#looking at you berman

[almalvo]

I see that Kess got replaced…

Wonder what the reason for it is this time….

[woundgallery]

[whosplayerthree]

[does extensive research, like looking though 8 academical articles, into patterns of hemorrhaging in postmortem bodies because my game described my character's understanding of it earlier, successfully recalling information on the difference in appearance of pre and post mortem bruising, and what red blotches or swelling in certain areas mean in regards to if a body has been moved post mortem, because I forgot in the time I was informed vs when I was asked to make an important deceleration based on our external autopsy findings. ]

[learns like 30 new medical terms I will likely forget within the next hour but had to spend a total of 20 minutes looking up definitions of multiple words which often resulted in going down rabbit holes to find out the definitions of words in parts of those definitions and often needing to do image searches to gain full understanding of what is being described to me, viewing many visuals I would really rather not have seen]

I just really don't wanna let kim down guys :(

[nursc]

sometimes i look at stuff i've built up for christine and i'm like 'oh i should work on this more to make it a little more logical' but then i remember 90's trek shows and i'm like... must a character's backstory be cohesive? can't it just be traumatic and slap???

[1shirt2shirtredshirtdeadshirt]

Sexism in TOS: Worst Offender, or Progressive in Retrospect in Comparison?

I see a lot of folks claim that TOS was the most sexist of the Star Trek shows by a landslide -- and while I agree that it definitely suffered from the sexism of the times, I also have other perspectives to share to give some food for thought.

I am of course not insinuating that TOS isn't sexist -- it is, but I have to ask folks to consider the breadth and depth of Berman's sexism in his run and ask yourself: Was Gene Roddenberry genuinely more sexist in his storytelling and delivery than Rick Berman?

I'm not telling you to feel one way or the other, but all I ask is that you hear me out and consider some perspectives and make your own balanced assessments. Nobody is obligated to share my opinion, but it means a lot just to have folks hear it and see their thoughts on the subject. So here is what I was originally responding to:

Someone's response to this photo:

"Devil's advocate. This was a part of the popular form of cardio during the production time of TNG. Yes, it was heavily sexualised by men, but so is literally every other way women work out. Men have been caught taking pictures of women while trying to do dead lifts, running on tracks and working on sled machines. They post them online to share too. The fact is, there is no way a woman can be shown working out without it going there. And yeah,t hat includes the combat forms of workout they do in Star Trek. Just look at how Dax dresses when she spars with Worf. Yes, they're dating, but still, same goes when 7 does and any other female.

Aerobics routines like this were made dirty and cringy. This was what women wore then by and large. This is how the workout was done. We make it cringy."

My response to them:

"I respect your take, but I disagree on a few fronts.

The miniskirt was chosen by the TOS female cast, not the male cast, specifically requested by Grace LW and affirmed by Nichelle and Majel who would go on to vehemently defend the miniskirt over the years as comfortable and embraced by them.

Grace said it was comfortable and seen as a symbol of female sexual empowerment during the 60s and thought it would be a progressive garment (and turns out that it was, as it was later adapted and worn by male crew as a skant on TNG) -- FYI those were designed by a gay man and Gene approved them.

This was also supposed to be Spock's TMP outfit:

Literally lingerie.

We saw both Uhura (who saves Kirk in from Marlena Mirror Mirror) and Yeoman Landon (the first to initiate combat with a classic Kirk-esque kick to help the Captain being attacked in The Apple) carry out their combat training in their Starfleet uniforms without ever being made to change into any ridiculous workout gear.

In fact, I'd argue Jim Kirk was sexualized even more than the ladies of the week on the show and I saw his naked body more than anyone else's on a fairly regular basis. He wore red yoga tights while topless in Charlie X while the women wore full length gymnastic suits that covered their entire body. If anything, it went out of its way to avoid sexualizing women practicing fitness in those scenes and instead focused on Kirk.

Gene confessed that he asked to have Shatner filmed in suggestive/provocative ways to "give something to the ladies", so he -- as he said -- liked to "film him walking away" or have him conveniently busting out of his shirts in just about every episode as it were, because Shatner apparently had great assets. LOL

Gene made an effort to at least sexualize both if he was going to sexualize one, and he carried that attitude forward in wanting the m/m and f/f scenes in the background on Risa for TNG. He also insisted that the men and women wear skimpy outfits on THAT TNG planet. You know the one. LOL I mean the dudes even had on less than the women:

Gene also gave permission to K/S shippers to have their conventions back in the 70s when he was asked for permission. Gene and Nimoy felt with all the skimpy outfits they had the ladies wear, why not let the ladies and gay men have their fun, too? It's how we ended up with moments like this:

Yes, those are two people dressed up as Kirk and Spock's penises doing interpretive dance. Gene didn't give two damns. LOL

In my eyes, that was a very progressive take on Gene's part for the 60s. It was actually PARAMOUNT STUDIOS who had the big problem with K/S stories and vehemently tried to shut them down. Gene literally hired slash authors on his payroll and even had several slash stories/writers published in his official Star Trek books (The New Voyages & The New Voyages II).

I feel I saw Uhura and women in TOS engaged in more physical combat/altercations defending themselves that Troi or Bev were shown holding their own.

In fact, Kirk used to get furious when someone would "dress up" his female crew members without their consent (Trelane episode, Shore Leave episode) because like his male crew members, he wanted them to be treated professionally and to also have his male crew act professionally.

Berman brought some of his own personal biases into Star Trek that in some ways regressed it. While TOS had blatant sexism and was called on it time and again, that show was made in the 60s -- a solid 21 years before TNG. We as a modern audience understood why some of it was cringe/sexist due to the time period -- look at any other media coming out in the 60s and Star Trek was miles ahead of what other shows were doing.

Compare that to Berman who was churning sexist stuff out when women like Starbuck and Scully were simultaneously on screen on other programs airing, and we had already had Sigourney Weaver and other strong women in Holywood playing respectful roles.

In my eyes, there was no need of the sexism seen in TNG but especially VOY and ENT. There was no excuse for it when other shows were writing women far better and a number of those weren't even set in the future like Trek was, making it age even faster due to having those dated perspectives frequently highlighted.

In the Center Seat documentary as well as "The Fifty Year Mission" book you will find cast members, writers and other studio alumni who attest to this. Some discussions from "The Fifty Year Mission":

"First, Berman was supposed to have been a real sleaze ball . . . According to Terry Farrel, he would go on constantly about how her breasts weren't big enough, how she should do something about it, and how his secretary was a good example to follow as she had huge breasts. She even had to have fittings to get larger bras, and that was all done at his behest.

Later Berman and Braga developed a name for Jeri Ryan's character prior Seven of Nine. They originally called the character "perineum" which if you look it up it is the area between the anus and the scrotum. Later they floated the name "6 of 9". I mean, what does it tell you about where these two were coming from in the development of this character if they had names like that put forward in all seriousness for her?"

Gene Roddenberry also had some of his own more progressive ideas for TNG cut or watered down by Berman. Roddenberry agreed TNG should have homosexual relationships and representation at a con in the 80s and insisted on it in a meeting with his writers -- something Berman later would not honor. Gene wanted the AIDS episode, showing m/m and f/f in the Riza scenes -- these were some of Roddenberry's requests to include in TNG that Berman later stonewalled.

Berman's era was sadly dated by his own misogynist bias, IMO, to the point that it can somewhat hurt the shows he worked on through his cringe egoism and blatant disrespect toward his female cast.

There is a reason why Gene could keep female actresses working with him and Berman had a revolving door of women that he couldn't seem to keep working for him -- he was abhorrent to women, on and off set. Gene wasn't perfect at all, he had a lot of issues himself -- but Berman was a whole other level. Just look at what he did to poor Jolene Blalock, Marina Sirtis and his toxic commenting on her body weight which exacerbated her struggles with eating disorders, or how he treated and talked to Terry Farrell.

Anyway, just some food for thought. I'm not saying anyone is wrong regarding a take like that, but there are a variety of ways to look at this. Gene Roddenberry isn't a saint by any means, but it definitely bothers me how folks will tote the Berman era as if it were the lesser of two evils or the more progressive depiction of women when I felt there were far more concerning portrayals of women in his era with far less justification.

(P.S: I don't event want to go near the sheer amount of "creepy old dude/villain preys on innocent/naïve/scared young woman or little girl" stories there were in Berman's era, either. But that's a whole other can of worms I can write about in a part 2.)

[trillscienceofficer]

from Sci-Fi Universe magazine, October 1996

KISS ME DEADLY: In REJOINED, one of the season's finest episodes, a kiss proved to be more than just a kiss

Maybe it's another sign of format maturity, but the modern Trek era has never seen anything like the controversy that erupted over the airing of DS9's Rejoined, which takes the science fiction story opportunity made possible by Dax's Trill host/symbiont race and twists it into a social comment on sexual orientation Gene Roddenberry would have been proud to call his own.

"Last July," begins Terry Farrell, whose Dax character is at the heart of the story, "Rick Berman called and asked me if I would kiss a woman, and at that point I guess I didn't take it that seriously. I said, 'Yeah, as long as she's beautiful I don't care!'

"And then it spurred me to thinking about it before it actually happened, and I felt bad I had been so flip, because I didn't realize how serious a love story it would be—and how nervous I would be about it, really want to be sure I'm honest and I'm doing the story justice, and I really want people to talk about it and think about it afterward. It really meant a lot to me.

"I think it's really important to love people for who they are, and spiritually it was a great show for me too, because it just reinforces that all of us—whether we want to admit it or not—can really be judgmental at times. That was a really important show to say, to the smallest degree, you've got to remember that people's lives are always so much more complicated than you think they are."

"We had a lot of advance buzz, but we also sat on that show a bit,' adds producer Steve Oster, who recalled the flap in 1969 when Kirk and Uhura made history with television's interracial kiss in Plato's Stepchildren. In fact, the show didn't go looking for attention.

"Because it had a kiss in it, and because of the Roseanne hoopla a few years ago (concerning the high-profile star's on-screen lesbian kiss), our publicity people wanted to have them come over and take pictures of 'the famous kiss scene,' have a news crew like Entertainment Tonight there—and we opted not to do that for a couple of reasons.

"For one thing, because we didn't want to become the Roseanne issue where stations were deciding not to air it, and secondly, to Rick's credit, he did not want to make that what the episode was about. It was not about two characters kissing—it was not about making that a tantalizing factor of the episode."

As directed by Avery Brooks, the episode maintained a remarkably naturalistic feel through the acting of all concerned, including Farrell and guest star Susanna Thompson.

"They chose to play it as real, as we would any other scene with those emotions going on: not 'Okay, a girl is going to kiss a girl,' but it was 'This is someone you were in love with before and you still are,' and that's the arc of the scene. It was not about the kiss," says Oster.

"I think we were trying to be as realistic as possible," Farrell agrees. "Really, the only scene I remember going way out and pulling back was the last scene were I give her the ultimatum—where Avery let me basically go all out and cry my eyes out and then pull me back. So that was the only time I remember going from one extreme to the other, trying a range; otherwise it was pretty natural."

In fact, the scene with Sisko was one of the easiest to play, she revealed, because of the natural affinity she feels tor Brooks, the actor. "He was so supportive of me during the first year of DS9 when it was really difficult for me, he was the only one who reached out and really made me feel comfortable, and tried to help me build my self-confidence and self-esteem in really healthy way," she says. "So I felt like I didn't need to do a lot of homework."

Farrell reveals that, in fact, the hardest scene for her as an actress was the moment in which Dax and Lenara Kahn realize at dinner, without voicing it directly, that they are still in love. Aside from the new situation of seeing Dax giddy like that, Farrell recalled it was the first day of shooting on the episode. "I felt a little uncomfortable and was feeling nervous about the whole thing," she says, "and I remember trying to make her comfortable at the same time."

The chemistry that sparked between Farrell and Thompson—finally out from under the makeup as a Romulan and Tilonian, both on TNG [on The Next Phase and Frame of Mind respectively]—came as no accident, since the producers had taken pains to have Farrell read with those who came in during casting for the role.

"We auditioned and auditioned and auditioned," Oster reports. "We needed to find that chemistry, someone who can play that role as a human being, not as someone who's wondering about kissing another woman. And if someone has delivered for us, we'll bring them back if they've been in makeup before because that can change."

"And," agrees Farrell, "we made sure we had a meeting before we started the show—Susanna and Avery and I—to discuss the show. Usually we don't have time for those kinds of things to happen on our show, but they just made the time. And it really made a difference, I think."

Before the show aired, executive producer Rick Berman said he hoped it would be "received with some controversy."

"I think it does deal metaphorically with homosexuality in the sense of how society puts taboos on certain sexual orientation," Berman said. "It deals with it from both sides, I believe. And I'm sure there are those in the gay community who will probably feel that, again, we haven't gone far enough. But our objective in this story was very specific and very related to the big points that are exhibited in the story—it was never designed to be 'how far can we push this?' It's another step in our attempts to supposedly open stories that deal with a variety of sexual orientation [sic]."

The low-key strategy seemed to have worked: among the affiliates who knew what was coming, Oster reports, none ever dropped the show completely. All ran the episode on first airing—with a parental advisory added by the Atlanta station—and "two or three" others cut the scene out when repeated.

"The studio was very supportive of it; it was one of those things that when Roseanne became the cutting edge and it passed by, it suddenly became not much of an issue."

—Larry Nemecek

"Negative callers couldn't make the leap between seeing this kiss and the famous one between Uhura and Kirk in 1969 as both being a matter of prejudice."

—Producer Steve Oster

[mordredisacoolname]

FEAR STREET HEADCANONS - DATING THE OPPOSITE "SIDER"

MALE READER

Characters: Tommy, Alice, young Ziggy, Cindy, Kate, young Nick, simon

CW: couple of curse words

(didn't include Deena and Sam cause I'm pretty sure they're lesbians)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Young Ziggy Berman

-she hates your ass

-she thinks you're posh and annoying

-one day you walk in on her preparing a prank for someone from Sunnyvale

-but you don't tell anyone

-she next day when the prank takes action she sees you trying to to laugh, you make I contact and just burst out laughing

-you came up to her after to tell her how her prank was genius

-"I don't know what you're talking about" she smirks

-"right, of course, but if you happen to see does know what I'm talking about tell her I know a couple of tricks she might like" you say and walk away

-two days later you hear someone knocking at your door at night

-surprise surprise, it's Ziggy

-"I may or may not be doing something for tomorrow" Ziggy walks away for you to follow her

-and you do.

-that night a lot of things changed for you both

Cindy Berman

-you don't care about this kind of things

-you already been dating for a couple of months

-you don't care what others say, you love that girl

-one day you Ziggy gets in trouble, and Cindy being Cindy tries to argue with her

-so Ziggy spits out how Cindy only started dating you to "fit in" with the Sunnyvales

-you stand there in shock looking disappointed at Cindy

-before she has the chance to speak to you, you walk away

-a few days later you have to work together

-"so, was everything just a lie? Did you just use me?"

-"no! I mean, at first yes, but.."

-"I can't believe it" you were hurt

-"please 'name', just hear me out! I did start dating you because I wanted to fit in, be like everyone else, but I cought feeling for you, I...I love you!"

-it takes time for you to trust her again

-but you come back together eventually

Kate Schmidt

-you have a kind of friendly rivealry relationship

-every game you meet up and jokingly insult each other

-it just becomes a habit, and you start wandering when you're gonna see her again

-one night you ask her for a quick chat

-away from everyone

-you can't wait anymore, so you just tell her how you feel

-her smile disappears, and she just leaves you standing there

-you think about this all of the game

-how you fucked up, and how you lost Kate

-after the game you feel so devastated

-but Kate runs up to you and drags you to the same spot you took her before

-she kisses you, smiling

-and than she just leaves

-it makes your night

Young nick good

-he always ignores you

-every time you speak at a game or council he looks at you with raised eyebrows, looks away, and continues to talk

-you actually think he's one of the least annoying Sunnyvales

-but you don't like the way he ignores you

-one day you get in trouble with Joan and her boyfriend

-he breaks it up and leads you away

-"what do you want" you're so annoyed, he probably wants something from you

-"what? Nothing, I just saved you from being thrown out of the camp"

-"and am I supposed to believe a Sunnyvale council just saved a shadyside guy he hates just because of kindness?"

-"wha- I don't hate you"

-"sure thing" you storm out

-the next few days you do everything to avoid him, not wanting to face whatever be has for you

-but it doesn't last for long

-you and Ziggy decides to prank some loser Sunnyvale

-but the thing is someone saw you

-"it was that scumbag, 'name', I saw him yesterday"

-you were fucked, now you're definitely gonna get thrown out

-"no, he was with me the whole night, helped me clean the cafeteria" nick came forward

-of course they believed him, he was the sheriff's son

-so you got of with just detention

-you were cleaning the stable when you saw nick coming up to you

-"I didn't as-"

-"I don't hate you, I hate that I like you" his eyes stared at you intensely

-you couldn't believe your ears

-you just stood there dumbfounded

-"but..I realized" he continued "he doesn't have to know"

-and than he kissed you

Simon kalivoda

-literally doesn't give two fucks about who you are and who knows what and who thinks what

-her likes you? You like him? That's all you need

-you always meet after school hanging out

-youre not afraid of going into the shadyside part, but you're worried when Simon goes to visit you

-anyway, that boy lives pda

-so if it was a secret you're dating (for your sake) it won't be one for long

Tommy slater

-he actually doesn't care

-at first he was a little wary yes, but after he got to know you he absolutely doesn't care what side you are

-but he's still unsure about being public

-so you date in secret

-its fun at the beginning, but starts to annoy you later on

-your want to do couple stuff with him like others, not hide your love

-you talked to him a couple times about this

-no your fifth time you threaten to leave him

-because you're really tired of this constant hiding

-always looking over your shoulder so no one sees you

-so after a few days apart he randomly walk up to you and kisses you on the cheek

-after that day he asks you if it was ok, he's not sure you like pda

-defenda you to everyone how talks shot about you

Alice

-youre kinda enemies at first

-always bickering and insulting each other

-at some point it becomes kinda fun

-its just your thing now

-your end up spending more time together

-not your choice obviously

-you both realize the other is not so bad as you thought

-so you start hanging out out of choice

-you two get very close

-smoking pot together

-talking about random shit

-one night she just kisses you

-youre unseparatable after that

[plainsimplegay]

I have to think there was a lot more involved in DS9 than just the writers, with the creation of Garashir. From the mind of Andrew Robinson and the reciprocation of Alexander Siddig, this beauty continues to enrapture us in 2024.

The subtle but powerful first meeting, Garak then throwing Julien into the roll of being a spy under the guise of “buying a suit”. The chemistry was ignored and tossed into the bucket of things we aren’t going to acknowledge. Yes, I assume after many collaborations between the two, it was apparent to many what was happening in the subtext. However would we have gotten these first precious moments in Past Prologue, if they had?

Looking from the perspective of: Makeup artists, set and costume designers, even other actors with their own pairings. Rick Berman stood in the way, but he couldn’t control everything.

^I’m quite sure I can see Garak’s face on that console. To the left of O’Brien, in the corner.

From what we can see Garak starts in bright costumes that draw us into his character.

Maybe he’s wanting someone to find him attractive? He’s had no one to talk to these lonely years on the station.

Who does he see that attracts him? A delicate flower of a Doctor who knows nothing of the station and is primed and ready to make friends.

“He spoke to me! He acknowledged my existence! He made contact with me!”

The exposed neck garments, flashy colors and designs were incredible. Over the course of DS9 we see Garak cover his neck more and more. Attracting less attention as they devoted more space in their life to Bashir and their time together.

Bashir in turn grows ever attached - rooted, this strange plant growing on him. Taken in by this madman, he falls down the rabbit hole. Wherever it goes and whatever befalls them. They’re in this together.

Learning how to break through those barriers and finding true friendship; someone they can enjoy spending time with. Not because anyone tells them to, but because it feels right.

Subtextual acting, a practice by Andrew Robinson, was well deserving of many rewatched episodes. Seen more frequently in Siddig’s performance, I believe Andy would have shared this fine crafted background secret, for the sake of being helpful to others, as others had been to him.

I wonder how many easter eggs are buried? We’ve found some, but I wonder how many others are buried under the surface.

After many re-readings of A Stitch In Time, I might one day find them all.

*this is an opinion piece only and I hope you enjoyed it.

[lottiembae]

control; shauna shipman x fem!reader

Summary: an english group project. a crush on shauna. and the power to control shauna's bad temper.

Warnings: fluff, bad words, crush. unnecessarily long :)

Note: English is not my first language.

The sound of a pencil hitting a notebook repeatedly called your attention. The sound came from the other side of the classroom, where Shauna Shipman decided to sit. The left side was hers, the only one taking the spot away from them all.

If you didn't know her, actually you didn't, but you two shared classes those years and at least you know some tips from the Shipman's girl, Shauna would scare anyone she proposed to. Her constant stoic face, the challenge on their brown eyes and the brief but pronounced frown on her eyebrows make her look that at any moment, she would snap you. And maybe she does it, only that you need to be really stupid because the girl usually remains quiet. You think you only saw her relaxed with her group of friends or what is the same, the yellowjackets soccer team. It didn't help that the most matches they won, the popularity rose too, and you learn quickly that Shauna Shipman hates attention.

And stupid people.

Ted Berman, the leader of your group for an English assignment, was a complete jerk. For your luck, you are on his good side but you can't say the same for some of them, including Shauna. You'll see, since Shauna is on the soccer team it means that she needs to go to training and sometimes, she came late to some meetings and Ted didn't like that. So in a punishing manner, Ted gave her the more difficult tasks, something that you told him that it's not fair, only receiving ignorance for his part, not wanting to hear you.

There is too that Shauna is very smart, and somehow Ted is glad and resentful about it.

"You will be in charge of searching for them in the library, Shipman." Ted finished to say with a not subtle snide smirk.

Turning your head towards the mentioned, you could see how her nostrils opened, her breathing accelerated and her jaw tense. Still, she remains quiet. Her deep brown eyes speak louder than the words she would say out loud.

"It would take time if she does it alone. I can help." You offer, raising your hand momentarily in the air.

You never crossed a word with Shauna, and you feel a little scared of how her reaction to this would be.

"I think she can handle it very well, since she has the highest note from all of us." Ted said, emphasizing the last part with now a full snide smirk. He is looking directly at her, he is not a fool. Ted wants to gain a reaction from the Shipman's girl, the problem for him is that Shauna never gives him the satisfaction.

"And I hope you don't forget about it, leader." Shauna said in a fake kind tone, with the most smug look on her eyes. Some of them try to hide the laugh for the comment, making Shauna feel pleased about it and the smugness display on her features.

Clearly it takes another turn for Ted, who erases the smirk quickly from his face. Knowing what would come soon, you stood up and already stopped Ted's steps towards the girl.

"Ted, think about it. If she does it all alone, we need to prolong the assignment and we can't afford that. We need to give it to Mr Jones in less than two weeks." You tried to reason with him, seeing how he is thinking about it for the change of his expression.

"Alright," he starts, letting out a sigh. "you help her then, like you offer." He said, turning his back on you and going back to his table.

You come back to yours, avoiding to look where Shauna is. It doesn't matter if you avoid her the entire time of the meeting duration, you need to talk to meet and work together about the assignment. You take a seat next to Jessica, the girl in charge of the art side of the project and she gives a kind smile, already knowing Ted's behaviour because well, she is his girlfriend.

"I swear to god that he is such an asshole sometimes." She mumbles, her gaze focusing on the cardboard almost finished.

You laugh quietly. "Only sometimes?" You tease in a whisper, gaining an elbow on your ribs by her side but you can see a faint smile on her lips.

You two remained quiet, sometimes sharing some comments about what you are doing until you pack your things to go to the chess club.

"Don't forget about it." It's the only thing Ted told you before you get out of there, making you roll your eyes.

•••

The first thing you did when you arrived at the building the next day was go to the library and search for the people you need to learn. You are mindlessly reading the inside cover with a few books you think are good for your information when a soft chuckle startled you.

A pair of brown eyes are set on you, walking next to you with a mischievous gaze. Her steps came to a stop and without asking she took away the books chosen from your right hand, scanning them carefully.

"This one doesn't matter. These two could do the job." Shauna rasped out, putting the first book on the shelf it belongs and saved the other two on her blue backpack. Her gaze came back to you, moving to look at the other book you are holding. Her fingers covered by her rings grace your hand the moment she takes it gently from your grasp, reading the inside cover. "It seems good too." She whispers, raising once again her eyes to look at you and see a glint of mischief of them, like before. "See you around." She leans briefly, tapping your bottom nose with her index finger and stepping out from there, not waiting for a reply for your part.

You are speechless, not assimilating what happened. It's the first time you have an interaction with Shauna, even if you don't speak to her. She seems so herself interacting with you, that it gives you some pride, thinking too that maybe you don't deserve her kindness.

The rest of the day passed slowly, the meeting that was planned for that afternoon was cancelled, leaving you a little with free time before you schedule with the chess club and you decide to do some more research. You still didn't talk with Shauna, you barely saw her that day since you two didn't share any class that day, you offered to talk to her about the cancellation of the reunion, a good excuse to approach the Shipman girl, but Ted told you that he would warn her.

You frown when you walk by the hall where the English classroom is, seeing a figure sit down on the floor with her head down. It's Shauna.

"What are you doing here?" You ask, approaching the girl with your purple folder on your arms, hugging it.

Shauna raised her head, uncrossing her legs and closing the book she was reading. "I knocked but there is no one in." She explains, standing up. You grimaced, something Shauna caught quickly. "What is it?"

"Shauna... the meeting was cancelled because Ted had a familiar problem..." You explained, seeing how slowly her features hardened. Before you could say something else, she starts to scream angrily.

"That piece of shit! WHO THINK HE IS." She shouted, kicking her backpack hard, sending it a few meters away. Her breathing became irregular. "WASTING THE BARELY FREE TIME I HAVE SITTING HERE WAITING FOR A REUNION IT DOESN'T HAPPEN."

It's the first time you see Shauna snap like that, seeing how she is walking up and down trying to calm herself. Both hands on her forehead, face flushed thanks to the rage she is feeling.

"I was gonna warn you but he told me that he was going to tell you..." You explain in a small voice, hugging more of your folder.

This new information made her stop abruptly, looking at you with her doe eyes. She let out an ironic laugh, shaking her head. "He is going to regret it." She murmurs to herself, her gaze now lost on the floor.

"Do you want to come with me?" You ask, blushing a lot when you realise your words. Shauna looks at you with an unreadable expression. "I need to go to the chess meeting, and I was thinking that maybe we can discuss how we need to work on our assignments..." You explained in a rush.

Shauna thinks for a moment then, she walks a few steps towards her backpack land before, grabbing it and walking towards you again. "Okay." She murmurs, waiting for you to start to walk.

You swallowed, a little surprise. You are glad that she forgot about Ted's bad play, knowing very well that if something happens, he searches for it.

"It's in the next hall." You informed her, leading the path. You could feel how Shauna started to follow you closely, her breathing became steady. Before you open the door, you turn to look at her. "I'm going to warn them. Sometimes they are sceptical about people watching." You explained awkwardly.

For your luck, Shauna nods with her head and leans on the wall next to the door. You went inside and saw the rest of your chess mate there. Again your luck is by your side and they agree letting Shauna be there.

"They are in a good mood." You let her know the moment you open the door, smiling. You move to let her go inside.

Shauna walks in and greets your friends politely, going to sit down in an empty spot in the first row of chairs.

The whole time that the reunion lasted, you could feel Shauna's gaze on you. Of course it has an effect on you, failing some dumb moves that easily the opponent would take advantage of, but fortunately you are good at this game.

"You are good at this." Shauna murmurs next to you when you walk outside. You noticed that she pulled up her hair in a messy bun, finding the new look attractive. Shit, you curse Shauna Shipman to have that effect on you.

"We all are." You said, chuckling at the end when you see her expression. "Seriously, we are. But I am a little better than them." You admitted playfully.

Shauna let out a smile, walking to the parking lot and stopping in front of her car making Y/N stop in front of her.

"We can meet tomorrow, after hopefully the meeting of this shit project." Shauna suggested, letting out an involuntary sarcastic laugh.

You soften your eyes, knowing very well that Shauna has the right to be annoyed. "Cool by me. And if you need to be late tomorrow, I would understand." You said casually, starting to walk and wave a hand towards her, seeing your mother's car parking there.

Shauna waves back, watching you go inside of the car.

•••

You supposed that the next day, things between Ted and Shauna would be tense. But never thought that Jackie Taylor would be involved. Everything happened in the cafeteria, during the break. Usually you sit down with Jessica, and consequently Ted sometimes is there, like this time.

"What the hell do you think you are?" A new voice interrupts the conversation you are having with your friend. You look at the person in question and recognise her, seeing too that she isn't alone, a blush mess was behind her friend, tugging the sleeve repeatedly while calling her friend's name, but Jackie ignored her. Her hazel eyes are glued on Ted, who looks confused when raised his head from his book.

"What?" He asks confused, blinking. Then, his gaze fell on Shauna and recognition came to his face. "You are Shipman's friend." He state.

Jackie gave him a sarcastic smile. "Yeah. The only one you can't stop to tease on." She rasped out, crossing her arms around her chest. "Are you that mad at her that you didn't warn yesterday there wasn't any meeting? Really?"

Ted became another blush mess, his gaze avoiding his girlfriend's one. You remember the first thing you did that day was scold him, but of course he didn't care. Maybe if Jessica is involved, he could listen finally.

"Did you do that?" Jessica asks astonish, looking at him. She opened her mouth a few times, not knowing what to say, then she turned to look at the pair of friends. "I'm sorry, Shauna. He told us that he was to warn you about it and like I fool we believe him. I'm really sorry." She apologised.

Shauna softened her features. "It's not your fault." She said.

"No, it's from your shitty boyfriend." Jackie barked out, gaining a warning by Shauna.

In another circumstance you knew that Jessica would defend him the moment Jackie left those words out, but right now she felt so pissed with him that Jessica remained quiet.

"I'm sorry." Ted said in a low voice, his blue eyes focusing on Jessica. "I'm sorry, Shauna." He said this time, looking at her.

You believe him, rarely he would apologise for something, but he gained that Shauna doesn't believe him.

"See you later, leader." Shauna spat quietly, this time grabbing Jackie's wrist, the blonde's complaining echoing their path.

Throughout the day you witnessed how Jessica gave the cold stare to Ted every time he tried to explain, you awkwardly remained quiet and when you tried to give them some space, Jessica grabbed your wrist to stop you.

Late that day, after an hour of the reunion started Shauna showed up, hair down wetting her green flannel from the small drops of water falling from her brunette hair. The silence involved them, everyone aware of what Ted did.

You see how Shauna avoided everyone, going to her usual seat, but you wanted her to feel better.

"Shauna." You call her softly, calling her attention. Once the Shipman girl looks at your way, you point the empty chair next to you. "Come here. I have a few ideas to start."

The brunette changes her steps and walks slowly towards your left side, letting her blue backpack down. You could feel how tense she is, so wanting her to relax, you start to rant about your idea and how you visualise the parts on the cardboard.

"Fine by me." Shauna lowly said, playing with her rings while giving you a small smile. "I'm not that artistic, so I like your idea." She shrugs.

You nod, grabbing from your purple folder the parts you wrote last night thanks to the only book the girl next to you left. "Read them, maybe you want to put your part together." You offer, tending the few pages to her.

Shauna grabs them gently, eyes moving on them. "It seems pretty good." She murmurs, distracted.

You notice how Shauna got more relaxed with the minutes, the quietness from the start turned into mindless comments, also joking with you a little. Is in the middle of the reunion when she tenses back, remaining her carefree position on the chair but her gaze turns dark, jaw clenching and her hands turning into fists.

Ted starts to talk, that's what happened.

Your eyes alternate between her hardened expression and white knuckles, knowing that she probably scratch herself with her nails. You know that if you don't do something to distract her, something would occur. So you grab a piece of paper from your notebook and draw Ted in a caricature, imitating the pose he usually does. You pass the small piece of paper to her discreetly, your fake being paying attention whatever Ted is saying.

You hear how Shauna let out a snort when she opened the note, catching your gaze when you turned to look at her. She leans on, leaning her elbow on the table and supporting her head with her hand.

"You catch his essence." The brunette whispered, the corner of her mouth turning up in a smug smile.

"It's not that difficult." You whispered back, chuckling a little.

Someone clearing their throat broke your bubble, looking at the front you saw Ted, giving you two inquisitive looks.

"Something funny?" He asks in a hoarse voice, his gaze alternating between you and Shauna and definitely lingering on her.

"Fuck off." You hear how Shauna muttered under her breath in a resentful manner.

Is a whisper, a thread of voice but enough for you and Ted to hear.

Ted hardened his features, his lips turning into a fine line. "What did you say?"

You look at Shauna, begging she turns to look at you and understand not to repeat those words again, but she doesn't turn to look at you. Shauna raised her gaze at him, still leaning her face on her hand. Her brown eyes burning holes into Ted's.

Before she opens her mouth, you interfere. "I was explaining something to her. Sorry to interrupt your explanation, Ted." You lied, giving him a sweet smile. Hopefully you wish he gave up and came back to explain whatever he was saying.

"Ted..." Jessica called him after a minute where he stood up in front of us, looking at Shauna. He slowly turned, without his wishes and started to explain again in his bored tone of voice that he chose for today.

Shauna scoffed at your side, the anger approaching on her face. She turned her hands into fists again, so without thinking too much you grab her right hand and deposit your hands on your lap, intertwining your fingers while with your other hand start to play with her rings. You look at Ted, too shy to look at Shauna about your bold move. And you wish to escape from her intense gaze she is sending you, surprisingly Shauna left play with her hand on your lap.

You are glad to feel how she calmed down, when Ted stopped to explain you didn't let her hand go, not until you needed to write your part on something for Elliott's draw. Slowly you left her hand without thinking too much, forgetting about letting Shauna's hand on your lap.

It's when you finish and turn to look at what Shauna is doing giggling by something Elliott said, finding the most puppy eyes someone gives you. Your heart melts, tilting your head.

"Are you okay?" You ask in a worried voice.

Shauna nods with her head, still quiet.

You frowned, not understanding her pout. It's when her cheeks blush, shyly intertwining your pinkie on hers that maybe, you understand her behaviour. Was she pouting because you left her hand?

Her brown eyes focused on the pages in front of her, writing with her left hand. It caught your attention, you thought that Shauna writes with her right hand. Also you notice too the warm her body radiates the moment you get closer, feeling gladly at the moment because today was a cloudy and cold day.

"It's enough for today, guys! Thank you for coming." Ted announced.

You left her pinkie out, starting to save your things in your backpack, grabbing the cardboard you and Shauna shared and carefully rolling it up.

It surprised you that Shauna stayed there waiting for you to finish, even though she helps others to save things for the next reunion. She has her arms crossed about her chest, leaning her back on at the table while her gaze is entirely on you.

"You don't have to wait for me." You said kindly, putting on your jacket.

Shauna shrugs, brushing her hair aside. "I don't mind." She lowly said.

The moment you two get out of the classroom, avoiding Ted's gaze on you, the cold hits your face making you scowl. Shauna looks at you curiously, but didn't say anything. You two remained quiet the rest of the journey.

"See you tomorrow, Shauna." You wave your hand, smiling. Turning around to start your walk towards your home, you feel a hold on your wrist.

"Are you going alone today?" She asks, letting out the hold on your wrist. A brief frown made her way on Shauna's face.

You nod. "Yeah. Usually my mom came to pick me up, but today she needed to be with my sister's appointment." You explained, not knowing why because with a simple no was enough.

A few seconds of silence passed until Shauna spoke again. "I'll take you." She said.

"Don't worry, Shauna. I can walk alone." You kindly reject her offer, not wanting to waste more of her time.

"Let me take you." She insisted. You sighed when you saw it again, the start of a pout on her face.

"Alright." You gave in, cursing the power that pout already has on you and you barely are seeing it for the second time.

Shauna steps back to her car, opening the back door and throwing her backpack there. You sit down on her copilot seat, sighing relieved when the warm inside of the car embraces you.

"It's not that cold." She murmurs, the corner of her lips turning up. You frown, tilting your head. She chuckles and turns on the engine. But you notice that she turns on the calefaction and you smile inside of your head.

Little details.

•••

You left a trail of curses with every move of your hand trying to clean on the big stain of apple juice from your white shirt. You are in the toilet, next to the sink and time from time to wet a new piece of paper to take off the stain. Spoiler; it didn't.

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?" You hear someone comment behind you, making you jump on the spot.

Turning around, you see an amused Shauna walking to you. "Hey... Right now I don't care about anyone. Just this stain goes away." You muttered, your eyes coming back to your shirt, your movements getting faster.

"What happened?" Shauna asks curiously, positioning herself in front of you now.

Without removing your eyes from your shirt, you answered. "Some jerk stumbles with me in the cafeteria and pours me with his apple juice. The idiot only laughed and left without apologising. I'm sure if it was the contrary he didn't find it funny." You explained, letting out a sarcastic low laugh at the end.

"Take." You raised your head when you heard her, seeing her leave her backpack between her legs and pull off the beige flannel she wears today, staying with a thin black t-shirt. She extended the flannel towards you, her brown eyes fixing on you.

"Shauna... Are you sure? It's freezing today." You doubtfully said, alternating your gaze between her and her flannel.

"It's not that freezing, but I have another one in my gym bag. Don't worry, take it." She reassured you, pushing the flannel carefully into your arms, not letting you have the option to reject her.

"Thank you." You said sincerely, pulling on her flannel. It's a little bigger on you, but you like how it looks on you. The soft fabric emanates Shauna's perfume, hugging your senses.

"You're welcome." Shauna said back, giving you a lipped smile. "The classes are to start. Give me a minute and I will accompany you." She offers, not waiting for your answer because she left her backpack at your feet and locked herself in the empty cubicle.

You never imagined that Shauna Shipman would show you a soft side in two days of interaction you have.

Soon Shauna came out, washing her hands on the sink and grabbing a piece of paper to dry her hands. Then, she grabs the backpack from your hand and walks out with you by her side.

"If you don't mind I'm going to grab my other flannel in my locker." Shauna comments, a few steps up to the way towards her locker.

You hummed, muttering okay. You lean on the left locker, watching with a glint of smug how Shauna is putting on the red flannel.

"How many do you have?" You ask curiously.

Shauna clears her throat, blushing a little. "I lost count." She admitted in a small voice.

You smile, bringing a hand to the collar of her flannel and putting it correctly. Your hand pulls off the ponytail from her flannel too, admiring the curl formed at the end. You come back from your dreamy state when you notice the deepness of Shauna's gaze, right now matching her red cheeks.

She closed the door. "What class do you have now?" She leans on you a little, the noise the other students are making is loud, knowing that she didn't lean or raise her voice you wouldn't listen to her.

"French." You reply, praying that Shauna didn't notice how her closeness is affecting you.

She opened her eyes a little, like knowing something you didn't. "I have some friends taking that class too. They suck though." She comments, starting to walk towards the French classroom alongside you.

You chuckle a little when you hear the last part. "I'm not that good either." You admitted.

For your bad luck, the classroom is near Shauna's locker. You two stopped before reaching the door, you facing her. "Thank you for lending me your flannel, Shauna." You thanked her, biting the inside of your cheek.

"It's nothing. Don't worry about returning it anytime soon." She said, squeezing your forearm kindly briefly.

You nod, licking your lips. "Have a good day." You wished with a shy smile.

She nods too. "You too." Then, she proceeded to gift you with one of her rarely toothy smiles that she only had reserved for close people, because you never thought that Shauna would give that smile.

You turn around and step inside, going to your place. You feel how some stares remain on you the whole walk to your table. You catch briefly Jackie Taylor's and Lottie Matthews' eyes on you. Did they recognise the flannel you are wearing? Maybe they saw before how Shauna wore it. Also you didn't lose the way the pair of friends shared a look before the teacher approached the classroom.

Many hours after you are in your bedroom, sitting in a chair leaning both elbows on your desk, memorising the words you are reading for an exam you have tomorrow, well one of them. For your disgrace, the exams are stressing you more than usual, something normal considering you are in your last year of high school, still you feel drowning with every exam.

You feel some consequences about it, like biting your lower lip more frequently, scratching the palm of your hand or pulling your hair while you study.

You reread the previous sentence, your frown deepening. You are so caught up on it, that the sound of something hitting your window startled you, jumping in your chair letting out a small squeak, putting both hands on your mouth to cover and your heartbeat accelerated. Confused, you saw a shadow out of your window when you stood up. You pull up your glasses, walking slowly towards the window and when you see who it is, you can't believe your eyes.

"Shauna? What are you doing here?" You ask once you open the window, the frown you wore before coming again.

Shauna looks really nervous, biting her lip while she is sitting awkwardly on the border of it. "Sorry, I can't sleep and you mentioned the other day this is your bedroom... Sorry." She said in a rush of low voice, looking everywhere.

Your features soften, turning aside for Shauna could go inside. Stretching your hand to help her, the brunette quickly puts hers on you and with a soft thud, she is in and lets go of your hand for you to close the window.

When you turn again, you see Shauna looking at what you are wearing and you curse yourself, already feeling the warm colour going to your cheeks. You are in your pajamas, but you feel a little cold and saw Shauna's flannel and you can't avoid putting it on, again.

"Are you okay?" You ask, clearing your throat and going to sit on your chair, offering with a hand to sit on your bed, near you.

Shauna takes a few seconds to react but she sits down, face to face with you. "Today I have a little more time to think I guess. No practice or meeting, just homework and study... I get overwhelmed." She messily explained, playing with the ring of her index finger.

You nod, a little worried. "You can stay here the time you want." You said sincerely, smiling while you grab her left hand between yours.

"Thank you." She whispers. You could feel the emotion in her voice, not liking it.

"Do you want to see something on my TV?" You suggested, signaling with a hand the place where it is.

Shauna frowns, looking at the place you signaled. You hold your laugh when you see her surprise expression. "Are you rich?"

This time you laugh quietly. "No, it's old. My parents bought a new one and they gave it to me. I only use it when some friends stay over." You explain.

"Van would love you." Shauna murmured to herself, standing up and gently removing her hand from your grasp, going to inspect the films you owned. "Literally." She said again, her fingers brushing the VHS' covers.

"Vanessa Palmer?" You ask, curious.

Shauna hummed. "Yes. Don't call her like that though. She hates when someone says her full name." She explains.

You are content to see Shauna distracted, like a child with a new toy. You are a few minutes watching her until you remember about the exam you have at the first hour.

"Do you mind if I put it on?" Shauna interrupted your mind, shyly standing a few steps away from you showing the film she wants to see.

"Of course." You agree. "The controls are next to the VHS."

You turn to look at your Geography book again, putting yourself in the previous position you have before the brunette interrupted in your bedroom.

"Do you don't want to watch it?" Before you could turn, you could hear the pout on her voice. If you feel yourself melting when you see her face you melt more. You meet with big brown eyes looking at you with a sad expression that she tried to cover but failed. Shauna walks towards the bed and sits down in the same place.

"I have an exam tomorrow at the first hour." You informed with a sad smile.

This new information made her change her sad expression, but the pout remains. "About?"

"Geography."

You two stare at each other for a few moments. "I can leav-,"

"Don't!" You interrupted her. "Stay here. I just need to study fifteen minutes and I will watch the film with you." You said, pulling on your glasses.

Shauna nods, eyes going to the TV and starting to watch the film. You see how the bright light from the TV illuminates her face, her dazed face paints a smile on your face. You decided to come back to study and accomplish what you promised.

You bite your lip hard, repeating mentally the sentence, the meaning of it. Cities, countries, dates... you decided to put a stop, because you feel something tightening on your chest and you didn't like that. So you close the book and pull off your glasses with a tired sight, rubbing your eyes.

You stood up, gave two steps and lay yourself on the bed, face down. You hear a soft chuckle, making you open your eyes. Shauna is looking at you by her spot, half turned to you.

"Tired?"

You hummed, hearing a soft sound coming from outside your door. You see Shauna looks curiously towards the door. You walk and open the door, Sera going inside happily and stopping when she spotted a new face. You close the door while watching how Shauna stretches a hand for her to smell, and knowing your cat, she will soon be on Shauna's lap.

Sera starts to purr, making you leave out a chuckle while laying once again on your bed, Sera jumping on it and massaging your stomach she soon lay there, grateful with the attention she is receiving.

Shauna slowly half lay on your left, caressing with a hand Sera's head and keeping an eye on the film. You are sleepy, half watching the film because Shauna was in the middle, but you don't care. It's a few minutes later when the brunette rests her back on the mattress, changing Sera for your arm to caress. Her fingertips draw patterns on your forearm, lulling you.

•••

The next day when you opened your eyes, the last thing you waited to see was Shauna snuggling you. Involuntarily you paint a smile, seeing how calm she looks, soft snores escaping from her plump lips.

Strands of brunette hair falling from her bun, framing her calm features. You could feel her arm wrapping on your waist, also noticing that under the red flannel she is wearing under it she wore pajamas. Sera was between you two, mostly on Shauna with her head leaning on her chest, it made your smile open. You never thought that Shauna would like cats, she seems like a dog lover instead.

You brought a hand to her hair, carefully pulling off the hair tie letting her hair down. It made Shauna stirred in her sleepy state, approaching her face near your neck. You freeze when you notice her breathing on your skin, your right hand hanging in the air until you feel tired and start to caress her hair, playing with her soft strands. You don't know why or how, but you feel a little pleased when the Shipman's girl lets out a content sound, snuggling more on your side and this time hiding her head on your neck, brushing her nose on your skin.

Your eyes are fixed on Sera's sleepy form, stopping your movements on Shauna's until this one blinded put a hand on yours and start to move it up and down, indicating she wants for you to keep going.

"Good morning." You greet her in a whisper after being chuckled by her antics, hoping she didn't raise her head and see the red mess you become.

Shauna hummed something, lips brushing your skin and her grip on your waist tightening. "How do you sleep?" She asks, raising her head and rubbing her eyes, failing to hide a yawn.

"Better than other nights, actually. What about you?" You admitted, stopping to caress her hair and scratch Sera's head when she stirred.

Shauna focuses her eyes on you, sleepy brown eyes boring into you. "Good." She gives you a shy smile. You barely know her, but you feel that simple good, means something. So you reciprocate her smile. "Do you sleep bad these nights?" She asks, petting Sera's head.

You shrug. "It's nothing... I have been studying, that's all. I guess you know what I'm talking about." You rest importance, starting to stand up.

"How many exams do you have today?" Shauna still asks from the bed.

"Three. Geography, French and Math. In that order." You reply, going to your closet and grabbing some clothes for today.

"I don't start the exams until next week." She admitted. It took you by surprise, but thinking about it, not too much. The teachers put exams in the same days from the same year, maybe one day of difference. Today is Friday, so Shauna would start on Monday.

"I'm going to change. Do you want something? Or want to go to the bathroom?" You offer, opening the door. She shakes her head, raising her back from the mattress.

You nod.

When you return, you have some toast and orange juice in case Shauna is still in your bedroom, and she is. The brunette was sitting on your bed, now with her shoes on and scratching Sera's head on her lap.

"Good you are here. I brought you this." You said, walking towards her and offering the small breakfast you brought for her.

Shauna thanked you, grabbing from your hands the toast and the orange juice.

"If you don't mind, we can go to my home and take you to high school." Shauna said after chewing, eyes on you following every move you made.

You think about it. It would be nice to spend some more time next to Shauna. So you turn and nod with your head, seeing how she gives you a wide smile.

"I'm going to tell my mom that I'm going with a friend." You inform, already walking to the door.

"Wait! Let me finish and I can go for the window. We need to walk over there, but it's not too far, don't worry." Shauna said, giving a big sip to the juice.

You see with amusement how Shauna eats fastly, red cheeks for the attention receiving for your part. Sera waited patiently in front of the closed door, licking her paw.

Shauna stood up and nodded with her head, chewing. You grab your backpack, open the door and let Sera get out first, from the corner of your eye you see how Shauna starts to fix your bed, making you laugh quietly.

When you get out of your house, you see Shauna pull down from the vine, jumping off. You offer her a smile, waiting for her to lead the way towards her home. The silence enveloped the way over there, no necessity to speak when you two feel comfortable like that. In your case you have an excuse, and in your mind you are revising what you studied last night and if the brunette notices your distraction, she didn't comment on it.

"We are here. Wait over that window, I'll give the car keys for you to not freeze outside while I change my clothes." She teases you a little, making your gasp and playfully nudge her side, for the first time making her let out a laugh and you think that it will become one of your favourite sounds soon if you have the chance to hear it again.

"Mean." You whispered, receiving a nudge for her side now. You did what she told you and waited for the car keys. The white curtain was removed and you see Shauna opening the window, giving you the keys.

You walked towards the car, unblocking it. You sit down where the last time you sat down, and while you wait for the Shipman's girl, you pull out from your backpack your assigned Geography notebook. You got so caught up, that you didn't notice when Shauna sat down next to you, only when the notebook was removed from your grasp.

"Hey!" You whined, seeing how Shauna saved it on your backpack and threw it towards the backseat, next to hers.

"You will nail it. Studying more would mess more what you already know." Shauna said, starting the engine.

You didn't say anything, preferring to look by the window. Some minutes later, something warm was placed on your lap. Your look and see her hand there, opened palm in a gesture that invites to what happened last day. You placed your left hand there and laced your fingers with hers, feeling too the cold of their rings.

It's weird. No one of you commented about it last day, but it looks like it's an unspoken rule. Shauna starts to caress the palm of your hand, gaze focuses on the road. You study her expression, only noticing her features relaxed but with a shadow of pink on their cheeks. You see too that the collar of her green flannel was bad, and without thinking too much, with your free hand put it correctly.

Your ways separated the moment Jackie Taylor was waiting for Shauna in the parking lot with an angry face until it transformed into a suspicious one. You excuse yourself, Shauna wished you good luck for the upcoming exam and parted ways, inevitably hearing how the blonde asks her friend why we came together.

When you finish the last exam that day, you feel your heart on your throat. Tears picking your eyes, the stress running for all your body. Your hope to have a good note with this exam was absent, cursing that maybe you should study more for Math than Geography.

Today you need to go to a chess reunion before going to the other reunion. You feel a little grateful because you don't know how, but playing chess relaxes you. An hour later, you are knocking on the English classroom and going inside. Quickly you apologise and go to your table with your head down, taking a surprise when you notice someone else sitting there.

"Don't practice today?" You ask, letting your backpack on the floor and sitting next to her.

You think you saw a hint of worry in her eyes, but maybe your tired mind tricked you. "Tomorrow we have a match and the coach wants all of us to be in the training. So we postponed for a few hours." She explains in a low voice, not wanting to disturb the rest. "How did the exams go?"

You turn your face, pretending to look something in your backpack. However you know that Shauna, from all people, isn't a fool.

"Fine." You murmurs, clearing your throat again. "What are you guys doing?" You change the topic, putting on your glasses. You tried to occupy yourself in the meantime Shauna answered you.

"Stop." She interrupted herself, putting a hand to stop your movements. "Calm down." She leans and whispers in your ear. Shauna soothes your back gently, in a slow manner. With her free hand, bring one of yours to her lap, intertwining your fingers and her thumb caressing your palm.

You focus on her movements, trying to find that comfort that Shauna brings you when you think of her. The smell of fabric softener of her flannel, the mint of the gum she is chewing, the rings embracing your fingers.

"Better?" Shauna asks after a while, keeping an eye on you the whole time you remain in silence.

You nod, biting your lip. "Yeah, thanks." You muttered, squeezing her hand.

"Tell me about chess." She comments, letting your hand on her lap and starting to write again, putting herself nearer you.

You frown briefly, but start to tell about the reunion you have. You didn't care about she knowing some secret tactics, you knew you could trust her.

And like that, you spend the hour talking about it, Shauna listening and sometimes asking you some things, but mostly remained quiet. You feel so relaxed, even smiling to little jokes you made.

It fades when you and Shauna approach Ted, the boy too quiet for his liking with Shauna today, he decides to scold her for something so stupid like a mistake could be corrected easily. You were behind Shauna, a few steps away only. You flinch when Ted raises his voice, not liking the way he is treating Shauna.

"If you don't agree, you are free to go." He said sterling, crossing his arms in a challenging air.

And that sentence you explode.

"SHUT THE FUCKING UP, TED." You shout, bringing now the attention towards yourself, but you don't care. "I'm so tired of you trying to find something and reproach about it at her. You are jealous of Shauna, Ted and you are acting worse than a child. So if she goes, I'm going too." You finish more in a calmer voice, also the tiredness and seriousness could be appreciated in your voice.

You ran away from there, tears now streaming for your cheeks. With a blurry vision you run to the place you feel safe, the empty classroom where the chess meetings are. You slam the door the moment you go inside, throwing your backpack somewhere and colliding next to sit down near a window, where the only light coming inside thanks to that window.

A few knocks were heard, but you ignored them. You wrap your arms around your legs, hiding your face the moment the door is open. You hear how it closed again, soft footsteps were heard, getting near you until they stopped. You know who the person is the moment you smell the citric perfume.

"Go away." You murmured, holding your sobs embarrassed that Shauna could see you in that state.

"I'm not going anywhere." The brunette said firm, in a bold move she wrapped you between her arms, making you lean your head on her chest while she put her chin on the top of your head.

Shauna stayed, waiting patiently until you stopped crying. Soft touches on your arm, painting shadow figures there calmed you. Who is someone who looks so rough outside, could be this soft with someone she barely knows? Shauna keeps surprising you.

"Do you want to come with me at the training?" She offers you in a soft voice, her cheek pressed on your head.

Unconsciously you snuggle on her chest, the idea of separating from her makes you sad. "Are they privately?" You ask in a hoarse voice, playing with her flannel button.

"Depends. I think you are safe from all of them." She reassured you. "We need to go now, though. I don't want to listen to Jackie complaining."

You left out a snort when she mentioned the blonde's name, separating from her chest but remaining on her arms. You saw how she has a raised eyebrow, you poked her cheek playfully.

"We can go." You said, opting to not joke about it.

You stand up first, the brunette following you quickly. With the sky now dark, the way over there Shauna explains a little about tomorrow's game, about the rival. You notice she hesitates on her next words, making you curious.

"I'll take you to the bleachers." She changes her words, turning a corner and stepping up of them. "We are training on this pitch, where already some of them are warming up." Shauna said, eyes focusing on the pitch and seeing some of her teammates.

"Okay." You said, sitting down and seeing some of them greeting Shauna, calling her to go over them.

Shauna turns around, a soft smile playing on her red lips. "Don't think too much about it, okay?" She said, bending down to be at the same level of eye as you. "And if you can't, think about chess' tactics." You chuckle by it, making her smile wide.

She pokes your nose before she stands up and walks away, following her with your eyes until she disappears, focusing now on the pitch where some of them give you curious gazes or joking with each other. You see after a few minutes how Shauna walks in with another one, giggling about something. If she wants you to be distracted, you definitely are when you see the new outfit for the practice. Blue shorts where her toned legs are showing, grey t-shirt showing her strong arms and her face free of her hair that is in the usual ponytail.

Then, she turns to the bleachers and joggers towards where you are, jumping on the barrier. The sound of the soccer shoes echoing the pavement. "Hey. I was wondering if you can hold my rings? I forget to take them off."

You focus on her fingers, seeing every finger covered with a ring. You nod, seeing how she pulls off the rings and deposit them in your extended hands. Shauna thanked you and came back to the pitch, not without rolling her eyes when a dyed blonde called her name nonstop.

You laugh quietly when Shauna elbows her side.

The whole training you appreciate how good Shauna is. The intensity of the training doesn't stop her, every dribble, scrimmage or whatever she needs to do, the brunette did it. And not to devalue the rest of them, noticing too that their friends are good in their positions.

"How are you?" Shauna asks you once she approached you in the bleachers freshly clean. You don't believe how she could leave her hair wet with this cold.

"I'm fine." You promised, walking the few steps that separated from her. "And you? I don't know how you could move with that training."

Shauna chuckles quietly, shaking her head. "It could be worse, believe me." She muttered, brushing her hair to the side. "Let's go. I'll take you home before you freeze out." She teases you, stepping down the staircase. "You are worse than Jackie."

"Maybe we are the normal ones." You tease her back, when you step down you see how she is trying to repress a smile.

"Talking of Jackie. She is coming with us, I am always her ride home. Do you mind?" She asks you, her gaze turning insecure while she looks at you on the way to her car.

"Of course no, silly. In that case we need to ask her if she is okay with me going there." You said shyly, seeing two figures next to Shauna's car.

Surprisingly for Shauna, you two get along really quickly. Jackie offered to go in the copilot seat, but you declined kindly and then, since you two are together in French class, the conversations went smoothly from there. Shauna dropped Jackie first, promising that she will not forget about her to come for her before the match they have tomorrow.

The whole ride to your home went silent, only The Smiths' songs playing in the background. Shauna's hand flies mindlessly towards your knee, and was there you noticed how naked her fingers are, so slowly you put one by one the rings from that hand, doing the same with the other hand when she pulls off in your driveway.

Before you go away, you lean and give her a hug, memorising the smell she emits.

•••

You opened your eyes when you felt a heavy thing on your side, you move your hand in the dark to switch on the lamp and see what it is. You are surprised to see Shauna there, hiding her face into your neck, her grip on your waist makes you think that she is awake. You start to stroke her head, hearing how the Shipman's girl left out a sigh.

"I can't sleep." Shauna murmurs in a muffled voice, drawing patterns on your waist.

"It's okay." You whispered. You close your eyes again, the tiredness on them. Sleepily you find out how you don't mind if these things with Shauna keep happening.

"And I forgot to ask if you would come tomorrow to the game?" Shauna asks shyly, raising her head and looking at you. Brown eyes inspect your sleepy face, face mere inches away from yours.

"I would love to. But I am meeting some friends that I haven't seen for a while." You explained, feeling a little bad. It intensifies when she gives that puppy look on her eyes, big doe brown eyes looking at you with... sadness? Shauna nods, coming back to hide her head on your neck. "I can go to the next one." You said, wishing that she would remove that look on her face.

"It's an away game." She informed you, her breathing tickling your neck.

"And can I go?" You suggested. "When I needed to go away in the chess tournament, some parents came." You explained.

Shauna thinks for a moment. "We can bring someone, two people like much. I can ask." She said, hearing in her tone now much content. "So, I will see you tomorrow...?"

You suppress a smile when you hear the little hope in her voice now. "Nope, unless you would come at night. Something I don't suggest only because the next day I need to go to a chess tournament and my mom would come to wake me up." You explained, your fingers scalping her head.

"Until Monday then?" She asks rhetorically, raising her head again and frowning. You put your index finger between her eyebrows and try to erase it, making her relax. "I guess I will pass my Sunday studying." She huffed, letting her head on your shoulder instead.

No one of you speaks anymore. You start to think about what you feel towards Shauna Shipman. You know that you have a crush on her, for a long time. At first you tried to deny it, but with time you give up and accept you feel attracted.

Could it be a possibility that Shauna will feel something towards you too? It would be unbelievable, a crush being reciprocal? Usually it's not that easy. You remember some of your friends with their crush, the majority of them weren't corresponded, even with Jessica. At first Ted didn't like her, they got together with the time.

You are a mess.

So maybe with these two days apart from her, you could clear your mind. Detoxicate from Shauna.

•••

Cheers and claps were heard, alerting you and raising your head up. You see how Shauna approaches in the classroom, one of the classes both of you share. The teacher stopped her, noticing how her smile was forced while she nodded whatever Mr Kyle said to her.

Your eyes collided and you sent her a reassuring smile, pulling up your glasses and hearing how your partner in your table rant about something. Shauna starts to walk, towards your table. A scowl installing on her features, stopping in front of the table.

"Move." She grunted, throwing a hard look at James, who looked confused and scared. "I'm not repeating myself." She said more serious, without blinking.

James swallowed, grabbing his things and going to another empty seat.

Shauna sat down where he was, throwing her backpack on the floor and hiding her face between her hands, leaning her elbows on the table. You look sympathetic to her, squeezing her shoulder.

"You okay?" You whisper, leaning a little on her.

Shauna nods, rubbing her eyes when she removes her hands from her face. "Yeah. Only tired of people congratulating us." She growls, rolling her eyes. Then, her gaze turned soft. "How was your tournament? Also last night I couldn't go because I stayed studying with Jackie on hers." She explains, giving you an apologetic smile.

"It was good. We won." You said, giving her a thumbs up. "Don't worry. Just try not to bite the rest of the day at them." You joke, fixing your eyes on the new piece of clothes she is wearing. "Do you have a jacket about your team? With your name? That's pretty cool." You compliment, caressing the fabric of it with your finger.

"We put it on special occasions." Shauna sarcastically explains, grabbing her things and putting it on top of the table. Then, she sneaked a hand on your lap, intertwining your fingers. She gave you a shy look, relaxing her face when you squeeze her hand. "Maybe if I have you by my side all day I will contain myself." She murmurs, looking straight when the teacher starts to explain and losing your shocked expression.

What does that mean?

It has been less than a week of talking and you two are holding hands already. Not only that, if not you two sleep in the same bed two nights because Shauna went to your house.

Are you treating her so well to have these privileges?

You always thought that Shauna was someone difficult to read and be careful to treat. You know she has a gold heart only the way she treats her friends, especially Jackie. The rough appearance is only a wall to protect herself. And the way she treats you those days affirmative what you think about her.

"You look distracted." Shauna interrupted your mind, her thumb drawing pattern on your hand.

You look at her, pools of chocolate looking you back. You shrug your shoulders, resting importance. You didn't want to share what you were thinking, but a few ideas came to your head and one of them you didn't like.

But you didn't want to suffer in the future.

After that class, your ways are separated and you see her again when you are in the cafeteria that a very annoyed Shauna sits down next to you, ignoring the couple there. You see how red their cheeks are, the frown pronouncing and a death stare that could kill anyone who dares to speak to her.

"I hate people so much." Shauna scowled, throwing the jacket to the bench and pulling her flannel sleeves up, starting to eat with angry movements.

You side eye Ted, seeing who he pallied a little. You two are on good terms, the boy approached you on Saturday when your friends and you collided with the couple.

"That bad is going? Think that you aren't the only one, I witnessed how Mrs Deans said one of your teammates who barely gets credit on her class." You said, remembering the moment.

Shauna gives you a sarcastic smile. "Mari, I know."

You let her eat, wanting she calm down. She never says a bad word to you, and usually Shauna comes to you because she can be herself, not necessary to talk.

The couple finished and they went away, mainly for Jessica. Seeing that Shauna's mood isn't improvising, you take her things with you and grab her hand, walking outside. You take her to the bleachers the other day you sit down, appreciating the empty pitch on a sunny day, in the background soft murmurs of people around you two.

You deposited her things next to you, leaning your head on her shoulder while you sneak your arms on hers. You feel how she tense momentarily but soon relaxed, leaning her cheek on your head.

"We finish the project today." You comment, playing with her flannel sleeve.

Shauna hummed. "Something good. Or not. I think I'm going to see Berman frequently."

This comment caught your attention. "Why?"

"Because we are friends. What else?" She said in a matter-of-fact tone, chuckling at the end.

You didn't wait for that answer. "We are friends?" You ask dumbly.

"Well, if you aren't my friend, I don't know what I'm doing with you." She said in a whisper.

It's your turn to tense up.

Would you two have this conversation? I mean, maybe she truly feels that this thing is a friendship, friends hold hands, right? All the time?

"Shauna...I think we should take some time apart." You said bluntly. You are the same surprise as Shauna, because you thought about it but just for a moment, maybe your heart betrayed you before things went too far.

Shauna separated her cheek from your head and looked at you. The surprise transforms into a serious look, her lips into a fine line and her posture goes straight.

"No." She said firm, letting out a breath. This answer surprises you more. "Why? I mean, we clicked. Did you?" She asks the last part insecure, the frown on her eyebrows increasing. "Time? You can't give me a taste of yourself and later go away like nothing." She said in a hurt voice.

You opened your mouth, and closed it. Would you say the truth of why you wanted to pull off? You don't want Shauna hating you.

"We did." You admitted. You could see some relief on her face. "But Shauna, I don't want to be hurt...," you start, looking at the field. You can't watch her face the moment you admit your feelings. "I feel like you are a drug to me. Thinking about you all the time. I prefer admiring you from a distance than getting involved and getting hurt at the end." You explain in a thread of voice, letting go of her arm and biting your lip strongly, afraid of her reaction.

You are waiting for her to scream at you. To say how much she hates you, something in that line. Though you never imagined that Shauna Shipman would hold your hand and with the other one grab your chin to look at her with the most softer gaze she has on her eyes.

"Do you think that I don't feel your eyes on me?" She whispers, caressing your chin with her thumb. She has a playful smile, Shauna didn't say it to tease you. However the comment made you blush. "It's been awhile. With every gaze I wonder what would you see on me to like you. I never approached you because... I'm shy and you too. You know the rest."

She knew. Of course Shauna Shipman would know about your crush on her. You thought you were subtle, but clearly not.

"If you want to pull away from that, I'm reassuring you that you need to search for another excuse, because I'm not going to buy it." She reassured you, getting bold and removing her hand from your chin, she wraps both arms on your waist and hides her head on your neck. "I'm not letting go of the person that calmed me down, my friends never would forgive you." Shauna tried to light the mood, making you laugh.

You can feel the smile on your skin.

•••

You bite your lip, worried.

Shauna got a yellow card to snap to the opponent player when they foul her. Some of the yellowjackets tried to pull her off, Lottie pushed Shauna away with a strong grip, seeing the only one who could with the brunette.

Your vision from them is hidden because someone put themselves in front of you. A tall young man, curly hair and kind eyes call your attention with his hands, you recognise him to be the second coach, a man loved by the girls more than the actual coach.

"Hey." He greets you when you approach him, a nervous gaze alternating between you and the pitch where the players are. "Look, I have been informed that you are Shauna's friend, right?" He asks, sighing relieved when you nod. "Alright, I need you to talk with her and calm down. Her temper is getting worse at the minute and we can't lose her." He said, almost beg you.

It surprised you a little. He probably knows her more than you, but he is here asking you to calm Shauna down.

So you nod again.

"Thank you. Soon will be the break, I'll come for you after the coach gives them new tactics." He said, offering you a relief smile and walking back to the bench where the rest of the team are.

You waited, eyes glued on the number six. You could feel the anger she is holding, the piss when she takes the ball away from the opponent, sometimes she dribbles them with an elegant move and then, more piss she felt with the foul received.

Shauna is in a thin line to snap again.

Jackie kept whispering things to calm her down, in vain. The brunette was the first one to go inside the moment the referee whistled. You waited for the guy from before, seeing him approach you after a few minutes.

"Sorry." He apologised, helping you walk into the pitch. He takes you to a small hall, voices proving from two doors were heard. You supposed both teams are locked near each other. He opened the left door, quietly apologising when the coach stopped shouting. You walk behind him, some of the girls give a smile or wave at you.

You wave back, sending them a sad smile. They are losing by a goal, the dream to go to Nationals very far right now. You stood next to him, seeing the eleven players who played in a circle, some of them standing up or sitting down. You have a glimpse of the Shipman's girl, sitting down with a pronounced frown, sipping from a bottle.

After a few encouraging words, the coach goes out, the curly hair man gives you an apologetic smile and follows him. A redhead a few centimeters away from you turns her back, her cheeks flushed letting out a sarcastic comment, gaining some laughs and protest by them. You recognise her like the goalkeeper, its contrast with the tough face she wore during the game and now with a cheeky grin it's shocking, also you knew about her behaviour because you share some classes.

Her baby blue eyes meet your face, a glint of mischief swimming on them. "Well, hello darling. I thought you were there to support us." She hummed, wiping her face with a towel.

"Van." A curly hair girl hissed with a reprimand expression that turned into a softer one when she looks at you. "Don't pay her any attention."

You laugh quietly.

"Nah, Van. She is here for Shauna. Personal cheerleader." A dyed blonde comment, the same mischief pooling on their blue greenish eyes. She walked next to the pair, crossing her arms with a smug smirk.

You didn't offend by her words. "Do you want me to chant your name for you to score?" You tease her, gaining some laughs from them.

She just blushed, wiping her smug smirk from her face. "Talk with Shauna and reason with her." She murmurs, walking away followed by Van and the other curly haired girl.

Lottie gave a sweet smile, going out too with another blonde girl. You walk slowly towards the pair of friends, Jackie has an arm wrap around Shauna's shoulder and was talking at her. Since Shauna has her head down, she doesn't see you approaching, but Jackie does and gives you a nod, standing up from her spot and walking away after squeezing your arm.

"Don't be pissed." You said in a small voice, gaining her attention. Shauna looks surprised, her brown eyes opening. You smile, going to sit next to her. "You know that she is provoking you, right? Don't give her that satisfaction."

Shauna looks around, noticing that the only ones were you two there. She wraps her arms on your waist and hides her head on your neck, brushing her lips there, making you squirm.

"What are you doing here?" She asked in a muffled voice, feeling how she relaxed the moment you brush your hand on her neck.

"That guy... the second coach came to talk to me to calm you down." You explain.

"Scott?" She asks, confused. She raised her head from your neck, making your hand fall to her back. You didn't know his name, so you nod while shrugging your shoulders. "And to calm me down? He learned fast." She muttered for herself.

You look at her curiously. "What was that?"

Shauna shakes her head. "It's nothing. I guess some of the girls told him how I worked when you were around."

"It's working?" You ask, tilting your head.

Shauna suppresses a smile, leaning a little into your face. "Maybe... but I think something else could work." She whispers, eyes darting between your eyes and mouth.

You left out the smile she is trying to hold. "Don't you have enough?" You whisper back, brushing your nose with hers. The memories from last night making out on her car clouding your mind.

She brings a hand to your cheek, her thumb trace slowly the skin until she reaches your lower lip. "Never." She whispers, closing the distance and capturing your lips with hers.

You melt into her touch, slipping out a content sound. She separated quickly, remaining close. Her hand keeps on your cheek, looking at you. It's you who closed the gasp and kissed her, feeling how chapped her lips are. It's your turn to separate, watching with a smile how Shauna follows you to keep kissing.

"You need to go back over there." You press a hand on her chest, stopping her.

Shauna frown. "One more kiss and we go." She promised, but you shake your head, pushing her back again. "Why?" She deepened her frown.

"If you pass another 45 minutes without snapping the opponent, I will give a lot of them tonight." You offer.

The brunette gazes at you. "You are mean." She whispers. "You promised?" She said in a small voice.

"I promise." You said, grabbing her chin but kissing her left cheek.

Perhaps Shauna turns her head quickly and steals you a peck, giving you a smirk when separated and sees your face. She stands up, grabbing your hand and leading the way out.

"I hope you win." You murmur once out, closing an eye because the sun was hitting your face.

"I already won." She leans and whispers in your ear, brushing her lips on your cheek and giving you a smile, she joggers into the pitch.

You come back to your place, blushing and with a silly smile.

Damn Shauna Shipman.

[thatoneyanderewriter]

Love or Obsession?

pairing(s): young!yandere!nick goode x shadysider!reader, platonic!ziggy berman x reader.

summary: after seeing you with tommy, nick’s not sure what he feels for you is love or obsession. but one thing’s for sure, you’re his.

warnings: toxicity, gore, blood, murder(?), manipulation, obsession, yandere, tommy becomes possessed lol, possession, mentions of sacrificing, mature language.

i wasn’t sure if I should add a spoiler warning considering the three movies have been out for some time now so I didn’t add one. sorry! but enjoy. and don’t really worry it doesn’t go by the plot of the movies anyway(mostly).

You were a camper. And he was a counselor. Okay, you weren’t that young. Only two years younger than he was. You wouldn’t deny having a small attraction for Nick Goode, Sheriff Goode’s son and the king of Sunnyvale.

Though he didn’t have a huge ego like you had expected. In fact, he was down to earth and kind, and kind of introverted. You shared similar hobbies. But you were a shadysider and sunnyvalers didn’t particularly get along with Shadysiders.

It was an normal day, well, a normal Sunny day. You definitely liked nature, but was worn out from the hiking and activities.

“Worn out? Tommy teased. “Kind of yeah, you chuckle. He wasn’t that much older than you yet a counselor. You didn’t even plan on becoming one anyway.

Yeah, you liked helping out with children but wanted a better job and focus on studies at the same time. “Hey, it’s fine, he assured you.”some of these kids never run out of energy.”

“I know right? You chuckle. Neither of you noticed that Nick had been glaring daggers right into Tommy’s skull. He was pissed. More so jealous. That you were the one Tommy was interested in. Everyone knew that.

Including him. And he needed to do something about it. He felt something for you, that he knew for sure. But wasn’t sure on what. Love or Obsession? Could it be both.

It had been passed down from family to family. Sacrifices. Possessions. And it was Nick’s turn. He already had a name in mind. At that moment, he decided Tommy would be the perfect candidate for possession. And kill all. Then you wouldn’t be so interested in him now would you?

Shadyside wasn’t a shithole for no reason. And as everyone suspected, it was a curse. Placed by Solomon Goode all those years ago back in 1666.

You suddenly trip, but Tommy caught you before you fell. You laughed. "You're a life saver. I swear." He blushed. "It's no big deal, Y/n."

You smile. "Well, I mean, i think so. You're so sweet. You know, helping everyone." "That's what a counselor does... He smiles, before rushing over to help with the next activity.

You didn't know then, that would be the final time you would see Tommy before hell broke loose. You grew tired so eventually you fell asleep quite early. Normally, You were up and ready.

When suddenly, You hear screams. You leave your cabin quick. "Y/N! Ziggy yells. "Ziggy! What's happening? You exclaim. "The witch... she possessed Tommy... Ziggy said.

"No... You frown."Not him. Why him?" Ziggy replies,”I don’t know we just have to go! I don’t want you to die!”

“I won’t, just promise me you won’t, and you’ll live, You say, standing close by your best friend. “I promise, she replies.

You both ran for your lives. You always believed that witch shit even though you shouldn’t. Because last summer, you found something you shouldn’t.

Back then you were a skeptical of the Sarah Fier Legend. A curse on Shadyside, Really? You knew the town had bad luck but a curse was out of reach.

Then you found a ritual. someone who worshipped satan or whatever had a place to go for that. And look what you found. The names of each shadyside killer carved into rocks no human could’ve done with their bare hands.

And it seemed quite obvious that Sarah fier was behind it. After all, she wanted revenge. But that was before Tommy’s name had been put into it. Which explained why Nurse Lane attacked him.

You didn’t want to admit it but she should’ve. It would’ve prevented a huge massacre. But you adored tommy. Though oblivious to his obvious feelings for you.

You two ran for a while until you screamed,”Tommy!” He was right in front of you and was about to strike but turned his attention to Ziggy.

“No! You yell and as he was about to you move her out of the way, both of you unharmed. “Y/N, you could’ve died! I can’t lose you! She said.

“Look, we’re both okay? And it was odd, he didn’t even… try to kill me, You say. “I know, maybe his feelings for you were why, ziggy blurted.

“What? You say. “Oh, She said. "You didn’t know? It was so obvious he was in love with you.” “I thought he was into Cindy… You say. “No, she’s into Alice and everyone also knows that, Ziggy said.

"Whatever, we need to hide! He killed Jeremy, Jesse, Stacey and More kids! You yell, sobbing but tried not to. Ziggy nods. You grew up with her, if you lost her, you wouldn't know how to live.

You run with her, her hand in yours, you didn't want to let go. "Hey look! I found somewhere we could hide... Ziggy begins."Fuck, Cindy! Where is she?"

"Where did you see her last? You asked. "I-I don’t remember, we just should find her, Ziggy said. "Also, I locked Sheila in the bathroom." "Good one, You said. "But she could be killed. Plus, I heard something about Cindy and Alice going somewhere involving Sarah Fier."

"Okay, come on! Ziggy said, you run to the bathroom but now you were growing exhausted. "Sheila? You say. "Fucking Shadysider Bitch! Sheila replied. "Did you lock me in here?"

"Y/n didn't, I did... But come on, Ziggy entering the bathroom before Sheila began attacking her. You pulled her off of Ziggy. ”Calm down. there’s a killer and you have to leave or-“

“Of course it’s always a shadysider huh? Sheila said. "I mean, you’re the reason this shit is happening.” “Shut the fuck up, you don’t know what’s going on first of all, You say, laced with venom in your voice. "Second, I think we can all agree none of us want to die so-“

“Hello! Cindy said, and you could hear her voice. "Can anybody hear us?” Ziggy realized like you that it was Cindy and follows the voice. Only to see them under the bathroom.

“What are you guys doing there? You say. “Oh thank fucking god, Alice said. “It’s a long story but… can you help us out? Cindy said.

“Yeah of course, You reply. Ziggy come help me.” “No hesitation, Ziggy said, relief that her sister was okay. You help them up. Apparently Tommy was possessed first there. He killed Alice's stoner friend, Arnie.

"Wow, You said, hearing everything. "I mean, i knew of the whole ritual stuff. But-" "You knew he would be possessed? Ziggy asked. You shook your head."No, But i knew then this witch shit was real."

"Oh."

"In order to stop this, we need to reunite her hand with her body, Cindy said. You nodded. You noticed how she held onto Alice's hand. You hadn't seen Nick, Will, Joan or Kurt in a while. Which made you wonder if they were murdered too.

Nick was acting kind of lately, you didn't know why. But either way, you had to find out. "Well, where is her body? I don't think she had been buried anywhere near here, You point out.

"Y/n's right, Ziggy agreed. "Look, she is, Alice said, moving the book in front of you. You read and looked it over. "Holy shit she is, You exclaimed.

"Fuck, Ziggy said. "Which is why we could bury her hand with her body, we know where her hand is too, Cindy explained. You nodded. "Then what are we waiting for? We could end this curse now."

"Okay, Cindy said. "Come on." Sarah Fier's hand was in the front on fhe table. It soon made sense why she had been buried under the tree where she had been hung. But when you accidentally touched her skeletal hand, you saw everything. You wiped your bloody nose. "I saw the witch. She was pissed. So we we should hurry up."

You grabbed any weapons you could. Even if you didn't know if you could kill or hurt anybody. But before Alice could even kill, Tommy killed her. Cindy angrily lunged at him, and so did you.

Your eyes were filled with tears but you didn't let them fall. "Alice, don't die on us, You said softly. "Please." However, she took her last breath and became another victim. But everyone couldn't mourn for long.

Everyone heard someone singing. "Ruby Lane, You said. "Come on, we have to go." Cindy was naturally reluctant but agreed. Somehow, you got lost from Cindy and Ziggy, who you figured were digging.

As you walked, hoping you could find your way back, you bumped into Nick. "Nick! You're okay! You said, sighing of relief. "Y/N, where were you.. He said, his voice filled with concern. "I... think we could end this curse, You said."

"Y/n, come on, this witch stuff isn't real, he just went crazy, Nick said. "No, Nick, I saw her, She's pissed, I saw the fucking witch! You exclaim. Tommy, the sweet guy you knew, didn't just go crazy. Neither did Nurse Lane. She was right. Of course she had been.

"Hey, this will all be over, Nick assures you, suddenly hugging you, pulling you close while you cried on his shoulder, not seeing the smirk on his face.

Everything was going according to plan.

[quasi-normalcy]

Why Deep Space Nine wasn't as popular as the other 90s Star Treks when it aired

So I keep seeing this one kind of conspiratorial text post circulating around which asserts that Deep Space Nine wasn't as popular as the other Star Trek series from the 90s because Rick Berman hated it and deliberately sabotaged it, and also (somehow) marginalized references to it in canon even decades after he stopped having absolutely anything to do with the franchise and just...no. Like, I have no idea how Rick Berman personally felt about Deep Space Nine, but what I do know is that he co-created it and executive produced it and basically ran the entire Star Trek franchise during the 90s, so if he *really* hated what it was doing, he could have just put his foot down and stopped it. Moreover, he didn't marginalize references to Deep Space Nine in canon; Voyager getting into contact with the Alpha Quadrant and learning that the Maquis had been exterminated by the Dominion (something that happened on Deep Space Nine) was one of the very few plot points on that series to have repercussions for more than an episode; First Contact featured the Defiant; both Insurrection and Nemesis have references to the Dominion War. The post is reacting against a problem that doesn't really exist.

But it does raise the question: why *wasn't* Deep Space Nine popular when it aired? And I think that the answer might be difficult for people who weren't alive and conscious during the 1990s to understand, so I'm going to try to lay out the reasons:

Serialization was only just becoming a thing on adult American television: I know that this might sound a bit difficult to believe now, but there was a time when networks really hated serialization and, with context, it's not too hard to understand why. In the 1990s, there was no streaming; there weren't even any DVD sets. Any given episode aired once at a designated time. If you missed that time, then your options were to wait until it was rerun a few weeks later, or again during the summer (and the networks would often air reruns out of order, so good fucking luck with that), or to hope that one of your friends had recorded it on a VHS tape. Otherwise, you just couldn't see it. Even worse than that, networks could arbitrarily pre-empt their own programming. Like, "Oh, you wanted to watch Star Trek? Well a baseball game just went into overtime and it brings in ten times as many viewers. Hopefully you won't find it too jarring if we just begin half an hour into the episode." So you can understand why this would have a knock-on effect on serialised storytelling; if you've missed one episode, and the subsequent stories depend on plot points from the episode, then you're just going to be confused. But even beyond that, if you're not used to serialization as an audience, then you're not going to be on the look-out for context clues. "Oh, that alien just told Quark about something called 'the Dominion'? Oh that sounds important--oh, wait, no, they got to the end of the episode and nothing happened with it. I guess it wasn't important after all."

The Star Trek name: This one seems a bit counterintuitive, because of course the name should be a draw to fans of the other series, but you have to remember that, at the time in question, the franchise consisted only of the original series and movies and the first six and a half seasons of TNG. Now, these differed in several ways, but what they had in common is that they were all about a bunch of moral paragons who flew around in space in shiny starships, having episodic adventures. That was what Star Trek was. And then you got a new series about a bunch of morally compromised characters who sat still in space on a gungy old space station having serialised adventures. It's not the same thing, and so a lot of people who wanted the first thing tuned out (which was, in fact, why Voyager had to be created), whereas a lot of people who wanted the second thing might not have tuned in because they figured it would be the first thing. And this of course brings us to the third reason:

Babylon 5: So stop me if you've heard this one before: it's a serialized drama from the 1990s all about a bunch of humans and aliens having to coexist on a space station as they navigate diplomatic crises and gradually become enmeshed in an elaborate space opera story arc. It features a race of aliens who can be called "highly spiritual", a race of aliens who have recently overthrown a decades-long brutal occupation of their homeworld by a crumbling and overstretched empire, a race of aliens who are often mistaken for gods (and who cultivate this misconception), and a mysterious new threat emerging onto the galactic scene, eventually culminating in a seasons-long war arc. I am of course describing J. Michael Straczynski's science fiction masterpiece Bablyon 5, which he, and a great many of his fans, regarded (and not without reason) as having been ripped off and pre-empted by Paramount in the form of Deep Space Nine. Now, looking at the evidence, I personally think that most of the similarities between these series are a sort of convergent evolution; but, whatever your opinion on the matter, the fact remains that these two fandoms hated each other during the 1990s. And the net effect of this was that a bunch of SF nerds who would probably have really liked DS9 if they had gotten to see it never watched it at all as a matter of principle because as far as they were concerned, its very existence was a corporate ploy to bully an upstart rival out of business.

Anyways, for all of these reasons, it's not remarkable to me that Deep Space Nine never became as popular as TNG and Voyager; and because it wasn't as popular, it makes sense that Paramount would be more circumspect about greenlighting Picard-style sequels or Lower Decks or Prodigy-style spinoffs to it (and indeed, I'm not convinced that all of the writers have even seen it). But I think that it is a testament to just how good DS9 was that it still managed to get the same seven seasons, even if it never drew in the same audience

[feminist-cult-following]

characters that are actually lesbians because I say so <3

1. shiv roy — sometimes a woman hurts every man in her life because her true love is a woman <3

2. alicent hightower — goes without saying tbh

3. cristina yang — her offering to break up with owen so that teddy will stay in Seattle…I know what you are

4. cindy berman — literally if comphet was a person

5. agatha harkness — little miss “did somebody leave the oven on or is that just you, hot stuff?” can’t fool me

6. nancy wheeler — no one who isn’t gay looks at another woman the way she was looking at robin in that library

7. aria montgomery — wdym she ended up with her creepy teacher? no her and spencer are literally married

8. spencer hastings — see above

9. cassie howard — I know a closeted train wreck when I see one

10. tabby haworthe — she’s literally the mother of imogen’s baby

11. rachel gatina — ladies is it gay to destroy your own reputation and entire high school career to protect your bestie from expulsion?

12. johanna mason — it just makes sense

[animentality]

the main reason ds9 isn't remembered as well as the original series or tng by the general populace is not just because it wasn't the very first trek or the most popular trek (tng's popularity was what really brought trek into the mainstream).

it was hated by Rick Berman, who was the head of the franchise at its height, and who deliberately spited it by never including its canon in other treks.

and that effect has lasted to this day, as modern writers who only bother to watch Star Trek movies never seem to remember ds9 even exists. the way the Pine-Quinto movies mention Archer and his beagle, and trek movies and shows make multiple references to TOS, and newer treks center entirely around tng plots or the Borg.

the way they brought back seven of nine before literally anyone on the cast of ds9.

there's a reason that the damn tng movies had a million references to Voyager, with Janeway and the EMH actually having cameos, but ds9 never even got a passing reference, even where it actually would've been appropriate.

Berman hated ds9 for its focus on serialization, i. e., connected storytelling, rather than syndication, i. e. episodic storytelling, because he was a money grubbing misogynist and homophobe, who thought all the money was in syndication. he hated the writers/other producers of ds9 for going behind his back and doing their damnedest to make quality star trek.

one of my favorite spiteful Berman stories is that in star trek first contact, the 2nd tng movie, he wanted to blow up the defiant and destroy it permanently, just for no reason at all.

and the ds9 writers were upset because no one had asked them about it. so they said you can destroy the defiant, but we're just gonna keep using the defiant and pretending it didn't blow up if you do.

which is why Worf asks Picard, in a completely thrown in line, what's the status of the defiant, and Picard says adrift, but salvageable.

and this particular movie is funny to me also because in that period, Worf is technically supposed to still be serving on ds9, and bringing him into the movie was basically justified as something of a side quest for him, being dragged off the station for a little tng romp.

so you see the crew of the defiant, but... again. Berman spite. rather than letting ANYONE on ds9 cameo in the first contact movie, even though that might've been cool... they just have some randos. one might be Adam Scott.

and remember that JANEWAY AND THE EMH are in that movie.

so berman deliberately wanted to spite ds9 by destroying the defiant, stealing worf (even making fun of him for his role on ds9 in another thrown in riker line) AND snub the entire crew of ds9 by having none of them anywhere in the movie, even though they COULD HAVE CAMEOED TOO, or at least been mentioned...

and to me that's pretty funny, because Rick Berman could have as many tantrums as he wanted behind closed doors, and hate the staff of ds9.

didn't make a difference. they'd still keep defying him, and you know...

not to be a total prick but... ds9 still has a thriving fanbase to this day. tng does too, and so does tos, and star trek in general is doing pretty well...

but out of all the old treks, ds9 has aged the best, not just in how it looks, but also in how it bridges the gap between, old world optimistic charm and more gritty, humanistic sci fi story telling.

it balanced syndication and serialization really well, and had great standalone episodes AND a fun connecting overarching narrative that made the world of star trek feel richer and more lived in. I also want to say that for modern audiences, who are accustomed to serialization more than syndication, ds9 is a far easier entry point into the world of star trek than any other trek.

Rick Berman can go fuck himself, is what I'm saying, in summation.

ds9 will stand the test of time.

and you know what?

both tng and voy succeeded in spite of Berman. not because of him. everything that makes those two shows work, is in defiance of the Roddenberry mandates that both Roddenberry and Berman constantly tried to uphold, even though it was to the detriment of the stories.

[hotvintagepoll]

hi!! when you get a chance to look at the hot ladies submissions, do you mind telling us which ones are guaranteed for the tournament? i wanna submit but i dont have much free time, so id rather focus on submitting my underrated girls (missed my chance for farley granger but i will not miss it again!)

I did a quick skim and I can tell you these ladies are definitely accounted for by now:

Ingrid Berman

Katherine Hepburn

Clara Bow

Hedy Lamaar

Grace Kelly

Audrey Hepburn

Barbara Stanwyck

Marlene Deitrich

Lauren Bacall

Julie Andrew

Judy Garland

That doesn't mean you can't still submit propaganda for them—the more the merrier—but these ladies are already definitely in the tournament by now. When we're closer to the tournament proper I can post a fuller list.

[supercap2319]

Can you do some more Kurt from fear street smut please

"I know it was you, Berman. You stole my fucking beer and condoms. Give em back." Kurt pushed Y/N against the cabin wall. The Sunnyvale counselor of Nightwing had caught Y/N Berman running from his cabin and when he checked to see if any of his stuff was missing; he noticed his alcohol and condoms were missing and immediately suspected Y/N.

Y/N looks at the other boy with a grin on his face. "Why would I want your STD rubbers? And you have shit taste in beer. What should I expect from a preppy pretty boy Sunnyvaler?"

"You talk when I want you to talk. You got that you Shadysider trash?"

"Is that the best insult you can come up with? Boy you Sunnyvalers are terrible at trash talking." Y/N jokes as Kurt gets angrier at him. "You got a big fucking mouth on you. I should keep it busy."

"With what? Your terrible beer?"

Kurt had enough as he roughly pushed Y/N to his knees before he pulled his cock out of his shorts and slapped it against Y/N's cheek. "Get it wet for me, bitch."

Y/N wasn't about to take orders for a pretty boy like Kurt, but he couldn't deny that blowing the hottest guy at camp Nightwing was a lewd fantasy. Especially with what he had in store for him. Y/N opened his mouth and wrapped his lips around Kurt's dick and started to suck him as the counselor began to moan and groan at the wet mouth on his cock. He ran his fingers through his hair and tugged hard as Y/N bobs his head back and forth. Taking everything that Kurt is giving him, and swallowing it down like a pro. Y/N wouldn't say he was a slut, but he's had lots of practice blowing his fellow Shadysiders. Kurt was a challenge.

"Yeah, just like that. You were born to suck cock. A cocksucking whore." Kurt moaned as he looked down at Y/N. Seeing the little shit where he belonged. On his knees for Kurt. The sight made his cock twitch harder as he began to thrust his hips in and out of Y/N's mouth, creating a saliva trail. Y/N began to gag on Kurt's big cock as the other boy grabbed his head and held it in place as he face fucked him. "Fuck, yes! Damn are all you Shadyside guys cock sucking faggots, or are you the exception?"

Y/N moaned around his length as Kurt continued to fuck his mouth until he was getting close to cumming. He looks down at Y/N and smirks at him. "Take it you little bitch!" He moans as he came inside Y/N's mouth. Filling his mouth with rows and rows of hot white seed and some of it dripped down Y/N's mouth.

Kurt pulled out and tucked himself back into his shorts. "Damn. You have a pretty good mouth."

"And you look good when you cum. Right, Ziggy?" Kurt and Y/N looked to see Ziggy Berman with a polaroid camera.

"You're fucked up, Berman's!"

[trillscienceofficer]

remembered that they shot some scenes of “Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges” on the Voyager lot, so for example the set for the scene where Cretak, Admiral Ross and Julian are talking about Romulan Ale is literally the same Mess Hall you see on Voyager (even though it's explained as being just another Intrepid-class ship, the USS Bellerofon).

Apparently it was Ron Moore's idea:

Ronald D. Moore was the one who put forward the idea to use Voyager's sets rather than simply using the Defiant; "When we started structuring the show, I called Rick Berman and [Voyager Executive Producer] Brannon Braga and [Voyager Supervising Producer] Merri Howard and said, 'I'd really like to use the Voyager sets on this.' We could have reused the Defiant sets once again, saying the Bellerophon was a Defiant-class ship, but I didn't want to. I thought that using a bigger starship with a different look would make the mission seem bigger and more important. And we could save a lot of money if we went over and used their existing stuff, rather than building a new ship." The DS9 scenes were scheduled on a day when the Voyager crew was working on a different soundstage. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (pp. 661-662)) (link to the Memory Alpha page)

Also, from the same page:

Stock footage from Star Trek: Voyager is used at certain points; for example, a flyby of the USS Bellerophon is a recycled effect of the USS Voyager (to the point that you can see the registry "NCC-74656" on the hull).

I'll have to check next time I rewatch DS9...