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absolutebl · 5 months

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Best & Worst BLs of 2023

My Top 15 BLs of 2023 are (in order)

1 Our Dating Sim

Korea Viki

Nerds in love, deadlines, gaming, teasing, pining tiny idiots, casual affection, linguistic oops, ADORABLE. If you haven't watched this, it's a must. A perfect short form KBL, an office set reunion romance featuring geeks that really suits 8 eps with no fluff and no chaff. Just comforting and yummy.

I adored every aspect from the casting to the pristinely simple premise to the quietly smooth execution. Sure it’s low stakes, but that makes it high domesticity and extremely warm and gentle. This is a fuzzy blanket of a story - a cozy BL. It lives in my rewatch pile and you know what’s best about it? Every single episode is in that pile. There’s no skipping with this one, it might be good natured and calmly sweet but it’s tight and the pacing is excellent.

Also recieves my 2023 award for best giggle.

2 I Cannot Reach You

AKA I Can't Reach You AKA Kimi ni wa Todokanai

Japan Netflix

This classic friends-to-lovers BL is everything Japan does best. Angsty. Emo. Aching. Driven by real thirst. Yamato is deeply in love with his childhood bestie, Kakeru, and has been for ages, unable to hide his ungainly damaging high school need. He wants Kakeru in every way possible and it oozes off of the screen.

Kakeru is silly and a little simple, but not frenetic or overly camp about it. He is earnest, and genuinely wants to keep Yamato in his life which means giving a romance (and gayness) a fair chance. We watch him realize his affection and what form it can take in a truly authentic way.

This show was impossibly kind to both of its lead characters and I felt almost honored that I got to watch something so lovely and rare play out on my screen.

Also wins the best thirst award.

These were the 2 BLs that got 10/10 from me in 2023. The rest of these got 9/10 from me.

3 My School President

Thailand YouTube

GMMTV gave us a classic high school set Thai BL with tropes like messy boys singing their feelings that made this one Love Sick for the modern age with all the gentle sweetness and pining ache, but none of the dated damaging tropes or issues. Who let my BL be this wholesome and funny? My favourite GMMTV BL offering to date. And yes, I've watched them ALL.

Received the Namgoong award for best wingman 2023.

4 I Feel You Linger in the Air

Thailand grey

IFYLITA is an exquisite BL, from filming techniques to narrative framework. Steeped in history and family drama this is an elegant and classy BL. The main couple (both as a pair and individuals) were excellent, particularly Bright (Yai) whose eye-work acting style is a personal favorite of mine. It's a marker of how great it was that it's so high on my list despite the ending which was very much not what I wanted.

Additional accolade, sexiest moment of 2023 - (the oil scene).

You could try to fight me, but you'll have no grip.

5 Kiseki: Dear to Me

Taiwan Gaga & Viki

The plot is totally ridiculous and slightly unhinged. There’s a gum-ball machine of cameos, elder gay rep, great chemistry from all pairs (everyone is queer), and a KILLER side couple. It involves all the tropes under a very offhand framework of gay mafia gangs + food = love. As a result Kiseki is a poster child for Taiwanese BL, and I happen to love Taiwanese BL. Bonus? They also managed to END IT WELL, which we cannot expect from Taiwan.

Best side couple 2023!

(thank goodness Taiwan made this list!)

6 Jun and Jun

Korea Viki

A delightful office romance about an ex-idol who joins cubical life only to find his new boss is his first love. With a snappy (sometimes even raunchy) script, enjoyable sides, a pretty as peaches cast, and descent chemistry this show made up for in style what it lacked in substance. I like fluff. I loved this. I smiled every moment I was watching.

Best flirting 2023.

AKA "the tongue knows" award

7 The Eighth Sense

Korea Viki

This one is a bit chewy and sticky and less perfect than most KBLs. It’s got a bit of an age gap, country boy/city boy, stellar acting, complex characters, and leads with great chemistry and tension. This isn’t in the KBL bubble, there’s sharp edges and lots of triggers. For a BL the darkness of the content left me feeling unsettled (which is the only reason it didn't get a perfect score) but it has a glorious ending and that counts for a lot.

2023's most likely to appeal to non-BL watchers.

8 Unintentional Love Story

Korea iQIYI

The lead, Gongchan (maknae of B1A4) is a fucking GIFT, who carried this show. He was luminous with extraordinarily expressive eyes, which he used to carry a killer plot and challenging role. Forced into a totally understandable betrayal, falling in love despite himself, put into a corner he can't get out of, the AGONY, the eyes EMOTING at us in PAIN. Driven by external conflict, social tension and pressure this story seems simple but it's actually refined and quite complex. I loved this show.

Best story structure 2023.

9 My Personal Weatherman

AKA Taikan Yoho

Japan Gaga

This is classic yaoi of the kind that really only works from Japan. Basically: boys who fell in love in college end up living together but both are so repressed they actually don't realize they're in love. It's high heat is well done, but it leaned into the "why don't they just talk for fuck's sake?" which is exacerbated by the fact that they're already fucking. Sure is sexy tho.

Best use of props 2023 for the shower of sheets.

10 Our Dining Table

AKA Bokura no Shokutaku

Japan Gaga

Lonely salaryman and talented cook gets accidentally adopted by a college kid and his little brother. It’s a quiet & cozy little parable of found family alleviating loneliness. It's lovely & sweet with the romance beats used to build a family relationship, not just couple intimacy. Special.

First prize for domesticity.

11 Laws of Attraction

Thailand iQIYI

This is a great gay suspense thriller with several solid couples, fun plot, killer characters, queer rep, and a happy ending. It’s tons of fun and I had an absolute blast watching it.

Charn wins my favorite character of 2023.

12 La Pluie

Thailand Viki

This BL takes to task the fated mates trope and what it means to have love chained intimately to predestination. It’s about how faith in destiny before choice diminishes the authenticity of emotion, relationships, and connection. This is a high concept to examine through the lens of a BL. With good chemistry and decent acting all around, plus some excellent high heat and representation of consent and a few other rare tropes, this one has to (like it’s sibling show My Ride) earn high marks.

Most interesting concept 2023.

13 The New Employee

Korea Viki

So good, SO QUEER, so soft, a near pitch perfect office BL with conflict derived from that setting. Also found family and a lesbian bestie. This is what I wanted from this new crop of office set KBLs ALL ALONG. Rainbow rice cakes forever!

Best overall queer rep from Korea.

14 Step By Step

Thailand Gaga & YouTube & Viki

This was Thailand’s answer to The New Employee, and everything I loved about that show I loved about this one. This was an office romance between stern boss and sweet subordinate that felt more authentic to an office environment than previous Thai BLs of this ilk which added tension to the narrative and character development.

Chot wins best queer character 2023.

15 Love Tractor

Korea iQIYI

Most of this country-set BL had me feral for the beautiful broken city boy and his hot young farmer. Hyung romance, puppy/cat pairing, open frankness meets jaded reserve, language play, water hose frolicking, only one bed = all my favorite silly tropes.

Biggest "he so pretty" gasp of the year award.

10 Worst BLs of 2023 (that I watched)

My Blessing

My Universe: Casanova Begins

Boyband the series

Cafe In Love

Chains of Heart

Hit Bite Love

Only Friends

Senior Love Me

The Luminous Solution

The Promise

Yes, you read that right. I know I'm against the flow but I really did not like Only Friends. Everyone's taste is different.

However I DNFed faster and more BL's this year than ever before, so that means my 10 worst probably aren't quite reflective...

10 Probably Actually Worst BLs (I dropped 'em)

My Story

The Day I Loved You

Beyond the Star

Crazy Handsome Rich

Dinosaur Love

House of Stars

Mr Cinderella 2

Love Bill

Stormy Honeymoon

The Star Always Follow You

Codicils in General

I only carefully track/watch Thailand, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan. Other countries are not fully represented.

My Numbers

So my spreadsheet chronicled 138 BLs that finish airing in 2023.

101 = watched & reviewed

2 = still in the docket (WDYEY2 & Love Syndrome III)

15 = CNF (could not find)

20 = DNF (which also accounts for how few very low scores I handed out in 2023 as opposed to previous years, I just stopped watching). Speaking of which...

Ratings spread

(# of stars. #of BLs given that rating)

0 (see the DNFs instead)

2 - IT'S DEPRESSING they killed the gay, save yourself

7 - I DON'T KNOW WHAT I AM WATCHING AND NEITHER DOES IT

7 - FATALLY FLAWED but still basically BL, however… do we want to support this kind of behavior?

9 - WATCH IF YOU HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO but don’t expect much, it’s a total hot mess

17 - WORTH WATCHING BUT FLAWED probably around the ending or in narrative structure/cohesion or censorship

14 - RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS i.e. isn’t quite BL, convoluted, not strictly HEA, too short/long, or chemistry issues

30 - RECOMMENDED some concerns around tropes (like dub con) or story structure but still satisfies as BL

13 - ABSOLUTELY RECOMMENDED probably a few pacing issues or one flaw

2 - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED faithful to tropes, happy ending, good chemistry, few flaws, high rewatch potential

(source)

#Best BLs of 2023 #Worst BLs of 2023 #Top 15 BLs #Our Dating Sim #Korean BL #I Cannot Reach You #Japanese BL #Kimi ni wa Todokanai #My School President #Thai BL #I Feel You Linger in the Air #Kiseki: Dear to Me #Taiwanese BL #Jun and Jun #The Eighth Sense #Unintentional Love Story #Our Dining Table #Bokura no Shokutaku

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pastanest · 9 months

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Spencer Reid x she/her!reader

A/N: inspired by this post by @shy-taylorsversion !! hope you like it sweet! ♡

warnings: references to Maeve but nothing too specific

I Can See You

It was as though fate herself was playing the cruellest joke in human history, the day you joined the team. Spencer’s heart was beyond scarred, it had been locked away under every wall he knew how to craft within himself, for his own safety. And yet, with no more than a glance, you began to disarm him.

The team spotted the sparks almost before Spencer did, in the way they acknowledged that he reached to shake your head in greeting; a gesture he typically avoided at all cost. It was the wide eyes from his chosen family that made Spencer realize his body had acted on its own accord, without any consideration for his mind, or heart.

“Doctor Spencer Reid, uh, pleasure to meet you.” He had cleared his throat in his attempts to hold your gaze, a task he had not anticipated to be anywhere near as challenging as it turned out to be.

And the way you had smiled at him? That was the first splinter, in the very first wall that surrounded Spencer’s heart.

It was not drastic enough for Spencer to notice right away, and by the time that he did, it was too late. Anyone would think your moves to be calculated, but the worst part of it was that Spencer could see that your actions and words were completely without ulterior motive.

It is simply who you are, much to a genius’s absolute dismay.

Naturally, Spencer tried to deduce exactly what this immediate connection was on the very first meeting. He sat at his desk with a concentrated frown, and within 15 seconds, he had formed a hypothesis: it was a basic biological attraction, something found in primal creatures, not civilised beings, and certainly not ones with three PhD’s, but if he had to admit that he had animalistic desires on occasion, that was favored over this meaning anything more. With a satisfied nod, he rose from his desk and tried his very best to continue with his day.

He had ventured down the hall of the BAU office, with the intention of retrieving some files he needed to work on, and he was determined to not even remotely acknowledge that you were walking down the very same hallway, in the opposite direction. He did not notice your hair, or your eyes, or the way you walked, the softness found in your smile, and his eidetic memory had definitely not stored each and every detail.

Aaron Hotchner was giving you a tour of the office, Spencer surmised; he absolutely did not strain his every thought to tuning into the conversation in an effort to learn more about the wonder that was you. The width of the hallway allowed for you and Spencer to pass each other without any contact whatsoever, but when your gaze lifted to catch his, neither of you made any effort to increase the distance between you. Instead, you had smiled at him - again, his heart skipped a beat as it reminded him - and the two of you walked, neither one hearing Hotch’s continuing tour of the office as you neared each other. Then your sleeve brushed his. The contact was gone as quickly as it had arrived, but Spencer knew he had goosebumps beneath his suit jacket, and he couldn’t help wondering when he looked over his shoulder to find you doing the same, your eyes locking once again; did you feel it, too?

Only once safely behind the front door of his own apartment, could Spencer Reid regain the ability to think straight. It was foolish, he told himself. A workplace romance? He shook his head as he shrugged off his suit jacket, his gaze lingering momentarily on the sleeve you had brushed against. There was no substance to it, Spencer’s objective brain enforced, need you be reminded of the statistics surrounding workplace entanglements? It was simply the proximity; he had never worked with someone he found so physically attractive before, that was all this was. His mind just needed to adjust to your presence. His eyes were just latching onto the most attractive sight they could find, after forcibly reliving the loss of the love of his life. This was not love, Spencer concluded, it felt nothing like what he had felt for Maeve. The physical weight of the anxiety and stress he had experienced, the secrecy, the pain; all of that was missing, and that was what Spencer understood love to be.

This was foolish, he reminded himself. As of tomorrow, he would put a stop to this, whatever this was.

Spencer walked into the BAU office with newfound purpose the following morning, prepared to focus on his work and nothing else, which would not be a difficult task. Not in the slightest. He was a professional, after all, and you-

“Good morning, Spencer!”

You were already sitting at your desk, and you were smiling at him - the very same smile that Spencer had noticed you had not given anyone else on your first day.

And, like a fool, Doctor Spencer Reid’s eidetic memory jettisoned his previously formed plan of nipping whatever this was in the bud, and instead, he smiled right back at you.

It would be fair to say that he has been a lost cause ever since. His mind has crafted a permanent residence for you, where thoughts of you swirl at a constant rate, and he has allowed such a heinous development; shocking, really. The worst part? Spencer has managed to maintain professionalism, because everything between you is mostly unsaid. It is longing glances, lingering smiles, subtle touches that nobody else would notice; save for the team of profilers that you both happen to work with everyday. You have found your footing within said team and formed fast friends, almost like you had always been part of said team, but you were still such a new and pleasant sight to Spencer each and everyday. You had not seen him through any emotional turmoil, you saw him as he was from when you knew him, and you liked what you saw, in the same way that he liked what he saw in you. There was a mutual understanding, a reciprocated tension that you were equally, acutely aware of.

By now, Spencer knows that when he says something particularly clever, he need only glance at you from the corner of his eye to find you already looking at him with stars in your eyes. By now, you are accustomed to trying to beat Spencer into the office each and every morning, because whoever arrives first will prepare the other’s choice of beverage for the morning, which will be left on their desk in time for the other’s arrival, without a word, but with a complete understanding. By now, the rest of the team are used to sharing eyerolls and exasperated sighs as they watch you and Spencer dance around each other in such a ridiculous, but still undeniably sweet way.

You are something new to Spencer. He doesn’t have to overthink about your safety outside of dangerous cases, he doesn’t have to worry about where he stands with you, because one look is enough to reassure him. Whatever this is, it is something different. It brings about a relief to the stress of the job; the same peace a hot bath would provide, Spencer finds in every smile you give him.

But, at its core, this is unsaid. The layers to it are secret, even with what the team are able to infer from what they can see.

While his brain is focussed on the case at hand, that same little space in Spencer’s mind is alive with thoughts of you. Today, he has been tasked with working the geographical profile with Blake, who is obviously very aware of what is forming between you and Spencer, but elects to say very little about it, given how sensitive the topic could be to Spencer’s still raw heart. That said, she can’t help noticing or smiling at the way Spencer’s gaze continually drifts to the door of the small office within the local police department that they have been working all day, as though willing you to walk through it.

“I’m sure the interviews are going well.” Blake chooses her words carefully, referring to what you have been tasked with, rather than you directly, in an effort to perhaps allow Spencer to open up, just a little.

He frowns at this, trying to convey confusion as he refocusses his gaze on the maps in front of him, running his fingers over them.

“(Y/N) is very good. Knowing her, she’ll come in here in a few minutes saying ‘don’t worry, guys, case closed, we can all go home because there’s a rerun of Doctor Who that I can’t miss’.” Blake tries again, this time using a joke referencing a shared interest of yours and Spencer’s, which pulls the desired smile from him, though he doesn’t lift his eyes from the maps.

A moment of silence passes, in which Spencer considers his own words with equal care, before he decides to respond to what he feels is the most important section of Blake’s last sentence.

“She is…very good.”

Feeling somewhat reassured by Blake’s words in a strange way, in her validating the obvious chemistry between you and Spencer, he finds it easier to continue to working. Of course, he still glances at the door out of habit, wishing for no more than a glimpse of you walking past it, if that’s all he’s allowed for now, but he is focussed on his work. He is a professional, after all.

That is, until his ears - finely tuned to deciphering your voice even in a sea of others - pick up on a distressed tone from you. While the wall between you prevents him from being able to piece together any words, the discomfort he can hear is enough to bring Spencer up from his seat.

“I need to update Hotch on some details of the geographical profile that could assist with the interviews he’s conducting.” Spencer blurts out hurriedly, picking up a random case file without looking at it before rushing out of the room, once again not mentioning you by name, but making his intentions crystal clear to Blake.

She doesn’t question anything, but there’s a knowing smile on her face.

Spencer is out of the door in an instant, his eyes locking onto you a few feet down the hallway, seemingly caught in an uncomfortable exchange with a local police officer. The way your arms are crossed over your chest is enough for Spencer to understand exactly what is going on, and when your gaze gravitates to him, he sees you visibly relax, a soft smile spreading across your face. The local cop continues his attempts at sweet talking you, until he sees your expression and follows your gaze, seeing Spencer stood down the hall with a case file in hand and a frown that could challenge Aaron Hotchner’s. Clearing his throat awkwardly, the local police officer skulks off, and you breathe a sigh of relief, walking over to Spencer and smiling up at him.

“Find anything?” You ask him, gesturing to the case file in his hands, which is now crumpled in his almost white knuckles.

“What? Oh, no, I just- you sounded uncomfortable.” Spencer babbles, his mind shifting from a possessive fury that he’s never previously held for anyone, before settling into a peace that only the subject of that possessive streak can bring.

“I was. Thank you for saving the day, as always.” You smile up at him, and with a rush of confidence, you make a gesture of standing on your tiptoes to kiss Spencer’s cheek as you pass him, and his brain short-circuits.

It takes a whole three seconds for Spencer to regain his 187 IQ points, at which time he looks over his shoulder to find you at the other end of the hallway, mirroring his action with a beaming grin. He stays still - mainly because his brain has not recovered enough for him to trust his ability to walk - but his mind conjures up a beautiful daydream of him strolling right up to you, pushing you up against the wall and kissing you until both of you collapse from lack of oxygen. His hands holding your face, your hands in his hair, his body pressed against yours, holding you up against the wall as your knees attempt to buckle under the weight of what would be the most passionate kiss in human history, Spencer is more than certain of that.

“Are you coming, pretty boy?” You call out to him, abruptly forcing him back into the present.

An interesting choice of words, considering.

“Where?” Spencer asks you, in turn, a smile playing on his lips.

“Lunch!” You state, like it’s obvious.

Spencer glances at his watch, bemused. “It’s 3pm!”

You shrug, but your smile is widening as the amusement grows. “Yep, and I haven’t had lunch, so, you coming?”

Spencer rolls his eyes and refrains from giving you yet another lecture on remembering to take a scheduled lunch break to ensure you have the amount of energy required for maximum efficiency while on the job - which is, obviously, his way of reminding you to eat regularly because he cares about you, not because he cares about your ‘maximum efficiency on the job’.

He quickly pokes his head through the door to the little office, tossing the crumpled case file back on the table where he had previously been sitting.

“Just going to get lunch.” Spencer tells Blake, and she raises an eyebrow.

“Lunch? At 3pm?” She questions, much like he had, and that only makes him smile again.

It isn’t just a smile, though. It’s a bright, wide grin that takes up Spencer’s whole face, making the corners of his eyes crease, and then he disappears without a word, because his expression is explanation enough.

As silly, and as common as it is, after having lunch with you, Spencer’s smile is unwavering for the rest of the day. Yours is too, resulting in both of you receiving teasing remarks from the members of the team that you have been working with, away from each other in the hours that have passed since.

By the time Spencer shuts himself in his own hotel room for the night, his mind is fried, and as a consequence, he cannot withhold thoughts of you to that one corner of his brain. Instead, he sees you standing in the middle of his hotel room, walking up him with a smirk he’s seen time and time again in his dreams. He feels your palms on his chest through his shirt, loosening his tie as his lips ghost yours. His shoulders rolling as you help him take off his suit jacket, discarding it on the floor before his lips fall on yours. And he can see you waiting for him on his hotel room bed, as though you were really there, and had already been there a thousand other times, on a hundred other nights. Oh, how he wishes.

Shaking his head, Spencer forces himself back into the present, into the newly depressing sight of his otherwise empty hotel room. He removes his suit jacket with a bitter expression, knowing you would do it so much better, but alas.

Realizing there is absolutely no way he can sleep in this state, Spencer rolls up the long sleeves of his button-up shirt, kicks his shoes off, and settles in the armchair in the corner of his hotel room. He retrieves his favorite copy of ‘War And Peace’ and decides to reread it to unwind. Just a bit of light reading.

That is, until approximately 10 minutes - and just under halfway through the book - later, when there is an unexpected knock at the door.

Deciding to place ‘War And Peace’ on the physical bedside table and mental backburner, Spencer rises from the armchair and crosses the threshold of his hotel room. The moment he opens the door, his heart leaps right out of his chest.

There you are, in your pajamas, hugging your laptop close to your chest with a smile that Spencer wholeheartedly believes could persuade any man to do anything and everything for you.

“‘The Impossible Planet’ and ‘The Satan Pit’ were rerunning tonight, and we haven’t finished the case in time to watch them, so…” You lift your laptop in a wordless gesture, stars shining in your eyes, and Spencer Reid has to seriously consider whether this is a dream.

His perfect girl, arriving at his door because she wants to watch Doctor Who with him? Surely, fate jests.

“You are an impossible girl.” Is all Spencer can manage to say, a smirk on his face when he sees the recognition in your eyes at his own Doctor Who reference.

“Ooh, you can’t say things like that to a girl, Doctor!” You giggle, knowing you’ve got him right back with a reference of your own.

With that, Spencer invites you into his hotel room, and just like so many times before, you fall asleep with your head on his chest as the end credits roll on your laptop screen, an ever encouraging score from Murray Gold being the soundtrack to Spencer’s longing glance down at you as he brushes your hair away from your face. With a kiss to your forehead and one arm holding you in place, he turns off your laptop and sets it down beside the bed, his other arm wrapping around you to hold you to him in a gesture of affection that was foreign to him before you, but is now second nature.

Spencer never understood what it was to fall asleep with a smile on his face, until he started falling in love with you.

By the time the team is boarding the jet home, you are all beyond exhausted, but relieved in equal measure. Another case closed, another life saved, and another trip home. As opposed to the typical night flights you tend to catch, Penelope managed to secure the jet in time for everyone to be on their way home by midday. So, instead of a silent jet occupied by sleeping FBI agents, Hotch is living vicariously through Rossi and Derek’s latest tales of seduction, you are gossipping with JJ, and at the other end of the jet, perfectly in your line of sight, Spencer is sitting with Blake, unable to resist glancing over at you every so often.

Blake has that same knowing smile on her face, picking up on more than the rest of the team has, given the almost maternal bond she has formed with Spencer, and she decides that this time, she’s going to speak less carefully.

“Spencer, what is the statistical likelihood of history repeating itself?” She asks pointedly, but quietly.

Spencer frowns. “Well, that depends on a number of variables. Technically, it would be impossible to provide an exact statistic, because there are an infinite number of possibilities at every point in every sequence of events that there can ever be, but for history to repeat itself in a direct pattern, it would be incredibly unlikely. Why do you ask?” He rambles, very much enjoying this question, this challenge to his analytical mind.

“Have you ever asked a girl out before?” Blake answers Spencer’s own question with a question, something she has previously reprimanded him for.

And Blake’s question is enough to freeze a genius in his tracks.

He doesn’t have to think about it, he knows the answer, but his confusion and shock makes that one word difficult.

“No.” Spencer says after a moment’s pause.

“Then, to reduce your own anxieties surrounding history repeating itself, why don’t you change that and create an entirely new chain of events for yourself?” Blake suggests, giving him a small, encouraging smile.

As always, she knows exactly what advice he needs to hear. Blake is right, if Spencer does ask you out, what’s unfolding between you and him will truly be unlike anything he has ever experienced before, meaning it cannot possibly end in the same way, the same tragedy cannot befall him if he takes the path he has been so afraid of treading.

“How?” Spencer asks, his voice barely above a whisper, because he’s vulnerable now. He needs help from a friend, a friend he trusts with a situation that is as precious to him as this.

Grateful that he’s taking her advice on board instead of dismissing it, Blake nods, leaning forward in her seat on the jet.

“Do whatever feels right to you, because it’s you, exactly as you are, that (Y/N) smiles at like that.” Blake says simply, sitting back in her seat and watching as Spencer’s gaze flickers to you again, knowing from the look in his eyes that he’s just received that very smile from you, and that is the only encouragement he needs.

Nodding to himself, Spencer stands up and rushes to the jet kitchen, walking past you and brushing your sleeve with his as he does.

From where you sit with JJ, you can’t help glancing over your shoulder at Spencer, curious as to what he’s doing in the jet kitchen and why he’s trying so very hard to hide whatever it is that he is doing.

No more than a few seconds later, Spencer walks past you again, returning to his own seat at the other end of the jet, but not without very discreetly dropping a small, folded piece of paper into your lap. With a smirk, JJ turns away to look out of the jet window, granting you some privacy as you unfold the piece of paper, your hands trembling ever so slightly as you scan over the page, and Spencer’s own shaky handwriting.

“Meet me tonight?”

Grinning, you lift your eyes from the note and to its sender, who is already staring at you with a mixture of hope and anticipation in varying shades of hazel. From across the jet, you nod at him, and he nods back at you, biting back a disbelieving chuckle as he looks down at his lap shyly, avoiding your eyes.

You want to ask when, where, and how he wants to meet you tonight, but the excitement within the unknown is even better. For the rest of the flight home, you and Spencer exchange expressions of yearning that exceed even your usual standards, and it’s very clear that whatever this is, it’s about to come to a head.

When the jet lands back in Quantico, the team rise from their seats and stretch their limbs, retrieving their overnight bags and heading for the door. You and Spencer fall back in a silent understanding, and he wraps his large hand around yours to take your bag and swing it over his shoulder, giving you one of his signature charming smiles and ridding you of every coherent thought you’ve ever had in the process. With his hand free once again, his fingertips graze yours as you step out of the jet and head back into the office, sparks flying to such a severity, Spencer considers alerting the pilot of a problem with the jet engine.

Much to your mutual dismay, the team is tasked with case reports the second they set foot into the office again, given it is not officially the end of a working day and there is no better time to complete a report than when the case is still fresh in your mind; not everyone has an eidetic memory. And so, your equally yearning glances continue, this time from across the office, as the hours tick by and the anticipation between you grows.

As the hours tick by, Spencer grows restless. He checks his watch, and debates with himself as to whether 6pm can be considered ‘tonight’, before he decides he no longer cares for such technicalities. With his legs bouncing beneath his desk, he quickly writes out another note, then picks up a case report and practically flies over to your desk, dropping the piece of paper on your keyboard before walking out of the glass doors and round the corner, down a hallway that takes him - begrudgingly - out of your sight.

Confused and excited once again, you open the scrunched up note and scream internally.

“Please follow me in 10 seconds and bring your case report - doesn’t matter if it’s finished.”

You stare up at the clock on the office wall, counting the slowest ten seconds of your life, and then the gravity of Spencer pulls you from your desk to fulfill your secret mission. Clutching your incomplete case report to your chest, you try to walk past your coworkers desks as casually as you can, but you can’t help feeling that the room of profilers that surround you are acutely aware of every little tell. You wouldn’t be surprised if they can hear the irregularity in your heartbeat right now.

With trembling hands, you reach for the handle of the glass door and push through it, rounding the corner and immediately freezing on the spot. Halfway down the hallway, Spencer leans against the wall, his case report hanging from his hand loosely at his side, his other hand in a tense fist in front of him as he frowns down at his watch.

As though sensing you, Spencer’s head turns, and when he sees you, he sighs deeply.

“12.5 seconds. I thought you might not be coming.” He says quietly, his words soft and his relief palpable.

An interesting choice of words, considering.

“Sorry, I tried to walk slowly, didn’t want to give anything away.” You explain, your voice as quiet as Spencer’s had been, the distance between you already closing on its own accord.

He shakes his head, but his eyes never leave yours. “No need to apologize. I’m certain they’ll know something’s going on, even with our efforts.”

You can’t help chuckling at that, nodding up at him as he walks closer and begins to tower over you, all words suddenly losing their meaning. In what can only be described as a silent, instinctual mating dance between two equally besotted creatures, with each step Spencer takes towards you, you take a step backwards until your back gently hits the wall, your gazes locked in an indescribable heat, lost in a tension that cannot be defined in any kind of eloquence.

Case report still hanging loosely between Spencer’s index finger and thumb, he closes the space between you until there are only centimeters separating your face and his. With each inhale, you taste each other, smell each other, feel each other closer than ever before, and the primal attraction that Spencer had been foolish enough to believe he was too rigidly sophisticated to ever experience slaps him in the face with a rather rude awakening, but it is a welcome one. His curls touch the skin of your forehead, and you bite your lip in an effort to restrain yourself, but when Spencer’s free hand moves between your bodies to uncurl one of your hands from its fierce grip on the incomplete case report you clutch to your chest, to place your palm flat against his shirt, over his heart, you forget your own name.

“You know, researchers from the University of Chicago analyzed people’s eye movements as they viewed black and white photos of both couples and attractive strangers to judge whether the people they saw were eliciting feelings of sexual desire or romantic love, and the results revealed an interesting pattern; when the subjects judged a stranger as depicting feelings or romantic love, their eyes stayed fixed on the stranger’s face. However, when the subjects felt the photo was exuding sexual desire, their eyes strayed over the rest of the stranger’s body. The co-author of the research said that by identifying eye patterns that are specific to love-related stimuli, the study may contribute to the development of a biomarker that differentiates feelings of romantic love versus sexual desire, and an eye-tracking model may offer a new avenue of diagnosis for routine clinical exams in psychiatry and/or couple therapy.” Spencer rambles, bringing an enamored smile from you that makes his heart sing. You are always so interested in every single thing he has to say; where others roll their eyes and cut him off, you listen, and you adore him for exactly who he is.

“The reason that I’m telling you this,” Spencer continues, “-is because scientists found that the subject’s judgment can occur in just half a second, suggesting the way we categorize whether we feel lust or love for new people is innately automated.” He wets his lips with his tongue.

“Is this your sciencey way of telling me that, despite it typically being perceived as illogical, you believe in love at first sight? That’s quite controversial for a man who is so often analytically inclined.” You muse thoughtfully, your smile unwavering as you look up at him.

“I didn’t. Not until three months, four days, 9 hours, 12 minutes and-” Spencer checks his watch before meeting your eyes again, “-27 seconds ago.”

You cannot believe Spencer is daring to ask your brain to perform what is nothing short of a miracle in the form of basic mathematics when his lips are almost touching yours.

“You mean…when I…” You can barely form words.

“At the exact moment when you walked into the office on your first day, yes.” Spencer nods, his forehead brushing yours.

The palm that is still pressed to Spencer’s chest through his shirt moves to feel his tie, as though holding onto something for support while the Earth beneath your feet shifts and he is the only thing keeping you here; which, in fairness, he very well might be.

Quite suddenly, the tension between you is suffocating, having long surpassed boiling point, and your breaths are as shallow as his.

The case report held between Spencer’s index finger and thumb is hanging by a metaphorical thread, his other hand lifting to tuck some of your hair behind your ear, his fingertips caressing your cheek as he drinks you in.

“Can I kiss you, (Y/N)?” He whispers, the boldest words he has ever spoken.

“Yes.” You breathe, without missing a beat, and Spencer does not waste another second.

In one swift motion, the case report falls to the floor, both of his hands coming to cup your face as his lips take yours, your hands holding his to keep him there. Spencer’s body presses into you, acting on a primal instinct that goes beyond his understanding, kissing you like a man starved of physical affection all his life, and there’s far more truth in that than he cares to admit. When one of your hands reaches for his messy curls, Spencer sighs into the kiss, lowering his hands to grab at your waist, squeezing your hips gently. The kiss is its own infinity lived and shared, the two of you only parting for air, but your bodies remaining intertwined, the sound of your heavy breaths echoing down the hallway until you’re both laughing, your foreheads pressed together and an insurmountable love in your eyes.

What this is, is different. You don’t know every detail of Spencer’s past or pain, in the same way that he is yet to know yours, but you have every intention to learn about each other, with this as your foundation. This, without the physical weight of anxiety and stress, with a different kind of secrecy, and free of pain; this is a mutual understanding, a reciprocated attraction beyond what Spencer thought was possible for someone like him. You are different, different to him, different to every person he has ever known, and he has no doubt that he is much the same when compared to the people in your life, too.

You are different, you are new. You are a breath of fresh air that he will never grow tired of breathing.

And he will always, always see you, in every conceivable way that you’ll allow him to.

#spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid imagine #x reader #criminal minds #criminal minds x reader #criminal minds imagine #imagine #imagines #fanfic #fanfiction #headcannon #headcannons #Spotify

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seren1tyhaze · 11 months

Text

of grocery lists and spilled (oat) milk

PAIRING: mark lee x afab reader

WORD COUNT: 3.2K

SUMMARY: sure, keeping your grocery list in Mark Lee's dms may seem like next level delusional but it can't do any harm, right?

AUTHOR’S NOTE: for my lovely @strwbrysunday who inspired this and for being there always for every step of my delusional writing process <3 In case I don’t pull something together in time, we can count this as a VERY early bday tribute to Markly

WARNINGS: fluff, romantic meet cute, light swearing, rekindling romance, childhood friends to lovers

PLAYLIST: Broken Melodies and Like We Just Met by NCT Dream

Life is but a dream, we got history

Your alarm is blaring in your ear as your cat licks the tip of your nose, jolting you awake to see hot sun streaming in your bedroom window. How bright the room is has you scrambling for your phone, desperately hoping you hadn’t overslept (again).

Your phone screen confirms the worst as you whip back the covers and slide into fluffy slippers next to your bed, knocking a cup over as you reach for your cat’s food in the kitchen and spilling some of it in the process. She happily purrs against your bare legs before starting to eat slowly out of the small tray and you realize you’re going to have to drink the shitty office coffee since you’re both out of espresso pods and oat milk.

You quickly shower and are out the door in record time, thanking yourself that you hadn’t unpacked your work bag when you had gotten home late the night before. Work has been brutal lately, giving you barely any time in the evenings to yourself and you’ve never been one to wake up early in the morning. You know you have to go to the store today so you plan to try to sneak out a bit early to get your essentials.

Once you’re settled in the train car for your twenty seven minute ride, you work through a couple emails to get a head start on work before turning to your grocery list.

You glance to your side to see if anyone is looking over your shoulder at your phone, knowing the unconventional location of said list would seem questionable to a passerby.

Even you can admit that your delusional habit you had started ages ago was a little strange, but it felt comforting at this point and wasn’t hurting anyone. You opened up your Instagram DMs and tapped into the extremely one sided conversation with a charming, smiley rapper with 11.5M followers who did not know you existed.

Yes, you kept your grocery lists (and other important info you needed to find quickly) in Mark Lee’s DMs.

It had started as a joke a few years ago when you had finally admitted to your closest friend in the city that you and Mark had gone to summer camp together when you were kids. It had only been for a couple years but you remembered it like it was yesterday. The early morning kayak trips, knocking bare knees around a late night campfire, and how he used to sing you to sleep accompanied by the soft strumming of his guitar from the steps of your cabin.

You had followed his career ever since, listening to new songs as they were released, watching him on variety shows, and flipping through magazines whenever you saw his stunning face and bold style gracing the covers. You enjoyed seeing the short poems he would post on his stories or read out loud on the rare live he would do after shows.

Your friend had encouraged you to slide into his DMs at the time, purely motivated by her desire to meet his dancer best friend that he was sometimes spotted with at the most exclusive clubs. You had tapped open the message conversation with him and in typing quickly, accidentally pasted your short grocery list into the chat. She had laughed at you and you sent the message anyways, knowing that there was no way he would reply or ever even see it in his message requests.

You had a solid amount of followers for someone who didn’t work in the entertainment industry due to the app you had helped develop rising in popularity in the past few months. You sometimes helped out with filming vlog content for the website or TikToks but mostly kept to yourself and didn’t really have any interest in being internet famous.

Since you had first put your grocery list in Mark’s DMs, you had used the space to put little notes to yourself, including a drunken ramble one night about how 16 Personalities has royally fucked up everyone’s perception of MBTI.

Today, you opened up the message to add in your latest essentials, putting oat milk in all caps since the last few times you went you somehow managed to forget it. You needed food for the week, chicken and veggies, some other basics like mascara and tampons and remembered running low on cat treats.

Sliding your phone back into the front pocket of your bag, you let your eyes flutter shut for the rest of the ride to work, finally feeling the adrenaline of waking up late wear off.

Many hours later you are angrily typing on your computer, finishing up some code review for the development team, eyes flicking repeatedly to the clock in the bottom of your screen.

“I’m sorry you had to stay late, you should head out soon before it starts raining harder,” your coworker messages you, leaning from behind their monitor across the open office space, offering you a small smile.

You send off a couple frustrated emojis before typing up your feedback for the team in an email, feet already sliding into your rain boots you kept under your desk for gloomy days like today.

Checking your watch, you realize you are barely going to make it to the grocery store if you don’t leave now. The only benefit will be that it should be pretty empty this late at night. After a short train ride, you’re pushing a cart through the empty aisles, grabbing what you need and humming lightly to yourself. There are a few fellow late night shoppers milling about alongside the workers stocking the shelves for the next morning.

You grab the last item on your list just as a series of yawns hit you, making your way to the self-checkout area. You are about to scan your first item when you glance down at your cart, noticing you’ve managed to forget the oat milk again.

“Fucking…” you murmur under your breath, dropping your pack of tampons back into the cart and spinning on your heel, heading towards the back of the store to quickly grab the milk.

You’re almost back to your cart when you hit a wet spot on the floor, slipping in a dramatic, banana peel comedy sketch moment, falling hard on your back, managing to catch the back of your head with your hand before it collides with the linoleum floor.

The oat milk cartons in your hands crash to the floor, one of them starting to leak out in a milky puddle next to you.

Suddenly a masked face appears over you, white cloth covering most of his features, dark eyes holding a confused look. You are breathing heavily and blink a couple times to clear your vision.

“Yo…are you okay?” comes a loud and worried voice, holding a hand out in an offer of help.

You feel a little light headed but accept the hand anyways, allowing yourself to sit up and meet the eyes of the young man now crouching next to you on the wet floor.

“Uh yeah…yeah…the floor was we-” your speech is cut off suddenly as he pulls down his mask, shaking dark hair from his eyes and making eye contact with you again.

Kneeling in a puddle of rainwater and oat milk was none other than the man whose DMs you had monopolized for the past few years and the name you had moaned late at night with your hand shoved under your covers. It was the face you had studied countless times in high resolution photos from the airport posted on Twitter, a face that you had memorized down to the prominent mole on his cheek and the curves of his shining white teeth. Mark Lee had just watched you bite it on the floor of the grocery store right before closing.

You can barely keep eye contact with Mark as you stand up, looking down to see damp pants and your shirt rumpled. Embarrassed, you thank him under your breath, reaching down to pick up the milk cartons and tossing them in a nearby trash can. You quickly begin scanning the items from your cart with shaky hands, placing them in your tote bag, hoping to get out of there as soon as possible.

“Did you remember the cat treats?” he asks quietly, pushing the black hood off his head and stepping closer to you, handing you a carton of strawberries from your basket.

You lift up your gaze to meet his, mouth falling open at his question. His eyes are big and kind and he has a shy but warm expression on his face, plump pink lips settling into a pout as he finishes his question.

“You…read those messages? I’m uh…Mark…Lee…Mark Lee. I’m so sorry…” you ramble, brain scrambled and swimming with all other reasons why he could have asked that, praying that he somehow hadn’t been reading your messages all these years.

“How could I not when the cute girl from summer camp kept me informed on every little detail of her life,” he replied, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear, smiling bashfully as his fingertips made contact with your now flushed cheek.

“I’m so sorry, Mark, I didn’t think there was any way you would remember me and it just kind of became a habit,” you stuttered out, scanning your last item and reaching for your wallet. You were acutely aware of how close he had gotten and silently hoped your makeup still looked good and that your hair had stayed lightly curled from yesterday’s styling. Every inch of your skin felt like it was on fire and you knew how red your neck had to be getting.

“I got it, but don’t forget the oat milk,” he offers as he scans a carton of the same brand from his own cart before swiping his card on the reader to pay for your groceries. You are once again stunned but tip your head down in a silent thanks.

“But for real, thank you for recommending this brand, it’s the best!” he laughs, scratching the back of his head awkwardly and grabbing your bags for you.

“I can’t believe you remember me,” you say quietly, a grin settling across your face as the two of you walk out of the store. His hand is brushing up against the back of yours as he keeps close to your side, popping open an umbrella to shield you from the light rain that hasn’t quite cleared yet.

“I’ve thought about you a lot over the years, but also know our lives took us in different directions. But I always hoped you were supporting me from a distance,” he replies candidly, tapping into his phone before handing it to you with an open contact card screen.

“Now, can you please give me your number so I can call you and we can go on a real date that doesn’t involve you laying a puddle of milk?”

“Hey, maybe that’s my idea of a perfect first date!” you laugh out, quickly adding yourself as a contact in his phone before handing it back to him. Your heart is pounding as your fingers brush against his, unable to believe that this is happening. You half expect to sit up in your bed any moment, thinking that all the videos you studied about lucid dreaming must have finally paid off.

He chuckles, closing the umbrella as the rain comes to a stop at the most picture perfect moment. The air smelled fresh in the post storm haze, fog settling lightly around you amongst flickering streetlights and the hum of city sounds. He reaches back to pull his hood up, covering dark and piecey short hair, hanging perfectly at the sides of his forehead. Whenever he turns his head, you catch a glimpse of an intricate pattern buzzed into the shorter sides, exposing flashes of his scalp in contrast to his dark hair.

Your eyes trail down his face and take in his full frame for the first moment since you first encountered him in the store. He’s broader than you had imagined, your height difference the same as when you had known him as a kid, but his arms look strong and tight jeans leaving little to the imagination. His face is bare but immaculate, brows perfectly coiffed and lips plump and moisturized.

He clears his throat lightly at you ogling him and you meet his sparkling eyes again as he sits your bags gently on the ground next to him, placing a tentative hand on your lower back.

“Yes?” you ask teasingly, batting your eyelashes a little for good measure, suddenly feeling confidence bloom within you. He sighs before speaking again and you feel the tension and nervousness between the two of you start to melt away.

“Ever since you sent me those videos on Halloween, I’ve been having to stop myself from sliding into your DMs like some sleazy asshole,” he mutters, voice suddenly lower and strained as his pinky finger brushes up against yours, linking with it and swinging lightly.

You knit your eyebrows together in confusion, trying to think back to what videos he could be talking about. Hazy memories of your drunken night out to multiple bars and house parties start flooding in as you begin to remember what you wore that night.

Golden fabric and black strappy laces from below your navel up to your neck flash in your mind and you suddenly remember your cheetah costume that was less than safe for work. Those heels went straight in the trash when you got home because while they made your legs look amazing, they gave you the worst blisters of your entire life.

“...I did not send you videos that night,” you start cautiously, placing a hand on his chest to ground yourself. You are trying to force the memories forward but all you can think of is the countless shots you took with your friend and some sloppy make out sessions on the dance floor.

He chuckles, nodding silently and letting his forehead fall towards yours, pressing against yours tenderly. It did bring you comfort but also made your heart skip a beat.

“I am…mortified,” you sigh, blinking up at him from the awkward angle.

“Don’t be, you looked fucking hot,” he breathes out, warm breath minty and fanning out across your lips.

His lips are on yours seconds later, hand sliding down towards your ass and pulling you closer into him. He breaks away from you, inches from your lips, checking your face for any sign of discomfort, only to find lust laden, hooded eyes blinking rapidly.

You surge forward to capture his lips again, bringing your hand up to his neck and digging your nails into the skin there. His tongue presses against your lips eagerly and you give him access instantly, a soft whine buzzing against his mouth. You lose all concept of time and space, forgetting you are standing on the empty downtown streets in front of the market, in the arms of one of the most famous musicians in the world.

You break away first, having to calm your breathing pattern and releasing the material you were gripping on his chest.

He chuckles and slides his hand up your back, massaging your shoulder lightly through your raincoat. He’s so much more gentle and tender than you could have ever imagined and you struggle to maintain eye contact with him.

“I can’t believe all I had to do was buy a carton of oat milk to finally kiss my first crush after all these years,” he laughs out, leaning in to gently nuzzle at your hair.

“Do you need me to add anything to our grocery list? You know, it’s almost been two years since we started it, I think,” Mark laughed out a little loudly, despite being close to your ear in Taeyong’s crowded apartment.

“Wait, I thought you two just moved in together recently?” Jaemin cackles, taking a long sip of beer. You didn’t realize he was eavesdropping on your conversation, assuming he had been too focused on Jeno’s karaoke performance happening in the center of the room.

You dip your head down, embarrassed by the fact that Mark’s closest friends still didn’t know the full details of your reunion and start of your relationship. You had sworn him to secrecy, telling him he could fill them in on the past camp days and make up some story about how the two of you had met at an art gallery opening.

“Oh Jaem, haven’t you heard of our adorable meet cute?” Mark asks mischievously, nudging your knee with his and dragging his lips over your ear. His eyes tell you everything, just as they always had, just like when you first met.

“Oh do tell,” he gushed, letting his chin drop into his hand with his elbow propped up on his crossed legs. He tapped his cheek with his fingers, wiggling his eyebrows at the two of you.

While you refused to let Mark share the story of years of grocery lists and your fall at the market check out, you did let him share how he asked you to move in with him a few months prior.

On a normal Friday morning you had pulled open the fridge, reaching in without looking, and feeling your hand brush against an unfamiliar piece of paper on the oat milk.

A watermelon shaped post-it note (that had seemingly been “borrowed” from your desk) was taped to the front of the carton with hurried handwriting in a statement that made your heart flutter.

I hate this distance and I hate singing broken melodies. Move in with me <3

The carton almost slips from your fingers but you manage to catch it and pour some with a shaky hand into your waiting tumbler.

Pulling your phone from your jeans pocket, you lean your back against the counter, petting your cat’s head as she emerges from her favorite spot behind the toaster oven.

Opening Instagram, you tap into your conversation, adding a to do list in the same format you usually used for your grocery lists.

To Do List: Help my new roommate pick out more comfortable pillows for the bed -.-

Typing bubbles appear almost immediately, and a string of sappy emojis and voice notes start flooding in from Mark.

It’s still surreal to see replies from the message thread that had been one-sided for so long. You still message in Instagram from time to time, finding comfort in the space, despite spending hours on the phone each day and being in almost constant contact via other messaging apps.

A knock at your door pulls your attention and you have to dab your eyes with the back of your hand where tears have pricked up. A couple large boxes are waiting outside your door and you drag them inside before snapping a picture to send to Mark. You had planned a camping trip for later in the summer, looking forward to reliving those muggy summer nights spent chasing fireflies, spending your days reading in a hammock and falling even deeper in love with the boy who first made you feel special all those years ago.

#nct x reader #mark lee fanfic #mark lee x reader #mark lee #nct dream x reader #nct dream fanfic #serenity wrote something nice and angst free for once #are you proud #serenity’s love letter to markfs

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snowy-vee · 2 months

Text

TUG: I can’t have my heart lookin’ stupid (2)

n/a: I am on the wost mental block, unable to write anything, so I've decided to just WRITE WHATEVER, so I may be posting One-shots and writing for the On-goings whenever inspo come at me, I was going to write some shower smut but maybe for the opening of next chapter. Also, I always forget of the taglists, so sorry, I'll try to remember better after this one

Chapter not revised

taglist; @littlegingerperson5 @lil-elliesgf @bready101 @lmaoo-spiderman @elliescoolerwife @girlrotterr @les4elliewilliams @ellseasp @elsgirll @mikellie

INDEX

You finally could rest in that desk after finishing all the work Professor Mendozal eft you, you sighed looking around the office. Yeah, time to go to your dorm and sleep, maybe cuddle with Ellie if she was down to it, of course cuddling as friends.

Because you and Ellie were friends before anything, you two should never forget that, even if it came with some benefits that had to be kept secret to the public for the good of friendships and relationships. Sometimes you felt bad about what you were doing but then she had her lips on yours and that was enough to shut those thoughts… and Daniel did not deserve to be hurt because he couldn’t make you cum, maybe one day he would stop moving his fingers in your clit as if he was a fucking DJ mixing the worst mix in the history of music.

“Hi” You said opening the door of the dorm, throwing your backpack in your bed and throwing yourself too leaving a frustrated huff. Ellie was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed typing in her laptop barely acknowledging you, it was normal when you entered the dorm tired and just screamed into the pillow or sigh heavily and then went silent for long seconds. “You’re doing homework?”

“Yeah”

“Oh, shit!” You suddenly kneel on your bed, opening your backpack and pulling out a brown bag. Ellie looks at the bag and opens her mouth surprised as you wave it.

“No way”

“Yes way” you said going to her bed and sitting on the edge as you gave the bag to her “I did a little stop and I saw the bakery you like, so I decided to buy the pastries you talk so much, you can see it as thank you”

She opens the bag taking out one and biting it, she closes her eyes and licks her lips. You chuckled at her reaction; she seemed so adorable to you. “This is like fifteen minutes away from your building, you are thanking me for what?”

“For that tongue of yours”

“I must be really good for you to spend money in this, very expensive for your wallet” you open your mouth wide muttering a long ‘wow’ with a hand on your chest, showing how offended you felt.

“This is what I get for being nice… now, for real, the notes you sent me for the class? Worked so fucking great, I almost had a brain orgasm”

“That doesn’t sound great, not something I want to experience”

“Trust me, you do…” you chuckled looking over her desk, there was clothes neatly folded in the chair and her “special shoes” (meaning she only wore them once in a blue moon) were out of their box “You’re going out tonight? Where? A good party? I wanna go!”

“Uh, something like that, I guess” she scratched the back of her neck and smiled weirdly “It’s my anniversary with Cat”

“Ew- I mean, amazing! That’s so… coupley of you two ¡Go lesbians! or whatever”

Ellie stared at you for a long minute tilting her head before she talked again. “Okay, what the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Nothing, just being supportive” You got up from the bed and went to check the clothes to see what the outfit was “Oh, god, I could be supportive helping you not look like your everyday ¿What the hell is this? ¿Are this the same jeans you wore yesterday?”

“I look good in those!” Ellie got up leaving the pastries in her night stand and snatching the pants from your hand.

“Never said you didn’t” You raised your hands in a gesture of peace. “What I’m saying is that you let me help picking you a good fit to impress Cat in your anniversary, come on, don’t let romance die, you guys are so cute and-”

“Will you stop talking if I say yes?”

You nodded energetically clapping once as you turned around and open the doors of her wardrobe. Ellie sighed defeated as she went back to her bed and kept working a little bit more until you could find something worthy, it’s not like she didn’t had good clothes, it’s just that her style was very plain and casual but it look great on her, she did not care that much, now if we talked about shoes… Ellie was a sneaker head, at least one in making, half of her paycheck or allowance went on some new shoes and she started telling you every detail and why it was so different from the other one she got last month, you couldn’t care less but you liked how she expressed herself so you listened to every word and sometimes found yourself spitting some random fact to someone that you learned from her about it.

In less than 30 minutes you had something “Try this on!”

You threw the clothes at her landing poorly on the floor next to the bed, she again gave you that look but huffed taking off her tank top, she had no underwear and you were shamelessly looking at her tits as she put on the shirt and started buttoning it up. There was no way you were dolling her up to go on a date with a Cat and you were going to be locked up in the room celibate mode, that sounded frustrating.

“Not bad, actually” Ellie looked at her reflection in the mirror, nodding slowly as she checked herself.

The clothes fit her so good and the new haircut she got days ago made her look 100% better, you were smiling through the pain of not being able to rip them and make her yours in that exact moment. Ellie was now making faces in the mirror, tucking her hair behind her ear with one hand on her chin, etc.

“Miss steal yo-girl is feeling herself” you chuckled going back to your bed, your job was done here “With that outfit you will get a lot of girls”

She chuckled too starting to undress as she was walking towards the bathroom “Well, Cat is the only one that matters”

“…yeah”

You could hear the water running but the door was still open, maybe she was waiting for it heat up, anyway, you were going to respect their relationship tonight, It was anniversary night, that was a big thing. Cat had all the rights to only she be the one to have Ellie for herself that day and you were not going to meddle.

“Wanna shower?” Ellie was leaning against the doorframe only a towel cover her body, you practically jump from your bed to meet her in the bathroom taking your clothes off quickly.

“I thought you were never going to ask”

If Ellie didn’t respect her relationship, why would you?

#ellie williams #ellie the last of us #ellie tlou #ellie williams x reader #ellie x fem reader #ellie x reader #ellie fanfic #ellie smut #ellie williams fic #ellie williams fanfiction #ellie williams au #ellie williams smut

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iridessence · 9 months

Note

Would love to hear about you two ! What do you love about him? What made you say yes?

I guess aside from mutual attraction and good sex, I just have never felt better about myself in the context of a romance. from the start of our romantic relationship, things just felt easy, light and normal. I didn’t feel this fear in my gut that my feelings would not be reciprocated or that my time would be wasted, and like… I felt that way naturally. I didn’t have to convince myself that he was interested in me, he made it clear with words and actions.

He was very generous from the start and has maintained that generosity, and he actually listens to, understands and cares about the same systemic things I do, on every level, and those things were important to him long before we ever met. His work intersects mental health and immigration for undocumented people which I think is incredible. Our beliefs very much align.

He thinks my interests in style and history are really cool and actually the first weekend we met, he escorted me to meet a soon-to-be friend of mine for a historical costume meetup, and her husband was with her and they kind of fell in line to chat as like the dudes behind the ladies in big costumes, so that was a great test and he had a couple other unofficial auditions around my friends that weekend which he aced and has continued to ace.

He loves and supports my burlesque work, which I think actually makes a lot of men uncomfortable. They’re typically put off at worst or disinterested at best, but he goes to my shows and will often help out, insists on carrying my bags, and everyone knows him to be chill and helpful and a great tipper. And there’s been times when audience members have gotten out of pocket and he’s always at the ready to put himself in between them and the performers and de-escalate as needed.

We’ve lived together for a year now and we both spend most days at home, as he works from home and unless I’m gigging or out for social things, then I’m at home, and I used to wonder what that would look like but… We just simply haven’t gotten bored of each other. I go out for a few hours and then I’m excited to see him when I get home, or he works in his office and then he’s excited to come hang out with me after he’s done, and we give each other space is needed. He’s also just really good about communicating his feelings or letting me know he will take space when he needs to sort them out, if we’ve had a disagreement or if one of us has peeved the other.

I know it’s kind of corny, but he really is my best friend. It was hard to understand how that’s real with couples until i found it.

That’s not everything, but those are some highlight points for sure.

#my partner #eeee heheh #my fiancé #It’s wild to be able to bc say that

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melodygatesauthor · 1 year

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Chapter 13: Inner Demons

prof!Steven Grant-Jake Lockley-Marc Spector X f!Reader

Edited by: @whatthefishh - Special thank you to @moonknightly for assisting with some technicalities in this chapter.

Mood Boards - Book Cover - Masterlist

Chapter Summary

Steven learns some devastating news. You feel more confused than ever.

Tags/Summary (these are for the ENTIRE fic):

college AU, no powers/not in MCU/no Khonshu (as a deity), talk of mental illness, Marc has DID, forbidden relationship, age gap, reader is 21y/o, Boys are 38y/o, reader attends college in America but isn't necessarily American, smut, sex, masturbation, p in v, creampies galore, reader is on birth control, dubious consent due to identity issues, ANGST, romance, fluff and smut, oral sex, falling in love, reader is not race coded, minor mentions of alcohol addiction and depression.

Word Count: 2.9k

----

When Steven woke up on the Monday following his birthday, he didn’t think that his entire world would blow up the way it did, more than it already had before that day. He thought that he’d already experienced the worst day of his life on the day a rift was torn between the two of you. He was wrong.

He still avoided Moonbean Coffee like the building alone would put him in a straight jacket. He still had to walk by it on the way to his classroom though. Every time he passed by it there was an unrivaled pain in his gut that he couldn’t easily shake. He looked at his reflection in the window. The way the panes sat gave Steven the perfect view at both Marc and Jake. He scowled at them and continued his walk.

He hated seeing you. He hated sitting at his desk, watching you walk through the door in your pretty clothes and perfect face. He hated that he couldn’t look forward to seeing you in his office later just so he could kiss you, and be close to you. He still dreamt about you all the time. He especially loved the dream he had on the night of his birthday, where he had you outside on the hood of his…well he could tell it wasn’t his…but a car. Your eyes were so full of love when you looked at him in his dreams. Sometimes he wished he could live in there.

Now your eyes were staring at your laptop screen. He could tell that you were trying so hard to keep them there, trying so hard not to meet his gaze. You finally did look at him though, when he reminded everyone of the next big assignment due…midterms. You’d forgotten, he could see it plain as day on your face. It was like you were begging him silently to take it back. Given everything he’d put you through, it was no wonder you weren’t prepared. He failed you as a man, and as a professor.

You remembered the substitute professor mentioning the midterm assignment once…was it twice? You sighed in a frustrated huff. The sub could’ve mentioned it a hundred times and you would’ve forgotten. Your mind wasn’t on school in the slightest. You’d been so wrapped up in Steven, the late night rendezvous, and his return to school, that you’d completely let the essay due on the renaissance slip your mind.

It was straight to the library for you once class was over. No way in hell were you going to be able to focus in your dorm room, nor were you going to have the resources you would need in order to get your research done. You didn’t even have a topic picked out yet. You couldn’t fail this class, not after you’d told your parents that you would get tutoring and do well in history this year.

You sat down in the back corner of the library, as you often did, pulling out your laptop before resting your face in your hands. You felt drained; emotionally, mentally, even intellectually. Spring break was right around the corner, but it couldn’t come soon enough. You needed the mental reset to get yourself back on track. You needed to move on from him somehow. You knew that much was true, you’d known it for a while.

It helped that he’d been more distant over the last few weeks. You felt like you could break things off easier now, and it might not hurt as much as the initial blow when he broke it off in his office. That didn’t mean that it was going to be easy…it just meant that you were finally ready to move on. At least, that’s how you felt at that moment.

You let out a heavy sigh. This was it. You were too smart for all of this nonsense. You and your parents were putting too much into your schooling for you to let it all fall apart over…whatever was still going on between you and Steven. It was time for you to actually move on. It was time for you to let go, despite still feeling some love for him, and despite the fact that he had taken so much from you and hurt you the way he did.

It was that simple. You would just let things go back to normal. The next time he texted you to meet outside, you would ignore it. You were happy with your decision, but when you lowered your hands from your face, he was standing there, looking nervous with his hands clenched into balls in front of him. You wondered if he knew that he did things like that, and you wondered if he knew how effortlessly cute it was. You just wanted to kiss that wrinkled spot between his upturned brow. So much for letting him go.

“Hey…hi erm…” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

He was feeling a little bit of regret wash over him after approaching you. He shouldn’t have done that. Both Jake and Marc were practically screaming at him to stop, both for different reasons, but telling him to stay away from you all the same. He was shoving them back again, his desire to comfort you and help you outweighting their shouting in his mind. Steven was a little surprised by your expression though. You didn’t look angry, or even sad as he thought you might. You looked…confused.

“What the hell are you doing?” You asked in a harsh whisper, trying to make sure that no one in the library would hear you speaking to him.

He looked surprised at your response, furrowing his brow and stuffing one of his hands in his pocket. His jaw dropped, and he started stammering to find the words to say. He looked around, making sure no one was there before he continued.

“I-I…well…I could see that you were a-a little taken aback when I reminded everyone of the paper so I thought…if we are in a public setting I wouldn’t mind still tutoring you if you really need–”

“Steven, what the fuck are you talking about?” You looked around the library, panicked.

You thought back to the texts he’d sent you just over a week ago:

Steven: Hey love, I’m coming back to school tomorrow. I think it’s time. Make sure not to speak to me or even come near me, alright?

Steven: Can’t even have you asking for help with class. Just pretend you don’t know me at all if you want this to continue.

“You’re still my student, I still have a responsibility to help you. If we’re in a public place it will force us to keep our hands to ourselves. If you even still like me that way. I’m not saying you do, I’m not sayin’ that. Probably should’ve tutored you in public in first place now that I’m thinkin’–”

“You told me to pretend I didn’t know you, first of all and second, why would you think I don’t like you when…” you looked around and lowered your voice further, “when we were just with each other last night?”

He sniffed out a laugh, narrowing his eyes in confusion. You saw his brow furrow as if he had no idea what you were talking about. He shook his head like he was trying to understand what you were saying, as though you were speaking a language foreign to him. Then you saw the complete shift in his expression, as though a huge realization hit him. He stepped back, covering his mouth in his hand.

What the fuck. What the fuck. What the fuck. What the–

“I’ve gotta go,” he said suddenly, leaving the library quickly, leaving you more confused than you’d ever felt.

“Steven…what the hell was she talking about…‘with each other last night’?” Marc asked, voice full of anger.

Steven didn’t answer. He was shaking, trying hard to keep from falling over on his wobbling legs. He’d never felt like this before, such anger, dread, and panic rushing through his veins like a doctor had given him an emotional cocktail in a syringe. Adrenaline forced his hands to tremble, he noticed it when he opened the door to the outside.

Nothing good could come from him screaming at the other two while he stormed out of the building. He didn’t want to draw too much attention to himself, despite the panic building inside his chest. How he made it to his flat in one piece was beyond his understanding. He was still shaking uncontrollably when he tried to get the key in the door handle. He dropped them loudly in the hall. He thought he heard one of his kind neighbors ask if he was alright as they exited their own flat, but his hearing was like white noise.

The moment he stepped inside, he slammed the door behind himself and he dropped to the floor. He buried his face in his hands, and let the pain surge through him. This couldn’t be. This couldn’t be true. How could this happen? Steven had never hated himself, and the men inside his head so much. He yelled out, slapping his hand on the floor.

“Steven! Have you been seeing her behind our BACK?!” Marc yelled, forcing his way to the front in place of Steven. He stood up, walking over to the three-way mirror to face his alters. “Answer me!”

Steven looked at Marc with the utmost disdain Marc had ever seen his alter muster.

“Wasn’t me…”

A tear trickled down Steven’s cheek. Marc could feel the rage inside of him. This was unusual for Steven, even in his angriest moments. Steven thought back to last night. The ‘dreams’ he and Marc had been having; you bent over various parts of a car they didn’t recognize; the way you looked at them in their dreams, like something was off about the way they were talking to you, or the way they were acting.

“Jake.” Both Marc and Steven said, looking at Jake’s panel in the reflection.

Marc grabbed onto the mirror. It trembled under his grip. Jake didn’t let much bother him, or shake his usual calm demeanor, but the other two were glaring at him. It wasn’t uncommon for Marc to hold a look of aggravation, but Steven…Steven looking at him that way made him feel an insurmountable wave of guilt like never before.

“Are you guys going to let me explain or are you going to cut me off and yell at me the second I start talkin–”

“How dare you.” Steven said and Jake threw his arms up in frustration at the interruption. “You knew I was suffering, going through this…this…break up, and you kept seeing her? Behind my back?”

“Escucha hermano! Por favor,” Jake said, sensing that Steven was getting even more upset by the second, and rightfully so.

Steven was fronting again, and the tears started flowing freely. He felt distraught with the pain of betrayal reverberating through his bones. He had to think, to make sure he was understanding correctly what was happening. He stepped away from the mirror with his face buried in his hands.

You had been sleeping with Jake for who knows how long, while Steven took a back seat and Marc thought he had everything under control. The lying snake. Jake’s moral compass was always questionable, but this was low, even for him. At least he’d been considerate of the system in the past. Even his immorality had good intentions behind them. This was completely and utterly selfish.

“Does she know?” Steven dropped his hands and looked at his reflection…at Jake, “does she know that she was sleeping with someone else?!”

The silence was all the answer Steven needed. You’d been letting Jake have his way with you without realizing it was him this entire time. He was out of words to say. It was like his face was frozen, mouth slackjaw and eyes glistening with the realization of what this meant. You thought that Steven and you were still together, and Jake had been tricking you into sleeping with him. This was disgusting. This was bad…this was very bad.

“Jake, you of all people should understand what kind of trouble we could be in!” Marc yelled, “I mean come on! The poor girl already dealt with the heartbreak of losing Steven once, and now you’re going to–”

“We have to tell her, Marc.” Steven said, looking into his panel. “After what he put her through? She deserves the truth.”

“No, no we can’t tell her the truth,” Jake chimed in, “she will leave us for good.”

“Good!” Marc yelled, “that would be the best thing that could happen right now. I’m with Steven on this one.” Marc grumbled under his breath. “Poor girl, you’re sick Jake. The three of us are supposed to be keeping a low profile, and you might just manage to get us arrested, or at best put in an asylum.”

“Thank you Mar–”

“Why do you got such a stick up your ass over this huh? Nobody is worried about a small-time professor at a random college in the US. Khonshu and his men won’t find us, even if she and Steven got caught. You coulda just let them stay together! If you tell her the truth now we just might get caught, ever think of tha pendejo?”

“That’s not even the point anymore, you fucked her in the back seat of your fucking car and she deserves to know that!” Steven’s voice cracked while he yelled, swearing more than Marc had ever heard in all the years he’d had Steven around. “There’s no way in hell she’s staying with us after this, and I wouldn’t blame her! She shouldn’t stay with us! Congratulations to the both of you for, once again, managing to ruin my life!” Steven sighed, “I ruined her life. Never should’ve dragged her into this. We need to come clean, it’s the right thing to do.”

Steven charged over and grabbed his coat from the coat rack, but Jake stopped him, taking over the body.

“Not a chance hermano, I’m not letting you ruin this for us,” he stepped away from the coat rack, dropping Steven’s jacket on the floor.

Jake didn’t want to keep deceiving you, of course not. He wouldn’t consider himself a bad person, or someone that took pleasure in causing you emotional pain, but he couldn’t stop thinking about the way you looked at him. Your eyes always lit up a little when your gaze met his. It was like nothing else mattered, and he’d never felt that with anyone before. The thought of losing that feeling - of losing you - gave him a sense of desperation unlike any he’d ever felt. He considered that he might rather die than experience the agony of not having you in their life.

“So…what? Are you just going to keep doing this to her? What the hell is wrong with you?!” Steven protested.

Marc took over again, and he went to the couch and sat down, taking a deep breath. He buried his face in his hands, shaking his head and sighing deeply. This was such a fucking mess. They were always making such a fucking mess of everything. He and Jake had made Steven’s life hell, and in Marc’s attempt to make his life better, both Steven and Jake had fallen for someone they weren’t allowed to have. Marc once again felt an overwhelming sense of self loathing.

“Dumb…this is so…” Marc leaned back, staring at the ceiling and taking a moment to embrace the silence, “dumb.”

“We can’t tell her, she’ll hate us. I…I don’t want to let her go.”

There was a pull at Marc’s heartstrings from the one that he least expected to feel it from…Jake Lockley. He expected this from Steven, but never from Jake. Marc’s fist was clenched so hard that his knuckles ached. He ran a hand through his messy curls, courtesy of Steven, and then he let his hands drop to his sides.

“We can’t let her keep meeting with you and thinking it’s me, Jake. S’wrong and you know it. Oughta be ashamed. Disgusting.” Steven spat, seething with anger toward Jake.

Marc reached into Steven’s pants pocket and pulled out his phone. He opened up your contact and pressed the little green phone.

“Steven, gonna need you to–”

“Yeah, on it,” he said, coming to the front and waiting for you to pick up on the other end.

He could feel Jake trying to stop him, but to no avail. Steven knew what had to be done, and they were going to do it. There was no way around it anymore. The three of them were a package deal, that much was evident, and it was time for them to tell you the truth. You picked up on the other line, and Steven’s breath caught in his throat.

“Steven? Why the hell are you calling me?” You must’ve still been in the library, based on your harsh whisper.

“Can you come to my flat, please? We need to talk.”

“What do you mean? I thought you said–”

“Now…”

----

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daddy-long-legssss · 5 months

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The Story Behind The Song: Arctic Monkeys’ early ambitions on ‘A Certain Romance’

Lucy Harbron – Far Out Magazine | January 17, 2024

It was 2006. Mortgages were crashing, and businesses were going bust. Tony Blair was on his last legs in office as the longest-serving prime minister since Margaret Thatcher, and the hangover of ‘Cool Brittania’ was beginning to set in with an unexpected ferocity. Things were bleak when a young Alex Turner sang, “There ain’t no romance around there” through the public’s speakers. Arctic Monkeys were about to write themselves into musical history as the voice of a new generation.

The final song on their debut album, there has always been something special about ‘A Certain Romance’. In 2022, after the release of their seventh album, The Car, Turner seemed to find himself reflecting back on that 2006 track. To the musician, that early cut holds a clue to everything that was to come as he said the piece “showed that we did actually have these ambitions beyond what we once thought we were capable of”.

Coming in at over the five-minute mark, ‘A Certain Romance’ almost feels like the Arctic Monkeys’ version of a rock opera, summarising all the themes, feelings and energy that came before it on their seminal album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. It has the cheekiness of ‘Fake Tales Of San Francisco’ and the catchy instrumentals of hits like ‘Dancing Shoes’ or ‘I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor’. Utilising the northern charm of ‘Mardy Bum’, it stands as a final, neatly summarising point on the social commentary found in their early tracks like ‘From The Ritz To The Rubble’ or ‘Riot Van’. Really, it could be argued that ‘A Certain Romance’ is the ultimate example of Arctic Monkeys’ original sound, perfectly encapsulating all the things that made the world listen up and pay attention.

It’s like they seemed to know that, too, always allowing the song a special place. In fact, it was really the band’s opening remark. Years before the offer of a debut album came around, the group were a well-oiled machine with their own local hits. They had the northern live music scene in their hands as their homemade demo CD was passed around like everyone’s worst-kept secret. Beneath the Boardwalk features eight out of the 13 songs that would be on Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, albeit in a slightly different, lower-quality version. But the opening number, ‘A Certain Romance’, sounds just the same.

It’s all there, from the rolling opening drums to that final guitar solo. Recorded and produced in a rented studio at only age 17, the existence of ‘A Certain Romance’, one of the band’s most explorative and energetic numbers, in this form this early in their career feels like a diamond sitting in a mine. It proves that they were always onto something special.

They never needed any help. In fact, their producer, Jim Abbiss, noted that they even seemed nervous about the help. “I think they were probably a bit weary, like ‘who’s this guy? And is he gonna make our sound this or that.’”

They didn’t want anything to change too much, as the group already had the songs figured out. Turner certainly did, as the track’s meandering narrative about hometown lads, fights, and local boredom is already there. Talking on a podcast, original member Andy Nicholson revealed the story behind the song. “We had a practice room with a pool table in, and we had a party in there, and we invited another band who were friends of ours, and we all had some drinks,” he said. “Then something happened, someone throws a pool cue, someone throws a pool ball, and everyone ends up fighting,” he added, explaining the lyrics, “there’s boys in bands / And kids who like to scrap with pool cues in their hands.”

But the magic of Arctic Monkeys lies in their nuance. What begins as a snooty analysis of his local landscape is a genuinely affectionate take. “Well, over there, there’s friends of mine / What can I say? I’ve known ’em for a long long time / And, yeah, they might overstep the line / But you just cannot get angry in the same way,” Turner sings, looking around at his bandmates and lifelong friends. ‘A Certain Romance’ is not only a time capsule for the group’s beginnings but is an ode to all the people who were there with them. It’s an ode to the hometown that made them and all its various characters.

But as the last guitar solo roars to life, there is an unspoken statement that they’re going to be bigger than what they came from. “I remember when we were recording ‘A Certain Romance’ and having a conversation with the producer about the final guitar solo,” Turner told NME, recalling the moment these songs were reworked for their debut. But they wouldn’t let anyone mess with ‘A Certain Romance’, knowing exactly what they were doing and trying to say with that one. In the 2003 demo version, all the feeling is already there, and Turner wouldn’t risk it.

“There’s something that happens at the end of that track where we break some rules in a single moment,” he continued. What happens at the end of the piece feels even more special, considering how the album was recorded. “These are the songs we wanna do, and I think this is the order we wanna do them in,” Alex Turner told their producer, recounting the conversation in 2007 to RadioX, “And he goes, ‘alright, we’ll try to record them in that order as well.’” As the final song, that last guitar solo is the last thing recorded for the album, standing as a cathartic outlet and a chance for the band to prove themselves.

“We focused on the [emotional] effect of the instrumentals over the words,” Turner reflected on the track, concluding, “and I feel like we’ve been trying to do that again and again since then.”

#I could talk about 'A Certain Romance' until I'm blue in the face or a sobbing mess #lucy did a good job on this one #she perfectly encapsulated how this song makes me feel #the moment I heard it I knew that this band was something incredibly special #it is so near and dear to my heart I will never stop singing it's praise #the fact they made this song that is so compelling and takes you an emotional journey from the beginning to end over 20 years ago????#and how protective they were of it when making the first album cause they knew it was something special #and Alex drawing similarities between 'ACR' and 'The Car' & letting the instrumental moments of the song convey more emotion than the lyri #like he always said they continue to follow the same instincts from the very beginning nearly 20 years later #i just want to write an ode to ACR so i can ramble on about it #but im gonna shut up for now #anyways please enjoy this article LOL #arctic monkeys #wpsiatwin #whatever people say i am that's what im not #a certain romance #alex turner #jamie cook #matt helders #nick o'malley #andy nicholson #far out magazine

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itstokkii · 10 months

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Turkuzbek hcs because I don't give them enough love!!!!

Age: I was talking to a couple of friends about this! @peonycats believes turkey to be born around the years 900-1000 CE. meanwhile, uzbekistan would be born around the late 1200s, meaning that turkey's older than uzb by 300 years... 😔 rip my sexy milf uzb hcs...

History: they go wayy back. the Timurid Empire actually had a battle with the Ottoman Empire, largely out of the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I's concern that the Timurids were expanding too far west. while the Ottomans were heading to the east, Timur's forces cut from behind and sieged Ankara, which started the Battle of Ankara(1402). the Timurid Empire won, also holding the title to being the only ones to capture an Ottoman Sultan in person in all of the Ottoman Empire's history. Not only that, but the Timurid Empire kinda caused a civil war in the Ottoman Empire due to the Sultan dying in captivity, causing all his sons to fight about who the legitimate heir was.

Nothing says teenage romance like causing a civil war in someone's empire and starting a record that was never broken for all 700 years of its history ❤️

(it's also said that allegedly the sultan was kept in a gold cage...)

turkey jokes about her bloodthirsty era, to which she tries smashing her face into his neck and slapping his shoulders "stop!!! I was 17 back then ok 😭😭" but will also say "ok but we caused a civil war at your place so"

after the Timurid Empire collapsed, the Ottomans and Uzbeks got along better. the Khwarazm and Bukhara khanates asked turkey to help them with the threat of russian expansion. and the Ottomans and uzbeks worked together to launch offensives against Iran in the late 1500s to early 1600s.

unfortunately i don't really have much for turkuzbek during the rule of imperial russia and the ussr as they barely interacted, and though turkey was the first nation to recognize uzbekistan's independence, relations soured during the first president's administration due to um. Driving turkish companies out because they had prayer mats in their offices 💀💀

BUT after the first president karimov died, the vice president mirziyoyev began to issue reforms and lifted bans on religious activity, causing a revival of islam in uzbekistan. turkey was all for it, so they began to get closer than ever. That's where they currently are in terms of relationships!

hcs:

THEY ARE LOSER HUSBAND X PRETTY WIFE THEY REALLY AREEE

you know when you have that trusted, dependable friend and one night at a sleepover they wanna tell you something and they confess to having a crush on the WORST person for them but they're head over heels in love? yeah that's uzbekistan 😔

she may be younger but if you didn't know it, you'd assume she's the older one based on maturity.

when they do get together, kazakhstan and kyrgyzstan are both...shocked. kazakhstan just thinks turkey's ego is massively inflated and that russia wouldn't appreciate their relationship getting closer, limiting russian economic support, whereas kyrgyzstan looks like one of those stick figures violence reaction images and kazakhstan has to hold him back

he's definitely the type of guy to slam his hand against the wall and corner her just to see her facial expression

he also calls her "Nargiz," a nickname of her name "Nargiza" which also alters her brain chemistry

though, i want to think that uzbekistan does try to make her move...just in private. idk how she'd do that use your imagination i guess?

even when they're in an established relationship, she's mostly affectionate in private. the most turkey's gonna get out of her in public is....h*nd h*lding or arm clutching but even then...she won't do that until they're married(turkuzbek wedding when???)

uzbekistan reading or scrolling through her phone after a long day of work and turkeys like "nargiz...pay attention to me......come on let's make tea......"

They give each other shoulder massages occasionally

when turkey catches uzbekistan reading he joins her

🇹🇷: hey stop turning the pages so quickly

🇺🇿: i can't stay on this page forever

one second he's talking about how manly of a man he is, next second he asks uzbekistan to cuddle him

they both love cats! and they occasionally have friendly fights about who's more hospitable

turkey and uzbekistan also argue about who did it wrong(uzbek osh vs turkish pilaf, and turkey gets upset at uzbekistan's pahlava because "it's a cheap ripoff")

i was reading about strengthening turkey uzbekistan relations and the article said something like "together, the uzbek and turkish presidents band together as hanafi against the wahabi-salafism sect" so imagining this whole convo:

🇸🇦 circa 2018: congratulations on getting your religious freedom back, uzbekistan! what is your next step moving forward?

🇺🇿: well actually i-

🇹🇷: she's with me lol

turkey has a weird obsession with mongolia and the casians' nomadic pasts

🇹🇷: HELLO MY TURKIC MONGOLIC NOMADIC ISLAMIC MARE MILK DRINKING HORSE RIDING STEPPE BROTHERS AND SISTERS

🇺🇿: im sorry sir this is a choyxona(tea house/restaurant)

though turkey is a fellow islamic nation and they do belong to the same sect as uzbeks do, uzbekistan is still a little stricter. lots of turkish dramas had scenes cut from the uzbek premiere, and some dramas were just...not broadcasted due to...spicy scenes(making out i guess??)

🇹🇷: awww, come on they cut out my favorite scene

🇺🇿: your what 😃🔪

they also get along because they have similar tastes in tea! might as well call them tea lovers

turkey prefers his tea with sugar, whereas uzbekistan just drinks it without.

russia looked down on her and the rest of the central asians because "they were in their ignorant peasant barbarian era before I came and changed everything for the better!!!!"

she also had to unhealthily bottle her feelings of nervousness, anxiety, and overwhelming anger as russia kept taking and taking from uzbekistan(things like cotton, and forcing the aral sea into irrigation, causing the 4th largest freshwater lake in the world to dry up), giving little back or nothing at all to uzbekistan

so one of my earliest turkuzbek hcs was that turkey helps her recover from nightmares by the ussr despite her not telling him what happened, and trying to get her to calm down with tea and desserts and that's when she realized she liked him so much.

saudi arabia initially didn't believe someone as "sensible and mature" as uzbekistan would get with turkey, until she herself confirmed it to him 😔 he mourns the loss of another normal person...

🇸🇦: Dear Diary, today we lost the land of Al Tirmidhi...Al Bukhari...our last bastion...to Turkey...now my allies are no more...

turkuzbek use scent as comfort. when one has to go back home after a meeting or event, the other spends the night hugging the pillow they slept with, or wearing a jacket or other article of clothing they left behind.

they steal each other's clothes for this reason!

back in like...2020 a turkish director partnered with the Uzbek Ministry of Culture and Sports to make the Mendirman Jaloliddin drama based on the last ruler of the Khwarazmian Empire before it fell to the Mongols. so anyways they're hyping up their country's actors before they go on set, and meanwhile all actors from both countries see how turkuzbek are and ship it as well lolol

and lastly: just because I'm also korean...soojin is their wingman lolol

This is all my brain could record, so if anyone has anything to add, please do not hesitate and add your hcs!

#hetalia #aph turkey #aph uzbekistan #hws turkey #hws uzbekistan #turkuzbek #sadik adnan #do i make uzb a main character? yeah #but its okay....i love nargiza #tokki writes

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whathorselegs · 1 month

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Sequel post to my 'Dazai forgets that Kunikida is taller than him' post.

Kunikida forgets how strong Dazai actually is.

He's used to thinking of Dazai as lazy, of him complaining about having to walk places or lift heavy objects. Kunikida forgets that it's all an act.

He doesn't process that whenever he's manhandling Dazai, it's because his partner's allowing him to. On the occasion he can get Dazai to spar with him, he can hold his own, Kunikida usually still wins, but Dazai is a formidable opponent.

Even then, he doesn't process Dazai as "strong". It's on the rare occasions Dazai decides to manhandle him back that the realisation hits him.

Kunikida, who's been working all day with no break, he's only got so much paper work because his partner keeps causing trouble, maybe that's why Dazai is trying to coax him into to take a break. Maybe, it's one of those rare occasions where the guilt of his laziness is getting to him.

Dazai suggestions don't stay gently. He wraps his arms around Kunikida's chest and lifts him up off his chair, he doesn't quite get him off the ground because of their similar height, but Kunikida's mind is so fried by the sudden embrace he can't react as Dazai is dragging him out the office and down to the cafe.

It's Kunikida's leg being injured on a case and Dazai supporting him as they walk. The pain gets too much and Kunikida's legs buckle. He just needs a moment he says, but it's unheard as Dazai is already hefting him onto his back, making a joke that he's carrying him like a child. And it's exhausting work for Dazai to carry all of Kunikida's weight but he doesn't complain once about it.

It's Kunikida working into the evening and falling asleep at his desk, he used to wake up with a blanket around his shoulders until Dazai joined the Agency. Then Kunikida started waking up on the couch, having been carried there, sometimes it's Dazai's coat that's wrapped around him.

Those are the moments Kunikida finds himself admiring Dazai's strength, not for the physical feat, but because of how secure it makes him feel.

#bungou stray dogs #bsd dazai #bsd kunikida #still dont know their ship name #worst office romance in history #<- just gonna start tagging their stuff with this #incase its not clear in this #i believe Dazai can lift Kunikida #for a short time #he'll struggle if he has to carry him far #but he'll absolutely do it

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usermarquez · 2 months

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do we want to introduce the staple angst in rosquez politics au?

Vale probably met Marc on a holiday or posting somewhere, whirlwind romance & shotgun marriage without the families, 2 years later on returning home Vale finds out Marc is related to Jorge, one of his rivals. It's fine at first. There's some awkward dinners. Vale erects the garage wall equivalent of silence between his & Jorge camps for a bill or something. Something something happens, Vale accuses Marc of betraying him. Maybe pisses of Marc so much that he gets into the game uses that very impressive degree (that man loved math) absolutely slays makes himself a pain in Vale''s office proceedings. Vale's office obviously is filled with the academy boys. So the saga begins...

Them separating but not divorcing and Marc went to become a lobbyist and picking the cases where he could lobby against Vale…. Pissing Vale off… No hope of reconciliation…. Until one day one of the academy boys comes up to Marc, asking for his help in secret, and it’s about passing a bill that both Marc and Vale were passionate about (they used to spend hours talking about it etc etc) but Vale is stuck trying to figure out how to pass the bill… And Marc says yes he'll help if said academy boy (you can put whoever your prefer here I guess I'm so dumb I suddenly forget who's who) manage to convince Vale to let Marc into the team.

Somehow they manage to convince Vale. SOOO forced exposure to each other… late nights working until everyone goes home, leaving both of them alone in the office…. Vale would look up occasionally while Marc is reading through some old documents, feeling bittersweet, thinking about how Marc still looks the same as before but feels so far out of his reach…. Before looking away to continue his work, missing the moment when Marc glances up through his lashes to sneak a look at Vale….

Fast forward to months later, they get the bill passed….. Marc waiting outside the Chamber, pacing back and forth, while Vale is inside trying to convince everyone with the materials he and Marc and his staffs aka the academy boys have prepared… and then hours later, the door opens, Vale coming out with no expression on his face, Marc fearing the worst…… And then Vale breaks into a smile and Marc knows they succeed and he basically throws himself into Vale's arms, and they're both laughing while Vale spins him around and they kiss… and [gunshot] the rest is history yada yada yada

#NOW DID I JUST WRITE A FULL FIC 😭#i love the angst but i love me some happy ending……#💌💌💌#fic talks

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hawkepockets · 11 months

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GW2 CHARACTER PAGE

In Game

Thief

Pepiya PEP-ee-yuh

she/him 🪼 45 🪼 daredevil/deadeye/specter

Pact Commander, Statics graduate, ex-Priory tomb raider. Earnest, dry, authoritative, occasionally vindictive, always compassionate, out of touch with civilian social cues. Control freak. Dabbles in Void magic.

Romances: Tarakk & @pyroengi’s Teek.

Voice claim: Colleen O’Shaughnessey (F!asura, GW2)

Necromancer

Toxinologist Tarakk tuh-RACK

he/him 🕷️ 50 🕷️ harbinger

Gorrik & Ankka’s old Inquest mentor. Expert at synthesizing venoms, loves spiders. Narcoleptic & low in life force since a lab “accident” (sabotage) in 1326. Absentminded, compassionate, intense, exists at the intersection of dad jokes & professor humor.

Co-created with @antariies.

Romance: Pepa

Voice claim: Steve Staley (M!asura, GW2)

Mesmers

Prem Ikarion PREM ih-CARE-ee-in

he/him 🐒 32 🐒 martial artist (mirage)

Born a Zephyrite with a knack for disguise glamours, in a happier timeline Prem kept faith with his people and grew into a splendid champion of Vlast. In this one, he went wrong at every turn. Once Anise’s Second Blade/favorite brainwashed goon, now an exile from the Reach, emptied of magic, and half-corrupted by an oni. But he stays silly.

In @antariies’s canon, Harley’s childhood best friend turned worst enemy turned weird boybestie again (homoerotic).

Romances: Canach, Rama

Voice claim: Nolan North (M!human, GW2 • Nathan Drake, Uncharted)

Oumeko OOH-may-koe

she/her 🦋 ?? 🦋 chronomancer

A mild-mannered office worker turned magical girl in the fractals. Oumeko was the Captain’s Council’s receptionist when Scarlet and the Aetherblades attacked Lion’s Arch, levelling Oume’s neighborhood and killing her elderly parents in their home. Oume didn’t know what got into her that inspired her to leave a notice on her desk and hunt Mai Trin into the Mists like an animal, but she did, and after she sabotaged the Aetherblades’ Mist engine, she got stuck in unreality right along with them.

Oume has been making her way through thousands of permutations of Tyrian history and her own memories in the wild fractals. At first she looked singlemindedly for a way out, but now, after who knows how many years and loops, she’s become infatuated with Dessa, the voice on the PA system that’s guided and joked with her, maybe the only other real (real?) person in the fractals. Oume doesn’t know if she’s even the original copy of herself anymore, much less if she’d survive an exit to alpha Tyria—if she could even find one. But even if she could, she wouldn’t go without Dessa and Arkk. And the more times Oume resets the fractals to try to save them, the more time and Mist energy she builds up, until the fractals start to recognize Dessa as their purpose and center, and Oumeko as their mad, shortsighted architect.

Romance: Dessa?

Voice claim: Undecided!

Engineer

Dara Ikarion DAR-uh ih-CARE-ee-in

she/her 🐅 24 🐅 scrapper

Prem’s kid sister, Zephyrite airship engineer & inventor, Claw of Aurene. At 16, Dara survived the Zephyr Sanctum crash and chased after Aerin and the Master of Peace, intent on saving whatever the Master protected. Her hero complex and teenage delusion of invincibility drove her deep into the jungle, where she rocketed past Faolain, Caithe, Ruka, and Commander Pepiya to claim the egg for herself and the Zephyrite people. In that first moment of psychic contact with the unborn baby Aurene, Dara’s young mind was overwhelmed by raw magic and existential terror, forging an invasive, twisted bond between her and the baby dragon and leaving Dara nonverbal, magic-sensitive, and wilder than before. Reckoning with that trauma and Aurene’s ability to take over Dara’s body took years, but now their closeness is a point of pride, not a cause of horror. Dara is happy to call herself Aurene’s Claw. Intense, contrary, bright. ROCKET PUNCH‼️ YIAH‼️

Romance: Yao

Voice claim: Brenda Song (London Tipton, Zach & Cody • Caitlyn, The Quarry • Anne Boonchuy, Amphibia)

Ranger

Droseira j-roe-SEE-ruh

she/her 🌸 secondborn 🌸 all specs

A devotee of the Church of the Dream (created by @mystery-salad). A sickly sweet stickler for the rules of the Grove. Executes any spider, thornbush, fern hound, or sylvari touched by Nightmare. Jealous of Valiants who were given a purpose in their Dreams, she created a Wyld Hunt for herself: make the sylvari into an army of light that can cleanse the whole world of evil. And she finds she likes the taste of shed sap. Obsessed with Achi. Does not work with flesh and blood animals, because they’re impure. Weirdo.

Romance: —

Voice claim: Daisy Haggard (Mum, Hilda)

Warrior

Acheloe ACK-uh-LO-wee

she/they/it 🪲 15 🪲 bladesworn

Dragon’s Watch guildie, Pale Reaver. A Valiant who’s been given an endless series of mucky, ugly, tedious, small, and seemingly suicidal Wyld Hunts since her awakening. Four-armed, winged, and oddly jointed, Achi has evolved to look more and more like an unkillable insect, the more dangerous & degrading jobs they’ve survived. Caledon sylvari consider her a bad omen. Her latest Hunt, the first she’s ever resisted, is to die for the Commander. Her luckier podtwin, Boru, died in Maguuma. Solemn, prickly, devoted.

Romance: @wyldblunt’s Damage

Voice claim: Ben Prendergast (Patroclus, Hades)

Elementalist

Cirrus Kitetail SEE-rus KITE-tail

she/her ☁️ 33 ☁️ hammer weaver

Dragon’s Watch guildie, Zephyrite. Born Decima (“Deck”) Whiptail of Iron Legion, she was piloting a copter in a tryout for her grandmother’s airborne warband in 1320 on the day Kralkatorrik flew over. The copters lost power in the arcane storm, but she kept hers aloft with her air elementalism, which she’d always hidden in the fahrar, and brought herself and her grandmother Tenar Kitewing safely down on the far side of the newly formed Brandscar. Tenar granted her the honorary warband name Kitetail, and they wandered northern Elona together, struggling to survive and find a way back to their Legion, or failing that, a new home & purpose in Elona. The Zephyrites were the answer. When the Zephyr Fleet was able to offer passage back to Ascalon years later, Tenar and her granddaughter, now called Cirrus, refused, having fallen in love with their new people. Cirrus joined Dragon’s Watch after the Dry Top crash. Bubbly, combative, short attention span.

Romance: —

Voice claim: Mara Junot (Nyoka, The Outer Worlds)

Guardian

Razan Meziani ruh-ZAHN mez-ee-AH-nee

she/her 🌞 229 🌞 willbender

A rebel Sunspear inspired by Twilight Oasis. Formerly a cheerleader for the Sunspear Order, infatuated with Amala, until a series of atrocities during the invasion of Istan convinced her Elona belonged to Joko already. The lich king promised she could “have” Amala, once Amala had sworn fealty to him, but neglected to mention they’d both be Awakened first. Raz originally developed her fighting style to help support the Sunspears’ legendary dervishes by specializing in their weak points, but after turning coat she became Joko’s favorite dervish hunter, an expert at reading their footwork, getting inside their guard, and breaking their divine channels with brutal stuns.

Romances: Amala…????

Voice claim: Mallorie Rodak (Frieren, English dub of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End)

Revenant

Kishi Genji KISH-ee GEN-jee

he/him 🦢 mid 30s 🦢 vindicator

An affable mid-ranking Canthan noble of Kurzick descent, whose family had mostly fallen out of favor with Ihn’s court until Genji started talking to an echo of Saint Viktor and channeling his power.

An arranged marriage was set up with Onasis Ai, a noble of Luxon blood who was in touch with Archemorus. Though they didn’t choose each other, Ai and Genji have become best friends and devoted partners—but are unsure whether pursuing an actual romance is something they want, or just a pressure from their families, class, and the ancient lovers’ voices in their heads.

They��re both lavished and threatened with the court’s attention as a result of their magic, auspicious marriage, and developing combat skills, but they have a secret that threatens their status far more than any previous generation’s unwise investments or misplaced courtly alliances… their very young daughter Himiko has started talking about an imaginary friend she calls the Guard Man, who follows her around wearing old timey armor and dragging his swords along the floor, and gives her the power to petrify her parents with a frustrated wail, and turn small objects into jade.

Urgent pacifist and law-abider, despite having close enough family ties to the Jade Brotherhood that Genji calls Chul-moo “Uncle Park.”

Romance: Kishi Ai

Voice claim: Mark Ota (Ryonosuke Naruhodo, The Great Ace Attorney)

Not In Game

Gilwynne GIL-win

My oldest GW2 OC and retired main!

Thirdborn sylvari, intended to become the avatar of a second Tree but denied their Wyld Hunt to keep free will. Fell to corruption twice (Nightmare and Mordrem), got up twice. Haughty, blunt, sensual, hungry for knowledge of magic and their own limits. Accomplished alchemist, mender, and Shaper. Hylek lover.

Romances: Trahearne & @antariies’s Commander Harley Vuong

Voice claim: Shohreh Aghdashloo (Shala’Raan, Mass Effect • Roshan, Assassin’s Creed • Grayson, Arcane • Avasarala, The Expanse)

Gale/Nan Ikaros NAHN & Glow/Phaibun Ikarion FYE-beun ih-CARE-ee-in

she/her 🎏 60s

Prem and Dara’s mothers. Co-captains of the Zephyrite airship Ikaros. Nan, a fire elementalist, grew up as a poor Luxon jade miner. She fell in love with Phaibun, an air elementalist and “princess” of the Zephyr fleet as a captain’s only child, while Phaibun visited the Canthan imperial court many years ago. Phaibun is elegant, nitpicky, and cool. Nan is skeptical, spirited, and pragmatic. They call Prem “Monkey” and Dara “Tiger.”

Kishi Ai KEY-shee EYE

she/her 🖋️ 40s

Genji’s wife and best friend, the vessel of Archemorus. Genji and Ai both come from organized crime families. Unlike Genji, Ai isn’t afraid of her violent heritage or of using her relatives’ underworld connections for the betterment of Cantha.

An employment discrimination lawyer and champion of Kurzick, Luxon, and tengu workers by day, a benefactor and arms dealer for the freedom fighters by night, and a courtier on paper and only by necessity, Ai has very little time for her husband and daughter. But she loves them, and looks forward to a day when Cantha’s minorities have enough influence to speak for themselves, and she can take some time off to be a mother, and see if she’s even interested in being a wife.

Romance: Kishi Genji

Kishi Himiko KEY-shee HEE-mee-koe

she/her 👺 5

Genji & Ai’s daughter. Vessel of Shiro Tagachi.

Eun Kattarins YOON CAT-uh-rinz

she/her 🐆 80s (norn middle age)

Hoelbrak’s ambassador to the Iron Legion for 50 years. A sly, charismatic, militant snow leopard norn who walked effortlessly among the charr, but always put her people’s survival first at the expense of all else, even her own blood. Longtime on-and-off lover of Eir Stegalkin. Mother of @pact-valkyrie’s Britta, Jormag’s last and most terrible fraenir. Killed by her daughter in 1333, survived by her brother Eiko (@antariies).

Romances: Eir & unknown other norn

Malachi Olowe MAL-uhk-eye OH-lo-way

she/him 🦂 66

An Elonian bounty hunter, born Olmakhan but too restless and greedy for their way of life. Took her surname from a human deadeye she got training from, then left for dead. Double-crossed her employers one too many times, got caught between the scorned Sunspears and the punishing Mordant Crescent, and was killed in 1327. Left a mate and cub behind. Years later, snuck out of the Mists under cover of the Battle of Dragonfall. Now roaming Tyria causing low-grade havoc, pursued by demons, envoys, and Priory operatives frantic to put him back in hell where he belongs. Great storyteller. Very funny.

Romance: Her mate Dinah

Ikeda Keino EE-kay-dah KAY-no

she/her 👹 15

The half-possessed Jade Brotherhood teen Prem rescued from Behemoth’s Gap. Even after months without the oni’s influence, Keino is a bitter, snappish, self-isolating girl who resents any attempt to care for her. She wants to become an investigative journalist and take down Xunlai Jade once and for all by exposing its corruption, but to do that she has to survive high school in Kaineng. Has a twisted bond with Prem, ever since the oni made her confuse him for her father.

Farrah Whitebear FAIR-uh WHITE-bear

she/her 🐗 32

Knut Whitebear’s adoptive daughter. An elegant, serious young norn who gave up her special interest in jotun magic to serve under Jhavi in the Vigil, hoping to eliminate Jormag’s existential threat to the norn and leave them all free to pursue their peacetime passions—a decision that got her stranded, alone, freezing from the inside out in Bjora Marches. She got better, though. Mostly. Follower of the inexorable Boar Spirit.

Romance: @pact-valkyrie’s Sovhi

Hemera, Duke of False Hope HEM-uh-ruh

she/her 🌸 31

The Nightmare Courtier who mentored Gil when they were a sapling. Hemera was a secondborn who developed without protection from Mordremoth’s influence due to the Pale Tree and the Dream itself being stretched too thin at the time. Despite her ethereal beauty and tyrannical-but-nurturing “fairy queen” persona, Hemera has never felt anything except hunger and momentary satisfaction. She learned to Shape other sylvari’s bodies from watching her student Gil at work, and carved out a place for herself high in the Court by offering to change courtiers—either for beauty or efficacy in torture and raids—for favors. Hemera temporarily corrupted in Maguuma, but when Mordremoth fell silent in death, she twisted her body back to a parody of its old shape and started a new Nightmare sect in Siren’s Landing, where she preys on sapling researchers who wander too far from camp. She considers it her Dark Hunt to create a garden of mutilated sylvari that swallows the whole world, as Mordremoth’s jungle failed to do. Drosie’s mortal enemy.

Romances: @antariies’s Knight Arahn

Halimaka HAW-lee-MAW-kuh

she/he/they/it 🧪 30s

Once a Flame Legion inquisitor called Halima Eyesear whose investigation into the nascent Molten Alliance led her to run afoul of “B” (Scarlet Briar). Their body was gifted to the Toxic Alliance, who modified it to see how Toxic mad science and Flame magic combined. The resulting creature, “Halimaka,” sizzles with deadly heat and poison vapors and drips burning acid with every step. It has no memory of its previous life with Flame, only a dizzying sense of lost community and purpose, and the worry that it wouldn’t like who it used to be even if it could remember. Undomesticated, wistful, weird.

Jubilee Shaw JOO-buh-lee SHAW

she/her 🪆49 (mind’s age)/29 (body’s age)/283 (chronological age; born 1053)

The Ascalonian Hero of Prophecies, accidentally possessing her descendant’s body after a botched attempt at channeling her as a revenant legend. Out of place and time, an elementalist in a necromancer’s slightly-too-small body, blamed for killing her great-great-grandchild when she didn’t even want to return, Billy struggles to find a place in this bright and hostile new Tyria.

Khepri Chisisi KEP-ree chiss-SEE-see

she/her 🌪️ 83 at her death in 1135

The Hero of Nightfall, a legendary dervish. Long dead.

#gw2 #oc: pepa #oc: tarakk #oc: prem #oc: dara #oc: gil #oc: eun #oc: malachi #oc: acheloe #oc: cirrus #oc: genji #oc: raz #oc: halimaka #oc: oumeko #oc: droseira #character page

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xoxoemynn · 9 months

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lol I started this the morning before we got word of the teaser and then PROMPTLY forgot about it. But here we go! I was tagged by @oatmilktruther, @bizarrelittlemew, @ghostalservice and @petrichorca, who are all equally amazing as people as they are writers. 💖

Rules: Share the first lines of your ten most recent fics and tag ten people.

The day began, as they always did, with a kiss. (all of these lines across my face) The infamous Grief Fic™, post-canon, Ed and Stede are in their 80s, I promise it is more uplifting than it sounds. I'm very proud of this one, but please mind the tags.

Dear Tooth Fairy, My name is the Swede and I am 42 years old. (A Fairy Tale) Ed is history's greatest tooth fairy, Stede is an eccentric flower fairy, and they have a magical adventure on the wings of my personal favorite OC, Arthur the rosy maple moth. Potentially the cutest thing I've ever written.

"Bye, Bonnet!" (Here's to the Night) It's Y2K, and Stede is stuck at the office making sure his father's company doesn't collapse at midnight, and Ed is the sexy IT consultant who calls him every 30 mins to flirt I mean, check in on things. There's romance. There's silliness. There's heavy 90s nostalgia. No Neopets were harmed in the creation of this fic.

There’s nothing Edward Teach loves more than a big, beautiful clock. (Clock Strikes One) Unhinged, clock-themed porn, this time with spanking. It's both filthy and educational! It's the follow up to Witness Marks, and there will be more.

It’s been four days since the former crew of the Revenge reappeared, and Ed’s hiding in his cabin. (Choose Your Own Adventure: Reunion!) By far the COOLEST fandom project I've ever been a part of! So many writers and artists took part in creating this, and it is magnificent. If you haven't found all paths yet, here's your reminder to do so. There's something for everybody.

There was something to be said for being married to one of the world's most sought-after fashion designers. (Pretty and Stiddies and Gay!) Inspired by this incredible art by @buumbaby. Ed and Stede are ridiculously in love and have hot sex, including once in public while Stede's in a gorgeous evening gown.

Stede sat on a bench in the lobby area of the office building and took a hearty sip of his very berry smoothie. (A Day in the Life of Model Employee S. Bonnet) Stede is the world's worst postal worker, who blows off his job to flirt with famed hair model Edward Teach. Possibly my favorite Stede I've ever written.

Loudly did the muses sing of the sea god Edward and his mortal lover, Stede. (forever is our today (who waits forever anyway)) What it says on the tin. Ed and Stede are cursed for defying the gods' orders to part ways. I'm really proud of how this one turned out. Like, really proud.

"Maaaa." (To Get to the Other Side) Short, sweet, silly, smutty.

There's a moment when you're deep into a long drive when your mind begins to wander. (Where the Daylight Begins) My baby. My child. My pfp. My 115K magical realism modern AU that was heavily influenced by The House in the Cerulean Sea. I hope it leaves you feeling like you've been wrapped up in a big gay hug.

Not tagging anyone because this has been sitting in my drafts for so long I'm certain everyone has already done it, but if not, consider this your tag. 💕

#previously my life was divided into pre-OFMD and post-OFMD now it's also pre-teaser and post-teaser #next shall be pre-S2 and post-S2 !!!!!!!#OFMD #Our Flag Means Death #OFMD fic #my fic #Edward Teach #Stede Bonnet #Ed x Stede

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ncisfranchise-source · 4 months

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It’s been, as Brian Dietzen puts it, “a tough few years” for Dr. Jimmy Palmer on NCIS, but fortunately, his character is also quite often optimistic.

“He’s lost his wife. Then, with the shakeup of the team and Gibbs [Mark Harmon] leaving, our team went through some changes. That said, Jimmy’s also fallen in love,” Dietzen tells TV Insider. And like us, he’s a fan of Jimmy’s relationship with Special Agent Jessica Knight (Katrina Law). “I love doing scenes with Katrina Law. She’s just one of the most terrific actresses, and we tend to play together very, very well.”

Their romance is going so well that it’s now time for one of the next steps: meeting the family. Specifically, her father (Russell Wong)—an NCIS agent in the Far East Field Office—is coming for a visit. “Everything doesn’t necessarily go according to plan, without giving too much away about what’s going to happen, but that’s NCIS, right? Nothing can go exactly as planned,” Dietzen previews.

“But as we’ve seen with Jimmy and Jessica over the last year and a half, there have been a few roadblocks along the way, and there have been a few bumps in the road on their journey towards blurting out ‘I love you’ in the squad room,” he continues. “This could be one of the more important times within their relationship that we’ll see to say, what is going to come next and who are we together? This episode and meeting her family is going to bring up a lot of questions of, what are we going to do? And while I won’t answer what their conclusions are—in fact, I don’t think the episode does, if I’m being honest—it does open a lot of doors and opens a lot of questions for the future.”

Before that, and after the heavy, heartbreaking tribute to Ducky and the late David McCallum (co-written by Dietzen), the team is going to engage in Walk-a-Mile Day, which sees them switching jobs at work, in the February 26 episode. That has to lend itself to some fun moments. But what about Jimmy? It’s not like just anyone can do the medical examiner’s job.

“Here’s the thing: If you’re going to walk a mile in Jimmy Palmer’s shoes, the good part is you’re a doctor, but you’re not going to kill anybody, so if you mess up, what’s the worst that can happen? You’re going to misplace an organ or that sort of thing,” says Dietzen. “But yes, Jimmy’s going to try out a different job on Walk-a-Mile Day, and I won’t reveal what it is, but it’s something that you wouldn’t really suspect Jimmy would do or enjoy or do well, and I think that’s why it’s was chosen and it’s quite fun.”

Beyond that, Dietzen promises that “there’s going to be a lot happening” for Jimmy. “What’s great about this character that I’ve always loved is that there’s always optimism in this guy’s heart, and the glass is always half overflowing. So you’re going to get that optimism. You’re going to get that ‘yes, we can’ sort of thing. And that’s going to be challenged a few times over the course of this season in potentially some pretty big ways. We got some big stuff coming up for our guy, and it’s going to affect him hugely, but I know Jimmy’s going to be trying to see the bright side of things, even though there’s going to be a lot more challenges thrown his way.”

Also coming up is the 1,000th episode in the NCIS franchise, airing April 15. “Is that nuts, or what?” Dietzen says in disbelief. “We’re not like a daytime soap where we get a couple hundred of these a year. We only get 19, 22, something like that. It’s wild.” The episode is written by Christopher Waild, “who’s one of our best writers,” Dietzen raves. “A lot of our writers are the best writers, but Chris is just wonderful at this, and he’s also very encyclopedic when it comes to our show. He really loves this show, its history, and everything. So I think he’s just the absolute perfect person to write it.”

#ncis

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hagatha-christie · 10 months

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July reads

The bad:

Wolfsong by TJ Klune: No thanks! Maybe the worst thing I’ve read all year!

The Regional Office is Under Attack! by Manuel Gonzales: felt like I was missing half a book. Why was the office under attack? Idk! What did the office do? Unclear!

The fine: Work for It by Talia Hibbert: one of the better romance writers IMO, but most of the romances I read are, at best, just okay! I’m not sure what it would take to push it to “great” status for me. Someone recommend a romance they think was great and I’ll give it a try.

Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon: pls see above. I did laugh out loud during one scene, and also loved that one of the characters was on a show that’s not Teen Wolf but is Teen Wolf.

Serious Concerns by Wendy Cope: ok why did I think her poetry was very serious and heartfelt this bitch is GOOFY and I really enjoyed it. It felt very of its time but in a good way. Would pair well with When Harry Met Sally, or anything by Carrie Fisher.

The Green Knight, translated by Bernard O’Donoghue: fun and more of a literary read than Sweeney Astray, which is similarly an old tale about some guy wandering the countryside. I’m insufferable so I loved this movie and needed to pick up the actual story.

The good/great:

The Best at It by Maulik Pancholy: this was a middle grade book that’s about ~being yourself~ and ~standing up for yourself~ but it was so cute and funny and such a fun read.

When My Brother Was an Aztec by Natalie Diaz: her metaphors are absolutely incredible, as is her imagery. Can’t wait to read her other collection

The Devil’s Element by Dan Egan: mostly picked it up bc I loved Egan’s other book, and this was similarly great! V niche book about the history of phosphorous including its discovery and different ways it’s been mined, and then goes into how excess phosphorous in the water supply has every waterway completely fucked. He does a great job of showing how interconnected these issues are. Side note, poor Floridians have enough to deal with already and now I find out about the shitshow that is Lake Okeechobee?!

Teaching to Transgress by bell hooks: similarly niche, but basically affirmed all of my personal philosophies about what teaching should be, because lately I’ve been questioning if I’m just really naive. It’s geared toward people in higher ed but if you’re an educator in any capacity I really recommend this.

Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff: technically for middle schoolers but it still made me absolutely weep with joy. It’s pretty incredible books like this exist now for kids that age, it makes me a lil emotional to think about

Cantoras by Carolina de Robertis: listen. Listen. LISTEN. I tore through this book, it is beautiful and affirming and devastating and I loved every second of it, and I’m planning on reading all of de Robertis’ other books

Currently reading: The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty (so fun!) and The World and All That It Holds by Aleksandar Hemon (confusing so far but I like it!)

#reading

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joyofkinoko · 2 years

Text

My Cross to Bear | fifteen (1.2k words)

The Budget Ghostbusters are called in to investigate the allegedly haunted Gom Theatre in Seoul, and you are a rising actress cast in the latest show, ironically “the Phantom of the Opera”. With both the spirits of the theatre and the critics of the industry down your throat and out for your blood, you find your only comfort in Choi Beomgyu, the sweetheart YouTube cameraman.

.: coworkers to lovers .:. female reader .:. fluff, hurt/comfort, paranormal :.

.: tw: paranormal elements, mature language, near-death experiences :.

.: masterlist .:. budget ghostbusters :.

“So... How is this supposed to work again?” you sincerely questioned, watching intently as the boys who call themselves Budget Ghostbusters ran about the stage in the empty, silent theatre setting up their equipment.

“Well, we were thinking of using a spirit board, but Flower hates them,” Beomgyu frowns, earning a displeased but joking punch on the arm from the targetted girl. Flower is both Soobin’s assistant and girlfriend (which isn’t an HR problem since he is HR), and while she mostly does office work, Hueningkai had a family emergency and they needed a fifth hand to help out with filming.

It’s just before the midnight of a Saturday when people your age are normally expected to be spending time at parties or with loved ones. And yet here you all are, preparing for a potentially dangerous evening ahead for the purpose of earning social media clout and discovering the source of whatever weird shit is going on in your theatre.

“I have a history of disaster with those stupid little boards,” she frowns as she begins using a lighter on the candles in the middle of the stage.

You are endeared when you see Soobin smile to himself, running up behind her to place a surprise kiss on her cheek. “Disaster? That night was quite the memory to me.”

“You weren’t even there,” Taehyun deadpans, polishing a pendulum that would serve as the evening’s main communicative model with the ‘other side’.

“Still a memory,” Soobin shrugs fondly, and while you don’t have the full context, shared eye contact with Sunghoon, sat patiently next to you, confirms that the ‘memory’ in discussion must have to do with their history together. Romance, after all, can come from the most disastrous situations.

Your romance with Beomgyu might (keyword: might) be one-sided, but you really wouldn’t have even met him had you never been injured. Oh well, the friendship is enough.

“So, do, like, just the worst things happen at these?” you ask to clarify.

“Honestly, it’s really nothing more than strong wind and electronic disturbance,” Flower admits. “It’s just... unsettling.”

“And she wasn’t even a believer back when we first hired her!” Yeonjun points out proudly.

“Wait, so you’re saying none of your videos are faked?” Sunghoon’s jaw drops and you can’t help but smile to yourself. “I’ve watched every single one about a million times but I mean, I’ve had my doubts you know?”

“Our reactions have been played up before,” Taehyun coolly admits, receiving a disapproving look from the other boys. From your observations, Taehyun and Sunghoon seem to have genuinely bonded recently and you can’t help but wonder how that may have happened considering their personalities. “But we’ve never faked evidence.”

Nodding thoughtfully, you look to Beomgyu. “So, you really all believe in this stuff?”

“You don’t?” Beomgyu looks almost surprised, tilting his pretty head towards you. “Your leg is literally evidence.”

Shaking your head with a grimace. “I think,” you pause for dramatic effect, “that this theatre is dirty and decrepit and accidents happen.”

“Killjoy,” Sunghoon pouts, pushing himself out of his chair once the set up in the middle of the stage seems ready to go.

“Besides, if there really are spirits, then I might genuinely get hurt... again, so I’d rather be a skeptic right now,” you add, receiving understandable nods from the small crowd. With a soft smile that makes your heart melt, Beomgyu makes his way over to you, holding you by the waist as he guides you to your seat at the seance table.

As the final touches to the set-up are put together, Sunghoon heads backstage to shut off the main theatre lights, leaving the only source of light to the few candles on the table and two studio lights. With Beomgyu to your left and Taehyun to your right, the mood switches.

Taehyun briefly explains how things are meant to go as Yeonjun lights the frankincense sticks. “With a pendulum, we can pretty much only ask yes or no questions,” he starts, offering his hands to you and Yeonjun on his other side. “Back-and-forth means yes, sideways for no, and if it spins in a circular motion, it’s a maybe.”

“Maybe?” Sunghoon comments unsurely.

“Or neither,” Taehyun shrugs, taking a deep breath. “Everyone’s holding hands? Okay, perfect. Do not let go under any circumstances. We have to end the seance before we break our circle, got it?” Murmurs of yesses dance across the table. “Well then, let’s begin.”

The seance starts off calmly, with Taehyun and Sunghoon quickly establishing a dynamic for comedic aspect of the segment where Taehyun tries his best to act seriously and Sunghoon making side comments. Out of the corner of your eye, you can see how pleased Soobin is with him as a guest and you almost feel proud.

And with all that occurring, you place your attention to your left hand, fingers intertwined with the boy you’ve been all but enamored with for the past few weeks. In his kindness and his pretty mullet, you find yourself grateful for the lack of lighting, blushing inappropriately at a seance because you’re holding hands with a boy.

Minutes pass with only Taehyun’s voice and passing comments from the others at the table, and all attempts seem futile with the pendulum refusing to even move half an inch.

You can tell Soobin’s just about to call it quits when a piercing screech echoes throughout the hall, throwing you right back to the event days prior when the microphone feedback blew out the speakers after odd whispers of words. Taehyun holds your hand tighter, and you can feel Beomgyu do the same, tugging you closer to him and looping his arm around yours as the feedback continues.

“What the fuck is going on?” Yeonjun calls out as Taehyun begins yelling out the questions he’s already asked.

“The pendulum!” Sunghoon points out, yelling over the screech. Your eyes widen, heart almost stopping at the sight of the pendulum swinging in fast circles, essentially confirming, at the very least, a presence in the theatre. “Taehyun, what do we do?”

“Fuck, I’ve about said about all I need to but we’re getting nothing!”

Sunghoon begins insisting that he let go in order to run to the back to turn off the sound system (though it had been previously double-checked and should have been turned off already). And while Taehyun and Yeonjun seem to be begging for the final call from Soobin, he’s too busy focusing on Flower’s anxiety and double-checking their filming equipment from afar.

Beomgyu’s thumb begins to calmly smooth over the back of your hand, about the only thing that’s calming in the theatre as they all start to yell at each other. “Ask a question, Teddy,” he says to you, and though his volume is overshadowed by all the noise, you hear him and his sincerity.

You whip your head over to him, face wrinkled together from trying to hear your own thoughts in the theatre. He’s just as affected by the noise, but his kind, wide eyes are only on yours. Even in the dark of the stage, you see his concern, and though he had told you to ask a question, you utter the first word that’s come to your mind.

“Stop!”

And all indeed does.

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