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organic-guacamole · 3 years

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episode 209 spoilers below

I'm so late today but here it is

I love EJ, he's finally learning to be happy. I'm so proud.

Ms Jenn = every boomer during zoom calls, like jeez yes we can hear you stop shouting at me.

LOVE THE SUBTLE JOKE ABOUT QUARANTINE "these dark times" "you mean spring break?"

ah yes, remember when we thought covid was just gonna give us a longer spring break? good times

SEBLOS

damn the passive aggressiveness from Carlos and the absolutely over it tone from seb✋

CASWELL COUSINS!!!!! THEY'RE THE BEST!!!!

we needed more if this kind of goofiness for the first part of season 2 that only such an iconic duo can provide.

old old movies-

is it even that old, or is Nini being a gen alpha rn-

i choose to imagine EJ being scared of the movie and hiding in Ashlyn's shoulder while she keeps a straight face and then EJ pretending to be tough afterwards

aww redlyn are soulmates.... yknow, if gingers had souls

(please ignore me)

y'all saw how EJ's face *lit up* when Gina logged on? how dare you tell me he doesn't like her

ofc she's no damsel in distress, she's Gina porter, she's amazing.

so do we think she'd be the type to just glare at suspicious people? or bark at them

do they not know that Rini broke up? or is Ms Jenn just wanting Nini to suffer through her heartbreak to make her a better actress....

speaking of, why is Nini in the call? she's not in the show anymore. Unless she is, even after the rose and the song got cut, which would be so unfair to all those that auditioned properly before she even came back but whatever, she's the main character I get it 🙄

big red is a hero honestly, Nini better thank him for changing the subject like that

I can't-

i won't work you over the break-

this woman would 100% work her kids 24/7 if it was legal and idk how to feel about it.

YES GINA USE THAT CHARM

QUEEN

FRENCH QUEEN

SHE LEARNT FROM THE BEST (antoine obvi)

smh the airport lady, eavesdropping on Gina's call.

The way she was so happy to answer EJ's call, "eej"

I love them your honour.

EJ WITH PAINTED NAILS YES PLEASE

great now we need to see Gina, Ashlyn and EJ having a complete spa day and EJ getting really into it and Gina and Ashlyn take pictures of him when he's laying down in a robe with a mask and cucumbers on his eyes.

finally we get to see Gina's side of portwell

the way she considered it as flirting, this is the sign she asked for in episode 6 come onnnnn

no is Asher/jack really doing tiktok dances in an airport-

Ricky is me. I am burrito.

oh Lynne, sweetie, I'm sorry but the blonde hair is not it

is that even the same lady or-

THE BEAN

THE CHICAGO BEAN

THE BIG OLD METAL BEAN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY 😭

jetlag is my go to excuse for anything... I haven't travelled in 2 years.

"welcome to the Lynne and Mike gossip show. where we talk about our depressed son that we both neglect in certain ways! And now a word from our sponsor, Nord VPN..."

SO MANY CANDLES

WHAT DEMON IS LYNNE TRYING TO SUMMON IN HIS ROOM-

is Nina becoming social media obsessed EJ from season 1? AND SHE LIED ABOUT HAVING SONGS TOO PLEASE WHY ARW THEY RECYCLING THE SAME PLOT-

Gina smiling at the picture of her family on Instagram makes me so happy, idek why.

EJ's nails are so pretty, we needed to see it more (unless he had it on for the rest of the episode and I just.... didn't notice🧍🏽‍♀️)

oh not the tiktok kid✋

yes ma'am end this strange mans whole tiktok career

sir take a hint and leave

GINA NO DONT SAY YOUR LAST NAME HE COULD BE A HUMAN TRAFFICKER

Ricky, walking in style✨

weird kid, ok then Lynne, can't you see he's this close to the edge?

not all your fault baby Ricky, Nini sucks a bit more

RICKY YOU DIDN'T COME DOWN HARD ON THE SONG-

YOU ASKED WHAT IT WAS ABOUT AND SHE SHUT YOU DOWN-

PLEASE DO NOT BLAME YOURSELF

ok but the deleting comment thing was very bad

still don't know if I like Jack honestly

hmmm so Nini's calling herself Nini instead of Nina in her little egg seat, while trying to write a song without inspiration.... Nini, honey, Ricky was your muse, he inspired you to write all those songs, even if it wasn't good for the relationship.

that doesn't mean you gotta get back with him, or that you can't write a song that not about him butttt it'll take some time

the rainbow sticker in her box and her rainbow shirt-

anyways wbk she's not totally straight

Jack are you a criminal?

quick, Gina, check his ankle for a tracker

THE YES AND PRACTICE STRIKES AGAIN

the way Gina wasn't into it in episode 6 but she's used the technique twice now

stole her grandma's Pomeranian-

Jack where the hell did you pull that out from-

the fake crying killed me, that looks like so much fun though

anyone wanna raid a first class lounge with me?

wait so is jack not gonna go in with her?

wouldn't he go in too? help look for the credit card? SO CONFUSED

the first class lounge guy was so into the drama though, watch his face when they start arguing 😭

sorry to break this to you Kourtney, but you haven't even blocked the second act yet soooo...

take that as you will

I love how all of them are totally dissing the dance off

that's the most realistic part of this show tbh

shouldn't Nini have asked how she knew....since the start? why is the fact that her best friend has knowledge of a North high secret now dawning on her...

Howie is sweet honestly, at least he's trying to help. but I stand with Kourtney, don't take him back just because he sang an amazing song, and is giving you a heads up on what's gonna happen...

KOURTNEY IS ME TRYING TO LEAVE AN ONLINE CLASS

I hate school

ooo Nini's writing a song about bad internet connection 🤩🤩🤩

I never lie, except when I do-

son that is the creepiest thing you could say to a stranger that you've been "helping"

2 truths and a lie👀

he's an Ariana fan 100%

called it.

OLDER BROTHER-

WHAT-

free spirit? damn so brother porter was in that horse movie

so has she been kissed or not?????????

I feel like she's moved more than 15 times though so possibly

but then if she's moved so much, and before east high she never opened up to anyone, she's never been kissed then?? damn

same though Gina so let's be besties please

heartbreak president is a great song title idea, give Nini a call rn

but wait

is the no strings attached feeling thing about her telling Ricky she liked him? she thought she was moving away so she thought it'd be no strings attached???

guys I think I figured it out insert the "I've connected two dots" meme

THE DUKE SWEATSHIRT

IS THAT YOUR BOYFRIEND'S

OMG I LOVE I LOVE

NOT THAT I KNOW OF???

ma'am did you just kill me

yes you did

Lynne and Ricky have such a weird relationship

YES IT DID SUCK

TODD SUCKS

LYNNE SUCKS

yeah I get that you wanted Ricky to like Todd BUT THAT WASN'T THE TIME

right so we already know that Ricky was so desperate to keep Nini cuz he didn't want to be like his parents, and now Lynne's talking about this-

Richard needs a long hug

yes Lynne, it is your fault. thank you for finally admitting it.

YES DYE YOUR HAIR

BLOND HIGHLIGHTS RICKY WILL RISE AGAIN

"sometimes the best, last thing you can do for someone you love, is let them go."

gotta admit I teared up at that point

not me thinking big red was calling ms Jenn cupcake for a hot second-

Carlos please omg, you're at the "beach" and they're leaving for the pool?

also, why not just do the call from the hotel room please omg

"don't ask me"

"Carlos"

OMG WHAT HAPPENED

big red wants the tea

O M G

SEB IS JEALOUS

JEALOUS SEBBY IS MY FAVOURITE THING IDC

I'm surprised ms Jenn knew how to give Nini permission to screenshare tbh

So lily's been stalking the East high kids and spending time editing this video while she's supposedly in an immersion trip.... right

EJ and Ashlyn's picture is so chaotic, what even is happening there

"slacking off" bestie its spring break, obviously they're confident enough that they'll get it done in time so why not focus on your own musical.

jealous seb = sassy seb

please what if those guys Carlos is posing with are his cousins or something and that's why he's so confused about Seb

6 YEAR OLD EJ I LOVE HIM I LOVE HIM I LOVE HIM

Nini saying she's obsessed with her ex, that's not weird at all 👍

I can just tell Matt had a blast harassing Julia with those puppets.

Jack please dont be like that, "yet"

chances are you'll never see eachother again 🥰

(honestly sometimes I really miss those friends I made on trips and stuff when we'd spend the day or week together, only to never see them again....those were the good days though)

Ashlyn and Nini should write more songs..... something better than this one at least

Nini: "im good"

cue the Tia Mowry (please I can't spell) crying gif

oh I forgot Ricky was in the show for a hot second

1. where did Gina get to film this without people being around

2. did she just... randomly change her clothes???

ok but the transition between Carlos and EJ

*chefs kiss*

now everyone shut up, EJ's singing

oh i think I'm pregnant

HIS MUSCLES

YES KOURTNEY

I love how big red and Kourtney went from being "the best friends™" to the couple in season 1, to kinda close themselves and having their own plots

sebby makes me so happy

props to biggies editing skills honestly

PORTWELL BEING SIDE TO SIDE I CANT

AND SEBLOS OMG

big red lives for the drama

"wow" so true Ricky

no he is not cute, stop it

"holding" ok that's kinda cute

yeah EJ's a lucky guy😌

jokes aside, it's not that hard to exchange numbers-

keep in touch if you want

ok I really like Jack now

if he comes back in season 3, maybe have him be LGBTQ+ ?

like the only out characters they have rn are Seb and Carlos and they're like the sterotypes, yk?

I'd love to see jack kinda break the mold

Ricky's breaking my heart

that song just hurts

the only thing

now I don't hate Lynne????????

HOW DARE THEY WRITE IN A PROPER REDEMPTION ARC FOR HER

UGH IM SUPPOSED TO HATE HER FOREVER

I mean I don't live her now but she's good

but honestly

"mom can I show you something"

IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL

THE PICTURE AND EVERYTHING OMG

I'm sobbing please help

Gina saying she's just waiting for the right guy and then EJ coming to the airport to pick her up late at night without her asking, offering to bring her back in the morning so she won't have to Uber, bringing her a granola bar (WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT SHE FORGOT TO PACK) and without expecting anything in return???

ms ma'am you've got a keeper right there

her smile at the end was so heartwarming I really can't.

this episode was great.

it felt really short but I liked it, great character development for Ricky, Lynne and Gina.

Cant wait for next episode to see more of EJ being the ideal boyfriend /hj

#hsmtmts #hsmtmts s2 #hsmtmts season 2 #hsmtmts spoilers #ej caswell #ricky bowen #gina porter #seblos #nini salazar roberts #jack hsmtmts #carlos rodriguez #seb mathew smith #kourtney greene #big red #ashlyn caswell #caswell cousins #portwell will be the death of me #guac's episode text blocks :)

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ectonurites · 3 years

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can anybody please explain the appeal of tim drake because ive been into the batfamily for a while now and tbh im really confused on why people like his character so much compared to the other robins. like they all have their own thing going on and he just... doesnt?

Have you read his Robin solo? Because if not and you want to try to like him but just don’t understand why people do, that’s what I’d recommend. That and like, Young Justice 1998.

Because Tim definitely... does have his own thing going on. Maybe not in the same way as the others, but like, there’s a reason he has a 183 issue long solo comic that ran for like 16 years: he was fun to read about!

But I will give some more specific thoughts on the subject as a Tim Drake Appreciator™ (this got long im sorry)

The appeal of Tim (especially early on Tim) is kinda the fact that he’s this more normal kid. For a while that is his ‘thing’. He was basically designed to be a self-insert (he definitely became more than that along the way, but from the start he was meant to be relatable) in a different way than how Dick and Jason had been before him.

Like the role of Robin from the start was this way to create a character young readers could identify with more, could see themselves in more. And Dick and Jason did that, but they still had this element to their lives and stories that was more... unattainable for the average reader. Dick was a circus prodigy, Jason was either also a circus prodigy if we remember pre-crisis or if we go with his post-crisis story he’s this street-wise orphaned kid who had a really tough life but still went on to be a hero anyways. Obviously those lives are relatable for some people, but those’re definitely not as broadly recognized as common upbringings especially not by DC trying to market to the ‘average’ kid/young teen.

But the creation of Tim changed the game a bit. Dick and Jason were these aspirations a kid could look to like ‘wow I want to be cool like that!’ but Tim was a Robin designed for kids to look at and go ‘wow, his problems and civilian life are just like mine AND he’s a hero, I want to be cool like that!’, ya know? Tim was... just a clever kid with an average life who managed to connect some dots and had enough drive to want to fix things he saw were a problem, he didn’t have the same kind of heightened drama backstory the others did. The Robins that came after Tim definitely didn’t have this idea of relatability in mind the same way either. Unfortunately Steph’s time as Robin was much more of a marketing ploy than an actual like... decision to make her Robin, so it’s hard to really fit her into this conversation. But Damian from the start was first of all initially created not to be Robin but just as the son of Talia and Bruce back in the 80’s, but when he was later reimagined into the character that would become Robin he had the whole ‘raised by and is the heir to the league of assassins and is the son of batman’ thing going on still. He just was not supposed to be relatable that same way, he was a character designed with different things in mind.

I really think it was more just DC’s 90′s era younger-audience comics in general that tried to push that relatability thing (like in YJ how Cissie even after quitting the team stays a major character as a civilian throughout, and the civilian aspect that’s super present in Bart’s 90s solo too, etc), but later in the 2000’s that idea was definitely pushed to the side in favor of... putting in even more dramatic superhero-y stuff.

And the other thing that’s... such a more normal thing but it actually made him unique here, was that Tim’s dad was still alive until like 2004 (so 15 years into Tim being around as a character). This gave Tim a lot more typical ‘family school girlfriends normal life etc’ problems on top of/in contrast with his superhero problems. These just manifested in very different ways than they could with the other Robins because of that unique situation with a living civilian parent who doesn’t know about hero stuff (until he did find out which lead to that whole Unmasked thing, but there was only the brief time around War Games & Identity Crisis where Jack knew Tim was actively Robin and he was... still alive) Tim also had his life at school expanded way more than most other Robins, like, he had such an extended supporting cast of civilian friends which is a really interesting thing to read about (and the fact that he hasn’t had that stuff since the New 52 I think really hurts his character)

And then related to that loss of his dad... Personally another thing about Tim that really interests me is how a lot of things were more... his choice. if that makes sense. A lot of characters in the Batfamily were struck with tragedy/extreme trauma before they became heroes and that’s what spurred them into this life of becoming heroes. Tim’s situation wasn’t like that at all! When he first got involved in everything during Lonely Place of Dying, the only tragedy he’d experienced was watching Dick’s tragedy happen. Which sure yes traumatic obviously, but that’s not the same as how pretty much all the other Bats had gone through these very personal losses or other sorts of very first-hand personal traumas that served as motivators. Tim didn’t start to experience those things until after he got involved in the hero life, and aside from his Mom’s death which was more of just an unrelated incident (that technically happened before he was officially Robin but it was during his time training to become Robin), pretty much all these other tragedies and things... would not have happened or been experienced by him had he not become Robin.

That’s not me placing blame on him or anything like that, because god no that’s not how that works, but it’s very interesting because from his point of view he definitely feels that guilt because he knows him being Robin played a role in a lot of it (Thinking specifically about in Adventure Comics #3 when Kon even says “I know what guilt does to you” to him like it’s... it’s a thing with him!). His dad was murdered because he was Robin. He only met Steph and started dating her through being Robin, and thus he would not have experienced the loss of his girlfriend dying like that had he not been Robin. Tim met both Conner and Bart through being Robin, and would not have had a personal connection to them when they died otherwise. The whole Bruce’s death thing after Final Crisis, like. I could go on honestly, that was only talking about losses not even his own experiences nearly getting killed, but yeah, all these personal tragedies were experienced by him specifically because he chose to bring himself into this life, which I think in turn plays into how throughout his comics you see him go from having this really optimistic view on things and being really hopeful to seeing him at that low point he reaches by the time of Red Robin. (thinking about that one post that points out how Tim started out in the 90′s as an optimist and Steph a cynic and by the time they were Red Robin and Batgirl in 2009 they had switched outlooks...)

I also think that him having had such a great team book with the original Young Justice can help contribute to people liking him. His friendships with the rest of the core four and that team in general are really compelling. (and that’s something like again when looking at the other Robins, while Dick had the Titans ofc, Jason never really found footing with a team outside of like one mission with the Titans and then We All Know How Damian’s Teen Titans Stuff Went. Steph also only ever really worked with a team outside the batfam on very brief occasions) and even though I’m not as big of a fan of the 2003 Teen Titans run that came after YJ, people who read Young Justice and also that could follow and be attached to those same characters over a pretty decently long period of time.

Idk man, I don’t really have an ultimate point here i’m just rambling. I can definitely understand not seeing the appeal to him right away (honestly i’ve been into Batfam since like 2013/2014 and Tim did not become one of my faves until 2020) especially if like... idk when you say ‘into the batfamily’ that can mean a lot of different things. If you’re reading more like the bigger events with the batfam sure Tim can kinda fade into the bg a bit, if you’re more talking about fanon the fanon version of him is prettyyyyy uhhhhh not really the same as how he was in pre New 52 canon, if you’re mainly reading New 52 era Batfam stuff then that Tim I also don’t understand the appeal of bc thats Not My Boy, if you’re interested in a different member primarily and only familiar with Tim when he shows up in things focused on that other character then it’s easy to not really understand the appeal right away bc he’s more there to support that character rather than shine in his own right.

I think it’s also worth mentioning he’s just not everybody’s cup of tea, and that’s totally fine. Like, these are fictional characters and sometimes you just will vibe with a character and sometimes you won’t! idk if this helped at all or even made sense. but yeah. I just think he’s neat 😌

#Anonymous

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dream-a-little-bigger-x · 4 years

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Halloween Prank Gone Wrong | Luke Patterson

Request: hi! firstly i love your series & imagines! they are so wonderful! <3 okay secondly can i request a luke patterson x reader where reader is friends with julie and it’s Halloween so Julie decides to prank reader with an ouija board and has the boys behind everything but reader can see them? sorry if this doesn’t make sense ):

Pairing: Luke Patterson x reader, JATP x reader, Julie x Flynn x Reader

Warnings: Use of OUIJA board

Words: 2,239

Songs used: Time Warp - Glee Cast Version

Y/N: Your name Y/L/N: Your last name Y/M/N: Your mother’s name

You and Julie have been friends since you were both in diapers, along with Carrie. The three of you used to be inseparable, and then even Flynn joined your Squad in Middle School. People used to call you the Los Feliz Four. Then came the worst year of your squad’s year. Julie lost her mom and with it, her love and connection to music, one of the many things that connected the Los Feliz Four. Carrie stopped hanging out with Julie after a humongous fight, and when Flynn picks Julie’s side, you’re stuck between the two fires. You love Julie with all your heart and help her wherever she needs it, but you also still hang out every now and then with Carrie. Though the drama in Dirty Candy sometimes gets a little much.

On the day of the spirit assembly, you’re on the sidelines, cheering on Dirty Candy and Julie herself when she takes her spot behind the keyboard, starting a song you don’t know. Her voice echoes through the gym, capturing every student’s attention. Even more so when a band flashes onto the stage, joining her into the song. You have to blink a couple of times, to make sure you’re really seeing things correctly. These are three of four boys from Sunset Curve. Your mother used to be the biggest fan of their music back in the 90’s and showed you all of their work. She even told you about Bobby, who now goes by the name of Trevor Wilson and how he used to be part of the band as well. You never told Carrie what you knew. But seeing the boys up there, knowing they died, only means one thing. These are ghosts. The ghosts of a 90’s band. You can’t help but jam along with them, though the song is completely unfamiliar to you. And, once the song is over, you can still see the boys on the side of the stage, talking amongst each other whilst Julie explains the hologram-thing. You witness the dark-haired boy run up the steps and shake his booty, checking if no one can see them. You’re somewhere at the back of the crowd, hidden behind the tallest guy in your class. He can’t see you, but you can see him. You have to ask Julie what’s going on. There needs to be an explanation to this. You don’t know how to tell her you know. It might be weird to just go up there and tell her ‘hey! I know about your ghost band!’. Besides, how fun would it be to know about her secret and catch her in each lie she comes up with as an excuse for their behavior? You hold it out until October. Halloween, to be exact. It’s been hard, trying to keep this from Julie, but it has been fun seeing the boys squirm whenever you looked straight into their eyes as if you could see them. The hardest part was trying not to laugh whenever they said something dumb or funny, but you just about managed. You managed enough for Julie to believe you didn’t know about her ghost band and to come up with a scheme to prank you this Halloween. You didn’t know, at first, since she just asked to hang out on Halloween, watch some horror films and just enjoy the holiday you both loved so much, along with Flynn. The three of you had decided to dress up for your little get together. Dressed as Bubbles from the Powerpuff Girls, you make your way to Julie’s garage. To no surprise, finding the boys there too, along with Flynn -- dressed as Buttercup -- and Julie -- dressed as Blossom. “Hey,” you greet as your eyes land on the Ouija Board, surrounded by dozens of candles. “Playing a game, are we?” You already have a hunch what’s going to happen, but decide to play along anyway. “Yes! No better moment than Halloween to break this bad boy out, right?” Flynn exclaims as she sits down on the floor at the coffee table where Julie had set up the board. “Sure,” you agree with a shrug before taking a red cup from Julie. She’d gone all out with decorating the studio with cobwebs and pumpkins and skeletons. She really went to town, even on the beverages and snacks. All of them Halloween-themed. “Are we ready?” Julie asks ominously whilst sitting down next to Flynn and extending her arms, so they’re resting on the plaque in the middle of the board. You bite your bottom lip, trying your hardest not to start laughing at your best friends, and sit down with them. The three boys surround you, placing their hands onto the plaque at the same time you and Flynn do. “It’s really important you keep your hands on the plaque at all times,” Julie warns you and Flynn. It’s really hard to concentrate on the board and not on the extremely cute guy on the opposite side of the table, staring at you with a grin on his face. “Let’s do this,” you state, your eyes flicking from Julie to Flynn, stopping briefly at the lead singer of Sunset Curve. You catch a flicker of confusion in his eyes, but decide to ignore it and focus on Julie and Flynn for now. “O Fortuna, Velut luna, Statu variabilis, Semper crescis, Aut decrescis; Vita detestabilis.” You furrow your eyebrows at Julie’s sudden outburst in Latin. You don’t need much to recognize it though. That’s from O Fortuna by Carmina Burana. The most famous choral number in existence. You feel a little offended Julie thinks you wouldn’t know that. “Are you ghosts out there?” she asks in a menacing voice, trying to build up the tension. You can feel the boy next to you go through you with his shoulder as he pushes against the plaque to slide it over to the ‘yes’. You press your lips together to keep you from laughter, your eyes widening in fake shock. “Who are you?” you ask as you look into the lead singer's eyes, pretending to look ahead into the abyss. The boy now leans forward and starts moving the plaque to the L, then U-K-E. You glance at Julie and Flynn, who exchange glances too. “Were you in a band?” Luke’s eyes widen at this, frantically glancing at his best friends in need of help. The blond one, who’s sitting next to Flynn, cocks his head to the stereo before getting up from his spot and moving to the corner. He presses the play button, a song you recognize as Now or Never by their very own band. You nod your head, impressed by the lengths these boys are going to keep up this prank. “Hey, Luke,” you’re still looking at him instead of Julie or Flynn. “Are your bandmates here too?” “Bro, she knows,” Luke scoffs, which makes you burst out laughing. You can’t handle it anymore. The disappointment in Luke’s face is just too much. “I’m sorry guys, but I can literally see you…” you tell the three guys, leaving them and your two best friends in complete and utter shock, laced with a bit of disgruntlement over their prank failing. “My mother used to be a really big fan of yours. She showed me all of your music and told me about Bobby-slash-Trevor.” Julie’s head snaps up at this. “You knew?” she asks, eyes wide and bewildered at this new information. “Yeah, I never told you or Carrie because one, I didn’t think it mattered, and two, there must be a reason why Bobby hasn’t told his own daughter about his past band.” You shrug, letting your eyes dart over to the boys again. They’re all sat on the floor, frozen in shock. “How do you see us?” the darker-haired boy with the rosy cheeks asks. “I guess my mother being such a fan of Sunset Curve gives me a connection to all of you?” you offer them your best guess. Luke’s eyes widen, clearly realizing something as he gets up from the floor to start pacing the garage. “What’s her name?” he asks, remembering one girl he had a real connection with. “Y/M/N.” He visibly swallows a lump in his throat, and scratches the back of his head awkwardly. “Yeah… Let’s say I know her very well…” Your mind immediately jumps to a conclusion that leaves you a little weirded out. “Remember that one girl our age at the book club we played at?” He directs this question to the boys. “Right! She was the daughter of the hostess!” the brunette, who you’re guessing is Reggie by the way he expresses himself, remembers. “No, you didn’t!” His eyes widen at the sudden realization, he then turns to you. “You’re her daughter?!” You nod your head slowly, trying to comprehend what’s happening. “It doesn’t matter who Luke had a special connection with,” Julie interrupts, “Why didn’t you say anything? It killed me not telling you!” You shrug your shoulders. “I guess I thought it would’ve been weird to just come up to you and say ‘yo, Jules, I can see your ghost band!’ Besides, it was fun seeing these boys squirm whenever I looked at them a little too long.” Your lip turns upwards on one side. “I knew you saw me!” The blonde guy narrows his eyes at you. So, that must be Drama Queen Alex… “Can we just drop it and enjoy the rest of our night together?” you exclaim, raising your hands in defense for ever lying to your best friends. “I heard…” you start, glancing at all three of the boys, “You guys are very good at jamming whatever song is thrown at you.” “Yes! Please! Sing! So I’m not the only one not seeing you!” Flynn groans in frustration, walking through Luke, not realizing he’d gotten up from his seat earlier. “I just stepped through someone, didn’t I?” Julie and you simply nod your head, amused smiles stifled. Luke and Reggie grab their instruments whilst Alex makes his way behind his drum kit. “Y’all know Time Warp, from the Rocky Horror Picture Show?” you ask. As an answer, Alex counts all of you in before the band starts playing and Luke’s voice fills the studio. “It's astounding, time is fleeting Madness takes its toll But listen closely,” You, having received a microphone from Julie, walk over to the lead singer your mother had a fling with once -- apparently -- and chime into the song. “Not for very much longer” “I've got to keep control” He shoots you a wink before changing to his head voice to go into the chorus. “I remember doing the time warp Drinking those moments when The blackness would hit me And the void would be calling” Then, all of you join into the post-chorus together, singing at the top of your lungs. “Let's do the time warp again Let's do the time warp again” Reggie then takes the next part whilst all three girls do the choreography from the musical, and alternating lines with Reggie. “It's just a jump to the left” “And then a step to the right” “put your hands on your hips” “You bring your knees in tight But it's the pelvic thrust That really drives you insane Let's do the time warp again! Let's do the time warp again!” You dance your way to Reggie whilst taking the next verse, all while Julie’s behind the keyboard, getting some melodic notes into the jam. “It's so dreamy, oh fantasy free me So you can't see me, no not at all In another dimension, with voyeuristic intentions Well-secluded, I see all” Reggie looks into your eyes as he uses his best seductive voice to sing the next line. “With a bit of a mind flip” And then you imitate that tone on your next line. “You're into the time slip” “And nothing can ever be the same” Flynn then takes the next line, dancing in front of Alex’s drum kit, facing him with a wide smile on her face. She’s glad she can see the boys now too. It makes her feel a little less left out. “You're spaced out on sensation” Alex then sings one line before the rest of you join in again for the chorus. “Like you're under sedation” “Let's do the time warp again! Let's do the time warp again!” “It's just a jump to the left” “And then a step to the right” “put your hands on your hips” “You bring your knees in tight But it's the pelvic thrust That really drives you insane Let's do the time warp again! Let's do the time warp again!” The boys play their last chords or hit their last cymbals while Julie plays her last note. All six of you giggling like crazy, oozing happiness and contentment. This is probably the craziest and most fun you’d ever had on Halloween. “Oh, man!” Flynn whines, a pout on her face. You don’t know why at first, but then remember she can’t see the boys like you and Julie can, which sends all of you into a fit of laughter. If your life is going to be this fun and crazy with these boys in your life, you’d never want to die. Or maybe you would, if that meant spending even more time with them.

Taglist: @hannahhistorian92 @marinettepotterandplagg @thequirkybookaholic @bookdealer5 @tenaciousperfectionunknown @hemmingsness @iainttakingshitfromnobody @ifilwtmfc @angryknightstatesmantrash @kiss-themoongoodbye @rudysbay @thedarkqueenofavalon @caitsymichelle13

#julie and the phantoms #julie and the himbos #jatp #luke patterson #luke patterson x reader #reggie jatp #jeremy shada #alex jatp #owen joyner #owen patrick joyner #halloween #requests

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postmodernmulticoloredcloak · 3 years

Text

So due to popular demand I watched episode 2 of Walker for you guys. Part 1 of 2

So here’s my review of episode 2 of Walker. Is this going to be the episode where Walker lassoes a person? We’ll see.

The episode is titled “Back in the saddle” and I am already wishing I was eating my cookies. But the batter needs to rest in the fridge first, blah blah.

Night sky. Horses in their stables in the darkness. Security cameras switching off…? Fire! Someone set fire to the stable. Someone hurries to get the horses out. It’s clever, I’m actually invested in making sure the horses are okay. Maybe they’re luckier than Mary Winchester. Wait, wrong show.

The last one is trapped! A brave guy tries to free him but a wooden beam falls down and kills him. Oh no. Did someone at least save the horse?

The ridiculous title card plays, and then our favorite former Supernatural lead currently starring in a new show appears. He loads what looks like a toolbox in the back of his truck. There’s a horse saddle already on the truck. Soft music and the yellow sunlight shining behind him announce this is an emotional scene. The saddle has a leather bag on the side, with the initials of Walker and his wife engraved on it.

Ta-da! Flashback of Walker and his wife. Thankfully she is not elvish vision glowing this time, although the blurry effect of the flashbacks still make me think of a Lord of the Rings ripoff.

The saddle was a gift from her! Walker makes this face so we know he loves it.

Look at how ridiculous this is.

They’re trying sooo hard to appeal to bibro Supernatural fans. They’re BEGGING for the attention of bibro Supernatural fans. I’m not sure if redoing SamandDean iconic moments but with Walker and his dead wife (played by who I assume some hardcore bibros believe is Jared’s beard) is the best way of doing it? I mean, I wouldn’t take that direction. But okay. We take our Meaningful Moments from Supernatural because our viewers are not invested in these characters but are invested in those ones, so at least we’re provoking emotions by making them think of those ones. It is a strategy, I guess.

Fuck, I spoke too soon! The glowiness is not too strong - it is daytime in this flashback and not nighttime like in the pilot - but it’s there.

Back to the present, Walker is on the phone with his mother, explaining he’s back at his place to fix a leak or something. If the kids have been living with their grandparents and Walker has been away for almost a year, how is the patio so clean and pristine? But wait, someone’s been there. There are empty beer bottles. And then the funniest frame of the show so far.

Stella is a teenager. In 2021. Which teenager in 2021 texts like someone who had to spend 20 cents for text and press the button four times to get an s? Her father should be the one texting like it’s 1999. Stella would be the one texting like phones have automatic capitalization and predictive text and shit...

There is absolutely no fucking way the place can be so clean and pristine if no one’s lived there bar some teenagers who drank beer in the patio. But okay.

Oh no. Another glowy flashback. Holy shit. Why. We get it. He misses his wife. They had the perfect little life together. The music they use in the flashback is starting to give me a pavlovian response.

Even Jared is unhappy. Look at his unhappy face.

In the meanwhile, Ramirez and her boyfriend are having fun when her boss calls her. She dresses up to go to the fire stable place, in the meanwhile they have a conversation about their relationship. She has never really had a longterm serious relationship, and she’s confused because, I quote, “I am one of the first women ever, one of the first women of color, ever” [that’s it sentence finished]. I can’t believe Ramirez has been around for thousands of thousands of years.

She needs to focus on her job and he’s a distraction because he has a six pack. No, that’s literally the scene. He takes off his shirt and we see his six pack. Now, he’s a pretty impressive physique, that’s not a problem. Why isn’t he the main character of a show about doctors?

Meanwhile, Walker joins the family for breakfast. The brother, Liam, is great at making smoothies. What an interesting all-rounded gay character.

Walker’s mom says they should stay living with them because it means stability for the kids. Walker says they should move back to their house because normal whatever. Stella says, does it even matter to you where we want to live?, and leaves. August reveals she goes back to the house sometimes, meaning the beer was hers and she lied. Draa~ama. Stella is the only interesting character in this family.

Jared makes another discontented Jared thing at the end of the scene, I can’t gif them all, and we get to the crime scene. “Fire’s no way to go” Walker comments, because they watched the Supernatural pilot before writing the show.

Oh no, the horse didn’t make it either :(

So, the stableman who died had just come out of prison. Oh no. Is this another plot about convicted criminals doing shady things after they get out of prison? It must be, otherwise this detail wouldn’t be relevant since the guy just died. Oh no.

Ooooh James, the new boss, is making some changes which include following the rules to a t. Meaning Walker has been demoted until he passes all the tests again. I need to show you the face, sorry

This is it, this is Jared’s acting in this show.

Walker tries to argue with Captain James, but he says he wants to be “on the right side of history for a change”, so he cannot have him run around doing whatever he wants. James isn’t happy that he went to look at the footage of Emily’s murder again. He tells him again that the case is closed because a guy confessed, and he needs to focus on his family and job now. We’ve heard this so many times I’m so bored. But guys Jared’s acting gives us gems

Ramirez starts talking about the test, but he’s off, she asks him if he’s good and he says I’m fine. I’m Fine Lie #3! I think, I’m not really counting.

Something about the case. Whatever.

Stella is training for the big upcoming soccer match. Why can’t this be a sports show about teenage girls playing soccer? I can even give them a pass about calling it soccer.

Stella and her friend Isabel chat and Isabel says “ICE is sniffing around”, which I’m sure is not what ICE does.

I take it back. I don’t want a show about teenage girl soccer. Now there’s drama because Stella and Bel shouldn’t be playing in the big game because of their arrest, but apparently Stella is good and the couch will let her play, but not Bel, so she refuses to play. Unsure if this is about racism or Bel simply isn’t a great player. They should have made it clearer…

Meanwhile Augustus chats with a schoolmate called Ruby. Yeah. It had been too many minutes without an easter egg.

Walker and Ramirez take the tests. First shooting range. Then driving. He’s very good at these things. I’m bored. I don’t care about cops showing off their cop skills. I’d rather watch Ruby and Sam, er I mean, Augustus talk about high school projects, and I don’t care about high school projects.

I made the cookies in the meanwhile :)

#marghe watches walker for some darned reason #cw's jared: legit texan

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mogsk · 3 years

Text

So I watched an anime called “Violet Evergarden” recently, the elevator pitch of which is basically “feral girl is taken in by military man, turned into a child soldier, military man dies, but not before telling her ‘I love you’, but she doesn’t know what that means, so after the war she becomes a ghostwriter with the ostensible aim of figuring out what ‘I love you’ means through other people’s expressions of love via letter-writing.

It’s a good little concept, and while I enjoyed it, it’s also stuck in my brain as being profoundly odd from a storytelling perspective.

Like, the initial premise is v strong, Violet’s driving objective is to understand the last thing she heard her father figure, “The Major”, say to her before she blacked out and woke up with no arms. She was a feral orphan child with little grasp of language or expression, and so she is burdened with not understanding what this very important person to her was trying to convey before they parted ways. Good shit.

And it seems to carry this fairly well at first. Each episode varies in how much it advances the central plot, but each boils down to Violet having to learn a lesson about how people express their feelings for each other, how they express love through words, or how they fail to do so, and so slowly she goes from only being able to produce very precise and terse letters which read more like military reports, to being able to swoop in and fix people’s interpersonal problems with the power of a well-dictated love note.

Where it kinda falls apart for me is about halfway through the series, where we see that Violet has more or less grown into her role as protagonist in an anime about the power of letter writing and the meaning of love (-ish). She’s gotten so good she’s tasked with facilitating one half of a romantic correspondence between the nobles of two nations whose relations are still tense after The War (which Violet fought in), and so have decided to arrange a marriage between their noble children -- a 14-year old girl and a 24-year old man.

Now up to that point, the messaging around the central theme felt odd, but it made sense, like, Violet is growing to understand love, and so how the show does this is by giving her a lot of weird and fraught situations around that theme: we have a woman who is in love with a man, but she wants to play hard to get which Violet ruins by writing a letter that just directly states ‘I have no feelings for you, please stop calling on me’. So then she goes to letter-writing school where one of her classmates has an alcoholic brother who she wants to express her love and thanks towards, but doesn’t know how to pierce the barrier of grief surrounding him due to the death of their parents in The War.

It keeps on like this p consistently, the central question “What is love? What does someone mean when they say ‘I love you’?” is addressed fairly cleanly, but then, once the issue of Violet’s struggle with being able to convey people’s emotions becomes effectively resolved, we kinda start to leave the rails!

Back to the mid-point episode, so, through trying to properly convey this 14yo princess’ feelings, Violet learns what her true feelings are. No, it’s not that she is discontent with being forced to marry a man ten years older than her because, you see, they already secretly met at a royal party when she was, like...10?? And he found her crying and was, like, “Hey kid, you okay?” and that was the first genuine expression of human emotion outside of her dutiful maid she’d ever gotten. You see, what her discontent is is that she knows the man she met, with a heart so simple and pure he feels compelled to comfort a crying child, would never write these letters, and so Violet conspires with the prince’s ghostwriter to allow them to have a more honest correspondence (which is then reprinted in all the newspapers around both countries.)

What got me about this episode is how it, like, throws all these different narrative threads in the air around this central theme of “What is love?” -- the concept of arranged marriage, the idea of confusing appreciating someone’s kindness for having other feelings for them, the MAID who is, like, the princess’ closest friend and confidant, but who has to explain that, once she’s married off, they will have to part ways because she doesn’t serve the princess, she serves the royal family and there’s this great scene where the princess is weeping after she says that and the maid is like “I cannot accept that command, I will continue standing here right by your side” and it’s really intense!

But then...it all gets dropped in the interest of the final note being...yeah sometimes you have to marry a guy in his twenties when you’re just a teenager, but love’s just funny like that ig!

Which sounds ungenerous, and like, I wanted that to be the case, I wanted it to be setting up something, like, “Despite Violet gaining proficiency in letter writing, she still is struggling to understand the more nuanced dimensions of love and so her shortsightedness will come back round to bite her in the ass” (it does not, we even get a montage of all the people she’s helped including the newly married royal couple smiling happily at the camera.)

We then get more episodes like this, where Violet’s done learning about Love and is now in effect teaching it to others. She does this by...sitting and looking pretty with a guy while they wait for a comet to go by, imitating a playwright’s dead daughter so he can be inspired to finish his play, and...writing a bunch of letters on behalf of a mother dying from anime mom disease, but who wants to be able to speak to her daughter as she grows up through a series of pre-written birthday letters.

And, like, in isolation, it’s all very moving! Each story has a very touching emotional drive to it, but it seems like the question of “What does ‘I love you’ mean?” p much falls to the wayside, even after we get the big 3/4s of the way through reveal that the Major is dead and Violet didn’t know! So we’re treated to flashbacks of their relationship, including the moment where he repeats that damning phrase!

But then we really don’t pick it back up again? It kinda superficially grows in relevance as we approach the conclusion, but it’s never again properly addressed until after a sudden spat of military drama breaks out with people trying to reignite The War and Violet suddenly having to put down her typewriter and pick up her combat knife, but now, for some reason, she refuses to kill people because...she isn’t just a tool?

And I think this is what ultimately frustrated me, is that those are two great themes “Discovering what it means to love” and “Can a person conditioned to fulfill a specific purpose ever be free to choose their own path?” but the problem is, the series really has centered itself on the former while kinda sorta implying the latter, but in the final scenes, we are suddenly given a resolution to the latter (which is basically Metal Gear Solid, “You are not your DNA”, “Just live Snake” that’s been done beautifully and with more thought already by, well, Metal Gear Solid) whereas the former, what was the entire driving force behind Violet’s character development is kinda sorta hand-waved off as “What is love? I still don’t think I know, but maybe that’s just how it is!” which is fucked up coming from someone who by the midway point is basically counselling or facilitating love between people!

So, like, I enjoyed it a lot, there were some great moments and the supporting cast, while mostly one-dimensional save for Violet herself, made for at least nice scenery, but I’m just so blown away by how they seemed to manage to forget (or ceased wanting) to tell the story they laid out in the beginning in favor of some p uniform military drama that suffered precisely because most of the series was dedicated to developing the central theme that it ultimately seemed to abandon, or perhaps came across as being burdened with having to carry into the conclusion.

Also it was super fixated on dads, like, The Major is basically Violet’s dad, his best buddy who goes on to hire Violet as a ghostwriter has a big reveal in the end that he’s been writing letters to his hypothetical future child, the sad dad playwright with the dead daughter -- I dunno what to do with all this besides the usual base level of suspicion I have for all dead-heavy content, but yeah!

There’s two movies, a side story from mid-way through the series and a sequel, and I feel like I almost have to watch them at some point, just so I can tie a neater bow on how I experienced this whole story, but yeah, Violet Evergarden, come for the cool metal typing hands, stay for the heartfelt explorations of what it means to love people, shift nervously in your seat when dads suddenly become involved!

#spoilers

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yourehomesickiunderstand · 3 years

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About/Rules/Verses

Hello, and welcome to my Bofur RP blog. This post is a HUGE wall of text, if you are on desktop and would like to see it a little tidier, please see the separate pages in the sidebar to the right.

Promo Post Found Here

About the Mun

1. Firstly I am over 30, own a house, have a husband, 1 baby, 2 cats, and a wealth of commitments and responsibilities. I will do my best to reply in a timely manner, but will state up front that sometimes life gets in the way.

2. I am in EST and work M-F from 9-5, plus a half hour commute. Please understand that I can not post from work, and will not be posting during those times.

3. In addition, I am Mom to a very active toddler who is my priority over writing and who’s nap schedule tends to dictate when I can post.

4. My native language is English, though I can understand French, and a little bit of Spanish and Japanese. Don’t bank on me carrying on a decent conversation in any of those languages though.

About the Blog

1. When I first set up this blog I didn’t realize that secondary blogs can’t follow back, ask, or submit. My main blog name is Saffity, so if you see that blog follow you, it’s me. If I send an ask or submit, I will mention this blog name so you don’t get confused.

2. My inbox, ask, etc. is open. Please feel free to write me any starters, questions, or whatever.

3. Please send any critiques or suggestions to me. I’ve been on Tumblr forever, but have never really been a poster. If you see me doing basic noob mistakes with my posts that can be easily fixed, please let me know.

4. I will be tracking #yourehomesickiunderstand so please use that tag with our threads.

Mun’s Playing Style

1. I prefer my Bofur straight. I understand Boffins and other ships and have no qualms with them, I’ve been known to enjoy a good fluff fic once in a while, but this Bofur is straight.

2. Please send me an ask or fan mail if you would like our characters to have an already established relationship, I’m totally cool with it. I respond to all cannon characters as known as it shows in the books or movies, but if you are an OC and want something other than a “Nice to meet you” please let me know first.

3. I’m willing to do some fluffies, but not full on smut, if the thread calls for smut (which will often happen), I’ll fade to black when I’ve gone as far as I feel comfortable with. (Don’t worry, I’ll fade when I’m ready, you’ll never get any angry messages from me about going too far.)

4. Bofur here is multiverse, au, indie, whatever you want to call it. I’m sure he’ll fit into whatever crossover or world you decide to drop him in, he’s very easy going after all.

5. I tend to write in the past tense, third person. If you’d prefer a different style, just let me know and I’ll try to accommodate.

6. I’m bad with my images, so bad! I’m still figuring everything out, so if I’ve royally screwed something up, please let me know and I will delete and repost correctly.

7. I am super okay with editing anything I write if it doesn’t jive with your character or where you want the plot to go, please just let me know.

8. I mainly play on mobile, as such, I’m not able to cut my posts down. Please do so whenever you feel the need/want, I won’t be upset.

Head Cannons that go across all verses

1. Bofur has a Northern Irish accent and his hat, always his hat.

2. Bofur has named his hat Bundushathur, which in Khuzdul means “Cloudyhead” and will sometimes refer to his hat as a sleeping rabbit. If Khuzdul does not exist in the verse (like Modern) then the hat is called Cloudyhead and still referred to as a rabbit.

3. Bofur is the everyman, he isn’t special or high born. He is good natured, friendly, and the world’s best wingman, even if it means connecting someone he pines after with someone else. He would rather see them happy and keep their friendship than try to force his feelings on them or lose their friendship because of his pride.

4. The main characteristic about Bofur is that he is unimportant in the hierarchy of society.

Main Verse - The Hobbit/LOTR

Bofur is 4'6" but fairly thin for a dwarf.

Bofur is a dwarf who’s family line comes from Moria. He is of the mining class. He was born and raised in Ered Luin with his brother. Shortly after Bofur became an adult, his parents died, leaving him to raise his brother. Shortly after that, Bifur was injured in an orc attack. Bofur and Bombur took Bifur in, however there were a number of difficult years as they all got used to Bifur’s new personality.

Once Bifur was stable enough, the brothers decided it would be a good idea to head out and find new customers for their skills. They ended up at Bree, opening up a shop to sell Bifur’s fabulous toys, and offer tinkering services.

During their stay in Bree, Bombur got married to a passing female dwarf and moved his overly large family near the shop. Bifur and Bofur live together in living quarters at the back of the shop, Bombur lived with them until he got married.

Bofur travels around Middle Earth, usually west of the Misty Mountains, and most often between Bree and Ered Luin by way of the Shire. He collects supplies, sells wares, and visits many friends and family that are about the lands.

When Thorin calls for assistance in taking back Erebor, Bofur and his kin lock up their shop and head for the Shire.

After the quest they settle in Erebor, though Bofur heads back to Bree to close up their shop and settle accounts prior to settling in for a long life of enjoying his 14th share of the treasure.

Head Cannons that can totally change if my partner is a Bifur or Bombur

1. Bofur’s father was killed in Moria at the battle of Azanulbizar, his Mother died in an Orc attack when Bofur was in his 40s. He has taken care of his brother ever since.

2. Bofur took Bifur in after Bifur was orphaned as well, the three are like brothers, having shared the experience of loss and growing up together.

3. Bombur stopped speaking after their mother died. Bofur’s tried to get him to speak, and has managed to get him to speak sometimes, but usually just small replies and often with much prodding. Bifur and Bombur use the same sign language to speak to each other and those who don’t speak Khuzdul. Bofur takes care of both of them and is the one who speaks to customers.

Modern Verse

High School

Bofur is not popular, though he’s friendly and basically knows everyone. He enjoys shop class, classical music, and historical literature.

Studious and hard working, Bofur can often be found with his nose in a book, when not sitting on the bleachers playing the tin flute he always has on him.

College Student

Bofur is a TA in college. His major is historical literature, and his goal is to eventually become a professor. His passion is delving into historical fanatasy from cultures other than England and Western Europe.

He enjoys learning languages in order to read what he is researching in its original state.

General Modern Adult

In most modern adult verses Bofur is a general labourer, most often a janitor. If he is a teacher, he teaches music and drama.

Ice Cream Shop

Bofur runs a small home made ice cream shop that is part of a coffee shop run with a companion or family member (his partner can be any member of the company). He makes a variety of flavours, and offers lactose and gluten free varieties.

He prides himself on being able to guess his customers’ favourites on sight (like the movie Chocolat).

Marvel

Bofur is a janitor within shield. He can be found on the helicarrier, within the Avengers training base, or basically anywhere the heroes may be destroying things that need to be cleaned up.

While he is quiet and without powers, he has wisdom and a patient ear to lend to those supers who require a moment to vent.

Star Trek

This is the only verse where Bofur stands out. Bofur is a red shirt, but by some miraculous turn of events, he has gone on a number of away missions and made it back alive. Poor Bofur would love to get off the enterprise with his life, and shirt, in tact, but it appears some of the higher officers like to see him lose his mind and suggest him for more away missions, even if only in jest.

Head cannons that exist in all modern verses

1. Bofur and his family are from Northern Ireland, though Bofur travels around, goes to school abroad, and in general can pop up anywhere in the world.

2. Bofur is short for a male - 5'6", with a stocky build, and fairly strong.

3. Bofur’s younger brother Bombur is still at home (or married with kids depending on their age).

4. Bofur’s parents took Bifur in after he got injured during Armed Forces training, as Bofur’s family lives closer to the rehab resources that Bifur requires.

#out of songs

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hyuniepot · 3 years

Text

the butterfly effect. || chapter 3

chapter word count || 1,763

genre || thriller, angst, drama

members || mark lee, na jaemin, lee jeno, huang renjun, lee donghyuck, zhong chenle, park jisung

warnings || mentions of death, implications of depression

pairing || fem!reader x jaemin || slight fem!reader x mark

synopsis || you never thought you’d be able to play with fate so easily, especially not through some shady app. but you suddenly must say goodbye to what you know and hello to a new world where everything seems perfect.

taglist || @gothboyjisung @jeongyoonohs @doiewonu @huanginjoon

a/n || please read the replies to see what was removed from the beginning! luckily it was only one paragraph :-)

previous chapter

Wednesday, September 13

The past week had been great. You had gotten used to your new schedule and friends. You were starting to think maybe you could get used to this. Granted, doing something after school everyday whether it be practice or hanging out with friends, got pretty exhausting. But you didn’t mind. In the long run, it helped you sleep better.

“So who’s paying?” Hyuck asks, sliding into the booth seat across from you. Mark sat next to you.

“I can,” you say. “I have some extra money.”

Hyuck nods. “Good enough for me. When was the last time you paid?” he teases.

“I don’t know,” you say, grinning. “It’s not my fault you guys like to pay for our food.” you didn’t even know if that was true.

“You guys? More like just me. When was the last time you paid, Hyuck?” Mark asks. You internally cringe at your slip-up.

Hyuck puts his hands up in defense. “Hey, don’t get mad at me! I pay… sometimes…” he mumbles.

A waitress takes your order and you pull out your phone as Mark and Hyuck talk about something that happened in their science class. The ButterFly app is still there, almost taunting you. You ignored it and opened instagram. Finally, your social media was back to normal. No unsettling ads to be found.

You liked some pictures from your classmates -- Yeri’s selfie and a screenshot of her listening to Ariana Grande. Sihyeon, one of your new friends, posting a candid photo of her outside of a store. Suhyun, showing off a makeup look she did recently, looking cute as usual. A boy named Xiaojun posted selfies as well. You didn’t really know him, but you both had the same history class. You quickly scroll past a selfie of Naeun and Jaemin, trying to ignore it entirely.

“Do you remember that?” Mark asks you, laughing.

You put your phone down. “Remember what?”

“When you were scared of butterflies.”

You smile. Finally, something from this universe you already knew. “Yeah… I remember,” you reply, laughing. “Why do you ask?”

“Because our friend Hendery said he used to be scared of them too. It made me think of you.” Mark says, glancing away from you. “And then I took you to that butterfly garden and you suddenly loved butterflies. It was kinda cute, watching your feelings towards them turn from fear to love,” Mark tells you. You ignore the warmth in your cheeks.

The waitress returned with your food, putting it down on the table. You dug in, realizing how hungry you were. You, Mark, and Hyuck just talked about random subjects like the shows you’ve been watching on Netflix, things that happened at school and practice, and how good the food tasted until you were all ready to head out.

“I’ll go pay,” Mark says, scooting out of the booth.

“What? Mark, I said I was paying,” you argue, quickly scooting out after him.

“It’s fine. I’m used to paying.” he replies.

“Oh my god,” Hyuck groans. “You better not complain about me not paying ever again. You’re the one always volunteering.”

Mark shrugs. “I’m feeling generous.” he starts to walk towards the front counter.

“No. I said I was paying, so I’m paying.”

You go to follow him, but Hyuck suddenly grabs your wrist. “Hey, can I use your phone real quick?”

You stand, stunned, for a moment at the question. “Uh, yeah. That’s fine. The passcode is 7492.” Hyuck nods and lets go of your wrist, and you turn to catch up with Mark.

He’s pulling out his wallet. “Mark, I’m not giving up. Let me pay, please?”

Mark grins. “Okay. Since you’re so adamant,” he puts his wallet in between his arm and his side. “Rock paper scissors? Best out of 3.”

You roll your eyes, sighing. “Fine.”

Rock, paper, scissors, shoot.

You cheer as you beat Mark.

Rock, paper, scissors, shoot.

Mark wins.

Rock, paper, scissors, shoot.

You return to your table, dejected. Damn it. You didn’t even care about paying, you just wanted to beat Mark. “How is he so good at every-”

Your heart nearly stops as you see Hyuck on your phone. You recognize the familiar layout of ButterFly. And he was looking at what you sent. You snatch your phone out of his hands, your face growing hot with embarrassment. How the hell were you going to explain this to him?

“You downloaded it?” he asks, softly.

“Yes. But it’s… I just,” you try to speak, but nothing would come out.

“I knew it,” he breathes. “I used it too.”

You’re stunned again. You don’t even know how to respond. You weren’t even sure if you understood what he was saying.

Hyuck stares ahead. “I wished for something too,” he tells you. “And it put us in the same universe.”

You’re suddenly lightheaded. So this Hyuck was the one from your old life. The one who annoyed you and Jaemin everyday. And he knew you were the old you.

“Listen,” you say. Your voice is trembling. “We will talk about this later.”

“Talk about what?” you turn and see Mark.

“Homework. I used her phone to call my mom and when I hung up she got a text from a friend. We all have literature together and we just found out we have a project due on Friday.” Hyuck says, nonchalantly. “It’s a long story, but now we only have two days to do it.”

You nod, thanking the Gods above that Hyuck was a good liar.

“Damn,” Mark picks up his drink and drinks what’s left. “That sucks. I hope you guys get it done in time.”

“Yeah. We’ll have to work on it tomorrow. We don’t have practice, how about you?“ Hyuck gets out of his seat.

“I don’t either,” you reply. You all exit the restaurant start your walk home.

Mark and Hyuck talk again. You wonder what Hyuck could have wished for that put you in the same universe as him. Maybe it was the same thing. You just tried not to be too freaked out by it and tried to mentally prepare yourself to talk about it with Hyuck. You had just started to feel normal here, and now everything was turned upside down.

You make it home safely and try to relieve your stress by hanging out with Jisung and Chenle, who had come over after school. You watch them shoot hoops outside for a bit.

You wonder where Jisung’s love for basketball came from. He wasn’t really into it in your old life -- he was more into dance, although he was starting to become more and more uninterested in it. You knew Chenle was always into basketball, so maybe he was able to keep Jisung interested in it.

Then you remember that here, Mark and Hyuck were both on the basketball team. You start to think maybe Mark helped Jisung and Chenle get into it. You make a mental note to try and get Mark or Jisung to talk about it with you soon.

Once the sun started to set, Chenle went home and you went inside with Jisung. You did your homework with him. “Hey, (y/n?)”

“What’s up?” you respond, not looking up from your paper.

You hear Jisung shift in his chair. “Did you and Mark break up?”

You almost break your pencil out of surprise. You look up at Jisung, who is staring back. You weren’t even sure how to respond. Were you dating Mark? In the past week you’d spent with him, there was nothing that indicated you were dating him. He never referred to you as his girlfriend or anything like that. So surely, Jisung had to be confused right?

You took your chances.

“Jisung,” you chuckle. “Mark and I were never dating.”

Jisung’s eyes widen. “Really? But you guys spend so much time together… I just kinda assumed…” he continues working on the assignment in front of him. “I just thought you didn’t tell me because it’s none of my business,”

You sigh in relief with a smile. “But why do you ask? Mark and I are still great friends.”

“Well,” Jisung puts his pencil back down and closes his notebook. “He never comes over anymore.” he says softly.

Your shoulders drop and you sigh. “He’s just really busy,” you reply. “He’s busy with school and he has practice after school. He doesn’t have a lot of free time these days.”

“I know…” Jisung says softly. “Which is why I feel so dumb complaining. I just… miss hanging out with him. But he’s your friend, not mine. I don’t think he wants to be hanging out with some kids,”

“Hey,” you say firmly. “He’s your friend too. Trust me, Mark doesn’t care about his friends being younger. You’re only what, 2 and a half years younger than him? That’s nothing!” you say. “Seriously, you’re too in your head, okay? Don’t overthink it. Mark doesn’t hate you or anything.” you tell him.

Jisung avoids eye contact with you as he picks up his things, standing up from his spot.

“But… don’t feel dumb for being worried about things like that. It’s normal. Don’t be afraid to talk to me if you’re ever feeling sad, alright?” you tell him. He gives you a small smile before nodding and leaving the room.

It was awkward to tell him that. Jisung never talked about his feelings to you, and you definitely didn’t do it either. That just wasn’t how your relationship was. Jisung was 10 times happier here than he was in your old life, but even now he still had worries. All you could feel was guilt; You had been sacrificing Jisung’s feelings for the sake of not feeling embarrassed.

You shake the feeling off and try to finish your homework. You had enough to feel stressed and guilty about, there was no to go back and fix things now.

Or so you think.

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barbasbodaciousbeard · 3 years

Text

IF You Love Someone, Let Them Go: Part 5

Summary: Since starting with SVU, Sonny hadn’t kept much terribly close to the chest. The squad knew about his family, growing up on Staten Island, the classes at Fordam. What was hidden was why he didn’t date. Sonny Carisi was also separated from his childhood sweetheart, a separation neither ever took to divorce. They had the same haunts. They’d grown up neighbors. Their paths crossed every few months, and divorce talks would turn into reminiscing would turn into a night spent together, sometimes sex sometimes just talking until the early morning. It always ended with one of them waking up alone however. How will that change when the squad finds out?

Pairings: Sonny Carisi x Original Character,

1 - 2 - 3 - 4

March 2015

“You’ll see me two times in three weeks,” Victoria smiled, wine in hand as she settled in the seat beside Sonny. It was Tommy and Bella’s engagement party, which Gianni was treating as a bridal shower. The whole engagement would only have been three months, and it seemed the two younger Carisis had cost her the months of parties and planning Gina and Teresa had given her. At least Sonny and Victoria had gotten married in a church a year after they eloped. Tommy and Bella would be getting married outdoors, while she was pregnant. Everyone pretended not to notice the slightest bit of a bump, easily confused for weight gain if you didn’t know, when Gianna was around before fussing over Bella the minute she left.

“I’m a lucky bastard.”

“I hope you told your squad.”

“We’re all going out the Saturday before. I’m doing it then.”

“Really pushed it off, huh?” she asked, and he didn’t like the hurt she was trying to hide.

“The cases got heavy during the holidays. And then we busted up a sex ring and I was undercover. That also felt like a weird time. I kinda realized there wasn’t going to be a good one.”

“Yeah. Tommy and Bella inviting them kinda twisted your arm, huh?”

“Yeah. But it’s good. The last step.”

“They all coming?”

“Olivia for sure. I think Rollins and Amaro are coming together, and then honestly? Barba will when he finds out there’s gossip. He’s kind of a dick, but an amazing attorney. I really wanna shadow him sometime, but I’m too green to ask, y’know?”

“Yeah. I’m sure it’ll be nice when the time comes. And I think it’ll make Bella and Tommy happy. If it weren’t for them, it coulda been bad.”

“I got brother brain instead of cop brain, so yeah. I still can’t believe she’s having a baby.”

“It’s wild. And I know you don’t like Tommy, but he’s got a good heart.”

“And got locked up.”

“Everyone has their own problems.”

“Yeah,” he muttered. “Same deal as Gina’s wedding? No marriage problems talk. Just have fun and be sentimental.”

“Deal. Though if your squad asks, I’m not ignoring it.”

“Fair. But also tell the cute stories.”

“I’ll bring the photo albums.” He laughed, arm settled around her shoulders. When they’d moved out, she’d taken to collecting all the pictures of them and adding them to a photo album. She’d gotten copies of dozens of pictures from his mom, who had always kept them organized by year in boxes. When she left, Victoria took them, and he missed being able to thumb through the pages. There were multiple volumes at this point. The pages got harder to find. She didn’t scrapbook. Instead, she used the pages with four slots each, keeping them up as time went on. He wouldn’t be surprised if there were pictures from Gina’s wedding in the most recent. Maybe there were even pictures of them separate from each other to bridge the gap.

“Please don’t give Rollins and Barba that ammo. They’ll steal the really bad ones.”

“I like the ones from prom the best. Could we look any more 2004?”

“We looked damn good.”

“Doesn’t mean it’s not super dated.”

“True. It’s okay. We got the pictures from Gina’s wedding. We don’t look like we’re separated in them.”

“True. You got the dimples on full display.”

“I seen the dresses Bella picked. I know you hate it. You won’t like this one so much.”

“I love it.” He raised a brow at the feigned enthusiasm. “Dom, that pink is gonna be so bad on a pale red head.”

“I like you in pink.”

“You like me in anything.”

“Because you look good in anything. Dark green’s my favorite though.”

“Mine too. Thank God for Gina. I’ll wear that dress again.”

“I’m sure I’ll have to go to some fundraising thing…”

“You asking me to be your date before you even know?”

“You’re always who I ask to be my date.”

“I better be. We’re married.”

“Gettin’ awful territorial, Mrs. Carisi.”

“You put your ring on your hand today.”

“And you put them both on the right finger.”

“It’s almost like we’re making progress.”

“I want to tell you. I’m ready. But not until after the wedding.”

“Why then?”

“In case you don’t look at me all happy anymore.”

“Literally nothing you could tell me could make me not want to work on it. Unless you cheated on me.”

“You’re the first, last, and only.”

“You are too.”

“We oughta stop being sappy. People are coming and we got put with people we don’t know.”

“Gross. It’s like ma is mad at me.”

“I’m just glad she knew better than to try and make us sit apart. I’m sittin’ with my wife.”

“You two aren’t even pretending to be awkward,” Bella teased, leaning to hug Victoria and then her brother. “This nonsense almost over?”

“Butt out,” Sonny warned, but he was still smiling. “Strictly married talk.”

“Two weeks and ya can’t use that excuse.”

“Then it’ll be strictly talks with my wife.”

“Stop, Dom,” Victoria laughed. “You look beautiful, Bella. How you feeling?”

“Kid’s making me tired as hell. I’m excited though. Tommy talks to her every night. It’s been hard, after what that bitch did. But he’s doing so good.”

“I can tell. I’m just glad you’re so happy.”

“I really am, T.”

“You look beautiful. I like this dress a lot.”

“Thanks. I like feeling all bridal.” Sonny was content to watch Bella and Victoria catch up. Over the last year, he’d come to realize every time they talked came around to when Victoria was taking him back. He probably hadn’t helped that any, constantly acting like he didn’t know why she’d gone. Thanksgiving had changed that. He stood up to his mom more, told her he was in therapy, and openly defended Victoria. The last part wasn’t new, but this time it was specific to her decision to leave. He’d told his family in no uncertain terms that, while he thought she should’ve told him earlier instead of letting the hurt fester, he had done something wrong and he was trying to fix that so they could start over. His mom and dad didn’t like that. Generationally, bottling up feelings was more acceptable to them. His sisters, on the other hand, hugged him tight and told him they were proud of him.

Their table filled up quickly as guests arrived, and Sonny was happy to help Victoria keep conversation moving until his parents spoke. That was the plan for tonight. Appetizers, speeches from the bride and groom’s parents, dinner, dessert, and finally dancing and cocktails. It was quickly apparent all the family’s required-but-barely-liked invites went to the table they’d put Victoria and Sonny at, a sure sign Gianna was over dealing with their drama. He was thankful his sister wouldn’t be having assigned seating at the reception for anyone, the bridal party included, though the thought of having Victoria joining his squad at a table made him nervous.

“I thought they’d never go dance,” she said softly against his ear, and Sonny smiled more from the closeness than the sentiment. Damn, it felt good to have her on his team. She wasn’t there day in and out, so these events felt more valuable to him now.

“Right? He’s from dad’s work. Known each other forever. I don’t know why the hell they invited him.” Her hair tickled his cheek as they gossiped, watching the people around the room and nursing their drinks. He decided they didn’t have a heavy case, so he’d tell the squad the next day, that way the giddiness of the evening would still be fresh. When they’d both finished their drinks, he took her hand, pulling her towards the floor.

“I was comfy,” she protested half heartedly before she realized he’d pulled her up for Sinatra. One hand on his shoulder and the other in his, she let him lead the few moves they’d learned in a ballroom class they’d taken. It had only been a couple years into their marriage, and they took it because it made them feel older and less like imposters. Now, all either could really remember was a boxstep, and their frame was terrible. That didn’t matter though. What did matter was Sonny resting his temple against hers to sing softly against her ear. When one swing tune melted into another, she was grateful Gianna had picked the music for this wedding event.

“Looks like we get to dance all slow again,” he teased, giving her a spin before holding her close.

“For someone getting mad when we get along, your ma worked real hard for us to get along.”

“She’s just mad it isn’t like when we were kids. If we fought in middle school, she’d give us a pizza, and we’d be over it.”

“Very true,” she grinned, looking up at him. He looked handsome, and after what came out to two years of seeing him deteriorate, she was grateful he was actually getting back to himself. She wasn’t sure if therapy, the job, or the slow progress they were making was the reason, but he was her Sonny again. He kept his hair cropped, face shaved, and smile present.

“You’re staring,” he teased before tightening his grip to dip her.

“You look good. Like not just handsome. Happy.”

“Thanks,” he smiled softly when he pulled her up again. “I’m learning to process stuff better.”

“That’s good.”

“It sounds messed up, but thank you for leaving. It made me go to therapy. I really wasn’t being good to you, Tor. And I’m sorry for that.”

“I forgive you, Dom. I wasn’t doing a good job talking to you about it. I’m sorry for not pressing until we hit the point of no return.”

“It’s okay,” he said, forehead resting on hers. “I think we’re gonna be okay.”

“Me too.”

“Can we get somebody to take pictures of us?”

“Bella got a photographer, and he has definitely taken several.”

“This camera shy Sonny or detective Sonny noticing?”

“It’s Sonny seeing Gina tell him to.”

“You ever feel like the kids are trying to get us back together?”

“All the time, doll. You know how often Gina or Teresa go after me? Then Bella meddles. But Mia? She’s 17 and bound and determined she’s going to be the one to talk sense into me. And she kind of is. She actually talked to me about therapy.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. She doesn’t know why but knows my brain shuts down when I try to open up. Heard me tellin Teresa. Said it’s toxic masculinity makin’ me feel like talking about feelings is girly and I gotta get over that if I wanna stay married and making you happy.”

“I ever tell you Mia’s my favorite?”

“She’s got a good head on her shoulders.”

“How long until we can run away and go to a bar?”

“Anybody else left yet?”

“Your cousin Lauren and some of Bella’s friends.”

“What bar you thinking? Because you look too pretty to not take to some classy wine bar.”

“That works for me.”

“Then let’s go tell Bella and Tommy bye.”

“What about Gianna?”

“It’s not her engagement.” Victoria almost felt like they were back in high school and cutting class as they said their goodbyes and got their coats. Why the hell his sister was getting married outdoors in winter was beyond Victoria, but she was grateful for the fact they’d probably end up rained out and inside for the ceremony. Sonny hailed a cab, waving when he saw his mother watching them from a window.

“She’s pissed, Dom.”

“Too bad. Taking you to a nice wine bar. Ordering a cheese board.”

“You’re making it sound like a date.”

“I been shit and ain’t taken you on one in two years. Can it be?”

“I’d like that.” She was nervous, but it had become apparent he was trying. From what he said, in a couple weeks he’d be willing to open up. He was also communicating with her as it was. Maybe treating the next two weeks as a trial run could be good. Ease into the heavy discussion. He’d mentioned being afraid how she’d react. Maybe if she was always there again, he’d realize she wasn’t leaving.

“C’mon, whatcha thinking Tor?”

“Just that I’m happy we’re making progress,” she fibbed, lacing their fingers. He looked to their hands and smiled, squeezing her fingers gently.

“Me too.” Soon enough they were settled at the bar, and Sonny, true to his word, had ordered a bottle of wine and a cheese board. She was turned to face him, legs carefully crossed. He had the leg towards the room on the footrest around the base of her stool. She was boxed in, but it felt reassuring when paired with his hand on her leg.

“So what’s this new squad like?” Sonny had never quite settled in anywhere since he’d become a detective, and he seemed smitten with his spot in Manhattan.

“So Barba is the ADA. Covered him. Liv is Lieutenant. Nobody ever really gave me a shot before. Apparently I can be abrasive.” He threw the hand not on her leg up in mock affront, and she laughed.

“You? Never.”

“I know,” he said, ignoring her sarcasm. “Rollins is cool. She’s been through a lot. She’s from Georgia though. I know you mostly grew up here, but you get that same Southern catty as her. Means it doesn’t get to me, because I know the secret. That she doesn't really mean it. Amaro is cool too. Had some problems too. Come to think of it, I don’t know why I’m acting like they won’t understand or accept our marriage. Fin’s been there longest, other than Lieu.”

“They treating you well?”

“They are. I think I’m finally not just a newbie. Barba gets mean. He’s not southern snarky though, so I think he means it.”

“I’ll fight him.”

“You’d win. He’s got a big mouth, but I don’t think he’d be scrappy.”

“I’m just real proud of you.”

“That means a lot to me, Tor.”

“You worked real hard. I watched that. And you’re going to be an amazing attorney.”

“I think I wanna try for the DA’s office if I pass the bar next year.”

“You’ll pass the bar.”

He rolled his eyes, pouring her another glass of wine as he topped off his own. When the night was over, he walked her to her door, kissing her goodnight and going to his own apartment. Sonny had decided that if it was going to be a date, he’d be a gentleman. Things were still delicate, and he had to leave early when she had a day off. He did text her the next morning to say he’d enjoyed their date, not wanting to have the wedding be the next time they talked. When he arrived at the precinct, he went to Olivia’s door, knocking.

“What’s going on, Carisi?”

“Since the squad’s coming to my sister’s weddin’ now, I felt like I gotta tell everybody I’m married and it’s really confusing.”

“Since you hadn’t mentioned it, I assumed you were getting a divorce.”

“You knew?”

“I did get sent your file when you started here. You know, I do read those.”

“I messed up bad, y’know? She’s a baker, right? And I’ve known her since I was five. Got married when we were eighteen. It was all good until I got to homicide.” Oliva gave him a sympathetic, knowing smile. “What I told you guys? How the women got to me? I was scared if I told her, I’d, like, tarnish her. Make her see all the bad stuff we see. It’s amazing talking to her, Lieu. She never stopped seeing the best in people. And I stopped acting like her husband because I thought just being close to me would transfer all of it. She left me, but we’re in a weird limbo. She’s in the wedding, and we act married when we see each other. This’ll only be the sixth time in a year and a half. But I don’t want her to meet everyone and they’re all like who the hell are you.”

“This job can make that part of life incredibly difficult, Carisi. I feel the same way sometimes about Noah. What if they take him? What if I’m so paranoid he grows up paranoid? Or god forbid he sees pictures? I try to refocus it. I think about how he can make light in those bad times. I don’t know much about her, but I’m guessing she does too?”

“She does.”

“Tell her, Carisi. If she knows something is wrong, she’ll be able to get through it.”

“I’m telling her after the wedding. My therapist said it might make it less stressful. I’ve been afraid she’ll change her mind when I tell her.”

“It’ll work out. It is a smart idea to make sure everyone knows. Barba’s coming with me, so I’ll make sure he knows and keep him in line.”

“Thanks Lieu. For this whole talk, but also giving me a shot.”

Tag List: @cycat4077 @fear-less-write-more

#sonny carisi #sonny carisi x reader #sonny carisi x oc #law and order special victims unit #law and order svu #writing

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sunset-bobby · 4 years

Text

Title: You Mean the Holograms

Summary: Julie invites Carrie over to tell her the truth about her band, and maybe her dad, but what if she already knows

Word Count: 1886

Ao3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27822940

If there was one thing Carrie Wilson was good at, it was acting as if she was not aware of things. People often assume because she is the daughter of Trevor Wilson and shallow, which she is sometimes and is working on it, that she is not in tune with what’s going on in other people’s lives, but she is. So, when Julie texted her to come over saying she ‘needed to tell her something’. Carrie had a pretty good idea of what she was getting herself into. After all her dad is Trevor Wilson, and well he’s a terrible liar no matter how hard he tries. So that is how she found herself at Julie’s studio on a Saturday afternoon sitting on a chair, with Julie pacing in front of her nervously.

“Okay, so I called you here to introduce you to my band,” Julie stated and Carrie nodded along.

“The holograms?” she asked her in a false tone that made Julie believe she was clueless.

“That’s the thing. They aren’t actually holograms,” she paused and Carrie looked at her in anticipation., “ They’re ghosts.” Carrie gave her a look that was a mix of disbelief and confusion, but before she could say anything Julie cut her off.

“Before you say anything, let me show you,” and she heads off to the piano. Now Carrie can’t actually see the ghost, but she is already aware of their existence, so she sends a small smirk to the air and hopes one of them is catching on and finds this as amusing as she is. However if what she already knows about them is true the one most likely to catch on, is freaking out. Julie plays a piano riff that Carrie is familiar with before a faint whooshing sound comes in and before stands the face of 3 teenage boys that she is secretly very familiar with. Julie stops playing and the boys as well. Something new Carrie was not ready for. Point ghost.

“The new abilities are hard to explain as of right now, but they can now be seen after we play as well,” Julie explains and Carrie nods along once more.

“Okay, so Care this is-,” but Carrie takes the opportunity to expose her own secrets now.

“Luke, Reggie, and Alex. Formally of the early 90s rock band Sunset Curve, currently of the up and coming band Julie and the Phantoms,” she says and her tone is dripping with that false innocence she uses to really push certain statements over the edge, and from the looks on both the boys and Julie’s face it seems she has. The blonde one, Alex, is the first to speak.

“H-how does she know that?” he looks around at his shocked friends before looking back at her, “how do you know tha?” She smiles, not fully she doesn’t want it to seem like she’s finding amusement in his obvious sense of panic, but just enough to where they know she’s planned this.

“Did you ask your dad about it?” Reggie, the bassist, asked recovering next, and Carrie decided to add some more to the drama.

“My dad? Why would he be involved in this?” Her smile has dropped giving the illusion that she is serious about her confusion. The boys and Julie blubber out multiple excuses to each other trying to come up with the same story, and she lets them for a while, before cracking. A laugh escapes her lips drawing their attention back to her.

“I’m joking, no my dad told me everything,” she says in between laughs, but the others just continue to stare.

“So you already know everything?” Luke asks and there is a slight emphasis in his voice that makes her realize he is asking for something specific, and she knows what it is, but she isn’t going to let that out just yet.

“Oh do you mean how Alex likes to join me for Dirty Candi performances?”

“How did-”

“I’m pretty sure I’ve walked through you and that chill is pretty hard to miss,” she answers, interrupting Alex’s question. She looks over at Luke and his face is hard to read, but he’s definitely riled up.

“Or are you talking about if I know that you’re connected to Julie because of her mom, whom you met 20 mins prior to your, um….” she trailed off, she didn’t know if their passings were a sensitive topic or not.

“Wait, really?” Julie asked, and Carrie was not aware that she did not know.

“Um, yeah it’s how our parents met. However they didn’t become friends until your mom picked my sobbing dad up off of the streets of Sunset Boulevard, or at least that what he said,” she said nonchalantly. This topic was something her dad discussed multiple times. He was very open with his experience with grief, although she thinks it’s because Dr.Crystal advises him too. She takes another look at Luke, and by now she thinks he can tell she’s avoided the topic purposely. She sighs as he opens his mouth to speak, and talks before him.

“Fine. I know you want know if I am aware that the songs on my dad’s first two albums are Sunset Curves, that he didn’t credit you, and is legally not allowed to discuss it with anyone who doesn’t already know, because somehow his dumb 21 year old self didn’t know how to read through a contract,” she told him exasperated, but was shocked when she did not get an immediate response from the boy in return. Then again none of the others said anything either.

“Oh, you didn’t know about that detail did you?”

“No,” Luke said quietly, “no we did not.”

“Carrie if you knew all of this why didn’t you tell me. At least about the music part when we were friends?” Julie asked, and Carrie did not realize how this would look to her.

“I didn’t know until middle school, and I thought you knew too. I figured your mom was going to tell you.”

“I didn’t know she knew.”

“I’m sorry Juls. Maybe it was for a good reason. I only found out on accident,” Carrie offered and Julie nodded.

“Is there anything else you might know?” Reggie asked her, but the answer was a little iffy. She knew a lot of things thanks to her dad’s shrine to them, which she still finds weird despite the fact he’s also in the pictures.

“Maybe you should just ask me questions, and I can see what I can answer,” she suggested and they nodded. Alex started.

“Do you know anything about our families?”

“Some things, yes. Uh how sensitive is this topic though?” she wanted to make sure she covered all of her bases before continuing.

“It’s relatively sensitive, but we wanna know,” was all she got in response.

“Um okay, well despite the fact he did not credit you guys, my dad still gave money to your families, or at least those who deserved it. I don’t know much about your family, I’m sorry Reggie.”

“It’s okay,” he said, but she had a feeling it wasn’t. She did not want to over step.

“What about me?” Luke asked, “I know Julie and I saw my parents a couple weeks ago, and I try to visit them often, but I-,”

“You know,” she started cutting him off, “Ms. Emily is always telling my dad it does not do well to keep replaying your mistakes.”

“You’ve met my mom?”

“Yeah I saw her earlier in the month with my dad. We were continuing a tradition he and Julie’s mom started,” she explained.

“What tradition?”

“They bring her flowers on special occasions. I think it was a birthday or something. He’s never gone alone before. If Rose couldn’t go, he’d send them by mail, but he says that anniversaries are hard. I think that’s why he took me too.”

“Oh.”

“ Hey, I don’t know your story, but I don’t believe you should keep blaming yourself.”

“I’m not.”

“You are, I am very familiar with that look.”

“What about my family?” Alex asked, however his situation was a little different, and Carrie was not sure when the right time would come again.

“My dad doesn’t really like to talk to all of them. Mainly just my mom, but-”

“Mom!” Alex exclaimed, cutting her off.

“Yeah, my mom is Alyssa Da-”

“LYSSA, she’s like 10 years younger than him. I can’t believe he…” The boys looked at one another in disgust, but Carrie and Julie, just bubbled with laughter, causing the disgusted looks to turn into confused ones.

“What’s happening. Why are you laughing at the fact that Bobby defiled Alex’s little sister?” Luke asked.

“Okay, can we not say it like that,” Alex grimaced.

“Alex, don’t worry, he didn’t do anything with your sister,” Julie stated.

“Yeah, despite the small resemblances, he isn’t my biological dad,” she added.

“Then why-”

“She had me when she was 16, but instead of putting me up for adoption, she gave me to my dad. I don’t really know everything, but my dad told me when I was 7.” Alex nodded.

“Okay, but earlier you were laughing?” he asked, and Julie giggled beside her.

“Because I’m pretty sure we both thought of the same response,” Julie answered, and looked at Carrie.

“He says it whenever anyone asks about his relationship status in interviews,” Carrie also added.

“ Honey, I haven’t touched a woman since 1999,” they both quoted in sync before breaking out in a fit of laughter once more.

“Bobby is gay?!” all three boys shouted.

“Bi actually,” Julie corrected.

“With a preference for men...guitar players specifically,” Carrie continued.

“Not that any of them last very long according to tabloids,” Julie said aimlessly.

“Yeah, well you know dad is always picky. Apparently he has this thing where they have to match his talent,” Carrie said and she and Julie looked at one another again silently confirming if they were thinking the same thing, before turning back to the boys who were flickering.

“I guess this is our goodbye,” Reggie joked and Carrie cracked a smile.

“For now,” she added.

“Do you think you can come back? Tell us more about your dad and what we missed?” Luke asked, and she shook her head yes.

“Yeah, or you guys could come to mine and I can show you my dad’s Sunset Curve room that he likes to cry in sometimes.” That didn’t really get the laughs she thought it would, and she scolded herself for not remembering that joking about trauma was a Wilson thing, but the boys were gone before she could even back track, so she turned to Julie.

“Well I know they’re still here, but I drove myself so if you wanna hang out I could stick around,” she suggested, and Julie smiled.

“Yeah, I’d like that. Besides I think we have some things to talk about.” She led her out of the studio and Carrie happily followed, knowing that there were most likely three teenage ghosts following her. So yes, sometimes she does pretend to be clueless, because she likes being underestimated, but sometimes it’s good to show all of her strengths, because you might be able to mend a couple of friendships.

#julie and the phantoms #reggie jatp #alex jatp #luke patterson #julie molina #carrie wilson #trevor wilson #jatp fanfic #jatp #bobby jatp #sunset curve #rose molina #ray molina #carlos molina #flynn jatp #nick danforth evans #caleb covington #willie jatp #carrie and julie

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actuallylorelaigilmore · 3 years

Text

TATMILB, CHAPTER 3

Penelope spent her life writing love letters, which didn’t seem like a terrible idea until the letters were mailed out and Schneider received one of them. Hoping to fool their exes, they agree to fake a relationship. But are they lying to everyone around them, or to themselves? aka my To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before-inspired AU.

Penelope x Schneider, ODAAT. available on ao3 with extra author’s notes.

Chapter 3: Penelope tries to bond with Alex during movie night; he and Lydia bring the family’s donations to Goodwill. Schneider returns from vacation and confronts Penelope. She panics.

While Schneider was away with Nikki over the weekend, Penelope splurged on a trip to the movies--luring Alex with the promise of food he didn’t have to sneak in.

She was trying to focus on silver linings instead of her anxieties about Elena, and the upsides included her new availability for Alex. Twice as much parent to go around could only lead to more bonding, right?

He had lobbied for an R-rated comedy, which she was definitely not willing to pay for. On her own, she would’ve headed right for the newest Bradley Cooper drama, but no amount of chocolate could convince Alex to sit through that.

So they compromised on an action movie--which would have the added benefit of covering up the sound of her soda later. Agreeing to buy concessions for Alex didn’t make her a different person. Her discount snacks were better than their overpriced junk, anyway.

He grinned at her over his bucket of popcorn while they waited for the lights to go down, and she considered her bribery a success. See, she could be the cool mom. Even if she had Raisinets in her cargo pants.

“Hey, Mom?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you still miss Max?”

Where did that come from? The question hurt, mostly because it was so unexpected. With Max exiting her life right before Lydia’s stroke, neither Alex or Elena had mentioned him much in the last year. They’d all had other things on their minds.

She let the pain pass by before she answered.

“Yes, Papito, I still do. It’s hard to let go of people you love. Sometimes, a part of you misses them even after you’ve moved on.”

He nodded, sipping his soda.

“Do you think you’ll start dating again anytime soon?”

That question was even more out of character for her son, whose world had been so often self-centered since he first came into it.

Penelope narrowed her eyes at him. “Why are you suddenly so interested in my dating life?”

“I was just wondering.”

”Well, I’m having fun the way things are. You and me, catching a movie on a Friday night, mother and son time with Elena away. Why would I want to date when I could be doing this?”

She grabbed a handful of popcorn and caught the way he cringed. Or flinched. Whatever it was, there was guilt there. Her mom radar went up.

“Alex, what is it? Is something going on?”

“It’s nothing!” He assured her in a rush. “It’s just...I kind of--did have a date.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. You wanted to go out together, so I rain checked it with Chloe for next weekend. But I mean, let’s be real, Mom. This can’t last forever. I’ll go off to college too, or modeling school, whatever, and then who will you hang out with?”

The trailers started playing, just in time, letting her wallow until the movie started.

Penelope couldn’t keep the sadness off her face as she watched Alex settle in with his snacks. He was growing up so fast on her. Too fast. And Elena was practically out of the house already.

She didn’t want to date just to avoid being alone, but hearing that concern from her teenage son? Ouch. So much for being the cool mom.

Now Penelope was glad that they’d picked an action flick. She was ready to watch some stuff blow up.

****

Alex emerged from his room the next morning waving his phone at her.

“Mom, that was the third text I’ve gotten from Elena since she left reminding us to take that stuff to Goodwill.”

“Good morning to you, too,” Penelope replied.

She was almost out the door, but her son had the luxury of sleeping in on Saturdays until baseball season started. He was taking full advantage of it.

“Seriously, she woke me up--and I need my beauty rest. She’s not gonna stop bugging me until you drop it off.”

“Alex...” Penelope shrugged into her coat, kissing her Mami on the cheek in thanks for the quick cafecito she had substituted for breakfast. “It’s all boxed up, we finished it before she left; it’ll get there.”

“I’m just saying, she’s gonna start texting you next, and I don’t think you’ll enjoy the lectures any more than I do.”

“Well, I’ve got plans with Jill today--and I’m about to be late. Mami?” She raised hopeful eyebrows in Lydia’s direction.

“Hmm?”

“Can you go with Alex to the Goodwill donation dropoff? I won’t be back until dinner.”

“Si, Lupita. Go have fun with your friend, we will handle it.”

“Great. Thanks. The things I’m getting rid of are in my room, next to the closet.”

“You know, this would be much easier if Schneider had not taken his girlfriend on a vacation.” Lydia frowned. “He could carry much bigger boxes than myself or Papito.”

“Hey, I can lift heavy stuff,” Alex protested.

“Yes, but you should not have to! You should save your strength for wooing your future wife.” Lydia patted his face.

“Luckily for us--and Alex’s future wife--none of the boxes are all that heavy,” Penelope said. “And there aren’t too many of them. Now, I really have to go. I’ll see you both tonight.”

****

Absorbed in work and school, Penelope didn’t give their Goodwill donations another thought until Tuesday, on her way out of the hospital. The two boxes she’d packed in her room were gone, concluding that chore.

Or so she thought.

Penelope was digging in her purse for her keys when she saw Schneider striding her way. “Oh, hey! I thought you were gonna be off the grid with Nikki for another couple of days.”

“No, that trip is kind of...over. That whole thing is kind of over.”

“Again?”

Hurt crossed Schneider’s face before he buried it. He was really good at that, she’d learned--mostly from moments when she was the one hurting him. Way to go, Penelope.

“I mean, I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

“Eh, I will be. Eventually. It’s not like we were engaged, right?”

Schneider shook his head. “That’s not why I’m here, though. Nikki may have dumped me for one of the jock dads at St. Bibiana’s, but that doesn’t mean I think you and I should blur the lines on the rebound.”

She stared at the creased blue paper he held up as he continued.

“Not that I’m not flattered, obviously. You’re the most badass woman I know, an amazing mom, anybody would be lucky to--”

Penelope’s field of vision narrowed to the letter in his hand, a letter that she definitely recognized. She didn’t hear the rest of his sentence. She could only hear her heart pounding in her ears, making her wonder if she was about to pass out there, next to her car.

How did Schneider get that? What was happening right now?

“I found it slipped under my door when I got home. And honestly, Pen, if you needed to tell me this stuff, you could have just done it in person--we’ve had enough late night chats that nothing’s really off limits at this point.”

She took a deep breath, trying to focus on a technique that worked for her during panic attacks and after nightmares. Since the moment felt like an actual waking nightmare, slowly counting backwards didn’t help much. He was still there. Waiting.

“Schneider, that letter--it’s not what it looks like, I swear. I don’t want to date you. At all. I wrote it because...”

She was still trying to find the words to explain something much too complicated for a parking lot when she saw motion past Schneider’s left shoulder.

Max was exiting the hospital and heading straight for them, holding a bright white envelope in one hand.

It didn’t take a genius to know what he was coming over to say.

Which was good, because Penelope’s mind was not exactly in top condition. It was already a five-alarm fire up in there, and every part of her was screaming I cannot deal with this.

In the fraction of a second she had to consider her options, Penelope acknowledged that the mature response would be to face it now--to explain the situation to her ex-boyfriend and her best friend at the same time.

Or, she decided, as she felt both men’s eyes on her and her palms started to sweat...she could do literally anything else.

Going with her first impulse, Penelope reached up and grabbed Schneider’s shirt with both hands, pulling him toward her. Before Max could get one step closer, she kissed Schneider like her life depended on it.

She couldn’t have explained to anybody why kissing Schneider seemed like a better idea than letting Max think she was still pining over him. Right then, she just needed Max to stay back. To leave them alone.

Did it work? She wondered. She couldn’t check without breaking off the kiss, but the silence seemed promising.

Of course, the quiet only emphasized the situation she was now in. She was kissing Schneider. She was in a hospital parking lot, a few yards away from her ex-boyfriend, kissing Schneider.

Pressed against her, Schneider didn’t react. Not after the initial moment, or several more. He let her kiss him, but he didn’t kiss back. And that was fine, Penelope told herself. That was better.

“Thank you,” she said when she let Schneider go. He stood there, flushed and baffled, looking at her like he had never seen her before.

Though confusion was written all over his face, Schneider nodded. “You’re...welcome?”

Penelope wasn’t willing to push her luck any further. She couldn’t avoid the embarrassment forever, but at least she had managed to postpone it until she got home. She needed time to figure this out.

Without another word, and without glancing back to where Max was probably still holding his own letter, she got into her car and drove home.

****

Her reprieve was brief, not that she’d expected any different. She caught the aroma of dinner as soon as she walked through the door, and barely had time to praise her Mami’s cooking before Schneider arrived.

“Oh, good, Schneider, you are home from your vacación,” Lydia said. “I made enough for you to join us, just in case.”

“Hey,” Alex added from his spot at the table. “You’re back early, right?”

“Yeah, Nikki and I broke up.”

Schneider offered that explanation to Alex, but he was looking at Penelope. She shook her head in response, hoping the tiny movement would go unnoticed by the others. Hoping that Schneider would understand. Not now. Not in front of the family. Please.

His shoulders tensed where he stood, like her silent plea was a blow he had to absorb. But when he finally looked away from her, smiling at Lydia and taking his seat, Penelope knew he would let it go for now. “So you can see why I needed a nice, comforting family dinner this evening.”

“Oh, pobrecito Schneider,” Lydia said, patting his back before she sat down across from him. “You can do better.”

They were waiting for her to settle into her place at the table, but Penelope couldn’t join them until she knew for sure. She headed for her bedroom, straight to the spot where her army duffel would be.

Or where it used to be.

“Mami?” She returned to the table and sat, trying to sound calm. “What happened to my duffel bag?”

“I don’t know,” Lydia said, pouring herself some rum as though her daughter’s world wasn’t spinning out of control in front of her. “Where did you see it last?”

“I keep it in my closet,” Penelope snapped back. “It’s been there for years. Where did I see it last,” she added in a mutter.

“You do not need to take that tone with me,” her Mami scolded her. “I did not touch your ratty old bag. I do not know where it is.”

“Well, I know I didn’t move it, and it’s gone. So can anybody explain to me how it up and disappeared?”

Lydia thought it over. “I suppose...if it was in your closet...it might be at the Goodwill.”

She clamped down even harder on her temper. “Why would it be at the Goodwill?”

“As I said, Lupita, I have done nothing wrong. But your boxes were next to the closet. So if it is missing, that may be why.”

“It was just an old duffel bag, right, Mom?” Alex was halfway through his dinner, but he couldn’t ignore the tension in the room. “You can get a new one.”

“Not everything’s replaceable, Alex. That old bag had a lot of memories attached.” She picked up her fork and tried to focus on her food while her mind reeled. It also had five incredibly personal love letters tucked into the inside pocket. Letters she’d never wanted their subjects to read.

Now Max knew she never got over him, and wanted him back. God, after more than a year, how pathetic he must think she was.

And that didn’t begin to address the other letters. How long until those came back to haunt her, too? What about the man currently watching her while he ate, pretending that he wasn’t? How could she possibly explain any of this to Schneider?

She stabbed at her salad, lost in thought until she was done eating.

Worried she might snap at him next, even Schneider was quiet during the meal. The scraping of utensils against dishes filled the silence until Penelope cleared her plate and went to her bedroom.

Schneider swallowed loudly after Penelope left, but didn’t offer up his usual attempts to paper over the unease that lingered behind her.

Instead it was Lydia who broke the silence. “Lupe hasn’t used any of her old bags in years. I do not understand why she is so upset about this one.”

“Maybe she’s going through menopause,” Alex offered up.

Schneider’s fork clattered loudly onto his plate.

Lydia shook her head. “No, that can’t be the problem, Papito. She is far too young.”

“It can start between the ages of 40 and 50,” Alex argued, ignoring the way Schneider was gaping at him. “Mom’s just inside the window.”

“This is very inappropriate talk,” Lydia scolded him, standing up to clear the rest of the plates.

“Elena wouldn’t stop lecturing me about it, okay? She wanted me to be ready when it happened in case she was moved out already. You know how she never shuts up.”

Schneider left Alex sitting alone to go find Penelope--normally she would be back out with the family after dinner, but if she was going to try this hard to avoid him, she wasn’t giving him much choice.

With Lydia at the sink and Alex’s face in his phone already, Schneider doubted the others would even notice him gone.

He tapped lightly on her door. “Penelope?”

The long silence wasn’t comforting, but eventually he heard a quiet “Come in” and let himself in.

“Hey,” he said as he shut the door behind him. “You know, Max seemed just as confused as me, back at the hospital. He just sort of stared at me, once you drove off, for the longest five seconds in history, and then he left without saying anything.”

“Yeah?” Penelope was looking at the floor more than him, but he could tell she was listening.

“Yeah. I think he wanted to talk to you too. Which made me even more confused. What’s going on?”

A brisk rap on the door sounded before it opened--not giving either of them time to respond.

“Mami.”

“It’s time for dessert,” Lydia told them. “What are you two doing in here?”

Penelope ignored the gossipy insinuation in her tone--she knew better than anyone that it was her Mami’s way of hoping something interesting was about to happen, whether it actually was or not. “We were talking about dessert, actually. I was asking Schneider if he wanted to go with me to get ice cream.”

She raised her eyebrows, hoping he would follow her lead. “What do you say? Dessert run?”

Whatever he was thinking, or feeling, Schneider kept it to himself. “Sure, Pen. Sounds good. My treat.”

“Oh, Schneider, you are such a generous man,” Lydia told him with a hand on his arm--laying it on a little thick even by her usual standards.

“Mami, calm down. It’s ice cream, not new shoes.”

“Lydia, did you want new shoes?” Schneider perked up, and Penelope grabbed him by the arm to pull him past her mom before they could get any ideas.

“She doesn’t need you to buy her shoes. Let’s go.”

Penelope rushed him to the door with one hand on his back, nudging him forward as she opened it.

She was in such a hurry, she almost shoved him directly into Ben--who was standing on the other side, hand raised to knock.

“Oh, hey, Penelope. Is this a bad time?”

#alvareider #one day at a time #odaat #penelope x schneider #to all the men i've loved before #penelope alvarez #schneider #lydia riera #alex alvarez #max ferraro #alvareider fic #odaat fic #my fic

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bluemoon-writer · 5 years

Text

Childhood Friends AU: MariKim

Part 2- in which the class discovers the MariKim friendship

You can find Part 1 here

Here is background head canons about their families

-it started in the wake of a disaster

-Francois DuPont is a magnet for crazy shit, to the point that many students are starting to become immune to some of the more mild occurrences

-a giant boulder crashes through the window one day and rolls across the room and out the door, crushing the front row of desks in the process and passing inches from Ms. Bustier

-students scream and jump, more in surprise than actual fear at this point, but back away from the windows (Marinette and Adrien both immediately dash out of the room)

-all except Chloe, who didn’t move a muscle when the boulder flew through the window, and Sabrina lays praise on her like usual

“Wow, Chloe, you’re so brave. You weren’t shocked or scared at all when that boulder flew right past you!”

“Pff, Sabrina, I’m Queen Bee, the only thing that could shock me is if Ladybug turned out to be some weakling like Dupain-Cheng”

-The class is used to ignoring Chloe at this point

-Except Kim is high on adrenaline and doesn’t want to listen to Chloe insult his friend when she isn’t even here to defend herself

-Tells Chloe to shove it

“Marinette is super brave! Remember that traffic akuma from two weeks ago? she ran straight at it so the class could get away. Last week, Marinette literally saved you from the lunch lady you akumatized by throwing a chair at her. And bravest of all, yesterday when I accidently broke one of my mom’s sculptures, Marinette took the blame for me!”

-Chloe is not impressed, “Of course you of all people would come to her defense. If she impresses you so much why don’t you go back to being best friends with her instead of glasses over there?”

-Kim is visibly confused “I…what are you talking about? I never stopped being best friends with Marinette?”

-Chloe is more focused on the dirt that’s on her sweater at this point. She rolls her eyes and drags Sabrina off to the bathroom to makeout clean her sweater

-Alya, who had been getting ready to jump into the argument, is looking more confused than Kim.

“What do you mean you’re best friends with Marinette? Everyone knows that Max is your best friend, and Marinette is mine.”

(Alya is just a bit jealous, because she’s still the ‘new kid’ and while she gets along with the other girls in the class, she’s not super close with them)

-Now Kim is really lost. “Uh, Max isn’t my best friend?”

- :0

“Kim! How could you say that, he’s right there! Max are you okay?”

-Max is also confused. “Yes? Why would I not be? It would be illogical of me to expect Kim to call me his best friend when he is not mine.”

-the classes current mental statues: ??*confusion*???

-Nino is the voice of reason, “Who’s you’re best friend then Max?”

“Markov of course! I spent years programming him, he knows everything about me, and I know everything about him.”

-Markov’s eyes turn into hearts for a moment. “I concur, Max is also my best friend!”

-The class is fucking exhausted, Kim is beaming at Alya

“Wait, but that doesn’t explain how Marinette is your best friend! You never even talk to each other.”

-Nino is subtly trying to get Alya to stop, but when Alya hears something that doesn’t add up she pushes until she learns the truth. It’s great for a journalist, but it lands her in some embarrassing situations sometimes.

-Kim is flabbergasted. The idea of him and Marinette not being bffs is so foreign to him that his brain physically can’t process it. He opens and closes his mouth like a fish trying to figure out where to begin explaining their history

-Alix rolls her eyes and comes to his rescue. “Those two dorks have been tight since before primary school. Be glad they don’t act like best friends, trust me, I went to primary school with them and they almost burned the building down.”

“Hey! That was…Marinette’s fault.”

“What was my fault?”

-Marinette is back, the class was so absorbed in the drama they didn’t even notice ladybug defeating the akuma right outside the window

-Kim is a smug bastard. “Burning down our primary school”

“WHAT! I PREVENTED you from burning the school down. You lit a match in the art FULL OF PAPER MACHE SCULPTURES!”

“Uh-huh, and when you blew the match out you dropped it in the trash, that was full of paper. Which then caught on fire.”

-This argument lasts for several minutes while Ms. Bustier recovers from the shock of almost being flattened by a giant rock

-She decides she needs to medicate with a bottle of vodka, so class is cancelled for the rest of the day

-No one tells Marinette about the argument that happened just before she walked in

-Alya watches as Marinette and Kim walk into the bakery together

-Rose swoons, “That’s so sweet. Do you think they’ll date? It would be so romantic!”

-Juleka nods in agreement, secretly hoping they do so that she can ask them for pointers on how to ask out your best friend

-Nino been knew, so he doesn’t say anything and just asks Alya if she wants to go to the movies

-Adrien got back after Marinette and has no idea what is happening

-Likewise, Ivan was listening to music and didn’t even realize an argument happened.

-Nathaniel is hit with sudden inspiration for his comic and rushes off to write it all down before he forgets

-Max and Alix…don’t care. They already knew and are more surprised by their classmate’s surprise than anything else

-Lila mentally makes Kim her new target

Why the class didn’t realize Mari and Kim are such good friends:

1. Most of them didn’t go to the same primary school as Mari and Kim. The only people who went to their primary school were Chloe, Nino, and Alix. But even then, Chloe didn’t arrive until the second year of primary school and Nino didn’t transfer until the fourth year.

Alix was there the first year, but was constantly switching schools when she was younger due to her father traveling for work.She doesn’t come to Francois Dupont until the second year when her father takes a permanent position at the louve so that she can stay at the same school for a while

2. For the first two years at their Lycee they were in different classes.No one saw them interact much at school. They ate lunch together, but most of the time they went to Marinette’s house for it since it was so close.

and sure Marinette went to Kim’s games consistently, but no one else did so they had no way of knowing just how often Mari went. And the few times other students went to the games they just assumed Marinette was there for the whole team. Because Mari’s just nice like that.

3. Even when they were in the same class again, they didn’t hang out. This is partly due to the classes’ own perceptions, they already don’t think Mari and Kim are tight, but both are friendly people so they don’t find it strange when they wave at each other or have small conversations before and after class.

Plus they have other friends. The two years in different classes did them some good. They learned that they don’t have to constantly be hanging out.They see each other enough outside of school that they figure they can use their in-class time to hang out with their other friends.

4. The Class is Oblivious. This is almost the same as the previous point, but slightly different. Whether or no Marinette and Kim are friends doesn’t really matter, it wouldn’t change anything in the eyes of their classmates, so no one is bother trying to figure out how close they are.

They don’t see them interact much so they assume they aren’t close

This is gonna be the last part, but I couldn’t resist that Lila bit, so there’s gonna be a Part 3 ig lol

Also, look out for my upcoming post about Max and Markov’s deep friendship lmfao

#miraculous ladybug #mlb #mlb kim #marinette dupain cheng #le chien kim #marikim #ml headcanon #fanfiction #childhood friends au #miraculous ladybug au #ladybug and chat noir

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kuronekonerochan · 4 years

Text

The laziest compilation of thoughts about the mess that was Alice (spoilers)

I finish a lot of shitty dramas. Like a lot. I could review them, but I won’t bc there’s too many and I’m too lazy (when you ff some dramas from 45min to 5 per episode it doesn’t really count as watching too many dramas bc it’s really a commercial break, lol). Some I watch for the so bad it’s good content, or love hate watching or just to have something to watch while I eat, even if they’re boring af. It’s also a tiny bit of ocd bc I need to see how they end (even the ones I drop I check out the finale). I only drop the ones that as Marie Kondo says *Do Not Spark Joy, more specifically...annoy me and make me cranky.

I sometimes bitch about it on DMs with ranty spoilers without structure and that reference other unrelated dramas or shows, because ADHD and my mind refuses to stay on topic, which would make it probably unintelligible except if you are in the niche who happens to have watched the other unrelated dramas, so it’s probably useless as a review.

That said, here are some random disconnected thoughts about Alice.

MAJOR SPOILER ALERTS BEWARE

(this is like partly copypaste of DM rants bc I am that lazy biatch. Also, fair warning I will seem super harsh or this drama because that’s the thing about a bitching dm versus a proper review... I am not bringing up all the points and talking about the good and what I liked as well as the bad, it’s just the bad...and although the drama is imo a mess, it does have some good in it. So if it were a review I’d always argue pros and cons...ranty thoughs who cares about pros? boring..I will not be bothered with devil’s advocate).

This was fascinating to watch, interesting but not good... but like a trainwreck.

I continued watching this mess despite the headache inducing convoluted plot (I watched a lot of timetravel stuff and I love it...encompassing all the theories about it, from butterfly effect, to effectively changing the future (with characters forgetting it or keeping it in memory because “eye of the storm” theory, the “efforts are futile and you can try to change it but the future is set in stone”, to “small changes can be made but big events are fixed points in time”, to “every change creates a new time line” and multiverse, etc... and trust me, all of them can be done well when well written or turn out a confusing illogical mess and that has nothing to do with the theory chosen, but with presenting how time travel works for that story and what the basic rules are and sticking to them...or when something happens that contradicts them, come up with an explanation as to why that happens.

I don’t mean the drama should be an exposition borefest with too much pseudosciency jargon...but this drama gives you too little in the way of rules and the viewers sort of figure out how timetravel works (which is not bad per se, huge fan of show don’t tell...but there’s a limit to how much they cannot tell or the characters chose not to ask just for the sake of plot and not without any logic to it). Anyways, the little “rules” that we gather along the way...the writing doesn’t stick to them and keeps contradicting itself without addressing or explaining it and hoping we’re so confused we don’t notice. Some dramas you just say “eh, forget it, it doesn’t make sense, let’s turn off our brains and enjoy it”, but here if I wanted to try and follow what was going on at all it required “brain on” mode for their convoluted plot twists...which also made me aware of so may plotholes the time road should have looked like Swiss Cheese. I could go into them...but I cannot be bothered and the list would be extensive and still incomplete, so I will just put 3 here bc I can’t help it:

1) Hot Daddy with emotional turmoil the entire drama of “Oh no, I abandoned her in 92 and regretted it, it happened 1 year ago for me, and now I find out she died in 2010. How was she, did she suffer? What did she know? Oh god, if only I were a time traveler eventually going rogue who could show up and talk to her any time in the timeline between 92 and 2010...Alas, I have to live in misery with the consequences of my actions...there is just ABSOLUTELY no way of solving this. I guess I’ll just keep making unauthorized time travel journeys from 2050′s time agency back to the year of 2020 and only 2020 to constantly be blindsided by murder attempts on everyone everywhere without having a clue to what’s going on when I could simply go back to before 2010 and talk to the one person who is proven to know what is going on.” Here is where there could be a bullshit reason as to why he could go only go to 2020 and not before, but the drama didn’t even bother.

2) They say Tae Yi’s mom was originally a time traveler who settled with her physicist dad in the past, eventually making way for her to discover time travel herself. The mom is missing and this is never addressed again.

3) The book...who wrote it? Because I have guesses but they never outright answer it... and if the biatch author knew that stuff why the alice in wonderland stupid analogies?

Coward, or petty, or both.... or maybe just a chaos gremlin godlike entity who wanted to watch them all squirm, like the author from Extraordinary You...and that I could get behind, but sadly they don’t go that metaphysical/theological with the plot...which is honestly the main problem with this drama. It seems ambitious in concept but it’s never explored decently in any way, not in the pseudoscience, not in the philosophical sense of the meaning of time/space/existence, not even in its relationships, with the constant back and forth and weirdness of it.

Besides the timetravel migraine, we had the weirdest directing, that made the relationship between the leads feel a bit too incesty...which was the main reason I kept watching this drama...morbid curiosity of how they wrapped up this mess of a plot AND especially the relationship payoff...would it keep being weird with trope romance drama scenes like the female lead and second female lead facing off and being jealous, or that weird hair washing that felt more sensual than maternal? I knew it wouldn’t happen but my inner chaos gremlin wanted kdramaland to grow some balls and go full “predestination: oedipus edition” with this mess. Alas they sort of did, mostly didn’t. Even that angle was a whole inconsistent mess: there were times where it felt too romantic, then for a short minute I misguidedly shipped the journalist friend, then it seemed the dude was ace, then they calmed their tits with the whole weird romantic vibes and it got platonic cute, then with the memory merge thing finally motherly vibes, then I shipped the journalist again for 1 sec only...and then the ending:

Alice ended with the lead solving every problem by shooting himself (technically) in the head...and that's the second meta perfectly fitting ending for a drama with a good cast and terrible writing that drove itself into a corner this year, after the sleepless princess ended with the leads jumping off a cliff. I don't think it's a self aware choice of the writers, or an admission that they themselves know it was bad, but the irony is delicious.

Spoiler for the ending: he undoes timey wimey stuff from when his mom first got killed in high school and closed the time travel door. So he became an architect and new Tae Yi just woke up in her bed remembering everything, but in reality she had just come back from a conference abroad and had never met him. So mom TaeYi didn't die then, but never got back on screen after the time undo so who the f knows what happened to her.

Also, if new Tae Yi remembers, does that mean hot daddy from the future does as well, but he is just stuck in the future without a time door to ever see them again? The drama doesn’t care answering that and forgets his character is even a thing...I will miss you, my fave who looked emotionally and literally constipated 24/7 (it doesn’t care answering much at all tbf... a little known fact about the time travel paradoxes according to the physics of this world is that besides doppelganger chickenpox it induces severe lazy writing).

Anyways new Tae Yi went looking for architect (? okay...I guess) ML after she woke up, at first he didn't remember her, but it ends with him meeting her, apparently remembering her and they stare at each other... you know, like any bad traditional romantic kdrama finale....so there is still THAT vibe.

Honestly, the usual romantic ballad score for scenes between the leads WAS NOT the most intelligent choice for this drama in specific but boy did they stick with it (not to mention the ending song... that goes, in english “we be like Bonnie and Clyde we ride or die...which...k, sure)...so technically the ending was exactly the cliche post amnesia running back to each other and staring for the final scene while romantic music blasts trope. Take it as you will.

#alice #sbs alice #kdrama #mine #kdrama edit #kdrama rant #kdrama rambles #sleepless princess #cdrama #just the reference tho #alice kdrama #alice sbs

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cristalknife · 3 years

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Kadam Week 2021 Day 4 ~ You are my treasure, can I keep you as part of my hoard? 1/4

This is me trying to not start something on a platform only to post solely somewhere else aka AO3 and ff.net you can find the complete list of Kadam Week 2021 prompts and you might find more stories on the Kadam Week 2021 AO3 collection Someone please take the time to appreciate me not dumping a 23K+ story into a single post, OK thanks for coming to my Ted talk 4° prompt is I Had the Strangest Dream

namely kadam AU... And what you got is a dragons!kadam au where Kurt got into Nyada after his first audition, the story starts with Kurt still in Lima and still with Blaine. Because Klaine needed to die a painful death and you deserved to see that ship crash and burn... I present to you You are my treasure, can I keep you as part of my hoard? (In four parts Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 or read complete on ao3 or ff.net)

It was a rather well known fact that Nyada, being so exclusive and with limited opening every year, had a policy to never take more than a single student from the same school, even if there were more than one valid finalists.

What was not that well known, and certainly not at all advertised, was that such rule did not apply to supernatural beings.

If prospects were inclined toward the arts, and willing to join at least for the time of their education, the colony and the current ruling council.

Then they would be evaluated more on aspirations and skills, disregarding the presence of other finalists from the same school.

Once evaluated they would then be offered a position within one or more of the majors the school had that were in tune with the candidate's ability and affinities, rather than the candidate's preferred and declared choices.

Sometimes those two things matched, other times they didn't match at all.

In the end, once the offer was made, and it was cleared up that it was a non negotiable one, the prospect had to choose whether to accept the position offered by the Nyada's council, or simply choose to attend a different school.

When Kurt aced his audition he could hear the gears in Madam Tibideaux's mind turning, and humming pleasant vibrating sounds all around her. She was not at all like Kurt expected her to be, she felt like more, a more he couldn't place.

His dad had always been larger than life, Carole simply didn’t have the same presence about her.

And he knew that, despite loving how good she was for Burt, Kurt had yet to properly warm up to Carole. She was ok, he guessed, and she made his dad smile and feeling happier than Kurt could remember since his mom died.

But also she felt different... He felt awful for thinking so, but she sort of felt less...

Kurt had no idea who had come to examine him, or better he knew who she was, he just did not know there was also a what she was part that was making Kurt feeling even more invigorated and able to express himself fully.

Rachel on the other hand choked up, on a song she knew by heart, that she had sung so many times she should have muscle memories of how to produce those lyrics...

When the time got closer for their letters to arrive Kurt started to receive condescending looks full of pity, especially from his boyfriend.

When Rachel's letter arrived and she miraculously got in, everyone felt like they simply had to come to Kurt and offer their condolences and unique brand of what was supposedly comfort…

And worse of all Blaine had been the first in line to do so…

"Oh Kurt it's so bad you got to compete against Rach for the position at Nyada, but on the bright side you can stay here with me until I graduate and then we can move together to New York. Of course you'd have to wait another year before you'll be able to try again join Nyada, but at that point at least you'll have worked enough that maybe your cv won't look so anaemic..."

Kurt went rigid at Blaine's words and pressed his lips "Excuse me? Are you implying that you know already and more importantly you fully believe that I've been rejected when my letter didn't even arrive? And you dare to talk to me about my CV after you took the male lead part that was supposed to go to a senior in our only production? When you knew I needed it"

Blaine didn't even have the good grace of looking ashamed nor did he even give any indication of understanding why Kurt might be upset.

"Oh come on Kurt don't be so dull, we all know that only one student per institution can get in. And Rachel got her acceptance letter already, so clearly you've been rejected, but as I was saying it's ok. It even works out better this way. You'll stay here with me while I graduate and then we'll move to New York together, and we'll have enough money to have our own place"

That things with Blaine hadn't been that good was neither a good nor a new news, but this was taking the cake and Kurt huffed irritated "So you expect me to fail in reaching for my dreams, stay in Lima of all places, waiting a year for you to graduate and then do what exactly? Move to New York to work before I try to join my dream school, is that what you see and hope for my life?"

Blaine frowned confused "There's nothing wrong with that Kurt come on, you know what I mean, it's not like you're what people expect from a leading man anyway... I mean I support you but you do stand out too much, and you know, there's being a star and then being a little too unique to ever get a role. It's not a bad thing, it’s just, it makes things difficult and I don't want you to fail, I just want you to have realistic expectations... You know I love you, it's just you can be a little too much for people who don't get you..."

With every additional word that kept pouring out of Blaine’s mouth, Kurt felt something changing and growing at the very centre of his being.

Something he hadn't felt since he was a small child, and got so mad for the first time in his life that he pushed back one of the other kids that were tormenting him...

An action that then his mom scolded him thoroughly, making him promise to never seek violence as a way to solve a conflict. To always take a step back when he felt the sensation of something crawling under his skin ready to explode and make whatever was troubling him disappear.

This time however, it was starting to become harder to resist the temptation to just let it all go, just for this once.

Was this really how love was supposed to be? Because it was starting to seem like he was the only one with expectation to fulfil. And the worst of those expectations was the fact that apparently he was supposed to be the one making compromises…

It was becoming tiresome to say the least.

"Blaine tell me honestly is this what you think?"

Kurt's tone was clipped when he asked that, and yet Blaine once more gave no indication of seeing what was going on.

On the contrary, the boy had the gall to start getting upset, his voice turning into a whine

"Kurt come on, why are you being so difficult, I'm trying to be considerate here but you always make such a fuss about nothing, You're such a drama queen"

And with that something inside Kurt broke...

Whether it was something finally breaking free or simply a dam breaking down he did not know. Nor did he know whether where or how the growling sound reverberating in his throat originated from…

But one thing he did know. This was it, he had reached the point where he couldn't stand the being in front of that, that boy anymore...

With what was Kurt's iciest tone he said "If this is how you feel, then I believe we have nothing else to do. You are never around even for things you planned and scheduled. You don't answer when I call, and if you do answer my messages it’s hours later without apologies or explanations. And if what I've been told is correct, you'd rather spend your time with your friend Sebastian rather than staying with me"

Blaine didn't even let Kurt finish as he started countering "It's not my fault if you seemed so intent on leaving me behind as soon as you'd get your diploma from here. I was just trying to survive without you . Excuse me for being happy about not having to worry about being left behind by my boyfriend. Who I might add, was all too happy to discard me like yesterday trash for a shiny new life in New York, over six hundred miles away from me. How is it a bad thing being happy about having more time together?"

And Kurt was beyond furious "So as long as you are not left behind who cares if my life and my dreams get destroyed? Seriously what's wrong with you. You always comment on how supportive I am of you, and I've tried even when it hurt, even when to be honest I shouldn’t have. So why you never ever try to reciprocate? Why does it always have to be me, the one compromising?"

Blaine assumed that half irritated, half hurt that seriously implied that Kurt was being unreasonable and hurting him for futile reasons, as once again he started to talk over Kurt "Kurt stop being so unreasonable, why are you hurting me? I never asked you to compromise, in fact how can you even say such hurtful things? I was the one who left Dalton to transfer here for you, I was the one who didn't audition for Tony even if I could have used the role as well… It's not my fault if Artie, coach Beiste and Miss P thought I was a better Tony than you. Why are you blaming me for the decisions of others? Especially since it's not exactly my fault if you keep flaunting such extravagant outfits at all times... Why do you ask me that? It's not a matter of your dreams going up in flame or your life being destroyed, don’t you see that was exactly what I was talking about... You're just being overly dramatic instead of taking things with a pinch of maturity, you are such a crybaby at times, can we please stop this nonsense? It's just upsetting me, and it's not like it'll change the content of your nyada letter anyway. There's no need for us to fight over something so stupid..."

Then Kurt relaxed and nodded, and for the first time he saw exactly the moment when Blaine's expression shifted from hurt and pleading to a complacent one, clearly thinking that once more things had gone his way...

To a certain extent he was right, Kurt was going to at least partially grant him his wish for this to stop…

The only part Blaine might not yet realise was that Kurt would make it stop forever.

This was it, any chain, any bond that could have ever existed before, was now absolutely left in tatters on the floor as Kurt was going to soar high in the sky and fly free.

"You're right"

Blaine nodded and grabbed Kurt's hand patting it condescendingly.

Kurt hastily removed his hand from Blaine, motion that provoked Blaine's eyebrows to shoot up in surprise as he started to say "What.."

Kurt took a leaf out of Blaine's own book and started talking over him continuing with determination "You are right that we need to stop this nonsense, clearly you feel this way and I'm not going to ask you to change your mind."

Blaine's surprised expression softened into a pleased smile as he nodded, only to turn into a shocked frown as Kurt continued unrelentlessly "But I won't change my mind either. Whether I've been accepted or rejected from Nyada it won't matter. For one, I have other colleges I've applied to that I could attend coming fall, some of which I already have acceptance letters from. Something that had you been around like a boyfriend ought to be, you would have already known. So either as soon as I graduate or at the end of the summer I will leave Lima behind. But don't worry I won't leave you behind then"

Blaine was still frowning but offered a tentative smile and a nod. That until Kurt smiled back at him, in the same icy and sarcastic way that he had seen Kurt smile at Sebastian in those moments, right before and after they started one of their rounds of bickering.

"I won't leave you behind then, because I'm breaking up with you right now. Clearly we want different things from life, and hey we both know we had problems long before now... Who sets up appointments to make out? I might not have had other experiences before, but I can tell you this is not what I expected being with someone to be like. And you are not living up to the teenage dream you promised me either. So here's me growing up and taking things with a pinch of maturity. We’re done."

Blaine blinked confused and looked up at Kurt with his patented wounded puppy eyes, and for the first time Kurt started to wonder if what was going on wasn't as much as adorable obliviousness, as he had always assumed, but rather a masterful use of emotional manipulation.

Kurt looked down at Blaine, and for the first time he felt the bile rising up at the mere thought of having bowed down to this for over an year now, for having allowed himself to become nothing more than a spineless whipping boy. And in exchange for what exactly? For a boy who apparently had no care for him at all despite proclaiming his love? For a relationship in which he was the only one having to renounce things to make the other happy?

He didn't know anymore, and he wasn't that sure he even wanted to know at this point. He just wanted out of this situation for good.

Blaine was still staring like he couldn't understand Kurt at all as he voiced his confusion "What? I don't understand... Why are you trying to get back at me this way Kurt? Look I'll leave now, you clearly need the time to cool down, don't worry I won't hold this against you. I can see you're upset, and I do get how much it must hurt not having been accepted to the only school you applied to. There is no need to invent stories about how you applied to other schools and how you'll leave Lima after graduation or at the end of the summer just to get back at me. Rach told me you both applied only at Nyada and she got in, so clearly you would have no other place to go to..."

Kurt shook his head and felt the profound disappointment in seeing that even now Blaine simply either wasn't listening to him or didn't care at all about what Kurt had to say...

In a way it was a pity, he looked around and for the first time he was grateful that there were witnesses listening into every word they were exchanging, in fact Kurt thought he had also seen Jacob Ben Israel...

So he simply shrugged and left to go to his locker. He picked up what he needed, then simply walked out of the school without a second thought. Just to be on the safer side he sent a quick text to the whatsapp group chat that had all the glee club members on it that read simply ‘I just broke up with Blaine, I will never get back together with him so if someone is not happy with it either keep your mouth shut and your nose out of my own business or feel free to stay the hell out of my life for good. This is all I'll say on the subject and that's not up to debate. I hope we'll manage to finish the time we have until graduation with civility. Kurt’

Then as a second immediate action, he went and changed his status on facebook making a quick work of removing any trace of him and Blaine together from his albums and shared pictures, proceeding to repeat the procedure also on instagram and from his own phone.

The more he purged his profiles of Blaine, the more he noticed how much of a shadow of his former self he had become in the time they had been together. It was staggering seeing how, by removing Blaine from his storyline, only few traces were left of what happened to him in the past year.

Shaking his head he shot a quick text to Finn, letting him know he was going to pass by the garage to see dad before going home, and that he was leaving immediately because he didn't want to be cornered by anyone wanting to talk about the fact he broke up with Blaine.

Finn simply sent a smiley face and two thumbs up, apparently, despite all his fears, Kurt was still going to have someone on his side by the end of the tragedy... It was a comforting thought.

He relished in it as he drove to the garage, once there he called out "Hey dad do you have a minute?"

Burt called out from the farther aisle, and Kurt smiled and waved at Carl and Kenneth as he passed by the two other mechanics at work.

Once Kurt was close by, Burt tensed and looked completely frozen in worry and surprise a low growling "Damn" escaped Burt's lips as he grabbed the rag and cleaned his hand "Kurt we need to talk"

Kurt smiled and nodded "Yeah we do I just broke up with Blaine and I'd really appreciate your support if you could make sure to not let him into the house next time he comes around. Because despite telling him I was breaking up with him, he was acting like he wasn't listening to me, so I just wanted to make sure you knew. I am going to tell Carole as soon as we get back home, but... Dunno why, I felt like I had to come to you first and that it couldn't have waited till you'd get home, I'm not sure exactly on the reason behind such reasoning"

Burt kept a close look on his son and then said without preambles "Something else happened, didn't it?"

When Kurt didn't say anything but reluctantly nodded once, before looking surprised he had done that, Burt had all the answers he needed.

Kurt was as a dagon just like himself, just like Elizabeth had been, it was strange that it took so long for his supernatural heritage to pick that up, he should have taught so many things to Kurt already, but he never smelled like a hatchling or a youngling, Kurt had always smelled faintly like his Lizzy did... And a doubt started to creep up on Burt, Elizabeth and him had never discussed their supernatural heritage, he had always assumed that it was because Elizabeth was an orphan and she had ended up in Lima living with a distant relative that didn't have any trace of supernatural vibe to her, hence making the subject taboo in her household.

But now he wondered if she was simply not sure about Burt's own knowledge on the subject, or even possible reactions, if he was honest he could admit to have never been that interested in properly grooming that side of himself. He was more than happy to pass his live as a good mechanic, restoring cars to their original beauty.

He always felt too out of place in the sanctuaries, or trying to fly with other dragons living in the neighbourhood. He was nothing as impressive as the others, his own scales dull and his wings barely able to lift him off the ground and be serviceable, nothing like the spectacular acrobatics of the likes of Alexander Smythe or even Matt McNamara.

But that was still at a time when Lizzy was still alive. When she died, he simply didn't want to see the signs of what losing his mate had done to him, he had a normal kid, who apparently wasn't really normal at all, and in his grief he never looked deeper.

But something must have happened, because for the first time his son smelled like mint honey and rosemary, not at all like the sweet vanilla and ginger that was Lizzy’s scent, nor his own sandalwood and musk, nor was his son’s scent a mingle of those two scents as it would have been for a youngling.

Kurt had already grown into his own individual, and Burt had not prepared him yet for what it meant to be a dragon... And on top of that his kid was more than ready to leave and abandon this small town to live his life as soon as possible, giving Burt even less time to try to remedy to the many years they had already lost.

He was wondering exactly what happened for Kurt to break through, what probably was meant to be a temporary block that Lizzy had put on their child when he was very young, maybe to help him control his emotions, preventing emotional escalation and incidents that could have revealed their supernatural status to people without any prior knowledge of it, in a traumatic way.

"Let's go take a ride son and you can tell me what happened in details"

Kurt blinked confused, he had seen his dad looking at him rather surprised and then contemplative, and to be honest Kurt hadn't really intended to say or let his dad know that something had happened, mainly because he couldn't really explain it, he wasn't sure what had happened, even if he was sure something did…

While lying to his dad had not been an option, even when he managed to keep his mouth shut, preventing what seemed insane rambling to escape his lips, a part of him had wanted to just obey.

Somehow recognising the authority Burt still had over him, and it was a strange feeling, nothing like he had felt before, not that he didn't respect his dad, but at the same time he had never felt compelled to cower enough to tell him the whole truth…

As they walked out the garage Burt said softly "Do you want us to take the Navigator or shall we take my truck? We are going to do some off the road driving"

Kurt looked at his dad through slitted eyes, "I'll tell Finn to get a lift to pick my baby and take her home, we're taking your car to go wherever you want us to go, without me having to scrub mud from my baby for the next fortnight."

Burt chuckled and while Kurt took care of talking with Finn, he made a quick call to Carole telling her that something had happened with Kurt beside him breaking up with his boyfriend, and that he needed to get to the end of it, see if he could get his son to talk, and that he would tell her later what he found out...

He left behind that probably what he was going to share was going to be an edited version of what happened if his suspicions were proved correct. Burt, in a sudden strike of inspiration grabbed from the locker room Kurt's coverall and the changing bag his son had taken to keep here at the garage, if his nose wasn't wrong, then those might come in hand to make their journey back home more comfortable if things went wrong.

It took less than Burt remembered to reach the sanctuary's valley, and the closer they got, the more he could see Kurt's fascination growing, "So buddy what else happened, tell me please, even if it sounds crazy I want to know what went down with you"

Kurt looked a little worried before starting speaking "This might end up sounding crazy, but it felt like something broke, and at the same time it felt like I was free to fly for the first time... The way Blaine was speaking was making me so mad, and I know, I know I promised mom that I would never try to go with violence as a way to find a solution to an unpleasant situation. But I swear if you could have heard the bullshit he was saying, he was so condescending... Did you know that they are all assuming that just because Rachel got her acceptance letter from Nyada, that I would be automatically rejected? And I mean Rachel choked on her audition... If she did get in and I didn't I’m not even sure I'd want to get into a school with such screwed up criteria of selection."

Burt nodded, in that sea of words there were some things that clearly resonated with him. If Lizzy thought she and Kurt were the only dragons in their family then she probably had put a block around Kurt's powers to keep them tamed while he was growing up. Probably expecting to be there when he should have started to learn control over his abilities, around his twelfth birthday…

Burt hummed and nodded, totally understanding his son's point of view, and then prompted "And how did it felt? I'm not judging, but you sounded more surprised rather than upset about this whole ordeal"

Kurt took a deep breath and looked outside the window "I felt free... Like things were finally right, and Blaine, Blaine felt all wrong. Like I couldn't even believe why I had him in my life, like he wasn't supposed to be next to me at all. And it made me mad seeing that he wasn't even listening to me. I was there, telling him I was done with him and he left saying that he would not hold against me things I said when I was clearly upset... As if his assumption of me being rejected by one school would be the reason why I'd broke up with him, and it wasn't for example how he expected me to stay in Lima for another year until he graduated, in the meanwhile while I would surely fail again to get into nyada because he was applying..."

Kurt's rage was rapidly brewing up, and Burt could hear his son's breathing slowly turning into steam, only for his son to surprise him taking a deep breath and exhaling it with just a low hiss.

"He made me so mad I really fished to roast him, incinerate him right there where he standed, but alas even if I could have done that it was going to create so many problems that it wouldn't have been worth the satisfaction of doing it..."

Burt grinned amazed at his son's natural control, or maybe it was just that he trained in a whole different way than Burt himself had been trained...

He stopped the car and then patted his son on the shoulder "You did good son, I'm so proud of you, now come with me there's something I need to show you,"

Kurt felt himself preening under the unexpected praise. Burt directed them to what looked like the edge of a rather deep canyon, and Kurt looked worried at his father as he asked questioning "Dad?"

Burt smiled softly, in a way that Kurt hadn't seen since before his mom got sick "Buddy I don't know how else to do this, and I really wish your mom was here to help me out, so please forgive me for what I'm about to do."

The words made Kurt's blood freeze inside his veins, and in less than a second Burt had taken three steps back and was falling over the edge.

Without even realising he was moving, Kurt dived in after his father, and all of a sudden his vision changed, the world got blurred for a moment and the image of Burt falling body blurred as well, before being replaced by a bulky reptilian dragon, with sturdy wings to carry the compact body.

Kurt felt the wind offering resistance to his fall, and in a blink of an eye what was resistance was actually offering him support. Instead of keeping him from falling, like it had seemed in the beginning, Kurt found himself raising up above the canyon and into the sky.

And the dragon that used to be where his father was, suddenly raised up into the sky as well, emitting a sound that Kurt knew were not words, but that he could surprisingly understand anyway. They were directions telling him to land down on the clearing in the middle of the trees on their left. Kurt saw exactly the spot and dive in with surgical precision, landing exactly where he wanted, on the sandy patch on the lake shore.

Once there, in what felt a little mixed up curiosity and vanity he peered on the water to see his own reflection, and discovering that indeed he looked like a dragon too, he could see a silvery reflection, and he could feel something in on the top of his head, floating, he instinctively knew those appendices were having the same function as a cat’s whiskers.

As he tried to look at himself the only difference he could see, compared to what he saw of his dad, was that where his father was compact and sturdy, with wings short and strong, his own figure seemed to be made for agility and precision, his wings complimenting his agile body shining in the afternoon light.

With a lot less grace than Kurt had, Burt landed in the middle of the clearing where the grass was, he then turned into his human form to smile at his son "You did well buddy, now can you figure out how to return to your human form or do we need to find a way for you to get home this way?" the tone was teasing, and Kurt wasn’t amused at all.

He didn’t know exactly how it happened, but he could distinctly feel the need to express his frustration into a way this form’s language would not be able to properly express.

There was no such sound he could find that would carry on the meaning of your stunt scared me to death or the you don't get to make jokes like that.

There were some words that could be translated but even putting them together Kurt knew they wouldn't be able to carry on the same message he needed to rant at his father.

So there was no other option but having access to his human mouth, that was what he needed at the moment, and without even realising what he did, Kurt found himself standing in front of his grinning father.

He took exactly ten milliseconds of taking in his father’s expression for him to take a breath and starting to deliver a well deserved dressing down to the other man for his actions.

"How could you do that to me? I was scared to death, you made me think you were committing suicide in front of me. It sounded like you were saying goodbye and instead you just wanted to go for a fly? What the heck dad? Come on couldn't you have sat with me, safely inside your truck, and told me calmly Kurt we are dragons we can transform in giant flying reptiles and that's ok it's just who we are and there's nothing wrong with it, and then maybe actually telling me how that happened instead of jumping that way???"

If Kurt had been less scared and traumatised, maybe then he would have noticed the mischievous look into his father's eyes, as things were he completely missed that and when Burt opened his mouth and started answering Kurt’s immediate reaction was to groan "Well son, when a female dragon meets a male dragon and they love each other very much, they end up mating in human form, and the the female becomes pregnant, and then their offspring has high chances of having their supernatural heritage as well, meaning that he is born a dragon as well..."

Kurt scoffed irritated "Funny dad, very funny ah-ha"

Burt chuckle stopped and he sighed softly as well before saying sincerely "I'm sorry Kurt, I didn't want to scare you or upset you that much. I just didn't know how to do this. And I really didn't want to do to you what my pa did"

Kurt raised an eyebrow in silent question as he crossed his arms on his chest, realising for the first time that he was wearing clothes, and that those ere not the ones he had on before he transformed...

Burt shrugged and offered a tight smile "He was doing very much a lion king scene, you know that moment when Mufasa is telling to Simba about one day having to rule over all that was touched by the sun moment…”

Kurt nodded slowly releasing his arms listening as Burt continued "Only for him to then give me a pat on the back that sent me flying over the edge, making me feel like I was falling to my death before I figured out how to transform and fly"

At the scandalised look that Kurt was sending his way he simply shrugged "These were other times buddy, and I was a lot younger than you are... He didn't know any better, and that was exactly how his father had been taught him."

Kurt wrinkled his nose unsatisfied "I'm not sure I would have like any of those options…”

Burt scratched the back of his head and said wistfully "All I knew for sure was that I didn't want to do that to you, like ever, but now I'm not so sure my own was that much better"

Kurt sent him a levelled glare and shook his head, Burt then continued "But I had promised myself that I wouldn't do that to my son"

Kurt's eyes softened, as Burt finished softly "I wish your mom was here, she would have probably have handled all of this a lot better than I am"

Kurt smiled softly "If you can manage to avoid other scares like that, I'd appreciate it very much, but it's not like you're doing a terrible job of it dad"

Burt hummed softly and grinned "If you think you can figure out how to shift at will we can then head home and call it a day, putting all of this behind us."

Kurt attempted the shift a few more times, each time getting faster and easier than the time before. He kept repeating the action until both of them were satisfied with the results.

Burt smiled proudly and said "You are doing great son, once we're at home we'll get you a couple of books that will be useful and that you really need to read before leaving town."

Kurt nodded and simply followed his dad, they both shifted into their dragon form and flew to the car, before driving back home.

Once they reached the house, Carole hugged them both and then offered Kurt a sealed envelope "This was waiting for you when I arrived home."

It was the Nyada's letter Kurt was waiting for. As soon as he took it in his hands, and it got within Burt’s sniffing distance, his dad frowned and took a step closer so he could read its content over Kurt's shoulder, as he opened it up and read the school’s decision. ~End of Part 1 of 4~ Next

#kadam week 2021 #vcg73 #kadam fic #kadam #glee #glee prompts filling #my kadam fic #my glee fic #kadam glee #long post #it's a fic what did you expect #my writing is not suited for tumblr #~23.3K wc of story divided in 4 parts #part 1 of 4

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simmonsofshield · 4 years

Text

The Last Thing

Pairings: Y/N Stacy & Peter Parker

Summary: Peter is not dealing with his friend’s death very well. Loosely based on true and personal events.

Words: ~2900

Warnings: Mentions of death. Yelling. Blaming.

A/N: AU, Peter and Gwen are friends. Y/N is Gwen’s older sister. Gwen is an Avenger and has been in all the fights instead of Peter. This is for @jbbarnesnnoble‘s mental health awareness challenge. I chose “How do you even begin to move on?” It won’t be a quote, but it’ll be in bold. Takes place after Endgame.

Dear Peter,

I’m not going to beat around the bush. I’ve never been known to anyways. If you’re reading this, that means I’m either dead or in some sort of close-to-death coma, probably the former.

I’m writing this the day before I leave for Berlin. Sorry I didn’t tell you about it but Tony Stark came to me so I’m assuming it has to stay on the DL. Yeah, you read that right. Tony freaking Stark! He hasn’t told me much but I’m assuming some sort of drama with the Accords. Why he came to me and not you, I’m not sure. Maybe just because I go out more and there’s more youtube videos of me than you. Or maybe he didn’t want the “friendly neighborhood Spiderman.” He wanted someone tougher. Haha just kidding.

Anywho... back to the reason for this letter. I want you to take my place. Queens still needs someone to take care of it, and since I’m no longer around, it’s gotta be you. We were both in that lab and got bit by those radioactive spiders. Who thought making spiders radioactive was a good idea anyways? We went through all the weird hardships with these new powers together and managed without anyone finding out….except my sister. (and apparently Tony Stark.)

Speaking of Y/N, I’m putting her in your care. You are now responsible for her. I’m only kind of sorry. She’s the only one that knows about this letter.

Hopefully you don’t have to read this immediately following this impromptu trip to Berlin, or at all in 2016. Or, you know, ever. Hopefully I can grow old and retire SpiderGwen. Wait, those are two different things, let me rephrase that: hopefully I can stop saving the day around 25 and then retire when I’m old and wrinkly and burn this letter so you never have to even know it existed.

If you are reading this and made it this far, I want you to know that I believe in you. It is hard being a hero. Sometimes you have to make tough decisions, but you’re a smart guy. I know you will be great. Better than me, probably.

You’re the best basically-brother I could ever ask for. Spiderman is destined for great things. I know it.

Gwen

Present day, May 2023

When it first happened - when half the universe was brought back - Y/N came looking for Peter immediately. After that first weird day back to school, she found him..and that was weird too. She used to only be one year older than him and Gwen, and now she was clearly 6 years older than him. She’d asked if he’d seen her in class, and he said no. She covered her mouth and started crying right there. It confused him at the time, but in hindsight, he realized she knew at that moment that Gwen was dead. Her family got the call from Nick Fury himself that night.

Besides the big bad, Thanos he thinks, there were only two casualties. “Only” two on the heroes side, when there’s usually zero. They were Gwen and Tony Stark. So not only did Peter lose his best friend, he lost his idol as well, and even though he never got to meet him, it still hurts. A little. He died bringing back the half of humanity that was blipped, a truly heroic act, but Gwen died so that that could happen. She’s hardly ever mentioned in news reports or anything.

It’s been almost two months. TWO.

Peter read the letter again. He did almost once a day. The fold creases were already very worn and the page had been stained with tears many times over. He still just couldn’t believe she was actually gone. Being brought back after getting blipped was enough to deal with but now his closest friend was dead. What was the most frustrating was that he didn’t know how. He wasn’t allowed to. SHIELD classified it and only the immediate family could know. You hadn’t told him everything, but you did say something about her getting caught in some crossfire. That’s all you were allowed to say.

He sat in the stairwell of his and Aunt May’s Queens apartment while he waited for you to arrive. He was zoned out thinking and didn’t even hear you come up the stairs.

“Peter?” he snapped back to reality and looked at you, eyes sad, “you ready?”

He nodded and stood up, shoving his hands in his shorts pockets. He trudged down the stairs and met you at the landing, then walking side by side down the rest to ground level. Exiting the complex, you put your arm around his shoulders walking the already too familiar route. What had happened was still fresh and you two had decided to visit Gwen’s grave once a week, tell her what had been going on, if anything.

The first few times were okay, but recently, Peter hadn’t been saying anything. He just kneels in front of her grave, head down, and cries. You really felt for the kid, you did. His parents died when he was 6, his uncle Ben 3 years ago (since he was blipped), and now his best friend-basically-sister. He’s only 16 and has dealt with more death than anyone at that age should. How do you even begin to move on? The gaps are big, but that doesn’t make any of them hurt less. Especially when they’re all family.

After a few minutes of silent sobs, you place your hand on his shoulder. He stands up and steps aside, so you can have your time. You look at him and give him a soft smile of thanks. He looks at you for a millisecond before looking back at the ground, wiping away stray tears.

You approach her gravestone, putting your hand on it, brushing your fingers along it and tracing the letters of her name. You speak softly, as if just to her. “Gwenny, I need help. Your help. This has been hard on Peter. You were his best friend and now he just seems like a lost puppy without you around. I know he has Ned and MJ, but a big chunk of him is missing without you here,” you cough out a sob, “I just want the old Petey back. I don’t expect it tomorrow, or next week, or even next month, but I need it. I want some sort of normalcy back in my life,” your next sob comes out with a little bit of a laugh, “look at me, talking to a grave like I’m talking to an actual human. You’d totally give me crap for this.” you sigh, “It’s just-- being six years older than him now instead of just one makes it hard. We’re in such different places in our lives. He just finished his freshman year of high school, and I’m in college now...” you trail off, forgetting where you were going with it. Standing up, you give one last tap to the gravestone. “Bring him back. Oh-” You dig in your purse and pull out a charm bracelet. You crouch back down and lay it right next to the base where the grass is a little bit taller. You wear an identical one. “Mom and dad are doing fine..well, as well as you could expect. There are some rough nights, but we’re managing.”

Emotions were still running high at home. You’d lost your sister, and your parents, their youngest child. There was a lot of fighting and blaming, despite heroism being Gwen’s choice. She’d told you once that she’d been given the powers for a reason. If bad things happened and she did nothing, it was basically her fault. You never really agreed with the sentiment, but she insisted and went on helping out the people of Queens, eventually roping Peter into it.

A lot of the time the blame fell on you, your father wondering why you weren’t with Gwen and Peter the day they got bit. You take it, as it’s his way of mourning and relieving his anger. He’s looking for answers that he’ll never get. Your mom is mostly silent, save for the fights. You two usually end up drinking a bottle or two of wine before tottling off to bed, drowning your sorrows.

The walk back is silent, as usual. You were both mourning and it was always emotionally draining after a visit and hard to make conversation. You’re about 2/3 of the way back before you decide to try. “I, uh, noticed you had the letter in the stairwell.” You feel a shift and see as his hand goes to his pocket. “Pete, why?” You sigh, not in disappointment, mostly in exhaustion but a little bit of curiosity too.

He looks down, an exhale coming from his nose, “It’s the last thing I have of her.”

You let out a soft gasp. That hadn’t even crossed your mind, it was the last physical thing Gwen had touched and given - by way of you - to him. “Oh, Petey.” You run your fingers through his hair a few times before letting your arm rest limply over his shoulders. He pushes it off, stopping in his tracks and looks at you with an expression you don’t recognize. He mumbles something and you stop waking as well, leaning forward a little. “Peter?”

“Tony did this.”

“To-”

“Tony Stark! He’s the one who recruited her. He’s the one that put her on this path.” he paces back and forth in anger. “If it weren’t for him, she wouldn’t be a part of the Avengers and she wouldn’t be dead.”

“Peter...” you know what he’s doing. In fact, you went through and did the same thing just a couple weeks ago. “You know he’s not to blame. She’s the one who wanted to help the community, just like you,” you reasoned, “it was only a matter of time before she caught the eye of the Avengers.”

He ignored you, turning on his heels. “I need to talk to him.”

“Y-you can’t. Peter..” you stand there, stunned for a moment, “Peter.” you call out. He doesn’t respond and you quickly move from your place on the sidewalk and jog a little to try to catch up. You forgot how quickly he could walk when he was on a mission. “Peter!”

“What?!” he turns around, fire in his eyes. You actually cower a little, never hearing this tone come out of his mouth before.

“Uhm..” your voice is meek at first as you try to figure out what to say and recover from the surprise his outburst gave you, “you can’t go talk to Tony.”

“And why not?”

“He,” you swallow the lump in your throat, speaking softly not out of fear now, but to bring down the information as delicately as you could, “he died that night too. Remember?”

He blinks and there seems to be a flicker of remembrance and realization. It quickly changes back to anger and he looks you dead in the eyes, pointing. “Then it’s your fault!”

“W-what?”

“Yeah. You’re the one that let her go to Berlin. She would’ve listened to you. If you had told her no, she wouldn’t have gone. It’s your fault!” he continues pointing his finger at you, his voice rising as he talked. You hadn’t even realized you were moving until you were suddenly backed into the wall of a corner store, or maybe a restaurant, you didn’t really take the time to figure out where you were on the street.

You could feel your breath beginning to shallow the more he talked. You had no idea what was going to happen, and with him being enhanced, he was unpredictable. “Peter...” was all you could muster up, hoping just saying his name would somehow take him out of this trance he was in. It didn’t work and if you hadn’t looked down to look away from his face, you wouldn’t have noticed his other hand beginning to ball into a fist. Your eyes widened and you looked back at him, tears threatening to fall. “Peter, please.”

It didn’t phase him. “It’s your fault!” he yells and you see his fist rise and you dodge out of the way in the nick of time, now in a crouched position.

You hear his fist connect with the wall, “Fuck!” Under different circumstances, you’d be surprised and sarcastically scold him because you’ve never heard him swear, ever. At the moment though, you’re now seated against the wall, breathing hard and tears falling silently.

“Y/N?” He crouches down and puts a hand on your shoulder, which you slink away from. At this point, as if it were a movie, mother nature decided it had to rain. All you hear is the soft pattering of the rain on the sidewalk for a moment before you hear some soft whimpering. You look around, and see a few feet from you, Peter sitting and hugging his knees, head down.

You stand up, and walk over to him, not announcing your presence in any way, and sit next to him. Taking his hand in yours, you begin inspecting his knuckles. “You’re lucky you have super strength. Otherwise that wall would have done a number on your hand. More than just some scratches and it looks like probably some bruising.” The only reply you get is some breathy sobs. “Okay,” keeping his hand in yours, you stand up and urge him up too, “let’s get you home.”

He doesn’t argue and slowly begins to walk home, with your aid. Your arm is once again around his shoulders and he doesn’t push it away this time. The whole walk back is silent, as expected. The both of you now more tired than before, physically and emotionally.

When you arrive back at Peter’s apartment, you enter, May leaving it unlocked. She’s on the couch watching tv. She turns around with a smile to greet you guys, but it quickly turns to a frown when she sees the state the two of you are in. You see her mouth open about to ask a question and you shake your head. She closes it and stands, walking over to Peter’s bedroom door and opening it for the two of you. You nod a thank you and walk in.

Peter still seems to be in a daze when you sit him down at his desk. You scan his room looking for a towel, seeing clothes and books strewn about, assuming he ‘lost’ his backpack again. “Well, I see you have a project for tomorrow,” you try to joke, despite the fact that you began picking up his clothes and putting them in the hamper in his closet. You hear a soft hmm? and look over at him. He’s looking at you, eyes red but only a little puffy.

You finally find his bath towel, halfway under his bed. Picking it up, you shake it a couple times to get any dust bunnies off and walk over to him. You can feel his eyes on you as you dry the rain off his arms and legs, but you continue. You dab off his neck and rub his hair a few times, getting as much off as you can before moving to his face. He jerks away and wipes his forehead with his arm before looking at you, as if studying you. You sit back a little, unsure, wondering what he’s going to do.

He takes a deep breath like he’s trying to gather the courage to speak to you. It takes a couple more seconds before he does. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh Peter,” you coo softly, “it’s okay.”

He slaps his hand on his desk, “No it’s not!” seeing you jump, he realized what he did, “s-sorry.” he says barely above a whisper.

“It’s not,” you agree, “but you’re mourning. I’m going through the same thing at home. You know this. I can take a few angry words.”

“But I blamed you, tried to hurt you.”

You nod, “I will admit I was a little scared when you tried to hit me,” he looks down, scared to make eye contact, “but,” you use your finger to lift his chin, “I got out of the way and you didn’t. Guess I gotta thank Gwen for taking me to some of those self defense classes so I could help her train.” You say the last part with a smile.

For what you’re pretty sure is the first time that night, Peter smiles too. You use your hand and wipe away the remaining tears on his face. “There he is.”

You get up on your knees, about to stand up, when he pulls you into a hug. You let out at squeak of surprise but quickly melt into it. Then, you suddenly begin to cry.

“Y/N?” he doesn’t pull out of the hug but you can hear the concern in his voice.

You sniffle and wipe away your tears, letting out a kind of cry-laugh. “I’m just glad, that at least for tonight, you’re back to the Peter that I know. I’ve missed your smile.” You feel him hug you a little tighter.

For Avory

#JBBNNMHAMChallenge #Peter Parker x reader #(platonic yall)#peter parker & reader #gwen stacy #spiderman #spider man #spider-man #spidergwen #spider gwen #peter parker

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