#I only know you like my sister is because she wants to be an actor

[softquietsteadylove]

Well if we got Thenamesh actor AU hurt we also should get a fluff and comfort fic after the stunt desaster, don’t you think? Thena looking after Gil and helping him <3

Thena knocked on the door, waiting patiently, worrying all the while. Even though Gil had been released from the hospital, he had still broken his arm clean through after their stunt had gone terribly wrong. Filming was even on break for a short while as he healed and as they rearranged everyone's schedules. They were filming what they could without him, and that included some of her solo scenes.

But it still left her with more free time to check on Gil, visit him, maybe do her best to lend a helping hand.

Even though it was just the bad luck of things (and the lack of checking on the status of their safety equipment), she still felt bad that it was him that had gotten hurt. The least she could do was bring him some groceries.

"Thena, hey!"

"Hey, Gil, I-"

"Sorry," he apologised, chuckling nervously as he shut the door behind her with his good arm. His injured arm was tucked against his chest--his bare chest. "I'm sorry to, uh, greet you in this state."

Thena just stared, trying to pick her jaw up and say something (anything!).

"They showed me how to get a shirt on at the hospital," Gil continued in a rush. For however embarrassed Thena was, Gil was obviously mortified. "I was trying to get it on when you knocked."

Thena nodded, choosing to look down at the bags in her hands as opposed to the very half-naked Gilgamesh in front of her. She was being silly, she knew. They weren't children, and not only was he in his own home, but he was also injured. It was just a torso--a very bare, very muscular torso.

"Sorry," he apologised again, eagerly scooping the bags up from her hands. "I'll go give it another shot. I'll be-"

"I can help," she volunteered before she could really remind herself just how stupid that was of her to offer. The blush in her cheeks only deepened at the look of gratitude written all over his face. "It must be painful to try and do yourself."

Gil sighed, still cradling his arm against himself. "I guess I wouldn't describe it as fun. They said it would get better as it heals. I can't walk around shirtless all the time."

He could--if he wanted. Thena bit down on the inside of her lip, "I suppose not."

"How's Sprite?" he asked in light conversation, walking up the stairs first to lead Thena to the bedroom.

"She actually made you a card," Thena smiled, handing it over as he paused on the staircase.

He smiled down at the small, simplistic piece of cardstock with a frowny face on it. "Dear Gil, I'm sorry your shattered your arm into a million pieces. That must suck the big one. Sprite."

"A true poet," Thena rolled her eyes at her sister's way with words. But when she looked at Gil again he seemed genuinely moved by the facetious little card.

He shrugged at Thena's skeptical look, holding the card gently, "it's sweet, in her own way."

Thena let out a faint laugh as they continued to Gil's bedroom. He had met her maybe once or twice at this point, but his understanding of her standoffish sister continued to warm her heart. "I suppose so."

Gil opened the door and immediately moved to the bed, where both his sling and his shirt had been abandoned in favour of letting Thena in. "I didn't make it very far."

"I can't imagine it's easy," Thena tilted her brows at him. She could clearly remember how heavy a dose of painkillers they'd given him immediately after the break.

Gil didn't remember it at all--that's how strong they were.

Gil offered her his own shy smile as he leaned his head down, moving his arm away from himself as far as he could.

Thena bunched up the t-shirt in her hands, scrunching it up and condensing the fabric as much as possible. She slipped his fist through the sleeve first, pushing it up to his shoulder.

Gil leaned down closer to her to let her get the neck over his head. Thena turned her head slightly, unable to take the feeling of his face being so close to hers. It was one thing when they were playing husband and wife in a scene--it was one thing to kiss her co-star when they were in character. It was another thing entirely to have Gilgamesh so close to her.

Gil blinked as she pulled the neck of the shirt over his head. He never noticed how much taller than her he was when she wasn't in heels, but he stood back up to his full height, letting her pull the shirt down once his other arm was in. Her fingers brushed against the muscles below his ribs and they both skittered a little further apart. "Th-Thanks for the help."

"Anytime," Thena murmured, twisting her hair around and around and around and then moving it to her other shoulder. She swayed a little on her feet before gesturing vaguely behind her, "the, um, groceries?"

"R-Right!" Gil put on a smile, determined to put his sweet co-star at ease. He certainly didn't feel at ease after parading around in front of her in just some grey sweatpants, but he could wallow in his embarrassment later. "Let me make us some lunch--since you're here!"

"Gil," Thena murmured as she followed him out again, "I can help. You shouldn't be pushing yourself."

"Hey, it's no trouble," he smiled, already halfway down the stairs again. "You were nice enough to bring them anyway."

It was true--she had even braved the grocery store for them. She could already imagine the rumours that were going to pop up if anyone found out that she had brought them here, but she would just have to deal with that later.

"At least let me help," she laughed and scolded him at the same time, joining him in the kitchen as he pulled items onto the counter individually. She held up a bunch of carrots (not having known what to get him but just grabbing whatever she thought he might like). "Sprite will tell you herself that I'm not much of a cook. But at least I can chop some things for you."

"If you insist," he allowed, reaching into the fridge both to put away new things and pull out some milk. "How about some bolognese?"

Thena smiled as he reached around her to set out more ingredients, the warmth from him clinging to her pleasantly. "Sounds perfect."

[booksandchainmail]

Near the end of part 1 of The Traitor Baru Cormorant, Baru spends time in a tavern arguing about whether power lies in money or in the familial ties of nobility with an "actress", who it later becomes clear was in fact the Duchess Nayaru. Her act slips quite a bit throughout this conversation as she describes who she would make of herself an empress, but Baru misses it completely because she is very, very drunk.

As an extra hint for the observant reader, the scene begins by noting that the actress looks enough like Baru to be her sister: a couple of chapters ago, Baru was stopped by Duke Pinjagata on suspicion of being Nayauru, and he mentioned their strong resemblance.

While Nayauru (correctly) notes that Baru pays no attention to the personal lives and motivations of the Aurdwynni nobility, she gives examples:

"Do you know the story of Xate Olake's marriage to Tain Ko? Could you tell me why Heingyl Ri has only one living cousin, and who it is? Can you name the dukes who lost all their children in the Fools' Rebellion?" Baru brushed the challenge away. "Touching stories, I'm sure. I'm not a playwright. If it mattered, I would learn." "You rule a nation of the bereft. That matters. It changes how we think."

The first example is important because it is one of the breadcrumbs laid out to establish the background existence of Tain Shir. The third, I'm not so sure about: maybe as I reread I'll find further references to exactly which dukes this refers to. But the second:

"Heingyl's daughter handles his accounts. She likes to stay in debt to the Fiat Bank, as a kind of bond of trust." "Oh. Interesting. Maybe that's why she wanted my job. Who's her mother?" "One of the sisters of the last Duchess Nayauru, I believe. Didn't survive the Fool's Rebellion."

Heingyl Ri's only cousin is Nayauru herself, and she is the only one living because the rest of her family died in the Fools' Rebellion. Baru brushes aside as trivia the fact the woman she is speaking to, who holds a quarter of Aurdwynn and dreams of empire restored, lost her entire family to the Masks.

But there is even another layer: Nayauru, the "actress", is in the bar at the recommendation of her cousin. Heingyl Ri, who Baru consistently dismisses in the first two books as a potential actor in her own right, is the one who sent Nayauru Dam-Builder to judge the Imperial Accountant while she was vulnerable.

[pascallatte]

Slip-ups

Pairing: Pedro Pascal x actress!reader

Date: Jan 2019

Warnings: none I think but maybe a hint of something.

A/N: this is from y/n's POV and can be a 2nd part of the series but this is a long way from that. yeahhh. Hope you guys like this!!

Y/N L/N Answers the Web’s Most Searched Questions

“Good Afternoon, this is Y/n L/n and this is the wired autocomplete interview,” you started with the most monotonous voice you could ever make

-Autocomplete suggests the most common searcher on the internet-

“I am very excited, I’ve been wanting to do this since like forever but you guys never invited me, which was sad,” the camera then proceeds to zoom in your faces as you looked at the lens with a very menacing look. 

-So WIRED asked Y/N L/N some of the internet’s burning questions- 

Giggling to yourself, you sat back and took the first board that was given to you.

With a bright smile you said “Alrighty WIRED let’s do thisss!!!”

“Is y/n l/n….related to Sarah Paulson” with a scoff you shook your head and released a very breathy “NNOooooooo” 

“ But I’ve been asked this questions a couple times now and as much as I want to be related to Sarah, we are not.”

You looked back at the board, read it a few more times then nodded.

“ But we are sisters though, just not by blood.”

-Cut-

“ Is y/n l/n Elizabeth Swann”

“Oh!! Yup I am the Elizabeth Swann from Pirates of the Caribbean” you explained as soon as the question was revealed

“ did you know that not many people knew I was in that movie? And the reason?” You excitedly asked as you looked at the staff behind the camera.

“Was my fucking dark blonde hair!! Now hold on before you guys on the internet hate on me, let me explain.”

Hands up in a surrendering position you began “Look I loved that role, the series, the people, Orlando Bloom,..” You winked” but blonde just doesn’t suit me, AT ALL, and keeping that hair as blonde as it can is a freaking nightmare so after I’ve finished wrapping up the last of that film series I told myself never EVER!! Take a role that needed my hair to be dyed.”

-Cut-

“ Is y/n l/n a sagittarius”

Smiling to yourself as you recall a memory, you look down and answered “ Yes, yes I am because as you all know I was born on December 1987- GOSH I’m old” you cut yourself as you’ve registered the words that were said.

“But that is all I can tell you, 'cause I’m not that much into horoscopes or zodiacs or whatever but Pe-“ you cut yourself once again.” But uhmmm, someone once told me that I am the "embodiment" of the Sagittarius sign and that we sagi babes are most compatible with an Aries?? I think”

A small smile was seen on your face as the video cuts to the next question.

-Cut-

“ Are y/n l/n and Pedro Pascal friends”

"Hhmmm are we? I mean we hang out, send tiktoks to each other, and he steals my fuzzy socks a lot….” you nod off while listing all the things Pedro has done to you in the past week, in mind.

“ I guess we are friends? nO, I’m just kidding we are, the best might I add”

You beamed at the lens as you rattled on, “of course we’re friends, we’ve been friends for quite a while now and I thank sister Sarah for that. But yeah, I mean who wouldn’t want to be friends with that guy?”

You once again looked at the staff who was nodding at you to continue.

“ He’s friendly, goofy, a great storyteller, and actor” you winked again that was accompanied by a snort,  “and a great person in general…ah he also shares his empanadas so that makes him an even Better Greater person HAHA!!”

You then throw the board to the ground as you jump out of your seat

-Cut-

“Who does y/n l/n play in Narcos”

“ I play a DEA agent from Barcelona, Spain named Catalina “Lina” Mendoza, she is the love interest of Javier Pena and who is played by the one and only Jose Pedro Balmaceda Pascal, who is the partner of Boyd Holbrook aka Steve Murphy” proudly you crossed your arms and leaned back in the chair.

-Cut-

“What is y/n l/n first movie”

“Ahh this is a great question, uhmmm my first movie was released way back in ’99 and it’s called the sixth sense. Which was a great experience and opened up my little 11-year-old mind up more into the acting industry.” You answered while thinking back on that more to add.

“ I mean it is a minor role but I got to meet Bruce Willis and act with a very close friend of mine, Trevor Morgan.” You added before looking back at the board.

-Cut-

“What is y/n l/n doing now”

“Since this will be released, I don’t know, a few days or weeks from now I’d try to answer what I would be doing at that time” you scratch your chin as you think of what you would do without saying too much.

“I would either be at home, chilling, drinking wine, while watching a movie OR” you exaggerate, “ I’d be out partying or hanging out with a few friends of mine, yeah I think that’s about it.”

-cut-

“ How can I meet y/n l/n”

Laughing you said, “Well, I’ll probably be in my favourite cafe during my spare time so maybe you guys can drop by and have the courage to say hi,” you tease but was followed by an “I'd rather have you do that instead of taking a, what you think is a discreet, picture of me and the one person I’m with” you ended with a forced smile.

-Cut-

“How old was y/n l/n when Pedro Pascal”

“Guys is this asking what I think it's asking HAHAHAHA” you burst out with a laugh while kind of nervous that you would say something out of line.

“ Well uhm, if you’re asking how old I was when we met, we met through Sarah way back in early 2012 she invited me for a new year's party, so that makes me 24??” You answered with an eyebrow raised.

“ Buuutt,” you dragged.”If you guys are asking about that scene in the second season of Narcos, that you guys are thirsting on about. I would be at around 27 years while shooting that I think. Sooo yeah. Kids don’t ask about those narcos scenes please, better yet don’t watch it until you’re like 25 or 50”

-Cut-

“ How tall is -“

“ No No! I won’t be answering that question yo-“ 

-Cut-

With a huff you looked at the camera, “ I am 5 foot 3....and a half…. On good days I'd be 5'4 and 5'5 with heels. But hey I’m not even that small, the people around me are just giant abnormal-looking non-human beings” you point at the lens

“YES YES IM TALKING TO YOU MISTER PASCAL, so stop teasing me”

-Cut-

“Ooh would you look at that the last question!” 

Ripping the paper as fast as you can it says “Can y/n l/n dance?” 

You noticeably perked up at this but before you can answer a voice came from behind the camera and said “No!”

“ Hey! I mean I’m not a good dancer but I can dance properly you know. I flow with the vibe of the music you know what i’m saying!!! Yeah?”

-Cut-

 You were seen grinning before you were called on camera.

Throwing the board behind you once again you say “ Well WIRED, that was certainly interesting and this might be one of the most... chill... interviews I’ve been on! Can’t wait to do more! Bye!!”

COMMENTS

Fan 1: that was…..entertaining

Fan 2: the slip ups OH MY FUCKING GOD

Fan 3: the way she called out the paps HA serves you right!!

Fan 4: i love how most of the internet asks about y/n and Pedro indirectly. Like girl, we’ve been waiting for years.

Fan 5: Oh so this is the girl, Pedro was seen with the other day. She looks too young, I don’t get why people ship these two, he wouldn’t go for immature younger women. ↳ Fan 4 replied to Fan 5: Girl be fucking for real they've been dating for years now, try to look it up.

Fan 6: I love her friendship with Sarah and Pedro!!! And it looks like she was adopted by Sarah Paulson the same way she did with Pedro HAHAHAH oh and we got crumbs on her hanging out with Pedro with that sharing of food thing

Fan 7: I NEED MORE Y/N CONTENT, SHE IS THE QUEEN, MY LOVE, MY WIFE AND BABY!!!!

Fan 8: so is no one else curious about who said “No” as soon as that dancing question was revealed, cause all I know is that it sure ain’t one of the staff. ↳ Fan 7 replied to Fan 8: HOW THE HELL?? HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT YOU GUYS DON'T KNOW THEY'RE TOGETHER?! I'm speechless

Fan 9: she’s so smiley and goofy in this interview, must’ve had a lot of fun shooting this. ↳ WIRED replied to Fan 9: 👀 about that…. ↳ fan 9 replied to WIRED: why? what’s happening

Fan 10: The sarcasm when asked if Pedro's her friend is killing me😵 ↳ Fan 8 replied to Fan 10: aren't they friends though? ↳ Fan 10 replied to Fan 8: girl go search it up. i just, can't. this is because of his rising fame, everyone doesn't know that much yet. what more if this continues for the years to come.

Fan 11: The comments of old Pedro fans and new Pedro fans are funny.

A/N: so we got a little back story for y/n and her friendship with Pedro and Sarah ahhhh. ay, this doesn't directly follow my last fic, but I wanted to put this out earlier. Just to let you guys know this series follows a timeline I've done so that would explain why there are dates and stuff at the beginning of each fic. That's all, Thank you!! Bye for now.

[mosaickiwi]

14DWY As a Drama AU

Hey remember when I said I’d post this in February oopsies!! (don’t ask me about demon!ren i will cry)

Open at your own risk this thing is LONG. Tried to give everyone at least a little something! upon putting this in my drafts i realized olivia exists i'll add her at some point uhhh. Also you can tell how much I love Elanor... hehe

14 Days With You is an 18+ Yandere Visual Novel. MINORS DNI

The cult classic romantic thriller, 14 Days With You, is now a drama! Coming to all your favorite streaming platforms this summer. A whirlwind romance gone right and wrong that you DON’T want to miss.

Cast List

[REDACTED]

��� Quiet kid that used the after school theater program to delay returning home. Never wanted to perform, but loved doing costumes, make up, and correcting others (in his mind) on how to portray their roles. 

🖤 Spent a little extra time perfecting the costumes of a certain someone who didn't even know they existed. He always traded house chores with his sister so she'd sit in the audience to solely film Tree #2's performance.

🖤 Was an apprentice special effects makeup artist after graduation at first, particularly for horror films, but it didn't exactly pay the bills when they left home.

🖤 Easily rose to the top in their acting career due to his dedication for crafting characters to perfection. 

🖤 Dolly Parton/Lady Gaga-esque in their separation of work and life—completely unrecognizable in their regular civilian attire. Paparazzi have never gotten a picture of them in all their years trying.

🖤 Has zero issues getting into character, but does "method acting" on occasion to make sure people leave them alone on set. And also to fuck with directors and producers they don't like. Notoriously difficult to work with because of it + their overall attitude towards others, still gets hired somehow.

🖤 Got offered the role as the main love interest in 14DWY without an audition, thanks to a previous manipulative pink haired character he played in a film that ended up never being released. (2017 Ren because it's funny)

 Angel (you!)

💜 Participated in the same after school theater program as [REDACTED] and Leon for a few semesters before you got bored of it. Curiosity for acting resurfaced later in life.

💜 Newbie actor at the recently formed talent agency of your friend. Only starred as non-speaking roles or background characters in small productions until the drama. You moved back to Corland Bay after uni for the better industry prospects.

💜 You initially auditioned for a very small role in the drama as an employee in a seaside shop at first, but somehow you wound up as the lead? (un)lucky you.

💜 Feel free to fill in the blank for any whys and hows you think of to fit your OC/self/sona as you so please <3

Elanor

💖 Normally an actress and casting director, first time as an executive producer for the drama. Dreams of bringing her own romantic screenplays to life. Hasn't quite proven herself the way she wants in the industry to feel confident enough in them. 

💖 Catalyst for the drama being made. A "friend" mistakenly recommended the 14DWY book to her. She absolutely loathes all the psychological horror of it but sees the potential it has.

💖 Also the reason [REDACTED] was immediately cast, and you as well once she saw your chemistry with him while reading for a minor role. He hadn't shown a fraction of as much interest when reading lines with other potential candidates, so she decided to take the risk of an untested talent as the headliner.

💖 Refuses to use her family's name to get her stuff made. She wants her works to speak for themselves. Very picky about who she works with due to her family having hands in most of Corland's entertainment industry so she hardly gets a genuine interaction beyond ass-kissing.

💖 Always partial to working with Conan's small studio since he was the only director to give her any sort of criticism in spite of her family, as gentle and polite as it was. She still cried a little in the dressing room though.

💖 Genuine confusion when Conan wants her to act as both a producer and assist with direction. She only intended to bring it to his interest. But how could she say no to someone whose judgment and opinion she respects so much?

Conan

💖 Runs and owns a small scale studio in the Bay that seems to pick and choose its productions at random. It is in fact Alice sneaking into her dad's home office and putting scented stickers on the ones she likes. (She only reads the titles)

💖 Extremely proud of Elanor for getting so far on her own, and would take on one of her dozens of scripts no questions asked if she'd only work up the courage to show him one. So imagine his surprise when she comes to him with a romantic horror instead of one of the fairy tale romances he sees her scribbling notes on during breaks.

💖 While he’s the one with the final say, he does try to let Elanor have as much free reign as possible on the project in the hopes to boost her confidence.

Kiara

💖 A super-star actress and model that got her start in Corland’s local industry, but quickly hit it big. 

💖 When she isn’t drowning in work, she’ll swing through town to check in on her sister.

💖 Desperately wants to star in one of Elanor’s productions, but respects her sister’s desire for independence. Though she does like to tease about certain casting decisions on the drama when made aware of them.

the rest of the cast are unfortunately very silly i couldn't resist

Moth

💖 Started a talent agency out of spite for the terrible castings in their favorite media. Got further invested upon realizing they could read the scripts before the movies or show adaptations were even announced.

💖 The one who pushed you to audition for a minor role in the production once the rumor about who was cast as the main love interest reaches them. They've heard all the horror stories about [REDACTED] so wanted the inside scoop. Horrified and fascinated to find out you get the lead role. It’s like watching a train wreck.

Leon

💖 Joined the theater program initially because of you, but got really into it. Moved away to attend a performing arts school until his mother got sick.

💖 Took every wacky infomercial or street performance gig he could find to pay the hospital bills until Teo found out and swooped in.

💖 Eternally grateful for the burden of financial ruin being relieved, so he always accepts the jobs Teo gets for him. He definitely won’t complain since he’s not dressed in an animal costume and shouting nonsensical slogans for cleaning products.

Teo

💖 Met Leon through a shared production and quickly bonded. Attended a different performing arts school and met Jae as a child.

💖 Almost the exact opposite of his game character purely for the funnies. Shy, introverted, can’t flirt to save his life. Still a nepo baby but he can hold his own in acting. Doesn’t like his character much, but is extremely jealous of the confidence he oozes.

💖 Leon and Jae are his only friends in the industry so he uses his sway to get them parts if they haven't already gotten a call back. Gets REALLY nervous on set for certain roles so he needs their support.

Jae

💖 Attended the same school as Teo when they were kids, and is constantly pitching intentionally bad ideas and joking on set to reassure his friend.

💖 A little bit of a thrill seeker, so does all his own small stunts if he thinks he’s capable. Stands there and gawks watching the more extreme stunts, loudest to clap when they go well.

💖 Kept bringing Maple to the shoots cause how could he even think about leaving her at home? She would occasionally break her leash and wander into a scene for head scratches and kisses. The film crew always booed when a PA came to take her off set.

Violet

💖 Completely terrible at caring for plants. Inspired by her role, she starts vlogging about her plant mom journey before shooting even begins. All her advice is completely wrong and terrible. Her personal assistant keeps her in the dark by tending to the plants themselves to fix her mistakes.

💖 Finds out she has a talent for flower arrangement, though. Does thank you vases for the cast and crew on all her future productions that last a lifetime because her PA made sure all the flowers were fake.

Exposition

(silly on set shenanigans)

🎬 Scenes get retaken quite a bit, since you’re still extremely new to it all. Most of the cast and crew expect anger out of [REDACTED] after the 4th call for a re-shoot on the first day’s library scene, but he’s surprisingly cracking jokes about his dye job and reassuring you that you’re doing great. The infamously ill-tempered actor is smiling somehow… even being patient? Not glaring down his co-star for minor slip ups? They cannot recognize this person.

🎬 Violet and [REDACTED] naturally butt heads on set. She respects their acting, not the actor. Zero hesitation to snap back if he’s getting snarky with a PA. You’re the one people have to beg to separate them, and you’re completely baffled that [REDACTED] doesn’t treat others as nicely as he treats you.

🎬 Even though Elanor is a nervous wreck about the first real thing to ultimately make or break her career, she’s scarily efficient on set—as long as no one distracts her. She does get sidetracked once in a while, only because she loves chatting and answering any questions the cast or crew might have. She even brings one of her own cats to set during a slower day to see if they can get along with Maple. Leaves Conan in charge when the horror scenes are being shot. They’re both put off by how vivid they feel, but Conan at least can grin and bear it. 

🎬 You and Leon manage to catch up on set while [REDACTED] is otherwise occupied shooting said horror scenes. You tease him about a few infomercials you saw when looking up his actor reel, and Leon teases you back about your unlucky streak of being a tree or a rock in every play the theater program put on when y’all were younger. Laughs even harder once he finds out your most prominent roles until then were “unnamed zombie #5 at the bottom of the pile” and “sleeping train passenger.”

🎬 Try as he might, [REDACTED] doesn’t convince Elanor to change up a few crucial parts of the script for his benefit. His offhand threats of leaving the production fall on deaf ears, as she is all too happy to do re-shoots to make Teo the lead. His innocent hints to you about the shoddy script fly over your head for some reason! You love how it's turning out, what does he mean?

🎬 Super shy Teo prefaces and warns his co-stars before acting in every scene of his character being excessively flirty. Most of the actors have worked with him at some point or another beforehand, so they let him go through his routine without issue. Some crew members love the whiplash of him switching between overly courteous and smarmy, others vastly prefer the flirty character and mourn the loss as production comes to a close.

The Build Up

📺 The higher ups pressure Violet to start a short-lived streaming career to boost interest, since she’s hopeless with plants. She amasses a cult following for her MMO reviews, blind raids on new patches, and her wild ride of a Minecraft playthrough. In the end she winds up preferring to play games off stream, but once in a blue moon she’ll do a first time raid stream so her more dedicated fans can join and watch her alliance get wiped. Creative trolling is highly encouraged.

📺 Teo, Jae, and Leon appear on a late night TV show for promotion. It was meant to be for Teo and [REDACTED] at first. (Where’s the leading lover? [REDACTED] refused all promo appearances or sit downs without you being involved in them.) The host plays a clip that Teo’s particularly embarrassed about, and he hides his face in shame when the crowd hoots and hollers praise about his portrayal.

📺 [REDACTED] comes across as doting and overprotective of you once you’re pushed into the spotlight of celebrity, and shows increasingly concerning behaviors as the premiere looms closer. Depending on your response, they’ll back off to a point or dial it up. Interviewers and consumers mistake it as the eccentric actor’s “method acting” so the red flags just slide right past.

📺 Elanor and Conan guest star in a podcast for off-the-cuff romance enthusiasts. Their strangely cagey and joking comments like “there were so many retakes we couldn’t keep track of what was meant to be the actors messing around or part of the final cuts,” and “we’ve actually sent all the reviewers 1 of 14 versions with completely different endings,” leave listeners all the more curious to see the film.

The Climax

🎉 Reception is huge, in good ways for most. The majority of the cast see a surge in popularity if they didn’t already from the hype. 

🎉 Teo bemoans his endless offerings for sarcastic pretty boy jobs, Leon makes enough to get picky about his roles (and pay Teo back), Jae somehow cons a studio into an action film starring Maple—and subsequently adopts every single one of her stunt doubles. 

🎉 Moth throws the agency away to start adapting anime and manga themselves. Elanor finally feels validated enough to bring one of her romantic screenplays to the big screen, starring her sister Kiara and a very enthusiastic Violet as the leading couple. 

🎉 Conan’s studio is overloaded with scripts, and Alice runs out of scented stickers that much quicker. They are severely backlogged send help.

🎉 One determined conspiracy theorist sets out to prove those missing 13 versions of the ending are real, based on minor cuts and inconsistencies purposefully left in the public release.

The End, Roll Credits

choose your own ending

Bad End 💔 - A Falling Star

💔 If you respond negatively to [REDACTED]’s demeanor during shoots and promo: he plays the waiting game, uses his connections and blackmail to make sure all your roles without his name attached don’t garner nearly as much attention as the ones where you’re co-stars.

💔 Your negotiating power quickly plummets as you fall out of demand and end up begging just for the non-speaking roles you once loathed.

💔 The careers of anyone you got close to on set fall apart much faster than yours, before they’re outright blacklisted in the industry.

💔 You begrudgingly call up your last option. He can’t do much for your friends, but their offer to help you make a comeback is always open.

Neutral End 💌 - Just One More Try

💌 If you respond indifferently to [REDACTED]’s demeanor: the drama leads to you getting more offers, though a handful are for playing opposite of [REDACTED], as the on-screen chemistry was too much for studios to ignore for cash grabs.

💌 Elanor has rid herself of the drama’s subsequent rights, despite positive reception, so a sequel sprouts up in the works at a different studio. One that doesn’t mind catering to the whims of their actors when it comes to script integrity.

💌 You arrive on the set to find that not just one, but all of your cast mates except for them were written to have much smaller parts in the sequel. In fact, you rarely find a scene in the revised script where [REDACTED] isn’t alongside you.

💌 Sadly the contract is air tight, just put up with it until it’s over… What’s this clause about further sequels?

Good End 💍 - Off Into the Sunset

💍 If you respond positively to [REDACTED]’s demeanor: you’ll sadly announce at the post premiere press conference that acting was a one-and-done adventure for you. Retired effective immediately, no farewell interviews.

💍 You’re spotted around town for a few weeks in a mask with a tall, darkly dressed companion at your side before you disappear from the public eye and Corland Bay all together.

💍 A few of your friends at least have an idea of where you are, and they meet up with you whenever you're in a nearby city. None of them can recognize the man glued to your side, though. Not that he'd say anything to clue them in.

💍 After months of near inactivity, [REDACTED] mysteriously deletes their socials without a word, sparking confusion and outrage among hardcore fans still desperately hoping for a sequel.

[c-nstantine]

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

Description: Y/N Wayne brings a very special guest to dinner.

Word Count: 0.8k

Warnings: Cursing

It was rare that all of the bat children were summoned for a reason outside of their nightly duties. It was a sign that shenanigans were about to ensue and Bruce normally took this as a sign to drink heavily. Usually, it was because of Y/N but these little gatherings always left strong memories on each sibling.

"Do we need to be here for this?" Jason asked feeling a bit stuffy in his white button-up shirt. He already rolled up the sleeves and undid the first two buttons.

"Yeah, Y/N gets a new boyfriend like every week," Duke said looking through his comic book. He didn't have anything else to do but this was not how he wanted to spend his day off.

"This is different apparently. She said and I quote 'It's serious this time. I would have his kids,'" Tim used air quotations when explaining why all of them are waiting for Y/N to show up for dinner.

"Hell, maybe I will stick around," Jason said intrigued by the idea of his sister wanting to have someone's kids.

"Whoever sticks around the longest doesn't have to patrol for the next three days." Bruce walked into the parlor where all the children were currently relaxing. No one knows how Bruce does the things that he does but Tim's working theory is that there are secret passages throughout the manor.

"Oh, you're on," Cass said appearing behind Bruce. She was on a new mission to make Bruce flinch. She hadn't been successful yet but she could feel herself getting close.

"Everyone please meet in the dining room. Y/N and her guest have arrived," Alfred said with a smile playing on his lips because he knew that shitstorm that was about to occur.

"I wonder who we're meeting now," Tim thought aloud.

"Probably another model or actor," Damian said holding Pennyworth the Cat. He was only excited to threaten someone else for dating his sister. It had been one of the few times deemed acceptable to threaten people outside of patrol.

"You think I'll be able to get an autograph?" Duke asked. Unfortunately, no one was able to answer because they saw who Y/N's guest was.

"Slade? How the hell did you get here?" Dick asked, noticing how Slade Wilson's arm was wrapped around his sister's waist.

"Y/N get away from him. Is he holding you captive?" Bruce asked. If there's one thing that Bruce was going to be, it would be a concerned father, especially when it came to Y/N.

"What? No, he's my boyfriend," Y/N exclaimed so her family wouldn't start pulling out the weapons that were hidden all over the manor.

"I always knew one of you would give me a heart attack, I always thought it would be Damian or Tim," Bruce

"We're dating," Y/N said happily while looking up at Slade. He placed a kiss on her lips and all of her siblings immediately gagged.

"You're dating my nemesis," Dick accused Y/N with a nagging finger.

"Yeah, he was like thirsting after me real bad so I made him promise not to do dumb stuff," Y/N explained while adjusting her long box braids that were in a ponytail.

"It's true. I haven't plotted against you or anyone close to you in almost one hundred and fifty days," Slade said it was like some kind of accomplishment. He was captivated by Y/N, there was something about her that made him do whatever she wanted without hesitation.

"Thank you, I think," Dick's confusion was written all over his face.

"You're welcome," Slade responded before pulling out a chair for Y/N to sit in.

"Bruce, you're not going to say anything?" Tim asked. Bruce was indeed a man of few words but this was odd even for him.

"I mean I could but then I'd be a hypocrite because I did some stuff with Talia last week and I'm trying to be better. Alfred, please get our finest bourbon, make that three bottles," Bruce may not trust Slade but he still wanted to eat the dinner that Alfred painstakingly prepared.

"Y/N, can I speak to you before we start dinner?" DIck asked in his best big brother voice.

"Sure," Y/N followed him to a nearby hallway.

"He tried to kill me," Dick whispered a little loudly.

"But he's hot," Y/N admitted without shame.

"He's old," Dick was willing to try anything to deter Y/N from dating Slade Wilson, Deathstroke. A mercenary who had tried to kill him multiple times.

"He's a silver fox," Y/N argued back.

"Why are you with him?" Dick asked looking for a genuine answer from his sister.

"I like him and he's kinda funny. Plus he's got a real big-" Y/N's eyes widened as her arms widened to show the size of what she was talking about.

"Eww. I don't need to know that," Dick said covering his ears.

"I was going to say, heart," Y/N tried to be convincing.

"No, you weren't," Dick deadpanned.

"Okay, probably not,"

[grapejuicestyless]

hi, hope you're well! i was wondering if you could write something for conrad based on the song my love mine all mine by mitski? i've been obsessed with it lately and it reminds me off him 💖

My Love, Mine All Mine.

Conrad Fisher x fem!reader

summery: Y/n has always gave too much. She always loved, believed too easily. She can’t control what others will do with that, but she can control how she loves.

Sorting through the shiny papers, the corners cut into my skin with each photo I crumpled up, tossing it into the shadows. Each memory ingrained forever on a film that would only taunt me with the past.

I hate the way the sun shined through the leaves in each one. How the sand looked so soft under our feet, the ocean bluer than any summer sky could every paint it now. I am reminded of how vibrant the world became with him in my life, when he was mine.

I say that he was mine loosely. I am unsure if I even have the ability to own something so pretty, so precious. If I ever even did. I remember the way my hands would run through his salty curls after a beach day. How he would hold me extra tight, we’d only bring one towel to share. His lap was soft, shorts scrunched up and dripping still.

I think of his lips on mine. How perfectly they fit on mine. I remember how desperate each kiss was. Not once had he ever made it seem like if it were to go no further we would cease to exist, but he was feverish enough with each lick into my mouth where I knew no matter what, he would never be satisfied. He always wanted more, more, more. How foolish of me to believe it was because he could simply not get enough of me, not because I was not enough.

He was kind, showing me affection in ways he swore would only ever be for me. He decorated his walls with love letters and Polaroids of us, of me. He had stacks of our adventures in an old shoebox under his bed for when I was away and he was missing me. He reminded me everyday how much he adored me. Counting down the seconds until he could hold me in his arms. He promised me it was a feeling that nobody else could ever give him. A heart rush that only ever came over him when my name was involved.

So why does he look at her that way? Why must his eyes carry the same shimmer of lust in them that he once held for me? I see the way his hands grip at her hips, her thighs. It’s animalistic in a way, primal. He wants her, needs her. He’s hers.

I remember the night I discovered their secret. My lover and my sister hand in hand one late June night. I stood still on the grass watching over them. My tears came out dry. I couldn’t even try and sob, let myself break. With his leaving just months ago, I’d already rung myself dry of any tears I had left.

It’s funny how something that once made you feel special can make you feel so sick so suddenly. What once gave me a reason for my living killed me so suddenly.

I knew I was always destined to die, to burn out and disappear. I never imagined how it would’ve happened at the hands of the two I trusted the most in my life. Looking up at the moon that night, I prayed to forget, to heal so suddenly. Rid me of the ache in my heart and replace it with a cold emptiness.

He holds her while she sits in my spot on the couch. She laughs at the jokes I told him that now spew from his lips. Her hands find home in his hair and the towel we once shared as become theirs. It’s all reused, it’s the same. He makes her feel special, wanted, lusted after. He’s a damn good actor, he fools the whole damn world with his cruel games.

Now I know better than anyone that when calling him mine, I must use it loosely. At some time, he might have been. The photos I tear up in my room are only proof of our years spent together. Two summers spent doting on each other. He was with me, but could I call him mine? If he left so easily, did he ever even need me? Want me?

I hold the final photo in my hands, the moon shines down on us. We’re only young in the photograph. His cheek is pressed to mine, our smiles touch. We look so free, so happy. I feel guilty if I were to rip it up when it still feels so happy.

Grabbing a pin from the bedside table, I poke it into the wall beside my mountains of other places and people I’ve seen. It sticks out, like it’s been highlighted in bright red. It stings to look at, but it reminds me of a better time, a time when I believed I had the ability to have good things.

Now I know, nothing in this world belongs to me. Not my baby, not my sister’s loyalty. Not my mother, not my brother. I have no control over anything. Yet, each time I allow myself to believe that I do. That I mean something. I pay a price for the immaturity of my heart. I act a fool over the smallest affections, the most discrete love. And I watch as each time it is taken away, leaving me with a heavy chest and a heart far too full for my body. Nothing in this world is mine for free. Nothing in this world belongs to me but my love, mine all mine.

[mentallyisekaid]

「 ✦ Fatui Harbingers x Signora's Sister! Reader, PART 1 ✦ 」

---

[Part 1] Part 2 Part 2.5. Part 3

Pairings: only hinted/platonic (will change to something "more" later on if I decide to make more parts)

Warnings: spoilers regarding Signora's lore and a certain event in the Inazuma Archon quest, possibly some spoiler-ish stuff about other things too

Word count: 2.7k

This fanfic will include direct quotations from "Teyvat Chapter Interlude Teaser: A Winter Night's Lazzo" that belongs fully to miHoYo. I'll write these quotes in bold, so copyrights won't haunt me like Khaenri'ah lore :)

---

Even among the Harbingers, not much was known about the Fair Lady's (may she rest in peace) younger sister, except for the fact that you existed and had somehow managed to live for over 500 years, just like her. They were all aware of Signora's special circumstances that had made her essentially immortal, but Celestia knows how you had done it?

This is why you'd become something of a urban legend among the lower ranking members of the Fatui. Maybe La Signora had just been delusional, some of them thought - maybe there wasn't a sister, at least not anymore.

You were fine with that, though. You'd never wanted anything to do with your sister or her morally dubious organization anyway.

But she was still the only blood relative you'd had left, and now she was gone.

Attending her funeral was only appropriate.

You arrived at the grand doors of the cathedral, stopping for a moment to adjust the expensive-looking cloak that someone had sent you along with the invitation to the ceremony, requesting you to wear it. Much to your displeasure, it had the Fatui Insignia on it, though you were slightly more bothered by the fact that they'd somehow figured out where you live...

Or maybe they'd known all along.

But even if the invitation wasn't just out of courtesy, you had only showed up because Rosalyne was family, and only to pay your respects.

Their agendas meant nothing to you.

Pushing the doors open, you marched inside, the click-clack of your high heeled boots echoing in the eerie silence.

Curious gazes followed as this visitor, shrouded in mystery, made her way through the aisle - some of them curious, others a bit doubtful - but you ignored them.

Sitting down in the front row, you crossed your legs, leaning back with your eyes glued to the coffin highlighted by faint moonlight. A girl with child-like, seraphic features was leaning her head on its surface, singing a calming tune...

Spooky.

"Well, I never... this must be the Fair Lady's rumored sibling? And here I was starting to think you wouldn't make an appearance, dear."

You sighed, really having hoped that no one would bother talking to you; you had nothing to say to any of them. But for Celestia's sake, you still had some manners...

Glancing over your shoulder at the man who had just addressed you, you gave him a slight nod.

"It does seem my arrival was rather tardy. My apologies."

The man who you recognized as the Regrator, also known as Pantalone, chuckled a bit.

"No matter, it is rare a pleasure to finally meet you~"

"Likewise."

For a moment, your eyes wandered over each of the present Harbingers, these... co-workers of your sister's, before returning to stare in front of you just as indifferently as before.

You spoke a few more words, though.

"Everyone else as well, I suppose. Oh, and please pay no attention to my discourtesy... A lovely night for a funeral, is it not?"

Your charade was poorly put together, and intentionally so; you didn't know these people anymore than they knew you, but it was already clear that no one was here to pay their heartfelt respects for Rosalyne's memory, much less to exchange pleasantries.

A funeral? No, this was nothing but theatre - and here comes the first actor...

"We have gathered here today to remember our dear comrade. In honor of her sacrifice, all work should halt for half a day as the nation mourns her passing."

Hearing these words come from Pulcinella, the Mayor of Snezhnaya himself, you mentally scoffed. So now these crazy diplomats justified mistakes as sacrifice?

Pantalone seemed amused by this declaration, though you noticed a shadow pass over his face.

"Hehe, merely half a day... People say that Northland Bank's true currencies are blood and tears... But Mayor, even speaking as a banker, that sounds a little unconscionable."

Well, it was as you'd expected? Even in this situation, the Harbingers only cared about their own agendas, and Rosalyne would've been the same way.

The next words belonged to someone you found a bit more familiar.

"You speak of her as if you knew what she had to go through," the silver-haired woman started, a derogatory look in her dark eyes.

You glanced curiously at her. This was surely Arlecchino? Out of the Harbingers, your sister had seemed to trust her the most, so you assumed they must've shared some sort of a closer relationship.

The Knave noticed you gaze, and gave you a small nod before continuing.

"Rosalyne died in a foreign land. But you heartless businessmen and dignitaries, always with a convenient excuse to remain in the comfort of your homeland... You couldn't hope to understand. So why don't you keep your mouths shut!"

"Ah, bravo...~" you commented with a small chuckle, your sudden boldness slightly surprising some of them.

It seemed that La Signora's hardly known sister was indeed an interesting individual?

The ginger sitting on the other side of the aisle apparently found your remark entertaining, since he gave you an amused smile. But he threw his comrade's a much sterner look.

"Hey, c'mon now, even I don't think this is the right time or place for a fight."

Tartaglia, the infamous maniac always looking for a fight? Present~

"Utterly risible," a blonde woman scoffed from her place, sitting on the arms of a weird looking robot. Sandrone, you presumed.

And naturally, the oh-so righteous Capitano also had his opinion to share.

"Though her methods tarnished her honor, Lohefalter's sacrifice is still a great pity."

You sighed, shaking your head. There they go again, degrading her death as a mere sacrifice.

"Her loss shall not hinder our progress," the Captain continued, disregarding the matter. "But Dottore, what of Scaramouche --,"

...to which the crazy Doctor answered something incomprehensible.

Right. They weren't even talking about Rosalyne anymore. By now, the whole ceremony had turned out as a complete farce, and you wished nothing more than for Celestia to nuke it with another one of their divine nails.

Someone else had had enough as well.

"It's time to end tonight's foolish theatrics. This time, you have no captive audience."

The Jester's voice echoed menacingly in the cathedral, silencing his fellow Harbingers.

You gazed at him from your seat, raising an eyebrow when he gave you a look as well. In that short moment, unspoken words were shared between the two of you - after all, he knew things about you that the others didn't.

In any case, the speech went on for a while after that. Pierro's exaggerated sympathies, the Damselette needling Dottore about his segments, and... well, you weren't really listening anymore?

Once they finished and scattered from around the coffin, you silently walked over, placing a few frostbitten Cecilias on top of it. They were flowers from your homeland, though to you, Mondstadt was a memory at least five centuries old.

"Pretty flowers," a soft voice came from beside you. Columbina was back to presumptuously leaning on the casket.

You gave her a sidelong glance.

"Well, they're frozen to death by now - but that somehow fits the moment, no?"

"Mh-hmm~"

The ceremony was seemingly over, though you could still sense their presence. Your back was facing them, but it felt like they'd moved closer to the coffin again - or, perhaps, closer to you...

"I don't believe anyone has yet offered their condolences to this poor child," Capitano remarked solemnly, disregarding the fact you were chronologically speaking a living fossil.

Tartaglia sighed, "She doesn't want us to, I think."

You turned around to face them, crossing your arms.

"Well, firstly, you're calling me a child about 500 years too late. And no, I don't need your pity. It's hard to see your last family gone, but we weren't that close to begin with. Besides, Rosalyne knew full well what she was doing - when agreeing to a duel before the Shogun, and when joining the Fatui in the first place. You reap what you sow, and that's that."

The Doctor chuckled. "La Signora would surely turn over in her grave if she heard that."

"Let the dead rest, Zandik," Sandrone scoffed.

Columbina had scooted next to you.

"Poor thing~", she sang in that eerie voice, tilting her head. "How long have you been living by yourself? Maybe you could have Signora's former chambers in the headquarters."

Hmm? What a laughable suggestion, you thought. She was obviously toying with you.

Arlecchino gave the Damselette a warning look.

"Such a thing is something only the Director can decide. Though," she gave you an unreadable look. "I wouldn't be against it. In Rosalyne's honor, of course."

The usually ruthless Knave's comment was found somewhat unexpected among her comrades.

You gave her a weird look.

Something was clearly going on, the atmosphere was strangely expecting and you didn't like it in the slightest. It seems the theatrics weren't over after all?

Pantalone was gazing at you, an amused smile on his lips.

"You look a bit lost there, dear. Don't worry, Pierro will explain some things to you in a moment~"

You frowned. So, there was more in the game here - that letter wasn't just an invitation to the funeral of a sister you hardly even cared about, you'd doubted as much from the beginning.

Not that it really changed anything. As already mentioned, you'd only come for the ceremony...

And now that it was over, there was no reason for you to stay.

"That won't be necessary," you stated, nodding curtly. "I will be taking my leave now. Goodbye."

Your cloak shuffled as you walked past them, heading toward the exit. However, Childe, who had been standing the closest to the doors, now moved to block your way.

You looked up at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Tartaglia, right? If you could move aside, that would be much appreciated."

"Sorry, no can do, girlie," he laughed a bit, scratching his neck in an awkward manner. "Boss wants to have a chat with you, so I can't just have you leaving like that, now can I?"

"Right," you sighed. "Well, I don't really care..."

You rudely moved past him, reaching the doors and about to push them open, when you suddenly felt a hand on your wrist. And the grip they had wasn't exactly gentle.

Glancing over your shoulder, you saw Childe still wearing that stupid smile of his but there was now a shadow over his usually cheerful expression.

"Look, you seem like a smart girl." His voice was soft and menacing at the same time. "Things don't have to get ugly here, if you just cooperate a bit."

Ugly? Oh, you could make things turn ugly.

But this wasn't the right time for that - not with the majority of the Harbingers present. It's not like you had a death wish, for Celestia's sake... though, it did seem like Tartaglia was only half serious about what he had said?

You looked past him, seeing the other Fatui diplomats standing there, all with hardly readable expressions on their faces. Your gaze stopped when it reached the Jester. If this was about Pierro having something to discuss with you, you were fairly sure you knew what he wanted anyway...

So, no harm in amusing him a bit?

"Ha. Well, it seems like I have no choice, then."

Childe smiled. "That's more like it."

He started making his way toward the front of the cathedral, while still holding onto your wrist - basically, he walked you back there like a toddler. After all, you might've had a change of heart any at any given moment and sprinted out of there like a lunatic.

You awkwardly sat down on one of the seats, wrapping the cloak around you tigther. The Harbingers were now standing in a semicircle in front of you, gazing down at you like their you were property. Pierro took a step forward.

"Now then, Y/N Lohefalter..."

"You are going to ask about my Visions, right?" you asked rudely. "As in, plural. Both of them. Is my assumption wrong?"

Pantalone chuckled. "Well, aren't you clever, my dear~"

"No, I always knew Rosalyne had told you, which is precisely why I tend to keep a lower profile than this. There's no reason to be so melodramatic over a couple of Visions."

Dottore seemed amused by your remark.

"But most humans never receive one. Yet, here you are, blessed with two."

"That, or cursed" you pointed out.

The Jester had allowed this interruption, but all it took was one gaze of authority from him and even you realized it was better to watch your mouth around this man. You tilted your head slightly downward.

"This assumption you made isn't necessarily untrue," Pierro stated in a low voice. "But it's not the whole truth, either."

It wasn't?

You heard footsteps approaching and carefully glanced up at Pierro who was now standing mere inches away from you. Things were getting more interesting, that's for sure.

"I asked you to come here today out of respect for Rosalyne's memory, and of curiosity toward the fact that you indeed bear the power of both Cryo and Pyro, much like your sister, albeit without a Delusion. My intention, however, was also to make a request of you..."

The Jester suddenly kneeled before you, his gesture confusing you. The infamous Director of the Fatui, kneeling before you?

You gave him a doubtful look.

"And what might that request be?"

"To put it simply, I want you to take Rosalyne's place as one of the Fatui Harbingers."

"...come again?"

The other Harbingers didn't seem surprised in the slightest.

You shook your head.

"You want me to join the Fatui?"

"We've been keeping a close eye on you, Y/N Lohefalter, ever since the Cataclysm and Rosalyne joining our ranks. Back then, she herself made the request that should she ever perish, you'd be asked to take her place."

"Ha," you chuckled. "That does sound like one of her selfish whims... but still, why would you even consider such a thing?"

You looked at Pierro, tilting your head.

"Can you really trust that my agendas align with yours?"

"Every person in this room has their own ideals and it has not proved to be a problem." The Director nodded. "You need not but work in the name of the Fatui, and swear your loyalty to the Tsaritsa. Of course, the latter is expected of you as a citizen of Snezhnaya anyway."

You crossed you arms, contemplating this unexpected proposal.

"And if I refuse?"

This earned displeased looks from the other Harbingers. Pierro's solemn expression, however, never faltered.

"It's far beyond my dignity to be forceful here. That would be disrespecting Rosalyne's legacy, and risking to make you a powerful foe of the Fatui."

He paused for a while.

"But I should also clarify that with the kind of power you hold, you are facing but two choices - to be with us... or against us."

So that's how it was going to be?

You'd almost forgotten that Pierro was still half-kneeling in front of you; even though one of his eyes was covered by a mask, his gaze held such intensity that you were completely enchanted by it for a moment.

And to think you'd make this kind of a decision on a whim, just like she once had - you really were more similar to your sister than you'd care to admit...

You sighed, standing up and glancing at the other Harbingers.

"Is this how he recruited you as well?"

Sandrone made a 'hmph' sound, "hardly."

"Heh, to think the Jester would kneel in front of someone?~" Pantalone commented. "You're quite an impressive girl, my dear."

"Then again," Dottore chuckled. "she has yet to meet the crueler side of the Director, no?"

Tartaglia sighed, "now, now, don't scare her away..."

Pulcinella and Capitano didn't seem too amused by their comrades' antics. You, on the other hand, had their undivided attention.

Columbina was sleepily humming along to some tune, giving you discreet glances.

Arlecchino shook her head.

"Pierro still awaits for an answer, Y/N. Despite of what he may seem like, the Jester is not a man of great patience. It's time for you to decide."

You furrowed your eyebrows.

"..."

"Then, I'm in?"

But for the love of the Tsaritsa, you had no idea what you'd just gotten yourself into.

[sagesolsticewrites]

Kiss Me Twice

You and Rosie finally have a “proper reunion” 😏

Warnings: mature content (fingering, protected PinV penetration) SMUT!!! THIS IS JUST SMUT WITH A SPRINKLE OF FLUFF. 18+ MINORS GO AWAY

Word count: 3.4k 

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction based off the portrayal by the actors in the Apple TV+ series. I hold nothing but respect for the real life individuals referenced within.

Masterlist | Read part 1 here!

You fidget impatiently in your room— really the guest room of Mrs. Rosenthal, but she had been kind enough to let you stay with her while your Navy father and brother were off on a boat somewhere in the Pacific— your eyes locked on the clock as it ticks closer and closer to 12:30.

Having a “proper reunion,” as Rosie had put it, was something you’d had looked forward to since he’d left for England, and it’s like your body knows it’s almost here. Butterflies swarm in your belly, and you feel warm in every place he’d touched you that day since he’d arrived home, not to mention the heat blooming between your thighs.

Time somehow moves too fast and not fast enough as you fuss with your hair, debate whether to reapply your lipstick (you do, but blot a good portion of it away in your nervousness), and finally slip on your dressing gown over the thin, filmy nightgown you’d chosen for tonight.

You pluck at the edges of your sleeves as you wait for the last minute to pass and then slip outside into the hall, creeping as quietly as you can across the hall to Robbie’s childhood bedroom, ears pricked for any sign of his mother or sister waking in their rooms down the hall.

With seemingly no danger of anyone catching you, you take a breath and slip into his room.

You find Rosie perched on the edge of his bed in a plain white undershirt and pajama pants, seemingly engrossed in a book. Though judging by the way his head snaps up as you enter, maybe the book wasn’t all that interesting. 

Still, you envy his calm and cool collectedness in the face of your sheer borderline uncontrollable want.

“Hi,” you murmur softly after a beat passes, the two of you simply staring at each other in silence.

He breaks into a grin as he stands and approaches you, eyes scanning hungrily over your figure as your eyes flick from the book left on his nightstand back to him.

“Hi, pretty girl.”

You clamp down on your bottom lip to hold back the whimper that begs to slip out at those words, your eyes instead fluttering shut as he brushes the lightest of kisses to your cheek.

He catches how your eyes flick back to the book as they open, must catch a flash of something there, because he leans in even closer to you to whisper, “Can I tell you something, sweetheart?”

At your nod, he nods towards the book.

“I’ve been stuck on the same page of that since I walked in here.”

The butterflies swarm harder as you stare up in disbelief at his pretty blue eyes.

“Because all I could think about,” he continues softly, strong hands moving to your waist to pull you flush against him, “was how close you were. And how much closer I wanted you to be.”

A soft “oh” is all you manage before he captures your lips in a tender, searing kiss that has warmth flooding through your body. Your hands wander over his broad chest and shoulders as the kiss deepens, needing to be closer to him.

“Missed you so much, honey,” he breathes against your skin as his mouth leaves yours to plant kisses across your cheek, along your jaw, down your neck, making sure to leave a playful nip at the sweet spot just below your ear.

“Robbie,” you sigh, his name the only word in your mind, and you can feel a grin spread across his face as he kisses and nibbles and sucks along the tender skin of your neck. 

“Fuck, I love hearing you say my name,” he says lowly, blue eyes darkening as he pulls away to meet your gaze, an unspoken question in the way he drags his fingers along the tie of your robe.

With a single nod, it comes away with a tug, falling to the floor to reveal the thin nightgown, the filmy fabric nearly translucent in the moonlight streaming through his small window.

His mouth drops into an “o” as he takes you in while you resist the urge to cover yourself. Was it too much?

Your name escapes his lips in a soft groan, one hand coming up to tentatively brush against you as if to make sure you’re real.

“You’re gorgeous,” he says softly, eyes fixed on your silhouette just barely visible through the fabric.

His lips crash back onto yours, the fabric of your nightgown bunching up where he grips your waist. Your hands find their way into his hair, raking through the curls with a moan as Rosie’s tongue slips into your mouth.

You’ve already lost a layer, you reason, so it’s only fair when you drag your hands down his back — grinning at the shiver that runs through him at the feeling of your nails— to toy with the hem of his shirt, slipping your hands just underneath it to wander along his warm skin.

He breaks the kiss just long enough to shuck it off, exposing a strong, muscled torso that must’ve been the result of —on top of his football and baseball skills— how did he say one of his friends put it in his letters? “Piloting a school bus like a fighter jet?”

You drink him in hungrily, fingers lightly dragging over the healed scars and bruises scattered across his skin. Out of the corner of your eye, you see something flash in his gaze— sadness? Anxiety? Fear? Whatever it is, you cup his cheek, guiding him to meet your gaze as you rise up to connect your lips briefly.

He opens his mouth to speak as you pull away, but whatever he was about to say dies on his lips as you press a kiss to the scar closest to his heart. Then another to the mostly-healed bruise on his collarbone. And another to the scrape in the middle of his chest.

His eyes flutter shut as you continue down, down, down, pressing kisses to every mark on his body; every mark of how hard he fought to be here, to get back home, to get back to you.

“I love you,” you whisper as you kiss a final scar just above his hip.

And then a mischievous grin crosses your face as you press kisses lower, and lower, until your lips just skim the waistband of his pajamas.

“Oh fuck— honey, hold on—” he hisses, gently pushing you away as your hands drift dangerously close to the bulge at the apex of his thighs. “Wanna— Wanna see you first,” he gasps, thumb stroking along your cheek as he guides you back up to standing, his other hand toying with the hem of your nightgown that hits just at your knees. “Please?”

You nod, heart hammering in your chest.

He takes his time removing you from the gauzy fabric. He drags a hand up your thigh, bringing the hem up to your hips, and lets out a soft gasp at the feeling of something… missing, eyes flicking down to confirm.

“Sweetheart—” he says in a soft, strangled voice at the sight of your uncovered core, underwear nowhere to be found.

“Figured it was only fair,” you say softly, praying that the calm playfulness in your voice keeps him from noticing the flush in your cheeks, “given all your teasing today.”

“Teasing?” He hums, arching an eyebrow, the fingers of his other hand tracing along the inside of your thigh in much the same manner as he had earlier that night on the couch, “I don’t recall doing any teasing, honey, I was just having a nice time coming home to my family and my girl.”

You want to retort that he knew exactly what he was doing, but it’s difficult to find your voice as he drags his hands up along your sides, taking your nightgown with him. Lifting your arms to help him slip it over your head, you’re left bare before him.

You resist the urge to cover yourself once more, your mind going haywire as you think of all the ways you’ve changed in the past two years.

Rosie, however, looks utterly awestruck as he takes you in, his hands skimming lightly up your sides as he pulls you in for a kiss.

“I dreamed about you nearly every night I was over there, sweetheart,” he murmurs against your lips, hands wandering freely over your bare skin, making you shiver, “and clearly, my dreams didn’t do you justice.”

He drags his mouth down along your jaw, down your neck, nibbling and sucking at your collarbone, skimming along the tops of your breasts… tracing his lips over seemingly every inch of skin he can reach, memorizing you with his mouth.

His lips firmly attached to your neck, set on leaving a mark that you’ll no doubt have to cover with your precious makeup supply, you hardly feel his hands creeping downwards until he’s gripping your thighs, hoisting you effortlessly into his arms.

Your yelp of surprise is, thankfully, muffled as his lips crash onto yours once more. Your fingers rake through his already thoroughly mussed hair, tongues battling for dominance as he carries you the short distance to his bed. He lays you down gently, pulling away briefly to scan over your body as he moves to hover over you—

CREEEAK

The bedframe lets out a loud, screeching creak that can surely be heard in the next building over. The two of you freeze and your gazes snap to meet each other, both of you frantically trying to hold back your laughter and praying that the creaking wood of the bed didn’t wake his family.

A moment later, when it seems the coast is clear, he carefully climbs the rest of the way over you. You can feel him grinning as he connects your lips once more, shoulders shaking slightly with barely held-back giggles, and you can’t help but grin into the kiss too, making it rather difficult to continue when your teeth keep clashing together.

So Rosie moves on to continue his work on marking up your neck, putting that sparkling grin to good use by way of grazing his teeth along each sensitive spot on your skin, his smile only growing wider as you arch into him when he hits a particularly tender spot.

His lips work the same path downwards: jawline, neck, collarbone, until he reaches your chest. Pretty blue eyes meet your gaze as he wraps his lips carefully around your nipple and sucks.

The hand that isn’t currently buried in his curls flies to cover your mouth as an utterly obscene noise escapes you, arching into him as his tongue expertly swirls around your peaked bud, his hand moving to toy and pinch and twirl around your other breast, mouth and hand switching roles effortlessly when he feels it’s time.

A soft tug at his hair has him groaning around you but managing to pull away. Another desperate pull— this time receiving a playful nip to the valley between your breasts in response— draws his attention to where your hips are bucking against nothing, the empty air providing none of the relief you seek.

“Please,” you whine, so softly you can barely hear your own voice, “please, Robbie, I need you—”

Rosie smothers your pleas with his mouth, murmuring assurances against your lips.

“I gotcha, sweetheart, I promise, I know what you need,” he breathes, fingers dragging along your thigh towards your core, “Gotta get you ready for me, though, yeah?”

You’re ready to retort softly that you’ve been ready for him for the past two years, thank you very much, when you feel his finger drag slowly through your folds, circling around your entrance, carefully gathering the moisture collected there.

Rosie swears softly under his breath at how wet you are, muffling a slightly louder groan in your neck as his finger slides slowly inside you. You admit, there’s a tiny spark of satisfaction as you feel him twitch in his pajamas when he realizes how tight you are.

“Honey, you’re gonna kill me,” he gasps desperately, pumping one finger slowly in and out until he feels you can take a second. Then a third.

By this point, you have one hand clamped firmly over your mouth in an attempt to muffle the growing moans escaping from where you’ve clamped your bottom lip between your teeth. But talented as his fingers are, his mouth definitely isn’t helping. 

Rosie has that dangerously mischievous sparkle in his eyes that you know means trouble when he begins kissing a path down your body from just below your breasts to your core. Staring down at him with pleading eyes— except you’re not quite sure what you’re pleading for, you don’t want him to stop of course, but the noise…— he merely winks at you, his other hand moving to become an additional layer of soundproofing for your mouth as his own clamps over your clit.

Without warning, you’re gushing over his fingers, his mouth on your sensitive bundle of nerves all the push you needed to tumble over the edge.

You attempt to catch your breath as his hands leave your mouth and your core, his mouth brushing a gentle kiss over your hipbone before becoming preoccupied with cleaning the fingers now glistening with your release.

“You taste even better than I remembered, pretty girl,” he murmurs, moving to hover over you once more, his leg nestled between your own. His mouth seals over yours in a heated kiss that has you grinding desperately against him, fingers tracing along the waistband of his pajamas.

Of course, he knows what you want even before his name escapes your lips in a soft whine.

“Alright sweetheart, one second,” he mumbles against your lips before carefully moving off of you to rummage through his bag next to his nightstand.

You prop yourself up onto your elbows to watch as he produces one of what seems to be quite a few condoms stashed in an inside pocket.

“Douglass insisted I take ‘em when I told him I had a girl waiting for me back home,” he mumbles almost sheepishly in response to your quirked eyebrow.

You almost laugh, but your attention is diverted almost instantly when his pajamas and boxers join the clothes littering his bedroom floor.

Fuck, you’d forgotten how pretty he was.

You don’t remember sitting up as he approaches, but suddenly you are, one hand reaching out tentatively to trail along his hipbone as you take him in.

You brush your lips against his hip, one of his obscenely large hands pushing back a stray strand of hair as you follow a path down to where his pretty pink cock sits ready and waiting. 

“Can I?” You breathe, looking up to meet his gaze.

“Another— Another time, honey,” he manages after a moment, looking like it actually pains him to say it. “If you put that pretty mouth of yours to work on me there’s no way I’ll be able to stay quiet,” he jokes softly, dragging his thumb gently along your bottom lip, “and then where would we be?”

You press a kiss to the pad of his thumb with a chuckle, nodding in acknowledgment as you sit back.

“Well what can I do, Major?” You whine softly.

You’d meant for it to purely be a joke, but something flashes in his eyes for the briefest of moments at the use of his rank… interesting.

“Help me with this, sweetheart?” He grins, holding up the condom held between two fingers.

A matching grin crossing your face, you open it and gently roll it onto his length, fingers grazing gently along him as you pull away.

Looking up at him to gauge his expression, you see that his darkened blue eyes have closed at your touch, his teeth clamped over his bottom lip serving as a dam for the litany of curses that long to spill out of his mouth.

Once you’ve pulled away, Rosie bends down, gently leaning over you until you’re fully laying back on the bed. Baby blue eyes scanning over your figure hungrily, he shoots you a playful wink before climbing on top of you in an exaggeratedly careful manner, pointedly avoiding the spot that had let out that ear-piercing creak before.

Now properly face-to-face, he brushes gentle kisses to your forehead, your nose, your cheeks as he lines himself up at your entrance.

“Ready, honey?” He asks softly, warm breath fanning over your skin.

“Yes,” you sigh against his lips, fingers tracing gently up and down his arms, “please.”

That boyish grin you love spreads across his face as he dips down for a quick kiss, slowly pressing into you.

You clamp down on your lip to hold back a moan at the stretch— delicious, yes, but being two years out of practice is making it feel like it’s your first time all over again.

“Oh, sweetheart—” he groans, his voice muffled from where he’s buried his face in your neck as he pauses to let you adjust, “fuck, ‘m not gonna last long,” he gasps with a soft laugh.

You slap a hand over your mouth to muffle your laugh, mumbling breathlessly between your fingers, “I’m not going to either, darling.”

Once you’ve adjusted to the feeling of him being inside you once more, you give him a frantic nod, and he begins slowly thrusting in and out of you, careful not to make too much noise.

The feeling of him inside you, his soft curls fisted in your hand, his breath on your skin, the way his mouth and mustache graze against your neck with every thrust, the barely-audible whispers of how good you feel, how much he missed you, how often he’d dreamed about this— it’s all too much and, true to your word, you quickly reach your second climax of the night, your moans muffled against your hand.

Rosie pulls back from your neck to watch as ecstasy rolls across your face, muffling a groan by way of crashing his lips to yours as your hand falls away.

“You’re so beautiful, sweetheart,” he murmurs against your lips, hips stuttering against yours as his determined thrusts fall out of rhythm, “So fucking perfect, gonna make me—”

He dives back into your neck, muffling the loud moan that escapes him as, with several erratic thrusts, he spills into the condom. He slumps against you, skin glistening with a sheen of sweat as the two of you try to catch your breath.

Rosie’s lips meet yours in a tender kiss as he pulls out of you, muffling the soft whine you let out at the sudden emptiness. You feel him chuckle softly against your lips, murmuring “be right back, honey,” as he goes to dispose of the condom and wriggle back into his boxers before climbing back onto his bed next to you.

You roll over to face him, the two of you taking a moment to just hold each other.

“Was it—” Rosie whispers, a flush coming to his cheeks as he asks, “Was it okay? I know it’s been a while—”

You silence him with a gentle kiss.

“It was perfect, Robbie,” you say softly, gazing into his pretty blue eyes, “You’re perfect.”

He smiles at your words and pulls you closer, his strong arms wrapping securely around you, forehead to forehead, nose to nose.

The two of you stay like that for a while until he whispers in your ear regretfully, “I should probably get you back to your room.”

You want to protest, to savor the feeling of being in his arms again after so long, but you know he’s right. The last thing you’d need would be for his mother to stumble upon the two of you like this  in the morning.

You hum, nod, and slowly extricate yourself from his embrace. Rosie helps you back into your nightgown and robe, scattering kisses over your exposed skin before it’s covered once more.

“Hey,” he stops you before you open his door, soft eyes gazing down at you, “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” You lean up onto your tiptoes to press a final kiss to his lips. “Welcome home, my love.”

With that, you slip silently back across the hall, settling into bed with a grin that refuses to fade even as you fall quickly into sleep.

Hope y’all liked it 😇 And for those wondering… don’t worry, they won’t have to keep quiet in the next part 😏

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Round 1

Propaganda Under Cut

Allura

Lots of people (myself included tbh) ship klance (Keith and Lance). In s8 the creators made Allura/Lance canon (but then they killed her off and left the ending ambiguous it was weird). Anyway the fandom treats her like she's the most terrible bitchy woman ever but all she wants to do is end the war and avenge her destroyed home planet. Yeah she wasn't always the nicest or always the best, but you could argue some other characters in the show aren't either and they aren't treated near as bad as allura. people really just hate her bc Lance liked her. I don't think allura/lance are good together, but I still liked her as a character and thought she was interesting and had a lot of growth during the show. she DEF is not evil like some people portray her as in fic or talk about her in captions on posts. I've seen people say that they HATE her and that she's the worst and I'm like ??? let her live (well sort of ig she is dead now). lots of fic writers use her as the villain which is so interesting to me bc the show literally has villains like use them. anyway allura so perfectly fits the bracket description she deserves better.

I hate to acknowledge my time in this fandom but I hate the way the fandom treated her more. Allura was treated like shit no matter what side of the Great Ship War you were on because she was always a threat to the biggest ships (klance and sheith). At best she got put into Background Lesbian or Consolation Prize Shallura (Space Mom-zoned) (She was not a motherly figure btw. She was just Black). At worst she was violently demonized for being ~racist~ (kinda not cool with the alien race that blew up her planet for a few episodes), complete with misogynistic language hurled at her (she got called a bitch sooo much). Allura was a good and cool character and the show did her dirty but the fandom was somehow worse.

i apologise for speaking the dark magicks, but amidst the voltron fandoms many, many transgressions, there were a particular subset of people who just hated this girl. the infamous klance wars of the 2010s kept this perfectly fine childrens cartoon character in the sights of shippers everywhere, and she (and her voice actress im sure) were subjected to years of petty squabble blown up to global perportions. ive seen hate, ive seen rants, ive seen fanfics that made her homophobic. girls been through the ringer, and even though voltron was never the show its fandom wanted it to be, i believe allura deserved better

Kayano Kaede

shes genuinely a really tragic character who had potential for a really compelling, effective arc concerning grief, identity, healing, and finding trust again all while going through the inherent ordeal of being 15 years old….if she werent a female character in a shonen anime 😭😭 instead she gets sidelined during the show up until her big plot twist reveal after which shes immediately sidelined again. whatever i still love her and know her to be a character of all time who has suffered more than jesus. in my experience shes perhaps the female character who like. ive seen most *obsessively* hated due to her “getting in the way” of the ship b/w the male protagonist + deuteragonist (bc of her proximity to the both of them) u woild think shes the devil incarnate and not just. 15 and traumatised 

She had a crush on Nagisa and they kissed and a lot of fans ship him with Karma so theyre mad that Kaede is there. She is super silly and nice but the fandom hates her for standing in the way of karmagisa.

she's a sweet person that was an actor and loves her sister. she is the main love interest of the main character but doesn't interact with him more than most of the other characters for a majority of the story. Often I have seen them removed from the story only to become some homophobic jerk that's desperate for the main characters love instead of letting her keep the good friendship that her and the main character had before the romance.

[welcometothejianghu]

Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 民国奇探/My Roommate is a Detective.

My Roommate is a Detective is a 2020 drama about the Jazz Age shenanigans of a terrible OT3: a useless noodle boy, a spoiled journalist girl, and a handsome thug-turned-cop, who together solve Agatha Christie mysteries in 1920s Shanghai.

I mean, seriously, have you ever wondered what Hercule Poirot would be like if he were a 6'2" Chinese rubber man? If he had a long-suffering sugar daddy from the wrong side of the tracks and a spunky sugar mommy who owned their shared apartment? The answer is, it would be a laugh-out-loud-funny series about a ridiculous and charming assortment of weirdos solving only slightly believable murder mysteries in charming period clothing.

This is another one of those shows where I'm kind of shocked at how not well-known it is, except I'm not, because I can see exactly the problems that keep fandom from descending on it like horny little vultures. Nonetheless, I think it's a good time that more people would enjoy if they gave it the chance. Here's five reasons why you should:

1. Equal parts smart as heck and dumb as butts

On the one hand, especially given its tone and tenor, this show has many surprisingly clever turns and thoughtful moments, carried along by some talented actors. On the other hand, [.gif of a guinea pig in a rollerskate being pushed merrily down a hallway]

This show is not a complicated intellectual exercise. It's an action comedy about a goofy sleuth, a rich-girl reporter, and the cop who should be the straight man in this trio, except he's as much of a goober as the other two are. If the promotional tableaus are giving you real "cover of a Clue box" vibes, you've understood the kind of pastiche it's pulling off.

The mysteries are preposterous. They're all the kind of thing that exemplify the Doyle line about how, when you've eliminated the impossible, whatever's left has got to be the answer, no matter how ding-dang improbable it may be. You know the type: tons of overly elaborate setups, unbelievably perfect timing, coincidental long-lost relatives, people hallucinating right and left. They're also very short -- most full cases take only 2-3 episodes to introduce, investigate, and resolve, even when interspersed with the larger goings-on in these weirdos' lives. The DramaWiki page for the show lists 23 separate arcs over 36 episodes, so you do the math.

And yet, it's way more thoughtful and clever than its doofy little setup would indicate. Its attention to detail surprised me on more than one occasion. Add to that a bunch of solid performances from an ensemble of real characters, and what you get is definitely more substantive than a junk-food waste of time. You can't turn your brain off while watching it, but you sure can turn it down, and that's great.

It also doesn't hurt that everyone is super attractive and wearing great outfits. The whole show's worth it for the wardrobes.

2. THE GIRL

Fuck the haters, fuck everyone, I am going to climb right up on my little soapbox and tell you all why Bai Youning is awesome.

She is insane. She's a troll. She's a clever little monster. Every other character's response to her is, oh my god, you are literally the worst. And she is! She has been spoiled beyond belief by her incredibly rich Crime Dad, and she has learned to leverage her uwu just a widdle girl status to get her whatever the hell she wants. She simply cannot hear it when someone says the word "no." She will look her future sister-in-law in the eye and point a loaded gun at her own head without blinking. Every ball she has is made of brass.

She's hardly perfect. During the course of the show, there are some times where her entitlement runs face-first into the brick wall of reality. She's not nearly as good at her chosen career path as she's been told (mostly by the people who get paid to tell her she's good). She's rarely prepared to deal with the consequences of her actions, especially when she can't just throw money at the problem.

So she learns, and grows, and changes. She's always going to be a stubborn bitch, but she can become a stubborn bitch with a more accurate conception of her relationship to the world around her.

She's actually a really good romantic foil for Lu Yao, who is equally stubborn and spoiled and obnoxious as hell. It is a pure brat4brat relationship, where each one thrives on comically enraging the other. What this means, though, is that when they actually start showing one another some vulnerability, it's really sweet.

Now: I'm pretty sure that you could not have made a female character in her position that everyone did not hate, no matter how cool you made her, because that is the fate of all girls who theoretically keep the two boys from kissing. (More on that next point.) If she were less outgoing and friendly, she would've been hated for being too cold. If she were less headstrong, she would've been hated for being a pushover. If she weren't as into the boy, she would've been hated for being frigid. I know the "god forbid a woman do anything" meme is a joke, but ... man, god forbid this girl do anything. She gets a level of hate entirely disproportionate to what she's actually like. As I said with Eom Dada, it's not always sexism, but sometimes, yeah, it's sexism.

(Real talk: Her character is also fighting both how she's definitely not written as well as the boys are and how the plot sometimes needs her to be artificially stupid and jealous for Straightness Drama Reasons, so that's a legit problem on a structural level. Also, she's dubbed by someone else and the boys aren't, which gives her voice an annoying not-quite-there quality that's hard to ignore. The deck is stacked against her real hard even before she steps onscreen.)

So here's my advice: Go into this show wanting to like her. Embrace her terribleness as a positive, intentional quality. Don't be mad at her for straightening up an endgame that was never going to be gay, even without her. Welcome her contributions to the chaos. Realize that she is exactly as entertainingly irritating as her boys are.

Truly, this is a story of three terrible people in love. They're all just awful, and you wouldn't want to be in a room with any of them for longer than you had to. Left to right up there, Bai Youning is spoiled and self-absorbed, Lu Yao is arrogant and lazy, and Qiao Chusheng is suuuuuch a fucking cop. If you're into the kind of dynamic that can only be described OT3: You All Deserve One Another, then this one's perfect for you.

3. Do you really miss '00s queerbaiting?

Like, really? Are you just super-nostalgic for being able to see the showrunners go, ha ha, girls, we know you're watching and we know you want these cute boys to kiss, which they never will -- but what if we pretended for just this one scene??? Do you just carnally ache for that with every fiber of your being?

Yep.

Now, why am I calling the occasional really gay moments between these two gentlemen "queerbaiting" and not "bromance"? Because these moments are a) obviously intentional, b) completely sporadic, and c) never spoken of again.

For example: There's a scene (which you can see a gifset of here) where the two of them are at a restaurant frequented by the cop, who brings a lot of ladies there on dates. When the waiter points this out, useless noodle boy says, I'm his date. The waiter looks mildly surprised by this, the cop says not to listen to his bullshit, and that's the end of it. The scene moves on. There is no further discussion of this comment. It does not affect their relationship.

That's the essence of queerbaiting: that little on-purpose nod to the homoerotic tension between the two, in a way that isn't a joke but also isn't not a joke, and either way is never going to happen. (In fact, the show is going to go out of its way to make sure that ship gets sunk, so, uh, get your fanfiction lifeboats ready for that.)

A true queerbaiting move is something that should make a difference in a relationship, but doesn't. It should make a difference that our cop is so comfortable in the noodle boy's personal space that he invades it at will. It doesn't. It should make a difference that noodle boy keeps getting real weird every time the cop has a date with a girl. It doesn't. Those are some real romantic moves the two of them keep pulling, and then nothing comes of them.

I had this show sold to me as being incredibly shippy, to the point of being even more so than its censored-BL contemporaries. And ... well, it is and it isn't. It has textually gayer individual moments, but it is much less pervasively gay. It's clear from the start that it's going to throw all its actual relationship points into its canon het romance. When it comes to these boys, the show is toying with you. It knows you want to see those boys smooch, just as much as it knows (and it knows you know) they're never gonna.

How you feel about this is entirely up to you -- and indeed, it may be a dealbreaker on the whole drama for you. If you are inclined to pitch a fit when your ship does not become canon, you'll be happier somewhere else. If, however, you see this as a delightful opportunity to do whatever the hell you want with the situation as it is presented, all the while enjoying little moments of startlingly blatant homoeroticism between two handsome dudes, well, here you are!

(I mean, if you want my take on it, what needs to happen is that the cop and the girl need to fuck while the useless noodle boy watches with asexual bisexual interest, and then they all need to snuggle with the noodle boy in the middle so they can both annoy him appropriately, but your mileage may vary.)

4. The multicultural extravaganza!

1920s Shanghai had a lot going on in terms of cultures and languages, and this show actually does a fair job of representing that.

By now, I've seen a number of shows set during this era, and they all at least acknowledge the international nature of the city -- usually by mentioning the French Concession and having a handful of evil Japanese characters. However, this is the first time I've seen a show go to such lengths to actually show so many non-Chinese characters onscreen, even to the point of making one a recurring character supporting the main squad.

Salim is the best. Whatever he is being paid, it's not enough. He's Qiao Chusheng's right-hand man, which means he is also the dude who most often has to put up the main trio's bullshit. (The actor himself is also a dude with a pretty cool backstory, which is another great layer.) He's sharp, he's loyal, he's patient, and he looks great with his shirt off. He's got it all!

Other non-Chinese characters include a white Jewish art collector (I'd issue a warning for period-typical antisemitism, except … honestly, it's mostly just confused), a sadistic priest who maybe is supposed to be Italian, a completely different priest who [last episode spoiler], and three whole sinister white dudes behind it all.

It's not just the world coming to China, though! A large number of the Chinese characters are said to have spent significant time outside of China, whether for business or for schooling. Near the end, when some characters are discussing moving away from Shanghai, they consider a number of foreign cities as potential destinations.

Here's a delightful detail: When Lu Yao and his sister speak English, they're dubbed by actors with posh British accents who sound like native (or near-native) English-speakers. This makes perfect sense, because both of the siblings did a lot of their schooling in the UK. When Bai Youning speaks English, she's dubbed by someone who speaks English very well but also has a noticeable Chinese accent, which makes perfect sense for her character's background. And Qiao Chusheng never speaks English at all, because he's a street tough who has no reason to know more than three words.

...This is also kind of weird to say about something literally made in China, but go with me on it: Everything's kind of got that Art Deco Orientalist vibe to it. It looks like China's idea of what Britain's idea of China during that period would have looked like. The result comes across less like what 1920s Shanghai would actually have looked like, and more what an ad for 1920s Shanghai would have looked like. It's a fascinating aesthetic, and more so for how it's mostly pretty subtle. The show isn't some visual extravaganza, but it's always very nice to look at, and I appreciate that in a show.

5. A wonderful horrible protagonist

A lot of mystery-themed prestige television involves an asshole genius detective who gets away with being a dick to everyone because he's sooooo smart, while all his long-suffering friends and colleagues spend a lot of time doing damage control for him because, sigh, he's an asshole but we need him, genius excuses all dickhead behavior, we'll always make exceptions for him because he's just ever so special. (Watch histrionic sage hbomberguy's video on Sherlock if you're unfamiliar with the trope.)

Lu Yao is an asshole genius detective, but one who winds up spending most of his time being an asshole to a) people who deserve it, or b) his horrible friends who will be assholes right back at him. When he is awful to the people who don't deserve it, the show smacks him pretty hard on the nose for it and makes him apologize.

This is a show where you'll figure out pretty quckly if you'll love it or hate it, because if you love Lu Yao, you'll love it, and vice versa. He carries most of the show himself, with his goofy charm and his incredibly bendy slenderman body and his ability to make the one competent person he knows both protect him and give him money.

Like so.

For my own part, I find him intensely charming, and I think a lot of this has to do with Hu Yitian's ability to play him as an affectionately bullyable weenie who needs to get shoved in a locker for his own good. He's the worst, and it's comically endearing instead of offputting because at the end of the day, he really does have a good heart. He's just also lazy as heck and disinclined to do anything that he does not want to be doing, and really, aren't we all?

As I alluded to in point 3, he comes across as real asexual. He's just not that interested in sex, and he is in fact pretty uncomfortable in situations where he finds himself the subject of someone else's sexual desires. He's perfectly capable of romantic feelings! I mean, not only does he get Bai Youning as a love interest, we actually meet one of his ex-girlfriends. He's just not partciularly horny about them -- which is even more noticeable as a sharp contrast to how extremely horny Qiao Chusheng is for just about everyone, but this exasperating little dork in particular.

(Like seriously, 90% of the time, Chusheng is about to explode with sexual frustration at Lu Yao's skinny oblivious ass.)

This isn't to say you couldn't get Lu Yao into bed, because you absolutely could, and he'd probably have a good time. You'd just have to remove all distractions from the room, lest his ADHD ass wind up running off to solve a crime mid-coitus.

Twiggy little nightmare man. Garbage-animal boy. Love him.

sidebar: A word about the ending

I'm going to be vague and talk about general vibes instead of specific events, but you should still skip this section if you want to remain completely unspoiled. Jump to the picture of Chusheng holding the sledgehammer.

Okay, so, a lot of people do not like the ending, and I'm including myself in that number. I honestly don't know if they got rushed and had to wrap everything pretty last-minute, or if they thought they might get a second season out of it and were leaving things open-ended accordingly. Either way, it's incredibly unsatisfying.

I think there's a clue that the show didn't actually want to end this way, and it's not actually in the text of the show itself. Every episode, between the last scene and the start of the credits, you get to see a couple still frames from the episode (usually some of the queerbaity ones). After the very final shot of the series, you get two images: the boys hugging goodbye, and Chusheng's upset face. That's not a resolution! That is at best a "to be continued..." ending!

But no, that's it. That's all, folks.

It's not quite an ending so bad it ruins the rest of the show, mostly because it doesn't feel finished, so it's less like you're watching a car being deliberately driven into a wall because someone thought that was the best route to take, and more like you're watching someone leave a car on the railroad tracks because they figured they'd have time to move it later.

As far as I know, there has been no noise made about a second season. These 36 episodes are the entirety of the narrative. It had the distinct misfortune to start airing in March 2020, which wasn't exactly prime time for planning sequels, and that seems to have been that. (There is a 2022 show called Checkmate that stars the two main guys in extremely similar roles, also adapting Agatha Christie stories, but it's apparently pretty meh? Somebody else who's actually seen it, go ahead and weigh in here.)

I'll say that if you turn off the episode right after Lu Yao gets out the handcuffs, you'll save yourself the worst of it the awkward and unsatisfying moments (though I'm impressed at your willpower to stop watching something five minutes from the end). That's not all of it, though. Structurally, there are several situations rushed to a resolution and loose threads left flapping untied in the breeze. I guess stopping before the last five minutes simply saves you the hope that it'll pull a good ending out of the fire, because it won't.

And let's be real: The more you hate Bai Youning and her romance with Lu Yao, the more you'll hate the ending. (Not that liking those elements will necessarily make you like the ending, of course, because I'm a fan of hers and I still think the ending is butts.) The ending is already like a pair of uncomfortable shoes; if the het romance especially makes you grind your teeth, the ending becomes a pair of uncomfortable shoes that also have a rock in them. A lot of the comments online indicate plenty of people dropped the show when they learned the het romance would be endgame. It's a pretty common dealbreaker.

Oh well. Bring on the fanfic, I say! Those of us who are used to taking a sledgehammer to canon are unafraid.

Smash it, baby.

Still want to see some of these mysteries?

Both iQiyi and Viki have the answer to your sleuthing!

It's not a perfect show -- as evidenced by my digression about the ending -- but it's a lot of fun. If you can handle the occasional foible and some eyebrow-raising moments, you're in for a good time with some attractive people that occasionally tastes very gay.

Every roommate crazy 'bout a sharp-dressed man

[baileypie-writes]

Can u plz do Velvet and Veneer with a preteen sister reader who's a theatre kid? Like, when Velvet and veneer are gone, she's rehearsing her lines and songs. And she was too scared of them to find out bc reader assumed they would make fun of her, so they find out through the readers first play?

Tysm!! <333

A/N ~ Sure! I decided to make the show Into the Woods, and the Reader is Little Red Riding Hood. Hope you enjoy(because I sure enjoyed writing it)!

~Little Red~

Velvet and Veneer + Theatre Kid!Little Sister!Reader

Fandom: Trolls 3: Band Together

Reader: Female, preteen, Velvet and Veneer’s little sister, theatre kid

Relationship: Familial

Genre: Fluff

Synopsis: Velvet and Veneer had no idea you were a theatre kid. That was, until they got tickets to your first show.

Warnings: Minor stage fright(Reader), Reader comparing herself to Velvet and Veneer

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Mother said ‘Straight ahead’

Not to delay or be mislead”

You sang, reading the sheet music closely. You made sure that you were in character, wanting to sound as much like Red as possible.

Your school was putting on a production of Into the Woods. Being in the theatre club, you were of course a part of it. You really hoped to land the part of Little Red Riding Hood. Much to your delight, you got it!

It had been a long while since then. Your play was the next night. And while you probably didn’t need any more practice, you thought it wouldn’t hurt.

The garage door opening snapped you out of your thoughts. Your older siblings, Velvet and Veneer, were home. You quickly folded your script and sheet music, and hid them in your backpack.

Your siblings didn’t exactly know about your play. That is, you haven’t told them. You were too embarrassed to. They were big time pop stars, the biggest ones in fact. A simple little musical like this would only make them laugh. So you practiced in secret.

~~~~

It was now the night of your play. You stayed after school to get ready, as it started in just two hours. Velvet and Veneer awaited your return, but became confused when you were ten minutes late.

“Hey, Mom!” Veneer called. “Where’s (name)? She should be home by now.”

“She’s staying after school to get ready.” Your mom responded.

Velvet and Veneer turned to each other, even more puzzled.

“Ready for what?”

“… The play?”

The twins shared another confused look, before getting up and entering the kitchen, where your mom was.

“Mom, what are you talking about? What play?” Velvet asked, looking at her as if she were crazy.

“What do you mean ‘what play’? Into the Woods! (name)’s school play! Please tell me you know about it?” Your mother said. When Velvet and Veneer stood in silence, she sighed. “(name) didn’t tell you, did she?”

The twins shook their heads, and your mom sighed again.

“Oh my god… Well, we’re all going. I already bought the tickets, so no backing out!”

“Okay!” Veneer said excitedly.

“I just can’t believe she didn’t tell us!” Velvet complained. “Who’s she playing anyway?”

“Little Red Riding Hood.”

The twin’s jaws dropped.

“Wow! That’s a big part! Aww, she’s gonna be so cute!” Veneer said, picturing you wearing a red hood and carrying a little basket.

“Yeah I know!” Your mom agreed. “Now, we leave in about an hour and a half, so make sure to be ready!”

~~~~

As you finished doing your makeup, the reality sank in that you’d be on stage in front of a lot of people. You didn’t know how nervous you were up until now. But before you could panic, you stopped yourself. Velvet and Veneer had performed in front of crowds over twice this size. So you could do this!

You noticed many of your fellow actors rushing to the curtain. Following the flow of kids, you saw that the ones at the front of the group were looking into the crowd.

“Hey! We’re not supposed to do that.” You tried stopping them.

“I know but… just look!” One of the kids said.

You scoffed, wondering what could be so interesting that it required breaking the rules. You peeked behind the curtain, and froze.

Velvet and Veneer. They were here. Why? You didn’t invite them. You didn’t even tell them this was happening! Your nerves skyrocketed. Right as you were about to panic, your director called out.

“Curtain in two minutes!”

~~~~

Velvet and Veneer sat in the front row. Veneer was clearly excited out of his mind. He just couldn’t stay still.

“Ahh! I can’t wait! I just know (name)’s gonna do so good!” He whispered.

“Yeah, yeah, I know! You’ve only said that fifteen times! Now be quiet, and sit still. Jeez, it’s like I’m handling a toddler…” Velvet said.

Suddenly, the lights dimmed. Immediately after, the crowd became quiet. The curtain rose, the stage lights turned on, and the music began.

Velvet and Veneer sat through the character introductions, clearly bored. They didn’t care about the bakers, Cinderella or Jack. All they cared about was seeing a little girl in a red hood. After a few minutes, there you were, skipping through the bakery.

“I wish

It’s not for me, it’s for my granny in the woods

A loaf of bread, please

To bring my poor old hungry granny in the woods

Just a load of bread, please” You sang, cheerful and fully of energy. Everyone in the crowd laughed as you sang the last bit with your mouth full of bread.

Velvet and Veneer had never felt so proud of you up until now. They never knew you had a talent in musical theatre! But there you were, singing and acting with the spotlight on you. It’s was like you and the character were one. Like you were born to play this role.

~~~~

The play was over, and the curtains closed. The applause was still going, but Velvet and Veneer practically jumped out of their seats. They needed to see you.

They waited outside the stage. Veneer was holding a bouquet of flowers, a gift to congratulate your excellent performance.

You exited the dressing room, now out of costume. You turned the corner, and nearly jumped out of your skin when you saw your siblings. You sighed, and prepared yourself for the endless teasing. But to your surprise, it never came.

“(name)!” Veneer dashed over to you. Velvet followed behind. “You were amazing!” He said, placing the flowers in your arms.

You were confused. Both by the compliment and the flowers. “Oh. Uh… thanks?”

“But why didn’t you tell us about this?” Velvet asked.

“Oh… well uh… I kinda thought you’d make fun of me.” You mumbled.

Velvet and Veneer gave confused looks. “Make fun of you? Why would we do that?” Veneer asked.

“Well, you guys are famous pop stars! This was just some silly school play… And I was playing a silly little girl in a hood.”

“Silly?” Veneer said. “It was awesome!”

You looked up, shocked. “Really?”

“Yeah. You were better than Cinderella!” Velvet complimented. Something that she rarely does.

“Agreed! Hey, when’s your next play? Because we’re definitely coming to that!” Veneer asked.

You laughed. You totally didn’t expect them to be so impressed. You suppose that you should be proud of yourself for that, considering that they’re pop stars. But you were just relieved that they didn’t tease you. Instead, you just gained your number one fans!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~baileypie-writes

[piratefishmama]

Crossing the Line | Part 13

“You’re wearing that?”

“Yes, I’m wearing this, this has been a focus point ever since I mentioned it, it’s an inside joke at this point Robbie, we have an inside joke already! I’m wearing this.” He was wearing the sweater vest. It was a running gag at that point, and it was the perfect opportunity to wear it. Eddie had messaged him that morning (okay so, more like just gone 2pm) apologising for not texting back sooner even though Steve didn’t need an apology because Eddie had told him that after gig diner food was a thing.

He didn’t expect Eddie to spend any time texting him during a band tradition. Band traditions were sacred.

“But… but it’s so—”

“Me. It’s me. It’s so very me. So I’m going to have this date, as me. Not in costume like last night, I’m going as me, and… and he’s going to like it… he’s going to like it, right?” Somewhere during that tiny ramble, Robin’s eyes softened, all her hard edges wearing away like rocks beaten by the sea.

“… Yeah Stevie, you look perfect, he’s gonna love it. An if he doesn’t, well… I’ll beat him up.” She’d seen him, she could take him.

“Haha, I don’t think your date will approve of that, she’s like… his best friend or something, so you gotta be nice to him.”

“Hey, bros before hoes, Steve, that’s the rule. He fucks it up? Imma shove that wet rat back in the sewer where he belongs, my poor love life be damned.”

He loved Robin. With everything he had. He loved her. She was like the sister he’d never had, a twin separated at birth.

She came to him when he had no-one, when he was circling the drain about to slip, it’d been such a crazy happenstance meeting her, she wasn’t rich. She didn’t come from some crazy rich family. She came from a small town in rural Indiana, she didn’t have siblings, her parents were ex-hippies for crying out loud.

She was just, Robin. And she’d been there by a single stroke of luck, she’d been there. Passing by the club he’d been in at the time, she’d caught him as he’d stumbled out, bleary eyed and confused having taken something… of which he had no idea. Tommy Hagan, a budding actor running on his parents coattails, had given it to him, said it’d loosen him up.

Then… well, the exact details were a little blurry, but he remembered pushing someone’s handsy hands away from him and stumbling out of the club directly into Robin.

She’d gotten him a cab, taken him home and made sure he was okay. She’d stayed with him, all night. She hadn’t had to, she didn’t know him, he didn’t know her, hell, she could have taken photo after photo and sold them to whoever paid the most, she’d have made thousands, millions to the right magazines, but she’d stayed with him all night instead, then made him breakfast the morning after.

A greasy fry up thing that settled his stomach right down.

She’d introduced herself, being a stranger in his kitchen, and explained what’d happened, awkwardly rambling about how she’d called her parents to ask about symptoms and what to do cause they’d know, and that she’d taken care of him, so he didn’t wind up hurting himself, she’d even hurriedly shown him her phone, scrolling through photos he never asked to see just to prove that she hadn’t taken anything of him.

Half a week later he was inviting her to a charity gala thing he’d been invited to, then to an awards show, then to a dinner thing where she’d awkwardly come out to him on the bathroom floor panicking over how she thought he was interested in her with how much he wanted her around, and while yes, maybe he’d had a small crush on her to begin with, it very quickly, very easily evolved into something else as she explained.

Then, event after event as Steve shed the weight of his horribly unhealthy ‘friends’, they became a package deal, Steve, and Robin, where one went, the other wouldn’t be far behind.

And she wouldn’t let anyone hurt him again. Especially not some jumped up little music snob who could only get gigs in dive bars.

“C’mere Robbie” Steve pulled her in, even as she hissed her complaints, citing her outfit, her hair, he knew by the way she reciprocated that hug that she was just complaining for the sake of it “love you”

“Love you too dingus. Now… are you going with contacts or glasses?”

He chose glasses, he ran a hand through his hair a few times, shooed Robin off for her own date, something she had no input on because Chrissy had insisted on taking her to ‘see the city’ properly, giving Steve just enough time to put the finishing touches on dinner. A simple chicken and bacon creamy pasta dish, nothing too heavy and the ingredients were easy to find.

The only concern he’d had was whether or not Eddie ate meat, and a quick text to Chrissy answered that question.

The door buzzer signalled the end of his internal countdown. Eddie responded to his simple “hello?” with a funny little

“Metalhead delivery for Mr Superstar~!” That Steve couldn’t help but giggle at, still smiling when Eddie eventually made it to the door, and when his eyes lit up when that door opened, big, beautiful browns falling on his sweater vest, a big, dimpled grin blossoming on his lips and his voice, full of glee announcing “Sweater vest for Eddie!” Steve knew he was a goner.

He was done for. He’d fallen for a silly metalhead and he didn't want to get up.

Part 15

[strawberriescherrieskiwi]

His Little Women

Anon request:

I don't know how to explain this but Do you know that interview where Timothée says if he has daughters one day they had to see his movie "Little Women" So could You please do a Dad!Timmy x Bunny where he shows them Little Women and they love that their dad is in the movie and that the oldest's favourite is Jo and the youngest's Amy?

Wordcount: 2.1K+

Masterlist

Description: It’s family movie night and Bunny and the girls are in Paris, but without Timmy around the girls are a bit sad, until you suggest they watch one of his films and a surprise on the way.

A/N: One down a few more dadtimmy to go. I had a lot of fun with this one. Thank you for the lovely request, it was incredibly fun to write. I love this cute little family with my whole heart.

Warning: Fluff, Family fluff.

“What should we watch for movie night?” You asked your daughters as you watched them brush their teeth.

With the summer and Timothee currently shooting a film in Europe, you decided to take the girls on a little summer holiday. You were in Paris and planned to take them to Disney land in a few days.

“We only have movie nights with Papa,” Lena said sadly, mouth full of toothpaste.

“Yeah, it won’t be the same without him,” Elle added, rinsing her mouth and walking over to you, wrapping her arms around your waist.

You frowned slightly at how sad they both were. Timmy, for the most, didn’t take too many roles that took him so far away from the girls, but it was only a small indie film for a few weeks and you both thought it would be okay, but the way the girls reacted shocked you both.

“Hey we can still have a nice movie night without, papa,” you said, picking up Elle and kissing her forehead.

Lena finished brushing her teeth and came over to you. You leaned down and hugged them both to your chest. You felt bad for them both for being so sad. Mainly because you were aware your husband was on his way to your Paris home.

His schedule was free for the next few days and wanted to come to see your little family. You both thought it would be a nice surprise for the girls, but their little faces were breaking your heart.

“Why don’t we watch one of his films then?” You suggested.

They both perked up at the suggestion. Neither of them have seen any of his films as you both thought most of his filmography was not appropriate for them, but Lena's birthday was in just over two weeks and then Elle would be turning 8 soon after and now seem like a perfect time to show them one of his films.

When you spoke with Timmy on the phone earlier he was excited to show his daughters Little Women. It was one of his favorite films he did and he had so much love for the role and the close bond the March sisters had with each other.

Plus, while the girls have been to set and know their father was an actor it was a different experience to see him in a film playing a character. To say that Timmy was rushing home would be an understatement.

“We can watch one of Papa’s films?” Elle asked excitedly.

You nodded, pushing her hair out of her face. “We can watch Little Women with Auntie Flo and Saoirse. Won’t that be fun?”

“Yeah, I want to see Papa,” Lena smiled, pulling away from the hug. “Let’s go let’s go,” she chanted, running from the bathroom.

“Walking feet, my love,” you called after her, standing up and grabbing Elle’s hand.

“Mommy, will Papa not be Papa in the film?” She asked as you both followed after Lena.

“Yes, they won’t call him Papa or Timmy or anything like that, only the character’s name. So he will be papa but in the film, he will be pretending he is someone else.” You explained.

She nodded. She’s seen films with people she knew before, but it still confused her small mind sometimes, but she was curious about films and how everything worked. Since going to set with Timmy she’s been itching to go back.

“Should we get popcorn, chips, or candy?” You asked once the girls were settled on the sofa.

They both just gave you a look making you laugh. “Right right, all of the above, how could I be so silly,” you teased.

“Snacks are not something to be silly about, Mommy,” Elle said crossing her little arms.

You snorted. “Of course not, my love. Now drinks? What are we thinking?”

“Strawberry Milk,” Lena said.

“Apple juice, please,” Elle said.

Nodding, you walked into the kitchen grabbed a tray, and loaded it with snacks and drinks. You grinned when you heard the front door open and then footsteps heading toward the living room.

A few seconds later the girls were screaming and shouting and you heard Timmy's laughter. Walking into the living room you saw Timmy on the ground as the girls jumped all over him, talking over each other and showering him in hugs and kisses.

You smiled at your family, setting the tray down and grabbing your phone, and snapping a picture of the three of them. The flash of the camera had Timmy glancing over at you, his eyes lightening up even more at see you and your growing belly.

“Bunny,” he breathed happily. Timmy unwrapped one of his arms from around the girls and reached for you. Dramatic widening his eyes sadly when he couldn’t reach you.

“So dramatic, Chalamet,” you said with an eye roll, but you walked closer, getting on the ground with your family.

“Hello, beautiful,” he said, pressing his lips to yours.

You kissed back, patting his cheek lovingly. “Hi, Timmy,” you mumbled against his lips.

“Enough kissing. I want kisses from Papa,” Lena demanded, pushing your face away from Timmy.

“Yeah, let us kiss Papa,” Elle pouted.

Timmy smiled brightly at them arguing over him. “My loves, there is enough love to go around for all of you,” he said, attacking their faces with kisses.

The girls giggled, wrapping their little arms around his neck and peppering kisses on his face as well. Your heart swelled. You always wanted a big family where your husband adored your children and for a while, you thought it wasn’t in the cards for you.

And then your annoying best friend already assumed you two were dating. You smiled thinking about it and kissed his cheek. “I love you, Timmy,” you said.

His eyes soften and shined with love and adoration. “And I love you, bunny. I love you, our little one you are carrying, and these two little angels,” he said, turning to the girls when he mentioned them, tickling them.

“We love you too, Papa,” Elle said, kissing his cheek again.

“Best papa ever,” Lena said, bouncing on his lap.

“I am so happy to know I am better than any other papa,” he said, kissing both their cheeks. “Now I see PJs, snacks, blankets. Are we having a movie night?” He asked with wide eyes.

“Yes!” Lena exclaimed getting off his lap and moving to the sofa. “And it’s a special one.”

“Really?” Timmy asked.

Elle stood up rocking on her heels with thinly concealed excitement. “Yes, do you want to know why?” She asked but didn’t wait for an answer before talking. “We are going to watch one of your movies. Little Women,” she shouted, joining her sister on the sofa.

Timmy got to his feet, then helped you up. “You know, darlings, Little Women is one of my favorite films I’ve ever done. It’s such a good film even if I wasn’t in it I would think it was a masterpiece. I’m happy to be sharing it with you both.”

“We are excited to watch so go get changed,” They whined from the sofa.

“Of course my little loves.” He chuckled leaving to change clothes.

You joined your daughters on the sofa, snuggling close to them. “Are you happy that Papa is here?” You asked, running your hands through their curls.

“So happy,” Lena replied.

“Did you know he was coming home?” Elle asked with narrowed eyes.

“Yes, we wanted to surprise you both,” you said poking her cheek until she grinned.

“It was nice,” she said, causing you to laugh.

When Timmy returned he grabbed the snack tray and sat down. Both of the girls left you to snuggle close to Timmy. You scoffed playfully. “So Papa’s back and I’m nothing,” you teased.

“You have bagel bite,” Lena shrugged.

Timmy shot you a smirk and you flicked his nose.

“Jealously is such an ugly trait, Bunny,” he said, shaking his head in mock disappointment.

“You are all smug now Chalamet, I’ll let you have your moment,” you said, starting the film.

Throughout the whole movie, the girl's eyes were glued to the screen as they watched the film. The first time Timmy was shown, they both gasped and whispered to Timmy that it was him, causing you both to giggle slightly.

Timmy held them close watching them more than the film to see how well they were enjoying it. While you both thought they were old enough to watch, it didn’t mean their little minds would stay zoned in the whole time, but they didn’t miss anything.

“You look so young, papa,” Elle whispered at one part.

“Your hair is all messy,” Lena whispered at another part.

When Amy and Laurie kissed they both gasped giggling. “It’s weird to see Papa kiss something that isn’t Mommy,” Lena whispered to her sister.

“It’s acting, Lena. It isn’t Papa kissing Auntie, it’s Laurie kissing Amy,” Elle whispered back.

“I know that,” Lena huffed. “It’s still his face,” she mumbled.

You and Timmy shared a look and held in your laughter. Timmy just kissed both of their foreheads. “It’s weird to kiss someone that isn’t Mommy. She’s my favorite person to kiss,” he said.

“I better be or I’ll hurt you,” you mumbled.

From the look Timmy gave you, you knew he was thinking something he couldn’t say in front of the girls and you rolled your eyes. The girls loudly shushed you both so they could finish the last of the film.

When the movie ended, you grabbed the tray and carried it to the kitchen as Timmy carried the girls to their rooms. Only to change course when they asked to sleep with you both for the night.

Timmy playful tossed them on the bed making them both bounce and laugh. They quickly crawled under the covers wiggling close to each other. “Did you both enjoy the film?” Timmy asked with a hint of nervousness in his voice. He felt like he was about to be critiqued by the harshest of critics. At 7 and 5 they didn’t hold punches and more times than not humbled him.

“I liked the movie, but it made me sad when Beth died,” Elle said.

“Me too. I liked her so much, but I liked Auntie Flo's character best. Amy was so amazing,” Lena said. “I want to be a painter like her and I liked her blue dress.”

“No, Jo was much better. She was a writer like Mommy and she wrote all those plays they did. Plays are fun,” Elle argued.

“And what about Laurie?” Timmy laughed, stopping the argument he could see brewing between them.

“Hmm, he was okay,” Elle said.

“Just okay? He teased.

“He was good, you did a good job, Papa,” Lena said.

“Yeah, you were great. I forgot it was you sometimes. He looked taller.”

Timmy scoffed. “He is me,”

“No he’s Laurie you are Papa,” she countered.

“You are your mother’s daughter,” he groaned, getting into bed with them.

“Duh,” she said, shaking her head.

“He did look taller, did you wear heels?” Lena asked.

“Maybe he is only tall to us because we are small,” Elle answered.

“I am tall thank you very much.”

“If you say so,” Lena said, causing her sister to laugh.

“You both are your mother’s daughters,” he said, shaking his head.

“Is that a bad thing?” You asked as you walked into the room, hearing the tail end of their conversation.

Timmy grabbed your waist when you were close enough and pulled you down on top of him. “No not at all. I love my mini bunnies,” he assured.

You cuddle into his chest, kissing his jaw. “I thought so.”

“Papa, can I take a painting class?” Lena asked. “I want to be like Amy.”

“Of course, Lena.”

“And I want to be Jo for Halloween this year,” Elle said.

“Oh, I want to be Amy,” Lean added.

“Should we all go as characters?” You suggested.

“Yes, I like that. Mommy you can be their mommy and Papa you can be their dad,” Lena said.

“Not Laurie?” He asked.

“Are you not too old to be Laurie?”

“It was only a few years ago,” he gasped. “I’m not old.”

“Umm, I guess,” Elle said.

“Maybe we will see if he wears heels to make himself taller,” Lean whispered to her sister.

“I heard that,” he said.

The girls just giggled in return.

"Okay, my little Women, it's time for bed. And tomorrow we can go to Disney?" He said.

"Good night, Papa and Mommy," Elle said, closing her eyes. "Night, Lena."

"Night night, Papa, Mommy, and Elle," Lena yawned and closed her eyes, and cuddled closer to her sister.

                      Taglist.

@gatoenlaciudad

@iloveneilperry​

@valencia-rou

@s-we-e-t-t-ea​

@robertpattins0nswh0re

[lynn-w3st]

MK1: For Till College

Modern MK1 AU

Pairing: Lin Kuei brothers x sister oc reader (platonic)

Other Characters: Kimiko Hasashi ( @khaotic-kris ). Rhea Carlton (my oc reader)

You were the only little sister of the Lin Kuei brothers. Your parents passed away when you were only ten years old in a car accident. Your older brothers became extremely protective.

“Make sure you guys study your test review as tomorrow we will have an exam on it.” Her math teacher said as the bell rang and she began to clean her white board. You began to pack her things away since her lovely best friend Rhea was waiting for outside of your classroom.

“You seem kind of zone out there Lia.” Your best friend said as you met her outside of the classroom and you both began to walk towards the college doors. “Oh no I was just thinking about some stuff.” You said with a tired smile.

Rhea Carlton is the niece of the famous start actor Johnny Cage. Her parents divorce when she was little and later her mother passed away from cancer while her father remarried again.

“Apparently my aunt Chris wants me to go live with her in Canada. You know to pursue my nursing career.” Rhea said in a sad tone as she was in a bit turmoil on what she wants to do.

The both of you sat down in a bench that was underneath a tree while waiting for your guys ride to arrive. Rhea offered you a snacks that she had on her bag that she brought today.

“And are you going to?” You said as she sigh and shook her head. “I don’t know yet? I just feel really lost.” She said you frown and stop walking and grabbed her hands into yours. Rhea gave you smile as you began to explain.

“Hey you’ve always wanted to be like your mom and work as a nurse. I think you should really do it. Don’t feel bad! You can do it Rhea!” You said. Rhea gave you a smiled and nodded in firmly.

“Thanks Lia! I don’t know what I’ll do without a best friend like you. Say I heard your older brother Kuai Liang recently got a girlfriend .” She said as you nodded and smiled brightly.

“Yes her name is Kimiko Hasashi and she is very sweet and kind. Bi Han kind of doesn’t like her because she can be very mischievous but I think she’s awesome in my book.” You stated.

Rhea rolled eyes in a joking manner. “ I’m sorry but Bi Han has a massive stick up his ass. He’s the embodiment of the Grinch. Bro has beef with everyone.” She before taking a bite of her matcha roll cake that she bought at the store.

You began to eat your delicious chocolate bread roll with Rhea in silence. Someone lightly tap your shoulder as you turn around to see Takeda Takahashi. He was holding something behind his back. “ (Y,N), I have something to tell you. Will you give me the honor to be my prom date for this year’s winter ball event.” He said softly.

Rhea stared at the situation with wide eyes as she was speechless in shock. She regained her composure and face palm herself on what her cousin got himself into. She made a quick mental note to make his lovely funeral soon.

Takeda presented you a bouquet of flowers and a beautifully made letter with hearts on it. You were taken a back and open your mouth to tell him your answer when a very loud aggressive honk broke the moment. You turn around to find your older brother Bi Han waiting for you.

He had an intense death glare at Takeda who wanted nothing more than to disappear. You sigh and turn to face Takeda and gave him a smile. “Of course I’ll be delighted to be your prom date.” You said taking the bouquet from his hands and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Bi Han’s knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel so tightly as his body shook in anger and frustration. You got into the car and waved goodbye to Rhea and Takeda as she turn to face him and slapped him upside his head.

The drive back to the house was silence as Bi Han was gave you a quick glance in the rear view mirror before continuing driving back to the house. You knew you were in big trouble.

You were silently eating dinner with your older brother as Kuai Liang and Tomas were happily chatting away about work and other things. Bi Han stared at you when Tomas spoke up. “ So how was school today, little flower.” He said as you look up and gave him a smile as Bi Han just stared at you with a stern face and arms cross.

“It was fine I got ask out to the winter prom by Takeda Takahashi.” You said with a smile but it seems Bi Han was angry and soon spoke up. “You aren’t going and that’s final. You are too young to party.” He said sternly as you sigh.

“Brother…” Kuai Liang began but Bi Han sent him a glare. “No she is too young to go on a date. Especially with an Takahashi.” He stated. Tomas sigh as he knew Bi Han was at it again.

“I think you should allow Li Hua to go to prom. You know let her experience it, besides this is her sophomore in high school.” Tomas said hoping that Bi Han can allow you to go.

“My answer is still no. She will not be in a dating relationship for….. for till college!” He said as you gasped in shock at his statement. “For till college!” You said in shock as Bi Han nodded. “For till college.” He said sternly.

Kuai Liang face palm and shook his head. You were left flabbergasted as Bi Han went back to eating his food. Tomas place a reassuring hand on your shoulder. You gave him a small smile as you resume eating your delicious food again.

It silent was silent for a moment before Bi Han stood up and place his dishes on the sink. “I’ll think about it but in the mean time my answer is still no.” He said before going upstairs to his office to work on a new project for his company.

You let out sigh as you stood up and grabbed your dishes. “Leave them there, I’ll wash them for you. Why don’t you go relax.” Tomas said.

You nodded and walk upstairs to your bedroom. Tomas and Kuai Liang watch you leave before they got up to clean the kitchen and have a very private conversation among themselves about trying to convince Bi Han to let you go to prom.

Dear diary,

Welcome to my normal and chaotic life as the only little sister of the Lin Kuei family. Where my brothers are overprotective mama bears.

Sincerely,

Liu Hua

Hope guys enjoy this wholesome fanfic of the little sister of the Lin Kuei brothers. I grew up watching iCarly as a kid and Spencer was one of my favorite characters in the show. Sorry if this came out as cringe, I tried my best 🥺.

As usual if you guys have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to message me. I’m more than happy to answer them.

[andy-15-07]

Since I met you { Chapter 1}

masterlist ! pairing: Sam Claflin x oc!reader

SUMMARY : When a student meets a famous actor, what can happen? They fall in love, they don't care what the world says about them, they swear their love and that they will be next to each other regardless of the situation.

The story follows the beginning and formation of the love story of Sam and Andrea.

GENRE: fluff, love at first sight

When you ask yourself if you are making the right choice in life, you always ask yourself the question "Am I making the right choice?" , but for me it was not a good choice but an excellent one, I study what I like, photography.

Here I am studying at the University of Arts London, for a good career in this field, I am glad that I have taken this important step in my life.

My name is Andrea Lawson, I'm 20 years old and I'm in my first year at university, as expected, I live in the dormitory, I have a roommate Louisa.

Me and Lou are the complete opposite, she is always invited to campus parties, anyone who knows her, she is popular and I am the one who stays in the dorm room and studies, my personality is that I don't go to parties and I am not known by the people on campus.

But today is not one of those lucky days, Louisa and her boyfriend are in our room and I decided to leave them alone, after all they need privacy. As for love, it doesn't exist for me, I don't have a boyfriend, no one would look at me.

"Andrea, why do you have to leave? We can have a movie night with the three of us, you know we don't mind." Louisa tells me who was in the arms of her lover, Alex.

"I don't want to disturb you, you also need time together, maybe you have other plans and I don't want to be in your way." I tell them calm down while putting on my boots.

"Well let's say you're right. But where are you going?" Alex asked me.

"I'm going to that cafe I told you about."

"And you're going with someone?" Louisa asks me curiously

"Who should I go with? I'm going alone, I still have a few things to finish on a project." I tell

"You always do this, when you go out somewhere, you do all the work related to college, go out a little more, go to a party, have a drink and maybe get together with someone. You're living life!" She tells me and gets up from Alex's arms.

"Lou, you know that this is your lifestyle, not mine. Even if I meet someone, I meet them in my own way and you know this very well. Stop forcing me with such things. Please!" I tell her and look at her.

"I know, sorry! But I want to see you happy, not only with your head in books. You know I only want the best for you, right?"

"I know Lou and I thank you for this. Thank you!" I tell him and give him a hug.

"I'm glad we met, we make a good team" he says and hugs me.

Lou and I didn't know each other but since I started university, we are like two sisters, different but at the end of the day we tell each other everything and give each other advice.

"Now I know that I will speak on behalf of myself and Louisa, but be careful what you do," Alex tells me.

"I will, don't worry, I know what I'm doing. Have fun!" I tell them and leave the room.

I leave the room and meet the typical London weather, it's raining but it doesn't bother me, the rain calms me down.

The road to the cafe is not too long but it is 3 streets from the hostel, usually by the time I get to the cafe I listen to music with headphones, but today I didn't take them with me, but this doesn't bother me because instead of listening to music, I listen how it rained

Around me, the people in the dorms go to the club or others go to have a drink, it's normal that it's Friday. But what do I do? I'm going to finish a project.

As I was thinking, I didn't realize that I had arrived in front of the place where I can call it my favorite place in the vicinity.

Not many people come to this place, only a few, the owner was an old lady who always tells me that this was her dream.

I order a coffee and sit in my favorite place, by the window, to watch the rain. I look around the room and notice that there are few people today, something usual.

I take out my laptop and the files I need and spread them on the small table.

I think it's been an hour since I've been here and I decided to take a break, when I look up from my laptop I realize that someone is looking at me.

A boy, I think he has the same age as me or is 2 years older than me, I look at him and smile, lowering my eyes to the file. Suddenly I hear someone clearing his throat, when I look up I see the boy looking at me.

"Hi! Can I stay?" He was asking me, easy to guess that he is from here, he had an English accent.

"Yes, you can sit down, I don't mind" I say and smile.

To my surprise, I smile for the first time when I'm not forced, this boy has that something that makes me smile, he's cute, even very handsome.

"What are you studying?" He asked me and looked at a file that was fixed in front of him.

"I study photography, and what you see there are pictures taken by me for some exams, some are taken just out of passion." I explain to him but my smile doesn't disappear.

"The pictures are very beautiful, even excellent. You are very talented."

"Thank you very much!" I thank him.

"I'm Sam, Sam Claflin." He says and extends his hand towards me.

"Hi Sam, I'm Andrea, Andrea Lawson, nice to meet you!"

"The pleasure is only mine Andrea," he tells me and I blush, I have never blushed from a small talk.

"Are you studying somewhere? I haven't seen you in this place before." I ask him and look at him carefully.

"I'm not studying, actually I studied but I finished last year. But I like coming to this place, it's quiet and has that something that tells you to come again, and the owner is wonderful, she reminds me of my relatives. Not you I saw you here, I remembered a beautiful girl." he tells me and I start to blush even more.

"I haven't seen you either until today, maybe today is our lucky day. I don't want to seem too curious, you can not answer me if it bothers you. What did you study?" I ask him and look at him as if he were the last person on earth.

"Don't mind, I studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art." he says and approaches me, with a smile that could not be erased from his lips.

We look into each other's eyes and I feel like my heart would jump out of my chest, I look at his green eyes, like a forest in spring. I feel his hand when he takes mine and at that moment let's get even closer to me. This has never happened to me, but it was a pleasant feeling.

"What do you say if you want to go for a walk together in the park, don't worry if it's raining, I have an umbrella. Do you want to go Andrea?" he tells me very slowly, telling me almost in a whisper  and squeezes my hand a little in his.

"Yes, I would be delighted to go for a walk Sam." I tell him the same way he asks me, like a whisper.

I see that his smile seems to increase upon hearing my words, as if he knew that the answer would be 'Yes'. I remember the discussion I had with Louisa and her boyfriend, I think I was right not to listen to her and to do things my way and this I did.

"Let me help you pack your things." Sam tells me and I nod my head.

He helps me pack my things, then he gives me his hand to stand up, I see him go behind the chair where I left my coat and take it and motion for me to put my hair aside and help me with the coat , he also gets dressed and looks for something, but I can't figure out what.

I see him take his scarf from next to my bag and put it around my neck, a gesture that left me speechless.

"It's cold outside, so I don't want to hear you say something against the scarf, okay?" he tells me with a smile.

"Ok Sam, I trust you." I tell .

We say goodbye to the landlady and head for the exit, Sam smiles and opens the door for me, going out I realize that he was right, it's cold outside, he opens the umbrella and extends his hand towards me.

Out of instinct I put my hand around his hand and I approached him, I feel him looking at me. I look up and look straight into his eyes and smile.

"Sam?"

"Yes Andrea? Is there something wrong?" he tells me, his tone of voice is worried.

"No! Everything is perfect, it's more than perfect. I wanted to ask you something." I tell him and in my mind I think if it is a good idea or not.

"You can ask me what you want my dear." he tells me, and when I heard how he told me those words, I was even happier.

"What do you do? You mean as a job?"

"My dear Andrea, I'm an actor. But keep calm, it's not too well known yet, not many people know me yet, I've been part of a few films and series, I'm not that famous yet. That's why we walk around without we are disturbed." Sam tells me and I am a little shocked.

"I didn't think you were an actor, yes you are very handsome and attractive, I'm not saying you're not. But I didn't expect it."

"You think I'm beautiful and attractive, Andrea, you're already making me fall in love with you," he tells me and we stop.

He turns to me and looks into my eyes then he looks at my lips and at that moment he leans down and captures my lips in a passionate kiss, I didn't expect this but I kiss him back. It's like a scene from a movie or even from the books I've read.

Sam breaks the kiss and looks at me and puts his arm around me and hugs me, I put my head on his chest and we stay like that for a few minutes. The first to break the silence is Sam.

"Andrea do you believe in love at first sight?"

"Since I saw you, I knew there was something special with you, I had to find out, but after this moment that we shared, I know what it is." I tell him and look at him.

"What is special about me?" he asks me and I look at him attentively.

"You're not like the other boys, but you're not a boy, you're a man, a gentleman, a romantic. I know we've only known each other for a few hours but I really like being with you, I told you that you have that something how do you make a person sit next to you regardless of whether you are an actor or not." I tell

"And you have that something that makes a person talk and sit next to you. Ever since you entered that cafe, I have seen a person passionate about an art that many people do not understand, when I came to your table I realized I was right, you're that type of person who focuses on something. I like that in a girl." Sam told me and I realized that he was telling the truth as he looked into my eyes and caressed my cheek with his thumb.

"You know something Sam? I'm lucky to have met you."

"I like you Andrea! Maybe we have the opportunity to get to know each other better, what do you say?"

"I like you too, Sam, and I agree that we should get to know each other better." I tell him and kiss him on the cheek, but Sam makes a face that knows what he's asking for.

I look once more and put my arms around his neck and press my lips to his in a passionate kiss in which Sam does not hesitate to respond to this kiss. It's as if our lips are two puzzle pieces that have finally found their match.

We break the kiss and look at each other. Maybe in the end I found someone with the same passions as mine.

"Where are you staying? It's already getting dark, it's cold and I don't want you to go home alone and catch a cold. I want to go with you to make sure you get there safely and to hold you in my arms."

"A real gentleman and I want to stay in your arms and I live in the dorm, it's 5 streets from here."

"Staying in the dorm? That's cool, I hope you have a roommate or more," says Sam and takes my hand.

"I only have one colleague and the reason why I left the dorm is that she came with her boyfriend to our place and I thought I'd leave them alone," I explain to Sam and put my head on his arm.

"I understand! You always have to leave when her boyfriend comes or do you leave of your own free will?" she asks me

"I'm leaving, they also need privacy and if I didn't leave today I wouldn't know you anymore, right?"  I ask him looking at him.

"Yes, you are very right, my dear, and unfortunately I have arrived."  he says a little upset because our walk is over.

"Oh, I don't like it." I tell him and pull him to a side where he was covered to leave the umbrella down for a few minutes.

"We'll see each other, I promise, give me your phone so I can pass on my number, then I'll give you my phone so you can do the same, ok?"  He tells me and takes his phone from the pocket of his brown coat that he is wearing.

First I give her my phone and she gives her number and she gives it back to me, when I look at the new contact, the first thing I see is the name 'Sam♡', I am surprised but I love this.  I look up from the phone and see him smiling at me and holding his phone for me to take.  I take it and give him my number, I gave him the name just as he gave me 'Andrea♡' on the phone and I give him the phone back.

"I'll give you a message, I promise," he says and puts his arms around my waist.

"Ok and I promise I'll send you a message" I promise and put my arms around his neck.

We look at each other and I see Sam lean down and kiss me passionately.  We break the kiss and I head towards the entrance but I suddenly stop.

"Sam, wait, I have to give you the scarf back!" I tell him and take it down.

"No Andrea, I want you to keep it, it suits you better, it suits your style. See you tomorrow, yes?"  He asks me and I nod and watch him leave.

I like him, he is the kind of man I like.  I enter the dormitory and head towards my room and my thoughts remain with Sam.  The person who stole my heart

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

The retcon post got me thinking - what if Jordan was a Controller towards the endgame? It seems like something Jake might consider, given he’s in the unique position of living with the enemy as well.

• Aern 612 has seconds to react, when suddenly there is an andalite standing in the middle of Naomi Berenson's living room. There is an andalite, inside Jordan's house. Aern's frozen, sweat prickling all over Jordan's skin. It's here for her. It has to be.

«Do not be afraid,» the andalite says, «I am a friend of your sister, and we mean you no harm.»

Aern 612 lowers Jordan's hand away from the dracon beam in her pocket, suddenly unsure.

"Are you..." Sara squints at the alien. "A Pokémon?"

She has to mean someone dressed as a Pokémon, like for San Diego Comic Con — Sara's old enough to know that Anime aren't real — but the andalite nods solemnly. «I do not know this term,» it says, «so indeed, I might be a Pokémon.»

Aern makes a decision, then. Based on how humans treat children, based on that word we, based on the things she can get away with if she pulls Jordan's hair into pigtails and skips a little as she breaks into a building.

"Pokémon!" she shrieks, too high for Jordan's normal voice, and she rushes forward to give the andalite a hug.

Its hands touch her, and she forces the shudder to come out as a giggle.

• Rachel morphs. Rachel can morph. So can cousin Jake, and the blond kid that Rachel always loudly insists isn't her boyfriend, and an unknown number of additional humans. Aern is fucked. She is so fucking fucked. She and Reant 8132 inside Tom have hours to live, unless either of them can convince the Vissers of their usefulness.

"But I don't want to go camping," Aern says, high and plaintive, poking out Jordan's bottom lip. "I wanna go to my gymnastics meet on Tuesday!"

Sara shoots Jordan a look, frowning. Rachel doesn't even seem to notice, too busy arguing with Naomi.

Jake rests a reassuring hand on Jordan's shoulder, crouching slightly to look her in the eye. "It'll all be okay," he says. "I know it's scary, but we're going to be just fine."

Moron. Aern wants to spit in his face — she settles for a wet-eyed nod. She'll keep playing along, for now, until she figures out a way to get out alive.

Sixty-one hours, Jordan pipes up. At least three morphers watching you at all times. Tick-tock, slug. Tick-tock.

• It's Sara, two miles down the road, who says "But what about Daddy? Why isn't he coming with us?" Damn. Aern should've thought to ask that.

• Rachel directs them to drive, and then to hike, over thirty miles into the national forest. This is fine. Aern is fine. She'll figure something out, and she has over two days to do it. There are nearly a hundred uncontrolled hork-bajir in the valley when they get there, along with Visser One's empty host and three other morphers. It's fine. Aern will be fine. Yeah.

• Jake shows up later that night, alone.

Guess they found out about Reant 8132, Jordan says smugly. Maybe they're not so bad at detecting controllers.

«Or Reant's not nearly as good an actor as I am,» Aern tells her. «Or he couldn't get away with pretending Tom is cutsey and harmless.»

Then, just because she knows it'll bother Jordan, she goes skipping up to Jake. "Hi Jake!" she pipes up. "How come your family isn't here?"

Jordan flinches, out of sight of anyone but herself. Aern gets to watch Jake's face crumple, his eyes flooding with tears. It almost makes up for not spitting on him earlier.

• Aern doesn't sleep that night, no matter how hard she tries. Tick-tock, Jordan keeps saying, Tick-tock. Tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock... Aern slaps herself in the face, which doesn't help.

• Tobias has an argument with Marco, the following morning. Aern is only able to catch half of it, since only Marco is bothering to speak out loud, but even that half is very interesting indeed.

• Aern pulls Jordan's hair into pigtails. She digs through the duffel Jake packed her without even asking — the entitlement of some people — until she finds a pink shirt and bedazzled jeans. A frilly dress would've been better, but this will do. She kicks off Jordan's shoes.

And then she goes marching over to the cabin Cassie's family is sharing. "Dr. Lee?" she calls, just in case either of Cassie's parents is inside. "Dr. Lee, are you there?"

There's no answer. Aern pushes back the blanket across the door, and ducks inside.

The bucket in the corner is empty. The unmade bedroll, empty. Michelle's suitcase, only clothes. Walter's, the same. An extensive first-aid kit yields only bandages and tape. Damn. Damn.

Tick-tock...

«Shut up!»

Cassie's bag, in the corner. Aern rips it open, not being as careful as she should. Overalls, jeans, more overalls—

Jordan's fingers brush against something hard and angular, wrapped in a flannel shirt. She fumbles it out. No bigger than a Rubik's cube, but boring blue all around.

«You were saying?» Aern asks, and Jordan doesn't reply.

• The first part was almost too easy. As for the second... Aern has a decision to make.

Jake might work. He's been distracted, staring into space and not making eye contact. But he might be too distracted, impossible to engage.

Rachel is out. She knows Jordan too well.

Cassie is sweet, and she trusts Jordan. But Aern has seen a lot of Cassie, enough to know about the canny intuition that lurks behind that welcoming smile.

Tobias won't work. The logistics are wrong.

Ax... No. Aern doesn't want to touch an andalite, ever again, and she doesn't trust herself to bluff her way through.

Cassie or Jake will serve as Plan B, then. And she has her Plan A.

• "Hey Marco, look what I found!"

He's up at the end of the valley, well away from his mom — Aern's not stupid — and away from the hork-bajir seer. He looks up from where he was... (whittling a stick? What is with these people?) and starts to smile. Until, that is, he sees what Jordan is holding.

"Kinda cool, right?" Aern tosses the morphing cube lightly from hand to hand. "You think maybe it's a hork-bajir toy?"

Marco stands, stick and knife dropping to the ground. "Where did you get that?"

"Found it on the ground," Aern says lightly.

"I need you to give that to me, Jordan. Right now."

She smiles up at him through Jordan's bangs. "Then why don't you come and get it?" This voice is very different from the one she used on Jake. It's deeper. Not that of the six-year-old Jake and Rachel remember, but that of a ninth grader with a crush on the cool older boy.

"Jordan." Marco takes a step toward her. "That doesn't belong to you, and it isn't a toy."

"I don't see your name on it, Mister." She takes a step back, grinning. Pretending not to notice the tension in his shoulders. "Finders keepers, right?" She bats her eyelashes. Not because it's actually seductive, but because it's so clumsy. An awkward kid trying to flirt, not a peer succeeding.

"It's a weapon." Marco keeps advancing on her. "A dangerous one. I'm not playing around, and I need you to hand it over."

Sighing, she holds it out. As soon as Marco raises his hand she yanks it back, laughing.

He loses his temper, exactly on cue. He lunges forward, grabbing Jordan's wrist in one hand and the morphing cube in the other. Not being careful about how he takes it, not thinking about why he might need to be careful. His hand closes over the top of it, even as Jordan's is gripped hard around the bottom.

A jolt travels through her entire body, hairs standing on end. Not clear if Marco felt anything either, if he noticed, but he's thoroughly distracted by wrestling the cube away from her.

Aern lets go. "YOU'RE A JERK!" she screams in Marco's face, so suddenly he stumbles back two paces. "I HATE YOU!" Before he can recover from the shock enough to wonder if he should've forced Jordan to set the cube on the ground, she's already turned and sprinted away.

Marco mutters something about girls and hormones and honestly. Jordan's shoulders are shaking, with suppressed laughter rather than sobs.

• Now all she has to do is find an excuse to touch a hork-bajir.

«Tick-tock,» she thinks at Jordan, giddy with triumph. «Tick-tock.»

• Returning to the yeerk pool is easy. She doesn't bother to file a report, just gets in line with the others. Reant is screaming in a back room, so loud and sustained that Tom's voice is down to a hoarse ghost of itself. What a moron.

• "Everything okay?" Naomi asks, when Aern slips back into their cabin in the wee hours of the morning for the fourth time since they came here.

"I can't sleep." Aern lets Jordan's voice wobble. "I can never sleep, ever since we came here."

"I know, baby," Naomi murmurs. "I know."

• Aern trails Toby, asking about defenses and troop numbers and What if...? But what if...? Aern pesters Jake for details of Animorph missions, hanging onto his elbow like a little kid. Aern swings Jordan's clasped hands back and forth as she asks Tobias what the valley looks like from overhead. Aren, to date, has not exchanged a single word with Eva, and she means to keep it that way.

• The Empire has the morphing cube now, she learns on her next trip back to feed. Reant 8132 of all people managed to get ahold of it. Maybe not such a moron after all.

• Aern is an identical copy of Tobias when she lands in the clearing just west of the valley, and she's back to looking like Jordan a moment later.

But Naomi is standing there, just beyond the treeline.

Aern freezes, half-crouched. She can't tell how much Jordan's mom saw, if she saw anything.

"Jordan," Naomi says. "What are you doing out this far? It isn't safe—"

"Mommy!" Aern runs at her, slamming into Naomi's stomach and wrapping Jordan's arms around her. "Mommy, I woke up here and I was so scared and I didn't know how to get back, and I've been out here for hours and hours and hours—"

"Oh, baby." Naomi smooths her hand over Jordan's shoulder. "You must be scared, you haven't called me 'Mommy' in years."

"I think..." Jordan's voice breaks around a sob. "I think I was sleepwalking?"

"Okay, baby," Naomi says. "It's okay."

• "Naomi." That's Visser One's body, standing to the entrance of the valley, watching their approach. "What have we told you about..." She frowns. "Jordan?"

Naomi lifts her chin. "Jordan wanted to turn back," she says. "I was trying to get us both away from this place, away from your madness. But Jordan insisted we turn around."

Aern pokes out Jordan's bottom lip, pressing close to Naomi's side. She glances at Eva, then quickly looks back down.

"This cannot keep happening," Eva says. Uppity bitch. Three months, and she's already forgotten her place. "Naomi, you're putting every life in this valley at risk. Including Rachel's. Including Sara's and Jordan's."

"It won't happen again," Naomi says. "I promise."

• The next time Aern goes to feed, she has just emerged from the pool and back into her host when a hand closes around Jordan's upper arm. She tries to yank away, but she's being pulled forcefully into an alcove by a larger, stronger human—

She stares up into Tom's face.

Busted, Jordan thinks.

"Funny, how one no-rank warrior can slip through the cracks," Reant 8132 whispers. "Everybody thinks the Animorphs killed you, Aern, and yet here you are. How'd you pull that one off?"

Aern yanks away again, and this time Reant lets her go. "No great mystery. I'm just the better actor."

"No." Tom's eyes narrow. "No, I'm pretty sure you're a traitor. You went over to their side, and they sent you back here to spy on us."

"That's not true!"

Reant smirks. "Then prove it."

Jordan's heart is pounding. Reant doesn't believe what he just said, that's clear, but— but—

"Then again, what's a little more treason between friends?" His smile grows. "After all, we're family, right?"

"The fuck do you want?" Aern doesn't have to fake the tremor in Jordan's voice this time.

"You morph," Reant says. "Or at least Jordan does — only way you could be making it back here every cycle. I'm organizing those of us who morph. We're splitting off from the Empire, doing our own thing. You in?"

Aern considers. She's not a hero, is the thing. She's not visser material. She's not even brave, which is why she still hasn't gotten around to blowing her cover and reporting back to Command.

She just wants what every yeerk wants: Eyes. Hands. Music and food. Security. Freedom.

"Yeah," Aern says. "Tell me the plan."

• Jake is planning something. That's obvious, from the increased pace of drills, from the meetings he has around the fire with Eva and Toby and his fellow Animorphs. He and the others are away more and more. Aern hasn't seen Rachel in weeks, outside of occasional passing glances between them. Sara's heartbroken about Rachel's apparent apathy, but it works in Aern's favor.

• "Here's the plan," Reant says, when Aern meets him that night. Which is how she finds out he's working with Jake.

• "Here's the plan," Jake says to the Animorphs' families, the following day. Which is how she finds out he's working against Reant.

• "We hold position," Eva says, walking down the line of human family members and assorted hork-bajir. "Loren and Ket are on vanguard if the attack comes. Peter and Michelle are overseeing the evacuation. I'll play loose between groups — I'm in charge here until Jake gets back. Listen to your squad leaders, but listen to each other as well. Is that clear?"

They break. They go to their watch posts, spread along the rim of the valley.

Aern cups her hand loosely around the cockroach, and a few minutes later she's up, up, and away.

• Aern huddles with the other morph-controllers on the Blade ship, awaiting Reant's signal. He must have told the others she was coming, because no one questions her presence when she joins the crowd of flies on the underside of the ship's console. If Reant can't get control of it in time, if Jake's contingency goes off too soon... Aern didn't even succeed in finding out what the contingency is; he's been so secret about it that she overhead even Tobias demanding more answers.

• A dracon cannon goes off, somewhere outside. The Blade ship rattles with the force. «May the kandrona shine on us all,» Carger 710 whispers. «Shine on us this day.»

The andalite fleet is approaching. So close, it's starting to ping Earth-orbiting satellites. Only Reant and those closest to him know this, but Aern can't unknow it.

And then the door of the Blade ship hisses open, and a human figure walks inside. "Thank you, Visser." Tom's voice is too loud in the enclosed space. Signaling to them. "I'll take good care of it."

• The door hisses shut, and there's a few minutes of general chaos as everyone demorphs and then most of them remorph to battle forms. There have to be over forty of them, Aern sees with a swell of relief, even though Reant said he couldn't be sure he'd get more than two dozen. They're a proper platoon, enough to hold their own.

"The Animorphs are dead," Reant says briskly. "We wait for the Navy to engage the Empire, and then we run for it. Head for Kelbrid space, where the andalites won't —"

The comm screen switches on, showing the bridge of the Pool ship.

Apparently, Reant spoke a little too soon about the Animorphs being dead.

Reant spins around. He and Jake start exchanging taunts, something about treason. Aern ignores it, busy staying out of sight. Busy counting to five, there on the screen. Busy looking around — and spotting the flea that swells into human shape underneath the control console.

"Animorph!" Aern screams. "Animorph on board!"

And just for a second, the Animorph in question freezes. She doesn't move to attack, doesn't immediately start killing, just for one crucial second.

Because Aern's got Jordan's face, doesn't she. She's speaking with Jordan's voice.

Rachel powers through it, of course, rolling forward and starting to morph again. But that second of hesitation cost her, as did the second of extra warning for everyone else on board.

Tom's right arm wraps around Rachel's throat, yanking her off her feet. His left hand comes up, and fires the dracon beam twice into her head.

The second shot is unnecessary. There's nothing but skull fragments left after the first.

• Aern is screaming, moaning. "Rachel, Rachel, RACHEL—" Her throat is raw, skin cold, but no, that's not her screaming. That isn't her voice coming out of her mouth. She's not the one pounding fists against Tom's chest, smearing Rachel's blood across them both.

"Get ahold of yourself!" Reant is shouting. "Get control of your fucking host, Aern!"

Half a dozen morphers — lionesses, cape buffalo, alligator — surged toward Rachel and Tom in the second between when she'd been exposed and when she'd been killed. All of them stopped dead when Reant fired. And yet none of them makes a move to intervene in this pathetic scene, Jordan shrieking overtop the shouts of disbelief and scream of pain from the comm screen.

Finally Efflit 1318 gets arms around Jordan's body and drags her off of Tom. Aern is still scrambling for control. She's never faced resistance like this before, nowhere close.

Efflit tosses Aern aside, barely noting when she skids across the floor and rolls to a stop in the corner. Jordan's burst of control is slipping away as she retreats back into her mind, screaming for her sister.

And then Aern is in charge again. Aern is okay. Aern doesn't care at all that Rachel is in pieces on the floor.

• Most of the controllers are demorphing. "Set course directly away from Sol," Reant is saying. He tosses the dracon beam onto the console. "Once we're far enough, then we head for Kelbrid territory. Someone dump that out of the airlock, and get a cleaner in here. We also need—" He stops. He's looking at one of the humans who just emerged from lioness morph, a frown pulling Tom's eyebrows together. "Who the fuck are you?" he asks.

"Hi." The human who was a lioness waves. "My name's James. Your host's aunt suggested I come on board."

"What..." Reant's frown deepens. "What are you talking ab..."

"Oh, and that's Kelly." James gestures at one of the ones who has yet to demorph. "And Tuan, and Pedro, and Liam and Erica. Collette should be around here somewh—"

Aern never does find out how that sentence ends. There's only a burst of pain, and then nothing at all.