#how can something feel SO MUCH like texas chainsaw but actually be SO DIFFERENT SO MUCH THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION IT WAS!!!!!!!!

[ambreiiigns]

yesterday i watched intruder 1989 btw funniest shit i ever seen

[pinkeoni]

Will Byers: The Final Girl

Looking more at Will through Carol J. Clover's Men, Women, and Chain Saws

After making this post about Will's gender expression in which I referenced and was inspired by Carol J. Clover's book Men, Women, and Chain Saws, a book which was mentioned in this article, an article which brought to my attention my Mori motherthroat, I have since made it through the books introduction and have gotten all the way to the end... of the first chapter. Like I said, I'm a slow reader.

But it's within this first chapter that Clover actually talks about the Final Girl trope, something that I, and others, have suggested that Will falls into.

And to be honest, I didn't quite get the Final Girl labelling of Will until I started reading Clover's book and made my analysis. But now, it all makes sense. So I wanted to do a deeper dive into Will as the Final Girl of the show, how he embodies this trope, and how he subverts it.

Defining Will as a "Final Girl"

The idea of Will being the Final Girl is a way to allow Will to have the masculine hero role that the creators seem to be teasing for him, without sacrificing his more feminine role of victim. The term victim-hero that I used in my original post is one that I got from Clover herself, which she uses in reference to final girls. Final girls spend the majority of their film suffering at the hands of the killer (victim) before eventually turning the tables and getting revenge (hero) or is saved by an outside force, typically (but not always) a male one.

The Final Girl idea for Will doesn't come out of nowhere either, as the show itself plays with slasher tropes. Season one opens with a culling from the killer with the initial lab sequence, and dialogue from Brenner suggests that there were other victims, with only Will being left as the lone survivor. Season four feels more slasher-y, with the kills being on screen and the killer actually given a name and a face (making Max somewhat effectively the Final Girl for that season) and the season ends with the idea that the killer is still on the loose, with emphasis given to his connection with Will.

Carol J. Clover describes Final Girls as follows:

“The Final Girl is boyish, in a word. Just as the killer is not fully masculine, she is not fully feminine—not, in any case, feminine in the ways of her friends. Her smartness, gravity, competence in mechanical and other practical matters, and sexual reluctance set her apart from the other girls and ally her, ironically, with the very boys she fears or rejects, not to speak of the killer himself.”

Where Final Girls are often boyish girls, Will is a girlish boy. So it's not just the narrative that aligns him with other Final Girls, it's his characterization as well. His non-conformity to gender norms, as well as his romantic reluctancy, is part of the trope.

This is most notably exemplified in season three, when Will is unable to relate to the heterosexual-romance drama that his other male friends seem to be intertwined with. Even Dustin, who doesn't share much time with the main crew this season, had a girlfriend, something that allied him to Mike and Lucas and set Will apart.

In season one Will feels more Sally at the end of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, after being tortured for the last chunk of the film by the slaughterhouse family, Sally makes her escape on the back of a pickup truck. Will spends most of the season evading the killer (who we later learn to be Vecna) until he is rescued by Hopper and Joyce. Will and Sally never turn a weapon against the killer, but they endure, out last, and survive long enough to be rescued.

But Sally's case is just one way that the Final Girl story can end, and you're more likely to find a different kind of ending— with the Final Girl turning the tables on the killer and getting back at him. Sometimes, but not always, by brandishing the killers own type of weapon against him.

So now we're in a post-vol. 2 world where the killer is still at large, Will has been confirmed several times now to be the center of the final season, it's said to be Will's "coming-of-age" story and the killer's reign can't last forever.

Clover talks about "phallicization" when describing the journey of the Final Girl.

"The tale is no less one of maleness. If the experience of childhood can be—is perhaps ideally—enacted in female form, the breaking away requires the assumption of a phallus. The helpless child is gendered feminine; the autonomous adult of subject is gendered masculine; the passage from childhood to adulthood entails a shift from feminine to masculine."

But is that really the answer? For Will to wield a weapon against Vecna and brutally kill him? For Will's femininity to be framed as something that needs to be overcome?

To go in the opposite direction (castration) hardly seems like a solution either, especially considering that the phallus belongs to gay man. To castrate would be to suggest that the phallus— sexuality— is one that is dangerous and needs to be removed.

So how do we find a middle ground, one that maintains the phallus without eliminating Will's feminine character traits? And is there a solution suggested in the text?

Oh rod motif, you never get old

In episode one the phallus is represented as something destructive, the rifle, which Will puts down and arguably because so, was afforded more time than if he had used it.

As the series marches on, the phallus never goes away— it just transforms.

The phallus has gone from something of fear and destruction to a representation of love and creation. But Will has yet to self actualize because the above scene is also an act of castration because Will doesn't claim proper ownership over the painting. The phallus is a beautiful display of love, but only if it belongs to someone else.

The show may have (unsubtly) foreshadowed this self actualization as it relates to the phallus and the defeat of Vecna.

And I don't really think that people at this point want to spend the rest of the post reading about Will with powers theoretics so I'll just leave the suggestion there for now and allow you to come to your own conclusions.

Final (Girl) Thoughts

The idea that heroism is male and victimization is female is an idea that is as old as and older than Odysseus, but that isn't to necessarily say that heroism and self-actualization is a purely male idea, something that may have been contended by the existence of Final Girl herself.

"At the moment that the Final Girl becomes her own savior, she becomes a hero; and the moment that she becomes a hero is the moment that the male viewer gives up the last pretense of male identification. Abject terror may still be gendered feminine, but the willingness of one immensely popular current genre to re-represent the hero as an anatomical female would seem to suggest that at least one of the traditional marks of heroism, triumphant self-rescue, is no longer strictly gendered masculine."

[warmaidensrevenge]

Always seen you.

Pairing: Eddie x Insecure!Fem plus size reader

If you want to read my other work you can find it HERE

A/N: Hi! Welcome to my not so mini anymore series. This is part 5. If you would like to read the other parts, you can click the link above. I update it with every fic post. Thanks for reading. As always feedback is greatly appreciated. Kay love you bye.

Warnings: Language, angst, fluff, body insecurities, secret pining, slow burn, sexual implications, and eventual smut. Not proof read and no word count.

Summary: The boy of your dreams is always just out of reach. If only you could get over yourself to see that he sees you too.

Part 5

🖤

A couple of weeks went by and you and Eddie spent more time together. Watching movies mostly. He wanted to ask you if you would like to sit with him and his buddies at lunch a few times. But he was actually afraid you would say no.

One afternoon he was pretty upset when he got to the Hellfire room. You were in there already setting up the little spot on the couch. It started to get cold the past few days so you had brought blankets and pillows.

You must have noticed he was off when you made a comment.

" You're usually quiet today Munson."

" Uhh yeah sorry."

" What's up?"

Eddie handed you the movie and threw himself on the couch.

" I...failed Mrs O'Donnell pop quiz today."

You sat next to him.

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. To be fair her pop quizzes are a bit hard. She always uses vernaculars of the time period she's teaching. So sometimes it's a little hard to understand."

Eddie turned his head to look at you. " You took her class?"

" Yeah. Freshman year."

You guys sat quietly for a moment. Then you had something almost like an epiphany. You finally found an in with your parents.

" Eddie? I have an idea."

" Tutor me."

" How did you-...yeah. That's exactly what I was thinking."

Eddie couldn't help the smile that stretched across his lips. If you tutored him, he could spend even more time with you.

" Yeah. It's a really good idea. I would appreciate all the help you can give me."

You got up and went to put the movie in and when you sat back down. He covered you with a blanket.

His smile got bigger when he saw your cheeks fill with red again. And when you smiled his heart started to flutter.

God you were so damn pretty. He could just kiss you. But no. Not right now. Hopefully soon though. Every second you guys spent together made it harder and harder for him to control himself.

He even stopped hooking up with cougars. Though he really needed the release after every time you guys hung out. He never took up the offers.

Today however was a bit different. He picked out The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It was a gruesome scary movie. Which freaked even him out because they were just regular people doing scary shit. So he knew you would probably be scared. And iff you were scared you might need to hold his hand.

He had been craving your touch since the hug. Wanting to hug you every time he saw you. He wondered what your body felt like next to his. Waking up snuggling with you. To touch your body. To kiss you. But he had to stop. Stop thinking about you like that. Well not until he was sure.

See the only person he talked to about you was his uncle. But all Wayne ever offered was logical solutions for his problems.

Normally he could say what was in his mind. But when it came to you, he couldn't. It was hard for him to deal with his emotions and even hard to talk about them. Especially when it came to being bullied. Sure he could hide the hurt, but it really took a toll on him.

He thought maybe it wouldn't be such a good idea if you got involved with him. He didn't want what was happening to him to happen to you too. He would hate to hear people calling you a freak. There was so much on his plate already and he was struggling with his feelings for you.

"Stop screwing around. Just tell her boy...Get yourself a nice smart girl. It's about time you outta."

Wayne's words echoed in his head. You were nice, smart and very beautiful. You could pick anyone you wanted. So why would you pick him?

Eddie's insecurities came back with a vengeance. Even if you wanted to be with him, it wouldn't last. You would eventually see that he had no real future. When he did finally graduate, he was planning on getting the hell out of Hawkins. Maybe pursue a music career. He liked working with his hands, so maybe something in construction.

Obviously pick something that was not good enough for you. You should be with someone who had a bright future ahead of them. Just like you.

He always felt like he wasn't good enough. For anything. Not a good enough son, or nephew. Not a good enough student or musician. So he clearly thought he wouldn't be a good enough boyfriend either.

All those things silently shouted at him daily. But they all seem to shut the fuck up when he was with you. Well that was until you would look at him. He loved how you looked at him. No one has ever looked at him like that before. It made him feel like he was the only guy in the world for you. Making him think that he might have a chance with you.

Then when you would quickly look away because he made you nervous. He felt that nervousness too. It was just a little harder to breathe around you. His heart beats faster when he was with you. His stomach flips when he sees you smile.

Eddie had to admit, he was a fool in love. When he was with you, he thought about all the possibilities.

You guys could be with each other, go on dates, grow together, go through struggles, build a stronger relationship, maybe one day move in with one another and be happy... together. The possibilities were endless. He just had to see if you felt the same. Because even though the relationship might crash and burn, at least he can say he was truly happy when he was with you.

Your teeth chattering brought him back to the present. He actually looked at the movie and it was about twenty minutes in. He looked at you and you were shivering. That's when he pulled back his blanket without thinking.

" Hey sweetheart. Come here. I... I run hot."

You gave him a nervous look.

" It's okay. If you don't want to, you can have my blanket."

" Umm..no...I don't want you to get sick."

He gave you a soft smile and opened his arms so you could come to him.

You cleared your throat and scooted closer. Just before you leaned your back against his chest you looked at him.

" Uhh. If I'm too much..let me know okay."

He was confused. "What do you mean?"

" I..." You hung your head and spoke just above a whisper. "If I'm too heavy please-"

" Hey" he cut you off and lifted your chin to make you look at him before putting his hand back on his thigh. " Even if you were too heavy, which you're not by the way. I would rather you squish me than for you to be cold. But I swear you're not heavy... Remember when I helped you to the nurse's office? You weren't heavy then and you won't be heavy now. Okay? Now come here so I can warm you up."

This was it. This was the moment that your liking for Eddie Munson turned to love. He couldn't be more perfect if he tried.

You nodded and snuggled up against him. He pulled both blankets on you two. He was right. He was incredibly warm. This was something you could get used to.

You guys continued to watch the movie. Every kill, you would bury your face in his chest. Making his heart race. His arms wrapped you up tight every time. Then when you looked back at the screen he would loosen his grip. Even if it was just a movie, he wanted you to feel safe.

The movie was about half way through when the door to the drama room opened.

" Munson! Dude Jeff came up with-"

You and Eddie both sat up, moving a little bit away from each other.

"Gareth man what are you doing here?!" Eddie nearly shouted

" Hey to you too." Gareth said.

"Hey y/n."

" H-Hi Jeff." You said nervously.

Eddie looked back and forth between his friends and you. He didn't know you knew Jeff.

" What are you guys doing?" Gareth asked

" Uhh just watching a movie." Eddie and you said at the same time.

Gareth narrowed his eyes at Eddie and he narrowed his eyes back. Then smirked.

" Oh cool! Can I watch it too?" Jeff said squeezing between you and Eddie.

" Oh nice. Texas Chainsaw Massacre...this movie is brutal." Jeff said.

Eddie. Was. Pissed. He wanted to tell them to get the hell out of there. But he didn't.

Gareth came and pulled up a chair next to Eddie.

Gareth started to whisper to him. " Dude. I didn't know you were hanging out with her."

Eddie gave him a thin lip smile. He looked over to you. You and Jeff were chatting away. Eddie felt a wave of jealousy wash over him seeing you laugh at Jeff's jokes. He looked away trying to distract himself.

Gareth saw his best friend get irritated that they were there. He wanted to tell Eddie why they came in the first place. But Jeff now threw himself into the mix. So one friend wanted to stay and the other wanted them to leave.

Thankfully for Gareth but not you or Eddie someone else came in.

...

Mrs Adler was heading to the room to grab her list of plays as well as some fabric. She suddenly heard a chainsaw and a girl screaming. She opened the door.

" Mr Munson what did I say about sacrifices on school property?" She joked.

When the kids saw her they all stood up. Like they were hiding something. She narrowed her eyes at them. That's when she noticed you were there. A smirk creeped across her lips. Her plan seemed to be working.

" Sorry Mrs Adler. We were just watching a movie." You apologized.

Eddie went to pause the movie and looked at you. Shoving his hands in his pockets.

Mrs Adler caught that. She also caught how Jeff never took his eyes off you too.

" That's quite alright. I just came to grab a few things. Please feel free to continue."

Mrs Adler could feel the kids eyes on her as she went through some stuff. She grabbed three rolls of fabric and was going for a fourth when you came to help her.

" Thank you dear."

" You're welcome. Is there anything else you want me to grab for you?"

" Umm yes can you grab that pink roll for me and those two books." She pointed at the table.

You were gonna reach for them but Eddie grabbed them first along with taking the few rolls of fabric from Mrs Adler.

" Oh thank you Mr. Munson."

Eddie gave her a half smile. Which turned into a full blown smile when you smiled at him.

Mrs Adler snickered to herself. " umm oh gonna need that list on the table."

You went for it but now Jeff wanted to help. He picked up the list then took the roll of cloth away from you.

"y/n, Eddie and I can take care of it." Jeff said

" Oh. Umm okay...are you sure?"

Jeff nodded.

You glanced at Eddie and he shrugged.

As the boys helped Mrs Adler put the stuff in her car, she finally found it. 'The wrench'

" Thank you." She said " you guys behave now."

Jeff and Eddie stood there for a second to see her drive away.

" Hey Eddie? Are you and y/n like on a date?"

" Uhh no." He said nervously. " Why?"

" Oh I just didn't know you guys hung out. She's pretty cool. Super smart."

" Yeah. How do you know her?"

" We have math together."

" Oh."

" Yeah."

Eddie could sense Jeff's awkwardness. Did Jeff like you too? He had been Jeff's friend for a long time and he never mentioned liking anyone before. Besides the usual cheerleader or two.

As they walked back into the drama room you were gone.

" Hey where'd she go?" Eddie asked.

" She said she had to go home. Something about tutoring you." Gareth replied.

Eddie smirked to himself. He prayed to the gods that your parents would be cool about it.

He went back to the couch with Jeff.

" So what did you guys want to talk about?"

"I came up with a killer song. It's still in the works. So we're gonna need you to write some words for it." Jeff said

" Yeah? Okay. Let's go over it."

Jeff showed Eddie the music sheet. He could already hear it in his head.

" Shit man! This is good." Eddie grinned.

"Cool. So for your solo I totally thought you could come up with that and the words."

" Yeah. I think I might have something in mind." Eddie smiled thinking about you.

"Do you think it would be ready by Tuesday?" Gareth asked.

Eddie continued to look at the music sheet. "Uhh I'll let you know."

" Dude you're gonna have the ladies swarming you after you play that. Then you could have your pick of the litter and we can totally get the rest." Gareth smirked.

Gareth really didn't mean that. He just said it to see what Eddie's reaction to it was.

When Gareth said that all Eddie could think about was that he didn't want anyone else. That he just wanted you. He became a little uncomfortable at the thought of touching anyone else. He shoved away the thoughts and just sat there half listening to what Jeff and Gareth were talking about.

He already started to miss you. He was actually a little depressed that you didn't say bye. But he was happy that you were gonna talk to your parents.

...

Though it took way too much convincing and your brother vouching for Eddie. Your parents agreed to allow you to tutor him. With two conditions. One was that you guys never be alone in your room. You either had to tutor him in the den or at the dining table. With either your parents somewhere in the vicinity or with your brother present. The other was that it did not interfere with your studies.

When your brother was keeping an "eye" on you, he really wasn't. That's when you got to be alone with Eddie in your room.

As time went on you guys were very comfortable with one another. You guys started opening up to each other more and talking about your hopes and dreams. Getting super close. Not enough to call yourselves a couple. Just really good friends.

Eddie was so excited to see you after lunch one Monday morning. He had a surprise for you. He was waiting in theater class when you finally came in. He pulled you to the corner of the room to talk to you in private.

" Check this out sweetheart."

He held out a small packet. Your eyes widened as you took it.

" You got a C+! Holy Oleo!"

Eddie grinned. " I didn't know you could yodel."

You both smirk at the Batman reference.

" Oh Munson! See I knew you could do it."

" Yeah. It's hardly gonna get my grade up but-"

" It's a start."

He smiled. " Yeah... Thanks."

He was taken back from the impromptu hug you gave him. He didn't know he could miss being in someone's arms as much as he missed yours.

He hugged you back and breathed you in. He wanted to hold onto you forever.

He thought the hug lasted a little longer than normal. But he didn't care. He missed your warmth.

Then you started coughing. You pulled away to turn and cough into your elbow.

That didn't sound right to him. He was gonna ask if you were okay but Mrs Adler started addressing the class to take their seats.

You coughed again and he looked at you worried. Especially when you grabbed your chest like it hurt.

" Okay class. We are gonna watch a movie today. Well not so much a movie but a play. I officially would like to announce what play we will be performing. Drum roll Please."

Someone up front started banging on their desk.

Mrs Adler quickly glanced to the back of the class at you two and grinned. " The Two Gentlemen of Verona"

Most of your classmates didn't know the play. But you sure did. It's a tale of two best friends named Proteus and Valentine. One seeks to travel and the other seeks love. They travel to Milan where they both fall in love with Silvia. Silvia loves Valentine, but Proteus pursues her despite the fact he has a girlfriend at home. After an apology, Proteus and Valentine reconcile, Proteus loves his girlfriend again, and both couples marry.

It was a very good comedy. And you looked forward to whatever rolled you got.

" I will have the casting later on today. Please check out the announcement board to see what roles you will be performing."

Mrs Adler already chose who was gonna play who. But she liked the suspense. After all she was a drama teacher.

...

Ever since you walked home that day to talk to your parents about tutoring Eddie. You were feeling sick. It started to hurt while you breathed. Then you started to feel weak and you didn't really eat that much. Then the coughing started.

You were so tired all the time now. You had a hard time focusing on school work. Even around Eddie you didn't have the energy to feel how you always felt around him.

You finished out the school day with your brother picking you up. You barely had energy to walk to the car. So you avoided going to see what role you were to do. Instead you asked if he could take you to the clinic. Which he did. He had noticed you weren't looking so hot for a few days.

Turns out you got pneumonia. You gotten prescribed antibiotics and had to stay home for a few days. Your parents of course weren't too happy with that. So they picked up all your school work and made sure you finished every assignment.

Eddie hadn't seen you in a couple of days and he was worried. He felt terrible that you ended up that sick. So the first thing he did after he found out was buy a space heater for the drama room. He wanted to make sure you never got sick like that again. He started driving himself insane thinking about you. He missed seeing you. You still tutored him those few days but only over the phone. You seemed to be getting worse.

So that Friday he cancelled his campaign and decided to visit you. You had said something about your parents going out of town for the weekend. So he planned on helping your brother take care of you.

When he showed up your brother answered the door.

" Hey man."

" Hey. What's up? Y/n didn't say you were coming over."

" Yeah. I just came by to drop off some stuff." Eddie said holding a bag up.

" Oh cool. Come on in. She's in her room."

" Thanks man."

Eddie went down the hall. He heard what sounded like a lung being coughed up. When he finally got to your door it was open.

You were sitting up on your bed under the covers doing homework. Your hair was in a messy bun and you had your glasses on. Even though you looked like you were dying, to Eddie you were absolutely gorgeous.

" Hey sweetheart."

You turned to him. "H-Hi. What are you doing here?"

He walked to your bed and sat by your feet.

" I came with a care package." He said pulling open the bag.

You coughed. " You didn't have to do that."

" I know. I wanted to."

You gave him a small smile.

He cleared his throat. " So I brought cough medicine, cough drops, Vicks, a 7up, a humidifier and a couple cans of soup...oh and if you're up for it. I also brought a couple of movies. Chick flicks as a matter of fact."

You smiled and sniffled. " Thank you."

" You know. You really should be resting."

" Yeah. But I have to get this work done."

Eddie then proceeded to take your text book and notebook. Getting up and placing them on the desk. He took off his jacket and shoes before returning to you.

"You uhhh have a habit of making yourself at home huh?"

"Sure do." He smirked

He pulled out the humidifier. "Where can I fill this sweetheart?"

" Umm the bathroom is just down the hall to the left." You said. Coughing again.

Eddie went to fill it up and came back. He plugged it in and went to sit by your feet again.

You were about to say something but then decided against it. You were really exhausted.

Eddie gave you the couch medicine and pulled back the blanket from your feet. He was just about to take off your socks when you gave him a look.

" What are you doing Munson?"

" I uhhh. My uncle used to put Vicks on the bottom of my feet when I was sick and it really helped."

You nodded then took some of the medicine.

Eddie took off your socks and started rubbing Vicks on your feet. You slightly jerked when he first touched them. Making him chuckle.

" Sorry." You said softly.

" Are you apologizing for being ticklish?"

You smiled. " Are you ticklish?"

" Uhhh fortunately I'm not."

You tilted your head and frowned. " What's it like?"

He mimicked your tilt. " What's what like?"

" Being God's favorite?"

Eddie's smile took your breath away. It always did.

" I don't know about his favorite. Maybe the Prince of darkness though."

" Oh please...a person who is as kind and funny and caring as you can't be anything other than an angel."

His smile got a whole lot bigger. "Flattery works with me. So..."

"So you bring medicine to all your friends when they're sick."

" Uhhh. Not exactly." He said nervously.

"What makes me so special?"

" Well...I like you...can't let my only girlfriend be sick."

Girlfriend?!

" I uhh sorry" he quickly corrected himself. " I mean girl who is a friend. Who is also helping me pass Mrs O'Donnells. Can't let you go just yet."

Awww

" Yeah....of course." You faked a smile. But felt your heart sink. " I see you're only using me for my brain."

" Well it is a big brain. You should learn to share." He joked.

You gave him a thin lip smile.

Did he just fuck up? Did he hurt your feelings by saying that? Or did he push you away? He felt so terrible for calling you something you weren't. Though he wanted you to be. His girlfriend that is.

Shit you should be. He thought

" So umm did you happen to see what characters we are for the play?" You asked because you didn't wanted to think about what was just said.

Was he only your friend because you could help him? Or was he around because he actually liked spending time with you? Also, the whole girl who is a friend hurt more than you thought it would.

" Oh yeah." Eddie put your socks back on and covered them. " I'm supposed to play Valentine."

" Nice."

Eddie didn't want to tell you who played Sylvia.

Please be Sylvia. Please be Sylvia.

"And me?"

Eddie sighed to himself. " Julia."

You nodded. You actually felt like you could play Julia. She was supposed to be really funny. And you could do that. But now that Eddie was Valentine you wanted to be Sylvia. You had half hoped he would be Proteus, so that you guys could finally kiss. But no. You weren't that lucky.

" Jeff is Proteus." Eddie sounded bummed.

" Oh...He should be good." You sounded bummed too.

" Yeah he's a good guy."

You gave him a half-hearted smile. " And Sylvia?

Eddie watched as you laid down, bringing the blanket up to your chin.

He could feel you shivering.

"uhh... Chrissy Cunningham."

"O-oh...."

Of course Chrissy would be Sylvia.

So now not only did you have to pretend to be in love with Jeff and kiss him. But you had to see Eddie talk and look at Chrissy like he loved her.

" Yeah...should be interesting." Eddie implied

You stood quiet. You actually wanted to cry. But you didn't.

Eddie felt the tension. He wanted you to be Sylvia. It would have been so perfect. A great excuse to finally kiss you. Now he would have to kiss Chrissy, then probably get his ass kicked by Jason and his buddies.

" Hey y/n?"

"Hmmm?"

" Are you cold?"

" Yeah." You said just above a whisper.

" Umm...can I lay with you?" He asked.

" uhh yeah. Sure."

Why would he want to? This was getting weird. But you would never pass up the opportunity to have Eddie Munson in your bed. Even if it was platonically.

Eddie moved and got under the blanket.

" Can I..."

You lifted your head so he could put his arm underneath you.

You turned towards him and put your head on his chest.

" Is this okay Eddie?"

"Y-yeah"

You couldn't decide where to put your hands.

Eddie felt how tense you were.

" Just get comfortable sweetheart. Let me warm you up."

You nodded and brought one hand close to your chest and one had rested on his.

His scent was amazing. A mixture of sandalwood and citrus. There was a lingering smell of cigarettes and a little weed. But it just added to the already delightful aroma.

You wanted to bury your face in his neck and breathe him in until you went insane. But this was enough. Maybe too much. But you didn't care. You were laying on Eddie's chest.

When he felt you relax he wrapped his other arm around you and started rubbing your arm. This was perfect. Even though you were sick, him holding you was everything to him. Being here, taking care of you, spending time with you.

"Thank you Eddie...for everything." You said sleepily

" Anything for you sweetheart." He whispered.

As soon as he heard your soft little moans he gently pulled off your glasses and set them on the nightstand. When he went back to hug you, you moved so close your breast were touching his ribs. You moved your arm to hold onto him with your thigh moving so that it rested on top of his.

This was absolutely wonderful. The holding onto each other, the comfortability you felt to subconsciously do that. Eddie loved this more than anything he had ever experienced. Though it was a tad bit hard for him to talk down his erection. He was successful. His body sank deep into your very comfortable bed and even more into your very fluffy pillows.

"Y/n?"

You moved your head a little, but you didn't respond.

He whispered. " I wish I could kiss you."

He hugged you just a little tighter. Before he knew it. He fell asleep too.

...

@salenorona23 @ghosttownwherenoonegoes @idkidknemore @hiscrimsonangel @hellv1ra @browneyes528 @b-irock

[camellia-thea]

ok so horror movie ask game time for dove: Scream, Friday the 13th, The Collector, Texas Chainsaw Massacre

thank you!

Scream -Your character's favourite genre and film? Is there a specific reason for this? Or does it just fit their character?

Dove watches very little TV. She doesn't have one anymore, and even before technology became an issue, she didn't have the time.

But... before, she liked slow paced films. Things that focused on time and place, not fast-paced action and mystery.

One film, that she watched more as a joke than anything else, but one that has stuck with her, is Only Lovers Left Alive. It's funny, really. The weird art film about vampires, no where near what reality looks like for her and yet.

Well.

It fits. She didn't understand it initially, but now... Adam and Eve both make sense to her. Adam especially, but somehow it managed to portray immortality in a way that has lingered. Settled into her.

She'd never admit it out loud, but she wants to come back to it continually.

Friday the 13th -What's your oc's favourite summer activity? Why? How does it differ from your oc's favourite summer activity as a child?

As a child, [REDACTED] was left alone a lot. She'd spend time in her local libraries or wandering through music stores. Practicing cello, completing summer homework. She always preferred being in school.

Now, Dove slips outside into the still-warm summer air, and tries to soak up the lingering heat as much as possible. It's not much; never enough to truly warm her dead body, but it's comforting none the less.

She stares out into the ocean, sometimes wanders along the beach, and contemplates the urge to bury herself beneath the waves. She could survive it. Hunt on large fish, the occasional fishing trawler.

But she never does.

The Collector - Does your oc collect anything? How do they feel about their collection or the collection of others? Why?

The rows and rows of CDs line above her false fireplace. There are piles stacked in the bed of it too, tucked behind the stereo. There are records too, the record player tucked by the recently acquired couch. There isn't rhyme or reason to what lies in the stacks. They're organised by artist, and there is everything from ska, to blues, to EDM, to classic rock. They're treated well, all of them. The only thing maintained within her shitty little haven.

It's a connection to the world outside, it's something to lose herself in and pass the time. It's something that she had managed to keep, through her time as a ghoul, and now she can indulge as much as she likes.

So she sits on her rug, in front of her speakers, and closes her eyes. She sits, until the album plays through, not moving a muscle until she has to change the disk.

Texas Chain Saw Massacre - Road trip time! Who are they going with? Your oc's preferred road trip position(map, driver, snack distributor, dj, ect)? Obligatory, what is their gas station snack/drink?

Dove hates travelling with people. To be fair, Dove hates people, and tends to dislike travelling too. It's not that she hates it, actually. She likes it once it's happening, but it's linked to so much that she hates being reminded of.

It's frustrating.

She remembers going on trips during Uni, with Liv. Liv drove, and [REDACTED] would sit in the passenger seat, fiddling with music and passing crisps into Liv's mouth whenever her girlfriend had asked.

She'd often end up asleep, leaning against the window and dozing as the landscape passed by.

Now, she drives alone, in silence.

[thebestpartofwakingup]

Watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre for the first time last night and…felt a little overhyped? Like the beginning is REALLY REALLY GOOD and the movie has some great set ups and set pieces but I’m just super not into chase scene horror and while I guess there’s some charm and horror in how matter-of-fact and fast a lot of the murders are I was expecting something more….drawn out? Especially with the main weapons being chainsaws and hammers. I was sort of expecting more scenes or scenarios where characters are stumbling with missing or maimed limbs, maybe something with the kid in the wheelchair being uniquely able to “tank” an injury or lose or sacrifice a leg without being “slowed down” or sacrificing one of his walking friends so he can escape?

And the introduction of the stun gun discussion in the opening doesn’t go anywhere. I really thought they were building to some sort of agonizing death for one of the characters at the hands of a malfunctioning stun gun drawing on the hitchhiker’s claim that the old mallet method is better and less cruel and less biscuits because it doesn’t liquify the animal

Or I was expecting stuff with like more meat? Like characters getting charged into meat lockers or hiding among cow corpses or half butchered animals?

The store owner/cook is a really neat concept but one that could’ve been better utilized or maybe more apt in a different type of horror movie. Someone who has no qualms participating in cannibalism or the processing of meat and human bodies but who doesn’t actually have the stomach or courage or drive himself to *be* a murderer, maybe a better comparison to someone who eats meat or works in a restaurant but who can’t actually stomach or handle killing an animal themselves. Or a hunter who is fine killing deer but doesn’t have the stomach to butcher an animal. The idea that the raising, killing, processing, and consumption of animals is all inextricably linked whether the animals are livestock or people is a really strong one BUT I feel like the movie doesn’t do much with that past the meat hook scene halfway in.

Like maybe a version where when the kids get to the gas shop they interact with some of the owner’s livestock and someone comments on how the pigs are so sweet or smart they couldn’t imagine being able to kill one and someone else brings up how they still eat pork or whatever, or maybe one of the kids doesn’t eat pork or beef because the animals are too smart or too cute or too sweet but they still eat chicken and fish. Or maybe the owner asks one of the boys for help killing a chicken or offers them the chance and they’re too squeamish to do it (except the kid that’s later strong enough to betray one of their friends to try and escape)

Maybe give him a creepy scene where he’s talking about this to sally while she’s half conscious. His weird anger at his circumstance is interesting but unexplored and the movie just sort of uses it as a cheap way to emphasize the tension and danger. You’ve been kidnapped by insane cannibals and the one you thought you could trust or who seemed the smartest and most reasonable is the most pissed off (but not at you so it has more awkward second hand vibes)

[slasherhaven]

If I may request, could I request the slashers (you can choose whichever!) getting ready to end their future s/o, before they meekly look up at them and ask ".. are you going to hurt me?" And if they give an answer or nod, s/o just nods solemnly and appears to accept their fate?

The slashers’ future S/O asking "Are you going to hurt me?":

Thomas Hewitt

When the true intentions of the Hewitt family made themselves knows, you ran. Of course you did, who wouldn’t?

You had managed to escape the house, running across the large field. But you were tired and the more you thought about it, the less likely escape seemed.

They would know the area better, the empty land spread for what felt like miles, the only thing waiting for you was a dusty road in the middle of nowhere that barely anyone drove down.

So you also came to a stop, panting slightly and beginning to accept that you were about to get killed somewhere in Texas.

You heard him coming, the chainsaw loud and filling you with nerves.

You turned to face him, seeing him walk towards you, chainsaw lowered and shutting off.

Thomas was confused as to why you had stopped running, why you had turned back to him with no real fear on your face.

"...are you going to hurt me?” your question surprised him. Of course you already knew the answer.

Your question was so soft, so...calm.

Thomas wasn’t sure how to respond to that. A victim had never spoken to him, never asked him a question. He came back to his senses and nodded.

You nodded solemnly and seemed to just being...waiting for something to happen. 

It tugged at Tommy’s heart, something within him was just telling him to not hurt you, that he actually had to protect you.

He placed a hand on your shoulder, guiding you back in the direction of the house. Maybe he could speak to Luda May about offering you a different fate.

Michael Myers

It was a normal night for Michael, he was looking for his next kill.

He had crept into your home and found you in the living room, watching the television. Spotting the intruder, you leapt up but recognising the mask from the news reports, you knew who it was and that running was hopeless. Nobody escaped him.

"...are you going to hurt me?” he wasn’t expecting the question. Normally it’s more screaming, pleading and running. But you’re just meekly looking up at him with acceptance on your face, you already knew the answer.

He nodded, deciding to humour you with a response. But then you surprised him again.

You just nodded solemnly, closing your eyes and hanging your head. Waiting for the piercing pain of his knife...but it never came

He has never had a victim accept their fate like that, it was almost discomforting, certainly discouraging. Yet also...intriguing. 

Suddenly the urge to kill you had faded, which actually annoyed Michael.

When no pain came, you curiously opened your eyes to find yourself along. He was gone...left as silently as he arrived. You couldn’t help but wonder when if he would return and, if he did, what he would want.

Jason Voorhees

Jason had cornered you in one of the cabins, where you had turned back to him. You didn’t look frantic or panicked, you just looked up at him meekly.

"...are you going to hurt me?” you asked quietly. You knew the answer was probably yes but maybe there was still some humanity left in the legend of camp crystal lake.

Jason was caught off guard by your question, by the softness in your voice, by how you seemed to accept your fate.

He had watched the group the arrived at the camp before making a move to deal with them. And he had seen you, you had caught his attention more than the others.

You’re gentle, sweet, understanding. You clearly aren’t like the other people Jason had seen you with at the camp.

His mother would have liked you and maybe that was what told him that he didn’t need to hurt you...but it wasn’t like he could let you leave.

He lowered his weapon some more, hoping that it would put you at ease at least a little bit.

He’d hold out his hand, a silent peace offering, and wait for you to hesitantly take it. Being patient and finding it adorable how much smaller your hand was than his.

Jason would guide you through the camp and woods safely, back to his cabin where you could rest.

Brahms Heelshire

Brahms hadn’t been planning on revealing himself to you, not yet, but he had no choice. Somebody had broken into the house, mostly likely with the intention to steal anything of worth.

And Brahms couldn’t take the risk of them hurting you. Plus, he doesn’t like strangers in his home.

You had seen him burst out of the wall, killing the intruder. 

When he stood and turned to you, you were looking back at him with wide, unsure eyes.

"...are you going to hurt me?" you managed to ask.

It wasn’t difficult to put 2 and 2 together and figure out that Brahms was alive, all grown up, and standing in front of you.

Brahms is taken back because he doesn’t really know the answer. If you ran...he had no choice.

“...not if you stay” Brahms tells you and you nod, not seeming to fight your fate. “Are you going to stay?” he’d ask, needing an answer so he can know what to do.

You nodded again, still not screaming at him or running away. You’re not like the others, you’re better.

Brahms moves closer and you still don’t try to flee. He slowly wraps his arms around you, feeling a sense of victory when you carefully return his embrace.

You’ve accepted your fate here and you aren’t fighting it, he’s thankful for that because he had grown fond of you during your time in the house, he truly didn’t want to hurt you.

Bo Sinclair

You had run once you realised that something more sinister was happening in the town, but Bo had followed. And he had finally caught up with you.

Right then and there you knew that you had lost, that you barely ever had a chance, and you weren’t going to fight it.

So you turned to the man, not sure what he wanted from you but knowing it wasn’t good.

"...are you going to hurt me?" you asked, voice quiet as you gave in to your fate.

“Going to sooner or later. Might as well make it easy on yourself” Bo smirked but that cocky look slowly faded.

He had told plenty of people similar things before in the past, telling them to stop running and prolonging the inevitable. But none of them ever listened, of course they didn’t, they kept running and pleading, all in vain.

You though...you just nodded a little, not looking for a way out. A sad but oddly respectable surrender. You saw there was no way out, that you were at his mercy, and you just accepted it.

For a moment he pitied you, then respected you, then...well, he wasn’t sure how he felt.

But if you could keep a similar attitude, as in knowing that you aren’t leaving this town and that you can’t get one over on him, maybe there could be a place here for you.

Why he was even considering keeping you around, he wasn’t sure. But that didn’t matter, you were smart enough to know that you weren’t going anyway. So if he could trust you to not escape, he could trust you to help out around town. He’d just have to keep his eye on you.

Vincent Sinclair

You had been running from Bo, trying to escape him. Sprinting through the little town until you collided with something strong, making you stumble back and look up at the masked man.

Vincent hadn’t expected for you to run into him either, but he knew what he had to do now that he had you. Of only you weren’t looking up at him with such a gentle gaze.

“...are you going to hurt me?” you asked quietly, as if you knew that Vincent was the more timid brother.

He wasn’t sure how to respond, sure that you already knew the answer though. Bo would certainly hurt you without question but...well, he had been watching you since you walked into the town.

You had seemed gentle and sweet then and now even more so. 

Vincent didn’t respond but you took that as a ‘yes’. So you nodded, glancing down at your feet as you accepted your fate.

God, that confused him even more. How could he hurt you when you just seemed so...meek, like you had accepted your fate and were handing yourself over to him.

He wasn’t sure what came over him but when Bo came around the corner to catch you, Vincent placed a hand on your shoulder and moved you behind him. Standing between you and his brother.

Something within Vincent wanted to protect you, to wipe that sad look off of your face. He wondered what he could do to convince Bo to let him try.

Lester Sinclair

Lester had taken you into the town in the first place, as he does with most victims. What he didn’t expect was for you to escape and end up running into him again. He recognised you instantly, you had been kind and sweet during the drive into town

"...are you going to hurt me?" the question isn’t aggressive, not filled with disgust or fear, it’s quiet and soft.

Oh God...what kind of question is that. No, he can’t hurt you. Not when you ask him something like that, not when you look at him like that. 

You don’t even look afraid, just like you have accepted what is going to happen to you. It breaks his heart.

He isn’t going to hurt you...but his brothers would, he can’t risk that now. He couldn’t let that happen.

“Nah...nah, I ain’t gonna hurt ya. You’re alright with me. C’mon, let’s get you somewhere safe” he shook his head, holding his hand out to you.

It was supposed to be a kind gesture but he didn’t really expect you to take it. But you did and his heart clenched again. 

He wouldn’t let his brothers touch you, he’ll take you back to his house and protect you. He’ll fight Bo on the matter.

He’ll look after you, take responsibility over you! And he certainly isn’t going to hurt you.

Bubba Sawyer

Bubba had been sent after you when the family decided that you were the next victim, which didn’t surprise him at all.

It didn’t take long for him to find you, honestly a little surprised to find you not panicking or running, just looking up at him with an expression he didn’t recognise.

“...are you going to hurt me?” your gentle question made him lower his chainsaw, it slowly shutting off.

Bubba really does have a soft heart and you just appealed to it completely. The way you meekly looked up at him, the sad but accepting expression on your face, how you didn’t scream at him or run from him.

He didn’t want to hurt you. Just look at you...he couldn’t hurt you.

They didn’t need to kill you, they had what they needed until the next lot of victims rolled through. You could be spared but there was no way you could leave, you could tell other people about what you saw and get them all in trouble...

Maybe Drayton would let you stay. His other brothers wouldn’t mind, they’re a lot to handle but they’d enjoy the new face, maybe he could convince Drayton if he promised to be responsible for you!

When Bubba moved closer to you, you didn’t panic, just became more timid. He couldn’t blame you for still being afraid.

He’d place the chainsaw down, reaching out to gently stroke your hair while making some incomprehensible babbling. He wanted to comfort you, you reassure you. 

Then he would take you to see his brothers...and try to convince Drayton that this would be alright for the family.

Billy Lenz

Of course, you had already been aware that somebody was targeting you and the others in the house. You had received your fair share of phone calls.

You had been sleeping but he hadn’t been quietly, you shot up in bed and looked at him, seeing the unfamiliar figure standing in the dark and holding something sharp. 

You knew it was the man on the phone, you weren’t stupid.

"...are you going to hurt me?" your voice was quiet but not afraid, a sad sort of acceptance on your face.

Billy froze. You weren’t supposed to wake up. You certainly weren’t supposed to talk to him. Scream, plead, beg, cry, sure he would expect that. But...not this.

He’d hesitate, not sure what to do. Seemingly as scared of you and you are of him. But he’d nod.

Surprising him again, you nodded. He could see the tears welling in your eyes but you didn’t panic, only accepted your fate and hung your head.

Billy kept his weapon in his hand, just in case this was a trick, and approached you.

“It’s okay, pretty piggy...Billy won’t hurt you...Billy likes you” he’d pat you on the head head, like he was trying to reassure you. It was true, he did like you. You had always been his favourite to watch, and he was glad that you weren’t running away now.

Otis Driftwood

You had been caught by the family, thrown into a room, and left to wait.

It was a while before the door opened and Otis walked in, already confused by your reaction.

You let him approach without screaming or even backing up. You just looked up at him meekly and he could already see it in your eyes. You had accepted what was happening to you. He oddly respected that.

"...are you going to hurt me?" you asked. Surprisingly enough, he had never been asked that. Everyone just assumed that he would, and they assumed right.

“Oh I’m going to do more than hurt ya” Otis told you, almost sounding amused.

You just nodded, a single tear rolling down your cheek, before hanging your head. Just accepting that there was no way out of this.

Okay, why the fuck did he feel bad?! He never felt bad!

Everyone screamed and sobbed. They fought and tried to run. They pleaded or insulted him. It’s what all the victims did! So why weren’t you?! It was actually a little frustrating to him.

Maybe you would be different...interesting...fun...even if it was just to break you. Now Otis was invested.

He’d take hold of your arm, pulling you towards him. “C’mon, time for ya to meet the family” he’d drag you through the house, you trying to keep up with him without tripping.

For now, he’s not going to directly physically harm you...he had something else planned for you.

Play your cards right and he might just start to warm up to you.

Baby Firefly

You had been caught by the family, thrown into a room, and left to wait.

It was a while before the door opened and Baby came skipping in, excited to get her hands on her new plaything. 

But you didn’t react the way she expected you too. Victims usually reacted better to her than Otis until she got started, then they realised that she wouldn’t take it easy on them, but she never got this reaction.

You didn’t cower away, beg for help, or even cry...which was kind of boring.

She walked right up to you, huffing slightly at your lack of reaction.

“...are you going to hurt me?” your question made her smile again. So you did know why you were here!

“Oh you bet I am!” she grins, her excitement returning.

But you just nodded, accepting your fate, and hanging your head. Just waiting for her to do whatever it was she wanted to do.

Baby huffed in annoyance again but was curious about your reaction.

“Now, don’t you cry” she wiped away the stray tear that rolled down your cheek, “you’re an interesting one, we’re going to have a lot of fun together.”

Maybe you would be more fun without having to hurt you. Well, there’s no harm in giving it a chance!

Yautja (Predator)

You’re collision had been purely accidental, he hadn’t been hunting you and you hadn’t gone looking for him.

But once you were greeted with the large intimidating creature, you froze.

You looked at him, taller than any human you had met, obviously much stronger too, and was that blood???

“...are you going to hurt me?” you genuinely didn’t know what he planned on doing with you now that you had seen him. He was dangerous, that was obvious, but did he have evil intent?

He’d tilt his head at you curiously. What an interesting human...

But he’d shake his head ‘no’. He’s not going to hurt you. In the politest way possible, you simply aren’t a worthy hunt.

You were braver than you probably gave yourself credit for, he already knew that. You were looking right up at him, despite it being meekly. You had asked him a question, even if it was with fear for your own life.

But most interestingly to the Yautja was that you had seemingly accepted your fate if he was here to harm you. A part of him respected that, dying with dignity unlikely many humans, another part of him though you should fight for your well being some more.

Oh sweet little human...he’s going to have to work on your survival instincts.

[satendou]

⟼  monster

⍣ all time low series | next | 1/4

・‥…━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━…‥・

⇢  pairing: tendo/reader

⇢ au: atl!au, college!au

⇢ summary: you like horror movies, tendou likes horror movies, what could go wrong?

⇥ masterlist

⇢ warnings: unprotected sex, creampie, fingering, mentions of bullying, insecurities, piercings, cursing

⇢ word count: 13.2k

・‥…━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━…‥・

⇢ a/n: i think this is the biggest fic i’ve ever written and it’s one of my favorites, if not my absolute favorite i’ve written so far. it was kinda hard to write it in a way that stayed true to my vision for it but also didn’t make it childish, so i hope i succeeded in that regard. as always, thank you to @keijiskitten​ for editing this!

“Oh, come on, ‘Kaashi,” you said, setting your hand on your hip. You were standing around in the middle of the classroom with him and a few others, waiting for your professor to show up who was no doubt getting a coffee from the overflowing Starbucks down the street. Class would be half over before he finally arrived. “It’s just a few scary movies.”

“Sorry, _____. I have to study and I just know that trying to watch movies with you and study is gonna be a nightmare,” he said, giving you a sympathetic look. “And give me nightmares.”

You rolled your eyes and looked around to Bokuto, who was scrolling through his phone while he chatted with Yaku about the next practice. That was a hard no. Poor Bo would agree without complaint and wind up with nightmares for a week, clinging to you throughout the night. Catching Akaashi’s eye, you exchanged knowing looks and chuckles.

“Hey, _____,” Semi said from your other side. He was busy filling out a music sheet with notes for his next possible song, and the way he said your name indicated he was more focused on that than your quandary.

Still, you turned to look at him over your shoulder, quirking your eyebrow at him. When he didn’t immediately continue, you prompted him. “What’s up?”

“Oh, right,” he said, looking up from the paper. He gave you a small smile and tapped the tip of his pencil on the desk in a smooth rhythm, leaving small marks all over the surface. “You should see if Tendo wants to join you. He’s really into horror movies too.”

“Um, who?”

Semi’s eyes widened in surprise and he pointed over his shoulder. You could hear Akaashi snicker from your other side. The chair on Semi’s other side tipped back on its back legs, and a man with close-cut red hair peeked around his back, waving cheekily at you.

“Hi, name’s Tendo Satori. I’ve only been hanging around you for about two weeks now,” he said and, though he sounded lighthearted and jovial about it, you could see the way his eyes remained narrowed, scrutinizing you. And he didn’t look impressed.

You flushed bright red, realizing you did know him but had never committed his name to memory. Mostly because he hadn’t ever really said anything to you or seemed interested in you at all. 

“I-- well, I’m sorry,” you offered awkwardly. But you meant it, at least. You felt a bit bad now that he was in your face. Trying to lighten the mood, you joked, “I’m _____ _____ and my brain space is committed to horror movies and studying. No space for names I’m afraid.”

Semi rolled his eyes and Akaashi heaved a long-suffering sigh, covering his eyes with his hand, but Tendo laughed at your stupid joke. His eyes eased up, his smile relaxing, and he now looked genuinely interested. 

“A horror movie marathon, huh? I’m interested. Why don’t you tell me more?”

--

Tendo didn’t actually expect it to go his way. As with most other people, he was sure you were just faking your enthusiasm and would flake out once you were free of him. 

And yet when lunch rolled around and your group of friends were standing in the breezeway, shivering as you tried to pick out some place to go and eat off campus, you fell into step beside him.

“I really am sorry for not knowing who you were,” you offered, adjusting your bag on your shoulder and slipping a pair of gloves on. “Could we, maybe--”

He cut you off, grinning. “Forgiven and forgotten, _____.”

Hesitantly, you smiled back. He was strange, to be sure. Even though you hadn’t really had a true conversation with him yet, you got the feeling he was different, eccentric and unpredictable maybe. The way he harassed the shit out of Semi and some of the others was hysterical, though. You couldn’t pinpoint what it was that made you feel that way, but it wasn’t bad. You were even a little curious.

“Okay cool. So if, by chance, we were to do this movie marathon, how would you feel about cannibals?” you asked, tapping your chin thoughtfully. It was a theme you had been thinking about for a while, but none of your friends were into horror movies much, let alone a dozen or so movies centered around such a gory theme.

Tendo clicked his tongue and you heard a strange clink. “Hypothetically, right?”

“Right,” you said, your eyes zeroed in on his mouth, waiting for him to speak again.

He hummed, his lips curling in thought and his eyes narrowing as he stared off in the distance. Second in height only to Bokuto, he towered over everyone even though the two of you walked together at the back of the group. Speaking of Bokuto, you could hear him over the chatter of the other students around you, talking about the diner just a block away from the school and guessed that that was where you were going. 

Then he shrugged. “That sounds rad. What’re you thinking? Hypothetically.”

“Well, obviously gotta go with The Hills Have Eyes. I mean, it’s a classic. And then of course Wrong Turn because there’s so many of those. And, uh…that’s all I have, but that’s literally like 8 movies and if we get past those I don’t know what we’ll do,” you said, weaving through the throngs of people on the sidewalk. You had forgotten you had been trying to see what was in his mouth just a few minutes ago as you avoided toes. You could see the diner sign up ahead, reading “Newly Opened” and a list of menu items, but it was otherwise obscured from your view.

A gasp from Tendo startled you and you whipped around to look at him, only to find him staring at you in disbelief.

He had to fight the laugh in his chest from coming up at the wide-eyed, freaked out look on your face as he said, “I cannot believe you’ve forgotten the most classic of classic cannibal movies, _____. How could you forget The Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies?”

Relief mingled with amusement on your face when you realized what he was getting at, and you covered your mouth as you laughed. Putting on your best ashamed expression, you closed your eyes. “I can’t believe I forgot those. I’m such a fake fan.”

“Kicked out of the club for sure,” he said, holding the door open for you. The bustle of the diner drowned out anything more Tendo said as you followed the others towards a large table in the back corner. After that, you were seated between Semi and Akaashi and the conversation was halted.

For the time being.

--

You didn’t bring up the marathon again, though you snagged Tendo’s number the day after you went to the diner. The conversation started out about movies and morphed into other topics like majors, highschools, how he knew Eita and how you had met Bokuto and Akaashi, amongst others. It left Tendo in a bit of confusion. The two of you kept up a steady stream of communication throughout the day, even sneaking in texts during classes that could net you extra work or pop quizzes. And yet never once was the marathon mentioned.

Part of him was bummed because he had kind of been looking forward to the movies, but the larger part of him was unsurprised. Something like that was way too intimate, and for someone like you to want to do something like that with a-- someone like him was too much to hope for. He was just happy that you weren’t avoiding him like most others did; he wasn’t going to ask for more.

Except he kind of did want more, and he didn’t want to feel that. The disappointment was already tangible on his tongue and he swallowed it down every time he saw you in the hall, chatting or laughing with someone else. It would ease slightly when you would turn to look in his direction, flashing a smile and waving as you passed by. In class, you started sitting beside him, Bokuto and Akaashi often following behind, and he found his small group of friends growing because of you. Bokuto was loud and brash and treated him like they were best friends, and Akaashi’s quiet demeanor reminded him a lot of Ushijima. Except he was maybe a little more expressive. 

You even started walking home with him, parting ways when you had to go in different directions with a soft smile and a shine in your eyes that he tried not to read too much into. He enjoyed those days, when no one else was around and he just talked. You even knew some of the manga he read, and he lost himself rambling about Jump. When he brought it up once, about how he talked too much, you shook your head frantically. 

“No, no, I don’t mind! It reminds me of Bokuto, to be honest. He can talk about anything and keep a conversation going so easily. I’m kinda jealous,” you said, giving him that satisfied smile again.

He tried to clamp down on the feelings, to keep a tight rein on the emotions that kept trying to pull his eyes in your direction anytime he heard your voice or drew his thoughts to you late at night.

Sighing, he rubbed his eyes, frustrated at the fact that he was thinking of you a-fuckin’-gain. Didn’t he have enough to worry about without wondering what you thought of him? He already knew. You weren’t interested. It was fine.

His phone dinged, the screen lighting up to reveal your name and a text.

You: ‘watcha up to?’ Tendo: ‘nm. studying and suffering. you?’ Y: ‘“studying” sksks what’re you doing tomorrow night by chance?’

Tendo’s heart stuttered in his chest and he groaned, barely resisting the urge to fling his phone out the frost covered window in front of him. For the love of god, could the universe stop fucking with him? Clicking his tongue, he considered telling you he was busy. It would be easiest, and save him the disappointment that was sure to accompany whatever you had planned.

But his fingers were traitorous and typed out exactly what he didn’t want to say. Or so he told himself.

T: ‘nothin. what’re you thinkin?’ Y: ‘well...i’m thinkin about cannibals’

Tendou snorted at that and watched the three little dots appear again.

Y: ‘and u’

He choked and slammed his phone down on the desk, wincing and immediately picking it back up to check the damage. No, no way, he wouldn’t look at it like that. It wasn’t like that. You were just inviting him for the movie marathon in a totally platonic way.

Another message came in.

Y: ‘and me’

You were actually trying to kill him.

--

He could think of nothing the next day but how much he was looking forward to that night. Once he had finally gotten his shit together enough to text you back, the kinks had been worked out. It was almost a no brainer that he would be spending the night. A movie marathon with twelve movies meant an all-nighter, if the two of you could pull it off. He would go home after classes, while away the few hours until around six o’clock, and then head to the address you had given him. 

Unfortunately, he didn’t see much of you that day. You shared no classes, and you had a class when he took lunch, so he ate with Semi and Bokuto that day. Instead you snuck texts to him when you could, mostly talking about how excited you were for that night. It didn’t help, somehow both fanning and soothing his inner turmoil.

“Why do you look like you’re gonna throw up?” Semi asked at last. Tendo was staring at his half-eaten chicken sandwich like it had mortally offended him, and he was curious. 

Tendo jumped, having forgotten the other two were even with him, and shook his head. “Uh, nothin’.”

But Bokuto snickered and leaned in to whisper to Semi, who was already suspicious of his short, clipped answer. Whether he actually wanted to whisper or not, Tendo wasn’t sure, but Bo sure as shit didn’t manage it. “Him and _____ are gonna watch movies tonight.”

Of course you had told Bokuto. And probably Akaashi too. He wondered if they had changed their minds and decided to join you when they found out. It put a rather annoying feeling in his chest, like someone was squeezing his heart.

The other two were still talking in a loud whisper, watching Tendo’s expression shift and flicker through a myriad of emotions. Bokuto was lost, but Semi could recognize them after so many years of knowing the moody red-head, and wanted to laugh. He was so good at hiding his negative emotions, but when it came to sadness or happiness, he was like an open book. And he was being pretty obvious right then.

“Wow, that’s pretty big, Tendo,” he said, watching his friend closely. Tendo flinched, shrinking into his hoodie, and Semi nodded to himself. “Don’t let yourself get so worked up. She wouldn’t ask if she didn’t want to.”

He knew where Tendo’s insecurities were coming from. A childhood fraught with bullies and fake friends and people pretending they wanted him around only to treat him like a freak. Even through highschool it was that way, with a particularly nasty incident involving a girl pretending to want to date him that ended with Tendo refusing to come to school for almost a week. After that, he kept to himself and the volleyball club, refusing to even acknowledge that anyone else might actually want to get to know him seriously.

It had gotten a bit easier when he left Shiratorizawa and those memories and most of those people behind. Growing up with them was what had made it hardest, so surrounding himself with fresh people who didn’t have any preconceived notions and rumors about him had allowed him to open up a little. Even Ushijima, across the ocean in California, noticed a marked difference in Tendo’s demeanor.

Semi just hoped you didn’t do anything to send him spiralling back into his insecurities.

“Yeah, I guess.” 

It was easy for Semi to say that, but he had no idea what it was like, constantly worrying if people were being serious or if they were just waiting to pull the rug out from under him. Even now, he was fighting with himself to just get through the day, waiting constantly for you to change your mind and cancel the plans. Every time his phone lit up with your name, he expected it.

And yet, even after his classes ended and he arrived home, you didn’t. Just commenting that you would be MIA for a while while you cleaned the apartment and went to the store. And when you came back a few hours later, while he was binging Buzzfeed Unsolved videos, his heart leapt into his throat, but you were only telling him what you had gotten for him and to pick up anything else he might want on the way over.

The time couldn’t pass by fast enough while he busied himself packing as slowly as he could. He was already wearing sweatpants but brought a pair of basketball shorts just in case. A clean t-shirt and the other essential items he would need for the night went into a backpack, and when that was done he decided it was a good time to leave.

Unable to help himself, he sent you a text before he left, interrupting whatever you were already typing, the three little bubbles disappearing for a moment while you read his text.

T: ‘you sure you’re alright with this? i don’t have to come over’ Y: ‘?’ Y: ‘do u not want to!’ Y: ‘?*’ Y: ‘we can do this another time if you want’

He was typing before he could really think about the possibility that that might be the best option, his heart thumping harder than he liked in his chest, and he willed himself to take a deep breath. It was just two friends hanging out, watching horror movies together. Nothing more.

T: ‘no i do. was just making sure you were still ok w it.’ T: ‘leaving now to get snacks. your choices s u c k’ Y: ofc hurry up and get over here Y: ‘tf rude’

Locking the door behind him, he slung his bag onto his shoulder and sighed, hoping the night didn’t end as badly as his nerves were telling him it would.

--

Your doorbell rang an hour later, while you were in the middle of setting up your room for the binge. You were hoping he wouldn’t mind, but you didn’t want to make him uncomfortable either. It was hard to miss the nervousness and the way he seemed to shy away from you sometimes, especially when you did certain things like reach out to pull something off his hoodie or read something over his shoulder. But you wanted this to be as normal as possible, to prove to him you were genuine.

You liked Tendo. A lot. 

He was funny and sweet and just as eccentric as you had expected. His jokes were off-color but not offensive, just sarcastic and witty and you giggled every time. The way his face lit up when he heard you sent your heart into a frenzy, and the way it fell and he seemed to shrink into himself a moment later hurt. It didn't feel like a rejection of you but instead a rejection of himself and you wondered if there was any way to help him understand that you didn’t want anything from him but for him to be himself.

Upon opening the door, you found it was only the pizza delivery man, and you smiled with disappointment, until you spotted a shaved red-head coming up behind him.

Tendo gulped when he spotted you in your open doorway, wearing woolen leggings and a t-shirt, exchanging a box of pizza for cash and smiling brightly at him over the man’s shoulder. Waving, he waited until the stranger was out of the way before he approached you.

“Hey,” he greeted, peering down at you before scanning the empty living room of your apartment over your head.

You were unsurprised to see the wariness in his eyes, bleeding into the smile he was forcing on his face. It was your first time seeing a look so fake on him and for the first time you wondered if this was really a good idea. But it was only movies. And you liked Tendo. It would be fine.

So you smiled and ushered him in with one hand, the box perched precariously on your other, and watched him shrink into himself like he always did when he came within touching distance of you until he had passed into the living room. Then he just stood there, peering around with that same suspicious look, eyes narrowed and mouth turned down at the corners.

“So, what do you think?” you asked, pretending you hadn’t seen it as you moved into the kitchen. 

“It’s nice,” he answered, letting his bag hit the floor with a thump. The rest of the apartment was silent save for the heater going, and little by little he felt himself relaxing. “You didn’t have to go through all this trouble for little ol’ me, y’know.”

You giggled at the way he pointed at himself, wearing a cheesy grin as he walked into the kitchen. “Maybe not, but it’s been ages since I’ve been able to do anything like this. It’s as much for me as it is for you.” You punctuated your statement by poking him lightly in the chest, and he feigned pain.

“You wound me. And here I thought you were treating me special,” he moaned, leaning back against the counter and placing his hand over his forehead. He grinned a little hearing you giggle again, and then the pizza box hit his arm.

“I am treating you special, you goof,” you said, opening it up and letting the smell of cheese fill the kitchen. “With pizza. But I think we’d better take it into the bedroom, since that’s where we’ll be watching the movies. Just in case we fall asleep, you know,” you tacked on at the end, suddenly realizing how that might sound. Not that it meant anything, but again, you feared making him uncomfortable.

Absorbed in your thoughts, you missed the faint dusting of pink on his cheeks, clashing marvelously with his vibrant hair. You carried the box down to your bedroom with Tendo on your heels, eager to see your room. It was about what he expected from you-- a messy bed, a cluttered desk, clothes half in your laundry basket and half on the floor surrounding it. The TV sitting on your dresser was already set up with The Hills Have Eyes menu playing, volume muted. You set the box on the bed before smoothing the covers and crawling on.

Tendo hovered in the middle of your room, casting his eyes around nervously, looking for a chair or something to sit on. He definitely did not want to assume, but you patted the bed beside you, giving him a quizzical look.

“I’m not gonna bite, Tendo. Promise,” you said, and though you made it sound like a joke he could hear a line of seriousness at the core. Running his tongue over the back of his teeth, he walked slowly towards you, giving you every opportunity to change your mind, but you just looked impatient until he climbed on beside you. “Alright, now let’s get this started!”

--

Two movies in and the two of you had gotten pretty comfortable. Both of you had stretched out on the bed, but you had decided to lean up against the headboard with your pillows to support you while Tendo had opted to lay on his stomach with his head resting on his arms by your feet.

“Would you stop?” he laughed, pushing your foot away where it had been tapping incessantly at his shoulder. You were just doing it to annoy him, and you giggled at the irritated amusement in his voice.

The pizza box sat empty on the floor by the bed, but you found yourself craving something else to eat. When you hummed, Tendo looked away from the screen, rolling onto his side and propping his chin in his hand to watch you nibble at your lip. It was cute, he couldn’t lie, and the anxiety he had repressed by getting distracted by the movie came back slowly.

“What’s up?”

“I’m thinkin’ about...those chips,” you answered, and made to get up. You had to crawl over his long legs and almost fell off the bed as you gracelessly made your move, knee slipping off the small space between his leg and the edge of the mattress. Sticking your tongue out as he laughed at you, you pranced towards the door. 

“Bring my bags too, would you?” he called, pausing the movie since you had forgotten. It had just started, and you were lucky that he was nice enough to do it, especially when he heard your voice carry back down the hallway.

“Kiss my ass, Tendo.”

He laughed at that, loud enough that you could hear it from the kitchen and over the crinkling of the bags as you rifled through them. In the end, you shrugged and carried them all back down to your room, along with a few drinks. Maybe you wouldn’t have to get up again for a little while.

You shivered when you stepped back into the room. It wasn’t much warmer than the rest of the house, and now your arms and toes were cold. The heater was already set as high as it would go and hardly touched the chill, and you cursed the cheap piece of crap. 

“What, you cold?” he asked, pulling out a bag of the chips he had brought with him. The tab on a can of soda popped and he cursed as it fizzed over onto your blanket. “Shit, sorry.”

“No worries. Yeah, kinda. But the heater is already on full blast. Ugh,” you said, sitting beside him on the bed again. He was still wearing his hoodie, and up close he was warm, making you realize just how cold you were. You were just gonna have to crawl under your blankets because you would never survive the cold like that. “Wait…”

There was a tent on the screen where the movie had paused, and Tendo looked back and forth from it to you with curiosity. There was a calculating look on your face and he wasn’t sure he liked it. “Uh, what?”

There was no way he would agree to it. Way too intimate, right? But it really seemed like it’d be right up his alley, and it would be fun to build, and it would get you warm. It was the perfect idea really.

“Tendo, how do you feel about making...a pillow fort?”

The heater continued to buzz in the corner, overlaid by the slight static from the TV, while Tendo processed your question. His mouth had fallen open, brows furrowed while he stared at you in what could only be surprise, and you laughed nervously.

“Wha-- Seriously?”

“Um, you know what, nevermind. I guess it was a stupid idea. It just seemed like it might be fun and--”

He cut your babbling off with an excited wave of his arms, leaning forward into your space and in the light from the TV you could see a childlike happiness glowing in his eyes. “I’ve never made one but it sounds like fun. You know how to do it?”

Stunned by the turn of events, you nodded. “Well, sort of. Mine have always fallen down after a while though,” you admitted, standing up from the bed again. “We need chairs and books and all the blankets and pillows we can find. And the couch cushions. Probably.”

In no time flat you had everything gathered, with Tendou hovering around waiting for you to direct him. It was a pain to get everything set up, and you ended up using the bed since you didn’t have enough chairs. Moving the chairs all over the place until there was enough room inside and you could put the books down to seal the ‘walls’ was tedious, but it was worth it when Tendo crawled in to set up the cushions to seal the space beneath the bed. After padding the floor with several blankets to lay on, you stuffed the pillows from your bed in after Tendo. When you didn’t immediately crawl in after him, he poked his head out to see what you were doing.

“Well, we didn’t think this through at all, so now we gotta watch the movies on my laptop,” you said as you ejected the DVD from your player. The jingle of your computer booting up played and backlit your face in the glow, and you prayed it wasn’t going to go right into an update. It took a few minutes to start up, so you passed it to him while you plugged the power cord in and ran it into the fort. 

You could hear the clicking of the mousepad and by the time you flipped off the light and crawled in beside Tendo, the movie menu was playing. You also realized just how cramped it really was with Tendo’s lanky form inside. There was just enough space for both of you, but you were going to have to either sit up with it in your lap or you were going to have to set it to the side of you and lay on your sides.

He was tense, staring determinedly at the movie playing and trying to avoid moving too much. Or so you guessed, anyway. Anytime you so much as shifted he would jerk away before relaxing, and you were a split second away from nixing the idea. A part of you was starting to wonder if it wasn’t you that was the problem, but if it was, why had he bothered to agree?

“You’re really warm, Tendo,” you said, trying to break the ice. It was an awkward and clumsy attempt, but maybe you could help him settle down if you showed him you weren’t uncomfortable first?

But that just made him pull further away, leaning against the couch cushions. “Oh, sorry.”

It was already warm and comfortable in your little fort, a light blanket thrown over your knees and warming your toes. And with him beside you, you were actually a little more than comfortable. “No,” you said, waving your hands frantically, “no, like, it’s nice. I’m finally warm.”

It was hard to tell in the washed out light of the laptop, but Tendo’s face turned a very bright shade of pink. He tugged the neck of his hoodie up over his nose and fixed his eyes firmly on the flickering violence, annoyed that he was overwhelmed by something so simple. Why did you have to be so damn cute?

But it did the trick, even if he didn’t know that was your intention. He finally relaxed and stopped flinching every time you shifted, trying to find a comfortable position. Sitting cross legged only worked for so long and Tendo noticed you moving around after a while, when your knee knocked his for the third or fourth time.

“You alright? You’re about to bring the whole fort down,” he commented around a mouthful of chips.

“Ah, well, my back is starting to hurt sitting up, I guess. I wanna lay down,” you said, sounding whinier than you meant to, following it up with a short stretch. It alleviated the pain for a moment, until you hunched over again.

He swallowed his chips and returned his eyes to the TV screen, thinking. On one hand, he wasn’t exactly comfortable. On the other, he had no idea what you were thinking. Did you want to abandon the fort?

But you didn’t say anything, fiddling with the blanket for a few moments as you tried to work up your courage. You damn sure didn’t want to tear down your fort-- it had taken you way too long to put the stupid thing up-- and if you said the idea of cuddling up with Tendo wasn’t appealing, you would surely go to hell for lying. The underlying problem was him. What would he say if you brought up the obvious solution?

You were taking too long to answer, so Tendo prompted you, pausing the movie. “Do you want to just get back on the bed again?”

“No,” you said, and then flinched. You had answered way too quickly and that somehow made him nervous and reassured at the same time. “This is really nice I just…I-know-that-you’re-kind-of-uncomfortable-and-I-don’t-want-to-make-you-more-uncomfortable.”

Tendou stared at you, unblinking as he tried to decipher your breathlessly rushed words. After a moment he laughed, still confused, but he could see the anxiety on your face. “I-- what? All I heard was uncomfortable, I think. But you don’t make me uncomfortable.”

Your heart thumped painfully in your chest as that weight left your shoulders. He was so intuitive it was almost scary. Even still, you had to make sure. “Oh, really? You always seem like...weird around me, I guess. I was starting to think I was pushing too hard, I guess?”

“Sorry,” he said, scratching the back of his head. His elbow brushed the sheet above you and he quickly dropped it. “I’m used to people being uncomfortable around me. Guess it just turned into a habit to avoid people I don’t know. So that I don’t freak them out.”

Not entirely true, given that he enjoyed messing with people, but it was true in your* case. It took you a moment to answer, and he started to worry that he had said too much. 

“You don’t...make me uncomfortable, Tendo. You never did. You’re a weirdo but not...in a bad way,” you said, and glanced at him to gauge his reaction, worried he would take it in a negative light.

But he was smiling, eyes fixed on the paused movie and you bit your lip. He was way too attractive and you couldn’t fathom anyone who thought otherwise. Clearly they were just cowards.

“Well that’s a relief. It would make things pre-tty awkward right now if I did,” he said and bumped your shoulder. It felt like a whole planet was lifted off his shoulders with this revelation and he heaved a huge sigh. “So, if we don’t want to abandon the fort but our backs are about to crumble, what do we do?”

“Uh.” You blanched, having forgotten about that little hiccup. Your idea was embarrassing to think about let alone explain and if you hadn’t made him uncomfortable yet this was sure to.

“Uh,” he mocked, and twisted around like a snake so his face was in front of you, blocking the light from the screen. “Spit it out before we collapse.”

“Just-- um--” you stuttered, and he quickly realized whatever your idea was, it had you flustered. He was just about to start teasing when you picked up the laptop and set it to the side of you. Rolling over onto your side, you tucked your hand underneath your pillow and relaxed, feeling the pain immediately alleviate. “Now you lay down. If you want.”

Your heart was racing in your chest, waiting for him to do something. It was a long, long minute before he finally said anything, and it wasn’t what you expected. Not that you had any idea of what to expect.

“Uh, are you sure? I mean, we could just--” What was he thinking? This was exactly what he wanted and wasn’t it Semi who had said she wouldn’t ask if she didn’t want it? Did he really have to overthink everything? You were in a literal pillow fort watching scary movies with him, offering to let him cuddle up with you, and he still thought you weren’t sure.

“Well, unless you aren’t,” you said, and was that disappointment in your voice? No way.

“No no, no. I’m gonna take my hoodie off first, though. It’s way too warm in here now,” he said, backtracking quickly. Then again, maybe it was just him that was too hot. It was an actual dream come true, and he pinched himself quickly just to make sure he wasn’t asleep. 

You rolled over onto your back to watch him struggle, his arms brushing the ceiling and walls of your warm little haven as he fought the hoodie. Your eyes widened as it finally came free, seeing the colorful swirls of ink covering his arms. “Holy shit.”

“Wha--?” he said, and turned to find you staring open mouthed at his tattoos. “Oh, right, I guess you haven’t seen these before, huh?”

“Nope,” you said, sitting up and squinting to see the undefined shapes in the faint light. It was almost cute the way he held his arm out to you hesitantly, like a child offering you a drawing to examine and praise. Taking it, you traced the lines covering his smooth, warm skin, trying to figure out what they were. But the shapes were undefinable in the faint light. You could make out splashes of blue and purple, red and pink, separated by black lines or faded together to make something. Part of you wanted to ask, but there was something mysterious about not knowing. “I can’t even tell what they are but god, Tendou, I know they’re gorgeous.”

He shivered at your featherlight touches, the feel of your fingers skimming delicately over his skin, and your words caused fire to erupt in his stomach and chest. His tattoos were something he was extremely proud of, one of the few things he had that made him feel confident, and hearing you compliment them made him feel so fucking good. Chucking his jacket out into the room, he returned to your side and the two of you got comfortable.

Pressing play on the movie for the 3rd time, the two of you fell silent. With your head below his chin, it was the perfect position for him to see the screen over you. You could feel the warmth rolling off of him, only an inch of space between his chest and your back, and both of you were well aware of it.

It was nearly impossible to focus on the movie, trying to reign in the urge to just slide back a little bit and mold yourself to him. Nibbling at your lip, you rolled just a little under the pretense of stretching and bumped into him. Just your arm into his, and he didn’t move away.

“You good? Need more space? I can crawl under the bed if you want,” he said, smirking at you. He thought he knew what you were playing at, but your next words confirmed it. It was the oldest trick in the book and, even though no one had ever used it on him, he had seen it at work with Semi and Shirabu too many times.

“Just stretching. I’m still a bit cold though,” you said, facing the TV again.

Suppressing a snicker, knowing damn well that wasn’t what you were after, he offered, “I can get you another blanket, if you need it.”

The silhouette of your shoulders fell, and you couldn’t hide the sigh that accompanied it. “It’s alright, Tendo. It’s not that bad.”

You really should have seen that coming, you guessed. The swell of hope and the crash of disappointment was painful in your chest, and you tried to focus on the movie again, ignoring the tempting warmth at your back. If he wasn’t interested, he wasn’t interested. It was cool.

Which was why you jumped when a weight settled over your side, a snicker filtering behind you as he molded himself to your back. It was slow, hesitant, and you would guess he was trying to make sure you were alright with it. Warmth seeped through your t-shirt and you sighed happily, shimmying back into him out of instinct, and this time you could feel his quiet laughter in his chest.

His arms were so long that he had to fold it in front of you, hand coming to rest just underneath your chin, and when you relaxed so did he. With his chin resting atop your head now, he asked, “Better? This is what you wanted, right?”

“Shut up,” you whined, hiding your face in your hand. It was embarrassing enough without him having to tease you about it. But you supposed it wouldn’t be Tendo if he didn’t make fun of you for everything. It was so easy after that to focus on the movie, now that you had gotten what you wanted. The snacks lay forgotten near your feet, not wanting to move and mess up the delicate balance that was now between the two of you.

It was tenuous and any small movement from either of you could send it toppling in either direction, and you weren’t even sure what it depended on. You knew for sure which way you would like to see it go, but it was just as comfortable the way it was.

Silence fell again until the movie ended, which was the only reason you moved. You could probably have fallen asleep like that, but you weren’t ready yet, wanting to bask in whatever you had with Tendo for a while longer.

When you sat up to change the next movie, Tendo rolled over onto his back, watching you fiddle around with it. Sweat beaded on the back of his neck and he shifted uncomfortably. Seemed you felt the same because you turned to look at him, an apology written on your face.

“Sorry, do you mind if I go change into shorts. It’s actually too warm for these now,” you said, setting the DVD case back on the pile. You felt like you were suffocating in your thick winter leggings now, but if he wasn’t okay with that then you would suffer a little longer. At least until you melted.

“Oh thank god you said something. I was about to die in these sweatpants, I swear,” he answered, fanning his face with his hand. You were pretty sure he was just exaggerating that though. “I don’t mind if you don’t.”

“Nope,” you said, popping the ‘p’, and crawled towards the escape flap, wincing at the sound of crunching and crinkling under your knees all of a sudden. “Oops.”

“Oh those had better not have been mine,” he whined, flashing the light of his phone towards the bag. He groaned, seeing his bag of doritos crushed. He could hear you snicker outside the sheet as you walked away and growled, “Watch it. Yours are still in here, _____.”

You opened a drawer as he finally came out as well and began rifling through his bag, pulling out the pair of shorts he’d packed. When you turned around with a pair of soft shorts in your hands, you found him standing awkwardly in the middle of your room again and laughed. “I’ll go change in the bathroom. I gotta use it anyway. I’ll be right back.”

Your footsteps receded down the hall and he raced to get changed before you came back. His sweats landed on his backpack and he shrugged at himself. What did it matter, so long as they weren’t on your floor?

The sound of the sink reached his ears just as he was climbing back into the fort, frowning at his crushed chips even as he shoved a handful into his mouth. He was so gonna make you pay for a new bag, especially because you had laughed. The door creaked open and the flap shifted, and he almost choked on his chips as he realized just how short your shorts were. Were your legs always that long? And smooth? And pretty? Shit.

“How are your chip fragments?” you joked as you made yourself comfortable beside him again. Your hair fanned out behind you and you gathered it up off the base of your neck, twisting it around so that it spread out above you instead. How the fuck was the back of your neck sexy*? 

He was so screwed.

“Uh,” he replied. Smooth, Satori. Shaking his head, he tried to gather his thoughts and focus them literally anywhere else. It worked. Sort of. “Pointy. You owe me a new bag.”

You scoffed, smiling at the car full of vacationing teenagers on the laptop. “There’s like four other bags in here. Quit whining.”

But he wasn’t giving it up, throwing his bag into the corner and hopefully out of the way of your carelessness. Settling behind you like he had before, he once again left space between you, afraid now of how his body might react if he didn’t. “No, all of them suck.”

You definitely noticed the gap and wondered if he was just waiting for you to take the initiative, so you did. Before he could blink, you were once again molded to his chest, head tucked under his chin and knees folded around his. He tensed, fingers curling into a fist while he willed himself to chill.

His arm came down around you again, but you could feel how stiff he was. When you made to move forward again, to give him space, his arm locked, even pulling you back again and you grinned. With his arm now lit up properly by the light of the laptop, you realized you could see the tattoos more clearly, and began to trace the stars and fish on his arm.

“Aren’t these the spirit fish from Avatar?” you asked, skimming over the white and black koi. It was a watercolor piece, lacking the heavy lines like the ones on his other arm, and you felt him nod against the top of your head. “They’re gorgeous. Who’s your artist?”

“A friend of mine in Miyagi did those,” he answered, watching you continue to trail up his arms. Goosebumps were raising the fine hairs all over his body, your touches so gentle and intimate, your focus rapt. Higher up near his elbow was what appeared to be two jolly rogers, but they weren’t the normal ones. “Those are from a pirate manga I read in Jump,” he said before you could ask, and you smoothed your hand over them before sliding it back up near his hand.

His heart skipped a beat when your fingers curled into his palm, hesitating before you slipped them between his. He was sure you could feel his heart pounding away in his chest, unaware that you couldn’t because yours was racing fast enough that you were lightheaded. Folding his fingers down over your hand locked them together, but you didn’t try to pull away. If anything, you tried to cuddle up closer to him, dragging your hands so that they were pressed to your chest. It was the most intimate thing he had experienced in recent memory and if his heart didn’t slow down it was going to explode.

The movie wasn’t holding his interest and a new question cropped up in his mind, one he had wondered more than once before tonight and he couldn’t figure out why he thought of it now, but he latched onto it because otherwise he really thought he was going to combust. Besides, it would ease some of his insecurity if he got an answer.

“What took you so long to set this up, anyway? I kind of thought you had changed your mind for a while,” he said, staring at the screen. He was sort of taking it in, an anchor point so he didn’t get lost in his thoughts.

Your chest rumbled against his hand when you hummed, and your answer was so mundane and rational that he almost laughed. “Well a part of it was wanting to get to know you a bit before we did this. Didn’t want to invite a total stranger to spend the night, after all. And then it was just a matter of waiting for my roommates to freakin’ leave.”

“Oh, are your roommates actually gone*?” he asked in surprise. He had thought they were just out for the night and would be home-- probably not soon, given the time, but still. “Like, for the weekend?”

You hummed again in agreement, twirling the ends of your hair absently around your fingers. You were locked onto the movie, absorbed as Leatherface chased one of the characters he didn’t care about through the yard. He fell quiet, thinking you wanted to watch uninterrupted, but then you asked, “That’s alright, right? They would have just wanted to join in otherwise and they can’t stand horror movies either, so they would’ve just talked through it.”

Exactly like he was doing, he realized, and his face grew hot. Hopefully he hadn’t already annoyed you. He nodded, responding in a much quieter voice. “It’s fine. Was just surprised, I guess.”

For a while, neither of you said anything and Tendo managed to focus on the movie, feeling you jump and twitch every once in a while at scares you weren’t expecting. Unfortunately, those movements were brushing against areas that he really didn’t need them too and your shorts did nothing to diminish the curve of your ass against him or the slowly growing hard on he was getting. It didn’t help that every time he shifted even a little you would just follow him, as if he wasn’t pinned by your hand holding his.

But shit, if he didn’t move soon he was going to be screwed. The bathroom-- that would get him out of there before he embarrassed the fuck out of himself.

It was too late, though. You flinched and ground your ass back into him and he groaned before he could help it. You froze, he froze, he just really wanted to die.

“I-- Sorry. I’m really sorry,” he said, tugging at his hand to try and escape. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but the best option was probably to leave and transfer to a school in a whole different country. He could already hear your words now, an echo of so many times before, the sting of disappointment a familiar feeling around his heart.

“I’m sorry, Tendo. I just don’t see you that way.”

It was because he was a freak with a weird name and creepy eyes and-- fuck. It was high school all over again, being rejected by someone he genuinely thought liked him only to find out they were using him to get to Ushijima or pretending to as a fucking joke, only this time Ushijima wasn’t around and he had really gotten himself into it by agreeing to any of this.

But you were refusing to let his hand go, holding so tight he thought his fingers might break, saying his name until he came back down from his panicked high.

“Tendo, Tendo, calm down, please,” you were begging. You had rolled onto your back, unable to sit up because you were using both your hands to keep him from jumping up and taking the whole fort down. You could see it on his face when he finally heard you, wide vermillion eyes locking with yours while his heart continued to race.

He remained propped up on his elbow, ready to run at the first opportunity, and you almost felt bad for antagonizing him as much as you had. If you had known your teasing was going to get him this riled up, you would have tried a different tactic-- or not tried it at all. Maybe you had pushed too far too soon, and the skittish look in his pretty eyes worried you that you had ruined it.

“It’s alright, Tendo,” you said, trying to keep your voice quiet and soothing. It felt an awful lot like you were dealing with a wary animal-- like a coyote or a fox. When the insistent tension in his arm faded is when you relaxed your death grip on his fingers. 

The sound of the movie was too loud in the unnatural silence between you, and you rolled over to turn it down. When it was only a background buzz, you turned back to him. He was still staring at you without blinking, his eyes devoid of the panic from earlier but now they were eerily blank.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, deadpan. He flinched when you took his hand again, forehead scrunching in confusion. “I don’t understand. There’s no way you-- What are you doing?”

It was your turn to be confused, pursing your lips at him. He sounded so lost-- and wary again-- like a child. For the first time, you wondered what his childhood had actually been like. He talked an awful lot about Ushiwaka and Semi, and the volleyball club in general, but you heard nothing outside of that. It made you suspicious now.

“What am I doing?” you parroted, finally sitting up. Your joined hands fell into your lap and you stared down at them, petting the back of his hand with your free one. “Do you not want me to?”

His words were stuck in his throat, trapped by the lump there, and he swallowed thickly. His mouth felt like cotton, and he shook his head, croaking out, “It isn’t that. I just don’t understand why.”

“Why what?” you asked, gentle amusement in your voice. There was no teasing, no malicious undertones that he could hear, like you were waiting to spring the final part of the joke on him. And he was listening for it. After years of dealing with it, he had learned to recognize it in people’s words and on their faces. The way their lips would curl and their eyes would narrow just before cruelty would spew from their mouths, he knew the tells and you--

Had none.

There was nothing but open curiosity and nervousness-- and hope. A lot of hope swirled in your eyes and he swallowed again. He was just going to disappoint you. If not tonight then tomorrow, if not tomorrow then next week. It was going to happen--

“Why do you like me? How do you like me? I’m-- weird. And you’re--” He gestured frantically up and down at all of you. You weren’t anything he was-- a freak. With freaky eyes and a freaky name and a freaky personality.

“I-- um,” you said, and you couldn’t help but smile. There was clearly a lot of baggage with him, and his questions made that obvious. It was likely too much to unpack tonight, especially when you were still only just getting to know each other. Reassurance was what he needed, and that was something you could offer on the spot. “You’re funny...and sweet and...very good looking. Your eyes are so pretty. Um, there’s also the fact that you’re the only person who would watch these movies with me, which earns you a lot of points, in my opinion,” you said, tapping your lips as you stared up at the ceiling.

Your face was on fire as you listed things off the top of your head, your throat tight with anxiety as you wondered what he would say in response. They were all surface level things for now, but you knew underneath the armor that there was a lot more to Tendo, and you hoped you had a chance to discover it.

He groaned low in his throat, not from disgust but from a deep seated need to believe you meant those things. His forehead met your shoulder, his fingers squeezing yours. He didn’t fight it when you eased back down, following after you without a word, leaving his face hidden in your neck. He was still trying to gather his thoughts and calm his overworked heart. It would be so easy to reject you and be on his way, to return home and beat himself up for letting himself get too close and too comfortable with you when he knew nothing would come of it.

Except something had come of it and he wasn’t sure what to do now. Semi and Ushijima always told him he was too closed off and that someone was going to come around who actually liked him and his ‘weird ass’ and that he was going to lose that chance because of some stupid high school assholes. Was he though? He wanted to believe you, wanted to trust you, and slowly he relaxed, his stress leaving him in a long, tired exhale.

“You mean it?” he whispered against your neck, and you could feel his lashes tickle your skin when he blinked. His arm was heavy where his hand rested on your stomach, fingers intertwined with yours, and you squeezed his hand as tight as you could.

“I do. I like you and really want a chance to get to know you better,” you whispered back, and it suddenly felt like no one existed but the two of you, protected from everything in the world outside by a few sheets and each other's warmth. There would be things to discuss and hiccups to overcome, but you could worry about those tomorrow. In that moment, all you wanted was to prove to Tendo you wanted him.

Maybe it was your words, whispered softly into the dark, or your hand gripping his for dear life, or the way you let him cling to you like a lifeline, or maybe it was a combination, but when he pulled back from his hiding place and found you staring at him, he slotted his lips against yours without thinking. Your lips parted almost immediately, free hand sliding out from between your bodies to tangle in the close cropped hair at the nape of his neck and you used it to pull yourself closer. 

When your tongue poked out to glide across the seam of his lips, he let you in on a breath, tilting his head to deepen the kiss. His eyes were squeezed shut tight as your tongue met his, praying that what was happening wasn’t a dream, and he wasn’t expecting it when you gasped and pulled away all of a sudden.

His eyes popped open and he stared down at you with panic. “What? Did I do something wrong?”

“I-- forgot you have a tongue ring,” you said, and the laughed. “Fuck, that’s hot.”

He blinked like an owl, eyes wide as he processed your words. It wasn’t something that he had ever expected to hear in his life, let alone from the girl he was half-making out with in a freakin’ pillow fort. He suddenly wondered if his life had turned into a Shounen Jump manga.

“Well, so are you,” he said, and leaned in for another kiss.

It was kind of hot to see him confident and you felt heat pool in your stomach, starting to bleed further down as his tongue slipped into your mouth again. He tasted like the root beer he had been drinking all night, and you couldn’t resist toying with the piercing, swirling your tongue around it and listening to him moan against your mouth. 

Your shirt had ridden up your stomach as you moved around, trying to get closer to him, and neither of you realized it until Tendo’s hand smoothed over your skin. He froze mid-kiss, waiting for your reaction, and was unsurprised when your hand grabbed his.

What he didn’t expect was for you to guide it upwards, letting go when you hit your ribs to cup his cheek. Pulling back just enough that he could speak against your lips, he asked, “Are you sure?”

“Frankly, Tendo,” you said, and kissed him again before you continued, “I haven’t wanted anyone this bad in forever. Even if we wake up tomorrow and change our minds, I am fucking sure right now.”

He groaned, letting his hand hike your shirt up a little higher until his hand cupped under your breast. He wasn’t sure when you had taken your bra off, or maybe you hadn’t been wearing one the whole time, but there was nothing impeding his skin from caressing yours. Your breast was so soft in his hand, topped by a pretty pink nipple that he couldn’t resist pinching. You mewled underneath him, pulling your shirt up to uncover your other breast and he moved to that one, doing the same and feeling your nipple harden at his touch.

“Fuck, you’re so pretty,” he rasped, gazing down the length of your body. Your thighs were clenched, and his hand migrated lower, fingertips skimming over your skin.

The heat that was pooling earlier erupted when they met the waistband of your shorts, but he paused, looking unsure again.

“Tendo, I’ll show you how much I want this,” you whispered and grabbed his hand. He was still hesitant, looking at your face as you slid his hand into your panties, and his eyes widened.

“You’re so wet,” he groaned, his fingers gliding over your soaked lips, spreading your slick all over them. His fingers quickly found your clit, circling it and you squeezed his hand between your thighs, hips jerking. “All because of me? I’m flattered.”

Teasing at your soaked opening, he waited for you to balk but you only twitched, panting against his lips before he sunk one finger in, your walls parting easily. You moaned and he swallowed it in a kiss, his tongue filling your mouth again. It wasn’t long before he was fitting a second finger, crooking them up and grazing your sweet spot, his thumb taking over massaging your clit as he pumped them inside you. Your arousal was already high enough that you could feel your orgasm coming on, and you pulled away to announce it.

“T-Tendo, gonna--” You gasped when he forced them in deeper, a mischievous smirk on his face as he prodded your cervix. “How-- fuck, your fingers are so long,” you whined, toes curling.

“Think you can take one more?” he asked, already fitting the tip of a third finger in. But it was only when you nodded, tears pricking the corners of your eyes that he slipped it in. Your teeth dug into your lip before they parted in a soundless cry.

The coil snapped on the first thrust and he groaned, drinking in your face as he tipped you over the edge. No one had ever cum so prettily for him before and he wanted to see it again. 

But only if you wanted it. His cock throbbed painfully in his shorts when he pulled his fingers from your twitching hole, feeling you shudder against him. Examining his glistening fingers in the screen light, he slid one experimentally into his mouth and moaned. “You taste so good, princess.”

You gasped at the pet name, a warmth unrelated to the one between your legs blooming in your chest. He said it was such reverence that you flushed, hoping he’d say it again at some point. Never had anyone called you that before, at least in that context.

When he laid back down beside you, his erection brushed against your leg and he stifled a groan. He was wearing boxers but the friction against his cock was still a pleasurable sensation. Not as much as your hand might be--

Speaking of hands, he nearly jumped out of his skin when you cupped him, squeezing and kneading up the length of him confined in his clothes. A shaky breath ripped out of him, the result of him barely containing a moan, and his long fingers wrapped around your wrist to stop you.

“That’s alright, _____. You don’t have to--” But you weren’t listening and the pressure felt too good. His head fell back, eyes fluttering closed, content to let you literally massage his dick until you started tugging at his shorts. He stopped you more insistently then, pulling your hand away. “Wait a second. Let me get ‘em off since you’re so eager, princess.”

He pulled his shirt over his head first, because it was getting way too hot in there anyway, and then kicked his shorts and boxers off into the dark corner. His cock bobbed against his stomach as he rolled onto his side again, leaking precum already. 

Your hand was soft against his stomach, roaming over the hard planes of his abs and down further, until it wrapped lightly around his head.

And froze.

“What the-- Tendo, what are those?” you asked in a high pitched, startled tone. Before he could answer, you let go and rolled onto your back, exposing him to the light and you thought for sure you had died and gone to heaven. 

It wasn’t just his arms that were covered in ink. His shoulders, chest, and sides were all covered in it as well, swirls and splashes of color interrupted by splotches of black or white or skin. You could hardly make out what the images were in the flickering, inconsistent light, but you recognized flowers and circles, and on his pec you were pretty sure there was a scene of a lake bathed in moonlight. And as your eyes followed the path of colors down, you landed on the thing that had startled you in the first place.

“Those are--” you breathed, taking his cock into your hand again. There was a ball at the tip, covered in precum, and you knew if you traced down, you would find another just below the crown. Further down on his shaft were five horizontal barbells in a row, and you recognized it as a Jacob’s Ladder. “Fuck me.”

“Gladly,” Tendo quipped and pounced. He settled between your legs and tugged your shorts down over your hips, and you had to hold your legs up to let him pull them the rest of the way off. He was too tall to sit straight up without brushing his head against the ceiling, but he braced back on his arms when you grabbed his shaft again. He groaned when you fondled the ball below his crown, shuddering at the intense pleasure. It was one of the major reasons he’d gotten it- to enhance the sensations. But the feel of your fingers gliding over his tip, gathering the precum and nudging the ball was something else entirely. “Holy shit, that feels amazing.”

His voice sent shivers through you, deep and raspy and way too needy. But you were unsure of what would hurt him, so you kept your touches light, feeling his thighs tense under yours, his fingers squeezing your calves as he let you explore. Before long though, he was pulling your hand away, pinning it down at your side. “Can’t keep that up, princess. I need more, if you’re alright with it,” he said, letting his cock settle against your cunt. 

The piercings were warm and pronounced against your folds, and you shuddered when the ball under his head grazed your clit. The thought of them inside you, rubbing all along your walls as he fucked you was too much and you could feel yourself growing wetter, your pussy drooling for it.

“Yes, Tendo, please. I want it, I want to feel them inside me,” you begged, rocking your hips. The stimulation was mind blowing and your walls clenched, empty and needy for him to fill you up. And he would, his cock was huge-- he still had room for more piercings below the ones he had. You had no doubt you would be stretching to take him and you keened in the back of your throat.

“I want you to call me Satori, princess. And I need you to let me know if it’s uncomfortable,” he said, pressing the tip of his cock into your sopping hole. “Sometimes they make it hurt, but you’re so fucking wet I don’t think it will. You really like these, huh?”

You were really just answering his question as you said yes, but a stream of them fell out of your mouth as he pushed the rest of his cock inside you, encouraging him to continue. The stretch was so good, your walls splitting easily for him, and you could feel every ball just like you had imagined grazing against your walls. The ball at his slit rested snugly against your cervix, and you didn’t even realize you were screaming as you came, hips jerking in his hands as he let you ride it out.

He was staring at you with what could only be awe, his mouth slack and eyes wide with surprise. “Holy fuck, princess, did you just cum?”

Your breaths were coming in pants as your mind spun, trying to come down from the unexpected high. It came on so suddenly you had no time to prepare, and tears slid down your cheeks. “F-Feels so good,” you whispered, fingers digging into the blanket beneath you. “Satori, oh my god.”

“Are you alright? We can stop--” he said, but you shook your head frantically, locking your ankles around his back, and he laughed under his breath. You sure were something else. He knew for a fact no one had ever come just from him sliding into them and a swell of pride filled his chest. “No? Alright, whatever you want, princess. Can I move?”

This time you nodded and he was slow as he pulled back, making sure you were okay. You were so tight around him from your orgasm, your walls fluttering with overstimulation, but your back arched when he stuffed himself back in, a breathy moan slipping out of you. Hiking your legs higher up on his hips, he bent over you, gathering your hands and pinning them above your head, lacing his fingers with yours. His lips met yours as he thrust into you slowly, grinding deep and stifling a moan. Once again you were playing with his tongue ring, flicking it as you suckled on his tongue. The fort-- and probably the room-- was filled with the wet slap of his hips on yours every time he drove his cock into you, drowning out the low buzz of the forgotten movie still playing. He was being careful, waiting for you to stop being so sensitive, and he knew you were ready when you arched into his chest and pulled away.

“So good, Satori,” you murmured against his lips, hips rising to meet his. Your eyes were glazed and fucked out, tears still flowing and you could already feel the start of another orgasm, but he was moving too slow. The drag and pull of his piercings had almost all of your attention, the ball at his tip constantly tapping your cervix, making your toes curl with every thrust. “You’re so big, and those-- fuck-- piercings feel so good inside me. I can feel them all everywhere.”

He snickered darkly at that and kissed your cheek. “You wanna feel even better, kitten?” he whispered into your ear, nipping the shell. He could feel you nod against his cheek, nails digging into his hands where he kept them pinned above your head, and then he was letting them go and pulling out of you. You whined, staring up at him in dismay, but he already had your thighs in his hands, prodding you to roll over. “Trust me, pretty girl. On your stomach, just like that.”

It was a bit difficult to get comfortable, but he grabbed a pillow and jammed it beneath your hips before settling with his legs outside of yours. And when you shook your ass, begging him to hurry up, he couldn’t deny you, not when he wanted to be back inside your tight heat so badly.

“Holyshitholyshitholyshit,” you whined, high-pitched and breathless as he finally filled you again. His thighs trembled as he forced himself not to just stuff himself into you, you were so tight. And the way you were crying and shuddering beneath him wasn’t helping, especially when you gasped his given name like a prayer. “*Satori, oh my god.”

If you thought those piercings felt good before, you were in heaven now. Everyone of them dragged slowly over the front wall of your cunt, grinding into your sweet spot and you had to bite the pillow to keep from outright screaming. And he was so, so, so big inside you, but with your legs trapped between his there was nothing you could do but take him. Against your will, your legs kicked, hitting him in the back as you wailed into the pillow, tears streaming down your cheeks in an endless flood. 

He snarled into your ear as he planted his elbows beside your head, plastering himself to your back. “You are so fucking tight, princess. How do those piercings feel now?”

“So good so good so good,” you babbled, circling your hips back on his dick to get any friction you could. The orgasm that had been building came back ten fold just from him hilting inside of you and you knew that if he fucked you like this you would be cumming in seconds. “‘Tori, please move, please please please.”

Your needy begging made his cock twitch and you whimpered as he slowly pulled out of you and pushed back in, intentionally slow to let you feel everything. The pleasure was ebbing and flowing, building and falling because he wasn’t moving fast enough, but you couldn’t bring yourself to ask him to go faster, not when you could feel him so clearly. Every time he bottomed out, he made sure to grind down into you, nudging your cervix with the tip of his cock so he could feel you clench suddenly around him. It never failed to make him moan, your slick walls gripping him so tightly as he dragged himself back out. He wanted to make your pussy his new home and barring that he was going to fuck the shape of his cock into you.

“Tell me what you need to make you cum, princess,” he whispered into your ear. He knew what he needed, but he was still learning what would make you feel good. 

Releasing the pillow from your teeth, the first thing you did was moan out his name again as he buried himself inside you again. You were so close to cumming, your clit throbbing with need and if he even brushed it you were going to be gushing all over him. You gasped as he thrust a little harder than before.

“If you don’t answer me I’ll just keep going like this, kitten. I can go for hours, if you want,” he whispered, warm against your ear. That made you twitch underneath him, and he chuckled. “You like the sound of that? We’ll try it another time. Right now, I need you to tell me where you want me to cum and how I can make you cum, okay?”

His words were dark and sweet and coaxing, and you were sure you had never whined so much in your whole life. “Touch me, please, Satori. I wanna cum all over your cock and pretty piercings while you cum in me, oh fuck.”

Bracing himself on his elbow, he forced his hand beneath your stomach, aided by you lifting your hips, and you whimpered when he finally, finally brushed your clit. It was all it took and you had to bite the pillow again as you creamed all over his cock, whiting out and screaming into it as you shuddered and jerked. He eased you through it, leaving his cock buried inside you while he fondled your clit, listening to you whimper and moan. It was a good thing you had hidden your face because you would surely have woken the whole complex up otherwise. 

He groaned into your ear as you massaged his cock, so tight that you launched him into his own orgasm, cumming inside you as you had asked. He remained still inside of you even after you had relaxed, leaving small kisses all over your hair before he leaned down to rest his head on the pillow. He had fucked you so slowly that he hadn’t broken a sweat, and yet he was still out of breath and panting. His head swam for several more minutes, until you shifted beneath him. But you didn’t move like you wanted him to get off.

Instead, you turned to look at him, a lazy, blissed out grin on your face and said, “Holy shit, that was so amazing. I’ve never cum so many times.”

“So were you. I’ve never made someone cum so many times,” he admitted, and replayed the way you came just because he had filled you. That was something he was unlikely to ever forget. He brushed some hair out of your face before leaning in to kiss you. It was slow and gentle, belying how tired the two of you now were, and he could see you were ready to fall asleep. “Gonna pull out of you now, princess. Need you to stay nice and relaxed, okay?”

You nodded, your eyes closing and winced as he slid from your ruined hole. A stream of cum followed after and he took a moment to appreciate it, allowing a smirk to steal across his face. There was no doubt you were his now, at least for a little while, and he committed it all to memory before gently gripping your shoulders. “We should really get cleaned up, then we can go to sleep.”

You grumbled cutely but let him help you up, the both of you stumbling blindly to the bathroom. Sleepiness was a thick fog, and you got cleaned up as quickly as possible before returning to the room. The two of you stood in the doorway, looking at the mess of nonsense covering the bed, and then you looked at Tendou.

“Let’s just sleep in there,” you suggested, taking him by the hand. He let you lead him over, watching the way your ass swayed as you crawled into the fort for hopefully the final time that night. In the few minutes it had taken him to get in after you, you had already pulled a blanket over your legs and were setting up the next movie to play. Not that you would be watching it, but he understood it was the principle of the thing. This was a movie marathon and it just wouldn’t do to fall asleep without being in the middle of one.

Once he’d gotten comfortable behind you, you rolled over and splayed out across his chest, startling him. He had expected to curl himself around your back while you went to sleep, but now you were tracing what lines you could see on his chest in the thin light. His hand rested on your waist, the other tucked behind his head, and he closed his eyes, comfortable with your warmth and weight in his arms.

“Satori,” you murmured, your hand falling flat right over the picture of the lake. “I really do like you.”

He laughed at that, and you could feel it rumble in your ear, deep in his chest. He was clearly as tired as you were, but you needed to say it. There was something in your half asleep brain that would not stop telling you to say it, and you were in no position to fight it.

“I figured as much, princess. Three orgasms are hard to fake, especially around a dick as big as mine,” he answered, and you blanched for a moment before erupting into laughter. He watched you through narrow eyes, fondness bubbling in his chest, until you settled back down against him. “You’re absolutely gorgeous, you know that?”

“So’re you,” you murmured. The nagging had stopped now that you had said what you needed too, and you were falling asleep quickly. “Don’t be gone when I wake up tomorrow, okay?”

“It already is tomorrow, and I’ll be here. There’s nowhere else I wanna be anyway,” he answered, letting his eyes close as well. With your comfortable weight on his chest and your even breathing mixing with the buzzing of the movie in the background in his ears, he drifted to sleep in no time, for once not worrying about what tomorrow would bring.

⇥ masterlist 

⇥ taglist: @visaintes​, @kunimwuah​

[pokelec]

A Dead By Daylight Novice Reviews All the Killers' Trailers (and makes suggestions for what they'd change)

Reveal trailers are paramount for an audience's first look at new characters. First impressions are everything, so your trailer for your shiny new character needs to be perfect for what's in store for the video game! I started playing DBD a month-ish ago but watched all the trailers for the killers before I started playing, and watching some of them got me to thinking about how I would have changes some of the trailers. Some require no changes, while others I think need an overhaul.

Disclaimer: This is in my personal opinion, is not objective at all, and I'm only doing this because this is something I've been thinking about for a month and need some sort of release or else my brain will implode.

Under a read more bc this gets long.

The Trapper - The first trailer! For a first trailer, I think this one is pretty spot on. It follows a lot of beats of slasher movies, in terms of following a survivor that's gonna be killed, her encountering dead bodies, and the suspense of the killer looking for her. Considering Dead by Daylight is effectively a playable horror movie, I think this is a perfect intro to the game. As for what this means for the Trapper, aka our Jason substitute, I think it showed him off alright! We saw his bear traps and got a good look at him doing this thing. Pretty good, all things considered!

The Wraith - The Wraith, Hillbilly, and Nurse all features gameplay as the means of showing off what the killers can do. The Wraith's isn't too bad, since it does show off his Wailing Bell power enough for people to understand "This is a killer that can turn invisible, and you may not know he's right next to you until it's too late". I wish it has a more cinematic style, but I'll be forgiving here because DBD was still young when this was made. I also thing it showed the new map, Autohaven, pretty well. I'm not too big of a fan of ending the trailer with his mori, but that could be because I don't find his mori exciting.

The Hillbilly - Next is our Leatherface expy! This one feels shorter, still using gameplay to introduce our new killer but at least shows off his chainsaw wielding and hints at the map associated with him. I like the shot of him revving his chainsaw underneath the tree with the animal carcasses! I don't mind the ending with his mori here because even if it's off screen, getting cut with a chainsaw is brutal enough to leave a lasting impression. Again, I wish it had the cinematic style, but it's fine.

The Nurse - I think the Nurse's trailer is the weakest of the three gameplay-focused trailers. The text intro is... fine, but I honestly think it fits the Doctor more. It does an okay job of showing us her Blinking mechanics, but it also doesn't? Like we see her teleporting to Nea, but it feels lackluster. I do like the ending shot of dead Nea as the Nurse just blinks away. I'm not quite sure how to change this trailer to be more effective in my opinion, if I'm being honest.

The Shape/Michael Myers - Our first franchise killer, and a perfect trailer. The first second in, we hear John Carpenter's legendary Halloween score. Even non-horror fans will quickly pick up which killer this is. The suspense of Laurie see Michael, Michael coming up the stairs, and especially the shot of Laurie and Michael being on opposite sides of a door is *chef's kiss*. We see enough of the Shape to be satisfied and eager for his release. It's the perfect trailer for him AND Laurie imo.

The Huntress - Ah, the Huntress. She is my favorite killer to play as, and I probably have the majority of my playtime on her. Unfortunately, I think her trailer leaves a lot to be desired. It's the start of the 'let's look at the killer from different angles, have them turn around to the camera, and then attack the viewer' trend of DBD trailers. I call for a complete rewrite! Here's what I would have done:

The map is Mother's Dwelling. Two survivors (David aaaand idk Dwight?) are running and hides behind some trees. We hear the Huntress's lullaby get louder, and we see the bottom half of her and her axe as she walks past the survivors. The lullaby gets quieter, and the survivors take a sigh of relief. Then, a hatchet is thrown and lodged into Dwight's head! David screams and runs. We then see our full look at the Huntress as she picks up the body. Her signature lullaby continues as the trailer ends.

The Hag - The Hag's trailer also follows a similar formula to the Huntress' trailer. There is an animation bump, so we get to see the Hag's emaciated appearance in full detail. I'm not too mad about that, since the Hag's appearance is unsettling enough to cause viewer distress and curiosity more than the Huntress' would. However, because this is a DBD original killer, we need to see what her deal is with her trailer. Thus, I propose this:

On the swamp, Ace is repairing a generator but hears another survivor (Dwight?) get hooked. Ace goes to rescue him, but we see as he steps on a rune in front of the poor survivor. The illusion of the Hag pops up, jumpscaring poor Ace (and the audience) but disappears. Ace then rescues Dwight for real, but Dwight quickly runs away. Why? Because the real Hag is behind Ace and lunges at him, biting his neck. Trailer ends.

The Doctor - I now realize that my taste in writing DBD trailers is 'have the survivor do a thing, they think the killer is near, they then relax, and only then are they attacked by the killer'. It's a bit stereotypical, but again, we're dealing with a game centered on the horror genre, so that's why I'm okay with it.

I mention this because that's effectively the story beats the the Doctor's trailer follows. Instead of attacking Feng, however, the Doctor just looks at her run and stares menacingly. Even though we don't see the Doctor's shock therapy powers here, I think the long look at the killer is still effective because of his design. A first reaction I (and other reactors) experienced went from the initial "OMG the killer is here, run girl!" to "Why tf are his own eyes and mouth held open like that A Clockwork Orange scene?!". We also don't linger for too long on him either, so I think this trailer works well enough.

The Cannibal/Leatherface - Another franchise killer, this time good ol Leatherface! This trailer is a little different, using text to draw up suspense. I do like the reveal of "What is his mask made of? YOU.", but I would've loved to have seen some actual Cannibal action, or at least his in-game model doing his Texas chainsaw massacring thing.

The Nightmare/Freddy Kruger - Oh, c'mon, we got one of the most well known characters in horror in this little video game, and all we get for his trailer is some scratch marks and a 'killer does nothing but stand there menacingly and attack the camera' trailer?! I do like the detail that when we see him, it's DBD's version of the dream world, but we could've at least featured a survivor falling asleep and then seeing him for themselves.

(Also kinda sad it's the reboot version of Freddy instead of the Wes Craven version and the survivor is Quentin instead of Nancy Freaking Thompson, but I guess we should be happy he's in the game at all)

The Pig - Largely, I think this trailer is pretty good. I'm not too big of a fan of Amanda just standing there menacingly near Dwight, but I do like everything else. I especially love the security camera shot of the famous Saw bathroom and the cutaway when Dwight's reverse bear trap activates (but we still see a good bit of gore!). It feels very Saw-like.

The Clown - This trailer is pretty good! Even though we don't see the Clown in much action, we get a lot of visual storytelling with the bottles, the circus, and the ring of fingers, all leading up to the reveal of his face. The diagetic music from Kate is a nice touch, too.

The Spirit - This one is alright. There is a lot of focus on Adam, but it does build up tension to when the Spirit reveals herself. My biggest problem with it is the ending card that is used for her. Yes, I know that's traditional for the end of these trailers, but her pose and expression is kinda meh after the face she makes when she's about to attack Adam. Seriously, that couple of seconds haunts me (sorry) otherwise.

The Legion - My other favorite killer to play! It's so funny how I didn't like Legion when I first heard of them but now they're my favorites. I love how the trailer emphasizes that the new killer(s) looks similar to survivors and the brutality of when Frank reveals himself and stabs Jeff. However, the trailer does a disservice to the other members of the Legion. C'mon, that's their whole shtick!

My recommendation would be to end with a shot of Julie, Joey, and Suzie joining Frank (and obviously getting a good look at them) and surrounding Jeff right before they all stab him. This is a little disingenuous since you can't play as all four of them at once (unless you count that one Blighted skin...), but you also can't disguise yourself as a survivor, so... Yeah. They are The Legion! They act as one! Treat them as such in their trailer, dammit!

The Plague - The Plague's trailer is interesting. Even though we don't see her in action, I think it's fine because seeing her puke on people during her trailer might be a bit off-putting. Just a bit. We still get some storytelling with her whispered prayers, the candles and incense thingy, and, of course, her face. I think because the Plague's design is inherently unique among all the killers so far, she can get away with the 'let's just tease the audience by looking at the killer and nothing else' trend.

The Ghost Face - Not too much I can complain about with this one. I do like the wtf factor of 'wait, why is a DBD trailer at a modern day warehouse???', especially if you're watching a trailer playlist like I first did. It all makes sense when you learn it's Ghost Face, though! Also, justice for that poor cashier.

The Demogorgon - RIP Stranger Things DLC. I don't watch this series, but I really like the Hawkins Lab map and I'm going to be sad when it's gone. :(

I love this trailer! When I hear the Stranger Things music, it actually gives me chills. I'm legitimately so sad the DLC will be gone from the stores, but I do own them myself. I need to actually sit down and play Demo, Steve, and Nancy one of these days. Why am I crying? No, I'm not kidding, why is this trailer making me cry? Renew the contract, Netflix, please! I don't want this stuff to disappear forever!

(Is it weird that I've been nagged on for years to watch Stranger Things but it's Dead By Daylight that's actually convincing me to watch it?)

The Oni - This is an interesting case. The "main" theme of this trailer is the contrast of modern day Japan's Yui and her motorcycle vs the literal ancient samurai Oni. I think it works out, and again, I think the presentation makes up for us not seeing too much of the new killer.

The Deathslinger - Oh boy, do I love my cowboys! This trailer is nearly perfect. We establish the western setting quickly over the sounds of some poor bastard in pain. The reeling in of the chains and the closeup of The Redeemer is so great. My biggest complaint with this trailer is that we linger a bit too long on the Deathslinger's face at the end. Yeah, he's creepy with his eyes and his disjointed jaw, but you can only look at a horror for so long before you want to move on.

The Executioner/Pyramid Head - I like this trailer! I haven't played Silent Hills, but I'm at least somewhat familiar with the premise and Pyramid Head. I love the shot of him passing the classroom door window and the sword cutting a rift through the ground. Yeah, my lack of SH knowledge makes me unable to recommend any changes here.

The Blight - I have no changes to suggest. The Blight's transformation is super horrific, reminding me of the typical depiction of Jekyll and Hyde. Honestly, he is so much more terrifying in his trailer and in lore than in gameplay.

The Twins - No changes needed. BHVR is really starting to hit their stride with these trailers! Seeing Victor come out of Charlotte's body is amazing.

The Trickster - We depart from all of the other trailers by using an K-POP music video style. It does a good job at referencing some of his story beats (namely torturing/killing people, recording their screams, and using them in his music), but it doesn't really make me afraid of the Trickster. Sure, it fits with his theme, but I would have preferred seeing more of him, y'know, instead of just looking pretty and making faces? I still wouldn't change the art style of the trailer, though. It's fitting enough for him and a breath of fresh air from the doom and gloom.

The Nemesis - No change needed, mostly because I'm not too familiar with the Resident Evil series, but seeing Jill, the twink Leon, and Nemesis on-screen is a very cool moment. Also can we get an F in chat for Meg?

The Cenobite/Pinhead - This is a perfect trailer. We got the Lament Configuration, we got the chains pinning up Dwight, we got Pinhead himself! What more can I ask for?

If you actually made it this far, thank for reading? I don't think I really contribute anything to the fandom with this analysis, but DBD has been living rent free in my brain for the past month, so I may as well write something, eh?

[nightcoremoon]

why am I a jerkass who rains on everyone else's parade when I say I don't like gory horror films because I find movies whose plot consists of some dude stabbing a bunch of people to be fucking stupid pointless boring schlock that only exists to stroke the boners of people who enjoy watching other people die vicariously from a good safe distance, especially when their sequels just cheaply kill off all of the survivors from the earlier films thus rendering the plot of the earlier ones L I T E R A L L Y COMPLETELY FUCKING POINTLESS

but when someone says they don't like seeing sexual assault portrayed in movies (valid) and that people who put them in are evil and bad and dumb and bad tasteless artists, everyone is like yes yes good perfect okay you have the correct opinion here have a good star

hey newsflash assholes, if you're watching a fictional movie about a clinical sociopath who butchers animals, beats the absolute shit out of people they don't like until they're crying and shitting their pants and bleeding out the eyes and pleading for mercy, tying a dude to a chair and then slicing his jugular and glaring in his eyes until he bleeds out, bludgeons some guy for no fucking reason until his blood and brain spatters the kitchen floor, stabs his (naked) sister 17 times (after slowly tracing his fingers on her leg no less, ew), stabs a nurse in the neck with a fork and killing her for literally no reason, then a decade and a half later going back to his hometown just to stab a dozen people with ice skates and pitchforks and good old fashioned kitchen knives, and having the film depict this all in graphic bloody detail

and your ONLY problem is that somewhere along the way two disgusting scum workers at an asylum took a brand new catatonic female patient into his room and fucked her until they messed with his masks so he just breaks their fucking skulls open (which define his character as someone who clearly has no compassion for others but will shatter your bones and strangle you just for touching his stuff), and it's that a girl was raped and not that you watched a guy pulverize two men into bloody giblets...

idk man something about that feels wrong. you're okay with watching fictional murder but not fictional rape even though neither are glorified or justified and it exists purely to cause discomfort and distress in the viewer because it's a fucking horror film and horror is supposed to expose you to depravity and as art it serves to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.

don't get me wrong rape is bad but like

so is fucking murder.

why can't I express my discomfort in society's gratuitous endorsement and desensitization to killing in fictional media without people taking it as a personal attack and then turn around and do the exact same thing to rape

it's a double standard and it's so stupid

you can eat popcorn and watch jason voorhees rip teenagers in half and then berate me for not having a good time bathing in someone else's blood and then in the same breath #cancel rob zombie's director's cut of his halloween reboot because there's a rape scene in it. the violence is okay; you like the violence, no, you love the violence. that's perfectly fine? violence is good. freddy can force a recovering addict to OD on heroin, that's fine. john doe can force a fat guy to eat spaghetti at gunpoint until his fucking intestines burst, that's okay. mark hoffman can lock an innocent woman in a brazen bull and cook her alive just to fridge her and punish her husband for a lie that he made, that's awesome and wonderful and /super cool/. it's bullshit.

I'm not here to say YOU CAN'T like nightmare in elm street. you can like the texas chainsaw massacre. you can like my bloody valentine. you can like the thing. you can like wrong turn. you can like saw. you can DISlike rob zombie's movies. you can fast forward through the rape scenes in halloween, house of 1000 corpses, and the devil's rejects if the scenes make you uncomfortable (as they are intended to do so because it's a fucking grimdark edgy music video inspired horror movie). I'm not here to tell you that YOU CAN'T have an opinion on things.

but it's a special kind of entitled to insinuate that not only is your opinion the divine right of kings and anyone who disagrees with you is wrong and dumb and evil, but that a squicky scene you don't like actively makes the entire film Objectively Bad™.

maybe I don't like the fact that tatum gets crushed in a garage door. maybe it squicks me. maybe it unsettles me. maybe I think that it detracts from the film when all billy had to do was just stab her one and done without making a huge ordeal out of it. maybe I think it only exists to make a spectacle out of death and gorify- sorry, I mean glorify, murder, because it's exciting and intriguing to some who take solace in the macabre. "the effects are cool". maybe I don't like it. but you can like it.

I can dislike it. you can like it. we're both valid. that's how opinions work.

"but people get triggered by rape"

people get triggered by drugs. people get triggered by food. people get triggered by religion. people get triggered by a lot of things. people get triggered by slit throats, strangling, and hanging. you're valid for your triggers and you can avoid whatever fucking content you wish but if you think only your very particular specific trigger is the one that's valid, screw everyone else? go fuck yourself. you selfish piece of shit. you're not the only person in the world. it isn't hard to respect that you're not the only worldview in the world.

but then again, maybe it is hard, considering nobody fucking does it. everyone's trapped in their own little world where they're the only one who matters. they don't give a single shit about anyone else but themselves and others they can project onto because they're similar. they don't care if you can't match them in any way. you're a freak if you're different and you don't matter.

never mind the fact that 90% of slasher horror is misogynist, ephebophilic, racist, exploitative of the mentally ill and physically deformed, in some cases appropriations of the non-christian religions, and in the other 10% it's actually a horror comedy.

but if a white girl is sexually assaulted that's the only time anyone bothers being compassionate

now a disclaimer because I know for a fact that people are gonna put words in my mouth and take shit out of context and point out things I didn't explicitly state outright and try to make me out to be some fucking evil boogeyman

not saying you SHOULDN'T be compassionate to rape victims and I'm not saying I personally enjoy rape scenes in movies and I'm not saying that I particularly like the inclusion of those scenes in those movies and there is certainly a conversation to be had on the very misogynist nature of hollywood cinema as a whole in the horror genre especially and we should keep in mind the thermian argument and it's a complex issue, I know I know I know so shut the fuck up I don't owe you a passing grade on clout or the semantics of discourse or virtue signaling.

it's just stupid that people only get upset if a fictional white girl gets raped in a gore porn movie when it ~doesn't suit the narrative~. ok, this is the narrative: scary man stabs, the end.

scary men stab all the time. scary men shoot. scary men suicide bomb. scary men patent insulin and sell it at an upcharge poor diabetics can't afford. scary men drop bombs on kids in syria. scary men put mexicans in concentration camps. scary men slaughter thousands of men and women for their religion or their sexuality or their skin color. scary men do a lot of bad shit. your silence on these issues does much more harm to society than *checks notes* a scary movie about bad people doing bad things and facing karmic retribution for it.

TL;DR rape is bad, and murder is also bad, and american horror films have 100s of problems, and people need to start voicing their opinions as opinions and not pretending they're facts because it's super fucking annoying

[fuckyeah-jessicabiel]

Jessica Biel: Taking Aim

December 7, 2004 by Lynn Barker

The last time you probably saw hot actress Jessica Biel, she was a freaked out traveler cornered by Leatherface in the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. No more babe in jeopardy for this little lady. Jessica now plays Abigail Whistler, a vampire fighter whose skill with a futuristic bow and arrow has no equal in Blade: Trinity. This is Jessica’s first big action heroine role and she was determined to look and feel the part. Now she can give Fantastic Four boyfriend Chris Evans a run for his money.

The actress looked anything but combat ready when we interviewed her in L.A. recently. Dressed in a very soft package (beige slacks, knit shirt, brown seed pearl drop earrings and blonde-streaked hair in a long braid down her back), she looked more ready for a tea party than a vampire hunting slug fest but she was all fired up and ready to tell us all about her extensive “Blade” fight training and the fun and pranks on set…

TeenHollywood: You still look in shape but the training for this film must have been exhausting!

Jessica: I was in the gym six days a week for a couple of hours a day and then an hour of fight training, an hour of archery and a super-strict diet throughout the whole movie. There was heavy weightlifting to bulk up in the beginning. Then once I got to a certain size it was a more maintaining and lots of cardio to kind of lean down. Work to build, then maintain, then lean it out as much as we could.

TeenHollywood: Did it ever cross your mind that you might not be able to do all this physical stuff?

Jessica: No it didnít because Iíve been working out forever.

The gym, for me, is not a chore. Itís a stress release. Itís something I enjoy a lot. I was getting paid to work out. I couldnít think of a better thing. I think I questioned my choreography sometimes. We planned out all these amazing fight sequences where I kill thirteen guys at once. You just show up and kind of cross your fingers and hope that you can get it done and it looks right and punches look right. Itís a weird thing to show a fake punch.

TeenHollywood: You have one laser weapon that doesn’t actually do on set what it does with CGI effects on screen. Was that weird?

Jessica: We really did have an issue with that thing because there were two different ones. I would hold it up and then we’d have to stop [filming] and replace it with the big one and then replace it with the small one. Then the CGI would work later, but it was really kind of a pain.

TeenHollywood: How does shooting one of those complicated fight scenes work for you? It seems so fast.

Jessica: My last fight scene, I think that took two days to shoot because we shot it in one long master, basically, and it was 13 guys, one after the other after the other. It worked much better for me to keep doing it in one whole sequence than to chop it up because you lose your momentum coming from one person to the next. I was also working with the best stunt people ever. If I gave kind of a crappy punch they still sold it like I knocked them out so it was really half to our stunt people’s credit that it looked so great.

TeenHollywood: But you looked really convincing.

Jessica: Well, they do it for a living and we’ve only done it for four months. It was 14, 15 hours one day of just fighting all day long and after that day I was just wiped. Every muscle…I almost threw out my back. You get to the point where, ‘Holy crap I don’t know if I’m going to survive it,” but it was awesome, it was so much fun, I had such a good time doing it.

TeenHollywood: Did you have any injuries?

Jessica: No I didn’t. Not really. I have kind of a weak back anyway and I got a bit of a chiropractic adjustment, which kind of cleaned me right up so I think it could have been really bad if we hadn’t taken care of it right away. I really didn’t have any other injuries besides my knees and my shins…I looked like I had been hit by a sledgehammer. I was just bruised up and down. Colliding knees with shins and knees hitting corners. It was just a mess of knees hitting things, but that’s it. I was really lucky.

TeenHollywood: Okay, we hear that Wesley Snipes just IS Blade 24/7. Was that strange working with him?

Jessica: Thatís true. All the time we were on set or in a trailer, he was Blade. I canít describe it any other way. He was just serious and very intense and quiet and not really communicative at all. It was weird, but it really helped our dynamic onscreen. We didnít know each other. We werenít supposed to know each other. We were all awkward onscreen. It was perfect because that is what it was in real life. He didnít cuss at me. He didnít say a whole lot to me.

TeenHollywood: More on the personal Jessica. You were going to Tufts University for a while. Are you finishing your college education out here?

Jessica: I havenít finished it.

I donít want to finish it in LA. I donít know when Iím going to do this. I hope it doesnít just go on and on and years and years go by and Iím still going to do it. Iíd like to finish it somewhere like NYU or something. Iíd love to go to NY and just kind of go for a couple of years because Iíd like to live there anyway before I have a family or anything like that. Iíd love to do that for me, but I think maybe in the next couple of years if my career comes to a place where I feel comfortable enough to leave LA, then I feel like I could maybe get it done.

TeenHollywood: Why donít you want to finish at Tufts?

Jessica: I would if my friends were all still there. I went for a year, took a year off and went back again and now theyíve all graduated. So, for me to go back to Medford, Mass, where I donít know anybody anymore, itís like starting as a Freshman all over again. Iíd like to choose something else, like go to NYU where I can live in an apartment and not have to be on campus.

TeenHollywood: Abigail in the film listens to her iPod playlist when she goes into battle. Do you have an iPod and whatís on your play list?

Jessica: (laughs) I donít even have a play list. Iím a little bit challenged in that area. I do have an iPod. I have a bunch of different stuff; Led Zeppelin, Christina Aguilera, Bob Marley, Damien Rice, Maroon 5.

TeenHollywood: Did anybody ever mention that it would be difficult to hear who you would be fighting with your music blaring in your ear?

Jessica: No, hey, this is comic book land. I've got eyes in the back of my head. She was supposed to fuel her fire with her music, her pump up music. It wasnít even a question, would it be not tactical that she couldnít hear somebody coming from behind.

TeenHollywood: Okay. We buy it. Ryan Reynolds is pretty funny. Was it hard to keep a straight face with him on set?

Jessica: Yes but David Goyer is the prankster. No one’s ever played jokes on me except this movie where it was joke after joke after joke. I kill all these SWAT guys and they are all lying on the floor. For weeks and weeks we had all these dummies dressed in SWAT gear on the floor. You just get used to stepping over them…they’re everywhere. So of course one of our prop guys gets dressed up and lies down on the floor and I didn’t know about it. David calls me over and, at the right moment, the guy on the floor grabbed my leg. I screamed and everyone laughed.

TeenHollywood: Silly but cute. What else?

Jessica: This was his favorite. Iím walking with my flashlight and my gun and Iím looking for Zoe and I have to look in a meat locker. He hid in the meat locker and itís take three and my gun is so heavy and my arms are shaking and Iím looking and I open this meat locker and ďAargh!Ē, he jumps out and it scared the s**t out of me.

TeenHollywood: If this goes on to a sequel film about your vamp fighting unit, would you like to be part of this franchise?

Jessica: Well, yeah. I loved Blade 1 and thatís why I was interested in becoming part of this one because I thought it was awesome. Whatever happens..if itís a spin off or whateverÖas long as Goyerís involved Iíd be interested in being involved.

TeenHollywood: Superhero geek questions. Who would win in a fight between you and Wes (Blade)?

Jessica: Well, Wes would win because heís got supernatural powers.

TeenHollywood: What about Buffy? Did you ever watch it?

Jessica: I never watched Buffy. I wasn’t a Buffy freak.

TeenHollywood: How about Abigail vs. Electra?

Jessica: Hummm, I don’t know but that would be a good fight.

TeenHollywood: How about you and Chris Evans?

Jessica: Oh he would kick my ass. We’ve wrestled before and he’s very strong.

TeenHollywood: You did Blade: Trinity before he did Fantastic Four. Did you give him any advice or was it different?

Jessica: His is totally different. He’s using a lot of wires and stuff and I didn’t really use anything. I practiced on wires, but we ended up not using them at all. For me at least. He’s doing very different stuff. He’s not being trained in martial arts. He’s not doing archery or anything. He’s in good shape so he’s just been in the gym getting pumped up.

TeenHollywood: Does he complain about the wires?

Jessica: I think he’s mentioned that his suit is just really tight.

TeenHollywood: Sounds good to us. Did you ever accidentally knock someone out?

Jessica: I punched this kid. He’s like 19 so he would kill me for saying that. This kid, Jordan. He plays one of our skate punks, our vampire punks and he’s actually a Canadian superstar skateboarder and he’s also a BMXer, just actually a crazy athlete. It’s the first scene where you see me and I like crush his arm and I throw him on the ground and I’m punching him like this and I just collided with his face and his head hit the concrete. We just looked at each other like [makes a surprised face] “Sorry!”

TeenHollywood: What happened then?

Jessica: I ran to the monitor obviously after asking if he was okay. Then Goyer would just rewind it as I punched him in the face. We just watched it over and over, “Crack, crack, crack” hit the concrete, hit the concrete, hit the concrete every time we’d laugh so hard . And Jordan was such a good sport. I could see him, he was like, “Oh I’m totally fine,” [touches mouth and moves it around as if she’s just been punched]. He’d turn away and rub his chin.

TeenHollywood: Did playing a role like this give you a feeling of personal power?

Jessica: Yes, absolutely because you don’t get to do this. I got to kick guy’s butts all day long. But, it kind of gives you a false sense of strength though because I feel like, “Yeah, bring it on.’ If I’m on the street? “Bring it on,” but then what could I do? My routine on you? Fake punch you? I always joke about that because my dad and my brother are like, “Oh you’re good now,” and no not really. I have this false sense of security that I could really kick your ass.

TeenHollywood: But you really could shoot an arrow. Didn’t you break a camera? Set the scene for us.

Jessica: I did. I busted like a $300,000 lens.

David loves this. I’m standing up and Drake (the bad guy) has turned into this gnarly monster and he’s got Wesley and he’s holding him by the neck. I’m up 40 feet away from the camera and they’ve put up this plexi-glass to block anybody from getting hurt. They turned down the poundage [on her bow]. If it was turned up to normal pounds I could shoot that arrow straight probably for 100 yards, but since they turned it down, the arrow was going down [in an arc]. They wanted it to come straight next to the camera instead of diving down. My coach said, either turn it up or let her aim for the camera because I was aiming just off. DP said, ‘it’s OK, aim at the camera’. All the guys were like, “Just aim at it,” [ ha, she’ll never hit it] and my coach is like “Do it, do it.” I mean we had been practicing hardcore target practice and I just aimed and shot that lens right out. First take. It will be in the DVD because I shoot it, you see the camera go [splat] and you hear it. And I’m just laughing and pointing. And our poor camera assistant is like “Oh my god, my lens!” Now he has to call the studio and explain what happened.

TeenHollywood: You have two more movies coming out. What are they?

Jessica: Stealth. Iím a fighter pilot in a black ops squad. Itís a futuristic man vs. machine. I do a lot of flying and I end up on the ground at one point and I do have a cool machine gun that I shoot, but itís not hand to hand combat.Elizabethtown I just finished shooting. That was amazing. Now Iím looking at some indies, trying to figure out what to do next.

Source: Teen Hollywood, 2004

[ambreiiigns]

episode one of nay pretending to have a podcast or perhaps some sort of serious blog where she analyzes slasher movies

"it's a film about meat." - aka there is no ethical consumption under capitalism: the movie

so Obviously i'm gonna start whatever this is. by talking abt. texas chainsaw massacre (1974) there is fucking NOTHING in this world as SPECIAL as texas chainsaw massacre i love her so much she means Everything to me she is so. just. genuinely important for horror movies like. i've seen her be called "The Mother Of All Horror Movies" and you know WHAT it's SOOO TRUE so fair she deserves it she's. the blueprint. the original. and like for better or worse tbh bc if you really look at it she didn't just like. start the slasher subgenre back in the 70s but she also. was the first remake in the 2000s like. she started the fucked up slasher remakes craze of the early 2000s like. they made the tcm reboot in 2003 and they just. never fucking Stopped that trend was her fault. arguably. most of them were at the very least unnecessary like i don't always Hate remakes but. what are you bring to the table why are you needed what are you Saying. and sometimes they bring something new but it's Worse BLACK CHRISTMAS 2006 I'M LOOKING AT YOU but actually speaking of black christmas. i love it so much truly one of my faves But. i've seen like. sources online and stuff and they talk abt black christmas and texas chainsaw like. like an alt kid who wants to Prove they're cooler than you by talking abt some obscure band they listen to. anyway. there's that like weird reversal of expectations tone to some articles and stuff where they try to say that "before texas chainsaw massacre came black christmas" which is like. OBJECTIVELY NOT TRUE?!?!?!?!? like texas chainsaw was lichrally release like 10 days before black christmas give me a break 😭😭😭 why would you lie to me like that why would you fucking say that!!! sbdjajkfksg so weird. anyway!!! i would argue that even IF black christmas had come out before texas chainsaw it doesn't have the same. level of slasher energy i guess. the same amount of influence. like. it's not like the traditional slashers that we grew used to ya know ??? so even THEN all the other movies just clearly took so much more inspiration from texas chainsaw she truly just left more of a footprint i think if the slasher genre was built upon the foundations of black christmas instead it would be sooo different. black christmas is like. a little bit uhhh smarter ?? than like. texas chainsaw and the like. there's more thinking in there w the whole peter situation while texas chainsaw is just. in your face and she's PERFECT ok this is so irrelevant actually anyway moving on

i don't even feel like i Can talk abt it bc there is SO much to say and who am i to try and say it!!!! god. the vibes of the first movie. how it feels so Real the documentary aspect of it the way it just fucking LIES to you saying it's based on a real story and it ISN'T but it does feel real god!! the sets being so organic the way it's shot the low quality and low budget just ADDS so much to it!!!! god old slashers w low budgets are the SHIT i mean it there is NOTHING like those and i feel like you can't really pull it off anymore nowadays ??? like if you have a low budget in 2022. you're done. pack it up. it's gonna be bad. but back in the day???? god and i don't know why but. god. back on topic. tcm74 just Feels so organic you watch it and you feel how hot it is how dry it is you look at it and you can FEEL it can't you. and besides the visuals (stunning) it has so much to say? it's so much smarter than you'd think it is? i could not possibly talk abt all the critique and commentary it does abt usamerica & society besides the obvious points but it's SO interesting and clever and ughhhhh when i learned the gas shortage that is one of the main plot points in the movie was actually a real common problem in the us at the time and not just a convenient plot point to get the characters in the situation we need them in. i was Sent. i was Insane. i don't know why it sent me the way that it did but.

there is also something SO COOL abt how. famously everyone remembers the original texas chainsaw to be a lot gorier and bloodier than it actually is right? like it's a common thing for people who watched it once a long time ago to think it was so much more of a splatter than it actually is. i for one watched it as a kid and i was Dead Sure it was sooo fuckin messy but it ISN'T not ONE bit not at ALL the most blood you see is literally just on sally at the end of the movie. isn't that so fascinating. show don't tell can work the opposite way in movies sometimes and the blood and gore in texas chainsaw is Implied, Philosophical, and it's so fuckin. good. that it gaslights you into thinking it's messy as hell just because it's SO intense the visuals simply Have to match right??? but they DON'T and it's SO IMPACTFUL maybe even more impactful for that innit god i love it sooo fucking much!!!!!! it's so brutal that your brain just kinda fills in the blank!!!! makes me go CRAZY!!!!!!

moving on! onto my favorite bit maybe. ? characters. god bless. i love the mandatory group of teenagers/young adults who are introduced Just to be killed off i LOVE them always and the texas chainsaw ones are especially pleasant to have around for as long as they last are they not. babes. i don't get when people go like. boohoo the mandatory group of kids that only exists to get killed off have no personality in [insert movie] 😔😔 like i don't CARE i don't care abt their personality i look at them and all i see is a bunch of little corpses who CARES but like obviously if they Have personality sure it's a nice bonus but like. who cares. the texas chainsaw kids Do have some level of personality doe i do care them except sally's boyfriend he does Nothing for me except driving the van but fine. kirk i do like him more he's alright. but PAM MY FUCKING GIRL!!!! i love an astrology bitch who has everyone's chart memorized i Love her i love sally but i just care pam so much more. not in a way that makes me wish SHE was the final girl bc i have so much affection for the kids who die. i love to see them diebrnsjjckskgjsf like. sometimes my favorite kids deserve it. not as a result of them Pissing Me Off but just bc i like them so much they deserve to go out in the best way? you know there's a lot of honor in being killed in a movie like this i think and pam? arguably? more iconic than sally. all the scenes she's in are Perhaps more iconic than sally's scenes. like. the shot of the house from below & behind pam ass first. the shot where she tries to run out of the house and bubba picks her up just as she's jumping out the door. the bit where she gets put on that hook. god. Iconique literally iconique !!!!!!!! my beloved my queen!!!! sally doe she just. my girl's jumping out of windows over and over the way she keeps screaming Iconique as well really gets in your head it's so impactful and she simply. does not stop screaming or jumping out the window. she is so relentless fr god bless and to her credit obviously the final bit where she's covered in blood in the back of that car laughing and screaming as it drives off FIND ME A FINAL SCENE AS ICONIQUE AS THIS ONE GOD!!!!! i do hate everything that's happened to her in the sequel(s) doe <3 fuck that. anyway. the man the myth the legend. franklin. my man. pam's a bit more favorite but he's a clooose second how could people ever fucking say he's annoying i have never thought he's irritatin. like. ok objectively maybe he could be a bit nagging and repetitive ok but like. wouldn't you be a bit. shook. like my man got his arm sliced by some freak and you want him to just get OVER it????? fucking insane how do you expect him to not be like a bit paranoid at LEAST abt it god 😭😭😭😭😭😭 and i don't think the other kids are always necessarely evil to him but you know when they just leave him alone once they get to his and sally's grandparents' house. that scene is so frustrating to me why would you do that to him. and then whine that he's annoying. he deserves to be annoying if anything i'm gonna kill you he did Nothing wrong. he's sooo fascinating too like obviously the movie wants to tell us he's got Something in common w the sawyers almost right.... like there's this inherent otherness abt franklin that separates him from his group and it almost seems like he has more of a connection to nubbins.... it's so inchresting..... i wish that went somewhere you know it's kinda left up in the air after the Concept is introduced it's a shame but also i like that it doesn't go further idk. idk

but Obviously the actual STARS of the show. the sawyers God i love them. i love a family i LOVE a fucked up little family more than anything else i love how much we get of them in texas chainsaw 2 i love grandpa just. being there even though he's more dead than alive but they won't let him die they won't let him go and even GRANDMA and nubbins in the sequel something so inchresting abt how they kill & eat people all the time but they won't even really record when their family dies ? like. if they won't eat it then it's not dead ?? they can't wrap their heads around someone being dead unless they eat it i think the sawyers' relationship with death is so fascinating luv

and obviously there is also something to say about grandpa and the Good Ole Days and the way they cling to him and it's some kind of metaphor for not wanting to move on from the traditions they were used to and hating the /progress/ in technology etc and it's something that nubbins touches on in the van too- obviously one of tcm's big themes in general

the way that there is no female figure no mother figure in the family (unless we count grandma who i'm sure was a girlboss but. you know. dead now) is SOOO important and interesting about them and i HATE how some sequels tried to add that female figure i feel like it just fucks up the dynamic like. there Is a reason that they had no ladies in the family to begin with just let it be that way i can't put my finger exactly on WHAT it adds but it ADDS SOMETHING like bubba wearing the grandma mask to make up for the lack of a female figure is IMPORTANT it SAYS SOMETHING they would have added a mom or made grandma alive in 74 if they had to. like. this was so clearly done on purpose like. like. i get so pissed off for no reason abt this LIKE they would have turned out different if a girlboss was in the picture ok. 

moving on. drayton. beloved eldest daughter disease ridden old man. he is such a guy. he is so much some guy. i like to think he's not actually as old as he looks he just aged like absolute shit whenever he ended up having to care for his three younger brothers by himself so like. i don't blame him for being a little rough. he's so weird. he's actively part of the fucked up stuff his family does even if he might not enjoy the actual killing that much but at the same TIME he's so NORMAL like. we meet him very early on at the gas station and we don't suspect a thing we might even forget about him cause he's soooo just some guy right. he's kidnapping sally to bring her home so they can kill & supposedly eat her and yet he stops to go back and turn off the light like that's the biggest problem he's got on his hands rn. the way he's so consistently concerned abt money and stuff. like. it brings such a level of Normalcore it hammers in how much that type of violence has been normalized for them the way that despite. you know. the cannibalism and all he's worried abt money and bills like you and me and the rest of us. it's such a good clash! it does such a good job at subtly telling you. hey. look at this fucked up little family. they're just like us. you could be them if you were pushed enough. you couldn't even tell him apart from sally and her friends at first cause he's just like them. them being just like you. ain't it fuckin scary. and it is!! 

and the TWINS???? HELLO. chop top is SO special i love how he's introduced in the second movie w no actual foreshadowing or anything in the original (which would drive most people up the wall) (talking about me) but still he settled in so well and he's so beloved! when you see people talk abt the og sawyers he's usually included even if he's not an actual og! and usually people (ME) don't fuckin take it kindly when new random family members are added to the original (texas chainsaw 3d & leatherface 2017 talking about you mostly. third & fourth don't really count i feel like it goes off track enough to get away w it but.) but CHOP TOP CAN STAY THANK YOUUUU 🥰🥰🥰 he's my best friend. and the only thing they say abt why he wasn't there in the first one is just. oh he was in the war. genius. stellar. of course he was in the war look he has a fucking metal plate in his head. why the fuck was HE the only one in the war but everyone else was just home. who the fuck cares. i'm obsessed w him!! obviously he fits the tone of the second movie perfectly, actually helps to bring up the funnysilly vibe they wanted, a comedic relief kind of character but if i think too much about him coming back from the war w a hole in his skull & finding his twin brother dead & deciding to put straps on nubbins' arms so he can wear him like a fucked up little backwards backpack and carry him around and talk for both of them using a different voice for nubbins and refusing to let him go. i could start to get a little bit sad it breaks my heart a little bit. it's tragic actually innit. but he CARRIES on w his stupid little hippy attitude or whatever the way he is w music the way he just has fun w bubba and takes him on a little drive and listens to the radio w him. and nubbins also comes with. i love the fucking concept

and nubbins. fucking weirdo little artist he's so fun. obviously not as funNY as chop top but he's FUN we don't get to know him as much as chop top or even like any other brother really bc the second movie is what really gives us a lot of content and obviously :/ nubbins isn't really in it :/ but one thing abt him that i feel like is kinda underrated is that he just fuckin. really sets the whole story in motion doesn't he. he's the one fucking w the corpses at the cemetery and that's the reason why sally and the gang go on their little trip to check on grandpa's grave and that's how they run into the sawyers if you think abt it it's all because of nubbins <3 the little reveal was so satisfying to me! cause you almost forget in the whole mess that at the start of it all was some weirdo digging out corpses! and then in a casual blink and you'll miss it exchange they reveal it's the hitchhiker and like. the way it all snapped into place in my brain was soooooo satisfying it's UNDERRATED i understand that like. you don't need to care abt the gravedigging at the end of the day BUT I LIKED IT UGHHHH also i fucking care that he's an Artiste i care that he's creative i care that he has a Vision i care that the implication is that he made all the cool bone furniture in the house i care that he and bubba (not sure abt chop top doe & drayton def doesn't seem to have one) have weird bracelets that kinda look like they're made from bones or teeth and like it had to be nubbins making that too right i care that he's a photographer i care that he ✨decorates✨ other places too (not just the cemetery but sally & franklin's grandparents home ALSO had that little sculpture that freaked out franklin) he's SOOO SPECIAL

and finally. last but by god not least the opposite of least actually the MOST the most important most special boy in all of texas my BELOVED my BABY BOY BABY leatherface i fucking love him so much i adore him he is SUCH a good character but it's so easy to miss i think if you watch the movie without thinking much abt it 😭😭😭 which is a valid way of watching texas chainsaw but is it worth it. no. but if you think abt him. and i personally think abt him all the fuckin time. there is so much there.... gen my favorite thing is just that he's objectively supposed to be a sympathetic villain. and i feel like at this point it's an overdone and often badly done character trope but he's fine he's OK he's wonderful. so. i love that if i go He Did Nothing Wrong I Can Fix Him i'm not just being hashtag insane but i'm actually kind of right bc that was kind of the plan. the director intended for this to happen he was building leatherface w the purpose of making a pathetic little scary guy and. it worked! so well! to me. i get it's hard to notice but also i cannot imagine missing it like. it's right there. like. backtracking. of Course he is also supposed to make you shit your little pants and he's not supposed to be. innocent or whatever. but you HAVE to grasp the. ~he's as scared of you as you're scared of him~ dynamic it's RIGHT there!!!!! it's not subtext it's RIGHT THERE most notably when him and pam see each other the first time they're both panicking and screaming! or when he just looks out the window to make sure there's no more meddling kids and then he sits down to pat his face and take a breath like he's had such a tough day :( he's having a liddol panic attack pls give him a second :( but a WAY better example to me that i don't see people bring up as often is the little moment when. after sally breaks into his house and locks him out. after she's done running up the stairs and she's running back down just as he finishes chopping up the door. the moment when he steps in and sees her basically running towards him. and he straight up gets so startled he jumps back on his heels for a second before getting his mind back in the game and starting to chase her again. like. that fuckin moment! that is so clear! bc you could chalk up his screaming at pam as him being mad but like. this. this bit is so important to me!! like /canonically/ he doesn't kill any of those kids out of malice but just out of fear? self defense? he's definitively like protecting the family from these fucking trespassers right. i Have said that texas chainsaw massacre 1974 is just Why Are You In My House: The Movie. which is a valid fucking question like for the love of god will you stop fucking walking into people's house it's fuckin illegal. and rude. i just think that it's so cool that he's scared kinda the whole time :) i think it's so cool that Arguably the first slasher is just a scared big guy i think it's so cool that Arguably the first slasher movie managed to make a very organically sympathetic villain without relying on all the cheap moves that a lot of other movies use THAT ONE OF THE PREQUELS FUCKING USES LEATHERFACE 2017 THIS IS FUCKING ABOUT YOU i have so many problems w that fucking movie and the worst crime is the fucking clichè tragic backstory that they slap on my boy like why would you go so far to try and /make/ this character sympathetic by making you feel sooo bad for him or at least i feel like that was the goal when he was already sympathetic in the original movie. like. they missed the point AND they did it wrong and i do not care for it AND WHY SUDDENLY HE'S THIS LANKY TWINKY FUCKING WHITE BOY OF THE MONTH LIKE 🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪 HE IS NEVER GROWING INTO THE BUBBA WE KNOW AND LOVE DON'T FUCKING LIE TO ME !!!!! his Size is so. important ? and they took that away from him 🔪 

ACTUALLY THE WAY HE LOOKS? HIS PRESENTATION IN GENERAL? UGHHHH SO IMPORTANT ! the plasticky butcher apron is furtherly telling you Hey This Is Normal To Them. This Is Just A Job To Them. Because They Lost Their Job To Industrialization So They Need To Do This Now To Provide For Themselves. Wouldn’t You Do The Same? You’d Have To Do The Same. You’d Need To. Hey Why Are You Scared It’s Just Work It’s Just Blood It’s Just Meat Didn’t You Like Meat? We (the sawyers) ’re Just Like You (the viewer) (Struggling, Needing Jobs, Needing Food, Poor) You (the viewer) ’re Just Like Them (the animals) (Just Meat, Get Butchered) the way that putting this normal job article of clothing in a context so fucked up has the same unsettling effect of drayton’s whole deal but it’s more effective bc it highlights one of the main points of the movie aka the equating humans to the animals we have to slaughter so at the same time it brings out the violence we commit and makes you think of it as awful in a way you’re not used to thinking of (vegan propaganda-esque) but at the same time it questions it. why are you not used to thinking like that? why can you excuse yourself when you kill living beings bc u gotta eat but the sawyers are scary for that? aren’t you both monsters then? or are you both excused? aren’t you both just hungry? anyway. as i said his size is so important to the way he. operates. ig? to the way he Scares but also it works so well w the way his characters Is. again like i said. the contrast between him looking so intimidating and him being so intimidated. i truly love it. love that he’s the youngest he’s the littlest baby but also he’s 6something ft x 300 pounds and wields a chainsaw and yet his smaller older brothers kick him around all day and he makes himself (look and sound) small when the oldest, probably weakest, least inclined to violence (alleged, arguable) brother approaches him threateningly

and the masks???? he just wears them to wear them. he’s not hiding a weird face situation like tcm03&06 (which is a liddol lame sorry 😔 like boooo what’s new) i think it’s supposed to be a means of expressing. purely a way to communicate. he can’t really speak- he’s not non-verbal like jason or michael, he simply. it’s like he didn’t learn how to talk. makes me wonder how early on did they give up on him. like definitively they did not bring him to school. so did they never teach him. where were mom and dad. was grandpa /dead/ already when bubba was little. was drayton simply unable to parent him. did they resort to cannibalism were they already cut out of normal human society when bubba was little. how old is even he ! the very fact that his /name/ is just bubba probably because it's all he could manage to say. ! the first actor who played leatherface and worked on building him as a character talked in his book about bubba’s /speaking/ process, about how he has some lines on the script, about how he talks but he just bumbles up the words into a sound that just reminds you of the actual words if you listen closely. it’s like he can’t speak but he can try to replicate sounds he hears. he does the same w animals. so it seems like he can understand but doesn’t know how to make those sounds, put letters in the right order to make them into words. it’s so cool it's so interesting. so he can’t express himself normally thru words. so he does it thru the masks :) he feels nurturing so he wears the grandma mask to make dinner for his family. he wants to be pretty like sally for the dinner so he tries looking for a mask w blonde hair like hers before settling on the pretty lady mask and putting on makeup. i just love him so much do you understand. don’t even get me STARTED on his genderfuckery on his being “detatched” from gender and just trying to look the part. like. he just has no idea how things out there are huh. i think he was just always sheltered and brought up into the violence of the sawyers household. and yet he’s a sweetheart. DESPITE that he’s a sweetie. bc i don’t know if more than any other brother he realizes that what they do is bad. segway-ing into the second movie. when he tries helping?? hiding??? comforting???? idk hard to say. stretch when she ends up in their house and he just does to her what he finds to be good. puts her bestie’s fuckin face on her face. bc maybe he doesn’t realize it’s a fuckin AWFUL thing to do hgdgfdgf but it’s helpful to him he’s used to this it’s normal to him so he does that for her. am i making any sense. can you hear me. are you seeing the recurring theme of fucking up what's normal. are you seeing the recurring theme of bubba babyboybaby my sweetest best boy in all of texas. he's baby your honor.

ummmmm anyway. so. yea. i don't know if i have any more to add so. instead i'm gonna /rank/ all the movies but it's mostly an excuse to talk shit worst to best let's Go

1- fuckin 2017. oh my god. i kinda touched upon what i hate abt it already but. like. why's he a twink. i get why he's a twink it's for the big plot twist wow reveal at the end but like why for the love of god. why's it a prequel to the original why's there a mom why does he fuck up his face to excuse the masks and the Not Talking. why did you make it so different from the tcm formula like… i understand it can get a little repetitive but i love it i feel like it should be there. there wasn't even a dinner scene. there wasn't even a surprise relative. come on. why does it feel like a devil's rejects reject. why does the first movie in the firefly trilogy feel more like a texas chainsaw than this actual texas chainsaw which feels like the second firefly trilogy movie instead. oh my god. why did you do THEE 2012 creepypasta go-to tragic backstory of Insane Asylum. i literally want to kill this movie so hard

2- the newest netflix one. Jesus. it wasn't gonna be this high on the list cause i thought it didn't do Anything for the story. like for better or worse i thought it simply had nothing to add. but oh boy. it's just so. fucking bad and lame. i almost even thought there was potential but. first of all it also doesn't feel like a texas chainsaw either but it's not as bad as 2017. secondly it takes the topic of Progress In Technology Bad but tackles it in the cringiest most boomer way like god. don't even get me started on the bus scene. you cancel leatherface? you cancel them like an influencer? chainsaw. chainsaw for the millenials for ten fucking minutes i want to Die also mask ugly i like that apparently it was supposed to look sad and pathetic almost as if it wanted you to sympathize w him but Ugly. i appreciate that it sort of addresses the original family and why there's a mother figure but i simply do not want it. this leatherface smells like jason. and the focus was on the group of kids too much and those kids sucked ass. and i'm gonna pretend they didn't fucking mess with sally. and i want to kill this movie and this franchise for the love of god let it die let it rest

3- i'm gonna start this point by saying that i feel the same level of like-dislike ratio for tcm3 tcm4 And tcm3d. like. i kinda don't care enough and the pros and cons are sort of the same. so i'm not sure how i'm gonna rate them. they might as well all be on the same tier. but i'm gonna put 3rd one aka 1990 one here. it's just so forgettable. more than the 4th bc at least that one's So fucking bad in the most batshit way it sticks w you but this one ??? like. brain empty. i don't. i'm repetitive but again i do not fucking appreciate adding family members and this one adds All the family members huh. freaks me out to see aragorn there. and the lowest point is obviously the fucking. daughter. oh god for the love of god i hate to think abt her and how it's implied that she. came to be. why would you do this you did not need to do this i swear to god. And i feel like this is where we start to lose our grip on leatherface as a character bc he is a bit too evil and scary in this one besties i'm not seeing him have enough panic attacks. one thing i like soooo much from this movie that i still remember is the golden chainsaw No. but that IS cool as shit. i remember kinda liking the bit where he puts his headphones on the girl :-) and yanks them off when she yells at him or smth :-( my bubba would have gotten startled abt it. but whatever . also the other superior thing is that whole bit where he's playing that i guess word-image association game and it's showing him a picture of a Person and he keeps trying to mark it down as Food and gets frustrated when it keeps telling him it's wrong UGHHH THAT IS SOOOO NICE AND SO COOL AND I LOVE IT!!! but everything else in the movie is shit and wrong so. pass

4- fuckin new generation. oh my god. can you believe that is a movie that got made. how did they even think of that weird illuminati subplot like what weed were they smoking Like. Hello. honestly 80% of the reason i'm not putting this at third place is bc there's no r*pe baby in this one but the bar is so low. insert mandatory complaint abt the extended family here except these guys are fuckin. insane. i don't like them. and the squad of little corpses is unbearable. having said that i can kinda vibe w how BAD!!!!!! JUST BAD it is bc i have grown to enjoy straight up bad slasher movies but the fact that this is a Bad Texas Chainsaw and not just a bad slasher makes it harder for me :( but if i pretend i do not see that… then i can kinda have a good time. they did kinda fuck w leatherface's character but in the completely opposite direction than normal this time like. dare i say he is a bit Too wimpy in this one and not intimidating enough. like it just gets a liddol bit ridiculous. but i can almost forgive everything in favor of how HARD they went with the genderfuckery i'm not gonna debate the like. morality of it? like is it offensive did it come from a good place i do Not care abt it. but i care abt bubba goin full fem baybayyyy slayyyy yassss this might be a problematic statement from me but i think this leatherface is closer to the original than most other sequels have ever gotten to. bye. not debating it

5- 3d. oh GOD texas chainsaw 3d !?!?!?! oh god. getting the obvious Timeline Makes No Sense critique out of the way immediately i'll move on to Why Is This Plot Literally A Creepypasta Wattpad Fanfic. a secret little cousin??? who gets introduced to the family tradition of Chainsaw???? hi?????? this takes my pet peeve of fuckin hate extra relatives and makes the story be all about it. + there's that fuckin terrible editing moment that. iykyk i can't remember enough to be specific but. for the love of god. besides that. i put it lower on this list bc. i appreciate it a bit more. mainly due to my beloved mutual leo hellboys who likes this one sooo much that it grew on me by proximity. and secondly bc at the very least you can tell the source material is truly understood. it's so clearly a passion project and there's so much love that clearly went into it. bringing back original cast members is such a sweet move. leatherface is quite humanized and the movie asks you to empathize with him and if he's a bit more bitter than i'd like i can let it slide bc they killed his family it makes sense if he's rude now. + the actor is……. hhoghh god. lol. it's fine

6- 2003 reboot. i appreciate a reboot WAY more than a sequel prequel whatever. i respect that they went all out and just made up a completely new leatherface & family to fuck around with instead of fucking up the character and add relatives. this leatherface is simply a completely different dude so if he has a tragic backstory and an aggressive personality and a different family it won't annoy me u know? and i RESPECT that. it's a fine movie + it's the one i saw as a kid (in fact me & my cousins just referred to leatherface as thomas) but it bears the faults of starting the bad remakes era. tcm is a trendsetter for better or worse ig

7- the beginning 2006 i like a prequel more sorry. i like to see how things came to be And i like the group of dead kids walking more AND the scene? where chloe from lucifer shoots herself in the head? and the camera goes thru her mouth thru the hole in her head to the wideshot(????) of all the kids screaming? my GOD that is one of THEE coolest fucking shots in the whole world like oh my god. bumps it up the list immediately. anyway. dumpster baby tommy hewitt i care you. this man is the biggest brickhouse in texas has cake for days long shaggy hair A Job competent as all hell cool mouthguard kind of mask?!?!! homoerotic tension with his first face???!?!?!??! my MAN!!! i'm not a slasherfucker. but i'd go as far as to say. he is Hot. anyway. fuckin hate hoyt more than most characters in history. but luda mae… oh sweetie she's so sweet… now i'll go on to broadly talk abt both movies. the cinnamontography as anticipated is really fuckin nice. i adore all the little references to the original movie i always love to see it. i love that they stuck to the formula (surprise family member! DINNER SCENE!!!!) but at the same time! this movie explains things that i don't need explained! the skin thing to excuse the mask! the weird reason to become cannibals that is just a watered down version of what's implied in the original! it's not enough to turn me off bc again. reboot can get away with more or less anything. but still

8- i'm gonna be fuckin honest it's so hard to pick between the first one and the second one. by god they're soooo close they could just be on the same step. the only reason i'm putting the original as the last in this list - and therefore the Best one - is bc. well. of course. it just deserves it. despite of what your opinion might be. so we're talking about 1986's texas chainsaw massacre 2. easily one of my favorite slasher sequels of all. it's so fuckin fun! the original had some bit of dark comedy and they decided to just go all out on the comedy in round 2 and i love them for it! the family dynamic is great chop top is fucking amazing the personality we got from all of them was PERFECT we got so much more of bubba… we got NAMES! WE GOT STRETCH OH MY GOOOOD STRETCH MY FAVORITE FINAL GIRL THE LOVE OF MY LIFE!!!!!!! the ONLY fault of this movie is that one of the new main characters they introduced was a fucking cop. that one is unforgivable. but everyone except stretch dies at the end so it's cool ig. i love it they really knew what they needed to do. instead of making it Scarier they made it funny. just so the next sequels could try to make a scary villain out of bubba. suck my dick this movie is fucking Perfect and i love it so much

so is this it. am i finished. do i have anything else to say 🤔🤔🤔🤔 i think i've talked enough. i fucking love this movie & franchise to some extend soooo much she's everything. my final message thank you for reading to anyone who might have 😭😭😭 if i continue going insane there will be more <3 i had a Blast running my mouth. this is truly therapeutic

9- and finally. the 1974 original. i'm not gonna say anything bc i just. talked enough abt her lmao no need to explain why it's last place in a worst to best all over again. but. yeah. there she is

[horrorstreet]

Hi, I'd like a slasher match-up please! I'm a 20 y/o bi guy, only 5'5" and I weigh essentially nothing because of which I'm pretty frail and weak. I'm empathetic and LOVE giving. Buying food or games for my friends is free serotonin,, I struggle with remembering things and sometimes with actively listening so I could come across as uncaring or rude,, but I swear,,, I care u.... I'm a striving artist, overthinker, crave adventure and get annoying sometimes (i feel like). Thank you in advance!!

🥰 Hello! Sorry for the wait but here you go! I had to think about who I was going to pick for this one but I THINK iv got a good one! I hope you enjoy!

I have matched you with Bubba Sawyer ! Bubba is from Texas chainsaw Massacre and also known as leather face! One of the sweethearts out of the slashers.

I feel like the two of you would get along pretty well! Living with Bubba is always a while ride but fear not, this teddy bear has you covered. He will make sure you stay safe and sound. Just let him know how much you love him and there should be any issues.

The fact that you love to give was a big part of why I matched the two of you up together. I feel like Bubba would get really worried about his s/o losing feelings for him and often tries to do the most to make sure that doesnt happen so you giving him things (even tiny little trinkets) means a lot to him. He isnt used to being gifted things or receiving anything from people around him. Maybe the occasional slice of skin or dead body to make a new mask with but that's about it.

You wont ever have to worry bout coming off as rude or uncaring. Seeing as how Bubba grew up with people who really ACTUALLY were cold and uncaring, he can seperate when someone actually means it and when its unintentional. He wont treat you any different. Now, when it comes to forgetting things you are both in the same boat. Minds always everywhere but where you wanted them to be but that's ok!! You both eventually remember and somehow stay on the same page.

The both of you BLEED creativity and it's often something you teo bond over. Maybe its you helping him decorate his masks or him helping you find scraps to make art with. Either way, he enjoys the time you spend together. The man is constantly looking for new things to do and explore so adventure comes easy to him which only makes it easier for you !! Explore your heart out. He' right there with ya!

(Oh and you could never be seen as annoying in bubba's eyes. He loves you way too much.)

_____

I do hope you enjoyed ! Please let me know what you think. I wanna know if I matched you with who you thought I would. Was it even close ?????? Iv gotta know!!!

[natrashafierce]

My husband made a scared little whimper in his sleep. I said, “It’s okay,” and reached over to gently stroke his hand, but it startled him. I cooed that I was sorry, and he’s okay.

“In the rat box!” he explained.

“Well, get out of there. It’ll be okay,” I assured him,

“Gotta get in the rat box and watch a movie.” This sounded oddly derisive.

“Oh,” I said. “After the movie, then.”

“Cow’s pissed I took his parking spot.” Then he fell back asleep.

His dreams always sound like cartoons. He’s hanging out with anthropomorphic animals in there, or something. I can’t decide if that’s more fun than my dreams or not.

Mine are usually complicated, long, make 80% sense, and it’s not uncommon that I have a revelation that’s helpful to my real life either materially or emotionally. BUT the time dilation can be nuts, they’re intense, and I’m always trying to figure everything out which is an absolute bitch in a DREAM. It feels like I’m stuck in an entire episode or season of some HBO drama. Maybe I’d rather be in the rat box watching a movie.

I would love to have my biggest dream problem be that I took a cow’s parking space instead of having to psychoanalyze the guards in a woman’s mental institution to figure out how to sneak people out. I’m being all careful to map the building without being seen, meanwhile in my husband’s mind he doesn’t even think to be conscientious toward a cartoon cow. In real life he’s very conscientious, but fuck that cow’s parking spot. Who does that cow think he is, anyway?

That must be so freeing. I’ll kill violent people in my dreams, but otherwise I’m as careful to avoid unnecessary conflict with difficult dream people as I am in real life, so I’m constantly gauging whether they crossed a line such that conflict is necessary. Then sometimes I have to give them conflict. Juggling that is exhausting! Then you wake up and most of the people don’t even exist! If you wake up and the rat box doesn’t exist, that’s just a good feeling, probably. You’re just glad your time in the rat box wasn’t real, but my dossiers on dream motherfuckers feel like real time that was wasted.

But maybe it’s not so great, because his dreams seem to scare him often — which I guess makes sense because he doesn’t have much conscious control in them. It’s really hard to scare me in a dream or in real life. I’ll get angry or frustrated or sad in dreams, but I usually don’t feel like they just happen to me, I almost always feel like I can do something.

Wait, I just realized… is he scared of the cow? I woke him up because he was scared. I assumed the rat box was scary, but he did not intend to leave it. This cow’s got him on edge, I think. Because he took his parking space. It’s unresolved while he’s watching the movie in the rat box, maybe.

That would actually be typical of him. It is very important to him to be good, and if he does bad things in dreams he expects to be punished. I think his more conscious mind is a step behind his actions in a dream, so he watches himself do things he doesn’t approve of. Then the idea he should be punished arises, and it steers the dream in that direction. He also dreams of messing up things he normally wouldn’t and letting people down, too.

I’m pretty conscious in my dreams and making alert decisions, so my dreams rarely make me feel bad about anything. I have my same principles. The rare times I start to go against my principles I end up stopping and having some revelation, and sometimes realize I’m dreaming.

It’s been a long time since I had a helpless “oh my god I can’t believe I just did that, why did I just do that?” dream. Those seem to freak people out a lot, and they freaked me out back when I had them. But for probably a decade now, I always accept that I did whatever I did and process it. When I have those dreams that I’m back in school and didn’t go to any of my classes and now I’m going to fail the semester, I just show up to class open and nonchalant with the teacher about how I didn’t put forth any effort and I won’t start now, and then I leave without bothering to take the test and have an entirely different storyline in the same dream world. One time I just went and sat in the food court of a futuristic mall feeling peaceful I got to be there in the middle of a weekday when there weren’t a lot of people.

Instead, most of my stress in dreams is from needing to help people in some kind of immediate danger, especially if I have to fight an armed person or animal. Once I had to go through an air vent to this uncharted grey swamp dimension with a crew of people, got separated from them, and had to fight a crocodile that almost ate a kid. That was in the 2000s and it was so vivid I still remember it. Another one from that same decade had some guy going Texas Chainsaw Massacre in some sci-fi building with floating platforms, and I knew I wasn’t going to win that one but had to do it anyway. I woke up because I died. They almost never scare me because there’s no time to be scared, but I never get easy fights in my dreams. They’re always really frustrating and exhausting, because that dream shit where you can feel your real life sleep paralysis kicks in where everything seems slow and ineffectual. Any bullets I shoot go in slow motion, or if I’m stabbing someone, it’s the bluntest blade ever. I usually wake up from frustration or from dying. I rarely get to just win and continue the dream. I don’t think my husband deals with stuff like that.

Our dreams are very on-brand with regard to our respective childhoods. I had to witness domestic violence when I was young so my dream stress is just like, ah great, I must put this maniac in his place before he kills someone. I have to save all the people who are trapped. I never actually fought my dad because he was not violent toward me, I just dressed him down once I was old enough and it would shame him into submission. But when I was a little kid I wondered if it was my responsibility to kill him, or if there was anything I could do to outwit him, or if there was some other solution I hadn’t thought of. Every angle matters when you’re powerless. My dreams have involved me trying to figure everything out since before I started school. I just quit feeling powerless the older I got, and the compulsive digging and plotting still drives the dreams.

Whereas my husband was mortified by having to stand in the corner for time out, had to take on a lot of responsibility his mom heaped on him, and had to diligently regulate his emotions in response to her being impossible and insane. He gets stressed in dreams because he dropped the ball in some way — he betrayed his principles, or neglected a responsibility, or should have kept his cool.

I wonder if the rat box was punishment for stealing the cow’s parking space? He’s like me, he wouldn’t dodge the punishment, he’d just get it over with.

If I find out what the rat box was, I will update this if it’s not too personal. But he forgets most of his dreams, so who knows.

[anystalker707]

Blood on my hands

🎃Halloween special Pairing: Frank x Reader Word counting: ~ 2 400 Genre: Terror, suspense, fluff TW: Terror, blood Summary: A cozy house in the woods. Being attacked by a beast you can’t see. And suddenly finding out your boyfriend is a vampire. a/n: I suck at horror, sorry bbs

"I'm calling it," Frank says in defeat, his bottom lip sticking out as he sends a few dry leaves flying with a kick. "We're lost in the woods." A sigh escapes his nose as he looks around, cold fingers poking out of his fingerless gloves and wrapping themselves around my hand. They're always cold.

"Well, no shit, Frank." I roll my eyes. "I literally said that five minutes ago, but you were worried, with..." I think for a moment, but I'm not sure about what he was doing, talking to himself while I looked around the endless trees, seeking for a clue to get us out of here. "...whatever."

"Aw, don't be like this, I found a nice thing!" He says in a soft whine, eyebrows furrowed; he stops to walk, reaching for something in his pocket then pulls out a heart-shaped rock. His lips stretch in a cute proud smile, "actually, it was something else that I had seen, but I found this and I was gonna give it to you, but you were walking away before I could notice," he says with certain frustration.

"Oh, look at you! You never let me stay mad at you," I mutter under my breath, my heart practically melting. Taking the rock in hand, I take a good look at it before shoving it in my pocket. "Idiot," I joke, leaning in and pressing a quick kiss to his smiling lips. The giggle that comes from him makes me look at him with a stupid smile, shaking my head to myself before pulling him along with me to continue walking.

Dry leaves crack under our feet, practically the only sound in the place apart from the occasional breeze going through the leaves that remain in the trees and also makes us shiver. The dense clouds above us make it difficult to determine what time is it - something thankfully solved by our phones - and contributes with the cold air, though it doesn't penetrate through the heavy layers of clothes. Of course, we were worried about the rain, but the way the clouds are there since yesterday and not a single drop fell from the sky gave us some confidence.

Besides all, it feels like we're alone, but it also doesn't. Not to mention that, if we weren't actually alone, the sounds of the steps would easily be heard through the thick silence, with the ground being practically orange, almost completely covered in dry leaves. It makes me calmer.

All the walking almost makes me forget how we ended up here, but I remember what was it about it. We went for a walk to a specific place - a clearing we'd found days ago -, but I guess we took the wrong turn and, caught up in a conversation, only noticed it when we didn't even have phone signal anymore. It's not as bad as it sounds, the woods are just in the outskirts or the city. We found a trail at some point and here we are now, hoping it takes us to out of here. Though we've probably been walking for a couple of hours, the good point is that we left our house in the morning.

"I'm so tired of walking," Frank groans with a sigh, rubbing his face with his free hand. "We're getting nowhere. And I'm sure I've seen that tree-"

"Wait, that's a house, isn't it?" I raise an eyebrow, pointing to the place, interrupting Frank before he gives me another goddamn existential crisis. "There's probably someone in there," I tell him with a thoughtful hum, "like, window's open and all..." I trail off, tired. It seems like a fancy place, I bet someone probably wouldn't build this too deep into the woods. Or at least I hope so.

"Well, I guess," Frank shrugs, grabbing his phone and flipping it open, but just for a few seconds and then he's turning to me with a frustrated sigh. "Still no signal. Okay, so, whoever's in there will either help or kill us, so we better be prepared. I love you so much, so, if there's ever a situation that only allows one of us to run away..." He pauses, looking at me from under his eyelashes; as much as it sounds like he's going to say something sweet, I guess I know Frank enough. "...I'll miss you a lot, okay? Maybe I'll call the cops to come check on the place, so don't worry." His lips part in a proud grin, a chuckle escaping his lips once I snort.

"Okay, yeah, sure," I nod, rolling my eyes, "You're so lovely, Frank, best boyfriend," I tease, but quickly fall serious again, having thought about what he said. "No, but, really, what if they actually kill us or something? Like, horror movie thing? I'm pretty sure that in Texas Chainsaw Mass-"

"No, no, c'mon," Frank interrupts me, his eyebrows furrowing in a pleading expression as he holds onto my hand with both of his. "We could get some water or something, you've got no idea how fucking tired I am. We can hit them with whatever if they try to attack us."

"Y'know," a breath escapes my lips as I try ignoring the fear tight in my chest and let Frank drag me along with him. I mean, I'm really tired, but I prefer to sleep for two days straight instead of being killed. "Gerard's usually the one with bad ideas, but you're always pulling us to problems."

"Aw, no, trust me," he says with a pout, squeezing my hand, the rough fabric of his gloves somehow warm around my hand. "Trust me," he shoots me a look, pleading eyes observing me from under his eyelashes.

Not replying, I only let out a defeated sigh in response. I really want to stop and my throat aches for a drop of water. In the worst of the cases, at least I won't die alone.

It looks like practically any house we'd find in a rich neighborhood - modern styled two-story house, a lot of details in wood while the front wall of the second floor seems to be entirely made of glass, though it's not possible to see through it. It has a comfortable vibe, seeming to be a good place for spending the vacations in. All the windows in the first floor are open while there's just a single one open in the second one, with white curtains poking out of it, pulled by the wind when it hits stronger. The open door shows the furniture in light wood and a decoration that matches the aesthetic.

"Hello?" Frank asks after knocking on the door, though it's open. He's tense, me too - our hands tight around each other, both of us holding our breaths and standing completely still as waiting for a response, but the word is lost in an empty silence.

Slowly, he starts walking in the house, ignoring the glare I send him.

"It's not nice walking into someone's place like this," I say quietly as looking around, seeking for a signal of life in the house.

"Eh, we can just explain why we're doing this if they catch us." Frank's voice is louder than mine, but still quiet. Our steps sound impossibly loud against the wooden tiles. I don't answer.

The kitchen isn't much different from the rest of the house. Everything seems organized; the way the place is clean and a glass full of water sitting on the counter with two ice cubes inside it tell me there's really someone in the house, making a shiver run down my spine at the thought they'll probably be back soon to get the water.

"Here," Frank says, suddenly holding out a glass of water to me. Apparently, I zoned out for too long.

"Thank you," I mutter, exhaling and taking the glass in hand, shakily bringing it to my lips. Meanwhile, Frank looks around the place, sighing as he leans back against the counter. He looks from me to one of the stools across from him and points at it. With a nod, I sit up on it, thankful for giving my legs a break. The quietness is immersive, causing a great difference after so long with the breeze going past our ears or through the tree's leaves.

Frank's eyes go past me, probably looking at the doorway. Something catches his attention, but there's nothing when I turn around and to take a glance.

"What's up?" I ask in confusion, setting my empty glass beside me.

"Nothing..." He trails off. "Y'know, I'll... I'll go check if there's someone around, okay? I'll be right back." His lips press together in a smile and he kisses my cheek before moving to walk out of the room in weirdly slow and quiet steps. Odd. Something in his words and manners don't convince me, but I don't question it either, just trusting him.

He's gone for a few minutes; I check the time on my phone at least three times and I just can't wait anymore when ten minutes go by. I try calling for him, but there's no response - not even when I walk into the living room again. The same deadly silence of before is the only response I get.

I'm quiet for a moment, trying to listen or catch on a small detail that tells me Frank didn't simply disappear. The stairs seem weirdly threatening for some reason. But what if he's up there?

I'm about to take a step forward to climb the stairs when there's suddenly something grabbing onto my arms. Frank.

"Hey, I was-" I interrupt myself when I start being dragged behind and I freeze noticing it's not him, a shudder running down my spine. Though it feels like there are sharp, long fingers gripping around my arms, just below my shoulders, I can't see anything there when I look at it. And there's absolutely no one behind me either. No matter how I look around or try to look at the objects' reflex, there's absolutely nothing, but the grip's so strong that I can barely move as I'm dragged.

Where is it taking me to? What's even it?

The only result of all the questions, of all the confusing feelings is only a loud scream going past my lips before I can notice. At this point, the terror is probably bigger than the fear - I don't even fucking know what's doing this to me, I don't know what to wait for or what someone or something with this grip is capable of.

I can hear my name being called from upstairs, Frank's voice muffled, followed by heavy footsteps coming down the stairs.

And suddenly I'm alone again. Standing in the middle of the living room. My eyes are wide as I observe around the room. There's still this thick silence- And there's a muffled, loud thud.

Not even thinking, I start running upstairs, my heart stopping for a second at the sight of a red liquid coming from under one of the doors and, as bad as it can turn out, it's the exact door I go for, sweaty fingers wrapping themselves around the cold doorknob, afraid the worst happened.

Frank stands there. Calmly. An almost innocent look on his face as he looks around, intensifying when his gaze finds mine. Something completely normal. That if there wasn't blood everywhere less on him. Still, I weirdly calm down - or simply don't know how to react, my mind just giving up on keeping up with all the weird events and entering in a state of shock.

"Red syrup." Frank says with a smile, earning himself a look of disbelief from me.

"Is that really red syrup? Please tell me it's syrup." I say in a rushed tone, then pause. "I can't stand blood." A sick feeling bubbles in my stomach.

"Good thing it's everywhere," he chuckles, though he clearly holds more feelings than he dares to demonstrate, a visible tension or maybe nervousness noticeable by his tense shoulders. Why are his teeth stained red?

Averting my eyes from him, I look around the room. I don't know what's worse; the sight of blood everywhere, the lack of source, Frank having not a single hair strand out of place or maybe the I'm glad you are here written on the wall in black letters, a childish handwriting.

"So..." Frank trails off. "Let's get out of here," he looks away, cleaning his throat as approaching me in rushed steps, taking my hand and starting to pull me down the stairs with a firm grip.

I hadn't noticed it before, but there are a few mirrors hanging on the wall, by the stairs. Weirdly enough, I'm the only one I can see in it. It's not even scary, after everything.

"...So, when exactly were you going to tell me that you're a vampire?" I ask, my attention between going down the stairs and looking at the mirrors. Eventually, we stop, by the bottom of the stairs. there's a wider mirror hanging on the wall, right behind Frank. It looks like my hand's wrapped around nothing.

"Wh-what?!" Frank tenses up, eyes widening in the same moment. Some genuine surprise takes over his face. "What do you mean? Vampires aren't-"

"Frank, I'm looking straight in the mirror and you're not in it." My voice is calm. But what is there to freak out over anymore?

He's silent. Eyes flickering over me in seek for something, but he doesn't find it and he falls in disturbance.

"What attacked us?"

"Um, you better not know." Frank says nervously. There's a long pause, but I don't ask further about it. "I..." Frank exhales. "Let's get out of here, hm?" He presses his lips together, quickly starting to walk again. He sighs, glancing at me repeatedly as we walk, but I don't say anything.

"I know how to get us out of here now," he mutters, the silence of the house not so empty anymore.

We leave through the back door and, when we go past the kitchen, the glass with ice is there the same way. The cubes not any smaller.

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | Reservoir Dogs (Tarantino, 1992)

This review contains spoilers.

For the past few years, I didn’t spend a lot of time rewatching movies. Quite frankly, the thrill of discovering something new (and the risk that it might not be all that good) outweighed the pleasures of the familiar ninety-nine times out of a hundred. Yet this year, perhaps because it’s been so miserable on the whole, I’ve spent a bit more time revisiting films I’d already seen. In some cases, it was to relive the joy of seeing something I already liked or loved. But in other cases, perhaps because I’d been easier to please on average, I would go back to things I’d felt somewhat at a distance to in the hopes that I would finally be won over. Full Metal Jacket finally clicked with me (seeing it in a different aspect ratio did the trick) and I’ve warmed up to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 as much as I probably ever will. With that in mind, and prompted by a bizarre dream in which I watched it on Netflix in the wee hours of the morning, I ended up waking up stupid early and giving Reservoir Dogs another viewing. (The dream wasn’t terribly interesting, although it did involve me watching the new Scream, which had magically already been completed and was available on Netflix. There was a lot of yellowish, Fincher-esque lighting and Alison Brie got thrown over a railing at one point. As someone who enjoyed the fourth, I was upset by that turn of events, but dreams can be upsetting. In the words of the Shogun Assassin in Shogun Assassin, “bad dreams are only dreams.”)

I don’t think my opinion changed all that much with this viewing. I still feel that it’s one of Tarantino’s weaker films, lacking the confidence and depth of his next few films. I think Tarantino’s career is generally discussed as being split into his earlier, more story-oriented or reality-grounded films and his later, more indulgent genre pastiches, but I think this one lacks the focus that kind of discourse implies. The characters are barely fleshed out and the directorial touches aren’t as purposeful or effective as they would become in his later work. But at the same time, it’s still a stylish and highly entertaining affair, with a great cast giving some very good performances and delivering some punchy, very funny dialogue. It’s pleasures and limitations are obvious and have been better discussed by those more eloquent than me, so I don’t know how deeply I’ll delve into them. (On a side note, I felt a strange pang of nostalgia revisiting this despite it never having been a favourite of mine. It was very big among the internet crowd I first started discussing film with as I first got into the subject, so it’s hard for me to separate those feelings from the actual movie. I got the same feeling watching Boogie Nights a few weeks ago, despite never having seen that film until now.)

But what I did chew over a bit more this time around is how the movie positions the characters’ morality. We know that Tim Roth’s Mr. Orange is the “good guy”, the undercover cop who kills the psychopathic Mr. Blonde played by Michael Madsen. But at the same time he betrays the trust of Harvey Keitel’s Mr. White. Mr. White is sort of a “good guy” too, but foolishly risks his own fate and those of his associates as he bonds with someone who sets him up. Mr. Blonde is a sadistic psychopath but also extremely loyal, having refused to rat out his friends while serving a tough prison term. Steve Buscemi’s Mr. Pink is entirely business-minded and self-interested, but is that really any less honourable than the intentions of those around him? Chris Penn’s Nice Guy Eddie loves his father, Lawrence Tierney’s Joe Cabot, who is the closest thing to a paternal, authoritative presence in the movie, but both are also extremely ruthless, not to mention racist. Tarantino’s relationship with race is complicated (he’s been criticized for his use of the n-word, particularly in a certain scene in Pulp Fiction, and while I do enjoy his performance in that movie, I’m not sure I can defend a certain line of dialogue), but here the characters’ rampant use of racial slurs seems like a clear indicator of their (lack of) character. (These characters also freely use homophobic slurs, but such language was unfortunately a mainstay of macho dialogue at the time and doesn’t seem as pointed a comment on their natures.) Even when Mr. Orange praises the connection he used to get in with the criminals, another character is quick to point out that the connection is ratting out his friends. There’s some moral relativism in my argument here, but the movie invites that line of thought. Reservoir Dogs is about a bunch of lowlife crooks and despite the extent to which we may identify with them, it never lets us forget that.

In that sense, it’s in clear contrast to some of its influences. Ringo Lam’s City on Fire features the same plot but emphasizes the value of brotherhood between the criminals, so that the betrayal there stings extra hard. Tarantino highlights the meaninglessness of such appeals to solidarity. (Bizarrely, Tarantino has denied having seen that other film despite the hard to ignore story similarities. He even dedicated the screenplay to Chow Yun Fat and pulls the image of a dual wielding gunman in sunglasses from that actor’s oeuvre and has made a brand of pulling from his influences, so I’m baffled why he’d deny this one instance.) Jean-Pierre Melville’s work features gangsters in tailoring adhering to strict codes and conducting themselves with honour in dire situations. Tarantino points out the futility of such codes. His next film handles these dynamics even more elegantly. In Pulp Fiction, John Travolta’s character is a villain in one segment and a hero in another, while Samuel L. Jackson’s character reflects on the dishonourable nature of their work and decides to walk away at the end.

Where I think Pulp Fiction succeeds in handling that theme is that it gives us a sense of Jackson and Travolta contemplating (or failing to do so, respectively) their choices and having something resembling actual worldviews (however limited, as in the case of the latter). The characters in Reservoir Dogs in contrast are drawn in shorthand from gangster cliches so that our identification with them is limited. Mr. Orange should be our audience vantage point, but Tarantino fumbles a key scene in which he relates a made-up story to ingratiate himself with the other criminals. It should be about how Mr. Orange wins their trust, which would help make later speculation on his loyalty more dramatically potent, but in choosing to actually depict the proceedings in the story onscreen, Tarantino makes it about the cuts and shot choices he energetically deploys. It’s not a badly directed scene on its own, but the wrong one for the movie. Yet in other scenes, like the opening in the diner, he’s able to elegantly paint character detail while letting us enjoy the surface pleasure of the dialogue. Mr. Pink refuses to tip as an extension of his business-minded nature. Mr. Blonde volunteers to shoot Mr. White, jokingly revealing his bloodthirst. Mr. White takes things too personally (”You shoot me in a dream, you better wake up and apologize”). Joe Cabot struggles to remember a name, implying that his criminal instincts are slipping. The movie shuffles its timeline in the vein of The Killing to draw out these contrasts between the characters and to build to a tense and memorable climax, yet had more of the individual character moments been as deftly handled as this first scene, the film might have landed with me more strongly. That being said, there’s a nonzero chance I’ll come back to this in a few years, hoping it will finally click.

[ziracona]

Thinkin about how the NOES 2010 movie is so good. Listen…listen. It has really unusual structure. Most of the time, a horror film follows either a single unit (one person, one family) through a whole plot (The Witch, The Babadook, Saw, Halloween) or a group of victims with one pretty obvious final girl in the mix (Friday the 13th, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I Know What You Did Last Summer), but NOES 2010 doesn’t do that. It takes you through several protagonists, one at a time, moving on from one teen to another when your initial protagonist is killed, starting with Dean, moving on to Kris, then Jesse, and then Nancy and Quentin when they’re the last two standing. It’s a fresh take, which makes everything so much less sure, and gives narrative weight to the characters who die instead of just making them bodycount. Everybody gets treated like the final girl, not canon fodder, which is extremely important to the story the film is telling. Nancy and Quentin don’t even become the film’s focus until almost halfway through the story.

Probably someone who is unfamiliar with the original film would assume Kris is the protagonist until she is killed thirty minutes in a little ala Psycho. It makes everything seem less certain, and makes the characters who you lose as important as the ones who make it, which is a really responsible way to tell something. A lot of the time, the characters in horror are kind of assholes (which is great and another rant for another day, because since the stakes are so low [literally you just have to care enough to not want the character to be brutally murdered], you can get an audience invested in an willing to explore the complexity of even a shitty  person—but like I said, that’s a wholeass other rant), but in NOES2010, they’re not, which I think is important. Never does the film want you to feel like the characters either suck and deserve something happening to them, or are stupid (look, when the publicist in Scream 4 got out of her car in an unlit parking garage in the middle of a Ghostface chase, I saw the wholeass theater stop cheering for her to live because she was so stupid we just couldn’t root for her anymore—it happens) and to care less about their outcome that way. Everyone fights hard and tries hard and it’s just not enough.

Obviously it’s a slasher, but NOES 2010 is really like a thesis work film on CSA and how it affects people, and the commentary is both responsible, and really, really well done. As someone who has had to write a character who has committed that kind of crime, and walk the fucking razor’s edge between making them duly awful, and not crossing the line into anything exploitative or gratuitous, I can say with certainty that is not an easy thing to do. Because you want to give weight to the suffering that has been inflicted and realistic portray of the depravity of your villain, but again, you really don’t want to show anything more than you have to. That’s not what it’s about, and honestly, you can talk about that kind of a serious issue without actually showing things on screen. A film about CSA would be kind of defeating its own purpose if anyone who had ever experienced that shit went to watch the movie and went away more traumatized. The film does a really responsible job of walking that line. Freddy is awful, and there’s a constant threat with him—especially in the film’s climax—but he never actually assaults anyone onscreen (or off, except in the referenced past. The worst thing he does onscreen is lick someone, which is still incredibly disgusting), and the film still manages to keep how awful he is very, very real.

CSA is a really shitty thing to go through, obvious, it feels incredibly of dumb to type that—any assault is. Obviously. One of the big things in dealing with it after is a lot of the time, victims can feel broken, or damaged, and even worse, be talked about like they’re some kind of ‘damaged goods’ by incredibly shitty people in their life, but the film doesn’t even give that enough weight to bring it up. There have always been two big ways in film to combat ideas, one of which is direct confrontation (IE a film specifically about something being wrong—Do The Right Thing talking very openly about racism for instance) and by just straight up not doing the thing (Star Trek dropping a woman of color in as both a major cast member, romantic interest for people of other races, and someone working in a position of power, and just being like Yup. This is just normal). Both of which are very necessary and useful approaches. In NOES 2010, all four of the protagonists are in romantic relationships at some point (and so is Dean, the mini-lead protag). It’s not played out voyeuristically, and you don’t get any hot makeout seshes, but they’re definitely in comfortable, functional, physical relationships. In a silent but fucking hardcore stance, while Kris and Jesse spend the night together early in the film, there is not a single on-screen kiss until Quentin and Nancy have found out the truth about what happened to them as kids, and a few minutes later, right before their final confrontation, they kiss. Not even a second thought about anything, except how much they really need and want to kill this piece of shit coming after them, as it should be. It’s a rockhard solidification that not only do the characters not see each other differently because of what happened, but it has done nothing to change who they are or what they can be.

The movie is only an hour and a half, which isn’t that long, but still manages to pack in not only multiple different realistic reactions, (Quentin goes through some hardcore withdrawl/denial after finding stuff out initially, Nancy gets fucking mad), but to cover some of what this is like for their parents. In one conversation with Alan, Quentin’s dad, he tries to explain the mob enacted justice on Krueger years ago by telling him that he hopes someday when he’s a parent, he never has to experience how it feels having utterly failed to protect your child. Even though they only have like thirty seconds of flashback to work with, the script gets in one of the parents in dismay asking what other choice they have about hunting Krueger down, because the alternative is making their three-four year olds get on a stand and tell a room full of strangers what happened to them. It’s a horrible, awful situation to be in. Although it would be really easy to make some drama between characters and their families, even the characters who die have good relationships with their families, and neither the dead teens or their parents are ever narratively ‘punished’ for anything that happens. Kris’ last words to her mom before she leaves on a flight, about eight hours before Kris is murdered, are, realistically, “Love you.” The last thing Nancy says to her own mother is, “I know you were just trying to protect us. Thank you,” and her mother’s last words to her are, “I’m just glad you’re safe.” Characters still die, but they at least get the peace of deserved last words to each other. The film also not only definitely does not vilify the parents for burning Freddy to death for assaulting their preschool aged kids, but comes down in its finale openly supporting that vigilante justice decision, with Nancy’s last words in the film being thanking her mother for protecting them.

Even the whole nightmare theme fits in well with the story being told, because nightmares are a very common side-effect of past trauma, symbolically, there’s a lot people have to fight through in their lives when that kind of shit happens to them, even years later, and it genuinely isn’t given enough weight by most people. As kind of icing on the cake in the film, not only does Nancy get to kill Freddy, he dies in a very ugly, undignified way, with a slit throat and gross expression on his face, after getting his ass handed to him in a like a thirty second fight in reality with two very motivated teenagers.

Plus, Quentin Smith is canonically ADHD, and Nancy Holbrook is a really underrated protagonist who reads autistic and I love her.

Anyway. This movie does a great job about using horror as a medium to talk about a topic usually only people already interested in that specific topic would check out, plays out its narrative very responsibly, comes down hard with a big two thumbs up to murdering your local pedophile in a bonfire, and says fuck you to assault victim stigma. My only real beef with this film is that they were so dead set sure they would have a sequel that instead of ending with real resolution, it’s got a stinger at the end (on rewatches I always skip the last scene lol).

Not that it’s a flawless film—it’s got budget parents, which I think is both hilarious and fantastic (meaning everyone except I think Dean has only one parent, the same gender as them, and it’s hilarious and I adore it). They had rushed filming for some of the end. Etc. But it’s really solid, and doesn’t get enough credit as a film. It’s very different from the original—less campy, less funny. But it’s supposed to be. It’s telling a different story. And it’s telling a really good one.