votes for both polls and reblogged them with the results and some commentary but I thought it’d be nice to gather them in one post, plus some extra thoughts from me below the cut.

Potential love interests for Dean:

Benny (116). And yes, correct.

Cassie (77). Also correct. A few of you pointed out that Dean should have gone to her in season six instead of Lisa and are you wrong?

Victor (34). Tbh I wasn’t expecting Victor in the top three but I am very happy with all of you!

No one (28). Very Cas coded of you, very sexy.

Crowley (25). This is the one I feel like the character in question would be the most upset about. Only number 5??

Bela (13). I’d also like to interject that demon!Dean/demon!Bela should have happened.

Lee (8). Good for him, I guess.

Jo (5). I don’t know if I’m surprised by Jo’s ranking or not.

Donna (4). This one had a lot of support when her first episode aired, if I remember correctly.

Tessa (3). Good for her, I guess.

The rest got either one or two votes. With two we’ve got: Aaron (surprised he didn’t get more), Anna, Ash, Cain (very disappointed he didn’t get more), Deacon, Garth, Ketch (uhhh), Rhonda Hurley.

One vote: Balthazar, Daphne (lowkey feel like the two people who picked them read the question wrong), Donnie, Lisa (I also don’t know whether to be surprised by this ranking or not. On the one hand she’s Dean’s longest running textual love interest. On the other, they kinda forgot to give her a personality beyond ‘love interest’ and ‘mother’), Lydia (????), Me (lmao), Michael, Mick (also ???), Robin, Ronald (ngl I had to look him up), Sam (😶), Sarah Blake (this voter did admit they might be projecting) The Impala if it turned into a guy (this one might have the most canon support), That one hot desk officer from season 1 you know the one I mean (I don’t).

Potential love interests for Cas:

No one (33). I was expecting this option to be high up but not number one! Quite a few people specified he should be a single parent but what I really appreciate are the few of you who wrote dissertations in the tags on why this makes sense for Cas’ character.

Meg (26). Correct and very sexy.

Mick (25). I’ve seen like one episode with Mick so idgi but good for him!

Balthazar (6). Thought he’d get way more votes?? Idk might be my bias speaking.

Sam (6). Love the one of you who specified that Cas should not like him back.

Luca (4). Okay so there is a canon character named Luca who is a priest but I’m pretty sure y’all mean the Luca from In the Shadow of your Wings by ao3 user Enochian Things, who is also a priest (esp since a couple of you did say he’s not a canon character) and who actually meets Cas.

Benny (3). It should be noted that two out of three of you wanted to include Dean in this ship.

Crowley (3). Just as with Dean’s list, he’d be very insulted by placing so low.

Hannah (3). Hannah got three votes, two specifying in a male vessel and one just specifying “trans”.

Kelly (3). Makes sense, as she is the mother of his child and they have a friendly relationship. Also makes sense this didn’t get more votes since they have no chemistry and she is a republican.

These all got two votes: Djinn queen, Me, Pastor Sexy.

And now, a special category of those with one vote from people I’m pretty sure read the question wrong: Cassie, Lisa, Ash, Victor.

Another special category of Dean alternates who got one vote but don’t count because they’re still Dean: AU Dean, Amnesia Dean, Dean Smith.

And the rest all got one vote: Dabb-era OC, Hypothetical guy from centuries ago (from one of those times Cas’ mind got wiped), Jesus Christ (asdjifsdkl), Miguel from The Love Story of the Runner-Up by ao3 user Margo_Kim, Sergei (???), That angel dude who wanted him for his hands (okay who and what episode).

Okay so what jumped out to me immediately was “no one” topping Cas’ list (it placed pretty high on Dean’s list but Benny, Cassie and Victor still beat that option handily).

A lot of people straight up did not like the thought of Cas with someone else (very Dean coded of them) but a lot of others just couldn’t picture it. Which I think can be attributed to none of Cas’ relationships with others being all that developed on the show, besides with Jack which is obviously not romantic. Tbh there aren’t a lot of deeply developed relationships on Supernatural that don’t include Sam or Dean (and lbr, mostly Dean).

People were also explaining their choices a lot more in the Cas poll. Idk what that means but I just thought it was interesting. There also wasn’t a consensus on Cas’ sexuality; while Meg and other female characters got votes a lot of other voters said they see him as gay and can’t picture him with a woman.

Most delightfully surprising result: Cassie taking second place! Honestly, it’s what she deserves. And Victor in third! The taste!

Most expected result: Benny winning the Dean poll in a landslide.

Most surprising low placement: Balthazar only getting six votes in Cas’ poll. I thought this ship was more popular but that’s probably my bias speaking since I happen to like it.

Funniest vote: Those three of you who wanna shoot your shot with Dean/Cas. Go for it, I’m rooting for you!

Favorite specification on a vote: “Meg in a deeply lavender marriage way”

#spn #dean #cas #long post #results are probably skewed by the polls receiving a very different number of votes #but whatever this was just in good fun

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egyptian-sun-god · 3 years

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Never Have I ever S2

SPOILERS.....Turn back now I’m serious.

I’m waiting....

Okay cool your fault at this point

I was fairly critical of NHIE S1, I won’t lie. And I’ll be real I still stand by the fact that NHIE S1 was fairly meh overall.

But holy shit, they knocked this season outta the world man. The show really really found its proper footing this season. They were smart to keep the cheating for only two episodes and explore the repercussion for the other 8.

1.Devi Vishwakumar.

Let’s start with the main character. Devi still does immensely fucked up shit this season. Dating two boys and have them find out in the MOST humiliating way possible. Yikes. Being a really sucky friend to Aneesa and starting that rumour about her (inadvertently) and pretending to her. Stalking her mother and being possessive of her. The really awful apology that was pretty self centred, a bit not good.

But she really does do her best to improve and I am SO proud of that. She uses her father’s advice and apologizes better to Aneesa, she actually handled the Ben and Aneesa dating WAAAAY better than I’ve seen some people handle things like that. I might’ve blown a fuse if two of my friends had 4 tickle fights and had major PDA sessions when we were trying to do a group project. Like she handled that shit fairly well all things considered. Devi actually gets into the beginnings of delving into her trauma and her temporary paralysis and healing from it. I

really see how the label ‘crazy’ weighs on her and how she blew up with it and the message of destigmatizing mental illness. (Crazy Aneesa and Crazy Devi) Her properly bonding with her mother and watching videos of her father and remembering/honouring his memory hit REALLY HARD (since I lost many people in my family recently and that fear of forgetting them has been real). Devi is actually beginning to heal from the loss of her father by strengthening the relationship with her Amma. And the slap from Paati was so so needed, it really gave her a better respect of her mother and fixed the problem I had with Devi mouthing off so much to her Amma. I live to see good maamiyar marumagal relationships. Her relationship with Paxton is really good and it gets developed very logically and having her be scared of being pathetic but in the end she accepted her own self worth and stopped chasing after them which was good.

Overall Devi really blossomed into her own developing person and I actually like her so much more this season.

2. Paxton Hall Yoshida

I was honestly, like genuinely sad last season he was like 80% eye candy with not much else going for him. Paxton had so much faith as a character and Ms Kaling has really pulled him into such a better person this season.

Paxton got hit by a car before swim season, lost his ticket to college and wow, got two timed by a girl he liked all in two episodes. If he was salty about that for more than one season I would’ve completely accepted it. Cause that’s a bad public humiliation.

Paxton episode really really made me love him as a character (honestly more so than Ben) I think because I heard Paxton’s entire worry and irritation that he was being underestimated and no one really expected him to go to college from a friend of mine not more than a month ago. That shit is real, and it hurted my friends a lot that people were really underestimating them and just seeing them as a dumb athlete who has no hope of college. It’s really nice to see Paxton actually want to go to college and learn Japanese American side with his Oji-chan giving him advice and supporting him. And him bringing his grandfather to speak about the internment camps, that seriously do not get spoken about enough.

Also him putting effort and making a genuine effort to work hard and bring up his grades with Devi and therefore bonding with her was really nice to see. I wouldn’t mind them being endgame but Devi does really work a lot better as his pushy Indian mom/best friend/tutor. And Devi getting mad at him for him expecting him to hold his hand throughout really hit well. Was it deserved yeah. But Devi also did blow him off after promising him to study so his anger is justified there. I’m just kinda vibing with Paxton like coming up and taking a better interest in school and being a full 3D character. And that one scene where he gives the extra credit presentation and Trent high fives the man. Classic.

Can I also just say, it’s kinda valid that Paxton didn’t want to date her in public. Is it a dick move...yeah? But he’s within his rights to ask and she’s within her rights to deny. And he didn’t press her once she said no, he went along with it. And what Devi pulled on him is awful, and speaking as someone who’s seen popular kid cliques. Reputation really is important. Like what Devi did made Paxton lose face, if he gets back with Devi he ain’t gonna have any respect left in him. And Paxton was pretty right in deciding to not date her publicly, like even in the end he knows that his reputation is shot for what he did. Do we even know if Paxton has friends that aren’t fixated on his social status? Because becoming a social pariah without having any support of friends is gonna hurt like a bitch. Lord knows how Paxton gonna deal with it. I think Trent might be his only homie after the social downfall he will inevitably face.

I’m just gonna say, Paxton is my favourite now and I’m really rooting for him. Something I decidedly did not do last season. I’m happy Ms Kaling developed him so much and got me interested.

3. Ben Gross

Ah. Ben. Ben’s not my faaavouriteee.......like he’s fine. But I don’t love him. I can definitely see him and Devi becoming an almost endgame couple though. Especially with S2 ending.

Ben is fine and he’s pretty developed, especially with his episode in S1 and it was good he took a backseat this season and let everyone else star. I feel like he’ll come back strong next season though.

Personally do I ship him with Devi? No. I’ve been in a friendship with the similar competitive dynamic as Ben and Devi. And it was terrible. We loved to argue and we got each other’s super brainy side as Devi puts it. But we pushed each other faar too much and even the small things became arguments and each pthers achievements became jealousy. So yeah....I don’t have too much faith in the dynamic due to personal bias, but I’d love to see how it gets handled.

Also my brother Ben, PDA is a thing and it is common courtesy to refrain from it. Man’s really going at it with Aneesa half the time. But also the moment where Aneesa sort of choked on the presentation and Ben’s irritation at it gave me BAAAD vibes. It feels like while Devi can match him, they might push each other too far,

4. Kamala

I LOVE KAMALA. Girl is an ENTIRE vibe. My sweetheart, love of my life. I could go on. I really like her development as well and the banter between her and Nalini. The part where Nalini practically said she looked like a call girl and she was like ippadi potathaan velaila mariyaatha kidaikum. I legit had to pause, scream in laughter for a good few seconds.

They had such a good story with her and wanting to fight against the fact that they took her work and didn’t credit her and everyone was telling her to like take it bowing. Prasanth’s advice unfortunately checked out to me, because I’ve been told that all my life. My dad says it a lot and I know he doesn’t say it cause’ he doesn’t believe in me, but he loves me and wants my life to be easier and for me to succeed and his experience is that he’s had to deal with things like this and fighting won’t help. So yeah, what Prasanth said did not rub me the wrong way at all and I agreed with it and I’m fairly disappointed about that. I get that she got nervous and had cold feet about marriage but I do hope she and Prasanth can work this out through communication. Because I really don’t feel like Prasanth is the bad guy here. It’s just a miscommunication.

So yeah, a LOT of Kamala’s storyline continues to really hit me hard.

5. Nalini Vishwakumar

Nalini really had so much more screentime to blossom. I love that she has a good relationship with Mohan’s amma. It’s wonderful and I love it. Also I was shocked to see the house in Chennai. Like this house...in Chennai. The Chennai I’m used to and the Chennai they are used to are different Chennai’s. Basically wealth gap is crazy as hell and I was lowkey highkey confused if the actually shot this shit in Chennai. But props to the directors for putting some proper Tamil vibes in there. Like the scene where they kaala thottu kumbudurathu (touch the elder’s feet) before they leave for the US is so real and so vibes. I like that they decided to bring paati back. I was like hoping for it.

Also they really went at developing Nalini’s character as a workaholic mom who doesn’t get her daughter. That’s also a really common thing in Indian households with one working parent so I’m happy they portrayed that. I’m happy Nalini actually has a life outside her family portrayed and is still such a typical mother that it hits HARD. I love Nalini and she really developed as a character dealing with grief from Mohan’s death, the wish to move on with Dr.Jackson but knowing that she isn’t ready yet.

They gave her character a life and proper working outside Devi and it really has shown to develop her character and impact her relationship with Devi. The advice to “just say yes” works with cousins and younger siblings as well, I’ve heard it before and used it..and it saves so much time. Especially with small children.

(A memory I have is of my younger cousin going on and on about a princess and a castle and fighting a dragon and the witches and so much fantasy shit and ended with do you wanna come? I just clocked off my CCA’s and I had no energy left to question it so I just went yeah sure. Easiest decision, and 10/10 advice. )

6. Aneesa

I’m not gonna lie. I was skeptical of Aneesa and I didn’t like how Devi saw her in the trailer. But Aneesa reminds me so much of me....and its killing me.

Also the scene where she charms the hell out of Nalini and paati ma has literally happened to me before. Most of my Indian friends hate it..because I was raised with a lot more traditional manners with my grandparents so me and my siblings all are old fashioned which parents LOVE. And I really saw that Aneesa charming them and Devi also realizing, Damn none of my friends actually treat my family the way they should be treated, perks of having an Indian friend.

Also the scene where she gets Devi out of trouble is so so real. Because if you have one responsible friend that you parents trust, you could lie the hell to them, get you homie to back you up and it will work. Personal experience. So yeah, Aneesa character resonated with me a lot.

I also like that she wasn’t just a popular 1D Indian girl but she was genuinely cool and actually had proper issues and development where she gets more open to Sherman Oaks and actually kinda properly rebels against Noor, with having Ben as a boyfriend.

I feel like Aneesa has a lot more potential for growth, especially with the relationship with Ms Noor and Aneesa acting as a foil to Nalini and Devi’s. Also, I feel like Aneesa can grow within her social status at school as well and have Devi maturely handle it. Aneesa I feel will really really challenge Devi’s ability to be mature.

7. Eleanor and Fabiola’s plotlines

Okay like actually, major props to Ms Kaling man. This show touches so so many teen issues in one goddamn show. Emotionally manipulative relationships. So SO good. A lot of newer age relationships have a much more subtle and dangerous line of abuse that’s hard to find out. Like honestly it took me a while to see it as well and I realized oh fuck. oh fuck...I see it it’s bad. They really got the essence of Eleanor’s flamboyance matching with Malcom? (is it Malcolm..fuck it it’s Malcolm now) his “suaveness” and traditionally charming tendency. It made sense and it’s very realistic how Eleanor got played like a damn fiddle. I also again feel that the make up was faar to quick but I really appreciate that Eleanor got her own storyline with her step-mom and understanding of relationships instead of the show hyperfocusing on just Devi. I respect that a lot. Petition to get a Eleanor narration episode.

Fabiola’s storyline also was well taken. It’s an interesting added layer to the queer experience and how queerness can be expected to be performative and but really its all about being more of yourself. The idea that queer people don’t owe nobody anything or have to perform an ideal version of queerness and Fabiola struggling with that kinda hit. The part where they talked about her mother learning to support them and being Cricket? Queen/King. Like being trailblazers for the POC community and the LGBTQ+ community having overlapping struggles. Again, I liked that Fabiola was getting more personal screentime and less of her story revolving around Devi’s.

8. Everything else

I liked that there was more Tamil being casually thrown around. Like the Kamala vaadi to hold the suitcase down as they zipped it together was funny and relatable. The accents were really interesting because I promise you, I had no clue what they were saying sometimes. Nalini’s dialogues in Tamil were like immensely difficult to understand, and my Tamil is fluent. This isn’t a criticism... I’m fairly certain the difference is to do with the regional difference. American Tamil and Malaysian + rural Tamil slang are going to have huge accent differences so there’s no surprise that I found Nalini’s Tamil hard to understand.

I’m really really really meh about the Kamala and Manish/Mr Kulkarni thing. I still think she should sort it out with Prasanth maybe but I’m open to seeing where it goes. I might change my mind with it.

This show like any other show had its highs and lows. But I really really do feel that NHIE season 2 managed to truly figure out what the hell it wants to do and developed into a very strong and very entertaining show in terms of representation and diversity. I’m looking forward to season 3.

#nhie netflix #nhie season 2 #nhie s2 #nhie spoilers #nhie review #never have i ever #never have i ever season 2 #never have i ever spoilers #i have a lot of thoughts #bear with me here

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alethiometry · 3 years

Note

Edward Kenway for character asks!

ooooooo okay i should open this with a disclaimer: i have not finished black flag yet (about 2/3 of the way through i think? i need to level up my ship so i can beat the next story mission lol) so everything i'm saying here is based on the game up to thatch's death, and everything we know about edward in ac 3: forsaken and the comics that came out a couple years ago.

First impression

oh boy... to be honest, one of the reasons it took me such a long time to get around to playing black flag (it was one of the first ps4 games i bought when i got my console in 2016, and i didn't start until about a month ago) was because i didn't really feel particularly strongly about edward's character design. i was vaguely interested in That One Pirate Assassin Game after having watched (and loved) black sails, but was afraid i would be let down; to me edward just looked like Some Dude, and i was still hung up on the black sails gang. to me, black sails and its characters were so genre/time period-defining that any other piece of pirate media just seemed lackluster in comparison.

i'd also heard a lot of praise for edward and for ac4 in general so i was aware that it was a very popular and well-received game. but since i mostly heard that from reddit (didn't join tumblr ac fandom until odyssey in 2018) i kind of discounted it, bc gamer reddit tastes are... questionable at best.

Impression now

I LOVE HIM!!! i always think i want stories about virtuous characters who believe in goodness and kindness and aren't motivated by gold or glory but aren't afraid to do what needs to be done to help others who can't help themselves. and sometimes that's true (coughratonhnhake:toncough). other times i end up clowning on myself because i realize that it's so much fun when said good/kind character has a rough and rugged exterior, and is motivated by personal gain (i think edward and kassandra are kinda kindred spirits across time and space in that regard, but maybe that's another rant for another time). sometimes you just want someone to be a little bit of an opportunistic bastard, and boy does edward fit that to a T. he's an incredibly complex man, and i think what really got me was that even as he was impersonating assassins and then templars and then assassins again, all for personal gain (pickpocketing the templars in havana while he gains their trust and agrees to do their dirty work lmfao my beloved <3), his primary motivation for doing so was to prove to caroline and her family that he is someone worth a damn, that he is capable of great things and that he is worthy of their love and acceptance. and i know from ac forsaken that the marriage with caroline doesn't last (though i haven't played ac4 far enough to see if that happens on screen, or if it occurs between the game and the novel) which makes his backstory in the game all the more heartbreaking. but his optimism and perseverance and determination to prove himself are all what make me love him.

so that's edward the romantic. now let's talk about the way edward is with adewale, his crew, and his friends. and let's also put the rest of this behind a readmore bc girl i am RANTINGGGGGG

he has several lines that he says to adewale that make me physically cringe (namely: "many of [these men] wouldn't accept you as captain" or "what was it like being enslaved?" like i get that someone like edward would be asking that question in good faith and genuine curiosity but also JESUS CHRIST UBISOFT). but on the flip side - cringey as those questions are, he also takes the time to actually listen and learn, and i think he genuinely values the perspective that he gets from adewale allowing him to open these lines of trust and communication. there's a patience and mutual respect there that i adore.

i also love how much edward loves his crew and his other pirate friends. those scenes of him + kidd + thatch + adewale + hornigold (lol) drinking on the beach and having a grand old time and talking about establishing - to borrow one of my favorite chills-down-my-spine phrases from black sails - a nation of thieves, for people like them to live and prosper, free from the chokehold of civilization. and i know he's not as outwardly invested in counterculture/independence/anticolonialism as thatch and vane and kidd are, but the fact that he so wholeheartedly supports his friends' goals, lofty and impossible as they are, speaks volumes about his love for his friends.

Favorite moment

every scene he has with kidd when kidd casually and softly reminds him that they see that he is a good person beneath his opportunistic and rambunctious exterior. i especially love when they discover julien du casse's mansion containing orders for templars to go out and hunt down assassins: the way kidd immediately knows that edward wants to help the assassins as a way to make up for the damage he did while masquerading as a templar, even if he hasn't voiced it aloud himself. the way that they don't force edward to admit anything about himself before he is ready, but still constantly remind him that he has a good heart. they give him space to come to terms with his compassionate side in a world/environment that more often than sees compassion as something to be stamped out or cast aside. i don’t love when characters are forced to be the Moral Compass for a main dude character, but i think it works for edward and kidd.

Idea for a story

not an edward story per se, but there are 2 povs into edward's life that i would cut off (someone else's) limbs for:

jenny's pov growing up in the kenway household. from haytham's pov it seems that she knows way more about his past than haytham ever did (it was hinted at that there are rumors about edward’s past as haytham was growing up that he wasn’t privy to, but i don’t think at any point in the novel does haytham ever find out definitively that his father was a pirate) and i want to know how she knew so much, and more into what her life was like - through her eyes rather than haytham, who is like 10 years younger and by his own admission barely understands her and barely has a functional relationship with her. i'll expand further on edward and jenny in the next question/prompt/bullet point, actually, bc i have a LOT more to say.

connor's pov learning about his grandfather from... idk? who's around to tell him? what's so goddamn sad is that by the time connor rebuilds the colonial brotherhood he's kinda the only one left. sure there's aveline down in louisiana, but as far as we know everyone who was around in edward's generation is dead now, and i'm not sure how much of the kenway saga is preserved for connor to discover, or if all this information about their family line was discovered in the modern-day, by your abstergo employee character, and later by osto berg in the comics. which is why i so badly want a revelations-style game where connor traces his assassin heritage back to the caribbean, relives some of edward's memories, and then makes the trip to london to see his aunt jenny. it would have been such a cool way to round out the kenway saga.

Unpopular opinion

idk how popular or unpopular this is bc i rarely see other in-depth posts about it on my dash, but edward was a terrible father to jenny. he was every bit the wonderful and loving father to haytham for the 10 years that haytham had a father, but i wish we'd seen more of jenny's perspective than just a few lines of dialogue in haytham's diary: i hate the way edward sidelined her and raised her in the same manner that any other wealthy person of the time would have raised their daughter - that is, for the sole purpose of sitting pretty and marrying her off in an arrangement that would benefit the family. it's especially hard to reconcile because in ac4 there are female assassins in the americas, and there are female pirates in the caribbean, so it's not like edward isn't aware that women have as much right as any man to live life on their own terms. it just seems like by the time he returns to england and settles down with his family, he's reverted back to the societal norms and gender roles that the pirates fought (and lost) against, and it's hard not to be deeply disappointed by that.

to be clear, i don't begrudge edward settling down and becoming a Rich Society Man. dude deserves to live comfortably with his loving family. he has every right to dote on his wife and children, and leave behind the hardships of being a pirate. but i think "fightning against deeply-ingrained cultural norms/expectations is a long and bloody struggle, and after losing so many people he cared so deeply about, i think it's understandable that edward wouldn't want to continue that fight alone (and also adewale is still fighting the good fight) (do NOT @ me about ac rogue I Pretend I Do Not See It)" and "i don't love the way edward sidelined his daughter into societally-expected gender roles she did not want; it makes me think that he did not continue drinking his Respect Women Juice as much as i thought he did/wanted him to" are two opinions that can coexist.

Favorite relationship

i don't know that i ship edward romantically with anyone, actually. i thought he and caroline were cute in the beginning, but it's hard to want to ship them knowing that she leaves him eventually. and ofc there'd edward/tessa in ac forsaken, and we know they were very happy together and that he loved her so so much. but we don't see that relationship except through haytham's eyes.

as for non-romantic relationships, i already talked at length above about his relationships with adewale and the other pirates and kidd, and i'll just leave it at that. i'm also vaguely aware that edward's got some upcoming scenes with anne bonny, but i'm not at that point in the game yet so i don't have much to say about the two of them. so far i've only seen them say a few lines to each other at the nassau tavern.

Favorite headcanon

kassandra absolutely rubbed shoulders with edward at some point during his time in the caribbean; i like to think that she needed to lie low for some reason (maybe she was with the assassins idk) and joined his crew. i just need my best stabby gal and my second-favorite stabby dude to be pals!

finally, this isn't a headcanon per se but it is obligatory that any time i talk about kenways i yell for a bit about the fact that EDWARD WOULD HAVE LOVED CONNOR SO SO SO MUCH AND I'M FOREVER DEVASTATED THAT HE NEVER GOT TO MEET HIM. at the same time, if edward hadn't been murdered and haytham not been indoctrinated into the templars the way he had, i'm not sure connor would even have existed. and in a way i'm glad that edward wasn't around to see how broken and cynical and depressed haytham became, because i think that would have absolutely broken his heart.

send me a character!

#KEN👏WAY👏BRAIN👏ROT👏#assassin's creed #ac black flag #edward kenway #ask games #reiverreturns #THANK YOU FOR ASKING i hope you expected and wanted this can of worms #finally wrangled that stupid ask box bug - saved this in my drafts and edited it from there #and lo and behold i can type W E and L!

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kookiesjoonies · 4 years

Text

all in | chapter sixteen.

all in | chapter sixteen: spring break.

A/N: sorry for taking an extra day to upload, i just really wanted to get this chapter right! enjoy. xo also i skimmed this while editing so i may have missed a few grammatical things, oops. pls let me know if you spot anything major!

main pairing: rapper!namjoon x university student/bartender!reader

side ships: jikook, actor!seokjin x university student/bartender!oc, yoonseok,

word count: 7.7k

warnings: fluff, language, smut, groping, dry humping, hand job, nipple play, multiple orgasms, squirting, praise kink, dirty talk, there’s like one spank, oral sex (f. receiving), unprotected sex (don’t do this pls), creampie

— SERIES SUMMARY

you aren’t usually one to give out your number to strangers (let alone customers), but after you start talking to Namjoon and getting to know him, you decide that there’s no way you’re going to let him leave without it. however, he fails to mention that he’s one of the most popular rappers in South Korea. and it just so happens that one of your best friends ends up with an extra ticket to one of his shows.

The drive to the beach was peaceful, relaxing. You sat in the back with Jungkook and Jimin, Jin driving, and Dani beside of him in the passenger’s seat. Jungkook had fallen asleep on Jimin’s shoulder, and Jimin followed suit, leaning his cheek onto the top of his boyfriend’s head and allowing sleep to capture him as well. Dani and Jin had their fingers intertwined on the console in between them, talking and laughing among themselves.

You were happy for your friends, of course. But you couldn’t help the sadness that started to creep its way in at the fact that Namjoon wasn’t going to be there with you. You knew that your friends would never leave you out, and they’d go out of their way to make sure that you felt included, but still, it pained you that he wasn’t there.

You pulled out your phone to check and see if you’d ever received any texts back from him, and you let out of huff as you saw that the only new notifications you had were from Twitter, and not from Joon. He was busy, you assumed. Probably rehearsing, eating lunch, maybe sleeping.

You decided to text him for the third time in a row since you and your friends had embarked on the five hour drive to the beach, simply telling him that you missed him. You always worried that you’d come off at clingy or needy when you texted him multiple times, and after you’d expressed such worries to Namjoon, he was quick to shut them down. He told you that he adored when you did things like that. So now, it was just habit. It was comfortable.

You made sure that your sound was on before stuffing your phone into your pocket, just in case Namjoon was able to find time to respond to your texts. You only had a few hours left in the car before you’d be at the beach house you and your friends had rented, so you decided it wouldn’t hurt to try and sleep. You crossed your arms over your chest and slid down in your seat the tiniest bit to make yourself feel more comfortable before you leaned your body over, resting your head on Jungkook’s shoulder and allowing your eyelids to droop down.

The beach house wasn’t extravagant by any means. It was definitely older. Specks of paint were missing from the siding, the stairs up to the front door were creaky, and the once white tile flooring on the inside was stained a light shade of yellow from all of the heavy traffic. The wallpaper inside was out of date by at least forty years, you figured. And the sliding doors that led out to the balcony squeaked every time they were opened. But despite all of that, you were absolutely ecstatic that you were able to find a decent property right on the beach. The place only had to make do for a week anyway.

You all took turns deciding on bedrooms. Luckily there wasn’t much difference between the three of them. One of the rooms was a bit more cramped than the other two, and it had a normal full sized bed instead of a queen.

“I’ll take this one,” You stated, walking into the empty room and placing your suitcase down beside of the dresser, “I’ll be sleeping alone, anyway.”

You tried to sound nonchalant about it, you really did. But your friends saw right through you.

Jimin made his way over to you, letting his slender arm rest across your shoulders, “You can sleep with Kook and I, we won’t mind.”

“Uhm,” you turned your head to face him, cocking a brow, “I would mind. I don’t need a front row seat to what I know is bound to happen in that room. It’s bad enough I’ll probably end up hearing it anyway.”

Jimin just grinned, and you heard Jungkook chuckle somewhere off to the side.

“Well,” Jungkook started, the corner of his lips tugging and forming into a sly smirk, “Jimin, should we go and test her theory?”

“Absofuckinglutely.” He was quick to remove his arm from behind your head, walking over to his boyfriend and pulling him into the room that the two of them had claimed and slamming the door shut behind them. The one right beside of yours, because of course it was.

You shuddered and tried to shake the explicit images of what was about to happen in that room out of your head.

“We’re going down to the beach, do you want to come with us?” Dani asked as she walked out of the room she and Jin had taken over with him by her side, both of them already changed into their swimwear.

You took a second to think about it before shaking your head in response, “No, I think I’m actually going to just sit out on the balcony and read. I’ll join you guys in a bit.”

Dani frowned at you, and she knew exactly why you didn’t want to go down with them.

She sighed, “Yn, I know you’re sad that he isn’t here. But don’t let that stop you from enjoying your vacation, you know he’d be mad at you if you did.”

She was right. You knew she was right. Still, you couldn’t shake the disappointed feeling in the pit of your stomach. You’d feel better once you talked to Joon, or at least, you hoped that you would.

“I know, I know. You’re right, as always.”

“Obviously.” Dani boasted, and you just rolled your eyes at your best friend.

“Come on, babe. I want to work on my tan before the sun sets.” Jin whined, pulling his girlfriend toward the front door by her hand.

Dani called out to you in the midst of being whisked away, “I ordered a pizza for dinner, Yn. It should be here any minute, listen for the knock on the door, okay?”

“Gotcha!” You responded, unsure whether or not she’d heard you before Jin was pushing the front door shut behind them.

After they were gone, you pulled out your phone to check it again. Still nothing. No new messages, no missed calls. You let out a long, frustrated sigh. You knew this was part of it. You knew he wasn’t going to be able to be at your beck and call twenty four seven, but right now, you wished that he could be. No matter how selfish that was.

You decided it would be best to do what you’d told Dani you planned to do, so you hurriedly retrieved the book that you’d packed from your suitcase. You slid the creaky side doors open after making your way back into the living room, stepping out and onto the balcony. You breathed in the salty sea air, taking a moment to lean against the railing to admire the sea. The views from where you were stood were absolutely breathtaking.

There was a light breeze blowing and you could feel it traveling through your hair, see it flow through the leaves on the palm trees below you. You were immediately taken over by a sense of calm, a sense of absolute relaxation. You were determined to make the most of this spring break vacation. So, you bent your legs to take a seat on the patio chair behind you and opened up your book to chapter one.

You’d barely gotten through the first five pages before there was a knock on the front door. You let out a groan, not wanting to move from your current state of unwinding on the balcony. You waited a moment, hoping and praying that Jimin or Jungkook would do you a solid and open the door. But when you heard a set of knuckles tap against the wood again, you determined you were going to have no such luck.

You folded down the corner of the page you were reading to mark your place before shutting the book closed and setting it down on the glass end table beside of where you were sitting.

“Coming!” You called out, hoping that the delivery person would hear you.

You made your way back inside, spotting Jimin’s wallet on the counter. Your eyes perked up, and you giggled mischievously to yourself. This is what he gets for being too fucking horny to open the door. You pulled out a bill and placed your hand on the doorknob, twisting it to open the door. Pizza did sound delicious, actually. Your stomach began growling at the thought of it. You guessed you were hungrier than you’d originally thought.

When you pulled the door open, though, there was no delivery person. There was no pizza. Instead, there was Namjoon. With a suitcase in one hand, and a bouquet of flowers in the other.

You didn’t speak. You couldn’t. Not yet, at least. Your jaw dropped open and you just stared at him, and he let out a low chuckle at your actions. He grinned down at you, his adorable dimples on full display. And you were sure there was no way he was real. You were dreaming, and that was the only explanation.

“Babe, you in there?” He teased, waving his hand from side to side in front of his face.

You suddenly snapped out of your state of shock and your eyes were immediately glossed as tears began to form. Before you could even think, you were jumping up from the ground and wrapping your legs around his waist. Namjoon was quick to catch you, dropping his suitcase and the flowers. His hands cupped your bottom to keep you pressed against him and to keep you from falling back down to the ground.

You carefully pressed your palms to either side of his face, slowly dragging both of your thumbs along the tops of his cheekbones.

“You’re here.” You whispered, and he offered you a slight nod of his head in response.

“I’m here, baby.”

You pressed your lips against his so hard that your teeth momentarily collided with his, but neither of you seemed to mind. Your hands fell to his neck, fingers toying with the ends of his perfect blonde hair at the nape of his neck. He pushed his tongue past your lips with ease, and you eagerly opened up your mouth for him. His tongue moved hungrily around yours, twisting and curling around yours in a way that was maddening, that made you feel like you were floating.

You pulled his lower lip in between your teeth, and he let out a ragged growl. And you were sure you’d never heard anything sexier in your entire life. The sound alone had you vibrating a moan against his lips, and he gave your ass a tight squeeze in return. You moaned again, this time into his mouth. And he swallowed the sound, pulling back to drag his lips messily up your jawline.

“Hey, didn’t Dani say she ordered pizza—“ you barely even heard Jimin speak, hadn’t even fully registered his voice until he screamed, “Holy shit! My eyes! Get a room!”

He retreated back to his shared sanctuary with Jungkook, palms pressed tightly against his eyes as he hurried his way out of the living room and away from you and Namjoon.

He chuckled against your jaw, pressing one final kiss against your skin before he was pulling back. His forehead leaned to rest against yours, both of your eyes still closed. Both of your chests were rising and falling rapidly as you tried desperately to catch your breath.

“He’s such a cock block.” You panted out, and Namjoon couldn’t hold back his loud laughter.

He gave your lips another kiss. A sweet, loving peck that only left you wanting more.

“If I put you down now, are you going to be able to stand?” He was smirking, and you had half a mind to kiss that smirk right off his face.

Instead, you just offered him a dramatic, sarcastic sigh, “Put me down, if you must.”

He gave your ass cheek one last squeeze, this one much tougher than the last and it caused you to let out a surprised yelp. He only chuckled at you again, slowly setting your feet back down onto the floor.

“Here,” he started, bending over to pick up the flowers that he’d previously been forced to discard, “these are for you.”

You tilted your head so that your eyes could lock onto his, offering him an appreciative smile as he handed the flowers off to you.

“Thank you, you didn’t have to.” You said, bringing the flowers up to your nostrils and inhaling their sweet scent.

“I know I didn’t have to, but I wanted to.” He returned your smile with a grin of his own, pressing a quick kiss to your hairline.

Once Namjoon had settled his suitcase beside of yours in the bedroom, the two of you made your way out and onto the balcony. The sun was starting to set now. The sky was dim with shades of pink and orange, the colors reflecting beautifully on the calm ocean below.

You were sitting on Namjoon’s lap, leaned back against his chest as the two of you looked out and over the water. His arms were wrapped loosely around your stomach, your own arms resting over his as your palms laid flat over his large hands.

“So, were you surprised?” He asked, his lips finding their way to the side of your neck to press a feather light kiss against your skin.

You nodded, leaning back and resting your head on top of his shoulder, “I really was, I had no clue you were coming. How did you pull this off, by the way?”

His fingertips had began to lightly trace over your stomach in circular motions, sending goosebumps traveling down your arms.

“Dani helped me. I messaged her on Instagram and told her I had the first three days of your spring break off, so I wanted to show up here and surprise you.”

“I’m going to hit her, like, actually hit her.” You joked, and Namjoon snorted out a laugh.

He sighed, “I know three days isn’t much—“

You cut him off before he could even finish his thought, “Three days is better than none. I’m so happy you’re here.”

He nodded his head once in agreement, pulling one of your hands up and to his mouth, pecking his lips against the back of your hand.

“When you leave, where are you going?” You wondered, beginning to rub your thumb along the back of his hand.

He hummed at the comforting feeling as he replied to your question, “Tokyo.”

“You’re so lucky,” you sighed, “I’ve never left Korea.”

“Where would you go, if you could?”

“Paris,” you didn’t hesitate, “I’ve always wanted to go. See the Eiffel Tower in person. I can only imagine how beautiful it is.”

“It is,” he assured you, “I’ve been a few times. Twice, I think? It’s hard to keep track, really.”

“Where’s your favorite place that you’ve traveled to?”

He poked his cheek with his tongue, pondering your question for a moment before finally giving you a reply, “Italy, if I had to choose just one place.”

“I’d love to see pictures of all the places you’ve been, I’m sure you’ve taken a thousand.” You teased, shifting a bit on his lap so that you could face him and lift your arms to link around his neck.

“I’ll do you one better,” he said, “We go on a trip after you graduate from school in a few months. I’ll take you anywhere you want to go, to as many places as you want.”

You were quick to protest, shaking your head, “Namjoon, I can’t let you do that. That’s too much, and too much money. I don’t want you to think I’m using you for your fame or money or—“

He stopped your rambling with a quick kiss to your lips, “Yn, I know you aren’t using me. If I thought you were, I wouldn’t have offered. Please, let me do this for you. I want to.”

You chewed on your lower lip, weighing the pros and cons before finally emitting a sigh and flashing him a smile, “Okay. If you insist.”

He grinned, rapidly pressing messy kisses all over your face and causing you to erupt with laughter.

“So,” he finally said, “Paris, and then where?”

“Surprise me.”

Once the air began to feel chilly, you and Namjoon made your way inside. Your friends were all gathered in the living room, spread out in front of the television and eating dinner that they’d ordered.

Dani spoke up when she saw the two of you enter the room, “Dinner’s on the counter. We didn’t want to disturb you two out there.”

She winked at you, and you couldn’t help but to roll your eyes at her teasing, “Thanks for that, Dan. And thank you for not telling me he was coming, rude.”

You glared at her as you made your way over to the kitchen counter, pilfering through the boxes of take out and grabbing a few things for you and Namjoon to share.

“Hey! Blame Namjoon, he told me not to.”

Namjoon rose his hands up, “I wanted to surprise her!”

You cracked a low laugh at them, shaking your head and walking toward the hallway where the bedrooms were. You stopped at the archway, turning toward Namjoon, “You coming?”

He didn’t need to be asked twice. He mumbled goodbyes to your friend group as he took a few strides in your direction, the two of you walking toward the bedroom that you’d laid claim over.

“They’re gonna do it, huh?” Jungkook whispered.

Jimin grimaced, “Shut up, Kook. Our room is right next to theirs.”

“Guess we’ll just have to drown them out.” Jungkook smirked, causing Jin to choke on the food he was shoveling into his mouth.

He groaned, looking over at Dani with his lips pushed out and into a pout, “Is it too late for us to get our own beach house?”

You and Namjoon were eating dinner on your bed. You sat beside of him with your legs crossed and he was sitting up, leaning his back against the headboard. You shared the containers of food evenly, feeding each other bites here and there. You shared a drink as well, and you were happily surprised at how comfortable this was. It felt domestic, and like the two of you had been together for years already. Even though, you still weren’t even official.

Namjoon was rambling about his favorite art exhibits that he’d been able to see on tour, and you listened intently. You admired the way he spoke faster the more excited he got about something, the way he spoke with his hands and the sparkle in his eyes whenever a specific topic seemed to get him exceptionally riled up. You decided that you could listen to him talk for hours and never get bored.

“I’m sorry,” he nervously laughed, “I keep rambling.”

You shook your head, quick to dismiss his apology, “Joon, I could listen to you talk for days on end. I love the sound of your voice.”

His cheeks flushed a bright shade of pink, and you smiled at the sight.

“Guess it’s a good thing that the feeling is mutual, then.” He said, and this time it was your turn to blush.

The containers you’d been eating out of were empty now, and you began to pile them up on the nightstand beside of you, deciding they could wait awhile before you actually left the room to throw them away properly. You didn’t want to leave him, even if it was just to walk down the hallway to the kitchen. You’d been away from him for too long already, and in just a few days he’d be packing up to leave again. You frowned, head tilting down with your eyes fixated on your lap. You twiddled your thumbs, and Namjoon’s facial expression twisted into one of worry.

“Hey,” he said, using his fingertips to lift your chin up, “look at me. What’s on your mind?”

He turned your head to face him, and you risked a glance upward at him, “Nothing, I just—“ you sighed, “I keep thinking about how you’ll be leaving again soon. I just miss you.”

He leaned down to lightly peck his lips against yours, allowing your lips to stay still against one another for a moment before he pulled back.

“I miss you, so much. Just a few more months, and then I’m home for six months. I’ll be all yours.”

That perked you up instantly, causing your frown to morph into a smile.

“There she is.” He said, running his thumb along your chin.

You kissed him then, allowing your hands to make their way up and rest on the sides of his face. His hands found their way to your hips, gripping onto them ever so lightly.

He grazed his tongue across your lower lip, and you opened up for him without giving it a second thought. His tongue pushed its way into your mouth, twisting and gliding against yours with fervor. He was savoring the taste of you, and you happily let him. He pulled your lower lip in between his teeth and lightly bit down. You moaned against his lips and his grip on your hips tightened, fingertips digging into the fabric of your T-shirt as he lifted you up to set you on his lap.

You shrieked as he lifted you up, causing the two of you to lightly laugh against each other’s mouths. You straddled him, legs on either side of him. And when you felt the hardening bulge in his pants against your thigh, you moaned again, a long and drawn out sound. You wanted him, and you figured it was safe to assume that he wanted you just the same. So, to test your theory, you ground your hips downward. Slowly, teasingly.

Namjoon sucked in a breath at the feeling, hissing through his teeth and removing his mouth from yours, dragging his tongue along your jaw.

He pushed his hips up in an attempt to create more friction, his erection hitting your clothed clit beautifully. You whined, jaw dropping at the sensation that was now shooting electric bolts throughout your body and had you shamelessly grinding your hips at a quickening pace.

You let out a sigh as he moved his lips to your neck. He sucked on the skin just below your earlobe, eliciting a soft groan from your mouth.

“Fuck,” he sighed, swirling his tongue around the purple bruise that was beginning to take form, “the sounds you’re making are fucking incredible, baby.”

His encouraging words had you moving your hips at an even quicker pace. You seemed to hit your throbbing clit perfectly every time, causing a string of whimpers to make their way up your throat.

“Joon, I—“ his hands found their way down from your hips and onto your ass as he kept you steady, guiding your movements, “I want you, please.”

He stopped the assault on your neck and pulled back to look at you.

“You sure?” he was breathless as he spoke and his eyes had gone completely dark, “Yn, we don’t have to—“

The sudden feeling of your palm being pressed against his cock over his jeans cut him off. He groaned as he pulled his lower lip between his teeth as you gave him a gentle squeeze, using your thumb to stroke along his length.

He bucked his hips up and into your hand as you began to trail hot, sloppy kisses down his neck. You pushed your tongue out and licked along his Adam’s Apple before sucking on the skin there, causing Namjoon to let out the loudest, most beautiful moan.

“Still need convincing that I’m sure?” You mumbled against his neck, nibbling your way up to his jawline.

He was quick to shake his head, “No, but if you keep this up I’m going to blow it in my pants.”

Your lips were pressed against his jaw as you giggled at his words, “As fun as that sounds, I’d much rather you blow it inside of me.”

You felt his cock twitch against your hand at the sound of your words, Namjoon letting out a shaky breath. He was quick to change your position, flipping you over and hovering above you. Your hands flew to rest above your head and he pinned your wrists down to the pillow, nibbling on your earlobe as his free hand found its way underneath your shirt.

You hissed at the feeling of his cold fingertips suddenly coming in contact with the skin of your stomach. He traced a circle around your belly button before slowly ascending his hand up and over your naked breast. You were silently thanking God that you’d decided to go bra-less.

Your hips were pushing off of the bed and into his, trying to create some sort of friction to ease the ache in your core. He reacted, allowing his hips to grind down against yours. You mewled at the feeling, causing him to growl right in your ear. The sound went straight to your already soaked pussy, and you were sure there was a wet spot taking form on your shorts.

He cupped one of your tits with his hand, giving it a firm squeeze before rubbing his thumb along your nipple in circular motions. You bit down on your bottom lip, arching your back up and into his hand.

He took your nipple in between his thumb and forefinger to give it a pinch and you shrieked at the feeling, squirming underneath his touch.

“Fuck, you’re so sensitive.” He was peppering kisses against your neck now, tongue poking it’s way out to lick and suck on your skin. He was determined to create bruises all up and down your throat, making sure that anyone who saw you would know that you belonged to him and him alone.

“If you’re this sensitive from me touching you up here, I wonder how sensitive you’ll be when I touch you...” he paused, slipping his hand from your breast and down to the waistband of your shorts, pulling it to give it a snap against your skin, “down here.”

You whined at the thought alone, nodding your head quickly, enthusiastically, “Please, oh god, please, Joon.”

“Whatever you want, baby.” He pushed the hem of your shirt up, and you quickly caught on. He released your hands and you lifted your arms, allowing him to free you of your top before he discarded it across the room.

He was practically salivating at the sight of you topless in front of him. Your breasts were perfectly perky and round, nipples poked out and begging to be sucked on. His mouth found its way onto your left nipple, tongue flicking quickly against the stiff bud. A high pitched moan made its way through your lips and your hands found their way into his thick blonde hair.

“Joon,” you sighed, your head falling back as be sucked your nipple into his mouth, effectively bruising it, you were sure.

He pressed a large hand against your stomach, pushing you back down to lie underneath him. He was fast in removing his own shirt, throwing it to join yours on the floor. You were staring at him, eyes raking in his bare chest and stomach. You bit your lip, allowing your hands to roam from his pecks down to his toned stomach. You ran your fingers along the thin line of hair at the lower part of his abdomen, all too eager to find out just exactly what he was packing underneath those jeans.

He didn’t give you too much time to think about it though, because his lips had found their way onto the top of your stomach and were quickly trailing down. His mouth moved downwards sloppily, licking and sucking his way to where you craved him most.

“Holy fuck, babe—“ his jaw dropped at the patch of wetness on your cloth shorts, “I’ve made you this wet already? I’ve barely done anything...”

He was amazed, absolutely fucking fascinated. He pressed his middle and index fingers against the wet spot with no warning, causing you to let out a choked moan.

“Shit, I’ve got to taste you.” He felt like he was high, listening to your moans and seeing you all worked up, just for him.

You were begging him to do so, a string of desperate pleas leaving your mouth. He pulled your shorts down your legs and you kicked them off, your panties quickly following behind them. You were completely naked in front of him now, but you didn’t feel the least bit shy. How could you? When he was staring at your pussy and licking his lips, offering you praises of how fucking beautiful you were. And how fucking gorgeous you looked like this, soaked and begging to be cleaned up.

And he was more than ready to do so. You allowed him to spread your legs, and he groaned at how your arousal glistened against your skin. You expected him to take his time, to tease you and drive you absolutely mad, but much to your surprise he just dove right in. Nose pressed tightly against your core as he dragged his tongue along your sticky folds. You let out a silent scream at the feeling, your hand falling down to tangle in his hair. He pushed his tongue through and landed on your swollen clit, your hips pushing up and off of the bed against your will, trying to get closer to him and away from him all at the same time.

He pressed a hand against your hip to flatten you back down on the bed and you whined as he began lapping at the bundle of nerves, slowly at first and speeding up all at once.

“God, Joon! Fuck—“ you released a string of loud whimpers at the feeling, “don’t stop, please don’t stop.”

He pulled your clit into his mouth and began to suck, all the while pushing his index finger into your tight heat. You cried out at the feeling, eyes screwing shut as you roughly bit down on your lip.

He began pumping his finger in and out of you quickly, his tongue moving in circles on your sensitive nub in tune with the pace of his finger. He added his middle one, pumping and curling against that holy spot deep inside of you.

“Oh! Joon, right there, please please!” Your hand gripped the cotton sheets around you in a poor attempt to keep yourself grounded, as he continued to curl his fingers and pound them against the same spot over and over again.

You were moaning so loudly you were sure the neighbors could hear you, and your friends could definitely hear you, but you couldn’t have given less of a fuck.

One strong press of his fingers and the lethal pace of his tongue against your clit had your walls clenching around his digits. Your orgasm washing over you and pulling your body up and off of the mattress as you squirmed underneath Namjoon’s hold on you. All you could see were the black spots swirling around above you, electricity shooting from your head and down to your toes, causing them to curl. You were pulling on his hair with such a force that it made his scalp sting.

He’d pulled his face away from you to admire the way that you lost yourself in your orgasm, his fingers continuing to fuck you through it as you completely covered his hand in your release. He was drooling at the sight.

When you finally came down, you did so with shaky breaths. You had to blink rapidly to get your vision to come back clearly, tilting your head down to look at Namjoon once it had. He looked so fucking good like this, face covered in your juices. He was staring at your pussy in awe, tongue sticking out to wet his lips.

“You’re staring.” You breathed out, your voice cracking from the dryness in your throat.

“Yeah, I am. That was beautiful, holy fucking shit.” He praised, finally removing his fingers from inside of you and you winced at the emptiness.

His words made your cheeks flush, “You’ve never seen a girl have an orgasm before?” You teased him, and he chuckled and shook his head.

“Of course I have. But I’ve never made a girl squirt before.”

And with that, your jaw dropped, “I— what?!”

“Mhm.” He smirked, eyes flicking down to the dampened sheets.

You propped yourself up on your elbows so that you could look, your jaw dropping further as you saw that he was right. The sheets were a mess, and so was his hand and your thighs.

“I didn’t—, I mean, I’ve never—,” you stumbled over your words, taking a small breath in to gather your thoughts, “nobody’s ever made me do that before. Nobody’s ever made me cum like that, especially not from going down on me.”

The smirk on his face only doubled in size as he listened to you speak, “I’m glad I’m the only one that has. And I plan to be the last one that does.”

His words sent a shiver down your spine, excitement coursing through your veins and going straight between your legs. He stood up momentarily to push his jeans down, kicking them out of the way. You admired the way his cock looked underneath his underwear, moaning at the sight. He peeled his briefs off and they joined his jeans on the floor.

You gasped at the sight before you, gaze locked onto the sinfully beautiful cock that was standing up and leaking precum. You figured he would be big, but this way exceeded your expectations. He was so thick, and so long. You were sure you wouldn’t be able to wrap your hand around it fully if you tried, and you were sure you’d choke on it the second it entered into your mouth. Those thoughts alone made your clit throb, you could only imagine the stretch your pussy was going to have to endure. You squeezed your thighs at the image, the thought of it making you dizzy.

You reached forward and gave a few teasing pumps, watching as Namjoon’s jaw hung open at the sudden contact. You spread the wetness that was leaking from the tip of his dick around the head and you’d never wanted to suck someone off so badly in your entire life.

Namjoon seemed to have different plans, however, because he was quickly batting your hand away from his member and crawling over top of you again.

“I was going to—“ you started, and he shook his head as he stared down at you.

His hair was sticking to his forehead from sweat and his eyes were hooded, “I can’t wait for the day I get to see that beautiful mouth of yours wrapped around my dick, but if I don’t get inside of you right now, I’m going to fucking lose it, Yn.”

You quickly wrapped your arms around his back and spread your legs for him, “Get inside of me, then.”

He lined the tip of his length up with your entrance, barely beginning to push the head inside of you. You whimpered at the feeling and he tilted your chin up with his index finger, “Look at me.”

You did as you were told and locked your eyes onto his, staring each other down as he slowly pushed his thickness in. Your mouth hung open at the stretch, and Namjoon hissed through his teeth.

“God, you are so fucking tight, babe.” He had a thing for praising you, it seemed. But you weren’t complaining.

He bottomed out and stayed still, allowing you to get adjusted to the feeling. You blinked your eyes a few times, your hips beginning to rotate at their own free will. You offered Namjoon a nod, and he took the hint.

He lifted one of your legs up to wrap around his hip, angling himself a bit deeper before pulling out and then pushing right back in. You moaned at the sensation, eyelids quickly falling shut.

“More, more— move, go— something, anything.” Your voice was completely fucked out already and you were breathless, pleading.

Namjoon happily obliged, pulling out and pushing in again as he began to set a pace that he was comfortable with. He paid attention to the sounds you were making, and the ways that your face would twist up. He was trying to learn what you liked, what made you feel the best.

“Harder—, please, oh my God, Namjoon.” The sound of you moaning out his name was music to his very ears, and he began to fuck into you at a harder pace, just like you’d asked.

You whimpered as his pace quickened, your cervix taking a brutal beating as his balls slapped against your skin. Your eyes rolled in the back of your head and Namjoon had taken to gripping onto your hips, keeping them still as he ruthlessly pounded into you.

The sounds of both of your moans echoed off of the walls, and you were so fucking glad that he was vocal during sex. Hearing the gruffly noises that were coming from his mouth as his jaw clenched were some of the most beautiful sounds you’d ever heard.

He glanced down to see where the two of you were joined, a loud groan falling from his lips as he listened to the wet sounds the clash of your bodies made as he fucked into you.

“You feel so fucking amazing, baby. So fucking wet for me, shit—“ He watched the way that your tits bounced, dipping his head down to tug a nipple in between his teeth and brutally biting down on it.

You yelped at the feeling, nails digging into the skin of his back as he changed the angle of his hips.

“Shit!” you hissed, “there, there! Fuck, just like that.”

You dragged your nails down his back, the skin underneath your fingertips puffing up and turning red.

His thrusts were ruthless now, hitting that perfect spot each and every fucking time. Causing you to release a string of wanton moans and whimpers. You could feel your stomach begin to tighten, toes already curling. You clenched your walls around his dick, eliciting a growl from the man above you.

You were close and he could tell. He loved the way you looked like this, cheeks flushed and body thrashing. You were the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. The sight of you beneath him alone had him close to losing his own mind, and he continued his brutal assault on your g-spot, chasing his own release as you were nearing your own. He was trying to keep his composure, making you cum was his top priority. He could wait.

He pressed his thumb against your clit, rubbing erratic circles over it that had your hips bucking. You grasped onto the flesh of his shoulder blades for dear life as your orgasm fell over you, the heels of your feet digging into his lower back. You were releasing a string of curses and strings of praises in Namjoon’s name, thousands of tiny stars circling above your head as you came, clenching around his dick in a way that drove him fucking insane.

He came at the same time you did, thrusts becoming messy and sloppy, spewing words about how good you were, how fucking lucky he was. He coated your walls with hot spurts of his cum and you clenched around him once again, attempting to milk him dry and capture all of his release inside of you.

You never knew sex could feel this fucking good, and even though you’d just had your second orgasm of the night and still weren’t completely recovered from it, you were ready for your third and fourth.

The two of you were heaving, breathless as your foreheads rested against each other. You finally opened your eyes to look at one another, Namjoon’s lips turning up and into a small smile as he stared down at you.

He whispered, bringing a hand up to trail the pad of his thumb along your cheek, “You okay?”

You nodded quickly in response, reaching for his hand and intertwining your fingers with his, “I’m absolutely perfect.”

“Good,” his smile grew wider and he pressed his to yours, “Me too.”

Your breathing was starting to even out now, and he finally pulled out of you as he felt his dick begin to soften. You groaned in protest at the loss of fullness, causing him to emit a chuckle.

The realization of what just happened finally hit you, and you had to blink a few times to fully process it, “Did that finally happen? Did we just have sex? Am I dreaming?”

He snorted out a laugh and shook his head as he rolled off of you to lay beside of you, tracing his fingertips along your lower stomach, “You’re not dreaming. It actually happened, babe.”

You grinned, sitting up quickly on the bed, “Let’s do it again.”

Namjoon laughed, sitting up with you, “You can’t be serious.”

But you one hundred percent were. You swung your legs over the side of the bed and stood up, making your way to the en-suite bathroom and pausing in the door frame. You leaned against it and crossed your arms over your chest, Namjoon’s brows lifting with curiosity.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to pee,” you answered honestly, offering him a bit of a smirk as you continued your thought, “and then I’m going to get in the shower. Care to join me?”

He was scrambling off of the bed in an instant, following behind you as you made your way into the bathroom. He gave your ass a loud smack as the two of you walked and you shrieked, giggling as you flipped the shower on.

You lost track of how many times the two of you had sex while he was there. You stopped counting after five. Or, was it six? You honestly couldn’t remember, and you honestly didn’t care. But it was all coming to an end way too quickly, because he was leaving in the morning.

The two of you were walking on the beach together, hand in hand. It was dark and the moon was reflecting beautifully on the ocean beside of you as you walked with your bare feet in the sand, water coming up to greet your toes every now and then.

“I don’t want you to go.” You said quietly, but honest.

He rubbed his thumb along the back of your hand, nodding in agreement, “And I don’t want to leave, but I have to.”

You were pouting now, thankful that it was dark and that he couldn’t see. You knew this was part of it, you’d been through this before. But that didn’t make it any easier. It seemed like the closer you got to him, the harder it was for you to say goodbye.

“Come see me while I’m on tour for a weekend. Request some days off of work, if you can. I’d love to show you that part of my life, and have you be apart of it.” He suggested, and your heart began to melt at his words.

You wanted to, of course you did. But there was no way you’d be able to afford that.

You sighed, “I’d love that, but—“

“No buts, Yn. I know what you’re about to say, so don’t even let the words come out of your mouth. I’ll take care of everything, I’ll book every flight and everything in between. All you have to do is show up at the airport, okay?” He stopped walking and brought his hands up to cup your face, kissing you sweetly underneath the moonlight.

You melted into the kiss, into him. Your arms wrapped around his waist as you pulled him closer to you. You wanted to argue with him, but you knew that it was no use. So, you offered him a nod as you pulled away.

“Okay.” You smiled, and he grinned. You wanted to kiss those adorable fucking dimples of his.

His thumbs were running along the tops of your cheeks and he was staring down at you so intently, his smile never once threatening to falter, “Be my girlfriend.” He spit the words out so fast it took you a second to realize what he’d said.

You’d always wondered what those words would sound like coming out of his mouth, and now you knew. You couldn’t believe this was happening, that he was real and he wanted you.

After a few beats of silence, and you just staring blankly up at him, Namjoon coughed awkwardly, “Or, uhm— I mean, we don’t have to— if you don’t want this, I—“

You shook yourself out of your mind, resting your palms on either side of his neck and kissing his lips repeatedly, mumbling the word “yes” in between each kiss.

You finally broke away from him and nodded your head, your teeth on display as you grinned up at him, “I will absolutely be your girlfriend.”

He lifted you up from the ground, spinning your bodies around and earning a string of giggles from you as he did so. You were dizzy, and so was he. When he sat your feet down, the two of you stumbled and landed right in the water. You both yelled at the sudden contact of the cold salt water now all over your clothes, immediately erupting with laughter. You flicked your fingers and splashed him with water.

“Hey!” He yelled, returning the gesture and splashing water onto you.

“That’s what you get for being clumsy!” You teased, and he offered you a playful scoff in return, splashing you again.

Even though you were fully clothed and soaked, the water around you was cold, and it was the middle of the night, there was no where else you’d rather be.

And no one else you’d rather be with.

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series page.

A/N: if you’d like to be added to the tag list, just send me an ask, message, or reply to this post to let me know! thank you to those who have taken the time to check this series out, send me an ask/message and let me know what you think!

tag list: @bbyxknj @kimnjss @justpeachyjoon @w1tchcraftt @rjsmochii @tiddieshakeshownu @doilooklikeinoe @maryseesthings @nerdycookiemonster-1222 @adelina1299 @mini-coop25 @eternalmoonji @silentlyimpractical @angelbabymed

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maliciouslycreative · 3 years

Text

A totally fake-sounding story of how stupid I am at flirting, fake dating, and kpop

My life is for the most part a series of weird coincidences that once strung together sound entirely fake but I swear to god they are real.

Back in the early 2000s I found a lot of fame in the Beyblade fandom. I wrote a popular fic, it was pretty rad. One of my oldest and dearest friends from YGO once asked if she could introduce me to one of her friends who was apparently a HUGE fan of my writing. And I was like “absolutely” and that was the start of things with me and J. We got exceptionally close. Honestly I know I’m aro but the love I felt for her might be the closest I’ll ever feel to being in love.

Things were complicated though, we lived in different countries and were both in high school. We were super close friends and flirted a lot, everyone noticed. Our friend wrote poetry about us. Yes I still have some of that poetry saved somewhere. Everyone in the fandom shipped us and honestly we did talk about how if we weren’t in different countries and in high school that we would be together.

In my senior year of high school I had this biology teacher that enjoyed making us do a lot of group projects. There was another girl in my class that we weren’t really friends but neither of us had friends in the class and we didn’t mind each other so we always grouped up. Unfortunately we needed to do groups of 3 or more for this one project so this random guy in the class ENTHUSIASTICALLY volunteered to be in our group. Neither of us knew who he was but whatever we could survive some weird guy for one project. We exchanged emails so we could exchange notes easily. Except when I got home I noticed the guy had added me to MSN messenger. Ok sure, he probably just wanted to discuss something about the project. Except he didn’t. He wanted to talk to me about anime. Which… I guess? I mean there were not a lot of anime fans when I went to high school, it was distinctly not cool in 2005.

I spent the next few weeks being mostly weirded out by this guy but he seemed harmless so I kind of talked to him intermittently. And then came the day before Valentines Day. He asked me what my plans were to which I responded that I was spending it with a good friend whose birthday was February 14th. He then proceeded to ask me what kind of flowers I liked and I was like “uhh I’m allergic to flowers so I guess fake ones?” And then I mentioned this to my one friend and she was like “OH MY GOD, STACEY. HE IS TRYING TO ASK YOU OUT.” And I was like “what? No, that’s………… fuck” so I had to in a panic tell the guy to not get me flowers and that I wasn’t looking for a boyfriend.

He seemed ok with this. But like any mediocre white man it didn’t stick. He proceeded to talk to me a lot about his favourite anime and how it’d make him cry. His favourite anime was Ayashi no Ceres. For those of you not familiar with it, it’s a series written by Yuu Watase that tells the tragic story of a selkie that was bound to a human man and they died tragically so they were cursed to forever reincarnate as fraternal twins in this one family’s bloodline. So yah, he’d cry to me over an anime about incest. Like yah it’s a great series but you’re not gonna woo someone by telling them how much it makes you cry.

I’m not sure who came up with the plan, my fandom “older sister” or J herself but eventually we decided the only way to get rid of him was if I had a girlfriend and J enthusiastically agreed to be her. So when he finally did outright ask me out I got to be like “sorry man, I have a girlfriend in the US.” He absolutely lost it. Was very upset and thought she was fake. I had to bring J into a chat and be like “yes, this is my loving girlfriend.” He told me how disappointed in me he was and how he didn’t think I was “that kind of girl” whatever that means.

He didn’t speak to me for an entire year after that. I ran into him randomly at university and he asked me “did you really have a girlfriend or were you just saying that to let me down.” And I was like “excuse you? Yes, I had a girlfriend and we are still together now. What gives you the right to ask something like that?” And he got upset about it again and I’ve never seen him since.

J and I were sort of together for a couple years. Nothing serious, just some casual flirting. I sent her a care package once full of chocolate. We both knew neither of us were ready to move across the continent for the other but we still loved each other deeply. When I started dating my abusive ex we were still friends. I got to meet up with her one of the times I visited the US. Like most of my fandom friends I lost contact with her in 2009 after my fandom big sister passed away. It hurt a lot to be in that space without her. My abusive ex also did a good job of isolating me from everything. I did briefly reconnect with her for a bit afterwards but it’s been a while since I’ve talked to her.

To detour back to the fake dating, there’s another parallel story. So when I told one of my other friends about this, A, she was like “oh, well if you need another fake girlfriend I would be willing and I mean we only live like 5 and ½ hours apart.” And my stupid ass was like “oh of course! I’ll keep you in mind.” This girl who had the patience of a saint with my stupid ass. She started calling me “muffin” one night and I was like “why are you calling me muffin?” and she was like “because it’s cute” and I was like “ok but I feel like I need to give you a food nickname now…” but my brain short circuited. I couldn’t think of anything cute in turn and made a terrible comment about calling her porkchop. And this girl, bless her heart, told me I could call her porkchop. So for several years we went around calling each other Muffin and Porkchop. It took me almost a decade to figure out that she was FLIRTING with me. I have no contact with her any more so I can’t even apologise.

So here comes to the kpop and how I stumbled into it. I had my sisters over for a movie night in 2018. While waiting for our food to cook somehow we wound up watching K/DA POP/STARS among some other stuff. But this planted the seed in my sister's mind and she descended into kpop hell. I’m sorry not sorry. She mostly got into girl groups and we let her gush to us about them. But then she found it, Lucifer by SHINee. This song is an absolute bop and the clothing was absolutely tragic. We were in love with it. Something always haunted me that I knew this song though but something was just not 100% right so I couldn’t figure it out.

Lockdowns happened and we couldn’t do our regular family get togethers. However where we live if you were a family of 4 or less you can adopt into your bubble a single person that lives alone, just so that people that live alone aren’t so isolated. So once a week I’d go over to her place and we’d do supper together. Neither of us like do anything other than go to work and grocery shopping and the occasional shopping for other essentials. Anyway when I’d be at her place we’d often listen to her kpop playlist. It was a little more bubblegum than what was really my taste but I was starting to get a taste.

Then my shit brain did what it always does and comes up with a cursed fic idea that involved everyone listening to kpop. I dove head first into kpop. I have learned so much in the last two weeks. It started with SHINee and branched out. One of those things that I discovered with SHINee though was that they recorded a lot of their songs also in Japanese. And then I found the Japanese music video to Lucifer and it was like someone plunged a knife deep into my heart and twisted.

J was into SHINee. She tried to get me into them in 2011, right around the time we fell out of contact. We were both really big into jpop and jrock back then and she was right, I LOVE that song. So somehow I narrowly avoided becoming a shawol in 2011. I don’t know how I didn’t honestly. Probably has to do with my abusive ex. A lot of stuff from that time period is honestly a blur and I really don’t care to remember it.

So that’s the story of how I, an aro, am a disaster when it comes to people flirting with me and how I almost became a kpop stan in 2011.

#malicious musings #fake dating #aro problems #ok to reblog #you are also free to ask me what is wrong with me #because honestly so much #i also wan't to seriously apologise to anyone who has ever flirted with me #i don't mean to not realise you are flirting #but i really have NO idea

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panharmonium · 4 years

Text

more rambling re: that last post (+ the merlin/will fic survey overview)

because i generally refrain from reading fic while i’m actively writing for a fandom, the only real ao3 reading i have done for merlin is my survey of the merlin/will ship tag. and the only reason i undertook that survey in the first place is because while i was doing an introductory cruise of the various merlin tags during my first exploration of the fandom (after i finally finished S5 and was able to start looking into fandom dynamics without fearing spoilers), i noticed that a LOT of the fic tagged with this ship was also tagged merlin/arthur, and despite the fact that i personally am more interested in gen stuff, i started to get both suspicious and annoyed about what i was seeing. but i also wanted to have the data to back up my annoyed feelings, so i made a little spreadsheet for myself and then just filled it in whenever i had time to kill and wanted something to do.

the data, when i eventually finished, backed up my annoyance pretty much as well as i expected, which was disappointing, but not surprising.

to clarify - i’m not annoyed by the fact that will and merlin don’t have a whole lot of material in their ship tag. will only showed up directly in one episode; i don’t expect him to be a popular subject. what i AM annoyed by is the fact that there are actually more merlin/arthur fics in the merlin/will tag than there are fics that actually focus on...merlin/will. by, like - an extreme margin.

(the rest of this is just me griping about fandom trends. popping it under a cut so folks can just move on with their days if this isn’t relevant to their interests.)

The Numbers

two quick notes before i get into the nitty-gritty:

1) i originally did this survey a few months ago, but i updated it this week with fics that have been added since then, so the numbers are current.

2) some of the data below would probably vary slightly depending on who was conducting the survey, so there’s a bit of wiggle room in either direction. the criteria i had to use [aka what counts as just a ship ‘mention’ vs actual content] would be subject to reader interpretation, obviously, but even with that, i do feel that most stories fell into pretty clear categories.)

so, without further ado -

total # of fics in the ship tag: 145

number of fics that are inappropriately tagged (meaning either will himself or merlin/will as a ship does not actually appear [which is kind of bizarre, but which i saw happen surprisingly frequently], OR where there is only a brief reference to will or past!merlin/will and that’s the extent of their inclusion: 50

number of fics that are duplicates of works already in the tag (ie podfic), or (in one case) a meta podcast about the show: 5

so, that brings down our total number of fics with some sort of actual merlin/will content to 90.

of these 90 works, only 17 of them are actually focused on merlin/will.

everything else in will’s ship tag, including the 54 works from the previously discussed "incorrectly tagged” category, is either a) fic where will is dumped, broken up with, or otherwise passed over in favor of arthur (and very occasionally gwaine, at least once mordred, once percival, once arthur and gwaine in a threesome, and once CENRED, which i’m sure will would be especially thrilled about), or b) fic where will is only included as a previous/ex relationship (again, almost always in lieu of arthur).

moreover - of the 17 actual merlin/will fics, 7 still end with will dying or the relationship ending for reasons other than him being passed over for arthur. an additional 4 are <1000 word PWP snippets, generally written for old LJ summer pornathons, one of which still somehow manages to be...you guessed it - all about arthur.

in terms of actual one-shots/full fics where merlin/will is the endgame/non-dead pairing, there are only 6 stories.

i repeat: will gets six earnest stories, IN HIS OWN SHIP TAG.

i repeat once again: will, in a non-dead, endgame form, gets 4% of his own ship tag.

The Content

the in-fic trends are frustrating, if you actually like this character.

the asshole. will is an abusive boyfriend. he is a jealous ex. he’s a shitty friend. he’s a stalker. he’s manipulative. he’s emotionally abusive. he’s physically abusive. he dumps merlin for someone else. he cheats. in one fic he’s so mad at merlin that he outs merlin’s magic to arthur. in multiple fics, i watched him literally go off the rails and try to murder somebody.

the fuckbuddy. they’re just messing around, guys! no, of course it’s not serious! they just do this for fun! of course there’s nothing to get in the way of arthur’s inevitable arrival! no sirree!

the unrequited. will is actually in it deep for merlin, but merlin doesn’t feel the same. this does not, however, prevent merlin from using will for sex, companionship, comfort, distraction, etc - until arthur shows up, when will either steps aside in deference to merlin’s all-consuming passion for arthur or is dropped like a hot potato.

“not even will.” that sentence. over and over again. merlin had never felt like this before, not even with will. nobody had ever understood merlin like this, not even will. even in fic when they were like. married. or engaged. fanon arthur pendragon must be truly mind-blowing, y’all.

dead long-term relationship. will was merlin’s husband/fiancé/long-term partner. now he is Dead. merlin getting together with arthur is what allows merlin to Heal. (these stories sometimes contain some variation of “not even will,” as discussed above.)

lastly, in a related phenomenon:

who are you and what have you done with arthur pendragon??? i suppose in a way it’s nice to know that will isn’t the only one who gets the OOC treatment, but it is still really...something, to read fic where will is twisted into an unpleasant, abusive, canon non-compliant version of himself, and then to see arthur, on the very same page, transformed into a gentle, solicitous, kind, caring, equally canon non-compliant angel. fanon!arthur is more worried about merlin’s well-being than literally anyone i have ever seen. he is so invested in merlin’s emotional health. he is so concerned about merlin’s boundaries. he says things to merlin that no version of arthur pendragon has ever - EVER - in any universe, thought about saying to anybody. he wants to hear all about merlin’s problems, and he’s all about taking it slow and making sure merlin feels comfortable and loved and worthy and safe (from all that horrible stuff done by that horrible other guy; that must’ve been so hard, merlin; ‘it’s okay, i’ve got you now’) - the man is utterly unrecognizable. and you know what? it’s okay! it is fine to make your characters as OOC as you want. it is fine to make them better/nicer than they were in the canon. sometimes we all want that, right? it’s fanfic! have a ball. i will never tell anyone to stop writing what they like, and i will NEVER interact negatively with a fic i don’t care for. EVER. do not do this, people - click the back button and move on with your life. but i reserve the right to be annoyed, in my own space, about a persistent trend of will and arthur’s canon functions being flat-out reversed, in service of merlin/arthur. not in the sense that canon!will is particularly gentle or sweet, because that’s not the case - but in the sense that will, in canon, is the one who actually cares about merlin’s best interests, whereas arthur is, quite frankly, the ass. a lovable ass (sometimes). but an ass nonetheless, and one whose relationship with merlin is, from start to finish, an unhealthy, oppressive mess.

The Point

the point of me typing this up is not to say that what people choose to write is bad or wrong. this is fanfic! you can write whatever you want. you can make characters as OOC as you want. you can create as many AUs as you want. i don’t mind fic authors writing stuff i don’t personally care for; someone else probably loves those stories! and i am never going to interact negatively with anything i don’t personally enjoy - i am going to let people continue to have fun in their own ways, and i am going to grumble about my frustrations in my own space, and then i’m going to direct my energy into writing stuff i would personally like to read.

the point is just that i needed a brief second to complain, on my own blog, about my most familiar bbc merlin nemesis (otherwise known as ‘single-ship ubiquity’). and what i mean by this is that it is REALLY FRUSTRATING that other little relationships are not even granted the tiniest concession of owning their own ship tags, in a fandom that is already so SATURATED with merlin/arthur content. like - even if i’m generous and use the number 17 for the number of actual merlin/will fics in the tag, that still means 88% of will’s ship tag is actually fic about merlin falling in love with people who aren’t will (*cougharthur*). eighty-eight percent! of his own ship tag!

(to put it another way - the ship tag isn’t supposed to be where you go to watch your character get repeatedly dumped or left behind for someone else, okay? it’s supposed to be literally the opposite of that.)

will’s ship tag is already tiny. and almost all of it belongs to arthur. moreover, a significant chunk of it uses will as a convenient villain (completely contradicting every canon aspect of his characterization), when in the actual story will dies to protect arthur (who he doesn’t even like) and then lies to save merlin (at the expense of his own reputation, and despite the fact that he personally thinks merlin returning to camelot is a bad idea). his behavior in canon is selfless, and wholly committed to merlin’s welfare, and yet in his ship tag he gets treated like trash.

the kid can’t catch a break. and it’s such a pervasive thing that even though i personally am primarily interested in merlin and will as friends (i am pretty romance-averse in general when it comes to media, and i have never written anything that isn’t gen, for any fandom, ever, in my life), i am also so indignant on will’s behalf that i’ve basically become invested in the well-being of this ship as a matter of principle. it’s not my main thing, and it’s not necessarily how i view the canon-verse, but i am SO IRRITATED about how virtually all of will’s shipfic has been taken over by merthur (and about how maligned will is in his own tag) that i have actively committed myself to supporting merlin and will together in as many AUs as possible.

(this is basically like when i trained myself to love allison argent after teen wolf killed her off. i did that out of spite, y’all. it’s the principle of the thing.)

so, y’know. all i am saying is that i think will deserves his share of happy endings, and i think it would be nice to see fics where he is not just a stepping stone on the road to merthur or an unrecognizable parody of himself.

more importantly - EVERY merlin ship deserves to have a tag that isn’t completely swallowed by the local fandom behemoth. merlin/arthur already owns three quarters of the archive. a gargantuan oil tanker like that can afford to let the little rarepair canoes float down their own streams in peace.

#tl;dr version:#GIVE MERLIN AND WILL THEIR OWN FICS 2K20 #I WILL NOT REST UNTIL THIS INJUSTICE HAS BEEN ADDRESSED #(y'all think i am kidding but i have already walked the walk ok)#(i am currently the internet title-holder for 'most words dedicated to this relationship')#(it might be the platonic version but if you don't think i will stretch myself and try something new)#(then you underestimate just how aggravated i am)#(and just how much i want this kid to get everything he deserves)#the once and future slowburn #no kings no masters #fandom

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sepublic · 4 years

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So given how terrible the blight parents are I wonder how their parenting methods effected Emira and Edric given their care free and rebellious nature? I also find it worth noting that the twins don’t really seem to have many reservations about who they make friends with.

Well, I’ve already tried my hand at analyzing those two. But if I had to guess…

I think the implication is that Emira and Edric have each other. Amity is clearly defined as an incredibly lonely individual, and even when she had her best friend Willow back then, she couldn’t exactly confide in Willow about any grievances she had towards her parents. But Ed and Em? They’re literal twins and siblings. No matter what they go through, they go through together.

Similarly, Emira and Edric just seem… Naturally more confident and sociable. Whether or not that’s just how they were born, or the result of slightly different upbringings, or otherwise; We can’t say for sure. But as you’ve suggested, I feel like part of the reason why the twins are such troublemakers (beyond them already having a penchant for that kind of thing), is because they’re defying their parents in their own way? Edric himself says he’s allergic to the rules; These two have no reservations about appearing ‘proper’.

Them being a lot more sociable also means that they’ve likely interacted with others more and thus have a better view of how people actually act, or at least should. Likewise, they definitely lived underneath a strict household; Maybe not TOO strict at first, but enough that these two would’ve grown to dislikes rules and authority as a result!

Then again… We never DO see Ed and Em talk to anyone outside of their family besides Luz, who they already know has a connection to Amity for various reasons. But regardless, I wouldn’t be surprised if the twins have the confidence to be more openly defiant against what their parents say because they have one another as support, just have more self-esteem like that, and interact with other people more. Even if Luz is the only ‘outsider’ we see them going out of their way to interact with, these two kids obviously are still rebels in their own right.

We also know that the twins are VERY talented- They skip class, but otherwise their grades can’t be argued with. Emira and Edric apparently have the highest scores on the exam; Or at least scores so high that Amity feels the need to compete with them. Given how Amity knows about Ed and Em’s class-skipping, but still regards their scores as valid, this would suggest that the twins are INDEED pretty skilled, and naturals at it. They don’t have much to worry about because everything they do, they ace through without effort! I have to wonder if Ed and Em are like Eda, in that they both enjoy their curriculum but hate the stifling environment, hence why all three are talented in magic but hate the rules. But given how Edric laughs about the idea of him and Emira being interested in school, probably not.

Now what’s interesting is that in Amity’s diary, she mentions how her parents apparently just let Ed and Em get away with things, and claims that she knows they aren’t perfect. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ed and Em being naturally talented and skilled, and thus having a guaranteed successful future, is why their parents are allegedly more lenient with them; To Mr. and Mrs. Blight, Emira and Edric are their popular kids who do things effortlessly and with grace! There’s nothing to worry about too much…

But Amity? I suspect that there may be pressure on her… That her parents are disappointed that Amity didn’t immediately prove to be the child prodigy that her siblings were. As a result, Amity’s parents feel the need to put extra pressure on her, to make sure she maintains the family name. But not only that…

Some more speculation, but I have to wonder if despite their good skills, Emira and Edric still manage to annoy their parents for precisely the above-mentioned reasons, and know it? Perhaps when Mr. and Mrs. Blight raised them first, they didn’t expect the twins to become so rebellious and defiant; Potentially because they had one another as support. And with the twins being confident able to see through the pressure that their parents put on them, Mr. and Mrs. Blight have essentially ‘given up’, labelling their first-born children a lost cause…

…While focusing pressure on Amity; Amity, the new kid who’s supposed to make up for the flaws of her older siblings. Amity, who isn’t too old to mold into the perfect, ideal Blight now that her parents know how they’ve ‘messed up’ with the twins. So it’s possible that Emira and Edric are considered too old to reshape into the ideal children that Mr. and Mrs. Blight want, so they’ve focused all their efforts on Amity; Who is much more vulnerable, younger, and naturally less confident. They keep a close eye on Amity and control everything about her life, because they don’t want to end up like her siblings; Who, while they ARE talented (and this somewhat compensates for their ‘mistakes’), they’re still not ideal.

So instead of bothering to discipline Emira and Edric, their parents have more or less just ignored them in favor of Amity. And, I have to wonder if Amity is also at least somewhat aware of this, given how she knows that Ed and Em seemingly don’t get in trouble with their parents, and are just naturally more defiant against the rules like that. I can see Amity’s parents encouraging her not to be like her troublemaking siblings; Or Amity just naturally competes with Ed and Em for her parents’ affection anyway. Only, her parents aren’t truly fond of the twins… Just ignoring them at this point, or passing them off as ‘sufficient’ for their grades and popularity in school.

I also have to wonder if Ed and Em turned out better because there wasn’t as much pressure back then; Their parents expected them to grow up super-obedient at the time, and didn’t foresee the twins being such troublemakers. Perhaps this privilege of not having to live as strictly led to Emira and Edric embracing a troublemaking lifestyle, and by the time their parents noticed; It was too late! They had grown to be rebellious kids and adding more rules wasn’t going to change things. So, may as well leave them to their fate and focus on the one kid they CAN change…

And as I mentioned in that previous analysis, I think Ed and Em are at least somewhat aware of the effect that their parents have on Amity, and that’s why they want her to loosen up; There is little doubt in my mind that they were also abused. Possibly not as much as Amity, but still- The effects of their parents’ teachings are still there. Emira and Edric believe in ‘tough love’, that one has to do harsh punishments for the ones they love, and I can see them also acting out of selfish retribution for being told on. Similarly, they’ve also had their fair share of just general meanness towards Amity for the sake of entertainment; I can’t completely gloss over that. This lack of self-reflection may be a result of Emira and Edric just naturally being privileged kids.

Of course, I’ll give the twins more slack given that they seem genuinely concerned with how Amity pushes others away- I’m not sure if they know why Amity broke ties off with Willow. Either way, they’re looking out for her… and I wonder if that’s part of why they like Luz so much; They see her immediately try to make a friend with Amity so unconditionally, and they’re like, “Perfect! The perfect friend to get Mittens to lighten up, a natural troublemaker who can teach her that there’s more to life than rules!” And of course, Ed and Em interact with Luz themselves and see first-hand how lovable she is, and grow to unconditionally like her as well!

TL;DR I think Emira and Edric manage to compensate for their perceived ‘flaws’ by being naturally-confident, talented people; Them having one another likely helps with this. Of course, Mr. and Mrs. Blight still see how their first-born kids are delinquents with no respect for authority… It may be due to privilege since their parents never bothered to enforce many rules, or because they DID impose them. Regardless, when Amity rolls around, the parents basically give up on the twins, and focus all their effort on molding Amity in particular while she’s still ‘young and fresh’, and making sure not to make the same ‘mistakes’ that they made in letting the twins be their own individuals.

And, this gives mixed messages to Amity; To be better than her siblings, but also being punished by her parents for not being as good as them when it comes to grades and other things like that. Ed and Em are aware of the effect their parents are having on Mittens (they’ve experienced it firsthand), but they’re not self-aware enough to realize that they’vealso internalized some toxic teachings as well, and have also been pretty harsh and mean to Amity with their pranks. They mean well, it’s just that Emira and Edric underestimate or don’t think fully on what their actions are doing; I’m fairly confident that the twins are also a major part in why Amity is the person she is now.

But, we know after Covention that they actually apologize to Amity and try to make things up to her. It’s possible that they’re also doing this to keep Amity from getting them in trouble with their parents (see my previous analysis), but genuine love is there nonetheless, alongside some growth, maturity, and self-reflection. It’s also why they like Luz so much; Not only is she just neat to the twins, but they know that she’s the perfect person for helping Amity unlearn the toxic abuse from their parents.

(What I’m saying is, Emira and Edric TOTALLY ship Lumity, and it may have been their intention from the start.)

#the owl house #owl house #ask #the owl house edric #the owl house emira #edric blight #emira blight #the owl house amity #amity blight #analysis #speculation

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raleighcarrera · 4 years

Text

famous

platinum | raleigh carrera x mc (cadence dorian)

an au where raleigh is still raleigh but cadence is an actress on a teen tv drama.

~5.4k words | M (18+)

raleigh tag list: @omgjasminesimone, @choicesarehard

cadence rolled her eyes from the makeup chair, prompting the artist that was working on applying her eyeshadow to let out an annoyed sigh. “sorry, katie,” she apologized, before cutting her gaze over to her co-star, sitting in the chair beside her.

“what’s the big deal?” cadence asked, still not seeing what made today so vastly different from any other day on set. “he’s just a guy.”

jaylen looked like she was about to have a stroke. “raleigh carrera is not just a guy. please don’t ever say that again.”

cadence snuck a glance at katie, but the older woman only smirked silently as she waved a strip of false eyelashes in the air, waiting for the glue to try. “okay,” cadence started slowly, “i just meant -- that he’s probably like any other guest star we’ve had?”

jaylen scoffed. the set hairstylist finally walked up and started pulling the curlers out of her long, brown hair, running her fingers through it to loosen them. “he is so not. seriously, stop acting like you didn’t camp out all night for sunset skatepark tickets at one point in your life like everyone else.”

she definitely had, but -- “that was, like, a million years ago. i was thirteen. besides, he’s totally different now. i’ll be amazed if he even manages to show up on time today.”

cadence was due on set in an hour, which, if katie could get her eyelashes on in one try, was going to give her just enough time to grab something to eat before her first scene. at this point in filming the show, she was hardly nervous about anything, anymore, even having to film with one of the most famous people she’d probably ever meet -- so there wasn’t much she’d need to do to prepare, except maybe pop a mint before their big scene.

from beside her, jaylen was sulking. cadence watched her in the mirror as best as she could with katie curling her eyelashes. “his visit is totally wasted on you,” she whined, “i can’t believe the writers gave you the kiss.”

“it’s not like i asked for it. besides, rosa --” jaylen’s character “-- and trevor just got back together. it wouldn’t have made sense for it to be anyone else.”

she blinked rapidly as katie backed away, testing the weight of the false eyelashes. they were in the middle of filming the third season of the show, and while her eyes had definitely stopped watering, by now, that didn’t mean that it didn’t still feel a little bit weird, to have so much makeup on all the time.

just a few years ago, she was making smoothies for forty hours each week, barely pulling in enough money to afford her rent. now she was part of one of the most popular teen dramas in the world -- and about to get paid to make out with the guy that literally performed with justin timberlake at the super bowl.

so, life was surreal, sometimes.

once her hair was set in the waves her character always wore, cadence left jaylen pouting in wardrobe and strolled to craft services, making a bee-line for the breakfast table. she was piling mini-muffins into a napkin when she saw him.

his hair was shorter than she’d expected it to be; when she thought of raleigh carrera she pictured the way he looked on the ‘famous’ album cover -- long hair, dark smile, lots of tattoos. the guy sitting in the chair in the corner of the room was undeniably the same person, but he looked...

hungover, that was the word she was looking for.

raleigh had sunglasses on. inside. he was cradling a cup of coffee in his hands.

cadence gathered up the corners of her napkin and made her way over to him. “hey,” she said, her voice perfectly level -- not, as shane always called it, monday-morning-chipper. “i’m cadence, i’ll be your scene partner today.”

raleigh stared at her -- or she assumed that was what he was doing. for all she knew, he was asleep. she arched her eyebrows at him, and a minute later, he tilted his head, letting his sunglasses slip down his nose.

sheesh. he was hot. the look in his eyes caught her and pinned her in place.

“cadence dorian, right?” she nodded, trying not to look too surprised. so -- he knew who she was? he didn’t seem like the type of guy that would be familiar with her work -- this teen drama and a number of big-studio romantic comedies. “my agent said we’re filming romance today. lots of kissing.”

cadence felt her lips spread into a grin. “yeah. i hope you brushed your teeth.”

raleigh let out a bark of laughter so loud that a few of the production assistants turned around to look at them. he was smirking when he said, “don’t tell me chadley fortnum’s got bad breath.”

she gaped at him. chadley had played her character’s boyfriend for the last two years, before the writers finally killed him off. he was an awful kisser. “do you seriously expect me to believe that you actually watch wicked midnight?”

now he was smirking in that way she’d expected. he looked a lot more like the guy from the ‘famous’ album cover. “maybe i catch an episode here and there.”

“this is hilarious. do you also watch gossip girl? riverdale? is your favorite movie fifty first dates?”

he reached up and pushed his sunglasses up into his hair. “i prefer how to lose a guy in ten days.”

of course he was funny. why wouldn’t he be? it wasn’t like he wasn’t already drop-dead gorgeous and effortlessly cool.

maybe jaylen was right. she’d only known him for three minutes, and already cadence could see he wasn’t just a guy.

“we should get going, or we’re going to be late. i’ll show you where the soundstage is.”

raleigh nodded at her and they started walking to set together, him with his coffee and her with the four or so muffins in her hands that she was suddenly too shy to eat. “so,” she asked abruptly, for a distraction from thinking about how handsome he was, “why the sudden interest in acting?”

cadence glanced at him and watched him shrug his broad shoulders. “for the positive pr, mostly. i think my team’s just hoping to generate some headlines that aren’t about something i destroyed, for once.”

she laughed. “fair enough. i guess raleigh carrera guest stars in wicked midnight midseason finale is a lot better than raleigh carrera crashes motorcycle into wildlife sanctuary, kills family of endangered pandas.”

“okay, i would never do that,” he argued, “pandas are adorable. there’s nothing cool about anti-conservation.”

“but there is something cool about breaking into and wrecking a cruise ship?” so -- she read her fair share of gossip blogs. sue her.

“totally,” he confirmed. he drew her eye as he tipped his head back to drain what was left in his coffee cup. “would you believe me if i said it was a statement against capitalism?”

“i think i’d be more likely to believe you if you said you were drunk and bored.” they stepped onto set as the last scene was wrapping, and cadence hung back while production transformed the high school set into the one for rosa’s home; jaylen’s character was supposed to be throwing a house party -- that was where cadence and raleigh would meet.

her eyes scanned the room, but jaylen was no where to be found. “huh.” though her scenes weren’t filming until later today, cadence didn’t think she’d want to miss a minute of time with raleigh.

she’d forgotten he was still standing beside her. “what?”

“i was just wondering where jaylen is,” cadence explained, “my co-star? she was pretty excited to meet you.”

raleigh turned towards her, then, smirking again. “finally. i gotta say, i was pretty disappointed you didn’t seem more star-struck. you know -- when girls treat me normally, it really hurts my feelings.”

she laughed, leaning over to playfully shove her shoulder into his. raleigh made a face at her as though she’d actually hurt him, reaching up to rub at his arm. “hey, easy! save it for the bedroom.” he looked back towards the set. “or... the fake kitchen counter.”

“cadence?” one of the production assistants jogged up to her before she could form a retort. “we’re ready for you.”

she found her mark in the fake kitchen and started making herself a drink. the extras milled around behind her, and as the director called for action, she wondered what the props team had put together to fill the bottles before her with -- on her birthday, they’d given her a full glass of vinegar disguised as water as a prank, and she’d spit it out all over ryan summers in the middle of a take.

raleigh walked into the scene and strolled right up to her. “hey.” he nodded coolly at the red cup in her hands. “what’s your poison?”

cadence surveyed him from behind the plastic rim as she took a sip. thank god it was just water with food dye in it. “i’m not picky when it comes to free alcohol.”

he pulled a red cup from the stack on the kitchen counter and made a drink for himself. “fair enough.” she watched him flick his wrist to swirl the liquid inside the cup around, mixing it together. “what’re we drinking to?”

cadence lifted her drink into the air, smiling sardonically at him. “to my dead boyfriend. his funeral was on tuesday.” she tilted her head back and chugged until the cup was empty, looking challengingly at raleigh once she finished. “cheerful, i know.”

she stared at him as his tongue poked into his cheek. he was a better actor than she’d expected him to be. “i’m sorry for your loss.”

cadence laughed humorlessly. “don’t be.” she sniffed, rubbing her nose with the hand not holding her cup. “any idiot who drives drunk deserves what they get.”

she chewed on her bottom lip, watching the extras leave the kitchen set. when she looked back at him, his gaze was intense -- it felt like he was staring into her soul.

“i’m jason,” he said, holding out his hand. cadence dropped her gaze to it and snorted, rolling her eyes.

after a beat, she begrudgingly introduced herself. “lexi. you go to brentwood?”

he smirked at her, pushing the hand she refused to take smoothly through his hair. wardrobe had given raleigh a long-sleeved shirt, but she could still see his tattoos peeking out from under the cuffs. “nah, i’m a senior at p.s. 119. i just come to parties like this one to pass out favors to rich kids like you.”

her eyebrows lifted. with intent, she trailed her gaze up and down his body. “what’ve you got?”

raleigh dug in his pockets and pulled out a medicine bottle. he shook a pill into his hand -- the prop department had found something that looked almost fluorescent, under the artificially dim party lighting. “something that’ll help me cheer you up, i think.”

she shrugged, like it was all the same to her. “you can try.”

one of the cameras moved in for a close up. raleigh leaned in. “you’ll have to come and get it,” he said, right before he laid the pill on his own tongue.

cadence laughed, the sound low and throaty. her eyes dropped to his lips, and then she leaned in, pressing their mouths together.

raleigh gathered her into his arms as the sweet taste of strawberry candy exploded on her tongue. he pushed the candy into her mouth and kissed her hard, his hands moving swiftly to her hips. cadence responded in kind, winding her arms around his neck and slipping her fingers into his hair, holding on tightly.

kissing him was... nothing like kissing chadley. it was nothing like kissing anyone, it was -- something she didn’t think she could have prepared for, even if she’d tried. already, she knew she’d never forget this kiss for as long as she lived. she was going to spend the rest of time comparing everyone she kissed to him, to this, to right now --

raleigh lifted her easily onto the prop kitchen counter, settling his hands on her thighs. cadence shivered as he stepped in close between her spread legs, the hushed noise of the set around them fading away. she wasn’t acting when he pushed his hips forward against hers and she let out a breathless moan of ecstasy, her grip on his hair tightening so she could pull him closer.

“cut! great work, guys. let’s reset and run it again.”

her mouth broke away from his in a daze. cadence dragged the back of her hand across her lips, breathing hard. raleigh barely looked rattled, but she was struggling to get herself together, staring at him with wide eyes.

he smirked at her. “that good, huh?”

cadence blinked. “what -- i --” she reached out and whacked his shoulder. “shut up.”

his thumbs were rubbing little circles on her bare thighs, where the hem of the denim cut-offs she’d been given ended. his laugh was fond and warm -- it didn’t feel like he was laughing at her, exactly. it felt nice, like they were in on the same joke. “it was pretty good for me, too.”

“just pretty good?”

“guys?” the assistant director was looking at them like they were insane, and cadence startled, remembering they’d been instructed to reset. right. now wasn’t the time to be flirting with raleigh carrera, even though he’d just given her an earth-shatteringly good kiss. she was supposed to be working.

she cleared her throat, scrambling to stand again. raleigh waited a beat before moving away, so there were a few heart-stopping seconds where the full length of her body brushed against his. cadence shot him a look from under her false eyelashes as he slinked away.

they ran the scene an agonizing nine more times. by the end of the morning, her lips felt swollen and raw, and her jaw was tingling from the stubble that dotted raleigh’s face.

and that wasn’t even to mention her nerves, which were alight and on edge after a seemingly endless few hours spent kissing the hottest guy on the face of planet earth.

raleigh wrapped an arm around her shoulders as production broke down the set around them. “so, can i buy you lunch? i feel like it’s the least i can do.”

“i bet you say that to all the girls,” cadence hummed, leaning against his side. from across the room, she noticed jaylen watching them with narrowed eyes, a frown set on her face. cadence looked away. “did they set you up with a trailer?”

“yeah, but i bet yours is nicer,” he grinned, “since you’re the star, and i’m the guy who brings property damage everywhere he goes.” he had a point. “want to show it to me?”

cadence wondered if he meant the words as the invitation she thought he did. her pulse was racing. still, she nodded. “definitely.”

raleigh wasn’t shy about looking around when she let him inside her trailer. he seemed particularly taken by her large jar of pink starbursts, which he immediately dug his hand into as she dropped down onto the couch. “woah, okay, diva. you make them sort out the other colors?”

“no,” she laughed, “i tweeted once that the pink ones are my favorite, so -- now they just send them to me.”

he grinned obnoxiously at her as he popped one in his mouth. “aren’t the pink ones everyone’s favorite? you’re not so special.”

“god, i hope you don’t talk to every girl you make out with like this,” she laughed, kicking her feet up onto the table in front of the couch. “no wonder everyone thinks you’re such a dick.”

raleigh laid a hand over his heart, looking wounded. “it’s not everyone. just the MARCs.”

“the marks?”

“M-A-R-Cs. mothers against raleigh carrera.” he said the words with a completely straight face. cadence looked at him skeptically.

“no way is that real.”

“wanna bet?” he pulled his phone from his pocket before dropping down onto the couch beside her. the long line of his body took up an inordinate amount of space in her trailer. “see for yourself.”

“huh. they even have a facebook page.” her eyes drifted from the phone screen back to his face, which was suddenly very close. “i guess you are every parent’s worst nightmare.”

raleigh laughed, staring at her for a long moment before moving away, putting some distance between them. “cadence, you flatter me. now -- what do you want for lunch? you need to carb up for this afternoon.”

she rolled over to the end of the couch, grabbing her stack of takeout menus off the side table and presenting them to him with amusement. “we have to film one scene.”

“yeah, but you’ll be in bed with me. that’s -- understandably, of course -- going to be a lot for you.”

cadence leaned over and kicked his ankle. “the show airs in primetime. we’re just going to be waking up together. it’s all in the subtext.”

“hmmm.” his eyes were on the menus, even as he said, “doesn’t mean we can’t bring it into the... foretext.”

she blinked at him. “i don’t think that’s a word.”

raleigh lifted his head. his eyes were serious and intense when they locked on hers, and again cadence found herself helplessly caught in his gaze. “you know what i mean.”

oh, god. was raleigh carrera hitting on her?

“um.” her eyes dropped to his lips, which quirked up at the corners as soon as he noticed. yeah. he was definitely hitting on her. raleigh carrera. hitting on her. she wondered what jared from ninth grade, who’d told her she was too ugly to go to homecoming with, would say if he was here.

presumably tired of waiting for her to try to make sentences, raleigh leaned in and kissed her. not because they were rolling, or because he thought they should run lines for later -- but because he wanted to.

cadence gasped, leaning back against the arm of the couch. raleigh shifted to lean over her, the takeout menus that’d been in his lap falling to the floor as he moved on top of her and pressed in close.

since they’d filmed wicked midnight’s pilot, there had been a lot of famous people who visited the set. but she’d never done this before with anyone, and she felt more than a little out of her depth as raleigh’s knees pushed her thighs open so he could grind down against her.

she felt like she was floating. he was a truly exceptional kisser, and the way he looked at her made her feel more than a little dangerous. if she was being honest, cadence wasn’t entirely sure what he thought he saw when he stared at her like he kept doing, but she was hardly in a position to question it when he tore his mouth away from hers, breathing hard, and started kissing down her neck instead.

her head tilted to the opposite side encouragingly, and her fingers found his hair again. “i thought you had a girlfriend,” she panted, the detail stuck in her mind, for some reason. she’d definitely read about it. she had a ridiculous name. peach? pear? plum?

“who, apricott?” that was it. “god, no. that’s just for press. and i can’t stand her.”

she did seem pretty terrible. “so why do you --”

raleigh lifted his head. cadence had trouble focusing on the expression on his face when one of his large hands was spanning what felt like the entirety of her side under her costume shirt, his thumb mindlessly stroking the skin beneath the waistband of her denim shorts. “look, i like you. so if you want to do this -- i’ll tell my publicist it’s over.”

what the fuck was happening? “if i want to... do what?”

he shrugged. he had all the confidence of someone who was never turned down. “hang out. see where this goes.”

well, she wasn’t that stupid. “i -- yeah, of course i do. like -- you mean... date, right?”

for a half-second, it looked like he was going to argue with her use of the word ‘date,’ but then that unreadable look was back on his face. raleigh nodded decisively. “yeah. date.”

“okay, i think you’re asking me out.” her voice was playful again and her racing heartbeat was starting to calm, her thoughts finally getting back on track. she could fake the same level of confidence he had, right? “in which case -- i totally accept, but... you’ll need to pull out all the stops.”

raleigh smirked at her, his grip on her side tightening before his hand relaxed. “oh, yeah? you want a limo full of pink starbursts? dinner on top of the empire state building? a helicopter ride to a walk on the beach? i’ve heard it all before.”

cadence laughed, running her fingers through his hair. the warm smile raleigh gave her made her heartbeat skip. “oh my god, are those your moves? yes, definitely. i want the full raleigh carrera experience.”

his eyebrows bounced up and down, and he wiggled his hips pointedly against hers. “you sure? it could be a long night.”

the laugh she gave him was breathless. cadence felt unbelievably giddy as she sunk her teeth into her bottom lip and watched raleigh’s eyes narrow in on it. “i’m kinda counting on that.”

they made out until their call time, rolling around on her couch like teenagers. cadence couldn’t remember another time she’d kissed anyone for literal hours before. the way raleigh looked at her, disheveled and wanting and flushed, when the pa finally knocked on her trailer door to call for them, made her want to play hooky and blow off returning to set -- just so they could keep doing this.

her indecision must’ve shown on her face. raleigh pressed his thumb against her bottom lip and sighed heavily. “you are so, so, so beautiful. i can’t wait to introduce you to second base.”

she laughed. “i have been there before, you know.”

raleigh’s hands slid slowly down her body, full of intent. “not with me.”

the poor pa knocked on her door again. “um, ms. dorian? you’re really needed on set, now.”

cadence lifted her hand to push at his shoulder. “get up, you’re going to get me in trouble.”

his fingers trailed ever-so-lightly over her bare thigh. “what’s life without a little trouble? besides, they literally can’t start without us. they can wait a few minutes.”

her hands moved to his messy hair, trying her best to smooth it back down. “they’re going to have to. we’re going to need another round of hair and makeup. and zadie’s going to kill me when she finds that thread you ripped.”

raleigh shrugged unrepentantly. “it was loose.” the unimpressed look she leveled him with made him sigh again. “fine, goody-two-shoes. we’ll go to set. but you’re in for it, later.”

anticipation sang through her, quick and thrilling. “oh, yeah?”

he groaned and rolled to stand. “don’t start, or i’ll never let you go. come on.”

every eye in the studio followed them when they stepped into the bedroom scene. they separated to get changed, and cadence blushed all over when she traded her nondescript top and shorts for just a bra and panties, prompting zadie to hone her gaze in on the fresh hickey starting to bloom across her collarbone. “i love the commitment. very method.”

cadence stalked off back towards the bed; raleigh was already shirtless and under the sheets, scrolling through his phone. for a moment, she pretended like they were at home in her apartment, and let herself really look at him. he looked good -- great. incredible.

he whistled at her when he saw her. that didn’t help her blush. a few members of the lighting crew laughed, double checking the scene when she slipped into the bed beside him.

katie from makeup came over with powder. she didn’t say anything about cadence’s hickey, even when raleigh very obviously leaned in, pressed his thumb against it and laughed, “oh, shit. sorry about that.”

it would have been a perfect time for the ground to open up and swallow her whole, but they started rolling, instead.

cadence had her back to raleigh, his arm slung low across her waist. lexi was supposed to wake up first, so she did, holding up a hand against the artificial bright light of the fake sun-filled window in her face. she groaned, pressing against her forehead, and then noticed the arm around her and slowly turned towards raleigh.

her eyes went wide. “jason?”

she had to bite the inside of her cheek to stifle the smile that threatened as raleigh woke up so adorably. he made a soft, sleepy sound of confusion from beside her, cracking one eye open. “lexi. i thought i dreamt that.”

her expression was gentle for a split second before it hardened. she shook her head. “it was just a one-time thing,” she insisted brusquely, pulling away. “i was drunk.”

“you weren’t that drunk.”

cadence was pointedly not looking at him. “we were high.”

raleigh laughed. “that, i’ll give you.” as she moved to get up out of the bed, his arm swung out and grabbed her, holding her still. “hey.”

she looked back at him expectantly. raleigh was great at acting nervous, swallowing hard while his eyes darted around the room. “can i see you again?”

cadence shook her head. “i don’t think so.”

“why not?”

“because... i’m a mess, jason. look at me. i deserve to be alone.”

“lexi...”

she shook her head, pulling out of his hold. raleigh let her go, and she started moving around the set by the bed, picking up the pieces of her outfit. “forget it.”

he slid to the edge of the bed, sitting on the mattress in just his briefs. both she and her character were trying not to stare. “you know, for what it’s worth... i don’t think you’re a mess. i think you’re pretty cool. and you’re -- you’re going to be okay, lexi.”

her lips pursed. her voice wavered when she said, “you don’t even know me.”

raleigh stood, crowding into her space. “actually, i think i know you better than you think. so that’s why... i’m okay with saying goodbye.” his eyes searched her face. “can i kiss you one last time?”

cadence drew in a shallow breath and nodded. raleigh cupped her face in his hands, holding her jaw steady, and kissed her hard. she had to actively fight the urge to pull him closer, knowing that lexi was still resistant to letting him get close -- but it was hard, when raleigh was such an expert kisser, the movement of his mouth against hers making her weak in the knees.

she was almost relieved when the director called, “cut! that was great, guys. we definitely got it. raleigh -- thanks for coming out, man. awesome stuff today. hopefully we can have you back soon.”

he reached out and ruffled her hair, grinning brightly. “only if you keep sticking me with this one.” cadence elbowed him in the side. “seriously, thanks for having me. this was really cool.”

zadie was holding out a robe for her. cadence reluctantly stepped out from raleigh’s body heat and put it on, smiling softly at the way he pouted when she tied it closed.

he stepped up close and lowered his voice so none of the many, many people moving around them could hear. “so, are you done for the day? can i buy you a drink?”

“ooooh, are we going out for drinks?” somehow, jaylen stepped up between them, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “hi, i don’t think we got a chance to meet, yet. jaylen riaz -- i play rosa martinez.”

“...right. good to meet you. i’m raleigh.”

jaylen laughed as though he’d just made a funny joke. “of course i know who you are, silly. do you think i live under a rock?”

raleigh’s eyes were begging for help. cadence leaned in between them. “you should totally meet us when you’re wrapped for the day. i’ll text you where we wind up, but -- first we need to grab some food.”

“right.” raleigh’s lips twitched. “we skipped lunch.”

the memory of what they’d been doing instead threatened to make her blush, but cadence fought it off, wary of the way jaylen was looking back and forth between the two of them. “okay,” she said finally, her voice slow and thoughtful, “sounds fun.”

fortunately, they made it back to her trailer before she lost it, dissolving into giggles. cadence leaned her back against the closed door as her shoulders shook with laughter. “god,” she grinned, “you are such a dick.”

“me?” raleigh demanded, “what about you? you should totally meet us.”

“okay, i do not sound like that.” cadence dropped her robe and started getting dressed in the clothes she’d wore to set that morning, what felt like a hundred years ago. “and i was just being nice. she totally likes you, she’s going to be so pissed at me when she finds out this is, like, a thing.”

“i guess i am irresistible,” he sighed, expertly ducking the t-shirt she threw at him. “i can’t fault her for her good taste.”

“it’s amazing your ego even fits in here.” she reached for her purse, pulling out her phone. she’d hardly looked at it all day, and it was alive with activity -- her manager had texted her about... forty-five times. cadence scrolled down to the bottom and saw the message that started it all: what’s this i hear about you getting cozy on set with raleigh carrera? sure you want to go down that road?

she grimaced. “let me guess,” raleigh said, cutting through her thoughts, “someone doesn’t want you getting messed up with me.”

cadence hesitated, her non-answer an answer on its own. he dragged his tongue across his teeth. “it’s really up to you, though, isn’t it?”

it was. “yeah,” she nodded, “and i don’t care about any of that, anyway. are you sure i’m not causing trouble for you? what about your fake girlfriend?”

he rolled his eyes. “she’ll get over it. as long as you’re okay, i’m okay.”

she smiled. “i’m okay,” cadence confirmed, “whatever happens -- i can handle it.” the look he was giving her was difficult to decipher, but she thought he might be pleased. she hesitated. “you’re... sure you want to do this, though? it’s okay if you just got caught up in the story.”

“uh, hello? i already slept with lexi d’agosto, remember?” the obnoxious grin he was wearing softened at the sight of the expression on her face. “cadence, i’m sure. i like you. i want to hang out more -- see where this goes. you’re the one i should be double-checking.”

“no way.” she gestured for him to follow her out of her trailer, into the film lot. “you’re not going to get out of giving me the full raleigh carrera experience. i don’t care what it costs you to buy out the empire state building.”

he laughed, his hand finding hers to link their fingers together. “i think you’ll change your tune after the blogs get wind of this, but -- fair enough.”

eventually, they reached the security gate. she’d have to walk them out into the street to find the car that was waiting for her, and if her manager had already heard the rumors sparking from their day on set, that meant that it was likely a few photographers had, too. once they left the film lot, there was no going back.

raleigh squeezed her hand. “ready for your life to get messier?”

things had been awfully predictable, lately. “definitely. ready for yours to get more awesome?”

“oh, absolutely.” together, they started off down the street. camera flashes exploded behind her eyelids, but she kept her head down, fighting a smile all the way to the car.

at least whatever happened next was bound to be interesting.

#raleigh carrera #platinum #raleigh carrera x mc #raleigh x mc #raleigh x cadence #myfic #cadence dorian #i love aus and i'm not sorry !#i like the dialogue in this one i hope you guys do too !! we love a couple with banter !!#sorry the fake show is cheesy lmao i picture it like something on the cw

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