#(79 when filming but STILL)

[theageofsims]

It really do be like this sometimes. 😂

Never forget where William came from. Never. 😂

[the-bad-batch-baroness]

Beloved

Fives x Fem!Reader

Chapter 1: Hormones vs Pheromones

Summary: A horrible smell leads to a precious discovery. You and Fives have been enjoying your life together, but everything is about to change now that you’re pregnant. While your hormonal imbalance rages, Fives must hang on for dear life as he’s dragged through the stages of fatherhood. Luckily, the 501st has his back and comes to the rescue more than once.

Pairing: Fives x Fem!Reader

Characters: Fives, Kix

Tags & Warnings: established relationship, suggestive themes, pregnancy, morning sickness, vomiting, humor, domestic fluff, insults, sarcasm, light angst, dialogue heavy

Word Count: 4.8k

Author's Note: I came up with this idea after listening to a podcast about a woman whose pregnancy hormones made her absolutely hate her husband. Then it turned into a series… Whoops. Written in second person, but from different perspectives. Main focus is on Fives. Also, lots of dialogue because sarcasm and insults require some talking.

Beta Read: By the lovely @commander-sunshine because I was going to throw this fic in the trash and she convinced me otherwise. Thanks babe 💚

@clonexreaderbingo Square: Fives

Chapter 1

Your life is blissful nowadays. You and Fives live peacefully in the GAR Commons, which houses the entire 501st Battalion. The communal building complex has multiple accommodations, including studios, one bedrooms, and multi-rooms that will fit up to four clone troopers at a time. There’s also a community mess hall, medbay, shooting range, weight room, and even a courtyard with benches and flowers to enjoy. For GAR standards, it’s a nice place to live.

As an ARC trooper, Fives was able to swipe himself a one bedroom for the two of you. It’s a little thing, but it’s cozy and it’s spacious enough for all of your needs. When you first moved in, you completely fell in love with its simplistic charm. It has all of the necessities, a bedroom, refresher, kitchen, living area, and lots of closet space. You quickly set to work making it a home for you and Fives by adding pictures, a couple decorative pillows, and some nice curtains.

There’s not much else you could ask for to complete your little world. The life of a clone trooper’s wife isn’t always the best, but you never let yourself dwell on the unpredictable aspects of the war. Some days Fives will wake up and be gone for sixty-five rotations and other times he will wake up and be gone for two rotations. Better still, some days he wakes up and doesn’t have to go anywhere. Those are your favorite days, the ones where you get him all to yourself. 

Everything is pretty quiet at the moment. Fives hasn’t gone out on assignment for eighty rotations, which is his longest base assignment on record. Although, he still has duties at the GAR headquarters. Sometimes he trains the shinies and other times he has local missions, but at the minimum, he still makes it home for dinner every night. Well, almost every night. Once and a while, he’ll kick back at 79s with the boys and drink late into the night like old times. 

Fives isn’t the party boy he used to be, so you find it funny when he makes an attempt. When you first met him at 79s, he was wild, rowdy, and an absolute terrible flirt. He tried time and time again to get you to go out on a date with him using cheesy pick-up lines, but they never worked. Eventually, he stopped trying, and you found yourself missing his playful advances. You thought he was charming and funny, and adored his hearty laugh. Finally, you caved and began dating. 

Now married, he spends more time at home and less time at the bar. Neither of you know when he will ship out again, so it’s important to spend quality time together as a couple when he is at home. This particular evening is brimming with relaxation while you watch the latest holo-film. Both of you are snuggling in bed, your head resting on his shoulder while he holds a bowl of popcorn on his chest. You put your hand in the bowl, take a few pieces, and pop them into your mouth. 

“He’s going to die,” you say while munching away. 

Fives cocks his head. “You think?” 

“Oh, yeah, definitely,” you nod. 

“Why do you say that?” Fives asks while grabbing a handful of popcorn.

“They’ve built him up way too much to let him live,” you point out while gesturing towards the holo-film.

“Brutal,” Fives shakes his head.

“I know right?” you chuckle and toss more popcorn into your mouth.

As the holo-film draws to its conclusion, you begin to doze. You nod off repeatedly, all the while Fives giggles to himself at your adorable attempts to stay awake. He turns his head to look at your sleeping face and plants a small kiss on your temple. He flexes, stretching his legs, and carefully lifts you off his shoulder to lay you down without waking you. He turns the holo-film off as the credits roll and gets up to bring the popcorn bowl into the kitchen. 

He returns to bed and crawls in next to you, spooning your back tightly against his chest and draping an arm across your stomach. He breathes deeply, inhaling the faint scent of your gardenia and jasmine shampoo before snuggling in for the night. But, just as he gets comfortable, you shift under his arm. He shifts with you and readjusts. A couple minutes later, you shift again. He sighs and repositions himself to accommodate you. The third time you squirm is when he breaks the silence.

“What’s the matter?” he mumbles into his pillow.

“Do you smell that?” you ask as you scrunch your nose. You can smell a putrid odor in the air, but you can’t figure out where it’s coming from. 

“Smell what?” Fives takes a whiff, but all he can smell is your shampoo and maybe something else mixed in with it.

“That smell,” you answer in annoyance as you roll out of his arm’s hold and onto your back. “You don’t smell it?”

“I don’t smell anything but you,” Fives laughs as he props himself up on his elbow. 

Your face scrunches in repulsion of his movement and you pinch your nose. “It’s you!”

“Me?!” Fives exclaims, a mix of surprise and confusion.

“When was the last time you showered?” you ask in disgust.

He blinks in bewilderment at your question. “This morning.”

“I don’t believe you,” you argue while sitting up. “You smell awful.”

“You were there,” he reminds you with a sigh. “In the shower, with me.”

You think back and realize he’s right, you both showered this morning and you’ve been together all day. You wonder what else it could be. “Deodorant?”

He sniffs his armpit to make sure. “Yeah, I put that on too.”

You both look at each other, puzzled at the weird occurrence. You think as hard as you can about where else the smell might be coming from, but you swear it's originating from Fives. You ask him to move again and he sits himself up against the pillow. Your nose is immediately assaulted by a horrendous smell and you gag in response. You turn away from him and gag again. Fives raises an eyebrow in concern at your bizarre response to his body odor.

“Why don’t I go take another shower,” he says as he gets out of bed. 

You're not sure if it will help, but you nod in between gags as he moves away from you. 

“Sorry,” he apologizes, not knowing what else to say. He doesn’t know what’s going on, but it seems like he’s the cause and he feels bad about it.

You lean back against your pillow and try to relax. The awful scent still lingers, but at least it’s weaker now that Fives has left. You grab his ill-scented pillow and toss it off the bed to try and get rid of the rest of the smell. You roll over on your side, away from Fives’ side of the bed, clutch the covers to your face, and begin to cry. Why you're crying, you don’t know, but you feel the need to cry anyway. At least the congestion from crying will help clog your nose and keep the stench out. 

When Fives returns from the shower, toweling dry his wet hair, he sees you laying in bed crying. He drops the towel, rushes over, and crawls onto the bed next to you. He places a tender hand on your back to let you know he is there. “Cyare, what’s wrong?” he asks with concern.

“I…” you say through coughing sobs. “I don’t know. I… I just want to stop.”

“Stop what?” he inquires, looking for any semblance or idea of what is causing you to be crying so suddenly. He visually looks you over to make sure there’s nothing externally wrong with you.

“Everything,” you cry harder and curl into a ball.

Fives is even more baffled. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

“I don’t know!” you yell in frustration at yourself for also not knowing what you mean, and for the fact that he’s asking you questions you don’t have the answers to.

“Udesii, cyar’ika,” Fives soothes while rubbing your back. “Shh. It’s alright.”

As his hand gently circles your back, the putrid smell returns and you reach around to push his hand away to make him stop. Fives is taken aback by your rejection and recoils his hand. You turn your head to look back at him with apologetic eyes. You’re not sure why you pushed him away, but you don’t want him touching you right now. Something isn’t right. This is all wrong. Your emotions are running wild and you can’t seem to get them under control. You start crying again at your helplessness.

“Cyare…” Fives trails as he watches and listens to your insatiable distress, but there’s nothing he can do about it. If he knew what to do, he would be doing it already. There’s nothing in his training that has prepared him for whatever this is. All he can do is be here for you if you need him.  

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” you say through your tears. 

“Maybe we should go see Kix in the morning,” Fives suggests.

You nod, thinking it might be a good idea to have a medic look you over. Fives brings a hand down to cup your cheek, a sweet gesture he always does when you’re feeling down, but instead of leaning into it, you slap his hand away. You put your hands over your mouth in shock at what you just did. Fives curls his lips and sighs as he flops back against the backboard in defeat. He doesn’t know what to do and you don’t know what you want him to do. Everything is confusing.  

“I’m so sorry,” you say as more tears fall. “I… I don’t know. I didn’t mean—”

“It’s okay,” Fives interrupts before you can berate yourself further. “I know.”

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” you repeat as if saying it out loud will help you solve the puzzle.

“If it’s my smell bothering you,” Fives begins, his voice wavering with uncertainty, "why don’t I sleep down there, with my pillow.”

“Fives,” you begin to protest, even though you really do want him and his unbearable stench to be somewhere else.

“It’s fine, really,” Fives chuckles as he slips off the duvet and lays himself down next to the bed. “I’ve slept in worse places than our bedroom floor.”

You bury your head in your pillow as your shattering cries take over again. Fives can hear your muffled sobs and it kills him that he can’t hold you through them. You don’t know why you’re upset. It’s a terrible emotion to both want and not want your husband. It never crossed your mind. You have a playful and fun relationship, and always enjoy his company, that is, until now. You can’t wrap your head around it, but you’re hoping a good night's sleep will fix everything. 

Eventually you both fall asleep, for the first time, separately. When Fives is home, you always sleep together in some form, whether it’s backs touching, spooning, or legs intertwining, even his hand accidentally smacking your face. No matter if you're happy with or angry at each other, you never sleep without some type of contact, that is, until tonight. You both feel it, the sting of separation, but there is a part of you that just can’t bring yourself to touch him right now. 

As the early hours of dawn break, you feel a stirring in the pit of your stomach. You shift to try and alleviate it, but it only gets worse. The feeling travels up your esophagus and into the back of your throat, making you squirm in discomfort. “Fives,” you call out to him as you hold your aching stomach.

“Mhm,” he mumbles sleepily from his little blanket nest on the floor.

“I don’t feel good,” you answer as you curl yourself up a little tighter.

“What kind of ‘not feel good’?” he asks as he slowly sits up and rubs the sleep out of his eyes.

“I think I’m gonna puke,” you say while jolting up and putting a hand over your mouth.

“Oh no,” Fives groans as he stumbles up off the floor to find a bucket. “Hang on!” he calls back as he scurries to the kitchen.

Your stomach muscles contract and you start to gag. “Fives!”

Fives rushes back into the bedroom with a small bucket and comes around to your side of the bed, but he’s a little too late. Your mouth fills with saliva in preparation of what’s to come and you can’t hold it in any longer. Fives dives for it, but misses by a couple inches as you vomit on the bedroom floor. He’s able to catch the end of it, while simultaneously grabbing most of your hair to hold it out of the way. You continue to vomit into the bucket until the spasms stop.

“Sorry,” you pant when you can finally speak again. Your chest hurts from the convulsions and your throat burns from regurgitating your stomach contents.

“Don’t worry about it,” Fives says with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I’ll clean it up.”

You smile lazily at him and are grateful he is there to help you, but something still doesn’t feel right. As he gets up to find some cleaning supplies you get a whiff of the same smell from last night and start gagging. Fives turns to bring the bucket back just in case and shoots you a worried look. Something is wrong with you. Something is very wrong with you. You don’t know what it is about his scent all of sudden, but it’s the most nauseating smell in the galaxy.  

“Please, get away from me,” you plead through gags while putting up a hand to signal him to stay back. “You smell so bad.”

“That’s it,” Fives sighs while rubbing his forehead. “We’re going to see Kix.” 

He leaves the bedroom to empty the bucket and comes back to clean up the floor. He places a clean bucket on the bed for you to use, trying with difficulty to respect your new boundaries. He then opens the dresser and throws on whatever he can find the quickest and tosses you one of his shirts. You grab the shirt, but it's covered in that horrific smell so you throw it at his back and it plops on the floor by his feet. He slumps his shoulders and you put your head in your hands and start to cry again. 

Fives lets out a discouraged sigh and grabs something of yours from the closet that will be comfy to wear to medbay and something you won’t mind throwing up on, just in case. He eventually finds an oversized hoodie he knows doesn’t smell like him and he tosses that to you. You smell it to be sure, and you sigh in relief as you pop it over your head. You grab the clean bucket and slowly get up from the bed, legs still wobbly from the stomach convulsions earlier.

Fives does everything in his power not to hold you steady. He reaches, but he pulls back knowing you’ll probably start vomiting again if he gets too close. He grabs the keys and your bag and opens the door to the GAR Commons hallway and waits for you to follow him. You trail after him as he leads the way to the medbay. It’s strange walking behind him and not alongside him, or holding his hand, but you quickly realize that following him was a terrible idea.

You stop and vomit into your bucket. You’re not sure where all of this is coming from, because there’s no way you have this much food in your stomach, but you don’t take the time to try and figure it out. Fives stops at the familiar sound and turns around to look at you. His eyes are compassionate. “I’m leaving a trail, aren’t I?” he asks knowingly.

You nod.

He sighs. “Why don’t you take the lead and I’ll follow you?”

You nod again and walk past him while holding your breath.

As you enter the medbay, you see Kix bustling about as he gets ready for the day. The medics always start early, but since Kix is in charge of the Common’s medbay, he has to start earlier than the other medics, which is great for the both of you. He doesn’t notice you at first, but as you both hobble awkwardly into his periphery, he catches a glimpse and stops what he’s doing. “Are you two okay?” Kix asks as he checks the time and looks at your fatigued states.

“I think I’m sick,” you answer while clutching your bucket. 

“I can see that,” Kix says as he notices the bucket you're holding and glances at Fives suspiciously standing a good distance away. “Come on, let me take a look at you.” He gestures with his head for you to follow him to one of the exam rooms. 

You both sit down, on opposite sides of the room, and it doesn't go unnoticed by Kix. He can already tell something is amiss. He sits down backwards on the rolling medical stool and crosses his arms over the seat back. He looks at you, sitting closest to the door, and then swivels the chair to look at Fives sitting in the opposite corner. “So, tell me what’s going on,” Kix asks as he swivels back to look at you.

“It started last night,” you begin to explain. “We were watching a holo-film, ate some popcorn, and then went to sleep. But, suddenly, I started smelling this weird smell and it made me super nauseous. But the weird thing is that the smell was coming from Fives.”

Kix raises an eyebrow at your last comment and looks over at Fives who’s sitting with his arms crossed over his chest, foot tapping rapidly on the floor. Kix can only describe the expression on the ARC trooper’s face as a mix between confused, concerned, and annoyed.  

Feeling Kix’s stare burning a hole in his skull, Fives adds to your comment about his odor. “Then, I took a shower thinking that would fix the smell issue.”

“Did you use soap?” Kix asks blankly.

“Yes, I used soap,” Fives answers with an unamused huff. “But she still said I smelled.”

Kix narrows his eyes and looks back and forth between the two of you, but doesn’t say anything about what he’s thinking yet.

“Then I woke up this morning feeling like I was going to vomit,” you continue on with the timeline of events. 

“Yeah,” Fives interjects with a small laugh. “And she missed the bucket too.”

“Shut up, Fives!” you exclaim in frustration at his irritating laughter. His penetrating voice grates against your eardrums, so you rub them to try and get some relief. None of this is funny to you and you don’t understand how he could be laughing so flippantly about it. Something is seriously wrong with you and his perceivable apathy is making you furious.

Fives’ mouth drops open in shock at your uncharacteristic outburst, but Kix just snorts at it. Your overreaction is the last piece of information he needs to connect a few dots that have been rolling around in his head since you got there.

“What are you smiling at?” you exclaim at Kix with annoyance. You wonder why everyone all of sudden thinks you’re suffering is a joke.

“I think I know what your problem is,” Kix chuckles as he pushes his feet to the floor and rolls his chair backwards to one of the drawers. He pulls the drawer open, grabs a small box, and slowly wheels himself back over to hand it to you.

You look at the box and your eyes widen. “You’re joking?”

“Afraid not,” Kix grins while placing his chin in his palm. “You have most of the early stage symptoms.”

“What?” Fives asks nervously, completely oblivious to the contents of the box as he cranes to look from his position across the room. “What is it? What does she have?”

You let out a heavy sigh at Fives’ pestering questions and toss the small box to him with an exasperated shake of your head. 

He examines the box and gives Kix a puzzled look. “This is a pregnancy test.”

“So, you can read,” Kix says sarcastically. 

“How did that happen?!” Fives wonders in shock. 

“If I have to explain it to you, then you probably shouldn't be having sex,” Kix answers bluntly.

You place your head in your hands in defeat and let out a small squeal of irritation. How in the world did you end up with this idiot for a husband? What was it that you saw in him that made him so appealing? At this point, he has as much appeal as a bantha’s backside, and that’s being generous. This changes everything. You can’t be pregnant, can you? Your life has been perfect up until now. You don’t need anything else to make you happy.

“I know how it happens,” Fives retorts with an eye roll. “I’m just surprised that it did happen.”

“Contraception isn’t one hundred percent effective,” Kix explains. “Abstinence is, but we both know you don’t have any of that.”

“Does it even matter?” you interrupt their annoying banter, about ready to smack them both. You’re not sure where all the agitation is suddenly coming from, but your fuse is wearing thin. You get up and walk over to Fives. “Give me that.” You swipe the box back from him and go to the nearest refresher to take the test. 

“So, how did you know?” Fives asks after you leave the exam room and close the door behind you.

“Easy,” Kix answers with a shoulder shrug. “The hormone changes during the first trimester can be drastic, including morning sickness, food cravings, breast tenderness, irritability, heightened sense of smell, and in rare cases an aversion to the father.”

“She has at least four of those,” Fives notes while listening intently.

“The others will come eventually,” Kix explains further. As a medic, pregnancy is not what he is trained for, but he can never be too knowledgeable about these types of things, considering the amount of men he has to look after. One of them was bound to have a baby at some point in his medical career.

“Is she really not going to like me anymore?” Fives asks nervously, still thinking about the list of hormonal changes Kix mentioned.

“Eh,” Kix scratches his head, trying to be realistic and honest. “More like she’s going to hate your guts, if this morning’s events are any indication.”

“Hate?” Fives questions with concern. “How long is that going to last?”

“Could be just the first trimester,” Kix begins while thinking out loud. “Or the full 280 rotations.”

“280 rotations!” Fives exclaims. “What am I supposed to do during all that time?”

“I don’t know,” Kix says. “That’s your problem, not mine.”

“Can’t you give her something for it?” Fives frantically asks as he goes into panic mode.

“Yeah,” Kix says sarcastically. “Vitamins and prenatal supplements.”

“No, not that,” Fives corrects while waving his hands. “I mean for the hormonal changes.”

“You want me to give her something to change her pregnancy hormones to non-pregnancy hormones?” Kix clarifies with a raised eyebrow. “Fives, I know you can be clueless at times, but that’s gotta be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard you say.”

“But, how am I going to survive this?” Fives asks, desperate for guidance. “She can’t even stand the way I smell.”

“Again,” Kix repeats. “My only concern is mother and baby, not your identity crisis.”

“C’mon, Kix,” Fives pleads. “You gotta help me.”

“Get a therapist,” Kix advises bluntly. 

Fives and Kix’s conversation comes to an abrupt stop when you swing open the door to the exam room. Fives sees you crying and isn’t sure if they are happy tears, sad tears, or angry tears, but he’s bracing for all the possibilities. You look at Fives, smile, and nod your head to let him know that the test is indeed positive. You are pregnant. You are going to be a mother and Fives is going to be a father. You feel an overwhelming sense of joy at the prospect and can’t stop smiling.

“Congratulations,” Kix says with an ear-to-ear grin. “You're going to be parents.”

Fives takes a deep breath as his heart beats rapidly in his chest. Him, a father? A parent? He doesn’t even know what a parent is, let alone how to be one. All at once, the issues of last night and this morning seem to melt away as he’s now flooded with anxious thoughts about what the rest of your lives will look like. Will he be a good father? How does one take care of a baby? He’s a soldier. He isn’t bred for this sort of thing. It’s not part of his genetic make-up.

Rex is good with kids, but him? He is the most awkward person alive when he gets around kids. Most of the other clone troopers seem to be naturals, always knowing what to say, what to do, and just fun to be around. He, on the other hand, makes children cry. Echo too. Maybe his batch got messed up during the cloning process. Maybe the rest of Domino Squad was terrible with kids and he just didn’t know it since his original batchmates have long since departed. 

You cock your head at your husband's silence as his brain short circuits from the news. “Fives?” you prod to try and get a response. He hasn’t moved or said anything since you came back into the room, so you’re not sure what his thoughts are. What if he doesn’t want to be a father? What if he doesn’t want a baby? What if he doesn’t want you anymore? The destructive thoughts wash over you in waves as your anxiety increases while awaiting his response.

Kix, seeing the dazed look in Fives’ eyes and your nervous expression, picks up a tongue depressor off the counter and throws it at Fives’ face. It bounces off his cheek and he slowly looks up at the two of you. Finally realizing he is not alone with his thoughts, he snaps out of his swirling haze and sees your worried face. The affection and protectiveness he feels for you, his now pregnant wife, begins to overwhelm all his senses. 

Fives shoots up from his seat, rushes over to you, and pulls you against his chest. He squeezes you tightly and presses adoring kisses against the top of your head. “We’re going to be parents,” he whispers against your hair, the corners of his mouth turning up into a smile.

“Yeah,” you mumble into his chest as fresh tears of joy roll down your cheeks. “We are.”

Kix watches the adorable display and sighs happily. It’s not every day a clone trooper makes a baby and he knows he’s going to have his hands full with your prenatal care. He chuckles to himself as he thinks about what the rest of the pregnancy is going to look like and if Fives will be able to survive it. However, something is nagging at the back of his mind and he can’t quite put his finger on it. But then his thoughts are interrupted by the sound of you retching. Oh, yeah.

“I’m so sorry,” you apologize to Kix. You are mortified at what you just did. It was so involuntary that you didn’t have any time to find somewhere else to let it all out.

Kix shakes his head and sighs as he gets up from the medical stool. “Don’t worry. I’ll get an orderly to clean it up.”

“Can you get me something to wear while you’re at it?” Fives requests as he looks down at his vomit-covered clothes. 

“Might as well get used to it now,” Kix waves dismissively as he leaves the room.

“Sorry,” you apologize again while looking up at him in embarrassment. “I forgot how bad you smell.”

“This is going to be a long 280 rotations,” Fives sighs while pulling off his soiled shirt.

“It might get better, right?” you encourage while trying to offer some optimism into the bleak situation.

“I hope so,” Fives agrees, but he has a sinking feeling it won’t be that easy.

Chapter 1

Masterlist

A03

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[masterjedilenawrites]

On this here February 1st, I'll be showing some love for the 21st Nova Corps, a unit lead by Marshal Commander Bacara and Jedi General Ki-Adi-Mundi. I couldn't find any other named clones from this unit outside of Bacara, and I haven't written for this guy before, so I'll do some headcanons just for him :)

The 21st Nova Corps

I did a quick dive on Wookiepedia first, and here were some things that stood out to me from what's apparently already been canonized:

The 21st Nova Corps has a reputation for being relentless and exceptionally conditioned/disciplined.

This is in large part due to Bacara having super high expectations, he will kick anyone who doesn't meet them out of the squad, even without Ki-Adi-Mundi's approval.

Actually described as being "at odds with" Mundi, though in another section was said to have a grudging respect for him.

Bacara utilizes aggressive tactics and is extremely strict. He ignores the recommended GAR practice for commanders to remain inconspicuous in battle, and instead chooses to lead his troops from the front.

He's described as a loner and stern. I saw somewhere he was besties with Neyo, too, and they developed combat techniques together.

With that foundation, here are some headcanons I have for him:

Doesn't talk much, but not because he's shy or emotionally constipated. He really only cares about war and rarely meets people who are interested in discussing the topic with as much passion.

Like seriously, he has no other hobbies or interests. Music? Never heard of it. Sports? Boring. Holo-films? Food? Knitting? Yeah no, he's already walking away from this conversation.

If he is comfortable with someone though, he can talk about battle strategies for daaaays.

Fucking hates milk.

Has a mind for improvement. Not quite a perfectionist, he just won't ever settle for "good enough" when something better is still achievable.

Thus, he's constantly working angles in his head, coming up with possible solutions, thinking outside the box. Even for common, everyday situations like getting out of traffic or folding the laundry.

Jason Bourne vibes.

Has one small tattoo on his foot, will never say what it is.

Natural at picking up languages. Fluent in Mando'a but can carry simple conversations in plenty of others. 

Spends his R&Rs pouring over wartime history/strategy books in the archives, with a beer.

If someone asked him on a date, he would straight-up say "why?" So confused.

He would be a pretty good partner, though, if he ever opened himself up romantically.

And if he could ever find someone who meets his high standards...

I also read that he was featured on a GAR campaign poster, and I firmly believe he secretly has a massive print of it taped to the back of his closet door.

Can not roll his tongue. Every other clone can and it pisses him off.

Has the best laugh you've ever heard in your life. He does use it occasionally, but very randomly. Not even his squad has been able to work out what exactly his sense of humor is.

His squad... All are just as intense and passionate as their commander. When they're not fighting, they're training to fight. There's no room for shenanigans or relaxing.

Other clones keep a respectful distance. They know the Nova Corps get sent to some pretty hardcore places.

Most of them have never set foot in 79s, or any bar for that matter.

Bacara goes every once in a while, because he does like a good beer, but he's very out of place. Just... kinda sits there... not doing anything...

He gets hit on a lot because he's smoking hot but has never taken anyone home. Not opposed to the idea of getting laid, but it would take a lot to catch his eye.

Eeeevery once in a while, when life gets a little too still and his thoughts wander past all the combat tactics and weapon factoids that are usually in the way, a deep and vulnerable feeling makes its way to the surface and almost cripples him: loneliness.

He has no idea what to do about it, so rather than face it like he would a charging battalion of droids, he instead pushes it right back down and moves on.

Okay but now I'm imagining Queer Eye showing up to help Bacara find some hobbies and a girlfriend 😂

Every Character Tag: @dangerousstrawberrypie, @justanothersadperson93, @arctrooper69, @sleepycreativewriter, @techie-bear, @theroguesully, @cw80831

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🌟 2024 Clone Battalion Series Master List | 🌙 Master List of Master Lists

[saelterlude]

lc musical clips pt.5!! can't believe this reaches 5 parts. to be fair, the more i watch the cooler the actors are and the more i love each of their quirks.

funfact before we start, if we exclude CMZ(bcs wtf. you are not 124 y/o CMZ), the average age of LG actors is 28 while the average age of CXS actors is 25 (I didn't take their birth month into account so give or take one)

The oldest being Du Guangyi at 34 y/o and the youngest being Jing Yangqiao at 20 (21 this April).

(pt.1, pt.2, pt.3, and pt.4 here)

68. BONUS, the composer for the musical songs, metablue, posted a composing diary/vlog of her making 'forget about it' aka the encore sofa song. It's a really cool watch, and it's pretty short too.

69. 14/03/2024, Wang Minhui made Cai Qi laugh and break character so hard by sliding on the table that they skip rock paper scissors altogether. Thank youu shimmeringweeds for finding this clip, youre a life saver.

70. 15/03/2024, Zi Bowen is really fun/bratty during CX and his mom's song, he's also been really into that hat and his panicked face during 'Dive Back in Time' tutting is gold. Other than that, Ji Xiaokun and Guo Hongxu are fun as usual.

71. Zhang Jiahao short vid, I love how nonchalant he is. Who gives a damn abt rehearsals when you can play basketball. We got snippets of other songs. And where did he get the random card reader??

(ooh, i'm putting the side actor into focus for once. also, i just realized ZJH is the actor who started swinging when WMH mistook director Li Haolin's name lol i love him.)

72. 16/03/2024 day, blind dog Cai Qi is so funny plss and the way Wang Minhui just let him live with the consequences.

73. 17/03/2024 night, Du Guangyi focused but you can hear Teng Chunpeng cutely messed up 'Dive Back in Time' in the background.

74. 23/02/2024, I don't think I've shared this clip of Du Guangyi playing pattycake(?? IDK the english name. I call it mimimi) with Wu Hanglu.

75. 18/03/2024, Bai Zhuoming mic mishap here, aggressive feet flailing with Wang Minhui and Deng Xianling, and also extended rock paper scissors!

76. 17/03/2024 day, I'll be honest I miss Ding Xingchen. That said, him and Xian Dongyue are having the best sibling wrestle.

78. 16/03/2024 night, Guo Hongxu fumbles the sofa/leg choreo again (left leg first man!), Shu Rongbo blubbering bcs GHX twist his arm post-RPS, and Wu Hanglu being the teasing big sister ever.

77. 17/03/2024 day, same performance as above, and there's Wu Yihan doing overhead RPS.

79. 21/03/2024, he once did overhead, now Wu Yihan is doing hip-height RPS, and he cheated. Shu Rongbo being confused. And they once again give the cutest hug, even for a side hug.

(heh, funny how JXK likes to hogs/blocks the sofa to annoy LG meanwhile SRB is always clearing the sofa for LG.)

80. 23/03/2024 day, very fun performance with Wang Yifei, Zhu Hanbin, and Deng Xianling. I highly recommend watching this. It's so fun I wrote a whole post about it. Also, harmonizing.

81. 22/03/2024, very short but look!! A Jing Yanqiao clip!!! I'm happy, I recently brainrotted on him. I wish he could perform more since I really like his voice but unfortunately I'm pretty sure he's still in school and have a limited schedule. But I will make you all love him before his BDay!

Today's bonus clip is a voice reel of Du Guangyi as Enforcer from the game Arknights! It's very soothing, I can fall asleep to his voice. He's so cool, he's an actor in everything. Musical actor, stage-play actor, TV and films actor, voice actor, he was a child actor too.

But since that's not a musical and it's kinda cheating, here's an actual bonus clip of Zhu Hanbin in Dr. Bloodthirsty (? 嗜血博士) musical. A small 3 person play which is giving me Jekyll and Hyde vibes. He's playing Jonathan, a young psychologist called to examine patient 13. It's really cool, please check it out!

(if anyone ever have a request on who the next bonus clip should be (even the side actors) just say so and I'll do my best. i'm always up for exploring new things)

[mxtantrights]

the off the clock kiss

this is a snippet from the famous dc!au that started with The Greatest Hits [read here]  you don’t have to read it but a lot of things would make sense if you do.

You’ve kissed Jason Todd before so you’re not sure why you’re freaking out. It’s the same pair of lips. It’s the same guy. But it is different. 

Before, when you two kissed, it was in front of everyone. Dressed up in costumes and caked in some brutal amount of mascara and concealer and foundation. In front of expensive cameras and microphones. In front of Harvey Dent, renowned director of American rom-coms. 

That was work. 

This? Right now? 

Jason Todd with his back against your front door and you pressed up against him with your tongue in his mouth? Yeah this wasn’t work. Or, it didn’t feel like work. 

He tastes like he looks. Which is a bit dangerous and something ginger or cinnamon dashed. You can’t tell which and honestly you don’t care in this very moment. 

Kissing him feels like time is slowing down in the most peculiar way. You can feel time passing and you don’t want it to end. Not when you have Jason Todd pressed up against you like this. His hands on your waist, giving you soft squeezes.

You pull away first. When you do you notice he’s slow to open his eyes. And he’s got the most dumbstruck look on his face. You’ve never seen him like this before, which is why you like it so much.

You’ve proven to him wrong.

“I think I just proved my point that I can kiss with passion.” you say.

He opens his eyes filly now. Like he’s taking you in- he is actually. It’s hard to miss. He gives your a full once over. And then that signature smirk in on his face like any other time he’s about to reply with something witty.

“So you’ve been holding back on set because you want to defend my honor?” he asks in return.

You hit him over the shoulder and take a step back from him so you’re not chest to chest anymore. Though that doesn’t stop your heart from beating any more wildly than before. He’s still got his hands on you.

“I’m new to acting. I wasn’t just gonna French you in front of the camera!” 

He clears his throat, “Well I wouldn’t have not liked it. But also, you should think about bringing that energy back to set.” 

“Are you- is that a complaint?” you retort. 

He grabs your shoulders, something you didn’t know you wanted to feel until he did it and now that he has you wanna feel it again. You try to pull yourself together for the sake of the conversation.

“Listen, hun, that was definitely not a complaint. I’m just saying maybe we dial it up when the cameras are rolling. This is the sequel after all.” he answers.

You nod you head. And then he’s letting go of you. What you’re thankful for is the sound of the music you had playing earlier in the living room that fills the background or he would’ve picked up the when you let out at the loss of his touch. 

“Have you read page 79?” you ask.

Jason scoffs, “Of course. What do you take me for, a slacker?”

You do. And since you think he really hasn’t read up to that part int he script yet because it’s still early days of filming, you want to have to some fun with him. About a year ago you thought he was going to be a pain in your ass, and you were right for the most part. Now you think you’ll return the favor.

So you smile even though you lips are bit tingly from kissing him. And he smiles back at you innocently. You think to yourself he hasn’t got a clue what page 79 entails at all.

“Great then I guess you won’t mind if I ask Dent to move filming that part Monday?” you ask him.

And he’s nodding his head. Checkmate. 

Jason peels himself off your door and opens it a crack. Then he turns to you “I’ve gotta head out, I’ll see you on Monday.” he says.

You nod too, “Yup. Page 79.” 

“Oscar winning performance incoming I think.” he jokes.

You laugh at that as he walks himself out your door. With a quick reminder you tell him to text you when he gets home and he agrees. When you close it behind him you smile. Not at the joke. Not at you pranking him. No. At the kiss. You can’t believe you kissed him off the clock like that! And with tongue! He basically asked you to show him what passion you could bring to a make-out scene and you did, but damn. 

Now you’re waiting for Monday to prove to Jason Todd once again that you can bring passion to kissing while in camera. And you are absolutely positive he doesn’t know that page 79 is a make-out scene because Jason is in the middle of a Jane Austen binge. He comes to set two hours earlier to read up to twenty pages of the script to get ready for the day and last time you checked he was around page 50. 

This was going to be fun.

[fauxfickle]

We now return with your regularly scheduled and all too familiar feeling of malaise and the search for "The Great All American Pizza Show!"

So it's been a little under a month since my last post and I've been skimming through commercial compilations from the LA area. I've found some cool YT channels that archive old ads from that area but I obviously don't have anything to show for it. The ads are either too early or too late to be part of this campaign which is a bit frustrating. Something I neglected to mention last time was that I was also looking through Colossal Pictures demo reels to see if they had a snippet of the animated commercial but of course, there's nothing. There seems to be a cutoff point in the early 80s as most demos only show things from that far back. I was able to find some obscure, silent, avant garde, sci-fi film possibly connected to Colossal but I don't think that'll help me much.

Colossal had some sort of "meet the crew" type video where all the employees said they're names but only their first name so I can't really track them down or anything. I'll keep looking, I didn't look all too hard as I was kinda at my wits end at that time looking through ad comps for hours.

I took a bit of a break for a while before reading through the old Pizza Times newsletters from Dec 79 - May 80. The May 1980 newsletter had some cool info about commercials and news features filmed at the various stores. Some of these aren't technically part of TGAAPS campaign but ehhhhhh I don't really care. They're part of early PTT history and I wanna see them damnit!

Let's go through these starting with Citrus Heights. The Citrus Heights section is loaded with info regarding lost media, 3 in fact! Sacramento's Channel 40 (KTXL), which has since been bought out by FOX in the mid 80s, did a Newsplus at 10 feature on the cyberamic systems at the new store during it's opening week. If we consult the ever so useful Chuck-E-Pedia, we can find that this feature would have been shot and most likely aired on Christmas week of 1979. A perfect pin point set of dates to look through! Next, Chuck was seen in the lead up to the United Cerebral Palsy Telethon which also gives us some idea of where to look. Finally, a TV commercial was filmed, possibly with TGAAPS slogan. Bob Wilkins' ad agency produced it but I couldn't find ANYTHING regarding this company. It's mentioned on his wikipedia but not named, and a even his own website doesn't mention anything about it. It's surprising that someone who seems like a local celeb in there area could have an ad agency that goes almost entirely undocumented.

Next, we move to Sparks, Nevada. Channel 2 (KTVN) filmed a feature on the store for the PM Magazine. The store was visited by reporter Keith Hirshland. Now I'm actually pretty sure I've found this dude! I found a local online article talking about him and the timeline works perfectly. Assuming this was filmed in early 1980, Keith would of been still fresh out of college with a degree in journalism and around 23. He also says he grew up running down the halls of the KTVN office. As a little aside, I'd just like to say don't bother this man or anyone/company mentioned in any of my posts. The last thing we need is to scare off these people.

This last little piece of lost media probably has the best chances of being found out of all the rest. Ben Wattenberg's 1980, from what I can find, is a dry, uninteresting TV news segment hosted by an equally dry and uninteresting host, the neo-conservative Ben Wattenberg. Ben Wattenberg's 1980 itself seems to be almost entirely lost media as only a few stills, episode descriptions, and TV listings exist online. However, this show was on PBS which no doubt has it somewhere in it's archive. What's better is that that there not only an exact date of when the episode will air, but also the name of the episode itself! One user on taptalk was able to find a TV listing which unfortunately doesn't lead anywhere and isn't archive on the WayBack machine. Luckily people actually said the name of the supposed episode which would of been "Silicon Valley: The New Entrepreneurs". We can also find evidence of it in a newspaper from that June 15th.

I sent e-mails to KTXL-40 and PBS on 2/24, so far no responses. I'll wait a little longer and in the mean time look for more leads and contacts. As I said before, don't bother these people/companies. I don't want them to be swamped with calls and e-mails and clam up on us. Bye for now!

[irisbleufic]

Demon 79 does for “Bright Eyes” what San Junipero did for “Heaven Is a Place on Earth.” Fucking amazing.

Did you know “Bright Eyes” was in the Watership Down animated film? I was three years old when my mom let me choose my first two movies in a video store in the kids’ section.

The film rental cards I grabbed were The Last Unicorn and Watership Down. This was in 1984, when they were still relatively new works. And yes, somehow they were classified as children’s films.

I imprinted on both films; I love them to this day. In junior high, I read the books they’re based on and was touched at how lovingly faithful the adaptations were.

I imprinted on “Bright Eyes,” too. Having another flawless, haunting association for it is just. Oh, my heart.

[smolwritingchick]

The Bangtan Gal Chapter 79- Meeting Shawn Mendes

Chapter Summary: BTS film for Running Man again. Jennie goes back to America for interviews with Buzzfeed and iHeartRadio. She supports and joins Angelina for the BBMAs and finally meets her celeb crush, Shawn Mendes.

Words: 14,000+

Author's Note: New Jennie Ship! Jen and Shawn Mendes (Shawnnie) Pretty cute. In case you need reminding, this is still a Jungkook x Jennie (OC) story lol. 

You know how artists have some people they always collab with? These two are going to collab often. And when she releases her solo work, he'll have a feature. I see people always anticipating them working together and ranking their favorite songs. 

-----

After coming back from Prom Weekend, Jen goes to catch up with Amber at her place. Jen was happy to be a part of her next vlog for her YouTube channel and went with her to work out at the gym. 

The female member of Bangtan took off her jacket to reveal her sports bra and defining muscles on her upper body.

“Wow, look at my mom. Those abs are getting defined!” Amber did a close up of her stomach, making Jen laugh. Setting the camera down to film them stretch, she asked, “You excited about the Billboard Awards?”

“Oh yeah! I am so stoked! Despite some of the negative feedback that I’ve been hit with, I just hope that I can put in a good word for BTS as I try to promote us as a group and support Angelina. I love to network so I'm sure I can do my best to talk about K-Pop,"

“Right, I saw that. Ugh, keep ignoring it like you usually do. It's so rude of these so-called supporters of BTS to question why you’re going and not the rest of the group. It’s like they hate the things you do that have nothing to do with the group. You're going to support your friend. Angelina is always asking for you to join her. It's so nice of Big Hit to allow you to,"

“Yeah, I'm so grateful. I won't take it for granted. It'd be dope if BTS could attend the Billboard Awards together. A Korean group at that show? That'd be huge! I hope we can accomplish that one day...to be able to go home and be standing with my boys as we perform and do our thing...what a dream. I hope we can do more in America. I miss performing at home,"

“Speak it into existence! I can just see you now, looking all cute and dolled up for Billboard. BTS at the show would be a huge deal. Never say never. What are you wearing?”

“Angelina and I are going to color coordinate. I’ll be wearing white while she will be wearing black. She doesn’t like going alone to award shows since she’ll get bored easily. But if a friend, like me, was with her, she’d have a better time.”

"Aw, cute. Do you think you’re going to meet you know who?” Amber teased as Jen's mind went to the man she knew she was talking about.

A nervous chuckle escaped her. “Ah...I hope I meet Shawn.” 

Jennie just hoped she does not freeze when she was face to face with that man. Someone she admires and wants to work with. If she was freaking out about him noticing her online, she doesn’t know what she is going to do when she sees him on the pink carpet. She must keep her composure.

After stretching, Amber began to play on her phone until Jen took it away.

“Woman, get off your phone. Time to work.” she placed it down and walked over to the punching bag after wrapping her hands in tape.

“Can’t I just look at my messages?” Amber whined

“Nope. Let’s work.”

She sighed. “Fine Mom.”

A laugh escaped Jen as she waited for Amber to hold the punching bag for her.

“I love using this. It makes me release so much stress.” Jen pounded her fist against her palm a few times and began to strike the bag. 

“Think of this thing as something that stole your smarties,” Amber suggested.

Out of nowhere, Jen kicked the punching bag hard and Amber dramatically fell to the floor. Gasping and placing her hands against her mouth, Jen rushed down to help her.

"Crap! Are you okay!?”

But then she heard her laugh and watched her get up with ease. “The look on your face was priceless. I’m fine.” 

“I hate when you do that.” she playfully punched her shoulder. After her session of kicks and punches, Jen held the bag for her while Amber began punching it. “How’s Jack Jack?"

"Adorable and goofy as ever. We need to set up a playdate with Tony.”

“Tony would love Jack Jack. He is so friendly with everyone. I think he’s starting to get closer to V.”

“Uh oh. V is taking over now. You know how he gets when it comes to animals and babies. How is his drama going?”

“He is so happy and making a lot of friends. A social butterfly. To see him work so hard and do well in his scenes makes me a proud sister. I’ve been helping him a lot on his script and he seems to be feeling more comfortable with himself.”

"As he should! Wow, and can you believe that next year you are going to graduate high school?” 

That caused Jen to exhale. She was right. She is graduating next year.

“Are you planning on taking the college exam?” Amber’s question interrupted her thoughts as they went to use the dumbbells on the floor.

“I really want to. I want to go to college. But I don’t want to go to college online, I want to physically be there. But as a K-Pop idol and all, I am not going to be able to juggle that and school...I'm kinda frustrated.”

“What are you going to do? You think you want to take a hiatus from the group to go to school?”

“I don’t know.” Jen groaned and fell back on the floor. "I’ve been thinking of going into business. I’ve been starting to get very interested in that. I don’t want to just depend on music. I want to do more things. But if I take a hiatus from the group, I know a lot of backlash is going to happen with some of these fans. But if I don’t do this, I feel like I will regret it. I'm torn,"

"Hey, don’t even worry about those fans. You need to do what is best for you. If you want to continue your education, do it. You will find a way to make this work. You still have time,"

“Yeah...you’re right. I still have time to think about it. I think I should talk to my parents. And then Bang PD. But enough about that, let’s talk about Civil War! My baby Captain America! Ahhh, I cannot wait for that movie!”

------

The cast of Running Man arrived at their next destination for their 7 vs 300 episode. The cast pondered why there were so many boxes around and was told about their fourth mission.

‘We have special guests for this mission’

Soon after, a van pulled up, and out came BTS themselves which was a huge surprise for the cast.

“Welcome, BTS! Nice to see you! It’s so unexpected!” the cast happily greeted.

“I didn’t know that BTS would be here,” Jae-suk said.

“OH~!” Gary shouted when he saw Jennie and Jungkook. He pointed at them and that got Song Jihyo’s attention.

“YOU!” Song Jihyo shouted. She glanced at Gary and began freaking out with him, amusing everyone. “We have some unfinished business with these two!”

Jennie and Jungkook glanced at each other and laughed as they recapped how the Monday Couple could not stop the Golden Duo. But they were determined to change that today. After the members performed some of the choreography for Fire, the cast applauded them.

“I loved when Rap Monster acted like this in the end.” Jaesuk made the same facial expression and moved his hands the way Rapmon did. After seeing Rapmon doing it again, he responded, “That’s it. It looks nice. I should learn the moves.”

Soon after that, one by one the members of BTS showed off their different gestures for fire. V was up first which hyped up the cast members.

“Do I do it like this?” Gary tried to do the same moves.

“Jongkook, show us the old version of that dance.” Jaesuk requested.

“Why?” Jongkook asked.

“You know the old version.”

“Why should I?”

“Come on!” he replied as the rest of the cast tried to get him to dance.

Going along with it, Haha and Gary joined him in performing their own little routine which made everyone laugh.

“Oh my goodness.” Jennie giggled, covering her mouth.

“1! 2! 3!” the three men shouted and did their ending pose.

“So, what should we do with BTS?” Jaesuk asked

‘The fourth mission is to move 300 boxes with BTS. There are 300 boxes of ramen. You should use the handcart that has your team’s initials on it to move as many boxes as possible to your team’s truck. Those who move more boxes will win. If you win, we will donate the boxes you carried in your name. So please do your best.’

Both teams gathered around, preparing while one member from each team had their cart prepared.

“Okay,” Jen spoke up, making the members look at her. “Strategy. Put as many boxes on the cart. Speed is everything. Jimin,”

“Yes, Ennie?” he asked.

“Try to hop on someone’s back to try to distract them. I’d say go big. Perhaps Kwangsoo or Jongkook. Maybe even Haha. You have the clinging grip of a koala bear. It’ll be difficult to yank you off due to your strong grip.”

“Right,” he nodded.

“Fellas, are we ready?!” she announced loudly.

“Yes, ma’am!” they shouted.

“Are you ready to get down!?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Are you ready to win!?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“One, two, three, BANGTAN!” they all shout, throwing their hands up in the air.

Jennie leaned forward, behind the line, anticipating to run. If all goes to plan, they’ll get the boxes in no time.

‘Will the members with a lot of experience win? Or will young BTS win?’

Once the whistle blew, everyone began dashing forward to one of the five spots of boxes.

“Suga where the heck did this speed come from!?” Jennie exclaimed as she watched him dash over to the boxes. “Never mind, run! Keep running!”

They all scattered around while Suga picked up some boxes before the handcart arrived. He was the first to place a ramen box on the truck. Jennie grabbed two boxes and began dashing towards the truck, evading the chaos around her. Jimin, Rapmon and J-hope were placing as many boxes on the cart as possible.

While J-Hope ran the cart over to their truck, he panted, “This is heavier than I thought!”

Kwangsoo popped out of nowhere. “Ahhhh! Stop it!” J-Hope yelled.

Suga, V and Jimin tried to get him away and Jimin remembered what Jennie had said and decided to hug Kwangsoo from behind along with V, pushing him away from everyone.

“No!” Kwangsoo exclaimed.

J-Hope's screams and yells kept making Jennie laugh as she ran over to their cart and unloaded the boxes on the truck with him. But then Sukjin began to try to take their cart away. Jin stopped him and started moving him away but Sukjin still had a grip on the cart and it began to move away from the truck.

“Seokjin, no!” J-Hope whined.

“Jin! The cart!” Jen shouted. “The cart!”

She ran back to him and managed to help him push Sukjin away. He ran away while she and the oldest member pushed the cart back to J-Hope so they could continue loading the boxes on the truck. Later, she met up with Jungkook to help attack Running Man’s cart, taking boxes out of it.

“Hey!” Haha tried to stop them with Jaesuk.

He managed to grab onto Jungkook but Jen succeeded in stopping Jaesuk from moving the cart even further. That is until Gary came by to hold a strong grip on Jennie.

“Keep getting the boxes! We have the Golden Duo!” Gary shouted to his teammates while Song Jihyo held onto Jungkook as they laughed.

Suddenly, Jennie tickled Gary which made him loosen his grip and she escaped his hold. She ran straight after Song Jihyo to pull her off of Jungkook. Jaesuk accidentally pushed the cart into BTS’ truck, so the members began to grab all the boxes. Jaesuk did the same thing, unaware that it wasn’t Running Man’s truck.

“Thank you, Jaesuk!” Suga spoke.

“What? It’s not our truck?” Jaesuk asked, bewildered.

‘Thanks to Jaesuk, BTS is winning by 14 points.’

“Let’s ambush them,” Jen suggested to Suga as Jongkook and Gary were carrying a large load of boxes to put on their truck.

They ran straight up to them to smack the boxes out of their hands.

“Jongkook!” Kwangsoo yelled while Jimin locked his arms and legs around him.

“Good job, Chim! Keep it up! I’ll bake you cupcakes, tonight!” Jen praised, running past them to grab more boxes.

“Just keep holding him.” Jongkook walked past them while Jimin jumped on top of Kwangsoo, making it harder for him to move.

As the game went on, everyone was out of breath from running as they continued to race all over the place for the boxes. Following Jongkook throwing another box of ramen into his truck, he turned his attention to BTS.

“I can’t stand it anymore. That’s it.” Jongkook marched right over to Suga and Jungkook.

“Oh hell no! Goodbye!” Jennie scurried away from him when she witnessed him grabbing onto her bandmates. 

She was just inches away from getting grabbed by him and she was not having it.

“Got you!” Song Jihyo grabbed her before she could get far.

“No! No! Come on! I’ll pay you in cookies!” 

Gary joined Song Jihyo, holding Jen hostage while Jongkook held down Suga and Jungkook. Jungkook's shirt began to rise as they all started laughing. It looked like this was the end of the road for these members.

“Jongkook, help me!” Kwangsoo walked over to him with Jimin still on his back.

Jongkook grabbed the back of Jimin’s shirt and pulled him off effortlessly, taking down three boys on his own. During this, Jen was now on the floor, lying on her stomach with Song Jihyo lying on top of her while Gary monitored her to make sure she didn’t escape.

“This is not faaaaaaaair~!” Jennie yelled, defeated.

“What’s happening here?” Jin kneeled before Jungkook, puzzled.

“I want to get out.” Jungkook laughed.

But then Jin got grabbed by Jongkook too and he began to panic, exclaiming, “Please, let me go! Please, let me go!”

Jin tried to pull away but to no avail as only three members of BTS were free and had the final verdict.

“Somebody get the Monday couple off of meeeeeee~!” Jennie yelled. “For the love of smarties! Somebody! Anybody! Hello!? Help!”

At the end of the game, Gary had managed to steal a box from Jin placed it on the truck, and congratulated each other on doing a great job.

‘The 7 vs 300 Boxes game is over’

Both teams stood next to each other, waiting for the results.

‘Let me announce the result. It’s 157 boxes to 143 boxes. BTS won.’ It was announced as bright cheers came from them. 

They jumped up and down to celebrate while high fiving each other. Now

the members of Running Man would have to pay for another 300 boxes of ramen to donate. When the announcer told them it was 5,000 dollars for 250 boxes, the cast did a double take which made Jennie look bewildered with the rest of BTS.

“Oh boy,” Jennie murmured.

“Really?” the cast stared in disbelief.

“Did you just say 5,000 dollars?” Sukjin asked

Someone will pay for 200 boxes, 50, 30 and 15. The members were chosen to give them a card at random. So for a random donation segment, the members handed each Running Man cast member a card to figure out what they would pay. Haha opened his card and will only be paying 50 boxes. Gary had a dance card and was spared so he danced around, celebrating with Rapmon who was the one who gave him the card. Song Jihyo’s fate got her 15 boxes. Jongkook got zero boxes and he celebrated with Jungkook and hugged him.

For the final three, it was between 200, 30, and 5 boxes. They were offered to dance around and switched cards three times. Unfortunately for Kwangsoo, who had the 200 card first and switched it, got the card again when switching for the third time. Kwangsoo got water thrown at him and danced for the 5,000 dollars he’ll have to spend on the 200 boxes while everyone laughed.

“Congrats Kwangsoo! You’re the unluckiest person.” Jaesuk said as he stood there, accepting his fate.

“Thank you for your hard work. Thank you all.” the members clapped and bowed at the cast.

“I hope to see you and Jungkook back on the show for another couple’s episode.” Song Jihyo smiled.

“Absolutely. We’re ready. Just let us know and we will attend.” Jen confirmed.

------

Back at the dorm, Jen decided to make a strawberry shortcake because she was bored. She had already finished packing and looked over her schedule for when she touched down in the States.

“Can I have one?”

A bright voice interrupted her thoughts as she looked up to see Hobi smiling kindly. She noticed he was referring to the fresh strawberries she had just cleaned.

“Yeah, knock yourself out.” she grabbed one and fed him. His smile got brighter as he savored the sweet fruit. “Is it good?”

“Very delicious. What are you making?”

“Ah, I would call this bored baking. I'm working on a strawberry shortcake,” 

He placed a soothing hand on her back and rubbed it. “You a little nervous about the show?”

“I think I’m more nervous about making sure I put in a good word for BTS. You know I love to network,"

“Munchkin, you’ll do just fine. And make sure you enjoy yourself there. Don't overwork yourself to network. Still, have fun with Angelina. Come on, I'll help you."

“Thanks. You can start by cutting the strawberries and then adding sugar.” she pointed to the materials while handling baking biscuits.

What she planned on doing was making it look like biscuits with layers of strawberries and frosting. As they baked together, she began to notice that whenever she glanced over at Hobi, he’d look like he was caught doing something he shouldn’t.

“...are you eating more strawberries?”

“No?” he replied with a mouthful in his mouth.

“J-Hope!” she scolded and tried to hit him but he jumped away. After pulling themselves together, she said, “All right, let’s put on some music while we do this. You can just grab my phone and press shuffle.”

“What’s the password?”

“Jungkook’s birthday.”

“Awwwww. I see that you two have each other as your lock screens and now your passwords are each other's birthdays. Did you know that Jungkook’s notification tone for you is a bell?”

“Oh yeah, from the anime? It’s so cute. Remember when one of y'all almost leaked our relationship on V-Live? Thankfully Kookie’s smart thinking saved us all,” she playfully scolded.

------

It happened a few days ago with Jungkook, Yoongi, and Hobi eating lunch together. During the live, Jen had messaged Jungkook in response to his question on whether she could pick up some banana milk while she was out. His phone sounded like a loud bell once she texted him and he looked down, smiling brightly.

“Goodness, you’re whipped.” Yoongi blurted out.

“He is maturing a lot because of Jennie,” Hobi added with a chuckle.

But they had almost forgotten that they were still on the air as Jungkook blushed, “Jennie is my best friend and has helped me a lot with this comeback. She’s the best and I couldn’t think of any other best friend.”

------

“My gosh, I’m just thankful it wasn’t anything worse,” Jen mentioned.

“Sorry, sorry. We’ll be more careful,” he replied and pressed shuffle as My Own Worst Enemy by Lit came on.

“Ooh! I was just working on this song on my guitar!” she started throwing her head around, dancing around. 

Hobi laughed and joined her, dancing around the kitchen.

“My car is in the front yard and I’m sleeping with my clothes on~!” she sang. “Came in through the window last night and you’re gone! Gone~!”

“How many rock songs do you have on your phone?” he asked.

“A lot! So many! I have a lot to study from. It’s so fascinating how complex you can make the chords. Soon I want to try playing some of the hardest chords when I increase my skill. But let’s get back to work. I like to make my biscuits from scratch. So, as you can see the dough is fine. Now we just need to cut them into small circles.”

She rolled the dough out and handed him one of the circular cutters as they both made several circles. Then, they sprayed two pans and placed the dough on them. Hobi opened the preheated oven and put it in so it could bake.

“Awesome, thanks for helping!” she high fived him. “We’ll continue after I wash my hair real quick. Just please keep an eye on that. It should be done before I finish.”

“No problem, munchkin.”

She went to wash her hair and then went to blow dry it in her room but as soon as she turned the dryer on, a big mess of flour popped out, causing her to scream.

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?” she yelled, making Hobi yelp. “WHO PUT FLOUR IN MY DRYER?!”

After ten minutes passed, Hobi saw Namjoon walking into the kitchen to grab water. But from the look on his face, the leader had a mischievous smirk on his face.

“No way, man. It was you? She is going to pulverize you.” Hobi chuckled.

“Not if she doesn’t find out~.” Namjoon smiled innocently.

“Well I just did and I hope you watch your damn back because I am going to make sure what you get is ten times worse,” Jen responded, causing him to turn around in fear. 

“Nini, hey, how are you?” he laughed nervously as he saw that she had managed to clean up her face and hair so that there was no more flour.

“Don’t talk to me. I’ll deal with you when you least expect it. Let’s continue finishing this shortcake.” she resumed with Hobi after creating 14 shortcakes for everyone.

“Thanks for the treat.” Hobi kissed her temple.

“Guys! I baked!” she announced. As soon as she said the word baked, they ran to the kitchen, shoving each other away to try to be the first to get a taste. “Whoa, relax. I made plenty so you all can have one.”

Later that evening, Hobi and Jen hung out in her room for another edition of putting makeup on Smartie. Setting up the camera and finishing up their strawberry shortcake, Jen called the program, ‘Lets Put MakeUp On Smartie Featuring J-Hope~’

“Hey, hey! What is up ARMY!? Jennie is back with another episode of Let’s Put Makeup On Smartie! And with us today is my hope, your hope, J-Hope!”

“Hi!” Hobi beamed and danced in his seat in excitement.

“I’m sure you’ve seen the previous videos of the guys doing my makeup. What do you have planned for me, today?”

“I’ve been thinking of what you’d look like as a vampire. So to prepare, I bought fangs, blood, and some other materials.”

Jen gulped loudly which caused Hobi to cackle and clap his hands. "Oh God...help me.“ she murmured.

"It’s going to be fine. Trust me. I made sure to learn what to do. I won’t mess up your face. I got this handled, Jennie.”

“Mm-hm,” she replied. “But before we start, I have a big announcement to make.”

“Oh yes! Can’t wait for this!”

“So, as you know, for a while now the idea of Jungkook and I creating a Twitch Channel has been up in the air. Well, I want to confirm that our Twitch Channel is coming and it is called The Golden Duo! You can sign up for free and make sure you’re subscribed to us. And good news, our first stream will be during BTS Festa this year!”

“Wooooo!” Hobi cheered with Jennie. “Make sure you let us play too!”

“We will! The first game we will be playing is The Impossible Game. We have so many games we have listed to play. A bunch of online games and console games. And more to come. This channel’s streaming times will vary due to our schedules but best believe we will stream at least once a month. No doubt about that. Jungkook and I are very excited about this. You are going to see just how intense our friendship can be when gaming. And for a warning, there will be rage quitting and you’ll see a side of us you haven’t before.”

Fans were extremely excited about the news, commenting:

‘JENKOOK SHIPPERS ARE GETTING FED!’

‘YES!’

‘FINALLY!’

‘OMG YASSS, THANK YOU!’

‘Please play Overwatch!’

‘Can you play The Sims?’

“We’ll play those games. Don’t worry. Now any donations we get for the stream, we are donating to charity. We are not keeping the money. We plan to split the money equally and give it to the charity of our choice. I will be donating to domestic violence survivors. I am very passionate about that subject. Jungkook is still figuring out where he wants to donate. Okay, now without further ado, let’s do this!”

Letting him get right to it, he put her primer on her face and then the foundation.

“Army, Jennie baked today. I helped her out. We made strawberry shortcake.” he said and went to work on her eyes by using black and purple.

“I thought it turned out pretty well, how about you?”

“I want more. But you’re leaving soon. So, next time when you get back to Seoul.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’m glad you liked it. Oh, Army, you guys are wild for your choice of what you want me to do for our upcoming Festa.” she brought up and paused as he focused on placing black lipstick on her. 

He put the two fangs on her teeth and went to focus on putting blood around her mouth to go with the look.

“If some of you aren’t aware, Big Hit put up a poll a few weeks ago for you guys to choose.” Jen continued. “I'm doing something with Jimin and Jungkook too but also will be dancing solo. So for my solo, you had to choose between a cute concept, a sexy concept, or a badass one. And since somehow, someway you guys like me being sexy, you chose the sexy concept and now I am going to be performing Sunmi’s Full Moon. Oh my gosh. Wow. I’m not ready. I can’t believe this. I was striving for the badass concept. But it’ll be fun.”

“We are currently making preparations for it now,” Hobi added. “We are eager to show you in June. And...done!”

Jen checked her face in the mirror. “Oh...oh! Whoa! I look demonic!" she chuckled and checked out her eyes. “I like it. I like how slightly messy it looks. This is good, J-Hope!”

“I knew you would like it! Aren’t you glad I didn’t mess up with face?”

“Very. All right, well thanks for watching us, today. Stay tuned for the next member of Bangtan to do my makeup. Who do you think is next? Find out soon!”

“Bye Army!” Hobi waved.

After they turned the live off, Jen took selfies with him, tweeting, ‘I wonder if I should be a vampire for Halloween. Thanks for the makeup! I look great! #Jen’

------

The next morning, Jen pondered about how the guys would look great for their airport style but she’d just wear something simple and comfortable. She was already tired as it is and looking at her hoodie and jeans with a messy bun, she did not feel like wearing some top-notch outfit for an airport. And knowing the fans loved airport pictures, she decided to tweet about it to not get their hopes up.

‘I know how much you guys like airport pics. But my outfit isn’t going to be all that like usual. Sorry to disappoint you guys...again! Haha. #Jen’

Looking at some of the replies made her smile:

‘You could wear a trash bag and we’d still think you’re beautiful’

‘Doesn’t matter! Still taking photos of your cute self! Stay comfortable!’

‘It’s OK queen. We still gonna see you when you arrive home.’

When she arrived back in America, a big yawn escaped her and her stomach leaped with joy to find that she was finally home. Carrying her bag along with her manager Diana and some security guards walking with her, Jen walked off the plane. But little did she know, a large turnout of fans, fansites, and paparazzi were waiting for her. And when they saw her walk out, cameras began to flash and the pandemonium rose, causing Jen to look up in astonishment.

“Oh my God, she’s coming! She’s coming! I hear screaming!” A fan squealed while recording and began screaming with everyone else once she saw her.

“No fucking way.” a curse escaped Jennie, making her fans laugh as she took off her sunglasses. “Who sent y’all? Y’all not here for me. I know y’all not here for me.” she said in disbelief while the cheers and laughter got louder.

“Dispatch is here. They’re going to want you to stand and pose.” she was advised and followed suit as loud clicks of cameras and flashing lights appeared in her view.

The screams were high pitched as she tried to get a good look at all the fans here to see her. 

“Hi, Jennie! Hiiiii~!”

“I love you!”

“Jen! Jennie! My friend loves you so much!”

“YASSSS GIRL! WORK! MISS BANGTAN!” a fan screamed, making her chuckle.

After the photos, she began to walk with Diana and security while others were rushing away to get a better view of her. Security did a good job keeping fans away from being too close to her.

“Jennie, I’m proud of you.” she heard a fan say while recording her.

She turned to make eye contact with her for a few seconds and smiled. “Thank you.”

“Jennie, welcome back!” someone else spoke

“Thanks, good to be back home!“

“How was the flight?”

“Not too bad, actually.”

Jen turned to see a guy smiling shyly and waving right next to her outside the airport.

“Hey! Thanks for coming to see me. How long did you wait?“ she asked.

"Hours. Worth it to see you in person. Here, this is for you. My cousin makes earrings and wanted you to have this.” he gave her a small gift bag

“Oh wow, thank you! I can’t wait to wear it.” she beamed.

On Twitter ARMY was freaking out and trended #WelcomeHomeJennie worldwide:

'Our beautiful Miss Bangtan has arrived safely in America! #WelcomeHomeJennie’

'Ah she is so cute! Looking like an adorable hamster in that hoodie'

'My baby is back in the US!’

'Our girl has arrived!’

'Jen is back! I repeat! Jen is back! Back in America!’

‘SHE LOOKED AT ME! OMG SHE SMILED AND LOOKED AT ME!’

'Of course, she’s decked out in Nike, what a cutie!’

As soon as she went to her hotel room, she ate and rested before it was time to go straight to interviews. This was going to be a busy day, starting with radio to help talk about BTS’ new album and hoping that K-Pop can be more recognized in America just like PSY did years ago. Then it was time for her interview with iHeartRadio.

Smiling for the camera, iHeartRadio took a photo of her and tweeted, ‘K-Pop’s own Miss Bangtan of BTS is here with us!’

Getting comfortable with the interviewer, they began filming as she listened to the interviewer greet the fans and give background on K-Pop and BTS.

“Here on iHeartRadio, we have the one and only Miss Bangtan, Jennie of BTS! How are you doing?”

“The adrenaline is pumping!” she replied with a big smile. “I’m so happy to be home for a little bit.”

"I'm glad! We’re going to have some fun today, with various questions. We even asked ARMY to submit some questions for you. Are you ready?”

“Let’s do this.”

‘First time you knew you loved playing the guitar?’

“After listening to rock music. I’d say that Linkin Park's One Step Closer was one of the many songs that influenced me to play the guitar more. When I practiced that song, I fell in love with it and I told myself that this was what I wanted to do. They are so amazing at what they do with their music. And I’m not going to lie, I really enjoy the heavy stuff with the guitar, too. How intense it is. It just makes me emotional because you can just hear how passionate the music is. I am a proud black girl who loves rock."

'Artist you want to collab with?’

"I have so many! Chase Atlantic has been on my radar. I would love to collab with a rock band, to be honest. Even if it’s just playing the guitar. I’d love to perform some rock songs. It's not every day you see a black female rock out. But we’re out here in this world. I honestly do not care which rock band it is, I will be grateful for whatever opportunity comes. Fall Out Boy, Paramore, Red Hot Chili Peppers, so many amazing bands! Right now I am studying different rock songs and learning them on my guitar. I want to learn different styles and techniques. It’s pretty fun.”

'What song are you studying right now?’

“Wake Up by Rage Against The Machine. It’s heavy and I enjoy the instrumental. I can’t explain it but ugh I love it. A funny moment happened a few days ago, so I was playing my music really loud and the guys got so concerned by the intense vocals. The guitar solo is still messing me up a bit, so I’m still practicing. Maybe one day I should release my covers for the songs I’m studying.”

'You think you could ever do acting?’

“My sister is the actress. But if an opportunity comes up and I need to prepare for an audition, she’s my go-to person. I thought about it on occasion but it isn't quite on my radar, right now. But it would be so fun to do one day. I'd love to try to be in some action movie or something. It’s nice to branch out and try new things.”

'What are some nicknames people called you?’

"Oh gosh, well Rapmon calls me Nini. I also get called Munchkin, Smartie, and Ennie.” 

'Okay, we gotta know, are you still keen on wanting to work with Nike?’

"YES! HELL YES! I am still patiently waiting! I know they’re watching me. I am here, Nike! Come on, please! I will bring you so many sales. I am so passionate about your product! Hit me up!”

'Any tattoos in the future?’

"Yes, I have something in mind. You’ll see.”

'What is your ideal date?’

A bright smile came across her lips as the interviewer raved over how big her smile had gotten. Truth was, she was thinking about Jungkook.

“Ah...well, I love mini-dates. Like the simple things are more than enough. Even if it’s just walking and looking at the sunset or stars while I'm in my significant other's arms. Eating smarties and snacks with them.” she got a little giddy and her face began to warm up as she thought about her boyfriend. “I guess I’m a little bit of a hopeless romantic.”

'What about your solo work?’

“BTS’ work.” she corrected, smoothly moving the conversation her way. “Everything is going great with our work. Our album is doing so well, please stream and buy our album. It’s called The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever. The album with the colorful hot air balloon. You can’t miss it. I also helped create track four. Autumn Leaves. Give it a listen. We’re proud of it.”

“Well, that is all the time we have for today. We are going to see you at the Billboard Awards, right?”

“Yes, you are! I’ll be supporting my girl, Angelina. I am so stoked to be a part of it again. Thanks for having me!”

With Buzzfeed, Jen was filmed to be a part of their Thirst Tweets segment. Sitting down comfortably on the floor, she got handed the LOL bucket and prepared for her cue to start speaking.

“Hey! It’s your girl Jennie from BTS and today I shall be reading some thirst tweets!” she announced. “Disclaimer, I am fully aware of how thirsty you fans are. Remember that I do have a Tumblr and I see everything. I can tell that this is going to be very interesting so let’s get to it.”

Grabbing the LOL bucket, she dug in and pulled out a slip of paper. Reading it in her head, she started to chuckle.

“Whoa. Okay. This reads...”

'I hope Jen gets eaten out every night since she deserves it.’

She looked directly at the camera with a soft laugh. “I've been told I taste pretty nice," she teased before bursting out in laughter. "Was that appropriate for this interview? ARMY is going to freak when they watch this,"

'Imagine getting a lap dance from Jennie. I'd bust so quick!’

“Hm...you know I never gave someone a lap dance before. I should start practicing. Who wants to be my first?” 

'I just can’t stop thinking about Jennie’s ass. I want to smack it and eat-’

She couldn’t finish as she started laughing again, covering her mouth.

’...I want to smack it and eat her booty like groceries.’

“Y’know I get this a lot actually,” she admitted. “It’s okay to stare, though. Look but don’t touch. It's pretty funny to see all the memes about my ass. And the reaction photos you guys put up when you react to photos of me are top tier. It's funny as hell,"

'Jen could blow my back out with a strap on if she wanted to.’

“Ah...” she let out a sigh. “Thank you for the offer. I don’t know my own strength so I don’t think you’d want me blowing your back out.”

'I watched a compilation of Jen’s sexiest moments. I want to fuck her so bad’

“You want to have sex with me, too? Get in line,” she replied. "It's so interesting to read how desired I am from people. I've seen some shit. It is crazy,"

'BTS’ Jennie is a fine piece of ass. I want to bite her booty and give her a butt massage’

“A butt massage? Interesting...”

'Jennie sitting on my face is a nice concept. I would also love to eat smarties all over her naked body.’

She chuckled and rubbed the back of her neck. “You want me to sit on your face? It takes a special person for that," she giggled. "Ah, but I wouldn’t want you to get suffocated. And you want to eat smarties on me? I don’t think so. Let’s eat smarties from the wrapper, not on my body.”

'A concept: sucking Jen’s toes’

That made her widen her eyes, "Why is everyone talking about my feet these days? Did I miss something? Was it something I wore?” she asked, genuinely confused

'I’d pay so much money to drink Jen’s bath water’

She looked up at the camera and the caption, ’#Jennie.exe has stopped working’ appeared on the screen, causing the staff to laugh in the background.

“That’s...not sanitary.”

After finishing the tweets, she said, "Well, that’s all the thirst tweets for now. That was eventful. I wouldn’t mind doing this again. I’m Jennie from BTS and I will see on you the flip side. Stream BTS and other K-Pop groups! Our album. Right here.” she presented their latest album in front of the camera. “Track four. I helped produce it. All the songs are good. It’s lit.” she cheered as they signed off.

Meanwhile, a Shawn Mendes fan tweeted him about Jennie later on that day, ‘Shawn! Did you know that the girl with the guitar is going to the Billboard Awards!? She really wants to meet you!’

Replying to the fan, Shawn tweeted, ‘Yes, I do! I’m happy that she is going to be there. I hope I can see her.’

For the last segment of Buzzfeed, some lucky fans of Jennie were brought into the studio and asked to stand in a room alone, one by one.

The question was simple. Why do you admire Jennie?

And while the fans spoke highly of her, Jen was watching in the background, planning to surprise them.

“My big cousin got me into K-Pop a few years ago,” a little black girl cutely said. “When I saw Jennie, I told my parents, she looks like me! I hope I can dance just like her! She’s so pretty!”

Jen placed her hands over her heart as she watched her speak. This was why she loved what she did. Representation matters.

“Can you perform some of BTS’ choreography?” the little girl was asked and performed like Jennie for the Fire MV.

"Wow~! You dance so well!" Jennie praised, walking into the view.

The girl began jumping up and down excitedly, "Jennie~!"

"Hi~! You were amazing! I'm so happy to meet you!" she kneeled and opened up her arms as she watched her run over to hug her.

The way the girl cutely ran up to her made the staff 'aw' as they watched the wholesome moment. The little girl bounced in her arms excitedly, hugging tightly. Standing up, Jennie held the girl in her arms, smiling brightly at her once she pulled away. 

"You are just the cutest!" Jen beamed.

"Thank you! I love you so much! I want to be a dancer just like you! Thank you for being so cool!" 

"Aw...I love you, too!" Jen got hugged again by her as her heart soared.

Once the little girl left, Jennie giggled. "She is sooooo cute! Oh my gosh. Now I want kids. Ugh, I want a mini me when I get married,"

--------

“That’s my girl, right there!” a male fan enthused when it was his turn to speak.

“Yeah! Like I love how she sticks to her roots and doesn’t change who she is in another country.” his guy friend added. “Jennie, thank you for representing us. And did I mention that she is so beautiful? Like wow. Photos don't do her justice!"

“Aw...that’s how you feel?” she walked out.

“OHHHHHHHHHHHH~!” the first guy yelled and backed up, causing her to laugh.

“Oh shit!” the second guy fell to the floor. “No way!”

“Yes, way! What’s up!?” she giggled and helped him up. 

She got a kick out of when fans stumbled when they saw her.

“This is not real,” the second guy embraced her and then watched his friend hug her next. 

"Damn, you smell good!" he blurted out, making her laugh again.

-------

“She’s SO cute. Like an adorable hamster.” another fan said.

“Yeah! And the cute thing she does with her nose. Sooo adorable. Her in the Fire music video was a rude awakening that Miss Bangtan is here to stay. We’re just so proud of her and-” the second fan squealed when she saw Jennie standing there, amused.

“Hey, I am a human being.” Jen teased, watching the girls squeal and jump around.

“Oh my God~!” they shouted before hugging her.

---------

“It’s nice to see someone that looks like me in a genre that is Asian dominated. She has remained strong in that industry and there were lots of high expectations for her debut. She exceeded them.” another black girl proudly said. “I just auditioned for a few K-Pop companies because of her. I was moved to see someone like her break barriers. Her passion is undeniable. Jennie, thank for you being an inspiration to us black women in K-Pop.”

“You are very welcome~! I’m looking forward to your debut one day.” Jen’s voice was heard, making the girl freeze. Once she skipped out, a scream escaped the girl’s lips and she kneeled down, covering her head.

"No way! Hi!" the girl stood up and embraced her.

"Hi! How are you?"

"I'm shaking! Oh my God, I cannot believe you're in front of me, right now!"

"Believe it! Thank you for your sweet words. That is so amazing that you were able to audition for some companies! When do you hear back from your auditions?"

"In a few weeks!"

"I hope you get accepted! I'd love to watch your journey,"

---------

“Her relatable personality is what gets me. I love that she is not afraid to speak her mind. She also replies a lot to her fans. I think that Jennie is the most accessible BTS member. She’s like the most active BTS member on social media and I love that. You have a nice chance of getting a reply or like from her. She never forgets her fans. She sets a very good example of what it means to appreciate fans,” another male fan mentioned.

Cartwheeling into the room, Jen landed on her feet and posed, “Hi! Surprise!”

“Whoa! Hi! Hello!” he stammered and embraced her. “You smell good!”

“Haha! Thank you!"

-----

“This girl can get down! My daughters got me into K-Pop and when they showed me BTS and explained what a bias is, I knew Miss Jennifer would be mine. Watching a black girl thrive and make a name for herself in another country, proud of her dark skin, beautiful as ever, I get emotional about it.” an older female fan said.

“Yeah, we record our mom turning up to Jennie’s verses in BTS’ songs. It’s hilarious.” her oldest daughter added. “Jennie made me love Nike. Like the girl makes the product look good. Nike, what are you waiting for!? Call her up!”

“Yeah, and I got into smarties because of her. She should really be in a Smartie commercial.” the youngest daughter mentioned.

“Those are amazing ideas! I hope I can achieve them!” Jen happily said, walking out.

“Oh my goodness,” the mother laughed, looking amazed while her daughters jumped excitedly.

“Hi! It’s very nice to meet you! Thank you for supporting me, BTS, and K-Pop as a whole,” Jen beamed and hugged them.

“Oh my God, you’re touching me.” the youngest squealed. “Thank you for being you, Jennie!” 

“It’s people like you who got me here today. So thank YOU for supporting me and the rest of BTS. ARMY is the best.” Jennie smiled.

--------

"Are you serious right now?” a loud irritated sigh escaped Angelina’s lips while Jen walked inside the hotel she was sharing with her. “What is the issue? It is not that big of a deal. Who cares what these stupid fans say? I love you and I’m tired of keeping things quiet. You know what, I’m done talking to you. Talk to me when you realize your stupidity.” she hung up and tossed her phone on the bed.

“Hey,” Jen spoke up, making Angelina look her way.

“Hey...”

“So, what was that about?” she set her bag down.

“Namjoon’s annoying ass.”

“What happened?”

“I’m really tempted to break up with him, right now. Like I am so done with this.”

Jennie was used to this type of behavior from her and remained calm, “Slow down. What do you mean by that?”

“We had a disagreement. And I’m just becoming so fed up about all this.”

“Fed up about what?”

“I just want our relationship to be public. But he doesn’t want it public. He wants us to remain private. And when I asked why he was all about my safety and bullshit. I wasn’t even listening, I was just so mad. Like nobody gonna touch me. I’m no thin-skinned person, I can handle the hate, I can just ignore it, easily. I just feel like the man is ashamed of dating me and that’s why he doesn’t want to go public.”

Jen frowned. Angelina had a bad habit of attempting to make drastic decisions when things went south and when she was emotional. 

One time when she was working on a song with an artist, she was fed up with her rap not going as planned and wanted to give up on it until Jen talked her out of it. And thankfully she did because that collab with The Weeknd will be performed at the Billboard Awards and is still high up on the charts. Now, what if she gave up on it? Then what? Angelina still thanks her to this day for snapping her out of it.

“I understand both sides to this," Jennie spoke. "I understand that here in America, it probably isn’t that much of a big deal. Everyone loves their celeb couples here, always wanting the details. But with the K-Pop fanbase, it’s much worse. Possessive fans, people having a harder time with accepting relationships, it’s scary. I get that here in America it is like that too but I've seen some scary shit in Seoul. Like you remember that whole mess with Kai and Krystal? And then Baekhyun and Taeyeon. Namjoon means well. He is just trying to think logically about it. I think he is planning on a way to announce your relationship but for now, he just wants to remain private. You see, you, you are impatient.”

“And what about it?”

She chuckled, “You want things to go your way and you don’t think sometimes before you make a decision. Namjoon plans and thinks carefully. He knows what he’s doing. I bet he’s even going to make a song for you, too. Ang, I feel like your relationship will be public but just not now. I know him. He is not embarrassed to date you. Trust him. Okay?”

Angelina sighed. “Yeah...I guess.”

"Good. Call back and apologize. That was mean to hang up on him,"

"Fine~," Angelina whined and called him back to talk things out. 

After she got off the phone, Jen spoke, “How was your dress rehearsal? Sorry, I couldn’t make it. All these interviews they want me in.”

“I am so happy that things are coming together. It's a huge honor to perform with The Weeknd. Like damn, what was I thinking trying to give up on the collab when my rap wasn’t working?”

“Yeah, what were you thinking? You were out of your mind when you told me that.”

Angelina laughed. “Yeah, yeah, well, again, thanks for being there for me and giving me that pep talk. I do need to lighten up. Oh and for our seats, I’m sitting with The Weeknd. You’ll be next to me. And guess who is sitting behind you~?”

“Who?”

“Shawn Mendes~!”

Jen widened her eyes. “No way!”

“Yes, way! And he’s pretty eager to meet you~! Jungkook about to lose his girlfriend~!” she teased.

“No~! He’s not,”

“Shawnnie is the new ship name for you guys. It’s so cute!”

“Oh my goodness.” 

"It is adorable. The mystery American girl in K-Pop with the guitar has charmed Canada's talented and handsome Shawn Mendes. Prepare yourself, sis. People are going to be looking for any sort of interaction between y'all,"

"First I need to make sure I don't pass out if I see this man,"

"Nah what you need to do is make sure Jungkook doesn't take the next flight over here," Angelina laughed.

"Stop~! It's going to be fine!"

------

The next day was finally the big day for Billboard. Jen was excited as her stylist, Janae came in with a few other stylists to prepare Angelina and her for the day. Both of them were in robes, vibing to one of Angelina’s playlists. They just finished eating breakfast and were now getting their makeup done.

After she put on her dress, Jennie checked herself out in the mirror. The white dress had a V neck, exposing the middle of her chest, and had a thigh high slit. She also wore the earrings that the fan gave her.

"Okay! Talk to me nice!“ Jen hyped Angelina up who spun around, modeling in her dress as she filmed her. "Work!”

Jennie then took a photo and then sent a photo to Jungkook.

Jen: Miss u!! You like it?

With Jungkook, who was at dance practice, took a break to see the message. He instantly almost dropped his phone, making Jimin notice and laugh.

“Jungkookie, you’ve been staring at the screen, motionless for the past five minutes. What are you looking at?” Jimin asked, peeking at his screen to see Jennie’s dress. He ended up laughing harder. “She’s so cute.”

JK: [image.jpg]

JK: AGHGAGHAJFAHHBWIFA.

JK: WOW!! I'm so proud to call you mine

She laughed at the image of him on the floor looking like he fainted dramatically.

Later, she browsed Twitter and found a tweet from Shawn Mendes, 'On my way to the Billboard Awards. I wonder where the girl with the guitar is. BTS_twt'

She smiled and playfully responded, 'I’m around. :) Come find me #Jen’

"GIRL! Come find me!?" Angelina laughed as she read the tweet.

"I was just trying to act cool!"

"All cool for Shawn? You are going to freeze. You freeze and stutter with everybody else,"

"Hush!"

Once they got in the van to make their way over to the show, Angelina took out her phone to film a Snapchat video with Jennie. “Billboard Awards here we comeeeee~!"

The anticipation heightened once they arrived, seeing fans waiting for the next celeb to walk out of their vehicle 

“You ready?” Jennie asked with a smile.

“As long as you’re with me, I’m ready for anything.” Angelina held her hand.

Once the door opened, Angelina and Jennie walked out hand in hand as screams and flash photography were heard. The two friends glanced at each other with a smile and walked to the magenta carpet, waving at fans who were shouting their names. Photographers shouted their names so they could look their way and get a good shot. Jen hasn’t been at this show since the Amity days and it was nice to be back.

ARMY found tweets from curious fans who had no idea who Jennie was or BTS when the broadcast announced that Jen and Angelina had arrived, giving background on both of them.

'The girl in the white dress is cute af! Wow, is she single?’

'She is looking like a snack! Both her and Angelina are!’

'All that melanin!’

'Wait isn’t that the baby from Amity!? She looks so good!’

It was crazy how all her faves were just walking around the carpet right in front of her. So many people she wanted to speak to and meet. It was going to be an interesting day. 

E! started their interview with them first.

“We are here with Angelina and a member of the Korean Pop Group, BTS, Jennie. Welcome ladies! How are you doing today?”

“I’m feeling less nervous now that my best friend is here with me.” Angelina gratefully said. “She’s holding me down.”

“Aw. I’m really happy to be here and support her. I am so excited to see her and The Weeknd perform. She deserves this. She’s worked so hard for this moment.” Jennie added.

“And the crazy thing is, he wasn’t even planning on performing today but then asked me to perform this song with him instead of him performing one of his solo songs. I was so shooked.”

“You two are definitely friendship goals. Angelina, anything to say about what to expect from your performance tonight?” the interviewer asked.

“Expect to let Angelina show you how it’s done on the stage. No doubt about that.”

“Angelina, we hear that you are working on your next album. Any word on when it will be released?”

“When you least expect it.” she teased.

“Any boyfriends? Are any of you seeing somebody?“

“Actually, yes.” Angelina proudly said, catching Jen off guard.

Was she about to leak her relationship on national TV?

Angelina smiled softly, “He’s a great man and he makes me very happy.”

“Who is the lucky guy?”

"That’s classified for now.”

"And what about you Jennie? Any man in your life?”

“Right now, I’m not looking for a man.” She responded with a smile, proud to be locked down with Jungkook who made her happy.

After some more interviews, Jen spotted her fansites around and approached them.

“No way, what are you guys doing here?” she laughed as they happily greeted her and told them they came to see her. “Wow, thank you! Hey, you got the braids I suggested. They look cute.” she pointed out to one of her fansites. 

A few months ago she spotted her at the airport and she asked Jennie about changing her hair to a different color.

“I’m glad you suggested the green box braids. They’re cute, I love it.” the fansite grinned.

“Good.” she turned to another fansite, “You. You’re the one who told me about that test. Did you pass?”

“Yes, I did! I got a B minus. Thankfully I got the extra credit questions right.”

“I knew you would! You make me so proud!”

As crazy as it may sound, Jen had decided to get closer to some of her fansites, especially the American ones, having a close bond with them.

When she saw the fansite that had been with her since the Amity Days, Jennie's eyes lit up, “I’m glad you’re here! I was hoping you’d come!”

“Wouldn’t miss it! You look so pretty! I'm happy you remember me!"

“Of course! And thank you! I just want to thank you all for your dedication and hard work. You guys really didn’t need to do this but the fact that you are all here to support me means so much. Want to take a selfie with one of your phones? If you’re comfortable with it.”

They all happily agreed, some choosing to block their faces with a mask if they didn't want to reveal who they were and Jen let Diana take the photo. Then she took individual selfies with each of them. She loved her fansites dearly.

“Diana, can you make sure they get fed today? They’re probably hungry from staying out all this time just to see me and take photos.” she requested. "My treat. And make sure they're hydrated,"

“You got it.” Diana got right to it.

Angelina and Jennie did some individual interviews but remained close to each other. 

“Here we are with Jennie of BTS! It’s been years since you attended the Billboard Awards. How does it feel to be back?”

“This is crazy. Although I’m not performing or anything, just being here to support my best friend is more than enough. I would say that I’m not nervous like I was when I was a kid with Amity.”

“Do you think that one day you’ll perform at the Billboard Awards?”

“That’d be cool. I’d like to if that’s possible. Whenever it’s featuring in a song or hey what if BTS could perform? I hope Billboard considers that, having a Korean act perform on their show. We make such great music. Please check out our album!"

“What did it feel like to get on that plane, without BTS to be here alone?”

“Weird. Like wow, my boys aren’t with me. I gotta do this by myself now. I like it although I do miss my boys. I know they’re watching so, hey guys!” she greeted them in Korean.

"Is there anyone, in particular, you’re looking forward to seeing?”

“Well...” she giggled nervously. “Shawn Mendes.”

"Have you seen the name people are calling you? Shawnnie. It's so cute,"

"Yeah, it is pretty cute. I wasn't expecting this big of a reaction from our fanbases. I'm so flattered. He is just so amazing and I hope today is the day I can finally meet him. I admire his work so much,"

"Aw. Is a collab between you two in the future?"

"If he wants to work with me, I would be so down. Fingers crossed! I'd love to work with him! Ah...he's a pretty amazing guy," she couldn't stop the big smile from appearing on her face.

-----

Shawn Mendes had been on the magenta carpet for a while, doing interviews and taking photos. His eyes lit up when the same interviewer who had talked with Jennie said that they recently interviewed the girl with the guitar.

"You did?" a big smile began to appear on his handsome features. "She's here? Oh man...my day just got better,"

"Yeah, she spoke very highly of you. What do you think of the girl with the guitar?"

"She's a pretty amazing girl. Her voice and the way she plays the guitar...blown away,"

"She told us she'd love to collab with you,"

"I want to collab with her, too," he immediately said, happy with her statement.

----

Jennie had a young male interview her as he introduced her to the camera. But once she looked directly at him, smiling charmingly, he began to stutter.

“So, Jennie y-you, I mean...I’m sorry,” he laughed nervously, trying to remember the question he was going to ask.

It looked like he was thrown off by her smile for a brief moment and got lost in her charm.

'Cute,’ she thought, amused.

“It’s okay,” she giggled.

“Sorry, this is my first time interviewing.”

“I’m glad I get to have the honor of you interviewing me for the first time. Let’s talk about how exciting the Billboard Awards are,” she tried to calm his nerves as they briefly talked about what they were looking forward to.

Once he felt at ease, he began to ask her his questions, “You did a cover for Stitches a while back. How did it feel for Shawn to acknowledge that?”

“I remember running all over the place when I found out. Someone that I admire as a performer watching my craft. Surreal. I can’t wait to meet him!”

“Do people notice you easily in South Korea?”

“Oh definitely. It’s so obvious to notice me. If it’s not my melanin, it’s my hair. So, people are quick to want to get autographs. I’m always happy to see the fans.”

“I have to say, an African American woman like you representing black women in an Asian country is very impressive. Are you aware of the supporters you have?”

“Yeah! It’s very overwhelming for sure. Words can’t explain how much of a blessing this is.” 

“And lastly, can you speak some Korean to the viewers?”

She nodded and looked at the camera, deciding to give a message to the fans and BTS, “Thank you for always supporting me. Your Bangtan Girl is doing well and is happy. I ate today, don’t worry. No, I am not dehydrated. Please look forward to Angelina’s performance. I love you! Fighting!”

“I have no idea what you said but it sounded great.” he chuckled with her as she translated her statement. 

She even taught him a few basic words before the interview was over which helped him relax even more. 

After their interview, he went on to put out a few tweets about her:

'I just interviewed BTS’ Jennie and just wow...her smile left me speechless. Her beauty made me stutter a bit,'

'I was surprised at how relaxed she is. This was my first time interviewing her and when I saw videos of her performing, I thought she was as hyper as she is on stage.’

'But here she has a calming demeanor. She is so chill. A very mellow and soothing person. Thank you, Jennie.’

------

As Shawn was being interviewed by E!, his eyes occasionally wandered around the area to see if he could spot Jennie. And when he did he began to get distracted while answering questions.

"Ah, I'm sorry, could you excuse me for a moment? I found her," he smiled kindly.

-----

Walking around with Angelina, taking photos, Jennie is nudged by her.

“Don’t look now but a certain someone is watching you~!” Angelina whispered.

“Who?” Jen whispered back.

“You know who.” she teased. Her statement made Jen widen her eyes and she attempted to take a peek but Angelina stopped her. “Girl, don’t make it obvious. But he staring at ya. Oh shit. He’s...walking over here. Oh my gosh, he’s walking over here.”

“What!?” Jen panicked, grabbing onto her. “What should I do?!"

“Be calm. Be calm. Go say hi. I’ll be over there.”

“You’re leaving?!” she asked in a high voice.

Patting Jen’s back with a giggle, Angelina began to walk away, “You got this.”

'Oh my God...' Jen thought.

Jennie’s heart continued to race as she didn’t know what to expect. Her celeb crush was strolling right where she was. She needed to control her nerves. She didn't even know what to say yet.

“Excuse me,” a gentle hand grabbed hers, making her stomach flip. “Girl with the guitar?”

Turning around, she looked up to meet his eyes. His smile made him look even more handsome up close as he looked pleased to see her.

When she found her voice, she broke out into a smile, “It looks like you found me.”

“Looks like I did. It’s nice to finally meet you. Wow.“ he moved to hug her as she eagerly wrapped her arms around him.

‘Oh my God, his hugs! Lord have mercy, he’s so cute.’ she squealed to herself.

Pulling away he asked, "What’s your name?”

“My name is Jennie. To be honest, I was trying to act all confident in front of you but in reality, I was nervous to meet you.”

He chuckled nervously, “You’re telling me, I had butterflies when making my way over to you. Your cover for my song, I was blown away by your performance. I really love your voice.”

“Aw really? I love your voice, too.” she felt her face heat up, “I’d love to make music with you.”

“Yeah, I’d love that too,"

She continued to have butterflies in her stomach as she talked with him and it finally set in that she was in the presence of one of her favorite artists. He was so pleasant and friendly towards her as they got to know each other.

Their interaction began to go viral because cameras were taking photos, recording them, and live tweeting about the interaction. Fans were freaking out at how they looked at each other and when Shawn reached out immediately for a hug. 

“The North America leg of my tour starts in July. Would you like to come by during one of the shows?” he asked. 

“Yes!” Jen’s eyes lit up. “I’ll double check my schedule and discuss it with Big Hit. If I can make it, I will definitely come. I may have some free time around the September 10th show. I will keep you posted.”

“Awesome! I'd love it if we'd be able to sing together at the show. Maybe we can sing I Know What You Did Last Summer." 

"For real!? You want me to sing that with you? I'll do Camila Cabello justice!"

"I know you will. It'll be fun. And when I write some new music maybe we can record a song or two together. Or like a remix of one of my songs. I really want to sing with you,"

Her heart soared at how eager he was to sing with her. She was thrilled her voice was able to touch him to be this excited about collaborating.

"Sounds like a plan! When BTS has their next tour, you should definitely come if you can.”

“I'd like that. So, you sing in Korean?”

“Uh huh. There are some English words in there, though. And we sing in Japanese when we create Japanese songs.”

“Wow, that sounds intense. Is it difficult for you?”

“Very. The most challenging for me is singing in Japanese. I’m still not quite familiar with that language but I’m trying my best to connect with our Japanese fans the best way I can. I'm still learning here and there with the language.”

"You're incredible,"

She giggled and covered her mouth. "Thank you,"

"I'll see you at the show. Can't wait to see you again soon," he pulled her in for another hug and walked away, leaving her face flushed.

Angelina laughed as she walked back over to Jennie and began to tease her in a high voice, "It's going to be OK, I was trying to act all cool! And yet Miss Walker froze and started giggling like a cute fangirl. I am so done with you. You folded faster than I anticipated,"

"Shut it!"

"So how'd it feel to be hugged by your celeb crush not once but twice? You two are trending on Twitter as we speak,"

"I am so happy,"

"Yeah, you keep cheesing. It's adorable,"

-------

Outside where all the production trucks were, Angelina and Jennie met up with Layla who wore a shirtless pink blazer and pink pants.

“Ooh! I see you. Look at you, exposing skin. We are SO back! This is a look~” Angelina complimented and hugged her

“I had to pop out. You two look so goooood!” Layla cheered. “Let’s take some pictures.”

Jen happily wrapped her arms around Layla, pressing her cheek against hers as they grinned goofily for the camera but in the background was Angelina photobombing with a meme face expression. Then they took some cute photos.

Jen posted the photos, 'I’m happy we got to see you! Looking forward to your solo music. Let’s leave the past behind,’

The photo went viral as soon as it was posted with Amity trending. Fans replied:

‘Three out of five! Come on, I hope the last two can make amends!’

‘Why are you still friends with her?’

'They look so fake’

'Three queens!‘

'I’m not crying! You are!’

'JENLA STANS RISE!’

'Awww I’m so happy they reunited and showed love to each other’

'Finally! Now we need Hailey and Trinity’

'I hope Hailey and Trinity can work things out with these three’

'I still don’t forgive her’

'This is the content I like to see. Positivity and uplifting each other’

‘People out here thinking Layla is some kind of demon. She apologized and they all made up. Let’s hope Hailey and Trinity can do the same and we can get an Amity reunion’

'THERE! Now STFU about them all hating each other’

'CHOKE HATERS!’

'Hailey, Trinity WYA? Apologize and get back together!’

'I prefer it to just be the three of them. No need for Hailey and Trinity’

'I don’t know how to feel about this. I just hope they’re all on good terms’

'I wonder what Hailey and Trinity think of this’

'Is anyone going to talk about Angelina in the background tho? LOL’

While Jen was backstage, Rihanna approached her as she stopped walking. 

"You!" Rihanna called out, causing Jennie to turn around in surprise. "You are a bad bitch!" she praised and brought up how she watched Jennie's dance cover of the GTA Remix of Bitch Better Have My Money. She even told her that she looked beautiful and had been watching her do her thing in BTS, seeing great things for her in the future.

'No fucking way I just met Rihanna and she's praising me! What the hell!? Ahhhhhh!' Jennie began freaking out in her head as she kept thanking her for the praises and began to fangirl over how much she adored her. 

Jennie was starstruck and managed to bring up how she had been one of her inspirations and hoped to be versatile in music like her. She even impressed Rihanna by speaking in Korean. The artist gave Jennie some words of wisdom while continuing to praise her for making a name for herself in Korea. 

The two took a few photos together and Jen posted them, making fans freak out, 'I met Rihanna! Ahhhh! She called me a bad bitch! Life is amazing! #Jen'

Jen even met DNCE and raved about her love for the guitar, building a big connection with them. Pete Wentz had approached her first and asked her about her guitar passions, since he recognized her from some Fall Out Boy covers she had posted. She even told him she would love to collaborate with Fall Out Boy and to check out BTS.

Fans quickly noticed that a few celebs had started following Jennie and BTS on social media,

'GUYS! Jennie is being followed by CELEBS! LOOK AT THIS! Fall Out Boy just followed her!’

'RIHANNA FOLLOWED JENNIE! RIHANNA IS FOLLOWING MORE K-POP IDOLS! G-DRAGON, TAEYANG, CL AND NOW JENNIE! OMG! DO YOU KNOW HOW BIG THAT IS!?'

'Rihanna recently liked a video of Jennie and J-Hope dancing to one of her songs, too!'

Jennie even met Justin Bieber and spoke on behalf of Jungkook of his admiration for him and that he covered a few of his songs. Justin personally asked for the links, promising to give them a listen. 

And once she ran into Shawn Mendes again, she finally took photos with him while Angelina took a few candids of them speaking and hugging.

Posting them on Twitter, Jen tweeted, 'Your girl met Shawn Mendes~! #Fangirling #HeCuteAF'

Fans trended #JennieMetShawn and #Shawnnie while tweeting,

'WE STAN’

'Jennie is NETWORKING NETWORKING! She's meeting everybody'

'COLLAB’

'Oh my God!’

'Lol he cute af, girl SAME'

'Biggest ship ever! This is so cute! I loved the anticipation of them finally meeting! This was worth the wait!'

'Somebody play Kid in Love by Shawn Mendes because this is adorable omg'

'LOOK AT HOW HE IS LOOKING AT HER! Kid In Love by Shawn Mendes!'

'A dream come true! I am so happy for her’

'BTS and Shawn fans, how we feeling?’

'SOBBING’

'YASSSSS’

'Wait isn’t this the BTS girl? OMG’

'Yooooooo’

'Legends!’

'My favs finally met!’

'I SHIP!’

'Look at how cheesy her smile is. She is so happy. Awwww’

'You deserve this!’

When they walked into the venue, as soon as BTS fans spotted Jennie walking, loud cheers were heard and she turned around to see them waving at her. She waved back and went to follow Angelina to where they’d be seated.

Throughout the show, fansites recorded Jen’s reactions, including her eating smarties during the show and frowning when she ran out of them. Then when she kept chewing her many pieces of gum like a cow fans thought it was hilarious and kind of cute. 

Shawn and Jennie even exchanged snacks during the event, as their fans continued to ship them. She was even kind enough to offer him smarties before she ran out which fans pointed out.

Fans made sure to get a good view of Jennie watching in admiration to Shawn Mendes performing Stitches and singing along. Once it was time for Angelina to perform with The Weeknd, who had won many awards that night, Jen was the first one to stand up and dance, hyping them up as their performance moved the entire crowd. Angelina had walked out on stage with a purpose, as she rapped aggressively while The Weeknd was next to her. 

Being nervous was an understatement for her. It was a big moment but when she locked eyes with Jennie who was cheering her on in the crowd, it completely made her feel at ease.

Jennie was like her remedy. Angelina would always call her, even if their time zones were different. Call her for things such as calming her down when she’s nervous, feeling hopeless, having issues, and wanting a second ear to listen to her craft. No matter what, Jen always encouraged her to communicate no matter the time it was in Korea. And to see her best friend here to support her, meant everything.

After the performance, Jen made her way backstage, rushing towards Angelina who had tears of joy in her eyes.

“You were amazing! I am SO proud of you!” Jen squealed and embraced her.

Unable to hold it in, Angelina began to cry, fortunate about the performance as The Weeknd joined in the group hug.

“You did so well! You killed it out there. We had fun out there, didn’t we?” he cheered.

“Hell yeah.” Angelina pulled away. “Thank you so much for this opportunity. That was so fun, man. Like damn, we really did that!”

As the staff backstage was all congratulating them, they wanted Angelina and The Weeknd to take a photo to post on Billboard’s social media.

Fans tweet:

‘Angelina is that bitch!’

‘RAW! Just RAW! The Weeknd and Angelina killed it’

‘Angelina did what she had to do!’

‘The fact that The Weeknd wasn’t even planning on performing tonight and decided to perform with Angelina! LOVE!’

‘This was FIRE!’

Later, Jennie even met Fifth Harmony and bonded with them quickly as they talked about their music. She praised their work and hoped for more success for them. She found herself vibing with Normani and Camila the most. She took tons of photos with the group and planned to keep in touch with all of them.

When the girls left, Camila Cabello stayed behind to speak to her further.

“Hey, I know this may be a bit abrupt but I wanted to ask you, you were the first to leave Amity, right?”

“Yeah! It was hard to make that decision but sometimes you just gotta spread your wings and go somewhere you think is better for you.” Jen responded. “It may be a tough decision but you need to do what is best for your life and you need to be happy. So, if you have music that you want to share with the world or a vision and where you are is not doing that for you, perhaps it’s time to go another route. That’s what I thought of when I left Amity. It sucks about what happened. I hope one day we can all be friends again and not be on bad terms but I do not regret leaving. It was the best decision for me.”

Camila nodded and smiled softly. “Thank you. I’ll remember that.”

“Are you...getting ideas?”

Camila hesitated. “I know we just met and all but you understand how I feel. I just want to explore my individuality as an artist. I love this group. But I feel like I can do so much more without being held back.”

Jennie nodded and held her hands while giving her a bright smile. “All of you are so talented in that group. And whenever you all want to do solo stuff, I hope it's just as successful as what you have achieved so far in the group. And you have me as your new friend. I'll support you,"

"You're really sweet, thank you. I'll support you, too. You said you're in a K-Pop group, now?"

"Yes. Korean pop. The group is called BTS. There are 7 guys and 1 chick, yours truly,"

“Wow, there’s a lot of you. It must be tough yet empowering being the only girl in the group, right?”

“It has its challenges but it is very rewarding.”

“Have you thought of doing some solo work in the future?”

“Yeah, I have a lot of stuff in my documents. The guys got stuff cooking too but we're still united and will remain a group. The stuff I have been working on I am not quite ready to release yet. I want to touch up on the songs as well. One day the world will hear it. Maybe in a few years. For now, I’d like to continue focusing on the group’s activities. The company I'm in now gives us more creative freedom than when I was in SongStress,”

----------

When Angelina and Jen made their way back to the hotel, they relaxed in bed, eating snacks.

“Just an FYI, Shawn was totally staring at you throughout the entire show.” Angelina giggled.

“Don’t play.” Jennie playfully kicked her.

“He was! He kept smiling and everything. I bet he likes you. He’s going to be disappointed when he finds out you’re taken~ haha,”

“I doubt that. He's just very happy to meet me,” she chuckled.

"You'd be surprised the guys that be watching you. I mean think of Jungkook and how long he's been watching you and pinning for you,"

Jen smiled as she thought of how things came about with her and Jungkook. "Touche,"

“Okay, so I wanted to wait until after the show to tell you this...” Angelina’s tone changed into a more joyful one.

“What happened?”

“So, you know the XXL Magazine, right? How they have their freshman class? Well...I’m going to be the only female in this year’s class!“

Jen’s eyes widened. “What!? Oh my gosh! That’s friggin huge!” she yelled in excitement and pulled her in for a hug as they both started freaking out.

“Ahhhh! Thank you!”

“When did you find out?!”

“A few days ago! I was on cloud nine! I cried when they told me. Things are really coming up for me. I can’t believe this. I’m really doing it. I am doing the things I wanted to do. Songstress couldn’t give that to me. But I persevered and now I’m doing my own thing.”

“As you should! What will you be doing there?”

“I’m supposed to be recording freestyles, cyphers, solo and group interviews. I am so excited.”

“Lit! I cannot wait to check it out!”

“You have K-Con coming up, right? I was wondering if you wanted to watch me film for the magazine. I’m really nervous about it. But with you there, I can feel a little more at ease. Ugh, I’m sorry. I always ask you to accompany me to all these events.”

“No, no, it’s fine, I’m glad you want me around to watch your success! You watch my success! We’re best friends. Of course, I’m going to be there and watch you grow. If Big Hit can let me attend, I will attend,"

“Thanks. It’s just that you just make me feel more confident and give me a sense of security. Like I have someone with me besides my manager and team that I can trust fully and can help me no matter what. I have my other friends in the industry but you are my number one. When I was on that stage tonight, when I saw you, my nervousness went away. You’ve always been there for me. So, I wanted to say thank you for the tenth thousandth time. I'll work on not getting so nervous when you're not there. But for now, in this moment, thank you for being here,"

Jen laughed. “You’re very welcome for the tenth thousandth time. If I’m free, I’ll tag along.”

“I love you,” Angelina gave her a big kiss on the cheek and another tight hug.

“I love you, too!”

“So, have you told your parents you’re dating Jungkook?” she pulled away.

Jen exhaled. “No. They don’t know yet. Jungkook is eager to see them when we travel for K-Con. He wants to tell them about us. He’s been trying to bring it up for a while and last time we finally had a conversation about it after I couldn’t think of another way to get out of it.”

She thought about the conversation.

-----

“Since we’ll be back in America for K-Con, let’s give your family a visit. It’ll be great to tell them about us,” Jungkook happily smiled.

Jennie hesitated. Truth be told, she’s been trying to avoid this conversation. He’s been bringing it up for a while now. And lately, he seemed even more persistent as the event was approaching rather quickly.

“Let’s...wait a little longer,” she murmured with an apologetic smile.

Normally when she said that, Jungkook would leave it be. But this time, he didn’t want to. 

“Jennie, you’ve been avoiding this conversation for a while. Every time I mention it you freeze and act weird. What is the problem?” he spoke up with a frown. “Are you...”

“Never.” she cut him off, knowing what he was about to say.

She shook her head and let out a breath. Maybe it was time to let him know her feelings. She should be open about this and communicate.

“Tell me,” he softly added, placing his large, warm hand on hers.

“I’m nervous about it,” she admitted, looking down. “My dad is totally fine. I know he’ll happily accept you. He loves you and the rest of Bangtan. But my mom...she’s...not that open-minded and is one of those family members who would rather have me date within my race. And I can just see the disappointment now. I don’t want to deal with it. I don’t want you to deal with that.”

Jungkook’s eyes softened as he listened to her vent.

“It sucks. You make me so happy. And I love being in this relationship with you. But I don’t want any negativity from my mom and her views. I don’t want that to interfere with what we have. I don’t want to have an argument with her about you. I know I'm going to just get angry and lash out at her for not being happy for me that I found someone who sees me for me. I just wished she'd stop looking at color and just look at the personality of the person,"

Lifting up her chin, he smiled in reassurance. “It’s okay. We can make it work. I will do whatever I can to be accepted by your mom. So, she can support us. Trust me. Things are going to be fine. I promise.”

-------

Jennie exhaled sharply at the memory while telling Angelina everything.

“I am freaking out, Angelina. I just...I don’t want to deal with my mom on this,"

“Hey. Trust in him. If he says he got you covered and things will be all right, trust him. I bet he’s had this all planned out on telling your parents that you’re dating. And I hope that ya mama can stop being so closed minded. It is 2016. Get with the program.”

“You’re telling me,” Jen chuckled. "But yeah, you're right. I will trust in Jungkook. He always knows how to make things right. I can do this with him,"

------

The next afternoon, Jennie got ready for the day and finished baking, getting teased by Angelina about it.

"And you baked for him!? Girl...good luck when you go back to Seoul," Angelina laughed out loud. 

"Shut up! I'm trying to be nice and leave a good impression!"

"Girl, you already made a good impression when you covered Stitches. Shawn is already smitten with you. Poor Jungkook," she teased.

"What!? Jungkook knows I bake for everybody! I baked for him and Bangtan before I left!"

"Uh huh,"

Jennie proceeded to get filmed for a Bangtan Bomb as the camera followed her to find Shawn's hotel room.

“I am on my way to surprise Shawn Mendes!” she cheered. “I baked him cupcakes and before I leave I want to give them to him. I hope he likes them. I’m super nervous,”

Knocking on the door, it took a moment for him to open up, dressed for the day. When he took a look at her, his eyes lit up.

“Jennie!”

“Hey! I wanted to stop by and say hi! And to give you these. I baked these for you.”

She walked inside his room after he let her in and presented him with Harry Potter themed cupcakes.

“Oh wow! These are for me? Thank you so much! And it’s Harry Potter!” he said with excitement.

He was so going to enjoy these on the road.

"Yeah! I remember you loving Harry Potter. I gotta take the test to see which house I'm in. You're Gryffindor, right?"

"Correct! I bet you'd be Gryffindor with me since you're so extraordinary,"

Feeling her face flush at the compliment, she giggled. "Thank you. I'll keep you posted on my results when I take the test. I hope the cupcakes taste good. I know your schedule is busy, I won’t keep you long but I hope we can see each other again, real soon,”

“Yeah! We’ll definitely keep in touch. Let’s take another photo before you go.” He suggested

“Yeah! Sure!”

Their interactions with each other were talked about immediately and even made K-Pop articles. 

‘Sparkling Friendship between BTS’ Jennie and Shawn Mendes’

It talked about the two meeting at the award show and his recent Instagram post of his photo with her and the cupcakes as the caption said, 'I am so happy I finally got to meet you. Your warm, positive energy is infectious. One of the sweetest, and kindest interactions I had. Thank you, Jennie. Can't wait to sing with you. See u soon.'

Fans commented:

'WE STAN!’

'Awwwww’

‘Jennie has won at life’

‘She must be on cloud nine! Not only did she meet him but the girl was bold enough to bake for the man. Girlfriend material!’

‘Get you a girl that bakes for you!’

'I love how she bakes for everybody she meets. Bangtan is so lucky to eat her baking 24/7'

‘Now date!’

‘Collab!’

‘Thank you for being so kind to our Miss Bangtan. This means so much to her. I’m glad you two met!’

After hanging with Shawn, Jen and Angelina went to get a quick workout at the hotel gym. 

"I'm telling you! Jungkook is going to freak when he finds out about you baking for the man," Angelina laughed

"I bake for everyone!" Jennie countered. "We've been over this,"

"I wonder how jealous he's gonna be,"

"Shut it! He'll be fine...hopefully...aw man, he's probably losing it, right now," she groaned. 

"Oh yeah," Angelina giggled.

After their workout, they hear a voice say "Excuse me,"

Turning around, Jennie looked surprised. “Oh my gosh, hi!”

“Hi! It’s nice that I finally found you!” Halsey grinned, with a box in her hands. 

“Me!? Hi! Oh my gosh, you’re Halsey! Hi! I-I love Badlands!”

“You said hi like three times,” Angelina laughed, making Halsey laugh too before she greeted Angelina whom she already knew.

“It’s okay, I’m nervous too. Thanks for listening to my music. I’ve been wanting to say hello to you since the show but I had to leave before I could find you. How are you?”

“I’m great! The show was so much fun. I hope that I can attend next year too and with BTS,"

"Yeah! I'd love to meet the boys!"

"I'm sure they'd be happy to meet you. I would hug you but I’m sweaty,”

“Oh, it’s fine. I’m about to leave and I know you’re about to go back to Korea but I wanted to give you this. It’s a big case of smarties. I did my research and saw that this is your favorite snack so I wanted to give you this,” she presented the box to her.

“Oh no, more smarties. You’ve done it now, Halsey,” Angelina teased.

“What!? Oh my gosh, thank you! Wow! I am so eating these on the plane,” Jen said excitedly.

“You're welcome! I hope you enjoy them! I’m doing the rest of my Badlands tour in America and if you’re free, stop by!”

“If I can make it, I will! And I’ll bake something for you. I baked something for Shawn earlier,”

“I saw! It looks great, I would love to try your baking. You want to take a picture?"

“Yeah! Let’s!”

[peanutbutterex]

9 People You Would Like To Know Better

Thanks so much for the tag @snake-snack-stede !!!

3 ships:

Since i did my most significant of all time last time lets do a few other ones

1. Torklenz (Peter Tork/Micky Dolenz, The Monkees): mmm where do i begin? I started shipping them because I had crushes on both of them but they have such a good dynamic and are so sweet together they will always have a place in my heart

2. MakoAmi (Makoto Kino/Ami Mizuno, Sailor Moon): kind of nerd/jock but in the sweetest way. Also tell me this scene does not look gay af

Ami really said to Makoto “I don’t care if guys don’t want to dance with you, I want to dance with you” and she was so real for that

3. Broach (Nathaniel Buttons/Roach, Our Flag Means Death): my rarepair of all rarepairs. I have a manifesto in my drafts just waited to be posted. What started as a crackship in an ofmd discord server (which is now pretty much dead sadly), it became a ship i am genuinely invested in and have been making art for, although it has not been posted. If you want me to post the manifesto or just have me go off on how much i love them in dms let me know

First Ship:

As I said in my last tag, it has to be Zutara. I started shipping it I am pretty sure before i got into my wild monkees obsession when I was 13, which brought about me shipping Torklenz

Last Song:

“Get What You Pay For” by Peter Tork. Stranger Things Have Happened is my comfort album and it helped me go to sleep last night, and so I woke up to it this morning.

Here is the song. Nowhere near my favorite on the album but still pretty good

Currently Reading:

uhhh i was reading a book about cat magick but i am really *really* bad at reading books because i don’t have the attention span to finish them

Last Film:

Barbie, I was watching with my mom but we didn’t get to finish

Currently Craving:

other than Stede Bonnet being my boss so that I could actually work in a supportive environment? More sleep, I always need more sleep.

Tagging: @nandorisms @wearfinethingsalltoowell @medievill @jaskierx @cherry-harrison @catbells-and-summerlinens @xoxoemynn @whimprone @virgo-79 and anyone else who wants to do it!! No pressure!!

[polarboiyeahz]

A few stills from Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Daughter of the Nile (1987) accompanied by a fragment of a review I quickly wrote down along with it.

• • •

I believe this film to be a kind of “period piece” as the film evokes a sense of nostalgia in one as its shot in the 80s, the a viewer can watch this film for the sole purpose of being transported into the earlier times—30 yet nearing 40 years ago. It’s overall aesthetic is beautiful. It displays the environment of Taiwanese urban culture through a dated 80s lens.

Hou Hsiao-hsien makes a 1980s Taiwanese KFC look so appealing.

• • •

The film is about the life of a single family living without an older brother & mother while their only surviving brother of theirs if constantly jumping into the gang lifestyle; the film contains the everyday anxiety that surrounds the family each time that family member is out alone in the streets when everyone is back home.

• • •

If interested in the rest of the review, here’s the link to the full write-up:

[ultralaser]

so are we just not going to talk about the goncharov manga

because this series was so revolutionary in japan that it still influences artists and writers to this day, like there are major characters you are familiar with who are directly riffing off of the japanese version of goncharov. and this is precisely because the setting translated so perfectly from russian mobsters in 1973 italy to russian mobsters in 1976 japan.

the manga was so successful it even spawned an anime adaptation from 79 to 82 and a series of japanese live-action films from 85 to 89. in fact you probably didn't realize it at the time, but you've likely seen clips from the goncharov anime in late 90s european techno music videos, because it was still a cult favorite and was aired over there well into the 90s.

because this material was much more readily available in the west across europe than in the united states, over here it was an obscure footnote, but in france and italy it inspired a whole generation of filmmakers throughout the 80s and 90s. luc besson has even talked about how leon (the professional here in the states) was inspired by illicit readings of the brutal goncharov manga when he was slightly too young.

in fact you can draw a, well never a *straight* line with goncharov, but a clear path of influence from the original film, through the manga and anime and japanese films, through to the almost apocryphally obscure 1982 italian tv adaptation *of the manga*, through nearly luc besson and jean reno's entire early careers, and on through, even to "modern" works like the hitman games and then of course to *that* film adaptation.

the legacy of goncharov lives on almost invisibly because by this point of course, once it has bled into something like the transporter films, nearly all of the original story has been lost to attrition. but that core premise that still makes the original film so vital, of a man trapped in a brutal and inevitable cycle of violence? that has endured across continents, across mediums, and across generations.

[chirpsythismorning]

How can you still think that Henry is not El's father? Look at this parallel! No hate, just trying to understand

https://www.tumblr.com/bylertruther/715418989849870336?source=share

This is the first time I’ve seen anything more substantial than the Darth Vader/Luke parallels, so I am intrigued! It is technically Vecna saying both things, both times. We see him do this with El in s3 and then Max in s4 with This will all be over soon, so he does have a penchant for repeating things for dramatic effect. BUT the fact that it is a father/daughter dynamic in this case, is quite incriminating. 

The main thing that puts me off with this theory is that it would be quite predictable? There were a lot of fans acknowledging the Darth Vader/Luke parallels between Henry/El on Reddit when s4 first premiered. Though to be fair, even now no one really takes the theory seriously, despite it being something a lot of casual fans picked up on and still bring up for discussions on there, so at least there’s that? But still, that’s just another reason why it sort of puts me off, the idea of it being this big revelation in s5, despite it being something people easily hypothesized only to discard just as quickly, and how that would be kind of disappointing? I think it being easy to guess is also why I was convinced it was simply put there as a misdirect to block people from finding out the truth?

And yet, this is pretty interesting to me and so I am intrigued at the very least!

I am convinced Joyce is El and Will’s mother though. Like 100%. Terry is very obviously placed as a misdirect, as is Lonnie (reminder that the Duffers love misdirects/red herrings).

Technically, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for Joyce to be their mother AND Henry to be their father, being that El/Will would have been born in 1970, when Joyce was 28 and Henry was 23? However, we’re also getting the play The First Shadow, which is set in 1959, when Joyce was 17 and Henry was 12, so I feel like it would be weird to establish them crossing paths all the way back then and again later in life, only for her to get pregnant? Regardless if it was like done in the lab or not, it would just be an odd choice, that's all I'm saying!

With that being said, IVF does exist. The first successful IVF procedure wasn’t until 1978, so 8 years after El and Will were born. But this is a TV show and so years can be off from time to time. This would also be a lab doing this, a lab that is known for not reporting dangerous procedures performed on unsuspecting subjects, so I wouldn't go as far as to say it's completely out of the realm of possibility.

I also do think that Henry is heavily queer-coded, so it’s likely we could get a backstory for him in s5 that sort of delves into that part of his life, and how his perceived queerness might have been what got him involved with doctors prior to Hawkins Lab. This was alluded to, with him saying he’d been poked and prodded for years, with the language surrounding it being directly tied to his queer-coding.

What this does remind me of though is Aliens (1986), which Paul Reiser aka Dr. Owens also starred in. His character Burke comes off one of the good guys early on, with him even making the classic, I’m one of the good guys jokes (same as Owens does in s2), only to end the film being the one who had been directly working against them, from the very beginning. According to the original script, he even refers to our lead character as 'kiddo' A LOT, which Owens also does throughout the series with Will in s2 and El in s4. In the film, it’s alluded to that his character signed a document setting all of this in motion, dated 6/12/79, which… fucking interesting considering what revelations we could still have in store for in regards to the lab's true origins in s5.

And so, could the lab have impregnated Joyce via IVF with Henry's sperm? Arguably, it's possible!

Maybe Henry and Joyce didn’t interact in the 70’s, but perhaps after being away from the lab for a short time, Henry was for the first time in his life in an okay place, maybe he even experienced his first love, only to lose him, with the lab perhaps taking advantage of his vulnerability, roping him back into a permanent life there? And then maybe, a few years pass, and with him being unaware, they used his DNA to impregnate Joyce? 

This could then follow the whole one kid is in the experiment group (El) and one kid is in the control group (Will) theory?

This would also perhaps fit into the Brenner being tasked with focusing on the experiment group (El) and Owens being tasked with focusing on the control group (Will).

This does remind me a lot of a couple scenes in particular...

4x05: The Nina Project

This sequence above is almost a direct parallel to El's series long recurring flashback of Terry (2x07: The Lost Sister):

El calling Terry her home, warranted a correction, because no, Terry is not El's Mama, nor her home.

And thereby repeating that scene in a sense, with Brenner saying You're home now. You're home, this time with no follow up to correct it? And with a shot that looks very freaking in terms of what the blocking could possibly signify?

Could this mean that El's home is the lab then? She was born (conceived) in the lab, which is why that is more the truth than the assumption that Terry is her mother? (El also gives off Will vibes in some of these close-ups above, where you cant see her hair length. Instead what we get is the notable Byers bob, which is interesting...)

4x08: Papa

Then there's this...

We have both Brenner and Owens attending to El, as she is having flashbacks to her birth.

And AGAIN we get this focus on this female doctor (who appears to also be rocking the Byers' hairstyle....). This is after El has finally been faced with the 'truth' regarding the massacre at Hawkins Lab, and so why are they wasting all of this crucial time having El stare in the direction of where this woman is standing, literally squinting with a confused expression? She literally looks at this woman more than she does at Brenner and Owens (that close-up of El staring directly at her before she gets the first flashback is so insane, I want to scream) And why does she appear to have identical nail polish to Terry in her flashback, with them being juxtaposed back to back in those shots?

I think that what this all could essentially mean, is that our understanding of El's birth is not what it seems.

We hear 2 baby's crying during her flashback right before she banishes Henry to the upside down in 4x07. We see that there are inconsistencies with the flashbacks, with us even seeing a baby in the womb at one point, from the perspective of El who is also in the womb, meaning she was looking at another baby alongside her??? And we even get from Terry's flashbacks a moment where one baby is being held by Brenner, followed by him looking back to the source, almost confused (bc there's one more?)? And so that then begs to question if this was an intentional twin birth, or it just ended up being the case?

I guess with all of that at play, it's hard for me to distinguish what is real and what isn't anymore.

I mean, isn't there an official still of Henry at Project Nina? Did we just scurry past that without thinking about the implications of it?

That opens up a whole new can of worms because it begs to question, again what is real and what isn't real, even further? How much are the lab in control of what is going on? Do they know what Henry's plan is based on some type of secret information we don't have? Or are they also pawns in Henry's game, making choices without even realizing that he is behind them because he is playing with time?

I guess I don't really see why Henry would turn back the clock though, in this context? Like going back to 59 and what happened back then, which led to all of this coming into play? I just struggle to understand how that would be dealt with in a way that wouldn't feel sort of like, why tho?

I also as of now subscribe to this being a time loop situation based on evidence that goes back to the very first episode. So when there's time trickery involved, I guess it's just a lot easier for me to imagine Henry turning back the clock for a specific reason, with it being in relation to Joyce and Hopper specifically (and the vague plot of the play thus far supports that possibility more to me?)

Basically the crack theory I'm subtly subscribing to rn, is that something horrible happened in the OG timeline in relation to Will/El. I think Lonnie could have been involved, and it's likely the lab was involved in covering it up because they were responsible for him as he was a volunteer who went haywire basically.

And so Henry, turning back the clock, is him making an attempt to give Will and El a second chance in a world that he views as a horrible place that let him (and them) down.

I think that could fit into Henry's motives being a lot more justified than we are expecting, with him experiencing both being impacted by the lab and having to deal with societies demands of him fitting their mold.

I am intrigued at the very least by the prospects of this being like a plan from the lab, with the focus on eggs/demogorgan imagery being inspired by the movie Aliens. I can't think much further how that would work, but I can imagine it at least!

And no offense to you, but this combined with the Darth Vader/Luke parallels still doesn't quite manage to outweigh all the foreshadowing connected to Hopper, which goes all the way back to s1, literally right after the opening credits of the pilot episode. Whereas this is starting to only be added into the narrative in s3 (barely!).

While I will continue to be open to anything and everything, I'm still leaning more towards this being a misdirect, just as Terry and Lonnie were, for an audience that has a lot of surprises in store in s5, which they couldn't see coming in the first place because of all the red herrings they fell for easily along the way.

TBH I see more connecting the Creels to the Wheelers in terms of a secret familial revelation. And I don't see that being something that would happen simultaneously with this, so for that reason, I'm out (for now at least!).

[noanunoparty]

15/02/23 ~ NTS Radio - Yukihiro Takahashi Special

Presenting to you, the music of the late Yukihiro Takahashi - a leading figure in Japan’s music scene for nearly 50 years and a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra. 

As a drummer and a vocalist who embraced music technology, he had a wide artistic range - from city pop and arty new wave to acoustic folk-rock, in addition to producing material for several pop acts and composing film and video game soundtracks.

Born in 1952 in Tokyo, he began his music career early, playing drums with college bands while still in junior high school and starting as a session musician at 16. He studied design at an Art University in Tokyo, without graduating. Like many of his peers, his artistic output had no limits - he developed his own clothing line in the 70s (Bricks), often designing the outfits worn by Yellow Magic Orchestra. He also took the role of actor in several films - mostly comedic roles (he seemed to have a good sense of humour!) & some of which, he produced soundtracks for. 

Takahashi loved to collaborate, forming bands on the fly and bringing in friends to play on individual tracks.

So -  I hope you enjoy this chronological deep dive into Yukihiro Takahashi’s musical catalogue as I pay tribute to his iconic and influential life. I’ve listened most of his 43 albums and have done my best to condense them into 2 hours! Let’s go!

1992 - Expected Ocean Umi Sora Sango no Iitsutae Soundtrack

Movie soundtrack by Takahashi acting as a bed for the show’s intro. 

2. 1975 - Sadistic Mika Band -  Time To Noodle - Hot! Music

Sadistic Mika Band were formed in 1972 - the founding member, Kazuhiko Katō moved to Kensington in 72 and was impressed by the upcoming glam rock scene led by T.Rex and David Bowie - so he formed the band in Japan, including his wife Mika and Takahashi on drums. The name is a parody of the 60s band, Plastic Ono Band.

The band were popular in the UK, touring with Roxy Music in ‘75 - the first ever UK tour by a Japanese band. During this period, they performed on the BBC’s Old Grey Whistle Test. When they appeared,  the name of the programme (usually shown hung from the back wall) was spelt as The Old Gley Whistle Test as a nod to the Japanese pronunciation of the letters L and R.

Sadistic Mika Band’s albums were released on Doughnut Records - Japan’s first private label that was founded by Katō. 

Around the time of Hot Music’s release, members of Yellow Magic Orchestra started working together on solo projects and as a part of each others bands. 

3. 1978 - Sadistics - Nao - We Are Just Taking Off 

Katō and Mika divorced and left the band. The remaining members, Takahashi, Takanaka, Imai, and Gotō continued for several years as The Sadistics. They released two albums and two live albums before the band eventually petered out in ’79 as the members became busy with their solo careers & other projects. 

4. 1978 - Present - Sarravah! 

This was Takahashi’s first solo album, created whilst on tenure from The Sadistics. It was produced by Sakamoto - he also features on keys. Plus Hosono on bass, with Tatsuro Yamashita, Minako Yoshida & Rajie on backing vocals. 

Named after Pierre Barouh’s record label of the same name, Takahasi based the album on French pop music - this influence would later show up in early YMO material. 

Sarravah! Was released the same year that YMO fully formed, recorded & released first album. 

5. 1980 - Numbers From A Calculated Conversation - Murdered by the Music 

Second studio album & his first release whilst he was a member of YMO. Murdered by the Music did pretty well in the Japanese charts, reaching #12. 

Features contributions from Sakamoto, Hosono & Sandii. 

6. 1981 - Extra Ordinary - Neuromantic 

This is my favourite album from Takahashi’s collection - synth-pop goodness and his vocals are perfection! 

Neuromantic was self-produced, again with contributions from Sakamoto and Hosono + Tony Mansfield and members of Roxy Music. 

The name, Neuromantic, is a pun on the early 1980s British fashion movement, the New Romantics.

7. 1981 - Drip Dry Eyes - Neuromantic

Another classic from Neuromantic. My favourite song of his, probably yours too. Was also covered by Sandii. & the video! Ah! 

8. 1981 - The Beatniks-  No Way Out - Exitentialism

Formed by Takahashi & Keiichi Suzuki in 1981. More of an Alt-rock tinge. They released several albums, including soundtracks for Yohji Yamamoto’s catwalk shows. 

Their first album in 7 years was released in 2018. That same year, they performed live in several concerts, despite Takahashi’s recent eye surgery. 

9. 1982 - Flashback - What Me, Worry? 

Fourth solo album. More features from Sakamoto & Hososno +  Zaine Griff, Tony Mansfield, and Bill Nelson.

Takahashi’s first release on YEN Records - An imprint of Alfa Records that ran from 1982 to 1985 fronted by Hosono and Takahashi, releasing music from Sandii, Hajime Tachibana, Miharu Koshi & more. They also produced most of the albums.

10. 1983 - Kagero (Live Version from Time & Place) - Tomorrow’s Just Another Day 

This album reached 11 in the music charts - the highest ranking for Takahashi’s solo work! Tomorrow’s Just Another Day really emphasises Takahashi as a singer. 

This version, taken from Time & Place was recorded live at Shibuya Kokaido in Tokyo, Aug. 1983. 

+ peep the cute cover! 

11. 1983 - And I Believe In You - Are You Receiving Me? 

Had to include this one as it’s another favourite. Released as the B Side to the single, Are you Receiving Me? This is classic Takahashi synth-pop goodness <3 

12. 1984 - Walking to the Beat - Wild and Moody 

Sixth and last solo album on his YEN label. 

Wild and Moody is quite mellow. He sings mostly in English, hoping to pursue more of a global audience. The lyrics for Track 2 were written by Steve Jansen who was a close collaborator of Takahashi and Jansen considered him as a mentor. 

13. 1985 - Instrumental - Poisson d'Avril

Soundtrack from the comedy film "Poisson D'avril" (April's Fool in French), released in 1986. Takahashi plays the lead role! 

14. 1985 - I Saw The Light - Once A Fool 

Another fav and it’s a Todd Rundgren cover. It’s just perfect pop. 

Once A Fool was the first album from the T.E.N.T. label that was started by Takahashi and Keiichi Suzuki (of the Beatniks). With Sakamoto on keys and synths, Hosono on bass & synths & Hiroshi Sato on the organ. + backing vocals from Miharu Koshi! 

15. 1986 - Moonlight Feels Right - Only When I Laugh

Second release on T.E.N.T. Only When I Laugh feels quite fresh with more of an acoustic tinge to it. 

16. 1987 - Parfum De L'Aube - La Pensee

Music for Yohji Yamamoto’s S/S ‘87 + A/W ‘87 - ‘88 collection, shown in Paris. 

Takahashi & Yamamoto often collaborated, and YMO often wore Yamamoto’s designs on tour. In 1991 Takahashi & Hosono walked the runway for Yamamoto and Comme des Garçons legendary collection “6.1 the men” 

17. 1987 - Main Theme - Ginga No Sannin OST

Takahashi composed a lot of music for video games, and his work in YMO had a major influence on early video game music.

18. 1988 - Sea Change - Ego 

Features some of his bolder synth arrangements and arena-ready tracks, with contributions from Sakamoto. 

19. 1992 - mis - Life Time Happy Time 

Another classic pop album from Takahashi - this one flew under the radar a bit and doesn’t stand out from his collection as much as others. 

20. 1995 - Fate of Gold - Fate of Gold 

Takahashi wanted to collaborate with a wide variety of artists of all different ages, “with the attitude of: "I'll let you mature when you're mature” “ Featuring Skapara, KYON, Rei Ohara, ICE's MAYUMI and Takenaka Naoto. 

21. 1997 - Pulse - The Choice - Pulse

In September 1997 Steve Jansen and Takahashi formed UK based, Pulse and completed a 6 track album in Tokyo and London under the same name. Released on Yukihiro's own label, Consipio Records. 

A very experimental, more “contemporary” album! The Choice features vocals from Indian classical singer Sonia Mehta. 

22. 1999 - For Men - The Dearest Fool 

Takahashi returns to the 80s techno-pop sound! + another collaboration with Steve Jansen. 

23. 2002 - Sketch Show - Gokigen Ikaga 1 2 3 - Audio Sponge

After YMO decided to “spread out” (they didn’t want to say “split-up”), Takahashi and Hosono formed Sketch Show. Sketch Show had ore of an electronica output as opposed to pop. 

Sakamoto often joined Sketch Show performances and recording sessions. He later proposed they rename the group Human Audio Sponge (or HAS) when he participates.

Sketch Show played live shows at Japanese raves and a headline slot at the 2003 edition of SONAR in Barcelona. 

24. 2008 - Pupa - Jargon - What’s Pupa - Floating Pupa

Takhashi put together Pupa in 2007 - formed of Tomoyo Harada, Hiroshi Takada, Ren Takada, Hirohisa Horie, and Tomohiko Gondo. The band name Pupa is a term from fly-fishing, a sport that Takahashi loves.

25. 2013 - Shadow - Life Anew 

Aged 61 - Takahashi goes back to basics yet you can tell he’s feeling musically inspired with Life Anew, which sounds more like a rock band than anything else he’s put out before. 

Features contributions from former Smashing Pumpkins member,  James Iha.

26. 2014 - Yukihiro Takahashi & Metafive - Drip Dry Eyes (Live) - Techno Recital 

Takahashi originally assembled Keigo Oyamada, Yoshinori Sunahara, Towa Tei, Tomohiko Gondo, and Leo Imai to serve as the backing band (billed as Yukihiro Takahashi & Metafive) on his 2014 tour - this version of Drip Dry Eyes was taken from the Roppongi Theatre show, for which they were billed as Yukihiro Takahashi & Metafive. In 2015, the band changed their name to Metafive.

They disbanded after the release of their last album, METAATEM in 2021, after the release was originally cancelled due to controversy from Oyamama’s past history of bullying. 

The line-up of Imai, Sunahara, Nagai and Shirane changed their name to TESTSET and released their debut EP in 2022. 

27. 1998  - Stay Close (Live) - Once A Fool 

We end on another favourite - a joyous live version from 1998 of Stay Close. - another collaboration with Steve Jansen. 

Thank you Yuki-san for everything you’ve given the world - your legacy will live on forever <3 

[geffenrecords]

I still would like to see your stuff about diary of a wimpy kid. hand it over 🫴🏽

oh boy um. okay. so i hauvent posted abt them in a long time but i imagine if youve followed me for long enuf you remember....and boy theres a lot to sayhere

so the context is that like when i was like 14..me & my at the time best friend became just like. obsessed with the diary of a wimpy kid movies. and im dead serious we were obsessed with them. we watched them all the time and talked about them for hours. like im straight up we loved these movies. my only possible defense for what was up with me is that i was really anorexic haha so i was really weird in the head. but anyways, obviously mostly people only talk about those movies because they like rodrick and well looks around yeah. but also ☝️ we were retired glee kids. my friend had previously been the biggest fan of the warblers from glee (who altogether have maybe 8 minutes of screentime) and we were retired newsies fans. we were really cringey fandom kids still & we were really really good at loving total nothing background characters. so !

if you pay attention. in the first movie rodricks band consists of 1 redhead kid on guitar, some emo kid, and some other random guy. in rodrick rules/dog days, his band is two guys named ben and chris (plus bill in rodrick rules and some random kid they found for dog days). chris doesnt have any lines i dont think but he is there a lot in rodrick rules. i dont have any evidence but im like 79% sure he was definitely high during the filming. and if he wasnt hes really good at acting it. ben does have lines though :-) in rodrick rules he and rodrick drive rowley and greg home and discuss what song theyre going to perform at the talent show and he says "dude we'll get to go backstage" at the party scene.

um. anyways yeah. we made them into what was pretty much our own characters and gave them a whole story which is so long and. in all honesty i just forgot so much of i make shit up all the time for it when i do stuff with it now. but its silly and long and to sum it up -> ben works at office max in a mall (i dont think they have office max in malls) and rodrick keeps coming in to print/copy band posters. one night he breaks the machine so he and ben talk and rodrick asks him to join his band. he says yes, so ben and chris join the band which is rodrick and matt (emo kid from the first movie, who guess what doesnt say a single thing. he just stands there and claps at the sorry women scene) also the big joke with matt was that he works at chuck e cheese and hes the guy who wears the mouse costume and ben rodrick and chris all keep going there and pissing him off and eventually he gets mad and yells at them and thats how they all meet. i think thats what we created him for basically. ben is rhythm guitar/vocals, chris is bass, rodrick is drums, and matt is lead guitar. they break up at the end of highschool and reunite after dropping out of college and get world famous haha. just think like really annoying music kids in like 2007 who actually have a successful band...(their song is rodrick rules is good...i promise go look it up).

but ya. its unfortunately such a personal story to me atp that i cant let it go even though im not even friends with that person anymore. and also i dont really care. its funny & i draw them so much now and also. rodrick rules is such a good fucking movie. i dont care its definitely in my top ten favorites im deadass. whatevs.

other noteable things from this is kitty. whos my oc completely but shes chris' girlfriend and we made her up because the whole joke was she pegged him to paramore. hides my face this is just who we were at the time. but i draw her more with my own ocs than i do with chris her boyfriend who is the only reason she exists. i think thats all. im sorry this is so long but ive never actually explained the whole thing. theres so much more but i literally wont stop if i start. go thru the doawk tag on my blog 4 further explanation or ask me...i love talking about them please please.... bonus drawing of them i just did for this👍

[bullet-prooflove]

Taylor Swift - Mixed Tape Prompt List

A collection of prompts from the Taylor Swift songs I love.

Pick one of the chars from my ASK list and pop an ASK in the ASK box!

1)      I can see you standing, honey with his arms around your body

2)      Make sure nobody sees you leave

3)      Wanna see what's under that attitude

4)      We were in the backseat

5)      Cross your heart, won't tell no other

6)      No one has to know what we do

7)      That's the kind of heartbreak time could never mend

8)      'Cause I loved you, I swear I loved you

9)      Wishing I stayed

10)   His hands are in my hair, his clothes are in my room

11)   you won't have to cry

12)   I've been breakin' hearts a long time

13)   If you ever walk away

14)   Fuck you

15)   hide in the closet

16)   Nothing lasts forever

17)   Champagne

18)   staring out at the midnight sea

19)   Go there every night

20)   The darkest little paradise

21)   Jacket 'round my shoulders is yours

22)   Slept next to her, but I dreamt of you

23)   Now I'm feeling hopeless

24)   You need to just stop

25)   when we've had our very last kiss

26)   You are somebody that I don't know

27)   Tangled up with you all night

28)   I still got love for you

29)   scream ferociously

30)   Tell yourself you can always stop

31)   I think it's 'cause of me

32)   this is gonna take me down

33)   I still got love for you

34)   Love you to the moon and to Saturn

35)   You need to calm down

36)   I can see the end as it begins

37)   I think you should come live with Me

38)   Drunk on something stronger than the drinks in the bar

39)   You know I adore you

40)   Sunshine on the street 

41)   She's gone too far this time

42)   For you, I would cross the line

43)   must've taken all night

44)   I'd beg you on my knees to stay

45)   Clandestine meetings and longing stares

46)   Laughin', but the joke's not funny at all

47)   Sat on the roof, you and I

48)   Say you'll remember me

49)   When you can't sleep at night

50)   Walk me back to that apartment

51)   I didn't have it in myself to go with grace

52)   Ran for my life

53)   You hold my hand on the street

54)   And I hope I never lose you, hope it never ends

55)   No one likes a mad woman

56)   in your wildest dreams

57)   And it's okay if you're mad

58)   It's like I couldn't breathe

59)   Red lips and rosy cheeks

60)   And it took you five whole minutes to pack us up and leave me with it

61)   You made her like that

62)   You heard the rumors

63)   Cursing my name

64)   You had to kill me, but it killed you just the same

65)   I think I've seen this film before and I didn't like the ending

66)   It's been a long time coming

67)   Doing your dirtiest work for you

68)   Leave the perfume on the shelf that you picked out just for him

69)   You can't believe a word she says

70)   What am I defending?

71)   It's you and me

72)   Rolling fake dice

73)   You turned into your worst fears

74)    Leave no trace behind

75)   You used to tell me I was brave

76)   And that's the thing about illicit affairs

77)   She’s a bad, bad girl.

78)   Look at this godforsaken mess that you made me

79)   The worst thing that I ever dis was what I did to you

80)   Doing your dirtiest work for you

81)   I know I miss you

82)   I'm so sick of running as fast as I can

83)   For you, I would ruin myself

84)   Like you don't even exist

85)   I think you should come home

86)   The only thing I wanna do is make it up to you

87)  Knuckles bloody for me

88)  When you say I seem angry

89)  You know I can't see with anyone else

90)  Kissin' in my car

91)  Drunk on this pain

92)  There's nothing like this

93)  They'd say I played the field before I found someone to commit to

94)   I know where it all went wrong

95)   He's just your understudy

96)   Your favorite song was playing

97)   You took everything from me

98)    I don't want you to (go)

99)   nowhere to be found

100) Battered and bruising

101) Second, third, and hundredth chances

102) She should be mad

103)  Darling, I'm scared

104)  I don't really wanna

105) You are the only one who seems to care

106)  I saw you dance with him

107)  Add insult to injury

108)  Tossing out blame

109)  A figment of my worst intentions

110)  Good wives always know

111)  I'm not your problem anymore

112) We always walked a very thin line

113)  You didn't even hear me out

114)  You never gave a warning sign

[kohlippit]

Viewing Response 3

In Timewasters (2017), When the main characters first arrive in 1926, Jason says that they should enjoy their time here because “people like us never get to time travel. It’s what white people do.” The show points out right away how films and TV series on the subject of time travel usually features a white cast. Yet, in Jolie C. Matthews article “Dominant Narratives and Historical Perspective in Time Travel Stories: A Case Study of Doctor Who,” it is pointed out how representation of race often comes with a cost in media. Matthews writes that “much of the research on historical representation examines a particular racial/ethnic or gender perspective, as opposed to exploring race and gender together” (79). The issue Matthews brings up is evident in Timewasters, where three of the four main characters are male and the show is littered with rather sexist jokes. Furthermore, the one female lead is often mistaken for looking like a man. This type of problem can be seen in the new Star Wars films, where a female lead and a black co-star was cast, yet it is a white woman and a black man. However, it is important to point out that while Timewasters does have some downsides, it still does cast black characters in an underrepresented setting, which is definitely a positive.

#oxyspeculativetv @theuncannyprofessoro