#chicago was much better but i'm glad i watched this one too

[treesofgreen]

My main takeaways:

romance is not an impossibility for Izzy

Con isn't sure Izzy can write

I do not like the raw meat jokes, sorry, i am no fun at parties

Nathan is really great at coming up with drag names

Kristian is a sweetheart and has probably read all of the fanfiction and Wee John's doll wasn't in the script

All three of them give terrific advice to young people

I keep forgetting how young Nathan is himself

Everyone is hot for Joel Fry

[rimouskis]

In the interest of wanting to love life again: what was your favourite moment of the Penguins season this year? Any happy memories?

I had a really great season, man.

I saw games with seven different fandom friends and got to introduce three of them to the city for the first time. I got to see so many wins alongside them, including several friends' first pens wins. I got to watch the Pens win a Pride game, which was amazing and so fun.

I got to see Geno's 1000th game in Chicago (with my family, who'd never been to a hockey game before), and then flew back to Pittsburgh to see them celebrate it on home ice—with Geno winning it in a shootout that was probably the coolest experience I've ever had in a hockey arena.

I got to see Tanger's 1000th game and share that with a friend. Seeing the funky fun little warmups (which I missed for Geno's in Chicago because the arena workers were mean 😂) was super special and cool.

I got to go to the night of assists, which was a lifetime experience, special and made all the better by getting to share it with a fandom friend.

I got to go to a Geno fan signing with another friend, and say hi to him as he signed my jersey and thank him for signing with the pens. he said he was glad to sign, too:)

I got to live through contractgate, which was horrible-at-the-time but also a really unifying experience.

I felt a thousand, no, a million times worse when Geno pulled that dumbass "I'm gonna test free agency 💅" move this summer that made me just SOB in the arrivals lane at an airport on the very first business trip I've ever made in my career ahahaha.

and it's weird and silly, because I'm a person who really needs to reframe those upsetting moments into something good. it's how I live with them. I remember how hopeless I felt—my plane had been turned around, I was late to my first business trip ever, I was about to meet my high-powered boss in person for the first time, I was standing in the Detroit heat waiting for 45 minutes for a shuttle to take me to the grimiest hotel I've laid eyes on because my connecting flight had been delayed until the next day... and I was just crying into my mask as I tried to console my fandom friends and keep my wits about me because it kind of felt like the world was ending.

and it wasn't... about... the team. in a way it wasn't even fully down to being about geno. do not get me wrong: I was personally devastated by the idea of him not coming back. he's one of My Guys. I was in denial about what I would do if he didn't sign with the Pens. I was so torn up about it that I stayed up for hours even though I was exhausted.

but the fear that kept me up in that really weird, shitty hotel room was the thought that my fandom was going to circle the drain because of it. we saw what a ship split did to tk/np, didn't we? their situation was different from sidgeno's... they lacked the amount of history, the sheer years... but nonetheless, I'm really, really aware of how small and tight-knit our corner of hockey fandom is. I was terrified of the possibility of geno leaving and that fracturing this really beautiful chunk of the internet that I've called home for the majority of my adult life, at this point.

that didn't happen. not only did it not happen, but I was in a vacation dreamland, barely needing to work on a business trip in the most gorgeous fantasyland location I've ever seen, having impressed my boss and nailed my part of the trip. all my anxiety—over the trip, over my job, over my fandom, over geno, over sid, over my friends dealing with this—was real, but it didn't win. instead I practically experienced euphoria on the shoreline.

I remember getting the text from a friend at close to midnight or whenever it was. geno had signed. things were going to be okay. things were going to be great.

and they were. I had so much fun this season, man. I really did. I wrote 14ish new fics this season. I participated in three (four? maybe more?) fic fests. I went to so many games that I felt gluttonous about it. I talked to tons of people all over this fandom. my friendships grew stronger. I traveled to two different states to visit fandom friends. I'm flying across the ocean to see more in the coming months.

and like... that's what matters. that ACTUALLY impacts my life, more than a man leaving a team, more than a team losing games. as important as certain players or records are to me, that's all stuff I can come to accept (well... some things I can accept. I don't think I'd ever have gotten over geno had he left. I get nauseous thinking about it. let's not muse on it. it didn't happen and that's what matters).

what I wouldn't have been able to accept was this space—this fandom, this lovely little corner where we talk about and joke about and blog about and meme about and write about the pens—unraveling. I'm not naive enough to expect this place to be around forever, and it already looks radically different from what it was when I joined it, but I'm determined to help preserve it for as long as I can. I want this to be a fun space. A creative one. Someplace where we're having a good time but also talking about things that matter to us and learning about the sport.

I told you all in a post a long while ago after I went to seattle that I want to be more assertive and honest about how much online friendships mean to me. the fact that there's this online community is sick. we're all in this cool little boat together and that is impressive and interesting and unique and I love it. I love fandom, and I love THIS fandom, and I love Sid and Geno and what we do in the name of their friendship. this place has enriched my life in ways I can't even tell you about. it's so cool. it is SO cool.

so.... I don't know what else to leave you with but this picture of the coastline I sat at on a cool July night, with my career changing in amazing ways and my anxieties quelled and my body flooded with adrenaline over the news that Geno Was Back and my mind BURSTING with creativity over a new story idea that was billowing out of me like smoke.

I sat there, headphones in, a song by one of my favorite bands playing on repeat as the sun set and the world turned the most intense shade of blue I'd seen in my life. I kept mouthing along to the words—Die if I must, let my bones turn to dust, I'm the lord of the lake and I don't want to leave it.

I just couldn't get over how lucky I felt. what a life I had. what fortune had come into my life. how crazy it was that things, like they seemingly so often do, worked out.

if I REALLY wanted to be trite, I could say something right now like "well, it was about time my luck ran out." but I don't feel like it has. tonight wasn't fun, but this season isn't about tonight for me.

this season is about:

the look on my friend's face as we caught sight of Sid at the night of assists and had that christ-he's-real moment

starting a podcast with my friends and getting to create silly goofy stuff in fun new ways

my dad being kind of alarmed at me screaming down at the ice and getting to explain to my sister what a power play was

getting to boo and cheer with the fans (and my friends). during overtime and the shootout for Geno's 1001th game, and the ecstasy of him winning it all.

having players walk past me and my friends at our dinner tables randomly in the city and getting to laugh about how cool/funny an experience that is 😂

having geno help me win a game of blackjack, which will forever be one of the coolest things I've been able to experience

organizing trips for people who've never seen the city before and having them tell me how fun experiencing pgh is, which is so meaningful as someone who's done a lot of growing up here

meeting new friends, both online and in person, and getting to learn about them and write with them and create with them

writing. writing. writing. the thing I've loved to do since I was a child. the thing I want to dedicate myself even more fully to.

reading the works people in our fandom write and share, which is such an overwhelming act of community and passion that I need to remind myself of how extraordinary it is

sitting out on the edge of the water and marveling at what a life I had, literally none of it possible without fandom. nothing in my life has shaped my literal life path as much as this fandom and S+G.

this is overly sentimental and perhaps cloying, but god, do I mean it. I mean it so earnestly I can't even be embarrassed about it.

life is good. tonight was hard, and I saw things that are going to stick with me and probably upset me, but the positives outweigh the negatives as a rule in my life. I can't live otherwise. I won't tell anyone else how to deal with stress or fear, and I'm trying to get better at that, but in the meantime I'll leave you with that image of the big blue world all laid out in front of me and me feeling every feeling in the world there was to feel, because I was so overwhelmed with the previous 24 hours that it was all I could do to sit there and let it run its course.

I'm an optimist, for better or worse, because it's the way I make life bearable. and, because I'm also kind of corny, I'm going to go back to that blue dusk eating up the whole sky and melting into the water and remember how I felt.

that's why I'm here. I hope there are moments from this season that made you feel like that, too. I hope you, like me, feel that those moments greatly and meaningfully outweigh bad ones.

it was a good year. I can't wait for whatever comes next.

[dollywheeler]

September 29th, 1996

And I say hey-ey-ey-ey-ey, hey-ey-ey I said "hey, what's going on?"

I've had this song stuck in my head all morning, still dancing along to it as if I'm still in the gymnasium, my gold dress swirling around me. I don't know why this song - it's not particularly romantic, or fitting to the occasion, doesn't sum up how the evening had felt. Yet, it had been the most magical moment of the entire night.

One moment, dancing with Daniel to Duran Duran, then this song came on, the slow start meaning we didn't break apart yet, trying to stay close as long as possible, but when the chorus hit the entire hall threw their heads back, screaming along in a messy harmony. It felt like a dream, didn't feel quite real, like some kind of movie, when your heart feels full even though you're just watching it play out in front of you. Except, this time I was in the middle of it, screaming along with everyone else, and it felt like I was floating, wishing the moment could less forever.

That's not to say the rest of the evening wasn't just as wonderful. Daniel took me to an actual restaurant, which was a nice change of pace from the dinner, but I honestly can't tell if the food was even worth it. My stomach was too busy swirling with nerves, and I could barely get any food past my lips because we were too distracted talking and laughing. It was wonderful - he was wonderful, looking dapper in his suit and glinting golden in the candle light. As far as first dates go, I'm sure it couldn't have gone any better. Not that I'd know, as this was my first first date, but it felt like a dream, like something that couldn't possibly be real.

It was the perfect blend between familiar and exciting - the comfort of someone you already know, someone you already love spending time with, mixed with the nerve-wracking thrill of a new context, of possibility.

We were having such a great time that we were late to the actual dance, having lost track of time completely during our conversation. Whitney gave me this knowing look about it - I don't think she would have believed me if I'd told her we'd just been talking.

Anyway, we danced and we laughed and gossiped and I didn't even care that Mike and his 'party' or whatever was there. I'd already realised I'd have to get used to them being around the school in every facet - that includes chaperoning school events. The night was too perfect though, and I was not going to let anything darken my mood.

I did get to talk to Max though, and thank her for the birthday gift. She said she'd mostly just said 'yes' or 'no' to things Mike had picked out and it was no big deal but that she was glad I liked it. I also used the moment to ask about everything else - I realised that if Mike won't call to tell her things, I might as well ask someone else for intel. Apparently, Lucas and her still live in Chicago, and she works as a counselor at the blind school she went to after whatever happened had happened. Everyone is always so vague about the details, but I didn't want to ask her directly and force her to relive it. That's one thing that actually is none of my business anyway.

Erica is living with them while she is going to college - she got her Bachelor's last June but just started law school. I can't imagine moving in with Nancy while I'm in college. Don't get me wrong, Nancy's great, but it's college! You're supposed to go out on your own and become independent and stuff. I said as much to Max, but she just shrugged and smiled to herself. She said Erica was happier with them than she'd been at the dorms.

I didn't know how to go from there so I just asked about El. I knew she still visits Hawkins a lot, because opposite to the others, I see her around town sometimes. At Melvalds with Joyce or in the diner with Sheriff Hopper, or alone around the library in the center of town. But there's also stretches of time when I don't see her at all. According to Max she takes a bunch of classes at the community college, but also travels a lot - bouncing between Chicago and San Fran and New York. Max said that whenever Dustin or Jonathan and Nancy have to travel for work, she usually tags along too. I don't know why or how she does all of that, but it sounds like a dream. Yet, at the same time, I think I'd personally hate it.

She seemed happy enough though, and it's obvious she is happy. From across the room I could see that, as always, her smile was wide and her skin warm with a tan, her hair pinned back with clips that clashed with her new pink highlights. Most of the chaperones hadn't bothered dressing up, but she had clearly thought about her outfit, each item carefully picked out to form a particular look, even if it was just jeans and a colorful sweater.

I didn't want to outright ask about Mike or Will, mostly because I know what they're doing right now and asking about Mike felt too much like snooping. Max didn't seem like she was going to mention it on her own, and before I could make up my mind on whether I really wanted to know, Dylan came to drag me back to the dance floor.

It was only after we were taking another break some time later that I realised I still didn't know what Dustin or Lucas are doing. I assume Dustin lives in San Fran, as that's the only reason El would go there as often as Chicago or New York, but I don't know what he does there. Probably some kind of tech company or whatever. And I'm pretty sure I heard Mrs. Sinclair talk about Lucas following in his father's footsteps but honestly I don't even know what he does so that doesn't answer any questions.

Might be something to talk about on Friday to fill awkward silences.

Anyway the dance was amazing, and someone must have succeeded in smuggling in alcohol because there was a girl puking in one of the bathroom stalls before 9 pm. She was nice though, told me she liked my dress. Even that felt magical, despite her smudged make-up and loopy expression, the entire night like a daydream where I was floating on air and nothing could ever be wrong.

There was an after party at Selena's house - I swear kids of divorced parents are raising themselves because somehow their houses are always empty at the most opportune times - but Danny and I decided not to go. I didn't want to risk ruining what had been the perfect evening, and I knew I'd only get more tired and everyone else less sober. It also kept the evening quiet, just Daniel and I in the car as he drove me home, drunk on happiness and singing along to the radio. Last night, it seemed, for once, I hadn't cared about missing out. I still don't.

I mean - nothing could have topped Daniel dropping me off at home, getting out of the car along with me as if he didn't know what he was doing either but had seen a few movies, and walked me up to the front door. I knew dad would already be asleep, but mom would be sitting up in the sitting room like she'd done so many nights before, for so many years on end, waiting for her teenager to get home safe.

I had my jacket draped over my shoulders because it wasn't too cold yet and I liked the air against my arms after the crowded gymnasium. Daniel pretended to pull it tighter around me, only to use it as leverage to draw me closer and kiss me. It feels silly writing it down because there's nothing I can say to really describe it. No words that feel right or do it justice, that explain how I'm blushing all over again just thinking about it, my stomach swirling at the recollection.

All I know is that I wish I was still in that moment, still holding his face in my hand, gently scratching my nail over his cheek, submitting the feeling to memory. But I didn't mind when he pulled away, his face flushed and dark eyes shining in the porchlight, because I got to smile at him and he smiled back, blush deepening as he stepped away and muttered a goodnight, dimples digging into his cheeks where I'd held him.

I watched him go before getting back into the house, finding mom asleep on the couch. It was late for her, I realised, even though it was only a little before twelve, and considered the fact she hadn't had to stay up in a long time - not since Mike had left. I didn't want to wake her but knew I had to - if just to let her know I was home and she wouldn't wake up worried.

I still can't quite believe the night was real.

I really should get the reading done for tomorrow, but I don't want to stop thinking about yesterday. Or tomorrow, when I'll see Daniel again.

Love, Holly <3

[themultifandomgal]

Antonio- Meeting Him

I arrive at Mollys to meet my brothers Jay and Will, same dad different moms. I haven't long moved to Chicago to be with my brothers after my mom passed away recently.

Seeing my brothers sat a table, I approach now noticing a few other people

"Here she is. Severide, Dawson this is YN" Will says standing up and giving me a hug

"Hey" I greet him and Jay who also give me a hug. I look at the other two guys "hi it's nice to meet you"

"Like wise, Jay and Will have told us a lot about you. Kelly Severide" Kelly stands up and shakes my hand

"Antonio Dawson" Antonio also shakes my hand. I sit in between my brothers. Jay nudges a glass of coke towards me

"Thanks"

"Jay told us your a teacher. What year?" Antonio asks

"Kindergarten so age 5"

"30 5 year olds in one room, no thank you" Kelly shudders at the thought

"They're not that bad. It's the parents you have to watch" I chuckle "so do either of you have kids?"

"No" Kelly shakes his head

"I've got two. Boy and girl. Have you?"

"No. Never found the right guy I guess"

"I'll drink to that one" Jay mutters lifting up his drink to take a sip

"Hey my relationships haven't been that bad" I nudge Jay

"Errr yeah they have. There was Jake-the deadbeat, then Alfie- the drug dealer..."

"Woah ok I didn't know and as soon as I found out I broke it off. Anyway we weren't that serious" I shrug

"Don't forgot Dan. God he was the worst" Will says "you know, she rang me in anger because Dan stole her money. Had to ring Jay"

"Ahh so you were the stolen purse case Jay left us a week for"

"Guilty" I give Antonio a smile "fine ok my relationships have sucked, that's why I'm having a new start here and not dating for a long ass time"

"Yeah yeah, your like your brother there" Will nods towards Jay "you see a hot guy and you can't keep away. Like a moth to a flame"

"She just needs the right guy to tame her" Kelly says

"Don't even think about it" Jay points at his friend. I roll my eyes at my brother being over protective.

The hours tick by and before I know it, it's now Saturday morning and I have had far too much to drink

"I'm gonna have to call a taxi. Will Christopher be ok with me leaving my car here?" I ask standing up on wobbling legs

"He'll be fine about it. Would rather you get home safely" Kelly shrugs

"Well thank you for the drinks, but I'm super tired"

"Don't worry about it"

"Let me give you a lift home. I've not drank" Antonio offers

"No it's ok, don't worry..."

"I insist. I know your brothers would feel happier knowing that you got home safely by an officer than worry about you in a taxi on your own"

"Ok. Thank you" I give into Antonio.

Slipping into Antonio's car I rest my head on the window, tiredness starting to win the battle to try and stay awake

"Your seats are comfy" I mutter. I hear Antonio chuckle next to me "will your wife mind that your dropping me off?"

"No wife. Divorced"

"Oh. I'm sorry I didn't mean..."

"It's ok, well now it is. For a while I wasn't allowed to see my kids. Things have gotten better"

"I'm glad things are better. I've worked with some parents who don't get along and it puts a strain of the kids. Sometimes it just takes time for divorced parents to figure out how to work" I realise I've probably been talking out of place so I apologise to which Antonio tells me not to be silly. We arrive outside my tiny house, I turn to look at Antonio and smile "thank you for the lift"

"Don't worry about it. I'll get someone to drop your car off for you tomorrow"

"Jays on my insurance, ask him"

"Ok. Goodnight YN"

"Goodnight Antonio" I exit the car and walk to my front door, noticing that Antonio hasn't left yet. Once I find my house keys and open the door I turn around to give him a wave. I lock the door behind me and that's only when Antonio leaves I assume making sure I'm safe.

[msmargaretmurry]

ooh becky msmargaretmurry i have to ask about your rnh thoughts here because while i have never been in the oiler trenches and do not (Do Not!!!) intend to start now, i have been watching on the sidelines since the hall and eberle days and i LOVE to hear your opinions

oh thank you for asking anon!! for context i started watching the oilers on purpose in like 2010ish (i had a friend who was super into hall/eberle and i was NOT immune to that) — i do not claim to be an expert on any of this at all, this is just based on my own experiences and thoughts and ponderings. also for the record i think rnh is great. he is an oiler i am extremely fond of, and i'm glad he seems to have found a solid role there that he's content with and has found success in.

so to me the ryan nugent-hopkins of it all goes something like this:

when the oilers drafted taylor hall first overall in 2010, HE was supposed to be the savior of the franchise. the oilers had lost in the scf in 2006 and then immediately not made the playoffs for four straight years and no one was happy. they drafted taylor, hyped him up SO hard — this era was kind of the the advent of current Online Content era and they were making little videos of him arriving in edmonton, showing him around, fans recognizing him on the street. i feel like nowadays thall's stock as a player is like "good but not GREAT" but you must understand that when he was drafted first overall they were expecting him to be GREAT. him, plus hot young swedes linus omark and magnus pääjärvi, plus canadian world juniors hero jordan eberle had the oilers faithful (and the oilers front office) CONVINCED they were going to be turning things around. people were making t-shirts that said

HALL Omark Paajarvi Eberle

— HOPE, you see???

anyway obviously that season did not actually go that great. they finished last in the league. i think they won something like 25 games all season. and they wound up with another first overall pick, which was our boy, the nuge.

and the thing is, ryan was expected to be very good, but he was NOT expected to be the savior of the franchise. that was already taylor hall's job. there was a lot of concern his rookie season about him being too skinny and not strong enough to really make an impact at the nhl level yet (and to be fair, he DID look like a baby deer out there). the people and the powers that be were very much like, we're glad to have him, we think he'll be a great piece of this rebuild, but there was much more willingness to be like, okay well he might need a few years to finish baking.

rnh's rookie season was better than the season before, but it was still not good. they did not come close to making the playoffs. they were still very bad. the blue jackets were also very bad, and a friend and i drove to columbus and got seats on the glass for oilers/jackets for like $50. extremely funny experience, 10/10, do recommend.

(not relevant to this narrative but a very fun fact imo is that despite the oilers but godawful that season, 2011–12 had two of my favorite oilers games i ever watched: sam gagner's 8-point night against chicago, and a 9-2 win ALSO against chicago, who was one of the best teams in the league at the time. as a bl*ckhawks hater then and now, watching this clown car oilers team run roughshod over chicago brought me immeasurable joy.)

however, the only one of the young stars who was REALLY living up to expectations at this point was jordan eberle? iirc he lead the team in goals AND assists that year. the masses were starting to get impatient with the performances of the other young stars, especially first overall franchise savior taylor hall.

and the oilers won another draft lottery. (you can imagine at this point the rest of the league was already pretty sick of the oilers winning draft lotteries.) they drafted nail yakupov first overall. i am not going to dive deeply into the yakupov saga, because we would be here all night, but suffice to say that, no, he did not live up to first overall expectations, but also, yes, he was very much punished for Being Russian In Edmonton, and those two things cannot be untangled from each other. however, in the context of the nuge of it all, this leaves rnh in an interesting and particular spot: he is still not expected to be taylor hall, and wow he looks like such a nice pick compared to yakupov. rnh is playing pretty well! not all-star numbers or anything, but again, he's not the cornerstone of the franchise rebuild. he is an important brick, but not the foundation.

not like the rebuild is working anyway. with their arsenal of three straight first overall draft picks (and canadian world juniors hero jordan eberle), edmonton misses the playoffs for the seventh straight season. and then they miss them again. and then they miss them again. and it's not even like assigned franchise savior taylor hall is playing poorly — other than one slump of a season he is consistently putting up 50+ point seasons, including one 80 point season! but the oilers as a team are still a laughingstock in the league. it's not just that they're missing the playoffs. they are consistently near the bottom of the league.

to be clear, i don't think this was the fault of the players. i think the oilers were (are) pretty shit at management and were (are) pretty shit at prospect development. i think that when you have a team with that many decent-to-good players and you can't get out of the basement that the problem is systemic. but god forbid the front office take a good long look inward to diagnose the problem within themselves. no, the problem was that assigned franchise savior taylor hall was not doing his job (saving the franchise).

not that there wasn't any frustration toward other players, including rnh. there was frustration toward the team as a whole, but hall often bore the brunt of it. omark and pääjärvi were gone by around 2014. eberle was still well-liked but it was kind of accepted that he wasn't going to change the fate of the organization. the idea that the oilers needed to ship hall out becaue HE was the problem was in the air before the 2015 draft lottery.

and then the oilers won the 2015 draft lottery, and with it, connor mcdavid. people were not happy. (please click on this link it's so funny.) the oilers were so bad at this point that it was just generally accepted that connor going to the oilers meant the prime of his generational-talent career would be wasted by an incompetent team. honestly not really feeling like we've been proven wrong at this exact point in time!

however: connor mcdavid? brand new savior! way better savior than taylor hall ever would have been! the last five years of rebuild weren't REALLY a rebuild, the real rebuild was going to start with mcdavid!

and where is the nuge in all this? he has been pretty quietly plugging away, turning into a very good and reliable nhl player. a consistent 40–50 ish point player, not bad! fast forward a few seasons into the mcdavid era and he's putting up 80 points, 100 points! he's the longest-tenured oiler. the edmonton people and powers that be seem to really value him! which is really awesome.

this is not to say that there was never any "nuge should be better" discourse or any frustration with him when the team was doing so badly, because there was absolutely frustration with the whole team, including him. i do distinctly remember hearing the phrase "the oilers need more from ryan nugent-hopkins" more than once on the broadcasts. nuge finding his role on the team and the notable success he's had in more recent seasons has been a process, even though he hasn't ever been ~bad at the nhl level. however, imo, his positioning between noted disappointments hall and yakupov and also assigned saviors hall and mcdavid did put him in a unique position where people had a little more patience with him and blamed him less for the team's struggles than his fellow first overalls.

i do still miss the kid line sometimes though.

[absolute-filth-factory]

I was already excited for the 23-24 season for the hawks and all of the new prospects coming up through the system, but the new every shift episode just made me more excited. I was originally kind of skeptical about the whole "taking dev camp off-ice" thing, but now I'm really glad they did it, for a lot of reasons.

Management actually gives a shit about the players!! I know that's like, basic human curtesy, but knowing a huge reason that Kyle Beach went through what he did was because management did not give a single shit about the players and only cared about the cup, it's a huge relief to see Davidson and Richardson being really supportive of the players and making decisions based on what's best for them, not just the hawks overall.

A big purpose of this camp was to allow the prospects to develop off-ice and get to see the city that they're (probably) going to be playing in within a couple years. I mean, they went to a Cubs game, took a boat tour on the Chicago river, took a cooking class, played floor hockey with a local boys and girls club, went to Second City (comedy club), and probably some other stuff I'm forgetting. Management isn't hanging them out to dry in that respect, and I am very glad for that.

Player interactions!! The episode was great in that it showed off so much personality, and it didn't just focus on the first-round draft picks, although of course they did get a bit more attention. We got to see a ton of different players doing things and interacting with one another, and it seems like the goal of team bonding was achieved. As Nazar said in the episode, you've got guys from America, Canada, overseas, and it's good that they're able to talk to each other and develop the kind of relationships and camaraderie that's necessary for a winning team (and also just really fun to watch). Sure, some of the players might have been up against each other in their league or in a tournament or maybe have been on the same team, but that's not really conducive to building team chemistry anyways.

Another two big reasons why they took the camp off-ice this year was to avoid causing or exacerbating injuries and to remove the stress of trying to perform well in a short period of time in front of management. I mean, these guys have already been playing hockey for a really long time, and scouts have already been watching and evaluating them, so why have them play high-stress, mostly meaningless hockey and put them at risk of somehow getting injured or making something worse. Yeah, you probably don't run into that many new injuries at dev camp (except for that kid up in Toronto who got a concussion the other day), but if players are trying to prove something to management, they're gonna be a lot more likely to play through something they should probably be leaving alone. It just seems like a better solution to me, and they're still going to be getting ice time in training camp in September.

Even though the camp was off-ice, the players were still doing a ton of conditioning. They boxed, did regular weight room stuff, probably some other things, and they took a class with Oduya on breathing techniques that can be used in a number of different ways. Richardson was directly involved in the boxing, too, which is great for a number of reasons, especially to help player-coach interactions.

Davidson seems to have a huge focus on culture and character, both in determining who he picks and how the players are expected to conduct themselves. There was a session on inclusion, from what I remember, and at the end of the episode, Davidson specifically brings up Moore talking about how the way Bedard carries himself has already affected him and the way he does things. That kind of thing is huge on any team, but I think it really shows that the hawks under Davidson are trying to create a good environment to play hockey and just be a team in, and it makes me really excited for the future of this team.

[romanarose]

Sunshine, Starlight, Sweetheart, Brightside: Chapter 15

Masterlist here

Steven Grant X OC X Marc Spector

Fic Summary: Steven meets Sam and they strike up a quick relationship, both kindhearted and loving, they fall fast. But both have a lot going on. Steven had Marc and Moon Knight, and Sam has mental health problems of her own. Slowly, Steven starts to put together pieces of her story as Sam starts to get to know Marc and Jake. The four of them learn to navigate Sam's depression, family, and traumatic past as Sam helps Steven Marc and Jake navigate each other.

Chapter Summary: The morning after Marc and Sam confessed they are in love with each other and some steamy smut, Sam has a favor to ask. Not a super eventful chapter, but it's got some cute moments.

I'm glad y'all liked the Marc content, finally Marc and Steven and Sam can all be happy together! For now... there will be a few cute chapters before things go downhill again.

Italics is Marc's thoughts

Bold is Steven's thoughts.

And I think I'll start doing Jake's thoughts in red

if this is impossible to read let me know another color to try.

When Marc and Sam woke up that morning, Marc watched Sam stretch, her naked, pale body practically reflecting the sunshine off her. 

“Fuck, I’m soar” Sam grumbled, but she was smiling.

Marc nuzzled his face into her upper chest, “I bet Steven doesn’t leave you soar the next morning” Marc commented.

Sam played with his hair “Marc, honey?”

He looked up at her “Yes?”

“Love, if this is all going to work… The two of you can’t be comparing yourselves to each other. I love you both. I love you in different ways. You are both perfect to me. Okay?”

Sighing, Marc replied “You’re right, Brightside.”

She looked at him “I love you very much. I hope you know that.”

“I do” Marc kissed Sam’s chest where he was laying “And I love you too.”

“Come on,” She tapped his head. “Up, I’ll make breakfast before I head out. Walk me to the bus?”

Marc groaned, grabbing onto Sam tightly as if he could stop her from leaving the bed “Nooooo, just stay with me…”

Sam giggled, hugging him back “I can’t, goofball. I got my volunteering to do!” She shrieked as she felt Marc tighten his grip and she began wiggling around in the bed, attempting to break free.

Marc wasn’t relenting, smiling broadly as he attempted to counter out her movements. “Just take one day off, it won’t kill you to play hooky”

Sam laughed loudly, surprised at the joyful look on Marc’s face “Play hooky? Marc, we’re not in high school anymore”

Marc put on a fake British accent. “Don’t you mean ‘secondary school’” 

Ty was sitting up, trying to pull herself out of Marc’s grip, Marc’s head on her belly now. “Hey, when it’s just us, we can be two Chicago kids- AH!” Sam fell back, sliding off the bed and onto her back “Fuck!”

Marc leaned over the bed with a worried face “You okay?”

Sam smiled “I’m fine Starlight,” her legs were still up on the bed “Think you’re strong enough to pull me up?” She teased.

Marc looked cocky “Oh yeah, I absolutely can.” Marc fell for the bait.

When Marc took Sam’s hand, she moved a foot to the edge of the bed, using the leverage and extra force to pull on Marc.

“Sam what are- FUCK” Marc fell on top of her with a thud, the heavy weight of his muscles knocking the air out of Sam. They both laid there, groaning on the floor.

“Instant regret…” Sam muttered.

“Again,” Marc breathed out, face pressed on the floor and he laid across from her “Are you okay?”

Sam smacked his ass “A lot better with this view”

“Okay, you win, I surrender, we’ll get out of bed” Marc pushed himself up.

“I don’t think you can surrender when I already won…”

Sam grabbed a long t-shirt and some underwear from the dresser, and tossed a shirt and pj pants to Marc “Here.” Marc took the items and got dressed, sitting on the bed.

“Breakfast is cereal, I’m too lazy to cook.”

“Sounds good to me, baby.” Marc sat at the table and poured some sugary cereal, happy that for once Sam wasn’t worried about calories.

After they ate, Marc was looking Sam over, admiring the woman before him. As he scanned down her body, he saw her fingers. Her thumb was tapping against every finger, alternating; her nervous tick. “Something wrong?” He was still looking at her hand.

Sam glanced at him and followed his eyeline, seeing that he noticed. “God damn it” she muttered “Well, since you’re here… there was something I hoped I could ask you and Steven. It’s not bad, I just want to talk to you guys… Can you get him?”

“Yeah, of course, on sec” Hey, wakey wakey eggs and bacey. I’m vegan Wakey wakey, tofu and sadness What do you- oh shit! How did last night go? I’ll tell you about it later buddy It must’ve went well if you're wearing her pajamas Shut up. Sam wants to ask us something.

“Okay, he’s here.”

“Is Jake here? It’s a favor, I need his permission too”

“You don’t need Jake’s permission for anything.”

vete a la mierda AH! Oh Jesus Jake, can you not sneak up on us? Learn to sense when I’m here, tonto.

Sam watched the internal conversion float through Marc’s eyes. “It’s Jake’s body too, I want to clear things by him.”

“He’s here, what's going on?”

“Well… Christmas is coming… And my mom had… well this might be uncomfortable for you, Marc, or maybe for both of you, but my mom said… I thought-”

“Babe? It’s okay, you can just say it.” Marc coaxed.

Sam took a deep breath “Okay. My mom invited you to come out for Christmas. It wouldn’t be the whole break, just a few nights, I can’t take my family too long at once…”

Steven broke through, overjoyed. “Oh love! I would love too!” Steven stood up and came behind Sam, grinning as he hugged her “Your mum wants to meet me?”

Sam smiled brightly at her sunshine, happy to see him as always and wrapping a hand around his arm. “Hey Steven! I’m glad you're excited, I’m… less than excited… it’s always a little tense… there's a few things, before you agree to come.”

 Steven moved around to the side of Sam’s face, still hugging her. “If you want us there, I want to be there.”

“Just listen… the first thing is… my dad will be there, of course.”

 Oh shit Why would he be there? Her parents are still together After all that?

Steven moved to sit again, but not before pulling the chair closer to Sam. “Ah.”

“Yeah. And it’s fine, he doesn’t hurt me anymore, not physically. The thing is, I need you on your best behavior. Marc, I’m talking to you. He’s probably going to bait you by picking on me, try to draw you into an argument. And you can’t argue.”

He put a hand on her knee. “Well love… if he’s mean to you, I’m going to stand up for you…” 

“No, Steven, it’s not that simple. I have 4 kids under 18, he still has control over them. If he’s mad enough at me, I’ll lose contact with them. And if Chris gets dragged into it, Chris can lose contact too. And if they don’t have contact with us, they have no escape, no outside help. They need us. I won’t risk that.”

Steven nodded, thinking about how she called her siblings her kids. “I understand.”

“Does Marc?”

Well? I’ll try

“He understands.”

“Okay, okay great… the other thing is… um… so the house is kinda small… uuhhhh…”

“Sam, darling,”

“Right, right, well… The house is small. There's not a lot of rooms and with the whole catholic thing, we can’t stay in the same room… You’d be in the basement… with the boys… It’s a furnished basement but you’d share it with Chris, Ben, Dom and Simon.”

“Is that it? That’s no problem.”

“And no sex all weekend”

Oh god fucking damn it “Oh. well. That’s a bit of a problem, but I suppose I can work with it” Steven joked. “Is that it?”

“One more thing…”

“Anything, my dearest.”

“Well… I don’t know if this is something you’d be open to, you don’t have to do it, I can just do it with my family, I know Marc might not be comfortable with this and that's fine, and you might not be comfortable, considering you’re Jewish,-”

“Hijueputa! Escupirla. Spit it out- Oh jesus, sorry, that was Jake”

“Yeah I kinda figured… with the spanish and all…”

“I’m sorry, but whatever it is, it’ll be okay.”

“Right then, well… We’d arrive on christmas eve and… there’s church…”

“Oh. Do your parents think you still go?”

Sam was wringing her hands together “No, they know I left the church… but it just makes my mom really happy when the family is all together. Teresa doesn’t go either, but we all go when we’re together… I know it probably seems odd but being together as a family is important to us, even if our dad is there…”

“No, that makes sense… you and your siblings are a unit and you love your mom and I guess your dad is… there. But I think it’s lovely you are all so close.”

“Thank you. Now you don’t have to come, you can stay at the house, but I wanted to extend the invitation to you… You don’t have to do anything while you're in mass…”

Steven was touched “Oh love, you want me to come to this with you? I’d be happy to go!”

Sam lit up immediately “Really?”

“Of course!”

“And Marc is okay with it?”

“Marc says he just won’t be in the consciousness, but it’s fine”

“Oh, you guys are the BEST!” Sam dove in for a hug, which Steven gladly accepted, taking her in his arms. You notice how hard it was for her to ask that? Yeah… she was really nervous  I can’t believe she called coming to Christmas a favor! It’s an honor. I can’t wait, really, I can’t wait to meet everyone! Meeting her dad is going to be interesting… Yeah, but we’re going to be on our best behavior, right Marc? I’ll try That’s reassuring Fuck off Jake

“Okay darling, I’m going to give the body back to Marc so you can finish your date, when can I see you next?”

Sam stood up and went to her dresser for her clothes “It’s finals week, so I don’t know… I don’t know if I have any time this week… It’s really important…”

Walking over to where Sam was, Steven replied “Oh… Well, that’ll be okay… If you do have time after work, you can come over anytime. Will you call me?”

She took his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze “Of course, every day.”

Steven drew her in for a kiss, he was going to miss her “I’ll see you friday, Just Sam”

“I love you, Steven with a V”

“Hey Brightside” Marc returned 

“Hey Starlight” Sam squeezed the hand that she still had from Steven, then let go “You ready?” Sam asked, slipping on her shoes.

“Yeah, I’m just gonna go to the bathroom, be right back.”

“Wash your hands” she chided, absentmindedly.

“Yeah, yeah” Marc went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror “Hey! Hey Steven” He whispered.

“You okay bruv?”

Marc grinned “Yeah, I’m doing great. I’ll fill you in on the details when I get home… but I couldn't wait to tell you” He raised his eyebrows “She said she loves me, but I have a feeling you knew what this was about already.”

Steven smiled back “Yeah, I might have had an idea… did you say it back?”

“Oh! Minor detail. I said it first” Marc smirked.

“MARC!”

“Shhhh, Jesus you’re loud.”

Steven was too giddy to care “She can’t hear me, you bloody wank. That’s great!”

Marc flushed the toilet to keep up the illusion of using the bathroom.

“Thanks buddy, I’m kinda freaking out. I don’t know how to do this.”

“Well you got Layla, didn’t you”

Marc gave a confused look “And that worked so well, didn’t it?” Marc ran the water.

“Come on Marc, that was different. You can do this. I’ll guide you, okay?”

“Really?”

“Yeah, now step one is very important, do this and you’ll have her heart.”

Marc was impatient “Well don’t just stand there, fucking tell me!”

“Go buy her an iced caramel macchiato with almond milk”

When Marc exited, Sam was ready to go “You ready honey?”

“Yeah, let’s go get you some coffee.”

Sam smiled at him and took his hand, but frowned and looked down.

Marc saw her face change “What’s wrong?”

“You’re hands, love.” Sam let go and walked to her bedside drawer, pulling out a bottle. Marc looked at his hands, they were chapped and cracking. His skin never did like the cold.

“What’s that?”

“Lotion.”

Sam held out a hand for Marc, who placed his hand in hers. Squeezing the liquid into her other hand, she rubbed the lotion in. Marc was speechless. He watched her as she carefully rubbed it into his chapped, dry hands, being gentle over his cracked knuckles. After the tops of both hands were done, she got more and started massaging his hands. No, not rubbing it in, massaging. Marc couldn’t believe how good it felt. She slid up and down his fingers and it was damn near erotic. But when she went into his palms? God that felt good. So intimate, he felt like he could almost cry. When she touched him without any pretense of sex, without wanting anything in return, he can’t help but feel like this is real, like she really does love him, like he is deserving of the love.

Maybe he is.

Steven was working in the gift shop, missing Sam. It was Thursday and he hadn’t seen Sam since that Saturday morning and they had never gone this long without seeing each other. She had called him every chance she had, but nothing would substitute being around her. He understood why, of course. Her classes were very important and he would never want to get in the way of that. He was well aware that dating him tended to cut into her sleep already. He hoped he could see her this friday, but he also knew she might want to celebrate or be with her friends. 

“Hey Steven!” Like an angel, Sam’s voice called his attention. Damn the consequences if Donna see’s him, he stepped outside of his work space to bring her into a tight hug. She hugged back with her free arm, but her right was carrying a tin.

“Hello love! What are you doing here?”

Sam kissed his cheek, “I had some time between finales and I just really, really wanted to see you. I’ve missed you two so much. I just couldn’t take it anymore.”

“Oh darling,” Steven took her free hand in his “I’ve missed you too, it’s awfully lonely sometimes, but I know how important this week is.”

“Has Jake been around?”

“Not a whole lot. He’ll talk to me sometimes but he mostly stays quiet when Marc is around.” He leaned in to whisper, as if that would stay Marc and Jake from hearing “They aren’t getting along still.”

Sam pouted “I specifically asked them to get along. Are they here?”

“Marc usually leaves when I’m at work unless he senses something is happening. I don’t know how he always knows. Jake might be here. I can’t quiet tell when he comes and goes, I get the feelings he’s always watching. I told Marc he needs to make an effort with Jake. Marc says you asked me to try to get along. He says he’s exempt.”

Sam rolled her eyes.  “Here, I brought these for you and your coworkers for the holidays. They are just store bought.” He handed him the tin, it was full of cookies.

Steven lit up “Oh that’s so kind of you! You’re always so thoughtful, that's why you’re my sweetheart.” Steven booped her nose and Sam’s face and nose scrunched up into a smile.

“Is there any way you can sneak out for a minute? I don’t want to take up your break time or anything-”

Steven thought for a moment “My break isn’t for a few hours, but I’m technically allowed a smoke break.”

Sam laughed “Does it count as a smoke break if I’m the one smoking?”

Steven called out to his boss “Donna I’m going on a smoke break” 

Donna whipped around “You don’t smoke” She glared at him and Sam, despite Sam’s best smile.

“I just started” He grabbed his coat, not waiting for Donna’s permission. “I realized smokers get more breaks than me so I picked it up for fun.”

“I better see you actually smoking on that camera Stevie.”

“Right, sounds great” and he dragged Sam out of the room to the smokers area.

Sam pulled out her smokes “Do you actually need a cig to pretend you are smoking?”

“Yeah probably, I don’t doubt she’ll look at the cameras.” Steven pointed up.

“Here” She popped a cigarette in his mouth and stepped up to him with her lighter, cupping his mouth from the wind. “Suck on the cigarette when the flame comes so it’ll light. DO NOT BREATHE IT IN. I don’t need you addicted to these fuckers. And you’ll cough your ass off.” 

Steven did as he was told, sucking the smoke into his mouth but not inhaling “I bet Marc smoked before, our lungs could probably take it.”

“Either way” Sam pulled one out for herself “Maybe, but if he used to smoke before I don’t want the two of you to start up again.”

“Have you considered…” He stopped himself. Steven had wanted to broach the topic of quitting at some point, but he didn’t think it was the right time. Steven never wanted her to think he was telling her what to do.

“Quitting? I consider it all the time. Then I light another one.” She went to light her cigarette. “Suck on it again, see the brown spots? That means the burn is dying.”

“Here love” he took the lighter and stood to block the wind, lighting it for her.

“Thank you baby.” She took a deep drag. “Do you know why Marc is so against Jake?”

Steven accidentally breathed some of his cigarette and coughed “I think Marc is still mad about the whole incident. He’s being a right knob about it. I understand it, I was mad at Jake for a while too but I think it’s important we all get along. I think Jake means well, even if he can be an ass. Jake didn’t make Marc punch the mirror, that was his choice, you know?”

“Yeah, I agree honey. I think Marc is just so protective, it’s hard for him to look past seeing Jake as a threat.”

Steven smiled reassuringly “He’ll get over it, I’m sure. Jake likes to push his buttons too. They’ll figure out how to be around each other one day.”

Sam looked sad “Yeah, I just hope it’ll be soon. I don’t like tension… They are more similar than either wants to admit” She sighed, turning to him “Hey listen, Jessica and Elena want to go out friday, it’s their finals week too, but I miss you so much…”

Steven tried not to hide the disappointment “It’s okay sweetheart, your friends are important too, you go spend time with them.”

Sam smiled at him, taking his hand as she took one last drag “Actually, Elena invited you. You don’t have to go-”

Steven stopped her, holding her hand tighter “Sweetheart, I would love to go. I’d love to get to know them better…Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah” Sam looked worried.

“Why… When there’s something you want to do or someone you love invites me to join, you always get nervous and you give me a thousand ‘outs’. I know you always want me to come, why do you treat it like you are asking a favor? I want to spend time with people important to you.”

Sam shuffled and dodged Steven’s eyes for a moment “I just don’t want you to feel like you have to, if you’re uncomfortable or don’t like my friends or something.”

“Sam, darling.” Steven tossed his cigarette to the side and took her chin in his hand, making her look at him “I love you, so I will love those you love. Your siblings, your mom, your friends, the 60 year old music you listen too…” This made Sam laugh, Steven smiled and continued “I love all the things that make you who you are. I would love to go out with your friends.” He continued gently holding her chin as he went in for a kiss. Sam opened her mouth to him, giving him a sensual kiss as a thank you for him being him. “I better get back to work, thank you so much for the cookies love, everyone will be so delighted to have a treat. I’ll come get you Friday?”

Sam went from one more quick kiss “Yeah, Jess and Elena will be getting ready with me at my place.”

“Sounds great Sweetheart, I can’t wait.”

They began walking inside “Steven, can I say hi to Marc before I go?”

“Of course, I’ll get him.” A pause “Hey Brightside.” Marc pushed Sam against the wall as he kissed her, taking in the feeling of her body against him. “Was Steven smoking?” He could still taste the smoke in his mouth.

Sam laughed “Yeah, we had to pretend we were on a smoke break so Steven could get away, he has to get back to work but I wanted to see you real quick”

With a devilish smile, he moved in on her again “I think we can steal another minute” He captured her mouth in his, biting her lip as his hands moved along her back.

Sam smacked him, but when he pulled away she was smiling “Stop, you’ll get Steven in trouble!”

Marc pouted “Fine, can I hold your hand at least?”

“Always” It took less than a minute to get back to the gift shop “I’ll see you friday, you guys are going out me, Jessica and Elena and me”

Marc raised an eyebrow “Oh, I am?”

“Well. Steven is” a kiss “I wish you could actually meet them, Marc. Maybe you could some day? They are really nice, I think they’d understand.”

“I think Steven is the best for winning friends' approval. I’ll be watching though. Better put on a good show for me”

@ahookedheroespureheart @cherryvalentine1 @kr-mlk

THANKS FOR READING!!!

Everyone who leaves comments and reblogs, I LOVE YOU!!!

Thats right guys, we're gonna meet Sam's family! Including her dad, I bet that will go GREAT! *sarcasm*

Comment if you’d like to join the tag list!

[arwainian]

My Reading This Week

formatting changes, what do we think about italics for book titles and authors to set them apart from what I write about them? (maybe i should try color coding?)

Lots of reading this week because I had half the week off to go home for the holidays, but honestly I spent more time crocheting than reading, which I won't complain about

Finished:

Boy Oh Boy by Zachary Doss

recommended to me by @unfathomabletortoise , and I'm still rotating the themes and such of it around in my head. one that was on my mind this week was where your boyfriend lives literally inside your body. the like... "oh i'm so close to you, i'm with you all the time" but really you're not close at all you're just being used. but ALSO the intimacy of loving someone so much, physical affection as the closest substitute we have to unzipping someone else and living inside them... much to think about. as I said on my Twitter thread, I may recommend this collection to my queer scifi teacher from a few years back

Ambrosia, edited by Tab Kimpton & Jade Sarson

started reading this a while back! i will keep most of my thoughts on this private ;), but i will say I'm glad this exists

Started and Finished:

Lucky Charm by Chase Verity

this was cute, but just. so short. too short. like how short it was really worked to its detriment because I think it could have really benefitted from taking more time to flesh out the characters and their relationship. i really enjoyed the concwpt though and it made me want to look into deaf silent film stars (have yet to do so, someone remind me)

Mob Psycho 100, Vol. 9 by ONE, translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian

mp100!! i just. really like this manga. i dont have many longering thoughts from this volume except just like excitement at its existence and god i love reigen and mob and this was fun to read even if i already watched the anime

Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots by Cat Sebastian

i was about to say i thought i didnt have much to say about this one. but then i remembered that actually i do, i even started my brand new reading journal saying stuff about it: this was cute and sweet and low stakes! i am technically in the acknowledgements of this book by virtue of being in the author's writing discord server, which she mentions! I will say, there were a few too many [typos/apparent name mix ups/one instance where a character says "fifth disease" in a bit of dialogue which was clearly just meant to be a placeholder for an actual disease to add to the list] for me to fully overlook, so i got a little bit frutrated. doesnt take away from the good character work, but did give it a bit of an unfinished feeling

Uncommon Charm by Emily Bergslien & Kat Weaver

like the above this book is more quiet vignette and low stakes character work than plot-y plot, but this book just hit Perfectly for me. i think because i loved the narrator/pov character so much. i am gently shoving this novella into my bf's hands when i next see him.

Ongoing:

Blood Sisters: Vampire Stories by Women edited by Paula Guran

La Dame by Tanith Lee Chicago 1927 by Jewelle Gomez Renewal by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro Blood Freak by Nancy Holder The Power and the Passion by Pat Cadigan The Unicorn Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas This Town Ain't Big Enough by Tanya Huff Vampire King of the Goth Chicks by Nancy A. Collins Learning Curve by Kelley Armstrong The Better Half by Melanie Tem Selling Houses by Laurell K. Hamilton Greedy Choke Puppy by Nalo Hapkinson Tacky by Charlaine Harris Needles by Elizabeth Bear From the Teeth of Strange Children by Lisa L. Hannett

I said last week that I had trouble sitting down and reading multiple stories from this in a row, but that was not a problem for me this time! as of writing i only have five stories left to read from this anthology, and those amount to less than 100 pages.

i've idenfitied a repeated theme (though not one present in even half the stories here) of several lady vampires presenting a sort of 'to defeat a predator you have to become one' rape-revenge sort of monster hunting fantasy. like i said, this is FAR from a uniting theme, but its an interesting motif. also several stories deal with very predatory vampires without being the above, and having read Dracula earlier this year i appreciate vampire fiction grappling with the themes of vampirism and sexual assault that were set up in the classics

[cosettepontmercys]

You don't have to worry about replying especially cuz I knew you were having fun at the show!!! That's so great and makes me more excited for Friday! I am trying to watch less videos this week leading up to the show..even if I'm pretty familiar with everything lol. If I am going to see Barbie, it would be tomorrow but I'm not sure yet. I'll let you know my thoughts if I watch it! And also if I eventually see Les Mis or Paramore. I would recommend all of Paramore's music honestly but if you want specific song recs let me know!

Haha I also talk a lot more online to people mostly thru Tumblr asks since they're anonymous lol. It's so hard for me sometimes to find other people with the same interests as me otherwise and around the same age. I just wanna say it's been really nice talking to you this week and I'm letting you know I'm 27 lol. I didn't know if you thought I was a lot younger cuz I said I still read YA.

Anyway I'm so happy for you that you manifested a debut song and Rep for your friend! Also that Marjorie memory is so sweet. It's like when Taylor says you will have lasting memories of this tour every night and that seems like a special one. Have you been to a Taylor concert before? I've only been to rep even if I've been a fan since debut and I wonder how it compares to Eras. I'm sure it will be better in a way just cuz there's more going on but I really enjoyed Rep tour too! I guess the only things I'm curious about or worried about is how was standing for the show and how many videos you took? My sister and I were talking about this yesterday and I was like maybe a little bit of each era but that seems like a lot maybe..idk. Also what was your favorite part of the show?

I'll try not to hope for too many things at my shows. I'm super excited to see No Body no Crime with Haim though and I haven't watched a video or anything yet. One costume I really love is the pink gown for Speak Now..seeing that in person would be amazing! But I think she usually wears it for night two. I also like the green surprise song dress and pink or green Folklore or 1989. Those are my favorite colors. For surprise songs..like I said, I wouldn't mind two songs I just liked generally even if they weren't favorites or anything. That was kinda the case for your shows to me but I'm glad you loved them! I also might not care as much once I'm there and enjoying it. For debut, one of my fav songs is Mary's song but idk if she would play it. I wouldn't mind Stay Beautiful or something from Fearless. I'd like any vault song she didn't perform yet fine but would hope for I Can See You or Forever Winter. Anything from Rep, Lover, Folklore or Midnights. I'm kinda surprised she didn't sing a Folklore song last night cuz of the album anniversary. There are a few on Evermore I wouldn't care for..lol but would love Long Story Short!

wait!! i really want to have our conversations under a specific tag 🤍 do you want to pick an emoji? 🥺 i'm really glad you decided to message me!! i always love talking to people and making new friends 🤍 and also wanted to add there's no shame in reading YA in your 20s! books are for everyone 🤍

i was originally going to try to take my mom to barbie sometime this week, but i think i might have a bit too much to do this week before i go to chicago so i might have to do it when i'm back. i definitely want to see it again soon though! i am notoriously bad at watching movies, but i do really want to watch a bunch this year. i'd originally set up a "23 in 2023" yearly collections journal, and so part of that was that i wanted to watch 23 movies ... but i stopped keeping track and now i'm just a 🤡.

i went to the red tour in seattle way back when but have also been a fan since debut!! i was hoping to do rep tour, but then something came up and it just didn't work out, so i'm really, really glad things worked out the way it did with eras. for night 1, i was in the nosebleeds and you could feel the ground shaking. i was mostly standing aside from i think part of folklore and transitions? i think i sat down at another point. last night, i was standing for everything except all too well 10 minute version (if i didn't use atw10 for my bathroom break/water bottle refill break on saturday, i probably would've sat down during it too — just to give myself a break), i think i sat down for my tears ricochet, and then transitions. i wore tennis shoes, and my feet hurt so much by the end of the night (to be fair, i messed up my ankle last week and so part of my feet hurting was from that + queueing for gracie + standing for her acoustic set too). i would say to focus more on taking care of your body — if you're tired, sit! there's no shame in that 🤍 when i got back to my friend's apartment after eras (i was staying at her place all weekend since she lives within walking distance to lumen), i immediately changed into pjs/showered/etc + stretched + put on icy hot + ate + took advil before bed and it honestly wasn't terrible after night one but getting out of bed today was awful (i also didn't sleep much at her place, to be fair + did a lot more dancing / walking / standing yesterday). i took a couple videos, but not for the entire song; most of it was just little clips here and there, like i knew i wanted to get the fireworks or like i knew she'd do a specific face/dance move/something at a specific moment, and then i got the speeches just for fun! you and your sister could also decide who films what and do a little trade off (i assume y'all are sitting together)!! a lot of people around me were filming a lot of the concert and also were dancing around a lot; don't worry about being judged (and if people judge you, screw them!). i will say, keep in mind that merch lines will be nuts (once you get in, go to a merch line inside — like one closer to your seats, if you're able to/if you want merch) and vegetarian options go quickly in terms of food, if you're vegetarian! on night one, my friends and i went straight for merch and one of my friends did a food run and grabbed us food so we were able to eat while we waited. night two, we got in, did the cap one elevator thing (which was so fun!) and then we went straight for food. i was trying to meet up with a friend during the gracie/HAIM break and my friend i was sitting next to asked if i could get her food since i was out and she's vegetarian — i had to go to five different spots before i finally found something! oh, and be prepared that leaving is going to be ... awful. weave if you're able to, hold onto each other, etc! it does not help that lumen field is close to downtown, but it really was ... brutal trying to get out of there.

is there a particular section/song you're looking forward to the most?

personally, my favorite part of the show was long live, but the energy around reputation and also no body no crime both nights was out of this world. listening to long live and dancing around with your best friends is something that is just so special, and for me, i was that ~ weird swiftie girl ~ growing up and so being able to experience tour with people who loved taylor — and also loved me — was just so ... special. reputation is the album i listen to the least (i have to be in a very specific mood for it, but i do love it) but was one of the best sections i think! this isn't anything new that people haven't already said, but i think the eras tour is structured so well — every time my energy level started to dip a bit something was happening next that brought it back up.

so i was fully expecting TTDS on night 1, and since i was up in the nosebleeds that night, i saw parts of her dress before i recognized HAIM was coming up with her and i SCREAMED "not stinky dress" and lowkey fucked up my voice because i was so excited that the bronze dress was back. and then i heard the sirens and it was ... amazing. no body no crime is usually one of my skip songs (not because i don't like it, but because the sirens stress me out and i usually listen to evermore in the car, hence ... stress) but their performance was electric and just so, so fun.

we got the pink gown last night, and it was so pretty!! my friends and i played swiftball on saturday night (since we were all getting ready together saturday; yesterday some of us went to gracie's acoustic set, etc.) and i was manifesting so hard for purple speak now cupcake dress but honestly the speak now dresses are SO pretty. the one dress we were all really manifesting for was the green folklore dress (and i also really wanted the white folklore dress, which i got night one), so i feel very very lucky! my friends and i were split up last night (two of us were in section 109 row d, the other four were in 117) and saturday (three of us were in 309 row g, one of us was in 309 row j, one of us was in 320 row ee) and so we were texting in between transition periods —

the thing about surprise songs is there's genuinely not a single bad song! every single night i'm like "damn, i wish i was there" even if it's a song i don't totally love. i cannot wait for her to play me! — i was telling everyone how much i would've loved to hear me! on guitar or on piano. i would love her to sing beautiful ghosts, crazier, etc. i went on tiktok earlier and saw people being upset about TTWAS and it made me soooo sad because i genuinely love love love it. when we got this is why we can't have nice things on night one i was like omg a rep song for my bestie!!! it was just so fun, even though i don't usually listen to it. but also, it is like, two songs out of forty five — i was telling my friends she could do the SNL monologue and i would've had fun just being in the moment 🤍

i would LOVE for her to play mary's song at some point — i know it's like, a running joke on here that she soundchecked it. i was really, really hoping for castles crumbling, foolish one or forever winter in terms of vault songs, but i cannot complain at all about my surprise songs. literally everyone around me was so shocked she didn't sing a single speak now song for surprise songs, and also didn't do anything for folklore's anniversary! ugh long story short would be SO fun to listen to — are you hoping for piano or guitar? i'm also curious about which evermore songs you don't particularly care for!!

[arrowflier]

I absolutely loved your last ficlet, the one inspired by Take Me to Church (well, I love EVERYTHING you write), so I'm here with a thought that maybe you can turn into something:

What if, for some reason, Mickey has to speak in Ukrainian (your pick why, maybe directions to tourists or a phone call with a distant relative) and Ian witnesses it and just goes: 😳🤯🤤🥵😍, followed by "can you do that again when we're in bed"?

Thank you anon! Disclaimer that I do not know Ukrainian, so if google led me astray I apologize.

That Foreign Tongue

They were out in the rig, on their way to a pickup, when Mickey got a call.

He fumbled in his pocket to pull out his phone, frowned at it in consternation as it blared.

“Who the fuck?” he mumbled to himself, then swiped to decline.

Ian looked over as he pulled to the curb outside their destination, curious.

“What was that?” he asked.

“Fuck if I know,” was all he got in answer. “Not a fuckin’ Chicago number, that’s for sure. Not New York, either,” he added before Ian can check. Mandy wasn’t great at staying in contact, but they knew to answer if it looked like it could be her.

Ian shrugged, and reached back to grab the cash bag from behind Mickey’s seat.

“Sure it wasn’t Mexico or something?” he prodded with a forced casualness, and Mickey rolled his eyes as he shoved open the door to get out.

He met Ian around the front of the ambulance, and promptly poked him in the chest, hard.

“What was that for?” Ian asked, wounded, and Mickey clicked his tongue.

“For still fuckin’ fishin’ about that,” he told his husband. “It’s been two fucking years, let it go already.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Ian huffed. “Sorry for wanting to know more about what you did down there that has people calling in the middle of the—”

“That was one time!” Mickey exclaimed, arms going wide. “One fucking time, and I told you what it was about! Roberto needed me to check on his damn kid, it had nothing to do with—”

“Well how was I supposed to know that,” Ian interrupted loudly, “when you were speaking a whole different language?”

“Oh, for the love of…” Mickey trailed off as he stormed away from Ian down the sidewalk.

He wasn’t really mad. They did this song and dance around once a month, still, ever since one of his old contacts had found him and called him up. It stuck in Ian’s craw that Mickey had had people down there, without him, even though, as he explained to him once, he was glad about it at the same time. They both knew it didn’t really matter—sometimes it just needed to come out.

Sure enough, Ian caught up with him after only a few strides, falling in beside him naturally. His cheeks were slightly flushed, but otherwise there was no indication of their brief argument.

Mickey gave him two minutes before he tried to smooth it over.

Ian didn’t last one.

“You know,” his husband started, reaching up to scratch at his jaw. “I’m just making sure none of those foreigners come up here and take what’s mine.”

Mickey snorted. “Yeah?” he prompted. “Think they’re coming for our jobs and our husbands, now?”

Ian’s lips lifted in a grin, their banter back on track the way they liked it.

“I mean,” he said, “I can’t really blame them.” He grabbed Mickey by the arm and brought them both to a stop right outside their drop, tugging him close enough for their boots to kick together on the pavement.

“A hot, red-blooded American man like yourself,” Ian murmured, getting his arms around Mickey’s waist. “You’re quite the catch, Mr. Gallagher.”

“Mmm,” Mickey hummed, leaning up to bring their faces closer. “That right, Mr. Milkovich?”

He was just about to follow it up with a good old-fashioned make-up kiss, when his phone blared again from his pocket.

“Damn it,” he hissed as he thumped his heels back down and dug it out again. This time, he answered it immediately.

“Whoever the fuck you are,” he shouted into it, “you’re interruptin’ something here.”

An unfamiliar voice came down the line, barely audible to Ian where he still stood close but with a clearly chastising tone, and the fight went out of Mickey in an instant.

“Prīvіt,” Mickey muttered, looking almost bashful, and Ian did a double-take. That wasn’t English, or Spanish…he had to try and listen in on a third language, now? When did Mickey even find the time to learn this shit?

Ian watched silently as Mickey listened to whoever was on the line. His husband had folded into himself, holding the phone to his ear with one hand and his elbow with the other, casting a quick glance up at Ian before turning his attention away again.

“Shcho novogo?” he asked into the phone, and then a brilliant smile crossed his face a moment later. “Dobre, dobre,” he said, then “vitayu”.

It sounded like the caller asked him a question, next, but Ian couldn’t hear what Mickey answered, his husband lowering his voice and turning his back. Ian tried not to let himself feel hurt at the sudden shut-out.

A moment later, the call was over with a quiet “do pobachenn'a”, and Mickey faced him again.

Ian wanted to ask, but he waited instead, hoping Mickey would explain. Thankfully, he did.

“So, uh,” he started off nervously. “That was my…like, my great-aunt or something?”

Ian could feel his eyebrows rising. “You have family you still talk to?” he asked, and Mickey shook his head immediately.

“Nah, not really,” he admitted. “But this one, she’s back in Ukraine still, guess she calls around sometimes to check on me and Mandy.” He looked down at the dark screen of his phone, lips twisted. “Been a couple years,” he added. “Didn’t think she had the new number, but uh. Guess one of my cousins just had a kid or somethin', so she wanted to catch up.”

Family was a touchy subject, Ian knew. So he went for the next obvious question instead.

“Ukraine? That mean you speak Ukrainian?”

Mickey just looked at him. “No, Ian,” he offered dryly, “I just thought I’d make some weird sounds and see if she could read my mind from across the fuckin’ ocean.” Ian didn’t respond, so he tacked on, “Yes, I speak Ukrainian. Sort of.” He rubbed his nose, looked away and back. “That gonna be a problem for you?”

It was a fair enough question. But this wasn’t like the Spanish, which was never really the problem anyway. It wasn’t a reminder of time they spent apart, or things he didn’t now. It was just Mickey. And Mickey's voice, and the way it rolled over those unfamiliar phrases so cleanly, so...attractively.

“Not at all,” Ian clarified quickly. Too quickly, maybe, because Mickey’s cautious look gave way to a slow smile.

“Oh, really?” Mickey said, apparently delighted. He grinned even wider when Ian felt his face flush. So his husband sounded hot in other languages, fucking sue him.

“Better watch out, man," Mickey warned. "I hear foreigners like me are out huntin’ down men like you nowadays.”

Ian cleared his throat, and closed the distance between them again. “And that’s a problem how?” he asked.

“Didn’t say it was, miy cholovik,” Mickey murmured lowly, raising a hand to grip at Ian’s hair once he was close enough. Ian’s breath caught at the soft look on his eyes that accompanied the foreign words.

“What does that mean?”

Mickey pressed their lips together once, twice, before pulling back just enough to answer.

“Nothing bad, moye sontse,” he breathed, and Ian shuddered.

“We have a job to do,” he reminded Mickey weakly, like he hadn’t been the one to start this. “You keep saying that weird shit, we’re gonna have to cancel all our pickups today.”

“You better make some calls then, miy kokhanets,” Mickey chuckled against his lips. “But first…”

He pushed Ian back into a convenient alley right next to their original destination, shoving until they hit the rough brick wall. Ian didn’t protest as Mickey started to tug at his camo jacket, getting the zipper down far enough to mouth at Ian’s neck.

“Ya tebe kokhayu, Ian” Mickey muttered against his skin, pressing tighter as Ian clutched at his back. “Let me show you how much.”

--

Hours later, at home, Ian asked Mickey what else his aunt had said.

"Oh, not much," Mickey answered, snuggling closer. "Wanted to see if we could catch a flight sometime, go visit the old country, that kind of thing."

"Is that something you'd want to do?" he prodded, and Mickey shrugged, shoulders moving against Ian's chest.

"I guess," he said, unconvincingly disinterested. "I'd have to teach you the language, though, none of my mom's folks speak English."

Ian's brain ground to a halt. If the day had been any indication, he wasn't sure he could survive language lessons with his husband.

But never let it be said that Ian Gallagher backed down from a challenge.

"Sure," he agreed, and he was sure of one thing when he felt Mickey smile against his neck--it was going to be the best worst decision of his life.

--

According to my admittedly poor research, Mickey basically says hi, what's up, good, congrats, goodbye, then calls Ian my husband, my sun, my lover and says I love you. It's most likely all horribly butchered because I only speak English and a tiny bit of German, if you know Ukrainian I would happily take correction.

[thebookreader12345]

750 Followers Celebration - Q&A

Thank you so much for supporting me through this journey! You guys don't know how much this means to me. Every single one of you is amazing.

Below the cut are my answers to the questions that you all submitted.

Q: Do you think Jay is going to become Sergeant this season? A: There has been a lot of debate over this question because of the past few seasons and all of the "Easter eggs", like the sergeant exam poster hanging in the background of the show. In my opinion, I do not believe Jay will become Sergeant. Yet. I think it won't be until the beginning of next season because, if this is a possible storyline, I would expect that the producers and writers would make the finale of season 9 about Voight stepping down/getting promoted, etc.

Q: Did Chicago Justice deserve more episodes? A: I'm sort of split with this question. I loved the fact that there was a big episode involving Kevin, and they always included people from Med, Fire, and PD in some of the episodes. However, the whole plot of the episodes was kind of slow because it wasn't like they were police officers and could go out and chase suspects and arrest people and what not. Their job was just to gather the evidence and then present it in court. I think for many, the show fell flat because there wasn't much action, and part of me does agree with that, but the whole idea of the show itself was kind of cool.

Q: What would make you stop watching each Chicago show? A: This is a tough question because I've only ever dropped one show that I can think of, and it was only because the plotline got really dumb. Maybe if some major characters died in each show I'd stop watching it? But then again, I love the One Chicago universe so much that I don't think even that would stop me from watching. So yeah. I really don't know.

Q: Do you believe in magic? A: As much as I would love for magic to be real, I don't believe it is. But I feel like everyone thinks that way. Cause lets be honest, Harry Potter and Disney make magic look so cool. However, we all know deep down somewhere that it's almost impossible for certain things to be real, and magic just so happens to be one of them.

Q: Are you superstitious? A: I'm not the most superstitious person out there, but I do somewhat follow a few superstitions. Whenever I find a penny on the ground with heads facing up, I pick it up because I believe I'll get good luck. Doing the whole "fingers crossed" thing is something I do a lot. I believe you shouldn't open an umbrella in the house or else you'll receive bad luck. Broken mirrors are bad omens. Those are the top 4 I believe in, but other than that, I'm not really too superstitious.

Q: Is your perception of yourself similar or the same to how others perceive you? A: I mean, I would hope so. I appreciate my level of smarts, and whenever my friends acknowledge them or compliment me on them it makes my day. However, with that, people think that I'm always only doing things to boost my intelligence. For example, I love to read. So whenever I say that I didn't do much over the weekend, people always assume that I read a bunch, when I really didn't. Or that I always study for tests or do homework like a week before it's do. That is not the case. But for the most part, I believe my perception of myself is the same as how other people perceive me.

Q: Who is your favorite couple on each One Chicago show? A: Okay, so for Med, there aren't really any couples at the moment besides Maggie and Ben, whom I love but they aren't my favorite, so I'm gonna pick a past couple. When I first started Med, Manstead was my prime ship, so I'll choose them. Will had been pining after Natalie for so long so I was glad when they finally got together. For Fire, it's gotta be Kelly and Stella. They were literally made for each other, and they support each other with everything. Also, they are so cute together and all of Firehouse 51 ships them as well! And for PD, while I do love Burzek, Upstead is my favorite ship at the moment. I've seen the connection between Hailey and Jay since season 5. You don't understand how angry I was in season 7 when Hailey was so close to confessing her feelings. So season 8 made me very happy when Jay and Hailey finally got together.

Q: Jay and Lindsey or Jay and Hailey? A: I respect everyone's opinions on this matter, so hopefully you all respect mine. I thought that Erin was almost toxic in a way for Jay. She continuously broke his heart when all he wanted to do was help him. But what really does it for me is that she left Chicago without telling him goodbye. Hailey, on the other hand, has pushed Jay to seek out help when he needed it, like when she recommended he take seeing a therapist seriously to help with his PTSD, and she is always there for him, no matter what. That's why I believe Hailey and Jay are the better pairing.

Q: Which character death got to you the most? A: There have been too many sad deaths in the One Chicago world. But if I had to pick one, I've gotta go with Otis on Chicago Fire. Otis was always one of my favorite characters, even way back when I watched Fire with my dad when it was first coming out. He was witty and funny, and his friendship with Cruz was everything. So, when I watched the episode where he died, I was full on balling. I had to pause the episode for 10 minutes because I couldn't stop.

Q: Who is your favorite character on each show and why? A: I'm gonna do favorite male and female character because I've got too many favorites from each show. On Med, my favorites are Will and Natalie. Will has been my favorite since day one, and I like that he will go out of his way to help patients, even if it means he could get in serious trouble. Natalie, even though she's not in the show, always pushes for the best of care for her patients, and whenever she dealt with kids it was always the sweetest thing. On Fire, I like Kelly and Sylvie. Kelly is so headstrong and driven, and he will do anything to protect the other members of Squad 3. Sylvie is such a hard worker and you can tell she is passionate about her job. I feel so bad that she's had to go through so many partners. On PD I love Jay and Hailey. Jay has not always been my favorite male character. Back when I watched the show for the first time, I adored Adam. However, I love that Jay has such good morals and is always pushing to do the right thing even when Voight disagreed. Now, it took a few episodes for me to warm up to Hailey, but after seeing her be so badass, it was hard not to like her.

Q: Where do you get inspiration for your stories?/How do you get inspiration when there's not a request? A: This question is always hard to answer because I really don't know. Most of the time I'm fulfilling requests sent in by you guys and I just write what comes to the top of my mind. If there are requests that are not requested and I come up with them on my own, chances are I saw the plot somewhere else, like in a book or show or movie, and I just tweaked it a bit to fit the One Chicago universe. Either that happens, or while I'm trying to fall asleep, I make up random scenarios in my head, and if I find one that I really like, I'll make a note of it on my phone so I don't forget it, and then I'll write about it.

Q: Do you think Brett and Casey are endgame? Why or why not? A: I'm gonna go with yes on this one. Now, Brettsey is not one of my top ships in the universe. However, they are cute together, and I've been expecting them to get together for a while. The two of them, even when Gabby was around, had a great relationship and always cared for each other. Plus, Matt jumped out of a firetruck to go help Sylvie when the ambulance flipped. He was willing to risk an injury just to make sure she was okay. And now that they are officially together in Chicago Fire, you can see that they really love and care for each other.

Q: What inspired you to start writing? A: I always seem to get this question whenever I do a q&a, but that's okay because I don't mind talking about it. I first got into stuff like this as a reader. Basically, I went on to Wattpad and Tumblr to read other people's stories. I had no intention of creating my own. And then, one day, I started imagining myself in some of the fandoms I was apart of, and I thought, "If I'm imagining myself in these fandoms, chances are others are too," and I began creating stories that followed the plots of movies and shows exactly, just adding Y/n in it. However, that got tiring after a while because I wasn't able to have much freedom because I was following a set script, and that's when I remembered I had a Tumblr account I never used. So, I revamped my account just a little bit and started posting story ideas I had that I couldn't post on Wattpad because either they didn't fit with the stories or they were for someone I didn't write for on Wattpad. And now, here we are. For anyone interested, I've posted this before but I'll post it again, my Wattpad handle is @Writer_Reader05.

Q: Jay or Will Halstead? A: I'm sorry, but I really can't choose between the two of them. I love them both so much. Will and Jay are two of my favorite characters in the whole One Chicago universe. While they do have some qualities that I'm not the fondest of, at the end of the day, I adore the both of them, and I could never choose between them.

Q: Who would you rather date: Jay or Will Halstead? A: Why do you guys do this to me? I love them both so much! But, if I have to choose, I'm gonna pick Jay. The only reason is because I like the characters in PD more than Med, so if I'm dating Jay, chances are I'm friends with Hailey and Adam and all of Intelligence. Will is just as awesome as Jay though and I feel like sometimes people sleep on that.

Q: Which of the requested fics you’ve written is your favorite? A: I think I'm gonna have to go with a Jay Halstead x reader I wrote titled Two Becomes Three. Something about the plot just makes me smile. And to think of Jay being a father......So yeah, while I have so many amazing requested fics thanks to you all, that one has to be one of my favorites.

Q: What’s your favorite series you’ve written so far? A: I love all of the series I have written. Something about creating a whole story that's more than just one part is always fun. If I have to pick one series, I'm gonna pick On the Loose. It was the first series I wrote on Tumblr and the plot of it is something I'm really proud of. However, From the Big Apple to the Windy City, Identity Loss, and Difference of Opinion are all amazing! The first two are finished series and the last one still has a few chapters left to go. Go check them out if you haven't already.

Q: What's your favorite imagine you've come up with and why? A: I don't have a lot of fics that are solely my ideas. Most of my stories have plots that were sent in by you all. However, if I had to pick a favorite out of my stories, it'd be Back Home for Christmas, a Halstead Sister fic I released when I was somewhat new to the platform. Something about writing sibling fics always makes me happy because I get to express the familial side to the characters.

Q: If you had to be roommates with 5 of your mutuals/fellow writers, who would you pick and why? A: I love all of my fellow writers/mutuals so much! I know how much work we put into whatever we post, and most of us are very active on this site. As for who I would pick to be my roommates, I'd choose @hereforhalstead @fighterkimburgess @halsteadlover @resanoona @sylviebrettsey because I feel like we'd all have great conversations, mainly over One Chicago. And every Wednesday night we'd all watch the episodes live together and experience them as a group and then freak out over what happened..........Now watch me fantasize about this all day.

Q: Do you listen to music when you write? A: It depends. On some days when I plan that I'm gonna write, then yes, I do put on some music. When there are days that I have a few minutes to spare, I don't put on music just because I'm only writing for a few minutes and I don't want to waste time. But mostly when I'm writing I do play music in the background.

Q: Do you know how your fics/stories end before you finish writing it? A: This is a really interesting question. The answer is no, I do not know how I'm gonna end a fic before I finish writing it. The only story I had a set ending for was my series On the Loose, but that one wasn't even fully planned out until I got a chapter or two in. Obviously, if I get a request that includes a set ending, like two characters get together or something like that, then I know what the ending will be. Otherwise, I have no clue.

Q: Have you ever met someone who had a very similar personality to your own? Did you get along? A: You know, I can't say that I have. Everyone is different in their own way, and that's what makes us all unique. I would imagine if I did meet someone with a similar personality we'd get along because we'd basically be a carbon copy of each other, but who knows. Maybe our similar personalities would cause us to clash.

Q: Do you hold yourself to higher standards than you hold others? A: Not really. I know myself more than anyone else so I know what my limits are and when I've reached them. With people, on the other hand, I always feel like they can be doing more with themselves and their lives. So I do not hold myself to higher standards than others.

Thank you to all of you who sent in questions! I never thought I'd reach 750 followers on this platform. The only reason I have is all thanks to you wonderful people out there!

@winterberryfox @maximeevansblog @scarletsoldierrr @i-like-sparkly-things @dreamingmanip @soph0864 @ryliegh8 @lorenakaspersen @wanniiieeee @nevertoofarfromivar @securityfriendly-jay @pinkbay-love @stephie123

[liron-ao3]

Gentlemen's night

The portal behind them snaps closed, and the three men who just stepped through it snicker. They slowly walk out of the dark backstreet to the front of the club.

"I gotta go, do the soundcheck," Simon says and grins wildly. He hasn't played a gig for quite some time, too worried about Clary accidentally stumbling over him in a New York bar and all the unknown consequences of that happening. "It's so cool that you're both here," he tells Jace and Alec.

It's a plot. Alec and Magnus are worried about Jace's state of mind since Clary disappeared into oblivion. Jace gets up when needed, does his job, trains the recruits and lately Simon, but he's far from okay. And with the couple living in Alicante and Simon trying his best to talk sense into his friend to no avail, the three decided that a night out would be a great way to take his mind off things, to help Jace be carefree for a night.

Simon raises his guitar case and taps on it before he heads into the club.

"So, Chicago, huh?" Jace asks, sensing that this isn't just a friendly visit to support Simon the vampire bard.

"I thought the change of scene would be nice. How often do we get out of New York or Alicante?"

Jace's lips twitch into a lopsided smile. "Yeah. But I don't mind."

Of course, he doesn't. It's where his love walks the streets without knowing he even exists, unaware that he is watching over her like a personal guardian angel, pleading with the real angels to give her back to him.

"I miss you," Alec says, and they both know what he means. It's not only his work on the other side of the world. They are only one portal away, and as the High Warlock of Alicante, Magnus can open one whenever he pleases.

But as much as Jace loves his brother, how connected he feels with his parabatai, seeing Alec and Magnus so happy together stings. It's no one's fault, but Jace can't shrug off the jealousy that always befalls him when he sees Alec kissing Magnus, or the warlock slotting his fingers between his husband's.

Today, it might be easier. Magnus made himself scarce the whole day and only joined them to open the portal for the three of them.

"I miss you, too. Especially on patrol."

Alec nods. "Training sucks without you," he confesses.

"I thought you enjoyed training with your husband," Jace teases, and Alec sticks out his tongue.

He takes his stele and activates his speed rune. "The loser pays the drinks tonight," Alec says and makes a beeline to the building next to them.

It takes Jace only a second to activate his own runes, and he's on Alec's tail, not even knowing where they are going. He doesn't care. He's always been competitive, and nothing clears his mind from dark thoughts like a demon hunt or a race.

Alec disappears into the stairwell, and Jace guesses it will be a foot race to the top. They used to do that in the Chrysler Building when they were younger. It reminds Jace of better times.

The two shadowhunters forge their way through scattered tourists and people who probably work in the building. Despite their runes, both men are huffing and puffing when they reach the top together.

Alec flops against a wall, chuckling. "I really need to train more." Jace nods in agreement. Not that he would fare much better. He pulls Alec into his arms, both laughing and hugging as they haven't for a very long time.

But over time Jace's chuckles turn into sobs, and he clings to Alec's body like a lifeline. Alec holds him, despite his exhaustion, tries to be Jace's rock in this rare moment of his parabatai letting his guard down.

Alec's shirt soaks up Jace's tears as his back absorbs the impact of his fists hitting him with full force. He didn't plan for this, but he's glad that it's finally happening.

"I miss her so much," Jace mumbles into Alec's shoulder when he’s let it all out.

"I know," Alec says. "I pray for you two every night. It's not fair. The angel will see reason. I'm sure of that."

Jace pulls back, his cheeks streaked with traces of tears, his eyes puffy and red. "Simon says I need to let her go."

"Simon has no idea that nephilim love only once," Alec says quietly and brushes the tears off Jace's cheeks. "You must be patient. Don't get yourself into trouble over it."

Jace nods and pats Alec on the shoulder. He snuffles and adjusts his clothes. "So, what are the mundanes here for?" he croaks.

"The best view over Chicago," Alec replies and leads him to the platform. The town looks beautiful by night, all the lights and dark water a sight to behold.

"Clary would love to be here," Jace states, and Alec puts his arm around his shoulder, squeezing it in agreement.

"We'll come back when she returns," Alec says, and it's so matter-of-factly that Jace allows himself to envision it.

***

The crowd is nice to Simon that night, and he plays solely his own songs, old and new. He glances over to the bar sometimes, sees Jace smile at him when their eyes meet.

Simon takes a deep breath as the audience asks for another song. There's one he always keeps for last. He wrote it about Clary years ago, long before they got involved with the Shadow World. He added a verse recently. It speaks of loss and grief. For a long moment, he hesitates to play it, but then, he sees Jace nod. Maybe he knows why he's stalling.

Simon starts to play, taking his time to get into the mood. He sings about friendship and sticking together, of a love that is beyond what Western mundane culture deems possible between a woman and a man, who call each other friends. He sings about demons and angels, of an unspoken goodbye that rips your heart wide open and into tiny little pieces.

With the last chord still hanging in the air, Simon looks back at Jace. The shadowhunter is smiling through a stream of tears, his head leaning on his brother's shoulder.

How could Simon try to talk Jace out of hope? It's what Simon prays for every night, after all.

He climbs off the stage and pushes through the crowd. Jace pulls him into a tight hug that might have taken his breath away if Simon still needed air to live.

"Well done," Jace says, and Alec purses his lips in a wordless acknowledgement of Simon's art.

"You alright?" Simon asks.

"She lives in your songs," Jace replies. "You're a good keeper."

Simon huffs a laugh. "Yeah."

"She'd be proud of you," Alec adds.

Yes, this might have started as the dream of a carefree day out, but their wounds are still wide open. It doesn't help to ignore them. But they can scratch and lick them together. For one night, they can mourn the love and the friend they lost, and at night, back in their bedrooms, they will pray for her return.

[jaysevhls]

Be Careful | Christopher Herrmann

Request: could you do a herrmann imagine where the reader is his daughter who recently became 51s new candidate, and she’s a really good firefighter but gets badly hurt on a call and he’s worried and then in the hospital after she wakes up they talk and he says how proud he is of her or something soft like that?

Pairing: Christopher Herrmann x Daughter!Reader / Chicago Fire

Warnings: Injuries.

Author's note: Hi, from now requests are open again. If you have some suggestions for imagines about Halloween or something, feel free to ask❤️ All of the requests I got before will be posted in this and next week. I'm so sorry for taking this that long, but I have a hard time and school is making it only worse, I hope you understand.

Working with your dad wasn't the kind of thing you have always wanted. You were sure that life will bring you something unexpected, but you never imagined working in Chicago Fire Department at the same station with your dad. To be honest, it was awesome. You always had him by your side, you knew how his day went, you understood him like no one. Sometimes things were rough, especially when engine wasn't on the scene and he couldn't see how you're doing on the truck. From the first day he treated you like his colleague, he knew that he can't put his feelings over job, because that's the only way to get distracted. He trusted you, more than everything, especially when Casey was your capitan and always had your back.

You didn't like brining work to home, just like him, that's why your mom never pushed you to talk about hard call. This thing in your family worked pretty well.

"Hey dad, I was thinking, maybe you should go with mom tonight to the theatre or something? I can watch kids." you walked into break room after first call in the day.

"Uh, what's on your mind and how much money do you want?" he asked you.

"What? No, I just thought that you haven't been on a date for such a long time and now, when I got the night off I can stay with them." you hugged him from behind. He closed the newspaper and turned to look at you. He looked kinda confused and for sure, he didn't believe you. "Okay, if you don't want, you're staying with kids and I'm taking mom for a girl's night."

"Oh no no, that's not gonna happen, when you'll pick them?"

"I'll come home for a night. Gallo? What are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing, why?"

"You'll help me with my siblings, you owe me!" you said and walked out to the bathroom.

You stripped from your clothes and got to the shower. It was one of those day when after a case you're glad that everything in your life is going that way. You were happy, that was a sure thing. Even if something was missing, you couldn't notice that, because every single day you were surrounded by people who love you like a family member.

After you finish, you changed into fresh clothes, it was worthless after all, cause in every minute you could get a signal that you need to go, but comfort first.

You went back into break room, took some coffee and sat next to Christopher.

You were helping solving him the crossword.

"Herrmann, can I talk to you for a second?" Severide asked.

"Which one?" you and your dad asked in the same time.

"Not this time Y/N." you looked at him confused. Your father made his way to Kelly and looked kinda worried.

"So, I don't know how much things Y/N has told you but I'm sure you wanna know about this." you couldn't hear much of the conversation and you're glad, because it wasn't a right thing to listen to them, even if deep down you knew that conversation was about you.

"What do you mean Kelly? Something happened?"

"No no, everything is fine I think, it's just... Y/N applied to join the squad after finishing her being a candidate." now your dad looked confused and heartbroken?

"She never brought that around me. I thought that she's feeling okay on the truck."

"Yeah me too, but you need to know that I'm going to agree on this apply. She's an amazing firefighter and it would be nice to have her in squad. Besides, women know better, she would be really great. Don't worry, I'll always have her back, just like Casey did." Severide said.

"Yeah, thanks."

You finished your coffee and just in time you hard the alarm.

Quickly, you fixed your hair and got your uniform.

"Hey, Y/N? I heard that you want to join the Squad, congratulations." Casey said.

"Yeah, but... It's not a sure thing yet. I just really want to try, I hope you don't mind. I love being on the truck, but you know."

"Don't you dare think like this kiddo. I'm so proud of you and I'll always support you. You'll be great."

"Thank you, but please, don't tell my dad yet, I need to have this conversation with him on my own."

"Sure thing." he said. You looked at all the members in the truck. They were so happy that someone like you were with them, serving to the city and country. Gallo hugged you from the right side, while Mouch from the left.

"Okay guys, that's enough, you're gonna kill me with those hugs." you laughed.

You arrived on the scene and walked out of the truck. Casey gave you an order to stay behind him and to follow his movements.

The fire was spreading quickly, you saw a young woman running from the building.

"M-y my kids are in there, please, please help us..." she managed to say after she collapsed on the ground. You help Sylvie taking her to the ambo. Casey called you right after.

"Mask up guys, we're going on the second floor, Squad, you take the basement, engine cover us." you put your mask on and followed Matt. Stella and Blake were right behind you, calling and searching for people.

"Fire department, call out!" you yelled. Casey gave you an order to turn into right side while he and Stella will go on the left.

"The smoke is too dark, I barely see anything." Gallo said.

"Yeah me too, it's gonna collapse soon, we need to hurry." you answered, when you heard the loud crash and all you felt was a pain in your whole body. You couldn't breathe. Gallo was screaming your name and calling for backup.

"Mayday, mayday, Y/N Herrmann is down, the building just collapsed, she's on the first floor but her mask fell off, we need help."

Herrmann was standing with Boden next to the truck, helping with injuried people, while he heard Blake into his radio.

He couldn't think straight, he couldn't focus on what was happening.

Boden was holding him, because he couldn't let him go in there when building wasn't stable. After few minutes which last like hours, he saw Casey, Kidd, Gallo and Cruz walking out with you, while Severide held his mask at your face. You were unconscious and your head was bleeding.

"Guys, right here!" Sylvie yelled. They brought you on the stretcher. "She's not breathing and the pulse is weak."

Casey pulled your dad to let paramedics do their job. He was crying, but couldn't manage to say anything.

"Is-. She- she is okay? What happened? Casey, you promised to look after her." he asked.

"Hey, Herrmann. She was doing her job. I ordered her and Gallo to search that place, the floor wasn't stable and it collapsed. She has a broken leg and probably her arm is dislocated. They're taking her to Med, go with them." Herrmann made his way to the ambo. The whole ride was silent, his heart broke more after your heart stopped twice on the way.

"I can't loose you princess, please." he cried.

"She's tough, she's gonna be okay." Brett hugged him.

Hours passed by and nothing was said. They didn't know what was going on with you, you were in surgery for almost 4 hours.

"Casey? I'm sorry for what I said before. It wasn't your fault, I overreacted." your father said.

"It's okay, I get it."

"Herrmann?" Dr. Halstead appeared in the hall.

"How's she? Is she okay?"

"She's out of the surgery. She had a opened break on the leg, but everything is fine now. Also, she had a pretty bad head injury, but for now, we don't know if this caused any damages. We need to wait until she'll wake up.

"Can I see her?" he asked. Hall was filled with relief and some kind of happiness. You were alive and that was the only thing that matters.

"Yes, of course."

Herrmann walked into your room. When he saw all of those tubes and machines, his heart just broke. It all caused a painful flashbacks of his memories when he was stabbed. He took your hand and kissed it.

He spent almost 6 hours next to you, because he wanted to be with you when you wake up. Your mom was there too. She brought him fresh clothes and something to eat.

"D-dad?" he immediately woke up.

"Hey honey, I'm right here." he helped you with taking piece of hair of your face.

"What happened? Where am I?" you asked.

"Rough call you would said. Listen Y/N, I'm so sorry that I wasn't there, maybe if-"

"Dad, please stop. It's okay, I'm fine, hey. I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere soon."

"Mom is here too, but I told her to get some coffee for us, I'll go to tell her that you woke up, should I get the nurse too? Maybe dr. Halstead? Are you in pain?"

"Dad, sit down, now. I'm okay, really."

"Oh sweetie. I'm so glad that you're okay. When I saw you, when they took you... I was so afraid that I'm gonna loose you. But deep down I knew... I knew that you're one of the kind, my daughter, who will handle everything on her own. I knew that you're gonna make it, you're so tough. I couldn't be more proud babygirl. I'm so happy that I'm the one who you call dad." he cried. You showed him to come closer and you hugged him tightly.

"Oh my god, baby, you woke up!" now Cindy walked into your room. You all hugged and stayed like this for couple of minutes.

"Um, right. Y/N, your mom and I need to tell you something."

"Please don't make me want to almost die again, are you pregnant?" they laughed.

"No, oh god no. We wanted to tell you that we're so excited that you want to join the squad."

"What? But how? I swear I'll beat his ass."

"Severide told me yesterday. He's so happy to have you there and we're too. You need to know that no matter what, we'll always support you sweetheart. We love you."

"I love you too."

[sungieskies]

[23:45]

Han Jisung x Female reader

Word: 1.8k

Warnings: Smut, Fluff, just my pure love for Jisung in one story

You waited quietly backstage, sitting on the couch in Jisung's dressing room. You were watching the screens of his performance and smiling softly at how happy he looked during the intermissions when they got to speak with the fans.

That sweet attitude still didn't fool you, the looks and the way he was acting during the dance breaks or the song performances showed his not so sweet and smiley side.

This is the side you wanted right now. Jisung didn't know you were back stage, didn't know that you had gotten the help of Chan and Changbin to get to Chicago and move back to Korea after having to leave for school. You missed your boyfriend more than anything, and those two knew better than maybe Jisung himself.

Soon enough you heard the foot steps and quiet whispers of the boys and their back up dancers. You looked to the door as it opened, Chan and Changbin coming in first.

You smiled at them before looking up as Jisung walked in , wiping his face off with a towel so he had yet to see you. This gave you the perfect chance to get up and walk up to him, hugging him and catching him off guard "yah, Chan I'm sweaty and hot. Get off." He spoke before looking down and seeing you.

"Y-Y/N!" He almost screamed and wrapped his arms around you, picking you up and spinning you around. You laugh and smile up at him, "Hi Sungie.." you spoke softly and kissed his cheek. He sighed softly in comfort and continued to hold you close, his muscular arms keeping you still.

Chan and Changbin both chuckled before sitting down and helping the makeup artists by starting to remove the tiny bit of makeup they did have on. "We're going out for dinner tonight Y/N. You should come and then we can take you back to the hotel too!" Jisung spoke excitedly, making you giggle. "That was my plan baby." You said softly before squealing as he picked you up again and sat on the couch in the room with you on his lap.

You smile softly when he sat you on his lap, making sure you were comfortable before wrapping his arms protectively around your waist. He then nuzzled into your neck and hummed softly as you turned to kiss the top of his head. "Sungie...you really should get cleaned up and stuff so you all can go out..." you spoke softly as you drew circles on his hand with your finger.

Jisung whines and pulls you closer even though he knew you were right. "The others are showering right now though.." he spoke, trying to come up with an excuse to not let you go. Just as he spoke though, Felix opened the door. He was about to speak but when he saw you he became shocked before snapping out of it. "Hey Y/N. You three can go shower now. They're empty." He spoke before leaving after hearing your "Hi Felix!".

Jisung pouted even more hearing Felix's words. "Sungie. I'll be here when you get back baby...I promise. Go shower and clean up so we can go out with the others." You spoke softly. "The showers are separate..come with me!~" he whined and looked at you with his big puppy eyes.

"Oh hell no. I'm not going to be in the showers for that." Chan said before grabbing a set of clothes and rushing to the shower room, shortly followed by Changbin.

Jisung soon got a small smirk on his lips, getting just what he wanted. He either wanted to be alone with you in this room or in the showers, as either way you two were having some makeup time for the 8 months you have been gone.

You looked at him and tilted your head before whimpering and he kissed right behind your ear. "S-Sung.." you spoke and he raised a brow. "Yes miss I've been gone for almost a year?" He asked before capturing your lips in a heated kiss. You cup his face and slowly pull him closer (if that was possible), the two of you only pulling a waa at when air was needed. The next time you two pulled away, you look at Jisung's make out swollen lips. It shouldn't have turned you on, but everything about him did.

Jisung smirked seeing your horny daze flood your eyes. "God, even after 8 months you're still just as easy to get in the mood as ever." He spoke before pulling his shirt off, throwing it somewhere behind him.

You blush at his words before moving your hands down from his face to his neck, then to his chest and finally to his abs. "You worked so hard while I was gone.." you spoke before pulling your hands away from him to pull off your shirt as well, it landing somewhere close to his. You then reach around and unclip your bra, shimmying it down your arms and to the floor.

Jisung groans seeing you exposed for him, his hands moving up and roughly groping you. You squeak and moan out, gripping his biceps as he played with your breasts. He looked up at you and kissed you softly before leaning down and taking one of your nipples into his mouth, rolling and pinching the other between his fingers.

You whimper and mewl softly at his actions, your nails digging into his biceps before your hands made their way to his hair. You tangled your fingers in his blonde locks and started rolling your hips against his, a moan escaping his lips this time.

Jisung looks at you as you roll your hips over his, his pupil blown and covering most of his iris. He bites his lip before setting you as gently as he could on the couch next to him. He stood up and started working on his pants and boxers, slipping them down his legs as you slid your panties off from under your skirt.

Jisung helps you off the couch and leads you to the makeup counter, bending you over it and pushing your skirt up to your stomach. "You're such a good and pliant slut for me..." he whispers in your ear before suddenly pushing into your dripping cunt. "J-Jisung!~" you cry out at the sudden stretch, it didn't hurt per se but it didn't feel the best either after 8 months of having nothing but a plastic vibrator that barely did anything to help you.

Jisung chuckled at your outburst, giving you a few moments to adjust to him before pulling almost all the way out and then snapping his hips into yours. To say it took your breath away was an understatement as all you could do was open your mouth at the feeling of him.

Jisung gripped your hips tightly as he fucked you, groaning at how your pussy clenched and gripped his cock. "Y..you feel so amazing Y/N..." he spoke through his breathy pants. You mewl a moan back at him, not able to form the words to reply to him or the words to tell him you were cumming.

Jisung groans loudly feeling you convulse around his cock, said feeling making him cum as well. He pants heavily and rubs the small of your back as he rides the both of you through your orgasms. "Fuck baby...now I really do need a shower..." he chuckled as he helped you up after pulling out of you.

You hold onto Jisung for dear life before he picks you up. He carefully sets you on the couch once again and then pulled his pants and boxers up, going and grabbing his shirt. He slipped it on before grabbing your shirt and bra, helping you slip them on right as Chan peeked his head in. "Jisung we have 30 minutes. Hurry up and shower" he spoke before closing the door again.

Jisung nods to Chan's words before he picks you up again and walks to the showers to help clean the both of your now sweaty bodies.

You smiled softly as you sat down between Jisung and Hyunjin, laughing as the others began arguing over what you all should eat since you were in Chicago. "Boys, Boys...let's just be simple" you started, getting all their attention "let's get some pizza and then some pasta or something. We are at a place that serves both." They all looked at you before nodding "Y/N is right, we should do something super touristy for our first time in Chicago!" Hyunjin cheered and smiled cheekily and making the others laugh.

Soon enough you all got to order, Jisung ordering yours and his since he knew how anxious you got sometimes with talking to people. You quietly thanked him before grabbing his hand and starting to play with his fingers to try and minimize your anxiety. Jisung smiled and lifted your hand to his lips, kissing it before letting you go back to playing with his hand.

You smiled softly at his gesture and listened to the boys talk amongst themselves and giggling as they started arguing over the silliest things like who would win in an eating contest or who could do the best dance in the dark, silly right? You rolled your eyes at them before looking to your side as you felt eyes on you.

"What's wrong Jisung?" You asked as you cupped his cheek. He leaned into your touch and smiled happily as he put his hand over yours. "Nothing...I just really missed you baby. I know earlier we were kind of a hot mess but I really did miss you in the most innocent way I can. These past 8 months have been hell only seeing you through a screen and only when we both had time time. I never want that to happen again.." he spoke and you wiped the tear that started to go down his cheek.

"It won't Jisung. I finished my degree and Chan helped me find an apartment about 4 blocks from the dorm. I'm literally a 20 minute walk away now baby..." you spoke softly and pecked his lips "now stop crying okay? It's a time to be happy! Half way through your 2 tour in the U.S!" You cheered which got the attention if the other boys who happily cheered as well.

As you all had your fun, the food was soon set on your table, the boys instantly going into the pizza. Hyunjin moans at the taste, making the two youngest laugh loudly. Chan shakes his head at everyone before giving a toast and cheering them all on.

You quietly followed Jisung as he led you to his hotel room. "I'm glad we were able to get the rooms changed. I wanna spend all the time I can with you.." he spoke softly and opened the door, setting his things down before hugging onto you. You giggle and smile, looking up at him "Ji..I love you so much..." you spoke softly.

"I love you too..."

[ohoshi]

omg first i need to talk about nct at song festival (gayo daechukjae) umm first of all mark and taeyongs rap was so good but ofc we all knew they would kill it. and then in nct U class, teacher taeyong looked so good...the way he bit that pointer stick thing in the beginning was so sexc (and the hair and the glasses ahdsfasjf) 😳 but also sungchans rap in that?? i was not expecting that but why am i even surprised anymore.. and also misfit live?? i loved nct's school uniform concept too for some reason ahahaha

and then xiaojun in resonance!! wow yes go shine xj!!! (also idk why but i found it so funny when it was doyoung's turn after xj, but xj was kinda blocking dy (who was really walking with a PURPOSE) so dy lightly pushed him out of the way) and then omg shotaro!! offstage he is so 😊 but damn in hard carry he was so good!! ahh and then also the thing where all the kpop artists at gayo daechukjae sang that song was so cute (i smiled so hard when nct came up 🥺)

yea for my job situation i think it will be okay, i talked to some people i know/mentors about it too and i think things will work out...they always do in the end right? 😊 now about anime LOL this is making me wanna start/rewatch an anime now hahahah! honestly i kind of have phases where i alternate between kdramas and animes, but i havent rly watched anime much lately besides haikyuu (which i was also surprised was still airing (but it's only season 2 so far?)). kpop (aka NCT) has been consuming my life lmao but im here for it 😂

weightlifting fairy was also my first kdrama!! yes i can totally give u some kdrama recs! besides the ones i mentioned before (which are most of my top ones), i also liked chicago typewriter, marriage not dating (i love the fake relationship trope hahaha), dinner mate, sky castle (it's kinda intense but it's so good and an iconic kdrama), cheer up, another miss oh, kingdom (if you like zombie things)...i heard startup is good and i want to watch it soon too! also i continued watching more of uncanny counter these past few days and i love it (but it's ongoing so no binging)

okay now svt: i watched some of your recs and youre so right all their choreos are so satisfying?! i also actually agree with you about black on black, i liked black on black and it was cool but it only featured like 5 members lmao and in the svt choreos it does feel like all of them are featured in some way in each performance? plus their choreos are just so great to watch!! also i've had left and right stuck in my head since i watched it LOL but i agree it's objectively better than dynamite (not an army though; also pls nobody come at us for this lmaoo)

also super random but can you tell me who is the one in the red/purple plaid shirt in the svt home dance practice?? i am kinda attracted by his dance moves LOL and i havent learned names yet 😭 i will continue watching all ur svt recs though hehehe and update you on the status of my fangirling :))

omg wait also i would never have guessed that you're not an english speaker just from these messages!! how did you know that i was prob a native speaker haha (i guess *technically* cantonese is my first language, but then i learned english in school so now i'm obviously more native in that lol and english is the only language i can read/write in)

OMGGF IKR as a multi stan i really enjoyed the rap collab especially because i really love monsta x's rap line (esp i.m!!! his rapping skill 😍) and of course mark and taeyong!!!! 😭 our boys 😭 our golden rappers 😭 SLAYED IT! omg the nct u got me 😳 taeyong looked so good???? wtf? and also sungchan? damn that boy keeps surprising me! the interesting part to me was when one member(johnny if i remember correctly) bumped into taeyong but it was done on purpose and how he uhhh kinda shook his body and his head but it all looked so cool and he never stopped rapping!!! love how they all 'performed' misfit manifesting wild teenagers in school (as they are tbh) IT WAS SO FUN AND COOL!!!

XIAOJUN!!!!!!!!!!!!! WAS SO!!!!!! GOOD!!!!!!! THE CONFIDENCE??? THE STAGE PRESENCE????? XIAOJUN CENTER???? XIAOJUN BEING RELEVANT????? i live 😭 he was so good he looked so good i was so happy and i'm so proud of him 😭 from here the only way to go is up! i hope he keeps surprising us! and omg i haven't noticed that part when doyoung pushed him bc he blocked him?? and i just rewatched it and it looks funny 🤣 but they held everything professionally 😌  no surprises there 😌

OH MY GOD THE HARD CARRY PERFORMANCE!!!!!!!!! first of all our boy shotaro DAMN 😳 he looked so good you couldn’t say that he just debuted a few months ago!! such a dancing machine! (but honestly i am not surprised because in make a wish he was rly good and he debuted as a dancer i expected from him to be good™ as he is!) and i love the duality od him <3 yk that kind of idol that you want to protect at all cost but the next second they're the one you seek protection from? yeH sign me uP! and don't even get me started on hyunjin, juyeon and moonbin!!!!! but i mean all 3 of them are main dancers of course they would look good™ 😌 (yeah shotaro performed with 3 main dancers of 3 different groups i mean the honor??????)

the end of the festival was so wholesome! It was a serotonin boost and me too i also smiled the whole time! so cute 😭 and ot23 were cutiesssss

yes! everything will work out in the end! don't stress about it!<3 oh haikyuu only has 2 seasons? wtf hsgsjsgs ok then i just watched when it had like 13 episodes, WHEN IT FIRST CAME OUT that's when i watched it lmao

OMG OK I HAVE WRITTEN DOWN ALL OF THESE DRAMAS (and from the previous ask) IN MY NOTES SO FAR im mostly excited about the fake relationship one 👀 i love fake relationship trope, too 🤧 oh no binging?? is that your thing?? usually i love to wait for the show to finish airing and then i binge watch it in a few days (or one day depends how busy i am)

SEVENTEEN!!!!: yeah all of their choreos are so satisfying (pointing this out one more time) they always pay attention to details (for example in home, bc you're familiar with it, they even choreograph the hands and pay attention to them while most of the other kpop choreos very often freestyle the whole arms sjagaj) here's a fun fact abt svt that makes me love them so much agsgsj: they're self produced! they produce their own music and they even come up with their own choreos!! (of course not on their own, woozi is a producer but he's not making songs on his own he coproduces them with [a producer name bc i guess that's irrelevant but if you’re curious: bumzu], they come up with their own choreo (to be precise, hoshi does! he is 1/2 main dancers in group and he is the main choreographer! he doesn't do everything on his own of course, he gets help from the rest of the performance team (which is a svt subunit consisted of their 2 main and 2 lead dancers: hoshi, dino, the8, jun) and of course some other infamous kpop choreography teams) and i think that, by now, all the members were credited at least once for the lyrics

I'M SO GLAD YOU HAVE LEFT AND RIGHT STUCK IN YOUR HEAD HAGSJSSGSG but i mean of course you would it's soo good and soo catchy (yeahhh no worries, this army has already gotten minor hate for having controversial opinions™ and for criticising her faves so idc anymore 💁🏻‍♀️ it's my opinion as a dancer and i stand by it, even can't you see me by txt is better than dynamite so literally 3 dance performance were better!!!! in a way!!!! and neither of the 3 won!!! yes i am salty!!!!!)

the guy in the red/purple shirt (the center guy when they do the 3 dances for the first time right??) IS DINO!!!! he's the maknae and 2/2 main dancers in svt so!!! of course you would be attracted by his moves!!!!!! JSGSJSN i'm curious to see if you end up staning svt and biasing dino hsfsjsgsha

CANTONESE IS YOUR FIRST LANGUAGE? damn i thought you couldn’t get more interesting here's a dumb question: can you understand xiaojun, hendery and lucas without titles??? not that i would know if they ever speak cantonese in front of the camera for i don't know the difference between chinese dialects</3

[geek-gem]

Transformers Dark Of The Moon

I've finally seen the movie again after these years. Let me warn you, spoilers and I have a lot to say.

Their is really a lot to say about this movie. But I'm glad I finally got my to do list of watching the first three Bayformers now.

Another thing I'll be honest about I was gonna play the Dark Of The Moon game on PS3 but it requires more MB's to clear out but I decided fuck it I don't care. Especially it's a short game but I'm not doing that shit. I just wanna watch this film especially remembering this is a long film.

But back to the movie. I'll be honest and I'm not critic and my opinion may be invalid because lots of people hate Bayformers. We have a new continuity with the Bumblebee movie which I think is the best decision this franchise has done.

To me this movie while I like the first film from 2007.

After watching this and I'm still having some feelings after being it. But I feel this is my favorite out of the Bayformers saga. This is basically where it should of ended and should of let the Bayformers end with dignity. Or at least until a new director came along like Travis Knight or others.

Especially like I remember a movie guy named Cure4 on DeviantArt but he's gone from that shit. I agree with him and I'm thinking this is the sequel the 2007 film should of had.

I'm pissed and I hate that Age Of Extinction was the follow up to this film. Despite how people feel about this film, my God Bay tried to redeem himself after Revenge Of The Fallen a film that is like some sort of weird parody there the video game tie in's I see as the best version especially the PS3/Xbox 360/PC versions and even the Wii/PS2 versions.

Another thing I wanna reveal when I saw this film for the first time in theaters I actually used this.

I seriously wore that and it worked and it was awesome. It was a experience despite I felt nervous. I was young but what the hell it's gonna be 8 years since the movie was released. Especially the 3D was awesome when I saw it in theaters.

But back to the movie again I'm sorry. I'm not gonna make this a full review I don't wanna waste anyone's time.

When I think about it Sam is a lot better in this film. While I do feel some moments could be worked on. He should of apologized to Bee after he meets him I know Sam's angry. Especially this development of Sam wants to matter. This is much better then what we had in Revenge Of The Fallen.

Carly I honestly find more likable then Mikaela. Seriously I do especially that moment where she literally tells Megatron that he will basically be Sentinel's bitch if he doesn't do anything. She basically treats Sam with a bit more respect and well I like the relationship more then what Sam and Mikaela had.

Lennox and Epps were always great. Especially Epps during the scenes in Chicago. Simmons is seriously entertaining in this and Dutch is a blessing.

Let me just talk about Dylan Gould. This guy he's been on my mind. I made two joke posts him deleted the first one of he's been waiting for that betrayal towards Sam.

Patrick Dempsey honestly and his portrayal of Dylan is a performance that left an impression on me. Because I was actually surprised by his reveal of who he actually was. But seriously this man is a dick and in a way I like him. Despite seeing in the film him talking about making tough choices and him being on the winning side. Yet over the course of the film he starts to take it a bit personal.

While I kept thinking before seeing the film he was enjoying it maybe. But my view on it changed. I just think Patrick Dempsey kind of owns the role.

Yes we should talk about the robots and let me be honest. What I love about this film it's basically the Decepticons strike back. They are basically winning in this film. I love the Chicago invasion scene.

I do feel like the entire Bayformers series yes their should of been more Transformers screen time. Especially the Decepticons in this case. While I feel in Revenge Of The Fallen I can tell Starscream feels like he's a little snarky in some parts. While I know he's kissing up to Megatron to cover his ass. I would of liked some what....I don't know more snarky shit or something Starscream would say or do. Maybe even during his confrontation with Sam he mentioning after the Decepticons win that he would overthrow Megatron and become the winner.

I remember when I was young when I saw this for the first time. For Starscream I had hoped he would betray Megatron yet that would be so much for one film. Because that's Starscream from G1, Animated, and other continuities. At least one last hurrah before he dies.

Especially I remember when I was young I wanted Skids and Mudflap, along with Leo to come back....I was young and I enjoyed Revenge Of The Fallen a lot more okay. Wouldn't mind Leo but their seems to be a bit much but what the hell I wanted Dinobots in this film.(well it's said Skids and Mudflap are shown as cars but they were supposed to die....they did die by Sentinel in the movie comic)

I dig Soundwave in this film. Even Laserbeak these guys are douches but would of liked to seen more Soundwave. Especially I like this little dynamic between Dylan and Soundwave I know that's weird of me to say. Would of liked to seen more.

Shockwave in this film seriously I was hyped for him when I was young and playing the prequel game. I feel it's stupid he's not as important. He should of had more lines and more interactions. I even agree with a comment on YouTube he should of been in the Africa scene.

While he is badass it's stupid how he goes out but give him a better send off and a fight with Optimus Prime. I wanted to see more Shockwave and I think it would of been better if he was voiced by Mark Ryan. Frank Welker didn't do a bad job and he actually had two lines spoken in English.

At least his driller creature is cool. But seriously after all the hype and I want to just put some promotional stuff.

Whatever if this one is official or not. It's just in Shockwave's own words......logical. Or my own words fucking logical.

The reason I'm saying Mark Ryan because of his English accent and I want to be reminded of Corey Burton. Sorry for sounding weird.

Let me say I feel Sentinel Prime is probably the best antagonist actually we've had in a Transformers live action film especially in the Bayformers. Characters like Shatter and Dropkick are great. Even Lockdown was nice. But I liked Sentinel. I'll be honest I was actually surprised when I witnessed his betrayal when I was young. I thought the Decepticons were gonna force him to use the Pillars maybe even Shockwave but what we got was something else.

Also I really liked the scenes with Optimus and Sentinel. I do feel we should of gotten more and had them be longer. Especially I like Optimus in this. I do see their was this father and son or brother like relationship that Bay talked about. But would of liked to seen more.

The other Autobots are alright cool. I do feel the whole Que/Wheeljack thing was just seriously stupid. Especially now before Bumblebee a Wheeljack design that was more accurate. Tragic about the way he died.

Looking back at the film theirs not a lot of Cybertronian scenes but they leave an impact.

Also I really wanna talk about the ending with Optimus, Sentinel, and Megatron. We should of gotten more Megatron I agree.

But the scene where leading up to Optimus killing Sentinel seeing it in action after going through the movie. It is awkward in a way.

Yet I'll be honest Sentinel basically deserved it. In fact of the Decepticons, and Dylan fucking deserved what they got. Because after everything they did their to me was not a way shit would end peacefully or something. Including your hearing this from a Steven Universe fan a show that deals with pacifism and other shit.

I do feel and I've talked about this before but I might delete it now because I'm gonna mention it here. But I feel if the scene went like it was Megatron who kills Sentinel or this dark idea of Sentinel killing himself or even himself dying from wounds. Especially giving Megatron and Optimus more of a fight even with Optimus haven't one arm.

Or hell seriously Bay should of gone with the original that was kept in the novel that Megatron teamed up with Optimus to kill Sentinel and Megatron would stop what he's doing. Also hearing that it would of explored Megatron more. That ending would have his look in The Last Knight make sense that he went to Cybertron after Dark Of The Moon and over time he decided to go back leading the Decepticons. Instead they had to kill him off and the whole Galvatron thing. Even though Megatron got what was coming to him.

Gonna be honest the Starscream death while I like the idea of Sam having the courage to take on Starscream and even killing him. But I do feel Starscream should of died a more I guess epic death.

Especially I weirdly wanted Sam to be all Cade Yeager shooting Decepticons and some how killing them. I mean you Sam jumping on cars and even sliding under them.

Gonna say before seeing the movie I kept thinking Dylan in his fight with Sam should of died a more brutal death. Such as Sam telling him to shut up after the messager comment and beating him to death. But Dylan's death is perfect. Seriously he gets hit in the face with some sort of pole thing and dies by the pillar.

Listen I'm sorry for rambling a lot. This became more of some review or reaction. The action was seriously nice and the special effects, score was always excellent.

Gonna be honest while I wasn't emotional much throughout the movie. Did feel emotional over the, "The fight will be your own" scene and felt a little at the, "No Prisoners Only Trophies" scene....that should of had more weight. I'll be honest when I was young I was expecting Sam for some reason come out of hiding yelling no in slow motion, surprising everyone then the Decepticon drop ship gets hijacked.

Gonna say did enjoy Wheelie and Brains I like them. Glad they we're still around in later films.

I think I've talked too much. Basically I think this is the best Bayformers sequel, this is what we should got gotten as a sequel to the 2007 film. It's better then Revenge Of The Fallen, Age Of Extinction, and The Last Knight.

My only weird complaint that isn't towards the movie.....Dinobots could of been in this some how.....during the battle of Chicago. We should of gotten Dinobots vs the Driller. Grimlock voiced by Vin Diesel or whatever I've had that weird casting idea I think for years. Or even Devastator in this because it's a huge open battle with so many opportunities. While I understand Michael Bay didn't wanna go larger like he did with Revenge Of The Fallen. I'm just disappointed that the next film we got after this was Age Of Extinction.

Tags dealt with sorry that got wrong, their was a lot to talk about. Glad I could talk about this and again I finished my to do list of rewatching the original trilogy. Bring on the new cinematic universe in the Knightverse that started out with Travis Knight's Bumblebee I'm ready for more excellent films.