#chaotic podium chat

[feraltwinkseb]

"I don't get my leg so high because I'm not a woman."

[surshica]

PRINCESS TREATMENT

: CL16

genre: stupid fluff, social media (smau)

warnings: translated french

A/N: let’s ignore everything that happened in this gp! this is my first EVER f1 fic so ernmmm bare with me! i’ve had this like whole thing in my head for a while but i was just too lazy LMAO ANYWAYS i’m also deprived of some fics..ENJOY ?!!

synopsis: soft launching a relationship with charles — charles leclerc x streamer fem!reader (fc: tina kitten)

yourusername

liked by lilymhe, alex_albon, georgerussell63, charles_leclerc and 793,610 others

yourusername when he gets the princess treatment instead of me..

user1 my streamer is in a relationship..🫠

user2 this means we can’t be parasocial no more…I HOPE THIS “MAN” CAN FIGHT.

alex_albon okay tell him to stop being clingy so you can play goat simulator with us

yourusername he said, “they suck at the game so they can wait, i like the princess treatment” soo…

user4 as much as i want to theorize and say it’s an F1 driver it’s unlikely…she’s just a twitch streamer.

user8 “just a twitch streamer” my ass..as if she isn’t the biggest streamer and influencer

user4 i mean itd be a downgrade for a professional to date a non professional athlete or like model or idol🤷‍♀️

charles_leclerc okay little buddy it’s past your bedtime

charles_leclerc aww so cute (HOP ONTO GOAT SIMULATOR LANDO IS BEING ANNOYINGGG)

landonorris okay buddy..don’t make me use THE blackmail.

charles_leclerc

liked by yourusername, carlossainz55, tomholland and 2,072,473 others

charles_leclerc my jpg era? nahh

user3 okay so are we going to talk about who took these photos cause i know damn well you didn’t take them..

yourusername whoever styled you should get a raise

charles_leclerc i’ll tell her that, it’ll inflate her ego some more

yourusername she doesn’t deserve you 😐

user5 HOLD ON. HER?? IS HE IN A RELATIONSHIP AS WELL.

user6 this is kinda suspicious..what if.

user2 WHAT IF????

user6 what if yn and charles are 🤞

carlossainz55 charlie finally got a sense of style !!

pierregasly groundbreaking ‼️

user9 okay but why does he actually look good in this outfit..

user10 f1 twt going crazy over this fit

liked by yourusername

yourusername

liked by charles_leclerc, landonorris, georgerussell63 and 628,927 others

yourusername stream today!! we’ll be playing among us vr with *drumroll* landonorris and georgerussell63, be sure to tune into it today

user1 WITH THOSE TWO??? it sounds chaotic..

user10 HMMM….

charles_leclerc where is my invite ☹️

yourusername you said no because chat would laugh at you..

charles_leclerc this makes it seem like those two are your favorites…

yourusername they are.

charles_leclerc hand back the paddock passes<3

yourusername IM JOKING HAHA YOURE MY FAVORITE!!

liked by charles_leclerc

user5 bye they’re literally flirting.

liked by charles_leclerc and yourusername

user6 THE HEART AFTER PADDOCK..am i seeing this correctly

user2 what if you actually predicted it…

alex_albon i can already hear lando screaming..

landonorris slanderous.

charles_leclerc

liked by yourusername, pierregasly, landonorris, lewishamiliton, alex_albon and 1,729,168 others

charles_leclerc désolé mon amour le secret est sorti..😅❤️

user6 YEAH I KNEW IT. everyone who made bets pay up! i do apple pay venmo zelle paypal

user1 bye you’re so unserious 😭

user3 aye they tryna make bank i don’t blame them

user2 it’s like they’re a mastermind..IS CHARLES GOING TO WIN THE NEXT GP?!?

user6 yes. he is going to podium and be at least 2 or 3

yourusername you couldn’t wait just a little longer..not till your next gp? ;;

charles_leclerc my fingers slipped!!

yourusername fat fingers!

charles_leclerc that’s not very nice chéri:(

yourusername yeah no more princess treatment for you.

charles_leclerc HEY NOW…THATS NOT FUNNY.

landonorris are mom and dad fighting..☹️

charles_leclerc i hope you never get imposter when you play amongus again

landonorris HEY MAN TOO FAR.

user11 “mon amour” BYE. I DONT EVEN WANNA KNOW HOW LONG THEYVE BEEN TOGETHER.

user10 the pictures..THE PICTURES. sleeping on a highway tonight 🤞

user4 interesting choice in a s/o…

user7 the floating lantern picture…I JUST WANNA KNOW WHO WAS THE ONE THIRD WHEELING THAT THING.

yourbestie that person would be me 😍

yourbestie took y’all forever, im surpised charlie brown over here didn’t spill the beans earlier

charles_leclerc who are you calling charlie brown? 😒

yourbestie you.

@ surshica | rb & follow.

[sidemenxyn]

Harry & Y/n moments caught on camera!

Tw: language, minor injury, alcohol/mentions of alcohol, mentions of drugs, blood and I believe that’s it!

Afab reader

–—–

There is a clip of Harry on stream and you had just come back from Starbucks. You walked into the room and saw Harry on stream and tried to be quiet. Harry turned around after hearing the door open and closed, he smiled “Hey Y/n” you smiled “Hi Haz.” Harry mentioned “don’t worry about being quiet, ok?” You smiled and nodded. Walking over to him you handed him a drink as he looked up at you “is this for me?” You smiled “yeah, got it just before I left so it should be still warm.” He beamed with excitement, smiling he stood up and gave you a kiss “thank you babe.” “Your welcome, I’m just gonna sit on the bed and watch you stream.” He smiled and nodded as he loves your company when he streams.

One time your were streaming later in the evening, you were streaming because Harry had a few of the boys over and they were watching the ufc. So you decided to stream and let them do what they want. And of course Harry and the boys had a few drinks so he was a bit tipsy. One thing about Harry is when he’s drunk he can get clingy. So when the ufc was done he went straight to your office room. You heard a knock, so you spun in your chair and asked “yeah?!” Harry opened the door. You smiled “hey Harry, you ok?” He nodded and asked “can I join you?” You smiled and nodded. Standing up as he walked over and sat in the chair you were sitting in seconds ago. You sat on his lap as he wrapped his arms around your waist. He smiled “what you up to?” You replied “I am making a zoo.” He asked “give me a tour.” As you were giving him a your you can already see the fan edits and the chat spamming cute things. Every so often he would give you a kiss on the cheek.

It was in the cold vs hot football video ChrisMD filmed, you and Harry were on the cold team. And for a forfeit if you missed a goal, you’d remove a item of clothing. And as you already had your coat and sweatpants off you were now in your leggings and T-shirt. It was now your go and sadly you missed the goal. So you walked back over to Harry, Reev, Ethan and Chris. You asked Harry to hold your mic while you took your shirt off. You looked at the camera and joked “Chris is trying to kill us with hypothermia!” You laughed with the boys as you slipped your shirt off. Now wearing your sports bra and leggings. You shivered, Harry saw that so he walked over to you and hugged you from behind and put your hands in his coat pockets. This was another fan edit filled moment.

You both were filing gta with the boys, since you play the game more than Harry, you were better. So when you were done with the race, you could hear Harry going off on his antics about the game. So being the amazing girlfriend you are, you went to his office. You sneaked in and took the controller, shushing Harry as he giggled too loudly and he flew up three podiums. The boys grew suspicious and asked ‘if Y/n was doing it’ he replied “nah just got that random motivation from somewhere.” You then got him to forth place.

You both were cooking for your channel, when Harry grabbed some flour and at first he made lines as a ‘drug joke’ making it look like cocaine. You laughed “Harry don’t do that to the fucking flour!” You both were laughing the whole time. Then he glanced at the camera, a mysterious glance that turned into a flour war. He threw some flour in you, not even a second later you both burst out into a flour war. What made it even funnier was that Calfreezy just came home from going out. And when he saw all the flour and the two culprits, his jaw dropped “what the fuck are you pair up to?” It was like a parent finding their kids doing something they shouldn’t be doing. What a chaotic video that was.

In a sidemen video, you two were on the same team. It was the America holiday one. You, Tobi, Harry and JJ were sitting outside with the camera crew. Making some s’mores, you all heard a bear growling. Harry jumped and screamed so did JJ, you and Tobi were laughing. You spread your arms out and stood in front of Harry “I’ll protect you Harry!” You all heard it louder again this time you jumped; Harry grabbed you and pulled you into him out of reaction. You grabbed the second baseball bat, you all ran towards the door and tried opening to find out it was just the speaker. You shouted “fucking scared the living shit out of me!”

You and Harry attended Chip’s pub crawl video and as a forfeit Harry had to do karaoke. So to ease his nerves of singing in front of a crowd, you did it too. You both sang ‘Mr.Brightside’ and you were loving and so did Harry. He found some confidence with you there and doing it with him. So this made the video and made it the ‘wholesome part’ and yes, more edits!!

You were making some food, when you had cut your hand with a knife. It wasn’t a big cut but it did bleed. So you ran into your shears bedroom, forgetting Harry was streaming. You ran into the bathroom and went to the sink and started running the water. Harry was concerned and asked “are you alright, Y/n?” You said “I cut my hand while cutting potatoes.” You and Harry can’t stay serious with anything so as you both stared at each other for a moment you both started laughing. Yes it hurt a bit but laughing made it somewhat better. Harry spoke “how the fuck did you manage that? Were you cutting with your eyes close?” You laughed “I did blink when it happened so? Kinda?”

“HARRY!” You shouted all the way from the living room. He was streaming once again. He ran into the living room thinking your hurt or something. He sees you in a ball on the sofa “what?! You ok?!” You pointed to the other side of the sofa. That’s when Harry’s eyes met the massive spider on the sofa just next to where you were sitting. “What am I supposed to do?!” “I don’t know?! Kill it?!” “I’m not kill-” “just do something!” He went over to the kitchen and grabbed a cup. That’s when the spider thought it was funny and crawled towards you. You jumped off the sofa and ran over to Harry, your hearts beating fast and your somehow out of breath. You hid behind Harry as he got the spider and placed it outside the front door. You closed the door quickly and went back to watching your show. Harry walks back in and continues his stream. The chat kept asking what happened so he explained “a fucking spider was on the couch next to Y/n, so obviously I had to deal with it and then it crawled at her.” He looked at the camera and giggled.

You both were in a sidemen reacts with Tobi and Simon, watching worlds biggest animals (you can see where this is going…) and as Harry did the intro he added “low and behold, Y/n’s mums on screen” and of course it was a fat animal. You gasped loudly and joked “right! I’ll come beat you up, you know!” Simon asked “isn’t Harry in Guernsey?” You replied “and so am I, I’m upstairs.” Meanwhile Tobi is laughing his head off. You said “hey, wait till my mum sees this, she’s gonna beat you up next time she sees you.” Your all laughing to the point you almost can’t breath. And yes, your mum did (playfully) punch Harry when you all met up.

[l-mint-l]

Blooming Panic: Dress to Impress Headcanons

all characters

Quest-

Ok outfits

I feel like he wouldn’t take the game that seriously 

and probably gives pretty high ratings because he doesn’t really care about winning

Either forgets to pose or only does like 3

Has to look up most of the prompts

Nightowl-

The best outfits imaginable

He doesn’t even need to try that hard to slay

Probably wants to increase his chances of winning and votes conservatively 

Does like as many poses as possible on the podium 

When he sees a good outfit he rates appropriately though

Wins top 3 almost every time

Doesn’t need to look up what any of the prompts mean, just knows what to do

NakedToaster-

Silently rages over the game a little

He goes all in on his outfits but usually don’t come out the greatest

Wants to win so he votes everyone one star

Spams random poses

Has to look up a lot of the prompts but after a while memorizes them

Xyx- 

Just messes around in the game for the whole round

Puts on anything and makes the most atrocious outfits on purpose

Does the pose 28 repeatedly each runway walk

Doesn't even look at the prompt

June-

Very good outfits

Sometimes adds things that dont really fit with the theme just because she likes the clothes 

Has like a few select poses she uses each round and clicks them at a reasonable speed

Understands most of the prompts but usually keeps a page open to reference

OnionThief-

Refuses to play

But if someone manages to convince him then very reluctantly trying to win

His outfits aren't the best and the fact nightowl beats him every round frustrates him

Doesn't pose at all

He has a list of all cycling prompts and keeps reference images of all of them on hand and organized

BigLady-

Plays just for fun and doesn't really care about winning

If they're playing in the voice channel likes hearing everyone being competitive in the game while laughing at their antics 

chooses some poses she finds funny and just uses those at a reasonable frequency 

Has pretty good outfits and usually gets in top 4 

Understands the prompts but sometimes uses references

Two2-

Gets kinda competitive but not too serious about it

Joins BigLady in observing the others antics if it’s being played in the voice channel

The two of them joke about everyone for days after they’ve played

Has decent outfits but the outfits do get a little chaotic looking sometimes

Spams random poses

Has to look up a lot of the prompts

salociN-

Oh boy

First 3 rounds didn’t understand how to put on items and had trouble walking around in game

Once he gets used to the mechanics a little(with the help of quest and biglady)

His outfits are not the best but he doesn’t really care

Doesn’t pose because he can’t really figure it out still

Votes everyone 5 stars because he thinks everyone's outfits deserve a high vote

Doesn’t understand the prompts

Has one of his children next to him explaining what the prompts are or if he’s in the servers voice channel June or Nightowl explain it to him

Societyboy-

Gets toxic about it

The most atrocious outfits imaginable even though he’s trying

Doesn’t pose cause he’s too busy arguing with people in chat that his outfit is actually good

Has to look up a lot of the prompts

Smashes keyboard when he gets last place(it’s inevitable)

[axerocknroll]

My thoughts on the triple header:

I don’t even know where to begin, I think we all got overdosed by lestappen content in the last three weeks. Starting with Charles’ Pole in Austin and with him and Max talking before doing their interviews and clicking the picture for the top three in qualifying. 

Mexico was a total banger with lestappen being posted and mentioned on RBR socials, F1 socials, Max’s inchident tiktok (that man knows it by heart, obsessed he is). And we also got lestappen podium. The smiles they had on their faces during that podium. 

Brazil qualification, fantastic (although extremely chaotic!)

Lestappen P1-2 and not to forget, Charles’ Austin 2022 sunset lap finally got a parallel, with Max’s Brazil 2023 storm lap (he was sunshine, I was midnight rain- these two are so Taylor coded). And the post qualification debrief? All that chit-chatting, Max ignoring the interviewer cause he was busy talking with Charles. Charles after finishing his interview, immediately walking towards Max, who was literally staring at him and not to forget that when Max was getting interviewed, Charles was just three feet away from him. Charles reaching out for Max’s waist during the top three qualification picture?? I can’t believe Charles initiated it this time. Poor Lance though, he now understands what third-wheeling is. Let’s all welcome to the third-wheel group with Checo, Lewis, Carlos, Lando and whoever else has faced it. 

RBR having Charles’ data on their pitwall? What is going on? Lestappen being mentioned on F1 official page again? Ferrari posting the inchident meme on their socials. MAX CALLING CHARLES, “CHARLIE?” I always knew that Max is the typa guy to call Charles, “Charlie!” It’s one of my headcanons. “Charlie, I have some space for you,” this is gonna be ingrained in my brain forever.

Also, when Charles came in the top three for sprint in Austin (I think), Max had his arm wrapped around Charles’ waist and today when Lando and Checo were in the top three, Max held his trophy instead of resting his arms around them. SUS IF YOU ASK ME. 

Now, as a Charles fan first and foremost, this triple header was not at all good. The disqualification cause of the plank issues, FUCK YOU FERRARI. The only good thing out of the disqualification was the rise of 1644 nation. I absolutely love the development in their relationship. With the collaborative post and with Charles’ weird ass blue filter on it too. Lmao. And then the picture of Lewis took of Charles in Mexico, WHICH HE POSTED ON HIS MEXICO DUMP. Insane! And Charles even said that him and lewis have to definitely play chess together someday. I’m gonna cry, I like need a pic or video biblically of that.  

And now the booing that Charles faced in Mexico, absolutely disgusted by that behaviour. It was not Charles’ fault. He didn’t deserve the booing. He couldn’t even celebrate it properly on the podium. 

And Brazil today, did I mention, FUCK YOU FERRARI?? I’m literally one more vein popping away before I fly to Maranello, Italy and stab the people responsible for today’s disaster. What has Charles ever done to you? For him to receive this sort of treatment? Honestly, half of their team should be fired, ASAP. 

Out on formation lap is just embarrassing from Ferrari’s side, why the fuck didn’t they check the car?? “We’re checking” is not a good answer. 

I’m literally writing an email to Piero Ferrari after this rant. Strict action has to be taken at Scuderia Ferrari, starting with firing Xavi and everyone who created sf-23. I don’t give fucks at this moment. Happy to know that Charles has stopped wearing those ugly ass fuck red quail pants though. I’m loving him in the non-ferrari merch. 

I am happy that we only have two more races with this tacky, ugly, motherfucking, shit ass of a car. BURN SF-23 after Abu Dhabi. 

[luisjuanmilton]

Yesterday I went to the Mexico City E-Prix and it was one of the greatest and most chaotic experiences of my life roll the highlights:

• I bumped into Stoffel first and he was incredibly sweet and even stayed to chat with me and my friend for a solid 10 minutes

• I saw Pascal running somewhere and basically screamed at him to stop and he did before doing a little jog towards me and giving me a signed card, he also took his airpods off to talk to me we stan a polite king that’s why he won

• I asked one of the Porsche engineers to get Andre to come out of the garage for a bit and he actually did and we talked in Spanish!! He told me all his favourite things about Mexico it was great

• Sam Bird was signing caps so I approached him so he could sign mine and as he was signing others I asked him if he could take a picture of me when he was done and he said yes and when he was about to leave he said “wait someone asked me for a picture!” and I said yeah that was me and he took my phone and took a selfie and then I told him “I always knew you were the nicest one” and he actually cackled

• Jev was running to the bathroom and I yelled at him (in french) to please stop and come over and he said “okay just give me a second” and then he went into the bathroom and came back out a few minutes later and kept his promise he was the sweetest. I even told him about the Juan Eric nickname and he thought it was so nice!! Amazing man

• Speaking about Jev I saw him post-podium and he sprayed me with champagne so I teasingly told him off for it and he actually apologised and gave me tips on how to get it off my hair. I’m still not over that

• I also met Max Guenther and he was the embodiment of a sweetheart we chatted a bit about the Mexico circuit and how hard it is to drive here because of the altitude and a girl next to me called him beautiful so he blushed super hard it was adorable

• Mitch Evans was also super nice, there was a ton of people waiting to meet him and he said he had no idea he was so popular in Mexico and that every race should be here from now on <3

• Oliver Askew ran past me and I held my hand out for a fist bump which he gave me but it was too hard and we both audibly groaned and I said “fuck there goes your career” and he giggled

• I also tried to talk to Alex Sims but he actually ignored me and then he went on to DNF so take this as a reminder not to wrong me (I’m kidding he was probably busy and he seemed nice)

• And finally I saw Nyck walking somewhere and I approached him to say “congrats on being the first dutch world champion” and he smiled super big and shook his head before saying thanks it gave me life

[burnedbyshoto]

Because of You

todoroki shouto x fem!reader

warnings: :’)

word count: 1,820

a/n: so....... I felt like I needed to write something other than smut..... so, we back on my todoroki shouto loving bullshit!!!!!!! please enjoy this, I love this so much!!!!!! this was also a request by an anon:)

✩✶✩❇✩✶✩

“If I know what love is, it is because of you, y/n.”

Shouto shares those words, his heart hammering away as he stared at your face. His lips pressing together as he stared at the audience in front of him. They were expecting a heart-moving speech. They were expecting words that would resonate within them for ages. They wanted to cry with him, and they wanted to feel his heart, his love for you. Camera’s were on him, his fingers shaking as he looked at his prepared speech. Words he’s looked at millions of times. It’s thick in his throat, tears forming in his eyes as he still smiles. There’s noise within the crowd, and Shouto sighs, looking over at you. His will steeling over as he stares back out into the crowd.

You are his world, his everything, the reason why he smiles. You are the reason why even after his life shrouded with hate, with darkness. He stands with a kind perspective.

“If you don’t know anything about y/n, I can summarize her essence in a single story.”

✩✶✩❇✩✶✩

“Do we really need to go out on patrol?” You sigh from the bed. Your hair is messy, falling chaotically in your face as Shouto dresses for the day. “We’re going to be out there with Deku and Bakugou, I think we can call it off for today!”

Shouto glances over at you, a chuckle on his lips as he shakes his head. “They’re covering the north, we have the south.”

“They are all weirdly territorial, I am positive if I piss off Bakugou enough, and edge-on Deku they’ll take over for us!” You moan as Shouto walks over to you, his costume fastened completely. A stark difference to your pajama-clad state. He sits on the bed next to you, a smile on his face.

“I’m sure that would work, and while I think there is nothing better than staying in bed with you, we have to go.” Shouto sighs, his hands brushing your hair away. You pout, but he watches on amused as you climb onto his lap. Your head leans against his chest.

“I know,” You mumble as Shouto wraps his arms around you, and the two of you fall silent. “I demand all the cuddles in the damn world as soon as we’re done.”

“Of course, my love.” Shouto agrees, and a defeated noise escapes your throat as you slip off his lap. “I love you.” He says cheekily, and you flip him off. Your hands grabbing your discarded costume on the floor and slipping it on.

Shouto can’t keep his eyes off of you as you change. Your form was alluring and beautiful as you finish up.

“Alright, Todoroki, let's go!” You bark, turning on your heel and walking off. You moved as if he was the one making the two of you late. Even so, Shouto could not stop the butterflies in his stomach as he slipped a black velvet box into his pocket.

✩✶✩❇✩✶✩

Shouto laughs as the crowd stirs in humor of his story of you.

You were such a pain sometimes, but it didn’t matter to him. It didn’t matter then, and it sure didn’t now.

No, especially not right now.

Shouto looks back at his carefully pieced speech. An overwhelming need for him to stray from his words. He doesn’t though, he knows that’s a one-way ticket for him bawling in front of hundreds of people he didn’t know well enough. He stares at the next sentence, his eyes returning to your face for support.

Your expression makes him stop breathing as he faces forward again. His jaw clenched as he nods his head slowly.

“I wish… I wish I could explain to y/n the way her eyes look when she’s happy. I wish I could explain to you how the sound of your voice never fails to give me butterflies. How your smile makes my heart skip a beat without fail, and how every time I am with you… I am complete.”

Shouto wipes a tear away. The crowd is silent again, and he looks down at his suit. The black jacket formal and fitting, because you loved it when he dressed up. You loved the way he looked like when the two of you attended balls and fancy events. Your hands never left his person because you were so in love with his different wardrobe. Not that you disliked his personal style! You just were so vocal about how sexy he looked when he was in a suit and tie.

“Y/l/n y/n, there is nothing that I wouldn’t do to make you feel my love for you.”

✩✶✩❇✩✶✩

Shouto watches as you walk beside him, your hands shooting out to wave at fans. He chuckles as you easily take pictures with your fans. Shouto falls even more in love with you as you squat down to talk to small children.

It’s bad how focused Shouto is on you. He was unintentionally ignoring his own fans. A smile on his face as they took pictures, but it wasn’t for the camera, it was instead for the woman who held his heart. The velvet box in his pockets only feeling heavier as they approached the corner. The corner where he planned to propose.

You didn’t have a single clue it was coming, and Shouto was very thrilled about that.

You stood back up and joined Shouto as the two of you continued walking. Your warm smile never leaving your face as you continued greeting fans. Thankfully, they were all in passing, and no one was able to stay and chat.

“You okay, Shouto?” You ask, noticing your boyfriend’s almost erratic breathing. Well, it wasn’t erratic per se, but a lot more elevated that he would typically breathe at. Yes, you knew these things. “You’re not freaking out, are you?”

Shouto shakes his head. He denies your words as he feels the corner of where he would sink to his knees approaching. It's all coming at a faster rate than he remembered. His heterochromia eyes locked on your e/c one’s deeply worried, but Shouto shakes his head.

“Sorry, you just take my breath away,” Shouto whispers to you, and he chuckles at the way your eyes widen. Your face snapping away as you feel embarrassed. Your hands cover your face as you groan.

“Why are you so cheesy!!!!” You whine, a smile embellishing your features as you take a step closer to your boyfriend. Your head leaning against his shoulder before pulling away. Your eyes are wide, your expression unbelieving.

“Shouto, what is this?!”

✩✶✩❇✩✶✩

“Y/n is someone I believe we should all admire. She’s a true hero. A f-fearless individual who always puts others before herself. No matter the situation, no matter how beat down she is, she always is the first to ask if you’re okay.” Shouto curses under his breath, the tears still falling down his cheeks as he looks at your face. 

It encourages him to continue, but Shouto wants to give up. He loves you. But he never felt he needed to proclaim his love in front of people. Especially to those who didn’t need to know anything about it in the first place.

“Love is not what you say, instead it is what you do. Y/n never fails to make me feel her love.” Shouto gasps this line into the microphone, his hands clutching the paper as he tries to continue. He’s doing this for you after all, but he’s breaking at the seams. “Fuck, y/n… I love you so, so much…”

✩✶✩❇✩✶✩

Shouto is heaving, his eyes wide as you’re crying.

Your hands are tangled in his hair, your breathing quick, tears spotting your rosy cheeks.

✩✶✩❇✩✶✩

He stares at the speech, the words looking phonier by the second. So he does it, he discards the kind and inspiring message. His emotions bleeding through his sleeves as he almost snarls, his chest hammering.

“Why the fuck didn’t I agree with you? We could have stayed at home, and you would be okay?”

✩✶✩❇✩✶✩

You shake your head, taking the ring and placing it on your finger. The bloody mess that surrounded your body invisible against the black concrete.

“I-I’d… I want t-to marry… marry you.” You whisper as Shouto binds your wound. Ice applied to the breakage of the skin, but it’s too deep. “I’ve been dreaming… about this since… fuck, since the day I met you.”

“Shut the fuck up, y/n.” Shouto hisses, his overwhelming emotion making him bark at you.

“Look at me…”

“No.”

“P...Please look…”

✩✶✩❇✩✶✩

“I’m broken because of you now! The only thing I do these days is think about you and all that we had! A-All that we were going to have!” Shouto’s words are heavy, and the pain in his face is palpable.

Sobs break through the crowd. The harsh reality of what this speech was about ringing clearly through the crowd.

✩✶✩❇✩✶✩

“I want you to be happy.” You whisper as Shouto presses harsh, chapped, and broken kisses onto your lips. His promise to keep you alive a fleeting memory as your skin begins looking miscolored. The sirens of the ambulance are nearing. But the pained sobs wretches through both of your bodies. Sobs that keep the hope from stirring within either one of you.

“You’ll find a beautiful woman.” You whisper. “Make her happy, b-because my love… you never failed me. o-once”

“Stop talking, idiot!”

“I love you, Todoroki Shouto…”

“I love you, y/n… please don’t close your eyes love…. y/n! Fuck, y/n don’t fucking close your--”

✩✶✩❇✩✶✩

Shouto clutched the podium in front of him, sobs rattling his body as he shook his head. This was a bad dream, it had to be a bad dream. You were so young, so beautiful, with so much laid out for you in the future.

“When you died, you broke my heart… and no matter how hard everyone tries, it’ll never be the same as it was before.” Shouto’s sobs had stopped, the crowd in tears as they stared at him. “I cried because of you, laughed because of you. You taught me to love and showed me that there is something to believe in. But now, I’m heartbroken because of you, and you’re not here to teach me how to undo the damage.”

With only a blast of cold air, Shouto left the stage. Hands clenched, body trembling. He couldn’t stand to see your tranquil body in a coffin. A mockery to the life you possessed.

And because of you, Shouto would never be the same.

[knjnvrland]

Prank Wars - ch. 3

> pairing | jungkook x reader

> word count | 3.2k

> genre | college!au, fluff, smut, angst

> warnings | swearing, alcohol consumption, sexual innuendos

> synopsis | College can be a stressful time in anyone’s life as it is, why don’t we throw a little prank war in the mix to make it harder?

> fic masterlist

> A/N | English is not my first language, I’m sorry for the eventual spelling mistake, please let me know if you find any!

Chapter 3 - Adding Wood

“Dude please, you have to help me” Taehyung was at Jungkook’s place way too early in the morning, already bothering the younger one.

“Just let it go” Jungkook rolled his eyes, grabbing himself some cereal and pouring it into the bowl on the table. Cereal first, milk later, whoever thinks otherwise is a psychopath.

“I can’t! Someone uploaded a picture of it to the school's twitter gossip page and now I can’t go anywhere without being called a fucking tampon!” The incident at the party happened over a week ago and people were still talking about it. For the first few days it was actually kind of funny and Taehyung played along, but after trying to get a girl’s number and getting a no from her because of it, he finally decided he needed to get his revenge. “Beside that, you were the actual target, don’t you want to do something about it?”

“Not really.” Jungkook answered with his mouth full. “It’s not like she actually got me, and I’m not into the idea of fueling the weird vendetta she has against me.”

“But if she tried once she probably will again!” Taehyung finally took a sit and stopped his pacing, trying to convince his friend using a different approach. “I know my sister, she won’t stop at that.” That was a lie, he knew you were not really one to hold grudges, and whatever it was that Jungkook did to you had him surprised just as much as anyone else at how you reacted, but he was saving that picture of you for so long now, just waiting for a justifiable chance to use it, and this was the perfect opportunity. 

Jungkook finished his cereal and started to grab his stuff to head to class, with Taehyung always behind him, blabbering about the stupid plan. It wasn’t even that big of a plan, really, just publishing an old photo of you on that same twitter page, the old 'an eye for an eye' thing. He was only bothering Jungkook so much because Jungkook actually knew who ran the account, and had kept it a secret from everyone else. “Fine! Okay, whatever, just send me the stupid pic and I’ll make sure it’s up by tonight.” He gave up. In the year he knew Tae, it was obvious the bleached hair boy was not keen on giving up, specially on a dumb idea.

“Thanks! But wait until we’re all together tonight, I can’t wait to see her face.” Taehyung hugged Jungkook from behind, receiving a shove from the other boy’s elbow, and followed him outside.

You were all at Jin’s apartment that night, it was game night and your older brother was trying to establish some sort of new tradition. Hoseok was just finishing his over complicated explanation on the rules for War when you got the notification. It’s not like you used social media that much, but the appeal of the twitter account grew on you ever since the accident and checking the new comments under your brother’s picture became part of your morning routine and made your days begin at least 5% happier because of it. Even if he wasn’t the real target, that shit was amazing and a few of your classmates even stopped you to comment on it, the embarrassment of it all washed away quickly.

And that’s why you were left absolute speechless being betrayed like that by same website that made your week great. You must’ve been about fifteen when that picture was taken. You were going through some sort of late horse phase and had been taking horseback riding classes all summer, and on the last day of it there was a competition where you placed second. In the picture you were at the podium, still wearing your helmet with hair wet from sweat sticking in odd directions. You had a pink shirt that read 'I love horses’ on it and matching pink boots. Your smile was wide and your braces were on full display while you held your silver medal. The picture was cropped, of course, seeing as Tae wasn’t on it and you remember clearly that he took those classes with you and was standing right beside you when your mom took the photo. You looked like such a child, no boobs, no hips, ridiculous choice of clothes. You took your time growing up, being the baby of the family, and now looking back you could totally understand why your only friends were your brothers. You loathed that picture ever since, and was sure that you had destroyed all evidence it ever existed, but apparently someone saved a copy. Your train of thoughts was interrupted by a laughing Jimin sitting across from you.

“Oh my god y/n” he had tears in his eyes already, and the commotion made Alice scoot closer to peep at his phone and see what was so funny anyway.

At that everyone took out their phones to check what the fuss was about, and a big laughter erupted all around you. Your eyes laid on Jungkook, the only one laughing that did not have his phone out as well. “Why are you laughing?” You tried to ignore the multiple questions your other friends were throwing at you.

“I bet he’s the one that posted it” Yoongi stated and everyone could see the minute you started to shoot daggers through your eyes.

“How did you even get that?” Namjoon had his phone out and was sharing the screen with Hoseok, but only the dancer was paying attention, taking a screenshot of the page. “A few years back she purged that photo from existence”.

“Or so she thought” Taehyung had this side smile on his face and it took everything in you to not slap it off.

“It's not that bad honey” Alice, who was sitting beside you, squeezed your shoulder “It’s a childhood pic, we only know it’s you because we’re close, no one else will recognize you” You were still speechless taking your friend’s phone from her hand and pointing at the description with the photo. ‘Local drink thrower used to be a horse girl, let’s hope she doesn’t use a horseshoe next time’ and then, as if it wasn’t obvious already, they had tagged your account.

“They left out the best of it” Jungkook blurted out, and everyone’s attention went back to him.

“So it was you” Your voice was barely audible.

“It was Taehyung, actually, I just helped” he shrugged “and it could be worse, I sent it telling them you were a teenager when it was taken, not a kid”. Tae bursted out laughing again, followed by Jimin.

“At least it’s a glow up, y/n” your pink haired friend stated “you're hot now, it gives people hope”. 

“Hey, that’s my sister” Jin warned.

“And she. is. hot.” Jimin insisted, earning himself a slap in the back of the head from the eldest of the group, but winking at you anyway.

You could appreciate what he was trying to do, as well as Alice, who still had her hand on your shoulder. You had heard stories of similar things they posted about each other last year, so no one was really bothered with Jungkook’s and Taehyung’s actions, but it still made you uneasy. You were still new in college and already so many things were being spread about you. The fact that everyone knew your friend group didn’t help, and you hoped you could survive the rest of the school year, at least. 

Everyone’s attention went back to the game they never began, but Jungkook’s eyes were set on you. He felt a bit sorry, of course, but you seemed to take it okay as you grabbed a card to read your goal on the game, not bothering to say anything to him. Seeing you at the party he expected a bit of a bigger outburst, and when you barely reacted he worried he crossed a line with the stupid prank, but then, just as you finished your turn and everyone’s focus was now on Namjoon, you looked straight at him and mouthed “I'm gonna kill you”. He didn’t quite know what he got himself into, but he knew he was in for a ride.

A month had gone by and Halloween was approaching fast. Between classes getting harder, school work starting to pile up, and a few overnights already at the library, you had spent way too much time thinking of a way to get back as Jungkook, but was not really successful. That is, until you overheard Hoseok and Namjoon talking while the three of you were having lunch together.

“Wait, backtrack, what halloween party?” You interrupted the boys conversation.

“It’s at Delta Sigma’s again” Namjoon clarified “but it’s dumb ‘cause it’s not even a dress up party, they’re just using halloween as an excuse to get drunk again.”

“And what’s the problem with that?" Hobi stole one of Joon's french fries, having finished his. "We could all use a bit of fun before things get chaotic with university work.”

“The problem is” Namjoon stole it back and ate it “it's not a halloween party if we’re not dressing up.”

“Of course it is, if it’s on Halloween’s night-" before Hoseok could continue, and you knew the two of them could go on like that for hours -you’ve seen it happening-, you took your chance.

“Okay I’m sorry to interrupt but I need your help with something” you smiled big, the kind of smile that told them nothing good was coming their way, the kind that had your friends terrified of you, the kind that they could not say no to.

You ended up getting everyone on board with it, they all still felt a little bit bad about the photo prank, and once you convinced Alice -who never wanted to do anything bad or, as Yoongi would say, fun- it was pretty easy getting the rest of them. You faked conversations for days on the group chat, and you were surprised at how everyone was able to keep a secret for so long, but finally the day was here.

It was hard thinking of an excuse as to why Yoongi could’t be Jungkook’s ride to the party, but after a bit of bribing, Taehyung offered to take him before he could ask the older one. He still owned you, anyway, and he should be glad he was not the target of this prank as well. That being settled, you all made the effort of getting to the party when it was actually supposed to start.

“What’s taking him so long?” You asked out loud, not to anyone in specific.

“Have you tried texting your brother?” Yoongi was beside you and heard it. He wasn’t one to talk much when he was still sober, so the two of you normally sticked around each other, specially when Alice was as hyper as she was now, taking advantage of the fact that you got here early when there was still good alcohol around, and drinking as much of it as she could with Jimin.

“Dude, is it always like this when we get to places on time?” Said drunk boy threw his arm around Yoongi.

“You would know if you tried every once in a while” he moved away from the embrace, and Jimin took the cue and hung himself around you instead.

“Nah, only y/n could make me do this” you smiled thankfully at him, and was distracted for a moment when some sort of commotion took place at the room near you, where the front door was located.

You untangled yourself from Jimin and marched there without a second thought, and you had just spotted Taehyung leaning over a wall when someone screamed “Who hired the clown?”. And there was Jungkook, still midway at the entrance door, dressed head to toe as a circus clown. Laughter erupted everywhere around the room and you could even recognize Jin’s loud one somewhere behind you, but you were too focused at the boy staring straight into your soul. Jungkook had locked eyes with you and you took your sweet time smiling victoriously back at him. No words needed to be said for him to know that it was all your doing. Some guy from the fraternity came towards him and patted him on the back, and Jungkook responded by laughing along and making his way inside. You knew he was embarrassed by how red his ears were, and by the thumbs up your brother sent you from across the room, but he was a good sport and played along with it, taking pictures, getting in character and smiling along with the jokes. You were a little annoyed at how well he was handling it, but you already knew he was just that type of person and honestly, you could even appreciate him a little bit for it. You got cold feet a couple hours ago, when you were getting ready, and even tried to call it off, but Alice, of all people, stopped you. You would have felt horrible if he actually was hurt by the prank and the pictures that would go around after tonight were enough to satisfy you as far as revenges went, you didn’t need the boy feeling bad as well. Jimin snuck back beside you and pulled you in a commemorative embrace, and you followed him to the dance floor. Your mission here was done, now it was time to have fun.

And you tried to, but your plan backfired a bit when every now and then a girl would approach your friend group and ask for Jungkook’s number. But apparently that was a normal thing for him at parties, as Jimin had pieces of paper already with Jungkook’s number written on them shoved into his pockets.

“He wrote his number a bunch of times and distributed amongst us once last year, but I still menage to find pieces of paper with it in every pocket of every pair of pants I own” Jimin took a bunch out, to prove his point.

“How are you even friends with him?” You couldn’t hold back a laugh.

“What can we do? He’s a crackhead, but he’s our crackhead” he handed you a few pieces of paper and you threw them up like they were confetti.

For the rest of the night you’d have to stop whatever you were doing so Jimin could hand someone Jungkook’s number, but it didn’t matter because at the end of the day, he would still be known by all those girls as the boy who showed up dressed as a clown, and that was good enough for you.

After the party things quieted down for a bit, as everyone’s work load got heavier. The pictures of Jungkook as a clown still made a few rounds and became a meme amongst your friends, being sent as an answer to basically everything. He pretended to be annoyed at first but couldn’t really keep up with everyone and just gave up, you won. It was already mid November and Jungkook was not really thinking of a way to get back at you. He was a little afraid to keep adding wood to that fire, but his pride was a little bit hurt. And then, the perfect opportunity was handed to him on a silver tray.

There were a few of you at the boy’s place. Jungkook and Taehyung were playing videogames, while Alice, Hoseok and you were at the kitchen cooking dinner. It was a chill and uneventful Wednesday night, and you gathered just because no one had anything better to do. You were just  telling your friends on the new updates you got on the guy you were currently crushing on.

After Jungkook’s prank, you ended up getting drunk with Jimin and Alice and bumped into the same guy you met at the previous party you went at Delta Sigma, he was still bright eyed and handsome, but now he also had a name: Ray. Even his name was cool. You ended up dancing together and talking a bit, but never got around to exchanging phone numbers, so you haven’t seen him since. You had a vague memory of him mentioning his major was something related to engineerings, and one of your classmate’s girlfriend was a chemical engineering student, so you asked her to look around, but with no success, and that’s what you were updating your friends on.

“I could ask around to the guys, if he frequents their parties someone must know him" Hoseok said, occupying his hands with the peeling of a piece of string cheese.

“I don’t want to seem like a stalker, though” you stood up to check the oven, where you were waiting for the potatoes to be done “and maybe he’s not even interested, I told him I was in lit, he could have looked for me”.

“Maybe he just forgot babes, you were both pretty drunk” Alice pointed out.

“As if I was the only one” you teased back “but seriously, I don’t want you to go out of your way to find him, if it’s supposed to happen, it will”

“It’s up to you, you know I wouldn’t mind” Hobi finished his cheese and stood up to get another piece from the fridge “and besides, you’ve been so stressed out, a good lay could help” Alice glared at him and you scoffed.

“Hobi, not even the best sex of my life could ease the stress of trying to finish that damn Bukowski paper” You played along, as Jungkook approach the counter and reached for a piece of sliced tomato on the other side.

“Bukowski? I like his stuff” you rolled your eyes at him and went to get him another beer, knowing the reason he made himself present could only be that.

“Of course you would” you handed him the beverage and, while chewing, he signaled ‘two’ with his hands, letting you know Tae also wanted one.

He took it and went away for a second to deliver the drink, but came back to the same spot “what were you even talking about, anyway?”

“Y/n likes a boy -ouch” Hobi started to answer, and Alice kicked him under the table, but it was already too late, Jungkook’s eyes were sparkling with curiosity.

“So the ice queen has a heart, who’s the poor soul?” He was trying to get a reaction out of you and you knew it.

“None of your business” You took the potatoes out of the oven “and get out of my way before I throw this at you”

“You have terrible aim” at that, Taehyung joined Jungkook hovering over the counter “and look, Tae’s even here, I’m safe” you rolled your eyes and decided to not further the little back and forth. Hobi and Alice were already setting up the table and you urged the two younger ones to help and stop bothering you.

They listened, not really because of you but more so because of the other two around you sending them warning glares, and the evening continued nicely, with everyone even forgetting the conversation about the pretty boy. Well, not everyone.

> A/N | We're starting to get savage here. Have a nice day, wherever and whoever you are :)

TAGLIST  @w1tchcraftt

TAGLIST IS OPEN!

[puppetsoftomorrow]

okay so imagine: the trapped in the tv ep but with only british tv shows - if ur not british i'm sorry!! hopefully this will still be funny for you lol

No one was fazed as the classical music rang out overhead, and Nate and Mick waited patiently for it to finish. The pair were stood next to a low table, set on lush green grass and under a backdrop of a clear blue sky and a large country house, with people milling around and chatting, just quietly enough not to be heard over the music.

The logo flashed faintly in the sky, and Nate coughed, adjusting his glasses slightly.

"Well, here we have a lovely piece - a mantle clock, looks to be 17th Century, possibly Russian," He started, tipping the clock back slightly to get a better look at it. "Can you tell me a little more about how you came to have it?"

"It stole it." Mick shrugged. "It looked expensive."

"And you'd be correct." Nate said, waggling his finger to emphasize his point. "Made by an early pioneer of this type of time-keeping, Rip Hunter, the craftsmanship is just - exquisite, and there's not even - oh, there's a small dent here."

"Probably from when I hit Rasputin over the head with it." Mick said, and Nate nodded sagely.

"Well, even with that, it's extremely valuable - you don't see many of these pieces, I'm very honoured to be evaluating it. What do you think it's worth?"

"From the age and quality, I'd want a couple million." Mick grunted.

"And what would you use the money for?" Nate asked, and Mick shrugged again.

"Put Lita through college. Some for the Legends, buy more condiments."

"That sounds fantastic. Well -" Nate started, then paused for an unnaturally long time. Everyone held their breath. "I think, at auction, it could fetch up to £3 million."

Behind them, the Legends cheered, Ava punching the air. Mick nodded, then picked up the clock in his gloved hand wand walked off, swinging it as he did so.

///

The music faded out, and Sara shut the book she was reading, smiling widely. The nursery she was in was quiet, the children having not yet arrived for the day. "I didn't see you there! I'm Sara - what's your name?" She said, voice bright and bubbly.

There was silence for a few seconds, and Sara nodded, despite no one replying.

"Ah, of course. I'm so glad you're here - I need your help." She stood up, eyes wide. "There's a giant octopus named Tagumo terrorizing the village - and we need a special treat for the bake sale! But who should we ask for help?" She scratched her head in an exaggerated thinking motion, then stood up and walked backwards to the large, colourful map that hung on the nursery wall.

"We could ask - Ava the Bureaucrat?" She asked, pointing at a point on the map.

Ava popped up on screen, dressed in her suit and surrounded by stacks and stacks of papers, threatening to topple at any moment. She gave an exaggerated shrug.

"No, she's too busy. Maybe Nate the Historian?" Sara said in a sing-song voice.

At the top of a pink castle, a hand was waving.

"No, he's stuck at the top of his castle. Maybe Zari, the Cat Chat celebrity?"

Zari was on her phone but started to wave as the camera zoomed in on her.

"Yes, that's it! We'll ask Zari, the Cat Chat celebrity!" Sara said, smiling widely. "Come on, let's go to Zari's house!"

Sara walked through the quiet streets of Waverider, avoiding the large chunks of stone that were being thrown her way by an angry octopus. It was a sleepy seaside town, with brightly coloured buildings and extremely predictable weather, and she loved it. She stopped in front of the yellow house and knocked on the door.

"No! It's mine!" "It's mine!" came the muffled voices from inside.

"Oh no! I think Zari's having an argument with her brother Behrad." Sara said, eyes wide. "Let’s see if we can help."

She opened the door, where Zari and Behrad were having a tug of war with a small bracelet. Sara stood, hands on hips, with an exaggerated frown.

"Z! B! What's this?"

"It's my turn with the totem!" Behrad whined, and Zari stomped her foot.

"No, dummy, it's mine! You used it to beat Genghis Khan last week!"

"Did you two forget our last lesson, when we learnt about sharing?" Sara said, and the two broke apart, looking distinctly guilty.

“No, Miss Lance.” They said in unison.

“Good.” Sara said, smiling brightly. “How about – Zari, you use the family heirloom to capture the giant octopus, whilst Behrad and I make a treat for the bake sale!”

The pair brightened up. “Sounds great! We can make a Behrad brownie!” Behrad said brightly, moving towards the kitchen, when Sara put out her arm to stop him.

“Uh oh, did you forget something?”

Behrad struck his palm on his forehead with an exaggerated sigh.

“Whoops! Here you go, sis.” He said, passing the totem over. “I’m sorry I wasn’t sharing nicely.”

Zari shrugged, slipping the bracelet on. “I’m sorry too.” She said, and the pair hugged. When they broke apart, Zari blinked.

“Wait -”

///

The tannoy overhead started to play classical music, overlaid with the booming voice of an announcer. "DC's University Challenge! With your host - Raymond Palmer!"

The lights went up on the studio and Ray sat at a desk, smiling widely at the audience, shuffling his cards.

"Good evening and welcome to DC's University Challenge!” He said, barely being heard over the sounds of the audience clapping politely. He waited until they’d started to quiet down before beginning again. “Our first team tonight is the Time Bureau, a secret government organisation that has produced several bureaucrats, a multi-million-dollar magical creature theme park and around a dozen clones. The organisation has just under 1,000 employees and ranks number two in the inter-governmental department softball league. Their team tonight includes -"

"Hey! I'm Mona Wu, and I'm reading creature care and getting in touch with my wild side!" Mona said, waving and smiling brightly.

Gary coughed. "Uh - Hello - I'm Gary Green, and I'm studying as an apprentice of the dark arts under John Constantine."

"I'm Nate Heywood, and I'm doing a second PhD deductive historical reasoning and turning into steel." Nate said, giving the camera a mock salute.

"And finally, their Captain -"

"I'm Ava Sharpe, from 2213, and I'm reading how to move on from clone based psychological trauma." Ava said, nodding with a tight-lipped smile. She looked at her team – they looked good, all dressed in the Bureau suits. She hoped it would be enough to beat their opponents.

After the clapping ended, Ray gestured to the other side of the studio. "Our second team tonight are the Legends, founded in 2016 by Rip Hunter. Although seen as the underdogs, they won a comfortable victory against the Legion of Doom in the first round, answering questions on the French Revolution, punk rock and African oral history. With a combined age that's impossible to calculate, lets meet the team."

"Hey, I'm Behrad Tarazi, and I'm studying the air totem - but if my parents are watching, I'm studying .... business." Behrad said awkwardly, fiddling with the bracelet around his wrist.

"Hi, I'm Charlie, I'm from before the concept of time, and I'm reading loom weaving - and also shape-shifting." Charlie said, waving to the audience and adjusting the Beebo mascot they had placed behind their team name.

"I'm Mick." Mick grunted. There were a few seconds of silence before Ray spoke again.

"And their Captain -"

"Hey, I'm Sara Lance from Star City. I did two tours with the League of Assassins and now I'm reading kicking ass across the time stream." Sara said, pointing her finger guns towards Ava and winking, which caused the opposing captain to blush.

Ray set the cards down. "Right, well, we all know the rules, so I'll just get started. Your starter for 10 is - in the novels of Rebecca Silver, how many breasts does the alien queen Garima have?"

Mick was on the buzzer, but Mona was quicker. "Three!" She answered excitedly.

"I'm sorry, in the most recent novel, Death of a Rogue, she is revealed to have a secret fourth breast. Another starter for ten - the 1995 film Swamp Thaaang, written and directed by Greg Berlanti, was based on the memiors of what creature?"

John slapped the buzzer decisively. “Swamp Thing.”

Ray nodded and the crowd went wild. “Correct. Your questions will be on marine life. How many penis’ does a shark have?”

The team formed a little huddle, and Behrad shrugged.

“Anyone got any -” Sara started, but John cut in.

"Two." John said.

“Are you sure?” Sara asked, and John nodded, wincing slightly.

///

“Welcome back to – Top of the Pops!”

The lights came up on the little podium where Astra was standing, holding the slim microphone between her fingers, and she smiled widely.

"So, your top five this week is Doctor Mid-Nite with ‘Year 3000’ at number 5, Ava and the Clones with ‘The One and Only’ at number 4, Rip Hunter and Wally West with ‘Careless Whisper,’ entering the charts at number 3, and that was the JSA, staying strong at number 2 with ‘Kids in America.’ But, coming in hot at number 1, with their new hit ‘American Idiot’, it's the Legends of Tomorrow!"

Astra swept her hand towards the stage, where the lights came up to rapturous cheers from the audience.

"We are the Legends of Tomorrow - and we're here to change your destiny!" Charlie shouted into the mic, just as Mick started up on drums. Nate’s hands hovered over his bass guitar, looking over to Sara, who winked at him as the chords of her electric guitar rang out over the cheering audience.

///

(shows featured are - antiques roadshow, balamory, university challenge and top of the pops)

not featured: ava's very short episode of 'who do you think you are', the legends very chaotic stint on strictly come dancing and a master chef ep where the only food they make is mush variants

okay should i keep going!! should i post this on ao3? i wasn’t gonna but if ppl want me to i can :) thanks for reading!!

[finalcreacher]

Something Not Quite Wrong, But Not Quite Right || Ch. 3

T/W: Panic Attack, Anxiety, Implied/Referenced Homophobia (it’s like one or two comments made by Betty, and they’re a little iffy)...will add more triggers if asked!!

Reminder- Jones IS Jughead, it’s a little confusing right now, but will be explained soon.

Please make sure to read the previous chapters first before this one.

Word Count: Just Under 2k

Masterlist

Betty, admittedly, had spent more time thinking about Archie Andrews that summer than any times previous. It was something to do with finishing her first year of high school, mixed in with her summer internship- she was feeling, almost, grown up. Able to take on any world challenge that she happens upon- including her big crush on Archie. Kevin even spent the evening of the Pop’s meet up hyping her up about it in her bedroom.

Kevin was always good for that. He liked chatting about cute boys, and drama and the everydays of high school life...and what they’d do if they weren’t in Riverdale, and bound by parental expectation (the last part holding mainly true for Betty). It’s all stuff she couldn’t talk with Archie about (for obvious reasons), or Jones- who had always preferred artful movies and scary stories over anything Betty and Kevin enjoyed. Jones would always input his own playful quip to conversations- which she liked. She liked that he tried to connect in his own way, and sometimes what he said made her laugh- but it wasn’t the same with Kevin.

And as bad as it was for her to say- Kevin was always more of the girl friend, than Jones ever was.

But it was that night, with Kevin helping her get ready- that she told Archie. Told him she liked him. She was bound with so many nerves she could hardly notice how off-put he seemed. Not by her, in particular- but in a general sense. Caught in a haze. It didn’t really dawn on her till after they had left Pop’s, and she was laying in bed, grinning at the thought of how he likes her. And it hits her so suddenly, Betty almost feels sick.

She doesn’t mention any of this to Kevin. Who she’d previously tell everything to. And she certainly doesn’t tell her mom, who’s still so worked up over Polly running away with her red-headed boyfriend- that she thinks her mom might have a heart attack if she found out her and Archie were anything more than friends.

And she doesn’t talk to Archie about it at first- and then, before it gets too much, she confronts him. Though, less confront (Betty was still working on that strong, confident attitude that other girls seemed to have), and more so confirmed what they’re feelings meant. With all the bubbly feelings that surged through her that night, she didn’t think that far past telling him. It was all confusing and odd and a new terrain past that. She supposes as Archie’s first...whatever they are...that they’d both be going into the unknown together. Which was still scary, but comforting to know.

She lets him know over text. It’s well read, with no spelling (or grammar) errors. She asks him if this means she’s his girlfriend. And Archie replies with an odd “of course!” followed by a smiley. Betty gets that over bubbly feeling again, and tries not to think about the smiley face too much. She tells him she wants to keep it on the down low- and Archie says he’s okay with that.

And while Betty, who said she wanted it on the DL, and knew it was safer this way- still felt strange when Archie said okay.

When they meet up the first day of school- Betty’s nervous. It’s the same nervousness that she had at Pop’s. But the way Archie smiled at her, and held her hand all the way to the school doors- it made her heart swell with joy. And maybe, the smiley face text isn’t something to fret over- it’s just the beginning of this after all. And she feels safe, and okay, and almost confident when she walks into class that day.

///

Betty meets Veronica that morning, having volunteered to show her around for a while before school starts. Except, when she meets Veronica- it’s not who she expects. The school counselor would give Betty a sheet with the kid’s name and classes- so she could be prepared for their arrival.

“Hey, you must be Jaime- I’m Betty.” She reaches out a hand to her.

Veronica tries hiding a grimace, and replies politely, “It’s Veronica, actually.”

“Oh, I’ll make a note of that,” she smiles, crossing off the name on the top of the sheet, and writing her real name in cute, cursive letters.

Betty tells her about the history of the school, and V jokes about the outdatedness of it- and it makes Betty laugh more than it should. And before they know it, other kids are filtering through the halls- including her best friend, Kevin. He tags along, excitedly clasping his books between his arms and introducing himself.

“Oh, you must be the gay best friend- sorry,” she lets out a forced, nervous laugh. “It’s nice to see I’m not alone here.”

Kevin arches a brow at her, not wanting to pry too much. But the gossip queen in him took over- “So, you’re gay, too?”

She laughs, “Something like that.”

The three of them stop by a cluster of lockers, and the hallways were crowding with students. Stuffing their lockers with books and sweatshirts and other miscellaneous objects- that definitely weren’t all school related, as they should be- before being shut forcefully shut. It was a loud and chaotic event, and yet Archie- who’s putting away his books almost noiselessly, and appears in his own world- who receives the full attention from the group.

“Oh, he’s really cute,” Veronica smirks, and eyes Archie, who’s putting books into his locker. “He’s not taken, is he?”

“He’s not but, Betty’s got eyes on him-” Kevin starts.

Betty cuts him off in a blushy, awkward way. “We’re actually dating.”

He looks at her with wide eyes, “Woah, when did that happen?”

She smiles, “I’ll tell you later, Kev.” She turns back to Veronica, who’s looking guiltily down at her hands.

“I’m sorry, really,” Veronica rushes out. “I never would have said anything- I wouldn’t if- I’m trying to be better than I was at my last school.” She admits.

Betty wasn’t expecting that, but smiles at her response. “It’s okay,” she tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear, giggling. “It’s still new, even Kevin didn’t know. Sorry about that, Kev.”

He rolls his eyes dramatically, “Okay, Betty. But next time, you’ll have to tell me all the details!”

With that, Kevin scampers off to class, leaving Betty alone with Veronica again. “Sorry, again.”

“It’s fine, Veronica,” she smiles back at her- and Veronica seems to ease just at that. And really, it was fine. Betty had always noticed in chick flicks, how the girls would get insanely jealous when other girls made eyes at their boyfriends’. And Betty, truthfully, should have felt more jealous than she did. She wasn’t sure she’d tell Kevin about that though. “Let’s just get to class, right? You can meet him at lunch.”

The girls walk to class together, and afterwards head to the gym- where an all school assembly was being held.

///

Archie should have known the moment he walked into the gymnasium- with his sweaty, shaky, palms and knotted stomach. How the room buzzed with noise from people he’d known since he was just a kid, and how it should have felt comforting and familiar and it just made him nauseous. All of this should have been warning enough for him, but he still filed in with the rest of his classmates, and sat in the bleachers. What was worse- was he wasn’t by any one of his friends. All forced to sit near kids you’d come from class with. They were all people Archie knew but he didn’t know like Betty or Kevin. They didn’t feel safe.

There’s a small section with a podium and chairs. The principal and vice principal and a few other staff members are seated- and one of his classmates who he recognized (because of course he recognized her- who wouldn’t?) as Cheryl Blossom. As pretty, respectable, rich Cheryl Blossom. With a fiery attitude like her red hair. She’s bold and bright and a little viscous. And she’s always intimidated Archie, if he’s honest.

Archie wasn’t sure what the assembly was for, or why Cheryl was standing up there with the faculty. It wasn’t that people hadn’t told Archie on purpose- he could handle big news, whether people would like to think it or not. But rather it wasn’t good news- and no one was jumping at the opportunity to let him in on it. And Betty would have, really, if it hadn’t involved her sister. But telling someone that your sister and her boyfriend ran away over the summer? It wouldn’t be on the top of your list.

It was scary and hard for Betty to think about- and she was sure, even with all the working Archie had done, that he’d have at least heard about it. In any other circumstances he would have. But Archie had spent a vast majority of the summer stuck in his head. Cloudy and unsure.

To say that when the principal stood up to the podium, and gave way for the Blossom to speak- he was surprised was an understatement. He tries to listen to her closely, but loses track early on. He supposes he’ll just ask Betty or Kevin afterwards for clarification. He finds his eyes wandering around the crowds, nearly forgetting about the Not Good feeling he’d walked into the room with.

And there it was again.

It’s when he locks eyes with her. Long hair pulled in a professional ponytail.

His chest tightens and he can’t breathe. He tries to gulp down air but he has to be Good Archie. Good, Respectful, Obedient Archie. He can’t be disruptful, so he tries to do it quietly. They’re shallow breaths. He tries looking away, but the same uneasy- unsafe- feeling stays with him. He shakily gets up, and sneaks from the group of students. He’s not sure if anyone sees him- his head too cloudy. The one thing he’s sure of, is he can hear his heart pounding in his ears as he stumbles out of the gymnasium. He turns the corner, and hits his body all too hard against the wall- falling to the ground, knees curled by his chest.

He gasps for air, and it’s sharp when it hits his lungs. Even with the oxygen, he still feels as if he’s suffocating. He’s breathing feels labored, gasp and gasp and gasp- and then he hears a garbled voice, and he can just barely sense someone crouching down beside him.

“Hey, Arch- Archie.” It’s calm and firm. “Can you hear me, buddy?”

Archie instinctively freezes- and part of him thinks he should leave. He’s not sure he could, even if he wanted to though.

“It’s just me, Archie.” The voice sighs, and combs a hand through their hair- a beanie held in the other hand. They fix the hat back on. “It’s just Jones.”

“Can I touch you?” Archie doesn’t respond, but he’s not as shaky as before. Jones reaches a hand to his shoulder, and Archie freaks out.

“Woah, woah,” Jones takes his hand back. “Easy there, Arch. Do you know where you are?”

He doesn’t respond.

“You’re at school. Riverdale High- you know, the Bulldogs?” He tries joking.

He doesn’t laugh, and it’s that miserable ache that fills him up instead.

“Arch, c’mon, man.” It’s a desperate attempt- he can hear it in Jones' voice. How they try to stay strong and calm, yet it wavers as they comfort him. He hates to make his friends feel like this- not entirely sure what ‘this’ even was.

Archie falls into his arms, sniffling and crying, and Jones holds him tight- as if they hadn’t had a falling out that summer and they were still best friends.

[averagejoesolomon]

I’m back, baby!  Thanks for your patience.  My house is a MESS, but Matthew continues to call out to me, so here’s another chapter of Full Circle.  You can read the whole thing on Ao3.

Chapter Ten

This church is different from the one back home.

Back home it’s all warm woods and sparkling stained glass.  It’s plush, burgundy carpet and a massive, golden organ that swallows an entire wall.  Come Christmastime, the altar is overtaken by vibrant red poinsettias and come Easter, tulips and lilacs take their place.  He walks in past a trickling baptismal fountain, and his mama spends the first twenty minutes chatting across the pews.  Someone keeps the candles lit, even while he’s away.

The chapel at Fort Jackson feels more like an office than anything else.  The gridded tile hangs low above his head and each chair folds up at the end of services.  The air hasn’t flowed down here since the sixties, and the windows are made up of great, dense cubes of glass.  Music stands act as podiums and a full sized American flag hangs flat against an otherwise bare wall.  It’s clear that this room serves a number of different functions, converted weekly into a space of worship rather than acting as an uninterrupted place of God.

Matt doesn’t mind.  Not one bit.  When it comes to faith, he ain’t all too concerned with looks.  It’s enough just to show up.

And he has.  Shown up, that is.  Every single week.  There are a number of factors that contribute to his perfect attendance—an excuse to get out of Sunday morning cleaning, a really nice priest, the faint yet persistent fear that God Himself will smite Matt if ever he goes a single week without worship—but in the end, it’s just easy to be here.

In the chaotic, uncertain exhaustion that fuels Army Basic Training, religious service is a necessary familiarity.  Maybe this church looks a little different, but they read the same gospels.  They say the same prayers.  He knows when to sit, when to stand, and what to say.  It’s a slice of Nebraska, wedged in between the South Carolina skies, and he finds an unexpected comfort in it.  What once felt like a chore is now a welcome routine.  For the first time in his life, church comes as a desire, rather than an obligation.

He’s thankful for the quiet as he says his final prayers for the week.  Peace of mind is such a rarity when he is constantly surrounded by soldiers.  For one hour a week, he’s allowed to unwind, melt into his thoughts, and let the Big Guy handle things.

Although, it does seem like it’s been more than an hour.  And maybe it is a little too quiet.

He peeks out over his palms, surprised to find that he’s the only man left standing—or kneeling, as the case may be.  Around him, the chairs are all crooked and empty, his platoon long gone, and Matt looks up to see the priest at the front of the room.  “Sorry, Father,” he says.  “Got a little carried away.”

The priest smiles, studying next week’s scripture in his own stretch of welcome silence.  “Take all the time you need.”

With that blessing, Matt decides to take just a few more minutes to wrap up his thoughts.  He prays for his pops.  He prays for his mama.  And, in all truth, he prays a little bit for himself, too.

Fort Jackson is made to chew up recruits and spit out soldiers.  It’s hard, in a purposeful way that trumps most of life’s accidental difficulties.  He loses himself in the day-to-day exhaustion, stifled by the endless parade of soreness, and stiffness, and pain.  So he prays, hoping beyond hope that it gets easier from here.  He prays that confusion turns to confidence, and that sunrise starts to feel safe again.

God doesn’t answer.  He ain’t usually one for immediate replies.

So Matt leaves his prayers to simmer, belatedly standing from his knees.  He says his goodbyes to the Father with a promise to return the next week and carries an armful of chairs to their rack as he goes.

The stairway is short and familiar, worn at every edge with corners that are rarely cleaned.  The railing is rusted and the carpet is long stained.  It’s a narrow, forgotten corridor, lit only by a single window at its top.  He skips every other step and his momentum carries him through as the door clatters beneath his palms.  The air shifts from musky to crisp thanks to Sunday’s high noon.

Or, well, it would be crisp, if not for the smoke.

There’s plenty of guys who smoke back home, but it’s been weeks since Matt last encountered that thick stench of a burning cigarette.  It’s enough to catch him fully off guard, until he spots Zeke leaned up against the chapel wall, lighter in hand and smoke barely blazing.  

He rolls his eyes.  “Some timing you have,” he says, words tight.  “Right when I light one.”

Questions fill Matt’s mind quicker than he can say them, so instead they all come out as a singular, “What…?”

Zeke looks down at the little red pack in his hand, then offers it up.  “Sorry, d’you want one?”

“No?”

“Is that a question, Morgan?”

“I’ve got a lot of questions.”

Zeke drops the smokes as if it’s somehow Matt’s loss, then slides them into his front pocket.  “Probably for the best,” he says with a shrug.  “You don’t want a drill sergeant catching that smell on you.”

“And you do?”

“I told you not to worry about me.”

Matt can’t help but laugh, even if he’s not quite sure where the humor comes from.  Maybe it’s not humor at all.  Maybe it’s something bigger, as he takes in the strangeness of the scene before him—Zeke sharing the company of dumpsters on an unkept hillside, avoiding the chapel entrance as though he feels a heat coming from it.  Finally, one question bubbles up above the rest.  “What are you doing out here?”

Zeke takes a long drag.  Lets the smoke tumble back out in clouds.  “Smoke break, Morgan,” he says.  “And here I thought you were one of the more observant ones.”

“No,” Matt says.  “I mean, what are you doing out here?”

He flicks a loose ember to the ground with an unintentional movement that’s been practiced dozens, hundreds, thousands of times.  “Can’t have you out here alone, now can we?” he says.  “You needed a battle buddy back to the barracks, and Montgomery is freakishly good at rock-paper-scissors.”

“Yeah, Monty’s freakishly good at everything.”  But this is an answer to a question that everyone already knows.  Matt’s far more interested in the ones that ain’t quite so obvious.  “You could’ve waited inside.”

“I wanted to give you some privacy.”

“So instead you came out to the side of the building where no one could see you.”

“Well how else is a guy supposed to have a smoke around here?”

“He’s not.”  The day’s readings preached forgiveness, and it is for this reason and this reason alone that Matt hasn’t already lost his temper.  “Makes a guy wonder what else you might get up to when no one’s looking.”

Matt’s heard enough of the gospel to sense an angel’s wrath when he sees it.  Zeke is far from angelic, but he seems to have ethereal fury tucked pretty securely in his back pocket.  “It does make a guy wonder, doesn’t it?” he says.  “Of course, it’s real easy to wonder about the wrong things, isn’t it, Morgan?”

It’s another steady huff of the cigarette, but this time, Zeke is smiling with the smoke as he sends a puff right into Matt’s face.  Matt doesn’t give him any sort of satisfaction.  “And just what in the Hell does that mean?”

There’s a moment of careful consideration before Zeke ultimately falls back to his spot against the wall.  He takes one more hit of his cigarette before he tosses it to the ground and grinds it with the toe of his boot.  “It means you don’t know half of what you think you do,” he says.  “And the half you do know is the wrong half.”

“Is it in your blood to be cryptic as all get out, or is that just something you do for fun?”

“I’m walking away now.”  True to his word, Zeke pops himself upright and starts down a path toward the barracks, wholly unconcerned with whatever it is Matt has left to say.  “You can come with me now, or you can explain to the drill sergeants why you missed your afternoon cleaning shift.”

“I wasn’t done,” Matt calls out.

Zeke doesn’t break his stride.  “No you’re not,” he says over his shoulder.  “But I sure as fuck am.”

It reminds Matt of that very first day, filled with chaos and unease and more yelling than he had ever known.  He’s slow to the start, and Zeke is already well ahead of him with no signs of slowing.  Matt himself has never been much of a runner, but in that moment, as the sun beats down on them both, he realizes that Zeke absolutely is.

He adds a few more prayers to the list, hoping that God’s reach extends just a little bit farther outside of the chapel walls, and then he follows.

[breg21]

Ladynoir Month: Waiting On You

@ladynoirjuly2019

Ao3 FFN

Husband's Background Music Recommendation: "Wild Roses: Of Monsters and Men"

I can't believe this is it. It was so hard to write, to say goodbye.

But nothing golden can stay, now can it?

I really hope you guys enjoy.

"Madame Agreste! Madame Agreste!? Has anyone seen Madame Agreste anywhere!? I can't find her!?"

Adrien chuckled as he watched the assistant run around like a chicken with its head cut off, almost yelling into her earpiece, looking for his wife. Even at twenty four, and being the owner of Gabriel's fashion empire, not to mention being Ladybug, Marinette still had trouble being punctual.

Like now for instance, right when her show was set to start in ten minutes and no one could find her. With every minute was ticking down till the start of the show. Everyone was running around trying to make heads ort tails of where the young designer could be.

Models were in distress, needing last minute touch ups that needed to be done by Marinette, the setup crew was growing more frantic with each passing minute, and words were being drowned out by the sea of people yelling at the top of their lungs.

Yep, gotta love fashion week. Adrien was thankful he only modeled for Matrinette's line, well only from time to time. He never wanted to be a full time model ever again, but for her, there would always be an exception.

And just when everyone thought all hope was lost that they just couldn't reach her, she miraculously— he loved to fit in a good pun whenever he could— appeared.

"I'm here! I'm here!"

They all turned to see Marinette running up in six inch heels, hair piled up in a messy bun, grey skirt, red blouse, and a blazer that matched the skirt hanging perfectly around her shoulders. She was gasping for air, as if she had just ran a marathon, and knowing Marinette, she probably had just to get there in time if her beaten red face said anything. "I-I'm here."

The whole room seemed to have sighed in relief at her appearance.

Adrien laughed some more. That was definitely his princess. And he wouldn't trade her for anything in the world. He pulled her into his arms before hair and makeup could whisk her away, and pressed a small kiss to the middle of her forehead. "Look who finally decided to show up." He teased.

She huffed, lower lip turning out into a pout. "My… alarm may've or may not have gone off this morning."

He knew his eyes were dancing with mirth. "And that's why I was trying to drag you out of bed." He had. He had even pulled the sheets that she tried to hide under, to no avail. She just wouldn't budge. "We're just waiting on you."

She rolled her eyes, but nevertheless, followed the director and makeup artist to her dressing room before the show began.

Adrien smiled. She had, after all, been late to their own wedding. She was always fashionably late. Even with how chaotic everything was, he never minded waiting on his wife.

He always would.

"Emma, do you know where your mother is?"

The ten year old glanced up from her drawing tablet to look at the director of the show, giving a shrug of her shoulders. "You know how she is, Mr. Rue. My auntie's and Dad are out in the crowd if you wanna see if they know. You'll be able to spot dad a mile away when you look for two screaming toddlers. Louis and Hugo can get quite loud."

The man sighed, pressing a button on his earpiece to mumble some instructions to the person on the other end. Mr. Rue looked exhausted, to say the least, and Emma couldn't blame him. Her mother didn't always have the best timing, never did. "Between your mother and your father, I'll never understand how you're on time for things."

Emma threw her head back and laughed. Because, he was right. She wondered that sometimes herself. "You're not the only one, Mr. Rue. You're not the only one."

He smiled and ruffled her head, before disappearing off into another section of the backstage. Chuckling to herself, Emma went back to the task on hand.

That was, before black high heals appeared in his vision. "Hey, kitten. How's it going?"

Emma looked up to see her mom standing there, all bright smiles and soft eyes.

Emma was indeed a daddy's girl— she was almost a carbon copy of him, what with her blonde hair, green sparkling eyes, and tanned skin, though she had her momma's freckles— but no one could deny that she was her momma's world. "Hey, Momma. Almost late to your show. Again." She snickered as her mom sent her a playful glare. "They're all waiting on you."

The older woman rolled her eyes, but took the tablet from her daughter's hands and moved it aside in favor of pulling her up off her seat and into her arms for a bone crushing hug. "You're too much like your dad sometimes, kitten."

Emma returned the hug without thought. "I know, you've told me so many times."

A soft kiss was placed on the crown of her head and her heart almost purred like the animal she was nicknamed after. Her momma's hugs were always one of the best. "You know, I gave birth to you for nine hours straight, and you came out looking and acting like your father."

Emma pulled back, and reached up to boop her mother on her nose. "Au contraire. Papa says I'm so like you that the reason I look so much like him is so that I could have all your personality. Auntie Chloe, Alya, and Kagami agree." She stuck her tongue out as if to solidify her point.

Her mom shook her head, but a pleasant smile gave away the fake annoyance that she had been going for. "You are too much sometimes, kitten."

Clasping her hands together, she popped her leg just a bit behind her and gave the cheesiest grin she could muster. "I know." She glanced at her watch and saw that it was only five minutes until show time and started to push the older woman onto the stage. "Now, go. Don't wanna be late for your own show. Papa's probably waiting anxiously."

Marinette was nearly onto the stage when she poked her head back in through the curtain. "When did you become so grown up?"

"Easy." The pre-teen answered, not missing a beat. "When you have amazing, caring parents as I do, you pick up on a few things."

If any of the pictures later on from that show displayed her mom with tears in her eyes, Marinette contributed it to allergies.

But Emma knew better.

As Marinette strolled down the catwalk, looking to every possible camera that she could, she smiled with unabundant joy as she made her way to the podium. It was the final sho for the Ladybug and Chat Noir line, and it was a full house. Something she was undoubtedly grateful for.

Clearing her throat, she spoke easily into the mic. "Thank you all, for coming today, to the last showing of my Ladybug and Chat Noir fashion line."

The cheering and clapping boomed throughout the building, growing louder and louder by the second, and it made her smile all the more. "It's an honor to see what this line has brought to you all. It also was an honor and I'm ecstatic to pay tribute to Ladybug and Chat Noir."

It all felt so real. So much time had passed, so much of what she and Adrien did together, the life they had built, and it all lead to this, and she couldn't even imagine what more the future might bring.

She looked out onto the crowd to see her family there, all cheering her on. Her two boys waving frantically at her from their papa's lap.

And when she saw the sweet smile her husband sent her, it somehow made her heart all the more calm and rapid at the same time. It was all the encouragement she needed to continue.

Gosh, did she love that man. "A lot of things have been said, a lot has been done fo the city. Things have changed. Grown. They've paved their own ways as superheroes and without them, we wouldn't be where we are today. They have so much that has helped them through and made them who they are. But one thing is for sure."

"Your parents are something else, Emma."

Backstage, said girl gave a long roll of her eyes, arms crossed over her chest, before looking to her best friend, sarcastic attitude in full swing. "Trust me, Anna. You, auntie Kagami and uncle Luka may see what they're like in public, but it's nothing to what they're like at home. Twenty years of marriage and they still act like love sick teens— and that's something coming from a teen."

"They wouldn't be who they are— they wouldn't be Chat Noir and Ladybug, or come as far as they have through the years— without each other."

Even so, Emma smiled at her momma's words. They definitely wouldn't be. While she liked to complain about the public display of affections, she knew it was amazing to see. It was amazing to see two people still so incredible in love with each other after so many years. Not many people had that.

Anna laughed as Marinette finished her speech. "Say what we want, but if I'm being honest, they're the kind of love I look up to. A love to model after, you know? I know every love is different, but because of them, I know what to look for when love comes my way, if it's real, it'll be worth it in the end. It's okay to be patient, that's what love is— to make sure you're ready and not to let others tell you when it is. Only you know when it's real."

"That's it for tonight's fashion line, I hope you guys enjoyed. Please, give another round of applause for the models. I'll see you all at the next debut."

"Yeah." Emma agreed softly, clapping along with the audience as her mom made her exist. The young teen laughed hard. "I owe then a lot. More than I give them credit for. Because of them, I've learned about something from an earlier age, that most people can't grasp no matter how old they get, something that I will always believe in."

The dark haired teen looked to the blonde, eyes twinkling with curiosity. "And what's that, Em?"

Emma's lips curled into a soft smile at the thought of her parents. "I believe true love exists for those that fight for it. They fight so hard everyday. For the city, for everything they've accomplished, and especially for each other."

A love she wouldn't mind having one day.

Anna nudged her shoulder in play. "Your parents are the embodiment of what working hard and working together really means, together until the end, huh? No matter what they do, they do together."

Emma nodded, a fondness shining on her face. "And for that, they will always be partners."

Husband's note: Not sure when we will be writing this constantly again. So that being said I want to say thank you to the people that have given our stories the time to read. Seeing so many people comment, especially about my random bits of gibberish, is really surprising and as hard as things get I never get used to the surprises.

Wife.: Seriously you guys, thank you. From the bottom of our hearts. I have several one shots running around in my head, so be on the lookout for those as well. Until nets time, always lots of love!

[mrevaunit42]

Reckless heroing (Boku no academia AU) part 2

and here it is, part two of the star vs my hero academia au. I hope you all enjoy it, have an amazing week! the link for part one is below. this means narration and this means flashback

https://mrevaunit42.tumblr.com/post/162853635472/im-going-to-be-a-hero-boku-no-academia-au-part 

nofifcation squad: @artgirllullaby @isolated-frequencies @hipster-rapunzel @minthia-ren @thefandombytes if you want to be a part of the notify squad, let me know 

Marco could feel how frayed his nerves were, a sickening numb feeling mixing with the unsettling emptiness deep inside his stomach.

The protractor of the exam stood at the podium in the center of the stage, her piercing light blue eyes scanning over the auditorium carefully, studying and taking in each of the heroic hopefuls that filled the room.

She brushed her braided periwinkle blue hair behind her shoulder, coughing lightly into the microphone in hopes of getting everyone's attention.

“I will not waste time with what we already know” she spoke softly yet firmly into the microphone “The exam will be conducted in 2 phases: The written and the practical exam. I hope you did well to study. The test will now begin. If anyone is caught cheating, you will be removed from the premises and automatically disqualified. I will also be very crossed and I rather not be today. You may now begin.”

Marco gulped, taking his pencil into his shaky grip.

Marco could feel the relief slide out of his bones as a group of students followed behind the periwinkle haired protractor while exciting murmurs and worrisome chatting filled the air.

Marco was sure he did well but at the same time there was some post test nagging biting at his resolve: Was it more important to fill out the UA report first or the police one? Running blindly into a burning house was a poorly thought plan, right? Right. Right? Right! Umm maybe.

“Sooooo how'd you do?”

Marco jumped, dropping into a fighting position only to notice Star's beaming face

“S-Star!” he coughed, straightening up and scratching at his cheek “Sorry, I....”

“So, did you pass, did you pass, did you pass?” Star cheerfully asked, wrapping an arm around Marco's neck.

“I think so...” Marco willed his blush away to prevent further embarrassment “How about you?”

Star gave a shrug “I probably didn't get them all right but that's okay, the practical exam is where I'm going to shine! HI YAH!”

Star gave a theoretical karate chop and threw in a kick for good measure.

“Man, I wish I had your confidence.”

Star tilted her head cutely “Well, why not?”

Marco blinked in confusion “Umm...well....”

“You just need to believe in yourself buddy and I believe in you, go Marco!”

“Aww thanks Star, I'll bet you'll do great!”

“Aww Marco, hugs!”

and just like, without a second thought or pause in her step, Star wrapped her arms around Marco tightly.  

“am I interrupting anything Star?”

Marco could feel his heart crawl to a stop as dozens of eyes landed on him and Star, an awkward tense silence as the blue haired protractor gaze focused squarely on his face.  

Marco motioned to pull free of Star's grip but she refused to let go.

“Nope, I'm listening mom!”

Moon rolled her eyes at her daughter's antics but kept leading everyone to the next location.

“Mom? Wait! That's your mom?!”

Star shrugged “Yeah, so what?”

“Wow” Ferguson eyed the couple carefully “You got a girlfriend Marco?”

Marco sighed “No Ferguson, she's not my girlfriend.”

“ooooh” Stars eyes widen with curiosity “Who's that?”

“Hey, I'm the Ferg” Ferguson clicked his tongue and pointed at Star “coolest guy around and soon to be hero extraordinaire”

“She knows your name is Ferguson, I just said it” Marco answered as deadpanned as he could “He's one of my classmates and friends. He doesn't think quite....realistically”  

“Don't be jelly Marco”

“I'm not.”

“oooo hi Ferguson!” Star gave a cheery wave “Nice to meet you”

“Star, focus?” Moon called outstretched

“Sorry mom!”

Moon gave a tired sigh as she gestured behind her.

The group stood in the shadow of two massive gates towering high above and wedged in between two ends of a circular concrete wall.

“This is our training ground” Moon explained “It is a recreation of Echo city. Our students learn how to deal with urban environments in various combat, pursuit and other varying situations and scenarios. This is where you will be taking the practical examination.”

The hushed murmurs and excited whispers broke out at once.

“The examination will be a test of your quirks and general heroic abilities” Moon continued over the chatter “Set loose within these walls are three types of enemies, all robotic so you need not worry about hurting anyone. Each robot has a point value attached to them worth 1, 2 or 3 points depending on the difficulty. Simply put, your job is to destroy as many as these foes as you can as these points, alongside your written score, will determine if you will be accepted into the U.A. Oh and as a side note, there is a fourth enemy but it's more of a distraction than anything. It's worth 0 points and isn't worth your time. We will begin in a moment, please prepare yourself. You will have 10 minutes to gain as many points as you can.”

Marco felt a cold wave of dread overtake him, his concern drowned out by the more eager teens.

Could he do this? He literally just got his power this morning and while River explained how it theoretically worked, he had no chance to actually test out the application or even how to active it. And he had to take on various enemies while competing against people who've had years to master and learn their quirks. Every second Marco thought about it, the more dire it became. There's no way he could do this, his dream of being a hero was about end right here, right...

“Marco”

Marco snapped out of his thought and turned to find Star staring at him, determination burning in her eyes.

“We can do this.”

“Star, I...”

“We can do this”

Marco could feel Star's conviction and belief in her words. He could feel the faith she had in him. that they would both make the hero class. that they would both save the world one day.

Pride and hope swelled in Marco's chest and for a brief moment he could see how Star was River's daughter. Their unbound happiness and faith in people was incredibly infectious.

“Right, I got this!” Marco nodded to himself.

“I don't got this” Marco muttered in a defeated tone, his face sagging at the chaotic sight of the mass combat that took place.

The robots did in fact come in three different sizes, from tiny bots that were hardly bigger than a scooter to a 6 foot tall, vaguely humanoid shape with spindly arms and legs. For things determining if they were going to be a hero or not, they were pretty underwhelming.

What was overwhelming was the ferocity the other potential heroes fought with. He had never seen his classmates (and strangers) fight with such reckless and frightening abandon.

Tom the jerk was calmly walking through the hordes of robotic opponents, the bright orange flames burning with an intensity greater than the sun. Any robot foolish enough to try to engage him head on quickly turned into a liquid, metal slop on the pavement. Robots that stayed away didn't fair much better as he lobbed fireballs recklessly into as many of them as he could, burning a fist sized hole in their centers as they crumbled.

Janna was being Janna, cockily gesturing to any and all helpless prey she found. A black rune would form onto the surface of the enemy then fade quickly. The robots glanced quizzically at the beanie wearing girl who clicked her tongue mischievously. Sparks covered their metallic bodies but before they could react, their limbs would loosen from their sockets, their optics popped and broke and without warning, they would simply shut down with Janna's cackling the last sound each robotic foe heard.

As expected from The Queen's and All Might's daughter, Star was a naturally gifted combatant. When she wasn't smashing bots faces against the floor, she was sweeping them off their feet with a well placed kick and for the studier metallic foes, she would karate throw them over her shoulder, releasing a bloodthirsty warcry before moving onto the next unfortunate enemy on her list.

Jackie (Marco let out a dreamy sigh) slid around on her skateboard, a laidback smile on her face as she lazily sailed through the battlefield, lightly tapping any target she came across. A thin layer of frost would spread from the point of contact, enveloping the hapless robotic foe until they were completely encased in ice.

“Hey Marco!” Jackie called out to the petrified teen“You gotta move if you want to stay in the game”

Marco gave a shy nod as she made her way past before shaking himself out of his stupor. He couldn't just sit here and let his chance slip away!

But it was hard. Every time he found a perfect target, they would flattened, shredded, crushed, snapped, blown up or just ripped apart without warning. The points were being snatched up and the enemies were dwindling quickly. At this rate, he'd never get even a single point! All his hard work would be for nothing.

Marco blinked as the world began shake in a strange pattern: A boom followed by a shake followed by another boom, repeating over and over again almost like they were...

The sound of battle was quickly drowned out by the shattering of glass, the crunching thuds of concrete and the bending of metal girders under some heavy weight.

A plume of smoked rose as one of the 20 story buildings fell without warning and in its place stood an impossibly gigantic robot that made the remaining buildings look tiny.

Marco stood there slack-jawed at mechanical marvel that towered over all of them “I-is that the...?”

“The distraction mom mentioned?” Star finished while standing next to Marco “It has to be, it's the only thing we haven't seen.”

“She did mention it was distracting. I guess I'm surprised how much so”

“Why is something like that worth zero points?” Star wondered outloud.

“Maybe...” Marco began

“HELP! LIKE DUDES HELP!”

Marco and Star were pulled from their thoughts. Someone was in trouble.

The pair searched the surrounding area but aside from the now still test takers and scattered debris of what were formerly training bots, no one seemed to be in any sort of danger.

“Wait” Marco gently patted Star's shoulder “there!”

Star squinted where Marco pointed and the circular object she saw earlier wasn't an object at all, it was Ferguson!

“What? Ferguson?”

“HELP DUDES!” Ferguson waved his arms frantically “I can't change back!”

“What's he talking about?”

Marco thought back to his notebook of quirks he studied, pulling up the information he observed from all his years of school with the orange haired teen “Ferg's quirk lets him expand parts of his body, adding more weight and mass to whatever he does. However, when he gets nervous or scared, his whole body puffs up like a puffer fish as a defense mechanism. Until he calms down, he won't be able to return to normal”

“Why would he freak out?”

The ground shook once more as the giant mech took a step closer, easily clearing the half of mile between it and the testers. What was once a massive shape in the distance now basked them in its shadow.

It's amazing that with how diverse and varied humanity was as a whole, only one thought filled the minds of the hopeful students which was to run as fast as they could away from the metal tower.

Everyone scattered, putting as much distance as they could between them and the 0 point giant robot.

Star turned to leave only for her to notice Marco hadn't moved from his spot, his body trembling out of fear. For a moment she thought he was too afraid to escape, that a deep sense of despair overtook him and held him in rooted to the spot. Then she realized while he was shaking due to fear, his face was set in a grim determination.

“HELP!” Ferguson cried out once more.

Star gasped upon realizing Ferguson was still frightened and helpless. Not that she could blame him, the massive bot was just behind him and Star's heart fell when she saw it raise its foot once more to take another step with Ferguson still trapped underneath.

Star desperately looked for her mother. She had to find her and stop this test before Ferguson was seriously injured.

She had to find a way to stop this tragedy from happening.

“Mom!” Star yelled, eyes darting back and forth “MOM! MOM STOP THE TEST! STOP THE TEST! Marco, have you seen...?”

Star turned back to her new friend only to find a crater dug deeply into the ground, the once smooth surface of the asphalt cracked and broken with Marco nowhere in sight.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHH”

The fierce scream caught Star's ears and her gaze shifted to the source of the sound, the one place she would've never thought to look: skyward.

Her blue pupils widened as she saw Marco rising through the air quickly: 10, 15, 20, 50 feet into the air. Rising and rising with his fist pulled back almost like he was planning on striking the robot down.

Marco sailed through the air, the howling of the wind nearly muted as blood thundered in his ears. He couldn't let Ferguson get hurt. Even if he didn't get any points, even if he came all this way for nothing, he couldn't sit there and watch as one of his closest friends was crushed under the foot of some idiotic, mindless robot! He wouldn't let that happen.

Ever

The robot grew in size rapidly as Marco closed the distance, fully intending to smash his fist as hard as he could into its stupid face.

Marco was too caught up in his rage to realize a flaw in his plan. The fact he was now 50 feet in the air was lost on him. The idea that he was about to try and punch out a several ton robot that toppled a building by leaning on it didn't seem to register. All he felt was a desire to save his friend.

Marco could see the wide, human sized optic condense and narrow its focus on him. The robot cutely tilted its head sideways, almost like it was silently asking him “What are you planning silly human?”

Marco's response was the punch.

There was a tense moment of silence as Marco's fist connected directly in the center of the robot's face, unmoving and still while a reverberating thrum echoed deep inside the metallic body of his enemy.

Then Marco was shoved backwards from the force of the attack and for one picturesque moment, he floated there, weightless and still.  

A groaning ripple began to spread out from where Marco landed his blow, racing throughout the giant machine's body like a wave, lifting and lowering the armor plates into a disorganized mess. The sound of crunching and broken metal filled the silence as the ripple made its way through every inch of the robotic body.

Then Marco fell, gravity finally solidifying its hold on him and pulling him straight down.

Back of the bot's head exploded, spraying coils of wires, gears, random chunks of metal across the empty street as it leaned forward and fell backwards, crashing against the ground with an earth rumbling thud.

Marco clutched his right arm, eyes watering as sharp pains began to ache through his body. His arm and legs were badly broken and flailed loosely against the raging air current.

“Indeed but before we go, there's something I need to tell you about One for All and your current state. This is important, so you need to listen carefully.”

Marco turned back to River, his face serious and full of concern.

“Just because you have One for All does not mean you cannot use it freely” River explained “Even after all your training and getting you ready to inherit the power was to only prevent you from dying when you use it.”

Marco's face paled “Dying?! What, I could die using it?”

“Not anymore” River chuckled “However I must warn you. In your current state, using One for All will have serious consequences. At very least you will dislocate, if not break your bones. Think carefully Marco when you decide to use it.”

Marco mentally scolded himself. Everything had happen so suddenly, he hadn't even thought about what he was doing. He just reacted and apparently used One for All without realizing it.

And now he was going to die. Zero points and with 3 broken limbs. What a way to go.

The ground was quickly approaching but no matter how hard he tried, Marco couldn't find a way to stop himself without becoming a splat on the ground.

Marco shut his eyes, too scared to see what would happen next.

The howling of the wind stopped and slowed as bopped up and down for a moment.  what was a harsh gale was now a gentle if uneasy breeze. The fluttering of wings could be heard and for a moment, he wondered if he had died and gone to heaven.

He opened his eyes and realized while he hadn't died, he was looking at an angel.

Star Butterfly was carrying him bridal style, a relived smile on her lips though she couldn't keep the worry out of those bright big blue orbs of hers.

“S-Star?” Marco stuttered “you're flying? You're flying! How?”

“My quirk silly” She motioned to her back “I can fly!”

Marco glanced backwards and found two pinkish purple butterfly wings sticking out of Star's back, beating back and forth rapidly as the duo made their descent.

“That...” Marco muttered tiredly “is so....cool...”

“Marco?”

Star looked at Marco only to find him fast asleep, his breath slow and steady.

“Hee, I knew you were special.”

“He's as heroically reckless as you dear” Moon spoke, watching the medical team's arrival on the monitor. Luckily for Marco, the UA had some of the best medical heroes in the world. His broken limbs would be fixed soon enough.

“A little. But he's got heart and the spirit of a true hero” River commented, stroking his beard thoughtfully

Moon sighed “Well he's lucky he is. Thanks to that heroic action, he's the only participant who will receive full rescue points. He'll be admitted into the school for sure.”

River gave a good nature laugh “Rescue points. I love them so. It's easy to get caught up in the glory of combat and heroing but true heroes never forget.”

The monitor focused on the sleeping Diaz, his face relaxed as the medical team carried him away on a stretcher.

“It's not just about fighting evil, it's about saving people.”

“Well spoken” Moon concurred “you may tell him whenever you feel like but please don't let the poor boy go too long without knowing he's been accepted. He will no doubt feel terrible that he didn't score any points.”

“Psst, who do you think I am dear?” River scoffed “I will be sure to tell him when he returns home tonight.”

I remember nearly killing River for waiting 5 whole days to tell me I made it into the academy. Seriously, who does that? But it was the happiest day of my life. My first real step on my journey in becoming the greatest hero that's ever lived.

[louisfeatharry]

‘No Payne No Gain’ - Full Rollacoaster Magazine Transcript

Last year, LIAM PAYNE had a conversation with Justin Bieber. He doesn’t usually do this sort of thing. There’s a shop Liam frequents in Los Angeles. Whenever he sees one of Will Smith’s kids or a Kardashian, he feels too self-conscious to introduce himself. “There’s still that little boy inside of me,” he says. With Bieber, it was different.

Like each of the select bands who go through their boy-to-man rites of passage in full public glare, Liam at 23 is a disarming mix of confidence, knowledge and conviviality wrapped up in a frightened canary let out of its cage. Sometimes he’s the boy at the bus stop. Sometimes he drops in reflexive anecdotes about his dealings with Donald Trump. No one understands Bieber’s experiences with quite the same clarity or from quite the same timeframe as Liam and his four One Direction buddies.

“Obviously [Bieber]’s struggled a lot through the way the world looked upon him,” Liam says. “I don’t feel sorry for him,” he continues, “he’s a great guy, inside there’s a really good heart. I said, look, the difference between me and you is that I had four different boys going through the same thing to look to. He didn’t have that.” Quite out of character, Liam Payne reached out a hand to his peer. “I said to him, listen, take my number and any time you want to have a chat, let me know because I’m here and I understand exactly what you’re going through and I understand your world.”

It was a lovely thing to do. “He needs somebody like that and in that position,” he qualifies, placing himself deferentially into the third person. It’s sweet for other reasons, too. In Bieber there is something of the idiosyncratic otherworldliness of a Michael Jackson figure. Liam Payne, a pretty, straight talking lad from Wolverhampton appears at first not to be that thing at all. “There is that in all of us,” he avers, meaning not only Bieber but his fellow One Direction alumnus Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson. “We all have this chaotic side to us. You know, they say that anger breeds passion. I think that’s the same with a lot of us, that we let things get chaotic very quickly. We’re used to chaos.”

Liam is sitting in a quiet antechamber above the photo studio where today’s cover story has been shot. He says he likes interviews and honours the assurance in a quietly riveting half hour before he’s whisked magically away. It’s Friday evening. Liam has been working out with millennial precision to make sure he’s at top physical condition should he be required to lose his shirt during the shoot. He’s whippet slight in the flesh, definition counts.

Six years ago, One Direction came third on the national TV talent show, the X Factor. 1D was an assembly-line operation pieced together at the audition stages. Boys that barely knew one another, slotted seamlessly together in the kind of multi-demographic hit their boss Simon Cowell is so adept at plugging into the national grid each year. That year, Liam and his band-mates Niall and Louis looked like they’d been schooled at a premium boyband academy. Each sported variants of Bieber’s early slideover haircut. It was easy to imagine any of them taking a stool in Westlife or learning to breakdance for Take That, had they been born in another time and place. Within the trio there was a safe place in which teenage girls and boys could measure their sexuality, whilst tapping their toes. That wheel still turned. Flanked at either edge of the three were genuinely new angles for the British boyband model; Harry Styles, Cheshire’s own reality-age Mick Jagger and Zayn Malik, a practising Muslim from Bradford and nonpareil physical work of art to whom supermodels have since flocked. The five together hit enough familiarity and newness to open up a global fame haul not touched since the heady days of Duran Duran, Culture Club and Wham! back in the 80s. During the summer of their astronomical American takeover there was a plausible touch of Beatle-mania. They felt like an England football team winning the World Cup. Their records have sold in North Korea.

Liam and the boys were the first band to taste that fame level in the age of social media, making their story simultaneously that of the boys next door and the untouchable messiahs. There was something refreshingly undone about them. Their best songs, ‘What Makes Your Beautiful’, ‘Little Things’, ‘Steal My Girl’, even the precociously titled ‘Best Song Ever’ are undeniable additions to the Great British pop cannon. Liam says the 1D song he’d buy above all others is ‘Once In A Lifetime’, the little known track from their 2014 album, Four. “That’s my favourite song. Very Coldplay-esque. I wanted it to be a single but they just wouldn’t have it. It was very relaxed the way we chose our records and made things. It was really simple.” Someone else did it.

When 1D lost their X Factor trophy to semi-hot handyman Matt Cardle and were beaten to the silver medal podium by classy Scouse songbird Rebecca Ferguson, Liam was 16. He had auditioned for the show previously, at 14, as a kind of minipops Michael Bublé, Wolverhampton’s hitherto unseen swing angle. On his induction to the X Factor factory, he was instructed by producers to go home and rethink his shtick as the last 24 were whittled down on TV. He says it attuned him to the hard knocks of rejection. Such was the omnipotence of the show back then Liam’s audition storyline was enough to grant him a local working men’s club career where he honed his skill and paid his dues.

“I did pubs and clubs,” he says. “When I was a kid, I literally played old people’s homes.” His one taste of what was to come arrived when Wolverhampton Wanderers FC invited Liam to sing before kick-off at a Manchester United fixture to 34,000 fans in the terraces. In honour of his local team’s squad colours he san Sam Sparro’s ‘Black and Gold’. “It’s funny that that’s where we ended up, playing stadiums,” he says with a pleasing air of pride and bemusement. “It was funny being stood in the middle again and thinking back on that 16 year old boy stood in the middle of a football pitch. My dad said to me, this is going to be the toughest gig you’re ever going to play. Football fans do not want to hear little boys singing. They’re not interested. You heard jeering from the crowd. But I got applause at the end. And my dad said, that is the best thing you could’ve got out of today.”

Liam says he can’t remember much of his time in the X Factor house second time around bar the tears. He was recently delighted to see fellow housemate Paije Richardson, the contestant Louis Walsh immortalised as looking ‘like a little Lenny Henry’ on account of nothing but his colour, in a Harry Potter film (”the one where it’s Dumbledore’s army. He’s actually in the army, which is amazing. I’m absolutely obsessed with Harry Potter. Fucking love Harry Potter”). He nods as I mention some of the other names he shared his first home away from Wolverhampton with. Katie Waissel, Diva Fever, Wagner. “There were a lot of different strange characters and lovely people through that show. It was very rushed and strange.”

On account of a childhood kidney condition, he had not even been drunk by the time he left home, Dick Whittington style, to live in a shared London house with a bunch of strangers maniacally chasing their fame dream in real time. “The famous line my dad said was, don’t come home until Christmas, meaning don’t get thrown off it before the final. And after I said goodbye to him that day, I never really went home again.”

When 1D lost, Liam turned to his dad with a “we made it this far” face. His fellow band-mates, he says, were in pieces. He remembers first Harry, then Louis, Niall and Zayn bursting into tears. “A cameraman came over and said ‘can I get you boys for an interview?’ and I looked at all the boys crying, in their mum’s arms and I was like, ‘look, I’ll do the interview’ because I was the only one who was alright and so I went off to the side and did the after-camera interview for us. I just left them because I wanted them to have their moment and the cameras didn’t need to see them like that. There was a real atmosphere. This followed throughout our career a lot of the time.”

In Cowell’s dressing room later than same evening, 1D were told that they would be signed to his label, Syco regardless of their position on the show. “Simon took us up to his dressing room to tell us he was going to sign us and Harry literally burst into tears he was so happy.” Emotions run high in the boyband land. “He told us, I’m going to sign you. That was the moment. That’s where it all began.” The wheels of the juggernaut had begun to turn. “It was like a bomb went off,” he notes.

There was a pearl of wisdom shared by Cowell that stuck with Liam from that high-stakes evening. “The first thing he said to us after signing us from X Factor was ‘look, there are no angels here’. Which is so true.” What does Liam think Cowell meant by that? “That we’re all people. We’re all people here.” He doesn’t think it was invocation of mistrust in the music industry, the smoke and mirrors of real life fame? “No, no, no. It was a moment in a conversation. He said ‘look, there are no angels here and I know that you’re all going to make mistakes’. That’s what he was saying. Just get on with what the show is, do your bit, do your business, go to work and be real. That’s what that comment meant. Don’t stress about it, it’ll all turn out alright in the end.”

In that moment, it sounds like Liam Payne made a pact with himself, to go for it regardless, at the top tier, to claim his moment. “Everyone strives to be the person that they want to be,” he says. “I try too much sometimes, I think. I overstep the mark a little bit sometimes. That’s why I’m such a perfectionist. But sometimes I think you have to believe that there are no angels.” The first One Direction single, ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ was released in 2011, on September 11th.

The second half of 2016 was an eventful time for Liam Payne, presaged by his signing a solo record deal with Sinatra’s old imprint Capitol Records on July 21st.

While in 1D, he says all five boys dabbled on their own material. Because boybands never break up anymore, 1D are officially on sabbatical. Whether that translates as a bit of genial respite or full scale hatred for one another is a matter that’s been carefully blended into their tale with just enough leaks of a hint to either. Zayn, who had already fled 1D’s nest a year earlier, missing their victory lap worldwide stadium tour released his solo album Mind of Mine last spring, reinventing himself as the Frank Ocean for Unilad readers. Niall played to his Irish card with a forgettable busker-ish ballad for the Christmas market very much carved from the mould of Ed Sheeran and the seasonal John Lewis adverts. From the snippet of it we heard, Liam’s song sounded like his ascent to manhood, touting him as a moody, roustabout lover-man in something of Drake’s lineage, complete with street lyrical touches (while writing, a picture appears on Liam’s Instagram feed of him with the Canadian don, though it’s not specified whether he’s working or partying with his Hero).

Whenever Liam talks about the 1D boys he has the exact same dad-ish air of concern, care, amazement and slight separation from the operation that Daddy Barlow has with Take That. Oh, that’s the other thing. Liam had kicked off the year with a new belle, The X Factor’s Queen of Our Hearts, Cheryl Tweedy.

Liam brings up Cheryl, of course he does. The two live in Surrey, out of the city. When I make a joke about him being Lord of the Manor, he says his sister bought him a plaque to denote his Lordship for his last birthday, a joke that doubled when it turned out Cheryl had been bought a similar gift by Simon Cowell during her tenure on X Factor. “So we’re Lord and Lady, which is hilarious.” To British suburbia, this is of course precisely what they represent, a self-selected aristocracy in which we’ve all played a part in the honours system.

He says things with Cheryl are working out well, becoming temporarily misty-eyed. “This is the thing. In a non-cliché way, it’s weird waking up every day and literally living out your dream. You wake up in the most beautiful places. Obviously I have the most beautiful girlfriend in the whole world and she’s absolutely amazing. She’s been my dream girl since I was younger. She’s so ace.” They are used to companionship. They have Liam’s dog, Watson, a Great Dane. “If I’m ever having a problem or I ever get a bit angsty about something that’s happening in life then I take the dog out for a walk and there’s just unconditional love from him. Anyway, I don’t want to go too much into that. I’m not like a weird dog person.”

“She is a wonderful, wonderful person and it’s amazing to have someone who can relate to so much of things, someone who’s taken greater steps than me. Her solo career was amazing. She’s been in the industry for fourteen years now. She fully supports me. We’re super happy. I appreciate you didn’t ask about it. It’s a very personal, precious time for us. I’m still learning. I’m only 23.”

Because he is the youngest of three, Liam inherited the bed that his big sister’s had slept in at home in Wolverhampton. He tried to pain a wall blue to put his own stamp on the room, still shaded by bunny rabbit curtains into his teenage years, and ran out of paint before finishing. “It was a total tip,” he says of the last bedroom he lived in before fame. “That bed was so old. The last time I went back and sat on it I couldn’t believe it was the bed I used to sleep on. I often think about how I used to sit on the windowsill and just look at the stars and wonder what this was all for. And I often used to think, there must be more to life than this.”

I ask if his parents kept the room the same as when he left. “Well,” he says interrupting the nostalgia with a little sharp reality, “I bought my parents a house so I haven’t actually been back to that room in a long time. I’d like to.” The experiences of 1D made five men very rich, very young. Liam knows exactly his financial worth. “I do,” he says, letting out a nervous laugh. I ask if I would blush if I saw his bank account. “Honestly, it is a very scary thought,” he says. “It is not something that we were given. It’s something we worked our asses off for. The way we went to work every day and the way we travelled the world and the way we conducted our business, with great management at the time and greater minds, it turned out great for everybody. But it was a long five years.”

On the last night of the last 1D tour, management presented the remaining members with a plaque festooned with little badges for every single gig they’d played since their first. “It was a sombre night,” says Payne who has started becoming more emotionally transparent in front of people this last year. “To see every show we’ve ever done on a plaque?” he says raising eyes to the sky, “Again, everybody was in tears. And I’m quite good at holding it together but I have got a lot worse of late. Adverts and things make me cry, I think I’m getting more emotional as time goes by, especially with everything that’s happening in my life at this moment, it’s a very emotional time and time to reflect on a lot of things and the person that I am to be. Do you know what I mean? If that makes sense?” It makes perfect sense.

Beneath the extraordinary life he has lived so far, outweighing every one of his personal, societal and geographic expectations, there is a deeply admirable humility and candour to Liam Payne. On the subject of his forthcoming record: “I’ll tell you the truth. The dream was to be able to get signed and release an album. That is every musician who’s on Youtube’s dream today. I’ve got the opportunity to work with a really great label, Capitol. The people I work with are absolutely amazing and to get a record deal and be able to release the album that I want to release is the most amazing thing ever.” He has no idea how it will fare. “Even if this went tits up, sideways, it’d still be step one that I got here.”

Liam Payne never voted in a general election. “I’ve never been able to vote,” he explains, “because we’ve always been in different countries and I’ve never really understood it. I still feel like a 16 year old boy when it comes down to things like that and I wouldn’t know which way to go.” He steered clear of the EU referendum (”I kind of knew that we were going to Brexit. It was just a gambler’s feeling”) and doesn’t know how his parents voted in it.

Do you want to know his Donald Trump tale? Of course you do. “Oh, here’s a story,” he says, rubbing his hands. “Trump actually kicked us out of his hotel once.” It gets better. “You wouldn’t believe it. It was about [meeting] his daughter. He phoned up our manager and we were asleep. He said ‘well, wake them up’ and I was like ‘no’ and then he wouldn’t let us use the underground garage. Obviously in New York we can’t really go outside. New York is ruthless for us. So he was like, ‘OK, then I don’t want you in my hotel’. So we had to leave.”

He’s seen a lot of life, has Liam. That he retains himself amid it is spectacular credit to those around him and the man himself. “Now he’s President,” he says, perhaps for a moment reflecting on the opportunities life affords the most unusual candidates. “I just hope he doesn’t kick me out the country.” He’s laughing now. “I hope he lets me stay.”

— Rollacoaster Magazine, text by Paul Flynn

[thisdaynews]

Trump’s ‘chopper talk’ puts media on the defensive

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/trumps-chopper-talk-puts-media-on-the-defensive/

Trump’s ‘chopper talk’ puts media on the defensive

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before boarding Marine One on Wednesday. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo

white house

Using Marine One as a backdrop, the White House has replaced formal briefings with impromptu chats where the president sets all the rules.

It was another bravura performance of “Chopper Talk.”

The latest iteration of President Donald Trump’s signature news conferences in front of a thwapping Marine One on Wednesday was a whirligig of boastfulness, slingshot attacks and public self-therapy — in other words, vintage Trump.

Story Continued Below

As reporters shouted dozens of questions above the din of the helicopter’s churning engines, Trump picked the ones he wanted — on Greenland, Russia, the Fed and background checks for gun sales — and brushed past those he didn’t.

Wednesday’s careening, impromptu 35-minute news conference may have looked bizarre to veteran observers of the White House, not to mention maddening to television pros accustomed to high-quality audio and video production values. But there’s a method to the seeming madness.

The “Chopper Talk” sessions, as comedian Stephen Colbert has dubbed them, serve multiple goals for Trump, reporters and White House insiders say. They allow him to speak more often in front of the cameras than his predecessors, yet firmly on his own terms. He scans the pack of reporters, seizing on questions he wants, while ignoring others. He makes headline-ready pronouncements and airs grievances for anywhere from a few minutes to a half-hour — and then walks away when he’s had enough.

Trump’s freewheeling Q&As have essentially replaced the formal White House press briefing, which hasn’t been held in more than five months. The traditional on-camera briefings, which were held regularly under press secretary Sean Spicer, became shorter and less frequent under Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and have been nonexistent under Stephanie Grisham, who took the reins in June.

Reporters say the shift from a formal process — in which the president or his press secretary call on reporters one-by-one, without knowing what will be asked, and where follow-up questions are expected — diminishes their ability to hold him accountable.

“If he was at a podium, we would be pressing him after he answers the question, we would be correcting him, we would be pointing out discrepancies in previous answers, and we’re not able to do that in the chaotic setting of a departure,” said CBS News White House correspondent Weijia Jiang. “Many times I’ve tried to ask a follow-up question, but he’s already pointed to somebody else.”

Which is not to say the Marine One gaggles don’t make news. Trump has often used them to announce major developments, such as the departures of chief of staff John Kelly and Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta. He told reporters earlier this month how he received a “very beautiful” letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, though he declined to reveal the contents amid shouted questions. He’s even recently fueled conspiracy theories surrounding voter fraud and Jeffrey Epstein’s death.

Grisham said last week that Trump is “so accessible” that she doesn’t “know what any of the press could complain about.”

“President Trump communicates directly with the American people more than any President in history,” she said, when asked by POLITICO about Trump’s preference for Marine One pressers. “The fact that the White House press corps can no longer grandstand on TV is of no concern to us.”

In interviews with POLITICO, several White House reporters acknowledged that they are pleased with the near-daily access to the president but echoed Jiang’s complaint that the chaotic format doesn’t allow for substantive questions or follow-ups.

“They are actually a perfect encapsulation of him: quick hit questions, quick hit answers, lots of give and take,” said one White House reporter. “But they are terrible for reporters. It is impossible to hear, have a substantive dialogue, ask a follow-up question or do any serious pressing of the president. It is a fucking circus.”

Veteran New York Times White House reporter Peter Baker suggested Trump benefits from the on-camera frenzy. “There’s no question that it works to his advantage that we look unruly and disorderly,” he said. “It’s not like standing at a podium in the East Room or the briefing room, where you can have a civilized calling on people who raise their hands.”

Former President Barack Obama more often used formal news conferences — he did 24 solo ones to Trump’s eight in the first 30 months in office — and his administration conducted daily news briefings. Meanwhile, Trump has become his own de facto communications chief, setting policy and sparking controversies via Twitter and shifting the action from the staid briefing room to a roaring helicopter waiting on the South Lawn.

Trump has stopped 80 times for question-and-answer sessions in departing or returning to the White House aboard Marine One or on the tarmac before getting on or off Air Force One, according to CBS News White Housecorrespondent Mark Knoller, who keeps detailed records of the presidency. Knoller said he found only three occasions in which Obama stopped for such press availabilities in his eight-year tenure. And when Obama spoke to reporters in transit, he tended to use a podium, adding a dash of formality to the press scrum.

“There are times when Trump’s hair is blowing in the wind or his tie is blowing in the wind. He’s shouting,” said a former senior Obama White Houseofficial. “It’s just not conducive to the kind of presidential look that we often strove for.”

Yet Trump seems to relish the outside sessions, which have aired extensively on cable networks or snippets in news coverage throughout the day. Baker said he believes Trump prefers the natural light to the artificial lighting inside the White House. “He thinks that’s a better look,” he said, “and remember, he’s a TV guy, so he’s thinking about it in terms of how the television image is.”

A former senior Trump White House official said Trump “likes settings where the pace to a greater extent, the length of these engagements, is a little bit up in the air.”

At times, the former senior official said, White House aides discussed whether to urge Trump to not do Marine One Q&As on specific days, to draw less attention to news that was nothelpful to the president.

“Sometimes there was a topic which would go away if he doesn’t engage, but it could blow up if he does,” recalled the former senior official.

There is also more attention to details than the seemingly casual encounters suggest. If Trump is departing on Marine One in the late morning, “he always comes out of the Oval Office, even if he hasn’t been to the Oval Office, because it makes him look like he’s been working all day,” said a second White House reporter.

Trump’s love of the Marine One sessions has even become fodder for late-night and popular podcast hosts. CBS’ Stephen Colbert referred to Trump’s appearances as “chopper talk” in a CNN interview last week. Colbert said Trump might as well stand in front of “a margarita maker because it’s just the same noise.”

“You basically have a jet airplane parked on the South Lawn,” said former Obama White Houseofficial Tommy Vietor in describing the “genius” of Trump’s Marine One pressers on a recent episode of “Pod Save the World.”

“You can’t hear the questions — he ignores anything that he doesn’t like,” said Vietor. “He just literally screams idiotic things like ‘I know nothing about Russia’ to this gaggle of the press. And there’s nothing they can do about it.”

The frequent “chopper talk” is one of the reasons Trump has surpassed his five predecessors — Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan — in fielding questions from reporters during their first 30 months in office, according to the White House Transition Project. Those five presidents took questions at approximately one third of their public speaking events, while Trump does so at more than half of his.

The project’s director, Martha Joynt Kumar, said Trump also differs from his predecessors in that he rarely does policy speeches, and doesn’t hold evening news conferences in the East Room.

Even though Reagan took questions outside Marine One — amid speculation that he, too, benefited from the atmospherics of reporters shouting and looking unkempt — Kumar said Reagan would prepare at length with aides to respond to questions in formal settings, along with the administration providing daily briefings for reporters to go deeper into policy decisions.

“The presidency is more than just the president himself and what he’s thinking, but what is happening,” said Kumar, who stressed how news briefings traditionally gave the public a better understanding of the administration’s policies and howthey were crafted.

The helicopter presser is a very different setting. In trying to engage Trump, Baker said, questions need to be “straightforward, simple and to the point.”

“You can’t ask a question that has a predicate or a kind of complex construction because you’re shouting with all the other reporters like ‘Mr. President, what about Iran?’ or ‘Mr. President, they say you’re a racist,’” Baker said.

And the loud noise of the rotor blades whirring in the background gives Trump a convenient excuse to respond to a question as he interpretsit, instead of directly answering the question as it was phrased. Pacing from one end of the group to the other, Trump looks for familiar faces to call on and seizes on topics that he’s particularly energized about or aggravated by.

During Q&As last week, Trump ripped Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar (“very anti-Jewish,” “very anti-Israel”), CNN host Chris Cuomo (“a total out of control animal” who “spews lies every night”), and ex-White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci (“very much out of control” and a “nervous neurotic wreck”).

He pivoted off a question Sunday about an unfavorable Fox News poll to riff on commentators he doesn’t like (Juan Williams) and those he does (Sean Hannity), and to muse that there’s “something going on at Fox.” The president also suggested he “calls the shots” for the general election debates, which are overseen by a bipartisan commission,and didn’t respond to a direct question about whether he’d participate in them.

“He’ll just hear a word that catches his attention like ‘racism’ or ‘the squad’ or whatever the topic is, and he’ll just deliver what he’s probably already been tweeting about and what he already firmly believes so that can be difficult,” said Jiang.

Reporters also inquire about Trump’s Twitter activity, such as his sharing a tweet suggesting the Clintons were involved in the death of Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier who was facing sex-trafficking charges.

“The retweet, which is what it was, just a retweet, was from somebody who is a very respected conservative pundit,” Trump told reporters in defending himself last week. Trump later said he had “no idea” whether the Clintons were involved in Epstein’s death, though used the gathering of reporters to offer a journalistic assignment.

“Did Bill Clinton go to the island?” Trump asked. “Epstein had an island that was not a good place as I understand it, and I was never there. So you have to ask, did Bill Clinton go to the island? That’s the question. If you find that out, you’re going to know a lot.”

Two days later, the president pushed a baseless claim that he lost New Hampshire in the 2016 election because “thousands of thousands of people” came into the state to vote from “locations unknown.” Trump claimed to know the “unknown” location, but when a reporter asked where he was referring to, he just ignored the question.

Trump has changed how the press covers other facets of the White House, including Cabinet meetings. In the past, there would typically be a short “pool spray,” in which a small pool of reporters and photographers cover the beginning of a meeting, getting a few images and perhaps asking a quick question or two before the doors closed. Trump, at times, has turned Cabinet meetings into quasi-news conferences with the cameras rolling.

Similarly, Trump’s arrivals and departures are now a priority for news organizations and reporters flock to them. Jiang said there can be “a lot of gymnastics” for correspondents trying to get close enough to the president. “I’ve ducked under tripods,” she said. “I’ve climbed under equipment because I’m trying to get as close to that line as possible.”

Unlike the briefing room, with its assigned seats, the makeshift news conferences have led to tensions on the White House grounds, especially when pool reporters responsible for providing information to the press corps as a whole found themselves out of earshot to cover the news.

Doug Mills, a veteran New York Times photographer and board member of the White House Correspondents’ Association, said he now has “a second job” trying to better facilitate access in this unusual media environment.

“This was a situation that certainly has come of age with Trump,” said Mills, who has covered the White House since the Reagan years. “Most presidents do not hold news conferences going and coming from the helicopter.”

Mills said there are now “guidelines,” not rules, for how journalists should congregate as Trump arrives and departs. They enter in groups, as at the airport, with the radio pool reporter followed by inhouse White House pool. Next come the correspondents, with a fourth group including additional still photographers.

Such conventions became necessary as this unconventional news conference became routine. “Your jaw drops when he walks past and just waves,” Mills said. “Everyone stands there, ‘He’s not going to talk?’”

Read More

[mystlnewsonline]

New Post has been published on https://www.stl.news/latest-koreas-make-history-1st-olympic-game/84058/

The Latest: Koreas make history in their 1st Olympic game

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea /February 10, 2018 (AP)(STL.News) —The Latest on the Pyeongchang Olympics (all times local):

9:45 p.m.

The Koreans have made Olympic history with the puck dropping in their first Olympic game with their women’s hockey lineup featuring three North Koreans under an unprecedented agreement.

And a North Korean forward nearly gave the historic combined team a lead.

Jong Su Hyon shot the puck from the left circle on a power play in the first period only to catch the crossbar, glancing off harmlessly.

Then Switzerland responded by jumping out to a 2-0 lead, scoring 61 seconds apart midway through the period

Trailing didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of home fans, who kept chanting in support with the North Korean cheerleaders rinkside leading the cheers. During a timeout, the cheerleaders tried to start fans doing the wave only to see that trickle out as play resumed.

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9:40 p.m.

The Dutch resumed where they left off four years ago, dominating the Olympic speedskating Oval and getting a clean sweep of medals in the women’s 3,000 meters, with outsider Carlijn Achtereekte leading the way.

Achtereekte raced in the first half of the program with the also-rans, but her time of 3 minutes, 59.21 seconds was good as gold as double 3,000-meter Olympic champion Ireen Wust finished .08 seconds behind.

Bronze went to Antoinette de Jong for the amazing Dutch sweep.

In Sochi four years ago, the Netherlands won 23 of 36 medals. They’ve started 3 for 3 at the Pyeongchang Games.

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9:25 p.m.

Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier wasn’t just good. She was perfect.

The 24-year-old budding biathlon star hit all 10 targets to win her first gold medal in the women’s 7.5-kilometer sprint on Saturday night at the Pyeongchang Games.

Dahlmeier had won five of six possible medals at last year’s World Championships. Coincidentally, the one event she didn’t win was this one.

She appeared exhausted as she finished, falling to the ground, her face inches from the snow and her skis spread apart in a frog-like position.

Only three women out of 86 competitors hit all 10 targets on a cold and blustery night. However, the other two failed to crack the top 15 because they took too long to shoot those targets.

Norway’s Marte Olsbu captured the silver medal and Veronika Vitkova from the Czech Republic took home the bronze.

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9:20 p.m.

South Korea recovered from a crash to earn a place in the women’s 3,000-meter relay final at short-track speedskating.

The South Koreans won their semifinal heat on Saturday night, drawing wild cheers from the home crowd at the packed Gangneung Ice Arena.

Canada also advanced to Tuesday’s final, along with China and Italy.

The U.S. women didn’t qualify for the event.

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9:15 p.m.

The field is set for the men’s 1,500-meter short-track speed skating final.

After the crash-filled semifinals, nine skaters advanced to the final later Saturday night.

Among them is defending Olympic champion Charles Hamelin of Canada.

American J.R. Celski finished sixth and last in his semifinal heat and didn’t advance after being penalized. Joining Celski on the sidelines was his teammate John-Henry Krueger, who also got penalized.

World record holder Sjinkie Knegt will try to become the first Dutch short-track speed skater to win an Olympic title in the chaotic sport.

Among others in the 1,500 final are Liu Shaolin Sandor of Hungary, Lim Hyo-jun and Hwang Dae-heon, both of South Korea, and Semen Elistratov, a Russian skater who is competing under the Olympic flag at the games.

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9:05 p.m.

Coach Sarah Murray is playing three North Korean forwards as required in the deal creating the first combined Korean team in Olympic history.

The women’s hockey coach faced some tough decisions after negotiations led to 12 North Korean players being added to her roster on Jan. 25. She had to scratch three of her South Korean players for Saturday’s game against Switzerland at the Kwandong Hockey Center.

The North Korean forwards are Kim Un Hyang, Jong Su Hyon and Hwang Chung Gum.

Neither country has played women’s ice hockey in the Olympics before. South Korea only received a berth as a host country.

Fans cheered as the Koreans took the ice for pregame warmups.

But the cheers might have been louder if not for a backup outside the arena getting fans through the gates.

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8:50 p.m.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier says there’s hope the “tender dialogue” between the Koreas at Pyeongchang will foster an improvement in diplomatic relations beyond the Olympics.

Steinmeier visited the German House in Pyeongchang as medal competition was getting was underway.

He says only months ago there were doubts over North Korea’s participation in the Olympics. He says, “Certainly three weeks ago no one would have thought that there would be a united team which entered the stadium together.”

The rare invitation to Pyongyang for South Korean President Moon Jae-in, delivered by Kim Jong Un’s sister, has accelerated the diplomatic warming.

By those measures, Steinmeier say, “What we’re seeing right now is at least a sign.” He says he’s not sure it can hold long term but notes, “At least you can have hope.”

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8:40 p.m.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and South Korean President Moon Jae-in are chatting while watching Olympic speedskaters compete just hours after Moon received a historic invitation to visit North Korea.

Aides did not immediately say whether the invitation was discussed as the two sat next to each other viewing several heats Saturday.

They were seated not far from a section of North Korean cheerleaders who attended the Olympics in a sign of warming ties between the two Koreas that Pence and other U.S. officials have warned against.

Moon and North Korea’s 90-year-old ceremonial head of state will jointly attend the unified Korean women’s ice hockey team’s first match later Saturday evening with Pence.

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8:30 p.m.

American teenager Maame Biney is safely through to the quarterfinals of the 500 meters in her short-track Olympic debut.

The 18-year-old speedskater finished second in her heat behind China’s Fan Kexin on Saturday night. Biney was born in Ghana and moved to the U.S. as a 5-year-old.

The other American, Lana Gehring, was eliminated after finishing third in her heat. Only the top two skaters in each heat advance.

Among the big names moving on to Tuesday’s quarterfinals are Canadian teammates Kim Boutin and Marianne St-Gelais, Italy’s Arianna Fontana, Britain’s Elise Christie and South Korea’s Choi Min-jeong.

Shim Suk-hee of South Korea was a three-time medalist at the Sochi Games but was eliminated Saturday after finishing third in her heat.

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8:10 p.m.

Korean fans are very, very excited about making history with their combined women’s hockey team at the Pyeongchang Games.

Hundreds of fans waved flags with many featuring the Korean Peninsula, and they chanted while waiting outside in gusting winds for officials to open the doors at the Kwandong Hockey Center 90 minutes before Korea plays Switzerland.

A capacity crowd of 6,000 is expected for the game, with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korea’s 90-year-old nominal head of state, Kim Yong Nam, among them.

The men boarded a train for Gangneung after lunch in Seoul with Kim Yo Jong, sister of Kim Jong Un.

It’s unclear if she will be joining the leaders to watch a roster featuring 12 North Koreans.

___

7:55 p.m.

The first night of short-track speedskating is underway at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

All three Americans have advanced to the semifinals of the men’s 1,500 meters. Three-time Olympian J.R. Celski and John-Henry Krueger nearly fell in their heats, while a crash involving two skaters allowed Aaron Tran to move on in the 13 ½-lap race.

South Korea’s three skaters — Hwang Dae-heon, Lim Hyo-jun and Seo Yira — also qualified for the semis to the delight of the home crowd, which roared any time one of their skaters was in the lead. Short track is hugely popular in the host country.

World record holder Sjinkie Knegt of the Netherlands safely moved on, as did defending Olympic champion Charles Hamelin of Canada.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen are in the crowd.

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7:35 p.m.

Vice President Mike Pence is cheering on U.S. speed skaters at the Winter Olympics before departing South Korea for Washington.

Pence and his wife are viewing the short-track competition Saturday with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his wife. Eight Americans are participating in the event.

It’s the final stop on a six-day trip that Pence hoped would increase pressure on North Korea as it seeks to use the games to pursue an opening with the South.

Pence’s efforts to keep the spotlight on North Korea’s nuclear program and human rights abuses have taken a back seat to the widely viewed images of the two Koreas marching under one flag during Friday night’s opening ceremony — and to the invitation by dictator Kim Jong Un for South Korean President Moon Jae-in to visit the North.

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7:25 p.m.

Norwegian cross-country skiing star Marit Bjoergen says this will be her final Olympics.

Bjoergen has won her 11th Olympic medal, taking silver in the 15-kilometer skiathlon, making her the most decorated female Winter Olympian ever.

The 37-year-old is still hoping to pass biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, who has 13 podium finishes, before the end of these Olympic Games. She won’t say how many races she plans to participate in in Pyeongchang, only that she will participate in the women’s sprint on Tuesday.

“I haven’t thought about that. For sure it’s my last Olympics, but for me, I have to focus on doing good races,” Bjoergen said. “I think when I’m finished with the Olympics I can look behind me and see how many medals I have. For me it’s important to do the race and have the focus there.”

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7:10 p.m.

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven is hailing Charlotte Kalla, who won the first gold medal of the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Lofven wrote on Instagram “Sweden’s first gold hero at the Olympic Games! Congratulations Kalla.”

Kalla won gold ahead of Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjoergen in the women’s 15-kilometer skiathlon.

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7:05 p.m.

Sara Hjalmarsson scored 1:53 into the third period and Sweden held off Japan 2-1 in a thrilling game to open the preliminary round for women’s ice hockey at the Pyeongchang Games.

This was only Japan’s third appearance in the Olympics for women’s ice hockey, and they had to start off pool play against a country that took home silver in 2006 and bronze in 2002.

Sweden took a 1-0 lead 2:21 into the game when Fanny Rask scored from a tough angle, squeezing the puck between Nana Fujimoto’s head and the post.

The Japanese tied it up with 3:08 left in the second period.

The Swedes took the lead back thanks to a great takeaway by Erika Grahm who then passed the puck backward to Hjalmarsson in the slot for the go-ahead goal.

___

6:55 p.m.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is not directly addressing news that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has invited South Korean President Moon Jae-in for a visit, as the two Koreas use the Olympics as an opportunity for renewing ties amid concerns over North Korea’s nuclear capabilities.

Pence spokeswoman Alyssa Farah says, “The vice president is grateful that President Moon reaffirmed his strong commitment to the global maximum pressure campaign and for his support for continued sanctions.”

Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, delivered the invitation to Moon on Saturday.

Pence has meant to use his trip to the Olympics to caution the South against “falling for” the North’s overtures, which in the past have been used as stall tactics to allow for continued development of its nuclear program.

___

6:45 p.m.

An army of high-flying drones expected to light up the sky at the opening ceremony of the Olympics was grounded.

Viewers of NBC’s tape-delayed broadcast in the United States still saw it, but it was a pre-recorded version from a rehearsal.

Intel Corp. was expected to launch 300 drones as part of an extravagant light show, but those plans were scrapped. International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams says the drones weren’t deployed because of an “impromptu logistical change.”

NBC aired a light show, but it was from Intel’s launching of 1,280 drones in December in Pyeongchang.

The incident was reminiscent of the Sochi Games in 2014, when one of the five Olympic rings failed to light — but Russian state television aired rehearsal footage of it happening.

___

6:15 p.m.

Speedskater Shani Davis has declined to talk to reporters for a second day in a row about the controversy over how the U.S. Olympic Team chose its flag-bearer for the opening ceremony.

Davis, who skipped the ceremony, trained Saturday but walked by journalists afterward without stopping to answer questions.

After luger Erin Hamlin was picked to carry the flag, a tweet from Davis’s account said Team USA “dishonorably” used a coin toss to make the decision and added the #BlackHistoryMonth2018 hashtag. Davis is black and Hamlin is white. The coin toss happened after they tied 4-4 in a vote by fellow athletes.

Team spokesman Matt Whewell says Davis is intent on staying focused on his Olympic races for now. His first race is Tuesday’s 1,500 meters.

A tweet from his account a few hours after the opening ceremony read, “It has been such an honor to have represented the greatest, most diverse country in the world at the last five Winter Games during the same month as #blackhistorymonth #goTeamUSA Watch ‘Origins of Black History Month.'”

___

6 p.m.

American cross-country skier Jessie Diggins says nerves may have gotten the best of her before the women’s 15-kilometer (9.3-mile) skiathlon, causing her to throw up shortly before the race.

Diggins was third in the World Cup rankings coming in but finished fifth on Saturday at the Pyeongchang Games.

The 26-year-old says, “I need to work on a few things to manage stress.”

She says she also struggled with cramping in her triceps during the race and will reconsider her hydration plan moving forward. Overall, though, she says she did the best she could and got the most out of her body.

Diggins says it wasn’t her best race, but she still feels like she’s in a “good place” to become the first American cross-country skier to win a medal since Bill Koch in 1976.

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5:05 p.m.

Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla won the first gold medal of the Pyeongchang Games and Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjoergen took silver in the women’s 15-kilometer skiathlon to become the most decorated female Winter Olympian ever.

Bjoergen captured her 11th career medal Saturday, breaking a three-way tie with Russian Raisa Smetanina and Italian Stefania Belmondo.

Kalla won the race by more than seven seconds, breaking away from the pack in the final 2 kilometers to avenge her loss to Bjoergen in the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Jessica Diggins finished fifth, failing to become the first American woman to earn a medal in cross-country skiing.

Krista Parmakoski of Finland finished third.

___

4:30 p.m.

Race organizers say they expect “challenging” conditions to stage the Olympic men’s downhill on Sunday.

Team leaders have been told the weather forecast is “partly cloudy but the wind will be strong.” Race-time temperatures will be below freezing on the Jeongseon hill.

Gusts and tailwinds affected a shortened practice run on Friday but eased for the final training session Saturday.

Race director says Markus Waldner “it was good enough to have a race today. Tomorrow we will see.”

Waldner says a decision whether to delay the 11 a.m. start, or postpone the race, is expected at 10 a.m.

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By Associated Press – published on STL.News by St. Louis Media, LLC (Z.S)

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