#i'm sorry but i watched the entire show + i had two posters (i still have a cas plushie help) i'm allowed <3

[ayo-edebiri]

#The destiel confession scene but it's just text posts from this day because I still can't believe this was real

[bluetimeombre]

✧˚. ❃ ↷ Call it what you want to, part three

[I'm having way too much fun with these, but i'm gonna try and make the next part the final. i'm so glad you guys are as obssessed as me. and all i can say is i'm sorry to the tom blyth girlies, believe me, i am one of you and i promise i'll make it up to you!]

↶*ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊ-

You are texting ... Timothee Chalamet

Timothee Chalamet is calling... My Daisy &lt;3 [declined]

↶*ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊ-

liked by ... tchalamet, lola.tung, emmalouisecorrin, florenceough, louispartridge_ & others

yourusername: dreams do come true, can't wait to see you later graham norton!!

705k likes 304k comments

user: omg she's such a star

user: my bby moving up in the world

user: no omg cause this is a dream for her

user: ur so pretty

user: I LOVE U

tchalamet: let's go!!! can't wait

yourusername: wait for me at least

tchalamet: waiting...

user: they're so cute!!1

user: i BET he dumped kylie to be with her and she's dating tom

user: my two fave's

user: she looks so good

user: y does timmy only follow one person and it's her

↶*ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊ-

the graham norton show has been a dream since you started acting, you'd hoped to one day make it on and know that if you did, you'd have officially made it.

not only were you on the show with timmy, but cher, julia roberts and tom hanks. to say you were shaking in your boots was an understatement. back stage you were jumping around after spending some time with the guests. that time had been spent mainly at timothee's side and laughing when appropriate, because you just couldn't believe you were there with them. timothee just laughed, trying to ease your nerves even if he to was scared. in the end, he bounced with you.

you sat on the end of the sofa, next to timothee as the guests ran down the other end.

'and some stars we have on the sofa, look at them at the end. world premier of wonka!' celebrated graham.

you and timmy nodded, thanking the applauses.

'but it wasn't just the world premier, you filmed it over here?' he asked.

'yea we made it in leavesden, very close to here, we shot it almost entirely in london and er- as i always say- i feel like an honorary brit now,' said timmy, glancing at you as he called himself a brit.

you bite back something between a grimace and a smile.

'it was about six of seven months,' he continued, 'it was absolutely joyous as an ignorant yankee.'

'you guys drive on the other side of the road,' joked tom hanks.

'and welcome, at the end there being very quiet,' said graham gesturing to you.

'yea, hi!' you grin, taking a sip of your drink as the audience laugh.

'you're from here, aren't you?'

'yes, british. but it was still really nice to film in london and bath for a lot of it.'

'i can imagine and because, is it right, you were filming for the hunger games whilst you were filming wonka?' he asked. a picture of your poster for the hunger games flashed on the screen and timmy led the applause, whooping.

his attention was only focused on you. his eyes watching every movement, his lips curling up, arm around the back of the sofa.

'thank you, thank you. immediately after filming wonka i got a plane to poland to start filming for the hunger games, yea. literally still in costume for wonka on the plane, i-i got some looks.'

the crowd laugh.

'let's talk about that, hunger games, number one movie!' graham celebrated as everyone clapped.

'thank you, thank you- there we are,' you smile at the picture of tom and you in your characters in the zoo scene. you chose not to notice of timothee shifted around and coughed at the picture.

'and, is it true you did your own singing in that?'

'yes, well i do in wonka too, but for the hunger games it was live. you know, i play this character lucy-grey who's part of this covey band and they all sing so i did it all live on set. then recorded it for the soundtrack separately. this is boring to explain, but-' you said, laughing and fiddling with your rings nervously.

'she's fantastic in the movie,' said timothee, putting his attention on graham and his hand on yours to stop the fiddling. 'i remember working with her in wonka, it was just so much fun, she brings a sort of ... breath of fresh air into it, even though it's a light-hearted comedy, she still makes that difference. and i saw the hunger games, its so cool to be able to see her in an element that i'm not familiar with. but i can still see how she plays the role and how she plays it in such her own and charismatic way.'

you turn your head down, blushing as the crowd clap and as timothee rubs your back. he made it impossible to keep it cool, and on live tv.

'and she sang the songs so good in wonka!' he continued. you tried to get him to stop, but he went on. 'on our table read, she was singing the songs there with our music producer, james taylor, and even then she was singing her parts, our co-stars parts, my parts.'

'ok, shush, shush,' you put your hand over timothees mouth.

'you know what, i saw the new hunger games movie,' said tom hanks, breaking in between you. 'and i have to say, you were the best part of the movie.'

your jaw almost dropped. 'oh woah, thank you, thank you mr tom hanks,' you clasp your hands together, thanking him. 'woah, woody just complimented me, that means so much to me.'

the rest of the interview went on, talking about cher's music, pretty women and listen to tom hanks talk about space and science. sometimes, when timmy would take a drink, he'd bring you yours, offering it to you in a sweet move.

it went on to talk about timothee going to play the iconic bob dylan in a movie, so it was your turn to watch in admiration, eyes sparkling with it.

'no i haven't met him, i'd love to meet him but you know, i don't want to put any pressure on him in any way. but er- we just saw him live,' he said, gesturing to you as you nod, holding onto your drink, 'three weeks ago, in new york. sold out, kings theatre. it was brilliant, it was magical. they bag your phone on the way in, obliges you to be present, as hard as that may be,' he said again, glancing to you. because how could he ever be present when standing next to you?

a picture showed of bob dylan with sonny and cher.

'i can see it, there is a passing resemblance,' says graham.

'thank you, that is the biggest compliment. my god, i'm blown away,' he leant back on the sofa, arm brushing yours. 'this whole talk show has been like a trip.'

everyone laughed at that, tom hanks playing along.

'but cher, you're going to be played by someone soon,' prompted graham.

'please say it's me,' said julia roberts.

'well-' graham gestured down to you.

you laugh and sheepishly hold up your hand. 'i'll do it, i'm currently un-employed.

cher looked down at you, 'we've cast nobody, babe.'

'you have now,' you shrug. the audience laugh.

finally, you guys talked about wonka, leading timothee- the leading man- to talk about it.

'you sing and dance in it, don't forget that,' you nudge him.

timothee blushes, nodding. somehow the two of you had snuggled up on the sofa, pushed to the end and bodies pressed close together. 'it's blasphemy to say that on a sofa with cher!'

'no, i saw you on saturday night live, you were great. and you danced and you did that hot-guys, or cool-guys or something like that,' said cher.

the audience clap and you laugh loudly, remembering his saturday night live. you'd been in the audience, having done press for the hunger games. it was the best night.

'baby face!' you cheer.

'i can't believe you watched that,' said timmy to cher.

'do you want to re-fresh us?' invited julia.

the crowd whoop and laugh as you clap along.

'you sing it with me?' asked timmy, looking over at you.

'absolutely not, this is all you babe,' you pat him on the back as he leans forward and re-counts the song. you nod your head along with, mouthing the words and clapping, pretending to bow when he was finished. timmy laughed and held onto you.

'you two do seem very close down there,' said graham.

for a moment, you two pause and there's quiet. before you guys realise he's talking about the fact everyone on the sofa had shuffled down so that you were on the edge.

'timmy's magnetic field,' you say, rubbing his shoulders.

↶*ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊ-

instagram story... tchalamet posted!

caption: graham norton, let's go!!

tagged: yourusername

caption: she's calling

tagged: yourusername

Instagram story … yourusername posted

↶*ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊ-

user: guys, tom was out partying with friends and his ex-gf while yourusername was doing her graham norton interview

user: as he should after yourusername spends all her time with timothee

user: they’re friends

user: img party boy

user: why is this news? do we care

user: noooooo my parents

user: what if there relationship is just all pr for the film 😔😔

user: I love tom, let him do what he wants

user: she’s better with timmy anyway

↶*ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊ-

liked by… tchalamet, sadiesink_, rachelzegler, tomblyth, vanityfair & others

yourusername: thank you so much vanity fair for featuring me and coming to my home town (p.s I’m so sorry about all the sheep poo x)

771k likes 401k comments

user: love!

user: ONG the only one to ever exsist ever!

user: I can’t wait to see what she says about tom and timothee

user: she is her own person

user: OMG TAYLOR SWOFT

user: collab when???

user: I love u!!!!

user: I can’t wait to read and stare at you

tchalamet: let’s go!!!!

yourusername liked tchalamet’s comment

user: parents are interacting

user: anyone notice her and tom been really quiet? they went from making out in streets to barley being seen together

user: reputation era!!!

user: is this a reputation easter egg??

tomblyth: very proud, my dear !

yourusername: thanks bro ;)

user: what!!!!!

user: WHAT HAS HAPPENED

user: he got bro zoned

user: they went from quoting notting hill to calling each other bro 😭😭

yourusername in conversation with VANITY FAIR.

user: so she dating tom or what?

user: did you just not read the article?

user: tomblyth do me a favour and tell her to make up her mind

tomblyth: user do me a favour and get a life

user: HE DID THAT

user: tom so fr

user: tom a real bf

user: i love them!!!!

user: I love her!!!

user: she said what she said and left no crumbs

user: queen shit

user: MOTHER!!

user: the way she talks suggests they are only friends and my heart breaks

user: i'll miss them

↶*ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊ-

:) taglist: @callsignwidow @kodzuvk @dangelnleif @coconut-dreamz @destrolid @hermionelove @popejar @yesimwriting @slytherhoes @peachesandmon @zunin-msty (thank you all for enjoying it!!!!!)

[duchezss]

My favorite details/moments from Trolls Band Together because I have a problem.

Lemme just get this out of the way and say the soundtrack is a certified banger oh my god.

When brozone tries and hits the perfect family harmony the first time the colors that they get outlined in are all separate, the three colors don't blend at all.

Just Floyd comforting Branch....😭 😭

Branch's little hops when him and Floyd were talking about the bunker WAHHHH.

The real emotions of Branch missing his brothers while simultaneously not wanting to see them like???

"There goes my back" when JD was throwing Branch LMAOO.

The entire design of Mount Rageous is so whimsical and gorgeous I'm in love.

When the whole screen shakes when JD hits the counter eh oh el.

"If there was a brother I'd do this for...I'd be Floyd" WAHHHH.

The old MTV style music video Watch Me Work has.

Floyd singing with the posters of brozone floating around 😭

"Tiny, Poppy, Branch, and this random dude" I SPIT OUT MY DRINK LMAO.

"Are you a narc?" OH I LOST IT IM SO DEAD.

All of Branch's old hairstyles being references to Justin Timberlake's real hairstyles.

"Poppy seed" awwwww.

Branch's little "yay" is so cute.

The ongoing ring pop joke is actually so funny I'm sorry.

The way Bruce and JD just throw Branch on command.

Bruce still being considered the heart throb even though he's got a dad bod, a wife, and children 😭

THE BLEEPED OUT CURSE WORD I WAS IN TEARS.

The amount of songs they fit into Brozone's back is actually impressive, and the way they mesh so well together??? Legitness.

"That's not an idea, those are shoulder pads" I just can't...

When Floyd's hair started turning white and he was going transparent....WAHHH 😭 😭 WHEN I GET YOU VELVET AND VEENER WHEN I GET YOU......(But also the details to show how fast his health was declining? Someone cooked)

Branch's iconic clue board.

Bruce holding tiny diamond since he's also a dad.

Branch trying to be brave and talk to the clown but as soon as Viva came at him he backed up. That's such a real response I love is so much??

Clay's hair being green? Which kinda hints that JD or someone made him dye his hair yellow when he was younger.

Viva calling Clay "Mr. Clay" is actually the cutest thing everrr

Clay and Bruce's handshake, I also kinda like that it implies that they were really close, kinda like how Branch and Floyd were close. I think it really separates JD from them.

Also everyone's reaction to JD being super cold while everyone fawns over Branch.

Clay's so smart 😭 (and autistic) I love him so much.

All the brothers cute dancing in It Takes Two ❤️

The very real response of Viva not wanting to talk about her trauma and also not wanting Poppy to leave.

"I don't wanna lose my brother either" I feel like no one talks about how brave Clay is. He's in the same boat as Viva, he thinks Bergens still attack trolls, and he's going out into the world for the first time in who knows how's long. Just because he wants to help save Floyd, like that's so sweet???

Floyd's dead face was way funnier than it should've been.

"I thought ghosts just floated away" the delivery on this line is unmatched.

Floyd speaking one younger brother to Veener was so 😭, especially cause you know he felt like Veener did when Brozone was still active (on a lesser degree ofc) I can't.

We don't talk enough about how fire all of the choreos are, like they got professional dancers to make these dances, AND YOU CAN TELL OML.

JD's need for perfection constantly getting in the way of the greatness they all could achieve.

Branch being the voice for all younger siblings out there who will never be respected by their families hit me. But I also think there's something to say about the JD's of the world. The older siblings they took charge because they felt they had to. All parties end up getting hurt.

Also Branch actually wanting them to be a family so sweet. It really embodies the naive hope of wanting to stay together that youngest children have, but it's not unattainable. You can still be close with your siblings into adulthood, no matter how much time has passed, and that's what this movie represents as it's core.

"I didn't think we'd both find ourselves tied up on this honeymoon" WHATTTTT.

BRANCH AND FLOYD HUGGING THROUGH THE GLASS WAHHHHHHHH. Also Floyd being the only brother to respect that's he's grown....I just love them so much 😭

The whole interaction of all the brothers reuniting while in the diamonds is so funny for no reason lol.

Viva understanding she was wrong and striving to do better for her sister >>>

BRO THE ENTIRE CLIMAX IS SO GOOD??? THE TENSION?? THE MUSIC??? IT'S JUST PERFECTION. THE SONGS CHOICES WERE SO GOOD, AND THE WAY THEY REARRANGED WATCH ME WORK TO BE SO INTENSE IS BRILLIANT. THE SONG JUST KEEPS BUILDING AND THE STAKES GET HIGHER, IT'S WAY TO GOOD.

"Actually I've got two really brave sisters" When the message of this movie is that found family and blood family are just as important as each other, and that no matter what you get to pick who your family is >>> 😭

When Clay falls hard while in the diamond, Bruce and JD immediately check on him, meanwhile he's just focused on Floyd. The older brotherism... 😭

The message of this movie also being that perfection isn't important, but rather balance, harmony, and communication are key. ❤️

The acapella opening of Better Place....just.....wow.....

Clay's adlibs eating everyone up??? Kid Cudi I was not familiar with your game hold on.....

When they hit the perfect family harmony all their colors start mixing, showing their respect for individualism and also for the group.

The way Floyd eyes light up when they're all singing is just 😭

Branch building the bunker for all of them 💔, Floyd remembering the waterslide, all of them hugging?? Just peak filmmaking idk.

"Jail it is" also apparently someone did the math and in our world the twins would get over 6 life sentences for their crimes hello???

All of the boyband references are so funny idc.

Clay being excited to get to know Branch 😭 also JD reading a book in the back that presumably Clay recommended him?? That's so cute? He's really trying y'all, they're all trying, and that just warms my heart 😭

*NSYNC making their first song in over 20 years for this movie is actually the craziest thing ever I'm obsessed. Also they all designed their little trolls which I think is so cute.

The last songs....just bangers....I can't even, I sound like a broken record, why is every song in this movie so good.

Fav adlibs speedrun (from the last two songs): Floyd little "yeah yeah", Clay's "dohhh, ohhh," one of the nsync members "show the wayyy", Bruce's "so excited", Branch's "ohh" & "ayeee"

The layering when they all sing together is too good. It sounds so gorgeous and if you listen closely you can hear each persons vocals.

Also I just need to talk about the music production and mixing for a second. This movie has three version of Better Place, all of which are unique. The main one is the NSYNC version, which is notable for it's little rap section. The Family Harmony version use's the intro/pre-chorus as the main part of the song. It also lets the song slowly built, and adds instrumentals as the song progresses. The Reunion version doesn't use the intro/pre-chorus, but rather mainly focuses on the chorus. It also uses the bridge from the main song as the post-chorus/refrain. Just a very creative use of the song tbh. Also the instrumental differences between Watch Me Work and Mount Rageous? Like it's the same song, but the way they add more classical elements and more layers to build the tension and the song as a whole?? I have no words. Perfection.

Obsessed with this movie. If you haven't seen it pls go watch it.

[nicooole04]

With Practiced Ease

Midoriya x BlackFem!Reader

Midoriya always loved watching you do your hair. He adored how, with practiced ease, you'd twist and braid the strands in on themselves. It was like magic, he'd first thought. You were so... meticulous in the way you'd form the braids, creating repetitive patterns in your hair.

The first time he saw you braid was your sophomore year at U.A.. You'd just transferred from a school in America and spent the first few days with them locked away in your room. Everyone was concerned, of course, but Midoriya took the first step in checking up on you.

You'd heard a soft knock at your door. You were a little worried to be seen yet, but not too much. You pulled out your favorite bonnet, slipped it on and opened the door.

"Hello?"

Midoriya was a bit surprised by the strange hat you wore, but he didn't pay too much attention to it.

"Uh, (name), I was just checking on you. You just got here, but you've been kind of.. secluded. Are you alright?"

Honestly it surprised you to get a visit. You hadn't been required to attend classes until three days after you'd moved in, to give you time to settle and all. You hadn't seen your classmates, and you weren't even aware they knew who you were either.

Midoriya coming to visit you was something you hadn't expected to say the least.

"Yeah, sorry, I'm okay. I've just been busy moving in, y'know." That wasn't entirely wrong, you had been moving and organizing your stuff for the first day. But now, you were trying to get your first day braids in and they were taking longer than you'd hoped.

Midoriya smiled graciously at you, happy to know that you were doing okay. He was still curious, however.

"Do you need any help moving in?"

Midoriya loved the way your eyes creased when you laughed. Waving his suggestion off, you giggled, "No, no, I think I've got everything down."

Despite your cheerfulness, you still hadn't opened the door any wider, careful not to show anything past your body.

Midoriya knew you were trying to send him off, but seeing you now, he didn't want to leave. You were a mystery to him. An unknown. You'd come from a foreign country to U.A.. No one knew who you were here, no one knew your quirk or your history, hell, they barely knew your name.

Midoriya wanted to be the first to figure you out.

So when you saw his smile falter a little with dejection, you figured it wouldn't hurt to spend some time with him. Plus, you were getting lonely cramped up in your room.

"Actually, I do need help organizing some books and things, if you don't mind." Midoriya's wide puppy eyes smiled at you.

"Of course, I'll help you, (name)."

You were happy to see him in such a good mood, but you were slightly embarrassed for him to see your room.

On the bed, you had bags of hair, some of them already opened and organized. You had a pillow on the floor next to some combs and brushes. Clips and a jar of gel. Your phone had been propped up against the leg of your desk chair with a YouTube video playing aimlessly.

For someone who just moved in, your room was already a mess.

"I'm sorry for the clutter," Midoriya watched as you began moving the stuff on the floor out of the way. He actually didn't mind the mess. Midoriya was admiring your room, really. Your walls were covered in posters of your favorite artists. Pictures of your friends and family littered the spaces in between. On the back of the door was a full body mirror with jewelry hanging from the corners. Your desk was relatively clear except your laptop, a lamp, potted plant and various lip glosses. A rug lay beneath the clutter and, despite the rest of the mess, your bed was made up nicely.

"There, it's a little cleaner," you chuckled nervously as you pointed to a small bookshelf in the corner with two cardboard boxes in front of it. "My books are in there, you can just set them on the shelf and that'll be fine."

Midoriya loved seeing you smile, it filled him with a sunshiney feeling he couldn't describe.

He quickly moved over to the shelf, sitting down on his knees to get a better look. You watched as he began pulling the books out, one by one, and instead of just putting them on the shelves, you watched as he took the time to read the title of each one. Inspecting the books individually. You figured that would distract him for a bit while you finally started on your hair. Midoriya wasn't looking at you, but he'd heard your hums as you slipped your bonnet off, undoing the quick bun you'd put up. You grabbed a brush before pulling the tool through your hair, effectively detangling it.

After you were satisfied, you'd started sectioning off your hair, putting the rest into mini buns to deal with later. You moved almost robotically as you used the rattail comb to make more, tiny boxes of your hair before using the gel to slick the parts.

You'd already pulled a nice section of hair out, so all you had to do was feed it into the braid, bulking up the strand until you could comfortably braid to the end.

It wasn't until you'd done a few more braids that you noticed Midoriya has completely stopped stacking the book away and was now watching you with pure wonder in his eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry, is this making you uncomfortable?" Back home, you were surrounded by people who knew how to take care of your hair and style it. Your mother used to sit you down in the kitchen with the hot comb on the stove, promising you she wouldn't burn you, but ultimately did a few times. As a kid, your grandmother with plat your hair and style the sections into little twists before wrapping a knocker around the base and adding a barrette to the end. You didn't feel weird or out of place at home doing your own hair.

But here, you weren't sure if people would be feel uncomfortable. To be frank, you were feeling insecure.

"I can wait until later to finish, I don't want to make you-"

"No, no, you don't have to stop. I've just never seen someone do their hair like that," Midoriya was entranced. Living in Japan his whole life, he was used to seeing the same hairstyles. Same colors, same textures. There wasn't much variety. But seeing the way you combined the hair from the bag into your own to create something so beautiful, he wanted you to keep going.

"Really? You're not...weirded out?" Midoriya shook his head. He'd abandoned his shelf stacking job and was completely committed to watching you.

Whenever you did something, he'd ask what you were doing and how. You explained to him what box braids were, how to section them off and showed him up close how to braid. You explained your hair texture to him and he asked how you take care of it so you told him that too.

You and Midoriya spent hours together, eventually moving onto other topics. You told him about your hometown and your family, the foods you ate, the holidays you celebrated. You told him about your school and your quirk and why you'd decided to move to Japan at all.

Midoriya listened intently to every word you spoke, making a mental note of every fact you gave him. He loved hearing you talk, hearing you laugh.

He still does, to this day. Even after you'd both graduated from U.A. and we in the early years of your heroic careers, Midoriya was still memorized with you and your hair.

He watched from your bed as your hands moved down the braid. You were focused, a strand of curly hair still connected to the braid hanging between your lips as you continued braiding, your eyes trained on the video on the TV. You were multitasking in such a beautiful way. He adored you. You the same, given he was your first, real friend in Japan. He was the first person to make you feel comfortable in such a new place. You were forever grateful for him.

So Midoriya watched as you, with practiced ease, braided your hair.

A sight he could never get tired of seeing.

•

•

•

I hope you guys enjoy this, I'm trying to get back into writing and I'm thinking of starting small with fluffy little one-shots.

Let me know what you think!!

[lutawolf]

Unforgotten Night Episode 3

You will be able to find the lovely iffy’s companion post here. Be prepared! We have vastly different views this time.

As usual let's start with the porno, I mean promo poster.

Eventually we are going to run out of horrible promo pictures and I'm actually kind of sad about that. I've had far too much fun making fun of them. I mean what the fuck are these. Now we don't even have a bike chain but somebody's necklace tying them together. You will not leave me muahhhaaa... Um, well you broke that rather easily. Also could we please give the eighties their fashion back. They wore it better. Cry Baby looks like he has a staring role in Dazed and Confused while Baby Face is still constipated. 🤦🏽‍♀️

Episode 2 recap can be found here and here. I cried and drank as much as the subs from Episode 1. Seriously guys, for shits and giggles I had my 17 year old watch AND she was pointing out what all was wrong with the BDSM.

Episode 3

I can't even. Just a few minutes in and the sub has more chemistry with simp lobby boy.

Then Pillsbury Dom shows up and acts like an ass to poor simp boy. There was some gentle correction here but no respect earned yet. That's a Bad Dom move. I was feeling sorry for brat boy until he started whining... It made me want to choke him and not in a kinky way.

He agreed to go to lunch and he obnoxiously whined the entire time.

I don't know a Dom that would put up with his attitude. Seriously, a sub's respect should be earned and Pillsbury hasn't done anything really to do that. So I absolutely respect the push back from Cry Baby. That being said Brat was an ass and should of been called out. I absolutely love the challenge of a Brat but this one had me screaming at my ipad on several occasions.

If we are going to talk about good Dom/sub chemistry it's gonna be these two. Sadly it appears completely non-sexual but I'm holding out hope. Seriously though, Metawee gives the command and Jin jumps to it. Not to mention that Jin is hysterical. At one point Metawee had her come up with a distraction and she gave such a stunning performance. They easily have more chemistry than the main and side couple.

Hell Jin and Sub have more onscreen chemistry.

What does it say that I'm seeing more chemistry between the Dom and his reflection in the mirror during product placement?

Seriously guys, that looks like true love to me. I'm completely buying it. Now could he just turn that chemistry on else where. All kidding aside, I enjoyed parts of this series. When the mains were acting with ANYONE ELSE but each other! I don't think that's how this is supposed to work.

This whole series could have been campy and fun. You have points in which this is slightly enjoyable in an over the top way but the main couple are more forced that my high school jeans. So in conclusion.

That's all folks... Like literally that is all I can take. Please don't make me watch any more. I need brain cells for the next season of Kinnporsche or anything that isn't this. Hope you enjoy the review as much as I and iffy didn't in writing it. lol

[writer-monster]

11 reasons why cap 4 should reintroduce Bucky Barnes as the love interest, an essay

to start this off, i am not writing this essay from a shipping place nor do i believe that this would have any influence at all over the upcoming movie. i expect nothing. this is simply something that i would personally like to see. (of course no hate to anybody who thinks differently)

here are 11 reasons why i think making Bucky into Sam Wilson's love interest in Cap 4 would be a good move for Disney.

-

1. on the Chinese film market - and why it's an irrelevant argument against the inclusion of homosexual themes in Cap 4

the Chinese film market is something that has been blamed for a lack of diversity in Hollywood films a lot lately. many people claim that this market with a lot of buying power has been responsible for the lack of gay and black representation in particular within Hollywood films.

and we have certainly seen Hollywood treating it as such, going so far as to cut gay scenes from movies for their Chinese releases, and vastly minimising John Boyega's (a black actor's) presence in the Chinese poster of Star Wars The Force Awakens.

[image ID: on the left is an image of the American poster for Star Wars The Force Awakens, featuring John Boyega prominently on the right-hand side. And on the right is the Chinese poster for the same movie, in which John Boyega is barely visible.]

so we know at the very least that Disney believes this through their own actions and efforts to self-censor for the different markets.

but Captain America 4 is a black-led movie, don't you forget. and Disney can't minimise Sam Wilson/Anthony Mackie in the movie or the poster because it's his movie and his poster. and no amount of creativity in the editing room can change that (thank God!).

so if by their own argument the film is already going to be either banned, panned or slammed in China... then what do they have to fear from making it a gay movie too?

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2. oh, the queerbaiting

queerbaiting is an unusual cultural idea. and sometimes i find myself thinking that the term is far too easily used, but then all of a sudden i will stumble upon a movie or show that is so quintessentially cruel and overt in it's... well... queerbaiting that i will start to wonder what the hell kind of a bizarre relationship all these straight people seem to have with their friends. take Troy and Abed from Community or John and Sherlock from Sherlock as the perfect examples of this. (in which my reaction to the show's creators saying the show wasn't gay was to ask so then why did you make it so gay?!)

i felt that Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes in tfatws were getting quite close to this level of queerbaiting.

there was the field scene, the couple's counselling scene, the boat scene, the couple's counselling scene, Bucky going with Sam to face Karli when she told Sam to come alone, the couple's counselling scene, ALL the staring scenes, Sam checking out Bucky's ass here as they said goodbye, the "i would move in with him but" hidden scene, "Uncle Bucky" showing up at the cookout scene, the romantic walking off together into the sunset together ending scene, and the couple's counselling scene. did i forget anything? but i mean seriously, the couple's counselling scene!!! that thing they did with their legs and their crotches while staring deep into each other's eyes, would any straight guy willingly do that? do straight guys crotch-snuggle now?

[image ID: an image of Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes during the therapy scene with the quote, "Isn't anybody going to drag me into impromptu couple's therapy and slot my legs firmly between theirs before staring deeply into my eyes?"]

(yeah i stole this image from a buzzfeed article on the fan reactions to the couple's therapy scene. but given that they stole 80% of the content of that article from fandom tumblr, i think it's pretty even-steven.)

there's also the fact that people started talking about bisexual Bucky Barnes a lot after the tiger pictures line, and the lead writer Malcom Spellman responded to the talk of Bucky's bisexuality with "just keep watching". well we watched, Malcolm. but it's beginning to feel like you were just jerking us around.

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3. the writing

seriously though, what else is Bucky Barnes doing right now in the MCU? his only remaining connection to anything going on right now is through Sam. there is literally nothing else established that's left for him to do that doesn't involve Sam. he moved to Louisiana to be closer to Sam (canonically), he hangs out with Sam's family (canonically), and Steve is presumably gone and is definitely not coming back for more adventures.

he has no villains or loose ends left. he has no other superheroes that he appears to be in contact with. he has no girlfriend or potential love interest, or even other friends or family. he is living in a tent that he has secretly set up in Sam's backyard and is mysteriously appearing from the bushes when it's time for dinner like a stray cat.

in my opinion there is no other meaningful and pre-established progression for Bucky's character that wouldn't just feel cheap.

plus, i don't think the general audience would be all that surprised if they kissed. i think a LOT of people picked up on all that tension. i think a lot of straight people picked up on all that tension too.

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4. the chemistry between the actors & the chemistry between the characters

the original pitch for tfatws was essentially just this, it was the chemistry between Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie and their respective MCU characters of Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson.

now obviously Anthony and Sebastian are simply friends, and i wouldn't mean to imply anything more. but they are also not their characters.

Sam and Bucky's scenes together before tfatws were both limited and short, and yet audiences still fell in love with the dynamic between the two characters.

in interviews, these two actors are constantly slipping into character and flirting with each other and frankly it's adorable. plus it's really entertaining. i'd love to see that dynamic, unfiltered, in a movie.

because believe it or not the flirting is actually even more open in their interviews than it was in tfatws. and i'm leaving some links as proof.

this here is known as the "married" compilation

and here's a "lucky dip" selection of interviews - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,

and here's Anthony trying to get Seb to take his jacket off.

i'm just saying, why not let their chemistry shine? these two are so talented and so entertaining, especially when you put them in a room together. and can you imagine how absolutely hilarious and brilliant it would be to watch them navigate being a couple?

(and for those who bring up the "friends would be uncomfortable pretending to be dating" argument, i'm not here asking for a sex scene or anything. i don't think anyone would expect them to show any more intimacy (physical or emotional) while playing a couple than what they've already shown together in say... tfatws or in their own interviews. not that i actually expect anything regardless.)

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5. if they were a man and a woman they would've gotten together in tfatws

i have no more to add here. just that... yeah, they would've.

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6. and i'm not talking about the comics here, i'm talking about the MCU.

i understand fully that none of what i'm saying here falls in line with these characters from the comics. but the mcu itself doesn't fall much in line with the comics either, and these two characters especially are very different from their comics counterparts.

i'm not asking for these two to get together in the comics. tbh i don't think that it would work.

but the mcu Sam and Bucky are different and closer than their comics counterparts. they've got different histories, different backstories, and a very different dynamic. please rest assured that i am only talking about them in the mcu.

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7. Bucky Barnes is believably bisexual. and Sam Wilson has never been proven to be straight in the mcu, nor has he had a love interest.

(now please continue to keep in mind that these points only stand for the mcu versions of Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson, and not at all for their comics counterparts.)

Sam Wilson has never had a love interest, which is crazy because have you seen that man! he has had two blink and you'll miss it moments of verbal expression of attraction to women, both in TWS. and that's the extent of it, through his entire history in the mcu.

Bucky Barnes has had a number of surface-level female love interests, but none of them even came close to the level of connection and chemistry that Bucky shares with Sam.

and i'm sorry SarahBucky fans, but i just don't think there's very much to their relationship either. i love Sarah, i really do. but it's Sam who shares all the meaningful moments and history and chemistry with Bucky. and i don't see what making her into a love interest would do for Sarah's character either, what would that add to her story?

[Picture ID: Bucky at the cookout with Sam, Sarah, Cass and AJ. Bucky and Sam are looking at each other and smiling.]

and also there is the whole tiger pictures thing... again. which does strongly suggest that Bucky is bisexual whether this was intentional on behalf of the writers or not.

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8. it's representation... AND it feels natural

marvel hasn't had a lot of queer representation that's been noticeably present in the MCU at the time of writing this.

there have been a lot of failures so far, from the bisexual erasure of Valkyrie in Thor Ragnarok to the wlw erasure in Black Panther.

there was queerbaiting almost identical to the bisexual Bucky baiting for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. when asked if he had considered featuring a gay hero in gotg2, director James Gunn stated that "We might have already done that. I say, watch the movie." after the movie's release audiences were understandably confused about the lack of queer representation. To which the director followed up his comments with, "But we don't really know who's gay and who's not. It could be any of them."

there is also Loki, considered by most fans after the airing of his six episode series on Disney+ to be both a poor attempt at both genderfluid representation and bisexual representation. with both attempts being summed up fairly well by the term "blink-and-you'll-miss-it". (also it's just terribly written and Loki doesn't wear any interesting clothes! fanficcers are a Goddamn blessing in this hard time!)

and let us not forget that Andrew Garfield was apparently FIRED for pushing for a bisexual spiderman. a bisexual spiderman within an interracial mlm relationship no less.

so for all these failures, marvel, why not allow us queer fans this? two brilliant and heroic men in a loving interracial relationship. two heroes that we can look up to.

now, one of the biggest detractions from the argument for representation is the idea of "forced diversity". and some poorly written characters certainly do end up feeling forced into the narrative. take Iceman in the comics for example, with Jean Grey just straight up suddenly telling him he's gay. like, marvel, sweetie, that's not how this works! and i don't know a lot of queer people who thought much of that "representation".

but the crux of the "forced diversity" argument is almost always that it feels unnatural within the story, right? and i don't think that anyone could say that about MCU Sam and Bucky ending up together, given these characters' existing chemistry and their history. they've both played characters in gay relationships before so we know that it's not outside of either actor's wheelhouse. and y'all know that Anthony and Seb can act, people. if it's in the script i believe that they'll make it seem like the most natural thing on earth.

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9. it'd be a nice change

there's been an ongoing meme lately about "Disney's first gay character", the joke being that they continually announce gay characters without really ever including gay characters in their films.

this is to the point where Disney has formed a reputation amongst queer audiences of being homophobic.

if Sam and Bucky were to become a couple, then Disney could have its first actual gay character within a gay relationship. AND have him be in the lead of his own movie, no less.

it's also worth keeping in mind that there's likely an overlap between the people who were outraged by a Sam Wilson Captain America, and the people who'd be outraged by a gay Captain America. and if they were already not seeing the film, then i don't think much is gonna change that.

queer audiences would definitely love it, and the media attention would be guaranteed to be huge. i mean, simply look at the amount of media attention mere rumours of a character's queerness gets you and multiply that by a canon confirmation of said rumours.

but i'm pretty sure that Disney already knows this.

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10. and yet, in truth, it's not about the representation

in truth i've never felt that i had any trouble relating to characters of any sexual orientation, race, gender, sex, body type, etc. (although that is not to throw any shade at all on people who do wish to see themselves represented) but for me, i think it's more about the story than the packaging.

and yet, a love story is still just a story. straight or queer, monoethnic or interracial. when two characters have chemistry and history and have sacrificed for each other time and time again, and they also can't keep their hands or their eyes off each other, then i'm pretty sure that that's a love story.

straight or queer, monoethnic or interracial, it shouldn't be about these simple labels. it should be about how well written the relationship is. it should be about chemistry, and history, and sacrifice.

because i'm fucking sick of all the hollow, forced romances in media no matter the genders of the participants. i'm sick of lazily written, shallow relationships where any two people sharing the same space for any extended period of time will simply fall in love. it's boring, it's repetitive, and as a writer myself it drives me up the wall!

romance stories suck! and everyone knows that romance stories suck. between twilight, and most of the entire YA genre, and love triangles (so boring), and romance used as poorly-written throwaway subplots in Hollywood movies, the world is in agreement that the romance in western media is simply dreadful. and yet we still want love stories. it's an entire genre that sits at the heart of the human experience (<3), and yet one which so few of today's best known writers seem truly able to capture.

i don't think that i'm the only one who feels this way, either. i suspect it's actually a large part of why fandom is so romance-centred in the first place, that we're all just starving for a good love story.

(btw i think fandom has a reputation for being something that as a whole that it is not. it has this reputation for straight up demanding things and harassing people until they get their way. while unfortunately there are a few people who do this, they're fucking annoying and i swear that they're far from the majority.

in my experience fandom is mostly about writing a five thousand word story at three am while drunk off your ass because it might make someone whom you've never met smile, editing it in the cold light of day, and then posting it. expecting nothing. sometimes getting nothing. and sometimes getting someone send you kudos or a comment so heartbreakingly wonderful that it makes you smile in return.)

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11. so once again, it is all about the writing.

i want to see Sam and Bucky get together in the mcu, not because they would be a gay couple but because i genuinely believe that their story has potential to be an amazing love story.

and i know the mcu isn't about the romance. it's why in my personal opinion we haven't gotten a lot of good canon romances besides Peter Quill and Gamora. and i don't think that the mcu should be all about the romance either. i fucking love the action and the fighting scenes. i love the comedy. Captain America: The Winter Soldier had no romance and it was a fucking treasure, it was an amazing spy-action-thriller and it made my little gay heart dance. Thor Ragnarok had no romance, and it was an utterly brilliant comedic spectacle action film. not every movie needs romance.

but mcu Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes were doing couple's therapy and fixing a boat and walking off into the sunset together in tfatws. they were inseparable on the battlefield. they've got a dynamic. it's beautiful, it's romantic, and it's gold.

a budding relationship between them in the next movie would be a good way to explore both characters more without the narrative feeling too stilted and separate. at the end of tfatws, both Sam and Bucky fans found that their respective fave felt somewhat underutilised and that their characters were underexplored.

now, that problem would be even more difficult to remedy in a movie, because the plotline of a movie needs to be really tight to work (giggity). and we know that the central conflict of the movie is gonna be action-based (which is good), but we still need each character's personal journey and growth to tie into the main conflict. (which is another issue that some fans found with tfatws, that these characters didn't really feel connected to the action-based plot on a more personal level.)

if Sam and Bucky are already in a relationship, however, this whole dynamic changes. first, their relationship has already been set up for nicely since TWS and through tfatws and they would officially be the best-fleshed-out couple in the mcu. but most importantly, a relationship gives them a perfect vehicle to explore both of their pasts comparatively and connect them personally to the action-based plot.

do you want to establish that Sam is a little too trusting and naïve? then establish this through his relationship with Bucky, and through showing his placing his trust in Bucky. (rather than through having him sympathise with a villain who threatened to murder his sister and his nephews).

perhaps you want to show Bucky recovering from his trauma? show us how comfortable he is with Sam. they get along, they're enjoying each other's presence, we see more of Sam's life and of his family, and then let Bucky tell Sam something that's raw and dark and honest about his life as The Winter Soldier. something about a memory, one that he only just recalled. he's opening up. and maybe what he tells Sam is even something that sets up the future action-based conflict, to ground that in something real.

you want to explore that Sam has trauma too? do this through Bucky. he tells Bucky a story about his time in the military. in the form of a flashback, he shares his own story of loss to evoke before the audience the shared theme of feeling at fault even when you're simply a helpless bystander to an act of pure destruction.

then, action sequence! and it's directly connected to Bucky's time as the Winter Soldier. explore the grief of someone whose life the Winter Soldier tore apart manifesting into a villain perpetuating the cycle of pain. establish your villain.

Later, Sam is dragged into battle against this villain for protecting Bucky. But Bucky doesn't want Sam to protect him. He feels guilt for what he can't control and he doesn't want Sam getting hurt because of him. Bucky reminds Sam that he has a family, one who needs him and who loves him. He tells him to go home.

Sam reminds Bucky that he's a part of that family. And that sure Sam's a hero and his job is to protect anyone and everyone, but that he's doing it because he wants to. It's not simply to prove that he can, or to prove that he's not a bystander (this connects to Sam's trauma here), but that he's doing it to help people.

and this gets Bucky thinking about who he is and what he's doing here. is he a hero who stands by Sam's side? or is he an ordinary man who stands aside? or perhaps, does he stand alone? what does he stand for? Maybe Sam knows. But does Bucky?

Sam and Bucky fight off the villain again, and for the first time Bucky meets this adversary face to face. And Bucky recognises this villain, and has a flashback to the genuine pain that he inflicted upon them in the form of the Winter Soldier. Bucky freezes mid-fight, he almost dies, and Sam has to save him.

Sam chews Bucky out for almost getting killed because he was afraid for him. but Bucky takes this the wrong way and goes off to fight the villain alone, or perhaps to die alone, he's not quite sure.

He puts up a half-hearted fight. He apologises for what the Winter Soldier has done, and he waits for the killing blow, when Sam swoops down and he saves him. He asks Sam why he saved him and Sam calls him a moron. And then, Sam asks him what sacrificing himself would solve. He tells him that you can't choose your past but you can choose your future (connecting to his own experience of loss and guilt and grief). And that no matter what Bucky Barnes still has a future, whether that's as the Winter Soldier or the White Wolf or just some dork with a day job. And that he has a future as a part of Sam's family too.

Sam fights the villain, and it's toe to toe. He delivers a few good blows, but receives a fair few himself. And then the villain tears off his wings, first one and then the other, in a manner reminiscent of what the Winter Soldier did to him in TWS. Through Bucky's eyes there's a flashback to highlight the parallels. Sam gets back on his feet and he fights his best fight, but is now losing.

And then the heavily injured Bucky steps up and fights by Sam's side, and only together do they take down the villain.

"So... I inspired you, huh?" Sam teases with a smile, utterly exhausted. "With my heroism and-"

"You inspired me." Bucky said, equally exhausted. "Let's leave it at that."

Together, Sam and Bucky go back to the safety and warmth of their family. Sam fixes his wings. Sam goes back to being Captain America. And Bucky... he's around, but it's unclear what he's doing.

That is, until the very end. When Sam is in a fight, and suddenly Bucky shows up and helps him out.

"What are you doing here?" Sam asks.

"I've made up my mind." Bucky says. "I'm the Winter Soldier. But now I'll save lives, Sam. Now, like you, I'll be a hero."

Sam smirks. "So does this make you my sidekick, then?"

Bucky smiles. "C'mon, at least make me a partner." He says.

"How about co-workers." Sam says (in flashback, he remembers back to the death of his last on-the-job partner).

"How about friends." Bucky says, with a wry look.

"Bucky... I don't want to see you put your dumbass self in danger." Sam says.

"Oh, and it's ok for you to go running off into danger on your own all the time?" Bucky asks.

"Yes." Sam says stubbornly. "Absolutely it is."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not a dumbass?!"

"Sam, if you think I'm not gonna be watching your back for the rest of time... then you're the biggest dumbass I know. And I don't care if you need me or not, I will be there for you."

"Because Sam, you're more than Captain America. You're more than a good soldier. You're a good man. And I think sometimes, the world forgets what the difference is."

-

...or something like that.

(i only spent like 15 minutes on that. you know if i were actually writing this movie i would come up with something much better. and if anyone from marvel is seeing this, yes i can come work for you. i will make the time, let's do this thing right!)

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finale

at the end of the day, whether or not the mcu chooses to make Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes a couple, it's their decision. and they don't owe me anything.

i'm just some random person on the internet. who thinks that Captain America 4 should #givecaptainamericaaboyfriend

[wolfgangisdead]

for whom the sun rises

part two

moon knight (tv show)

marc spector, steven grant x original character

frenemies/enemies to lovers (marc spector x oc), friend's to lovers (steven grant x oc), angst, fluff, spoilers, will update as this goes along, layla exists but not unmarried, it's not really following the episodes that much. Just... At this point Steven has been called Marc already by Khonshu and also chances are Steven may be ooc, I'm still trying to get used to writing him!

IMPORTANT NOTE: DID is not a personality disorder, therefore I will not treat Marc or Steven as personalities. They are individual identities with their own lives. As I write this, I will do my best to make sure the DID community is fairly represented and that both Steven and Marc are respected. And if you also want to write for Moon Knight, please research DID before writing. Sensitivity readers exist, ask questions, LEARN. If you aren't willing to do so, Moon Knight isn't for you <3

a big thank you to @b6cky for answering my questions and providing me with good links! this might not exist if not for her!

In the time of Pharaohs and Gods, there was a Pharaoh who loved his wife so dearly, that he had once said the sun only rose for her, and though she died long before he did, his heart still belonged to her. He may have married others, kept the line of Egypt strong and powerful, but his heart was as heavy as the largest statue made of solid gold without her. It's a tale of true love that withstood a thousand lifetimes and yet, such love no longer exists. At least that's what Millie believed as soon as she had the misfortune of meeting Marc Spector, a fellow vigilante and a known asshole when it comes down to it.

He's not a bad man, don't mistake her disdain for him as his admission of guilt. He's not entirely a bad man, as most vigilantes dance the line of good and bad, but he certainly isn't an easy man to know. And even less an easier man to love. She doesn't know how Layla did it for as long as she had before their divorce, but the mere fact she stuck around as long as she did was amazing. One minute in a room with him and they would be arguing if it were Millie.

Still, when he disappeared, she went after him and even though every part of her says to forget him, to forget everything, she followed him. Now, in London, standing in the gift shop of a museum, she's confused.

It's Marc, alright, except it's not. He's squirrely, for one, and wears a nametag that reads 'Steven'. It's not Marc and yet it is.

"Hi, may I help you?" He wrings his hands nervously, watching her eye the mugs and the Ennead poster. He speaks with a jarring British accent. Definitely not Marc.

"There are nine gods in the Ennead," she mutters, more so to herself than to him, but his expression brightens. "I'm sorry, Steven, is it? I've never been to London before. The museum is just about the only familiar place I know."

He nods, following her gaze to the poster. "Oh! Well, I'd love to show you around but I'm just a gift shop-ist... I can show you around the misspelled mugs and whatnot?"

It's odd, she thinks. Extremely odd. She's staring at Marc's face but everything else about him is Steven. She wants to ask if he knows Marc, perhaps Marc has a twin? He would've said so if he knew he had a twin, and even if he didn't, there was hardly s thing Marc wasn't aware about.

"Do you know someone named Marc?" The words fly out her mouth before she can stop them and he sends her a funny look, a mix between confusion and pure surprise. "I'm sorry—I shouldn't have asked such a thing! I just met you, duh! I promise I don't go around asking strangers if they know my friend."

Friend. Liar. She's a liar. He's not a friend. He puts duty to Khonshu above all else, except for Layla. It was always Layla. But some part of her wishes she was.

"How do you know that name?" He asks, speaking as quietly as he can as if afraid someone might overhear him. "I've been hearing these things, yeah? And one of them called me Marc, do you know him?"

"I don't think this is something I should be saying," she shakes her head, "you just look a lot alike, I guess... My mistake..."

She turns to leave but then he grabs her arm, both right and gentle with his grip.

"Please," he whispers, as if he'd lost days and nights trying to figure out why this was happening to him of all people. He doesn't understand and she must be the key to unlocking everything. After all, he's just a gift shop-ist.

"I'm Millie, short for Millicent," she sticks her hand out to him, "I'd like to help you, Steven, but to do that we must get acquainted first!"

"H-Hi, Millie," he responds quietly, bewildered, "you'll help me then, yeah...?"

"I'll do my best, Steven. I really will."

But how can she help him? How can she help him when he doesn't know what he needs help with? She couldn't even help herself after Marc left the way he did and now she's offering to help a man who looks exactly like him? She always was one to bite off more than she can chew.

—

Millie looks at herself in the mirror, wearing a tank top and sweatpants instead of the usual long sleeves. The tattoos of the gods peer beyond her clothing at her, like prying beasts asking her why she offered to help Steven.

"He does not know you," behind her, a tall beastly thing stands. His head is the skull of a ram, horns curled and dangerous. His massive size makes him intimidating, if he were not known as the Divine Potter.

"Oh, shut up, Khnum. I can see that. I'm not blind." She retorts, lips pursed into a thin line. "You're the Divine Potter, can't you explain why he's Marc but not? I don't understand and he clearly doesn't either."

Khnum tilts his head slowly, as if his mind had already wandered into creating the next creature. "Must you know what's wrong to help him? Or can you simply help him by being there?"

"I'm talking to a nine foot tall god wearing nothing but bandages and a sad excuse for a robe, I think we both need help." She shakes her head, throwing herself onto her couch. "Are you basically saying I just need to befriend him to help him? Can you tell that he's lonely?"

"The Greeks were not wrong to say that mankind was eventually separated from their soulmates, from their other halves," he says simply, tone sounding bored almost, "he is different. He is not like you, but you are like him. Lost, confused and alone. I am no fool, so you would be wise to accept this fact."

His words leave an unsettling truth in the pit of her heart. Their circumstances may be different, but if she were not meant to know Steven, she would not be here. Khnum would not have led her here if there was nothing for her here.

[robinofgothamcity]

♡ "the next time i see you, it'll be in hell" / "you're the best thing that's ever happened to me"

♡ pairing: connor kent (superboy/RotS) x fem! reader

♡ note: not checked for grammar or spelling mistakes / i was listening to 'esa hembra es mala' by gloria trevi so if you do speak spanish, that's a song rec while you read this fic. if you don't, listen to 'hermit the frog' by marina instead!

"connor please, you're giving ME a headache and it's only seven in the morning," his friend, jake, spoke as his hands covered his face, "wait, shut up, who is that?" connor asked, seeing you with a few friends.

jake sighed, "that's ( your name )," he spoke softly, "she's friends with everyone here. some like her, some can't stand her. it all depends on how she feels with you." you were schools resident 'popular' girl and had a bit of a following among your class.

"i'm gonna go talk to her," connor said. his friends eyes widened, "connor no!" jake screamed, grabbing his friend and pulling him back, "she's a complete bitch, don't do it!" jake exclaimed as he could tell that everything he was saying was going over connor's head.

you fixed the newspaper that had superboy's face plastered on the cover, "i just think that superboy could beat robin if i'm being honest. PLUS he's attractive because you can actually see his face," the day old conversation between you and your friends about who was the better sidekick struck up again and anyone who knew you knew how much you adored superboy.

"hey ladies," you turned to look at the boy, confused on who he was as you had never seen him around school. you gave him a small smile, "uh, hi?" you asked, "do i know you?"

the boy who approached you was wearing sunglasses which threw you off considering your school didn't allow anyone to wear them inside the building. you looked to his other friend, recognizing him as someone you had in your Calc class.

"just wanted to introduce myself, i'm connor," he said, giving you a sly smirk. you shook his hand, half awkwardly, "please i'm ( your name )," you replied as you saw the way connor gave jake a wink, "is there something you wanted or?" you asked again, not knowing why he was still here.

"no, just wanted to say hi to my future girlfriend," you let out a laugh, catching everyone off guard, "please, as if," you replied as you grabbed your friends and walked away, kind of taken back by the new boy.

"he was kinda cute," one of your friends said as you rolled your eyes, "uh, not really? kinda weird if you ask me," you replied, looking down at the newspaper, "well, i'm going to class, see ya," you said, walked towards your AP Lit class.

you sat down in the front, immediately talking to the friends you had in the class. it wasn't even five minutes later when connor entered the class, immediately smirking when he saw you. you growled, instantly annoyed at his expression.

"ah, so you've met the resident new boy?" you nodded as your friend giggled, "he's really nice. made more than a friends already," she said as you shrugged, "okay and? he had a lot of nerve coming up to me and telling me i'd be his future girlfriend," you replied.

she let out a belting laugh, "yeah, he told meghan from fifth period the same thing," you saw connor walking up to your desk and before he could make himself comfortable next to you, you instantly put your leg on the chair, "don't even think about it," you said, not even looking at him, "the desk in the back is available though," you smirked as you watched your teacher roll her eyes at your attitude.

connor bent down to your level, "don't gotta be so hostile, sweetheart, i know you like me," he whispered before getting up and leaving.

your friend, looked at you, laughing at disbelief at both of your attitudes. you rolled your eyes, trying to pay attention to the discussion as you could feel connor's eyes on you almost the entire time.

+

throughout the weeks and going into months, your relationship with connor didn't change. he arguably became the biggest pain your ass from the beginning of the day until the final bell rang. he managed to befriend a few of your friends which meant that you were around him at times.

you sipped your coffee as you were reading the newest article on superboy, "ah, ah, ah, what do we have here?" connor asked, taking the magazine from your hand, "superboy fan, huh?" he scanned the cover, a smug smirk coming onto his face as you snatched the magazine back.

"yeah, someone who's actually useful in life," you replied as he walked with you to your locker. he had never saw the inside of it and taken back by the amount of photos you had....of him, "aww, don't be that way, sweetheart! maybe one day superboy will actually give you a chance," he joked.

your annoyance instantly shot up as you slammed your locker and walking away, "see ya later sweetie!" he screamed. you stopped in the middle of the hall and flicked him off, "the next time i'll see you, it'll be in hell!" you yelled, storming off to class.

you walked into class, sitting down as your friend, henry, walked up to you, "hey babe," he said, a warm feeling crossing your face at the term of endearment, "hey henry, what're you up to?" you asked, seeing him looking at you, a bit nervously now.

"i was wondering if you were free-," before henry could say anything else, connor walked up behind him and tapping him on the shoulder. he had heard the conversation between the two of you and knew exactly where it was heading, "uh, she's not interested, better luck next time," connor stated, surprising henry with his sudden angry attitude.

henry knowing he didn't want to risk the chance of getting his ass kicked walked away from the conversation as you stared at connor with rage in your eyes, "what do you want?" you seethed as you saw connor's smirk playing on his face, "you weren't actually entertaining him, were you?" he asked in disbelief, "i literally hate you with every ounce of my being," you blurted, finally sick of connor's attitude.

his mouth hung open as you got up from the desk, "do me a favor and PLEASE leave me alone, that's all i ask," you stated as you walked out of class and deciding to ditch for the rest of the day.

"told you she was gonna blow up," jake informed as he sat down in his seat, connor still standing in place, taking in everything you had said. he knew he was being a bit of an ass but he didn't know you were that angry with him.

connor knew he had to make this up. he genuinely did like you and he didn't want to ruin his chances with you because of his shitty attitude. throughout the class period, he picked his brain for ideas until sirens went off in his head.

SUPERBOY.

he knew you were practically in love with his alter ego and he knew he could use superboy as a way to persuade you into giving him another chance. that is if he played his cards right.

+

you reluctantly showed up the next day, trying to avoid connor as best as you could. you were talking with a few friends, gossiping about the fight that superboy and robin had against a few low level villains in metropolis last night.

"hey, look at connor," jake whispered, seeing his friend practically beat up. you were taken back by his appearance as he had a few bruises on his arms and legs, "are you okay?" jake asked connor.

connor shook his head slowly, his body still recovering from the night before, "what were yall talking about?" he asked, trying to redirect the conversation. everyone looked to you, "someone was gushing about superboy, so please, if you'd continue," meghan said playfully.

"oh shut up, like you don't have robin posters all over your room," you retorted as you watched connor struggling to stay upright, "all i'm saying is that superboy remains the best sidekick there is. did you see the way he walked out of that fight scratchless and look at robin, he nearly died," you continued.

meghan instantly retorted as you noticed how eerily silent connor had became. you turned over to him, about to say something sarcastic towards him until he flopped on top of you, passing out completely. you looked down at him, "connor?" you whispered, "hey connor, wake up," you whispered, shaking him a bit.

"take him to the nurse!" jake yelled at you as you grabbed connor by the arm and pulling him against you, "fuck off, he's heavy as hell," you breathed, trying to steady his weight against you before walking slowly towards the nurse.

you made the walk to the nurse but by the time you made it, connor had woken up, "don't take me to the nurse, please," he whispered, "what are you talking about?" you exclaimed, "you clearly aren't okay and you don't look okay either," you added on.

he steered the two of you to the family bathroom and grabbed the first aid kit, "clean me up here, i really don't want to be questioned right now," he said, nothing cocky or playful in his voice. you sat him on the toilet, bending down to clean his face first, "hey, is everything okay....you know at home?" you asked.

he laughed, shaking his head, "these injuries aren't from my guardians if that's what you're wondering. i kinda got into a fight last night," you stared at him confused, "did you lose or something? these injuries look horrible," you replied.

"course i did, just took a nasty beating before i won," he said as he flinched at the rubbing alcohol hitting his arm. you muttered a sorry as you put a band-aid on a few of his cuts, "listen, i wanted to say sorry for acting like a prick," connor muttered a few minutes later.

you were taken back by his apology, "i knew i was being an ass but please don't take this as me joking but you're actually the best thing that's happened to me since i transferred," you remained silent, not knowing to respond as you put the last band-aid on his knee.

"and if i could have a second chance, that would be super dope, ya know?" he tried to say without sounding nervous, "you better not be joking, kent," you threatened, putting your finger on his chest and shoving him a bit.

connor flinched back in pain as you muttered a sorry, "i'm not joking, i'd really like to take you out for coffee sometime," he asked as he grabbed your hand and gave it a kiss. you agreed as you responded with a kiss on his cheek, "also, i had this lying around my room and figured you'd like it more than i would," he dug into his backpack and gave you a magazine.

your eyes widen seeing what it was. it was the magazine that superboy first appeared in and you had analyzed a few signatures of his to know that it was his signature on the front, "did superboy sign this?" you practically tried to contain your excitement as you ran your finger over the sharpie.

connor nodded, "i met him one time after he saved a few people in metropolis last year and got him to sign the magazine. i figured since you like hm a lot more than i do, you'd take care of it better than i would," overwhelmed with excitement, you grabbed connor by the neck and kissed him.

connor was taken back by the sudden kiss but awkwardly responded with another kiss as you held the magazine close to your chest, "i can't thank you enough for this connor," you whispered, your lips still on his a bit. he chuckled, "just meet me at the coffee shop near the school and that'll suffice," he replied, giving you another kiss before slowly getting up.

"now lets get to our second period before we get marked truant again," he grabbed your hand and held it as softly as possible, "you know how much shit our friends are gonna give us, right?" you said, laughing a bit. connor nodded, "nothing we can't handle," he replied as he squeezed your hand in reassurance.

[thinkingisadangerouspastime]

(pt 1) i really enjoy all your atla analyses & you've done a great job breaking down the usual arguments re how eip shows that kataang shouldn't have happened. i'm curious about your take on one specific argument that i just saw today, in an analysis of the show by a zker that was otherwise quite good and respectful (i know you've already talked about eip a lot, so no problem if you don't feel like rehashing). the premise: aang didn't just pressure katara in eip, he threatened her.

(pt 2) they point to when katara joins aang & asks if he’s alright: “aang: no, i’m not! i hate this play! katara: i know it’s upsetting, but it sounds like you’re overreacting. aang: overreacting? if i hadn’t blocked my chakra, i’d probably be in the avatar state right now!” the suggestion is he’s threatening her when he says ‘i’d probably be in the avatar state right now’ to describe his anger. i think this take exaggerates and oversimplifies it, but interested in your thoughts on it.

Hello my friend!! It is true I am Old inside and don’t like rehashing dhdlksjslks BUT your comments on my posts are always incredibly kind and insightful so I am more than willing to do a bit of rehashing for you 🥰 Besides! I’ve seen this general take before a few times and it’s always irked me for the exact reason you point out - it simultaneously exaggerates and oversimplifies the situation (and honestly that’s an impressive duality since it’s seemingly contradictory, so hats off to them lmaooo) - and now is as good a time as any to address it. So, for starters, let’s go ahead and get the excerpt they love to focus on so much:

Cut to Aang standing alone on a balcony. Katara enters and walks up to him.

Katara: Are you all right?

Aang: [Angered.] No, I’m not! I hate this play! [Yanks his hat off and throws it on the ground.]

Katara: I know it’s upsetting, but it sounds like you’re overreacting.

Aang: Overreacting? If I hadn’t blocked my chakra, I’d probably be in the Avatar State right now!

Here’s the thing about so-called analyses of this excerpt: in a manner extremely convenient to the poster, they never seek to contextualize this moment. (I mean, to do so would deplatform their entire “argument” - perhaps that’s why they avoid performing a full analysis?) So let’s avoid that pitfall from the start.

Firstly, below are some links to related posts; I’m going to do my best to summarize the most relevant parts, but for anyone who desires greater detail, I gotchu 😤

This post explains why EIP (the play, lol) is imperialist propaganda and is intended to belittle the entire Gaang.

This post explains how Aang never acted “entitled” to Katara’s affections, particularly in regard to EIP.

This post breaks down the infamous EIP kiss like Snopes Fact Checker, covering common misconceptions, important perspectives to consider, etc.

Alright. With that out the way, it’s time for some context.

Aang and Katara have this conversation on the balcony after watching 95% of “The Boy in the Iceberg,” a play chock-full of Fire Nation propaganda that demeans the entire Gaang in order to prop up the Fire Nation as superior (hence why the play ends with Ozai’s victory). Here is my general breakdown of Aang and Katara’s treatment in particular from a previous post:

- katara, an indigenous woman, is highly sexualized and portrayed as overly dramatic and tearful, because the fire nation objectifies women not of their own people and views them as less intelligent and less emotionally stable

- aang, the avatar, the sole survivor of the fire nation’s genocide of the air nomads who is incredibly in-touch with his spirituality and femininity, is portrayed as an overly-airy and immature woman. the fire nation portrays him with a female actor to demean him (like, that’s classic imperialistic propagandist tactics) and furthermore writing his character as a childish airhead reinforces the fire nation sentiment that the air nomads were weak, foolish people who did not deserve to exist in their world

In other words, these kids have just watched almost an entire play that preys upon their insecurities and depicts them using racist and sexist stereotypes about their respective nations. It is completely understandable that tensions might run a little high and that their interactions would not be as balanced as usual (Katara and Aang have a great track record of communicating well with each other, as it happens!).

So we have to keep that in mind when examining the aforementioned excerpt. But there are other factors to consider, too! Namely: they are kids. Children. Teens. Aang is 12, Katara is 14.

If we want to be scientific, a person’s brain doesn’t finish developing until they are 25, lmao, and the preteen/teen years are when the prefrontal cortex that controls “rationality,” “judgement,” “forethought,” etc. is still developing. This doesn’t mean Aang and Katara are irrational and make poor decisions 24/7 (obviously not), but it does mean that in an intense, highly emotional situation, like after watching a play that intentionally demeans them and depicts them as inferior, they are more likely to overreact, more likely to be emotional, and more likely to make mistakes. Like, I’m serious, lol. “Teens process information with the amygdala.” That’s part of the brain that helps control emotions! It’s why teens sometimes struggle to articulate what we’re thinking, especially in situations that require instinct/impulse and quick decisions, because we’re really feeling whenever we make those choices. Acting more on emotion. Our brains simply haven’t finished developing the decision-making parts, lmao.

In sum: Aang and Katara are both kids, not adults, and should be interpreted as such. This doesn’t negate their intelligence, because they are both incredibly smart and Aang is arguably the wisest of the Gaang, but they are human. Young humans. They have emotions, and we should not be so cruel as to assume they’d never act on them.

So taking that all together, we can now acknowledge the high stress Aang and Katara are under, understand why they might be upset (*cough* imperialist propaganda is hurtful *cough*), and examine how their youth might play into their emotional reactions. And funny thing - all analyses that come to the conclusion of Aang “threatening” Katara here do not usually bother with this context. I can’t imagine why!

And you know what, let’s add one more piece of context: Sokka states that Aang left the theater “like, ten minutes ago,” which is what cues Katara to go look for him on the balcony. The reason I mention this line is because to me, it suggests Aang knew he was more worked up than usual! He chose to separate himself from his friends so he could process his frustration! He did not take his anger at the play out on them; instead, he purposefully took time and space to be alone.

With that in mind, I don’t understand at all how Aang’s Avatar state quote could be interpreted as a threat? Canonly, Aang is someone who was aware enough of his frustration to separate himself from the others - yet the logical next step is him threatening Katara as a result? He knew his intense emotions were because of the play (which he says himself), so the logical conclusion is that he then pinned the fault on Katara? What?? Sorry, that interpretation has no textual basis, lmao. But I digress!

Aang tells Katara, “If I hadn’t blocked my chakra, I’d probably be in the Avatar State right now!” As you said, this is the line people point to in an attempt to justify their (baseless) conclusion that Aang is “threatening” Katara. So let’s bring in the two key pieces of context: imperialist propaganda and age. Given that Aang is 12, and given that Aang has just watched almost a full play that demeans him and everything his people stood for (and let’s not forget it also mocks his and Katara’s love for each other)…

His reaction is understandable. An exaggeration and needlessly dramatic, but understandable. He feels vulnerable and insecure and Aang is human. He is human and flawed and he overreacts here and I love that A:TLA shows how even our heroes, even people who are truly good at heart and in soul, can get overly upset (especially given the aforementioned circumstances!). Would Aang actually be in the Avatar state at that moment, had it been possible? Of course not! He’s young and he’s hurt and as such he says something dramatic to convey his anxieties and frustrations. The line is not meant to be taken literally, and seeing people do so despite all the factors that should be taken into consideration when analyzing it… Cue a long, tired sigh from me and so many other A:TLA fans.

And to be honest? I cannot fathom how people watch this episode and come to the conclusion that Aang is “threatening” Katara. To me, this episode - besides being a recap episode - is one that humanizes our cast even further. Aang snaps at Katara, kisses her when he shouldn’t (which the story appropriately treats as wrong). Katara pushes down her true feelings and retreats into herself, afraid to start a relationship with the boy she loves because she’s already lost him once before and can’t bear to do so again. Zuko further confronts the hurt he’s enacted upon others, especially upon Iroh. Toph practices being vulnerable and accepting vulnerability from others by conversing with Zuko. Sokka witnesses how others have erased his contributions and labelled him as nothing more than the token nonbender in the group. Even Suki learns that she is not the only person who holds a place in Sokka’s heart and that she can never replace what he has lost.

To watch this episode where our heroes must come to terms with how the Fire Nation deems them inherently inferior, with how they have more fights to overcome in the future with the Fire Nation than a single war, and to come to the conclusion that… that what, Aang is abusive? A monster? Irredeemable? That he would threaten his best friend, someone he loves in every way?

Wow. That says more than enough about the viewer, doesn’t it?

[jaycewrites-192000]

Growl: Chapter 5

Warnings: None

Tags: @theravencawsatmidnight @etroman

Your P.O.V

I wasn't really feeling class today, well at least one of them, and the worst on in my opinion. So I decided to hide out in the gym, none of the team would be there this early in the day so it was perfect. I walked into the gym, not expecting to see Kyotani, he was practicing alone. "W-what are you doing here?" I curse myself for shuttering like I did. Kyotani turned to me, the same angry expression on his face. "Didn't feel like going to class." He tells me before going back to what he was doing. "Oh, guess the same goes for me." I say as I stepped into the gym and closing the door. "Do you want me to pass you a few?" I might as well do something while I hide from class. "Sure." Kyotani tossed me the volleyball, much lighter than he normally would. I was sure it would knock the wind out of me as well as break a rib if he threw it at his normal speed.

I try my best to remember how to properly serve a volleyball, but while doing so I mess up, and the ball went lopsided and way off track. Kyotani chuckled before picking up the ball. "Sorry..." I rub the back of my neck. 'His laugh is cute...' I think, feeling my cheeks turn red. "I never even touched a volleyball until recently. Maybe you can show me how it's done? But like, not the whole slapping the air out of the ball." I giggle. "Right. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it." Kyotani holds the ball up. "Watch carefully." He tosses the ball up and hits it over the net as soon as it was in line with his hand. After a few more tries, I finally got it down. "Whoa! I actually did it!" Why did I get so hyped about that? It's just a ball and a net. But, it felt strangely rewarding. I turned to Kyotani, who's harden expression lightened a bit. I suddenly felt the awkwardness close in. "So uh, why did you skip class?" I asked. Kyotani shrugged. "Just didn't feel like going. What about you?"

"I didn't like the class I had. It was really boring." I tell him. Kyotani hummed in response. God I hate this, don't kill the conversation you idiot! Say something, anything! "Do you have a dog? I remember you said you liked them?" I question. "Shiba. His name is Killer." Well, I was wrong about the intimidating dog part, by the name makes up for it. "I wish I had a dog. My mom doesn't really allow dogs in our house, she says they make things messy." Kyotani looked less than pleased by that, I couldn't blame him. Dogs did make things messy sometimes but everything else about them made up for it. "You...you can come over to my place, to see my dog that is...If you want." Kyotani murmurs. I could have sworn I saw a tiny blush on his face. My heart did a flip. "O-ok! That sounds nice." I smile. The sound of the bell interrupted the nice moment we were having. With a sigh I grab my bag. "I should get going. I have class with Iwaizumi next." Kyotani nods. "I wouldn't make him angry if I were you." He says. "Right? He'll have my head if he finds out I'm skipping." I laugh. "Well, uh-"

"I'll come get you after class." Kyotani cuts me off. I smile softly and nod. "Ok, I'll be waiting." With that, I left the gym. The entire walk to class I couldn't stop thinking about Kyotani. My heart just wouldn't stop thumping. "I can't believe I have a crush on him."

"Have a crush on who L/n-Chan~?"

"Ah! Shittykawa don't sneak up on me like that!" I snap. "And I don't have a crush on anyone, dummy." I mutter. "That's a lie! Come on, tell me! Tell me, tell me, tell meeeee!"

"No! Shut up!"

"Oh wait! L/n-Chan~.Could it be you have feelings for me after all?" Oikawa smirks.

"Not if your life depended on it." I growl. "Now leave me alone or I'll have Iwaizumi beat your ass." I walked into class. "Keep lying to yourself L/n-Chan. You can't hide from your true feelings!"

"Iwaizumi!!"

"No wait, I take it back! I take it back!!"

Normal P.O.V

You waited by the school gates for Kyotani, still your heart was beating wildly at the thought of walking with him to his home. While it was a nice feeling, the feeling of liking someone, it was also scary. You weren't sure if this was such a good idea deep down, sure you've had crushes when you were a kid, but never on this level. What if he didn't feel the same? You would end up getting your hopes up just for your heart to be broken. What was it about Kyotani that made you want to chase this feeling? You've only known him for a little while, and yet you've fallen for him. "I guess I'll find out." You say aloud. "Find out what?" You turn to see Kyotani, his school bag slung over his shoulder. "Uh, find out how I'm going to convince my mom to let me get a dog." You lie. He seemed to have bought it, as he didn't press you further. Oikawa could learn a lot from him. "You ready?" He asks. "Yep." You smile walking beside him. Once again, the walk was silent. You didn't know what to say, your mind was swarming with different thoughts, you couldn't focus on just one. You stole a few glances from Kyotani, handsome as always. And like always, you couldn't tell what was on his mind. It was like he was annoyed by everything all the time, why was he always so on edge? So angry?

"You know." You started. "The first time I saw you, I thought you were going to murder me." Kyotani glances at you curiously. "You looked so furious that I bumped into you, and...you growled? What was up with that?" You asked. "...I do that sometimes...a bad habit." He says under his breath. "Oh. Well, I guess it fits your nickname. Mad Dog." Kyotani nods. "Yeah. Guess so." You look up and notice the way you two were walking. "Hey, I live by here." You say. "Just a few houses down."

"Oh yeah? I live just down the street from there. Guess we lived close to each other this whole time." Kyotani shrugs. "I wonder why I never saw you."

"Yeah same."

Fuck this was awkward.

Your P.O.V

We made it there sooner than we thought, thank god. Kyotani was right, he only lived a short way away from me. "We're here." Kyotani takes out his keys unlocking his door before stepping in. "My mom won't be back until later today." I followed in after him and took a second to admire the interior of the house. It was pretty decent. Not less than a second later, I heard the sound of rapid tapping. It was getting closer and closer. Barking followed my ears as a shiba dog ran up to me. I braced myself invade he would pounce on me, but instead he just stood before me and wagged his tail. He barked again, wanting my attention. "Take it easy Killer." Kyotani pet his head. Killer licked Kyotani's hand a few times and barked again. "This is Killer? But he's so sweet!" I crouched down to his height. Killer sniffed at my hand before licking it. "Don't let that fool you. Killer can be a cold blooded canine." I couldn't tell if he was joking or not, either way, this dog was adorable. "Aw, who's a cute little beast? Huh?" I pet his fluffy cheeks, Killer barks in response as if he were answering me. "Yeah! It's you boy!" I giggle.

Normal P.O.V

Kyotani watches as you continue to fawn over his dog. He had to admit. It was pretty cute...but really he meant you were pretty cute. And it was weird. Not weird that you were pretty cute. Weird because, he's never cared enough to think of someone as pretty or cute. "So uh, since you're here, you wanna like, do something? I invited you over after all." Kyotani puts his hands in his pockets and leaned against the wall. You look up from Killer. "Oh uh, sure." You stand back up and straighten out your skirt. "What did you have in mind?"

"Follow me." Kyotani walks further into the house and up the stairs, you and Killer followed. He lead you to his room, inside, was exactly what you thought it would look like. There were some pink posters here and there, his bed was a little messy, and was that a bass guitar in the corner of his room? "You play bass?" You questioned. "Yeah, occasionally." Kyotani walked over to his desk and played some music, it was a little loud from the last time he played it. He turned it down enough for you both continue talking. Kyotani then went to his bed and flopped down on it, his arms behind his head. Killer jumped on his bed and laid down. "Come on, stop standing there and sit down."

"O-oh right." You walked over to his bed and sat next to him. "Sorry for being so weird. I just, never thought that you would be so opened to me. I really thought you hated me." Kyotani kept his eyes on the ceiling. "I abs not opened up to you. Trust me." He eyed you. "And I didn't hate you, but yeah, this is a little weird. I didn't think I would befriend you this easily. I don't do that often, as you can imagine."

"What about the guys on the team?" You asked. "I tolerate them." Kyotani mutters, his face scrunched up in disgust. You giggled. "So you must really tolerate me to let me into your home, huh?" Kyotani turns his head away from you, he was silent for a moment before letting out a quiet. "Sure." You smile softly and leaned back until you were laying in your back like him. "So I've been wondering. Why do you respect Iwaizumi so much? Other than him just being your senior. He's not even the captain, and yet you listen to him more than Oikawa."

"Iwaizumi...he's cool I guess. He's good at a lot of things, he proved it to me when I challenged him." He answers. "And Oikawa is just stupid."

"Couldn't agree more!" You laugh. Kyotani laughed along with you. You turn your head towards him. "You're pretty cool to, Kyotani." Kyotani clicked his tongue. "Whatever. I should be saying that to you, you're my senior too you know?" You chuckled. "Yeah but, I haven't done anything that special. I hand out towels, and you play a sport. And you play it well too."

Kyotani finally met your gaze, all seriousness present in his eyes. "If we didn't have you, our team would be a hot mess. You're like...the team mom I guess? You keep everything in check, and that's pretty cool." You felt your cheeks turn red. "O-oh. Thanks Kyotani." You stutter. "I mean it. Thanks for being out manager L/n." There it goes again, your heart beat getting louder. It was driving you crazy. Not to mention you both were only a few inches apart, you could really see every detail of Kyotani's face. His intense golden eyes, his flawless tan skin, his perfect jawline. He wasn't just looks either. In this moment, he made you feel really special. When you first met him, you never thought that he could be this nice to someone. It was like everything about him was so...perfect.

"Kyotani..." You say softly, leaning ever so closer to him. You watched him carefully, making sure he was comfortable with what you were doing. It seemed so, as he didn't pull away from you. Just as your lips were about to brush against his own, the door to his room opened. "Kentaro, I thought I told you to take out the trash while I was gone-Oh!" A older woman who resembled Kyotani was standing in the doorway. You and Kyotani both sat up quickly. "My my, is this a new friend of yours?" The woman smirked.

"Ma!" Kyotani yelled. "I told you know before coming into my room!" His face was bright red. "Oh hush. Introduce this young lady." Kyotani rolled his eyes. "She's my senior, L/n Y/n." He mutters. "Nice to meet you young lady." Kyotani's mom smiles. "You call me Kaori."

"N-nice to meet you too." You nod. "I'm so glad my son actually made a friend, and your so pretty too! Proud of ya boy!" Kaori laughs. "I swear to god..." Kyotani murmurs. "How would you like to stay for dinner Y/n?"

"Oh, that sounds nice but, my mother is expecting me to be home tonight. Maybe next time?" Kaori gives you a thumbs up. "Sounds like a plan. Don't forget to invite her over next time Kentaro. And walk her home, it's getting late."

"Yeah yeah. Sure." Kyotani gets up. You followed Kyotani out of his room, his mom silently cheering her son on.

Kyotani had walked you home, which was only a short way from his own home. "I had a good time. Thanks again Kyotani." You give him a soft smile. "Yeah. It was problem. And sorry about my mom she can be really pushy, you don't have to come over again if you don't want to." You shook your head. "No it's fine. I'd like to come over again, uh if that's ok with you of course."

"It's cool with me." Kyotani said with a slight nod. "Sounds like a plan then. Well, I'll see you later. Goodnight."

"Night."

You waved before walking into your home. You sighed heavily as you lean back against the door. "Holy shit, I'm in love..."

Previous | Next

[thewidowsghost]

Fox - Chapter 58

Previously on Fox:

Natasha gazes up at (Y/n) fondly, blinking drowsily, her eyes are full of a soft affection. She smiles and rests her head back on (Y/n)'s chest, letting her eyes close again.

The two remain like this for a few more minutes until Natasha lifts her head again. "Is that waffles I smell?" Natasha asks, the drowsiness leaving her.

(Y/n) fixes a loving gaze on her redhead, and Natasha flushes at the sheer affection in her wife's (E/c) eyes.

"Yes, I made breakfast," (Y/n) says and Natasha grins, nuzzling her wife's cheek with her nose.

"I love when you make breakfast," Natasha says, rising from rolling off the bed, landing on her face.

(Y/n) blinks, confusedly, shifting over on the bed to gaze at her wife lying motionless on the floor.

"Um, are you okay?" (Y/n) asks, her eyes wide with concern.

Natasha jumps up from the floor and all but sprints out of the room and down the stairs.

(Y/n) chuckles, sliding out of the bed to follow Natasha.

3rd Person POV

"What are you thinking?" Pepper Potts asks as she and (Y/n) walk into Tony's basement lab.

"Hey, I'm thinking I'm busy," Tony replies, turning away from the two women. "And you're angry about something. Do you have the sniffles?" He asks Pepper. "I don't wanna get sick."

"Did you just donate . . . " Pepper begins but Tony cuts her off.

"Keep your business," Tony says.

" . . . our entire modern art collection to the . . . "

"Boy Scouts of America," Tony finishes.

". . . the Boy Scouts of America?" Pepper questions.

"Yes, it is a worthwhile organization," Tony says. "I didn't physically check the crates but, basically, yes."

(Y/n) and Pepper follow the eccentric billionaire around the lab, (Y/n)'s eyes rolling in exasperation.

"And it's not 'our' collection, it's my collection," Tony says.

"Actually, I think Pep can call it 'our' collection because she's spent over a decade putting it together," (Y/n) says, her gaze resting on her father.

"It was a tax write-off," Tony says. "I needed that."

"You know, there's only about eight thousand eleven things that I really need to talk to you about," Pepper goes on, both women moving to follow Tony around the lab.

"Dummy. Hey." Tony knocks on the robotic arm. "Hey, stop spacing out. The Bridgeport's already machining that part."

"The Expo is a gigantic waste of time," Pepper tells Tony, her nose stuffy.

"I need you to wear a surgical mask until you're feeling better," Tony says, placing his hands on Pepper's shoulders. "Is that okay?"

"Dad, that's rude," (Y/n) scolds, furrowing her eyebrows.

"There's nothing more important to me than the Expo," Tony says. "It's my primary point of concern." Tony continues walking down the path through the desks, computer monitors, and filing cabinets. "I don't know . . ."

"Dad, even I'll admit that it's our egos blown straight out of proportion," (Y/n) says and Tony glances at his daughter, shrugging in apparent disagreement.

"Wow, look at that," Tony says, finding an Iron Man poster.

"That's modern art. That's going up," Tony continues.

"Oh, no," (Y/n) rests her head in her hand in exasperation.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding," Pepper says, closing her eyes.

"I regret getting him that now," (Y/n) mutters, watching as her father crosses the room to where another piece of art is hanging.

"Stark is in complete disarray," Pepper continues, the two women following the billionaire. "You understand that?"

"No. Our stocks have never been higher," Tony retorts.

"Yes, from a managerial standpoint," Pepper argues.

"You are . . ."

"Well, if it's messy, then let's double back," Tony says.

"Let me give you an example," Pepper says, and (Y/n) decides to drop out of the conversation for a moment, letting the two older adults talk about Stark Industries.

"Let's move onto another subject," Tony goes on.

"Oh, no, no, no, no," Pepper scolds, you are not talking down the Barrett Newman and hanging that up!"

"I'm not taking it down. I'm just replacing it with this," Tony replies.

Let's see what I can get going here," Tony says, pulling one of the paintings off the wall and replacing it with the Iron Man poster.

(Y/n) kind of zones out but then she hears, "Pepper, you're not listening to me! I'm trying to make you CEO."

. . .

"The notary's here!" Pepper calls, walking into Tony's gym. "Can you please come sign the transfer paperwork?"

"I'm on happy time," Tony says from inside the ring with Happy.

"Sorry," Tony says unapologeticly as he punches Happy in the face. "It's called mixed martial arts. It's been around fro three weeks."

"It's called dirty boxing," Happy retorts. "There's nothing new about it."

"All right, put them up," Tony tells Happy. "Come on."

A woman with dark red - almost brown - hair and a Norwegian Elkhound trotting at her side, wagging her tail happily.

Happy's eyes flick over to the doorway and Tony looks as well, both men seemingly entranced by the woman.

The woman's eyes rest on Tony momentarily and the husky nudges her with her jet black nose. The woman spares a glance at the dog and a slight smile twitches on her lips.

"I promise you this is the only time I will ask you to sign over your company," Pepper says and the woman and husky walk down the stairs.

The dark red haired woman walks over to Pepper, the husky sitting beside her. The woman opens a binder, showing to Pepper.

"I need you to initial each box," the dark haired woman says softly, handing Pepper a pen.

The dark haired woman's emerald orbs widen with exasperation as Tony Stark kicks Happy into one of the pillars. The husky lets out a single yip and nudges the woman.

"That's it, I'm done," Happy says, his eyes narrowing angrily.

"Hey! What's your name, lady?" Tony asks, turning and pointing at the woman.

"Rushman. Natalie Rushman," the woman replies.

"Front and center," Tony tells the woman. "Come into the church."

"No. You're not seriously gonna ask . . ." Pepper trails off.

"If it pleases the court, which it does," Tony says.

"It's no problem," Natalie says, closing the binder and smiling at Pepper.

"I'm sorry," Pepper tells the shorter woman. "He's very eccentric."

"Cinder," Natalie says and the husky looks up. "Sit."

Cinder sits, her tail brushing the floor as she wags her tail.

The dog watches her owner, her ears pricked, but she relaxes when Pepper strokes her ears.

. . .

Natalie walks down the hall, Cinder padding after her, her tail still wagging.

(Y/n) morphs back into once they get in Natasha's car, and the woman smiles bemusedly at her wife.

"Had fun?" (Y/n) asks Natasha as they drive away.

"Your father is . . . " Natasha trails off and (Y/n) laughs.

"Eccentric?" (Y/n) offers, quoting Pepper from earlier.

"Yeah, that's the word I'd use," Natasha says and (Y/n) grins. "Where do you want to go to eat?"

"I'm not really that hungry," (Y/n) admits.

When Natasha stops at a stoplight, she turns, looking at (Y/n) in disbelief.

"What?" (Y/n) asks.

"Are you alright?" Natasha asks. "You're always hungry."

"I am not!" (Y/n) retorts, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

Natasha continues driving, "You are too." Natasha smiles. "That's where Lena gets it."

"You're ridiculous, Mrs. Romanoff," (Y/n) says with an adoring smile.

"I could say the same about you, dear," Natasha replies, the redhead pulling up to the house SHIELD had given them.

The two women walk into the house, Natasha collapsing on top of (Y/n) on the couch.

"It's eleven o'clock in the morning, babe," Natasha says as (Y/n) lets her eyes close. (Y/n)'s eyes crack open again, gazing softly at the redhead. "You tired?" her voice is softer now.

"Going undercover in Dad's house is the most exhausting thing I've ever done," (Y/n) admits.

Natasha moves over to a closet, pulling out a blanket and crossing the room to lie with (Y/n) on the couch, pulling the blanket over themselves.

(Y/n) smiles softly, her arms wrapping around her wife's waist, Natasha's head resting on (Y/n)'s chest.

Word Count: 1411 words

Taglist:

@mariawilson24

@just-dreaming-marvel

@marsromanoff

@procrastinatingsapphictrash

@theofficialzivadavid

@chickenhavewisdom

@fayharper

@acertainredhead

@capsicle118

@rail-me-romanoff

@ssa-sapphic

[freddieslater]

Rowing the Rarepair Rowboat: Luke Patterson x Willie (Julie and the Phantoms)

Requested by @phoenixfidelity

Luke can't help but be distracted every so often. He can tell that it's starting to get on the rest of the bands nerves every time he misses a chord or he accidentally glances away from the lyrics so he misses a word and then the whole thing is forced to an abrupt halt. He's really trying to stay focused.

Usually it's a piece of cake! He loves the band and he loves playing, because he gets so lost in the music that he forgets the rest of the world exists half the time.

He catches sight of Willie out of the corner of his eye again as they're building up to the chorus of the new song they've been working on. Luke resists the urge to look away from the notebook in front of him.

His fingers keep moving determinedly... while his eyes dart off to the side. It's just a split second, then they're right back on the page, and he hasn't missed anything!

But his mind is quickly taken over by the brief glimpse of Willie that he got. He's just sitting cross-legged on the studio floor, hair tied up in a messy bun, nodding along to their music while he paints. While wearing one of Luke's hoodies. He found it lying on the back of the couch when they came in and he said he was cold, and so he asked if he could borrow it, and Luke wasn't going to say no, was he? That would be rude!

Besides, the orange actually really suits him. It matches the streaks of yellow paint on his cheeks--

Luke quickly glances back over. Sure enough, there is actually paint smeared across Willie's face. And a paintbrush in his mouth while he carefully paints with a different one. He's so focused, his eyebrows scrunched, his foot tapping to the beat on his knee--

Luke catches the mess up in his chords but not before he can stop it. He abruptly stops playing, the rest of the band once again halting along with him.

"Sorry! Sorry, I didn't mean to--" He takes a deep breath and looks determinedly down at his guitar. "Let's just go again, yeah? I'll get it this time, I promise."

"Yeah, I don't think you will," Julie says, and Luke's surprised to find her smiling rather than being mad about it. She and the rest of the band share a look.

"Probably better if we take a break for now," Reggie agrees, clearly trying to suppress a smile of his own and failing miserably as he lifts his bass strap over his head.

"I'm... getting kinda hungry anyway," Alex lies, nodding way too eagerly.

Willie looks up for the first time since their last brief pause. "Are you guys done?"

Another look is shared. Luke shakes his head vigorously, staring at them all in disbelief.

"No! No, we're not! Come on, we still have to practice this song or else we're not gonna have it ready for tomorrow!"

"You'll be fine!" Flynn assures him, hooking an arm around Julie's shoulders. "You guys sounded great! Well... most of the time."

"Yeah, you were really good," Willie agrees, beaming at them with such sincerity that Luke's heart melts under the rays of sunshine he radiates when he turns it on him.

He barely notices Reggie muttering, "And that's our cue..." and the four of them scattering around the studio, and practically leaving the two of them alone.

Luke doesn't know why they're acting like this. So, yeah, he keeps getting distracted from the music. But he's trying to stay focused! It's not exactly going to help if the rest of them just decide to give up!

He sighs and decides he may as well put his own guitar aside for the moment.

"You okay?" Willie asks with a slight laugh, but his eyes are concerned when Luke glances up at him.

His stomach flips over like a pancake. It's weird but it's been doing that a lot lately and he can't seem to figure out why. Maybe he's coming down with something? That would be super inconvenient timing considering they have a gig tomorrow!

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Luke says, but even he feels like he's somehow lying even as he tries for a grin.

Willie isn't buying it either. He takes a moment to think, his eyebrows only creasing the tiniest bit this time as his thumb rubs a circle into the crease of his elbow. Luke finds the movement strangely calming to watch.

Then it stops, and Willie lights up. "Well, since you guys are... taking a break for the time being, do you wanna help me with this?"

Luke finally tries to take a proper look at what he has actually been doing this entire time as Willie moves over to sit beside him on the couch.

There's a poster -- multiple, actually, as well as what Luke swears is a pile of what were once his guitar picks. He doesn't really play his acoustic too much anymore because it never sounds right with any of their songs, and his fingers just got used to the feel of the strings on his electric, so there wasn't ever really a use for them anymore.

Willie notices him picking up one of the plectrums and turns sheepish. "I found them lying about in here and thought they could use a little... sprucing up." He shrugs. "I didn't think anyone would really mind."

Luke shakes his head and grins as he picks up another in amazement. Each one is painted, and not just a solid colour, but a whole piece of art is painted onto each one. Scenes of bridges with the sunset behind them, fields full of vibrant plants, a starry night sky, a gh--

Luke raises his eyebrows at him. "Is this meant to be me?"

Willie peers at the one he's holding up which features a ghost silhouette wearing an orange beanie with a guitar strapped around its translucent little body.

"Yep," Willie confirms, then breaks out into another sheepish laugh. "I got a little bored of the fancy designs, and I thought that it would be funny, seeing as how you're, you know, Julie and the Phantoms."

"So," Luke glances at the pile of plectrums, "did you do one for all of us?"

"I haven't gotten around to it yet. I wanted to start with you 'cause I figured you'd make the cutest ghost. With the beanie and all."

Luke's stomach does the thing again. And he swears his face is burning up. He better not be getting a fever, because the thought of getting sick right before a gig is giving him a little too much deja vu.

"Does that mean you don't think I'm a cute ghost when I'm not wearing the beanie?" Luke teases, mock serious.

Willie laughs, caught in surprise by the question. But he shakes his head, gazing at Luke with creases around his eyes and a soft smile.

"No way. It's, like, totally impossible for you to not be cute."

Luke laughs as well now and gives him a gentle push, his hand lingering on Willie's arm. "Shut up."

"I got you smiling, at least," Willie points out.

"Yeah, well." Luke doesn't really have anything else to say because he's right.

He looks at him for a second as Willie shifts his attention back down to the posters and plectrums. Luke doesn't mean to stare, but there's something about watching his fingers move that feels... comforting, even when they're just moving a stray bit of hair behind his ear.

"Have you ever played guitar?" Luke blurts out without thinking.

Willie looks back up in surprise but shakes his head. "No. I like listening to music and sometimes performing with Caleb was fun but that was only ever singing. I've never really gotten the hang of an instrument. Takes too long to figure it all out."

"What if I helped?" Luke asks, not fully sure why he's offering. "I'm not saying perform with us. I'm just saying it could be a fun hobby, if you had someone helping you figure it all out."

Willie considers it then shrugs, beaming at him again. Luke's beginning to think he needs sunglasses just to be around him because he finds himself grinning back before Willie's even answered.

"Yeah, okay. Let's do it! But I will warn you, I'm not the most patient person."

"Good thing I am then," Luke says.

"No he's not!" Reggie shouts over to them from the other couch in the corner.

Luke glares at him but Reggie just raises his hands with a confused expression as if to say, what did I do?!

Rolling his eyes as Willie laughs, Luke says, "Don't listen to him. We can practice later and use my old acoustic, that way it'll be a bit easier and you can use one of your awesome designer picks."

He gestures to the pile and Willie scans over them, looking for one to use. Then he picks up the one with the ghost version of Luke on it.

"A great choice, if I do say so myself," Luke says, grinning. "Now, what are we painting?"

Willie hands him a paintbrush and one of the posters. He explains the design and they both start working on them. At some point in between Luke finishing one and Willie just adding a few last touches to his own, Luke tries experimenting on one of the blank picks himself.

When he shows it to Willie, his eyebrows raise and he almost doesn't seem to know what to say for a second. Then his face splits into a smile of pure joy and Luke doesn't think he's ever felt so pleased with himself as he does watching Willie gush over the little ghost hovering over a skateboard like it's the best thing he's seen.

[tyunniverse]

FRIENDS FOR A DAY (2)

pair: yeonjun x reader

genre: fluff

word count: 2654

parts: 1 | 2

· · ───────────── ·.☆.· ───────────── · ·

It had been a long time since Yeonjun felt like this. Sometimes life in general had become too much to bear and the things that used to make him happy weren't working for him anymore. Times spent alone slowly became more frequent for him than times he'd spent with his friends.

He'd skipped the first day, not wanting to go back to that routine life just yet. And towards the start of the day, he would never have imagined meeting you and getting to spend the day doing things that strayed far from any of the schedules he'd previously planned. A breath of fresh air was what he liked to call it, and he had you to thank for that.

Unlike him, everything was new to you; a new city, a new school, new people, and a whole new life ahead. Yeonjun felt a little envious after realizing it when you'd talked more about yourselves during lunch, but after seeing how you seemed to enjoy every single second of your little sight seeing endeavor, he thought that maybe he could also be a part of something new in your life.

Best friends.

You had agreed to be his best friend from today onwards; the pendant around your neck serving as proof. Yeonjun finds his hand wandering over to his pocket, holding on to his old necklace.

Half of a star. He'd bought it a few years back. The necklace had a similar purpose with the one he was wearing now— meant to be worn separately by two different people. In his case, he had bought it as a whole and had decided to keep one half of it still in its case, stashed inside his closet. His reasons for purchasing it never really felt clear even to him but he also wouldn't call it an impulsive decision. Yeonjun liked to think that he'd be able to find a use for it in the future.

"Yeonjun." You call for his attention, pointing at the posters plastered on a random shop's wall. "It says that the annual carnival will be opening tonight. Wanna go?"

Yeonjun grins. Opportunities somehow kept showing up right in front of his doorstep. "Yeah, only if you want to though. Afterall, I'm only the tour guide for today."

"Shut up." You hold back a smile. "Have you been there before?"

Yeonjun repeats the question in his mind. As someone one would consider pretty popular, you'd expect him to be no stranger in hanging out at fun places like an annual carnival, but that's just it. Yeonjun had never visited that Carnival once ever since it opened. His friends had asked him to tag along but something about it just never seemed to make him want to.

"No." Yeonjun answers, scratching the back of his head. "If we end up going then this would be my first time too." The first time he'd actually wanted to go.

"I guess we're going then." You grin and Yeonjun finds himself smiling back. "It says here that the Carnival's just around the corner so it'd probably be okay if we just walked there."

"Yeah."

The two of you make your way to the Carnival. You still had a good amount of time left before it opened so a few quick stops at some stalls along the way didn't do any harm.

· · ───────────── ·.☆.· ───────────── · ·

In all honesty, Yeonjun didn't even know when and how he'd ended up holding your hand, laughing his heart off by the time you arrived at the entrance but it all just happened somehow. Was it the when your ice cream cone almost landed straight on his shoe earlier? Or when his hand nearly hit you square in the face when he noticed a bug flying towards you? It could've even been when a group of old ladies started hitting on him at the handbag boutique and all you did was stand there shaking, wanting to laugh your ass off.

No matter what the reason was, he liked this. Somehow, it just felt right.

The two of you pay for the tickets before heading inside. The place was larger than any of you had ever expected, cleaner too. People of all ages were enjoying their carnival experience to the fullest. Children were running around with their guardians following closely behind, couples and groups of friends chatting along and taking pictures— Yeonjun could swear he saw two old men arguing over who gets to take a picture with the mascot first.

"So, which ride do you wanna go on first?" You ask, turning to him.

"Well, how about that one." Yeonjun points at the viking and you feel yourself getting more and more excited.

"NICE—" Before Yeonjun knew it, you were dragging him around to every single ride at the carnival.

You liked to keep count of everytime Yeonjun freaked out while you went on the rides, and Yeonjun liked to do the same. Despite the thrill of being at a carnival keeping you hyped up, there were a few times when you had overestimated your tolerance with being thrown around. Yeonjun nearly puked twice: once at the twister, and a second time on the rollercoaster. Even you were almost a victim by the rollercoaster's loops.

Yeonjun had claimed he was an expert at navigating haunted house attractions, stating, "I've been watching horror movies all my life. Nothing scares me at this point, tbh." True enough, nothing scared Yeonjun except every single ominous decoration and jump scares the haunted house threw at him. You weren't too fond of horror yourself, but you ended up trying to be the brave one after Yeonjun basically clung to you half of the time. It didn't help whenever you freaked out since you ended up losing Yeonjun after he not so subtly abandons you at the slightest suspicious sound. It was a miracle you made it out in one piece.

"Yeah, so, uh, sorry about that." Yeonjun laughs it off the moment you two got out.

"Sure but you should know that I'm never gonna let you live it down." You tell him, smiling widely as you hold up the photos you received from one of the staff. "I got evidence."

Yeonjun snatches the photos from your hands. "Bold of you to assume these'll affect me— oh." It definitely did.

You watch as he slips the photos inside his jacket as if it wasn't obvious enough that he was trying to hide it from you. "Nice try but," You take out another batch of photos and wave it around. "Boom. Two copies."

"Wow, okay."

The two of you ended up laughing at each other before you suggest in trying out the stalls. They say time flies by fast when you're having fun and they couldn't be more right. There had been an unspoken competition between you and Yeonjun of who can win the most prizes and let's just say you weren't about to let yourself lose. By the time you got tired, you had a total of three plushies and a bunch of candy bars stuffed in your pockets and well, Yeonjun had the exact amount of prizes you had.

"Fine. It's a draw for now but only because I'm tired." Yeonjun holds the plushies tighter. "We should really get a bag for this. I wonder if we can get a huge plastic bag somewhere."

"Nah, we can just put em in here." You take off your back pack, opening it wide. "I'm sure it can fit all six of them. They're small enough." You were lucky that they did, finally leaving your hands free.

"Wait." Yeonjun pauses after putting the last of his plushies inside. "How can I be sure you won't just take my plushies for yourself after we leave? I'm pretty easy to distract so—"

"If you forget to get them back then I'll just hand them to you tomorrow at school. You go to HSU too, right?" You tell him.

"Yeah, but how will you contact me?"

"Obviously, we exchange numbers."

Yeonjun blinks. Of course that'd be the simplest solution but still. He'd been talking about staying as friends even after all this but the thought of exchanging numbers hadn't really crossed his mind. He takes out his phone and the two of you quickly added each other as contacts, somehow feeling a bit closer after the exchange.

"While we're at it—" Yeonjun pulls you in closer as he bends down. Only now that you've felt Yeonjun's warmth close to you have you noticed how cold it actually was outside . It takes you a few seconds to register that he wants to take a few selfies.

You bust out a smile and tried to go along with whatever weird faces and poses he did. "Send them to me later." You say after examining the photos. There's one where Yeonjun mimicked a kissing motion near your cheek, making you smile. Who would've expected you two were total strangers up until a few hours ago.

"Got room for one last ride?" Yeonjun asks as you return his phone.

"Yeah, sure. Which one?"

"Don't ask as if you don't know. I'm pretty sure you left this one out on purpose."

Perhaps unconsciously, you did. In every single movie that involved the two characters going to a carnival, for some reason, they always left the Ferris Wheel for last. It's not like you wanted something grand to happen when you ride it, but more like you just wanted to get a good view of the entire carnival before leaving. It seemed like the perfect final attraction.

Yeonjun notices how you've gone quiet and decided to hold your hand, pulling you along. "Let's go before the place closes."

"Okay." You look up at him, nodding.

· · ───────────── ·.☆.· ───────────── · ·

The Ferris Wheel ride wasn't all you had expected it to be. It looked pretty slow in the movies but right now? You were about to puke.

"Yeonjun, wait." You hold on to Yeonjun who was sitting opposite to you.

The Ferris Wheel was going too fast to your liking and you started feeling dizzy. Getting a good view of the carnival seemed impossible at this point and looking at your partner made you even more miserable.

Yeonjun was having the time of his life. He loved the feeling in his stomach whenever the ride went down, and the fact that you were lowkey suffering right in front of him made him laugh even harder.

The speed went on for a few more rounds until it finally slows down. Your heart and probably everything else stilled once the ride came to a complete stop just as your car reached the top. "Thank God. I felt like I was going to die."

"Well, you're safe for now." Yeonjun grins, leaning back in his heat. "You wanted to enjoy the view, right? We'll be stuck here for probably about a minute or two so enjoy it while it lasts."

"Yeah." You smile back, looking outside the window.

The winds were colder up there, reminding you of how warm it felt when you stood close to Yeonjun earlier. Yeonjun catches you warming yourself up with your hands and chuckles. He takes off his jacket and hands it over to you. "Here, put this on."

"Thanks." You quickly put his jacket on. Usually you'd go for the polite route and turn him down but if you were going to continue this friendship business then you weren't about to suffer in the cold when the dude's practically handing you a solution.

Yeonjun gives you a little smile before you continue to admire the view. Down there, the lights almost looked like a sea of stars. The music around the place didn't really help set the mood but somehow, the mixture of it along with the laughter and delightful screams of the other visitors made it feel right. After everything that happened today, you felt like it was the right decision to end the day with this breathtaking sight.

And Yeonjun couldn't agree more. The lights below reflected in your eyes in a way that made the atmosphere lighter. He could tell you were happy and right now, that seemed to be enough for him.

The Ferris Wheel began moving. Yeonjun snickers as he felt you grab for his hand, worried that the ride might throw you off once more, but it didn't. The way down was slow, allowing you to enjoy the ride in peace. Your pendant started to shine, reflecting the lights. It reminded him of everything that happened, from the moment you two met and agreed on a friendship that would last for only a day, up until now where he held your hand on the Ferris Wheel after deciding to be friends for real this time. The pendant became the sole proof of that friendship and Yeonjun couldn't help but wonder if the ones he bought a few years back would truly be of any use in the future. But what would it symbolize for? Who knows, he might just give you the other half.

Your car comes to a stop and the doors open. The realization that the day has officially come to an end left you feeling disappointed. Yeonjun squeezes your hand, bringing your attention to him. He gestures for the two of you to get up and you do, finally stepping back on the ground.

Both you and Yeonjun felt that the way back to the entrance was too fast. It really did seem like the two of you wouldn't see each other again despite the fact you went to the same university. The thought felt silly but that's just how the carnival experience gets to you.

"I guess this is it." Yeonjun speaks up first. "You live pretty far from here, right? I can take you home if you want."

"It's okay. My cousin lives nearby and I texted her earlier that I'd be staying over." You tell him, not wanting him to worry. "How about you? Will you be alright on your own?"

"Yeah, definitely." Yeonjun reassures, holding up his hands. "Oh, and by the way. Is it okay if I leave the plushies on your bag for now? I can't exactly carry them on the way back. If it's ok with you."

"Don't worry. You can just take them back tomorrow." You grin and Yeonjun smiles back. "Also, I'm keeping your jacket for now. I'll return it after I clean it up."

"I can work with that." He shouldn't feel this happy but he did. In a way, he was able to find an excuse to meet up with you tomorrow without things getting awkward. Maybe this friendship could work out afterall.

"Thanks for today. Honestly, this was the most fun I've had ever since I got here." You say, taking one last look at him.

I should be the one to thank you. "You know, I have a lot of things I wanna say to you right now but I think I'm gonna wait until I feel like it."

"Huh?"

"Nothing. I'll text you later." Yeonjun gives you a quick pat on the shoulder before running off to the opposite direction. "See you at school! And don't forget to bring the kids!"

You raise a brow. Did he just refer to the plushies as his kids?

He felt dumb, running away from you. The longer he stayed, the more he had trouble leaving, which was new for him. It's been a while since he actually found someone he'd like to hang out with and he was having trouble controlling his excitement. Soon, you'd be able to visit each other's houses, hang out more freely, talk about your days as if it were nothing, and get to know each other more. Honestly speaking, Yeonjun couldn't wait for that day to come but I guess he'll just have to start with tomorrow.

[honeytama]

Earned It

Spinner (Shuichi Iguchi) X Fem!Villian!Reader

A/N: An AU fic where the LoV has a safe, mansion-like hideout where they can chill and watch movies! It’s the best! Also, I couldn’t decide whether to stick with the “Spinner has two cocks” hc or not, but I ended up writing how I felt. If it makes you feel uncomfortable, I’m truly sorry in advance <3 I’m still learning. Enjoy!

Summary: Spinner and yourself get left alone in the hideout for a day. After watching him work out vigorously, you end up realizing how much you want to help him relax his body in the best way possible.

Warnings: Smut (18+), cussing, thigh riding, unofficial friends-with-benefits, praise kink, body worship kink, and two dicks hc 

Word Count: 5.1k

The wood floor sends chills up your legs as you move down the stair steps of the quiet mansion. It’s early in the morning, and you knew not one of your friends would voluntarily choose to be awake yet. Through the large living room windows, you could finally see the sun come up over the horizon. 

Walking into the kitchen, you spot a piece of paper placed on the bar counter. “Be back tomorrow night,” it reads. There’s a heart scrawled in red pen next to the words. Probably from Toga wanting to be in on the message.

“Ohh, I guess they’re up…,” you yawn. The house starts to feel even more empty than before. All of your friends have gone to do criminal activities together. However, it feels nice to know that you don't have to make breakfast for Shigaraki this morning. Dude never knows what he wants to eat.

You decide to make a serving of eggs for yourself, and you toss a couple of pieces of bread into the toaster as the stove heats up the pan. While cooking the eggs, your head pops up at the sound of floor boards moving above you. Then, you hear a light clacking on the hardwood. It’s moving closer to the stairs behind you. The noise sends goosebumps up to your neck as you turn off the stove burner and quickly arm yourself with a kitchen knife. You move your legs at the same pace as the person coming down the stairs; the knife held above your head being gripped tightly by your fists. You hold your breath as they take one more step down towards you. And without thinking, your body lunges forward to assault the intruder.

“Ahhh!!” You yell out. Spinner thrusts his hand out to grab your forearm as the sharp blade comes towards his face at a surprising speed. The movement and strength of his entire body cause you to fumble backward until your back is against the stair wall. With his hand on your forearm still, he squeezes hard until your armed hand involuntarily drops the knife to the ground. You’re stuck, pressed against the wall, while Spinner holds your arms above your head. 

“Shuichi, fuck—” You gasp. Both of your chests rising and falling quickly against one another.

Shuichi’s eyes widen at the sight of your eyebrows knitted together, mouth in an ‘o’ shape. “Oh my, shit, I’m so sorry,” he blushes. He lets go of your arms like they had been burning the scales off his palms. “Just what the hell were you trying to do?” He asks squatting down to pick up the knife from the floor. There’s an indent in the wood where the blade came in contact with it. With the knife now in his hand, it starts to swing around your face as he lectures you about proper knife holding technique. Your mind feels fuzzy as you try to focus back on Spinner’s voice. Rubbing the pain away from your arm, your cheeks heat up at the thought of his unusual handling of you. These thoughts are interrupted when he starts to walk away to the kitchen. “From now on, please leave the knife handling to me… or Toga. Really,” he says back at you.

“I’m fine, I think,” you mutter, “Geez, I really thought you were someone else. The others are away until tomorrow.” Following him back to the kitchen, you walk to the stove to put your fried eggs on a plate. Embarrassed, you attempt to change the conversation. “Could you hang with me today?” You blurt out. “I mean, you probably have plans, but the TV has streaming services that I’ve always wanted to try. Maybe, we could choose something together later?” You ask.

His head whips around from grabbing your pieces of toast, and walks to put them on your place with a giant smile. “Oh, uh, yeah sure! Sounds fun!” He bellows. “I plan to train out in the backyard for a bit today. So, once I’m done I’ll let you know. We can make popcorn and everything.”

—-

An hour passed since you and Spinner had eaten breakfast together. He’s currently coming back down the stairs from changing out of his pajamas. You watch him walk to the back door in a gray short sleeve, black running shorts, and an old pair of Shigaraki’s red sneakers. It warmed your heart to see him so comfortable. The League finally had some luck in finding a nice, secluded hideout even though money was still tight. You couldn’t wait to relax with your friend later on the couch to explore a world neither had ever experienced. Shigaraki’s Netflix account.

You grab the remote to log in to the profile named, “Tomura.” Pressing the down button repeatedly, you scroll down through the numerous genre pages with tons of movies and TV shows lined up for you and your friends to indulge in. It excites you to have new things to enjoy. It could possibly take the edge off of everyone living in the house. You save your most favorite movie choices in a List; they’re all titles you had seen on billboards and posters in the city as you travelled as fugitives.

Done with sitting with the excitement alone, you get up from the living room couch to walk across the house to the backyard. The sun was fully out and warming your cheeks as you approached the large arched window facing the green lawn. You had planned to leave the house to meet Shuichi out in the grass, but what you saw was enough to stop you in your tracks.

Spinner duel wields swords, one in each hand. You've always admired his assertion and confidence while fighting, even though you didn’t get too much of it off of the battlefield. You hoped he hadn’t caught you approaching the window as you continue to watch him swing and jab at the air. Your eyes were attached to his concentrated expression and the clanking sounds of his sword coming together as he crosses his arms. He looks so dangerous from afar. This made you laugh internally as it was starkly different than the way he actually made you feel. You flashback to earlier that morning when Shuichi had subdued you in a matter of seconds. It sent a shiver down your spine then, and now, as you eye your friend across the yard. This reflection makes you want to treat him in some other way. Though, you didn’t know how.

You get pulled out of your thoughts as your eyes spot a gleam of light swaying back and forth. You focus back on your friend again, and realize he is waving a sword at you with a smirk on his face. You blush hard and decide to wave back. It’s too late to try to hide.

“How long have you been standing there, huh?“ His voice becomes less and less muffled as he jogs through the yard to the glass between you two. 

“I-I just wanted to tell you about the movies I found,” you say loudly while putting your hand to your heated cheek. His smug reaction surprised you. He probably still had some courageous energy from just coming off of his workout. You start to laugh nervously as he pushes open the door with one hand — both blade handles being held in his other. “You looked like you were in your element,” you smiled widely and a blush still grazes your nose.

“Aw, oh, haha thanks! Even though we’re safe right now in the place,” he pauses to look up at the high ceiling and back out at the clean lawn, “I need to keep up with training. And maybe you should too, huh, bud? I was able to pin you so easily earlier, haha! You usually don’t give in so quickly.” I just want you to be safe in case someone actually dares to mess with you for real… Even though I wouldn’t want to leave her side, anyway. What am I thinking? Stop it, Shuichi, dammit. He clears his throat, “I’m gonna go shower and change. Once I come back down, I'm all yours!” He steps out of his shoes to carry them to the mudroom, along with both of his swords. You leave your place by the window to go to the kitchen to microwave popcorn and grab a soda for the two of you while Spinner runs up the stairs to get ready.

—-

“Let’s go! I’m so ready, Y/N!” You look up from your phone to hear your friend bounding down the stairs. He’s back in the living room wearing his usual comfort outfit. A gray sweatshirt and jeans… and of course, a Stain mask across his eyes. He hops over the couch back to get comfortable next to you. You already have your favorite fluffy blanket laying on your lap; your toes peeking through at the end of it as your legs are propped up on the coffee table. Spinner laughs and blushes when he sees you kicking your feet in excitement as you smile up at him.

“Ok, so I chose Avengers, I hope that’s alright? We’ve never seen it before, so I figured—,” you gauge his reaction before handing him the remote to let him explore the way you did.

He takes the remote and presses play. “Hell yeah, an action movie, huh. This one’s about those fictional hero guys, right? I’m excited to see what the villains are like.” He tilts his head to the side.

As you settled deeper into the couch, you felt a tug at the blanket on your lap. Spinner was pulling it slowly into his own, moving in a bit closer next to your side as he did so. The surprising act gave you a lump in your throat, you grabbed some popcorn from the bowl to push the feeling away.

As you watch the movie with Spinner, you couldn’t help but catch glances at him next to you. His eyes were held at attention on the screen, so you took the chance to watch his happiness like earlier. His muscular arm next to you brushed against yours a couple times when he tensed at a suspenseful scene; the sudden movements caused you to wait in anticipation to see if he would finally make a move. He bounced the leg touching your own as he waited for new characters to make their entrances. All of these movements, including the grunts that fell from his lips during training, had stirred up your insides for far too long. You really need some relief.

Deciding to take a chance with your feelings, you lift your hand from your side and place it on top of his shaking thigh. Spinner immediately stops bouncing his leg. The stimulation of it rubbing against your own was gone; only the slight numbness of your exposed leg remained. You move forward with your choice as he didn’t complain from your touch. You start to rub small circles into his jeans with your thumb, testing the waters even more now. 

Shuichi slowly looks down at the blanket covering his thigh to imagine the placement of your own hand on him. Touching him. His breath hitches in his throat as you begin the drag your hand upwards towards his inner thigh, and then back down. Closing his eyes, he puts his arm around your shoulder and pulls you in tighter. He hopes you were doing this on purpose— your hand teasing him to the greatest degree… hoping to get close enough to press your palm into the space between his legs. Oh, shit. 

While trying to regulate your breathing, you squeezed the inside of Spinner's thigh lightly. Even this touch gets him to throw his head back and gasp. You finally get brave enough to look up, and you see him squirming from your touch. You lock eyes for a second before he turns away, blushing.

“Oh, god, uh Y/N, I’m so sorry! You probably didn’t mean for it to feel like that… I mean, for it to mean that, huh?” He apologizes repeatedly and removes his arm from your shoulder to cover his face with both his palms. Still, your hand is holding onto his thigh, now a calming gesture.

“Spinner, no no, I should be apologizing, I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I did mean it that way, but I’ll stop,” you admit as you pull your hand away. “Are you still fine to watch the movie—“

Removing his hands from his pink face, he locks eyes with you again. “We can leave the movie on,” Shuichi breathes in deeply before reaching across your shoulders again and stopping to put his scaled hand on the back of your neck. “I wanted it to mean it in that way, Y/N. So, don’t— don’t stop! Ok?” He let his toothy smile return to his face this time. You shyly smile back and lean into him with your hand on his cheek. Both of your faces meet when the tip of his snout taps your nose for confirmation.

“Please, just kiss me already,” you whisper.

Without a second passing, the hand on your neck is pulling you into him as your lips lock onto his. Spinner opens his eyes mid-kiss, daring himself to accept that you're doing this with him. The hand on his cheek moves quickly towards his chest. Pushing Spinner backward to the sofa pillows, you lift your legs to straddle his lap. The blanket is already forgotten on the ground as your lips continue to move together. Damn, he was so good at this, but you still could feel the tightness in his chest. It was time to take the lead to treat him to something he deserved.

“Mhm,” he groans in response to your quick actions. Your arms are thrown around his neck now as you sit in his lap. It felt as if you were floating, yet you try your hardest to stay in the moment with him. You could already feel the heat transferring back and forth from your attached bodies. His thighs supporting your ass, the nape of his neck giving post to the wandering hands in his hair. Spinner allows himself to slouch a bit into the cushion, hoping to bring your center into his bulge. You took this as permission to pull away from his lips and wiggle your hips to ease the tension.

“You look so good, Shuichi,” you set your hands on his shoulders, kneading into them. This earns a deep groan from his throat. He was probably sore from working his body earlier. You continue to knead and press into him as you move your lips to his neck. “Let me please you. I want to show,” you kiss him once, “just how appreciative I am of you.” You open your mouth to kiss his neck again, and again until his hands have found your hips to pull you down onto his hard-on. You nip his neck at the sudden pressure on your core. “You deserve this, Shuichi. Will you be good for me?” You say before sucking his neck as you grind into him. “Indulge me?” All the while he’s whimpering and nodding to the rhythm of your words and moves. You leave his lap and settle yourself to a kneeling position on the floor. The sweetheart pulls a pillow from behind him and hands it to you.

“Use this if you’re gonna do that, sweetie,” he breathes out. You innocently look up at him, even though the new pet name makes your knees weak. You want to jump his bones already.

You get comfortable on the pillow and help spread his knees apart so that you can get closer. With your hands on his knees, you push your palms up towards his bulge, finally. You lift the bottom of his sweatshirt to get to his pant’s button and fly. Taking your time, you look into his eyes as you pull the zipper down. You could already see the top of his boxer briefs — which does little to hide how excited he was for this. Spinner helps you pull his jeans and briefs off the rest of the way, eagerly throwing them to the side as you’re left kneeling in front of him to ogle. He then sits back to wait for your next move. 

“I like being on the same page as my partner.” You say before lifting your shift over your head and throwing it to his clothing pile. It was a day off for Spinner and you both, so wearing anything restricting underneath your shirt wasn’t an option. You watch his eyes fall to your chest. A sight he’s always dreamt of, but hasn’t gotten to experience until now. You could tell he wasn’t disappointed at looking at your body in front of him due to his cocks twitching and already beading precum. The view motivates you to lean into him to grab one in each hand. Both of your fists side by side, you bite your lip as you begin pumping each one slowly. 

“You're not, ohh damn, scared, huh?” He moans out.

“Of you?” You continue to pump him idly as you speak. “Almost never. You make us all feel so safe. But..,.” you pause to give each dick small licks to their leaking tips. “You looked so dangerous out there using your blades earlier. I couldn’t help myself to tame you,” you tease.

“Oh!” He groans in pleasure as he tosses his head to rest on the cushion behind him. “Use your mouth some more… please.”

“Of course, handsome.” Obliging his request, you slowly dip your head onto one of his cocks, using your tongue to wet every inch that you could. The taste of his precum hit your pallet and is surprisingly sweet. The feeling of having your friend’s length invade your mouth is euphoric; it felt as if it wasn’t meant to happen but you both want it so bad. You knew the both of you would get an earful if ever your other comrades found out. Pushing away from the thought, you clench your eyelids to prepare to take Spinner in deeper.

You stop the movement of your left hand and focus on the muscles of your throat. Willing Shuichi to stay still as you work, you place a hand on his abs to press him into the cushion. You had never been able to feel the firmness of his body like this before. You bob your head easily on his cock, controlling your tongue as much as possible when coming up to his tip after each round. Feeling a hand on the crown of your head, you look up from under your lashes to watch Spinner’s face twist. His teeth clenched together tightly.

Pulling off of him with a soft popping noise, you shyly ask, “Shuichi, could you take your sweatshirt off for me?”

Spinner’s eyes widen at the request. He almost prefers to keep it on; to hide the rest of his body from your dark eyes. However, the look and attention you give him makes him feel wanted. “Yeah-ah, here,” he slowly pulls away the gray sweatshirt you had watched him tug on all throughout the movie. Which was long forgotten, by the way. Now, the only things left covering his skin are bandages running up his forearms and that mask.

“I love how hot your body is, Shuichi,” you move your hands to his abdomen, rubbing up and down his abs and then up towards his chest. The texture of his scales on your fingertips gave you goosebumps. Each groove teasing your center with possible pleasure. “I hope that after this… Maybe I’ll be able to see your body more often,” you move your hand back downwards to brush your thumb over his tip teasingly. His body flinches at the sudden alleviation. You smile up at him before getting up off your knees. Spinner takes your hand to help balance you, oblivious to your next maneuver.

Getting up off of the floor, you realize how the sexual tension from the past hour has affected your body. Slick slowly drips down the inside of your leg while your sleep shorts do almost nothing to stop it. While holding Spinner’s hand, you take his other so that they’re resting on your hips. “Take them off?”

Spinner gulps before slipping his two fingers with both hands into the hem of your shorts and underwear to pull them down carefully. His throat tightens as he catches his first glimpse at your panties, then after exposing the rest of you his mouth drops open slightly. Your garments are completely off now, pooled around your feet. 

You kick them away as you giggle at his unmoving expression. You pull him out of his blushing state as you push us shoulders back into the couch and straddle one of his large, scaled thighs. Your wet heat now rests directly on his skin. Spinner locks eyes with you in awe of your new position. Smiling, you reach down to grab one of his pulsating cocks which have been lacking attention throughout your undressing. You give one tug before starting to grind down into his thigh. 

“Oh, shit.” Your empty hand is gripping the back of Spinner’s neck to help balance you as you ride away. You pump him even quicker now to the rhythm of your hips thrusts. “Oohhh, dammit, Y/N, you look so hot, can I?” He holds a hand out to your chest, asking for permission. Biting your lip in pleasure, you nod greedily at his offer. While one of his hands grips your waist, the other makes haste to massage a bouncing breast. He ogles at the way your flesh feels in his hand. Spinner pinches and rolls your nipple over and over, taking note of the sweet noises falling from your lips. Removing his hand from your waist, he takes the other into his hand and moves his lips towards your chest. His tongue comes out, long and thick, to lick and press into your nipple. His groans of pleasure excite the numerous nerve endings he gives attention to. 

“Nnnph, Spinner! Shit, that f-feels so good, I might—,” the slick on your inner thigh now covering his own, your hips are able to move quickly across every groove on his muscular thigh. Both of you pant heavily and whine at the pleasures being exchanged. “But, I can’t, not y-yet, this is about you!” You attempt to lift off his thigh before his strong hands pull you right back down.

“No w-way are you stopping yourself from cumming on my account, Y/N. I-I want to see you c-cum for me.” Spinner words bring over the edge as he bounces the leg you're sitting upon. His words of encouragement bring your orgasm to a stronger level than anticipated. Yet, you reach to jerk off both of his dicks in tandem, your fingers barely able to wrap around the added circumference. 

“Yes, yes, yes, oh god thank you, Shuichi,” you moan out, falling from your high. You slow your grinding pace before pulling him into a heated kiss. You give all your energy to show him thanks by transferring into a passion. 

Suddenly, you feel yourself being lifted off of the couch onto your feet. Your legs are shaking voluntarily, so you put a hand on Spinner’s shoulder as he gets up from his spot on the couch. You’re facing each other in front of the sofa, both of you using your own hands to caress and explore each other’s bodies. “I can’t wait any longer, Y/N… I know you want to please me,” He comes in close to your ear to whisper, “but I really just want to fuck you into this couch myself, ok?”

You had originally planned to ride him into oblivion, but this option seems too good to pass up. “Ok,” you agree, biting your lip hard. His new tone makes you want to squeal. Spinner takes your forearm to lead you into position on the couch. You lay down across the sofa with your legs spread apart, unashamed to show off your wet folds that are reddened from rubbing against the ridges of his body. You watch as Shuichi kneels between your spread thighs, his chest heaving as his eyes dart to every part of your body. You bring your hands up again to trace the divots in his arms and abdomen, silently worshiping the body above you. He blushes at the attention and leans down to kiss you in earnest. You can feel both of his lubricious, hardened cocks prodding at your inner open thighs.

Spinner grabs your legs and presses them deeper into your chest and slowly guides one of his cocks to rub against your folds. “You’re a tease, Shuichi.” 

“Not as much as you, beautiful.” He slowly enters you, your body letting go of all of its restrictions. You mewl at the sight and feeling of your body being pushed to its limits. You had not prepared at all for Shuichi’s girth. His other weeping cock is left to hump the outside of your vulva as he begins to fuck you into the cushion as promised. “Oh shit, so tight,” he grunts. 

You do your best to focus on your breathing as you're slacked jawed by the pleasure surging through your chest. Breathes exchanged between the both of you are hot and humid, intoxicating. Spinner continues to pump in and out of you at an unforgiving pace, eager to reach his own climax. You lift one of your legs up and he smiles as he takes your suggestion to heart. Your leg gets thrown over Spinner’s shoulder, allowing for him to plow deeper into your fluttering pussy. The only things you both could hear was skin slapping, grunts, whines, and the TV relaying the movie you left to play. The sight of Spinner punishing you for teasing him all this time makes you fall into his submission. 

You can’t stand the knot building up in your stomach, so you hurry your hand to your clit to rub tight circles into it to get closer to some sort of release. Spinner watches as your fingers rub into your button and his mouth falls open again. His eyes are wide and straining to keep on your every move as he pants out, “Uhh, fuck, I love watching you please yourself, gorgeous. Are you getting close again?”

You were teetering on the edge of ecstasy. Spinner’s other cock dripping excitedly as it swells into your lifted leg. “Oh yes, don’t stop, Shuichi.”

“Cum for me, Y/N, cum on my cock.” Once these commanding words left his mouth in this moment, your pupils dilated in lust. Heart beating out of your chest, moving your fingers faster to obey his instruction. The knot in your abdomen unties, and you let your juices flow over his cock in conquest.

This time there’s no riding out your orgasm as Spinner continues to rail into your cunt, chasing after his own sweet release. You stare up at his shaking figure, surprised at him for becoming so domineering in order to please you. You grab your breasts to massage and tease your nipples to give him a different measure to get off on. Finally, his thrusts start to falter before he drops your leg from his shoulder to pull out of you. You whimper at the loss of fullness. “I-I’m gonna come, fuck, where do you want it?” His sounds change from whining pants to primal grunts as he pumps himself to you feeling your chest. 

“Right here, Shuichi, you can cum on my chest,” you give in a sultry voice. You watch his needy expression turn into excitement as he aims to unload on you. You listen to the clicking caused by the mixture of your juices and his precum as he enthusiastically jerks both of his cocks in one large hand. You smile up at him in encouragement as you continue to please your breasts.

“I’m cumming, I’m cumming,” he howls out with his eyes closed, head tossed back once again. Ropes of his cum shoot onto your chest and neck as Spinner moans unabashedly. All the while, you're watching him with a smile, blushing about the mess you made of him. Spinner cools down from his high quickly before he leans down to give you a quick kiss. He climbs out from between your legs to rush to the kitchen for something. You hear drawers being pulled open and slammed shut; his heavy steps against the wood as he frantically searches. Lastly, you hear the sink being turned on to its maximum, and then shut off again.

Stepping sounds come quickly closer towards you and you look up at Shuichi standing above your laying body. Catching his breath, he holds a few damp paper towels at his side, “I couldn’t find any of those nice washcloths in there.” You grin sheepishly as he collects his load from your chest and neck, extremely careful not to get it in your hair. Spinner sets the crumpled ball of paper on the coffee table, and then gives you a hand to help you sit up. 

You both look at the television together, not having realized there's only a half hour or so left of the movie to watch. You laugh together as you see each other get pulled in by the movie again. Spinner grabs the remote to pause it. “Here, uh,” he walks to get your clothes from the ground to hand them to you, “get comfy and then, maybe... we can watch where we left off earlier?” He pulls on his sweatshirt and boxers as you do the same with your outfit.

“Yeah, I'd like that,” you grab the blanket from the floor and motion for him to come sit with you again. Spinner plays the movie once you're both covered by the blanket, more comfortable to hold each other close after what you’d experienced. You let out a sigh in bliss at how your afternoon has turned out.

[static-fanatic-1]

Test To Stay

-| Stuck at a StandStill |-

StandStill: Chapter Two

Word Count: 4.3k

Warnings: Mineta is part of the story sadly.

Today's the day! Today is the day Aiko will head into class 1-A and make a name for herself. Her confidence as of lately has been at an all time high, never before had she felt so ready for whatever would come her way. The air smelled faintly of cherry blossoms and the weather was just perfect. Nothing would stop her!

A hand clasped harshly onto her shoulder, once again making her jump out of her skin and whip around. Her nose was practically touching Komori's because of how close he was. "Guess who got into the Hero Course, Sweetheart." His rave black hair swept in the wind, it's messy appearance complimenting the thick glasses hanging off his button nose.

She hated that nickname, he gave it to her long ago and for some reason it still stuck. Besides, what should she even say to that? Surely he will be in class 1-A with her when the bell rings. Better save herself the pain and let him figure it out himself. "Good for you. I'm proud of you."

Komori lifted a brow, the smaller girl sounded so genuine with her words, yet there was still a hint of something beneath those encouraging words. Something he couldn't exactly place. Still, the words gave the black haired boy a thing of punk on his tanned cheeks. "Well then, if that's all you have to say I'll see you at lunch. And don't worry your pretty little head, I'll tell you all about the Hero Course." He leaned down and patted her head with a heavy hand.

Aiko furrowed her brows and scooted away, Komori strutting his way into the school grounds. Her tense figure relaxed a bit, moving to the front to dispose of her outside shoes and placing her clip-on roller blades in her book bag. She shuffled a few things around and turned to find her class, but luck have it, she bumped into someone. "Sorry!" She quickly exclaimed, hands up in defense.

The figure she bumped into was tall and broad for his age, and when she looked up she noticed a familiar face from just a few days ago. He adjusted his glasses and straightened out his silver school uniform. He raised one of his hands, almost as if he was about to slap her. She flinched. "It's fine. People make mistakes."

Sighing, Aiko examined the student further. As stated he was broad shouldered and tall for his age, with thin glasses resting on his nose. His face and jaw was strong, defined, and his eyes were a beautiful navy blue that matched his short yet neatly parted hair.

He shut his locker, which was opposite of hers, and turns back to her. "What class are you going to?" His hand pointed at her, palm facing up.

"Oh! Um—Class 1-A. You?" She asked carefully.

A pleased grin stretched across his cheeks. "Class 1-A, If you and I are going to be classmates, how about we exchange names? I am Iida Tenya." He extended his hand in a mutual form of respect.

"Takahashi Aiko, I prefer Aiko though." She gave a gentle grin and cocked her head to the side. "Nice to meet you Iida-kun." Her small hand was engulfed around his own, and in contrast against her gentle nature, his shaking and grip was iron.

"Well, Iida," She tasted his name on her tongue one more time to make sure she didn't mess it up. "We should probably get to class before we are late."

He whipped his head toward the fancy watch he wore on his wrist. "You're right! Let's go." With an almost robotic walk, he led the way to Class 1-A.

"Do you know where you are going?" Aiko questioned before thinking about her words. Was asking that rude?

"No!! But we can follow the signs they placed for the first years." He kept walking, turning his head just a bit to make eye contact with the girl. "If we go up the stairs to the second floor and turn right we should be there."

Her silver eyes glanced over at the signs and posters on the wall, a few being the ones from before but many were signs posting to classes. "Oh, my bad."

"Don't worry about it."

The two students traveled up the stairs and stayed right. Many different students passed them, each one making their way to their classes. A certain figure passed them though, one Aiko was too focused to not notice.

His wings flared behind his back, why the hell was she going right? The General Studies and Business Courses are on the left side, did she somehow get into the Support Course? Komori's dangerous, plum eyes watched her walk behind a guy with engines in his calves.

He kept walking behind the pair, watching and waiting to see where they end up. Is that guy a friend or something? Aiko and the tall guy stopped in front of a large door, one that towered all the way to the high rise roof. Inscripted on the side of the door in bolded, white letters screamed 'Class 1-A'. No way, no way in hell did she get into that class.

Komori accidentally bumped shoulders with another student, this one having blonde hair and a smug look on his face. "Pardon me." He snapped through gritted teeth.

The blond glanced at the two disappearing figures, scoffing and placing his hands on his hips. "Class 1-A, they have nothing on us." He bitterly exclaimed, waving his hand in a dismissive way. "This year, Class 1-B will be the ultimate hero Course!" He chuckled maliciously.

The bat man with black hair cocked his head to the side. "You're in Class 1-B?"

"Truly! Class 1-A will finally learn what it is like to be second best! None of them will come close to being strong enough to face me!"

Komori quirked up a brow and grinned. "I think you and I will be great friends." A clawed hand extended toward the cocky blond. "Komori." He introduced.

The blond glanced up at his taller classmate, the mischievous grin on his features twisting into a pleased expression. "Monoma, pleasure to meet you, Komori."

~~~

Aiko's pink lips stretched into a soft smile at the other students already in class. When she entered half of the entire class was already in their seats. Some of the more extroverted people talked to the students next to them, like Kaminari talking to the guy in front of him. Wait, did that guy have a tail?

Speaking of the blond, when he saw a familiar set of silver eyes and pale pink hair, he stood up and enthusiastically waved in her direction. Aiko waved back with a questioning yet polite look, shuffling over to take an empty seat in the back. She put down her bag and picked out her sketchbook, last night she was designing her costume but it wasn't approved, so she had to play around with her sketches to figure something out. Maybe more skin?

Every time a new student entered, Aiko couldn't help but anxiously await Komori, when was he going to show up? He would have probably showed up by now, right? Still, when a certain ash-blond entered with his hands stuffed into his pockets, she couldn't help but stare at his pursed lips. Why does he always look so pissed off?

Bakugou collapsed onto a chair and threw his feet onto the desk. Aiko cringed, and Iida, oh poor Iida... it was almost like he had a sixth sense for stuff like that. He strutted over to Bakugou, his entire body filled with momentum as his hands waved around in disapproval.

"Remove your foot from that desk! Such an action is insulting to those who came to U.A. before us as well as the craftsmen who made the desk!!" His hands pointed to the desk and the boy.

"Like I care." The delinquent leaned closer to Iida's face. "What middle school did you come from, you extra?"

Aiko's concerned gaze shifted to the newest student entering the class, his face was difficult to describe. Almost like he was disturbed but too polite to fully express it. Her attention returned to Iida, one hand now over his heart.

"I-I'm from Somei Private Academy. My name is Tenya Iida."

"Somei?!" The blond snapped. "A stuck-up elitist then? I should blow you to bits then."

Iida backed off in surprise... or was it disgust? "You're aweful. Do you really want to become a hero?!" Without fully finishing the conversation, Iida noticed the broccoli haired boy and wondered over to him instead. "I'm from Somei Academy...." The tall male introduced, hand outstretched.

The boy from the sludge villain incident tensed up and waved his hands in front of his body. "I heard you before! Ah... I'm Izuku Midoriya. Pleased to meet you Iida."

They talked a bit more, though it was more of a hushed conversation. Aiko tilted her head at the green haired boy, could he have been hurt to the point of making him skittish? Through her experiences, Aiko could only guess.

The door creaked open behind them, a sweet looking girl with brown hair, chocolate eyes, and a smile just as sweet as sugar. "Ah! That curly hair!! The plain looking boy!!" She pumped her fist in the air. "You got in! Just like Present Mic said!! Makes sense though!! That punch was awesome!!"

His entire face flushed a bright red, his hand covering as he turned away. "No! I-I mean...! I have to thank you for speaking on my behalf... I... well...."

Aiko found the transaction cute, a shy boy and a girl that seemed too sweet to be normal, so she returned to her sketches and kept her mouth shut. Until everything was suddenly quiet.

She glanced back at the door, the same scruffy teacher from the entrance exam huddled into a yellow sleeping bag. A small pouch in his hand that he sucked on. "This is... the Hero Course."

'Huh?'

He stumbled out of the bag, letting it fall to the floor as he entered. "I'm your homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa. Pleased to meet you." Although his words were professional, his tone said otherwise, like he was beyond bored to be here. He lifted up his bag and grabbed something within, pulling out a classic U.A. training uniform you would see during their tournaments. "Quickly now. Change into your gym clothes and head out to the grounds."

The entire class was split, some were jumping from their desk in excitement while the other half stood with a nervous hesitance. Aiko was part of the nervous group, but one at a time everyone took their issued gym clothes.

The girls rushed into the locker room, a certain pink skinned girl with curly horns on top her fluffy, lighter toned hair, beamed in excitement. "What do you think we are going to do?" She asked, turning to face the small group of girls with a beaming grin.

The brown haired girl from earlier smiled, her chocolate eyes sparkling. "I don't know! I'm nervous though." Her rosy cheeks adding another level of cuteness to her overall appearance.

Small bits of chatter danced around the room, introductions being made and clothes being replaced. Each girl, with a sense of nervous excitement coursing through their veins, introduced themselves.

Momo, an insanely beatutiful, young girl with black, silky hair pulled into a ponytail.

Ochako, the cute girl with a permanent blush and short chocolate hair, she seemed nice.

Mina, the pink haired girl who started the conversation. Her skin seemed to match her personality and style, bright and frilly, kinda like a girly Tom-boy.

Tsu, a girl with a cute accent, almost like she had a stuffy nose. Long green hair ending in a bow and intelligent eyes makes her comfortable to be around.

Hagakure, a sweet girly-girly personality wise, but other than that Aiko didn't know how to describe her. Maybe invisible would work? She hoped that wasn't too mean to think.

Aiko listened intently, simply trying to buy time by examining her new gym uniform and shuffling it around in her grip. When it was her turn she rushed with her introduction, stating her name and a little something she likes. Drawing, she chose drawing to be the thing she likes.

"Oh!" Beamed the pink girl, a enthusiastic smile stretching across her lips. "You'll have to show us your drawings!"

Aiko glanced away with her cheeks flushing a rosy red. "Ma-maybe. They aren't anything too impressive though...." her words trailed off into a quiet mumble, before she remembered she actually had to get dressed. "Excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom."

Swiftly, the white-haired girl's exited the conversation, shutting the bathroom stall door just a little too quickly in the process. Taking a deep, shaky breath, Aiko calmed her nerves. As much as she loved making friends, the over ecstatic girls made her a bit uncomfortable.

Though, them being excited about her art made her lightly blush.

~~~

The principle climbed his way into the room, the smaller form of All Might judging a price of paper in his boney hands. A deep set look of thought was etched onto his face, so much so he didn't notice Nezu entering and beginning to brew some tea.

A small ding alerted All Might of the new presence, and with a startled jump he turned to see who it was. The mighty hero sighed and examined the paper. "Aizawa is going to be harsh on the students."

Nezu pored the tea into two cups, took hold of both of them and handed one to Toshinori. "He's always hard on his students, I believe he would be good for your successor."

All Might turned and joined Nezu on the small desk. "He doesn't like me, Nezu, he'll defiantly see too much of me in him."

The principle smiled and took a calming sip of his tea. It was slightly sweet with a hint of mint, warm against his tongue as the steam tickled his nose. He sighed and kicked his legs in the chair. "That could be a good thing, besides I'm sure he will see potential in him much like you did."

All Might leaned forward, letting the steam warm his sunken face. "He expelled his entire class last year."

"That won't happen again, we've told him off for that last year." Nezu commented with a laugh, sighing and carefully handling his tea on his lap.

"But he can still expel someone, right?"

The mouse-like principle lightly chuckled. "Technically."

The two of them halted their current conversation, opting to change the subject on another issue All Might noticed. "You place twenty-one students in each hero course this year, why?"

"The batch of aspiring heroes seemed especially good this year. I wanted to give them all a chance."

"Won't there be some problems?"

"I've already thought ahead, don't worry. We will have the teachers follow the curriculum as usual, but whoever the extra person is, we can have the students who need more training get another chance." Nezu glanced over, taking another long sip of his tea. "Did that make sense?"

Toshinori hummed, his forefinger and thumb holding his chin in thought. "Yes, it does." The mighty hero sighed and stood, thanking his friend for the tea. "I'm pretty sure Aizawa is already testing them."

Nezu laughed. "Probably. It was nice to talk to you again, Toshinori."

"It was nice. I'll see you later, Nezu."

~~~

The entire Class 1-A stood in a field, a shot put field from the looks of it. Aizawa stood in front of them, taking in their forms like he was already deciding to give up on them. 'How optimistic', Aiko thought sarcastically.

He started talking, something along the lines of how U.A. allows independent teaching, and something about quirk prohibitions in society. "Bakugou, how far could you throw in middle school?"

"Sixty-seven meters."

"Great. Now try it with your quirk. Do whatever you need to do, just don't leave the circle." He handed the ash-blond a small ball. "Give it all you've got."

He smirked and mumbled under his breath before throwing the ball with a massive explosion behind it. "DIE!!" The sickening sound echoed through the field.

Air and smoke swept through everyone's hair, Aiko covering her face with her arms and squinting at the bright light. 'Die?' She glanced up at the sky, the ball only being a small spec in the vast ocean of blue. Slowly, it descended back to earth with a trail of smoke tailing behind each weak bounce it made.

Aizawa turned back to the group, his shoulders hunched and relaxed. In his hands, dressed with callouses, was a small device with the illuminated numbers 705.2m on the small screen. "It's important for us to know our limits." He began with a bored tone. "That's the first rational step to figuring it what kind of hero you'll be."

Aiko shivered at the slightly threatening words from the teacher, but everyone else cheered with delight. After all, this is a chance to prove themselves as the future heroes of Japan! To fight villains and save lives! Taking a quick glance at her classmates, she clenched her fists with a confident face.

Yeah, she would stop villains too! She would become a hero!

"'Awesome you say?'", Aizawa repeated, a bit of malice echoing under his disinterest. "Hoping you are going to become heroes after three years here... and you think it'll be all fun and games?"

'Huh?' Aiko's sudden confidence dwindled like a dying candle, and her posture slumped. 'Oh god, whats happening?'

"Right. The one with the lowest score across all eight events will be judged hopeless... and will be expelled."

"E-e-expelled?!" She suddenly yelped, the entire class screaming their disbelief. 'Holy shit! He can't do that?! Can he?!'

"Your fates are in our hands." Aizawa trailed his hand through his messy, black hair. "Welcome, this is the Hero Course at U.A."

'That-that wasn't welcoming.' Aiko worried, hurrying along with the other students to the chopping block. They huddled up like cattle to the slaughter. The first challenge: 50-Meter Dash.

Two at a time, the students dashed as fast as they could, a race to the finish line. Aiko was paired up with a red head with sharp teeth. He grinned at her, a soft smile and a thumbs up. "Do your best." He added, bending down to prepare the sprint.

Aiko bent down too, blowing her loose hair out of her face, and patiently awaited the signal.

The dark haired teacher blew his whistle, and the two students were off! Aiko propelled herself forward, launching her body as fast as possible. The wind brushed past her hair, and she was subconsciously holding her breath with each step. 'A little farther!' She thought, the red-head beside her already past the finish line.

'When did he finish?' Aiko's foot passed the finish line, the camera off to the side blaring her score. "6.56 seconds." '6.56! That's better than middle school!' Suddenly, the red head finishing first didn't seem so bad.

Speaking of which, he was wondering over. A small bit of sweat coated his brow, and his toothy grin beamed brightly. "Good job!" He cheered.

"Th-Thanks, you too." Aiko kindly replied, fixing her gym shirt and taking a few deep breaths.

Next challenge: Grip Strength. She frowned, grip strength would be a tough one to do. Maybe her constant drawing would make her stronger than normal? Or maybe that was wishful thinking.

Yeah, it was wishful thinking, 36 kg wasn't that good.

Third Challenge: Standing Long Jump. Knowing each student could use their quirk, Aiko wondered if there was any way her quirk would be useful.

Fourth Challenge: Side Stepping. This would be an easy one, obviously as she finished almost last. Second to last to be exact, pretty good if she had to say so.

Onto the next challenge: Sit-Ups. Easy, eighty-eight and fourth to finish.

Sixth Challenge: Seated Toe-Touch. Also easy, Aiko stretches every morning before skating to school.

Seventh Challenge: Distance Run. Nope, was one of the last to finish, hopefully this wouldn't ruin her score that badly.

Finally, the Final Challenge: Throwing. Besides the eventful Aizawa vs Broccoli Boy vs Explosive Blond back to Aizawa, Aiko didn't do that good.

The reveal was upon the students, a horrifying set of numbers that would decide someone's fate. Aiko related her own score, if they went by a number system she made up, then she should be okay. If each student was put into the position they ended in, and each student was given the respective amount of points, then the people with the least amount of points would be at the top. Aiko wouldn't be at the top, but she shouldn't be on the bottom either.

There was a small beep, and with a deep breath, Aiko glanced up at the screen Aizawa held. Momo, Todoroki, Bakugou, Iida, etc... Aiko. Aiko Takahashi! In 14th place behind Tsu!

Her shoulders slumped and she let go of a breath she didn't even know she was holding. "I made it!" She quietly exasperated.

Though she paused, immediately being overwhelmed with guilt at whoever was in last place. Midoriya Izuku, that's the green haired boy right? Silver eyes glanced over at the boy, his head hung low. Should she go comfort him?

"Your total scores simply reflect your performance in each of the events. Explaining the process would be a waste of time, so all you get are the final rankings." His tone wasn't any different from before, he must really not care about them. "Also, I was lying about expelling someone."

Another sigh of relief.

"That was a rational deception... meant to bring out the best in all of you." His cheshire grin reeked of mischief.

The students shrieked in disbelief, the shy girl shuffling away from the front of the crowd. "Anyway, were done here." Your documents about the curriculum and such are back in the classroom, give them a look."

~~~

"Oi!" A shriek like yell burst through the comforting conversation of the after school pack up. The surprise made the small girl jump and slam her locker closed. "Aiko right?"

When she turned around, the electric blond from earlier. "Uh, yeah? Um, Kaminari right?"

"Yup!" He pulled over two other figures, a purple haired boy from the bus ride and the red head you raced against. "You know Mineta, and this guy right here is Kirishima." His arm hung over their shoulders, a little awkwardly she would admit, and his thumb pointed to the sharper tooth kid.

"Nice to meet you guys." Small, slightly shaky, hands reentered her locker code. "Uh, I'm glad we all made it? Mr. Aizawa seems pretty... intense?"

"Oh, geez. Tell me about it! I thought I was going to fail!" Kaminari yelped, planting his palm on his forehead. "There wasn't even anything I could use my quirk on!"

Kirishima sighed. "Me too, hardening isn't exactly good for stretching." He joked.

"Hardening? That's your quirk?" Aiko asked, the smaller, purple haired student shuffling from side to side anxiously.

"Yup," He raises his arms and flexed them, the once soft flesh changing into hardened, jagged pieces. Like rock. "It makes it harder to move."

"I can harden too-." Burst Mineta, though he was quickly interrupted by Kaminari.

"I can manipulate electricity, I can't use too much of it though, fries my brain." He swatted his hand in the air. "Hopefully later on I can really show off my skills!"

"Do you want to know what my quirk is?" Aggressively, Mineta tried to butt his way past the other two boys. "My balls-."

"So what's your quirk? I didn't see you use it either."

"Oh, it's called pause." Aiko began, doing her best to unite Mineta. "I can freeze—pause objects in time. It gives me bad headaches though." She tapped her temple and shifted her gaze across from her locker, still grabbing the few things left in there. Across form her, Iida waved goodbye with a small smile. She returned the action before turning back to the boy's. "It wouldn't have helped me."

"So," started Kaminari, but replaced his interest with the skates in her hands. "Oh! You skate?"

"Oh yeah, my transportation." The white haired girl waved them in the air before putting them on. "Sorry, but I have to go. Mr. Takahashi wants me to get some food on the way back home."

"Mr. Takahashi? Your dad?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah... my dad." Aiko realized how weird that might sound, after all she used to say mom and dad. "Anyway, I'll see you guys tomorrow!" She smiled and dashed off and away from the situation. "Bye!"

Her hair brushed past her shoulder, and everything else became a blur. Warm air tickled her nose and played with her school uniform. This was freedom, this was relaxation. No matter what happened, no matter who yelled or hurt her before, skating around the city was always relaxing. Always a way to clear her mind of any worries.

After a day like this, she needed it. After all, Komori and Aizawa scared her beyond believe today. Taking a detour wouldn't end the world.

[derl30]

ALTERED STATES REVIEW TIME!

OK, this tumblr is, today, a vehicle for me to review ALTERED STATES. And you (the one person who stumbled on this review two-hundred years from n- oh who am I kidding, when the aliens from A.I. who show up to thaw out Haley Joel Osment and the teddy bear who was the real hero of that movie find this) should be very excited about this. Because this movie is insane. And highly entertaining.

Yes, the movie poster looks like ass. If I told you this was a movie where William Hurt (not the William Hurt from that awful 90's Lost in Space remake, or the one who slept through an entire performance as Duke Leto in the Syfy miniseries of Dune. This is before the body snatchers got him) took ayahuasca and got in a isolation tank and it blew his mind so hard he started devolving into a neanderthal and creating dimensional portals and he couldn't stop because he was addicted to finding the truth of existence... Well you wouldn't get that from this poster, would you? So let's move on. Shall we?

The film opens in 1967 with William Hurt's character, psychopathologist Edward Jessup, already immersed in a sensory deprivation tank, whilst his colleague and “buddy” Bob Balaban (he's just Bob Balaban in everything I'm not giving you his character's name look it up yourself if it's bugging you so much) oversees.

Now, you may notice I put buddy in quotes. The reason for that is that Jessup is a self-obsessed ass who seemingly has no reason to be around other people unless he can expound to them one of his various monologues. Bob Balaban barely gets a word in edgewise throughout the entire film. Bob Balaban.

See, Jessup loves the sensory deprivation tank experience. Unsurprisingly, as it allows him to be completely alone with himself for hours.

Later, at perhaps the lamest party ever, a bunch of faculty are chilling out and listening to the Doors. Everyone we see is talking about Jessup. Why? Well, much as Jessup is obsessed with himself, everyone else seems to follow suit by being obsessed with him. One young woman, Emily, (Blair Brown) is introduced to him in this very shot below as he arrives at the party:

Notice how is framed in holy light? There is a closeup after, of him framed in blinding glowing light followed up with a zoom in on Emily's face, enraptured with this incredible dynamic man. So much so that the moment he tries to make a goddamn sandwich she starts grabbing his celery (get your mind out of the gutter) and flirting with him. Which for these two that means talking science, immediately. Talking more at each other than with each other. This is often the way with Paddy Chayefsky's scripts.

PAUSE

Paddy Chayefsky is doubtless one of the great American writers for the screen. He wrote Marty, The Hospital and Network (which is a fucking incredible piece of work). He got an Oscar for all three. He also wrote this movie (Altered States, remember? Good lord) and disowned it completely three weeks in to production. His scripts tend to have very intelligent, driven characters at the center, who monologue extensively at each other. These scripts are not attempting to sound naturalistic.

Ken Russell, however, directed the film. He, like Chayefsky, is top notch at what he does (Direct. I said he directed the film like a second ago, come on keep up). His films, like Women in Love, The Devils, (which was banned in several major countries upon release and has never been shown publicly in its full, uncut form (by the way it's a masterpiece)) the Who's Tommy, Gothic, and Lair of the White Worm are all fucking gonzo nuts. I mean like, when you gave this guy the reins, you were going to Overthetopsville and there will be no stops on this trip. And god bless! I love directors who GO for it!

You're getting the chance to make a movie. Stop hemming and hawing and hit me over the head with what you want to say! Film is a visual medium, USE IT!

I feel I might have made my feelings clear here. So, moving on...

Ken Russell and Paddy Chayefsky immediately started butting heads, right from the start. Chayefsky was a BIG deal, and he wanted control over the picture in a BIG way. Ken would listen to his suggestions on everything to lighting and set dressing, and politely tell him, “No.”, and continue being the director of the film. Chayefsky hated him pretty quickly.

He had much more control over films like The Hospital. Which, if you watch The Hospital, well, it shows. You've got great actors (George C. Scott, Dame Diana Rigg (Dame may be the greatest official title of all time)) saying great dialogue. But its just two very witty bitter people sort of expounding on topics and speaking at each other and suddenly admitting they are in love and discussing what drapes they will have to buy for their new home. It's utterly preposterous, and it doesn't work in the way Sidney Lumet got it to work in Network, by literally making one of the lead characters realize his life is turning into a ludicrous soap opera.

So of course Ken tried to humanize, naturalize, the dialogue sequences. And it works! The film feels more human than the Hospital or Network. Despite the fact that Jessup is literally becoming more and more inhuman throughout the film. One of the ways he does this is by having the character's eat, drink, and work on other things during the dialogue sequences. This is perfectly normal in film, it's called giving the actor “business” to do, during the scene. Chayefsky HATED this. “They are mumbling my precious dialogue! Chewing through it! Sucking it through a straw!” Sorry, Chayefsky buddy. It works for the picture. Chayefsky also felt the actors were too emotional with his dialogue. Right. See, they call that acting.

UNPAUSE

Which brings us back to the first meeting of Emily and Jessup at the party. They are eating during this important scene! I can just picture Chayefsky seeing this, and running to the studio brass to tattle and get Ken Russell fired (as he got Arthur Penn of Bonnie and Clyde fame fired before Ken Russell came on board).

Emily and Jessup are, true to Chayefsky form, extremely intelligent, driven people and hearing them discuss topics such as anthropology and schizophrenia is quite interesting. It's just that what is to come, film being a visual medium, will eclipse just about any dialogue, no matter how good, from our mind thingys.

The two give up on the science talk and go straight to banging on her couch. After, she asks what he was thinking about. His answer is priceless. “God. Jesus. Crucifixions.”

She smiles.

Bwahahaha! Oh Paddy Chayefsky, you sure know women.

He admits he used to have religious visions. She listens to him from the sweaty couch whilst he sits naked on the floor, and starts going on about his father's horrible death of cancer and his loss of faith. And he admits to her that he's a nut. Her response is to call him a fascinating bastard. I think Lucas may have taken notes for Padme and Anakin.

So naturally, they get married immediately.

But none of that matters because Jessup gets back in the sensory deprivation tank and has his first vision. A nightmare of his dying father and lost faith in christianity. It's pretty great, filled with foreboding hospital rooms, his father's face being covered in a burning Shroud of Turin, everything covered by horrible blood red clouds and then THIS FUCKING THING SHOWS UP AND ITS ALIVE AND WRIGGLING

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

excuse me...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

The many-eyed goat is slaughtered over a gold bible and suddenly Jessups screwing Emily again and we enter a blood vessel looking thing and the vision ends and he never mentions this again. Oh. Okay,

Emily continues on about what a nut Jessup is as they make marriage plans. Her monologue:

“You're an unmitigated madman. You don't have to tell me how weird you are. I know how weird you are. I'm the girl in your bed the past two months. Even sex is a mystical experience for you. You carry on like a flagellant... Which can be very nice, but I sometimes wonder if it's me that's being made love to. I feel like I'm being harpooned by some raging monk in the act of receiving God. (Emphasis mine)

"And you are a Faust-freak Eddie! You'd sell your soul to find the great truth. Well, human life doesn't have great truths. We're born in doubt. We spend our lives persuading ourselves we're alive. And one way we do that is we love each other, like I love you. I can't imagine living without you. So let's get married, and if it turns out to be a disaster, it'll be a disaster.”

It's a disaster.

As in, by the next scene. It starts off happy enough looking, they have kids and people are smiling. And hey, wow it's seven years later! But, well, see, whoops, they are getting a divorce. Well, not they. See, he is divorcing her because he considers the seven years with her a complete waste.

She still loves him, desperately. He doesn't give a shit about her or the kids. He tells Bob Balaban this, straight up. And then starts bugging him about deprivation tanks and Hinchi Indians in South America who have sacred mushrooms that can really fuck you up.

It's at this point you would like for Jessup to be hit by a Mack truck. But the movie continues on. By the way, this is one of the kids he doesn't give a crap about:

That's right. Drew Barrymore's first role is a kid that William Hurt doesn't give a shit about. Something that William Hurt would make a career out of with narcoleptic performances in Lost in Space and Syfy's Dune. So, Emily takes the kids to Africa for her anthropology work while Jessup goes to South America to go deeper into his own creepy mind.

The Hinchi Indians agree to allow him to participate in the drug ritual. They enter their holy cave.

This shot is beautiful. At this point the film becomes increasingly gorgeous. Ken Russell has started to go into overdrive, ladies and gentlemen. Buckle. Your. Seatbelts.

The Indians grab Jessup's hand and cut him, freaking him out. They pour his blood into the drug mixture. They begin to drink. Then he takes a sip. The intensity of the film here has quadrupled. The vision begins, fireworks going off all around him. He sees cave paintings of humans and komodo dragons and this:

The proper life he left behind with Emily. He's convulsing, sweating. The Indians are all around, masked. Snakes. He's laughing in pain. Energy spills from the void. A snake under the parasol strikes and begins to strangle him. He and Emily march toward a nuclear explosion as energy pours from the cut on his hand, becoming a lizard. From within a sandstorm, Emily watches him, naked. Jessup looks at her, entranced, as the soothing sands cover them both, slowly.

It's a beautiful sequence. A perfect film sequence. I can't overstate how strong the vision sequences are from this point forward. Great visual effects work and the madman mind of Ken Russell create something unforgettable, with it's own pace, independent from the rest of the film.

Jessup awakens with a komodo dragon laying before him, ripped to pieces. The Indians and the others all claim he killed it in rage. Jessup remembers nothing, takes samples of the drug to reproduce it, and goes back home.

Back home, Jessup keeps doing as much of the drug as he can and having Bob Balaban record results. They can't up the dosage any more so Jessup hops back in to the self deprivation tank to create a more extreme experience.

In his next session, Jessup states he is having a vision of early man, hunting a deer and killing it. Suddenly he states he is one of them, killing the deer. He begins to grunt like an animal. The two pull him out. He's incredibly pale, blood seeping out of his mouth. He can't speak, and has difficulty breathing. He insists they do an X-ray. It shows that there is a vocalizing lump in the front part of his throat. Jessup claims that his body had begun to revert to a simian state. The medical doctor agrees, stating the throat X-rays looks like that of a gorilla.

Luckily his throat returns to normal. So Jessup finishes up his day by having over a student of his and sleeping with her.

Our hero, people!

At this point we hardly feel sorry for him as his body suddenly begins to twist and bulge in the middle of the night, shifting in and out of neanderthal shapes. It's a horrific sequence, disturbing as hell. You certainly didn't expect the film to shift into body horror.

Jessup feels normal after a while. but sees visions of lava explosions, the birthing of the Earth all around him. Not a good sign.

He goes to pick up Emily from the airport the next day. She asks how he is doing.

“Oh, fine.”

Yeah right.

Emily has been told what Jessup has been doing and is worried, which of course pisses off Jessup even more. The guy is obviously obsessed with reaching the truth and root of existence, much as Emily surmised earlier, and we see he has no fear of even losing his own soul, again true to her word. The only thing that allows us to give a shit about him at this point is that Emily cares for him and she's decent people, okay?

So back Jessup goes into the tank with his ayahuasca or whatever it is. Alone. The tank door opens from the inside.

The hand that pushes it open is covered in thick hair. He's devolved.

Ape-Jessup escapes the tank room and chases a janitor around the building. Again, this scene is fucking freaky as hell. We can't get a good look at this screaming animal that was Jessup.

The janitor gets a guard to help and chases after him into the boiler room, where we finally get a good look at him when he assaults the security guard and escapes.

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Ape-Jessup runs through the city at night, making his way to the zoo where he kills a antelope and eats it. The Ape-Jessup sequence goes on way too long, but is nonetheless unforgettable. The makeup is much more convincing than the above picture suggests, and whoever performed Ape-Jessup did an admirable job.

The cops find an unconscious Jessup in the zoo and bring him in. Emily picks him up and questions him. Jessup admits everything that he can remember. He also admits that he probably killed that security guard. And once again doesn't seem to give a shit. Prick. He calls it the most supremely satisfying time of his life.

Even Emily seems disgusted with him. But, she's also fascinated with what he's accomplished. As an anthropologist, his transformation fascinates her. And so, she agrees to help oversee his next session. Big mistake.

Before the big session Emily and Jessup romantically reconnect, and then into the climactic session we go!

Get your popcorn ready!

After a few hours in to the session, the video monitor shows Jessup begin to literally melt apart like goo, reverting to primordial ooze, the very beginning of existence. An attempt to open the isolation tank doors blasts everyone unconscious, as light and energy pour forth. Emily is the only one left. She sees Jessup's life energy pulse from within the tank.

Rain pours down around them. The pipes on the walls twist and turn like jelly. The ground is covered with a pool of swirling fog and energy. Emily advances toward the vortex of the tank.

In the emptiness of the beginning of everything, Emily seizes the energy before her and reconstitutes Jessup.

They take him home. While he sleeps, Emily rages over the fact that she loves such a insane bastard, and can't get over him. And, then, after Bob Balaban leaves, leaving Emily alone, Jessup wakes up.

He sweetly admits that the truth he learned was that there was no learnable truth, just unknowable horror, and all that's real is human experience. And he'll be a good boy from now on. Well too bad!

Because that horrible truth isn't done with him, and it's back to goo-Jessup! Emily tries to help him, grabbing him, but this in turn effects her, turning her into a shimmering lava form of herself. Both of them begin to self-destruct as Jessup, enraged, watching her in pain, struggles to retake his humanity, slamming himself into the wall, reforming himself through sheer will and physicality. He grabs her and brings her back, mirroring what she did for him during the final session. They embrace naked in the hallway. He finally admits, “I love you, Emily.”

Fade to credits.

Awww true love!

What can I say to sum up? Awesome 80's practical effects. Genius wacko go-for-it Ken Russell directing. Out of this world vision sequences. A awake and actually remarkable performance from William Hurt. An occasionally turgid but often fascinating script by the ever ornery Paddy Chayefsky. Whats not to like?

Well, the ending is a little rushed. The ape sequence goes on for a little too long and takes up perhaps too much of the films overall running time. The central love story is, well... a little hard to swallow, but hey, I guess there really is somebody out there for everyone. Even self-absorbed, deadbeat, cheating, sensory deprivation loving, ayahuasca dropping, Harvard teachers with a messiah complex!

And on that note, aliens from A.I. Artifical Intelligence, have a good day, and don't leave poor Teddy alone with no one to keep him company!

Sayonara!