#((Ugh I'm not here I need to do Ambrose things first.

[bloodskipper]

Bo Sinclair x reader | Hell or High Water | Pt. 5

WARNINGS: self-deprecation

You whipped your head toward the direction of the voice.

"What?" you asked defensively. A man wearing a trucker's hat and black work outfit was behind the counter you were standing at moments before.

"Hey, now," he smirked. "I apologize, but you're the one callin' me down here after hours."

"Yeah, well took you long enough." You kept your distance by the door, arms crossed. This new figure came around from behind the counter and leaned onto its front, mirroring your crossed arms. He stared into your eyes and ran his tongue along the inside of his bottom lip.

"So, you got a map, or what?" you asked, practically fuming at this point. Your jaw clenched, eyeline locked. The same smirk had been on this guy's lips the entire time you'd seen each other.

"I got a map, sure," he said coolly, stretching over the counter to grab the map from a drawer. "Where are you looking to get to?"

"That's the thing..." Your eyes dropped to the tiled floor in embarrassment. "I don't know."

"Aw, well no need to feel bad. I got your back. Let's just take a look together."

Slowly, you dropped your arms and shoved your hands in your pockets, shuffling closer to the man with the map.

"Your name is Bo, right?"

"That's me, hun," he said, looking down at you. He had a least a foot and a half on your height. "And may I have the pleasure of knowing your name?"

"I'm Y/N," you said with a light smile.

"Pretty name," he replied with a bigger smile. You quickly cleared your throat as you felt your cheeks flush.

"I was planning on going to a concert with a friend, er..." Should you tell him? "... it was more of a date, I guess." What stopped you from disclosing this detail in the first place?

Bo whistled. "A date, huh? I bet you go on those a lot." He gave you a quick once-over and nodded.

"Not really," you laughed, trying to shake off his flattery. "This is the first person I've tried to meet with in a while. My phone died on the way there and I thought I was fucked until I met that Lester guy."

"Good guy," Bo agreed. "Always around when ya need 'im."

"I guess." You remembered his hasty exit after he set you up with Bo. "Anyway, times a-wastin', so let's take a look at that map."

Bo opened the folded map and smoothed it on the countertop. He pointed at one of its locations and motioned for you to move closer.

"Okay, now this is a map of Louisiana, right? And we're right around here..." He circled the general area with his finger and you couldn't help but notice Ambrose wasn't outright listed anywhere.

"The closest concert hall I know of is over in this direction," he explained, dragging his finger to a location that was way to the left over from where he was originally pointing out.

"From here to there, that's about a two-and-a-half hour drive."

"Fuuuuck!" The exclamation burst out of your mouth. "God damn it! Fuck! I just wanted to have fun for one god damn night and - ugh!" You balled your fists and shoved them into your face, trying not to cry. That was the last reaction you wanted to show to a stranger.

"Hold on now, darlin'. What's going on?"

"I - I just... UGH!" You stomped your foot. "Sorry, I'm just upset with myself. God damn it, I am so stupid." Tears welled up in your eyes against your will and spilled down your cheeks. The thought of expressing this kind of emotion in front of a random gas station worker made you feel even worse.

"I don't think you're stupid," Bo said in a caring tone. "Just a little lost, is all."

"No, it isn't that." You wiped your eyes with your sleeve. "I feel stupid for trying... Online dating is such a shit show. I just want to meet more people! What's so wrong with that? Sorry I like to have fun, and maybe I just want someone to have fun with," you continued, somewhat thankful to have this moment as a venting session.

"I don't think you're stupid," Bo repeated, placing a hand on your shoulder and squeezing it gingerly. "Do you think you can get there in time to meet them?"

"They canceled on me and I was going alone. By the time I get there it's gonna be fuckin' over, anyway."

"Aw, you shouldn't have to go to anything like that by yourself, honey. It's no fun and it could be dangerous, you know." You glanced at his hand still placed on your shoulder.

"Anything could be dangerous," you said, looking up at Bo.

-

Wowwie! So I'm gonna be writing some sexual stuff soon. I'm thinking of keeping it gender-neutral, but also considering writing genital-specific stuff and possibly make multiple options for your choosing? Idk. Let me know what you think.

[movienotesbyzawmer]

August 21: Mission: Impossible II

(previous notes: Mission: Impossible)

Not gonna lie, this is without question the Mission: Impossible movie that is remembered most unfavorably by me and, I'm pretty sure, everyone else. My recollection is that they tried SO SO SO SO HARD to make an action movie for Today's Kids; I'm typing this with the title screen of the 4K Blu-ray blasting its turn-of-the-millennium neo-metal version of the classic theme with Tom Cruise running in front of a wall of flame and it's just like come on. Is there even must fun spycraft in this? The first one promised lots of gravely furtive glancing, world-class makeup disguises, and dazzling gadgetry. Did this movie's director John Woo replace those with just way way way too much shooting and chasing and sexy vehicles? That's how I remember it but it's been a couple of decades.

I should probably address this series' exciting approach to director selection. The first one was directed by the legendary Brian De Palma, who brought us Carrie, The Untouchables, and Carlito's Way. Whether or not this one worked out, the trend here seemed to be to choose a respected director with a certain cred that could be imported into the franchise. More on that as this series unfolds. I am now to press play.

Opening scene is about a scientist who injects himself with something while a voiceover teases us with I-already-forget-what.

Oh, he's pals with Ethan; they're on a plane together out of Sydney when some bad-guy shenanigans totally thwart the whole fly-to-the-destination-safely thing. But! It wasn't even Ethan! It was good-ol' makeup fake-outery! It was a heist to take the warn leather pouch that the scientist had.

This I remember - during the opening credits, the REAL Ethan Hunt is climbing somewhere impressive, all freestyle like. All the related supplemental marketing materials never fail to talk up Tom Cruise's penchant for doing his own stunts, but these don't look real.

He then receives a fancy techno-message in a very, very dramatic and action-movie-ish fashion, which is that someone flies a helicopter by his climbing mountain and fires a rocket near him containing message-glasses tech! The voice in the message glasses sounds like Anthony Hopkins. Is it Anthony Hopkins?

Anyway now he has to go to Spain to recruit Thandie Newton and here is where it's already starting to get way too the-style-of-John-Woo. There is a flamenco show and Ethan and TN spot each other across the room. There is SLO MOTION and SPANISH STOMPING and ACOUSTIC GUITAR, and THOSE TWO GAZING AT EACH OTHER. I tell you I do not care for it.

What happens next is TN proceeds to use fancy technology and lockpicking skills to steal a well-concealed necklace. Ethan tags along flirtatiously. She still tries to steal the necklace even though this Lothario, this smarmy but irresistible cad, is trying to distract her with his testosterone.

Ugh, I was very right to remember not liking stuff about this movie. Ethan fails to recruit her at the jewel heist, so he car-chases at her the next day! He calls her during the car chase to irritate/seduce her, and she's all "you'll have to catch me ha ha", and it ends in a nearly fatal crash and then they KISS. The director worked very hard to ensure the kissing was HAWT, and Ethan has now successfully recruited TN for both spy work and boinkage.

Anthony Hopkins! He is in the next scene! That really was him! How did I forget that he is in this movie. This scene where he meets with Ethan and fills him in on everything is effectively expository. But then after he knows what he's gotta do, he walks with INTENSITY and it is in SLOW MOTION next to a BURNING EFFIGY THING with ELECTRIC GUITAR MUSIC GOING ON.

0:33:40 - Oh now it's a little more what I like, with a montage about using spy tech to get Ambrose, the bad guy who was pretending to be Ethan on the plane in the beginning, to track TN. And to further assure us that there is techie-fun to be had, Ving Rhames returns to be that guy for Ethan's team. But there is also time in this sequence for shots of TN walking slowly and looking super pretty. You know, so she can seduce Ambrose. A flowing scarf figures prominently in this imagery. A John Woo Film.

I like that they tricked Ambrose into thinking he is so damn smart for tracking her down. I also like Ambrose's compound on Sydney Harbour, it is a bitchin property.

Scene just happened where Ambrose seriously menaces his friend and uses a cigar-clipper on his finger. Ambrose is a bad friend.

But then they're all at the horse race game, even Ambrose's injured friend, who we learn is named Stemp and who is spying on TN, and Ethan and VR are spying on them all. There are shots of TN doing sleight of hand to steal a tape from Ambrose's pocket and it's pretty good spy-shot stuff.

I guess I should mention that there's one more guy on Ethan's team of four, an Australian guy. I haven't caught his name, so he is Australian Guy now, and he is pretending to be an employee of the horse race game venue. He gets bullied by Stemp! We don't like Stemp!

The tape she stole, they watch it right away and it shows footage of what the virus (there's a virus problem at the center of this) does. It is effective, and a little shocking.

But then, this is surprisingly actually kind of well-conveyed - they made it VERY clear that the tape was originally in Ambrose's left jacket pocket, and they showed very clearly that TN returned it to the wrong jacket pocket, AND it's obvious a moment later that Ambrose knows it has been replaced in the wrong jacket pocket. Don't know why, but at least it's keeping us on top of this situation.

Also not-too-shabby is how they're doing the consequences of Ethan and TN fancying each other, except then she has to go and seduce Ambrose and that's uncomfortable and drama-making. In Ethan's defense, as well as Ambrose's, I am also in love with TN right now.

1:02:12 - Ethan disguised himself as Scientist, the dead one from the beginning, and I'm just saying I'm glad this movie is embracing the disguise-craft theme that was established in the first movie. Ooh, is the show like that too?

And then just as I've typed that, it turns out that Ambrose did an Ethan disguise (it was established by Anthony Hopkins that Ambrose was an IMF agent so he can do that stuff too) to trick TN into outing her intentions. They make it very clear that there is voice-fake tech with their disguises that involves a wire mesh thing stuck to the throat.

Next up is a heist scheme to break into a skyscraper where they're growing stuff about the virus, and it's a little bit of that style I liked so much in the last movie, with the added twist that Ambrose is somewhere else anticipating what Ethan's planning, and, I think, plotting a separate, way-better heist. They're still talking about it and the heist is happening and it is suspenseful! I totally like this more than I remember.

1:13:30 - Ethan is at the part of the heist where he's at fancy lab facilities with robot arms and AI voices and oddly no people. VR and Australian Guy are observing everything that's happening using technology and Australian Guy's helicopter, making it more suspenseful, but I also don't know exactly what's going on? We appear to be where Scientist originally injected himself, and Ethan is I think killing the virus while also somehow visualizing Scientist injecting himself.

But then that all goes away because a platoon of thugs in black burst in and are shooting at Ethan. It all quickly became an action movie with blazing guns and VR's tech van getting bombed.

In the fracas it's clear that one of the injector guns contains the last of the virus, and also gunplay might shatter it and make them all infected, so that's decent suspense. But also, the lighting in this bio-lab is like a nightclub, with inexplicably roving spotlights and neon accents that pop in 4K.

TN is in the mix, and she decides to inject the last of the virus into herself, and there's a dumb moment where it's like ETHAN YOU HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO SHOOT ME WITH YOUR GUN and Ethan, Man of Ethics, does not do that. Instead there is more gunplay and Ethan jumps out a hole he made in the wall.

1:28:45 - We've moved to new location, a new compound, and it's on a guard-patrolled island and Ethan sneaks up on a guard and does a totally unnecessary body-flip martial arts move to take him out. I think he needs to steal the antidote from this compound so that he can save TN, who is somewhere else. He is visually passionate about this mission.

Ethan got caught sneaking in to this new compound by Stemp, and he did a whole grenade blowup thing but he still got caught. It's a trick, right? Yup, he put an Ethan mask on Stemp and a Stemp mask on himself and got Ambrose to kill Stemp. He realizes he just killed Stemp because of the finger injury, good job with that.

I am reminded that this movie is from the director of Face/Off, so I needn't have feared that the mask/disguise conceit would be forsaken.

But did he get the antidote? He must have. Sometimes when I'm typing notes I miss stuff, but he's now motorcycling away while VR and Australian Guy are providing support from their chopper.

This is now the vehicle-chase opera that I remember ending the movie so terribly extendedly. Much gunplay. Vehicles pirouette with violent elegance. Ethan can do such exquisite dances with his motorcycle and firearm. This climaxes in the ridiculous feat of Ethan and Ambrose riding their cycles at each other and jumping at off them at each other to finish the job sans vehicle. It ends as a tussle on the beach, and Ambrose has a knife that almost gets in Ethan's eye. The visual on that is striking. But it's no good, Ethan is too Tom Cruise for him. He gets the knife from him and DISCARDS THE KNIFE, and punch-kick-fights him a lot instead. Ethics.

Turns out Ambrose has a gun after all oh no. But then it turns out Ethan is standing by a sand-obscured gun somehow also oh good. He does a thoroughly storyboarded sand-kick-body-twirl gun recovery that ends like you'd guess.

So although there are some dumb things about this movie, I think it's better than I remembered. And having just watched the first one, I think it actually did a good job of having a story where you don't have to ignore a lot of stupidness. It's not like it's an especially good plot, but it didn't try to make you forget its holes like the first one. I still like the first one better, though.

(next: Mission: Impossible III)

[bastardnev]

I Told You So

i FINALLY finished the Happier sequel to My King

(crossposted from ao3)

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: World Wrestling Entertainment, Professional Wrestling Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Wade Barrett/Pac | Adrian Neville Characters: Wade Barrett, Pac | Adrian Neville Additional Tags: Fluff, i love!! these boys!!, Post-Summerslam Summary: Wade knew that Neville would win the title back.

(sequel to "My King")

Things had been rough since Neville lost the Cruiserweight title.

Not even 24 hours after he'd lost, Neville had grown to be a shell of his former self, marching around backstage with messy hair and unhealthy-looking dark circles under his eyes. Wade knew that the talk that they'd had wouldn't be enough to help him get over such a devastating loss, but he never thought things would get this bad. Every time Wade was with Neville, he was trembling, though whether that was due to sadness or anger Wade hadn't yet figured out. Whatever it was, Wade hoped that it would be gone by the time Neville's match at Summerslam ended.

Neville's rematch was set to be the second match on the kickoff show, which frustrated Wade for multiple reasons. It was bad enough that Neville wasn't seen as being 'important' enough to be on the main card, but there was hardly anyone seated in the stands yet. People would still be waiting on line to get in during the most important title match of the night -- in his opinion, at least.

His position on the card didn't seem to bother Neville, though. So long as he was getting his rematch, they could do it out in the parking lot in the early hours of the morning for all he cared. It didn't matter who was or wasn't there to watch -- he was going to get his championship back in the end.

"You're going on right after this interview, right?" Wade asked. He and Neville were watching the Ambrose and Rollins interview on a TV monitor out in the hallway, though 'watching' may not be the best word to describe it since it was really more background noise than anything. Neville was far too focused on his pre-match preparation to pay any attention at all.

"Mm," Neville affirmed, decked out in his new white and silver attire, his arms crossed. He hadn't been much for words in the last week, most of his responses having been either head shakes or grunts.

"Hey," Wade started as he put a hand on his shoulder, feeling how tense he was. "You're going to do great. I know you will. Kick his ass and bring that title back where it belongs."

"That's the plan." Neville noticed that the interview on the screen was close to ending. "I need to go."

"Go get 'em, King. I'll be waiting here for you when you're done." Wade wore as assuring of a smile as he could muster, and he watched as Neville walked away and left him by himself.

Wade sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets and staring at the image of Graves and Joseph on commentary. He had all the faith in the world in Neville. Wade knew how he operated, and there was no way in hell that he was leaving the Barclays Center that evening without that title in hand.

"Holy shit, he did it!!" Wade shouted when he watched the referee count to three, the sound of the bell signalling the end of the match sounding like music to his ears. In the process, he accidentally scared a few backstage workers who were standing nearby, causing them to jump. Wade paid their shock no mind, however. He was far too excited to worry about what anyone thought of him.

Neville had won. He countered Tozawa's senton by sticking up his knees right as it was about to connect and managed to hit the Red Arrow -- the same move that had cost him the title less than a week ago. That split second decision changed the momentum of the whole match and allowed for Neville to capitalize, and was champion once again.

The first two time Cruiserweight champion. That accolade belonged to the King.

His King.

A few moments later, Wade noticed that Neville was making his way towards him, clutching the title tightly in his hands as if it were going to be snatched from him at any moment. Neville shot a glare in the direction of the workers that were standing nearby, and they hurriedly scurried away, causing Wade to snort. Neville has the power to get rid of people with a single look. I can only hope to be that intimidating one day.

It was once they were alone that Wade quickly swept Neville off of his feet, hugging him and spinning him around. "You did it! I told you that you would!"

"Wade, stop that!" Neville struggled to break free. "I told you not to do that when someone could see us!"

"You've already scared everyone off, Nev. There's no one around to see us."

"Still, it's embarrassing... Imagine if one of those peasants sees me like this?"

"Fine, fine." Wade let him go, and despite his complaints Neville didn't actually look like he was angry at Wade. "But seriously, congrats. I'm so proud of you."

"Was there ever any doubt that I wasn't going to win my crown back?" Neville slung the belt over his shoulder and began to stroke it as if it were a cat. "This is mine, plain and simple. This title and the whole damn division is going to be mine until I decide that I'm done with it."

"That's my King." Wade grinned and ruffled up Neville's already messy hair. He took a chance and bent down, pressing a quick kiss to his forehead. The two of them hadn't had any actual romantic contact since the day Neville lost (if that kiss they shared could actually be considered romantic and not sloppy and desperate). Wade had no idea what kind of a reaction he was going to get.

Neville's expression had changed by the time Wade pulled away, his cocky one having been replaced with a more complicated and hard to read one. "You alright?" Wade asked. "You look a little weird."

"Don't I always look weird? Come on, just look at me," Neville joked, but his expression remained the same.

"What's bugging you? You don't look like someone who just won his championship back." Says the guy who made him look this way in the first place...

"This might sound like a weird question to ask, Wade, but..." Neville glanced around and made sure that they were alone before he asked. "What are we, anyway? Are we still just friends?"

Wade swallowed, looking down towards his feet. "Well, what do you want us to be?" He replied. "I mean, we did kinda kiss last week..."

"And we hung out at the hotel afterwards," Neville pointed out. "You kept me company."

"Yes I did." Wade remembered lying in bed next to him in silence, gently stroking at Neville's hair (which was still a little damp from the shower he'd taken) as he fell asleep. It wasn't a very happy memory given the context, but it definitely didn't read as being very platonic. "Do you want us to be more than friends? I was kinda hoping that we could at least try it." They were already close friends who shared all the same interests -- some examples of those interests being making fun of their co-workers and acting dickish in general -- so wouldn't it make sense for them to give dating a shot?

Neville chewed the inside of his cheek, fingers tapping against the title as he thought. Slowly, his hand reached out and gently grabbed Wade's. "... I wouldn't mind giving it a try."

Wade looked down at their hands and smiled. "So, since we're dating, would you mind if I... y'know..."

Neville rolled his eyes with a small smirk, checking again to make sure no one was watching before saying, "Fine, go ahead."

"Excellent." With that, Wade bent down again, this time pressing his lips to Neville's and letting his eyes slip shut. He knew that he needed to pull away before someone (especially one of the other cruiserweights) caught sight of them, but that was going to be difficult what with how nice Neville's lips felt. Wade was beginning to think that maybe it was worth it to get caught if it meant that they got to continue for a little longer.

Ultimately, he pulled away, chuckling at Neville's flushed face. "Is the King embarrassed? Is our feared ruler really that bashful?" He teased.

"Hush up." Neville shoved his arm. "Ugh, I feel grimy as hell... I need to go wash up."

"Good idea. You're all sweaty." That fact didn't stop Wade from pulling Neville close to him as they started to walk towards the locker room. "What do you say we go celebrate later, hmm? Lemme take you out someplace nice."

"First you kiss me, and then you ask me on a date? All within a few minutes? How suave," Neville replied. "But I'd like that. I'm in the mood to be spoiled."

"Only the best for my King."