#but yeah there is like... no reason for me to be storing media files on my fucking computer

[obstinatecondolement]

Just deleted a bunch of big chonky files and programs I don't actually need, want, or use and freed up like 16.5GB on my harddrive. Which is great, because I literally had just over 100 megabytes left on my C drive this morning, lol.

[inkskinned]

something that stuck with me once, way back in middle school when i was still learning how to write - my teacher said "writing shock and tragedy is easy, it's humor that's the hardest."

i have been up and down the halls of academia. i have the fancy degree and the experience in publishing. i think i paved most of my own road with the little bricks of sorrow i had stored inside of me. i know i did it mostly with works that are blisteringly lonely. i know why we write like that. it's lifesaving.

but yeah, i mean. i also know how much people think that "sad" media is the same thing as "good" media. our human desire to connect is so hard-pressed that we immediately latch onto any broken themes. the bullied kids and the tales of inspiration. people keep saying things like "glass onion" and "everything everywhere" weren't actually good. because, you know, they're. happy. or happy-ish. happy enough. and we only value art if it's grimdark-adjacent.

do you know - people still consistently whine at me that my writing would be so good if i just capitalized things. i used to flinch. i get kind of a weird, vindictive little rush these days - i get to say thank you for the comment! i have chronic pain and this is how i conserve my hands so i can write more during the day :) grammar isn't real anyway! and now they're trapped in the room with me, you know? i get to pull out my map and show them how grammar is not the same thing as good writing.

writers have this thing. we scratch at our insides, constantly, prying our lives apart into splinters. prying the splinters apart into atoms. when we combust something into poetry, we control it. it cannot hurt us if it exists outside of us rather than burning a hole through the bottom of our lungs. it's not a wonder to me that so much of what i make comes out like a death gasp. i spent a long time at the bottom. i keep going back, too. when you're down there for so long, the only thing you can exhale is fumes.

but humor is hard. humor needs timing; which i can't promise in a paragraph. i can kind-of force it through careful spacing, but i have no idea how fast you're reading these things. humor needs a somewhat awareness of your audience, when really - anybody could be looking. humor needs us to understand what the joke is, why it's a joke, and to think - ha! that is funny. in tragedy, everyone understands the metaphor of a kicked puppy. in humor, you need to introduce them to the concept of a dog.

and forget about positivity. forget about anything not made for adults explicitly. every time i see a well-made children's media piece, i feel fucking horrible for the creators. most of the time, people see children's media as being sort of "not worth" applause, even though i'm pretty sure they have to work twice as hard. i have no idea how hard it must be to not be able to have your character just say. "well, fuck." something about a message of peace or friendship or caring - for some reason, that makes the media not for adults. like, okay. i'm pretty sure my father actually, out of all of us, could use a good book on how to control his temper and talk about his feelings.

but whatever. i write a short story about my ocd, and how it's fucking killing me. it gets an award. it gets published. i write a short story about my ocd, and how i'm overcoming it, and how my days are getting lighter and starting to flourish. i keep getting ghosted. no response. it just is lacking... something.

is this it, forever? you can be an artist, okay. but the trade off is that the things you make - if they're happy? if they're joyful? people will say it's stupid and pandering. you bite your nails off. you file your teeth. you hear something inside of you breaking.

the other day in a writing group, someone i'd thought of as a friend said: "you write so much better these days! i love what you make when you'd rather be dead."

[cringywhitedragon]

Looking away from the bad choice Nintendo chose to do with Palworld, they have done something good in terms of Lawsuits and went after some bootleg Gatcha games in China

Recently Nintendo won a $15 million dollar lawsuit against 6 companies that were producing and profiting off illegal bootleg Pokémon games.

These games, which are often Gatcha Games are regurgitated up onto the App Store or Google Play store in droves usually with the same premise (Take a traditional Pokémon game battle mechanics wise and make catching Pokémon locked behind a very very pricy and P2W Gatcha system designed to trick little Timmy into wanting more, sometimes there’s catching mechanics but no it’s all about that cold hard cash baby as after a certain point the “devs” just give up if there is even a story to begin with.)

You may have seen these in passing on YouTube or that one weird Mario Odyssey rip-off a few years ago.

The game that’s been placed front and center for everyone to see is a certain title called Pocket Monster Reissue (Yeah I have no idea what that title is supposed to mean either)

This was kinda the only video I could find on it. Yes it’s in Chinese but there are English versions of these games floating out there.

It’s your standard Pokémon Gatcha ripoff affair: Ash, Gary/Blue, and Oak (along with other popular characters) appear, it’s a rehash of Kanto because that’s what the kids want, megas and legendaries are oddly locked behind a very high paywall, stolen artwork, Engrish, etc… etc…

The whole nine yards or whatever…

Something you may not know is that it is usually pretty difficult for these games to be taken down because well… China’s kinda had a long history of ignoring international copyright laws to the point, especially when it comes to gaming, that when these things get onto the internet, can spawn memes because of a funny Swede’s reaction to a horribly colored Mario and the Flintstones theme song.

Because of this, and also the use of shell companies that bootleggers use to hide themselves behind, catching and shutting down these operations don’t tend to be the easiest things for ip owners to go after.

And trust me, these things rake in the cash because well… You’re literally ripping off one of the most popular media franchises there is.

This game in question was raking in at around $42 million in a single year alone, Nintendo filed this suit back in around 2021 seeking up to $72 million in damages alone.

Yes I critique Nintendo for some of their legal aggression because y’all need to chill with the fangames, but this is great news because these games are dangerous for a number of reasons.

Also to make matters even stranger, one of the defendants in the case is a manufacturing company. While this hasn’t been confirmed, this company was likely being used as a means to lander money through or something similar.

Main article cited: https://automaton-media.com/en/news/the-pokemon-company-wins-15-million-copyright-infringement-lawsuit-against-china-based-game-developers/

[lynnrespawn]

Lynn’s Obscure Band Of The Whenever The Fuck It Is #1: Shut Your Eyes & You’ll Burst Into Flames

Sup y’all! So... I listen to a lot of bands that are obscure or not often talked about in the current day and I thought I’d shine a light on some of them from time to time. Today’s first band is Shut Your Eyes & You’ll Burst Into Flames, a math-rock band from England that... frankly put, doesn’t have much material available on them. This makes sense, considering they existed for pretty much three years, from 2005 to May of 2008. Beneath the read more, I take a weirdly shallow deep dive into their content.

The only readily available songs of theirs are found on their Drop The Decade single, here’s a spotify link. It features two songs: Drop The Decade and  I Will Meditate And Then I Will Destroy You. Both are bangers.

As said above, the Drop the Decade single features the only two easily accessible songs by Shut Your Eyes And You'll Burst Into Flames, as the rest of their music is... difficult to track down. On some streaming services, their song Amputee Smile can be found on a compilation album called “What We All Want” made by their label “Dance To The Radio”, but I’ve noticed that the album will disappear and reappear randomly for seemingly no reason every few months. It is currently on spotify, though! Here’s a link to it.

Now then. This is where I go crazy and tell you about even more obscure songs by this band, right? FUCK YEAH I AM.

INTRODUCING SIGNAL NOISE, their other single that I have only heard on a high schooler from 2008′s media studies work. I’m not joking. The titular song, Signal Noise can only be found online in this video. Thanks Gavin! Besides a discogs and several store pages listing it, Signal noise is effectively not archived anywhere and the only audio I could find from it is on Gavin’s music video. Fun fact: I found the music video at like 11pm at night because I had to know if they made more music and I lost my mind for like 20 minutes over how that was the ONLY ARCHIVE I COULD FUCKING FIND AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. 

Signal Noise does have one other song on it, though, according to Discogs, “Kingdom of Goats”. I looked. I could not find it and am very sad because that name sounds awesome.

Here’s an interesting little tangent: While fact checking stuff, I found out that Signal Noise has several hundred listeners on last.fm. This could be an error, but I’m choosing to take it as proof that the Close Your Eyes and You’ll Burst Into Flames gods are looking down upon us fondly and that the songs are available on some out there. Last.fm also links to itunes for the single... but it isn’t on itunes, damn!

Oh hey! That’s me!

Now... surely, we’re done, right? There’s only two singles and a compilation listed on their discogs. SURELY there isn’t ANOTHER unreleased song archived on youtube. SURELY.

...huh. Yes, this is genuine. And yes, I have listened through it  It’s a banger. Here’s a link.

Then, while researching for this post, I found their myspace. Now, the new myspace is nothing like the old myspace and there’s a LOT of jank with stuff, but myspace still does list their songs, namely:

Drop The Decade

I Will Meditate Then I Will Destroy You

Airwolf

And a fourth song: Futures Rewired. Myspace allows you to listen to these songs, but the audio is broken, likely meaning that the files themselves are gone or were fucked up by the new myspace format. Futures Rewired is part of an album named “Out of the Woods and Trees” which is another Dance To The Radio compilation album... that isn’t backed up anywhere and only has a page on discogs. Somehow I never noticed it when I went through their discogs.

Now, that’s all I’ve got that you can listen to. However, I plucked a few strings while writing this up and have messaged people who have supposedly listened to Kingdom of Goats on discogs and I might get a response. And if I don’t... I could always just buy the Signal Noise vinyl, as well as Out of the Woods and Trees. I’d prefer not to, though.

While that’s all of the songs I can show off, I do wanna share something interesting... an archive of their myspace page. Which I spent an annoyingly stupid amount of time searching for. Which is literally just the front page because everything beyond it isn’t archived. However, this does show some wonderful little teasers for the next few posts I wanna do in future.

I do wonder what the lake has been doing ever since it caught fire...

Anyway! That’s it, but I do have some cool youtube videos to show off, namely some very low quality recordings of their live shows from when they were active. These are just some cool extras for funsies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kom-Bg9n21g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPUBjbDbolI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKpxdxTUaZo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrySkCNUi48

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SLC6GJyNKo

[dulceackles]

heyyyy, could you maybe write a one shot with ethan x reader. Ethan read some mean online comments and completely shuts down, so the rest of maneskin calls the reader to have her help them cheer Ethan up, and at the end it’s just really fluffy with a group hug including the reader?🥺👉🏼👈🏼

Silent movies | Ethan Torchio

Requested: yes

summary: Ethan reads hate comments after a long day of practice and the band decides to take the evening off and have a movie night with y/n. 

Pairing: Ethan Torchio x reader (she/her, third person)

word count: 1.4k

content and warnings: well it’s only little angst in theory, it turns fluff, little cursing.  

The rain had washed the streets the whole day and the wind had pulled threes apart the whole day. It was hard to believe that even an outdoor loving person would have wanted to step outside but gladly Ethan, Victoria, Thomas, and Damiano had had a great time practicing their new songs yet to be released. 

Damiano and Victoria were in the kitchen making Tortillas for the band and Thomas had drifted into his own thoughts after a long day of work. Ethan sat on the couch, scrolling social media through on his phone to kill some time while waiting for their dinner to be ready. He usually didn’t dig in too deep what people were talking about them online but for some reason, one specific comment section stole his attention. Maybe he should have not cared, be the bigger person and not let some internet trolls get underneath his skin but maybe it was overwhelming to see so many people agreeing on just hating him. He didn’t know what he could have ever done differently in a public eye that would have made people dislike him so much. So maybe he didn’t even want to admit to himself how much it actually hurt him.

“Ethan?” Thomas snapped Ethan out of his thoughts, he looked confused. 

“Hmm?” He answered to him noticing he had gotten up. 

“The food, It’s ready.” Thomas said, “I’ve called you like two times now.” He muttered

“Oh sorry.” Ethan got up and started to walk to the kitchen with Thomas. Thomas however had noticed that something was bothering him greatly. He hated seeing his friend sad but didn’t fully know how to bring it up.

Victoria and Damiano were already filing their Tortilla’s as Thomas and Ethan walked to the dining table. 

“You asses couldn’t wait for as, huh?” Thomas pointed at them smiling. 

“Hey, We made these!” Damiano raised his hands in defense.

It didn’t take long for Damiano and Victoria to notice Ethan’s off behavior. It was painfully clear something was bothering him, he didn’t even say much during the whole dinner and that made Victoria worried and even though she tried to carefully ask him about it, he didn’t say much. 

“What’s wrong?” Victoria had asked. 

“Nothing. Just was on Instagram and have you guys seen the way some people talk there?” Ethan answered her, gently playing with the end of his hair. 

“Don’t worry about them, like you said they’re just being rude for the sake of it. It doesn’t matter what they say.” Damiano said. 

“true.” Ethan nodded his head but Victoria could tell Ethan was still feeling low. 

“Let’s have a movie night, we’ve played all day I think it’s enough for today.” Thomas tapped his hands to the table. 

“Yeah I agree” Victoria got up, “Let’s invite y/n too, she’s probably really bored at home too.” She knew y/n was really good at cheering people up.

Y/n heard her phone’s notification sound ring as she was laying in her bed reading a book she found on sale at the nearest thrift store. 

Vic: Wanna come for a movie?

y/n: Sure, what are we watching? 

Vic: Haven’t decided yet. By the way, Ethan’s really upset. He read some comments online. So heads up. 

y/n: ohh okey, I’ll bring snacks.

It didn’t take y/n long to drive to them even if the weather was ruff and she truly was happy it didn’t because she hated to drive in dark and in rain alone. Because wasn’t that just how horror movies started?

After she had parked she quickly trotted to the front door. She knocked on it waiting for someone to open the door and let her inside out of the sharp rain. 

“Snacks or won’t open.” Ethan joked behind the door. 

“Well for god’s sake just open the door it’s pouring here.” y/n laughed at him through the door. She heard the door lock twist open. 

“I brought Popcorn,” Y/n said showing a pack of microwave popcorns in her hand.  

Y/n walked in and took her now slightly muddy shoes off. “Sorry, I tried to jump over puddles.” 

“Hii Y/n!” Victoria screamed from the living room and y/n greeted her back. 

Ethan and y/n walked into the kitchen to make the popcorns into the microwave as Damiano, Thomas, and Victoria were throwing pillows to the floor to make the best movie night living room possible. 

The microwave howled as the popcorns were popping inside. 

“Did your mom told you you’d hurt your eyes if you looked into the micro too long too close?” Y/n asked Ethan as both of them were keeping a very close eye on the popcorns, “Or was that just my mom?” 

“Oh, she did!” Ethan smiled remembering the complete urban legend his mom too had told him once. 

“I always wondered if she believed in it.” Y/n slowly said as she turned to look at him. His hair fell long alongside his back and y/n too had noticed he looked a little tense. She wondered if she should have said anything or if he was better left alone.

“Victoria told me you were a little sad today.” y/n said gently, almost whispering.

Ethan hummed, “I knew they called you here to babysit.” 

“No they didn’t.” She protested, “No one just wants that you’re sad.”

“I just saw some stupid comments, it’s not serious.” He said. The microwave peeped and he took the steaming popcorns out. 

“I mean it is serious if you’re upset by them and understandably everyone would be.”  She looked into his eyes that were staring back at hers. 

“hmm. It’s just... I guess it just makes you wonder if there’s something true about what they say.” He looked down a little bit. They started to walk to the living room. 

“Well I think no, I see not one flaw in you and nothing I would change even if I had a chance.” y/n said as she laid down to the pillow see others had made onto the floor in front of the tv.

Ethan giggled and laid down next to her. “I wouldn’t change anything in you either.” He smiled at her. 

“aww, cute.” y/n laughed and snuggled to give Ethan a little cuddle. He rested his head on the pillows. 

“I just don’t get why people have to be so mean online.” He said as he gently played with y/n’s hair in his thoughts. 

“They just don’t have anything better to do I guess. It really has nothing to do with you and everything to do with them.” y/n said while drawing figures onto his hand with her fingers. 

“Yupp and besides, There’s always gonna be someone who likes you and someone who doesn’t,” Damiano said joining them on the floor and stealing the popcorn bowl. 

Ethan too got up to sit to make room on the pillows for Thomas and Victoria too. 

“That’s one thing I didn’t know though; like how much at the end of the day how much you’ll get shat on once you get noticed in the music industry,”  Victoria said as she and Thomas joined them. 

“True, well I guess sometimes people just need someone to use as a trash bag for their own negative emotions.” Thomas agreed, he reached his hand to crap a couple of popcorns. “I think, you know, we have each other and close ones and those really just are the people you need sometimes and who you know you can lean on. Yeah, You are the people whose opinions I care about, no one else.” 

“Awww.” Damiano, Victoria, Ethan, and y/n said at the same time and y/n could see that Ethan’s eyes had softened. 

Victoria wrapped his other hand around Thomas and the other one around Damiano pulling them into a hug and Thomas wrapped his hand around Ethan who then pulled y/n into the hug. 

“I love you guys,” Ethan said as they all hugged each other and he truly felt like at that moment, it really didn’t matter what they said on the internet. 

Y/n rested her head against Ethan’s chest and he pressed his cheek on top of her head yet before all of their hair got tangled with each other, they stepped back to their own seats. 

“So what are we going to watch?” Damiano asked. 

“We should watch silent movies cus people talk too much.” y/n snapped her fingers to her own pun. 

[motherjoel]

hostile (spencer reid x fem!reader)

summary: after months of trying to get pregnant and a miscarriage, you finally succeed. will you get the chance to tell spencer this time?

a/n: this is my first oneshot in a veryyyy long time so im sorry if im a little rusty! trying to get back into it :) also i know very little about pregnancy so forgive me! (i got the hostile uterus part from greys anatomy lmao)

wc: 2.3k

warnings/includes: lotsa fluff, angst if you squint, criminal minds stuff, pregnancy, miscarriage

-

“Spence, were you even listening in there? I have a hostile uterus. Not only am I feeling incredibly hostile right now, but my uterus?” you yelled as Spencer guided you to your car.

“All I’m suggesting is that we keep trying, Y/N. And I’ve already done plenty of research on adoption and surrogacy, did you know that 140,000 children are adopted by American families each year?” he asked, opening the passengers side door for you and running around to hop in the driver's seat. “And there's always in vitro fertilization,” he suggested as he reached to shut his door and start the car. 

“Of course you wanna keep trying Spence, all you have to do is stick it in and thrust,” you huffed as he winced at your harsh wording, grabbing your hand over the center console. “I’m the one taking hormone shots in my ass and drinking less than 5 cups of coffee a day,” you complained about your attempts at increasing fertility. “Who knew a miscarriage would be the thing to get me to cut down on caffeine.”

Spencer was silent as he drove back to your shared apartment, both of your minds on your struggles to get pregnant in the past year. You thought back to your miscarriage and the impact it had on you both- it had only been a few months since you and Spencer became official. It was new, and this pregnancy was unplanned to say the least. Not telling Spencer about it was the only solution you could think of at the time- until it was too late. 

You remembered the feeling in your chest, your entire body running cold after being tackled by an unsub. You hadn’t told anyone of your pregnancy, not even Spencer, but as the blood ran down your legs it was pretty clear what had just happened. Derek dragged the unsub away in handcuffs as you sat in the open back of the ambulance, a paramedic wrapping your wrist. You barely remembered JJ’s look of pity or Rossi’s concerned gaze. The only thing you remembered was the pale face of your boyfriend as you had been lying on the ground moments before trying to hide the blood. He eventually made his way over to sit next to you after a few minutes of stunned silence.

“Hey, Spence,” you whispered as he sat next to you, the paramedic finishing up and walking away.

“How long?” He looked at your stomach, fidgeting with his hands in his lap.

“Three, um, three months,” you fiddled with the bandage on your wrist.

“And you didn’t… you didn’t think to tell me?” he asked, eyes welling up as he finally made eye contact.

“I’m so sorry Spencer, I just, we never talked about kids before and we haven’t been together for too long… I just needed time. To think.”

He nodded and swallowed thickly before softy taking your hand in his, running his finger over the fabric of your bandage.

“You never have to hide something like this from me, y/n. We’re in this together and... not to be um, too forward, but I love you,” he confessed. You knew you loved him, but neither of you had dared say it. “I love you now and I always will, so you can trust me with this kind of thing.”

Since that day, the two of you had only gotten closer. Now, a year into your marriage, you were actively trying. And after months of trying to no avail, a trip to the obstetrician was called for- the obstetrician who called your uterus hostile, which was likely the reason for your first miscarriage. You could barely fall asleep for a few weeks after your obstetrician appointment, which made this early morning case call all the more difficult. The two of you dragged yourselves out of bed and began your morning routine of getting dressed and making coffee, moving in sync with each other as you prepared for the day. It was a quick drive into the office and before you knew it you were sitting in a room full of your coworkers looking at pictures of human remains. 

“Four men killed in Ohio in the past month, each left with a note written in the same handwriting,” Penelope says as you all look at the case file. You normally had an iron stomach- in the BAU, queasiness wasn’t an option. But for the first time in your career, your face turned green at the pictures of dead bodies.

“It says here that they are all men in long-term relationships?” Emily asks.

“Correction: Were in long-term relationships. Right before they died, it was reported that they left their girlfriends,” Garcia explained.

“That’s important for the victimology, but there has to be something more to set off the unsub,” Spencer commented.

“Yeah, I bet that there was a common reason for them leaving,” you suggested, closing the case file and averting your gaze from the pictures.

“We’ll discuss more on the jet. Wheels up in twenty,” said Hotch.

You all gathered your things and began to leave for the jet, Spencer walking in stride with you.

“You know what, Spence, I’m actually gonna run across the street and grab some tampons before we go, I think i'm gonna need em,” you said. “Go on ahead without me.”

“Are you sure? I can just come with you,” he offered.

“No, no, go brainstorm with the team. I’ll be right there,” you smiled at him as you parted ways. You were going to the convenience store across the street, but it wasn’t for tampons. Your stomach fluttered as the bell jingled at the entrance. The aisle for pregnancy tests was easy to find, and you were on the jet five minutes later.

“Hey, did you find the, um…” Spencer trailed off as you sat down next to him on the jet. He wasn’t one of those men who got weird about menstruation, but you knew he was avoiding the word “tampon” to save you any embarrassment .

“Yup, I’m good,” you smiled and focused on the team who had now gathered around to further discuss the case.

“So, is there any link between the men yet? There has to be a reason that they were all killed soon after leaving their girlfriends,” JJ mused. You thought back to your past fears and your current situation and something suddenly clicked in your brain.

“Wait…” you picked up the case file. “What if… what if they were pregnant?” you asked, looking up to see furrowed brows. “I mean, the handwriting is feminine, so maybe the unsub is a woman who’s getting revenge on men leaving their pregnant girlfriends?” you concluded.

“I’ll call Garcia. We land in 30, keep looking over the files,” Hotch said before you all sat back down in your respective seats, the outside of your thigh pressed against Spencer’s.

You were trying to think of a good time to take the pregnancy test- you couldn’t do it on the jet, it would be really hard to hide on a plane full of profilers. You decided that the best time to take it would be back at the hotel, but after working for hours you found it hard to focus with the pregnancy test in your bag. Excusing yourself to the bathroom in the local precinct, you snuck the test with you. You locked the door behind you and took the test, trying to control your breathing as you waited for the results. As you waited, you got a text from Morgan telling you that there was new information. The moment you finished reading his text, your alarm beeped. Taking a deep breath, you dared a glance at the stick. With shaky hands, you picked up the test and bit your lip to hold back your yelp of joy at the tiny little +. Shoving the test into your bag, you rushed back to the rest of the team to continue working on the case. You would tell Spencer this time, but you decided it would be best to catch a serial killer first.

Garcia confirmed through the phone that all of the girlfriends were pregnant and shared the same obstetrician who was a single mother with a young child. This seemed to be the perfect profile for an unsub killing men who walked out on their families, but something seemed off to you. You couldn’t quite put your finger on it, but something was bugging you about the case. You were on the way to Shelby Meyerson’s, the obstetricians house, with Morgan and Spencer when Garcia called.

“Whats up baby girl,” Morgan answered, one hand on the wheel.

“So I’ve been doing some digging and it turns out that Shelby actually has a boyfriend, Andrew. Recent social media posts show that they started dating a little over a month ago, and it looks like Andrew grew up without a father” she said.

“Right before the killings started,” you looked at Spencer from the back seat.

“Garcia, send his address,” Spencer spoke into the speaker.

“Already on it my loves,” Garcia replied, and you could hear the clacking of her keyboard as she hit send. You looked at the address in your phone.

“Morgan, that's right down the street from where we are right now,” you pointed out. The three of you didn’t waste any time getting there. You hopped out of the car and approached the door, hand instinctively resting on your gun.

“FBI, open up,” you said, rapping on the door. You waited for a moment, but when nobody answered, Derek took matters into his own hands. Within seconds, the door had been kicked down and the three of you spread out around the house, Morgan going upstairs and Spencer going into the basement as you canvassed the ground floor. You took notice of a cup of tea on a coffee table, still warm. Once you cleared the area, you made your way into the basement, gun drawn. Your heart dropped at the sight before you- a man you recognized as missing tied to the radiator in the corner of the room, and your unsub restraining your husband with a gun to his head. You kept your gun pointed at the unsub as you heard Morgan come down the stairs behind you.

“Don’t move!” The unsub, Andrew, yelled. You raised your hands when he pointed his gun at you, dropping your weapon to gain trust.

“Andrew, there’s no way to get out of this, just let him go so we can talk,” you tried to soothe him, his grip on Spencer only tightening.

“No, no, you don’t understand. These men deserve to die for leaving their children, they-they’re terrible people, I’m giving them what they deserve,” he argued, becoming frantic.

“Andrew, if you hurt that agent, you’re just as bad as the men you kill,” you began, taking small steps toward Spencer. “He’s my husband and…” you started, locking eyes with Spencer. “And I’m pregnant with his child,” you confessed. Spencer's eyes went wide, shock overtaking the previous expression of fear. You continued to speak. “If you kill him, you make him leave his child. I know you don’t want that, I know you don’t want someone else to go through what you went through,” you bargained. Thankfully, you seemed to get through to him, as he dropped his gun and collapsed to the ground, his grip on Spencer loosening as Derek moved in to cuff him.

You immediately ran to your husband, throwing your arms around his midsection as he wrapped himself around you, kissing the top of your head and whispering reassurances to you. 

“I was so scared,” you said into his chest, your voice muffled by his kevlar vest. He put his hands on the side of your face and wiped your stray tears, his own falling as he started to smile.

“Were you serious? Are… are we pregnant?” he asked, his hopeful smile spreading wide as ever. You bit your lip and nodded, squealing with joy as he picked you up and twirled you around, not even noticing the rest of the BAU had arrived at the scene.

“Hey, be careful with Y/N! She’s carrying my god child,” Derek smirked as Spencer set you down, his arms still wrapped around your waist. 

“Hold on, why does Morgan get to be the godfather?” Rossi questioned, putting on a mock italian accent, making you all laugh.

“That’s not important, what's important is that we're gonna have a baby genius running around,” JJ smiled as she walked over to hug you both, which turned into a group hug between the entire BAU. You all broke up the hug when Morgan's phone began to ring.

“Yes, baby girl everyone's safe. Actually… Pretty boy and pretty girl have some big news,” he said, putting Garcia on speaker.

“What! Tell me right now, I can't handle this!” she begged. You and Spencer smiled at each other before you began to speak.

“You’re gonna be an aunt,” you said excitedly, receiving the loudest gasp through the phone.

“You mean… you… Spencer… you guys… oh my GOD!” she began to ramble about her excitement as you all laughed, Derek taking the phone off speaker to calm her down.

“Our kid is gonna be so loved,” you smiled, grabbing his hands and standing on your toes to press a kiss on his cheek.

“We got really lucky,” he blushed, pulling you back into another hug, the world around you frozen in that moment.

-

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taglist: @rigatonireid​,  @aworldoffandoms, @moonshinerbynight, @averyhotchner, @s1utformgg

[roswellnmsource]

Michael Trevino Talks The CW’s ‘Roswell, New Mexico’

So first off, what was your reaction to finding out you’d be doing that time jump this season? Michael Trevino: For Kyle, I think jumping — I mean yeah, time has passed, right? And I think whenever you start a new season, we always ask that. We’re like, “Well, how much time has passed? Where are we starting from? Has as my character been here, been there?” So this is one of those seasons where yes, time has passed, kind of a restart, reboot and it’s fresh. I think our first episodes were showing people in their different dynamics and kind of briefly alluded to what they’ve been up to, and that’s always nice.

I had the chance to see episode nine early and really enjoyed it. What can you preview for the fans about what this episode has in store for them? I feel that episode nine is a turning point for Kyle. Kyle, as we all know, is there for everybody, whenever he can be. He seems to be the one that they go to. He’s always putting out fires, I keep saying that but it’s true. Whenever there’s a problem, Kyle’s there for you. And I think this episode is kind of where — not that he’s reached a limit, but it’s taken a toll on him and we get a very frustrated, little angsty Kyle for good reason, I feel. I think that that frustration is a bit earned after everything, but we are going to find out in 3×09, as we’ve been finding out, a bit more about who Jim Valenti was, who was Kyle’s father, who is Eduardo, what is Deep Sky about, and it’s going to kind of jumpstart Kyle for the rest of the season. It’s a big episode for him because he finally makes a decision on, “Okay, enough is enough. This is how I feel about this and this is what we’re doing next.”

How was it for you to play with that sort of stroyline as an actor? As you said, it is such an important point for him. Well, I gotta be honest, I just saw the episode and I’m coming in hot! I’m coming in real hot and in the moment I didn’t think it was that hot, but damn, we’re there. And so I think it’s fine because I get a lot of feedback, which is great, that Kyle is such a good guy and “I like his character, he’s there for everybody.” That’s nice, right? So I feel like after three seasons of that, to see Kyle a bit over it with what’s going on and everything that he’s being told, new information, more new information, I think it works. For me, you try to find those moments of like, “Okay, can I keep being there for everybody,” or at some point I’m going to be like, “Okay, I’m done,” right? Or “I can only do this much.” He’s never going to turn his back on people, but in this episode we see him a little frustrated.

Fans love the show, what does it mean to you when you go on social media or meet fans in person and hear their response to your work? It’s great. It’s a beautiful feeling because we’re currently filming season four and that’s rare for a series to really last that long, to build these characters, and to still have these interesting storylines. So, to know that people are still engaged in these characters and the story that we’re telling, they’re still tuning in, it’s nice. What makes it even more special this season is because we’re watching season three right now, but we’re currently at the same time filming season four. Through the scheduling it just worked out that way, but it’s almost instant feedback and it’s also an instant reminder of “Okay, where have we been? What have we done?” So we feel closer to the story, which is great for us as actors, but sometimes it’s not that way. You’ll see something and be like, “Oh yeah, we shot that a year ago. Where am I coming from? Where are we headed,” and you want to track these stories but right now I’m just thankful for everybody that’s continuing to watch and who’s invested in these characters.

The show was picked up for a season four ahead of season three even premiering, which was so amazing to see. What was your reaction when you heard the news? I was genuinely surprised because usually you don’t get a pickup until at least the season has aired or the season is four or five episodes in, but I guess because in the year COVID and the delay, the network was able to see all these episodes and see the ones that we’ve done already. It’s great feedback. I think that we have something special happening here in Santa Fe, New Mexico with this crew, this cast, and our writers back in LA, who are back to visiting us on set per their episode. Everybody’s still invested. It’s a great feeling because we’re all here, we’re happy to be here, grateful to be telling these stories and working, and we’d like to continue.

What has been your favorite storyline of the season so far that fans have already seen? I think — okay, well, to answer that on what we’ve already seen, I did like and enjoy the scenes with Kyle and Michael. Those were fun to shoot. I get along great with Mr. Michael Vlamis and it’s always fun to be in scenes with him because, as we know, Michael Guerin is a bit of a wild card. With that, Mr. Michael Vlamis on the day is able to be a little bit unpredictable and I like that. I like performing with him and feeding off of what he’s bringing. He always keeps it fresh and new in each take. So, I like those scenes with him

I know you can’t tell me too much, but what can you tease about the rest of season three? The rest of season three, I feel now that Jones is really flexing on us, we have this bit of the Avengers assembling right in Roswell, like everybody having to come together, everybody has a job, and it’s to really take care of Jones and get him out of here. So I think that’s really what the rest of these episodes are going to be about.

I love that metaphor you did. It’s perfect. It really is because it’s like from season one to season three, we’re all separate. Now, it’s like, “Okay, we have to join forces to handle this guy.” And that’s what we’re gonna see.

You filmed season three with the COVID pandemic and now you’re filming season four with those safety precautions since the pandemic is still going on. What did it feel like for you to wrap season three with those circumstances, but then also come back for season four? Well, I have to give it to our producers, really, because everybody in the world had to pivot. We all had to make changes in our lives and I think the changes that have been made to keep everybody — crew, catering, casting, post production, accounting, whoever — safe on set, there’s been some different rules and it’s kept everybody safe. I’m proud to say we didn’t have to shut down once in season three. Unfortunately, there’s other productions that had to, but up here in Santa Fe, no. We were just lucky or we followed the rules, I don’t know but we were great and we were able to keep to our schedule, not have to shut down, and now we’re back for season four and we know what to expect. So things are running smoothly and there hasn’t been any problem. I’m just happy, glad, and grateful that we’re able to still tell the stories.

What is your personal favorite dynamic (friendship or relationship) when it comes to Kyle? I’m going to say that I want to see more Kyle and Isobel. I think that Isobel brings out a different side of Kyle whenever they’re in scenes or have interactions with one another. I’d like to lean more into that storyline for whatever it may be, I just want them to have more interaction because I think Kyle acts a different way around her. She’s just such a big ball of energy, so I think that would be fantastic and I would want to see more of that.

I know you’re probably not going to be able to give me too much on this, but I have to ask you, what was your reaction when you read the scripts for season four? Well, my reaction is a kind of going off of my last answer, Kyle ends up having more storyline with Isobel and it’s nice to see that play out. And so far, it’s been refreshing to see them in scenes together. I will tease this: so far in season four, the scenes that are with Kyle and Isobel have a comedic feeling to them. I feel like their scenes are fun and funny to shoot, but there’s a comedic element to it.

Is there any other show that you are personally a fan of and would like to see Roswell, New Mexico do a crossover with? Oh damn, that’s a great question. Off the top of my head, we’re gonna have a Roswell, New Mexico and The X-Files crossover event. This episode is going to air right after the Super Bowl and millions of people are going to watch it. It’s going to be Scully and Mulder pulling up to Roswell, New Mexico and Kyle will be there to greet them.

Is there a memory that sticks out to you as a memorable moment from filming season three? Oh gosh, it’s our season finale, it has to be our season finale. I can’t give away too much, but like I said about as far as Avengers assembling, it’s those scenes when we’re all on set together. It’s the season finale, we’re in Santa Fe in the middle of February and March, it’s freezing, it’s like 10 degrees outside, we’re getting the exterior night shoots that we need, and we’re all in. It’s not even just the cast, it’s the crew, it’s everybody. We’re just trying to get the final shot done of the season and we are working against all the elements. It’s a bit chaotic but it’s organized — organized chaos, that’s what it is. Those feelings are you got to get the job done and that’s what we do. I mean, we all know Jones is the big bad and everybody’s gonna have to get involved to take care of him and we see that in our last episode. Those scenes are really fun to shoot. They were challenging but I think it’s gonna come together well and it’ll be a strong finish for us.

If you could create a tagline or a phrase of your own to describe Kyle as a character, what would you pick? Kyle Valenti: I’m there if you need me.

[sankyeom]

lullaby | j.b

pairings: jacob bae x reader genre: neighbour au, strangers to lovers, kind of implied that you both are in college summary: in which your new neighbour sings you to sleep every night since the walls in your building are so thin, and you fall in love with his voice word count: 5.4k series: sankyeom’s 2k followers celebration note: yes i’m in love with jacob’s a to boyz video. yes it inspired this fic. yes i’m going through it.

masterlist

When your old neighbour moved out, you couldn’t be happier at the news.

The girl living in the apartment next to yours used to blast her music late at night and into the early morning, and she always kept you up. Sometimes she did it just for fun, other times she did it to overpower the sound of her arguing with her boyfriend. Either way, you would be up at night wanting nothing more than to go over to your neighbour’s apartment and break her door down as a form of revenge.

But you didn’t, because you quite liked your apartment and didn’t want to give your landlord a reason to kick you out.

Instead, you and your other neighbours filed enough noise complaints to the building’s owner until the girl moved out on her own accord. If you had to pinpoint the worst three months of your life, it would be the time when that girl lived next door to you.

Of course it wasn’t entirely her fault; your apartment building had hilariously thin walls. Her music wasn’t the worst thing you had heard through the walls, but it was certainly the loudest and most consistent thing that bothered you.

For a few weeks, the apartment next to yours was vacant, and you were able to relish in the silence that you had been dreaming about for so many gruelling nights. One afternoon after you came home from your day of classes to find the elderly lady who lives a few doors down for you peeking outside her front door.

“Hi Mrs Kim,” you greeted her with a wave. Her eyes flitted over to you and she offered you a smile. Mrs Kim was your favourite neighbour by far. She always brought you treats when she made too many and made sure to check in on you regularly since you lived alone.

“Hi dear,” she waved back, eyes crinkling as she realised it was you.

“What are you up to?” you wondered.

“I’m just spying on your new neighbour,” Mrs Kim informed you, stepping out of her door frame to speak with you.

You sighed. “Another neighbour?” you echoed, craning your neck to see them move in.

If they were interesting enough to peak Mrs Kim’s interest, you wanted to see them for yourself. Alas, all you could see were boxes and bags piled outside the open front door of the apartment next to yours, the new tenant nowhere in sight.

“I was just getting used to having some peace and quiet around here,” you recalled as an afterthought, wincing at the memories of your last neighbour. Although you had no personal issues with her, you were glad to see the self-absorbed music-blaster go.

“I know dear,” Mrs Kim gave you a sympathetic smile, thinking back to how tired and cranky you were a while back. “But he looks kind,” she offered. “He greeted me very nicely and he even has a guitar! How wonderful.”

“A guitar?” you repeated, frowning. “Not electric, I hope?”

Mrs Kim laughed. “Don’t worry so much, Y/n,” she told you, patting your shoulder in an endearing manner. “He was quite handsome.”

You rose an eyebrow. You had been at the hand of Mrs Kim’s attempted set-ups many times before. “And that’s my cue,” you laughed, saying your goodbyes to Mrs Kim and making your way to your apartment. As you took your keys out and started unlocking your door, curiosity got the best of you and you tried to peer into your neighbour’s apartment for a sign of him. “What are you doing,” you muttered to yourself, scolding yourself for invading your new neighbour’s privacy and entering your apartment.

You awoke from your nap to the sound of music.

“Not again,” you groaned, thinking it was your new neighbour in your sleepy state. Soon, you realised that it was just your phone ringing, and felt a little guilty for immediately blaming your neighbour without even meeting him once. “Hello?” you picked up the call.

“Y/N!” your best friend Changmin yelled into your ear.

“Dude,” you groaned. “Why are you using your outdoor voice?”

“This is my indoor voice,” Changmin exclaimed, surprised that you had found him so loud. “You act like you don’t even know me.”

“Oh, my apologies,” you mumbled, putting your phone on speaker just to get it away from your ear. “What’s up? You woke me from my nap.”

“Mrs Kim told me that you have a new neighbour,” Changmin said casually.

You narrowed your eyes at your phone. “When did you talk to Mrs Kim?”

“I saw her at the convenience store,” Changmin happily informed you. “She said she’d give you some brownies for you to pass on to me in the next few days.”

You laughed at this. “How can you charm everyone around you, including the old ladies that live on my floor?”

“Never mind that,” Changmin dismissed. “New neighbour? What’s he like?”

“I don’t know,” you got out of bed to draw your curtains, letting what was left of the sunset brighten your room. You had fallen asleep while studying, and thus hadn’t set an alarm. “I haven’t met him yet.”

“Mrs Kim says he’s cute.”

“Mrs Kim says everyone is cute,” you scoffed. “That woman is a saint.”

“Alright, that’s fair,” Changmin giggled. “Why are you napping this late? You won’t be able to fall asleep tonight if you nap for so long.”

“I know,” you hummed, stretching out and relishing in how relaxed you felt after your nap.

Your best friend was right, though. Whenever you napped in the late afternoon, you always struggled to fall asleep again that night. Of course, this wasn’t a problem when your monstrous neighbour blasted her music every night anyway, but once she left naps and a good night’s sleep were finally possible for you.

“Maybe my new neighbour will play me a lullaby on his electric guitar,” you joke.

“He has an electric guitar?”

“I don’t know,” you admitted. “Mrs Kim says he carried a guitar into his apartment. I haven’t heard him play yet so I don’t know what kind. But I’m delighted to hear it.”

Changmin snorted. “Really?” he asked in disbelief, having been on the end of some rants about you possibly kidnapping your previous neighbour and threatening her to move out.

“Sure,” you exclaimed. “As long as he plays it during hours of the day where I want to be awake, I have no problems what-so-ever with a little rock and roll.”

“Hilarious,” Changmin said sarcastically. “Anyway, did you finish your Chemistry study guide?”

“Is that why you’re calling?” you wondered. “Pretending to be curious about my new neighbour just to steal my hard work and Chemistry notes.”

“You caught me,” Changmin said happily, no shame in his voice. “So?”

You flipped through your notes to see where you go up to before falling asleep. “Yeah I finished them. I suppose you want my Econ notes when I’m done with them too?”

“Forget Mrs Kim, you’re the real saint,” Changmin said in lieu of an answer.

“No need to butter me up, I’ve already agreed,” you rolled your eyes, grinning at your best friend’s antics. “I’ll text you pictures later.”

Once you said your goodbyes, you made your way into the kitchen to turn on the kettle for a hot drink before wandering back into your room to search for a sweater. Once your water was boiled, you made yourself a drink and snuck back into your bed to burrow under the covers and finish studying.

As you took a sip of your drink and flipped through your Economics notes, you heard the faint timbre of an acoustic guitar. Pausing, you stopped your actions and sat up straight, as if this would amplify the sound more so you could hear it.

You guessed your new neighbour didn’t have an electric guitar after all.

The warm chords that you could make out were soothing and whimsical, and you allowed yourself to get lost in your neighbour’s playing for a moment. Deciding that it would make good background study music, you set aside your headphones in favour of listening to your neighbour play his guitar.

Soon, you were already finished with your Economics study guide so you snapped a few pictures of them and sent them to Changmin, along with your study guide for Chemistry too. A quick glance at the clock told you that you had been studying for an hour and a half after napping, meaning that your neighbour was persistently playing for just as long.

Just as you started considering what movie to watch to kill time so you could feel tired enough to go to sleep, soft singing started to accompany the guitar playing coming from your neighbours’s apartment. His voice was rich and tender at the same time; filled with emotion and lyrics close to a mumble in terms of enunciating. Something about his voice made your heart flutter, just slightly. If you thought he was a good guitar player, you thought he was a phenomenal vocalist.

Rather than watching a movie, you tucked yourself into bed and went on your phone to scroll through social media for a while, just listening to the sound of your neighbour’s voice and the music he was playing.

It didn’t take long before your eyes started to feel heavy; lulled to sleep by the timbre of your neighbour’s voice and the warmth of the covers on your bed. Thanking your past self for already setting your alarm for your classes the next day, you were soothed into a deep sleep despite the fact that you took a lengthy nap that afternoon.

The next morning, you felt as though you had never slept so well in your entire life.

Your bed was almost impossibly cosy and you had to seriously motivate yourself to get out of bed and head to your lectures for the day. After getting ready and dressed for the day, you wrapped a scarf around your neck to fend against the biting cold autumn air. As you exited your apartment, you couldn’t help but linger your gaze on your neighbour’s door, wondering if he was still inside or if he had already left.

“He’s gone,” you yelped as Mrs Kim’s voice startled you out of your stare. She stood as if she hadn’t scared you, unfazed by your reaction. “He left two hours ago.”

You put a hand on your chest in an attempt to calm its erratic beat. “Mrs Kim,” you greeted. “You scared me.”

Mrs Kim ignored you, smirking knowingly at you. “So you saw him then?” she assumed. “You must have, if you’re looking at his door like you want him to come out of his apartment.”

“I didn’t see him yet, Mrs Kim,” you denied with a small smile. “I was in my apartment all night and I’m only just leaving now,” you added.

“Then why’re you staring?” she asked, bending down to pick up her cat from the floor.

“Just curious,” you said, which wasn’t entirely a lie. You wanted to know exactly who had sung you a lullaby that was so sweet it put you right to sleep. “Is he really that handsome, Mrs Kim? Not only did you tell me but you told Changmin about it too.”

“He’s very handsome,” Mrs Kim insisted, pushing a container into your arms with her free hand. “Speaking of your charming friend, that’s for him.”

The container had cut up brownies in it, and you almost laughed at how well Changmin and Mrs Kim got along. “Thank you Mrs Kim, I’ll be sure to give them to him today,” you promised, making your way down the hall and rushing to the bus stop so that you wouldn’t miss the last bus that would get you to college on time.

Somehow, it felt as though your new neighbour was avoiding you.

Either that, or the two of you just kept missing one another. Any time you had to leave, you could still hear him milling around his apartment. The only times you ever heard his front door open was when you were just getting home, or had no intention of leaving. Even Changmin, who was a social butterfly and constantly fluttered in between your friends’ places, never saw your neighbour when he came by to visit.

Without a fail, your neighbour played the guitar and sang every single night.

Sometimes he would play during the day as well, but he only ever sang at night. You assumed that he figured he could sing at night so that nobody else heard him, unaware of the paper-thin walls that separated your apartments. You wondered if it was because he was being courteous, or if he was just shy about singing when other people could hear. Either way, you definitely credited your neighbour to being the reason that you fell asleep peacefully every night.

You never had trouble falling asleep in general, but you mostly had very restless nights of sleep, even in the complete silence you heard when your neighbouring apartment was vacant.

Something about your neighbour’s voice just relaxed you to the point where you slept like a little baby.

The first time you met the owner of said voice, you were running late for class and cursing Changmin on the phone as he laughed at your misfortune. He had been teasing you all week about a presentation you were nervous about, saying that you were so well-prepared that the only thing that could mess it up was you missing the class entirely.

Then your alarm didn’t go off and you woke up half an hour later than you usually would on that day.

“Ji Changmin, you’re an ass,” you fumed, pulling your coat on as you opened the front door of your apartment. “You must have cursed me or something, or at least you spoke it into existence. I don’t know but if you don-“

“I’m so sorry!” a familiar voice exclaimed upon your impact with another body. Two hands reached out to steady you and prevent you from falling over, and your eyes met those of a brown-eyed man.

A beautiful, beautiful, brown-eyed man.

“Are you okay?” he asked, since all you had done since the two of you collided was stare at him. “You’re not… concussed, are you? Can you get concussed by bumping into someone?”

“I don’t think so,” you breathed out, taking in his sharp features and large, kind eyes. “I’m sorry. That was definitely my fault, I was rushing, and yelling at my friend,” you tried to explain, but were interrupted when he laughed.

“No harm done,” he assured you, a shy smile appearing on his face. “I’m Jacob. I just moved in next door, actually,” he introduced himself.

Jacob. Mrs Kim was right, he was very handsome.

“Hi Jacob,” you replied, holding out your hand for him to shake. “I’m-“

“Y/n, right?” he stated. At your surprised expression, Jacob only shrugged. “I talked to Mrs Kim from a few doors down. She told me all about you.”

“Oh gosh,” you laugh, covering your face with a hand. “I hope not everything. She’s seen me at my worst, let me put it that way.”

“All good things,” Jacob assured you in his velvety voice. “She speaks really highly of you. Says that you’re smart, kind, and that you have great taste in friends.”

You grin. “Ah, yes. My best friend seems to have charmed his way into her heart. That’s why he gets brownies in a Tupperware and I don’t,” you informed him. “I’m sure you’ll get there too.”

“I sure hope so,” Jacob nods. “I’m a terrible baker and brownies sound really good.” The two of you shared a laugh. “You said you were in a rush, right?” he seemed to recall, causing your eyes to widen.

“Yes! I need to run. I need to catch a bus, like,” you glanced at the time on your phone, realising how late you were and that you were still on a call with Changmin. “Twenty minutes ago.”

“Good luck,” Jacob smiled, waving at you as you said your goodbyes.

“Nice meeting you!” you called back to him, starting to jog down the staircase before bringing your phone up to your ear.

“Jacob, hm?” Changmin’s voice teased you.

“Watch it, Ji Changmin,” you warned. “You’re on thin ice already. Save me a seat!”

Other than being sung to sleep by him every night, your relationship with Jacob pretty much ended at your first meeting. The two of you always exchanged pleasantries when you passed each other in the hallway, and he had once informed you that he really had reached brownie-level friendships with Mrs Kim, but nothing beyond that.

You couldn’t say that you were surprised, considering how the two of you had such different schedules and you kept missing one another, but you somehow felt a little disappointed.

It felt a little bit like the two of you already knew each other, as you heard him sing every single night; hearing the emotion and vulnerability in his voice with every song. But you knew nothing about each other.

After a particularly gruelling day of your Chemistry lab class, you dragged your feet up the stairs to your apartment, feeling utterly exhausted and worn out by your class.

Your lab partner was the absolute worst. He was one of those types that thought he knew everything better than you because he was a Chemistry major, and he belittled you about every single step in the lab. Most of what he was saying was wrong, but he wouldn’t listen to you because he was sure he was right.

Half a semester later, you had just gotten your midterm back and found out that you failed because the data from your experiments were incorrect, and your professor couldn’t give you full credit for any of your answers. Frustrated tears built in your eyes as you made you way to your apartment door, rummaging through your bag for your keys.

“This can’t be happening,” you whined when you realised that your keys were nowhere in your bag, and you had left them in your apartment that morning. “Seriously? Today of all days?” you exclaimed, wiping your cheeks to dry your tears as you headed for Mrs Kim’s apartment to see if she was home. You had entrusted her with a spare key to your apartment since you knew you couldn’t take care of it yourself, and becomes she was so close by.

Realising she wasn’t home, you trudged back to your apartment and sunk onto the floor, burying your face in your knees and letting out a sob. Your day had been mentally and physically exhausting enough without having to wait outside your apartment, in the cold autumn air, to anticipate Mrs Kim’s return so you could enter your apartment.

The door next to yours opened slightly, a soft, concerned voice calling out to you. “Y/n?” Jacob asked quietly, wondering why you were outside. When he noticed your crying, he immediately stepped outside and knelt in front of you. “Are you okay? What happened?” You could only sob in response, not having it in you to explain your situation to him. “Why are you crying?” sniffling, you managed to raise your head and point weakly at your front door.

“You’re locked out?” he guessed, earning a nod. “Okay, let’s go to my place,” Jacob offered you, holding his hand out to help you up. “I just made hot chocolate, and I have Disney Plus so we can watch something while you wait for Mrs Kim,” he paused when you didn’t say anything. “Technically, it’s not my Disney Plus account, but I have my friend’s password. He subscribed just to watch the Beyonce album film,” you laughed tearfully, which Jacob considered a success.

“I don’t want to bother you,” you admitted in a quiet voice, slightly raw from your crying.

“You? Bothering me?” Jacob exclaimed. “Never. Now c’mon. Our hot chocolate’s getting cold.”

Grateful for his kindness, you accepted his outstretched hand and let him pull you to your feet, gently ushering you into his apartment and closing the door behind you. He motioned for you to take a seat on his sofa and you did so, taking off your coat and scarf as you adjusted to Jacob’s warm apartment.

“Here,” he placed two mugs of hot chocolate on the coffee table in front of you, taking a seat on a sofa next to you but giving you some space. You mumbled a quiet thank you before sipping on the hot drink, savouring the way it warmed your insides.

Spotting his guitar leaning against the wall next to the TV, you cocked your head in curiosity to see what it looked like. It was made of a light brown, almost yellow, wood and looked like it was treasured by Jacob. Not only was it in perfect condition, it also looked like it had been used for years already. You silently wondered how long he had been playing it for. “Do you play?” Jacob asked, noticing where your eyes were looking.

Shaking your head, you told him that you didn’t. “You’re really good, though,” you complimented before you could realise what you were saying.

Jacob blinked at you, eyes wide and lips pursed in surprise. “Me?” he echoed. “You’ve heard me play?”

Feeling stupid, you only nodded, sipping more of your hot chocolate as an excuse to think about what you wanted to say. “Um, yeah. Walls are kind of thin around here.”

Jacob blushed. “I’m so sorry,” he apologised. “I play until really late at night most of the time. I even-“ he paused, realising you had heard him sing. “I even sing,” he whispered, eyes flitting to the ground as his cheeks reddened further.

“You’re really good,” you complimented. “At singing, too.”

Jacob shook his head. “It must be annoying.”

“Not at all,” you denied. “My last neighbour used to blast angry-girl rock music. Now, I have nothing against angry-girl rock music, but I do when it’s being played at an ear-splitting volume into the early hours of the morning. That’s annoying. Your singing… It’s more like a lullaby,” you finished your thoughts in a whisper, shy at your explanation.

“Really?” Jacob was shocked.

You hummed in agreement. “I’ve never slept so well in my life,” you admitted with a small smile.

“Oh,” Jacob sipped on his mug to stop a huge smile from taking over his features. After meeting Mrs Kim for the first time, he was intrigued to meet the person she was speaking so highly of. When he ran into you, he felt flustered and excited because you were even more stunning than he could have imagined from Mrs Kim’s description. “I’m glad I helped, then. Even though the idea of you hearing me is mildly humiliating.”

“What!” you exclaimed, louder than you had intended to. “Why would it be humiliating? Your singing is… I can’t even describe it with words. It’s beautiful, Jacob.”

“You think so?” he asked in a disbelieving tone. Your eager nod made butterflies flutter in his stomach. “Thank you. That actually means a lot.”

“You don’t seem to believe me,” you observed.

“I’m not that confident in myself, or my playing,” Jacob explained awkwardly. “I’m more the quiet type, so it’s not so easy for me to put myself out there when it comes to music. I want my music to mean something to other people, and it’s how I communicate best, so…”

“Well, I can confirm first-hand that you’re amazing,” you offered. “I might not be as great of a musician as you, so my compliment might not mean anything to you, but I really believe it.”

Jacob bit his bottom lip, deciding to nod in response to your words, too shy to say much else. You took his reaction as a sign that he didn’t want to continue the conversation anymore, so you focused your attention back onto your hot chocolate. “Do you want to watch a movie?” he offered.

“I would love to leach off of your friend’s Disney Plus account,” you agreed, referring to how Jacob ranted a little about his friend. Jacob grinned, getting up to hang your coat and scarf up for you before he turned the TV on.

Being with Jacob in a more casual state was more fun than you had expected.

Once the two of you warmed up to one another, you found that Jacob was actually really goofy and fun when he got comfortable with you. He made terrible puns about the characters in the film you decided on, and his laugh made you want to squeal because he was so adorable.

Halfway through your second movie, you had fallen asleep as a result of the hot chocolate that had deliciously warmed your body, and the exhaustion from your emotional day. When Jacob noticed, he took one of the throw blankets form his bedroom and gently placed it over your body, getting up from the sofa to let you stretch out and get some rest.

The few times you woke up after falling asleep, you were lulled back to sleep and relaxed by Jacob’s soothing guitar playing and singing. Despite being tired, you were awake long enough to be pleased that Jacob seemed comfortable enough around you to play for you while you were still in his apartment, instead of just waiting until you left.

The next morning, you woke up to the sound of Jacob’s sweet voice gently calling for you to wake up. After opening your eyes, you saw Jacob kneeling in front of you with a bright smile and ruffled hair. “Hi sleepyhead,” he greeted, handing you a cup of tea. You sat up, rubbing your eyes with one hand and accepting the mug with the other. “Mrs Kim came by to drop off your key,” Jacob said. “I texted her last night.”

“Thank you,” you replied, surprised that he had gone out of his way to contact Mrs Kim when you were an emotional wreck who had forgotten all about it.

“She also said to wake you before noon because you have classes in the afternoon and you hate rushing,” Jacob added in thought, passing your spare key from Mrs Kim over to you. “Seems a little ironic since you and I seem to only ever meet when you’re rushing.”

You laughed at this. “What can I say, you always catch me on a good day,” you joke. “But seriously. Thank you. You really helped me out last night, I don’t know how I can repay you.”

Jacob waved you off. “No repayment needed. I’m just happy to get closer to you after being your neighbour for over a month already.”

His large smile was one that you hoped you’d be seeing more of. “Has anybody ever told you that you’re an angel?” you wondered, resting your head on your hand as you observed Jacob’s face. The fluttery feeling in your stomach didn’t surprise you anymore, not after he had saved you the night before. “Like an actual angel. Now that I’ve gotten to know you better, I think I see your wings.”

A giggle escaped the man next to you. “I’ve actually heard that before,” Jacob admitted sheepishly.

“I’m not surprised,” you hummed, sipping on the warm tea Jacob made for you. “What time is it?”

“Just after eleven,” Jacob recited. “Do you have to get going?”

You nodded, finishing up your cup of tea. “I do, unfortunately. I have to go see my Chemistry professor and do some serious begging and grovelling.”

“Sounds rough,” Jacob gave you a sympathetic smile. “Well, I had a really good time last night.”

You smiled back easily, unable to hold it back. “I had a really good time last night too,” you assured him. “I really can’t thank you enough.”

“Stop,” Jacob laughed. “Don’t even think about it. I was happy to have you over.”

“I was happy to finally hear your playing in person,” you replied. “I only really heard it in and out of sleep, but I was still glad to hear it. Also,” you paused, unsure if you were going too far.

“Also,” he echoed, curiosity piqued.

“You said last night that you wanted your music to mean something,” you recalled. “It does mean something. To me, at least. It actually means a lot.”

“I think I can see those angel wings you’re talking about,” Jacob said. “Except they’re on you.”

“Very funny,” you laughed, getting up and finding your coat. “I really need to get going, though.”

“Okay,” Jacob nodded, walking you to the door. “I’ll see you around?” he offered, insecure that you wouldn’t want to spend more time with him.

“I’ll see you soon,” you corrected, flashing him a wink before you let yourself out. Jacob closed the door behind you and you let yourself sigh in delight, relishing in the evening you had together the night before.

“What are you doing walking out of your hot neighbour’s apartment?” you jumped, surprised by Changmin’s sudden presence at your front door. He held out a take-away cup of coffee for you.

“You scared me,” you told him, ignoring his comment as you accepted the coffee.

“Don’t act like you didn’t hear me,” Changmin scowled, following you into your apartment after you unlocked your door. “You came to school in those clothes yesterday. Did you hook up with your cute neighbour? Jacob?”

“You ask so many questions,” you complained, making your way into the bathroom to wash your face and brush your teeth. “No, I didn’t hook up with Jacob. I locked myself out and he graciously took me in for the evening, despite my emotional ugly-crying.”

Changmin laughed. “You would go stay at your hot neighbour’s house after having the crappiest day in the world,” he said, pleased at the outcome.

“Thanks, Changmin. Now I need to change so that I have enough time to beg our Chemistry professor to let me do extra-credit assignments so I don’t fail the class,” you added, feeling gloomy about what happened with your midterm the day before.

“Sure, sure,” Changmin nodded, taking a seat on your sofa and taking his phone out.

You made your way to your bedroom to change your clothes, going as quickly as possible so that you still had time to neaten your hair a little. When a knock sounded through your apartment, you called out to Changmin to open the door for you.

“Oh, hi!” you heard your best friend say in his usual chipper tone. “You must be Jacob! I’ve heard so much about you,” at the sound of Jacob’s name, you dropped your hair brush and rushed to the front door, where Changmin was smirking at your neighbour.

“Hey,” you greeted. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jacob assured you, glancing nervously at Changmin, who was still grinning at him.

“Could you give us a minute?” you asked Changmin, raising an eyebrow at his blatant eavesdropping. He sighed, sad that his fun was over, before he walked in the direction of your kitchen. “What’s up?” you smiled at Jacob.

He took a deep breath. “Would you want to get dinner some time?” he asked, tapping his foot as a nervous habit.

His question both surprised and delighted you. “Like a date?” you asked, hiding your smile.

“Like a date,” Jacob confirmed. “If you want.”

“I want,” you agreed, showing your smile. “I want a lot.”

“Great,” Jacob sighed, relieved. “I want a lot, too.” You giggled at how strange the two of you sounded.

“If you guys are going to start kissing, I suggest you do it now because we have to go,” Changmin called from the kitchen, ruining the moment.

Jacob pointed in Changmin’s direction. “He’s not coming to dinner, is he?” he asked.

You grinned. “Absolutely not.”

“How does tonight sound?” Jacob suggested. “Or is that too eager of me?”

“Just eager enough,” you assured him. “Pick me up at seven?”

“Sure thing,” he agreed, beaming as he stepped out of your doorway to go back to his apartment.

“I hope you don’t get lost on your way to my apartment,” you teased. “It’s awfully far from yours.”

“I’ll just follow the sound of your wings,” he called, waving before he disappeared into his apartment.

Dinner. You liked the sound of that.

note: second fic in my 2k celebration series!! i know that this fic and the last didn’t end with a kiss or a relationship but i still think the ending is cute, i hope it satisfies you!

[im-in-love-with-pizza-bites]

It Takes A Village Chapter 10

Chris Evans X Pregnant!Daughter!Reader

Series Master List

Series summary: You find out that your pregnant. After being kicked out of your mom's house you go to live full time with your Dad who you only saw once every few months. Will he react badly to you being a mom at such a young age?  

Chapter Summary: you announce your pregnancy on Instagram and start rethinking everything.

Series Warnings: swearing, fighting with a parent, teen pregnancy, speak of abortion.

Chapter Warnings: teen pregnancy mentions puking

You had been on the couch watching Peter pan but now your morning sickness kicked in. You were home from school today due to it being a half-day, your dad was at the store. So you were home alone and throwing up in the toilet with Dodger staring at you concerned while he whimpered. Once you were done you washed your face and brushed your teeth before you went back to the couch to finish the movie. After you posted the photo showing you were home there were rumors as to why. A few gruesome ones, like your mom died, (in all different ways) and a few normal less gruesome ones, such as your dad was able to get full custody of you.You ignored them you were planning on sharing the real reason tomorrow.

"Sweet-pea! I'm home!" You heard your dad say when he entered the house a few bags of groceries in his hands.

"Hey dad!" You said looking over the couch to look at him.

"Hey you okay? Seeing all those rumors?" He asked from the kitchen as he began putting everything away. You got up and walked in.

"Yeah haven't been on social media much since I got out of school I've been watching movies. And I think I have some baby names." You told him excitedly as you began to help him.

"What happened to not picking a names until you knew the genders?" He asked smirking at you.

"Don't worry one of them are after you." You said. He looked at you smiling silently begging you to continue. "No! You don't get to know! But I'll tell you the middle name ideas I have." You said.

"Continue." He smiled at you.

"Okay, so Christopher and Scott are the middle names if I have boys." You said continuing putting away the groceries.

"Okay what about the girl names?" He asked.

"Maxine, and of course the basic white girl middle name of Anne." You said giggling.

"Basic white girl name?" He shook his head at you but you could see the small smile on his face. "The other one is cute though." He said.

"I know!" You told him smiling.

"And Scott will also be happy will one of those names... He's been telling me how you were definitely going to name your baby after him." He explained, you giggled.

"Because I already told him." You said giggling.

"Sweet-pea how could you tell him first! I'm your dad!" He feigned offense before you both laughed. "But really those are great middle names. Especially the first one you said." He smirked at you. "Okay I'm going to make dinner you can get a movie set up for us to watch okay Bubba?" He asked.

"Okay. What movie?" You asked him.

"You pick bubba." You nodded leaving the kitchen Dodger following.

----

You stood in front of the mirror looking down at you baby bump, phone in hand. Unbeknownst to your dad you were doing this. He was outside with Dodger and you told him you were doing your homework. Of course he'd know that was a lie once this photo goes around. You faced your camera to the mirror the bump was clear from your side you took the photo. You went onto Instagram, a bunch of notifications from your last post filing in. You clicked the new post, you picked your photo before writing a brief caption that said:

"As my last post has cause many questions maybe this with clear some things up. Two new Evans are due in November. I prefer not to go into detail about anything about me being home or about the babies or their father, I just prefer the media and my dad's fans stay out of it. I hope you all can respect that."

You hesitated reading over the caption as many times as possible. Before setting your phone down not posting the picture. You sighed sitting on your bed. You looked back at your phone grabbing it and turning the comments for the post off before quickly clicking it then going down stairs and outside where Chris sat.

"Dad I posted a photo of my baby bump everyone knows." You sat next him sighing. He looked down at you. He pulled you into his side giving you a reassuring smile.

"I told you not to post anything bubs." He mumbled. "Has anyone said anything yet?"

"I turned the comments off..." You mumbled into his shirt.

"That was a good idea. You gotta show me how to do that Bubba." He leaned over kissing the top of your head.

You giggled. "Okay old man." His phone dinged and he looked at it and sighed.

"Well your post is getting attention. Sebastian and Mackie and asking if it's true." He showed you his phone.

"Ooh call'em I want to say hi." You sat up leaning your head on his shoulder. He chuckled shaking his head before face timing them.

"Hey lil Evans!" Mackie said seeing you. "Are you pulling a late April fools prank or was that post real?" He asked.

"It was real... I forgot you guys follow me." You said.

"Your gonna be mom aren't you like 10?" Sebastian asked, slightly teasingly. "Wait... We're you not gonna tell us if we didn't see that post?"

"I'm 15. And before you ask any questions about the babies, I'm having twins, the dad knows, he doesn't want them, I'm 12 weeks along I don't know the genders, and... I think that's all.. Oh and that's why I live with dad, and no I'd tell you eventually, probably next time I saw you and you met the babies." You rambled.

"Who is the dad?" Sebastian asked.

"Jake." You mumbled.

"And your good with this? Two new babies in your house?" Anthony asked Chris.

"We already talked 4 weeks ago when I found out." Chris said.

"You've known for four weeks and didn't tell us Y/n I thought I was your favorite uncle?" Sebastian pouted at you thought the screen.

"Hey I thought I was your favorite uncle!" Anthony said.

"Why do I need to have a favorite?"

"I'll be the babies favorite uncle." Anthony said

"With all of the people I've told about the babies you guys are definitely the most chill about it." You muttered before looking at your phone eyes widening at how many people have already liked the post already. And the press was probably already writing about it.

"Okay bye guys we'll talk to you later." Your dad said before hanging up the face time.

"I think I made a mistake I shouldn't have posted it, dad!! I shouldn't even be a mom now I'm putting my kids into the media! Dad, I had the privilege of not being in the media often since I lived in texas no one is gonna go there and try to take photos rednecks would shoot em! My kids have to live where ever you are because I'm a minor! I'm so dumb! I should've kept it a secret." You rested your head on his shoulder as you rambled. He sighed not knowing how to calm you down so he just looked down at you rubbing your shoulder. "Oh not to mention what is someone from town sees that! They'll all know and show Jake or mom! My kids won't even have their father! Only a mom. I can't take care of the babies I can't even drive! What am I going to do take them to school on a bicycle?" Your rambling continued.

"Bubba... You'll be able to drive when they start going to school besides you have me. Don't worry about town. Or the press." He said. To be honest those were thought he's been having it was why he didn't want you to tell the press. You grew up in a small town in texas with a whole bunch of rednecks even if the paparazzi found out where you lived the town would've chased them away, not because they liked you but because rednecks are crazy. If you still lived there press would be a lot less of a problem. And for the whole, your kids won't have a father thing he knew even if their dad wouldn't be there he would be the best male role model he can for them. But he also noticed that if you weren't at school or work you were always busying your mind, with homework or reading you barely read before. He could only assume it was because of the breakup and being kicked out. Just a way for you not to think of them. Dodger ran over licking your hand as you continued your rant to your dad.

"Shh, bubba." He cooed softly as your rant ended. "I told you, you're not going to be alone. I'll be there to help you the whole way."

Taglist: @toastisgood @coldmuffinpartycloud @thevelvetseries @uniquebeautyqueen

[gra-sonas]

So first off, what was your reaction to finding out you’d be doing that time jump this season? Michael Trevino: For Kyle, I think jumping — I mean yeah, time has passed, right? And I think whenever you start a new season, we always ask that. We’re like, “Well, how much time has passed? Where are we starting from? Has as my character been here, been there?” So this is one of those seasons where yes, time has passed, kind of a restart, reboot and it’s fresh. I think our first episodes were showing people in their different dynamics and kind of briefly alluded to what they’ve been up to, and that’s always nice.

I had the chance to see episode nine early and really enjoyed it. What can you preview for the fans about what this episode has in store for them? Michael Trevino: I feel that episode nine is a turning point for Kyle. Kyle, as we all know, is there for everybody, whenever he can be. He seems to be the one that they go to. He’s always putting out fires, I keep saying that but it’s true. Whenever there’s a problem, Kyle’s there for you. And I think this episode is kind of where — not that he’s reached a limit, but it’s taken a toll on him and we get a very frustrated, little angsty Kyle for good reason, I feel. I think that that frustration is a bit earned after everything, but we are going to find out in 3×09, as we’ve been finding out, a bit more about who Jim Valenti was, who was Kyle’s father, who is Eduardo, what is Deep Sky about, and it’s going to kind of jumpstart Kyle for the rest of the season. It’s a big episode for him because he finally makes a decision on, “Okay, enough is enough. This is how I feel about this and this is what we’re doing next.”

How was it for you to play with that sort of stroyline as an actor? As you said, it is such an important point for him. Michael Trevino: Well, I gotta be honest, I just saw the episode and I’m coming in hot! I’m coming in real hot and in the moment I didn’t think it was that hot, but damn, we’re there. And so I think it’s fine because I get a lot of feedback, which is great, that Kyle is such a good guy and “I like his character, he’s there for everybody.” That’s nice, right? So I feel like after three seasons of that, to see Kyle a bit over it with what’s going on and everything that he’s being told, new information, more new information, I think it works. For me, you try to find those moments of like, “Okay, can I keep being there for everybody,” or at some point I’m going to be like, “Okay, I’m done,” right? Or “I can only do this much.” He’s never going to turn his back on people, but in this episode we see him a little frustrated.

Fans love the show, what does it mean to you when you go on social media or meet fans in person and hear their response to your work? Michael Trevino: It’s great. It’s a beautiful feeling because we’re currently filming season four and that’s rare for a series to really last that long, to build these characters, and to still have these interesting storylines. So, to know that people are still engaged in these characters and the story that we’re telling, they’re still tuning in, it’s nice. What makes it even more special this season is because we’re watching season three right now, but we’re currently at the same time filming season four. Through the scheduling it just worked out that way, but it’s almost instant feedback and it’s also an instant reminder of “Okay, where have we been? What have we done?” So we feel closer to the story, which is great for us as actors, but sometimes it’s not that way. You’ll see something and be like, “Oh yeah, we shot that a year ago. Where am I coming from? Where are we headed,” and you want to track these stories but right now I’m just thankful for everybody that’s continuing to watch and who’s invested in these characters.

The show was picked up for a season four ahead of season three even premiering, which was so amazing to see. What was your reaction when you heard the news? Michael Trevino: I was genuinely surprised because usually you don’t get a pickup until at least the season has aired or the season is four or five episodes in, but I guess because in the year COVID and the delay, the network was able to see all these episodes and see the ones that we’ve done already. It’s great feedback. I think that we have something special happening here in Santa Fe, New Mexico with this crew, this cast, and our writers back in LA, who are back to visiting us on set per their episode. Everybody’s still invested. It’s a great feeling because we’re all here, we’re happy to be here, grateful to be telling these stories and working, and we’d like to continue.

What has been your favorite storyline of the season so far that fans have already seen? Michael Trevino: I think — okay, well, to answer that on what we’ve already seen, I did like and enjoy the scenes with Kyle and Michael. Those were fun to shoot. I get along great with Mr. Michael Vlamis and it’s always fun to be in scenes with him because, as we know, Michael Guerin is a bit of a wild card. With that, Mr. Michael Vlamis on the day is able to be a little bit unpredictable and I like that. I like performing with him and feeding off of what he’s bringing. He always keeps it fresh and new in each take. So, I like those scenes with him

I know you can’t tell me too much, but what can you tease about the rest of season three? Michael Trevino: The rest of season three, I feel now that Jones is really flexing on us, we have this bit of the Avengers assembling right in Roswell, like everybody having to come together, everybody has a job, and it’s to really take care of Jones and get him out of here. So I think that’s really what the rest of these episodes are going to be about.

I love that metaphor you did. It’s perfect. Michael Trevino: It really is because it’s like from season one to season three, we’re all separate. Now, it’s like, “Okay, we have to join forces to handle this guy.” And that’s what we’re gonna see.

You filmed season three with the COVID pandemic and now you’re filming season four with those safety precautions since the pandemic is still going on. What did it feel like for you to wrap season three with those circumstances, but then also come back for season four? Michael Trevino: Well, I have to give it to our producers, really, because everybody in the world had to pivot. We all had to make changes in our lives and I think the changes that have been made to keep everybody — crew, catering, casting, post production, accounting, whoever — safe on set, there’s been some different rules and it’s kept everybody safe. I’m proud to say we didn’t have to shut down once in season three. Unfortunately, there’s other productions that had to, but up here in Santa Fe, no. We were just lucky or we followed the rules, I don’t know but we were great and we were able to keep to our schedule, not have to shut down, and now we’re back for season four and we know what to expect. So things are running smoothly and there hasn’t been any problem. I’m just happy, glad, and grateful that we’re able to still tell the stories.

What is your personal favorite dynamic (friendship or relationship) when it comes to Kyle? Michael Trevino: I’m going to say that I want to see more Kyle and Isobel. I think that Isobel brings out a different side of Kyle whenever they’re in scenes or have interactions with one another. I’d like to lean more into that storyline for whatever it may be, I just want them to have more interaction because I think Kyle acts a different way around her. She’s just such a big ball of energy, so I think that would be fantastic and I would want to see more of that.

I know you’re probably not going to be able to give me too much on this, but I have to ask you, what was your reaction when you read the scripts for season four? Michael Trevino: Well, my reaction is a kind of going off of my last answer, Kyle ends up having more storyline with Isobel and it’s nice to see that play out. And so far, it’s been refreshing to see them in scenes together. I will tease this: so far in season four, the scenes that are with Kyle and Isobel have a comedic feeling to them. I feel like their scenes are fun and funny to shoot, but there’s a comedic element to it.

Is there any other show that you are personally a fan of and would like to see Roswell, New Mexico do a crossover with? Michael Trevino: Oh damn, that’s a great question. Off the top of my head, we’re gonna have a Roswell, New Mexico and The X-Files crossover event. This episode is going to air right after the Super Bowl and millions of people are going to watch it. It’s going to be Scully and Mulder pulling up to Roswell, New Mexico and Kyle will be there to greet them.

Is there a memory that sticks out to you as a memorable moment from filming season three? Michael Trevino: Oh gosh, it’s our season finale, it has to be our season finale. I can’t give away too much, but like I said about as far as Avengers assembling, it’s those scenes when we’re all on set together. It’s the season finale, we’re in Santa Fe in the middle of February and March, it’s freezing, it’s like 10 degrees outside, we’re getting the exterior night shoots that we need, and we’re all in. It’s not even just the cast, it’s the crew, it’s everybody. We’re just trying to get the final shot done of the season and we are working against all the elements. It’s a bit chaotic but it’s organized — organized chaos, that’s what it is. Those feelings are you got to get the job done and that’s what we do. I mean, we all know Jones is the big bad and everybody’s gonna have to get involved to take care of him and we see that in our last episode. Those scenes are really fun to shoot. They were challenging but I think it’s gonna come together well and it’ll be a strong finish for us.

If you could create a tagline or a phrase of your own to describe Kyle as a character, what would you pick? Michael Trevino: Kyle Valenti: I’m there if you need me.

[jessbakescakes]

@twwobsessed​ asked for either 89. I noticed or 90. you can tell me anything from this post..

I accidentally deleted the ask, sorry! 

This one spans across the series... it also got way longer than I anticipated. Oops?

“Want some chips?”

Donna looks to her left to find Josh holding out a bag of barbecue potato chips he insisted on getting from the store across the street before they loaded up the bus to South Carolina. “Thanks,” she says, taking a couple from the bag. 

“Take as many as you want. It’ll probably be a little bit before we can stop to get something to eat, and we didn’t get a chance to eat lunch.” He places the bag between them, but doesn’t so much as reach for the chips again.

~*~

“Pizza’s here!” CJ announces, dropping several pizza boxes on the table in the center of the room. 

Josh tosses his pen on his notepad. “What did you get? I’ll grab it for you.”

Donna looks up from her note cards. “Oh, no, I didn’t get anything.”

“What? Why?”

She thinks back to the intern who came around asking for everyone’s orders about an hour ago, and the excuse she gave him. The Massachusetts Democratic Party catered a lunch with a sandwich spread; she told the intern that she was still full from lunch, but Josh would see right through that. He sat right next to her while she ate half a turkey sub and a just-this-side-of-stale oatmeal raisin cookie before they were ready to head to their next meeting. 

The truth, of course, is that she’s made a pretty big dent in her already modest savings account since rejoining the campaign. Her parents, in an attempt to impart some financial wisdom upon her during her teen years, had declared that half of each paycheck from whatever after school or summer job she held at the time was to be deposited into a savings account. She managed to make it all this time without having to dip into it; selling her car and sleeping on the floor had made it easier to stretch her limited budget. But it won’t last forever.

Before she can answer, CJ interrupts, calling out everyone’s orders. “Looks like we have some breadsticks on top, here, and some wings… here’s a cheese pizza for Kevin McCallister over there,” CJ says, motioning toward Josh as she opens the box, places it beside the stack, then closes the lid. 

“Hey now, Donna and I are splitting this pizza, I wanted to make her feel at home,” Josh retorts, grabbing a plate and handing it to Donna before pulling two slices of pizza out of the box CJ just abandoned. 

Donna turns to Josh. “I’m fine, Josh, really.”

“Donna,” he says, grabbing her hand and pulling her up from her seat.

“I don’t want to eat your food.” Josh gives her a pointed look, and she lets out a sigh. “How much do I owe you?”

Josh laughs. “What’s mine is yours, Donnatella.” He places his hand at the small of her back and ushers her toward the pizza box. “Eat.”

~*~

They manage to find a 24 hour diner in Little Rock two weeks before the convention. When their server approaches, everyone’s either staring blankly at their menus or engaged in subdued conversation. They were already tired, but they were pulling hours even longer than normal due to what should have been a minor PR snafu turned media beast that just wouldn’t die. 

Josh had gotten Leo to agree to bring Donna on as a salaried member of the campaign once the Governor was no longer the presumptive nominee, but the official nominee; all Donna needed to do was make her last few dollars stretch as far as possible for just a little longer. Her stomach growls loudly as the server moves next to Josh.

“I’ll have the chicken and waffles,” Josh starts, handing the server his menu and sliding Donna’s toward him. “She’ll have an omelette with spinach and feta.”

By the time she opens her mouth to protest, the server’s gone and Josh is listening intently to whatever it is Sam is saying to his left.

~*~

“I’m just saying,” Josh starts, putting his half-eaten box of Chinese food on the table in the Mural Room, “if Thompson thinks Braun and Miller will pull out, we need to plan for that now.”

“You really think they’ll do that?” Toby asks. 

Josh nudges the container toward Donna. “I do. At least, that’s what Braun was hinting at earlier. I don’t know what the hell that guy’s up to; he’s harder to read than any woman I’ve ever dated.”

Donna reaches for the food and peeks inside, noticing that it’s honey garlic chicken - her favorite.

~*~

“I think you’re not giving theoretical physics enough of a chance,” Josh insists. “I think you have some weird, unfair bias against it.”

Donna holds out her hand and takes the wrapper to Josh’s chicken sandwich. “Well, considering physics was the only class I ever came close to failing, I think my biases are perfectly fair.”

Josh laughs. “Donna Moss almost failed a class?”

“I stayed every day after school for a month and pulled it up to an A minus. But for a little while there I was in the mid-C range.”

“Painfully average,” Josh teases. 

“Shut up and eat your salad,” Donna sighs.

“I’m full, you can have it.”

Donna rolls her eyes. “Josh, you ordered this salad. You said you wanted this salad, and I didn’t question you…”

“You’re about to go back to work, and I know you won’t have time to stop and grab something for another… seven, eight hours? Eat the damn salad.”

~*~

The Hawk and Dove is nearly empty; it’s just CJ, Sam, Donna, Charlie, and Josh in the late hours of the snowy evening. 

“Toby was mentioning that earlier,” CJ says. “I don’t buy it.”

Donna pulls Josh’s untouched tray of cheese fries toward her and begins to eat, expecting a grumble or a whine from him. It never comes.

~*~

She’s not invited to this particular State Dinner. She could have gone home an hour ago, but she decided to take advantage of the rare opportunity to catch up on some filing while Josh wasn’t around. 

Donna works through the last stack of files and returns to her desk to find two plates full of hors d'oeuvres.

~*~

Donna opens her eyes and stretches as much as the hospital bed will allow. Josh hears her stir and stands up from his chair. “Hey,” he says. “How are you feeling?”

“Been better,” she says, her voice a little hoarse. 

“They brought you some breakfast. Looks like you’ve got some fruit and eggs. They’re probably a little cold by now, though. You hungry?”

“A little, yeah.” 

Josh extends his hand and offers her a small package of mini muffins. “Don’t ask me how this works, but apparently there’s a vending machine down the hall that has some American snacks in it. I thought these would be chocolate chip, but… they’re blueberry.” 

She takes the package and notices that the word blueberry is written in bold, blue font across the front, directly underneath the logo. He hasn’t eaten any of them.

~*~

“If anyone asks, the Congressman won’t be commenting on the situation with Senator Stephens,” Lou says. “Donna, do your best to make sure they don’t ask.”

Donna nods. She walks back to her seat to find a small bag of chocolate covered pretzels sitting in the chair. She looks across the room at Josh, staring at an electoral map, eating a bag of the same pretzels. He turns to grab a marker and makes eye contact with her from across the room.

Donna’s stomach nearly ties itself in knots when he gives her a small smile before returning to the board.

~*~

Josh takes his seat next to Donna, leaning in for a kiss. “Hi.”

“Hey,” she says, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Everything okay?”

He nods. “Yeah. I was just getting the ‘don’t you dare hurt her’ talk from the President.”

“Which one?” Donna asks, taking a sip of champagne.

“Either. Both. They both like you better than me, anyway, does it really matter?” 

Donna laughs. “No, I guess it doesn’t.”

Josh looks down at his empty plate, then at Donna. “You ate my slice of cake?” He’s saying it in a tone of incredulity, but he’s grinning.

She shrugs. “You left it; I assumed you didn’t want it.”

“Donna,” Josh whines. “I was going to eat that.”

“There’s still plenty left,” Donna reassures him. “Don’t worry. You can get another slice.”

“Why, so you can eat that one, too?” Josh sighs. “At what point did you start stealing my food, anyway?”

Donna moves her arm to rest on Josh’s chair. “Probably around the time I noticed that even though I was on salary, you still continued to feed me. I don’t think I ever thanked you for that, by the way.”

Josh turns to face her. “Wait, you knew?”

“Of course I knew, Josh,” Donna says. “It was your way of taking care of me. It’s really thoughtful, actually. One of the many reasons I fell in love with you.” 

She looks at him for a moment, studying the smirk on his face. She’s still in awe that she gets to call this man her husband - this incredibly caring, ridiculously sweet, wonderful man married her. 

“I’m going to start putting my name on my leftovers,” Josh declares

“I’ll just eat them anyway,” Donna says, leaning her head on his shoulder.

“Yeah. You will.”

[kaitycole]

Two Worlds Collide

Summary: Liam and Luke talk, Liam visits his mother’s actual resting spot and Liam goes back to Walker Ranch.

Word Count: 2014

Pairings: Drake x Riley, Jackson x Eleanor

Warnings: Mentions of character death, loss of a mother, 

A/N: Just a reminder, here’s a link to my character profiles if you’re interested. You learn somethings about a few that won’t be written directly in the series: here.

Song Choice: n/a

Part 18 of WP. To catch up, read here.

It doesn’t take Luke long at all to find Riley on social media. It also didn’t hurt that she seemed to lack privacy settings. He was a bit shocked at how quickly she replied and gave him the information he inquired. So here he sits, a foreign number on his phone waiting to be filed. Call or text? Most people his age text; the thoughts of holding a verbal conversation was just anxiety inducing.  However, would a king text? Just thinking like this caused Luke to short circuit. He decides to leave the decision up to his older brother.

Luke: It’s Luke, can we talk? (8:40 am)

Liam scrunches his face when he hears his personal cellphone start to buzz. There were only a handful of people who had the number and only a few of them actually used it. He almost ignores the unsaved number but doesn’t.

“Uhm, excuse me.” Liam stands up from the kitchen table, leaving the breakfast Riley has prepared and steps outside.

He starts typing before deleting it and starting over. He does this a few times before giving up momentarily. He really wasn’t someone who enjoyed texting, there was too much left unknown about tone and meaning. It was usually only Riley that he’d even humor texting back half the time, but he wasn’t sure about Luke.

Liam: What would you like to talk about? (8:51 am)

Luke is pacing around his room, worried he might have offended his brother. Maybe he should’ve asked Riley, or maybe she had sent him another message and he missed it. Quickly switching back to the social media app, he scrolls but finds no message detailing whether or not he should text or call Liam.

Part of him wants to just go back in time and not have sent the message, but when his phone finally buzzes, he feels relief.

Luke: There’s somewhere I’d like to show you. Are you free? (8:54 am)

Liam looks at his screen, sitting down on the back-porch steps. He really wasn’t ready to go back to the ranch or to even see Jackson. Drake had just barely forgiven him for punching Jackson and he’s sure if it wasn’t for Riley, Drake wouldn’t have been so understanding.

But at the same time, he really doesn’t want to disappoint his brother.

Liam: I don’t think I should be around Jackson today. I am sorry. (9:02 am)

Luke figured that would be the case which is why he has no plans on them being at the ranch, to be honest he doesn’t want to be around his father himself.

Luke: Good thing where we are going isn’t near the ranch, eh? Wanna go? (9:06 am)

Liam: Where should I pick you up? (9:07 am)

Liam shakes his head with a laugh, if looks didn’t prove they were related, the clear evidence of this mother’s laidback attitude surely would.

*       ��              * “It’s just up here, around this corner.” Luke says to Bastien as they drive silently. Shortly after Luke had given Liam the address of the corner store he had been waiting at, he was picked up and the two brothers started their journey.

The ride, for the most part, is silent, the directions Luke gives the guard being the only ones spoken, but it’s comfortable. There’s something about being around each other that both Luke and Liam enjoy.

“This is it. We can walk from here.” Luke says, rushing to take his seatbelt off and jump out the door just as Bastien pulls the car to a stop.

“Walk? Are you sure about this, Your Majesty?” Bastien doesn’t even try to mask his hesitation; Liam had refused to allow the guard to do any investigating/background checks on his younger brother, though the king already knew he had them waiting if he ever wanted them.

“I’m not going to take him out in a cemetery, how morbid.” Luke teases and Liam fails at holding in a chuckle; Bastien just glares.

“It’s fine, Bas.” Liam rests a calming hand on the guard’s shoulder before looking at Luke, “lead the way before you give my best guard a heart attack.”

Luke tilts is head to the right, “this way.”

They share a brief amount of small talk, mostly about things they recall about their mother. Luke has more memories but they both just find comfort in hearing about their mother, Luke asks a little about this Leo he heard about the other day.

“He seems like the opposite of you.”

Liam laughs, “I hear that a lot. But he can be a really decent guy when he wants to.”

“Here we are.” Luke points at the freshly cleaned gravesite. Liam feels a knot form in his throat as he tries to swallow it, his heart drops.

When he learned his mother had left Cordonia, he felt a relief when he went to her grave in the royal cemetery. To be completely honest, he had felt silly for all the years of going there to talk when in reality he was talking to an empty casket. But here, now, this was it. She really was here, there was no more hopeful thinking that she was still alive somewhere, this casket was full.

Liam feels himself get uneasy, his legs act as if they might give out, causing him to extend a hand to press it against the tree nearby. He’s not sure why, but he feels sick and he for a brief moment regrets not begging Olivia to accompany him; he knows it’s wrong to put that emotional burden on her, but in this instance, he needs no one but her. Luke clearly picks up on him unease and reaches out for his brother.

“I’m sorry, if it’s too much, I can go get Bastien.”

“No, no I’m fine.” He clears his throat, “I just realized that she’s really here. At home, it’s empty, but this one isn’t.”

It finally dawns on Luke that all the years that he had Eleanor, Liam grieved her. Liam didn’t get birthdays and holidays with his warm and loving mother, but instead he only had the comfort of what he thought was her resting place. He knows that Liam already told him that he doesn’t blame him, that the decision was between their parents, but how can he not feel guilty in some way? How can he just not feel as if he’s part of the reason his older brother grew up without a mom, how his other brother and sister grew up with their dad.

“I’ll uh, give you some time.” Luke waits for Liam to nod before he walks a little bit away, stopping when he sees Bastien walking towards him.

“How is he?” Bastien doesn’t look at Luke, rather his gaze is trained on Liam. It hurt him to see the King like this, he’s known him for years, watched him grow up, and Bastien himself had also mourned the loss of the Queen and guardsman. He’s been trained in various fighting styles, both offensive and defensive types, but he didn’t know anything to help the King right now.

“Better than I would be.” His voice cracks which gets Bastien’s attention, “I don’t know how he doesn’t hate me or maybe he’s just that good at lying.” “King Liam doesn’t lie.” Bastien’s voice is steady, his words clear and concise. “He’s a fair person, so if he said he doesn’t hate you then he simply doesn’t. There’s no reason for him to, is there?”

“It’s my fault he lost his mom.”

“Children often end up carrying the burdens of their parents’ decisions. Liam understand that more than most.”

Luke looks at the black-haired man in a suit, feeling an odd sense of relief even though his words were a bit riddle-like. He stands there next to Bastien, silently, allowing Liam the time to actually finally grieve.

*                      * “I’ve been doing this for years, but this time it feels awkward.” He laughs, looking at the tombstone with his mother’s name. This time is different than all the times he visited her so-called grave in Cordonia, this time she was actually here which makes him feel suddenly self-conscious about talking to her. Not to mention he knows Bastien and Luke are close by which just adds to the anxiety.

“I know I couldn’t possibly understand what you went through, how scared you must have been especially of Constantine. But that doesn’t mean I’m not mad at you because part of me is. You just left me, left me with him all alone and came here to raise your new family.” Tears start to slip down his cheeks, part of him hating the fact that he’s mad at the one woman he’s always held up.

“I won’t understand why you made the decisions that you did nor can I judge the ones you made, but I’m struggling to give that same curtesy to Jackson. You would probably tell me to judge you both equally since you were both involved in the decisions made, but I can’t. Everyone says that I was born to be King and a fair ruler,” he trails off, “oh yeah, I’m the King, Mom. Leo abdicated.”

“But how am I fair when I can’t be fair in a personal matter? Though you’d probably tell me that it’s normal to not think clearly when personal feelings are in play, that there’s councils for those moments, but where’s my council for this? I don’t want your memory tarnished in Cordonia, but other than Olivia, I have no one to talk to at court that I trust with this.”

Olivia expressed hesitation on him even coming, which is why he’s avoided calling her. Riley also didn’t care for Jackson, so she wasn’t exactly as third party as he needed nor was Drake who in Liam’s opinion was too caught up on the fact his dad was alive rather than what his dad did all those years ago.

Liam starts crying, not really caring to hide it. He wasn’t in Cordonia, he isn’t King right now, he doesn’t need to appear strong when he’s falling apart inside. He raises his hand to place it on the top of the tombstone, dragging it down slowly to trace the engraved letters of her name. His voice breaks as the sobs wedge their way in between his words, “I needed you…I need you, Mom.”

He leans his head back, letting out a deep breath and taking one in, trying to calm himself. He realizes that he never really cried at her grave in Cordonia, only ever at her portrait and maybe some how he knew, but he thinks it’s mostly because kings don’t show their emotions in public. Standing up, he pats the tombstone, realizing who he really needs to talk to about all of this, who can actually give him the answers that he needs.

*                      * “You know, today’s been pretty emotional, you can always come back tomorrow.” Luke tries to reason with Liam, mostly wanting the chance to talk to Jackson before Liam does. Though Luke can’t be sure if Jackson would even be telling the truth if he talked to Luke separately or all of them together.

“As much as the idea of a lengthy stay is ideal, I do have a country to run so I can’t drag out these things.” “Oh, yeah.” Luke is still struggling to comprehend his eldest brother’s life and title. Maybe he was being selfish, but all he really wanted was to sit down and just chat with him, like brothers do, right?

Liam smile, patting his younger brother’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, regardless of the continent I plan on being a good big brother.”

Luke looks away, cheeks blushing before he shakes off Liam’s hand, “I wasn’t worried.”

“Luke, where on earth have you been?” Jackson comes rushing out the front door, ruining the small moment between the brothers before his eyes land on Liam and he stops. “Liam.”

“Jackson, I think we have a lot to talk about.”

[confusedmocha]

Journal Entry #0210613 Regarding a New Job, a Tape Recorder and and Upcoming Trip Entry recorded 6/13/21 Written statement by Mocha Entry Begins I'd like to start off by apologizing. I didn't post an entry last week, mainly because I was stressing about a trip I'm going on soon, which I'll be talking about later, and I ended up forgetting all about the entries. So yeah. Sorry, I guess. Thankfully, that week was rather uneventful, so I don't need to squeeze in anything. Instead, I can talk about the things that happened this week! Firstly, I got a new job. I won't say where, cos, yknow, privacy (why do you guys think I never post my actual name or specific details here?), but I will say that it's basically a pet supply store. I was going to continue that paragraph, but I started slipping into customer service mode and talking about the benefits of becoming a member at the store and. . . No. Just, no. I'll just summarize by saying I'm enjoying working there and my coworkers are wonderful. Secondly, I recently bought a tape recorder! Yes, I know, I'm a bit of a TMA nerd, but I have a genuine reason for it as well. Namely, I want to do an audio diary at some point. Sometimes I don't even have the energy to write or type anything up, and if that happens on a day I'm supposed to do a diary entry (for myself, obviously, it's a separate thing from these entries), then I'm screwed. So why not switch entirely to audio? I thought about having it on my computer, but there's two problems with that: Firstly, I don't trust digital. For some reason, modern tech doesn't work with me well. I love it, and I love using it, but something always goes wrong and I end up getting fucked because of it. And this audio diary I want to do is far too important to me to risk it being digital and therefore being susceptible to my curse of not being able to operate technology without crashing or some shit. I've never had an issue with analog, it tends to be a lot simpler to use and harder to fuck up in a way you can't fix. At least, for me. So analog is what I want to use. Secondly, analog is safer. These aren't just things I've put out on the internet to ramble about my week, these are private, deep thoughts. Things I don't want people getting their hands on. And I'll admit, I'm a bit paranoid about technology. I'm always worried I'm being watched, and I'm more worried about someone hacking my shit and going through my files. Which is why all of my most important shit are copied on to physical media. Documents, paper, books, and analog things like cassette tapes. It's less likely to be taken remotely. If anyone wants these recordings, they're gonna have to physically get past me. Anywho, I've also got a trip coming up! I'm going to visit my Dad in Texas. It's been awhile since I've seen him, since it's so far away, and I wanted to surprise him for Fathers Day. I'm also making him a gift. I won't say what it is, but I think he'll like it! At least, I hope so. Oh, I also got my vaccine. Second dose of the Pfizer vaccine! I'm fully immunized, bitches! I'm so damn excited! I can go into Walmart without a damn mask on! Finally! My glasses won't get fogged up, my heat hives won't act up! Everything's really looking up now! Just can't wait to get that recorder, though. Entry Ends.

[lilydalexf]

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with MaybeAmanda

MaybeAmanda has been a longtime participant in X-files fandom. She has 29 stories at Gossamer, the earliest being archived there in 1998 and the latest in 2012. I've recced some of my favorites of her stories here before, including "Malus Genus" and "Snow in Alabama." Big thanks to MaybeAmanda for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

It does, in a way.  The feedback I get nowadays is either of the "I read this like 20 years ago and I just read it again" variety or the "I was too young back in the day but I have been watching the show in reruns/on XYZ streaming service/on the full-series of DVDs I got for $3 from the thrift store and I was THRILLED to discover fanfiction was being written even in the Dark Ages!" So it's a bit of a surprise, but it's a pleasant one. I answer every mail/comment because my mama raised me right!

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?

It was great. It was fun. It was educational. It was a godsend. Even with the occasional bouts of back-stabbing and flame-throwing, it was mainly a welcoming, inclusive place to be. I made so many online friends who have turned into meat-friends (do they still call them that? Probably not).  During the first run of the show I had small children and we had relocated for my husband's job.  I had very little social life, but the fandom gave me a chance to meet and connect with people who liked what I liked. Then I discovered online fanfic, and it was even better!

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

ATXC I think.  A lot of email lists - 5 or 6 or 7 or so over the years. Gossamer, of course, Ephemeral when that came into being.  Haven discussion boards. My own websites.

What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

More than anything?  I am a fangirl.

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

I have always been partial to sci-fi and speculative fiction, but it rarely makes it to the screen - large or small - without being trite, clichéd, or just plain bad. It's easy to forget that The X-Files was groundbreaking - smart, scary, funny, insightful, intriguing, complex plots, on-going mythology. It looked great. It sounded great. David Duchovny was pleasant to look at, too, and damn! Gillian Anderson is/was one hell of an actress.

What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

I found XF fanfic - somehow - probably by accident, or by way of a recommendation - and it blew my mind.  I had written fanfic (of a sort) with my friends in highschool, so I was familiar with the beast, but to find what amounted to excellent story after excellent story for free within (relatively) easy reach (because dial-up, right?) written by people who, for the most part, were thrilled you read their story and were happy to talk to you about it, about writing in general, about your shared obsession - that was amazing. As I am sitting here typing this I am feeling that thrill again - discovering Karen Rasch, Madeliene Partous, Paula Graves [Lilydale note: AKA Anne Haynes], Sheryl Martin and all the other early BNFs was, well, the only word is exciting. I felt like I was a member of a secret society and that I was sitting at the popular kids lunch table, all at once. (Don't forget, in the early days, shippers were considered delusional outliers - seriously!)

What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?

Good?   It's not as lively a place as it once was, but I haven't renounced my citizenship or anything. If I get a rec, I check it out. I know there are those who like to pretend they never had anything to do with the fandom, but why? I am still a proud XPhile.

Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

Angel (a teeny tiny bit) while XF was still running, but those fans were - I don't know the word.  Hardcore does not begin to do it justice. I wrote two short pieces at a friend's request then backed away slowly. Sherlock (a bit) - it is/was very LJ centred and that made it hard to find things. A lot of it moved to tumblr which made it harder, then to twitter, which - no.  I was involved in one of the less fashionable facets of the Sherlock fandom, so I was really a fringe-dweller there, too. It seemed clique-ier than XF, and they all seemed so young, and they all knew EVERYTHING about everything, and every damned thing was political, and, and, and... GET OFF MY LAWN!

But maybe I am remembering the XF fandom wrong. ;)

Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?

Like, all fiction? Mulder and Scully for sure. Arthur Dent. Sherlock Holmes in most of his incarnations. Spock. Winnie the Pooh. Why do I like them?  They speak to me, I guess.

Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?

I haven't watched an episode in probably two years (back when it was on regular tv).  Yeah, I think about them surprisingly often.  Story ideas, weirdly.

Do you ever still read X-Files fic?

I finished re-reading The Iolokus Series a couple of weeks back, so yes.  It's excellent comfort reading.

Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

Lots! But as far as authors go, I hate playing favourites. I will miss someone I shouldn't and feel like crap.  The Iolokus Series by MustangSally and Rivka T. is probably my all-time favourite fic because it's so very well-written, and so very fucked-up. Kipler's Strangers and the Strange Dead is also terrifically well-written and clever. For complex, interesting case files, you can’t beat syntax6 - pick any of them.

What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

Oh geez. Seriously? I wrote a lot of collaborations and I love them - and my co-authors - all!  Stuff I wrote on my own: Anniversary Waltz (first XF fic I wrote so it's sentimental.) Or Blue Patches. Or Epiphany. Or The Gifts of the Magi (On a Kaiser Roll). Or 221XF.  Gonna stop now.

Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story?

Every time I thought I wouldn't, I did. I would never say never.

Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?

Nothing finished ever went un-posted. All the unfinished stuff remains unfinished.

Do you still write fic now?

Haven't for a while, but it's not as if I have said "I SHALL NEVER WRITE FANFIC AGAIN!" I just have nothing in the works at this moment.

Where do you get ideas for stories?

With fic, it's usually from canon - some question unanswered, some road unexplored, some "what if?" that needs iffing.  With "original" fiction, damned if I know.  A snippet of overheard conversation, an interesting photo, something a random story generator spit out at me.  Sometimes things just click.

What's the story behind your pen name?

Okay so...many years ago I was on a (smallish) fic list with a friend.  There was a challenge posted - a bad fic challenge. We knew we could write some truly bad fic if we really tried.  One of the rules of the challenge was to post under an assumed name so no one would know who they were voting for. Well, my friend and I wrote something truly, painfully horrid and we were very proud of its ghastliness, so were brainstorming possible pseudonyms. She hated everything but had no real suggestions of her own.  I knew that she was a bit of a Trekkie (like me) and I said - What about Amanda Greyson and Joanna McCoy?  And she said  - What?? Huh?? Why?? And I said - Spock's mother and McCoy's daughter and she replied, "Maybe Amanda is Spock's mother but on Star Trek there is not a Joanna." By this point, I was SO DONE, and I became MaybeAmanda and she became NotJoanna. Really.

Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?

It took years for me to admit it, but yeah, they know.  They didn't entirely get it.  The reactions I most often got were:

"Ew! You write stuff without being forced?? Ew!!"

or:

"Is it smut? I bet it's just smut. You write smut, don't you? Pure filth, right? I can't believe you are wasting your time writing pornography! That's disgusting! You sicken me! Um, can I read some of it?"

And of course:

"If you are going to write anyway, why don't you get published and become fabulously wealthy?"

which is really two questions, neither of which is easily answerable.

Anyone who tracked my work down (because I told them I wrote, but not my pseudonym) usually said something like, "Hey! You're an okay/passable/decent writer! Why don't you get published and become fabulously wealthy?"

Yeah.

Is there a place online (tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?

Same old email (maybe_a@rocketmail_dot_com). Gossamer, my site, my LJ and probably some other places.  I can't lie - it's a bit scattered.

(Posted by Lilydale on August 4, 2020)

[ellectric-blue]

star filled nights | shigaraki tomura

☆ A/N: HEY HEY HEY @yourlostairpods​!!!!! It is I, your spring time anon, also known as ~ (＾▽＾). I LOVED talking with you!!! Coming up/sending asks and reading your answers was just so much fun 🥺asdfhgjlaskjdf I knew I was gonna go with this idea on like the 3rd day but ofc I left it for Monday and ended up changing it completely 🤪 Anyway, if there’s anything you want me to change PLEASE lmk, I wanted to make this perfect for my favorite airpod burner ;) My brain still decides to change the ‘lost’ with ‘burnt’ in your URL and I’ve decided to stop fighting it 😌 Also, I have no clue how ACNH works, so just imagine new leaf but on the switch :P._

☆ pairing: shigaraki x reader

☆ summary: it’s your league-iversary and shiggy has a surprise :)

It had been three years since you joined the league and you were certain no one would remember your league-iversary. After all, you never made a big deal out of it and avoided mentioning it. The memory of League rescuing you all those years ago is not one of your favorites.

You had just graduated from the hero course and got a spot in one of the best agencies in all of Japan. You got to work under the #2 hero as one of his sidekicks. However, you would soon learn it wasn’t what you were expecting at all. The heroes here weren’t exactly heroic, choosing which crimes to pursue and who to help depending on how much media coverage they would get. All that mattered was your rank. This led you to become disillusioned with hero society. Was this really what I trained for all this time? One night, while scrolling on the internet, you stumbled upon a video with Stain’s beliefs, something you’d never thought you’d agree with. However, it all made sense.

Eventually, you tried to take matters into your own hands. You planned to take your agency’s files and release them to the public, endangering undercover operations and the lives of many heroes. At this point, you didn’t really care. They’re doing it for fame anyway, you thought. You infiltrated the office, but your ex-coworkers quickly noticed something fishy was going on. Right as you were about to be caught, ending your career as a villain before it even started, black mist encompassed the room and you were transported to the League’s base. Over the next three years, these people, who you once believed to be heartless criminals with no morals, would become you new family.

As you reminisced about the start of your adventure, you could start to see sunlight coming from the slightly ajar window. You sat up from your bed and placed your feet on the cold floor. Today was meant to be a quiet day. The League didn’t have any mischievous plans and the heroes hadn’t bothered them for a while. On days like these everyone does their own thing, and everyone gets to bond. Jin, Toga, and Dabi usually hang out and play board games, much to Dabi’s dismay; Spinner and Compress watch and critique movies; and Shigaraki and Kurogiri play video games. In reality, Shigaraki was the only one playing videogames. Kurogiri just kept him company while he watched. You switched between the three groups depending on the day, you loved how, although you all had your different interests, you could bond over silly things like games and movies.

You walked over to the couch in the center of the room and sat down next to Shigaraki. Kurogiri took this action as his cue to leave. At this point, it was impossible to deny the feelings you had developed for your fellow League member. After everything you had gone through together, you were sure of your feelings but never had enough courage to confess. Thankfully, although they don’t like to admit it, most of the League is completely oblivious to details, and after all this time, only two people caught onto your feelings. Kurogiri, who never mentioned anything until you asked him why he always left you and Shigaraki alone, and Dabi, who you confided in after a long night of talking.

You made sure to leave enough space between you and Shigaraki to fit a small cat. Once Kurogiri knew about your feelings, he explained that the reason Shigaraki keeps most people away is because he could never forgive himself if he accidentally activated his quirk around one of the League’s members. You waited patiently in silence for Shigaraki to finish his opponent in smash. It was a known rule that one should wait for Shigaraki to finish whatever match he’s playing, for if you didn’t, he would lose and that came with even worse repercussions.

“Three years, huh?” Shigaraki said with a soft smile, not taking his eyes off the game.

“You remembered?”

“Of course, how could I ever forget the moment I met my favorite member?” 

You could feel your heart pulsating behind your eyes, his favorite member? That couldn’t be right. He finished his opponent off with rapid, constant pressing of the buttons and turned to face you, his eyes were squinting a bit while he gave you a closed-lip smile. 

“What do you wanna play, y/n?”

Although he claimed he was a hardcore gamer, you knew he was secretly obsessed with Animal Crossing. 

“I could show you my Animal Crossing town, I bet my town is prettier than yours,” you knew that by challenging him would certainly make him want to play 

“That’s a lost bet y/n, I am a master at Animal Crossing.”

“You can’t be a master, you’ve only been playing for the past few months.” 

“Just wait and see.”

He pulls out his cartridge and you pull your console out, loading the game you’ve been working on perfecting since before you even joined the League. You had the Beautiful Town Ordinance and had built most Public Work Projects, there was no way he could beat you at this. That was until you actually saw his town. Shigaraki had the most intricate town you had ever seen. It was Japanese themed, and he managed to remodel the Town Hall and the train station. He had laid down paths and completed all the stores in Main Street. His museum was full, he had all the fruits, native and non-native, and even his villagers were perfect.

“H-how did you manage to make all your villagers cats?” you choked out, flabbergasted at how wrong you were. 

“I traded my old villagers online, noob.”

It was an understatement to say that you were jealous and embarrassed. The town you had been working so hard on all this time was not even comparable to the one Shigaraki operated. You had been trying to get rid of annoying villagers like Vladimir and Webber for years, and he got all your favorites in mere months! He even had Chief, who had always been your favorite.

“You win Shigaraki,” you muttered with your head down, looking defeated; although not for long, for you challenged Shigaraki to play the island games with you. Your refined expertise thanks to years’ worth of practice would certainly give you an advantage. 

If it weren’t for the real-time mechanisms of the game, you two would’ve never noticed it was already dark out.

“Don’t you love how the game changes with time?” you asked with a shy smile, getting to spend all day playing games with Shigaraki was not an everyday occurrence. 

“Not really, it makes it harder to see and I have to turn the brightness up,” disagreed Shigaraki. 

“But look,” you pointed at the screen, today seemed to be a really special day, “we got a meteor shower.”

Before you could say anything else, you could feel four fingers pulling at your wrist. 

“I’ll show you something cooler, close your eyes.” 

You let out a quiet okay while you stumbled to your feet and let yourself be dragged. You walked carefully up some stairs and then heard a heavy lock open, followed by the creak of a bulky metal door. Shigaraki guided you forward by your waist until you touched a cold, metal handrail. He gently pushed your forehead down, making you look up.

“Open your eyes.” 

As you did, you could see the sky littered with glowing white dots, accompanied by a full moon on the side. After taking in such a sight, you turned to Shigaraki who hadn’t let go of your waist. Behind him, there was a massive cherry blossom tree. His skin was glowing under the moon and you wondered if this was the right moment. Shigaraki pointed at the sky. 

“You see that group of stars over there?” 

“Yeah, isn’t that Ophiuchus?” 

“Maybe,” said Shigaraki with a chuckle; “I like to call it angry Kurogiri.”

You burst out laughing. It does look like an angry version of Kurogiri with his hands on his hips, staring you down in disappointment. 

“If that’s angry Kurogiri then this one over here is Toga when she sees that one UA student.” 

“Fair, and that one over there is Kirby with his mouth open.”

As you continued to rename famous constellations, your gazed slowly shifted to Shiggy. His crimson eyes were shining with happiness. It was a rare sight to see him so lively outside of accomplishing a mission. He looks back at you and you couldn’t help but blush. A shy smile taking place. You look away, trying not to think about it. Where we having a moment? No, you couldn’t have, Shigaraki doesn’t do relationships._ But what if…_

The two of you continued gazing at the stars and next thing you knew your shoulders were touching. You look back at him and he takes your hands, making sure to keep his pinkies up. 

“Shiggy? What are you doing?” 

“Something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.”

With that, he softly lets go of one of your hands and carefully places it on your chin, bringing it up so that your lips meet his. You felt like a firework show was going on inside you. As you separated, you slowly opened your closed eyes and saw that the cold night wind blew the pink sakura flowers in a way that they flew around you. It felt like a stereotypical shoujo manga scene, but you couldn’t care less. You softly caressed his face, surprised at his actions. 

“Tomura.”

When you said his name, you could see the glint in his scarlet eyes deepen, prompting you to kiss him back. This time, it lasted longer, and you could feel his rough lips against your soft ones. He let go of your other hand and placed it on your waist, pulling you closer until you were completely pressed against him. You could feel his rapid heartbeat, and he could feel yours. The rush of adrenaline and happiness you were feeling made you wish the moment would never end, but you separated, pulling for air. As you looked into his crimson eyes, with your body completely pressed against his, he opened his mouth to speak. 

“Will you be my player two?”

[yeoldontknow]

hi kat 🤧☹️ you’re always so calm and supportive in times like this. i really see your as an older sister on tumblr sometimes even tho i’m too shy to directly message you. but with everything happening with chanyeol i don’t really know where to go. i’m starting to believe some of it is true simply because not saying yes doesn’t mean you’re saying no either. and everything with raiden and now baekhyun is confusing. it’s really hard to be online now and i’m getting stressed. i just wanted to 1/2

know how you felt about everything or get your perspective. if you can’t answer i’m really sorry for bothering you with it. i’m sure you have lots of messages about this because you’re one of his biggest fans. but you’re so calming and even if you tell me it will be ok i’ll believe it because you’re so wise. i’m rambling now i’m sorry 😔🥺 anyway i’m really looking forward to chanvember. don’t overwork yourself too much. i can’t wait to see what’s in store 💚💚

hi anon. this is really sweet! i appreciate that you see me as this sort of...bog witch mountain creature who brings comfort through my fics or something lmaoo that really makes me smile. its ok to be shy. if this is comfortable for you then anon asks are always welcome. i understand you tho. it is hard to go through any kind of issue like this. expectations and reality very often dont align and when you respect a person, and love them in some way, seeing the collective shift in this way is difficult. more than anything else id like to advise you that - the collective opinion does not have to be yours, and more than that, he is human. everyone is human and not a single person, idol or otherwise is free of flaws or darkness. some people have darkness that is deeper than others, and that is their responsibility to work through it. whether or not you decide to continue to stan, believe his innocence, or his guilt is up to you, and is your business. the same way his personal life is his business.

so more than anything hold onto that. the collective opinion has no power over you. and i know its hard to persist in your own opinion. it takes courage. but maybe thats a lesson for everyone, too.

as for me. i rely on facts. facts of what my own eyes saw, facts of connection, and facts of what i know about the way the music industry works. with social media and technology being what it is, theres a culture of immediacy around things which brings about impatience. and in a lot of cases, yeah, its important to react quickly. but its not ok to react quickly if responding with haste is to a detriment of your case. in my eyes there is a reason things are happening the way they are, and it has nothing to do with guilt. i was raised on the belief a person is innocent until proven guilty, and i hold to that value.

legally, it is more than probable he cannot make a statement until documents, timelines, and files are compiled. its reckless to do so without those. i also know that SMs half hearted statement likely came  down to the burden of unsigned contracts - this is not just in chanyeols case. its in all of their cases. beyond sm, chanyeol has brand partnerships to maintain. theres 3 active campaigns, and i can almost assure you the ink is not yet dry on something else hes trying to establish. on top of other connections to make in order to promote his studio as a production company. its a hustle. its a PR team and a legal team implicated - but its not just his. its baekhyuns, for his name being brought in. its the studio’s because its not just a studio for chanyeol’s work - they just did the exhibition for jean basquiat which is happening right now. its a lot of contracts and lawyers doing damage control, and pushing someone for a yes or no before his legal team even can give an all clear is, again, reckless.

my belief of his innocence is my opinion. the fact that there are legally binding ways in which the music and art industry works is facts. my recommendation is to consider what you know to be factual and arrive at your own conclusion. i hope this helps