#also for the faking it part i said like he was definitely going thru it but he did say like

[audinite]

pokemon storytelling through the pokemon itself and even the moves is always so good

[rosewaterandivy]

9. part-time soulmate, full-time problem

Summary: Rumor has it, that hometown hero-turned-teacher Steve Harrington is hot for teacher. The English teacher next door to him at Hawkins High, who also happens to be his childhood friend, that is.

Pairing: Steve Harrington x chaotic!dumbass reader

Warnings: No use of y/n - reader goes by the nickname Trouble instead, cursing, sexual situations - SMUT & idolatry (my usual bullshit), we think we’re ~prank Sinatra~ to disastrous effect i.e. a fake elopement, Modern!Teacher AU, English teacher reader, History teacher Steve, slow burn, friends to lovers, romance.

A/N: hey girl, u up? lemme come thru 💦💦💦 🥵🥵🥵 *slaps roof of fic* You can fit so much reverence and smut in this bad boy. Here’s 5.1K of pure filth and debauchery, holy water can’t help me now! Poetry excerpt from Sue Zhao. 18+ mature content (minors dni). Reblogs, comments, and likes are always appreciated, please let me know what you thought; enjoy & thanks for reading! 💜

series masterlist | playlist - newly updated!

Steve's playlist for Trouble: trouble will find me

previous || next

Now, Spring Break, Joshua Tree, CA ➡️ Las Vegas, NV 

“You did what?”

And it’s not a question, not by a long shot. 

If Nancy Wheeler wasn’t some 1,800 miles from you, you’d be seeing the patented snarl right now. The one that says ‘you’ll be dead by my hand and my hand alone.’

There’s a very real possibility that you’ve overplayed your hand this time. What started as a prank, a harmless lark, had devolved into one screeching phone call from Steve’s mother for him and a blistering series rapid-fire of texts for you, followed by a phone call during which Nancy was going to rip you a new asshole.

She didn’t appreciate your texts as you’d hoped.

Trouble 👁️👄👁️: so BDE is not *just* an energy with Steve. got it, good to know.

Natty light 💯: She lives! We haven’t heard from you in days. Wtf did you idiots do?

Trouble 👁️👄👁️: nothing to be concerned about! on an unrelated note, before you check insta remember that i am your BESTIE and you would miss me terribly(!!!) if i died, even if it was at your own hand

Natty light 💯: … I’m going to kill you, and resurrect your dessicated corpse so I can strangle you … slowly and painfully

Trouble 👁️👄👁️: pls mother, no, i’m scared

But hey, it’s not like you woke up and decided to potentially fuck up your life today.

So, yeah. Definitely went too far with it this time, but in your defense, it’s not like anyone was there to reign you in. Steve was just as liable to go on with your half-cocked schemes, even more so now that you could sit back on your heels, all pretty smiles and wide, sweet eyes as your hands unbuckle his belt, still supplicated with chin on his knee, “You said anything...”

Folded like a house of cards the second you got your mouth on him. Shudders when you begin with your tongue first before eager lips stretch to fit him, guiding until he’s nestled in your mouth. And then you move, deliberately measured, building a lazy pace, sluicing him up with spit.

“Ah, shit…” Steve’s words are already betraying him. You smile as his cock pops out of your mouth.

“How’s that? Still wanna make that dinner reservation?” Thick lashes framing glittering doe-eyes peer up at him. Purposely coy. “Or do you want to stay here?”

He returns to himself. Dazed, he blinks at the bright lights and the glossy tiled floor. The marble countertop of the sink where he grips like a lifeline.

The restroom down the hall of the restaurant. Turn a corner and twenty people are sitting at tables, drinking cocktails and cajoling. Your mouth back on him wipes the thoughts from his brain.

Squelching when you push him back past your molars, crushing your tongue.

You slide him out, voice hoarse and breathy and it chills him to the bone the way you whisper, “C’mon baby, let’s have some fun.”

The second day in California runs a lot more smoothly, and the third day is as easy as a breeze. Granted, it’s a hot, humid, sticky type of desert breeze as you wipe a hand across your forehead in the heat of the day.

Steve hums a patient tune, leans back on both palms and you watch the sunlight drape his bare chest in a warm flare. Glowing gold and bronze as if it’s transmuted from the hue in his very eyes.

He is hard and hot when your bare skin touches his. Steve lies down on his side to face you, panting slightly as you glide your hand up and down his arm. Oh fuck, it’s been months and the first man you touch is more like something carved by a master sculptor of Renaissance than any other man. It should be illegal for someone to look this good.

Trembling, you touch the hard planes of his torso, the ridges in his abdomen, the swell of his chest taking hard breaths. You shut your eyes and imagine the way he looks right now—breathless and wild. His knee parts your legs easily and one hand descends to feel your center, saturating your underwear.

“Jesus, baby,” Steve sighs into your neck. “You’re makin’ me crazy. This–” He begins to slide his digits up and down, getting the slippery wetness all over his fingers, “Already…”

A shudder rolls through your body upon hearing his words and you arch into his touch, moaning when he rubs your clit in perfect pulsing circles. He moves forward, kissing the tops of your breasts through your bra, nipping at the soft flesh spilling from the cups.

“Steve, you’ll make me come.” You admit, a little shyly even as your hips rock consciously into his hand. You paw at his arms, squeezing the ridges of muscles.

And you’re abruptly startled awake by the sound your own moans. It’s past four in the morning when you rouse from sleep, frustrated to leave behind the pleasant escape the dream provided.

Damn it all to hell.

A creak of the wood door alerts you to his arrival. Steve is quiet when he sits on your bed, one knee pulled up to his chest while the other leg slinks down by your side, thigh brushing yours where your legs kicked off the covers. A sigh rolls through him at the early hour.

There is discomfort. His body retreats with the shift of your atmosphere. Always too itchy in your own skin. Afraid of being seen, noticed, thought about. He’s good at hearing your silence. Good at reading your language.

“Couldn’t sleep?”

He glistens like a god come to drown you in the sweetest of dreams. It makes your heart plummet to its death at the thought of his departure when you shake your head.

“Me neither.”

He lays back on your bed with a tired sigh, close enough to touch. Your own personal wonder.

“C’mere then,” you tug him to your side. Steve presses his lips to your neck, smiles into the wispy hair at the nape, nuzzles your locks aside to reveal more shoulder. Breathing soft and slow with his face against your neck, chest to your chest. He’s folded and tucked against you, all his strength and gravity nestled to your side.

“Honey—” Steve murmurs, more purposefully now, rasps your name, so soft and reverent you almost don’t hear it.

A confused noise, a second of readjustment to a new position, to his touch, and then you stir and purr.

“Hey, you.” Voice like warm fire, even with disrupted sleep from past few days.

A heavy silence falls between you.

Tell me what you’re thinking. If it was a mistake, tell me. If it wasn’t, tell me. You’ve been avoiding me and look—I want your goddamn babies, but c’mon. You gotta throw me a bone, I’m shit at reading signs.

He wants to take you to pieces, eyes roving your sleep-drowsy form, shorts rucked up on your thighs, shirt askew. Would devour you whole if you’d let him, savor your cries and moans at his capable hands. Make a ruin you only to build you right back up, unable to think of anyone else save him.

Steve arches, brushing the tip of his nose against your chin, up to your own nose, mouth hovering but not quite touching, just feeling each other’s atmosphere. You cross the distance and kiss him, grip tighter now like he could collapse right into you and god, you wish he could. Let you keep every last bit of him forever.

“Can we—”

You savor his lips, caressing the line of his cupid’s bow with your own, tongue flicking over the corners of his mouth, punctuating it chastely like a ritual. He moans, hand on the plane of your back moving, fingers scrambling at your spine before he palms your thigh and slots you flush against his torso with one leg hooked around his waist.

“God yes. Lemme just—”

He tugs at the waistband of your sleeping shorts before he changes his mind and his hands slip into the leg opening of the silk instead, keeping you right where you are. He rucks his own sweats down, just enough to spring himself free, shushing your whines, never letting you get too far, slipping upward, finding your heat.

“Eyes on me, baby.”

“Okay, Steve—ah—”

Right. So this is happening. Like, right the fuck now. 

Oh god.

You’re both surprised and terrified, blinking at his urgency, and then you start scrambling, too. A beatific grin blooms on your lips before you tip forward and slowly glide yourself down his considerable size, rubbing back and forth, hips moving easily.

Steve stutters breathlessly like he might go into shock. “You’re all fucking— oh fuckin’ hell.”

You only arch into it, holding his chin between your thumb and forefinger, kissing the bristles of his jaw. You’re soft and warm and he’s utterly overcome. Little noises fall from one mouth to another. An awkward shift and your thighs slip off his, head knocking into him, but neither of you are bothered.

A half-hearted cluck of your tongue gives way to a low moan and you shuffle, flush against his chest, bare bodies warm and growing hotter now. Your palm rubs down his chest, savoring the rougher feel of his hairs there, contrasting your own skin, grasping his jutting hipbones, the strong plane of his abdomen.

Eager fingers slip between flesh. Velvet and surprisingly slick and wrapping around his digits like syrupy flower petals. “Baby girl,” Steve hums at the way you sigh. “Pretty girl.”

Shudders. You’re weak and boneless, slack and supple, pliant to his fingers and words. Little sweet-talker, you never knew he had such a clever tongue until he first slid it against yours in that fevered kiss in December. Now he’ll know all your weaknesses, know every lock and how to pick them until you’re all the way opened up for him.

It’s hard to focus when he’s like this. Perfectly warm. Perfectly adoring. Perfectly fitted. So, so bright with the faintest pink bursting over his cheeks.

You whimper with his every stroke. Every plunge. His other hand runs itself up the nape of your neck, fingertips in your scalp and you arch like a cat for more. 

“So good,” Steve praises, “Nice and tight, squeezin’ around me. All wet for me, aren’t you?” 

“Uh— mhm.” Inarticulate noises. Woozy and wrapped in his affection.

His eyes– pupils blown wide, half-hooded with lust and love– immobilize you, memorizing every inch of your face. He smiles. Christ, a smile that could launch a thousand ships. That could blind the whole world.

You curse quietly, blood pounding in your ears, your chest, your throat where he latches on with his perfect mouth, marking you up with his spit quickly followed by his teeth.

“Keep going—oh, don’t stop–“

“You want it like this, honey?” He sucks on your collar, on your shoulder, taking every whimper and cry as a command to continue.

They flower all over your chest. Red and purple and swollen bright for everyone to see—just like him. And the very thought of him, of you, lost to it takes you over the edge, calling his name like you’re at an altar in supplication.

“That’s it, honey. Be a good girl and come for me.”

With a tremble that vibrates all the way to into Steve’s soul, you obey. Onto his hips and abdomen, gushing a little, and with some embarrassment that it happened all so quickly. 

Your lids flutter open and you see as Steve hitches himself deeper, grinding his hips, gripping your thighs, and fills you all the way up until the stars behind your eyes whites out your vision, making you stutter and keen as you continue to fall apart.

Then he stills, pulling you even closer, body slick with dew in the early morning light. The two of you lie in perfect symmetry, trembling in each other’s arms.

And because you’re a sap with too much poetry rattling around your brain, all that pops into your head is:

In my dreams I am kissing your mouth and you’re whispering ‘where have you been?’ I say, ‘I’ve been lost but I’m here now. You’re the only person who has ever been able to find me.’

You allow yourself to sink into the feeling, expecting the tight fit of something new but finding that not to be the case at all. But rather brushing against something well-worn, as if it had been waiting for you all this time. 

“God, Steve—” you rasp. “You’ve been holding out on me.”

Steve laughs low, kisses the blooming bruises up and down your neck, makes you whine again, sensitive and aching. His clever tongue wonders sweetly, “How’s staying in bed all day sound?”

You laugh. He’ll learn everything you like. Know all your weaknesses. How can you say no to something like that?

It’s different, almost tender in the afternoon. 

His abs clench in time with his fists, wet fingers digging into his palms, bit-back groans barely contained. You keep going, marveling at the way he’s sensitive, kissing his neck, letting him feel good. Steve begins to protest, embarrassed at the way you’re moving, at how he’s powerless against you.

“S-slow—hold on—“

“Let me do it, Stevie.” He’s so hard it hurts. “I wanna learn everything you like.”

Jesus. Fucking. Christ. Steve holds himself to calm down, other hand steadying your teasing. Nothing’s happened yet, you just started back up again after a late breakfast, having slept soundly through the morning, and he might already blow his whole fucking load.

“Okay—just—will you give me a second–”

Using the position you’re already in, he pushes you up against the mattress and guides you back down, hitching your thighs around his hips, sinking a bit at a time until you’re landing on him with a gasp. He eases into you with what he hopes is restraint, letting you have it slow, feeling you shudder from inside your goddamn bones with every further inch until he takes it away and you shimmy down to the hilt.

Your eyes roll back. And you look perfect.

“Was it good?” He blurts, “With Eddie?”

He doesn’t know why it slips out; he never thinks about it, honest. It was a series of hook ups. A few times over the years—and he’s not jealous like that because you’re all adults, and it’s not like he’s a virgin or an ascetic, either. You freeze, but he really is an idiot because instead of apologizing or rectifying that outburst, he cuts you off.

“I can give it to you better.”

Because Steve wants to. He really does.

He presses onward before you can respond, taking hold of what little courage he has, making you whimper, feeling prouder as he goes. Another one and you’re meeting him with a roll of your own hips. Another one, harder now, and you’re shaking down below him, tipping back into the pillows, grinding recklessly with that exhilaration he adores.

“Baby, you feel amazing.” Tongue-tied like a schoolboy, he’s keening after your words. “Can I have you all the time?” And Jesus wept who knew you could talk so sweet and filthy.

“Yeah, sweetheart,” Steve promises, his jaw hanging open in awe, “I’m yours. You can have me as much as you want— anytime.”

You bite your lip, skin of it pulled taut and snapping back bruised, light-headed and reeling. Glistening across your collarbones with his spit, body trembling like a high note. He feels it— just a little more— god, you look incredible— he’s gotta hold out for this— and then—fuck. 

It’s wet and divine when you come. Slick and tight, dragging him under as you ride out your orgasm, pulling him in like he belongs in you forever.

And he knows. He knows, he knows, he knows.

Steve could die happy seeing your face like this every day.

Two weeks prior…

“Eddie…tell me the truth,” You ask slowly, folding clothes (well, that’s a generous term— it’s more haphazardly tossing and bundling laundry into your open suitcase). “It’s good, isn’t it? Shawty, tell me what that thang do!” 

You waggle your brows, make a V-shape with your fingers, and lewdly run your tongue up and down between them. Steve thinks he sees you looking at him, but he feels himself flushing at your comment and pretends like he’s enthralled with the most recent episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Half-keeping an eye on you to make sure you actually pack actual pajamas and pants for this trip. 

“Dude. Stop it.” Eddie groans, knowing you’re all too familiar with his endowments and prowess from previous experience.

Whomever currently was getting the Eddie Munson midnight special was having a helluva time. 

You lob a pair of leggings toward your suitcase, “Kobe!”

You miss.

Eddie cackles, “How’re you gonna disrespect a legend like that, and miss?!”

“Okay!” Steve yells, pushing you off the couch in the living room, “That’s enough of that. I’m going for a run.”

Landing on your shoulder with a grunt, you brush away the rough sting of the carpet and catch the last second of his shadow before he’s gone from the room.

“What?” You call, projecting your voice and hoping he hears, “What’d I do? Steve!”

The scrape of the chair legs signals Eddie standing up, too. A shake of his head and he crosses his arms over his chest.

“You know,” he starts, “For all your insight, you’re pretty dense.”

There’s nothing in your head but sawdust and thoughts about his… activities under the sheets his flavor of the month. You shake it out of your brain before it lingers too long. Eddie points sharply down the hall to where Steve’s shadow has slipped out of view and hearing-distance.  

“You know he likes you, right?”

Uh? Your brain is the mac loading wheel, just spinning. “Of course he does? We’re buddies?”

Eddie cuffs you in the back of the head, “Get it together. Like is putting it lightly, too. Love is closer to the truth.”  

“Now,” Eddie leans over you, menacing you with his height. “How about you go listen to the record he gave you and think about what you’ve done, hmm?”

Then, he saunters off, shaking his head all the while, leaving you to gape down the hall like a fish. Steve? In love? With you?  

Flashes explode in your brain like fireworks. His jacket over your shoulders—not the first time. Sitting underneath your legs— nearly tradition. Morning errand runs even though he hates them. The banter—him, scolding your motor-mouth, you— never stopping. Circles he rubs on your knees— the laughter—damn it, so much laughter.

Steve? In love? With you? It’s more likely than you think.

Back in your bedroom and chastened, you wait until the front door closes signaling Steve’s exit. Turning to the wall dedicated to your impassioned analytical skills, you eye the various colors of yarn showing the various connections that could be drawn from the song choice and order in which they were placed. 

Printed out pages of lyrics have been annotated to death, some phrases scrawled more largely than others for importance. You stare at the wall for the better part of an hour, long enough to come to the end of the playlist. Sufjan Stevens rhapsodizes on the mystery of love and fades into Matt Berninger singing how he needs his girl.

A gasp. A choke and a wail somewhere deep inside your chest as you slowly, methodically begin removing the pins and pages from your wall. Realization settling on you heavy with mood. 

Clearly, this was not some bush-league bullshit.  

Hesitant, but growing in the knowledge that Steve, your best friend whom you annoy to no end, is irrefutably and undeniably in love with you. You’d have seen it sooner if you weren’t such a dumbass, all the signs had been there just lying in wait. The front door opens once more, his voice calling out to Robin in the kitchen about dinner. 

“Steve.” You light out of your room, tearing down the hallway. “Stevie! Steve! I’m sorry! Steve oh my god! I’m a fuckup!”  

You trip on the corner of the floor runner, as he turns, slightly confused, one hand reaching out to catch you as you careen into his chest with a thunk.

You must look a wreck, hair in disarray and panting hard, him sweat-slick, bearing your weight as he sets you right on your feet.  

Steve raises an eyebrow, blinks at the way the front of your shirt slides from your shoulder and takes his ear buds out, looking at you like you’re a first-rate idiot.

And well ... he’s not wrong.

The flight to Vegas is painless, though you are put out at having to leave the love nest that bloomed like a night flower in the Californian desert. A lazy, slow start to the day. Sticky and sweet like biting into a ripe peach, juices flowing down against sun-warmed skin. 

His hand pulling at yours, guiding you through the crowds of the airport, looking back to you frequently, as if he can’t bring himself not to. One hour later and viva, Las Vegas!

As it turns out, it’s fairly easy to fake a Vegas elopement. Just a matter of subterfuge and a wedding chapel, which are a plenty in Clark County. Steve in a suit (“You weren’t even wearing a tie, Steven! Who gets married looking like that!?”), rotating the signet of his ring out of sight, the ‘H’ resiting against the underside of his ring finger so just the band was visible. 

You in a dress, something white and off the rack from Neiman’s, your ring, courtesy of Steve, moved from your right hand to your left. Sapphire earrings as your something blue, Manolo Blahnik pumps in your favorite color, a gift from Steve, as your something new.

A well-timed call to Jonathan, he was in town for a shoot and just so happened to have a few hours to kill. An appointment at the Graceland Wedding Chapel and 250 dollars later, you have yourself a believable elopement, no marriage certificate required. 

Even drove out to the Red Rock Mojave desert outside of town for a photoshoot courtesy of one Jonathan Byers, professional photographer. By the time you’d made it back to your room at the Wynn that night, he’d already done a rough edit of a few photos for you to post to the ‘gram. Piece of cake, really.

It was all well and good. Steve even let you tag him and posted his favorite images himself, miracle of miracles. The man does jack shit with social media, claims he only has the account for the groupchats and memes. Captioned it something like ‘married AF’ because he’s a dork; first photo in the carousel was a shot of your hands, showing off the new bling with the wedding chapel sign in the background.

You opted for the more truthful, ‘ew, boy. you’re, like, obsessed with me’ and selected a photo where your legs wrapped around Steve’s hips after he’d told you to ‘time to giddy-up, yeah?’ with a wink and caught you in his arms before kissing you stupid. You were quite pleased with yourself until the phones began to ring.

“Jus’ ignore it, honey.” His teeth pull against your bottom lip, bringing your attention back to him. You screw your eyes shut, hand falling to cup the nape of his neck as his lips continue their mapping of your skin. Purposefully, he plays with a lock of your hair, tucks it behind your ear, and lets his finger ghost over your neck. “Gonna kiss you now,” you murmurs, “Doin’ some of my best work here and you’re missing it.”

He pouts.

Your throat clenches, bobbing with a thick swallow and Steve thinks if this wasn’t so tender and sweet, he’d be latching onto that pulse instead. “Okay…” Your mouth parts expectantly, eyes fluttering closed, hand coming up to caress his jaw.

It’s sublime. It’s perfect. It’s the biggest relief he’s ever felt when you return his touch—parting your lips to receive the tip of his tongue against yours. Thirst. Desperation. Enthusiastic limbs scrambling to feel more of him. A bucking of your hips against his thigh and he’s soaring up into heaven with the sensation.

Except the damn phone won’t stop ringing. 

“Steve,” you pant, hand reaching up to fist his hair and pull him from your the sensitive spot he’s located behind your ear. As you tangle your fingers in his mane of hair, securing your grip with a tug, he breaks contact with your slick skin with a strangled moan.

Oh.

You file that particular reaction away for further investigation and direct his attention to the loudly ringing phone on the nightstand. He rolls off of you with an exasperated noise and answers the call in a sulk. “Hi, Ma.”

His expression changes so quickly you nearly have whiplash; lazy and pouty one moment to shocked silent in the next while his mother lectures him, a mile a minute. Eyes cutting to you, he grabs your phone from the same table and holds it in font of you to unlock it via Face ID. You roll your eyes and bat him away, taking a slug of water from the glass on your bedside table.

“Shit,” Steve mutters, putting himself on mute and his mom on speaker as he scrolls through your phone. “Holy fucking shit, nonono.”

You lean over and take a peek. He’s thumbing through Facebook, pupils blown wide in shock at the sheer number of notifications on his accidental post. Because yes, Steve accidentally cross-posted the photos from Instagram to Facebook as an update, like genius. 

“Are you fucking kidding me!?”

He drops your phone on the bed when it starts to ring, like it’s a venomous thing that could take him down in one strike. 

Sheepishly, he looks to you and mouths ‘I’m so sorry’ as he returns to his mother’s raging diatribe. 

After checking the caller ID, you answer, voice flat. “Hello.”

“You little scamp,” Eddie tuts, “Stole my idea of eloping in Vegas and everything, I hate you.”

In spite of yourself, you crack a smile. “It’s a prank, babe.” A sigh as you pull your hair up and off of your shoulders. “Not legally binding at all. Having Byers on deck really sold the idea though.”

“You are the absolute worst, Trouble.” You warm at his soft laughter, “What’d you do to get Steve to agree? Drop to you knees all nice and pretty?”

A swell of pride accompanies the rush of heat at the thought of your earlier rendezvous. “Y’know Eds, I did exactly that. How perceptive of you.”

He cackles. “It’s tried and true for a reason, babe.” Steve is nodding furiously at whatever his mother is yammering on about, bare back toward you as he sits on the edge of the bed. 

A push and a slide across the rumpled sheets and you’ve wrapped around him like a vine. His thumb rubs at your ankle, pulling your leg to envelop his hip. Opposite arm dangling across his chest as you press your face into his neck, revelling in his scent—cypress, vetiver, and something slight musky tinged with salt. All warm and pliable.

“Nance may have called in some reinforcements.” Eddie says carefully. “I told her to fuck off, but she’s beyond reason at this point.”

“Whaddya mean?”

He sighs, “Just be on the lookout for an angry lesbian, alright?”

You snort, drawing Steve’s attention. He twists in your hold, phone discarded on the table finally, fingers trailing tantalizingly up and down your sides. Pushes you back against the bed, chin resting on your sternum as you talk with Eddie, head tilted as he listens.

Begging off the phone call, you say your goodbyes. “Hey,” Eddie says before you go, voice soft and warm, “You happy babe? You sound it.”

“Yeah,” you turn your head and grin at the ridiculousness of your life. Steve follows your lips, his own blazing a trail across your chest and up to meet your shoulder. “I’m really happy, Eds.”

Steve plucks the phone from your hand, “Bye Munson!” He sings before ending the call and unceremoniously dropping your phone on the floor.

And Steve never thought a person was supposed to laugh so hard during sex, or maybe that’s just your own brand of love, but he doesn’t want to find out with anyone else.

It’s the fifth time, and Steve’s dick is about to fall off—how are you still doing this—just a few thrusts in when the banging on the door frightens the both of you into your clothes.

Robin swings it open and Steve is desperately tucking himself into his pants before—please, no.

“It smells like ass in here!” She hollers, “The hell have you two been—oh my god.”

“Shut up, Rob!” You respond from the corner of the room, head ripping through the neck hole of a shirt, legs wiggling into a pair shorts. Steve is still shirtless, hoping he might spontaneously combust.

“Oh my god,” Robin whispers again, “Oh… my god.” She sputters on the verge of either eruption or death.

“You freaky little—” she hisses, before screaming, “Oh fuck no! I’m here picking your asses up. Got on a flight at ass o'clock from Indy— you're butt-ass-naked in here—” She stands ram-rod straight, hands on her hips angrily. “I’m tellin’ on you.”

“Telling on?! What are you, five!? You’re so annoying, Rob!”

“Annoying? What’s annoying is—I’m exhausted! And well— you're exhausted too, huh?”

“I hate you.”

She snickers, high-fiving herself before crossing her arms, “Now get your freaky asses outside so I can go home and drink myself into forgetting I ever saw Harrington’s dick.”

You pat her on the shoulder, “It’s nice, huh?”

Robin dry-heaves, “Uh-uh. That’s enough. Go wash your damn hands.”

A few minutes later, Steve closes the door to the now-silent hotel room, damp with sweat and the lingering aroma of musk. Robin trots on ahead, leading the pair of you through the lobby and out into the dry desert heat.

His hand pulls at yours, reassuring and warm. A small smile blooms across your face and you allow yourself to revel in it for a moment: heading home with Steve, can't even bring yourself to be all that mad at Robin's antics.

Not when he turns back to check on you, all tan skin and that devastating smile. Tugs you closer as Robin flags down the Uber, lays his lips against yours, and kisses you with a sweetness only he could bring.

Oh yeah, you think tangling your free hand in his shirt. This'll do just fine.

[irrealisms]

every hand is a storm liner notes

fic here if you haven't read it!

fic title is from the red ending of we know the devil; it's about lesbian desire and monstrosity and knowing that you are hurting people by Wanting and by Touching.

honestly this is. a very personal fic to me. I Have Been Both Of These People. more directly/longer/worse on the vitalasy side but i have also entered relationships i didn't want and Claimed To Want Them because i felt like i owed it to them. this is just what it's like to be 15 i think. just gonna lead off with that.

on the one hand i feel like this fic has some of my most "oh this is definitely An AU and not very accurate to their canon characters" moments but on the other hand it has significant amounts of dialogue taken directly from VODs. primary inspiration was Shining Resolve/Fake Smile but i drew from a few others as well, esp Anchor/Learning to Communicate. also the moment where vitalasy joins the server post-betrayal and zam just starts fucking Screaming and Running Away. i need you all to know i rewatched every single eclipse fed meeting for this fic guys. as well as a number of sign rooms. the conclusion i have drawn from this is that they are so fucking problems

one of the major themes/throughlines in this fic is Trust. zam trusts vitalasy (not to hurt her for having opinions); zam trusts subz (and therefore should trust vitalasy); zam trusts vitalasy (to want the right things, and therefore zam should want them too); zam talks about subz and vitalasy trusting her (with, like, specific things). the Conflation there. the way vitalasy takes zam expressing the last thing as zam believing the first thing. the way vitalasy's ending is i trusted you and part of that is "i trusted you (not to betray me)" but a larger part of that is "i trusted you (to be honest with me so that i wouldn't hurt you)". they are both constantly talking themselves into trusting each other and, uh, they shouldn't.

btw when zam's video came out and had a line about trusting vitalasy and how he Had To it was so awesome for me (working on this fic)

some fun little notes on bits of the fic: when zam is having doubts abt the plan to put mapicc and ro in bedrock prison witch labyrinth, this is related to ... zam was also on team awesome's side, yk? i haven't gotten much chance in my pmmm au fics thus far to go in much detail on the dupe war but let it be known that Team Awesome Did Very Much Kill Some Guys. when zam is like "why should we get to decide, what makes us better than them, etc" this is related to .... what makes her, specifically, better than them? she did very much also kill those guys! and of course to subz and vitalasy it is like. dude they are Stalking You. you are our teammate and they are stalking you.

another little note: zam's nightmare is not about kissing vitalasy. it is very specifically about being kissed by vitalasy. this is a fact that would both make vitalasy so so so mad and haunt her forever if she knew it.

in general theres another major Theme going thru the fic abt Physical Touch. zam is the one to initiate all the touches except two of them--the one at the very end and the one in the nightmare, which. vitalasy only kisses zam after zam has kissed her three times in a row and repeatedly reassured her that it's fine and wanted. vitalasy so badly does not want to hurt zam and is trying so, so, so hard not to hurt her. that doesn't change the fact that ... zam is in fact hurt by it. the way that vitalasy's dialogue in the ending scene is I’m not going to hurt you and you said it was okay then she touches zam and it leaves a very obvious physical wound and vitalasy didn't mean to do it but that doesn't mean it's not there. and also at the same time, like... zam did very much physically hurt vitalasy first and worse!

a fun detail that i didn't actually do on purpose but that my beta pointed out is that vitalasy is shot in the shoulder & then when she hurts zam it's by grabbing her shoulder. yayyyy parallels

i feel so incredibly bad for both of them. tbh. they are both terrified out of their minds & trying so hard & in a shitty situation and it's just....real bad but not in a way where i can find it in me to blame or be mad at either of them. im an apologist for both of them. yes they hurt each other but thats not going to stop me

both of them have ocd in this fic To Me. however theyre also both kind of justified in their fears so you can read them as not having ocd if you want. zam is checking the door for mapicc but mapicc is in fact stalking her. vitalasy is checking and double checking that zam is okay with things but zam is in fact not okay with things. this is how it goes sometimes

sorry subz fans. subz is kind of just Not Here. not even in the way he's not in my other vitalazam fics where his absence is Haunting The Fic. subz is just not relevant to this one

my initial concept for this fic had zam's opposition to ~exploits and vitalasy's whole plan and wish and so on being....a lot more relevant? some things that got changed: in the original concept, the final scene would be vitalasy touching zam and changing her outfit and powers; vitalasy's hair being similar in style/silhouette to kyubey's ears would be more emphasized; vitalasy lying to zam and zam talking to 3ht about it would have been much more of a plot point; we might actually have gotten to learn what vitalasy's wish was; vitalasy post-betrayal getting mad at zam's whole princely hero schtick; a few other things that im not successfully remembering. but instead the prison labyrinth is, like, sort of half relevant, but only insofar as it's a reflection of their relationship drama.

i did always know that i wanted zam Not Really Having Another Place To Live to be a major tension point, though-- it's the sort of thing where it immediately puts a lot of strain on her relationships due to her feeling obligated to be Endlessly Grateful in very specific ways, and back in dsmp fandom @regicidal-optimism gave me brainrot about housing insecurity in pmmm aus with the lovers, the dreamers, and me. this fic owes a lot to that one.

subz's parents are pretty absent even putting aside masquerade stuff, which is lonely for subz at times but convenient for zam. bacon's parents are much more present which is cool for bacon but sucks for zam, especially bc they are not in fact super happy abt having a random kid show up and live on their couch with no end date

tbh a lot of this fic is "i know we all like cute eclipse fed romance but can you imagine how bad that could go if zam had the same issues around it that zam has about literally everything else eclipse fed does". having a relationship with someone who feels like they Shouldn't Say No To You because they Owe You Their Life can break really bad, really fast, whether the thing you're asking for in that relationship is a kiss or a prison. do i think this is how it wouldve gone in canon? no. i think zam was more enthusiastic and had no real reason for moral dilemmas over a relationship; and i think vitalasy was not as head-over-heels in canon as in this fic. but there's a certain core problem there that was fun to mirror, you know?

the rest of this fic is "okay so vitalasy isn't a lesbian but what if.....vitalasy WAS a lesbian. due to the Projection"

they tried. both of them tried. trying wasn't enough not to hurt each other.

this fic has ART. before i even wrote it. i commissioned a pmmm!zam sketch from ctommy/idalus a couple months ago and then recently for vsz week void-chara drew all of eclipse federation in their magical girl outfits! so yeah check those out, incredibly talented artists and i fucking adore the art & am so deeply honored by it :D

i thought i wouldnt have many liner notes for this one and then i had SO MANY LINER NOTES that i had to split it into two chunks and i am NOT CONFIDENT I REMEMBERED EVERYTHING. anything after this that i think of will have been edited in. ty for reading all this lol if u read all of this i love u

[tarot-junkie]

-firstly. These readings have been and were always hypothetical in my opinion. ALWAYS. Everyone interprets the data differently. I remember getting into an argument where someone said he would or will propose and I said BULLSHIT bc of a pentacles card 🫠. Admittedly…Way too in my head to interpret it without bias on REGULAR readings for evans. Whoops. My bad. Yikes. Frankly I looked at some of those readings incorrectly. //

I remember a while ago you said that the tower moment would most likely be for the fandom not for Chris and that has stuck with me ever since. You most definitely hit the nail on the head with that one

That’s the one thing I can agree on maybe getting right. And to be fair, the switch flipped for me when another friend read about his FS last year. It was a different take than most - Something about how she/FS had an idealized version of who he was and even SHE had to change her perception a bit. The tower showed up in her reading, “what will she think about him” or something along those lines. So then I wondered aloud if it was always about the fans and how they perceived of “Chris evans” LLC. And the image was the tower. And seeing it over and over wasn’t about HIM changing.

Consider the stark contrast between who he is/appears to be, and how most people have been like 👀 about the whole thing. It’s jarring for those who have invested a lot. (Sounds dramatic but) has shaken some foundations.

I don’t always ascribe to the “he needed to be fixed and heal himself and THEN will be rewarded with her” schtick bc that’s not how things always work. If you KNOW him personally, you might be able to argue that- but as it stands currently, we can only quote Kneepads (People) re: how he “feels” according to a SOURCE 🫠 and say that “that is accurate.”

Someone used the word shambolic yesterday and it really represents my feelings on this whole nonsense. (Chaotic, disorganized, MISMANAGED). These dumb plays ….what some people would just say “ugh you’re blowing it out of proportion,” really just make it seem like some people sat around in a room and came up with ALL OF THE DUMB ideas on what to do to release this. And they can’t sell it because they’re not that good at faking story lines.

I’m not saying all of it is PR. The public side of it is ABSOLUTELY PR. The timing, the cardboard cutout nature of all of it. I’m just saying if they came up with the idea of “let’s walk thru Central Park” then it becomes a whole mess of a sprint and it’s awkward af. If they take a pic of them kissing it looks like he’s making out with her mouth-chin character. Which is weird. They can’t sell it bc they’re faking a side of it for the public. Not the whole thing. Just the public part. That’s why I said at one point, maybe it’s real and they bungled the shit out of it bc they are awkward.

I also got the vibe some of this shit was for spite, so whatever clever blogs have said he likes watching it all burn…. I think back to some public questions we’ve discussed “Is she going to the premiere?” NO. Then she goes and it’s a dumb circus. Make sure she’s spotted looking “hot.” Is he ever going to do BOSTON Con? NO, his anxiety is too bad. And then he books TWO this year. And so on. And so forth. LSA kept saying “STOP SAYING THIS, it’ll happen!!” 😂😂😂😂

So. I think we need to just be all Justin Bieber and never say never. All the people like “ohhh they won’t last” 😬🤷🏻‍♀️😂 suffice it to say….old dude is doing tf he wants.

YIPPIE. HOORAY.

[invisibleraven]

doing an activity you’re both terrible at, for a good old laugh  for Rulie plz and thank you

"Alex and Willie want to know if we're free Saturday for a double date," Reggie asked.

"Sure, it's been forever since our date night wasn't going out to get groceries," Julie teased. Reggie blew a raspberry at her, and she grinned. "What do they want to do?"

"Indoor rock climbing."

"o...kay. I've never done that before," Julie replied.

"Me neither, so at least we'll suck together," Reggie said, pulling her in for a kiss.

Saturday night found them at the rock climbing gym, looking extremely hesitant and apprehensive. "Please tell me there's a safety net or something," whimpered Julie.

"Sort of," Alex replied. "You're tethered to each other, and to the wall by a pulley. It's a bit nerve wracking at first, but I actually kind of love it."

"Come on hot dog, last one to the top is a rotten egg!" Willie called.

Julie and Reggie watched as the two of them secured their harnesses and began scaling a rather intimidating wall. Alex was steady and sure, while Willie almost looked like a spider monkey climbing up, and he beat Alex to the top by minutes.

"This means I get to pick the movie later!" Willie whooped.

"Ugh, that means we're watching another Z grade horror movie doesn't it?"

"You know it!"

Reggie looked at Julie. "You want to start with a baby wall?"

"Please."

They went over to a smaller wall, and had an instructor walk them through all the steps, making sure their knots were secure, teaching them how to belay, until Reggie felt semi confident enough to try. Unfortunately, he also found his palms were sweaty and he lost his grip only a foot up, laughing as he fell. "Guess I know now why Lex and Wils were wearing gloves."

"You can get a bag of chalk if you want, it usually helps," the instructor said.

"Maybe on my next go around," Reggie said, switching places with Julie. "Your turn darlin'."

"Is this a bad time to mention I'm not overly fond of heights?" she whimpered.

"That's the great thing, you have to keep looking up, not down!" Reggie encouraged.

Julie was slow to start, analyzing her path, and tentatively gripped each hand hold, making very little progress. Or at least it felt that way.

"Look at you go Jules!" Willie called from down below.

And she made the mistake of looking down, seeing she was now a few feet off the ground, and immediately lost her footing, shrieking as she fell a little. But then she was on the ground and she burst out laughing.

"I can't believe I did that!"

"Yeah you did!" Alex said, offering her a high five. "Knew you could!"

"You wanna go again?" the instructor asked. Both Julie and Reggie said yes.

Throughout the night they both got progressively higher and higher, though they never reached the top or moved past the most simple walls. But they laughed at each slip, fall and accomplishment, having the time of their lives.

By the end of the night they were sweaty, dusty, and parched, their lungs hurt from laughing, and Reggie's face was a bright red colour.

"So, do you guys wanna do this again next time we double date?" Willie asked.

"Definitely!" Reggie said. "Or maybe we can pick something we're good at and watch you guys fail over and over again."

"We're great at everything," Alex said with a fake hair flip, making them all laugh once more. They parted soon after, with Julie yelling at Alex to enjoy his movie, which made him flip her off.

"This was a good night," she commented as they slipped into the car.

"It really was," Reggie replied as they pulled out of the parking lot towards home. "But you know what I really want to do now is?"

"Shower?"

"Yesss," Reggie groaned. "I am so sore!"

"Ugh, tell me about it," Julie said. "And famished. "Can we go through the drive thru on our way home?"

"McDonalds or Wendy's?"

"Wendy's, d'uh," Julie replied. "Their ice cream machine actually works and mama needs a Frosty."

"Your wish is my command," Reggie said, driving them off towards the restaurant.

Sure, they were sore and a little gross, but they both agreed it was a great time.

And they did end up finding something Alex and Willie were bad at-horseback riding. Not that Julie was all that great at it either, but she just rode with Reggie, and well later... she might have to take her cowboy for a ride too!

[endthedrugwarnowdotorg]

im gonna go with my gut here & my gut which is still trying to untangle itself from the knots its rightfully in for AGAiN FAiLiNG TO MAKE MY WAY TO MY HAPPY HOME it also tells me that, without a doubt, there was one thing i fucked up by doing & that was letting my family know where we lived & anything about our lives because they killed the god damn beautiful lil boy who wanted to make me his wife so badly & deserved all the happiness & everything he had coming i also fucked up when i didnt testify or at least fucking watch Cody do so apparently he fucking said some shit that will FOREVER MAKE HiMA A GOD AMONST MEN & THAT WiLL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN god imisshimsomuch i was already being taunted by martha & Keenan & all their bullshit i dont know why they were fucking with me so hard then but i should have been more present i will never forgive myself for not being more there for him especially then but he still had so much hope for the future & then that got crushed despite it being already led astray not that he even cared how much he had to not be himself to make me someone that would fit into his life, as fake & fucking lied on that shit was why does the god damn dark lord want him to not be happy? i fuckin know he deserves it & it will fucking happen & i will be the one who makes it happen & again, i dont want to have to destroy all these people in the process he wanted to marry me so what? thats something to be upset about? he wanted to make me a princess.. i deserved that &i will fucking live up to that & he will be happier than anyone has ever been if it is the last thing i ever do but the other thing my gut is telling me is that they just dont want those assholes to know where we are so we arent going to tell them & its definitely worked thus far so as long as i can just do my part & not tell my family anything about where i am or basically anything ever again then i can take my place where i have earned a spot & we can be the happy couple that lives above all the people that we tried to hangout with but who just for the most part COULD NOT HANG for too long maybe a fateful few will be able to come thru but as it stands, nope cuz every person just could not handle what we handledd without even questioning whether it was fair or if we deserved it its not hard to do when its what youre meant to do & damn were so good at our job lets go back to work babe come get me tho i deserve a ride, im weaker than i seem & more miserable than i come across & ive found a way to do what we love but its JUST TERRiBLE WHEN THE PROMiSE OF YOUR RETURN iS NOT ON THE HORiZON iM SORRY EVERYONE iS SO DiSAPOINTiNG :( CANT SAY i DiDNT TELL YOU SO JUST REMEMBER THAT iM NOT LiKE THEM neither are u, you rock, rock

[teresa-moyocoyotzin]

short recap of my thoughts on 5x09

okay so i was gonna rewatch the whole episode and do a blow-by-blow reaction post but i’m not sure i’ll have time and i kinda wanna focus on watching my fave scenes from the show before tonight. also, everyone else’s reaction posts p. much sum up my thoughts lol 

nonetheless, i just wanted to give my main takeaways on the episode a week later, in case anyone cares where i’m at going into the finale! gonna go over the things i liked first, anyone who wants to just remain positive and not see any salty takes might wanna just stick to reading the first part b/c i definitely rant a bit at the end lmao. we’re still having a fun time tho 😂

THINGS I LOVED

- i mean... i think we know LOL

- obviously. i loved james and teresa’s i love you scenes, and kisses, and OOF THAT SEX SCENE. if someone had told me we were gonna get that scene back in like 2017??? i probably would have started literally floating. i totally respect that people had very specific ideas of what they wanted out of those scenes and could have different feelings about it but NOT ME BABES I AM ECSTATIC!!! i did go into the episode with a ~feeling~ that we were gonna get at least one ILY in the episode, and i just had a feeling it would be james, or at least that he would say it first. i’ve already explained in my meta about the scenes why i think it makes sense that he said it first and why i love it that he did, so i won’t go into that here. but i went in having really no expectations for it other than that it was gonna happen! i was debating about whether it would happen really casually while they’re talking, or in like a big action scene, or really dramatic or what, and what i would prefer, and i came to the conclusion that i would love it no matter what lol, but i was really into the idea of james just. fucking. saying it. while they’re just talking about something really casually. so therefore i was pretty happy with it when we got sort of a mix! they’re talking about teresa’s insane death trap of a plan so there’s that drama of “i don’t want to lose you esp. not before saying ILY” kinda thing, but it’s also just. so simple and sure! and then teresa’s i love you is like the perfect scene for me where one character is super focused on something else (in this case, trying to protect the woman he loves! agh!) and the other is just like.. i love you!!!! SO GOOD

- let’s see, what the hell else happened in this ep?

- oh okay i really liked james and teresa’s vibes this episode, they were so focused on each other and had this very ride-or-die feeling about them like they knew that each of their plans was increasingly stupid and desperate and might not even get them where they wanna go, but they were IN IT TOGETHER no matter what 😭i wish we had gotten a callback to that line but at this point, i’m p. sure they Know they’re in it together, and we do too. so it’s okay. i love that teresa still asks his input and considers his opinions even if she does her own thing anyways haha 

- oh on that note, i LOVED the moment where their plans to kill Kostya aren’t working and Teresa says something like “If I can meet with him in person, I can kill him myself” and James just has this LOOK that just is the epitome of the “I am in love with a women who is DESIGNED TO STRESS ME OUT” meme lol, it made me giggle, v classic QOTS moment 

- oh and of course, I LOVED that scene with devon and james at the end!!!!!!!! i was also confused about how james was showing all his emotions in that scene esp. since he tries to be stoic about his feelings for Teresa around Devon, but now that i’ve read a few people’s thoughts about, it i’m fully on board w the theory that james and teresa already knew this was coming, b/c they’re smart, and b/c james knows devon wouldn’t have let him walk away to save Teresa at the beginning of the season without motivation (like having him in place to kill her when she’s no longer useful to the CIA) and THEREFORE james was sort of “overacting” to make it believable to devon (and the audience lol) that he didn’t know this was coming, didn’t want to do it, but felt like he had to, rather than the fact that they were already plotting a fake death. that makes a lot of sense to me and makes me really love all the layers to that scene. it does give me a little bit of hope that the finale ~teresa’s not really dead~ reveal will be at least a little well executed and not just shoved in at the very end. we shall see though! 

- alright i think that’s what i loved about the episode, if u don’t wanna hear me bitching about the little things then u should probably stop here!! just have to get out some of my saltiness lol 

THINGS I WAS ANNOYED ABOUT

- i’m just gonna get it out of the way, yes, i too was supremely annoyed at the amount of KA and Pote take suburbia; it was all 1000% predictable down to the raccoon and the cookies, and the point could have been accomplished in exactly 1 scene, maybe 2, certainly not like 10 or however many we got. whatever. ugh. 

- okay. OKAY. chicho. we need to talk about chicho. i for one, am not mad that he called pote, my boy was stressed. I AM HOWEVER, mad at the writers for making pote come back after saying he trusted chicho to take care of teresa now. like. it totally devalued THE WHOLE THING!! imo, pote shoulda stayed his ass at home where we had to watch him settle all episode, and chicho should have gotten THE HERO MOMENT HE DESERVED (esp. cuz he’s on first name basis w teresa now??) which ALSO WOULD HAVE MADE THE SCENE WHERE TERESA GIVES CHICHO THE DISTILLERY AND THE BAR SO! MUCH! MORE! MEANINGFUL!!!!! or just made it make sense at all? like .... i’m just so confused by that whole plotline like what was the point? chicho does nothing but call pote and gets T’s whole legacy in NOLA? 

- and don’t even get me started on how it makes ZERO sense that pote would have had to charge in at the last minute to save teresa when JAMES THE SNIPER W AMAZING AIM WHO IS LITERALLY. IN LOVE WITH HER. is standing outside like. ur telling me james and chicho (who again, is supposed to be her #2 after james now) just stood there like “oh hey pote yeah you go ahead we’ll wait here good luck” like WHAT also.. how did pote get past all the guards that made james stay outside? are we meant to believe pote is that sneaky? y’all. it just. doesn’t make sense. this whole plot situation maddens me more than anythings tbh UGH JUST MAKE IT MAKE SENSE 

- oksana’s daughter..... what’s her name again? idk b/c we only MET HER THIS WEEK....okay this amuses me but i’m also annoyed b/c like. there were so many other women who could have taken that spot in the opening sequence... Lil T, Castel, hell even Isabela??? Like idk how they could have done it but they put so much effort into her plot in the first seasons that i really thought she was gonna end up w/ Teresa in the end.. idk that would have been kind cool, Camila’s two “daughters” eventually working their way out of the life together..again idk how they could have realistically done it but i really do wish it had been someone we met before. if it had to be someone new this season, they could have introduced her earlier instead of one of the seemingly dozens of random guys we knew for 1 episode before they died... like.. give her some depth please. is she even gonna be in the finale? honestly she better be after making us listen to pote welcome her into the family... like the family u were supposed to leave so u could have an actual baby pote? the family that’s literally dispersing as we speak? also.. since when did pote love oksana so much anyways? also...... just.. if teresa’s gonna have some sort of daughter figure or whatever she’s supposed to be, wouldn’t it make sense to have her be the one to give the big welcome to the family speech? idk y’all..... i’m amused but also baffled at the sheer lack of planning behind this. did no one realize they needed someone for the opening scene until like. halfway thru the season? did they plan to have it be castel but they couldn’t get her for filming (hence all the weird castel plots?) INQUIRING MINDS WOULD LIKE TO KNOW. it’s whatever tho lol 

- i just hope that what’s-her-name gets a lil bit of plot in the finale esp. since otherwise it might just be pote running around being pissy (i don’t actually think that haha but i am a lil nervous that teresa won’t come back until the last few mins and i’ll have to spend all episode looking at boaz and devon and pote and KA.. i haven’t looked at any spoilers tho so i’m still hopeful! i will probably make a post about my hopes going into the finale a lil later, both realistic and unrealistic :) 

[scalproie]

Is there a chance Kuai Liang in the Mk21 sequel might not be a Lin Kuei, like he left at some point or faked his death, idk thought it be a contrast to how loyal Bi-Han is to the clan in the movies vs his brother who went off the grid because he don’t want part of the stupid shit his brother was up to

If hes in the movie at all, it would definitely surprise me if hes introduced this way. I think its more plausible if its his character arc DURING the movie, especially if the writers and producers "heard what the fans said about the first movie", meaning yeah yeah we'll keep closer to the lore of the games this time. Plus being a Lin Kuei is a major part of Sub Zero's character, so Kuai starting off as NOT part of it would be a big surprise for me, but that doesnt mean it cant happen, I mean thats the way it went in dotr but I highly doubt they'll take inspiration from it.

If I have to put my money on the arguably safest arc I could see him have in the mk21 sequel (if hes a major character in it. If hes in it at all), its probably gonna be: Kuai Liang wants revenge for Bi-han's death (he looks up too much to his brother to leave the Lin Kuei while his brother is still part of it), take the Sub Zero name, go after Cole &co -> first confrontation with the gang (show similarities to Bi-han's Subz to introduce him, MAYBE foreshadow his heel-face turn by showing small differences between his and bi-han's methods, but you can also leave that for the second confrontation) -> second confrontation (and THIS is where you wanna draw attention to the differences between Kuai Liang & Bi-han, show thru actions that Kuai is the "good" Sub Zero, maybe have smth happen at the end of the confrontation that makes him realizes things and that maybe he was wrong, or just make the gang realize that he has honor, like saving someone or stopping fighting because of the apparition of thougher enemy (ex: Noob Saibot, if hes in there as well, but he has to be because Mr. Taslim was on set so hes at least 60% confirmed) -> have him "join" the gang by fighting for/with the good guys in the third act, maybe again, against Noob, or just in general -> idk for his ending, either have him join the earthrealmers or have him leave but the earthrealmers aknowledge his honor idk.

^ in this scenario, either his status as a Lin Kuei is established to draw him as an enemy but never really challenge, or it gets adressed and the Lin Kuei would have to be a lot more involved in the plot to do something that would get him to reject them by the second act. Endless possiblities. This could even work coupled with yours.

OH and also uuuuuuhhh throw a Scorpion vs Sub Zero in there because Of Course. Maybe at the second confrontation it would make the most sense. OR make that one of the final fights but neither end up killing the other. because Of Course.

[cheekysos]

Road to Nowhere

Best Friend! Luke Hemmings x Reader

Summary: Luke asks his best friend Y/N on a road trip. 

Warnings: Unrequited love, angst, minor swears

Author’s Note: Thank you for being patient with me the past couple of weeks. I’m still unsure about this piece honestly but I hope you enjoy it. Feedback is always very much appreciated, whether it be positive or constructive. Thank you for reading.

   You and Luke have been best friends ever since he moved to LA. When you first met him you were in a somewhat serious relationship and by the time you admitted to yourself your feelings for Luke he just met someone. You wallowed in self pity for quite some time before you forced yourself to move on, Luke seemed happy and you wanted to be happy too. When Luke was single again, you were a few months into a new relationship. This cycle has continued for the entirety of your guys’ friendship, the timing just never worked out. Not that it would have mattered, you knew your chances with Luke were slim to none. You two joked, laughed, cried, and confided in one another but there was something missing on his part. You could tell by the way he looked at you that he didn’t love you the way you loved him. He doesn’t look at your smile and instantly get butterflies, your laugh doesn’t send a shiver down his spine, and your touch doesn’t make it hard for him to breathe. Now here you are, single for almost a year and Luke is in what seems to be a very serious relationship and it’s eating you up inside. You wasted so much time ignoring and hiding from your feelings because you were too scared to lose your best friend. Now your feelings are so strong it’s difficult to ignore. 

  His current relationship was definitely putting a strain on your friendship. She wasn’t comfortable with it, you knew the second he introduced you to her. The way she scanned you up and down, like she was assessing your level of threat. She occupied most of his time and didn’t want you around much, she never came right out and said it but you could tell - basically everyone could except for Luke. It was little things like the way she touched him in front of you, like she was claiming him or how it took her months to “learn” your name. But you put up with it because you loved him, granted you were also in love with him as well but you respected their relationship and would never act on your feelings. Between touring and her Luke hasn’t had much time for you so when he called you and asked if you wanted to go on an impromptu road trip with no certain destination you didn’t hesitate. 

You packed enough clothes and toiletries for three days, that’s all the time off you could manage from work.  Luke arrived that morning with your favorite coffee in hand and looking as adorable as ever. He was dressed casually in blue jeans, T-shirt, and boots. 

  “You’re really going to wear jeans while we drive across the country?” You teased snagging the large cup of coffee out of his hand. 

  “Hey what’s wrong with my jeans?!” He asked defensively. 

  “Nothings wrong with them. I just meant they aren’t very comfortable.” 

   “Well thanks mom but I think I can dress myself.” He quipped.

   He stood in front of you with that stupid look on his stupid perfect face you loved so much. “So did you decide where you exactly were going?” You asked, spontaneity was not your strong suit. 

  “You pick, anywhere you want,” answered Luke.

You hesitated for a second, racking your brain for ideas. “Grand Canyon?”

“Whatever you want to see,” he flashed a sympathetic smile. What was going on?

“Seriously?” You asked. “Why are you being so nice to me?” 

“What a guy can’t spoil his best girl?” Luke had a tendency of saying things like this. Things that were obviously meant to be harmless but hurt you more than you’d like to admit because you knew he didn’t meant them, not how you wanted him to.  Luke helped you with your suitcase to his car and typed the coordinates into his GPS. While he did that you connected your phone to his car. Right after Luke asked you on this trip you started making a playlist for the occasion, of course a majority of the playlist was already assembled in a secret Luke playlist you already had. 

  “I hope you’re ready for this playlist, it’s going to blow your little rockstar brain.” Music is what immediately connected you to Luke. You guys didn’t have exactly the same taste and there were definitely songs and artists you disagreed on but his passion for it was contagious. He changed the way you consumed music, pushed you to listen to more than just lyrics and the beat. 

   “Excuse you I have a big rockstar brain thank you very much.” His hand rested on the back of your headrest as he backed out of the parking spot. It’s strange how Luke made everyday normal activities just effortlessly sexy. The way his seat had to be all the way back for his massive limbs to fit, how he gripped the steering wheel with one hand while the other rested on the gear shift, or the way the sun landed on his face and illuminated his sharp features. 

  Before you officially got on the road Luke stopped to fill up his car. “Here pay for the gas and grab some snacks,” he handed you his card. 

  You went inside and gathered an array of different snacks, candies and drinks. When you came out you saw Luke on the phone, at first you thought he was talking to her but he looked anxious and stressed while speaking. Maybe they were fighting, maybe that’s why he wanted to get away for a bit.  When you got closer to him he hung up the phone and returned the pump to it’s holster. 

“Let’s get the show on the road darlin’.” He faked a smile.

You were on route soon enough, Luke quietly snacking on the bag of chips you bought for him as he drove. You really didn’t want to pry and you hated asking him about her but it was obvious something was bothering him. 

   “You alright?” You questioned turning down the music. 

  He forced a smile, “All good. Just quietly regretting my decision to wear jeans. I wish someone would’ve told me not to.” 

  You playfully tossed a sour patch kid at his head. You knew that’s not what was bothering him but you didn’t pry.  After many hours of stupid car games, spontaneous singalong dance parties and a small cat nap on your part you couldn’t ignore the rumbling in your stomach any longer. 

   “Luke I need food and I’m tired.” You whined “I think we should call it a day, get some food and find a hotel.” 

  Luke rubbed at his 5 o’clock shadow. “Ya ok find a place nearby will ya?” 

  It took a little time but eventually you found a small bed and breakfast. “Take the next exit.” You instructed. 

  As Luke drove to the bed and breakfast you passed an In n Out. “Take a right!” you yelled. 

  Luke jerked the car into the turning lane, “the fuck Y/N! Scared the shit outta me.” 

   “In n Out! Need fries and a milkshake.” You exaggerate and pout your lip. 

  “You know I can’t say no to that pout.” Again, how could he not realize what he was saying to you? Could he be that oblivious?

  You went through the drive-thru and ordered way too much food for only two people and continued driving to the B&B. The Bed and Breakfast was a decent sized Victorian styled home, they probably couldn’t have more than five rooms. You stayed by the car, taking in the fresh air of a new state while Luke went inside to check for a room. 

  “Good news and bad news,” Luke said walking back to the car. “Got a room but it’s only got one bed, she’s got a cot though so she’s going to have it brought up to the room. I’ll take the cot.” Luke grabbed the luggage and you followed him with food and milkshakes in hand. The room was cozy, the main focus of the room was clearly the bed. This bed and breakfast most likely catered to couples looking for a quiet getaway and in any other situation it probably would have been romantic but not when you were with Luke and he was with her. 

  The two of you sat on the floor eating and catching up. Against your better judgement you asked about her, you were surprised to see his expression fall. 

   “I don’t want to talk about her, this trip is about us.” he said quietly. “Remember when we took that road trip to visit your parents?” he laughed. 

  “You mean the trip you agreed to take after being on tour for months leaving me to drive for HOURS while you slept the entire time?” you teased. 

  “Hey, It’s the thought that counts!” he defends. Things with Luke were great, back to how things were before.

  After spending a considerable amount of time reminiscing, the two of you got ready to go to bed. When Luke walked out of the bathroom he was dressed in only athletic shorts. You’ve seen Luke half naked plenty of time but it seemed like every time you saw him his shoulders were broader, his chest hair more dense, and his skin softer.

  “I-I’ll sleep on the cot Luke. There’s no way your lanky ass is going to fit. I don’t mind.” You tried deflecting with jokes.

“Ugh! How rude!” Luke played. “I am not lanky! And it doesn’t matter - that thing’s for children, neither of us are gonna fit on it. We’ll  just share” He tossed aside the extra throw pillows and pulled back the duvet. 

“Are you sure this is okay?” you hesitated. 

“It’s fine, just get in.” He turned off the lamp on his nightstand and tucked his extremities into bed, his back facing you. You followed his lead and got yourself situated on your side. You knew you should have turned around so your back was towards him but you just couldn’t bring yourself to look away. 

“Night Y/N.” he yawned. 

“Goodnight Lu.” As creepy as it sounded you spent some time watching his back, counting the times it rose and fell with each breath before he succumbed to sleep.  

  You woke up the next morning before Luke, he wasn’t a morning person in the slightest. After you finished getting ready and found Luke still in a deep slumber you figured the best way to wake him was a pillow to the face. After lots of whining and arguing the two of you were ready to get back on the road. Since Luke was still half asleep you offered to drive the rest of the way, which meant you spent most of the time in silence again, but you didn’t mind, you needed the time to think.   

  When you finally arrived at the Grand Canyon you and Luke stood there awhile speechless, taking in the beautiful scenery around you.  His arm suddenly snaked around your shoulders and pulled you into his side. You followed his suit and wrapped your arm around his waist. You felt completely content in this moment, for a second you could forget about everything and just relish in this the now. When you looked up at Luke tears were brimming in his eyes. You stood in front of him with both hands held onto his waist. 

“Hey...what’s the matter?” you pleaded.

“It's...I just. I’m just really happy to be here. To be with you, my best girl.” He pulled you in for a hug, his arms wrapped around you tightly and he placed soft kisses on the top of your head. Your heart soared in this moment. Everything felt so perfect, it felt like there was an inkling of a possibility that Luke loved you back. As you pulled away from the hug, Luke tucked the stray hairs behind your ear. Your faces were closer than they’ve ever been, your foreheads pressed together, noses just barely touching. 

“I need to tell you something Lu..” There was no more denying your feelings. You couldn’t go on like this anymore you needed him to know, even if that meant that he didn’t feel the same about you. 

“Lemme go first.” he cut you off. “She gave me an ultimatum, you or her…” Your heart was in the back of your throat and your entire body was on fire. This was it, he was about to kiss you.

His calloused thumb brushed along your cheekbone, “I..I chose her.”

[phoebehalliwell]

I will like to see Chris and Bianca make a career in magic. Like i don’t see them having a office job, or anything, because i don’t think they would want a « normal life ».

I mean, like, remenber that FBI (CIA?) guy from early s8 ? The one who help the sisters with the fakes identities . I don’t remember anything from that season, but wasn’t he supposed to get the sisters to help him deal with supernatural stuff or am I imagining things lol ?

Imagine Chris&Bianca investigating stuff for the government x-files style but with demon instead of aliens ??

Like if someone died or disapear in strange way, if a eyewitness is like « I saw this Green dude with horns kill the victim with a fire ball », who the police gonna call ?

The Supernatural Department.

I mean, yeah, Magic is supposed to be a secret and the FBI getting his nose in magic and HALLIWELL business can’t end well.... But i really went Chris and Bianca to go on vanquishing adventures all the time.

At first, I was like. They could be independant and not involve the government, but making innocent pay for a vanquish is a big no

i mean full agree i think the craft is a very large part of both chris and bianca’s identities i don’t really think they want that “normal life” that we see piper crave like they will always identify as witch first and i think that would really be reflected in every part of their home life. like i think even with witches like wyatt melinda or tamora, like they definitely ID as witches, but when they dream of the future, the craft isn’t like. ingrained in it like it is for chris or bianca. like for those three, it’s like there is this idea of being friends with all their neighbors dropping their kids off at school and chatting with the other parents hosting birthday parties in their backyard for their kids and just having something like. painfully normal. the idea of you know. having your lil kids running around maybe water balloon fight so you gotta make sure the sheet cake is out of the line of fire and just catching your so’s eyes while they’re in the middle of a conversation with someone else and smile at them and watch them absolutely lose their train of thought because they’re too busy smiling back at you. That. the white picket fence dream. for chris & bianca tho i think it’s like. if you don’t know they’re a witch, they don’t consider you a close friend. they don’t hide signs of the craft when having guests over like others might do, because like. if you’re in their house, you know they’re witches. otherwise you wouldn’t have scored an invite. so i think having a career that reflects that is like. wise. flipside of this tho is i can’t like imagine bianca or chris working for the govt. okay actually that’s a lie i can picture bianca doing it fine but she just. def does her own thing but seems like a star employee. chris on the other hand i think has too many issues with authority i don’t think he’d go for it. i also think he would be unwilling to like betray any halliwell secrets like u gotta file what potion u used and he’s like vanquishing potion. and they’re like no who was it. and he’s like 🙄 grimlock vanquishing potion. and they’re like No Like What Is In It. How Do You Make It. and he’s like wouldn’t you like to know weatherboy. bianca on the other hand i think would feel fine filing the phoenix’s spells and potions because like. i think she really has mixed feelings for the organization. the only thing that would give her pause i think would be like. what are mortals gonna do with it. because working with the phoenix you really only work with like the most shallow and vain mortals so i think bianca really doesn’t trust you know the government as a whole. it’s just swapping out one organization for another. i think she would enchant all her files to only be able to be read by good witches/other phoenix. 

all that being said, i think just like. like if they were the whole entire supernatural department like we bring back murphey from s8 like hi guys it’s me can u um. help. or something and it’s literally just the two of them and they don’t really answer to anyone and if someone’s like what r u doing what did u do they’re like that’s classified. that could be fun. because i agree i think like the peak chris/bianca dynamic is just them on assorted vanquishes. but somebody’s gotta keep the lights on! tbh as far as like careers in my current writings i have chris as a coder like living in san jose and bianca works for the phoenix which keeps her flushed but when push comes to shove. idk i’d definitely love to see them both have magical occupations. i also might want to have chris do something adjacent to cooking just because i think that’d be nice. like honestly if they lived in some sorta sleepy coastal town and owned an occult shop that worked odd hours bc sometimes they just gotta run out and do vanquished kinda working as something of independent contractors maybe thru murphey or thru darryl or something (tho personally i like to think darryl left the force and just like. opened a flower shop or something. something very far from magic. because like fuck that shit lmao.) but just like someone who can drop them a line flash the bat signal and get chris and bianca on the job. bonus round is like. almost all their employees at their occult shop would just be kids from magic school who they like tutor all that.

[kbstories]

impression//expression

“It’s not like Kirishima had come all this way to U.A. to immediately break the promise he made to himself upon arrival.

It’s just that Bakugou is as feral as they come, and the moment Kirishima recognizes it’s fear he felt crawling up his spine that day, he makes it his personal mission to face it head-on until it’s gone.”

(Or: Being friends with Bakugou Katsuki is anything but a linear experience. Kirishima Eijirou would have it no other way.)

Tags: Kirishima POV, Developing Friendships, Domestic Fluff, Bakusquad, An Extended Scene About The Joys And Pains of Dyeing Hair

Chapter 1. Chapter 2. Chapter 3. Chapter 4. Chapter 5. Chapter 6. No additional content warnings apply. Chapter 8. Chapter 9.

***

⚡💖⛰️🎸📼

You have added Best Bakubro 💣💥!

You have changed the name from “⚡💖⛰️🎸📼” to “⚡💖💣⛰️🎸📼”!

hehehe we’re all set (sent 12:10)

welcome baku!! 💪🏻 (sent 12:10)

- 

God 💡: 👀 (received 12:11)

Simply Mina: 👀👀 (received 12:11)

MT Tape: 👀 (received 12:11)

Best Bakubro 💣💥: shitty hair (received 12:13)

- 

you promised!!! (sent 12:13)

no take backs 👀 (sent 12:13)

- 

Best Bakubro 💣💥: fuck (received 12:13)

Best Bakubro 💣💥: okay two things (received 12:13)

Best Bakubro 💣💥: one i’m muting this so @ me or fuck off (received 12:14)

Best Bakubro 💣💥: two give me your names (received 12:14)

God 💡: wait srsly?? (received 12:15)

God 💡: c’mon bro it’s been months :( (received 12:15)

Simply Mina: yea wth blasty that’s so cold :(( (received 12:15)

MT Tape: answer the people explosion man @Best Bakubro 💣💥 (received 12:17)

Best Bakubro 💣💥: fine you’re staying random numbers then (received 12:18)

God 💡: OH (received 12:18)

God 💡: kaminari denki here!! (received 12:18)

MT Tape: this is sero 🙏🏻 (received 12:18)

Simply Mina: mina!!! (received 12:19)

Simply Mina: @Guitar Hero is kyoka 💖 (received 12:19)

* 

Best Bakubro 💣💥

who? (received 12:19)

-

jirou!! (sent 12:19)

-

? (received 12:19)

-

🔌 (sent 12:20)

-

ah (received 12:20)

* 

⚡💖💣⛰️🎸📼

Best Bakubro 💣💥: k (received 12:20)

God 💡: anyways (received 12:22)

God 💡: this is the best day of my life (received 12:22)

Best Bakubro 💣💥: shut it jolteon (received 12:22)

God 💡: dude i didn’t even @ u asdfkjsfk (received 12:22)

God 💡: wait omg is that an upgrade?? (received 12:23)

God 💡: did i get upgraded from pikachu to jolteon omg omg (received 12:23)

MT Tape: DIBS ON UMBREON (received 12:23)

MT Tape: we’re picking eeveelutions right? (received 12:23)

-

!!!! pls pls flareon pls!!! (sent 12:24)

-

Simply Mina: espeon or sylveon (received 12:24)

Simply Mina: espeon or sylveon??? (received 12:25)

Simply Mina: GUYS (received 12:25)

Best Bakubro 💣💥: this is a nightmare (received 12:25)

Best Bakubro 💣💥: and wtf espeon of course (received 12:26)

Best Bakubro 💣💥: better stats and none of that affection shit (received 12:26)

Simply Mina: the council has spoken (received 12:26)

-

what about flareon??? (sent 12:27)

plsplspls (sent 12:27)

-

Best Bakubro 💣💥: kirishima (received 12:27)

Best Bakubro 💣💥: it’s red. (received 12:28)

-

HELL YEAH ❤️ (sent 12:28)

-

Guitar Hero: hi what the HELL are you guys spamming about (received 12:30)

Guitar Hero: oh hey bakugou (received 12:30)

Best Bakubro 💣💥: plugs you’re glaceon (received 12:31)

Guitar Hero: i’m cool with that (received 12:31)

Best Bakubro 💣💥: good (received 12:31)

MT Tape: ok kiri i think i get it now (received 12:34)

MT Tape: putting every decision thru the baku filter is so much more fun (received 12:34)

- 

right??? (sent 12:34)

-

Best Bakubro 💣💥: don’t fucking start (received 12:35)

Simply Mina: too late <3 (received 12:35)

God 💡: our trap card activated the moment you stepped into this chat man (received 12:36)

MT Tape: Bakugou Katsuki has been designated Chief Executive Brain (CEB) of the squad, effective immediately. (received 12:36)

Best Bakubro 💣💥: i’m leaving (received 12:37)

-

:( (sent 12:37)

-

MT Tape: … 👀 (received 12:40)

MT Tape: he ain’t leaving huh? (received 12:44)

God 💡: kiri’s puppy eyes once again confirmed as world’s strongest force (received 12:45)

Simply Mina: it’s kiri so we’re all safe tho <3 (received 12:45)

-

<3 (sent 12:45)

-

Best Bakubro 💣💥: for the record i hate all of you (received 12:46)

*

⚡💖💣⛰️🎸📼

Simply Mina: hey hey blasty (received 14:48)

Simply Mina: which eeveelution are you? (received 14:48)

Simply Mina: @Best Bakubro 💣💥 (received 14:50)

God 💡: 👀👀 (received 14:50)

- 

👀 (sent 14:50)

-

MT Tape: 👀 (received 14:51)

Guitar Hero: ^ what they said (received 14:53)

Best Bakubro 💣💥: eevee, duh (received 14:56)

Best Bakubro 💣💥: i don’t need a type advantage to win (received 14:56)

-

😭 bro so manly (sent 14:56)

also (sent 14:57)

You have changed the name from “⚡💖💣⛰️🎸📼” to “🦊 Eevee Squad 🦊”!

-

Best Bakubro 💣💥: fucking fantastic. can we shut up now? (received 15:00)

*

Best Bakubro 💣💥

see? told u it’s fun 💪🏻 (sent 15:01)

-

i guess (received 15:02)

-

like i said u can just ignore the chat if ur not feeling it (sent 15:10)

they’re cool, they won’t mind (sent 15:10)

+ i’ll text u stuff directly if it’s important (sent 15:12)

-

kiri (received 15:12)

-

ok ok hhh just saying (sent 15:12)

- 

i know (received 15:13)

you got that shit for ectoplasm yet? (received 15:17)

-

ummm (sent 15:17)

-

fucking knew it (received 15:17)

you coming or what? (received 15:22)

-

!!! o7 (sent 15:22)

*

Bakugou is staring.

Eyes on the page, Kirishima tries to focus on the function he’s been struggling to get for fifteen minutes now. Something about tangents and right angles? No, cotangents, which is different from a non-cotangent tangent because–

Bakugou has stopped writing a while ago, the fabric-covered pen resting loosely in his hand, his head propped up on a fist.

–the cosine does… something with the sine of X. Division? Maybe? X pops up in a bunch of places, actually, and Kirishima longs for the days math still featured numbers and not whatever nonsense this cos-sin-tan stuff is–

Bakugou is staring right at him, has been for ages now and Kirishima can’t help it. He looks up, only to catch Bakugou looking away, and huffs a nervous chuckle.

“Bro, c’mon. What’s up? Is there something on my face ‘cause you’ve been–”

“It’s black.” There’s a pensive twist to Bakugou’s brow. He breezes through the part of the problem Kirishima’s stuck on like it’s nothing, scribbled down in permanent ink like the monster he is. “Your natural haircolor. It’s black, right?”

“Uh, yeah?”

Kirishima picks his head up from where he’s slumped across Bakugou’s desk, the bean bag he’s sitting on shifting under his butt. Since when does Bakugou care about his hair? It hasn’t been black for over a year, anyways, so what does that have to do with…

“Wait, why do you–”

Bakugou’s eyes wander back to him, landing on Kirishima’s hair for barely a second but it’s enough. With a mortified noise, Kirishima slaps both his hands over his forehead – or more specifically, his roots.

Because Kirishima completely forgot he’s overdue on a redye for a good week and styled his hair as he usually does: gel evenly spread into carefully towel-dried strands, quirk on until it dries, done. He hadn’t looked into a mirror before heading to class or he would’ve seen his tips straying from cherry red to berry pink.

And that jet-black line where it’s growing back out. The roots that are the bane of Kirishima’s existence and that Bakugou saw.

Kirishima groans, curling into himself until his head hits wood with a dull donk. “How bad is it? Don’t spare me, bro, I need to know.”

That rhymes, the part of his brain not burning in the hellfire of shame chimes in. Kirishima firmly tells it to shut up.

“Your hair?”, Bakugou asks from an unknown realm beyond the bit of desk Kirishima’s staring at, a beat late. Probably to treat him to a glare he can’t see.

Kirishima rubs his forehead across his math homework in a miserable nod.

“It’s not more or less shitty than usual, Shitty Hair.” Bakugou scoffs. “What’s the big deal?”

“Oh, nothing”, Kirishima shrugs, his voice a fake-cheerful mumble, “Just that I’ve been walking around like this all day. A whole ass day. Kill me, now.”

“Nah. Wasn’t the idea to ‘die like a man in chivalrous battle’?”

Kirishima shoots him a dirty look. Bakugou doesn’t even bat an eye; he flashes his teeth in a bright smile and knocks his fists against each other, whispering “manly” under his breath and okay, why does Bakugou have to be good at everything, including impersonating Kirishima?

“I hate you”, grumbles Kirishima. Bakugou breaks character to cackle, only stopping after Kirishima balls up his pitiful attempt at math to throw it at his head. Bull’s eye, right on the forehead.

“Oi! That’s your homework, moron.”

“You started it”, Kirishima points at him with his pencil. His notepad is pulled closer with a deep, long sigh. “Now I gotta do this stuff again and stress about my hair. Amazing.”

Ah, the God-help-me eyeroll. It’s been a while. “Just go fucking dye it and come back if it bothers you so much. Can’t be that hard.”

“Says the blond guy”, Kirishima huffs. “Dude, do you even know how long getting rid of this” – a gesture to his roots – “takes? Black hair is a pain to bleach. Literally.”

Bakugou considers his hair with a frown. “…How long are we talking here? Like, an hour?”

A laugh, louder than Kirishima intends. “Try three. Sometimes more, it depends.”

“Three hours?!”

“Or more.”

A little smug, Kirishima watches disbelief bloom on Bakugou’s face. When it comes to this, destroying the innocence of the uninitiated is the only joy he’s got. There’s really nothing fun about sitting through those hours every six weeks, give or take – just plain, boring routine. At least he isn’t anxious about making mistakes anymore, not like his first few times.

It’s definitely worth it, though. Kirishima loves his red hair.

“And it, what. It hurts?”

Bakugou is still processing it seems, a hand going to his own hair. (It looks so soft, that even light color Kirishima has envied since the beginning of time. Such a nice base for any type of dye, especially bright ones or pastels.)

Kirishima scrunches his nose. “The developer does, yeah. Anything over 9% makes your scalp burn like crazy so I stick to 9% and do multiple rounds. I can’t go light enough for the red I want, otherwise.”

“And then the dye?”

“Then you dye it, yeah. Roots first, then the lengths in small strands, let it sit for twenty more minutes or so, rinse it out and then you’re done.”

It’s weird to explain things that have become totally obvious to him step by step, but Bakugou looks strangely fascinated by what he’s hearing. He does likes things to be more complicated than simple in basically any regard, Kirishima muses with a private snicker. Perhaps it’s not that surprising, after all.

“I use pure red on everything but you can mix colors, too, there’s a whole science behind that. And if you decide ‘Hey, I haven’t suffered enough!’, you can do individual highlights as well. But that’s a production all in itself! Ask Kami, he does some wild things to get that lightning bolt just right.”

Bakugou slowly shakes his head. “You people are crazy. That can’t be worth it.” He squints at Kirishima, hums to himself and starts nodding, instead. Vaguely terrified of what’s brewing in that brain of his, Kirishima waits for him to finish thinking.

“Let’s do it.”

There it is, a suitably terrible idea. Also: What?

“Color or highlights?” Kirishima sputters. “Wait, you or me? Bro, I can live with my own mistakes but dyeing your hair is too much pressure. Like, I’ll do it if you really want me to but, um–”

“Color. And you, obviously. Who of us is freaking out about hair, huh? Sure as fuck ain’t me.”

I’m not freaking out about it, Kirishima wants to say. Okay, he had been freaking out a little. Maybe. Not anymore, not with the mental image of Bakugou with Riot-red hair sort of making his braincells implode.

It’s impossible to imagine. Kirishima tries to anyways, fails, shakes his head. Focus!

“But…”

He draws a blank. Actually, Bakugou helping him with his hair does sound kind of fun. Until his patience inevitably runs out and he explodes the pot of dye, or something. Which could be hilarious, too.

“…Homework?”

(Not that he particularly wants to go back to puzzling over non-tangent cotangents – Ectoplasm always seems to know when he didn’t do the thing, though, and Kirishima hates disappointing his teachers more than he does the variable X.)

Bakugou sparks off in his direction. “We got three hours. 'nuff said.” He snatches up the math book they were sharing, Kirishima’s notepad and even the pencil out of his hand, and is out the room before Kirishima has fully registered they’re doing this.

“Shitty Hair!”

Kirishima jumps to his feet.

“Coming!”

*

“This is so damn messy. How’s your bathroom not stained to hell already?”

Coming up on their third round over his bathroom sink, Kirishima feels little sleepy as he blinks up at Bakugou. That expression of intense concentration hasn’t budged all three rounds, Bakugou’s hands steady yet gentle where they’re starting to dab red dye over freshly bleached roots.

There’s a dot of crimson on his cheek already. After forcing gloves on Bakugou and explaining to him how red pigment is the hardest to wash out – on clothes, skin, hair, wherever it lands – Kirishima isn’t inclined to point it out to him just yet.

“I asked admin about it. They said everything in our rooms is practically indestructible, including the sinks.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah, right? They thought of everything, it seems.”

Bakugou continues. Kirishima dozes.

“Your hair is dry as fuck, by the way.”

Kirishima shrugs with his eyes closed, following the nudge to turn his head so Bakugou can get to the back. This is so much more comfortable than doing it by himself.

“Can’t be helped, man. The dye by itself is fine, actually, it’s the bleach that’s causes most of the damage. Oh well, with the gel it’s hard as concrete, anyways.”

“Mhmm. You’ll go bald by the time we’re outta here.”

“Hey!”

“Bald Hero: Red Riot”, Bakugou muses out loud, easily evading the kick Kirishima blindly aims at his shin. “Stop it, you’re gonna fuck up my hard work here.”

He’s smiling though, Kirishima can tell. It’s all in his voice, roughness replaced by warmth when it’s the two of them in Kirishima’s tiny bathroom.

“Stop dissing my hair, then. Besides, I know your secret.”

This Kirishima wants to see. He opens one eye and yup, Bakugou’s brows are doing the thing where they twitch and pull together. Not exactly a frown, more caught off guard than anything. Bakugou’s lips press shut, stubbornly silent as he brushes dye on every inch of Kirishima's hair.

Then: “I’m done. What am I s’posed to do with this shit?”

Kirishima glances at the pot Bakugou holds out to him. There’s still some of the thick liquid left.

“Just pour it on top. Can’t hurt and it’s better than throwing it away.”

Bakugou does exactly that. He tosses the empty pot and the thoroughly stained brush into the sink. Kirishima helps him wrap his hair in cellophane and a towel to reduce the possible mess, relocating to the closed lid of his toilet so Bakugou can take off the gloves and wash his hands.

“Okay, I’ll fucking bite. What secret?”

Lingering on the tension between them, Kirishima grins with all the confidence in the world. “That you like my hair.”

Bakugou barks a laugh. “After I went all Van Gogh on it? You better believe it’s good.”

“Nope, I mean before that”, Kirishima challenges.

“Proof?”, Bakugou shoots back without hesitation.

“Oh, I can give you proof.” Kirishima’s arms cross over the ratty shirt he always wears for this, its fabric dotted and streaked in interlacing shades of red. “One, it’s the first thing you noticed about me, hence ‘Shitty Hair’. Two, you were distracted by my roots growing in so you pay attention to how it looks–”

“I don’t–”

“–and three, you just spent hours dyeing it for me.”

Bakugou’s mouth snaps shut. He growls in his throat, grabbing an additional towel and drying his hands. Kirishima wasn’t aware those are actions that can be done aggressively but hey, he’s learning something new every day.

“Maybe”, Bakugou finally concedes. The towel is thrown in Kirishima’s face when all he does is smile. “Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

Bakugou’s cheeks are dusted pink. Still, Kirishima shows the guy some mercy: Bakugou spent all afternoon fixing both his hair and his math homework, after all.

“Hey, Baku?”

“… What?”

“Thanks, man. You’re a good friend, you know that?”

Somehow, that makes Bakugou look even more flustered. “Whatever, Shitty Hair.”

Because Bakugou is Bakugou, namely a man who doesn’t know when or how to quit, he sticks around until Kirishima can rinse out the dye. He emerges from the shower feeling fully restored, a towel wrapped around his waist and his shirt draped over his shoulder.

“And that’s how you do it.”

Bakugou throws him a look from his sprawl on Kirishima’s bed, manga in hand. His gaze flicks to his hair immediately; his lips twist upwards, obviously satisfied.

“Told ya, it ain’t hard.”

Kirishima chuckles, shakes his head. “You’re so full of shit, dude.”

Now that the hair situation is under control for a few weeks, he realizes how hungry he is. The evening has barely begun, too, which means there’s time for a movie before Bakugou’s ridiculous sleep schedule comes a-knocking, either taking him out or making him cranky. Each scenario has about a fifty-fifty chance of happening.

“Hey, you wanna–”

Out of nowhere, his door bursts open to reveal one Kaminari Denki, out of breath and clutching a very familiar book to his chest.

“Kiri! Please tell me you guys figured out the–”

His eyes fall first on the splattered shirt on Kirishima’s shoulder, the trails of watery red dripping from his hair to his naked chest – and then on Bakugou, hands stained a faint red despite the gloves, that smear of color on his cheek Kirishima forgot to tell him about still very much there.

“Is that blood? What happened? Oh my–” Kaminari gasps. “Did you kill somebody?! Oh fuck, we have to hide the bo–”

“Kami”, Kirishima tries between bouts of laughter, “No, what the hell!”

A familiar cackle behind him does absolutely nothing to help their case.

>>Chapter 8.

[that-thing-that-feeling]

Hey if you don’t mind I have some (read: so effing many lol) questions about the movie:

How does Julie meet Jim? Does Patrick introduce them or does Jim just come over to talk to her on set for no reason? Does he interact with Patrick at all? What exactly is Patrick’s movie abt and what is Jim’s character in it? Is it more like Jim is flirting with her and she just kinda goes along with it bc she’s lonely or does she actually like him? When he shows up at Julies apt– was he invited over or does he just randomly stop by like a stalker? 😂 Is there no actual dinner party, or is the graduation party what Charlie and Amber were talking abt? You said he has very minimal dialogue at Julie’s party- is he talking to Julie? If so, is it a little awkward given their past or is it too inconsequential to even notice? Is there any memorable dialogue of his you remember?

And of course, I have to ask about the sex scene lol. I have far too many questions about it, so I think it’d just be easier for me to ask you to go into as much detail abt it as you feel comfortable with. I’m just v curious abt how his first real sex scene went, and esp about the period part bc you never see that in movies. Thanks!

Hey anon, sure; I don’t mind! Let me try below the cut:

How does Julie meet Jim? Does Patrick introduce them or does Jim just come over to talk to her on set for no reason? They meet on Patrick’s set; and it’s implied they know each other sort of and he comes over to give his condolences on her loss and see how she’s doing

Does he interact with Patrick at all? Sadly no! Would have loved for a scene with Richard. And it really is a tiny part. We do see him in the film though but not Patrick directing it, but we get a musical scene of sorts with Charlie in it lol

What exactly is Patrick’s movie abt and what is Jim’s character in it? Great question that can only be truly answered by seeing how Patrick answers what his film is about (it’s one of richard’s funniest scenes—literally all of richard’s moments are amazing; you’ll see why everyone says he steals every scene). But he definitely and Jim says “it’s political” but it’s like a musical that covers class and also race in Britain it seems? Jim’s character is like this working class hero/ leader (he literally has coal or dirt on his face in one scene), he also seems maybe v in control. The charcter Jim plays, even tho you see it only for like one minute, has only further convinced me Charlie needs to be in some like British gang story, peaky blinders like story, or British class story. Put him in something gritty and british please! Let him have a character with confidence and even bravado it’s really interesting to see with him.

Is it more like Jim is flirting with her and she just kinda goes along with it bc she’s lonely or does she actually like him? The description that he’s like a vampire with her but like in a good way lol works—there’s a little bit of flirting but it’s more like he locks eyes with her and communicates physically that he wants her. I’m not explaining it well. She at this point is very raw from grief it’s very soon after and I think she just wants to feel something and he realizes she wants to feel something and he wants to make her feel something, but purely sexually

When he shows up at Julies apt– was he invited over or does he just randomly stop by like a stalker? 😂 he just shows up and has some line about being in the neighborhood that’s obviously totally fake lol (good line delivery) and he asks her how she is and if she wants this and is there to just go for it—like he wants this and thinks she needs this. What he does before the sex scene is straight up funny but Jim knows what he’s doing lol

Is there no actual dinner party, or is the graduation party what Charlie and Amber were talking abt? You said he has very minimal dialogue at Julie’s party- is he talking to Julie? If so, is it a little awkward given their past or is it too inconsequential to even notice? I meant to say it’s her birthday party ends I think in 1990 so I’ll edit that. It’s well after the graduation and after we see she becomes a music video director (as Joanna did). They don’t interact; it’s like a big friend group and he talks to some guy for a sec. amber really isn’t in it tho is tech there in that scene. That scene…not for Charlie but for the film, you just have to see the end of it 😍

Is there any memorable dialogue of his you remember? The way he delivers the lines when he comes over to her apt were memorable as was the description of Patrick’s film as political. He really doesn’t have a lot of dialogue like at all. Jim is like a force and energy and then is gone

As for the sex scene it went really well lol and Charlie looks 🔥 etc. it’s a good, healthy sex scene (one night stand); julie def likes it in the moment but still feels all the rawness of her grief after (that can only be worked out thru her film). With what actually happens: She tells him before she has her period and he says he’s doesn’t care. Jim is very determined/intense throughout lol. the moment that shocks people (altho imo isn’t that shocking tho the audience reacts) is at a certain point he kisses her and and when he moves you see she has blood on her mouth. and I think you see it on his mouth too in a mirror? There are lots of shots of him in a mirror during it lol.

Does that sorta answer your questions or lmk if you have more. And you’ll have to let me know what you think of the film when you see it!

[quarantinebreakup412081121]

Day 1: Long Story Short It Was The Wrong Guy (AGAIN)

After nearly a year of being miserable after my ex and I broke up, and about 8  overlapping months of attempting to date, I finally met someone.

He seemed genuinely nice.  He met me at my neighborhood park and we walked his dog, around and around and around for probably a couple hours.  We talked nonstop- about 90% of the conversation was about our dogs.  We left and he hugged me goodbye (I turned to the side because- COVID- and I wasn’t expecting it... but it turns out he was vaccinated already) and said we’d do it again.

The next time he came to my house, met my dogs, and we walked his dog around my neighborhood. My dogs aren’t up for more than about a half a mile walk, so they stayed at home.  We talked and talked, we ended up back at the house before we were finished, so we re-walked half of the route, then walked part of the neighborhood beside mine.  By the time we got back, we still weren’t finished talking, but it was getting late.  We attempted the hug again.  He was vaccinated, I was going to be vaccinated the next month.  His dog lunged when we were going in for the hug and it ended up being kind of a 101 Dalmatians, tangled hug moment.  It was funny and a but awkward, but definitely memorable.

He said we’d do it again.

Then he asked me to go to his apartment so he could cook for me; he called it a date.  It was a little fast, but I made the hour long drive and went over for shrimp and fake meat tacos.  We also watched a movie.  It was nice.  He kissed me on the way out.  It was sweet.  I wasn’t sure that I wanted it to happen so soon, but I left with butterflies.

The next few dates alternated between him coming here to do outdoorsy things and me going to his apartment for a meal and a movie.  It was beginning to feel like a real relationship.

Over the next 5 months, he introduced me to all of his friends and we went to game nights together, coordinated to play video games with his friends when I went over, attended his friend’s post elopement wedding party, and he had me sign the photo matte that they had in place of a guest book.  It felt real, it felt solid, it felt like it would be long term and like he really cared about me.  It felt like the opposite of what I had with my ex.

He had me meet his dad.  He came over and met my family.  He said he’d go to Disney with me and he asked me to go skiing with him and his family.  He said he loved the beach and that it was his favorite place to go- so I anticipated multiple beach trips over the summer.  He listened to Taylor Swift with me, we watched dumb movies together, went grocery shopping and made Target runs together- aka “couple shit” as he called it.  I loved it.  I never got to do everyday couple activities with my ex.  He’d cook for me, I’d cook for him, he’d make random Taco Bell stops for me and he knew my order.

A few weeks ago, I finally decided to open up to him about some of my anxiety and worries.  I thought that the person I’d gotten to know over the last few months would be a person I could talk to and be real with- something I could never do with my ex unless I wanted to be judged and then ignored about it.  He listened, and attempted to offer a helpful response- which wasn’t really helpful, but he TRIED.  That was much more than I’d ever gotten from my ex.  A few days later, I went over to his apartment for the night.  We had dinner, it was off.  The conversation was off.  The movie was uncomfortable- like we were just sitting through it to get it over with.  He went to bed early but I was so wide awake that I sat in the living room playing on my phone and watching the storm outside for another 3 or 4 hours so I wouldn’t toss and turn in bed and keep him up sine he had to work in the morning.  In the morning, I had to drive home at 7am on only a few hours of sleep. I was cranky from that and the way the previous evening had panned out.

I laid in bed for a bit and snuggled his dog.  She’s so sweet.  She loves me and I love her-- so do my boys.  I laid there thinking “this feels like it might be the last time I ever see her...  so I just scratched her head and took a photo to remember the moment.

The goodbye was awkward, and I texted him when I got home and apologized for acting weird the night before and that morning.  I told him things felt off for some reason and laid out some things that were on my mind.  I thought open communication would be a good thing and that it would help him to understand my headspace and show him that I felt comfortable enough with him to talk to him  about these things.

The next week, he avoided hanging out with me.  The week after that, same story.  I asked him to come to a concert with me on a Sunday night- he said he’d love to if it wasn’t on a Sunday.  Then I asked him about another concert on the following Tuesday night- I jokingly asked him to play hooky from work and come with me.  He said he couldn’t- but I understood that; it made sense. I went out of town for the weekend to visit my brother and he said that we’d plan time to get together once I returned.  I returned and he mentioned nothing about getting together.  I brought it up once and he didn’t acknowledge it, but he still talked to me, just a lot less than usual.

The conversations we were having sounded like repeats of previous conversations- and I honestly don’t know if he didn’t remember telling me some of those things, but he liked to partake in a beer or two or three... pretty frequently- so I’m not certain that some of the time he talked to me, he wasn’t 100% there.  But that wasn’t the point- he was just sending me pleasantries and fillers as texts. No real conversation.

I started getting worried because my mind went to the worst possibility.  He was checking out.  We were done- or almost done.  I asked him if we were good because it seemed like we weren’t.  He said he was good and that work was just really rough lately and he was basically working and sleeping all the time.  All of my worries melted away and I instantly felt a sense of relief-- I had been worrying for nothing!  So I asked him if he had time for an evening hangout on Friday or Saturday or a different night if those didn’t work.  I’d come to him and bring food and we could watch a movie and veg out for a bit.

That was last night.

This morning I woke up early to go to a sunflower field to take some fun summer photos.  With covid apparently flaring up again, I was trying to find safe summer activities to do before the season’s over.  Since I couldn’t get my guy to go with me to basically anything, I decided I’d do the things he didn’t want to do with me on my own and do the other things with him.  It wasn’t so much a compromise as it was me just learning to be okay with having someone who didn’t want to take part in activities with me.  My mom went with me an we got some gorgeous photos.  I kept an eye on my phone expecting him to reply to my hangout request, because once he said yes- I’d also ask him to go with me to visit my brother in a couple weeks an have a fun beach weekend.

On the way home, I went through the drive thru at the bank and while I was waiting, I noticed my phone blinking.

It was a text.  From him.

I don’t think we’re a good match for each other.  There has been numerous occasions where you’ve said or done something (even in the name of “joking”) that hasn’t sat right with me.  I’m sure there have been times you felt the same about me as well.  I don’t want to waste any more of your time either.  I hope you find a man who is a better match for you.

First of all, what the actual fuck.  Secondly, there *have* been numerous occasions.  Third- I have no idea what I said or did...  Best I can muster is that since I’m pro equal rights and pretty liberal, maybe it came across as offensive because I think he has family members who are... trump-esque.  I barely brought up politics because I didn’t want to make things weird.  He is a cop and I never made jokes unless he did first (he’d regularly joke about cop stuff and talk about how he isn’t a typical cop and how he doesn’t like hanging out with other cops or doing cop stuff or even talking about cop stuff outside of work.)  He gave me a whole spiel about he’s not a “cop cop” when we first met, like he was trying to sell himself to me-- which  he didn’t need to do, but I thought it was cute.

I asked him if we could talk for a few minutes later in the day because I wasn’t understanding what was happening.  I told him that I wasn’t trying to change his feelings about anything, but I wanted to talk.  He totally blindsided me.

He never responded.

It’s basically midnight and he’s had most of the day to respond.  Five months and he can’t even give me an explanation.

This is what I get for trying to trust people.

Tomorrow- or later tonight- I’m sending one last text and blocking him.  He knew that’s how my ex ended things and how insensitive it was and how wrong it was.  We had this conversation.  And after five months, he just strings me along for the last few months and then ends things with a text.  So goddamn insensitive.

I know I’m better off without someone like him in my life, but this hurts so much more than the last time because at least my first ex was a jerk and it was on brand for him.  This one... my second ex... he was supposed to be better than this.  He was supposed to be nice.  He wasn’t supposed to hurt me, not like this.

[thecrenellations]

Return of the Thief Notes, Part Two: The Book of Pheris, Volume 2, Chapters 1-5

Notes from my first read, October 2020. (Part One | Part Three | TaT)

Contents: Me losing my mind in multiple ways each chapter, helpful links, nighttime garden cousins, an Irene pun, notes from my second read, “mwt is just like going for it,” and “this is so fucked up and heartwarming.”

Format: Page number. My thoughts (Context?)

Volume 2

Illustration

Book 2 bro

Now we’re caught up and changed forever by lots of things

What printer’s apprentice made this?

Elephants!

Chapter 1

175. me too, Costis, me too. I am so tired. (it’s hard to sleep when your brain and heart and everything are fizzing because you’re reading Return of the Thief for the first time and a new Queen’s Thief book for the last time) 

176. Klimun + Gerosthenes vibes [moon doodle]

Holes in documents. That’s cute

Gen!!! <3

Wtf Ansel was hoodwinked!

177. The Queen waited

They’re ridiculous

Hi Pheris

Wtf he stole her earrings for Melheret?!?

178. Excuse me??? What is this book (sleeveless leather tunic)

He still roams!!!

Tattoos!

179. a sentence I never fucking expected to read ever “The absence of tattoos…”

180. that’s interesting

Stacked like kindling wow oh dear

181. She wants him to move in lol

Lol sorry Ion

Did she just want them to leave the room?

182. I can’t with this… I can’t. Why is sex symbol Relius canon. (the play that featured him! It’s great, it’s great, it was just a lot to take in!)

Silver crown?

183. Cleon! Rude!

Did they call Costis to deck him?

Queen scene!! <3

184. This is an epic. Abt Costis. Dirty stranger

185. he’s “the high king”

Lol

187. prophet (Pheris sure makes Costis sound like one)

Shut up Piloxides

188. resources for war! (book launch foreshadowing part two! She talked a lot about this kind of thing as well, and recommended the book Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army)

189. “we”

What were you gonna say (Gen almost says something to Costis part one)

193. RIP The Magus Archives … it was not to be. Yet.

194. Melenze’s doorstep. Why? Bc Melenze is Ferria’s dog. (idk dude that line from ACoK has just never left me)

195. This is … a big war

196. Oh gen

Nighttime garden cousins.

Chapter 2

197. wtf did Relius think of that play

Also … not a peep from the sacred mountain huh

198. wtf will happen with Cleon

with Erondites

with THE MOUNTAIN

a lot going on

everyone was in that room but Kamet! So close!

199. Cute Fordad + Gen friendship (I never said these notes would make me look smart)

Same 2 T + R! :) It’s not them is it? (I NEVER SAID THESE NOTES WOULD MAKE ME LOOK SMART)

Poor Teleus

200. gdi Gen

Excuse me? Is he worried for Pheris??? (taking his tablet)

They trust each other! C’mon!

Sure he has reasons

202. oh dear. :( that’s … the worst cover story

Also falling

203. wow almost like a story huh

Ula’s altar :(

Why haven’t we had a Gen and Costis scene IN THREE BOOKS

205. I just … I don’t know if he’s just miserable or if it’s all a plan. I feel like I should know it’s all a plan. But he really feels like he has far to go. He’s just a mess and the same and so different. (having a small Gen meltdown)

205. he did give him the gun

Odd that he missed Quedue

206. he’s gonna bite them (buckle up! it’s abdication time!)

207. Power. Power. Power. Power.

Thx 4 the editorializing Pheris

208. Gen is making choices. That’s a choice.

209. There’s KoA down the drain

Aaaand he’s Eugenides

“Eugenides stared into the future”

The page of like 3 different tumblr posts: Trophy husband, Library, No! yes!

210. make sure he doesn’t leave lol

211. Pheris :(

Also fucked up timing for Irene

I love them

212. again with the birthday book

He’s still the king in the narration

Go on the roof! So close!

213. EUGENIDES IS ALWAYS APPROPRIATE my motto

Viper! Bastard!

Oh shit. I love them.

214. “our treaty” “our queen”

AAAH! Wedding night!

Asked her to leave!

Smash Erondites and peace out, literally

215. a frank talk

HE SAID IT.

216. The Bructs?

Wait is this his grandfather (taking a moment to remember all about Susa)

Also that’s Costis territory

217. who is this lion

218. #3 to Gen.

219. hmmm ring

There’s been a lot to unpack wow.

Did this happen, Pheris? Pheris?! 

220. Atté atté!

(Dear reader: for some strange reason, I completely forgot about taking notes on the final pages of this chapter. These notes are from when I reread those pages a few minutes later.)

Erondites full cup to brimming

The Pherises…

We must think of others before ourselves … occasionally

I do not like Orutus

Don’t fence Costis in! Does this count as prison? No (I had a square on my bingo board for “someone ends up in prison” ... but it turned out to be for someone else)

221. damn Costis

Aaah

Costis …

Irene… your jokes (I mean, it’s a joke, but also it is very real for her.)

SHE SAID IT!

My heart

222. where is Relius going?

SPYING

What you see and what you think it means (I love these instructions/this quote so much)

So are Susa + Erondites 2gether or what (listen ... proximity generates meaning in these books)

Also, like

What can

I say

WHAT CAN I SAY (Hell yeah! Never more glad to be wrong about the magus)

[page long list of doubles and parallels - from Cleons and Pherises and Ions to god-character and character-character connections]

Also the fact that in KoA and TaT Relius was like … oh … no … I just live a gentle life being friends with my king and queen and being scholarly. But no. He’s SPYING and TRAVELING MYSTERIOUSLY and has MANY LOVERS and also has been WITH TELEUS ALL ALONG and there is a PLAY written about him and he has a ~messenger~ network and PLAYS THE FLUTE and DOESN’T MAKE HIS BED and DISLIKES MATH and oh and he’s VERY HANDSOME! (Yes I was losing it, I hope my note from after the poem helps show some of the feelings behind this rant.)

Fucking … Wine shop. Should have known.

Chapter 3

224. ominous

Hello magus!

Sophos … babe (his impatience!)

225. Magus … cool your socks that’s your bff (he’s just describing Helen’s dead body! Fun!!!!)

In the van

That was good I love them

Why is it Couples Hour?

226. finally we’re out of the capital of Attolia

Ok they’re so cute

She was NEVER Helen in ACoK narration! 

Also – Pheris. This is all Pheris. (Pheris plus information others told him!)

227. Bringing each other up to date – that’s their thing. Talking forever

All this talk of shooting Therespides

228. EX FUCKING SCUSE ME (time to learn a lot about the country of Eddis)

He was 15! (or almost 15)

He didn’t know! Or did he!

The MoW!

All thru Pheris

Fuck you magus

When did he know

229. EXCUSE ME

The emeralds?

Assumed the worst?

That classic quote about little to do with winter but with “seducing other people’s lovers”

230. yeah Sophos that’s a lost cause (“spare me my blushes”)

Also she didn’t answer you

What are they laughing about (the generally nameless men we’re learning many things about this chapter)

233. Gen I think it’s fair to say that was a mistake

234. wtf Gen

GEN! he just. Had those. (the jewels!)

Her crown

I cannot

235. Gen!

237. Crash

Her CHANGES

238. THESE TWO

239. called annux

Yeah it’s like … a family meeting (the war council)

Bring your father to work day

241. Oh no.

Stenides! Boagus!!!!!!!

EDDIS!

Wolves! Lol

mwt is just like going for it

243. aww

Eddis > Boagus > Gen

244. Yeah I’m with her on this. (“if that doesn’t frighten you, it should”)

Chapter 4

245. Gen and Magus scene yes!

Two people affected by his long hair (Gen and the magus? I think?)

Pheris are you there?

Gen … you used to wish yourself out of existence

Wow

Hair vanity

Yeah also battlefield

Ion is a darling tbh

248. Is he. Is he going to fight all of them

Also they are all his cousins huh

AULUS! I liked you!

Same, Hilarion

Taking a page out of Costis’s book?

You have definitely seen it before. (I mistook his lie for truth!)

Will Costis hear about this? (please)

249. #4 to Gen!

Pheris where are you

Why doesn’t the Continent want to conquer them (do I get partial credit for this)

A tattoo!

250. “Do not offend the gods”

Honestly … too bad Helen DIDN’T do this

251. he said he’d give all he had

I’m sure there are rules

253. Just men? :( (let everybody fight him!)

Ornon is back! I mean, of course he is

Also yea they practice

HELLO ORNON

A house being built … or one knocked down. Nice

Is Teleus in on this?

254. Pheris called him my king!

255. I wanna know which guards though

:( he’d been faking

Kicked him in the head (ouch)

256. “when he fell”

I … don’t like this

He never gives up. The thieves don’t have limits. They have flash points.

Stepped on his hand

“Enough Gen” – what Irene said?

257. :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

The magus. I forgot he was there.

The magus said … nevermind …

The magus is probs very into this as a cultural thing. Also he was talking to the MoW

Pigeon. The sky. :( Like in TT (OH BOY, THE SKYYYY)

If there was a god, Pheris would see…

258. They’ve, they’ve been through a lot.

Oh god what’s next

259. I … no. not in his arms to the palace.

The palace where….

The stairs…

They are all 3 lookers. Basilisks and brass and lead

I hate this. But I love this.

I will someday see this differently.

Ah yes… the grunt. Approval.

260. Honestly, this is so fucked up and heartwarming. These books.

Lol don’t defend Hilarion, we know him

Eddis visits him.

Attolia watches him.

261.WTF Gen. I knew it. Why.

Crying or laughing? Crying? :(

How does this not undermine her now that he is her king?

But … what he wouldn’t do for her.

262. “he did fine”

This book is like… Reasons Gen Says Sorry

So, so… - Helen

GEN!

263. I am right. I am always right. It’s a curse.

Helen :( :( :(

The amount of times these people have seen him beaten.

He’s like … self destructive, but in a way that gives himself more power. Which he hates.

Gen, let them in. Let them in.

Chapter 5

264. honeycomb

OH NO. is it happening?

266. I’m just supposed to accept this?!! What does it mean?!

267. … a my king moment … important

But like … now can he fight?

Caryatid? [doodle after I looked it up]

268. Teleus!

C’mon Teleus. Everyone you love or respect loves him!

Honestly Pheris and Teleus … not a duo I expected

THESE TWO ARE SO DEDICATED TO TELLING HIM THAT! Ok I should chill. At least he said “may.” These are like … Pheris’s life lessons.

Honestly… I love that Teleus likes poetry, or at least likes it for Relius.

269. Lol Legarus. It’s been years! I mean, I guess that was a big deal for him… (almost being executed is a big deal for most people.)

Does he not love Gen because of Relius? Because Gen manipulated him? Because he keeps sending away his successor? Why on earth not! Hop on that train! (...)

It’s interesting that their relationship is the one that touches Pheris, not Gen and Irene. Hm.

Also … “Idiot.” The parallels.

“relatively gently” (it’s so good)

~Teleus here to talk about love~

This book is full of surprises.

270. That is NOT the bright side, Gen (“I could use my newfound authority to insist on going into battle”)

271. BUNNY! Wtf is a wineglass warrior

Very cute everyone, good job.

Still sad about Helen’s tears.

271. Gen. Don’t say these things. [volcano doodle]

272. SEE I was worried about this! The doubt!

I am not ok

This is TOO MANY Eddisian Revelations (Lader time)

Yeah. Wow.

273. Cleon x5

I … his grandfather

No.

Baby Helen begging

How did Pheris get this scene

Gen chose Cleon for his plan

275. IRENE WITH THE STATS!

276. lol Gen

My brother Sounis!

277. Missing Relius club.

Where is he though

Yes! Sophos Gen food fight!

Grapes!

“Wisdom”

He’s “the king” here and in KoA bc that’s the story but also that’s who he is to Pheris and Costis

278. So how did that Irene and MoW meeting go anyway?

How does Aulus know???

Thief short story! Probably terrible to reread, oh no

279. Are … are Aulus and Boagus together???! (“his slightly smaller partner”)

This feels … potentially traumatic … but fun? Idk

Fleece

280. This dang book. No rules!

The chandelier! So dramatic!

Mwt had … a lot to put into this one. A lot. A lot.

283. “not the Thief he was chasing”

284. The queens! The salute!

He can’t give this up.

Official Worries:

100,000 soldiers heading towards Kamet

Re: Lyopidus, Gen called Sophos his brother. Helen apparently might BE his sister. Temenus and Stenides are also going to a war where 9/10 will probably die.

Also

the MoW could have been a king if he’d stolen Helen’s throne. A lot there.

why does this book have the vibe of the library post, my comic from 2010, the king and queen interactions here, and the military tactics dream

[queen-rogah]

Heartbreak Weather (part 1)

Roger Taylor x Reader

Series Summary: It's the story about the unexpected love between you and Roger Taylor that had lasted through thick and thin, through the challenges and darkness as you both find a way to prove that love is unbreakable...

In this part: Roger just broke up with his long-term girlfriend through the phone just minutes before his performance with the band, then in the same night, he never knew that his broken heart will recover again...

Warnings: language, mild fluff, mild angst

Word Count: 4.4k+ words

Note: First part of the Heartbreak Weather series coming thru! This is actually based from Niall Horan's new album called "Heartbreak Weather" wherein I will use the titles of the songs in the albums as the other parts of this series. Hope you're all excited about this as much as I do. Gifs are not mine, all credits to the owner!

PS. STREAM HEARTBREAK WEATHER BY NIALL HORAN, it's a great album, it's definitely worth a listen!

QUEENROGAH’S MASTERLIST

PART ONE: “HEARTBREAK WEATHER”

NOVEMBER 19, 1974 - RAINBOW THEATRE: LONDON, ENGLAND

They unloaded the trucks as the roadies rushes in and started pushes the different equipments they needed for the tour. The band also arrived on time for sound checks as they led them inside the theatre. They have their eyes locked on the lights around the stage and how spacious this place is. It's been days that the Sheer Heart Attack tour had started and their adrenaline during the tour is getting much stronger because of the people's energy inside the venue and how they sing right back to them the lyrics of their songs. Especially when the sophisticated melody of Killer Queen will play from Freddie's piano. The crowd will definitely go crazy.

After the soundcheck, the band made their way inside the dressing room to get ready for tonight's show. Different people also got inside the room to take care of them. Freddie sat by the corner to let them fix his hair, Brian also fixes his hair, Deacy and Roger were by the rack of clothes to look for their outfit tonight.

Then Roger found this golden vest that will definitely shimmer underneath those lights on stage.

"Roger, you're next!." Brian shouts from the other side of the room.

The drummer put the vest back in the clothes rack to make his way to Paloma, the band's new hair stylist who really have a huge personality.

"How are you Mr. Taylor?." Paloma spoke to him as she took her equipment and started cutting off the excess hairs out of his blonde locks.

"I'm fine love, and please...call me Roger, Mr. Taylor doesn't fit me." Roger replied and Paloma nods that him.

"Okay...Roger." She said as she fixed his hair, brushing it down and put on some hairspray. Paloma soon stood in front of the drummer to fix his hair up front.

Roger never stopped himself staring at her breasts just inches away from him.

"You're staring again Roger." Paloma chuckles as he tore his eyes away from her and put up a smirk.

"Can't help it love, it's right in front of me." Roger laughs and just in time Paloma finished fixing his hair. The drummer left the chair and soon took off his top and put on a robe.

He picked the black leather pants from the clothes rack as he finally changed. Deacy is also in a robe, next to Brian's red special, while Brian is lounging beside him with still the same clothes he's in when they arrived.

Roger borrowed a polaroid from one of the staffs as he played around with it

Roger borrowed a polaroid from one of the staffs as he played around with it. Taking different pictures here and there like Freddie getting his makeup done, Brian now standing in front of the mirror and Deacy on the couch. Roger sat down on the vacant space on the couch beside Deacy where Brian is earlier and put down the Polaroid as he let the bassist look at the pictures too.

A flash goes off in front of them as they look at Brian pointing the camera at the both of them, the guitarist soon showed them the picture. Only Deacy caught the camera but Roger didn't, he's too busy looking at those pictures in his hands.

Only Deacy caught the camera but Roger didn't, he's too busy looking at those pictures in his hands

"I'll keep these for my scrapbook back home. Maybe it'll make a good use in the future." Roger said as he also took the polaroid picture from Brian and put it inside his bag that is on the floor. He also reached over for a cigarette as he light it up with his lighter, inhaling the smoke to calm himself down.

"Ten minutes boys!." They finally announces.

The adrenaline came in again.

Freddie faces the mirror for his finishing touches, Brian also stood beside him as he fixes his hair. Deacy changed into his clothes while Roger finally puts on his vest. Brian had his guitar with him, Deacy also had his bass and Freddie is now warming up his voice.

The crowd of 3,000 people of the Rainbow Theatre awaits them again.

"Boys, let's have a mini rehearsal before we go on stage." Freddie told them as they huddle together in a small circle as Freddie started singing. Brian was playing his guitar to catch the melody.

"Roger," Paloma suddenly called him as he turn his look to her, "Telephone." She points on the telephone that's on hold as he approaches to the phone.

"Hello?." Roger speaks. There was silence at first, until he heard a sigh from the other line.

"Roger..."

That voice sends his heart into beating loudly in his chest as a smile appears on his lips.

"Reese, love, why did you call? Missed me already?." Roger teased her long-term girlfriend who's waiting on him back in the shared home with her.

"Yeah, I miss you...I really do." She replied back, but how she said that sounded sad or tired.

Roger noticed that.

"It's unusual to hear you in that tone of your voice Reese, is something wrong? Did someone hurt you? Did you–"

"–I'm fine Roger, it's just...I...I missed you, that's all." Her laugh was strained and sounded fake, and it feels like she's holding something back.

"Reese...you already know that I don't like you lying to me." Roger sighs, not believing on what his girlfriend just said.

He really wants to know the truth behind those words.

But she fell into silence again, like she did earlier.

Only the sound of Freddie singing and Brian strumming his guitar behind him is what he hears.

"Reese–"

"–Roger, I can't do this anymore." She sobs and Roger paused for a second as her words replayed in his mind.

"What...what do you mean you can't do this anymore? Reese, have you been drinking?..." Roger turned paranoid and the other's noticed his tone of voice changing as their noises died down.

"No, I haven't been drinking Roger and I'm telling you that truth that I really can't do this anymore. Aren't you even tired on our fights, our lives living together and even in our relationship. Aren't you already tired Roger?." She asked.

Her words broke the drummer's heart in pieces.

"I was never tired for you Reese because I love you so much. Even though I come home from a tiring tour and fight about something didn't made me turn my back to you. Unless you're just the only one who's turning your back on me. You're throwing away our relationship with just those nonsense words Reese. I love you and think of the words you've been saying." Roger pleaded.

"I'm tired Roger and let's accept the fact that we should part ways and respect our decisions–"

"–why? Is being with me is the biggest mistake of your life? Is moving in with me the biggest regret of your life? Or you're just too heartless about it?." Roger now angrily asked her and Reese was tongue tied for a second.

"I respect you so much Roger and I deserve your fury but you also have to accept that I'm breaking up with you..." Reese tried to calm him up but he was already angry.

"You're breaking up with me through the phone Reese! This is the most impractical thing you ever did! Why all of the sudden? Did you...met somebody else?." His voice shakes when he asked the last sentence.

She gave him the silent treatment again.

"Reese answer me." He commands.

"Yes, I've been seeing someone else Roger." She whispers, her voice so small but Roger heard her.

"For how long?." He asked. Tears were already forming around his eyes, he never imagined this time with her because he thought Reese was the one for him since they were dating for 6 years now.

"5 months." Reese sobs, "I'm so sorry Roger, I...I can't deal with this anymore, I felt like we’ve been parting ways even though we're blind to see it–"

"–no Reese, you're the only one who's parting it's way here. I'm holding on so much into this relationship because I loved you so much. I tried to change my ways for you because you want me to change up my habits, but turns out everything isn't enough for you. My love for you is never enough." The drummer replied to her as he hangs up the phone. He noticed the room being silent as he knew everyone was listening to his conversation with Reese.

"Are you...okay Roger? Did something happened between you and Reese?." Brian asked.

"I don't give a fuck anymore." He mutters and took his drumsticks before leaving the room without dismissing himself.

Three minutes before their performance and Roger is already pissed off, his excitement faded out after that phone call.

What a great way to start a fucking show.

 ...

"You promise you'll pick me up? Don't worry, I'll be paying for your drinks when we get there." You pace around the room while speaking to your bestest friend since highschool. Eleanor had been planning this night out for weeks now since she came back home from California for a year.

"I'm also bringing Kelsey and Cleo with us too, remember those girls?." She squeals.

Kelsey and Cleo. The girls you've known in Physics class in highschool. You remember them being the smartest people in that school.

"Yeah, I remember them. It's been years that I didn't saw them. Maybe the last time I was with them is the highschool graduation, since we all parted ways for college." You replied.

Eleanor, Kelsey and Cleo went to the same university, a very well-known university outside the city. Well, you stayed behind, enrolled to a university in the city and pursue in learning accountancy.

Now you're working in a small accounting firm that pays you well.

Enough to pay your own bills.

"Now I'm going to call them for this mini reunion. Wear the sexiest clothing you've ever hand in your closet right now then I'll pick you up by 8pm later. Bye Y/N!." Eleanor said as she finally hangs up.

You made your way towards your closet as you go through your clothes, pulling out some of the clothes you mostly wear in parties or social events, but one thing had made you stop when you finally saw it again here. It's the deep v-neck sequined top that you bought last year. You haven't used that top since you bought it and now you think this is the opportunity to wear it. For the first time.

Not caring about your insecurity.

You took the top and lay it on your bed, along with your high rise black denim flares and your old gold sequin pumps–that you managed to find in your shoe rack–and there's only an hour left for you to get ready before Eleanor would pick you up. You didn't styled your hair that much and just let it down, but you focused on your makeup. After all your work on your face, you look at yourself in the mirror–your eyes have been enhanced by the bronze eyeshadow and eyeliner, your contour brings out your cheekbones more–one last thing, you applied the strawberry flavored lip gloss, and now you’re good to go.

You put your planned outfit, even though you’re unsure about how much skin you’re revealing with the sequin top. Your back and cleavage on full display, hoping no creep will come up to you to where Eleanor will lead you. You look over to your clock to see it’s already 8pm, thinking that Eleanor will come up late again and that will take you some time to think if this outfit will be the one you’ll be wearing for the rest of the night.

Until you heard a loud honk outside your apartment.

Eleanor’s not late, very unusual.

So you just took your white fur coat and put it on, buttoned up to conceal your top that is already a small regret that you wore it. You grab your bag and left your place, Eleanor’s car is parked as her window rolled down, “Are you ready for tonight missy?.” Eleanor shouts from her car, not caring about your neighbors.

You step inside the car laughing to see Cleo in the backseat and Kelsey in the passenger seat beside Eleanor wearing their most fashionable and quite revealing outfits, “Hi guys, how are you?.” You sat beside Cleo as you put your seatbelts on. Eleanor finally drives away from the cul-de-sac and to where she will lead you all.

“Great! I don’t know if how many years that we haven’t see each other and now, you’re a view Y/N.” Cleo said as she also complimented you as you blushed a bit.

“–in short you’re hot Y/N.” Kelsey added in the conversation.

You truly missed these girls.

“Thank you ladies, you all looked beautiful too!,” You exclaim then soon look at Eleanor through the rear view mirror, “How about you El?.” You asked her.

“I’m doing great too because all that I’m thinking of that we are all getting shitfaced tonight.” She smirks at you through the rear view mirror as you took a deep breath.

Tonight will be a long night.

…

Everything is a mess to Roger tonight.

After that sudden break-up with his girlfriend, his mood and energy for the whole performance night went downhill and he officially lost it when the power went out–not once but twice in the venue earlier and the production team is pissing them off. Not just Roger, but also to the other boys. The whole band doesn’t feel like performing to the people tonight, so when the show has come to an end, Roger hits the last beat of the song on the drums and kicks off the drumset across the stage–good thing that Freddie saw what he’s going to do and immediately moved out of the way as he says his thank you to the crowd, he also pulled Deacy with him while he’s still bowing down for the people. They are all disappointed about tonight’s show, and Roger was disappointed, angry and heartbroken.

He already entitled this night the worst night of his life.

They got inside the dressing room again to dry up their sweat and change up into their comfortable clothes.

“Tonight’s show is a load of bollocks.” Roger said in anger while looking at himself in the mirror.

“It is, the power interruption really pisses me off.” Brian also said in pure irritation.

“And Roger, you almost killed me when you throw off your drums in the stage. Mind telling me a warning next time.” Freddie said to the drummer as he just heard him scoffed.

“But we still did our best for the show, I just don’t want for this incident to happen again.” Deacy added as he glares at Roger who’s already sitting on the couch while looking down on the floor–his brows furrowed.

The band fell in silence while they’re only hearing the chatters of the staffs outside the dressing room.

Freddie claps his hand as he stood up from the chair he’s sitting on, “I heard there’s a nightclub just blocks away from here–“

“–well then we’re going there.” Roger immediately replied as he also stood up from the couch.

Freddie widen his eyes at the drummer and let’s out a chuckle before calling the other roadies and staffs to come with them in the nightclub he’s talking about. They left the theatre and drive to where it is to see multiple people already in line to get inside the place–maybe some of these people just came from the show that’s why when they left the vehicle, they recognized them as they wave at their direction, calling out their names to get noticed–mostly women as they mostly call on Roger’s attention.

They let the band in without falling in line with the people as they were welcomed by the scent of alcohol in the air–maybe not just alcohol. The roadies that they invited managed to find a booth for the band to sit in. Freddie was eyeing a lot of people in the crowd, Brian was talking to some fan while walking to the booth, Deacy was also talking to a fan and Roger is already holding a drink that was given by a fan earlier. They gave them multiple drinks and drank it one-by-one, Roger planned to get drunk tonight, to get the heartbreak with Reese out of his head.

In just a matter of minutes in the club, Freddie was already enjoying himself in the dancefloor with Deacy and other people, then Brian was talking to a girl in the booth and Roger already have two good-looking ladies on his sides with their hands roaming around his body. The red-head is seducing him and the blonde was non-stop touching him.

Roger again ordered another round of shots with the ladies.

…

It’s been 20 minutes since you’re still in this line for the club that Eleanor took you all to. She said that this club has the best drinks and the strongest shots–she’s really serious about getting shitfaced tonight. The entrance is getting closer, then suddenly the people in front starts to cheer and heard them calling out some names but you don’t understand since they’re talking all at once. Eleanor, Kelsey and Cleo are also dumbfounded to what’s happening right now.

“Excuse me, can you tell what’s happening and why are the people shouting so loud? Is there a club fight?.” Eleanor taps on the girl in front of her as she turns around.

“Queen is here!.” The girl responds.

“Queen Elizabeth is here?.” You asked and Eleanor loudly laughed at your remark, the girl also laughed along with her.

“No darling, she means that the band named Queen is here. You know, the band that sang…I don’t know…Killer Queen I think?.” Eleanor said as you nod your head. You mentally cursed at yourself thinking about the Queen of England going to club like this. You’ve forgotten that there’s actually a band that calls themselves Queen.

“Oh fuck–I’m sorry I’m so stupid.” You laughed at yourself.

Eleanor accepted your apology as you talk about other things again while you’re still in line. Ivy–the girl you’ve talked to earlier already are comfortable with the three of you and she’s going to the club all by herself, that’s why you all adopted her in your group. When it’s finally your turn to get inside the club, Eleanor shouted fucking finally as you all stepped inside the club filled with people already dancing and drinking different alcohols. The humid of the room is making you uncomfortable with the fur coat you’re wearing but you still didn’t decide to take it off. Your self-confidence is still hiding. Eleanor took you all in the bar, ordering tequilas as the starter. She made a toast as you all brought your drinks up in the air and drank the tequila. It all goes on with more stories, gossips, drinks and round of shots. Kelsey and Cleo are already dancing in the dancefloor, Eleanor is talking to a man while you’re just watching the girls dancing to the music. Some men tried to give you free drinks but you’re thanking God nobody has ever pushed you to your limits. You just got free drinks and someone to talk to.

They also didn’t know how to flirt.

And if they did, you didn’t know how to flirt back too.

After all of those things, more and more people entered the club and beads of sweats are already forming in your temple as you wipe it away with some table napkins in the bar. The fur coat really is making you officially uncomfortable. Thinking now it’s the time to take it off.

Your fingers found the buttons of the coat as you want to take it off, but you were interrupted with Cleo’s drunken self walking back with some man you don’t know but they looked like good friends.

“There she is! Y/N, I want you to meet John!.” Cleo shouts through the blaring music.

He gave you small smile as you come up for a handshake, “Hi John, nice to meet you! I’m Y’N, as Cleo already said earlier.” You smiled at him as he shakes your hand.

“John Deacon, nice to meet you–“

You stopped as you heard him say his name, “–wait, are you from Queen?.” You guessed.

He chuckles and nod his head, “I am, I’m the bassist of the band, yeah.” He approves as you gape at Cleo who’s arm was wrapped around his own too.

“So uh, how did you two know each other? Cleo never mentions she knows somebody who’s famous.” You asked, feeling interested.

“Well, I met Deacy in college because we’re taking the same classes in electrical engineering course and we became close when he became my partner in a project.” Cleo responds.

You didn’t know Cleo studied electrical engineering in college.

“By the way, I’m not just here to introduce Deacy to you, he calls us to sit with them in their booth. The other members of Queen will definitely be there,” Cleo stops mid-sentence as she hiccups and laughed at herself. Even John laughed too, “I’m sorry about that, so, since you’re the only one who’s here and I don’t know where the fuck did the others go, you’re coming with us.”

You nod your head as you followed Cleo and John through the crowd and towards the other side of the room to where they are sitting. You saw people with them, also drinking a lot of shots and see the other members. You’re soon looking at Roger who’s still surrounded by good-looking ladies that are drunk. You’re still good but tipsy tonight, since you didn’t drank all of the shots that Eleanor ordered earlier. You only took the drinks that were mild.

“Deacy finally managed to find himself some ladies. Care to introduce them darling?.” Freddie asked as he sips on his drink.

“This is Cleo and this is her friend Y/N. I invited them to sit with us tonight.” John said and Freddie nods his head, letting them sit on the vacant spaces of their place. You were close to Roger with all the ladies around him as you didn’t stop yourself from looking at the sensual scene they’re causing, and one of the girls noticed your stare.

“Hey creep, stop with that stare alright? Dreaming that you’re with us?,” The girl looks at you from head to toe, judging your looks, “I don’t think so,” she devilishly smirked at you as she gets back in seducing the drummer, who’s soon kissing the other girl on his right.

You frowned at her remark as you glared at her, even though her back is facing you. She just gave you this rude introduction that leads you in standing up from the couch and finally unbuttoned your fur coat and took it off, in front of these people around you. The gold sequin top that reveals your skin was like true gold that made them stare at you. Cleo was in awe when you took your fur coat off.

“Y/N…I didn’t know you wore something like that! I mean look at you!.” Cleo praises as you blushed hardly.

“It’s getting warm in here, finally decided to take it off,” You replied. In the corner of your eye, you saw Roger staring at you as you just shrug it off, “I’ll be at the bar.” You said and left the booth, making your way towards the bar, ordering yourself a drink.

“So I guess you’re Y/N.”

You look over your shoulder to suddenly see Roger standing before you.

“Yes, I am Y/N, I didn’t think you’ll be listening back there with all the ladies around you.” You sassed him as he smirks at you. Liking your feisty side.

“I see that you’re watching.” He smirks, soon ordering his own drink as he drank it.

“I just looked–not watching.” You replied to him as you sip on your glass of daiquiri that you ordered earlier, your lips slowly gliding on the rim of the glass.

You didn’t notice that Roger was looking at you and down your lips that were touching the rim of the glass. He didn’t thought about be interested in you, but aside of those ladies that surrounds him earlier, you’re more than that. He thought that you were like a magic that just appeared out of nowhere in his life and you were quite a vision to him. He thinks that after Reese, his love-life would be nothing but experiencing a heartbreak weather and will never get better, but you walked in this club, introduced by Deacy and he feels you’re different, and he feels different when you’re already standing before him. It’s the same feeling when he met Reese when they’re both in highschool, but far more better.

“You’re quite interesting Y/N.” Roger said and you turn your look to him again.

“I’m surprised that I’m more interesting that those girls around you, what makes you think of that Roger?.” You taunt him, feeling your self-confidence going higher.

“Finally, you’re flirting with me.” The drummer chuckles.

You blushed in his words as you let out a chuckle, “I don’t think I’m flirting with you Roger.” You denied his words.

“What a shame because I wish you had been.”

___________________________

reader’s outfit in the club:

taglist: @peter-sue-the-management​ @beatlesdotcom​

IF YOU WANT TO BE IN THE TAGLIST, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

[xolarajean]

Feel the Beat - Movie Review

Plot: Feel the Beat is a film that combines dance, comedy, and drama. It is directed by Elissa Down and stars Sofia Carson, Enrico Colantoni and Wolfgang Novogratz. Carson stars as April Dibrina, an aspiring Broadway dancer in New York City. Unknowingly, April steals a taxi from Ruth Zimmer, the producer of a major Broadway show April is going to audition for. After the realization she tries to plead with Ruth not to get cut, only to accidentally cause her to get injured. To make matters worse, the entire encounter was recorded by another dancer. After the embarrassing video of her goes viral, April returns to her small hometown in Wisconsin. April reluctantly accepts an offer to coach the local dance team in hopes of getting the attention of a famous Broadway producer, Welly Wong, at the national competition. Throughout the journey, April struggles with figuring out what her dreams are while also trying to mend relationships with the people she left behind years ago -- one of them being her ex-boyfriend, Nick. The movie shines a light on the rigorous training and pressures professional dancers go through. 

Rating: 3/5

I would say it is PG-13. The only curse word that I can remember that wasn’t censored was “ass” near the end. It also shows some little girls twerking/doing suggestive dancing in somewhat skimpy outfits in dance competitions -- for me it was awkward and I skipped through those parts, but I guess it also highlights the sexualization of young girls in the dance industry. 

Pros: 

Diversity (out of the main cast) - Zuzu is deaf and everyone knows/learns sign language which is used throughout the film.  Kari is African American and comes from a struggling household. June is of (I believe) Japanese descent (based on her Instagram account). In addition, Dicky joins the dance group and no sexist comments are made about it. Oona is not made fun of for her weight (if I recall correctly). Deco is also African American and honestly slays throughout the movie (Such a queen, I aspire to be him)

Supportive side characters (especially dads) - all the townspeople are super supportive of April and the girls. The dads tho came THRU. I really enjoyed the scenes of them taking notes on the dances and helping their daughters with practicing at home. The football coach (father of Dicky and one of the girls) especially surprised me because I thought the movie was going to make him the stereotypical sexist dude with him being against Dicky joining dance and overall looking down on dance, but I was pleasantly surprised when he started going full cheerleader mode when Dicky joined in. 

Sofia Carson and Wolfgang Novogratz - I really enjoyed their acting and chemistry together. Though, I wished their was more time to develop their relationship before getting back together because it felt very rushed/abrupt when they kissed. Either way, I really liked their banter and interactions, it felt really realistic. 

Kinda enjoyed the little crush Sarah had on RJ because I’ve been there lmao.

Cons:  

Cheesy and predictable - going into it I already knew what was going to happen obviously which kinda made it more bearable I guess? Kinda overdramatic with some characters like Miss Barb but at the same time endearing.

Sometimes the dialogue felt weird and cringey - this was mostly felt in the parts at the beginning with April begging Ruth and her going back to Wisconsin.   

April in the beginning - I know the whole idea is to show the major growth April goes through from start to finish and that the protagonist is not perfect, but it felt so weird for April to be so blatantly bitchy and moody to the girls the first time they meet. I feel that most people at least would put on a fake smile at the start and try to answer the questions in a respectable way. Tho I would like to mention that I love Sofia Carson even when acts like a villain lmao. Plus the way she treated Ruby was just not cool??? Like at least be a decent human being and say something along the lines of “you could practice harder and be better” instead of just crushing her dream??? 

Some of the dancing scenes where girls twerked/did very suggestive dancing - I skipped through these parts b/c I was so uncomfortable from the first second. Enough said.

Nick - look he is hot and I loved the few scenes of banter between him and April, but I felt that he wasn’t really developed? I understand that he is not the main focus so there might not have been enough time for him too. Honestly, I think its because he seems WAY TOO PERFECT and I wish to find a guy like that haha (my hopeless romantic heart beats so fast when he is on screen) Guess who found their new celebrity crush

So those were my thoughts on Feel the Beat! My PMs/replies are definitely always open to discuss this movie or any other movie/shows that I’ve seen/reviewed. I would love to geek out with anyone! <3