#i was close to bringing this issue up to the director some time soon

[airenyah]

love it when you end up doing work that shouldn't be your responsibility but you know you don't have to say a word bc you know your bosses are kind hearted and are seeing this shit and are decidedly not ok with it

[glitteringsunshine]

Loving Gibbs

Pairing : Leroy Jethro Gibbs X Reader

Gibbs’s  POV:

Y/N: YOUR NAME

Y/L/N : YOUR LAST NAME

Y/P/N : YOUR PEN NAME

 

“ We have a problem. Someone hacked the navy database. We don’t know what was taken. You can understand how sensitive the issue is. You have to find the hacker , recover the data  and close this case as soon as possible. “ The Director said.

“ OK “ I said, understanding  the security risk of the situation.

…

“ Boss I have been going through the military database. There’s  no way can anyone hack it remotely. We need to go over the master computer again , look into that room for clue of a break in. “ McGee said.

“ Well gear up McGee “ let’s  go.

 

“ What's this?” I said suddenly noticing a tiny red origami flower.”

Looking closely I found the words :

The fountains mingle with the river

And the rivers with the ocean,

The winds of heaven mix forever

With a sweet emotion;

Nothing in the world is single;

All things by a law divine

In one spirit meet and mingle

Why not I with thine?

I could suddenly see McGee paling a bit.

“ What’s the meaning of this? Some sort of  message?” I asked.

“ I think boss. I am not sure. It’s  PB Shelly’s  poem  Love’s  Philosophy.”

“ I want to know the relevance of it ,McGee. Find it.”  I snapped.

 

…

“ We were in the squadroom running leads. Suddenly the phone on my desk rang.

Picking up, I heard a voice clearly hidden with a software. 

“ I have a little gift for you. You want to know who hacked the database , you need help then. “

I clicked my fingers to alert McGee to trace the call as Tony started recording it.

“ Go on.” I said . Trying to stall the caller.

“ I left you a special message in the NCIS computer system. You will know who you need to call for  help.”

Then the phone went dead.

 

“ Bose found a hidden encryption in our system. Trying to decrypt it Boss” Mcgee said.

“ After working on his computer for a while McGee visibly paled.”

“ Ohh Ohh Boss”

“ What ?”

I decrypted the message based on the crossword and the letters picked out from there through a riddle, I found a name.”

“ Well What McGee”

“ You ever heard of Y/P/N Boss?”

“ The bestselling author. The number one in NY Time’s  bestselling list “ Tony jumped with excitement.

“There’s  more boss. In her last novel, the narrator, a professor of literature helping  Law Enforcement  Agencies solve crimes through her depth of psychological perception, fell in love with an NCIS agent as she helped him solve a crime. They were close, I mean really close. Things were steamy, I mean. Then the NCIS agent didn’t want to commit , and after the case , the narrator felt heartbroken, and decided to leave the city. She wanted to send ref flowers with Shelly’s  poem pouring out her heart. Couldn’t.  Then finally before leaving the city , she was making a cryptic message in form of crosswords and riddles , pouring her heart but did not send it.  At the end she suffered from lack of inspiration  and writer’s  Block, contemplating of not writing again.”

 

“ Find this person McGee. Bring her in for questioning.”

“ Boss , it’s a pen name. She wants to keep her identity secret.”

“ McGee, I don’t care. What’s  her real name?”

“ Boss , you know her.  I mean we know her.”

“ Who?”

“ Y/N, from the state department.  We worked a case together last year remember  Boss.”

“ Huh?”

“ Well she was a professor  before she joined the state department as policy analyst.” McGee said.

“ That’s it , that’s why the characters felt so familiar.” Tony said excitedly .She based the characters on us. Ohh you really did some steamy stuff Boss. Really sexy stuff. Didn’t read till the end though. Nice Spoiler McGoose.” Tony stopped abruptly after he saw me glaring.

“ From when did you know she is a writer McGee?” I asked.

“ Well we met at a writer’s  convention   a couple of years back.”

“ You mean you knew her from before the case ,and never bothered to tell me. It’s bad enough to have one writer follow you , and now there’s another?” I asked.

“ Bring her in. We need to talk.” I said.

 

…

I made her sit in the interrogation room , making her stew.

“ Love to see this one McGoose” Tony said.

“ Ohh it will be something Tony.”

“ You think Boss did those stuff  MacGee?”

“ No Tony they weren’t in contact after the case. Writers make up stuff you know.”

“ Yeah but that’s really  wild imagination.”

I could hear them as I completed the book. It’s a really brilliant one. Gripping, full of suspense, unputdownable . I would be lying if I had said that I did not imagine the same stuff she had written  about. This past year ,she has been in my mind. Specially at night in bed. Many a times I have pleasured myself imagining her.

 

Reader’s  POV:

It has been almost an hour I have been sitting in the interrogation  room.  When they took me in for questioning,  the secretary of state demanded to know the reason. Hence I have been filled with the details of the case. It wasn’t  a surprise to her as she already knew about my writing career. I was once her student and then her colleague  in the university.

Gibbs walked in.

“ So how many in state department knows about our little secret identity.?” He asked

“The Secretary  of State does.”

“ Yea I figured that.” Gibbs said.

“ So what do you think?” he continued

“ I don’t know” I said.

“ Where were you last night?”

“ If you think I did it ,using scenes from my own story , you are mistaken. I was in the office the  entire night , trying to convince nation states for using more clean energy. Trying to push forward an international treaty in the UN. My entire team and the Secretary of State will vouch for that. “

“ You are not merely a policy analyst. You have done spy stuff before. The Secretary of State is also Ex CIA. Where’s the guarantee you didn’t steal Intel.”

“ I didn’t.  Okay. Besides if I had, I wouldn’t  have used my own stories.”

“ So what do you think happened?”

“ I don’t know , okay. Maybe somebody wants to deflect attention from spystuff, or maybe?”

“ What?”

“ The chemistry between the characters was a huge success. I got a lot of mail wanting them getting back together. Wanting them to solve one more case.”

“ You think it’s a fan?”

“ Well its possible.  If it’s the case , it’s someone  for whom the line between fiction and reality has blurred.” I said.

“ Is the lines clear for you?”

“ What do you mean Gibbs?”

“ I mean you are basing your characters on real people , but you are using your imagination for a lot of things.”

“ I am writer. I use my imagination.  I make up stuff.”

“ I am more curious as to why you wrote what you wrote.”

“ Meaning?”

“ What went on in that pretty little head of yours when you wrote about us? The stuff , was it for just the story or is there more to it? ”

“ Look , I may have based my characters on you , but that’s it. I have never revealed any identity nor any public information,  regarding any case or people.” I said standing up.

“ Sit down. I am not done with you.”

“ Well I am.” I said walking away.

Gibbs followed me , pushing me to the elevator and flipping the  emergency  switch.

“ What?”

“ Tell me Y/N , What you wrote about us ,was it just about the story or because you wanted those things to happen between  us.”

“ Why do you want to know?” I asked.

“ I need to. I have to.” He said.

“ Why , Gibbs Why?”

“ Because this last year I have been driving myself crazy thinking about you, okay. So tell me Y/N the truth. Do you want those things to happen, and that’s why you wrote it?”

I nodded an yes.  I tried to look down on the floor but he held me by my chin.

“ See , that wasn’t difficult to say, was it?”” Tell me Y/N ,did  you touch yourself thinking of me?”

“ Fine I did Gibbs. But I am not the only one. I walked on you pleasing yourself thinking of me remember.”

“ And that’s  not the only time.  I have done it many times, thinking of you this past year.”

“ You could have called.” I almost whispered .

“ So could you. Why didn’t  you? “ he countered.

“ Why didn’t you?” I shot back.

He stared into my eyes and started the elevator again.

“ Y/L/N  will help us in this case” he announced in the squadroom. “ You can share my desk with me.” He said. “ Here, take this” he commanded as he handed me a bottle of water and aspirin.

“ What you have been rubbing your temples in interrogation. You were working last night . You didn’t get any sleep. Keep yourself hydrated. It will ease the headache”.

 

Gibbs’s  POV:

We were in the bar, celebrating the closing of the case. Y/N was right. The person who hacked our system is a high school boy. He is bullied in school , and his divorced parents both remarried not paying much attention to him. He is lonely and reading Y/N’s novel helped him cope with it. He formed a bond through the reading of the novels. He could not bear the character of Y/N getting heartbroken. He thought a case could bring the characters back together.  He didn’t  steal any data. He just pretended to , to make us work the case together.

“ Good Job Y/N, reaching out to him in interrogation. “

“ So did you Gibbs. But what’s gonna happen to him.”

“ Well he didn’t actually steal data. So no prison time. But he have to do community service in the form of hacking for NCIS. That’s the deal.”

“ That’s good Gibbs. He will get a sense of belonging.”

“ Yeah the kid’s  smart” he commented.

Reader’s  Pov

“ Well I should go now. I am tired.  “I said walking away.

Outside the bar , I realised I am a bit drunk. Not wanting to drive , I waited for a ca.

A group of guys were entering the bar. One of them tried to start a conversation using really stupid pick up lines.

“ Look I am not interested”  I said sternly. But they still tried to pester me.

GIibb’s POV:

I can make out Y/N was a bit tipsy. Her speech slurred a little. I didn’t want her to drive like this. So I followed her.

“ The lady said she is not interested “  I said sternly. The group went away.

“ Ahh my prince, my saviour” Y/N slurred. “ If only you loved me a little bit, just a teeny tiny bit.”

“ Y/N you are drunk.”

“ No. Maybe. Yes . I think I am drunk in love.” She pouted. “ I hate you . I hate you for making me feel like this. Maybe if you could fuck it out of me.”

“ Y/N , I want you . I want you so badly. But you are drunk now . I can’t take you when you are drunk. You are not in the proper sense to consent. “

I guided her to my car, putting on her seat belt. I took her to my home.

She had fallen asleep in the car. I undid her seat belt and carried her to my room making sure not to wake up. I tucked her in, brushing the hair from her face,  kissing her forehead.

“ Good night love . Sleep tight.”

 

Reader’s  POV:

I woke up in the morning. As memories of last night’s drunken stupidity flooded me, I was gripped with utter embarrassment  and humiliation.

“ You are awake. Good Morning . I made breakfast.” I heard Gibbs.

“ I need to go” I said. “ I am really sorry. I was really stupid last night.”

“ Y/N” Gibbs tried to say something , but I ran away before that.

 

“Gibbs’s  POV”

It was 9 o clock now. I was in my basement trying to work on my boat. I wasn’t doing a good job. I wanted to talk Y/N about how I felt. But she ran away before I could.

I heard footsteps . I looked up to see Y/N standing.

“Gibbs “ she said.

“ You are here. Really Here. Why?”

“ Because I wanted to . I didn’t want to be anyplace else.”

“ Then why did you run?” He said hoarsely.

“ I couldn’t bear to say goodbye.”

“ Y/N”

“ Wait Gibbs . Hear me out. I thought if I run , I can get you out of my mind. But I couldn’t.  Please. I am asking for one night with you. Show me pleasure. Maybe then I can get you out of my system.  No promises.  I am not asking for your heart. But you , for one night. I need to know hoe it feels to be with you.”

Reader’s  POV:

 

Gibbs looked at my eyes with such intensity. He stepped closer to me.

“ There’s one teeny tiny little problem” he said.

“ What?” I blurted

“ I have fallen in love with you.  I fell for you the moment I saw you. This last year ,I tried my best to fight my feelings. I was scared to open up. What If I mess up. What if I hurt in the process. I didn’t want myself  to screw up with you. I couldn’t  bear it. So I shut myself out from you. But it hasn’t been easy. You have no idea how many times I have almost called you. You have always been in my mind, no matter how much I fought it. I thought I wasn’t good enough for you.  But I can’t  deny my feelings anymore. I want you Y/N ,I need you. More than just a night. You see I have already given my heart to you.”

“ Oh Gibbs Gibbs ,I  thought you didn’t like me like that. I mean there was an attraction from the first moment we met. But I was scared to reach out.  I wanted to call you. But I was scared  that what if you did not feel as strongly for me as I do. You have my heart from the moment we met. I knew I have feelings for you. But what if you didn’t. What if it was just lust from your part.”  

My words were cut off when his lips touched mine. This was no gentle kiss. It was wild passionate and demanding.

“ Oh Gibbs ,Gibbs ,Gibbs”  I babbled.

“ As much as I love to hear my name coming from your pretty little voice , I need you to shut up and listen to me for a second okay.” He said cupping my face.

He softly brushed his lips against mine ,gently kissing me. Then looking into my eyes he said : “ Y/N I love you . I love you so much Y/N”.

“ And I love you Jethro. I Love you so much.”

“ Ohh Y/N, words will fail to express how much I love you. But I can show you” he smiled pulling me closer.

[asordinaryppl]

A3! Main Story: Part 4 - Act 13: Budding Spring - Episode 25: I'm Home

Izumi: Can you see me, everyone? Is the sound coming through?

Citron: “It’s A-Okay~!”

Sakuya: “It’s good!”

Tsuzuru: “Where are you right now, Sakuya?”

Chikage: “Why does this look like the Edo Era?”

Citron: “Did you use a tie man slip!?”

Tsuzuru: “Time machine.”

Sakuya: “Ahaha. When I told the director about having remote rehearsals, they graciously let me use the theater’s stage.”

Izumi: I’m glad you all look healthy. It’s good to see your faces.

Tsuzuru: “As for us, it doesn’t feel like it’s been that long since we last saw each other because we’ve been talking in BlooCha.”

Izumi: Oh, you did say you’d try using that. Is it different from LIME?

Sakuya: “The timing of our messages was weird because of our time differences, but it’s like a message board or an exchange diary, so it’s fun.”

Tsuzuru: “When we all get the timing right, it really feels like we’re together in the same room.”

Masumi: “You’re as loud as always while I’m trying to study.”

Tsuzuru: “Oh, yeah. Masumi, when are you getting your learner’s permit?”

Izumi: Eh, you’re getting a license?

Masumi: “I’m attending driving school. I’m getting a learner’s permit soon. I want to put you on the passenger’s seat as soon as possible.”

Citron: “I will be in charge of the backseat!”

Sakuya: “Masumi-kun seems like he’d be good at driving.”

Chikage: “We’ll leave the role of the Spring Troupe’s chauffeur to Masumi from now on.”

Masumi: “I’ll get a two-seater.”

Tsuzuru: “You really don’t want anyone other than the Director on board.”

Izumi: Itaru-san will be a little late, didn’t he. Let’s try adjusting without him first.

Izumi: Today’s purpose is to prepare for when you all return next week, so you can take it easy.

Izumi: If you can move, please do so. But if there’s no space, just saying the lines is fine.

Izumi: I’ll let you know about any changes to the production as we get to those points.

-

Izumi: — Okay, let’s stop here for now. It’s been a while, but you all remember everything well.

Sakuya: “This was our first time practicing remotely, so it was all kind of new.”

Masumi: “We’re not as close as we’d be in real life, so I feel like I’m relying on my memory of everyone’s acting.”

Chikage: “There’s some lagging, so we’ve got a few communication issues.”

Citron: “I want to practice pace to pace with you all again as soon as possible~!”

Masumi: “Face to face.”

Tsuzuru: By the way, Sakuya, your sword fighting’s gotten a lot better.

Sakuya: “Eh, you really think so!?”

Sakuya: “To be honest, I’ve been focusing on practicing the sword fights in my current performance, so I can put the knowledge I gain to good use for Romeo too.”

Izumi: Your progress is showing.

Tsuzuru: “Ah, then, in that case–”

Itaru: “Sorry, I’m late.”

Izumi: Good work today.

Sakuya: “Good work!”

Citron: “It’s time!”

Izumi: Please start from the scene with Mercutio, Tybalt and Father Lawrence.

Itaru: “Got it.”

-

Izumi: You were all a little stiff at first, but that faded when you got used to remote practicing.

Izumi: I’m glad the Spring Troupe’s atmosphere hasn’t changed.

Sakuya: “We can act even when we’re apart.”

Tsuzuru: “We may be in different places, but it’s nice how it feels like we’re all connected on top of the same stage.”

Izumi: Okay, I’ve relayed all production-related changes to you, so we can end practice here. 

Masumi: “If we’re done, do you have a moment?”

Izumi: Hm? What is it?

Masumi: “I sent you a proposal on LIME just now. Take a look.”

Izumi: … A plan proposal? Eh!? Did you write this?

Izumi: (Amazing, the contents are so detailed that it looks like a corporate proposal.)

Masumi: “I’ve been learning a lot of things in the promotion department I’ve been interning in.”

Izumi: I see… I think it’s really well put together. I’ll bring it up to Sakyo-san.

Masumi: “Was I of help?”

Izumi: Of course! Gathering all of these by yourself must’ve been difficult. Thank you!

Masumi: “Not at all. I’m glad I got a chance to realize how difficult what you do is.”

Masumi: “I’ll help you too from now on.”

Izumi: If you say so, I’ll be counting on you.

-

Sakuya: I’m home!

Izumi: Welcome home. You’re the first one.

Sakuya: The plan was for me to leave tomorrow, but the organizer scheduled an off day for me today…

Sakuya: I wanted to be the first one here so I can say “Welcome back” to everyone else.

Sakuya: Because I was really happy when I went off by myself and everyone welcomed me back…

Izumi: I see. I’m sure you’re looking forward to everyone coming back.

Sakuya: I am. I want to practice with everyone as soon as possible. I thought a lot about my acting plan while I was away.

Sakuya: I was inspired by the performances of other companies, and I learned a lot, so I’ve got all kinds of ideas…

Sakuya: There are so many things I want to talk about and try out.

Sakuya: Speaking of which– I’m going to the practice room for a bit!

Izumi: What? Already?

Sakuya: I feel like moving my body all of a sudden!

Izumi: Hehe, take it easy and make sure you don’t exhaust yourself.

-

Sakuya: 1, 2, 3, 4…

Sakuya: (There’s really no other place that calms me like this… It feels like I came back home.)

Sakuya: (Now that I think about it, I wonder where everyone is? It’s about time Citron-san and the others who went abroad would be departing for their journey back home…)

tsuzuru has entered the chat tsuzuru: good morning tsuzuru: i’m packing my things right now, i’m having some trouble because I’ve got too many souvenirs tsuzuru: i’m not sure if the souvenirs i bought for everyone in the company /and/ the souvenirs for my brothers will fit in here tsuzuru: oh, right, i have to remember to pack my computer. i’ll be working til last minute, so i might forget. Curry has entered the chat Curry: i’ll remind you about your pc tomorrow tsuzuru: you’re like a man with many talents To Rorr has entered the chat To Rorr: i am on the verge of eating breakfast! i will head to the airport in the afternoon. i can’t wait to be surrounded by everyone! UC has entered the chat UC: I have a connecting flight, so I’m about to board the plane for Narita Airport. I’ll probably arrive at the dorm tomorrow afternoon. Saku has entered the chat Saku: I returned a day earlier. Stay safe on your way back, everyone!

Sakuya: (Itaru-san is rarely online. He must be really busy…)

Tsumugi: Welcome back, Sakuya-kun.

Banri: Welcome back.

Sakuya: I’m back!

Tenma: Practicing already? I’ll help out.

Sakuya: Thanks! Can I ask you to be my opponent in a sword fight?

Sakuya: I was thinking of taking it easy, but I’ve been restless ever since I stepped into the practice room.

Tsumugi: I think I understand the feeling.

Tenma: I’ll tag along till you’re satisfied.

Banri: Let’s confirm the production-related matters while we’re at it, then.

previous episode | masterpost | next episode

NOTES:

(1) an acting plan is, quite literally, a plan an actor makes for how they will use their expressions and actions, in order to prevent focusing on only one part of their performance and/or to prevent stiffness. i could not for the life of me find information on this in english, so i'm not sure if it's called something entirely different.

[genderlesssinner]

Alright nerds I'm back

Here we go with 108

SAMUEL we are 3 minutes into this episode. Holy shit.

Some weird shit going on with the gaurds okay okay

It's Ira isn't it

He's so creepy and I love it

How did no one react to "tying up daddy and gagging him" holy shit Tal

Sometimes I love watching with subtitles for the description of their fuckery. [Batman's Bane nonsense]

Ashton hold on what do you mean by take care of this

7th fucking level Psychic Lance woof. Talk about burn all your stuff

Yeah no he ded

Well this could go so poorly

"Did this just completely backfire?" Yes yes it did

Okay okay maybe we're not totally fucked

Hopefully Nana can help. Okay so gonna have some flying groups? I def agree that Nana should meet up in case Gloamglut does come back

An hour, short rest it up bitches

I can't help but picture the temple put back together with gold in the cracks, like that one method of fixing pottery

The 'play' idea isn't a bad idea I just don't know if these chucklefucks can pull it off

I love Robbie so much. Gaes is a badass spell when it works and I also do not know how tf to pronounce it

They've been talking for like 20 minutes and I still don't know what they're doing great job guys

"You knocked him out. I just wanted them to do the scene." beautiful

Oh my god.

Ash playing director for these idiot is hilarious

Oh fuck okay well shit Zathuda is gone okay okay okay but Laudna knows where he is

Back in initiative and everyone is tapped or close to it,,,, grrreaaat

Get his ass Chet he can't have many hit points

Yeeeep there's the dragon

Okay if they *just* got the short rest Nana should be here soon RIGHT??

Oooh shit okay Zathuda is dead um this is gonna have consequences Gloamglut is bout to be real mad I bet

Yeah mhm okay

Yes Fearne get the dragon GET YOUR PONY BOO

Ashley just became Mister for a second 😂😂

This could be good or it could make it worse

Oh no he saaaddd 🥺

Dorian is like nope not ready for the dragon

Yeessss Fearnie

The little guys are gonna have shaken baby syndrome from being in the dragon's hands while he's flying

Come on, horse girl!

Break! We have a fucken dragon boys. For the moment, anyway.

Back into it - flying to Nana's

Ooh interesting Gloamglut doesn't wanna land at Morri's

Oop Nana put Gloamglut on a leash

What does the Loom do what. Nana.

I definitely think they should ask Zathuda some things. They could ask about bonding to Gloamglut and also about moon stuff

Ooohhh Nana really has it for Ira huh. Spooky

I wanna see the Loom. That did not answer any questions.

This should be interesting and maybe (likely) scary

Mhmhm gruesome but also cool af

Ashley and Marisha grinning while everyone else is in various stages of horror is great

Okay look I get them checking in with Fearne vecause the guy was her father.. But like. She didn't really know him. Like someone said a bit ago, he was her father, not her dad. And yes she's lost the opportunity to know him but it's not like she lost a parent that raised her.

"It's not as nice as yours" Jesus Braius

Fearnie getting feral on us hm

Oh Ashton my love. We know you have parental issues hun.

"Are you okay Matt?" "I'm fine."

Are. Are we sure Matt's okay? (joking, mainly but like damn creepy shit this ep yall)

✨ Generational trauma ✨

I'm worried about what this conversation is gonna mean for Ashton a little bit honestly though they've had one hell of a look this whole time

Ah here's the good stuff. So something about Ruidusborn, particularly the strongest Exultants, can unlock magic similar to the Divine Gate?? The implications

"I wish I had more empathy." "You *are* my daughter." oof

Ooo a hemocraft ritual for the dragon?? Up your game Chet

Failure brings an eternal enemy, no pressure

Exaltants disappearing?? Uh oh. Maybe Ludinus has a Version 2 of the funnel thing

Oooooh maybe he's throwing them at the Gate holding Predathos eesh

Oh my god maattttt the Misty Step

DORIAN DID YOU LEAVE THE EMISSARY OUTSIDE

Okay okay Nana got this

I would now be like side eyeing all of the ...everything in Nana's place. Especially if it still has a face. Eugh.

THANK YOU LAUDNA for actually checking in with my boy. Orym is being so strong for everyone all the time 😭

Are Fearne and Ash gonna cuddle the dragon? I love this

Ooohhh Doriaaannnn same though

Oh man okay blow all the spell slots Laudy

This is fucking insane what even

Oop he's a tree okay

Several Ludinuses slapping him for several minutes, wonderful

These fucken rolls tonight damn

Oo using the spirit horse awesome awesome

Orym's speech and Ash leaving like that ajxbjdv

I have lots of feelings but no words for them

Now I want them to take Laudna back to the Vasselheim temple for some lake of blood action

Robbiiiieeee damn 'if a god can see the future.. I would imagine the one you can't see is the one where the gods come to an end.'

Oryyym an Doriaaannnn 😭😭 boooyyssss

Look at that, character growth. Ash left instead of starting shit

Oo okay Braius oh wait shit okay which god

Chase the rest away. So the betrayers would stay?? That's *bad* yall

SAMUEL

Braius is bout to get some Nana and I don't know how to feel about it

MILF Manor : Morri I'd like to Fuck. Oh my god

Cursed demon armor

Bet you if you fail the save it stays

Bompers. Wild.

Oooohhhhhh Gloamglut just saaaddd but he seems thankful that Fearne plans to let him go free

Aww he's a good booyyyyyyyy

I love Fearne and Ashton's interactions so much aaaaaaaa

Horror cozy that's totally an aesthetic isn't it

♥️♥️♥️

And that’s it guys. These posts are so long but I normally don't have a good place for a page break.. Eesh. I just have a lot of Thoughts and Feelings about these idiots we love so much. But also like sometimes I forget I'm supposed to be doing this and I just zone out and listen to them and then I'm like fuck I had a Thought and didn't write it down damn..

[fallinginreversefanblog]

Ronnie Radke spitting facts about Motionless In White being a rip-off

On Sep 18th Ronnie Radke shared MIW's new Halloween poster on Twitter showing off the resemblance between the two monsters (the one from MIW's "Werewolf" and the FIR's "Popular Monster") and discussing the issue of MIW copying FIR for a while now.

He even added:

“I’m A popular popular Biter”

Last year on Oct 31st Motionless In White released the video for their song "Werewolf" directed by Jensen Noen, the same director Ronnie Radke works with constantly since "Popular Monster". The two videos ended up in resembling too much; not only the monsters, but the plot, the transformation movements, the filters and environment.

WATCH Motionless In White's "Werewolf":

And WATCH Falling In Reverse's "Popular Monster":

Ronnie expressed his disappointment on Twitter in a few lines, which continued in a beef, then in a few days the whole topic was forgotten.

Yesterday, after Ronnie renewing the topic and expressing his despise towards MIW about the new Halloween poster and the monster's image on it, a long argument unfolded between him + FIR fans and MIW fans defending Chris Motionless from accusations of plagiarism. At one moment Ronnie made a statement about the required honesty in general when it comes to inspirations:

In the mean time he showed the resemblance between FIR and MIW imagery on different album covers, posters and image sequences from the videos within the past few years.

He pointed out Bring Me The Horizon's video on the song "LosT", which was also made by Jensen Noen, but the resemblance with any of FIR's videos is not even close as strong as it is with "Werewolf". This is what Ronnie wrote about Oli Sykes and BMTH:

"oli Sykes went to the video director I use because he was inspired my mine, and guess what he told him “I like what you did but I don’t want to copy” he went out of his way to make a video that was his own, I gained so much respect for oli after I was told this, this is what I mean. Instead of just ripping he went out of his way to do his own thing. I RESPECT THAT SHIT, same with ice nine kills they do there OWN THING. this is what I mean."

WATCH Bring Me The Horizon's "LosT" on Vimeo, because YouTube made age restrictions on it and cannot be embeded in the post:

Finally Ronnie said he doesn't take the whole copy thing as an offense, and it's actually flattering to be the good example to be copied. Mind his words:

"Anyway, this copy cat stuff is so trivial, and at end of day will be forgotten, it’s trivial to get upset at, it should be flattering if anything. But sometimes I can’t help to express myself on these matters. like who cares at end of day"

He shared some more resembling promotion stuff and soon the beef was over from his side. Fans were continuing the argument on both sides for more hours long.

A Falling In Reverse fan made a very apt comment to this whole beef. He said: "I smell a new FIR song and music video 👀👀" Rightful, Ronnie most probably had a secret goal with stirring up the moods, as usual :))

[jujumin-translates]

Sakuya Sakuma | [SSR] MANKAI Crepe | A Crepe Bouquet - Part 1

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

Citron: Good afternoon, Madam! You seem in a good blued today~!

Fukatsu: Oh, you’re trying to say, “in a good mood”! You’re still as funny as ever Cito-chan.

Citron: Thank you!

Citron: By the way. What was it you wanted to talk to me about?

Fukatsu: Ah, right, right, I have an acquaintance who runs a crepe wagon. They usually hire students to work, but…

Fukatsu: They’re having staffing issues because all those kids are going to be out for exams.

Citron: Oh, that sounds like a problem!

Fukatsu: So they’re looking for people to help fill in for the time being.

Fukatsu: Hey, Cito-chan, do you know anyone? You must have lots of friends and acquaintances, right?

Fukatsu: They’ll of course pay you for it, and there’s a training period, so there’s no need to worry if you don’t have experience.

Citron: If you are the one asking me to do it, I must accept, Madam! I’ll talk to everyone at the dorms about it first.

Fukatsu: Thank you so much! By the way, here’s the shop name--.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Sakuya: Ah, Citron-san!

Citron: Oh, Sakuya! I thought you were working until this evening.

Sakuya: The shop was pretty calm, so we closed up at lunch. That happens a lotta days.

Sakuya: Where have you been, Citron-san?

Citron: Having tea with one of the ladies I know! She was asking for some help.

Sakuya: Oh, really? I hope she can get that help soon…

Citron: I need to talk to everyone else about helping! I want to talk to you and the others when we get back.

Sakuya: Got it!

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Kazunari: Mh~, this pear crepe is supes tasty and good! The line in front of the wagon was like, way too long, but it was totally worth it~!

Banri: I usually just get them from the usual cafe, but the sweet potato and the chai latte one were both hella good.

Director: Wow, they all sound so good. I’ll have to go some time.

Sakuya: We’re home.

Citron: We are home!

Director: Welcome back.

Sakuya: Waah, those crepes look really good!

Kazunari: Yeah! I swung by a crepe shop on my way home from uni and bought ‘em~.

Kazunari: There was this super cute, inste-able wagon and they all looked totally good! Major hype around that place!

Sakuya: Now I kinda wanna go there too…!

Kazunari: BTW, the store’s name is “Epoch de Crepe”--.

Citron: Aha! That’s exactly the store!

Director: Eh?

Banri: What is it?

Citron: I need to talk to you about that crepe shop!

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Kazunari: I gotcha~, so that’s why there was a poster on the side of the wagon looking for part-time workers.

Director: From what I’ve heard, that place is pretty popular, so the shortage is pretty severe. I’d love to help out myself, but… Could you guys do it?

Citron: It was one of the madams’ requests, so of course I will!

Citron: But I heard that they need around three people to help, so I’m not enough.

Sakuya: Well then, let me help too!

Sakuya: My part-time jobs haven’t been very busy lately, so I think I should be able to do it.

Citron: Thank you, Sakuya. That will be much help!

Banri: That said, can you guys really help out at a crepe shop?

Citron: You can count on us! I’ll be able to handle anyone in line!

Sakuya: I do customer service and cashiering at some of my regular part-time jobs, and I’m sure I'll be able to adjust my shifts, so I’ll be fine.

Banri: Nah, not just the customer service part…

Citron: Anyway, two is not enough. So I must find someone else!

Kazunari: Ah, wait a sec, RonRon!

Kazunari: I think Settzer said earlier that he’s relatively free right now. So maybe he could help ya out…!?

Citron: I would be blightly nervous if you came, Banri! But I’d love to have you join us!

Banri: Well, whatever. And it’s “slightly”.

Director: Well then, I guess we’ve got our three!

Banri: Yep.

Sakuya: I’ll do my best!

Citron: Now that it’s decided, let’s do our best to bring in even more customers than the usual workers~!

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Citron: Hello! We’re the people Fukatsu-san sent to help.

Sakuya: We’ll do our best!

Banri: What he said.

Shop Owner: I’ve been waiting on this, so I’m really thankful for the help! Let me start by explaining the schedule.

Shop Owner: I don’t think you’ll be able to bake the crepes right away, so you’ll just be in a training period for a while--.

Citron: Eh?

Sakuya: Bake?

Banri: Ugh… I told you you wouldn’t be able to do this.

[scottdylanproperty]

How Scott Dylan and Food for Needy People Are Transforming London’s Charitable Landscape

In a bustling city like London, where wealth and opportunity abound, there are still countless individuals who struggle to meet their most basic needs. Hunger, poverty, and homelessness remain pressing issues in many parts of the city. For Scott Dylan, director of Dylan Luxury Construction, these challenges hit close to home. Through his deep commitment to community service, Scott has become an active force for change in London’s charitable landscape, working closely with Food for Needy People, a charity that provides essential support to some of the city’s most vulnerable residents.

In this article, we explore how Scott Dylan and Food for Needy People are making a significant impact on London’s most underserved communities, helping to transform lives through compassion, action, and a shared mission of giving back.

The Mission of Food for Needy People

Food for Needy People was founded with a simple yet profound goal: to ensure that no one in London goes hungry. The organization provides hot meals, groceries, and other essential resources to those who are struggling with poverty, homelessness, or food insecurity. Its services are particularly vital in a city like London, where the cost of living is high, and many individuals and families find it difficult to make ends meet.

For Scott Dylan, the charity’s mission resonates deeply with his own values of giving back to the community. “We often take basic necessities like food for granted,” says Scott. “But for many people, having a hot meal can be the difference between hope and despair. I’ve always believed that we have a responsibility to help those in need, and Food for Needy People does incredible work in that regard.”

Scott Dylan’s Involvement with Food for Needy People

Scott Dylan’s involvement with Food for Needy People began as a way to give back to his local community. As a successful entrepreneur, Scott recognized the importance of using his resources and influence to support charitable causes that align with his values. What started as a simple donation to the charity soon blossomed into a deeper partnership, with Scott taking on an active role in helping the organization grow and expand its reach.

“One of the things I admire most about Food for Needy People is their hands-on approach,” Scott explains. “It’s not just about raising funds; it’s about being there on the ground, distributing food, connecting with people, and making sure that every individual is treated with dignity and respect.”

Scott’s commitment to the charity goes beyond financial contributions. He regularly volunteers his time at food drives, helping to distribute meals and supplies to those in need. By getting directly involved, Scott is able to see the impact of the charity’s work firsthand and connect with the individuals and families that Food for Needy People serves.

Tackling Hunger and Food Insecurity in London

Hunger and food insecurity are issues that often go unnoticed in a city like London, where prosperity can mask the struggles faced by many. Food for Needy People works to bring these challenges to the forefront by providing immediate relief to those who are hungry, while also addressing the root causes of food insecurity.

The charity operates in some of London’s most impoverished neighborhoods, where access to affordable food is limited. Through partnerships with local businesses, food suppliers, and volunteers like Scott Dylan, Food for Needy People is able to provide nutritious meals and groceries to individuals and families who might otherwise go without.

“Hunger is a problem that we can solve,” Scott says. “It just takes a collective effort and a willingness to step up and help. Through Food for Needy People, we’re not just filling stomachs—we’re offering hope and showing people that they’re not alone in their struggles.”

The organization also offers resources beyond food, including hygiene products, clothing, and connections to social services that can help individuals improve their overall circumstances. By addressing both the immediate need for food and the broader social issues that contribute to poverty, Food for Needy People is making a holistic impact on the communities it serves.

Empowering Communities Through Compassion

One of the most powerful aspects of Scott Dylan’s work with Food for Needy People is the sense of compassion and empathy that drives both the charity and Scott’s involvement. Rather than simply viewing charity work as a transactional effort, Scott approaches it as a way to build genuine connections with those in need.

“Compassion is at the heart of everything we do,” Scott explains. “When you sit down with someone who’s struggling, when you hear their story and understand their challenges, it changes the way you think about charity. It’s not just about handing out food; it’s about showing people that they matter, that they’re not invisible.”

This compassionate approach is what sets Food for Needy People apart from other charitable organizations. Volunteers like Scott take the time to engage with the people they serve, offering not just material support, but emotional and social support as well. By fostering a sense of community and belonging, the charity helps individuals regain their dignity and find the strength to move forward.

The Role of Business in Supporting Charitable Initiatives

Scott Dylan’s involvement with Food for Needy People is a testament to the important role that business leaders can play in supporting charitable initiatives. As the director of Dylan Luxury Construction, Scott understands that business success comes with a responsibility to give back to the community. He believes that entrepreneurs and business leaders have both the resources and the influence to make a meaningful difference in society.

“Business isn’t just about making profits,” Scott says. “It’s about making an impact. I’ve been fortunate in my career, and I believe it’s my duty to use that success to help others. Whether it’s through financial donations, volunteering, or raising awareness, businesses have a crucial role to play in addressing social issues.”

Scott encourages other business leaders to get involved in charitable work, not only as a way to give back but also as a means of fostering a positive company culture. By aligning his business with charitable causes like Food for Needy People, Scott has been able to inspire both his team and his peers to become more engaged in their communities.

Looking to the Future: Expanding the Reach of Food for Needy People

As Food for Needy People continues to grow, Scott Dylan is committed to helping the charity expand its reach and impact. With rising levels of poverty and food insecurity in London, the need for organizations like Food for Needy People has never been greater. Scott and the charity’s leadership are exploring new ways to increase their capacity, whether through additional funding, partnerships with local businesses, or expanding their volunteer base.

“We’ve made a lot of progress, but there’s still so much more to be done,” Scott says. “The goal is to ensure that no one in London has to worry about where their next meal is coming from. We’re working hard to expand our services and reach even more people in need.”

Scott is also focused on raising awareness about the issues of hunger and poverty in London. Through his platform and connections, he hopes to encourage others to get involved, whether by donating, volunteering, or simply spreading the word about the work that Food for Needy People is doing.

Conclusion: A Legacy of Compassion and Change

Scott Dylan’s partnership with Food for Needy People is a powerful example of how individuals and businesses can come together to make a lasting impact on their communities. Through his active involvement in the charity, Scott has helped transform the lives of countless individuals and families in London, offering not just food, but hope, compassion, and a sense of community.

As Scott and Food for Needy People continue their work, they serve as a reminder that even in a city as prosperous as London, there are still those who need our help—and that with a collective effort, we can create a future where no one is left behind.

For Scott Dylan, success is not just measured in business achievements but in the positive change he helps bring to the world. His work with Food for Needy People is a testament to his belief that true success lies in the impact you make and the lives you touch along the way. Through this partnership, Scott is leaving a legacy of compassion, empathy, and community—a legacy that will continue to transform London’s charitable landscape for years to come.

[vendettaparker]

Peanut Butter and Extra Jelly [T.H]

Summary: Tom’s long time crush on you becomes painful when you and Harrison are cast as love interests in a movie. 

Paring: Tom Holland x Actress!Reader 

Word Count: 5.8k

Warning: Suggestive themes, fake smut (very light), jealousy, probably some typos, swearing 

a/n: i have no idea how filming a movie, or auditioning for one actually goes so don’t crucify me for this. i’m pretty happy with how this turned out, especially considering that this is the most i’ve ever written for a fic. also, Burt Kreisher is one of my fav comedians in real life, he has 3 shows on neflix and a mini series.  

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     Tom was not a jealous person. At least, that's what he always told himself. He prided himself in thinking he was a very level headed individual who didn’t let his emotions get the best of him. That worked best for his job anyways; always being able to control his emotions and not get in his own head. That simple, pacifistic mindset seemed to change when it came to you. 

      You were one of the many actors Tom got the pleasure to help hone their technique and work closely with. You were new to the lifestyle of Hollywood and the only roles you had before were in small indie films that never garnered too much attention. The first major role that you landed, which also happened to help kickstart your career, was in the MCU. You played the secondary villain in the third Spider-man movie. 

     Meeting the cast was a dream come true; they were all extremely helpful and they provided tons of tips and tricks in navigating the hectic schedule required for such a huge production. By the time filming wrapped up, you were considered part of their little Spider-man family. 

     Tom was easily the most helpful. Whenever he saw you struggling with anything, he offered to help. You two spent hours upon hours together in his trailer, ordering take out and practicing lines. Some nights you two planned to work through your script, but inevitably ended up falling asleep binge watching The Office, and laughing about crazy shit that happened on set that day. 

     When the movie wrapped up and you went home for a month before the press tour, you were completely unsure and nervous about what direction your career was going in. You auditioned for a few new movies, but had yet to hear from any of the directors about casting decisions. You kept in touch Tom during the month you were apart and expressed your concerns. 

     “I don’t know, Tom. I’m just so sick of waiting around and hoping that some director out there throws me a bone, ya know’?” You said on facetime, while making cookies. 

     “Yeah, I totally understand that, (Y/N/N). I had that issue a couple years ago before the Marvel movies. Trust me, you did outstanding in that role and once it gets noticed I’m positive you’ll have directors calling you, begging for you to audition.” Tom smiled warmly into the camera as he walked around his apartment in London. 

      “Yeah, easy for you to say, movie-star.” You giggled, turning your face away from the camera in hopes that Tom wouldn’t notice the blush his compliments painted onto your cheeks 

     “I’m serious! You were outstanding! Like in that one scene where you—” 

      “Tom! Tessa chewed a hole in my trousers again!” A voice came from outside of the frame, “Mate, you gotta get her to stop doing that somehow.” 

     Tom sighed, and waved his hand dismissively at the figure, “Okay, sure. I’m busy right now.” Tom looked back to the camera, “anyways, as I was saying, don’t stress about not having a new project yet, (Y/N)—” 

     “(Y/N)?” The other voice whisper-yelled. “Let me say hi!”, suddenly the phone was yanked out of Tom's hands and the video shook around a bit as Tom wrestled to get it back. Finally, the camera stilled and Harrison was on the other end smiling. “Hi, (Y/N)!” 

     “Oh, hi Harrison!” You smiled back, laughing. You'd met Harrison a few times when he visited Tom on set. “How are you?” 

     The camera started moving around more as the background behind Harrsion whizzed past. You assumed Tom must’ve been chasing him to get the phone back. 

     “I’m good! I just auditioned for a new movie. You should audition too! The main female lead’s description looks just like you.” He exclaimed, running past the kitchen to his room. 

     “Oi! Give me my phone back you div!” You heard Tom yelling in the background, no doubt in hot pursuit of Harrison. 

     “I don’t know, I'm not sure I’m prepared for a lead role.” You sighed, “What’s the movie called? I’ll look into it.” 

     “It’s called ‘Collateral Damage’, it’s a spy movie.” Harrison said, shutting the door to his room, while Tom pounded on it from the other side. “Yeah, it’d be really fun working with you. Tom constantly talks about how much fun you are on set.” Harrison wheezed out, trying to catch his breath. 

      “Aw, that’s sweet of him.” You laughed. “Well I’ve got to go. Just tell Tom he can call me tomorrow or something.” You waved at the camera. “Bye!”

     “Yup, bye.” Harrison said right before the video cut out. 

      Harrison finally opened the door to a seething Tom. Tom grabbed the phone back from Harrison and noticed that the call had ended. 

     “Dude! Why would you do that?” Tom whined. 

     Harrison just patted Tom’s back, “Sorry, mate. She said she had to go, though. I was about to give the phone back.” 

     Tom huffed and sulked for a moment. “Whatever, I’ll just call her later, I guess.” 

     Harrison nodded and smirked at how whipped Tom was. “You should just ask her out if you’re so desperate for her attention.” Harrison teased. 

     “Shut up. I’m not desperate for her attention, I just like her voice and her personality, and the way she talks, and her funny sayings, and how her hair looks when she just woke up.” 

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     It was only a few days later when you received an email from the director of the movie Harrison told you about, asking for you to audition. You were ecstatic, Harrison must’ve already sent in some things about you since the director seemed adamant that you were of high interest for the role. 

     You called Tom immediately to share the good news. 

     He picked up after the third ring, “Hello, darling! How are you?” he beamed when he answered your call. He usually was the one to call you so he felt a sense of pride knowing that you were calling him for once. 

     “Tom! The director of the movie Harrison auditioned for just emailed me asking for me to audition!” You squealed excitedly. 

     “Really? That’s wonderful, love! Harrison just got the part of the lead too, so you’d be filming with him if you got it.” 

     “That’s so exciting, I’m flying to London for the audition in two days. Are you still there?” You pulled the phone away from your ear and switched it to speaker. “I’m booking the flight right now.” 

     “Yeah, I’ll be in London for another week and a half. Then we have the press tour starting in Japan.” Tom said, also switching to speaker phone to look at his calendar. “You can stay with Harrison and I while you’re here. Since we have to go to Japan together anyways.” Tom offered nervously. He really wanted you to stay in his flat with him. It’d be all cute and domestic, and maybe, just maybe, he’d spend enough time with you to not feel nervous about asking you on a date. If he was lucky, that is, but awaiting your reply he was a jittery ball of nerves. 

     “Yeah, that sounds wonderful. I won't be intruding though, right?” You said, smiling from ear to ear. Thank god you weren’t on facetime and Tom couldn’t see the stupid smile adoring your features. 

     “No, of course not. Harry will be so excited to see you. And Tessa too, she really misses you.” Tom shuffled around with his phone, shooting a quick text to Harrison letting him know you were coming to stay for a week. 

     “Ok, thanks so much, this is really thoughtful of you. I absolutely can’t wait to see you!” You gushed, finalizing your purchase of a one-way ticket to London. “K, the flight is at 2:30 pm here, it’s about 9 and a half hours, but you’re also ahead of me, so I’ll be in around..5?”

     “Yeah, that sounds right to me,” Tom chuckled, “I’ll come pick you up. I’ll wear my incognito disguise.” 

     “If you mean that stupid t-shirt you got that says ‘I’M NOT A CELEBRITY’, then maybe I’ll ask Harrison to come pick me up…”

     “That’s cold (Y/L/N).” 

     You giggled softly, “I’m sorry, Tommy. If it makes you feel better, that shirt isn’t as bad as that stupid blue beanie that you never wear correctly.”

     “How the fuck would that make me feel better? You’re killing me, (Y/N/N).” 

     You laughed at his over dramatic reaction, “Sorry that you’re a sensitive babe. I gotta go now, see you soon!” You hung up before Tom could respond with a sassy quip. Then immediately after you received a text:

Tommy: The second you get here I’m bout to 👊 

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     Tom called Harrison up after you got off the phone, he needed to make sure his best friend wouldn’t say or do anything to embarrass him in front of you. 

     “Tom, don’t you think this is a bit obsessive? I mean, she’s only staying with us for a week and you already know her so well from spending all that time filming with her.” Harrison sighed, sick of listening to Tom ramble about every possible embarrassing situation he could be put in, in the coming week. 

     “Yeah, yeah, you’re right. It's no big deal. But don’t mention that time I accidentally shit my pants at the club, or that time I got hit in the head with a golf ball ‘cus I got distracted by a flock of geese, or that time a got chased by a flock of geese, or—”

     “Geez, mate. At this point we might as well not even talk to her.” Harrison chuckled, thinking of all the stories he could bring up about Tom around the dinner table with you. Tom really was just a walking ball of embarrassing moments. 

     “Stoppp ittt,” Tom whined, “when we were on set it was usually just the cast and Harry around, but you? You could do some real fucking damage to my love life, Haz.” 

     “What love life?” Harrison barked out, laughing. 

     Tom then hung up and began praying to whatever god was out there that this week could go by without a hitch, and then you and him would be on your way, together, to Japan. 

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     The whole week spent in London actually went really well, especially the audition. Tom and Harrison both accompanied you for moral support, well Harrison actually had to be there to be your scene partner, but it was still nice knowing he supported you. 

     The director shook your hand and you went through the normal formalities before beginning your scene with Harrison. It was a quick scene with a monologue in it. The main premise of the movie was all about choosing love over work, especially in dangerous, life-threatening scenarios. The scene you used to audition with Harrison was the scene where the main character, Lincoln, and his lover interest, Mallory, were arguing, trying to push each other away to keep each other safe. The scene had a lot of raw emotion that you were able to tap into, and the directors gave your performance a standing ovation once the scene concluded. 

     They said that they’d get back to you within the next few days, but they also mentioned how the chemistry between you and Harrison was off the charts, leaving you hopeful. Tom and Harrison both gave you hugs and pats on the back. Tom had watched the whole scene unfold and he was in complete and utter awe of your talent. Part of him was annoyed that he didn’t audition for the movie and a chance as your love interest. But Harrison deserved this big break and so did you, so he was hopeful of the outcome being something that benefitted both of his best friends. 

    After the audition the rest of the week went by nearly perfectly. The real kicker was when Tom’s family invited you and Harrison to join them for dinner. Tom had not anticipated his mom asking you to come to family dinner, so he wasn’t able to stop the embarrassing anecdotes his mom told on his behalf. 

     “Tom had the cutest little tush,” Nikki exclaimed, placing the old homemade scrapbook in your lap and flipping through a couple of pages. “See look,” she happily pointed to a picture of Tom as a toddler in a bath, surrounded by bubbles, his little bum poking through them. 

     Tom sat uncomfortably on the sofa next to you, cringing at the now 21 year old photo of him. He expected you to also cringe along, or worse case scenario, get up and make a flimsy excuse to leave his crazy family, but you just chuckled along with Nikki and continued making your way through the scrapbook, making little comments here and there. 

     “Oh, and this one,” Nikki said, pointing to a photo of Tom crying and Sam holding up a superhero action figure triumphantly, “that was Tom’s favorite toy, but when Sam saw how much Tom liked it, he made an effort to always be playing with it when Tom came into the room and he wouldn’t share.”

     You giggled at the little whiny face Tom made in the picture, and turned to him, replicating it on your face, making fun of him. Tom laughed along and playfully shoved you. He adored how well you seemed to fit in with his family and his feelings for you only multiplied. 

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     The week in London was one of the best in your life. You didn’t realize how much you missed Tom until you got to the airport and he was there waiting for you, unfortunately in his stupid blue beanie, and no, it wasn’t on right, his big ears poked out of it horrendously. 

     The last day you had in London before you and Tom went to Japan, you finally received a call about the audition. The director called you to congratulate you on getting the part, and he sent you numerous emails about scheduling, where to be, and when. Harrison was elated to have a familiar face playing his love interest on screen, and Tom was over the moon excited for you, this on top of the Spider-man movie coming out, you were certainly becoming a force to be reckoned with. 

     You spent the night celebrating at a club, Harry and Sam also showed up to party with you. The night was still young and the club was already packed and in full swing. Tom ordered two shots for each of you to start off the night before he was whisked away by a few fans to sign autographs. When he didn’t return you took it upon yourself to have his shots, giving you an extra edge to help spice up your night. 

     Harrison found Tom in the corner of the club talking to some fans. But throughout his whole time taking pictures with them, he couldn’t help but glance at you every once and a while. You looked so carefree and beautiful, dancing around in your shiny silver top and leather leggings. 

      “Tom.” Harrison interrupted Tom’s gawking and directed his attention to the small group of fans Tom was with. 

     Tom nodded and finished up his pictures and autographs before wishing them all a good and safe night. Once he reached you, you engulfed him in a bone crushing hug. 

     “Thank you for such a great time in London, Tommy.” you slurred, already feeling the impact of the four shots you took. “I had the best time of my whole life.” You pecked his cheek and pulled him close to dance with you. 

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     The following month or so on the press tour was a once in a lifetime experience. You travelled to more cities than you even knew the name of and you had all of your friends by your side. More so, you had motivation to remain approachable and well liked by fans considering that you were moving up in the industry. Some interviews were mostly for Tom, Zendaya, and Jacob. Your role in the movie was big enough for you to be needed for some interviews, and most people were genuinely interested in getting to know you, but there were also a handful of press activities that you weren’t included in, which you didn’t mind. 

     When you didn’t have anything to do for an hour or so, you would text Harrison and send him funny memes. He was quickly becoming one of your closest friends; you had already created a surplus of inside jokes with him just over the phone. 

     Tom noticed how you were always laughing at your phone or rapid fire texting. Even when you were being interviewed, Tom could faintly hear the buzz of your text message notifications going off. 

     “Tom,” you snapped in front of his eyes, “did you need something?” 

     “Huh?” Tom blinked a few times, “Uh—no, sorry.” Tom’s cheeks flushed pink, embarrassed for having been caught staring at you. He couldn’t help it though, you were dressed so pretty that day. You had your hair done up in two bubble braids and you wore his pink sweatshirt over your yellow sundress. 

     “Okay then.” You smiled at him. You went back to your phone, reading what Harrison had just texted you. “What was the name of that comedian we watched the other night?” 

     “The one on Netflix?” 

     You hummed out a yes, tapping away at your phone. 

     “Burt Kreisher, why?” Tom asked, leaning over to your chair to try and catch a glimpse of who you were texting. When he saw the contact name “Hazzy”, he couldn't stop the little angry pit of jealousy that started in his stomach. Sure, you were here with him now, not with Harrison, but when you two were apart you also texted him nonstop, and the texts seemed to all be inside jokes, which was something you also shared with him that he held near and dear.

     “I made a joke referencing him to Harrison and he didn’t get it. Fucking nerd.” You chuckled, texting Harrison a link to the skit you were referring to. 

     Tom chuckled along, but he couldn’t help but frown slightly at how bright your smile was when Harrison replied. 

                       ➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶

     The press tour and premiere of the movie seemed to go by lighting fast. You’d never been to a premiere for a production this big, and your nerves for the red carpet were starting to get to you. 

     You and Zendaya were stuffed into a hotel room with both of your respective teams, both trying to rapidly get both of you ready for the event. 

     “So when do you start filming for your next project?” Zendaya asked, she sat in front of a broadway-equse mirror, bright bulbs of light giving a luminescent glow to her already near flawless complexion. She hadn’t even finished her makeup yet and she was so pretty.  

     “In a month, I have to go back to London next week.” You said, sifting through the opinions you brought for dresses. You brought three options, just in case you changed your mind after seeing yourself in the dress. “Harrison and I are going to go over the scripts together and we were also told to go out in public a few times; for press and whatnot.” 

      “That’s exciting!” Zendaya mused, she glanced at the clock and gave her hairdresser some instructions about how much time she had to do hair. “It’s a good thing you guys are already friends. I remember when I filmed ‘The Greatest Showman’ I didn’t know many of the actors personally, so we had to go out together and do press all while being almost strangers. It was a bit nerve wracking.” Zendaya smiled at you fondly, she was like an older sister to you during this whole movie-making process, she constantly had your back. 

     “Yeah, I mean I’ll probably be in a situation like that at some point, but for my first lead role it’s nice to be working opposite a friend.” You smiled back, finally deciding on the red, sequined dress. 

     You both sat and worked through the makeup process in comfortable silence. 

     “So you and Tom…” Zendaya broke the silence and looked at you with a smirk on her face. 

     “What?” You looked at her with a dumbfounded look, before nervously laughing, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

     “Don’t play dumb, (Y/N/N).” She poked your arm and laughed, “He’s literally obsessed with you.” 

     You laughed at how ridiculous that sounded. A movie star, and very famous movie star at that, obsessed with you? You? Impossible. 

     “Yeah no, sorry but you got the wrong girl, babe.” You sighed, pulling out your phone to snap and selfie with her for your instagram story. You quickly snapped a pic of the two of you, her kissing your cheek, leaving a small, faint lipstick mark. “I mean it’d be nice,” you back tracked, “but I’m sure that’s just my wishful thinking.” 

     “What wishful thinking? I thought you were a pessimist?” Zendaya chuckled, taking her own photo with you to post later. 

     “I am, but I can’t help but indulge a bit.” 

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     Before you knew it, you were back in London, staying in a rented out flat for the next three to four months. Harrison was kind enough to come over to help you set up a work space, but he also offered you to spend most of your time at his place. Since Tom was in New York, doing interviews about the new Spider-man movie and having meetings with the Marvel Cinematic Universe team to try and gauge his future in the MCU, he wouldn’t be around for almost a month, so Harrison offered up Tom’s office when you needed to go over a scene by yourself and wanted a place that was already set up. 

     The days of filming seemed to go by in the blink of an eye. Most of your scenes were with Harrison, and he was the perfect scene partner. He rarely messed up, but if he did then he was quick to use it as an opportunity to improvise. His skills weren’t as well honed in like Tom’s, but it was obvious that their style ranged from a similar source. 

     The main thing about this movie that you were excited, but extremely nervous for, were the two sex scenes. The first one is at the beginning, where the two leads give in to each other for a night, then there's some implied stuff in between, and the last one is when the two leads part ways for the final time at the end of the movie. The first one had to be rough, fast, and needy, whereas the second one was direct to be more slow, thought out, and sensual. 

      Both were extremely stress-inducing to film. Harrison had also never done any scenes like this before, so he was on the same boat as you. Thankfully you had an amazing director and stunt coordinator to work with and with the help of other crew members, the scenes were mapped out so that it wasn’t too much improv or guessing on your part. 

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     The first intimate scene you shot actually happened to be the one at the end of the movie. That scene was more tame and dealt with more emotional subtexts than physical. Since you filmed that one first, you went into filming the next one with more confidence. It only took a few days to get the first scene down to perfection, so with this newfound confidence, it shouldn’t take too long to get the next one done. 

     On the days you shot intimate scenes, you only needed to wear the costume you wore before the scene and then you changed into a robe with nude underwear underneath. The bits with the outfit on before were already shot, so the director called a 30 minute break until you could begin shooting the actual sex part. 

     You were standing by the snack table, eyes scanning the table for any more muffins leftover from breakfast. The robe you wore made your skin prickle whenever a draft came onto set. 

     Just as you had found the muffin you were looking for, a pair of warm hands covered your eyes. 

     “Guess who!” An all too familiar warm, British accentuated, voice called. 

      You turned around in his arms, effectively nudging his hands from your face, and soon you were met with the warmest hazel eyes. Eyes that you missed so much this past month. 

      “Tommy!” You squealed and thrusted yourself into him in a hug. He immediately reciprocated it and wrapped your body in warmth. “What’re you doing here?” You asked once you let go of him. 

      “Harrison gave me the location so I could come watch you film. I just got home, like, two days ago.” Tom eyed you up and down, not realizing what little you had on. “Um—are you wearing anything under that?” He pointed up and down your figure. 

     “Nope, today and tomorrow we’re scheduled to film the sex scene.” You said casually, doing a silly twirl. Tom gulped. 

     “A s-sex scene?” He choked, “I didn’t know you guys had one.” 

     “Yup,” you smirked, “two actually, this is my first one ever, Haz’s too, I think. Well actually, we filmed the sex scene at the end of the movie last week.” 

     “Yeah… t-that’s cool.” Tom smiled weakly. 

     Right as you were about to continue your conversation with Tom, an arm swung over your shoulder and pulled you close. Harrison smiled at the both of you. He wore a similar robe to yours, except he left the front open. His plaid boxers on full display. 

     “Don’t listen to her, Tom. She’s a natural.” Harrison pinched your cheeks. Tom clenched his jaw at the comment. He knew Harrison hadn't meant to imply anything with it, but he couldn't help but hear the hidden meaning behind the otherwise innocent compliment. 

      You giggled and pushed his hand away, “Only ‘cus my scene partner is so darn cute.” You retaliated, poking and tickling his pecs. 

      This kind of goofy banter was normal between you and Harrison, but Tom hadn’t seen either of you in so long. He also had never seen you two interact so fluently with each other. He watched the interaction with a tight-lipped smile, nodding along and shrugging every once in a while to seem like he was paying attention. In reality though, he couldn’t pry his thoughts away from how close you were to Harrison. 

     “Ok everyone! Places! Let’s wrap this scene up and put it to rest today!” Your director called. You and Harrison smiled and waved goodbye to Tom. Harrison pointed to a chair in the room that had a nice view of the set where Tom could watch. Tom nodded and walked over to the chair, enthusiasm for watching you work completely dissipating. 

     The scene started off rough right off the bat. The second the director said ‘Action!’ you and Harrison were practically pouncing on each other. Harrison had you pressed up against the wall and you were both breathing heavily. He was leaving sloppy, wet kisses down your neck, then across your collar bones. Your moans, which Tom always imagined to sound like music to his ears, sounded too real for his liking. But no matter how much he tried to look away, his eyes were glued to the two bodies moving fluidly with one another. 

     “Cut! Cut!” The director yelled, effectively ending the scene. You and Harrison pulled apart and he gave you a peck on the cheek, as in saying ‘good job’. “That was good, but Harrison,” The blonde nodded, awaiting further instruction. “You gotta be a little rougher, hm?” 

     Harrison nodded along with the critique. “(Y/N)?” the director moved his attention to you, “would it be okay if Harrison marked you up? Just a few hickeys to really sell the illusion. We can do without, though, if you feel uncomfortable.” 

     Tom overheard the interaction and internally hoped that you were too uncomfortable for that, but deep down he knew you would do it. You were never the type to stray away from a challenge. 

     “Yeah, that’s fine.” You nodded, chest still heaving from the scene. You looked at Harrison. “Is that okay with you?” 

     Harrison nodded, a shy smile tugging at his lips. Yeah, you guys have been working at this scene for days now, but he’d never been rough enough to leave marks. He’d be lying if he said the thought didn’t invigorate him. 

     So the scene started from the top, you pressed up against the wall, all your weight shoved between the flimsy wall of the set and Harrison’s strong arms. Harrison did exactly as the director required, leaving noticeable dark spots across the top of your chest. Unlike your previous moans, which had just been for show, this new roughness in his actions tore real moans from your lips. 

     Tom sat uncomfortably in his chair, wishing he picked a different day to visit you on set. He shifted around, watching twin moans pull from both you and Harrison’s throat. He watched as you nipped at Harrison's ear as he faux thrusted into you. The jealousy that had pitted itself in his stomach soon turned to self-loathing. You looked really into the scene, he couldn’t help but feel like he was intruding. He knew you were a great actress, but he couldn’t believe that this was all acting. In his eyes, he believed that some part of you must wish that this was real. And part of you did like this scenario, but you wouldn’t have picked Harrison to be opposite you in this little fantasy. 

     Your moans and Harrisons both grew louder, leading up to the climax as scripted. Tom, not wanting to watch anymore exited the set quickly before he could watch the scene end. 

     You and Harrison finished up, gaining applause and praise afterwards from the director and crew members on set. 

     “Where’s Tom?” You asked, scrambling back into your robe and smoothing out your now roughed up hair. 

     Harrison, now noticing the absence of his best friend, began to feel a bit guilty. He knew Tom had a thing for you, maybe he should’ve told Tom not to visit set today. 

     “Um, (Y/N)?” He mumbled, pulling you aside slightly. 

     “Yeah?” You still looked around for Tom a bit, heart sinking when you realized that he must've left without saying goodbye. 

      “I shouldn’t be the one telling you this,” Harrison began, drawing your full attention, “but Tom really likes you. He always downplayed it, so I didn’t realize how much, but I think watching this scene might’ve upset him a bit.” Harrison looked towards the exit, no doubtedly where Tom left through, out into the parking lot. 

     “Oh—oh!” You gasped, feeling terribly for having put Tom in such an awkward position. “I didn’t know he felt the same.” You whispered, smiling softly to yourself. Guess Z was right after all. You pulled away from Harrison, “I’ll go talk to him.” 

                                 ➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶

      Tom didn’t go far. He still wanted to be there to support you; he didn’t want to come off as a jealous prick, but he couldn’t keep watching that intimacy between you and his best friend. He sat on the curb outside of the building the set was built in. A few people passed him going to their designated buildings on the lot, but he didn’t pay any mind to them, too lost in his thoughts. He needed to tell you sooner rather than later how he felt. No time to be a pussy anymore. 

     “Tom?” You walked up next to his sitting figure, still only in a robe, tightly wrapped around you. He looked up to acknowledge you, mumbling a soft ‘Hey.’ before looking back down, trying to collect his thoughts and courage. It’s now or never. 

     You sat beside him and rested your head on his shoulder. “Harrison told me something interesting in there,” You paused for a moment before continuing, “about you.” 

     Tom’s head shot up, and he looked at you with frantic eyes, only imagining the worse. There were too many things Harrison could’ve told you about Tom to sully your image of him. 

     “Whatever it was, he's a lying prick!” Tom rushed out. 

     You giggled, lifting your head up to look him in the eyes, his dark hazel eyes boring into yours. 

     “That’s a shame then,” You shrugged, “considering I like you too.” 

     Tom breathed out a sigh of relief, before looking back at you, doing a double take. 

    “Wait, what?” 

     “Mhm, yeah.” You said casually, standing up. “But since Harrison’s a liar then I suppose he was wrong.” You teased. 

     “No!” Tom grabbed your wrist and pulled you back next to him, but his aim was a bit off and you ended up in his lap. “He lies about a lot, but not about this.”

     You smiled at him, “I should hope not, considering I’m crazy about you.” 

     Tom couldn’t help the smile that beamed across his face, but then he noticed the marks left on you by Harrison. Remembering why he was insecure in the first place, he looked away. 

     “What about Harrison?” He asked. You looked at him utterly confused. Tom caught on and explained further. “You looked like you were really into that scene with him.” 

     You giggled and pinched Tom’s cheek, turning it red. “I’m an actress, you idiot.”

     Tom scoffed, “I know that. It’s just— I didn’t realize you could fake that kind of love.” 

     You looked at Tom’s downcast face. You leaned in and kissed his neck, just under his jaw. You nipped and sucked softly, leaving a nice, dark pink blotch that would go away in a few days under his jaw and he whimpered softly.

     “I’d never fake that kind of love with you.” You grabbed his face, holding it gently in your hands. “I’d never have to.” You whispered, pulling him in for a kiss, soft and sweet. 

     Tom pulled you closer, resting a hand on the small of your back, kissing back fervently. 

     The short make-out session being cut short by the door to the set bursting opened. Harrison rushing out, now dressed in slacks and a white button up for the next scene you needed to shoot that day. 

     “(Y/N)! Hair and makeup need you.” You lugged yourself off of Tom’s lap, promising to talk to him after you finished for the day. You went back inside, jokingly blowing a kiss to Harrison on your way. 

     Harrison stayed outside and sat next to Tom. 

     “Did she confess first?” He asked after a moment of silence. 

     “Yup.” Tom smiled happily, licking his lips, tasting the strawberry chapstick he saw you put on earlier. 

     “You owe me 10 pounds then, you wimp.” 

     “Oh, fuck off.” Tom groaned, promptly pulling ten pounds out of his wallet and handing it to Haz. 

[popculturebuffet]

Amphibia and Owl House Weekly Reviews: Labyrinth Runners and All In: *HUNTLOW AND K-POP INTENSIFY*

Hello all you happy people! And this was a hell of a week as both shows were in top form. Owl House continued it’s intense ride to the day of unity as Gus deals with his issues and shows his true power, Willow and Amity have some growing to do and HUNTLOW RETURNS BITCHES! Meanwhile Amphibia had an awesome one hour special that paid off lots of character arcs.. and to my shock set up one more final push. I thought The Hardest Thing would likely just be an epilogue: having the characters come down from the massive battels and changes and heal emotoinally but NOPE. We’re going Majora’s Mask on this bitch! See what I mean with full spoilers, full analysis and full throttle under the cut as we count down to the end of one show and the end of another shows season, come on out my babies!

And come with me as we explore huntlow, herons, huntlow, illusions micheal, huntlow, super fighting robots, huntlow and huntlow!

                                                  Labyrinth Runners

The march to the Day of Unity continues as things continue to ramp the fuck up and as I expected from the promo art and from last week’s cliffhanger.. we do not see Luz, the Clawthorne Sisters, Donkey Corpse Junior or Horrifyingly Lovable Freak of Nature at all this week, because Dana likes lapping up our tears like a cat. No this week answers a question everyone had last week: WHERE IS OUR BABY BOY? GIVE US OUR BABY BOY DAMN YOU, DAMN YOUUUUU! 

And before I get to where Hunters been, @jess-the-vampire did bring up a valuable point when we talked about it: While the episode not having hunter in it is fine, as I predicted he’d be in the next one.. she was right that it was kinda weird he just never came up. Even with the tight timeline and how intense things were.. you’d think Luz would at least mention him or wince a bit when her friend she doesn’t know where he is, how safe he is or if he’s texting willow just casually gets brought up. Instead it just.. dosen’t at any time and thus felt off. 

Thankfully this episode not only fixes that in passing but also updates us on our baby boy. For the former, it’s revealed Luz panicedly texted amity via their tomagachi things and while she gave no clear info other than some hearts, priorites and all, she did say “don’t scare him off”, clearly figuring Hunter would go to willow or gus. And while he didn’t, he ended up close enough as Flapjack, worried about his boy, leads Gus to find his buddy camping out in storage with a shabbily sewn cape and eating nothing but hex mix to surivive. 

That’s the least of our heroes problems though, as soon we finally get something i’ve been waiting on: A new coven head: Adrian Graye head of illusions

... who turns out to be on team Belos and nearly tricks the multitrack students into getting branded. 

Graye is, like all the heads so far , a delight. I love the idea of the illusions head being a prima donna director Martin short in Get Over It Would be proud of. I”m sure Graye also tried to give his tapes to diana ross. He’s just delightfully over the top while still being incredibly threatning: his scheme, pretending to be against belos while really being Belos ace in the hole to kill a LOT of children ONLY failed because Gus is an illusion master and thus was able to bring it down and he only failed to neutralize gus because of something he coudln’t of predicted, our boy coming in to save him at the last second. He’s a meance the whole episode and my only regret is we don’t get to see him in an outright fight with it. You’d THINK illusions couldn’t be used combatively.. but you’d also think healing coudln’t until you see a pink and white ghost man punch through a persons stomach to punch a buragler and heal it on the way out. So I could see multiple dopplegangers so you don’t know who to punch, playing with your opponents head. That said he still gets PLENTY of good millage out of it all episode and only looses because again of something he coudln’t possibly account for... gus’ own powers flaring up to the point that he’s forced to live through the worst moments of his life and naturally mind breaks. He continues the tradition of these heads being powerful, deadly and using said powers in clever ways and I love him and hope his brain feels better, and that we get to meet the last four before they all get the magic sucked out of them. 

Spekaing of which yeah, we got the big reveal that like Willow.. gus has a natural and MASSIVE reserve of magic under the surface that comes out in great times of emotion. I’d honestly forgotten about Willow’s glowy eyes till @loosescrewslefty​ brought them up a few weeks back as something the show probably woudln’t adress before it ended... and was then proven wrong with this one as said eyes not only came back.. but now GUS has them too. And given this episode heavily focuses on gus having them, I’m willing to bet this isn’t over yet... it might’ve been due for more focus next season but i’m wagering at least some. Either way this is a hell of a reveal that raises further questions. 

We also get more of gus as a character as we learn more of his backstory.. and that the thing with Bria and Co wasn’t a one off. The poor boy has been used his whole life, which makes something ventured someone framed even more painful as he almost did the same to luz without realizing it, with people pretending to be his friend.. only to use his smarts and prodigious talents. This lead to all too real mental breakdowns, which as usual hit very close to home, until willow taught him breathing. Also we got to see baby gus and slightly baby willow. Awww. Still weird to see Willow in abomination track, even if goopy willow is aodrable, it still just dosen’t feel right seeing her outside her comfort zone. 

And learning this.. puts a lot in perspective. Gus has been the most distrustful of the main group: He took a while to warm up to king, a little to amity (if not as much as he probably needed) and is still suspcious of hunter after last time. He warmed up to luz instanttly sure.. but Luz was his dream of meeting a human and Willow vetted her first. I honestly thought it was JUST him being protective and while that’s still true i’ts neat to now see he dosen’t trust easily because he’s been hurt a LOT, constantly having people he grew to care about knife him in the back. Even in series this has president with the Bria incident, and even before that with Matt who joined the club as a new member.. then tried to steal it for attention. The two are real friends now sure but it still probably hurts. Until Willow and Later Luz... Gus had no one and was truly alone, and his speech about how lonely it is being a young kid in a class of people way older thanyou hits even harder now. For his whole Life gus has just been falling in with bad people and getting hurt again, and again, and again. It also explains how he and willow got so close: she knows what that’s like all too well, even if she and Amity ended up recocling, she still had years of thinking her best friend hated her and the wounds are still there and just now healing. Gus has felt actively punished for being good at what he does. It’s no wonder he had a crisis of faith when his illusion powers backfired in the backstory of Through the Looking Glass Ruins: if the one reason anyone respects or notices him, even if to sometimes use him, is gone, what does he have? 

And the simple answer is friends: This ep wisely focuses on buildling on Hunter and Gus’ friendship after ASIAS built up his relationship with willow. We still get a buffet of huntlow: Hunter’s  new shirt is green which COULD just be because of the entrails as a whole.. but given it’s specicially the same kind of plant track tunic Willow wears i’m bettng not so much. When confronted with an imposter he notices i’ts not her because she’s not afraid of him or anyone (probably due to all the texting), and of course plenty of looks, blushing and general cuteness, cumilating in his first hug ever. 

But while I love me some huntlow, obviously, I do like  not just hammering on Hunter’s romantic relationship, but his platonic one, having him comfort gus and help him calm down from his super power melt down by revealing he too is stuck in a lie: Gus is stuck in the lie he sucks for falling for people when really it’s just being a good trusting person who gets taken advantage of, and Hutner... still wants deep down to belivie the lies belos fed him evne if conciously he knows it’s not true.. a tragically true bit of abuse: he WANTS his abusive father to really have loved him .. but it just wasn’t true and it’s going to take time to fully accept, even if he knows it isn’t. The episode bonds the two well, and really when you think about it the friendship makes perfect sense: Their both progidys who most people look down on due to their age and have badly been taken advantage of time nad time again. They may be the only two people who can truly relate to one another in that way and i’m glad they have that.

Onto our b-plot.. which was something I wasn’t sure we’d have at this point given how much everything’s ramping up, but it’s still heavily linked to the b-plot and thankfully tackles a subject that needed some tackling: Amity and Willow. While it dosen’t FULLY dive into their rough and complicated history like we’d want... how they do it is still throughly intresting: Amity is trying to protect willow from bullies, having not stopped with Boscha and still feeling deep and understandable regret for how she did nothing while Willow was tormented for years on end. And it wasn’t a bad thing.. at first. Willow NEEDED protecting, as evidenced by the fact the second willow started getting popular and well loved.. BOscha jealously tried to destroy it and it took amity and luz standing up for her to get Willow to finally do it herself. Willow had the tools in her to protect herself all along but didn’t have the confidence to use them. 

In present day though.. she dosen’t. As we saw with ASIAS, while some self doubt is still there, just look at my poor baby in the jail (Which is still in hunter’s worst memories.. hmmmmmm. ), she’s actively fighrting against it. She’s proud of who she is and is thriving in a tract she loves and can take care of herself.  So their subplot is Amity.. not seeing that, protecting willow when she dosen’t need it because she can’t see willows change and dosen’t. it takes willow going full glowy eyes (to remind us she can do it to ya’ll), and telling her off for it to get Amity to fully trust her friend and realize she’s not the same. Willow dosen’t need saving and is as powerful as amity ever was and is now. And together they easily trash an abomiton OFF SCREEN. it’s a great little b-plot.

And now before we move on to frog avengers 2: age of core, we have some of the smaller stuff. First off I love that we’re getting more multitrack students.. even if the school itself is about to vanish, it’s nice to see aldric and emira’s talent for other magics seen in asias florish, as well as a subtle nod with math having been impressed with the gravekeepr and gus enough to take up illusions. I also like how it’s WORKED: students are actually happy, their thriving. It also turns out.. Belos knew the whole time which makes it a lot more explicable. As for WHY he’d allow this it’s simple: it makes him LOOK progressive while visually marking the people who need to be covened the most. And given it again almost work and ONLY failed through something he coudln’t of seen coming, it’s not like Phillip even knows who gus is and even if he did given his ego he wouldn’t likely give him due respect. Belos may be an evil genocidal butthead, I can at least admire how good he is at this villiany thing. Top notch, guild approved. 

Finally we also got a LOT of great bump. Love that man. But from being fair with hunter, not trusting him but willing to give him a chance (and clearly being uncomfortable with the illusion professor’s idea to trade him to belos or the gathering mob), his TREMENDOUSLY badass stand against the coven heads, including seeing him in battle for the first time (It’s as glorious as I always hope.. brings me to tear), to the final scene which is more subtle. He’s gentle with hunter, knowing they need the info about the day of unity NOW... but also giving him time. This is a child, he’s clearly not in a great place if he’s been hiding in the school, but right now.. he’s one of the only things putting a major wrench in belos plans. With all of hexside except boscha (because who cares amirite?) at their back and a capable leader in bump, as well as four of the most powerful witches of their generation in our main cast present, the chances our heroes have just got SLIGHTLY less narrow.. and after episodes and episodes in a row where everything just kept getting worse and more stacked against the heroes, it’s a welcome change. 

                                                            All In

This was a big boy and one of the best episodes of the series, an absolutely PACKED half hour that tied off a lot of loose ends while settiing up the rest to be dealt with next time. It was their battle of new york and they fucking crushed it. This episode was tense, beauitful and a delight to watch, and was well worth the weight.

But before I can get into the stuff abotu this episode that fucking slapped.. we have to address where the series has dropped the ball. There are some issues that while i’ve complained about, i’ve given the series a chance to make up. See covering a series week to week is tricky: What seems like an issue or a missed opporunity can instead be a vital story manuever. In this very show, and where i’ll give it credit is with how I felt Mr. X’s arc ended lackluster... but as it turns out this WASN’T the end, and his arc really wraps up here. He returns as what we always wanted him to be eventaulyl because he’s dope as hell:  an ally to our heroes and having heard the Boonchuy’s out (and verified they wren’t lying), he, Bee and Oum spent the last few weeks preparing with spiffy battle suits and combat training and as such provide badly needed backup. What I thought was a weak ending was just setup for later. 

But by the same token I also complained how rebuilding frobo was set up as an arc that wasn’t resolved.. and that holds. While he finally gets a body back this episode when Polly gets a metal shop, it feels EXTREMLEY last minute. like they wanted to keep him a racing car to not give the rebellion an advantage. .but never justified WHY. As such Frobo just stays as he is even though they could simply rip the head off one of the MANY sentires andrias has, and put frobs on that, thus giving the restiance an infiltrator or at least a good openning move in fights. He’s still awesome here and polly giving herself a gun nest is fucking amazing, but it feels like it coudl’ve been more. The same goes for Bee and Oum finally getting names.... Bee is the dad and Oum’s the mom. I FINALLY have them after being one of my biggest complaints about season 3... and it was offhand in an interview. Why matt, why? 

And that is the problem here: there are just some things the series put a bunch of build up into we’re likely never going to get proper closure for. The first is the most obvious: We still haven’t met sasha and marcy’s parents, and likely never will. At most we’ll get a cameo. And this is .. easily the series biggest mistake. And quaraller’s past exists so let that synch in. But instead of exploring their pain at their daughters being missing, how the hell Bee and Ohm explain anne being back but them being not, or even knowing a name.. we get some letters, and Bee and Ohm assuring anne they’ll tell the kids parents now it’s easy. There’s no real consequence to what marcy did or Anne having to come back by herself. And I don’t men in a legal way: if our heroes were arrested for everything they could be charged with on earth they would’ve sat in jail for season 3b till andrias came storming in. But actions in a story should have some fallout and it dosen’t help the christmas special directly teased dealing with it.. and then right after that we pivot back to amphibia till this episode. I shouldn’t have to say this but you shoudln’t set something up unless you intend for it to pay off. 

Which brings us to the war.. and how the setup of the army. .has amounted to

Seriously this half is about building up for the final battle with andrias.. and as I complained last week nothing came of it. And this week clinches it as our heroes return while the battle’s still ongoing and only ends when the frobos turn off. Building an army of toads, newts, frogs and zombies ended up being a pointless sidequest and it really shoduln’t have. All series we’ve seen the three sides have deep issues that need to be adressed, and instead they just kinda rushed it. And I get it a little: Disney almost never gives show a fourth season so while the series COULD’VE been a four act story and likely woudl’ve been stronger that way , not just in this season but in the last, they couldn’t bank on that and I can’t fault matt for wanting ot make sure the story gets done instead of gambling on it and then having to scrape together an ending. Or having disney suddnely change their minds but WHEN WOULD THEY DO THAT. 

So I get WHY the pacing is janky.. but I still feel they coudl’ve done better or at least slightly better with the time they had and expect better from this show. It’s not the worst setup for the end i’ve seen but it’s still not great and is a blemish on what was till this half a terrific season. 

Okay now I got the garbage out of the way while a lot of things didn’t really pay off and likely never will... this was STILL fucking awesome and still felt like a worthly climax.. and it’s not even finished yet. 

For starters.. as Braly said in interviews leading up to this ep, it had a great capper to each girls’ character arc, with all three having a moment to show how far they’ve come and how badass they’ve become, emotoinally, physically or both. 

Starting with Marcy, we get a subplot about the core trying to trick her into accepting her place in it by giving her everything she wanted with the help of andy’s dad: a massive quest in a jrpg fantasy world for the rest of her existance. But as a sign of how she’s grown.. Marcy isn’t satsified.. she can FEEL something’s missing, and when King Freudian Excuse tries creating half assed clones of the girls (with Sasha in byleth’s outfit from fire emblem three houses... fucking spot on there. ).. it dosen’t work. We see that having her actions revealed, hurting her friends.. it changed marcy. She WANTS to be better and wants messy and complicated even if it gets her  bainshed to a void.. because that’s what friendship is. It’s hard, it can be tough to fight for and sometimes it just ends and that sucks.. but it’s better to have an actual relationship with someone (platonic like the series is thinly trying to present or romantic as it’s always clearly been and matt is likely only hiding it because getting polyamory past censors owuld be hard), to have the godo with the bad and to see them as a person than to have some shell. It’s not as detailed as the other twos arcs but it istill feels earned and has real impact. She’s gone from trying to justify the things she did to accepting that while she may have to move away.. she’ll never loose her girls. 

Sasha and Anne in contrast both have cappers to their arcs.. but at this point their complete. We’ve seen Anne go from someone who lets others push her around and coasts through life to a responsable young woman determined to fight to the last breath if it means keeping her family and friends safe and endlessly capable of winning people over. With Sasha we’ve seen her go from an angry young woman who badly needed control to the point she abused her friends/girlfriends and coudln’t stop even if she wanted to... to a responsibhle, repentant leader who cares for her troops and fights for those she cares about as much as herself. 

But this episode does highlight both: The Core TRIES to use Sasha’s guilt complex over her actions against her.. but Sasha’s grown past it.l It trips her up a little as it points out how she treated marcy.. but since Sasha’s grown past the person who treated Marcy and Anne like possesions instead of the people she loves most in the world, she reocgnizes that and has been working her ass off to fix it. The Core’s manipulations only do so much because Sasha has taken the last step in growing as a person: forgiving yourself. It’s one of the hardest things in the world and as someone who can often be my own worst enemy, it’s admirable sasha was able to. We’re also shown that while Anne was primarily the one changing people.. Sasha still changed one person grime: Grime admits he was a mere bully. but she taught him to be more. A warrior, a grandpa, and a hero.. instead of just a brute coasting off days long gone. THey made each other better. And really... tha’ts one of the cores of this series: We can hurt each other.. but when people support each other, love each other and work hard at it.. we can make each other stronger. 

And that’s at the core of Anne’s too as while she bravely stands up to andrias in her powers, his new mech suit makes it a tense fight with Anne barely keeping up with him. It’s gorgeously animated and every second is awesome to watch as two of the strongest being sin the series have the rematch. Sure seeing Anne fight the core wil lbe awesome.. but in the end these are two people who parallel each other: both heroes once... but one crumbled to other people’s pressures and expecations and let himself sink lower and lower, piece by piece replacing himself into the heartless, probably literally amirite?, monster we see today while Anne got over her hangups and helped her friends realize theres, something she tell shim. He dug into what he was, she dug her way out. 

But naturally for the show Anne wins not because of her power.. bu tbecause she’s not alone and never was. When at her lowest moment, having gotten her second wind but having her power slowly running out, Sprig is the one to save his best friend. Sprig, being easily the deutragonist of the series, naturally also gets an arc, if a smaller one. He’s in denial over the fact things will change when this is all over... and gets a wake up call via Lief’s letter, which finally gets read thanks to Mr.X , who also plays anne’s song to hyped her up. gotta check out more blackpink it was amazing, who reads them and sprig who borrows them. In it it’s heartbreakingly revealed that while Lief loved andrias , as heavily as they can imply it anyway though why they just imply it I have no idea, and never truly forgot him and hoped he’d change as a person, not forgetting him as she lived her life, started the plantar family by finding love, started the farm, and as we find out founding wartwood itself. Just because you drift from someone.. dosen’t mean how they impact your life is gone. And as someone who just lost a person who was like another mom to me who had been living states away for 10 years now, this naturally hit like a truck, but was good. 

And what I like is while Andrias realizes how far he’s fallen the show dosen’t COMPLETELY try to soften him. He killed people, he knows that, he’s crossed lines he can’t uncross. As he bellows in dispair , thanks to keith putting his fucking all into , “IT”S TOO LATE”. He could’ve been better, could’ve given the core and this shit up.. bu the’s gone too far and dosen’t deserve forgiveness... but even if he dosen’t.. he has no fight in him either and once the core’s down lets anne finish him. 

One final bit is the herons. That was a nice callback and having the plantars fight thier biggest collective fear to save the boonchuy’s was the payoff I felt was missing from “escape to amphibia”. Good stuff. Overall a truly triumphant special. HOpefully the finale sticks the landing. 

Next Week: The Core Pulls a Majora’s Mask and the fantastic four face their destiny as amphibia hops in one last time, while Luz and Eda do .. something. Thanks for reading, consdier joining my patreon, and have a good day. 

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[kestrel-of-herran]

Hi! I’ve read all your 2521 character analyses and they give the lit major in me so much joy, especially your post on the death of the author!

I was just wondering, if Baekdo had broken up and then run into each other at Seungwan’s dad’s funeral and gotten back together, would you still find that terribly out of character?

I honestly think it’s so odd that they stay out of each other’s lives completely and I’m convinced the writer keeps it that way because there’s no way they could stay broken up if they ran into each other even years down the line.

I wish I could pretend the canon ending doesn’t exist but I can’t. 😭 So I just tell myself they get back together after the events of the series to preserve my mental health. In the same way that I have convinced myself that Ben Solo is not really dead and Rey is going to find him because they are a FORCE DYAD. I swear JJ Abrams and the 2521 director would get along famously and I don’t mean that in a good way. 😤

hi! thank you so much for reading my posts, i'm so glad they bring you joy!!!

no, i wouldn't find that out of character within the context of the show. it was on the bottom of my wishlist of the finale, but as soon as i understood that the writer was going to be idiotic about them, i hoped to see them get back together later, and i endured the funeral scene up until it became obvious that we weren't even going to get this basic courtesy from the showmakers.

and yes, i absolutely agree with you -- the only reason the writer doesn't permit them to maintain any contact in her twisted-up version of events is because as soon as they have one calm conversation, they'll sort out their issue and realize they have the same goal. it's unrealistic for them to not run into each other on the bus or at a bar or in their neighbourhood shortly after the already out-of-character fight, especially since so many people around them support their relationship. there's no way heedo's mom doesn't confront yijin about the break-up at their workplace, or that seungwan, jiwoong, and yurim don't devise some elaborate plan to get them back together that involves setting them up on a drinking date and not letting them leave until they talk it out. can you imagine what a menace heartbroken baekdo would be for any friend gathering? the squad would split up, they'll talk to each of them individually, and as soon as they figure out the issue is miscommunication, they'll make it their mission to make them talk it out. it's what any friend group would do when their friends are suffering and pining away for each other.

i think fiction is only true when we believe in it, so whichever version of events you believe in will exist for you.

i personally think the story wrapped up all its plot points at the beginning of ep.15, when yijin transferred to another media department to safeguard his relationship with heedo. heedo's arc as a fencer finished in ep.7 to ep.9, with the episodes until 13 focusing on her romantic arc, while yijin's arc finished with his realization that love is the most precious thing in life in ep.15, just like his mom advised him to. from then on, i see them continuing to advance in their respective fields while cheering each other on from up close, having a beach wedding in pohang, and spending their lives together happily (as i've written about here).

whether yijin gets sent to new york or not is of no importance to his character arc, which was complete before this, but if he does it's only for a month or two like journalists did during the real-life 9/11, and he communicates with heedo during this time like he always does, while she supports him while encouraging him to take care of his mental health. because he's able to receive support from her and from therapy like she advises him to, he's able to preserve his hope and returns with a better understanding of the importance of balancing between his work and personal life. because of his journalistic integrity and his excellent reporting, he soon advances in his job and gains bigger control of his projects and his schedule, which he coordinates with heedo's. he picks heedo up from training in the evenings, they drive to picturesque towns on the weekends and try all the street food, and when summer comes they stretch out in their lounge chairs on the pohang beach and challenge each other to read each other's books while their two daughters splash around in the surf.

[stuckybarton]

Sucker For Pain i

SUMMARY: You were new to the team, but what everyone didn't know was you weren't so new to the God of Mischief. CHARACTERS: Loki Laufeyson x Ex!Reader [Ex to Lovers again?] WARNINGS: Profanities. Suggestive Themes. Slight Angst and horrible self-image. Grammar Mistakes. English not being my first language. [Not Beta’d tho] WORDS: 2,956 CHAPTERS: [1/3] A/N; Life happened and yeah, didn’t have much time to write. Not my best work for this mini-series, but I’m fighting through for this. Hope you guys enjoy~

PART TWO | PART THREE

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"Agent Y/N Y/L/N." You introduced yourself the first moment you were escorted into the compound by Director Nick Fury. Multiple sets of faces both new and old had come to greet you. For a moment you wouldn't even believe that this is was the new life you would find yourself to be a part of from now on.

Years in the job for SHIELD before disappearing off the grid to get as much information about HYDRA, everyone had thought you had betrayed them and you had accepted that they would think so lowly of you after all the near-deaths you had to endure on the job. Even with the mission becoming more of a death wish, you had accepted the role Nick had given you all those years ago and now you were rewarded, immensely. A spot on the Avengers as part of the Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

The familiar face of Nat was the first to greet you with a hug. A fiercely tight one, it had been so long since you've seen a friend. Then your eyes fell towards the rest of the team; Bucky Barnes, who you had a few close encounters with during your time with HYDRA. You had witness everything they had done to him and stood on trail to clean his name. Steve Rogers, who, with Sharon Carter, had assisted in guarding Steve while SHIELD was still under HYDRA's control. But among the familiar faces, one stood out the most.

Loki Laufeyson.

To many, the man was a snake, a God that had once brought death and destruction in New York. But to you, he was different, this was the man that you had spent your lonely nights with while under the guise of a traitor. It had once just been a physically thing between the two of you, neither wanting to know about each other's lives. You knew he was a God, a man that had wronged the world, but he had never known about you, the woman that had painted yourself as a traitor for the better of the world. The one that had been called every name on the book for the sake of making sure you did your part right.

Then it got serious between the two of you. Admission of love was told between both of your lips. But it was dangerous for you two to be together especially when you were already told by Fury that you can come back to the surface. You didn't know what side he was on, and you did not have the heart to make him choose if the time would come.

So you two parted. A month ago. The pain still throbbing you like an unattended bullet hole right through your heart. It was still so painful to look at him and not remember him crumbling on his knees begging you to stay. The first sob that escaped his lips and forever haunted your dreams. A never-ending loop in the back of your head as your demons screamed at you for breaking an already broken man.

"I for one am happy you're finally here. Another woman to add to an already Man's Man world in the compound." Nat teased glancing towards the other individuals that had come to know the new face. "With introductions out of the way, you've got a lot of explaining to do for the past few years."

You could only smile at your friend. You did have so much to explain to her, things had been murky between you and Clint, but after everything, Nat had refused to believe you would betray them, betray her, and it was finally a relief to be able to return back home, seeing the people that mean the most to you.

"Tell me about it." You muttered allowing Nat to quickly pull your away from the crowd, but it missed your eyes how he was still looking. Ice blue eyes a contract to the burning gaze he had towards you.

Forget about him. Forget about him. You were here for a new opportunity. No him. Never him.

For the next few weeks, everyone had grown to accept you in your new role as part of the Avengers. You kept up with Steve, Bucky, and Sam during their runs. Sam more than happy to finally have someone that had the same pace as him, but only for you to laugh and out run him just to get a reaction out of the high flier. Tony and Bruce had also found a kinship in you, having provided them enough information about HYDRA's experiments and location made most of their missions easier. Then there was Nat and Clint, your confidant in this new life. Every single moment that was not dedicated to a mission was spent with them; may it be movie night or a simple get together outside the compound, often times bringing Wanda and Vision along just to mess with you and call you a 5th wheel of the group.

But among number of members on the team, everyone had noticed you constantly avoided one Thor Odinson and one Loki Laufeyson. The only real time you would even dare talk to either of the brothers would be during training--other than that, you tried your best to avoid them, Loki most especially. Every single moment that would force the two of you to be in the same room, Loki had a glare while you tried your best to avoid his gaze.

Everyone noticed, everyone didn't seem to worry too much. It comes with having a former-villain part of the team. They thought you would eventually get used to the God's presence just as much as they did.

"You ever gonna tell me what's going on between you and Loki?" Nat inquired avoiding your punch.

What you hated the most about sparring with Nat was her capability of multitasking. Talking and snooping about someone else's business while also kicking their ass in the process--this was the predicament you were in right in this very moment.

"Nothing is going on." You muttered landing back first on the mat after being thrown like a rag doll by Nat. Eyes looking at the ceiling, you wondered if it was a good idea to actually come clean to her about her past with the God of Mischief. "I know what he's done to New York and I think you can't blame me for taking precaution when it comes to him."

Nat now comes hovering on top of you, the narrowed eyes and gentle smirk was all you needed to know--she knew it was bullshit. But when she had stopped pushing you for more information, it was enough for you to just change the subject.

"They found Dominic?" You inquired. One of the first big missions that everyone was focusing on was one of the leading Scientist for HYDRA. With the exposure of HYDRA to the world, some of them had moved away and found themselves in much shadier company, much to everyone's radar now spiking.

Dominic Wagner was, in part, partially responsible for the Winter Soldier program in the modern era. One of the pioneers in moving the project into a much younger sets of test subjects. You lost contact with the man as soon as your got back into the surface, but it had also meant a target was on your back when they found out you were a double agent.

"He's in Russia. Wasting away all the funding for the program with parties" Nat points out. "Still a better way to spend the money that abducting kids everywhere."

You nodded, memories of files upon files for the prospects still haunted you to this day.

"When are you taking him out?" You inquired. In your time with the SHIELD, the red in both of your ledger had made you two a hot commodity if the situation present itself as shoot to kill. Neither of you would hesitate. You knew you would now, after everything, but if it means one less bad people in this earth, you would swallow your new morals.

"Fury wants him alive." She pointed out finally standing back up to her own two feet, leaving you on your back, staring at the ceiling in deep thought. "I know as much as you do, we want him dead for everything he has done, but we need him alive so we can get the others."

You nodded, this was one of the few things you had to get used to as part of the team. Death was best solution in SHIELD--at least in your team, not here. As long as you were part of Steve's team, you would need to choose whether or not killing would be the best option. Hope that you weren't so blessed to be given in your time under.

"I get a first shot when we don''t have any use of him anymore." You muttered finally standing back up with Nat's help. Steps faltering at the sight of the God of Mischief, training with the likes of Peter Parker, Sam Wilson, and Bucky Barnes. A weird mix up, but wasn't hard to understand why.

"Why don't you shoot your shots with him for now." Nat teased, finally making you break from staring at the plain black shirt and green sweatshort-clad Loki Laufeyson. "If we try to ignore the death count during his attack, he is sort-of your type in men." Nat wiggled her brows. quick to avoid you as you attempted to swat her in the ass, eyes now turned away from God and his training partners.

"By type, you mean psychotic with possible Daddy-issue? Then you might just be right." You snort.

"I'm offended you think of me as such, Darling"

Jerking your head to the owner of the voice, how the hell did he sneak up behind you without you noticing. You glanced at Nat in panic and like the traitor that she was, made a terrible excuse of being needed in Bruce's lab. Now being left in the man's presence, you could all but remember the last time you had been this close to the man.

Heartbreaks.

Words that you didn't mean.

Words that he didn't mean.

It still hurt you, and you were sure it hurts him just as much, if not more now, finally realizing why there had been a need for a breakup between the two of them all those weeks ago.

"Here I thought I would have someone to trust. You mortals continue to disappoint me." He hissed.

Your eyes glanced at the other training trio, noticing all three of them were in their own little world to even noticed what was going on between the two of them.

"Tell me, Darling..." He whispered, head leaning towards the shell of your ears. The familiar shiver run through your skin as just his voice. Memories of the very things his silver tongue had whispered had you flustered and breathless, more than from your earlier training with Nat. "Was it satisfying to play with a God?"

Before you could even mutter a word, his constantly gentle hand now covered your jaw, emitting a squeak from your lips and stopping you from saying a word. He was never this forceful, nor did he do anything that would hurt you. Was this the true nature of the man you had finally thought you have been the best part of you. To have loved a man that everyone was right to stay away from?

"Or is it shame finally coming to you, to be ever involved with someone like me?"

You tried to pry his hand away from you, but he was too strong--stronger than you could ever think of being.

"Or is this you taking your opportunity to move from one bed to another? Who will it be this time, Y/N? My oaf of a brother or will it be Soldier out of time? Who will you whore this time?"

And you finally snapped. With a resounding slap, all three individuals had heard your attack on the man and Loki finally releasing his hold on your jaws. A chuckle escaped his lips and only brought the first line of tears to fall from your eyes. You never wanted to believe him to be a monster, but here he was, proving her wrong.

"I am in doubt of the foundation of our relationship for the past years, Y/N. I am the God of Mischief and Lies and the only mortal I had ever truly opened to had done this to me. Lied to me for such a long time, lied about the entirety of our relationship."

"You will never understand."

"Oh no," he chuckled darkly, eyes glaring straight into your own. "I understand well enough to know, you would never love someone like me and I deserve every lie and heartache I am enduring because of everything I have ever done in my past."

Before you could defend yourself and the genuinity of your relationship with the God, he had made his excuse. Leaving you to ponder of the true damage of your breakup with Loki, and the aftermath it had now held for the both of you. He was right, you had lied, and either way, their relationship will fall apart because of those lies.

He was the God of Mischief and Lies.

Yet, he did not expect for this biggest lie to break him the most. The separation had been painful, he had always hoped for a better life with you. Then a month passed since your breakup, he sees you, it hits him like a sharp knife to the chest all over again. He experience the pain of a stab to the chest, but it would never compare to the pain of seeing you in this very compound with the truth of your life that you refused to ever open to him.

This was karma coming to haunt him it seems.

It had been well over a week now since the first time he had actually confronted you about everything. It wasn't how he planned for things to go through. He never wanted to hurt you, but he was a monster after all. A monster that his own father had told his people to avoid. A bedtime story to scare mischievous kids into submission.

He had always thought after everything he had to endure, had to do, had to escape, he could finally live a peaceful life. A life to finally start anew. A life where he could finally change for the best. A mortal woman had made him make those ideas come into reality, you had always became the reason why he would never have his redemption in life.

A bitter idea with no possible resolution.

How could he have ever believed that anyone would ever love someone like him? After everything he had ever done, he was never allowed to be loved. You had proved that somehow.

'Mr. Laufeyson, you are needed for a meeting with the team'

Breaking from his little bubble. He sighed finally returning back to reality, into the little comforts the library could give him. The week had been gruelling for him, three individual witnessed the altercation between himself and you. It had spread like wildfire, but thanking the Gods that no one was able to listen to the conversation.

He had to endure most of the questioning. In everyone's eyes, he was, after all, still under everyone's constant scrutiny. A man that no one could trust. But he refused to say a single word knowing you did the same thing. It was better to keep your mouth shut instead of letting people know exactly what had happened. Somehow that brought a smile on his face. He might not share a future with you, but might as well make the most out of making your life a living hell, as much you did it to him.

Shutting the book he was barely even reading, he placed the book back into the shelf before walking his way towards the meeting room.

He could easily teleport, but he preferred to enjoy his moments of peace without his oaf of a brother breathing down his neck or Stark constantly testing his patience with his quips. It also gave him a moment to school his features, he knew well enough about the mission to know you would also be in attendance. Be more invested in this mission than anyone else.

It was a few things he was relearning about you now that you were out in the open as everyone claims you to be. You were a free spirited being that could meld with anyone you were in the area with. He had watched you throw relentless jabs at Tony during your first few days that had the man surprisingly raise a white flag. But the most dangerous thing he had to learn was the familial relationship you had with one Natasha Romanoff and Clint Burton, two people that he kept his distance with the most.

"Professor Snape has finally graced us with his presence."

Loki has learned since joining the team to choose his battle when it comes to Tony. This was one of those moment. Finding a vacant chair besides his brother, he had taken his seat. A big mistake on his part as he finds from across the table, you sat. In between a glaring Romanoff and Barton.

Wearing a smirk, just to get on the two super spies' nerve, he turned his attention right back into the meeting. He begins formulating a few little schemes to not only get on the two's nerved, but most especially yours.

[nonadjacent]

anyway a ii3e9 live reaction at 12 am after being sleep-deprived because i hate my life so much

//SPOILERS HELLO

bowbot being a separate entity from spirit bow we love it

the first instance of seeing lightbulb in season 3 after she’s stuck at season 2 (aka hell /hj)

i feel like if i come out to goo and share my preferred name and pronouns he’d literally be all “Y’ALL THIS IS SALEM THEY GO BY THEY/THEM USE THOSE PLEASE!!!!”

too close to heart mephone shaking my fucking head

the whole months worth of animation joke made me flashback to me crying in ii2s14 all “WHEN DO WE GET NO TRAUMA OBJECTS” my prayers were not answered

okay can i say managing the money in anything sucks unless it’s simple budgeting like going to plan out the bills or so; i was literally scolded (an understatement) for not taking note of how much had been used up for our personal project

personal headcanon that floor can just summon things through his mouth like where did that thumbs up paper even come from

ALSO GOO THUMBS UP IDK WHY I FIND IT FUNNY

can we be honest as much as nickel is doing well in season 3 idk why i still feel like his season 2 cannot be disregarded anyway nickel director hell yeah

THEM LAUGHING BEING COOL PEOPLE GOOD GOD /POS

I’M SORRY I HAD TO REPLAY FLOORIDA’S LINE 3 TIMES BECAUSE I THOUGHT HE SAID “I’M QUITE THE FRUITY” STOP

coming out to paintbrush would also be a relief in a very good way like they’d very much support you, but like they’d be the one who would give life advices every so often

paintbrush having their wanted roles taken gave me flashbacks to online classes /neg

YOOO THE ENERGY IN THE YIN YANG AD OH MY GOD I ACTUALLY LOVE IT SO MUCH AND THE MUSIC

AND THE ORDER NOW OR DIE THING

AGAIN????????????/ YANG COMMITTED FRAUD AT LEAST ONCE???????????????????

RIGGITY REX

YANG EXPLODED RECX?????????? 

PERFECTIONIST TENDENCIES?????

BOW AGGRESSIVELY DRAWING I CANNOT

i would watch a pinkers twitch stream istg

poems sign me up

THE LITTLE BRBRBRBRBBR BYE

127 attempts pupupupupwawpwaw pupupupupwawpwaw let me introduce you to so

WHAQT IS GOING ON WHART THE FUCK

CANDLE????????????

THE CUTR I DIED

IT WAS LOTERALLY 30 FRAMES AND THAT’S IT

GOO WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT

oh i would absolutelt buy a nickel team merchandise

WHOSA

I FORGOT ABOUT THE LUCK THING

OH MY GOD WHAT 

validation issues nickel kin moment

oh

oh my god,

i am so sorry team

goo..

2 HOURS?????????

i love how candle just has interestingly opposing character development

UH

GOO YOU ARE NOT ELIMINATING THEM

:0000000000000000000000

RIGGITY????

OH THAT’S CUTE

oh awesome they’re immune

WAIT

WAIT NO

OH??/

WHOA

UM

WHAT

THAT WAS UNEXPECTED OKAY

aw okay i feel like i can actually bring some life lessons from that

wait is goo just gonna oh okay

is there gonna be a bringing back soon?

WHAT

OH OKAY ONE OF THEM MAY BE BACK SOON

can we give a good applause to adam holy shit that took commitment

aw man who am i gonna vote

[4stars-uswnt]

My Muse, My Valentine [Christen Press x Reader]

requested by anon: Not sure if you’re accepting any request but can you write a cp x photographer gf where her gf surprised her at man u, like her gf secretly transfer there to be with cp. Thanks

A/N: please ignore some of the inconsistencies this story has with reality :) but anyways... hope you enjoy and have a happy Valentine’s Day (tomorrow) and remember it’s a day about LOVE, whether that be romantic, platonic, familial, or self ❤️

“I’m gonna miss you,” you whine, as you watch your girlfriend pack her suitcase.

“I know, babe. I’m gonna miss you too, so much.” Christen leans down to quickly peck your lips, before continuing to fold her clothes.

You and Christen had been dating for almost three years now, having met after you’d photographed one of the USWNT’s matches. You instantly felt an attraction to the curly-haired forward, your camera always drifting towards her wherever she was on the pitch.

After you’d posted a couple of your photos on your Instagram, which Christen made a point to like and repost, you gathered up the courage to approach her after a game, and thus began your relationship.

With yours and Christen’s busy schedules, it was sometimes hard to find time for each other, but you made it work, sharing an apartment in Portland during the offseason and flying out for matches when you could. But being a sports photographer did have its benefits, as your work often led you to spending more time with your girlfriend and admiring her speed down the field and score goals.

But now, with the pandemic, as the NWSL was struggling to field games,  you found yourself with little work. Christen herself was not quite satisfied with the league’s plan for the season, so when Tobin proposed the idea of going to the WSL, she desperately wanted to, yearning to get back on the pitch.

At first, when Christen approached you with the subject, you immediately opposed, not wanting to be so far from your girlfriend for such a long amount of time. Additionally, with COVID, it would be nearly, if not completely, impossible for you to visit. But after a blowout fight and discussing it further, you realized that this is what would be best for Christen and her career.

“Do you have to go?” You pout, sitting up and moving to the end of the bed.

“You know I do, (Y/N/N).” Christen playfully rolls her eyes.

“Humph.”

“Babe, come on, don’t make me feel worse about leaving you.”

“Then don’t,” you quip, grabbing your girlfriend by the waist, pulling her down on the bed with you.

“Babe!” Christen squeals, as you blow raspberries into her skin.

You lift your head from the crook of her neck, your eyes locking with hers. “I know that you have to go,” you admit seriously. “Doesn’t mean I like it, but I know that this is what’s best for your career.”

“Thank you, (Y/N),” she says earnestly, giving you a small smile. “We’ll text and FaceTime everyday.”

“I’m holding you to that.” You cup her face and bring her in for a kiss, savoring the feeling of her soft lips on yours. “I also know that you’re gonna kill it over there in Manchester. The WSL isn’t gonna know what hit them.”

Christen ducks her bashfully, a small blush arising on her cheeks. “You know I love you, right?”

“Of course, Chris. I love you, too.”

“Good.” She gives you a quick peck, as she gets up from the bed. “Now, either quit bothering me or help me. My flight is early tomorrow morning, and I haven’t even finished packing.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

—————

It had been a little over five months since you’d dropped Christen off at the airport and she left for Manchester. Despite the constant texting and the nightly FaceTime calls, you couldn’t help but ache for your girlfriend. Without her, the apartment was lonelier and the bed felt bigger.

It had helped that your work had started back up, first with some freelance work and then with the NWSL fall series starting, which gave you something to do and kept you fairly busy.

Currently, you were sitting at the kitchen counter, sipping on a cup of coffee, as you edited some photos for the Thorns. Just as you were saving your work and closing Lightroom, about to shut your computer, a ping alerts a new email in your inbox.

Switching tabs, you notice the message is from an unfamiliar address, so you presume it’s a new client. You click and open it, your eyes widening, as you scan the email:

Ms. (Y/L/N),

I noticed your professional portfolio through many referrals, particularly your work form the World Cup. I am writing on behalf of the BBC News Media Centre, and we’re looking for an excellent sports photographer to join the team, specifically to cover the FA Women’s Super League and the Premier League.

Your experience is outstanding, adn your work speaks for itself. I think you’d be a great fit for this role, and I’d love to tell you more about it and hear more from you.

Would you like to set up a phone or Zoom call soon? If so, let me know when you’re available.

Best,

Charles Smith

Director of Media Relations at BBC Sport

You quickly reread the email, and then reread it again, just to make sure you’re not dreaming. This was too good to be true. But you shake yourself out of your stupor and quickly type out a response to set up a phone call as soon as possible.

After hitting send, you shut your computer with excitement and throw your hands up in the air.

“Yes!” You exclaim into the empty apartment, as you throw your fist in the air and jump off the barstool.

Knowing you needed to distract yourself, otherwise you’d just be staring at your computer, eagerly awaiting the response, you decided to go on a run.

Jogging through the city, you think of your girlfriend and your potential reunion if this job offer worked out. You decided that if you did in fact take this position, you’d surprise Christen at one of her matches, hopefully one that you’d be able to photograph.

As soon as you arrive back in your apartment, you make a beeline for your laptop. You anxiously open your inbox and beam when you see Charles had replied to set up a Zoom call at 9:30 tomorrow morning. You excitedly type out pleasantries, telling him you’re looking forward to it.

For the rest of the afternoon, you were in an increasingly good mood. So later that evening, when Christen called you for your routine FaceTime, she could tell something was up.

“Why do you keep smiling like that?”

“Can I not be happy to talk to my girlfriend?” You tease, a huge grin plastered onto your face.

“You can,” Christen trails off, not quite believing you. “But you have the weird giddy look you get when something’s up?”

“Nothing’s up. Just had a good day,” you shrug nonchalantly.

“Okay,” the forward accepts, still eyeing you suspiciously. “Anyways, you know She Believes is in a couple weeks, are you working the tournament?”

“Yup,” you nod and make a mental note to mention that to Charles tomorrow.

The two of you continue updating each other, chatting about topics ranging from what you had for breakfast that day to re-inc’s upcoming drop.

“Alright,” Christen yawns. “I think I’m gonna call it a night.”

You check your phone and see it’s 5:37 pm, meaning it’s almost midnight in Manchester.

“Okay,” your eyes softening at the sight of your sleepy girlfriend. “Good night, Chris. I love you.”

“Love you, too, babe. G’night.”

After ending the call and shutting your laptop, you head into the kitchen to make some dinner for yourself, getting on with your evening.

—————

The next morning, you anxiously await for Charles to begin the Zoom call, nervously bouncing your knee and biting your lip.

“Hi, (Y/N),” Charles greets, his face appearing on your screen.

“Good morning. Or rather good afternoon?” You correct with a light chuckle, to which he reciprocates.

“Well, as you know from my email, we are looking for a photographer to join our team, and from many referrals, you seem to be a very good candidate,

“So, I was thinking maybe we could look at your portfolio really quickly and then hash out the logistics to see if this is something that could work out.”

“Sounds good,” you agree, as you pull up some of your best pictures and share your screen.

The two of you look through your photos, many from the 2019 World Cup, some of the Olympics, and a few from random NWSL games.

“Well, (Y/N), your work is quite impressive. If you’re ready, and you’re seriously interested in this position, we can talk specifics, scheduling, all that good stuff,” Charles offers.

“I’m definitely interested, but can I just preface by saying that my girlfriend is a major part of this decision, so depending on what she wants to do at the end of the season will impact my contract.”

“Oh?” He raises his eyebrows, clearly not expecting your candor. “Your girlfriend plays in the WSL?”

“Yeah, well, technically only for this season. Her contract is up in May,” you explain.  

“(Y/N), to be completely frank, we’re looking to hire because a couple of our photographers had some personal issues due to COVID and had to leave mid-season,” Charles reveals. “So if it turns out that your girlfriend wants to go back to the NWSL, then we can work that out. And if she wants to stay, and you end up liking it here and you fit in well, we can also work that out. We’re pretty flexible.”

You sigh in relief, giving him a small smile. “Wow, thank you so much. So what would my contract look like?”

“Well, we can sign you to three month contract with the option for extension,” he offers, as you nod along enthusiastically.

“That sounds great,” you exclaim, beaming. “And just to let you know, I’ve already signed on to work the She Believes tournament from the 18th to the 21st.”

“That actually aligns with the WSL’s international break, and there are a couple Premier League matches that weekend, but I think we can manage, so that shouldn’t be an issue.”

“You guys are too kind and so flexible. I really appreciate it so much,” you say earnestly.

“It’s really just us being desperate for a good photographer,” Charles jokes.

“Either way, I’m grateful for this opportunity.”

“We’re excited for you to join our team,” he reciprocates. “So, in terms of when you’ll begin, I honestly would like you to come over as soon as possible so that you can get settled and get acclimated.”

“I am honestly ready to start whenever you’ll have me.”

“How about next week? The Manchester Derby is on Friday, and honestly, given your portfolio, I’d love you to photograph that match,” the British man admits.

“That’s perfect!” You were in complete awe of how perfectly everything was working out. Photographing a Man United match as your first job meant you could surprise Christen, maybe as an early Valentine’s gift.

“Great,” Charles smiles.

The two of you discuss and finalize your contract and the logistics of you starting the job. Once everything’s settled and you each have the information you need, you wrap up the call.

“Well, thank you so much, Charles, for this offer, and I can’t wait to see you next Tuesday.”

“I can’t wait to work with you and meet you. See you next week. Cheers.”

After ending the Zoom call, you begin to make a COVID test appointment, book your flight, and arrange your hotel room for the few days that Christen doesn’t know you’re there, preparing yourself for moving across the world.

—————

After landing in London, getting settled into your hotel, and meeting with the BBC team and the other photographers, you were now on your way to the Manchester Derby.

In the back of the black cab, you pull out your phone to text a good luck text to Christen.

It was difficult to keep your surprise a secret, especially when you were actually in England, because it was much more difficult to FaceTime without her noticing your change in setting. You had to make up the excuse that you were swarmed with editing and preparing for the upcoming Thorns trainings.

As you pull up to the Academy Stadium, you hear your phone ding.

Chris ❤️

Thanks babe. Miss and love you 😘

You quickly type out a response, before heading into the building.

(Y/N/N) 💗

Love you too. I miss u too but go kick butt.

The match was exhilarating. Not only were you a sports photographer, but you were also a huge fan of the game, enjoying a good game when you see one.

You watched in awe, the level and style of play significantly different from than NWSL. While snapping hundreds of photos of both teams, your camera would always somehow land back on your girlfriend.

Your heart ached for the curly-haired forward, as you missed her dearly. Until you saw her back on the pitch, you hadn’t really realized that you missed watching her play the game that she’d mastered, her movements around the pitch and on the ball effortless and elegant.

As the ref blew the whistle, signaling the end of the half, you scroll through some of the photos you’d taken, deleting some of the blurry and unfocussed ones.

A smile immediately forms on your face when you see a picture of Christen during warmups with a huge grin on her face. You spend all of halftime editing said photo and putting together an Instagram post for your girlfriend.

About fifteen minutes later, the teams take the pitch and you go back to doing your job. Throughout the second half, you could tell that Christen was getting increasingly frustrated, her team getting down 3-0 with only about five minutes left.

You watch as the players high five and hug each other, and you want nothing more than to run onto the field to be with your girlfriend, but you had a plan to stick to.

As the team goes back into the locker room, you pull out your phone to post a photo on Instagram and then you shoot a quick text to Tobin:

(Y/N)🤓:

toby go check out my ig post :))

Back in the Man United locker room, after Casey went through her post match speech, Tobin checks her phone and sees a text from you. The injured forward playfully rolls her eyes at your message but follows your directions.

Upon opening the social media app, Tobin raises her eyebrows, her eyes widening. She glances across the room to see if her best friend had seen your post, but Christen was minding her own business, changing into sweats after her shower.

“Chris!” The older forward calls over to the other woman. “Have you seen your girlfriend’s Instagram post?”

Christen furrows her brows in confusion. “What? No, what is it?”

Tobin waves her friend over and shows her the post:

Liked by mrapinoe, ashlynharris24, and 638,231 others

yourusername: My muse, my valentine.

“As I sat and looked at her

and the rolling hills she sat upon

I thought,

what amazing luck I have

that the world had created

such beautiful things

and given me the eyes to see them.”

- atticus

tagged: christenpress

- - - - -

mrapinoe: Stunning pictures, (Y/N). Love you guys 💖

alikrieger: These photos are 🔥🔥🔥🔥

alexmorgan13: love this 😍😍

cdunn19: Beautiful!

glennondoyle: Love love love love this!!

ashlynharris24: Holy shit! Are you in Manchester????

↳lavellerose: Was this today??

↳sammymewyy: Oh my gosh it was!

↳kellyohara: Valentine’s Day surprise for Pressy?? 👀

Christen zooms in on the photo in the center, her eyes widening when she realizes that it is from today’s match.

“How did she get that picture?”

Tobin mentally slaps her forehead at her friend’s denseness. “Knowing (Y/N), she probably took it.”

“But that’s impossible. She’s in the States,” Christen states and shakes her head, dumbfounded.

“Actually,” you speak up, stepping into the locker room, deciding to make your presence known. “I’m right here.”

“(Y/N)?” Your girlfriend looks up at you, her mind in a state of shock.

“Hey, love,” you greet shyly.

Once her mind caught up with reality, Christen runs and jumps into your body, kissing you passionately but briefly and wrapping you into a bone crushing hug.

“I can’t believe your here,” she whispers into your neck. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too, babe, so much.”

Unwrapping herself from the hug, Christen stares at you in awe. “What… how are you here?”

“We can talk about that later,” you give her another quick kiss. “But right now, I just wanna spend time with you. Maybe we can grab some dinner? You can show me around Manchester, considering I’m gonna be spending a lot of time here.”

Your girlfriend looks at you puzzled, but you just give her a wink with a small smirk on your face.

“Well, c’mon lets get out of here.”

—————

Back at Christen’s apartment, the two of you sit down for a nice and casual, but romantic, dinner you’d prepared along with a bottle of red wine.

After catching up, the forward finally decides to address the elephant in the room. “So how are you here? What’s going on, (Y/N/N)? You said earlier that you’d be spending a lot of time in Manchester, what does that mean? I’m so confused. Not that I’m grateful that you’re here right now and that I get to see you, but I thought you were working She Believes, and—“

“Chris,” you cut off your girlfriend’s endearing rambling. “Babe, you’re rambling.”

“Sorry,” she blushes, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

“I got a job with BBC Sport till the end of the season,” you answer her parade of questions.

“Does that mean what I think it does?”

You nod, while taking a sip of your water. “It means I’m yours if you’ll have me.”

Not having the adequate words to express her joy and excitement, Christen gets up from her chair, walks over to sit in your lap, and connects you lips for a searing kiss.

“I can’t believe you,” she breathes, rubbing her nose against yours. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” you quickly peck her lips while rubbing circles on her hip. “But as much as I love you and all this romance, we gotta get going soon.”

Your girlfriend tilts her head in confusion.

“Do the words ‘She Believes’ ring a bell?” You tease. “If I remember correctly, our flight leaves in a couple hours.”

“You’re coming with me?” Christen asks, her brain trying to wrap around the fact that her girlfriend, who she hadn’t seen in almost five months, would now be living with her in England and flying back to the States with her for the next week.

“Of course, Chris,” you give her a cheeky smile, along with a kiss to her nose, as you quote a book Becky had convinced the whole team to read. “You should know by now that I’d follow you anywhere. You’re the only good thing left in this world.”

[charlottecharlcs]

Pushing Daisies S1 E2: Dummy

Spoilers!

Episode content warning for disordered eating

In this episode, Ned and Chuck are just starting to get to know each other again as they investigate the murder of an automotive specialist named Bernard, who says he was murdered by a crash test dummy. They find themselves involved in a deadly plot and, as usual, narrowly escape at the end.

This is one of the episodes I remember most from Pushing Daisies- particularly the kiss-through-body-bags moment toward the end of the episode- trust me, we'll get to that later.

Another iconic moment I will always remember is also the first musically significant scene I want to discuss right now. I love how this show just does what it wants; it's creative and isn't afraid to cross genre lines/do the fun weird thing. This episode proves it when Olive, out of nowhere, performs Hopelessly Devoted to You from Grease.

When Ned leaves the Pie Hole with his new romantic interest to investigate the murder, Olive is left on her own to close up. A backing track quietly begins as she starts the iconic scene, wiping down the counters and doing choreography with the bar stools. She is interrupted several times by hopeful customers and then the janitor intruding on her melancholy. The janitor joins her for a small bit of choreography, oblivious to Olive's song as he has headphones in. At the end of the song, they sneak in the love theme I talked about last blog, tying it to the romantic thread of the rest of the show.

(my description doesn't compare with the actual performance- you can watch it here)

I find there are several ways to interpret this moment. One: if you cast celebrated Broadway actor Kristen Chenoweth, you should take full advantage of her talents. If I was a writer/director, I would definitely shoehorn in a dramatic musical number for her as soon as I could. However, and this brings me to number two, I don't think it's at all shoehorned. I think it's very true to Pushing Daisies' method of emotional expression and the overall vibe.

Pushing Daisies is theatrical and fairytale like. And Olive herself is dramatic. This musical performance expresses her inner world and feelings for Ned the Piemaker in a way only dialogue could not. Juxtaposed with the janitor's interruptions and obliviousness, it's not only funny, but a great way to dig into Olive as a character, especially as she remains mostly supporting character for the first season.

Back to the mystery, in their investigation, the gang meet a model for the car company Bernard worked for named Jeanine.

Side note: Jeanine is portrayed as having an eating disorder, and rather insensitively. This is the first (but unfortunately not last) example of insensitive/stereotypical portrayals of mental health issues in the show. There is also a not insignificant portion of racist stereotypes against Asian cultures, in this episode but also some in the future. As much as I love this show, it's important to me to acknowledge that some of it is.... well, shitty.

Jeanine tells the team what she knows about Bernard's death, and her personal relationship with him, through a series of flashbacks. The show uses a specific musical sequence to signal these flashbacks throughout the entire series. The music is primarily strings at first, beginning in a threatening and mysterious theme. As Jeanine and Bernard's relationship grows, the music becomes more and more romantic, before returning to a more secretive staccato theme as the story progresses toward the inevitable murder.

Most flashbacks in the series are similar to this- mood music by an orchestra with flashback scenes, while the narrator tells the story. This allows the creators to show, not just tell, the audience what really happened during the central mystery.

Finally, we get to my personal favorite part of this episode- the team discovers the killer to be the owner of the car company, hiding safety issues with the new vehicle that Bernard had figured out. He captures Ned, Chuck, and Emerson, and plans to murder them in the same way he murdered Bernard: sending them through the crash test in a car. He puts the investigators in clear plastic body bags for easy clean up.

This scene is the perfect balance of funny and romantic, with constant and abrupt switches in the music. The killer begins his villain monologue/rant to frantic background music. The shot cuts to Chuck in the car, and the music goes nearly silent- they can't actually hear any of the rant through the car and body bags. The music remains reflective as Chuck wonders about her imminent (second) death. Then, she turns to Ned, and the two share a moment.

-Another quick cut to the killer, accompanied by a musical sting, and then-

Back to Ned and Chuck as slow, romantic string music swells once again. They look into each other's eyes, then lean in and share their first kiss since childhood through their plastic body bags. The image is undoubtedly funny, but knowing they can't actually touch without Chuck dying on the spot makes it genuinely emotional. They're saying goodbye the only way they can.

The scene abruptly cuts, again, to Emerson, with an adventurous and more upbeat musical background as he escapes and physically pushes Chuck and Ned apart so they can drive away.

The scene is definitely cheesy, but that's what makes it so good. Pushing Daisies does a great job of balancing realism with absurdism, the cheesy with the genuine. The music plays such an important part in that balance, indicating tone shifts quickly.

[kingstylesdaily]

What the 2021 Grammy Awards Will Look Like

Artists including Billie Eilish, BTS, and Taylor Swift will perform in a circle of five stages with masked crew at the center — in a ceremony that first-time showrunner Ben Winston calls “part Grammys, part Abbey Road studio session”

Ben Winston is exhausted. The television producer, who moved from the U.K. to Los Angeles six years ago to start The Late Late Show With James Corden, is a week away from executive-producing his first Grammys telecast. “I literally had two hours of sleep last night,” he tells Rolling Stone via Zoom.

On Sunday, March 7th, the Recording Academy revealed a slate of performing artists for March 14th’s 63rd Annual Grammy Awards that includes Billie Eilish, BTS, Taylor Swift, Cardi B, and Harry Styles. But while those names are on the lineup, Winston knows nothing about live TV is ever set in stone — especially in the time of a pandemic —so he’s been spending his days double- and triple-checking plans, waking up at 4:30 a.m. dry-eyed and restless. He’s worked to make a show “with heart,” he says — one that “doesn’t feel isolated, quiet, or alone.” He also had to take extra steps to ensure the three-and-a-half hour show, which will not take place at the Grammys’ usual home of the Staples Center, is Covid-safe for performers and attendees. Despite all that, he appears remarkably enthusiastic and alert.

Here’s what viewers next Sunday can expect from music’s biggest night, according to Winston: a multi-stage, audience-free show that highlights the year’s creative triumphs, social justice movements, as well as Covid-19’s impact on the arts. Winston hints at several “unbelievably powerful” performances on the slate, adding that the Grammys “absolutely are acknowledging what’s happened” in the country in the last year.

Winston, who in 2018 co-produced Bruno Mars’ well-received live show at the Apollo for CBS, also wanted to highlight independent venues, which are the “lifeblood of this industry” and a launchpad for emerging musicians — so the Grammys will feature guest spots from owners and workers of iconic American venues, including L.A.’s Troubadour and Hotel Café, N.Y.’s Apollo, and Nashville’s Station Inn. “I drive past the Troubadour on my way home from work every night,” Winston says. “It’s a significant thing for me when I look at it all boarded up. I always think, ‘When those boards come down, this will be over.’ That will be the sign. That will be the day where it’s like, ‘We got through this.'” Winston realized from his conversations with venues that many of them put on their last shows on March 14th, 2020, meaning the Grammys will mark the one-year anniversary of the shutdown.

Employees will come on camera to “tell us a little bit about their venue” and present some of the awards. “So, you’ve got, like, a bartender at a beautiful, independent venue — and she’s giving out Album of the Year to these megastars,” he explains. His goal is to acknowledge the people who work tirelessly to keep these stomping grounds afloat and have recently lost their jobs. “Those venues are made up by the bartender and the security guard, the manager, the box office person, and the cleaner at the end of the night.” He hopes to remind people of the importance of supporting local venues again when it’s safe to do so.

Originally, the Grammys were scheduled for January 31st, but organizers announced a move to March right after the new year. Winston says he felt American morale was at a low point in January — between political insurrection, an impeachment trial, and Covid-19 running rampant in Los Angeles — and it “didn’t feel right” to put the show on in the middle of that. The Recording Academy and CBS, which exclusively airs the annual show, both supported his decision to postpone. “I can now do everything that I wanted to do in my best-case scenario for this year,” he says of Sunday’s show.

Sunday’s location is an undisclosed building in Los Angeles, but Winston teases that the new venue is “massive,” “magical,” and “the biggest building I’ve ever been in indoors.” “I don’t want it to look like I’m criticizing Staples, because it’s the most amazing venue,” he emphasizes, sharing that he’s open to bringing the Grammys back to the arena in the future if they ask him to. While he does believe that Staples is a safe place, he says he wanted to go above and beyond to make even the most-skeptical participants feel undoubtedly safe.

A team of Covid safety officers oversaw the production set-up, and artists will enter the stage from different directions to minimize contact. Each artist also has their own backstage area. The space “allowed us to build an entire world,” he says.

The show will involve five stages of the same size and shape, four of which are for performances and one of which is for presenters. Stages are organized in a circle, facing one another, and crew members will work from the middle of the set. “People will perform while the other three or four artists on their stages watch, applaud, and enjoy. As soon as that one finishes, the next one goes, the next one goes, and the next one goes. Every 45 minutes, you change out those stages, and you bring another four megastars into the room,” says Winston, who was partly inspired for the “part-Grammys, part-Abbey Road studio session” setup by British shows he watched as a child, including Jools Holland and TFI Friday.

It’s going to be a “bespoke night of music that I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to repeat,” Winston says. “It’s about taking a camera into a room, and making an amazing musical moment by filming it quite simply and elegantly.” Performances, which started being planned in April 2020, will be a mix of live and pre-recorded — a fully live show would involve too many crew members moving sets and risking close contact — but the whole thing is intended to feel completely live. (Winston challenges viewers to try and guess which sets are pre-recorded; he designed them to be difficult to tell.)

To help plan the sprawling, immersive show, Winston brought in a suite of collaborators including co-executive producer Jesse Collins, who produced The Weeknd’s Super Bowl halftime show; co-executive producer Raj Kapoor, who handled creative direction for various artists on the last seven Grammys and produced Vegas residencies for the likes of the Backstreet Boys and Mariah Carey; producer Fatima Robinson, whose expansive background in creative direction and choreography landed her the Black Eyed Peas’ 2011 halftime show and Kendrick Lamar’s 2016 Grammy performance; producer Misty Buckley, who handled production design for Kacey Musgraves’ 2020 Christmas show; talent executive Patrick Menton from Dick Clark Productions; Corden collaborator Josie Cliff; and Super Bowl halftime, Olympic ceremony, Oscars, and Emmys director Hamish Hamilton, who Winston describes as a “legend” he’s admired since he was 14 years old. (David Wild, who has written for the Grammys since 2001 and became a producer in 2016, is the only person returning to his role.) Winston also points out that artists were heavily involved in designing their own performances.

Rather than have cameras pan over empty seats and an awkwardly small stage, the production team decided to reinvent the visual format with the five-stage setup. The pandemic’s limitations, coupled with the advantages of new faces coming in with fresh perspectives, helped them refrain from thinking in terms of what the Grammys had done before, he said.

For the most part, Covid-19 didn’t force too many changes. It did give Winston a lot of anxiety.

“There’s been so much uncertainty with what you’re allowed to do,” he says. Changing international quarantine rules made him question whether certain performers could fly in, while health guidance keeps fluctuating: “Every time my computer or phone dings, my first instinct is, ‘Oh, God, what’s gone wrong?’ I don’t know if that’s ever been my mentality before.”

While all the performers are confirmed and currently Covid-free, “you never know, one of their girlfriends could have Covid and have to quarantine, it’s all just bonkers,” Winston says. “There’s one artist that may, in the end, not be able to make it here due to rules of the country they’re currently in. There’s one immigration issue that we’ve got left.”

The show does not have replacements on hand if anyone pulls out — it’ll just cut that performance out.

Above all, Winston wants the 2021 Grammys to focus attention off of dire times. “I want people to be able to watch the 2021 Grammys in 2040 and go, ‘Wow, what an amazing show that was,’ and not go, ‘Oh, that was the Covid year, that’s why they had to do that,'” he says. “I think that’s what we could achieve if we get it right on Sunday.”

via RollingStone.com

[daisywrites4you]

Your Spark - Charlie Gillespie x Reader

Co-Star AU

Author’s Notes: No confirmed Reader Gender, Age is not confirmed but is younger than Charlie, Slight Hint at Slow Burn (within the one-shot), Season 2 concept and NOT confirmed

Your life never seemed to have its spark. Everything being an endless fleet of things needed to be done and experiences always half-finished. That was until it started with a chance meeting on a film-set. Your first day being on the Julie and The Phantoms set was all due to the off-chance that you managed to get the job as a new character: Reggie’s potential love interest. You were widely shocked to have managed such a high role after expecting to get supporting-cast or a background character. You remembered bits and pieces but your stagefright did block a lot out. Your audition had included a cover of ‘Can’t blame a girl for trying’ by Sabrina Carpenter while playing your acoustic. You had shyly walked into the room and almost tripped over a sound card on the floor. You felt like you’d die from embarrassment before you would ever even make it to the judges table. You had introduced yourself and started your lines and tried to avoid eye contact. When you finally managed to look up, the director seemed shocked and interested in your acting. So when it finally came to singing, you felt more comfortable and gave it your all. You remembered hearing cheering from the doorway and the clapping from those who were listening in. It gave you a sense of pride but you never anticipated being something special. Still, you were elated to get the opportunity to meet and work with the actors you learned to adore after watching season one. Your life was finally coming together...that was until your eyes met viridescent ones.

You were walking to the break room to meet the cast for the first time. Your first day jitters seeming to get worse and worse as you neared the door. After all, these were your idols that you were about to meet. Mainly, you were most nervous to meet Charlie, your current celebrity crush. You wouldn’t describe yourself as obsessed or anything, just a small fascination with his smile and chipper attitude. You couldn’t help it, your feelings for the dork emerged after his first appearance on Charmed and the small crush never really went away after that. Even so, you were determined to not make a fool of yourself.

Your hand met the handle of the door as you heard laughs echoing from inside. Your hands buzzed as you tried to gulp down the intense anxiety stirring through you. You turned the knob after fighting any mental doubts you had and pulled open the door. The sounds of laughter died down and all eyes fell on you. Now your anxiety spiked and you had to hold down the urge to run out of the room. You tried to avoid seeming scared and looked for something to catch your eyes so you wouldn’t freak out. When you finally managed to look around your eyes met another pair. They were intense and bright and you had to almost yell at yourself mentally to realize you were staring a little too long. Tearing your eyes away, you finally managed to see who those eyes belonged to...Charlie Gillespie. “Oh god,” you mentally shouted at yourself.

Everything seemed to go so slow but in reality it had only been a few seconds that your eyes met his. Everyone seemed to now understand that you were a new member and began to get up and introduce themselves. They were all so kind and gentle with you, making sure you weren’t spooked. Social anxiety is a major issue with you, so usually settings like this overstimulated you, however, this was genuinely nice. By the time you became more comfortable goofing around, you could feel a pair of eyes on you. You peered around the room as you spoke and your eyes met Charlie’s once more. You felt small tingles running along your back, and decided to flash him a small smile before continuing on as normal. At some point he joined the group and started conversing with you too.

As the day went on you and Charlie really hit it off as friends and it felt like you guys had been friends for far longer than it seemed. You had already started talking about your childhood, the good memories, that is, and he his own. He wasn’t the only friend you made however. You had gotten really close with Madison and Jeremy.

It has been some time now and you’d come to describe the cast as a family you never anticipated to have. Slowly your comfort levels developed and you started to become more comfortable around the cast, however there was some part of you that still held up reservations of showing who you were. No matter what you couldn’t shake that. Even so, they began to learn your love for reading, your admiration for the show, and how passionate you are as a person.

“I can’t believe your favorite line from the show was that of all things!” Mads teased loudly.

“Can you honestly blame me?” You questioned, flashing her a cheeky smile. You guys had gotten on the topic of season one and you both had started comparing favorite lines from the show. Your heart was currently still stuck on, “This is an interesting little relationship you and I have.” Mads couldn't help but agree that it is a good quote and any girl would swoon being told that. I mean, that scene did cause that crush of yours on Charlie to spiral once more when you first started getting into the show after finishing Charmed a year prior. However, you did try to shove those feelings far far away. You didn’t want any awkward tension or teases from the cast...especially from Madison. That girl would never let you live it down, you blame the gen z matchmaker within her. You couldn’t help but compare the young teen to a little sister and you had grown quite attached to her as you worked together on set. You’d spent most of your days with her at work, and even spent some time outside of work going shopping for squishmallows, thrifting, or even just having small movie nights. You knew one day you’d tell the curly haired Latina your woes. Until then, it was more so sneaky remarks and avoiding any talks of relationships in general. You were glad she was so disinterested in romance due to her career. Even so, you really had to keep it on the downlow, especially after this conversation. You couldn’t have her knowing that it wasn’t just the quote that gave you butterflies in that scene.

“Honestly girl, I’m just excited to see more favorite quotes being posted once this new season is released,” Madison beamed before continuing, “We’ve already gotten so far into filming.”

She was right though. You knew there was going to be more fan art and new content being issued. You honestly couldn’t wait to finally be a part of the mix. You had a huge feeling that fans were either going to be jealous of you, be upset that you ruined their ship, or ship you endlessly with Reggie. Thankfully, the shipping couldn’t be spread to real life because of Jeremy’s marriage. That thought almost made you sigh in relief. Your upcoming scene with Jeremy was actually happening soon and the scene entails to where you first meet after a JATP performance. Your characters are meant to walk right into each other and thus develop into an instant attraction and soon your character’s backstory; why they’re a ghost.

Your response to Madison was a laugh and, “Oh yeah, let's hope it's nothing too crazy...if you get what I mean,” nudging her arm as you went on.

She scrunched her nose and this makes you belt into a laughing spree, to which she begrudgingly joins soon enough. Eventually three figures emerge into view, your favorite ghost boys are back from set. “What are you guys laughing about?” Charlie asked with a chuckle and smile.

“Oh, just the fandom and the interesting things that will be posted once the season is dropped,” Madison joked while emphasizing ‘interesting.’

The boys all groaned but still had huge smiles on their faces while they did so. We all knew sad or ‘spicy’ content would be posted, and no matter how awkward it could sometimes be, we still adored the effort fans put into their works. It was one of the most fulfilling parts of the job; the endless support you receive.

You couldn’t help but smile at the boys. “Honestly guys, I’m excited to see all the stuff that’ll be released,” You expressed excitedly.

You were almost hopping up and down and it took a lot for the group to not laugh at your excitement. They were used to this type of adoration, but they knew you weren't, and they couldn’t help but see a younger version of themselves in you. They all whooped in agreement and you brought the conversation full circle by bringing up favorite quotes. You couldn’t help but admire Charlie as he expressed his favorite scenes, quotes, and memes of the show. The way he expressed himself via his movements, the way his presence radiates, and how passionate he is, made your eyes instinctively glue to him. You knew the group was around and tried to keep your eyes off of him to avoid suspicion. Although, you couldn’t really help the heartfelt stare you shot his way anytime a laugh or smile came from the Canadian.

There were many moments within the month or so it’s been with the dork that had slowly but surely made his way into your heart. After all, you worked on set together, so it was only natural for you both to get as close as you have. You were okay with that for some time until the day you realized your “celeb crush” was much more than a small fascination and was developing into much more. You were a quarter into filming and were currently getting your makeup done before set. Your mind kept wandering while real life slowly faded in and out. Thoughts and the sounds around you blurred together until you felt the tingles through your scalp as your stylist fixed your hair. Now, you could not get this specific memory out of your head; it was as vivid as when you first experienced it.

It was just any other filming day and the cast was on lunch break after having filmed for 5 hours. You were dying to get something to eat or you felt like you’d hurl. So you scurried to the line and ordered your food before rushing to sit down. You were quick to scarf down your food before the rest of the cast could even manage to sit down. Mads sat down and noticed your now empty plate, “Damn girl. Your stomach really went ‘Es hora de comer.’”

You peered up at the girl with a grin and laughed at her tiktok reference. She recently got you caught up on the references, gen z humor, and even set up a tiktok account that you occasionally post on. “I was hungry, miss girl. They do be starving us on the regular,” You whined, “Also, not you teasing me for eating quickly when we both know that you are always eating, especially on Instagram Live.”

Your hint of sass was not missed and Mads makes sure to exaggerate her gasp by making it as loud as possible while clutching her chest. This makes you both burst into a fit of giggles. You weren’t really paying attention to your surroundings before a pair of hands made their way into your hair. A surge of tingles burst along your scalp and upper back. You had a feeling you knew who it was but looked up to confirm the culprit. Of course your eyes met Charlie’s and you couldn’t help but get lost in them for a second; his eyes were always a warmer shade when you peered into them. As the eye contact was made, you could feel his fingers curling into your hair as you let out a giggle and relaxed into his touch. You had gotten used to his affectionate behavior and your heart was quite fond of it now. After all, he’s been doing things like this for a while now. You give him a teasing smile before muttering a simple, “Hey.” He offers you a smile back and asks the famous Joey Tribbiani line, “How you doin’?”

“I’m doing good now that I’m not dying of starvation,” You explained. His response to get under your skin per usual was, “Oh, poor baby~” while ruffling your hair.

You were flustered but decided to scoff at his response. “You may be a tad older than me, C, but this ‘poor baby’ can still kick your ass. Starvation is no laughing matter.”

You were only joking and the brunette could tell too. Even so, his hand tightened in your hair as your threat was still fresh in the air. If it weren’t for Madison laughing, you would have almost forgotten she was there. “You guys bicker like an old married couple,” she taunted.

Ever since that day you’ve craved nothing more than to be something more to him. It didn’t help when his love language is physical touch and he gives you cute nicknames; of course all of these were consented to and talked about. You both had spent time figuring out nicknames and even boundaries; which made you fall even harder for Charlie due to the man’s respect of others. Still, your brain relentlessly argued whether the actions were platonic or not. The memory of his touch still burned your skin with desire, and his eyes always seemed to captivate you, you know if you stared for too long, you’d be a goner. You wanted to tell him how much you loved him, but the impromptu feeling of rejection eased its way into your anxieties and you crumbled before it. So instead you’ve been endlessly daydreaming of what could be for the last month.

Your thoughts were once again interrupted by your stylist as she finished up your hairdo for the next scene you’d be filming. This scene entails a kiss scene with Reggie and you were dreading it entirely. It was bad enough that the man is married, but your feelings for Charlie, and brotherly relationship with Jer just made it worse. You were just hoping you wouldn’t have to reshoot too many times. You made your way to the set and as soon as you made it inside you spotted Charlie out of the crowd. You could already feel the tension throughout the room building. Anyone could see it; the anxiety of the shoot and the way you both stared at each other. You, with hope and him...well, you weren’t sure yet. It’s hard to pinpoint a single word for how he sees you when his eyes are so genuine and open to everyone he meets. You could only ever describe it as a warm feeling. Like, when you get freshly dried blankets out of your drying machine and bundle into them after a long rainy day.

Before you could manage to utter a response, Jeremy, who was at your side, whispers teasingly to you, “I do not like the energy we’ve created in the studio today.”

This broke you from your trance and you bursted into laughter. Of course the rest of the cast was confused at your outburst but you were thankful to have had Jeremy take off some of your stress. Jeremy was just as glad, after all, he noticed how your jaw was clamped tight and your arms were tense when entering the room prior. He took that as a small victory for the day. Of course that also didn’t go unnoticed from the Canadian across the room either.

After some time of filming, a lot of mess ups, and occasional chats, you managed to get to the 2nd to last scene of the day. Your character is arguing with Reggie. Both seemed to be annoyed with the other for avoiding each other. Thus, the scene is an argument. The next visual cues onto you. Your strands of locks were evident along your furrowed brow. Almost as if you were sweating from the heated argument that is occurring within the scene. The scene was written and described to have a lot of sexual tension without having to allude to anything crazy. The next shot is you screaming, “God why can’t you just man up for once and stop avoiding me? You can flirt with all the girls you want but can’t seem to even look me in the eyes. What is wrong with you?!”

After that it is supposed to pan to Reggie. Thus zooming into him with a hurt look all the while he looks from my eyes to my lips. Then he shouts while running up to me and cupping my face, “Because I’m in love with you and it scares me,” then crashing his lips into mine.

We’ve had to shoot this scene twice already for either cringing or messing up a line. However, this shot was the kicker because we both secretly agreed to imagine each other as the person we had feelings for.

The conversion with Jeremy had gone like this after the first few mess ups, “Okay so this isn’t working.”

To which you responded with a sigh, “yeah it’s just too weird...we keep letting our real lives divide us from our characters for this scene.”

He nodded his head in response before scratching his head. “How about we pretend that we aren’t talking to each other OR each other’s characters...and instead someone who holds our heart?” Jeremy offered thoughtfully.

You were shocked to have heard such a smart but scary plan. That’s when you paled, did he know of your crush? Before you could even ask he was quick to the punch. “I know. I figured it out after some time. The stares you gave him were a dead giveaway. I won’t tell anyone, but I think it would be a great way to get your feelings out there without having to subject yourself to that type of scenario right now. Use it for your gain and not your hindrance...if that makes sense?”

You couldn’t help but chuckle at the goofy brunette. He really was like family to you and he knew more about you than you expected. You were just glad you didn’t have to bottle it up from another person."I'm ready to try again, if you are?" Thus cueing to our now revised and improved scene. The scene now had so much pent up frustration and tension it was addicting to watch. No one could seem to tear their eyes away.

Thus, Kenny yelled cut and everyone was cheering. Everyone except Charlie, that is. You quickly looked at the male, his eyes for the first time since you met him were closed off and had a faraway look to them. Your feelings of dread and worry kicked in and you wondered what was wrong. Maybe you didn’t do the scene right? You weren’t honestly sure what to do in that moment, up until you felt Jeremy’s hand grab your shoulder and shake you slightly. “Hey, you did great! Our plan worked out well,” Jer made sure to mutter that last part.

He was now the only one who 100% knew of your feelings. You speculate that others are starting to catch on but weren’t sure entirely. Your response to him was, “Thanks, Jer. God I wish I could just say that to him myself, to be honest.”

Jeremy got a small chuckle out of that and pats your head before saying, “You’ll be ready one day...maybe sooner than later...mainly after that scene.”

You look at him questioningly before asking, “What is that supposed to mean?”

He shook his head and gave you a small smile before walking off. Now you were confused by two males in your life. “God, this is why I usually stick to female friends...at least there’s no riddles with women,” you thought to yourself.

You couldn’t manage to find Charlie after that scene and didn’t find him at all for the rest of the filming day. This aggravated you a lot because you were excited to hear the praise from him the most. After all, that was the most major scene in the entire season for your character. At times like this you wished you had Charlie’s number to just text him and see how he was doing. But even after all these months, you never managed to ask for his number. You guys would just rely on conversation at work. Plus you assumed he was the busy type and wouldn’t be on his phone often anyways. So instead you made your way to Jeremy after a few hours to see if anything was going on. He seemed just as carefree as usual, figures.

"He's been missing since the 2nd to last scene of the day and you're not worried?" You ask Jer.

“No, because you could always shoot him a text. I’m sure he’s alright and just needed time to cool off after filming,” Jeremy says but his voice doesn’t sound so confident. It almost seemed like he was lying.

“I don’t exactly have his number yet, bub,” you grumbled.

Jeremy laughed at your expression and nudged you, “Hey, cut me some slack, I’m trying to help.”

"If you give me his phone number, I might reconsider,” you say with a smirk and gleaming eyes. Jeremy contemplated it but thought it was best that the phone number was earned and not given out by someone else. Consent is key guys.

At some point you gave up searching for the man, “He’s an adult and can handle himself,” you thought.

You made your way to your trailer and you soon heard footsteps approaching you. Owen’s voice interrupted your thoughts, “Hey, are you okay? You seem kind of upset.”

You looked up to the blonde and gave him the sincerest smile you could manage. “Yeah…” your response was off timed and almost broken and was a dead giveaway that it was a lie. You scolded yourself for your horrible acting.

“I can tell you aren’t. Mind if we talk about it?” He asked softly. Of course you couldn’t say no to him, his offer was too sincere and heartfelt.

So instead you sighed and muttered, “Okay but in private. Come into my trailer.” He nodded his head in response and followed you inside.

“Where do I even start?” This was more so a question you were asking yourself and less so him.

“If you have to start with bullet points, that's totally fine,” he offered.

You nodded in relief and began listing your current issues. “Honestly, I’m worried about Charlie. Usually he’s in a chipper mood and always there to support me but today he was off. He looked so spaced out and I haven’t seen him at all since then. I was hoping for some sort of ‘congrats’ I guess. Plus, I’m scared I may have upset him somehow.”

You had sputtered some of the words so fast it took Owen a minute to process. Your anxiety spurred out of haywire as you waited for his response. Once he finally had collected the information and put two and two together, he hadn’t even responded to what you said and instead gasped and blurted, “Oh my god, you’re in love with him aren’t you?”

You couldn't manage to handle another person figuring it out and you froze on spot. A bunch of excuses filled your thoughts but nothing ever managed to come out. So instead you drop your head and offer a small nod to the smart blonde for connecting two and two together. You weren’t the only one now silent, for Owen was now just as shocked and processing what had just happened. Both tried to come up with something to say but fell short until you decided to speak up and say, “It started as a celebrity crush when I was first introduced to the show Charmed and then spiraled as I watched JATP. Now that I’ve gotten closer to him... the feelings aren’t a simple crush anymore. I’ve been trying, and for some reason failing, to keep it on the downlow so that I don’t make things awkward...or worse, ruin what I have with Charlie.”

You sigh and grip your arms before leaning against the wall and continuing, “Today he’s been acting distant with me and I’m not sure what I did wrong.”

Owen stayed silent as you spoke and took time pondering on what he should exactly say. After all, this is a tough situation to be in. “I don’t think it’s you,” he muttered and decided to trail on, “I think he’s just being overworked. Plus he could’ve been worried about your scene looking realistic..like maybe you were genuinely mad.”

You took in his words for a second. He did have a point after all. “Also, to your feelings for him...I was shocked to hear because I assumed it wouldn’t stir up until months later. No offense but you seem to be an oblivious person and I kind of assumed you wouldn’t realize for a while.”

You chuckled and wacked his arm playfully and he laughed as a response. “I think if your feelings become too much, you should talk to someone...or him,” he advised.

“I usually just vent to Jer...and well, now you,” you confessed before finishing with, “If it gets bad I’ll consider talking to Charlie. Until then, this stays between us.”

So now two people knew. Now for Mads to find out. All it takes is for one thing to happen...a failed cast movie night. You had thought of the idea of having a movie night at your apartment with the cast as a way to have a break from set. This allowed for more group bonding without work being involved. You invited everyone, even Charlie. After all, things were fine now. It had been a few weeks since that filming day with Jeremy and at some point Charlie seemed to be alright again. You had originally chosen to drop it and it stayed that way. Now, an hour before the movie night was supposed to commence, your “movie night” group chat buzzed with notifications. Everyone had different excuses for the random bails and last minute decisions. You were disappointed to say the least but accepted the fate. You laid on the couch for a little bit before deciding to pack everything up. That was until you heard a honk come from outside. You saw the familiar vermillion Subaru and the driver’s side tinted window rolled down before a mess of brown waves shot out. The bubbly brunette had a huge smile on his face. That smile of his was contagious and before you knew it your face broke into a large smile as well. You laughed before closing the curtain and rushing to set everything back up.

Soon enough you heard a knock on your door and you hustled to go open the door for Charlie. You whipped the door open and offered the dork a smile before ushering him in. “You didn’t have to go out of your way to come here. Mainly since everyone else bailed.” You said.

He gave you an awkward smile and said, “Yeah...but I wanted to come,” scratching his hair and then finishing with, “Plus it means we can talk about the movie without anyone whining.”

You giggle at him and shake your head slightly. You made your way to the microwave and flopped your popcorn bag into it before pressing the few buttons and starting it. The buzzing sound of the microwave filled the air as you grabbed a drink from the fridge. “Hey,” you called to the brunette that had already made himself comfortable on your couch, “Is there anything specific you want to drink?”

He gave you an answer and you made sure to offer him the drink before getting the popped popcorn from the microwave. You flopped down next to him and grabbed your remote. “Okay so I’m vibing with Halloween movies right now,” You state.

He pops a few pieces of popcorn into his mouth and agrees with the genre. “How about Hocus Pocus?” He offers.

You shake your head no, “I already watched it recently.” He gave you a shocked but pleased look.

“How about….Ooo how about Halloween Town? I grew up with the movies.” You said excitedly. His smile was just as big as yours.

“I grew up watching them too!” He announced gleefully.

So now begins your hours long movie adventure with the two of you. Currently, you both had somehow managed a cuddle position, sadly deemed platonic, where you were lying along his chest and side. You could feel the thumping of his heartbeat as you rested your head in the crook of his shoulder. His breathing was relaxing and kept you from being able to focus on the movie in front of you. At some points within the movie you could feel his thumb tracing circles along your side or arm. Those moments were a lot harder to breathe during and you had a lot of mental battles to make sure you could catch your breath. The snacks were already picked through and your drinks were long forgotten as you appreciated his presence alongside you. His laugh throughout some scenes always seemed addicting to hear and you’d rather listen to that than the movie right now. He always had a smile on his face, especially right now. You both had a good laugh at the cheap SFX makeup and low quality CGI. The acting was always so cheesy but you both couldn’t help but adore the nostalgia. It was nice to have someone else admire a classic with you.

You had moments where you almost could feel his gaze along your features and it took a lot of mental strength to pretend you couldn’t feel the tingles. You were sure you were just imagining things but curiosity kept getting the better of you. So you made a quick glance up at his direction as the movie neared its end. There was a huge smile on your face from the movie moments prior to your realization. Now your eyes met those same intoxicating viridescent ones and the intimate moments began once more. You flashed him a smile before looking back at the movie before you.

At some point at the end you blurted, “You know, if this movie were re-filmed, you would be a much better love interest for the series.” To which he gives you a perplexed look before giving you a crooked grin.

“Why do you say that?” He questioned with a slanted brow.

“Well, because this wouldn’t be the first time you’d be a love interest to a witch,” you started before adding, “as well as you’re amazingly talented at acting as love interests and just acting in general.”

He broke out into a huge grin before excitedly responding, “To be honest, I’d love to star in a remake of a childhood film I enjoyed, so yeah, I wouldn’t mind. I think it’d be fun!”

You couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride to know he was just as excited at the concept but also because he agreed with you without judgement. However, you could never admit to him that you also would love to see him play one of the love interests Marnie had because you always put yourself in Marnie’s shoes.

Alas, the movie came to an end and he needed to head home for the night. Begrudgingly getting up from the couch, you both had scrambled to pick up the mess you made. After you both finished, you walked him towards the door and you guys bid each other goodbyes, making sure to ask for each other’s phone numbers in advance. You took a deep exhale once the front door shut. It felt like you had been holding in your breath for the evening. You made your way to the bathroom to do your nightly routine before eventually heading to bed. You stayed up most of the night imagining his eyes, the way his chest shifted up and down when breathing, the gentle beating of his heart in your ears, and the laugh that echoed along the walls of your apartment. These thoughts made you feel warm and whole before eventually falling into a deep sleep.

The next day was busy and filled with life as you had more scenes that needed to be filmed. A lot of the cast kept offering you smiles and seemed more chipper than normal towards you. It was eerie and you kept wondering what they knew that you didn't. You could be wrong but it just didn’t feel right. You kept wondering what everyone knew and was doing before bumping into someone. A mess of dark unruly hair flashed into your perspective and you connected the dots as to who it was. Before you could say anything, she beat you to the punch, "I heard from Charlie that you guys had a movie night together,” Madison stated, almost trying to hint at something more. You had a feeling this possibly correlated with what everyone else was wondering or knew. Great, now everyone was beginning to know of your tragic crush on your coworker.

“Oh yeah we did…” You respond with a smile and hope she’d drop it at that.

“Well? What happened? I want all the details!" Mads pressed cheekily.

You begin your woes with Charlie and how the night had played out. Expressing your admiration for the movie, the things you did together, and even the conversation you had about wanting him to play in a remake.

"The way you flirt is shameful," Madison joked.

“Huh,” You questioned. Her saying that confused you because you never said anything about flirting.

“Oh come on, it’s obvious dude,” Mads admitted while elbowing your side with a grin.

“I’m not sure what you mean, Mads,” You argued with a small smile and teasing stare.

“It’s so obvious that you like him! I just didn’t want to say anything because I thought you hadn’t realized yet.” Mads declared with a knowing smile.

It’s sad to say but she was entirely right. You were horrible from keeping your feelings hidden and her realization just proves that statement. Even so, you were getting a good laugh out of this. “Okay okay, yeah I do and yes it is,” you responded to her statements honestly.

“I knew it! I’m just waiting for the marriage proposal and babies now.” Mads responded with a mischievous grin and hearty chuckle.

You couldn’t help but burst out laughing from her honest and wide stretched ideas. You knew there was a lot of teasing coming your way from now on. You were excited to experience it though, she always offered a good laugh and had great advice. Madison was really developing as her own person and was really mature for her age. You admired that in her. It’s just a little sad that you had to get advice and even be called out by a young teen.

Weeks had passed since the whole cast and Mads situation occurred. Currently, you’ve been chatting with Charlie on the daily over the phone. Whether it be a call or simple text, you always had something to look forward to during the day. Hell, you’d get an occasional meme or tiktok sent your way. There were days when you’d even film some tiktok challenges with him for fun. You had a blast whenever he was around and the comment section of both of your accounts were constantly spammed about your guys’ chemistry. Most people were supportive of your friendship and others were quick to ship you guys. You couldn’t deny that you were flustered by the overwhelming support and fanbase sent your way. Charlie always seemed so excited to read or show you the comments that came strolling in after posting anything with you two.

There were multiple times where you’d make eye contact or your faces would be super close together. Your breath would hitch every time and it took a lot to manage your breathing to be normal. You swore up and down this man made you develop asthma. You couldn’t help it, that man took your breath away. The subtle brushes of his hand on your side or arms were never overlooked. Or the way he’d occasionally grasp your hand when directing you somewhere. You noticed all of these little things he did when he was with you. You tried to brush it off as normal but you couldn't help but hope. Mainly when there were a few romantic challenges that you’ve done together online.

The slowburn was killing you. It was near your last few weeks of filming now. You didn’t know what to expect or think anymore. He is openly intimate with anyone he cares about, so it's hard to differentiate platonic from romantic. That was, until he called you randomly on your day off asking something very important. “Hey,” you can hear a small awkward chuckle before he continues, “There's something I need to get off my chest. I’ve been waiting a while to say this...you are always the one at the back of my mind, and I was wondering if I could take you somewhere...like on a date?”

You were silent for a moment. You didn’t expect that type of question out of the blue; let alone from him. Finally you managed to muster up the courage to respond after a few moments of silence, “Uh yeah! Where would we be going and what time?”

“The first part of your question is a surprise, and 8 pm. Dress cute and comfy.” He announced with a cheerful but playful tone.

You couldn’t help but giggle at his cuteness from over the phone. “Okay, I’ll see you then,” You responded with a goofy tone before hanging up.

Now your anxiety was spiraling. You had to figure out what to wear that could fit any occasion since it's a surprise. You knew it wasn’t some fancy dinner. He was more of the spontaneous adventure type for dates, at least, that what you assumed. So instead, you go for a cute pair of jeans, a cute top and flannel, and a few accessories. You paced around your room while contemplating what would occur tonight. You had an hour before he was coming to pick you up and you were trying to buy yourself time. So, you settled for scrolling tiktok and your other social media feeds. All of your content was booming with new likes, follows, and comments. It put a huge smile on your face from all of the support you were receiving before you heard a knock on your front door.

Before you could even say anything, the brunette was already leaning against the doorway and said with the all knowing accent, “How you doin’?”

You couldn’t help but laugh while hurriedly grabbing your keys and saying, “Oh come on Charlie, that’s so cheesy. You used that as a pickup line, really?”

“Hey hey now, they’ll be plenty more before this is over. You might as well accept it,” he cheekily taunts.

While shaking your head and laughing, you make your way out the door and to his vehicle. You see him rush past you to be at the passenger side before you make it and he opens the door as you get closer. You smiled at the thoughtful action and decided not to mention it just yet. You adjusted yourself into the seat before buckling up and looking at the radio. “Hey, could I use the aux cord to play some music?” You ask quickly.

He looks over at you before nodding his head and handing you the cord. You plug it into your phone before shuffling through your playlists to pick a song. All the while Charlie is pulling out of the apartment complex parking zone. Soon you finally manage to pick a song and immediately click it. You adjusted the volume while waiting for the first tune to come out. Soon enough the song began. “Ba ba da da. Ba ba da da. Ba ba da da. Ba ba da da. Ba ba da da”

You were already goofily singing along and tapping the beat along the dashboard. Soon enough the singing began, “Take a look at my girlfriend. She's the only one I got (ba ba da da) Not much of a girlfriend; I never seem to get a lot (ba ba da da, ba ba da da). It's been some time since we last spoke. This is gonna sound like a bad joke, but momma I fell in love again. It's safe to say I have a new girlfriend.”

He was staring at you as he sang along to the lyrics; never breaking eye contact as the song continued. You wondered what it would be like to be called his girlfriend and introduced to his family. You’d never met them before but you hear amazing stories all the time from the bubbly brunette beside you.

“And I know it sounds so old, but cupid got me in a chokehold, and I'm afraid I might give in. Towels on the mat my white flag is wavin'. I mean she even cooks me pancakes and Alka Seltzer when my tummy aches. If that ain't love then I don't know what love is.”

You pondered what it would be like to have breakfast with him or to be around on his sick days. Those were vulnerable moments in a person’s life and it made you crave that even more.

“We even got a secret handshake”

You guys did have a ‘secret’ handshake. It originated sometime during a tiktok because you thought it would be a great filler moment for one of the videos.

“And she loves the music that my band makes”

You adored JATP and Sunset Curve. You listened to the first season’s Now or Never on repeat. You adored anything that had to do with his voice, honestly. Some of his covers on tiktok and Instagram were shamelessly saved. You’d go back and listen to them when you needed a “pick me up.”

“I know I'm young but if I had to choose her or the sun, I'd be one nocturnal son of a gun.”

It was true. If any moments with him meant losing time in the day, it was well worth it. Even so, you both were screaming along to these lyrics and had huge smiles the entire time. The chorus played out the speakers and along the walls of the car once more before continuing with, “It's been a while since we talked last and I'm tryin' hard not to talk fast, but dad I'm finally thinkin' I may have found the one. Type of girl that will make you way proud of your son.”

God, you crave the acceptance of his family. It was eating at you constantly. You weren’t even dating the guy yet and already worried for the day you had to prove yourself to the family that helped him become the man he is today. That’s a lot to handle for someone mentally, mainly if they don’t end up liking you. They’re his flesh and blood and you’d never want to come between that.

“And I know you heard the last song about the girls that didn't last long, but I promise this is on a whole new plane. I can tell by the way she says my name (ba ba da da)”

You pondered for a moment who he might have dated and his love life in general. After all, were you his normal type? Do you have an effect on him? You brushed away the thought as the next lyrics played, “I love it when she calls my phone. She even got her very own ringtone. If that ain't love then I don't know what love is (ba ba da da)”

You smiled at the thought of him possibly looking forward to your random calls about whatever you were thinking about at the moment. You were always excited to receive a call from him. You’d always hear the ringtone for him which was currently set to ‘Yellow’ by Coldplay. After all, he was your yellow. But you did wonder what yours might’ve been on his. Hell, knowing him he’d probably just left it to the generic tone or a funny one.

“It's gonna be a long drive home but I know as soon as I arrive home, and I open the door, take off my coat and throw my bag on the floor. She'll be back into my arms once more for sure.”

You wished for the day you were together and could experience that level of comfort. Hoping for the day you could come home from a tiring day at work and just bask in the comfort of your partner’s arms. You imagined it for a little while longer while the chorus continued once again. You couldn’t help but space out and daydream for a different time. You knew Charlie was probably looking at you like you were crazy for spacing out randomly but you couldn’t seem to break your thoughts away.

“She's got a smile that would make the most senile, annoying old man bite his tongue. I'm not done. She's got eyes comparable to sunrise and it doesn't stop there. Man, I swear, she's got porcelain skin of course she's a 10, and now she's even got her own song. But movin' on, she's got the cutest laugh I ever heard and we can be on the phone for three hours; not sayin' one word. And I would still cherish every moment, and when I start to build my future she's the main component. Call it dumb, call it luck, call it love, or whatever you call it but everywhere I go I keep her picture in my wallet like here.”

You were still in your own little thoughts while these lyrics played. Even when spaced out, you could still see the figure beside you absolutely jamming along to the lyrics like he meant every word. He was so expressive and happy as he sang along. He was in his element and you adored it. You slowly stopped spacing out and focused on the man beside you as he continued to sing along.

Charlie stopped at the red light, just as the last few moments of the chorus played along in the background. You were belting along again and acting out the lyrics in your own charming way. Your hair illuminated from the sun’s warm glare and your skin was shining in an almost ethereal-like way. Your body language screamed serenity and fluidity. He couldn’t help but be enraptured by your free spirit. His gaze was solely focused on you as you sang along, almost as if he was scared to look away for he’d miss a single moment of you. Both parties could feel the positivity and connection radiating off each other. As the song neared its end, you sat back breathless from your little show-stopping performance. You finally turned back to Charlie and you couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed by his expression. It was pure awe and it made you feel flustered. His stare was piercing and shined with adoration. His smile was wider than any other moment you’ve ever experienced with him.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” You asked with a bashful smile while brushing a strand of hair behind your ear.

He chuckled before responding, “Can’t I just admire you for a second? I don’t see this often.”

You were confused by his statement at first, that was until you realized what his words truly meant. You had shown a part of yourself that others rarely see, the goofy and open side. Yes, you goofed around with friends and cast members but you still had your timid or closed-off self. However, this is the side of yourself that oozed confidence, and only he got to experience it at this moment. Which was something you’d both treasure from this moment forward. You’d thankfully managed to notice the light had turned green in the nick of time.

“C, the light is green!” You warned but had a huge smile on your face as you said so.

“I know,” he said teasingly while staring at you for a moment longer before driving once more.

You pulled up to the park where you could almost make out something in the distance. It appeared to be a few things laying out on the grass. One of those things being a square shape, probably a blanket. Putting two and two together, you realized it was a picnic date. Your heart swelled at the wholesome idea and admired him for the effort. You hadn’t even seen the entire setup and were already swooning. You look up at him and give him a lovesick smile before he quickly shuffled out of the door and ran to your side. He was a helpless romantic and believed chivalry wasn’t dead. So being the gentleman he was, he opened the door for you and offered you his hand so it would be easier to leave the Subaru. You giggle and say, “such a gentleman.”

He flashes you another smile before saying, “You deserve the world. I may not be able to offer much, but for you, I’ll do anything.”

Your heart felt like it was beating out of your chest at the response he gave you. It wasn’t something you were used to from him. It was endearing, to say the least. You both made your way to your picnic spot. A soft blanket and cute basket were laying out. There was even a bouquet of your favorite flowers and his guitar laying along the grass. All of your favorite snacks and drinks were inside the basket. You were giddy as you looked at everything before you. “This is so sweet, C.” you gushed.

“I wanted to prove to you that I take your heart seriously and that I care.” He seemed shy while he spoke but his eyes were open and honest. He meant every word.

“You have nothing to prove, that you haven’t already, Gillespie.” You teased while softly punching his arm.

He playfully hit back as he responded, “I know but I still wanted to.”

“Fair. Okay, what do you want to do?” You asked.

The poor guy blanked for a moment. He seemed at a loss at your question. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I didn’t think I’d get this far,” he admitted.

You laughed before asking, “Why’s that?”

He chuckled before his face switched to a more serious note, “I always thought of you as unobtainable. You were so interesting and motivated and open to others. I didn’t know if you saw me as anything more than a friend. It started as an attraction but soon I had gotten really close with you and it developed into more. By then I was scared that if I said something, I could lose you.”

You were frozen. You didn’t anticipate this type of response. After all, these are only things you’d experience in fanfiction. It made you feel special. If it wasn’t for the fact that you were in public, you’d probably cry. You’d been dying to hear his side and now you finally have.

“In all honesty, I felt the same way. That you were unattainable, that is.” You responded while looking down.

You kept peering down at the blanket before feeling his hand cup your cheek and tilting your head up. Your eyes met his own before the question left his lips, “And why’s that?” By now if any oxygen was entering your lungs, you damn well couldn’t feel it. His gaze was paralyzing and it took a few moments for you to break away from it. You shifted back a bit to give your heart the break it needed before finally speaking up, “Because. You are you. This lovable and goofy guy. You are adventurous and never take no for an answer. You push others to be their best. You never speak of romance and you always seemed more interested in popular celebrities.”

He chuckled at your response. “Hey! Don’t laugh at me, this is embarrassing to admit,” You whined. You tried to hide the small smile making its way onto your face.

“I’m not laughing at you. Just at the thought that we both thought the other wasn’t interested. I mean come on! Oh, and hey, never be embarrassed to be open with me. I say embarrassing things and do embarrassing things all the time.” He opened up.

“Okay, so what’s one thing you are embarrassed to admit?” You asked curiously. The question honestly intrigued you and his response even more so. Plus, it made it easier to avoid continuing the awkward things you said prior.

“I may have tipped everyone off to not come to your movie night months ago so I could finally have alone time with you,” He answered honestly. You were shocked by two things in that sentence; his boldness and that he had done something like that to gain your attention.

“If you wanted to spend time with me, all you had to do was ask!” you shrieked before pushing his shoulder playfully.

You both were laughing and enjoying the honesty. You never expected him to be the sneaky type and plan something like that. However, it did make a lot of sense looking back. Now it was time for him to ask something, and of course, he continued the intimate questionnaires. “Why did you choose to come with me tonight?” he asked curiously.

He seemed invested by your answer but you could tell by his body language that he was a little antsy. He was brushing his arms and shifting his legs a lot while he waited for you to answer. “I thought, well, for once in my life I should make a decision for myself that would be adventurous, put me out of my comfort zone, and just to let me be happy. I didn’t expect you to ever actually ask me out, but I’m glad you did.” You answered honestly.

He seemed bewildered by your response but still broke out into his heart-stopping grin. You really did know how to blow the man away every time you showed another side of yourself. The questions continued for what seemed like hours and it was now dark out. Even so, the conversation was just as lively and Charlie couldn’t help but stare at you. Your eyes were sparkling from the night’s ever glowing moon. He could only gaze at your face and appreciate your features; your lashes hiding the gleam in your eyes and the soft crinkles of your lids. A hearty chuckle belted out of those lips; the ones he so desperately wanted to kiss. As you continued to banter for the rest of the night, he could never manage to tear his eyes away from your face and he liked it that way.

As the conversation continued and got more intimate so did your closeness. Now, his lips are mere centimeters from you; feeling his breath ghost your lips...and all you could manage to describe this moment as is intoxicating. His eyes drifted longingly between your lips and eyes before you could just barely feel his lips lift into a smirk. Just then when all else felt like it had disappeared around you and the pale moonlight lit up your figures, he grasped your waist and the impossible became possible as his hand gripped you and pulled you into a kiss; one that ignited something inside of you, inside of himself. Others always described having the kiss from “the one” as fireworks but in reality, it felt different. Fireworks are quick and go out just as they start...this was something entirely more addicting. You’d describe this kiss as tingly, but not the type of tingles you feel when cold, instead, something that engulfs your entire body and you can’t help but feel weak to it. You fall prey to the feeling of warmth and lightheadedness it offers. All the while trying to manage to gasp for air while you can hear your heart beating in your ears. You were almost entirely sure he could probably feel your heart beating out of your chest. “Maybe sometimes slow burn is okay for the plot,” you thought to yourself while still locking lips with the Canadian actor. Was it simply luck that caused you to meet him that fateful day...or was it the universe giving you the answers you needed all your life? The answer is...your spark.