#like I actually can’t believe he said all this

[claypgeon]

Hello, can please request something Charles Leclerc and dating a very successful actress like an Emmy winner kind of actress, and him being the perfect trophy husband, and everyone's obsessed with them

trophy husband | charles leclerc

pairing: charles leclerc x horror actress!reader

summary: charles leclerc is the perfect trophy husband, even if he can’t quite bring himself to watch your movies.

notes: can i just say how much i hate summary’s?? like i hate WRITING THEM, love when fics have them tho, but i feel like my summaries never make sense and they take me FOREVERRR

liked by maxverstappen1, lewishamilton, landonorris, and 693,928 others!

charles_leclerc: Some of my favorite posters so far 😍 Make sure to go watch MaXXXine July 3rd, staring my beautiful wife!! ❤️

view comments below!

user1: i still can’t believe they are married 😭

user2: HERE BEFORE MAX!! I MADE IT 😫😫

maxverstappen1: Are you going to be able to make it through the whole movie this time?

charles_leclerc: Probably not!

user3: LMAO CHARLES JUST ACCEPTED IT 😭😭

user4: i remember there was a time when charles used to swear up and down that he could sit through yns movies..he’s grown 🥹

user5: to be FAIR; i can’t really sit through a y/n movie either. they are always so fucking terrifying, i have to take like 30 minute breaks each minute 

user6: the queen of horror will do that to you 😭

user7: charles supporting y/n even though he’s too scared to watch any of her movies is so funny

user8: i just looked at my bf and sighed

pierregasly: So excited 😁

user9: do you think they’ll do another y/n movie, movie night without charles 😂

user10: don’t make it sound like they didn’t invite him?? he CHOSE not to go because he was too scared to watch the movie 😭

yourusername: thank you for the support love 💚

charles_lecerc: HEHEHE ☺️ Of course my love anything for you!! ❤️

user11: did this mf just giggle through comments

user12: sometimes i question my high standards, but then i see charles acting like this with y/n and i remind myself i should NEVER settle for less

landonorris: I stand with you Charles. Her movies are way to scary. I will be streaming without watching tho 👏

charles_leclerc: Thank you Lando 😁

yourusername: my two favorite scaredy cats 🫶

charles_leclerc: I should be your ONLY favorite scaredy cat 😕

landonorris: Don’t be jealous Charles, we all know you two only want each other 🙄

user13: HELP LANDO 😭😭

user14: get yourself a man who supports you as much as charles support y/n 👏👏

liked by charles_leclerc, and 53,829 others!

ynupdates: y/n at the MaXXXine premiere today! she had on a total of three different dresses tonight and she looks gorgeous!

view comments below!

charles_leclerc: 😍😍

charles_leclerc: WOW 🤩

charles_leclerc: 🤤🤤🤤🤤

charles_leclerc: beautiful☺️☺️

charles_leclerc: 👏👏

charles_leclerc: Holy 😘😘

charles_leclerc: Obsessed 🥰🥰

charles_leclerc: MY wife 😻😻😻

charles_leclerc: Gorgeous😘

charles_leclerc: Stunning ☺️

user15: oh this? nothing just charles showing everyone that he is IN FACT the standard!

liked by charles_leclerc, lewishamilton, maxverstappen1, and 729,038 others!

yourusername: so excited for you all to see MaXXXine, i’m really proud of it 🥹

view comments below!

charles_leclerc: You should be proud gorgeous ❤️ it was an amazing movie!

maxverstappen1: You didn’t even watch it?

charles_leclerc: I HAD HER DESCRIBE IT TO ME.

charles_leclerc: You looks stunning! 😍

yourusername: thank you cutie ☺️

charles_leclerc: You think i’m cute? ☺️☺️☺️☺️

user16: is charles aware y/n is already his wife??

charles_leclerc: Of course i’m aware! I would never forget the day y/n said yes 😡

user17: bad move think just because they’re married charles would stop acting like he’s trying to get at her

user18: i think it’s so crazy to see a man ACTUALLY love and appreciate his partner; like it’s shouldn’t BE crazy. it should be the standard, but yet.,.

lewishamilton: Great movie as always! 🔥

yourusername: thank you lew 🫶

user19: “lew” 🥹🥹

landonorris: Someone put y/n in a romcom please.

user20: lando does NOT fuck with the horror

user21: NO BUT PLS YNS AMAZING IN HORROR BUT IS IT A CRIME TO WANT TO SEE HER HAPPY IN A MOVIE FOR ONCE

user22: charles x y/n romcom when??

oscarpiastri: Amazing movie! 10/10 loved it 🤩

landonorris: Of course you like horror you muppet.

oscarpiastri: Not everyone sticks to comedy’s because their scared of a little blood…

user23: READ HIM TO FILTH

user24: i’m so excited to shit my pants watching this movie!! (i hate horror but will watch anything yns in)

. . .

[loveinhawkins]

When Steve picks up the phone, he can hear Eddie laughing before he’s even said a word.

“What?” Steve says through a smile; he’s used to this now, phone calls that happen for no real reason. Robin had gotten him well and truly accustomed to it: months of rambling conversations—with occasional interjections from Mr Buckley, chuckling as he warned Robin that she was gonna trip over the cord.

“I need your help,” Eddie says, amusement still evident in his voice, “it’s to win an argument.”

“Oh, is that all I am to you?” Steve acts like he’s going to hang up, covering the receiver with his hand so it sounds muffled.

“No, no!” Eddie’s laughing again. “Don’t go.”

Steve removes his hand, his smile growing. “All right, jeez. What’s up?”

“Okay, back me up here ‘cause Dustin and Lucas did not believe me. There was—we had an old gym teacher, right? He, like, towered above us, man, had a moustache, like what do you call it when it’s all—”

Steve feels another wave of affection; he knows that Eddie will be unconsciously demonstrating what the moustache looks like, despite the fact that they can’t see each other.

“—uh, bristly, you know what I—?”

“Yeah,” Steve says, “Mr Wilson. Didn’t he leave a couple years ago? Super mean for no reason, dude had a stick up his—”

“Yes!” Eddie crows in triumph. “I knew you’d remember, I knew it.”

Steve shakes his head fondly—Eddie’s making it sound far more impressive than it actually is, like he’s just sunk the winning shot or something. Like Eddie has an unshakeable belief in him.

“God, he was the worst. He was the one that was obsessed with cross-country, right—”

“Oh, Jesus Christ, yeah,” Eddie says. “It was actually scary. I swear he got some kinda evil kick out of it whenever it rained, like he’d hope we drowned out there or—”

Steve makes a vague hum of agreement; there’s a flash of the familiar in Eddie’s words, the memory of mud and rain against his skin. And…

“Shit, didn’t you…? Did you fall one time, I remember you limping?”

Steve’s recollection of it is fuzzy—like a lot of things were in the winter of ‘84—but as he talks, the more he grows certain; it makes sense of a momentary instinct he’d had in The Upside Down, as the earth shook: seeing Eddie fall out the corner of his eye, and suddenly wanting to check whether he rolled his ankle.

“Uh, yeah.” Eddie chuckles slightly—there’s a thread of embarrassment in the sound. Didn’t think—um, sorta hoped you wouldn’t remember that, honestly.”

“I don’t really,” Steve says, then winces. “That sounds bad. I just meant—”

“No, it’s okay,” Eddie says. Steve can hear how he’s smiling. “Better for my ego this way.” He pauses. “You were really sweet about it at the time.”

He moves on quickly—Steve knows that’s partly just Eddie being himself, how he joyfully leaps from one topic to the next. But he doesn’t think he’s imagining the flicker of something shy, the softness in Eddie’s voice, you were really sweet about it.

Steve makes sure to commit it to memory.

[munsonsmixtapes]

Paint Me

Benedict Bridgerton x fem!inexperienced!American!reader

summary: You are unsure of Benedict's intention of marrying you and he assures you that he is as head over heels for you as can be and very looking forward to spending the rest of his life with you.

word count: 2.8k

This is the final part!

part one part two part three part four part five part six

March 30, 1817

“It’s the eve of your wedding, brother, “ Colin spoke as the three eldest Bridgerton brothers sat around a table in their favorite pub. “How are you feeling?”

“Drunk,” Benedict replied and the others laughed at his response, definitely thinking that it was funnier than it really was. But in truth, Benedict couldn’t have been more excited to be able to call you his wife. He was looking forward to spending the rest of his life with you more than he had ever looked forward to anything else in his life. He considered himself the luckiest man in the world to have you by his side.

“Just to clarify,” he slurred, turning towards his eldest brother. “I am marrying her because I want to, not just because of the baby.” Anthony was skeptical of his brother’s words, but he supposed that he had to believe him considering that drunk words were often sober thoughts.

“What baby?” Colin asked. “Is…is y/n with child?” He felt like he should have been aware of that fact sooner considering that was big news to keep from someone.

“Yes, Colin. Keep up,” Anthony smacked the back of his brother’s head and Colin rubbed the spot.

“Are you actually? Because you seemed pretty hesitant at first,” Anthony argued and Benedict supposed that he had a point. But he was a changed man now. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with you. The baby was just a bonus. A symbol of the love you shared.

“I can’t even believe that you would ask such a thing,” Benedict responded. “Of course I want to marry her. I…I love her.” He had never said the words before in regards to someone who wasn’t in his immediate family, but saying them when he was thinking about you just felt right.

“Since when?” Anthony hadn’t seen any interaction between you and Benedict that would have indicated that he was in love with you, but he supposed that not even Benedict would have lied about something like that.

“Since the moment I laid eyes on her at the first ball,” he said the words so dreamily that both Anthony and Colin swore that they were going to throw up right there. It was nice that their brother was finally tied down, but they just didn’t like when he got all mushy in front of them. That should have been reserved for you.

“So you’re really marrying her for love?” Anthony took a sip from the glass of beer that was in front of him. How many ways did he want him to say it? Was he not clear the first time?

“I am,” he nodded, his eyes still looking just as dreamy.

“Does she know that?” Anthony had been the one to convince his brother to do just that just because he had slept with you and now he was upset that he was actually doing it because he actually loved you? Why was he so hard to please?

“She does,” Benedict nodded. Well, he hoped you knew. He would have had to make sure, though. Surely you had to with the way he looked at you, right? It wasn’t exactly a secret and it wasn’t like he was hiding it from you. It almost felt like an unspoken thing between the two of you and now he felt like he really should have laid everything out on the table so you knew the truth.

“Does she really?” Anthony gave him a pointed look. He thought you deserved the best and was sure that his brother could give it to you now that he seemed devoted to you, but he was just making sure. He couldn’t stand seeing his brother break another woman’s heart. Especially not yours.

“She will by the end of the night,” Benedict replied and both Anthony and Colin gagged in response.

“You’re disgusting,” Colin gave his brother’s shoulder a shove. It wasn’t unlike Benedict to make a joke like that, but this time, he didn’t mean it in an inappropriate way. He really had every intention of telling you how he really felt about you.

“I meant that I’m going to tell her as soon as we’re done here.” He took the last sip of his beer and slammed the glass down on the table before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Well, it looks like we are,” Anthony eyed all of the empty glasses in front of them. “You should go tell her right now. Hopefully the alcohol will have worn off by the time you get there.” With that, all three men stood from the table and Benedict made a beeline for the door.

Walking to your house, he couldn’t help but think of you and how excited he had been to see you. He hadn’t been able to all day since you both had been busy with wedding duties. But now everyone he knew was asleep. Everyone but you, of course. He knew that you’d be up painting or working on a sketch.

Now he was beginning to think that you were under the impression that he was only going to marry you because of the baby and he hated that. He loved you. He loved you with everything that he was and couldn’t stand you not knowing exactly how he felt any longer.

You were as nervous as could be as you sat in your bed, working on a sketch. You couldn’t sleep since all you could think about was the wedding and how you were actually going to marry the man who you had been in love with for almost half the time you had been alive. As excited as you were, you couldn’t help but think about how unsure you were that he loved you in return. He hadn’t exactly said the words and with the proposal after revealing that you were pregnant, it almost seemed like he was marrying you just so the baby would have two parents.

You had heard so much about loveless marriages and how common they were, but you didn’t want that for yourself. You wanted someone who would be there for you through whatever you were going through and you wanted to be there for them in return. And as much as Benedict seemed to care for you, especially through your pregnancy, you weren’t entirely sure that he actually loved you. Maybe just hearing the words would have been reassuring and you could have put all of your doubt behind you.

As if he could hear your thoughts, Benedict was knocking on your window. You rushed to open it and you helped inside, the man collapsing to the floor as soon as he was in your room. The alcohol had mostly worn off since he hadn’t drunk as much as the others and now he was feeling the pain of his body hitting the floor.

“Benedict, what are you doing here?” You asked as you helped him to his feet and his hands stayed in yours as he looked at you with a dopey grin.

“I wanted to see my wife,” his hands moved to your back, pulling you into a sweet kiss.

“I’m not your wife yet,” you countered and he wondered what had put you in a sour mood. “If you’re here for sex, you’ve come to the wrong place,” you grumbled, turning back to your bed and gathering your art supplies to put it on your desk.

“What’s gotten into you? What’s upsetting you, darling?” He asked as stood behind you, resting his hands on your waist, but you were quick to push his hands off you, turning around to face him. Benedict had never seen you so angry and now he was trying to figure out what he could to put a stop to it.

“Do you love me?” You asked and the words felt heavy in the room, changing the atmosphere completely. Benedict’s eyes widened at your question and he knew that the longer he sat in silence, the worse he was going to look.

“What would prompt you to ask such a thing?” He shook his head in disbelief. “Of course I love you, darling.”

“So you want to marry me because of that and it has nothing to do with this baby?” Your hands moved to your stomach and Benedict realized just how horrible he looked. Perhaps the engagement did seem a bit rushed and the timing of it seemed a bit suspicious.

“Absolutely nothing, my love. I love you with everything that I am and I am not opposed to telling all of Mayfair if you don’t believe me. Actually, I would tell everyone because they deserve to know how utterly and completely I am in love with you.”

“And I would do the same for you,” you reached up and cradled his face in your hands, pressing your lips to his briefly before pulling away. You then pulled him into a tight hug, your arms wrapping around his waist as you buried your face into his chest. He wrapped around your shoulders and he pressed a kiss to your hair before pulling back to look at you, cradling your face in his hands.

“I love you,” he said.

“I love you more,” you replied.

“Impossible,” he laughed. “Because I love you most.”

“This isn’t a competition, Ben,” you told him.

“I know,” he nodded. “But if it was,” he’d whispered. “You’d win hands down.”

You took him by the hands and led him over to the bed. You laid down first and Benedict hovered over you. He pushed up your nightgown and you gave him a pointed look but he just smiled.

“I’m just saying hello to our child, darling,” he chuckled. “Is there anything wrong with that?” There wasn’t all. In fact, it warmed your heart that he was already looking forward to being a father, wanting to see your stomach even though it wasn’t obvious that there was a baby in there.

“I suppose not. But I feel like this is all a ploy just to see under my nightgown.” Sure, that would have been true a few months ago, but you had changed Benedict and for the better it seemed. He really had turned over a new leaf and you couldn’t believe that you had been the one who made him do it. You were the one who made him want to commit to one woman for the rest of his life.

“I cannot believe you would accuse me of something so naughty.” He pushed your nightgown all the way up and you noticed that all he was looking at was your stomach. He pressed a kiss to the spot right above your belly button then put your nightgown down before laying on your stomach gently, speaking to the baby, telling it everything and nothing until the two of you peacefully drifted off to sleep, dreaming of nothing but the life you were going to build together.

March 31, 1817

The sun seeped in through your window, stirring you from your sleep. You looked down at the arm snaked around your waist and turned around to come face to face with Benedict, a smile on his face.

“Good morning,” you greeted, pulling him closer, pressing your foreheads together.

“Good morning,” he replied, then pulled you into a kiss before rolling out of bed to put on his coat.

“Where are you going?” You whined and it took everything in him to not crawl back into bed, but he had a wedding to get to.

“In case you forgot, darling, we’re getting married today and my mother will have my head if I’m not home in the next few minutes.” He pressed another kiss to your lips then made his way to the window. “I will see you at the altar, my dear,” he winked before climbing out the window.

-

The church filled with your friends and family while your mother, Lilith, Kate, and Violet helped you get ready. Your mother seemed to actually be in a good mood as she fixed your dress. She beamed at you in the mirror and you smiled right back. For once, you, and her and Lilith actually seemed like a happy family.

Lilith smoothed out your veil while Violet and Kate touched up your makeup. They all gushed about how beautiful you looked and you could help but agree. Unlike how you thought you would have felt, you actually felt like a bride. And you were going to marry Benedict.

Your look was all finished and they all stepped away from you to get a good look at their work, admiring it with wide smiles. They had been showing you nothing but love on your special day and for that, you’d be eternally grateful.

“It’s time,” your mother said as she pulled you out of the room while the others headed to their seats.

You took a deep breath as your mother led you down the aisle and as soon as you made eye contact with Benedict, you could feel your own getting misty. You joined him at the altar and you joined hands as your mother took her seat. You turned Vivian and Lilith and you could see their joined hands as tears streaked their cheeks. They were just as happy as you were and you couldn’t have been more grateful that you all could put everything behind you.

You then turned back Benedict and the ceremony started. You weren’t listening, though. You were just too distracted by the beautiful man in front of you, not quite sure whether or not you were dreaming. You had to be though, right? You had thought about the exact scenario to fall asleep every single night and now it was really happening.

And it was for love. He loved you more than you could even comprehend. And you loved him in the exact same way. Maybe it was unconventional to fall in love someone, but Benedict didn’t care. All he cared about was spending the rest of his life with you.

“You may now kiss the bride,” was all you had tuned in enough to hear after you had repeated after the pastor. Benedict took no time to press his lips to yours in a chaste kiss before grabbing onto your hand and the two of you turned to face your audience.

Everyone stood and the two of you walked down the aisle for the first time as a married couple. Your whole life was going to change. You were no longer going to be living with your family but in a new house with your new husband and that sounded like nothing but blissful to you.

The two of you would raise your children there and teach them your art skills so you all could paint in the garden as a family. It really seemed to be that you were going to love happily ever after just like you had always dreamed.

December 14, 1817

“Doing so well darling,” Benedict cheered you on as he dabbed the sweat away with a towel. “Just a few more pushes,” he urged. You had been pushing for too long and just wanted to baby out of you already. It was probably the most pain you had ever endured and were considering stopping at just one so you’d never have to go through it again. Once seemed to be enough.

“Here comes the head,” the doctor told you and you squeezed both Benedict and your lady’s maid’s hands while you gave another big push. You did one more, this one the hardest and let out a sigh of relief as soon as you heard crying.

“It’s a boy,” the doctor passed your son off to you as soon as he was wrapped up into a blanket. You looked down at him as you held him against your chest and couldn’t believe that he was yours. That you were deemed qualified to take care of him after carrying him for nine months.

“A boy,” you repeated and Benedict leaned over to get a look, his face softening as soon as he caught sight of his baby boy.

“Do you have a name?” He asked and you did. You thought it was only right to name him after your father. You would have anyway, but now you felt the need to honor him and giving your son his name seemed like the best way to do that.

“August,” you replied and Benedict looked down at the boy, his smile growing even wider.

“Then August it is,” he nodded and you handed August to him so he could hold him for a while. You watched your husband walk around the room with your newborn son, wondering how you had gotten so blessed as to having them both in your life. What you had done to have gotten such luck when all you had been dealt your entire life was a shitty hand. Maybe now your life was finally turning around for the better. And you only had Benedict to thank for that.

[lovelyyandereaddictionpoint]

Spoiled Brat Child Reader | Platonic Yandere Twisted Wonderland

“You can’t tell me what to do! You’re not my mom!”

It’s alarming for a child to be brought to a world completely different from their own

It’s just as alarming when that child is good at getting what they want

“Aren’t I generous–”

“This is it? What are you some poor old featherduster? Is this really all you can do for the child you practically abducted with your weirdo mirror ceremony un-believable.”

You fit right in at NRC

Stomping your foot and pointing your little gloved fingers 

You have way too much ease when it comes to confronting your seniors

Already surviving and rumored to have started Overeblots

Gathering rows of thralls friends that take it upon themselves to be the big brothers you need try and instill some disciplines

And oddly enough the ones to do it first surprisingly  are those at Scarabia

“Oh (Y/n)! Look at you in your little Scarabia clothes, it looks so good on you.”

“Hmph no it doesn’t I look poor. I wanna wear something else!”

“But you do look cute, promise!”

“I don’t care! Something else!”

“...(Y/n)...”

“Shut up you shouldn’t get to talk to me, servant!”

“(Y/N)!? Apologize!”

It’s really bad at first when rotations have you staying with them

Kalim like so many others is enamored by your cuteness and is usually at your whim

But the minute you take it too far with Jamil especially after his Overblot

Before the Overblot Jamil would just try to hypnotize you or play into your bossy attitude

He’s already watching an overgrown child so why not bratty one too

After his overblot though the guilt from endangering little you has him oddly quiet when you take your jabs at him too far

It’s Kalim who steps up

Doing something he didn’t even do when Jamil had plots to take over the dorm

Get Mad

“(Y/N) THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NOT OKAY! JAMIL DOES SO MUCH FOR YOU AND YOU ARE BEING SO UNGRATEFUL! YOU NEED TO APOLOGIZE NOW.”

The dorm is absolutely quiet

As you nervously shuffle your feet

The thing about being bratty and spoiled is that you almost never get corrected 

Like ever 

So when one of your most avid spoilers turns around to lay down the law

It’s surprising

So surprising you just might cry

“I….I….I…Waaahhahhhhh!!! I’sorry Jamil! Sorry! Sorry! I love you still! Sorry don’t be mad at me!”

Crying into Jamil’s jacket for an hour or two before you’re sleeping 

Kalim is silently crying to himself as he’s certain you’ll never smile at him again

But he doesn’t plan to apologize either he doesn’t feel sorry for defending Jamil

He just hopes he can stand his ground

Jamil on the other hand is beyond amused

It doesn’t really hurt him when a child who stomps and whines about trivial things starts making fun of him

Even having just survived his Overblot he knows it’s nothing but hot air 

He already knows you like him because despite being a 'servant' you’ll follow him around to tell him about something silly Grim did

But the way Kalim actually spoke some sense into you suprises him a lot

He was just going to quickly hypnotize you to listen when he glared at you 

But this was so much better

It ended with you clinging to him promising you’ll behave and that you are grateful for him

“I really really really am, Jamil!”

“I know.”

“I really really really really am!”

“I know Habibi, sleep please.”

“Okay….only if you stay with me though.”

Come next morning you’ll shyly greet Kalim hiding behind Grim or Jamil 

Until its time for you to draw something for him while you sit a little bit closer

“Here…”

“Oh uh thank you.”

“It’s…a picture of us…Me and carpet drew it to uh…apologize for misbehaving. Do you…forgive me?”

“......”

“Kalim?”

“Waahaahha! Oh (Y/n) you’re a sweet angel yes I do!”

Kalim’s unbelievably happy and Jamil is so so prideful 

He is the one taking you hand-in-hand while you apologize for some of the more heinous things you’ve said or done

“I–er–well I…”

“Out with it, (Y/n).”

“O..okay. I’m sorry Ruggie for calling you poor.”

“Wow I didn’t think you’d ever do something like that. Are you sick?”

“I actually really like dandelions too…I tried one after I saw you trying it.”

“....(Y/n)! If you don’t mind being poor you can come home with me next break.”

“Really–”

“Ah-ah no you don’t.”

For this Crowely suddenly is much more willing to give the dorm a bit more leeway when it comes to taking care of you

But if the other dorms have anything to say about it that won’t be the case for long

[who-datgirl]

Okay y’all so I have been thinking about the finale since Friday and the more I puzzle on it, the less I believe Ruby’s fairy tale ending was genuine. I of course was a big proponent of the “Ruby is River’s daughter theory”, but I am starting to be one of those people who think she is an unknown member of the pantheon. More specifically, I think she may be the daughter of The Trickster, I’ll go into why.

Let’s start with Ruby’s “mom” in the flashback, her hooded face with humanoid lips visible gives me serious Trickster vibes from SJA. A constant lament was “WHY CAN’T I SEE HER FACE?” Well, The Trickster really doesn’t have much of a face aside from ruby-red lips and sharp teeth. Honestly, why would a 15 year old have such an ominous cloak and where did she get it between the maternity ward and abandoning Ruby at the church? Granted a 15 year old still high on painkillers from giving birth could definitely do some zany shit, but it seems like a stretch to me. If my hunch is somehow correct, I would go so far to say that in the time window they did not see Ruby’s parent crying under the hood, but rather laughing maniacally. In fact, I honestly thought she was laughing when I first watched that scene. If the “mom” is actually The Trickster, then he would definitely have been laughing as he takes great pleasure in messing around with The Doctor and their companions.

The Trickster is the god of traps, which typically involves some narrative that a person falls prey to in order to be ensnared by the trap set for them. Ruby as the child of that entity could totally be able to create narratives that people would happily believe and become a part of, or to put it succinctly: a story. It isn’t any further of a stretch than the god of games having a child that is the god of music.

I think as the season went on, Ruby subconsciously created her own happy ending and bio parents piece by piece. Finding her parents seemed to be a process of creation as it unfolded. The DNA scan in 2046 only showed Ruby’s DNA twice. After defeating Sutekh though, 2024 UNIT was able to seamlessly find some ordinary and flawed woman eager to reconnect with and apologize to her abandoned child. Her bio mom is even willing to reach out to a presumable one night stand from 20 years ago, catch up with him, and see if he wants to become a father figure after two decades. Also the origin of Ruby’s name through a street sign that seemed to not exist in the footage, until it suddenly did, felt like an actual change to the timeline. I have nothing against this ending per se, it just all felt deliberately too perfect as if reality was bending entirely to Ruby’s deepest desires. To top it off Ruby somehow pulled the exact narrative of 10 and Rose’s goodbye for 15 and herself, almost as if unconsciously she tuned into one of The Doctor’s deepest heartbreaks to reflect how horribly she felt about leaving them.

I don’t think Ruby’s real story is close to done. I think her perfect ending will start to show cracks, and the reality of it will seem more created than true. Eventually we may even see her wake up to the truth of her power in time for The Trickster to come in and truly fuck around with things for her and 15. It would be interesting to see her owning her power to send her own bio parent into a narrative that The Trickster could never escape.

There is just too much that went unaddressed. How did Ruby conjure snow? Why was Maestro so disturbed by her hidden song that they said there was something seriously WRONG with her? How did she fold her own timeline back in 73 yards? Why were people so terrified of or infuriated by the apparition that we now know was Ruby? Did the Ruby in the distance tell people about her ties to the Pantheon of Discord? Did the apparition know the truth of Ruby that is hidden even from herself? Why would Sutekh care about the hooded parent more than anything else he creeped on during his centuries attached to the TARDIS? Is he a Jerry Springer fan, obsessed with “you ARE/ARE NOT the parent” reveals?

One final thing that makes me think they may pull a child of The Trickster into the story. In SJA before Elisabeth Sladen passed, they were planning on revealing that her adopted daughter Sky was really The Trickster’s child all along. The episode never aired as SJA could not go on without Elisabeth. I could see RTD honoring her show by making that story canon through Ruby. After all, Ruby too is an adopted daughter.

[bosbas]

Hi I just read you’re Colin and Benedict series and I just wanted to say how much I loved them both. I can’t wait to see what you write next. We need another chapter about Benedict and y/n children. Again: absolutely adore you’re writing 🌻🌼

Thank you so much my love!! And you are absolutely correct, I did need more of Benedict and y/n. here's a very quick lil drabble! I hope you enjoy <3 Also, they're using non-toxic paint which I am pretty sure is historically accurate lol. 

I find myself running home to your sweet nothings

series masterlist

pairing: benedict bridgerton x best friend!fem!reader WC: 1.6k words

Warnings: period-typical gender roles, alluding to sex, benedict and y/n having kids, benedict and y/n being very in love

March 14, 1824 – Y/I,

I apologize for not being there as you wake, but I have undertaken a special project with our children. We are not to be disturbed at all today if you can help it.

I asked Anthony to procure you the book you were so intent on finding, and he has, as is typical, been able to find it with relative ease. The book should be waiting for you downstairs at the breakfast table.

Yours,

B

You giggled, giddy as you read your husband’s note. Benedict had been away visiting with a French artist for a few weeks, and you had been left to take care of the children on your own (with the help of their governess, of course). And while you did love them dearly, caring for three small children left you little time to yourself.

After Ben had come home the previous night, he had promised you a surprise in the morning, and a day to yourself was truly one of the best things he could give you.

Sighing contentedly, you descended the stairs so you could begin reading in the gardens as soon as possible. As you passed Benedict's studio, you heard quite a commotion going on inside but decided against investigating. You had an entire day to yourself, after all. Might as well enjoy it.

---

After several hours of reading and only a few breaks in between, you decided that, no matter how much the quiet solitude was relaxing, you had simply missed your best friend too much to stay away. 

Knocking firmly on the studio door so that you could be heard above the noise, you eagerly awaited any indication of what your children had been doing with their father all morning and a better part of the afternoon. 

"Just a second!" called Benedict, and you heard bouts of giggling and rummaging. 

"How long is a second?" you asked after a few moments. 

Opening the door wide, Benedict smiled as he lay eyes on you. Sneaking a quick kiss on your lips and grabbing your waist as he led you into his studio, he said jokingly, "Impatient as ever, I see."

"Only for you," you smiled sweetly, pecking him on the cheek. 

Leaning down to whisper in your ear, Ben responded, "Oh, after last night, I'm quite certain I knew that already."

You gasped, scandalized, and hit Benedict on the arm. 

"Ben!" you chastised lowly, not amused in the slightest. "The children are here."

He only laughed at you.

"The children are quite busy, actually," he pointed out, nodding over to where your two daughters were helping their youngest brother smear paint on a canvas. 

"Is that what you've been doing all day?"

Benedict nodded proudly, scooping up your oldest into his arms while your other daughter remained focused on directing your youngest. 

"Do you want to tell Mama what you've done, Poppy?" he prompted.

"Papa says it's a masterpiece," she said smugly, pointing over Benedict's shoulder to a canvas that had what looked to be a big house surrounded by flowers. "It's our cottage!"

You gasped in delight, looking at all the different flowers she painted. "That certainly looks like our garden, doesn't it? And I do believe that is a poppy, just like your name" you commented, giving her a kiss on the top of her head. 

"And what have the rest of you done?" you asked your remaining children, who by now had collectively given up on Cedric's painting. 

"Cedric, of course, has created a more... abstract piece," said Benedict, looking thoughtful as he assessed the mess of colors in front of your son. 

Being only two years old, he certainly did not have any sort of artistic direction in terms of painting, but it seemed like he had a wonderful time nonetheless. 

You laughed at Ben's commentary but ultimately agreed that your son's artwork was wonderful. 

"Mine is the best," said your other daughter, Lily. "Look, Mama! Doesn't it look just like you?"

Holding up what could only be described as a giant jumble of lines and two barely discernible circles that could be construed as yes, Lily looked as proud as ever. 

You choked back a laugh, making eye contact with Benedict. "Is that me?" you asked your daughter, who was still positively beaming as she held up her painting.

"Yes! Papa has so many paintings of you in here I thought I might try to do one of my own. And look, I even drew a flower here," she said, pointing to an area you supposed was your hand. 

"Oh, I look lovely, don't I?" you commented, rather touched that your daughter had taken the time to paint you, no matter how unrecognizable you looked. "Thank you, darling," you said, placing a kiss atop her head, too. 

"It's got lots of potential," said Benedict thoughtfully. "Just some shading here and there, and it'll be good enough to go in the National Gallery."

You smiled sweetly at his mock seriousness, thoroughly enjoying seeing him in his element with your young children. You supposed that was what marriage was all about. Seeing bits and pieces of your husband in your children. And you couldn't be more thankful it had been Benedict that you ended up with. 

"Thank you," you whispered to him after he let Poppy go help Lily add some color to her painting. 

"I love you," he whispered in return, holding your hand gently and interlacing your fingers. 

---

Later that night, as you were applying all of the creams your lady's maid had insisted you apply before bed, you turned to look at Ben, who was already half asleep. 

"Are you coming to bed soon or am I going to have to carry you here myself," he grumbled. 

You laughed softly, shaking your head. "Who's impatient now?" you teased. 

"I swear I will do it," Ben answered sitting up and crossing his arms as he blinked the sleepiness away. 

You finished up and went over to his side of the bed, putting your arms around his neck as he placed his around your waist. You squealed as he used his hold to drag you into bed so you were lying down next to him, and he proceeded to run his fingers over your lips as he stared at you.  

"I barely slept while I was away. It just wasn't quite the same when I didn't have you in my arms. And besides, I had no one to talk to after every day of looking at wonderful art," Ben said softly, smiling as he looked you up and down. "I missed your face. It's quite a breathtaking one if I do say so myself."

"You might be a bit biased," you teased.

Then, after a beat, "I love you, you know," you said, kissing him softly. "Did the children tire you out today?"

Benedict shook his head, "They're quite remarkable. I do think Poppy will be your clone soon enough. She's far too clever for her own good."

Then, smiling mischievously, Ben said lowly, "And especially now that you're in bed with me I suddenly find myself with bounds of energy."

"I'm sure you do," you responded cheekily, fluttering your eyes shut as he leaned down to kiss you. 

As his lips moved against yours, you felt the same butterflies you had felt years earlier. It seemed they had made a permanent home in your stomach, and they only came to light when Ben did something like this. Three weeks away had been far too many, and you had found yourself missing his sturdy presence in your life. He was as much a part of who you were as you were yourself, and it was simply a gift to be able to live with your best friend since childhood.

"Did you miss me in France?" you said, pausing your kiss. 

You already knew the answer, but it was nice to hear him say it anyway. His letters to you while he had been away were simply not enough now that you knew what it was like to have him stroke your hair as you fell asleep or kiss your forehead in the mornings. Even as a child, you couldn't have imagined a marriage as wonderful as this one. 

"I almost went mad," he said, breathing heavily and nudging your legs open with his knee. "You are my very best friend, you know?" 

"And you are mine."

"I do not even know how I managed to breathe when you were so far away," he said sincerely, kissing your neck.

You gasped in delight, tugging on his hair. 

"It was quite lovely to get a bit of a break from you, actually," you teased.

This was, of course, a lie. You rather enjoyed having Benedict near you every night, talking for hours, and taking long walks on your grounds. But he didn't have to know that at this moment. You had certainly missed him, but he had to work to make up his absence.

"Oh, was it?" Ben taunted, looking down at you with half-open eyes. "I think I can change your mind on that particular matter."

You were positively giddy in anticipation of what was to come. "I'd love to see you try," you challenged.

"I'm certain you would," responded Benedict, a hand creeping up your leg as he bent down to kiss you once more. 

—

series masterlist || buy me a ko-fi!

[mattyriddlesbitch]

Fruit Roll Ups

Mattheo Riddle x Reader

Warnings: Cussing, kissing, gender neutral terms, that's really it?

Another fic based on another Waterparks song

I got some Fruit By The Foot if you wanna come over

Yea, you can wrap your arms so tight

Right 'round my shoulders

In case you're scared of the movies I pick

I'm sorry in advance for that shit

Mattheo and you always had a very flirty relationship. At least, on his end. Complimenting you, hitting on you, telling you horrible pickup lines. He loved when you smiled or laughed at it. He’d even loved it if you rolled your eyes. He actually liked you, though. He had no idea if you liked him back or just liked his flirting.

He finally got the courage to ask you out after watching you with your friends in the courtyard while he was with friends on the other side. Theo and Blaise picked up on him staring at you and started teasing him, making fun of him for pining over you but never doing anything.

“Are you ever gonna ask them out?” Theo smiled at him.

“Yes. I’ll do it when I’m ready.” Mattheo frowned, shoving his hands in his pockets with a sigh, still not looking away from you.

“Is the staring helping? Blaise added on the other side of Mattheo.

“Can you shut up? I’m taking this at my own pace.” Mattheo said, shoving Blaise while Theo and Blaise laughed.

“Just ask them. They’re either willing to give you a chance and say ‘yes’ or they don’t and say ‘no’. It won’t matter when you ask.” Blaise said.

“It’s not like everyone can’t see you guys eye-fucking in class anyways.” Theo added.

“Shut it.” Mattheo sighed, running a hand through his hair before he found himself starting to walk over to you.

When you talk

It's in cursive to me

And it's nicer than anything I'd believe

About me

It's like that shit was written in gel pen

And I love those

“Hey, (Y/N).” Mattheo’s voice said from behind you.

You turn around to see him standing behind you, hands in his pockets, hair a little messy but still cute. “Hey, Mattheo.” You smiled at him.

He smiled and looked down, shifting on his feet before looking back up at you. If only you knew how much your voice affected him. “I think I remember you saying you liked horror movies, right?”

“Yeah. Why?” You nodded.

“Uh, I have some that I haven’t watched yet and all my friends are too much of pussies to watch them with me. I was wondering if you wanted to come to my dorm to watch them one night.” He said, eyes locked on yours. He seemed nervous, which was very unusual for him. “I have a bunch of those little chocolate frogs you like too. I don’t think I’ll ever finish them. I have way too many.”

“Yeah, sure. That sounds fun. Maybe this weekend.” You said with a smile, which seemed to ease him.

“Sweet. Uh, I’ll text you later about the details.” He said, his own smile making its way back on his face before he started backing away, sending you a wink before turning around, taking a deep breath when he knew you wouldn’t notice.

If you want to see me

Acting so desperately

So desperately

All you gotta do is stop texting me

Just to flex on me

He texted you about the movie night a few hours later, not wanting to seem too eager or desperate, just trying to confirm when you’d want to have it. Except you didn’t reply. He didn’t mind the first 10 minutes. After that, he started thinking about it. Maybe he worded it wrong? 20 minutes passed and he kept checking his phone. Did he offend you? 1 hour passed. Maybe you never actually wanted to have a movie night with him.

He left his dorm to find Theo. Theo was good when it came to getting with people.

“I don’t get it. I just asked them when they wanted to have a movie night.” Mattheo said, pacing the room as Theo looked at the text on his phone.

“It’s been an hour.” Theo said, laying on his bed, looking back at Mattheo with a blank face.

“Exactly! An hour and they never replied!” Mattheo said, gesturing his hands wildly.

“They could be studying.” Enzo said, sprawled on an armchair in Theo’s dorm with a book in his lap.

“They’re probably just busy.” Theo tossed Mattheo’s phone on the bed.

It's true

I'm a little bitch for you now

I don't wanna say it way too loud

But I'm a little bitch for you now

His phone suddenly lit up with a notification and Mattheo nearly jumped to grab it, falling to his knees beside the bed as he checked his phone. He smiled when he saw your name and quickly unlocked his phone to read the text you sent him.

“It’s fine. They were napping.” Mattheo said to the two boys, who honestly couldn’t really care less, but found amusement in how desperate Mattheo was to get a text from you.

“See. It was nothing.” Theo said, picking up his own phone to go back to scrolling through it. “Nothing to worry about.”

“I wasn’t worried.” Mattheo said quickly, standing back up as he typed out a text to you.

“Right.” Theo said, raising his eyebrows as he glanced over at Enzo, who shared a look with him.

“Whipped.” Enzo fake-coughed into his hand, getting a laugh from Theo before dodging a shoe Mattheo threw at him and laughing himself.

“I’m not whipped.”

I bought these really sick lights if you wanna come over

They tried to scam me twice

But look

They both can change colors

Like that

I don't wanna leave my house

'Cause in here I'm the ruler

With my refrigerator

Full of Pacific Cooler

But for you I'd brave all the traffic outside

The way you brave all the bullshit I hold inside

You knocked on the door to his dorm at the agreed time, greeted by Mattheo opening his door only seconds later, smiling at you. You both agreed to just wearing comfy clothes, and he looked so good in his sweats and a tee-shirt, his hair was slightly wet from a shower not too long ago. He couldn’t help the flutter in his heart seeing you out of your school uniform. 

“Hey, come in.” He said, moving to let you come in.

You stepped inside his dorm, looking around.

“I got a bunch of snacks and drinks. I remember you told me about this muggle drink you had as a kid so I found some. Wanted to try it with you.” He said, closing the door behind you, watching you nervously as you looked around his dorm. He spent hours deep cleaning it, but if you asked, he was always this clean.

“Thanks. You didn’t need to do all that.” You said and turned around to smile at him.

Your smile. He nearly felt his heart stop. He nearly blurted out ‘I’d do anything for you’ but stopped himself. “Hey, look at this.” He said, trying to turn your attention off of him and calm himself down as he grabbed a remote off his desk and changed the lights in his room from the warm yellow to green, then to red, then blue, then purple.

Oh it's true

(Ooo)

I'm a little bitch for you now

I'm a little bitch

Oh my God

Did I say that too loud?

It's true

I'm a little bitch for you now

I don't wanna say it way too loud

But I'm a little bitch for you now

You both laid down in his bed, watching the horror movies on his tv, snacks scattered between you. His heart was pounding, but it wasn’t from the movie. If you paid enough attention, you could feel his leg bouncing from nerves. He made funny commentary, sounding relaxed. His eyes bounced between you and the tv, making sure you were comfortable and the movie wasn’t bothering you. 

He finally turned his head to look at you fully, watching the light from the tv dance across your face, looking at the little details on your face.

“You okay?” You asked, looking back at him.

“Yeah, just…” He trailed off, not taking his eyes off of you.

He reached a hand over to cup your cheek, leaning closer until his lips hovered over yours. He stayed there for a moment, just looking in your eyes before connecting his lips with yours softly. He really didn’t even know what he was doing. His body took over before his mind could catch up. His mind finally did catch up when he felt you kiss him back. He only parted from you when he needed to breathe, and even then, he was only inches from your face, a huge grin breaking across his.

If you want to see me

Acting so desperately

(I could freestyle you a verse)

So desperately

(Or maybe a hook)

All you gotta do is stop texting me

(I bought these paintings to impress you)

(Did it work?)

Just to flex on me

Theo woke up to his dorm door being thrown open by Mattheo.

“What the fuck do you want?” Theo groaned, rolling over to check the time on his phone.

“They didn’t text back again. You think I fucked up with the kiss?” Mattheo asked, coming over to the side of his bed.

“It is 2 IN THE MORNING! THEY’RE SLEEPING! LIKE I WAS!” Theo yelled, angry that Mattheo woke him up for something so stupid.

Mattheo frowned at him for a moment. “So you don’t think I fucked up with the kiss?”

“GET THE FUCK OUT!” Theo yelled and threw a pillow at him.

Taglist:

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@schaebickel tagging you since you liked my last one :)

Let me know if you wanna be added!

[empressdede]

Me, U & Jealousy - Chapter 4

Previous Chapter

This story is written in both present and past. Italics is the past and regular font is written in the present

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Chapter four

The plan was working. With Monica tagging along with the three, Jada and Sorai were able to occupy the company of Cameron and his friends. Sorai couldn’t believe it, for the first time she was able to hang out with a boy who reciprocated feelings with her. It was a new feeling, the subtle touching, the flirting, all of it made Sorai’s heart race like crazy.

No matter how many times Joseph made fun of her for her lack of experience, this was exactly what she was waiting for. Cameron kept his arm around her shoulder damn near the whole night, and with Monica keeping Joseph busy, Sorai knew that it was going to be a good night.

And it seemed like the night was only getting better for the two sophomores. It’s been going around that Aaliyah was trying to rally up a group to go upstairs to play seven minutes in heaven. What luck would Sorai have if Cameron gave her, her first kiss tonight. The thought alone sent goosebumps to rise against her skin. And as exciting as that sounded, Sorai was actually panicking. The idea of kissing was exciting, except she’s never kissed anyone before. What if Cameron thought she was bad at it? She doesn’t think she could be able to live with the embarrassment.

"Girl, stop that and pick yourself up! You had your crush in your arms all night and now that you have the chance to kiss him, you’re trying to back out?" Jada questioned when Sorai had managed to pull her away from the group into a quiet hallway.

"Jada, you don’t understand. This could be my only chance to kiss Cameron; what if I’m so bad he decides he wants to stop talking to me? You gotta help me." Sorai pleads, eyes shining with hope at her best friend and Jada lets out a laugh in disbelief.

"Girl, how the fuck am I supposed to help you?" Jada questioned tilting her head to side.

"Teach me how to kiss. Tell me what I’m supposed to do."

"Bitch… I know you fuckin lying." Jada laughed.

Sorai huffed. "I’m serious! Tell me what to do, I know it sounds childish but I really want to enjoy it."

Jada rolled her eyes at her friend’s dramatics. It was not that serious.

“First of all, I can’t teach you how to kiss with words. Secondly, if you really want to enjoy it, you just gotta let it happen. Follow his lead, it’s not rocket science you know?” Jada teased but it didn’t make Sorai feel any better. It wasn’t what she was looking for.

Call her dramatic but she refused to get locked in a closet with the only boy who looked past her ‘brothers’ and stayed with her.

“Easy for you to say, you and almost everyone else already had their first kiss. This could be my only chance to really impress Cameron; Jada please… you gotta help me.”

“Help you with what?” The girls heard behind them and they both froze at Joseph’s voice.

Fuck, how am I supposed to get away with this? Sorai thought to herself as both girls turned to face him.

“It’s nothing Sefa, don’t worry about it.” Sorai tried but he shook his head at her.

“Too late. What do you need help with?” He questioned and when both girls refused to answer, he furrowed his eyebrows with concern. “Someone bothering you or something?”

Jada sighed, rolling her eyes at his concern. “She’s scared to kiss Cameron.” She exposed making Sorai’s eyes widen in horror.

“JADA!” She exclaimed in disbelief. Did she forget who sefa was?

“What? He was gonna tear this whole party apart if he thought someone was bothering you.”

“Telling him I’m scared to kiss Cameron is no better, stupid.” Sorai insults.

Joseph watch the two friends argue about what they should’ve said instead and he raised an eyebrow in amusement. “Are you guys done?” He questioned after letting them go back and forth for a little bit.

Jada huffed, turning to Joseph. “Can you turn off big brother Joseph and just be our friend right now? She keeps saying this could be her chance but she she’s scarred to kiss him.”

“Good.” He stated nonchalantly; shrugging his shoulders. Sorai being scared meant he wouldn’t have to get out of character to make sure Cameron stays on his best behavior.

Sorai’s frown only deepened at his response. Her friends were literally no fuckin help. “Sefa! You promised you wouldn’t be like this.”

“I’m not doing anything. You being scared is a good thing.”

“I’m only scared because I don’t know how to kiss.” Sorai stated with an attitude, rolling her eyes and folding her arms over her chest.

Sefa laughed at her. He genuinely didn’t care about her attitude either. “Okay, so what the fuck do you want me to do about that?”

“Tell Jada to show me!” She argued.

“And why the fuck would I do that?” He questioned.

Sorai continued to pout and Joseph was content with just staring blankly at her. All of this was a confidence problem and Joseph already put in his head that it’s Cameron’s fault that he didn’t reassure her worries. It wasn’t looking out to a good start with him, if Joseph was being honest.

It wasn’t until Sorai’s bottom lip started to quiver that his resolve started to crack. Joseph let out a frustrated huff, finally agreeing to help.

“Fine. Jada go tell Cameron that Sorai will meet him upstairs. You… come with me.” He stated pointing at Sorai but she was Skeptical.

“Where are we going?”

“You want me to help you or not?”

Jada noticed her friends hesitance and pushed her towards Joseph. “Just go with him. Everything’s gonna be fine. I’ll make sure Cam keeps a seat for you. Now go.”

Sefa took that as his cue to take over, he grabbed Sorai’s hand and pulled her away from the quiet hallway he found her in.

Sorai let her feet just move, following him mindlessly because she was really worried that whatever quick lesson Sefa was going to give her wasn’t going to stick.

Time ticked as if seconds were minutes and minutes were hours. The butterfly feeling in her stomach would not go away and it didn’t help that Sefa didn’t tell her what he had planned.

He had pulled Sorai into a random room and locked the door, turning to face her. “Just breathe Sorai. You look like you’re about to pass out.”

Sorai inhaled, and released a shaky breath. “Sorry. It doesn’t help that he’s probably the only guy in school who finds me desirable. I don’t know what to do.”

“That’s not true Sorai. You’re a very pretty girl; a lot of people find you desirable.” He softly stated to her and when she smiled at that, he felt good knowing that he was helping her build her confidence up.

“- Anyways, the key to kissing is to follow the other person’s lead and the slower the better.” Joseph instructed and Sorai nodded her head, letting him know she was listening.

“What if he uses tongue?”

“If he shoves his tongue down your throat, I might actually kill him.” Sefa blankly stated and Sorai let out a small laugh.

He was being serious though.

“Okay. When he kisses you, hand placement is important. On his cheeks or around his neck is fine.”

Sorai stepped closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, keeping her eyes on his face to gauge his reaction. “Like this?”

And he knows she was only trying to make sure she had it right but he couldn’t help the knots he felt in his stomach at her close proximity. A whiff of her Juicy Couture perfume swarmed his senses and its what fueled his next movement.

“Yeah, and if you do that, he’ll hold you like this.” And gripped onto her waist and pulled her closer to him.

The tension in the room had seemed to thicken. What was happening? Sorai was asking herself. The nervous feeling she was feeling got way more intense while she stood in Sefa’s arms.

“And then he’ll kiss me right?” She asked softly and he nodded in response to her question.

“Just follow my lead.”

“You mean his lead?” Sorai tried to correct but Sefa’s lips was already on hers.

Sorai froze.

Sefa is kissing me.

Sefa is kissing me.

Sefa is kissing me.

The thought replayed in her head as she stayed frozen in shock but it didn’t make him pull away. He squeezed her hips and started to move his lips against hers and she started to follow.

She was a little tentative at first, she didn’t know what she was doing but Sefa kept his lips on hers so she did exactly what he instructed. Follow his lead.

Her heart beating out of her chest as their lips locked. She couldn’t believe Sefa was kissing her and she was liking it.

When he pulled away, Sorai was a panting mess. A small smile etched onto his face, because it happened exactly how he imagined it would. He was her first kiss, not Cameron.

“Still nervous?” He questioned, and Sorai shook her head at him.

“No, I think I got it now. But-“ she started but cut herself off, she didn’t know how to ask her question.

Sefa was patient though. “But what?” He asked softly and Sorai leaned closer to him.

“Show me one more time?” She whispered and without any hesitation he kissed her again.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Sorai had made sure to avoid the samoan family at all cost. She also never jumped at the opportunity to interview the bloodline, she made sure to give those chances to everyone else.

Kayla always asked her why she gave up the interviews with the boys who were proudly walking around stating they were her brothers. And given that Sorai only told Kayla that these men were like her brothers, she didn’t really have an explanation to give her.

Plus, she didn’t really trust Kayla. Couldn’t risk telling her anything because who knows if she would’ve ran and told them.

It may have been childish at her big ass age but who could blame her? And even though Jada helped her keep her distance from the family, she was constantly in her ear about getting ‘closure’ and Sorai was getting tired of it.

“Its only so many times the twins gon take no for an answer Rai. Your lucky they’re only able to catch me when I’m around other people, but let Joe find out my work schedule if he want to, them twins finna be on my ass.”

“What, you gon rat me out cause you think the twins giving you pressure?” Sorai questioned turning her neck sideways at her friend.

The girls were in Sorai’s office having lunch again because she didn’t want to accidentally bump into anybody. She wanted to be cautious, she refused to take any chances running into any of them and she thought that so far she was doing a great job. Until of course Jada, as always, brought her back to reality.

“They’re giving you space but sweetie I think they’re running out of patience. I know what they did hurt you… but I don’t think they know they hurt you.” Its the same song Jada’s been singing for five years now, Sorai was over listening to it. She never really gave Jada the full story anyways.

“Jada, I don’t want to keep talking about this.” She tried to dismiss the conversation once again but Jada wouldn’t let up, she was going to get her best friend to face this as a grown up one way or another.

“Okay. Well what you gon do when they decide to stop playing and take action? What happens when the twins put you in a position where you can’t run and are forced to face them and answer the questions you know they have… then what?” Jada asked and silence took over the room.

Sorai knew Jada was right, but it wasn’t something she was ready to face. Not now. “Jada please, can we talk about something else?”

"Fine, my parents are coming back to the states.” She informed and Sorai’s eyes widened at the news.

“On my gosh really? Are they visiting or are they coming to stay?”

“They’re coming to stay for just a while. I think it’s cause of Jordan’s accident - my mom feels guilty for leaving, thinks if she stayed, she somehow could’ve prevented it from happening or something like that.”

Sorai nodded her head, she could understand that. “How is he by the way? I haven’t had a chance to go see him yet.”

“He’s fine, he’s been around Melina cause she wanna play nurse.” Jada rolled her eyes, “I hate that it took a car accident to make them realize how they feel about each other.”

Sorai shrugged, it was something she could relate to herself. “Sometimes, it takes something traumatic to happen to realize you’re in love with that person.”

Jada scoffed, “No. People know exactly how they feel, whether they decide to repress those feelings or not is up to them. Especially Melina, I’ve watched her and Jordan play best friend for years. Jordan following her like a lost puppy in love but scared to tell her. Imagine if something had happened to Jordan, she would’ve been gutted knowing she love him too and never got the chance to tell him.”

The conversation was triggering Sorai again unbeknownst to Jada, and she knew that eventually she would have to open up and explain to her friend exactly what went down with her and sefa.

“It’s not easy. You remember how long it took me to admit that I was really feeling Chris in College?”

“Sorai you did not like Chris, but whatever you say girl."

That’s fair. Sorai shrugged her shoulders because Jada was right; but that was not the point. "Okay but I thought I liked him and it was hard for me to just come out the blue and tell him. Plus, who walks around telling people they have a crush on them? That’s unrealistic."

Jada rolled her eyes; "Girl please, that’s not unrealistic. Get it off your chest and move on."

Sorai had to laugh at that, Jada was the last person to be saying that bullshit….okay maybe her then Jada. "If that’s the case, go out there and let Tez know you feeling him."

Jada let put a playful groan, "Girlluhh, that`’s different." She tried to defend but Sorai wasn’t going for none of that shit. Jada was spitting nun but bullshit.

Before either girls could speak; a knock came at her door. The person didn’t even wait for an answer, just opened the door and peek his head in. It was Eddie - the backstage producer who showed her around on her first day.

Sorai sent a smile his way, "Hey Eddie, what can I do for you?"

"Paul sent me to get you, we need Kayla elsewhere tonight so we need a journalist for a bloodline segment and they all requested you." Eddie informed.

Sorai froze - No…no…. This could not be happening. "But I thought you had to work over 90s and do a great job at that before we could interview the main event? I’ve only been here two months."

"And you’ve been working hard, give yourself some credit. Plus, Cody requested for Kayla and Joe requested for you so paul thought it checked out. We have about half an hour before they go on so meet us in their locker room to rehearse in 10." And with that he left, unbeknownst to him, leaving the girls in shambles. What the fuck was happening? And what the fuck did he mean they all requested me?

Jada watched her friend in her state of panic and felt her heart sink. Albeit she wasn’t really fully aware of what exactly those boys did to her, she could see that Sorai still carried that pain in her heart.

"You want me to come with you?" She softly asked, wanting to approach the situation as delicately as possible.

Sorai looked at her with widen pleading eyes, "Please, I really can’t go alone right now."

And Jada agreed because she couldn’t just leave her best friend like that. Too bad the boys had other plans in mind and they were all determined to get some answers.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

How we feeling? All kinds of feedback are welcome 🫶🏾🤍 like, comment and share🥺

Tagging the lovelies: @southerngirl41 @reci1996 @skyesthebomb @christinabae @leighla3 @whatdoeseverybodywant @harmshake @yana3sworld @angiedawn02 @theninthwonder

[eddiediazismyhusband]

God I wish I could be positive like other anons that said that for them 7x04 is the biggest confirmation buddie is happening. Please ignore this if you don’t feel like consoling me about my pessimist rant. I was optimistic but 7x04 made me a pessimist.

I just keep thinking “if 7x04 was supposed to be about buddie why was not about buddie?

Let me explain: it was the perfect setup for starting buddie. You know how it’s a bait and switch. They could have just not switched. They could have had Eddie go to buck instead of Tmmy and have Eddie say “you’re irreplaceable” which would have been much more meaningful and then “you know I can have more than a friend, right?” And buck could have said “maybe i don’t wanna be your friend” and boom you have bisexual buck and can get rid of that old ugly man.

It was the perfect setup, you need to change literally ONE SCENE. I literally can’t find a reason why they didn’t do it. My BFF said “they couldn’t make them come out at the same time” but they wouldn’t have. Eddie could have rejected him and then spend s7 coming to terms with his feelings instead of the shit that happened. I don’t believe in the “it’s cuz it’s a slow burn” theory because 6 years is slow enough. I wanna be a truther so bad but ever since 7x04 I’ve been slowly losing hope.

I flip flop between being optimistic and pessimistic… to me i can see the vision of whst they were *trying* to do with 7x4 but with no chemistry and one of the actors being so inept at their job it just fell completely flat… it felt unearned in a way bc we have seen buck and eddie interracting for 6 years, and the entire episode was centered around buck pining for eddie’s attention (im sorry, there is not way any of what buck did in that episode was out of any interest in Timmy Turner) just to throw the curveball at the end. The point of a bait and switch is thay the switch has to be believable, and earned— but it wasn’t because you spent the entire episode talking about eddie. Why not have buck’s jealousy be solely “oh i hate Tylenol, he’s so ughh and i hate him and i can’t stand him” bc if it had been that i would be more inclined to believe that buck had some sort of unconscious interest in him.

but that’s not what they did, they made him go gaga over eddie the entire episode.

another thing they could have done to make the switch effective is actually given Tuberculosis a role within the episode other thsn to show up and kiss buck… like showcase him and buck interacting more… build sublte tension there that makes it believable that buck is attracted to him… don’t just shove him in a corner and leave him collecting dust (don’t get me wrong i am NOT campaigning for them giving that man more screentime in fact i want that man off my screen as soon as possible which should have been the end of 7x3)

so from a narrative standpoint… to have eddie so intrinsically linked to Buck’s emotional arc in 7x4, i can absolutely see the vision of trying to do the whole misplaced feelings thing… even if they didn’t stick the landing at all bc lfj’s face is so stiff from all the botox that he can’t emote to save his life.

to me where things start to fall apart is after 7x4…. they had the perfect opportunity for buck to have his arc in 7x5, “mess things up with Tiramisu” (even though i fully side with buck in everything that happened on that date, like bffr) and then end the episode with them deciding to no longer pursue a relationship because they want different things (buck wants a relationship but is still new to this, Tire-Iron is old af and just wants a boytoy) and have them part ways… but they decided to double down on the relationship, having Buck invite a man he has known for 5 minutes to his sister’s wedding and then proceeded to make the wedding about buck??? that’s where the writers truly lost me. especially after they spent the first part of that ep establishing that Tricycle is nothing but dismissive and condescending to Buck just to make the whole wedding scene about them??? there was no need for that cringe-ass kiss (even if it had been a buddie plot point that kiss would have made me cringe bc the way it was written was so fuckin corny and also we waited too damn long for the madney wedding for it to be about someone else).

then ofc there’s the medal ceremony where we once again see Tuberculosis being dismissive of buck, and then 7x10 where he steamrolls over buck trying to have a meaningful conversation for him to just make a fucking sex joke…..

like i keep flip flopping back and forth bc i KNOW that T-rex has no substance as a character and no personality whatsoever beyond kissing buck, but i don’t understand why they’ve kept him around this long? There were plenty of opportunities to end things between them… 7x10 had a golden opportunity to solidify buck prioritizing bobby/eddie over his relationship and having Trampoline get upset and move on?? 7x9 could have had Bobby tell buck that he didn’t think Tablecloth was a good partner for him, comparing her to Abby and Taylor.

He was nowhere to be SEEN in 7x7

There could have been a moment in 7x6 where Eddie and Buck had a heart to heart (not even to make buddie go canon in that ep, but for eddie to point out that Truckstop doesn’t seem all that interested in him— hell or even hav HEN do it??)

After the entirety of 7b my trust in Tim has dwindled down so severely that I genuinely am trying not to form any expectations from s8… like i am fully prepared to just be disappointed again.

That being said I do think there is still so much potential for them to fix the mess quickly if they actually put in the time and effort… my issue is that idk if I trust them to fix the mess or just make it worse.

Plus if the same thing happens with s8 as s7 where they get renewed early on, that runs the risk of Tim changing the story yet again and dragging out plot points that don’t need to be dragged out.

Like it has fully been 6 seasons. Booth and Brennan were together by then, there is no reason buddie needs another full season…. especially after they’ve given themselves yet another wide open road to give us eddie coming to terms with his feelings; whether they go down that route or try to rehash shannon again is yet to be seen…

i saw someone else on here say something (and i cannot for the life of me remember who said it so full credit to that person for this quote) but it was along the lines of (and this is SEVERELY paraphrased) “tim made the choice to kill of shannon. if you wanted her to still be around then you shouldn’t have killed her. you made the choice, so stick with it.” and i feel like that applies to a LOT of the character regression/retconning we saw in s7

so i’m still in that boat of until they actually make the show good again, I’m gonna sit and wait because it’s not worth getting my hopes up and stressed about something that may not even happen bc the writers love toying either our emotions more than they love telling the story the way they themse have set it up to be told.

(also this applies to the show as a whole, not just buddie, there were so many plotlines in s7 that just careened into the realm of melodramatic soap opera to me in a way that was so ooc for the show… what happened to the little procedural dramedy? why is the cartel here committing arson? why are there pirates attacking a cruise ship in an arc that lasts all of 5 minutes? i miss the s2/3/4 era so badly (yes, say what you will about s4 but i enjoyed that season) and i really thought we were going to be getting that back in s7 (and pirate plot aside, eps 1-3 showed promise, and tbh aside from the kiss at the end 7x6 is one of my favorite episodes of the show in general, but as far as the season as a whole it just fell so flat for me)

[airas-story]

"I can't believe you just said that to me!"

Wong sighed in relief as he took his seat in Tony’s living room, grabbing the bowl of ice cream that Tony had set out in preparation for him.

“I just think you’re being a little overcautious,” Tony was saying to Rhodes.

Rhodes looked like he thought Tony had grown a second head. “I can’t believe you just said that to me.” He shook his head. “You want to let them put magic on my suit?” 

Wong huffed in offense at the entirely unnecessary emphasis “My magic is reliable,” he groused. He paused, then reluctantly added. “And Stephen is… talented.”

“No need to sound so grudging about it,” Stephen said, now he sounded offended.

Wong ignored that.

“Right, what they said,” Tony said absently. Wong glanced over to see Tony was distracted with sketching invisible diagrams on Stephen’s back with a tablet pencil.

Wong rolled his eyes at the familiar sight.

Rhodes sighed. “Tony,” he said, tone of voice making it clear he wanted Tony’s actual attention. “Seriously?”

Tony glanced up. “What? It’s Stephen and Wong.”

“It’s magic,” Rhodes said. “And your suits. I still only know how to do basic maintenance on War Machine because you’re ridiculously overprotective. You don’t let the government touch it at all.”

“The last time you let the government touch a suit, you almost got yourself and me killed.” Tony paused. “Plus, they’re incompetent. Wong and Stephen aren’t.”

“Thank you,” Wong said, gratified.

Tony just hummed, focus already back on the diagrams he was drawing on Stephen’s back. “Then why aren’t you letting them put magic on yours?” Rhodes asked, a ‘gotcha’ in his tone.

“Who says I’m not?” Tony asked. He looked up, expression fierce. “Like I said, it’s Stephen. I trust him with everything.” He paused, then shrugged. “Plus Wong. He’s okay, too.”

[lotrlocked]

Confessions from a Hater (who is willing to be wrong)

Ok listen. I was feeling so mid about about this whole show. I’m 33 and have been a fan of Anne Rice since I was 14. Because of how damn dramatic the text is, you can expect the people who love it to match that freak. What I mean to say is that many of us are super haters of anything that deviates from the word of our Problematic Queen, Anne Rice in a particularly passionate way that only us elitist hipster goths can be.

Yes we know we are this way, deep down, we know. Anyway. I went into this show with a lemon shoved my ass about how it wasn’t going to live up to my expectations, no matter how much I publicly claimed I was ‘going into watching it with an open mind’; as I did not want to seem too overly concerned about the show.

I watched it, blank faced, giving half hearted replies about it but generally trying to forget the shows existence after the end of the first season. I considered not watching the second season at all but I thought, eh what the hell? I’ll admit I was bored in the first few episodes but then episode seven happened.

The spirit of Anne Rice was there in that episode ya’ll.

Oh my god though. This was art. People, This was one of the most beautifully gothic things I’ve ever seen. The depth of character and acting from everyone on that stage was incredible.

While of course Claudia’s death scene was different, the agency they gave her there and the love story they built with Madeline was incredible in this show. She had Louis bottomless of love and Lestat’s indomandable passion. I could not look away from the screen. I believed I was watching vampires putting on a trial play.

“My coven is Claudia” oh my GOD. That’s all she ever wanted, to be put first. To be loved first.

All season Santiago has stood out. The second he appeared, I could not take my eyes off of him. His hate that others are doing things he cannot allow himself to do. I want his backstory. The was he said “We’re monsters”. chills.

Louis. Oh messy, too human, Louis. I wasn’t sure about him in particular this whole time. I need to rewatch and give Jacob Anderson an actual fair viewing. He’s so elegant even in the depths of his pain. This is a vampire who feels too much.

And then my love….Lestat has always been one of my very favorite character, ever. No could ever be him I thought. Then, Sam Reid. Sam Reid is Lestat. He looked through the screen and snatched my soul in the only the way book Lestat ever could. I truly believe that’s how Anne would have wanted him to be. The way he moves, the arrogance, the beauty. This is the vampire who will wake Akasha, the mother of all vampires. God, the way he moved through the audience. ‘Where lies their disgust now?’ His voice. He’s amazing. That’s an Emmy worthy performance.

“You can’t script a hurricane” holy shit

I’m glad there is one more episode but I almost wish the ended it there for the hook of that tension and horror and made us wait.

I felt the fear, the love, the horror. My god they felt like actual vampires so much more and real than us mere mortals.

I will rewatch all of this.

[slapjacq]

I am ill. Not okay. I’ve cried and thrown a tissue box at the wall. Then proceeded to scream at said wall for twenty minutes. Yes I am melodramatic, no I don’t care. I am still in therapy for a reason. Nevertheless, this episode was bonkers, off the wall batshit insane. Like genuinely so good that it almost adds to the tragedy of it all.

Here are my immediate and unfiltered thoughts from my post episode freak out that I have to put somewhere because if I don’t, I will, in fact, explode.

Warning: spoilers up the wazoo, a lot of profanity

First and foremost: Daniel, old Maniel, I can count on you to always keep it a buck, and for that I thank you.

Armand you piece of fucking shit I swear on everything that is holy, you are no longer babygirl, you bitch ass hoe, go stick that fucking doe eyed face up someone else ass you stupid fucking piece of shit. “i cOULD nOt pReVEnt iT” FUCK YOU MEAN YOU COULDNT PREVENT IT YOURE 500 YEARS OLD, YOU SOLD THEM OUT TO BEGIN WITH. YOU STOP TIME, CAN CONTROL BODIES, PLANT IDEAS INTO PEOPLE HEADS, READ PEOPLES MINDS AND THE BITTY BABY VAMPIRE ARMAND COULDNT DO ANYTHIGN ABOUT IT? SUCK MY DICK AND KISS ME MERRY GO TRH THAG SHIT ELSEWHERE (shout out Assad for really giving his all with the whole puppy dog eyes this entire episode 10/10 would fall for them if not the circumstances). I can’t believe I actually was defending this dude a few episodes ago, I literally can’t defend anything else from here moving forward.

Claudia and Madeline deserve to watch these assholes burn and the fact they died such painful deaths should warrant the gods to set the sky alight with constellations of their love. They were allowed NOTHING but a small taste of happiness before it was shredded away from them. No one is EVER gonna villainize them, not to me, not ever. Roxanne absolutely was incredible, and Delainey, in the coming future, better up there as an A-list actor because she has been that astoundingly good. (That goes for everyone here honestly, but Delainey and Roxanne really deserve their flowers here).

Santiago has a special place in hell. I simply cannot wait to watch him die. Decapitation is too kind for him, put him through pain and fury before sending him to hell. Ben Daniels you son of a bitch you played the villain so well. I damn near jumped through the screen when he began to read Claudia’s diaries with a shitty NOLA accent, I have never been so livid in my life.

The rest of Theatre: “All of you motherfuckers, fuck you, die slow.” -Tupac Shakur

Louis GET UP LEAVE YOUR WIFE DUDE YOU KNOW ITS BULLSHIT and honestly I’m not even going to rag on him this episode because the poor man has gone through too much. Jacob was absolutely brilliant in all of this, and honestly I literally will never stop talking about the performances in this show. Regardless, the upcoming rage is justified and I when get to watch him massacre these assholes, I will cackle with the same glee a schoolboy has after he disintegrates ants with a magnifying glass.

And finally Lestat. He rose on the third day and served cunt and made me ball like the mommy issues toting bitch I am. Sam, my man, you knocked it out of the fucking ballpark. Magnificent. Lestat, fucking bastard. You messy bitch. When you get out of whatever the Theatre is doing to you big man, I better see you read Armand to filth. I better see the same from the other. They both deserve to be dragged to hell and back.

Also Daniel Hart is a genius, just really fills your soul with dread this entire episode, I mean the score was filthy, vivid, and hauntingly gorgeous. The violins at the beginning were nasty work and had me fully hypnotized for the entire 50 minutes.

SFX is killing it, everytime, making it all believable and absolutely the worst someone could imagine it to be. I full body contorted at the sight of the sliced ankles.

Shoutout costume department also did its thing. Santiago’s costume was top tier camp. And Lestat’s suit was absolutely everything. Gender envy 11/10.

I could sit here all day and go on about how all the cast and crew did a fucking fantastic job. Like you can really tell they put their heart and soul into this episode.

I mean dear god I’m going to be in shambles for the next two years this episode was insane.

[hismercytomyjustice]

!IWTV 2.07 Spoilers Below!

TW for racism, racial violence, and everything already in the episode.

These are mostly just my thoughts on Claudia and Louis and the role of age/gender/race in the trial.

The writers and actors and everyone went for the THROAT with this episode and I am HERE FOR IT.

First and foremost, this is a public lynching. Played out for an almost completely white audience. The CLOSE UPS on the mostly white audience as Claudia’s charges are read…

The farce of a trial. They didn't need to go to all this trouble to kill Claudia, Louis, and Madeline. They CHOSE to. They made it a SPECTACLE, as was often done during lynchings.

Louis referring to himself and Claudia as props instead of characters. Because the audience and the vampire "court" would have to see them as PEOPLE to consider them characters.

Lestat warping the narrative to make himself out to be the victim for a good chunk of the trial and immediately being believed and sympathized with because this poor white man has a sad.

The only defendant shown any sympathy or empathy during the trial being the sole white person, and a white woman no less. Madeleine is treated like a poor naive soul who could never have known what “horrible monsters” she was in league with. BUT SHE KNEW. She heard all about Lestat and why Claudia didn't want her to have his blood. She watched Claudia kill three people in front of her without breaking a sweat. To SAVE her.

Moreover, Madeleine is the only one they offer absolution to. Yes, she hasn’t committed any “vampire crimes,” but she’s once again given the benefit of the doubt as a white woman. She’s perceived as inherently innocent and worthy of salvation. The implication being she’s just one more person that’s been swept up in the schemes of these “villains”. While Claudia and Louis are treated as irredeemable and inherently evil. Lestat confessed to breaking the same laws they’re on trial for, but he also receives a white “get out of jail free” card.

The way Claudia, for all intents and purposes, a 14 year old Black CHILD is portrayed as a monster in addition to a “child seductress” of sorts. The implication being she bent two fully grown men to her will. WE know Claudia is technically an adult inside (and that's how she sees herself), but the projection of maturity on a non-white child to justify violence and victimization against said child is excellently and devastatingly done.

The further “justification” of Lestat’s actions because he has his maker’s/father’s temper. Yet another excuse often bandied about by abusers. Like they "can’t help themselves". Obviously the cycle of abuse is a very real thing, I don’t mean to diminish that. But seeing him actually take a moment to be like “oh, no wait, I chose to do those things, that was actually all me” was a nice touch. Doesn’t absolve him of ANYTHING he did, but at least he finally acknowledges the role he played.

Claudia, the “youngest” of the group being the only one who fights against the compulsion to defend herself. We’re told over and over again through the series she’s unstable, too emotional, etc because she was turned as a teenage girl. And yet she is the only person there with an OUNCE of maturity. AND SHE SHOULDN’T HAVE TO BE. 

She’s only that way because she became parentified while trying to save Louis from himself and from Lestat. Even now, knowing they’re all about to die in a horrific fashion, she can’t turn off the part of her that cares about Louis. That doesn’t want to see him reenter the cycle of abuse, even in his last moments. She was his protector then and now while Louis is trapped in his own head.

Louis should be the one protecting HER. She is his daughter/little sister. He is older than her. He's been a vampire longer than her. He’s the one who got her turned in the first place. Not to diminish everything he’s going through as an abuse victim among other things, but she desperately needed him and once again he couldn’t/wouldn't/didn't step up for her.

Claudia saying “Can I cry and say that I’m sorry too?” Directly calling out the weaponization of white tears. The audience is willing to sympathize with a grown white man but not with his CHILD victim. Once again a Black child (in the physical sense) being held to higher standards than a grown white man who “just couldn’t help himself.” The audience laughs at Claudia’s pain while simultaneously sympathizing with her abuser.

Despite Claudia taking Paris by storm as Baby Lulu, not a single fan of hers steps forward in her defense. Santiago even acknowledges there are fans of her show in the audience! Because she’s not their beloved Baby Lulu anymore. She’s no longer performing for the entertainment and comfort of a white audience. Because she isn’t a person to them. Great post here about how the Baby Lulu play is a minstrel performance too btw.

We’re told again and again throughout the show that Claudia was too young to be changed, too volatile and therefore doomed to go mad and perish. But she’s the sanest and strongest of the three on trial. She fights back against an entire coven trying to break her mind. She walks of her own volition even with her ruined Achilles tendons. If everything they claimed was true, we sure as hell aren’t seeing any indication of that now. Claudia has proven her mental fortitude time and time again despite misery after misery inflicted on her in her undead life.

But no one in the audience and none of the vampire “justices” will ever acknowledge this truth. Because she’s a child when it’s convenient to their narrative (playing Baby Lulu and her standing in the coven), but she’s suddenly an adult the instant she advocates for herself and is now fully accountable for her “crimes.” They refuse to admit the Claudia before them now is the one and only real Claudia.

Even at the very end, Claudia tries to protect Madeleine from the sun. She holds her. She shields her with her body. She does what NO ONE has ever done for her. What Louis SHOULD HAVE DONE FOR HER. We know the pain she suffers is agonizing. We’ve seen Louis and Madeleine’s go through it. Yet she stands there head high, holding her love, and singing the song she hated so much to the lynch mob. Because no one there is ever going to think of that song in its original context again. Instead, it’s her final act of defiance, her last chance to declare her autonomy and insist she will never be what they tried to make her.

The death scene is such a stark contrast to her first death when Louis is pleading with Lestat to save her. She was catatonic then, but here she is so devastatingly vibrant and ALIVE. And it makes it hurt so much more to see that taken from her along with her life.

Claudia is such an amazing character in this show. Bailey Bass and Delainey Hayles are such phenomenal actors. I am DEVASTATED we have reached the end of Claudia's story and this is her legacy, but at the same time I will NEVER forget this episode or their extremely nuanced performances. Do I hope they'll find a way to reincorporate Claudia into the story? Absolutely. I'd love to see more. But at the same time, if this is how she had to go, I'm glad they centered the narrative so strongly around her.

[skankinator]

Complications Ch. 5

Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw x Fem Reader

18+ MDNI

You pull into the parking lot of the pharmacy and he shuts the car off. You can’t help but feel strange about this whole predicament. The strangest thing is that this man is still here with you after all of tonight’s events. Most guys you’ve met would have been gone as soon as they came.

“You really don’t have to do any of this for me,” you give him another chance to run. “I can take care of this on my own.”

“As I recall you didn’t get into this on your own,” he says suggestively. “We will take care of this together.”

Ugh. Why is he being such a nice guy? It’s kinda of annoying but also kinda hot how much he cares. Either way you need to have a debrief with Stacie without his presence.

“Okay, just wait here I’ll be right back,” you hop out of his Bronco and walk towards the door. You hear another door close and turn to see him following you. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going with you,” he says matter of fact.

“I told you to wait in the car.”

“I don’t want to wait in the car,” he quickly replies.

“Great.”

You walk into the pharmacy and look around for a way to get him away. Then you get an idea that should take him a while. “Could you go get me some pads?” You look at him hoping he will accept.

“What kind?” He says completely unbothered by the request.

“You can pick them out. Oh and some pregnancy tests too. Just incase,” you will say anything to get rid of him now.

“Sure, I’ll meet you at the check out,” he seems to have picked up on your eagerness to leave. He walks off towards the feminine hygiene aisle and you make a break for Stacie.

You find her in the back waiting for you. When she sees you she jumps from her desk and dashes for the counter. It’s been so long since you’ve seen her. Her hair is much shorter than she used to wear it. Her dark curls cut off just above her shoulders.

“You just got to town. What could be the emergency?” She says getting straight to the point. Best friends like you and Stacie are able to go silent for months at a time and pick up right where you left off.

“You will not believe what happened,” you start explaining the events of tonight. Several gasps later you end saying, “so that’s why I need you to be my absolute life saver and get me the magic pill.”

“Absolutely, as long as you tell me more about this man with the magic dick.” She walks away to retrieve the morning after pill. As of right on cue, the said man appears.

He sets down several items including some you had not requested. “Did she say magic dick?” He looks at you confused.

“You’re hearing things,” you dismiss him examining his bounty. “Why did you get Gatorade and…” you shuffle the items taking a closer look, “a thirty-six pack of condoms?” You emphasize the large number.

“Well it’s good to replenish your electrolytes after strenuous activity and you need working condoms.”

You look at him with your mouth hanging open from shock and eyebrows furrowed from confusion. You have literally no words for this man.

Stacie returns with the pill and looks between the two of you. Not sure what to say, she reverts to customer service. “Will this be together or separate?”

“Together,” he says reaching for his wallet.

“No,” you place a hand on his arm stopping him. “I’ll buy my stuff. You can pay for your Gatorade and condoms.”

“It’ll be together,” he says to Stacie again handing her his card.

Stacie looks at you and mouths, ‘free pads bitch’

You roll your eyes and mouth back, ‘I’m not going to take his money’

‘Too bad it’s happening.’ She completes the transaction and hands back his card. “Would you like a receipt?” She says in her best customer service voice with a big smile. The glare you are giving her might actually murder someone.

“No thanks, but you should know I am standing right here.” He says both of you looking at him with blank stares. “Your whole conversation. The one you two just whispered to each other that I completely heard.” You side eye your best friend.

“It’s very rude to eavesdrop,” Stacie reprimands. “It is also very rude for my friend to not introduce us.” She turns the attention to you.

Introduce them. Of course your friend wants to know who the man is that fished a condom out of you. Just introduce them, easy. His name. What is his name? Oh my god what’s his name? You don’t know his name. How could you go this whole night without knowing his name?!

“I’m Bradley,” he says extending his hand.

“Stacie,” she replies shaking his hand. “Y/N could use a lesson in manners among other things.”

You grab the bag of items paid for by Bradley and stick your tongue out at Stacie. “We’re leaving. I’ll call you tomorrow,” you say and walk to the door.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Bradley says before following behind you.

By the time you reach the car, Bradley has caught up and opens the passenger door for you. When you climb in you rummage through the bag for the pill. Bradley starts the car and pulls out of the parking lot heading back to your place.

You read over the package as best you can in the dark. You grab a Gatorade to wash down the pill. You sigh in relief after taking the pill. Problem solved. You continue to sip on the drink realizing you were a bit parched. Plus it is the best flavor of Gatorade: blue.

“I knew you were thirsty,” Bradley smirks.

“Fuck off,” you laugh out rolling your eyes.

[doehoney]

Dear Dennis, you gave birth to a master manipulator

Even usin' you to prove who he is is a huge favor

I think you should ask for more paper, and more paper

And more, uh, more paper

I'm blamin' you for all his gamblin' addictions

Psychopath intuition, the man that like to play victim

You raised a horrible fuckin' person, the nerve of you, Dennis

[t0livef0rtheh0pe0fitall]

I’m pretty sure Tommy isn’t going to be in this for the long run, cause we all are set on buddie endgame, but I just have to say the man that Tommy is, is everything to me. The way he waits to gauge where Buck stands before kissing him. The way he asks after if it was okay. The way buck is speechless and flustered (bothered and bewildered, should I say), but having a moment of realisation that this is what he was looking for. Tommy’s no games or beating round the bush - Saturday, I’ll pick you up at 8. Like I am on board for however long or short Tommy may last and I am going to enjoy every last second of it.